I need help. I’ve just gotten into C:DDA & I have… very little idea of what to do. What I need is advice on what to do in the beginning - what to cut up, what to fight, what in the Shelter to use - what to fight with, etc.
Thanks. 
-Smash one of the lockers, grab the pipe as a weapon.
-Smash window, make a makeshift sling.
-Check basement for aditional supplies.
After that I recomend that you scour the outskirts of a town. Try to avoid going in until you’re better armed.
Kill everything by positioning an obstacle between you and your oponent such as shrubs or broken/open windows. bonus points if you light the bush on fire( NOT BUILDINGS THOUGH ).
Also feel free to read and ask on the “Trips, Tricks, and Newb Questions” topic, it’s generally faster and more direct there.
Here’s a thread with some tips: http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=8565.0
In my personal experience…
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If you started as a Survivor, your winter coat won’t help in fights, since it gives you Torso encumbrance, which makes Melee and Dodge worse. You will need both to hit and evade in close combat. But having it helps against the cold, so be conscious of when it’s time to use and when it’s time to leave it.
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Your main concerns initially are shelter, sleep, food and water. The shelter is… ok, obvious, and food and supplies can be get at bushes(that #s around). Take a pile of straw when found, it’s good to sleep on it(just drop it on the floor and then sleep at the same square).
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Water can be found at natural sources, or in bathrooms inside the city. AVOID drinking it as it is: get an tin can or something that serves as a recipient, plus fire and boil it into clean water. Getting bottles and gallon jugs to store water is a necessity.
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Food can also be found killing animals(don’t try fighting wolves and bears at start, and KEEP AWAY OF MOOSE) or in the city. Make a pointy stick, it serves to cook meat. Don’t eat meat chunks without preparing it first.
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Cities are where most resources are, but it’s dangerous to go there at start. A good strategy is to go there first and watch from afar where are the zombies. Avoid zombie dogs, brutes, hulks and shockers. If they aren’t around, go back at night and take as much stuff as you can.
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The shelter is a good source of crafting material. The benches can be broken for two-fours, that can be crafted into cudgels, pointy sticks and 2-by-swords. The lockers can be broken to get pipes(good starting weapon), and the window’s curtains can be cut into rags, useful to reinforce and make clothes.
Finally, in case of mi-go, RUN.
If you’re willing to grind skills a little by doing repetitive things, there are a few things you can do in/around the starting shelter that make a big difference.
Get a few levels in throwing: If you don’t have armor or levels in melee/dodge, you won’t last long if you try to just hit everything you see with a pipe. Grab a few rocks from outside, then go inside the shelter (preferably downstairs, where nothing will get you,) and throw them at a tile. Pick them up. Repeat. While this is boring and gamey, with a couple levels of throwing, a few rocks, and proper use of kiting and bushes, you can kill lone zombies without closing to melee range. This can make raiding your first couple houses easier.
Knife spears: If you use a rock and a nail to make a fishhook, then use “(” to deconstruct it, you can get your fabrication skill up to 1. If you the go into the woods and 'e’xamine bushes, it’s pretty easy to get your survival skill up to 1 as well. Once you’ve done that, you can use a long string, two-by-four, a spike (made of scrap metal), and a rag to make a knife spear. All of these things are available in the shelter. It’s an okay early melee weapon, but it really shines when you throw it. The problem is carrying more than one, which leads to…
Learn to sew: With survival at 1 and a pocket knife, you can make a wooden needle. If you disassemble some strings, (or rags, if you’re desperate,) you can get thread. By cutting up curtains, (or the clothes of the zombies you’ve killed,) you can get rags. You can then craft simple clothing items to get your tailoring skill up a few levels, cutting them back into rags after you make them. Also, reinforce the clothing that you want to keep by applying your wooden needle with thread. You’ll want to get your skill level up high enough to craft a trenchcoat and a backpack, (and maybe boots.) While it’s not body armor, if you wear a few layers of reinforced clothing you can take quite a few more hits before you go down.
Now, all of this grinding will take a day or two, so you will probably have to do at least one less-equipped excursion to get food and supplies. (Be cautious and stealthy. Consider doing it at night when it’s easier to get away.) However, if you do these things, by the end of the second or third day you can easily have a trenchcoat, hoodie, gloves, boots, hat, backpack, 3-4 levels in throwing, and 3-4 knife spears to throw. You’re still vulnerable with this loadout; mi-gos, hulks, and getting mobbed will still ruin your day. However, you should be able to handle a few zombies at a time without a scratch, which makes exploring the towns much, much less dangerous.
(Many people don’t like grinding to gain skills, which is understandable. However, if you’re just learning the game, grinding will help you survive until you figure out how to live without it.)
Thanks guys, this is useful. Just a few questions though: do you need to be carrying something to smash a locker or bench? What are the best traits? Are technician zombies really weak?
I ask the last because, even unarmed, I found them REALLY easy to kill with martial arts, on my world I created before deciding to actually learn the game. It is a pity to give it up - I will to properly play the game, but it had a broken Humvee just about 30 tiles away.
The best thing I’ve found to destroy lockers and benches is a rock since you need the rock any way and it can destroy benches in 4-8 hits and lockers in 8-12 hits
and yeah zombie technicians are just regular zombies but have CBM’s when butchered
Make a crowbar to break into houses without breaking the windows. Or lockpicks
Bloody hell, what?!
I looked through the windows of the evac shelter and was instantly shoot to death by a thing with a laser sight!
How do you people manage to get this all the time?
It literrary never happened to me and i started a lot of games.
The rng is deffinatly not on your side… thus peek through the closed curtains next time (they should be closed by default)
[quote=“Valpo, post:10, topic:8172”]How do you people manage to get this all the time?
It literrary never happened to me and i started a lot of games.
The rng is deffinatly not on your side… thus peek through the closed curtains next time (they should be closed by default)[/quote]
[quote=“Illogical_Blox, post:9, topic:8172”]Bloody hell, what?!
I looked through the windows of the evac shelter and was instantly shoot to death by a thing with a laser sight![/quote]
Yeah, I’ve never seen that either, although I have had two deaths within the first couple turns in the starting shelter. On was a triffid queen that knocked down the wall to let in a fungal fighter, the the other was a floating eye that dropped the roof on me.
However, those kinds of deaths are still fairly unlikely.
I’ve been spawn-stomped by moose a few times, but that’s about as close as I’ve gotten. Well, in the standard scenario. I’ve also been crushed in a collapsing building within the first two urns, while making a beeline for the exit, but obviously those times were in Really Bad Day and the burning building start.
It was probably a Science Lab. Blast. Ah well, just need a sewing kit and I can rip up these sheets!
Generally, when in doubt, RUN.
[quote=“Illogical_Blox, post:9, topic:8172”]Bloody hell, what?!
I looked through the windows of the evac shelter and was instantly shoot to death by a thing with a laser sight![/quote]
You can ‘e’ a window to peek through a curtain. Or use X to peek around a corner.
Generally, try using e. I wish i knew i could do that to bushes when my character was starving.