Start lab escape, immediatly encounter tough zombie right outside door

[Bio]

So just as soon as I walked out of my lab cell I was immediately attacked by a tough zombie and died in 11 minutes. Is this a preset spawn or just incredibly poor AI planning? I feel like there should’ve been some subprogram to make sure a person doesn’t meet impossible start ups like this. Worse yet since I died in my room after trying to barricade the door with furniture it means i’ll be stuck in a death loop in my spawn room

[duhuh]

People call that the complimentary welcome zombie.

Most of the time, I drop my chemistry set and leave the dark cell.

[TheMurderUnicorn]

On the final screen in character creation (where your character name is), you can use “/” (or is it the other slash?) to choose where you want to start. I found the finale to be the best place for starting when I’m trying to escape.

The default location in the lab almost always contains a brute in proximity to the cell. It can be evaded, but can also knock you around pretty good.

If you’re using the same world for the lab start, I recommend resetting it when you die. This will clear away your previous characters experience, so you won’t be stuck in that ‘certain death’ room from before. Alternatively, if you start a character enough times it should randomly put you into a different lab at some point. Alternatively, alternatively, you can choose a different location from that menu option I mentioned above.

[Bio]

turns out for some weird reason the doors are unlocked so there’s that at least…

[crazykiddeath]

A tough zombie is easy mode, try a brute or hulk instead.
I do a lot of lab starts and usually deal with it the same way each time, if your character is strong enough, move the locker into the hole where the door used to be.
Wait for (or draw) the brute in and let it smash up the locker for you, grab the resulting pipe and chunk of steel. (there is your makeshift crowbar right off the bat as soon as you find some light to do the actual crafting)
Let it enter the cell and try and lure it on to the bed, if successful, just run around it and out. If not just take your punch and still run around it and out.
Escape out of the whole area and get a metal door between you and it or lure it into a dissector or just put distance and a few glass doors between you and it.
After you break contact, write the whole area off until you feel confident about killing a brute in one on one combat, a spear and reach attack can be very helpful for this.

[draghi]

if you just bumped into a tough zombie, that’s easy cake. normally a brute should spawn as some people stated, and it could kill you if not careful. i usually kite it and make a run for the holding area exit, since it has metal doors and you can seal them, the brute won’t break them. you might take a punch from the brute but get back up and make a run.

after that i suggest laying in the shadows and try to find the barracks. with luck, no monsters can spawn inside or have some soldier zombies that you can lure away. the new dispatches on the other hand are quite dangerous, pull out unless you already have a rifle. then proceed to potentially armor and arm yourself and clear out the lab

[Rot]

I can attest to the brute, my current playthrough got punched through reinforced glass. Don’t try and fight the welcome zombie, just dodge it, even if it’s “just a tough zombie”.