I am making this thread for the Skilled to share what they’ve learnt through their runs so that all might benifit.
Here’s a few tips,
If you’re going to create a melee character, be sure to have 4 in dodge at the very least. This is not negotiable. You won’t last long without that at the very least.
Up in the corner, where the compass shows you what creatures you can see, don’t worry immediatly if you can see a zombie. If the cardinal direction’s text is white, they aren’t making their way towards you. And even if they are, stay still. Moving around may attract more of them. Only run if it is the safest option
Don’t melee the Jabberwock.
Just don’t.
Butcher every zombie. If you don’t, they will come back. Plus its easy Survival skill, which is always helpfull.
All my characters are melees with firearm support for turrets and shockers.
You certainly do not need to put points in dodge at creation, it trains really quickly on its own. In fact you dont have to put points in skills at all wich will give you better stats like str and dex wich are way more important in a melee build. Also traits like fleet footed, quick and tough are really important to have thick skinned is also good, you will bleed less often from being attacked. Glassjaw should be avoided.
What is important for a melee early on would be to know how to use window frames to clobber zombies trying to climb thru. A important skill to train early and often neglected is tailoring to make your clothing (fit) and extra sturdy. Fit on clothing is very important on melee characters because encumbrance on body parts can really cripple you, torso would be the worst i think because it will slow down your melee swings (require more action point to perform each attack). Fit under armors and tank tops are really nice to use with a kevlar vest/trenchcoat/utility vest and 1 rucksack. Getting your enc as low as possible while having some protection is necessary. Fast hitting weapons are the best in cdda, dammage comes second. (sometimes you can attack a zombie 2 or 3 times before they can attack you meaning that you can kill them before they even do anything). Also let zombies come to you, do not go after them you will waste turn and let them hit you once for free when youre in melee range. If you wait for them to get into your melee range you will get the first melee attack on them and maybe even a second one before they start attacking you if you have a fast attack.
That should be enougb for now its 4am and im sleepy, ill write more another time.
If you can clear out the immediate area, a church makes a good base. Stone construction makes it fire resistant and difficult to break into, its back doors make good emergency exits but are set around corners so they’re hard for marauding zombies to pathfind to, there’s plenty of furniture for storage or construction, indoor plumbing for a constant source of water to purify, and a computer monitor so that you can read or sew at night.
The best condensed advice i can really offer goes as follows:
Smash a locker -> make crowbar with a rock and pipe
Find a couple houses on the outskirts of town with minimal zombies, use houses to LOS
Use the crowbar to get in, you will need to find these things:
Volume (enough to carry the following at the very least)
Clean water bottles x2 (3 would be better)
a pot or frying pan (look in the oven/cupboards)
Then run your ass out into the woods, away from swamps. ‘e’ bushes for survival skill.
Wait for fires to go yellow before you cook.
Sleep indoors when possible.
Train your skills, play around. I like archery but there are plenty of other ways to play.
The next best tip i could tell you is to not carry a huge amount of food if you have survival to butcher things.
Don’t carry things you can easily/quickly replace when you need them.
Get a vehicle later on.
Most of my characters follow this sort of plan, and the only time I die is if I do something stupid, like not prepare for things, or do something i know is a bad idea.
Sometimes the learning experience will outweigh the death though… sometimes.
When first starting out, check all zombie corpses for a leather jacket. Even a shredded or tattered one will do.
Once found (and alone) open the crafting menu > Armor tab.
Craft Leather Vest.
Voila, instant fitted mini-kevlar vest. It even has a little bit of storage. Perfect for those crazy first-day melee runs.
Also, thanks to fabrication you don’t even need a point in mechanics to craft a crowbar. Craft a crowbar in the evac shelter. Make sure to swap it out for a hammer when you find one, (more damage and faster) or better yet a nail bat. (much more damage, slower. definitely worth it though.)
On this subject, why will some of my clothing items seemingly NEVER let me reinforce them or adjust to fit?
Glove liners for example.
Edit: Seems that some of my stuff reinforced instantly but I just needed to keep trying with the rest.
BUT… I can’t work out why some items won’t “adjust”. OK, a backpack is fair enough. I assume there is no way to make that fit better.
But what about arm guards? They really bugger up ranged shooting by adding a lot of encumberance when used with clothing according to the tips in game.
Cut them apart with some scissors/pocket knife for rags, then make your own through the tailoring menu. If you don’t get enough rags, cut up some Zed clothes, or smash a window for a sheet. anything you make is automatically fitted.
its 4am and im sleepy, ill write more another time.