Tips for stealth

[Wojtek94]

Hello again. Hmm… I play on ,static spawn" so whole town(almost every building) is strongly secured by zombies(I don’t have experience so I switched off other monsters in options). And I am shocked because so many people say that this game is too easy but I can’t enter to for example-gun store. It’s very hard for me to avoid enemies because they always hear me through the wall even when I choose ,light steps" perk. Sometimes stealth works but it is very rare situation(just luck). Night raid is just russian roulette for me-I plunder whole house or bump into zombie. So… How did you deal with it?

[StopSignal]

Die, over and over. I also don’t understand how they say it’s easy. My opinion is, sincerely, that playing the game the way it was meant to be played is too hard.

[Kryxx]

if your playing on static (especially on stable .C), turn it off.

Static spawns ‘all’ the zombies in a given area when you load into it. If you turn it off, it will spawn them over various times. You may find some wandering around @ times even in areas you earlier cleared but it’s easier to deal with if you new. I like it that way personally, feels more realistic that they are moving around and into/out of areas.

“Wandering” spawns is the hordes. In the stable it pretty overkill. I heard they ‘changed’ it in the experimentals, but hordes are going to go into your area if you generate noise over 20. Which is starting and driving a car or pretty much smacking anything hard, breaking glass etc.

Now, for stealth, it’s not really possible. There is no ‘stealth mode’ zombies see you, they are not blind. You can make it easier when walking over things with the light step, but ‘scent’ is a thing, you have various smells tied to you. Creatures and zombies can hone in on that. It’s one reason you close any curtain of rooms or a house you plan on being inside for more than a few minutes. It cuts back on the amount of scent escaping.

Traits and stats trump skills. Skills can be learned. Pick what you need to start, and when you fight always funnel them in.

One of the first things to do is make a ‘makeshift’ crowbar. You need it to pop open doors and windows. It makes some noise, but not near as much as smashing windows.

I usually do a ‘missing’ start, and pick a random building. Never a gun shop. You can’t carry jack right away so having a gun, but no armor or way to carry anything is worthless.

Which is why go through houses, and look for clothes I need and various food items, batteries etc. If I cannot carry it I hit the map and hit N (for notes) make notes of what is where, and what house is cleared. The ‘base’ hole up in for a few days/weeks depends on what’s in the town. If it’s a house, I pick one with a fireplace. I board the windows by dismantling the furniture.

Cut up the extra sheets. blankets/pillows/clothes/boots. Make the face/hand coverings, backpacks and clothes/thread reinforce if needed. Slowly expand you way out.
If need rags, cut the curtains down in the houses you not staying in. The sheet gives good rags and long string. Break the long string down into small strings, and small into thread. It’s way faster than the time to shread a rag into threads. If you need strings/threads. Seat belts, they drop into rope, which can be broken down into long strings. If you can remove seats, decent source of leather/rags also.

Once you have enough protection, then fight more zombies. If it’s a loot run I have 1 duffel on top of backpacks. I don’t wear it until I’m on my way back, and I don’t plan on fighting, since I marked everything I want on the houses/map that may have been heavy, on my return trip back, I pick it up, After I did the fighting and the zombies are dead.

Learn how to layer for protection/warmth, and for fighting. You can get a balance it’s just harder at first. The tailors kit is actually OP as hell. You can make yourself almost immune to most normal zombies with it pretty easy.

If you go in @ night, don’t leave the flashlight/light source on. Turn it on to get your ‘bearings’ turn it off, zombies only follow by sound/scent/sight. If you drop sight, they can’t really hear that well unless you

If your being chased by a lot, break Line of Sight. Zombies really won’t follow you if they are like 40+ tiles away. Dodge through house, close the curtains (same command to close a door). Search the houses, quick, peek back out the curtains. If your safe or seem to be, cut the clothes that you don’t need make a backpack etc. Often early on cutting or disassembling an item can help you make things you need. If you don’t need or want the flashlight right away (or to dissemble it), pop the batteries etc.

I don’t even go towards a gun store for 10-15 days or more. Guns are loud, you burn through ammo. I don’t fire one until I get a supressor, and even then never on any zombies that are easy. Guns for me are used to take down big enemies.

[Dlightfull]

Static spawns ‘all’ the zombies in a given area when you load into it. If you turn it off, it will spawn them over various times. You may find some wandering around @ times even in areas you earlier cleared but it’s easier to deal with if you new. I like it that way personally, feels more realistic that they are moving around and into/out of areas.

it always seemed to me more realistic that after you clear a town of zombies, it stays clear. Where did those other zombies appear from, if you killed everyone?

To answer the OP, i find the easiest start to be the default one, in the shelter. You start with good clothes, in a moderately safe area (that depends on luck actually).

First of all check the lockers in the corner and wear the gas mask, if there is any, then go to the basement and see what can you find there.

After that peek through those curtains and see what’s outside, then go out in the safe part and pick up some rocks and go back in. Smash some chairs/counters and lockers for the much needed materials (wield a rock to make things easier). Make yourself a makeshift crowbar, a hammer.

Then get your survival skill to 1 by either foraging bushes in your vicinity or by making/disassembling stuff. After you get survival to 1 you can make yourself a needle and start working on your tailoring. You’ll need gloves and something for your head/mouth, iirc.

Depending on what you will find in the basement, you might not need some things from what i have wrote. In the lockers should be some emergency blankets and jackets, which you can cut for some plastic chunks, which you will need for fletchings.

Then i would craft a slingshot (the one that trains archery) and some pebbles from those rocks you gathered, and shoot them at empty space to train archery to at least 2-3. Then craft the best bow you can and the best arrows you can (you’ll need scrap metal for the arrowheads and plastic for fletchings). it might be a good idea to train your fabrication to a level above needed for the arrows, to not waste the materials (which are scarce at this moment).

Now the biggest problem you will face is lack of water, that is why you’ll need that bow fast. With 3 archery, a bow and at least 40 arrows, you can get out in the wild or to the closest town. Your best target would be a mansion, if you happen to have one nearby. A mall is good too, since it doesn’t have too difficult zombies, only regulars (at least from my experience).

I hope i covered the basics, there are a lot more things to learn, they will come with time.

Good luck and ask away if you have any other questions.

Edit: when shooting that bow, it’s important to not engage a lot of zombies at the same time, just get close to them, until one or a couple aggros, then drag them out of the area, not too far, shoot them, butcher, get your arrows and go for the next ones. Take care of your arms encumbrance, it will hinder your shooting.

[Wojtek94]

Thank you for advice;) I chose static spawn because for me it’s more realistic than ,ok… I can’t see zombies. I have few hours. It’s time for shopping". It is too easy because I check the most important buildings in near town and I have everything on the first day:/ I don’t have experience but it’s not so tragic situation;) Usually I try to avoid fighting so I stay in wilderness and practice throwing to 4 or 5 with stones. For water I use funnel and empty bottles. Long stick always gives me possibility to roast raw meat so I don’t need cooking utilities. For me,cabins and public works are great places to start. I have water and hot meat so now I need stronghold;) But usually **** moose kill me without mercy(unfortunately,I don’t have nuclear stones)

[Dlightfull]

Thank you for advice;) I chose static spawn because for me it’s more realistic than ,ok… I can’t see zombies. I have few hours. It’s time for shopping". It is too easy because I check the most important buildings in near town and I have everything on the first day:/ I don’t have experience but it’s not so tragic situation;) Usually I try to avoid fighting so I stay in wilderness and practice throwing to 4 or 5 with stones. For water I use funnel and empty bottles. Long stick always gives me possibility to roast raw meat so I don’t need cooking utilities. For me,cabins and public works are great places to start. I have water and hot meat so now I need stronghold;) But usually **** moose kill me without mercy(unfortunately,I don’t have nuclear stones)

you can kill moose with bow+arrows. Moose is delicious meat and fat ;).

[Random_dragon]

Put simply? Night vision. In stable it’s admittedly not much help, but the experimentals have made vision range tweaks such that you can see a good distance in the moonlight.

Other than that, always…ALWAYS use your light source in short bursts. Turn it on, use “x” to survey the area, turn it off, then bugger off pronto.

[Azrad]

I never use light sources during early night raids. Always felt like too much of a risk.

Night vision helps a lot, especially in the experimentals where the light radius the trait gives is a whole lot bigger. At night when the weather is not clear, you can spot zombies at the edge of night vision and they won’t detect you.

In any case, best to avoid the middle of the road at night. Avoid being near windows, since if there’s a zombie standing near the window, and they detect/hear you, that glass will break and more will hear. If there are cars, avoid them since they’re sound magnets if there’s zombies around (and they are). If there’s a car with its lights on, best to assume that there are a lot of zombies around it. Crafting makeshift lockpicks is better than a makeshift crowbar.

Also, some houses have back doors. Especially useful at the edge of towns because there’s less zombies there. In fact, never go deeper into towns unless you already have an idea of what to do.

[Random_dragon]

And remember, don’t bring a shotgun unless you brought enough ammo for everyone. owo

[Azrad]

And if you’re a bit up there on torso encumbrance, and not enough in melee to hit zombie kids and dogs, there’s always the nail gun. Low range, but a few shots will kill the hard to hit ones and they’re silent. Well, not the smoker. Avoid the smoker unless you got mouth protection.

And, if you’re on experimental, if all else fails, run. Try not to go near zombies while running, since they can grab you and eat your face.

[TheWumpus]

Self Defense Classes: Ninjitsu. Enjoy your silent Melee attacks and bonuses from being on the move. And yes, it works even while wielding weapons.

Other than that? Everything everybody else has said. Don’t forget to zoom out out (z, shift-z to force zoom in) while raiding at night to check for active vehicles with headlights, emergency lights, and all that fun jazz that can end a run quicker than getting handed an active mininuke in the early game.

EDIT: Ninjitsu is one of the few martial arts that can never be learned (without modding in a book) after character creation. I highly suggest it, as even late game silent melee attacks are awesome.

[Azrad]

There is a book for ninjitsu, though. In stable, there was no place where it dropped, but it’s possible with experimentals, I think. Found a manual for krav maga, and I don’t recall exactly, but I think it was a manual for tiger kung fu as well. Found in a military outpost. Those two didn’t show on stable either but they did on experimental, so it may be possible to find one on an outpost. Possibly. Book for ninjutsu is called essence of ninjutsu.

Also, on the options, don’t turn on circular distances. Moving diagonally takes more time for realism as I recall, but the problem was zombies and NPCs didn’t follow it. So if you were running diagonally on circular distance, and there’s zombies chasing you diagonally, they will catch up. Note this was for stable, not sure if that got fixed in experimental.

[Random_dragon]

I seem to move diagonally just fine in experimental, so it’s presumably fixed.

[Dlightfull]

Crafting makeshift lockpicks is better than a makeshift crowbar.

it might be better for doors, but you still need a crowbar for windows.

And even if you don’t go through windows, you still need a crowbar to open crates/manholes.

[Wojtek94]

I can’t use makeshift crowbar on windows. ,There is no door". Few words about nighvision-my way of playing is strange because I always try to build ,realistic" character,not superhero. I can’t see in the dark night so I don’t choose nightvision etc. I know it’s only a game but this way of playing has better atmosphere

[Dlightfull]

I can’t use makeshift crowbar on windows. ,There is no door". Few words about nighvision-my way of playing is strange because I always try to build ,realistic" character,not superhero. I can’t see in the dark night so I don’t choose nightvision etc. I know it’s only a game but this way of playing has better atmosphere

you can’t use them on all the windows, but you can on some. You can see a bit in the dark, as a real person.

[Shopkeeper]

You said your playing on static spawns, what’s the zombie spawn rate set to in your worlds? Because statc spawns mean all the Zombies that will ever exist
in that town/city/slice-of-post-apocalyptic-surburbia are there right now. The best part about this is that thanks to the reality bubble you can always take on these zombies on your terms, grab the attention of one zombie at a time and lead them to a bush/window frame (getting them on a difficult movement tile while you are on clear and solid ground will let you hit them several times while they might only get one hit in) before beating em to death with your improvised melee weapon of choice. Rinse and repeat this process until the local reality bubble is clear of enemies and you’ll be free to loot everything without interruption.

[Azrad]

Yeah, thinning out the crowd on static is handy. As long as you got a decent melee weapon, you can take on most zombies during the day one on one. Only one that you won’t be able to would be shocker zeds. If you do have to attack them, use a weapon that won’t conduct electricity. Don’t try to hit them with a crowbar, 'cause you’ll get paralyzed and it’ll hit you several times in a row. There’s no real way to avoid their electric shot attack, though, so watch out for that. It’ll take a while for them to do the shot again, and you better have killed them before they do so again.

And don’t even try to melee a shocker brute unless you have the proper protection from electricity.

On crowbars and opening things, I really just stick to picklocks. Crates don’t show up much in buildings, and I prefer lockpicking doors in the end. I do carry one with me at all times though, just in case.

Also, as soon as you can, find a shopping cart or a wheelbarrow.

[Dlightfull]

[quote=“Azrad, post:18, topic:10010”]Yeah, thinning out the crowd on static is handy. As long as you got a decent melee weapon, you can take on most zombies during the day one on one. Only one that you won’t be able to would be shocker zeds. If you do have to attack them, use a weapon that won’t conduct electricity. Don’t try to hit them with a crowbar, 'cause you’ll get paralyzed and it’ll hit you several times in a row. There’s no real way to avoid their electric shot attack, though, so watch out for that. It’ll take a while for them to do the shot again, and you better have killed them before they do so again.

And don’t even try to melee a shocker brute unless you have the proper protection from electricity.

On crowbars and opening things, I really just stick to picklocks. Crates don’t show up much in buildings, and I prefer lockpicking doors in the end. I do carry one with me at all times though, just in case.

Also, as soon as you can, find a shopping cart or a wheelbarrow.[/quote]
you can kill a shocker pretty easy with a bow. Just aggro them and wait for them around some corner (out of their LOS), a couple of tiles away, and when they show up - shoot them. They usually die in 2-3 hits, with mediocre archery skills (with good archery skills you can kill that way shocker brutes too).

if you’re into shooting, chain fences are awesome, since they will keep zombies at bay, while allowing you to safely shoot them. Never tested if shockers shoot their electricity through chain fences, but if they don’t it’s probably the safest way to deal with them. Take note that zombies will eventually destroy those chain fences, so you will need to relocate. Also take care to not run out of ammo that you won’t be able to recover.

[Azrad]

Oh yeah. Don’t really use archery, so I couldn’t really comment on how to use them. I like crossbows more, but the reload time doesn’t fare well when there’s no obstacles. Shockers don’t shoot their bolts through chain link fences, anyway.