If the zombies didn’t chase you innawoods.
It’s a good idea to have a house there, they don’t come after you, I am on day 4, and I had t pretty great shelter spawn in a wood alcove, near a town.
You can make houses, though chainsaws and wood axes are rare, chainsaws are going to need fuel.
A house size of 5x5 Is reasonable, surrounded with pits, that are spiked, and a one-tile wide entrance with any obstacle in it, preferably a window- is exceptionally good shelter in the woods, you wont ever have problems finding safe haven here given you can actually outrun things that chase you home, and if you can’t there is always molotovs and your traps.
Layers of additional traps are good, and a layer of chainlink doesn’t hurt.
Vehicles themselves can also make pretty good full time bases, you can sleep in your car park next to or in the woods and have a safe night’s sleep, probably good practice then to reinforce/upgrade your car whenever possible, and remove spare seats for more trunks, that seatbelt is just extra weight!
Generally the best thing you can do when you start is bumrush sporting good stores and clothing stores for a backpack (or two) and other clothes, if you got lucky there look for an MP3 Player, and of course check any and all vehicle spawn locations, all garages/parking lots, vehicles are such an amazing boon for you so if you can’t find one, maybe make one as soon as possible.
For that matter your next need is a day’s food and a book, you can read under the hood until sunset and go back to raid the homes you scouted out.
You can flash your light on and off to get a general idea of where you are, but don’t do it too much.
Since Zombies rely more on scent and noise in the dark, light step is fantastic, smelly is one of the worst negative traits.
If you go as an archer you get near inexhaustible ammo and in the later levels of competency, bows are not half bad hitters.
Quick is the best trait that I’ve used so far, quick’s bonus is also affected by comestibles that increase speed, it’s bonus can stack with any other speed bonus, the bonus from adderall for example boosts it from 10% to 12%, it gets better with more stimulants.
NPCs although buggy can give you many free skills upon completing their mission, ask them to train you and recruit them, ask for more skills and a few free skill ups might be available, their skills are random but often there is enough that one or two will be useful to you, when they start charging or you just don’t want them anymore, run them over with your car or something, there is no negative repercussions for killing them that I’ve seen so far.
It’s probably best to carry a few tools around with you on your person or in the trunk; Knife(combat, steak, butcher, machete) lighter, flashlight, rope, crowbar, electrohack, jerrycan (full of gas), molotov, gas mask.
When driving at night in a car or truck, to see the road all you need to do is line the truck or car up with the road’s yellow lines, I use night vision trait, so I can see the yellow lines. If you stop seeing them after a fumble, correct your car or truck in a random direction, if that fails slow down a bit and fidget with the turns until you spot the yellow lines again, works well at later levels of driving.
Steel toe cap boots seem to massively reduce the chance you get injured or have your equipment damaged on dangerous terrain, and their encumbered is not at all bad for what they offer.
Reinforced clothing encumbers you less.
