I haven’t found either of these things to be necessary to get high-end loot or skills, though I’ll cop to investing in high intelligence most of the time, and hordes come closer to killing me than most stuff does.
My advice would be to crack open the crafting menus - if someone’s still having trouble in the early game, getting a wooden needle (fabrication 1, a knife, and any source of wood is all you need; add a rock and some metal scraps if you don’t have fabrication 1 yet) and raising tailoring for the extra armor and warmth it can get you is likely to help a lot, and there’s a few easy-to-make weapons that will make early game fighting a lot safer. Thread and rags are easy to get from window curtains, so most starts will be able to get them really easily.
If you’re worried about the nastier critters that show up in cities - shocker brutes, hulks, etc - look into what it takes to craft molotovs and be careful how and where you explore. It’s possible, if a bit risky, to take pretty much anything dangerous you’ll find in a city with those at night. (Just don’t forget that once you’ve lit the molotov, everything nearby can see you. Throw it immediately!)
After that, what you want is basic tools, a few books, and an idea of where you’re getting food from. Hacksaw, wrench, screwdriver, hammer, soldering iron, any acetylene torches you can find, a welder if you’re lucky… once you’ve hit mechanics 2, you can currently raise the skill the rest of the way by dismantling vehicle hulks for parts. (Garages can have most of the tools; books come from libraries, schools, mansions, or getting lucky. Scientist corpses often have useful ones too, if you can fend off a mi-go.)
