I’m bored and I think I can share my standart tactics with you and maybe even help some newbs.
First I would like to tell you how I create my character.
Stats:
I usually go with 14 int and everything else on standart.
Traits:
Quick, Parkour Expert, Lightfooted, Night Vision, Fast Reader and Fast Learner are the most important traits to me so if you think you can take a few negative traits then be sure to get them
Skills:
Never really bothered with them. You can learn anything in-game.
Now after you spawn in the world you should search the basement of the evac shelter for something usefull like a backpack and then go to the next town.
Important buildings for me are:
Mil surplus (backpacks and other storage items, food, water, books, armour and other usefull stuff)
Sport Shops (binoculas, backpacks, tents, tools, baseball bat (really good melee bashing weapon) and so much more I can’t even list them all here :D)
Garage and Parking lots (cars :P)
Gun stores (not that important as I rather play melee but it’s good to have a rifle or handgun)
Hardware stores (get yourself a crowbar and steeltoed shoes and you are good. I only take more from it if I intend to build a base)
Zombies spawn starts at 9:30am but if you:
-only fight at fences and other terrains that hinder movement
-run around houses so the zombies loose your track
-don’t get cornered
-find a molotov (:P)
You can easily search a few extra hours.
So now after we got ourself some equipment I usually decide what I do next either I build a base or travell around by car or by foot.
As a base I always take the evac shelter as long as it is far enough away from the town it’s sufficient and has many exits where you can escape if things get difficult.
When it’s day I usually:
-Read (you decide what you think is more important to you. For example if you have some nice bionics you should focus on electronic, mechanic and first aid)
-Explore the surrounding area (if possible stay on roads, have your autosafe on and watch out for worms. Once I didn’t had my safe on and I got slaughtered in like 1 second)
-Craft and reinforce the hideout (if you found a shovel then make pits around your windows this can get really handy if wolves decide to “siege” your base xD)
-Train my melee skills (Ideally if you find a beehive wait for a lot of scarred zombies to come, drop everything that encumbers your torse and kite them through obstacles or if you are really badass like me you go into the town and slaughter some zombies.
In my last playthrough I killed over 100 normal zombies only by using windows in 2 days.)
At night I:
-Raid towns or military outposts (somehow those turrets glow in the dark… if you manage to bomb yourself a way in stay from turrets 1-2 tiles away or they will shoot the shit out of you)
-Sleep without raiding to heal wounds (Happens really often after I have trained my melee skills :D)
-Read at candle light (beehives are your friends if you can kill the bees and zombies)
Raiding towns at night is actually the easiet way to get supplies.
At the beginning it is a little bit strange not to see anything and that’s the reason I never did it at the beginning but if you explored the map with your binoculars you can orientate with the minimap. Never use flashlights in the open street though! You should remember to make a note when you scavenge a building so you don’t waste your time when you forget that you already visited that house the day before. Also don’t panic when you get chased by zombies and just simply outrun them. With the quick bonus and maybe some stimulants they loose your track soon.
When you enter a store you can flick your flashlight on and off to speed up the scavenging but remember: Even if you don’t see them, they can see you!
Aim to be home at about 0:00 so you can wake up at 7-8am.
Now I repeat this until I either die or pimp my ride and then drive away to build a new base in an other town.
I’m still working on the second goal though. 
But if I decide to be a lone wolf I have no actual plan and only try to learn from my mistakes in my previous lifes.
Some important items are:
-A tent, cot, rollmat (if you don’t have a car)
-lighter (to cook food)
-sharp item (to butcher corpses)
-pot (to boil water)
-a weapon of course
-first aid and painkillers (you will get hurt a lot… at least I do)
-binoculars
-“crowd control” items like molotovs and grenades
-crowbar
-flashlight (always carry a fleshlight with you. Hehehe…)
-food and water (humans have to eat and drink)
That are only the most imporant in my opinion and you can also take books and other stuff with you. Especially if you have a car.
Now there are some things I noticed that can increase your survival chance by a lot though most of it only applies when you haven’t a car.
Always stay on the road:
Worms… they are everywhere.
Wolfes are deadly:
If you have no firearm. If that’s the case I first look at how many wolves there are. A single wolve will stay passive until you get too close from him or start running away. NEVER run away from them as it/they will 100% get you. Throw stones at him and use underbushes or other obstacles to your advantage. With some proper melee skills you can one hit a wolf.
But if you encounter a pack you should focus on killing one of them. Plan your movement so you only have to fight one wolf at a time. If you have stimulants use them now as wolves are really fast and you won’t be able to do it midfight. So after you finally manage to kill a single wolf the other will start ignoring you. And when I say that they ignore you then I mean it! Hit them, kill them, they don’t care! That’s basically free experience and food.
Never travell at night:
There are so many things that can kill you and you can’t even react fast enough because when you see them it’s already too late.
Caves are a no-go:
You’d think bears are fluffy and not too aggressive. Well, this only applies when you don’t enter their caves.
They are fast, they are strong, they are deadly.
Stay away from swamps:
Ok, if you feel lucky you can pass them and hope no monsters spawn but if you stay there too long you’re fucked.
Beehives are your friends:
As I mentioned befor it’s a good way to train your melee skills and get some delicous honey combs.
Avoid NPCs:
They either kill you or crash your game. And even if they are friendly and you ask them to teach you a skill they will lead you into a forest. I think they rape you there…
Drop your backpack and other torso encumbrance items when you fight:
Those negative effects are really overkill in my opinion.
Don’t forget your backpack and other torse encumbrance items:
Happened way too often to me…
Mound of Dirts are evil:
They explode. Do I have to say anything else?
I guess that’s all for now.
Please excuse my bad english and have fun in your apocalypse. 