I'm not fond of either utility vests or wool ponchos. For me a well dressed throwing/melee character has sneakers, fingerless gloves, glove liners, 1-3 head coverings that don't block the eyes or mouth, safety glasses, a wrist watch, a trench coat, under armor, cargo pants, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of cargo shorts, and has a grabbed shopping cart. Everything possible fits and is reinforced - the only encumbrance is the head which doesn't count. This outfit gives a packmule character 154 volume to play with, and if needed, you can still add more, but most anything but holster-type stuff will encumber you then, but throwing on two backpacks and two rucksacks is useful if you want to repack a full shopping cart or something.
I start the game throwing rocks to survive, bashing with the crowbar as a last resort. My early game is looking for any storage clothing (I prefer to start with shower victim, hobo, or prostitute, so storage space is the key to everything else for me) and not getting into any bad situations while I find a decent place to wait out detox.
Once that's over with I actively seek shockers for the CBMs while slowly checking houses and shops on the borders for whatever's useful. I'm content to 'go wandering' when I have a fairly full set of tools, about a week's worth of water, a few days worth of food, tons of well fitting storage clothing, and of course that shopping cart. I'd like a weapon better than a crowbar (machete or better cutting weapon, preferably), but it's not needed, especially with that cart. And I'd rather have sharp knives of any sort instead of rocks, but they're not needed either.
Shopping carts really are like a mobile barrier, just spin around so the cart is between you and your enemy and move away if there's a group, or hold still if you like what you see approaching. The enemy will step on the cart, and you have a pretty much guaranteed free hit on it - you can then retreat a tile, taking the shopping cart with you and leaving the enemy still stuck on the tile that had held the cart before. (Why doesn't the enemy 'ride' the cart and stay next to you, getting free hits without having to work to chase? For now I guess they fall out when you move... bet that's going to change one day
) If the enemy is quick they move when you do, and get stuck on the cart again, one more free hit and back away again... If the enemy is slow, you have maybe 4 hits before they can react, but either way it's very safe.
This is fairly effective against a horde too, you just keep backing away whenever there's any that can hit you besides the one that's on the cart - and you just don't -let- them surround you, period. The cart slows whichever lucky enemy steps into that square, and when you back away, it won't be immediately chasing. When you can safely strike at the slowed zombie, do so; when not, keep backing away. Safe and easy, at least when dealing with static spawns in an area where you know which direction is safe to retreat towards.
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Topic: Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - A roaming horde appears on the horizon! (Read 1879570 times)