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[Imp]

I just went from half health, to dead, from a single dog.

Just checking, but was any level of pain part of the equation?

[GlyphGryph]

EDIT: I just went from half health, to dead, from a single dog.  2 skill in cutting and a combat knife (via the military recruit profession) and I couldn't kill a dog.  And heaven knows you can't run...  They're unusually impossible to actually hit, all my attacks flat out missed...

Does the combat knife still have that mysterious and signficant penalty to accuracy? If I remember correctly, it was quite large, for unknown reasons, making your skill essentially less-than-zero.

[Girlinhat]

I just went from half health, to dead, from a single dog.

Just checking, but was any level of pain part of the equation?

Only a little, I was still ~95 speed when the fight started.  Dogs are just ungodly fast and have unusually high dodge.

[Grendus]

I usually prefer a fast weapon, like the pointy stick or knife spear, against the zombie dogs. Get behind a bush, table, smashed window, or other movement impeding space, and wait for them to get close enough to hit them. If you can't, run away and hit them whenever they get close. By moving away, you make it harder for them to kite you, they'll usually run out of space and be stuck next to you when your turn comes up. They're a pain in the ass (and every other body part), but I haven't had too much trouble with them even in the early game.

[Girlinhat]

...combat knife has a -2 to-hit.  Rebar, just a thick steel rod, has a +2.  A combat knife has the same to-hit as a butter knife or a rock.

Forget that, we're going with spears.

[Nighthawk]

I heard somewhere that weapons and damage are going to get a rehaul eventually, and piercing weapons will become incredibly ineffective against zombies, whereas bashing, and especially slashing, will do a ton more damage.

Can't wait for that.

[Lukewarm]

I have to swear by the nail board. Easy for a  fresh-from-the-bunker survivor to make, hits 20 some damage with little skill. Not fancy, but it will kill your vanilla sort of zed with relative ease, provided he's hung up on a window.

[BurnedToast]

...combat knife has a -2 to-hit.  Rebar, just a thick steel rod, has a +2.  A combat knife has the same to-hit as a butter knife or a rock.

Forget that, we're going with spears.

Need moar STR.

14 STR means you can slice through the zombie hordes with your starting pocketknife no problem with a little window (cart/bush/fence/etc) dancing

Edit: and by STR of course I mean DEX. For some reason with 14 dex I have +15 to hit (does your charecter sheet take weapon skill into account or something?)

I heard somewhere that weapons and damage are going to get a rehaul eventually, and piercing weapons will become incredibly ineffective against zombies, whereas bashing, and especially slashing, will do a ton more damage.

Can't wait for that.

Piercing better become very very good vs living things (or have some other huge bonus) otherwise they might as well remove it from the game. Slash and blunt weapons are already significantly better once you graduate past "sharpened stick" tier of weaponry.

[Girlinhat]

...combat knife has a -2 to-hit.  Rebar, just a thick steel rod, has a +2.  A combat knife has the same to-hit as a butter knife or a rock.

Forget that, we're going with spears.

Need moar STR.

14 STR means you can slice through the zombie hordes with your starting pocketknife no problem with a little window (cart/bush/fence/etc) dancing

Edit: and by STR of course I mean DEX. For some reason with 14 dex I have +15 to hit (does your charecter sheet take weapon skill into account or something?)

I am at 14 str, this is a build designed for zweihander and plate armor.

[guitarxe]

Do "bruised" corpses have a lower chance to yield meat when you butcher them? I have just butchered ~10 squirrels in a row, and only one of them was not "bruised". That was also the only one that yielded me any meat =/

[Grendus]

I heard somewhere that weapons and damage are going to get a rehaul eventually, and piercing weapons will become incredibly ineffective against zombies, whereas bashing, and especially slashing, will do a ton more damage.

Can't wait for that.

I'm not sure why. According to the logs in the science labs, the zombies have goo organs. Functionally they're alive, they're just barely sentient and extremely hostile. These aren't "BRAAAAAINS!" zombies, these are parasites that are trying to create hosts for more of their species.

Regardless, I still prefer swords. The Firebrand serves a wonderful dual purpose as a sword and a gasoline powered flashlight.

[guessingo]

zombie dogs are not that hard. if you have trouble with them it means your heading into town too soon. the general suggestions is survive in the woods for a few days to build up some combat skills and get some better eq. i never though zombie dogs were that big of a deal. remember rocks are your friend early on. grab them and train throwing. so you can always have something to use for range combat.

How do you get equipment or water while living in the woods?  Meat, sure, but there's no clothing out there, and if you find water you've usually found dragonflies as well.

EDIT: I just went from half health, to dead, from a single dog.  2 skill in cutting and a combat knife (via the military recruit profession) and I couldn't kill a dog.  And heaven knows you can't run...  They're unusually impossible to actually hit, all my attacks flat out missed...

the only real priority you have early is water. everything else can wait. food is easy. you dont need cloths early. its better to train against easier stuff. now as far as water goes. you can usually find some bottled water on science corpses to get you through a couple of days. stick to eating fruit as much as possible since that gives some water. i always start with night vision. generally you can find a working toilet in a house on the edge of town. break a window in back, get in, get water and get out. at a minimum you can make it to the first night before going to town and spend the day wandering and training. throw rocks at everything you pass to get throwing to level 2. that helps alot with dogs. rocks can be picked up and dropped as you go.

in most games you should be able to find enough water on corpses to make it to the 2nd night without going to town if you also try to exclusive eat fruit as well to get a little water. you may be 'thirsty', but it wont be that bad. by the 2nd day you can have throw to 2, dodge to 1-2, melee to 1-2. if you find a corpse you find some stuff you can wear to carry a few more things. so you can carry more rocks. that is generally enough to hit a house on the outskirts at night for water. then go back to the same house for water. in .8 houses run out of water, so its a hassle, but your goal is to stay out of town until you get those combat skills up. everything else can wait. throwing is really easy to train since you can throw rocks at rabbits.

bows used to be the way to go, but they are harder to train now and are not good until high levels. so id focus on throw and melee early. during the day wander far and wide outside to try to find as many corpses as possible. sometimes you get lucky and find houses in the wild. 

you can stick to just the outskirts of town at night for water basically indefinitely... until you feel comfortable going to town. i dont find dogs a big deal. i find having rocks with me to be a big bonus and training it up. by level 3 throwing they do pretty decent damage and there are so many of them, i can let zombies chase me. throw, retreat, grab more. weaken, then try to kill the ones that get ahead in 1-2 hits in melee after weakening before i get surrounded.

throwing rocks is very useful for early game survival.

btw, your lets play video is pretty good.

[Imp]

throwing is really easy to train since you can throw rocks at rabbits anything, including the bare ground one square away from your feet.
by level 3 throwing they do pretty decent damage and there are so many of them, i can let zombies chase me. throw, retreat, grab more. weaken, then try to kill the ones that get ahead in 1-2 hits in melee after weakening before i get surrounded.

throwing rocks is very useful for early game survival.

FTFY

But totally agree, given the commonness of rocks and the way you can learn by throwing anything at anything, even the ground beside your feet - you can reasonably have throwing to level 2, even with an addict starting character within a really short time (thus before mood effects make learning not gonna happen for those about to hit withdrawls).

[Grendus]

I hit the fifth floor in a freezing lab, once it got down to -90F even with fur clothing and Climate Control (and chugging batteries like they're water to stay charged) I couldn't manage my temperature and had to back off. Got some awesome bionics though: Joint Torsion Ratchet, Solar Panels, Battery System, Ethanol Burner, Internal Furnace, Metabolic Interchange, Uncanny Dodge, Mini Flamethrower. Trying to decide if I want to explore a cave next or the FEMA camp that showed up on the map once I hacked the lab computers.

[Girlinhat]

I hit the fifth floor in a freezing lab, once it got down to -90F even with fur clothing and Climate Control (and chugging batteries like they're water to stay charged) I couldn't manage my temperature and had to back off.

What all are you wearing?  Though it's terribly encumbersome, you can wear a fur blanket or fur sleeping bag, along with fur cloaks and trenchcoats.  You might have to accept some mouth frostbite especially...