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[Majestic7]

Fighting zeds behind windows is a somewhat safe way to melee. That is, going through a window and whacking them when they try climbing through it after you. That is how I always handle larger groups if necessary.

Regarding starting equipment, if you take a shelter start, make yourself a nail board by bashing benches and then getting a rock from the outside to act as a hammer. Better than going out unarmed.

[forsaken1111]

I always bash a locker apart for a pipe and then use a rock to bash it into a crowbar. Decent weapon and you can jimmy doors open.

[n9103]

By lure, he means wait for them to see you then get them well away from the rest of town.
Enemies within a screen's distance could hear the fight and come looking.
And take a swing at them, not a hit. Odds are low you're gonna connect more often than not with most starting characters, so it's best to plan that you're not going to hit them, and certainly not 1-hit kill, and you need to know what you're going to do to avoid being hit in return. This is the main principle behind the current bush kiting and window choking, the latter only a good idea once you've got some form of armor and improved weapons.

As he went on to say, taking hits is bad. Yea, just about everything bad comes from being hit, even once, depending on the specifics of the hit.
A few things are a danger even without ever getting into combat. Those would be fungaloids when not fully equipped to deal with the spores, and some of the more unusual things found in labs. And I suppose some of the extra-dimensional guests' hostilities may or may not count as conflict, depending on the point of view and specific incidence.

Those niche cases aside, you've got to learn how to exploit the terrain to your advantage to both close into melee range, and also keep you out of their range, all while attracting as few as possible between groups.

Being that I'm not able to do the summer semester at full time (which means I would just be using up my GI bill at less than maximum benefit,) I might think about doing a LP/Walkthrough or two. No budget, but high experience, and a moderate amount of technical expertise. Shouldn't end up too awful.


(Passed out before submitting this, so it looks like some of the info has been duplicated, still useful info in there though.)

[FArgHalfnr]

Watching LPs can really help learning some of the tricks. I didn't know you could use shopping carts to carry more stuff before I watched my first one, for example.
Also, the furry suits are surprisingly good at blocking hits, granted that you can get over the encumbrance they give they can be really useful. They're kinda like a early-game power armor imo.

[BigD145]

A lot of the advice here is for the harder starts. Pick a start with weapons and skills and you'll tear most zombies apart without much trouble as long as you don't get surrounded. Doors are great for funneling enemies.

[NullForceOmega]

Backpedaling and using the '5' key to wait a step is also very useful, you can pretty casually clear even ridiculous numbers of animate corpses that way once you learn the 'safe' number of steps for inflicting damage.  Take the 'Parkour Expert' perk, it will save your damned life over and over again.  If you've got the points, take the 'Quick' perk also, it will let you kill much more effectively.

P.S.: Mystic headshot ability is still effing stupid.

[gimlet]

In addition to the above, my tip is to take decent stats - high strength, at least 12, try for 14, dex at least 10, better 12.  Decent perception - shoot for 10 if you can.  I tend to not buy any skills, putting everything possible into stats.  If I ever did take a skill, yeah Dodge would be the only one I'd sink a point on.

And throw stuff, it starts out weak but quickly gets to be pretty useful.   Rocks are OK to start, but I get better damage with ceramic shards (smash toilets) or lumps of steel (if you can afford the 2-volume, probably because they're heavier.   And those are easy to replace if you need to drop them to use the inventory space or because you needed to flee.  It's really REALLY handy to put some damage on a zombie before he can attack you, it slows him down and lets you finish him off in a hit or 2.  Or throw other tools/weapons that you are carrying, better to finish it off from a distance than risk a hit, especially before you get better armor.   If he's still not finished off, lead him away, circle around and pick up your throwing stuff again, rinse and repeat.  Just be careful throwing anything vital in case a spitter shows up.

My preferred early weapon is the cudgel - easy to make, reasonably fast, +2 bonus to hit, and has block, parry and rapid strike iirc.  The knife spear is nice too - a bit more trouble to make, better damage but only has Block, which is still very helpful for survival early on.

And to reiterate - you MUST watch your encumbrance, and status effects like hunger/thirst or especially pain.  Getting slowed down will make you way easier to kill.  Run away, repair your armor,  bandage up, let your pain go down, go into fights fresh and fast whenever you possibly can.

[Teneb]

As an alternative, try starting as a SWAT officer while also taking Krav Maga. Will probably need to take a few flaws to offset that, but it sure is worth it. The guns the officer starts with are also great for dealing with shockers and other nasty enemies, and the armour will help you survive attacks from most zombies.

[FArgHalfnr]

As an alternative, try starting as a SWAT officer while also taking Krav Maga. Will probably need to take a few flaws to offset that, but it sure is worth it. The guns the officer starts with are also great for dealing with shockers and other nasty enemies, and the armour will help you survive attacks from most zombies.

Very true. Krav Maga is extremely good, I managed to last almost a year with it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

You can last for quite a long time by going into archery. It'll be a while until you can get proper broadheads, but even with fire-hardened arrows and field-points you can dish out some decent damage.

Once you find the Bowyer's Buddy book and get a few levels in mechanic, you'll be able to craft the best survival weapon you can easily carry around - the pistol crossbow. Crossbow bolts need no fletching, and metal ones are very sturdy, and just take some scrap metal and minimal tools to make. The pistol crossbow is quick to load, decently powerful, and can fit in a holster. I did make a proper crossbow, as well as a pneumatic bolt thrower, but I ditched both in favor of the pistol. The tiny size and the quick reload are much more important than raw power and range.

[NullForceOmega]

That was anti-climactic as hell.  Just got killed by being launched through a radio tower by a brute.  I was lightly injured, but the attack only did 25 points of damage, so I feel rather screwed over for no reason right now.

[BigD145]

As an alternative, try starting as a SWAT officer while also taking Krav Maga. Will probably need to take a few flaws to offset that, but it sure is worth it. The guns the officer starts with are also great for dealing with shockers and other nasty enemies, and the armour will help you survive attacks from most zombies.

You can always up your initial points and start strong, then try harder starts after figuring things out.

[ChairmanPoo]

Hmmm observation: isn't the miniflamethrower pwer cost a bit steep, considering it's a glorified lighter?

Or is there some hidden use for this that I've not noticed?

[TheBronzePickle]

Is there any reason the stone wall requires so much higher construction than brick, wooden, or even basic concrete walls?

[Akura]

Maybe it's because you're piling up rocks and hoping it stays standing?