Survival Guide

Welcome to Project Zomboid's Survival Guide article. This small guide will make a general wrap-up of the several topics covered in Project Zomboid which could aid the survival of newer player.

Note : This guide was written with version 2.0r RC2.5 in mind.

Controls

First things first, new players should take a look at the Controls so you can learn how to play. The better you operate your controls, the more chances you have of making it through the day.

Knox County

Project Zomboid's event takes place in Knox County. Currently, the main map is divided in 4 quadrants.

The Suburbs are located in the Northwestern quadrant. This is the very first map that was implemented in the game. This is where the game's tutorial 'Til Death Us Do Part takes place. With a huge park in the middle, it has 23 residential buildings, sheds, and commercial buildings surrounding it. The most important buildings a player should explore by mid-game is the General Store for food, the Hardware Store for important tools and the Storage Warehouse for additional canned food and supplies. The multiple sheds and cabins in the area usually have a good number of planks, and in particular, the garden shed, has 10 planks. However, this place is on the busy side, with a high zombie and NPC population density, so it isn't very suitable for a base.

The Villas are located in the Northeastern quadrant. A mostly peaceful sector containing 6 luxurious villas and a restaurant. It's also a good choice for setting up a safe-house fortress, especially the northeastern-most villa as very few zombies will follow you there, and it is easy to fortify. The villa itself contains very little zombie and NPC activity, unless you or a NPC directs the activity toward it. The restaurant should be considered a lost cause for a base, as it is WAY too close to the downtown district.

The Woods are located in the Southwestern quadrant. At the southwest part of this quadrant is a small house with a barn next to it. Setting up a safe-house here is unadvised because it is far away from food and water supplies. However, if you have a lot of supplies, feel free to settle in. The low number of zombies/NPCs and the amount of surrounding space will allow you to make a decent safe house that none of the other quadrants can support. At the northwest of this quadrant is a small woodcutter shack which happens to be close to the suburbs. It's perfect for wannabe-carpenters and woodcutters as a safe-house. Players will often find Sledgehammers and Saws in its storage crates.

The Downtown District is located in the Southeastern quadrant. Contains 2 restaurant, a warehouse, lots of shops, a gas station, a school and a number of office buildings in the middle. The downtown district is one of the busiest, bustling with zombie and NPC activity at almost all times. Because of the high amount of activity, broken windows, doors and littered corpses are common sight. Players are advised to be careful around the northwestern part of this quadrant near the city center, as there are more zombies here than in anywhere else. Because of this, it is unadvised to make a safe house here at all situations. However, the warehouse and the schools are essential for literature and tools.

The Northern Highway is an off-grid map cell which spans 3 different map cells. Following the dirt road can lead you to a large Farmhouse which contains a barn, a storage shack and a Well. Other than the barn and the two roads leading to the barns, in these different maps, it is not possible to go back into the city. Usually, walking back the way you came will just load up a new randomly generated map. Players are advised to be careful around the Villas' northern edge not to accidentally walk beyond the bounds.

Starting Out

The First Day

In the first day, the first thing you should look for is a weapon. DON'T use a shotgun as a primary weapon, it makes too much noise, which attracts more zombies to your location. Here is my list of MELEE weapons, from best to worst:

Fire Axe
Spiked Baseball Bat
Shovel
Plain Baseball Bat
Frying Pan
Nailed Plank
Hammer
Kitchen Knife
Pool Cue
Butter Knife
Screwdriver
Wooden Plank
Sledgehammer (too light)
Pen/Pencil

When looking for a weapon, look for at least a kitchen knife, the items below it aren't suitable for long term survival. Don't battle any group of enemies larger than 3 zombies. When facing a larger group, run past 2 corners and the majority of them will lose you. After finding your weapon, find a 2-day ration of food, and at least 1-4 full bottles of water. Once you have your basic supplies, you should find somewhere to stay the night. Then fortify it by sheeting up the windows in the entrance and in the bedroom and in the kitchen. Once you are out of view, turn on all the lights, you don't need to spend the night in dark. It may take a couple hours, but empty the house of any items, then organize your items into various containers (ex. One container can have the spare weapons, another for the canned food, the fridge for the perishables, the sink for the water bottles, etc). Then, eat some dinner and get to sleep. When you eat, make sure you eat the PERISHABLES first, as they will rot once power is gone.

Collecting Water

Soon, you will be hit with the problem of the upcoming water works failure. You need to spend the next 4 days collecting pots, bottles, bowls of water. After day 5 (can vary), you will have to live off your own rations. 10-15 water containers are acceptable, but if you want to survive more than 2 months, you should stock up at least 20, I suggest around 30, the more the better. While doing that, look for better weapons. By the end of day 4, you should have at least a baseball bat, but I suggest you get an axe as soon as possible. While looking for the items above items, take these items if you see them: anti-boredom items, non-perishable food, tissues, perishables, a saw, some sheets, medicine, and construction materials. If you run out of water after the failure, then you can go into the forest (farm) area and try to find wells which provide an unlimited water supply, but you really don't want to risk resorting to that, as you will most likely encounter numerous enemies.

Afterwards

Once the water works is dead, collecting empty bottles, bowls, and pots is pointless. Your next objective is to get an axe, some wood, and some nails. You need to fortify your base. Assuming that you sheeted your windows, your next step will be to barricade all of your first floor windows and first floor spare entrances (leave the back entrance entrance ALONE). After you are done barricading, you can start building wall pieces and build anti-zombie mazes, emergency catwalks, or even connect buildings together. However, to do this you will need to chop down trees with an axe. The various warehouses and sheds in the map have far too little planks to support such a great constructions. Your next priority will be to stock up on food, your first target being the general store.

Encounters

When heading out for a supply run, always be prepared. Only go outside during daylight, as zombies tend to grow in number at night. Start your day by eating something, refilling your Water Bottle at your nearest Faucet (if the water works exists) and making sure you're not carrying too much before going out. Grab any weapon you can find in your base.

When outside, try to walk as often as possible. If you ever stumble upon a horde, you'll be able to run and dodge them without an injury of any kind. Aside from being more quiet, walking will also save up some energy for fighting without getting exhausted too fast. Every now and then, keep your eyes over your shoulder, as you never know which zombies will follow you. Holding CTRL and circling the mouse around the character will make the player look in the mouse cursor's direction, giving you the ability to spot your enemy before they even see you.

If you ever encounter a horde of zombies (let's say more than 20), then you are definitely in danger. If only 10 or less zombies spotted you, SNEAK away. But if the vast majority spotted you, RUN to your safe house (if it is safe) or to your destination. Try to run 3-10 corners so you can effectively lose the majority and make it very possible to fend off those who are still following you.

Medium sized groups (about 19-10) and small groups (9-1) can effectively be dispatched by a baseball bat or an axe, if you have a couple points in swinging. When fighting small and medium sized groups, you should use hit-and-run tactics, as zombies do not have much of an attack range, and you can keep exhaustion at bay every 1-3 zombies you kill. Make sure you keep them in single-file, or your hit-and-run tactics won't be so effective.

NPC Survivors can be encountered too, and you can chat with them or recruit them in your group. Players can stop a running NPC by pressing the Q key, which will make your character shout and attract attention from NPCs and zombies. However be advised that some NPCs are hostile and will shoot you on sight (mainly in story mode). Some NPCs will join up with you and some won't, if they don't, they will anger you. If you keep asking them (and they rejected), they will get/make you more and more angry until they want to duel you. If they join, they can be given 3 commands: "follow me", "stay here", "and guard this area". However, having them in your group will cause them to use up resources and attract attention, so it is best not to team up unless you need a distraction, PRONTO.

More adventurous players can go on supply runs using a Wheelie bin. Dragging it around will encumber you less and make your supply runs last longer. The only downside is that the player might not level up his Hauling Skill as much.

You are free to go anywhere you want, however, always try to plan where you're headed, what you'll be taking as loot and where you'll be settling in to make a safe-house.

Moodles

Throughout your adventure, not only does your character gets hungry and thirsty but can also suffer from anxiety or depression. These status effects, called Moodles, can be treated with consumables depending on the character's need. In example, a Bored character can be healed by reading a Book or a Magazine. The Moodles will also display signs of injuries, which requires first aid.

For a complete list of each Moodles, their effects and how they can be treated, please see the main Moodle article.

Injuries & First Aid

It's inevitable. One of these days, you'll fall down a window by accident or a zombie will bite you. Depending on which Injury you have, a certain treatment comes with it. Having Bandages and Painkillers on hand can be useful if something ever happens to you. Leaving an Injury untreated can lead to health loss and even death.

To treat a Scratch, a Bite or a Bleeding injury, click on the Heart icon on the top-left of the screen. This will open the character status window. The injured part will be flashing in red. While the character status screen is opened, open up the Inventory screen, then drag and drop a Bandage on the injured part of the body. Now, when pointed on with the cursor, the treated body part should read "Bandaged". Sleeping, as well as being well fed will speed up the healing process.

For a complete list of all known injuries and how to treat them, please see the Injuries article.

Leveling Up

When your character has trained enough, a message will appear at the Top-Left of the screen saying "You should rest and meditate on what you've learned". The next time the player goes to sleep, the Skill point allocation panel will appear, allowing you to distribute one skill point.

It is your choice what skills you need to upgrade, but do so wisely. But the swinging and running skills are perhaps the most valuable as it is a fatal mistake to become even slightly exhausted in a fight against more than 15 enemies.

For a complete list of each Skill, what they do and how to level them, please see the Skills article.

Crafting

With the right resources, players can mix items together to create new or better equipment. With the crafting menu, players can create food recipes, enhanced weapons and barricades to reinforce their safe-houses.

The crafting window can be opened by clicking the Hammer & Nail icon on the bottom-left of the screen when the Inventory window is opened. Drag and drop items from the Inventory panel into the Crafting panel's upper row with 4 boxes. Crafted result will appear in the bottom row's box. Drag and drop the crafted item in your inventory to complete the crafting sequence.

For a complete list of all crafting recipes, please see the Crafting article.

Safe-house

In a zombie apocalypse, nowhere is safe. However, that can't stop you from fortifying a safe-house of your interest. Some buildings are safer than other. The selection of a safe-house is up to you, but the northeastern villa is recommended.

Players are advised to reinforce a 2 story building with as few possible exits as possible. In case of an home invasion, you can always escape through a window using a Sheet Rope. For maximum protection and stealth, board up every windows with wooden planks and bed sheets. Make sure to barricade your front door, as NPCs can steal your stuff if you don't.

Carpenters equipped with a Sledgehammer can destroy walls, door & window frames, so if you want, you can harvest walls for extra planks. You can also make or repair structures with walls, door pieces, and window pieces. However, be warned that if you "trap" yourself within 4 Wooden Wall without a Sledgehammer in hand, you will be stuck there until you die from hunger.

If you run out of Wooden planks, use an Axe to chop down doors or trees. Chopped down doors will yield 1 or 2 wooden planks, along with door hinges and knobs. Another alternative is to chop down any tree near you. Taking down a tree will yield 1-5 Logs. Combining 1 Log with 1 Saw in the crafting menu will yield 1 Wooden plank.

Later in the game, once you have the tools and resources for larger constructions, you should seriously think about the use of wall pieces. The very first thing you should do is put a wall right in front of the front door(s). That will prevent NPCs from stealing your stuff. Then, you should put some walls around the windows to deny entrance from those. After that, you should make a maze to your back entrance to help combat efficiency when under siege. Put many doors and bottlenecks for you to retreat to when needed. Once that is done, put a catwalk around the maze, connecting it to your second floor windows, and eventually, to a secondary base or a emergency hideout if your fort is ever breached.

Please take note that constructing a safe-house will make a lot of noise, which will draw any stragglers nearby. Any carpentry jobs should be done during the day or when the outside is relatively quiet.

You can also use wheelie bins outside your doors so if you hear a break-in, you can tell which door it is because the bin has been moved for the zombie/s to knock on your door

Events

In approximately 5 days after world creation, the water works will fail. In approximately 15 days after world creation, the power will fail. In approximately 30 days after world creation, the hordes will seek you out.

Death

A Zombie has bitten you. You've patched yourself up, but as the night sets in, you start feeling feverish, knowing all too well that the end is night... You'll be joining them soon...

Or maybe you've been very careful for months, all holed up in a barricaded coffin with your dwindling food and water supply. And you promised yourself to never ever take off these wooden planks off the front door... A slow death by starvation awaits you...

Whatever the case, no matter how long or how hard you try, death seems inevitable in Project Zomboid. When your character dies, the game will scroll a message from bottom to top stating how long the player survived.

Good luck out there. And remember! Aim for the head!

See Also

• Controls
• Knox County
• Crafting
• Moodles
• Skills
• Traits
• Occupation