A21: This game is hard (for me)

[keesio]

Hello folks,

I'm relatively new to this game and just started about a week ago. I'm having a blast but man I find this game hard! I'm just on the difficult level and I'm always hungry and find the enemies starting to get pretty challenging. I'm relatively new to this level of survival builder type games as the only other games even remotely related that I played were games like Subnautica and Fallout 4 (on Survival setting). 

 

I tried playing blind solo but after getting smoked on my first horde night I started to look for tips. but it seems like many of the common tips are no longer applicable and A21 is quite the ramp up in difficulty. For example, even after day 9 I am struggling with hunger. I read somewhere that bacon and eggs is a early food life saver. But 9 days in and I still don't have the skills to make it. I think I need to find more food magazines. The best I can do is grilled corn and charred meat. I think I need to be more aggressive in searching houses for food. I'm also likely getting too freaked out over hiding during nightfall. I think maybe I've been too conditioned by Darkwood lol. 

 

I'm still using level 1 spear and bow as my primary weapons. I do have a pipe rifle and pipe shotgun but lack ammo so I only use it for extreme emergencies. I find the spear really good with its reach but the enemies seem to be ramping up in difficulty and I need to get better gear. I've done three trader quests so far and got some dukes and item rewards but not enough to make a big difference. I read that for A21 I need to go all out in finding magazines and I've been looking for them in mailboxes, etc but again maybe I just move too slow. My playstyle is very slow and deliberate in all my games. I also have not found a workbench and lack the skills to make one. I at least have a forge. Maybe I should investigate crafting more metal.

 

And the map is huge! I spend tons of time running around. And trying to scrap things and not be over encumbered all the time is tough too. I waste a lot of time trying to carry all this stuff back all the time. How do you all manage all that stuff?

 

Anyway, it is a great game. I have not been challenged like this in a survival type game since Darkwood. And in that game I didn;t have to worry about food all the time. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by keesio (see edit history)

[Roland]

Enjoy this time of discovery because you’ll yearn for it later. 
 

Are you playing Navezgane, one of the PREGEN maps, or a random map?  Navezgane is very difficult to get up and running in A21. Starting with one of the pregen maps or rolling your own will make things a lot easier as long as your first trader is next to a big city. If your first trader is in a more rural area it will be a bit tougher of a start. 

[n2n1]

 

24 minutes ago, Roland said:

Enjoy this time of discovery because you’ll yearn for it later. ///

 Despite the fact that i really understand that the game can be difficult for beginners, i always catch myself thinking that Joel writes it from his secret account when he wants to simplify the game even more because of some technical problem that they can't solve

[theFlu]

50 minutes ago, keesio said:

I waste a lot of time trying to carry all this stuff back all the time. How do you all manage all that stuff?

Once you get a decent grasp of what you actually need in the next couple days, just gather that. Leaving stuff in boxes on the road (to be gathered later) helps making the decisions feel less final.

[keesio]

1 hour ago, Roland said:

Enjoy this time of discovery because you’ll yearn for it later. 
 

Are you playing Navezgane, one of the PREGEN maps, or a random map?  Navezgane is very difficult to get up and running in A21. Starting with one of the pregen maps or rolling your own will make things a lot easier as long as your first trader is next to a big city. If your first trader is in a more rural area it will be a bit tougher of a start. 

 

I'm using Navezgane with everything default. Yeah that 1st trader (Joel) is so far from everything it seems!

31 minutes ago, theFlu said:

Once you get a decent grasp of what you actually need in the next couple days, just gather that. Leaving stuff in boxes on the road (to be gathered later) helps making the decisions feel less final.

 

Yep, I started to make like little hideouts across the map instead of trying to haul everything back to my main base. It is nice having these little waystations around to stock up on supplies or to hold up for the night.

[vom]

Kind of underscores how too much attention is placed on the trader, rendering everything else irrelevant.

[keesio]

Ok I went much more aggressive today since I first posted and it has paid off. I hit a book store and found a bunch of books and magazines. Can make a tier 2 spear and grilled meat! These are game changers for me lol! 

1 minute ago, vom said:

Kind of underscores how too much attention is placed on the trader, rendering everything else irrelevant.

I guess finishing off as many trader quests as quickly as possible is the way to go to make things easier?

[vom]

I guess, not at all interested in a scripted grindfest, working for an NPC.

[Lamblaska]

58 minutes ago, keesio said:

Hello folks,

I'm relatively new to this game and just started about a week ago. I'm having a blast but man I find this game hard! I'm just on the difficult level and I'm always hungry and find the enemies starting to get pretty challenging. I'm relatively new to this level of survival builder type games as the only other games even remotely related that I played were games like Subnautica and Fallout 4 (on Survival setting). 

 

I tried playing blind solo but after getting smoked on my first horde night I started to look for tips. but it seems like many of the common tips are no longer applicable and A21 is quite the ramp up in difficulty. For example, even after day 9 I am struggling with hunger. I read somewhere that bacon and eggs is a early food life saver. But 9 days in and I still don't have the skills to make it. I think I need to find more food magazines. The best I can do is grilled corn and charred meat. I think I need to be more aggressive in searching houses for food. I'm also likely getting too freaked out over hiding during nightfall. I think maybe I've been too conditioned by Darkwood lol. 

 

I'm still using level 1 spear and bow as my primary weapons. I do have a pipe rifle and pipe shotgun but lack ammo so I only use it for extreme emergencies. I find the spear really good with its reach but the enemies seem to be ramping up in difficulty and I need to get better gear. I've done three trader quests so far and got some dukes and item rewards but not enough to make a big difference. I read that for A21 I need to go all out in finding magazines and I've been looking for them in mailboxes, etc but again maybe I just move too slow. My playstyle is very slow and deliberate in all my games. I also have not found a workbench and lack the skills to make one. I at least have a forge. Maybe I should investigate crafting more metal.

 

And the map is huge! I spend tons of time running around. And trying to scrap things and not be over encumbered all the time is tough too. I waste a lot of time trying to carry all this stuff back all the time. How do you all manage all that stuff?

 

Anyway, it is a great game. I have not been challenged like this in a survival type game since Darkwood. And in that game I didn;t have to worry about food all the time. 

 

 

Hey Keesio. Nice you are enjoying the game.

My suggest to you is... don't look up to much, there's a lot of fun (and no shame) in learning the game. Now, regarding the specifics:
 

• Nightime
  • Unless you have enough craft , base building or farming to do at night.... you hardly will be able to afford spending the night at home getting home and thirsty. 
  • Avoid high tier POIs (numbers of skulls) and focus on more easier POIs. or
  • Go grab materials, cut some trees (or those already cutter trees , that sometime can drop honey). or
  • Go mining or scrapping stuff. There's a lot of materials and XP in this.
  • Try to fight zombies using high places, such as walls, dumpsters... this will make it easier to fight them in small numbers.
  • Use stealth. Keep in mind that flashlights and torches mess up your stealth (as well as heavy armor such as scrap).
• Scaling up difficult
  • Watch out for the biome you are in. Biomes scale the difficult considerably. Avoid snow and wasteland on the early game. If you feel confident, go to the desert, there's a good place to get yuccas for juices.
  • Build your first base (or horde base) at the forest in the begging. Building a horde base in other biomes will make it harder.
• Regarding food
  • Bacon and eggs is indeed a saver for early game. Latter you will notice that the eggs will be more valuable for other recipes... always keep a few in spare.
  • Take some of your waters and make red tea with it, it's easy to find this plant and the red tea improves your digestion (slowing down your water and food consumption). 
  • There are some canned foods that are useless to cook. You can easily identity them dragging them to your inventory and checking if it has no "recipe" option (keep in mind that his recipe option only appear for items in your inventory, not in stashes). So they are good options to eat as you go (such as Chicken Ration, can of peaches, cat food).  
  • If you have some nitrate powder, rotting flesh and seeds lying around in your base. Consider build a few farming blocks and use those seeds. It's not much, but it helps a bit (farming block cannot have ceiling above it).
• Regarding Magazines
  • Skills you unlocked affect the looting of magazines. 
  • Bookstores , offices, cafes will often have more looting for magazines (mostly in shelves and book piles). Some magazines are more likely to appear on specific places (such as forge ahead in cement mixers). As you play, you will get more used to identify good spots for specific magazines. 
  • As you said, mailboxes are great source of magazines too. 
• Regarding walking speed
  • Heavy armor slows you down quite a lot. They are good for defense, but it is a big trade off if you don't have a bike to move around. 
• Regarding loot
  • I usually build wood chests, mark them of map and store the less important materials there. Once I get a bike and a base, I go back and retrieve these stashes. 
  • Pockets are a great way to reduce your overburden. 
•  Regarding Weapons tiers and quality
  • Your skill points will affect how the loots you find. If you get a skill to improve the usage of a certain weapon (let's say... dead eye for rifles) you will get more rifle craft magazines, more rifle crafting parts, and even some ammo. Spread your skills too much and you will not get what you want consistently. Improving the attribute or skill related to this attribute will improve a lot it's efficiency. 
  • Keep in mind that weapons work in tiers and quality. Tier is related to the material they are build (like... stone spear, iron spear, steel spear | pipe shotgun, sawed off shotgun, pump shotgun, auto shotgun). High tiers usually have higher damage outputs. But the quality has a strong influence how durability and and mod slots. 
• Base location
  • Build your base not far from where you need to go. This way you avoid spending time walking around. 

Hope this will help you and not spoil you much. 

[keesio]

1 hour ago, Lamblaska said:

 

 

Hey Keesio. Nice you are enjoying the game.

My suggest to you is... don't look up to much, there's a lot of fun (and no shame) in learning the game. Now, regarding the specifics:
 

• Nightime
  • Unless you have enough craft , base building or farming to do at night.... you hardly will be able to afford spending the night at home getting home and thirsty. 
  • Avoid high tier POIs (numbers of skulls) and focus on more easier POIs. or
  • Go grab materials, cut some trees (or those already cutter trees , that sometime can drop honey). or
  • Go mining or scrapping stuff. There's a lot of materials and XP in this.
  • Try to fight zombies using high places, such as walls, dumpsters... this will make it easier to fight them in small numbers.
  • Use stealth. Keep in mind that flashlights and torches mess up your stealth (as well as heavy armor such as scrap).
• Scaling up difficult
  • Watch out for the biome you are in. Biomes scale the difficult considerably. Avoid snow and wasteland on the early game. If you feel confident, go to the desert, there's a good place to get yuccas for juices.
  • Build your first base (or horde base) at the forest in the begging. Building a horde base in other biomes will make it harder.
• Regarding food
  • Bacon and eggs is indeed a saver for early game. Latter you will notice that the eggs will be more valuable for other recipes... always keep a few in spare.
  • Take some of your waters and make red tea with it, it's easy to find this plant and the red tea improves your digestion (slowing down your water and food consumption). 
  • There are some canned foods that are useless to cook. You can easily identity them dragging them to your inventory and checking if it has no "recipe" option (keep in mind that his recipe option only appear for items in your inventory, not in stashes). So they are good options to eat as you go (such as Chicken Ration, can of peaches, cat food).  
  • If you have some nitrate powder, rotting flesh and seeds lying around in your base. Consider build a few farming blocks and use those seeds. It's not much, but it helps a bit (farming block cannot have ceiling above it).
• Regarding Magazines
  • Skills you unlocked affect the looting of magazines. 
  • Bookstores , offices, cafes will often have more looting for magazines (mostly in shelves and book piles). Some magazines are more likely to appear on specific places (such as forge ahead in cement mixers). As you play, you will get more used to identify good spots for specific magazines. 
  • As you said, mailboxes are great source of magazines too. 
• Regarding walking speed
  • Heavy armor slows you down quite a lot. They are good for defense, but it is a big trade off if you don't have a bike to move around. 
• Regarding loot
  • I usually build wood chests, mark them of map and store the less important materials there. Once I get a bike and a base, I go back and retrieve these stashes. 
  • Pockets are a great way to reduce your overburden. 
•  Regarding Weapons tiers and quality
  • Your skill points will affect how the loots you find. If you get a skill to improve the usage of a certain weapon (let's say... dead eye for rifles) you will get more rifle craft magazines, more rifle crafting parts, and even some ammo. Spread your skills too much and you will not get what you want consistently. Improving the attribute or skill related to this attribute will improve a lot it's efficiency. 
  • Keep in mind that weapons work in tiers and quality. Tier is related to the material they are build (like... stone spear, iron spear, steel spear | pipe shotgun, sawed off shotgun, pump shotgun, auto shotgun). High tiers usually have higher damage outputs. But the quality has a strong influence how durability and and mod slots. 
• Base location
  • Build your base not far from where you need to go. This way you avoid spending time walking around. 

Hope this will help you and not spoil you much. 

 

Thanks for this! It is a huge help! And perfectly non-spoiler. Yeah I've wasted many evenings just holding up. I feel like the game keeps hinting to you the nights are dangerous and you are better off staying out of sight. But it seems like a big chunk of unproductive time unless I am crafting and such. Even then I am scared to draw attention. Again maybe Darkwood freaked me out because in that game you must hole up at night and stay as quiet as possible 😛

 

However, one thing have spent a lot of time on is reading my journal and looking at recipes and stats. The game doesn't pause when I do that so I like to catch up on some reading at night. I kinda wish it did pause because I feel like I rush through reading things because of the time spent and miss a lot of info 

 

Oh man, yeah I learned the hard way about how difficulty ramps up in the other biomes. I tried going for an air drop somewhere south past some burnt regions and into some I guess wasteland and I got demolished. I ran in to get my bag and ran back out ASAP and haven,t been near since.

 

Speaking of difficulty, how does that ramping up work? Because I'm mostly in the forest area and recently I went back to near my starting area and it seems so much harder. Now there are vultures and I think I saw a dog too. I was expecting to breeze through that area but nope. I assume there is some level scaling but I'm still a relatively low level of 7. Does it get harder with simply each day? If so, then I really need to get my ass in gear.

 

Yeah I would love bacon and eggs but I think I need to find like 10 food magazines! 

 

Ok, so I need to focus on specific weapon types. I've been so indecisive on my skill points! Been spreading them around too broadly (this I should know better since I play a lot of RPGs and know you need to focus on a few skills).

 

Thanks again! To everyone on this thread! 

Edited July 24, 2023 by keesio (see edit history)

[Ray Garraty]

3 hours ago, keesio said:

freaked out over hiding during nightfall

Just do some underground mining at night, you'll be fine.

During daytime rush tier 1 quests to obtain bicycle, it's an early game changer

[warmer]

Mailboxes/newspaper stands/stores usually have a fair amount of magazines to help your progression. The traders also have them for sale and are different depending on who it is.

 

The last time I looted an electronics store, I gained 10+ mags in electronics. Themed stores are the way to go if you are looking for specific skill improvements.

[Lamblaska]

2 hours ago, keesio said:

 

Thanks for this! It is a huge help! And perfectly non-spoiler. Yeah I've wasted many evenings just holding up. I feel like the game keeps hinting to you the nights are dangerous and you are better off staying out of sight. But it seems like a big chunk of unproductive time unless I am crafting and such. Even then I am scared to draw attention. Again maybe Darkwood freaked me out because in that game you must hole up at night and stay as quiet as possible 😛

 

However, one thing have spent a lot of time on is reading my journal and looking at recipes and stats. The game doesn't pause when I do that so I like to catch up on some reading at night. I kinda wish it did pause because I feel like I rush through reading things because of the time spent and miss a lot of info 

 

Oh man, yeah I learned the hard way about how difficulty ramps up in the other biomes. I tried going for an air drop somewhere south past some burnt regions and into some I guess wasteland and I got demolished. I ran in to get my bag and ran back out ASAP and haven,t been near since.

 

Speaking of difficulty, how does that ramping up work? Because I'm mostly in the forest area and recently I went back to near my starting area and it seems so much harder. Now there are vultures and I think I saw a dog too. I was expecting to breeze through that area but nope. I assume there is some level scaling but I'm still a relatively low level of 7. Does it get harder with simply each day? If so, then I really need to get my ass in gear.

 

Yeah I would love bacon and eggs but I think I need to find like 10 food magazines! 

 

Ok, so I need to focus on specific weapon types. I've been so indecisive on my skill points! Been spreading them around too broadly (this I should know better since I play a lot of RPGs and know you need to focus on a few skills).

 

Thanks again! To everyone on this thread! 

I don't actually understand in depth how the difficult scaling work. But I think it is related to your game stage (you an check it in your inventory, checking the stat tab - the one with the bars). If I remember correctly, game stage is based on your level, how long have you been alive in days. It is also slightly reduced by the number of deaths you had. 

You will notice that the game stage changes when you move to another biome, something like (there's also a small flat number increase) 

 

Desert: 50% increase in game stage

Snow: 100% increase in game stage
Wasteland: 150% increase in game stage. 

The game stage will affect the type of zombies you find outside the blood moon night.
 

[Dark Wun]

Also, don't be ashamed of dying a lot in your first play-through. I speak from experience, but as I've played more I almost never die in the first week anymore.

 

 

One other thing that might help you is start a test game and take some time to thoroughly research what the skills in all the attribute trees do (perception skills, strength, etc.). The skills have recently been totally overhauled, so most wikis will be out-of-date.

 

These can drastically change your play experience. On my first play-through, I max'd pack mule early game, which is probably not the wisest thing you can do because you can use armor/clothing mods that increase your carrying capacity to maximum quite easily.

 

I highly recommend you first max the 'lucky looter' skill in perception as a priority, because at boost to your loot table can really make a difference early to mid game.

 

Pain tolerance under fortitude is also a really good one , because it's critical hits that really get you in this game. Parkour is great because if you can jump higher you can evade zombies much easier - you've probably noticed.

 

 

[keesio]

7 hours ago, Lamblaska said:

 

• Regarding loot
  • I usually build wood chests, mark them of map and store the less important materials there. Once I get a bike and a base, I go back and retrieve these stashes. 
  • Pockets are a great way to reduce your overburden. 

 

Is it best to build my own wood chest? Is it safe to re-use some existing storage I find?

[BFT2020]

3 minutes ago, keesio said:

 

Is it best to build my own wood chest? Is it safe to re-use some existing storage I find?

 

The secured wooden chests in the favorites build menu is a go to for me.  Usually craft one up and place it outside the POI next to the road and drop anything in it that I am not taking back with me; then putting a simple X on my map waypoints (with something simple like LC) on it.  Since they don't exist outside normally, they are easy to notice as I am making my way back to my base (and a quick check to see if I can anything to my existing stacks).  When I clear a chest, I remove it from my map waypoints so I know it is not filled with anything.

58 minutes ago, Dark Wun said:

Also, don't be ashamed of dying a lot in your first play-through. I speak from experience, but as I've played more I almost never die in the first week anymore.

 

Learn by Dying, the originally LBD

[fragtzack]

9 hours ago, Roland said:

Enjoy this time of discovery because you’ll yearn for it later. 
 

 

Totally agree with WonderRoos.

 

 Recommend DO NOT watch any content creator videos or tip videos or newbie videos until you have played 40ish hours.

 

The joy of self discovery is so much more rewarding.

[Riamus]

1 hour ago, Dark Wun said:

I highly recommend you first max the 'lucky looter' skill in perception as a priority, because at boost to your loot table can really make a difference early to mid game.

This actually has a very minor impact in early game.  The benefit from this skill increases a lot in mid to late game.

 

@keesio If you aren't too tied to your current game, like Roland said, Pregen or a custom map will be far easier to do than Navesgane.  It'll probably make your experience more enjoyable as a new player.

 

Tips:

• Place your first base near a trader that is in a town (not out in the wilderness).  A larger town is better, if possible.  Your base can be built or it can be just taking over a building in the town.  By being close to the trader and town, you have less running around to do.
• Stay in the forest until you have better equipment.  Note that the desert and wasteland have vultures that will attack you from a long ways away if you aren't at full health or have a debuff active, so it's best to avoid those areas especially.
• For the first few nights or even a week, you don't really need a base at night unless you have feral sense on or have the game set to higher difficulty levels.  Just keep an eye out for zombies around you.  Still, it's pretty easy to build a small wood base to keep you off the ground if you prefer a bit more safety until you get used to it.
• Zombies with glowing eyes are harder to kill, so it may be better to run if you see one until you have better equipment.  These can come out at night even on the first night.  In later game, the next tier of zombies will be green (radiated).
• Avoid going into the downtown areas of larger cities before you have better equipment as the zombies walking around will be more challenging.
• Loot any mailboxes and newspaper stands you find as you go around town.  These will quickly help increase your crafting skills.
• Loot residential hours (tier 1 - 1 skull) a lot in the beginning as you'll find more cooking magazines more quickly that way.  They'll also likely get you a pot and grill for your campfire if you don't want to just buy those from a trader.
• Place a secure chest or two here and there to store things so you can go back for them later instead of trying to carry it all.  Be sure you do not place these on a POI... place them on the road or edge of the road.  If they are on the POI property and you start a quest there, they will be deleted.
• Complete the first tier of trader quests sooner rather than later.  I believe it is 7 quests, so will take you 2 days minimum to complete (5 per day is all you are allowed).  The tier completion reward includes a bicycle.  Get it.  It will make travel much easier.  You'll craft or buy the better vehicles later on (they aren't quest rewards).
• Avoid eating anything that says it removes water (baked potatoes, corn on the cob, cornbread, charred meat, etc) whenever possible.  They'll make you need to drink much more and that is far more challenging than finding food, if you're new to the game.
• Try not to eat canned foods that have recipes.  As mentioned, if it is in your inventory, you can see above the inventory if it has an option for Recipes or not.  If there is a recipe, try to save it for later.  Cooking with it lets you make better food that will last longer.  If there isn't a recipe (pears, cat food, anything with chicken in the name, miso soup, etc.), you can eat it.  Also, try not to eat raw vegetables.  Save them for cooking once you have recipes for them.  Of course, if you need food, go ahead and eat anything you find.
• Once you decide where you want your permanent base (or at least your permanent early-game base), buy a filter or two from the trader and craft one or more dew collectors to help you get water.  They are slow but a couple of them will be enough to cover all your thirst needs even without looting.  If you are looting regularly, you'll have enough for your cooking needs as well with only 2.  If you are doing a lot of crafting of things that need duct tape, you'll probably need to make more dew collectors.  Once you get used to water in the game, you can usually get by without any dew collectors if you don't do a lot of crafting and if you are looting a lot.
• Boil all your murky water at your campfire (with a pot installed in the campfire) and you'll have safe water to drink.  There is no reason to leave it as murky water.  You don't have to boil it immediately and can wait until you have a lot if you prefer.  For drinking, turning that water into tea or other drinks will make it last much longer.  Red tea is a great option and is easy.  Once you find the correct book to unlock mineral water, start making that.  It may not offer as much benefit in some things (like food usage) as teas but it will last a long time and is cheap to make.
• Put at least one perk point into the weapon you will use most often.  This will let you find more magazines for that weapon to allow crafting better weapons.  You will also have a better chance of finding weapons of that type that may be better than what you have.
• For your first horde night, it doesn't take too much of a base to withstand them.  But you do need some general defense.  Use something to slow them down - barbed wire is good, spike traps are good though they break very quickly.  You can place hatches along the path and raise those (with a ceiling above them) so the zombies have to work to get to you.  You can fight them as they try to reach you and slowly move back through the base as they break past one set of defense.  You can also repair defenses that are within reach if you want to and have the resources, which can also help a lot.  Try not to make it easy for a lot of zombies to come at you at once or from multiple directions.  It is easier to defend a single, narrow path than having to defense all sides of a building or a wide path that lets a bunch of zombies attack you at once.  You'll eventually end up creating more interesting designs and ones that will work into the later game but a simple design in the beginning is far easier.  If you really want, you can hide on top of a building after breaking all ways to the roof and you can pretty much ignore the horde for the first few horde nights if you prefer, though I don't find that to be much fun.
• Dying isn't a big deal in this game.  Obviously, you don't want to die, but if you do, don't worry.  Just learn from the experience and you'll get better.  Eventually, you won't die very often.
• Whenever you're in a POI, watch your surroundings and corners.  Zombies are often right around a corner when you enter a room.  Don't rush into the middle of a room or you'll have a good chance to be surrounded.  Step in slowly until the zombies come at you that way you can fight them in a doorway to prevent them flanking you.  Also make use of height when possible, especially with dogs or wolves.
• Loot any stumps you find in the early game to try and get some honey so that you have it for whenever you are infected.  Finding honey later can take long enough that you have to keep finding more honey just to get rid of the infection (1 honey remove 5% infection).
• Carry bandages with you so you can stop bleeding right away.  You don't need the red bandages that heal you for this and can use the basic bandages to stop bleeding.  Save the red bandages for when you need healing.
• Try to avoid running too far from your base until you have a good source of water and food.  The more you move, the more your food and water decrease so you need more of it.  Especially if you're sprinting.

Those should give you a good start.   Enjoy!

Edited July 24, 2023 by Riamus (see edit history)

[7daysOfFun]

11 hours ago, keesio said:

Hello folks,

I'm relatively new to this game and just started about a week ago. I'm having a blast but man I find this game hard! I'm just on the difficult level and I'm always hungry and find the enemies starting to get pretty challenging.

 

tips for start:

the first points put in healing factor, sledgehammer, carrying and running while reloading

select as your weapon the flame woodstick or the stone sledgehammer (when u find mods put it in)

wear only cheap clothes at start (yeans, gothic/cowboyboots/sport shoes shirt) armour will slow u down

water is not the problem> drink dirty water, look on your map were are blue fields in the near of houses

food eat eggs or kills rabbits/chickens (often in cities) use the stoneaxt to kill them (2xhit)

then u make roasted meat, use a boneknife at the start for more meat

your blood moon base u can make with cobblestones.. (build a cubic base 6x6, high 4 ) then put spikes around..spikes are the cheapes way

when u kill a zombie try to run in it with right mouse button stone sledgehammer (u have a more then 50% change to get head gone with 1 move)

make the first quests from the trader, and choose grenades/molotow or ammo the first rewards..because u need explosives for killing or horde night

when ended the first 5 things from trader u get a bike ..that helps a lot

 

[Vaeliorin]

2 hours ago, Riamus said:

Once you find the correct book to unlock mineral water, start making that.  It may not offer as much benefit in some things (like food usage) as teas but it will last a long time and is cheap to make.

Did they change mineral water and I didn't notice?  It should give you the same digestion buff that red tea gives.  It used to, but I haven't paid much attention to that in A21.

[theFlu]

33 minutes ago, Vaeliorin said:

It should give you the same digestion buff that red tea gives.

It does, but it also hydrates 3x => only a third of the duration for the digestion buff for same amount of water.

[Vaeliorin]

9 minutes ago, theFlu said:

It does, but it also hydrates 3x => only a third of the duration for the digestion buff for same amount of water.

True.  I guess I thought Riamus was saying that it didn't give that buff.

 

Not that it's really reasonable to try and keep the digestion buff up all the time.

[OneManStanding]

I abandoned eggs and bacon as an early food source -- it's an interim source on your way to farming, but because the way farming unlocks it'll be quite a while before it'll be worth it. Just grilled meat and grilled corn - corn seems to be easy to find even if you're not farming it, both offer 10 fullness.

 

One point in animal tracker will help you find all the rabbits, chickens and snakes that would otherwise continue to live their happy little lives all around you. One point in huntsman increases the meat you get from the animals whose happy little lives you abruptly ended. And a point in cooking reduces the required ingredients to make grilled meat by one slice. Deer are common at night -- also daring to live happy little lives, so be sure to put an end to that. A pipe rifle or pipe machine gun will help hunt if you can find some 7.62 ammo, and a crossbow is even better as you can make stone bolts like they're free.

 

You said you're new to the game -- welcome, it's a lot of fun  That said, consider turning Horde Nights off in the settings for your save and just play the survival aspect until you're comfortable.

 

Remember to make a bone knife to harvest animals with - it gets more resources and is also a good weapon with a power-stab to the head on any slow-moving zombie. And the animal tracker works by stopping still, then crouching down for a few seconds, then checking your compass or map for the icons for animals living happy little lives; if you crouch down too soon without stopping the tracker won't work and those animals will continue to live their happy little lives. Any happy little lives being lived in range will show up as icons on your map, and as icons right in front of you in the grass as you get closer. Very handy skill. Be sure to check for animals any time you're out and about and you will soon have a box loaded with meat ready to be cooked.

[Riamus]

8 hours ago, 7daysOfFun said:

tips for start:

the first points put in healing factor, sledgehammer, carrying and running while reloading

select as your weapon the flame woodstick or the stone sledgehammer (when u find mods put it in)

wear only cheap clothes at start (yeans, gothic/cowboyboots/sport shoes shirt) armour will slow u down

water is not the problem> drink dirty water, look on your map were are blue fields in the near of houses

food eat eggs or kills rabbits/chickens (often in cities) use the stoneaxt to kill them (2xhit)

then u make roasted meat, use a boneknife at the start for more meat

your blood moon base u can make with cobblestones.. (build a cubic base 6x6, high 4 ) then put spikes around..spikes are the cheapes way

when u kill a zombie try to run in it with right mouse button stone sledgehammer (u have a more then 50% change to get head gone with 1 move)

make the first quests from the trader, and choose grenades/molotow or ammo the first rewards..because u need explosives for killing or horde night

when ended the first 5 things from trader u get a bike ..that helps a lot

 

Hm... I would disagree on some of this.

• Pack Mule is not necessary and there are far better perks than that.  Being able to reload while running isn't much use in the first day or two when you don't have a gun, so that's not a useful starting perk.  Sledgehammers use a ton of stamina.  For a new player, that's often too difficult to work with.  A weapon with less stamina usage is usually a better option for new players - club/bat or spear are good options in A21 for new players.  Healing Factor is nice but not necessarily the best option in the early game though that one is at least an okay option.
• For a new player, armor (at least cloth) is a good option instead of only clothing.  Being slowed down for a new player is less of a problem than being able to survive being hit.
• Drinking murky water will harm your health and potentially give you dysentery.  It is very easy to boil water.  Do so.  Don't drink murky water unless you have no choice (or have the helmet mod).
• Eating eggs uncooked is a waste of eggs.
• Explosives are not necessary for horde night.

 

7 hours ago, Vaeliorin said:

Did they change mineral water and I didn't notice?  It should give you the same digestion buff that red tea gives.  It used to, but I haven't paid much attention to that in A21.

You're right.  I never look and forgot it included that.  Thanks for the correction.

 

4 hours ago, OneManStanding said:

I abandoned eggs and bacon as an early food source -- it's an interim source on your way to farming, but because the way farming unlocks it'll be quite a while before it'll be worth it. Just grilled meat and grilled corn - corn seems to be easy to find even if you're not farming it, both offer 10 fullness.

 

One point in animal tracker will help you find all the rabbits, chickens and snakes that would otherwise continue to live their happy little lives all around you. One point in huntsman increases the meat you get from the animals whose happy little lives you abruptly ended. And a point in cooking reduces the required ingredients to make grilled meat by one slice. Deer are common at night -- also daring to live happy little lives, so be sure to put an end to that. A pipe rifle or pipe machine gun will help hunt if you can find some 7.62 ammo, and a crossbow is even better as you can make stone bolts like they're free.

 

You said you're new to the game -- welcome, it's a lot of fun  That said, consider turning Horde Nights off in the settings for your save and just play the survival aspect until you're comfortable.

 

Remember to make a bone knife to harvest animals with - it gets more resources and is also a good weapon with a power-stab to the head on any slow-moving zombie. And the animal tracker works by stopping still, then crouching down for a few seconds, then checking your compass or map for the icons for animals living happy little lives; if you crouch down too soon without stopping the tracker won't work and those animals will continue to live their happy little lives. Any happy little lives being lived in range will show up as icons on your map, and as icons right in front of you in the grass as you get closer. Very handy skill. Be sure to check for animals any time you're out and about and you will soon have a box loaded with meat ready to be cooked.

You don't want to eat corn.  It wastes water.  Grilled meat is fine but eggs and bacon gives you more value for what you eat.  Not necessary but nice to not have to constantly eat.

 

Considering animals are very easy to find, putting points into animal tracker or huntsman is kind of a waste.  You'll be able to get so much meat without those perks that you'll never use it all.  Put perks into more useful skills instead.

[7daysOfFun]

1 hour ago, Riamus said:

Hm... I would disagree on some of this.

• 1Pack Mule is not necessary and there are far better perks than that.  Being able to reload while running isn't much use in the first day or two when you don't have a gun, so that's not a useful starting perk.  Sledgehammers use a ton of stamina.  For a new player, that's often too difficult to work with.  A weapon with less stamina usage is usually a better option for new players - club/bat or spear are good options in A21 for new players.  Healing Factor is nice but not necessarily the best option in the early game though that one is at least an okay option.
• 2For a new player, armor (at least cloth) is a good option instead of only clothing.  Being slowed down for a new player is less of a problem than being able to survive being hit.
• 3Drinking murky water will harm your health and potentially give you dysentery.  It is very easy to boil water.  Do so.  Don't drink murky water unless you have no choice (or have the helmet mod).
• 4Eating eggs uncooked is a waste of eggs.
• 5Explosives are not necessary for horde night.

1 > , the first time he collects a lot, packmule ist useful for this ...sledgehammer(the stone one) ist the only good weapon that can make a "headshot" at start...the woodbat is worst, u can use yout firestick to set the zombies on fire

2> at first you have bad condition..armour slows you down, without the perks mule you a slow turtle XD

3> i havent noticed nothing that does dirty water..u can drink 6 times and no bad stomach (or you drink1x and bad stomach) but when u dont have water, before diieng u drink the dirty water

4> when u dont have the recipe for steak and eggs, the cooked eggs are to expensive..run around 10min u collect 15-20eggs

5>when u dont have ammo, how u kill zombies? spike killed zombies = no xp points

but everyone has its unique style to play...he can test the tips we all give him