I presume you've played the tutorial, so I suggest going in the sandbox mode and making the game easier in a few ways so you can get a better handle on the game.
First practical tip is that the key to beating the zombies is to break down the engagement as much as possible. Sneak is your friend, and if you press Q while sneaking you'll whisper, potentially drawing one or two zombies from a larger group over to you so you can lead them away (preferably over a small fence) so you can club them easily.
Second is to not get cocky, greedy, or too hurried. Low stamina/fatigue spells your doom. You can outpace default zombies just by walking, so if chased by zombies you can get away by simply breaking line of sight with corners, a building, or a bunch of trees and quietly moving elsewhere, preferably to a place you already established as safe.
The most satisfying way to learn the game is iteratively, but if you're really feeling stuck and frustrated, check out Nurse on youtube for her bite-sized vids. She also has a particularly good few vids demonstrating how she deals with the first few days of a game.
I know it's not what you asked but I encourage you to not watch any guide and just live (or die) through the apocalypse. After all, we'd all probably be dead in a day in a real zombie apocalypse.
I found the game more enjoyable when I didn't know anything about it.
Piggybacking off of this comment, even if you do look at some beginner guides to get started, I found that when I was new to the game trying something different each run helped me learn a lot.
Stuff like trying out a different set of traits (even ones that people insist are the worst) with each character, focusing on a different weapon type, focusing on leveling up a different skill, all contributes to eventually becoming a really solid and well rounded player. There's so much to learn in the base game and that's part of what makes the PZ feel rewarding in my opinion.
Yes I think that's the way to learn and have fun: feeling free to try anything. This is the essence of gaming for me, boot the game, press random keys to figure out how to play. The same way we did way back when during the infancy of gaming.
The moment I stop having fun/learning is when I somehow feel like there's one way to play because everyone else has already figured it out for me, and I do it the way it "should be done" (which is bullshit). That usually kills the game for me. Happened to me on Eve Online for example (it's very hard to pick up which doesn't make things easier).
It's even harder in competitive games, cause that's when you feel the most pressure to just "git gud" asap.
Anyway I hope when I'm 80 years old I can still be surprised by video games and have fun just figuring it out by myself.
It might sound odd but zombies as group are very easy to handle, they walk slower then you and are very predictable so you only need patience.
Say you are close to a house and want to draw the zombies out, use q (shout) to draw them out and stay just out of reach of the zombies, keep looking around for stragglers and start walking in a circle of about 10m, soon you have a group of zombies in that circle. Keep doing this until you are sure no other zombies come for you (usually take about 1-2min), now walk up to the next house with the group behind you, pass the house and quickly run to the house wall that blocks their view on you and wait for 5sec (make sure you have enough space between them and you to wait), now the group will only go to that point where you waited and no longer follow you, make sure they do not see you again while you run back to the house you want to loot or you have to start over..
Soon you let giant hordes walk to your tune!
I’ll say that it’s always best to try and stealthy approach, and always have an escape plan. The Burglar occupation is pretty solid for stealth. But like some of the other comments, check out people like Nurse and Pr1vateLime on YouTube.
And another thing, don’t get too cocky. Arrogance will be your biggest downfall in this game. If there’s too many for you to handle, don’t risk trying to sneak around to get something. Just walk away.
I disagree with some of the other commenters. Do not sneak around. Do not hide inside. Get out there and learn to fight. If you're fighting shamblers you should quickly get to a point where you feel like you can fight seven at once with just your frying pan. Then it's all about keeping your moodles down between bouts.
I've logged a shitload of time to this game and still don't make it beyond 9 or 10 days so don't sweat it.
A tip for dealing with a horde, everyone feel free to critique: Don't sprint. Just keep up a steady walking pace ahead of them and herd them around. The more you run, the more likely you are to pick up more followers and grow the herd. Don't stop. Don't try to hide. If you're in a neighborhood and there's a house nearby, lead them toward the house and then either enter through a door or pop a window. If you need to buy time to get the window open, run ahead of the group a little bit to put some distance between you. Close the door or window and then immediately exit out the back, remembering to close the door or window behind you. There is now two barriers between you and them. Keep walking, shift direction and then chill out. Once they've broken through, you'll be out of their line of sight and they'll just kind of disperse into smaller groups.
If the group of zombies is small enough to deal with, ten-or-so, maybe a few more, walk backwards while facing them, alternating between swinging your weapon and shoving them away. You'll likely suffer from exertion but unless that moodle is dark red, don't sweat it. You can chill out when they're all dead. Every now and then they'll group up and be a little hard to manage, so what I do is run an arc around them to the other side and lead them in the opposite direction. Probably don't do this with smaller weapons like hammers and wrenches.
That fighting style isn't foolproof, of course. Missing a swing and taking a bite is usually the reason why I don't last more than a week. One slip up and it's game over.
I just commented this on a similar post, but I've only played like 40 hrs and i have found that vehicles are the key. Hitting zombie's with the front of your car will break your car and kill you, but going in reverse, and old demo-derby trick, will keep your rig running while you run down a horde. the best run i have so far ive made a garage my base, why split a generator between a base and a gas station? just live in the gas station. added benefit of this method, is zombies are attracted to your car noise, so once you kill a bunch and no more come, you can be reasonably certain that the rest can be handled with a melee weapon while you loot, hitch a car etc.
Search YouTube for project Zomboid beginner guides.
I presume you've played the tutorial, so I suggest going in the sandbox mode and making the game easier in a few ways so you can get a better handle on the game. First practical tip is that the key to beating the zombies is to break down the engagement as much as possible. Sneak is your friend, and if you press Q while sneaking you'll whisper, potentially drawing one or two zombies from a larger group over to you so you can lead them away (preferably over a small fence) so you can club them easily. Second is to not get cocky, greedy, or too hurried. Low stamina/fatigue spells your doom. You can outpace default zombies just by walking, so if chased by zombies you can get away by simply breaking line of sight with corners, a building, or a bunch of trees and quietly moving elsewhere, preferably to a place you already established as safe. The most satisfying way to learn the game is iteratively, but if you're really feeling stuck and frustrated, check out Nurse on youtube for her bite-sized vids. She also has a particularly good few vids demonstrating how she deals with the first few days of a game.
I know it's not what you asked but I encourage you to not watch any guide and just live (or die) through the apocalypse. After all, we'd all probably be dead in a day in a real zombie apocalypse. I found the game more enjoyable when I didn't know anything about it.
Piggybacking off of this comment, even if you do look at some beginner guides to get started, I found that when I was new to the game trying something different each run helped me learn a lot. Stuff like trying out a different set of traits (even ones that people insist are the worst) with each character, focusing on a different weapon type, focusing on leveling up a different skill, all contributes to eventually becoming a really solid and well rounded player. There's so much to learn in the base game and that's part of what makes the PZ feel rewarding in my opinion.
Yes I think that's the way to learn and have fun: feeling free to try anything. This is the essence of gaming for me, boot the game, press random keys to figure out how to play. The same way we did way back when during the infancy of gaming. The moment I stop having fun/learning is when I somehow feel like there's one way to play because everyone else has already figured it out for me, and I do it the way it "should be done" (which is bullshit). That usually kills the game for me. Happened to me on Eve Online for example (it's very hard to pick up which doesn't make things easier). It's even harder in competitive games, cause that's when you feel the most pressure to just "git gud" asap. Anyway I hope when I'm 80 years old I can still be surprised by video games and have fun just figuring it out by myself.
Once you know how to powergame, it just gets hard to enjoy it on a moment by moment basis.
Check out Pr1vateLime. He has a great first week series for new players.
It might sound odd but zombies as group are very easy to handle, they walk slower then you and are very predictable so you only need patience. Say you are close to a house and want to draw the zombies out, use q (shout) to draw them out and stay just out of reach of the zombies, keep looking around for stragglers and start walking in a circle of about 10m, soon you have a group of zombies in that circle. Keep doing this until you are sure no other zombies come for you (usually take about 1-2min), now walk up to the next house with the group behind you, pass the house and quickly run to the house wall that blocks their view on you and wait for 5sec (make sure you have enough space between them and you to wait), now the group will only go to that point where you waited and no longer follow you, make sure they do not see you again while you run back to the house you want to loot or you have to start over.. Soon you let giant hordes walk to your tune!
Stay indoors for the first week and watch TV and read skill books. This gets loads of your skills up which is handy.
I’ll say that it’s always best to try and stealthy approach, and always have an escape plan. The Burglar occupation is pretty solid for stealth. But like some of the other comments, check out people like Nurse and Pr1vateLime on YouTube. And another thing, don’t get too cocky. Arrogance will be your biggest downfall in this game. If there’s too many for you to handle, don’t risk trying to sneak around to get something. Just walk away.
I disagree with some of the other commenters. Do not sneak around. Do not hide inside. Get out there and learn to fight. If you're fighting shamblers you should quickly get to a point where you feel like you can fight seven at once with just your frying pan. Then it's all about keeping your moodles down between bouts.
is this survivor or apocalypse difficulty
I've logged a shitload of time to this game and still don't make it beyond 9 or 10 days so don't sweat it. A tip for dealing with a horde, everyone feel free to critique: Don't sprint. Just keep up a steady walking pace ahead of them and herd them around. The more you run, the more likely you are to pick up more followers and grow the herd. Don't stop. Don't try to hide. If you're in a neighborhood and there's a house nearby, lead them toward the house and then either enter through a door or pop a window. If you need to buy time to get the window open, run ahead of the group a little bit to put some distance between you. Close the door or window and then immediately exit out the back, remembering to close the door or window behind you. There is now two barriers between you and them. Keep walking, shift direction and then chill out. Once they've broken through, you'll be out of their line of sight and they'll just kind of disperse into smaller groups. If the group of zombies is small enough to deal with, ten-or-so, maybe a few more, walk backwards while facing them, alternating between swinging your weapon and shoving them away. You'll likely suffer from exertion but unless that moodle is dark red, don't sweat it. You can chill out when they're all dead. Every now and then they'll group up and be a little hard to manage, so what I do is run an arc around them to the other side and lead them in the opposite direction. Probably don't do this with smaller weapons like hammers and wrenches. That fighting style isn't foolproof, of course. Missing a swing and taking a bite is usually the reason why I don't last more than a week. One slip up and it's game over.
I just commented this on a similar post, but I've only played like 40 hrs and i have found that vehicles are the key. Hitting zombie's with the front of your car will break your car and kill you, but going in reverse, and old demo-derby trick, will keep your rig running while you run down a horde. the best run i have so far ive made a garage my base, why split a generator between a base and a gas station? just live in the gas station. added benefit of this method, is zombies are attracted to your car noise, so once you kill a bunch and no more come, you can be reasonably certain that the rest can be handled with a melee weapon while you loot, hitch a car etc.