PC If A POI Has Zombie Dogs, It Should Be Minimum Tier 2

I'm with the OP on this one. Dogs are nearly impossible to kill.

Sure, if you go into a Tier 3-6 on day one, you should expect to run into something that will plaster you, but a Tier 1? That's just stupid. Especially considering how many debuffs they slap on you. Running into a dog at your first POI probably is going to get you a broken bone, bleeding out, abrasions, possibly leg damage, and probably an infection. Pretend you are a brand new player. You booted up the game the first time. You did the starting quests so you have a wooden club, stone axe, primitive bow, one arrow, and a pair of grass pants as you walk into your first Trader and go to your first ever POI. You don't have several stacks of materials on your toolbelt, you don't know what a nerd tower is, etc.

With that setup, running into a dog is you dead within 5 minutes of booting up the game.


Not true at all.  Latest playthrough, canceled starter quests so no free perks.  Second POI, Tier 1.  Saw a dog house and just took my time.  Only had a bone knife and the primitive bow.  Once I heard the dog started to growl, I fell back to my fall back position and got elevated, took it out easily.

If you just waltz into any POI as if it is a lazy Sunday, yes you can be in a world of hurt.  If you take some time and come up with some contingency plans, then you can meet any challenge.

 
The bigger problem is in certain POI (I'd have to find one to get the name as I didn't think to take note of it at the time) where the dog attacks you before you get to a point where you can see the dog house if you're following the intended path.  If the dog house is visible first, then I don't think it's a big deal.  But if it is after meeting the dog, then it really feels bad for a tier 1 quest for someone who might be on their first quest and not geared to have any chance against a dog that they don't see in advance and be able to shoot with a bow.
Yeah one of the gas station POI tier 1 (pass n gas #10 I think) has a dog house hiding in the corner behind a pile of stuff and the dog is not visible til you turn that corner and see the house. By the time you see the house the dog is already awake 😞 tried sneaking up on it during the day my second time around, didn't work either. The dogs are also seem super hard to ragdoll even with a sledge early game

 
I wandered through a Tier 0 POI today (Pass n Gas 6) that had a dog in it.  I had reasonable gear, so it wasn't a big deal when it jumped me (no dog house/crate in the whole POI that I saw) but seemed kinda strange.  I guess it was possible that it was part of a wandering horde or something, but I didn't encounter any other dogs or zeds in the area, which was right next to the POI I'm using as a base at the moment.

Anyway, I guess the solution is to survey POIs from above and outside the POI area in the early game.  Can locate and kill dogs that way without any problem.  Once you're not rocking fiber clothes and q1 stone gear, they're not really an issue.

 
Dogs aren't that tough folks just panic and forget they have a weapon. Players also need to try aiming since that helps if you hit the enemies. Every time I see some youtubee with hundred if not thousands of hours in this game they always panic when they see a dog and then spray and pray with whatever gun they got.

Unless you are playing on insane or even survivalist dogs aren't that big of an issue. Now 3 or more sure. But 1 or 2 well that is a player issue and the recommendation is lower the settings of difficulty so you kill them easier or boost up damage perks to do more damage.

 
It doesn't make much sense to bring up an issue that can be dealt with somehow as an issue here.

The members who answer questions on this forum are generally veterans and are used to dealing with problems. They're fine with a game where a random dire wolf appears at a POI (you can just give up on the quest and run away).

So someone says, "If you don't like it, install a mod."

(I can deal with the current zombie dog placement without any problems even on the highest difficulty level, but I don't think that makes it a good placement.)

 
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I think they're fine but I always pick the pipe machine gun for the first quest reward. So it hasn't been a problem in 1.0. Even the pipe pistol will have enough shots to kill a dog. And both are easy to craft day one if you don't go to the trader. Hell, dogs are very killable in melee. If you can't run away then don't bother, power attack the head with a bone knife and keep stabbing or switch to club and keep power attacking til you can get a knock back or it dies. They're pretty squishy early game. 

That being said, I've had my share of "this is bull@%$#" tier 1 poi dog attacks. Especially when they're just outside so running by the poi wakes it up and it chases you down. Or a dog horde spawns day 1-3 and you gotta hope you see them before they see you. Lol. 

 
Why necro a year old thread?  Dogs are fine.  If you can't handle them, get up on top of something and you can use a bow, even a primitive one, to kill them without a problem.  So entirely possible even on day 1 if you run into them.  There are few low tier POI that have dogs and they are all (I believe) only a single dog.

 
I save basically all my ammo for dogs, vultures and bears until later middle game when I'm walking tier4-5 POI gotcha rooms.
I agree with this. I also like that the dogs are not _more aware_ and that I sometimes can sneak kill them with a bow. If I look in a room and there's a dog, that's my number one target, over cops, anything else. 

 
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