PC Quick guide for those still struggling in early days of an A17 game.

[Skeeter63082]

Maybe you're late to the party or perhaps you feel the difficulty has been significantly ramped up since A16 and you're going to steer clear of 7DTD till it all gets fixed. Can't fault you either way, but I'd like to offer a few tips to those who are still crawling though the early part of the game in A17. I'm approaching level 100 right now and I'll admit that the learning curve is rough at first with all the changes, but had I known then what I know now, things would have been worlds easier. I'll pass some of that info along here.

1: Traders are your best friend early on.

Make it a priority as usual to get through the tutorial quests and get to the first trader. 3 reasons for this. First, he/she might have a working forge, allowing you to somewhat bypass that first troublesome level gate of 20 before you can make a forge yourself. That means cooking pot, which means fresh water. Second, the tier 1 missions are easy enough to do with even basic tools and weapons. They provide decent exp to help you over that early hump. Finally, the quest rewards are often iron tools, ammo, medical supplies, etc which are crucial in the early stages. Doing this will help you bypass a lot of the early on hardships. Plus you get dukes to help buy what you don't get from quests.

2: Intelligence helps a LOT.

I'm not trying to say you're stupid. You're probably an above average intellect person, however your character starts out dumb as a bag of rocks and extremely out of shape. For the former, putting your points into Intelligence will help increase exp gains, open up crafting, and also help you out on your trader quests. I highly recommend prioritizing intelligence at first all these reasons.

3: Fortitude helps you survive

The fortitude stat houses many of your survival related skills, such as max health, hunger/thirst degradation, disease resistance, damage reduction, etc. It would behoove you to put some points in this tree early on. You'll thank yourself later.

4: Agility isn't bad either.

Remember the part where your character starts out seemingly having had the same physical fitness program as Rebel Wilson? Agility will help with that giving you more max stamina, the ability to sprint longer, among other things. This will help out dramatically in those first days before you can craft a bicycle to help get around.

5: The new wellness system can be tricky to manage at first, but can be advantageous.

So here's how it is. Maximum Stamina is controlled by hunger, Stamina Regen is controlled by thirst. Max health is diminished by taking damage, getting diseases, etc, but can be rebuilt by using medical items, even spamming super cheap and easy basic bandages. Remember that! Health is restored by the old means i.e first aid bandages, first aid kits, and food. Unless you are near a desert, your main source of health will probably be food, which works out because you need food to maintain max stamina anyway. Easy enough. You have to eat to maintain your max stamina anyway, so staying healed shouldn't be all that difficult.

6: Carry a family sized pack of bandages all the time.

Your character is apparently a hemophiliac. A paper cut results in massive blood loss. You'll bleed...A LOT! Zombies have much higher chance to inflict bleed now it seems, and vultures are damn near 100% chance. Never leave your base without a stack of bandages or first aid kids. Period.

7: Avoid the crossbow. It sucks.

Not even kidding. Slow reload, loud as hell, your movement speed is just a shade above grass growing while reloading, and it requires materials that are kind of scarce early on. Just don't do it. Compound bows are far more common than they used to be and far superior. Even your wooden bow can outperform the crossbow with a little skill.

8: NVGs seem to be a little more common than they used to be, but as of b199 they seem to be broken.

Not much else to say about that. In b197, they were amazing, in b199 they went to hell and just turn your screen green and screw up contrasts. Either save them in case they get fixed, or sell them for a nice profit.

9: Use your right click power attacks, but don't overuse them.

Power attacking with a club or knife can be down right satisfying. Even more so once you have a machete. However, use them wisely. It doesn't take long to drain stamina when spamming power attacks, leaving you unable to run away from a sticky situation. Always mind your stamina, and keep your max stamina and regen up as stated above.

10: Don't bother building a base that will survive a bloodmoon just yet.

BM hordes have been buffed to near godly levels on block damage. They take down doors in a few hits, turn concrete into gravel effortlessly, laugh at traps, and target the weakest areas that provide a path to you. Couple this with very much improved pathing AI, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Instead of trying to build a defensible base, I would recommend finding a place where you can cut off all paths to you and just pray they don't bring the place down with you on top of it. I've actually have amazing luck with the Ostrich hotel POI. Just make sure to clear the roof of sleepers and break out the ladder that leads down to the top floor, and maybe even plug the hole with a block or two. You should be fairly safe here for several blood moons before the damage on the top floor starts to get concerning. The beautiful part is that the skylight in the middle allows you to take shots at the zombies below trying to get to you, scoring some super valuable EXP from a relatively safe spot. Only real concern here is the vultures that occasionally spawn. Just keep an eye and ear out for them and snipe them before they become a problem. Oh, and don't fall into that big hole in the middle. Broken leg = zombie bait. There are obviously other options, but I've had great success with this method, so just wanted to pass that along.

Well, that about covers it. Hope this info helps those still struggling with the basics of A17. I'm sure there's a lot more that I could toss in here, but at this point, I'm certain you're eager to get back to the game.

 

[DeadGerry]

This is a really useful bit of posting, +rep. It's a good starter piece of information for the frustrated. It's good to know that some of our concerns are on the pimps radar, but also good to get some practical advice.

I wonder if I might impose on you (or anyone else) to give some specific discussion on who many points you are spending on what stats and what perks - which specific things are proving very useful or 'not as useful as you might think'.

Int / Fort / Agi is useful to know, but within those branches theres still a lot of stuff that seems vital - are you getting better results stacking one or two skills, or spreading them? Any experience you care to share would be warmly appreciated.

With hunger Im finding that wild animals are somewhat rare and the canned food is poisoning me too often, leading to hunger / illness cycles of death and low stamina; how are players finding the supply / perk / shopping options affect this for a successful early game?

What sort of base are you using for the non horde early game? Any POI's proving handy, or are players building their own small spaces to stay safe at night?

Thans for sharing!

 

[Skeeter63082]

This is a really useful bit of posting, +rep. It's a good starter piece of information for the frustrated. It's good to know that some of our concerns are on the pimps radar, but also good to get some practical advice.
I wonder if I might impose on you (or anyone else) to give some specific discussion on who many points you are spending on what stats and what perks - which specific things are proving very useful or 'not as useful as you might think'.

Int / Fort / Agi is useful to know, but within those branches theres still a lot of stuff that seems vital - are you getting better results stacking one or two skills, or spreading them? Any experience you care to share would be warmly appreciated.

With hunger Im finding that wild animals are somewhat rare and the canned food is poisoning me too often, leading to hunger / illness cycles of death and low stamina; how are players finding the supply / perk / shopping options affect this for a successful early game?

What sort of base are you using for the non horde early game? Any POI's proving handy, or are players building their own small spaces to stay safe at night?

Thans for sharing!

Great questions. As for stat points, I would keep INT and FORT as high as they can go for your level to maintain the ability to craft the best stuff you can and have a good health pool. For you, especially with difficulty finding viable food, points in hunger degradation will go a long way. Outside of that, just feel the game out and put points where you feel are weakest.

As for a breakdown, in Intelligence, keep Daring adventurer maxed out for your level as long as you are doing quests. It helps a LOT. Also, keep your craftsmanship perks up to date. In fortitude, Healing Factor, Fully Hydrated, and Slow Metabolism help immensely early on, and even later in the game to a degree, especially healing factor. In agility, I would keep Rule 1: Cardio maxed out for your level at least until you can get some form of conveyance, such as the bicycle, since your own two legs are going to be your primary way of travel for some time. It's also worth mentioning that some points in Strength to open up inventory slots with Pack Mule are invaluable as you are looting. Less trips back to base = more efficient looting.

For your food situation, as of now the best source of meat in the game by far are the huge feral looking boars you sometimes encounter at the top of POIs. These guys are bullet/arrow sponges, but they are non-aggro till hit, so nail them with something ranged then run to a narrow passageway like a door with them following. They won't be able to pass through and they won't be able to break the wall before you kill them. Then just plink them with whatever ranged weapon you have till they are dead. Whip our your favorite bladed weapon and harvest away. TONS of meat from that, not to mention a load of bones and animal fat that will come in handy later.

As for a non-horde base, I've always had the preference of the military compound. Ready made concrete walls, fairly easy to clear, and solid buildings to set up a workshop. Just knock out the front fence entrances and fortify with the best you can make. Break down the tents for lots of cloth for bandages, and the center area makes a great place for a garden once you get to farming. The Red Mesa facility is also a decent choice because of strong pre-made walls, but harder to clear and less in the way of readily available shelter. The top of the Ostrich hotel I use for the blood horde isn't bad either, but also requires some building and you would want to build a ladder off the side for easier access. If you can find a parking garage, those do ok, but clearing can be a pain and breaking out the stairs is also rough without good tools. So far, the Military Base POI is about as good as it gets for using as a base. I've been doing it since A15 and it's worked well.

 

[Moldy Bread]

It's not a struggle, it's just boring.

 

[Scyris]

I like the fire station as a first base, I build a extra floor to it on the 2nd floor, use the old ghetto elevator to get to it. Then I trap the floor below with barbed wire, spikes are useless in a17, they don't fo nearly enough damage to kill anything, barbed wire fences last until zombies destroy then and slow the zombies down to a crawl, so its free target pratice. If yoru wondering how I get in I build a ghetto vator outside and bust out 2 panes of the bullet proof glass.

 

[Randomdude]

Nice heads up for someone coming from A16. Its a rude awakening...

10: Don't bother building a base that will survive a bloodmoon just yet.BM hordes have been buffed to near godly levels on block damage. They take down doors in a few hits, turn concrete into gravel effortlessly, laugh at traps, and target the weakest areas that provide a path to you. Couple this with very much improved pathing AI, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Instead of trying to build a defensible base, I would recommend finding a place where you can cut off all paths to you and just pray they don't bring the place down with you on top of it. I've actually have amazing luck with the Ostrich hotel POI. Just make sure to clear the roof of sleepers and break out the ladder that leads down to the top floor, and maybe even plug the hole with a block or two. You should be fairly safe here for several blood moons before the damage on the top floor starts to get concerning. The beautiful part is that the skylight in the middle allows you to take shots at the zombies below trying to get to you, scoring some super valuable EXP from a relatively safe spot. Only real concern here is the vultures that occasionally spawn. Just keep an eye and ear out for them and snipe them before they become a problem. Oh, and don't fall into that big hole in the middle. Broken leg = zombie bait. There are obviously other options, but I've had great success with this method, so just wanted to pass that along.

I actually do this too. In all my playthroughts I skip the 7 day horde on top of a sturdy POI. I spend the first 10-12 days resource hoarding and preparing for the 14th (real one). Loot as much as I can during that time.

 

[Skeeter63082]

I like the fire station as a first base, I build a extra floor to it on the 2nd floor, use the old ghetto elevator to get to it. Then I trap the floor below with barbed wire, spikes are useless in a17, they don't fo nearly enough damage to kill anything, barbed wire fences last until zombies destroy then and slow the zombies down to a crawl, so its free target pratice. If yoru wondering how I get in I build a ghetto vator outside and bust out 2 panes of the bullet proof glass.

OOOH, I like that. Never thought about using the fire station. Actually, I haven't ran across one in A17 yet on my map, but if I see one, I'll check that method out. Might be a lot of fun.

 

[Limdood]

I'd actually avoid fortitude for the most part...grab the first rank of healing factor so that the occasional stray hit doesn't affect you much and leave it mostly alone.

Intelligence is definitely king, but strength will help you melee kill zombies, which with the new power attack, is insanely effective during the day...probably the fastest xp in the game. It will also help you gather more efficiently and carry more...sexual Trex should affect your gathering swings as well as melee combat, and the strength stat itself affects both melee and mining.

If you don't really favor melee, perception will make your bow less useless and give access to better looting, though in that case, agility sneaking perks will be helpful as well.

My go-to early levelup is usually intelligence, strength, 1 point in cardio, healing factor, charging bull, then go hard into the strength perks, while saving enough for the the perks i want when i hit the level 20 gate.

One other tip i've got is to skip out on the really fancy food....mass produce charred meat and water....eat often to keep max stamina up (and skip the bacon&eggs and meat stew...the 50-70% max stamina gain is useless...you will never let it get down that low).

 

[Krougal]

I like the fire station as a first base, I build a extra floor to it on the 2nd floor, use the old ghetto elevator to get to it. Then I trap the floor below with barbed wire, spikes are useless in a17, they don't fo nearly enough damage to kill anything, barbed wire fences last until zombies destroy then and slow the zombies down to a crawl, so its free target pratice. If yoru wondering how I get in I build a ghetto vator outside and bust out 2 panes of the bullet proof glass.

Are you talking the actual fence item (useless in A16) or the barbed wire "sheets" ? Since my iron is split between forged iron/arrowheads pretty evenly I haven't considered barbed wire yet.

The spikes do suck, although a row of them around everything is still useful, I wouldn't go more than 1 deep.

Hordes haven't been much problem, they will tear up the base quite a bit, but generally not get to me. My very first A17 horde they did manage to bring my tiny fort down, along with me in it, but it was close to the end of the horde and I managed to survive it.

I'm thinking instead of solid walls for the first floor to just make many pillars with spikes/barbed wire around them, like a checkerboard pattern. Since if the zeds can't path to you they will start going for the SI, and this does make every spike useful at least.

 

[Skeeter63082]

I'd actually avoid fortitude for the most part...grab the first rank of healing factor so that the occasional stray hit doesn't affect you much and leave it mostly alone.
Intelligence is definitely king, but strength will help you melee kill zombies, which with the new power attack, is insanely effective during the day...probably the fastest xp in the game. It will also help you gather more efficiently and carry more...sexual Trex should affect your gathering swings as well as melee combat, and the strength stat itself affects both melee and mining.

If you don't really favor melee, perception will make your bow less useless and give access to better looting, though in that case, agility sneaking perks will be helpful as well.

My go-to early levelup is usually intelligence, strength, 1 point in cardio, healing factor, charging bull, then go hard into the strength perks, while saving enough for the the perks i want when i hit the level 20 gate.

One other tip i've got is to skip out on the really fancy food....mass produce charred meat and water....eat often to keep max stamina up (and skip the bacon&eggs and meat stew...the 50-70% max stamina gain is useless...you will never let it get down that low).

Solid points. A lot of it is really going to depend on your RWG spawn and what you have available to you at first. Biome is obviously going to have an effect on things. Also, availability of certain POIs. The main thing is to cover your bases to stay alive and keep moving and then tailor your point distribution to your unique situation/desires.

I also agree about the food. If you're letting your max stam get below 80, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Scyris]

Are you talking the actual fence item (useless in A16) or the barbed wire "sheets" ? Since my iron is split between forged iron/arrowheads pretty evenly I haven't considered barbed wire yet.
The spikes do suck, although a row of them around everything is still useful, I wouldn't go more than 1 deep.

Hordes haven't been much problem, they will tear up the base quite a bit, but generally not get to me. My very first A17 horde they did manage to bring my tiny fort down, along with me in it, but it was close to the end of the horde and I managed to survive it.

I'm thinking instead of solid walls for the first floor to just make many pillars with spikes/barbed wire around them, like a checkerboard pattern. Since if the zeds can't path to you they will start going for the SI, and this does make every spike useful at least.

- - - Updated - - -

LMFAO!

+1 internets to you sir!

But the tree would have to be free of cost or it wouldn't be inclusive enough...

Talking barbed wire fences, they use 8 iron scrap, and 10 wood. I lined the bottom of the fire station with them, just went thru horde night, I think they destroyed all of 6 blocks the entire night? Meanwhile I was killing them as they came. Some pics of my ghetto base. Note I did not foritfy the outside of this poi at all. just used barb wire fences.



To get out you go outside thru the glass in pic 3, and then you can jump down onto 2 lower roofs which lets you run away in 3 diff directions if you need to do so. I even had barbed wire fences going up the stairs incase they got that far, which a few did. As for my insane amount of pistol ammo? I haven't bought a single round off the trader, and I had that much 9mm and almost 200 7.62mm rounds just from looting things.

 

[Guest]

Huge stamina tip: don't wear armor before you get a bicycle. It slows you down and makes stamina drain quicker. Avoiding damage is better than blocking it in the early game anyways.

I don't really agree on the early intelligence investment, beyond getting it to 2 for the orange quality tools. It only becomes important once you're closing in on level 20/30, for the forge and bike. Not enough mods around to make use of higher quality tools/weapons for a while.

Fortitude the same, just make sure you have the first level of the health regen perk, so you can heal a little even if you're not eating.

Strength (for melee/mining) and agility (for stamina management) are very important, perception too if you want to be aggressive early on. Headshot damage is everything, and sneaky strike combos nicely with it. I'm now playing a new game on warrior and I've been hunting zombies at night in the first couple of days. Sneaky headshot plus a good whack to the face will finish most standard zombies off easily.

Keep your head on a swivel and always assume vultures at wilderness POIs.

 

[DeadGerry]

So far I've not had much luck with the trader missions, maybe just bad luck - I'll give em another go. Thanks for all the useful stuff being added here!

 

[Guest]

Trader missions are a huge time sink because of the necessary travel, and the XP is not worth it unless they missed a 0 in the description. Killing just two zombies nets you more, and the average POI has some nice loot at the end of the dungeon run. Better off investing in killing power and starting on POIs as soon as you have a decent stack of arrows, a melee weapon and the two associated headshot perks.

If traders showed you the possible rewards up front it would be better. I've had to choose between absolute crap items too often to invest in questing during the early game anymore.

 

[LuckyStar]

Agree with the OP about the crossbow.

I've already modded in a "Hunter's" bow that uses bolts instead of arrows.

The reload on the crossbow is so slow that it's completely unusable.

TFP have to speed that up or increase the damage a LOT!

[Hoping for speed increase]

 

[Kalen]

Agree with the OP about the crossbow.
I've already modded in a "Hunter's" bow that uses bolts instead of arrows.

The reload on the crossbow is so slow that it's completely unusable.

TFP have to speed that up or increase the damage a LOT!

[Hoping for speed increase]

I havent looked to much at the xmls yet, but instead of modding in a whole new bow can't you just up the reload speed on the crossbow?

 

[babspsol]

Number 1 problem people are having is exactly the same problem OP is having per his last point.

BM hordes are not godly. The problem is you guys appear to be ignorant to the fact (or don't care) that player level has a direct impact on the level of horde that you get for blood moon.

Every complaint I see about BM is from someone that has power levelled. My 21 day horde didn't even have a cop in it because I am careful not to level too fast and therefore building up solid defences before progressing.

Like it or not, certain play styles are being punished, power levelling, passive defence and basing underground to name a few. You can play that way but don't expect to power level to 40 and sit in your cobblestone base during BM because all that power levelling left you with no time to make concrete and iron defences.

 

[Krougal]

Talking barbed wire fences, they use 8 iron scrap, and 10 wood. I lined the bottom of the fire station with them, just went thru horde night, I think they destroyed all of 6 blocks the entire night? Meanwhile I was killing them as they came. Some pics of my ghetto base. Note I did not foritfy the outside of this poi at all. just used barb wire fences.
To get out you go outside thru the glass in pic 3, and then you can jump down onto 2 lower roofs which lets you run away in 3 diff directions if you need to do so. I even had barbed wire fences going up the stairs incase they got that far, which a few did. As for my insane amount of pistol ammo? I haven't bought a single round off the trader, and I had that much 9mm and almost 200 7.62mm rounds just from looting things.

Ok cool, I will start switching over to them. They were so useless before I never used them.

Damn that's a good haul for ammo by day 7. Shotgun messiah boxes?

 

[Krougal]

Huge stamina tip: don't wear armor before you get a bicycle. It slows you down and makes stamina drain quicker. Avoiding damage is better than blocking it in the early game anyways.
I don't really agree on the early intelligence investment, beyond getting it to 2 for the orange quality tools. It only becomes important once you're closing in on level 20/30, for the forge and bike. Not enough mods around to make use of higher quality tools/weapons for a while.

Fortitude the same, just make sure you have the first level of the health regen perk, so you can heal a little even if you're not eating.

Strength (for melee/mining) and agility (for stamina management) are very important, perception too if you want to be aggressive early on. Headshot damage is everything, and sneaky strike combos nicely with it. I'm now playing a new game on warrior and I've been hunting zombies at night in the first couple of days. Sneaky headshot plus a good whack to the face will finish most standard zombies off easily.

Keep your head on a swivel and always assume vultures at wilderness POIs.

I wouldn't go so far as to say don't wear armor at all, but do take it off for travel/harvesting when possible.

Agree 100% on the Int, 1st point is a strong contender for your first 5, 2nd can wait til close to 20.

Fortitude the same, healing factor a must, late teens I like to put points into it and get factor 2, but it's a luxury.

I'd say pick your primary for weapons melee or ranged and go from there. Even as primarily ranged I melee when I feel like it with points only in Str (for packmule)

 

[Skeeter63082]

Huge stamina tip: don't wear armor before you get a bicycle. It slows you down and makes stamina drain quicker. Avoiding damage is better than blocking it in the early game anyways.
I don't really agree on the early intelligence investment, beyond getting it to 2 for the orange quality tools. It only becomes important once you're closing in on level 20/30, for the forge and bike. Not enough mods around to make use of higher quality tools/weapons for a while.

Fortitude the same, just make sure you have the first level of the health regen perk, so you can heal a little even if you're not eating.

Strength (for melee/mining) and agility (for stamina management) are very important, perception too if you want to be aggressive early on. Headshot damage is everything, and sneaky strike combos nicely with it. I'm now playing a new game on warrior and I've been hunting zombies at night in the first couple of days. Sneaky headshot plus a good whack to the face will finish most standard zombies off easily.

Keep your head on a swivel and always assume vultures at wilderness POIs.

I recommend Intel because of the exp boost, which helps take the sting out of the crap exp rates for non-combat activities. Also it gives a helping hand for trader quests which can be a boon early on with any luck. Again, you just have to take your unique situation into account and spec accordingly. It'll be a little different for everyone, but survival perks should be high priority early on when resources are scarce unless you get super lucky on some food and water. If you're skilled then healing factor isn't a big deal, but this guide is intended for those who are still having trouble early in A17, possibly from being new or just having difficulty adjusting to the new mechanics.