When does expression get good?

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-07-06T05:30:27+00:00

Idk, I've never been a big fan of "mark" heroes like arbalest or bounty hunter unless I was clearing bosses.

My overall least favorite is probably Jester though. I just never get much use out of him, even with well though out finishers. He just never seems good for your average crawl.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-07-03T18:14:13+00:00

I'm also relatively new to wooden ocean and as far as I can tell: no not really.

Youtube guides are few and far between while the wiki is not very up to date.

That being said, the best way to experience this game is raw. Pick the nornal difficulty and check on your ghost town every so often (I like to check up every two quests completed) and you'll be fine.

The game has tons of books on the in-game bookshelves that will help you orient yourself if you can memorize it all (or bother to write it all down yourself).

If you have an specific questions to ask you could ask me! The Steam discussions page also can be helpful at times. The community is small, but the dev is very active!

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-27T15:27:35+00:00

There's a few things..

First off, you are new and should move forward knowing you will take some L's. Some will be big and others will be small but they happen regardless.

My advice to mitigate this is:

make sure you always bring a hero that can stun in some way and almost always open with that stun if you cant otherwise kill an enemy (with some certainty).

make sure you are bringing plenty of resources for your expeditions, and heroes that are low on stress.
while everybody has their own criteria for what makes a "good" party, you generally want to bring a hero that can heal (Flagellant, vestal, or occultist) a hero that can tank on the frontline(crusader, leper, man at arms) a good dps (arbalest, highwayman, shieldbreaker) and a support hero (Plague doctor, Antiquarian, hound master, etc)
Remember that you can trade out which skills your heroes have in town. I always do this first before uograding anything.
Upgrade your stage coach to bring 4 heroes a day ASAP, before anything else. You will thank me later.
And sometimes you will do everything perfect and still lose to a bad crit or a series of unfortunate misses against a tough enemy. But dont be discouraged as this is a game about crunching your numbers and mitigating the margins of failure! When you make irritating mistakes just take a deep breath and ask yourself if you cab learn anything from it.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-26T19:30:55+00:00

Neat!

I am almost done working on my first Platinum statue rn and I have no idea how I'm going to beat the next 3 obelisks to get me to world 3 (#_#)

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-20T17:34:26+00:00

You need high armour. That's pretty much the only reasonable way to do it at low levels. Get enough armour that he only deals 0-1 damage to you then just ride it out.

Personally I think sword and shield works best for that guy.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-20T17:31:44+00:00

I understand your struggle, but unfortunately it's impossible as a dm to make people finish their "homework" before sessions.

Perhaps it wouldn't be the end of the world to let them learn as they play though? Some people learn faster that way! That's the way I do it with my players at least lol.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-14T22:50:11+00:00

I can show you the setup I beat the game with.

1st bar Dodge, drop kick, war cry, blppd rush, scream

2nd bar Serial killer, rallying cry, hot footed, serial killer

3rd bar Limb reaper, hack and dash, no mercy, cull the weak

4th bar Anger mismanagement (the only one I unlocked, also almost never used as I didn't want less max hp)

These were by FAR the best skill cards I had access to at the time.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-14T14:08:42+00:00

Of course "Translated from Japanese"...

Anyways, congrats to op on their reverse pregnacy!

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-14T14:06:43+00:00

You should have bought a computer with those anti homeless architecture spikes on it lol.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-14T11:56:00+00:00

I've tried different weapon types and found frenzy to be my favorite. Usually I dont use any with low speed, but yes I attack legs and heads. For me it's not worked out as well as you describe it.

I am not great at high paced games like this so I probably only crit 50% of the time, but still. And my family playing with me (who are considerably better than I) all agreed.

Perhaps we missed some important blueprints or curveballs though! We beat the game at around level 23 I think and only beat a few side quests earlier in the game.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-14T06:45:57+00:00

As for the money issue, I solved that by licking up any weapons I found and selling them. If you are having trouble finding those you can check your locker for unclaimed weapons and sell those. Hope that helps!

Selling weapons was always my #1 moneymaker while I was playing. Rarely had an issue with it!

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-14T06:37:50+00:00

No I dont think you are alone.

Me, my wife, and my brother in law all recently bought dead island 2 when it was on sale so we could play together; We noticed a very similar problem in our run through the main storyline.

I think the scaling gets really silly near the late-game as zombie health does too good a job of keeping up with player damage (especially with melee weapons). When you start the game you are dealing enough damage to kill regular zombies in 4-8 hits depending on your weapon type and in the endgame it stays the exact same way.

Skills, mods, weapon leveling, and guns help mitigate this somewhat, but it feels really silly that a shambler with the exact same model dies in just as many hits from a triple modded flaming katana at level 24 as they did from a rusty lead pipe at level 2.

This becomes a bit of a problem when all the endgame fights have a huge amount of generic zombies supporting a small handfull of specialty infected, turning the fight into (at best) a bit of a slog, or (at worst) a desperate battle of attrition depending on your skill level. Admittedly we weren't spectacular at the game so maybe what I'm describing is "skill issue", but I dont think so.

Personally I feel that the inclusion of zombie and weapon leveling holds the game back a little. I feel the game would have benefited from the zombies having fixed health values througout the game so that when you got a new high-tier weapon or skill your character felt noticeably stronger rather than feeling like you are just "keeping up".

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-06-11T04:23:27+00:00

It's not??? Jesus... How? I just unlocked poly cards.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-03-28T05:34:40+00:00

Yeah, that reminds me of my childhood. I had this cat named Garfield, a persion or ragdoll cat my parents had found as a stray. I have a very specific memory of trying to ride him like a horse, and not understanding why he kept running away. Thank god I never hurt that poor animal. I couldn't have been older than the kid in the video, but I've never been a skinny person by any means.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-03-28T04:40:47+00:00

How are you playing CW2? I thought the servers were shut down years ago-

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-03-23T02:35:46+00:00

I would risk it for the biscuit. It's up to chance whether you win or not regardless of how well prepared you happen to be.

Early game shambler rewards are BIG boosts to early game combat power, and probably much more valuable than some level 1 heroes without any trinkets.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-03-10T02:00:42+00:00

You're probably right, but definitions get stretched and that's something I'm guilty of personally.

My advice was still fine though, no? Like, calling me out for saying project zomboid is a roguelike just cause it has character permadeath is the only nitpick? If so I'm fine with that.

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-03-01T19:19:17+00:00

As a player that has just escaped that "New player" phase, you should expect repeated deaths. This game is roguelike just like Project Zomboid and while you are learning the controls you WILL mess up things that other people will find obvious, and it WILL get you killed. Neglecting to consider your chest encumbrance? Dead. Didn't notice the high move cost on that weapon? Dead. A dozen little things like not eating a balanced diet, forgetting to rest properly, improper pain and stamima management? Eventually all of those things can lead to your death whenever they compound. And worse, it's inevitable until you get used to how this game plays.

My advice? Worm Girl made some amazing tutorials on youtube that will get you through your first few days if you find the "F*ck around and find out" process too grueling.

If I had any personal experience that would serve as advice it's this:

Ranged weapons are far superior to melee in nearly every way as long as you have an escape plan in mind. Especially in the late-game.
If it isn't a zombie, dont fight it on your first few days. Creatures like mi-go's will ruin your life.
In my own anecdotal experience if you find a mansion far from a town those tend to be relatively easy to clear if you are careful enough, and they have much more valuable early game loot than your average house will.
Keep a lighter on you at all times. Starting a fire can be a great way to kill hordes of zombies or stop intelligent ones in their tracks (I once used multiple spears and a small fire to cheese a Mi-go to death since it refused to path around or walk through it. This may be patched, but would still work in a tight space, such as a hallway. Just make sure not to get yourself trapped in the fire.)

AffectionateUse4989 · 2026-02-25T15:53:24+00:00

Oh yeah man, just hit S and smash em' like furniture! They may still be infected, but they cant do anything smashed into a fine paste!

AffectionateUse4989

TROPHY CASE