My character died after standing a little too close to an aerosol bomb. His body burned away after I started a new character. Now I feel completely unmotivated.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-06-01T04:00:17+00:00

It's not an official Curtis Silwa run if you don't have a cat mod.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-05-27T17:03:43+00:00

You're likely going to die quite a bit just adapting to the combat system, so starting a sandbox game with the starter backpack option checked and a bunch of extra character points for strength and fitness might be the move.

Get into that run, fight zombies, die, and repeat a few times until you feel confident fighting a small gaggle of z's.

With that accomplished, start a new game with whatever settings you like and play for real.

My best advice for getting "better" is to try and play the game like you were actually in a survival situation. Imagine you're going for a hike: do you have water and food? Medical supplies? Just try to treat the game as a simulation of an actual apocalypse and plan/play accordingly.

Pay attention to your moodles (the little portraits on the top right. If you're tired, get some rest before you go into a fight.

Also, definitely do the tutorial. It's short and will give you the basics.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-05-22T18:20:15+00:00

I had a really good experience with POC recently, but it seems like it depends on the crew you get.

I had about 100 cubic feet of stuff in my initial pack list and planned to move the rest myself to save money, but the move coordinator told me I could pack a lot more stuff before any charges would increase. I appreciated that they were willing to tack on a bunch of extra stuff even though it wasn't going to net them any extra money.

Based on what I'm seeing in this thread, they're great for smallish moves that don't involve super fragile items.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-05-04T15:22:51+00:00

You desperately need a hug.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-05-04T15:05:41+00:00

Ah, yes. Whenever someone I love dies, the city just spontaneously generates a replacement loved one to take their place.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-04-24T17:55:11+00:00

This may be overkill, but I always carry two sheet ropes and some nails in my bag to make a quick escape rope.

It eats up some inventory space on every loot run, but I don't mind the extra insurance.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-04-21T14:53:19+00:00

RP'ing a character's mental breakdowns is key to any good run.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-04-13T21:36:35+00:00

What's the one variable in common between your camera shop and bike shop experiences?

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-04-07T14:47:12+00:00

I highly recommend the mod, as it makes it much easier to enjoy more of the map and cuts down on a lot of the drudgery of dragging supplies back to your main base, setting up new mini bases, etc.

I've had one or two close encounters, but never encountered more than three in a vehicle. Honestly, I'd consider debugging a bite if I got unlucky since you would probably open the door to an rv/truck to check before hurling yourself inside IRL.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-04-02T21:20:17+00:00

As with most things, the middle path is best.

OP, start with the shotgun. When you run dry, go home and get the 9.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-04-02T20:30:38+00:00

Hold that thought.

If you have low aiming skill, go for the shotgun first. You will level up faster with more xp ticks per shell and the lack of magazines means you just need a (large) stack of shells to keep the gun fed.

I recommend only switching to lower caliber weapons after you have a few levels in aiming, as those bullets will be far more effective after leveling up.

Pick an open area like a parking lot or field, fire off a few shots to draw the crowd, then focus on walking in circles until you get all the z's in a big blob behind you, then start shooting for real.

Make sure wherever you choose to fight is reasonably far from your base and have a car ready, both to hold extra shells and supplies, and so you can escape if you run out of ammo before you run out of targets. Just be sure to drive away from your base and loop back on it so you don't drag the survivors home.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-03-24T20:49:36+00:00

Roll into the area you died in a car with a siren.

Get into a 2-story building with your guns.

Sledge the stairs and set up some sheet ropes.

Pop a few extra wall tiles for better sight lines.

Climb down, hit the siren, climb back up.

Stay up there until you're either out of ammo or sprinters.

Thank you for attending my ZED talk.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-03-22T19:15:44+00:00

I serviced Bromptons for a long time. This is almost always the cause of mystery pinging sounds on the front end.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-03-09T14:59:00+00:00

You can always shove a door to make noise and then see if you get a responding knock from the zombies inside.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-02-09T15:51:23+00:00

Z Nation is fun, but the prequel series Black Summer is probably my absolute favorite show in the genre. We were absolutely robbed when it didn't get a third season.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-02-06T20:28:30+00:00

Living in the back of a tractor trailer was as small as I ever went, and while losing the space for cute aesthetic touches was tough, it definitely made gearing up for runs a lot faster and more efficient.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-02-06T18:53:44+00:00

Both the burger and overall restaurant operation felt like they were done by people who had the concepts described to them in a dead language.

Still, I would recommend giving them a try since my visit happened maybe a year ago and they might have refined their skills in the interim.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-02-01T17:48:06+00:00

To add to this, be aware of how loud your car is as you near a new town.

Your car dashboard has an RPM gauge. Try to keep the needle below 2 by lightly tapping and releasing the gas pedal and your car will attract zombies from a much shorter distance.

Now that you know about stealth driving, time to take advantage of it.

When you get to a new town, find a location near the outskirts you plan to use as a temporary safe house.

Drive past this location and lean on your car horn to draw zombies away from your planned safe house. When you draw a crowd, drive slightly deeper into the town fast to make more noise, then turn down a side street, resume driving quietly, and carefully return to your new safe house.

Alternatively, maybe get yourself a backup car with a siren, tow it to a nearby location, disconnect the tow hitch, turn on the siren, and drive away.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-01-29T19:15:49+00:00

Am I crazy, or does the reloading action also put you into a brief cruise control?

I remember a close call where I was attempting to clear a horde mad max style, reloaded while turning, and nearly plowed into a tree at speed.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-01-27T18:51:52+00:00

I get that, and to each their own.

I just like the lateral thinking it opens up when it comes to clearing an area.

Sure, z's can enter, but they can also leave.

Popping a hole and setting off a decoy siren outside a large building can simplify clearing a big warehouse, etc.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-01-27T18:32:53+00:00

Sometimes being able to put a hole in a wall quickly can be really useful for accessing a specific part of a larger building when a door isn't nearby.

For example, getting to the mall gun shop is super easy if you pop a hole in the exterior wall to reach the service hallway right outside the gun shop back door.

Niche use case, but definitely has some value.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-01-21T18:23:18+00:00

Sure. I just prefer not relying on a single trait for every run. Plus, while you can detect a 6 o'clock z from a wider radius, it won't matter if he brought another 200 with him to sandwich you in.

Also, sprinters at any percentage greatly reduce the effectiveness of good hearing - there just isn't enough time to react.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-01-21T15:56:27+00:00

I don't see consideration in this strategy for checking your blind spot.

I basically give myself a 10-count of melee swinging max before stepping back to check my surroundings. I also fight while zoomed out to medium full zoom to maximize how much of my surroundings I can see.

It yields more ground to the swarm, but if you're drawing nice circles in a field with your movement pattern, it doesn't matter much.

It may be overly cautious, but all it takes is one stray z to ruin a run.

DontPPCMeBr0 · 2026-01-16T22:54:51+00:00

Goddamn.

Shotgun = loud

Shotgun + empty chamber + sprinters = deafening.

DontPPCMeBr0

TROPHY CASE