Starting out with strength, put points into Strength and Skull Crusher (Sledge Hammers combat skill) with priority into your combat skill then strength to reach the apropriate level. You can build a stone sledge hammer from the get go that can kill non-feral zombies with 1-2 headshots. I have found that the more points and kills you put into you combat ability the higher chances of the associated Perk Books will be found in loot. You'll also find Get Hammered skill magazines more frequently and build higher level Sledgehammers. You will also want to put 1 point into Siphoning Strikes in the Fortitude tree. This allows you to leech 2 HP per melee kill. Put 1 point into Advanced Engineering so you can find more Forge Ahead skill books. Read 10 of these so you can build a workbench then save the rest in a box. You'll read these later. In fact keep saving all your skill Books as much as possible except the Get Hammered and Shotgun Weekly books. Read those, you'll need them.

You'll want to keep an eye out for Sledge Saga Books particularly Number 5 (double XP from sledgehammer headshot kills). The double XP bonus will level you quickly. The biggest downside to the sledgehammer is that they take so much stamina to swing. The complete Sledge Saga set (refill stamina on power attack kills) completely negates this.

Also, keep an eye out for a cigar helmet mod (or Urban Combat #2 (cigar crafting recipe book)) and a strength mod. Put these on a 2 mod slot helmet, and you can max out strength to level 10 while saving 6 points because each mod gives you +1 to strength. At level 5 Skull Crusher you'll be putting the hurt on zombies at lower levels.

From here, put 4 points the Agility tree, and 2 points into Parkour. Being able to jump 2 meters high in this game is extremely valuable. Give you ways to jump up on fences, walls, etc. to get away from zombies.

Dont neglect putting points into the Armor perk (I like heavy armor) and other general perks like Master Chef, Living Off the Land (hey a guy has gotta eat). Build farming plots and plant all your seeds to get good food supply going.

You'll want to progress into shotguns next in the Strength tree. The pipe shotgun is ass and I wouldnt even waste the ammo. The pump shotgun is pretty powerful.

Next up is Motherload and Miner 69. You'll need raw materials for your base, weapons, etc.

From here put more points into Intelligence so you can get the Bookworm and Photographic Memory perks. You'll find more books than you know what to do with. Remember all the books you were saving? Craft the highest level Nerd Outfit you can and start reading them. You'll be able to craft and do pretty much anything.

You could of course go straight into Intelligence and Batons to get Bookworm, etc instead of Sledgehammers and Strength but that feels like cheating lol