How to Play Zombie Apocalypse Simulator Project Zomboid 41

Introduction

Project Zomboid is one of the most realistic and challenging zombie survival games available. First released in 2013, the game has continued to be expanded and improved, with the release of Build 41 in 2020 bringing huge gameplay changes through new animations and combat mechanics. Surviving more than a few days in Project Zomboid can be extremely difficult for new players, but is also incredibly rewarding. This article will provide tips and strategies to help you survive longer and enjoy this complex zombie apocalypse simulator.

Getting Started

When you first spawn into a new world, your priorities should be:

• Find a weapon – Kitchen knives, wooden planks, etc. Anything is better than fists.
• Search containers for food, water, medical supplies, and a backpack
• Be stealthy and avoid combat until you find better weapons
• Consider your first building as a temporary safehouse
• Locate curtains or sheets to prevent zombies seeing you through windows

Use the in-game map (M key) or online maps to orient yourself. Choose a more secure location nearby, like a house on the outskirts of town, to establish your first base.

Early Game Goals

Within the first week, focus on:

• Establishing a secure base location with barricaded and sheeted windows
• Making regular foraging trips to build up non-perishable food reserves
• Finding weapons like axes, spears and knives for melee combat
• Watching skill-boosting TV shows before broadcasts stop on day 10
• Levelling combat skills slowly and carefully against lone zombies
• Finding a backpack, bag or other containers for increased carrying capacity

Avoid combat with multiple zombies at all costs until combat skills improve. Fight defensively rather than hunting zombies, as noise attracts more.

Mid Game Goals

After your base and supplies are secure:

• Make farming a priority for renewable food. Forage to find trowels, seeds and gardening books.
• Build rain collector barrels to supplement river water sources
• Consider finding and repairing a car to enable supply runs further afield
• Fortify and clear areas around your base to create safe farming land
• Continue combat skill practice to handle larger groups by kiting and separating zombies

Levelled farming and foraging skills make surviving long-term much more viable.

Long Term Goals

Once food and water are sustainable through farming, focus can shift to less essential goals:

• Create survivor hideouts around the map with transferred supplies
• Fortify a more central base location and move supplies safely via vehicle
• Clear out and occupy larger bases like warehouses if playing multiplayer
• Explore the map to chart locations of interest like gun stores
• Revisit cleared areas to check for zombie respawns

After the first month, the main threat comes from complacency and small mistakes rather than lack of resources. But unpredictable events like helicopter crashes still pose threats.

Other Tips for New Players

• Crouch walk everywhere – stealth is critical early on
• Favour spears, long blunt weapons and knives over shorter blades for melee reach
• Rearrange furniture to create chokepoints and traps inside bases
• Don’t use guns or explosives unless absolutely necessary
• Read beginner guides on the Project Zomboid wiki for more detailed help
• Join the Project Zomboid Discord server to get community help

Conclusion

Learning to survive Project Zomboid 41 takes patience and practice. But each death offers lessons to apply to your next run. Follow this guide to set the foundations for potentially months of survival in one of the most detailed and punishing zombie apocalypse games ever made. With the tips above, you now have the knowledge to withstand the hordes in this fantastic zombie simulator.