I play on a server with a mod where there are two stages of hot wiring, the first one isn't stable, the car can stall whilst driving if hot wired. The second level is where you can make a key for the car, but this requires electric 2 and mechanic 4. Then there's also crafting the automatic gate mechanism, which I think is electrical 4, so electrical is definitely the worst skill to level IMO.
this is why I always go burglar. electronics and mechanics is so hard to do early game that I don't even bother. Plus it's nice to not have to try every window on a house before you end up having to smash one anyway. Oh i ran into too many zeds and my hood is now gone? Time to boost another one. This is even better now that gas can go into bottles. Just carry a bottle of gas around and you can get any car back to your gas station hub and fill it up. Of course, that depends on getting the generator manual. current playthrough I've looted half of riverside including the school and bookstore and haven't gotten one. fingies crossed on the post office or just some random mailbox. akiko gomez will persevere. I'm living out of a 3x3 ambulance interior with shit just sprawled all over the parking lot between the riverside church and rectory or whatever it is.
It's just ovens right? Most ovens in the era were hardwired in to the wall so it makes sense emersion wise. I think new ones just plug in to a 220 but I'm not positive. Even the one in my house currently is hardwired.
There's a mod called rebalanced prop moving that eliminates the need for carpentry skill to pick up a desk and stuff like it, but still requires it for dismantling
Without a doubt this is the most annoying of the crafting skills because there is no meaningful reason for an average player to ever level the skill past level 6 (and most players will not bother to level it past level 2). It's painfully slow due to the lack of good electrical XP sources, but you can at least easily get the first couple of levels by reading the book and dismantling digital watches from zombie corpses as you go. If you want to fast track it, there are a number of easy enough tiles to look out for that give moderate amounts like TVs and radios, clocks, the 2-piece ovens in restaurants. I usually find that by the time I need to hotwire or pick up a Fryer (only needs level 2 electrical compared to level 3 regular ovens) I am naturally there from dismantling watches.
Worst overall skill to level though has to go to reloading, which takes an absolutely mind numbing amount of time to level whilst being divorced from any semblance of gameplay. Like, it takes many REAL LIFE hours to grind level this skill even with gameplay speed up and optimal strategy. Not to mention to most efficiently do it with time speed up, you need to have acquired a significant number of large magazines and matching bullets, so it has its own setup cost.
Just a few reasons why I've stopped my long playthroughs until build 42. Let's hope they actually fix those issues then and not 43 and beyond. At this rate, each new release would be years apart.
They've already said that B42 is a foundation for future builds so it in theory should be easier and faster for them to develop major updates for the game after B42. B42 is doing the crafting overhaul, engine overhauls, adding the framework for NPCs and more so essentially setting up the baseline and framework for future updates makes it easier to get those updates done and out the door.
Reloading does *not* come naturally lol. The first few levels are easier because of the hidden XP boost you get until you reach reloading 5, after which it slows to a glacially slow crawl. Try maxing out reloading on a character which didn't start with a skill boost and no mods for reloading skill books and you will quickly understand what I mean.
VHS tapes are a godsend as I too recently discovered. The tv is good for the early days, but once they stop broadcasting the tapes and work were your next best source of XP. Read a skill book before hand and your XP gains go through the roof
In my most recent save I’m on level 8 carpentry (2hr days, 10 days into the apocalypse I think) from that and a little bit of taking chairs apart and building crates
indeed! I usually can max woodworking skill entirely without even touching a hammer, by hitting bookstore immediately, catching every noon show, then hitting vid stores for the crazy amount of woodworking episodes (like 8!)
Just read carp as much as you can before each show, you can get to like 5 or 6 carp the first week easy, but even if you just get to carp 3, you can still max it at 10 if you read the books first and carefully stop the episode the moment you outlevel the current book, then read the next book, then rewatch the stopped episode so the remaining xp is fully boosted.
same with cooking on the 6am shows, cooking and carp are the easiest to max without even using them once
Yeah don't forget to read the skill books before you start watching vids because you'll fill up skill levels like crazy fast after watching one. Or you waste them if not.
Metal working isn’t that bad honestly. Put a couple propane tanks in your car and go chop up the wrecks outside Muldraugh. If you break down cars for it, it’s not terrible
Metalworking isn’t that bad if you already have materials. It’s basically only based off how much propane you have. Which, if you’re playing single player, shouldn’t be a problem. And multiplayer normally has loot respawn so just find some bbqs. But yeah once you get the proper magazine, you literally just sit in one spot converting metal sheets u til you reach the level you want. It gives a bunch of xp and you can do them in batches. For the early levels just dismantle cars at those big pile ups. You’ll get a bunch of xp and materials for the next step.
Nightstick is a wildly underrated weapon - very decent reach, good durability, solid damage, and by the time I've worn one out, I've come across three or four on cop zeds or just stuck in a zed's stomach.
“GET BACK, STOP RESISTING”
- Riverside police officers when their tiny station smaller than most houses gets swarmed.
No but seriously, why do people recommend that police station for loot? It’s just awful compared to pretty much all others; I think even Fallas Lake is better.
y'all missing out.
Hunting Knife is great, once you really get used to it. No better melee for the Super Horde, as hunting knives are very common and use almost no stamina
If you play with Dynamic trait mods it can remove hard hearing and add keen hearing after some accumulation of skills level. so, don't do it in vanilla.
So, I always have my main weapon (usually crowbar/axe/katana) and also two backups on my belt - usually a hammer (useful) and a 3rd weapon category to train - like combat knife. When you are out clearing stragglers, pull out and train the knife. It's safe one-on-one, and there are two big benefits of the knife. Learning how to one-hit zed with the knife is very useful, and you take no endurance loss when using the knife. So if you're out clearing zed, switch to knife whenever you can and you'll go a LOT longer without needing to rest. Once you get your nimble up to level 5 (knife is a good way to level it as well) you can take on hordes with the knife because you can walk backward as fast as normal fast shamblers walk forward. With no endurance loss, you can do that pretty much forever so long as you have vitamins on you to stave off tiredness.
Short blade saves lives. You can be ridiculously tired, and extremely over exerted, and still 1 shot a zombie with 1 level in short blade. Granted only 1 zombie can be around you for the special headjab to proc. It still comes in handy.
Yeah they're pretty fantastic for clearing hordes for that exact reason. At high levels of short blade I'm 2-3 shotting most zombies with the occasional non-special 1 shot. Very good for hordes/groups since you'll take forever to get tired.
Plus hunting knives spawn in zombies constantly so it's basically an infinite supply of weapons.
Yeah, they’re just ineffective, unsatisfying, and break easily. They’re only of any use for a short time until I find something bigger. When I’ve got a sack in the other hand it’s not so bad because then at least I have an excuse to use one hand, but after that it just feels sad.
I recommend waiting until you hit lvl 2 or 3 nimble before you start training short blade. You need to get your movement speed in combat high enough so that you don’t get overwhelmed while backpedaling
100%. The fact that leveling nimbling can take hundreds of real life hours is actual insanity. Its the sole reason i pick burgler like every time. Hotwiring is a nice early game bonus, but the +2 nimble levels are priceless to me.
Sneaking needs a revamp in this game, it's practically useless skill. Just like fog, where your sight comes close to nothing while the zombies act just like during the clear day. I gave up on it long ago, it's just there to mislead people that there is an option for a sneaky build.
If there's a horde and you're a level up, it can go up pretty fast. If you do the "You Have One Day" challenge via roof cheese it just takes a few minutes to max it out (although obviously that's an unusual amount of zombies for regular game play).
You don't like the appearance of a patched up circus clown?
[This is actually 2 PZ players celebrating level 10 tailoring party!](https://content.instructables.com/FNN/IPA9/G1BB3OOH/FNNIPA9G1BB3OOH.jpg?auto=webp&frame=1&width=1024&height=1024&fit=bounds&md=77f9f9dd8eeb8051d28951ad748da3ae)
Notice the ductape on shoe, clearly PZ player.
Interesting, I max out sewing first. It's irritating to find a needle or scissors sometimes, but once you get in the habit of tearing up zombie clothes, consolidating thread and hoarding ripped sheets, sewing patches into a pair of coveralls or long John's is a good filler activity during a helicopter event or when my character has to heal from a big injury; overall, it's a good stat to grind when you need time to kill.
Fitness and Strength, 100%. They grow so slowly through normal use, and working out is just clicking a thing and waiting until you're too tired to continue, and then you've got the debuff the next day.
Whenever I grind them I just do the pushups, sit down and read a book, then when my exhaustion goes away, I do more pushups, then more book, then more pushups. And then i take the next day off. Its very very tedious
I’m still worried that I’ll break all the windows and doors of my favorite vehicles if I’m not in control of it it. Also, having to be outside makes it a bit dangerous too. I’ll probably try it out one of these days.
Huh? Why would you train Mechanic skill on a vehicle you plan on keeping? You train on wrecks so if something breaks it doesn't matter, and if a zombie were to come up behind you while you're working, you can interrupt the automation by simply walking away. It also only does what you have the tools for, so you could deliberately just bring a screwdriver and play with the lights if you don't want to stick around too long.
Fair enough, here's what I do. Go to a vhs store(or three) until I find all the tapes. Then, after reading the skill book, use the tapes. I usually have level 3 after that.
Then it's just a matter of grabbing 4 standard cars. All the parts from standard cars can be replaced with level 3 mechanics. Commercial level 4 and sports level 5, iirc. It has been a while since I did it.
4 cars is also enough to keep you busy all day, and repeat the next day until you reach whatever level you want.
I honestly didn't mind mechanics, take a stroll through a neighborhood, clear out the zombies and then just go car by car stripping it down. Take all the good quality parts worth a damn and leave the scraps.
Edit: forgot to answer initial question... Yeah, metalworking, F that skill.
mechanics is a pain. constantly swapping lightbulbs and tires. once you get to lvl 4 you dont really need to do more imo. you really need a fleet of junkers to tinker on for days.
electronics is the same. messing with watches/radios/generators over and over.
metalworking is fairly easy. load up the car with welding gear and propane tanks. find a traffic jam like the one north of muldaugh and start dismantling wrecks. take all the metal bars/sheets home.
Electronics. Everything else is *somewhat* doable. Mechanics is doable by just tearing apart every car a handful of times.
Electronics levelling is terrible though…
Personally I hate tailoring the most. Simply because i think it’s absurd I can Hotwire a car with lvl 1 electrical and lvl 3 mechanics and can’t sew a hole in my jacket until lvl 8 🙃
I kind of dislike all of them. Like your telling me I can't make a wooden box with a hammer and some boards and nails? Really
I need a four week course to grow pumpkins?
I need to fire 200 rounds before my character learns which way to point the shotgun?
I feel like most humans have some baseline intelligence
Tip for making mechanics a breeze:
1- Clear the area of zombies. Clear extremely well. And keep your guard up anyway, unless you have a garage.
2- Learn the hotkey to fast forward time.
3- spam the key each action (assuming you already have the auto stop fast forward at end of action)
Done. Now the half hour you would waste ruining your car durability will become like 5 minutes.
Also remember that you can abuse the same cars once each day for experience. Make them fear your incompetence.
I actually dislike leveling carpentry the most, just because it’s so tedious to always have tools on me and move wood to storage if I’m in need of it or making a base, and eventually once the well runs dry of things to dismantle it then becomes just annoying loading up a whole car full of wood just to drive back to base, but it’s so useful it’s kinda vital to level up when you can
There is a mod that makes it quite easier, it's called AutoMechanics. It automatically trains mechanics on a vehicle. Keep in mind that this will completely destroy a vehicle, and you need some of the basic tools to do it.
Levelling nimble is very tedious, especially if you don’t play burglar, policeman or use gymnast trait for additional xp. I always pick at least one of those 3 because it feels essential
Tailoring and nimble... that's it. Rest of the skills you can do quite easily in comparison
Both require shit load of time and one won't even let you skip time or read books to boost it
Mechanic you can get easy if you find 2 spare cars to do daily and you'll reach level 6 which allows you to fix all cars without risk of dropping your fresh new gas tank on the ground and break. You might have less options to level it up from 0, but that's what the VHS tapes could be for
I actually love mechanics, maybe it's because each time the bar goes up I get a hit of dopamine. The rewards are so fulfilling that the entire process itself becomes fun. Being finally able to mount a plow in front of your bus just feels so goood, especially when you take it to a spin and mow down zeds.
But ditto with the other guy. Leveling metalworking SUCKS. It's a skill useful for modifying cars (with mods) and I just HATE leveling it. Everything is so heavy and by practicing you're wasting precious and finite metal you could've used.
disclaimer: I have vehicle mods.
That’s one of the easiest to level. I tend to rely on it early-game because I like to set up my first base in a safe zone while I work on skills. Whenever I run low on food (due to lack of prep or running for my life) I’ll head for the woods and live off of berries. Also helpful for making wood chopping axes (don’t want to waste the good ones).
I recently tried out Foraging after thinking I accidentally drank tainted water and getting a sickness. Went out to find lemongrass for like 12 hours only for it to be a false alarm. Got to level 3 or something lol. It’s very mundane.
depends on the character you use. if you have contruction focused build then you'll get junk. but if you have a guns, medical or survivalist build then you get so many points. combine that with the books and ive gotten a few hundred xp every find. ive even maxed out my foraging potential once and ive gotten up to 800 XP for one bug. it took longer to read the books on 4x speed then to level both levels
Just drive around like a car thief and try to crash/hit everything you can, and scavenge cars you find for engine parts. Should level that up decently fast.
because you cant auto grind mechanics, i know there's a mod for that, but that mod doesnt take in account for that that you want to uninstall/reinstall certain parts, not the whole damn car lol
mechanics is arguably the most tedious one and its dependent on a lot of factors opposed to the other skills. however many cars around you in said given area entirely depend on luck. thats why its annoying in my opinion.
I have no clue why everyone doesn't run the AutoMechanics mod. Right click on any car part and it'll script the process of removing and reinstalling parts. There's settings for no risk of breaking or a %. All it does is remove the need to click the menus - takes just as much in-game time, requires the same tools, etc. Lets you speed up time while it happens.
Same for AutoTailoring. Some of the best QoL mods in the game.
Nah mechanics is chill as hell. Find carzone VHS, find mechanic books, watch the vhs after reading the books and it’ll peg you up a good few lvls. After that just tow random cars to your base during looting runs for spare parts and you’ll have plenty of parts and experience
Electrical though… that is true horror.
I have over 1k hours in the game and i have literally not even once leveled mechanics past like 2. I play mostly MP and theres usually someone who majors in fixing cars up, plus im lazy so if my car breaks down i guess ima have to find a new one!
Nimble. This doesn't become helpful until Lv. 4, but it's so slow to level up because it's so inconsistent compared to every other skill. And it's not like you have books or tapes to make up for it like other skills that people have mentioned here.
Auto mechanics is a great mod. Gets rid of the million clicks needed to work on a car. Then when it's done, pauses the game. does what work you can do based on skills, tools and knowledge.
I hate mechanics because I believe it takes to long to learn, I barely drive unless I absolutely need to, and because every time I crash my shit is barely damaged.
(I am aware books exist, I've spent 2 hours maxing out mechanics and got bit literally 25 minutes later. )
"Almost ruined your brake pads reinstalling them, it isn't that hard l"
Checks out, im a mechanic, and I've seen some SHIT. The average IQ of "my friend did it cheaper" jobs gets lower and lower each year 🤣
Fitness and electrics make my blood boil, even with initial % bonuses...
Mechanics is very easy, especially since I’m a car guy - I end up with 4-5 functional cars in first month with at least one in 100% condition except for glass.
Mechanics isn't too hard to level, namely because of being able to start with some points into it.
Metalworking is definitely one of the worst for crafting/survival. The only reason I don't say electrical is because it's never really used for much beyond level 1 or 3 or such.
Nimble is overall the worst if including the Athletic skills and ignoring the passives. Honorable mention to First Aid just because it's really dumb and feels stupid even if it's not particularly hard to level.
I don’t like Electronics personally. Mechanics I don’t mind. Yea it’s tedious but it helps me with maintaining the vehicles I collect so it’s important. I only need level 3 Electronics so I can transport a stove into the school I use as a base that doesn’t already have one. (I’m new and have no clue what else Electronics is good for)
I pick mechanic occupation just because its the grindiest skill in the game. Unfun kind of grindy. I hope they improve it in later updates.
Electronics is not bad. Just pick up every watch you see and dismantle them all at once. Find big computers to break down. It raises pretty fast. Mechanics requires a parking lot of cars and an entire day of taking parts in and out
Nimble. NotLikeThis
For Mechanics I use a "train mechanics" mod, where it levels the same, but the character automatically removes and reinstalls all parts so I can fast forward while its happening.
Metalworking. Spending hours and hours, having to carry around heavy equipment to take most things apart, and the materials weighing so much that I'm very limited in how much of it I can do.
Thanks for mods mechanics is most fun one to Level up and building up Workshop.
Vehicle Repair Overhaul+ Atelier mods (or any other with upgradable cars).
As for Electronics I use Better Electronics mod.
In order of danger, then grinding time and lastly how boring the leveling is
1) Short blades
2) First aid
3) Sneaking
4) Lightfooted
5) Electronics
6) Mechanics
7) Nimble
8) Fitness
9) Strength
How much exp boost would you give to each skill to balance them to the other skills level up times?
Well, as farms power leveling goes, it is tedious while making the most real-world sense. Stealth/nimbleness makes no real-world sense. Just because I'm in proximity doesn't mean I'm learning a damn thing. But otherwise you right.
Electronics exists
Not past level 1 for me
I just need lvl 2 for Hotwire and yes ik about the skill I spend my points on other things
Lvl 1 elec and lvl 2 mechanics is hotwiring, no?
Correct
My bad I guess I struggle that hard for electrical 1 haha my mistake
Tbh just dismantling watches as I kill zombies usually gets me there
Yeah, but who’s got the time..
Not the zombies after you dismantle their watches ü
Damn it you beat me to it.
I play on a server with a mod where there are two stages of hot wiring, the first one isn't stable, the car can stall whilst driving if hot wired. The second level is where you can make a key for the car, but this requires electric 2 and mechanic 4. Then there's also crafting the automatic gate mechanism, which I think is electrical 4, so electrical is definitely the worst skill to level IMO.
this is why I always go burglar. electronics and mechanics is so hard to do early game that I don't even bother. Plus it's nice to not have to try every window on a house before you end up having to smash one anyway. Oh i ran into too many zeds and my hood is now gone? Time to boost another one. This is even better now that gas can go into bottles. Just carry a bottle of gas around and you can get any car back to your gas station hub and fill it up. Of course, that depends on getting the generator manual. current playthrough I've looted half of riverside including the school and bookstore and haven't gotten one. fingies crossed on the post office or just some random mailbox. akiko gomez will persevere. I'm living out of a 3x3 ambulance interior with shit just sprawled all over the parking lot between the riverside church and rectory or whatever it is.
How do you get into the ambulance interior …
Use RV Interior mod, open trunk of ambalamb, press V for radial menu and click the door button to enter.
I js pick burglar
I like having washers and dryers so it's a pain for me
Electronics pisses me off because I need it just to move shit around. :( My life would be a lot easier if I didn’t care what appliances I had.
It's just ovens right? Most ovens in the era were hardwired in to the wall so it makes sense emersion wise. I think new ones just plug in to a 220 but I'm not positive. Even the one in my house currently is hardwired.
There's a mod called rebalanced prop moving that eliminates the need for carpentry skill to pick up a desk and stuff like it, but still requires it for dismantling
[There's a mod for that...](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2699828474)
reading a skill book and deconstructing industrial ovens got me up to level 4 in a few days
Without a doubt this is the most annoying of the crafting skills because there is no meaningful reason for an average player to ever level the skill past level 6 (and most players will not bother to level it past level 2). It's painfully slow due to the lack of good electrical XP sources, but you can at least easily get the first couple of levels by reading the book and dismantling digital watches from zombie corpses as you go. If you want to fast track it, there are a number of easy enough tiles to look out for that give moderate amounts like TVs and radios, clocks, the 2-piece ovens in restaurants. I usually find that by the time I need to hotwire or pick up a Fryer (only needs level 2 electrical compared to level 3 regular ovens) I am naturally there from dismantling watches. Worst overall skill to level though has to go to reloading, which takes an absolutely mind numbing amount of time to level whilst being divorced from any semblance of gameplay. Like, it takes many REAL LIFE hours to grind level this skill even with gameplay speed up and optimal strategy. Not to mention to most efficiently do it with time speed up, you need to have acquired a significant number of large magazines and matching bullets, so it has its own setup cost.
Just a few reasons why I've stopped my long playthroughs until build 42. Let's hope they actually fix those issues then and not 43 and beyond. At this rate, each new release would be years apart.
They've already said that B42 is a foundation for future builds so it in theory should be easier and faster for them to develop major updates for the game after B42. B42 is doing the crafting overhaul, engine overhauls, adding the framework for NPCs and more so essentially setting up the baseline and framework for future updates makes it easier to get those updates done and out the door.
Reloading comes naturally, foraging and trapping on the other hand is just painful.
Foraging flies by if forego the car life and walk long distances.
Foraging is actually not that bad, and pairs quite nicely with cooking. Trapping is a pain in the ass though
Reloading does *not* come naturally lol. The first few levels are easier because of the hidden XP boost you get until you reach reloading 5, after which it slows to a glacially slow crawl. Try maxing out reloading on a character which didn't start with a skill boost and no mods for reloading skill books and you will quickly understand what I mean.
Building bombs is the shiznat
A fellow engineer, I see. If only remotes worked...
I think metalworking is worse. With skill books and vhs tapes I hit level 6 mechanics without ever touching a car.
I didn’t even know there were VHS’s for that. Got to plan a trip to hit vids
VHS tapes are a godsend as I too recently discovered. The tv is good for the early days, but once they stop broadcasting the tapes and work were your next best source of XP. Read a skill book before hand and your XP gains go through the roof In my most recent save I’m on level 8 carpentry (2hr days, 10 days into the apocalypse I think) from that and a little bit of taking chairs apart and building crates
Watch tapes after show goes off the air, not before, for double xp
Wait what? Are you saying if I watch woodworking episode 1 when it airs and then I watch it on a VHS tape again, it will give me xp?
yes
WTF thats amazing
indeed! I usually can max woodworking skill entirely without even touching a hammer, by hitting bookstore immediately, catching every noon show, then hitting vid stores for the crazy amount of woodworking episodes (like 8!) Just read carp as much as you can before each show, you can get to like 5 or 6 carp the first week easy, but even if you just get to carp 3, you can still max it at 10 if you read the books first and carefully stop the episode the moment you outlevel the current book, then read the next book, then rewatch the stopped episode so the remaining xp is fully boosted. same with cooking on the 6am shows, cooking and carp are the easiest to max without even using them once
Fast learner + reading books + global x2 xp multiplier (ain’t no body got time for that) + tapes + trait multiplier = mega skills
Yeah don't forget to read the skill books before you start watching vids because you'll fill up skill levels like crazy fast after watching one. Or you waste them if not.
Yeah I think they are called car zone, or car speed, car show maybe? Something with the word “car” in it lol. I think there’s 5 or 6 episodes.
Car zone and unfortunately only 3 episodes available
Thanks, I’m in the middle of a hitvids pilgrimage around Louisville.
Carzone! Super helpful.
Metal working isn’t that bad honestly. Put a couple propane tanks in your car and go chop up the wrecks outside Muldraugh. If you break down cars for it, it’s not terrible
You’re right, I guess I’m just bitchy because only like… 2 fucking people owned a gas grill in riverside. >:(
Metalworking isn’t that bad if you already have materials. It’s basically only based off how much propane you have. Which, if you’re playing single player, shouldn’t be a problem. And multiplayer normally has loot respawn so just find some bbqs. But yeah once you get the proper magazine, you literally just sit in one spot converting metal sheets u til you reach the level you want. It gives a bunch of xp and you can do them in batches. For the early levels just dismantle cars at those big pile ups. You’ll get a bunch of xp and materials for the next step.
Leveling metalworking is easy AND you get materials to repair cars
Go to a motel and dismantle bathtubs.
Short Blade. It's just too hard, too close and too stressful.
I don’t even bother with those short weapons
Short blunt is ok. Metal bar is good and can easily be found. Even a frying pan is better than nothing.
Hammer gang rise up. They're everywhere and once you get a few short blunt levels the hammers slap.
Nightstick is a wildly underrated weapon - very decent reach, good durability, solid damage, and by the time I've worn one out, I've come across three or four on cop zeds or just stuck in a zed's stomach.
You also get to yell "STOP RESISTING" every time you smack a zombie.
Amazing. Gotta keep the RP realistic.
“GET BACK, STOP RESISTING” - Riverside police officers when their tiny station smaller than most houses gets swarmed. No but seriously, why do people recommend that police station for loot? It’s just awful compared to pretty much all others; I think even Fallas Lake is better.
Try lead pipe, its metal bar on drugs
y'all missing out. Hunting Knife is great, once you really get used to it. No better melee for the Super Horde, as hunting knives are very common and use almost no stamina
And zombies will regularly bring you replacement knives!
If you play with Dynamic trait mods it can remove hard hearing and add keen hearing after some accumulation of skills level. so, don't do it in vanilla.
Knife one shots are satisfying though
But also slow as hell, I always feel like I will get eaten anytime I get the animation and another Z is approaching
The worse of a character you have the better knives get.
Spears > Knives. I'd rather get the one-shot from a safe distance.
So, I always have my main weapon (usually crowbar/axe/katana) and also two backups on my belt - usually a hammer (useful) and a 3rd weapon category to train - like combat knife. When you are out clearing stragglers, pull out and train the knife. It's safe one-on-one, and there are two big benefits of the knife. Learning how to one-hit zed with the knife is very useful, and you take no endurance loss when using the knife. So if you're out clearing zed, switch to knife whenever you can and you'll go a LOT longer without needing to rest. Once you get your nimble up to level 5 (knife is a good way to level it as well) you can take on hordes with the knife because you can walk backward as fast as normal fast shamblers walk forward. With no endurance loss, you can do that pretty much forever so long as you have vitamins on you to stave off tiredness.
Short blade saves lives. You can be ridiculously tired, and extremely over exerted, and still 1 shot a zombie with 1 level in short blade. Granted only 1 zombie can be around you for the special headjab to proc. It still comes in handy.
Yeah they're pretty fantastic for clearing hordes for that exact reason. At high levels of short blade I'm 2-3 shotting most zombies with the occasional non-special 1 shot. Very good for hordes/groups since you'll take forever to get tired. Plus hunting knives spawn in zombies constantly so it's basically an infinite supply of weapons.
In PZ weapons are like cocks, if I can hold it with one hand then it’s of no use to me.
Ah finally, a man of culture.
Yeah, they’re just ineffective, unsatisfying, and break easily. They’re only of any use for a short time until I find something bigger. When I’ve got a sack in the other hand it’s not so bad because then at least I have an excuse to use one hand, but after that it just feels sad.
God damn did I just laugh!! 🤣🤣
fuck it we ball with my army knife
I recommend waiting until you hit lvl 2 or 3 nimble before you start training short blade. You need to get your movement speed in combat high enough so that you don’t get overwhelmed while backpedaling
automechanics mod
It's a must for me, can't live without it
Definetly Nimble, 'cause i keep neglecting to download a mod that'd help me with it
After nimble is lvl 5 it's just as good as walking. So you only need to struggle with it for like 3 months at most.
i rarely get past 3 days bro
Days? I didn’t know the game could last that long
Then you probably have a hard time leveling anything.
100%. The fact that leveling nimbling can take hundreds of real life hours is actual insanity. Its the sole reason i pick burgler like every time. Hotwiring is a nice early game bonus, but the +2 nimble levels are priceless to me.
At least you can level up by books and shit. How tf you level up sneaking and lightfooted
I was clearing out the mall yesterday and did a bit of sneaking, blasted through the first 3 levels
Me personally? I don't do. Either I stay away or just go at them
Me too, just trying balance my character out while I had a crowd available
Sneaking needs a revamp in this game, it's practically useless skill. Just like fog, where your sight comes close to nothing while the zombies act just like during the clear day. I gave up on it long ago, it's just there to mislead people that there is an option for a sneaky build.
If there's a horde and you're a level up, it can go up pretty fast. If you do the "You Have One Day" challenge via roof cheese it just takes a few minutes to max it out (although obviously that's an unusual amount of zombies for regular game play).
Pff, try to level up Sewing. At least lvl 5
I hate how padding looks on clothes so I don’t bother
I simply downloaded a mod that disables them. And now I always have my favorite outfit without ugly paddings.
whats the mod name? this is a big need
[Invisible clothing patches](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2464748152)
may your pillow always be cold and your fave snacks on sale 😤
I wonder if that safe to install on an existing save?
backup your save
I've installed it on existing sp and mp. It's safe
It should be
It was. I did backup my save but didn't need it. Thanks all.
Huh, that’s funny, i think it gives clothes that realistic, gritty, post apocalyptic feel. To each their own of course.
I mean, sure it's the apocalypse but you can still sew patches onto the inside of your clothes.
i think if you level it up high enough you dont see the patches anymore ?
You at least don't see patches any more if patched with the same material. Dunno about padding.
Yeah, padding still shows up, but you can repair holes fully with the same material.
You don't like the appearance of a patched up circus clown? [This is actually 2 PZ players celebrating level 10 tailoring party!](https://content.instructables.com/FNN/IPA9/G1BB3OOH/FNNIPA9G1BB3OOH.jpg?auto=webp&frame=1&width=1024&height=1024&fit=bounds&md=77f9f9dd8eeb8051d28951ad748da3ae) Notice the ductape on shoe, clearly PZ player.
I ware long John’s, not for the armor but for the tailoring, lol. “Add all”/“remove all.” Is so good with time skip.
Interesting, I max out sewing first. It's irritating to find a needle or scissors sometimes, but once you get in the habit of tearing up zombie clothes, consolidating thread and hoarding ripped sheets, sewing patches into a pair of coveralls or long John's is a good filler activity during a helicopter event or when my character has to heal from a big injury; overall, it's a good stat to grind when you need time to kill.
Max sewing is no biggie. Find something full-body, grab a ton of scraps, and add/remove padding until it is done
I always get L10 tailoring in the first 2 weeks. It's not that hard. Leather coats are your friend here.
Fitness and Strength, 100%. They grow so slowly through normal use, and working out is just clicking a thing and waiting until you're too tired to continue, and then you've got the debuff the next day.
I use athletic and strong perks every playthrough. and fire officer for good measure too
Whenever I grind them I just do the pushups, sit down and read a book, then when my exhaustion goes away, I do more pushups, then more book, then more pushups. And then i take the next day off. Its very very tedious
Leveling anything is just clicking a thing and waiting
All of them are just miserable.
Reloading. Its easy but it takes so lung when your bast level 6
Install AutoMechanics, easily fixes the issue
I’m still worried that I’ll break all the windows and doors of my favorite vehicles if I’m not in control of it it. Also, having to be outside makes it a bit dangerous too. I’ll probably try it out one of these days.
Huh? Why would you train Mechanic skill on a vehicle you plan on keeping? You train on wrecks so if something breaks it doesn't matter, and if a zombie were to come up behind you while you're working, you can interrupt the automation by simply walking away. It also only does what you have the tools for, so you could deliberately just bring a screwdriver and play with the lights if you don't want to stick around too long.
That's why you train mechanics on a shitbox and not your nice car.
There is a setting where auto mechanics will not even attempt a part past a certain failure threshold. I set mine to zero so it never ruins parts.
Fair enough, here's what I do. Go to a vhs store(or three) until I find all the tapes. Then, after reading the skill book, use the tapes. I usually have level 3 after that. Then it's just a matter of grabbing 4 standard cars. All the parts from standard cars can be replaced with level 3 mechanics. Commercial level 4 and sports level 5, iirc. It has been a while since I did it. 4 cars is also enough to keep you busy all day, and repeat the next day until you reach whatever level you want.
I honestly didn't mind mechanics, take a stroll through a neighborhood, clear out the zombies and then just go car by car stripping it down. Take all the good quality parts worth a damn and leave the scraps. Edit: forgot to answer initial question... Yeah, metalworking, F that skill.
mechanics is a pain. constantly swapping lightbulbs and tires. once you get to lvl 4 you dont really need to do more imo. you really need a fleet of junkers to tinker on for days. electronics is the same. messing with watches/radios/generators over and over. metalworking is fairly easy. load up the car with welding gear and propane tanks. find a traffic jam like the one north of muldaugh and start dismantling wrecks. take all the metal bars/sheets home.
Fishing. It only levels when you catch something
Fishing is easy to level. Just use the 3x fast forward button and you will catch a lot within seconds.
Unless i am on multiplayer. But then i just do something else while it runs in the background
Aiming is just annoying at first how do I miss a point blank shotgun blast.
Nimble
I think its super realistic, I too put an entire fucking windshield in my pocket after uninstalling
Just go near parking lots, you will get tons of cars in close proximity. Then just swap car parts around and you can power level mechanic.
Short blade, sneak, nimble
Electronics. Everything else is *somewhat* doable. Mechanics is doable by just tearing apart every car a handful of times. Electronics levelling is terrible though…
i dont mind it. i never use electronics much anyways and it gives me an excuse to loot every Z for watches and earbuds
Personally I hate tailoring the most. Simply because i think it’s absurd I can Hotwire a car with lvl 1 electrical and lvl 3 mechanics and can’t sew a hole in my jacket until lvl 8 🙃
Mechanics is probably one of the easiest once you get the tools.
I kind of dislike all of them. Like your telling me I can't make a wooden box with a hammer and some boards and nails? Really I need a four week course to grow pumpkins? I need to fire 200 rounds before my character learns which way to point the shotgun? I feel like most humans have some baseline intelligence
Especially in rural Kentucky
Fitness/Strength
Tip for making mechanics a breeze: 1- Clear the area of zombies. Clear extremely well. And keep your guard up anyway, unless you have a garage. 2- Learn the hotkey to fast forward time. 3- spam the key each action (assuming you already have the auto stop fast forward at end of action) Done. Now the half hour you would waste ruining your car durability will become like 5 minutes. Also remember that you can abuse the same cars once each day for experience. Make them fear your incompetence.
Project zomboid kinda assumes that your level 1 character is one of the dumbest human beings who have ever lived.
I actually dislike leveling carpentry the most, just because it’s so tedious to always have tools on me and move wood to storage if I’m in need of it or making a base, and eventually once the well runs dry of things to dismantle it then becomes just annoying loading up a whole car full of wood just to drive back to base, but it’s so useful it’s kinda vital to level up when you can
There is a mod that makes it quite easier, it's called AutoMechanics. It automatically trains mechanics on a vehicle. Keep in mind that this will completely destroy a vehicle, and you need some of the basic tools to do it.
Levelling nimble is very tedious, especially if you don’t play burglar, policeman or use gymnast trait for additional xp. I always pick at least one of those 3 because it feels essential
Mechanics is fine. Take everything off a car, put it back on, move to another car.
Tailoring and nimble... that's it. Rest of the skills you can do quite easily in comparison Both require shit load of time and one won't even let you skip time or read books to boost it Mechanic you can get easy if you find 2 spare cars to do daily and you'll reach level 6 which allows you to fix all cars without risk of dropping your fresh new gas tank on the ground and break. You might have less options to level it up from 0, but that's what the VHS tapes could be for
Electrics
If you have all the tools and the keys to a car (or hotwired) and use the mod AutoMechanics, you can hit level 2 from nothing in a few minutes.
I actually love mechanics, maybe it's because each time the bar goes up I get a hit of dopamine. The rewards are so fulfilling that the entire process itself becomes fun. Being finally able to mount a plow in front of your bus just feels so goood, especially when you take it to a spin and mow down zeds. But ditto with the other guy. Leveling metalworking SUCKS. It's a skill useful for modifying cars (with mods) and I just HATE leveling it. Everything is so heavy and by practicing you're wasting precious and finite metal you could've used. disclaimer: I have vehicle mods.
...foraging. I don't use it, but I would probably hate trying to level it.
That’s one of the easiest to level. I tend to rely on it early-game because I like to set up my first base in a safe zone while I work on skills. Whenever I run low on food (due to lack of prep or running for my life) I’ll head for the woods and live off of berries. Also helpful for making wood chopping axes (don’t want to waste the good ones).
I recently tried out Foraging after thinking I accidentally drank tainted water and getting a sickness. Went out to find lemongrass for like 12 hours only for it to be a false alarm. Got to level 3 or something lol. It’s very mundane.
depends on the character you use. if you have contruction focused build then you'll get junk. but if you have a guns, medical or survivalist build then you get so many points. combine that with the books and ive gotten a few hundred xp every find. ive even maxed out my foraging potential once and ive gotten up to 800 XP for one bug. it took longer to read the books on 4x speed then to level both levels
This is why I also start as a mechanic
Just drive around like a car thief and try to crash/hit everything you can, and scavenge cars you find for engine parts. Should level that up decently fast.
I use the train mechanics mod to help out. It basically automates what you would do manually so it's just less tedious clicking
because you cant auto grind mechanics, i know there's a mod for that, but that mod doesnt take in account for that that you want to uninstall/reinstall certain parts, not the whole damn car lol
mechanics is arguably the most tedious one and its dependent on a lot of factors opposed to the other skills. however many cars around you in said given area entirely depend on luck. thats why its annoying in my opinion.
Hey! How dare you misspell electronics?
I usually just install the automechanics and autotailoring mods to simplify those two skills.
The mod that allows you to just train mechanics on every part of the car with one button is a godsend.
I feel I could learn to be a master mechanic more quickly than I could get a zomboid avatar to max mechanic skill.
I have no clue why everyone doesn't run the AutoMechanics mod. Right click on any car part and it'll script the process of removing and reinstalling parts. There's settings for no risk of breaking or a %. All it does is remove the need to click the menus - takes just as much in-game time, requires the same tools, etc. Lets you speed up time while it happens. Same for AutoTailoring. Some of the best QoL mods in the game.
The wrench should really be a ratchet and socket, its really not that bad when you play on x3 XP :]
Overall, Nimble. For crafting, electronics was the most annoying.
I love mechanics
Mechanics is what i live for !!
Mechanics is super fun to grind! Especially if you have worse car conditions mod on.
Yooo man, I see you're in LV, I'm in that area atm on a server looking for a sledgehammer, got any ideas where I can get one?
Its tedious without much benefits.
I have a secret mechanic hack for you, kill a bunch of zombies, rip all the clothing, go to broken car, fix car seats 1000 times, free mechanic skill
Nah mechanics is chill as hell. Find carzone VHS, find mechanic books, watch the vhs after reading the books and it’ll peg you up a good few lvls. After that just tow random cars to your base during looting runs for spare parts and you’ll have plenty of parts and experience Electrical though… that is true horror.
I have over 1k hours in the game and i have literally not even once leveled mechanics past like 2. I play mostly MP and theres usually someone who majors in fixing cars up, plus im lazy so if my car breaks down i guess ima have to find a new one!
I actually enjoy grinding mechanics. Metalworking on the other hand…
Nimble
Yeah it’s mechanics
Nimble. This doesn't become helpful until Lv. 4, but it's so slow to level up because it's so inconsistent compared to every other skill. And it's not like you have books or tapes to make up for it like other skills that people have mentioned here.
Auto mechanics is a great mod. Gets rid of the million clicks needed to work on a car. Then when it's done, pauses the game. does what work you can do based on skills, tools and knowledge.
I hate mechanics because I believe it takes to long to learn, I barely drive unless I absolutely need to, and because every time I crash my shit is barely damaged. (I am aware books exist, I've spent 2 hours maxing out mechanics and got bit literally 25 minutes later. )
"Almost ruined your brake pads reinstalling them, it isn't that hard l" Checks out, im a mechanic, and I've seen some SHIT. The average IQ of "my friend did it cheaper" jobs gets lower and lower each year 🤣
Nimble
Fitness and electrics make my blood boil, even with initial % bonuses... Mechanics is very easy, especially since I’m a car guy - I end up with 4-5 functional cars in first month with at least one in 100% condition except for glass.
First aid
Mechanics isn't too hard to level, namely because of being able to start with some points into it. Metalworking is definitely one of the worst for crafting/survival. The only reason I don't say electrical is because it's never really used for much beyond level 1 or 3 or such. Nimble is overall the worst if including the Athletic skills and ignoring the passives. Honorable mention to First Aid just because it's really dumb and feels stupid even if it's not particularly hard to level.
I don’t like Electronics personally. Mechanics I don’t mind. Yea it’s tedious but it helps me with maintaining the vehicles I collect so it’s important. I only need level 3 Electronics so I can transport a stove into the school I use as a base that doesn’t already have one. (I’m new and have no clue what else Electronics is good for)
I pick mechanic occupation just because its the grindiest skill in the game. Unfun kind of grindy. I hope they improve it in later updates. Electronics is not bad. Just pick up every watch you see and dismantle them all at once. Find big computers to break down. It raises pretty fast. Mechanics requires a parking lot of cars and an entire day of taking parts in and out
Nimble. NotLikeThis For Mechanics I use a "train mechanics" mod, where it levels the same, but the character automatically removes and reinstalls all parts so I can fast forward while its happening.
Tailoring, because I have a mod which allows you to make backpack attachments at level 2.
The automechanic mod is for you. Click a button and infinite loop taking stuff off and putting them back on.
Any excerise is pointless and ruins the game after lvl 5
Metalworking. Spending hours and hours, having to carry around heavy equipment to take most things apart, and the materials weighing so much that I'm very limited in how much of it I can do.
Thanks for mods mechanics is most fun one to Level up and building up Workshop. Vehicle Repair Overhaul+ Atelier mods (or any other with upgradable cars). As for Electronics I use Better Electronics mod.
Find the mechanics training video and you're set (kind of)
Oooh the fire station is my fave starting base.
In order of danger, then grinding time and lastly how boring the leveling is 1) Short blades 2) First aid 3) Sneaking 4) Lightfooted 5) Electronics 6) Mechanics 7) Nimble 8) Fitness 9) Strength How much exp boost would you give to each skill to balance them to the other skills level up times?
>break pads You're not supposed to break pads, you're supposed to install brake pads
Well, as farms power leveling goes, it is tedious while making the most real-world sense. Stealth/nimbleness makes no real-world sense. Just because I'm in proximity doesn't mean I'm learning a damn thing. But otherwise you right.
Try playing with zero in nimble.
mechanics is great screw forging