I usually stay away from any type of large settlement till i have a weapon and some ammo due to snipers and bandits waiting to come and kill you when you enter and try and stay away from airfields especially when they have military barracks due to large areas where a sniper would have a good range to get you and stay away from narrow streets and open court yards in settlements there are usually elevated posiotion away from zombies that bandit like to hide in, i just go through the backyards and try to stick sclose to the tree lines