How do you survive as a lone wolf?

[The Killing Joke 43]

This game is harsh, and especially so on those players who want to survive as long as possible all by themselves.

As it is now, I have spawned mostly on the coast, at night, and close to a small town. There have been approximately 20 or so zeds I have seen roaming very close to the buildings, but nothing impossible for a lone wanderer to get into, if they are very, very careful.

That being said, when you DO finally get inside, if you're unlucky enough that someone else might have been there first, you may find nothing. It was dark, there were clouds, and it was raining. So, it was relatively impossible to change venues, as the 10 flares I spawned with would only get me so far.

So, I resigned myself to sticking it out, and hopefully, searching the buildings a little later, to see if I could find something, anything useful.

Then, the problem happened. I triggered one zed, which (of course) turned into another, then another, until I had about four on me. When I finally got all of them, I was leaking, so I bandaged. Now what?

Now, I'm pretty new, so I'm looking for any ideas you might have.

TL;DR: When it's raining and overcast, how could a newly spawned character travel? When you're alone, how do you avoid aggro'ing more than one zed?

TKJ

[deadbolt (DayZ) 10]

new life ill play high risk and hit the three buildings in electro, basically just have to crawl a lot and throw flares in the distance and not where u are

[whisky 0]

Go slowly...

I usually prone a lot when lone wolfing (no friends online)...

If you look at your right there is ear and eye icons.

Those icons mean you visablity and the sound you emmit.

I mean if you walk like standing up and running you'll go full on those icons.

But if you prone you won't be visable and you won't emmit any kind of sounds.

So you can atually go like 2 meters prone near a zed and he won't notice you.

Imagine they are half walkers and half 28 days later zeds, they are stupid and love sounds but really fast.

[The Killing Joke 43]

new life ill play high risk and hit the three buildings in electro' date=' basically just have to crawl a lot and throw flares in the distance and not where u are[/quote']

That's pretty much what I do. Nice to see I'm not the only one with his face in the dirt!

If you look at your right there is ear and eye icons.

Those icons mean you visablity and the sound you emmit.

I mean if you walk like standing up and running you'll go full on those icons.

But if you prone you won't be visable and you won't emmit any kind of sounds.

So you can atually go like 2 meters prone near a zed and he won't notice you.

That, I did not know. Thanks! I'll be using the prone movement a lot more now!

TKJ

[flarin.fldesign@gmail.com 0]

Prone. Avoid any contact. Metal gear on their asses.

[Jasper (DayZ) 4]

I am just very careful. I'm currently roaming the mid-west area searching for food and water supplies. I never walk out into the open without spending a few minutes watching the area for other survivors. Before getting close to a building or town I'll use my binoculars to scan the area and understand where all the zombies are. I'll then carefully plan my entry to the buildings.

If I alert any zombies, I'll basically just run for it, but that hasn't happened on this character yet.

Today I was climbing a hilly forest area up to a small village. I heard gunshots and the first thing I did was hid by a tree and used my binoculars to find the survivors. The shots got louder, then all of a sudden 3 survivors came running over the hill and through the forest, followed by about 30 zombies. Luckily I was still crouching behind a tree at this point.

The survivors and the horde ran passed, and I escaped thanks to my patience. Little did they know, I had just come from a farm, full of zombies. They were heading straight for it! :)

I haven't fired a single shot with this character, except for the bandit at the beginning with all that loot!

If you find a map, work out where you are and choose a nearby town to loot. It will give you an objective :)

[tyler_1111@hotmail.com 0]

you need to scavenge enough gear to head north, if you want to make it up north you need at least 2-3 cans of water and 2-3 cans of food. you probably also need a map and a compass too if you dont plan on stopping for towns raids

[vcool (DayZ) 0]

Go north.

I made it from Komarovo to the airfield during nightime. Use flares in forests or unpopulated areas, go prone in towns and loot everything. It's not hard it's just tedious.

You don't need to enter big towns in order to survive, hell, you don't need anything at all in order to survive except food and water, and food and water is plenty.

[Reklin 56]

Head north. Loot barns for a gun. Plenty of loot in small towns. But despite what others will tell you, you can easily run from the coast to the other side of the map with starter provisions. I often run back to nw airfield after a death without ever looting or entering a town.

[The Killing Joke 43]

I'll save everybody from a bunch of personal quotes, and say thanks very much for all of the great advice. I'm trying to play as smart as I can, and it's good to hear the suggestions!

TKJ

[nyax 0]

Only fight zombies indoors if possible.

Only fire if you really have too; avoiding threats is much more preferable.

Use the Winchester.

[anders190 0]

Learn to use the environment. Crouch-run and crawl depending on where you are and what is around you (always look at how much sound and visibility your are giving out). It's fully possible to raid the grocery stores in daylight without firing a single shot at the zombies, I have done it several times after 1.5.7 patch. It's a bit creepy (with all of the zombies around you) but it's at the same time really funny. You never now what could happen*.

Play in daylight if possible, change to servers in another time zone if you can accept the ping (it doesn't matter much while lone wolfing and especially if you prefer to avoid other players). The Winchester with slugs is probably the weapon you will use the most. It's both powerful, relatively silent and the ammo can be found almost everywhere. 15 shots/mag is great as well. The Remington 870 has a flashlight (which is nice if you want to play in the dark) but fewer shots/mag instead. I haven't used it a lot but I get the feeling that it's both louder and that the ammo is harder to come by as well. If using the Winchester, you could easily use the flashlight in your side arm slot. You will probably find more slugs than you will be using on zombies anyway making ammo a non-issue.

Food and water is easy to come by. Hunting wild animals and cook the meat with the knife/matches combo for both food and blood. Water from water pumps and lakes (don't swim in it though). Looting the stores should give you what you need otherwise. Carry smoke grenades to distract zombies if you get stuck, seems to work quite well.

If you get swarmed, fight indoors. Always keep out for buildings you can retreat to if you get a horde after you. Your life will probably depend on it. If you need to engage anything, scout out the are before so you know where the runners will be coming from.

* Earlier this evening I was looting the grocery store in Zelenogorsk. I made my way in, had looted most of it but attracted the attention of one of the zombies that opened the front doors and moved in. I quickly continued to loot the last piles when I see a crawling bandit behind me (I'm playing as survivor) and got a bit freaked out. He was friendly however and we started shooting of the zombies. We kept looting a while more and then started to sneak out (they had already respawned). And no, he didn't betray me either. =)

TL,DR: Mostly what all the others said before. Have worked fine on my three latest lives which each lived for many hours.

[Virfortis 111]

Don't let anyone fool you by telling you to group up.

People are stupid, VERY stupid. In general, of course, but never underestimate the power of noobs in a group. The increase in Zeds have made grouping more of a liability than a necessity. If you must engage some Zeds, find a good rooftop.

[Thomas (DayZ) 22]

what i do is spawn, find me a nice barn and grab me a remmington, shoot a player and nick his food then haul arse to the top right hand corner of the map, make myself a car or a helicopter, set up a tent near the airfield and farm the military hardware respawns, head back into towns and cities to pk if you get bored after that, that whole process might take you a few days depending on loot and vehicle spawning chances

[landstriker 9]

I kinda forget that DayZ is a game some times. I generally tend to play the game like if i where actually in the midst of it. You wanna survive, you don't want to take any chances.

Watch your surroundings, don't run into a town or an area before you've checked it out beforehand. I normally wait a few minutes, often up to 10 minutes before entering larger populated areas. Set yourself a goal, go for it and then get out. No reason staying back in an area for a longer period of time.

Crouch, prone, sneak. Do whatever you can to stay undetected. If you hear shots, check it out or leg it.

[pulse89 0]

Lone wolfing doesn't necessarily mean not ever grouping up with other people.

Sometimes you need to use other people as a means to an end, that being said I'm not a bandit and so I won't kill people for gear I want, instead I'll group up with them to help me to loot a town/airfield for gear, they get what they want I get what I want with less risk, win/win.

But after all is said and done we will part ways and go do our own thing. Generally I won't group up with someone for more than half an hour, that being more of a "I don't have time to play the game for more than an hour anyway" thing.

But as it's said before, being alone you have to rely a lot more on stealth, if I have to shoot zombies I clear a lot of them before actually going into a town.

After the uni semester finishes I'll have more time to experience what it's like in a group.

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

Here is the biggest tip in my quest to hit the 2000 zombie kill mark.

Stand up when you engage zombies, never ever crouch. Then, once standing up, run backwards as they chase you. There can be 1 - 1000 zombies chasing you and this always works.

As you run, you'll notice they all catch up to be in the same place as one another. After about ten seconds of running backwards, you'll see that they all stop in a certain range and all do their attack animation.

As they do their attack animation, move back a bit more and fire twice or three times, then begin moving back again. Even on a veteran server, you're going to hit at least one of the five zombies immediately behind you.

In about thirty seconds I can annihilate fifty zombies chasing me without getting hit once or going in a building. All you need is ammo and preferably a gun that kills in one shot to the torso.

The biggest problem for me right now is that it's rarely worth going to any town once you've got all the prescribed survival gear. It's not a survival thing, it's just an immersion, game-feel kind of thing. I just loot barns and sheds for more Winchester rounds.

Also, I carry an M24 with four-five mags in my backpack. I swap to this when I'm away from zombies so that I'm ready if PvP arises.

In terms of PvP, I really just play with the training that I took from PR BF2 and PR ARMA 2. I spin constantly and am always looking at everything suspicious. 95% of the time I am the first to see the other player (to the point where some guy was happily walking along five meters from me in a field north of NWAF). Other players seem to have a very, very low sense of self awareness. Remember, you have to FIND danger, not let danger find you. As soon as you play with the mentality of a hunter, the control on your situations becomes much more palpable. I'm not saying kill people, but play as though you are looking for other players as you walk, and you'll never be sniped or taken by surprise.

Also, in terms of encounters, I generally set a mental stop watch and never spend more than ten minutes somewhere after firing a shot.

It's also important in this new patch to be even quicker in the looting. I always try and empty out anything I know I can easily replace, or I consume food or drink. Bending over for three seconds is better than the thirty second head shot happy game of "musical bags" that most players seem to do.

Finally, remember that the majority of loot for survival (food and water) can be found on dead zombies. You can be in the middle of the forest, and the zombies you kill will have a couple of tins of Heinz or a Pepsi on them.

[dallas 5195]

Always move crouched, moving couched will deplete your stamina, screw with your aim and tire you faster, but you'll have a little more reaction time when you hear a moan or spot a walker. Whenever you make contact with one, switch to crouched walk, atleast untill you have determined the amount of Zeds, how close they are, their direction ect.

If you're anywhere near the east coast, visit the norther part of Berizino and locate the supermarket, anyother supermarket will do, but be aware of shots fired in these city areas. Whether you meet friendlies or bandits, any stranger could be desperate or get tempted by your gear. Supermarkets have everything you need and if they are out of stock come back later. They'll almost always have a good selection of handgun ammo, handguns, food, beverages, backpacks and survival gear. Priority should be on getting more inventory slots in your pack, but if you're lucky getting your hands on matches and a huntingknife, you can live off the land, butchering and cooking whatever wildlife you find on field and in the woods.

[Azelbaum 2]

After two successful player interactions offset with a staggering number of bullets to the face, I've decided to go it completely alone. This is how I do it. Opinions differ and everyone has one.

GUNS

I recommend the Winchester / Revolver combo.

Both the guns, and their ammo, are common in the outlying areas you'll want to stick to. Both are one hit torso kills. The Winchester is quiet and you can switch the ammo between slugs and pellets. I switch to pellets when I go into town. When, WHEN you mess up, or get caught with a glitch they're nice for crowds. Otherwise I use the slugs.

(1) IMO, military guns are for the PK'ers and Zerg groups that can raid an airfield for them. I looked at an airfield after the patch(1.5.7) and just turned around and walked away. The ONE redeeming factor of the AK's, M4's, and M16's TO ME is ammo density. You use two slots for 30 rounds of Winchester ammo vs one slot for a 30 rounds of assault rifle ammo. You have more inventory room carrying 90 rounds with an assault rifle. The assault rifles are loud and getting ammo for them means going to an airfield or military tent camp. I have found a few AK's in hunting stands before... so you can try there if you really want one.

Food and Equipment

I carry canteens(2-3) to be refilled, the hunting knife and matches. Once you have those three things you don't really HAVE to go back into a town again for food. You can refill your canteens at a well or a lake. You can kill and cook your own food. I treat Soda Cans and Beans as something to consume on the spot. I save my water and meat for when I log in starving and thirsty or when I'm injured and need blood.

You want to find a Watch, Map and Compass. Navigation can be accomplished with only the first two however. If you know the time, Morning or Evening you can navigate by the sun during the day. The Sun rises in the East, sets in the West. At night the Moon is generally to the South.

Binoculars are great! If you find them, use them to scout towns, use them to read town names without ever leaving the woods.

Travel

If possible, be in the trees.

Travel overland through the woods. Observe towns from the trees, hunt from the trees... you're Robin Hood and the Sheriff wants your beans. Never be on the roads unless you're crossing them. If you wish to follow a road, do it from the nearest treeline.

Keep your head on a swivel!

When traveling around, 1st or 3rd, your thumb should be on the alt key constantly checking your surroundings. Someone said earlier, find danger before it finds you and that's hitting the nail on the head.

Keep your ears open!

I turn off the music. It's not tied to being spotted by Zeds or combat. I'd rather hear shots in the distance. Sometimes you only hear one or two and I want to know what direction they're coming from so I can go the other way. Also, if I'm in the open and I hear loud, obviously close shots, the first key I hit is Z. Drop, then figure out if they're shooting at you, if they are, get back up, double tap W and head for the trees!

When you have to go into town have a plan.

What do you need? When you find it, leave. How are you going to leave? Where's the nearest treeline, cover or hill? Have all of those things in mind before you go into town. Stay prone. As others have mentioned you can make sweet love to a zed if you're prone. The only reasons to stand up in town, to me, are I'm being shot at or a Zed has seen me. Sometimes you have to crouch to get into a building because of collision, use your judgement. If a Zed has spotted you, find the nearest building and run inside of it. Fight there. At this point there's no more fancy stuff. You're in a fight, because you had to come into town and were seen. Kill, Loot, Leave. As fast as possible. Your fighting a respawn timer and the bandit you should always assume is there is now watching you. Why aren't you back in the sweet embrace of the tree's yet? If a bandit has seen you and is sniping, get into cover and start crawling out. When running is a necessity, Sprint. Move in an erratic zig zag pattern. If you're in a close up battle, there's nothing you can do. Fight and live, or fight and die. Either way, fight.

Dealing with other players.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. " - Isaac Asimov

You're asking about going lone wolf, so why are you dealing with other players? People lie. If I was a bandit, and someone says, "Identify friendly or die." Well, I'll identify friendly. Then shoot them. Assume everyone is going to do that. In my experience they are! That's not to say you can't help people. If you see a guy running frantically across a field and feel the need to intervene, do it. Bleed off some or all of the horde and then go away. You don't need his thanks, you're awesome enough already.

Don't be brave!

If someone is sniping at me, I run. If I see someone going into the town I'm scouting, I lay low until they leave. Maybe I'll have an easier time of it after they've done the bleeding. If you hear loud, close gunfire, hit Z. Drop to the ground then worry about if its coming at you. If it is.. run. The goal is to live, not to be a badass. Badasses spawn on the beach.

You've fucked up in a big way and a guy is five feet from you.

There's nothing for that. Shoot him! He might be a friendly, he might not be. Every time, EVERY time I was surprised by another player, who was just as surprised by me, I died mid salute or typing "Frie..." Every time. In a pinch, everyone defaults to self preservation especially if they've got good gear.

The main thing about playing lone wolf, or hermit, is to avoid other people at all costs. If you're in a fight it's because you fucked up. Figure out why you ended up in that fight and don't do it again!

Sorry if this seems to ramble, but it's now very late and I'm tired. Hope it helps.

(1)This applies as of patch 1.5.7. My opinion might change once the respawn rate is adjusted. Right now, it doesn't seem like you can clear out an airfield fast enough before you get respawns. You'll be locked in battle that only ends with you being out of ammo and beaten to death. Possibly while a bandit kneecaps you because they were bored. Right now, the effort it would take to get military weapons outweighs their usefulness by a fair margin. Your goal as a loner is to avoid conflict, not fight battles.

[Tigerr13 1]

Go North.

[Jamesbiff 4]

Find the winchester.

Stick to the trees.

Fire first.

Been alive for quite a while now, following those rules. Though with the density of Zeds ive started hunting players for provisions alot more now, its easier and quicker than crawling in and out of towns.

[milasiusa@gmail.com 0]

Winchester is probably the best weapon for going solo. There is ammo for it almost in every town.

Personaly I always carry atleast 2-3 food and 2-3 water bottles.

Do not trust anyone. Try to avoid people even if you aren't a bandit.

[vpope 28]

People are rightly wary of other players, mainly because they are for the most part just as afraid that you will kill them as you are they will kill you, and for the most part they will but not usually just to be a dick, they are afraid of losing there stuff , afraid of being stuck on the beach with all the hardcore pk'rs.

Grouping up with people can be hugely beneficial, i grouped up with one guy just outside cherno about a month ago, he had 2 friends we met up with , we met up with 2 of mine , and now we are 20 strong with masses of supplies and weapons :) co-operation is powerful. Obviously there will be a period where you die lots while you figure out who can and can not be trusted but the power of a collective is much greater than the sum of its parts.

That said there is alot of times where i am alone, we don't always travel together and so far my longest life stands at 8 days. Here are a few tips for you that i have learnt from experience.

Before anything else here are a few quick points that may save you off the get go.

-If your being chased by zombies run indoors, zombies cant run inside so you can pick them off.

-When indoors being chased by zombies stay away from the walls (zombies can attack you through them)

-Zombies cant catch you if you run flat out as they stop to attack you you will move away far enough that they will not damage you with there attack , so long as you keep moving your fine (until you stop)

-If its dark throw flares DO NOT CARRY THEM, while this does cause you to use a lot more flares it saves you getting shot by players who see a glowing red ball of free loot jogging along the coastline. Flares are so easy to find you will be swimming in them soon anyway.

-If your away from the coast a little use chem lights and pick them up they last MUCH longer than flares and if a players is more than about 60m away from you they can not see the glow.

Now here are the steps

1. Go north But don't rush.

Most people will rightly tell you that getting away from the south coast is your first priority and it is. But there are plenty of things you can find there that will massively improve your chances further north. Here are a few thing you will need.

Map - pretty useful thing for working out where you are and where your going now essential as you can use on-line maps but i always prefer to have one in game.

Compass - ESSENTIAL if you dont know which way your walking you will get hopelessly lost, i once spent an hour and half wandering the edge of the map before finding my way back to a town, dont get lost :)

hunting knife/ matches - extremely useful as it allows you to survive with out having to go into towns, you can kill gut and cook wild animals if you have these items.

A better backpack - your starting bag is awfully small you will need a bigger one if you intend to survive alone, 8 slots is not anywhere hear sufficient to carry the food drink and ammo you will need.

A revolver or colt M1911 - I dont go anywhere with out one of these reason being that both the revolver and m1911 use .45 calibre ammo, which is a one shot kill to any part of a zombies body inside of about 50m and they are fairly common. Whereas the makarov is a 3 shot kill , and the g17 and m9 a 2 shot. (they are also very effective against other players)

2. So now you know what you want to find before you track north, what now?

The good news is that ALL these things can be found in one place, apartment buildings. All the above items can and do spawn in apartment building and supermarkets, so i know that its a bit dangeroud but go to the outskirts of cherno or electro and raid those places, if your feeling brave then even go for the hospitals. Worst case scenario you are killed by a bandit and re-spawn on the south cost, well you did not have any gear yet anyway, and you will spawn pretty close to where you were regardless.

Only you can be the judge of how long to stay there looking for these items, some times you will find only a compass and a revolver and leg it , other times you might stick around until you have nothing but coke rather than pepsi, it depends on how busy the area is and how confident you are to stay. Some times you will get extremely lucky, i once scouted some apartments after being killed in the north and found myself an ALICE bag, CZ sniper, M1911, food, water, map, compass, hunting knife, matches and a camping tent all in one go. So once you are as tooled up as you feel safe doing , and you have a minimum of a compass and a good handgun + 2 drinks and 2 food, then its time to set off.

3. How to make it out of the kill zone

As I said way back at the start of this wall of text, getting north is important if you want to survive more than a few hours. You should now be tooled up with most of the things you will need, the next thing you want to do is sneak out of the town or city you are in so as to not alert any zombies and then run like hell to the first forest you can see. Check your map and work out where you are, once you have an approximation of your location then sprint north staying in the forests at all times. The reasons for this are that zombies do not spawn in the middle of forests (unless there are building there) so you are pretty safe to leg it, and that its harder for other players to spot you.

4. So your away you have survival gear and now what

Well again its up to you how far you want to go, I personally try and get as far away from anywhere as I can. I don't just live out my days on the edge of the map , i go out scavenging into the interior but i rarely go within 2 oe 3 km of the south cost. Try and find a tent in a supermarket or a house, set it up out of the way and start scavenging for food water and a good main weapon. The Winchester is an excellent weapon as its ammo is very common and its unusually silent. The military weapons are very good but ammo is harder to come by. If your brave you could scavenge the airfields or army camps but if your trying to go it alone i would recommend one of the best solo loot spots as deer stands, they are the little wooden gaurd towers you see on the edges of forests. They have the same loot table as military camps so you can find M4's AK's MP5's and all kinds of other toys, also there is almost always 2 military zombies around them and they have a chance to drop extremely good stuff such as NVG's and GPS's. If you are extremely brave then you can try the army camps for some silenced weapons which are the ones i love to use the most, they do not attract zombie aggro when fired and other players have an extremely hard time spotting you with them. The ammo is very rare but if you scavenge hard you can amass a stockpile.

5. Profit

That's it, you have a good pistol and decent main weapon , food water a tent navigation equipment and you can hunt for food. If you set up near a water source you can refill water bottles and not even need to scavenge for drink. Obviously this kind of play will get boring, being alone and not having to go anywhere is a bit dull, so you will probably end up scouting other places, and fill up your tent with spare weapons and ammo , that way if you do die you can make your way back and restock directly. There are a few things you will have a hard time with, such as medical supplies. You can only get blood bags from hospitals and you need another players to use it on you anyway, so living as a lone wolf will have drawbacks, this is one of the reasons I run with a group, i know that there will always be someone to patch me up if i'm bleeding on the floor and drag me to safety.

I hope that this is of use to some of you that want to play as the lone wolf if any of you have any questions about survival or anything else for that matter then please feel free to send me a PM as I am unlikely to find this thread once I have posted this. And I know there are a lot of things I have not touched on in this post so please don't reply telling me I missed things, if I get time I will write a full guide but that's not likely with all the work I have on at the moment.

[Time Glitch 453]

I think common sense is really something to keep in mind while playing lone wolf. Keep your head on a swivel, don't shoot unless its an emergency, keep a low profile, etc.

Personally, if you have either a chemlight or flashlight, then exploring at night can be very rewarding due to other players and zombies not being able to see you as well.

[LeYuno (DayZ) 51]

Lone wolf tips

*never stay in the same position for too long

*try to exit a server on a secure location (preferably prone near a dense bush in the forest away from towns)

*don't make noise when close to zombies and go prone if you get within 10m.

*if they DO notice you and come after you try to get in a house with only one entrance, they will walk through it and you'll be able to pick them off.

*allways take headshots at zombies unless you can't accurately shoot (with e.g. the crossbow) since headshot is one shot kill

*don't stay on the coast, head inland

*be patient. stay on the edge of a town for a few minutes before going in, try to spot the number of zeds you're dealing with and what types.

*get a bigger back pack. If you do, don't forget to "loot" your old one and fill the new one with the stuff you had in there

*stay away from other humans

*if you see humans and they didn't spot you, prone and stay still. Chances are they will never see you.

*when in lootable places look for food and drinks. even if your pack is full, consume the food and drinks you find so your "counter" is reset.

*when you find a flashlight and want to equip it, drop your handgun instead of switching it to your backpack. There's a chance it will disappear (had it happen to me). drop it, equip flashlight, pick up handgun and put directly in back pack.

*note down how many slots each item takes in your back pack. e.g. firewood is 2 slots. some items (compass, toolbox, matches.. are put in separate slots at the bottom of your inventory, binoculars go on the top)

*use forest edges to approach towns more safely

*stop from time to time when running in the woods and look around

*disable music ingame and learn to listen for environmental sounds that give away zeds and humans in the vincinity

*try go get hunting gear as fast as possible (knife, matches, wood) so you can restock on the blood which you WILL lose at some point in your travels

*use the chat to your advantage - learn player positions, ask indirect questions to know if there are bandits near your goal or current position

*NEVER use ingame voip. It attracts zeds since last patch so be aware. Delete the push to talk button in your controls if you don't trust yourself with it.

*take your time to learn the inventory and how it works. when you need a bandage or panic fix fast you won't lose the time

*learn what does what in the game. Morphine fixes broken bones, painkillers remove the shakes after injury, eating meat/beans restocks on blood, dropping below 40 tempval will make you sick etc.

*be aware that trying to loot a stash/dead person while holding your handgun WILL put your player in a kneeled position which may reveal you to zeds nearby.

*zeds sometimes hold stuff when killed. an icon showing a rifle with a circular arrow arround it indicates loot present. an icon showing a rifle with ammo clips means no loot