User:Thebrassthief/Guide
Just starting out in Urban Dead? Good. That's why I'm writing this. That and a combination of boredom in Wester Civilization, but that's something else. The point of this guide is to get you started as a Survivor in Urban Dead. I'm going to assume your alone and not in a group. I'm not going to go over the interface or anything like that and I'm not going to talk about Zombies. This is about how you should operate as a Survivor while playing. So, let's get started.
Making a Character
Yes, playing Urban Dead starts here, before you even get into the game. Making a character will determine how difficult your life will be early on in Urban Dead. As soon as you press that "Sign Up" button your in the game, no second thoughts. Each class starts with certain equipment and one skill. That skill is either very useful or complete crap and it dosen't say what that class' skill is, so I'll tell you.
Military
Scientist
Civilian
There are some skills that are not useful at all for a character early on. First Aid, Diagnosis, and Shopping. First Aid will let you heal more HP using a First Aid Kit, but in a way that cuts into your EXP gain. This was never explained why to me so I'm going to tell you why. You heal more HP but you don't gain more EXP then if you healed someone without First Aid. If you are carrying around a ton of First Aid Kit and have the skill First Aid, your only getting half as much EXP as you could. Don't start as a Medic and hold off on getting First Aid. Diagnosis let's you see the HP of all Survivors. This is helpful later like First Aid but not when you start out so pass on starting as a Doctor. A Consumer is the worst thing you could start out as. Shopping is useless in one scenario only: you are in a mall. Shopping let's you pick what kind of store to search when you are in a mall. As a newbie you don't need that. You may never see a mall in your first few weeks. You don't need Shopping.
Skills that are very good on that list are Basic Firearms Training, Axe Proficiency, Free Running, and NecroTech Employment. Basic Firearms Training gives you an increased chance to hit with all guns. It's never a bad thing to increase your chance to hit because it's a direct increase in your EXP gain. A Private and a Cop both start with these. It also opens up all of the gunnery sub-skills. Axe Proficiency is another skill that increases your chance to hit with...axe's. Duh. It's a sub-skill of Hand to Hand Combat, so you can also get that when you have the EXP and increase your hit chance even more. Free Running is the most valuable skill in the game. If you are a new Survivor, Free Running is the first skill you should buy if you didn't start as a Scout. It lets you move from building to building without going outside. In a sense it saves you two AP every time you want to go from one building to the next. Amazing skill. NecroTech Employment is an interesting skill. If you start as a NecroTech Lab Assistant you have an easy way of getting EXP by "tagging" zombies with your DNA Extractor.
So you have all these bad and good skills to start with. What class do you pick to start as then? I would recommend a Scout, a NecroTech Lab Assistant, a Cop, or a Firefighter. Scout's because they start with the best skill in the game. The Lab Assistant have an easy way to get EXP. Cop's have some of the best starting equipment. Firefighters from the get go are melee masters. Of all those, my personal reccomendation is to start as a Firefighter. A Firefighter can kill a zombie on day one. His fire axe and complimenting skill gives him great chance to hit. A lot of people from my group, We Are Nice Guys, started as Firefighters and those who didn't really felt the fact that they didn't have that better starting melee skill. Also, you don't need to look for ammo which is the main downside of starting as a Cop or Private. The Scout doesn't start with a weapon at all! While all that is my reccomendation, start with what you think you'll like. Personally, I started as a Medic. I hated it.
Day 1: "Oh my God it's a zombie get in the car!"
You now have your character. You've been dropped into a random Suburb in Malton. What is the first thing you should do? Check the Wiki!! There is a button that links to the Urban Dead Wiki which is a wealth of information. I assume you know about it already because your reading this. Check what your suburb name is and look it up in the wiki. Skim it. This is important. Rules change from suburb to suburb. Different groups reside in each area. It is important to know who you could possibly run into, what buildings are kept open for newbies to get into, and where revive points are. That second point, finding a building you can get into, is possibly the most important. You will start in a building and once you leave it there is a chance you won't be able to get back in. This is because buildings get barricaded and the building you started in will most likely be Extremely Heavily Barricaded. This means once you leave you can't get back in without free running from one building to the next.
After you check the wiki and what suburb you started in, what should do you after that? Depends on your class. If your a Cop or a Private you should start in a police station. If you do, search ammo. You start with a pistol but you will run out of ammo for it very fast and when you do you have nothing but your fists and you don't want to end up resorting to that. It's also perfectly fine to carry around multiple pistols. In fact it's encouraged! Reloading in combat is a waste of AP. I carry around three fully loaded pistols and two loaded shotguns. Find ammo. If you are a Firefighter, you don't have to worry about ammo for a long time. That fire axe you start with will last you forever. If you can find a building to spend the night in, you can go out every day, whack on zombies, and head back to safety without a care in the world (beyond an invasion of the suburb). As a Scout you need to find a weapon. A fire axe is recommended but any kind of melee weapon will work until you can get your hands on an axe. This should go for anyone who needs a weapon. Even Cops and Privates should carry an emergency fire axe around.
If you've checked the suburb on the wiki, did some walking around, got supplies, and found a building to hang in, great. You are ready to start earning EXP. Now go out and find a zombie and start hitting it. This is how your going to gain EXP most of the time. You can heal people for a small amount of EXP and you can tag zombies if your a NecroTech Lab Assistant but 90% of your EXP is going to be from killing zombies. While you do this you need to manage your AP carefully. The AP system in Urban Dead will screw you over if you don't be careful. My golden rule is at 10 AP, head back to your safehouse. You should be able to get back A-OK and away from whatever zombie you've bee beating on so he doesn't log on and eat you.
Day 5: "I got skillzzzz!"
It doesn't have to be exactly five days before you read this again. By now you should have a handful of EXP to spend tho. Click on the skill button to bring up the menu for it. You have four sections of skills: Military Skills, Science Skills, Civilian Skills, and Zombie Hunter Skills. Ignore Zombie Hunter Skills since you can't get them yet. What you first want to look at if Free Running. Unless your a Scout, Free Running on every character should be, without question, the first skill you buy. It will increase your survivability a hundred fold. Now you can jump into any building from any adjacent building without risking going out into the streets it it being inaccessible. This makes searching for supplies , finding a place to rest, and getting around much MUCH easier. I don't care if you think your need more chance to hit right now. You don't. You'll get to it.
Like right now. After Free Running you can start going down the skills to make combat easier. Cops and Privates can keep training their pistol and shotgun skills if they feel like they are doing OK on getting ammo. If not, I recommend getting into the Hand to Hand tree and training for Axe Proficiency. Why not Knife Combat? Because a fire axe does more damage and has the same chance to hit. For the Firefighters, take Hand to Hand Combat and polish off the last skill you need there. You always want to finish your combat skills after Free Running because, again, you get most of your EXP from killing zombies.
After your proficient in killing zombies one way or another, your options are open. The most immediately useful skills come from the Civilian Skills. Body Building will give you 10 more HP, a max of 60. It's never a bad thing to have. That bonus also stays if you become a zombie. Construction is beneficial for people who aren't even close to you. Find a wrecked building? Close the doors, repair the interior, barricade the doors and you have a safehouse for yourself. Something to practice when you start to barricade buildings is to never barricade over Very Heavily Barricaded. That way newbies and other stranded people can still hop into the building for a rest. It's just something courteous. That, or closely follow your suburbs barricade plan. They are set up to keep the most important buildings open for anyone to get it. Sadly, not everyone follows it, but you should. The Scientific Skills are helpfully to other people more then yourself. NecroTech Employment opens up the rest of that skill tree so you can tag zombies, spot NecroTech buildings, use the all important NecroNet, and even revive zombies back to human beings. The First Aid tree isn't bad either, but it's something to get at a later date for when you have other people to heal.
After that you have some selectively useful skills. By now you may have found a mall or heard about one or want to find one. Well, this is where Shopping comes in. Shopping lets you loot individual stores in the mall rather then searching the whole thing and not getting what you want. Bargain Hunting increases the chance of finding something. If you need ammo, First Aid Kits, a portable generator, a hockey stick, or a kitchen sink you can find it at a mall, and those two skills make it easier. Tagging is a fun skill. You may have found some stuff written on buildings and walls that ranges from useless to notes from the previous occupants. This is done by tagging buildings with spray cans, and while you don't need Tagging to use them, if you have it you get EXP for tagging certain buildings. Radio Operation is if you are in a powered building with a radio. You can use the restricted radio channel range 26.00-28.00. It's not that useful unless you belong to a group of people with radios tuned to a channel in that range.
The single Zombie Hunter skill, which you can only get when you are level 10 or higher, lets you headshot a zombie every time you kill one. This makes the zombie have to spend more AP to stand up and start to walk around again.
Here is my suggested skill build. It will work for anyone on a brand new character. This starts from the first skill you should buy and assumes you want to go a melee weapon route.
- Free Running (Hand to Hand Combat if you started as a Scout.)
- Hand to Hand Combat (Axe Proficiency if you are a Scout.)
- Axe Proficiency (Body Building if you are a Scout/Fireman.)
- Body Building (Construction if you are a Scout/Fireman.)
- Construction
After that you can take whatever skills you want. That's just my opinion and you can build yourself in several ways.
"Why do I taste brains?"
Did you die? You died, didn't you? Ok, ok, that's fine. Death in Urban Dead is going to happen. It is a pure PvP game after all. Maybe you got caught outside. Maybe a few zombies broke down your barricades. However is happened, there are ways to become a human again.
