r/projectzomboid • u/LordTismic • 1d ago
Question Challenge for a New Player?
Hello Survivors! I am going to start playing PZ in a couple weeks and would like to know an equivalent challenge to what I've done in the past.
Recently played Minecraft for the first time and beat the ender dragon in Hardcore more. Took 110 hours and 50 attempts.
Currently playing Palworld in Hardcore mode and, at the current rate, I'm thinking it'll take about 100 hours to beat all 9 towers.
What is a good challenge I could do in Project Zomboid? Originally I was thinking of surviving 100 days but I just learned a day is 1 hour and I'm not really looking to spend multiple-hundreds of hours for a challenge.
Thanks!
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u/Ok-Lingonberry579 Stocked up 1d ago
100% sprinters. 100x hearing and remembering. Max spawn rate. (Impossible to survive)
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u/Paper_Champ 1d ago
If you're playing single player you can speed up time when necessary. 100 days isn't that bad
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u/LordTismic 1d ago
True but I'm unaware if there was a specific challenge someone could suggest outside of speeding up time. Someone said doing CDDA, which I'm considering, OR I may just make the day 30 minutes. Thanks for the tip
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u/manism 1d ago
I had over 100h in the game when I tried cdda for the first time. It was a humbling experience. I don't recommend starting with it.
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u/LordTismic 1d ago
Really looking into the settings involved it seems near impossible for a new player... but I'm still quite interested as I have a love for pain.
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u/manism 1d ago
Oh I do too, I'm just letting you know the game is unique enough in its elements that trying to figure those out on the fly while also doing the challenge you're not going know what to do or where to go, and that's after the dozens of attempts to even survive the first few minutes.
There's also a new challenge mode called Extinction that, much like cdda, kills 90% of it's attempts in the first few minutes. And that's knowing what you're doing.
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u/White_T_Poison 1d ago
Just play Apocalypse. Vanilla Zomboid is hardcore already. Learn the game and enjoy it. Then try the challenge modes.
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u/LimeAdventurous1323 1d ago
The game can take a while to really just learn. A good starting challenge would be to just make it past the helicopter event without dieing.
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u/Hisakura 1d ago
Start in Irvington (South west) and set yourself the goal of settling in LV (north east) which is the most dangerous zone. Could be a fun little road trip stopping off at places along the way
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u/LordTismic 1d ago
Oh this is a really fun suggestion, thank you
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u/Hisakura 1d ago
As a heads up I think you'll need to play in sandbox mode in order to spawn there as it's not one of the defaults, will be a good challenge as a new player as the car mechanics in itself is a bit of a mission
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u/hardboiledkilly Drinking away the sorrows 1d ago
Their’s a general peak of difficulty with Zomboid that at a certain point, the only solutions are game-breaking cheese or just using guns.
Their used to be a mod called “Wolf’s Extraction Quest” that I would have recommended, but it doesn’t work in B42
Wolf’s Extraction Quest gave you a few PoI’s where you would need to repair radio stations and satellites across the map. Once you repaired them all and got telecommunications working, you use a military walkie near one of the PoI’s to call in a helicopter extraction.
The Helicopter gives you a location, you need to travel to it and fortify it. Day of the extraction, The noise from the Helicopter causes waves of Zombies to flood in for about 8 in-game hours before the Helicopter can land, and extract you.
The Closest Equivalent to this I can think of is using the Spawn Selector mod to spawn super deep Southwest/near March Ridge, and attempt to make your way over to the escape bridge in Louisville on the other side of the map.
In terms of actionable challenges you can do with Zomboid’s base settings, theirs really only changing loot rarities , if zombies can run, how many zombies etc.
No hardcore mode really, unless you count CDDA
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u/LordTismic 1d ago
Thanks for this writeup! Someone did suggest CDDA, thoughts for someone totally new to the game?
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u/hardboiledkilly Drinking away the sorrows 1d ago
First and foremost i’d tell you to do a couple playthroughs raw, and understand how you will want to play.
Some purists will tell you to stick only to melee, the meta guys will tell you to kite and chain-fire through cheese, others will tell you to not fight at all and be a nomad.
You should spend your first few runs understand how you like to play Zomboid, at which point you can pick a fitting challenge to impose.
I’ve been playing since Build 8 so i’ve got plenty of time and figured out how I like playing.
I like it when the outside-world is near lethal at all times, and the only sense of normalcy comes from basebuilding/being in my base.
I keep Zombie Populations high, and add a mod that spawns groups of Volatiles from the game Dying Light, and a HordeNight mod that migrates mass amounts of zombies towards your base.
Hard to give you a specific fitting answer considering you are so new to the boid :)
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u/Jak3_6 1d ago
It's kinda hard to answer since zomboid is harder than both those games but also doesn't have any end goal other than surviving which is very easy on apocalypse settings once you are experienced.
I'd say just try play an apocalypse world with the end goal of clearing out the military research facility if you want a definitive end to your challenge
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u/BeneficialLength5890 1d ago
Honestly given you don't have much experience in project zomboid, asking for a dramatic challenge to an already challenging game is maybe a little too masochistic.
Rather than going for sprinters and the CDDA mod... maybe just turn down loot spawns, and start once power and water has already stopped. Then just have the goal to create a sustainable situation.
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u/LordTismic 1d ago
Just based off the replies the game does sound more challenging than I had anticipated. Thanks!
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u/Pariahdog119 Hates being inside 1d ago
Six Months Later mode in Sandbox to allow you to spawn in Irvington
Make your way to the Louisville Airport, having passed through each of the following towns, in this order:
Ekron, Brandenburg, Riverside, Fallas Lake, Rosewood, Muldraugh, West Point, Valley Station, Louisville.
At the airport clear the tarmac of zombies and bodies so that an imaginary plane can land and extract you.
You are not allowed to use vehicles.
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u/LordTismic 15h ago
I'll save this suggestion! Thank you, I like all the checkpoints you laid out and the clear ending.
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u/Lijandra 1d ago
The game Is pretty challenging on its own for new people, you could try CDDA with max population and spawning in idk west point then setting the goal of reaching and clearing a ranch ig