Zomboid Tips: What Should You Always Have In Your Inventory?

I find this set up works for me quite well but I could see some of this being overkill. I just hate having to run back to base or my car to grab stuff.

[acuk]

Add a bottle of bourbon. It's like sleeping pills, antidepressants, disinfectant, potential molotov and spare water bottle rolled into one.

[briandoss]

Yeah i always have a delivery van with a trailer. Divide everything up into bags. The medical bag. Welding bag (in case i need to break into a facility). The tool bag with all the tools i could ever need. The road bag with all the food and tailoring equipment. And the car bag with the jack, air pump, spare car battery, spare tire. Etc.

[Erik-vpbm]

Instead of pencil: Crayons. One box, and you get all map colors available. Can be erased with a common eraser, as if it was written with a pencil.

[chillcult]

meanwhile me: *carrying 3 months worth of canned food
*2 factory worth of weapon

[zac_prpht]

FUN FACT : The Suture Needle Holder can be used in place of the Tweezers to pull glass shards and bullets off of you. New players can leave the tweezers behind.

[alexandersears]

Something neat about vehicles: You can place a Generator, or even those large Water Dispensers you find in office buildings in the front or back seats, even though they are over the seat's weight limit.

[KevinTheGuide]

I prefer starting with strong rather than organized. It has way better benefits as building strength is slow, better melee skills, and increases weight capacity 18-20 (depending on hunger)

[sylthaya]

Fanny pack 1: medical supplies
-bandages
-sterilized bandages
-needle, thread (for less serious deep wounds)
-suture needle holder
-suture neeedles (for serious deep wounds)
-alcohol wipes
-adhesive bandages (for a temporary fix where a bandage would take too long)

Fanny 2: writing supplies + bullets

Backpack: spare crowbar/axe + a roast + screwdriver/scissor/saw

Main inventory: 2 water bottles (move to backpack when empty)+ stuff on your belt(usually a hammer + wrench) + double holster

Car:
Glovebox : flashlight + extra battery + non perishable food + water bottle

Trunk: sledgehammer maybe if u know youll need it, kinda heavy tho.
Lug wrench+jack

[moeneet]

I keep spare back packs in my trunk just in case I find a juicy loot spawn like a survivor home or a stocked garage. I play with LOTS of car mods so my main car is a ford bronco with lots of spots to carry bags full of loot it cuts down the length of loot runs and it helps me keep track of places since I can just loot a whole building and have it bagged up and ready to drop off at base

[jg-qjts]

This is why I find backpack attachment mods to be essential, I do a lot of hiking so hanging kit off my bag and body is a huge part of that, and feels a lot more realistic in terms of how much a human could haul.

[Aoure]

I think your list is very good for longer/further trips but a tad overkill for smaller excursions. I would also recommend carrying coffee or tea bags as an emergency way of reducing fatigue.

[Hice_T]

Instead of a pencil use crayons you can change the colors for drawing on the map

[Swope]

Really love how you have your gear set up, I didn’t even know you could wear two Fanny packs! One thing I will say is playing a lot of CDDA made me really think and plan ahead when going out on expeditions or loot runs. I would wear a pack and only carry a bottle of water, rags, and a melee weapon. finding berries and bugs along the way to wherever I was walking to and taking shelter in sheds or houses. Getting a vehicle later on I also pack light, only taking a tire iron, a Jack, and a screw driver and if possible a gas can. In the late game I’ll add a wrench and tire pump in case any car troubles hit me on the road. I always packed for no more than two or three days away from home so I learned quickly to travel light, I might have to start traveling with more equipment loved how the video was laid out keep up the good work!

[thefatpuppers]

The suture needle holder works perfectly as a pair of tweezers, rendering them useless imo

[Drie_Kleuren]

I also always pick organised. If I have 2 fanny packs 1 is for smoking and lighter and matches. + Around 20 nails and some medical pills (usually beta blockers) The second one is for spare bottle and can opener. I always carry a hammer on my right belt. For my bags I ALWAYS carry a extra bag. I also always carry 2 bandages and alcohol whipes and some spare weapon. This like the basic basic needs.... I carry any extra water in my bag and main inventory but I keep my fanny pack bottle for last. This means when I need to grab it I know I am low on water and probably head back or make a pit stop. (I also always pick high thirst so water goes fast) the 20 nails and hammer are just easy for boaring up a place quickly. Planks are somewhat easy to find but sometimes when you destroy a furnature you might not have enough nails. So around 20 will just always ensure I have enough if I need to board up something quickly... I also have in all my cars I drive some smokes and ligher/matches, can opener, empty gas can and water bottle in the glovebox. This makes it so I am always somewhat prepared when my car breaks down....

[cryptc]

Also, suture needle holder also works for removing glass like tweezers so you don't need both (not sure about removing bullets though, I don't play multiplayer)

[entropic-decay]

fun fact I figured out recently - you can put certain small containers, such as first aid kits, inside larger containers (like backpacks) and the encumbrance reduction stacks. characters can use items from inside these containers for any tasks as well, they just take a bit longer to unpack and repack
so rather than carrying all your first aid supplies in a fanny pack, you can put some of the ones that you'll be slowing down and stopping to use anyway, like suture needles and such, in something like that

[SergioPSC]

I also recommend having 1-2 spears in the backpack (Unless it is already your weapon of choice). It can dispatch zombies very effectively even when exausted. Saved my ass in multiple occasions.

[AnemoneMeer]

Firm disagree on your understanding of guns.

If you want a pocket pistol, carry an M36 revolver and ammo in multiples of 5. It has a sound radius of 30 tiles and slightly better performance than an M9 at low stats due to slightly better base stats. The M9 should be used if you intend to be aggressive with guns, as it can rapidly magdump, but instead has a 50 tile range for sound. You will feel this difference in practice. A single round from the M36 will typically aggro a nearby building or two, which is easy to manage and ensures you do not pull more zombies than you can reasonably bring down with melee weapons. Or if you're already dealing with zombies, the M36 is unlikely to cause issues if you start shooting after backing up into an already cleared area. As someone who makes use of guns frequently and aggressively, understanding the sound profile and use case of every gun is important.

[giacomomeluzzi]

I also always carry some light food for emergencies and the torch is always in the backpack with a spare battery. You usually don't need it, but being stuck outside at night, especially during winter or a thunderstorm REALLY SUCKS if you don't have a good source of light and you'll be happy you brought it when it happens. Also a spare for my secondaries, usually a hunting kife and a handaxe or baton if I'm playing vanilla, or a billhook if I'm playing with Shark's melee weapons, because sometimes a fight will go on longer than you expected and I don't want to be forced to retreat because I'm out of weapons. Maybe not strictly necessary, but on large populations playthrough it helps a lot.