View source for Getting Started (Tutorial)

So there you are, dropped into a town, in the middle of a vast desert filled with zombies and other nasty stuff. Great! But what should you do next? This document attempts to help you through your first day, and give you some tips on how to survive the rest.
In the beginning, the help texts and balloons that Die2Nite itself provides are very helpful. If you don't like them (or if you have learned all you can from them) you can turn them off by clicking on 'deactivate rookie mode' on the left-hand side of the screen. After you've gone through them once, this is recommended. There is some essential town information which cannot be viewed in rookie mode, for some reason.
Also very helpful is the Help section of Die2Nite. You should consult this guide whenever you want to know more about a specific something.

==First steps==
===Restoring Action Points===
You start each with a base of 6 action points, or {{AP}}, which you can use for various activities around the town. Once these {{AP}} are gone, there are various ways of restoring them. However, even with these replenishers, there are only so many {{AP}} that you will have to use each day. Use them wisely, and consult the town forums if you are unsure.
====Water====
Water is one of the most important items in this desert world. If you do not drink, you can only live a maximum of three days. So naturally, the first and most important thing to do is to get your daily {{MetaInline|Water Ration}} from [[Well|the well]]. Drinking water restores your {{AP}} and makes you {{MetaInline|Refreshed}}.

Three important things you should remember about water:
*Don't drink unless you have no {{AP}} left! Drinking water will restore your {{AP}} to your maximum. This means that if you still have 2 {{AP}} and you drink a {{MetaInline|Water Ration}}, you will end up with 6 {{AP}}... but if you have 0 {{AP}} and drink, you will still end up with 6 {{AP}}. Any precious {{AP}} you did not use before drinking will be wasted.
*Drink no more than 1 {{MetaInline|Water Ration}} a day. Drinking any additional {{MetaInline|Water Ration}} after the first one will not yield more {{AP}}. You can see if you have drank water by checking if you are {{MetaInline|Refreshed}} in the status bar.
*Water is precious and must not be wasted. You are in a desert, after all. While [[Well|the well]] may look full for the first few days, it will run out fast since there's forty players, which can consume up to 200 {{MetaInline|Water Ration}} in 5 days!

====[[Food#Food|Food]]====
Food will also help during your stay in Die2Nite. Eating will restore {{AP}} to your maximum (6, unless wounded, which will then be 5). Remember that you should only eat food when you have no {{AP}} left, for the same reasons as drinking water. Beware, though! Eating a {{MetaInline|Meaty Bone}} may give you an {{MetaInline|infection}}, which will have a 50% of killing you each night.

You won't starve to death if you don't eat food, although food is still essential for survival because they replenish {{AP}}. There are no rations nor guaranteed source for food, so towns are often low on supplies for food.

====[[Alcohol]]====
Alcohol restores {{AP}}, too. It gives you the {{MetaInline|Drunk}} status though: your speech on the forums will be slurred, and searching for items in the [[World Beyond]] will be greatly impared, so it's not recommended to go outside if you use it. When you are drunk, you can't drink more alcohol. You can restore {{AP}} with food, water or drugs while drunk, though. The next day, you will have a {{MetaInline|Hangover}}, and won't want to look at another drop of alcohol. This means that you can only drink alcohol every other day.

====Drugs====
If possible, don't do [[Drug|Drugs]]! Drugs should only be used as a last resort, for example, when you are stuck in the desert with no {{AP}} left and the gates are going to be closed soon.
The reason you shouldn't do drugs is that you can very easily become [[Hooked!]] You will always become addicted if you take two or more drugs in one day, and some drugs, such as the {{MetaInline|Unlabelled Drug}} can cause addiction even if it's your first dose that day. When addicted, you will have to take a drug every day, or you will die during the night. This is a burden on your town, so make sure you don't become addicted. 
If your town is organized and you scavenge in groups with other people, it may be appropriate for you to occasionally use drugs to reach far-away zones that you would otherwise not have the {{AP}} to get to. Ask the town to make sure everyone is okay with this first, though.

===Forums===
The forums are the place the town organizes. Pay attention to these! There, you will be able to coordinate what construction projects should be completed and who is going to close the gates (among other things). It is nearly impossible to survive if citizens don't cooperate, so make sure you check the forums often. You don't have to post if you don't want to, but you must read them - otherwise, you may end up being [[Shunned|shunned]] for doing something that goes against what the town has discussed.
Be polite on the forums; don't spam and don't flame. This way, other citizens will respect you and do what you suggest to make the town work.
Also, listen to the people who know more about the game; they can lead the town better than you, because they have experience. Try to do what they say, and if you don't agree, tell him or her why you don't agree and propose something else.

===Your house===
When you visit your house, you will see you have the ability to make upgrades to it. Don't do this. It costs precious {{AP}} and resources that should be spent scavenging and building. However, once your town has made it to day 3 and 4, you may upgrade it to a tent, if there is nothing more pressing to build. Never upgrade to a hovel. If you're unsure, ask on the forums.
Once you've done that, you should open your {{MetaInline|Doggy Bag}} and {{MetaInline|Citizen's Welcome Pack}}. The doggy bag gives you a random food item; keep that for yourself for restoring {{AP}} later on. The welcome pack yields a random item. This item is generally best put in the bank for the good of the town (for example, batteries fuel the town's weapons, and matches can be used to make defense for the town). Most of these items will be useless on their own, anyway, and you might get shunned for keeping them when the town needs them.

===Exploring===
Now you're ready to explore the world! To get out of town, you have to go to the town gates. From there, you can leave town.
The land around the town is divided into squares, all of which have coordinates. For example, the town is situated on square [0,0] and if you go one to the right and one down you will be on square [1,-1].
Moving from one square to another costs one {{AP}} (though entering and exiting the city doesn't cost any AP). Make sure you always have enough {{AP}} to get back to town once you leave! If you run out of {{AP}} in the desert and you have nothing to replenish it, you will not be able to move back to town, and someone else will have to bring you an {{AP}} replenisher (like food, water, or drugs). If you are not rescued and back in town by the end of the day (23:00 game time), you will die. To be saved, you'll have to make a topic on the forums asking for help. Make sure you include:
*The coordinates of the square you're on
*What items you would like to replenish your AP (for example, if you have already eaten today, then someone bringing you food won't help)
*If there are zombies in the zone, and if so, how many
Also, make sure to flag it as a distress call! (Tick the box under your message)
If nobody saves you, you can try [[Camping|camping]] - in your zone, click "inspect this zone" then "hide here for the night". If you camp, you have a chance of dying during the night, but if you survive, your {{AP}} will be replenished as normal, and you can move back to town. If you don't camp, you will die for certain.

You also have to be careful that you don't run into a group of zombies. In Die2Nite, humans and zombies are given control points. Each resident is worth two control points, while each zombie is worth one control point. If the number of human points in a square is equal to or greater than the number of zombie points in that square, you are safe - for example, one person can be safe in a zone with two or fewer zombies, and two people can be safe in a zone with four or fewer zombies.

When there's more zombie points, you're in trouble. You won't be able to move from your zone or search the area. You have three choices - flee, fight, or ask for another citizen to boost the resident control points. You should never flee - you will be [[Wounded|wounded]] which will result in death very quickly. Never fight - it costs 1{{AP}} and has a <10% chance of killing a zombie. You might use up all your {{AP}} and be unable to get back to town. The only option is calling for help.

Ask for help on the forums if you are stuck in a zone which is controlled by zombies. You should always include these things if you are asking for help:
*How many zombies there are in the zone, and how many humans
*If you have got enough {{AP}} to return to the town after being freed
*What times you will be online
Also make sure to flag it as a distress call! (Tick the box under your message)
If humans regain control of the sector (human points outweighing zombie points), you will be able to get out of the zone. There's a thirty minute window after control of a zone has been lost in which it is possible to move from the square without getting injured.
Make sure you are back in town before the gates are closed! Normally this is discussed on the forums; if it is not, it's best to be back in town at least an hour before the attack starts.
If you can't escape the zombies, you can try [[Camping|camping]]. If you camp, you have a chance of dying during the night, but if you survive, it gives other citizens another day to come to your rescue. If you don't camp, you will die for certain.

===Scavenging===
This is the good side of exploring. To scavenge, all you have to do is press the 'search the zone' button while you are in the zone you want to search. Do this in every zone you come through! It costs no {{AP}}, and you always have a chance of finding something, even in depleted zones. After you've searched the zone, you'll automatically enter auto-search mode. This means that your character automatically searches the zone every two hours. You don't have to be online to auto-search a zone. Auto-searching is generally a good idea; it will make the {{AP}} you spent to get to the zone more worthwhile. Don't auto-search in depleted zones. You will only find scrap materials, which are not too useful to the town.
If you find an object, but your inventory is already full, you will drop it on the ground. You should think about what item is most important and possibly swap items to take the most important items back to town. Remember that you or someone else can always come back to a square later or on another day to pick up what you have dropped! 
Generally, it is a good idea to drop any items on the ground as you are walking away from town, and to carry back as many items as you find as you are going back towards the town. This is because if you find an item and put it in your rucksack and walk away from town, then in the next zone you find a better item, but your rucksack is full, so you switch it out, you will be moving items further away from town. This makes it difficult for people to bring back.
You can mark the zone that you are in to indicate to others that it is, for example, depleted or that there is an important item in the zone - but marking anything other than the depleted icon is a bad idea. Knowing if a zone is depleted or not is the most important thing, so that people don't waste {{AP}} going out to a zone where they will find nothing but scrap materials. Marking a zone as having items or resources confuses people. If you do find an item or resources in the [[World Beyond]], you should instead mark it on the [http://die2nite.gamerz.org.uk/mymap/ external map application].
Scavenging is possibly the most important job in the game. Without people scavenging, you would not have the resources to build important defensive buildings. It is recommended that, if you can, you should spend your {{AP}} going outside searching for items instead of staying inside and building.

===Construction===
This is another key part of Die2Nite. To survive as a town, you and the other citizens will have to construct various buildings, like the watchtower and the workshop. It is impossible to survive without some of these.
You need two things to construct buildings: resources and {{AP}}. It's very important that you resist the urge to just build anything that's available! This wastes your {{AP}} and also, if you finish the project, it uses up resources the town might need for another project. Use the forums to coordinate the things you are going to build. Look at the forums before building!
The two most important buildings are the [[Watchtower]] and the [[Workshop]]. In the workshop, you can turn [[Rotting Log|Rotting Logs]] and [[Scrap Metal]] into [[Twisted Plank|Twisted Planks]] and [[Wrought Iron]]. This can then be used to construct other buildings.
The watchtower is used to estimate the size of the attack of the horde. The more players go up there to scan the horizon, the better quality the estimation is. Based on the estimation, a plan for the day can be made; for example, if the day should be spent building defensive structures or scavenging for resources.
Ask more experienced players if you need to know what to build. They may have a plan in mind that would help the town.

==Tips==
That's all for the first day! It's smart to live the rest of the days more or less this way too. Here are a couple of tips to help you survive:
*Remember to check the forums!
*Remember to eat before drinking!
*Don't flee from a zone controlled by zombies. Ask for help instead.
*Build the workshop and the watchtower first.
*Don't upgrade to a hovel!
*Stay away from drugs!
*Listen to the people who know more about the game than you.
*Update the [http://die2nite.gamerz.org.uk/mymap/ map]!

[[Category:Tutorials]]