When I first started Gen Z I crapped my self at the sight of the first hunter and when I saw a harvester I went into a house hid then left and played Dying Light or some crap like that I couldn’t play for a day or two straight then I rejoined and felt a bit safer with my brand new sniper rifle I found in the cabin house thing. But you know that was before now I have every single experimental I can think of and can spray clean through a hunter.
So what was your experience?
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The first time I played GZ I was totally intimidated. Puny weapons, large machines, structures left in a hurry made a good impression of the things that happened. My first build was therefore heavily stealth- and sniper-oriented. I liked to figure out new locations by crouching around them and count the enemies, look at their movement pattern etc., before running in (or crouching in to be more precise). This plus the small inventory was a real challenge. When I met my first tank I hid behind a shrub and let it walk by. My first harvester I killed in Sillavik from a rooftop.
When the devs released the Himfjäll DLC with the Apo class I thought “How in the world can you beat them?”. I miss those times 
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I learned that fall damage is evil as I died walking down the stairs in the first house you visit. Was so intimidated by them that I didn’t go up them for a long time.
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At first this game literally made me crap myself at every noise in a way like subnautica but over time you get a bit braver and stronger and things become a bit more natural. I remember most a screenshot I took not long after launch of a lovely sunset with my rusty shotgun, I still use it as a background for my x box.
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I hadn’t got the experimentals alot further down the line so when I got brave I used stealth, bombs, grenades, and the one sniper you get from the lighthouse to eliminate enemies but now that’s changed. What tactics did you use to get around things stealthily?
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Also same here I scanned my enemies and figured out how to eliminate them in an organized and fast way for example when I started the game I got to the church with only the pistol you start with and I examined the runners with the binoculars until I was prepared to strike then I died so I used insane amount of stealth I shot as many as I could then ran into the church waiting for the perfect time to kill them while they gathered at the door so I opened it and sprayed and prayed and that somehow worked?
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The first machine i took out was actually a prototype Hunter, the lone Hunter near the initial respawn point, spent almost all pistol bullets
I remember the fear, it was like a survival horror game always looking for hunters and runners while i scout the surrounding areas, even had a big fight with 6 runners at the top of the mountain near the initial safehouse, a spot that was kinda secret not being marked on the maps in the beginning.
And the Tanks…hiding from them, taking one down with pistol, shotgun and hunting rifle, took me from 30 to 45 minutes.
Ammo was scarce, and there was just one SMG at the archipelago, good luck finding ammo for it. 
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Sounds like leaving a stain in your pants is a common first experience in this game understandably so! Seeing a hunter, tank, or harvester for the first time is just terrifying. I’m playing through the game for the first time in awhile right now, and it’s unfortunate that they just aren’t as scary anymore.
I can remember reaching a Safe House and not wanting to go out! I just wanted to stay there and hide.
I hadn’t picked up on fast-travelling, so went everywhere on foot, and before I went on I searched every corner of the South East of the Archipelago, killing everything behind me. I was disgusted to discover that they could respawn!
Coming out of the Archipelago I had heard of the 4* AK in Klinte and the 4* Hunting Rifle in the ruins of St Mary’s Church and decided to go for them. It took me eight hours of epic journey into completely unknown territory, with bad enemies all around, terrified of being pinged by a seeker. Impossible to reproduce now, but as scary as anything I did in the Marines!
My first Tank was Torsburger Fort and I killed it from above with grenades. It took forever, but that amazing feeling when it finally died and all the loot on it!
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I got the game in May 2020, back when the enemies were known for being unforgiving. I didn’t know jack about anything, found the abandoned police car and immediately got killed by a lone runner. Decided to circumnavigate the spot, went through the forest towards the church, came by some cars parked on the road, got killed by runners again. Then went towards the castle, found a military truck with runners, got killed again. Got to the church, went onwards to a lone tent by the shore, got killed by runners and a tent-stabbing hunter…
Those were the days, wondering the whole time if the game was broken or if I just sucked badly at playing it 
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To put it short: I died. A lot 
Standing at the small tier near the first safe house I almost didn’t dare to move, but then I began to carefully examine the surroundings. I instantly knew from the level of details that if the rest of the game lived up to this standard, it would be epic. Out of habit I searched for a crowbar or another basic weapon, but then I came to the house, found a “nisse” collectible and wondered how that would do me any good in an encounter with a hostile killer robot. Well, then I found the Møller and now the game was on.
Back then the weapons was scarce and the enemies unforgiving, and making my way to the church was … well … challenging. I loved it!
Found out with the first Runner that kiting is the way to go and the suspense dropped like a rock. Decided to test the same with Hunter and Tank and it worked. The game turned into a Doom at that point with the enemy. 
Yeah, tried that. I kept running into more enemies (especially Hunters) as I retreated. Eventually I had twenty Hunters chasing me! A better tactic for me was to always mark on the map a defensible position and if I got bumped I dropped flares and ran straight to the marker and then defended from a farm or a house. Every 500 metres I crouched, brought up the map and put another marker down.
At the first farm you go to I got so scared I literally went into the barn and hid for literally like 20 or 30 minutes
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