Wait till you get to the first Coyotes and I'll tell ya about looters and their AI
Not to mention the next "tier" enemies who can actually one shot you if you're not careful and toss grenades miles away. %&$%&$%&
Didn't meet the next tier enemies you mentioned yet (2 and a half weeks in) but the Coyotes.
What about them? They have the annoying habit to shoot at me on sight, but their AI isn't much better or worse than that of zombies. They are quite tough to beat thanks to their armor, especially in groups. But I manage.
So far the game is really great, my party often barely survives harder encounters (zombies are still no challenge, sometimes someone gets bitten - esp if the RNG trolls me - but so far no infection) and supply is short enough to force me to send my party out there every day instead of just bunkering down and building upgrades. I guess at some point the shelter upgrades will make it a lot easier (still didn't build the recycling one and all the gardens and other food sources except for the well)
The thing I like most is the way the game unlocks new game mechanics one by one and presents me with new allies with new wishes for shelter upgrades. It got a bit boring in the first week but now with 20 allies I'm always busy, always pondering whom to please next and how to diffuse this or that situation between all those drama queens.
things I like the most:
1. The shelter management as a whole, it's just fun and so far it still feels like I make progress every day but barely make it at the same time, even though with the next couple of upgrades and with horses/cars and the trailblazer perk it might get a lot easier ... but maybe the ever-growing shelter community (I can't say no) will compensate for that.
And keeping up morale is teh hard.
2. Fights against humans, esp. if the fight attracts zombies and they finish off the k.o.-ed enemies creating a huge army of the dead that I have to kite and chop down one by one. Glorious!
things I wish were better:
1. The dialogue choices in the shelter: There's nearly always one ideal non-douchebag answer, and I don't have the impression that I ever get punished for being such a nice fellow. But then again I don't even try the other options, maybe they work too.
2. A greater variety of zombies (I mean there is variety, but not regarding behavior) would be nice, and so far they are still too easy to dispose of even on hardcore. Bigger groups of zombies and walking patterns instead of them just standing around until aggroed would help a lot too.