Heya. Well if you're reading this, you've likely seen me in the RND Zombie Survival server at some point. Maybe you've even seen the all too common occurrences of "omg physco hax!" scroll down the chat or blare out over voicechat.. My short answer to this is usually "Nope. I've just been doin this a while." I've decided to go ahead and post up the long answer here so others can take advantage of all the tips and tricks I've picked up while playing ZS. This is my Zombie Survival Guide and the info here is everything I've managed to tease out of the game and many other first person shooters in the 17 years I've been playing em (starting with Wolfenstein 3d back in '93).
Chapter 1: Pre GameBefore you even get into the game, there are many things you can do to give yourself an edge against the undead hordes.
1. Turn off all that extra crap! Shut down your AOL instant messanger. Close out your SVN program. Turn off your virus scanner. Think of your computer like a Formula 1 race car. Dump all the excess weight you can and you'll see better times out on the track.
2. Start up Garrys Mod and alt-tab back to your desktop. Hit cntrl+alt+delete and turn down the priority of steam.exe in your task manager. I usually set mine at "below normal". Now set HL2.exe to "Above normal". This means the game will have dibbs on every processor cycle it needs. You'll likely see better response time in the game and many fewer momentary freezes, plus higher FPS. You can also kill explorer.exe. You're gonna be shooting zombies, you don't really need a desktop under there using resources do ya? When you're done playing, you can hit "new task" and type explorer in it to get your desktop back.
There is a utility called "Prio - Priority Saver" here that is also really useful:
http://www.prnwatch.com/prio.htmlIt works as an extension of your task manager.
Once you install it, it will let you set HL2.exe to a high priority and it will remember the priority setting any time you launch it in the future (even after restarts).
3. Now go ahead and join the ZS server of your choice (RND Zombie Survival if you have any taste at all
). Hit F4 once you're in and lets configure it for peak performance. Turn off that annoying film grain effect so you can spot and shoot the zombs sooner. You might also want to turn off 'beats' so you can hear the pitter-patter of zombie feet around the corner coming to eat your brains. Also take a look at the 'color mod' checkbox. If you get better visability without it, go ahead and turn it off. For most maps it won't make much difference so I usually leave it on.
4. There's also the game settings to look at. You can reduce your resolution, lower reflection and lighting detail, turn off anti-aliasing, all sorts of stuff. The uglier you make it look, the more FPS you can tease out of your computer. Just fiddle with your settings until you find what works best for you. Some eye-candy with lots of performance is always best.
Chapter 2: The zombies are coming!So you're a human. Now what?
1. If you aren't familiar with the map, start snooping around to find the zombie spawn and get a feel for where they're going to be coming from. Keep an eye out for good cading spots. Once you're done (or if you do already know the map) now is the time to start getting some kills. You can't survive long with that pistol. The damage is just too low to properly cover your cade. Try and get at least 5 kills to get your first weapon upgrade before you run and cade up. You'll be glad you did later on.
2. To survive the round, you're gonna need a good position to defend. There are over a hundred different maps for zombie survival so you're going to need to know what to look for when choosing a spot to defend. Remember your only advantage as a human is your ranged attack. Find a spot where you can take full advantage of it like a long hallway, staircase, or big room with a visible approach. You need to be able to hurt them long before they can hurt you. Generally you should avoid small rooms, short hallways, and spots with more than 1 or 2 approaches. If there's enough people, you can cover a room with more than once entrance but here, having quality barricades and covering them well become very important.
3. Weapons affect run speed! Lugging around a boom stick is going to make you run slow. This leaves you unable to jump long gaps or avoid that angry zomb you've been gibbing the last few minutes.. Switch to your melee or pistol to get your full running speed to get away!
Chapter 3: Get the cade up!Well you've found a good lookin spot. Lots of room to shoot at the undead bastards before they get to your cade and you don't need to worry about any coming at your back. Now we pile up everything we can find so the zombies can't get in right? Wrong! Now we think for a sec about what kind of barricades work and what kinds will just get us killed.
1. Instinct will tell you to shut the door, push the couch in front, pile the chairs on top and hide in the corner. Unfortunately, this
will get you killed. You need to build a cade that's really going to help you. Remember that a cade is not there to keep zombies out. No cade can do this. It's there to delay the zombies long enough for you to shoot them. A good cade will buy you plenty of time to get kills and shiny new guns, as well as keep the zombies from getting in among you and distracting everybody. A well covered cade will look like a shooting gallery with lots of guns facing one direction/doorway/hallway/vent.
2. First, take a look at the props available to you. Ideally, you want to block off that hallway or staircase enough to give you time to shoot them. Also you'll want to be able to shoot under and above the cade. This is so you can get headshots on larger undead and still peck off those annoying headcrabs down at ground level. You can do this by placing a big object on the ground, then placing another object on top. Nail the top object to the wall and remove the lower one. Viola!
3. Try to use heavier props. Light ones can't take much damage and will quickly be destroyed. Also placement is important. Zombies have quite a reach and will happily tear down a barricade from around a corner where you can't shoot them. Try and put cades inside rooms to prevent this. Ideally, the zombs should have to walk for a few seconds while you're shooting them before they can even think about attacking your cade!
4. Try and build cades that zombies will try and get into. If they think they can get at you, they won't likely stop to hit your cade. Just make sure it takes some time to get through it, or the game is slightly too small and they can't. This buys you far more time than a solid wall of props would (I've watched an overcaded (view-blocked) staircase be torn open in less than a minute by a few zombs).
5. One of the most important aspects of ZS is the way the source engine treats player collision. Try and imagine the collision boxes around players. Crouching, a player/zombie will have a collision box about half the size of an average vent (slightly larger). Players will be unable to get through even large gaps in a cade because their collision box is too large. Sometimes even a tiny prop (like a small plant, bucket, or other trash) can be more than enough to block zombies from passing through a window or narrow hallway. Less is more with cading. A barricade with lots of room to shoot out, with little or no way for the zombs to get in is a recipe for victory.
6.
Teamwork always wins. If you've got guns you're not using, give them away! Let somebody else use them! More firepower to back you up!
Try and see if anybody wants to trade guns if you don't like what you've got. A good trade can make a huge difference for both players. Just watch out for thieving minges and dishonest traders.
If someone gets stuck on a prop, try pushing the prop (with your character, not your weapons or E). It almost always frees them. If it doesn't, they'll probably explode (prop-killed) and you can grab whatever weapon they were holding. Hey, at least you tried to help!
Try and get players to join you in the cade. The more guns you have on your side, the more likely you are to survive.
Try and let other players get kills. You'll still end up dead if you're the only one with a decent weapon. Hogging all the kills leaves your teammates unable to fight in the later rounds.
Try and help newbies understand the game. You were a nooblet once and you got better, they might too! Plus you get a good buddy to watch your back!
Chapter 4: Here they come! Get em!!Allright, you've got a good spot, you've got a nice cade, and some friends to help you take down the zombies. Now it's time to fight. Keep your wits about you and you shouldn't have a problem.
1. Don't aim for the head. All the weapons in the game have a pretty large spread and attempting to get headshots is just going to result in a lot of misses and wasted ammo (except for peashooter. aim for head with this). For most guns, go for the spot just below the neck. For really innacurate ones like shotguns and some machine guns, go for center of mass so you at least get some hits. Either way, you want to be aiming down a line between the center of the head (peashooter) and the center of the body (smg/shotgun). If you can only see an arm or a leg though, you can shoot that too!
2. Crouch damnit! Crouch! Standing up and shooting wastes ammo! Don't do it! Bullets only hurt zombies when they hit em. All weapons in the game have a MUCH smaller spread when you crouch. You can see this by watching the green square around your crosshairs. Watch it shrink when you crouch. Stand up and it will get bigger. Run and jump and it gets huge. Smaller is better for bullet spread.
It's important to keep this in mind when you're building a cade. A couch or table nailed down behind a cade makes a great platform to raise people up off the ground so they can shoot over objects while crouching. Every time I've seen the humans win a round, people were either good enough to know to crouch or were forced to by the spot they chose. It makes a huge difference.
3. Here's a little secret: you can shoot through your friends! You'll see a blood spatter when you try it but rest assured, your bullets are passing clean through them and can make kills on the other side. If there's people in front of you but you can see some zombie legs or arms or something, take a guess on where to shoot and let em have it. You'll make a lot more kills this way and probably live a little longer since they're up front to soak up the punishment for you
4. Just like HL2, Garys mod has the "last weapon used" keybind in the options. Bind it to something on your mouse (an extra button or the mouse wheel press). At first, you can use this button to quickly switch to your melee weapon when your guns clip is empty and the zombs are near. Sometimes its better to reload your gun when there isn't a zombie trying to eat your face off. Later on when you've got some kills and shiny new weapons, you can use it to switch between 2 pistols for double the ammo before needing to reload. For endgame, it's perfect for the SMG and Shotgun combo. Shoot em at range with the machine gun and swap to shotgun when they're getting close and finish them off. Switching guns is always faster than reloading and this little trick will likely save your life many times. Just remember to reload both of them when the immediate threat has passed.
5. "Don't shoot the chems!". How many times have we heard this one... I've never seen a round won after this one has been tried. They always get in and give you that wonderful green smokey hug (chems cause damage when they are near you). Then someone fires at it and BOOM, it's over. There's only one way to beat the chems. It's all about your position and being able to shoot through your cade. Spot them off in the distance as far as you can. Use accurate weapons like the peashooter or fast firing guns like the SMGs. Kill them first because they can really screw a defense. If chems are waiting at your cade, it means you've either chosen a bad position, built a bad cade, or you and your team aren't shooting em first like ya should.
Chapter 5: He's dead Jim...Well damnit. You followed the guide and the zombies still got you.. Well it's not my fault! Maybe it was a crappy map. Hey I know, it's your friends fault! Now that you're infected, pay them back for getting you killed and go eat their brains!
1. When you first get infected, try your best to kill whoever is standing nearest to you. More friends to help you later! If there's noone left alive nearby, you can either kill yourself and choose another zomb type, or you can head back to the zombie spawn and refill your health, then have at another cade. You've got very low HP when you first get infected (only 40hp) so don't expect to get much done before dieing unless you refill first.
2. Once you die the first time, hit F3 and choose a zombie type. Each has its own advantages but early on, the normal zomb is probably your best bet. It's got lots of health and can really dish out some damage. Perfect for tearing down cades and soaking up damage as they lumber towards prey. If there are still humans running around outside the cades, you should switch to a fast headcrab and start whittling them away. Aim higher to jump higher and remember, if you can even touch them as you're flying, you'll do some damage. Use A and D to jink side to side and get behind them. Keep them confused and looking for you and they won't last long.
3. Notice that you have crosshairs! It's important that you put the target in those just like you would with a gun. Get a feel for the timing and the delay between when you click and when the damage hits your crosshairs. Practace against a wall or prop if you like. Also the angle is important too. Zombie attacks have a huge knockback effect which will let you throw objects a long way. Crouch in front of a barrel, aim at the top and hit it to send it flying and you can injur a human behind it many feet away. I've killed many a poor cade-builder by hitting the prop he's holding. The prop flies and hits him in the face and does massive damage!
4. Fast zombies can climb! Everyone always goes nuts when someone uses the climbing ability and screams "HAAAXXXX" but this is a normal feature of the class! Walk up to a wall. Right click and hold it, facing the wall the whole time. You'll slowly work your way up the wall to the top. Very handy for getting into windows or onto high rooftops.
5. Be careful about when you make noise. If you can remain quiet, you can come around corners or sneak up behind humans, dealing massive damage before they even know you're there. Fast zombs scream when they jump. Normal zombs can moan when you right-click. Headcrabs can squeak with right click as well. The only use of this would be if they allready know you're there and you just want to intimidate them. You'll always have the advantage if you can keep the humans in the dark about what kind of zombies to expect.
6. Don't be afraid to head back to the spawn when your health gets low. Anything you can do to minimize the humans kill counts helps you. By refilling your health instead of dieying, you can deprive them of those dreaded high-end guns.
7. Use props and environment! If you spot someone carrying or standing near an explosive barrel, attack it! The explosion will kill you both but you'll get the kill and another zombie for the horde. If humans are trying to get away from you, watch for props you can toss at them. A well aimed bicycle hitting them in the head will often net you a kill, or at least leave the unfortunate human shaken and injured badly.
8.Don't be the prey! You're the predator. The humans feel like they're hunting you. Use this to your advantage and feign fleeing behind a corner or into a structure. When they come chasing, jump out and ambush them! You should consider all humans that aren't caded as unwitting zombie volunteers. They are all easy kills if you're patient and keep your wits about you.
Chapter 6: Nuts and bolts.Here I'm just going to cover some of the weapon types and zombie classes, as well as strategies to make the most of them.
Melee weapons:Carpenters Hammer - This is key for surviving many maps. Just hope fate has been merciful and given this little gem to someone that can use it effectively. If someone gives their hammer away, it will almost always glitch out and you won't be able to select it. To fix this, find a quiet corner, drop all other weapons until you see your character holding the hammer, then pick everything back up and hold your hammer out until ammo regen. Once it regens a nail, you'll be able to select and use it normally. Left click attacks (very low dmg), right click nails whatever is in the crosshairs to whatevers behind it (only if the nail would reach something behind it). I know it doesn't have a crosshair so to make it easier to use, you can quick switch to a pistol to see where your nail will land. Sometimes it's worth it to keep the hammer out for the ammo regen for additional nails but usually, if your cade is well designed and position good, you shouldn't need them. Also remember, adding more nails to a prop increases its health. A prop that's critical to your cade should be kept with 5 nails in it at all times if your can manage it.
Sledge/Shovel - High damage. Slow swing speed. Can toss props kinda like a zombie does. Very good melee weapons.
Frying pan/Axe- Medium damage, faster swing. Good weapons for one-shotting headcrabs.
Knife/Plank - Worst melee weapons imho. Does too little damage to be of any use against large zombies. The quick attack speeds are great for taking down headcrabs but unless you're getting headshots, don't expect to do much to a charging pack of angry zombs.
Guns:Peashooter - No, it doesn't shoot peas.. The name implies that you can shoot AT peas with it. Low damage but brutally accurate and very fast firing. In skilled hands, headshots will let you take down nearly anything at very long range. Especially useful late in the game to take down chems a mile out. If there's a pistol ammo crate on the map, the peashooter can be as effective as an SMG (with infinite ammo, I'd prefer it over the Uzi and P90)!
Battleaxe - Inaccurate pistol with slow firing rate. Decent damage though. Best used up front near the cade so you can actually hit something with it. Hopefully you got a good melee for when you run out of rounds..
Owens Handgun - A really good pistol. You get 2 shots for every round and it works sorta like a semi-auto baby shotgun. Good on ammo and damage.
Zombie Drill Deagle - Love this one. Shoots fairly fast and does high damage. Really inaccurate unless you're crouching so it's best for close range. Nearly useless if you're running and shooting though. Great on ammo because of the high damage!
Ricochet magnum - Powerful! One of my favorite guns. Like the Zomb Drill, it's somewhat innacurate but crouching helps this. This one makes a great pistol even late in the game. Shots can bounce off walls and do high damage so try bouncing slugs into zombies around the corner with it!
Crossfire Glock - Sometimes I love it. Sometimes I hate it. It works very similar to the Owens Handgun except that it fires 3 rounds and has a much larger spread. Essentially it's a hand-held baby shotgun. For short-medium range, it's a good weapon. Long ranges make it completely useless.
Grenades - If you're behind a cade, don't use em! One screw-up and you're cade is going to be in flames and everyone's gonna be mad at you. Only use them if you're sure you can do so safely, outside the cade! If there is another player that's close to 20 kills, give them your empty nades. It will insure they get a cade kit (since they have nades already, the only other choice is cade kit).
SMGs - Medium range. Some are more accurate than others. The Shredder MP5 and Reaper UMP are my favorite for the high damage. The Sprayer Uzi and Bullet Storm P90 are much less effective because of ultra-high ammo consumption (you get the same number of rounds on ammo regen regardless of SMG type!) and ultra-low damage. SMGs have long reload times so it's important to have another weapon ready to go on quick swap.
Shotguns - Close range, exreme damage! If a zombie makes it near you, politely let him know how much you value your personal space by blasting his ass into giblets with these. Boom Stick is great, Sweeper is good, and Annabelle is nice for long range. Good luck keeping them reloaded during a zombie rush though!
Aegis Barricade Kit - Ahh.. The "often mistaken for RPG" 'Cade Kit'.. Right click rotates the ghost of the cade. Left click places it. Must be touching the wolrd to be placed. Aside from the grenade, this is probably the most frequently misued item in the game. Some Rambo nut sitting on the cade wracked up a bunch of kills and gets one and BAM, it's all over. He'll slap cades down over viewing ports and openings in the barricade and suddenly noone can see out and shoot. Then the chems show up, everything's on fire, and everyone's infected. USE RESPONSIBLY! If there's a window that's open and vulnerable, place a cade high up to keep the fasties out but still let you shoot. Maybe place it diagonally so it blocks but can still be shot past. You can even place them to hold props down to reinforce the cade. Just be careful not to block any potential firing lines. When in doubt, just stick to the machine gun and leave the cading to the guy with the hammer.
A little trick with building walls with the cade kit; rotate the cade ghost until it's vertical (up and down). If you place one near a wall, then scoot to the side until the previous cade is just off-screen and place another one, you'll get a large gap to shoot through while still being too small for zombies to enter through.
Don't forget to keep an eye out for places you can't normally get to. Cades can be used to build steps, ladders, and even tree-houses up in a high corner of the map. Shoot the cades you climbed up on and, if you're high enough, no more worrying about the chems!
An important thing to watch out for; Cades can stick through walls! If a zombie sees cades sticking out of the exterior of a building, they'll often stop and destroy them to open your cade inside. Try placing cades through the floor or just barely touching a wall to prevent this!
Special weaponsTiny SlugBest gun in the game imho. As accurate as the peashooter with the power of the boom-stick. The clip size is small and it takes some time to reload but in the end-game, this is probably the best gun you could hope for.
Inferno AUGBest SMG in the game imho. It has very high damage, great accuracy and wonderful clip size. It's sorta like the Reaper UMPs big brother.
Stalker M4Bleh... It does great damage and has a reasonable clip size. Unfortunately it is terribly inaccurate. Use it more like you would a shotgun and you'll at least get some use out of it. Don't bother shooting at long or medium range though. You'll just waste the ammo.
CrossbowThis is one of those "sometimes useful" weapons. It fires slow-moving crossbow bolts that can go through multiple enemies and it can zoom. In open spaces, the zombies will move too much and you won't make many hits with it. Vents and long hallways is where this weapon becomes really powerful, ripping through zombies in single file causing massive damage to the horde. Also, a little glitch allows you to use the zoomed mode with any of your other weapons. Just zoom in and switch guns. You have to switch back to crossbow to unzoom though and you'll be very vulnerable for a few seconds while you do it.
Zombies!Standard Zombie - This thing is great, especially in packs! 200 health, very high damage. No human can take more than a few hits with these guys. Their only shortcoming is their low speed. Work around this by cornering people, tossing objects at running humans, or hiding quietly behind corners and ambushing. It's a shame more people don't use it as it can be very useful even in late game when tearing down barricades.
Fast Zomb- Like the ninja of the undead horde. Can jump very high (aim up to jump higher). Can climb walls by holding the right mouse button and facing a vertical surface. Can do great damage if you corner someone. The fast zomb gives you two ways to damage humans. You can run up and left-click to attack but this will leave you stuck to the floor for the duration of the attack. You can also attack like a headcrab would, making contact after a right-click jump and doing low dmg but having the added bonus of tossing the player around (often off high surfaces like roofs and down into the zombie swarm). Remember you can steer your flight so make good use of high jumps when attacking. Always be as quiet as you can when approaching and you'll maximize the surprise factor when you drop onto the humans through a roof vent or unwatched window. Lotta fun.
Headcrab - I rarely use this one. It does more damage than the fast headcrab but its attack are so slow and the bright color makes it very easy to spot. Early on, it's the only headcrab available so it might be worthwhile to practice a little with it. As with other jumping attacks, if you touch the human while in flight, you'll do damage.
Fast headcrab - The very best choice for taking down those pesky runners. Jump in, hit em a few times and jump out. Their dark color makes them especially hard to spot in dark maps or exteriors. They don't do much damage but they're so fast and maneuverable, it's worth it to get good with them. Use the A and D strafe keys to circle your prey and keep them guessing where you'll come from next. In groups, these cause panic in humans. People frequently get peeved when they get killed my a fast headcrab. I've even seen them rage and let the words "noob crab" fly. So much fun!
Poison Headcrab - Works like an artillery piece. Stand off and lob green gobs of poison into caded areas and onto unsuspecting humans. When you hear the maniacal laughing, it means someone you've hit has been poisoned and will continue taking big damage over the next few seconds. The normal jumping attack doesn't seem to poison humans but the lead-up delay and warning noise makes it useless anyway. Having one or two of these outside a cade goes a long way to keeping the humans from covering the cade properly. It can also cause wreckless humans to dash out of the cade and into the welcoming arms of other zombies.
Poison Zombie - This thing is a tank. 400 health. A pack of these can be nearly unstoppable. They attack with high damage although the delay is a little long. The secondary attack lets you fling poison onto nearby humans but it costs some health (25 or so). The poison throw attack doesn't seem to do much damage so I usually just use the poison zomb like a supercharged standard zomb, storming up and swinging wildly at heads and torsos.
Chem zombie - Ahh the chem. It explodes when shot, damaging props and humans within a large radius. It can also cause damage if you can get near a human and stay there a second or two. The humans are going to want you dead as soon as they see you so you'll want to walk behind other stronger zombies when approaching a barricade. If they get even a few shots on you, you'll blow your load early and give someone another easy kill. Let the poisons and standard zombs soak up the punishment while you make it to the cade. If you can get in, try to. Run over to the nearest person and stay close to them. You can move about as fast as the humans so if you're quick, you're guaranteed a kill.
Wraith - Sneaky sneaky. Invisible when not moving or attacking. Brutally high damage attack but there's a warning sound and long delay before the hit lands. Your best bet is to wait in doorways, outside windows, or to work your way into the caded area unnoticed. Sit still and be patient and eventually a twitchy human will come along and stand within your attacks range. Not only will you scare the crap outta the unfortunate player, you'll do a ton of damage and kill nearly any human that isn't at full health. Avoid making wraith noises before you're in position so they won't suspect your there. Also, once you're discovered, it's best to spawn a few times as another type of zomb so the humans can let their guard down.
Be aware of a glitch that allows some players to spot wraiths with their flashlight. If you discover that someone is glitch and can spot you, try another way in to avoid them, or switch to a different zombie class.
CreditsSpecial thanks to my wife for tolerating my ZS addiction!
Thanks to everybody that's played ZS with me over the last couple years! It's been a blast!
Thanks Deathsongx3 for run-speed thing. Totally forgot about it!
Thanks to Sleeper and the RND guys for hosting my all time favorite ZS servers (I played on Sleepersoft ZS server before RND servers went up).
If anyone has any tips, tricks, or strategies they'd be willing to share, post them up and I'll happily add it in and credit you here!
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