Lying Low
| Survivor Tactics |
| The information on this page or section discusses a survivor strategy. |
| Trans-Mortal Tactics |
| The information on this page or section discusses tactics that can be applied if you find yourself on the wrong side after getting killed or being revivified. |
"Lying Low" Survivor Dispersal
When a zombie horde brings a siege to an end, survivors find themselves in one of two situations:
1. They were present as the mall, safehouse, fort, or whatever, began to fall to zeds, and retreated before the building was completely overrun.
2. They were offline when the building was overrun, and log on to find their body either dumped into the street or in a ransacked building.
Survivors finding themselves in the second situation often find themselves with little chance of a revive any time soon, since successful sieges often destroy most of the NecroTech buildings surrounding the site of the siege. Sometimes the nearest active revive point is a suburb away.
While death is irritating to a survivor skill-based character, both anonymity and the ease of travel enjoyed by zombies provide survivors with a unique opportunity: having universal access to the streets of Malton.
Thus, an unorthodox but useful strategy for survivors finding themselves dead is to remain a zombie, rather than seek out immediate revival, and reap the rewards of death.
Death as a Means of Transportation
Survivors who find themselves face down in the street can use the inconvenience of death to their advantage.
While the nearest revive point may be a suburb or more away, being a zombie makes traveling that distance easier. Zombies enjoy the freedom of being able to wander the streets, while survivors with free running are limited to finding routes between buildings over long distances.
In addition, travel can be more efficient, as zombified survivors need not steer clear of dangerous suburbs, as the presence of zombies makes them less likely to be picked off by survivors.
For players with lurching gait, being able to make a beeline to revive points is a rare but welcome luxury. Unfortunately, there's little that can be done for survivors without lurching gait.
Death as a Means of Prolonged Survival
From a tactical standpoint, zombies not involved in a siege have a longer life expectancy than most survivors. This is primarily because of the nature of zombie hordes. Survivors on the move, expecially at street level, will rarely stop to prey on a lone zombie, unless they're looking for XP and are unable to find any more substantial groups.
In addition, there is often a greater ratio of zombies to survivors than survivors to zombies. Obviously, this is because every time a survivor dies, they contribute to the zombie hordes. Survivors are forced, by nature, to hide in large groups in safehouses to ensure their survival, while zombies can rule the streets as they see fit. So staying a zombie rather than looking for an immediate revival gives the advantage of widespread safety in numbers, as opposed to joining a heavily populated, high-profile target.
The prolonged life of these zombies also gives players an opportunity to travel farther than they might have as survivors, and makes long hauls across the city easier and more efficient.
Death as a Tactic
The prolonged life of feral zombies not seeking out heavy combat zones gives survivors a unique opportunity: free surveillance.
Survivors who find themselves zombified, in being able to travel long distances at less risk, have the opportunity to scout out areas that are either overbarricaded or that might be too dangerous otherwise. Metagamers will find this particularly useful, as they can scout out besieged ares before lining up for a revive, and report their findings via e-mails, forums, or the wiki.
Also, survivors who find themselves dead may see fit to thin the zombie hordes by ZKing. Most Zombies DO NOT mind ZKing (especially those with Ankle Grab). Many actively encourage it, and even seek it (since it costs 6AP to stand after a Headshot, but only 1AP to stand after being killed by a fellow Zombie). It is also generally accepted as a method of gaining XP, since low level Zombies are not able to easily bring down barricades. A Zombie will indicate that it wishes to be killed by a fellow Zombie (for either XP or AP purposes) by saying "Brnhr." Attacking a fellow Zombie generally indicates a willingness to be attacked in return. Because of this, a dead Survivor may be able to pass through a Zombie controlled area, but will probably not emerge without a few claw marks.
Another advantage is that zombified survivors standing in the streets can listen for repetitive feeding groans to locate large groups of zombies, as there's a good chance that there will be a large number of survivors present as well, and thus a decent chance of a revive.
Disadvantages
- Survivors with very few zombie skills, especially without Lurching Gait or Ankle Grab will have trouble surviving as a zombie, as they'll have to spend a lot of AP just to stand up and to move.
- While traveling through high danger areas is easier, traveling through secure suburbs becomes much more dangerous for zombies. Especially in "green" suburbs, standing zombies are more likely to be picked off by survivors preying on lone zeds for XP.
- Zombified survivors are limited in combat options and, outside of Metagaming, have no way to maintain reliable or long-distance communication.
- As a zombie, survivors attempting to "Lay Low" are likely to be killed by a survivor if they stop moving near a siege or in an area with a lot of combat.
- Anonymity and poor communication options makes in-game planning difficult as a zombie.
