User talk:CoopVancer

Surviving Monroeville

Playing a survivor in Monroeville is impossible. Don't waste your time. Go kill yourself and play a zombie; it's tons easier.

The End

What? Still here? You _seriously_ want to play a human in Monroeville? You're friggin' nuts.

Well, okay, read on.

First off, you Maltonites, forget everything you know. Also if you've not played Monroeville recently within a few months, yeah you too should forget everything you know too. Monroeville is a *very* different game. Stuff that makes sense to do in Malton will just attract zeds and get you killed fast.

Second, realize that just about every building in Monroeville is ruined. In fact it's so bad, that barricaded buildings are often the *worst* places to sleep.

Third... oh hell, go be a zombie; any idiot can play a zombie in monroeville, it's TONS easier.

What? No? *Sigh* okay let's continue then.

So, third, you only get one chance: No revives. That means, you have to be REALLY FRIGGIN GOOD to make levels in Monroeville as a survivor. One mistake and ffttth, out comes your entrails.

Die Newbie Die

Just started the game? Well guess what, you're absolutely worthless. You won't be worth anything to anyone (including yourself) until you get construction. So that's your first priority. Since everything in Monroeville is destroyed, if you want any resources, you will need to rebuild buildings yourself. Without construction, you have to either bore yourself to tears searching in ruins, or wander like a jackal hoping to leech off someone else's work.

In fact, you're less than worthless - you're a liability, because you attract zombies and have no skills to counter them. Plus, just about anything you do (and you have to *do* *something*) will attract zombies.

If you're not following the tips in this guide, you're not only a liability but you're a disgrace to the game, since you're going to make mistakes that put everyone else at risk.

In fact, so far the only thing in your favor is that you're expendable. If your 1st level character gets offed, it's no biggie, just make a new one. Of course, if and when the quarantine hits and you can no longer make new characters, well... maybe festering maggots suit you?

Firefighters Only

It's "nice" that you can select from several different character classes, but all of them are useless except Firefighter. The reason's simple: You need XP, and the firefighter is the only self-contained character able to generate XP right off the bat.

Privates and Police Officers come with a gun and firearms skills, but once that runs out, good luck finding ammo. With no other XP-gathering skills, both classes are stuck at first level indefinitely.

Medics are worse than useless since the skill they start with (first-aid), makes each fak do 10hp heals (for 5xp), instead of 5hp for 5xp without it. So you're essentially halving your xp gain.

In Malton, you could always fall back on gaining levels via finding a powered hospital, stocking up on faks, and looking for injured to heal. In Monroeville, though, powered hospitals are non-existent, and even repaired ones are a rarity. You will be using faks to gain xp, but not right now, not at level 1, not unless you've selected any class other than Firefighter...

So be a Firefighter. You have an axe and 25% chance to hit with it. Pop out on the street and start hacking away, and watch the XP roll in.

But just one thing...

The Zombies can Track You. Attack them and DIE

Did I mention how easy playing a zombie was? Zombies ZOOM up in level, and with no headshot, they're basically immortal. So if they log in every day or two, wander around aimlessly munching on whatever they want, farting around, they'll climb right up in level, no problem. It's almost BORING how easy unlife is for them. And sooner or later they'll get the skill you'll dread the most: Scent Trail. (Seriously, why would you want to play a survivor and suffer through such a frustratingly challenging game, when you could kick it as a zombie without any challenge at all? You're just a cat toy to them for godssakes, just a distraction from the boredom of being in a zombie simulator.)

Anyway, Scent Trail allows the zed to sense the positions of survivors that have attacked it. So, the dirty stench can just log in, yawn, scratch their butt, click a button, and oh hey there you are hiding 2 blocks away. Munch. You die.

The trick is, each time you attack a zombie, move at least 10 blocks away. If you can't, then just assume you're going to be given that opportunity to play for the other side. Or generate a new survivor.

-OR- kill the dang zombie. If the zombie is dead, it can't sense you when it gets back up. But if you're low on AP, don't push it for chance - unless you don't really care if your character gets killed; in that case do what you want.

One of the WORST things you can do, though, is to attack a zombie and then go sleep someplace with other people. This allows that zombie to not only follow you, but notice your flat mates and call in his posse to eat you, your little dog, and all your friends too! It's dreadfully uncool. This is why newbies are shunned by higher levels.

How to Hide in Monroeville

You're probably thinking I must be kidding that there's no cades. You're sure you'll find a random safehouse, live long enough to get construction, and then you'll build a team and rebuild all of Monroeville back! With Christmas Trees!

Feh.

You can easily expend your full 50ap and not come across a single barricaded building. Those you do come across will likely be torn down within a day or two or less - and so if you sleep in them, you're going to be right in the zombie's cross-hairs.

You're going to have to do the unthinkable: Sleep in ruins.

There's some different tactics you can use.

* Don't Light Generators!!!  Bad, bad newbie mistake.  Nothing cures zombie boredom like seeing a lit up building.  Mmm lights.  If you see a building that's lit up, search it for resources but then go far away from it to sleep.

* Doors.  You've the choice of closing doors when you sleep, or leaving them open.  If you close them, you're safe from low level zombies, and lazy zombies that don't want to play wack-a-mole, but you're essentially hanging a sign that says, "Humans in the area".  Any zombie wishing for fresh meat will take this as a sign to start hunting around for you.  Leaving them open is likewise risky.  Judgment call.  If you're feeling ballsy, just wander from building to building closing doors.  Only thing more boring than being a zombie is being a zombie that has to open a lot of doors with no humans in them.

* Dark Buildings.  Clubs, Banks, and Bars have a nice trait of halving the chance to hit of any one inside when they're not lit by a generator.  So this tactic has you prefer sleeping in these buildings, so if you do get injured, it'll be half what you'd normally get.  Only one problem:  Zeds have caught onto this, and regularly check these buildings.  Sometimes they even sleep in them.  So beware.

* Stay Mobile.  It's often tempting once you've found a reasonably zed-free area to stay put.  Finding new hideouts takes work.  However, what can happen is a zed spots your hideout (maybe your door is shut, maybe he saw you run by, maybe your door is open and he came in and peeked), but doesn't have enough AP to attack.  So he tiptoes off and rests up.  Meanwhile, you log in, do your business, and pop back into your regular hidey hole.  Now the zed springs (sometimes with a friend or two) and poof, you're out.  Instead, move around, don't stay in the same place twice.

* Check in regularly.  In Malton you could easily choose to play once a day and ignore your character other than that.  In Monroeville this doesn't really work out.  Your character can be spotted by a zed, who rests or summons reinforcements, and takes you out all in the matter of 8 hours or so.  Often if you check in, you might find your character's been attacked, but not yet killed, and you have a chance to move away to safety.  Well, you'll probably die anyway, but why make it easy on them?

* Look for areas with few zombies.  It's hard to find places with NO zombies, but if you minimize the quantity near your safehouse, it reduces the likelihood of being found.