How to escape from a horde?

[Nachzehrer]

Everytime I try to play this game I start it up, get spotted by a few zombies and while I'm fleeing or fighting them I attract even more zombies and I get chased by zombies until I die. How do I counter that?

[jk.707]

Well, run, but not in a predictable way. Taking corners, then taking another. Watch your zombies movies mate, even in that comedy, Shaun of the dead, he thought he lost them, but they followed him. All of them.

Best way to stop a zombie horde is to get out of their sight range, but their memory and possible still working nostrils, may be a problem.

[Nachzehrer]

Originally posted by jk.707:

Well, run, but not in a predictable way. Taking corners, then taking another. Watch your zombies movies mate, even in that comedy, Shaun of the dead, he thought he lost them, but they followed him. All of them.

Best way to stop a zombie horde is to get out of their sight range, but their memory and possible still working nostrils, may be a problem.

True but I keep encountering new zombies while I try to get rid of the old one's.

[jk.707]

It becomes a game of clearing or drawing them in, then using the areas they no longer linger. In a recent post, I told somebody to fire off a few rounds. Killing zombies, is only a bonus, drawing them in, then fleeing to areas they no longer inhabit, is the true goal.

If you're going the melee game? And want to clear a area for your own? I recommend a crowbar and balls of steel, then hold your ground. Nimble skill is also a make or break when it comes to melee, granted it's a absolute ***** to level.

Edit: Remember, they only walk, you can walk too. Never run unless absolutely necessary. Don't tire yourself unless the situation in your eyes is absolutely done for.

[Nachzehrer]

Originally posted by jk.707:

It becomes a game of clearing or drawing them in, then using the areas they no longer linger. In a recent post, I told somebody to fire off a few rounds. Killing zombies, is only a bonus, drawing them in, then fleeing to areas they no longer inhabit, is the true goal.

If you're going the melee game? And want to clear a area for your own? I recommend a crowbar and balls of steel, then hold your ground. Nimble skill is also a make or break when it comes to melee, granted it's a absolute ***** to level.

Edit: Remember, they only walk, you can walk too. Never run unless absolutely necessary. Don't tire yourself unless the situation in your eyes is absolutely done for.

I see, thank you for your advice. I'll reinstall the game and try it out. Cheers!

[jk.707]

If you gave up after that, you're gonna have a bad time, not gonna lie mate. The game accentuates survival by all means. I wish you luck, and opt into build 41, through the beta section through properties by right clicking on the game itself in your tab.

The game tells you you will die, please don't get upset by it. I've played this game for years and only got to two years at max.

Edit: If it is your first play-through, take a look through the comments in the discussion forum sometime, you may find features you didn't know exist.

[Animalman]

Chased until you die lol


It sounds like you are running away from one bunch of zom straight into another. My actual solution for this issue was to get a car and make a miraculous escape.

Pick fitness instructor and work a build with abit of strength to it, and dont sneak or jog or sprint unless you see a place to slip the zombie, or if you see car keys on the floor. Just careful maneuver and only hold these buttons for very small length of time. Recharge the stamina by walking unencumbered when you are not tired.

If you are tired and have relentless horde chasing you, you'll have to get behind tree line or turn a sharp corner as specified, or cut through a building. But at the start of the game you see the zombie are everywhere and they are extremely alert because they are all fresh zombies. So it will be very hard to get the security you're asking for without a vehicle.

[bulbatrs]

if you take a ranger or lumberjack you gain extra speed when moving through trees and bushes allowing for easy escapes. With these professions even if there is a zombie on the other side you gain enough time to get away.
Another thing that works really well is to run into the house, close the door/window behind you, make sure that zombies are banging windows and doors and sneak out on the other side.

[jk.707]

Not bad element to use, but more fitting for outdoorsman, rather than the scrounger. Depends on how you play your game. Me, personally, find a tall building, cut off the stairs, set up crops and barrels, then gather as much supplies as possible before the peak.

Mobility is always a must however way you look at it.

[intorpere]

It helps a lot to understand their AI, hearing distance, and line of sight. When running from them, break line of sight for 5-10 seconds, and they stop chasing, if they can no longer hear you, either. Think about houses and trees, zig-zagging around them to lose the ones chasing. Running is loud, try to avoid doing it when you want to get away. Use sneak+run when you need some extra speed, but try to avoid too much of that, too.

I'm not sure about this, but it seems like they have a shared AI to some extent. If a single zombie can still see or hear me, it seems to mean everyone chasing me can home in on me, too. To lose them, you have to lose all of them.

[admos]

You can walk away from non-sprinting zombies.
Don't sprint (alt), jog (shift) instead if you need to.
Crouch (c) if you don't want, or want less, encounters.
When breaking line of sight, it helps to crouch jog as far away from that spot as possible. If you normal jog, they will hear you and will follow the noise instead of where they last saw you.
Attract a little bit at a time (at most 2 if you're not well equipped).
Draw them in, don't walk/jog/run up to them (this takes longer but it's safer). You're not Rambo.
Never shoot guns, only melee (if not using 'gun is op now' kind of mod).
Hold right-click and look as far as you can for an escape path before fighting any group of zombies.
Don't loot every single thing you can find, only the ones that you need at the moment (you don't need 10 planks if you're on day 1 unless you know what you're doing).
Watch your encumbrance, and all your other moodles.
After every encounter with a zombie, check your health.

Huge hint:
Hitting zombies makes noise.
So if you're trying to fight one that's looking at you, and you hit it.. some, if not all, will hear the noise given their proximity.

And lastly:
Don't press Q, un-crouched, until you master all the above.

[Hazode]

Another thing I think is worth mentioning, that I haven't seen anyone else mention is this: hordes/groups have a pack leader, so to speak. All the zombies in that group will follow the leader, so when dealing with a horde try your utmost to not alert the pack leader, or else the entire horde will aggro to you. You can attempt to draw them off one by one by sneaking and pressing Q (doing so whilst sneaking will make your character go "pssst" instead of "HEY!"), but I just avoid the hordes unless I'm in a spare heavy-duty car that can turn them into paste or have a firearm. Or, if I feel particularly brave.

[Hazode]

Also, don't feel ashamed or embarrassed to change the sandbox settings to an easier version. I personally tend to play with a low zombie pop, dumb zombies, and abundant loot when I'm just playing for fun.

And one more thing - choose your spawn location as Rosewood or Riverside (I'd personally suggest Rosewood, but that's just my preference because it's close to the secret facility) Muldraugh and West Point have quite high/dense populations.

[[B&E] Killer Pineapple]

You could try spawning in your chosen base!

That was my tactic when I started. This is my favourite house in Muldraugh.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2614764224

It's got a lake and deep wildy trapping/foraging nearby. It's a relatively quiet neighbourhood with a huge fence line just north. It's two storey for that safe feeling and some good suburban looting nearby. It is centrally located on the outskirts of town.

Once your have a safe house you can start taking down hordes at your leisure.

[Nachzehrer]

Holy cr*p. That's so much good advice, someone should compile that into a guide.

Or maybe one already exists and I haven't found it yet.