The Zombie Survival Guide

[Yannie]

Not trying to be a jerk, but Nerf grenade launchers have been made.

I saw one at my campus last night during the kick off. The one I saw just fired a big foam grenade, which wasn't very effective.

This kid made one that disperses into darts somehow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKLtwecJN0

[Ozymandias]

What are you referring to?

[Yannie]

What are you referring to?

"Humans find it hard to multitask. And no matter how bigass their blaster is, no matter how many insane mods it has, no matter the fact that it’s capable of stunning zombies out to a range of approximately the entire western hemisphere, unless that bastard has found some way of crafting a NERF grenade launcher it’s still only capable of stunning one zombie at a time."

[Dyslexda]

Not trying to be a jerk, but Nerf grenade launchers have been made.

I saw one at my campus last night during the kick off. The one I saw just fired a big foam grenade, which wasn't very effective.

This kid made one that disperses into darts somehow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKLtwecJN0

I watched the actual firing portion about five times. So far as I can tell, the darts just fall out when it hits the ground.

Random two cents to add: It's really not that hard to lead a good zed charge if you notice nobody else stepping up to the task. You just have to have two things: the knowledge of when to charge, and a loud enough voice to reach all within the combat zone. Calling a charge at the wrong point (up a hill at a superior force) can be worthless. Not having a loud enough voice leads to only half the force charging, which is easily stopped.

Our final mission (not last stand) had a great example of the above. All semester zombies had been lacking in solid leadership. I'd be zombified the night before via a trapdoor, so this was my first experience on the zed side this semester. We initially had a fail charge because the guy that called it a.) didn't know what he was doing, and b.) wasn't loud enough. Zeds had encircled a large human group, but were very spread out. The charge was called, but only half the circle charged, and only haphazardly; everybody was stunned, with no kills. Later in the mission, though, we got our revenge. Humans had entered a small grassy patch (we held off on charging while they exited the street and parking lot areas), and I noticed everyone milling about, nobody taking charge. I thought, what the hell, why not, and screamed at the top of my lungs, "ZOMBIES! We are CHARGING in THREE, TWO, ONE, CHARGE!" A beautiful charge resulted. Yeah, I took one of the first darts, but meh, such is the life of a charge leader.

In summary, to lead a good impromptu zed charge:
1.) Know when to charge; 30 zeds encircling 50 humans is not a good charge point. 40 zeds encircling 20 humans is.
2.) Be loud enough that all zeds in the combat area can hear you.
3.) Offer enough time that everyone can understand what they're about to do. A simple "Charge!" will have zeds hesitate, leading to a fractured charge. A long, drawn out charge call will allow everyone to position themselves and pick targets, as well as freaking out the humans who know a charge is about to come.

Seriously though. Lead charges. Watching hordes of people descend upon puny human mobs because you told them to is one of the most awesome feelings in the game, and way better than getting a couple kills. I gladly take the first couple darts in a charge for that reason.

[solmssteinke]

This is exactly what happened during our first and our final missions this game. During Mission 1, one guy (an OZ) took charge (like Dyslexa said must happen) and he knew WELL what he was doing...I was nearly always one of the first to be stunned, but with 15 zombies against 40 humans WITH MELEE, we managed to kill more than half of them. Same thing duting the final mission, only all the humans died.

It really does work!

~SS~

[Sixth Kira]

I noticed, Chevalier, that one thing you didn't cover that I kept running into as one of the two leaders of the zombies at the game I attended yesterday was what to do if you're outnumbered by humans.

Me and the Zommissar (the OZ; I suicided to him early in the game, and served as his aide) kept running into problems yesterday with easily half the humans we tagged either refusing to go zombie or not bothering to try as zombies (they saw it as 'losing'). So, even at the final stand, our horde was maybe fifteen people against three times our number of humans. Most of our zombies were demoralised by the thought. I found myself leading the charge time and time again (I must have been hit by easily a hundred darts inside ten minutes), but by continually charging, by every time our charge failed roaring 'Form up on me! We will strike again!', we started chipping away; at first, only one or two humans. Then three or four. Then eight or nine. Soon, we punched through, and wreacked havoc. Because of the position of their final stand (atop an observation deck), there was no escape.

The second game of the day, as OZ, I discovered that the theory I'd applied at the final stand worked perfectly for individual humans. By performing pincer tactics upon individual humans, the horde grew; we had twenty-five humans for the final mission of the second game (an escort mission along a kilometre-long narrow path), we conquered the humans with ease using ambush after ambush.

So, TL;DR, I feel the need to add to this. If you're outnumbered, persistence is key. Eventually, humans get simultaneously overconfident and tired. And then, if you're decisive and have the sheer aggression and fearlessness required to effect your assault, you can kill them. This rings true always, whether in the early game when you have to survive on stragglers or the late game when you find yourself facing down vast numbers of humans - if you're outnumbered, I suspect that it will always work.

Thoughts, everyone?

I have spent the last hour going over this guide in intense detail, and intend to implement it as much as possible at our next park game. I'll report back afterwards.

Oh, and lastly - Chevalier, my sincere thanks for taking the time to read this. It is a godsend to us lesser zombies.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Absolutely correct. When you're outnumbered, your best bet is to keep hammering the humans again and again, as often and as hard as you can. If nothing else, you'll strain their nerves and their ammo.

The key is to make sure that you can kill at least one every time. That will gradually whittle down their numbers and set you up for a killing blow later in the mission or even in the game. In Truman's last Invitational, the horde quickly grew itself during the second mission by camping out near one of three nodes (the humans had to hold all three at once to win) and continually eating the squads the humans sent to take it until at last the humans had clocked enough time on it. By the time they did that, the horde had well more than doubled its strength.

Now, a key principle to keep in mind - in any engagement - is to throw as many of your guys against as few of their guys as possible. If 15 zombies charge a line of 30 humans and spread out all along the line, it's easy for the humans to double up and stun you all. If you manage to concentrate your charge against ten or so of the humans, though, suddenly you have local superiority. That won't get you all the humans, but it should get you some.

How can you do this? A quick, simple, easy, and effective way to pull this off is to charge a flank of the human line. Let's say the humans are defending a node, and have a line strung out from the side of a building into the courtyard and in front of the node. I, as the center of the charge, would run directly at the last human in line. Half your zombies will thus be charging more or less at the human line - they'll tie up the humans, keep them busy stunning a few zombies. Meanwhile, the OTHER half of your zombies will be lapping more or less unopposed around the flank of the humans. Typically I'll manage to keep myself unstunned long enough that the dude on the flank HAS to face me, and stun me - and when he does all the zombies sweep around him and he's done. In ideal circumstances, the other humans don't even realize their flank has been turned and you can eat your way up the line, causing mass casualties. The first time we did this our little horde of a dozen killed 6 or 7 humans out of a 20 person group.

This tactic varies in effectiveness. The best counter is when the humans refuse the flank you've picked out to hammer - the entire line just pulls back, away from your charge. The second human group we tried this on did this, and this time we only killed two or three people on the flank, the ones who had pulled back. This was satisfying, but it was disappointing that we couldn't repeat our success of lapping around and behind the human line.

Regardless, when outnumbered (well, always, but especially when outnumbered) try to find a way to throw as many of your dudes against as few of their dudes as possible. Thus you can still take advantage of numerical superiority even when you don't have it. This is way more effective than simply brainlessly zerging into a human battle line.

[Sixth Kira]

Thanks so much for replying! It means quite a lot to have a zombie of your calibre assist me.

Anyway, that's basically what we were doing; performing zombie train tactics against a small segment of their force, in order to increase our numbers to the point where we could achieve 'critical mass' and slaughter the humans.

I must remember to try and implement your wave tactics next game; if I perform it correctly, it should sweep around the human force, effectively flanking them. It must be remembered that we have stun timers of thirty seconds at our games, so getting stunned is little more than an incredibly brief inconvenience, especially for OZs (who have their stun timers halved).

[Dyslexda]

Thanks so much for replying! It means quite a lot to have a zombie of your calibre assist me.

Anyway, that's basically what we were doing; performing zombie train tactics against a small segment of their force, in order to increase our numbers to the point where we could achieve 'critical mass' and slaughter the humans.

I must remember to try and implement your wave tactics next game; if I perform it correctly, it should sweep around the human force, effectively flanking them. It must be remembered that we have stun timers of thirty seconds at our games, so getting stunned is little more than an incredibly brief inconvenience, especially for OZs (who have their stun timers halved).

One thing you can try if you don't have time to organize a true flank is to pick out one or two humans and call them by name. Ideally they'll be on the flank, but you can also call out one in the center. When zombies charge humans in a line, it's a one on one battle humans can always win. When you funnel your zeds to one specific point on that line, though, there's a good chance of someone getting through. Not as good as an organized flank, certainly, but easy to call on the fly ("Silver! We're coming to get you! Zombies, at Silver! Chaaaaaaaaarge!").