Infection Free Zoneisa unique combinationof zombie survivaland city-builderthat’s currently in Early Access on Steam. Although it’s a little rough around the edges at the time of writing, it’s already shaping up to be a promising city-building game.
However,Infection Free Zonecan be a little hard to get to grips with at first, especiallyfor newcomers to the genre. Although the game features a tutorial that helps ease players into the game, it neglects to warn players of various pitfalls that are easy to stumble into. Here are some things that new players should avoid.
7Ignoring Or Abusing Vehicles
A Misuse Of Potential Power
Vehicles are one of the most powerful tools players can find inInfection Free Zone. However, once acquired, players have to work to maintain and refuel them. While it’s easy to put off making a trip to retrieve a far-away vehicle, it’s almost always worth the time investment. Vehicles dramatically reduce the time it takes for squads to travel across the map, allowing for faster scouting.
However, while players can use vehicles to run over zombie hordes and raiders alike, this should be used as a last resort. Vehicles do not survive long when being used as weapons, and take a great deal of damage from driving through hordes. If players choose to do this, they should make sure to keep an eye on the vehicle’s health and ensure they repair it afterward.
6Manually Ordering Squads
Unnecessary Tedium
One of the biggest mistakes players can make is manually ordering their squad every time they want them to search a building. While this won’t result in players losing the game, it decreases their quality of life and increases the tedium of managing squads. Furthermore, this can sometimes result in idle squads if players forget to give them orders.
Instead, queue several orders at once. For example, rather than telling a squad to search a single building, players can hold down the control key and tell them to loot several buildings systemically. This saves the player from having to keep giving orders, freeing up time to focus on more important things.
An Oversight That Results In Unnecessary Losses
InInfection Free Zone, players can see the status of their various squads by clicking on them. This allows players to see how much damage every member of that squad has taken, as well as how much ammunition they currently have available to them. It can be easy to forget to check on every individual squad, but it’s extremely important. Failing to keep an eye on each squad can result in players sending in soldiers that aren’t fit to fight, when they should be healing up instead.
To prevent members of a squad from dying, players mustmake use of a medbay. To build a medbay, players must first research it, which they can do by unlocking andbuilding the research center. The medbay should be one of the player’s first research priorities, as it can help them to create a sustainable defense against the zombie horde.
4Exploring At Night
A Risky Endeavor
The daytime is relatively safe inInfection Free Zone, as long as the weather doesn’t allow zombies to stroll about under the protection of thick clouds. However, when the sun goes down, the world gets a lot more dangerous.
Avoid sending squads out to explore during the night. This can result in unnecessary deaths, especially early in the game, when these squads aren’t well-equipped. Players should also be mindful of sending their squads far away from HQ, as it’s unlikely they’ll be able to return home in time without a vehicle.
3Fighting In The Open
A Failure In Micromanagement
Squads are the player’s primary way of defending themselves throughoutInfection Free Zone. These soldiers can be controlled in real time, much like in an RTS. While it may be tempting to leave soldiers near the base and let them handle it, it’s much more efficient to micromanage their actions.
Kiting enemies with one squad while another takes them out is a great way of handling smaller hordes. Although faster enemies may catch up eventually, a vehicle can also be used to prevent casualties. Furthermore, players should take advantage of natural choke-points until they have managed to build some defenses.
2Not Building Defenses Early
A Fatal Mistake
Players will frequently come under attack from zombie hordes inInfection Free Zone, right from the start. While the player’s various squads will be able to fend off smaller hordes, eventually they will need defenses.
Squads fighting out in the open are likely to get wounded or even killed, and losing civilians is one of the worst things that can happen early in the game. Building palisades and barbed wire to slow the hordes down is one thing, but players should invest in watchtowers as soon as possible, before upgrading to full-on metal gates.
1Failing To Prepare For Winter
An Avoidable Misstep
Infection Free Zonetasks the player with building a society from the ground up. While players may be moreconcerned about zombie hordesand aggressive raiders early on, they should not neglect preparations for the inevitable winter.
When winter comes, players who failed to prepare will find themselves in a sticky situation, as they’ll no longer be able to farm crops. This can result in workers starving to death, and a swift downward spiral can follow. This is easily avoided, however,by building farmsand assigning a solid number of workers to them as early as possible.
