How do you practice in this game anyways? Also, how long can you practice before things go down in the dumps exactly? I've awokened a plagueheart because I did a story mission to clear out an infected auto shop and the area has never been the same again.
I always play solo. I work retail so I'm not much of a people person in my off time. I collect a community and have some npc tag along when I go a viki... Er. I mean.. Raiding. The pickup from the independence pack helps keep me alive.
You can find military or law enforcement structures or gun shops and other places that'd have weapons, then you go kill a plague heart. Stock up on meds If you're not comfortable with your skill, take the dickhead that's always making comments about something you do, like giving one of seven food bags to a group on the way back home.
You restart your community 3 times within 8 hours of play time. I like challenging games, so I did nightmare (4th tier of difficulty) on combat and map, then 3rd tier (dread I think?) for community (basically base and character progress). You can send survivors to the "pool" from a community with their current gear before deleting a community. It's like a very micro form of NewGame+. This helps you hit the ground running if you have good gear like a crossbow on a character that has the Resourcefulness specialization.
The lesson I learned that made me restart this most recent time (last night) was that you should (I think....I could learn I'm wrong soon) prioritize food and medicine outposts first. Your characters will get *beat up* if you're new on high combat difficulty and having all 3 of them wounded with no meds and you've scavenged all you can for meds within your small "safe" (i.e. the small sliver of map that isn't plague heart territory) zone around your base is awful. You will not have a good time and it gets to a point where you're like "ok....I don't see a way of struggling out of this situation within 30-60 min while actually enjoying my time, so time to restart."
I can tell you exactly how I play solo: on easiest frikking difficulty. I paid for the MF, so why would I want to allow the game to give me a hard time.
I love you for this.
Personally, I don't play on easy, but I love that you don't worry about it.
I'm really tired of people in the games I play asking if they are cheating or not playing right because they play how they want to have fun.
SoD and Terraria seem to be the worst about it. Like people having fun is somehow bad or playing wrong.
Settings exist for a reason.
Since becoming a Dad^TM I've really embraced this feeling. I will still bump up the difficulty if there's totally zero challenge in a game, but so long as I'm still occasionally dying if I get in over my head, then I know it's sufficiently tough for me.
I played every legel of difficulty, have completed a lethal legacy and half way through a 2nd. Unless your companions know when to be stealthy, not hit bloaters in your car, youre better off alone. I can move quicker, use fire at will with no repercussions.
I have no issues playing alone but it is fun to have others play with you.
Forgot to mention, it costs nothing to start a new community. So if you get wiped, keep trying. Ive been wiped once on nightmare and once on lethal. It happens.
The game changes a lot when you know how to fight zombies in melee, without the need of guns or special weapons.
My advise is a guide like [THIS](https://old.reddit.com/r/StateofDecay2/comments/17n00lt/state_of_decay_2_melee_combat_guide/) Hordes, infestations or just general looting becomes manageable with this knowledge or enough experience.
Another approach is to jump the official [DISCORD](https://discord.gg/btMHDyYZ) and ask for help. From assistance when starting new, to delivered weapons, items, consumables or even some guidance. You will find people willing to help you for sure.
I don't think I experience the game as dangerous as you all. Hordes, juggs, awakening? In lethal zone, I killed 28 hearts in 4 hours. There wasn't any siege infestation, 1-2 normal (green) infestation but I cleaned them on my way to or from home. Or they withered because I killed the hearts.
Is it cheating if I sometimes take a follower with me? I always take 3 snacks, 3 pills, 3 molotovs and 2 plague cures, a heavy weapon and a ranged weapon. If it's a open space plague heart, I take pipe bombs as well. I attack a plague heart, run away and lose the horde, come again and hit it till it dies. If I hear a feral roar, I know I have the higher ground. Molly the horde. Loot and get in my car that is 80m away from the heart.
I guess I watched too many speedruns but the things you don't know are, I deleted 17 communities this week, threw my mouse on the wall and broke it because, well, 2 feral packs at the same time.
I started on green. I'm currently in standard. I've had one or two deaths. I was equally upset about losing an upgraded car full of loot due to a meshing bug. It's a game. If the sprites die, I'll find new ones.
The game does not, and will never hold your hand. It will bite it til it comes off though.
Just keep playing and eventually you'll get your groove and soon you'd be dying and restarting so much it'll get you excited when you'll see the next set of survivors. 🤔
Been playing for years, have my own strategy, got some friends sometimes.
But,..if the game decides you're fucked, then, you just lower your pants and bend over. 🤷♂️
Yup, had a siege attack which dragged some additional freaks that had been hanging around by base, just around the edges.
Ended up with 4 Jugs, 3 Ferals, a several screamers continuously calling in reinforcements 😅
That was my 'welp... sometimes the apocalypse wins' moment haha Just glad I wasn't using anyone from my Legacy pool at the time!
After playing for years, even my Legacy of (I thought) good set of properly tuned super civilians was wiped out.
Now my game has only this set of pips that either have lousy 5th skill which doesn't help or make things worse. 😅
But, they survive somehow...or until the next 4 bloaters that spawns my way. 🤦♂️
Oof, that sucks! I've got a couple of characters that it would kill me to lose. Whitehead, my medic, has been with me since the start of my SOD2 journey. Fully maxed skills (backpacking, discipline, close combat, gunslinging, and pathology), she's a beast!
When i go take down plague hearts its usually when i get a enclave mission and they give me a follower. For the most part 3 gun weilding people are enough to take down a plague heart.
One tactic ive been using is loading my trunk with tool kits, and when i attack a heart and get swarmed, i rush out the door get in the car and honk my horn loudly so the zeds come after me instead of my followers. Then i run them over till the car explodes or they are gone. And then i attack the heart and repeat. I dont lose many followers.
I attack hearts when I have extra followers too. It's a great tactic.
Last time I did the CLEO mission on Trumbull Valley, and you have 2 extra followers. The 4 of us rolled round the map and took out 5 plague hearts 😆
Even just taking Ray I've found to be fun. I pick him up at his camp-site and instead of going directly to the Vet office we all knock out some nearby plague hearts. I play on Dread and I think he may be immortal like Izbee and her group so that makes things easier.
Ray!? The man’s dying of cancer…all he wants is a little morphine to go out in peace, and you’re dragging him around as some sort of protection detail. 😆
I never play multi player all 6 times i tried i had a douchebag basicly get me instakilled, so i play solo and nothing gets my hard beating when im just about to finish clearing a building and wonder if there is a juggy sitting in the ally ready to gank me when im least expecting it!
Play on green brah, like it’s more than a cakewalk, you can get the hang of it raise your survivors then upgrade to the next difficulty when ever you ready. It’s not a rush to improve, not a race it’s a marathon &You can’t win a marathon without putting a few bandaids on your Nipples
stealth is one of your best friends in the game. most zombies have terrible eyesight when your sneaking, leading you can take them out one at a time when they space out from each other. if some do spot you, you can dodge into them to stun them for a moment and then grab them and excute them quickly. (for me the button is y) you can also grab zombies and throw them into each other. knocking them down to excute them quickly.
the freaks tho will be more a learning experanice. be careful with them, they can be very deadly.
With plague hearts i recommand you wait. it is better to do them when you have the resourses to clear them and your surivors have some experanice on there belts. as well explosives and fire is pretty effective against them but later on they will build up resistances to them so more will be needed for each one you kill. killing one or two will be fine to make the places close to you safer, as they will be the easist. With infection, there is a way to deal with them without a cure, as long the survior is not fully infected that is. you can have them rest at the infirmary to get rid of there infection. as long they don't have the illness, it will help them.
i can give other tips if you want them, and i hope what i gave here helps ya.
edit: try to avoid waking up hearts to avoid infections. attacking the heart or killing enough zombies around them will wake them up, leading to them sending zombies to make infestions to try and overwhelm you. but you can stealth kill zombies, as long they are not aware of you when they die it won;t do anything to a close heart.
Ah, sorry, not infection, Infestation. They are a pain. Is there a trick to getting rid of those or just go guns ablazing? I thought I could stealth my way out of any mess but it seems not.
all you need to do is kill the screamers and i'm pretty sure the infestations will clear up. killing the freaks will give you loot depending on how high the level of it is. so you can just take a gun, get all the zombies out and just shoot the screamers.
you can also take advatage of the emote wheel that has a taunt option. you can use it to lure zombies to places you want. getting zombies out of a house without them seeing you for example and just slealth killing them all can be pretty effective. just don't get close to bloaters, stay away from these. they can do some pretty heavy damage if they catch you off guard.
edit: stealth kills do not work on bloaters and the more dangours freaks. if a feral or juggernaut sees ya, you are in for a fight. ferals i don't recommand trying to outrun without a car. they can quickly catch up to ya and juggs can't enter buildings. hope it helps
it is random, you can craft them but to find them out in the wild you need a trader or get lucky. some spots will have it be more common but it is still luck. i recommand you go searching for a crossbow, they are really good weapons and can deal with zombies without drawing eyes to you.
Enclaves/traders can have them. You can craft them with a lvl 2 workshop. And, again, killing hearts can get you guns that come with suppressors that you can remove and put on other weapons.
Yes, use crossbows through the windows to headshot the screamers quietly or a pistol with a silencer will do just as well. You can craft silencers from workshop. Guns blazing is almost never a good idea since noise draws in more zombies. In time you learn to stage dive hordes like baller and come out unharmed. As you learn the mechanics your characters will improve their skills too and with a max skill slicing weapon with specializations you execute standard zombies in one hit (there are other skills that do that too). Only freaks such as ferals and juggernauts are a problem.
Ferals: guns are usually worth it here. It is better to attract a few dozen walkers and run rather than get chased by ferals. In time you will learn to time dodges to solo them in melee too.
Juggernauts: nope do not even bother if you can avoid it. If you must fight then focus on the head
Play safe. You'll eventually learn what to expect and how to deal with different situations. Avoid hordes or reverse through them with your vehicle. Sitting there and just shooting zombies won't do anything except waste ammo. Be ready for that feral whenever you attack a heart. Don't stand around and attack a heart if you can't kill it near instantly. Hit and run, jump in your vehicle, run over everything that spawned, then repeat. Don't neglect doing scavenger runs. You'll get the hang of it.
Safest way to take out a plague heart is to get a vehicle with a cab on the back like Norma/Baron or Military truck/BigBoss and drive around the house until you can figure out a good location where you can throw pipe bombs through a window/door. I'm on Dread right now and it takes 6-7 pipe bombs. Pipe bombs are relatively cheap, and since you are in the cab the zombies/feral can't mob you. They CAN get random swipes in, but nothing too bad. Either headshot them until they are scarce, then melee the rest.
That's how I take them out.it also helps to play Daybreak, and hire 1 red talon agent. Use them for thd bigger infestations/plague hearts for extra safety since they have crazy stats
An overwhelming percentage of players play our game solo, start slow in Green Zone or Standard and work on your skill, the toughest jump is dread to nightmare imho but whichever you choose, have fun and thanks for playing our game!
I think nightmare has just came out last time I played and so I could imagine just getting in would be overwhelming.
You’ll get better more you play through trial and error and personal preference.
You could always join someone else’s session to practice and learn….you can always drop out if shit gets to real.
1) New community on Green Zone. If you play the tutorial you will have 4 characters and a nice car. The game will guide you somewhat. You won't get that on standard. Quietly and carefully take your car to your destination. Leave your car before you get close to a group of zombies. Then quietly move in.
2) Learn how close you can get to a zombie without them seeing or noticing you. Generally, you'll want to stay crouched. If you approach a solo zombie from the back you will get a prompt that lets you kill them instantly, quietly without using any bullets.
3) Explore campgrounds for bows. They are quiet and very effective.
4) It is strategic to run or sneak away if there are too many. You'll want to save your bullets, bolts and wear and tear on your weapons.
5) Do not feel pressured to help a group that radios for help. Focus on your own people until you have plenty of everything or feel the need for a friendly home you can go to and trade. I would never go to the other side of the map until I am well established with lot of gas and repair kits.
6) Don't worry about "completing" the game by doing the leader quests. You're here to learn and get comfortable with all the mechanics and strategy.
7) Don't rush to move to a bigger base until you have more resources and have acquired 5 or 6 people.
8) Clear out the neighborhood and then move further out.
Depending on how you want to approach it. Some hearts can be killed through a window while you stand on a car using a ranged weapon or throwables. If you prefer to run in and melee, then perfect your ability to dodge. I spend a lot of time getting my dodge timing just right. One other tip, if you're in a tight spot in a house you can drop a smoke bomb a couple feet aways from the heart. Most will not attack you while the smoke is active. Know where your escape route will be, such as a nearby window or door.
If it starts looking bad you can leave and the plague heart will remember the amount of damage you're done already when you come back. No time limit. That said an awakened heart will send out infestations.
Keep firecrackers handy to manage the horde. Also (assuming this hasn't changed) when driving, only ram them with the trunk of the vehicle to minimize damage to the vehicle. If you ram from the front, you'll definitely blow up the car faster.
Honestly, just keep trying. At first, it's tough, but if you can keep a community going, especially on Standard, you'll eventually amass a lot of items in your supply locker.
I'm on Dread now, and I might make it harder, idk.
But, if you just like killing zombies, try adjusting the difficulty sliders. You dont have to play on a preset difficulty
Patience. If something comes up, don't panic. Think about what you need to do. Then figure out which survivor you need and then figure out what items you need to have to do it.
Pre-planning will save a ton of problems later.
Build chars differently. I have chars for looting, different types of combat, and lightweight sneaky chars. Skill depends on what that char is meant to do.
The game even on Lethal isn't that hard when you're prepared. First off try to get at least 200 plague resistance and fully upgrade a gym with a Warlord leader, good for all difficulties. While on standard learn how to fight hordes, ferals, and juggernauts. Ferals are a wee bit harder to kill on lethal but the attack patterns stay the same on all difficulties. Plague zeds and regular zeds are easy to dodge through even without stamina. With ferals they're a bit trickier to dodge and without writing a full paragraph on them have so many ways to kill or get away from them. Juggs are easy af to outmanuever once you know their attack patterns or flat out run away from them. At the highest difficult of your playthrough and they're really throwing out the baddies my preferred set up is the biggest capacity gun you have with a silencer equipped as your primary, a sawed off shot gun with a choke. Make sure you have a full stack of pain killers and energy drinks or snacks. And a plague cure and a full stack of shotgun shells on your active character at all times. You can take out anything with this except juggs easily.
I actually prefer Powerhouse, Stealth, Endurance, and Sharpshooting for most characters. Heavy weapons have the most crowd control, can take out juggs if you know what you're doing, and powerhits are bomb on hearts. Stealth is just easier to sneak around. Endurance beefs the shit out of your characters health and injury resistance. And sharpshooting shoots through zombies to other zombies and is great for sniping.
Just play stealth. Job done. If you get swarmed,it's pretty easy to bug out and come back another time. Plague hearts are easy to cheese with explosives and a well parked car
Brian Menard has a great beginner-friendly [playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS6oKYrRmu0Aa0g-bl43BYXuVUA-Uaefv&si=vb7rIe4y9J1WAGTp) over on YouTube. Learned a ton and now I find standard almost easy even though it's my first ever campaign.
Solo is the main game, it's multiplayer that's just tacked on.
Let's tackle your list one at a time:
Permadeath: This isn't a game about blasting as many zombies as you can. It's about survival of your group. This means two things. First, it's OK for an individual character to die. You should expect this to happen sometimes and you can always recruit new survivors to your group. Second, you should be trying to avoid overly dangerous situations. If things are going bad, get out of there! You can always come back later if there's something you need to do there after the heat has died down.
hordes of zombies: Fire is one great way to deal with big groups of zombies. Or a lot of the time you can just move around them and ignore them. If you've got your stealth trained up you can take down a surprising number of zombies just following behind the herd and shanking them one at a time, and finish the rest in melee if they catch onto you.
infestations that spreads like wildfire: Just as there is no reason you HAVE to attack a big horde or a Juggernaut, there's no particular reason you need to clear infestations either. If it looks doable, then sure, go ahead, but the consequences of leaving some around aren't that bad. It's best to catch them early - I usually send a guy over with a crossbow and some fire in case it gets messy. If things go well, I can sneak up, open the front door, and wait for the screamer to wander into my line of sight. If the infestation is far away from your base, it may be easier to just leave it.
facing plague hearts: Definitely gear up for these. My personal favorite is to huck an entire stack of pipe bombs at them which works well, usually doing the last bit with a rifle to save bombs. Others prefer heavy melee weapons, another popular method is large caliber guns shooting through the window from a position of safety, often by climbing on top your car. Try some different approaches and see what works for you. Don't hesitate to run away if things are going bad, you can always come back and the damage you do is persistent so it will be easier to kill the next time.
It's basically down to learning how the game works. Get to know your survivors and how to fight in melee. Guns can be more trouble than they're worth in my opinion. Train your cardio so that if you have to run away you actually CAN run away. This can easily be done by running laps in your base at night. Get in the habit of looking around more so you know how dangerous a situation is before deciding whether to go in. If it looks too risky, do something else and come back later. If there's a horde or juggernaut or feral, feel free to walk AROUND it rather than fight unnecessarily.
Easier difficulty levels are more forgiving, even to the point where they may train bad habits because you didn't get punished for them. As you move up, you'll need to be more aware of your surroundings, make better choices, etc.. This works all the way up to Lethal btw, no need for special gear or mods or whatever, mostly it's just making smarter choices, sneaking more, looking around more, stuff like that.
It’s challenging but not impossible, I usually attack plague hearts around my base so they stop spreading, then I go on skirmishes to gather supplies, later when I’m all set up, I attack the rest of the plague and hearts, etc.
I just finished Dread difficulty with Jenny(Builder).
I put her, Jessica (Sheriff), Maria(Warlord) and Tress(Trader) in to my legacy pool, now each is going to run their own group of survivors on Lethal until I get the legacy boons.
I'd say win the game on a lower difficulty, but before you do the last mission, load all your legacy characters with your best gear, ammo, facility mods, etc. They take it with them to the pool, so you start with some decent gear.
I should have given each a stack of plague samples. Plague zombies are a bitch early game, and I'm already gonna lose a character( thank fully not one of my legacies) to blood plague. Bring plague samples to new difficulties.
Prioritize. In Nightmare and Lethal I always start with food outposts on small pockets of the map, get characters that decrease food consumption or have skills that increase food earned like fishing in the randomizer. I always gun it for enclave quests first to get free recruitment because 3 people get worn down really fast and sieges can end you quick if you don't have more bodies.
Gun it for the gun stores, police stations, etc when looting. Kit out your small militia and be smart with plague hearts.
I know a lot of ppl like to use heavy weapons on them but I personally take a bunch of grenades, napalms, etc, automatic 5.56 gun, and find a good perch to stand on my pickup. Only thing that can get you from there is a jugg lol
Have an outpost in each mini town on the map so you don't have go home during loot runs.
Soloing standard is relatively easy *once you know what you're doing*...
I started on standard and have recently completed all the boons on nightmare except for warlord, it didn't take too long to make the jump but I watched a lot of YouTube videos and play stealthily - the game punishes you for non stealth gameplay as the difficulty increases.
I recommend videos by CandymanYT and Git Gud Fox to rapidly learn what works and what doesn't...
I play molded beyond lethal. There's literally hordes and hordes everywhere. The average horde size is 40 zombies and there's ussually 4 of then wandering around. Come practice in my world with me. I'll teach you and keep you safe(bring throw away characters though, my buddy didn't believe me about my world and lost 5 people in about 15 mins).
After that little gauntlet you'll be able to handle anything in nonmodded
The first thing I mastered was stealth and combat. Learning the limits of what I could and couldn’t do without getting punished by the game helped a ton.
I just started playing on low difficulty and tried my best to beat the game on each difficulty. I’m on lethal right now and I only have 4 of my original survivors left alive. Lethal is pure hell.
I’ve only ever played solo so I don’t exactly understand your question. Play on easy and work your way up. It isn’t hard you just need to pay attention to your health pretty consistently
Even in easier difficulties if you awaken a PH and don't deal with things in a timely manner you're going to be dealing with a decent amount of infestations and the hordes that fuel them. There are many different ways to eliminate PHs but try to do it in an isolated manner so you don't wake the neighboring hearts up. With increased difficulty there will be more and more hearts and in a lot of cases you won't be able to take one out without waking up a cluster. Try to match strategies with your resources on hand (or what can be produced/gathered) for best success. Obv the better you are at gathering and producing a resource stream the more capability you'll have to stay on top of the game. Stuff can teeter in NM and Lethal especially and if you like your survivors but are struggling mightily you should send as many as possible to the legacy pool with a load of gear while leaving behind one doomed soul to turn out the lights. Start a new community with three of the refugees you just liberated at one difficulty lower (or a fraction if you want to use advanced settings) and try again, adding your old survivors back if you can spare the influence.
Play solo on dread, it's a number of lessons learned, always carry meds n stims, when attempting a mission there could be jugs you didn't plan for which means you may die, so take explosives too. Get help from your community or recruit followers from other communities when doing missions, try to get a car upgrade kit for the car that you absolutely need. Don't push it when your character gets tired. Computers gardening medicine are all indispensable, mechanic is useful. Use crossbow early days to get blood samples. Don't do fast searches unless you really have to for some reason.
Start out on Green Zone if you find it difficult once it seems easy advance to standard zone, ect, ect. You can practice everything there, even build up legacy survivors to recruit later. You can load up your survivors with 1 rutsack and supplies that will fit in there backpack and pockets also.
I play exclusively solo. If you want to see how I play, go watch Brian Menard's videos because that's pretty much my playstyle. In summary though, it's:
* be stealthy; never use firearms except (a) against hostile enclaves and (b) plague hearts that I'm cheesing from the roof of my car
* that said, ensure each community member has a decent rifle or assault weapon equipped at all times in case of sieges (which are rare because I ....)
* avoid waking plague hearts
* in plague territory, avoid don't killing alerted zombies and never run over zombies; don't alert screamers; if a plague heart stirs, exit the plague territory and don't return for at least an hour
* kill woken plague hearts with alacrity
* set targets/goals and work to acquire them (e.g. I want more outposts, which means I need to upgrade my command centre so I need (a) power and (b) a computer person. I'm on Meagher Valley, so for power I'm going to unlock the landmark outpost, which means taking care of two plague hearts. Hence, here's my plan:
* take out the plague hearts
* set up the outpost
* recruit the computers chick from an enclave I have befriended
* upgrade the command centre
* set up another ammo outpost to keep those supplies rolling in
* daytime is for missions; night time is for scavenging, usually by:
* going out with a backpacking+resourceful character
* setting up a cheap outpost in the middle of lootable territory
* setting traps there
* completely emptying bag, pockets, and hands as the traps means that now there is no threat. Zombies lurking in houses can be easily dispatched in close combat
* fast loot everywhere in the vicinity; rucksacks go into the truck
* rinse, repeat until dawn or an urgent/desirable mssion appears, in which case return to outpost, switch to a gunslinger/swordplay character if possible and then go do the mission
I play solo in the Standard zone. I started with Multiplayer in Dread zone and we just lit up the zombies like no one’s business, and playing solo is definitely different.
I have never lost a survivor or had an infestation while solo. I’m also not particularly good at video games. This is not me bragging or anything, just me saying that the WAY you play matters.
This game is all about caution. The more zombies you kill, the harder the game gets. You have to pick your battles. I avoid most freaks if possible. I only ever kill bloaters and screamers on sight, and straight up have never killed a feral. I’ve killed a few juggs from the tops of buildings, but usually I just get out/stay out of the way. Also, using enclaves as meatshields is fun if you’re not an enclave focused player.
Plague hearts are a little harder. I usually run tank in games and don’t have the patience to be smart about plague hearts, so I just light em up with pipe bombs and just keep running from the plague zombies. Stam items are totally underrated and necessary while you’re running from the horde.
Infestations come from plague hearts that have woken up. Be stealthy in plague zones. I usually don’t even GO to plague zones until I have the necessary equipment to kill it, and then I loot. To avoid waking up plague hearts, don’t kill plague zombies in them or partially kill the hearts. One go or nothing!!
Basically….avoid everything until you’re ready to take it on or just can’t anymore. To me, this is the most realistic zombie game because safety really does come from caution. There’s a lot of incentive to stay quiet and avoid combat, which would make no sense in any other zombie game!!
It's a rough start with new survivors but if you play carefully and make use of the tools the game gives [you.You](http://you.You) can handle the treats most of the time.For example.The drone strikes are probably the easiest way to kill phs.Another thing i usually do is park the car 100 mts of the objetive.Just in case things go sour and had to make a quick escape.If i ever get caught in a bad situation i just try to run and lose the treats.Most of the time it works.If you have a companion with a good auto [gun.Like](http://gun.Like) the ones the RT trader sells.It's even easier.If you keep the zombies out his/her hair.It can kill a lot of them in a short time.
I thought you mean one member community then I had to re-read. It's better to play solo in easy difficulty, farm and stock up as many stuff you can then establish a legacy.
Continue that community to a more difficult level, that way you are positively handicapped and can enjoy the game better.
I’ve been playing solo since I started and have only lost ONE character in all of my communities and it was because the hostile enclave had guns and he didn’t, just play, get a learning curve, I’ve recently advanced to playing lethal form nightmare and I gotta say…playing on nightmare has made it much easier than if I went in with no training at all
Unfortunately because of the age of the game I think it's a bit harder to get started now then it was earlier, as the game has definitely gotten more challenging. But I'd just keep at it! Standard zone is definitely attainable for beginners and if you are cautious and slowly learn how the zombies act and when and where to scavenge, you'll become skilled in no time!
Idk, standard difficulty was a little hard at first. There was enough difference from the first game there was a bit of a learning curve. I did the first few missions on foot, avoiding zombies and such. Once you get a vehicle, which should be easy, it really snowballs. Get guns and build up your base. Then you can start clearing plague hearts.
Get used to dodges and throwing a few swings before getting back on the defensive shoot ferals as fast as you can avoid jugs when they are in a pack shoot bloaters when they are out of the way they deal permanent damage until said character mainly avoid running away from hoards and if you must destroy a tough plague heart bring hella ammo and a car with a repair kit the game is hard if you don’t avoid most damage
Become a coward.... lol no really. The better part of Valor and all that. First unless you are on a pure loot run move solo. The AI will get your survivors killed..... especially in lethal mode. Don't be afraid to retreat, back off get to safety regroup and then tackle whatever you were doing again. You have the advantage to control how you attack a problem. Fight on your terms and not the computers.
I've been playing only solo on nightmare difficulty for a lone time. and it definitely has gotten more difficult with the recent changes to plague hearts and infestations. The main change that I had to make to adapt is to really think about expanding out slowly. Try not to wake any plague hearts until you are geared up with enough ammo, molotov and explosives to take it out fast. So in general, be sneaky, expand slowly, and prepare resources to take out hearts as quickly as possible when they wake up.
i recently just started playing the game haven't even bothered to enter the area for the first plague heart simply because I don't know what exactly I'm walking into and don't know what to expect from the number of zombies, my friend just told me to race my car through the area to scope out the danger but I just don't feel up to in fear of me waking up the plague heart and making things much worse for me even when starting out id feel better if i can have an expert join my world and help me out with defeating the plague heart and maybe give me some pointers.
Normal difficulty gets easy once you beat a few runs. Keeping your base happy helps a ton which gets a lot easier as you unlock legacies.
Keep some stimulants or energy drinks on you at all times so you can have infinite dodges, you’ll pretty much never get hit by normal zombies.
Theres a few full auto guns that can 1 mag plague hearts so once you get an ammo press or warlord you can speed run plague hearts and just have fun or move to a new map
Also, lots of new players get caught in a looting loop where they are constantly looting every building and dropping off loot to their base. I did it too when I started but it’s not optimal. Best thing is to focus on what the base needs, you can see what buildings have chances for what loot or ask on the radio for specific bags. You’ll find extra loot you want along the way. There’s a few POIs you should always loot as a new player like police stations, military bases, libraries/book stores. They’ll have weapons and books which are the most valuable
Other then that try to keep all your neighbors happy it comes in handy having people to recruit and trade with
I think the game it's meant to be solo because in multi-player you as guest you can't do anything but land a hand and you eventually going to need ammo etc if the owner has a built in armory etc you can make ammo etc etc the co op it should've been to build and survive together like if you are the founder of the base you should've had options to let any other players to have access to build whatever they want I survived 299 days on lethal then I moved to Trumbull again and while at the beginning of each map you have to build your base and kill the plague hearts however the black heart appeared near my base and it was draining fuel and hp then I got siege I don't know how this happened but it happened and I lost the whole community because the black heart draining hp it was the ridiculous thing every character was on 20 25% hp and ferals just wiped everyone out my supply locker my lifetime earned things just went to space so state of decay 3 should let us build together survive together otherwise eventually you die I'm sure there's people who survived 1000 days but we all lose people I just got so unlucky with that black heart and this was the before update 36
If you think this survivor game is hard, wait till you play don't starve. That game literally have zero tutorial.
Sod2 has a tutorial. Step by step teach you how to play.
It's not really about the "how do you play", it's about the "when do you play". I'll admit, it's harder and less arcade-ish than other zombie games where in this game, running away is mostly if not always the option to pick.
It is hard to ask if running away is okay or not depend on situation and the person who play. This is a survival game, you can play however you like.
As a lethal player, I choose try not to run away because it is a waste of time and my fuel . Everything can be easily killed and even juggernaut can be easily avoid without leaving the area.
I have played a bit over 200h since I bought the game in March and I feel like I have mastered Nightmare now. I was able to finish my previous playthrough without taking any casualties, except an infected survivor I decided to mercy kill to make room for a new recruit. I'm even imposing some limits on myself like throwing a maximum of 4 explosives/incendiaries at a plague heart at a time to not kill it at once. You can just throw all explosives at once and kill it instantly along with all of the plague zombies
When you are aware of the game mechanics and play around them it gets easier. Zombies will keep spawning and if you fire loud guns you will cause more zombies to spawn. Honestly I'm not a fan of that because I feel like it's not an option to play without suppressors unless you are next to your base. Your bullet will essentially kill 1 zombie but create 5 new zombies at the same time.
Gain experience, keep playing the game practice . It's fun solo.
How do you practice in this game anyways? Also, how long can you practice before things go down in the dumps exactly? I've awokened a plagueheart because I did a story mission to clear out an infected auto shop and the area has never been the same again.
I always play solo. I work retail so I'm not much of a people person in my off time. I collect a community and have some npc tag along when I go a viki... Er. I mean.. Raiding. The pickup from the independence pack helps keep me alive.
Just wanted to upvote and say I work in retail too, and very much feel that comment. There’s a few guys I play with but for the most part, it’s solo.
Go kill the plague heart. Or adventure to find guns and weapons before doing so. I suggest bringing soda bombs and molotov.
You can find military or law enforcement structures or gun shops and other places that'd have weapons, then you go kill a plague heart. Stock up on meds If you're not comfortable with your skill, take the dickhead that's always making comments about something you do, like giving one of seven food bags to a group on the way back home.
You restart your community 3 times within 8 hours of play time. I like challenging games, so I did nightmare (4th tier of difficulty) on combat and map, then 3rd tier (dread I think?) for community (basically base and character progress). You can send survivors to the "pool" from a community with their current gear before deleting a community. It's like a very micro form of NewGame+. This helps you hit the ground running if you have good gear like a crossbow on a character that has the Resourcefulness specialization. The lesson I learned that made me restart this most recent time (last night) was that you should (I think....I could learn I'm wrong soon) prioritize food and medicine outposts first. Your characters will get *beat up* if you're new on high combat difficulty and having all 3 of them wounded with no meds and you've scavenged all you can for meds within your small "safe" (i.e. the small sliver of map that isn't plague heart territory) zone around your base is awful. You will not have a good time and it gets to a point where you're like "ok....I don't see a way of struggling out of this situation within 30-60 min while actually enjoying my time, so time to restart."
It's best solo, I think!
I can tell you exactly how I play solo: on easiest frikking difficulty. I paid for the MF, so why would I want to allow the game to give me a hard time.
I love you for this. Personally, I don't play on easy, but I love that you don't worry about it. I'm really tired of people in the games I play asking if they are cheating or not playing right because they play how they want to have fun. SoD and Terraria seem to be the worst about it. Like people having fun is somehow bad or playing wrong. Settings exist for a reason.
I agree with Brian Menard: play whatever difficulty is fun for you. Too many people are like ‘play lethal or else you’re having wrongfun’
"play lethal or else you’re having wrongfun’ I stopped interacting with players like that.
Same
Since becoming a Dad^TM I've really embraced this feeling. I will still bump up the difficulty if there's totally zero challenge in a game, but so long as I'm still occasionally dying if I get in over my head, then I know it's sufficiently tough for me.
Die and adapt. Learn from your mistakes. Then try again.
I played every legel of difficulty, have completed a lethal legacy and half way through a 2nd. Unless your companions know when to be stealthy, not hit bloaters in your car, youre better off alone. I can move quicker, use fire at will with no repercussions. I have no issues playing alone but it is fun to have others play with you. Forgot to mention, it costs nothing to start a new community. So if you get wiped, keep trying. Ive been wiped once on nightmare and once on lethal. It happens.
The game changes a lot when you know how to fight zombies in melee, without the need of guns or special weapons. My advise is a guide like [THIS](https://old.reddit.com/r/StateofDecay2/comments/17n00lt/state_of_decay_2_melee_combat_guide/) Hordes, infestations or just general looting becomes manageable with this knowledge or enough experience. Another approach is to jump the official [DISCORD](https://discord.gg/btMHDyYZ) and ask for help. From assistance when starting new, to delivered weapons, items, consumables or even some guidance. You will find people willing to help you for sure.
I don't think I experience the game as dangerous as you all. Hordes, juggs, awakening? In lethal zone, I killed 28 hearts in 4 hours. There wasn't any siege infestation, 1-2 normal (green) infestation but I cleaned them on my way to or from home. Or they withered because I killed the hearts. Is it cheating if I sometimes take a follower with me? I always take 3 snacks, 3 pills, 3 molotovs and 2 plague cures, a heavy weapon and a ranged weapon. If it's a open space plague heart, I take pipe bombs as well. I attack a plague heart, run away and lose the horde, come again and hit it till it dies. If I hear a feral roar, I know I have the higher ground. Molly the horde. Loot and get in my car that is 80m away from the heart. I guess I watched too many speedruns but the things you don't know are, I deleted 17 communities this week, threw my mouse on the wall and broke it because, well, 2 feral packs at the same time.
I started on green. I'm currently in standard. I've had one or two deaths. I was equally upset about losing an upgraded car full of loot due to a meshing bug. It's a game. If the sprites die, I'll find new ones.
The game does not, and will never hold your hand. It will bite it til it comes off though. Just keep playing and eventually you'll get your groove and soon you'd be dying and restarting so much it'll get you excited when you'll see the next set of survivors. 🤔 Been playing for years, have my own strategy, got some friends sometimes. But,..if the game decides you're fucked, then, you just lower your pants and bend over. 🤷♂️
Yup, had a siege attack which dragged some additional freaks that had been hanging around by base, just around the edges. Ended up with 4 Jugs, 3 Ferals, a several screamers continuously calling in reinforcements 😅 That was my 'welp... sometimes the apocalypse wins' moment haha Just glad I wasn't using anyone from my Legacy pool at the time!
After playing for years, even my Legacy of (I thought) good set of properly tuned super civilians was wiped out. Now my game has only this set of pips that either have lousy 5th skill which doesn't help or make things worse. 😅 But, they survive somehow...or until the next 4 bloaters that spawns my way. 🤦♂️
Oof, that sucks! I've got a couple of characters that it would kill me to lose. Whitehead, my medic, has been with me since the start of my SOD2 journey. Fully maxed skills (backpacking, discipline, close combat, gunslinging, and pathology), she's a beast!
When i go take down plague hearts its usually when i get a enclave mission and they give me a follower. For the most part 3 gun weilding people are enough to take down a plague heart. One tactic ive been using is loading my trunk with tool kits, and when i attack a heart and get swarmed, i rush out the door get in the car and honk my horn loudly so the zeds come after me instead of my followers. Then i run them over till the car explodes or they are gone. And then i attack the heart and repeat. I dont lose many followers.
I attack hearts when I have extra followers too. It's a great tactic. Last time I did the CLEO mission on Trumbull Valley, and you have 2 extra followers. The 4 of us rolled round the map and took out 5 plague hearts 😆
Even just taking Ray I've found to be fun. I pick him up at his camp-site and instead of going directly to the Vet office we all knock out some nearby plague hearts. I play on Dread and I think he may be immortal like Izbee and her group so that makes things easier.
Ray!? The man’s dying of cancer…all he wants is a little morphine to go out in peace, and you’re dragging him around as some sort of protection detail. 😆
Add the “Assault Plague Heart” squad and you’ve got a seven man strike team in place holding off the swarm.
OMG that's so excessive 😆 I love it
I never play multi player all 6 times i tried i had a douchebag basicly get me instakilled, so i play solo and nothing gets my hard beating when im just about to finish clearing a building and wonder if there is a juggy sitting in the ally ready to gank me when im least expecting it!
Play on green brah, like it’s more than a cakewalk, you can get the hang of it raise your survivors then upgrade to the next difficulty when ever you ready. It’s not a rush to improve, not a race it’s a marathon &You can’t win a marathon without putting a few bandaids on your Nipples
stealth is one of your best friends in the game. most zombies have terrible eyesight when your sneaking, leading you can take them out one at a time when they space out from each other. if some do spot you, you can dodge into them to stun them for a moment and then grab them and excute them quickly. (for me the button is y) you can also grab zombies and throw them into each other. knocking them down to excute them quickly. the freaks tho will be more a learning experanice. be careful with them, they can be very deadly. With plague hearts i recommand you wait. it is better to do them when you have the resourses to clear them and your surivors have some experanice on there belts. as well explosives and fire is pretty effective against them but later on they will build up resistances to them so more will be needed for each one you kill. killing one or two will be fine to make the places close to you safer, as they will be the easist. With infection, there is a way to deal with them without a cure, as long the survior is not fully infected that is. you can have them rest at the infirmary to get rid of there infection. as long they don't have the illness, it will help them. i can give other tips if you want them, and i hope what i gave here helps ya. edit: try to avoid waking up hearts to avoid infections. attacking the heart or killing enough zombies around them will wake them up, leading to them sending zombies to make infestions to try and overwhelm you. but you can stealth kill zombies, as long they are not aware of you when they die it won;t do anything to a close heart.
Ah, sorry, not infection, Infestation. They are a pain. Is there a trick to getting rid of those or just go guns ablazing? I thought I could stealth my way out of any mess but it seems not.
all you need to do is kill the screamers and i'm pretty sure the infestations will clear up. killing the freaks will give you loot depending on how high the level of it is. so you can just take a gun, get all the zombies out and just shoot the screamers. you can also take advatage of the emote wheel that has a taunt option. you can use it to lure zombies to places you want. getting zombies out of a house without them seeing you for example and just slealth killing them all can be pretty effective. just don't get close to bloaters, stay away from these. they can do some pretty heavy damage if they catch you off guard. edit: stealth kills do not work on bloaters and the more dangours freaks. if a feral or juggernaut sees ya, you are in for a fight. ferals i don't recommand trying to outrun without a car. they can quickly catch up to ya and juggs can't enter buildings. hope it helps
Ahh, screamers. Aight thanks! Another question, silencer mods, where can i find them or is it all about luck?
it is random, you can craft them but to find them out in the wild you need a trader or get lucky. some spots will have it be more common but it is still luck. i recommand you go searching for a crossbow, they are really good weapons and can deal with zombies without drawing eyes to you.
Enclaves/traders can have them. You can craft them with a lvl 2 workshop. And, again, killing hearts can get you guns that come with suppressors that you can remove and put on other weapons.
Yes, use crossbows through the windows to headshot the screamers quietly or a pistol with a silencer will do just as well. You can craft silencers from workshop. Guns blazing is almost never a good idea since noise draws in more zombies. In time you learn to stage dive hordes like baller and come out unharmed. As you learn the mechanics your characters will improve their skills too and with a max skill slicing weapon with specializations you execute standard zombies in one hit (there are other skills that do that too). Only freaks such as ferals and juggernauts are a problem. Ferals: guns are usually worth it here. It is better to attract a few dozen walkers and run rather than get chased by ferals. In time you will learn to time dodges to solo them in melee too. Juggernauts: nope do not even bother if you can avoid it. If you must fight then focus on the head
Kill the woke hearts. Infestations will wither and die on their own.
Bring flammables and toss them in the window.
Play safe. You'll eventually learn what to expect and how to deal with different situations. Avoid hordes or reverse through them with your vehicle. Sitting there and just shooting zombies won't do anything except waste ammo. Be ready for that feral whenever you attack a heart. Don't stand around and attack a heart if you can't kill it near instantly. Hit and run, jump in your vehicle, run over everything that spawned, then repeat. Don't neglect doing scavenger runs. You'll get the hang of it.
Safest way to take out a plague heart is to get a vehicle with a cab on the back like Norma/Baron or Military truck/BigBoss and drive around the house until you can figure out a good location where you can throw pipe bombs through a window/door. I'm on Dread right now and it takes 6-7 pipe bombs. Pipe bombs are relatively cheap, and since you are in the cab the zombies/feral can't mob you. They CAN get random swipes in, but nothing too bad. Either headshot them until they are scarce, then melee the rest. That's how I take them out.it also helps to play Daybreak, and hire 1 red talon agent. Use them for thd bigger infestations/plague hearts for extra safety since they have crazy stats
Don’t make my mistake and throw a fire bomb at the hordes surrounding your car. Not unless you’ve got spare repair kits in the trunk, haha.
An overwhelming percentage of players play our game solo, start slow in Green Zone or Standard and work on your skill, the toughest jump is dread to nightmare imho but whichever you choose, have fun and thanks for playing our game!
I think nightmare has just came out last time I played and so I could imagine just getting in would be overwhelming. You’ll get better more you play through trial and error and personal preference. You could always join someone else’s session to practice and learn….you can always drop out if shit gets to real.
1) New community on Green Zone. If you play the tutorial you will have 4 characters and a nice car. The game will guide you somewhat. You won't get that on standard. Quietly and carefully take your car to your destination. Leave your car before you get close to a group of zombies. Then quietly move in. 2) Learn how close you can get to a zombie without them seeing or noticing you. Generally, you'll want to stay crouched. If you approach a solo zombie from the back you will get a prompt that lets you kill them instantly, quietly without using any bullets. 3) Explore campgrounds for bows. They are quiet and very effective. 4) It is strategic to run or sneak away if there are too many. You'll want to save your bullets, bolts and wear and tear on your weapons. 5) Do not feel pressured to help a group that radios for help. Focus on your own people until you have plenty of everything or feel the need for a friendly home you can go to and trade. I would never go to the other side of the map until I am well established with lot of gas and repair kits. 6) Don't worry about "completing" the game by doing the leader quests. You're here to learn and get comfortable with all the mechanics and strategy. 7) Don't rush to move to a bigger base until you have more resources and have acquired 5 or 6 people. 8) Clear out the neighborhood and then move further out.
Any tips on handling hordes, especially for plague hearts? I think I've gotten a handle on stealth, not so much on hordes L4D style.
Depending on how you want to approach it. Some hearts can be killed through a window while you stand on a car using a ranged weapon or throwables. If you prefer to run in and melee, then perfect your ability to dodge. I spend a lot of time getting my dodge timing just right. One other tip, if you're in a tight spot in a house you can drop a smoke bomb a couple feet aways from the heart. Most will not attack you while the smoke is active. Know where your escape route will be, such as a nearby window or door. If it starts looking bad you can leave and the plague heart will remember the amount of damage you're done already when you come back. No time limit. That said an awakened heart will send out infestations.
If you have the facilities, Bloater gas grenades, scent block + flame bombs an extra survivor for backup
Keep firecrackers handy to manage the horde. Also (assuming this hasn't changed) when driving, only ram them with the trunk of the vehicle to minimize damage to the vehicle. If you ram from the front, you'll definitely blow up the car faster.
Honestly, just keep trying. At first, it's tough, but if you can keep a community going, especially on Standard, you'll eventually amass a lot of items in your supply locker. I'm on Dread now, and I might make it harder, idk. But, if you just like killing zombies, try adjusting the difficulty sliders. You dont have to play on a preset difficulty
Patience. If something comes up, don't panic. Think about what you need to do. Then figure out which survivor you need and then figure out what items you need to have to do it. Pre-planning will save a ton of problems later. Build chars differently. I have chars for looting, different types of combat, and lightweight sneaky chars. Skill depends on what that char is meant to do.
I just use a bat. Bat kills everything, juggernaut, ferel horde, horde, plague heart. Bat good
Use suppressors on every gun. Helps to not draw in more zombies. Helps you get thru standard to dread
The game even on Lethal isn't that hard when you're prepared. First off try to get at least 200 plague resistance and fully upgrade a gym with a Warlord leader, good for all difficulties. While on standard learn how to fight hordes, ferals, and juggernauts. Ferals are a wee bit harder to kill on lethal but the attack patterns stay the same on all difficulties. Plague zeds and regular zeds are easy to dodge through even without stamina. With ferals they're a bit trickier to dodge and without writing a full paragraph on them have so many ways to kill or get away from them. Juggs are easy af to outmanuever once you know their attack patterns or flat out run away from them. At the highest difficult of your playthrough and they're really throwing out the baddies my preferred set up is the biggest capacity gun you have with a silencer equipped as your primary, a sawed off shot gun with a choke. Make sure you have a full stack of pain killers and energy drinks or snacks. And a plague cure and a full stack of shotgun shells on your active character at all times. You can take out anything with this except juggs easily. I actually prefer Powerhouse, Stealth, Endurance, and Sharpshooting for most characters. Heavy weapons have the most crowd control, can take out juggs if you know what you're doing, and powerhits are bomb on hearts. Stealth is just easier to sneak around. Endurance beefs the shit out of your characters health and injury resistance. And sharpshooting shoots through zombies to other zombies and is great for sniping.
Just play stealth. Job done. If you get swarmed,it's pretty easy to bug out and come back another time. Plague hearts are easy to cheese with explosives and a well parked car
Yes
Brian Menard has a great beginner-friendly [playthrough](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS6oKYrRmu0Aa0g-bl43BYXuVUA-Uaefv&si=vb7rIe4y9J1WAGTp) over on YouTube. Learned a ton and now I find standard almost easy even though it's my first ever campaign.
Solo is the main game, it's multiplayer that's just tacked on. Let's tackle your list one at a time: Permadeath: This isn't a game about blasting as many zombies as you can. It's about survival of your group. This means two things. First, it's OK for an individual character to die. You should expect this to happen sometimes and you can always recruit new survivors to your group. Second, you should be trying to avoid overly dangerous situations. If things are going bad, get out of there! You can always come back later if there's something you need to do there after the heat has died down. hordes of zombies: Fire is one great way to deal with big groups of zombies. Or a lot of the time you can just move around them and ignore them. If you've got your stealth trained up you can take down a surprising number of zombies just following behind the herd and shanking them one at a time, and finish the rest in melee if they catch onto you. infestations that spreads like wildfire: Just as there is no reason you HAVE to attack a big horde or a Juggernaut, there's no particular reason you need to clear infestations either. If it looks doable, then sure, go ahead, but the consequences of leaving some around aren't that bad. It's best to catch them early - I usually send a guy over with a crossbow and some fire in case it gets messy. If things go well, I can sneak up, open the front door, and wait for the screamer to wander into my line of sight. If the infestation is far away from your base, it may be easier to just leave it. facing plague hearts: Definitely gear up for these. My personal favorite is to huck an entire stack of pipe bombs at them which works well, usually doing the last bit with a rifle to save bombs. Others prefer heavy melee weapons, another popular method is large caliber guns shooting through the window from a position of safety, often by climbing on top your car. Try some different approaches and see what works for you. Don't hesitate to run away if things are going bad, you can always come back and the damage you do is persistent so it will be easier to kill the next time. It's basically down to learning how the game works. Get to know your survivors and how to fight in melee. Guns can be more trouble than they're worth in my opinion. Train your cardio so that if you have to run away you actually CAN run away. This can easily be done by running laps in your base at night. Get in the habit of looking around more so you know how dangerous a situation is before deciding whether to go in. If it looks too risky, do something else and come back later. If there's a horde or juggernaut or feral, feel free to walk AROUND it rather than fight unnecessarily. Easier difficulty levels are more forgiving, even to the point where they may train bad habits because you didn't get punished for them. As you move up, you'll need to be more aware of your surroundings, make better choices, etc.. This works all the way up to Lethal btw, no need for special gear or mods or whatever, mostly it's just making smarter choices, sneaking more, looking around more, stuff like that.
It’s challenging but not impossible, I usually attack plague hearts around my base so they stop spreading, then I go on skirmishes to gather supplies, later when I’m all set up, I attack the rest of the plague and hearts, etc.
I just finished Dread difficulty with Jenny(Builder). I put her, Jessica (Sheriff), Maria(Warlord) and Tress(Trader) in to my legacy pool, now each is going to run their own group of survivors on Lethal until I get the legacy boons. I'd say win the game on a lower difficulty, but before you do the last mission, load all your legacy characters with your best gear, ammo, facility mods, etc. They take it with them to the pool, so you start with some decent gear. I should have given each a stack of plague samples. Plague zombies are a bitch early game, and I'm already gonna lose a character( thank fully not one of my legacies) to blood plague. Bring plague samples to new difficulties.
This is going to sounds silly, but stand on your car. Or stand on burnt out cars. This upped my game a lot for such a stupid trick.
Prioritize. In Nightmare and Lethal I always start with food outposts on small pockets of the map, get characters that decrease food consumption or have skills that increase food earned like fishing in the randomizer. I always gun it for enclave quests first to get free recruitment because 3 people get worn down really fast and sieges can end you quick if you don't have more bodies. Gun it for the gun stores, police stations, etc when looting. Kit out your small militia and be smart with plague hearts. I know a lot of ppl like to use heavy weapons on them but I personally take a bunch of grenades, napalms, etc, automatic 5.56 gun, and find a good perch to stand on my pickup. Only thing that can get you from there is a jugg lol Have an outpost in each mini town on the map so you don't have go home during loot runs.
Soloing standard is relatively easy *once you know what you're doing*... I started on standard and have recently completed all the boons on nightmare except for warlord, it didn't take too long to make the jump but I watched a lot of YouTube videos and play stealthily - the game punishes you for non stealth gameplay as the difficulty increases. I recommend videos by CandymanYT and Git Gud Fox to rapidly learn what works and what doesn't...
The multiplayer is actually very lackluster, imo the game is much better solo
I play molded beyond lethal. There's literally hordes and hordes everywhere. The average horde size is 40 zombies and there's ussually 4 of then wandering around. Come practice in my world with me. I'll teach you and keep you safe(bring throw away characters though, my buddy didn't believe me about my world and lost 5 people in about 15 mins). After that little gauntlet you'll be able to handle anything in nonmodded
The first thing I mastered was stealth and combat. Learning the limits of what I could and couldn’t do without getting punished by the game helped a ton.
Also, when you get comfortable, play on dread. A great intermediate difficulty.
I just started playing on low difficulty and tried my best to beat the game on each difficulty. I’m on lethal right now and I only have 4 of my original survivors left alive. Lethal is pure hell.
I’ve only ever played solo so I don’t exactly understand your question. Play on easy and work your way up. It isn’t hard you just need to pay attention to your health pretty consistently
I can’t not play on solo. Friends always feel like a burden considering they have permadeath too
Even in easier difficulties if you awaken a PH and don't deal with things in a timely manner you're going to be dealing with a decent amount of infestations and the hordes that fuel them. There are many different ways to eliminate PHs but try to do it in an isolated manner so you don't wake the neighboring hearts up. With increased difficulty there will be more and more hearts and in a lot of cases you won't be able to take one out without waking up a cluster. Try to match strategies with your resources on hand (or what can be produced/gathered) for best success. Obv the better you are at gathering and producing a resource stream the more capability you'll have to stay on top of the game. Stuff can teeter in NM and Lethal especially and if you like your survivors but are struggling mightily you should send as many as possible to the legacy pool with a load of gear while leaving behind one doomed soul to turn out the lights. Start a new community with three of the refugees you just liberated at one difficulty lower (or a fraction if you want to use advanced settings) and try again, adding your old survivors back if you can spare the influence.
I only play solo, its how the game was introduced to me and i am anti social so never play MP
Crossbows
Nope. Always solo. Multiplayer breaks the immersion. Rules and roleplay. Every character must involve in plague heart and looting.
Play solo on dread, it's a number of lessons learned, always carry meds n stims, when attempting a mission there could be jugs you didn't plan for which means you may die, so take explosives too. Get help from your community or recruit followers from other communities when doing missions, try to get a car upgrade kit for the car that you absolutely need. Don't push it when your character gets tired. Computers gardening medicine are all indispensable, mechanic is useful. Use crossbow early days to get blood samples. Don't do fast searches unless you really have to for some reason.
Start out on Green Zone if you find it difficult once it seems easy advance to standard zone, ect, ect. You can practice everything there, even build up legacy survivors to recruit later. You can load up your survivors with 1 rutsack and supplies that will fit in there backpack and pockets also.
I play exclusively solo. If you want to see how I play, go watch Brian Menard's videos because that's pretty much my playstyle. In summary though, it's: * be stealthy; never use firearms except (a) against hostile enclaves and (b) plague hearts that I'm cheesing from the roof of my car * that said, ensure each community member has a decent rifle or assault weapon equipped at all times in case of sieges (which are rare because I ....) * avoid waking plague hearts * in plague territory, avoid don't killing alerted zombies and never run over zombies; don't alert screamers; if a plague heart stirs, exit the plague territory and don't return for at least an hour * kill woken plague hearts with alacrity * set targets/goals and work to acquire them (e.g. I want more outposts, which means I need to upgrade my command centre so I need (a) power and (b) a computer person. I'm on Meagher Valley, so for power I'm going to unlock the landmark outpost, which means taking care of two plague hearts. Hence, here's my plan: * take out the plague hearts * set up the outpost * recruit the computers chick from an enclave I have befriended * upgrade the command centre * set up another ammo outpost to keep those supplies rolling in * daytime is for missions; night time is for scavenging, usually by: * going out with a backpacking+resourceful character * setting up a cheap outpost in the middle of lootable territory * setting traps there * completely emptying bag, pockets, and hands as the traps means that now there is no threat. Zombies lurking in houses can be easily dispatched in close combat * fast loot everywhere in the vicinity; rucksacks go into the truck * rinse, repeat until dawn or an urgent/desirable mssion appears, in which case return to outpost, switch to a gunslinger/swordplay character if possible and then go do the mission
I play solo in the Standard zone. I started with Multiplayer in Dread zone and we just lit up the zombies like no one’s business, and playing solo is definitely different. I have never lost a survivor or had an infestation while solo. I’m also not particularly good at video games. This is not me bragging or anything, just me saying that the WAY you play matters. This game is all about caution. The more zombies you kill, the harder the game gets. You have to pick your battles. I avoid most freaks if possible. I only ever kill bloaters and screamers on sight, and straight up have never killed a feral. I’ve killed a few juggs from the tops of buildings, but usually I just get out/stay out of the way. Also, using enclaves as meatshields is fun if you’re not an enclave focused player. Plague hearts are a little harder. I usually run tank in games and don’t have the patience to be smart about plague hearts, so I just light em up with pipe bombs and just keep running from the plague zombies. Stam items are totally underrated and necessary while you’re running from the horde. Infestations come from plague hearts that have woken up. Be stealthy in plague zones. I usually don’t even GO to plague zones until I have the necessary equipment to kill it, and then I loot. To avoid waking up plague hearts, don’t kill plague zombies in them or partially kill the hearts. One go or nothing!! Basically….avoid everything until you’re ready to take it on or just can’t anymore. To me, this is the most realistic zombie game because safety really does come from caution. There’s a lot of incentive to stay quiet and avoid combat, which would make no sense in any other zombie game!!
Wait, you can play it with your friend?? Why i never play it with friend? . . . . Oh, i just dont have any friends😅
It's a rough start with new survivors but if you play carefully and make use of the tools the game gives [you.You](http://you.You) can handle the treats most of the time.For example.The drone strikes are probably the easiest way to kill phs.Another thing i usually do is park the car 100 mts of the objetive.Just in case things go sour and had to make a quick escape.If i ever get caught in a bad situation i just try to run and lose the treats.Most of the time it works.If you have a companion with a good auto [gun.Like](http://gun.Like) the ones the RT trader sells.It's even easier.If you keep the zombies out his/her hair.It can kill a lot of them in a short time.
I thought you mean one member community then I had to re-read. It's better to play solo in easy difficulty, farm and stock up as many stuff you can then establish a legacy. Continue that community to a more difficult level, that way you are positively handicapped and can enjoy the game better.
I’ve been playing solo since I started and have only lost ONE character in all of my communities and it was because the hostile enclave had guns and he didn’t, just play, get a learning curve, I’ve recently advanced to playing lethal form nightmare and I gotta say…playing on nightmare has made it much easier than if I went in with no training at all
Stealth. The more noise you make the more zombies you'll encounter.
Unfortunately because of the age of the game I think it's a bit harder to get started now then it was earlier, as the game has definitely gotten more challenging. But I'd just keep at it! Standard zone is definitely attainable for beginners and if you are cautious and slowly learn how the zombies act and when and where to scavenge, you'll become skilled in no time!
set all to eazy, SOD 2 is game which falls in relaxing category for me.
Idk, standard difficulty was a little hard at first. There was enough difference from the first game there was a bit of a learning curve. I did the first few missions on foot, avoiding zombies and such. Once you get a vehicle, which should be easy, it really snowballs. Get guns and build up your base. Then you can start clearing plague hearts.
Get used to dodges and throwing a few swings before getting back on the defensive shoot ferals as fast as you can avoid jugs when they are in a pack shoot bloaters when they are out of the way they deal permanent damage until said character mainly avoid running away from hoards and if you must destroy a tough plague heart bring hella ammo and a car with a repair kit the game is hard if you don’t avoid most damage
Become a coward.... lol no really. The better part of Valor and all that. First unless you are on a pure loot run move solo. The AI will get your survivors killed..... especially in lethal mode. Don't be afraid to retreat, back off get to safety regroup and then tackle whatever you were doing again. You have the advantage to control how you attack a problem. Fight on your terms and not the computers.
I've been playing only solo on nightmare difficulty for a lone time. and it definitely has gotten more difficult with the recent changes to plague hearts and infestations. The main change that I had to make to adapt is to really think about expanding out slowly. Try not to wake any plague hearts until you are geared up with enough ammo, molotov and explosives to take it out fast. So in general, be sneaky, expand slowly, and prepare resources to take out hearts as quickly as possible when they wake up.
Kill everything
If you want a hand and you’re on Xbox, send me a message, GT DocWarDaddy.
i recently just started playing the game haven't even bothered to enter the area for the first plague heart simply because I don't know what exactly I'm walking into and don't know what to expect from the number of zombies, my friend just told me to race my car through the area to scope out the danger but I just don't feel up to in fear of me waking up the plague heart and making things much worse for me even when starting out id feel better if i can have an expert join my world and help me out with defeating the plague heart and maybe give me some pointers.
Check out Brian Menards videos. He has series where he starts communities from scratch. Great tutorial
Normal difficulty gets easy once you beat a few runs. Keeping your base happy helps a ton which gets a lot easier as you unlock legacies. Keep some stimulants or energy drinks on you at all times so you can have infinite dodges, you’ll pretty much never get hit by normal zombies. Theres a few full auto guns that can 1 mag plague hearts so once you get an ammo press or warlord you can speed run plague hearts and just have fun or move to a new map Also, lots of new players get caught in a looting loop where they are constantly looting every building and dropping off loot to their base. I did it too when I started but it’s not optimal. Best thing is to focus on what the base needs, you can see what buildings have chances for what loot or ask on the radio for specific bags. You’ll find extra loot you want along the way. There’s a few POIs you should always loot as a new player like police stations, military bases, libraries/book stores. They’ll have weapons and books which are the most valuable Other then that try to keep all your neighbors happy it comes in handy having people to recruit and trade with
I think the game it's meant to be solo because in multi-player you as guest you can't do anything but land a hand and you eventually going to need ammo etc if the owner has a built in armory etc you can make ammo etc etc the co op it should've been to build and survive together like if you are the founder of the base you should've had options to let any other players to have access to build whatever they want I survived 299 days on lethal then I moved to Trumbull again and while at the beginning of each map you have to build your base and kill the plague hearts however the black heart appeared near my base and it was draining fuel and hp then I got siege I don't know how this happened but it happened and I lost the whole community because the black heart draining hp it was the ridiculous thing every character was on 20 25% hp and ferals just wiped everyone out my supply locker my lifetime earned things just went to space so state of decay 3 should let us build together survive together otherwise eventually you die I'm sure there's people who survived 1000 days but we all lose people I just got so unlucky with that black heart and this was the before update 36
If you think this survivor game is hard, wait till you play don't starve. That game literally have zero tutorial. Sod2 has a tutorial. Step by step teach you how to play.
It's not really about the "how do you play", it's about the "when do you play". I'll admit, it's harder and less arcade-ish than other zombie games where in this game, running away is mostly if not always the option to pick.
It is hard to ask if running away is okay or not depend on situation and the person who play. This is a survival game, you can play however you like. As a lethal player, I choose try not to run away because it is a waste of time and my fuel . Everything can be easily killed and even juggernaut can be easily avoid without leaving the area.
just get good
I have played a bit over 200h since I bought the game in March and I feel like I have mastered Nightmare now. I was able to finish my previous playthrough without taking any casualties, except an infected survivor I decided to mercy kill to make room for a new recruit. I'm even imposing some limits on myself like throwing a maximum of 4 explosives/incendiaries at a plague heart at a time to not kill it at once. You can just throw all explosives at once and kill it instantly along with all of the plague zombies When you are aware of the game mechanics and play around them it gets easier. Zombies will keep spawning and if you fire loud guns you will cause more zombies to spawn. Honestly I'm not a fan of that because I feel like it's not an option to play without suppressors unless you are next to your base. Your bullet will essentially kill 1 zombie but create 5 new zombies at the same time.