There are a lot of new games coming out on Steam these days and jumping into one of them can be daunting. You don’t know what to expect and some players want to learn how the game works before going in.
One of the new games out there is Infection Free Zone, a zombie survival game where you control a settlement of survivors. It’s set in a zombie apocalypse but uses real-world maps that you can choose.
In this guide, we’ll show you some tips and tricks to help you get started in an Infection Free Zone. We’ll review what you should prioritize in loot and what to do from the start. Now let’s see if we can survive this zombie apocalypse!
Complete Beginner’s Guide
There are many things you’ll need to learn and juggle around with in Infection Free Zone. It’s an overall management game and you’ll need to keep your eyes on a lot of things to survive. Here are some tips that will help you survive longer in the game.
Looting Tips
At the start of the game, it’s best to start creating new squads. You’ll want to have 3 squads at the start and you can create new ones using the button at the upper right of the screen.
The third squad will have 2 pistols and 2 machetes, so you’ll need to arm them first. Send this squad to loot weapon buildings, the ones with the badge icon.
At the start, you should prioritize getting food and wood. The first one is obvious, you’ll need food to survive. The second one is because you’ll need a lot of wood for most of the early buildings like Research Centers or Wooden Towers.
NOTE: As of now, wood from trees is limited since they don’t grow back. Buildings, however, can be respawned back when loading a save.
You can loot wood by destroying buildings or cutting trees down using the Area Work Menu on the lower left of the screen. It’s a lot easier if you’re on a map with a lot of forests.
Vehicle Mechanics
Once you’ve explored more of the map, you’ll encounter abandoned vehicles. These are great tools to make your scavenging easier, since it can carry a lot of loot. Assign a squad to it with a right-click and you can control and right-click on a building to begin looting with it.
The squad will automatically loot the building and put the goods inside the car. You can then select the vehicle with your squad in it and right-click on the HQ to deposit the resources.
Vehicles need gas to operate and can be damaged by zombies or raiders. You’ll need to get some gas to keep the vehicle topped up and repair it when it gets too damaged.
To refuel a vehicle, just send it back to the HQ and it’ll automatically do it. You can also press the wrench icon on the Vehicle’s card on the upper right to repair it.
Another use for vehicles is being a mobile pillbox. Survivors can shoot out of vehicles at zombies or raiders, just remember to not get your car destroyed!
The best way to maximize your firepower is by giving the #2, #3, and #4 Survivors an Assault Rifle. The #1 Survivor of the squad is always the driver, so they can’t shoot out of vehicles.
Building Defences
Depending on your resources, you’ll want to build either wooden or brick walls around your base. It doesn’t need to cover the entire base; you can also just use them to funnel zombies to a kill zone.
If there is a close entrance to where the zombies are, they’ll mostly ignore walls. If you put walls on your entire base, then they’ll start attacking them to get through.
Another great way to defend your base is by building towers, wooden ones being the weakest in terms of HP. They can be equipped with firearms and shoot over walls and some buildings. Also, they aggro zombies away from buildings since they seem to target them first when they’re nearby.
NOTE: When a tower’s been built, it will default to choose the pistol as its weapon even if you don’t have them. Make sure to switch them to bows if you don’t have firearms!
Food and Population
In the early game, you’ll want to get survivors that are running around the map. They’re a great way to add to your workforce or add more squads to join the scavenging.
When you research and build an Antenna, you’ll have a chance to invite them through the radio. After you do that, you’ll get a small chance of a group of survivors going directly to your HQ.
More hands to work also means more mouths to feed. Remember to keep an eye out for your food stocks. 1 Can of Food or Cooked Meal can feed 4 people a day, so keep that in mind.
Inviting too many survivors is the easiest way for you to lose the game since they’ll eat through your food stocks quickly. When you run out of food, your workers will start dying off so avoid that!
Research
One of the important buildings you’ll want to establish is the Research Center. Once you’ve built one, you’ll get access to the research mechanic. This is also where you can get research books passively, so you don’t have to scavenge for them.
NOTE: Like for all structures, the bigger the building is the more workers you can put in it, that goes for the Research Center as well. If you want to make a lot of research books, pick a big building!
With research unlocked, you can start researching new buildings and production. There are a lot to choose from like better farming or firearm and ammunition production.
With all of those tips and tricks, you’re ready to go play Infection Free Zone! Now, go out there and try to survive the apocalypse. Up next, why not check out our guide on how Expeditions work?
