State of Survival : Recruit a Zombie-Smashing Army
It seems that we are yet to have our full of the zombie apocalypse. In fact, this trope is making more and more sense for our contemporary minds, which we so readily abandon to technology. KingsGroup Holdings used the same mobile MMO recipe you find in Z Day, World War Rising, or West Game to come up with their new release, State of Survival. To this, they add a few zombies to spice things up. For more first impressions on SoS, feel free to check out our game review.
For now, we’d like to focus on the military tactics of this game, namely what it takes to build a zombie-smashing army. We mentioned the importance of troops in our tips and tricks article, but we didn’t get a chance to properly explain army compositions and unit characteristics. If you want to become a true military genius in the zombie apocalypse, this is where it all starts.
Your Troops in State of Survival
At a glance, you might be tempted to think that SoS is purely a conquest game. The Hero Precinct lets you go on the explorer trail and have fun blowing-up various monstrosities as they pile down on your small group of heroes. However, once you venture out of your base, into the Wilderness, and explore your surroundings, you soon realize that the game world is much bigger than your garrison. Basically, you can interact with other players, fight NPC zombies, harvest resources, and more.
Unlike the majority of MMOs that are similar to State of Survival, the troop mechanic is a bit more simplified this time around. This is definitely a bittersweet change. On the one hand, we love discussing military strategy with our fellow alliance members. On the other, we often felt that troops were unnecessarily complicating the game. In case you wanted to attack an enemy or defend against one, you couldn’t jump right into the action and see what happened.
In SoS, there are three major types of units – infantry, ranged, and vehicles. Each of them has their own building where they can be trained and upgraded: the Garage for Riders, the Barracks for the frontline Grunts, and the Range for the Hunters. As you might expect, the troops are deadlocked in a power triangle that guarantees they are strong against one type of enemy and weak against another. This effectively ensures that players aim for balanced army compositions, rather than going with just one type of unit throughout.
Become a Master of Army Comps
Before you start attacking other players, it’s crucial that you know your own army inside out. Here’s a rundown of all the troops you can recruit:
Infantrymen – these are your Grunts, Heavies, Rushers, Blasters, and so on. On all tiers, there are two types of Infantrymen. Some of these units are good against Ranged (Grunts), while others fare much better against Vehicles (Heavies). Basically, your army’s frontline has to contain both types of infantry if you want to survive the onslaught. They have the highest Health and Defense out of all unit types, but the lowest Attack and Lethality potential.
Vehicles – these are, by far, the coolest ones you can recruit, complete with quads or bikes that are just out of this world. Again, one kind is great against Ranged, while the other are meant to run down opposing Infantry. We’d prioritize the latter category on a 2/3 ratio, since clearing your adversary’s frontline will maximize your damage potential. In turn, this will exponentially increase their losses. In terms of stats, Vehicles have average Health and Defense, with a good deal of Attack and Lethality.
Ranged – these units are the backbone of any exceptional military force. As usual, depending on who you recruit, they’ll be stronger against Infantry or Vehicles. They have incredibly low health, but really high Attack and Lethality. If you manage to keep them alive long enough, they’ll slaughter everybody in sight.
To increase your army’s strength, you can head over to the Research Lab and invest into researching upgrades for each of these troop categories. Ideally, you’ll want to upgrade the building first, as well as assign some points in your Hero Talent Tree before proceeding with the truly lengthy timers.
Both the upgrades and your hero’s talents can significantly speed up the timers, thereby saving you tens of hours’ worth of waiting.
Advanced Tips for Troop Composition
Fighting against NPC zombies and battling other players are two different things, so you’ll want to adjust your army configuration accordingly. Fighting against Lurkers in the Wilderness is mostly a game of who has the most power. If you are much stronger than your enemies, there’s nothing else to worry about.
However, defeating enemy players is not going to be an easy task. Firstly, they can adjust their army composition to have an advantage over your own battalions. Secondly, players can also retaliate, sometimes with stronger friends or entire alliances. Both of these aspects must be properly accounted for before launching an attack. Many serious alliances require you to ask for permission to PvP and understandably so, since they have to help out if things go south.
Unfortunately, you can only have one Hospital, so you’d better max it out before engaging in a serious war effort. The more advanced it is, the more troops it can heal and bring back to your squadrons for free.
Overall, a good rule of thumb is to stack close to 40% of your march with both kinds of Infantry, and split the remainder between Ranged and Vehicles. If you do happen to go head to head with a stronger opponent, your biggest losses will be the cannon fodder that is easy to replenish anyway.
In the long run, the individual who manages to be more cost-effective will likely win a PvP war. The only situation where this is not the case is if you’re going against somebody who is constantly paying to win. These tips will help you be on your way to an effective State of Survival army. Still, nothing comes close to first-hand experience in combat, so you’d better get out there and start shootin’!
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