I tried making the walls of text easier on the eyes... So Lately I have been... uh.. studying... infection. Trying to find different tactics to win at it. What i have found is if you don't camp, you will win more infection games. Its just a correlation of course. And also I'm not anti-camping, I just see it as a another strategy. And it this case it doesn't work, yet people continue to do it. So I was wondering, why it doesn't work and so I came up with this: Defining terms: Spoiler Half Off (Edit 3), I define "camping" as just holding a position for a majority of - if not the entire - time. You can camp in the middle of a field... A "camping spot" generally is referring to a position in which people camp. In Halo they usually involve bottlenecks, or hard to reach locations, though they don't have to be either of these. What makes a "Camping spot" different from a "Defensible Position" Is movement. A "defensible position" is more like an invisible generator that you are protecting. You may be constantly moving away from - and around - it, though you are always returning to that certain area. A "camping spot", is like in the beginning of the game, defining a little square that you promise to yourself that you won't leave unless you really have to. During the game you might accidentally deviate from your little square, but upon noticing you try returning to the square as soon as possible. There are two other (main) strategies, that differ than "camping"; "Roaming" and Defending Your Position. The Reason Why I don't differentiate the two is that it is hard to distinguish the two due to the size of the maps in Reach. The difference between Defending a position and Roaming in Reach is that with a "Defensible Position" You constantly have an area in mind that you fall back to, though with roaming you are taking a more nomadic stand; relying on whatever is closet and gives you the best tactical advantage in your immediate situation. On, say, The cage Roaming and Defending a Position should indistinguishably similar. Why Camping doesn't always work Spoiler First Off, when you camp, you are usually camping with people. This means you are competing for kills. You will always get less kills with people than when you're lone wolfing it. Second Off, when you are camping your essentially cornering yourself. What make camping attractive is it theoretically means you will survive longer. This is not necessarily true. The zombies are constantly trying to find ways to kill you. The moment you kill someone in your camping position, ALL the zombies will know where you are. This means the entire rest of the round will include you getting attack. Therefore it's just a matter of time till your little camping spot is infiltrated; and when they do, you will have nowhere to run except through a bunch of zombies. Third Off, When you camp, say, on the rocks on Asylum, The zombies usually spawn on the other side of the level, which means they will have to traverse the entire level to kill you. Also when you camp for a while, the zombies will slow down a bit as they try to find different ways into your spot. It may not seem like it, but this eats up a lot of time. Time that could be used for zombie hunting. Fourth Off, when you are actively seeking out zombies, you are putting them on the defensive. This is a good thing, because the zombies have to change up their strategy a little bit, which make people do some weird stuff sometimes. People underestimate how powerful you are as a human/uninfected. You have short range and mid/long range capabilities. You can outrun the zombies (depending on the circumstance), you have more control over your character - while the zombies are constantly evade WAAY past there intended target; jumping as a zombie is basically making them immobile for a few seconds. As a human, you are like a mini juggernaut almost. Some strategy tips I came up with Spoiler -"Not camping" should look like this: in the beginning of the level sprint to the other side of the... level. When you make it there, start running from room to room holding your position for max 30 seconds and then moving on. Try going to where the zombies would be while keeping as far away from the inevitable "camping spots" as possible. -Having a buddy with you is great. While you will get less kills. You are also more than doubling your chances of survival. -Don't be afraid of open spaces, in fact open spaces are alot better than close off ones. Always be checking your radar, and if you see a red dot, chase it. Of course, there will be the time when the zombies will see your red dot first and will chase you. During that..event.. you can choose to hang back (but try to be closer to the zombie than they would expect) or you can meet them half way (when they are coming around a corner, you be coming around the corner too, but with you shotgun ready). - When you are at mid distance from a zombie (evade range), sprint at them. If they evade, they will go way past you, if the don't evade, you can get into range for a shotgun kill, it's beautiful really. -Use you pistol as much as possible, You only want to use you shotgun when you can get a one shot kill with it. By not camping you tend to use a lot of bullets.. And nothing is crappier than having to rely on your pistol in close range situations. -When 2 zombies are coming toward you at the same time and at the same distance away from you. Charge one of them, and put a reasonable gap between you and the other one. You can't kill two zombies at a time. -In the event that your surrounded, RUN! Seriously, if you try running through the nearest gap, chances are that you will make it. I wish I had bungie pro so i could render up a video of what Im talking about; But people suck at controlling their character when they're a zombie. Say you are in a room, with 2 or 3 entrances. You are the last man standing and everyone is flooding into the room. Most people will be Evading into and around the room trying to get close to you, If you pick least populated exit, and just sprint out of it, there is a surprisingly large chance that you will not get killed. Immediately following your exit if you spin around, you toward the now perusing zombies, you can probably get 2 or 3 kills - while if you had stayed in the room and went all "no regrets!" on them, you would most likely get 1 kill. maybe, if the zombies are mentally challenged or have no hand-eye coordination at all or are entering the room at a stagger, 2 kills. Edit 2: Of course there are a few camping spots (or A camping spot) that generally are (is) a guaranteed win. One would be the higher ledge on sword base. Whenever people go up there I send them a "Game ruined" Message - unless they didn't ruin the game - and if I can, Ill try to get the zombies NOT to pursue. Another (sometimes) is on top of the tower on Pinnacle. Camping tower + Good At halo = Andrebondu, 39... damn meh?
This "not camping" strategy MIGHT work but you would basically get screwed over because even if YOU don't die with 1 less human camping with them THEY will die faster. (probably) And once you are the last man standing zombies are going to be flying out of your... behind... faster than you can pull the trigger.
But that's the fun part On topic, finally somebody agrees with me, I've been trying to get this into my friends for a long, long time.
There's camping... and camping correctly. I've played a couple of Infection games on Reach and find people camp in the wrong spots. Ideally, you want every possible way to get you within one field of vision. Any time you have to turn to look, it's an opportunity for a zombie to slip in. Ideally, you want to bottleneck the zombies. If you can bottleneck zombies so they can only come in one at a time, then the strategy is simple... have two people with shotguns guarding that way in, and alternate killing zombies. The problem with roaming around is... you don't know if someone is camping around a corner waiting for you to come to them. That's how I play. I don't give in to conventional ways of thinking when it comes to infection. I stay hidden and let the humans come to me. Unfortunately most players that are infected play like the AI in campaign... with no thinking involved.
There's "camping" and there's "defending a position". If there's only one way in, it's a choke point, and it's always within your field of vision, then that's a camp spot. The zombies might be able to bring you down with sheer strength in numbers, but not after giving you a ridiculously high score. A defensible position, on the other hand, is strategic, gives you a slight advantage, but it is still dangerous and can still be overwhelmed without knocking the occupying humans' scores to the top of the board. Powerhouse's bathrooms, Asylum's rooftops, Zealot's space, and two or three spots on Boardwalk are camp spots. Powerhouse's cliffs (near the gate) and Reflection's top floor are a defensible position. The Cover, Glass on The Cage is something in between, as are Countdown's outdoor area and the bottom of Sword Base's red lift.
Ah, yes, I forgot about the cliff. That, too, is something in between a camp spot and a defensible position -- very easy to camp and take out zombies from afar, yet also still easy to be overwhelmed, provided you don't have at least two allies with you.
Exactly, though based on the way people play infection, I found that on average you do better by nomading. Also I would argue that "the ideal bottleneck" would be perfect if the object of the game was to survive a certain about of time, while running is good when your trying to get the most kills. As for the hiding behind the corner, do you really camp around corners the entire game? [br][/br]Edited by merge: Sometimes, you would be right. There have been a lot of game where i've seen that guy on the cliff killing everyone and getting a highscore, though Im saying that through testing my theory in game, I found you actually will get more points by roaming.. I do understand that the camping strategy makes more sense, and im sure you could get a thousand videos in which the camper get a ridiculous amount of points. Though I would say that you find more instances of the camper win, simply because usually everyone in the game is "camping" are at least trying to find a place to camp.
As a zombie... yes. It makes no sense for me to make a player think he's good if you play by their rules and keep assaulting them and dying so they can rack up points. Play the waiting game and they'll eventually get anxious and come looking for you. You take advantage of your strengths and most zombie games have zombies with swords or other close quarter combat weapons. Humans usually have a range weapon of some sort. It only makes sense to play to your strengths and use stealth... especially since all of these variants give humans radars.
I'm just gonna say I really hate that they added evade to the infection game mode. But maybe I'm biased, because I loved playing infection on Halo 3. Every time it came around during double XP, I'd play anywhere from 20-50 games with my friends. But the thing I liked about Halo 3 is that the zombies had to utilize stealth a lot more. Lately, zombies rely on evade, and as a human I always get screwed over by it. I just find it really frustrating, because I have really good reflexes with the shotgun, yet it doesn't really matter anymore because zombie's will just evade right towards me. I'd always "zombie hunt" in Halo 3, but in Reach I die way too fast. Oh well.
...Or they can stay in Zealot's space (example) and kill all of the other zombies, who will run out and die endlessly in a vain attempt to overwhelm the camper. Of those who run out and die endlessly, I'm willing to venture that half of them are intelligent players who (rightly) don't think the other zombies would coordinate and cooperate should they try to play the waiting game that you like to use. In smaller, enclosed spaces, Evade is fairly balanced. A zombie can use it to dodge a shotgun blast or two, but chances are, they'll evade into a wall or something. In other words, in small spaces, Evade is only useful as a defensive tool rather than an offensive aid. I do agree though that Evade is a pain in the ass otherwise, save for movement- and anti-camping-related purposes.
I'm pretty sure they got rid of the space area in Matchmaking. Just pointing that out there. Also, great read! I will be sure to try this later as I actually like infection in Reach.
To be honest, I've only played maybe 8 games of infection, because I was getting frustrated and not having much fun. I guess predicting the zombies movements with evade has a learning curve to it..I just can't be bothered to try and become skilled at predicting it. From the 25 or so rounds I played, I find that zombies evade past me but manage to kill me before I can even turn around to shoot them. And if I'm the last man alive, I become so screwed it's not even funny. Even if I've found a decent spot to hide at. In Halo 3 you would still be screwed as the last human alive, but at least you could pull off a decent last stand. I'd often rack up between 8-12 kills with my pistol before finally being subdued. Sadly I can't see that ever happening in Reach. In fact I'd be happy if I got that many kills out of a game in Reach :\
If evade is an issue for you, take it out of the equation and back yourself up against a rock wall if you can... and climb as high as you can.
I find sitting around a corner is too boring for me, I normally wait for a while then decide to move and as soon as I do someone comes up behind me n kills me so I prefer to roam around n enjoy myself whether I die or not.
What I have Noticed, is that people play infection only to survive as long as possible as a human, while having the most points at the end of the game is less important. I think this is why people prefer to camp over running around and getting kills. I first noticed this in halo 3. I made a map, where there were these stair step things. You would start on the top step and on each stair step below was a stronger weapon then the higher step. If you were to go down a step though you also would be getting closer and closer to the infected's spawn, also you wouldn't be able to get back up the steps. It was an interesting experiment - the one time I played it with enough people - as people would rather run out of ammo on the top step than go a step down and get the stronger weapon (start with smg;Then AR, Pistol, Second Pistol, DMR.). If bungie somehow made a gametype that emphasized survival, and build a map eliminating all the "cheap camping places" and had more "defensible positions" rather. Beyond being a fun gametype in general, I think "camping" would be more of a strategy and much more teamwork friendly. As for "Evade", I think it is a perfect edition to infection. The thing is, if sprint was the equipment for zombies instead of evade, people would just quit when they became a zombie because it would be impossible for them to kill the humans. The entire game would be reduced to "the humans camping a hall way, game over..."
I definitely agree that evade is a great addition to infection. I despised the infection games where humans just raped zombies (pretty much every game). At least now with evade, the zombies increase their chances of killing someone.
as with everything, surviving is really about teamwork. I can never survive that long on my own, which is why I only play infection with friends. I prefer to play zombie actually, as I'm quite good with the sword. I LOVE that they added evade for the zombies, if you save it until you're in view it gives you a little something up your sleeve. Rather than just assaulting and getting headshotted over and over and over until you get the person. I'd like to see some time of "specters" or "ghosts" game with low lighting, and all the zombies having hologram. (and no names above the heads, so if they're walking in a straight line you can't tell who is real or not)
That actually makes a lot of sense, but there are some instances where its better to camp. I'm gonna give this a shot though lol
Yeah, some instances its better to camp, if you can be the only person to get to a hard-to-reach camp spot, or if you're on pinnacle, as you're essentially invincible in the right spot, and will get a lot of kills. But generally you can get a good streak by running around.