The Last Stand basics: defend, survive and collect

Playing The Last Stand: Dead Zone is about finding a balance between three survival goals: defending your base, keeping the survivors alive, and going out to collect resources.



Defensive structures for your base come in several shapes and sizes, but have more of a statistical purpose than that they actually significantly slow down the infected. You don't have to worry too much about where you place your defenses, they will always boost your team's morale.



As you need a lot of food and water to keep your team's morale up, it is important to make sure you have enough of it. In the example below, there is a production of 1 food/water per hour, but also a consumption of 16 food/water per day. To keep that up, you would need to play the game at least 4 times per day, every 4 hours, and that's just at the early point in the game. Providing more production outlets means you can keep playing the game without being forced to spent too much time on it.



Similarly important however is to have enough storage space so that the resources you collect won't be wasted. Make sure you build and upgrade the storage space roughly on equal levels, or you'll waste a lot of resources that can't be stored



Basic battle tactics

Battle tactics bounce between defending your base and defending yourself when you're out looting, and are somewhat different. The base rule is this: always stay together.

When you're defending your base, just make sure that your team is close to each other, and they will sort themselves out. Just be careful they don't scatter, or they may become overwhelmed.



Now, when you're elsewhere, your goal is not to stay alive for a certain time, but as you need to search the premises, you are more vulnerable. The best tactic is to move all your team members in pairs, and when one member is searching something (like a desk or a shelve), keep the other one right next to him. Also, if you have team members that have melee weapons, have them do the searching, so the team members with guns can more easy keep the infected at a distance.



Survivors and team members

Luckily, you're not alone in your fight for survival. Survivors are out there, but they will only come when you can provide them with a save base. By clicking on the blue bar at the top, you can see which requirements you have to fulfill for the next survivor to join your team.



When a new survivor joins your team, you get to choose which role they take on. The key to a good team, is to have members that add to the team's strength, to diversify. Make sure you always have a healthy balance of members skilled at melee combat and ranged combat.



While you can pick the members that most suit your style at your own accord, I would give you the tip to wait with the medic until you have at least 3 or 4 other team members. Because the medic is weak in fighting, you want to make sure there is a strong defense of other team members available for him.

When you level up, you get experience points you can spend different skills of your own character. As with choosing a role for new team members, make sure you find a good balance, not only in your own character, but also with the rest of your team.