The game counts how many times you die and shows it to you on the “Team” menu tab of the game. If you care about keeping that number low, and maybe even “0” throughout your entire play-through then this guide is definitely for you.

If not, then this should at least help you minimize your deaths and help to save some personal face...

I see this question asked often. For my current opinion, up to and including the "Resistance Update" then please read my review:

https://steamproxy.net/id/wizardmirth/recommended/704270/

1. This guide assumes you are among those that have relatively few bugs and crashes and can generally play the game with no major issues like frequent crashes or corrupted saves. I won’t mention bugs unless it’s something I’ve personally experienced and have heard (in most cases at least) other players mention as well. (For more about BUGS see Section 9.)
   
   
2. Also, this guide is generally meant for solo play so I don’t cover any group tactics at all. If you’re looking to start the game with a group of two or more and don’t know how to play that well (or at all) then you should still find this guide useful.
   
   
3. I may not be playing this game across each and every update, however, I reserve the right to update or correct any portion of my guide should something come to attention that may need to be corrected. (Between FNIX patch and Resistance Update, for example, I did not play any of those updates.)
   
   
   • Look for the "🔥FNIX Patch" tag for something that's been annotated specifically with this patch in mind.
     
   • And look for the "⚠️Resistance Update" tag for something that's been annotated specifically with this patch in mind, or just ⚠️to simply mark an update made while playing this patch.
     
   • In addition, you can find the most recent updates listed in the "Guide Updates" section at the end of this guide.

There is really no benefit in picking a higher mode of difficulty over another so far as getting any kind of better loot is concerned. It just means that enemies are more buffed (have more health and do more damage) the higher up you go in difficulty. If you are new to this game then just pick "Adventurer" (easy) or "Skirmish" (normal), though for brand new players I would recommend "Adventurer" in order to better get you used to the game.

But picking "Skirmish" or "Guerrilla" (hard) is not going to net you any added loot or XP over the easy mode. These can be changed at any time mid-game as well, so you're not committed once you choose.

⚠️However, once you are ready to hunt "Rivals" (a special class of enemies that may drop rare and special loot) then I recommend changing the difficulty to highest when you're at level 25 or higher and hunt only the highest *Level 4* Rivals - see the FNIX note just below), based on what developers have said in these posts:

...on higher difficulties the chance of spawning a Rival is higher. Rivals give some of the overall best loot, making playing on a higher difficulty setting that much more appealing when hunting for Rivals.

Source - https://steamproxy.net/app/704270/discussions/0/3114771547427209056/

Originally posted by kissemiss:

Originally posted by Jannik:

How can I get X Weapons? I tried it on Himjfäll and was Region Level 20 and killed a level 4 apocalipse tank and got a stupid 5 crown jacket. I tried it for a long time but I never had luck so can anybody give me some tips to get some X Weapons it would be really nice if someone help.

Exp. Weapons drop from Rival enemies when you're level 25 or higher. If you're going after the Reaper you might get really lucky and get the Exp. Sledgehammer to drop!

Source - https://steamproxy.net/app/704270/discussions/0/3117034127829730839/

🔥FNIX Patch: Experimental weapons drops (the best weapons in the game) were reported by many players to be very rare. But since this patch I believe they upped the drops a little. Just keep in mind that you have to be at least level 25 to even potentially see any still as far as I know. And if you're lower level it doesn't seem like you get anything very special from killing Rivals (maybe some unique clothes at least). In my opinion, so far as I can tell, I would wait until you are level 25 or higher and then start taking them out wholesale (make sure they're at their max level of 4 in order to have the highest chance for finding something juicy).

If you care about not dying or at least keeping that number as low as possible, then you might want to consider playing a short-lived "practice" character.

Set the game to "Adventurer" (easy) difficulty if it's not already that by default. Just so you know, the game can still be hard on this setting, especially the further you progress in the game. There's no shame here in getting used to this setting first, even if you usually start your new games in "normal" mode. Especially for new solo players, this game can often get very brutal.



Your "practice" character end-game goals can be:

1. Decide how many lives you want to have before restart. (I recommend at least 6.)
   
2. See if you can survive without running out of ammo and then not be hard-pressed to find more without getting into some nasty combat situation.
   
3. Get to and entirely clear the church mission (kill all enemies and loot everything), which is only like 2 or 3 missions into the game.
   
4. Any combination of the above you like.
   
5. Break your own rules and take it even further at that point if you want.

This way you are training yourself on what to expect and how to start avoiding some deaths for longer-term play. Of course if you have no deaths by the end of any of the first few missions then you should certainly keep playing the same character for at least a few more. Just watch for how new combat situations can generally scale up the more you progress.

📝 Note: When ready to restart you have to delete your existing character in order to reset the world, otherwise you'll just be going through emptied areas that your practice character already looted. That is because if one character already exists, any new ones you create will share that same exact campaign / world. See the next section for ways around this if you want to be able to float between different characters in their own exclusive world-spaces.

There are three different ways of doing this...

1. From the starting in-game menu, delete your all existing characters if you don't plan on playing those again. Then just create a NEW character and start the game.
   
2. Create another steam account and family-link it to this game. (You will not be able to play with steam offline, however, because the linked account will not be credited with owning the game even though it will be able to play on it and have its own save data.)
   
3. Turn off "Steam Cloud" for this game and change the name of your save folder to something else. (Just to be extra safe, you can back it up elsewhere as well, but the changed name itself should serve just fine as your backup.) You can do this as many times as you want (renaming each default save folder created by the game) for as many different characters as you want to have their own dedicated world. Then when changing characters, all you have to do is change the name back to "Saves" for whichever character you want to switch to.

The third one is probably the best way to go since it doesn't require logging into another steam account, can be played with steam fully offline, and has no limit on how many of these different saves you can juggle between.

• Turn off Steam Cloud: From your Library list, Right-click on "Generation Zero", select "Properties," select "Updates" tab, and uncheck "Steam Cloud" at the bottom.
  
• Find your GenZ "Saves" folder: It's usually located under:
  "C:\Users\Your Name\Documents\Avalanche Studios\GenerationZero"

⚠️As of the "Resistance Update,"⚠️the game still caps players at 31 levels. And for every one new level after the first you earn exactly one skill point. This means that you get 30 points in total, which means you will only be able to unlock so many skills available in this game. And you are meant to because the system is primarily designed for multiplayer. This means they want different players to have different skills that can compliment one another in a team effort.

Also keep in mind that there's no official in-game skill reset option (although I've heard there's a mod you can use to reset your points – if interested in that then please research that yourself since I haven't had time to test it myself yet).

So whether you are playing solo or multi, I would encourage you to at least somewhat plan out your spending to make sure that you get the skills that you want. My guide is not going to break down every skill for you, but rather show what skills I get and how I use some of them in my own solo games.

Go to Section 7 of this guide if you want to read about my recommended spending of skill points for solo play. Just please make sure to read the disclaimer there (in short: that I'm not responsible if you end up not liking what I recommended).

If you are of the mind to play solo but play online and allow random strangers in to potentially help you and have some fun with, DON'T. Other people can get ahead of you and start/finish quests and take items that you may never be able to get again within your particular campaign. Play offline or at least make it "invite only/private" until you get very comfortable with the game. Even then you should closely monitor any strangers joining your game on the world map. You can kick anyone you want if you are host, but again, if you're new, just focus on learning the game first without strangers potentially muddling up your personal progress.

Host Disconnect Bug: Rarely, if your steam is online but even if your game is set to private, you may get a "host disconnect" message which could make you lose progress if you were in the middle of something like a mission or battle. If it happens often you should play with steam completely offline. (If you want to reference my guide while playing and switch between game and guide then first open my guide in a web browser and then close steam and go offline.)

🔥FNIX Patch: It's possible the host disconnect bug was fixed. I got a message from the game once saying that I was not online, but it did not boot me out of my session.

Don’t go up the road past the cop car or too far from the starting village until you’re ready. There are enemies in other places nearby that the game missions will never guide you towards, but if you ever feel ready, there is some good extra starting loot there if you can tackle the enemy groups.

The safe areas to check is everything in the immediate starting area, which includes the dock, shack by the water, and the cars across the field from the house (there is an inaccessible red building there).

🎯 Tactical Tip #1: Ticks should be little to no problem, but you can always "kite" runners back towards good ole 'home sweet home'. They can still kill you there of course, but at least this way you have excellent cover. (More on general tactics below.)

🎯 Tactical Tip #2: There is MUCH more loot north of the immediate starting area in a handful of different spots that no mission will ever specifically guide you towards (with one "side mission" exception you can pick up down the road). But there may be one or more "hunters" (they're harder than runners) lurking there along with the regular runners, so be careful. Also, if you see a two-door shed with all locked doors, you can't open those yet until you unlock the necessary skill, even if you happen to have any lock-picks on you (more on skill tree later).

This may sound quite obvious to some but for the benefit of everyone else I'm just going to get this out of the way right here:

CONSERVE AMMO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

Why should I say this, you might ask? Well, I have seen some people complain about running out of ammo early on or throughout the game. I've also seen some people suggest using the "Salvage" perk in the TECH tree which increases your ammo finds.

THAT PERK IS NOT NECESSARY IN THIS GAME.

I have never needed this perk and in fact, after getting the first level of it (+50%) on my first "non-practice" play-through I eventually ended up having more ammo than all my storage could handle and had to drop some of it.

LOOT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

A good general ratio to keep in mind is 75% looting to 25% combat. Even at around 50/50 you shouldn't be running out of ammo. I very rarely run out of ammo, even on my 19th level character (second play-through) which does not even have the Salvage perk.

Of course, sometimes you might have to rotate your carried arsenal using different guns with different ammo types and that's okay - that's what looting everything and global storage is for. But honestly I don't even have to do that myself very often. I can usually stick to my first three or four choices in carried weapons and may only have to rotate one gun out once in a while.

🌠 The More You Know: For example, don't waste a lot of ammo in a big fight and then run away unless absolutely necessary. You should be finishing fights and looting those bodies and any nearby containers thoroughly. Of course, you might have to pick and choose your battles at first and practice shooting a bit to get used to the game. On my very first "practice" play-through, in fact, I ran out of ammo and deleted the character and restarted before I got very far in the game. Then on my first "non-practice" play-through I was able to conserve ammo much more efficiently.

In short, get used to the guns, weak or not, and try your best to conserve ammo and keep your loot-to-combat ratio higher on the looting end. And always a good rule of thumb: When in any new areas (or revisiting respawned loot areas) then loot everything thoroughly!

The game's inventory system can be tedious to use, especially when trying to swap out your miscellaneous hotkey items. This goes double or triple if you need to do this in the middle of battle. When precious seconds count, always make sure you have reliable cover from inside a building in these cases. And away from any walls that may have explosive power panels behind them (see Section 4b).

➥ Tip #1: Hitting the "I" key brings you straight into the inventory, same as "M" does for map, even if you're using a controller.

➥ Tip #2: You can help to reorder/regroup your master "All" list by dropping groups of items and then picking them up again for inventory, or taking them out and then dropping them into your storage. (For example, drop all -or in separate groups- of your miscellaneous "Equipment" tab items on the ground and then start by picking up all your healing items first, then everything else. This will put all of your healing items at the top of the list when you next go to the "Equipment" tab.) Granted, this is not an ideal method, simply a bit of a workaround to help better sort your gear. Also anything with attachments will become unequipped when dropping them on the ground, so don't forget to reequip them again.

⚠️Resistance Update: Currently broken. Now if you try the above method to re-sort your gear it seems to place it in an order that I cannot identify or it's just random. (If anyone can identify the pattern of how it gets sorted into your inventory then please let us know in the comments. So far, it looks like it sorts items with quality levels by highest to lowest, but I have no idea how this affects sorting non-quality level items like healing and flares.)

⚠️I added a post to the official forum topic about this: https://forum.generationzero.com/t/feedback-request-sorting-items-in-the-inventory/31526/35 Looks like they my add some sort of sorting options to one of their future updates and have asked the community for feedback.

💥 Exploit #1: If after looting you get encumbered (can't sprint or move) and you want to deposit items in your global storage without leaving anything behind, you can exit to menu and reload. This puts you back at your nearest safe-house every time. This can be convenient if you're playing solo.

💥 Exploit #2: Miscellaneous items like flares that are not in containers but lying out in the world will immediately respawn any time you reload your save. I don't think this ever works for guns found outside of containers.

I see a lot of people complaining about the global storage being too small and it makes me sad. There's absolutely no reason to hoard stuff that you're probably never going to use any way. If you happen to hit full capacity then it's likely that you're doing one or more things wrong.

• Start with the smallest caliber ammo and guns and get rid of them, like the .32. Are you really going to use all that .32 ammo when you have higher caliber ammo and guns to use? I personally keep one of each gun type I can find of the best quality of and all the ammo I collect and I still have some room.
  
• Don't hoard radios and gas tanks and use them all as much as possible. They are very commonly found throughout the game map. Use them as much as possible or just never pick them up.
  
• Flares and fireworks should also never be stored but used as often as possible. Or, again, just never pick them up.
  
• Recycle lower quality guns and attachments. This point may seem blatantly obvious but I'm just going to say it anyway for the sake of this section. There's no need to keep more than one of the highest quality gun (by ammo type) you can find, and even then that's probably just for the sake of boasting a collection.
  
• Get both carry skill perks if you are a serious hoarder in games. It won't increase your global storage but at least this way you will be able to carry more on your person.

I don't want to have to sound obvious here, but seriously, toss anything you're not going to use. This game is about using what you find and not hoarding everything endlessly. The fact that they give you some limited global storage is all you need.

Whenever you are down 25 health or more, use the weakest one ("simple first aid kit") which is all you can find in the early game usually.

If you are down less points, you can still top off your health if you have a bunch. Just don’t go crazy using them and always try and have a decent reserve ready for tight spots. Like at least 5-10 if you’re planning on engaging a group of enemies.

➥ Tip: If you're planning on ending your session and are wounded, don't waste a healing item. Every reload resets your health back to full. ;/

🌠 The More You Know: There are some "standard first aid" kits (which heal 50 health each) scattered out in the open in certain areas in the starting zone where enemies may be lingering.

As soon as you see the “warning” meter in white just start to fill, if you immediately crouch then it should disappear. White basically means: "Watch out, an enemy is near you but isn't sniffing you out just yet!" Try and scout the direction it’s in, creeping forward in crouch.

If the meter turns orange then one or more enemies are noticing “something” in your direction and are more than likely moving towards you to investigate. AND LISTEN. They make certain distinct sounds as well when the meter goes orange (think: 'AI bot senses potential security threat' type sound), so it can help to get used to that as well.

You can move back to try to get the meter back to white again or prepare to attack before they can fully engage you in combat mode: (in which case the marker turns red then disappears and combat music will keep playing until it’s over).

Inexperienced or uncertain players should never wait to attack once the enemy has already engaged you. If you feel ready to try and take one out, snipe it first, even if all you have to start is the lousy .32 pistol.

The first enemies are “runners” (robot dogs) or ticks (they look like overgrown robot ticks). In either case, just aim for the red tanks on their back (their "fuel cells"). If you miss just unload on it with your best aim or run away and find cover and repeat. If you can’t find a building to duck into or don’t want to run that far back, you can use trees as cover, just be extra careful if you’re taking on more than one runner at a time. (More on general combat tactics later.)

📝 Note: You don't HAVE to only attack their fuel cells. You can tear them down bit by bit, by stripping down their other "components". But hitting fuel cells are pretty much an instant kill for the lower level enemies at least. (See" General Tactics" below for more on this.)

🔥FNIX Patch: Prone position is now available, which suffice it to say makes you even stealthier than crouch does. Careful though, since enemies will still spot you if you are close enough.

⚠️Ticks now seem to be catatonic most of the time. Sneaking up on and shooting them is extremely easy so please keep that in mind when reading this section.

Ticks can be highly annoying because they jump at you and can chase you through doorways if they see you. If you can’t snipe-kill them, dodge their jump as best you can and open up on them as they’re recovering on the ground. They will turn and move away a bit before they jump again, but it usually happens pretty fast so be ready for their next jumps if you miss. You can stealth and snipe them though if you hear one.

Just crouch and edge your way before it becomes more than half visible or so. After about half visible or more it will probably see you and will jump pretty much instantly at you if you’re close enough.

Outside you have the benefit of running away in longer stretches and can try and shoot it as it’s still scurrying at you before it jumps. You can use flares and fireworks to disorient them but, unless you somehow stocked up on a lot, it would be a waste of resources in the early game. Try and save those for the stronger enemy types.

📝 Note #1: They can sometimes attack you through walls if the general enemies are already engaged in combat with you and they see you or sense you one way or another. It's probably a bug. All you can do is try not to hug walls.

📝 Note #2: They will explode if they are in attack mode and you wait long enough, however, this does not count towards any of the in-game achievements for player-destroyed ticks.

┬┴┬┴┤ ͜ʖ ͡°) ├┬┴┬┴

🔎 Teleporting Enemies Bug: This never happens in your sights, but always behind your back. They can also rarely disappear if you turn away and then look back again before destroying them.

Houses: Generally decent for cover from enemy groups, so long as you watch the windows carefully. Runners and ticks can already be inside sometimes (runners if it's mission-related and ticks are sometimes intentionally placed inside way before you enter), but runners, seekers, and hunters can also teleport in sometimes if they are engaged with you from outside (see 4a. below).

Ticks: You can hear them mechanically ticking away in the background so always listen for them inside. If it’s a runner just dodge out of the way into another room or upstairs if the house has a second floor. Again, this should happen very rarely so don’t enter every single house freaking out or anything. Just listen and remain watchful if you're in a house and a group is engaged with you from outside.

Barns: Runners, hunters, and seekers can probably teleport pretty much anywhere inside these, except for in the 1st floor section of the two-story barns that have stalls in it towards the back. At least, I've personally never seen any enemies teleport into that section.

NO TELEPORTS IN THESE BUILDINGS:

Garages: If it’s an all-red garage you can’t enter it. If it’s next to a house it has a side door and the garage door, never open the garage door. Go through that side door if you’re being chased or just want to check for loot. This way, even if you’re not being chased, in the event you have a group patrolling in your direction, you don’t really want to be caught with the garage door open since there’s no full cover that way inside.

Churches: Best for cover from anything from one enemy to large groups trying to lay siege on you. I have never once in my many times fighting entire hordes from inside these building types ever seen a single enemy of any type ever teleport inside these structures. Both sides can shoot through the back-room windows, but not any other windows. Ticks can sometimes damage you through walls if you're near or up against it and they jump at you from outside.

Church Towers: They can snipe you when you're on top of the bell tower, so be EXTRA careful if you're trying to be 'Super Sniper From On High'. Because it's not easy to stay up there without taking any damage against a group engaged with you, especially against rocket and gas launching enemies (found later in the game). Of course, if they're not aware of you then you can always try and take one or two out from there before any others may engage in combat. After that though I'd high-tail it back down to one of the two doorways and use that for the rest of the encounter.

Two-Door Office Sheds: Not great because you can never get full coverage in these. I wouldn't use these for anything more than one or two, maybe three, enemies if you really have to.

Three-Door Office Sheds: You can actually handle small sieges from within these. But you need to seriously compartmentalize with large groups of enemies and keep inside doors in check from potential crossfire situations.

Two-Door Locked Military Type Sheds: Very nice cover if you have the lock-picking skill and lockpicks. No windows here but you have excellently covered double compartments with two doors to choose from. Just keep one closed to run back towards if you're besieged by a healthy-sized group.

Apartment Buildings: Veritable fortresses of protection against all fire including the worst splash damage imaginable. Windows can't be shot through here, so one of two doors on either side of the building, connected by an underground hallway, are the only access points for exchanging fire. (I haven't tested combat here in the FNIX Patch yet so I hope this building is still as reliable as it was before.)

🔥FNIX Patch: It is possible to get shot through the walls by PVG weapons in some of these buildings. I was just in a three-door office shed and I kept getting blasted with a hunter's PVG, full on, with about 75% of my health removed per shot on "Skirmish" difficulty. This also happened to me a couple of different times in houses with one attacker being a harvester using this gun and it was at some distance away from the house as well. This must be a straight up bug so be wary of it. If you keep getting hit through walls in the same spot then move to another location. (I tried running into another nearby house and that seemed to stop it.)

I also had a situation where I took serious mortar damage in the second floor bathroom of a house where I thought I would be safe from all attacks. It had no windows and the door was closed. (And if a man can't find peace in his own bathroom then where else can he go?)

⚠️Resistance Update: Stores & Shops
These seem very unlikely to be reliable while fighting a gang of hunters or worse since there appears to be lots of splash damage going on when dealing with rocket launchers and the like. I haven't tested every store nor do I ever plan to, but you're probably better off ducking into a house, even if you get some teleporting enemies there. I felt like a baby seal getting toyed with by killer whales in one of these buildings when hiding out from a gang of radioactive hunters (at level 12, around early mid-game progress). I don't think you can get teleporting enemies in these but, again, I'm not going to be testing that out probably ever.

⚠️Using Houses For Cover:
Houses are the most common type of building you can duck into for extra cover. These are mixed blessings depending on what types of enemies and weapons you are up against. Typically gas attackers can make life quite uncomfortable for you since there does not seem to be any wall protection and you will need to have a safe space in mind you can move to in order to clear the blast radius. Anything getting through to you (like ticks damaging you from outside through the wall to explosive damage from rocket launchers) you will have to keep a safe zone in mind you can quickly dash to from your current point of attack. Again, this will vary depending on enemies types and their numbers. Just know that mid-game to later you can easily get yourself overwhelmed if you can't find any truly safe spots in the house. Unfortunately, houses are the most common type of building in the game so unless you want to kite enemies to a further location, houses will usually be your quickest and best bet for cover when traversing the countryside portions of the map. So get to know the layouts and learn how to keep doors closed for the most part so you're not getting crossfire from enemies you're not currently targeting.

They can’t go upstairs if there’s a second floor, or at least I’ve never once seen one upstairs (I have, a while back, seen runners and hunters do this in two-story barns though). I also don’t think they can chase you from room to room. If you find one or more inside a room, they will probably never be able to chase you into another room (at least I haven’t ever seen it myself, though they will still shoot at you through open doorways). Just get out of its line of sight and figure out what you want to do.

Prior to March 2020 Game Update: While engaged in combat with a group outside, I found three different robots in this house: seeker, runner, and hunter. They each appeared separately but very close together in time. Note that this is not really an early game occurrence but be watchful all the same. It might happen to you with the weakest runners at least in the early game.

White rectangular boxes attached to some buildings that are EMP-type explosive. You can use them against the enemy or the enemy can use them (non-intentionally) against you if you are close enough to it - even from the inside of the building (or other side of the wall for warehouses) if you're close enough.



If ducking into a building that has one of these attached, either shoot it preemptively to make it safer for yourself or just make note of where it is and stay away from that particular section of inside wall.

📝 Note: This is not going to be a big problem that happens often. I only mention it in case you are healing inside a building that has these and it goes off with you close enough to it - you could die if not at full health.

Building Types:

• Houses
  
• Two-Door Office Sheds
  
• Three-Door Office Sheds
  
• Warehouses (even more dangerous here because of dodgy cover and extra explosives lying around)
  
• Some barns, apartment buildings, as well as some of the inaccessible buildings may have one or more of these on an outside wall

Possibly some more types of buildings have them (I will update this with any others if I make note of them) so just be wary in case. Just learn to identify them and stay away from them during battles if they're not already blown out.

Flares and firecrackers: Stock up and use them wisely. They are not fool-proof and enemies can still sometimes target you if you are targeting them and don’t take them down quickly enough. So try and keep cover nearby like trees or buildings in case you need it.

Sticky flares (found later in game): Watch your aim very closely because this game has “throw” spread, meaning you won’t always hit your exact mark. For example, it could get stuck inside if throwing one of these from inside a house and you’re aiming for outside. Fun trick: try and hit an enemy with one when there is a group. Even if it’s just one it will try and attack itself. (LOL)

Smoke grenades (found later in game): I haven't fully tested this, but I think it will blind any enemy that doesn't have OPV (x-ray vision) or IR (heat-sensing) installed, which I don't believe tanks or harvesters of any class ever have. That means that pretty much any other enemy type is going to be able to see through them. If using them, use with extreme caution.

Radios and grounded explosives: By “grounded” explosives I refer to anything you can place on the ground to be shot at and exploded, or anything already on the ground that can’t be moved (e.g. the giant red tanks near buildings). Radios don’t work if you are engaged by the enemy – they will ignore any you try to place while engaged with you. The trick here is to place them near something explosive without being fully detected and be ready to shoot the explosive from a safe distance when they get close enough to it.

Grenades (found later in game): Pretty self-explanatory. Try and save for more than one enemy at a time or for getting out of a tricky situation if you're pinned down. Just watch that throw spread. (Thankfully there are no sticky grenades in this game, lol.)

Mines (found later in game): Great to set up an offensive perimeter around a building you're going to use as cover, to then engage a nearby group. (Just don't keep too close to them in case a nearby enemy comes a-snooping or sees you suddenly before you officially engage the group at large.)

• Also great to use by a non-movable explosive (e.g. giant red tank) coupled with a radio so that you "likely" don't have to shoot the non-movable explosive.
  
• Or in front of any bunker door (usually internal) that you're about to open and know or suspect has enemies lurking behind it. Just run back as soon as you open the door.
  
• (Might be my favorite countermeasure in this game because it can be hard or tricky to use effectively but pays off greatly when it does. Also can be picked up again if not detonated.)

EMPs: Basically battery-grenades you can toss that generate EMP blasts on contact and temporarily disable enemies within range. Be sure not to waste any time by blasting the hell out of the enemy until they either recover (then you should hide) or are destroyed. ⚠️ Some like the car battery have to be placed on the ground and shot at. Those like "small" EMP can be thrown to detonate on impact like a normal grenade.

⚠️Field Radios: Not to be confused with regular radios/boomboxes - these look like walkie-talkies. This will make a temporary fast travel point wherever placed. Ideal for dumping gear at any far away safe-house of your choice so you can simply fast-travel back to your current location without having to hoof it. Expires either after three fast-travels back to the field radio, or if you end your current session (the game will not save it for you if you leave your session but haven't used it up yet).

⚡ Use Every Tool on the Belt
Learn to well use every tool in the game's kit at your disposal, especially how to best lure enemies towards explosives with radios (this can be buggy at times so be wary of that) and using mines effectively. Specialization perks (like hacker or anything else you end up choosing instead) should be combined with everything else whenever you're dealing with a sizable group that you can't otherwise dispatch with simpler methods. Getting decent enough at every tactic, you can easily flow between them during, let's say, large sieges where you're holed up in a building with reliable cover and need several pinpoint attack methods to quickly diminish the enemy numbers. Or even out in the field if you find yourself being chased and don't feel confidant in standing your ground at the moment (so in this case you might use flares to throw the enemy off your trail, for example). This arrayed and fluid approach to play-style can also be about speeding up the battle process so you are not wasting time hiding and wondering what to do. You can easily get pinned down in a building by a horde if you're not yet comfortable with all the combat methods you have at your disposal. You don't have to use every one all the time of course, just learn to use them all and always have the option to use them at any given moment.

Also, a bit of a random tip here, but: learn where all grounded explosives are lying around buildings in case you want to use them. Opportunities to use the environment against your enemies can come and go quickly and is easily among the most rewarding of methods to dispatch enemies if done successfully.

GENERAL TACTICS
As a general rule, you should be using the inside of buildings as much as possible against anything you normally are unable to handle outdoors without dying, while taking note of full cover areas that can't be compromised by windows.

Some windows can't be shot through depending on the building type and where it is (usually some higher level windows can't be shot through like the ones in the two-door little sheds - you have to use an open door). You can also shoot through the gaps of doors that are closed but ajar, as well as any hinge-side gaps of open doors (perfect for scoped weapons while providing excellent cover if the enemy is currently stationary).

Hacking Tip: Houses that have back doors with windows in them - those door-windows can't be shot through. Perfect for hacking attempts if any enemies can be seen from there. Just be careful about the other windows in the room and the teleport bug.

Outdoors Combat: Just to give you a bit of an example, you can handle a small group of runners out in the woods by yourself if you know what you're doing and use flares or fireworks to distract them. Of course, couple this with tree or outside building cover and don't let them surround you. Sometimes one will try and fire at you from a distance while one or more others will try and flank you. Yes, enemies can flank you in this game – sometimes they may seem to try and work out some slightly clever A.I. strategy against you.

Components: Enemy tech components are more susceptible to attack and more likely to be destroyed quicker. In contrast, armor plating not as fast. You can disable individual types of attacks by targeting and destroying them before even destroying the enemy.

🎯 Tactical Tip #1: In the case of hunters, they fire machine guns from their left side (though they may have a secondary weapon). Thus, if you edge carefully into view with them on your left side you can use the wall on your right next to a doorway or window to block their machine gun fire, which enables you to safely unload on them. Just be careful they don't move or use another weapon, and that no other enemies can target you at the time. If they are standing still and only machine-gun firing at you then you can get a nice advantage over them this way.

🎯 Tactical Tip #2: If you're having trouble fighting a harvester that keeps spitting out hunters then simply take out the component that spawns the hunters.

Some later-game hunters and giant-classes are equipped with this weapon type (which you can target specifically as a separate component). Also some bunker areas are filled with this substance which sometimes protects some VERY NICE MILITARY LOOT.

But worry not for you have three basic defenses against this type of attack/defense:

1. Gas Mask (found throughout the game)
   
2. Gas Protection Perk (see below)
   
3. Healing Items Equipped to your Hotkey

Some interesting things to know about gas in this game:

1. You can never achieve 100% immunity against gas attacks no matter what so bundle up with the above items completely in such situations to help take the edge off
   
2. Some later-game enemies can be absolute chores to deal with when using this against you (you may cuss a little) so either take them out quickly or target this specific component and destroy it
   
3. When bombed by an enemy and taking damage you'll need to quickly dash out of the blast radius until it fully disperses, which shouldn't take that long (watch your health)
   
4. Some bunker areas blocked by relatively short zones of this are hiding top-shelf military loot (leveled) so always get ready to go for a nice swim and dive in

☣ Tip #1: While having both the gas defense perk and a gas mask equipped, have health packs equipped to a hotkey as you go through gassed bunker zones (some of these may be quest-related) and top off your health as needed. Important Note: some of these zones might be hiding enemies, so prepare for some combat/countermeasure scenarios therein.

☣ Tip #2: Find some nice gear in or past that gas zone? Good. Remember it and come back in a few more levels or more to find even better stuff with loot being leveled. Although I think you can RNG get down-level loot as well unfortunately.

🔎 Disclaimer: This path might not be for everyone but it's what I know and have made work for me. Just keep in mind that this branch path is only my personal recommendation for solo games and that once chosen you can't reset your skill points. So feel free to research other branches if you like.

I do recommend you try it and if you still don't like it then you can always start a new character. But ultimately it's up to you to decide, so please don't hold me accountable if you end up not liking it. Hacking is a bit buggy and slow (and can sometimes be unforgiving, but also sometimes very rewarding) but there is some workaround if you get used to it.

At the very least you should read through all the related sections here and then make up your own mind, even if you only end up buying some of the skills that I discuss here and choosing another specialization. Because it should also be noted that some of the skills discussed here are still very useful, even if you decide not to take on this particular specialization...

⚡ Overview of Use:

Hacker specialization has especially helped me to get an edge during huge fire-fights where I'm pinned down in a building and more and more enemies of various kinds keep showing up as I try to whittle away at their numbers without dying. Of course it's not an easy-pass solution to such problems. But because you may want to loot all those dead mechs rather than run away and leave them (not to mention hopefully succeed without dying once throughout all that explosive insanity) then, in my opinion, this is the best way to go when considering long-term skill investment for solo campaigns. If you know how to use hacker to its full potential, then this is at least one very good way to get an "edge" in even the heaviest combat situations.

And of course it usually works great out in the field as well when running into patrolling enemies that have more or less not spotted you and you can keep them from doing so. Just follow this starting progression, get used to minimizing your hacker usage "dead-time" (I'll explain that in a bit), and your solo play should start producing some satisfying results over the course of your entire play-through.

Simply start in the "TECH" tree (the far right branch on your screen and look at the left column therein:)

1st Skill Point – SPOTTING INTEL (2 Levels)
The first level is all you need. You can get “distance” later if you really want it. Personally, I’ve never needed it myself or think it's necessary at all.

2nd & 3rd Skill Points – INQUISITIVE MIND (2 Levels)
Get BOTH levels back to back. Extra XP for missions means faster level gain for faster skill point spending. The sooner the better. 'Nuff said.

4th Skill Point – COMPONENT DAMAGE (2 Levels)
You will probably want the second level later on. But I highly recommend you skip it for now so you can make a bee-line towards that glorious hacker spec first.

5th Skill Point – EMP EXPERT (2 Levels)
No real need for the second level unless you really know how to make the best of it in the early levels of the game. But for the purposes of this guide, let's just ignore it for now and you can always get it later if you want.

6th Skill Point – REMOTE HACKING (2 Levels)
Now we're cooking with gas, or just starting to anyway. We're gonna leap-frog that second level just for a level, because what we really want right away lies just ahead...

7th Skill Point – HACKER SPECIALIZATION (1 Level)
Grab it up quick and rejoice. Your enemies might now fight among themselves...

8th Skill Point – REMOTE HACKING (2 Levels)
Grab that second level now. Because 40 seconds of duration is much better than 20 when getting an enemy to fight for you.

9th Skill Point – CHEMIST (1 Level)
Move one column to your right. You're going to want to go straight for that lock-picking skill. Why?

1. Because you probably already have a bunch of them and locked doors always have much better loot than normal.
2. Gas protection (the first skill in this column) is hugely useful, especially when paired with gas masks which even in conjunction does not grant total protection.

10th Skill Point – LOCKPICKING (1 Level)
A physical kind of hacking from before the first computers were built. Congratulations! You're now a master hacker within this game.

Go where you like from here, but if you want to follow my personal recommendation then I would go for maxing out your carry capacity next. Along the way you'll pick up fatigue and sprint buffs. Just look at the left column inside the SURVIVAL tree.

After that, I would go for first reaching "Enemy Marking" (1 Level) and then getting both "Veteran Guerrilla" levels under the SUPPORT tree. Both these skills working in conjunction will max out your potential XP bonuses at +40% per "marked" enemy which must be done with your binoculars on an individual basis. (Note: You will have to acquire a "heal other" skill along the way which can only be used on another player, so just keep that mind before deciding to follow this section of the path.)

Finally, go back and get the 2nd and last "Component Damage" skill level as well right here. That's it. Buy any other skills from here on out as you see fit, but this is what I recommend you follow for your first ten points or more for solo games.


📡 Note: And look out for enemy tech schematics to help detail live binocular tech readouts - usually found around bunkers or at military satellite radio towers. Others can be found inside lost shipping containers.

Using hacking can be slow and tedious much of the time. In order to achieve the best potential use here, you should get accustomed to minimizing what I refer to as in-game hacking attempt "dead-time". That means practicing and getting used to ways to preemptively hack enemies in the most streamlined fashion possible.

In order for you to more easily identify and be aware of these hindrances in your play, I'll define their types for you here (any terminology here is of my own invention)...

1. PREP: Equipping, raising, and switching to "tech" view in your binoculars. This can't be avoided of course, so always be aware of how long it takes to get full active sights on your target. Of course this is easier to muddle through when enemies haven't spotted you yet. But if you're in an active firefight and want to use the skill, then this amount of dead-time may potentially be more crucial to have to surmount. (For example, you don't want to be fumbling through this part while one or more enemies may fire on you.)
   
   
2. TARGET: Centering on a target and getting the yellow highlight that enables you to actually hack them so long as you can get an actual attempt off on them. If they're far away you might have to zoom in on them, even if you can see them in normal view. When non-engaged it's easier to do of course. If engaged, you can minimize the time it takes to surpass this, which I'll explain in a bit below.
   
   Note: If they are partially covered by things like trees or part of a building, you can usually still get them highlighted if you zoom in closer and fiddle with the aim.
   
   
3. RESET: (This just means cool-down but I like RESET much better.) Once you make an attempt, succeed or fail, you have to wait 60 seconds in order to make any other attempt. This can't be avoided in any case of course, so making the best of this dead-time can mean various things depending on your situation. (More on this a little further down.)

HACKING DOWNSIDE: Combat Mode Auto-Engagement

If you succeed in any hacking attempt then any other enemies in the group will generally fall into combat status with you, even if they are temporarily engaged with the robot you just hacked. (Somehow they sense you during such instances.)

If you are far enough away then the combat status might go away quickly. Or if not then you might have to run away a bit to get the combat status to disappear. If you have full cover like inside a building and aren't showing your face then this status should go away quickly.

Out in the field over short to medium distances this can be tricky to deal with. Like if there is an enemy group but not great cover like a building you could safely duck into. Or you aren't really far enough away to get the combat status to clear. Just be wary of this hacking downside and be ready to adapt as needed to suit your particular strategy at the moment.


HACKING BUG: Sometimes Enemy Doesn't Look Hacked But Is Hacked

Usually you get the blue electrical field around the enemy to visually indicate to you that it's been hacked. But sometimes this effect does not show up right away. Also, there is sometimes a delay between the time the robot is hacked and it starts attacking another enemy or receives attacks from them. Just know that sometimes it might seem like your hack attempt failed, when in fact it did not.

Eeeny-Meeny-Miny-Bjorn, Catch A Seeker By His Horn
And If He Hollers Then Yeah... Still Kill Him

I would go in order starting with the easiest to hack in the group you're currently dealing with and go up from there. For example, if there's a seeker there and you succeed in hacking it, then any other nearby enemies should attack it and hopefully take it down for you before the 40 second duration expires. Destroying seekers should generally be a priority regardless, since you ideally don't want more enemies to appear while dealing with the currently present ones.

Note: You can hack ticks at 100% if you have the hack to waste and not need again within 60 seconds.

If no seekers are present or viable to target then go for a runner next, then a hunter, and so forth. Just check the hacking percent chance with your binoculars in tech view and the enemy in question highlighted in yellow to see the exact chance amount.

This is just a general guideline so feel free to mix up targets as you see fit so long as you have some reason behind it. Also, chances may vary slightly depending on the "class" of the enemy type as well. Here are some examples (click on pic for full view):

Because it's only a rule if you make it one...

Rule/GL #1: Always have binoculars set to one of your hotkeys.

Rule/GL #2: Always get a hacking attempt off before engaging.

⚡ Rule/GL #3: Always hack every 60 seconds (at least for any enemies you can't otherwise handle with simple guns and countermeasures).

If your first hack succeeds and it's a group then use other tactics during cooldown OR try to prolong engagement (e.g. try to disengage if you get auto-engaged) so you can attempt another hack so long as you don't mind waiting for RESET to complete (as in that's in your current choice in strategy for whatever reason, like maybe you're wounded and low on healing for example so want to take it slow).


Use During Engaged Building Fights:

Keep your binoculars equipped until you see an enemy you want to hack while keeping a wall in mind ready to sidestep or duck behind. You can actually raise your binoculars and then stand or sidestep back in front of the window (or open doorway) to try and preemptively target your mark which nicely minimizes your exposure and dead-time.

But enemies like runners and hunters can sometimes be flighty and run around, though hunters do this less randomly and are more predictable in their paths. Pay attention to how they move outside the building when they're not standing still (as they sometimes do) and in those cases you may be able to predict where they will move to next. Then just have your binoculars raised and ready to hack at that spot.

And if you ever hear enemy fire while you're trying to TARGET then don't take any chances and duck behind cover immediately.

Reminder Tip: Houses with back doors that have glass in them can't be shot through. Meaning you can just stand there if there's an enemy on the other side and safely hack it. Just watch any other windows in the room and make sure they're clear of enemies that may shoot you.


⚡ Use With Multiple Guerrilla Tactics:

You are meant to use this spec with an array of other methods and in the highest overall strategy: learn how to flow within each battle and adapt accordingly (depending on what your actual spec is). As far as hacking spec goes here, that means that you should:

1. Learn how to streamline hacking attempts to minimize your exposure and dead-time as much as possible, at least against enemies actively engaged with you.
   
2. Be hacking enemies as much as possible against any groups you can’t otherwise handle with some other simpler methods like controlled gunfire and explosives, so long as (and this is very important) you have some reliable cover.
   
3. Use each and every hacking dead-time as your opportunity to do anything else useful, like heal or prepare to dish out some gunfire or explosives. The point is that dead-times will be where you will need to adapt most depending on your immediate circumstances.

Many bugs are not universally shared by players. Watch out for people who say the game is "this" or the game is "that" right now. You are the only person who can verify what is and what is not true for your own particular game experience. It actually shocks me how many people still go around acting like their bug (or lack thereof sometimes) is something everyone shares. For example, you may see people talk about falling through terrain. Yes, this does happen to some people. But for me that particular bug has never even once happened. The "teleport" bug on the other hand is probably universal, meaning every player has that problem...

I'll be listing the ones I think are worth noting here. (If you think I left out an important one then please let me know.) Some of these have fixes, others may not, others you may have to research on your own.

1. CRASHES – Some people get them a lot more than others. I was very lucky myself and only had a handful or so over the course of roughly one and a half full plays/campaigns.
   
   
2. CORRUPTED SAVES – Some people might get this less often but some people have reported getting these pretty bad which, suffice it to say, breaks the game and makes it quite unplayable despite repeat efforts. If you're in the group that doesn't get these like me, count yourself as fortunate. If you do get them then I believe that there is some work-around you can try. Please search the forums for "corrupted saves" as I cannot verify them myself although I'm sure they're legit.
   
   9/30/2020 Dev quote on Steam about this:

   Originally posted by kissemiss:

   Hey buddy and really sorry to hear about that! If your game or coomputer crashes during the auto save theres a chance that the save file might get corrupted. As of now there are unfortunately no ways to de-corrupt them :C

   Posted to this Bug Report discussion:
   https://steamproxy.net/app/704270/discussions/1/2923353981928302655/

1. TELEPORTING ENEMIES – Enemies may randomly, and one at a time, teleport into certain buildings while you are holed up there during an engaged fight. This never happens in your view but while you are turned away from that particular spot where the enemy is about to appear. Also, rarely, these same enemies might disappear (most likely teleported back outside) when your back is turned again. The only buildings I have ever seen or heard others mention this happening in are houses and barns. You should never see this happen inside any other building type.
   
   
2. HOTKEY BUG – I think these only happen during big fights and is fairly rare I believe (only happened to me once since the new inventory update - which is what I assume is indirectly the cause of this bug): Your hotkeys will lock/jam up and you can't re-assign anything and cleared slots will remain cleared (so don't ever clear them during this bug).
   
   In-game fix 1: Try to loot any filled container such as a defeated enemy if there is one already nearby (that's what I did and it worked for me – not sure if it works with other container types but I think it should).
   
   In-game fix 2: I have also heard more than one person report that fast-traveling will also clear it. If you are in battle you will have to run away until the battle music stops in order to get fast-travel to work and also not be encumbered.
   
   The only other thing you can do is to try and reload your save but you may lose some of your general progress if you are in the middle of a quest or battle.
   
   🔥FNIX Patch: It's possible this was fixed but I'm going to leave it up here just in case.
   
   
3. HOST DISCONNECT – You would think this would happen only when someone is hosting a session with at least one other person on it, but no. All you have to do is have steam online. You can still get it even if your session is closed to others.
   
   Workaround: If you start getting these often enough, you may want to just play with steam completely offline if you’re playing solo anyway.
   
   🔥FNIX Patch: It's possible the host disconnect bug was fixed. I got a message from the game once saying that I was not online, but it did not boot me out of my session.

In closing, there are lots more I've heard about and maybe even experienced myself but these are the biggest offenders right now. These are the ones that the devs should focus on most in my opinion. If you want me to list another one just for the sake of exposure then let me know and I may try to research it to possibly add here.

I don't think most people have this problem, but I have seen at least two or three other people say they have this too: I lost some map markers and any new ones I find are not showing up on my map with maybe a couple of small exceptions. Feel free to add a note to the bug report that I posted if you experience something similar. I believe this can happen somewhat in brand new games as well, where some markers will not show up on the map.

In addition to hosting a wealth of information (like about specific bugs and secret locations) you can search if you want to, there are lots of people here with varying needs for the game and strong opinions, some in agreement and some not. Just remember that this is your game and you can play it however you want to so long as you are not competitively cheating against others online. Don't ever let anyone ever dictate to you how the game should work or be played. You ultimately decide that for yourself and no one else.


Even if you don't feel like sharing anything, it's a great place to search about other people's experience with many different aspects of the game. If my guide doesn't cover something specifically enough for you, you may want to try and search for it on the steam board.

And if you experience a bug you personally would like squashed I would encourage you to not only post it in the BUGS section of the steam forum (use copy/paste their template form) for this game but also search for someone else mentioning it and reply to them that you have experienced the same. Because higher numbers of people reporting the same issue is more likely to get it potentially fixed by the developers.

How to post BUGS:

Forum: forum.generationzero.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/bSUvEMS

Here are some example videos of how I play solo using many things I share in this guide. It is using the FNIX Patch, doesn't use any mods or trainers, and showcases some nice usage between X-Ray view and Hacker Specialization. These are all from the same play session with only one death in the last video, because I was not playing super-safe and was generally doing some play-testing in these videos for said FNIX update.

Also, In the last video you can also see a hacked seeker fly into an open barn and NOT teleport there (hacked enemies never teleport of course). And BATTLE 4 is grouped into 3 different back-to-back house battles. (Each video is generally in the 8-12 minute range)...
https://youtu.be/nRKrAE09bLQ
https://youtu.be/vXNc-uZ2Aas
https://youtu.be/s0oo7l_SY6Q

https://youtu.be/jdhzOq5IfsE
https://youtu.be/mguaIZMrUk4
https://youtu.be/OaS5Re15DcQ

https://youtu.be/rLrMsjkDrkc

This Guide is more or less concluded although I may still do some small edits or updates here or there. If you have any suggestions for something I should add or correct then please let me know.

I hope you find this information helpful. It has been extremely fun to work on and develop over the several months it took to first write the majority of this and I hope you've enjoyed it. Thanks so much for reading and please be sure to comment, favorite, and rate up!

11/9/21 - Did some general clean-up and revision across the board. Not currently playing the game but I will probably pop back in after the next game update or two rolls out. Till then, please feel free to let me know if there's anything I should add or fix.

6/5/21 - Still playing some "Resistance Update" and updating this guide as I go along (currently level 15 on fresh game, Normal difficulty). Changes or additions to this guide for up to and including this particular update are denoted with this icon: ⚠️