Steam Community :: Guide :: Basics Through To Post Hard Mode Achievements

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Starting Out

Much of the early game is about getting key upgrades focusing around getting unlocks that ensure longevity over speed, for that matter I wouldn't buy any engines early on, focus purely on the following.

Health Regeneration

This will ensure that as you go along any minor damage you take will be quickly rectified and you can worry less about wasting supplies on health or relying on health spawns on the outer edges.

Damage Increase

This goes without saying, more damage, less zombies, less problems.

Health Increase

This too can be important, especially when you are getting toward the 80% stage on the maps.

Gold Gain

This is also important as it allows you to upgrade faster, although the actual upgrades for this category aren't vital if you are going to replay the maps frequently so it can be left to the side.

Experience Gain

This is probably the one you want to invest heavily into out of all of the above, faster experience gain means more double supply level ups, which in turn means more in map upgrades more rapidly.

In Closing

So an even spread across these upgrades should be the priority before you upgrade anything else, these upgrades alone in the early game will ensure you hit the mid game quicker. Of course everyone will find their own preference but I felt like I blasted through the early game fast just focusing on these upgrades. The trains are fun to use, but upgrades are far more important than anything else in the early stage, because once you start getting to 80% or more, the increased upgrades on the above will be key when you are getting swarmed by 100+ enemies constantly.

Forest Of The Dead (Normal Mode)

Now this map is going to be your 'money sink skill' for those of you who don't remember the good old days of Runescape, this map is seemingly lower on the gold gain than the previous, so really just focus on getting it completed and getting the achievements done.

First Through Playthroughs

Simply refer to the first section of this guide, you will need to earn your upgrades before fully trying to send it post 80%. It may look as though it is completable but without upgrades when you hit 90% you are going to struggle, because you will be bogged down from all directions. Don't be afraid to go back, the game doesn't punish you for it and you can still level up and collect gold, mainly from the higher level zombies which drop care packages.

1000 Guys

Aside the cheeky BlueXephos reference, the guys are completely not needed unless you are going to bunker down, which in your first few attempts is completely pointless, slowing down to pick up some dude or 22 dudes with shotguns isn't as good as it sounds. Your main focus should be entirely on surviving and collecting ways to enhance your train(s) although if you have a (s) then sort yourself out.

Weapons

This is where I think an element of personal preference comes into play, but in reality the rocket launcher on normal mode, with all of them focused on 'closest' is by far the superior way to get through. It may be tempting to put them all on 'circular' but the little hunter rip offs will do damage and you cannot afford to shed health in the early game. Don't buy multiple weapons before fully upgrading them, one fully upgraded Halo 3 launcher is better than 4 and the game is designed for this, in normal mode with few upgrades taking it slow is your best friend.

Don't Go Being A P.... Now

I wouldn't give you the pleasure! Or was it satisfaction? BRB going to go watch Hot Fuzz again, don't just send it, don't sit by the bunker thinking 1 guy with a shotgun is going to win you the match and for the love of GOD don't press the button that brings on the end yet.

Siege Mode

Don't attempt this unless you have unlocked at least air strike and the extra gun for the bunker, you are going to want to upgrade both of those shotguns completely before trying this, you will soon come to realise that every bit of damage helps. The bosses will drop frequent supply packages which contain both gold and supplies, every so often during the chaos you need to run your mouse over these a few times. Heal at half health in case you get a frame drop which causes you to die, always have air strikes coming in and always have a magnet equipped, to ensure that you are still gaining levels and getting more supplies. These 4 minutes are utter chaos and there is a means to the method to the madness, with around ten seconds to go, hover over as many packages as you can. You should gain in total 50k-100k gold per completion but the entry requirements are high.

Forest Of The Dead (Red Bull Mode)

Okay it took me a few attempts but then I cracked my RSI riddled post Max OSRS knuckles and decided to sit three inches from the screen and forget my abandonment issues.

Which Choo Choo

I tried them all, without much success, in hard mode it is more about speed, abilities and how quickly you can generate resources to spend on ensuring you can keep going. The Gronk Shunter is the only choice, fully upgraded speed and acceleration, health and regeneration and in reality you are going to need Shockwave to even get through the last 30% of the map.

Weapons

The train comes with the MW2 Noob Tube, fully upgrade this and make sure it is set to 'closest' this will ensure that those pesky LFD Hunter douchebags will catch a grenade in their hood. Now this is where you need to send it and just buy rocket launchers, one by one and upgrade until you have them all, also ensure they are all set to 'circular' the knock back effect alone will make sure you don't get bogged down. Don't make the mistake of wasting resources on fuel, or health, the map will keep you alive and for the love of god don't buy the GOW4 knock off drone, you will be going too fast.

Strategy

Time to get sweaty kids, by 70% you should be fully upgraded and humming Eye Of The Tiger to yourself, this is where you need to spend your entire resource pool on having a Shockwave ahead of you whenever there is a horde. You will only gently slow down to pick up fuel and flip off the little men as you shoot past them, it is key that you time everything well, otherwise you are going to hit 95% high and dry. I think this is cheesing it slightly but it will get you the rare achievement and give you a few seconds to forget about that one moment in school where you tried to kiss that girl and she backed away.

Copy and Paste

Yeah, I used this strategy for all three maps, when I blinked my eyes clicked.

Also you can do the maps easily in under 5 minutes when you are going along like a well written Netflix version of Snowpiercer, just don't stop for more than 3-5 seconds to avoid boggage.

Forest Of The Dead (Longevity Keeping It Hard)

Okay it took me a few attempts but then I cracked my RSI riddled post Max OSRS knuckles and decided to sit three inches from the screen and forget my abandonment issues.

Which Choo Choo

I tried them all, without much success, in hard mode it is more about speed, abilities and how quickly you can generate resources to spend on ensuring you can keep going. The Gronk Shunter is the only choice, fully upgraded speed and acceleration, health and regeneration.

Weapons

The train comes with the MW2 Noob Tube, fully upgrade this and make sure it is set to 'closest' this will ensure that those pesky LFD Hunter douchebags will catch a grenade in their hood. Now this is where you need to send it and just buy rocket launchers, one by one and upgrade until you have them all, also ensure they are all set to 'closest' the knock back effect alone will make sure you don't get bogged down. Don't make the mistake of wasting resources on fuel, or health, the map will keep you alive and for the love of god don't buy the GOW4 knock off drone, you will be going too fast.

Strategy

Time to get sweaty kids, by 60% you should be fully upgraded and humming Eye Of The Tiger to yourself, this is where you need to spend your entire resource pool on utterly nothing. Until you get to the bunker, now don't upgrade anything on the bunker, completely a waste of resources, all you need is two fingers, if you know what I mean. So one finger on the 2 and one on the 5 with mouse left to right across your little train, do that for 4 minutes and you have the achievement. You may also find yourself with spare resources, don't spend on anything that will distract you from staring at your health bar, just use airstrikes and Michael Bay the hell out of it all.

Copy and Paste

Yeah, I used this strategy for all three maps, when I blinked my eyes clicked.

You will fail, the Hard Mode Survival isn't meant to be easy.

Tunnel Of The Dead (You Think You Are Normal Mode)

Tunnel Of The Dead (Hard Until The Finish Mode)

Okay it took me a few attempts but then I cracked my RSI riddled post Max OSRS knuckles and decided to sit three inches from the screen and forget my abandonment issues.

Which Choo Choo

I tried them all, without much success, in hard mode it is more about speed, abilities and how quickly you can generate resources to spend on ensuring you can keep going. The Gronk Shunter is the only choice, fully upgraded speed and acceleration, health and regeneration and in reality you are going to need Shockwave to even get through the last 30% of the map.

Weapons

The train comes with the MW2 Noob Tube, fully upgrade this and make sure it is set to 'closest' this will ensure that those pesky LFD Hunter douchebags will catch a grenade in their hood. Now this is where you need to send it and just buy rocket launchers, one by one and upgrade until you have them all, also ensure they are all set to 'circular' the knock back effect alone will make sure you don't get bogged down. Don't make the mistake of wasting resources on fuel, or health, the map will keep you alive and for the love of god don't buy the GOW4 knock off drone, you will be going too fast.

Strategy

Time to get sweaty kids, by 70% you should be fully upgraded and humming Eye Of The Tiger to yourself, this is where you need to spend your entire resource pool on having a Shockwave ahead of you whenever there is a horde. You will only gently slow down to pick up fuel and flip off the little men as you shoot past them, it is key that you time everything well, otherwise you are going to hit 95% high and dry. I think this is cheesing it slightly but it will get you the rare achievement and give you a few seconds to forget about that one moment in school where you tried to kiss that girl and she backed away.

Copy and Paste

Yeah, I used this strategy for all three maps, when I blinked my eyes clicked.

Also you can do the maps easily in under 5 minutes when you are going along like a well written Netflix version of Snowpiercer, just don't stop for more than 3-5 seconds to avoid boggage.

Tunnel Of The Dead (Blue Pill Hard Mode)

Okay it took me a few attempts but then I cracked my RSI riddled post Max OSRS knuckles and decided to sit three inches from the screen and forget my abandonment issues.

Which Choo Choo

I tried them all, without much success, in hard mode it is more about speed, abilities and how quickly you can generate resources to spend on ensuring you can keep going. The Gronk Shunter is the only choice, fully upgraded speed and acceleration, health and regeneration.

Weapons

The train comes with the MW2 Noob Tube, fully upgrade this and make sure it is set to 'closest' this will ensure that those pesky LFD Hunter douchebags will catch a grenade in their hood. Now this is where you need to send it and just buy rocket launchers, one by one and upgrade until you have them all, also ensure they are all set to 'closest' the knock back effect alone will make sure you don't get bogged down. Don't make the mistake of wasting resources on fuel, or health, the map will keep you alive and for the love of god don't buy the GOW4 knock off drone, you will be going too fast.

Strategy

Time to get sweaty kids, by 60% you should be fully upgraded and humming Eye Of The Tiger to yourself, this is where you need to spend your entire resource pool on utterly nothing. Until you get to the bunker, now don't upgrade anything on the bunker, completely a waste of resources, all you need is two fingers, if you know what I mean. So one finger on the 2 and one on the 5 with mouse left to right across your little train, do that for 4 minutes and you have the achievement. You may also find yourself with spare resources, don't spend on anything that will distract you from staring at your health bar, just use airstrikes and Michael Bay the hell out of it all.

Copy and Paste

Yeah, I used this strategy for all three maps, when I blinked my eyes clicked.

You will fail, the Hard Mode Survival isn't meant to be easy.

City Of The Dead (Those Games In Your Steam Library Aren't Normal Mode)

Now this map is going to be your 'money sink skill' for those of you who don't remember the good old days of Runescape, this map is seemingly lower on the gold gain than the previous, so really just focus on getting it completed and getting the achievements done.

First Through Playthroughs

Simply refer to the first section of this guide, you will need to earn your upgrades before fully trying to send it post 80%. It may look as though it is completable but without upgrades when you hit 90% you are going to struggle, because you will be bogged down from all directions. Don't be afraid to go back, the game doesn't punish you for it and you can still level up and collect gold, mainly from the higher level zombies which drop care packages.

1000 Guys

Aside the cheeky BlueXephos reference, the guys are completely not needed unless you are going to bunker down, which in your first few attempts is completely pointless, slowing down to pick up some dude or 22 dudes with shotguns isn't as good as it sounds. Your main focus should be entirely on surviving and collecting ways to enhance your train(s) although if you have a (s) then sort yourself out.

Weapons

This is where I think an element of personal preference comes into play, but in reality the rocket launcher on normal mode, with all of them focused on 'closest' is by far the superior way to get through. It may be tempting to put them all on 'circular' but the little hunter rip offs will do damage and you cannot afford to shed health in the early game. Don't buy multiple weapons before fully upgrading them, one fully upgraded Halo 3 launcher is better than 4 and the game is designed for this, in normal mode with few upgrades taking it slow is your best friend.

Don't Go Being A P.... Now

I wouldn't give you the pleasure! Or was it satisfaction? BRB going to go watch Hot Fuzz again, don't just send it, don't sit by the bunker thinking 1 guy with a shotgun is going to win you the match and for the love of GOD don't press the button that brings on the end yet.

Siege Mode

Don't attempt this unless you have unlocked at least air strike and the extra gun for the bunker, you are going to want to upgrade both of those shotguns completely before trying this, you will soon come to realise that every bit of damage helps. The bosses will drop frequent supply packages which contain both gold and supplies, every so often during the chaos you need to run your mouse over these a few times. Heal at half health in case you get a frame drop which causes you to die, always have air strikes coming in and always have a magnet equipped, to ensure that you are still gaining levels and getting more supplies. These 4 minutes are utter chaos and there is a means to the method to the madness, with around ten seconds to go, hover over as many packages as you can. You should gain in total 50k-100k gold per completion but the entry requirements are high.

City Of The Dead (I Promise It Isn't Normally Like This Hard Mode)

Okay it took me a few attempts but then I cracked my RSI riddled post Max OSRS knuckles and decided to sit three inches from the screen and forget my abandonment issues.

Which Choo Choo

I tried them all, without much success, in hard mode it is more about speed, abilities and how quickly you can generate resources to spend on ensuring you can keep going. The Gronk Shunter is the only choice, fully upgraded speed and acceleration, health and regeneration and in reality you are going to need Shockwave to even get through the last 30% of the map.

Weapons

The train comes with the MW2 Noob Tube, fully upgrade this and make sure it is set to 'closest' this will ensure that those pesky LFD Hunter douchebags will catch a grenade in their hood. Now this is where you need to send it and just buy rocket launchers, one by one and upgrade until you have them all, also ensure they are all set to 'circular' the knock back effect alone will make sure you don't get bogged down. Don't make the mistake of wasting resources on fuel, or health, the map will keep you alive and for the love of god don't buy the GOW4 knock off drone, you will be going too fast.

Strategy

Time to get sweaty kids, by 70% you should be fully upgraded and humming Eye Of The Tiger to yourself, this is where you need to spend your entire resource pool on having a Shockwave ahead of you whenever there is a horde. You will only gently slow down to pick up fuel and flip off the little men as you shoot past them, it is key that you time everything well, otherwise you are going to hit 95% high and dry. I think this is cheesing it slightly but it will get you the rare achievement and give you a few seconds to forget about that one moment in school where you tried to kiss that girl and she backed away.

Copy and Paste

Yeah, I used this strategy for all three maps, when I blinked my eyes clicked.

Also you can do the maps easily in under 5 minutes when you are going along like a well written Netflix version of Snowpiercer, just don't stop for more than 3-5 seconds to avoid boggage.

City Of The Dead (Its Not You Its Me Hard Mode)

Okay it took me a few attempts but then I cracked my RSI riddled post Max OSRS knuckles and decided to sit three inches from the screen and forget my abandonment issues.

Which Choo Choo

I tried them all, without much success, in hard mode it is more about speed, abilities and how quickly you can generate resources to spend on ensuring you can keep going. The Gronk Shunter is the only choice, fully upgraded speed and acceleration, health and regeneration.

Weapons

The train comes with the MW2 Noob Tube, fully upgrade this and make sure it is set to 'closest' this will ensure that those pesky LFD Hunter douchebags will catch a grenade in their hood. Now this is where you need to send it and just buy rocket launchers, one by one and upgrade until you have them all, also ensure they are all set to 'closest' the knock back effect alone will make sure you don't get bogged down. Don't make the mistake of wasting resources on fuel, or health, the map will keep you alive and for the love of god don't buy the GOW4 knock off drone, you will be going too fast.

Strategy

Time to get sweaty kids, by 60% you should be fully upgraded and humming Eye Of The Tiger to yourself, this is where you need to spend your entire resource pool on utterly nothing. Until you get to the bunker, now don't upgrade anything on the bunker, completely a waste of resources, all you need is two fingers, if you know what I mean. So one finger on the 2 and one on the 5 with mouse left to right across your little train, do that for 4 minutes and you have the achievement. You may also find yourself with spare resources, don't spend on anything that will distract you from staring at your health bar, just use airstrikes and Michael Bay the hell out of it all.

Copy and Paste

Yeah, I used this strategy for all three maps, when I blinked my eyes clicked.

You will fail, the Hard Mode Survival isn't meant to be easy.

In Closing

What an awesome little indie game, will update the guide when more maps come out.

Choo Choo Survivor