Playing survivor successfully requires both a lot of know-how for basically every role in the game and a decent amount of robustness.
Two viable options exist to survive as a survivor: fortify, or wander.
The former is the more successful of the two, particularly on hi-pop rounds. Regardless of the map, you need to identify a decently defensible location with either indestructible or reinforced walls, along with a decent amount of metal and at least one shotgun. Since survivors have firearms 0 they can't shoot for shit with anything that isn't essentially made for PB, although the shotgun doesn't hurt any less just because survs cant shoot straight (unless they're lucky and roll Security or Marshall surv). Ideally, you want enough prep time to get at least two lines of cades with barbed wire ready along with gathering as much ammo you can manage, along with cutting pipes going behind your defenses and moving props that you can shoot through into the line of fire as a tertiary defense.
Doing this solo is difficult, but possible if you choose a location that's unconventional or very difficult to breach, such as an impenetrable bottleneck hallway. Ideally, you want at least one or two other competent survivors with you to heal you and assist with building/repairing fortifications, but since baldies often enable survivor don't count on it.
Wandering is significantly more difficult but is also very rewarding and fun if you know exactly what you're doing. There aren't many rules to this besides having a decent weapon and knowing how to outrun and outmaneuver groups of xenos. Don't try this if you don't know the map like the back of your hand.
Some helpful tips that work for either strategy:
- Figure out which wire to hack to bolt doors early on. Since most often there's no power on the map yet you can easily bolt doors to buy yourself time to scavenge and build defenses. Try not to lock yourself in, however, as if you bolt yourself into an unpowered room you either need a charged power cell and an APC nearby or you'll have to shoot down the door.
- Don't forget to remove pipes and weld vents. It's really embarrassing to get ambushed from behind while holding a fortified position.
- Experiment with props and obstacles around the map and see which ones you can use for defenses. If you leave them unwrenched inside a line of cades most often you can shoot through them.
- Try observing a map beforehand as a ghost to figure out which locations have supplies or are good defensible positions before rolling for survivor so you don't have to figure it out on the go. Don't worry, it's not metagaming since all survivors know the map intrinsically since they lived there.
- Always have an exit strategy, either for running from xenos breaking down your defenses or to prevent yourself from getting captured.
- Every second counts from roundstart. Make sure every movement and button press will help in the long run.
- Use station-bounced radios! Most survivors pick one up along the way and they usually work the whole round. Coordinate scavenging and defense efforts.
Originally Posted by ScreamingIdiot
Playing survivor successfully requires both a lot of know-how for basically every role in the game and a decent amount of robustness.
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