When to Abandon the Group?

[crypto]

At times I feel that my actions in this game reflect the way I'd really react to such situations were they to exist in the real world. In other words, survivor gameplay -- in all its suspense and futility -- brings out the worst in me. I cannot count how many times I've stuck with the group and helped barricade, but then turned and fled when the zombies actually broke through and rushed my comrades. I don't try to be a hero and gun down the brain-eating hacks; I book it out of there, leaving my teammates to die. The knowledge that you're one of the last ones alive is at once exhilarating and shameful. In Zombie Panic more than any other game I'm wrapped up in cowardice, but I cope with it and use it to my advantage. Getting chased by multiple zombies with nothing but a flashlight at my disposal cranks up my heart rate. It's the most intense part of the game.

Anyway, if I let the zombies slaughter my barricade buddies, the odds of victory become extremely slim. I'll be lucky if there are still a few other survivors, but how many of them have anything more than a pistol or crowbar? The dilemma, then, is whether or not to stick with the team and fight the zombies. When five or six break through our barricade, how useful is just one more pistol (and I stick with pistol 90% of the time, as I prefer running, barricading, and hiding to combat and can never keep all the weapon locations straight), especially when my aim is only marginally above average? At what point do I abandon the group and strike out on my own, and hope that there are a few more survivors? Or should I never?

[Major Failure]

It depends on a lot of factors and you usually don't have the time to think about it.

In most survival maps, when the barricade breaks and more than two zombies get in, you're dead anyway, unless you can fix it or get out and find another barricaded group quickly. And even if you do find another group, their barricade will usually lock you outside with the zombies.
In some of the worst maps, there are spots where one survivor with little ammo can basically hold out on his own (impenetrable barricades), so I guess you could try to get there alive.

Personally, when I'm barricaded in and I see it's about to overrun, I just put my back against the wall, empty my gun on them and then either run for another exit or take out my melee weapon and try to take one with me. I don't really mind dieing, it's fun being zombie when there are already 5+ other zombies to help.

In zpo maps where the objective is to survive for x minutes (mainly Cabin, which I hate), fleeing from the barricade while the rest is about to get eaten can win you time, though you usually die as well.
I was camping in the Cabin basement once, with the 2 other remaining survivors, when about 8 zombies came in. When the first three got over the barricade and lunged for my mates, I shot the lock on the other entrance and ran outside. 30 seconds later, the timer ran out and the survivors (me) won.

[xbriannova]

This strategy is quite valid. If the situation is hopeless and there's no other way, booking out is the only way. It ensures that the survivors would still have a chance, even if it is slim, to survive. Just don't run too much. Don't run just because a single zombie broke through and tried to assault 8 heavily armed Survivors. Just don't be jittery.

As for me, my mantra is 'Courage, Kindness and Logic'. What I do is that usually, I would strike out on my own, mostly alone, but sometimes with one or two other survivors. I would try to hunt down as many zombies as possible, reducing pressure on barricaded survivors and I would render help to any straggling/wandering survivors and even barricaded survivors. There are many times in which I would massacre a group of unwitting zombies who are camping at the entrance of a barricaded room. Most of them were weakened by their previous attempt at assaulting the fortress.

But then again I can't be headstrong all the time. I pride myself to be one of the best players with an exceptional survival rate and zombie slaying rate, therefore when things boil down to leaving a hopelessly ambushed player, I would run if there is no way I can make things easy for the said sad player. If I can't clear the entrance of a barricaded room that was festering with zombies, then I won't. My survival, the way I see it, is instrumental to the fate of other survivors and the matter between victory and defeat on the side of the survivors.

[RepublicA]

It really depends on your level of confidence and the anticipated skill of the zombies.

When ammo runs low and noobs are a plenty... I generally leg it and go alone for a while. Hell.. weaponless I can outrun a few zombies so why not?

[Grains the vegan ZombiE]

When the cade is broken and you KNOW the group is going down in less than 1 minute, with or without you, I generally run. If you run as everything dies the zombies will chase. I try to duck out unnoticed and head for a good rambo spot.

[overdrive87]

You only get to see the worst in you after a couple of players betray you or let you down. You can't really compare this to real life; for example, I started playing as the team player: Staying in group, keeping an eye out with a bare pistol and keyboard, sharing all the extra ammo slowing me down. But now I realize that most people act odd when playing survivor; they Rambo often, hoard all the ammo and worry about the points. *sigh*

So yeah, here's the moment I stopped being nice:
On my way to the barricade in zps_policestation, I got loads of ammo for the guys inside the room armed with ak's and shotguns but I have only 2 pistols which they could obviously see with their flashlights on. Im running fatigued trying to jump over the table thinking "we got this round" when suddenly, i get swiped. I'm like "I GOT SWIPED?? What are these guys defending? I need to get in there" but fail the jump and keep getting swiped. I thought "holy ???? these guys are afk" and as I finally went down in a shower of ammo flying around my dead body (lame) and THEN, I get to see the zombie walk over me and hit the table like a douche and suddenly the guys inside open fire and shred the hunk of meat in microseconds. F bombs ensued (at my laptop, i didn't know what the chat button was yet). In the end they had soooooo much ammo they won the round. I was so f2ckin pissed I never trusted a player again.

P.S. Now you understand why when the survivors win a round, they type gg and happy faces while zombies are going "???? you".

[Zer0Guy]

One time I see fit is if your overran abondon the group.
(This happened about 10 min ago)I was in town(it had a frezzer,that you can die in),and we were being overran so I went to run off. And someone else was too so I went with him. He was lagging behind so I left him and started blasting thru the zombies and returned to our broken(I didn't know it was) baricade. He ran in(the guy I ran with) and we won with a time out,and we were the last 2 humans :D.It was a stroke of luck that we lived.

[SoylentGray]

overdrive, bullets don't go through people. Even survivors. Anyways, if the zombie is directly behind you they won't be able to hit him.

[Qloos]

Crouch