A screenshot of a starting Infection Free Zone area with the HQ in green.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

6 Infection Free Zone beginner’s tips and tricks

These tips will make your early Infection Free Zone experience easier and more fun.

Infection Free Zone can be quite intimidating when you first start, as is the case with many base-building games. Fortunately for you, our beginner tips and tricks will make your initial experience easier and more enjoyable.

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Best tips and tricks for Infection Free Zone beginners

1) You can use a full address for your starting area

When you start a run in a new area, you can enter the full address of the location you want to play instead of just a city. This allows you to pinpoint a very precise location for your starting area. For instance, you could type in your home address and assess how well your region is equipped for a zombie apocalypse. In the example I provided earlier, I entered the address of Google’s corporate headquarters, and my starting tile was positioned exactly where their complex is.

The area selection screen in Infection Free Zone highlighting Salzburg.
Choose green tiles. Screenshot by Dot Esports

2) Start in low population areas

Once you have entered the address and are ready to select the specific tile you will start on, click the Highlight Playable Tiles box on the top left to color the map tiles. Tiles shown in green represent low population areas, meaning there are fewer infected to attack you during your run. We advise you to start in these areas to familiarize yourself with the game and grasp its mechanics before you face larger swarms of infected in the orange tiles.

3) Choose a small HQ next to small buildings first

It is better to choose a small HQ initially because it’s easier to defend. By doing this, you also preserve larger buildings for scavenging, which typically contain more resources than smaller ones. It’s advisable to keep things simple at the start, so opt for any building that doesn’t activate a warning indicating your HQ is too large.

4) Prioritize starting areas with lots of trees

The primary resource you will need in the early and mid-game of Infection Free Zone is wood, so it’s crucial to place your HQ near an area abundant in trees. If you prefer not to position your HQ directly next to these areas, ensure your playable area includes at least one tile rich in trees. Bricks and metal, while important, are secondary materials in the early-game and aren’t required for upgrades and buildings until later stages.

5) Make multiple squads

Click the squads button at the top right of your screen to create additional squads with your unemployed survivors. This strategy allows you to either scavenge multiple buildings simultaneously or use these multiple squads to scavenge a single, large building more quickly than one squad could manage. The more squads you have in a building, the faster they can search for resources.

The Infection Free Zone interface highlighting the Deconstruct building button.
Deconstructing is also a way to farm materials. Screenshot by Dot Esports

6) Deconstruct building for materials

In Infection Free Zone, you can demolish buildings to obtain construction materials like wood, raw metal, and bricks. If you find yourself running low on any of these materials, it’s a good idea to assign some workers to destroy a nearby building to collect them. The larger the building, the more resources you will obtain from its deconstruction, but the process will also take longer. You should build a Warehouse early on to store your materials if you plan to deconstruct many buildings.


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Author
Bhernardo Viana
Guides writer and strategist working in the gaming industry for over 9 years, with works published on Destructoid, Prima Games, ESPN, and more. A fan of Pokémon since I was 6 and an avid Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch player. Now hooked by Balatro and working on AFK Journey.