Eurgh. Every single death has been due to huge mobs of zombies that appear out of nowhere. I ultimately end up surrounded by fast zombies. It also seems like it always happens when I attempt to cross a large field. Does this happen to anyone else? If so, how do you counter it? Should I just stick to running between buildings and streets and stay away from open areas?
This happens occasionally, especially out in the open, when you're easily seen by zombies in all directions. Keeping to cover (i.e. buildings or trees) helps a lot, but sometimes you just can't avoid it. When this happens, start thinking ahead carefully and planning step by step (shift from FPS mode into turn-based strategy mode, basically
Retreat as much as you can, kite out the zombies so only the fast ones can reach you, use terrain to your advantage. And yes, occasionally you are fucked and get surrounded by monsters that're faster than you. This is when you whip out your emergency shotgun, molotov, cocaine, <insert spoilery item here>, etc. An emergency kit is just as important as regular-use items like first aid, painkillers, and a good weapon.
This looks like so much fun, but it seems like:
1) I have to play on a server
2) I have to download other programs to run it
3) I have to know more about computer code then i already do.
Please tell me I am wrong on all 3.
The answer to all three is "only if you want to." If you're a Windows user, you can download a standalone compiled version at
https://github.com/headswe/Cataclysm/archives/master . If you're a linux user, then installing other programs is easy and you can compile it yourself in a few commands, and edit the parts of the code that're designed to be read by untrained eyes.