The best areas to start in Infection Free Zone are those that offer a mix of buildings to scavenge for resources, trees to gather wood, and walls for protection. Many areas around the world still retain their medieval walls, which can provide excellent early defenses.
Best locations to start in Infection Free Zone
To start a match in any of these areas in Infection Free Zone, simply copy and paste the names in the left-hand column straight into your game, then choose the first option from the drop-down menu. The green map pin will show you exactly where the city or structure is in the central tile.
| Starting area | Features |
|---|---|
| Times Square, New York | Lots of buildings and variety of lootable resources, as well as a short distance between buildings, making it faster to scavenge for resources. Plenty of trees in the west tiles. |
| Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh | Walls are pre-built, and it’s a good area to start a defensive strategy. |
| Hohensalzburg Castle, Salzburg | Also a heavily walled area with plenty of canned food and ammo close by. Has several small buildings to quickly scavenge to the south. |
| Cité de Carcassonne, Carcassonne | This area is so heavily walled that you actually can’t get out of it without destroying a few walls. Some hordes will still spawn inside the city, but most will be stuck outside. |
| Pile Gate, Dubrovnik | Much like Carcassone, this area is completely enclosed by walls, making it hard for hordes to get to the area. There’s one opening to the south, though, so either place your HQ in the north or quickly build gates in the south. |
| Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany | Heavily walled area with plenty of trees close to the main buildings, including walled trees for safe gathering. Just be careful because some walls have openings. |
From my experience, the best starting area is Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. What sets this area apart from other walled cities is the abundance of trees very close to the buildings, allowing you to gather wood safely and quickly retreat your workers in case of a horde attack. You just need to be cautious since there are some openings in the walls. Choose your headquarters wisely and swiftly close the gaps to be safe.
I discovered that the best starting areas in Infection Free Zone are those that naturally offer a strategic advantage right from the start. For instance, the great thing about Times Square is that all the structures are so close together, you don’t have to send your squads too far to scavenge for resources. This proximity allows you to quickly gather what you need when you need to defend against a horde attack on your HQ. In the case of other walled cities, the days of natural protection they provide are perfect for advancing your technology, feeding your people, and safely building structures. This setup allows you to stabilize your population before you go on the offensive against the hordes.
Starting areas that don’t work in Infection Free Zone
At first, I assumed that massive prisons and military areas would come with some sort of pre-built walls, like brick or barbed wire, but Infection Free Zone tends to exclude these types of structures when creating the map. We’re really limited to former medieval cities that still have their massive walls from that era, so it’s mostly smaller and even touristic cities in Europe that fit the bill.
I’ve also tested heavily guarded areas, like Fort Knox in the U.S., but the game doesn’t allow you to start a match there due to the lack of buildings in the vicinity. The best workaround is to use the map editor to modify the region slightly. So, if you know a heavily secured area that is too barren, you likely won’t be able to play there; if you could, the lack of scavenging opportunities would quickly lose you the game.
If you want a bit more freedom to choose your starting area, you can also pick anywhere in the world and use console commands and cheats to spawn gates, walls, and whatever your want on the map.
