What's the ideal size of YOUR zombie survival crew? Why?

[HorrorHiro]

There are no "right" answers here, only interesting ones.

Truer words.

[Shaggers]

1) Thinking in the long-term (A small group might be easier to stabilize and keep up, but it's also generally speaking very short term. Once that little group grows old and ides off, they might create one or two new lives, but your not going to really have any long-term continuation. A large group on the other hand could potentially be humanities hope for repopulating).

This is a good point, honestly when people talk about their zombie survival strategies I don't think they really consider the long term. Like...the long long term. What if this whole zombie thing isn't resolved in a few months? A year? 50 years? I mean...I know I haven't ever really considered past more than a few years. Mostly because I would like to think we humans would be able to find a solution faster than a few years, but who can say?

I think, however, the reason a lot of people prefer small groups is because they are thinking the zombies will be dealt with before we have to worry about repopulating. So if all you have to do is ride it out until everything is resolved a small group would be the way to go. If its going to be a while, you might want to consider finding a larger group.

Turbo hit the nail on the head though, the key is adaptability. Because who can say how things will go down and who you'll be with when it happens or even where you'll be? You have to be able to adapt to your situation to survive.

[Litmaster]

I don't think the size of the group matters nearly as much as the location... for me, I'm on the East Coast (eastern MA), so the first thing I'd be doing is hitting the water, perhaps heading up to Maine (where there are thousands of little islands just off the coast). If that was the scenario, we could start with a small group and gradually grow as we occupied more islands, all in close proximity to landmass to do foraging, etc.

[Lifeboard2]

This is a good point, honestly when people talk about their zombie survival strategies I don't think they really consider the long term. Like...the long long term. What if this whole zombie thing isn't resolved in a few months? A year? 50 years? I mean...I know I haven't ever really considered past more than a few years. Mostly because I would like to think we humans would be able to find a solution faster than a few years, but who can say?

I think, however, the reason a lot of people prefer small groups is because they are thinking the zombies will be dealt with before we have to worry about repopulating. So if all you have to do is ride it out until everything is resolved a small group would be the way to go. If its going to be a while, you might want to consider finding a larger group.

Turbo hit the nail on the head though, the key is adaptability. Because who can say how things will go down and who you'll be with when it happens or even where you'll be? You have to be able to adapt to your situation to survive.

I have to say that would be good to prepare for the long term I think it was Michael who said "its better to prepare for the long term and to be rescued tomorrow".

[Da-Demon-Monkey]

6 simply put because that is the perfect size for a group that can be short-term to long-term survival because of the trust put into each other to survive. THERE WILL BE NO LEADER OF THE GROUP we will treat each other equally and only as such because what if one of us gets a superiority complex and will kill to keep that power. but if any survivors would come our way we would not be hesitant to help out and give them aid because the more lives you save the less zombies you have to deal with. another problem is the attachment to one another, say if one of us died or turned it could be almost impossible for us to recover mentally.
- risk = small numbers can be over run and the death of one of us could be harmful to the others mentally

but a colony has a flip-side to the great numbers. it's a double edged sword because if someone gets infected then hides it the whole colony would be jeopardized and also what if someone wants to take over the colony. what if not all of us are fighting off the zombies all the time so what if someone has lost their killer instinct and will to fight because one thing goes wrong and they go crazy like in the beginning. but it serves as a better long term interest but it would require a leader and a council to keep everyone in check. then you have the great numbers to fend off other people and hordes of the undead. but then again food will be a problem if a crop goes bad or one doesn't grow in enough time people could starve and die.
- risk = Larger numbers can be infected from the inside, more defense, only good for mid to long term and a supiriority complex could turn form a colony into a dictatorship and needs lots of food

[alexcadtek]

Wow, good question, I think the more the better and to have sub groups, All my people would be in the same building house or main camp ETC.. but there would be groups and one leader for the whole group and everyone brings evrything to the table when it comes to decideing things. buy havings sub groups you could have leaders within those groups and have them all decide and bring it to the main person, then he or her would bring it to the all the rest of the top leaders at main camp. As soon as you get bigger you can even make cells in short distances from main camp but you can keep growing and growing, each cell could have there scavengers, soldiers and cooks or whatever they need. But this is all speculation, because this would work if everybody got along, but if there is problems you can send people to diffrent groups just to maintain peace. but in all I think all camps, cell etc.. would bring all goods to main camp, I also think it would be good to have diffrent groups ready to fill in for other groups that are tired and need to come back to main camp, its basically like moving soldiers in and out discovering what is out there well trying to self sustain. And last note, having cells in short distance you can have them as towers to watch out for any intruders or Z PEOPLE, and make them in a distance where it serves as a perimeter and defense, you can fight from there or retreat to main camp without the intruders knowing where that is. The more people you have you can extent out more, and cover more area so hopefully you can claim some of the city back. but this would only be possible with lots of people. if you only have a small amount of people I would say your best bet is to keep moving every week or so.
It seems dificult to feed alought of people but you can do alot of things faster and safer then just a small amount of people.
But what do I know! LOL