Zombie River Tactics

Zombie Tactics

The information on this page or section discusses a zombie strategy.

Zombie River Tactics

Zombie River Tactics

Unlike Human River Tactics, Zombie River Tactics actually embody the attributes of a river. They do not focus on evasion, but on erosion. River tactics take the natural behavior of zombies into account, and play to the zombies strengths and the survivors weaknesses.

Conceptually, Zombie River Tactics are simply any plan that masses zombies at a point, shifts that mass to the enemies weak spots, and exploits the efforts of the enemy to the benefit of the zombies.

Flow like a river, Siege like a Z

Mikey got with Sharon, Sharon got Cherie

She was sharin' Sharon's outlook on the topic of disease

Mikey had a facial scar and Bobby was a racist

They were all in love with dyin' they were doin' it in Texas

Tommy played piano like a kid out in the rain then he lost his leg in Dallas

he was dancin' with the train

They were all in love with dyin' they were drinkin' from a fountain

That is pouring like an avalanche

comin' down the mountain

The Butthole Surfers

Song: Pepper

Album: Electric Larryland

In the oriental traditions, chi consists of two interacting energy forces: yin and yang. Yin forces entail many things, but primary among them are water and death. Rivers and zombies are both very strong forces of yin, and zombies have much to learn from the river if they are to tap into their yin power.

Rivers have many small tributaries; so should major zombie attacks draw in as many ferals as possible. Rivers don't run in straight lines, and neither should major zombie attacks. Rivers do not flow over obstacles, but rather flow under and around them, cutting away at the base until the obstruction collapses into the river and is washed away. Rivers do not work quickly (except in the case of a flash flood) but they can alter any landscape given enough time.

It Starts up in the Mountains

A successful siege takes a large number of zombies. How many is unclear, part of what makes this game fun. It clearly depends on how organized the two sides are, but still- it takes a lot of zombies to ransack an occupied mall.

So the first stage in ZRT is recruitment. Actually, its a constant stage- just as a river continues to pick up strength from rains and tributaries on its flow to the ocean, so should a zombie siege never stop recruiting, because you can be certain the opposition will also be bringing in back-up.

It Comes Down Through the Valleys

Moving directly on a mall generally proves futile. Unless you already have a very large organized strike group, and catch the defenders unprepared to repair their barricades, you won't get in. And if you do get in, the damage you do will be fairly easily repaired; revive techs from local NT's will happily patch up anybody who got killed, and you are right back where you started.

So what is a zombie siege to do? What would a river do? Before becoming a major waterway, rivers twist and turn and erode away the low points and the soft ground, creating a deep trench as they go that lets them flow with more and more force. Zombie sieges should do the same.

Everybody knows now- "destroy the NT, and the Mall will fall." And because everybody knows this, the Necrotech Building will be well defended- as well defended as any corner of the mall, maybe better. What if you don't have the organization or numbers to break into the Necrotech building and ransack it? What other resources can you destroy, and how? What I'm talking about here is "dirty tricks"- attacking the target's ability to carry on business as normal, and making them fight on your terms. A malls "resources" are not just buildings- its also the operational organization and web of support that lets it recover from and repel your attacks.

One such resource is the revive point used by the malls inhabitants. Instead of banging on the barricades of a building, maybe getting in and doing a little damage, maybe not, and then logging out, why not use a few AP to walk over and stand at the revive point before logging out? This accomplishes a few things:

• You might get stuck with a needle. That's one needle (and 10 survivor APs) down the drain and one survivor who is still dead. If you have Brain Rot, it ends there- good job. If you do not have Brain Rot- well, more on that later.
• You might get scanned and passed over. That's OK, it cost somebody an AP to scan you, and if they have to scan enough zombies to find one they want to revive, its pretty frustrating. They may give up on reviving anybody not on their contact list- which means when they loose their allies, they don't get them back.
• You might get noticed (one of the above two ways) and killed. That's OK, it generally costs the survivors much more AP to kill you than it costs you to stand up, especially if you include the time spent searching for ammunition. Ammunition spent outside the mall is ammunition not on hand for killing and dumping zombies who break in later.
• You almost certainly will get to observe who is reviving people. Collecting and sharing this information (most easily done in the form of a UDtool list) can let your side know who they need to kill in order to really gum up the works.

More "dirty tricks" to come.

Tactic Section C

	Zombie River Tactics
	I am the void that devours all.