Islanding
| Zombie Tactics |
| The information on this page or section discusses a zombie strategy. |
| Trans-Mortal Tactics |
| The information on this page or section discusses tactics that can be applied if you find yourself on the wrong side after getting killed or being revivified. |
Islanding is the targeted creation of piñatas to create artificial islands. As a tactic islanding is a more specific variation on cade and ruin, intended not just to counter barricade strafing but to isolate small groups of buildings from the free running network. Barricading all of the isolated buildings above Very Strongly barricaded will prevent survivors not only from entering the piñata, but all of the artifical island, in a much more efficient manner than attempting to piñata every building, and allows for the island to be actively defended against survivor attempts to retake it.
Procedure
First a building (or buildings) must be identified that, when piñata'd, will separate other adjacent buildings from the wider free running network. After creating the piñata (or piñatas), the player then needs to enter the artifical island, kill and dump any and all survivor occupants from its buildings, and then barricade those buildings above Very Strongly barricaded to prevent any survivors from reentering. Optionally the player can remain inside the artificial island, barricade strafing to counter any attempts to tear the barricades down to allow survivors reentry. By denying survivors access to unruined and barricaded buildings, the typical siege scenario is reversed by the player, albeit with a lower beachhead threshold as the exterior survivors need only take the barricades down to Very Strongly barricaded to gain entry. This reversal allows death cultists to turn the AP imbalance of creating and destroying barricades against survivors.
When actively defending an artificial island against attempts to retake it, the piñata becomes the most pivotal building due to the much higher difficulty in maintaining its barricades. However two or more cooperating players are capable of maintaining a piñata from the inside for as long as they have a supply of syringes through hold the piñata tactics, so an artificial island can be fully maintained (piñata included) by three or more players.
Examples
A few examples of varying size demonstrating the use of islanding as a tactic:
Rodges Stadium
Rodges Stadium is a four-block building connected to the free running network only through The Godwin Motel adjacent to its south-west corner:
Turning the Godwin Motel into a piñata will isolate the stadium from the free running network, making it into an artificial island. Barricading all four corners of the stadium above Very Strongly barricaded will prevent any survivors from entering, and a player inside the stadium with the construction skill can actively maintain the barricade levels to keep it that way.
Central Kinch Heights Artificial Island
Turning either The Eden Museum or Kebby Way School in Kinch Heights into a piñata will create an artificial island out of the seven or eight buildings surrounding Milverton Place Police Department, including Urban General Hospital and The Nevill Building [NT]. While a strategic choice due to the inclusion of these resource buildings, Club Steager will be more difficult to keep barricaded due to it being dark with no source of fuel cans on the artificial island.
South-East Fryerbank Artificial Island
Turning both Towne Row Police Department and Hobson Place Police Department into piñatas will isolate the entire south-east of Fryerbank from the wider free running network - a total of 34 buildings including 3 Necrotech Buildings. A small group of coordinated players could be reasonably expected to maintain such an area, only lacking in a source of First Aid Kits in the event of conflict.
