Ruin

Ruined buildings are darker grey.

Introduction of Ruins

As per the August 14, 2007 update:

"Some of the more territorial zombies have taken to ruining buildings; ransacking a building to such a thorough extent that the damage is visible from the street. Ruined buildings can only be repaired by survivors with construction experience and a toolbox.

Creating a Ruin

A building must be ransacked five times for the option to ruin it to be available. Ruined buildings appear on the map as regular buildings, but with a darker background and they can be noticed from adjacent blocks.

Each block of a Large Building (Malls, Mansions, Stadiums, Power Stations and Cathedrals) can be ruined individually.

Junkyards and zoo enclosures can be neither ransacked nor ruined. In the Borehamwood map, the unique building, a ruined abbey, cannot be ruined.

If a ruined building has power, it turns dull yellow with a gray background.

Repairing a Ruin

Ruined buildings can only be repaired by survivors with the construction skill and a toolbox. Repairing a ruined building requires that all zombies be removed. Dark ruined buildings must first be powered before being repaired. Repairing a ruined building gives 1 XP and doesn't use up the toolbox. Repaired buildings have normal status (they are neither ruined nor ransacked).

As per the 28 May, 2008 update repairing ruin costs more AP the longer it has remained ruined. This seems to be equal to 1 AP per full 24 hours the building remains ruined, and does not appear to be capped. The AP cost cannot be "split" (i.e. spent in parts) - the option to repair the ruin is a single action that consumes multiple AP, just as standing up from a headshot (or without Lurching Gait) or manufacturing a syringe. You may go under 0 AP (i.e. have negative AP) after a repair (as with the previous actions). No building can be permanently ruined.

Ruin Effects

Ruining buildings prevents survivors from:

• Barricading
• Changing into new clothes
• Free running in (attempts land the survivor outside and may injure the survivor, though this injury never causes death)
• Scouting their safehouse

Search Rates in ruined building are also severely reduced.

Ruins (unless heavily or more barricaded, see piñata) can always be entered as normal, from street level. Free running out of a ruin into an intact building works as normal; the survivor moves to the interior of the neighboring intact building for 1 AP.

More information

• Decay
• Big Game Ruin Hunting - for a history of high-AP ruin repairs and a list of some of the highest AP repairs to date.