Guides:Starting a New Group (Survivor)

So you're starting a new survivor group?

Why? There's plenty of good ones out there. Now go away, join one, buy construction, and then come back.

You've done that?

Good. Now you want your group to flourish don't you? So lets get straight to work. Where to set up such a group. Pitneybank? I mean come on its got a mall AND a fort.

Again leave. Its also home to several large groups who will suck up any new recruits quicker than you can say "Wow it's just like Resident Evil".

What you really want is an area you can call your own.

Being the most active group in an area makes it more likely new recruits will join you. If every survivor a level one meets in a suburb is part of the Elite Fighting Posse (Please choose a better name) They are more likely to associate you as the face of survival.

Also an area without big survivor groups is less likely to be destroyed by mega zombie hordes. "Lets ruin Pitneybank! Its got a mall AND a fort."

Finally, every suburb with survivors in helps the survivor cause. You may not realise it, but reclaiming a single NT (Im thinking of The Merson Building here.) can aid survivors whole suburbs away.

But how to find such a home?. Its easy, I'll show you.

July 2009

Its July 2009, the map of Malton changes a lot over time, but lets use today's suburb map to find your new home.

Lets focus on the North West of Malton. What can we notice? 4 Safe area and 11 Moderate areas? Lets ignore them for now. What else have we got? Lets have a look at Lukinswood, as its a ghost town, which means that zombie numbers are probably quite low.

First checks

Looking at Lukinswood's suburb page you look like you are on to a winner. The suburb listing lists only one group, The Crimson Clan, which the Stats page shows have 22 members. More importantly no zombie or hostile groups are listed.

Lets look at the news section. Whats the last piece of news that isnt an external military report or a necrowatch scan? We've had only 3 such comments this year.

Now look at the TRP's. Here's the current status of Withyman PD.

OPERATIONAL STATUS: Ruined 3 outside with one inside area surrounding building is ruined. Lost for now. 10:52 (CST) 7/3/08 

-- -Anon

Note the date. The page was last updated over a year ago. This implies very little survivor input in that time.

Looks like you've found your new home!

So now what?

Well lets see. If you want to create a good group you need to start going mad. You'll need a wiki page. a recruitment ad, probably a forum. These are the tools you need to start. But there are much simpler things you can do.

• Talk to people.

If you're standing in a building, talk to people. Contact list the first 30 people you see. Its always a good idea to add all low level survivors to your contacts, and give them a certain colour. That way every time you see them you can say hi, pass on some advice, give them that revive when they get stuck outside. It's amazing how quickly people will become your friends.

• Operate a revive point.

Nothing gives the impression of being a good survivor group better than an active revive policy. Plus it isn't super trenchy.

• Classy Graffiti

Classy graffiti. Not just your tag, but a bit of advice, humour or just a catchy tagline.

• Don't run away.

If you're suburb is getting chewed, don't run away. Walk. Slowly. Perhaps 6ap away, ready to revive and reclaim. If another group is scattered and half dead, and they return 3 weeks later to find you've already reclaimed those TRP's its going to reflect well on you, both in terms of making allies and recruiting new people.

• Spam the wiki with useful information.

Update danger reports, report zombie build ups, making sure that you sign them with a signature including a link to your groups wiki page. Make sure this info is as accurate as possible. Use Iwitness or similar if you can.

Keeping your group busy

So say by some luck you get a group of 5 or 6 members together, what are you going to do with them? Boredom is the greatest group killer out there. You need targets and goals, now to steal some random words, they need to be SMART.

• Small

Don't try and retake Ridleybank. if everything your group tries to do ends up being a failure, how long do you think people will continue to follow you? Start with small tasks, build up to the big stuff.

• Managed

As a group leader don't try and take on everything. Delegate to other group members, get them involved. You want to find your members strengths

• Achievable in time allowed

Set a time frame. No group can hold a building forever. Try and give your activities definate time periods. If you reclaim those dark buildings in a week, or empty that revive point 3 hours ahead of schedule, thats another victory.

• Realistic

Explain the reasons behind the mission. People like to see the big picture.

• Targets.

SMART Targets!

Get a rivalry going

Don't forget to make it personal. If you can find a zombie group to challenge, all the better. Conflicts against regular opponents help keep up interest. Respect your opponents and talk to them.

If you are in an area with no zombie groups, do the same with the ferals. If your local revive point has a regular rotter, then take time to focus on him. say hi, explain how you are going to get around his presence with smart reviving, and generally bore the undead pants of him. Remember, no one likes logging in everyday to find themselves Headshot in front of an EHB, Powered building.

Finally

To run a group you need to devote a lot of time, but bear in mind everyone in your group may not. Its quite possible to play urban dead for only a minute a day. Learn how active your allies are remember this when you look at their importance in your group. A semi regular player who says little isn't going to be the best second in command. --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 22:02, 20 July 2009 (BST)