Talk:Vault fort

Sorry, the Darklast article doesn't seem to exist. Could you please fix the link? Verance 01:15, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Oops will try to fix that! Thanks!--Belisarius17 01:27, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Suggestions

The "vault fort" concept is a valuable one. You have several different ideas here under the heading of "vault Fort" and it is rather confusing. I would put just the idea of the vault fort here, its purpose, construction, (advantages and disadvantages) and move the other information to a tactical guide.--Taco2 13:55, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

EVIL Contributions....

I'm curious as to how EVIL, led alone how I, contributed to the development of this page... -Poodle of Doom^{M! T} 04:04, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Responded on POD's epically l-o-n-g discussion page...which WILL reach his stated goal of 1MB probably within the year at this rate!(just kidding)--Belisarius17 14:48, 29 March 2010 (BST)

Wait wait wait wait wait

I could be missing something but is this a tactical article on using dark buildings... as dark buildings? It seems a bit redundant is all. 04:25, 1 July 2010 (BST)

Actually it is my poor attempt to work up a tactical guideline for new players (like me) on how to use dark buildings in the context of preparing them for the big sweeps through burbs by the better Zed groups. It is a bit redundant and has a long way to go to be more than simply redundant but I had to start with the basics. If I vote for you as Mayor will you help me make it more relevant?--Belisarius17 04:46, 1 July 2010 (BST)

Well that sounds like a deal. 09:07, 1 July 2010 (BST)

It's probably worth noting the difficulty inherent in convincing the local survivor population that dark buildings are much, much safer being dark. Effective grafitti campaigns in and around both the dark buildings, and the generators sources, would help, as would adherence to a strict rationing of generators/fuel in a ranked order - light the TRPs first, then the non-essential buildings with useful search items, then nothing else. Buildings like offices, schools, and darks, do not need lit, so rationing generators to the buildings that do need it will help engender a familiarity with this. A good portion of the success of a scheme like this is the education of the great unwashed, so remember that. 03:55, 3 July 2010 (BST)

A difficulty with this proposal

I hate to bring gloom and doom to this discussion, but one thing that this proposal does not take into consideration is what happens when a zombie does break into a dark building. Setting aside the new game mechanics that grant zombies more combat ability in the dark, my largest issues with dark buildings have always been the great effort and resources required to repair them and the difficulties associated with defending them. The former is self evident, a generator, one of the most valuable and hard to come by items in the game, is required to repair it. Your strategy plans for this. The defense though is not taken into consideration. Rebuilding barricades within a dark building is no easy feat; in addition to the instances of "you attempt to barricade the building with a ______, but cannot find a place to put it", there are also instances of text indicating that you cannot barricade because it is too dark to see what you are doing. Add to this then that any zombies who break in will be harder to hit or combat revive as long as the building remains dark, and you see how damaging the aforementioned game mechanic modification is to this tactic. Combine this with the fact that a zombie does not have to completely kill a survivor, but need only get them low enough to drag outside and the combat advantage of zombies is strengthened. Still, there is no question that a dark building is a safer place to sleep than one that isn't. The increased cost of repairing, barricading, and defending would still not outweigh the practical benefits were it not for the fact once a zombie breaks into a dark building, you cannot remove them without a generator. I believe I am correct in remembering that dead bodies are not displayed in such buildings so dumping them is not an option until the building is no longer dark. Once breached, a dark building will delay a massacre but it cannot prevent it. Dark buildings are therefore a good place to buy time but not to make a stand.

Still, the strategy can be used successfully if the dark building in question is near enough to a factory that a steady supply of generators can be obtained. If you secure the building and darken it before long periods of inactivity, then coordinate lighting it and defending it with the help of the other survivors inside, and finally re-darken it before the next period of inactivity, making sure that someone inside has a generator on hand for the next defense, such a building can be maintained but only at great cost. If the survivors notice the break-in and begin shooting at zombies in the dark, your vault will fall.

I apologize once more for raining on things but I thought this should be pointed out.

It occurred to me that there may be a way to remedy this with Life-Culting. I will conduct some experiments and let you know if I uncover a resolution.

Unfortunately, I asked around and it appears you cannot feeding drag a zombie. I will verify this whne I next get the chance but it looks like an extra generator is the only way.

-- Albert Schwan  02:52, 15 September 2010 (BST)

No worries Doc, You make good points and this was written before the game mechanics changed-also it was developed in a resource rich burb-I will review and respond more in a bit--Belisarius17 04:11, 15 September 2010 (BST)