The Fall of Monroeville Mall
| The First Fall of Monroeville Mall | |||||||||||||
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| Date | March 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Place | West Monroeville, Monroeville Mall. | ||||||||||||
| Result | Zombies ruin entire area. | ||||||||||||
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The Fall of Monroeville Mall was the first major Mall attack in the City of Monroeville, back in March of 2008. The event occurred due to the coordination of all large zombie hordes in the city.
The event became the blueprint for all Mall attacks in the perma death city and its outcome led to controversial game changes.
A month without siege
For the first month of Monroeville's existence there were no Mall sieges.
Zombie and survivors were mostly involved in an arms race. A brand new city presented fresh and unique problems. There was no information on the city available, not even a complete map. In addition all players were starting from scratch, in terms of skills, groups and approach.
Most zombies were fairly static. The first order of the day was attacking the Street Treats, abandoned survivors standing in the open. With few zombies possessing either Memories of Life or Lurching Gait it was much more efficient to gain XP whilst moving as little as possible, rather than mass on targets half way across the city.
In terms of groups the two sides took differing approaches. Survivors created over 75 Groups, none of them having more than 10 members, mostly based off a location or an existing group from Malton.
Zombies, alternatively formed fewer, larger Hordes. Such hordes appeared in most suburbs, and focussed on building effective strike teams capable of destroying Tactical Resource Points in a single strike.
As mapping became more complete, groups become organised, and skills were gained, several high profile buildings were discovered. The greatest of these was Monroeville Mall.
Mall Background
Monroeville Mall, West Monroeville
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The Monroeville outbreak had begun on the 25th of February 2008 and Monroeville Mall was first reported operational on the 28th of February. Enterprising survivors had used sections of pipe to loosely barricade all sections and were attempting to restore power.
The next day (29th) a survivor with some construction experience arrived and began barricading the whole structure, beginning at its eastern end.
Over the next few days the Mall slowly filled with survivors, collecting supplies and waving around Video Cameras. For the first two weeks of March it remained a symbol of survivor organisation, with only the odd Feral and random PKer to deal with.
Part of the reason few people discovered the mall was Monroeville's confusing design. The Mall was located in West Monroeville, which was actually in the centre of the map as there was no East or North suburbs. In addition unlike Malton each suburb was huge, covering over 1000 locations. Players used to regular square suburbs were easily disorientated.
In addition to the rules for a standard Mall, Monroeville Mall was very special building in for many reasons:
- Its unique size and shape make it the largest multi block building in either Monroeville or Malton. The only larger building is the Big Brother House in Borehamwood.
- As the largest mall in Urban Dead history, it was a major tactical resource point, providing everything but fuel.
- The entire mall was an island - it was impossible to freerun to or from.
- Historically it was the principal setting for the classic George Romero zombie film Dawn of the Dead.
As the mall was seen as such a highly symbolic building to both survivors and zombies it was only a matter of time before it hosted a major conflict.
The Gathering Storm
Throughout the second week of March zombies slowly shambled over to Monroeville Mall. By the 15th of March assorted Ferals, and Members of the Cornfed Undead were causing minor break-ins most days. Although some survivors were killed, these attacks were repulsed. The mall still appeared to be a safe haven.
Then, between The 15th and 17th of March a pattern began forming. James General Hospital, Homer Crescent Police Dept, Lothrop Walk Police Dept, Horne Crescent Police Dept and Pothinsje Auto Repair all fell into zombie hands. Ruin was spreading towards the Mall.
To the North, at Archway Mall survivors reported their first day free from a minor zombie attack in 3 weeks. The residents celebrated, as the zombies outside seemed to melt away into the night.
And so it began...
Mall Breach
On the 18th of March the Cornfed Undead were joined in their attack by the forces of the Monroeville Resistance Front. Suddenly the number of zombies present doubled. At this time the single largest Horde in Monroeville's brief history was visible. Defenders could not keep the barricades up and soon several zombies were inside the mall. Swiftly survivors were dragged out onto the street and the sound of Feeding Groans became unrelenting.
By 8.40pm the Easternmost block was ransacked and occupied. The zombies rejoiced in the men's formal wear section of JCPenny.
Pincer Attack
By 10pm the same night, a new threat had emerged. Members of the Monroeville Many launched a pincer attack on the Malls Westernmost block. The barricades were torn down and doors propped open for a swarm of ferals to enter the mall. Over the last few days those defenders with Construction had gravitated to the easternmost blocks, to deal with the existing threat. In addition by waiting until after the initial attack, when most survivors had expended their energy for the day, very little resistance was felt.
Both sides of the mall were now under zombie assault, but due to the mall's unique architecture, no survivor in any of the Malls central 3 blocks could see what was happening.A survivor logging on here would think that everything was fine.
New Tactics
Unlike zombie sieges in Malton. The attack in Monroeville seemed planned in an entirely different way. Once a foothold had been established, many zombies ignored those survivors closest to them and advanced deeper into the mall targeting anyone with the ability to construct barricades or interrupt the zombie march with a well aimed headshot.
The situation was chaotic. Zombies and survivors were mixed in all areas, and high level survivors who tried to fight were killed.
Most survivors reaction at this point was to run, and quickly the mall emptied. Where once there had been over 200 survivors there was soon nothing left but corpses and survivors brave, or indeed foolish enough to face over 100 zombies with little or no training.
The Mall was emptied of all life one block at a time.
On the night of the 19th, the two eastern-most blocks were devoid of life and claimed by the zombies.1
By the 20th all areas were empty of life and ruined. Iwitness 2
The first large scale Mall assault had been won by the zombies.
But the issue wasn't that it was a dramatic victory, the problem was it had become a total bloodbath.
Throughout the attack there had been no coordinated survivor defence, just individuals helping keep the malls many inhabitants alive. When the breaches occurred there were no notable groups manning the defences. There was no DEM or DHPD, there was just food.
It may be argued that survivors were more interested in the Video Camera competition, but the lack of any survivor leadership on a city wide level was a huge factor in their swift demise.
Long Term Effects
The relative ease with which the mall was overtaken was a stark reminder of the differences between Malton and Monroeville. With no large scale survivor groups existing to coordinate defences or reclaim ruins whole areas were left wastelands.
With this and other high profile zombie attacks increasing, Survivors suggested change to Kevan in order to make the city more balanced. His solution was the perma-headshot rules, designed to give survivors a chance to reclaim areas. Unfortunately the change left the city skewed in favour of survivors. Zombie numbers rapidly fell and remained low until the change was revoked at the end of the first quarantine.
Aftermath
Most of the combined Horde continued their path of Barhah by attacking and destroying Drummond Mall by March 24th. To complete the tour many zombies were then expected to hit Archway Mall, but the new Headshot update meant that Mall sieges were now too costly for zombies who fell back on smaller targets.
Monroeville Mall was finally reclaimed by survivors on April 9th.
