Guides:Zoe Gorefest's Guide for The Career PKer
Guide: Zoe Gorefest's Guide for the Career PKer
Introduction
So, you've finally done it. You've decided to sink into the foul, unforgivable recesses of the realm of PKing. For some, PKing is simply done to pass the time, or to make a general nuisance of themselves. It can be done by a single person, or in an organized group of people with a likeminded goal of harassing their own kind. A large majority of PKers are motivated by two main reasons:
(A) You still get 1/2 the regular rate of XP for attacking your fellow zombie/survivalist.
(B) It pisses people off.
Some turn to PKing as a means of entertainment, when they've assembled all of their desired skills as both a human and a zombie, and have hit the glass ceiling: they now have no use to collect XP, no new skills to acquire, and they now have nothing better to do. For others, PKing is a manner in which to deliver retribution against other PKers, such as Bounty Hunter clans. Since there's no permanent life or unlife, Bounty Hunting is still PKing, however, it's more of a sanctioned action within the populace of Malton, since they're "avenging the victims" in the public's eye. It's more or less the Urban Dead player's way of "an eye for an eye". Then there's the usual PKing that stems from rival groups clashing with one another over territory issues, or just plain bad blood.
PKing can be classified into two categories: "PKing" and "ZKing". "PKing" is a general term, but most use it to describe a survivor killing another survivor. "ZKing", as you can guess, describes a zombie mauling another zombie to death. Although they're pretty much the same thing, as all characters, alive or undead, are operated by players, people feel the need to separate the two acts as different types of violence. The only thing that changes between the two, is that if you're a zombie, and another zombie mauls you to death, you don't log back in and stand up as a human.
The tactics I've assembled below have been put together from my own experience, and they work quite well if utilized effectively. It's important for you to know that I am not telling you to go on a PK rampage. These tactics work well for killing, period: whether you're gunning down innocent bystanders, killing members of a rival group, or hunting other PKers as a Bounty Hunter.
Keep in mind that I will not be devoting much of this guide to ZKing. As ZKing is currently a pointless act (other than to waste APs and vent frustration if you're a dedicated survivalist character), there isn't much to cover. If you're a zombie and you're chewing on another undead husk, the worst you're going to do is inconvenience him/her 1 to 10 AP to stand back up. This lack of real penalty to the victims of ZKing is the primary reason it's been such a popular source for XP for low-level zombies trying to build skills. However, with the recent addition of the Feeding Drag skill, the ability to yank wounded survivors out of buildings allows higher level zombies to nurture their weaker brethren with easy kills for XP. This basically means that more ZKing is done these days out of spite, by fallen survivalists, and since a majority of career zombies already have Ankle Grab, you're only hindering them 1 AP. It's the factors of the AP cost to kill as a zombie, and Ankle Grab that make ZKing a futile effort to slow the efforts of an experienced zombie horde.
Now, let's take a look at what we'll be working with, as a survivor PKer.
Equipment
The Axe: A simple weapon. Hits at a rate of 40% accuracy when fully skilled, doing 3 damage per successful hit. This makes the fire axe the only melee weapon you should even bother with, as the kitchen knife, lead pipe, baseball bat, and the crowbar all pale in comparison of performance. However, even then it should be used only as a last-resort killing tool. Only pull this out if you're completely out of ammunition. The reason being is that it's difficult to rip into a victim with full HP, kill them, and still have the APs left to escape.
Handgun: The pistol is a common weapon, scavenged from Police Departments and malls. When fully loaded with a pistol clip, it contains six rounds of ammunition, for 5 points of damage per successful shot. When fully trained, you have a 65% chance of success for sinking a bullet into your intended target. The pistol is without a doubt, the most cost-effective weapon in regards to being easy to scavenge, having the most ammo capacity, and still doing more damage than that rusty axe you've been carrying around.
Shotgun: A personal favorite, the shotgun is a real crowd-pleaser. When its twin chambers are fully loaded, and you're fully trained on it, you have 65% accuracy and deal a whopping 10 points of damage per shotgun blast that meets your victim. You can pick'em up at Police Departments, malls, and on occasion, Arms (bars). There are two downfalls to this weapon: the lack of ammo capacity and the AP needed to keep one well-fed with shotgun shells. However, the upside is the heavy damage inflicted, as it deals double the damage a handgun round would inflict.
There are other weapons at a survivalist PKer's disposal, however, due to their various downfalls, these three killing instruments are the only ones you should bother with. Unless you've made some sort of bet, and after several beers you and a buddy get into wager about who can kill the most people with a kitchen knife, there's not any real reason to stray outside the trio I've listed unless it's simple personal preference. Maybe you just like lead pipes and flare guns.
However, do keep a crowbar around. Even if you're never going to use it as a weapon. It has its uses.
Strategy
Sure, any moron can run into a crowded mall, shout something in Spanish, and shoot someone. But there's a certain finesse and tactical planning that must go into effect if you want to stay on your A-Game when it comes to killing your own kind. You have to have to not only plan your infiltration and execution, but your escape plan as well. Sticking around buildings after you've gunned down someone will only advertise for the surrounding witnesses to butcher you in retaliation.
Scout your killing fields closely. Take into account the number of survivors inside a building, whether or not it's powered by a generator, if it's got a radio, and whether or not it's a high-priority target to zombies. All of these a important factors.
A building with only one survivor is an easy spot to murder someone. There are no other witnesses, and once you've done the deed, you can toss their carcass outside so they can't rise from the grave and maul you.
If you're in a crowded area, like a resource building, it's a double-edged sword. There's plenty of people to choose as a victim, but there's also several witnesses. If you're going to pick a spot like this, make sure you have at least 10 APs to spend to escape. Without them, you'll be a sitting duck, and you can be sure to wake up, undead, next to your victim outside the building. Malls are a popular spot for random PKers, as there's constantly people in them and you can lie in wait, like a serpent in the grass, stocking up ammo until the time to kill is just right. However, I personally avoid killing in malls, as people tend to stay in them for prolonged periods of time, and your reputation as a PKer will often precede you. If you kill in a mall, you'll want to avoid returning to it for an indefinite period of time. The reason being is that people who saw you PK will often remember you, and try to kill you as a preemptive strike. And hell, let's face it: if you're a repeat offender, malls are a bad idea since they're usually housing a Bounty Hunter or two.
A building with a functioning radio means that as soon as somebody logs in and sees your handiwork via "(your name) killed Bob Bobson.", they're going to broadcast it. If you need to, and have the APs to spare (as in, it won't interfere with you fleeing the scene), consider breaking the radio first. This is the first of two reasons I keep a crowbar handy. The lack of access to a radio means they're not going to be able to advertise your murderous antics immediately. Radio Killing is useful when you're PKing due to conflict with a rival group, for these same reasons, as it can cause a slight delay in the victim's friends being able to broadcast your presence in the vicinity.
Going For The Kill
Being a successful PKer means being a creature of excess. Devote a bulk of your inventory to handguns and shotguns, preferably fully-loaded, a few first aid kits, and a radio to monitor the local frequencies and check for activity. You don't want to go rushing into a building to kill someone, when zombies are about to tear the barricades down and do all the work for you.
You'll want at the very least: 8 handguns and between 5 to 8 fully-loaded shotguns. And of course, an axe to fall back on. Why the massive amount of firearms? Because, most PKers are hunted, and stopping into your local shopping mall or police station to scavenge for bullets might be out of the question. That, and with a large quantity of fully-loaded weapons, you don't have to spend any APs to reload in the middle of killing someone. If you're PKing out of group rivalry, you also don't want to have to spend too much time around resource buildings where enemy operatives may be likely to visit. Hence, you'll be loaded down like a pack mule, but this allows you to ensure a more nomadic lifestyle that can increase your lifespan dramatically. (With the changes done on March 28th 2006 to Revivication Syringes, the additional AP cost to revive a zombie also means getting resurrected isn't as fast as it used to be. You'll want to stay breathing as much as you can, since people aren't running around injecting folks left and right like a heroin riot anymore.)
Killing should be a multi-gun execution, whenever possible. Tearing an opponent down with multiple shotgun blasts and finishing them off with handguns seems to be the choice tactic. You don't spend too many APs, even when your victim has a flak vest on. Carrying plenty of handguns and shotguns also means you can kill several people in one full turn of 50 APs and still have just enough AP to escape. Turning yourself into a walking street-howitzer, as unsporting as it is, is a must when it comes to group conflicts as well. If you're hitting a rival safehouse, more guns means a higher possibility of racking up more kills.
In another factor of Group Rivalry PKing, sometimes you don't even need to fire a round, or swing an axe. If your enemies' safehouse is in a suburb with a high level of zombie infestation, sometimes all you've gotta do is open the door. This is reason number two to keep that crowbar around, despite its lack of use as a melee weapon. If their barricades are low enough, simply attack the barricades with the crowbar until they're no more. While this is more of a zombie spy tactic than actual PKing, unrolling the red carpet for the undead so they can devour your foes is still an effective means of getting rid of your enemies. Some might argue that this isn't a true PK, but even though you don't get that satisfying death message, they're still dead on account of your actions.
Coming Soon: Group Tactics and Establishing a Hideout
===Establishing a hideout===
User submitted
NOTE PLEASE: This is another users submission and may be deleted or edited by Zoe Gorefest at their discretion.
Establishing a hideout You want to hide in a safe place where there is as low as possible chance of being found and ultimately killed. be it by zombies or humans. But, you also want to be reasonably close to some form of Tactical resource point, so you can stock yourself up every now and again on ammunition and FAKs. (its probably a good idea to have a member of you squad, if you have one, to have several revification syringes on them, in preparation of the inevitable) Office buildings, train stations, cinemas. boring places. perfect. you want to chose a building that has as little appeal as possible to your regular survivor. that means no TRP. you should try to find a building that is uninhabited and not powered. that means nobody should come along snooping if they see the lights on inside. try to pick a building that is as freestanding as possible, with maybe one or two adjacent buildings. this way you can maintain a central stronghold at EHB and have 1-2 entrances at VSB keep at least one member of your squad armed with a radio, to monitor the local wavelength and see if there is an impending hunt for you because your location is discovered. thats all i can really think of, hope it was of some helpfulness. Michael ruppe 09:38, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Establishing a Hideout: Solo/Small Group Version
If you have a bit of time to plan where you're sleeping in between shots or searches in your daily killing, you can have a far longer lifespan. First, look at a map of where you are. The wiki's will do fine, but it can be complemented by the Red Rum Map of Malton because it can show free running lanes. Find a point that isn't on the lane to the nearest mall, PD, or necrotech that's also at least 5-10 steps away from your last kill, depending on how survivors are in the suburb and the building that held host to your antics. The more in the general suburb, the safer you are if you can blend in. The more in the kill building, the less safe you are. Be sure to check around for any zealous survivors sleeping in your lodgings before logging out, and if you see any head next door. Same with familiar faces from previous kills, be it witnesses or victims. If you're part of a group, try not to sleep in the same building as more than one or two of them if at all possible. If there's no one else there, shut the generator down. Some survivors will cluster to the lit buildings they think 'lit' means 'hasn't been broken into in a while' or because it has a useful item in it (IE fuel cans from an auto repair). Some of them are also bounty hunters.
You can do very well with entry points to minor clusters of non-TRP buildings. Be sure that you aren't close to a revive point, as a lot of survivors will want to get in through the closest place they can. Now, you may be wondering why any PKer would want to hole up in a VSB building. One word: Overbarricading. Many entry points are somewhat far away from the buildings most survivors flock to. When they're un-enterable, very few tired revivers or trenchers fresh from a hard day's outdoor zombie hunting will take the time and patience to go from the next entry point to the one you boarded up and knock it back down. This not only decreases the number of survivors who will see you; it also lowers your chances of getting killed by zombies. However, it's a bad idea if you're part of a notorious group, have a high bounty/KOS on the list of a group with a large presence in that suburb, or recently killed someone in said building
Also, if you haven't made a kill anywhere within around 10-15 blocks away recently, you can easily hide in plain sight. Not many survivors have the patience to go into a mall corner or NT with 150 people and check every single one's profile. Fewer still will go out of their way to look up a group they haven't heard of on the wiki. The more people, the less dangerous. Just remember that the DEM and some DEM affiliates tend to be a little more thorough about the people in a large building. If you have a substantial bounty, you may want to avoid using this tactic if you see a lot of people from DEM groups around, especially the Malton Marshals.
Draw as little attention to yourself as you can before your kill. If you're coordinating with group members and you don't meta, use cell phones even if you're in the same building when you're talking targets. If you desperately need to make a radio broadcast, do it in a building with as few people as possible, preferably with very few or none of them being in local anti-pker groups. Similarly, never sleep in the same building two days in a row. Just because you woke up alive doesn't mean someone bitter from an old kill hasn't found you and made a mental note to return the favor when they have more AP.
--Vladimir Antipov 22:40, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
