Rat Tactics

Survivor Tactics

The information on this page or section discusses a survivor strategy.

Rat Tactics Survive. Revive. Thrive.

A zombie horde has trashed your suburb and moved on. The locals are dead or scattered. Ferals are roaming everywhere. All your safehouses and resource buildings are trashed. You don't feel like running to the nearest safe zone as it will inevitably fall in turn. You're badly outnumbered and it's not likely to change soon. What to do?

Survival

Join a competent local group

I know, you wanted to be a lone wolf or a bounty hunter or a cowboy or an astronaut. That's fine in a suburb under survivor control. It doesn't work when the zombies show up in force. You are going to get killed and you will need a revive. You can be certain that the public revive points are clogged. Unless you're part of a group, you're doomed to wait and wait and wait.

Even if you get revived, one survivor can't do much. But as part of a group, you can have a greater impact. You'll be able to coordinate with others to clear resource buildings as required and you will know when and where resupply is possible.

Have the right tools for the job

You should be carrying a toolbox. You should be carrying syringes and a DNA extractor. You should be carrying first aid kits. Your only weapon should be the fire axe. Everything else is a luxury you can't afford.

Powering buildings is nice but it brings down retribution very quickly. Unless you're confident that the generator can last long enough to make the effort worthwhile, there's no point in expending the AP to find, fuel and install one. Trying to use guns simply means that you have to try and retake another class of resource buildings. The zombies will be defending the Police Departments. Let them.

Out of sight, out of mind

In a suburb of ruined buildings, barricades draw zombies. Since they have the numbers to break in and feast on all within, why give them a target? Hide in ruins if you have to. It's risky, but everything is risky in a dead zone.

Keep an eye on which areas the zombies are operating in and fortify buildings in less populated areas. It takes a great deal of effort to dig out every last survivor and it's not a fun job. Most zombies are not going to bother and trying to force them to do so is difficult. Once things are calmer, you can risk the more overt safehouses.

Husband your resources

Your inventory should never be empty. Without supplies, you're a liability. If you're running low on syringes or first aid kits, resupply any way you can. If desperate, search in ruined buildings. Preferably, find and repair an unguarded resource building.

Smash, grab, run

The zombies can't cover everything. Search for an undefended or lightly defended resource building, generally a hospital or Necrotech. Clear it yourself or with a group. Grab what you can and leave. The enemy will retake it sooner rather than later, don't be there when they do. Let the rest of your group know that the opportunity exists so all may benefit.

Rebuilding

Make your own cover

Rebuild the non-resource buildings. The zombies can't and won't defend them all. They give the local population the cover they need to survive. They give you the cover you need to raid from. If a building is occupied by zombies, move on and find another.

Spread out

Every safe house can fall. Make sure that its fall doesn't put a large dent in the local population. Try not to share safe houses with other members of your group. Remember that most unaffiliated survivors will cluster in high-population, high-barricade safe houses.

Fools rush in

Clever zombies will squat the resource buildings. Trying to take and hold a resource building will result in a counter attack that eliminates the defenders. If you don't have superior numbers or the revive queue has stalled, then there's no point trying to hold a building.

Test their response. Send in one or two survivors and see if the zombies react. If it's smashed by a coordinated strike within hours, you can surmise that they are watching.

Keep the revives going

Your group are all breathing and you've got needles to spare. Time to work the local revive point. Just don't expect much of a result. A lot of those you revive are going to die within hours. Low level survivors will try to find a secure safe house nearby and will probably die in the attempt. Most unaffiliated high-level survivors are going to make for the nearest green zone and die en route/die once the mega horde arrives. A few will stay and help. And they'll most likely die.

But you have to try. Remember, every survivor that stays and helps brings an additional 50 AP per day to the rebuilding effort. Well worth the 20 AP it cost to find the syringe and supply the revive.

The Enemy

Feral Zombies

They get bored. Let them. Ferals will eventually move on to greener pastures. Don't do anything to delay that process. Don't give them a siege to rally around. Don't give them targets. Once they're gone, that leaves the more deadly form of zombie.

Organized Zombies

They're going to watch for signs of a survivor insurgency. They're going to drop the hammer on any strongholds that you build. This is going to happen. Expect it and make sure that when they hit, they don't get enough of you to stop you.

Can you win?

Eventually, yes. Once the local survivor population outnumbers the zombie population, things will rapidly tip in your favor. At least until the next horde storms through.

	Rat Tactics
	Survive. Revive. Thrive.