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''This is the article for the in-game safehouse function. For the glossary article on safehouses see [[Safehouses (Glossary)]].''
As per the 16 August, 2010 Update:
As per the 16 August, 2010 Update:


* Survivors and zombies alike are finding it easier to navigate the familiar wreckage of the city streets. Survivors can get directions to a nominated safehouse; zombies automatically focus on the most recent groan or scent trail.  
* Survivors and zombies alike are finding it easier to navigate the familiar wreckage of the city streets. Survivors can get directions to a nominated safehouse; zombies automatically focus on the most recent groan or scent trail.  


==In Game Effects==
* Settling in for the long haul, some survivors have been modifying and memorising their safehouses. Those able to scout a safehouse can spend 30AP to survey the building, giving them approximately 5 extra AP per day within their nominated safehouse, until they die or the safehouse is ruined.
 
==Setting a Safehouse==
[[Survivor]]s (but not [[zombie]]s) have the option to select a [[Building Types|building]] as a '''Safehouse''', memorizing its location. From that point on, directions back to the safehouse are displayed below the [[minimap]]. Because you can always find your way there, this helps ensure that you are not caught outside when running out of [[Action Points|Action Points (AP)]].
 
When you create a new character, the building you start out in is automatically set as your safehouse. Characters who were created before August 10, 2010 were not given a default, and therefore have no safehouse until they choose one. [[Image:Set5.PNG|300px|right]]
 
It should be noted that you do not need to possess the [[Scout Safehouse]] skill in order to set a safehouse.
 
To set your safehouse click the "Set Here" button below the mini map. This automatically makes the current location your safehouse. Curiously, you can be outside a location or even in an [[Empty Blocks|empty street]]. This costs 1 AP. You will then receive a message stating {{udspan|You familiarise yourself with the building.}} (or {{udspan|Location}} if outside).
 
Your safehouse can be changed and set:
 
*Several times in the same day.
*Even if the building is [[ruin]]ed.
*Even if the building is [[dark]].
*Even if you're standing outside a building.
*In any location, including a [[mall]], an outdoor location, or an empty street
 
==Scouting a Safehouse==
[[Image:Set.PNG|left|300px]]
 
Once the relevant skill is purchased, you may scout your safehouse using the "Scout the Building (30AP)" button. This gives you a message reading {{udspan|You spend some time clearing sight lines, and surveying and memorising the layout of the building.}}
You can only scout a building when '''inside'''.
 
The benefit of scouting a safehouse is a 10% chance that an action taken within the safehouse will not cost an action point. When this occurs a message reading {{udspan|You move quickly through your safehouse.}} appears with the usual text for the action performed to indicate that the action did not consume an action point.
 
'''''Note:''' Manufacturing [[syringe]]s in a scouted safehouse is also affected by this mechanic; however, the scouting skill will only reduce the AP cost by 1 to 19 AP, rather than completely removing the 20 AP cost. ''
 
Survivors should scout safehouses thoughtfully and infrequently. Scouting a safehouse is costly at 30AP. Given a return of about 5 AP per day, it takes about 6 solid days of searching, barricading, etc in the same building to get a return on that investment. If you are not confident you will utilize the same safehouse for at least a week, your scouting effort will cost you more than it will benefit you.
 
Once the building has been scouted, the "scout the building button" is no longer available.  It is possible to scout the same building again, by setting a different safehouse, then returning to the original building to set it as a safehouse and re-scout it.  However this would provide no additional boost to AP usage, and would be therefore be a waste of at least 33AP (for movement, safehouse-setting, and scouting costs, with free running).


Whilst alive, all survivors have the option to select a building as a '''Safehouse'''. You begin the game with no default safehouse set. This message is displayed directly below the [[Minimap]] on the left of the page. [[Image:Set5.PNG]]
Ruined buildings may not be scouted in this manner. When pressing the Scout Building button you receive the message. {{udspan|The broken doors, wreckage and debris make the ruined building impossible to scout effectively.}} You use only 1 AP doing this (CHECK)


==Glossary Article==
This rule goes for dark buildings as well. When pressing the Scout Building button you receive the message: {{udspan|You cannot scout a building in the dark.}} Just as with ruined buildings, you only waste 1 AP doing this. This means cinemas, banks and clubs need a [[generator]] in order to scout. It's unknown at this point if the 10% boost to AP usage is achieved when the building goes dark, ''after'' it being successfully scouted.


'''Safehouses''' are [[buildings]] fortified by [[survivor]] players and used as safe resting points to regenerate [[Action Points|AP]], areas where one can search for ammo in safety, or as meeting points for [[groups]].
Scouting a single corner of a large building (such as a mall) does not carry over to the other corners.


These buildings usually have [[barricades]] and are often inconspicuous locations such as warehouses or libraries.  However, [[building Types|Police Departments]] are commonly used as safehouses by gun-wielding survivors, and [[Building Types|Hospitals]] are often home to a wide variety of classes hoping for First Aid Kits either to heal themselves, or to gain XP by healing others. By turning these buildings into safehouses, the resident survivors can search for items without having to spend AP travelling between safehouse and destination. However, many in the Urban Dead [[survivor]] community think this is an undue risk due to the natural attractiveness of these locations to [[zombie]]s and instead choose to rest up in a warehouse or another less obvious building.
== Losing the scouting effect (UNCONFIRMED) ==
The 10% boost to AP usage in a safehouse will be lost under any of the following circumstances:


''Remember that no place is safe, only safer!''
*The scouted safehouse is ruined.
*The player dies.
*The building goes dark (UNCONFIRMED)


Large safehouses are often popular targets for [[zombie|zombies]], since a higher concentration of humans in one spot makes killing them easier. Even if a large safehouse is barricaded, zombies might still break down the barricade to attack the survivors resting inside. For this reason, safehouses are never perfectly safe. Survivors are often cautioned that revealing locations of major safehouses might lead to attacks on those safehouses.
Entering your safehouse once it's been ruined yields the message {{udspan|You enter the building. Returning to your safehouse, you find it has been ruined beyond recognition.}}
If the safehouse is ruined or the player dies then in order to regain the 10% boost the player will have to re-scout the safehouse, meaning he or she will have to spend another 30 AP. Note that even though the scouting effect is lost, the affected building will still be set as the safehouse. If the safehouse goes dark, powering it with a generator and [[fuel]] will be sufficient. (UNCONFIRMED)


One theory is that the safest residence is with several capably levelled survivors in a nondescript building without barricading and the doors wide open - the reasoning being that few zombies will bother to look inside (and if they do, they will be swiftly taken care of). This is only reasonable if at least one player in your group is online at all times to warn everyone else if zombies attack. With the advent of the [[Uniform Barricading Policy]] and the implementation of [[Feeding Groan]], however, a barricaded building is no longer something that attracts much attention, and one zombie can now call for allies within moments of being faced with a survivor, rendering the safehouse unusable in the short term, making this strategy foolhardy in these new times.
Some buildings, [[junkyards]] in particular, cannot be ruined or go dark, so that players will not have to worry about their safehouse in these locations, just their own safety.


When a new character is created in any [[survivor]] character class, they will automatically spawn in a [[TRP]], bar Firefighters, who spawn in [[Fire Stations]]. As detailed above, TRPs are generally regarded as safehouses, as they need to be secured so that the suburb can work at full efficiency. In response to this, some safehouses are barricaded to VSB, so that characters can enter the building without the need to [[Free Running|Free Run]] into them.
[[Category:Player Resources]]
[[Category:Glossary]]

Latest revision as of 05:29, 7 June 2024

This is the article for the in-game safehouse function. For the glossary article on safehouses see Safehouses (Glossary).

As per the 16 August, 2010 Update:

  • Survivors and zombies alike are finding it easier to navigate the familiar wreckage of the city streets. Survivors can get directions to a nominated safehouse; zombies automatically focus on the most recent groan or scent trail.
  • Settling in for the long haul, some survivors have been modifying and memorising their safehouses. Those able to scout a safehouse can spend 30AP to survey the building, giving them approximately 5 extra AP per day within their nominated safehouse, until they die or the safehouse is ruined.

Setting a Safehouse

Survivors (but not zombies) have the option to select a building as a Safehouse, memorizing its location. From that point on, directions back to the safehouse are displayed below the minimap. Because you can always find your way there, this helps ensure that you are not caught outside when running out of Action Points (AP).

When you create a new character, the building you start out in is automatically set as your safehouse. Characters who were created before August 10, 2010 were not given a default, and therefore have no safehouse until they choose one.

Set5.PNG

It should be noted that you do not need to possess the Scout Safehouse skill in order to set a safehouse.

To set your safehouse click the "Set Here" button below the mini map. This automatically makes the current location your safehouse. Curiously, you can be outside a location or even in an empty street. This costs 1 AP. You will then receive a message stating You familiarise yourself with the building. (or Location if outside).

Your safehouse can be changed and set:

  • Several times in the same day.
  • Even if the building is ruined.
  • Even if the building is dark.
  • Even if you're standing outside a building.
  • In any location, including a mall, an outdoor location, or an empty street

Scouting a Safehouse

Set.PNG

Once the relevant skill is purchased, you may scout your safehouse using the "Scout the Building (30AP)" button. This gives you a message reading You spend some time clearing sight lines, and surveying and memorising the layout of the building. You can only scout a building when inside.

The benefit of scouting a safehouse is a 10% chance that an action taken within the safehouse will not cost an action point. When this occurs a message reading You move quickly through your safehouse. appears with the usual text for the action performed to indicate that the action did not consume an action point.

Note: Manufacturing syringes in a scouted safehouse is also affected by this mechanic; however, the scouting skill will only reduce the AP cost by 1 to 19 AP, rather than completely removing the 20 AP cost.

Survivors should scout safehouses thoughtfully and infrequently. Scouting a safehouse is costly at 30AP. Given a return of about 5 AP per day, it takes about 6 solid days of searching, barricading, etc in the same building to get a return on that investment. If you are not confident you will utilize the same safehouse for at least a week, your scouting effort will cost you more than it will benefit you.

Once the building has been scouted, the "scout the building button" is no longer available. It is possible to scout the same building again, by setting a different safehouse, then returning to the original building to set it as a safehouse and re-scout it. However this would provide no additional boost to AP usage, and would be therefore be a waste of at least 33AP (for movement, safehouse-setting, and scouting costs, with free running).

Ruined buildings may not be scouted in this manner. When pressing the Scout Building button you receive the message. The broken doors, wreckage and debris make the ruined building impossible to scout effectively. You use only 1 AP doing this (CHECK)

This rule goes for dark buildings as well. When pressing the Scout Building button you receive the message: You cannot scout a building in the dark. Just as with ruined buildings, you only waste 1 AP doing this. This means cinemas, banks and clubs need a generator in order to scout. It's unknown at this point if the 10% boost to AP usage is achieved when the building goes dark, after it being successfully scouted.

Scouting a single corner of a large building (such as a mall) does not carry over to the other corners.

Losing the scouting effect (UNCONFIRMED)

The 10% boost to AP usage in a safehouse will be lost under any of the following circumstances:

  • The scouted safehouse is ruined.
  • The player dies.
  • The building goes dark (UNCONFIRMED)

Entering your safehouse once it's been ruined yields the message You enter the building. Returning to your safehouse, you find it has been ruined beyond recognition. If the safehouse is ruined or the player dies then in order to regain the 10% boost the player will have to re-scout the safehouse, meaning he or she will have to spend another 30 AP. Note that even though the scouting effect is lost, the affected building will still be set as the safehouse. If the safehouse goes dark, powering it with a generator and fuel will be sufficient. (UNCONFIRMED)

Some buildings, junkyards in particular, cannot be ruined or go dark, so that players will not have to worry about their safehouse in these locations, just their own safety.