Guides:Shelter

This is a guide about how to find and maintain a good safehouse.

The Basics

Hiding may not sound like the bravest strategy to pursue, but its completely necessary to your survival in Malton. You will be spending large amounts of your time offline, and it is important that you are safe during these spans.

The key to finding a good hideout is looking for one with an inconspicuous exterior. Your first inclination will be to gravitate to a large public building like a police department, fire station, or hospital. The problem is that while to you it may seem like a bastion of civilization, these buildings are quite attractive to the zombie horde. They suspect you're in there, and they hope it's only a matter of effort to crack the hard barricade shell and get to the chewy center.

Low-level zombies also gravitate towards these high profile buildings because they are almost assured to find survivors there. They may not have the necessary skills to adequately assault the barricades, but they don't need to; they simply get killed (and Headshot does not significantly deter them), lay in wait in the piles of dead bodies, and spring up to ambush the survivors who fail to get into the buildings. Survivors who failed to get into cover in time have fallen to low-level zombies this way. Mid-level zombies are even more deadly in such circumstances, especially with the Ankle Grab skill.

Instead of holding out in the high profile buildings, find lower profile buildings such as a pub or tower. Make sure your building does not stand out as the only one with barricades in the area, as this is another invitation for zombie aggression. Also, make sure the area does not have a high count of dead bodies; zombies do use dead bodies as camouflage and a high number of dead bodies generally indicates something unusual about the building (either presently or in the recent past). Now that you have your building, barricade it very strongly if it is not already, or at the very least make sure the doors are securely shut. While certain zombies can open doors, it's generally easier for the zombies to wait near high-profile location for survivors who make fatal mistakes.

Keep in mind, barricading to heavy or above will keep other survivors from being able to enter, unless they have free running and there is an adjacent building that is less heavily barricaded. People in buildings are a mixed bag. While a high population coming and going attracts attention, more people usually means more barricades, medical attention, and armed guards between you and the zombies as well. Another concern is PKers, although this is not often a problem.

Building Skills

There are currently two skills applicable to finding or making shelter. The first one is Free Running. Free running allows you to move from building to building without going out onto the streets (and thus exposing yourself). It also allows you to enter buildings that are heavily barricaded from adjacent, less heavily barricaded buildings.

The second skill is Construction. This allows players to construct barricades to keep hungry zombies at bay. Construction can usually be postponed and left to higher level characters, but as the majority of Malton is barricaded to some degree now, Free Running is almost a requirement for survival.

Shelter Etiquette

Barricading a building to heavy or above to keep others out is considered by some to be mean-spirited and unnecessary. Strongly barricaded buildings will usually suffice, especially for less conspicuous buildings such as towers and pubs.

Also, it is good etiquette to describe the events outside when entering a safehouse. Others benefit if you part with that one AP to tell them about the bodies or zombies sitting outside.

If you run multiple characters, NEVER let them stay in the same shelter. The automatic safeguards against Zerging may do harm to your characters.

Shelter Reviews

Here is a rough guide for most major types of areas. For a more complete listing of buildings and their details see Building Types.

Hospital

• Pros: High population made up largely of doctors who will give you medical aid often without even being asked. Searching frequently produces a first aid kit here.
• Cons: Zombies frequently assault these buildings.
• Profile: High

Police Station & Fire Stations

• Pros: High population of combat oriented survivors. Weapons, ammunition, and some useful items can be found here.
• Cons: Zombies frequently assault these buildings.
• Profile: High

Pubs

• Pros: Inconspicuous. Shotgun shells and beer can occasionally be found.
• Cons: Not as many useful items as other areas.
• Profile: Low

Random Enclosed Buildings

(Towers, Museums, Banks, Movies, etc.)

• Pros: Most inconspicuous buildings. Zombies will rarely bother with them.
• Cons: No useful items.
• Profile: Low

Random Ransacked and Ruined Buildings

(Almost Any Building That Has Open Doors)

• Pros: Extremely unlikely hiding place. The most effective way to use these

buildings is to actually leave the doors open. This way, the zombies will think nobody would be crazy enough to stay there and just pass by.

• Cons: Lowered search rates. It is possible to search a Ransacked or Ruined building. All the appropriate items for that building type can still be found, but at a much lower chance of success. Also this will leave you open to attack by a zombie that is trailing you. ONLY USE AS A LAST RESORT!!!
• Profile: Low

Necrotech Front

• Pros: To most zombies and survivors it just looks like a normal building, but those with necrotech employment can recognize it as a safe house from outside. Scientists here will often heal you, although not as often as in hospitals. DNA extractors, GPS units, and revivification syringes can be found here. These are generally the safest places to stay for a long period of time.
• Cons: Organized zombie groups with Necrotech employment enjoy hitting these. Many zombies seem be realizing that Necrotechs pose a threat via their Revivification Syringes yet are easy to eliminate due to their lack of military skills and weapons.
• Profile: Medium

Malls

• Pros: Have lots of items, and with the shopping and bargain hunter skills they become the best places to find most things.
• Cons: Zombies see these as excellent targets, so unless there is a large number of survivors inside, these can be impractical to defend.
• Profile: Extremely High

((You also have to remember people, take example of Dawn of the Dead))

Forts

• Pros: The various buildings in a fort can supply a small army of survivors for long periods of time.
• Cons: They are huge targets for attack. These should only be attempted by very high-level survivors. If the gatehouse is heavily barricaded, it is impossible to enter or leave, even with free running.
• Profile: Extremely High

Open Areas

(Monuments, Wastelands, Street, Park, etc.)

• Pros: Fresh outdoor breeze.
• Cons: Anybody within one block can see you. Zombies will kill you almost immediately if you stay outside.
• Profile: Suicidally High

See Also

• Distributed defense