Barricades

Each barricade level represents one successful construction or one collapse achieved by an attacking zombie or survivor:
Barricade Level	Strength
1	Loosely barricaded*
2–4	Lightly barricaded
5–7	Quite Strongly barricaded
8–10	Very Strongly barricaded
11-13	Heavily barricaded**
14–16	Very Heavily barricaded**
17–21 (And possibly higher.)	Extremely Heavily barricaded**
*Can be achieved using a length of pipe if a survivor does not have the construction skill **Survivors can no longer enter from the street

Barricades, commonly referred to as 'cades', can be built inside most buildings by any survivor who has bought the civilian skill Construction. Action Points can be spent building up a barricade, making it stronger. The description and strength of a barricade in the game relates to the number of pre-set building objects used in its construction, as described in the chart to the right.

Game mechanics

Entering barricaded buildings

Zombies cannot enter a barricaded building, and must tear barricades down completely in order to be able to open the door and enter. Also, a zombie can not enter a building in which the door has been secured unless it has the skill Memories of Life. Survivors cannot enter a building that has been barricaded to Heavily Barricaded or above, except by Free Running into it from inside an adjacent building.

It's worth noting that important buildings are often barricaded heavily for security and have designated Free Running entry points nearby that are maintained at Very Strongly Barricaded or lighter.

Considerations

It is worth noting that although some survivors may choose to barricade Hospitals, Police Departments and Fire Stations to EHB for their own safety, this is extremely dangerous for new players and those who have not obtained the skill Free Running.

This is a bad practice because:

• It is difficult for new players to find a safe place to sleep if all buildings are over barricaded.

• It is very difficult for new players to better themselves, as Survivors require FAKs (Found in hospitals) to heal their wounds and gain experience. They also cannot obtain Fire Axes (Fire Stations) or firearms and ammunition (Police Department) to combat zombies for experience.

Thus, it is advised that Survivors in Police Departments, Fire Stations or Hospitals do not barricade past VSB++ unless the building has been designated as an EHB Safehouse or there is a very large zombie mob in the area. Please check your local Barricade Plan.

Construction

When a player clicks the Barricade the building button, their character searches for an object to put in the barricade. The first few objects have very high success rates and can almost always be added when only survivors are in the building. Lengths of pipe can be used by survivors without the construction skill as a crude form of barricade, effectively making the building Loosely Barricaded.

Starting a barricade automatically secures the doors, if the building has them. Therefore, it is not necessary to close them before beginning to barricade.

When the addition of one more item would make a building heavily barricaded, the following warning appears:

Using X, you reinforce the barricade. It's looking very strong, now - any further barricading will prevent survivors from climbing in.

• As of 15 Nov 2005^{[Citation Needed]}, it appears to be possible to barricade a building beyond Extremely Heavily Barricaded, up to at least Extremely Heavily Barricaded +5. However, since no message appears to let you know you've barricaded a building as fully as possible, it is not currently known if there is a upper limit to Extremely Heavily Barricaded like with other barricade levels.

• As of 23 Jan 2008^[1], construction of barricades has become more difficult when there are zombies inside the building. A single zombie cannot impede barricade construction, but more than one can; just by standing in the building they can prevent survivors from adding materials to the barricade. This effect is known as Interference.

Destruction

Both zombies and survivors can attack barricades with a chance of making part of the barricade collapse. This chance seems to be equal to half the hit percentage of the weapon used, the sole exception being the Crowbar's hit percentage which is not halved. A successful attack weakens the barricade by one step, changes the description if appropriate, and grants 1 XP if the player is a zombie. Sometimes a barricade will "creak", but this will not weaken the barricades. Zombie bite attacks, knife attacks, attacking with a fuel can, and all firearm attacks are completely ineffective against barricades, and Headbutt, when used on barricades, will simply destroy the character's mask.

Since 31st May 2007^[2] it is a bit easier to pull down the barricades (hand attack). This is estimated to be roughly a 5% bonus to accuracy against barricades, but data has been minimal and the complexities of this update are still not currently known.^[3]

Once the final object has fallen away, zombies can enter the building. (They will need Memories of Life to open the doors first, if the building type has them.)

Exiting Barricaded Buildings

Any player, whether zombie or survivor, can leave any building at any time. Contrary to popular belief it is impossible to get trapped inside of a barricaded building (though heavily barricaded fort gatehouses can restrict the blocks or buildings a player can exit into); a user can always simply click on an adjacent square to leave a building. Players can also leave buildings which are barricaded up to and including Very Strongly Barricaded by clicking the Leave Building button. If you attempt to leave a Heavily Barricaded building using the 'Leave Building' button, no AP will be spent, but the game will respond:

The building has been so heavily barricaded that you cannot leave by the main doors.

Barricade Levels

Barricades have multiple levels, or names, that show their approximate strength and indicate how many AP it will take to destroy them completely. Each level has its own intricacies and build rates. None of these account for zombies inside the building being barricaded, there is currently no known data on that.^[4]

Doors Secured

Approximate Build Rate: 100%. Even ruined buildings can have the doors closed. Numbers of Successful Attacks For Destruction: Only a zombie with Memories of Life can open a door. Sub-Levels: None.

Closing the door is the first and basic level of barricading. Even zombies are capable of closing doors if they have Memories of Life.

Interestingly, survivors are unable to open doors. This, however, isn't a safety issue for survivors since they can enter any building barricaded up to Very Strongly and bypass the closed doors.

Loosely Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: ~99%+ Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 1 Sub-levels: None, Loosely only consists of 1 barricade sublevel.

Loosely Barricaded is the lowest possible level of Barricades and as such is considered a Weak Barricade. This is the only level of barricades attainable without Construction; with the use of a length of pipe any survivor can create loosely barricaded barricades. With the skill Construction, a length of pipe is no longer required. While failure in building loosely barricaded barricades has been cited, it is extremely rare.

Lightly Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: ~99% Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 2-4 Sub-levels:Lightly, Lightly+1, Lightly+2

Lightly Barricaded is the next level of barricades after Loosely Barricaded, it is also considered a weak barricade. Lightly Barricaded is the first level in which Construction is needed to build and it is the first level with barricade sub-levels.

Quite Strongly Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: 97.8% Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 5-7 Sub-levels:QSB, QSB+1, QSB+2

Quite Strongly Barricaded is the first level of Strong Barricades, as can be seen in the name. It is also the first level with somewhat definite data on its Build Rate/Failure Percentage for the no-zombies-inside condition.

Very Strongly Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: 85.1% Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 8-10 Sub-levels:VSB, VSB+1, VSB+2

Very Strongly Barricaded is the last level where entry from the outside is possible for survivors, as such it is one of the two most frequently seen barricade levels in Malton and a standard for Entry Points on the many various group-made Barricade Plans. It is possible to add two steps of barricading after VSB; at that point any further attempt will result in the warning that "any further barricading will prevent survivors from climbing in". This point is referred to variously as VSB+2, VS+2, VSB++ or VS++.

Heavily Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: 61.5% Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 11-13 Sub-levels:HB, HB+1, HB+2

Heavily Barricaded is the first level of Heavy Barricaded, beyond this point you are considered well defended and often people will refer to too many Heavy level barricades as Overbarricading. While Heavy level barricades do provide more protection they also come with a downside, the people outside can not get in. They are also the first level of barricades in which the build rate is near 50%, making them less AP efficient than Strong and Weak barricade levels. After this point to exit the building you must click on an adjacent square. The Leave Building button will no longer work; this applies to Survivors and Zombies alike.

Very Heavily Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: 38.0% Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 14-16 Sub-levels:VHB, VHB+1, VHB+2

Very Heavily Barricaded is the penultimate barricade level and as such have the distinction of being the first barricade level in which failure is more common than success when attempting to add to the barricades, with only 2/5 attempts likely to succeed.

Extremely Heavily Barricaded

Approximate Build Rate: 20.5% Number of Successful Attacks For Destruction: 17-21 Sub-levels:EHB, EHB+1, EHB+2, EHB+3, EHB+4

Extremely Heavily Barricaded is the final level of barricades. There is some debate as to what the sub-levels of Extremely Heavy barricades are, or even how many there are. It is known that there are at least four and suspected that there are as many as five possible sub-levels. Extremely Heavily Barricaded barricades are the most common barricade level found throughout Malton.

In most survivor circles, constructing an Extremely Heavy Barricade for no good reason is considered EH-bitching and is an act of griefing.

Common Abbreviations

A shorthand has developed among users. Here is a list of the common abbreviations for all of the levels of barricades from least secure to most:

Abbrev(s)		Barricade level
LWO	DWO	Doors Left Wide Open
Cls		Doors Closed
LoB		Loosely Barricaded
LiB		Lightly Barricaded
QSB		Quite Strongly Barricaded
VSB		Very Strongly Barricaded
HB		Heavily Barricaded
VHB		Very Heavily Barricaded
EHB		Extremely Heavily Barricaded

Related Pages

• Barricade Plan
• Cade and ruin
• BKer

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Notes

• Note Citation Needed: This is an uncited reference to a specific date in game, please provide information as to why this date is significant.
• Note 1: See Urban Dead Game News and also, News of 2008 for more information on this update.
• Note 2: See Old Urban Dead Game News and also, News of 2007 for more information on this update.
• Note 3: The data on this info is almost exclusively attributed to the user Armareum and can be found here.
• Note 4: If you would like to add some data please go here, or to give further descriptions and information on the interference factor, go here.