Guides:Guide to Forming Groups Part 2

Continued from Part One.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Your Survivor Group: A Timeline

Alright. Now, you've read the General Advice section and opted to either skip or read the Hardcore section. Here's the step-by-step, blow-by-blow walkthrough of the lifetime of your survivor group. I'll take you through, from your first steps, to how to manage and maintain your established, historied, and successful survivor group.

Disclaimer: I have over a year of experience leading the Anti-Zombie Squad, as well as an alt with membership in Team Xtreme and what I say is based off of what I have experienced. It may be different from what your experience will be.

Your First Month

The first thing you want to do after making your group is to get members. Your odds of success go up if you have a decent number of people from the very start. They can be friends, family or just random safehouse buddies that you happen to know in Urban Dead.

The beginning will be slow. If you are a fresh, unknown group, you can expect your group-hood to be somewhat underwhelming. Recruit aggressively. Accept as many interested players as you can- you won't be attracting exactly the best and brightest at this point, so you can't afford to be too choosy.

In addition, you need to build your groups' framework from the ground up. This includes your forums, your policies, your advertisements, and your standard operating procedure. You can hash out some of the details of each later, but you need to plan the basic operations of your group down to prevent confusion and aimlessness later.

Suburbia 101: Not Dying

There are number of basic procedures you can implement for your group to keep you and your members alive in Urban Dead. These are the basic defensive survivor tactics. You already know how to survive as an individual, but here's a refresher course for what to tell your members to do. You can look at good survivor guides on this page instead of this section if you are interested.

First thing is simply being in the right place at the right time. Not all buildings were created equal. Just as some are better to search for supplies in, some are simply better to sleep in. Sleeping in TRPs, especially Malls and NTs, is a bad idea if you want to survive in a dangerous suburb. If you want to die meatshielding, that's your business, but know that sleeping in a TRP will likely you get you and yours killed, because they attract PKer and zombie attention and attacks. Churches, and large buildings (such as mansions, power plants, cathedrals and stadiums) are mediocre hiding places, because though less valuable (thus less attacked) than TRPs, they're still better zombie targets than other non-TRP buildings. Also, let me just say that forts are more or less deathtraps. They are loaded with trenchcoaters (who, in addition to being unbearably annoying, will kill you if they dislike you) and PKers, as well as being incredibly powerful magnets for zombies, who will break in constantly and kill everyone inside. So, do your best to avoid ending your day in TRPs, Forts, and other large buildings.

Better places to sleep include pretty much all other "normal" buildings, such as museums, libraries, junkyards etc., as these don't attract much zombie attention. The best sleeping spots are dark buildings, especially those that don't have generators inside, since zombies and PKers that waltz in will have reduced accuracy unless the building is lit up. Do note, however, that you can't detect or dump dead bodies in dark buildings, so if someone dies in a dark building, get out before he or she gets up and starts munching on your skull. Any buildings, however, with a lot of survivors in it, generally over ten, is inherently unsafe because zombies will eventually find out that there are a lot of food and will attack it and kill everyone. Don't put your eggs all in one basket- spread your group members out in buildings that aren't heavily occupied.

As for defending TRPs, the order of priority for survivors and zombies goes roughly: NTs/Malls > Hospitals/PDs > Fire Stations > everything else. I personally dislike PDs because they are less productive than mall gun stores, so, I usually put PDs down with Fire stations if there is an active Mall in the area.

Reserving your APs is always a good idea. If you have the time to play UD later, save 10 or so AP for an emergency when possible, since you might check back on your character, only to discover that now you need to run, barricade, heal yourself or attack. You won't regret saving up the AP to do so.

Scouting safehouses might seem like a good idea, but it's actually risky. You lose the scouting bonus, and with it, your 30 AP spent, if you move far away, pick another safehouse or die. The prospect of having 5 extra AP a day and being able to get more supplies out of your favorite TRP is tempting, but you should only do so if you can count on staying alive and near the safehouse for a long while.

Keeping zombies out of buildings. The best method is having members scout around, taking note of the general condition of the suburb and specific buildings that could use assistance or are particularly well-defending. In addition, Barricade Strafing is a good counter-zombie tactic to prevent break-ins and tie up zombies' time. Simply "strafe" a bunch of buildings, and watch as zombies helplessly flail against the barricades. Such buildings can be easily used for Pinatas however, so be careful where and how much you barricade.

Now, dealing with zombies in buildings they should not be in. If the building has more a few survivors, killing and dumping the zed is a good idea if survivors outnumber them at least three to one. Remember you can still barricade with only one zombie inside, so a good option is to block off the other zombies with the 'cades and then let the other survivors deal with it. Otherwise, just help out the survivors in whatever way you can inside you feel like it. If the building has no or few survivors, then if you can deal with the zombie problem immediately, including through currently active allies and teammates, then you can simply kill, dump, barricade and heal to remove the problem. If you can't solve it immediately, you are better off running than risking being killed by an unsolved problem later.

What about death and zombification? There are a non-obvious few ways to minimize the loss sustained by death. First, you and each of your members should carry at least two FAKs at all times, in order to cure infections, especially after being revived. If you get revived but are out of AP, Dirt Nap to avoid becoming free food by AP'ing out in an inconvenient situation.

There are many ways to increase the efficiency of your revives, if your group does that. Coordinating reviving by making a "revive request" part of your forum is a good idea, (whether to it should be public or not depends on how generous you feel) as is making a private group-only revive point, which allows your revivers to easily stick group members without having to search through random zombies. The revive point should be near an NT for maximum convenience. Also, revivers should add all your group members to their contacts lists. This allows them to instantly pick out and needle dead teammates without the need to scan, saving precious AP. And of course, there is the tactically obvious idea of staying relatively close to an NT building to minimize the distance revivers have to go to get supplies.

So, what if the suburb you want to be in becomes ruined, zombie-infested and generally hazardous to your health? You have two options: move out, or hide. Moving out would be wise if you have a nearby safe suburb. Just move out, grab supplies, fight zombies a bit and when the time comes, help reclaim the ruined suburb and move back in. The second option, hiding, is not so easy, but may be necessary if you don't want to abandon your home suburb or if there is nowhere safe nearby. In that case, I recommend hiding in plain sight. It's still risky, and not exactly the most glorious thing to do, but it sure beats dying endlessly.

To take care of ruins themselves, kick out any zombies in there and remember to pay attention to the repair cost- every day of being ruined adds 1 point to the AP needed to repair. Also, make sure you have some AP left over or a teammate nearby to help you barricade the repaired building. "Suicide repairs" on long-ruined buildings, which use up large amounts of AP and thus usually result in falling asleep, aren't as suicidal as they seem if you have an ally or group member to barricade for you after you expend your AP repairing.

Finally, as said before in this guide, pissing people off is a bad idea. This is especially sensible in-game, since whoever you piss off will likely refuse to help your group, prioritize attacking your group over others or even go out of their way to get you. So, before you mouth off to a PKer or a zombie, or set an annoying/obnoxious profile, think about the consequences.

Your Policies

There are some Urban Dead group behaviors you should follow and some you shouldn't. Many are controversial.

• Reviving in general- If your groups revives at all, for the love of God/Allah/FSM/deity of choice, PLEASE scan before reviving! The last thing you want to do is to blindly and stupidly waste a syringe helping a zerger, griefer or career zombie kick your ass. Or trying to revive a Rotter, which will make your syringe utterly useless in the first place. Don't let it happen, scan before reviving! Randomly reviving simply does not help you or the survivor cause.

A special note: reviving PKers (with the exception of dedicated griefers and assholes) and otherwise ignoring them can draw their interest away from you, resulting in your group being PKed much less. It's a decent solution if you're a non-bounty-hunter group getting PKed often, although whether or not it's worth having more PKers alive in Malton is your decision.

• Combat Revives- This is controversial. The advantages are that you can quickly remove non-brainrot zombies from combat, the disadvantages are that you can create PKers and help parachuting by combat reviving the wrong zombies, which can get ugly. It's your choice, but if you are not sure, err on the side of caution and don't.

• Meatshielding- Another controversial policy. I believe that while meatshielding delays zombies, but it delays both the meatshielder and his reviver even more. Meatshielding gives a short-term advantage that will thus be paid pack later, and it will only slow down large zombie hordes anyway. It's useful in empty or nearly TRPs, since unattended TRPs are highly vulnerable, but otherwise, meatshielding is usually a net loss of AP for the survivor cause. Avoid it.

• Killing Zombies Outdoors- The only good reasons to be killing zombies outdoors are a) newbs who need XP fast and b) taking down rotters clogging up revive points. Don't kill zombies outdoors otherwise. It wastes uses 20-50-ish of your AP (including searching for ammo), to damage 1-11 of their AP. Pointless and a great way to get a reputation as idiots.

• Spying on enemy groups's forums with an alt as a member- This is unethical and an indicator of a total lack of decency. Don't do it.

• PKers, zergers and GKers- See below section about "Bounty Hunting and You."

• Zking/Life Culting- Your opinion about ZKing will vary. While directly killing zombies is only good for XP and allowing survivors to dump bodies, Life Cultists have a number of more useful options available to them. You may believe that ZKing or Life Culting is simply a waste of time and AP, and will save your AP only for when you get revived and can use AP as a survivor. Either way is legitimate. Your choice.

Your Recruits

Your recruits can be a handful.

Glorious Battle!

Sooner or later, you'll gain enough strength from knowledge, alliances and recruitment to do more than simply survive and fend off the zombie menace. Unless you're a non-aggressive reviving- or roleplaying- based group, you will want to take the initiative against the undead and drive them out from where they threaten you and yours. And this is the section for triumphing over the undead menace.

Your Enemy

Alright, step one is to know your enemy. You may think you know your enemy. But do you know them well enough?

At equal levels, zombies are superior to survivors in almost every way. That's a fact.

Zombies can recover from death with no effort and minor penalties, they have more AP-efficient attacks, they can infect and not be infected back, they don't give a damn about supplies or generators, they can death-cult if revived, they can interfere with survivors by sleeping in the right place, they are generally better-organized, and any zombie can easily attract more zombies to an open building via feeding groans.

Survivors have the advantage of barricades, short, temporary bursts of high damage via firearms or combat revives, and, usually, a slight advantage in total numbers. That's it.

I know, it sounds bad.

The lesson NOT to take from this is "you're screwed because zombies will win in a fight." The real lesson is "you should avoid taking on zombies in a direct fight."

You will get nowhere when you try to beat the undead up or knock them down to win the battle. Don't meet force with force- you will be eventually worn down and eaten, while they will stand back up over and over again. Instead, you should keep them from getting to you in the first place.

I earlier stated that survivors have only three advantages over zombies. It turns the first two are extremely powerful when used together and can easily negate most zombie advantages if done properly. Rely on barricades to keep them out, and use ammo to quickly take down zeds who breach the barricades, before they can let more zombies in. Barricades are exceedingly powerful and they must be your primary weapon, defensive and offensive, against zombies. On average, it takes zombies 4 to 5 AP to take down what survivors spend 1 AP bringing up. That's why survivor victories or draws against the undead almost always happen behind barricades, and survivor defeats always happen when barricades go down. With wooden boards constantly presented to them instead of brains, zombies will eventually stop trying to kill you and will leave the suburb in search of better eating.

Based on these facts you have three options when presented with zombies, especially organized zombies- outlast them, frustrate them and dodge them. Keep in mind that everything in Suburbia 101 and the Force Multipliers I mentioned in Part One still applies, in addition to the below, and you should remember those things.

Now, simply outlasting zombies is the most common and easiest method, but also the one that takes longest to successfully use.

• Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your forces out. During peacetime, it's safe to have most of your members in one building, even if it's a TRP. During a battle, that's almost the stupidest thing you can do, especially if it's a TRP. It's going to get broken into eventually- zombies will somehow find out about all the food in the building, and you will find most of your group infected or dead. Spreading them out will mean only one or two members die every time a well-populated building goes down.
• Get the right supplies before and during the battle. You want syringes to revive the dead, FAKs (I recommend every member bring at least two), a decent amount of ammo, and toolboxes for fixing ruins and damaged generators. If lots of other survivors are around, you can generally rely on them for extra FAKs, generators and fuel, and so safely ignore those things. If there aren't many survivors, then your group pack a few gennies and fuel cans for TRPs and bring more FAKs than usual.
• Know your priorities. The library might have a break-in, with several survivors at risk of being eaten, but if Mall is similarly under siege, you want to protect what benefits you more. In the same vein, if the Mall or another TRP is screwed and going down anyway, don't waste your AP delaying the inevitable by minutes. Grab what you can from the dying mall, and defend the next most important thing- free running routes, large survivor hideouts or another TRP.
• Use common sense and be careful with AP. Don't frivolously dump it all into keeping your ammo stores overflowing or something like that. You might find yourself short of luck when zombies break into a nearby building hours later and you can't do anything to help them with only 4 or so AP.
  

Eventually, you'll find the zombies will be discouraged by lack of food or bored from lack of action and will so leave in droves.

The second approach is frustrating zombies into leaving the battle. It's really risky- there's a fine line between royally pissing them off and thus inspiring them to go "Barhah" on your harman azz, and annoying them *just* enough so that their morale plummets. Frustrating them consists of setting up empty, QSB/VSB decoy buildings (a few might get Pinata'ed, so be careful), taunting them verbally or with graffiti (don't be an asshole, though), combat reviving them (choose wisely!), and ZKing them with your zombified members or allied life cultists. Again, this method is very risky, and you will have to learn how to do it yourself through trial-and-error before it works, but it will pay off well if done right.

The third approach is dodging and outmaneuvering them. ADD MORE LATER

Important final note before I get into specific scenarios: You are not big damn heroes. Your group are not the super-special dudes who will end up breaking the siege and being adored for your epic zombie-pwning skills. That what trenchies think, and they never amount to anything. You are simply a part, although an important part, of the great survivor war machine. Work with other survivors, don't jump into battle thinking you're the Chosen Ones. If you actually are that good, then even big allies will treat your presence in battle like a godsend. Unless that happens, check your egos and don't expect special consideration from other survivors.

Your Sieges

For TRPs, as I have said earlier, you should sleep near, but never inside, of TRPs. Always know how many zombies are outside and how many survivors are inside and how organized both are. Keep it at least VHB at all times, kill and dump zombies as they come in, the rest is fairly simple.

If you really need the TRP's supplies, pick a replacement TRP in case the current one goes down and be ready to leave and defend/retake it at any moment.

For Malls, this guide says it far better than I ever could. Read it, or else!

For forts... don't do forts. Seriously. Retake them if you and your allies have nothing better to do, but other than that, just stay away.

That just about covers it.

Alliances and Meta-Groups

• Metagroups (AKA Organizations)- Defined as large groups that combine the efforts of other groups for greater power. Results will vary . Often, an overambitious upstart pops out of thing air and declares something like, "Hey everyone, let's totally take over Malton!" and then always gets nowhere. Big surprise Examples include the completely obscure and failed RRA and Pro Survivor Alliance. However, meta-groups started by already-established groups and their allies are very powerful, sometimes even unstoppable. Take for example, Big Bashes, Alliance 45 and New Malton Colossus. All accomplished crazy awesome things and steamrolled opponents that their component groups could not. But remember, these guys started from somewhere first before forming their metagroups, and they had carefully-made and thought-out PLANS to go with their ambitions, not just "win over bad guys."

Miscellaneous Things

Here are a few guides I recommend for those who want to take their group further.

Guides:Ghost Town Reclamation- Self-explanatory.

Guides:Meta-Careers - Good for learning more about your members' roles in-game.

User:Grim s/Grims guide to staying alive - A brilliant guide to individual survivor self-defense. Many, many great tips to not getting one's ass kicked.

Leaving your group

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Thanks to

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The Short Version

This covers it quite well for survivors. I recommend at least skimming this guide.

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