Entryway

Also called: "entry point", "free running entrance", "gate" or simply "entrance".

An Entryway (sometimes abbreviated EP for "entry point") is a building that is barricaded to very strongly plus 2 (or weaker). The term primarily refers to a building that is part of a free running corridor, and which serves as an entryway to a heavily barricaded area.

Since the only way to enter a heavily barricaded building (other than reducing the barricades) is by free running from an adjacent building, any neighborhood of extremely heavily barricaded (EHB) buildings must connect to at least one entryway, or no one will be able to reenter the area.

Survivors who are holding certain valuable resource locations (typically Malls and NecroTech facilities) almost always keep the barricades extremely heavy in order to provide maximum defense against attacking zombies. In conjunction, certain of the connecting buildings (often adjacent) are designated as entryways. Entryways can usually be found by consulting Suburb Barricade Plans on the wiki, observing spraypaint, reading the forums, or by asking in-game.

Barricade Plans

Most suburbs with organized survivor groups have a barricade plan that encompasses the entire suburb. Most buildings are designated in one of two ways, either as Extremely Heavily Barricaded (or EHB) meaning that it is unenterable by a survivor without the Free Running skill, or as (Very Strongly Barricaded or VSB) that is, a resource building or entry point that is accessible to everyone.

Unenterable EHB buildings are intended to be used as safehouses or as decoy buildings to waste zombie Action Points.

Entryways are chosen in convenient strategic locations for free runners to access the safehouses. Typically, many Tactical Resource Points (TRPs) such as hospitals and police departments (in which lower-level players can search for useful resources such as ammunition and medical supplies) are designated as VSB. A building might also be officially designated as an indoor revive point, which must be kept completely unbarricaded to allow zombies to enter. An example of this is the Yagoton Revivification Clinic.

See the Barricade Plan of East Becktown for an example of a typical barricade plan.

Sleeping in an Entryway

VSB buildings serve as shelter points for low-level survivors who have not yet earned the art of free running. Entryways also are used as temporary abodes for players who miscount their action points. It is considered unwise for a veteran free-running survivor to sleep in an entryway or an accessible resource building. For strategic reasons, free runners should distribute themselves throughout the extremely heavily barricaded buildings.

Barricading and Over-Barricading an Entryway

The maximum level to which a building can be barricaded and still remain enterable is Very Strongly Barricaded +2 (abbreviated as VSB++ or VSB+2). Adding another item a VSB++ barricade will raise the level to Heavily Barricaded (HB) and make the location unenterable. Since the game politely warns you with an in-game message, you are urged to heed the message and not over-barricade. Heavy barricades can be reduced by attacking them.

If you have any questions or concerns about the barricade levels (and safety) of your building, you are encouraged to talk in-game with the other occupants of the building. Many organized survivor groups respect local governance and encourage informed independent initiative.

Over-barricading a designated entryway can delay or deny reinforcements (for example, aid to a besieged mall). It is also the way to strand survivors out in the street, which can cause their death.

Please see Fiddler's Green Syndrome.

Accessible Resource Buildings

In barricade policy discussions, accessible resource buildings are often chosen for VSB barricading; as a consequence, these buildings double as entryways.

The Uniform Barricading Policy does not condone extremely heavy barricading of Police Stations, Hospitals, Fire Stations, and Schools, unless another like building can be found within a few squares. Survivors who don't have enough experience yet to learn free running can't gain experience unless they have access to resource buildings. If you over-barricade the resource buildings, new survivor players quickly turn into new zombie players.