Urban Dead

As most of you who've been around this past week may know, several of us have taken up a new interest in an old flame : Urban Dead.  I realize this sort of AP-based game isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it remains a fairly extensive multiplayer experience that requires an extremely small amount of your time, and demands almost no grinding before you can become competitive.  So it's easy to jump in and out of, and works on absolutely any device connected to the internet.

Currently five of us are playing, not including a couple more people who don't visit this site, so we have a fairly large playing group already.  Anybody is welcome to join, just post your character name, and which group you want to be a part of.

Urban Dead gives you an allowance of 160 site hits per day, which is more than enough to run three seperate characters.  Four if you know what you're doing.  Therefore, most of us have alts, which also play together.  Here's the two groups we currently have going:


Group 1 : Survivor group.  We're currently defending St. Matheos's Children's Hospital in the suburb of Tapton.  It has been under siege for nearly four months, but we've managed to hold so far with only a few break-ins.

Trigger - Anthony Weiner
Peng - Penguin Hunter
Wesker - The Slotheist/Bob Filner
Z - owen1287
Birkin - UC Researcher/USS Beltway

Birkin & Wesker have made a group, details below.

USS Radio is now online & broadcasting from Barnerd Way PD in Kempsterbank!
The (un)official group for Umbrella Corporation survivors is "Unbelievably Sensual Slothing" because I think USS has probably been taken.

USS Radio, the good ol' USSR. Tune in!

--26.69--

Your irresponsible host is The Slotheist, accompanied by USS Beltway whenever he gets his fine ass back to Barnerd.


Group 2 : Zombie group.  At the moment we're all gathering in Ridleybank, planning our next attack.  Brains are on the menu, and somebody's about to get ganked.

Trigger - Doctor Sanderson
Peng - Robbs Arris
Wesker - Three Toed Terror
Birkin - Proto Licker



There you have it, folks.  We hope more of you will join us.  From here on out, we can use this thread for planning, status reports, and keeping tabs on our exploits.

If anyone who sees this topic is inspired to join the cause in UD here are a couple of pieces of starting advice for new players.


Survivor Characters: Purchase free running ASAP. This skill is a must and will help you immensely when trying to reach St. Matheo's.


Zombie Characters: Purchase Lurching Gait and Ankle Grab as your first two skills. Both are essential in ensuring you don't waste all of your daily AP standing up and wandering around and actually have enough left over to kill things.


If you've never tried UD this is the perfect time to give it a shot. I'm having the most fun with it since I discovered it.

USS Beltway is another survivor of mine

I also have a third character named Roger Worden.  Technically he's my main, but he's desperately needed where he's at.  However... he's currently being hunted by a PKer I keep PKing (lol) so I'll gladly mobilize him if/when we start up a third group.

And Pengor's advice is sage.  Free-Running is the most important survivor skill, because you can't enter a building barricaded beyond "Very Strongly Barricaded" unless you free-run in from an adjacent building.  Since spending a night outside is practically suicide and all the important buildings are barricaded, a new player can find himself getting frustrated without it.  After you get Free-Running, you should max out your melee abilities, then get Diagnosis, Bodybuilding, and Construction. Then max out your firearm skills.  By level 7 or 8, you'll be on equal footing with players who've been around since 2005.

The two zombie skills Pengor mentioned are also crucial, even for a survivor character.  They make life way less stressful when you find yourself undead.

A zombie said "Barhah mah zambah brazzah! Barhah braza mahzah!" (56 minutes ago)


Trigg do you have any idea what this means? I checked the zombie lexicon guide on the wiki and no part of this phrase pops up.

Here's his profile: http://www.urbandead.com/profile.cgi?id=1289209


seems like he's organizing some kind of attack on a library in havercroft.

^ "Barhah" is the single most important word in Zombese.  It is a general term, used as a greeting, as a farewell, and as a battlecry.  A zombie saying "barhah" is equivalent to a smurf saying "smurf."  The whole phrase translates into "Barhah, my zombie brother!  Barhah, brother Mahzah!"  I'm not quite sure what that last word means.  Probably a name.


Also for new players, here's a list of items and where you can find them!  There's a LOT of items, so I'll just mention the ones I consider important.

Note : If you don't want a certain item, you can uncheck its box in your preference page.  For example, you only need one Flak Jacket, so once you find it, you should uncheck its box so you automatically drop any future Flak Jackets.

Fire Axe - The most efficient melee weapon in the game, found primarily in Fire Stations, but also in junkyards.  6% Encumbrance.  (Also used for chopping down Christmas trees in December)

Knife - A bit less efficient than the Fire Axe, but still better than the rest of the melee weapons and it weighs almost nothing, making it preferable for people who do most of their fighting with guns.   Found in mall hardware stores, schools, pubs, and junkyards.  2% Encumbrance.  (Also used for carving pumpkins in October)

Flak Jacket - Automatically worn, just by being in your inventory.  It decreases damage taken from firearms.  It's useless against zombies, but might save you from a PKer with a shotgun.   Mostly found in Police stations.  2% Encumbrance.  (Continues to work as a zombie, where it is arguably more useful.)

Pistol - All pistols are six-shooters, and are reloaded by using a Pistol Clip, both of which are found in Police Stations and mall gun stores.  4% Encumbrance, 2% For extra clips.  Deals 5 damage, 4 against foes with Flak Jackets, or zombies with Flesh Rot.  (You'll want to carry two or three of these, to minimize reloading during battle)

Shotgun - All shotguns are double-barelled.  They are less efficient than pistols in general, but you can really clear a room if you have several of them. Both they and the shells they fire can be found in Police Stations and mall gun stores.  6% Encumbrance, 2% for extra shells.  Deals 10 damage, 8 against foes with Flak Jackets, or zombies with Flesh Rot. (You should keep at least one, even if you're out of shotgun shells.  I once found 26 shells before I found a single shotgun to shoot them with.  It was hell.)

First Aid Kit - The only healing item you can use on other people.  Heals 5 HP at first, 10 HP with the First Aid skill, and 15 HP with the Surgery skill if used in a powered Hospital.  Can be found in spades in Hospitals, mall drugstores, and even churches.  2% Encumbrance.  (Each First Aid Kit grants 5 XP, so hitting and healing someone is a great way to get those early levels)

Revivification Syringe - The only way to revive a zombie.  Using one costs 10 AP, so be careful.  Use your DNA Extractor first so you don't accidentally waste a syringe on a zombie with Brain Rot.  Found only in Necrotech buildings.  2% Encumbrance.  (You can revive a zombie with Brain Rot if you use it in a powered Necrotech building. )

DNA Extractor - You can use this on zombies in order to see their profile name and skill list.  This is important for making sure you don't try to revive a zombie who wants to stay dead.  It's wise to put local zombies on your contacts list, so you don't keep wasting AP on the same old zed.  Found only in Necrotech buildings.  4% Encumbrance.

Portable Generator - These can be installed in any building to increase loot rates, and unlock certain building-specific bonuses.  They are fueled by Fuel Cans (duh) which will keep it running for five days.  A lit generator is necessary to power any radio transmitters.  Generators weigh a whopping 20% Encumbrance, and the Fuel Cans weigh 10%.  Both are found primarily in factories.   (These can be a double-edged sword, since a lit building tells zombies and PKers that there are people inside)

Toolbox - These become important closer to endgame.  Every squad needs one, since they're required to fix any "ruined" buildings that the zombies destroy.  They weigh a staggering 16% Encumbrance, and are found in auto repair shops, mall hardware stores, and factories.

Spray Can - Cans of spray paint that can be used to write short messages on walls.  You can use them for entertainment, for advertising clans and marking territory, or you can use them to designate certain buildings as EP (Entry Point.) 2% Encumbrance, found mostly in auto repair shops, schools, and mall hardware stores.  (A certain civilian skill causes spray cans to last much longer before running out, but is by no means a priority skill.  You get a little XP for tagging Police departments and a few other buildings.)

Newspaper - These can be read for flavor text, but are noted for being the only weapon you can use to hit people for zero damage, making them a fun joke item.  They are found most commonly in Necrotech buildings.  2% Encumbrance.

I can't help but think he's trying to say "Brudda from anudda mudda."

In this post, I will go over all the skills and discuss the importance of each, based on game experience.

In all, there 45 skills for a max level of 45.  However, most players will max out at level 43, due to the fact that two of the zombie skills more or less make you permanently undead.

I'll be color-coding each skill according to their relative importance.

Green - Absolutely vital skill.  Unlock these first.
Yellow - Useful skill, but not a priority.  Unlock these next.
Red - Least practical skills.  Unlock these last.

First let's start with survivor skills, of which there are 23.  Each skill is divided into Military, Science, or Civilian brackets.  Your starting class dictates which skills are cheaper and which are more expensive, but any class can eventually buy every skill, meaning every player has the exact same potential.  Unless stated otherwise, survivor skills do not work as a zombie, and vice versa.

Free Running - Military skill.  Allows you to move from building to building without stepping outside.  As stated previously, it's the only way to circumvent heavy barricades.  Due to the prevalence of ignorant people who over-barricade everything, you can expect to spend a lot of time dead without this skill. Careful though, if you try to free-run into a ruined building, you'll fall to the street and lose 5 HP.  This is easily the first skill you should buy, regardless of class.  Scouts start with it, though.

Hand-to-Hand-Combat - Military skill.  Increases melee accuracy by 15%.  More accuracy means faster XP, and your starting hit percentages are pretty low.

Knife Combat - Military skill.  Increases accuracy with the knife by 15%, making it the most accurate melee weapon in the game.  You'll still be more efficient with the Fire Axe though, due to it dealing more damage with slightly lower accuracy.  (Requires Hand-to-Hand Combat)

Axe Proficiency - Military skill.  Increases accuracy with the Fire Axe by 15%.  Congratulations, you're now equally as effective at melee combat than the oldest veteran in the game.  (Requires Hand-to-Hand-Combat)

Body Building - Civilian skill.  Increases max HP from 50 to 60, but this is rarely a decisive factor in battle.  Continues to work as a zombie, but they have a skill that does the same thing and more (the two skills don't stack, either.)

Diagnosis - Science skill.  Allows you to see the HP values of all survivors within your area.  Continues to work as a zombie.  Great for healing the wounded, or picking off the weak, depending on your inclination.

Construction - Civilian Skill.  You need this to build barricades, which are way more effective at stopping zombies than any number of shotguns. This is the last green skill you should get, since the higher-leveled players will usually take care of the cades for you.  This skill also allows you to fix damaged generators and radio transmitters, as well as restore ruined buildings if you have a toolbox.

Tagging - Civilian skill.  Makes spray cans last longer, and gives you a small XP boost for tagging certain buildings like Police Departments.  Without this skill, they last for about 1-3 messages.  With this skill, they might last for 10 messages or more, but the number of uses remains random.  Spray cans have little tactical use, so it's at the bottom of your priority list.

First Aid - Science skill.  Increases HP healed with a First Aid Kit from 5 to 10.  That's great for endgame, but you receive 5 XP regardless of whether you heal 1 HP or the full 10, so this should probably be the last yellow skill you get for XP-gaining purposes.

Surgery - Science Skill.  Increases the HP healed by a FAK to 15 if you use it in a generator-powered hospital.  Great for endgame, but it falls by the wayside for the same reason as First Aid.  That, and you already find FAKs like crazy in hospitals, so who cares about the extra 5 HP? (Requires First Aid)

Radio Operation - Allows you to retune radio transmitter and receivers to frequencies that you can't tune into without this skill.  Radio channels can be very interesting and are vital for large-scale communication, but aren't rather important to beginners.  Save it for later.

Headshot - This is the only Zombie Hunter skill in the game.  You must be level 10 to get it.  Once you've bought it, any zombies you kill have to spend 5 more AP to stand back up.  Zombies are hard to slow down en masse, so this really helps.  You should already have all your combat skills by the time you reach level 10.

Shopping - Civilian skill.  Allows you to pick what individual store you want to loot in a mall.  This includes a drugstore, (meds) a gunstore, (pew) and several other shops.  Basically, you can loot 90% of the items in the game from a single mall.  Without this skill, you can only loot randomly, giving you an incredibly small chance to find the particular item you want.  (Careful though, you shouldn't stick around for too.  Many people flock here, friend and foe alike.)

Bargain Hunting - Civilian Skill.  This gives you an enormous 25% boost to your chance of finding something when you loot in a mall.

Basic Firearms Training - Military skill .Gives you a very nice 25% boost to hitting with pistols or shotguns.  Gives a smaller boost flare guns, which are not very efficient, but potentially hilarious if you happen to shoot at a fuel-soaked zombie with one.  Unless you start with a pistol, you're better off mastering melee first.

Pistol Training - Military skill.  Gives an extra 25% chance to hit with pistols!  (Requires Basic Firearms Training)

Advanced Pistol Training.  Military skill.  Gives yet another 10% boost!  (Requires Pistol Training)

Shotgun Training - Military skill.  Gives an extra 25% to shotguns. (Requires Basic Firearms Training)

Advanced Shotgun Training - Military skill. Gives one last 10% boost to shotguns. (Requires Shotgun Training)

Necronet Employment - Science skill.  Allows you to use DNA Extractors, which are important for reviving zombies and identifying ones with Brain Rot.  You also need this skill to recognize which buildings are owned by Necrotech, which is where you find DNA Extractors and Mk.II Revivification Syringes.

Lab Experience - Science skill.  You need this before you can administer the syringes to the zombies.  (Requires Necronet Emloyment)

Necronet Access - Science skill.  Potentially useful, but probably not for a long time.  Allows you to generate a very wide-radius map, with different colors indicating zombie concentration within the neighboring area.  You also need this skill to manually create a syringe for 20 AP.  However, it is usually much more efficient to just loot for them. (Requires Lab Experience)

Scout Safehouse - Military skill.  Costs 30 AP to "familiarize yourself" with the current building you're in, which grants about a 10% chance of performing an action for free (0 AP) whenever you do anything in that particular building.  You have to scout again if you die, or if the building is ruined, so don't make a habit of spending AP on this until you have all your pertinent skills.


Alright, let me stop here for now.  That's all the survivor skills!   I'll post the zombie ones soon.

We should set a common gathering point in Ridleybank, where we can just hit each other with our claws for XP. I suggest Margaret General Hospital or St. Jude's, to give any alternate characters at Tapton a wide berth, allowing for further movement without the proximity debuff I've heard about. I still don't know its range, but why not give them more.

Additionally, I found a useful tool for allowing you to get around the "zombie anonymity" and add other zombies as contacts without using a URL hack.

http://profiles.urbandead.net/

Search for their name, it links to their profile. Just add them as a contact from there, otherwise you'll just see "X zombies here" instead of seeing if one of us is there or not.

Well, I nearly am at my third level and by tomorrow I'll have Ankle Grab. Also it took me up until today to stop for a moment and realize that the barricade level on the junkyard we are outside of keeps increasing which seems to suggest there may be a survivor in there. Is it worth our time to take down the cades and see if there's anyone inside or should we just keep ignoring it?

Beltway now has free running. He's still stuck outside...

I'm moving Beltway and Researcher to Tapton. Proto is going to
run around like a freak causing trouble.

To any casual onlookers, be not fooled by this thread's lack of posts.  We've been getting down to the nitty gritty like it's going out of style.

Now that our first ever Zombie Jamboree has reached the end of its first week, allow me to update the scoreboard:

Delicious humans killed and eaten : 15
Scrumptious generators smashed and devoured : 6
Delectable radio transmitters crushed and consumed : 1
Buildings ransacked and ruined : 4

The question is, who do we want to eat today?

Barhah, mah brazzahs.  Barhah.

Rather than continuing with group PMs, I'll just start posting targets here.  

I'm currently looking at the Darknell Museum, which is two north and one east of Fabian Hospital.  It's only VSB.  Time to increase our decoration tally...

Alright guys, at long last Makoto is a fully functional zombie. Therefore, we're ready to go back on the warpath!

Our first target is Merchant Crescent police department in Shuttlebank, a decent ways away from the hustle and bustle of perpetual Caiger Warfare. Our rampage will go in a general northeastern direction.

http://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Shuttlebank

I think we picked a bad place to set up shop in Haag.

We're constantly getting our shit wrecked by Daigusto and now this prick Dr Crystal Chernov pops
in and PK's me. -.-

No "Good" place in a zombie infested city. Rather, I meant to help the defense of Tapton by trying to keep everything operational, and as the wielder of the Six Slothguns, I needed to keep the shells flowing. It was mostly meant as a bulwark against the zombie-shooting Harman-eating clusterfuck that was Kempsterbank.

Noted that Crystal is a PKer, though. I see her around, will shoot her to shit if I do for vengeance.

We'll be regrouping at Pole Mall, where I am currently, I figure. We can make occasional forays into Tapton from there until we feel comfortable taking back Haag. I can revive you. Pole Mall is to the Southeast of Haag, if you hit Clapton Stadium, it's toward the Northeastern corner of that. I have at least 1 syringe, probably 2 to be reviving with.

Well, yea, I know there's no single good local, but you get my drift.

There are certainly places out there more secure and less desired than Haag. But, I digress.

I'm just outside the mall at Keppel Boulevard.

Alright. My IP hits are out for 2 hours or so, I'll revive you ASAP.

Where has the horde gotten to? my zombie has been just sort of aimlessly wandering and attacking random people who forgot to log out indoors.

We're mostly around the Northwestern area of Lamport, last I checked. I'm not sure what the next target is, since Trigger's phone was killed, but he says it should be back up in a few days. He has some weirdness with it, but it's functional again.

so, this block party thing: http://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Block_Party

I shared the link a few days ago but it took me a while to actually remember to play and get my ass over there. Roftwood is pretty damn infested right now, lots of ruined buildings and overflowing revive points. I'm currently one suburb north at the mall in Pimbank getting kitted out if anyone wants to join me. I might go find a NT building and farm syringes because a park I walked by had a waiting list of 11 bodies.

Also, where are ya'lls zombies at? I considered bringing mine to the block party but it seems there are more than enough here to go around.

Sloth got eaten and is currently awaiting revivification just outside of Roftwoof, might as well go in and join the clusterfuck.