State of Decay 2 tips, tricks and guide to surviving the zeds

State of Decay 2 has arrived, with all of its lovely gore and base-building antics returning with it.

A lot of it will be familiar to original State of Decay players, but some things have changed nonetheless. Here, well run through some choice State of Decay 2 tips for beginners and returning pros, as part of our main State of Decay 2 guide hub on this page.

If you're out for more specific help though, we recommend taking a look at our gate to State of Decay 2 home bases and the best bases in the Foothills, Valley and Plateau regions, too!

State of Decay 2 tips for your community, base and morale

• Try to save base construction templates for non-resource-generating stuff - set up outposts for meds, food, fuel, ammo, etc., as they can't be used for anything else.
• Upgrade your command centre to unlock more outpost slots.
• Clearing infestations is a pretty straightforward way of boosting morale when you have a resource problem.
• Be aware that massive building projects create lots of noise which might lead to a zombie siege (lots of zombies spawning in the base, including specials).

• Max out your Infirmary first - it's one you'll be using pretty often and getting it running as efficiently as possible is going to be a massive help.
• Hydroponics are generally a lot better for keeping on top of food than the little garden farms you can build, and if you can get a lot of them up and running in one place, can give you loads of resources for trading.
• Save up for as long as you can before moving to a bigger base. The first one is really limited but most of the middle-sized bases are quite similar (we pick out our favourites in our guide to the best State of Decay 2 bases, mind), so you really only want to make one jump to a mid-sized base and then as soon as you can move to your map's big, 3500 Influence, 8-person base for the long-run.

State of Decay 2 tips for looting, fighting and exploring

• Get a car ASAP to boost range and inventory space while foraging, and always take an escort character to serve as a pack mule and distract zombies while you're looting.
• Switch between characters to pick up more than one resource bag.

• Use distraction items in crowds as they're cheap and ridiculously effective.
• Don't worry excessively about getting hit by plague zombies as it'll take a few swipes before you're actually infected.
• Look out for army medical checkpoints as they tend to have guns, ammo and meds in excess.
• Empty survivor inventories before switching to others if you want to conserve ammo and consumables - likewise, do the same before exiling them to make sure you get everything they're carrying.

Other general State of Decay 2 tips

• Cars don't despawn, so you can park them strategically to use them as extra storage and barricades (thanks to redditor AINOKEA for that tip).
• To pause the game, turn your Multiplayer settings to Offline in the in-game menu - otherwise the game will continue running even when you're in menus or have it minimised.

• Be selective with your survivors, unless you're just starting out or specifically need one or two more to unlock a better base. They're a constant drain on resources, so pay attention to their stats when deciding whether or not to take them in.

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