Building Guide
 This page has automatically been added to the to do category for the following reason: Finish list, better format (possibly tables?). The page was tagged by: Mazt 17:11, 19 October 2011 (PDT)
|
Contents
Non-Defensive Buildings
When it comes to survival, you can never have too much defense. But defense isn't the only thing you need to stay alive. There are plenty of buildings that don't give direct defense, but provide for the town in other ways. Some of these buildings are better than others, so make sure you know what you're getting yourself into...
No Blueprint
Workshop- Likely the most crucial building for long term survival, this allows you to convert basic resources into usable materials. This becomes necessary when all of the nearby zones are depleted and even basic resources are tough to come by.
Building Registry- Instead of just blueprints and completed buildings, this keeps a record of which projects everyone spends their 
on at the Construction Sites. Although largely useless on its own, it is required to build the Architect's Study.
Architect's Study- This building provides the town with a different Common Blueprint every day, which makes it extremely useful as the town progresses. The blueprint is dropped in the bank immediately after the attack each day.
Foundations- The Foundations are worthless in and of themselves, but later on in the game they become crucial for longer survival. The Foundations are required for all of the heavy-duty buildings, but are usually a waste of resources early on, when they don't offer any useful builds.
Watchtower- The Watchtower allows you to predict the number of zombies that will attack each night. This is important to build on day one, because its upgrades are more useful than most early buildings provide (such as the Workshop upgrades).
Pump- Water is a crucial part of the game, and that's exactly what the Pump is for. Although it doesn't provide much on completion, its upgrades can hold the town over for several days.
Portal Lock- The runt of the litter, the Portal Lock is generally cast down upon by experienced players. By locking the gates, it prevents any undesirables from opening the gates at the last minute, but it can also lock players out of town if closed too early. Whether or not this building is needed depends on the town. Note that Hero rescue and return can bypass the lock, as well the Ventilation System, but the upgraded Watchtower will only bring you to the Town Gates.
Common Blueprint
Uncommon Blueprint
Building Strategy
Build the Workshop First on Day 1 if not available
Workshop is already built in local towns. It is not available in distant towns and hardcore towns. The Workshop is the most important building in the game. It allows you to convert useless materials into useful materials. Without it your town will not last long. It is important that this is one of the first buildings constructed so that resources are not wasted on other projects which may leave you unable to complete the workshop.
There is a much more important reason to build the Workshop first: the number of zombies in the attack will increase rapidly each day. If the Workshop is not one of your first buildings - ideally on day one - you will not be able to catch up, because you will be forced to invest all your AP and resources in the towns defense later and at the same time you will not have enough materials to build upgrades for other buildings.
The other important buildings that should be built on the first day are the Watchtower and the 
Searchtower. The Portal Lock is a good option if all of these are finished. It's very cheap to build and prevents idiots or bad guys from opening the gates just before the attack - but it should be lower priority than other buildings.
Vote for the Search Tower if it is built on Day 1
The most important items in the game are 
Defence items and these can only be found in non-depleted zones which means you need the Searchtower to replenish depleted zones. The Searchtower should be voted to be upgraded as soon as it is built.
On Day 1 save your upgrade vote until as close as possible to the attack. If you cannot be online just before the attack then you probably shouldn't vote at all on day 1. It is important to save your vote until there is no possibility of the Search Tower being built on the day. Voting for another project just means it will require an extra vote on the Search Tower to have it upgraded.
Distant Towns
The map is clear in the first few days and most of the town should be out scavenging. The amount of Defence items brought back and the organisation of the town builders will make 
Tent very wasteful in a distant region. Residents should not upgrade the home at all.
Tent is the basic requirement of building home improvements, and only heroes can build home improvements, so heroes can upgrade their house to Tent if they plan on building useful home improvements (Home Laboratory or Kitchen). However they should not upgrade their home further.
Most home improvements are useless or ineffective and should not be built (like fence, large curtain, reinforcements). Lock, more storage, or rudimentary alarm is wasteful unless we have hostile players in the town. The payoff day of Siesta Time is long (~10 days). Your APs should be better spent on more important tasks first.
Local Towns
Tell people to work on the same building which provide good defence points.
Alternatively upgrading your House to a Tent costs two but doesn't consume any materials. Tents form the core of the Day 1 defences. It will provide home with 1 defence and the town with 0.5 defence. If every citizen built a Tent the town would gain 20 defence (0.5×40).
Each town has a base defense of 5 and if every citizen upgraded to a tent the town will have a defense of 25. The largest zombie attack seen on day 1 (stats recorded since 17 Jan 2011) is 29 which means the town only need to find 2 Defence items in order to survive the night.
