The Zombie Apocalypse Thread

[Sir Ritalin]

Well, if I'd known about this, I might never have headed for the hills in the first place. Thanks for the helpful suggestions, though, everyone. Maybe next time it won't be a drill

[Narf the Mouse]

...That could explain the comic.

[Whmice]

holy scream
and if that doesnt work ive got an angel on quickdial

[One post wonder]

Am I the only one who gets it? the back pack gives it all away. They are not zombies, they are college students who pulled an all nighter for the finals! Even I have bitten people in a sleep deprived and useless fact induced stupor after 10 mins with my head in a text book.

[Dustman]

I'm not sure what's better, you doing that or me not being surprised.

[One post wonder]

What surprises me is that I actually typed that post... No more typing after 0300! Except this one... And possibly the majority of my future posts...

[Spyder_V]

If Z-day were to happen, I would definitely hit up a Wal-Mart with my best prepared friends (physically). Wal-Mart has several fire arms, ammunition, lots of food, clothing in case we need it. It's pretty perfect. Not to mention the almost unlimited hiding availability.

[Thunderhowl]

I find it interesting how many people list a hardware or big box store like WalMart as their top area to fortify and camp in. It's not a bad idea, but there are some things that should be pointed out.

1) Because it is such a popular spot, it'll increase the number of Zack that'll swarm to it, and there's very little in the way of fortification that can hold off thousands of zombies at the doors. Keep in mind that it only takes one infected survivor inside the fortifications to undo all your preperation. Remember in the last Dawn of the Dead movie, how many Zombies were surounding the Mall they had fortified? Your safehouse could also become your tomb.

2) Once the power gets switched off, all the perishables will rot, and rotting food leads to vermin and disease. Unless you can rig a bunch of solar panels on the roof or something, you might be in a bind.

3) Popularity is again a problem as everyone else arrives at the same time you do to gather supplies. Mayhem and fighting ensues and the noise and chaos will only draw more Zombies. Remember these words, "Organize BEFORE they Rise". They'll save your life.

If you can get enough warning, by all means, hit up a WalMart or other store or mall for supplies, but then get as far away from it as possible. Your survival depends on being remote and ready to move quickly.

Good luck!

[Susan Calvin]

Remotest around here would be the Biohazard 4 lab outside town. Or the Army base in the woods. Certain buildings are often rigged with their own, independent energy supplies, like the university and the hospital.

[Thunderhowl]

The problem with the Biohazard lab is that it's likely that's where the outbreak might occur. They bring in a few sick people with bite marks and a strange illness and three days later, full blown outbreak!

Hospitals are no better, and for the same reasons.

While the Army Base might be a good place to stop by, I wouldn't count on it unless you are military yourself. In the case of a full blown outbreak, they might lock off the base and shoot on sight anything on two legs. Also, unless it's got a really hardened facility, mere fences won't keep out thousands of zombies, and machine guns are less useful than you'd think.

The university is a descent bet, but each building has too many entrances to defend, and the lack of food will eventually cause problems.

...not that I've thought about this obsessively or anything.

[Narf the Mouse]

Given that a machine gun tends to leave holes with people attached, I wouldn't trust movie depictions of their effectiveness. And have you seen what a bunker-buster doesn't leave behind?

Yeah, head for the army base.

[Thunderhowl]

Given that a machine gun tends to leave holes with people attached, I wouldn't trust movie depictions of their effectiveness. And have you seen what a bunker-buster doesn't leave behind?

Yeah, head for the army base.

The problem with a machine gun is that it doesn't hit targets...it "suppresses areas", and the problem with zombies is that unless you destroy the brain, it keeps coming. It's not that a machine gun isn't effective, just that it isn't efficient.

[DrunkenPrayer]

Also remember fire isn't hugely effective. I did give thought to digging trenches then realised that unless you could safely burn the contents or get rid of them regulary somehow it would be really ineffective.
Plus if you had to burn them then it wouldn't do the air much good and all you'd smell for days would be burning undead flesh.

I actually realised today how good my actual house is in terms of defense. A semi detached so there's the option to take out the stairs and go up to the neighbours with very sturdy gates and high walls protecting the back garden. The main weak spot is the front which is basically a gravel path with only a hedge and short walls bordering it. Still if we could fortify the windows and the storm door it could work out. We actually have lots of bricks and cement mix out back that could easily fix the front door problem. All in I actually think we could hold out for a pretty long time here, especially if we could find a way to keep the back garden watered and plant some basic crops.

[Dustman]

The problem with a machine gun is that it doesn't hit targets...it "suppresses areas", and the problem with zombies is that unless you destroy the brain, it keeps coming. It's not that a machine gun isn't effective, just that it isn't efficient.

I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you on this one. Sure, machine guns aren't as accurate as rifles (especially if you have butterfly triggers on instead of a rifle grip, in the case of 240's and SAWs), but in the event of a zombie outbreak you'll probably see them in a big group. In this case, you can actually do a lot of damage by making a sweep about a meter or so above the ground, because that will take out their legs and make them easy pickings. Besides that, all of them have a single shot setting, and their longer barrels actually makes them more accurate.

The .50 machine gun would be a zombie-smashing beast. Um, correct me if I'm wrong here Narf, but I think point range for a .50 is about 800 meters, with a 1200 meter area target, right? I might be exaggerating just a little, but then again I might be understating. At any rate, if you can see them, you can fire into the crowd, and that big-arsed bullet will chew through at least three zombies before it slows down. Probably more.

All in all, much more effective than waiting until they get in range and then trying to make single shots at their heads. If you're worried about efficiency, don't. Army bases have a lot of bullets at the ammo supply points.

But if it were truly a zombie apocalypse, an army base still would fall eventually. Sure, we'd have plenty of MREs, enough to last us for years probably, but I wouldn't want to make bets on zombie life-spans. I still say head north. Grab some army trucks--preferably as many PLS's as you can, they'll mow right over zombie swarms and they're hella-reliable, but you'll need some five-tons for gun trucks and survivor transport, and some fuel trucks as well. Don't bother with tanks; the range on them is only three hundred miles or so, and they'll suck your fuelers dry without being a whole lot of use in the long run. Personnel carriers? Maybe. I might even say a Bradley for heavy machine gun support, but that's up in the air. Anyway, get your convoy together and head north, and dig in for the long haul.

Um... Wow. I didn't realize how much of a tangent you could get on talking about zombie apocalypses (apocali?). Fun fun.

Edit:

Also remember fire isn't hugely effective.

It might not be so good at burning zombies, but if you could set up burn lines it would probably discourage their approach. Say, re-route some natural gas pipelines, pop a few holes in them and light them up? I dunno, it might be more trouble than it's worth. If you had the time to get that elaborate, a concrete wall would probably be a more worthy effort. Or a moat; can zombies swim? Ooh! A moat with piranhas! Engineering nightmare probably, and where exactly you'd get the piranhas I don't know, but it would work. Maybe sneak some alligators from the zoo instead?

[Narf the Mouse]

I'm not actually a gun expert; I'm just a generalist - I tend to know a little about a lot of subjects.

[Dustman]

Ah. Renaissance man; I can dig that.

Anyway, I got off my arse (actually I didn't, come to think of it) and Google'd the stats on the .50; apparently, point target is actually 1,500 meters, area is 1,830, and the max range the rounds will go is 6800 meters. That sounds about like what I wrote down in my notes (we took a refresher class on it a month or two ago).

So... yeah. Fifty-caliber machine guns for the win, if you can get a hold of them.

[FirstAidKit]

I'd almost go for the head level sweep instead of the leg level sweep unless you're really surrounded, just on account of the danger of cleanup/sneaking zombie stumps. Unless you've got a couple people for the task of shooting zombies that fall below machine gun notice, it'd probably be easier to go in at head level and have a few riflemen to pick em off as they get closer.

It'd be tough to run with the army on this one, just because the larger the group you're in the more zack you attract. A large group would be fighting every step of the way, whereas smaller groups, though more vulnerable, could more easily sneak past major population centers and such. But if you've got security and enough supplies and fire power, then there's no reason that the military couldn't get the job done.

[DrunkenPrayer]

It might not be so good at burning zombies, but if you could set up burn lines it would probably discourage their approach. Say, re-route some natural gas pipelines, pop a few holes in them and light them up? I dunno, it might be more trouble than it's worth. If you had the time to get that elaborate, a concrete wall would probably be a more worthy effort. Or a moat; can zombies swim? Ooh! A moat with piranhas! Engineering nightmare probably, and where exactly you'd get the piranhas I don't know, but it would work. Maybe sneak some alligators from the zoo instead?

Nah fire wouldn't deter zombies (if we're going with the ZSG description) since they pretty much have no sense of fear. The main reason fire is usless is that you have to destroy the brain and in most cases nothing burns high and quick enough to do the job effectively.
Ditto a moat, they can't swim but since they don't need air they could just swarm in and eventually you'd end up with it being so plugged that any more zombie would literally just be walking over the top of others.

I'm still scared about how mcuh some people know about guns, seeing as there isn't a massive gun culture in the UK. Despite what World War Z and the ZSG say about castles I actually reckon a lot of the ones over here would make great defenses, not the showy ones like Buckingham palace but say Edinburgh castle or one similiar that sit on high hills with only one good access point and a damn sturdy gate. Places like that were designed to withstand prolonged sieges.

[Thunderhowl]

It might not be so good at burning zombies, but if you could set up burn lines it would probably discourage their approach. Say, re-route some natural gas pipelines, pop a few holes in them and light them up? I dunno, it might be more trouble than it's worth. If you had the time to get that elaborate, a concrete wall would probably be a more worthy effort. Or a moat; can zombies swim? Ooh! A moat with piranhas! Engineering nightmare probably, and where exactly you'd get the piranhas I don't know, but it would work. Maybe sneak some alligators from the zoo instead?

Nah fire wouldn't deter zombies (if we're going with the ZSG description) since they pretty much have no sense of fear. The main reason fire is usless is that you have to destroy the brain and in most cases nothing burns high and quick enough to do the job effectively.
Ditto a moat, they can't swim but since they don't need air they could just swarm in and eventually you'd end up with it being so plugged that any more zombie would literally just be walking over the top of others.

I'm still scared about how mcuh some people know about guns, seeing as there isn't a massive gun culture in the UK. Despite what World War Z and the ZSG say about castles I actually reckon a lot of the ones over here would make great defenses, not the showy ones like Buckingham palace but say Edinburgh castle or one similiar that sit on high hills with only one good access point and a damn sturdy gate. Places like that were designed to withstand prolonged sieges.

I think his argument is that those places have been largely retro-fitted to be more tourist friendly, and tourist friendly means big open entrances, lots of access points and exits in case of fire, etc. Not as secure as a castle under constant threat of invasion.

[Dustman]

I'm still scared about how mcuh some people know about guns, seeing as there isn't a massive gun culture in the UK.

Haha. Relax, the reason I know so much about guns is that I'm in the army. I'm a tank mechanic, so it is thankfully rare that I actually use them in a professional capacity, but the knowledge still kinda goes with the territory. On the fire issue, well, if their muscles are too torched to move, the brain won't do much good. I'd say the same thing about the arctic winter; frostbite would render any lack of pain kind of useless. Besides, it would be harder for the undead to track humans in the icy north, regardless of what senses they're using.

On the machine gun sweep thing, I'd still go with ground level; going for the head would mean a lot of wasted bullets. Machine gun fire tends to rise steadily unless it is mounted on a fire control system like the computer-controlled hmmwv turrets they're field testing right now. Besides, the main reason in my mind to employ the machine guns at all would be as a stall tactic while the convoy is gathered, or to mow down zombies in the path of said convoy--or at the necessarily rare stops for re-fueling. In such cases, the zombies would be on the ground after you take out their legs, which would make them very easy to drive over for the trucks.

Hmm... Here's an idea. Since a big part of surviving Z-day would be preparation, would anyone be opposed to setting rally points for the lot of us to meet up in the event of such a thing?