Anti-Zombie Fortress (have you seen this?)

[Thorn]

How exactly do you deal with it? If one or more of your party is cracking, going insane from the stress/despare/moaning? Hopefully in a way you can notice it and not just quietly until they snap and become a danger to themselves and others? Understand, I am not arguing with you Thorn, you make many valid points, just genuinely curious what could be done. Of course it would vary somewhat based on the size and composition of your group of course. Great questions and points. I agree, you need to be humane but you need to protect your group as a whole. If anyone shows sign of snapping or becoming a danger to themselves or others you need to deal with them. Locking them up, speaking with them, trying to identify and deal with their issues, work with them at length, even if that means execution. In Great Britain during WWI they would execute soldiers on the grounds of cowardice in extreme cases of "shell shock" or fear and then give them a posthumous conditional pardon. That is a slippery slope but the needs of the group out weight the needs of the few. As for digging a well, it is a brilliant idea, and one I touched on about sieges in this post but never in a zombie siege, I am all for it. A multi pronged solution works for me, Well, Catch basis, tarps to trap moisture, Salination, and foraging/looting.

[Trin]

Here's the deal with the river. I've lived within a few miles of a large river all my life. I gotta say, I don't see any way any zombie is crossing that river. And if the channel was right (something that can be controlled) and the embankments at all imposing then nothing is washing up on shore. It would be the last thing I'd fortify from zombies. That's not to say I wouldn't fortify it at all, but a barbed wire fence and a once a day patrol is probably the most it would need. Now, here's the rub. While I don't fear zombies coming after me from the river, looters are another matter entirely. That's the real threat. You have to assume that settlements are dotted up and down the river, and they use the river to gain access to areas to scavenge. It would be by far the safest way to travel. Even if a million zombies ring your settlement you always have an easy way to get in and out. But that easy access to your safe haven makes it easy pickings for looters. So while I wouldn't fortify from the zombies I'd have a ton of eyes and guns watching for looters. Oh, and the more you all ignore Kansas the more Kansas there is for me.

[Thorn]

"You're boss down there. I'm boss up here". North Dakota looks pretty good to me if my New York thing doesn't pan out I always fancied myself the Duke of New York. Trin how far are you from there now, and what is your plan for getting there?

[mpokera]

the problem I see with the kansas scenario, (and for any other remote land based area) is that while it is true that there would be very few zombies in the area to start with. If we are assuming a full "world of the dead" scenario with almost all of the human population changed, eventually the hordes in the cities will have to leave because of no new prey. While zombies dont starve, they are compelled to hunt continually. This would most likely lead eventually to huge 'herds' wandering the plains of America away from the cities following wherever one happens on something to pursue, causing it to moan and draw more and more to it etc. The "chain swarm" effect from WWZ. While remote Kansas is indeed flat and featureless (I live not far from there) I think over the long haul (years?) even that remote area would be found by the vast herds of zombies resembling the miles long herds of buffalo that once were there. All those zombies from Wichita and Hutchinson etc have to go somewhere eventually....

[Rancid Carcass]

Of course one of the problems of living in Kansas is that it sits, correct me if I'm wrong, in Tornado Alley – imagine a twister ploughing through a horde of say fifteen thousand zombies – sooner or later they've all gotta come down - bad news if you're camped underneath! Would be a great scene in a film though - “It's rainin' Zak, Hallelujah! It's rainin' Zak”...or however the song goes. Though the upside of hiding out in Kansas is that you just might get whisked away to Munchkin Land and bypass the whole zombie apocalypse altogether.

[BillyRay]

Though the upside of hiding out in Kansas is that you just might get whisked away to Munchkin Land and bypass the whole zombie apocalypse altogether. Or the zombie apocalypse comes to Oz. Ah, crap. I betcha somebody's already working on it... (quick interweb search) Ah, double crap: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-World-O.../dp/192671217X scarecrowzed.jpg

[Mitchified]

Gives a whole new meaning to the song "If I Only Had a Brain".

[acealive1]

doesnt need to go to this extreme, certain houses with high windows are perfect against zombies

[Publius]

the problem I see with the kansas scenario, (and for any other remote land based area) is that while it is true that there would be very few zombies in the area to start with. If we are assuming a full "world of the dead" scenario with almost all of the human population changed, eventually the hordes in the cities will have to leave because of no new prey. While zombies dont starve, they are compelled to hunt continually. This would most likely lead eventually to huge 'herds' wandering the plains of America away from the cities following wherever one happens on something to pursue, causing it to moan and draw more and more to it etc. The "chain swarm" effect from WWZ. While remote Kansas is indeed flat and featureless (I live not far from there) I think over the long haul (years?) even that remote area would be found by the vast herds of zombies resembling the miles long herds of buffalo that once were there. Flat and featureless does seem to make it more likely that you'll eventually get a massive swarm coming through. I'd pick a place where natural barriers tend to guide wandering zombies around you. Like the side of a mountain with rivers nearby (preferably rivers between you and the nearest cities).

[Thorn]

Flat and featureless does seem to make it more likely that you'll eventually get a massive swarm coming through. I'd pick a place where natural barriers tend to guide wandering zombies around you. Like the side of a mountain with rivers nearby (preferably rivers between you and the nearest cities). Yes, natural features that dissuade zombies from moving to your location, high altitudes, out of the way locales, mountains, rivers, high river banks, a series of man made barriers such as trucks over turned that act as barricades on winding mountain roads, and ultimately a nice fortified building with a decent escape route. One where you do have changing of the seasons seems ideal to me for a variety of reasons. I have several plans in place my favorite and most ideal one is very well laid out. My secondary, and beyond are less ideal but might be more realistic and it depends on where i am when it all goes down and how much time I have to get out of dodge. You say New York to people and they all freak out because of the city, New York is a massive state and we have a very diverse topography we have two major mountain chains here, and a large number of lakes, remote locations, and easily fortified roads. We also have fishing, hunting, and trapping opportunities aplenty along with a climate and soil that allows for farming a good portion of the year plus naturally occurring apple trees and more. Ignore Upstate NY if you like but I have a certain location in mind that is easily fortified, hell it is a castle We also feature other structures on islands with one road/bridge that could easily be knocked out or fortified. Lot's of back up plans if things go south and you can run to Canada easily from where I am thinking, or into any one of three other states without much difficulty.

[mpokera]

Be sure to take a shortwave radio and generator with you Thorn, will want to communicate with other survivors, have always wanted to see upstate NY

[Publius]

You say New York to people and they all freak out because of the city, New York is a massive state and we have a very diverse topography we have two major mountain chains here, and a large number of lakes, remote locations, and easily fortified roads. We also have fishing, hunting, and trapping opportunities aplenty along with a climate and soil that allows for farming a good portion of the year plus naturally occurring apple trees and more. Don't have to tell me about that -- my wife's family is in Clinton County. NYCers tend to think that anything north of, say, Westchester is "upstate." North Countrymen know that you're not really upstate until you get past Albany and into the Adirondacks.

[Thorn]

Be sure to take a shortwave radio and generator with you Thorn, will want to communicate with other survivors, have always wanted to see upstate NY Sounds like a plan Have my radio ready to go, and portable solar panels. Also blueprints for DIY solar panels I posted here a while bak tha tcan be made really cheaply. (comparatively speaing) Don't have to tell me about that -- my wife's family is in Clinton County. NYCers tend to think that anything north of, say, Westchester is "upstate." North Countrymen know that you're not really upstate until you get past Albany and into the Adirondacks. Agreed! While I am not quite that Far North I know the area very well, grew up not far from there and lived up North during the summer around Peck's lake/Canada lake. Also well traveled around Lake George and more touristy areas that offer a lot of easily fortified locations but close enough to major stores of resources. I have several plans and fall back plans Like I said before zombie fans have planned this stuff out for years, it is kind of a hobby within a hobby.

[wayzim]

the problem I see with the kansas scenario, (and for any other remote land based area) is that while it is true that there would be very few zombies in the area to start with. If we are assuming a full "world of the dead" scenario with almost all of the human population changed, eventually the hordes in the cities will have to leave because of no new prey. While zombies dont starve, they are compelled to hunt continually. This would most likely lead eventually to huge 'herds' wandering the plains of America away from the cities following wherever one happens on something to pursue, causing it to moan and draw more and more to it etc. The "chain swarm" effect from WWZ. While remote Kansas is indeed flat and featureless (I live not far from there) I think over the long haul (years?) even that remote area would be found by the vast herds of zombies resembling the miles long herds of buffalo that once were there. All those zombies from Wichita and Hutchinson etc have to go somewhere eventually.... Simpsons Did it! Well, in truth - I did it, if you set your wayback machine to HPOTD (August 2000 ) and a little story called 'The Nuked and The Dead or; How I Learned To Stop Living & Love The Bomb. ' It's a bunker scenario which played off the line from the original Dawn about our untapped Nuclear resources. And is still in the fiction section. Wayne Z And the world... The world was currently these flat ass plains which even Dorothy Gale found boring enough that she ran off to Oz on the first available tornado. And much later in the story ... He thought, oddly enough, about the bison which had once dotted the plains like an ocean of living bodies. The wooly beasts whose mass migrations would oft times stop human travel for days. But the creatures who now moved toward a spot on the horizon, tens of thousands strong, sought grazing lands of a different sort. The Nuked and The Dead.

[Thorn]

Hmmm how would these work out as a zombie fortress? Any thoughts?