Dos and Donts

DO

Read the Town Forums

The town forums are the single most important part of the game. Most of the game happens through the town forums. Die2Nite is about working together and building an organised community. Solo play will get you killed (or shunned) every single time. The town forums are where construction projects, building upgrades and expeditions are discussed.

Contribute to the Town Forums

If you are unsure about something you should ask on the town forums. The more experienced players would much rather answer even a stupid question than to have you waste resources (which inclues ). You should use the town forums to let other players know what you are up to. Your fellow citizens will thank you for contributing and the town will have a better chance of delaying certain doom. You will also earn distinctions by posting in the town forums.

There are specific threads setup for Construction, Workshop material conversion, Upgrades and the Bank. You should try and ensure that the relevant discussions are hapenning in each as the top posts of these forums are viewed on the relevant page. When viewing the bank you will also see the top few posts from the dedicated Bank thread.

Communication is one of the keys to a successful town. Common posts on the forums include noting why an important object was removed from the bank, discussions on what to construct and upgrade next, request for someone to volunteer to close the gate and one of the most common, messages of distress when someone it trapped.

Read the Wiki

You don‘t have to know everything, just where to find out. Whenever you are not sure what to do with an item, just look it up here:

http://www.die2nitewiki.com

If something is not accurate, hey, it's a wiki, update it.

If you click all kinds of buttons just to see what happens, the other players might not like it…

Build the Workshop First on Day 1

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 the first building 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 Search Tower. Do not build the Portal Lock which is explained later.

Vote for the Search Tower if it is build on Day 1

The most important items in the game are defensive items and can only be found in non-depleted zones which means you need the Search Tower to replenish depleted zones. The Search Tower 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.

Upgrade your House to a Tent

Upgrading your House to a Tent costs two but doesn't consume any materials. Tents form the core of the Day 1 defenses. It will provide you with 1 defense and the town with 0.5 defense. If every citizen built a Tent he town would gain 20 defense (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 defensive items in order to survive the night.

Put Defensive items in the Bank

Defensive items provide the town with 2 defense each (more with Defensive Focus) if they are stored in the Bank. If stored in your House they only add 1 to your personal defense and 0.5 to the towns defenses.

You should in fact, put all items except your initial food and water in the bank. Most items are useless on their own.

Plan your Expeditions

Calculate the cost of of the route you will take before stepping into the World Beyond. Remember that for every you use heading away from town you will need one to get back to town. This will prevent you from getting stuck outside without food or water. Even if the other citizens forgive such as mistake, they may not have the to help you.

If you are infected you may also find yourself abandoned as the cost to rescue you, when you have a 50% chance of dying that night anyway, may outweigh the benefits of the rescue.

Use and Update Map Markers

These tell the rest of the town if an area is depleted or has items to be picked up. The most important marker is the 'depleted zone' marker as it stops others from wasting AP in going to a zone which is already depleted. Only use other markers if the zone is also not depleted.

If you get into trouble use the Call for Help marker and make a post on the forums (more on this later). Don't forget to change the marker back to the relevant state when you have been resecued and before you leave the zone.

If you want to note that a zone contains items to be picked up, use the external map located at [1]. This is an excellent resource and allows you to mark items left as well as zombie counts for each zone. This makes expeditions and rescues far easier and safer. It also allows you to see other citizens in the World Beyond, items the bank and the construction yard (except for the progress of construction) while you are not in town.

Remember to authorise external applciations in the settings tab of your Soul page for the map to work.

Autosearch when scavenging outside

If you stay in the one zone after your intial search you will autosearch every 2 hours and potentially find more resources without spending any additional . This saves and prevents you from wandering too far and getting trapped. Autosearch works even when the zone is depleted.

Return to town before the midnight attack

Always plan to return to town at least 30 minutes prior to the midnight attack. This will allow your town's gatekeeper to shut the gates at 20 minutes prior to the attack and not have to wait until the last minute. If the Portal Lock has been built they will not be able to open them again if they are closed within the last 20 minutes.

This also allows your town to organise a gatekeeper if one has not been selected. If you have any left when you return to town, there is less than 20 minutes until the attack and there is no-one left outside, close the gate yourself instead of waiting for the gatekeeper.

Ask before repairing an incomplete item

If you want to combine items to build something with them, you should consult with the other players as the town might need those objects for another more important reason.

Repairing the Shopping Trolley may use the only Copper Pipe which was being saved to build the Pump and the Duct Tape required for Screaming Saws which was need for the nightly defense. Building the Chainsaw may use the Engine that was needed for Plumbing while the [Battery Launcher Mk. II]] may use the only Electronic component needed for the Search Tower.

It's best to ask before building, always give the town time to respond and never build before you have received a response.

Scan the Watchtower Every Day

It helps estimate the number of zombies that will be attacking that night and doesn't cost any AP.

It takes 24 citizens to get the best estimate from the Watchtower and is important so you will know how much more defense you will need for the nightly attack. Once you have an estimate and have enough defense to hold back the nightly attack your town can concentrate on helpful or longer term projects such the Water Purifier, Vegetable Plot, Defensive Focus or even Plumbing.

DON'T

Don't Build a Hovel

Until the community decides to allow it. There are CRUCIAL buildings we need to use those first few planks for.

Don't Vote for a Project

Unless you know what you are doing. A single vote will do the trick and the more experienced players will take care of this.

Don't Stay Outside past 22:40

Most towns will close and lock the gates before then and if a portal lock has been built the gates cannot be re-opened.

Don't Panic!

Trapped in a zone with Zombies? Ask for help on the forums if you are trapped outside.

Don't Flee from Zombies

Unless it is almost dusk! You WILL get WOUNDED which leads to an INFECTION. Wounds and infections are hard to cure because the bandages and drugs needed to heal you are hard to come by.

Don't Use Drugs

Unless it is life or death and the gate is an hour or less than closing. You may get saved. If you use drugs, there is a very high likelihood that you will become addicted and drain our precious medical supplies every day or DIE.

Don't Eat or Drink when you have more than 0

They fill you back up to 6, and good foods put you at 7, but if you're at 0 or 5, you'll still only go up to 6. You should be getting 18AP every day this way. If you have the option of eating or drinking first, always eat first. Drinking water should be the last "AP refill" of the day.

Don't Eat Meaty Bone or Human Flesh

You will probably get INFECTED. Also, they can be used later to make lures!

Don't Enter Unexplored Tiles

Don't enter unexplored tiles unless you are one of the first few to venture outside for the day.

If there are undepleted zones, stay there and autosearch. Remember to log in and go back to town before the gate closes. YOU WILL GET LOST AND DRAIN OUR RESOURCES in rescue attempts if you decide to waste your AP running around the desert when there are open, safe, and plump squares for salvaging.

Don't Open or Close the Gate unless you Volunteered on the Town Forums to be a Gatekeeper

If it's a new day, feel free to open the gate if you're the first one out the door.

Don't Explore a Far Corner of the Map

Stay within a few tiles and we can help you if you run into trouble!

Don't Try to Use Heroic Actions as a Resident

The magical teleport won't save you unless you're a Hero.

Don't Fight Zombies Without a Weapon

Unless you are extremely lucky, you will never land a hit and waste AP.

Don't Use the 'EMS'

It will wound you and you will eventually die. This should only be used in an extreme emergency and then firstly by a citizen who is already infected.

Don't Construct Temporary Defenses

Unless there is nothing else you can build to defend your town. They might seem tempting with their low resource and AP cost, but they only last the night and can often waste precious resources, like nuts & bolts.