Zombie Hunter University, Fairview

COURSE SYLLABUS

A. DESCRIPTION

This is an entry level course, designed to introduce students to the rudiments of Dead Frontier. Dead Frontier 101 is designed for neophytes; the focus is on basic information, which will lay the foundation for the more advanced courses that follow. 

Experienced survivors familiar with this information may place out of this course and move on to more advanced fields of study.

B. OBJECTIVES

1. Introduce students to the reality of life on the streets of Fairview - including, Zombies, Outposts, and Zones.
2. Familiarize students with the fundamentals of Professions and Builds. 
3. Clarify essential concepts such as Experience, Levels, Stats, Proficiencies.
4. Provide a basic understanding of activities such as Looting, Grinding, Missions, and Boss-Hunting 
5. Explain useful items: Weapons, Armour, Drugs, Implants, Food, Meds.

D. TOPICS

The course will cover the following topics:

1. Fundamentals
2. Zombies
3. Weapons
4. Armor
5. Stats & Proficiencies
6. Professions & Builds
7. Outposts & Zones
8. Aggro
9. Credit Shop
10. Gold Membership
11. Drugs & Implants​

E. REQUIRED READING

1. Scientific-Minimalist Guide to Builds
2. Scientific-Minimalist Guide to Missions: Introduction
3. Scientific-Minimalist Guide to Boss Hunting: Introduction

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FUNDAMENTALS

Dead Frontier is a world engulfed by the zombie apocalypse. The city of Fairview is overrun by zombies, apparently the result of an experiment gone wrong at the Secronom lab. Survivors equip themselves with weapons and armor to head out into the city, searching for loot, which can be sold to purchase food, medicine, and better equipment.

There are basically four  aspects to surviving Dead Frontier: Looting, Grinding, Boss Fighting, and Missions (though technically the fourth combines elements of the first three).

• Looting: work as quietly as possible, keep a low profile and kill zombies only when necessary; focus on finding items to sell.
• Grinding: kill as many zombies as possible, earning experience points that will advance students to the next level.
• Boss Fighting: target a limited number (usually one) of a particularly powerful opponent. In exchange for success, students receive massive experience points and loot (always weapons or armor).
• Missions: perform an assigned task, such looting a particular item, finding a missing person, grinding a specific number of type of zombies, or killing a particular boss.

In a sense, Dead Frontier is all about turning a profit. Can students spend less on the ammunition that it takes to grind to the next level than they earn from looting? If the answer is yes, survivors can afford bigger guns and also useless luxury items, such as coats, hats, cloaks, masks, and other wardrobe – the only sign of conspicuous consumption left in the dreary world of Fairview. Or, Scooge-like, survivors could simply let their bank accounts swell and enjoy counting their money.

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ZOMBIES

These are the primary obstacles standing in the way of success in Dead Frontier. Zombies exist in four basic varieties, each with its own species: Normal, Special, Mutant, and Bosses.

• Normal Zombies are common but easy to deal with.
• Special and Mutant Zombies are less common but take more effort; eventually they become routine. 
• Boss Zombies are rare but very hard to kill; they deliver copious experience, plus loot (weapons and armor only).

Students do not have to kill every zombie they see (though it is fun). In fact, looting can be more successful when students avoid zombies instead of confronting them.

Although the zombies in Dead Frontier have been “infected” by an experiment gone wrong, they have less in common with the rampaging hordes infected by the Rage Virus in Britain's infamous "28 Days Later" outbreak than with the ghoulish apparitions that haunted New Orleans and Dunwich in the early 1980s (events documented by Lucio Fulci in CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND). Which is to say, these zombies can spawn spontaneously and materialize out of nowhere, circumventing the laws of time and space.

Not that students will necessarily see this happening, but it does. A student can clear a room, walk out the only door, and still find him/herself pursued by zombies coming from the "empty" room. A student can trap zombies behind a wall, and they will stay there as long as the student remains within view of the wall; but if the student wanders off and then comes back, the hordes will have miraculously teleported past the obstruction to resume pursuit.

TERMINOLOGY: COMMON AND UNCOMMON ZOMBIES

Though the Dead Frontier Wiki's Bestiary categorizes zombies as “Normal,” “Special,” "Mutant," and “Bosses,” it may be more useful to think of zombies as “Common” and “Uncommon.” These are relative terms, but in any given zone, there will be zombies that proliferate in large numbers and zombies that are less frequent. Normal Zombies are prevalent almost everywhere; Special and Mutant Zombies show up less often except in deeper zones or in certain missions; Boss Zombies are always rare.

Common Zombies tend to resemble humans (no outsized scythe arms or tentacles); the exceptions are Zombie Dogs. At least until students hit the Black Zones, Common Zombies have health points below 200, making them (relatively) easy to kill.  This is a good thing, because students need to dispatch Common Zombies quickly and quietly if they are too loot effectively.

The Uncommon Zombies will be harder to kill, but their scant numbers makes them less of a hindrance. Students can avoid them when possible and kill them when necessary. These zombies become a difficulty mostly during "aggro spikes," when the number of zombies increases to overwhelming proportions.

Boss Zombies tend to show up one or two at a time (unless a mission calls for more). Since they spawn for only an hour at a time in a particular area, they are easy to avoid. If a student enters an area and encounters immediate aggro, chances are there is a boss on the premises. If a student is not up to the challenge, he/she should retreat quickly.

Of course, which zombies are “common” changes from zone to zone.

For example in the Yellow Zones around the Dogg’s Stockade outpost, the most commonly seen zombies are Females, Males, Fat Females, Fat Males, Burned Females, Burned Males, Irradiated Females, Irradiated Males, and Sirens. All of these can be dispatched with a single shot from an M1 Garand, a relatively low-level Rifle.

On the other hand, in the Red Zones beyond the Fort Pastor outpost, there are Rumblers (somewhat resembling Fat Males on steroids), which can be one-hit-killed only by en Epic Level weapon, such as an Ironsight Rifle.

Consequently, the “bare-minimum” weapon needed in the Red Zones is quite a bit different from one that will suffice in the Yellow Zone.

Further Reading:

• Zone by Zone Zombie Guide.

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WEAPONS

Weapons in Dead Frontier fall into two broad designations: there are quiet Looting Weapons used to pick off one or two zombies at a time, and there are loud Grinding Weapons, used to attack swarms of zombies.

Looting weapons include Melee, Pistols, and Rifles. These tend to fire or strike slowly, delivering maximum impact with a single blow or shot.

Grinding weapons include Chainsaws, Shotguns, Machine Guns, and Grenade Launchers. These tend to fire or strike quickly, spreading their damage among several zombies.

Students will need a mix of both types, but that mix depends on their preferences and fighting style. The effectiveness of these weapons will be improved by raising stat points in certain areas, but different weapons require different stats (which we will discuss in detail as we go on).

Note: Some guides refer to Looting Weapons as “silent weapons,” which is a misnomer, since pistols and rifles are not silent. Although these weapons will not attract swarms of zombies from off-screen (a process known as “Aggro”), they can draw the attention of any zombies visible on screen.

WEAPON COMBINATIONS

One issue of complexity regarding weapons selection arises from the fact that one must consider not only which weapons are “best” but also of which weapons complement each other.

Consider this scenario: A student with Melee wants to add a Rifle to shoot Small Bloats from a distance, in order to avoid being close when they explode. With a Sabre to one-hit-kill Sirens, the student does not need an M1 Garand rifle, which can kill Sirens with a single shot. Instead, the student could get by with a lesser rifle, such as an SL8. The SL8 better complements the build: it fills a need (killing Small Bloats), and it is suits the stats, because its bigger magazine is less reliant on Reloading (a stat that Melee does not need).

Or take another example: If a student using a Very Slow Melee weapon (1 hit per second) might wield a Rifle with Slow Attack Speed (1.5 shots per second) for occasions when zombies swarm at a faster pace.

TERMINOLOGY: ELITE AND EPIC WEAPONS

"Elite" once officially referred to weapons with 100-proficiency. "Epic" referred to weapons with even higher proficiency. Although these terms have fallen into official disuse, Scientific-Minimalist guides and courses sometimes employ them as convenient shorthand to refer to these upper-level weapons.

UPDATED DECEMBER 2019: WEAPON CRAFTING

It is now possible to craft more powerful weapons by combining low-level weapons with items looted from bosses in the city of Fairview. This is a difficult process because in most cases the items must be looted from the bodies of extremely fast and powerful Devil Hounds, which spawn once a day in a single location. It is also possible to craft weapons from items looted from seasonal bosses that appear only during the holidays. Learn more here.

Further Reading:

• Scientific-Minimalist Guide to Weapons
• Weapon Effectiveness Charts

We have mentioned Stats and Proficiencies. What are they? Attributes that determine which weapons students use and how well the weapons will operate.

By killing zombies, students earn experience. After a certain amount of experience, students level up, gaining points in stats and proficiencies, which are applied to equip weapons and improve skills.

Before level 50, students receive 5 stats and 5 proficiency points for each level; after level 50, students get 1 stat point and 2 proficiency points when leveling up.

This means that students need essential stats (especially Agility and Critical Hit) in place before hitting level 50. Worry about fine-tuning the others after Level 50.

Important Note: Each level requires more experience to complete than its predecessor. Progress is extremely swift for the first 20 levels. After Level 50, progress is very slow. Depending on the amount of time spent in the field, it can take months or years to reach Level 200. Thus, perfecting one's stats and proficiencies can be a lifetime endeavor.

Except for the stat-boost professions, every profession begins with these stats and proficiencies:

STATS	PROFICIENCIES
Strength: 25	Melee: 5
Endurance: 25	Pistols: 5
Agility: 25	Rifles: 0
Accuracy: 25	Shotguns: 0
Critical Hit: 25	Machinegun: 0
Reloading: 25	Explosives: 0

Proficiencies are pretty much self-explanatory: in order to use a 100-proficiency weapon, students need to raise their proficiency for that weapon to 100. One noteworthy fact is that the Melee proficiency is unique in that it enables students to equip two weapons, Melee and Chainsaws.

Note: There is a slight advantage to using Pistols and/or Melee/Chainsaws, because students start with five points in those proficiencies. Some stat-boosting professions increase this advantage even more.

Stats need a bit of explanation. There are two types.

The first type deal with a students' abilities:

• AGILITY enables students to move faster. Every build needs Agility, preferably maximum. This is the most important stat, one that is necessary for every kind of build.
• ENDURANCE adds health points. This increases the ability to endure damage from zombies and the length of time a student can sprint before resting. Students are advised to raise Endurance after other stats are in place, unless they enjoy enjoy Boss Fighting, use Melee-Chainsaw, or indulge in the curious past-time known among survivors as "Player-versus-Player" (as if human-on-human killing were some kind of game. As a wise, old man once noted, "When the dead walk, we must stop the killing or lose the war").

The second type of stat optimizes weapons:

• STRENGTH is required to use heavier armors and weapons (such as Machine Guns and Shotguns). Strength does not make students stronger in the sense of inflicting more damage with a weapon.
• ACCURACY improves the ability to hit a distant target. Accuracy requirements vary from weapon to weapon; Melee and Chainsaws require none.
• CRITICAL HIT increases the odds that a bullet or a blow will seriously wound a target: a critical hit inflicts five times as much damage as a non-critical hit. Different weapons have different Critical Hit requirements. Weapons with Very High Critical Chance, such as Shovels, will inflict a critical hit 4 out of 5 times with 80 stat points in the Critical Hit; raising the total past 80 will not increase the shovel’s percentage of critical hits. Weapons with High Critical Chance, such as a Crowbars and Chainsaws, need 112 stat points in Critical Hit in order to reach the same maximum effectiveness (4 crits out of every five blows struck).
• RELOADING enables a weapon to reload faster. Different firearms start at different Reloading speeds, but when this stat is maxed, all firearms have the same reloading speed: one-quarter of a second.  Weapons with small ammo capacities and/or slow reloading speeds benefit from raising this stat as high and as fast as possible. Weapons with faster reload times or larger ammo capacities (100 rounds or more) are less reliant on Reloading; Melee and Chainsaws do not reload at all. The safest choice for most students is to eventually max out this stat, but some may skimp on Reloading, depending on their weapon choice and playing style.

How a student allocates stats depends on the planned "build." We will discuss this concept below. For now, let us simply say that the goal is to ensure that all weapons used are optimized without wasting stat points.

Conventional wisdom dictates that students work on one weapon and one stat at a time. The theory here is that if students begin their first few levels by raising proficiencies a little bit for three different weapons, they end up with three weak (nearly useless) weapons by the time they hit Level 50. By raising one proficiency until it is maxed or nearly maxed, students will have one strong weapon, which will keep them alive while they raise proficiencies for the other two weapons.

Stats follow a similar pattern. If students are using a pistol and raise stats a little bit in Reloading, Accuracy, and Critical Hit, their gun will reload slowly, miss what they aim for, and likely not kill their target even if they hit it. By raising Critical Hit first, students ensure that that when a shot hits a zombie, it is more likely to be lethal. After Critical Hit is optimized, move on to Reloading and Accuracy.

The generally accepted order in which to increase stats is:

1. Agility
2. Critical Hit
3. Strength (if necessary)
4. Reloading
5. Accuracy
6. Endurance.

Endurance is is considered the least important stat. The theory is that if students have high Agility, they can dodge zombies, avoid being hit, and thus not need Endurance to survive the damage that would have been inflicted. After other stats are in place, Endurance is a luxury, generally added past Level 50.

Strength is increased only if needed to equip specific weapons and armor (e.g., raise Strength to 30 to equip an UMP submachine gun). 

Note that Strength is the only “absolute” stat. If a student does not have 40 Strength, he/she cannot equip a Steel MS800 chainsaw or a piece of SN-42 armor – end of story. On the other hand, although it takes 112 total points in Critical Hit to optimize the Steel MS800’s performance, the chainsaw will still work with fewer points. Likewise, students cannot equip an UMP Submachine Gun without 30 Strength points, but they can use it without adding anything to Critical Hit, Reloading, and Accuracy: those stats can improve performance, but their absence does not prevent the weapon from working at all.

MASTERCRAFTED STATS

There is another way to raise stats: purchase armor or weapons that are “Mastercrafted” – i.e., enhanced with bonus stats. Weapons can boost Accuracy, Reloading, and Critical Hit up to eight points apiece. Armors can boost Agility and Endurance by up to 24 points each.

Beginning students tend to think of Mastercrafted stats as an unnecessary luxury, but this is a mistake. At low levels, students are weak in all areas: slow, easily damaged, etc.  Students can wait until they have leveled up 10, 20, 30 times to be halfway competent, or students can get a jump on the competition by purchasing Mastercrafted weapons and armor.

A God-Crafted item has the maximum possible Bonus Stats. A God-Crafted piece of armor has 24 Agility points and 24 Endurance points, for a total of 48 stat points – the equivalent of nearly 10 levels. God-Crafted weapons have 8 Accuracy, 8 Reloading, and 8 Critical Hit, for a total of 24 points – nearly five levels.

With a Godcrafted armor and 3 Godcrafted weapons, students would have an additional 120 stat points – that is 24 levels worth of stats. Students do not necessarily need to go to that expense, but three Mastercrafted weapons with four or five points in each category will do nicely.

Of course, this involves some expense. The solution is to purchase near-useless weapons simply as stat-boosters until accumulating money to afford something better.

Remember: stat-boosting weapons do not have to be weapons that are actually used. Every student begins with 5 proficiency points in Melee weapons and in Pistols.  So, no matter what build a student picks, he/she is able to carry a Mastercrafted pen knife and a Mastercrafted Beta Tomcat – the cheapest Melee and Pistol, respectively. Even if a student never use these weapons, their bonus stats will improve the performance of the weapon that is used.

Bottom line: Do not go broke buying all Godcrafted items, but do purchase as much Mastercrafted equipment as is affordable.

STAT RESETS

It’s good to have a plan when developing a build, but as they say, even the best laid plans oft go astray. That is why stat resets were invented. For a fee (100 credits for Gold members, 200 credits for non-members), students can reallocate stat and proficiency points as they see fit.

It is not a good idea to do this too early. If a student is only at Level 20, he/she might as well begin again instead of spending the credits. Stat resets are recommended later, most likely after Level 50.

There are a few reasons to reset. For instance, a student might have the good fortune to loot an expensive Elite Level weapon for which he/she does not have proficiency; if the student wanted to use it rather than resell it, he/she need to reset.

There are some weapons that seem designed to invite a reset. To take one example, Titanium Blades require no proficiency points in Melee. A Melee student who has acquired enough wealth to afford the expensive Titanium Blades might consider a stat reset to move points from Melee to some other weapon proficiency.

Perhaps the biggest reason to reset is outgrowing a build. Critical Builds are effective early in the game, but when it comes time to graduate to Secronom Bunker and beyond, more firepower and stronger armor are advantageous. If a student has accumulated enough stat and proficiency points to craft a Hybrid Build, a reset is probably in order.

This is especially true for builds incorporating Rifles. Up until the 100-proficiency VSS Vintorez, Rifles are High Critical Chance weapons, which require 112 points in Critical Hit for optimum performance. Later Rifles, such as the 577 Rex (110 proficiency), the Ironsight, and the Worg Carbine (both 120 proficiency) are Very High Critical Chance weapons, requiring only 80 points in Critical Hit. There is nothing stopping a student from using a Very High Critical Chance weapon in a build with a Critical Hit stat of 112, but those extra 32 points are going to waste. Resetting can move those points into Strength, in order to ditch the submachine gun for an assault rifle or a heavy machine gun.

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PROFESSIONS & BUILDS

 "Build" is the term used to describe a combination of weapons, armor, and points.

As mentioned above, stat and proficiency allocation is determined by one's build: what weapons and armor does a student plan to equip, and what stats are necessary to optimize those weapons? For example, a build using Heavy Machine Guns and Heavy Armor would require a maximum investment of stat points in Strength.

An important component of a build is a Profession, which a student must choose when he/she enters the world of Dead Frontier. Professions come in three types:

1. Production and Service
2. Role-Playing (such as lawyers, journalists, etc)
3. Stat-Boosting (athletes, boxers, firemen, police officers, and soldiers)

Many professions begin with some kind of small advantage (e.g., a weapon or extra cash), but students must closely examine the question of whether, in the long run, these bonuses make a substantial difference. Starting with 20 extra stat points is more important than starting with an extra $20.

Role-Playing Professions

Role-Playing Professions earn experience 30% faster than other professions, thus leveling up faster. However, it takes an incredible amount of leveling to catch up with Stat-Boosting Professions. For this reason, some survivors begin with Role-Playing Professions, level up as fast as possible, then pay for an expensive Profession Change to a Stat-Boosting profession.

Production and Service Professions

These professions have the long-term advantage of earning money even when not out looting.

Production professions (Scientists who create meds, Farmers who create food) will deliver only one batch a day, limiting their profitability. These professions do offer one substantial advantage: whereas most students are forced to move on to deeper zones as they level up and require more expensive food and medication, Scientists and Farmers can survive in the lower outposts by self-generating their own necessities. By using Melee and/or Chainsaw to avoid ammo costs, these professions can continue to earn a profit in Precinct 13 or Dogg's Stockade, even after passing Level 75 and needing Nerotonin 8B to heal and Whiskey or Fresh Milk to consume. The cost of food in Nastya's Holdout is too high for this outpost to be viable for Scientists, but Farmers can survive there easily, feeding themselves, selling off their excess food, and plowing through the local zombies like a flamethrower through tissue paper.

Note: Farmers begin with a Mini-14 rifle and 80 5.5 mm rifle rounds. Scientists begin with $50.

Service Professions (Engineers who fix armor, Chefs who cook food, Doctors who heal wounded survivors) can earn money all day long. They are limited only by hunger: each time they perform a service, they get hungrier until they are starving, after which they cannot work again until they eat. If they eat every time they get hungry, they will work all day long, earning thousands of dollars.

Doctors are the most profitable of the three, because patients usually require two treatments to fully heal. Armour needs to be repaired only once; food needs to be cooked only once.

Stat-Boosting Professions

These professions are appealing because they make it easier to complete a build.

The consensus is that Athlete is the best profession, because it offers an extra 25 points in agility – the most important stat, enabling students to outmaneuver zombies. For this reason, it is generally best to become an Athlete, unless something about a build is particularly suited to a different type of profession.

Other appealing professions are Firemen, Boxers, and Police Officers. Firemen and Boxers are suited to builds that use Melee weapons, because they begin with extra points in that proficiency; the Fireman also has an extra twenty stat points in Endurance, and the Boxer has an extra twenty in Strength. The Police Officer begins with ten extra stat points in Accuracy and Reloading, plus ten proficiency points in Pistols and Shotguns, which makes the profession suitable for someone who wants to use those weapons.

Police Officers begin with a Mancini M1 shotgun and 25 rounds of 20 gauge shells. Firemen begin with a damaged Fire Ax (which cannot be repaired - it inflicts slightly less damage than a regular Fire Ax). 

The Soldier is a tempting profession because it begins his career with significant stat bonuses: 10 points in Machine Gun Proficiency, Accuracy, Endurance, and Reloading, plus 5 points in Strength. However, it is burdened with a 20% Experience Penalty, which means it will level up more slowly than other survivors, ultimately cancelling out the early advantage. The Soldier also begins with a Skorpion sub-machine gun and 300 rounds of .32 calibre ammunition.

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OUTPOSTS & ZONES

The map of Fairview is divided into hundreds of rectangular regions, each consisting of four city blocks. These regions are color-coded Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Black, and White. As students move farther east, they enter increasingly dangerous zones: the zombies are harder to kill, and their population density is greater. The trade-off is a chance for better loot – not to mention the fun of meeting a new challenge.

An Outpost is a base of operations, where survivors seek refuge from the horrors of Fairview. At an outpost, students can go to the Market to buy and sell goods, read and write messages on the Forum, and go to the Yard, where they can scrap items for fast cash and enhance items with stats or colors (for a price, of course).

There are five permanent outposts in Dead Frontier: Nastya’s Holdout, Dogg’s Stockade, Precinct 13, Fort Pastor, and Secronom Bunker. Additionally, survivors can create their own private outposts by using a hammer, wooden planks, and nails to board up buildings in the city.

Each outpost has its own missions and difficulty level, according to the zone where it is situated. In a sense, students can chart their progress through Fairview according to which outpost they are ready to inhabit. There are different schools of thought regarding when students should make the exodus from each outpost; some survivors advocate going as far east as soon as possible, even skipping some outposts.

Although this is possible, we think that skipping outposts is equivalent to skipping valuable experience, which will accrue benefits down the road. A gradual advance, stopping at each outpost for 10-12 levels, provides opportunities to work on a build and develop skills in an environment suited to current skill-level. Therefore, we recommend that students stop at all outposts in their journey through Fairview. 

Further Study:

• Survival 190: Nastya's Holdout
• Survival 290: Dogg's Stockade
• Survival 390: Precinct 13
• Survival 490: Fort Pastor

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AGGRO

When a survivor steps out onto the streets of Fairview, the zombies are most likely shuffling around, indifferent until something attracts their attention – or until they get riled up for no visible reason.

When zombies swarm to attack, the process is known as “aggro,” and it can be a fortune or a curse, depending on whether students were planning to loot or grind.

Aggro manifests in different forms. The mildest form is, strictly speaking, not “aggro” per se. In so-called “Hearing Range Aggro,” zombies on screen hear a rifle or pistol and come to investigate. These zombies can usually be swept away fairly quickly.

True aggro occurs when zombies begin to spawn and attack en masse. Killing those on screen only makes room for the next wave. There are moderate and extreme versions of this. In the moderate version, it is usually possible to outmaneuver and grind through the zombies with relatively modest weapons. In extreme versions, the seemingly endless hordes could overwhelm a student who is poorly equipped and/or inexperienced.

Aggro can happen spontaneously –  suddenly zombies begin flooding in from off-screen – or deliberately. Grinding Weapons such as Machine Guns and Shotguns can provoke aggro – which survivors sometimes do when they want to level up.

Several missions involve heavy aggro, tasking students to exterminate zombies by the hundreds (or sometimes by the thousands).

Also, there are Outpost Attacks at irregular interval during the day. When the warning siren blares, zombies will mass-attack the outpost, sometimes for ridiculously long periods of time (possibly an hour or so). Students can stick close to the outpost, receiving help from guards stationed nearby, or students can head into the streets and go it alone.

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CREDIT SHOP

The Credit Shop is a place where survivors purchase credits, memberships, stat resets, profession changes, drug boosters, ammo, armor, weapons, etc.

Unlike everything else in the world of Dead Frontier, these items cannot be purchased with local currency looted on the streets of Fairview; they must be purchased with credits. Students can obtain credits in the marketplace in exchange for Fairview money or in the Credit Shop itself with a credit card or a PayPal account. (There are discounts for purchasing larger numbers of credits.)

Most of the equipment for sale in the Credit Shop can be looted in Fairview, but some special items are available only in the shop, such as Drug Boosts and Big Stack Ammunition.

Drug Boosts increase performance, raising speed or increasing the amount of damage inflicted.

Big Stack Ammunition comes in boxes of 9,999 rounds. The price per round is always more expensive that buying ammunition in the marketplace. The only reasons to purchase Big Stacks are to (1) leave inventory spaces open while (2) not running out of ammo on long looting trips.

Note: Some weapons, such as the Rebellion rifle, cannot be looted in the city; however, they can be purchased in the Credit Shop and then sold in the marketplace. Drug Boosts and Big Stack Ammo, on the other hand, are non-transferable; survivors can use them or scrap them but not re-sell them.

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GOLD MEMBERSHIP

There are neither tolls nor taxes levied on those who survive on the streets of Fairview, but there are advantages to paying for Gold Membership. A $7.95 monthly fee nets 200 credits per month, doubles experience points, and vastly improved loot chances. Not only will there be more loot spots visible in the city, but also the loot will be of higher quality.

Another advantage is discounts in the Credit Shop. Stat resets are 100 credits instead of 200. Weapons are 12% to 20% off. Drugs are 25% to 30% off.

For students who are frequently active on the streets of Fairview, a Gold Membership may be worth the money. Also, if a student is planning a stat reset, and not already a Gold Member, it makes sense to subscribe for a month. Why? Because a stat reset requires 200 credits, which cost exactly the same as one month of membership. If a student purchase the membership instead, he/she will receive the 200 credits and the Credit Shop discount, so the reset will cost only 100 credits, saving the other 100 to purchase drugs or to sell on the market. Plus, the membership grants all the other benefits for a month: double experience and improved looting.

Just remember to cancel membership after one month. Monthly membership tends to automatically renew unless they are told to stop.

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DRUGS & IMPLANTS

Whatever state their builds are in, students may find themselves wishing they had a few more stats or some method to improve their skills. Drugs and Implants are two ways to achieve this.

DRUGS

One method – a temporary one – to boost performance is by using drugs for sale in the Credit Shop for exorbitant prices. These come in three flavors:

1. Damage Boost increases damage by 35%.
2. Speed Boost increases speed by 35%.
3. Experience Boost increases earned experienced by 50%.

Drugs effectiveness is time-limited. Those in the Credit Shop are available in 2-hour versions and 24-hour versions.

Drugs are non-transferable, meaning they cannot be sold in the marketplace. Their scrap value is nowhere near their actual value.

Generally, we do not recommend drugs, because of the expense. The two-hour boosts cost 10 credits – worth hundreds of thousands of dollars looted on the streets of Fairview. Or a student could purchase 200 credits for $7.95 in outside-world money, buy twenty doses, and really string him/herself out.

One scenario in which the price of drugs might be cost effective would involve occasional high-risk missions.  If a student's current weapons are adequate for day-to-day use, and he/she feel the need for something bigger only when hunting a quintet of Flaming Wraiths near the Secronom Bunker, it doesn’t make much sense to spend $55-million on a Godcrafted Gau-19 Mini-Gun that is totally unnecessary the other thirty days of the month. Instead, use a Speed Boost to outrun the threat and a Damage Boost to pump up a Vulcan or a Hammerhead closer to Gau-like DPS.

Of course, Gold Members, who receive 200 credits per month and get a discount in the Credit Shop, can purchase 2-hour doses for seven credits instead of 10 and 24-hour doses for 30 credits instead of 40. That’s not a bad deal, leaving plenty of credits leftover.

Additionally, during holidays, "special infected" zombies drop presents that sometimes include seasonal version of drugs that last for one hour only.

Another possibility arrives during holiday events, during which special, limited time Boss Zombies (Eggheads at Easter, Reindeer at Christmas) drop loot that includes 1-hour doses of booster drugs.  Typically, an Easter Egg will boost damage; a Candy Cane will boost speed. We recommend exterminating enough Holiday Bosses to stock up a supply of booster drugs for months to come.

There are also special weekend events during which all survivors get the benefits of enhancement without taking drugs. These are golden opportunities for impoverished students to inflict more damage, outrun fast zombies, and/or gain more experience.

IMPLANTS

Graduate students have another option to boost: Implants. Upon reaching Level 50, students will receive four slots where they can add implants to boost damage, speed, imperviousness to incoming damage, PVP points, and chances to find cash, ammunition, armor, or weapons. The number of slots increases as students level up, maxing out with 16 at Level 325.

Unlike Drugs, Implants have permanent effects; however, the effect is relatively small, ranging from 1% to 5%. Fortunately, the effects "stack"- that is, one Rage implant increases damage output by 1%, and two Rage implants increase damage output by 2%. 

Implants are so exorbitant they make drugs seem relatively economical, so they should be considered a long-term investment (e.g., how many hours of looting will it take before that 1% increased chance of finding cash yields enough to pay back for the implant?). In general, we recommend first-generation implants because they are less expensive. For example, a single Violence Implant will increase DPH by twice as much as a Rage Implant, but the Violence Implant cost nearly one hundred times more. You do the math.

Are these incremental increases worth the expense? Sometimes, they can make a big difference. For example, the Dual Blade melee weapon, with 167 damage points, falls just short of being able to one-crit kill a Rumbler, with 170 health points. Enhanced with two Rage implants, the Dual Blade crosses the 170-point threshold, greatly improving the weapon's effectiveness in Red Zones heavily populated by Rumblers.

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MOVING ON

Having completed this course, students are now qualified to advance to the next level of study. It's time to leave the classroom behind: select a profession and a build template; head out into the streets of Fairview; and follow the lesson plan provided in Survival 190 - Nastya's Holdout.