Undead Labs

Of all the zombie games recently, this is the one that caught my eye and keeps impressing me.

PlayXBLA

Having a long-term strategy for surviving the zombie apocalypse is a great idea. A big-picture plan is necessary if you are going to survive past the initial outbreak. Where will you live? What will you eat? How will you defend yourself? What are you striving for beyond simply surviving another day? Accomplishing those big-picture goals are going to require you to be adaptive. Tactics are what you do with what you have in an effort to complete objectives that further your strategic goals. Click Read More to get the details straight from State of Decay design team member, Foge.

In State of Decay we put a lot of effort into making sure that players can transition smoothly between different tactical approaches to gameplay so that they you can adapt quickly and make adjustments to your tactics as the combat situation evolves. We want you to easily flow from stealth to melee combat to ranged combat to using items. We know that everyone approaches these challenges differently, and it was important to make sure that as many approaches were accounted for as possible.

Even if wading into a horde armed only with a rickety table leg is likely to result in getting killed.

Guns
“Is it true that there is a place in a man’s head that if you shoot it, it will blow up?” – Danny Butterman, Hot Fuzz

I get pretty excited about guns. Not as excited as Brant, or this guy, but I love finding them in the game and I think you will too. There is a pretty nice spread of different types of weapons (again, if you can find them), and your choice of firearm can also influence how you approach situations from a tactical perspective. It’s like a list of my favorite things!

Pistols are great for picking off a few guys at pretty close range, especially if you have a suppressor. They can jam if you don’t know what you’re doing, though.

Revolvers are also great at short range. Super-reliable, too. You just have to deal with reloading a lot more often, and slowly.

Rifles are terrific at long range, especially once you really get to know what you’re doing. You can get more than one guy in a single shot with some of the beefier ones! That’s pretty handy. But they have a pretty slow rate of fire, and if zombies get up close and personal I don’t recommend sticking around.

Submachine guns are fantastic at dealing with crowds in tight places. They do go through bullets in an awful hurry, though, and it’s not like we have an infinite supply of those.

Assault rifles, wow. One of these and you can cut through a horde like a hot knife through a zombie’s eye into its delicate brain. Again with the high bullet demand, however, and ammo for these guys tends to be a bit more rare.

Shotguns, the quintessential zombie killing weapon, yes? Up close they basically turn zombies into puddles of black goo. Ammo is pretty reasonable to get, too. They are kinda perfect. Except that they are crazy loud and there is no way you’re going to find suppressors for them laying around, regardless of what you saw in No Country for Old Men (yes, they exist, but good luck finding one). So once that horde is gone, you’re pretty much guaranteed another one if you stay in the area, ’cause these guns make a racket.

You are using a suppressor, right? You probably should be. Oh you don’t have any? Hrm. You might be able to find some, but it’d probably be better if you had a way to make them… but, that’s for Phinney’s article next month.

Combat
“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.” — Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Looking to get up close and personal? It’s a great way to get yourself killed, but it’s also a great way to dispatch a couple of zombies without letting the legions of the damned know your exact position. There are a number of melee combat options for you to use, depending on the situation and your tactical inclinations.

For instance, light blunt weapons like baseball bats or metal pipes are great at caving in skulls and knocking zombies around. They’re reasonably fast too. Getting kills shots are easier once you’ve knocked guys down, but it’s possible to one-shot a zombie on occasion. Solid crowd control, not bad for killing.

Light edged weapons can lop off heads wicked fast! Just don’t depend on them being able to get you any space if you miss the headshot, ’cause zombies don’t appear to really care if you just cut them. Very fast, just not great at dealing with groups.

Heavy weapons guarantee that your target is going to react in a big way. If you don’t miss. And if you can hit the target before the target hits you, ’cause heavy melee weapons are sloooooow. You can hit a bunch of enemies with a single swing, it’s just getting that swing out there. Decent killing power because of all that weight, especially if the target is already down.

What about unarmed combat? AHAHAHAHA. Heh. Sorry, just needed a second. Okay. If you’re in a situation where you don’t have a weapon, if you’re the one out of ten survivors that actually lives through an attack wherethey were unarmed? This situation suggests RUNNING. If you must stand and fight though, may I also recommend NOT PUNCHING. Punching is a great way to get bitten. Use low kicks to knock zeds down and then stomp those skulls in. Your survivors might be able to learn some takedown abilities that can help out in both armed and unarmed situations. After all, a zombie that’s struggling to get up off the ground is a zombie that isn’t sinking its teeth into your succulent flesh. Did I say “succulent”? I meant, “tender and delicious.” Moving on.

The specific combat abilities that your survivor can use depends on what skills he has naturally and how you develop them. Hmm, since I’m talking about them anyway, might as well dive into…

Skills
“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.” — Larry Bird

It should come as no surprise that different survivors have different abilities and skills. Each survivor you rescue is a bundle of potential wrapped in a bag of goo that zombies love to munch. The skills of your current survivor will absolutely influence your tactics in the field. Over the course of your (hopefully long) career you’ll acquire a particular set of skills, skills that make you a nightmare for the reanimated corpses trying to take over the world.

As your survivors, um, survive the zombie apocalypse, they’ll get better at doing so, and the specific skills that they are using affect their growth (as a human being and as a tasty snack). Want your survivor to get better at shooting pistols? Then you should take that survivor out into the big, bad world with a pistol and get to work getting better. Of course some survivors have natural talents that are going to allow them to grow a lot more in a particular area, which isn’t to say that you can’t find a way to increase your aptitude, but that may require some…

Specialization
At certain points in their growth you are able to choose specializations for your survivors. Specializations are skills that reinforce your survivors natural expertise and play style, that give you a powerful advantage over the shambling masses.

The choices you make about how your survivors grow is critical. It expands their tactical capabilities. Is it more useful to have a survivor that can pick locks, or one that can move quickly in stealth? Do you want the crack shot, or the unstoppable bruiser that can soak up a ton of punishment? Do you want a particular survivor to be able to master the use of pistols? There are a lot of different types of objectives that your community needs to pursue in order to reach your goals, and each of your survivors can help you get there in different ways.

The choices you make are also final. Once you’ve chosen a specialization for a survivor it is permanently part of that survivor.

Stealth
“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

We’ve called it out several times in past articles and Q&A’s, but it’s important to this topic – noise attracts zombies. Being loud during the zombie apocalypse is a great way to get yourself killed. Fortunately you know this, and you know that the best way to avoid becoming a snack is for the zombies to never even know that you’re there. When you’re moving around stealthily you don’t become completely invisible to the zeds, but you make barely any noise at all and their vision isn’t all that hot. It’s also a great way to sneak up behind a lone zed and take him out without alerting every other zombie in the area.

Run
“Survival rule #1: Cardio.” — Zombieland

Here’s a pretty useful tool for the ol’ toolbox. Run. Most (not all) zombies are pretty slow, though they are persistent, and you can get away from them if you hoof it. Seriously, one of the most useful skill you can develop is recognizing when you are in over your head and getting the hell out of dodge.

Of course, you shouldn’t panic. You should think even as you flee. Hop a fence, duck into a bush, use a distraction device, start a fire, race into a shack and out the back. Do what you’d do if your physical ass was on the line.

Weapon Durability
“Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

I’ll admit to taking the quote out of context. Sun Tzu was probably talking about using your resources intelligently and not doing foolish things, but I’m appropriating it as a segue into weapon durability!

Some weapons are sturdier than others, but pretty much everything you find is going to break eventually (hopefully after smashing in many undead skulls). How does this affect your tactical choices? I’ll tell you something, free of charge: Trying to take on the zombies hand-to-hand is a BAD IDEA. It might work for awhile, but it’s going to wear you out pretty fast and isn’t very effective at destroying undead brains. At least you’re smart enough to not try to punch them. Right?

Right. Well, did you pack a backup weapon? Do you think you could find one nearby before the hordes find you? Okay, so the most likely way this affects your tactics is that you’ll switch to your (hopefully suppressed) ranged option or use up some of your precious incendiary and explosive items to clear out any trouble you run into and try to avoid getting up close and personal. But those precious melee weapons tend to break at the most inconvenient moments, and your fancy submachine gun is a complex beast made up of lots of moving parts that is going to jam on you one day. Best to keep that in mind.

Items
“There is no one magic move or secret that creates victory, but lots of little items that when added together can make you victorious.” — Bill Toomey, Olympic athlete

Remember when I said that being loud is a great way to get yourself killed? Well, it’s also a great way to manipulate the mindless hordes out to eat the flesh of the living, and if you have a way of making some noise away from your objective you may be able to distract the hordes and get the job done without any drama. We have a pretty great example of this sort of tactic in action in this video.

There is more to things that go boom than shown in the video. The options include improvised bombs, incendiaries, mines,  homemade explosives, and more. They can be used to distract, burn, or blow up the enemy. Sometimes all at once. They are a great way of making an impossible situation a little bit less so. It’s up to you to find them, build them, and use them in the best way you can to further your objectives.

Vehicles
“No stop signs, speed limit. Nobody’s gonna slow me down.” ACDC, Highway to Hell

Cars are awesome. Mostly you can plow through zombies without putting your squishy survivors at risk… mostly. Just be careful that you don’t get a hanger beating on your door, looking to rip you out of your seat. And be careful running full speed into a large horde (or one of those BIG guys, you know who I’m talking about). That kind of damage wrecks your ride quick. It’s like those stories you hear about guys who get hurt, or worse, when they hit a deer.

The other thing about cars is that they are loud. I keep looking around for an electric ride, but apparently no one in Spencer’s Mill is green enough to really care about their carbon footprint. The upshot of this is when you get to where you’re going, the whole neighborhood is going to know you’re there, and the folks left ’round these parts aren’t the kind you want coming over for a visit.

Sure, it sounds like fun on paper. Zombie apocalypse, get in a fast car and do whatever you want. But getting into an accident can leave your survivors hurt real bad, and if you suddenly find yourself in the middle of nowhere with a wrecked car, hurtin’ real bad, you’re going to wish you’d been a bit more cautious. Vehicles are finite, and survivors aren’t invincible. One wrong move and one of your most useful tools is gone, not to mention potentially losing a car as well.

And if you run out of vehicles? I did hear someone talking about a guy that can get you vehicles from the outside. But it’s going to cost you. A lot.

Death of a Star
“The only thing I know is everything you love will die.“– Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor

You’ll probably end up with a couple of go-to survivors for certain situations. Your go-to shooter for handling sieges, your go-to bruiser for dealing with infestations, your go-to stealth expert for searching for resources. It’s important to note that no matter how awesome one of your survivors ends up being (as you customize them via the Skills system), eventually they’re going to get tired out in the field. So tired that it may literally cost them their lives if you keep them out in the field. Fatigue affects your stamina, which is used for just about everything you do from fighting to running to climbing fences as you attempt to outrun the broken teeth nipping at your heels (not adorable nipping like this).

TL;DR: A tired survivor is a dead survivor. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Have a deep bench.

From a tactical standpoint, you can approach objectives any way you want. Some survivors’ skill sets may make them better suited to tackling certain objectives, but you’re the one calling the shots (and it’s on you if you get someone into a situation and can’t get them out of it).

In Closing
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

All of these tactics are just tools for you to attempt to achieve your overall strategy. You have to make the hard choices about where you’re going and how to use everything available to reach your goals.

Good luck.

Note from Sanya: Y’all, I edited some of the questions for clarity and brevity. If my edits altered your intentions, I humbly apologize, and ask that you email me or comment here.

Not every question was answered. In some cases, we are still deciding on the answers. In other cases, the answer would reveal elements of the game we are intentionally holding back. In a few cases, I didn’t understand the question and I’ll take another swing. Finally, a certain number of questions were covered in past Q&As. If you asked something about vehicles, check out the vehicle Q&A, and so on.

The forum has a character limit, and I’ve had to break the Q&A into sections. Please read the first six posts in this thread before commenting.

Okay, rock it:

SURVIVORS/NPCs

Q: Chrace123: When you send one of your survivors out on a mission, how are you alerted when they get into trouble?

A: Your home base has a communication center, one that is always manned by an NPC. She will get the panicked calls for help and relay the information to “you” (meaning whatever survivor you are playing at the time).

Q: Joey: If I'm about to die or don't have what it takes to get home, may I radio for help? And is there a possibility help may die on the way?

A: If the character you are driving has earned sufficient influence with your community, you will have some resources you can draw on, for inspiration, stamina, medical advice, and more. There are some resources you will have access to in return for earning the trust/support of other NPCs. But you can’t just summon any available survivor to come to your aid when you’re out and running into trouble. Go armed, and take no shame in fleeing.

Q: K-Man: Will all the playable characters be in the world [at the beginning of the game] or will some spawn/appear only if previous characters have died?

A: There are storyline characters already in the world when you log in for the first time. Others, and I’m told the vast majority, appear as you play.

If you manage to kill everyone that happens to be in the world in one miniature apocalypse of your own making (except for whoever you happen to be playing at the time), you may meet an NPC “who knows where to find a survivor” that has hitherto escaped you. But don’t expect to find anywhere near the number of survivors as you might have otherwise found.

Q: Joey: Are there any other characters who can get me items from outside? Ie. guns, survivors, jumbo jets.

A: No jumbo jets. But yeah, there are NPCs who still have connections, as implied by the last answer.

Q: No Good Names Left: Will there be [survivors in different] age groups, like elderly, teens, kids?

A: There are no young children, and the adults are mostly in their prime, though there is some variance.

Q: [Multiple]: Can all the survivors carry the same amount of weight? Are the survivors themselves of different physical type?

A: Survivors can carry different amounts of weight based on their character traits. There is variance in height, weight, and skin tone.

Q: K-Man: Is there a limit to the number of characters that can be in a community (given that I'll be able to feed them all and give them a place to rest)?

A: That’s a pretty big given! You could theoretically rescue every survivor in the game, given the ability to house them and feed them. But that definitely won’t be easy.

Q: (Multiple people) How do we change between characters? Can we switch during combat? Can we switch while we’re actively on a mission? Do we have to be in a safe area?

A: You can switch by talking to them, or you can switch via the Journal menu. You can switch to one of your family members (a survivor in your group that trusts you completely) anytime they are not busy (e.g. on a mission, or actively hiding because they are panicked).

Q: Thornboosh: Will there be other groups of survivors out there, or any non-zombie related enemies, that might be out to get you?

A: You will encounter other small groups of survivors who have banded together. You can either try to convince them to join your community, or do a little trading with them.

For SoD, we’ve made the decision to not have any human survivors actively seeking to do you harm. They might not like you or want to help you, but you don’t need to fear getting shanked in the dark by anyone that isn’t undead.

That is, you don’t need to fear it in the initial launch of State of Decay. I make no promises beyond that point.

Q: WhiteAvatar: [Do the NPCs spawn in a consistent location?] I can imagine the main NPCs with main back stories appearing at similar land marks, but what about the minor randomized npcs? are their locations randomized as well?

A: You’ve got it exactly right. The main storyline characters appear in the same places every time you play through the game, but the semi-random characters appear... semi-randomly.

Note that survivors will group up when they can, especially if they aren’t part of your community. They will also react to their immediate environment. From Phinney, our creative director: “For example, a survivor group that (randomly) settles into a grocery store will have food for trade (in exchange for cases of ammo.. .the universal currency), while one that settles into an industrial supply store might have construction materials to offer as well.”

Q: WhiteAvatar: How many survivors can you bring on a mission?

A: Most missions you run as an individual character. (Survivors have learned that running in groups attracts unwanted attention, and stealth is a priority for them when you’re not doing the driving.) There are some specific circumstances where you can call out a specific survivor to join you, but they’re special (and you’ll recognize them when you get into them).

Q: Swood: Is there some way to instruct the characters around you to do tasks; say, if you were in a scavenging group and also wanted to set up an ambush?

A: SoD does not feature an NPC ordering system, not like that. You can have other survivors come out and scavenge resources in an area you’ve discovered, and they will perform their appointed tasks at your home base. The will also take their cues from you in the field. If you shoot, they’ll feel free to shoot. If you are being stealthy, they’ll be stealthy.

Q: Major Warpath: Will NPCs know how to conserve ammo also or will they just completely Rambo it and waste resources quickly? Will they also be able to use bombs, landmines, grenades, and molotovs? Or are those just items that you use [when you’re playing as a character]?

A: NPCs (in this answer, I use the term to mean a survivor that is not currently being played by you) use guns and weapons, but do not use other items. NPCs are also pretty careful about using guns, mostly because it makes a ton of noise. They’ll look to you to open up the shooting.


Q: Thornboosh: Say your base begins to get attacked and overwhelmed. Is there an evacuate/abandon order you can give for everyone to get the hell out of there and run for their lives? Maybe set up a rendezvous point for your survivors to get to, or a second base to meet at?

A: Just a nit: You won’t be able to have a second official home base. You can have a base (with facilities you can add and upgrade) and you can have as many outposts as your base can support (no facilities besides supply storage). You can change bases if you find one you like better, but you can’t have two.

But the answer to the question you actually asked is no.

HEALTH/INJURIES

Q: No Good Names Left: Will bones break and if they do, does your character limp?

A: Says Phinney: “Characters who suffer long-term injuries cannot be taken out for missions, but you may see them staggering around your home, looking for somewhere to lie down. (Dude, build an infirmary already!)”

Q: Joey: If I'm low on stamina, is there a way of regeneration? Finding a bed and barricading the room? Energy bars?

A: Yes, and you got the answer on the first try..

Q: Joey: Is there a way to heal myself in combat?

A: There are consumables. They work better if the character in question has some sort of medical skill.

WEAPONS

Q: [Multiple]: Can jammed/degraded weapons be repaired? How?

A: Yes, assuming you’ve at least built a workbench at your base. A machine shop upgrade would be even better.

Q: Madmock: Will we be able to repair/maintain melee weapon durability at our base, or can we do it on the fly?

A: You’ll need to do repairs at your home base.

But since this is a Q&A about tactics, let me remind you that repairs can be done in a very tactical way. Repairing something takes a proper facility, a survivor with the proper skill to do the job, and time. Time passes in the world when you’re offline.

So play hard when you’re online, bring your busted up weapons back to base, tell your repairman to get to work, and log off. He’ll slave away while you sleep, and when you log back in, you’ll be ready to rock.

Q: Vulpesveritas, Joey: Will we be able to use a gun as a club if we run out of ammo?

A: No. Also, Phinney notes for the record that guns are far, far too valuable to abuse in that way.

Q: Garret: Will there be different types of ammunition?

A: Yes. We’ve tried to be reasonably accurate with guns and ammo types. Some types will be harder to find than others. Brant says, “To be clear, at this time we differentiate by caliber, we don’t have variances within a caliber, like HP, +P, FMJ, JHP or things like that.”

Remember that ammunition is a resource to be managed. You can’t just roll into Walmart and buy cases of the stuff.

Q: Major Warpath: Will guns jam less if you are more experienced?

A: Yes.

Q: Aaron Shift, Major Warpath: Will we be able to clean guns, in order to use them longer?

A: In SoD, cleaning is included in maintenance and repair activities.

Q: Aaron Shift: [It was] stated that we could take multiple zombies out with one shot of an assault rifle. Can we expect zombies to be a 1 to 2 shot kill to the head/ 1 shot kill to the head or chest with a shotgun at close range?

A: Depends on the type of ammunition, and how close the range is.

Q: [Multiple]: Can found objects be used as melee weapons (such as pipes, rocks, etc)?

A: There are hundreds of melee weapons to be found and used in the game world. Some of them are items like pipes, yes, but they’ve been coded as weapons so the game will recognize them. You can’t just pick up any old pipe and have it work, if you see what I mean. It’s a limit of the technology at this time.

Q: Sutt9: Can you put a [suppressor] on every weapon except the shotgun?

A: Over to Brant: “No, revolvers and shotguns are excluded completely, there are a couple rifles that are excluded and probably a pistol as well. These are the high caliber weapons that require specialized machine shops to manufacture. Also, suppressors for the big .50s are about diffusing point sources for sound and dust signatures, not for significantly limiting the dBs.”

Q: Panther: If we're crouching in water, will our guns jam more easily?

A: No, water mainly affects movement. Once you reach a certain depth, you will not be able to fire. It does not affect maintenance/degradation at this time.

ITEMS

Q: Vulpesveritas: Will there be anything like an airhorn grenade or something that makes a lot of sound to attract zombies to it? Portable radio maybe?

A: Yes. You’re going to enjoy trying different objects out.

Q: Vulpesveritas: Will swiss army knives be available?

A: No.

Q: Bullet Saint: As guns have ammunition and melee weapons have durability, will some food stuffs spoil / have an expiration date of sorts?

A: Phinney again: “First and foremost, all of your resource stockpiles are subject to being used up over time. Construction materials are used to reinforce defenses, fuel is used to run generators (if you go that route), and food, medicine, and ammo all serve as a part of your community's daily needs.

“But food is also a special case. Food spoilage isn't a huge concern initially, but the longer your community survives, the more important it is to start preserving food (via curing, salting, pickling, or refrigeration).

“Don't stress too much about your personal inventory of energy-boosting snacks, though. Those twinkies in your backpack are good for another millennium at least.”

MISC. GAME

Q: Vulpesveritas: Will there be "one bite and you're dead" or anything of the like, such as a hardcore mode?

A: Not a one-bite mode. In SoD you’d last about ten minutes with that. Just “you’re dead and you’re dead” mode.

Q: Silent Bob: When in stealth mode will there be a silent takedown button?

A: Yes, there are special stealth kills if you manage to sneak up behind a zombie (or two, if you’ve got the right skills) while you are stealthed.

Q: Bullet Saint: Will there be any zombies that are actually in possession of items and/or packs?

A: No, as you would expect in a real zombie apocalypse, none of the zombies are carrying around sweet loots.

Q: White Avatar: It has been said that areas surrounding bases are relatively safer, but do areas generally have specific ratings? Maybe ranked by colour coding from green zones to yellow to red? This has generally got to do with the tactic of sending survivors out on missions: How do we know how safe they are going to be travelling through certain areas. Or is safety indirectly proportional to distance traversed from the main base?

A: There is no color coding, but you can still learn a lot from looking. There is a visible safe zone on the map around bases and outposts, and the radius of that zone depends on many factors. You can see how many safe zones you've established, and gauge whether the path for NPCs on missions is likely to be safe or hostile.

Hordes will be visible on your map if they are within a reasonable visual range, and the surveying skill will also help you spot trouble without first running into it. If you’ve got strong base defenses, you will be able to repel the zombies that are attracted to the light and noise of your activities.

Other than that, you should just assume that the world is unsafe.

Q: White Avatar: If my strategy for one of my playthroughs would be to establish a self sustaining community within my home base (a la grow your own food / distill and purify your own water from a natural water source / scavenge for materials to make your own ammunition) would this be possible in class 3?

A: If you do not trigger any of the main storyline missions, which sometimes will result in world changing events that ratchet up the pressure, you could theoretically play for quite a long time. State of Decay is a sandbox, after all, and there’s no reason a properly built community shouldn’t be stable and self-sustaining. I look forward to seeing how long you last.

Q: Aaron: Since this game is third person, will we be able to toggle between shoulder views? Example: Aiming down left shoulder, then switch to aiming down the right. (JayTWC: I noticed in the distraction video it shifted left to right while the guy was sneaking about, don't know if that has an affect on weapon targeting.)

A: You can flip the shoulder view while using most firearms.

Q: Grand Confidant: It's mentioned that you can miss getting the headpop/lethal kill depending on what kind of melee weapon you're using; does this mean that I have to physically aim my reticule at the zombies head and then swing and a miss would be due to my reticule being too high or low or not on the head, etc.? Or is it more of a 'face the zombie and press the melee button' where then depending on my skill in whatever skills are involved in melee combat would affect the chance/probability of my character getting a headpop?

A: The latter (for melee weapons - as discussed, guns are different). Phinney went into some tantalizing detail for us:

“You don't have to aim melee attacks the way you would aim a gun, but melee is still very much about player skill. There are a variety of techniques your characters can master and tactics you can develop to finish off a zombie quicker. For example, getting behind a zed and shoving it headfirst into a wall would take it out instantly. Facing a zed, dodging its attack, and then counterattacking (if your character knows how to do that and has the right kind of weapon) can knock it down, leaving it vulnerable to a quick finishing move.”

http://undeadlabs.com/forums/showthread.php?4838-Q-amp-A-Tactics-Buckle-Up-Followup-12-18-2012