How do you tell them to stay?

I may have to check this out. some kids at work have been talking about it

Man the game throws so much stuff at you, sometimes you don't have time to do everything before the missions expire.

Of course you need to have enough resources, or they'll make a run for it to get some before running out. If you do, you can always tell them to cook something or create something at the base. That make them busy until you come to play again.

What's the closest you guys have come to dying? I am about 10 hours into the game and shit, I'm still in the first little town area and have not even explored every building in it yet. This morning I leaped into a house and found two survivors. They asked for help hunting a feral zombie so I accepted the mission. I didn't even notice they'd fallen way back behind, by the time I got out into the field where it was, I was alone controlling Myra or whatever because Marcus needed a rest and he is my main character. Anyways the feral zombie leaps out of the brush and tackles me. It was then I realized I only had half health and only 2 painkillers. Next thing I know the feral zombie and a horde are after me. The feral knocks me down again and I am down to 1 painkiller and half health. I dart towards a building, hop the fence, and another horde by the building is alerted. I run inside hoping to find a good place to blow them all away but 2 more zombies are inside and it's just a workshop with a restroom and a window. They trap me in the restroom and make me use my last painkiller but I am able to leap out of the window..right into the first horde. I am attacked and down to virtually no health. Suddenly I see a vehicle icon, run for the fence. Climb it, but another zombie does too and right before I get to the door of the truck I am attacked again and down.

But luckily the game has a sort of "last stand" feature where you can tap A repeatedly and get back up so I do so. I run some over in the van then go back out for the feral. I kill him with a shotgun, which alerts one of the hordes. I make a break back for the workshop but this time run to the other side. There is a propane tank there so I let the two hordes of zombies converge towards me than BAM blow it up taking out at least 10 zombies. The rest were a breeze. I took the truck and went back to home base. Game is amazing. Had this been a typical game where if I died I would just respawn, I might allow myself to die just to get my health and ammo supplies back at the last checkpoint and go after the feral zombie with a better plan. But since each death is permadeath, it gives you a connection to the characters.

I am currently looking out for a new place to make home base but it is becoming a pain in the ass to get the building materials.

Dude...that was an epic story!

I think you just convinced me to get the game

State of Decay has a bad first impression, but becomes very addictive.

I was on the fucking edge of my seat reading that shit XD

I'm playing it... and seriously, this game is awesome...

An update... Ed has died. I lost a character. I believe he was the friend of the main character at the start of the game? Figures the first time I use him, I kill him.

I was sitting at 40 building materials, needing to get to 50 in order to be able to move my home base somewhere else. I radioed in for a search for a spot that had building materials and was happy to see Lily point out a place right by the base, in a mobile home park. Marcus was tired and Maya was too hurt so I picked Ed. I immediately noticed he only had about half the amount of max health as Marcus and maybe 2/3 of what Maya had but I figured with a gun and some methodone, I'd be fine.

As I approach, I have to cross a creek bed. It is the dead of night and I have my flashlight off so as to not attract any zeds. I go through some brush as high as Ed stands and was suddenly attacked. I could not see the zombies around me. There were 3, but it was too dark. I pop a pill and start swinging my pipe. I eventually kill all 3 zombies. Gassed, I eat my only snack to regain stamina and pop another health pill and climb up the other end of the creek bed and into the trailer park.

The building materials are in the last trailer closest to me, so I don't have far to travel. The trailer is empty, so I get lucky there too. I start to search. So dreadfully slow! Marcus and his superior scavenging skills have spoiled me. I hold L1 to search faster, risking more noise. Shit! I make a huge noise and attract zombies as I finish up the first search. No building materials, but I did get some bullets. I move to the next searchable object, figuring I can find the materials, sling them over my back and make it out of the trailer before the zombies come in. So I hold L1 to quick search again. Fuck! I make another loud sound and now more are coming.

I sling the materials over my back and make for the door. Too late. Zombies are at the door. So many zombies are there, that they can not even make it into the trailer. But that also means I cannot make it out. I turn for the window but hear the sound of the shattering glass that seals my fate. Zombies have started coming in through the window. I decide to try and cut my way through the door. I slash and slash and slash. I clear some zombies out of the way but lose 3/4 of my health in doing so. I pop my final health pill. I have foolishly been leaving any big backpacks I find, assuming the ones I have on Marcus and Maya would be all the ones I would need. That left poor Ed with only a small backpack, and I simply did not think the risk was enough to warrant 2 slots of health pills.

I use my final stamina snack. In hindsight I could have probably turned around and slashed my way through zombies to get out the window, but then I don't think I would get back to the base with a pack of zombies chasing me and having no more stamina snacks. But I made one last effort to kill my way out of the front door. I don't make it though. At least, not the way I intended. Zombies bite me, I throw them off, I decapitate a couple, they bite again, I kill a couple more. Then they pin me down inside the trailer. Ed accepts his fate with a depressing cry of "this is going to suck". The zombies pull me out of the front door. Free at last! But a moment later Ed is ripped in half and the zombies devour him.

To add insult to injury, the next day Maya goes and retrieves the bag of building materials he died for. I get them back to base then make the long drive down to the potential new base site and try to radio in for everyone to move here. With Ed dead, I am now one survivor short of the required 12 that it takes to defend the place. So I now have the long desired building materials, but must recruit another survivor before I can move. The struggle continues.


On a lighter, more bad ass "can't wait for next gen systems and their ability to record games" moment, I am back in control of Marcus driving a bad ass what the game defines as "old school muscle with class" car, making my way over to help one of my roommates make it back from a scavenge run. I look in the distance at a horde of zombies, taking my eyes off the road for just a moment. I return them to the road just in time to see the rock jutting about a foot out of the ground on the driver side of my car. I hit it, the left side of my car flies up, and Marcus flies out. I land on the ground and look over to see my car sliding in the middle of the road turned over onto its roof, where it proceeds to slide right into the horde of zombies, wiping all of them out except one. That one poor bastard is pinned underneath the car, still moving, and the engine lights on fire and the car explodes.

It would have made an epic "deal with it" GIF.