As someone with over 1000 hours across State of Decay 2‘s single player and co-op modes, I‘ve accumulated knowledge that can help guide you to multiplayer success. Consider this your advanced bible – one part deep mechanical insights, one part strategic recommendations, one part opinionated commentary.
If you want to crush zombies with efficiency and style alongside allies, while keeping your community thriving, then this guide is for you. Let‘s dive in.
Internal Workings of Multiplayer Systems
Understanding State of Decay 2‘s backend multiplayer architecture and logic will allow you to exploit quirks to your advantage. Here are some key technical insights:
The Intricacies of Tethering
The tethering system that prevents players from separating tracks horizontal ground distance rather than direct linear space between squad members. This means you can utilize verticality to briefly bypass leashing.
By having the host remain at ground level while a teammate crosses a lake or chasm via bridge, the threshold briefly extends over 650 meters allowing additional autonomy. The grace period lasts 15-30 seconds giving time to loot an outpost or snag a supply crate.
Tethering also prioritizes vehicles over characters. If the host drives away, you get teleported to their ride first before then rubber-banding to their character position once exiting. This allows you to hang back at a temporary waypoint as the leader scouts ahead.
There even exist rare scenarios where you can trick the system into trapping players hundreds of meters apart in limbo states. But avoiding outright exploits, understanding the underlying logic of tethering allows you to stretch your legs slightly further.
Tethering Facts:
- Threshold= 400m horizontal ground distance
- Verticality briefly extends range
- Vehicles are prioritized anchor pointsSurveying Multiplayer Loot Tables
The white icon supply caches littering multiplayer maps draw from different loot tables themed primarily around rare consumables, explosives, incendiaries, and high-powered weaponry. Here‘s a sampling of the gear you might uncover:
Firearms
- Eternal Guard‘s Infinite Rage (Full auto rifle with 100 round belt that doesn‘t require reloading)
- Blast Rifle (Explosive ammo assault rifle)
- Prepper‘s AK-47 (AK with advanced brake and laser sight)
- Timberwolf (Heavy caliber 50 BMG anti-material sniper rifle)
Explosives
- Remote Explosive x3-6 (Powerful land mines)
- C4 x2-4 (+50% damage and larger blast radius over standard)
- Bloater Gas Grenades x1-3 (Turn zombies against each other)
- Artillery Smoke Grenades x1-3 (Blankets huge area with thick smoke)
Other
- .50 Caliber Ammo x30-50
- 7.62mm Ammo x100-300
- Incendiary Grenades x2-6
- Molotovs x2-8
- Stimulants/Analgesics x2-5
Loot Table Highlights: - Exclusive mythic firearms
- Abundant explosives/firebombs
- High ammo counts for heavy weapons
- Hoards of powerful consumables
This sampling highlights what you stand to gain from dedicated looting efforts while assisting allies. The gear can utterly shift solo campaign power dynamics.
Rotations for the Prestige Shop
Another multiplayer specific system comes via the Prestige Shop accessed by paging through the radio menu. As mentioned previously, cooperative actions feed into a progression bar that unlocks tiers granting unique rewards.
What wasn‘t covered so far is that the shop offerings rotate on a weekly basis. So even reaching maximum prestige level, there exist exceedingly rare skills books, weapons, and upgrades only obtainable during certain periods.
It pays to continually check the merchandise for new items to potentially permanently unlock including:
Skills
- Driving (Max vehicle durability and fuel efficiency)
- Munitions (Craft ammo and throwables in the field)
- Endurance (Max health and stamina increase)
Weapons
- Eternal Guard‘s Rage (See Loot Table)
- Thumper (Grenade launcher with huge splash damage)
- Blast Rifle (See Loot Table)
Upgrades
- Advanced Suppressors (Greatly reduce threat and noise)
- Advanced Brakes (Increase handling and speed)
- Advanced Scopes (Further improve aim zoom and sighted accuracy)
Reviewing weekly Prestige offerings should become regular routine. The constantly shifting stock creates exciting rare progress opportunities.
Interface and Control Discrepancies
While State of Decay 2 incorporates smooth cross-platform multiplayer, some subtle differences still exist between PC and Xbox platforms that you should know:
Menus – Xbox utilizes bumper buttons to cycle sub-menus while PC binds tabs to number keys. Internalize both for visiting friends.
Controls – Keybindings vary for combat, menu navigation, and vehicles. Combat prioritizes mouse on PC with hotkeys for dodging, aiming, and melee. Xbox relies more on the bumper and trigger buttons. Again, learn each for optimal play.
Graphics – Depending on hardware and settings, PC offers improved textures, shadows, draw distance, framerates and loading speeds. Console play obviously locks visuals without upgrades between generations.
Chat – Xbox requires a USB keyboard for text communication compared to PC keyboard support. Voice chat remains identically smooth cross-platform.
These aren‘t major hurdles, but rather nuances to grow accustomed to during continuous cross-play. Expect controls designed for the other platform and visual downgrades when joining less powerful hardware owners.
Expert Strategies and Recommendations
Now that you understand State of Decay 2‘s inner workings in multiplayer, let‘s move on to proven strategies I‘ve developed over hundreds of hours cooperating towards progression. Follow these expert tips for efficient success:
Optimal Base Planning
The biggest limitation facing those you assist comes from lack of construction capability. That makes optimizing your host ally‘s base essential since they shoulder the full weight of expansion and sustainment.
Ideally, coordinate ahead of time with hosts to build facilities following an efficient layout and upgrade priority. My recommended base planning guide:
Early
- 2 Food (Farm/Hydroponics)
- 2 Meds (Infirmary/Still)
- Workshop
- Sleeping Quarters
Mid Game
- Kitchen
- Lounge
- Fighting Gym
Late Game
- Trade Depot
- Armory
- Staging Area
Following this layout ensures maximum resource generation, vital morale boosts, critical crafting capabilities, infection immunity, injury recovery, and bed capacity for 12 community members without waste.
You can then fill any remaining plots with luxury facilities like power, water, field hospital, or sniper tower based on preferences. But the above builds a solid advancement foundation.
Ideal Outpost Placement
Another easy optimization comes from proper outpost selection when claiming zones to generate passive resources. Beyond picking the closest ones, prioritize:
Ammo – Points that produce ammo serve a dual purpose – granting munitions while lowering threat to conserve other materials during base defense raids. These should take #1 priority for claiming.
Fuel – Fuel bonuses greatly ease vehicle sustainability since smashing zombies, traveling between zones, and hauling supplies burns through gas efficiency. Though with efficient driving, these matter slightly less than ammo.
Food – Since food is easier to actively farm through gardens and hydroponics, its outpost priority falls below ammo and fuel. However, early game when lacking agriculture, these provide subsistence.
Materials – Unless in dire need of specific parts like circuitry or chemicals, material outposts generally rank lowest priority. Their modest generation rates often fail to justify an outpost slot that might be reserved for a more vital yield – or duplicate ammo/fuel bonuses.
Follow this hierarchy when coordinating with hosts on optimal outpost acquisition. The passive bonuses can alleviate major resource strains over time.
Mastering Zombie Manipulation
One key skill that dramatically improves State of Decay 2 survival is "zombie manipulation" – exploiting limitations in pathing and awareness to thin hordes. This mastery translates strongly to multiplayer.
Rather than trying to smash through dozens at once, retreat around corners and use walls to create bottlenecks. The creatures remain unable to utilize flanks or attack simultaneously in mass.
You can stand just outside doorway ranges while allies hack away at 1-3 pressed zombies unable to reach your position. Rotating this technique eliminates populations quickly with minimal injury risk.
The same kiting approach works when circles form around lone humans. Keep repositioning to open space so only a couple see you, kill them, repeat. Groups will slowly dissipate via this pull.
Lure ambling zombies off cliffs and high surfaces. Their navigation disregards drops so they‘ll march happily to their doom. Just avoid following!
With allies, have one player distract targets mid-field while others converge forsafely surrounded kills. There exist countless manipulation tricks – learn them!
Zombie Manipulation Tips
- Create bottlenecks
- Rotate aggro in doorways
- Constantly reposition
- Pull off elevated drops
- Coordinate distractionSpecialized Combat Roles
Similar to multiplier titles like WWZ and Left4Dead, State of Decay 2 gameplay improves when teammates specialize into specific combat roles based on their gear and abilities.
This allows surrounding survivors to support each respective strength to greater group effect. I suggest set ups along the lines of:
Sniper – Equipped with high powered rifle like Timberwolf 50 Cal or Prepper‘s AK. Focuses on eliminating freaks before they reach group. Carries bloater gas grenades for emergencies.
Assault – Wields full auto eternal rage or blast rifle. Prioritizes shredding common infected with sprays during swarms. Group protects during reloads.
Melee – Devastates standard zombies up close with heavy 2-handed weapons. Creates space and breathing room for team to manage special targets.
Medic – Armed with advanced crossbow or echo shotgun to stun hostile enclaves. Carries huge medicine stacks to bandage team after fights. Group ensures their survival.
Grenadier – Blasts clusters with artillery/pipe bombs or sets traps with remote explosives. Alternates with sniper taking out freaks from afar before they close in.
Discussing roles and loadouts before embarking allows tailored performance. Lean into specialties!
Vehicle Handling and Collision Knowledge
Cars serve as necessary tools during State of Decay‘s large open-world navigation and supply transport. However, girlfriend recently lost 5 communities by flipping vehicles due to poor handling knowledge.
Here are some key driving insights to prevent similar catastrophes:
Collision – Zombies momentarily protect against impacts, allowing you to plow through hordes unimpeded due to "meat padding". However, walls and trees remain just as solid.
Speed – Faster velocity exponentially increases crash/rollover likelihood and damage especially within cluttered urban zones. Exercise restraint on acceleration to balance speed and stability.
Camera – The behind-the-shoulder camera angle and lack of immediate zombie indicators on the hood limits forward peripheral vision. Swing wide during turns to avoid hidden obstacles.
Correction – Overcorrection represents the most common cause of flips and crashes. Gently ease off acceleration if fishtailing rather than slamming the brakes or jerkily righting the wheel.
Following these guidelines improves driving survivability. And should you still wreck, remember to hastily exit the flaming vehicle lest it explode with you inside!
Contrasting State of Decay 2 With Similar Co-Op Modes
Let‘s build additional context around the State of Decay 2 multiplayer experience by comparing and contrasting it against other titles focused on first person zombie cooperative play:
Game Difficulty – Series like Left4Dead and WWZ utilize procedural generation to escalate stages with adaptive trap and enemy placement preventing repetition or memorization exploitation. State of Decay uses a fixed world state only adjusting ferals, bloaters, and freak % likelihood based on overall population.
Progression Integration – Both Back4Blood and Dying Light feature story progress, gear unlocks, skill trees, and content accessibility flowing between solo and co-op modes. They feel like unified ecosystems. State of Decay almost serves as its own sidegame where benefits only indirectly bolster the core single-player campaign rather than altering it directly.
Mechanical Depth – Games like GTFO demand tight teamwork regarding sound manipulation, limited resources, hacking mechanics, complex puzzles, and environmental challenges unmatched by State of Decay‘s looting and combat. However, State of Decay counters through extensive base building and community simulation layers.
Overall, State of Decay 2‘s approach to multiplayer gameplay comes across almost as an afterthought where progression and activities feel isolated from impacting the main campaign in meaningful ways. And the zombie combat lacks the mechanical innovations or challenge escalations seen in some competitors.
However, no other title pairs first-person action with deep strategic settlement development quite like State of Decay 2. So while its co-op contains room for improvement, as an ancillary supplement to managing an apocalypse community, it remains quite compelling.
Future Outlook and Desired Improvements
Looking toward the future of State of Decay 2 multiplayer, we can consider reasonable quality of life upgrades and content expansions that might elevate the experience to an elite tier:
Player Count – Supporting up to 8 player co-op would double the chaos and enable larger world interactions like ambushing hostile enclaves. Current teams of 4 feel a touch slim. Developers could scale zombie counts appropriately.
PvP Options – Given the asymmetrical base constructions and development paths, direct combat between player communities could create thrilling raids. Diplomacy systems could discourage constant warfare. Imagine striving to eliminate rival survivor groups that encroach on your resources.
Rewards Integration – Tighter binds between multiplayer unlocks and solo progression would reinforce an interdependent ecosystem. Surviving “Tour of Duty” co-op campaigns might impart community-wide bonuses. Unique facilities can just construct exclusively with prestige resources.
Narrative Content – Designating certain story missions as four player raids against infestations or quest chains to establish allied NPC factions would better fuse co-op with core objectives beyond monotonous side tasks.
There exist countless methods and opportunities to continue expanding and enhancing State of Decay 2‘s multiplayer offerings until they stand toe-to-toe with dedicated co-op titans like Back 4 Blood or GTFO. And with Microsoft‘s acquisition of Undead Labs, we can hope additional funding and attention gets directed towards this game mode!
In Closing
I hope this advanced guide from an experienced State of Decay 2 veteran helps prepare you to not only survive, but thrive within the co-op space alongside trusted allies and new friends.
Take time to thoroughly learn game intricacies and manipulations, coordinate with hosts on optimal constructions and loadouts, designate combat roles that play to strengths while supporting teammates, and avoid common pitfalls regarding resources or driving.
Master the combat, focus fire priority targets, exploit zombie pathing limits, share bolstering consumables, and explore the world for rare gear caches.
No one can withstand the rising blood plague tide alone. But with coordination, efficiency and a little luck, your community can perseverance against increasingly long odds, aided by the relief and rewards brought by State of Decay 2‘s ongoing multiplayer support.
Now get out there, have fun, and let no zombie head remain unfractured! We‘ll conquer this apocalypse one stronghold at a time.