Zombie Cliche Lookout: Turtle Time
Allow me to get off the subject of zombie fiction for today’s cliche lookout. Instead, I’m going to talk about what was once my favorite video game genre: real-time strategy. Once upon a time, I used to spend way, way too much time playing Age of Empires and Starcraft with my buddies. I was never particularly good at these games, but I had a strategy that worked out for me most of the time. That strategy? Be a turtle. I would focus on slowing building up a series of concentric defenses around my town, while investing everything I had into building a strong economy. So long as the other players didn’t attack early, I’d be in pretty good shape.
So what does this have to do with zombie survival? I think a lot. Finding a secure location, building up solid defenses, and setting up a couple redundant sources of food and other supplies would be a key part of establishing a community that could last.
About this Episode:
Well, I’m doing it. I’ve been talking about it for quite a while now, but I’m finally going to jump the comic ahead in time a bit. The big reason for this is that very little time has actually passed in the comic. In real life, we’ve been doing this for years. In the comics, maybe a couple of weeks have passed. That’s certainly long enough for the zombies to make a mess of things and kill a lot of people, but I don’t think it’s enough time to do what I want to do to end the comic. Thus: we’re going to skip quickly through fall and winter to see how the world looks about six months after the zombie outbreak.
Discussion Question: Long Term Survival Strategy
The zombie apocalypse happens right now. Where would you go nearby that you could build into a fairly secure area that could be the start of a new community?
I’m lucky enough to live in an area that is adjacent to a small city, but largely surrounded by farmland. The population density is pretty low. I’d seek out a good sized house in farm country to get started, using the semi-isolation as a key part of my strategy.
I actually want to see a considerable portrayal of winter, Dave’s zombies haven’t been seen in a winter scenario outside of Christmas, and I really hope Dave at least pauses to address how his zombies behave in winter. Why? Because we live on a seasonal planet, and in the fictional world war Z universe, the zombies froze over in winter in the colder climates and were easy to deal with, until they thawed at springtime.
I don’t particularly care how long Dave spends in the winter scenario but I’d prefer it be long enough for a proper study of how Dave’s winter zombies would behave in winter conditions.
That being said, don’t forget to kill off the Brent zombie first! 😀 Once he turns or dies, or whatever you were planning for his fate! 😀 I know, bit callous, but life goes on, and Brent’s life is being drastically terminated, so I really want to see how Dave handles that bit. 😀
😀
I have an idea for Dave, he might like it, he might not … Anyway, idea is this: Spend about 8 weeks in winter, then move onto whatever you had planned. 8 weeks is 16 episodes or thereabouts, accounting for holidays, and would at least give him time to portray winter zombies, if he wants to. Dave seems to be really good at writing this on the fly, so let’s see what he comes up with! 😀
That sounds cool! Do It, Dave! Do It! 😀
Anything to make BOTD last longer! 😉
Hah, it’s a cool idea, I admit, but I’m sticking to script for now.
Ooh! Time Jump! Exciting! 🙂 😀
I’d stick to living in my current town.
I live in a town of less than 800. Very small town. Surrounded by farmland.
We’ve got a railroad to one side of our town. And if my math is right, which it probably isn’t(lmao), we’d need 2 decent length trains, to have enough cars to completely surround our town.
It would take some time, and a lot of hard work. We’d have to take most of the cars off of the tracks. But when it got finished, it’d be Frickin Awesome!
😉 😀
Lots of the elderly people here. We’d have to kill them right away. :l
Lol! Kidding. Wouldn’t kill em. Gotta hope this isn’t an “Everyone turns, no matter how they die!” kind of apocalypse. Cuz, then the old people would be a threat.
Oh well. 🙂 😉
Man, that’s a really cool idea to use trains to build a wall. I’d like to see that in a story or movie sometime.
HELL YEAH DUDE!! I LOVE THIS DO YOUR THING! WELCOME BACK! PUT UP SHOP!
Hah, thanks!
Kewl concept. Very well thought out. Some times you just gotta recharge, y’know?
I’m not against a zombie montage of what goes on for winter, though if you DON’T do that, I won’t be heart broken either.
Of course the big question is WHERE does the story take place? If they live in southern California or Florida or anywhere in between, Winter ain’t gonna be much.
Lastly, do your zombies stop moving once frozen? I’ve seen various takes on this, and like the “no circulation, no body heat, no moving when it gets cold” variant best, but I’d be up for whatever you choose.
Good question. The story is set in a fictional area in mid-Michigan.
I’ll take Dave’s lack of replies as a sign that he is busy rewriting the story to include winter! 😀 Yay! Or else, he’s a zombie. 🙁
Hah, nope. Just had a very busy day yesterday.
Now he’s keeping it a surprise. 😉 Lol!