Barricading

Overview

Barricading is an essential aspect of the survival for the human team. A well-constructed barricade protects humans from zombie attacks while allowing the humans to attack zombies. As the zombie count increases and as stronger classes begin to unlock, the chances of survival without a barricade are close to zero.

There is an incredible amount of variety and diversity when it comes to barricades:

In Zombie Survival there are over 700 maps available
In each map there are usually multiple spots for barricades, each with their own (dis)advantages.
The number of props on the maps that you can use for barricading ranges from a few dozen to a few hundred
The total number of props in the game is about 3000, not including custom props.

This means that there is no universal “scheme” for a barricade. On some maps with a large number of props, you can build a thousand different barricades, changing combinations and number of props as if shuffling a deck of cards.

This is not a disadvantage of this gamemode. On the contrary - this is one of its main advantages. You have virtually no limitations in terms of complexity and design, and the structure of a barricade is up to you. However, there are still basic principles and rules that distinguish a bad, useless barricade from a good one.

Terminology

Barricade: Any number of props nailed to a surface by a Carpenter’s Hammer which block a path for zombies.; Shortened to "cade" most of the time.
Shitcade: A kind of cade that has no practical use for a human team and which, accordingly, facilitates the task for the zombie team. In other words, a badly constructed cade.
Prop: Any physical object/subject that can be nailed with a hammer.
Hammer: The main tool needed to nail and repair props.
Nail: The only consumable material (ammo) that the hammer uses to nail and/or to increase the health of the prop. Up to 4 nails can be in any prop before said prop no longer gets bonuses from having extra nails.
HP: Short for Hitpoints. The remaining "life" of any entity, be it a human, zombie, nest, brush, deployable, prop, etc.
Deployable: A swep that can be deployed, rotatable with RMB/reload before deploying. Can be destroyed after taking enough punishment, and gets repaired with a Mechanic's Wrench instead of a Carpenter's Hammer. They tend to mess with prop moving, so avoid using them as part of a cade unless the human team is that desperate to buy time. They can also have props nailed into them, which is okay in extreme desperation, but otherwise isn't convenient.

Prop Basics

There are two types of Prop HP - Main HP and Repair HP.
Main HP represents the amount of damage a prop can take before it breaks. If main HP reaches zero, this prop will break.
- The digit on the left displays the current main HP, the digit on the right is the maximum main HP. When a prop takes damage from a zombie, the digit on the left will begin to decrease.
- Remaining and maximum main HP can be quickly gauged by looking at the lowest bar. This bar will change color from green, to yellow, to red as it shortens.
Repair HP represents the amount of HP that this prop can be repaired for.
- The blue bar is a representation of the repair HP left. As the prop is repaired, this bar will shorten in length. Once the bar is gone, the prop cannot be repaired anymore.
The number in the parentheses is the amount of nails in the prop. When more nails are used on a prop the maximum main HP will increase. This works for up to 4 nails.
Prop types can be divided into two main categories - Small and Large
- Small props have little main and repair HP, they are small in size and players can move at near-full speed when carrying them.
- Large props have much more main and repair HP, they take up a lot of space and slow players down significantly when being carried.
- The size of a prop does not determine whether a prop is considered "small" or "large". Harpoons, for instance, are small in size but have a lot of HP and a slow carrying speed.

Barricading Skills

All barricade-related skills are located in the defense tree of the skill menu.

Handy I-V: +Increases repair rate.
Hammer Discipline: +20% faster swing speed with a hammer.
Prying Hammer: +Press reload on doors to deal significant damage too them
Precision Repairs: +Repairing specific spots doubles repair rate and increases reinforcement time by 50%.; -15% slower swing speed with a hammer.
Scheduling: +Props not nailed this wave repair faster.; -Props nailed this wave repair slower.

Barricade Expert

Barricade Expert is a skill which cannot be found in the skill menu. This skill is automatically granted as soon as you remort

With this skill you will be able to unnail other people's props without losing 3 points. Players who do not have this skill will not be able to unnail your props. The purpose of this skill is to protect your props from sabotage by inexperienced players.

Once this skill is unlocked, props you nail will have a special padlock icon with a color that matches the color of your remort tier. Remort tiers are divided into groups according to colors. Members of the same remort tier can unnail each other's props, but they will incur a point penalty.

Barricading Guide

It is also worth noting that as a beginner, it is extremely hard to cope with all the variety. People make critical mistakes due to the lack of experience in barricading and because of the lack of knowledge of many aspects of the zs gameplay. It is best to learn from the barricades of players that are more experienced,nrepeat them in single-player, and then build them on the server.

Description

Imgur Album

This album contains pictures of good cades you should try to imitate, from many different servers. https://imgur.com/a/h57NZGV