State of Decay 2: Sanctuary II

[Part of the Diary of Zombies]

The war against the plague hearts is going well with five destroyed now and no losses to Sanctuary II. Meanwhile ex-con Delara continues doing personal quests of collecting Donte's drug stashes. This bites the community terribly as a horde with two plague juggernauts follow her back into the base and smash Parniyan into paste before being killed off with loud gunfire. This only draws more and more hordes and specials into the base!

Erica, Beau and Little Joe are torn in half by juggernauts while Leland is crushed underfoot. Delara and Donte succumb to the swarm of plague zombies and both turn. Catherine gets her throat torn out by a feral and Krissy decides to flee to the nearby "Happy Campers" who aren't much better off as they are under attack by a plague juggernaut and three ferals themselves! She manages to recruit Alex from them before getting her face eaten by one of the ferals.

At least no zombification for her.

Somehow, Alex makes it to the police station and clears the left over zombies (the rest moved on or despawned) and recruits Dr. Jessica, body builder Dmitri, and city girl Bree as backup. It doesn't change their fate though, as they need to enter plague territory to loot more supplies. Alex and Dmitri are pounced on by ferals while Dr. Jessica gets caught by screamer hordes on top of her car. Eventually she tries make a run for it but is swarmed by the living dead.

Bree manages to get resupplied by Cash Beaumont then assaults the nearest plague heart in a dirty and cramped mens toilet at a local pub. While hiding in a stall provides excellent cover to destroy the heart, getting there she was scratched too many times and gains blood plague. Pinned in that tiny room she can do nothing as the timer runs out and the infection kills her right there at a rusty urinal. COMMUNITY LOST (map fail).

Insight: Much like the last game, all the "action" takes place near your active character. If you get far enough away from something, that something becomes dormant / inactive and in the case of most random zombies: despawn.

State of Decay 2: Nightmare Zone

[Part of the Diary of Zombies]

Little Joe, Krissy, and Parniyan of Team Humanity abandon their destroyed vehicle and cautiously decide to go looting before heading to their target house base. The first thing they spot is a feral, and a plague horde with a plague screamer and plague bloater. Indeed, in Nightmare mode everything but ferals have the blood plague. They befriend the nearby enclaves "the Long Rangers" (who are useful as cover against the zed armies) and "wrench turners", mechanics who help repair vehicles. Leland and Erica of the latter group are recruited thanks to their useful skills as cars are very precious now.

Krissy manages to kill the first plague heart but it doesn't stop the plague in the area as the hearts are more numerous and closer to each other now so Leland recommends moving base to the local police station which seems to be very well fortified. Parniyan, voted leader of this group "Sanctuary II", agrees especially when the Long Rangers are wiped out by zeds and quickly befriends the nearby enclave of "Happy Campers" as well as recruits hopeless Beau, Catherine, ex-con Delara and her dealer-boyfriend Donte.

It's safest to attack plague hearts from outside AND on a vehicle!

To supplement their arms, Parniyan also starts doing bounty missions for traveling trader Cash Beaumont - someone that all the previous leaders had simply ignored (which is a mistake, as the progress of his missions carry over regardless of community). Over the radio they also hear members of the Network trying to save displaced locals flee from the captivity they found at the hands of Red-Talon, who apparently are looking for humans immune to the plague. It seems like dark days indeed, but Parniyan is sure of a light at the end of the tunnel.

Insight: Toilets are awesome for morale. Clean toilets more so. Also if you come across a locked door you DON'T want to bash, press the crouch key again to let it go.

State of Decay 2: Hamlet Squad

[Part of the Diary of Zombies]

Despite all their talk, Rev maintains her leadership and finds more ammo thanks to the assistance of Red-Talon over the radio. David and Little Joe join her army and warn about an opposing army entering the area and much like the bandits that Val dealt with - Rev takes Joe to get information from their scouts (violently) then attacks the stupid leaders who unlike the bandits, have no backup and are meeting in a shed? Rev softens them up by luring a speedy feral into them before executing the trio to secure her legacy (map victory).

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll shoot!"

A trading team named "Hamlet Squad" composed of squidman Dan of "Team Humanity" and "Stragglers" Lory and Beth are then sent to Meageher Valley where the starting house is AGAIN almost a carbon copy of the other starting houses. Lazy much? Dan is elected leader while Team Sanctuary again provides utilities Team Humanity delivers a HUGE stockpile of weapons, ammo and grenades (benefit of winning as warlord) to them. This, along with the fact that pretty much every neighboring enclave is some form  of military group, makes the plague hearts in the region a piece of cake.

Squidman Dan wastes no time in recruiting soldiers Zeb, Rocio, Hailey and Kraken and establishes a trade summit among all the remaining soldiers. Some idiot thieves try to crash the party and get themselves killed easily. The zombie horde that comes to checkout the gunfire afterwards takes longer to clear out but are not a problem for a room full of armed and trained soldiers (on this difficulty). Once Zeb and Dan kill the final juggernaut in melee, the summit is a success and Dan secures his legacy (map victory). These successes have let the survivors expand the territory greatly, but now find their borders next to zones where the blood plague is more intense.

Insight: Trader leaders seem to be rare, and that's possibly because their legacy quests are super easy. Also without fail, every single game one survivor is going to have a prepper aunt whose quests eventually provide a jeep and a .22 silenced rifle.