Night Raids: Guide

Guide created using an unknown version of Cataclysm DDA.
The information present here might not apply to the current version of CDDA.

Due to the addition of Shady Zombies in 0.D (Danny), this might not be as safe as it once was. As shady zombies can see in the dark, it is best to pick those zombies off from a distance (or during the day) first. Still, fighting off or running away from one or two shady zombies is far better than being chased by a swarm of zombies that includes zombies faster or stronger than you. As their combat stats are no different than a standard zombie, the player can kill Shady Zombies off easily or escape from them and any other zombies they attracted without much trouble. As of 0.E (Ellison), Shady Zombies don't seem to spawn straight away but will eventually appear as part of zombie evolution, making it more safer in the early game.

Raiding at night can be either very difficult, or somewhat easy, depending on what you have, and how careful you are.

The Setup

A good night raid begins in broad daylight.

Specifically, by figuring out what you want, where you might find it, where those locations are, and therefore: where you plan to go. Either rely on your initial knowledge of the surrounding area (if it's your first night), poke around the edges during the day, or swing through with a vehicle. Binoculars or the initial 90-minute window on Dynamic Spawn can make your life easier, by doubling your recon-range and giving you precious time to sweep through the area.

Having mapped the general target-area, you can then work out your raid plan. Houses can provide reasonably safe clothing and early-game food sources, along with the potential for useful other supplies; since they tend to have less zeds than the stores, consider cleaning them out before taking on the center of town. You should try to route around parks and other such pre-populated structures: if someone sees you, the noise they make can attract unwanted attention.

Ideally, you should have some idea how long it'll take you to reach the target area. If you can be on-site around 9-10 PM, that gives you plenty of darkness should you need extra time. No plan survives contact with the zeds: improvise, and give yourself room to improvise.

Gear Check

Obviously, you can pick up more and better personal gear during the raid. It's prudent to have, or focus on getting, the following:

• Empty load-bearing gear, such as a backpack, cargo pants, etc. Begin the raid with as much available capacity as feasible.

• Any food or water you may need. If you're raiding houses, you can probably find enough there. Garages and gun stores, not so much. You probably won't starve or dehydrate to death during a raid (takes ~3 days without water), but hunger and thirst will slow you down.

• Some way to see in the dark. Inherent Night Vision is ideal; powered light amp goggles are nice but may be overkill, and a flashlight is probably the worst option. (Zeds can and will see your light, and home in on you.)

• A crowbar makes a good solution to surprise zeds, as well as locked doors and windows. Bring one if you have it.

Important Things

• Have a decent melee weapon if you get a zombie too close for comfort. Guns (even silenced ones) should be only used in an emergency, unless they're low-powered (.22). Any excess noise will probably attract more zombies than you just killed.
• Zombies don't see well in the darkness, but they can smell and hear you. Darkness will protect you from ranged attacks, but all nearby zombies will slowly home in on your position.
• Crowbars pry open doors quietly. Smashing doors or windows produces a lot of noise. Smashing windows is acceptable in the case of an emergency, but if you can, clean it out, so you don't get scratched on the outside.
• Don't use a flashlight the whole time. Others can see the light, and even though now you can see them, they can see you. Quickly turning on a flashlight and then off is acceptable, but still slightly dangerous. Best practice is to reserve flashlights for quickly seeing what's inside a store: turn it on, hit V for the all-round check, work out what you want and where it is, then turn off the light.
• Entering any lit area is just as dangerous as turning on a flashlight. If you need to go through an area lit by car's headlights, it can be a good idea to enter the car and turn them off first.
• Night vision trait/mutation helps greatly. Instead of being right next to that zombie brute or hulk, you can see them, and you have a chance to run away. This also helps when trying to find a house to raid.
  • Regardless whether or not you have night vision equipment or abilities, when the weather is either clear or sunny during the night, the player's night vision will have increased dramatically as long as they are not wearing eyewear, zombies don't seem to be affected much by brighter nights, so a player should take the opportunity to do night raids on bright nights, but if it is cloudy or rainy, they should avoid going out unless they indeed have night vision gear or abilities.
• Bows allow you to pick out zombies in lit areas and shockers. (Cross)Bows are completely silent, so zombies will only be able to track you by smell.
• Grab a shopping cart or a wheelbarrow if you see one. They're rather silent and can easily triple your carrying capacity. If you need to run, you can either release it or drag it behind yourself to slow down zombies trying to get on your back.
• Feral predators have slight night vision and can quickly approach you once they see you, by the time they enter your Night Vision, it may be too late and they may quickly carry out their impale attack, try and listen for their sounds as they approach you.