Gate of the Dead · player guide
Materials and Scrap Metal
The camp runs on a handful of materials. Timber and steel build things; food and water feed the Mayor and the troops; ammo feeds the guns; and Scrap Metal is the money you spend to hurry things along and strengthen the wall.
At a glance
| Material | Comes from | Goes on |
|---|---|---|
| Timber | The Woodpile; held nights; Road stages; goals and chests; Zombie Nests and Scavenging Runs | Every building; troops; School lessons |
| Steel | The Scrap Heap; held nights; Road stages; goals and chests; Zombie Nests and Bandit Camps | Buildings from level 3; better troops; Watch House and Radio upgrades; lessons |
| Food | Veg Patches; Hunting Parties; Road stages; Dock boats | Training troops; meals for the Mayor |
| Water | Rain Barrels; Hunting Parties | Meals for the Mayor |
| Ammo | The Bullet Farm; Bandit Camps | Training gun troops; one round per four gun troops each Road stage |
| Survivors | Held nights; every third Road stage; Rescue missions; chapter chests; Dock finds | Raising the Headquarters |
| Field Manuals | Road stages; every map mission; chapter chests | Leader levels |
| Leader Keys, Gold Keys | See Leaders | Recruiting leaders |
| Scrap Metal | See below | See below |
Timber and steel
The Woodpile and Scrap Heap fill every hour, even while you're away, and hold eight hours' worth before they stop. Steel comes in at about a quarter of the rate of timber, and from level 3 every building wants some, so steel is usually what you're short of. Keep the Scrap Heap level with the Woodpile and use Zombie Nests to top it up. Later the Trading Post can swap spare timber for steel.
Food and water
Food and water work differently from timber and steel. How fast they come in and how much the camp can store both follow the Headquarters level; each level of a Veg Patch or the Rain Barrels adds 3% on top, and the Barn adds 6% more food storage per level. Anything that would go over the store when you collect it spoils, so collect regularly once training troops is eating your food.
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal is the camp's money. You earn it from almost everything:
- Held gate nights (more for more stars), and the other night modes
- Road stages
- Chapter goals and chapter chests (the biggest payouts)
- Scavenging Runs, Bandit Camps and Supply Drops on the map
- Daily jobs, activity crates, the streak and the daily gift
- Leaderboard prizes, the odd Dock find and the Trading Post's deal
And you spend it on:
- Finishing builds early: 3 Scrap Metal for every minute left (free in the last five minutes). School lessons cost the same; boats cost one for every three minutes.
- The wall crew: permanent defender upgrades at the Watch House and ability upgrades at the Radio (with some steel).
- Power-ups for a night.
- Last Stand, when the gate falls.
Nothing is for sale on the website. Scrap Metal can't be bought; it's all earned in the game.
Scrap Metal is not the same as the scrap you earn during a night. That scrap buys defenders and in-night upgrades, and it's gone when the night ends.
Speed-up tokens
Tokens take a set time off a build or a School lesson: 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. They come from chapter goals (5 minutes up to chapter 7, then 15, then 30), chapter chests (15 minutes early on, then an hour), the first clear of each mission level (15 minutes), every tenth Road stage, Supply Drops, and sometimes the Trading Post. When you use one, the game picks the biggest that isn't wasted.
Finishing a build early: the order to try
- If five minutes or less are left, finish it free.
- Use a token that fits.
- Watch an optional ad (a quarter off, or 15 minutes if that's more; five ads a day in total).
- Spend Scrap Metal, ideally only on the last stretch of a build that's blocking a goal.