Gate of the Dead · player guide
The Road
Out past the wall, your leaders take squads of troops down the road, stage after stage, against zombies and bandits. The Road never ends; each stage is a little tougher than the last. It's where your troops and leaders earn their keep, and it pays Scrap Metal, materials, Field Manuals and the odd survivor.
Opening the Road
The Road opens when you build the Bike Rack, which happens near the end of chapter 1. At first it's Mara and a few volunteers. As the Headquarters grows you get more squads: a second at Headquarters 4, a third at 8, a fourth at 12 and a fifth at 16.
Strength against rating
Before each stage you see three numbers: your strength, the stage rating and the chance to win. Press Fight and the squads fight it out. The game tells you how it looks: "You should win this", "Close", or "Tough", which means it's time to build up first.
Your strength comes from:
- Your leaders. Your strongest leaders lead the squads, one per squad slot. A higher tier means a stronger leader.
- Their troops. Each leader commands 10 troops plus 2 per leader level. Troops beyond that don't add anything until your leaders level up or another squad opens.
- A mix of melee and ranged. Melee hold the front, ranged do the damage from behind. A force near half and half by power fights best; an army of one line only loses up to 40% of its troop strength.
- The Bike Rack. Every level adds a little.
- Drill, a School lesson, later on.
Leaders and troops away on a map mission aren't there for the Road, so check your squads are home before a hard stage.
Stages
The first few stages are easy. Ratings climb steadily after that and faster after stage 20. Every tenth stage is a boss and noticeably harder. From around stage 5, bandit stages mix in with the zombies. Each stage costs 8 energy if you win and a quarter of that if you lose.
A cleared stage pays Scrap Metal, timber, steel, food and Field Manuals; every third stage brings a survivor back, and every tenth pays a speed-up token and, once you have the Leaders' Hall, a Leader Key.
Casualties and the First-aid Tent
Win or lose, some troops fall: a few on a win, more on a loss. Melee troops, at the front, fall more often than ranged. A share of the fallen are only wounded and come back from the First-aid Tent: about a fifth with a basic tent, more with every level, up to 70%. The School's First Aid lesson adds to that later. Troops out on a map mission are safe from the Road.
Because losses happen even on a win, don't fight stages you have a poor chance at. A loss costs troops and energy and gains nothing.
Field Manuals and leader levels
Leaders share one level, shown on the Road screen as Squad Leaders. Levelling them up costs Field Manuals, which come from Road stages, map missions and chapter chests (and sometimes the Trading Post's daily deal). The cost goes up each level, and also with the number of squads you have. Each level makes every leader stronger and lets each command two more troops, so it's one of the best things to spend on once your troop numbers outgrow your leaders.
Ammo
Once you have soldiers with guns (riflemen and up), each stage uses one round of ammo for every four gun troops. Without enough ammo, gun troops fight at half strength. Keep the Bullet Farm collected. See Troops and training.
Getting past a stuck stage
- Train troops until your leaders' command is full, and keep both lines roughly even.
- Level up your leaders with Field Manuals.
- Recruit better leaders at the Leaders' Hall; a stronger leader in a squad slot is a big jump.
- Raise the Bike Rack, which also opens more of the map.
- Upgrade the First-aid Tent so fewer troops are lost while you push.