Areas

Areas (internally identified as zones) are the sublocations the settlement operates in.

The player can check area information by pressing the information icon near the bottom right. This shows a pop-up showing the type of area, resource production statistics, and speech bubbles.

Each area has a health bar that can be impacted by certain events. When the area health is zero, the settlement will lose control of the area, causing settler death.

Area classifications

Areas are classified into Grasslands, Forests, Swamps, Mountains, and Cities.

• Most Grasslands allow for Food production.
• Forests allow for Wood and Fuel production.
• Most Swamps allow for Medicine production.
• Most Mountains allow for Stone production.
• When Cities are explored or claimed, there is a 50% chance (100% chance for a claimed area) for a reduced stamina cost when scavenging resources.

The game also determines whether the area is near a river or not, which can impact certain situations.

Area types

Unexplored areas

Unexplored areas are areas that the settlement has no information about. They are shown in-game via a fog overlay.

When zombies from an unexplored area attack a claimed area (or when a Fighter is present in an explored area), there is a high chance that there will be a Surprise Attack penalty, which reduces Fighter strength on that area. The penalty is only removed if there are no more zombies in the attacked area.

Explored areas

Explored areas are areas where the settlement has information about. They are shown in-game without an overlay.

Claimed areas

Claimed areas, represented by a blue tint, allows the player to build resource production buildings and to complete several goals (such as looting the Z Com Fortress in Ancient Treasures). Claimed areas also help Fighters by healing them, reducing their upkeep needs to 0, and strengthening them (if they are nearby areas).

Settlement area

The settlement area (or the starting area or home area) is where the settlement initially settles in. The settlement area is where services and housing are built, and where situations happen.

In Beyond the Bunkers expeditions, the player can gain bonuses when the starting area is settled in the below area classification:

Settlement classification	Bonuses
Mountain	Automatically explore two nearby areas for free
Forest	Automatically scavenge for wood and fuel every 100 days
Grassland	Gain +2 stamina
Swamp	Decrease chance of Fire situation and increase maximum settlement health
Cities	Gain +1 shacks and replace initial tent to shacks.
Near a river	Increase water scavenging gains by +50% and production by +1.5

The bonus from being a River Settlement and other types of settlement will not stack, so only one of them will be randomly applied.

The Map Reading reward increases the number of areas that are automatically explored by the settlement at the start of the game.

Isolated areas

An isolated area is an area that is not connected to the group of areas occupied by the settlement (due to the intermediate area losing control). Isolated areas immediately stop any resource production and will slowly lose health. If the player doesn't connect the said area to the rest of the settlement in time, the settlement will lose control over that area.

Infested areas

Infested areas, represented by a red tint, are areas that produces zombies over time. Fighters can cleanse these areas to stop zombies from spawning.

Area actions

Exploring areas

To explore new areas, click the Explore button near the bottom right. The exploration costs are randomised each time the game is started. Areas next to the settlement are less impacted by this. Exploring usually costs at least -1 stamina, but an area can be explored for free by many ways, such as exploring when playing as the Arctic Explorer in Winter, or having a Fighter nearby with the Pathfinders reward. Time for complete explored areas increase depend how far of this area to settlement.

When an area is explored manually (or automatically via Cub Scout), there will be a chance that a Food and Wood resource bubble will show (provided that the area has no zombies) once the area is fully explored.

When the player explores at least half (or 100%) of all the available areas within the map, the settlement will gain a +6 authority bonus.

Claiming areas

To claim areas, click the Claim button near the bottom right. Similar to exploring areas, claiming areas usually costs at least -1 stamina, but an area can be claimed for free via having a Fighter nearby with the Pathfinders reward.

Claim area next to settlement area will not awaken all dormant zombies in nearby areas. But if not, has a 50% chance to awaken them (Except dormant zombies in swamp areas)

When the player claims either 40% or 80% of the areas in the whole map, the settlement will gain a +6 authority bonus. If the player claims all areas within the map, the player will gain a +10 authority bonus.

Reclaiming areas

When the player loses control of a claimed area, the player can spend stamina to reclaim it. Costs for reclaiming an area (which depend on the chosen difficulty) increase for each time the player loses control of the same area.

Similar to claim areas, reclaiming areas also can awaken all dormant zombies in nearby areas.

Losing control of an area due to bad situations (such as Hypothermia and Wild Dogs) makes the player unable to reclaim the area until 2 months (60 turns) have passed.

Cleansing areas

Further information: Fighters#Cleansing Infested areas

Fighters can cleanse infested areas once the player clicks on the Cleanse button near the bottom right.

Trivia

• Areas are equivalent to zones in Rebel Inc.:
  • Infested areas are simply insurgent-controlled zones.
  • Claimed areas are similar to "protected zones" in The Plague scenario.
  • Unexplored areas are equivalent to zones with no intel.