Why fortify a base?

[Spark Sunbright]

I'm still very new to the game, and I see loads of tutorials on how to fortify and hoard-proof your base: how to board up windows, knockout stair cases, build walls, all that stuff. My only real question is... why?!

Aside from the helicopter event, which can be predicted and prepared for, I've never had a case where my base of operations (basically a house where I stash my extra loot), was attacked by more than two or three strays.

Is there any reason in vanilla SP to even board up your windows?

[The cursed Jäger]

Better safe than sorry. Its a safety measure just in case. You don't have too but it's better to do so.

[Gloomster569]

Eventually you'll have so much stuff you gotta put it somewhere. I end up setting up multiple safe outposts around with either planks for full on sheet metal

[The early worm deserves the bird]

Board up your windows? Yes. Only because you'll get the occasional straggler and it's annoying to replace broken windows. Put metal bars on them and you can open and close the curtains without worry and still see outside. But yeah once you clear out the area around your home base defenses are largely not needed

[Shenji]

This game has no clearly defined goals except survive so some people just find themselves something to do.

[Valsalan]

For me the answer is, 'Peace of mind.' In a game as intense and paranoia inducing as Project Zomboid (especially when you get a character to four or five months into a playthrough) there is a significant difference between, "This place is probably safe, except for the occasional straggler," and, "This place is safe no matter what."

In my own experience, I find that there are three occasions where having a walled base is necessary: Training Mechanics on beat up cars, all day exercising, and large scale farming.

Taking everything off of a car and then putting it back takes some tools and a lot of interface time (making you dangerous to stragglers). Long term exercising (especially training sprinting) requires you to be in more or less one place for a long time; Doing it indoors will make you bored and so depressed (nothing a well cooked meal won't fix, but still annoying). While you can do push-ups and sit-ups on a balcony, sprinting basically requires you to have a large outdoor area. If you want to train your sprinting in a situation where being surprised while exhausted won't kill you, having a walled base is your best bet. As zombies will trample crops they come across (and also have a habit of hiding inside tomato plants to ambush you) having them in a safe place is the best option to ensure your harvest won't go to waste.

But, apart from that, the only other thing I could think of is to be prepared for the day of maximum zombies: Which is usually around day 20ish, and can catch you off guard if you don't have some kind of safety measures (or if your street gets swarmed and you can't realistically get rid of the zombies around your house for the next few days).

[ld-airgrafix]

one zombie can tear all 8 boards on your window, during the day, not a problem, night however means your death.

[Greb]

It gives you something to do!

[D.E.A.C.O.N]

Its great Role Play

[Spark Sunbright]

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering if I had missed some major game mechanic. It would be nice if bases were periodically attacked, if only to have more reason to build them properly. I guess there're mods for that.

[TheDoctor]

For RP or safety... If you keep zombie respawn on eventually some will show up on your base and bite you, also i like a safe space around the build to farm and put vehicles that i will remove parts to fix another ones.

[Uroboros]

It only takes one scratch.

(Old player here, haven't been in with recent patches. Been years!)

Generally speaking once you clear out an area you should be fine, but lets say you have only the basics sorted out, and you unknowingly aggroed some zeds on your latest hike, and they follow you back. Daytime? Probably not an issue. Night time? Only takes one slip-up. In singleplayer its not so bad, because you can account for most of the factors, but vehicles have a deceptively strong pull radius on them. The area around your base might be alright but if a group wanders in a few houses down and you do something noisy? I mean, even basic encounters don't go the way you expect.

Then again, given I'm an older player perhaps the 'basic scenario' difficulty may be lower now? I played primarily with one other person, and that little bit of extra variety (not being able to mentally map every single aggro factor + vehicle usage) kept things interesting. When I played solo and realised I wasn't really being challenged, I tweaked the difficulty up.

It might suck to start over, but you might want to consider starting a new file but nudging the zed intensity up a bit?

[DarkFaceGlow]

Other than boarding windows, I never bother doing much else. I always stay far enough away from towns too. Seems a waste of time to build log walls etc….unless of course you play pvp

[KillerKommando]

The game has multiple modes of play. In multiplayer, you can turn PVP combat on. Having base defenses helps against players far more than it does zombies.

There are also many modes that attempt to simulate hordes roaming through the county, some of which have so many zombies it's simply not feasible to fight and you will be overrun. The base defenses give you long enough to collect your necessary items and maybe a vehicle before leaving.

[BrototypeH]

You might not regret it if a horde ever shambles by. I didn't think I'd ever get attacked either sitting in a lone farm house on the very outskirts of Louisville near Valley Station. That was until I ran outside of the wall I had constructed around the base and SHOT a straggling zombie banging on my log wall. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that gunshot drew 200 zombies from the nearby apartment complex.

I was only lucky that I had recently raided a gun store and picked up 12 new guns and a load of ammo. Sheet ropes, boarded windows and different guns placed strategically around the 1st and 2nd floors of the base got me through that horde. I almost had to abandon my base.

[Turd King]

They need something akin to the zombies honing in on your storage to destroy them to make boarding/securing a base more of a survival requirement rather then something more role-play based.

Perhaps make it a visual check that is not dependent on the zombies pathfinding as I believe zeds only target player built objects if its in their way.