Zombies! Pick a Car for the Apocalypse
- Thread starter Danoff
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- MP-Omnis
And I'm a short jaunt away from a huge Peterbilt dealer (that an old friend's grandparents own), which is nearby Port Everglades. And if I can't get to port on land, there are yachts all over the place, including a small one parked behind my dad's house. If the cruise ships take off, I'd head for Princess Mariana or some other super yacht which is usually parked next to a major causeway, making it easily accessible by land or sea.
Here's Polar Star and Kismet docked next to each other. Plenty of room for me and my fellow GTP survivors.
Edit: Actually, I just realized that maybe a super yacht isn't the way to go because the causeway would have to be lifted.
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- 9,884
- Carthage, TN
- race_emhard
a ****ing tank! The original apocalypse vehicle
Keef
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I appreciate the invite, but I don't think being on water is any more practical than staying on land. First of all, you'll have to stop occasionally for fuel and supplies which means that you'll have to deal with zombies just the same, except that your only salvation is a ship that's sitting vulnerable for a long period of time. In this case the ship is a hindrance because you have to return to it. You'd have to have a sizable party and leave some behind to defend the ship. Besides that, most of the places around the world where you would stop were heavily populated by people, and are now heavily populated by zombies. You'd have to decide whether the larger treasure is worth the larger risk of being eaten. Once you exhaust your supplies you'll have to either sail to another port or drive further from the ship to find what you need, and at that point you might as well be driving anyway.
What exactly is your plan?
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- 9,884
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- race_emhard
- 24,553
- Frankfort, KY
- GTP_FoolKiller
- FoolKiller1979
I wasn't referring to just grabbing some crazy military or ex-military stuff, although I question how many of us could drive them effectively. Of course, having seen stolen tanks before tells me that it can't be too hard to work out how to run everything over until you get to an open area large enough to work it out.
My issue was with movie cars, especially if they are coming with the Flux Capacitor add-on. I am pretty sure that we all can agree that we cannot get our hands on fantasy movie cars with all the same functionality found in the movie. It is one thing to say you want Bullitt's Mustang, but it is completely different to say you want a Imperial AT-AT.
But as military vehicles have been brought up, I am about an hour from Fort Knox, which has a tank battalion training facility. That means that not only could I possibly gain access to a tank, but the training materials for operating and performing maintenance. It is also likely that Fort Knox would be zombie free and a safe zone. But for the sake of the scenario I will assume that the Guardsmen were mostly killed off when they were sent out to stop the zombies. Still, I have legitimate access to military stuff, and a friend that works there as a civilian contractor computer engineer, so I know where to go to get access keys for most areas.
I may need to do some research and revise my plan. I can't believe I forgot about Fort Knox.
- 23,800
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Difficult question. The choice of vehicle would depend greatly on what kind of zombies we're looking at.
Are we looking at Class A: Night of the Living Dead Zombies that shamble around and pathetically try to press their way through open windows and doors?
Or are we looking at Class B: Dawn of the Dead Zombies who run?
Or... worst of all, are we looking at Class Omega: I Am Legend virus-mutated humans with super-fast metabolisms, ungodly strength and speed, and the intelligence to actually turn doorknobs and train attack dogs?
If we're looking at Class Omega, I'd have to go for an armored van as the first vehicle of choice, with a power generator stolen from a hardware store running in the back to power banks of bright UV-rich flood lights.
But since we're likely talking a traditional zombie apocalypse, that gives us a wider choice of vehicles.
First off... if it's a zombie apocalypse, there's no safer place than living off-shore. Zombies don't breathe... so they don't float. And either way, the fish would eat them.
If you can't do that and actually have to live on land, my stable of vehicles would consist of:
An armored van. Plentiful where I live. Easy to find, easy to maintain. They all basically use medium-displacement old-tech Japanese diesels that will be fuel efficient and will easily run on fryer grease (bust into an abandoned McDonald's outlet and drain the fryers for a quick refill) and parts will be easy to scrounge up. Worst case scenario, you're over-run with zombies and the engine conks out. Chuck a grenade out the top hatch or through a gun-slit, blow them up, burrow your way out of the mound of twice-dead, rotting flesh, and find another armored van.
Once we've got all the supplies we need, we need to create our fort. If the fort is going to be inside the city (say, a boarded up condominium or government building with steel-shuttered entrances), we can go with one of these:
MB 300Ds run forever. They can comfortably cruise at over 100 mph, and they'll run on biofuel. Hey... gotta have at least one car with class, right? The question is whether any of the local armoring services will have one of these in the garage that's been given at least Level 1 armoring... and furthermore, I'd have to be the first to go after it.
If we pick a fortification out in the mountains or out in the country, some place with rugged terrain, far away from any possible zombies, I'd need one of these:
Easy to find them fully-kitted out for off-roading, old-school diesel (still) and tough as nails. If I'm lucky, said armoring service will be doing one of these. I'd pick an even more rugged BJ40 or LC70, but the LC80 gives you both creature comforts and off-roadability. The long and wide wheelbase will make it less prone to tipping over under the weight of a zombie attack.
If I couldn't get one, I'd be looking for a Patrol, but preferably an older one... the newer Patrols have that nasty direct injection diesel engine that conks out at the merest sniff of water in the fuel tank.
I'd love to do a big truck, but let's be realistic here... that truck would get you to your fort, but you'd go crazy trying to fuel it afterwards. Stay light, mobile, and keep a supply of diesel and lubricant (rescued from the local hardware) under your fort. As time goes on, you can squeeze fuel out of the food you eat. Vegetable oil from your... errh... vegetables (since I live on a tropical island, I can always harvest coconuts) and oil boiled out of animal fats to use for lighting torches.
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As it is, I'm only halfway prepared for the zombie apocalypse. I do have a fortified house, I have three diesel trucks that will run on anything (and they're naturally aspirated timing-gear equipped Isuzus, to boot... almost completely maintenance free... my Dad ran one of them up to 100,000 miles without looking at the oil in the crankcase...
), one quick car, and a nearby hardware store and armory I can stock up on. Only problem is I don't know how many shotgun shells I can hoard, and our deep well pump is electric... I'll need to hook up a generator to run the water.
Are we looking at Class A: Night of the Living Dead Zombies that shamble around and pathetically try to press their way through open windows and doors?
Or are we looking at Class B: Dawn of the Dead Zombies who run?
Or... worst of all, are we looking at Class Omega: I Am Legend virus-mutated humans with super-fast metabolisms, ungodly strength and speed, and the intelligence to actually turn doorknobs and train attack dogs?
If we're looking at Class Omega, I'd have to go for an armored van as the first vehicle of choice, with a power generator stolen from a hardware store running in the back to power banks of bright UV-rich flood lights.
But since we're likely talking a traditional zombie apocalypse, that gives us a wider choice of vehicles.
First off... if it's a zombie apocalypse, there's no safer place than living off-shore. Zombies don't breathe... so they don't float. And either way, the fish would eat them.
If you can't do that and actually have to live on land, my stable of vehicles would consist of:
An armored van. Plentiful where I live. Easy to find, easy to maintain. They all basically use medium-displacement old-tech Japanese diesels that will be fuel efficient and will easily run on fryer grease (bust into an abandoned McDonald's outlet and drain the fryers for a quick refill) and parts will be easy to scrounge up. Worst case scenario, you're over-run with zombies and the engine conks out. Chuck a grenade out the top hatch or through a gun-slit, blow them up, burrow your way out of the mound of twice-dead, rotting flesh, and find another armored van.
Once we've got all the supplies we need, we need to create our fort. If the fort is going to be inside the city (say, a boarded up condominium or government building with steel-shuttered entrances), we can go with one of these:
MB 300Ds run forever. They can comfortably cruise at over 100 mph, and they'll run on biofuel. Hey... gotta have at least one car with class, right? The question is whether any of the local armoring services will have one of these in the garage that's been given at least Level 1 armoring... and furthermore, I'd have to be the first to go after it.
If we pick a fortification out in the mountains or out in the country, some place with rugged terrain, far away from any possible zombies, I'd need one of these:
Easy to find them fully-kitted out for off-roading, old-school diesel (still) and tough as nails. If I'm lucky, said armoring service will be doing one of these. I'd pick an even more rugged BJ40 or LC70, but the LC80 gives you both creature comforts and off-roadability. The long and wide wheelbase will make it less prone to tipping over under the weight of a zombie attack.
If I couldn't get one, I'd be looking for a Patrol, but preferably an older one... the newer Patrols have that nasty direct injection diesel engine that conks out at the merest sniff of water in the fuel tank.
I'd love to do a big truck, but let's be realistic here... that truck would get you to your fort, but you'd go crazy trying to fuel it afterwards. Stay light, mobile, and keep a supply of diesel and lubricant (rescued from the local hardware) under your fort. As time goes on, you can squeeze fuel out of the food you eat. Vegetable oil from your... errh... vegetables (since I live on a tropical island, I can always harvest coconuts) and oil boiled out of animal fats to use for lighting torches.
-
As it is, I'm only halfway prepared for the zombie apocalypse. I do have a fortified house, I have three diesel trucks that will run on anything (and they're naturally aspirated timing-gear equipped Isuzus, to boot... almost completely maintenance free... my Dad ran one of them up to 100,000 miles without looking at the oil in the crankcase...
), one quick car, and a nearby hardware store and armory I can stock up on. Only problem is I don't know how many shotgun shells I can hoard, and our deep well pump is electric... I'll need to hook up a generator to run the water.
- 211
- GTP_88c-v_Racer
behold the Knight XV (the one on the left)
or this
the XV is completely bullet proof and the other one is just awesome
or this
the XV is completely bullet proof and the other one is just awesome
Danoff
Premium
- 33,111
- Mile High City
Danoff, you should do the zombie shelter thread, next. That will be fun. If you don't want to, let me know. I'll make one up.
Feel free to make one when we're done here. I know Keef and I would be interested.
Don't know about his, but mine keeps changing. At this point I'm starting to think that the best place to flee to would be one of the islands off the California Coast. Catalina would have the most potential zombies (unless it was insulated from the spread), it would also have the most supplies. I'm not sure they'd let me on though if it were insulated from the spread. Catalina would also most likely get over-run by refugees. If the zombie disease did spread to Catalina (because they let some refugee in that they shouldn't have), a probable goal would be to purge the zombie infestation and put down roots there.
In the end, I'd probably have to go with one of the other islands. I'd need a barge of some sort so that I could get trucks full of supplies off of the mainland and onto the island. A primary step would be scavenging food, water, solar panels, etc.
Since those islands are easy to get to, and well isolated from the mainland, they make a perfect place for a compound. Unfortunately the isolation presents problems for getting enough supplies in and they don't get a lot of rain - so crops and water would be tricky. Plenty of fish though.
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- 23,574
- It/It
- GTP_TheCracker
Oh the irony of complaining about movie cars in a thread about surviving a zombie apocalypse.
- 23,800
- Philippines
The question is: how long would you have to stay isolated?
Which hearkens back to the question: classic zombies, virus zombies or "I Am Legend" monsters?
A classic zombie is a dead human. Given the right weather, he'll rot to nothingness in a few weeks... or months, at worst.
The current viral zombie paradigm has a large percentage of the population turning Zombie while still alive. This presents a problem, depending on their diet. If all they can eat is human brains, they'll run out after a few months... or a year, at most... at the very least, their numbers should dwindle. If they can eat anything they catch... there's always dogs... then horses and cattle... big animals that they can sneak up on at night. Still, since zombies don't reproduce and can no longer heal, they should wear out after a few years.
- 24,553
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- FoolKiller1979
Oh the irony of complaining about movie cars in a thread about surviving a zombie apocalypse.
Hypothetical zombie apocalypse survival talk is serious business.
Danoff
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It would be hard to know how long you'd have to stay isolated. I'd try to plan for indefinite isolation just to make sure. If I suddenly found myself in a zombie movie I'd have no idea what kind of zombies I was up against. Maybe someday they'd have the ability to drive a boat over to my island and get me.
When you watch a zombie movie, you have the advantage of hindsight. You see all the limitations that they have throughout the movie and then design your escape while the credits role. The characters in the film don't have that advantage. They have to figure out what to do in real time. That's the situation I'm trying to put us in - you don't know much about them, but you do know that they're trying to eat your brain and that you'll be a zombie if they succeed. What kind of intelligence they might have in a few months or years you have no idea.
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Joey D
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Exhibit A:
Lucio Fulci's Zombie 2
So the zombie gets his hand eaten off but shows that he can put up with a fight against a bad mother of the deep.
And I'm not sure but in the Land of the Dead didn't zombies walk across the bottom of some big body of water? I can't remember.
**Wait this confirms: http://www.best-horror-movies.com/dear-zombie-master-can-a-zombie-swim.html
Unless you made it to some really far off island I think they were eventually get to you.
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Joey D
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- GTP Joey
Can i pick this one and solve any Zombie threat? The one and only B-52
Only if you knew how to acquire it, then knew how to properly load a payload of munitions, then knew how to take off and fly it, then knew how to drop the payload on a target without missing, then knew how to land it. If you could do all of that then yes you could use a B-52.
- 24,553
- Frankfort, KY
- GTP_FoolKiller
- FoolKiller1979
This is why I am attempting to keep my thoughts within the realm of what I can do or learn. Relying on the abilities of others risks setting yourself up for a bad situation if your group of survivors get turned. That is why any zombie apocalypse survivors in a group should be sure they have shared all training with each other. So, if you have a soldier he should show everyone how to properly use and care for his assault rifle. If he dies whoever is closest can pick it up and keep going.
Danoff
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- Mile High City
Here's my post-apocalyptic rational for why the zombies won't get me by walking on the ocean floor. Physiologically they're still fundamentally human. This means they're relying primarily on eyesight (especially under water) to get them where they want to go. Beyond a depth of about 200 meters water gets very very dark - and it's definitely deeper than 200 meters between the Los Angeles coast and Catalina island. So any zombies that foolishly decide to wander off into the ocean will get lost and wander around while they get picked at by fish.
If a zombie is going to come get me on my island, it's going to be because that zombie is intelligent enough to drive a boat. If that happens, I'm basically hosed either on land or sea. But my fundamental assumption is that zombies (by definition having had most of their brain eaten out) probably can't manage that kind of intelligent activity.
These are assumptions I'd probably make in real time, and I'd make my escape plan based on them. If they didn't hold up, I'd be in trouble regardless of the escape plan.
