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Outposts are your home away from home in State of Decay 2. Once you start up your first community, you’ll be able to establish up to two outposts — eventually, you’ll be able to get four. Early on, it feels like outposts are only useful for extra resources, like in State of Decay 1.
That isn’t the case in State of Decay 2. There are lots of different improved abilities you can unlock with outposts alone. You can provide extra services to your community with outposts, get more beds, or even spend tons of influence to get the best outposts in the game.
Here, I’m going to explain everything you need to know about outposts; why they’re useful, which ones to get, and what they can do to make your community much, much happier.
More State of Decay 2 guides on Gameranx:
- State of Decay 2: 16 Advanced Tips To Help You Beat The Campaign Fast | Easy Completion Guide
- State of Decay 2: Beginner’s Guide | Tips To Help You Survive The Zombie Apocalypse
- State of Decay 2: Move Items From Your Vehicle Straight To Base Inventory | Looting Guide
- State of Decay 2: How To Cure (Or Delay) The Blood Plague | Infection Treatment Guide
- State of Decay 2: Here’s The Best Way To Destroy Plague Hearts | Combat Strategy Guide
- State of Decay 2: How To Earn More Influence Faster | Best Farming Methods
- State of Decay 2: How To Unlock Artillery Strikes | Best Radio Command Guide
- State of Decay 2: How To Manage & Improve Your Community | Base Happiness Guide
- State of Decay 2: How To Kill Juggernauts (Without Dying) | Easy Freaks Guide
- State of Decay 2: Sheriff Legacy Goal Walkthrough | Endings Guide
Everything You Need To Know About Outposts | Power, Water, Artillery & More
Outposts are external, permanent safe zones you can establish in State of Decay 2. Most outposts will provide a resource bonus to your base — +1 food, medical supplies, materials, ammo, or gas. To create an outpost, you need to clear an area of zombies. Check all the rooms (black squares on your map) and kill any zombies, then interact with the lantern in the center.
Outposts require two things; an open outpost slot, and influence. You start with two outpost slots, and can upgrade your command center for more slots later. Influence is earned by helping your community, or helping other enclaves in the area.
- How To Get A Lvl. 3 Command Center: Whenever you unlock a friendly / allied Enclave, talk to the survivors and select “Learn more” to see their stats. Look for someone with computer knowledge. You’ll need them to upgrade the Command Center.
Mostly, you’ll want to save up influence to spend on outposts. Standard outposts usually cost between 300-400 influence for more resources, or extra beds. Scroll over an outpost location on the map screen to see what benefits you’ll get from establishing an outpost. There are two types of outposts — standard, and special.
- Standard Outpost Bonuses:
- Food Outpost: +1 Food Every Day. Diners, Restaurants, Food Stands.
- Medical Outpost: +1 Medical Supplies Every Day. Hospitals, Clinics, Veterinary Clinics.
- Materials Outpost: +1 Materials Every Day. Construction Sites, Hardware Stores, Utilities.
- Gas Outpost: +1 Gas Every Day. Gas Stations, Abandoned Tankers.
- Ammo Outpost: +1 Ammo Every Day. Police Stations, Gun Stores, Military Posts.
- Bed Outpost: +2 Beds For Your Community. Large Houses, Bungalows, Mansions.
All outposts provide some of the same benefits — every outpost is a permanent safe zone, and every outpost contains an item locker. You can also swap characters while in any outpost. One drawback of outposts is that you cannot deposit resource rucksacks at an outpost — you have to return to your community base.
While standard outposts are great if you’re running low on certain resources or need an extra bed, there are other outposts you might want to look for. I recommend swapping outposts, depending on your needs — start with standard outposts early on, then when you’re earning plenty of resources on your own, you can start unlocking the biggest and best outposts.
Special Outposts – The Best Outposts Available
There are three special outposts types you’ll want to look for while exploring. These are the most expensive, but also most useful outpost types. They provide identical abilities to your community base as certain facilities, including the fuel cost — well, two special outposts do, the third provides a totally unique radio command.
- Water Outpost: 1,000 Influence – Provides water to your base. +Bonus Morale. Costs 1 Gas per day. Water Towers.
- Power Outpost: 2,000 Influence – Provides power to your base. +Bonus Morale. Costs 1 Gas per day. Power Substations.
- Artillery Outpost: 500 Influence – Unlocks the Artillery Strike Radio Command.
Water and Power are required to unlock certain base facility upgrades and enhancements. The garden specifically needs water for upgrades, while the workshop can only craft certain recipes if you also have power. Unlocking outposts instead of building facilities means you’ll be able to make more room for other facilities in your base — slots are incredibly valuable, so the more space you can free up, the better.
There are downsides. Water and Power require gas every day — normally, water doesn’t cost gas to keep in your base. Rainwater collectors don’t need gas. You can also skip facilities with mods — if you find a water cooler or a portable generator, you can use those instead to power or add water to individual facilities that need it.
- NOTE: If you install a power / water mod, remember to select the facility and add gas to the generator or fill the water cooler with water in the facility menu. If you don’t do this every day, you’ll lose power / water.
The Artillery Strike is the cheapest special outpost, and also the hardest to find. Usually, they’re located on the far edges of the map — if you’re eager to find one early, drive to all the scouting locations and search the map for a Military Comms Station. Make that into an Outpost to get the Artillery Strike radio command. It costs 150 influence per use, but it’s pretty fun.
Special Outposts aren’t necessarily better. They’re different! You can spend a ton of influence on these extra outposts, or you can build facilities cheaply, without spending all that influence, once you unlock a larger base. Power and Water are great, but you don’t need them for every single facility. The morale boost helps, even if it isn’t strictly required.
