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The poor residents of Dead City cannot catch a break.
First Zombies, now...Aliens...????
As usual, please save the folks from Dead City.
Alien Dead City (colloquially known as ADC) is an event that is heavily based on the ZDC mode. It was introduced in June 2024 to fill the void between Easter and Halloween for events. Rather than focus around undead and monsters, ADC bases around aliens and an alien invasion.
The event was available from June 21 to July 4, 2024. The timing of the event centered around the US summertime and its July 4th holiday: Independence Day. The event partly references the movie of the same name: Independence Day (1996). The timing of ADC around June/July happens to line up well with the anniversary of the moon landing around July 20, 1969.
Enemy designs make call backs to Area 15 Bunker.
Rules[]
- 18+ minute rounds
- Survival setting with PvE (Player vs Environment)
- No natural health regeneration
- Players start with nothing and must loot for their weapons, ammo, and other gear and items
- Duo partners are available from lobby
- Players cannot harm one another and are one big team even if marked on minimap like enemies
- Special abilities are present to select from lobby
- Players join match with a Shotgun and 35 spare shells
- Upon initiation of a match, 2 mins are given for players to join and loot—joining is not possible in the last 30 secs
- Players are given a further minute to gather at the tank, during which time gas will fill the map outside of the designated circle
- Walk next to the tank to escort it along its route—15 minutes is provided to complete the escort in addition to previous times
- Players may not leave the tank unattended for 2 mins at one time
- 3 Missiles need to be launched as part of the journey
- Escort the tank to a missile to deliver the payload, then launch the missile at the mothership
- Finally escort the tank to the end to win
- Players can collect rewards every 600m the tank has been escorted
The core gameplay loop of this event is very similar to ZDC. ADC takes what ZDC built as a foundation and mixed it with Missile Launch. It's the inclusion of these missiles that provide the main gameplay difference to separate the two modes, but it's the enemies present that provides the most difference. Players have a total of 18m 10s to escort a tank under the directive of taking out the alien fleet to save the city yet again. Three missiles are along the tank's path, but may not be interacted with until the tank has been escorted close enough. The tank will stop moving once a missile is in range, forcing players to launch the missile if they are to continue pushing the tank. The 2 minute timer given for players to leave the tank unattended does not pause while launching missiles, requiring players to be speedy if they don't wish to fail.
Every 600m an air drop will be available somewhere within the safe zone. Moving the tank may cause the package to be left out in the gas. Each air drop will come with a high-tech present for each player. Players can only see and interact with their own presents. Picking these up will give players an Alien Crate, a form of special crate with almost everything in it. If a player succeeds in escorting the tank to the very end alive, they will receive an Area 15 Crate. These are slightly better crates with more cosmetics in them.
Enemies[]
Five enemies are present in the mode: Zombies, Healers, RPGs, Gassers, and UFOs.
| Enemy | Health | Weapon | Damage | Aspect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Zombie |  | |||
|
Healer | Healing Pistol |
| ||
|
RPG | | |||
|
Gasser | 
|
| ||
|
UFO |  | |||
Zombie[]
Despite having the name Zombie these enemies are not the classic undead type of zombie experienced in other events. They have healthy skin instead of sickly, rotten skin found on undead, and have Green Glowing Eyes instead of the Orange Glowing Eyes that are key to undead and monster's appearances. As Green Glowing Eyes are synonymous with captives seen in Area 15 Bunker and the alien race, it can be implied that these are humans that the aliens abducted and have used mind control on, effectively making them mindless zombies that work for the aliens.
These enemies are the basic enemy type. They do nothing special. Despite being very bland, they are dangerous to ignore as they deal quick damage with their Fists.
Healer[]
The Healer is a low threat enemy that acts as a support to the alien forces. Healers are the equivalent to the Snowman from Christmas ZDC. They use a Plasma Launcher (modified Grenade Launcher) to deal small chip damage to players and knock them around with the explosion knockback. While not directly dangerous to the health of a player, they frequently interrupt players in their progress escorting the tank or launching a missile. The splashes of knockback may also introduce openings for more damage from other enemies.
Healers, as their name suggests, have a healing role too. All Healers also carry a Healing Pistol that they will use on their injured allies. If a player happens to stand in their way, the Healer can heal players. They won't deliberately shoot players with their Healing Pistols though, meaning players will only get hit once or twice in the rare occasion they intercept a shot.
RPG[]
The RPG is an enemy that uses the RPG; how fitting. They are the equivalent to the Nutcracker from Christmas ZDC. RPGs are a large threat in big numbers due to the large amount of splash damage they deal. While the fire rate of their RPGs are slow, RPGs can easily wipe out players that don't adequately heal. With the tank in between a player and a swarm of RPGs, a player may take enough damage to be taken over two thirds of their total health. The large knockback can also fling the player up and around, heavily interrupting their movement and reducing the time a player may have to take cover.
Gasser[]
The Gasser is a very unique enemy variation that parodies the self-destructive enemies from other events, like the Chick and Pumpkin Head. Rather than deal explosion damage upon reaching a player or death, Gassers leave behind noxious gas clouds around their corpse. To the unaware player, this can be extra dangerous than a single explosion due to the continuous damage taken. Gassers are very silent, so a player may not even be aware that one ran up to them and self-destructed to deploy noxious gas.
UFO[]
The UFO is a non-humanoid enemy that acts like an autonomous vehicle. They have their own map icon and take damage differently than a humanoid entity. The main difference players may find fighting them is the lack of weak points for critical damage; namely the head. This means players must burn more of their limited ammo to take even one UFO out.
UFOs move much faster than players, making them unavoidable in the open. They come with an abduction beam that will suck players off of their feet before taking them out of the safe circle and into the gas. The abduction beam itself can damage players in the same way that gas does. As it is the same damage property, UFOs will deal lower damage early in a round (4.5 DMG per tick) and higher damage as the round progresses (9 DMG per tick). These enemies are a large threat due to the lack of mobility a player has once caught in an abduction beam. Players must shoot directly up at the UFO to destroy it before it moves the player out of the circle. Because the player is stationary initially, grounded enemies may have a chance to deal damage and other UFOs may have time to travel to the player. This can lead to being stuck in roughly one spot for long durations as UFOs swarm in one after the other, exhausting the player's ammo supply as they come.
Their fast and erratic movements may move UFOs within Stealth's range, allowing UFOs to bypass the stealth effect and target the player. Use of the Ammo ability may also provide powerful support against large swarms of UFOs to ensure the player is not slowed by reloads and is not exhausting their limited ammo supply. Max Capacity may allow a player to stockpile a large portion of ammo naturally within their large inventory space. Players may elect to keep more space between one another to avoid being abducted by the same UFO; allied players can block shots up at a UFO, making it more difficult to break free from one and potentially wasting more ammo than necessary.
UFOs act independent of one another, meaning if two separate UFOs try to abduct a player at once they may each try to take the player in opposite directions and be stuck at a standstill. If damage is not a concern from UFOs, it can be a good time to not panic and stay in the frozen position while waiting for an ability to cooldown, healing, and/or keeping enemies distracted while allies push the tank. It should be noted that if the tank is left alone for too long, the round will end, and if the tank is being pushed then the safe zone will move with it. This should eventually force a player to take out the group of UFOs simultaneously attempting to abduct the player.
Mechanics[]
Enemy Count[]
As with previous ZDC events, enemy count scales with the number of players in a match. Exact counts and distribution are being researched, but range between 8-15 enemies alive at a single given time, phase-dependent.
Enemy Spread[]
Enemy phases change every 400m. Upon pushing the tank an increment of 400m all enemies are forcefully killed (with no drops). Please note that these are estimations and experiences may vary. Within one phase a player may experience more or less of a given enemy type (e.g. 50% at one point, 80% at another). Rather than separating the total enemies by a maximum count, enemies spawn based upon probability. While in some phases an enemy may be more common, they may be roughly even with other enemies on the odd occasion.
| Zombie | Healer | RPG | Gasser | UFO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0m - 400m | |||||
| 400m - 800m | |||||
| 800m - 1200m | |||||
| 1200m - 1600m | |||||
| 1600m - 2000m | |||||
| 2000m - 2400m | |||||
| 2400m - 2800m | |||||
| 2800m - 3200m | |||||
| 3200m - 3600m |
Routes[]
Players begin a match with one of five predetermined routes awaiting them. The number of phases and air drops will differ based on the total route length. These lengths vary by over 1000m. Most routes can be told apart simply by the starting position of the tank; however two routes share the same starting position: Route B and Route E. Normally users cannot tell Routes B and E apart until the tank is escorted to the first turn—turning left will result in Route B while turning right will result in the longest Route E. ADC has missiles at predetermined locations for each route, meaning that these routes may be differentiated between within ADC.
Strategy[]
Refer to ZDC for some basics. This will be expanded as the event is tested for new strategies.
Alien Dead City has a lot in common with Zombie Dead City. The overall objective of escorting a tank to the end of a route while defending against a horde of enemies remains consistent. The enemy types and the introduction of missiles to launch provides new angles that players need to consider in ADC; they otherwise can treat the strategy as identical to ZDC. Abilities are excellent supports that players should carefully consider. Abilities are not needed to win though, and are not considered a part of the universal strategy.
Players considering which ability to take should aim for effects that complement what they struggle at the most. If ammo conservation is an issue, particularly with UFOs, then Ammo is a considerable option to take. This helps players to amass kills and collect item drops to replenish heals and ammo for the long road ahead. It also helps to avoid burning ammo in the phases where UFOs are more present. Stealth provides windows for players to mostly be left alone, particularly as a benefit when launching missiles. The protection is not perfect since it bases its effect on range, but provides players with more room to breathe, including as they push the tank. Smoke Grenades are otherwise better to find for use around the missiles. Max Capacity will allow a player to immediately and always have access to a large inventory. This can be integral for stockpiling ammo and having sufficient heals on hand.
A few key factors are needed for victory:
- Good weapon
- Good timing
- Good teamwork
Weapon Choice[]
Players should aim for weapons that are high DPS and low time-to-kill. SMG-class weapons, assault rifles, automatic rifles, and the Minigun are all the options of choice. The exact weapon used will come down to player preference and may tie into the paired ability of choice. It may be wiser to select weapons that require three head shots to kill rather than four head shots in an attempt to conserve more ammo. If a player has perfect aim, killing 100 regular enemies can save the player 100 ammo just by avoiding the need for a fourth head shot. Conversely, faster weapons may chew through large swarms of UFOs faster if burning through ammo is less of a concern, as UFOs do not take critical damage and have higher HP than regular enemies.
The magazine size can vary from 20 seen on the VSS and G3A3 up to 100 on the Minigun. These can be partly changed with attachments for great effect, but may have a large impact on the overall run time of a weapon if a particularly large swarm of enemies are present. The running speed may also impact how effective a player is. Unlike other events, mobility is less important in Alien Dead City. UFOs remove a lot of movement from the player that normally is important; however the enemies present don't create a pressing need. Sometimes UFOs abducting a player can be partly beneficial for a time. This ultimately means the slower movement speed of the Minigun is easier to ignore for the benefits of 100 rounds and good DPS where in other events it may not have been considered as much.
Timing[]
"Go to the green tank on the mini map!"
Alien Dead City is most brutal with its time restrictions. The tank may never be unattended for 2 minutes, and an invisible timer in the background provides a total time within which players must complete their escort mission. Taking big breaks from escorting the tank to take cover indoors and loot lots may result in a match running out of time. UFOs are effective at stalling players from reaching objectives for large periods of time, providing a time-based threat rather than one centered on damage. Players must remain vigilant to push the tank whenever they can and to avoid stopping as much as possible. The total time is not particularly tight, allowing a decent amount of room for players to collect prizes and collect item drops from enemies. Stopping to heal safely indoors from time to time is also safe to do a number of times without issue.
The total time of the round is unknown. It starts at around 18 minutes and can go higher than 28 minutes depending on unknown conditions. Pushing the tank will extend the total time of the match at certain points. As long as players remain consistent, there should be no issues reaching the end in time. If time does run out, players may need to consider how they can reduce wasted time away from the tank.
"Launch Missile _"
Missiles provide an interesting new complication to the timers. Once the tank reaches a missile, it stops in place and will not budge until the missile is launched. This forces players to move away from the tank and launch the missile if they wish to proceed. Staying by the tank provides no timer resets; the 2 minute timer for an unattended tank will continue to count down. Players should be quick to make their way to the missile and launch it as soon as possible—especially the first missile. The time to launch a missile starts at 30 seconds, but will get faster for each missile and if multiple players help. If multiple players are present, leaving the launching to a single player is a dangerous and unwise decision. Knockback from the Healers and RPGs may provide disruptions getting close to missiles, while the UFOs will potentially take the player away completely. Players should not panic if UFOs get a hold of them, instead opting to continue launching if safe to do so. UFOs do not always take the player away, meaning that the player may actually be kept close to the missile even with knockback. Removing enemy aggro by going completely invisible with Smoke Grenades is the best option. Players must then rush back to the tank before the 2 minutes are up; however, depending on the player count it may be smart to leave a single person by the tank to immediately start pushing the instant the missile is launched.
| First Missile | Second Missile | Third Missile | Launch Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Player | 30.00 s | 25.00 s | 20.00 s | 100% |
| 2 Players | 21.00 s | 17.50 s | 14.00 s | 130% |
| 3 Players | 16.50 s | 13.75 s | 11.00 s | 145% |
Teamwork[]
The more players there are in a server, the more enemies that will be present. This provides more difficulty to the match to offset the benefits of other players helping to support. The negative is that if someone does not pull their own weight and relies on other players to do all the work, the round will be more difficult and draining on the actively involved players. As mean as it may sound, leaving unhelpful players to die may be the best decision that can be made. Looking out for them may result in the higher difficulty of the round killing everyone instead of the unsupportive player dying alone. If players wish to make it through, working together and providing help to keep the swarm at bay is very important.
There are a few ethics around teamwork in ADC. First, players must be considerate of other players who may not have looted yet. Unless going solo, player should wait for EVERYONE to be at the tank where the safe circle is before pushing. Let the gas fill up to the circle and push after that point. Pushing before the gas has filled does a few things that is disrespectful to other players and puts a burden on them and their survival. If the tank reaches 50m, the enemy count immediately shoots up. While looting in the initial stages of the round, enemies are incredibly limited. A player that has yet gathered adequate weaponry and supplies is massively disadvantaged by the high enemy count found by pushing the tank that first step of 50m. Additionally, players may base their looting off of where the tank is positioned, timing their movement to the tank to be within the safe zone by the time the gas reaches them. By moving the tank, the safe zone may be moving away from their expectations and directly opposite to their position. Instead of running to a position, they are now chasing a tank that is moving away from them while the gas is quickly chasing them from behind. This can kill quite a few players completely against their control because of inconsiderate players.
While pushing throughout the round, players should keep an eye on the minimap from time to time. Especially with UFOs, players may end up towards the edge of the safe zone. Sometimes players head out to get item drops quickly, and may be fine to ignore. If it appears that a player is at the edge for a good portion of time or that they will end up outside the safe zone, players should stop pushing the tank to let those players catch up. There is no expectation to wait for AFK players.
"Find the item dropped by the plane!
When an air drop comes in every 600m, stop pushing the tank to allow players that want the crates a chance to collect them. Time is not so restrictive that stopping for every crate will result in a loss. Just because a player does not care about the crates does not give them priority to decide the tank will move on and potentially remove the chance for a player to get their prizes. If a player asks for the tank to stop, stop the tank. The team comes first. Players should still wait for unsupportive players. Letting those players die should be restricted to enemy deaths.
Every player should note where they are engaged in combat and which item drops they are entitled to. If using Light Ammo, all Rifle Ammo should be ignored. Conversely a player user Rifle Ammo in their weapon(s) should avoid taking Light Ammo. Unless clearly abandoned, players should not move into the areas of combat of others and pick up their spoils. This removes their ability to restock the ammo they consumed and may result in lack of healing items. If a player is low on resources, they should ask if someone has some to spare or enter nearby buildings to look for loot. Overly hoarding item drops and taking them from other player's combat areas is detrimental to the whole team.