Zombie defense/survival

[The Infamous Red Bixby]

Read Maxwell Brooks
Zombie Survival and World War Z

Ah, both of those books are highly entertaining and "informative," in the aspect of a guide for a possible scenario.

Also, check out "Day by Day Armageddon." It was written in a style of a diary, day-by-day of how this one guy survives a zombie outbreak. Right up any Z-survivalist's alley methinks.

I had actually sketched out a map of the place I work at, adding details to where traps would be and what kind of makeshift weapons we could use if a zombie outbreak were to occur. I posted it on a predominant wall for all to see. The next day it was removed, sadly. Now how will we be prepared and survive?!?

[akumabito]

...I wonder if zombies are edible...

no, their flesh is poisonous. It kills you almost immediately. Check the guide if you doubt me.

*scraps idea of zombie farming*

[KhaiJBach]

can one use flesh for making Bio-Diesel?

if you can... then it's an easy harvest... they come right to where you want them...

[Von Gast]

I did consider the ship idea a while ago. I was planning to quietly borrow a big ferry and spend a day or so packing it with frozen food and fuel tankers. They have power supplies on the car deck to keep lorry freezer plants going during the crossing, so you'd end up with a giant walk-in freezer and fuel supply along with the built in fuel tanks.

[Prof. Brockworth]

can one use flesh for making Bio-Diesel?

Yes.  Rendered animal flesh will give fat, which is amenable to the biodiesel process.  It's been done on a small scale with pork lard.

Alas, my patent application (no joke - I really applied) for "lipodiesel" was denied.  An alternate feedstock is not sufficient originality.  Bah!

So if you can lure zombies into a big ol' rendering plant, you can tap off that good undead lard and with the addition of a little methanol and mojo, zombodiesel is yours for the taking.

I read the Zombie Survival Guide late one night and took a little bit too seriously. 

It's not too serious until you join Zombie Squad and start packing your bug-out bag... 

[Von Gast]

The point is that once you have a Zombiediesel plant running it shouldn't require a lot of attention. The smell would be somewhat horrible but if you arranged matters so that the exhaust is downwind of your camp it should be ok.

There's a community near me that I suspect is superbly placed to resist the zombies. They have a huge reservoir complex which currently supplies Birmingham and also provides them with hydroelectricity. If they were to keep the bottom reservoir in working order they would have a superb water source and the upper ones, once drained, could be returned to farmland.

[KhaiJBach]

excellent...

my primary defence I've been considering is a wall made of cars, buses etc. one that can be thrown up fast (using a pair of Forklifts I know are nearby at Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart (Gas powered and easy to armour the cockpits)), then welded / re-inforced to keep the undead out of my working area.

then I make a nice Zed Trap that I can lure them into, (plenty of adaptable hydraulic lifts at CT and Wallymart's car centers that can be rebuilt into a nice crushing system... say 20 at a time...), the product can then by filtered and distilled into BioDiesel (solids I can burn for heating in a simple hotwater plant) ... thus fueling my equipment and reducing the Zed's round my area...

yes. I've put far to much thought into this

[Mr Zero]

Should we need to abandon, we escape across the rooftops until we came to the river & use the Fire Brigade's launch to find and commandeer a narrow boat/ barge.

I shouldn't even say this, because the more of you staying in the city the better it will be for me and mine, but 1) Get out of town and 2) Use the rivers.  Anyone thinking about shacking up in a supermarket, good luck with that and GOODBYE to you and the several thousand other desperate people you will be sharing it with.

[KhaiJBach]

agreed... thats why you come back when that fights over...
(because unless they are very well organised, they won't last more than 1-2 days tops)

[akumabito]

Hehh, yeah... everyone seems to want to go to a supermarket of sorts. I imagine there will be lines to get in..

[Gentleman-Adventurer]

I live in a fairly sparsely-populated area, so the threat of zombie plague ain't really a factor. However, there is plenty of livestock, so the threat of zombie sheep looms on the horizon. I'd mostly rely on exploiting the animals' lack of intelligence to escape, possibly finding a sheepskin jacket and blending seamlessly with the herd, in order to escape.

[Pheobsky]

  Cruise liners have loads of rooms and structures that while useful to holiday makers are pointless to survivalists so can be converted to more need uses, container ships have immense amounts of space which can be carved up and used, and both have large decks which can be turned over to growing crops and even keeping the odd bit of livestock.

The big problem with growing crops on a boat is that if you're at sea, the salt does not bode well for crops, although there may be exeptions, but for the major staple crops this is definitely the case.
    Personaly I'd say that you're better of with a trawler as they're small enough to be able to get into port without aid, but also the larger ones give a bit of living space- not to mention that fishing could be a good food source. Ideally, have a boat & find a remote island, & wait it out! (I'm not sure about zombies ability to swim, but if they can't see you or smell you?)

[Von Gast]

The right ferry will be no problem where getting into port solo is concerned - they only need tug assistance now if the weather is seriously rough.

[Gentleman-Adventurer]

In legend, the undead have notoriously bad fortune against running water, so you might be okay.

[Von Gast]

Vampires will be easier to deal with than zombies. I watched large chunks of Buffy...

She was doing it wrong. Undead or not, it still goes down if you hit it hard enough with a big enough vehicle.

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

It's logical to conclude that a 3-ounce, hollow point 12-gauge solid load shotgun shell to the face will kill most anything, or ruin its day...

[Gentleman-Adventurer]

It's logical to conclude that a 3-ounce, hollow point 12-gauge solid load shotgun shell to the face will kill most anything, or ruin its day...

Ditto a crude stake carved from a table leg, fired from a converted drainpipe.

[Von Gast]

It's logical to conclude that a 3-ounce, hollow point 12-gauge solid load shotgun shell to the face will kill most anything, or ruin its day...

Ditto a crude stake carved from a table leg, fired from a converted drainpipe.

Would a hairspray-powered potato gun firing stakes do the job? I bet it could be made with multiple rotating barrels and a belt feed...

[Prof. Brockworth]

Question, my steamy cohorts: Has anyone come up with a Steampunk Lobo yet? 

From World War Z:  (Sinclair points above my my head to the opposite wall. On it hangs a heavy steel rod ending in what looks like a fusion of shovel and double-bladed battle-ax. It's official designation is the Standard Infantry Entrenching Tool, although, to most, it is known as either the "Lobotomizer," or simply, the "Lobo.")

[flimflam]

oooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh good idea
_{steam powered chainsaw blades}

[Drake White]

  Cruise liners have loads of rooms and structures that while useful to holiday makers are pointless to survivalists so can be converted to more need uses, container ships have immense amounts of space which can be carved up and used, and both have large decks which can be turned over to growing crops and even keeping the odd bit of livestock.

The big problem with growing crops on a boat is that if you're at sea, the salt does not bode well for crops, although there may be exeptions, but for the major staple crops this is definitely the case.
    Personaly I'd say that you're better of with a trawler as they're small enough to be able to get into port without aid, but also the larger ones give a bit of living space- not to mention that fishing could be a good food source. Ideally, have a boat & find a remote island, & wait it out! (I'm not sure about zombies ability to swim, but if they can't see you or smell you?)

Now there's an idea..
King White of Isle of Wight has a certain ring to it. Shouldn't be too hard to finish off the remnants of the locals and the holiday makers and place myself on the throne.

[flimflam]

you'll have to go through me sir

[Gazongola]

Stand behind the black man... well if 'Night of the Living Dead' is anything to go by.

[Magister]

Vampires will be easier to deal with than zombies. I watched large chunks of Buffy...

She was doing it wrong. Undead or not, it still goes down if you hit it hard enough with a big enough vehicle.

I firmly disagree. A zombie hoard can be fought because they are stupid and disorganized. A vampire menace is a completely different beast. Vampires are typically thought to be at least as intelligent as humans. There is no effective defense against an organized assault by even a small group of vampires. (By small I mean, maybe 10 vampires per 100-200 humans.)

Consider that they are able to utilize every weapon we can, and every tactic we know against us. Including psychological warfare. Further, lacking heartbeat and respiration, they would be truly unrivaled in stealth and ambush tactics.

All of that isn't even taking varying mythologies into account. Traditionally, vampires have no problem with sunlight, it was a weakness thought up by Murnau while he was trying rewrite the script for Nosferatu to slip around copyright infringement on Stoker's work. Regardless all they would need is a bit of good planning to a daytime resting place and a bit of care to ensure they're not followed when returning.

Even if you could hold a vampire at bay with a cross, if they simply worked in teams, they could easily surprise and take an cross bearing humans from behind.

They might have trouble crossing running water, but bridges abound, and airplanes and helicopters aren't that hard to find these days.

If crosses and blessed things can hold them at bay, you might try hiding in a church, but they'd probably just lob a grenade in through the stained glass window.

We've put a lot of work into zombie planning, but when we attempted to plan for a vampire attack, we quickly realized there are only three options. 1.) Flee. 2.) Suicide 3.) Join the vampires.

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

I'm a member of a bladesmith's forum, and someone cropped up there recently asking for design tips for making a lobo. We had to conclude that it's probably the least effective weapon ever.