State of Decay Wiki
Register
Advertisement
State of decay-vehicles
"Great for fast getaways, transporting a lotta salvage, and running over zombies a whole horde at a time... few things are more valuable than a motor vehicle."

Vehicles are the only means of transportation in State of Decay. They allow players to travel from place to place much faster and safer. There are 12 base vehicle types in the game, each has at least one variant and alternative paint schemes.

As of Title Update 5, vehicles now have the ability to carry items and rucksacks.

Characteristics[]

There are a set number of vehicles that exist in the game world. Once a vehicle is destroyed, it is gone for good.

Fuel[]

Fuel consumption did not make it into State of Decay. Currently vehicles use no fuel, despite the description for the Fuel resource.

Speed & Control[]

The vehicles handle more like an arcade experience than a simulation. All vehicles handle differently based on their class. Performance cars accelerate extremely fast and are difficult to control at top speed, by contrast, Economy cars are easier to control but possess lower top speed.

Noise[]

The amount of noise a vehicle makes also plays into the factor of which car the player chooses. Performance-class vehicles are much louder than the Economy-class or Utility-class vehicles, so those louder vehicles will attract more zombies to the player's location.

All cars can honk their horn and flash their headlights in order to attract attention. Additionally, the Police Cruiser can turn on its sirens, dramatically increasing the noise distance and alerting all nearby zombies. These techniques can be used to complete "Create Diversion" missions, or draw out infestations so that they can be run over more easily. 

Durability[]

Utility-class vehicles are quite durable, being able to roadkill a few Zombie Hordes before displaying visible signs of damage, or can kill a Juggernaut before being damaged beyond repair. Conversely, performance-class vehicles tend to be more fragile, and can easily be damaged when hitting something at top speeds.

Damage[]

Damage to vehicles is location-based. Vehicles do not have health bars, the condition of the car is indicated by marks, dents, engine sound and overall shape of the vehicle. The most visible places are: tires, doors, hood, front and rear bumpers, and engine (which emits smoke when heavily damaged). When a vehicle flips over or has its engine sufficiently damaged, it explodes and cannot be repaired.

Repair[]

The only way to repair vehicles is to drive them to a Parking Area at the player's Home Base. Parked vehicles are repaired at dawn, provided the Home Base has either a Workshop (repairs body and tires only) or Machine Shop (full repair). A standard Work Area will not repair vehicles.

In the Year One Survival Edition, players can use construction materials to instantly repair vehicles in a parking space.

Storage[]

If the item is in a large rucksack (for instance food or medicine), it will be automatically unloaded by parking in a home base Parking Area. Smaller items like weapons or snacks will still need to be unloaded manually by the player. As one would expect, a car does not have as many inventory spots as a pickup truck. Players may find vehicles like the Modern Pickup more useful for hauling a large amount of resources from point A to point B than a car that can reach higher speeds..

Vehicles & Zombies[]

Zombies can cling to a vehicle and damage it to the point where the car will shut down. The longer zombies stay on a car, the more damage they will inflict upon it. Zombies that cling on the doors, if left unchecked, will rip off the doors, grab survivors within reach and drag them out of the car. The player can open the door (on driver's side) to hit zombies, as well as sending zombies off by drifting or abruptly stopping the car or driving the zombies into an obstacle, which will most likely result in the death of the zombies.

The impact will kill zombies if the car is going fast enough and can cause damage to the vehicle, on some rare occasions ramming a zombie horde can cause the vehicle to hydroplane on the zombies, a bug in the physics engine, not an intentional realism aspect. This bug can backfire where as little as a single dead zombie can cause a fast moving car to get airborn and flip, leaving you running a long way home after your vehicle explodes on landing.

Some Freaks also have their own special interactions with vehicles. Ramming a Juggernaut head-on will stun it and bring it down to one knee, allowing you to run it over. However, it will also severely damage your vehicle, often removing the bumper and front tires, and causing the car to smoke.

Driving into a Bloater will cover the car in its ichor for some time, causing a sharp depletion of stamina and health for all survivors on board, and possibly causing them to get sick.

Finally, while about as damaging to your car as a standard zombie, the Feral will effortlessly dodge most attempts to run it over. It is important to corner it or fake it out (such as feinting right and then opening the car door in its face as it dodges to avoid you) in order to kill it.

Comparison of Vehicles[]

Name

Acceleration

Top Speed

Handling

Durability

Seats Storage
Military Pickup 3 4 4 5 6 6

Station Wagon

1 1 1 4 4 6
Taxi 2 1 2 3 4 6

Old Pickup

1 2 2 3 4 6

Hatchback

4 2 4 2 4 4
Pizza Delivery 4 2 4 3 4 4

Modern Sedan

2 3 2 3 4 4
Modern Pickup 3 3 3 4 6 6

Rally Hatchback

5 3 5 3 4 4

Police Cruiser

4 5 4 4 4 6

Old-School Muscle w/ Style

4 4 1 3 2 4
High-End Exotic 5 5 4 1 2 4
SUV (YOSE) 3 3 3 4 4 6
Military SUV (YOSE) 4 4 3 5 4 6
Classic Sedan (YOSE) 1 1 1 3 4 4

Trivia[]

  • As of Title Update 5, vehicles now have the ability to carry inventory.
  • Two additional body types, the Caddy and the SUV (Seen in used car lot picture) were originally created, but not used in the final XBLA game. Additionally, some alternative paint schemes were also dropped.
  • The above mentioned body types appear to have been added into the YOSE.

Gallery[]

Advertisement