Town of the Undead tips: energy, farming and holding the fence
Tips from the developer, for your first week on the street and after. Follow Gus's missions at the start: the tracker card on the right always shows the next step, and its Show me button points you to it.
Your first day
Do Gus's missions in order. Clear the yard, mend the fence, plant a garden and get through your first horde. Each one pays coins and XP and opens the next part of the game.
Plant before you do anything else. Crops grow while you clear junk, and while the game is closed. An empty plot is wasted time.
Look at the clock in the top bar. By day it says when the hordes start (after sunset on your phone). After dark it counts down to the next horde.
Tap your house for the Home window: house upgrades, rooms, the closet and the bed.
Energy and food
Almost everything you do between hordes costs energy. Energy never comes from your wallet, only from the kitchen and the bed.
It refills on its own, one point a minute, also while the game is closed. Short sessions a few times a day go a long way.
Cook, don't eat raw. The grill turns crops into meals worth much more energy: soups, baked potatoes, veggie stew, grilled corn, pumpkin pie. Eggs and milk make omelettes, pancakes and corn chowder. Everything edible is in the Bag's Food tab, meals first.
Sleep at night. Go to bed from the Home window between 21:00 and 06:00 on your phone and you wake at 7:00 with full energy and well rested (energy refills twice as fast until the evening). By day it's a 20-minute nap.
Fighting during a horde is free. Swings cost no energy while a horde is on, so save the zombies near the fence for then.
Upgrade the kitchen and the bedroom. The kitchen makes meals worth more and the grill faster; the bedroom shortens naps and makes "well rested" stronger.
Neighbors help. Christina's coffee (once the Daily Grind is restored) gives energy on the spot and a faster refill; Stelios in Sterling City makes it faster again.
Farming
Water the thirsty ones. A plot with a blue drop grows four times slower until you tap it. Rain waters everything, and a water well keeps every plot watered.
Better seeds come with your level: carrots first, then tomatoes, potatoes, corn and pumpkins.
Build a chicken coop and a cow pen early. Eggs and milk pile up while you're away; feed corn or carrots to speed them up for a while.
Put a flower bed near the beehive: within three tiles the honey comes twice as fast.
Rescue Cryzsa the farmer. Once her chain is done she waters and harvests every plot in the yard for you.
Holding the fence at night
Hordes come only after dark, on your phone's clock, about every ten minutes from sunset to sunrise. You get a 20-second warning, then the gate bars itself.
Mend the fence between hordes. Zombies chew through fence points, then go for the house. In build mode the three most attacked pieces are marked: upgrade those first, from picket to reinforced to brick wall.
Light the yard. Lamp light slows zombies down, so lamps along the fence buy you time. A watchtower shoots everything within four tiles.
Chain your kills. Kills within 2.5 seconds of each other build a COMBO for bonus coins and XP.
Every third horde brings a boss with double health. It pays a bounty, and always drops a rare part.
Read the morning paper. When the Daily Undead says "BLOOD MOON", tonight's horde is bigger and faster, with a boss, and every zombie pays double coins.
Close the gate by day if wandering zombies keep walking into your yard: tap it to open or shut it.
Neighbors
Dig them out. Survivors are trapped behind heavy rubble: three times the swings of an ordinary pile and two energy a swing, so come with a full bar.
In your yard or in town? A rescued neighbor asks where to live. In the yard they fight beside you and help in the garden; in town they keep their spot. You can change it later in the Neighbors window.
Finish their mission chains. Each one ends with a reward that changes the game: Doc Ruiz's clinic heals you after every horde, Sal's gas station lights every street lamp, Earl stands at the gate in every horde.
Build a fire pit. The neighbors gather round it before the horde, and a speech bubble over the fire means a story is waiting, worth XP and a little energy.
Favors keep paying. After a chain is done, that neighbor asks one favor after every horde.
Coins and materials
Search everything after a horde. Trash cans, barrels, wrecks and pallets refill after every horde.
Open the mystery crates that turn up around the neighborhood after each horde: coins, cash, supplies, ammo, a blueprint or a keepsake.
Collect keepsakes. Zombies and junk drop them in sets of five; a full set (Bag, Collections tab) trades in for a big reward, again and again.
Fill the zombie album. The first kill of each kind pays cash and XP.
Curb appeal pays every night. Flower beds, a gnome, a bird bath, a fountain and the rest of the decorations pay extra coins after every horde, and so does every building you restore in town.
Bricks come from rubble, the brick pallet on Main Street, dumpsters and the shops. The storage shed collects wood, nails and bricks from your neighbors after every horde: empty it.
Road trips in Mabel
Tap Mabel, the broken-down car by your gate, for her checklist: a garage, Sal the mechanic, the engine, new tires and a full tank.
Every trip costs fuel, so plan a loop: from one place you can drive on to the next without going home.
Loot refills after every horde, and the junk you clear stays cleared, so a place gets easier each visit.
Your farm keeps going while you're away, and when the horde warning sounds you drive home on your own.
Sterling City is the late game: it opens at level 15, after Radio Tower Ridge, and costs 3 fuel.
FAQ
How do I get more energy?
It comes back a point a minute, even with the game closed. Cook meals on the grill instead of eating raw crops, sleep in your bed at night, upgrade the kitchen and bedroom, and do your fighting during hordes, when swings are free.
When do the hordes come?
Only after dark on your phone's clock, about every ten minutes from sunset to sunrise. By day there are none.
How do I fix the car?
Tap Mabel by your gate for her checklist: build a garage, rescue Sal, rebuild the engine, fit new tires and fill the tank. Then her window has a Road trip button.
What is a blood moon?
A red-sky night: more zombies, faster, with a boss, and double coins for every one you put down. The morning paper warns you.
Can I move my save to a new phone?
Yes: Settings, Copy save code, then paste it on the new phone. Keep the code as a backup too.
Town of the Undead