Zombicide: Invader - The Toys of the Future
As technology advanced over the years to allow for things like interplanetary travel, so did the equipment one would pack for such a journey. The expedition to PK-L7 was supposed to be little more than a Civilian exercise. The planet had been surveyed and was determined to be lifeless. However, there was a lot of money on the line. It would be foolish not to bring some protection in the form of Soldiers, and some equipment that would help keep the team safe, should anything happen.
The mining base is stocked with a bunch of Equipment and Weapons that can be used on the attacking Xeno forces. The Civilian and Soldier Survivors are going to have to take advantage of what’s available and Search for more items if they hope to survive the onslaught.
One of the first things Zombicide fans will recognize, is that the Equipment deck is stacked with more powerful items, allowing Survivors to get their hands on useful tools of death at a much higher rate. They’ll also see some technological advances that will make survival in this deep space outpost a little more likely.
There is a whole set of weapons that take advantage of attached Energy Cells. These include melee weapons like the Cattle Prod, Chainsaw, or Heavy Cutter. They can be used as a blunt instrument without an Energy Cell attached, but with the Cell, they are able to reroll their dice results, giving them a better chance of culling the Xeno numbers.
There are also a number of Prototype firearms that REQUIRE an attached Energy Cell to operate. These include the Prototype Assault Shotgun, the Prototype Light Machine Gun, the Prototype Snipe Rifle, and more. Prototypes are set aside at the start of the game and usually acquired through Mission objectives. These powerful weapons pack a serious punch, and best of all, they function on the oxygen-deprived surface of the planet.
For Survivors to even get onto the surface, they need to travel through an airlock with an equipped Oxygen Tank. These Tanks can only be found in the Oxygen Supply rooms of the base, from their own Equipment pile. Survivors in an Oxygen Supply room can spend an action to acquire an Oxygen Tank.
At the start of each Mission, the Equipment cards for the Falchion Sentry Gun and the Peacekeeper Bot are set aside to remind players of their stats. They don’t belong to any one player, but can be controlled if they possess the corresponding Remote token or have the necessary Skill.
Two special pieces of Equipment will make Searching the base a lot easier for the Survivors, especially the Soldiers that are limited to only Searching in Security Rooms. The Search Drone allows Survivors to Search in any room of the base, and the Searchlight allows Survivors to draw an extra card when they perform a Search action, upping their chances of finding a game-changing piece of Equipment.
The Survivors are going to need all of the assistance they can get as the Xenos throw everything they have at them. The Spoiler Abomination is particularly threatening to the integrity of the mining base. It lumbers through the rooms and corridors spreading a dark slimy Mold. This corrosive substance removes all special properties of the Zone it infects. Survivors can no longer Search there, Doors and walls are eaten away, and Mission Objectives can be lost. To make matters worse, if two Spawn Zones are connected by an unbroken chain of Active Mold, the Mission is immediately lost.
While Mold itself is a threat on a number of different levels for the Survivors, it can also become a nest for the Xenos. Hiding in the Equipment deck are a number of Mold Spawn cards that trigger new Xenos to burst forth in Active Mold Zones in the base itself. It can cause the team to be quickly overrun.
Luckily, there is some Equipment that can fight back the Mold. Flamethrowers with attached Canisters can create Hellfire in a target Zone. The Survivor must discard the Canister to destroy everything in the target Zone. All figures and Objectives, are consumed by the Hellfire, and all Active Mold tokens are flipped to their inactive sides. Sometimes, you just have to kill it with fire.
With a more powerful Equipment deck and some advanced technology on their side, the human inhabitants of the mining base on PK-L7 might just have a fighting chance.
Stay tuned to the CMON and Guillotine Games Facebook pages for more updates on Survivors, Xenos, and much more as we countdown to the April 10 3 PM EST launch of the Zombicide: Invader Kickstarter.
Read the Zombicide: Invader Design and Development article here.
Read the Zombicide: Invader Gameplay article here.
Read the Zombicide: Invader Survivors article here.
