Multiplayer guide: turn more players into useful coverage

Understand what a larger group changes

Lobbies support one to eight players. Smaller groups receive fewer van problems, while larger groups face more pressure but can divide searching, carrying and repairing. Extra players are only an advantage when their routes produce different information. Three people opening the same garage do not triple its toolbox count.

Before dispersing, turn the key, read all mandatory faults, identify complete dependency chains and check the tools already in the van. Then name one coordinator. The coordinator does not need to command every footstep; they maintain the shared answer to three questions: what is missing, who owns it and when everyone returns.

Assign roles by party size

| Party size | Practical role split | Main risk to avoid | | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | 2–3 | Van/radar lead, primary scavenger, flexible carrier-repairer | Both players making the same long trip | | 4–5 | Sector pairs plus one van receiver/repairer | No one updating completed dependencies | | 6–8 | Named coordinator, sector teams, heavy-item carriers and repair ownership | Noise, duplicate searches and late recall |

Roles are responsibilities, not rigid classes. A van lead can search the nearest house between deliveries; a scout can repair when returning with the toolbox. What matters is that the radar and van are not abandoned without anyone noticing and that every mandatory repair chain has an owner.

Split the map into sectors, not a crowd

Use visible landmarks and cardinal directions: east garages, north houses, station route, vehicle beds. Each team gets a short loop bending back toward the van. Report cleared high-value locations so the next team does not repeat them.

Pairing works well in dangerous conditions. One player carries the tire while the other remains mobile, watches hazards and finds the safest path. In calm weather, solo scouts cover more locations; as hazards stack, merge into pairs and shorten the radius.

Keep one flexible route unassigned. The coordinator can send that player toward a newly reported battery, a missing jack or a downed teammate without collapsing the rest of the map plan.

Use compact, consistent callouts

Every useful item call contains three pieces: what, where, status.

• “Mandatory tire, west junkyard, need carrier.”
• “Toolbox delivered to van, free for battery.”
• “Heavy lightning east, sheltering in blue house.”
• “All repairs complete, hard recall now.”

Distinguish “seen,” “picked up,” “staged” and “installed.” This vocabulary prevents the classic failure where the coordinator thinks a tire is ready at the van while it still lies two streets away.

Proximity voice reacts to speaker range, walkie-talkies provide longer-range communication when switched on, and broadcast radio can send a voice message through map speakers. At v0.34.19, official notes still list walkie-talkie issues and no push-to-talk, so do not make the plan depend on perfect voice delivery.

Create item handoffs at the van

The van should become a relay station. Scouts deliver parts; the receiver announces them and begins repairs; empty-handed players return to the next missing dependency. Store documents instead of letting them occupy active inventory.

Heavy items deserve explicit ownership. Name the tire carrier and escort, clear their return route and do not redirect them toward optional objectives. Shared tools such as the toolbox must return to a known spot after use. “I have it” is not enough; the crew needs to know whether the tool is moving, staged or busy in an interaction.

Enforce the recall plan

Choose a hard recall threshold before the first search: a radar stage, siren/wind condition or time margin everyone understands. Heavy carriers start back earlier. Once the threshold is reached, the coordinator does not negotiate optional loot over the radio.

When mandatory repairs finish, the objective changes from collection to evacuation. Call every sector, account for downed or distant players, close the doors and leave. Electrical and burning effects can spread risk to nearby teammates, so regroup without clustering on a hazard.

Current-version lobby, invite and item-sync issues mean redundancy matters. Repeat the recall, use map speakers or proximity voice where appropriate, and establish the rule in advance: silence after hard recall means return to the van, not keep looting.