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what are the assumptions here? romero zombies? 28 days later? they live?

without this info one can only vote for the birdhouse

I'll second that. With no assumptions, let's unify behind the birdhouse.

Wouldn't a zombie proof house just have to be on base that's about 10 feet tall without doors and windows and some kind of draw bridge style entrance? Perhaps something like arrow slits in the walls that you can stick a pike though to clear away some of the persistent undead?

I think we're overestimating the musclepower zombies can bring to bear.. Seriously. You think the guy that's been stuck in a hospital bed for a year is atrophied? Death brings that to a whole new level. All you'd have to do is make it a relatively sound cinderblock construction, they're not getting through..

Why does everyone think water is such a great zombie barrier?
They may not be able to swim but won't drown either. They can just walk/crawl along the bottom or maybe float. They'd get across eventually.

Zombies are as played as bacon now.

abhorrent1: Why does everyone think water is such a great zombie barrier?
They may not be able to swim but won't drown either. They can just walk/crawl along the bottom or maybe float. They'd get across eventually.

True, but if your pylons are set 200 feet down on the bottom of the seabed, they aren't going to climb up to get you. Though I suppose it could be a problem in the event that you need to dive down to do repairs.

Art Vandelay doesn't have an entry?

Eirik: Wouldn't a zombie proof house just have to be on base that's about 10 feet tall without doors and windows and some kind of draw bridge style entrance? Perhaps something like arrow slits in the walls that you can stick a pike though to clear away some of the persistent undead?

I'm going with remote island hundreds of miles from anything else. Get a desalination plant, auto targetting weapon systems for people trying to get on your island, and I think you'd be good. The zombies would become the least of your problems. Agriculture, fishing, (crappy) building construction could all be done in peace.

video man: Architectural firm? Who cares if their zombie-proof building is pretty? Gimme some structural engineers; you can keep the architects.

/Architects make it pretty, civil engineers make it work.

Not all architects are prancing little fairies who can only make a pretty picture. Most of them are out of work right now anyway leaving the architects with skill to do the real work.

video man: Architectural firm? Who cares if their zombie-proof building is pretty? Gimme some structural engineers; you can keep the architects.

/Architects make it pretty, civil engineers make it work.

So much THIS.

/Hates Architects. Freakin' prima donnas.

Eirik: Wouldn't a zombie proof house just have to be on base that's about 10 feet tall without doors and windows and some kind of draw bridge style entrance? Perhaps something like arrow slits in the walls that you can stick a pike though to clear away some of the persistent undead?

If you look at the zombies acting like ants and stacking up on each other, I'd have greased-up downward spikes to make sure that they can't get any height. and have 20-30 feet high walls that would be as smooth as possible.


But... this site is a pain to look through so I'm not gonna bother.


abhorrent1: Why does everyone think water is such a great zombie barrier?
They may not be able to swim but won't drown either. They can just walk/crawl along the bottom or maybe float. They'd get across eventually.

Most zombies appear to be draw be noise and scent.... under water, they'd lose those and just wander in circles.

Using water with a current, they'd be pulled down the river (or into the ocean to be eaten by sharks that would then turn into zombie sharks)

If the zombies are the type of being limited to primal instinct/reflexes (food and such), then they'd still avoid things that would have killed them when they were "alive" ...hence water, fire, etc.

If they are the virus/rabies type, then they'd drown.

2xhelix: Z1397 makes no sense whatsoever, therefore it got my vote.

+1

You know, as The Walking Dead comic has shown on numerous occasions, it doesn't merely need to be zombie proof. You have to build/make it defensible against well-armed humans as well.

A challenger appears: Zombies are as played as bacon now.

A challenger appears: Zombies are as played as bacon now.

This

nameless314: what are the assumptions here? romero zombies? 28 days later? they live?

without this info one can only vote for the birdhouse

There were no zombies in they live.

yes, 1397 gets my vote also. I have no idea what it is, what scale it is on, what way up it is or anything else which might inform my decision.

Full of win

Mama's Boy: Art Vandelay doesn't have an entry?

jerry, you know i've always wanted to pretend to be a zompocalyps surviver

I'd have big speakers all around playing nothing but crappy country ballads, thus ensuring that neither Rob nor Spider would come anywhere near the place.

Design me a classical castle/fort, enough land inside for solar cell panels, farming ground, fresh water wells and plenty of pikes, ammo, rifles and melee weapons if needed. some basic shields, swords/axes/maces if we need to leave the castle to burn corpses or get specialty supplies.

nameless314: what are the assumptions here? romero zombies? 28 days later? they live?

without this info one can only vote for the birdhouse

'They Live' did not contain zombies.

Jackmeat: nameless314: what are the assumptions here? romero zombies? 28 days later? they live?

without this info one can only vote for the birdhouse

There were no zombies in they live.

Just put the damn glasses on

You can vote for as many as you like as much as you want.

We really need to pick a favorite and give it the ole Fark treatment.

/Z1251 "Safetynet City" is pretty good

unicron702: I'm going with remote island hundreds of miles from anything else. Get a desalination plant, auto targetting weapon systems for people trying to get on your island, and I think you'd be good. The zombies would become the least of your problems. Agriculture, fishing, (crappy) building construction could all be done in peace.

There are a few problems with this, but they aren't impossible. You're now dependent upon a plant for freshwater. Much better would be actually being near fresh water. Sure, you can get buy with a simple evaporative technique and saving rainwater, but that's a hell of a risk to take. Secondly, hurricanes/typhoons. Weaponry isn't limitless (unless you've got a WarthogPuma) so that may not work - static defenses can be problematic. Last point would be that if an underwater horde did show up, you might be farked completely.

Eirik: Wouldn't a zombie proof house just have to be on base that's about 10 feet tall without doors and windows and some kind of draw bridge style entrance? Perhaps something like arrow slits in the walls that you can stick a pike though to clear away some of the persistent undead?

They pile up quite nicely. Walls that slope outwards, other obstacles to hold them up, trenches, anything like that. Walls should be very tall. It's also a good idea not to be near any population centers as it cuts down on the size of the hordes. Making things flameproof would help. That way when they get stacked up you can safely torch them.

Somaticasual: I think we're overestimating the musclepower zombies can bring to bear.. Seriously. You think the guy that's been stuck in a hospital bed for a year is atrophied? Death brings that to a whole new level. All you'd have to do is make it a relatively sound cinderblock construction, they're not getting through..

It's like water. Singly they aren't particularly powerful, but as a horde that doesn't feel pain nor think things through, they can bring significant power to bear.

Eirik:
True, but if your pylons are set 200 feet down on the bottom of the seabed, they aren't going to climb up to get you. Though I suppose it could be a problem in the event that you need to dive down to do repairs.

Yeah - but that's expensive as shiat and you're at the mercy of storms now. Rogue waves, luskas, and other undead would be Very Bad Things.

A challenger appears: Zombies are as played as bacon now.

Seeing how bacon is just as awesome as it ever was, your argument is invalid.


HATERS GONNA HATE

orezona: /Z1251 "Safetynet City" is pretty good

Until you get high winds, freezing rain, or snow.

Wenchmaster: Bah!

The zeds are always going to be the least of your worries. They're stupid. What you'll need defenses against are survivors- singly or in groups. You'll have to deal with people at least as smart and ruthless as you are. They'll almost certainly be armed, and they'll have enough wits, skills, and ingenuity to have survived.

When it comes right down to it, humans are THE apex predator for a reason. WTSHTF, the ones who are able and willing to do whatever it takes to survive are going to be a right scary bunch. Think US Marines or SEALs without rules of engagement.

Zombies? Pussies.

the beauty of it is humans have been building sophisticated fortifications against each other for more than 6000 years and have gotten good at it. The world is full of examples of the kinds of structures that are useful for defending a location

Wenchmaster: Bah!

The zeds are always going to be the least of your worries. They're stupid. What you'll need defenses against are survivors- singly or in groups. You'll have to deal with people at least as smart and ruthless as you are. They'll almost certainly be armed, and they'll have enough wits, skills, and ingenuity to have survived.

When it comes right down to it, humans are THE apex predator for a reason. WTSHTF, the ones who are able and willing to do whatever it takes to survive are going to be a right scary bunch. Think US Marines or SEALs without rules of engagement.

Zombies? Pussies.

That's actually one of the reasons I've always had a hard time buying into most zombie fiction. Even a fairly large number of zombies should be easy fodder for a few well armed squads of skilled snipers. If you have a halfway intelligent leader, a zombie outbreak should take a few hours to put down.

To explain a complete collapse of civil order like we usually see, you'd have to have a lot of zombies appear very suddenly all over the place, plus stunning incompetence on the part of the military.and police forces. Ignoring that the first ones on the scene wouldn't know what they're dealing with, of course.

You could enter just about any house in Johannesburg, SA and win. Even my friends who live in a small peaceful village north of Durban have:

Brick Wall around property, topped with electrified razor wire that if cut, signals an alarm in house and at an armed response company.
Electric gate with similar alarmed wire
Dogs inside wall
Bars and alarms on all doors and windows also connected to armed response company
Panic buttons throughout house
Guns
and more I've probably forgotten

Armed response units are stationed in every neighborhood and are on the scene in about 2 minutes or less. I know because one day when I was housesitting for them a tree fell on the wall and by the time I shut off the inside alarm and went outside the security company was opening the gate with guns drawn.

The houses in Jo'Burg are even more heavily protected. I pity the zombies that come back to life there.

Eirik: Wouldn't a zombie proof house just have to be on base that's about 10 feet tall without doors and windows and some kind of draw bridge style entrance? Perhaps something like arrow slits in the walls that you can stick a pike though to clear away some of the persistent undead?

I don't think that would be enough.

I would go with a house perched on smooth stilts at least 30' tall and built on a hillside--you don't want the zombies to get to you by climbing on each other and so you need something that will cause a pile of them to collapse before it gets tall enough for some to get in.

Somaticasual: I think we're overestimating the musclepower zombies can bring to bear.. Seriously. You think the guy that's been stuck in a hospital bed for a year is atrophied? Death brings that to a whole new level. All you'd have to do is make it a relatively sound cinderblock construction, they're not getting through..

No, that will succumb to a sufficiently large number of them--anything flat on the ground like that can be swamped.

ronaprhys: They pile up quite nicely. Walls that slope outwards, other obstacles to hold them up, trenches, anything like that. Walls should be very tall. It's also a good idea not to be near any population centers as it cuts down on the size of the hordes. Making things flameproof would help. That way when they get stacked up you can safely torch them.

I certainly wouldn't--even if the building is flameproof you had better have your own air supply if you don't want to suffocate.

I've long thought that cliffside living would be the way to go. Two entries reflected that concept.

Z1065 looks feasible, if you just re-purpose an existing oil platform, or you could live on a ship and do much of the same.

same with Z1604

Most of these look too complicated to be feasible

My suggestion would be to build something like a frontier fort town, tall walls angled out to make them hard to climb and enough land inside for crops and livestock.

santadog:
The Zombie story's usually start out with vague reports of people who have gone crazy, or it's rabies.. and as fast as it spreads, before anyone has a handle on what is really going on, you've got a huge outbreak. Remote locations and such lead to larger infected areas before such teams of snipers could be assembled.

Absolutely. The first outbreaks leave people farked. There's lots of confusion and then people start to panic and clog the roads leading out of town - in essence making a giant zombie buffet. That allows for larger numbers of converts early on. Since it appears that the length of time from bite to full-on zombie varies by individual, someone can get bitten and end up in a "safe" group, then turn and start the cycle again.

Now, once society has come to grasps with the situation, weeded out the idiots, and so forth you're correct. It's relatively easy. See a zombie, call it in, sufficient force is brought to bear, problem solved. But initially? Too much denial from authorities, panic from the populace, and so forth. Perfect storm.

santadog: The Zombie story's usually start out with vague reports of people who have gone crazy, or it's rabies.. and as fast as it spreads, before anyone has a handle on what is really going on, you've got a huge outbreak. Remote locations and such lead to larger infected areas before such teams of snipers could be assembled.

Half the fun of zombie fiction is that I could survive the apocolypse but if I can survive why can't nearly everyone else? Besides most Farkers are in the USA where everyone has guns. The military has guns, police have guns, I have guns, many of my neighbors have guns, every rural person that I've ever met has guns. Coming up with an armed group of individuals to fight off shambling zombies seems trivial

Ultimately, you're gonna have to leave the zombie-proof building. Or you're gonna want to leave it, if only to get away from the assholes you've been cooped up with. And if your intention is to survive, eventually, you'll have more people to provide resources/protection for. Obviously, your initial need will be for simple survival, but if you want to actually recreate a society post-apocalypse, I think most of these "solutions" are assuming way too much, ie, that solar or wind will provide adequate electricity, that clean water will be plentiful, that food will be plentiful. That weather won't kill all your crops or destroy your windmills or solar panels. That stuff that breaks (like your generator or water pump) will be easy to fix. It's not like Walmart or Home Depot will be available for you to go buy parts.

One of the designs is for 8 people. Wow! I guess if you have more than 8, you draw straws, then shoot the losers in the head, assuming they don't shoot you first.

And of course, as others have mentioned, it ain't only zombies you'll have to worry about.

I'd vote for the zombie incinerator. At least it accomplishes reducing the numbers of zombies, rather than attempting to keep them out indefinitely. I wouldn't want to be downwind of the incinerator, though. I imagine burning zombie smells bad.