State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition

Want to get this easy?

Load up new community on dread with 3 random survivors on meaghar valley. Don’t settle the default community. Just run west of it and there is cell tower. Climb up there and idle away.

Make sure you have matchmaking enabled so that even if controller turns off game doesn’t pause.

Done.

Thanks BioShOck HaZaRd for testing.

Update
Please be aware that the below exploit I described has been addressed. If I understand correctly only days survived in a Nightmare Zone or Dread Zone will count toward this achievement now. It does not look like you will need to start a new community or anything of that nature but you will need to have your difficulty set to one of these higher difficulties to achieve progress toward this achievement. Please note that I switched over to a Dread Zone and kept it there for ninety-five (95) days to get my achievement. It is more difficult certainly, but definitely not impossible. Thanks to Pluto70 and ninjaraiden2003 for first confirming this.

Specifically, surviving in a Standard Zone and swapping to a Dread Zone or Nightmare Zone will no longer carry over toward this achievement. Meaning you have to do this achievement legitimately and surviving in either a Dread Zone or Nightmare Zone is the only way to work toward this achievement.

Exploit
Several users have confirmed that it is possible to accumulate days survived in a Standard Zone and swap to a Dread Zone or Nightmare Zone and still receive this achievement. So if you already have a community with any time survived you can count that toward this achievement. There is no telling whether or not Undead Labs will address this to keep people from exploiting it. So there is no way to know whether or not this will still work in a week or so. However, right now several users have reported it working just fine.

Uncomplicated Method
It is possible to start a new community and go directly after this achievement from the start of the game. All you need to do is avoid settling your base and climb to the top of a billboard or cellular tower. So if you only need this achievement or only want to go after this achievement, this might be for you. Also this means if you do not care about your base you can idle, but survivors will become depressed and leave and your base will fall apart.

Please view Sighris solution below for more information. He and another user were the first to confirm this actually works.

Idling
Most people are probably going to want to idle to get their days survived, especially those that need many days. The best advice I can offer you is to not idle in your own base. Because zombies, including Juggernauts will periodically attack. I idled in my own base on top of a roof for about an hour and came back to one of my survivors torn in half with a dead Juggernaut beside her. The only place I will camp are Cellular Towers or Billboards as I know that zombies, including Ferals cannot reach me there.

At least one other user has reported success while idling at their base. Do this at your own risk! You should give your survivors the best weapons you have to give them the best chance of survival. You will also need a safe place to camp yourself as well, such as a rooftop where no zombies or Ferals can reach you. Finally killing off the Plague Hearts should reduce the frequency of zombie attacks and plaque zombies too. Thanks to IEXECUTION BKI for first mentioning this.

You are going to need to find ways to passively produce resources as well. The most important of them being food. You can do this by building gardens or claiming outposts that provide food. I have other outposts to give me fuel and ammunition as well. Also I have a Staging Area (requires large slot) built which eliminates construction materials required for upkeep of buildings. I would recommend letting your game idle while you are still around, so you are prepared for any surprises that might arise. At least until you realize you are not running into any problems.

Also if you navigate to your base screen you can highlight the box with the resources, click on it and it will tell you what resources you are using on a daily basis. This will allow you to figure out what outposts and other facilities you will require to be able to idle your game and accumulate days survived.

Game Time
In State of Decay 2 a full day is forty-five (45) minutes of daylight and another forty-five (45) minutes of night. This means that a full day in State of Decay 2 is a total of ninety (90) minutes. Therefore, this achievement from start to finish will take one-hundred and fifty (150) hours to obtain. Thanks to the various people that have confirmed this.

Firstly, I would advise turning your multiplayer mode on so that whenever you pause the game or your controller dies the game continues. Please be aware that this is more dangerous too. As in, if you go to take a short break you could come back to catastrophe if you are not careful. If you do this just remember your game is always running and not to be gone too long.



This is a work in progress and will add more as I think of additional content or others add feedback.

Killed my last Nightmare plague heart on Day 21. Was planning on doing this on Dread, but I didn't want to waste 21 days of progress. Currently on Day 84. Because I decided continue on, I couldn’t prioritize efficiencies when I started Nightmare mode, as I was just trying to survive. Since the old difficulty switcheroo method has been patched, I figured I'd share my ideas. Bear in mind this is from the Nightmare perspective. Dread would have to be easier, but I don’t know in what ways. In no particular order of importance, here is my work flow.

Enclave Relationships
Certain enclaves have perks (bed and breakfast, sniper, endurance boost). Build your relationship by giving them weapons, resources, accessories, whatever. Their perks are generally worth pursuing. I had one with a bed and breakfast perk, and that gave me extra food and beds for my community! Another gave me sniper coverage. With the sniper tower I already had, I had two simultaneous people providing coverage! For a full minute, I was nearly untouchable. It made Nightmare mode less stressful. Seek out enclave relations! You may need to do a couple of favors for them to dish out a perk, but not all enclaves have a perk. But when they provide a benefit, they usually won't ask for another favor to sustain that benefit until you reboot the game. More on that in a bit.

I know it’s a weird thing to recommend, but if you come across them, keep the cannibals! They provide constant access to food, even if you ignore their request for help. If you’re having trouble feeding a community of nine, like me, then having access to their food is absolutely worth it. On a sidenote, enclaves asking for food won’t accept cannibal food.

You may need to decline an enclave’s request, in person. Ignoring help will lead to them leaving town, wasting initial effort. With a decline, you can at least keep the enclave around and wait for their next call for help. Having searched about 80% of Meagher Valley, one enclave asked for a portable generator. My last one was given away to another enclave and going out of my way to find another one wasn’t looking like it would be worth the risk of having them leave, while searching for the generator. I had to close the game out and start it back up.

If you are in a situation where you have to dashboard, close the application completely. If a pack of ferals are on you, rebooting the game will leave you were you left off, without the ferals. Same thing for when your vehicle is on fire, due to a swarm of zombies attacking it. Rebooting will leave the vehicle destroyed, but you will not have to deal with the aftermath of an explosion grabbing the attention of more zombies. Always keep a toolkit, for these occasions!

Inventory Management
For me, there are two types of inventory: one that can be broken down into parts, and those that can be sold for influence. If I can break them for parts, I do so. If I can’t get parts them, I sell for influence. Keep one of everything, but quality of guns are important. Whatever the size of your group, they need to have .45, 5.56, 7.62, or .50 AP capacity guns if they are staying at the base. Even smaller caliber pistols are worth keeping, since enclaves may ask for them. Since I do encourage building these enclave relationships, I prefer to have these throwaway weapons around and not source them for parts. That 10 capacity .22 pistol can eventually lead to a sniper perk!

Facility Priorities
Get your builder leader to stand up a Sniper Tower, in your forever home. This will include a sniper coverage perk for 50 influence. I had an enclave with sniper support for 100 influence with a 30 minute cooldown. Again, having two snipers to cover me actually made finishing Nightmare mode a less stressful experience. Utilize sniper coverage for infestations, feral packs, or military zombies hordes. Or for that weird situation where you’re facing all three of these lovelies at the same time. It could happen. Here is my build for Meagher Valley’s Squelones Brewing Company:

Garden 3 – always have boost yields, be it meds or food. Whichever you need more content with.
Infirmary 3 – always have at least a level 2 infirmary. Duh. A upgraded infirmary will boost morale for those who appreciate it.
Workshop 3 – This place is needed to convert weapons into parts, which you can use to craft advance vehicle toolkits, unlockable in level 3 and with knowledge of automechanics. I prefer the advance toolkits for it’s quick and efficient repairs. And with level 3 workshop, you get a +1 in materials. Sweet.
Sheltered Beds 2 – This is for beds. :p
Watchtower 2 and Sniper Tower – Any help to keep the threat down helps. Also, Sniper Tower’s sniper coverage is good. If you feel you can gain influence back by having your sniper kill off horse or special zombies, you won’t. Sniper kills won’t net you any influence. The coverage is still very nice, though.
Keg Cooperage – I kept mine, and I still have it at Day 84. Not having any materials used is a very nice perk, I’ve come to realize. With Workshop 3’s +1 material, if I hit my capacity, I go to my storage and convert 2 materials to 20 parts.

Hero Perks
When characters achieve Hero status, keep those with meaningful perks. I prefer characters that can add extra beds, boost morale, or provide value to resources, such as +1 ammo, or meal planners. When scouting, use characters that won't add value to these things, such as experience boost or extra resource capacity. Would much rather replace those characters than someone providing a surplus of food.

Resource Management
Get your maxed out, computer skilled character and get those two extra outpost slots, asap. I don’t remember how I got my signal booster (a wandering trader, I think?), but however you get it, get it. Those six slots are crucial.
I’ve listed my home site and facility layout. My (meaningful) Hero bonuses are +4 beds, +1 meds, +1 ammo, +3 morale, and -25% food consumed overall. For my outposts, I have 1 food, 2 fuel, 1 meds, 1 ammo, 1 power. My daily resource deficiencies and surpluses as listed as such:

-3.25 food/-1.75 food with water, no garden boost/+1.25 food with water and garden boost
0 meds
0 ammo (-3 per siege)
+1 material
0 fuel

As you can see, my food varies from situation to situation. I’m always having to keep the house’s water tank flowing, and I have to constantly boost my food yield, with a pack of seeds. When things are working, I have no issues sustaining my resources. With my Hero bonuses, this has worked out pretty well for me. Of course, you’ll have your own recruits with their own perks, so adjust your outposts and facilities accordingly.

Vehicle Health
All vehicles have been converted to a Ford Pinto. This means mowing down a horde will absolutely set an immaculate vehicle into a smoking mess. If you’ve played Dread/Nightmare, you already know. But here’s a friendly reminder to NOT USE YOUR VEHICLE TO KILL ZOMBIES! Wooden fences won’t damage your vehicle. Use this to your advantage! If a zombie or feral is hanging on your door, swipe them off with a fence, if one is near proximity. It’s better than lightly tapping them off with a tree or building.

Upgrade your primary vehicle asap! I have an upgraded Hellion, and that car is super fast, has great handling, and is fuel efficient as hell. I have to run the tank nearly empty to get the best bang out of a fuel can.

Morale and Infestations
The last thing you want is people leaving with premium inventory, like a high powered weapon or crossbow. Characters with +morale stats are pretty good. Infestations are a problem and too many infestation areas will impact morale. Use your sniper coverage and have a second character tag along, either one from your base, an enclave, or one of those random characters who occasionally drop on scent blockers. Remember to not use characters with resource rich traits! For infestations, crossbow is your friend! It’s silent and can take multiple enemies with headshots. I shot an arrow through a window, aiming for a screamer. By chance, I took out four additional zombies out, dropping my 1 screamer/6 zombie infestation to a 2 zombie issue.

Don’t allow infestations to spread too much! Small infestations will breed larger ones. A 1 screamer/6 zombie infestation is easier to handle than a 3 scream/10 zombie one, so keep on top of them when they pop up! In the vehicle section, I pointed out to never use the vehicle as a way to kill zombies. But in the case of infestations, I make an exception with the screamers and screamers only. They need to go, otherwise their screams will just allow more zombies to pile in on the infestations. It’s a risk I’m willing to take, but if I find my vehicle in flames, I dashboard and start the game again, with a toolkit to repair my inoperable vehicle.

If you idle your game, and you begin your idling with a high number of infestations, your home site will be constantly attacked. One night, I started my idle process with six active infestation sites. When I checked the game the following morning, my ammo resource count went from 51 units (consistantly 51 units for days, even during idling) and dropped down to 19 overnight. It was the only idle occasion where my ammo count took a dip that large. If you idle, take care of your infestations!

Idle Method/Dashboarding
When idling, I turn multiplayer on, go to a survey point, and crouch down on the highest point. Sometimes, ferals and screamers will know you’re on the lower part of a billboard and cause noise, drawing in more enemies. Sometimes, they still do that one the higher point. This is where I use my sniper and have them clean up the area below. If they don’t clean all ferals up, I just wait for the 10 minute cooldown to pass and do it again. 100 days is a long while.

After a long period of idling, approaching houses will cause the game to freeze for a moment. I guess it’s finding areas in the building that haven’t been explored, and the more areas to explore, like the fire department across the street from the brewing company, the longer it needs to think. When it gets to that point, I usually dashboard, but I do this when I can spare a couple of hours or so to play after rebooting the game.

Rebooting the game will sometimes cause enclaves to ask for favors again. When requests go unanswered, they leave, along with their perks. Once their requests have been fulfilled, they usually don’t ask for anything else until you have to reboot the game again.

Utilize Disposable NPCs
Enclaves usually come in sets of three NPCs. I’ve never tried my luck with having just a single NPC enclave, from a three character enclave, but I have helped a single character enclave before. But when I see a third character, I enlist one of them to help with stuff like infestations or scouting for resources. When they die, your relationship status doesn’t take a hit, but I stop enlisting people from that particular enclave. I have a two person enclave with no benefits. When I hit my 100 day mark, I may enlist one of them to see if dropping the headcount to one would force that enclave to move or something. Still, I wouldn’t recommend that. It’s nice to have a spare character to help fight off zombies in the middle of a trade.

When one of those visitors with the scent blockers drop by, I always head over to accept the sample and enlist them. They may want help with hunting a juggernaut, buuuuuuuuuuuuut no. Use them to help fight off infestations. And if they die, there’s no negative impact on gameplay. In fact, if you’re able to finish off the baddies that killed the NPC, you’ll be able to loot their body. Sell for influence or break apart for parts. Win-win!

Started the guide on Day 84, wrapping up on Day 96. Just took time away to deal with infestations, keeping moral high, and managing my Garden for food, with an overnight idle.

Idiling worked for me. I used the first map (forget the name sorry). It is the one where you start near a bathroom in a parking lot in the upper right corner of the map. I spawned in with my 2 buddies and went to the house and claimed it. I then went to the cell phone tower across the street and climbed it and spent the next 100 days up there. My 2 guys never left even through they were starving and tired. COMPLETELY safe place to do this. It took many days to complete since 1 day is an hour and a half long in REAL time, so you will only be doing about 18 days per 1 real day so over 5 days to finish this. i did it at night while I slept so it took much longer then 5 days. I kept the controller plugged into the xbox console so it would not time out the whole time I idled.

So cell tower and sit and wait it out.

This was a NEW community start in Nightmare mode.

Done on Providence Ridge in the fire station.
Before starting you need to know this takes around 150 hours just for the 100 days to pass, so leaving on your PC or Xbox is the easiest way to do that. With this guide the community will be self-sufficient other than the small risk a plague Jug kills one of your people while you’re not playing (they’ll die from infection rather than being pulled in half). Once you’ve taken out the blood plague and set up your community you can leave your game running to pass time.
WHILE NOT PLAYING MAKE SURE THE SURVIVOR YOU HAVE CONTROL OF IS SAT ON THE VERY TOP OF THE FIRE STATION WHERE THEY CANNOT BE REACHED BY Z’s. This is a fail safe for if it all goes wrong, as so few people have done this I’m making room for error.
I used the builder boon to give water and electricity. That was gained by doing a speed play through coming up from normal mode into Dread just to get the builders boon to make the 100 days easier and to use less outposts.
Also, worth noting is that I did this between Xbox and PC via ultimate games pass using the Juggernaut edition. This meant I relied heavily on the Pyro-launcher to take care of the blood plague fairly quickly.
So, let’s get going. The things to keep in mind are:
1. When setting up the community make sure you have a medic and auto mechanic at least. Cars are more easily damaged compared to normal and you will get injured.
2. When you defeat a plague heart expect a feral to be straight on you! Or at least on his way through the door of the building you’re in.
3. If possible, stand on top of a vehicle and shoot the Pyro-launcher through a window. Break the window with a pipe bomb or whatever other throwable things you might have.
4. Get your 8 people to get the fire station asap then ditch the 1 you need least to save food
costs.
5. Use vehicles to block up the rear and side gates to make attacks on the base easier to defend.
Facilities:
1. Farm 3 set to food.
2. Garden 2 set to meds.
3. Firesafe storage 3
4. Staging area
5. Infirmary 2
Mods to the facilities I used were:
1. Fertilizer for the farm.
2. White noise machine on a sleep quarter.
3. Wood stove on the garden.
4. Free weights on the training area.
5. Mini fridge on the kitchen.
6. Signal antenna on the command centre.
7. Rifle ammo press for 5.56 ammo on the workshop.
8. Firework crafting on the storage area,
Outposts: 2 ammo, 2 meds, 1 fuel.
With this set up I lost 1 survivor, never had morale drop into the red even when left on for 12 hours unsupervised (this does cause audio glitches that can be solved by going to main menu then reloading). Never ran out of supplies and was only playing to reduce infestations, the most I had was 12 after leaving the game to run without me.

Killed my last plague heart around day 42, had emptied about 95% of all buildings and planned to just wait out the rest of the time with an optimised base (everything but materials ticking over at 0 per day). Decided it was too boring. So I continued with the mission to move to a new map. You CAN change maps with your current community and it keeps counting the days. I moved my community to Trumble Valley on day 47, I'm now on day 49 and the achievement tracker is still rising.