State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition

UPDATE: The 26.1 hotfix addressed many issues that were making this achievement such a pain. It should be much easier, faster, and more reliable to unlock this now. It takes much less than the 20 hours it did when I unlocked it. Some people have unlocked it in as little as 5 in-game days.

This achievement takes at least 20 hours (12-14 in-game days) to get, excluding any failed runs, so be ready for a grind. I've played through it a couple different times now so I think I've got a good idea on what you need to do and what can go wrong.

Basically it comes down to one thing: Did Ray Santos spawn? If not, restart. There's a couple ways to tell pretty early on, and I'll note them later. There's also three different quest chains that are absolutely required to progress through: Meeting CLEO, The Wilkerson Reckoning, and The Santos Legacy. If you don't start The Santos Legacy, you will never get another Wilkerson quest (it dead-ends after you visit his destroyed house). I kept track of all missions that I believe are required as well as IzzBee's side missions because I wasn't sure if they're required or not (just do them since they're easy). The Creative Botanist quest line doesn't relate to the others in any way, so I don't think it's required at all, but you can do them if they pop up to kill time (I did them all just in case).


Basic Tips

- Start a new game on Green. I know you may be tempted to move an existing community over. Don't. The game is ridiculously easy on Green and you don't need the benefit of an existing team, and it's possible that this messes up how characters spawn.

- Don't bother picking a Leader. The only thing this does is trigger a bunch of missions that force you to the end of the game, so don't do it.

- Don't bother destroying plague hearts. Some people think it voids the achievement, but this isn't the case. There's one particular quest that requires you to destroy two plague hearts and if you've cleared the map, it can't trigger that quest, right? Kinda. It actually skips the quest entirely and gives you a unique radio conversation that thanks you for clearing out the plague hearts. The quests continue normally after that. I left the plague hearts alone because there's no need to destroy them. Just kill ones that are in your way. I still had two on the map when the achievement unlocked.

- Stay in the starter base until you have 6 people (recruit them ASAP) and 1750 Influence (sell tons of stuff to traders and only buy things you absolutely need), then move to the old Santos Farm in the center of the map. Not only is it a nice centralized location, there's 4 large slots which are extremely useful (since you need one for the Meeting CLEO quest. The actual "best" base sucks and is far away from everything.

- All quests and conversations trigger automatically (going to a specific place or talking to a specific person does not trigger missions) other than the very first quest. Feel free to explore, establish outposts, or just idle in your base while you wait for missions. I would suggest doing all side missions as soon as they pop up (or canceling them) to keep your mission log empty. There's a limit to how many missions you can have at once so if you have too many it won't trigger the ones you need.

- You can apparently have so many enclaves on the map at once that it can prohibit required enclaves from spawning. If you feel like you should be getting a quest (specifically from The Santos Legacy or The Wilkerson Reckoning), you can try eliminating an enclave from the map (killing them off is easiest). If you want to see if this is the issue before going on a murder spree, try using the radio to invite a new community to the map. If it fails, you have too many enclaves and you should eliminate some. Big thanks to qManballin for finding this!


SPOILERS HERE ON OUT

Below is a timeline of when quests pop up and what conversations are going on over the radio. You can use this to keep track of how things are progressing. You should be getting a required mission basically once a day. The missions are super straightforward so I'm not including a full walkthrough. I'm only going to list the name of the mission (underlined) and a brief description of what it involves (inside spoiler tags). I'll also include all relevant radio conversations (italics) so you can keep track if the quests are still progressing even if you haven't gotten a mission in a while.

Map of Trumbull Valley:



-Day 1-

Lilly calls Ray about the newcomers in the Valley

Head to the farthest point North (the East fork) to trigger the first quest chain:

Meeting CLEO: The Doctor is Calling


IzzBee's Mystery: Jurassic Junction


-Day 2-

The Wilkerson Reckoning: Homestead


Dr. Hoffman calls thanking you for the memory core

-Day 3-

Lilly calls Ray about a problem with a community
(If this doesn't happen within the first couple days restart since it means Ray did not spawn and he is REQUIRED for achievement)

Meeting CLEO: Critical Download


-Day 4-

IzzBee's Mystery: A Cryptic Signal


Lilly calls Ray to yell at him for a community leaving but he doesn't answer

Mickey Calls Lilly but she doesn't want to talk

CLEO broadcasts test results

Mickey calls Lilly again

-Day 5-

The Santos Legacy: All Good Things
(this is the start of Ray's quest line which is required for the achievement. If it doesn't trigger in a couple days it means Ray isn't on the map and you need to restart)


Chaves calls IzzBee about the codebook

CLEO says IzzBee is your new master

-Day 6-

IzzBee calls Chavez about the code book and he gives her a hint

Meeting CLEO: Signal Interference


-Day 7-

Nothing happened for me

-Day 8-

IzzBee's Mystery: Breaking the Code


CLEO asks Dr. Hoffman for something and Mickey tells them to get off the radio

-Day 9-

Lilly calls Ray about his condition

Meeting CLEO: The Haven Protocol


-Day 10-

Ray calls the Church of Ascension for help but they don't answer.

-Day 11-

The Santos Legacy: Going Home


The Wilkerson Reckoning: Buried Treasure
KEEP THE PHOTO AS IT IS REQUIRED FOR A MISSION TO TRIGGER


Lilly calls Ray about moving to the church

-Day 12-

They Wilkerson Reckoning: Memories


Lilly calls Mickey to thank him

Lilly calls Ray about church door

-Day 13-

The Santos Legacy: Second Chances


-Day 14-

The Wilkerson Reckoning: A new Coalition


The achievement unlocks when you turn in the mission and Ray and Mickey start talking.

Hope this helps!

This is my story & progression of this achievement. I hope people find it useful guide to follow in the steps required for the achievement. (Not sure the Tressie missions are required)
Side notes:-
• I started a new community in the green zone, cleared out any infestations that came on the map, never promoted a leader, and only cleared plague hearts when there was a mission to. Whether or not these things affected radio chatter speed up or glitches the achievement, I am unsure.
• Work on getting 6 community members to move out to the farm base in the centre of the map (Large outdoor space needed for the IzzBee mission Meeting CLEO: The Haven Protocol to install the haven protocol).
• Completing/Cancelling missions/exiting & re-joining games seemed to speed radio communications up (third option not recommend after the final IzzBee mission, as this creates a loop of the mission every time you join game).
• Bullet points represent radio communication, sat in said locations over period of time with little movement every now and then (out of vehicle) which I believe triggers certain radio chatter dialogues.
• 1 day in game equates to 1hour30mins.
Radio Communications started for me when I idled in this location (https://ibb.co/F7m2XS3) on two different communities to get the Roy Santos/Lily Ritter & Tressie Huerta radio dialogue.
[DAY1]
 Ray Santos contacts Lily Ritter about new peopling settling in Trumbull valley.
 Tressie Huerta contacts about a project that’s she’s working on.
 Lilly Ritter contacting about Ray Santos is the man to help anyone.
 Lilly Ritter Contacts Ray Santos about communities needing help.
 Lilly Ritter trying to contact Ray Santos about a community leaving valley.
 Lily Ritter worried about Ray Santos because he’s not answering radio.
Mission 1 – The Santos Legacy: All Good Things
[DAY2]
 Lily Ritter contacts Ray Santos concerned & angry he didn’t respond to her in previous radio chat.
 Ray Santos reaching out about the church of ascension.
Mission 2 – The Santos Legacy: Going home
I believe Ray Santos mission line ends here. After this I headed south to Marshall to trigger the Tressie Huerta missions. Once Tressie Huerta first mission is complete I headed to the barn (here https://ibb.co/F7m2XS3 just south of starting base & left of the scouting post is where I idled to get the radio chat with Tressie Huerta).
Mission 3 – Tressie’s Quest: A Call for help
[DAY3]
 Tressie Huerta contacts introducing herself to Trumbull Valley communities.
Mission 4 – Tressie’s Quest: Barn Storming
 Lily Ritter contacts about adding another sleeping area.
[DAY4]
 Lily Ritter contacts Ray Santos about moving back to their old place the church.
 Tressie Huerta contacts about plague walls been harmful.
 Micky Wilkerson contact about some unwanted visitors (I headed north to South Lake Tanner to carry out a mission, triggering the Micky Wilkerson radio dialogue).
 Tressie Huerta contacts about plague hearts almost taking over the Valley.
 Micky Wilkerson contacts about trusting these people.
Mission 5 – Meeting CLEO: The doctor is calling
Mission 6 – The Wilkerson Reckoning: Homestead (At this point I stood around here https://ibb.co/SNRVQ6F idling getting more IzzBee & Micky Wilkerson radio chat)
Mission 7 – Izzbee’s Mystery: Jurassic Junction
 Doctor Hoffman contacts thanking for the memory core & some unusual radio chatter.
 Micky Wilkerson contacts Lily Ritter about talking to Santos.
Mission 8 – Tressie’s Quest: Data Gathering
 IzzBee contacts about picking up unusual radio noises.
 Doctor Hoffman contacts about connectivity test, CLEO please respond.
[DAY5]
 Micky Wilkerson contacts Lily Ritter asking to talk about old times.
 Chavez contacts IzzBee to talk.
Mission 9 – Meeting CLEO: Critical Download
[DAY6]
 Micky Wilkerson contacts Lily Ritter asking to talk about old times.
 Cleo comes on radio saying network failure, try again in 30 seconds.
Mission 10 – Izzebee’s Mystery: A Cryptic Signal
 Cleo comes on radio saying IzzBee is your new master
 Tressie Huerta contacts about been onto something & will be in contact.
Mission 11 – The Wilkerson Reckoning: Buried Treasure
Mission 12 - The Wilkerson Reckoning: Memories
 Cleo comes on radio about network failure.
Mission 13 – Meeting CLEO: Signal Interface
[DAY7]
Mission 14 – Tressie’s Quest: Throwing down the Gauntlet
 Cleo comes on radio say test complete.
 IzzBee contacts Chavez asking about a code & hint.
 Lily Ritter contacts Micky Wilkerson about some medicine & picture.
 Tressie Huerta contacts about some grass & weeds from the plague walls.
 Cleo contacts Dr. Hoffman about an enquiry.
[DAY8]
Mission 15 – Izzebee’s Mystery: Breaking the Code
 Tressie Huerta contacts helping out and will be in touch soon.
Mission 16 – Meeting CLEO: The Haven Protocol
Mission 17 – Tressie’s Quest: Special Delivery
 Lily Ritter contacts Micky Wilkerson about how things might have turned out different.
 Lily Ritter contacts Tressie Huerta about here new invention.
 IzzBee contacts about taking the haven device apart.
[DAY9] No radio or missions
[DAY10]
 Lily Ritter contacts Ray Santos about front door on church. (sat for like 2-3 hours with no story progress, soon as I took items out of CLEO drops, I got this radio dialogue, maybe a coincidence, I don’t know or maybe leaving items in CLEO drops glitches the story from progressing)
Mission 18 – The Santos Legacy: Second Chance
[DAY11] No radio or missions
[DAY12]
Mission 19 – The Wilkerson Reckoning: A New Coalition
This is my first ever true achievements guide, so please go easy on me in the comments, I have tried to make this guide (I Don’t see this as much as a guide but my story & how it played out, as it seems everyone’s is playing out differently. I do feel like the CLEO drop mission is having an effect on progress, because soon as I completed that mission things slowed down dramatically) as easy to understand & read as possible, but this is a very complexed achievement and seems to rely on some RNG mechanic.
That been said what inspired me to write this guide was the previous guides and comments, with a special thanks AleisterH, his comments and strategy has helped me the most and has been very helpful to progressing quicker, which I have added his strategy into this guide.

Updated 9/6/2021
added a video of the final mission
added more info

This is NOT a guide to guarantee you this achievement but my advises as well as info from others, hope this helps. This is my first time to write something like a guide but I will try my best. let me know in the comments for any corrections/improvements please.

Following Boss Complex's guide, I'd like to add some tips:

1, Start a new community instead of using any of your existing ones. Existing communities seem hinder several radio conversations for me, wasting 10+ in-game days.

2, If you don't get Lily talking about Ray on radio in THE FIRST 2 in-game days, restart the map. It's IMPORTANT to get this Ray character appear ASAP, as many of radio chats are required to get him appear.

3, Check the frequency of radio conversations, they should keep on talking consecutively once in a min or 2, if it starts to become quiet just quit and load the game. Having many infestations also seems slows the frequency, so destroying some should keep your progress back to normal. According to Fuzzmeister J, Changing bases also has possibilities to increase radio chat frequency.

4, Don't destroy unnecessary plague hearts, some missions need them to trigger. You can destroy 1 or 2 at the very beginning for outposts and relocation. Boss Complex said you eventually have to destroy all of them but by the time I unlocked this achievement, I had 4 remaining(played on Normal that has 10 from the beginning). Some missions seems can be skipped by wiping out all but you don't want to risk skipping them.

5,

Note: Based on the comments this walkaround works for some people but NOT everyone. If you cannot get it stop popping, honesty I think your save is surely glitched so you probably want to restart the map.

6,

7, DO NOT promote any leaders, but you can advance community members' missions. I have no proof but once a leader is promoted the game might limit this Trumbull Valley "side" story while pushing you towards the end like the main game.

The final Wilkerson mission looks like this: (if you want to take a look)


Good Luck!

This is not a definitive guide (yet) it is a work in progress.

Trumbull Valley Main Story Mission Related Achievement.

Achievement is possible buggy/glitchy for some people.

Note* Read Comments.






Personal experience:
#1. It took quite some time IRL for the missions to pop up. Will not be quick back to back missions.
#2. Some dialogue might need to trigger over the radio, BEFORE the next mission appears (some info about the stories progression, is said over radio, possible pre-requisite)
#3. Play on Green difficulty for an easier time.
#4. I recommend the farm base in the middle of the map, over the military base in marshall.
#5. It took me “12 days” in game to get and finish all the wilkerson quests.

I was doing all the side quests and main missions that involve, mickey izzbee and the doc, ray santos, chavez and “tris?”.

Build a self functioning base and then wait out missions or work towards other achievements.

Without Spoiling to much -

Side note: thru one if izzbees side quests you unlock Haven CLEO at your base. For 25 parts a day, it keeps your base siege free and kills zombies that wander on your base.

Tldr: this achievement is part of the main story of Trumbull Valley. However it takes a long time, due to long stretches of time in between missions.

***BUG SOLUTION***
I followed Assassin Bean's tips, and general mission lineup.

I kept doing the missions, and got to the mission "The Wilkerson Reckoning: Memories." I got to where you go into the shed, and I couldn't pick up the medicine, or anything in any crate for that matter, despite having plenty of space in my inventory. So, I restarted my game.

Now, when I get in, I can play for about 5 seconds before it crashes. I looked up if anyone else has had this problem, and it doesn't seem so. The solution is quite simple, but it took my an entire other playthrough of the Trumbull map, as well as lots of research to try and find a solution. I found it by testing a whim.

If you have this problem, all you have to do is not have the game create an online session. So boot up the game with Wi-Fi connection, turn it off, and then open your community. You only have to do this for this select mission, every other mission is fine. Hope this helps someone as unfortunate as me.