Zombie Gunship: How to Stop Killing Civilians
Quick n Dirty answer
Three civilian deaths end the round, so trigger discipline matters more than firepower. Read white shapes first, fire at the feet, and never drop a 105mm into a survivor lane.
More Zombie Gunship runs end on the third civilian than on a bunker breach. Score, rank, and the radio operator’s mood all hinge on the same skill: not shooting your own people. This is the drill.
Why civilians decide your score
Three accidental civilian deaths end the round. Even before that wall, every dead survivor stings the score and burns the General Pardon allowance if you bought it. Zombies are infinite; civilians are the limited resource. Treat them that way.
Tell white from white
On thermal, survivors and zombies both glow. Shape and behaviour separate them. Survivors hold a steady line toward the bunker. Zombies break formation, drift, and clump. If a glow is moving in a clean straight path, hold fire until it clears the kill zone.
Pick the right barrel for the lane
- 25mm Gatling near survivors. Tight footprint, on the feet of the lead zombie. Safer than anything else when a civilian is in frame.
- 40mm Bofors at the edges. More power, still surgical. Use it for knots forming away from the survivor line.
- 105mm Howitzer only in a clean zone. If any white shape is heading toward the impact circle, the answer is a 40mm burst, not the howitzer.
The full matching is in the cannon guide.
The two-second rule
Before every 105mm shot, do a two-second civilian check. Pan around the crater area and confirm no survivor is walking into it. Two seconds feels long in the middle of a wave. It is also the difference between a 105mm that resets the screen and a 105mm that ends your round.
Buy backups, do not rely on them
Bomb Buddy covers the bunker if a zombie touches the gate. General Pardon gives you extra civilian deaths before game over. Both are worth having on tough maps, especially Bunker Alfa 1, but neither replaces discipline; they buy you forgiveness for the one accident, not for sloppy fire. The upgrade priority guide covers when each is worth the coins.
The one mistake to avoid
Firing into the survivor lane because the crowd is loud. Loud is not urgent. The urgent threat is the zombie at the bunker door, and that fire is always safe. Train the eye to look for the gate problem first.
What’s next
Discipline locked in? Test it on the Bunker Alfa 1 run, then use the saved civilians to fund the right upgrades.