Expeditions in Die2Nite

Question

I do not really understand how expeditions work. Should I just go outside the town and follow the preassigned route or should I tell somebody first?

Are expeditions something built in the game or is it just a game strategy that players agree on?

Answer 1

Expeditions are what you make of them.

You can create an expedition from Town Gates → Expedition. From there, click on the map to make waypoints, name your expedition and save it.

Alternatively, you can select an existing expedition from the map interface.

Now, when you'll be in the world behind, a small arrow will point to your next waypoint, making it easy to follow the path you defined.

You only need expeditions if your trip is complex (e.g. to work around zombie infested areas) or if you are travelling in groups. Group expeditions should be planned on the forums (or on whatever other communication channels you have); otherwise, you should assume that the plan has no particular use and you should ignore it (or use it to explore a different path.)

Answer 2

you just usually follow the route. There's no way of moving entire groups of people, so there will be laggers. The only thing planning an expedition and mapping it out is to show others where you are going, but mostly its only something players agree on doing together and requires lots of coordination on the forums to pull off.

Answer 3

The way I run expeditions is to post a thread in the forums, announcing start time/route/etc, and we all move together AT THE SAME TIME.

I used to simply use the forum thread to communicate, but now I use IRC. The key distinction is that an expedition of say only 4 people a) travel safely, and b) travel quickly and efficiently. You can clear many squares on one pass, and - unless you decide to stop to auto-search - you are usually finished inside 20-30mins.

When the expedition is completed, the plan is deleted and the thread is closed - so that stray players don't follow 10hrs after you and get themselves trapped!