I've seen references to a strategy of zig-zagging rooms to slow down attackers. Could someone clarify how that works? I've built two internal elevator shafts straight down so I can demolish & rebuild any of my rooms at any time, and I don't have much problem with enemies spreading except when there's an infestation in an empty room and I can't get dwellers to it fast enough.

I've been lucky to get some good weapons early on so that raiders never get past my vault entrance, and deathclaws usually only make it to the second level, occasionally the third.

It took 4 vault attempts to get it right for my play style.


Basically build left to right but be weary of space limit. My initial Living Quarters is only 2 spaces being that it isn't that essential like resource ones. But only expand when you have surplus / full resources and bottle caps.


My initial setup including destroy & rebuilds is as follows:


Vault - Elevator (didn't destroy due to initial setup costs) - Living Quarters (2) - Diner (3) - Elevator - Power (3) - Water (3) ...


I struggled with this vault because of lower gear. Those bb guns and basically cap guns don't help much. But got a legendary through Lunch Box and got a medium stat level dweller early on too.


Good luck

I think a "zig-zag" design has staggered elevators so that each one can only go up&down one level - in other words, no central elevator system and intruders (and dwellers) are forced to go along most/all of a level to reach the next elevator.


I would guess it would go something like this:


V-E-3-2-E

E-3-3-2-E

E-3-3-E-2

3-E-3-E-2

3-E-3-2-E


(E=Elevator, 3=room 3 blocks wide, 2=room 2 blocks wide)


I haven't tried this myself but it's an interesting idea!

Yeah, I don't see what it really helps with. Radroach & molerat infestations spread directly to adjacent rooms, ignoring elevators. Raiders & deathclaws just plow through each level anyhow.

Yeah, the only thing I can see this set up doing is making your own dwellers take longer to move about. The invaders already move left to right, top to bottom fighting in each room as they go anyways. Even if you design it so they have to move all the way to the bottom on the right to go up all the way on the left to the first room on the second floor, it's not like you will be able to take pot shots as they run across. Your people don't fight unless that room is their destination.

Other than having your highest level people closest to the top floor in the first 3 rooms they fight and armed with the best weapons you can get, I don't see any real "strategy." That isn't even really strategy as the same method is used in all cases. Strategy suggests that there are different things you could do in different cases for better effect.

The only real room strategy I can think of that would be any benefit would be checker boarding your rooms so that no two rooms are adjacent. In this case if a room is empty or if an event gets out of hand in one, the event won't kill off your entire vault.

This game needs some work before I can honestly say that there is any real strategy involved. One correct strategy does not a strategy game make.