Influence acts as the primary currency in State of Decay 2, enabling survivors to purchase outposts, claim larger home bases, and trade for essential supplies. Managing your community effectively requires a steady influx of points to sustain growth and prepare for dangerous encounters. Understanding the most efficient methods for earning influence allows players to progress smoothly through the game's toughest challenges.
Trading Crafted Medical Supplies
One of the most reliable strategies for accumulating influence involves mass-producing high-value consumable goods at your base. Crafting items like bulk plague cures or strong painkillers provides a massive return on investment when sold to visiting traders and friendly enclaves. Setting up specialized facilities such as hydroponics or infirmaries ensures you have the constant flow of resources required for craft production.
Selling these luxury medical items to traders allows you to quickly drain an enclave's available influence balance. Keeping surplus stock stored in supply vehicles ensures you are always prepared to trade whenever a traveling merchant arrives. This automated production loop provides a passive and lucrative income stream for endgame communities.
Clearing Infestations and Plague Hearts
Active combat against threat zones across the map offers immediate influence payouts while simultaneously improving regional safety. Destroying plague hearts rewards players with substantial point boosts along with valuable loot and weapons. Eliminating nearby infestations also generates quick influence while preventing siege threats against your main base.
To maximize efficiency during combat runs, players can activate specific radio commands that grant passive influence bonus multipliers. Utilizing explosive ordnance or heavy weaponry speeds up heart destruction to minimize personal risk. Clearing these dangerous zones systematically transforms high-risk encounters into major financial windfalls.
Completing Missions and Assisting Enclaves
Responding to survivor radio calls and fulfilling community goals grants consistent influence rewards throughout a playthrough. Assisting neighboring enclaves raises your standing from neutral to friendly or allied, unlocking valuable trading discounts and bonus perks. Completing personal character quests also levels up your survivors while providing large lumps of currency.
Allied enclaves serve as vital trading posts where you can unload unwanted gear, weapons, and trade items. Frequently clearing out excess inventory during mission runs keeps your storage manageable while continuously generating income. Maintaining strong diplomatic ties across the map ensures you always have nearby venues to conduct profitable business.
Leveraging Command Center Buffs
Upgrading your base's command center unlocks powerful passive abilities designed to boost all influence earnings. Activating broadcasts grants a temporary percentage bonus to every point earned through combat, trading, and mission completion. Combining this active boost with high-yield activities ensures you extract maximum value from every action.
Surviving in the wasteland becomes far easier once you establish a reliable method for gathering influence. By balancing trading, mission completion, and base buffs, your community can easily afford top-tier equipment and luxury bases. Strategizing your economy transforms a struggling group of survivors into a thriving post-apocalyptic powerhouse.
