Military bases and secret locations in Project Zomboid

Knox Country has no living soldiers in Build 42. The army appears only as zombies, corpses, tents, fences and radio or newspaper text. What you can visit falls into four groups: the hidden research base west of Rosewood, the army line along the south edge of Louisville, small military storage rooms scattered through the towns, and army surplus shops.

Coordinates are world coordinates as shown on the online map, and most come from a single guide.

The base sits in forest west of Rosewood and is left off the in-game Rosewood map. One guide places it near 5534, 12437 (one source). Guides describe the approach differently: one says to drive west from town and take a southern road into the woods, another says to take the highway north of Rosewood and turn onto a dirt road about halfway along. Both agree the last stretch is dirt road through dense trees with dead ends, so plan the route on the online map before leaving.

In Build 41 this was a single surface building with light loot. Build 42 added a large underground complex below it. Above ground there are checkpoints, security buildings, a communications building and a helipad. Below, one guide counts 17 floors and another lists lab levels from -1 to -17. The first guide's level-by-level account only covers barracks, a cafeteria level with the heaviest crowd, labs and medical rooms with the armory, and a maze-like bottom floor, so the exact depth should be checked in game. See basements for how underground levels work.

Expect army camo zombies in larger numbers than at any roadblock, plus instructors, doctors, office staff, agents and hazard-suit zombies. Reported loot includes M16 rifles, shotguns, ammunition, military backpacks, hazmat suits and skill books. Two guides call the loot modest for the effort.

• Bring a vehicle that handles rough ground and park it facing out. See vehicles.
• Carry more than one light source. The lower levels are dark. See lighting.
• Fight with melee indoors where you can. Gunfire pulls every floor toward the stairwell.
• Watch the barracks level. It has two staircases, so zombies can come in behind you.

The army sealed Louisville from the south, and that line is still on the map as a fence with camps at the road crossings. In lore the boundary failed on July 15 to 16, 1993. See lore for the timeline.

The two small crossings are the easiest military loot in the game to reach. The Louisville Road checkpoint is near 13425, 4073 and the Ernest Cooper Road checkpoint near 14525, 4017. In the 42.20 builds the fence is closed on the southern side and has a gate on the city side. Coming from Valley Station you have to destroy a fence section with a sledgehammer or cut it with a welding torch (one source).

Each small checkpoint uses the same three tents (one source):

• Barracks tent: military clothing, knives, holsters, sometimes a firearm or ammo.
• Firearms tent: can hold guns, but it is a random roll.
• Communications tent: radios, electronics, ammo, sometimes a gun.

The Dixie Highway camp on the main road is a different scale. It is a large army and refugee camp, and players report zombies in the thousands on busy population settings. A fourth site on the eastern fence near the airport is described in community guides as a bigger post with barracks, supply and a tower, but details are thin.

Surplus stores are shops, not army sites, but they are the safest source of military clothing and packs. One guide written for 42.20.4 lists seven of them and 16 military storage pins (one source).

On surplus shelves, one guide gives rough per-roll chances of about 7% for a green military backpack and about 21% each for the military duffel and satchel, before loot settings (one source). Compare packs on the bags page.

Fort Knox is named in newspapers, broadcasts and other in-game text, and the lore treats it as where army units came from. It is not a playable base on the vanilla Build 42 map. Guides that show barracks, motor pools and a gold depository south of Muldraugh are describing a map mod. Fort Redstone is also a mod. See mods if you want one.

The Air National Guard base mentioned on survivor radio is tied to Nashville and cannot be reached. Vehicles such as Humvees, APCs and helicopters, and weapons such as the M4A1, suppressors and grenade launchers, are not in the vanilla game (one source). The M16 is.

For sites that are new in Build 42, the sources support two: the underground lab under the secret base, and the Brandenburg blockade in the new western map area. No source consulted confirmed any other new vanilla military base.

Military containers follow the same rule everywhere: lockers and crates carry the better chance of rifles, pistols and ammo, while plain shelves in army storage lean toward medical items, clothing and electronics (one source). About 30% of camo outfits carry a bag (one source).

Build 42 can also leave buildings partly looted before you arrive, depending on sandbox settings, so an armory may be close to empty.

Opinion For most players a gun store or police station gives more weapons per hour than any army site. Go to the surplus stores for clothing and packs, the small checkpoints for a first M16 chance, and the secret base only once you have spare ammo and want the challenge. More options are on loot locations and firearms.