Cartography

Cartography holds the paper maps of Knox Country. Each town map fills in part of the world map at once, so a survivor knows the streets before walking them. Some maps carry notes from a dead survivor that lead to hidden supplies. A pen or pencil turns any map into a plan of safe routes, loot runs and danger zones.

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Best Cartography

The top pick for each role, by the game's own figures.

For	Name	Image	Stats	Spawn ID
Lightest	Map: Louisville Northwest		0.2 weight	/additem Base.LouisvilleMap1
Heaviest	Map: Louisville Northwest		0.2 weight	/additem Base.LouisvilleMap1

World Map

The world map opens from its hotkey or the map button on the left of the screen. It shows where the character stands. At the start it is mostly blank. The game's guide explains that it fills in through exploration and by finding maps or flyers that reveal locations. Explored areas show bright, while areas known only from a map show darker.

The world map carries place names for every town, the Ohio River, the Salt River and landmarks such as the Knox Boundary Camp. A brightness slider in the map window lightens or darkens the view.

A mini-map can also sit on screen. Both maps are sandbox options. Allow World Map and Allow Mini-Map switch them on or off. All Known On Start fills in the whole world map from day one. Light Needed To Read Map stops map reading in the dark unless a light is at hand.

Town Maps

Each town map weighs 0.2. Reading one marks its town on the world map. Map: Muldraugh, Map: West Point, Map: Riverside, Map: Rosewood and Map: March Ridge each cover one town. New characters can start in each of these towns, so the local map is one of the first good finds.

Louisville is far too big for one sheet. Its map is split into Map: Louisville Northwest, Map: Louisville North, Map: Louisville Northeast, Map: Louisville West, Map: Louisville Central, Map: Louisville East, Map: Louisville Southwest, Map: Louisville South and Map: Louisville Southeast. The sheets overlap a little at the edges. Collect them all to see the whole city.

The plain Map item also weighs 0.2.

Annotated Maps

An annotated map looks like a normal town map with notes and symbols already drawn on it. The sandbox tooltip calls them maps "written by a deceased survivor". The Annotated Map Chance option sets how often a looted map carries these notes. Settings run from Never through Extremely Rare, Rare, Sometimes and Often to Very Often.

Most annotated maps mark a stash. Reading one adds the stamps and notes to the world map. The marked building then holds extra loot. The game's stash tables include gun caches, shotgun caches, tool caches, food caches, medical caches and survivor caches. One even leads to a stash of booze.

Many of these stashes come with a catch. Some buildings spawn extra zombies. Some have their windows and doors barricaded. At least one hides a trap. Read the notes closely before walking in.

The notes are short and scrawled. One Muldraugh map simply says "Floorboards." next to an X, with "big crowd" written elsewhere on the sheet. That stash is a gun box hidden under a living room floor. Another Muldraugh map reads "Gun in Spiffo's." and marks "trouble" elsewhere on the map. A third just says "left it here xx" beside a duffel bag of guns. The game calls each of these items an Annotated Map. Annotated maps exist for Muldraugh, West Point, Riverside, Rosewood, March Ridge and the Louisville sheets. Some of them only appear on zombie corpses.

Writing on Maps

The game's guide says to make markings on the map with a pen or pencil. The map window has Add Symbol and Add Note buttons. Symbols include arrows, crosses, exclamation marks and many small icons. Markings can be moved, rotated, edited and removed later.

The colour of the marking depends on the writing tool. A Pen - Black or a Marker - Black draws black, and a Pencil draws grey. Red, blue and green pens and markers add those colours. A Multi-Color Pen and a box of Crayons cover several colours at once. An Eraser removes marks, and the Pencil has an eraser of its own.

Good markings save lives. Mark looted houses with a cross. Mark hordes and blocked roads with an exclamation mark. Mark water such as rivers, ponds and rain barrels. In multiplayer, the Sharing setting decides who sees each symbol: Private, Everyone, Faction or other chosen players.

Fliers and Brochures

A Flier works like a tiny map. Reading it reveals the place it advertises on the world map and shows a picture of the flier. Fliers advertise shops, gas stations, restaurants and homes for sale. A Brochure is a close cousin. Each weighs 0.1 and reads fast. Both sit in the Junk category, but they add to map knowledge.

Locations

Town maps fill map crates and magazine racks in gas stations and stores. Hiker bags carry them too. Mechanic shelves and gas station storage hold a few. Car glove boxes and car seats often have one too. Safehouse bookshelves and fireplaces sometimes keep a map.

The local map is the most common. A Muldraugh map turns up far more often than a single Louisville sheet. Expect to search many glove boxes before the Louisville set is complete.

Notes

• The paper map items match the in-game world map, so a map read at home stays known for the rest of the run.
• The annotated maps for Brandenburg, Ekron and Irvington are printed on the Map: Rosewood sheet.
• A map read in the dark fails when the Light Needed To Read Map option is on.

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