Garrison: Price, Role and Placement in Zombies Aren't Real

What the garrison is

A garrison is soldiers placed inside a building that can fire toward your safe zone boundary. It is the first building-based defense most players buy, and the store page lists it among the specialised ground forces you deploy against the spreading horde, alongside snipers, turrets and mortar squads.

Price

$150 in the planning UI shown in the official screenshots, in a scenario with a $9,410 budget. That makes it the middle of the deploy menu: cheaper than a mortar ($270) or a mine field ($200), more expensive than a turret ($90) or a sniper ($38).

Where it earns its cost

A garrison earns its $150 when the building it occupies can actually see the wall section that will be attacked. Three placement habits decide it:

• Check the line of fire, not the distance. Buildings block their own line of fire. A garrison behind a tall block is a garrison that watches. Select the deployed garrison and inspect its firing range against the walls.
• Cover the approaches zombies will actually use. Streets, bridges and open ground that lead toward your boundary deserve the garrisons; spreading every weapon evenly across the city wastes them.
• Watch long walls. A wall that extends far beyond the surrounding buildings can sit inside your safe zone yet be unreachable for the nearest garrison. Moving the wall closer to the defended buildings often solves it without buying another unit.

When it does not earn its cost

• The building’s line of fire is blocked by other buildings or by your own wall.
• The garrison is deep inside the safe zone while zombies attack a distant section of wall.
• You bought several garrisons instead of one correctly placed unit plus a cheap sniper on the long approach.

The game’s own stats panel scores garrisons separately. In one official screenshot a garrison had 9 kills while helicopters had 492 - a run whose ground plan did not hold, and a useful reminder that the panel reads the plan back to you.

Related

• Units and defense overview - every deploy option with prices.
• Your first containment mission - where a garrison fits in the planning phase.

faq:

• question: “How much does a garrison cost in Zombies Aren’t Real?” answer: “$150 in the planning UI shown in the official store screenshots. Prices can differ between scenarios and may move during Early Access, so treat it as a middle-tier cost: cheaper than a mortar, pricier than a turret or a sniper.”
• question: “Why are my garrisons not shooting the zombies?” answer: “Usually the line of fire is blocked. Buildings obstruct the firing positions of the soldiers inside them, and a wall that extends beyond the surrounding buildings can leave a garrison unable to cover the attack. Select the garrison, inspect its firing range, and compare it against the wall section being attacked.”