[i]You slip through dusty, darkened corridors, avoiding the shuffling masses of zombified workers crammed close together in cafeterias. The living hid or were simply surprised there, piling up tables and chairs in a makeshift barricade that was then broken. The stench of them combined with the wafting scent of rotting food made it easy to notice.
You snipe the occasional lone one under the wavering light of the flashlight.
And then… you find it. The control box before the factory floor line. Much to your delight the console still glows with power. Quickly hacking your way through the pitiful security your ears are filled with the WHUM, WHOMP, GRNNN, WHUM of an industrial production line starting up. Now all you need to do is start feeding it materials and do the assembly at the end!
Moments later, there is a moan. And another, louder, answering moan. Then you realize to hear it over the cacophony before you it has to be very, very loud. And that one of them came from outside. Oh, dear. And those robots are blaring about intruders… and coming your way.[/i]
Industrial plants: Large scale manufacturing buildings designed to manufacture a particular object. Beyond being a place to explore filled various goodies and zombies, they can generally make something when the various hoppers are filled. They lines can be programmed or reprogrammed to produce similar materials with a computer/crafting check. Final assembly has to be completed at the end of the line by a person (you).
Unfortunately they make a metric truckload of noise. Not only will this bring down every single zombie inside the building upon your head-including any automated security-but it will also attract roaming hordes with great frequency.
Industrial plants can be located adjacent to Toxic Waste Dumps of various kinds, and will frequently be nearby Science Labs and Military installations. They will always be some distance away from towns, although there may be a few scattered buildings or a gas station nearby/on premises.
They will never be able to mass manufacture advanced anything (including mutagen, CBMs, plasma rifles, and superalloy plating). You don’t necessarily find a useful industrial plant until you get it doing what you want. Finding an industrial plant devoted solely to the manufacture of flip-flops can be appropriated to manufacture either other kinds of shoes or other plastic materials. From a purely stimulation perspective this is impossible. However, it’s boring to find a giant useless installation. All industrial plants will have storage facilities… filled with raw materials needed for their industrial line. Want to make a shirt manufacturing plant produce leather goods by the tonnage? Better get to skinning.
Industrial plants that manufacture restricted items such as milispec armor, explosives, or weaponry will always be guarded by soldiers, cops, and/or robots. Shocker zombies will be marginally more common.
Finally this introduces a new element. Machinery! Unlike the smaller counterparts where you need a bunch of tools, machining devices will be bolted to the floor, enormous, and generally be much faster when it comes to crafting. Want to create batches of 50 units of mutagen very quickly? Go digging through science labs. Having problems building your car? Go find a damn garage!
They all have the sad consequence of being incredibly noisy and generally setting off all sorts of alarms.