On the road

Travel carries your crew toward D.C. Set your pace and information diet, then travel. The road runs briefly before stopping at your next decision. Watch the gauges; choices and repairs report their actual costs. Use Pause travel when you want to inspect the situation before continuing.

Set today’s approach

Open Pace · News intake before the day’s travel begins. You can change these settings until that day starts; then they lock until the next day.

Travel pace

Choose Steady, Heated, or Blitz. Steady adds no pace fatigue. Heated costs 1 Sanity and Blitz costs 2 per 5 hours of driving; unfinished fatigue carries into later drives. Weather and vehicle condition affect distance, and activities use available driving time. A faster pace also raises encounter risk. It never guarantees a particular distance.

Information diet

Choose Quiet, Mixed, or Doomscroll. Your information diet is your news intake. Its Sanity effect applies once per day. Quieter coverage supports Sanity; doomscrolling improves your chances of finding receipts but costs Sanity.

Weather and road conditions

Weather can affect travel distance and the crew. Conditions can change as the next day begins. Matching gear protects against only the penalties named for that item. A new day’s forecast can differ from the one you saw before resting. Check the current conditions and your protection before choosing a long drive.

The option cards show the numbers for your current crew and conditions. After an action, its receipt reports the actual resource changes.

Respond to interruptions

• Encounters: Read the situation and the known effects on each choice. After choosing, the next screen reports the actual resource changes.
• Camp: Opening camp costs nothing. Rest helps every present crew member, with recovery based on their current condition. One stationary day passes; weather and hunger can still affect the crew. Rest has a cooldown, so you cannot rely on repeating it immediately.
• Towns: The road can wait. Restock, exchange goods or hear what the locals know before departing. Stores sell supplies and equipment. Trade with the community once per stop: exchange goods or work for supplies. The route map shows upcoming stops and services.
• Crossings: The available options and their costs depend on the crossing. A detour, permit, or payment may solve a checkpoint differently; read the current option card before committing.
• Breakdowns: Travel pauses until you address the van. A fitted spare is consumed. Buying outside town includes $10 delivery. Barter consumes four supplies. Radio contacts arrange a used part in exchange for four hours of work, costing sanity and morale. The radio option remains available without cash or spares. A matching spare, an improvised fix, and roadside service have different costs.

Finding more supplies

Outside town, gather once every three completed days. Choose a short forage or harder work with more food. In towns, choose one paid or food-for-work offer per stop. Supplies cannot exceed 20; unavailable choices show their costs before you commit.

The Status & inventory view shows your crew, equipment, vehicle, and supplies. The Trail journal records what happened. The route map traces your progress and shows what is ahead.

Next: Stay in the game.