Decoding Decay: A Graveyard Keeper’s Guide to Corpse Management

Yes, bodies do decay in the morgue in Graveyard Keeper, though at a much slower rate than if they were left exposed outside. Understanding the mechanics of decay is crucial to efficiently managing your graveyard, maximizing your profits, and progressing through the game. The morgue itself provides a basic level of preservation, but savvy keepers utilize various techniques and tools to further combat decomposition.

Understanding Corpse Decay in Graveyard Keeper

Decay in Graveyard Keeper is a persistent mechanic that affects the freshness and skull rating of corpses. A corpse’s freshness directly impacts its suitability for burial and the quality of services you can perform on it, such as crafting zombie workers. Corpses start with a certain level of freshness, represented by a meter. As time passes, this meter decreases, leading to the appearance of red skulls, which negatively impact the grave’s rating.

Factors Influencing Decay Rate

Several factors influence the rate at which corpses decay:

• Environment: As mentioned, the morgue provides a basic level of preservation. Leaving a corpse outside accelerates decay.
• Placement: Placing a corpse on a pallet, double pallet, preparation place, or embalming table significantly slows down decay. These act as early-game preservation methods.
• Autopsy and Embalming: Performing an autopsy and removing specific organs, such as blood and fat, can eliminate red skulls and improve the corpse’s overall quality. Embalming further enhances preservation, slowing decay considerably.
• Technology: Later in the game, you unlock more advanced technologies like embalming tables and injections, offering even greater control over decay and corpse quality.

Why Manage Decay?

Managing corpse decay is vital for several reasons:

• Graveyard Rating: High-quality graves with positive skull ratings (achieved by using fresh corpses with minimal or no red skulls) attract visitors and generate income.
• Church Revenue: The quality of your graveyard directly impacts the faith generated from sermons in the church. More faith means faster progress and access to important technologies.
• Zombie Workforce: Fresh corpses with a high number of white skulls are ideal for creating efficient zombie workers. These zombies can automate resource gathering and crafting, freeing up your time for other tasks.
• Quest Progression: Certain quests require you to deliver corpses of specific qualities, making corpse preservation essential for advancing the storyline.

Maximizing Corpse Quality

To maximize corpse quality and minimize decay, consider the following strategies:

• Prioritize Autopsy: Autopsy every corpse as soon as possible. This allows you to identify and remove red skulls by strategically removing body parts like blood and fat.
• Utilize Pallets: Immediately place incoming corpses on pallets or double pallets to slow their decay while you prepare for autopsy.
• Unlock Embalming: Invest in unlocking embalming technologies early on. Embalming provides a significant boost to corpse preservation and allows you to manipulate skull ratings further.
• Plan Your Burials: Only bury corpses that meet your desired graveyard rating. Store lower-quality corpses for zombie creation or disposal via cremation or river dumping.
• Consider the Corpse Meter: A corpse with a long meter or high freshness may grant a +1 bonus to the grave rating when buried in a basic grave.

FAQ: Graveyard Keeper Corpse Management

1. Do bodies decompose faster outside the morgue?

Yes, bodies decompose significantly faster when left outside uncovered compared to being stored in the morgue. The morgue offers a basic level of preservation.

2. Does placing a corpse on a pallet slow decay?

Yes, placing a corpse on a pallet, double pallet, preparation place, or embalming table slows down the decay rate considerably.

3. What’s the best way to get rid of red skulls?

The best way to remove red skulls is through autopsy. Removing blood and fat is often the most effective method. You might need to remove the heart, brain, or intestines depending on the corpse’s composition.

4. What is the best autopsy method?

A common strategy is to remove blood, then the skull, and then fat. This can often increase the number of white skulls without adding red skulls. However, the optimal method varies depending on the individual corpse. Experimentation and saving before autopsy are recommended.

5. Is it bad to throw bodies in the river?

There are no immediate negative consequences for throwing bodies in the river. However, you miss out on potential profits from burials or cremation. You also lose the opportunity to create zombie workers.

6. How often do bodies arrive?

Before building the carrot box, the donkey delivers corpses every two days. After building the carrot box and keeping it full of carrots, he delivers them daily.

7. What is the best body to bury in the graveyard?

The best body to bury has at least 4 white skulls and no red skulls. Combine this with a stone gravestone and stone fence for a +4 grave rating.

8. How do skulls affect zombies?

White skulls increase a zombie’s efficiency, making them faster. Red skulls have no effect on zombie performance.

9. Can I modify zombies?

Yes, zombies can be modified through autopsy and injections, just like regular corpses. This allows you to improve their efficiency and remove red skulls.

10. Do bodies decay on the autopsy table?

Yes, corpses decay on the autopsy table, although at a slower rate than in the open.

11. What happens if I die?

If you die, you respawn at your bed with full health and all items. You can restore health by sleeping or using honey, health potions, or beer.

12. What is the maximum corpse rating?

The maximum corpse rating is 12. The Game of Crone DLC increases this to 16.

13. What do maggots do?

Maggots are a byproduct of composting. They can be decomposed into reagents for alchemy, used as fishing bait, or consumed for a small amount of energy.

14. How do I get faith?

The easiest way to earn faith is by improving the quality of your graveyard and holding quality sermons in the church.

15. How can games help us learn?

Games offer unique environments for learning and development, as explored by the Games Learning Society. You can find more information about the intersection of gaming and education at https://www.gameslearningsociety.org/.