SVERASvera Defense

File 04 — field manual · systems & survival

Know the systems.

Svera Defense looks like a wave shooter and plays like a survival sim. Under the horde sit four deep systems most players never fully read: a limbed health model, a barricade economy, a loot-and-extraction loop, and a skill tree that follows you across every run. This is the manual for all four. Learn them and you stop dying to things you didn't understand.

Contents — four systems

System 01 — vitals

The Limb System

You don't have one health bar. You have seven limbs, each with its own health, borrowed straight from the hardcore looter-shooters. Damage lands on the limb that got hit — a leg shot cripples your sprint, an arm shot throws your aim — and overflow spills to your core. There is no regen. If a limb is hurting, you fix it.

The seven zones

Each zone starts at its own pool. Two of them are fatal: drop your Head or Thorax to zero and you go down, no matter how healthy the rest of you is. Protect them accordingly.

Fatal
Head
HP 35
Smallest pool, instant-loss if it empties. Helmets and cover earn their keep here.
Fatal
Thorax
HP 85
Your core. Empties it and the run ends — this is where center-mass spill collects.
Stomach
HP 70
Takes heavy bleeds fast. Non-fatal, but a gut bleed drains you if you ignore it.
Left Arm
HP 60
Fracture or blackout wrecks your aim sway and reload speed.
Right Arm
HP 60
Same story — a broken arm turns a steady rifle into a wobble.
Left Leg
HP 65
Damaged legs cut your movement speed. A blackout leg is a limp you can't outrun the horde on.
Right Leg
HP 65
Splint it or crawl. Mobility is survival on the wall.
Read the HUD
Your paperdoll tints each zone by state — learn the colors below and you'll triage at a glance.
Four injuries, four fixes

Every wound has exactly one right answer, and using the wrong item wastes it. Your paperdoll shows each zone's state as a color — the same colors you'll see on your med items.

Light Bleed~120s to bleed out

A red pulse on the limb. You're losing HP slowly across the whole body. Common from most hits.

Fix → Bandage. Slows and stops a light bleed. Cheap, carry a stack.
Heavy Bleed~300s, drains fast

A deeper, faster red pulse with a drip. This one empties you quickly — treat it before anything else.

Fix → Tourniquet. The only thing that stops a heavy bleed. A bandage won't hold it.
Fractureuntil cured

Blue crack-lines across the zone. A broken arm ruins your aim; a broken leg ruins your speed. It won't heal on its own.

Fix → Splint. Sets the break and clears the penalty. Keep one for your legs.
Blacked-Out Limb0 HP

The zone goes matte black — that limb hit zero. It stops taking treatment and passes extra damage through to your core.

Fix → Surgical Kit. The heavy kit — the only thing that brings a blacked-out limb back.

Pain slowing your aim? A painkiller buys you a window — but it hides the wound, it doesn't close it.

System 02 — fortification

The Barricade System

The map hands you the walls; you decide where the horde can't come through. Nail props across doorways and gaps to buy time, funnel the dead into your firing lanes, and rebuild between waves. A good crew reads a room by its choke points before the first zombie spawns.

Nail, hold, re-nail, breach
Tiers — better stock holds longer

Barricades upgrade through material tiers. Higher tiers take far more punishment before they breach, which is the difference between a doorway you can ignore for three waves and one you're re-nailing every thirty seconds.

WoodStarter stock. Cheap and everywhere, but the horde eats through it. Fine for early waves and secondary lanes.
ReinforcedThe workhorse. Meaningfully tougher — holds a main door through the mid-game if you keep it topped off.
PlatedThe wall you trust. Top tier. Plate your primary choke and it buys real breathing room in the late waves.

Two skills change this math: Carpenter builds cades faster, and Preservation makes them last longer. A dedicated builder pays for a whole squad.

System 03 — economy

Loot & Extraction

Kills drop gear. Bodies carry containers. What you scavenge only counts if you carry it out alive — this is a looter with real stakes. Fill your grid, decide when the run is worth cashing, and reach an extraction zone before your luck runs out.

Where loot comes from
Rarity — read the tint

Every item carries an honest tier, and later waves shift the odds toward the good stuff. Elites won't hand you junk; a boss is a guaranteed step up. The color you see is the tier.

Common Uncommon Rare Epic Legendary

Legendaries are real and rare — a Phoenix Feather, a Pale King's Coin. If one drops, don't die holding it.

Extract to keep — die and lose the bag

This is the rule that makes every run tense. Loot lives in your carried grid during the run. Reach an extraction zone and commit, and everything you carried banks to your persistent stash. Go down or time out, and the bag is gone. Extract early with a modest haul, or push your luck for a great one — that's the whole game.

System 04 — progression

Skills & Prestige

Every kill, revive and wave survived pays XP. XP is levels, levels are points, and points buy a build that follows you across every run. Open your Field Journal with F3 to spend them: raise your attributes, unlock skills, and check your career.

Earn, level, spend
The skill tree — three branches

Skills sit in themed columns; you buy down a branch with your unlock points. Build for how your crew fights — a gunhand, a medic, a scavenger-builder.

Gunhand

1 pt
Steady Hands
Tighter aim, less sway under fire.
1 pt
Dead Eye
Rewards precision — make the headshots count.
1 pt
Gunsmith
Get more out of your attachments and loadout.

Field Medic

1 pt
Field Dressing
Faster, more effective med use on yourself and allies.
1 pt
Iron Gut
Shrug off bleeds and status longer before they bite.
1 pt
Last Stand
Fight harder from the floor when you go down.

Scavenger

1 pt
Scavenger
Richer loot and better odds from what you sweep.
1 pt
Light Step
Move faster, carry more, get to extraction quicker.
1 pt
Carpenter & Preservation
Build barricades faster and make them last — the builder's picks.
Attributes & prestige

The Attributes tab raises six core stats — Strength, Vitality, Endurance, Agility, Resilience and Luck — each with a rising cost per rank. Hit the level cap and you can prestige: roll your rank over for a fresh climb and a mark of the veteran. There are ten prestige ranks, plus calling cards and banners to show for the grind on the Standings board.

IIIIIIIV VVIVIIVIII IXX

Last word

That's the depth under the horde. Patch your limbs, plate your choke, carry your haul out, and spend your points with intent. Pre-release means these systems keep sharpening — if something reads wrong or plays wrong, file it on the Field Reports board.

← Back to the manual