State of Decay 2 Failed CLEO Drop Guide

State of Decay 2 just got a huge refresh. The Juggernaut Edition adds one of the game’s biggest updates in its two years since launch, and it’s also new to Steam and Epic Games Store. That means players both new and old are scrambling to discover all that’s new to the game, like its brand-new map, Providence Ridge, a new heavy class of melee weapons, and Failed Cleo Drops.

What are Failed CLEO Drops and where can you find them? That’s what we’re here to help with. Read on to learn how to hack and unpack these massive boons for your community. 

Failed CLEO Drop Guide

Image credit: Big Blue Bug Gaming on YouTube

What is a Failed CLEO Drop?

Typically a CLEO Drop is something players can find in the game’s standard survival mode or in Daybreak, the horde-based DLC now included for free. CLEO Drops provide a good pallet of supplies to survivors in need.

But Failed CLEO Drops are different because they’re even more valuable, but also quite rare.

Where Can I Find Failed CLEO Drops?

Currently, Failed CLEO Drops can only be found on the new map, the mountainous and woodsy Providence Ridge. When you arrive to a new game in Providence Ridge, you’ll be set up at the firewatch tower base, but with enough survivors and Influence, you’ll be able to move your community to a bigger base that will offer more facility areas and greater resources. 

Sometimes when you get to these new bases and move in, you’ll need to clear out the debris left behind from the world that’s collapsed. One of the greatest gifts survivors can find is a Failed CLEO Drop.

What is in a Failed CLEO Drop?

Inside are packed a ton of supplies, including multiple rucksacks of community goods like medicine, building materials, and food, several magazines of ammo, and some weapons. Suffice it to say, you’ll want to clear out the Failed CLEO Drop as soon as you move in, but you’ll need to meet a few other parameters other than being a resident to do so.

How to Clear a Failed CLEO Drop

First, you’ll need a survivor in your group with the Programming trait, because you’ll need to hack the Drop open. If you already have one, congratulations, you’ve lucked out! If not, there are two ways to get one such survivor.

You can either find a book that teaches programming and have your desired survivor read it if they have an available trait slot, or you can recruit another survivor to your group who has the trait. 

Remember, you can always view the traits and abilities of other survivors in the world just by talking to them. This is another good reason to not go fully Negan on your community. Make friends and everything else will come more easily. 

Once you have the survivor you need, you’ll also need electricity. To provide the needed juice, install a facility or facility mod that provides base-wide power. You can find these mods by scavenging the world. Alternatively, if you already finished a Builder leader playthrough and earned the Builder bonus for subsequent playthroughs, you’ll be able to have base-wide power (and water) at any base you move into. 

Thus, the quickest way to open a Failed CLEO Drop if you’ve played before is to bring a citizen with Programming to Providence Ridge while activating the Builder bonus at the start of your new community. When you come across a Failed CLEO Drop, you’ll quickly and easily hack it open.

And for those that haven’t played before, you can try re-rolling your community until you get a Programmer right away, or go off into the world and recruit such a computer nerd to aid you.

Lastly, once you start the process of hacking the Failed CLEO Drop, it will take up the available labor of one survivor for 20 minutes while they work, meaning that depending on how many survivors you have, other projects may be unable to begin until the hack is complete. 

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State of Decay 2 is hiding a lot more secrets and plays to many more strategies. Check out our other State of Decay 2 guides to keep your community morale high and their hearts beating.