Corpses and autopsy
/corpses-and-autopsy
Corpses and autopsy
White skulls for the graveyard, red skulls for zombies: what every body part is worth, and how to get it out in one piece.
Every corpse is made of six body parts - skin, bones, skull, heart, brain and guts - plus a few soft parts in its pockets. The corpse's white and red skulls are simply the sum of its parts, so the autopsy table is where you decide what a body is for.
- 6
- Organs per corpse
- 36
- Organ variants
- 5
- Corpse tiers
- 12
- Embalming mixes
A buried corpse's white skulls count toward the grave's quality, but its red skulls never do - and each red skull has to be covered by a decoration point before the white ones start to count. A resurrected zombie is the opposite: more red and fewer white is better, and every red skull unlocks a zombie perk slot. Take out the organs that work against what you plan to do with the body.
Counts toward a grave's quality once it is buried, alongside decorations.
Never counts for the graveyard and uses up decoration; makes a better zombie and opens a zombie perk slot each.
Each white skull matched by a decoration point on the grave becomes one point of quality.
How an extraction turns out
An operation at the Autopsy Table I runs for a number of ticks, and each tick succeeds or fails - your Anatomy mastery decides how often it succeeds. What you get depends on how many ticks succeeded.
Enough successful ticks to reach the organ's gold mark: the organ comes out and goes to you.
Between the silver and gold marks: the organ is removed from the body, but it is ruined and you get nothing.
Short of the silver mark: the organ is removed and a Surgeon's Error is left in its place - 1 red and 1 white skull less.
Extracting each organ: the Anatomy mastery it needs, its ticks, and the successful ticks needed to remove it (silver) or keep it (gold), plus the tech points each operation earns.
 | Skin | Bronze | 1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 red, 1 blue |
| Skin | Silver | 3 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 red, 2 blue |
| Skin | Gold | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 red, 3 blue |
 | Bones | Bronze | 2 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 1 red, 1 blue |
| Bones | Silver | 4 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 1 red, 2 blue |
| Bones | Gold | 7 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 1 red, 3 blue |
 | Skull | Bronze | 3 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 1 red, 1 blue |
| Skull | Silver | 5 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 1 red, 2 blue |
| Skull | Gold | 8 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 1 red, 3 blue |
 | Heart | Bronze | 5 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 1 red, 1 blue |
| Heart | Silver | 9 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 1 red, 2 blue |
 | Heart | Gold | 13 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 1 red, 3 blue |
 | Brain | Bronze | 8 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 1 red, 1 blue |
| Brain | Silver | 10 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 1 red, 2 blue |
 | Brain | Gold | 13 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 1 red, 3 blue |
 | Guts | Bronze | 9 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 1 red, 1 blue |
| Guts | Silver | 11 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 1 red, 2 blue |
 | Guts | Gold | 13 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 1 red, 3 blue |
Embalming
Embalming adds or trades skulls without surgery. Solutions and injections are made at the Formulation Bench and applied at the Embalming Table I; the grade (I to III) comes from how well the solution was made.
Embalming mixes and what they do to a corpse's skulls.
| Mix | Red skulls | White skulls | Made from | Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Solution for Corpses I | 0 | +1 | 1 Melted Fat and 1 Preservative | 1 silver |
| Solution for Corpses II | 0 | +2 | 1 Melted Fat and 1 Preservative | 10 silver |
| Solution for Corpses III | 0 | +3 | 1 Melted Fat and 1 Preservative | 50 silver |
 | Solution for Zombies I | +1 | 0 | 1 Alcohol and 1 Preservative | 2 silver |
| Solution for Zombies II | +2 | 0 | 1 Alcohol and 1 Preservative | 12 silver |
| Solution for Zombies III | +3 | 0 | 1 Alcohol and 1 Preservative | 60 silver |
 | Injection for Corpses I | -1 | +1 | 1 Melted Fat, 1 Preservative and 1 Comet's Tail | 2 silver |
| Injection for Corpses II | -2 | +2 | 1 Melted Fat, 1 Preservative and 1 Comet's Tail | 12 silver |
| Injection for Corpses III | -3 | +3 | 1 Melted Fat, 1 Preservative and 1 Comet's Tail | 70 silver |
 | Injection for Zombies I | +1 | -1 | 1 Alcohol, 1 Preservative and 1 Comet's Tail | 3 silver |
| Injection for Zombies II | +2 | -2 | 1 Alcohol, 1 Preservative and 1 Comet's Tail | 13 silver |
| Injection for Zombies III | +3 | -3 | 1 Alcohol, 1 Preservative and 1 Comet's Tail | 80 silver |
Corpse tiers
Corpses arrive in tiers. Higher tiers carry more gold-quality organs, and the Prayer for Repose blessing raises the tier of the corpses you get while it lasts. Burying a corpse earns the certificate shown.
What each corpse tier carries, over every body layout in that tier.
| Tier | Body layouts | Red skulls | White skulls | Gold organs | Burial reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 0 | 15 | 0 to 1 | 2 to 4 | 0% | Burial Certificate I |
| Tier 1 | 9 | 1 to 5 | 1 to 5 | 4% | Burial Certificate II |
| Tier 2 | 9 | 2 to 6 | 2 to 6 | 15% | Burial Certificate III |
| Tier 3 | 9 | 3 to 7 | 3 to 7 | 20% | Burial Certificate III |
| Tier 4 | 9 | 3 to 7 | 3 to 7 | 20% | Burial Certificate III |
Tools for better organs
Autopsy questions
Should I take organs out before burying?
Take out the ones with red skulls: they add nothing to the grave, and a clean extraction leaves you the organ to sell or use. Leave the white-skull organs in.
Why did I get a Surgeon's Error?
Too few of the operation's ticks succeeded. Harder organs (gold quality, brains and hearts) need more Anatomy mastery; below that, failures are common. An Organ Restorer fixes the error afterwards.
Which corpses make the best zombies?
The ones with the most red skulls and the fewest white. Swap in red organs at the autopsy table, or use Solution or Injection for Zombies at the embalming table.