The Truck Depot Finale

"I want that truck."

- Zoey "Hey Zoey, when I drive us outta here, don't shoot me alright?"

- Francis


 * For the actual in-game truck depot, see The Truck Depot.

The Truck Depot Finale is the second and last level in Crash Course. This finale sees the Survivors reach a truck workshop where an armored bus (the Survivors refer to it as a truck) is sitting on top of a raised service hoist. In what looks to be homage to the vehicle used in the Dawn of the Dead movie remake, the vehicle has been suitably armor-plated and zombie-proofed so that its users can resist attack and break through the Infected's ranks. To complete the level and finish the campaign, players must activate a generator that will lower the hoist to the ground and thus make the armored vehicle available to them for their usual "Get out of Dodge" escape.

There are three problems though: Firstly, the hoist drops very slowly; secondly, the generator is temperamental (it stalls halfway through the stanza and some brave soul has to go out and restart this "generator for jerks"); and thirdly, there are the inevitable Crescendo Event dual waves of Infected and Tanks. This finale is particularly difficult for the Survivors because the Infected can attack from virtually every direction. and appear on the scene relatively quickly from short ranges―which naturally poses a particularly stiff challenge in the case of Tanks.

Strategy

 * Shortly after leaving the safe room, there is a shortcut which Survivors can use to skip a section of the map. This requires jumping on the alarmed car stuck in between the fence and delivery truck by the Humvee in order to get over the barbed wire fence to the top of the truck on the other side. This shortcut will take the Survivors to the metal supply plant loading docks. This method is risky, as the Survivors will alert the horde due to setting off the car alarm and may wish to deal with them before making their way over the fence. It is possible to jump on the truck and avoid setting off the car alarm. This is rather tricky, however, and requires jumping at the right spot to avoid sliding down back to either the ground or the car, thus triggering it.
 * In Left 4 Dead 2, the truck has been removed and the alarmed car is moved off the fence and into the street, which removed the shortcut so the Survivors are forced to take the normal route.
 * In the Finale, usually it is better to not restart the generator until the second Tank is dead since afterwards, there should be enough time to safely kickstart it before the next horde.
 * A useful setup spot for the finale is with the Minigun in the garage. One of the Survivors can get on the Minigun and take one spot in the garage spot as the other Survivors takes care of the rest. Close combat is necessary here as the Common Infected have a large area to get up to the Survivors' position and can also stream down from the windows. The small window behind the Minigun is a common spawning place for Special Infected, especially Boomers and Smokers. Do note that when using this strategy, it will be harder to restart the generator when it fails, especially when fighting a horde.
 * Another strategy is to be in the rescue closet underneath the Minigun, and have two people each cover the ends of the room. When the Tank comes, get back on the Minigun, and after the Tank dies, hold out on either the bus, or the platform via stair access, so as to facilitate the generator restart operation. Repeat using the Minigun for the last Tank.
 * The simplest area to fight from is on top of the bus outside in the yard nearest the generator and an ammunition cache. The Common Infected will generally swarm from several places at once, but not from all four sides unless the Survivors are slow at thinning their ranks with gunfire and Molotovs. Special Infected can be picked off from the top of the bus, and the sandbags on top are very useful at preventing players from being dragged off by Smokers. Ready access to ammunition is a self-evident advantage associated with this position. Note that this spot is not recommended for Versus, as human-controlled Hunters can easily pounce from the roof of the main garage for 15-plus damage. An occasionally experienced drawback is the sprint distance and changes of angles players need to traverse once the vehicle on the hoist is down. Players must get to the door at the back of the escape vehicle in the face of a rapidly re-spawning horde and slow, injured players are thus very vulnerable to interception.

Left 4 Dead 2 Version
The map only has one significant change, the removal of a shortcut by the alarmed car, as detailed above. Cosmetically, the large cargo containers on the finale have been given different colouring on Left 4 Dead 2. It is notable that, as this campaign was released during Left 4 Dead 2's development, it already had several Left 4 Dead 2-style randomised map elements even in the first game, such as explorable side rooms being different each play.

Easter Eggs

 * 736.jpg armored van is an obvious nod to the armored bus from the famous George A. Romero film remake Dawn of the Dead and Dead Reckoning armored bus from the not-so-famous Romero sequel, Land of the Dead. However, the Dawn of the Dead bus looks more like an MPI MPXpress locomotive than an armored truck.
 * A map found in the starting safe room (see gallery for picture) shows Military Outposts that have either been overrun or are still safe. One will notice that the outpost in Pennsylvania is not crossed out and neither is the one in Louisiana. This is most likely because of the Military Outpost found in Blood Harvest and also to hint at where the Left 4 Dead 2 final campaign would be located since Crash Course was released after most of the work on Left 4 Dead 2 was complete.
 * On the right of the safe house door, you can see a message to a man named "Peter." The writer of the message is telling him they finished the truck and will wait for him. This is clearly the armored truck the Survivors use to escape, as they even refer to the graffiti.
 * In the [graffiti underneath the large letter, there are some graffitis about Allison, there are numerous quotes referring to popular Internet memes. Some of the references include "Cool Story Bro!", QQ (depicting mock sadness, as in crying eyes), "Roses are red, Violets are Blue, You Suck.", and "PS I'M FAT!"
 * In the safe room, so many boxes were sitting all over the ground, one of them says "Choco-bites" advertising Team Fortress 2.