The latest post on the Die2Nite Facebook page suggests that the English version will soon be getting camping added as a feature. Based on the versions for other languages, can someone give an overview of how camping works and what benefits it provides?
Best Answer
Here's what I have been able to decipher from the French wiki
Basics
Camping gives you a chance to survive if you are outside the city during the nightly attack.
Benefits
By allowing you to stay outside and get your AP refreshed, camping makes it easier to reach locations that are farther from the city. You don't need to have enough AP to reach a destination and return to the city all in one day.
Successful camping also gives you a bonus that applies for the entirety of the next day which makes your searches more likely to succeed.
With the latest version, the first person to successfully camp in a building will receive a random blueprint that allows the town to build a new building. Many buildings now require a blueprint before they can be built. Note that each building can only yield one blueprint per game.
Mechanics
There is an additional button when you are in a zone that allows you to inspect the zone for its suitability for camping. You will be given two sentences in response. The first sentence corresponds to one of 8 levels of suitability, from terrible to perfect. The second sentence suggests your chances of surviving the night if you camp there, again distributed in 8 levels from no chance to very likely (90% is the max unless the Hermit class is also added).
You can improve the suitability of a zone for camping by spending AP, up to 10 per day. This improves the chances for all players who camp in that zone that night. You can also use defensive objects and some special objects to improve the defenses of your camp. All camp improvements are destroyed overnight (so defensive objects seems like a huge waste)
Things that impact your chance of survival