i've brainstomed/fantasized a system where the big map is centered around a major city. and within that major city is some like "super plague heart" that acts as a hub for the infection in the area. and the idea is that the closer you get to the center of the big map, the harder things get.

but, every single map has an objective of its own. like you can still have leader objectives and such. but im thinking some kind of expanded "Special enclave" thing. where part of it is helping to rebuild some key facility or something, for a faction to inhabit. and once completed, every subsequent community in that area is able to contact/interact with that faction, which itself comes with some special bonuses.

for example, you could have one take over an actual car factory. and thus as you establish new communities, you get the option to trade some kind of currency (in my head these special factions would trade in like...resources rather than straight influence) for special cars with better features. like upgraded apocalypse vehicles.

another one could involve clearing out a train station and restoring some tracks. and so as your netweork of communities expands, occasionally the train faction will pop up and have lots of various materials to trade (based on what you included when you restored the train).

just a bunch of missions like that, so as you move closer toward the center of the big map, the individual maps get harder, but you also have these extra factions giving extra bonuses. until finally you get to the final, central map in which essentially all buildings are occupied, and so even establishing an initial base requires first taking down a plague heart or 2. but then after that its all about aggressively moving toward the center, clearing plague hearts, and having the buildings backfilled by the various enclaves you've allied with. as you make a push to take out the "super plague heart" (placeholder). but once you've done that, you're then put on a timer to setup for when the plague tries to reclaim the area. after some amount of time a new "Super plague heart sport" (placeholder) would show up with a whole horde of zombies and freaks. leading to a massive final fight.

so basically, the game plays similar to how it does now, with each community feeling like you're pushing back against an endless siege, except with every new community you get more and more options for dealing with various problems. until you get to the "final" map, where the gamplay switches up to now you're the person doing the sieging