Its been a while since I've played, can someone bring me up to date?

[Ohbal]

Been awhile since I've read that book and I had forgotten that part. That's probably the main reason that they keep saying no to zombie camo like what they do on TWD.

 

 

I didn't remember it either! This thread made me grab the book and it just happen to be at the very beginning

 

By the way, looking for the answers to Akai's doubt, I've searched for Romeros lore info and at least on his versions zombies have some kind of evolution through the movies (I haven't seen all of them but I do remember seeing some kind of basic intelligence).

Although initially devoid of both thought and memory, later works of Romero have shown zombies capable of learning through a process of trial and error. Both Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead show zombies using firearms in a limited capacity, while blunt objects as weapons have been used by zombies since Night of the Living Dead. The full extent of the creature's learning abilities is unknown, but the process of discovery for them is not unlike that of a toddler.

Romero has stated that the rules to zombie behavior and weaknesses that have become popular with his films and used elsewhere change from movie to movie. In Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead the zombies are afraid of fire, in the later films they are not. By the fourth film the zombies have memories and communicative skills.

 

However Max Brooks is clear: Zombie intelligence is that of an insect. Both lores are not the same, so we should specify that we refer to when mentioning it. Most of the time lore discussions are about the "slow movement pattern", which is actually what is mainly shared between Romero and Brooks. 

[CaptKaspar]

Also its important to note that the devs have never mentioned adopting any lore from TWD. TWD, while close in lore, is not the same as Romero or Brooks (which differ slightly themselves).

 

Fact though; there is a sandbox option for 'smell'. So the dev team has some intent to do something with smell in regards to their zombies. Even though I'm pretty sure smell does nothing currently in game, or next to nothing.

[Akai]

Really cool reading what you guys are digging out. I got finally around to watching Romero's movies. Watching Dawn of the Dead from 1978 right now. Zombies can at least partially use door knobs to open said doors in that movie, so much for the evolution of their behaviour.  Gee, that's scary.

[Zorak]

I dont like idea of good smell zombies. Sight and hearing fits good in basic zombie lore and smell can be one of the many sandbox options.

[Moose65]

Also its important to note that the devs have never mentioned adopting any lore from TWD. TWD, while close in lore, is not the same as Romero or Brooks (which differ slightly themselves).

 

Fact though; there is a sandbox option for 'smell'. So the dev team has some intent to do something with smell in regards to their zombies. Even though I'm pretty sure smell does nothing currently in game, or next to nothing.

 

Oh, I know they don't necessarily agree with a lot of the lore in TWD (zombie camo in particular comes to mind). But yeah, when I was thinking of Romero's lore, I defiantly meant his early works....when they learned to use firearms is when it stopped being a "classic" zombie lol.

 

Pretty sure Max Brooks is probably the closest (by that I mean the book, not the awful movie).

[ModdedTibby]

have you tried setting the zombies to uniform instead of urban?

 

im not sure how much of a threat it would bring to your character but hypothetically if they are set for uniform they should spawn "evenly" throughout the map

[Jsnazz]

I read some where that chopper fly over your house or a third person shooting gun shot will drawn zombies to your location. On my first playthrough, I heard a gun shot and ran out from my house to check and nothing happen xD

 

Maybe that feature is bug or will be unlock in the future?

[ModdedTibby]

that feature does work, there are a few noises youll hear the in backgrounds

 

 

gunshots,

choppers

dogs barking

and screaming (i think when someone dies near you)

 

from what ive seen so far choppers and the server side gun shots will draw zombies to your location given there are zombies within the general area

[Wolfen]

Well to beef up zombies the devs could add a grabbing mechanic so that zombies know what fingers are and how they work

 

Not sure why zombies only slap, scratch or bite you

 

Sure they can slow you down a bit, but why aren't they being dragged by you when you pull away from them?

You should struggle to shake them off, which would buy the zeds a few seconds to surround you

 

Also when zombies are in a huge group their path finding could be improved a bit sot that a few try to guess which direction you'll move in, they stay WAY too clumped together

 

>But their brains!

 

Which are impaired, I admit, but are reanimated

 

Hell even zeds opening unlocked doors isn't even that far gone

[onion134]

(7 days to die) And of course this horde would always aim with amazing accuracy at you. Doesn`t matter where you are, there WILL be a horde EXACTLY in your face. 

 

Well my point is: The whole experience of the game felt absolutely artificial. It was just too obvious that the game was trying to kick me in the nuts, just because the devs wanted to desperately occupy the player. This ruined the whole game for me..

 

This. Exact same experience as yourself with 7 days to die. I really hope in PZ they implement a system where a hoard does come to your base every now and again but just the area around it. Then if you make noise, say start sawing logs, they then start attacking the base but not if you're completely quiet.

[Sterl500]

In order to solve the problem of the zed threat not being really threatening, think we should look closely at what really attracts the undead. Sight, sound and to a lesser degree, smell. To be honest, only sight and sound are technically relevant. Smell can be relevant later, but for now, I think we'll theorize how a quiet and secluded base could be assaulted with some certainty, or at least expected certainty.

 

I think currently there is no real answer to be had. Feral hordes like in 7Days to Die are far too orchestrated for them to feel more organic instead of just another a bullet point on the to-do list. If we use the current tools in the game, the meta is reliable unless you've done a bit of clearing and without tweaking the zed settings, they won't hear through walls too well and won't spot you through open windows as often.

 

This makes a quiet base almost invisible.

 

The best idea for creating organic hordes was the clumping mechanic, but I've seen these as obvious and not subtle. I mean as soon as I spot a few zeds, they automatically clump together like magnets. They also seem way too interested in the activity as well since I've shouted and ran near circles behind them with very few results to separate them in transit.

 

Until NPCs come around (which I have my own reservations about them sniffing around my home and potentially stealing shit), zeds will continue to act dumb and slow. But what if there's one in the pack that is "smarter" than the rest? I don't mean that this one particular zed will be capable of any higher thought than the rest, or it will be special in any way. I just think this "boss zed" will have slightly better pathfinding abilities (such as avoiding obstacles and easier pathing around trees) and will stick to "streets". These boss zeds will also have better memory of streets and open routes. I'd say locking the bosses into a routine during a set time would be a great idea.

 

The rest of the pack will follow him/her around loosely and stick to the same clear routes as well as continuing a bit after it stops. The regular zeds won't be bound by this routine though as they'll be free to find a distraction and break off from time to time. This would create a much more interesting urban environment as regular hordes would roam the streets getting bigger and smaller, and sometimes splitting as more boss zeds split the pack or more and more zeds leave because they saw something shiny.

 

You won't be able to tell which zed is the boss by color, or sometimes even behavior. This makes them a little more organic as the sum of all parts is greater than the most intelligent of the bunch. With zombies, I think this is the truth.

 

And to address forest homes, I think the traditional walkers would be best. Have a couple break off from the pack every now and then and walk into the forest. Eventually they'll end up deep into the forest and at the more remote locations. That keeps the player on their toes, wondering if these walkers spell out an impending horde.

 

Next, I want to address smell. Why not have zeds detect blood? Not just living blood, but also zed blood. It can be dried, fresh, or reconstituted by rain. Just a little bit won't attract much (if any) attention, but kill a whole bunch in an area and leave the corpses? That'll put much more emphasis on cleanup operations. Even after the blood dries, it could be more fragrant after a rainstorm so it's important to clean up outside too if your base used to house tons of zeds.

[Zorak]

Why not do it "simple" way.

1) Game finds your base: by loot amount in containers + players made structures.

2) Then spawn X zombies (base on time survived) and spawn them Y tiles away (far enough to not spawn them inside the base or in front of a player)

3) Force those zeds to move to your base. If they stops at wall they attempt to destroy it and keep moving to the target location.

In that way once a while we are forced to fight a horde or try to lure them away or go to our second base and slowly clear the infested safe house.

[EllEzDee]

Slightly off-topic, but it feels like in this build, zombies aren't reacting to sounds properly, and therefore aren't actually migrating.

 

I remember the sound of helicopters attracting hordes nearby, but in this build, i've been next to a horde or groups of zombies as screams, gunshots and helicopters buzz around, and they don't react at all, or only a few of the group react, and even then they might only take a few paces somewhere and get bored.

Shouting "HEY!" at them doesn't do much either: some react, some don't care.

Even house alarms aren't doing anything. I remember some time last year a house alarm going off (in my safe house, no less), and getting swamped by a horde.

Now i just ignore the alarm when i'm breaking into houses. At most, a window starts getting bashed on.

[GameBoy357]

Short of actual migrations which I'm sure are more difficult with a map this size, I am hoping meta events turn into real events. Here's what I'm thinking.

 

1) Couple NPC bandits come knocking at your base and you have to deal with them

• Side event - if too much noise (guns or screaming or whatever) spawns a nearby mess of zombies walking your way.
• Possible Side effects - damage your base (holes in fences, etc), destroy your water barrels, food, etc

2) NPC girl comes screaming your way dragging a mess of walkers behind them

3) NPC shoot out happens near-by and spawns a mess of walkers that wipe them out, they stick around for you to worry bout

4) any explosion or fire or alarm has a chance of spawning a mess of zombies with a path walking toward the event

5) NPC dog comes around barking near your base, a chance of here come the walkers.

6) Your pet dog starts barking

 

You get the idea.

[ColonelJayce]

The last time I played project zomboid was about 4-5 months ago. I would play with 3 of my other friends, and we had a blast playing until we realized that the zombies don't actually roam around in hordes, and attack you. I remember being upset that after I built my house and killed all the surrounding zombies, I was completely safe, and was not at risk of an attack. Not only that, but I noticed that my house was impervious to the zombies anyways.

 

I would love to start playing this game again, but I just can't bring myself to do it until I know for certain that zombies will be able to tear down my structure, forcing me to pack up and leave if I do not have the manpower to defend it.

 

My biggest issue was really that the zombies never surrounded my home and tried to break in. If they just added in roaming hordes (Like the ones that stand around on the streets), that roam aimlessly through the forests, and on roads, I would continue to play.

 

Has anything like this been added to the game yet?

[Longstrides357]

I just picked up the game last week, and I'm not entirely certain how new meta-game events are. But sometimes a helicopter or a gunshot can be heard and it's used as a method of moving zombies around the map to prevent them from sitting still. My previous game a helicopter flew by and I died protecting my base from the oncoming horde.

[BetaSpectre]

Forest bunkers are as secure as always.

There are many options though, you can configure the game to have zombies respawn everyday, and to spawn in forests.

[Evilwuun]

To answer briefly, there are not roaming hordes at this point, and your base remains a fortress of solitude once you've cleared an area.

Currently zombies will not respawn in the chunk the player occupies, or any chunk with a player made structure (barricade, rain collector, etc)

[ColonelJayce]

Well that's unfortunate, I suppose I will not be coming back to project zomboid then. The whole indestructible fortress, and lack of zombie roaming destroys the immersion of the game. Perhaps I will come back a year from now to see how things change.

[Evilwuun]

Well that's unfortunate, I suppose I will not be coming back to project zomboid then. The whole indestructible fortress, and lack of zombie roaming destroys the immersion of the game. Perhaps I will come back a year from now to see how things change.

I wouldn't be so hasty to write off the current build. As it is, it's still loads of fun, and new things are on the horizon (cars, NPCs, hopefully a reworked horde mechanic). While none of these have a release date, as is the norm for TIS, they are certainly being worked on (cars and NPCs, anyway...I'm hopeful for hordes).

In the meantime, I recommend grabbing Zoyds' mod They're Crawling Out. It adds zombie spawning within your chunk, and sends said zombies in your general direction. I wrote a gameplay re-telling of my trial run with the mod installed, and I had a blast. Head over to the mods subsection to check it out.

If you decide to hold off on playing till these features are in, I can respect that. Hope to see you in a year!

[Longstrides357]

 

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Where can I find this game-play retelling? That sounds awesome!

[Evilwuun]

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Where can I find this game-play retelling? That sounds awesome!

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/13146-theyre-crawling-out/#entry175607

It's a fourteen or fifteen paragraph short/review, about halfway down the thread. You could also tap my name and check my posts. Either way, it's a truncated version of Danny Miller's 2 months alive.

Edit: Danny Miller was my characters name. We got...close. He will be missed.

[Jsnazz]

your base remains a fortress of solitude once you've cleared an area.

 

 

 

This but to spice thing up like the OP and many others that wished to have hordes to attack their base upon detecting sounds accumlation and a hordes is summon. They can emerge from forest, the ground, behind a tree, from a dumpster etc and chase after that sound source. The most notorious sound source we all heard about is gun shot, helicopter and screaming sounds.

 

On my firstplay through, I was actually frigthen when i heard those gun shot coming from my safe house and thought to myself.. oh ya baby I'll be swarming by zombie hordes any time soon , so  I always step out from my safe house to look around.

 

And it was dead silence.. and it hit me,  I just clear everything. Back to reading books and ponder why I need this surplus of supplies.

[ColonelJayce]

 

 

 

 

On my firstplay through, I was actually frigthen when i heard those gun shot coming from my safe house and think I'll be swarming by zombie hordes any time soon , so  I always step out from my safe house to look around.

 

And it was dead silence.. and it hit me,  I just clear everything. Back to reading books and ponder why I need this surplus of supplies.

 

 

 

This, exactly. There is no reason to play this game as it is. I would go as far as to compare this game with Minecraft, once you put up a few walls, and make your little farm you are untouchable. (Assuming you've killed the few zombies in the surrounding zones).

 

If this game were to have roaming hordes, I could recommend this to a friend, I would give it an outstanding 10/10 rating, because I love the concept.

 

I just can't give it that sort of a rating right now, i feel that this game deserves a solid 3/10 points. You cannot make a survival game, and leave out the survival aspect of it. What we have here is not survival, it is a sandbox farmville type game. Where you could sit in your home, and garden to your hearts desire. I just cannot recommend this game to a friend, as much as I would like to.

 

It appears Roaming hordes of zombies has been the #1 request on the forums since I stopped playing several months ago, and it is still not being implemented. I really hope that indie stone starts looking into this major roadblock towards the games future potential.

[BetaSpectre]

I'd prefer a spin on the roaming hordes, Zombies should try to find the player on purpose instead of randomly shamble about, So IMO every full moon (month) a random set of zombies will get super senses, and attack the player safe house or the nearest NPC's.