GrandPunkRailroad

I found PZ after following Weem (weemcast) on YouTube through his let's plays of Rimworld (which I bought and enjoyed, but only for a month). That game was good, but as he is such a good narrator, he's fun to watch. After two or three of his episodes of Zomboid, I went directly to Steam to pick this up. Still enjoying squeezing my spiffo..

I appreciate your idea of being threatened while carrying zombie corpses, but in general, a mechanism which causes zombies to be attracted to other corpses would just scatter zombies across the map, rather than focus a few of them in on your fort.

I was thinking of how to increase the chance that zombies might be attracted towards a survivor's base from a distance without meta events. I personally love to start a game by fortifying one or two spots with walls and rope ladders. But I the process of building and stocking a stronghold, the surrounding area becomes depopulated, and the fort losses it's neccesity, as the mush heads never come a knockin'. I see this as a major cause of mid-game boredom, most survivors in the game probably want to see their defenses, once constructed, put to the test. Otherwise, why build? I propose a mechanism that some small percentage chance of nearby single zombies might be attracted to smoke from campfires and propane grills. Say 3-5% of zombies in a given distance have a chance to smell, for example, cooking bird and wander thataway. Maybe even a cluster at a much rarer chance. I'm not sure in the game what distance the program is populating and modeling mobs and their behavior, and this might limit the effectiveness of this idea. Balance would be necessary, 'cause uneasy looking over your shoulder is what your going for, not surety of effect. And if every fort built was destroyed by zombies, people would complain about wasted effort, and just give up. Some random chance to be tested would be so great though. An alternate mechanism could be used by calculating the density map of loot which somehow might be an attractor for zombies. Maybe more dense collections of stuff have greater likelihood of attraction.. Reasoning for this effect could be that lots of stuff has been going on near this fort, zombies might have picked up on that somehow, whether occasional noise, smells, etc.. I think this could be a non-meta event type of draw to bring zombies toward and area of active players, and this might cause fort builders to be more vigilant, and also create new scary moments of terror in the late game, which currently can be pretty slow, unless you go looking for trouble. Boiled down: smoke might be a logical, non-meta event way, to bring wanderers and maybe even the occasional cluster of headbangers towards forts. So when they come a knockin' my axe can go a rockin'! Edit 3/2/15 by author for clarity (spacing) and to remove Aspie-ish title "Smoke as a zombie draw mechanism to challenge fort builders" (buries head in shame)

Well, after a 10 month hiatus, I'm back. To revisit the game in it's current state (vanilla 30). Wanted to follow up on this post, as it was brought about by a problem I had, namely getting burned.. I lost one eager survivor to a hot cuppa I didn't even need, or rather standing too close to a campfire. Too much role play maybe, but who doesn't like a hot cuppa joe after a wet day a month in to the zombie apocalypse. But to get back to the point, the propane grills have been an awesome inclusion! And I'm so glad that it was considered an idea worthy of someone at IndieStone's time. Thanks! I think it has worked well. Super heavy, just barely fit a tank in an empty large backpack, and I haven't been burned to death yet! Love to cook post power outage! Just wanted to say thanks IS! Love the game, and to venture from topic somewhat; food balance seems to be better than before, after raiding 1/4 of Muld. I am looking at slim rations through the coming weeks, when before I felt like I had piles of food. This makes the game more engaging, and neccesitates using cooking, trapping, foraging, and farming. Love the mechanics, looking forward to more recipes. Awesome job!

Interesting idea. I like the notion of rear-guard awareness (kind-of funny too), though it might dispel the fear of unnoticed zombies approaching, which is a big part of the suspense of traveling (which I like). I also like the orange jumper idea. Although, it ought to scream out attention to nearby zombies. Pretty well balanced really, good suggestion.

Total agreement from me. I generally turn my nose up at clothes that are on dead zombies. But what modifiers would zombie worn clothing present to the characters? Chance of infection/sickness? Tattered = no warmth modifiers? Unable to be used as bandages? Or just unable to be worn. Putrid clothes ideally should have a discolored graphic as rotten food does in the inventory window.. Awesome! We could make homemade leather pants. F*-in rugged!

So, ah, I'm not familiar with fish pie.. U.S. citizen here, but this would contain fish right? So, will water bodies contain fish, and is fishing in the future? I'm excited about hunting down renewable sources of protein.. To add to my pies of course..

Wahoo! A Hunting Knife! Assuming slight increase in durability?

I agree, it would make in town navigation on this huge map more manageable, I never seem to quite know which cross streets come out where w/out a little help from the pz map.

I don't really mind huge list of suggestion posts really, I find it kind of interesting to thumb through them and weigh their merits one by one. I know that the ideal suggestion post would be a single item, but these posts come from really inspired and creative people, who just want to contribute scattershot style, without really thinking through them all, and without researching whether each one has ever been covered in this forum before. It's kind of like brainstorming, throwing out a bunch of ideas and seeing which sticks. These multiple post's like Etsamaru's recent get shut down way to quick by naysayers who are trying to penalize people for stepping outside of the suggested boundaries. But this post was clearly labeled as a multi-suggestion thread. So I say take it for what it is.. The poster probably already acknowledges that few of their ideas will be likely to be picked up on easily by the developers because of their dilution of focus. But I see no reason to put the kibosh on all of their creative enthusiasm only because they color outside the lines.

Yup, I don't know that I am fully invested in this idea. It's got potential, It'd definitely not break the game to see a zombie or two trip and fall after vaulting a fence, and might add some perception of realism(?) to zombie movement, especially over obstacles. But player falls are a whole different ball game, as loosing control of the character might lead to one's death, and that'd understandably be disappointing. I was just expressing interest in fleshing these ideas out. Thanks all for the help!

This is the camp into which I fall as well (no pun intended). Think of walking backwards IRL. You never do it. If you walk backwards just five steps in your home you'll totally bump into something unintended. On a flat wide open surface like a street granted, this is totally not going to trip you up, no way. But given that in the game there are small debris piles, or street cracks, or tall patches of grass. I can totally see a chance to fall, when backing into obstacles. This'd penalize backing and lean players towards the silent429 approach "I sure as hell know not to try backing out of something dangerous. I turn around and book it."

Can see the points made both for Zombie clumsiness and against player accidental falls. Great discussion! Thanks for supporting this thread. I'd like to see zombies fall occasionally just to add to the realism of their movements (and for a quick laugh (aww.. look at the poor little zombie, need help up? WHAMM!)) but not necessarily for it as it might slow them down and possibly make the game easier when near fences. Maybe those sprinting zombies would hardly be slowed, or change occasionally into those annoying fast crawlers.. Dunno. Just an idea of how the idea could be implemented without destroying difficulty balance.. I could also see how sleepiness or nausea could tip the slider up for player falls when climbing fences if player falls were implemented, but I see everyone's point about how loss of player control would be annoying. Perhaps it would be best to leave player falls out then.. Although, think of the panic you'd feel once you realized that you'd have to scramble up after tripping with the horde on your tail! I mean, this game is about creating a narrative survival story. That'd be about as exciting and frantic as encountering two zombies in a bathroom, and having the surprise sound beep, as you jump in your seat!

I picked this up from Etsamaru's exhaustive list of ideas (I didn't even get through all of them), and it made me laugh. But the thread was locked before i could support it. Zombies should fall occasionally after climbing over the low fences. I can totally see it! Possibly more realistic.. If the animations were made, potentially they could be used for the player character too. Like in D&D there could be a chance to fall every time the PC vaulted a fence (Dexterity check). This chance would decrease with Nimble buff of course. The player might also fall when walking backwards while looking forward. As someone had said in another topic (which I can't seem to find now.. maybe Binoculars or Zooming) Both good ideas. Neither were mine. Thx for the awesome suggestions! and for making me laugh.

What's up all! I'm American. 36. New to forums. Just discovered PZ through a weemcast let's-play. I was checking out Rimworld when I found PZ. I played RW for about four days. The darkness and desperation of PZ has got me hooked (80+ hrs). I've never had an online presence in Steam, on Redditt, or any Indie forum. After having a issue with the game after an auto-update on Steam, I discovered how awesome this community is! I've just been enjoying this game so much, that in some ways, I thought it'd be nice to provide some feedback and support. There's something really powerful about this game. It'll startle and surprise you. There's a deep level of investment in each play-through. A real satisfaction in building survival conditions. And a real loss when you make a mistake.. I've thoroughly enjoyed this game. Glad to contribute. Thx Indie Stone!

What I mean by late game is after power goes out and you're relatively secure. Then it might be worthwhile to pursue grilling once in a while. The game can get a little dull without the desperate threats to survival that dominate early on. And so late game crafting could be a welcome diversion. I just imagined how cool it'd be to use the grills. They realistically should be unconnected from the power. Propane seems to be a logical fuel, and might fit the world without destroying the delicate survival balance that is PZ.

Once the developers have implemented explosions (i.e. grenade), I could see potential for a propane bomb. But realistically this is unlikely as creating explosions from propane bottles is nearly impossible, and explosions as weapons or traps may affect difficulty/balance of game detrimentally so might not be included. As much as I'd like to throw a grenade..

I see, so it seems you're suggesting using wood to make coal, which could be used as a fuel for the grills. And then having the gas from the gas cans as a necessary ingredient to light (as lighter fluid)? This isn't really the path I had intended, although it does seem that the addition of coal as a craft-able product and for use as a fuel would be welcomed if it were possible to use as a fuel for the grill.

Thanks for the feedback! @Daec: Thx! I'm new to forum posting, unfamiliar w/ etiquette. I support psykikk's two other ideas as well, and look forward to them being implemented, but after browsing the read before posting thread, it seems single subject posts as more likely to be considered, so referenced his post, and attempted to clarify our idea.

Awesome game, loving it! I think PZ could use a rare late game opportunity to prepare a hot meal without starting a fire by utilizing those mysterious electric grills.. Propane would be a logical way to fuel all those outdoor grills. I imagine that propane tanks would be a limited resource, rare as gas cans, and heavy (like 8-10 or more?). It'd never be found at grills, but'd have to be found elsewhere and hauled back. Recipe to light grill: Propane added as fuel, kindling/match/lighter required to light. Usage: maybe 12-16 game hrs/tank? That'd be enough for maybe 3 meals.. To add in game: There'd have to be new inventory images made for the propane bottle and the grill (to separate it from the kitchen stove image). All the grills would have to be located and disconnected from the electric grid. Mechanics of grills would have to be changed: add fuel and light like campfire, but only accept propane. I just thought it'd be fun to have a use for those outdoor grills. It'd be more realistic for them to be disconnected from electricity. And I'd relish the ability, even just once, to cook up that last chicken on the grill, just after the power goes out, or to put a pot of soup on, in a nauseous state without juggling the campfire kit together. Propane as a fuel has been mentioned before (head torches, propane gas, water purification thread by psykikk), but wasn't focused exclusively on this issue. And this does not seem to be included in the common suggestion thread.. Cheers!

Vantus: I think you've got some great ideas! I like your suggestion of adding barbed wire to a bat or other blunt weapon. A barbed bat, that'd be sweet! As others have said, I also like the idea of a rarer but more durable hunting knife or survival knife. I'd like to try the knife play-style, but the low durability has caught me off guard before.. Would a whetstone be a suitable repair object for knives? Could be limited to a number of uses.. But repairing knives would be handy. Another idea I liked is emergency craftable weapons, specifically the idea of harvesting a table leg as a blunt weapon seems totally plausible. It'd do less damage and lower durability than the bat. But at least in a starter house you could wander out into the wild with more than a butter knife. Although busting down a table should be a noisy process..