Nightmaster

Rathlord, your only argument is that no one has made it yet and no one will. You are missing the fact that the fun of the game is the challenge of surviving as long as you can. Even when NPCs and other features planned by the devs are added to the final game there will be people that will try to beat the game, to survive despiste all odds and for the longest time possible. In fact most (75%+) of the gamers will try that. There will be a moment that the player will get so skilled in the game that he will be able to survive for as much time as he wish. At that point the game becomes boring indeed but since, as you said, the point of the game is to die because of the zombie apocalypse a solution must be found to this problem. The only possible way to prevent players from giving up on the game is to add an ending of sorts that dont include a direct death at the hands of zombies, NPCs, starvation, dehydratation or disease. That's where "Death by Old Age" comes into play. That ending could be triggered after a set amount of ingame time elapse, like 5-10 years. If the player is still alive when he achieve that millestone a special ending will unfold in which the screen fades to black and like in the begining of the game a serie of text lines are displayed, telling the player how after so many years of surviving he finally succumbed to the worst of foes: Time itself. That he is likely the only living human on Earth and that in his death bed he remembers all the friends, enemies and hardships he faced just to stay alive and then he fades into a dream where he meet everyone and the game ends... Okay, that may not sound good text but I am not a writer so forgive me ok?

Actually that math of mine is based on the 1 hour day cycle, with play time in the 6 hours mark. If you play with a 30 minutes cycle one year of play will mean 12 years ingame. If one makes a 8 hours play mark he could in a single month play for 240-480 days ingame (dependind on the 30-60 minutes day cycle). Since the player age at the start of the game is 27 in 2 years of play one can have a 49 years old character (57 if you play for 8 hours a day) if he/she uses a 30 minutes day cycle. Of course that is not enough for a healthy person to die of old age. The point is not on the Old Age ending and more on the fact that unless you find a solution to players high skill/patience, the game becomes a eternal grinding without an end.

No, I have read it and I understand it quite well. The fact is that unless the devs put a "Deus-Ex Machina" situation ingame that kills the player, with good planning and skill on the part of the player its is possible to survive for years. I have made once the math and in 2 months one can play a entire year (playing for 6+ hours a day every day) quite easy and without cheating using 1 hour days. That means that in a single year one can survive ingame for 6 whole years. That need dedication? Yes for sure it does but is feasible. I havent done this yet because I dont have that much time to play anything (PZ or not) and because I dont have that good of planning and skill. Now you can say that dying of old age is a Deus-Ex Machina situation but then again I dont know anyone that dont die of old age in RL.

The main point Rathlord is that as unlikely as it may sound, people will, after a lot of experience, achieve that millestone: surviving, without cheating, for many many years ingame. Not touching the subject of dying from old age because of the "That is how you died" motto is a bad idea because the entire phrase can mean a lot of things. Old age is simple another way to die.

I dont know if there will be that option in the game, I just hope it does when it reachs 1.0 . It will be a good reason for the electrician/engineer professions to exist. As for the wheels being large enough its a matter for the crafting skill. All the other elements for a archaic hydroelectric power plant exist in RL in the area selected for the game. Its just a matter of allowing it as a option or not to the players.

No the average joe cannot recharge chemical batteries without dire consequences, but they can create a continuous flux of power with a simple hydroelectric power plant like the ones from the 19th century. After you attain self-sufficency in electric power (for basic things like fridges and a radio) all else becomes quite easy.

My sugestion will seen like OP but there's a way to create a salami maker of zombies. Get steel wire (lots or not its your choice) Get some lawmowers or heavy rotating motors. About 3 should do. Grab 3 wheel caps or some circular metallic plates Grab a soldering iron cut the wires in 3 sets of 6 wires, each 1.5 meter long. Attach 3 wires to the upper tips of one wheel cap (or metallic plate of choice), in a triangular distribution with a 45° degree elevation and a 30° inclination in favor of the rotating axis. Now attach the second 3 wires in similar fashion but with a elevation of only 15° degrees. Connect the wheel cap to the rotating motor of your choice. Dig holes to place the rotating traps. Place then in 2 rolls, with each trap at least 1.9 meters away from each one and in a zig-zag pattern. Your grid should be something like that: ° ° ° ° ° By placing the traps in such position you avoid that the wires touch each another whem moving. Now lure zombies toward the traps and activate it (make sure you are not in the area). The wires attached in 45° angle will make sure that the zombie will be cut from the waist area, most probably cuting it in half. The resulting crawler will try to still come after you but again the angle of second roll of wires (the 15° ones) will most likely decapitate the zombie because it will rise its upper body to move. The concept of that trap is the same as with some lawmowers that exist, in wich plastic wires are rotating very fast to cut down grass. Now the human body is much more resistant than grass so instead of plastic wires we use steel wires and instead of a lawmowers motor we use some motor like a small boat engine. The effect will be the same: Zombies cut to ribbons.

And digging as a whole. I can imagine creating two floors pits around ones base to keep the zombies away...

Given the amount of little creeks in and around the two main locations in PZ (real life) currently I really dont see a pressing need to add that option. That said, digging a well could be a good way to get water in later game.

Good one. That's one more option to the lack of fuel later in the game to power generators. +1

People that is against military grade weapons in the game forget one simple thing: logistic Simple put, there's a finite amount of ammo in the world. Unless there's a factory producing more (and those are not in KY mind you) eventually your M60 will become a glorified club. Since modern ammunition is something quite complicate to produce, and it need a lot of infrastructure to be a viable option (chemistry industry, metalurgic industry and etc), the chances for a individual that knows how to make modern ammo being able to make the said ammo in PZ is almost nil.

The (unspoken) context is: "Zombie Apocalypse: This is how you died" EG you died because of the zombie apocalypse. Devs have expressed many times that this is not meant to be a "dying of old age" simulator. The (unspoken) context is: "Zombie Apocalypse: This is how you died" EG you died because of the zombie apocalypse. Devs have expressed many times that this is not meant to be a "dying of old age" simulator. Well... since the devs are not (in my humble guess) going to implement a "Deus Ex Machina" event that kill the player death by old age must be considered. And before you say that death by old age is another "Deus Ex Machina" event remember that everyone dies of old age... with our current technology is a unavoidable fact.

Metalworking is confirmed to be implemented in future builds so no need to worry

Good point. Currently there isn't even wind in the game, so would wind turbines just create a random amount of energy each day? I think adding wind into the game would be cool for effecting sounds and smells though! Windows and doors left open could bang in the wind attracting zombies, the gusts could hide other sounds, smells could travel greater distances, etc. Visually it would also be cool to see trees swaying and smoke being blown about by the wind. Fire spreading too! Winds could be implemented in the same way as sound events. RNG dictates if wind occur or not, how strong, direction and duration. From there all manner of mechanics could be implemented that use that special event. Best use for wind turbines in a setting like PZ is to recharge car batteries that then can be used to power light or other short duration devices (because they dont have enought capacity to power a fridge). For the generation of power strong enough to power fridges and other things, the best bet is on early 19th century hydroelectric turbine designs. There's a waterfall between Muldraugh and Westpoint (Tioga waterfall) that one could adapt for that function. Its a small waterfall but it have the right height to be used to turn a wooden weel constantly so that one could (with the right knowledge) construct a turbine to generate electricty. Examples of designs: Tioga Falls And its location (google maps): https://www.google.com.br/maps/dir//Tioga+Creek/@37.9664223,-86.0518968,17938m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x8869210eeebb9f07:0x82d4a9bb70df7af2!2m2!1d-85.9780791!2d37.9664454

Just as I said very earlier in this thread, wind turbines are very old tech. The only inovations are in the materials used to construct and maintaing one. That said, the real problems with wind turbines is that they cant be placed anywhere. You need a good location with constant strong winds to make the wind turbine effective. To date, the best locations for wind turbines world over are near the coastlines. I dont live in USA nor Kentucky so I dont know if there's such good spots inland.

The idea could work if when NPCs are added, the character creation introduces the option for you to create a family (small or large) for you to care about. That way, when you start the game, with the exception of your own family (if the character have one) all the other relatives would be scatered thru Muldragh and West Point. If added to a mini-map/map function ingame it could tell you where your relatives live and thus one of the first unamed quest of the game could be to try and find your family.

Just to add spice in this discussion, by 1993 the maximum efficiency of solar panels was around 16%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_solar_cells

Not exactly. It all depends on the type of grenade used and the angle of the explosion compared to the target position. Frag grenades kill mainly by a mix of shrapnel/concusive blast, with shrapnel being in 70% of the cases the main cause of death. Of the deaths caused by shrapnel, at least 30% occur by wounds caused in the head and of those 25% are because shrapnel hit a main component of the head like the cerebelum or even the brain itself. There are cases of shrapnel penetrating thru the nasal cavity or the neck in a upward angle and hiting the brain. HE (High Explosive) grenades kill by pure concusive blast. They are mainly used to destroy stacionary/reinforced positions and light vehicles but against infantry they are effective as well. A soldier hit by a HE grenade have a good change to be turned into a lot of meat pieces thanks to his arms/legs/head being riped off by the shear power of the concusive blast (no crawlers). If the soldier is lucky he only have to face the chance of the concusive blast hiting his head with such force that his brain receives a critical concusion, to the point of causing his death by brain squeezing (imagine that on a zombie that dont fall on the ground to protect himself from a HE grenade). Again those situations are affected by several circunstances and details but one can for sure use grenades against hordes of zombies. Not a discret act for sure but then again a zombie apocalypse is not a commom situation XDDD

Actualy, grenades could be a good option against zombies. The reason? Their legs. Simply put grenades, mainly the anti-personel types, are well suited to rip off a soldier leg if it detonates near the soldier. A zombie would not "hit the deck" to escape a grenade blast (unlike a real soldier would mind you) Also, HE grenades could turn a soldier into meat pieces if the soldier dont hit the ground before detonation. All in all a grenade could be very useful against a horde of zombies since none of then will try to protect thenselves and depending on the type of grenade used you could very well destroy a good part of the horde.

Two points: 1- Morfine only reduces pain. A broken leg, even if you dont have pain, would restrict the character movement to a crawl since the character would have losed his ability to stand. 2- Crutchs would allow one to move with a broken leg, but just barely. Dont count on it to escape zombies because you would be slower than most zeds in this condition.

Even so the amount of weight a horse (any type) can carry without much fuss would be at least 3 times what the player would be able to carry under the same limits.

And at the same time the devs are puting a good deal of effort to be as much realistic as possible within the limitations of the engine and gameplay. That said, the only problem with generators is fuel. If you have fuel or if you can "make" the fuel that would not be a issue. The solution for generators would be for the player to be able to make fuel for it. In this case Alchool. Alchool based generators exist but they are a minority in number if compared to GAS or Diesel models. An generator that runs on achool would be a uncommom (if not rare) item to find in the countryside america of the 80's or early 90's.

Not at all. Remember that horses in the wilderness live of grass and ground plants, so the only thing you need would be a good grassland area to feed him.

Or you could use something very simple and some string to pull to turn it? LOL... no, I am talking about cameras that rotate autonomous, sweeping an area to cover the most perimeter

my point. to dismantle there you need to clear hordes which would take quiet a bit of work. It would also mean having someone skilled to dismantle and set them up quickly enough that you don't become sitting ducks in a bank for a day or two. Actually you only need the cameras and the suporters where they are placed. The wiring for then, be it for power or transmiting the image, is quite easy to acquired. You can find then in any electronic/TV shop from the middle 80's and after. The only problem would be for rotating cameras, since those (if the player wish then) would need also the armature that houses the rotating mechanism to properly work. To get those, one would need a lot of time (and some knowledge) to remove then porperly.