Blasted_Taco

No truer words have ever been spoken.
And in the original subject, sheet ropes should have a chance to break (Sort of like durability) if used a lot, rope item could be used instead with greater durability.

I fully agree I also I kinda wish the devs made some sneaky update that causes floating fortresses to collapse, those things are by far the biggest exploit in PZ, if there is no proper support structure (wall, pillar) on level 1 tiles on level 2 should start taking damage if something walks on them and just break eventually and if there is absolutely nothing supportive anywhere near them below then they should all break instantly...

I agree 100%, there needs to be a chance of the sheet breaking if a character is carrying a heavy load.
 
Like if i am carrying 2 logs, there should be a higher chance of the rope just breaking and me falling down, also it should get you a bit tired climbing the rope.
 
I mean, when the ropes were introduced, i was thinking of more of a last resort escape plan than removing the stairs to make an impenetrable fortress.
 
 
They really REALLY need to be nerfed, hope the devs notice this.

I agree 100%, there needs to be a chance of the sheet breaking if a character is carrying a heavy load.
 
Like if i am carrying 2 logs, there should be a higher chance of the rope just breaking and me falling down, also it should get you a bit tired climbing the rope.
 
I mean, when the ropes were introduced, i was thinking of more of a last resort escape plan than removing the stairs to make an impenetrable fortress.
 
 
They really REALLY need to be nerfed, hope the devs notice this.

A lot of people with build 32, including myself, have decided that a floating base with sheet ropes is good as hell, which it is. What if you couldn't climb a sheet rope if your character was at all over encumbered, exhausted, exerted, etc? Simply put, you need to be in good condition to climb. 
 

And then I banned them. Yes, good times for all.

You have to eat a lot more now and eating 1/4 of anything wont work now (you need to eat more to get rid of hunger).

After playing sandbox with ridiculous amounts of loot, zombies and SANIC speed character, i found these recipes, enjoy:
 
You can dismantle with screwdriver the following items to get Electric scrap:

 
To get sensors you need to dismantle a Home Alarm
To get a Reciver you must dismantle a Radio
 
Then we have the crafting part
Remote Controller

 
Remote trigger


 
Timer



Aersolbomb



Virus ZC1O Cure
 
Flamebomb
 
Smoke bomb



Noise maker

 
Pipebomb
 
Now the attachments to the bombs (All tested with Aerosolbomb and Smoke bombs, pipebomb might work too)
Timed bombs
 
Motion sensor


 
Trigger (Remote controlled)

 
I always wanted to be an engineer, have fun blowing up half of West Point and dying by the bombs you made.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

After playing sandbox with ridiculous amounts of loot, zombies and SANIC speed character, i found these recipes, enjoy:
 
You can dismantle with screwdriver the following items to get Electric scrap:

 
To get sensors you need to dismantle a Home Alarm
To get a Reciver you must dismantle a Radio
 
Then we have the crafting part
Remote Controller

 
Remote trigger


 
Timer



Aersolbomb



Virus ZC1O Cure
 
Flamebomb
 
Smoke bomb



Noise maker

 
Pipebomb
 
Now the attachments to the bombs (All tested with Aerosolbomb and Smoke bombs, pipebomb might work too)
Timed bombs
 
Motion sensor


 
Trigger (Remote controlled)

 
I always wanted to be an engineer, have fun blowing up half of West Point and dying by the bombs you made.

So, I haven't posted before but I'd like to comment on the migration mechanics. I've skimmed through some of the larger posts but I won't quote them at length; most of this post discusses the migration system and gameplay generally. Build is 32.6
 
The Migration System::
The good news is that this feature has added a good deal to the game. The bad news is that the zombie hordes are tuned in such a way as to be either be harmless, because they develop their mass too slowly, or outrageously dangerous since the compounding growth overwhelms players. This player tried two settings:
Spawns every day Spawns once a week Every Day:
The difference between the two variations is a cliff in difficulty. The first setting -- every day -- seemed to me to be too much -- nearly every residential area or area with supplies was flooded within two months and it became increasingly difficult to manage or otherwise reduce the hordes. After a certain point the effectiveness of the player against the hordes began to level out -- molotovs and bombs were in constantly short supply. I found myself constantly moving around diffuse and omniscient hordes and entirely unable to engage in 'late game' farming. I of course died during a supply run trying to get more bottles. In this game the destruction of my first base happened within a month; the second base was largely incomplete before I found myself engaging in zombie management; which I found to be not very fun and nervewracking. I am not certain the game should punish players if they avoid 'mowing the lawn' as it were. However, if NPCs are introduced this entire situation may change sufficiently to make the current rate tolerable.
 
Once a Week:
Comparatively, the second setting is too slow but 'reasonable'. In this game, the situation is much the same but the hordes are managed: I have set up at the Giga-Mart in West Point and have barricaded the south section of town off. There is a vastly reduced need to manage the hordes, given that they spawn at a rate 1/7th of the prior game. They are still dangerous and I still must raid residential areas for bottles and supplies, but I can at least engage in late game activities -- such as farming -- without a catastrophic attack destroying the entire base. However, as more time has gone on -- 4 months in -- supplies and equipment are dwindling and non-renewable items are picked. When NPCs are introduced I expect the town to be entirely picked within a month; the raw lack of valuable items or the fact that they are containerized in certain areas -- hardware stores come to mind -- makes this entire situation problematic from a gameplay perspective.
 
Tl;dr: 1 day spawns seem too much and 7 day spawns are possibly too little given prevailing gameplay mechanics.
 
From here I'd like to talk about other gameplay issues that occurred to me while playing.
 
Commentary about NPCs & Spawn Rates:
Future mechanics -- such as NPCs -- should also be factored in when determining zombie spawn rates and behavior. This author can envision that current zombie spawn rates would actually be feasible if NPCs were introduced or otherwise in the game to manage the zombie population curve (as stated).
Without this management, it is left to the player to keep the 'town ecology' to a reasonable level through firebombs, petrol bombs, and other things. This creates an odd game where the player must behave in an "I Am Legend" fashion where he/she sallies forth to wipe out the major infestations of zombies before they can properly migrate to his base. Further, this might have a troubling interaction; there will be an increasing resource bottleneck and more zombies with no real assurance that the NPCs will thin out the large herds.
 
Firearms Balance & Hordes:
In response to 1-day zombie spawns, what is to be done? The gut response by players, such as yours truly, would be to disperse the hordes with firearms. However, the shotgun/gunfire creates far too much noise for the current revision, unless the developers have in their intent that firearms be used for specific situations or away from urban areas or against players/NPCS.
 
As of current the vast swarms drawn by gunfire make such weapons useless for their seeming main purpose -- crowd control and distance killing power. Instead, continued firing merely increases the size of the crowd and makes such weapons useless when compared to molotovs or flame based weapons. Given the relative availability of molotovs and petrol bomb components when compared to shotguns or small arms, this seems like an odd gameplay mechanic. In any event, shotguns and small arms have a contrarian effect: they seem to be desperation weapons, but they simply seem to make one's situation worse: deciding to expend precious ammunition to defend a base from a horde seems intuitive, but it will just draw the remaining hordes. This, as stated, seems odd.
 
It may be asserted that firearms are exclusively for deployment against NPCs or other players -- which would explain sandbags -- but this seems to fly in the face of most zombie lore which sees a fairly consistent deployment of firearms. I merely raise this situation as a question.
 
Other Things:
The current passage of time (growing weeds, cracks in buildings) seems too fast. While some of these are indeed reasonable, the cracks should maybe give way to increased trash on the roads. I realize there are more "fluffy" aesthetic considerations in development, such as ruined cars, but the passage of time. Most importantly from this point, I'd suggest leaves from trees: those seems to be missing, or, if it is in, I haven't noticed it sufficiently.
 
With that said, I think the erosion and deterioration of the town really adds quite a bit to the game: it merely needs some alterations or more effort thrown into it.
 
In Closing:
In closing, I'd like to thank the developers or friend readers for looking through this post.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I just joined a server a few minutes ago to take a screenshot.
It kinda looks apocalypsified for you?
 
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=460881257

I have to say i agree on some of the points you touched upon.
Most of them can be avoided with the typical "ITS BETA", but i must say, if i look back of how the alpha of the game was to today game, the game has changed quite a lot and that means that is going to keep changing.
 
I agree on the "Empty world" part, but if you want a REAL post-apocalypse kind of deal, you can go to a Multiplayer server that has been running for at-least 1 or 2 real world weeks, you will see how much the world changes with the sheningans of the players trying to survive.
I think it will be for the best to wait till we can use vehicles so they can add cars blocking the streets and stuff like that, because we are going to see a new influx of players asking "Why cant we drive the cars? There are cars models in the game already!". I have hopes to see the vehicle implementation in a few months from now on, since is like the next big thing in the lists of features. (DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT PLEASE I BEG YOU)
 
Next up is the survival aspect of the game, kinda want to agree with you but at the same time no, last time i played on the new build (the massive hordes and shit m8), surviving was fun, you can do your whole farm thingy but that shit is going to take a while to grow, what do you do in the meantime? you need food and stock up water, so you go scavenging where most of the danger lies there, also the meta sounds (the gunfire and screams) are going to be tied with NPCs shooting or dying, so like many have said before me and many will keep saying, the NPCs prophecy is what solves mid-late game.

I just joined a server a few minutes ago to take a screenshot.
It kinda looks apocalypsified for you?
 
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=460881257

I have to say i agree on some of the points you touched upon.
Most of them can be avoided with the typical "ITS BETA", but i must say, if i look back of how the alpha of the game was to today game, the game has changed quite a lot and that means that is going to keep changing.
 
I agree on the "Empty world" part, but if you want a REAL post-apocalypse kind of deal, you can go to a Multiplayer server that has been running for at-least 1 or 2 real world weeks, you will see how much the world changes with the sheningans of the players trying to survive.
I think it will be for the best to wait till we can use vehicles so they can add cars blocking the streets and stuff like that, because we are going to see a new influx of players asking "Why cant we drive the cars? There are cars models in the game already!". I have hopes to see the vehicle implementation in a few months from now on, since is like the next big thing in the lists of features. (DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT PLEASE I BEG YOU)
 
Next up is the survival aspect of the game, kinda want to agree with you but at the same time no, last time i played on the new build (the massive hordes and shit m8), surviving was fun, you can do your whole farm thingy but that shit is going to take a while to grow, what do you do in the meantime? you need food and stock up water, so you go scavenging where most of the danger lies there, also the meta sounds (the gunfire and screams) are going to be tied with NPCs shooting or dying, so like many have said before me and many will keep saying, the NPCs prophecy is what solves mid-late game.

Yeah i can see that working killing about 3 zombies with the blast radius, making a FUCK ton of sound and then a MASSIVE horde coming your way to eat you while you wonder why the hell are you using sunglasses at night or why the hell did you took a 4x hunting rifle you cant use or aim properly instead of using a remote bomb.

Doctor Kelthorn

 

Research Notes: The Zombie Pathogen

 

Summary

10 patients infected by the pathogen. I will observe the progression of the disease, study the subjects in detail, and obtain as much information as possible about the pathogen itself. This will not be a study of zombie behavior; we’ve all experienced that first hand.

 

Moment of Infection

Patients infected with the pathogen. Appears to spread by exposing any infected bodily fluid to a human’s circulatory system. Trials with Patient 1 showed that amputation is not sufficient to stop the infection, as expected. In a single heartbeat, the pathogen is already well beyond the area of infection and past stopping. Trying to amputate someone to save them will just end in them being dead much quicker.

 

Progression of Infection

The most incredible thing about the infection, really, is the extraordinary speed at which it propagates. This has led me to an initial supposition that it is viral or bacterial in nature, as I can’t imagine any other pathogen reproducing this rapidly while simultaneously accomplishing what this one does.

 

It takes about 2 hours for the pathogen to fully circulate through the body. This time does seem to vary quite largely. I don’t have a large enough test group to be sure, but it appears to multiply more rapidly in more physically fit humans. This suggests that the body is utterly incapable of even slowing down the disease; instead, the pathogen is using the body’s own resources against it to reproduce even faster. This points to a viral infection. 

 

Symptoms and Treatment

Symptoms are quite easy to see. A massive fever spikes almost instantly to levels nearly high enough to kill and stay there until the patient dies. Vasodilation is also instantaneous and noteworthy, as the heart rate skyrockets simultaneously. I believe this may be related to the reproduction of the pathogen- carrying it around the body more rapidly with dilated blood vessels and extreme heart rate. This would kill a person within a day or so normally, but the pathogen doesn’t have to worry about that. The fever, I believe, is not because the body is trying to fight off the infection, but because so much energy is being expended by the reproduction of the pathogen that it causes the heat.

 

I’ve attempted to treat Patients 2 through 7 with a variety of drugs in an attempt to slow down or kill the infection. Patients 2 and 5 got various antibiotics, Patients 3 and 6 got a cocktail of anti-viral agents, and Patients 4 and 7 got simple anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.

 

Unsurprisingly, none of the treatments were able to kill the pathogen. The antibiotics and antiviral treatments were, as I fully expected, completely ineffective. However, as I suspected, the anti-inflammatory drugs were able to slow the infection rate. Patients 2, 5, 3, and 6 all died within 3 hours, with most of the results favoring about 2 hours. However, Patient 4 lasted 12 hours before giving in, and Patient 7 could have lasted much longer if I hadn’t stopped treating her. This seems to suggest that with copious amounts of anti-inflammatory drugs, a person could reasonably aim to delay the effects of the infection by as much as a week by my projections (not that it would do them any good in the end).

 

Death

Eventually, the high fever and rapid pulse cause the body to simply shut down. Once dead, it takes about 7 minutes for reanimation to take place. From my cellular analysis and tests, it appears that much of the two hours the patients spend alive but infected is used to rewrite the genetic code of the body. Once reanimated, the body functions incredibly different than that of a normal human, which could only truly be accomplished by the addition of extra RNA to cells. This almost certainly confirms my theory that it is, indeed, a virus.

 

It appears that the pathogen makes use of the extra electrical gradient left within the human body after death. As the body begins to fully shut down, it kickstarts the brain with the leftover electrical energy. However, only a few small parts of the brain are restarted. The brain stem, for one, is returned to full function which allows the zombie to theoretically do anything a human can physically. The hypothalamus is not only restored to full function, but is completely overworked, causing the characteristic aggressive behavior. The hypothalamus also controls hunger, and even though it’s disconnected from anything that should be signaling hunger, it gives the overwhelming feel of hunger to the patient. The occipital lobe continues to function to register hearing and seeing, as well.

 

No parts of the brain capable of logic, reasoning, or empathy is restored. This is so consistent that it appears something the virus does makes it physically impossible for these parts of the brain to function. As such, that tissue dies within minutes of the zombie being reanimated. This confirms my suspicions that no cure will ever be found for already zombified zombies.

 

Restored Functions

Contrary to popular belief, most of the zombie’s body continues to function and work in a “living” way. Here’s a quick reference of parts of the body that continue to function:

 

*Some parts of the brain (as above)

*Eyes and optic nerves

*Ears and auditory nerves

*All muscles

*Salivary glands

 

And parts that cease completely:

 

*The rest of the brain

*The circulatory system

*The respiratory system

*Most of the exterior nerves (more on this later)

 

It appears that the pathogen rewrites the body to continue to function in two different ways; the parts of the body exposed to air (mostly skin tissue) begin to respirate much as plants do- they take oxygen from the air. On the inside of the body, cells use anaerobic respiration to reproduce without oxygen (unless they become exposed to air). Anaerobic respiration is highly inefficient and can’t be used to sustain complex life for long periods of time.

 

However, the zombie is much less of a complex life form than its human counterpart. When not affected by stimuli, it spends large amounts of its time stationary. Since it neither breathes nor circulates blood, very little energy is actually being used.

 

When the cells inside the body run out of energy, they begin digesting other cells around them for energy (with the exception of muscles, ligaments, and tendons, which are prioritized beyond everything else to be kept alive). This gives zombies the appearance of decomposition. It is not, however, the kind of decomposition that happens to corpses. It is actually that the cells are being digested and repurposed to give energy to the rest of the body.

 

Due to the copious amounts of blood splatter that tend to happen when killing a zombie, my colleagues had once posited that blood continues to flow in the zombie. That is, however, untrue. With only a few minutes of death and then the restoration of oxygen and energy to blood, most of it doesn’t die. It just doesn’t circulate, either. It coagulates a small amount- only enough to make it a bit clingy and thick, it still remains a liquid. From there, it is largely used by the zombie to fuel muscles and other vital cells. Hence, the longer a zombie has been zombified, the less blood remains intact within it.

 

Most of the nerves in the body, also, are used for energy. With the exception of those closely connected to or in the brain (such as the auditory and optic nerves), the nerves are broken down and die. Thus, zombies feel no pain and get no stimulus from any sense of “feeling.”

 

Transmission

Transmission of the pathogen occurs when any part of infected tissue (that remains alive) or fluid enters the body. This most often comes from either a bite or a scratch. Biting, obviously, imparts both blood and saliva into the victim.

 

My comrades were, for a while, baffled by scratching infections. They thought at the time that somehow the pathogen collected under the fingernails and was transmitted that way; this is preposterous. Transmission through scratching happens because most zombies have stripped the skin off of the end of their fingers. Whether it be clawing doors, windows, barricades, or anything else in an attempt to get to their victims, they have no sense of self preservation or pain. This leads them to ripping large amounts of flesh from their hands, leaving bone and tissue exposed. The sharp edges of broken fingernails and jutting bone cut the victim, and the zombie’s blood is quickly sucked into the victim’s bloodstream.

 

There are some less common ways of transmission as well. One occasional occurrence is blood splatter while killing a zombie. This is much less frequent than biting or scratching but can happen. There is much less blood splatter from hitting a zombie than there is from hitting a human due to the zombie blood being partially coagulated, but keep your mouth closed if you’re killing one. It’s also a bit thicker, so it tends not to get into superficial cuts in the skin like some diseases can. Still, caution should be taken to not let zombie blood get into open wounds or other orifices.

 

Finally, it should be noted that ingesting zombie flesh does not infect the individual; it instantly kills them. Instead of digesting the pathogen, it is quickly transmitted across the body and causes such shock that the victim is killed in mere moments. This is not enough time for the pathogen to spread and do the necessary work in the body, and by the time it’s ready to there’s not enough electrical gradient remaining to revitalize the person.

 

Un-reanimation

Patients 8, 9, and 10 were used to see what effective methods there were of killing them.

 

Patient 8 had parts of the body ripped off until only the head and spinal cord remained. It remained alive all the way until the end; zombies can live on without any part of their torso intact for a time. However, they quickly run out of food and the brain begins to digest itself, causing a fairly quick (2 days) death.

 

Patient 9 was dealt massive trauma to the spinal cord. This was enough to “kill” it eventually. Most of the lower spine was damaged with no effect (other than paralyzing parts of the zombie), but once the brain stem was damaged it fell to the floor. Unable to move, the zombie remained “alive” and probably would continue to even if the entire brain stem was removed. However, it is completely incapable of taking any action. The only threat that remains is that if one were to trip over it or otherwise injure oneself upon it, you could still be infected by it.

 

In Patient 10 I dissected the brain. Destroying the hypothalamus was an interesting experiment; without the hunger and aggressiveness, the zombie did nothing. Nothing at all. It stood in place and didn’t react to a single stimulus. A zombie like this is completely harmless. However, actually disconnecting the hypothalamus is something that could only be done in a laboratory like this one.

 

After disconnecting the hypothalamus, I disconnected the occipital lobe, once again with very interesting results. The zombie fell to the floor, no longer receiving any stimulus- audio, visual, or other. With no impetus to act or ability to perceive, it just lay on the ground. It was still capable of moving- the brain stem was intact- but had no reason to. As such, if any of the facets of the brain are damaged or destroyed the zombie, while not technically dead, becomes a complete non-threat and for all intents and purposes is put down.

 

Conclusion

The pathogen behind the zombies is almost certainly some kind of virus. Because of it’s make-up, current test results, and my experiments I firmly believe that no cure, antivirus, or vaccine will ever be plausible. There is no way a zombified individual could ever be cured. Any kind of passive immunity appears to be impossible- from what we can tell, it affects 100% of the human population. One final sidebar is that the pathogen does not effect other animals. Something about the differences in brain makeup make the pathogen incompatible- it causes the same symptoms (fever, heart rate, death) but no reanimation. God help us all.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.

I don't think zombies give 2 fucks about gas at all, they are walking corpses, maybe for NPC suvivors it would be a great idea to wait till they are asleep, put a generator inside their safehouse and start it.