TrailerParkThor

This would be awesome. It's incredible that you can slam into a wall or tree at full speed and it's literally impossible to kill yourself at full health. IRL, hitting a brick wall at 80 mph is going to smash the entire front half of the car, and you with it. Even hitting a tree at 50 mph could easily break your arm or leg. It's also super unrealistic that you can just drive off after that. Vehicles should be a commodity and a privilege in the apocalypse. You should have to treat a car like your baby. Ejection from said vehicle could be difficult to implement, however maybe a seatbelt could mitigate the damage taken in most accidents? The tradeoff would be needing to unbuckle your seatbelt off before being able to switch seats or exit the vehicle. Maybe being 2-3 seconds for a 100% seatbelt. The lower the quality, however, it would take longer and longer. Imagine a zombie is breaking your window and you are struggling to unbuckle your shitty seatbelt. That is PRIME Zomboid lol! So you would have to consider the risk vs reward of keeping a seatbelt on, or leaving it undone. I thought offroad traction was already a factor in the game, but if not I agree it should be added. I imagine curbs would be pretty difficult, but it could also be as easy as programming the edges to tear up tires/alignment. If the latter is the case, this would be a very fun addition. Would be another factor in making trucks/heavy-duty vehicles more OP. The rest of your suggestions have been discussed in this thread before, but they are all good nonetheless!

Pretty sure I read somewhere that devs intend to add this Rimworld style customization of physical weaknesses on top of the traits. Would be really fun to be able to RP with something like a bad back that makes all bags less effective, makes crouching risky to your wellbeing, and could make it more dangerous to carry heavy objects for long periods of time. Plus the sporadic pain in your back that you can never cure would already be rough to deal with. Knees could affect running, and crouching even more. Shoulders could affect carryweight and melee speed. Neck could even be used for sleeping on anything less than a good bed. Imagine tweaking your neck from sleeping on a chair and having pain for a week. Maybe you could even gain these traits from surviving severe injuries, carrying heavy loads, or sleeping on chairs/floors. If they don't intend to add this, they should consider it. Traits have long needed a rework to separate them into different categories anyways. Would be nice to have Physical Traits like fitness, strength, weight, and these in a category with it's own allocated points. Then put the Mental Traits like skills, addictions, intelligence, and attitude in another. That way you can't just take a bunch of negative mental traits to make a super strong character, or vice versa to create a skill god.

@3lackrosethis would make a lot more sense. Devs could easily add traits like Glutton and Picky Eater to the game. Glutton could negate any negative effects gained from eating Rotten/Spoiled/Disgusting foodstuffs, as well as increase the positive effects of eating food like Chocolate and Hearty Meals. Picky Eater could worsen the negative effects of Dog Food and the like, and maybe even lower the positive effects gained from fun foods. Alternatively, it could make negative effects worse as well as picking one or two random foods in the game that your character absolutely hates. Could create dynamic situations for each playthrough. Maybe your PC hates cheese and/or cupcakes. This wouldn't have an enormous effect beyond having to skip over a few loot options. But if they hated Cabbage and Potatoes, you're gonna be in for a waaay harder time in the late game.

Weird... hadnt noticed that. hope it gets fixed soon!

Yeah I agree, could be lowered to just +25 Unhappiness or something. +50 is a lot to be fair. And you would still need a lot to bring yourself back to happy levels, which you probably wouldn't have if you're eating dog food lol

It definitely should be. Weird, it's like that for me. Maybe your Hearing settings are low?

Pretty sure they already do with most fences like they do with mailboxes but I could be wrong. Could be a fun mechanic to sacrifice a car to get through a fence or wall

Smartphones are just a big fat NO However, your idea about cell phones could still be cool. Being able to call someone on a big brick phone you need to find massive batteries for would be fun. Kinda like a walkie talkie but with the added bonus of attracting all zombies in the area. Ultimately, I think that HAM Radios and Walkie Talkies already fulfill any task that cell phones could be useful for without any added upkeep or risk. Maybe, in future, they could add PCs. These would be used for programming machines and setting up factories or other manufacturing plants. However, there could be a longterm goal where you could set up a simple dial-up internet for e-mailing across different PCs at the same or different bases. In this case, phones could have a use in MacGyvering a dial up connection.

Zeds can now crawl under cars even if they aren't crawlers!!! Maybe this has something to do with it?? It's not mentioned in patch notes

I wouldn't mind brewing tea or coffee by filling a Kettle with water, boiling it, and then crafting said product. Then sugar could be added as a boost? Not sure seems like a tough one

@BentNosegreat to see! I do think boating will be added before 1.0 release. It's too fun and useful of a mechanic to not implement IMO. I would expect the only reason they haven't added them yet is because they would need to add things on the other side of the Ohio first.

Yes, but my thoughts are these would be impossible to do solo, you would either need multiple trained PCs or NPCs most likely with specific professions to accomplish these goals. For example, if your group consists of electricians and engineers, you can restore a power plant. However, if your group is instead comprised of veterans and mechanics, the APC vehicle would be the better choice.

The body of your average car is mostly aluminum actually

Restoring Power Plants and Water Treatment Stations would definitely be worthy end-game goals. Can't get rid of the zombies, but at least you can enjoy your last few years in luxury! I definitely think the planned Factions will be locked behind establishing some kind of radio tower. I can't imagine you will just be able to start building a faction up the second the game begins, since I think that will be when you are still operating under the 'Group' mechanics at that point. Would definitely be nice to build up a bunch of different skills or rally different specialist PCs or NPCs and have to commit to a long-term goal of either Electricity, Running Water, or Rebuilding Civilization once you reach a certain point of survivability. I have said on other threads that the game needs some more Late-Game Machines that make getting to high levels on MP (and SP when NPCs are added one day) actually rewarding and fun. Things like getting a Sawmill that turns logs into planks automatically at McCoy, a Sewing Machine that can be used to make homemade clothes with enough tailoring at the Mall, a big Combine for harvesting crops (or corpses) en masse at the Pony Roam-O; Moonshine Distill, Personal Computer, Coal Generator, Metal Press, etc. These would first need to be located, then moved, then repaired, before finally needing steady supplies of resources (and power) to continue running. So there would be whole months of the game dedicated to making one fully operational. IMO these would function as the End-Game goals for most SP worlds (at least until NPCs are added), but in MP these would be more like important resources to compete and war over. Things that your average big dog faction can maintain and use to their advantage. So here, your ideas about restoring water and power could fill that need for a real END-GAME goal nicely. So I imagine each of the 4 starting zones will have their own Power Plant and Water Treatment Station that could be restored, but you could only fix one of each. This way, you can never restore full electricity and running water to the world, but you could have plumbing for your farm settlement outside of Rosewood and appliances/lights at your HQ in Riverside, or both in Muldraugh. Radio Towers would probably be constructed at the site of your base, but maybe they could follow the same logic of having one in each spawn area. Knowing that PZ has a super hardcore and dedicated community, though, I wouldn't be surprised if these quickly become late-game rather than end-game goals for most players With that in mind, here's a few other ideas for End-Game Projects the devs could add: - Setting up a Telegraph/Telephone network - Repairing a Forklift that can move thousands of kilos at once - Repairing a Military APC vehicle - Renovating a Woodwork Factory for use in mass producing some basic furniture - Renovating a Silverware Factory for use in mass producing kitchen cutlery - Renovating the Louisville Slugger factory (when Louisville is added) - Renovating the Dog Food Factory - Reestablishing a Quarry for automated stone collection - Arming a Missile to destroy any one of the 4 starting zones - Repopulating a Nature Reserve for hunting exotic game - Clearing out a caved-in Mineshaft for a renewable supply of (char)Coal - I'm sure there's plenty more too! Those were just off the top of my head.

Just a visual bug still being ironed out in the new build. Taller trees would be nice though

I think Boating is definitely in the works, as@colid_cnakesaid. Would be very nice to have a safe alternative to highway travel, even if it's restricted to following the Ohio. I would expect this to come alongside the Louisville Update. Since I imagine traveling into the heart of the city by car would be nigh impossible. Water travel could be the best way in and out of the urban areas of the map. Besides that, NPCs and even MP will benefit a lot from trading over the rivers of Knox Country. Canoes could be crafted out of logs with carpentry. Low level would result in a basic hollowed out log. High level could create a professional one. Kayaks could be found and be the faster, but less durable version of them. Fishing Boats could be the metal version that has both manual and motorized movement when needed. Motorboats could be the best version. Needing the full level of engine and body maintenance as a car, and a lot more fuel. They would be extremely fast, strong, and have lots of seats and container space. These wouldn't be able to be rowed though, so extra fuel is a must! Boats could easily be added, however I do think swimming to be something hard to code under the current game engine. It will be relatively easy to code the existing waterways as roads only accessible to boats, then code the physics for boat movement on the water. The majority of work here will just be in coding/modeling the boats in the first place. This does beg the question of what will happen if the boat gets destroyed. Obviously, cars total and you can just hop out, but IRL a wrecked boat usually means a sink. Most bodies of water, this shouldn't do much as it shouldn't be that deep anyways. The Ohio River, however, is actually over 100 feet deep around Louisville. If your boat sunk in these raging waters, what should happen to you? I think drowning would make the most sense, but doesn't seem super fun. So maybe the game can just roll for RNG based on Fitness and Lucky/Unlucky. If you succeed, you will just teleport to the coast and be completely soaking wet. If you fail, you will drown in the rapids. Perhaps we could also have a negative trait 'Can't Swim' that gives you a 100% chance of drowning. If swimming is on the table it should definitely be it's own Skill too. I think your negative Z-Level idea would be amazing if the devs did add this system. Here we could still use Can't Swim in the way you would Illiterate. No way to ever learn how if this trait is active. Although, we can also add an 'Olympic Swimmer' or 'Lifeguard' trait that gives +2 Swimming. Low level swimmers would swim very slowly and use a lot of exertion doing so. They would also come with a high chance of drowning in rivers and deep lakes if they at Mild Exertion or above. High level swimmers could move extremely fast and have 0% chance of drowning unless Excessively Exerted. They could also still swim with Heavy Loads, while lower level swimmers would risk drowning. I imagine it would be a lot of fun to level up swimming in one of the many pools of the map. Could also boost Fitness to train it, like Jogging/Sprinting does. Swimsuits could help you swim slightly faster and lower your chance of drowning while also keeping your clothes dry. I think it would be almost obligatory to allow Aquatic Foraging here, as it could be a good way of collecting certain things. Garbage Bags, Empty Cans, Driftwood, Smooth Stones, and others could all be useful here. I could also foresee some things like Crawdads, Frogs, Algae, and Mud all having uses and being found here. Alternatively, spear fishing could be a louder, higher energy use, but faster way to catch fish when standing in water.

Glad to see the expanded idea, I love it! I think this could be implemented as easily as adding a Sandbox setting called something like 'Survivor Classes'. If you check the box, it would allow for more customization of this system (similar to Proper Zombies settings). You could select which classes would be available and when. Survivor and Apocalypse modes would probably default to 3 months later, but this could be changed to be any amount of time. This way servers could opt into or out of whichever professions they want to allow players to use. Alternatively, anyone could just set the time limit to -1 days and access all the Respawn Professions from Day 1 character creation. I like the idea of progressing stats as well, but the RNG makes me a little put off and adding new professions on top of changing existing ones seems too complicated. I think the simplest way to go about marrying your ideas would be to simply replace each existing profession with a survivor class once the threshold of time has passed. Carjacker for Mechanic, Z Hunter for Veteran, Marathon Runner for Fitness Instructor, etc. Using this method, each occupation will get it's own advanced version with pros and cons. This way, starting over months later isn't just starting over. It would almost be like a new game mode! Maybe the sandbox settings would even allow us to set unique thresholds for each occupation. Farmers might take a year to become Foragers, but I'm sure most Lumberjacks would become a Wild Man in the first few weeks of the apocalypse. A step further, and we can bring spawn points into this system. I think a good way to go about this would be to similarly replace each existing spawn category with a later game version. Pillow's Spawns could really give the devs some inspiration here, like you said. Muldraugh should be replaced with Farmville, Riverside with the Country Club, etc. These could all come with their own list of random spawns so it isn't too repetitive. Under this system, it should be easy to add the special story spawns you came up with. A Carjacker spawning in Farmville might be in a broken down car outside the Pony Roam-O, a Wild Man in Dixie (a good Rosewood replacement) might spawn in one of the isolated cabins nearby there. All in all, I think something along these lines NEEDS to come to PZ. Currently, it's pretty fun to restart from a completely new save. If the devs were to add a version of the systems we've discussed here, no matter how simplified, it would definitely incentivize players to take on the challenge of a later start and reclaiming their past character's things.

Being able to sew together curtains out of ripped sheets would be nice though, wouldn't it? Maybe we could craft full sheets too! Hopefully this will come if they ever add fabric dyes. I'd love to craft some custom color curtains at high level tailoring.

I agree that vehicles deal too much damage. I think driving should create a lot more crawlers if anything, and should rarely kill zeds. I think there is a disconnect in player's brains because the car takes way too much damage compared to what we see on screen. Small, wimpy vehicles can run through a horde of 20 from a complete stop. Your average car can continue through a dozen zombies on the highway going 60. The damage the vehicle takes is super realistic, but we don't see it in a way that makes sense to us. I think if they gave infected way more stopping power, it would make more sense when we get home with a wrecked car. If the whole car came to an abrupt stop, you heard a louder shatter sound and maybe even a crunching sound, you would understand that you shouldn't be hitting zombies too often. IRL, hitting a person (or more commonly a deer) can completely total your car at 60+ mph. I get that it's gameified, but tweaking this could help convey to players that it isn't pragmatic to just run through zombies in a vehicle when you can avoid it. In a game all about risk vs reward, there's very little risk in using cars. This would also help make players OK with the way car parts degrade. Would give a reason to reach high level mechanic skill, and allow you to keep one car the whole game if you want. Would also pair well with the confirmed Vehicle Modifications, you would want to be able to just repair most if not all the parts on your Zombie Murder Van rather than replace them with scavenged materials.

Good point, I guess its kinda a fallacy to think that just because they introduce a sandbox option, it will upset the meta of the game. Minecraft has creative mode, but people don't use it for competitive play and speedruns I think if it helps more people play then, why not?

That is very true, maybe just have the Tires, Chain, and Gears as parts that degrade and need replacement. These seem like simple additions that could be found in lots of places. The Bike itself (Body, Handlebars, Seat) could all be repaired with Metalworking skill and Metal Rods, similar to how Car Hoods/Trunks can be repaired with Metal Sheets.

I think OP means that people stop playing because they put weeks or months into a character with friends and then that character dies and they don't want to invest a bunch of time into a new character. I have personally seen and felt this firsthand myself so I know where it's coming from. @FurizuI feel like it would be cool to create a sandbox option in which the player or server host can allow player respawn, but I understand why the devs don't want this in their game. I guarantee, almost immediately, the meta of the game would change and 80% of the community would start playing strictly with PlayerRespawn set to True. This would mean the seriousness and challenge of the game would all but be forgotten. Why stay inside your house scared when you can just respawn in your bed if a zombie does get you? Why even risk that scratch? Just suicide and respawn. Don't worry about that enemy faction, just waltz right in with a spoon. It might take a couple tries, but eventually you'll take them all out! It's easy to say that it would make MP more fun, but it would actually make it much much worse IMO. There's no more risk or danger in the server anymore. No more close calls where you barely save your buddy and your team barely gets out alive. No more starvation, no more thirst, no more tiredness. Honestly, why would you even do anything at all anymore?? If you can just die and reset all your moodles while keeping all your skills, why risk anything on a scav run? Wouldn't PZ just become The Sims?? Just sit in your house and read books until you starve to death or die of thirst and then respawn fully awake and well fed to disassemble some radios and do some push ups. This is not the game I want or know. And even if you try to play "right" I'm sure you will get bored of dying and respawning the same character. It will feel cheap! The permadeath keeps the game varied, dynamic, exciting, and replayable. This is a really solid solution. Maybe for each month after the apocalypse, survivors start with +1 to all Starting Skills, but -1 to starting Trait Points. This would simulate the fact that they are better at doing things, but not necessarily better off. So if you died after 6 months, your new character could be a Carpenter with Level 9 carpentry, but -4 trait points to start. There could be a cap on the trait points at -10 to match the skill level cap, and so you aren't starting a new character with -25 points after dying 2 years in. I like the idea of extra gear based on Profession and Traits. Maybe our carpenter is also a Gardener and Baseball Player and he has a Spiked Baseball Bat, Level 3 Farming, and a schoolbag full of fresh produce. @BentNoseI'd like you to elaborate more on the Survivor classes... sounds interesting to me but what are your ideas on this? Professions locked behind time would really incentivize players to create a new character after death of the previous one!

I think this is possible now due to custom vehicle support that came with the Trailer patch. Bicycles as a tile object are already in the game, so hopefully this does come one day. However, since a lot of new code and animations would need to be developed, we should definitely include both the Road Bikes and Mountain Bikes so at least it's somewhat more useful and varied. There's only really six parts of a bike that we have to consider: Handlebars, Tires, Rims, Chains, Body, and Seat. We could also have things like helmets and pads to lessen damage from crashes, Mounted horns or flashlights for utility, and bike locks that prevent them from being stolen. Ideally, motorcycles could be added too. Street bikes, Dirt bikes, and Touring bikes could all be stronger fueled variants of the bicycles that require more parts and maintenance. Street bikes could be fast and handle like a dream, but chug through gas and can easily crash on impact with zeds. Dirt bikes would have moderate speed and good handling, but also be built solid enough to stay up after some crashes with zombies or trees. Touring bikes would be slow and steady, but would be pretty fuel efficient making them ideal for long distance travel.

Devs confirmed to be nerfing foraging tiredness in 41.50!! That was quick we did it bro

The issue with "vehicle exploits" is that it feels cheeky to just run over hundreds of zombies to kill them while remaining completely safe. This, however, is actually super realistic. If dozens of people were trying to kill me, zombified or not, I would definitely hope I was in a car or something that could function as both a weapon and shield. The problem is it's not very gameified or fun in the confines of PZ. So the devs basically need to make cars have worse condition loss so they are less practical to use in combat. But, IRL there is something that can't happen in Knox Country that could totally balance this system and allow the devs to buff car parts again. The reason you never see people running down zeds with cars in the Walking Dead is because they would very quickly climb onto your vehicle or get smashed through the windshield and could quickly bite you. Currently, in PZ, the only way a zombie can get you in a car is if your driver side window is broken. I propose that zombies can sit in vehicles. If a car door/window in open, broken, or removed, infected individuals could actually take an open seat. While sitting in a seat, they would be able to bite anyone sitting also in the vehicle. This ability to enter the car would also be possible through broken windshields and certain types of trunks. This would serve a lot of purposes: First of all, zombies could actually spawn in vehicles. This would make scaving cars and trying to find a vehicle a lot more dangerous and exciting. Imagine opening up a door and 2 zombies fall out of the backseat. Secondly, it would mean you couldn't just leave your vehicles lying around with all the windows down and know it's safe from damage. Zombies would try to break into vehicles they were attracted to, same as doors and windows. Leave your headlights or car radio on and in the morning, you might have a full ride! The final plus of this system would be that the unpassable wall exploit using vehicles would be completely obsolete. No need to even write any major new code for zombies crawling under cars or climbing over them, just allow zombies to use the same system of entering and exiting vehicles but through open/broken windows/doors instead of full access like survivors have. Obviously, it wouldn't be perfect since they would have to one by one get in and out of the vehicle, but it's better than current build! (honestly this is one of the most atrociously OP exploits out there) Could actually be a new strategy to make the car wall more realistic instead of removing it entirely. You could use it as a chokepoint for zeds in which they would all stream out at a steady rate, allowing you to pick them off one at a time.