Magic Mark

Adam, have a Snickers.

TL;DR This thread highlights the need for end-game novelty things to work on, and generally stuff for late-game players to work on once survival is generally 'taken care of'. Either way there will be players who 'get to that point' no matter how the difficulty is tweaked, so please consider that when reading over this thread. This thread is not about difficulty and is not to be associated with such.
 
This is not an 'idea compilation', this is a general point of view on late-game topics that I feel the devs should consider outside of the regular old 'survival' aspect of the game.
 
Introduction
 
Now, I'm going to level with all of you. This game, for the average person that picks it up and plays it for the first time, surviving a year is not exactly feasible.
 
However, for the people that put hours in and out for this game - the line there shifts as you get used to what you are playing.
 
You get your routine down, you get your base together, your group together. You build walls. You get patrols. You find what food and water source you plan to rely on. You get your character multi-talented and versed in various survival methods. You can live independently. You are in the process of rebuilding a community. All of a sudden, you realize you are 2 years in and you realize that you aren't entirely sure what you can work for.
 
However, that's where I think this game can improve on. Outside of general defense, PVP, survival, preservation - the game lacks in stuff to strive for once you can take care of yourself in a routinely manner.
 
To be clear, this is not a discussion about difficulty. You guys are on the right track in that department. This is a discussion about things you can afford to work on once you get well-off. Stuff for late-game players to strive for.
 
I'm talking about players finally having the time to worry about cleaning up the place. I'm not talking about mopping up blood after a fight. I'm talking about dealing with those cracks in the walls. I'm talking about maybe making a flower garden. I'm talking about a way to get your lights back on without a stockpile of gasoline.
 
Topics to Consider.
 
Decaying World.
 
Already you can cut your grass. That's great. But you need to be able to prevent your safe, untouched home from looking like it came out of the Last of Us.
 
Currently, ingame, it does not take as anywhere close to as long as it realistically should for vegetation to take over. One year in real life may be enough time for your front yard to look like your average field, but it's nowhere near enough time for your walls to crack, and your hardwood floors to break apart.
 
My proposal:
At the very least, have a method of prevention to stop sturdy walls and floors from cracking.
 
Decaying floors and walls realistically need to take years - decades - to get to the level they reach in 6 months ingame. Anyone who has lived in the same house for more than a decade can confirm that they likely never had to replace their brick walls because cracks never randomly started appearing. Hardwood floors especially are durable.
 
Proper flooring and tile shouldn't crack up in that short a period that it currently does. Maybe link the model change to actual damage and wear more than it is a time-related thing?
 
Balance:
Sure, you could say that if you didn't make it something that happens soon, most players would not see the change at all. However the growth of removable vegetation should cover that front.
 
Worn-out, attacked homes should show the decay, not maintained ones that don't even have zed in them.
 
As this idea is not entirely linked to survival, it is important to note that people will work towards something they can stand back and feel proud of.
 
Multiple Ways to Keep the Lights On.
 
Gas-powered generators, in their current state, are very finite in function. 10 or so gas cans filled to the brim, storage difficulty aside, aren't enough to keep the generator going on a long-term scale. And when the power dies, so does the pumps.
 
My proposal:
Siphoning gas out of tanks. Renewable energy.
 
There has been discussion of Solar Panels as a realistic possibility. If you have the experience and can figure out where the solar panels would be in the 90s, having a small fleet of these could potentially be your answer to keeping the lights on months after you get set up and the zed population gets down. 
 
Another option is to go with siphoning, as suggested in a previous thread. It would be a good way to get gas later on, as it would be abundant in the station tanks with the amount of daily drivers tanking downward in the case of an apocalypse.
 
Balance:
Consider this, there can and will be players who get into the 'years' category of survival and get to a point where zed might not even be considered a threat. And there will be players who drain all of the gas out of everything. Some players play with zed respawn turned off as well, they should be considered in this as well.
 
From the get-go when the power turns off, this shouldn't be an easy thing to just prop up. But it would give late-game players something to work for. Tank siphoning should require time and effort to do, and much more so for renewable energy. A single solar panel couldn't power a fridge if you tied it to a loom and whipped it, but a fleet of them might. So there is the time and effort needed there to make a setup work.
 
Keep in mind that electricity for the most part is considered a luxury in the survival world, not necessary but it is something that people look at as a reminder of society.
 
Planting.
 
Outside of crops, we should look at the ability to plant trees and flowers. Now these things take time to grow, so this would be a 'novelty' thing rather than a way to make surviving easier by any means.
 
Proposal:
Plant pretty flowers to make the place look nice. Plant trees, for either visuals for your backyard, or to help keep the forest thick.
 
Balance:
This should not be something that is to be taken as 'grow your own wood supply' by any means. The length of time required for trees to grow should be a long while, far too long for it to be a calculated 'easy way' for wood. Most of the intention here is for visuals, making an elaborate garden could give late-game players another thing to look forward to doing.
 
---
 
...More topics will come to this thread as this gets discussed...
 
So, what do you guys think?
 
Something for late-game survivors to work for.
 
Hopefully I represented my point in a proper manner, I am a tad tired at the time of writing this.

Just because you call it unbreakable doesn't mean we won't break it.
 
No matter what the difficulty they set it up to, no matter how severe the challenges, someone, somewhere will find a way to make it work. This isn't a failing on their part, it's a success on ours. Even among the dead, life goes on. 
 
That said, giving us more options for base building, decor, novelties, these wouldn't detract from the experience at all. They would give the hardcore survivalists, the skilled teams and dedicated players something to strive for. Something they could show off to their friends and take some pride in having accomplished. 
 
I think this is something worth looking into, I support the idea 100%

TL;DR This thread highlights the need for end-game novelty things to work on, and generally stuff for late-game players to work on once survival is generally 'taken care of'. Either way there will be players who 'get to that point' no matter how the difficulty is tweaked, so please consider that when reading over this thread. This thread is not about difficulty and is not to be associated with such.
 
This is not an 'idea compilation', this is a general point of view on late-game topics that I feel the devs should consider outside of the regular old 'survival' aspect of the game.
 
Introduction
 
Now, I'm going to level with all of you. This game, for the average person that picks it up and plays it for the first time, surviving a year is not exactly feasible.
 
However, for the people that put hours in and out for this game - the line there shifts as you get used to what you are playing.
 
You get your routine down, you get your base together, your group together. You build walls. You get patrols. You find what food and water source you plan to rely on. You get your character multi-talented and versed in various survival methods. You can live independently. You are in the process of rebuilding a community. All of a sudden, you realize you are 2 years in and you realize that you aren't entirely sure what you can work for.
 
However, that's where I think this game can improve on. Outside of general defense, PVP, survival, preservation - the game lacks in stuff to strive for once you can take care of yourself in a routinely manner.
 
To be clear, this is not a discussion about difficulty. You guys are on the right track in that department. This is a discussion about things you can afford to work on once you get well-off. Stuff for late-game players to strive for.
 
I'm talking about players finally having the time to worry about cleaning up the place. I'm not talking about mopping up blood after a fight. I'm talking about dealing with those cracks in the walls. I'm talking about maybe making a flower garden. I'm talking about a way to get your lights back on without a stockpile of gasoline.
 
Topics to Consider.
 
Decaying World.
 
Already you can cut your grass. That's great. But you need to be able to prevent your safe, untouched home from looking like it came out of the Last of Us.
 
Currently, ingame, it does not take as anywhere close to as long as it realistically should for vegetation to take over. One year in real life may be enough time for your front yard to look like your average field, but it's nowhere near enough time for your walls to crack, and your hardwood floors to break apart.
 
My proposal:
At the very least, have a method of prevention to stop sturdy walls and floors from cracking.
 
Decaying floors and walls realistically need to take years - decades - to get to the level they reach in 6 months ingame. Anyone who has lived in the same house for more than a decade can confirm that they likely never had to replace their brick walls because cracks never randomly started appearing. Hardwood floors especially are durable.
 
Proper flooring and tile shouldn't crack up in that short a period that it currently does. Maybe link the model change to actual damage and wear more than it is a time-related thing?
 
Balance:
Sure, you could say that if you didn't make it something that happens soon, most players would not see the change at all. However the growth of removable vegetation should cover that front.
 
Worn-out, attacked homes should show the decay, not maintained ones that don't even have zed in them.
 
As this idea is not entirely linked to survival, it is important to note that people will work towards something they can stand back and feel proud of.
 
Multiple Ways to Keep the Lights On.
 
Gas-powered generators, in their current state, are very finite in function. 10 or so gas cans filled to the brim, storage difficulty aside, aren't enough to keep the generator going on a long-term scale. And when the power dies, so does the pumps.
 
My proposal:
Siphoning gas out of tanks. Renewable energy.
 
There has been discussion of Solar Panels as a realistic possibility. If you have the experience and can figure out where the solar panels would be in the 90s, having a small fleet of these could potentially be your answer to keeping the lights on months after you get set up and the zed population gets down. 
 
Another option is to go with siphoning, as suggested in a previous thread. It would be a good way to get gas later on, as it would be abundant in the station tanks with the amount of daily drivers tanking downward in the case of an apocalypse.
 
Balance:
Consider this, there can and will be players who get into the 'years' category of survival and get to a point where zed might not even be considered a threat. And there will be players who drain all of the gas out of everything. Some players play with zed respawn turned off as well, they should be considered in this as well.
 
From the get-go when the power turns off, this shouldn't be an easy thing to just prop up. But it would give late-game players something to work for. Tank siphoning should require time and effort to do, and much more so for renewable energy. A single solar panel couldn't power a fridge if you tied it to a loom and whipped it, but a fleet of them might. So there is the time and effort needed there to make a setup work.
 
Keep in mind that electricity for the most part is considered a luxury in the survival world, not necessary but it is something that people look at as a reminder of society.
 
Planting.
 
Outside of crops, we should look at the ability to plant trees and flowers. Now these things take time to grow, so this would be a 'novelty' thing rather than a way to make surviving easier by any means.
 
Proposal:
Plant pretty flowers to make the place look nice. Plant trees, for either visuals for your backyard, or to help keep the forest thick.
 
Balance:
This should not be something that is to be taken as 'grow your own wood supply' by any means. The length of time required for trees to grow should be a long while, far too long for it to be a calculated 'easy way' for wood. Most of the intention here is for visuals, making an elaborate garden could give late-game players another thing to look forward to doing.
 
---
 
...More topics will come to this thread as this gets discussed...
 
So, what do you guys think?
 
Something for late-game survivors to work for.
 
Hopefully I represented my point in a proper manner, I am a tad tired at the time of writing this.

TL;DR This thread highlights the need for end-game novelty things to work on, and generally stuff for late-game players to work on once survival is generally 'taken care of'. Either way there will be players who 'get to that point' no matter how the difficulty is tweaked, so please consider that when reading over this thread. This thread is not about difficulty and is not to be associated with such.
 
This is not an 'idea compilation', this is a general point of view on late-game topics that I feel the devs should consider outside of the regular old 'survival' aspect of the game.
 
Introduction
 
Now, I'm going to level with all of you. This game, for the average person that picks it up and plays it for the first time, surviving a year is not exactly feasible.
 
However, for the people that put hours in and out for this game - the line there shifts as you get used to what you are playing.
 
You get your routine down, you get your base together, your group together. You build walls. You get patrols. You find what food and water source you plan to rely on. You get your character multi-talented and versed in various survival methods. You can live independently. You are in the process of rebuilding a community. All of a sudden, you realize you are 2 years in and you realize that you aren't entirely sure what you can work for.
 
However, that's where I think this game can improve on. Outside of general defense, PVP, survival, preservation - the game lacks in stuff to strive for once you can take care of yourself in a routinely manner.
 
To be clear, this is not a discussion about difficulty. You guys are on the right track in that department. This is a discussion about things you can afford to work on once you get well-off. Stuff for late-game players to strive for.
 
I'm talking about players finally having the time to worry about cleaning up the place. I'm not talking about mopping up blood after a fight. I'm talking about dealing with those cracks in the walls. I'm talking about maybe making a flower garden. I'm talking about a way to get your lights back on without a stockpile of gasoline.
 
Topics to Consider.
 
Decaying World.
 
Already you can cut your grass. That's great. But you need to be able to prevent your safe, untouched home from looking like it came out of the Last of Us.
 
Currently, ingame, it does not take as anywhere close to as long as it realistically should for vegetation to take over. One year in real life may be enough time for your front yard to look like your average field, but it's nowhere near enough time for your walls to crack, and your hardwood floors to break apart.
 
My proposal:
At the very least, have a method of prevention to stop sturdy walls and floors from cracking.
 
Decaying floors and walls realistically need to take years - decades - to get to the level they reach in 6 months ingame. Anyone who has lived in the same house for more than a decade can confirm that they likely never had to replace their brick walls because cracks never randomly started appearing. Hardwood floors especially are durable.
 
Proper flooring and tile shouldn't crack up in that short a period that it currently does. Maybe link the model change to actual damage and wear more than it is a time-related thing?
 
Balance:
Sure, you could say that if you didn't make it something that happens soon, most players would not see the change at all. However the growth of removable vegetation should cover that front.
 
Worn-out, attacked homes should show the decay, not maintained ones that don't even have zed in them.
 
As this idea is not entirely linked to survival, it is important to note that people will work towards something they can stand back and feel proud of.
 
Multiple Ways to Keep the Lights On.
 
Gas-powered generators, in their current state, are very finite in function. 10 or so gas cans filled to the brim, storage difficulty aside, aren't enough to keep the generator going on a long-term scale. And when the power dies, so does the pumps.
 
My proposal:
Siphoning gas out of tanks. Renewable energy.
 
There has been discussion of Solar Panels as a realistic possibility. If you have the experience and can figure out where the solar panels would be in the 90s, having a small fleet of these could potentially be your answer to keeping the lights on months after you get set up and the zed population gets down. 
 
Another option is to go with siphoning, as suggested in a previous thread. It would be a good way to get gas later on, as it would be abundant in the station tanks with the amount of daily drivers tanking downward in the case of an apocalypse.
 
Balance:
Consider this, there can and will be players who get into the 'years' category of survival and get to a point where zed might not even be considered a threat. And there will be players who drain all of the gas out of everything. Some players play with zed respawn turned off as well, they should be considered in this as well.
 
From the get-go when the power turns off, this shouldn't be an easy thing to just prop up. But it would give late-game players something to work for. Tank siphoning should require time and effort to do, and much more so for renewable energy. A single solar panel couldn't power a fridge if you tied it to a loom and whipped it, but a fleet of them might. So there is the time and effort needed there to make a setup work.
 
Keep in mind that electricity for the most part is considered a luxury in the survival world, not necessary but it is something that people look at as a reminder of society.
 
Planting.
 
Outside of crops, we should look at the ability to plant trees and flowers. Now these things take time to grow, so this would be a 'novelty' thing rather than a way to make surviving easier by any means.
 
Proposal:
Plant pretty flowers to make the place look nice. Plant trees, for either visuals for your backyard, or to help keep the forest thick.
 
Balance:
This should not be something that is to be taken as 'grow your own wood supply' by any means. The length of time required for trees to grow should be a long while, far too long for it to be a calculated 'easy way' for wood. Most of the intention here is for visuals, making an elaborate garden could give late-game players another thing to look forward to doing.
 
---
 
...More topics will come to this thread as this gets discussed...
 
So, what do you guys think?
 
Something for late-game survivors to work for.
 
Hopefully I represented my point in a proper manner, I am a tad tired at the time of writing this.

I think this post made the touchdown for me.
 
 
 
I'd like to re-open this discussion on the point of having multiple panels.
 
Sure, one of them can't power your base, but that point is about as flawed as 'whats the point in farming when you are not able to live off of one planted crop'.
 
Now, a whole bunch of them, on a roof top.
 
That one guy who said the Highway LEDs powered by the Solar Panels brought a good point, those definitely exist.
 
Well, with a whole bunch of effort and time ingame, maybe you could collect a lot of them and then maybe you have a reliable power source, that works in sunlight and requires further effort to store power for the night.
 
It's a feasible idea, but it shouldn't be easy to obtain. As it is my 'best character' doesn't have electricity skill at all as I don't need it.
 
Like any skill it should require time and effort to improve which is why I think once the balance is figured out, maybe this idea can get some light on it.
 
Edit: In general I'm really hopeful for this idea, as it's a great one to consider. If multiple sources of power other than a gas generator are going to be explored, this should definitely be on that list, as it was definitely a thing in the 90s. Sure, it shouldn't make everything easy, but I feel like it won't. It will make the Electrician skill a lot more useful and valuable to multiplayer. Think about the group roles and how they could grow out of it.

I wouldn't play in all these "castle" fun (i didn't built a sign, painted a wall or write a book in the game, it just isn't for what i'm playing in PZ), but i must agree that this would be a nice addition in eyes of a lot of people. "Game about zombies? Oh, it's super realistic! You even can made your own city with everything! So much decorations! Even with NPC and vehicles (not now, of course)!"

TL;DR This thread highlights the need for end-game novelty things to work on, and generally stuff for late-game players to work on once survival is generally 'taken care of'. Either way there will be players who 'get to that point' no matter how the difficulty is tweaked, so please consider that when reading over this thread. This thread is not about difficulty and is not to be associated with such.
 
This is not an 'idea compilation', this is a general point of view on late-game topics that I feel the devs should consider outside of the regular old 'survival' aspect of the game.
 
Introduction
 
Now, I'm going to level with all of you. This game, for the average person that picks it up and plays it for the first time, surviving a year is not exactly feasible.
 
However, for the people that put hours in and out for this game - the line there shifts as you get used to what you are playing.
 
You get your routine down, you get your base together, your group together. You build walls. You get patrols. You find what food and water source you plan to rely on. You get your character multi-talented and versed in various survival methods. You can live independently. You are in the process of rebuilding a community. All of a sudden, you realize you are 2 years in and you realize that you aren't entirely sure what you can work for.
 
However, that's where I think this game can improve on. Outside of general defense, PVP, survival, preservation - the game lacks in stuff to strive for once you can take care of yourself in a routinely manner.
 
To be clear, this is not a discussion about difficulty. You guys are on the right track in that department. This is a discussion about things you can afford to work on once you get well-off. Stuff for late-game players to strive for.
 
I'm talking about players finally having the time to worry about cleaning up the place. I'm not talking about mopping up blood after a fight. I'm talking about dealing with those cracks in the walls. I'm talking about maybe making a flower garden. I'm talking about a way to get your lights back on without a stockpile of gasoline.
 
Topics to Consider.
 
Decaying World.
 
Already you can cut your grass. That's great. But you need to be able to prevent your safe, untouched home from looking like it came out of the Last of Us.
 
Currently, ingame, it does not take as anywhere close to as long as it realistically should for vegetation to take over. One year in real life may be enough time for your front yard to look like your average field, but it's nowhere near enough time for your walls to crack, and your hardwood floors to break apart.
 
My proposal:
At the very least, have a method of prevention to stop sturdy walls and floors from cracking.
 
Decaying floors and walls realistically need to take years - decades - to get to the level they reach in 6 months ingame. Anyone who has lived in the same house for more than a decade can confirm that they likely never had to replace their brick walls because cracks never randomly started appearing. Hardwood floors especially are durable.
 
Proper flooring and tile shouldn't crack up in that short a period that it currently does. Maybe link the model change to actual damage and wear more than it is a time-related thing?
 
Balance:
Sure, you could say that if you didn't make it something that happens soon, most players would not see the change at all. However the growth of removable vegetation should cover that front.
 
Worn-out, attacked homes should show the decay, not maintained ones that don't even have zed in them.
 
As this idea is not entirely linked to survival, it is important to note that people will work towards something they can stand back and feel proud of.
 
Multiple Ways to Keep the Lights On.
 
Gas-powered generators, in their current state, are very finite in function. 10 or so gas cans filled to the brim, storage difficulty aside, aren't enough to keep the generator going on a long-term scale. And when the power dies, so does the pumps.
 
My proposal:
Siphoning gas out of tanks. Renewable energy.
 
There has been discussion of Solar Panels as a realistic possibility. If you have the experience and can figure out where the solar panels would be in the 90s, having a small fleet of these could potentially be your answer to keeping the lights on months after you get set up and the zed population gets down. 
 
Another option is to go with siphoning, as suggested in a previous thread. It would be a good way to get gas later on, as it would be abundant in the station tanks with the amount of daily drivers tanking downward in the case of an apocalypse.
 
Balance:
Consider this, there can and will be players who get into the 'years' category of survival and get to a point where zed might not even be considered a threat. And there will be players who drain all of the gas out of everything. Some players play with zed respawn turned off as well, they should be considered in this as well.
 
From the get-go when the power turns off, this shouldn't be an easy thing to just prop up. But it would give late-game players something to work for. Tank siphoning should require time and effort to do, and much more so for renewable energy. A single solar panel couldn't power a fridge if you tied it to a loom and whipped it, but a fleet of them might. So there is the time and effort needed there to make a setup work.
 
Keep in mind that electricity for the most part is considered a luxury in the survival world, not necessary but it is something that people look at as a reminder of society.
 
Planting.
 
Outside of crops, we should look at the ability to plant trees and flowers. Now these things take time to grow, so this would be a 'novelty' thing rather than a way to make surviving easier by any means.
 
Proposal:
Plant pretty flowers to make the place look nice. Plant trees, for either visuals for your backyard, or to help keep the forest thick.
 
Balance:
This should not be something that is to be taken as 'grow your own wood supply' by any means. The length of time required for trees to grow should be a long while, far too long for it to be a calculated 'easy way' for wood. Most of the intention here is for visuals, making an elaborate garden could give late-game players another thing to look forward to doing.
 
---
 
...More topics will come to this thread as this gets discussed...
 
So, what do you guys think?
 
Something for late-game survivors to work for.
 
Hopefully I represented my point in a proper manner, I am a tad tired at the time of writing this.

In this particular case, it's actually relatively simple. Wiring the solar panels in a serial will increase the voltage (though not the amperage) while wiring the solar panels in a parallel will increase the amperage, but not the voltage. 
 
Now, the voltage is the sticky wicket, you can't just toss a 12v down with a 6v and expect things to be kosher, But if you had a second 6v, you could connect the two sixes in serial to match the 12 and connect those in parallel to up the amperage. It loses some efficiency, but in the end of the world, we'll have to play what cards we can get. 
 
Now, while you could rig that up to a car battery directly [Obviously, kids don't try this at home. You throw too much juice into a lead acid car battery and nothing good will come of it, I swear it.], a long-term strategy would involve obtaining a charge controller. [You could find something like this at a good RV supply store.] It would need to meet the wattage output (Wattage = Amperage multiplied by voltage. Thus, if you had a 20 amp 12 volt system it would be 20x12 or 240 watts.) 
 
Finally, you need either to find electronics designed for a 12 volt system, [A good RV supply store will have some basic items, coffee makers, lights, radios, that sort of thing. A cheap RV store should at least have lights and radios.]  or if you want to use the household coffee maker, you need to get ahold of an inverter. Generally speaking they come in two flavors. 600 watt and 400 watt. Power-heavy electronics wouldn't do well with a 400 watt inverter. But for small things, like radios, floor lamps and such? No big deal. 
 
Since I tossed down the rv supply store, I think I'll add in "Deep Cycle Batteries" to my holiday zombie wishlist. Car batteries are -not- a long-term solution. 
 
 
 
Rath? Your move.  [Edited to add; I'm trying to be playful. I recognize that electronics are serious business, but the game is [or seems to be] moving in this [or rather, -a pro electronics-] direction, and things like this are the kind of things that average people know how to do. Anyone who's lived in a trailer park probably has at least a little experience with 12 volt systems and their peccadilloes. Those who are merely passing through probably picked up a pamphlet or two about their vacation RVs.]

I'd argue that a backroads town in 1993 would more likely have solar panels.
 
In 1993 who had solar panels? Highway departments for powering road signs, remote scientific locations for powering monitoring equipment (atmospheric/seismic), possibly some remote industrial locations (logging/mining camp, but they are more likely to use a generator), and remote higher class homes. Maybe an isolated military location?
 
For those of us who were alive and old enough to remember 1993, you didn't see solar panels in cities, yet. Residential homes did not begin to adopt them until they became economically viable and government/commercial operations didn't use them until they were both economically viable and politically viable (global warming). Industry still hardly uses anything other than fossil fuels.
 
A state highway department staging area is your best bet in 1993

Horses would definitely be cool, and I think some detail could go into it.
 
Like over time, horses in the stables that haven't been 'reclaimed' or eaten by zed manage to get out, and become a little bit messy and un-groomed.

Horses would definitely be cool, and I think some detail could go into it.
 
Like over time, horses in the stables that haven't been 'reclaimed' or eaten by zed manage to get out, and become a little bit messy and un-groomed.

You're wrong on it having no consequences. Apart from the most immediate failings of needing sunlight (rendering them useless a good chunk of the time), one of the biggest concerns would be other people. Solar panels are big, visible, and valuable. If you have one on top of your house it'll make you an instant target for theft. People trying to survive will see that as a big flashing neon sign that says "ROB ME I HAVE VALUABLE SHIT" and thus opens you up to raiders a lot more frequently than you would otherwise.
 
Another problem that might come up (depending on how in depth the devs go with any sort of electrical system) would be maintaining your electrical grid. The solar panels require minimal maintenance, true, but people in the power industry refer to solar panels (and wind energy as well) as something called "variable energy", meaning that the power output is never constant and can vary from day to day. It's not much of a problem when it's part of a larger grid being managed by professionals, but for the budding survivor one of your bigger concerns would be managing your power network. Too much power generated and you run the risk of damaging your appliances. Not enough power generated and you damage your appliances. A battery farm would help mitigate this, but you'd be devoting a lot of time and effort to making sure that you maintain a proper balance of power generated to power consumed or else you're gonna have a whole helluva lot of problems down the line as everything around you starts breaking and failing thanks to the uneven load. With gas generators this isn't a huge problem because the power supplied is constant but with solar it'd be a pretty big issue.

I've seen solar panels on road signs for decades. Since at least the 90's. They would be a good source of large and accessible solar panels. A few of those, a battery bank, a charge controller (so important) and a DC inverter and you're off to a good start!
 
However, I would imagine the 'average joe' being able to find and then identify a charge controller or a DC inverter is a bit unrealistic. Solar panels and batteries sure, but I don't know about the other required items.

I remember a time back in the day my UI broke and it showed all of the technical stats for every amount of food, temperature was one of the stats. Probably related to decay.

Bump for this. Traits that do nothing probably shouldn't be there until they actually do something

According to the wiki: yes. I wanted to find the quote, but I have the compendiums which are a bit hard to search manually (Can't wait for the 3rd compendium to come out)  

Yeah I understand. Personally, I always imagined that the zombies in this case were attracted by some noise inside of that house: Cracking wood, some piece of furniture which fell down, rodents going through trash ...
Also zoms attracted to a far away noise might get confused and end up thinking the sound came from the house instead of from behind the house.
Anway, just my thoughts about how the zombies work in PZ.

I have been playing a bit on MP and SB, and have noticed a few things about first aid and I have thought of a few improvements that would benefit game play in SP and MP, especially after animals and NPC's are added. Though these will still have immediate benefits.
 
First:
Wider array of injuries and diseases.
Animal bites, ragged wounds, piercing injuries, Deep wounds, and more diseases.
Some of these are planned, but I'm mentioning them for this idea.
Ragged wounds would have a higher chance of infection and take longer to heal.
 
Second:
Diagnosis and (Importantly) Misdiagnosis
The higher your first aid skill, the easier it is to diagnose injuries and illness. As well diagnosing through bandages (Auto success on self) on others with higher level.
Now onto the part which will add SO much fun and depth to the importance of the first aid skill:
 
Misdiagnosis:
Is it a dog bite, or a zombie bite? Were they stabbed with a screwdriver, or shot? That wound is really ragged, I'm not sure if it came from a window or a dog, or could it be a zombie bite?
 
Right now, any player can 'check for wounds' and in a few seconds immediately know everything that has happened to a person.
I'm no doctor, but I think a person with little to no experience with medicine (Especially extreme and bloody wounds seen in the apocalypse that are not often seen pre-apoc) is going to have a hard time discerning one wound from another, especially a very rough and ragged one.
Remember, even trained Doctors can make a misdiagnosis, and they have training and access to the internet for references. It takes years of experience to get good at it, and even then mistakes are made.
 
You might think an animal bite and z bite would look different, you can look up human bites and see the teeth.
However the difference is typically a human bite is to cause pain and they won't try to rip flesh off, a zombie will bite and rip and tear into the flesh much like an animal trying to eat.
An amateur diagnos-ee could be easily confused and/or make a mistake.
 
And diagnosing a sickness? Without a medical history, a reference system, or blood work?
The person has all the symptoms of a flu, but the infection is the same in early stages.
 
And the fun part:
Imagine in MP or SP a person or NPC is wearing a ski-mask or something to hide his/her ID while they rob safehouses, a victim shoots them and they flee.
You got stabbed by a screw driver or a spike or maybe even tripped over a branch in the woods, and have a peircing wound (A small, round hole.) The players hold you at gunpoint and diagnose you, the PC in question has a low First Aid Skill and misdiagnosis the wound as a gunshot.
 
You find an NPC/PC with the electrician job who can run generators, but they have a rough wound (Which is just a mess, harder to diagnose and heal) you try to diagnose and your PC thinks it's a bite. What do you do? Waste Medicine on someone who could just die anyways, or use medicine on someone who could be a huge help later? What if you are wrong?
 
And as well higher levels make it easier to diagnose a bandaged wound. Being covered would make it harder to diagnose.
 
And finally, very important: The ability to diagnose yourself.
There have been a number of times I take off a bandage thinking I'm healed (Status: OK, no pain, bandage is still clean) only to find out I'm still bleeding and rushing to grab a new clean bandage.
 
So what does everyone think about this? Leave a message if you like it, I hope somebody on staff see's and likes!
 
Edit: Maybe when you remove something from a wound, you keep the bloody -thing- as proof?
 
Also from Asparagus, diagnosing the dead to figure out how someone died. Murder or accident?
Be especially neat if an NPC diagnosed a dead friend and mis-diagnosed them.
 

So, I was scouring the common ideas that are either N,V, or M and I couldn't see this on there, nor the first 5 pages on the suggestions. So I thought I'd post it here.
 
What about pistol magazines as loot drops? 
I love to play the game with the reloading on hardcore. But I find it kind of annoying that the only way I can get more pistol magazines are by ejecting other pistol magazines. 
 
I know it's not a very big thing because it's limited to pistols, and only on normal/hardcore only but eh. I can see why it'd be kinda hard too as if they were available on "easy" reloading difficulty then that might cause some confusion. 
 
But for now, ideas?

for several weeks I've had my character living upstairs in a rural house with the staircase destroyed. All has been quiet and pleasant so I started constructing a large log wall incorperating the neighboring house into a small little fortress. Since building the wall, I've noticed that zombies are attracted to it like bugs to a zap light.
 
I knew i was not making more noise than usual, knew I wasn't leaving windows open or giving other cue's to my location. Eventually I discovered that zombies just latch onto breakable objects and destroy them for no reason. Can we change this in the future? at least as a sandbox option? 
 
Zombies, especially traditional proper zombies like what zomboid seems to seek to replicate shouldn't do anything without cause except amble around. I'm okay with zombies banging down the walls if I made a mistake, ran my generator too loud, or was seen entering the fort....but 30 zombies just picking a random wall to bang on simply because it can be destroyed? why?

Did anyone say that's to be included into the game, oh, idk, tomorrow? This is a suggestions forums. Sure, if people read the Commonly Suggested Suggestions thread we'd have a lot less suggestions, let's just let people suggest stuff they want, ignore the reposts or reply with a link to older threads.
There is a metric f ton of suggestions in suggestions on this sub forum that would be a complete waste of time ATM, why waste your time getting worked up over them?

I do like banning people, now that you mention it.

Today we come to you with an awesome new mode for Build 33 that should have an explosive impact on the Project Zomboid modding and mapping scene, as well as providing a fun new way to play the game.

 

Creative Mode is something we first experimented with in the dim and distant past, but came back to mind when we were looking at the speed of our own map production and the tools that we use. The Louisville map we’re building is very ambitious so, alongside EasyPickins’ awesome existing mapping systems, we started to think about ways we could populate our world more quickly.

 

At the same time in development, meanwhile, TurboTuTone's awesome furniture decoration system arrived on the scene for Build 33 – while General Arcade and EP’s work on Steam Integration meant that Steam Workshop was also suddenly in the offing.

 

Put them together, and what have you got?

 



 

When we started Zomboid, and agreed upon a static map for the game, we (perhaps optimistically) anticipated hundreds of maps for players to download to provide almost unlimited amount of exploration. Despite there been some amazing map projects already released, this didn’t quite happen. The learning curve for the toolset, the drudge of copying files, the exporting and all the rest made it an intimidating process.

 

Creative Mode, we hope, takes all that away. It lets you build maps faster, have fun and work as a team. In essence, it lets you edit the map in any way you can imagine. You can use any buildings or other map pieces available: whether you’re subscribed to them on Steam Workshop, copying and pasting them from the existing PZ map or creating them yourself.

 

It’s a mode that lets you, as an in-game Zomboid character, create extra buildings, districts, even complete towns and cities. What’s more, absolutely anything can be shared to the Workshop - at the moment via an external app, but soon straight from the game itself. Coming back the other way, anything you’re subscribed to will automatically be available to place within Creative Mode.

 

Furthermore, Creative Mode works completely in online multiplayer, so players can join forces to build an entire town on their server - before using it as a fun and engaging place to die from zombies. Split screen support isn’t currently coded, but will certainly be something we look into as we refine the system.

 

In terms of Build 33 – the first version of Creative Mode will cover only the essentials: containing basic house construction, furniture population, landscaping and so on. As we roll it out further, however, we’ll provide additional tools that will let you create neat road systems, sidewalks, gardens, fences, levels of erosion and all that fun stuff.

 

It's our dearest hope that by empowering everyone and anyone to make map content and share it via the Steam Workshop, and in making the process of building as fun and as co-operative as we possibly can, we’ll foster a new community of building-obsessed doozer players and a flood of new map content. Every player’s game world could potentially be many orders of magnitude bigger than the current Zomboid map, and potentially completely unique to them, or their server and their community.

 

Then if all servers have their own unique maps, who's to say we couldn't see about giving them an option to have their borders connected one day? With Build 33 the Zomboid infection will be easier to spread than ever before. Exciting times!

 

OH, AND….

 

Before we go something else that happened last week and was a bit exciting was that Mike Laidlaw the Creative Director of the ace Dragon Age games at BioWare streamed some PZ – and provided what was an excellent guide and tutorial for the game. It seems Twiggy has some competition! You can view his butterknife and bacon adventures here. Byeee!

Then you might as well choose Unemployed and use one of the traits that gives similar benefits.
 
Again, it's all about balance, realism takes a back-seat (not that it's neglected to begin with).
 
Game balance. 

I think you are undervaluing how many people would skip Unemployed entirely if jobs like Veteran or Policeman were 'free'. I'm sorry but every way of looking at it from the balance point of view would state that jobs that make the game especially easier (like Veteran and Electrician) would still have to have some kind of drawback for picking them. That's also considering that the less valuable jobs (like Burger Flipper or Farmer) have abilities that get used intensely less than that of the latter.