Bullet_Magnate

This is GREAT input, absolutely spot on. Agree with comments above that large predators *should* factor in more as a hunting opportunity than an actual threat. There is one other dangerous form of wildlife that might be interesting to include: venomous snakes, of which there are four types in Kentucky. I can easily see survivors running afoul of poisonous snakes, especially if they are spending lots of time in the boonies to avoid zed-infested areas. They would pose a real danger, too, with no readily available modern medicine to treat bites. Seems like it might be good to have robust sandbox options for those who want action (i.e., more, and more aggressive, predators) over realism, but realism should be the default. Another thought: could the Knox Virus have some effect on certain animals, increasing their aggression (similar to rabies)? *** EDIT / CORRECTION: Apparently one of the snake types linked above (the pigmy rattlesnake) is NOT found in the part of Kentucky where PZ takes place. So, that's 3, not 4, types of venomous snake that could appear in-game.

Awesome! Love the game ... just keeps getting better.

Would be nice if there was a function that would allow you to: (1) crack doors open just a little and peek through without opening them fully ("flashing" them), and (2) peek around corners without moving fully out into the open. Seems realistic, and like something people would reasonably do.

Might be interesting if being Very Tired or Ridiculously Tired created a small chance of falling asleep if you Rest or sit on the ground (or sit / lie on furniture if that eventually gets incorporated). It would definitely be realistic. Chance of falling asleep could be reduced by appropriate moodles (fear / anxiety / pain / etc).

Agree ... I definitely wish they'd add more to the unarmed combat beyond "the old shove and stomp." There are some potentially interesting (and maybe not super obvious) implications, too, like ... what happens when you punch a zombie in the face with an unprotected hand? You could easily get a self-inflicted scratch or laceration on your hand from the zed's teeth (or the zed might just grab your wrist and bite your hand or arm). I suspect that kicks, sweeps, and takedowns would be more valuable than hand strikes, since they're inherently less likely to put your appendages near the "bitey end" ... Maybe there could be (1) an overall Unarmed skill that gives a bonus to hit chance and damage with strikes that anyone can do (punch/shove/basic kick), and (2) magazines that allow you to learn specific techniques (like sweeps or takedowns) that you can do once you have a high enough overall Unarmed skill level.

I've got 800+ hours in, with about 3/4 in the prior build. I've got no major issues with where the game is going. Most of the issues I see complained of above are things that can be dealt with by (1) exercising ordinary caution, or (2) tweaking sandbox settings. A lot of the complaints seem to be by people who want more of a "badass unstoppable zombie killer" experience and less of an "average Joe / Josephene dropped into a real zombie apocalypse" experience. Seems like PZ is very much intended to be the latter, and personally, I like it that way. I was thinking the other day how PZ really reminds me of playing an "old school" pen and paper RPG with a hardass referee who doesn't let his players get away with doing dumb stuff -- that is, who imposes the natural, foreseeable consequences of a player's actions, good or bad, as a neutral arbiter of what would happen in the "real world" (as opposed to being the players' "buddy" or "ally.") In those games there was no concern about "encounter balance" or "fairness" -- if you did something dumb, you probably died (and if you did survive, it was likely by sheer luck). It wasn't the ref's job to make the world "fair" or bail you out. "Oh, you ran into the middle of a camp of 50 bandits yelling and waving your sword, and you died? What, did you think they were going to line up and fight you one at a time according to Marquess of Queensbury rules?" I think people forget that the characters in PZ are ordinary folks, most of whom have no experience with violence. Things like "stun lock" might be annoying to people who want the "Unstoppable Badass" experience, but I don't think they're necessarily unrealistic. Is it beyond the pale to expect that some ordinary bubba who just got whacked full-force in the face by a walking corpse might be briefly staggered, giving another zed an opening to strike? I don't think so. Remember, too, that zeds are not limited by any normal human impulse to pull punches due to squeamishness or fear of self-injury -- they are going to hit *hard.* I think the moral of this story is that PZ is not so much a game about *how* you fight as it is a game of *choosing when* to fight. Just yesterday in my current playthrough I put down a considerable number of zeds by carefully managing my distance from the target(s) and (more importantly) avoiding engaging numbers I couldn't handle. Overall, I don't see any major issues with the current melee system (at least nothing that troubles me at the current stage of development). Kind of an aside on guns (OP didn't mention guns, but some responses do). I get really tired of complaints about the limited effectiveness of guns. Suspect most of these complaints are coming from people who (1) want the "unstoppable badass" experience and/or (2) have little or no practical knowledge of / experience with firearms. "I found a .38 Special revolver with 3 rounds in it, why am I not suddenly the love child of John Wick and Audie Murphy?" Hitting a lurching, stumbling zed in the head (a comparatively *small* target), even at close range, would be a challenge even for a decent marksman. Unless carefully coached, people with zero exposure to shooting who pick up a gun for the first time are often *wildly* inaccurate. Also, in some cases a gun may be sufficiently mechanically complex that just making it ready to fire (inserting a loaded mag, chambering a round, disengaging the safety) can be a genuine challenge for a complete novice. Reloading under stress is also not easy, and is something that professionals practice regularly. And, yes, guns are LOUD. Hearing protection is required at shooting ranges for a reason. A gunshot in open country can often be heard for MILES, depending on prevailing conditions. Finally, and probably most importantly, is that defensive use of guns often relies heavily on psychological factors (e.g., being able to fend off multiple attackers just by *showing* a gun, because no sane person wants to risk being shot) that are non-existent with zeds. You can't fend off a mob of zeds by merely displaying a gun -- the only option is to put down the entire group -- a challenging extreme-stress feat of both marksmanship and reloading skill, which will also likely be ammo-intensive. In PZ, an untrained person who fires a gun is often inaccurate, and usually ends up drawing a large group that he lacks the skill and/or ammo reserves to deal with, and often dies (assuming he doesn't switch to melee and/or retreat). Is this fun for someone who wants the "unstoppable badass" experience? No. Is it realistic? I think so. Honestly my bigger concern with the game's development direction is that it's going to get bogged down in multitudes of overly-complex task-specific UI windows and/or that it's going to try to simulate so many things in such detail that it'll become impossible to simulate them all well. (For example, the new fluid system looks potentially interesting, but does hit those concerns for me.) To put it another way, I'd rather they err on the side of accurately simulating a smaller amount of content, as opposed to a shallower simulation of a broader range. I also tend to think using robust context menus makes sense (i.e., having an overall "right click on it to find out what you can do with it" rule of thumb).

The liquid system sounds neat, but I could see it creating a bunch of unanticipated weird results that could be wildly unrealistic. Not saying it's a bad idea, but strikes me as something to be cautious about maybe. I think the main reason I like this game so much is that if *feels* realistic in so many ways, which is pretty rare. For example, I'm initially skeptical about the idea of watered down gasoline working AT ALL in combustion engines. Admittedly I haven't done the research, but that just sounds off to me somehow. Open to correction, of course ... Also, I hope they keep a simple and quick UI option to just "click and fill" bottles and containers ... I can see it getting tiresome to have to use a complex fluid interface every time you want to just top off your water bottle.

Maybe this is an initial model, and the end version will be more complex. If nothing else, I'll bet the modding community will come up with something closer to what you have in mind ...

Maybe a good way to add a more definite feel would be to set up a system like this: (1) Every so often -- maybe every 6-12 months -- a popup appears congratulating you on surviving for so long and giving the option to retire your current character and "ramp up" the next run. (2) Choosing to "Retire and Ramp Up" ends the current game (but keeps the save in a "hall of survivors" where you can revisit / play that survivor further if you like). A new run then starts automatically, but with harder difficulty. Harder difficulty could be achieved by applying random challenges like fewer points to build your character with, faster/more zombies, less loot, etc etc. (3) Alternatively, you could choose to retire and maintain the same difficulty or ramp back down. (4) Maybe there could also be a "scoring system" for each run, based on total time survived AND the average amount of time during which your character was suffering no negative effects (with a bonus for positive ones -- like being well fed, etc.). This would give you motivation to beat prior runs by both lasting longer AND giving your survivor better quality of life. This wouldn't be a replacement for story-driven goals, but might be a nice way of giving a little more structure without requiring major changes to the game overall.

Spot on. I'd like to be able to buy a specific level of skill (and higher skill levels, like 5-6), rather than just the pre-set skills associated with certain professions.

I like to turn off all zombie spawning to enhance realism (presumably new zeds wouldn't just magically appear). However, it *would* make sense to me if zombies would occasionally wander onto the map from the edges. I'd like to see a sandbox option where spawn zones could be changed to edge-of-map only, with a focus on certain places (e.g., where highways / bridges enter the map; in the direction of large communities that are beyond the map edge; etc.). The spawns could grow / intensify over time, so eventually you'd get massive hordes appearing at the edge of the map and making their way across the map. In longer-term games, this would likely require survivor groups to do some sort of regular patrolling to detect and track hordes (especially those heading toward survivor communities) in order to kill, divert, or avoid them. This would be a big challenge, given the sheer overall length of the map edges.

This is actually someone else's suggestion from a comment in another thread (I forget who, apologies to that person). I like the idea enough that I thought it deserved its own thread. Pretty self-explanatory -- there should be a minimum First Aid skill required to stitch wounds -- and probably other things like removing bullets (!). I know a little about first aid, and I'm sure if I actually tried to stitch a deep cut I'd just make it worse. Also, as I understand it, removing bullets and other lodged items from the body is often very complex and dangerous -- I think docs in some cases will just leave a bullet inside, because the risk of leaving it is lower than the risk of removal. There should probably be an across-the-board review of ALL first aid actions to assess whether a minimum skill should be required -- or, at least, give a lower skill the possibility of aggravating the wound if the action fails. This change would have the dual benefit of (1) added realism, and (2) increasing the value of the first aid skill.

I find the existing profession structure a little confining. It would be nice if there was at least the option in character creation to just straight up buy skill levels and individual associated traits with points, rather than arbitrary pre-selected sets. This would allow a LOT more flexibility and creativity. For example, if I wanted to create an out-of-shape retired big-city EMT who's got a lot of on-scene trauma aid experience, I could buy high-level First Aid skill, Desensitized, and Out of Shape. Or if I wanted to create an active-duty service member who has a maintenance specialty and hasn't seen much combat, I could get Aiming / Reloading 1 or 2, Fit, and an appropriate technical skill (Carpentry, Mechanic, or Metalworking). Another advantage to this approach is that you wouldn't have to strain to come up with professions that are appropriate for mid or late game starts; you could just buy skills and traits that are appropriate to that point in time.

Helmets that only cover the skull and not the face / neck (such as hard hats) should not give 100% damage protection. Clearly a strike to the face or neck would not be affected by the helmet at all. Only a full-face helmet (such as a visored riot helmet or a motorcycle helmet) should give 100%. Even that is somewhat debatable, since a lucky hit could go under the helmet and hit the neck / jawline. I'd say even full-face helmets should provide only 90-95% protection.

I look forward to a future update that adds moodles for Rickets and Scurvy EDIT: Maybe the Scurvy moodle could be wearing a little sailor hat

That would be super groovy.

Can't understand why granola bars are perishable in the game. May seem trivial, but this is a head-shaker for me every time I see it. Maybe my horizons just aren't broad enough, but pretty much every commercially-produced granola bar I've ever seen has a shelf-life of months at least (with some of the dry, individually-wrapped ones seeming to last almost indefinitely). They should either be made non-perishable or have their time before spoilage increased *significantly.* Should also be able to find them in boxes of, say, 8-20, instead of just singly.

It seems some types of bag that players might use to carry gear, especially relatively fragile ones (like garbage bags and paper bags) should have a condition value that deteriorates over time as the player has it held / equipped (especially when the bags are kept full / nearly full). When condition drops to 0, the bag should be destroyed and its contents should move to the floor / ground at the character's location (maybe noisily).

Right now, as I understand it, vitamins in the game don't serve a purpose other than to temporarily remedy fatigue. Think I read somewhere that malnutrition is or will be included in the food / hunger system. It seems to me vitamin supplements would be far more valuable to prevent malnutrition due to limited availability of food. I'm also kinda skeptical as to whether typical over the counter multivitamin supplements have any noticeable effect as a short-term stimulant.

In light of this statement, consider my comment withdrawn.

None of which changes the fact that you were an utter ass in the latter part of your post.

Seriously? It's not a bad suggestion, the idea conveyed is perfectly understandable, and for all you know OP might be a kid or someone for whom English is a second language. Getting snarky over his informal abbreviation just seems like gratuitous meanness.

I like the idea, but wonder if it might not be better to make it affect how different things affect the character's happiness / unhappiness -- say, a food that normally makes someone happy inflicts a penalty instead if they hate it (or vice versa).

Honestly this skill / profession should be required in order to significantly repair guns, and even to attach most gun mods (anything beyond simple slings, etc.). Either that or a certain minimum Aiming skill ...

Spot on ... however, one of the things I like about PZ is that in a lot of cases it doesn't follow that common path of making things easy that shouldn't be in order to give the player a break. I feel like this is one of those areas where the player realistically shouldn't be cut slack -- I'd personally like to see a specific profession or trait be required to make stone tools at all. Maybe it could be a sandbox option so people can still channel their inner Og the Caveman if they want ... EDIT: On further thought, unless I'm mistaken a lot of primitive stone tools were literally just the stone with no attached wooden handle ... that is, the user just held the stone with the pointy edge outward and used it to cut / chop / bash / whatever. That's why I'd like also like to see the ability to use plain branches and stones (chipped or otherwise) as weapons or tools without combination or modification. That's clearly something average folks could do.