GG Cannon

When it comes to how realist Project Zomboid is, there are a few elements that are so overly simplified that it leaves something to desire. While it is understandable to a degree, Project Zomboid is the kind of game where when things are complex it is better than when they are overly simple, since reality is complex and the game tries to translate the feeling of difficulty you'd face in that kind of situation were it in reality. The elements I'm mentioning in this case are "wiring" and "piping". Both the act of plumbing a sink to a water barrel or connecting a generator to an area are interesting and needed that they are present, but they are so simplified currently that they also severely limit what we can do when it comes to base building, while it doesn't translate to how challenging it would be in a more realistic scenario. As such, I've thought up a few suggestions which I believe would add some balanced complexity to it but also have several added benefits to it. This is very slightly connected to a few things I suggested in a previous post of mine, but those things in specific will be re-mentioned here since this is an entirely different topic. Wiring It is very weird to me how, despite how realistic it is, in Project Zomboid, I can just connect and turn on a generator anywhere and power a huge radius around it, no questions asked. No need for wires or anything, even a fridge in the middle of the grass that is within range will power up. A true Nikola Tesla wonder with wireless electricity! Jokes aside, I'd like to suggest a mechanic very slightly inspired to how wires work in Terraria. Start with the generator or source of power. Energy needs to be delivered to the distribution point of the electrical grid and not just anywhere, namely a "fuse box" or any "power pole" that delivers energy to that fuse box. You'd need to have wires with you in your inventory in order to connect the generator and disconnecting the generator would have a chance to return those wires based on your electrical skill level. Just place the generator near the fuse box and right click it, then in the menu window, instead of simply "Connect Generator" it should say "Connect Generator To" and provide you the option to choose to what you wish to connect the generator to. [Connect Generator To] > [Fuse Box/TV/Car Battery Charger/etc] For gas stations, for example, you'd either need to connect the generator to a single specific gas pump or find the gas station's fuse box in order to connect the generator to it and power the whole gas station. This would create a whole new level of realistic decision making a threat that is much more aligned to the spirit of PZ. This would also add the possibility of other generators and power poles to connect those new generators to the house. Things like Solar Panels, that already existed basically the same as today in 1993, or eolic generators, or even steam generators, that could burn logs or coal and need water to produce energy. Wires: Wires should need to be present inside the walls and power outlets need to be present on the wall. 2.1 Wires inside walls: When building walls, after building the frame and before plastering, it should be possible to place wires inside the wall. I won't mention much about the tools needed, but it should also be possible to break down the plaster of house walls in the world and remove the wires. For that, you would need to turn off the power to the house in its "fuse box" or disconnect the electrical wires outside from the power pole that connect to the house. Wires inside the wall are always connected to wires on any wall in a 3x3 square from the floors above and below. While building the roof/floor, it should also be possible to place wires under the floor boards connected to the wires on the walls of the same floor and the floor below. While holding a proper tool in hand, like "Pliers" or a similar new tool for Vanilla, it should be possible to see ceiling lights in order to remove them. New item [Foldable Step Ladder] Weight: 10 [Placeable] Needed to remove or place ceiling lights. Ceiling lights would require wires inside that ceiling/that floor tile of the next floor above. 2.2 Outlets: You can then place "Power Outlets" [A new item] on a wall that has wires in it. Each power outlet would provide power to all electrical appliances in a 3x2 rectangle in front of it. So all you'd need is for wires connected to a fuse box inside the wall to be connected to the power outlet near any appliance for it to work and not depend on the distance from the generator to the appliance. 2.3 Wires Outside Differently, external wires are usually longer and higher up, for example, building power poles as I mentioned several times. You'd also need a foldable step ladder to build a power pole, but to connect a power pole to another power pole, you'd need a considerable amount of wire and it would be similar to connecting a generator to a fuse box but more like cutting trees. You'd simply right-click the power pole without wires and select "Connect Power Pole To" and then be given a square tile selector similar to when you are cutting trees and choose where you want to connect that power pole to. The wires can even be invisible and don't even need to be drawn, but it is possible to program a simple line tracer to make visible black curved lines to represent the wires. This would allow to connect generators to power poles, power pole to another power pole and power pole to external fuse box. (Connecting to the external fuse box should not produce visible wires, ideally) Pipage Pipes would work exactly the same as wires. Build the pipes inside the walls add a "Valve" as the same as the "Power Outlets" providing water in a 2x3 in front of it to any sink or "Steam Generator" or any other appliance that uses water in front of it. Build invisible pipes inside the floor inside or outside and connect the pipes to "pumps"(new item, same as generator but for pumping water into the pipes) or to the external water supply, if the water hasn't been turned off yet (for games where water is never shut down). Conclusion This would require some small degree of rewriting in the game when it comes to the generator and plumbing sinks, but the added benefit of this degree of complexity not only would make base building more interesting and provide more freedom when it comes to where you will place your generators, it would allow a base to have multiple generators, maybe batteries and who knows, maybe even the possibility of making logic nodes, who knows what modders would add with wiring added in the mix of the game or what you as developers would even consider adding in the future with such a system in place. Thing is, this would also bring a level of realism that is currently lacking since the threat of needing to search for the external fuse box of a gas station in order to power it would already make things a lot more challenging without this system being overly complex. Wires as an item already exist in the game, but they don't have too much uses, yet a system like this would make the electrical skill and electrician profession a lot more valuable and needed.

The most balanced setting I found, which also proved to be the most fun to me, was this: To explain a bit why each value: Population starts at the standard and in the course of 3 lunar months (28 days each) it raises to 4 times its initial value. So every 28 days it raises 1 integer (start at 1.0, 28th day is 2.0, 56th day is 3.0 and 84th day is 4.0) For the respawn, 168 hours is exactly 7 days, for both respawn and respawn unseen so both cell and chunk respawn 25% of their population every week (100% every 28 days). 24 hours (1 day) for migration. And finally, with the group sizes set to 5 with a radius of the group to 10, the concentration of zombies in a very compact manner is reduced, but since the group separation (distance between groups) is only 5, multiple groups may be in range of each other, forming "mega-groups". This creates a situation that, in low population early on (1.0) you can find small groups of zombies spread apart easy enough that you can take care of them even alone, but as the population raises over the months up to the max (4.0) you will start to find mega-groups of dozens of zombies covering very wide areas. They are spread enough that you can trim a bit, but can be close enough that you will call a massive horde in your direction, and alarms and shooting will call unthinkable hordes your way. This gives the zombies a very organic distribution with not so hive-mind behavior yet still very prone to creating really massive hordes. At 4.0 population, just being around a single street may already get you a pretty sizeable horde.

A setting in both Sandbox and MP Server settings which has proven a serious issue to me are the "Rally Group" settings. For a better start on the first few days of the game, with friends that started playing for the first time, the standard Survivor Rally Group of 20 zombies is too absurd a number for people not used to the game starting in Urban areas considering it is still the start of the zombie apocalypse. For that reason, I've been setting the Rally group sizes small between 3 and 9, but closer together, for a more organic zombie behavior. Yet this brings another problem that is that later in the game, those groups are too small and the game becomes somewhat easy after we are properly equipped, with a base and vehicles and after killing most of the zombies around the map (since I set spawn rates for 25% every in-game week). Growing Issue I'd like to suggest and request, as a balancing feature, for the Rally groups to also grow with the zombie population or even for the possibility of rally groups to continue growing after zombie population has already reached its peak at the "Population Peak day". This would require: Change the "Rally Group Size" into "Starting Rally Group Size" Defines the size of groups at Day 1 Creation of "Final Rally Group Size" Defines the size of Rally groups at Day X set below Creation of "Final Rally Group Size Day" Defines which day is Day X where rally groups will reach their final density. Creation of "Rally Group Size Starting Variability" A variable that slightly randomizes the size of the Rally groups. Example: With a Rally Group Size of 10 and Rally Group Variability of 3, the actual Rally Group Sizes would vary randomly between 7 to 13. Creation of "Rally Group Size Final Variability" The variability it is gonna have when it reaches the "Final Rally Group Size Day", so that you can also make this variability grow or shrink over time. Another thing to consider would be the same treatment for Rally Group Separation: Change the "Rally Group Separation" into "Starting Rally Group Separation" Defines the separation of different zombie groups on Day 1. Creation of "Final Rally Group Separation" These would allow for the space between the groups to be regulated over time, so that either different groups would get closer together or farther apart over time. Creation of "Final Rally Group Separation Day" Defines which day is Day X where the Group Separation takes its final value. Creation of "Starting Rally Group Separation Variability" This would allow for the space between different zombie groups to have some variation where some groups stay closer together while other groups are farther apart, making it a more organic behavior. Creation of "Final Rally Group Separation Variability" This would allow for the the variation of space between zombie groups to either increase, adding more randomness or decrease making them more standardized. Maybe even the same for Rally Group Radius: Change the "Rally Group Radius" into "Starting Rally Group Radius" Defines the spread of different zombie members of the same groups to each other on Day 1. Creation of "Final Rally Group Radius" This would allow for the members of zombie groups to either stick closer together or drift farther apart from other members of the same group as time passes. Creation of "Final Rally Group Radius Day" or using the same days as the "Final Rally Group Separation Day", so that Separation and Radius change at the same time naming it as a single "Final Rally Group Separation and Radius Day". Having this day be separate from the "Max Rally Group Size Day" is useful since it allows you to set so that the spacing between the groups and between members of the same group either continues to change long after the groups have reached their maximum density or that it reaches its final state long before the groups finish growing up. Creation of "Starting Rally Group Radius Variability" This would allow for the space between zombie members of the same groups to have some variation where some groups have members stay closer together with each other while other groups members are farther apart from each other, making it a even more organic behavior. Creation of "Final Rally Group Radius Variability" This would allow for the the variation of space between zombies members of the same group to either increase, adding more randomness or decrease making them more standardized. With these new variables, the zombie population could start more spread apart in smaller groups and with time they would form bigger groups and those groups would grow closer and closer together, becoming even bigger hordes. This means that on day 1, you could have groups as small as only 3 to 9 zombies somewhat close together but far apart enough from the members of their own groups that you can bait a few and trim them down with a good spacing between them, making fighting those groups absolutely possible if you are careful, but a few days later, they could be groups as big as 20 zombies, close to one another enough that they always move like a horde and, depending on your settings, 1 year in-game later and the groups could be as big as 1000 zombies moving as a mass of bodies with little space between those huge hordes, making any city area that you haven't been clearing constantly be a real hell. Suggested Balancing For survivor difficulty, I would suggest that the rally groups settings start at size 7 with a variability of 2 (between 5 to 9) zombies on day 1 and grows to 30 with a variability of 10 (from 20 to 40) zombies by peak day 28, this would allow for the standard survivor difficulty to have a true feeling that population of zombies is getting worse and worse, up until it becomes worse than it currently is, but the starting of a game will be much more manageable in the first few days as if a quiet before the storm. While in apocalipse it could start in the current 20 with a variability of 5 (from 15 to 25) on day 1 and grow to 75 with a variability of 25 (from 50 to 100) after 4 months in, so every month the groups would be around 15 zombies bigger, but every 2 to 3 days, give or take, the groups would grow an average of 1 zombie, making it a real apocalipse scenario. The Important Questions Is it somewhat realistic? Yes, it makes sense that in the beginning of the zombie apocalipse at day 1, population would be thinner than 1 month in or 1 year in, and those groups of zombies should grow with time, not just the total amount of zombies around the map. It also makes sense for there to be some variability between the groups, since not all groups of zombies would be the same size nor behave exactly alike with perfect spacing between them. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Yes, this is but an effective balancing method but perfectly aligned with the spirit of PZ in the sense that the situation with the zombies grows worse and worse with time. Would it make the game too easy? No. It wouldn't make it neither too easy nor too hard, but more balanced, starting easier (in standard survivor difficulty) and becoming harder and harder with time. For MP servers and Sandbox difficulty it would also give some control for the game's difficulty to grow as the ability and equipment of the survivors also grow. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) No. Not rewriting, but just adding new variables and renaming a few existing variables regarding the zombies AI and adapting functions. I would believe that the amount of coding needed to add this to the game is so minimal that it could possibly be possible to fully code and add it in the very next unstable patch, since it only involves very few variables and adding those variables to sandbox and server settings. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Yes, not only would it make the standard Survivor difficulty more balanced, it would add the sense of growing problem as the time passes and give the world a sense of organic growth in the zombie behavior besides more variation to the groups behavior, making every group of zombies seem more unique from one another, with them organizing in bigger groups as their numbers also grow. For zombies: Does it fit at least somewhat into Romero/Brooks zombie lore (the basis for 'proper' zombies)? Yes, it is actually more aligned with the Romero Zombies, since "Although initially devoid of both thought and memory, later works of Romero have shown zombies capable of learning through a process of trial and error." [Romero Zombies - Zombiefandom] In this case, the concept of sticking together and forming groups would be a learned behavior over time and copying other zombies around, while those that stick together from the beginning are from faded memories from their previous life, sticking to the zombies of friends or family, since "There have been instances of the zombies seemingly recalling memories of their past lives and performing familiar tasks" [Also found in Romero Zombies - Zombiefandom].

Not just in 1993, even today in some rural areas you have a chance of finding lanterns like this. I know for a fact because my uncle used to have several in one of his farms and many neighbors also have or had one of those. It would be interesting if it was one of the items you could only find in rural homes, even if with some degree of rarity. But candles, I agree. Those should be very common, with almost assured to find 1 in every 2 houses you visit, since a LOT of people have the habit of having candles around in case of a power outage.

I personally LOVE the idea of crowd-sourcing for stuff like this, but I also know for a fact that it is too big a gamble and a risk for a company to fully rely on the community for things like that. To script reactions like this is something too core of the game to rely solely at the community, but to be inspired by the community is a different story. What I would think is more interesting is to create a "Role Play challenge" where players show their character's traits and have to role-play in an official open server hosted by the company themselves where each player can only create a SINGLE CHARACTER per "cycle". So death is permanent and there is serious meaning to staying alive and dying. They would also "hire" a few professional gamers to role play the specific characters they want as NPCs to the story following a specific script in the beginning and "winging it" in some situations. They would then record and spectate the actions of all players and the hired professionals and write it down. After a few specific objectives and events have been completed, the server would be reset and start a new cycle. This means that some NPCs would be specific meaningful players during some cycles and these players could even be "temporarily recruited" to play the exact same character each cycle to record their decisions and actions under different conditions and "paths" the story could take depending on other events (like the death of another character earlier on). Then, take all the data of actions, reactions and decisions and use those to write down the NPCs decision making process and dynamic AI for situations outside of the scripted scope. This would still keep all the power and decision making in the hands of the company BUT it would involve the community in the creation of the NPCs AND it would be a much more organic way to take data and program the NPCs since they would be based on the decisions of living humans taking the players desperation and sometimes even real sadness from events and not just scripted as characters from a story. Also, it would be awesome to have the chance to play on an official open server with a single life with "real death" and have a possibility of my character becoming an NPC in the game.

One detail I forgot to mention about defending that I think is important is that, if you are unarmed, you should always take a percentage of the damage even in a successful block where your strength is far higher than the attacker, while with an equipped weapon even if you are just slightly weaker, you should be able to properly block it most of the time, and that is just for blunt weapons with the damage being concentrated on your arms. Even if you are the strongest human alive, trying to block someone hitting you with a baseball bat or metal pipe with just your arms will still hurt. If they are bladed weapons, you will receive 100% of the cutting damage on your arms, so blocking a bladed attack while unarmed is the same as sacrificing your arms for that attack. This means that in a fist fight, you blocking your enemy's attacks will still hurt your arms a little due to their punches (unless there is something like a "Martial Artist" trait that makes it possible to fully block punch attacks while unarmed), while if someone strikes you with a bat and you block it with your arms, there is still a pretty good chance of it breaking your arm. There should never be a perfect 100% blocked damage unless you have a weapon (or shield, maybe) equipped in your hands.

I can see why you'd think 99% at Nimble 10 would be a bit much, but still I feel like 33% is too little, even if some items would increase it. Maybe 5% per level? So it would be like: Nimble 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dodge 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% I still feel like this is too little though... I understand your comment about a "farmer from last house street" not being able to dodge like that, but the 99% would only be at Nimble 10, and if I understood things correctly, any skill at level 10 is the apex of human potential for that skill, so Nimble 10 would be the absolute most Nimble a human can be. By the way, this dodge would be exclusively to Melee strikes, not to ranged weapons. I've practiced Martial Arts in the past and I know that some well trained professional can dodge almost 100% of the attacks of any untrained person. Having said that, how about this new calculation instead: Dodge% = [ 9 * ( Self.Nimble + 1 ) ] - [ 5 * ( Attacker.Nimble) ] This means that the higher your Nimble, the more chance you have to dodge, but the higher your attacker's nimble, the more chance they have to still hit you. Both attacker and defender values would be being taken into consideration. If the person trying to hit you has Nimble 0, it would keep the table I sent before: Nimble 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dodge 9% 18% 27% 36% 45% 54% 63% 72% 81% 90% 99% BUT the Nimble value of the person attacking you would reduce that chance to dodge by: Nimble 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Anti-Dodge 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Examples: You = Nimble 10 || Attacker = Nimble 0 Result = 99% chance to dodge You = Nimble 5 || Attacker = Nimble 1 Result = 49% chance to dodge You = Nimble 5 || Attacker = Nimble 5 Result = 29% Full list of results for all values: Nimble Self 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Attacker 0 9% 18% 27% 36% 45% 54% 63% 72% 81% 90% 99% 1 4% 13% 22% 31% 40% 49% 58% 67% 76% 85% 94% 2 0% 8% 17% 26% 35% 44% 53% 62% 71% 80% 89% 3 0% 3% 12% 21% 30% 39% 48% 57% 66% 75% 84% 4 0% 0% 7% 16% 25% 34% 43% 52% 61% 70% 79% 5 0% 0% 2% 11% 20% 29% 38% 47% 56% 65% 74% 6 0% 0% 0% 6% 15% 24% 33% 42% 51% 60% 69% 7 0% 0% 0% 1% 10% 19% 28% 37% 46% 55% 64% 8 0% 0% 0% 0% 5% 14% 23% 32% 41% 50% 59% 9 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 9% 18% 27% 36% 45% 54% 10 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 13% 22% 31% 40% 49% If any items or moodles would increase the value above 100%, it stays at 100% If any items or moodles would reduce the value below 0%, it stays at 0%. It's more balanced like this, right? If both people are absolutely untrained (Nimble 0), there is still a tiny chance to dodge (9%) If one person is a professional and the other is untrained (attacker Nimble 0), the chance of dodging is high. If the attacker is trained and the one trying to dodge isn't (defender Nimble 0) the chance of dodging is 0%. If both are trained (both have nimble higher than 0) then the chance of dodging is based on their nimble values. Another possible formula for dodge %chance and the full result table to consider that I think might be interesting is: (Self.Nimble * 10) - (Attack.Nimble * 5) Nimble Self 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Attacker 0 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 1 0% 5% 15% 25% 35% 45% 55% 65% 75% 85% 95% 2 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 3 0% 0% 5% 15% 25% 35% 45% 55% 65% 75% 85% 4 0% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 5 0% 0% 0% 5% 15% 25% 35% 45% 55% 65% 75% 6 0% 0% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 7 0% 0% 0% 0% 5% 15% 25% 35% 45% 55% 65% 8 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 9 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 5% 15% 25% 35% 45% 55% 10 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Same as the previous one, it is fair to both sides, it favors the party trying to dodge a little (it is easier to dodge than to hit someone trying to dodge who knows how to dodge) but unlike the previous one, the untrained (nimble 0) person has 0% chance to dodge from the beginning while the fully trained person has 100% chance to dodge.

I agree and add to it that not only motorcycles, but also bicycles, which are slower but produce a lot less noise and allowing you to use Shift in order to run faster in exchange for tiring you.

Re-reading my post, when I mention the "dash dodge", some might think I'm mentioning something like an arcade-ish dash, so I wanted to remove any ambiguity or misunderstanding from what I mentioned. I meant "short dash dodge" as in the real life martial arts quick step dodging, it can be a side step, back-step or front step, but it consists of a very short and quick "jump" where you don't really get off the ground and just slide in a direction while keeping your stance. Here is a video of Taekwon-Do talking exactly about this sort of technique and a visual reference in case the devs actually feel interested in how it actually looks and works in real life. In 0:31 and 0:40 you can see 2 examples of a back step dodge and the whole video is about the side step dodge. The front step is the exact same as the back-step, just forward, where you do a tiny jump forward without getting out of the ground. This technique is instinctive even in street fighting and every martial arts has at least one version of these in their footwork. Since I made a follow up post recently where I mentioned punching & kicking with simple realistic combos that you find in almost any martial arts and in untrained street fighting, I wanted to clarify this as with both this post and those simple punching and kicking, the combat potential in the game would increase by a lot and a step dash-dodge like this is a very real and common fighting technique that would be needed for fighting with players and NPCs to have proper freedom and realism. In PVP and in fights against the future NPCs, if there are enemy NPCs as planned, it would be possible to develop your own strategy of when to defend, when to dodge, when to attack and when to side step or back step, becoming not only more fluid, but realistic. Also, with all of these combined, the extended unarmed combat and all the defense and dodging mentioned in this post, one HUGE thing becomes possible, which is why I mentioned street fighting so much in this comment... THE FIGHTING PITS This is related to the NPCs update and something I mentioned in one of my first posts here on the forum talking about NPCs where there should be a possibility, even if small and taking some luck, that you might join a evil NPCs group or that your group becomes evil later down the line due to events and interactions. The possibility of fighting barehanded and having defense and dodge, but with the possibility of failing those depending on your skill levels brings the possibility of fighting being one of the stress relievers on a base of a post-apocalyptic zombie world. This would not only serve to relieve boredom of those that watch, but also serve as Nimble, Fitness and Strength training as a game mechanic. It is realistic, it fits in the scenario but it requires proper unarmed fighting mechanics, besides the already present shoving mechanic which also is one of the prerequisites as it is a proper, useful and valid fighting technique. As a leader of your own group, it could even be one of the possible moral decisions to come in the game or even be related to establishing a training policy on your base. And remember...

A few things I forgot, both for DDD and this post: Extended Unarmed Combat If your hands are empty, attacking while holding "aim/battle stance (RMB) shouldn't do a push, but a "punch" as long as there is a distance between you and the closest target or no target at all. TAPPING an attack with LMB should punch with the SECONDARY hand. HOLDING the LMB should give a strong and slower punch with your PRIMARY hand. DOUBLE TAPPING within a time window should give a one-two combo, first secondary, then primary. First TAP and then HOLDING within a time window should give a jab-hook combo, with first the secondary and then primary hand. Using middle mouse button (MMB) while aiming/battle stance (RMB), would use a kick instead with your "primary leg" (same leg as your primary hand). The kick would have sightly higher damage as the punch, cause damage towards the legs and have a slightly higher chance to knock down, but kicking while tired would also have a chance to trip you. Using Middle mouse button (MMB) with a weapon equipped in your primary hand but no weapon on your secondary hand should also do the kick. Punching and kicking should also have a small chance to cause damage to your hands and feet depending on your strength and if you are wearing protection based on your scratch protection, with the kicking having only 25% of the base chance to hurt yourself that the punch does, but if you are already hurt on your legs, an added chance to trip as well due to losing balance by the pain. Punching wouldn't use any weapon skills and be solely based on your strength stat for its flat damage with the secondary hand giving 80% damage while the kick would be 120% since the legs are stronger than the arms. Damage for the primary hand would be: (3 * Strength) / 40 At strength 1, your punch with a primary hand 0.075 damage (lower than the minimum of a butter knife) At the average strength 5, your punch cause 0.375 damage (lower than the minimum of a common hammer, close to the maximum of a butter knife) At max strength 10, your punch would cause 0.75 damage (Average damage of a hammer exactly between min and max, close to the minimum of a baseball bat) Damage Values Strength 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Primary 0,075 0,15 0,225 0,3 0,375 0,45 0,525 0,6 0,675 0,75 Secondary 0,06 0,12 0,18 0,24 0,3 0,36 0,42 0,48 0,54 0,6 Kick 0,09 0,18 0,27 0,36 0,45 0,54 0,63 0,72 0,81 0,9 As it doesn't use weapon skill, though, the punches and kicks should provide slightly more strength XP than using weapons for combat. This wouldn't be adviseable against zombies, since there is a possibility of you punching their mouth and getting bitten by accident by your own punch, but it could be useful against NPCs, but even against zombies, the kick could be useful in some situations. It could also be useful in multiplayer, either for non-lethal combat or for training, where two players could fight with only unarmed combat to train their strength even if they belong to the same base. Punching Bag 20 Leather Strips + 2 Sand Bag + Rope + Thread + Needle Skills: Tailor 2 Counts as a valid target to attacks but only gives 80% of the normal XP per attack back. Has a durability of its own and will break into leather strips after it reaches 0. Weak to slashing and ranged damage. Will break extremely fast if attacked with weapons that cut or ranged weapons. Resistant to blunt damage. Will last a lot longer if only attacked with blunt weapons. Extra resistant against unarmed damage. Will last extremely longer if only attacked with unarmed attacks. Armor Some hand protections could provide some increase to punching power. For example, a future blacksmithing upgrade could introduce "Gauntlets" that provide 100% biting and scratch resistance to your hands, similar to what the helmets are to your head. Obviously, punching with metal gauntlets on your hands would cause a lot more damage than punching with bare hands. With some of these, you could even punch a zombie straight in the mouth without a risk of being "bitten by your own punch" at all. On the "other hand", pun intended, some hand protections wouldn't increase your damage, but would reduce the chance of you hurting your own hands by punching, for example hand wrappings, boxing gloves or leather gloves. Lastly, there is also the possibility of "weapons" that increase your punching damage and reduce your chance of taking damage from your own punches without giving any protection at all, for example the Brass Knuckles. Similarly, there are also some possible new leg protection that could increase your kicking damage and serve as great protection. Most specifically, the metal Greaves and the more modern version that you could find in the world with smaller protection and damage increase, the soccer Shin Guard. All of these mechanics and items still perfectly fit within the description of both DDD and this original post and fit within the same answers to the important questions, which would make them incredible additions to the game that perfectly fit the spirit of project zomboid.

This is a complementary post to my previous DDD post, but its content are absolutely stand alone and could be implemented a lot more easily, with very little to no coding needed. Suggested recipe magazine: "Martial Training: DIY practice tools to train at home" Targets Dummy 2 Logs + 4 Nails + 2 Pillows + Scissors + Saw + Hammer 2 Logs + 4 Nails + 1 Sheet + 10 Ripped Sheets + Scissors + Saw + Hammer 2 Logs + 4 Nails + 15 Ripped Sheets + Thread + Needle + Scissors + Saw + Hammer Skill: Carpentry 1, Tailor 1 Counts as a valid target to attacks but only gives 80% of the normal XP per attack back. Causes 70% less condition damage to weapons when being struck. Has a durability of its own and will break into scrap wood and ripped sheets after it reaches 0. Weak to slashing damage. Will break faster if attacked with weapons that cut. Resistant to blunt damage. Will last a lot longer if only attacked with blunt weapons. Hitting it should also give a small strength XP. Shooting Target 2 Logs + 4 Nails + 20 Ripped Sheets + 2 Thread + Needle + Saw + Hammer Skill: Carpentry 1, Tailor 3 Counts as a valid target to ranged attacks but only gives 80% of the normal XP per attack back. Has a durability of its own and will break into scrap wood and ripped sheets after it reaches 0. Resistant to all ranged damage. Will last a lot longer if only attacked with ranged weapons. Practice Weapons These would be fake wooden weapons in order to practice against dummies. All of them would have low durability, but can be crafted out of wood and would have blunt damage even though they'd give XP to their respective weapon type. Wooden Axe (2 Planks or 1 Log) + 4 Nails + Saw + Hammer + Sandpaper (new item) Wooden Pole (2 Versions: Short and Long) Short: 1 Plank + Saw + Sandpaper Long: 1 Log + Saw + Sandpaper Wooden Sword 1 Log + Saw or Knife + Sandpaper Wooden Dagger 1 Plank + Saw or Knife + Sandpaper Wooden Spear 1 Log + 1 Plank + 4 Nails + Saw or Knife + Sandpaper + Hammer Sandpaper [Crafting] - Item needed to craft and shape wooden objects with rounded edges. Weight- 0.1 - Common 20 Sheet of Paper + Sand Bag + 5 Glue = 20 Sandpaper Is it somewhat realistic? Yes, practice weapons and targets have been used across history to develop one's fighting skills. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Yes. Training your skills for survival using every means possible is perfectly aligned with the spirit of PZ Would it make the game too easy? No. It would provide one extra reasonable safe source of weapons XP and a little strength XP but it would require dedication and grinding which could all still be lost in case of character death. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) No. Not at all. The weapons can be added in the next patch and the dummy and target could possibly be programmed in seconds by making them register in the game as a zombie that can't move or attack with a different model and giving it a few parameters to for the weaknesses, resistances and reduced condition damage. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Yes. Being able to train your character at the safety of your base to increase weapon skills, specially with "long blade" weapons, which only 2 exist and both are rare, would be invaluable. It is realistic, historically accurate, advised for survival in such an extreme scenario and reasonable. Would it be found in Muldraugh, Kentucky common enough to be added? Since everything is craftable with common tools already present in the game, yes.

Dual Wielding This one is short, simple, easy to implement and to understand. Press Middle Mouse Button (MMB) while holding Aim/Battle Stance (L. Ctrl/RMB) to attack with your secondary weapon. This would allow you to equip one gun in each hand or one melee weapon in each hand and strike with each individually. It would also allow you have one gun in your primary and a melee weapon in your secondary and use both as needed. Or even hold a gun in your primary and throw a pipe bomb or a molotov with your secondary. The gun on your secondary hand should have lower accuracy and melee weapons on secondary should have a slower swing speed and damage. Also, two new traits. Lefty - You are left handed (Cost 0 , just changes which hand your character equips items as primary and secondary and mirror attack animations horizontally) Ambidextrous - You are able to use both hands equally (Cost 4 , removes the penalty for attacking with a secondary weapon) Defending Pressing Z while holding a melee weapon as primary or secondary and holding Aim/Battle Stance (L. Ctrl/RMB) should defend against a melee strike. The chance to defend against a melee attack should be equal to: 50% + ( [Nimble+1] * 9% ) / 2 So at Nimble 0 you have 54.5% chance to block an attack and at nimble 10 you have 99.5% chance to block an attack. -Successfully blocking an attack should tire you based on the difference of strength between you and the attacker and with a chance to cause "minor damage" if the difference in strength is too big with you being the weaker party. -Failing to block should have a small chance of dropping your equipped weapons to the ground depending on the difference of strength between you and the attacker and how tired you are. Trying to defend a melee attack should give you some nimble XP and succeeding to defend should give a small extra nimble XP. It should also give some Strength XP when succeeding to block. This would be very useful in Multiplayer PVP combat, against NPCs and against possible zombies wielding melee weapons. Dodging Pressing C while holding Aim/Battle Stance (L. Ctrl/RMB) should do a standing dodge against incoming melee attacks. The chance to dodge a melee attack should be equal to: ( Nimble + 1 ) * 9% So at Nimble 0 you have 9% chance to dodge and at Nimble 10 you have 99% chance to dodge a melee attack. Trying to dodge a melee attack should give you some Nimble XP and succeeding to dodge should give a small extra nimble XP. It should also give some Fitness XP just by trying to dodge. If you are holding any WASD key and Shift while dodging, that dodge should be converted to a short dash dodge. If you have small fit skill values or are exhausted, that short dash dodge should have a chance to trip you to the ground. Dash dodging backwards should have a higher chance to trip than dash dodging sideways or forward. Higher "Nimble" skill values should reduce the chance to trip when doing the dash dodge while tired and increase the distance covered by and the speed of the dash dodge action. Dash dodging should tire you a bit and give you some Nimble XP and Fitness XP. It would extremely useful for keeping your distance from a group of zombies, against NPC enemies, in PVP and even other possible future zombie variants added. Conclusion Percentage Chance Values Nimble 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Defend 54,5% 59% 63,5% 68% 72,5% 77% 81,5% 86% 90,5% 95% 99,5% Dodge 9% 18% 27% 36% 45% 54% 63% 72% 81% 90% 99% Is it somewhat realistic? Yes. These are basic fighting techniques and even extremely needed for PVP and NPC combat. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Yes, both the actions and commands suggested are within the style of combat of the game and already considering the current game key mapping, what keys are not being used or what keys are being used but don't have a function while in combat stance and what they do out of combat stance. Would it make the game too easy? No. It would provide an option of actions during combat, but on the other hand, it also creates new possibilities to trip and fall to the ground or to get tired, so it doesn't make it easy nor hard, but just creates new possibilities. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) Not really. It would require writing and adding in the new actions, traits and creating the new animation, but not really fully rewriting anything. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Definitely. Not only is it needed for fighting melee with enemy NPCs and in current multiplayer PVP, it would create new possibilities on how to deal with the already existing zombies and the threat of tripping at the wrong moment. It would also severely raise the value of the Nimble skill and increase the number of sources of Nimble XP and "training methods" for it.

I really, really, REALLY like this idea... But instead of just over walls and just bags, it could be more useful to have the ability to throw any object in a certain tile distance in a cylindrical pyramid pattern, allowing you to also throw it up to 1 or 2 floors above and infinite floors below, with a bigger range away from you when aiming low within a limit, and a shorter range when aiming high. It could be a new "throw item" option under "place item" when you right click it, where you don't choose the position of the object, it is randomized, just the tile you wish to to throw it and with a chance to fall 1 tile forward, left or right as well. Pressing the "R" key would change the floor you are aiming at. It should not allow you to throw objects through a wall, but to throw it over a wall, you'd aim it at an empty tile on the floor above the wall. Your strength value and item's weight should influence how far you can throw and add the possibility of a third floor up in height or reduce to a single floor in height if it is below 3 strength. The chance to damage would be based on the object type and distance thrown. Clothes wouldn't be damage, food would have a chance to lose up to 75% of its content (as if you ate it. Like, "eat 1/2" and "eat 1/4") depending on the food, furniture should always break, unless they are assembled by planks (throwing a TV, a radio or a microwave, even a small distance, is a BAD idea... saying it by personal experience) while objects made out of glass should have crazy high break percentage, and all items inside a bag would have a smaller damage chance, with the exception of those with 100% break chance. This would allow you to throw a car wheel to the other side of a garage instead of carrying it there with little to no damage, but throwing other car parts would have a high chance of damaging them. This could allow you to throw an object through a window up to the second floor of a house in order to break that window. It would allow you to throw objects to your friends in MP, throw bags over wall or throw and towards your car from the window of a building. It would also allow you to THROW DEAD BODIES FROM A WINDOW or over a small fence or even into the water. Maybe even have the option to throw it AT someone, which if someone in multiplayer is near the tile the object falls in or on the way it is gonna fly through with no items equipped in any hand and looking in your direction, they catch it in hand and reduce the break chance to 0, (except for 100% break chance furniture which should even hurt them and have a possibility to kill them). If they are looking away, it should hit them and have a chance to hurt them. On zombies, it wouldn't matter if they are looking towards you or not. Which also means you could throw heavy objects in order to hurt and kill zombies (or evil NPCs) or at least lure them towards you.

I don't believe for sure I'm the first to suggest this, but since I search for quite a bit and didn't really find any post on this exact topic, I'm making this. Sheath A simple technology existing since medieval times and that should exist and be needed in the game is the "Sheath". It would be exactly the same as the "Holster" for guns, creating a new item slot for bladed weapon, however: There should be 4 versions of the Sheath -Long Sheath > Only Katana, Machete and future long blades should be possible to be slotted. Short blades would be too loose on it and not stick. -Short Sheath > Only Knifes, Daggers and future short blades should be slotted. Long blades wouldn't fit at all. -Open Sheath > Fits any bladed weapon, can be adjusted in size and allows for blades of any size since the tip of the blade can come from the other side. It should also be possible to slot a few non-blade weapons on this sheath, like a crowbar, sledgehammer, axe and other one and two-handed weapons reasonable enough to fit it. -Katana Sheath > Most Katanas would be found together with their sheaths, since even display blades come with a sheath, so whenever you find a Katana, there should be a 75% chance that a long Sheath would spawn together. Exclusive for Katanas since it is thinner than an average long blade sheath. The sheath should be possible to equip either left, right or back of the hip. And so should the "single holster". Equipping it on your back would equip it horizontally on the back of the hip. The Sheath and the holster should take the same item slot, same with the Sheath and the Fanny Pack and Satchel on the back hip slot. This means that you can have the sheath on one side and a holster on the other, but can't equip the double holster with a left or right sheath, needing to place it on your back, but then you can't have a satchel nor a fanny pack on your back. The Open Sheath should only be equippable on right or left, and not be equippable on the back of the hip, since the weapon is kept diagonally and it would trip you when trying to walk.. The "Belt" should have a durability and slotting and using a bladed weapon from your belt should reduce it. As we see it, the blades don't have sheaths on them, so when you place them or pick them from your belt, you are making small cuts on the belt and sooner or later it should snap, dropping all items on the belt on the ground and becoming a single leather strip. This would also make it more meaningful to loot and carry more than one belt. It should be possible to craft sheaths out of leather with the "tailor" skill. It should require reading a recipe magazine about "Medieval Tools still used today" The open sheath would be more rare than the other two to find and need a higher tailor level to craft. The long sheath should also be very rare and require a tailor level slightly smaller than the open sheath, but a lot more leather strips. Shoulders Another possibility not currently being explored are "shoulder" slots for bags. Be it equipping a "Satchel" on your left or right or by having common handbags and purses, that also exist in the game, be equippable on your shoulder since they have shoulder straps. I know by personal experience that I can carry two of these, one in each shoulder, plus a backpack and definitely still could wear two fanny packs, one in the front and one on my back, all at the same time, and still have my arms free to do anything. With all these considered, the belt would become more meaningful, we would be able to equip a machete or a sword on our hip but need to consider well what we are gonna be equipping since we may be taking the same item slot than another item we may need as well. Conclusion Is it somewhat realistic? Yes, perfectly. Sheaths are a tool still used and very present today and exists exactly so that we can equip blades on belts without the risk of cutting the belt, which is also realistic to be present in the game. Though rare, you can still find really long sheaths today since long machetes can be found pretty reasonably, and I myself have a machete in my father's farm which the sheath is more than long enough to roughly fit a Katana or other long blades. Same with the shoulder bags and purses. It is perfectly reasonable. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? This fits perfectly with the current style and even placing the long sheath on your back is perfectly reasonable and not only would it be useful, but also visually pleasing. Same with having bags on your shoulders. Would it make the game too easy? It would not make the game any easier, just provide utility that grants some QoL, while it would also create a possibility of your belt snapping at a bad moment when you draw your blade from your hip without a sheath in the middle of a zombie fight. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) Not really. The code for the sheath would be the same as the one for the holster, but limiting it to it blade type only, instead of small guns. The only rewriting would be for the belt, in order to add the durability and damage when slotting and equipping a blade and that is relatively a minor amount of code, and for the bags, in order to make the equippable on "shoulder slots" for left and right. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Definitely. It would make the belt more meaningful and the possibility of equipping a machete on your hip, sacrificing either 1 holster slot or one satchel/fanny pack slot for it and having your back slot empty for a crowbar or an axe. The possibility of carrying tools on the open sheath would also be interesting and extremely useful, opening more choices on what tools you wish to carry with you in your quickslots. Both are a great QoL improvement. Would it be found in Muldraugh, Kentucky common enough to be added? Yes, definitely. They have machetes for the long sheath, Katanas would have their exclusive sheath, the open sheath might just be a belt tool sheath and knifes also have sheaths. Also, since you can craft them, you would "find" them anywhere in the world. And the shoulder bags are already present in the game, they just need to have the option to equip on left/right shoulder.

There are 2 items in the game with a lot of potential but currently, no usage. The first would be solely to reduce boredom and stress while the second can have a LOT more uses. 1- Video Game There already is a "Video Game" item in the game that currently has no use besides being disassembled for Electrical XP, yet, I can't help but think that since boredom is a moodle, that playing in a video game should be possible. Due to its appearance, I believe the Video Game object was somewhat inspired in the Sega's Game Gear console that was launched in 1991 in the US: The game gear was a cartridge console and it perfectly fits with the style for "devices" that PZ is currently going for and fits perfectly within the estimate timeline of the game. It would be easy to re-use the same system used for the "ValuTech PortaDisc" to make a "ValuTech GamePlayer" > Instead of a CD, it would receive game cartridges in the CD slot. Also, it should be possible to play without a headphone nor earbuds, but then it would produce a noise radius that attracts zombies depending on the volume. The control window would be effectively the same. You'd need game cartridges you'd find around in the world in order to play, receiving a bigger boredom reductions the first time you play a cartridge and a small boredom reduction when you replay a game you already played. Also the cartridges should be similar to the book, in which you have % completed, meaning you can stop midway and continue later for the same bigger boredom reduction until you reach 100%. The main item already exists, the UI needed already exists and just needs to be adapted and all the code needed also already exists. All it needs is for for the UI and usability to be added and for the cartridges to be added to the world. 2- Computer (Image extracted from Konijima's computer mod) The computer, for me, seems like the most interesting item that is currently not being used, but its potential is absurd. Not only could it receive a treatment similar to the cars, where you could open it and change its pieces, with each computer part having individual conditions, being possible to repair or break, the computer itself could have many uses, from controlling cameras, listening to CDs, playing games and watching videos found on Floppy Disks, maybe even a lot more, like controlling mechanical gates, checking base statistics from crates with sensors and much more. The computer model itself looks like many old horizontal computer cases which would usually have a floppy disk factory installed by default and the possibility of installing a CD reader if around the end of the 90s, but since every single computer is like that, I'd say it to be really rare to have a CD reader and 90% of the time only the floppy disk reader. All VHS tapes and CDs could have a floppy disk copy, but also games in floppy disks and maybe you could even have files saved in the computer, so you could find a computer in the world with several VHS tapes worth in files inside that you could watch, meaning finding something like this would be like striking gold and bringing that back to your base would mean a lot. Maybe even NPCs could have a use for computers, not only to learn skills or reducing boredom with the files, but you could also assign an NPC to log events that happen in the base and register goods recovered by runners, harvested in the farm and such, so that when you return from venturing out of your base, you can check on the computer to see what your NPCs did and what happened while you were out, or if you return and find your base destroyed, checking on the PC could give you some idea of when it happened and what happened. You could even have a DOS-like UI for using the computer with rare cases where it has an OS, with a computer with an operational system and floppy disks or CDs for installing an OS being a somewhat rare find. It could even be that the DOS-like UI could really be text based, with you as a player needing to know the words you need to type and how to interact with it for extra immersion, or even something similar to how it worked in Vampire the Masquerade bloodlines, where only installed functions would appear as options: 3- New Traits Since these would add a lot more ways to have fun and reduce your character's boredom, it would also need to make the boredom moodle mechanic a bit more needed, and one way to do so is to add a few more traits that make it more meaningful. Cheerful- "Doesn't get bored easily" - 50% boredom (Takes longer to get bored) Easily Entertained- "Has more fun" - double all received boredom reduction values (Reduces boredom easily) Apathetic- "Gets bored easily" - 200% boredom (Gets bored all the time) Disinterested- "Needs extra stimulus to have fun" - receives half boredom reduction values (takes a lot more in order to stop being bored) 4- Motivated I'd also like to suggest that the "Boredom" moodle, similar to the "Hunger" moodle to have a positive spectrum as well. Just like you can eat until you are well fed, feel stuffed or close to bursting, you should also be able to read magazines or play games until you are "motivated" or "feeling happy" or even "exhilarated". These should provide some benefits to you and if you manage to get NPCs in a positive mood, it should also have its benefits for the base as a whole. For example, being in a good mood should make it harder to get panicked and stressed while being bored or in a bad mood you should get more panicked and stressed. Also, you should transfer objects faster when motivated, while bored you transfer objects slower, meaning that with a good mood you are more productive and in a bad mood you procrastinate or get distracted taking longer to do the same actions. Lastly, I'd like to suggest that reading any skill books should give boredom values, since your character is studying and it is normal to feel bored while studying. It should also be possible to re-watch VHS tapes and get a smaller effect of the boredom reduction values, since you can still have fun while re-watching a movie though not as much fun as you had the first time. Final remarks These would make the boredom mechanic have more meaning while providing more items to interact with the world and a meaningful and immersive interaction with two items already present in the game, while at the same time making keeping the mood on the NPCs and players of your base high important and providing more tools to do so at the same time. Important Questions Is it somewhat realistic? Yes. Not only the technology is perfectly in tune to how it worked at the time frame that the game happens in, the changes to the boredom moodle are more realistic in which just as you can be bored, you can feel the opposite and be in a good mood as well. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Perfectly so. The mechanics suggested are in tune with the current style of the game, the main items mentioned already exist in the game and the effects of your mood on your characters actions also fit well with how the game currently works regarding the moodles, while making that important for the future NPCs update is also extremely meaningful and one would believe realistic that keeping your survivor's in a good mood to be important. Would it make the game too easy? Definitely not. It would provide new meaningful interactions with the world but in no way does it make the game too easy. With the exception of the slight bonus to item transfer and the resistance to panic suggested for when your character is in a good mood, nothing provides anything that would make it easier to survive nor deal with the zombies. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) No. While it would require adding the positive spectrum to the Boredom moodle, the amount of rewriting is minimal with most of it being purely new content which some even re-uses mechanics and UI already present in the game, which means the amount of entirely new code is actually minimal. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Yes. Definitely. A lot. Not only is it fun to think that a survival game is adding the possibility and importance of your survivors playing games, it is interesting to think of how important mood is in a survival situation, how it would affect your base. Also, the usefulness of the computer suggested not only would create a great use and need for it in your base, it could also have uses and interactions with the world, for example needing to power the computer of place with a generator in order to unlock a metal gate when you don't have a propane torch or similar situations.

This is connected to my previous post "Scream and Fight", but I'll go a bit more in-depth in a detail. 1- Z-Traits System Exactly like the trait system for players (and, I believe, NPCs will also have them), the "zombie variants" such as the "Sprinter" or "Crawler" already present in the game could also be (and maybe possibly system-wise, already are) based off of the same "Traits" system. As such, it would be possible for zombie variants to be recombined, making a variety of possible zombie behaviors that would be VERY realistic when considering that different people would be affected slightly differently by the zombification. All traits I will suggest below, and the traits "Screamer" and "Fighter" I already suggested in that previous post will all be only "divergent behaviors" or "characteristics" of common zombies and not a single one of them will be a "Super Zombie", which already is a "big NO" to the company. They also all conform to Romero zombies. Simply when a zombie would be spawned, they would receive a few random traits and those traits would have some degree of influence on their behavior. 2- Variant Traits Down below, I will list possible variant traits and also include the already existing "variants" present in the game, I will add the ones I already suggested with shorter description as well just for the sake of listing. Excluded the "common zombie" since that just means not being a variant and as such not having traits. Sprinter (Already existing) Extra: Player or NPCs that have 3 or less fitness can't receive this trait, while those with 8 or more fitness or the trait "runner" should have 50% chance of getting it on zombification. Crawler (Already existing) Screamer (Previous suggestion) - Screams to call other zombies when detects a living human Players or NPCs that have the "Resilient" trait should have +50% chance to get this trait on zombification. Players or NPCs that have the "Cowardly" trait should have +50% chance to get this trait on zombification. 100% if both conditions are satisfied. Very rare (lowers to "Rare" later in the game) Fighter (Previous suggestion) - Able to use melee weapons Players or NPCs with more than 6 in any weapon type and dies while possessing that weapon should have +50% chance to get this trait on zombification. Players or NPCs that have the "Resilient" trait should have +50% chance to get this trait on zombification. 100% if both conditions are satisfied. Very rare (lowers to "Rare" later in the game) Strong - Simply put, a particularly strong human that dedicated his or her life to working out and being the strongest possible human they could be. This isn't just the average gym person, but those that are really tall, huge muscles and "strongman competition" type of body. Able to break door extremely fast. This isn't a zombie that grew stronger after zombification, but simply a REALLY STRONG human that was turned. Difficult to kill since muscle mass and fat reduces impacts and as such receives lower damage. Receives lower knock-down and knockback. Players or NPCs with strength 9 or more that become zombified should have 100% chance to get this trait. (If possible, the ones that spawn naturally should have a slightly more "buff" body model, to seem visually strong) Very rare Smart - Zombie that still retains a slightly bigger degree of brain capacity when compared to other zombies. Able to open doors and windows, climb tall fences after the player, get over small fences without falling and take better paths to reach the player, such as using an already open door or window instead of trying to break another window to chase after living humans. Goes quiet when hunting a player or NPC from behind out of view, without making any more grunts and will produce less noise while walking. Will always have the "fighter" trait as well and will scream as a "screamer" if noticed by the player or NPC while hunting in order to call more zombies to the location. Will always become a zombie group leader if becomes a member of a group. Players or NPCs that have the "resilient" trait have extra 5% chance of getting this trait early in the game and 10% later in the game on zombification. Players or NPCs that have the "fast learner" trait have extra 10% chance of getting this trait on zombification. Extremely rare Rabid - A more aggressive version of the "sprinter" variant. A zombie whose brain was extremely affected by the zombification process. Runs faster and can jump over small fences without falling. Can jump over big fences. Has slightly different animations, behaving more like a beast or an animal, using the arms as front legs and moving in a more crouched stance. Tries to tackle the player or NPC, dropping them to the ground and pinning them from above. Will ALWAYS be a "screamer" as well. Chases the player or NPC for triple the normal duration. CANNOT BE SMART OR A FIGHTER. Players or NPCs that have the "prone to illness" trait have 10% chance of getting this trait early in the game and 20% later in the game on zombification. Extremely rare Mute - A mute person who was zombified or a zombie that one way or another lost its use of the vocal cords after zombification. Doesn't produce zombie noises like grunting. CANNOT BE A SCREAMER. (If a "smart" zombie is also mute, they lose the screaming behavior but keep the other smart behaviors) Very rare Deaf - A deaf person that became zombified or a zombie that one way or another lost its hearing after zombification. Has a better and farther vision but will not be attracted by the sound of alarms, shootings, explosions, TVs, radios, shouts, whispers and will also not detect players or NPC by sounds of walking or fighting. Players or NPCs that have the "deaf" trait have 100% chance of getting this trait on zombification. Very rare Blind - A blind person that became zombified or a zombie that one way or another lost its sight after zombification. Has pinpoint hearing but can't see players or NPCs and will not be attracted by light or any other visual stimuli. NPCs that have the "blind" trait (if it exists for NPCs) have 100% chance of getting this trait on zombification. Very rare Weak - Opposite as the "strong" variant trait. A particularly weak person that became a zombie. Easy to push to the ground. Receives extra knock back, knock-down and damage. Can't break doors or boarded windows alone. High-chance of also receiving the "screamer" trait if also receiving this trait. Players or NPCs with strength 3 or less that become zombified will get this trait on zombification. Rare Unresponsive - Simply a "broken" zombie. A person that the zombification process, previously existing conditions or post-zombification events caused such a damage in their brains that they won't move, react or attack at all and simply idles or even more often stays sitting in a corner. Can't receive any other trait if receiving this trait. Very rare Important Questions Is it somewhat realistic? Yes, very much so. It makes sense that people with different bodily traits become zombies with different traits and that the zombification process may sometimes affect the brain slightly differently. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Yes, perfectly. Not only is it aligned with the already existing Trait mechanics for players, which I believe may also be used for NPCs, but it makes those traits mean something the the player or NPC gets zombified in a realistic and meaningful way. Would it make the game too easy? Not at all. While it introduces negative variants that may make a few weaker zombies exist, it also introduces several zombie variants that are a lot more dangerous, specially if mixed in with other zombies in a group. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) While it would take a certain degree of rewriting in a few aspects of the zombie spawning and setting up the proper configurations for sandbox mode and server settings, but no, it would not require to rewrite the whole game at all. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Yes. Astronomically so. It would not only introduce diversity into the zombies which would create a LOT of changes in situations, it would make the world a lot more believable and meaningful since who you are also affects what sort of zombie you become and this is even more a truth when taking NPCs into consideration and in MP servers. For zombies: Does it fit at least somewhat into Romero/Brooks zombie lore (the basis for 'proper' zombies)? Yes, perfectly within. These zombie variants are simply diverting behaviors that fit with the Romero zombie lore or characteristics brought about by who that zombie was before dying, which is also perfectly within the Romero zombie lore. Final remarks Just imagine a few of the possible scenarios with this zombie variants trait system. You hear a door of a room banging and shaking non-stop, to which a both strong and rabid zombie breaks down the door and bolt towards you like a beast. It isn't a mutant, it just is a crazed zombie of a strong person, but now you have what feels like a boss monster to fight. As you finally survive the encounter by escaping or killing, you notice that a zombie approached from behind you without making noise and got really close, it carries a pipe in its hand and as soon as you look towards it and it notices that it has been detected, it starts to scream and from the distance you hear one or two extra screams, soon, several zombies start to gather at your location.

This is a tiny bit complex and big one, but I did the proper research on everything: 1. Resources Available First of all, since it took me a LOT of research and I actually got a regional map of the region of Muldraugh, Kentucky mineral deposits map, I'll start with this since it is a compilation of the basic information I researched about the area where the game takes place. As you can see in the map, there are a lot of resources available in the region of the game that could be very interesting to be added to the game as things we can properly exploit and collect, including a CEMENT PLANT between Muldraugh and Louisville, around where "West Point" is. But most importantly, is the presence of Limestone and Dolomite. Limestone not only is a wonder building material that can be used to BUILD CASTLE WALLS if you want to, it is also a material for producing Lime, primarily known for treating soils, purifying water and smelting copper, important ingredient in chemical industries and more, including producing magnesium. (Source) While Dolomite is useful as a a source of magnesium oxide and as a flux for the smelting of iron and steel. (Source) (And Dolomite is only present in Louisville, might I add) There are also several already existing sand and gravel pits in the region, including abandoned silica sand pits, that are useful for MAKING GLASS. Not only that, there are active clay pits in the area that have innumerable uses, including making roof tiles, but also in blacksmithing as casting material. There is also a Brick plant right under Loisville, There are sources of Gypsum, that among its uses is used for "Drywall" (Source) And Fluoride, used in aluminium smelting and to separate slag in steel-making. (Source) 2- Extraction With the upcoming basements and underground updates, while I heard the devs were thinking about underground areas such as sewers, my very first thought actually was underground mines and caves filed with zombies and how hard it would be to use the pickaxe as a tool to mine or to use bombs to break down the rock to mine with the sound of explosions bringing in zombies from miles away, which started me on this research as I wanted to know what mineral resources were available in the IRL area that the game takes place. The tools needed for this mining process are already present as items in the game, needing to add and program the new functions while the underground areas update is already midway and as such the perfect moment to consider this possibility as it is still possible to make any needed change to make the process of mining, digging and extraction of resources possible. 3- Chemistry This is the most complex part of the update with the need to program a whole new skill, profession, VHS, books and more, but with an unimaginable degree of return and a whole new way to play the game that adds so much possibilities, specially if you include the upcoming NPCs upgrade and the possibility of having NPC chemists or train an NPC into being a chemist. Not only would adding these materials, mining locations and the possibility to process them add a lot to the game, the added possibilities of chemistry, such as making black gun powder out of urine, feces and corpses (plenty to go around, and since there is no need to use bathrooms and that is a big No, just using corpses and time would be enough). This also adds and mixes perfectly with any future blacksmithing update and profession that seems to already be planned as well as with construction with the possibility of processing materials to produce better or more building materials such as plaster. Specially since chemistry it is heavily intertwined with medicine and places that deal with that. Not only there already are many places where you could add chemicals to be found in the world, the Chemist profession would be very useful to help with any doctor and the First Aid skill that will probably become a lot more useful an needed with the addition of NPCs to the game, specially if those NPCs get hurt from time to time due to many possible reasons. 4- Masonry & Sculpting Another possibility with mining and the new materials that could have a skill of its own with unique benefits and usefulness is masonry, that not only could be useful to build out of cut rocks, but also to produce statues that can be used to decorate bases for increased emotional support for your NPC and player survivors, decoration, but also a tradeable good that can be purchased and sold to merchant NPCs if they are added to the game. Being able to build out of bricks and stones, as I mentioned in a previous suggestion of mine, would be invaluable to the game and something extremely needed and useful in a zombie apocalypse. Together with a possible Blacksmithing update, masonry would also be very useful and possibly a needed skill to build furnaces and other things, like a coal and wood burning grill or oven both made out of bricks for cooking. Masonry would be the skill needed to refine materials out of rocks but also to build with rocks and bricks of all types, possibly even to build with concrete. The Important Questions Is it somewhat realistic? Very much so. Not only as I showed with the research, the materials are there and there could and SHOULD be places where you would be able to find chemicals and other materials for the chemist profession. Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Perfectly so. Being able to handle every resource available to you in a catastrophic situation as a zombie apocalypse is exactly the type of skillset that can be the difference between life and death. Not only is it realistic as stated, but also survivors in that situation would probably re-learn how to get those resources and use to further their survival attempts. Would it make the game too easy? Not at all. While it adds possible construction materials that are a lot more durable for base building, the required skill and risk involved in getting and using those materials create a whole new aspect to the game that requires equal effort and risks for those returns. It actually creates a lot more places that require visiting and reasons to get out from your safe location and venture into the world. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) Not really. It does require the programming of 2 new professions and skills, but not to re-write anything already existent with the exception of adding the function of mining to the pickaxe and the pipe-bombs, because the biggest section that might possibly need some degree of rewritting is still under development and, as such, the most auspicious moment to add this together with that underground areas upgrade.. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? DEFINITELY. Considering how much this would add to the game as an array of options, skillset, important places to visit, buildables and craftables, the return this would add to the game is absurd, including but not limited to plenty more reasons to risk yourself and venture into Louisville. Would it be found in Muldraugh, Kentucky common enough to be added? As I showed with the map that also can be clicked to show the full Kentucky area mineral deposits map, yep. Everything is there.

That is very much the point in this suggestion as well. They aren't really special zombies, just normal zombies with divergent behaviors, with both behaviors fitting with the Romero/Bricks proper zombies the devs want and both adding a lot of interesting elements and situations to the game.

There are 2 types of zombies I believe could be extremely interesting to appear in the game, specially later in the game as more survivors started to be turned, specially those that originally could have some degree of natural resistance to slow down the progression of the infection. Both of which conform to zombie types within the Romero zombies. All the things I will mention in this post can be found in "Romero Zombies" in the Zombiepedia While earlier works could show zombies devoid of both thought and memory and most instances that are inspired in the Romero zombies follow only that, later works of Romero have shown zombies capable of learning through a process of trial and error AND recalling memories of their past lives and performing familiar tasks or even communicating, which is to say that their brain still has significant capabilities. 1- Louder The first of the two types is very simple and most recent zombie games have at least one iteration of it in their own capacity. It is a more recent zombie trope that still also perfectly fits in the spirit of PZ and the current scenario of the world and within all the descriptors and capabilities of the Romero zombies. The "SCREAMER!" While I'm using the word "type" a better term would be "variant" since you can have a "screamer" variant of almost any type of zombie currently present in the game. It should simply be a zombie that, once it notices you, before it starts shambling, crawling or running towards you, they would... well... scream. Loud. Very loud. Calling zombies from a certain distance away towards their location. They should be somewhat rare and with a few small details, such as: -If the zombie is a crawler or "can't move", they should scream non-stop until they "forgot why they were screaming for". -If the screamer is following towards an alarm or event such as the helicopter, they should not scream until they see a player or NPC. -The screamer shout should cause a considerable amount of panic on the player's character and NPCs. -The second the screamer loses sight of the player or NPC, they should scream once again. -If a second screamer hears the shout of another screamer from far away, they should also scream before moving towards the location of the first screamer. This should be a very rare zombie variant ever since the start of the game that, with time, could become slightly more common. There should also be random events of screamers shouting, similar to how you can hear a woman shouting, wolves or a gunshot suddenly. It would be terrifying to suddenly hear a screamer near your base and then hear more screamers in the distance during the night. 2- More Lethal The second variant should be even more rare at the start of the game but become more and more common as the game progresses, which is zombies capable of using melee weapons. The "Fighter". As I mentioned in the beginning, this is something that has been verified multiple times in Romero movies and can be seen since as early as Night of the Living Dead. I don't believe they should operate firearms at all, to stay closer to the common zombie we know of, but grabbing a pipe to hit you or using an axe with the extremely faint memories of their past lives as a firefighter or a wood cutter is definitely fitting and reasonable. One detail I would add is that every player character that dies and becomes a zombie should have at least 25% chance of being a Fighter zombie. If they had the "Resilient" trait, it should be 50%. Later in the game, those values should double for 50% the normal player character and 100% for a resilient character. For the NPC update, survivor NPCs that die should also have a higher probability of becoming a Fighter. Starting at 10% and growing to 20% at later stages. This would make their existence even more interesting and threatening, since in an MP server, for example, one player that died may immediately become a Fighter zombie wielding a Katana or a Machete that they had while living. Important Questions Does it fit with the spirit of PZ? Yes it does. As I mentioned, both variants are still perfectly within the current style of the game. Would it make the game too easy? No, quite the opposite. It would add a new degree of threat to the game, since if you have bad luck, even a single zombie that shouts at a bad moment could bring your end or a zombie with an axe or a bat within a small group could make just a few 3 or 4 zombies to already be a serious battle for survival. Would it require rewriting the entire game (like changing the camera view, for instance) No. It would only require to program the variant behavior, add it among the list of possible zombie variants, add the toggle configurations to sandbox mode and server creation and I believe that is it. Would it add enough to the gameplay that it would be worth taking the time to add? Yes, very much so. Even though it is only 2 variants of zombies, since they can be recombined with other variants, like both Screamer and Crawler, or a Sprinter and Fighter. Imagine if a crawler that happened to be a fighter with a knife cuts your leg or feet right it the middle of combat from somewhere you didn't see it coming. For zombies: Does it fit at least somewhat into Romero/Brooks zombie lore (the basis for 'proper' zombies)? As I mentioned before, yes, perfectly so. It is perfectly within the lore of the Romero zombies. The zombie from the lore itself, the zombie brain is still more than capable of wielding weapons, be it by "learning" the behavior out of trial and error or from faint remaining memories of their previous lives, while screaming would be even more simple, but the act of screaming reactively as they see someone should still be somewhat rare or uncommon at least.

One item that could be added as a craftable and would actually be surprisingly fitting and meaningful is a grapnel or grappling hook. As "fantasy" as it could seem at first, it is actually a real tool that was even used by the US army in D-Day to help in climbing. In Japan, it was called "Kaginawa" and it was also very used in feudal times by the samurai, their retainers, foot soldiers and also by shinobi, among its many uses, to scale rather large walls. It should only be possible to "craft" it and not be able to be found in the general world, with the only exception being a very rare chance inside a survivor house, and would actually be really useful for the game specially if provided a few small changes to the "burglar alarm" houses. 1- The hook As I mentioned, it is an actual tool used for climbing, and I mean the real grappling hook and not a fantasy batman-like grappling gun, but the real deal hooks on a rope. Its use would be the same as the "sheet rope", but from 1 or 2 floor lower than the target object to stick the rope is. It would be useful to enter a house or building from a window left open on the second floor. Maybe even make it a little bit longer than the sheet rope with a limit of 2 floors above in height (so able to get to a window or fence on the third floor from the first floor). It should also be a little tiring to climb up the rope (same with the sheet rope), specially in a hurry if using the run or sprint keys toggled to climb faster and have a small chance to bruise or hurt your hands if doing so without gloves. An important point is also that grappling hooks should be very fast to remove from the top and extremely slow to retrieve from the bottom, since it is surprisingly hard to make it unstuck if you are only controlling the rope from down below, but very easy to just remove the hook from above. It should also have a durability and lose more durability when retrieved from below than when retrieved from above. 2- Ring the sirens The burglar alarm currently feels more like a gamble whenever you enter anywhere than something that actually exists in the world since there is no way to check or prevent it. A few small changes that would not only make the burglar alarm more meaningful and more interesting would be: Houses with a burglar alarm should have panels on walls near the doors to the outside, both front and back doors, with a blinking red light. Players could try to spot these from outside to check if there are alarms. Those with the burglar profession should also be able to right-click on windows and "check for alarm trigger" and receive a confirmation if there is. It should be possible to lockpick the door using a paper clip and a screwdriver, requiring you to be a burglar or having read a magazine that teaches how to do it. If lockpicking the door, before an alarm triggers, there should be a few moments where players with enough electric skill or the burglar profession can disable the alarm. Right-clicking on windows and doors from the inside or on the alarm control panel should also give those with enough electrical skills the option to "disassemble > home alarm" which would simultaneously disable it. (Which would provide the same amount of skill xp and items than the item "home alarm" that already exists in the game and can be found and disassembled) There should be a % chance that any house created with a home alarm have at least 1 or more windows from the second floor left open. This would give meaning and a motive for survivors to make a real grappling hook and use it realistically for how it is actually used in real life. Throw a hook and climb to enter from the second floor window without triggering the burglar alarm, then retrieve your hook, disable the alarm from the inside and then get out from the door. There should also be a tiny possibility that a house with an alarm to have it disabled (Owners escaped or died without turning it on, but the house does have it installed) AND the possibility for the player to rig an existing disabled home alarm with a timer to trigger on purpose as a way to divert zombies from around the map towards that alarm house and open a path somewhere else. Saddistic Event: 1 or 2 days after the power gets cut, all burglar alarms in all houses of all cities that have not been already dealt with should trigger at the exact same time by their batteries starting to run out and the sensors starting to fail, triggering the alarms. (Horde Event) If enough alarms trigger at once, this should drive a MASSIVE horde from outside of the cities from miles away towards the cities (if X alarms trigger with X distance at the same time, increase alarm sound range by 10x). After that event, all house burglar alarms should be disabled by lack of power. (With the exception of houses that have some form of working generators.) 3- Rooftop. Added to #2 entry, a lot of utility buildings that might be even 1 floored only may have useful things to disassembled that can be added to the game on their rooftops that aren't really accessible unless placing a "ladder" or using something like a grappling hook to climb it. Things like vent exits that can be disassembled with a propane torch to wield metal sheets and pipes, AC outdoor units, "solar panels"(?) and much more. Climbing on a rooftop is also good to get a vantage point to shoot on zombies from a safe place they can't reach or just to see from higher up somewhere farther away, but also may trap you in a place you can't escape if a horde surrounds the building with limited resources. The Important Questions Surprisingly, yeah. Not considering the pop-culture version, the real grappling hook is actually really useful in specific situations that you can find in the game as well. Also yes, #1 being a tool for survival and mobility to allow you to reach places that would be harder otherwise in order to scavenge for goods or escape from a horde and #2 being to make the burglar alarm have a way to be dealt with that requires the survivor to be focused, spot it properly and have the means to avoid it or disable it fast enough. No. It only provides a minor mechanic of movement and in #2 a way to check for the existence of burglar alarms and deal with them, which is something that actually should be possible to do. No, not at all. Number #2 would probably need a small amount of work regarding making the alarms spawnable on world creation in homes that receive the burglar alarm, which is reasonable, but the hook in itself would re-use the animation and a lot of the programming from the sheet rope. Yes, and a lot truly, specially if considering #2. The option to climb and enter from the second or third floor from the outside could be very useful in many situations as is being able to climb on the roof of a small building in order to get a vantage point or improvise a safe spot. Since it should be a craftable only, yes. Since you wouldn't find it, but need to craft it yourself after learning its recipe, it could be added no matter where in the world the story would be taking place. Unless it was another survivor who made it, if you get a very rare find in a survivor house. Learning the recipe: New Magazine => The truth behind pop-culture hero tools Suggested recipes for the grappling hook: 4 Crowbar + Propane Torch + Welder Mask + 1 Welding Rods + 1 Rope or Sheet Rope 4 Metal Bars + Propane Torch + Welder Mask + 1 Welding Rods + Hammer + 1 Rope or Sheet Rope 2 Small Metal Sheet + 1 Scrap Metal + Propane Torch + Welder Mask + 1 Welding Rods + Hammer + 1 Rope or Sheet Rope 1 Metal Pipe + 4 Nails + 2 Scrap Metal + Propane Torch + Welder Mask + 1 Welding Rods + 1 Rope or Sheet Rope

I wanted to make this suggestion as a way to tie down a few previous suggestion I sent recently a bit more in depth. The Sewing Machine and Pillows with a small detail for the Smoking Overhaul. 1- Plantable Cotton Simply put, a new seed in the game that when harvested would give a few units of "Raw Cotton" per plant when harvest. 2- Cotton gin You'd need to find or make a device called "Cotton gin" that is needed for the "ginning" process to separate the fibers from the seed. To craft, this device would be made of wood planks with a few screws, a saw, a screwdriver and one pipe. You would need a some levels in carpentry and a few in mechanics as well to make the moving parts. It should also be found in the world and picked up like any furniture, learn the building recipe through disassembling or learn how to build through a new magazine "The history of clothing". (After going through the ginning process you'd receive 1 unit of "cotton seeds" and 1 unit of "cotton balls" per "raw cotton". ) 3- Spinning or Rolling. By right clicking "cotton balls" in your inventory, you'd have the option to "spin into yarn", which is the act of converting the cotton balls into "Yarn" (an item already present in the game as a miscellaneous, possibly renamed to "cotton yarn") or into thinner "thread". You'd need a pencil, pen, screwdriver or any such small and thin tool in order to do that. There could also be a "yarn spinning wheel" as a possible buildable that would make it take a 1/10 of the time needed to spin it by hand. It would need only a considerably small level of carpentry and mechanics, planks + "woodglue, nails or [screws + screwdriver]" + saw + file If you have a pair of scissors in your inventory or in the vicinity, by right clicking the cotton balls you'd also get the choice to "roll and cut into filters" to produce cigarette filters. 4- Weaving or knitting If using "Knitting Needles", another item already present in the game, with either the "Yarn" or the "Thread" and you could directly craft "Knitted" clothing pieces from the crafting menu or craft "Cotton Fabric" slowly. It would require 4 or 5 levels in Tailoring. It would have a low probability of producing "High-quality Cotton Fabric" that grows with your tailoring level to 50% with level 10. Another option would be to build a "Weaver" machine, that would require either to find it in the world (somewhat rare) or build with a high carpentry level and needing the building recipe for it to be available to build. (Also learnable through a new magazine "The history of clothing.") Similar to the previous, to craft it it would be mostly out of "wood planks" with a few "screws", some pieces of cut "metal pipe" needing a "saw", a "hammer" and a "screwdriver" as tools. Also needing carpentry and mechanics levels, just in higher values than the others. By weaving you'd produce fabric EXTREMELY faster and also a higher probability of making "high-quality cotton fabric" reaching 100% with level 10. The act of weaving with the machine would require a lot less knowledge level in tailoring than "Knitting" with only 2 or 3 levels of tailoring. 5- Sewing ("Cotton fabric" or "High-quality cotton fabric") + (sewing machine or needle) + (thread or yarn) = Clothes, Sheets, Bandages, Towels, etc Learn recipes through new magazines that unlock making clothes from the fabric. Some clothes could use exclusively high-quality fabric. ("Cotton fabric" or "High-quality cotton fabric") + Cotton balls + (sewing machine or needle) + (thread or yarn) = (High-quality) Pillow Increased effect if used the High-Quality version to sleep, as mentioned in the "Pillows" suggestion. "High-quality cotton fabric" + Cotton balls + (sewing machine or needle) + (thread or yarn) + wire + metal pipe + pliers = "High-quality mattress" (keeps the pipe. Needed only to make the wire spring for the mattress) [Suggested item needed to make any "good" quality bed and high in value for trade.] All of these could be tradeable goods with NPCs of bases you visit or merchants who visit your base (if there are any, which should). High quality goods would be 1.5x more valuable than common quality goods. This together with what I suggested in the Sewing Machine post would make the Tailoring skill be a lot more valuable and be another option for producing goods for sale if there is trade with the NPCs through farming and processing the cotton alone, which would be a self sufficient process. Extra: Similarly to my "Pillows" suggestion mentioned previously, sleeping with sheets in your inventory should make your character sleep better when the weather is cold. Extra 2: More options with these same tools and process would be opened with the animals update if sheep and goats are some of the animals added to the game, both giving "wool". The only difference being it would produce "wool yarn" and "wool fabric" to make wool clothes with high insulation and more valuable for trade near or during the winter. Extra 3: It would also produce the "cotton balls" needed for making medicine and the bandages. Add in a process to make alcohol and a few medicinal plants you can farm + a process to make suture needles from the common needle, to make common needle out of wire, tweezer, suture needle holders and other pharmaceutical medicines and this all adds together to be not only part of a grid of mechanics that supplies the clothes, but a considerable dynamic with the process to produce medicine late game as well, which would also be a very valuable good to trade and very needed for the NPCs (specially if they get hurt randomly within the base and need a doctor).

Even today, a sewing machine will weight around 10 to 15 kilos, which is between 22 to 33 pounds. Up until the 90s that would still be around 15 to 20kg (33 to 44 lbs) If it is an industrial machine, the weight could and still even go as high as 80kg (176 lbs) or more That sewing machine that almost broke my back weighted close to somewhere around 50 or 60 kilos (110 or 132 lbs) and it was from around 1960 or 1970. So I am taking into consideration the era of the game when suggesting it to weight 40 xD at least it should weight 25 or 30. They weight a lot more than they look.

Good point. I also believe that this suggestion should be something that should be an option in sandbox and server settings and change based on the standard difficulties (such as survival or apocalypse). Good thing about that is that I don't believe the ability to perceive or not certain light spectrum was approached in the Romero zombies, but they change quite a bit from movie to movie and I believe in a few ones, they proved to be attracted to light as well, while even if that wasn't depicted, it wouldn't be absurd since to imagine. Even for cases where your settings are so that zombies are active during the day and inactive at night, I believe there could even be an option so that they also become active under artificial light, so that inside buildings and under your flashlight, they could go back to being active and stay active even a few moments after they return to darkness.

As promised in my previous suggestion, I would also like to suggest the existence of a "Sewing Machine", that would have MANY uses for the "Tailoring" skill and maintenance of clothes, besides the addition of one new possible action with the tailoring skill that requires it. The Sewing Machine would be a "Furniture Tool" in a sense, which means it is a tool that can't be carried in your inventory, instead, you must be standing near it to craft using it. It would weight 40, like the Generator. (old Sewing Machines were HEAVY and I almost broke my back once carrying one that belonged to my grandma, so 40 weight is fitting, believe me) It would allow you to craft clothes from 0 using ripped material as long as you learn their recipes through a few new magazines, some of which should be possible to find in clothing stores. Added the new action "remake" instead of "repair" that can only be used by right clicking the sewing machine with a mechanic similar to washing clothes in water sources. It would allow you to fully repair a clothing item as long as you possess the required materials for cheaper than making a new one from 0 but higher that it is needed to just stitch a hole, removing all holes and filling its condition to 100%. The clothing item also needs to be clean and dry in order to be remade. It would be extremely useful to fully repair items such as leather gloves and denim shirts even if it used quite a few leather and denim strips and a lot of thread and needed something big and heavy like the Sewing Machine and it would still perfectly fit the scenario. Also, the Sewing Machine should be loud, almost as loud as I suggested the open-frame fuel-powered mechanical generator should be. As loud as the normal shout as long as it is being operated, so that you can't use it unless you are in a safe place with a somewhat considerable safe area around. It should require a considerably high(4+) tailoring level to operate and high mechanics level to build it. Extra 1: Knitting, wool and fabric dyes would also be really interesting mechanics for "Tailoring" if added to the game. Wool would also open the need and possibility of "sheep" in the animals update which is reasonable and useful. Extra 2: As I mentioned in an older suggestion, having "Cotton" as a plantable crop would be extremely valuable here. Extra 3: Being able to produce clothes for the NPCs update would be needed and open the possibility being one of the possible trade products of foreign bases and your own base market.

As someone who once studied for a bachelor in college towards a field based around electrical and mechanical and another time for construction engineering (even though I dropped out on both), I'm kind of surprised at how little the fields of electrical and mechanical seem to be used for crafting and building currently and how construction besides with wood doesn't even currently exist. I genuinely believe that an "engineering overhaul" could seriously greatly benefit the game a LOT. 1- Research and Development The number 1 thing for this suggestion, that can open a HUGE number of possibilities for the future is this. Whenever you have enough skill level at the needed area, any object of the game should be "researchable". When disassembling an object, there should be a % probability of you learning how to make that object that also grows based on your skill level. For example: When disassembling a door, there should be a certain percentage probability for you to learn how to make that door design that grows to 100% when at carpentry level 10. Some door designs would need extra materials &/or tools, like "glass" or "paint" and "paintbrush" in order to build. 2- More than just cars The field of "Mechanics" in the game seems to currently be related exclusively to cars, but in all honesty, mechanics encompasses a lot more than just automotive vehicles, even though they are a HUGE part of it. For example, the "generator" is an entity that belongs equally to the electrical field as it does to the mechanical field. It is a mechanical engine that produces electrical power. I've always wondered, for example, why I can disassemble a digital watch to get "Electrical" xp but I can't disassemble a mechanical watch to get "Mechanics" xp. There are many things you should be able to build using both for your base. As such, instead of "Carpentry", by right-clicking and opening the menu, it should simply be written "Build". Image example: The #1 "R&D" wouldn't be limited to carpentry, but to anything. For example, at Electrical & Mechanical level 10 (because I genuinely believe it takes expertise in both areas) you should have 100% chance to learn how build your own and with as many objects that exist in the world, this would open a lot of possibilities even with interacting with the pre-existing world. For the "Construction" section, new possibilities of materials would be needed and also one new skills... "Construction" skill. This new skill would gain xp by its own VHS or by building walls(with carpentry) or tearing down walls. The "Carpentry" skill would still handle everything it does related to wood, but this new menu organization would open the way to adding metal gates and metal doors that would use the "Metalworking" skill in the same menu besides other things that might use other skills, like adding "flags" to: Build > Construction > Misc > Flags || That would require dyes and tailoring skill. Materials like "Bricks" and "Concrete" would be possible to make thick and strong walls that zombies can't break by simply hitting them. "Brick wall" would require "bricks"[new], "concrete bucket" and a "trowel" while a "Concrete wall" would need "concrete", "metal bars", wires and a Propane torch. There would need to be a new "glass" material, that could be acquired by disassembling windows or made with its own process. Or metal bars, for "metal bar windows"/"cell window". Also, windows would be either in the "Misc" section of the "Construction" menu, be fused with Door for "Doors & Windows" or have a section of its own and put "Doors & Gates" together. Windows would need to be placed on a wall with a "Window Frame", similar to how doors can only be placed on a wall or fence with a "Door Frame". Wall and Fence could also be fused into a single "Walls & Fences" category. This also opens the possibility for remote controlled or motion sensor gates and doors by crafting small motors and remote controllers or motion sensors and installing them on gates and doors that you built, be them of any type or material, as long as powered with electricity. Things like a sofa, armchair or benches and stools with pillows in the "Furniture" category would require "tailoring" skill levels to craft and provide tailoring XP when disassembled. In "Generators", the fuel mechanical generator that currently we can only find would need several engine parts, metal pipes, Electronics Scrap and both Mechanics and Electrical skill levels. But also, there would be the possibility of wind generators and solar panels (which the modern solar panel exists since around 1950, so is within the timeline)l, each with their own required materials and challenges for maintenance and limitations for energy production. In "Distribution" would be things like: "Utility poles": Would work to extend the power radius of any generator that it is range of. Since the current "Fuel-powered Mechanical Generator" has a 20 tiles 5 floor cylinder radius, as long as this would be within that range, it would extend that power distribution 20 more tiles and also 5 floors, 2 above, 2 below. Limited in distance from the source of electrical power. "Fuse box": Exactly the same as the "Utility poles", but small and intended to be built on walls inside a base, can be useful for bases with many floors, sending the power up the floors or to power multiple houses in a base for players and NPCs alike that are farther from the generator. "Power Substation": Same as above, but distributes the power over a wider area (50 tiles and 11 floors, 5 above, 5 below) and resets the "distance from the source" for the utility poles and fuse boxes. "Battery": Stores power for when the power providers stops working, then it takes over as a new power provider until its charge reaches 0. In "Lighting", would be things like the currently existing Flashlight on a pillar, but also a new more definitive "Light post", that would need a propane torch, metal pipes, wire and Electronics Scrap and a wire cutting tool, but also lamps any other light provider that you can find in the game, such as ceiling lights. These could also have the option of adding "Motion sensors" to them so that they only work when there is a player, NPC or zombie nearby. "Light switch", which would need a way to choose which light sources it is connected to. In "Surveilance", there could be "camera" and those "surveilance stations" that you can find with wall screens inside police stations and a few other areas of the game. By pressing E on them, you would change from character view to the view of the camera, allowing you to see outside your base without needing to go out. Each time you press E it would change camera to another camera within the same electrical grid and pressing any WASD key you would cancel and get back to controlling your character. Also, this would open the possibility of seeing through the security stations already existing in the game which we can only disassemble for now and create a new danger of being attacked by a zombie while paying attention to the cameras. In "Communication" would be the radios and telephones that could become useful with the NPCs update, for talking with NPCs from other bases. In "Industrial" would be any sort of production machines, such as a machine to make nails out of metal plates and/or wires, to make "electronics scraps" and other possibilities, like a machine to make ammunition out of "Lead"[new] and "gunpowder" (which could also have its own crafting recipe, tbh). In "Appliances" would be anything related to home appliances, like fridges, TVs, microwaves and so on. most would require only electrical skill levels, but things like washing machine would require also mechanics skill level and provide both electrical and mechanics XP when disassembling. In "Misc" would be anything that doesn't fit any of these categories, such as alarms(can be used for traps if made to be battery powered and added a timer or used against "raider" enemy NPCs, sending a horde on them), sprinklers (very useful for farming), sewing machine (I'll make a suggestion specific about it and its usefulness soon), wall clocks, fliperama machines and anything else that might fit this category. 3- Very useful professions. As both of its fields of work become more useful, the "Engineer" profession should grow in cost, but also provide more skill points. Instead +1 Electrical and +1 Carpentry, I would suggest that the "Engineer" profession should give: +2 Electrical, +1 Construction, +1 Mechanic, +1 Metalworking & +1 Carpentry || Cost 6 "Can make traps, explosives and operate generators." Similarly, the "Construction Worker" would also have to change. Instead of +1 Carpentry & +3 Short Blunt, it would give: +2 Short Blunt, +2 Construction, +1 Electrical, +1 Carpentry, +1 Strength || Cost 4 "Can build brick walls and knows how to assemble some furniture." These would raise the value of the skills "mechanics" and "electrical", create a very valuable "construction" skill, create huge possibilities for base building and also increase the amount of possible interactions with objects that already exist in the game while exploring.