Gaffa Tape Warrior

This is how I last had my guy perish. It was quite late, and having taken all day to cross town he found himself a small room with a chair with a solid wall behind it, with a view of the windows. Bearing in mind the danger of zombies, I had him sleep, knife in hand. As he slept with a black screen I heard a window smash. I clicked with the "stab" button a few times but he slept on, until finally being woken up by the zombie himself giving him a hug, too late to save himself from a scratch.
 
I know someone who wakes up whenever somebody knocks on his door. And he's not even surrounded by a population that wants him dead. I truely believe that if a person was properly afraid of people, zombie or otherwise, breaking into his room, then if he went to sleep bearing in mind the worry, and decided that if he heard a window smash then he would awaken, then if somebody did start smashing his way through his window then he would most certainly awaken, and further I would expect every healthy person to wake up if such a thing was to happen.

This is how I last had my guy perish. It was quite late, and having taken all day to cross town he found himself a small room with a chair with a solid wall behind it, with a view of the windows. Bearing in mind the danger of zombies, I had him sleep, knife in hand. As he slept with a black screen I heard a window smash. I clicked with the "stab" button a few times but he slept on, until finally being woken up by the zombie himself giving him a hug, too late to save himself from a scratch.
 
I know someone who wakes up whenever somebody knocks on his door. And he's not even surrounded by a population that wants him dead. I truely believe that if a person was properly afraid of people, zombie or otherwise, breaking into his room, then if he went to sleep bearing in mind the worry, and decided that if he heard a window smash then he would awaken, then if somebody did start smashing his way through his window then he would most certainly awaken, and further I would expect every healthy person to wake up if such a thing was to happen.

This is how I last had my guy perish. It was quite late, and having taken all day to cross town he found himself a small room with a chair with a solid wall behind it, with a view of the windows. Bearing in mind the danger of zombies, I had him sleep, knife in hand. As he slept with a black screen I heard a window smash. I clicked with the "stab" button a few times but he slept on, until finally being woken up by the zombie himself giving him a hug, too late to save himself from a scratch.
 
I know someone who wakes up whenever somebody knocks on his door. And he's not even surrounded by a population that wants him dead. I truely believe that if a person was properly afraid of people, zombie or otherwise, breaking into his room, then if he went to sleep bearing in mind the worry, and decided that if he heard a window smash then he would awaken, then if somebody did start smashing his way through his window then he would most certainly awaken, and further I would expect every healthy person to wake up if such a thing was to happen.

This is how I last had my guy perish. It was quite late, and having taken all day to cross town he found himself a small room with a chair with a solid wall behind it, with a view of the windows. Bearing in mind the danger of zombies, I had him sleep, knife in hand. As he slept with a black screen I heard a window smash. I clicked with the "stab" button a few times but he slept on, until finally being woken up by the zombie himself giving him a hug, too late to save himself from a scratch.
 
I know someone who wakes up whenever somebody knocks on his door. And he's not even surrounded by a population that wants him dead. I truely believe that if a person was properly afraid of people, zombie or otherwise, breaking into his room, then if he went to sleep bearing in mind the worry, and decided that if he heard a window smash then he would awaken, then if somebody did start smashing his way through his window then he would most certainly awaken, and further I would expect every healthy person to wake up if such a thing was to happen.

Or you'd at least use the proper saw.
Or an axe and wedges.

If I was going to make a spear that I was planning on using for some zombie slaying, I'd put a LOT more effort into it than those guys on that video did. At the very MINIMUM, I'd find a long slender trunk and carve it into a sharp, fire hardened point that I could use to stab into the zombie skull. That alone would be far more effective than the "knife+broom" that they did in the video.
 
If I had time to prepare and the proper materials, I'd put a lot more effort into it. I'd go out and find myself some manner of metal. Preferably eighteen inches long. I would then grind the first six inches to a point slim enough to pierce an eye socket but still thick enough to maintain its form under stress. I'd then take the file and grind a number of notches into the remaining twelve inches. I might go for anywhere between three or six. I will then carve an equal measure of notches into the slender trunk I mentioned above. If I'm going all out, I may even carve a slight, twelve inch long groove into the opposite side for the metal to rest in. I'd then take some twine and, lining the notches in the trunk and metal up with each other, fasten it together as tight as possible. THEN I would apply the duct tape, if only as an added measure to help absorb shock and hold the spear head in place. If I didn't have the duct tape, I'd likely apply an extra layer of twine over the haft of the spear from the bottom of the metal all along the twelve inches where it meets the wood.

You would still need to loot things, it would just take fewer households to support a single person.
 
If the people took their tools with them then we should be able to find them on zombies or on the ground.

Rathlord, if you peek at my comment above, I had made a suggestion as to a purpose of age. In essence, young = faster/stronger. Old = comes with already improved skills but weaker/slower (plus potential NPC benefits but not sure what the plan is in that regard). You'd chose the age of your character at the start of the game, in the same way that you can already pick traits to give benefits/disadvantages.
 
Gives players a simple choice which could dramatically change how you approach the game. I can't think of any way that'd be a bad thing? 
 
Similar to if I choose to start the game with the marksman trait, I'd change how to play the game with the aim of using guns as my main weapon. Now if I chose to play as an older guy, I'll have a better chance of, say, doing well at farming. I'd be trying to get out of town as quick as possible to build up my farm in the wilderness. But because I'd be slower/weaker, I'd be more likely to die before I get that far. But if I go for a younger guy, I'd spend more time looting in the town as I'd be stronger/faster. Maybe even build a base in town.
 
Just giving a potential reason, but I don't think the game would be any weaker without this.

Just got the game, been dying a bit and having fun doing so.  Still learning the game.
 
Having said that, homeowners in the US have tools.  I have tools, people all around me have tools, friends have tools.  When we search houses in the game, there should be an abundance of hammers, screwdrivers, saws, large knives, and so on.
 
-Jeff
 

I strongly suggest armor is a must. Yes I read that at the moment it is a Maybe.
 
I have lucky perk and thick skin and I still get scratched very very often when a zombie never even touches me (animation wise). 
 
We need to be able to pick up trash can lids as shields
Hunt for animals(future) and make leather
Find leather jackets, biker gloves, SWAT/Riot gear.
Anti blood splatter gear, gas masks, eye wear, breathing apparatus. 
 
I feel very helpless in the game when I leave my base, and I feel it makes the game more complex(better).
 
One of the first things I would do in real life is to dress in some sort of protective armor.
 

In times of extreme poverty or crises, people have used various forms of famine foods to survive. In Project Zomboid, meanwhile, you find yourself cooking Grilled Cheese Sandwich. During a zombie apocalypse.
 
I want a chance to make stuff like bark bread (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark_bread) and cook tea from nettles. There's a decent list of famine food examples on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food. For some more American examples, check out this ethnobiological article of American famine foods: http://ethnobiology.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/JoE/11-2/Minnis.pdf
 
Famine foods should be an easy way to stay alive but of course also cause a lot of unhappiness. Adding such "inferior" food recipes would make the cooking system much deeper.

Finding swords in the area is much more likely than people might think.

I happen to like the idea ..... so I did a little research.
 
There has been an active SCA group in the Muldrough area since the 1970s.
 
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe. These are ordinary everyday people whose hobby of choice is putting on heavy armor and beating each other with rattan swords on the weekends. However a large number of them also own actual metal swords (of greatly differing quality). That's 40 years of hobbyists buying swords, crossbows, chainmail armor ... all sorts of stuff. Which means there are real people living in that community right now that own swords. It might even be in a box of grandpas stuff out in the barn that noone who lives there even knows exists. These people are also much more likely to know how to build a forge from items that are all already implemented in the game already (at least the base materials). Also extremely likely to have tought thier kids a wide range of 17th century skills from cooking to smithing and more.
 
We've already got cement bags, and an abundant supply of trees, nails, and sheets. It wouldn't be perfect, but I could build a forge and bellows out of that on my own. It wouldn't be too hard to fashion a crude windmill to pump the bellows for me.
 
I have several times built a tiny forge in the backyard out of a ceramic pot cemented into one of those giant holiday popcorn buckets and used an electric air mattress pump for air flow. This worked easily good enough to melt copper and lead, and softened steel enough to shape with a hammer.
 
People keep saying that this doesn't fit the theme of the game. I thought the game was about surviving any way you can with what you can find and build with your own two hands. I'm fairly positive that I could find people living in Muldraugh, KY right now that have built a small forge and made thier own machetes.

Starting with "plz add chain as a crafting material. the avg 300kg holding one"
Thing is that average chain is a good rope.
It does not care about biting.
It does not have any wear and tear whatsoever within the given timeline.
It looks cool - fits design criteria of being sturdy material, yet stuff constructed with it is makeshift and temporary in nature, thus not looking too cosy fo an apocalyptic setup.
 
Posting this now because crafting is still more or less baseline and unfinished, and chain as an item is a component that should be considered before crafting is implemented to the end-phase.
 
Where does this game have chains now? One main example - tool shelves in garages and some houses. Looking cool by the way.
Where could they be except allowing to craft tool shelves? (with nails if necessary) They could be alternative material, allowing to quickly craft highly durable log based fortifications. (Log wall held by sheets from a schoolgirl's blouse, as it is now, is just as sexy as the mentioned girl in her current decay state)
Where else? 
-Variety of reinforced tools like the bat top wrapped with just 30 cm of chain becomes a more durable, heavier hitting, and only tolerably more tiring.
-Final barricade reinforcement for planks.
-First stage or reinforcing a door
-In case furniture movement to block portals is implemented - chain would be a quick final upgrade to hold mentioned furniture in place.
-Zombie traps, whether loop snares, hang snares or whole nets.
 
more than enough on chains, minor thoughs on ropes and sheet ropes
sheet ropes should be unreliable - i.e. 1/40 chance for crack-boom-ouch when climbing. possibly minus 1 floor of fall damage, thus safe for floor 2 access, yet not permanent.
we already have a proper rope in game - why not give it a proper use as a reliable rope where you need it, requiring a screwdriver and a few screws to install?
 
and just to not spam extra topics - a couple of recipes I've been using that imo should be in game
 
first one stolen from here https://steamcommunity.com/app/108600/discussions/0/648812917023160135/
    recipe Squeeze Towel Dry
    {
    DishClothWet,

    Result:DishCloth,
    Sound:PZ_PutInBag,
    Time:150.0,
    }

    recipe Squeeze Towel Dry
    {
    BathTowelWet,

    Result:BathTowel,
    Sound:PZ_PutInBag,
    Time:150.0,
    }
problem is it needs some mid condition after being squeezed and prior to becoming dry taking some time. Also on forum they did squeeze towels to bowls, which is cool. Did not do it myself - looked a bit too easy. (and not sure that liquid containers have same syntax)
 
Second one comes from prisons all over the world:
    recipe sharpen to shiv
    {
    Fork/Spoon,
    RippedSheets,
    keep Stone/Hammer/HammerStone,

    Result:ButterKnife,
    Sound:PZ_Hammer,
    Time 350.0,
    }
For who did not use knives much - butterknife here can OHK Zs while spoons can't. What this recipe makes me really want is to have a dozen of different quality makeshift weapons in the game frame so that I could choose when making such recipes
 
Also this recipe:
    recipe knock stone sharp
    {
    Stone,
    keep Hammer/HammerStone,

    Result:SharpedStone,
    Sound:PZ_Hammer,
    Time: 250.0,
    }
As it is - a bit of a cheat. Needs percentile based chance of breaking the stone useless.
 
These recipes imo are balanced enough to consider and discuss placement into maingame. What I'm currently considering is repairing broken axe with plank, nails and skill 5, turning spoons and forks into a couple of nails each and a golf club into 5 nails, which brings a question whether current saw is a multi-material one or a wood only saw.
 
Pretty much all thoughts at the moment - anyone who managed to read this through - cheers on being determined and feel free to comment.

I'd like to add my thoughts.
 
Making a spear:
 
Tools for making a spear:
 
Percussive tools: Hammer, axe, stone, stick etc.
Cutting tools: Chisel + percussive tool, axe + percussive tool, shears, hacksaw, angle grinder, and more.
More ways of cutting: Hammering metal over a corner and bending it back and forth until it breaks. Drilling holes in a line and bending back and forth along the line.
 
You can fire harden the top of a wooden spear. I seem to remember that one thing it does is dry it out.
 
Some sources of metal: Refridgerators, metal railings, metal fences, spades, shovels, shears, scythes, sickles, knives, metal chair legs, metal table legs, corrugated iron, cars, metal staircases, and bare sheets of steel or aluminium.
You can cut them into the shapes of spearheads.
 
Some ways of making spearheads: Cutting them out of bigger pieces of metal, using knives, and getting a piece of iron red hot with a blowtorch or a forge and hammering it.
 
Ways of attaching spearheads to shafts:
Getting a knife blade with a tang, either by removing the handle from a knife or making one yourself, and putting it through a slit in the shaft and riveting it.
Wrapping the head around the shaft as a socket, like a spade, and riveting it.
You could also use glue and string or duckt tape.
It need not be a blade, a spike could also do.
 
 
The effectiveness of spears against zombies.
 
You would need to be skilled to stab a zombie through the face and into the brain, and so you could practice thrusting at a tree and a hanging tyre or a hanging plank, so that you are skilled enough to stab zombies through their eyes.
 
A flexible blade may bend on the thrust and be less effective, and also vibrate on the cut.
Poor quality metal may get twisted in the zombie.
These are affected by the length of the blade.
 
Thrusting through bone would likely get the spearhead stuck, and there may be a chance that the zombie falls over and pulls the spear out of your hands, or you over with it, depending on the geometry and material of the spearhead, and how strong you are, and stuff like that. So the spear may not be a weapon for quickly killing lots of zombies if you need to keep pulling it out of the zombie skulls made of still-wet bone, but it can kill zombies.
 
I expect it would be more effective than the knife, because with the knife your hand would be very likely to slip onto the blade in a long forwards underarm thrust, and possibly a bit likely with the short overarm reverse grip, and there is one hand on it, whereas with the spear there is more weight for the thrust, there is more reach, and there are two hands for pulling it out again, and you can bludgeon them with your long stick with metal on the end.

Why were they slicing with it?! A spear is a stabbing weapon. If you're gonna be fighting a zombie, you gotta make a stabbing motion for the eyes. That knife is much too large. It'd serve better as a slicing weapon in its own right rather than taping it to a broom handle. They should have gone with something slimmer. And why the hell were they using a metal broom handle?! Those things are hollow and easily bent. Use an old fashioned wooden broom handle or go out into the woods and get yourself a sturdy stick. Split it at the end, remove the knife blade from the handle and place it within the split. Then tie the split end together with some good twine. You'd have yourself a perfectly good zombie murder pole if you did that instead of listening to these two.
 
These guys are idiots. They've wasted a perfectly good knife and duct tape.

What?
 
There's a reason why the spear has been the go to infantry weapon for centuries. That long reach is a huge advantage. Anything that comes within eight or nine feet of you is well within the radius of your reach or, as I like to call it, the murder circle. I also find it difficult to believe that the technique known as Readjusting My Grip On My Weapon™ is so difficult to master as to render closer range combat impossible. By the time you've gotten close enough to attempt to break the haft of the spear with your bat or axe, you've already given the spear wielder multiple tries at filling your vital organs full of piercing steel. Even then, you'd probably only succeed in breaking the spear if the guy holding it was stupid enough to hold it flat out and let you smack it dead center where you can apply the most force, instead of doing the more obvious thing and rolling the spear with the hits to deflect most of the force away from the haft.
 
The piercing attack of the spear is highly damaging against mortal foes. All it takes is one good stab in the torso and you're basically dead, thanks to the high odds of it hitting any one of the vital organs keeping you alive. Thanks to the larger murder circle the spear possesses in comparison to the bat, axe, or knife any attempt to attack a spear user within the range of your own murder circle is giving the spear guy multiple attempts at attacking you as you try to close the range, especially if he's mastered the highly difficult Readjusting My Grip On My Weapon™ skill that I mentioned above, wherein he places his hands higher up on the spear allowing him to attack you at closer range so you're always at optimal stabbing distance.
 
 
If the other half of your argument is this, then you're basically saying that every melee weapon in the game is pointless against guns. While true, it's not a good argument against including more melee weapons.

Just a quick thought, if you had chain mail could you be invincible against zombies? You would proubley feel the pressure from the bit, but there would be no way of them biting though that right?, plus it would be fairly light to wear. I've always wondered about chain mail, any thoughts?

Taking someone hostage is already possible in Multiplayer. Point a gun at them and tell them to follow. 
 
The other stuff - I leave it to my imagination. People can play the game on whatever horror level their mind conjures up, and I think it's okay. Lovers of gruesome scenes can interpret the current graphics as sadistic views and just complete them in their heads, where as little girls who come over from plantz vs. zombies and think of Z-Apoc as a funny zombie thingy, could skip all the blood and gore.
 
By forcing graphic imagery we would be alienating the latter players who don't want to see that stuff, and thus potentially reducing the appeal of the game to a smaller audience. And we do like to have more players!

I have no clue on how to ride a horse but I think I could learn if I read skill book.

I sent an email to you guys about this a few days ago all about realism & firearms and having someone with real firearms experience consult with you guys on this subject. Maybe I am bitter but it drives me nuts when game developers are way off with firearms. 
 
Whats an assault rifle? I assume you mean something that is black and 'tactical' looking? My 1925 bolt-action Mosin mounted to the wall next to me is more of an assault rifle than the AR-15 you guys are probably talking about as an 'assault rifle.' 

 
A massive misconception with shotguns is the spread of pellets from bird shot and buck shot. This is why people think you don't have to point and aim for home defense with them. This is a great example of 00 buckshot w/ the well known Mossberg 500 (which I presume is based shotgun ammo in the game):


One big hole at 3 yards, 4 inch spread at 7 yards. You won't hit multiple targets with a shotgun unless they are some distance from you. You won't penetrate multiple anything with buckshot either.  
 
 
Shotguns chop people in half? No. No they don't, unless you named a chainsaw "Shotgun." Your gun experience sounds like its a mixture of call of duty and hear-say from a grandparent. 
 
9mm FMJ rounds are going for 21 cents a round, intermediate rounds (.223/x39) are .19-41 cents a round, your larger .308/x54 are .20-.45 cents around. Any soft point round (hunting round) will obviously be more but 90% of the ammo people ARE buying are the cheap FMJ/target cheap rounds, I don't understand any of your logic. 

There are so many ways to make the game fun by including an assortment of weapons, a simple (but still realistic) ammo situation, and have it done correctly so it has the 'wow' factor. In this day of gaming, the firearms area should be an absolute strong part of the game, not something done by fantasy. 


*Quick note, I was crazy about getting a firearm with my characters since I kept dying, eventually downloaded a firearms mod gather a massive arsenal and 2 months into the game, haven't fired a single shot   

Spears would be nice and easy, but with just a bit more skill, one could make bladed polearms, such as glaives (possibly using the machete that has popped up in this thread every now and then).
 
I'd argue the "obscenely low" part. Without more advanced machinery, the only type of sword blade you could make would be a soft edge smithed around a hard core. While this would give you a large and durable bladed weapon, it would have to be re-tempered quite often, unless you wanted it to become more of a club...
 
That said, making a sword per se might not be the best solution, when we consider the fact that we have the logging company around. Indeed, the circular sawblades used in the wood industry are made of high quality alloy steel - beyond anything else you could find around a typical town... Why not use these ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_risks_from_dead_bodies
 
Nota Bene:
 

Unless I pull a fast one on you and say that since machetes are classified as a sword, then machetes are a subset of swords.
Thus the number of swords in the world (machetes+other swords) is greater than the number of just the machetes.
 
 
 
*WINNING*

I have one cheapo "Sword-shaped-object" my wife bought me as a gift.. It sorta clatters when you shake it so it stays on the wall where it belongs. It's the thought that counts right?
 
The rest; a longsword, a rapier, a scimitar, 3 daggers of various sizes, and a scottish claymore, are all combat ready. I picked them up at the renaissance festival in Magnolia, Texas over the years. The narrow blade on the rapier fits through the gaps in my wire traps so I use it for quickly dispatching the nasty, rabies-infested varmints I catch occasionally. Quieter and cheaper than the .22! (sincere apologies to any PETA folks..) The scimitar and the longsword are great for clearing brush and trimming the hedges. The Scottish claymore is.. an amazing sword.. The absolute best $400 I've ever spent. A big sapling or branch the size of my forearm will just drop right off with a good whack! It's faster than starting up the chainsaw, good exercise, and a lot more fun too! It's also useful for dispatching rattlesnakes since it's longer than the shovel.
 
I know, swords are uncommon; no place in the game. I regrettably agree..
Still, it seems like everyone should at least have a hatchet+machete out in the shed right?

I couldn't give you an exact count across the US without making up a number off the wall, but I am going to guess, hundreds. I've been in 8 of them across the States. Granted, USA does not have nearly even a fraction of those found in Europe, but the thing about America is that it has a lot of people with money who buy this stuff from Europe, or build their own.
As for KY specifically, not the slightest clue.
 
But an important point to be made is that you don't have to be a museum to specialize in crafting armour. All you need is historical book with designs, and a garage you can turn into a smithing workshop. These kinds of craftsmen are far and few in between, but the technology of making battle ready swords is NOT dead.
These are my favorite vendors of combat ready swords. Note where these vendors are located around the US.
http://www.albion-swords.com/
http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/
http://www.paulchenhanweiswords.com/medieval-swords.aspx
http://ensifer.carbonmade.com/
http://www.hroarr.com/regenyei-fechtschwert/
http://armor.com/
By the way, I know the idea is doomed already. I'm in this thread at this point to express my love for the never-gonna-happen fantasy