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TL/DR : Get new electrical cable in game (14/2 gage), be able to make makeshift electrical post, connect generator from a safe distance. I was reading some posts in steam discussion and I thought that this would be a good idea : having some electrical cable and being able to connect a generator far from one's base. Right now, you need to connect generator close to your base or at least where you keep your food. This has two major drawbacks : (1) noise attrack zombies, (2) risk of explosion (when condition is low). Seems to me in a zombie appocalipse, as soon I'd notice a zombie lurking near my generator I'd move it as far as is reasonable from my base. If possible I'd put it on a now dead electrical tower and run a rope bridge or some such to it so I can reach it safely without crossing zombies... but that's just me. I was thinking along the lines of making some electical posts (like lamp post, but with cable attached to it). Would require pretty much the same thing as a lamp post, but the lamp (and rope?) would be replaced by electrical cable and 1-2 extra (bent) nails to hold the cable in place. The cable required would definitely not be the one in game, it's too small and weight next to nothing. I'm talking about standard 14/2 cable that could be found mostly at hardware store and in garages. According to the info I found, it's about half a pound (232 grams) per meter including the spindle. That's to simplify things (because they have maximum recommended intensity and minimal operating temperature). If we wanted more realism and keep on track with the scavenging part of the game, we could chop down old electrical post to get log and higher grade of cable. Now, to keep it simple, I'd suggest that you'd need one post every few squares (5?) that would effectively extend the range of the generator of 5 in both direction of that post. Any thoughts?

Intro To The Idea: My friend and I were talking today when out of nowhere he came up with an amazing suggestion for Project Zomboid. I am sending it out to y'all for him as he isn't the greatest zomboid fan (having only 5 hours in). His idea was the possibility of finding back-up generators scattered throughout muldraugh. If TIS (The Indie Stone) does end up adding negative zed levels, ie basements, then there will have to be something occupying these spaces other than a garbage can or a couple of spare nails. Imagine you have spent several weeks on a new character, preparing for the oncoming winter months of starvation, when suddenly the power goes out. You don't worry about it as you have stocked up on canned goods. Just moments later you hear a low humming coming from a near-by home. Running in to find the noise, you see a staircase downward, at the bottom: a backup generator. You rush to turn it off but know the zed have heard and are already on their way... This would add so much to the game as it would influence the player to loot nearby houses as some people (like myself) don't do that in fear of an alarm sounding. These generators wouldn't be too common but not too rare, just over the frequency of alarms. The player staying in a nearby home would be tempted to raid and check for a backup generator just to make sure hoardes wouldn't flood their area once the power went out. The Backup Generator Details: To prevent the misuse of said Generators, they will only be able to be turned off. Due to the utter gamey-ness of so many players, this will be beneficial towards the game. It wouldn't be able to be moved as it would have been welded or attached quite snuggly into the house with a Co2 filter. They would; however, be able to be siphoned from to fill up your own gas tanks. Other than that they will do nothing else. This may seem like a bummer but combined with the rest of the game it is quite potential. Conclusion: I would love to see what y'all think and hope to see this along with many other things added to the official game. Thank you for reading this and comment below on what you think.

I have been doing a little testing as an invisible admin on how sound ques currently work. Here's a run through of what I would suggest would work better to make the gameplay more interesting, realistic etc. This is of course all stuff that isn't a priority over bigger stuff, but some things are an issue and changing them would improve current gameplay. I would maybe put these changes to effect after the stealth overhaul to create balance for that and emphasize it's meaning. [note] When I'm talking about something making a sound, I mean in game as in zombies reacting to it. 1. First the most obvious to me. Windows breaking. They don't make nearly enough noise to attract zombies. Not when broken by player and not when broken by another zombie. Here are a few pictures to demonstrate. In these first two pictures a zombie is banging the window and breaks it. Behind me is a horde of roughly 30 zombies that I spawned. The main issue here is, even with the tightest zoom, where zombies naturally hear foot steps and some zombies would even react to sneaking, only 7 zombies hear the window breaking. If I'd ran past that window or inside that building, the whole pack would have definitely noticed me. Mainly I think that windows should make even more noise than running. It only makes sense to me. In the second 2 pictures I've broken the window at the end of the building. Only the zombies that were already next to the window noticed it breaking. 2. Issue number two (admittedly smaller) is that none of the zombies hear the window being banged on. Compared to them being able to hear sneaking, i'd say it's off balance. I also tested hitting thin air and it made more sound than the window breaking or the zombie banging on the window. 3. Third is the fact that they don't react to each other. when a crowd of 7 zombies move to a window they don't raise the suspision of any other of the zombies. this is the same case as when a small pack notices the players, they don't draw any others. However imo this point is up to debate wether it should or shouldn't be that way. I think that as they are making an actual noise when they attack the player, that should at least draw some zombies. Even a small domino effect when they notice you would be nice. 4. Shouting is too quiet in my opinion. It is comparable to the sound made by hitting a zombie (see picture above). Here are the comparison pics from shouting. You can notice that the whole group moves with the exeption of the two zombies in the top. That's roughly the same amount as hitting a zombie. Imo, it should be louder. You could even add a "psst..." whispering shout when you're sneaking to balance it out. 5. Forcing windows open makes very very little noise (1 zombie in a pack, literally around a window, reacted) and failing at it doesn't nearly account to the sound that it makes in my headphones. This is similar to no.2 but it does make the game less exciting and it's a feature that I've always thought that should be in. Again, walking/sneaking makes more noise than forcing windows or failing at it. 6. The horde forming noises. This, while a great improvement to zombie behaviour, it caused a real issue when testing with sounds. The fact that when a zombie broke a window and those 7 zombies came rushing in, they immediately changed direction after getting in and returned to the horde, without checking the building at all. This is definitely a case of zombie AI and I'd consider adding something more to that so that the zombies would actually try and search the house. I'd rather have the zombies that followed the sound que into the building make the horde forming noises as it would be with suggestion no.3. Guns make enough noise imo and are working great in that regard! They could maybe cause a spawn trigger but that's another topic. TL;DR: 1. Window breaking needs to be a lot louder. 2. Zombies banging on windows should make a sound. 3. Zombies could have a sound que to make them react to each other, when they're reacting to something. In other words, domino effect. 4. Shouting is too quiet. Hitting a zombie makes roughly as much noise. 5. Forcing windows and failing at it makes as much or less noise than sneaking. Should be louder. 6. Zombie AI would need a tweak to somehow fix that zombies are more interested in each other than what's probably food. (and no it shouldn't be a case of making zombies less likely to group, rather more interested in the brains) Again disclaimer, these are all my observations and opinions on how I think the game should work. Agree or disagree, let me know! Long post is long. Thanks for reading.

The Problem In Project Zomboid, the primary method of getting past zombies is engaging in combat, either with melee hits or with weapons such as firearms. The other option is to slowly sneak past them and avoid the zombies' line of sight. This is a good start for stealth mechanics, but it is definitely lacking. How Can the Game Improve in Respect to this Problem? Add throwable objects that produce a noise which pull nearby zombies towards it. Note: Would only work for zombies that have not yet locked onto the player. Two Types: Short Distraction - Rocks, glass bottles, etc. When thrown they produce a loud noise on impact. The zombies would them travel towards the point of impact, linger there for a short amount of time, and quickly begin to separate and diffuse. This allows just enough time for the player to sneak past. Prolonged Distraction - Airhorns. Combining air horns and scotch tape would create a makeshift device that can be thrown and used to pull zombies into another areas. The noise would continue to pull zombies for a prolonged amount of time. It would have the same effect as a triggered house alarm. This would allow players much more time to sneak around, but it would also attract distant zombies. Does it Make Sense for the Game? Stealth mechanics are important for a survivor. A survivor should never fire his or her weapon or engage a zombie unless it is absolutely necessary. This would allow players, especially those playing in sand box with ultra rare loot, to conserve ammunition and weapon durability. Being able to pull zombies away from your path or towards another area would be especially helpful in locations such as the mall. Is it worth the time and effort to develop? Adding this feature would allow players whole new strategies to taking on zombies and zombie hordes. It would not require any extreme overhauls, and most of the mechanics needed (throwing objects, zombie-attracting sound alarms) are already in game.

Sap guys ! I already made one of these on the old forums, I sadly didn't keep any trace of it. We might have lost some good suggestions/discussions in the process. Why a massive thread instead of multiple "unique suggestion" threads ? Simply because I don't want to spam threads and make some other interesting ones go down the list ; better have 1 thread I'll update than 15 new threads in which I'll get lost. I'll try to keep it as clear as possible and use a color code to point the importance of each suggestion (from "Distant future" to "needed ASAP" and "Confirmed"), keep in mind is all subjective. Those are not necessarily "new" ideas, some might be re-interpretations of other ideas or already planned features, pointing to things that are really needed (subjectively), some rebalancing ideas of already implemented features etc... There still are a few new suggestions tho. [fighting zombies] Spoiler The actual system is too easy/simple and could use a few simple mechanics to make it harder. It's actually still too easy to wreck a large amount of zombies with a melee weapon, It should be VERY DANGEROUS to fight more than a couple at the same time. A few ideas to rebalance it a bit and make it more consistent : Combat re-think http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/10978-combat-re-think-for-the-announced-big-rebalance-oflgbkybygt/ More consistent "zombie grab" and "meatier zombies" http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/10570-zombies-need-to-be-meatier/ Crawler's grab should have a high chance to make the player fall on the ground.If the player gets his leg grabbed by a crawler and try to move away from it without breaking it / killing the Z, there's a HIGH chance he will fall on the floor for a short amount of time, making him extremely vulnerable to any other close zombie(s) Same goes for sprinting next to a crawler, if he grabs you while you sprint -> you fall. Certain weapons having a chance to get stuck into zombies' skull"Bladed" and piercing weapons (axes, crowbars, knives, hammers?, nailed bats etc...) should have a chance to get stuck into skulls, maybe resulting in another fierce mashing of a key to get it unstuck before the next Z gets into the player's danger zone. If it's too dangerous and you can't get it unstuck in time, you'd have to leave it there and run away (and comeback later if you want to get it back) Weapon skills should have more "incidence"In its actual state, I'm pretty much never spending any point in any "combat skill tree", the lvl 0 is just way too efficient. If we grab an axe we're just the king of the Z world, 1 hit kill half of the time. The only weapon that makes me feel like a weak level 0 is the golfclub right now. DONE Being at arms lenght from a zombie is something you really don't want, being at arms lenght from 2 zombies is something that might get you killed. I think those suggestions might force the players to think twice before deciding to fight a group of Z, it will as well require a proper use of distance and timing (plus aiming, as always). Plus, with the new 3D characters, I think we might have some cool animations with those ;o [fighting non-zombies] Spoiler Well, with the multiplayer on the roll, this is pretty obvious an overhaul is planned, but here are a few ideas. (The 2 first ideas are kind of the same thing but with different mechanics)Lethal & Non-Lethal mods (I'll use that idea a lot in the future)This was my first suggestion on the old forums. In a RPG with moral choices like PZ, we should be able to decide if we want to knock someone out (and make him a hostage or something), just hurt him, or go for the kill. There could be chances that you fail tho... You wanted to keep him alive but that blow behind his head got him killed, or in the opposite, you wanted to kill him but failed to do so and he's now on the run with revenge on his mind. It should work as well for firearms, aiming vital parts or limbs. Player vs Player melee "Real time Turn by turn style." I know Lemmy loves TbTI was asking myself how to "simulate" a somewhat realistic fight between players without making it look like a swing fest until one of the 2 players dies (would work with NPC as well). It's still blurry in my head and hard to explain, but something along those lines. If you attack someone that is not ready to fight (ie. not holding RMB), you hit him, simple. If you attack someone holding RMB, the fight happens in a "turn by turn"-ish system, the must would be to have an "old Fallout VATS aiming style" as well. Basically the attacker gets the first turn, decides where he wants to aim (with a percentage of chances to hit : neck is harder to hit than chest, but the reward is higher etc...), and attacks while the defender decides if he wants to counter and fight or dodge and run away. Dices roll, calculations happen, taking into account players' weapons, skill with that weapon, moodles, strenght, traits etc... If no one died of a critial blow, the defender becomes the attacker and we start over until the fight reaches its end. Keep in mind this is an Isometric game, and any "action-game like" mechanism is unlikely to work in a satisfying manner imho. I think keeping a truely RPG fighting style is the way to go when it comes to PvP (or PvNPC) Turn by Turn "lockdown" should only happen for the players involved in the fight, all the other players can still do their stuff in real time. Would be cool to have an old school isometric rpg "fight animation", you know when the players are taking a fighting stance and swing into the air at each other, maybe moving around and making some noise ;o On second thoughts, nope. Shoot-outsThere already are plenty good threads with nice ideas about it, so I won't extend. Maybe I will later, if anything good and "new" comes to my mind. Traps for humans (suggestions for the future of traps)We all know traps are a planned feature, but we don't know how yet ! Lethal & Non-Lethal Traps for humans, different kind of traps (net trap, axe trap, shotgun trap, "hole in the ground" trap, "brick on your head" trap etc...)Ability to make efficient traps should be related to a particular skill (which one?)Traps should be active for people who don't know their locations (if this or that precise door/floor/window is trapped...)You should be able to warn your friendlies about the locations of your traps. Like you'd right click on someone > contextual menu > Tell location of traps, then he'll be able to walk pass them. [sneaking & Noise] Spoiler Louder noisesActual noises created by actions (opening doors/windows, breaking windows/doors, gunshots, building etc...) have a small radius. I think it should deserve a little radius enlargement ! Sneaking overhaul (ideas) :Separating sneaking (ctrl) from attacking ! numerous time I found myself sneaking past a group of zombies, and ended up hitting the door with my weapon because I was holding ctrl. [Confirmed]using furnitures & "map items" to hide yourself (under beds, in wardrobes, behind sofas, behind fences, behind cars when they're here etc...)maybe 2 or 3 different body positions ? Standing / crouching / crawling.Actions like opening doors & windows should make more noise in general, but we should have an alternate way that takes slightly longer time but make less noise (action + ctrl). Maybe even the opposite a Loud & Quick way when holding the sprint key."Map noises" (kind of related to sneaking) The idea comes from another thread, but that's what makes more sense to me :Bumping into furnitures should make noise (chairs grinding on the floor, things falling from tables/container if you run bump into them etc...) That will force the players to be careful when looting indoor if they don't want to alert nearby zombies (or other players !).Random "map related" noises, just like alarms but on less dramatic scales ! "Like no one would suspect that shelf isn't properly fixed to the wall and going through the books would break it, or that grabbing a knife on that messy table would make that bottle fall on the floor, or that a mess of tins and glass bottles was waiting for you behind that door, or even that the door hinges were old and would squeak like a scream in the night, or this window wasn't properly manufactured and would shut itself in a loud clapping noise, or the good old creaking stairs etc..."Same principle but outdoor : some more garbages scattered accross the street, broken glass, empty cans of food making noise if you step on them and send them rolling. [skills, Jobs, Traits] Spoiler Skills overhaul Suggestion that popped out of another thread : "It would be nice to see carpentry leveling not as a succession of craft-recipes unlocking over time but as an evolution of the quality of your work. Like, anyone could give a shot at building a rain barrel but a non-experienced guy would make it less hermetic (leaking), with a smaller capacity, maybe pretty weak and prone to break during storms or having its water contaminated by bacterias. Low level stairs could be ladder-ish stairs, slower to climb and weaker, prone to break under the weight of an heavy-loaded person etc... The more you level up, the better the quality of your work : thicker, more resistant, more efficient, more useful for harsh conditions. That could work for any crafting & surviving skills. A low level trapper would craft shitty traps with high risk of animals getting away, not weather resistant. the harder the trap is to build, the more chance you have to make a trap that barely works or doesn't work at all. A low level fisherman would craft weak fishing poles, bad hooks, and fish would get away way more often, except very small ones. When the electricity crafting comes in, you'd have high chances of making a circuit that cuts a lot, need more fuel, high risk of fire, power outage when rainy, or simply doesn't work if you try to craft something too complicated. etc..." Also good thread about carpentry : http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/10879-a-small-building-overhaul/ Specific knowledge & aptitudes should be open only to certain jobs. I think that would enforce the need to live in a community, so players can't do everything on their own, they could still survive alone, but comfort should come from groups. I had the idea thinking about medicine, only a doctor or someone with a prior medical formation should have access to the medical skill tree (when it's implemented), and it goes for a few jobs: -Doctors > access to medical skill tree -Construction worker > access to electric crafting (when it's implemented) + construction bonus -Park ranger > tracking skill tree / outdoors man + hunting bonus ? -Policeman > aiming bonus + ? -Farmer > Farming bonus + ? A few ideas for future jobs & traits, related to previous suggestion : -Outlaw > can start any car & force doors/windows with less noise -Comedian > social skills / makes people less depressed & bored -Cook > Cooking bonus -Other / player made job > bonus of +4 for choosing traits. -Sunday fisher +3 > fishing bonus -Guns nut +4 > aiming bonus -Amateur hunter +4 > tracking ability -Car nerd +4 > can start cars -Pedestrian for life -1/-2 > don't know how to drive -Musician +3 > can play instrument for moral & group moral -Boring -2 > bores people -Lone wolf -2 > gets bored by other people etc... That would allow "multi-class" char but would still limit the fact that people can do, right now, everything on their own. [General suggestions] Spoiler deeper health & injuries sytemdeeper nutrition systemI think it's already been discussed quite a lot on the old forums. Eating properly should be essential to keep your character in good shape, and should be a "long term work" with long term repercussions. You don't die of starvation in a few days. But lacking certain nutriments will, on the long term, make your character weaker, getting tired more easily, depressed, slower to heal and more prone to diseases and wound infections etc... Being well fed and having some bonus on your character's strenght and mind should be the same. If you eat at your fill when you're hungry, and a good variety of aliments (not only chips and beans) your character should deserve a "long term" boost. The idea is, it's hard to keep a decent health in an apocalyptic environment and red moodles should be the "standard" if you're not perfectly settled or part of a well organized community of survivors. Red moodles being a standard would make the player feel the harshness and despair of a zombie-filled world. sledgehammer should weigh moreThe sledge encumbrance is way too low right now, I mean we can put a sledge in a plastic bag or a tote bag, that's a bit odd ! Plus it's a very "dangerous" item, a lot of players in MP always carry one in case they want to break-in someone's base. Moving with a big sledgehammer should be something thought through and planned, not just always carrying one around in case you need it ! It should probably weigh twice more as it actually does [12 instead of 6] NOPE 2 plastic bags = 1 garbage bags.That's pretty self explanatory ! for now we can only use garbage bags to craft rain barrels, which makes those a kind of silly valuable item. I think we should have more means to make the barrels water-retaining and plastic bags seem like a good solution, but they're smaller. Maybe raincoats = 2 garbage bags someday ? ;o Farming areas / Smart FarmingFarming can sometimes be a bit of a pain when it comes to watering and checking your plants one by one, I know that's subjective but that micro-management feels pretty annoying to me. It would be cool to have some kind of system that allows your character to execute a chain of action : filling watering can > watering plants untill empty > filling watering can > etc... Checking plants health > no disease > next plant Checking plants health > disease > spray remedy > next plant. Wearing belts (introducing holsters for knife & pistol)I was thinking belt, in their current state, are pretty useless. I know they'll be usefull to stop important bleeding (Kate & Baldspot memories), but people are not very likely to always have a belt in their inventory, except if they're wearing them ! Severe bleeding > taking belt off > tourniquet etc... Wearing a belt could also be used to hold holsters for knives & pistols. Holsters would be a quick-access container/bag (maybe a bind to draw from holster?), which would make some space in your inventory. Maybe holsters should be craftable ? [Multiplayer & Admin Suggestions] Spoiler In-game chat overhaulThe player should be able to choose if he wants to whisper, talk or shout, which would influence the range other players could read what he wrote, and the range zombies would hear it as well. Actually writting on journals / paper sheets / notesThat would be pretty awesome. You could keep a journal which other players could fine on your body or in your bag when they find your corpse. Writting it / Reading it would fight boredom. That would create some pretty deep RP and immersion as well. DONE Adding a delay when disconnecting from a server....To prevent wild disconnections and abuses. I see it coming from here, people disconnecting to save their character when they're in trouble, I already saw an ennemy breaking into our safehouse and disconnecting in the toilet to embush us later, time to get to him, he wasn't here anymore. A delay of 30s to 1min should do the trick, people would have to disconnect in safe places, which makes sense imo. Disconnecting outside in the middle of the road should be dangerous. [admin] Teleporting next to a player or on a point of the map[admin] triggering a precise house alarm[admin] Wiping/removing massive piles of corpses. [FPS drop issue][admin] Option to choose in what proportions the loot will spawn [more food, less weapons, more tools, more kitchen misc, less bags etc...]Explaination : That's all for now, I'll add more when I have something consistent, everyone's welcome to discuss and share their point of views. Keep it clean and polite as always.

Hello all, So I thought it would be a good idea to allow for sound proofing of windows, walls, and doors in the future of PZ considering the fact that generators will make quite a bit of noise and having several survivors in one room talking and what not would make quite the racket as well. It would be make-shift proofing of course, made of egg crates and what not pinned to the walls (doors or barricaded windows) via nails. Grant it, the proofing will not block out all the noise made inside but it could help. I figure it also could be somewhat of a double edged sword as well, reducing sound being emitted outside but also reducing the player's ability to hear things outside of the walls too. Just an idea. Thanks!

So while playing I noticed that, when the power is off for the city, the buildings are still alarmed and go off, something a lot of people believe is taking away from the immersion of the atmosphere. During my contemptations about how to deal with this, and messing with my skills at the time, I came up with an idea that makes sense, especially for the long run for gameplay and possibly for MP as well. Instead of relying on alarms alone for an audio cue for zeds to swarm a location, put a small change to cause a more subtle "looting alarm" for players looking through loot locations. It could be a sound cue that plays and attracts zeds to the loot location similar to alarms, but has a smaller radius and could be linked to a skill, particularly Nimble or Stealth, so that the audio cue goes from something like a shelf falling at level 0 to a small box or can falling over at level 5, with changing radius of effect for each. I imagine that, with the large majority of locations you can loot, the chances for this "alarm" to be caused would be fairly small, something like 1 in every 250 locations or something, and maybe depending on the loot location, such as small shelfs over appliances, there could be a higher chance for "failure," causing the player to act quickly and stay on his/her toes. Not to completely remove alarms from the end of the game, as generators are planned for implementation, so they could theoretically be powered by "invisible generators" we just don't see yet, but I think this addition could really help immerse the player more than the usual alarm.

I think it would definitely help sandbox gameplay if I could alter the talkativity of the undead. Playing on sprinters without being able to hear them is pretty jacked-up. In most sprinter-zombie lore, they tend to jabber and shout, none of this grunting and hissing you slower folks practice. A couple of degrees to this would certainly be ideal, too; players could then set stealthy, slow zombies who rarely attract the attention of their friends or the survivors, obnoxious, horde-prone sprinters, or moderately loud, moderately fast shamblers who group up like normal. Or something else, I don't know.

Ive been thinking and life in the muldraugh zombie apocalypse still isnt unfair enough ! So I came up with the ideas of either tiles, or random noise making by the sadistic ai director. However what I mean is, ever saw these movies, or had that moment yourself when you were sneaking somewhere, thinking "Im such an epic badass no one will take me down, because im such a badass ninja and s-" and bam! You accidently tripped into something, or knocked down a bottle and woke someone up / made someone notice you. Imagine sneaking past a zombie horde, thinking "HECKYE! THIS GAME IS SO EASY :D" and suddenly you trip on some glass shards, shattering them, and attracting the horde of zombies nearby. Oh man that would be just so unfair, what do you think bout that? Also! It would make things easy for you as in stuffs of knowing when a survivor is around ( when they're added which will probably be soon, and please dont friggin ask for an eta because I said that now ) or when zombies are near and you hear some glass shatter / something fall over.