Ramping Zombie Spawn Rate and Ability... please!

[bpitterl]

Ok, I don't normally post to forums, but I really really want to love this game, and something is holding it back.

 

Basically, the game for me now is all about the first week, when I'm searching for basic weapons and tools.  Once I have hammer, axe, saw, trowel.... what am i missing.... nothing, thats pretty much all I need.

I build some basic walls around my house, make some rain cisterns, start planting, maybe give fishing a shot just for kicks - thats it. I usually stop seeing zombies anywhere near my pad by the time I actually get basic walls up. Mega-fortress building? Whats the point? I've never made a single character past about 1.5 months just because I get bored.  It turns into a farming/fishing/cooking game.  And cooking isn't really even necessary since all I need to do is eat a potato to be fed all day. Firearms? whats the point? I can demolish oodles of Zs with an axe, some fancy footwork, and a few trees to doge behind once the going gets tough.

 

IF I SAY THE GAME IS TOO EASY, many will just yell at me to work the sandbox tools to increase difficulty to my desire.  The problem with this is that the only way to do this really is to spawn ridiculous amounts of super-powered zombies from the getgo, making the "end-game" (i.e. fortifications, necessity of trapping/fishing for survival, etc.) nearly impossible to achieve.

 

I THINK A FANTASTIC BALANCE CAN BE ACHIEVED by allowing for a RAMPING difficulty rate where zombie spawn and ability increase over time.  

I'm dreaming of the day when a horde of zombies actually start pounding on my fences and fortified windows.

 

Allow us to start things off kind of easy, then start sending zomboids to our doors in ever increasing numbers.  Let me get a little comfortable with my shabby walls and vegetable garden and then sock-it-to-me with a blood hound zombie horde!

 

Beginning game is awesome.

Mid-game is boring.

End game.... there shouldn't be one. I should die before I get bored. 

Things should gradually get worse, and worse, and tenser, and scarier, and more dangerous. This would make for a way cooler game.

 

Isn't anyone else having this problem?

(And I really want to love this game )

[Jatta Pake]

I can't speak for everyone, but I've had a few beers and can say, "Everyone Agrees!"

 

Seriously, the devs understand the mid to late game issue (again, can't speak for them but...I'm right).  The in-development "The Governor" AI will start making lives miserable for characters who've gotten a bit too comfortable during the apocalypse.

[TheCenturion]

Pretty much what Jatta said, I'm pretty sure the upcoming metagame will ramp difficulty and events for characters having a little too much good luck. I'd imagine it might even be configurable one day, so you could select a forgiving director, or a evil director, etc etc...

[SuperJack]

Ah. So something along the lines of. Rarther a Zombie Decay and Weaken.

 

They regenerate and get stronger over time ^^ Perhaps this can be a new sandbox settings

 

 

I know that feral animals and malnutrition will be added to the game at some point to increase difficulty along with NPCs, So it may not be wise to live off potatoes

[Viceroy]

I agree, zombies should be much much much more dangerous. The zombie repopulation was a step in the right direction. But it was not yet enough. Here are some proposals to enhance difficulty that I have considered and even some that I have modded in. (Mod won't release for a while though)

 

• Zombies should grab you more easily.
• The player should make noise sawing logs
• Things like microwaves should ping and attract them when used.
• Drinking from a sink should make noise.
• Most activities should have at least a small radius of zombie attraction, simulating the basic movement and activity thereof that could lure zombies.
• Some items should make noise upon being dropped, like planks for instance or bags of chips.
• Opening cans of food should make noise.
• Player could get hiccups randomly (let's face it, you can't hide hiccups).
• Zombies should sometimes try and go into a building like in many zombie mythologies, where they have an old memory or something that entices them to try and get into a building they knew (zombies flocking to the mall in old Romero lore).
• Apart from small groups being repopulated into a zone, sometimes this should be greatly boosted to the point where like a hundred zombies or more start walking through the cell you are in.
• Zombies should follow other zombies that are making noise, like banging on windows and doors or snarling at a human. (Zombies react to sound so they won't immediately differentiate between sounds made by you and those made by other zombies.)
• Perhaps up zombie counts inside buildings to start off with, it is hard to believe that a place like a highschool would have 4 zombies in it.
• Optional zombie lore option to make zombies attempt to enter buildings when it rains. (I modded this in, if I can find out how to hook into the zombie lore selection screen I can make it toggleable, the effect this has is unbelievable on the atmosphere and difficulty of the game. It makes rain epic, zombies all over banging on your safehouse. And windows shattering everywhere. My logic is that if zombies maintain some basic instincts, avoiding rain might as well be one. Apart from that the effect on gameplay is desirable to me.)
• Wood floors should creak at times making more noise than normal movement.
• Transferring items in and out of a container should make a little noise.
• Zombies should fake death sometimes and 'wake up' later, making it necessary to burn dead bodies from a building you inhabit.
• Items in the main inventory that are not equipped (NOT primary, secondary, clothes or backpack in other words) should *sometimes* be dropped when under high panic and running.
• Player should stumble sometimes when running, player should sometimes be pushed down by zombies if they are too many or you are too weak/tired.
• Being overloaded should make climbing sheet ropes impossible.
• Stepping through a broken window should make noise as it can be assumed there is broken glass on the floor on at least one of the two sides.

[EnigmaGrey]

Personally, I think this can be achieved by simply increasing the number of zombies, through having large hordes move around the map, rather than singular zombies from time to time. There's no need to increase their abilities -- but an opposite mode to decomposition might be fun for sandbox.

NPCs will likely provide added incentive to build.

[SpaceJunk]

I know already AI is supposed to be "dumb" to keep with the lore, but in the lore includes a certain dose of cinematic "magic" where somehow slow as molasses zombies sneak upon the characters without being noticed.

So, to keep with the lore, zombie speed and senses should actually be better when you aren't looking at them.

[migulao]

I know already AI is supposed to be "dumb" to keep with the lore, but in the lore includes a certain dose of cinematic "magic" where somehow slow as molasses zombies sneak upon the characters without being noticed.

So, to keep with the lore, zombie speed and senses should actually be better when you aren't looking at them.

I am not sure how you think that's keeping up with the lore 

[Jago]

I know already AI is supposed to be "dumb" to keep with the lore, but in the lore includes a certain dose of cinematic "magic" where somehow slow as molasses zombies sneak upon the characters without being noticed.

So, to keep with the lore, zombie speed and senses should actually be better when you aren't looking at them.

I am not sure how you think that's keeping up with the lore

I think he means it happens in every single zombie movie, book or game that zombies appear to move faster if you're cornered or not noticing them, to make the scenes more dramatic.

There're already zombies moving at different paces. Also I don't think a "moving faster when you're not looking"-mechanism is fair for the player. It would cause a lot of wtf-moments.

[migulao]

 

 

I know already AI is supposed to be "dumb" to keep with the lore, but in the lore includes a certain dose of cinematic "magic" where somehow slow as molasses zombies sneak upon the characters without being noticed.

So, to keep with the lore, zombie speed and senses should actually be better when you aren't looking at them.

I am not sure how you think that's keeping up with the lore

I think he means it happens in every single zombie movie, book or game that zombies appear to move faster if you're cornered or not noticing them, to make the scenes more dramatic.

There're already zombies moving at different paces. Also I don't think a "moving faster when you're not looking"-mechanism is fair for the player. It would cause a lot of wtf-moments.

 

Exactly, dramatization is for movies.

[Daman453]

I would love if oh noes, my day 30 safe house got attacked by a mad hoard of zombies

[bpitterl]

Thanks for the responses.  Good to know I'm not the only one with this frustration and also good to hear that some of the NPC content might help address this.

 

I think what I'm looking for actually might already exist in Last Stand game mode, where zombies appear in waves, offering time in between to resupply and fortify, etc.  Except rather than regular waves, I think the pulses can be randomized in survival mode so you are never quite sure when the next wave will come.  Last Stand mode is basically what I want, though without the limitation of being confined to one building.

[EnigmaGrey]

Try the following: start a game of LastStand mode. Quit to main menu. Go to Survival or Sandbox and start your game.

You should now have LastStand (at least in the sense of zombies coming at you) in the main game. Neat little bug.

[SuperJack]

Try the following: start a game of LastStand mode. Quit to main menu. Go to Survival or Sandbox and start your game.

You should now have LastStand (at least in the sense of zombies coming at you) in the main game. Neat little bug.

 

Make em Super Sprinters And Be Fat

[bpitterl]

Try the following: start a game of LastStand mode. Quit to main menu. Go to Survival or Sandbox and start your game.

You should now have LastStand (at least in the sense of zombies coming at you) in the main game. Neat little bug.

Thanks Null! I'll give it a shot.

[Deadend]

Beginning game is awesome.

Mid-game is boring.

End game.... there shouldn't be one. I should die before I get bored. 

 

haha, this guy

 

 

But in all seriousness, yes, I've wished zombies were more aggressive. You might every now and then see a zombie hitting a wall you built. But it'd be more awesome if if it was a horde and I got the shit just the hit the fan moment.

In general though, I wish survival/sandbox mode zombies could be made like the Last Stand mode zombies. Just make the light hungry bloodhounds that will go investigate every nearby source of light at nighttime. And get like a domino effect from sounds where you hammering away at your fortications attracts a few zombies who then attract those near you.

 

 

Ah. So something along the lines of. Rarther a Zombie Decay and Weaken.

 

They regenerate and get stronger over time ^^ Perhaps this can be a new sandbox settings

 

 

I know that feral animals and malnutrition will be added to the game at some point to increase difficulty along with NPCs, So it may not be wise to live off potatoes

I'll have you know taters are superfoods. The Irish lived off it for yeeeeears, not just years, but yeeeears. 

But wait, really malnutrition? that's awesome. 

 

I can't speak for everyone, but I've had a few beers and can say, "Everyone Agrees!"

 

Seriously, the devs understand the mid to late game issue (again, can't speak for them but...I'm right).  The in-development "The Governor" AI will start making lives miserable for characters who've gotten a bit too comfortable during the apocalypse.

Hopefully ^ ^ ^

 

 

What this guy said.

[migulao]

Try the following: start a game of LastStand mode. Quit to main menu. Go to Survival or Sandbox and start your game.

You should now have LastStand (at least in the sense of zombies coming at you) in the main game. Neat little bug.

It WAS A BUG.

I knew the game was being a dick to me, I had to reinstall the game ;_;