Suggestion: Zombies should only attack walls for a reason.

[osashta]

for several weeks I've had my character living upstairs in a rural house with the staircase destroyed. All has been quiet and pleasant so I started constructing a large log wall incorperating the neighboring house into a small little fortress. Since building the wall, I've noticed that zombies are attracted to it like bugs to a zap light.

 

I knew i was not making more noise than usual, knew I wasn't leaving windows open or giving other cue's to my location. Eventually I discovered that zombies just latch onto breakable objects and destroy them for no reason. Can we change this in the future? at least as a sandbox option? 

 

Zombies, especially traditional proper zombies like what zomboid seems to seek to replicate shouldn't do anything without cause except amble around. I'm okay with zombies banging down the walls if I made a mistake, ran my generator too loud, or was seen entering the fort....but 30 zombies just picking a random wall to bang on simply because it can be destroyed? why?

[KorruptkSwades]

I know that feelin'

I agree that system MUST be revised. ex: zombies will attack a certain part of the wall if you are behind that part of the wall and making enough noise to attract nearby zedz...

 

instead of:

ex; Player X is sleepin' on second floor and down below  on the other side of the house zedz pass by;

 

 "oh hey a new wall... let's go fuck his shit up now ! ''

[King jjwpenguin]

I know that feelin'

I agree that system MUST be revised. ex: zombies will attack a certain part of the wall if you are behind that part of the wall and making enough noise to attract nearby zedz...

 

instead of:

ex; Player X is sleepin' on second floor and down below  on the other side of the house zedz pass by;

 

 "oh hey a new wall... let's go fuck his shit up now ! ''

i agree with this system. it needs a fix like the horde system just got.

[osashta]

Currently this is the only feature I don't like in the game. I'm actually pretty okay with the new horde mechanics and how difficult things are. It's really quite a rush in the beginning. But having zombie fly paper walls is annoying.

[King jjwpenguin]

Currently this is the only feature I don't like in the game. I'm actually pretty okay with the new horde mechanics and how difficult things are. It's really quite a rush in the beginning. But having zombie fly paper walls is annoying.

the horde thing is better now but i had seen around 300 just in the first few days because of one knocking in my windows. true horror....

[MrDeliberto]

See a wall we'll see who knocks first

[ValueOfGravity]

I doubt zombies are smart enough to track where you are inside your base. Mostly they would just go in by any means possible. However, one thing that could be fixed due to this suggestion is how zombies keep banging on doors/windows/walls while there are dozens of entrances to your base at their proximity.

I know this is kind of contradictive, but while zombies may have the smarts to identify an entrance, i don't think they may be able to pinpoint your location without seeing you directly, if all this takes place in Survival mode of course. We humans are not made for hunting and tracking prey efficiently, and zombies can barely walk. Their tracking skills have decreased severly, which is shown as their extremely low line of vision, slow movement speed and poor hearing.

[EnigmaGrey]

Alright. They attack them because they smell like you.

 

Got it on the first try!

[Vichiox]

Alright. They attack them because they smell like you.

Got it on the first try!

My walls are covered in their blood, sir! How is that possible?!?!11

[Mike280]

This is the only reason why I'm exploiting the current "floating platform without any supports".  The only way for zombies not to completely destroy my forts, or smash every door and window in the house that I'm in , is to make a player-built structure that has no ground floor.  The only thing technically holding up my structure is 4 sheet ropes, or at least that's what it looks like.  I can confirm also that just being in a house near any player built items (walls, crates, tables, doors, etc) will cause the zombies to attack said item.  When I abandoned my safe house, with several dozen crates outside that were filled with glorious, awesome loot, I saw several zombies attacking it out of spite.  When I came back several days later, all of the crates were destroyed, my rain barrels were dust, and there were many zombies just banging their heads against any random wall they could find.  It's like they knew it was my safehouse, and wanted to destroy it for fun, so they could feast upon my tears.

 

Edit:  If everything that we build smells like the living (completely plausible), could there be a way to "sanitize" the structures?  This will be very tedious, but for those of use that want a large base or huge wall around a house, we would certainly still do it.  Other than cleaning blood and killing yourself, bleach is pretty unused and common loot.  Maybe you can wash down the walls with bleach?  "Pour bleach into bucket", then have a paint brush and the bucket in your inventory (or just directly equip), and then "sanitize/de-odorize wall/crate/item".

[Trojan_Turps]

Cover walls in zombie blood to remove the smell of the living?

[Mike280]

Devs already confirmed no painting yourself with zombie blood to avoid detection, so I think that also would apply to walls and player made structures.  Besides the "since they said so", zombie blood would be way too common, at least bleach would need to be found and looted, making it not so nerfed.

[Magic Mark]

Alright. They attack them because they smell like you.

 

Got it on the first try!

 

Dude, this happens to walls no matter where you are. They simply just attack breakable stuff because it's there. It's been an annoyance ever since breakable stuff was breakable. And ruins immersion.

 

Thankfully I can rely on the zombies to clean up my carpentry practice area, I just go out and do whatever at the house and for no reason the zombies destroy the random wall pieces and chairs.

 

I spend time in pre-built houses. Shouldn't they attack the home I've lived in as well? That's simply just not the lore, as this is experienced in games where the zed's sense of smell is tuned down. It almost makes me miss when zed couldn't destroy walls.

[EnigmaGrey]

It's like a player interacted with that wall, perhaps built it, isn't it? Leaving a scent.

Man, I'm on fire. Better not point out there's no smell system in them or that this is a joke. Someone could fail to take it seriously.

Snark and assholery on my part aside, I'm torn on this issue. On one hand, zombies need to be a threat to structures. On the other hand, it's unfair that normal structures aren't attacked with the same vigor, providing a confusing interpretation of events. It does however fit with the lore that zombies spontaneously attack defenses, whether people are in view or not. The mall in Dawn of the Dead was't surrounded because 3 (4?) people lived hardly in sight, was it?

The reason they do not destroy normal houses currently is due to performance reasons (if we ignore that they'd demolish the entire map eventually).

[Magic Mark]

It's like a player interacted with that wall, perhaps built it, isn't it? Leaving a scent.

Man, I'm on fire. Better not point out there's no smell system in them or that this is a joke. Someone could fail to take it seriously.

Snark and assholery on my part aside, I'm torn on this issue. On one hand, zombies need to be a threat to structures. On the other hand, it's unfair that normal structures aren't attacked with the same vigor, providing a confusing interpretation of events. It does however fit with the lore that zombies spontaneously attack defenses, whether people are in view or not. The mall in Dawn of the Dead was't surrounded because 3 (4?) people lived hardly in sight, was it?

The reason they do not destroy normal houses currently is due to performance reasons (if we ignore that they'd demolish the entire map eventually).

 

Well, how great is the sense of smell, and how smart are the zombies? I think that if there is no sound or light or reason to provoke zed to break stuff, it just plain and simply should not happen. If the zed are going to brush by everything else, they shouldn't destroy the table and chairs I built on the back patio simply because I built them a month ago.

 

If it's "they smell you on it" then there is just too much oversight. You would leave your scent on too many other things, and the zed definitely are not bloodhounds by any means. It would also imply that the zed would be nawing on our home-made chairs rather than attempting to simply destroy it because they smell 'us' in them. 

 

Also if you are at the start of an alpacapocalypse (i.e. a fresh world) the zed would have smelled the other recently passed resident's homes as well. However that simply wouldn't happen because smell isn't that much of a pushing-driving factor in zed travel behavior - imo it should be more for zed to smell the cooking of meat rather than follow a player's scent for miles.

[EnigmaGrey]

There's no smell system in the game, Kim. That's a flippant response, as said above. One they there probably will be (note the placeholder for smell under Proper Zombies).

Right now, they attack walls because they randomly decided to do so. If you'd like to see a much better explanation than I can provide as to what's going on in the devs minds, then . . .

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/3e34a7/new_update_is_ridiculous/ctb8rzp

Really do hope it helps clarify things for everyone. There's quite a few good posts in that thread.

[Magic Mark]

There's no smell system in the game, Kim. That's a flippant response, as said above. One they there probably will be (note the placeholder for smell under Proper Zombies).

Right now, they attack walls because they randomly decided to do so. If you'd like to see a much better explanation than I can provide as to what's going on in the devs minds, then . . .

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/3e34a7/new_update_is_ridiculous/ctb8rzp

Really do hope it helps clarify things for everyone. There's quite a few good posts in that thread.

 

I'm aware of there being no implemented smell system, if we are talking about 'what ifs' then I am going to talk about that 'what if'.

 

Also, zed's navigation skills should really play a part of this. If they have navigation past simply going in one direction - they shouldn't just stop to attack a single chair.

[RoboMat]

There was a nice explanation in TWD comic books about this:

"Zombies in a herd are a force of nature. They don't operate on logic or reason. If one of them even so much as brushes a hand against your door [where you are hiding]--and another one sees that, mistakes that as an attempt to get in--it's over. That one starts trying to get in--the one who did the accidental tap thinks something's inside all of a sudden--he starts beating on the door with him. They would kill you all."

[Magic Mark]

There was a nice explanation in TWD comic books about this:

"Zombies in a herd are a force of nature. They don't operate on logic or reason. If one of them even so much as brushes a hand against your door [where you are hiding]--and another one sees that, mistakes that as an attempt to get in--it's over. That one starts trying to get in--the one who did the accidental tap thinks something's inside all of a sudden--he starts beating on the door with him. They would kill you all."

 

 

Ah, that quote was lingering in the back of my mind this whole topic. Eugene, right?

 

However, this also happens on a non-herd basis which is what the OP and suggestion is about. Randomly beating on the wall for no reason. *singular zombies guilty of it as well.

[RoboMat]

Ah, that quote was lingering in the back of my mind this whole topic. Eugene, right?

According to the wiki: yes. I wanted to find the quote, but I have the compendiums which are a bit hard to search manually (Can't wait for the 3rd compendium to come out)

 

However, this also happens on a non-herd basis which is what the OP and suggestion is about. Randomly beating on the wall for no reason. *singular zombies guilty of it as well.

Yeah I understand. Personally, I always imagined that the zombies in this case were attracted by some noise inside of that house: Cracking wood, some piece of furniture which fell down, rodents going through trash ...

Also zoms attracted to a far away noise might get confused and end up thinking the sound came from the house instead of from behind the house.

Anway, just my thoughts about how the zombies work in PZ.

[hrot]

That's the thing that completly ruined my game experience in current build. Zombies attack your base without a reason. It's just stupid.

They should just wander mindlessly if nothing attract them not destroying your base over and over again.

Just make an option for it in sandbox mode so zombies would not attack when they aren't attracted by something.

Also they like doors more than walls so it's even more stupid if you make your own walls around safehouse with doors in it. Zombies will always destroy doors not the walls. Completly stupid system.

 

It ruins immersion of zombie apocalypse.

Now it's like playing zombie shooter on survive mode.  Zombies come to you from every corner endlessly but in zombie shooter you at least have some good weapon like machine guns and dont' care about being tired&stuff.

 

link if you don't know zombie shooter: 

 

Is that how gameplay will look like in build 1.0?

[Navarome]

That's the thing that completly ruined my game experience in current build. Zombies attack your base without a reason. It's just stupid.

They should just wander mindlessly if nothing attract them not destroying your base over and over again.

Just make an option for it in sandbox mode so zombies would not attack when they aren't attracted by something.

Also they like doors more than walls so it's even more stupid if you make your own walls around safehouse with doors in it. Zombies will always destroy doors not the walls. Completly stupid system.

 

It ruins immersion of zombie apocalypse.

Now it's like playing zombie shooter on survive mode.  Zombies come to you from every corner endlessly but in zombie shooter you at least have some good weapon like machine guns and dont' care about being tired&stuff.

 

link if you don't know zombie shooter: 

 

Is that how gameplay will look like in build 1.0?

 

thats why i like to hide my doors or make sheet ropes entrances.