Roaming hoards in the countryside (fix late game)

[wombatvvv]

Firstly, I realise there has been work done on zombies grouping together and moving about. It is really good, but there is still a problem, and this is it...

 

The first part of the game is intense and challenging and fun. It is also great fun collecting supplies, hardware, etc. and building yourself an well defended base and trying to settle down into a livable, self sufficient lifestyle. That is fun for a while just surviving. But then what?

 

Times goes by and the game becomes boring and monotonous. Plant crops, go fishing, set traps, eat, sleep, repeat. There really is no challenge anymore. You have built a carefully planned, well defended fort but for what? The defenses you spent all that time and energy planning and building are never actually tested. The odd zombie or three turns up once in a blue moon banging his head on the wall and that is easily taken care of. 

 

So, my suggestion is that later in the game, zombie hoardes start migrating out of the urban areas. Slowly in small groups at first, and as time goes on, more and more frequently and in larger groups. It can easily be explained. They have simply run out of food (as in people or rodents or whatever) in the urban areas. Everyone is dead. So they instinctively and mindlessly start migrating outwards looking for food.

 

Especially once the power goes out. There are no lights or sounds left in the cities to keep them attracted to those places. But on a pitch black night, even a campfire casting a feint glow on the horizon a long way away may bring unwanted attention.

 

So it works as far as the "story" goes, but I think it would also dramatically improve the gameplay and fun factor later in the game as the fort you built will actually get tested.

 

I am not suggesting that you are under constant attack ever. The farming and trapping and surviving in the wild part of the game is great already and I am not saying turn it into a constant hack fest. I just mean that every once in a while a large hoard of zombies might stumble across your fort meaning you have to take time out a deal with the situation.

 

For example, maybe they start migrating out in small groups once the power goes off. So maybe once a week you get a group of five to ten zombies stumbling across your camp. And as more and more time goes on, the groups get larger and more frequent.

 

I am also not suggesting your fort gets over run (maybe really late in the game, as a year or more later, forcing you to flee and complete restart). I am just suggesting that it actually gets tested. You get to appreciate all the hard work you did when it successfully keeps out a large hoard of zombies.

[fluffe9911]

Problem I see with this is if all the zombies started migrating out of the city all that would happen is that more people would start setting up in city's then the wilderness once its late game and the exact situation of late game getting boring would happen just within city's this time instead of out in the wild so this really doesn't fix anything lol

 

also if you really want a challenge in a wild set zombie numbers to insane in sandbox lol

[wombatvvv]

I don't thinks so.

 

I don't mean that all the zombies suddenly leave the urban areas. I just mean that groups start breaking off and wandering off. Possibly towards the nearest light source at night. Maybe just randomly, or a bit of a mix between both.

 

And even if it was super, super late in the game and lots of groups had started wandering off and leaving the city, I mean they basically just start wandering around randomly. So there's pretty much the same chance that they'd wander back into the city instead of further out into the wild. But for the most part, I'm not suggesting the urban areas ever become completely deserted.

 

Just that sometimes, some large groups break off and wander into the wilds.

[fluffe9911]

To your 2nd part but that would prob be around the same chance of a small amount of zombies finding your house in a woods late late game just reversed instead its now a city house pretty much what im saying is that all this idea is doing is reversing the areas most suitable for survival cause zombies may wonder back evernow and then but for the most part its not really going to be any trouble lol

[wombatvvv]

I don't get how that would happen. Did you read my OP fully? I'm not suggesting what you think I'm suggesting.

 

First, it would be really, really hard to set up base in the middle of an urban area to begin with. So you'd have to set one up in the wilderness and then ... when some random roaming hoard turns up at your fort, you pack up and head back to the city? Is that what you're saying? It wouldn't work and it just wouldn't be worth the effort or risk to avoid the odd random gang of wandering zeds. There would still be lots of zombies in the urban areas. I'm not saying it just empties out, 

 

What I'm saying is that some random groups start to break off and wander into the wilderness. Just as a test of your defenses. So you're not sitting out there all by yourself. And they do it more and in larger groups as time goes on, especially after power goes out. For the most part, they would still be centered in urban zones.

 

If you got so late in the game that virtually all the zombies are "evenly spread" wandering randomly all over the map (and with what I'm suggesting, that would take many years of game time), then it would make zero difference if you were in the city or the wilderness.

 

The problem is that your defenses once you're set up never really get "tested out". You go to a lot of effort for nothing really. It turns into a pretty monotonous, predictable (i.e. boring) farming simulation instead of a zombie simulation. I'm just saying the odd roaming hoard should provide a test of your defenses once in a while. Nothing really more than that.

[Teesee]

How long have you been surviving so far and are you in Survival or Sanbox settings?

 

Because I think what you'd like to see is how Survival is already meant to work. Even low populated areas are supposed to get more and more zombies because of the population multiplier + population peak, making it harder to survive in the same place over time. Metagame sounds (planes, choppers, gunshots etc) should also help the zombies migration, forcing you to get out of the comfort zone you're describing.

[MrDeliberto]

zombies are stupid and do not think that's why they do not migrate