Zombie Pressure Detection Against Walls

[Okamikurainya]

Heya!

 

With welding and stronger walls on the horizon I was thinking that the current manner in which zombies deal damage to walls is kind of unrealistic.

 

A poorly constructed plank wall is one thing, the zombie would end up hooking itself on the gaps and pulling the thing apart. But with a welded metal wall I was thinking that a single zombie shouldn't be able to do anything against it.

 

I'm not sure how hard this would be to script but wouldn't it be more realistic that each wall section be able to detect the amount of zombies bashing against it and after a certain amount it would only then start to take damage?

 

Right now it kind of feels like zombies are using their heads, their weakpoints I might add, as super powerful siege weapons. Sure, that might just be an animation thing but even with using their hands it shouldn't be as easy as it is for them.

 

Another thing that could be added for this is being able to use a shovel to dig a hole to plant your logwalls in. These holes could be filled with dirt or concrete to increase the log wall's pressure resistance (both of which are already added as ingame items in anycase).

 

In my opinion it just makes so much more sense. What do y'all think?

[Bughunter66]

I completely agree with this. Even doors shouldn't be able to be taken down by one zombie, like for godsakes it's like 1 and 1/2 inch thick block of wood. I agree with the statement that poorly constructed walls would be able to be destroyed. I assume a lot of it is also balance issues though, as super strong walls would allow you to build an almost impenetrable fortress pretty easily. I already abuse the system of the tall fences not being able to be destroyed by zombies, and break one down with a sledgehammer, and stick a door and door frame in the empty space.

 

I think another interesting aspect would be the idea of connecting wall bits. If I had a lot of walls lined up, but they were separate structures, then they would be a lot weaker than 1 big wall, that was all 1 piece.

[Okamikurainya]

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I assume a lot of it is also balance issues though, as super strong walls would allow you to build an almost impenetrable fortress pretty easily.

 

But that's where the whole pressure concept comes in. The wall not taking damage doesn't effect the fact that the lone zombie out side is bashing against it, thus making noise to attract more zombies which would increase the pressure and so bring the walls down. It feels more "realistic" for the zombie world in the sense that one zombie is never the problem but the noise it makes is a threat since it can draw more to it. IMO it all balances itself out.

 

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I already abuse the system of the tall fences not being able to be destroyed by zombies, and break one down with a sledgehammer, and stick a door and door frame in the empty space.

 

Yeah, that is one thing I'm not sure how the developers will fix. Having each wall tile be modified to have a certain "material" where some are indestructible whilst others require a certain amount of pressure. Like wire fences, they should go down eventually if you have a thousand zombies on the other side. But it also requires a change in how the zombies react to things. I really don't like how zombies just stick to player made objects like a rowdy glue monster with specific sticking tastes.

 

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I think another interesting aspect would be the idea of connecting wall bits. If I had a lot of walls lined up, but they were separate structures, then they would be a lot weaker than 1 big wall, that was all 1 piece.

 

Yeah! That could work really well. It makes a stronger wall but once it goes down it takes a larger section with it.

[Bughunter66]

Totally agree with all points here. I really dislike how zombies attack things even. If you look at TWD zombies (Not the best example, I know.) they never really "hit" things, they push. The only way they get through obstacles is through their combined weight pushing against said object. But if one zombie starts to do something, the rest become "curious" of sorts, and go to do the same thing (Herd mentality).

 

Maybe what can be changed is this: A level 3 wooden wall can withstand 100 units, 1 zombie exerts 10 units of force. 10 zombie will be able to take down the wall after a set period of time, lets say 3 minutes (Obviously these values were randomly chosen, but they give good examples.). If 10 zombies stay at that wall banging for 3 minutes, it will collapse. Having 2 walls connected give W1+W2+25%(W1+W2) R. So two level 3 wood walls would grant 250 R (R being resistance.), thus requiring 25 zombies. Balancing is something the devs would probably be better at, but I think I provided a good framework here.

 

I do however think some walls should be near indestructible. 6 inch thick walls of reinforced concrete will be *very* hard for a group of zombies to get through.

[Okamikurainya]

2 hours ago, Bughunter66 said:

Totally agree with all points here. I really dislike how zombies attack things even. If you look at TWD zombies (Not the best example, I know.) they never really "hit" things, they push. The only way they get through obstacles is through their combined weight pushing against said object. But if one zombie starts to do something, the rest become "curious" of sorts, and go to do the same thing (Herd mentality).

Exactly what I was thinking, a sort of Monkey See Monkey Do mindset.

 

2 hours ago, Bughunter66 said:

Maybe what can be changed is this: A level 3 wooden wall can withstand 100 units, 1 zombie exerts 10 units of force. 10 zombie will be able to take down the wall after a set period of time, lets say 3 minutes (Obviously these values were randomly chosen, but they give good examples.). If 10 zombies stay at that wall banging for 3 minutes, it will collapse. Having 2 walls connected give W1+W2+25%(W1+W2) R. So two level 3 wood walls would grant 250 R (R being resistance.), thus requiring 25 zombies. Balancing is something the devs would probably be better at, but I think I provided a good framework here.

Yeah, it is a good framework.

 

2 hours ago, Bughunter66 said:

I do however think some walls should be near indestructible. 6 inch thick walls of reinforced concrete will be *very* hard for a group of zombies to get through.

I feel with those type of walls the real danger would be a hoard surrounding you, sort of like what happened to Alexandria in the Walking Dead. The zombies would still be able to knock against the wall and thus attract others but not be able to get in.

[Bughunter66]

Just now, Okamikurainya said:

I feel with those type of walls the real danger would be a hoard surrounding you, sort of like what happened to Alexandria in the Walking Dead. The zombies would still be able to knock against the wall and thus attract others but not be able to get in.

Effectively trapping you within your own defenses, much like a medieval siege, where you will eventually run out of the resources you need to survive.

[Okamikurainya]

Just now, Bughunter66 said:

Effectively trapping you within your own defenses, much like a medieval siege, where you will eventually run out of the resources you need to survive.

Indeed, though with sieges in mind, I'd say that soil quality is a must have feature that needs to be added in to make it actually risky. Right now so long as you have a safe fort you're pretty much set for life unless you're unlucky or built it in a migration route.

[Geras]

That sort of system would be cool to see.

[Bughunter66]

Here is a thing I made in snap! to give an idea of how the calculation works. I turned it into an exe, so here is the zip here. Link is to the google drive download page. To use it, you should be able to open the shortcut thing, and when the program opens, click on Baldspot to start inputting values.

[Okamikurainya]

47 minutes ago, Bughunter66 said:

Here is a thing I made in snap! to give an idea of how the calculation works. I turned it into an exe, so here is the zip here. Link is to the google drive download page. To use it, you should be able to open the shortcut thing, and when the program opens, click on Baldspot to start inputting values.

Doesn't work for me, I'm guessing it requires a 64bit OS?

[Bughunter66]

54 minutes ago, Okamikurainya said:

Doesn't work for me, I'm guessing it requires a 64bit OS?

Will upload a 32bit version in a minute, it'll be missing the fancy spiffo icon and publisher stuff, but it'll work.

 

EDIT: here yah go

Edited April 24, 2016 by Bughunter66

[Okamikurainya]

21 minutes ago, Bughunter66 said:

Will upload a 32bit version in a minute, it'll be missing the fancy spiffo icon and publisher stuff, but it'll work.

 

EDIT: here yah go

Still doesn't work for me or I'm doing something wrong, I just get a white screen with a black border. T_T
I get the idea of what you've done though, and that's pretty cool.

[Bughunter66]

11 minutes ago, Okamikurainya said:

Still doesn't work for me or I'm doing something wrong, I just get a white screen with a black border. T_T
I get the idea of what you've done though, and that's pretty cool.

Interesting, I'll reupload it. By the time you see this reply, it will be done. Here

 

Edit, might have goofed it again, lemme make sure

edit again, i didnt goof.

 

Edited April 24, 2016 by Bughunter66