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Make it harder to diagnose zombie-illness. Hypochondriac by default


Keshash

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Zombification is one of the most important things in the game. But it's so obvious, that sometimes ruins itself. When you see 2 main symptoms - Anxiety and Queasy -  you know what it is (Except for newbies, that don't read wiki), and you know that you can't save your character. :( I suggest a few things:

 

Hypochondriac by default

Hypochondriac is one of my favourite traits in the game. it adds to the gameplay so much.

 

What do most players do without this trait when they get a scratch and see the symptoms - kill everything that you can, you'll die anyway. What does player with Hypochondriac? Waits, maybe it's not true zombification! It gives you a chance.  

 

I would rather pay points to not be Hypochondriac, than get points for being him.

 

Diagnosing

One of the main signs of zombification is anxiety. It's logical, that character fears for his life, but why he does that only when illness kicks in? I'd be anxious in that situation from the moment of scratch. So, I suggest to add (lowest) anxiety moodle even if you're not ill.

 

I suggest to add diseases to the medical tab, near the wounds.

 

Similar to "Hand: scratch", something like "Whole body: Queasy". I have 2 ideas how to deal with it. 

 

1) Click on the queasy (Similar to bandaging), select (Diagnose). Sure, unskilled one wouldn't determine right away, so, maybe, make it depend it character's medical skill?

 

No skill or a little bit of skill - something like "I can't say..." or just a low chance of finding out truth.

Some skill - mediocre chance.

Doctor+ - maybe good old 95%?

 

That would also give you a reason to team up with people and level up medical skill.

 

2) Write symptoms directly. Like "Queasy: coughing, vomiting, high body temperature". It would be more interesting for the player, but easier too. You could still find combos in wiki and remember them, but it sounds kinda fun.

 

What do you think about it? Is it hard to implement?

Edited by Keshash
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2 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

When you get hurt and are bleeding profusely you should have no idea if it is a bite or a cut or a slash. Requiring cleaning the blood to get a good look at what is going on.

Brilliant! I never thought about that! I can't remember if you leave a blood trail in PZ, but if you don't, they should add that in game. Making it more interesting when an enemy npc is chasing you!

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29 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

When you get hurt and are bleeding profusely you should have no idea if it is a bite or a cut or a slash. Requiring cleaning the blood to get a good look at what is going on.

You're right, but doesn't one already knows that, since he was in the fight? It's obvious, when someone stabs you in the stomach or a zombie grabs and bites a hand. 

 

And I'd kinda liked to see more types of wounds in PZ. I liked it in Rimworld, but that sounds like a copying, which is no good... It was done good there: cuts, bruises, cracks. Even weapon that made the injury was described there (Which could make some pretty cool detective stories, though). It would also be interesting and logical to see some losses. I know, that amputation and other are planned, but all "parts" in PZ are major: legs, arms etc. Zombie could still bite off finger or an ear. I sound obsessed with Rimworld, aren't I?

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6 hours ago, Keshash said:

You're right, but doesn't one already knows that, since he was in the fight? It's obvious, when someone stabs you in the stomach or a zombie grabs and bites a hand. 

No, when your adrenaline is pumping, you sometimes have no idea how you were hurt. You could even be shot and not fully realize it.

 

3 hours ago, Geras said:

How to diagnose zombie infection in 2 easy steps: 

 

1. Eat something to get a healing boost.

2. If your health status goes to OK, you are good, if it says 'minor injuries' (or whatever it was in English), you are infected.

Then what we need is to remove the health status indicator and replace it with how you "feel" which can be influenced by many factors making it impossible to know if it is psychological or physical without thorough examination by a doctor.

Edited by Zomboid
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Not to promote copying, but the Crusader King's 2 new dlc did something similar to what I was suggesting (Link)

 

  • Symptoms: characters no longer simply become ill  through an event, but instead receive one of a variety of symptoms (Cough, Fever, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Headache, Chest Pain, Rash, Cramps, Abdominal pain, Fatigue, Malaise) and over time it will either evolve into a full blown disease, or will simply pass.

Those symptoms worked just like other traits (CK2 has similar trait system), but they gave small debuffs and determined the disease that character had.

 

Also, this travelling diseases thing sounds pretty great. I thought, maybe, it's worth to add something similar to PZ?  Like, travelling flues, coz it's hard to catch something in PZ, and if you catch it - it's because you're bitten, tried to run from Muldraugh to WP naked in the middle of winter or ate rotten salad. 

 

Something not complex - small chance of starting feeling queasy once per month. That would be neither OP or too complex to add.

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