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I don't really agree that the helicopter event should be able to just come in and start trying to snipe you. Unless it was some rare variation and was explained really well, like there is some rouge military group hellbent on stopping the zombacalypse by any means necessary and they believe that survivors aren't worth the risk and are better off dead. I think that would make everything a lot more interesting and could lead to some other interesting events (Plus it wouldn't make much sense for the military to just be killing survivors who haven't really done anything).

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If there were to ever be such a thing as an actively hostile helicopter event (shooting at you, using megaphones to draw hordes, etc), it shouldn't be until late-game. The first helicopter should be a guaranteed "scout", where the traditional helicopter rules apply. Once the world has had some time to fall apart around Kentucky, it would perhaps make more sense to see variety in helicopter missions.

 

For example: Seeing as the first helicopter event takes place within two weeks of the event (presumably Kentucky is ground zero), it would make sense that reconnaissance is priority one, to learn about the event. The chopper would be there to observe and collect data. Six months later? Well, I assume the military knows quite a bit about the infected at this point, so they would have a gameplan at that time, aka shooting you in the head or assisting survivors, whatever it may be.

 

One thing I personally do NOT want to see would be the implementation of "traditional military tactics" (whatever they may be; I'm just a civvie) and have there be a "bombing run" event where they just blow half of Muldraugh up with bombs or something. I'd be exceedingly pissed off about that, and as a gamer, if there was no option for potential recompense via revenge murder of an entire base a la 28 Days Later style, it would probably be enough for me to always disable said option in Sandbox mode and never play Survival mode again.

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39 minutes ago, FireOnAsphalt said:

One thing I personally do NOT want to see would be the implementation of "traditional military tactics" (whatever they may be; I'm just a civvie) and have there be a "bombing run" event where they just blow half of Muldraugh up with bombs or something. I'd be exceedingly pissed off about that, and as a gamer, if there was no option for potential recompense via revenge murder of an entire base a la 28 Days Later style, it would probably be enough for me to always disable said option in Sandbox mode and never play Survival mode again.

I agree... UNLESS one could predict the bombings late game using hidden radio frequencies. I would love for the late game (after 6 months? One year?) to be running from military strikes through a burned-out apocalypse world.

 

Really I want to avoid a situation where I'm comfortable in this game. Right now after a Winter, you basically "win." I want to redefine winning as dying with style.

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Well... I think the current concept of "winning" will be re-defined once NPCs are introduced into the game. That being said, I suppose I'm not disagreeing with you. The idea of bombing runs just doesn't quite seem to fit into the current Project Zomboid atmosphere. At least, that's just my humble opinion.

 

Perhaps this is a great idea for a mod? I know that there was en explosions mod Nolan made a while back... if you were to put in such a request for a mod, he'd be the man for the job.

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10 hours ago, Crazy ManMan said:

I do not mind a had challenging game, but RNG striking us down is not hard and challenging, it is just annoying. The player needs to have a chance at fighting back even when the going gets tough, but if the helicopter can at any random time catch you in an open field too far from shelter to escape and snipe you with no chance of fighting the helicopter back there is no challenge, it is just RNG saying "your time has come, better start all over again."

Orrrr we can adapt it! No one hit kills, decreased chance of being shot if you hide among trees/zeds/lie down and play dead, maybe smoke grenades for cover. It would open up a whole new survival scenario with its own survival tactics.

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3 hours ago, Crazy ManMan said:

If it is implemented correctly maybe, but the way I image it it sounds like it would be annoying than helpful. I mean the helicopters though a good challenge are already rather annoying. I feel that making them any more of a challenge would just be overkill. I could be wrong but that is what I see in my mind thinking about it.

 

I think the trickiest part is that some people haven't figured out the helicopter. If you don't know how to handle it, it's brutal. But once you figure it out, it's easy- even boring. Instead of thinking of the danger as you flee the zombie hordes, you kill time and wonder "what does this add to the story..."

 

I wonder if there is a way to provide clues for players as to how to handle the chopper...

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3 hours ago, trombonaught said:

 

I think the trickiest part is that some people haven't figured out the helicopter. If you don't know how to handle it, it's brutal. But once you figure it out, it's easy- even boring. Instead of thinking of the danger as you flee the zombie hordes, you kill time and wonder "what does this add to the story..."

 

I wonder if there is a way to provide clues for players as to how to handle the chopper...

I completely agree Trombonaught. When I was uninitiated to the ways of Project Zomboid, the helicopter event was an extremely dreadful experience every single time I played the game. However over time, I learned. Over time, the developers changed the way zombies move and helicopters operate. At this point, I feel like the helicopter is almost more of a blessing than a curse. I use it to clear city zombies into a rural area so that I can get a clean sweep of my looting zone of choice.

 

Of course, it doesn't always work that way, but the days where I was terrified of the chopper have departed. They've instead been replaced with days of carefree looting! Not a complaint, but I do miss the old challenge I used to face. That's why I think us veteran players (and I use that word because while I haven't hit the lofty one-year survival status, I consider my roughly nine months of survival enough experience to consider myself a proficient survivor) are looking for a fresh challenge, and one of the things that remind us of challenges we once faced is the helicopter. On the one hand, I don't want to try to fix what isn't broken. But on the other hand... this is a sandbox game. To have it play out the exact same way, every single time, sort of goes against what I play sandbox games for. Again, not a complaint! Just... an observation.

 

Such is the life of a gamer and becoming more experienced with a game... It reminds me of how I wish I could learn about the Dark Souls series for the first time again... :-)

Edited by FireOnAsphalt
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On 7/7/2017 at 7:12 PM, trombonaught said:

I wonder if there is a way to provide clues for players as to how to handle the chopper...

 

Why not starting by saying that the chopper is coming?

 

In the news we see that they set up the perimeter and shit around day 5-7 and they mention the helicopters flying low, but there must be a way to make sure the player watches the TV and sees that the helicopters are going to enter the zone just as a heads up.

 

I guess the problem relies on that there is no direct way to convey that the helicopter means death to the player until it happens and that the player wont know how to exploit it.

 

Maybe Baldspot could cover as a tutorial that the helicopter will bring a horde up and about with you watching from inside the house a NPC running by followed by the helicopter and begin followed by a horde.

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On 29/6/2017 at 4:27 PM, trombonaught said:

 

Variable chopper activity would be awesome.

 

- fly-by: one continuous line over your area. Quick and not too disruptive.

- observation: watches how you deal with zeds in the name of "science." This is our current jerk who is indirectly trying to kill you .

- care package: hovers in one spot within hearing range. If you get to its location, you find a care package (think annotated map stash).

 

Good things come in threes so I'll stop there. If I had to add a fourth though, an "extermination chopper" trying to take out potentially infected survivors (with guns and bombs) would be awesome in the late game.

 

 

I actually like this, it's a good way to make the helicopter less weird and more in line with the lore and setting. And also add the possibility of a reward with the package.

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I would love to see some of these things in game, I like the idea of additional lore tidbits.  It would be great if we could intercept via radio hack the helicopter crew's comments to each other (the internal communications) as well - though I admit I lack knowledge of if that is even actually possible. (A cursory search provided me no 'easy' results to investigate further.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

It would be nice to be able to shoot at the helicopter.  All's fair, right?  Either they are trying to kill you (in which case you have the right to defend yourself) or alternatively they are so incredibly stupid that the world would be better off without their genetics being passed on :)

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You're not going to get internal comms from a radio.  They never leave the aircraft; they're local wire only, depending on aircraft.  As for "hacking" crypto, good luck with that.  I'm at the tail end of a physics/math dual major, and add that to a decade as an electronics tech for the Navy who *did* work with crypto, and I'll just sit here and smile at the idea.  Joe on the street or even a "decent" hacker is not going to "hack" through military hardware based encryption.  Firewalls, servers, etc?  Sure.  Vector keymat based encryption?  Newp.

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I remember doing extremely basic cryptography in a Discrete Structures of Math class in college and holy crap, was that stuff complicated. Math isn't my strong suit to begin with so to even contemplate myself decrypting a military message is a funny thought. :-)

 

However, notes from fallen service members could provide information about channels to tune into when looking for new orders if your superior has died or something of that nature. The odds of a fallen soldier carrying around the key to an encryption is next to none, I'd think. That would be the type of info you might find at Fort Knox, but I digress.

 

I have a friend who is currently serving in the United States Marines and is currently stationed overseas; I'll ask him what some of his knowledge regarding military radios/comms is and see if he can provide any insight!

Edited by FireOnAsphalt
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There isn't a physical key to pick up.  It's not even something you'd be able to grab on a thumb drive.  The stuff is transported on special equipment now and can't be exported.  It's either on the device or it's not... and a key means you can only talk with things that use the same key (or for key-pair/symmetric pair, the appropriate opposing key) ... add a dash of other complicating factors like crypto cycling frequently and that mishandling crypto is the fastest way to a jail cell a mil member has available to them?  Ehhh. 

Still, you pick up a radio from a dead guy, it might have access to that channel for a day, maybe a week?  Depends on the key and if people suspect that key's compromised.  Unit gets wiped out in the zombie apoc and they can't sweep the site to recover bodies or crypto gear?  Yeah, that key goes to the great digital trashcan in the sky RFN provided the guys *managing* the crypto aren't a bunch of Zeds themselves by then... and even if they are, once that key's timer is up, it goes inop depending on the key type.  There are few things more paranoid than the military's handling of crypto.  Though, to be fair, it's not paranoia when they actually are out to get you. ;)

Edited to add:  I have worked with crypto period appropriate to year PZ takes place in. ;) 

Edited by Storm6436
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7 hours ago, Storm6436 said:

Still, you pick up a radio from a dead guy, it might have access to that channel for a day, maybe a week?

Picking up a military radio with access to an exclusive channel sounds like the easiest solution. Fudging the time-limited safeguards might be a way to balance out the needs of this military intel idea with the reality of the security measures.

 

Thanks for the pro tips Storm. I propose we summarize the idea as "find military radios with exclusive channels to anticipate the timing and actions of incoming helicopters with variable objectives!"

Edited by trombonaught
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I usually disable the chopper in sandbox settings myself, a bit too trolly for my taste. Especially since the pilot seems to be omniscient and can always find you. You have to tools to deal with it. Yay for sandbox options.

Edited by BoogieMan
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  • 3 weeks later...

I think it'd be neat if there was a helicopter that came around that has a chance of either dropping aid supplies such as food, water purification tablets, medical supplies, Ammo, etc.     
... Or....     
A bomb. flat on your head. Boom.        
Either or, on a dice roll.     
Lucky/ unlucky would effect it, but it'd be optional.     
Say, the army on the radio tells any survivors in the zone to go to (insert location) at (Insert time) and when you do, a chopper comes and the dice roll happens.     

It'd be random chance which on every game so i feel it would be pretty balanced to see if someone is willing to take the risk not knowing what the military had decided in foresight.     

Edited by LeetgamerBoi
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I like the idea of the chopper flights being tied to the radios somehow... 

 

Maybe every few days for a few weeks there will be a chopper flight that comes near to the player, and follows them briefly, not hunting survivors but counting them.  Player might avoid them by staying invisible or using the radios. There might be a military broadcast to civilians in the zone to signal the choppers when they come by at a certain time for supply drops or later rescue (that never comes!).

 

Then when the choppers cease flying, you'll know that even the army is screwed.

 

I would be curious to know more about when there used to be more helicopter flights, and why they changed it to just one chopper flight per game.

Edited by JoeCuppa
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  • 2 weeks later...

Wait, are you guys saying that the helicopter as it is today will follow the player and/or the safehouse of the player, not just move randomly? Well that explains alot.. And someone should probably take a look at the survival guide on the wiki, becouse that suggests that it makes all nearby zombies in one particular direction, as if the helicopter just did a flyby.

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  • 2 years later...
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