Suggestion based around how zombies destroy walls

[MetalPigeon]

I'm posting here because the suggestions section of the forums seems to be locked?

 

Argument/reason i believe change should be implemented

 

Basically the way zombies currently destroy player built structures (log walls, wood walls, etc.) is completely ruining my immersion in this game. from what i can tell almost everything in this game is highly realistic, infection, calories and dietary specifics, even the ability to loose weight so it seems odd to me that in the game, given enough time, a single zombies is capable of removing a log wall. the only "tools" a zombies has are it's teeth and nails but teeth and nails in real life are barely capable of denting pine which is one of the softest woods out there. essentially zombies would be incapable of destroying a well made wall on their own in real life, it simply wouldn't be possible with their level of intelligence and equipment. a group of zombies however has a much higher capacity to not so much destroy walls; but instead knock them over. any wall in the real world has some amount of force required to knock it over, below that point nothing happens, but approaching that point a wall may be damaged and above that point it will collapse.

 

Actual Suggestion

I figure the same should happen within the game, each wall and or wall type would have some sort of a "pushover threshold" a value that, if exceeded would knock over/destroy the wall. the pushover threshold would be affected by the type of terrain the wall is built, the material it is made of, and maybe anything supporting the wall (could be linked to the build quality mechanic already in the game). I understand that implementing these mechanics wouldn't be difficult and that the difficulty would stem from HOW zombies actually apply the force and how a horde can accumulate to reach a "pushover threshold". So this is where my lack of knowledge of developing games will show most. zombies already tend to form large groups that press up against walls. So i'm thinking that each wall could have a sort of radius that'll detect zombies directly contacting and walking into it. Those zombies will report other zombies pushing behind them that are also walking in the direction of the wall and when enough zombies connect to this link to exceed the "pushover threshold" the wall falls and lil old rick gets munched. 

 

The zombies would each have a push value and if the connected zombies add up to more than the pushover threshold the wall would fall over. Hopefully the paint masterpiece can help explain...  

[OffitMan]

55 minutes ago, MetalPigeon said:

I understand that implementing these mechanics wouldn't be difficult... 

 

So this is where my lack of knowledge of developing games will show most.

 

I find these lines a bit contradictory.

[Wesley Balestrini]

5 hours ago, MetalPigeon said:

essentially zombies would be incapable of destroying a well made wall on their own in real life

They really could not break down a wall of logs, not a good one! But if we consider that the walls in the game are made with a piece of torn cloth, then maybe it's easy (not to break, but to dismantle the wall).
 

 

But I think the idea is very good. Another thing that is missing is a method of killing through the wall (assuming it has cracks).

As an example, the season of dead walking dead in prison; where the excess of zombies in the fence threatens to collapse. An alternative was to kill the nearest zumbi every day by jabbing them with spears.

[Paul Redeker]

Until then, install the the Well Built Walls mod.  

[Axex]

Well, they could probably use the already existing system that they have for zombies hitting walls, since a zombie will walk up to the wall and start banging on it, and multiple zombies can hit a wall at once.  They would probably have to implement a system to track how many zombies are hitting a wall, and if that number > than the wall strength value, it will fall over. Depending on the wall type, maybe have it so that you can simply push the wall back up to fix it (Probably would require a decent amount of time.), while others break. Like I doubt a zombie will break a log wall into pieces, since it's a thick log, however, zombies could probably shatter a wooden plank wall into pieces.

[EnigmaGrey]

It's just much easier to buff the walls, something I wanted done foevtwars., And did do through modding 

 

At a high strength, one zombie doesn't matter.

[MetalPigeon]

yeah it's probably true that you could get almost the same thing by just buffing the wall strength and they do need to be stronger, just like weapons and stuff. I just want it to be more immersive than that, just imagine what they could do with realistic walls and npc's. you've built a well fortified compound that's strong enough to pretty much hold off zombies indefinitely, then one day a horde big enough to completely surround you traps you in there. your character becomes depressed and is constantly panicked, the npc's in your compound become uneasy and wrestles, some might try and escape, some might fight each other, most get sick because of all the rotting meat trying to break in. maybe an enemy npc group takes the chance to blow up one of your walls somehow in an attempt to kill you. Like i understand that unrealistically weak walls is for the sake of game play but replacing such a one dimensional mechanic with a layered dynamic in the game would add near infinite value in terms of replayability. 

[MetalPigeon]

18 hours ago, OffitMan said:

 

I find these lines a bit contradictory.

You can already change values like weapon and building durability (though i'm not sure how to change building durability) in the game files. I just figured an experienced team could change some other values without too much difficulty.

 

 

[xXxFANCYCAPYBARA36xXx]

yeah i really like this idea actually and you could maybe have the logs on each wall break a lil bit each time they knocked over so reassembling a knocked down log wall would have it at 75% of its original tipping over treshold and require cloth again 

[Morry]

How many zombies can simultaneously thump against a wall-tile anyway? like 3 or 4? Zombies 'pushing' other zombies would be difficult to detect, as far as I know Zomboid does not have an easy way to check neighboring zombies. It sounds like a job for a physics engine...