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Build 42 - Animal Update - Discussion


TrailerParkThor

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Hey there Knox Country, now that devs have confirmed that MP is in internal testing, and the meat and potatoes of the Animations Update has been added (barring a few things that they're still working on), I think it's safe to say we are only several months away from a stable release of B41. We know that Animals are next, since it has been confirmed multiple times that this is the current PZ roadmap:

 

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I've seen the devs talk about how these Builds will be in development for a relatively shorter time (in TIS terms at least:P) . So I wouldn't be surprised if we are playing with a stable B42 in 2022. My question to the community is: What would you all like to see from this update? What are your expectations, what's on your wishlist, and what new challenges and deaths do you think will be cooked up for us? AFAIK, the only 100% confirmed features are Hunting, Companion Animals, and Animal Attacks. However, I know the devs want to try and work a Farming Update into this. I would love to see mounts and animal husbandry, as that would add so much to the game. They would need to be ultra rare spawns though, to maintain balance. Idk what are your thoughts?

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Damn Damn Damn DAMN!!! Just hearing what the npc's can do makes me want to pee myself from excitement. Hearing factions, all that meta stuff makes me feel like the npcs are like gonna make the game 5x more funner to play and will pull all the veterans who left and probably a lot of new players in the game. It's just sad that big updates takes like months to come in, but thats ok, most of the updates are quality and don't have bugs.

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I think the animals could (if implemented well) could add waaaay more than just utilitarian functionality. I like that you're thinking of animal attacks, but there could be far more to it. Think about it; a cat fleeing the area distracts Zeds from following a human, birds picking at them as carrion, or even whole packs of Zeds being led by a wild stag, deep into the woods.

 

A dog barks as a random noise (as we currently hear screams) and a flock of the undead in earshot could be drawn to the area, assuming a random wild dog within range was chosen as the sound origin. We could have "Walker-Doges" specifically for rounding up a pack like a sheepdog (probably a little far coding-wise) but maybe attack dogs to pick off a one selectable Zed.

 

Then of course, we have zombie animals... Fields that are dangerous to enter due to zombie cows, zombie horses (Zorses ala Minecraft), Dogs (like Resident Evil) and others. Heck, even zombie mice (ones, like now that you don't actually see, but get caught in your traps and are no good for eating so your trap bait is wasted), or rats that come up through the sewers that they die in the toilet bowl so the survivors can no longer drink from it... (My characters do specifically drink from the bowl and not the cistern, because they're terrible people).

 

Anyways, just some thoughts >:)

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@DXPOHIHIHIif just hearing about them makes you excited you should read this Tales From The Metaverse post that goes into detail about what the devs plan to do. It's OLD, but I still reread it time to time. This is still the plan, and if anything, I think they can go more in-depth as the scope of the game has widened a lot since 2013. Think of this meta-game being done on macro levels of factions irritating eachother and causing wars or fighting for territory and gaining ground. Maybe trading and some marriage between leaders causes an alliance between your enemies. I can see a game where you go to your favorite trading partners to find them slaughtered. Would be so much fun

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7 hours ago, PapaBullDust said:

I think the animals could (if implemented well) could add waaaay more than just utilitarian functionality. I like that you're thinking of animal attacks, but there could be far more to it. Think about it; a cat fleeing the area distracts Zeds from following a human, birds picking at them as carrion, or even whole packs of Zeds being led by a wild stag, deep into the woods.

 

A dog barks as a random noise (as we currently hear screams) and a flock of the undead in earshot could be drawn to the area, assuming a random wild dog within range was chosen as the sound origin. We could have "Walker-Doges" specifically for rounding up a pack like a sheepdog (probably a little far coding-wise) but maybe attack dogs to pick off a one selectable Zed.

 

I've seen devs mention this is the plan with animals. Like getting a dog will help with depression and anxiety, they might even help take out some zeds, but they will bark alot meaning they are locked behind mid/late game security. Think of how much noise even just a few cows, horses, and chickens would make. You might as well have a car alarm going off in your yard! Having a lot of animals will require TONS of security and a very safe base with a lot of thought put into quieting the animals. I imagine barns would be very popular, but I'm also guessing animals need food. I hazard a guess that devs will make it so animals can "graze" by depleting foraging zones. However, if they are inside, they will need to be fed harvested grass, hay, or wheat maybe. This means winter will be WAAAAY harder to survive if you have animals, and you need to manage the risk vs reward of keeping animals inside and quiet but also outside and fed.

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21 hours ago, PapaBullDust said:

zombie animals

 

I agree with everything in your post except this. PZ does not need to copy gimmicks from other games. As shown below, it's a no on the commonly suggested suggestions post (admittedly a white no which are not set in stone and have been known to change in the past).

[n]    Zombie Beasts or Infected Animals

 

Either way, as long as an option to turn off zombie animals was available in sandbox, I don't really mind.

 

For animals as a whole, really looking forward to hunting. @TrailerParkThor makes some interesting points about farm animals. I usually build my bases in a town centre or just on the outskirts. If we could keep farmyard animals however, would definitely make me move further afield to live on a farm somewhere. Would make gas station trips much more imperative.

 

Also, riding a horse would be pretty dope. 

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I wonder what sort of wild animals we could see.

What is native to the area? Porcupines could be useful by providing quills. Skunks would be terrible to accidentally discover in the middle of the woods and make any trips into town dangerous with zombies smelling you a mile away.

A rat infestation would be a terrible thing if the player didn't have a couple cats. A rat infestation might lead to a cat moving in though.

 

Wild hogs would need some decent walls to keep out and can mess a person up really easily if they so want.

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I'm hoping that meat preservation techniques come with hunting.     Without it a deer's meat would be wasted pretty quickly.   I watch a lot of the show Alone and slow drying meat and fish over fire comes up.     Maybe salting too.       I don't know if it would make an interesting game mechanic but part of having food in the wild is keeping animals away from it with techniques like hanging it.      That might give a potential racoon or wild dog something to do to irritate players.

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11 hours ago, BentNose said:

I wonder what sort of wild animals we could see.

What is native to the area? Porcupines could be useful by providing quills. Skunks would be terrible to accidentally discover in the middle of the woods and make any trips into town dangerous with zombies smelling you a mile away.

A rat infestation would be a terrible thing if the player didn't have a couple cats. A rat infestation might lead to a cat moving in though.

 

Wild hogs would need some decent walls to keep out and can mess a person up really easily if they so want.

 

In Kentucky? Lots of cool wild animals especially predators. Wild Hogs would probably be the most abundant. I imagine they could charge survivors and knock them over or even gore them. They would run in packs and be pretty tanky to take down, but could provide bacon, raw leather, and porkchops. Wolves are also pretty common. Gray wolves would be high DPS and have good pack hunting strategies to take you down, but wouldn't have crazy high HP. If they wanted to make it even more realistic, Red wolves could be much less rare than gray ones but be smaller and weaker. Coyotes could also be added and be a solitary version of the wolves with about the same strength as a red wolf. Black bears haven't been native to Kentucky in a few decades, but they could easily move back in after an apocalypse. I imagine these would be 300 pound monsters that could destroy you in one swipe but they'll only ever be solitary like IRL. They wouldn't usually attack unless you came towards them. A mother bear with cubs would attack no matter what, though. I think Mountain Lions could also be a good addition, since they used to be native to Kentucky like the black bears. These could function like bears in terms of solitude unless being a mother with cubs. However, I imagine mountain lions would hunt you and try to sneak up quietly. Wolves, Lions, and Bears would probably drop meat and pelts/furs.

 

In terms of small game, porcupines and skunks could be fun since you would need a ranged weapon to hunt them. Rabbits, squirrels, mice, lizards, and birds will hopefully be physical entities that you can hunt, trap, or catch with your bare hands even. Deer seem like your staple hunting game. One kill could provide dozens of kilos of venison and raw leather. Elk could be the rare kind of Buck, being twice the size and HP, but they would also come with the chance to charge you. Snakes could also be a fun addition. I imagine running into a cabin and getting bitten by a rattler would be no fun at all. Rats could also bite, and bring high risk of infection. I think having infestations of maybe mice, rats, birds, or bugs depending on where you are could also be an interesting challenge for the game.

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5 hours ago, TrailerParkThor said:

Wolves are also pretty common.

I'm not so sure about this. A little bit of browsing the web has shown me that their populations have since been eradicated, even before Zomboid's early nineties setting.

 

https://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2013/08/19/wild-wolf-in-kentucky-first-in-150-years-killed-by-hunter/ 

Quote

Were it Alaska or Idaho this wouldn’t be news, but Kentucky has not seen wild roaming wolves since the mid 1800s. The gray wolf was shot in March —but state officials were skeptical that it was even a wolf, believing that it was more likely someone’s German shepherd.

 

https://animals.mom.com/types-wolves-kentucky-8497.html

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Historically, Kentucky was home to two wolf species: the gray wolf (Canis lupus) and the red wolf (Canis rufus). However, their numbers gradually declined as human population in the state increased. Today, neither wolf species can be found in Kentucky.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/r/red-wolf/

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 Like other wolves, these animals were hunted and persecuted on a massive scale in the 19th and early 20th century. By the 1960s, only a small population remained in southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas. A rescue plan was launched, in which 14 animals were taken to establish a captive population at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Washington State between 1974 and 1980. It was just in time, as the species was declared extinct in the wild in 1980.

 Captive breeding increased their numbers, and in 1987 scientists released four pairs into the Alligator River refuge. Beginning in 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also tried to establish a population in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but that attempt failed due in part to a low prey density, and the animals moving out of the park to find food. 

 

The other ideas sound pretty cool though.

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