Bags: Hotkey to drop, use as a weapon

[ApolloDiaspora]

Pretty much what it says on the tin. Had a flash of inspiration and a quick forum search turned up nothing. Anyway!

 

Most of us tend to run around carrying two bags in Project Zomboid when out and about looting (back and secondary), and only one (back) when going into a high threat area or about to cause a serious mess with a nearby horde.

 

The ability to use a bag or container as a melee weapon, to me, seems to make a fair bit of sense. Load a plastic bag full of tinned food, and you'll cause a fair bit of damage when you swing it at someone (and ruin the bag in the process). Swing a backpack full of books, beans and bullets, and you're going to (probably) cause a bit more damage. The backpack is far less likely to bust open like a plastic bag, even after repeated strikes.

 

Essentially, what I am proposing is the ability to use bags carried in the primary or secondary slot as weapons, with the damage on impact and strength of knockback determined by the current load in the bag (full bag means more kinetic energy after all). I'm not expecting any miracles here when it comes to damage, but the ability to knock a zombie back like a baseball bat, or knock it down to the floor would be damned useful.

 

There are multiple ways to balance the strength of this new found wonderweapon however. First off, a loaded bag would only be useful for knocking zombies back or to the floor, more a defence weapon than anything else (I can see an attempt to crush a zombie's skull with a backpack full of cans producing a hell of a mess, but not much else). Different bags would be easier to swing than others given the leverage at the grip, causing school, plastic and tote bags to be easy to swing, but bulky bags like hiking and dufflebags much more difficult. Implementing a mild degree of exhaustion when you swing those bulkier, higher capacity bags would stop a player simply going after everything with a big hiking bag full of logs, or spamming away with a backpack to shove a horde out the front door.

 

Finally, implementing a durability system similar to the existing weapons would be ideal. Naturally duffel and hiking bags would have a greater ability to be smacked about than a tote, plastic or garbage bag. In a perfect world, that final strike would cause the back to turn into a 'Torn ___ Bag', and the contents being dumped on the floor or scattered about the area. But naturally, that's more complicated to program in. A happy compromise between implementation, reality and gameplay, would be a little tooltip that appears when you mouse over the bag in the inventory saying the bag is damaged and can no longer be used as a melee weapon, while still allowing you to carry it around with your goodies inside. Ideally, once a bag is damaged, you would still be able to carry it around, but would only be able to remove items from the bag, not add any new ones.

 

In short, the ability to use a bag as a melee weapon to lightly damage and knockback zombies would be highly useful for the player, no matter what their current state of affairs. Rummaging through the cupboards in your starting house, filling a plastic bag with pots and bowls because you've got nothing better, seems to fit the atmosphere of Project Zomboid. Plus, the ability to use a sack of doorknobs as a melee weapon would finally be within our grasp

 

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Onto my second point, there are two bindable hotkeys (or actions) I would like to see included into Project Zomboid, though I must admit I have no idea how difficult they would be to implement code wise.

 

1) Bind a key to drop any bag you're carrying in your secondary slot, and equip any weapon held in your primary slot in both hands. Utterly useful for anyone heavily looting with a baseball bat or axe held in one hand. Drop your load and get ready to crack some heads.

 

2) Bind a key to drop anything the player is carrying on their back. Useful if you're overencumbered and the crap hits the fan. Those precious seconds taken to open the inventory, unequip the bag, and drop it on the floor are all it takes for one of the faster zombies to get in biting range. Easily justifiable from a realism standpoint, as you can wriggle out of a backpack rather quickly.

 

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Welp, there you have it. Apologies for the wall of text, but, it's the first time I've posted something tot he suggestions board, and wanted to do a good job

[StormSurge707]

Wow, I can fully support that idea. I never really thought about using my heavy backpack as a weapon, but it's very plausible.  I support everything on this thread, as it makes complete sense, is balanced and is just generally awesome.

 

Maybe the plastic bag would break in one hit? I've been carrying two jars of jam in one plastic bag before, and that thing just ripped in half, like a warm axe through soft zombie . I reckon the garbage bags would have at least 2-3 hits, but take longer to swing as they're bigger.

 

Very well detailed thread, by the way!

 

 

 

 

Welp, there you have it. Apologies for the wall of text, but, it's the first time I've posted something tot he suggestions board, and wanted to do a good job

 

You did a great job c:

[ApolloDiaspora]

Thanks for the kind words! But, yeah. I agree that tote and plastic bags might very well be a one-shot wonder. But if you're desperate enough to use one as a weapon, one hit is all you'll need, or all you'd have time for

[ApolloDiaspora]

*le bump*

 

Apologies if it's against the forum rules, but I'm surprised there haven't been that many responses.

[Strider]

I can't see the bag as a weapon. Perhaps to knock the Z down but it wouldn't kill it. However I'd love to see a key to drop the bags I'm carrying instantly to give me more stamina and strength and enable me equip my melee weapon in both hands, which I'd hope as part of the quick-key, would also be automatic.

[ApolloDiaspora]

That's pretty much the crux of my idea.  A heavy bag is better than nothing, but realistically it's only going to serve as a way to  knock a zombie down.

 

Hence, me stating that a loaded bag does only marginal damage, serving mainly to knock a zombie back, or knocking it to the floor. Actually, did you read my post entirely? I suggested the exact same things, hotkey to drop-and-equip and all.

 

The low damage of the bags is more a roleplay/realism thing than anything else. You might luck out and crack a zombie's skull open if they've already been damaged by something else, or go full on maniac and keep pounding away again and again, making a horrible mess and only managing to put the Zed down after a long time. Kinda like cutting a tree down with a fork

 

Essentially, I think the loaded bag fits into a nice niche, as far as weapons go. We've already got weapons that kill zombies with varying degrees of effectiveness, but nothing that mainly serves as a means to knock the zombies back/down. Hell, if you can quickly switch between your primary and secondary weapons (I think you can already do this with a hotkey), you've suddenly got a bag acting as a shield would.

 

Picture a survivor with a loaded schoolbag in one hand, and a crowbar in the other. Although the schoolbag is going to degrade much faster than the crowbar, the longer reach and greater chance of knockback/down would allow a survivor to knock a zombie down with ease, going in with the crowbar to smash the skull in. Though I admit this might be a bit overpowered in the longterm.

 

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Think of the loaded bag as a 'utility weapon' more than a primary or secondary. A weapon that in a pinch can buy you the time and distance to run, think, or prepare a proper attack when things go pearshaped. Ideal for when you're just starting on a new character, have been forced to abandon a safehouse, or a nice tool to have when fully loaded up for a loot run.

[Strider]

That's pretty much the crux of my idea.  A heavy bag is better than nothing, but realistically it's only going to serve as a way to  knock a zombie down.

 

Hence, me stating that a loaded bag does only marginal damage, serving mainly to knock a zombie back, or knocking it to the floor. Actually, did you read my post entirely? I suggested the exact same things, hotkey to drop-and-equip and all.

 

 

Yeah, I missed that since I skimmed your post. I'll commit seppuku immediately...

 

<Snip>

 

 

Essentially, I think the loaded bag fits into a nice niche, as far as weapons go. We've already got weapons that kill zombies with varying degrees of effectiveness, but nothing that mainly serves as a means to knock the zombies back/down. Hell, if you can quickly switch between your primary and secondary weapons (I think you can already do this with a hotkey), you've suddenly got a bag acting as a shield would.

 

 

If the bag was heavy then swinging it would be exhausting. If it wasn't then it wouldn't be very effective at knocking a zombie down. Also, as you attested to, the bag would deteriorate in quality very quickly. I suppose it's something you could do, if you had spare bags.

 

<snip>

[GeronimoJay]

The turn tail mod (drop equipped bag hotkey) been covered here, unsure if that's operational with current build.

Not sure how I feel about the melee bag option, too many straps to get zombie limbs caught up in or fabric for them to latch onto, could backfire very easily and you could lose all your supplies to a mass of outstretched decomposing fingers.