Pet Zombies

[Anorak2023]

After a certain point in the game, zombies aren't much of a threat unless a pack sneaks up on you. This would be a fun new way to interact with zombies.

 

Capturing. There could be a few ways to capture pet zombies, these are a few ways.

Leashes. Leashes would be the main way to capture zombies as well as control them once they are captured. A leash can be crafted with a single rope or sheet rope. If you equip a leash in both hands, you can approach a zombie and attemt to put the leash on it by simply making a melee attack. The chances of getting the leash on the zombie would be a base of 25%, but this would increase with your strength and trapping up to a max of 80%. Once on the leash the zombie would still attempt to attack you as normal, but would be kept within 3 tiles of you. Using a stake and any hammer, you can attach a zombie's leash to the ground, keeping it permantly within 3 tiles of the tile the stake is on.

Lasso. You can craft a lasso with 3 ropes or sheet ropes. Using a lasso would function much like a gun. Lassoing a zombie would be rather difficult, starting at a 10% chance to successfully lasso the zed, but this would increase with strength and aiming stats to a maximum of 70%. The maximum range of a lasso would be 10 tiles, and the chance of successfully lassoing the zombie would decrease the further it is. Once lassoed, the zombie would be on an extra long leash, kept within 10 tiles of the player.

Bear Traps. Bear traps can be found in gun stores, and occasionally in houses. If you set a bear trap and a zombie walks over it, the trap will shut, creating a loud noise, and keeping the zombie in place, and creating a wound on the leg (more on this later). A zombie stuck in a bear trap will be 50% easier to put a leash on or lasso.

 

Zombie Cages.

With the Carpentry and Metalworking skills, you can craft different cages for zombies. A zombie cage in a one tile construction that can be used to hold one zombie. To get a zombie into the cage you have to have it on a leash and then interact with the cage to catch the zed. You can create a level 1-3 cage from wood and metal. Higher level cages would be harder for zombies inside and outside to break. Once a day, any cage with a zombie will calculate an escape chance. If successful, the cage will be broken, and the zombie will be freed. Zombies outside the cage will be able to attack the cage and instantly roll the escape chance with every attack. The break chances are as follows.

Wood 1 50%

Wood 2 40%

Wood 3 30%

Metal 1 20%

Metal 2 10%

Metal 3 0%

Zombies in cages can be instantly leashed without issue and can be released at any time. Putting a padlock on a cage prevent other players from releasing or leashing the zombie. Options in the Sandbox menu can adjust the break chances, or even disable them.

 

Zombie interactions. These can be used on any zombie in a cage

 

Amputations and other "surgeries".

Pull teeth. Requires pliers. Takes 10 minutes in game. Prevents the zombie from biting, but allows "gumming" (more later).

Remove nails. Requires pliers. Takes 5 minutes in game. Prevents the zombie from inflicting lacerations, and halves the chance of scratches.

Amputate arms. Each arm has to be removed seperately. Requires a saw or any bladed weapon. Takes 30 minutes in game, 15 with a saw. One arm halves the chance of a successful scratch, but does not affect bites. Both arms prevents any scratch, but does not affect bites and allows melee infection (more later).

Amputate legs. Requires saw or any bladed weapon. Takes 1 hour in game, 40 minutes with a saw. A zombie with no legs is forced to always crawl. 

Any "surgery" performed on a zombie will cause it to bleed from the wound. Zombies with no arms will always attempt to bite, while zombies with just no teeth will act as normal. Zombies with no teeth or arms will make harmless attacks.

 

Zombie wounds.

Zombies will always start with a few random wounds that do not actively bleed, but any wound iflicted by a surgery will bleed. If your character has an open wound that is not badaged, pet zombies' harmless attacks will be able to infect you by getting their blood into your wounds. Interacting with a zombie in a cage will allow you to open a version of the health menu for the zombie, allowing you to bandage its wounds, preventing it from bleeding and infecting you through open wounds. This menu can also be used to remove preexisting bandages from zombies.

 

Equipping zombies. 

A zombie in a cage can be interacted with similarly to a mannquin, allowing you to remove and equip any clothes you want on the creature, as well as equip a few special items on it. The items are below

Gag. Crafted with 3 bandages, ripped sheets, denim strips or leather strips. Clean or dirty works. This prevents the zombie from biting or "gumming," however, a zobie with teeth will eventually chew through the gag.

Horde Maker. Requires level 3 electrical. Made with 5 digital watches or alarm clocks and 5 ripped sheets. This device appears as several clocks and watches on two sashes. This device makes a very large amount of noise every hour, attracting any zombies nearby. This can be used to make large hordes of every zombie in a large area, or attract every zombie nearby to a single spot.

 

Pet zombies would be both fun and useful, allowing for new defense systems, traps for players and zeds, and plenty of roleplay options, like protecting your infected spouse, or being an insane loner whose only companions are the dead. 

[Axezombie]

add a remote pipe bomb to the Horde Maker for more fun!

I think the best way to use a zombie would be as a mule

[Nazarito22]

Stop watching Walking Dead