Sadistic AI Director: Migrating Super Horde

[GodHatesHaloWaypoint]

One thing I've noticed since I started playing is that once you setup base it's pretty much completely safe after clearing the surrounding area and doubly so for isolated or rural bases. I think to spice things up that the Sadistic AI Director should enforce the old school Walking Dead's "no where is safe" rule. There should always be the potential for your home to be entirely overrun to really hammer home that the player is the underdog of this world, and that regardless of how many zombies you kill you will eventually die.

 

How it could work:

After several months if not a year there will be a small chance of a migrating super horde to come plowing through your region even if you're living in an isolated area. For those prepared and with the proper knowledge you can use noise makers or other means to steer the horde in another direction, split them up, or power down and lay low with hopes that they don't hear you as the undead tsunami passes through.

 

To account for the top down view restricting how far out you can see, I think that the super horde should have a very distinct but constant sound as it draws near to alert player of what is coming instead of suddenly placing players into an unwinnable situation of 1 vs 2000 with no chance to act. Maybe it could sound like a low rumble, or the collective groans of hundreds upon hundreds of zombies merge into one "chorus".

 

Technical Limitations:

I've no idea how many zombies the game can handle having on screen at once, but I figured I'd pitch this anyway in case it was some how possible, or even just to shelve the idea until new technology comes along where it would become possible.

 

Thoughts?

[Bullet_Magnate]

Seconded ...

[PoshRocketeer]

49 minutes ago, GodHatesHaloWaypoint said:

One thing I've noticed since I started playing is that once you setup base it's pretty much completely safe after clearing the surrounding area and doubly so for isolated or rural bases. I think to spice things up that the Sadistic AI Director should enforce the old school Walking Dead's "no where is safe" rule. There should always be the potential for your home to be entirely overrun to really hammer home that the player is the underdog of this world, and that regardless of how many zombies you kill you will eventually die.

 

How it could work:

After several months if not a year there will be a small chance of a migrating super horde to come plowing through your region even if you're living in an isolated area. For those prepared and with the proper knowledge you can use noise makers or other means to steer the horde in another direction, split them up, or power down and lay low with hopes that they don't hear you as the undead tsunami passes through.

 

To account for the top down view restricting how far out you can see, I think that the super horde should have a very distinct but constant sound as it draws near to alert player of what is coming instead of suddenly placing players into an unwinnable situation of 1 vs 2000 with no chance to act. Maybe it could sound like a low rumble, or the collective groans of hundreds upon hundreds of zombies merge into one "chorus".

 

Technical Limitations:

I've no idea how many zombies the game can handle having on screen at once, but I figured I'd pitch this anyway in case it was some how possible, or even just to shelve the idea until new technology comes along where it would become possible.

 

Thoughts?

As far as thoughts go:

 

Wandering hordes should always be a thing, but they shouldn't start out (or end) in 2000+, over 2000 is literally impossible to deal with, and may not even be possible for the engine to render. 2000 zombies is enough to fill an entire map square and some change, possibly more.  You can see this effect in towns, honk your horn, see who comes. You may think that you're being trailed by easily 300 zombies, but when all is said and done you only really killed 80-100 tops. It's really difficult for us as humans to accurately gauge how many people are in a crowd, hence why people tend to over-estimate. 

 

So for example, week 1, a wandering horde if it were to appear, should only start around 15-20 zombies, ramping up by a factor of maybe 5% every week, capping out at a reasonable number. 

 

We should also keep in mind that just being steamrolled by something you have literally zero chance of dealing with even if you were to have every bullet or gadget on the entire map is maybe not all that fun for players. Most hordes should come in a number that it is still possible for someone to defend their homes if they're clever and well-equipped. (Keyword, most)

 

The amount of noise you make should also probably have some kind of factor, like a buildup of heat. If you do a lot of shooting, honking horns, etc then the hordes should be larger, if you lay low for a period then they should be smaller on average. 

 

Additionally, these wandering hordes would almost certainly repopulate any area they pass through as they shed numbers here and there, creating a new challenge outside of the immediate threat of being overrun, it's another thing to keep in mind when we're discussing how challenging the initial horde attacks  should be.

 

I was thinking hordes could be tracked in a similar way to zombie migration now, since we've already got a system for it. The sadistic AI director would only need to nudge them in your direction, and control how many zeds the horde picks up or sheds. 

Edited July 28, 2023 by PoshRocketeer

[GodHatesHaloWaypoint]

5 minutes ago, PoshRocketeer said:

As far as thoughts go:

 

Wandering hordes should always be a thing, but they shouldn't start out (or end) in 2000+, over 2000 is literally impossible to deal with, and may not even be possible for the engine to render. 2000 zombies is enough to fill an entire map square and some change, possibly more.  You can see this effect in towns, honk your horn, see who comes. You may think that you're being trailed by easily 300 zombies, but when all is said and done you only really killed 80-100 tops. It's really difficult for us as humans to accurately gauge how many people are in a crowd, hence why people tend to over-estimate. 

 

So for example, week 1, a wandering horde if it were to appear, should only start around 15-20 zombies, ramping up by a factor of maybe 5% every week, capping out at a reasonable number. 

 

We should also keep in mind that just being steamrolled by something you have literally zero chance of dealing with even if you were to have every bullet or gadget on the entire map is maybe not all that fun for players. Most hordes should come in a number that it is still possible for someone to defend their homes if they're clever and well-equipped. (Keyword, most)

 

The amount of noise you make should also probably have some kind of factor, like a buildup of heat. If you do a lot of shooting, honking horns, etc then the hordes should be larger, if you lay low for a period then they should be smaller on average. 

 

Additionally, these wandering hordes would almost certainly repopulate any area they pass through as they shed numbers here and there, creating a new challenge outside of the immediate threat of being overrun, it's another thing to keep in mind when we're discussing how challenging the initial horde attacks  should be.

 

I was thinking hordes could be tracked in a similar way to zombie migration now, since we've already got a system for it. The sadistic AI director would only need to nudge them in your direction, and control how many zeds the horde picks up or sheds. 

I like your thinking, especially on the AI director actively nudging based on noise levels. Maybe a way for them to form naturally but not over doing it would be for zombies to have a rare chance of the game tagging them with a beacon that makes other nearby zombies have a stronger preference to follow them. It might need to be supplemented with a few gradual reinforcement spawns as you mentioned to ensure that they actually become a sizeable threat instead of the typical run of the mill horde. These hordes being able to repopulate an area is also a huge plus in general for immersion as it gives reason to why there are so many zombies instead of there just being an unlimited amount due to the game sprinkling respawns.

 

As for the 2000 it was mostly just an arbitrary number. I just really like the idea there possibly being such a large threat that I absolutely have to retreat, or employ some form of strategy to circumvent my home base from being taken over. While it's not impossible for a horde to run you out of your base it kind of feels like you have to try to end up in that situation in the first place. I definitely agree that the game shouldn't slam the player with insurmountable odds, but I think that there should be situations where fighting isn't viable maybe not outright impossible but a real gamble.

[ZombieHunter]

I think this was actually planed for NPC update

They need 2 major changes for it to happen 

 

1. Map Completion 

2. New Map Layer Zoning

 

The New Zoning actually will give them control of having special NPC events in a region.

Which include things like zombie hordes

 

They also mentioned the new zoning will change how black outs and water outage works.

Instead of just 100% blackout everywhere - it can be regional blackouts 

Edited July 29, 2023 by ZombieHunter