Lurching Zomboids

[Crisisbattl]

Greetings fellow survivors (or shamblers I don't judge) I come here today with an idea (hopefully original I ran a quick search of the forum for it and found nothing I also looked into the commonly suggested suggestions and the other one Kajin I think it was and found nothing

 

So as it stands in the game when you approach a zombie they lunge/lurch at you with their arms outstretched, from this they gain a fairly decent boost of speed with no repercussions from it. I feel they should eventually fall over from their body weight being shifted forward suddenly (As I understand rotting corpses don't exactly have the best muscle control)

 

[Terrible example diagram incoming] 

This is my representation of what I think should happen to them (note the lines behind the zombie represent the zombie moving faster it's bad I know) and after they fall over if they don't hit a wall/fence or survivor (hopefully that image posted and if you need any clarification on the idea or any criticism let loose that's what forums are for  )

[Zathura]

Zombies are typically able to keep their footing, if for no other reason than that their feet stab forward at the moment of overbalance.

 

They do (believe it or not) have rudimentary reflexes, that keep them from, say, tripping over their own feet, or taking a bite out of their own arm.

 

For all their stupidity, they do know how to maneuver their bodies in such a way as to make you a tasty, tasty snack.

 

However, I wouldn't be opposed to a way of tripping them manually. You're right, they're not very coordinated, and a simple kick to the shin could cause one to stumble and flail about on the ground for a moment, allowing you a brief reprieve.

 

It'd be a helluva lot better than the ridiculously ineffective "push" mechanic currently in the game, which does F##%-all to actually get them away from you. Pretty damn sure I could shove a zombie hard enough to plant his butt on the ground any old time.

[TheCenturion]

Perhaps not every zombie, but rather an uncommon event that occasionally occurs when a zombie lunges at you? This does make sense, and it could add more variety to encounters. Furthermore, as long as it wasn't super consistant, a player couldn't rely on it to escape. 

I'm curious to see what others think about this. 

[Crisisbattl]

-snip

-snip-

Yeah a random chance would be better, perhaps linking the % chance to have them trip to how decomposed a zed is. more decomposed = a slightly higher chance to have it trip?

[ApolloDiaspora]

This. I like this. Once the 3D models come in, the amount of animations and actions the zombies can take should balloon out awesomely.

[Viceroy]

Yeah I like it, zombies falling over would be epic, especially if zombies fall down stairwells when chasing you down them. Could be epic.

[Daec]

Yeah I like it, zombies falling over would be epic, especially if zombies fall down stairwells when chasing you down them. Could be epic.

i like this.

but i would like the survivors to be able to fall aswell...like discussed in the clumsy survivor thread (that mysteriously died)