Vinceras

Oh how I wish you and Simon from Neebs gaming would have a survive-off. Somehow, I feel like Simon would win.

Wood spikes especially aren't meant to be permanent fixtures...just like if you put wood spikes outside your house during a zombie apocalypse, it would only slow them down a bit and maybe take one or two out. They'd still destroy the spikes and get through. They are purely meant to slow them down, and make them crawlers while you pick them off. Metal spikes do a better job, but still, same purpose and result, albeit a bit more sturdy. I will say I kinda agree with the special zombies...I've always found them to be kinda dumb, even in Left 4 Dead...I just don't like them. I'm totally okay with regular crawler/walker zombies, and I'm even okay with faster zombies in the new areas...but I kinda wish there was a way to toggle off radiated and special zombies(pukers, demos, wights, and spiders mainly). Personally, I'm more of a fan of more slower enemies, than less enemies and some of them having special abilities. But I know that it's difficult to have too many on screen at once with the system in place.

So, I'm curious....what about the game do you like? What do you like to do? Because, it kinda seems like you don't want zombies, or at very least you only want them when it's on your terms.

According to the wiki, a bedroll blocks a 31x31 meter rectangular area from zombie respawns. For reference, the default setting for land claim blocks are 41x41. Seriously though, most of this game is about knowing or figuring out zombie pathing and taking advantage of the AI. Zombies will zig zag all over if you are not lined up directly north/south/east/west of them. Once you are, they will path directly to you with very limited sway or zig zagging. Makes for a much easier time dealing with them. If you have a group coming at you, drop back a bit and make sure you are directly north, south, east, or west of them. They will queue up nicely to die. Most of what keeps you safe in this game right now is being above the zombies. Seriously, JaWoodle on youtube is a great resource for base building videos. If you prefer melee, look up his "Hatch Hallway" base. If you prefer ranged, look up his "Killing Corridor" base. You seem like you may have no interest in doing any research...but, honestly, you've probably spent more time in this thread than if you watched a base building video.

Sorry I was so snappy on my other reply to you. It was a rough day, and I was in an argumentative and snarky mood. Anyway, you can build quite a luxurious base at the moment, combine it with a horde base setup and be perfectly safe if you set things up right. Even late game. If you haven't done so yet, I'd suggest checking out JaWoodle on youtube. The guy theorycrafts bases and has made some that are entirely zombie-proof. Almost all of them involve some mechanics that take advantage of the AI, but I don't think that's necessarily cheap....since if we were in a real zombie apocalypse and we noticed that all the zombies had a particular weakness, we would all take advantage of it. You could build a smaller version of a almost perfectly safe base even at level one without the use of traps. It does make sense that the birds would have difficulty flying to me, but zombies and dogs doing more than shuffling makes sense to me too. To me, it mostly boils down to the fantasy-fact that zombies have no pain registration, so they are easily able to use their bodies at peak performance regardless. Now, if muscle mass is gone, then I think that would mean they aren't able to perform anymore....so, boneys like from Warm Bodies wouldn't be a thing.

I definitely don't hate the regrouping of skills. Having to divvy up points in all sorts of trees to fill specific niches can be a nightmare and leave you feeling pretty weak. At the very least, I would hope for that.

I'd be okay with that. It's a risk in a PvE sense, and a risk in a PvP sense. I think it would be fair that loot on the PvP side would be higher. Though, there could be parts of this working theory that could be exploited...like your help staying outside the radius and sniping zombies to keep the amount of zombies spawning lower. But, that's part of making new systems...finding counter measures for exploits.

I really miss the days when zombies actually dropped loot, instead of a random loot bag. I get that it's likely a performance issue that necessitated the change, but I would hope there could be a middle ground. Like the OP said, a small yet visible loot pile on the ground that drops.

What's to stop a player from parking their vehicle next to the drop and hopping on and circumnavigating any risk? Maybe they could make the drops well worth it if the beacons are protected. You could work together with each other on PvP servers and have larger spawns if players are within a small radius of the item. If a player or players want to steal from each other, you could do that as well. I would make it to where the beacons cannot be damaged by players to avoid someone just hitting it with a rocket or sniping from distance to just troll people...but otherwise, I think it would add worthwhile content.

I dunno, to me wanting a 'realistic' zombie experience just cracks me up. Zombie tropes are broken in zombie movies ALL the time. If they scale by day, what happens if you are leveling slow because you are spending most of your early game days digging through these new low-loot no-zombie remnants that the OP and you are talking about? So now you are underleveled, undergeared, and surrounded by a higher threat. Difficulty tied to level is ideal because it's easier to keep zombie strength closer in line with yours. Zombie dogs walk around during the day too...until they see you and they run at you. I don't see any problem here. What is the issue with dogs running?

-Rummaging through POIs with no risk sounds sooooooooo rewarding and fun. -Zombies have a chance to go into a frenzy mode when they take damage. Dogs...well, they are dogs. They are fast. -I have NEVER had an issue with the heat map forcing me to move. Sounds like you have your forges running 24/7 and are mad because the zombies are attracted to heat. -Zombies don't act like zombies? ummmm what? Do you have a working knowledge of how real life zombies are or something? -Zombies have been able to dig for a while now. You can still build underground with no issue. Just have your forges and heat-attractors up at ground level. -What fun is a game where there is never any risk? -Sure I guess? -Never had an issue where zombies just go into break everything mode for no reason. Seriously no clue how you are having this problem. -I guess? If someone really wants to neuter the game to where there is no risk, I guess it's their choice? -See the above. So long as they are all added options and not made base game, I'm okay with any of these options. I prefer to actually play a game instead of watching grass grow, myself.

Going on an idea riff on JaWoodle's Day 4 Agility video where he said that he would like Fun Pimps to make some kind of beacon to direct the Air Drops, I came up with this possible idea: At the start of the day, you get a notification saying an air drop is on it's way and you have by NOON to set up your beacon/signal fire. The beacon/signal fire is a crafted item that you place down. Maybe the signal fire is easily crafted and early game and has a weak hp bar, and the beacon is late game and has more hp but is harder to craft. To make it to where the event isn't too easy, it cannot be placed near buildings. It has to be in an open area and on ground. You can place junk turrets down, but the beacon acts like a trader zone, where you cannot build around it. OR, if you want to allow building, maybe it can only be a structure quality based on game stage. ie, wood for early game, cobble and metal for mid-game, and concrete for late game. The beacon has a hp bar like a regular block, and when the hp is gone, the beacon is destroyed. The air drop comes at say 3 or 5pm and you MUST keep the beacon going and defend it from waves of zombies depending on your game stage. If the beacon survives, drop happens at the beacon location and you get the full loot. If you don't have the beacon going by the time of the drop, it does the normal random drop with a reduced loot. So, normal loot is like 2-5 food items and a chance at a book/recipe. Full beacon loot is a sizeable stack of a random ammo, 5-10 food items, a guaranteed book/recipe, and a chance for a at game stage or higher piece of armor or weapon. You could even make the loots bigger and better by increasing the time between the air drops. Of course the loots would totally depend on what Fun Pimps deem appropriate, I'm just riffing. I just feel like the drops are rather inconsequential and don't really add anything substantial to the gameplay other than just something to search out. This could give a horde-day-like experience to the game, add a level of danger and fun to air drops, and give players another risk/reward thing to think about.