Stairs versus Ramps (is one more effective for zombie pathing?)

[walkingwounded]

Using A19.6.

I am trying to identify if making ramps or stairs will work better with zombie pathing. Specifically I am noticing some zombies cannot seem to navigate stairs well (specifically the large tourist zombie and variants thereof), plus the bears seem to not like ramps, spinning around until they finally figure it out. Has anyone done any testing on the various blocks and determined which are best for zombie pathing? I'm presuming some are better than others, but could be wrong.

 

Use case example:

-build a raised platform with one way for zombies to reach me (aka: killing corridor) with a half pyramid of stairs leading to my level

 

I can use full blocks to make the zeds jump, and dogs are able to navigate them, but bears seem unable to navigate them and get stuck at the bottom, forcing me to clear them out when I finally notice the drop in traffic. My second thought was to use the 'small stair' blocks instead, and it seems to help, but not always. There are however 'large stair' blocks (two steps per block instead of four) and of course the wedge shapes (ie: the triangle half block). Would the smooth wedge shapes be easier for zombies to navigate?

 

I did complete a day 7 horde with ramps and it seems the zeds took a liking to my support columns at some point, taking a few out. It could be due to other factors though, I was kind of rushed building it.

 

I will cede it could be the AI being dumb too, I've had a tourist zed walk away from me despite clear line of sight. Felt weird having to chase after it.

[Vaeliorin]

The small stairs or wedges (the ones that go up 1/2 block per block, there are wedges and wedge tips that go together) tend to be the ones that zombies navigate best.  They seem to have problems with ramps, and bears seem to have problems with anything other than flat open ground in my experience.

 

As to the zombies attacking your supports, zombies will sometimes go into "destruction mode" where they just start attacking random/nearest blocks. 

[theFlu]

25 minutes ago, walkingwounded said:

tourist zed walk away from me despite clear line of sight.

Yeh, the tourist AI is a little bonkers at the current A19.. aggro one in a building and observe him digging a hole into a nearby wall and just walk around in the newly-made doorway... in some T5 buildings at least.

[Lenny Lettuce Lips]

Gonna have to try those halfslabs. 

I've always used ramps for my hoarde bases and the only things I've seen that are "odd" is sometimes they will attack the ramp, while at the bottom. As in ramp accessible directly in front of them, and they just smack it instead of step forward. 

 Just my experience

[Roland]

There is no difference that I'm aware of for zombie pathing. They see them as the same thing. Its mainly an aesthetics issue.

 

Possibly an OSHA issue....

[eXSe]

Chonky ones view inclines of any sort as their biggest enemy.

 

[Arthur Fuxache]

My current issue on A19.6 is getting the zombies to take the path of least resistance.

I thought they were supposed to generally follow this........

At the moment mine seem to be intent on smashing through 3 blocks thick of concrete with sheeting front and back rather than just walking in through an open door.

 

[NukemDed]

why is this important? seems to me if you figure it out the game would be less x

 

x could equal:

interesting.

tense on a horde night.

exciting .

rewarding to survive.

fun.

 

i just dont understand the need to fully unpack the ai so you can process the zombies. that seems to me the intent of this thread. what is the point of that? and thats  a question not a criticism 🙂

 

and what about the ones that seem to run away? that cracks me up when that happens. is there some crossover between ai profiles or suchlike where a z inherits a coyote run like a @%$# urge.

 

sniper rifle between the shoulder blades sorts them ha ha

[theFlu]

1 hour ago, NukemDed said:

i just dont understand the need to fully unpack the ai

Different folks.. for me it turned into an arms race of sorts. They were too smart to deal with "just make walls".. they would break a spot and enter from there. Figuring out which spot they'd break was as simple as looking at the damage at first.. plugging that spot just repeats the problem elsewhere. So after a few horde nights, with a little luck, you've accidentally built something that leads them to a "controllable" location.

 

Why Not take that information to your next base? You know the basic one won't work when you're building it, why would you build something that fails predictably?

 

1 hour ago, NukemDed said:

and what about the ones that seem to run away?

I could make a few guesses, but you didn't want to know..?

[meganoth]

2 hours ago, Arthur Fuxache said:

My current issue on A19.6 is getting the zombies to take the path of least resistance.

I thought they were supposed to generally follow this........

At the moment mine seem to be intent on smashing through 3 blocks thick of concrete with sheeting front and back rather than just walking in through an open door.

 

 

They will walk through a door unless something obstructing is before or after the door and the door is reachable and leads to you (i.e. if you are standing on the unreachable roof of the horde base, why should they go through the door?). For example an inclining block directly behind the door or traps that are not level with the doorstep would make the door difficult to pass for the zombies.

 

Maybe take a picture of your setup and post it here.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Arthur Fuxache]

I took out the small stairs into the area and changed it to a ramp, seems to have made a difference now. 
Hopefully nexy horde night should be alot different

 

 

[seagas]

On 11/13/2021 at 10:06 AM, eXSe said:

Chonky ones view inclines of any sort as their biggest enemy.

 

 

Where'd you get that photo of me. LOL

 

[walkingwounded]

Final update from me.

-found the ramps work about the same as the small stairs (no surprise), but the layout of the path is important (a half pyramid does not work as well as a tiered pyramid with access from all four sides [too complicated to explain, so not going to, just try out different things until you find what works for your design])

-basically, use whatever fits the style you are going for

-all the chonkey tourists have pathing issues (in a19.6), hopefully one of the known bugs they will fix for a20. For now just plan a way to clear them out manually during the night (you can often hear them wheezing about).

 

@eXSeI was intentionally avoiding the fat jokes (with great difficulty), but that clip illustrates the issue pretty well.

 

Things may change after a20 with access to all the block shapes. Fingers crossed they have appropriate hitboxes.

[Gazz]

Wedges have a minor advantage in that more blocks have to be destroyed for pathing to become invalid.