Zombie Attributes

[smsldoo]

I think there should be a zombie attribute system to give us more random zombies. Right now when you see a specific zombie you have a good idea of how it is going to act and what you need to do to defeat it. For example fat zombies are always the same, basically stay out of their reach and snipe them in the face if you can. Spider zombies have a glitch in their animation, where if you hit them at the right time you don't take any damage (may apply to other zoms too). All though some of these things would not be fixed by zombies having attributes, it would allow for more variety beside just adding more zombie types. The idea overall would be to assign flags to zombies that would be somewhat randomized. Some flags, such as speed or intelligence, all zombies would have. Other flags could be due to the human died, would be random or could be applied through combat, this would be things like a broken or missing limb, being blind or deaf. Also it would be good to have these attributes interact with each other. For example breaking or removing a leg from a dumb zombie would cause it to have trouble walking towards you (can't figure out why it is not walking straight), where as a smart zombie would figure it out quickly. Some ideas I have so far are: Speed: Slower, Normal, Faster (or could be a number). Zombie types and other attributes would also alter the final speed value. Intelligence (would mainly effect pathfinding): - Brain Dead: May walk mindlessly towards an object does not react when it hits a wall, would walk off a cliff, etc. (kinda like roving hords now) - Stupid: May have better pathfinding, but would still prefer the shortest route. IE not know the difference between a door and a wall, durability would not effect pathfinding. - Normal: Have even better pathfinding, may follow other zombies if they have found a way inside. Durability may affect how the zombie moves. - Smart: Will have more advanced tactics, such as flanking or taking safer routes at the expense of distance. Would attempt to avoid basic / obvious traps. May hide behind other zombies until they are closer to the player. Heck, it may even figure out how to open a door :P. Not saying that they need human level inteligence, but would be smart enough to know standing on spiky things is bad. If we get mechnical traps it would still likely trigger those. Hunger: Would be more like a gage, that may start at a random value and then change over time. A zombie that just fed on a deer would be less likely to want to track a player across the map. A starving zombie may also go feral and start attacking anything it sees or hears, including other zombies. Status effects: - Broken or missing legs: May impact speed or movement, both legs broken could force it to crawl. - Broken of missing arms: Would impact damage, or even allow the zombie to not be able to break blocks. - Blind: Would not be able to detect a players movement by sight - Deaf: Would not be able to detect a players movement by sound If a zombie was missing his legs and arms, we could throw them in water and name them Bob. Other effects could be applied also such as being on fire. The zombie virus could even have stages beyond being turned. As it is right now applying effects may not be as useful, seeing as most zombies don't survive long. But it does open up other opportunities to deal with or even use zombies. For example you could have a cliff where brain dead zombies fall and break their legs (basically becoming crawlers), that would not work on smarter zombies. This would also would allow for things like walling in a armless zombie, it would starve and attack the first zombie that breaks through the defenses (guard zombies). Overall this would make hordes a lot more fearsome. Knowing that I can direct zombies just by walking around gets really boring. Having dumb zombies that get stuck on things or smart zombies that try to flank you would help with this a lot. But just creating a new zombie type makes it too easy to figure out what it is going to do. Also if randomized events happened in the surrounding areas it may apply status effects to multiple zombies. IE they may have just fed, or a tree fell and maimed a bunch of zombies in an area. Areas with rubble would be more likely to have zombies with missing limbs, due to collapses. This would also play well with the new clearing system. If you leave a nearby area uncleared for long enough the zombies will be more likely to wander and try to find food. If tracked globally, it could allow for a natural progression, or alternatively to create a 'safe' bubble where hungry zombies may be sated. Basically this would give us a system where there is more variety, not just in when things spawn, but how the spawn acts. Overall this should not be too hard to do, since we already have status effects that can be applied to players.

[Jill]

+1 fascinating idea

[VampirioLash]

This would be awesome!

[Peter34]

In addition to Arm Damage as a binary thing, Hale/Damaged, I'd also very much like t see Claw Damage as a matter of degree. Claw Damage should start at 10 for a normal zombie, representing 100% damage done. But every time a zombie attacks a block (not a player character, Deer or other soft target) it should have a probability of suffering Claw Damage, so that it drops by 1 or even 2 (e.g. when attacking a maximum-tier concrete or cobblestone block, or evne 3 for a pure metal block), after that doing less damage to all targets. A zombie with Claw Damage zero can only punch, not rake, and can't damage blocks at all. Individual zombies can still vary, so some start with 5 or 8 Claw Damage, others with 12 or 15 or even 20.

[Combo77]

Good idea! Atm the zeds are too predictable. Maybe combine this with a random appearance like different sizes, skin colors, clothes. (like Marts Mutant Mod for Fallout 3)

[Phalanx]

Great idea. Giving the Z´ random attributes would really really make a huge difference i think. For every bit the Z´s become more intelligent or unpredictable, we have to adapt to them in basebuilding- and fightingstyle. Maybe even in positioning, tactics and stuff, if the smart ones would be able to flank you, while the dumbasses run straight towards you :) Pimps, do it! Put it on the "to do in the future" list please!

[smsldoo]

[QUOTE=Peter34;133344]In addition to Arm Damage as a binary thing, Hale/Damaged, I'd also very much like t see Claw Damage as a matter of degree. Claw Damage should start at 10 for a normal zombie, representing 100% damage done. But every time a zombie attacks a block (not a player character, Deer or other soft target) it should have a probability of suffering Claw Damage, so that it drops by 1 or even 2 (e.g. when attacking a maximum-tier concrete or cobblestone block, or evne 3 for a pure metal block), after that doing less damage to all targets. A zombie with Claw Damage zero can only punch, not rake, and can't damage blocks at all. Individual zombies can still vary, so some start with 5 or 8 Claw Damage, others with 12 or 15 or even 20.[/QUOTE] Not a bad idea, alternatively you could have it so that harder materials have a larger chance of breaking bones. Would not take very many punches against a brick wall to break both of your arms. Although this may make harder materials too strong, since it would take a lot more zombies to be a treat. If a zombie broke both of their arms, they would still be able to bite, which would allow them to deal some damage still. [QUOTE=Combo77;133497]Good idea! Atm the zeds are too predictable. Maybe combine this with a random appearance like different sizes, skin colors, clothes. (like Marts Mutant Mod for Fallout 3)[/QUOTE] Yep, I was thinking that you could still have some special zombies that have certain base skills (ie spiders). But the more generic zombies could be removed and randomized. This would give you the best of both worlds. As it is now, it just takes a quick look to know how combat is going to flow. I can stand in a certain spot and have zombies lined up with little effort. [QUOTE=Phalanx;134033]Great idea. Giving the Z´ random attributes would really really make a huge difference i think. For every bit the Z´s become more intelligent or unpredictable, we have to adapt to them in basebuilding- and fightingstyle. Maybe even in positioning, tactics and stuff, if the smart ones would be able to flank you, while the dumbasses run straight towards you :) Pimps, do it! Put it on the "to do in the future" list please![/QUOTE] I think it will make a huge difference in play-ability and immersion. Would be fairly trivial to have more than one pathfinding algorithm, which would as a byproduct make the zombies feel more intelligent. Also, if 'smart' zombies had the ability to perceive 3D space (really easy to do), they could do simple things that the players can do, such as jumping a 1 block gap in a path.