1 hour ago, theFlu said:The game does come with a couple tiers of shoveling equipment, making "digging a ditch" rather .. expected. I'd even say encouraged.
I don't disagree with much of that description; I just don't see a moat fitting the bill in any way.
Most of the moats function is not unexpected, there would be no problem if the moat would hinder them for a limited time or cost them a few seconds all the time, but that the zombies run in circles (if set up a certain way) instead of attacking the inner wall of the moat is unexpected.
If there is no path to the player they should not see the outer top of the ditch as a preferable place to the ditch itself but they seem to do, without exception, from your description
Make a ditch only one block deep, make it much deeper so they get at least minimal fall damage, make the exit to somewhere inside the ditch (so the zombies would rightly see the exit as a way to get nearer to you), and the ditch works largely as expected and costs the zombies time just like an electric fence will do. This is how I would expect a ditch to work, as a hindrance costing them time.