Zombie Intellegence and Behavior

[7kingMeta 2]

Zombie Intelligence and Behavior

The strategy guide of the brain-dead.

In this thread, I'd like to hypothesize some instinctive actions zombies might take, which will optimise the chances of their survival in ideal situations. Even with the most rudimentary impulses, a zombie can be an effective killer in the right terrain. And given that the wrong zombie in the wrong place won't survive, successful behavior will become more apparent over time and will appear strategic. Adding this to their AI in the Standalone version of DayZ can only add to a more immersive and sophisticated game-play, and might render some terrain as “too scary to trespass” to unequipped players.

The No Legs Strategy

Waiting for your prey is the only strategy that plants are able to use and an equally viable strategy for zombies without a lower body. Consuming less energy to stay undead by staying immobile, these zombies can turn their disability to an advantage. Like a crocodile lurking in fresh water ponds, a zombie can ensure their survival by staying undetected until a prey gets withing arms reach. This will be very effective in tall grass or in moist environments like swamps, because nothing suits a rotting corpse more then a nifty layer of moss. Attacking a human being at their vulnerable ankles also compromising their escapes, especially in a zombie-infested swamp.

Tree-hugging

Some zombies like the shade, instinctively looking up a cool patch of darkness, like a moth responds to a flame. These zombies will obstruct themselves from someones line of sight in ideal situations by taking cover in the shade of trees. Similar to the No Legs Strategy, a group of zombie hunter-gatherers roaming a sparse forest can rely on seer patience to survive and form an effective dead-trap for those who travel opposite to the sun.

In a denser, darker forest, certain hordes of zombies might simply prefer to roam at night and chose to lean on trees for support during the day. Organically causing better configurations to stay undetected from the living until they unknowingly pass by and find themselves surrounded. Some might even panic, fire their weapons and compromise their escape further by waking even more zombies from their slumber.

Creeping

There's no reason for the Homo Coprophagus Somnambulu to have a strict fight-or-flee reaction to the sight of an approaching meal. Unlike a straight-forward charge, some \might respond by slowly creeping towards the living at a more perpendicular angle. A zombie with a slightly higher capacity for learning might have understood that walking with limbs affected by rigor mortis goes easier with the support of nearby walls. This behavior will make it more likely that the zombie is partially concealed, giving it more time to creep towards their target. If the zombie is not detected initially, their slow pace towards a moving person will most likely position them further behind that person's line of sight. This will result at an even more successful angle for the zombie to approach their target. If said person decided to stop moving forward or take a break the zombie might be inspired to attack. This strategy might be most successful against scavengers that are preoccupied with inspecting the area ahead of them for loot, while neglecting areas they have previously passed and so stay unaware of the creeping zombie(s).

An alternative scenario arises when a scavenger runs into more zombies and is attacked, the presence of more zombies will inspire the creep to attack and also give the creep a more favorable angle of approach in a direct charge. This reaction might also be occur when a target manages to get stalked by multiple zombies and one of them decides to strike and doing so causes a chain reaction.

Cannibalism

There's no need to go into this any further, who doesn't wanna see zombies fighting and eating each-other?

On that note: wouldn't it be great if you had the ability to catch zombies alive? And wouldn't it be great if you had a cage for your cannibal zombie? And wouldn't it be even greater if that cage already had a cannibal zombie in it?

I have run out of ideas at the moment. Please share your ideas for other possible behavior and I'll add them to this post.

Edited February 7, 2013 by 7kingMeta

[TheBanditBambi 5]

Good Ideas:)

[Droidlife 11]

1. Nerf zombie vision and hearing alertness. Being a mindlessly wandering husk of a human being with your body gradually deteriorating should not make you "sharp". Eye-sight and hearing should go down over time. I suspect the devs are working on this for the SA because of the mention of a zombie "life cycle".

2. Have zombies "cluster" when they appear in large numbers. The movement and groans and grunts of their com-padres should trigger "interest" that makes them move towards the source of these sounds, making them cluster together over time to form large congregations and "hordes".

3. When agitated by player actions such as running past, firing guns, throwing grenades and flares and making a ruckus the zombies should not be able to make a b-line towards the player in an unrealistic manner. The infected should not behave like the "Hunter" in Left 4 Dead and zero in on the player straight away. They should get agitated, start growling and "communicating" with other zeds nearby and flail around and look for the source of the agitation, not magically make a b-line straight for the player.

4. Gun shots should not give away the players position to the zeds, but should make them highly agitated so they start running around and PERHAPS find the player according to the rules of line of sight etc.(This would make firing guns to thin out zed numbers around desirable loot locations a more viable strategy, and a fun strategy to boot)

5. Zeds should be more easily suckered by zig zaging around structures an through bushes and in forests etc, but losing a bunch of zeds should not immediately revert them back to their idle state. They should remain agitated for a period of time, running around in all directions looking for the source of the agitation so that the area remains a danger zone for some time.

My thoughts.

[±Traditore± 17]

Zombies shouldn't attack eachother in my opinion, unless they're recently turned and stink of the living.

[scoffield77@gmail.com 192]

I really like these idea's.. These zombies arn't cliche dead people who can't think... They are humans with a sickness... A little bit of critical thinking would go a long way.

As far as the Cannibalism... I would LOVE to see a mid-infected zombie.

A long time ago I posted about this... A zombie who's not really a infected yet, but isn't human.

Loves the shade, hides in corners... get's really annoyed easily, can 'yell!' in broken English/Russian, goes berserk on everything that comes near it. I think that would be cool.. but zombies just attacking zombies would be silly.

[7kingMeta 2]

2. Have zombies "cluster" when they appear in large numbers. The movement and groans and grunts of their com-padres should trigger "interest" that makes them move towards the source of these sounds, making them cluster together over time to form large congregations and "hordes".

Wouldn't a zombie horde work counter-productive in the long run? A large mass of zombies is easily spotted, and the distribution of resources will quickly starve out most of the horde. I do believe that there is power in numbers, and it seems more then logical that grunting noises of a zombie will spark the interest of other zombies so I agree that the behavior would occur regardless.

Then again, there's also the potential for more emergent behavior coming out of a horde. The inherent self-destructiveness of hording together would very quickly cause the horde to become underfed, and thus greatly agitated, and the sparse resources to be distributed in a large group would probably reward very violent behavior. So by the time the first zeds start to starve to a more permanent death, the horde would probably go on a full blown rampage, roaming and tearing down building is a desperate search for food. Probably tearing down fortified defenses if they get implemented in the game. The last zeds standing would definitely be the most aggressive and fittest zombies out of a very large sample of zombies - and adapted to hunting in an eventually smaller and more efficient group. They potentially had an unfair advantage to survive that long - like wearing protective clothing. (inb4 bullet-proof zombies)

Edited February 8, 2013 by 7kingMeta

[DemonGroover 8836]

One thing i have always wondered about the Infected is why they behave like classic, slow moving zombies when there are no players (ie food) around but immediately turn Usain Bolt psycho when a player is spotted.

When not chasing prey couldn't some of them jog around a bit, a few sprint around, a few lie on the ground, some walk and a few be seen banging their heads on walls.....just to spice it up a bit and make them appear a bit more deranged, brain addled and not so predictive?

[captainwaffles 41]

I would have to agree with demongrover it would give the zeds some charecter not just patrolling AI

[Jars (DayZ) 63]

I guess it all depends what is happening to their physiology as a result of the virus .

What's going wrong with their brain to make them this way , while the other organs seem to continue functioning to maintain life .

All will soon be revealed hopefully ....