Suggestions from a medical standpoint + assorted ideas.

[HrcAk47 11]

As of 1.7.X.X, zombies seem to have supernatural abilities beyond being undead.

Therefore, allow me to present a couple of concepts regarding gameplay.

1. Acute zombie vision, from a medical standpoint, is impossible. They should use HEARING as their MAIN ability to find survivors.

Elaboration: Normal zombie has gray deteriorating skin. That is because of the ischemia of the skin - that is, no blood flow through it. The EYES should suffer from it too - zombie should be blind. Actually, in cases of ischemia IRL, central nervous system and eyes are the first organs to fail. Not only that, but post mortem, rapid keratinization of the cornea ensues - therefore zombies have the white eyes, as already presented ingame. Because of that, one would expect almost total blindness in a zombie. And that is actually very canon, since zombies in Resident Evil, Highschool of the Dead and a lot of other works on the topic feature blind zombies. Zombies that see me at 300 or more meters kinda put me off. An addition to the vision is that color photosensitive cells (cones) would die out first. But, for fun reasons, I'd suggest that zombies do get a limited vision for bright light. So that we avoid players shining terawatt flashlights into their faces without making a problem.

Bonus: Make zombies unable to see RED LIGHT - so that newb players can use RED GLOWSTICKS and MILITARY FLASHLIGHTS as an excellent, nearly vital part of night raiding. Flares do not count, due to their hissing sound, as explained later.

Moving on. Central ischemia would have another benefactory role to zombie perception of the world. Breakdown of cells would release a vast quantity of potassium ions inside of the cochlea, and theoretically speaking, would allow a hyper acute sense of hearing in an undead individual. (Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereocilia_(inner_ear) )

That would allow for many things that are already ingame to make sense. Acute hearing would allow zombies to hear a player running over asphalt better than him running across the field. Roadflares and their hissing sound would make zombies attracted due to the sound. Tin cans and whiskey bottles would be used for that purpose only. Interesting addition would be adding a hissing sound effect to the 40 mm flare round. So, when raiding a city, a survivor packing a M203 launcher would go and pop a flare into the sky, which would make zombies turn around to it and be amazed.

Bonus to that: add M79 Grenade launcher ingame (very rare), to the sidearm slot. It would not be useful for zombie/player killing due to rarity of explosive rounds, but it would be sweet for night raiding, if you implement the 40 mm flare idea.

Above reasons would REMOVE all the problems you currently have with zombie vision, dear Rocket, and allow you to dedicate some more time to improving other aspects of this wonderful mod. Shooting and running in the cities would still be super dangerous, and zombies would aggro even more zombies with their growls while running at you.

2. Editing of the health system.

I already made a topic regarding that, but it drowned in other suggestions. Therefore, shameless self bump. http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3275

3. Variation in zombie abilities.

I realize that it's still Alpha, and all, but here's an idea that might prove to be useful later.

Not all zombies should be equally fast. I know that runners are faster than hoppers, but not all runners should be Usain Bolt. Also, I'd like to see military armored zombies a tad more difficult to kill. They wear standard military body armor. Hits from pistol ammo (9x19 (M9, Glock, MP5...), 9x18 (Makarov), .45 ACP (Colt, Revolver), and shotgun pellets) should not be able to kill military zombies through their helmet or body armor. Headshots and limb shots should still be effective. Rifle rounds are a whole other story though, though. Also, they should be a tad slower than other zombies. We don't want them too imba, though.

Bonus. Pilot zombies (super rare, anyway) could have a higher-than-usual chance of having a NVG on them. Consider it. :)

4. Expanding the Arsenal.

Chernarus is an Eastern bloc country. I suggest adding more of the local weapons, and cosmetic variations on them. For example, AKMS (folding buttstock - just to show some variety), Mosin-Nagant, shortened version of the double barreled shotgun, PPSH41 SMG (super rare super effective SMG for urban combat), Silenced Makarov (A rare prestige weapon), TT33 handgun (super common - also, its 7.62x25 ammo is certified to penetrate ANY body armor - in conjunction to the armored zombie idea), RPG-7, RPG-18, 9K32 Strela (Yes, they are super useless. However, one could expect to find them in military areas - just because there's a zombie invasion, doesn't mean that they should be gone), SVD without camo (Camo'd SVD should remain a super rare prestige weapon), Vz58 (Czech AKM) and Vz61 Scorpion (Imo, a far better alternative to the PDW). These weapons (mostly) exist in Arma, so it shouldn't be a problem adding them to the game. They will allow for variety.

5. Concept of hyperthermia and ghillie suits.

Current best temperature is 42 degs C. Physiology says that your brain gets irreversibly damaged at that temperature. Normal is from 36-38. Below, player should start shivering and get infection and cold and whatnot. But, above, player should get blurry vision, shaking, chances of falling unconcious, and maybe even chance of sudden death above 42. Temperature should raise much faster when you wear a ghillie suit, so that it can be balanced down in efficiency.

Player can warm up with heatpacks. I suggest that he cools down by using soda and water canteens, say, 1.5 degs down per bottle/can.

6. Died from zombies? Looting yourself will pose a problem.

So. I'm thinking of a 50% chance that, after being mauled and munched by zombies, your (dead) body could become undead (or infected with virus or whatever... reanimated, anyway). Via the script, you should make the body drop the main weapon (to avoid messing up the animation system), and "reviving" your former body to walk around the area where you got killed. I imagine that could be interesting.

So, those are my suggestions, I will edit this later. Please comment!

[Renegade0260 3]

All good ideas, but Zds need to be able to have a limited visual range depeneding on lighting conditions. I.e. 20m in full daylight on a road (no obstructions), 5m at night.

[Zeromentor 169]

Yeah, I tried to explain the Zed's crazy aggro as "They see black and white, sky is white and ground is black. Your silhouette is easy to spot when you stand and the zombies scramble to it, when they are close they smell and hear you, and when you run they easily keep on you."

It makes some sense, and sort of explains nighttime encounters (why shining a light in their eyes does not send them straight at your throat, because pitch black becomes white, but there is still not a silhouette to chase).

As it is, though, this game's 'Zombies' are not undead rotting humans, but people infected with some kind of virus or bacteria, and are enraged and extremely aggressive. We have no idea what this invader does to the host body, and it could even defy natural laws as we know them. Or with a more simple explanation- This is a Game.

And last, I'm sure there will be more guns added later. The DayZ Devs are doing quite a lot as it is, and I would expect that more weapons will be added as other issues are dealt with.

[Guest]

Or a A doctor outfit with a bloody breast :D

[sandwich (DayZ) 0]

I like how you think.

Re: Temperature - the simple solution is to have physiological effects that are in a more realistic range, but tracked much more finely, say to within .1 of a degree. The fine tracking is required to allow players to 'notice' when they're getting cold/hot without actually having to suffer ill effects, then you can set points at which shivering, chattering teeth (audible to both zeds and humans) numbness/clumsiness (dropped weapons are no good for anyone) and eventual unconsciousness set in.

Imagine this: you find someone in the woods, he appears to be dead. You 'examine' the body, and the game reports back that the body is cold. He's covered in blood, but it could be his, or zombies, or other players. There are no visible bullet wounds.

He could have died quite some time ago, or he could just be unconscious from hypothermia and be in need of warming up.

Shoot him in the head and put him out of his misery? Start a fire and see if he gets better? Just keep walking?

Just DayZ giving you more hard choices to make.

[combatcomm1 234]

I hate to tell you after you very well written op but uh these zombies arent actulley dead or dieing/decaying.

These zombies are infected with a virus. That makes them rage and want to kill you eat ur flesh. Much like the infected in 28 days and weeks later. A great movie. I prefer this kind of story set up overall as its more "realistic". Think of it as a mix between ebola and rabies. He may have to tweak thier presentation to really get away with the virus angle tho as they really do present themselves like the fantasy undead zombies.

Eitherway good post

[leo235 2]

I like how you think.

Re: Temperature - the simple solution is to have physiological effects that are in a more realistic range' date=' but tracked much more finely, say to within .1 of a degree. The fine tracking is required to allow players to 'notice' when they're getting cold/hot without actually having to suffer ill effects, then you can set points at which shivering, chattering teeth (audible to both zeds and humans) numbness/clumsiness (dropped weapons are no good for anyone) and eventual unconsciousness set in.

Imagine this: you find someone in the woods, he appears to be dead. You 'examine' the body, and the game reports back that the body is cold. He's covered in blood, but it could be his, or zombies, or other players. There are no visible bullet wounds.

He could have died quite some time ago, or he could just be unconscious from hypothermia and be in need of warming up.

Shoot him in the head and put him out of his misery? Start a fire and see if he gets better? Just keep walking?

Just DayZ giving you more hard choices to make.

[/quote']

Love the idea, but that would mean you have to have another player who just sits in front of his screen for 30 minutes waiting if maybe some random passerby comes through the forest and makes a fire...

[HrcAk47 11]

VictorM, I concluded that they are dead(ish) due to the fact that they have grayish/pale skin, and that they have no visible pupils. That leads me to believe that they are ischemic, therefore blind for all practical purposes :)