Zombie Pack-Like Behavior

[King of kong 1117]

Hello. I think it would be interesting if the infected had some sort of pack-like behavior, maybe with a hierarchy of some sorts (No, I'm not talking Boss Enemies).

- Small roaming packs of infected Ranging from 4-6-10 infected. Varying states: Hungry, Weak, Starving. Behavior depending on state: Fit, Slow, Addled, Raging, Maniacal. 

- Pack Leaders + Their Lieutenants. (Not Boss Zombies) The leader takes the largest share of the kill along with his Lietenants, therefore- They are slightely faster and more dangerous.

- Townie Packs. These are packs of infected who stick to towns. Their state is determined by their proximity to high-traffic areas

- Coast Wanderers: These Packs roam the coast in search of the unfortunate souls that wash up on the coast. They may do battle with other zombie gangs if they encounter each-other.

- The packs spawn on server Restart. Each pack has a "Morale" system. Every time a pack member dies, another may try to mutinee against the pack leader and/or wander from the pack. Every time the group feasts it's morale and fitness/hunger will be raised. Thus, making them faster and more dangerous.

Well please do tell me what you think. I know alot of people won't like the idea. But I think it would be kind of interesting to see.

 

[kevsta545 451]

I really like all of these ideas other than the part about the zombie-gang wars, while it sounds awesome it doesn't feel like it fits in dayz to me,

[King of kong 1117]

I understand. Although I'm sure since they're still human and say, one pack encounters another pack. The 2 fight over a dead survivor group. I think it make sense 4 them to fight over food.

[creeperbane 26]

Nah zeds just go for the flesh.  They don't have the mental cognition to realize another creature might get it first.

[Cormyr 39]

I could go for this. In fact I have been thinking of ways to have zombies in groups wander the land. What I mean is, they enter the map from the outside. The next town or city down the highway (which is not part of the game map..) has been emptied of any living being, so their zombie instinct dictates that they move on in search of something or someone to eat.

[Cormyr 39]

Nah zeds just go for the flesh.  They don't have the mental cognition to realize another creature might get it first.

 

Yeah but completely mindless zombies are boring and far to easy to kill etc..  IMHO.

[Deathwind (DayZ) 28]

Oh boy I like this

[Deathwind (DayZ) 28]

Totally new feel. Surprised this hasn't been implemented. Smart thinking! Take my beans!

[enforcer1975 1111]

Where is the red light district pack...the one that screams "PEEEEENIS!!!" when they run after you :lol:

[mick17 93]

Roaming hordes have been confirmed. I don't think the pack 'hierarchy' would really fit into DayZ though. I like all zombies being free to do whatever they want whenever. More dynamic that way. Your suggestion would leave huge swaths of the map unpopulated because of the patrol or set area they are programmed to. The current way they want them to work sounds awesome to me. They just go after scents, sounds and sights making them very dynamic.

[King of kong 1117]

Roaming hordes have been confirmed. I don't think the pack 'hierarchy' would really fit into DayZ though. I like all zombies being free to do whatever they want whenever. More dynamic that way. Your suggestion would leave huge swaths of the map unpopulated because of the patrol or set area they are programmed to. The current way they want them to work sounds awesome to me. They just go after scents, sounds and sights making them very dynamic.

I suppose you're right in some ways. Maybe forget coast wanderering packs and just have free-roaming ones.

I myself don't like the idea of shuffling hordes. I like the idea of these packs of infected who still retain enough sanity to work together and act superior to the underdogs. Would make the game more challenging.

[King of kong 1117]

I feel that it'd be nice if the leaders and their lieutenants were only lightly diseased and the underdogs kind of follow them around. The leaders+Lefties take the largest cut from the prey, while the older, more diseased ones get fuck-all. Pack leaders'd be faster and detect you easily. 

[mick17 93]

I don't know if this is what you are talking about, but they arr going to be implementing (it was at least discussed and put on the to do list) zombies in various stages of the disease. Such as very early the infected are fast and strong etc... and there will be infected that are father in the disease who are starving and won't be as powerful.

[Cormyr 39]

Roaming hordes have been confirmed. I don't think the pack 'hierarchy' would really fit into DayZ though. I like all zombies being free to do whatever they want whenever. More dynamic that way. Your suggestion would leave huge swaths of the map unpopulated because of the patrol or set area they are programmed to. The current way they want them to work sounds awesome to me. They just go after scents, sounds and sights making them very dynamic.

 

I would not like to see all zombies be in these packs. I would prefer if there are packs on the map, some that wander onto the map from outside, and the really dumb zombies wandering around in search of something to eat. What I see is not a pocket of zombies in this town.. then another in the next town and nothing in between. A good mix of packs and loners (although there would be enough loners around in an area that it would almost appear that they are in a pack, just they act independent without any group mentality). Would that not be even more dynamic?  ;)

[Cormyr 39]

I don't know if this is what you are talking about, but they arr going to be implementing (it was at least discussed and put on the to do list) zombies in various stages of the disease. Such as very early the infected are fast and strong etc... and there will be infected that are father in the disease who are starving and won't be as powerful.

 

Stages of infection - nice. Good way to have some which are somewhat intelligent (not that they would be writing any novels etc.. lol) and have some type of social skills, enough to group together and follow a leader. Maybe some even have memories of being alive? Thus they could do things like use melee weapons... kinda..  and defend themselves a bit better then aimlessly charging forward and drooling / screaming.

[Dr.Duff 211]

Would lag like shit.

[King of kong 1117]

I would not like to see all zombies be in these packs. I would prefer if there are packs on the map, some that wander onto the map from outside, and the really dumb zombies wandering around in search of something to eat. What I see is not a pocket of zombies in this town.. then another in the next town and nothing in between. A good mix of packs and loners (although there would be enough loners around in an area that it would almost appear that they are in a pack, just they act independent without any group mentality). Would that not be even more dynamic?  ;)

I never said just-packs. There'd still be regular loner Z's.

[King of kong 1117]

Would lag like shit.

It wouldn't. They said they're going to have roaming hordes (not packs, which are smaller), and surely they're going to work around the lag in some way.

[NagsterTheGangster 388]

Fantastic idea, however I believe this would take a long time to implement properly into the game, not something they could just do over a couple weeks. But I do love the idea, being able to identify packs would make certain people a valuable asset and would definately make looting easier as you could know if you have enough time to run them out 100ft and loot whatever you drew them away from.

[Cormyr 39]

I never said just-packs. There'd still be regular loner Z's.

 

 

I was responding to mick17, not you dude.  :P

[King of kong 1117]

I was responding to mick17, not you dude.   :P

Oh, sory. Maybe use the quote button

[mick17 93]

I would not like to see all zombies be in these packs. I would prefer if there are packs on the map, some that wander onto the map from outside, and the really dumb zombies wandering around in search of something to eat. What I see is not a pocket of zombies in this town.. then another in the next town and nothing in between. A good mix of packs and loners (although there would be enough loners around in an area that it would almost appear that they are in a pack, just they act independent without any group mentality). Would that not be even more dynamic? ;)

From what I understand the way hordes are going to be formed is if loud noises and lots of scents make allot of infected curious and they start traveling towards the noise/scent. As far as I can tell every infected is a loner and stays a loner even if it travels in the same direction as 40 other infected are going.

[Invy 3]

correct, hordes are formed by lots of them grouping coz they are going in the same dirrection. If ppl want this is to spawn thousands of zombies, slow them down, and increase their hearing sense maybe even to a level that we players hear the gun shots from really big distances. If they hear gun shot the start moving into that dirrection. The biggest flaw of this would be abusing it quite easily, you go on edge of town shoot few times, zombies will leave the town and the player have lots of time to loot the place.

 

The only thing is can think of to prevent this is to make 50% super hearing zombies and the rest normal ones. So half of them will go to teh gun shot the rest will stay in place.

 

Anyway that needs freaking big number of zombies in the game. Doubt that standalone will can handle that:D

[Cormyr 39]

Oh, sory. Maybe use the quote button

 

Go back and look dude. I did lol

[Cormyr 39]

correct, hordes are formed by lots of them grouping coz they are going in the same dirrection. If ppl want this is to spawn thousands of zombies, slow them down, and increase their hearing sense maybe even to a level that we players hear the gun shots from really big distances. If they hear gun shot the start moving into that dirrection. The biggest flaw of this would be abusing it quite easily, you go on edge of town shoot few times, zombies will leave the town and the player have lots of time to loot the place.

 

The only thing is can think of to prevent this is to make 50% super hearing zombies and the rest normal ones. So half of them will go to teh gun shot the rest will stay in place.

 

Anyway that needs freaking big number of zombies in the game. Doubt that standalone will can handle that:D

 

Yeah I got that and I think the OP gets that. But this pack idea adds another layer to the zombies. Groups that stick together and follow a leader which maybe has not been infected for so long and thus is a little smarter etc..  So they may or may not follow gun shots etc.. maybe they would already be on their way to another location because they heard or saw something there. They would not be so easily controlled by players. My addition to the OPs idea was to have hordes that come from outside of the map and wander into the closest town (depending on where they entered the map), or maybe the closest thing is a player base. Just adds more random events into the game. Instead of just one form of zombies to deal with, you have multiple which may or may not act different then the usual loner zombies who only group because they are going for the same noise or whatever.