Zombie respawn rate

[midhaven 0]

So I was clearing a small town with about 8 houses, can't remember wich one it was exacly. Killed every single zombie I could find. I made noice everywhere to attract all of them.

In one house I found a backpack wich was bigger than the one I had. So I figured I'd go back and pick up the stuff in the other buildings I had left behind.

But when I got back outside the whole town was swarming with zombies again.

Is it intended for the zombies to constantly respawn?

Wouldn't it be better if once all the zombies have been killed they won't respawn for quite some time or untill the town doesn't have any players within a certain radius.

With the respawn rate this game apparently has right now, sniping zombies from a safe distance just seems to be a waste of bullets, as once you approach the town the ones you've killed will be back.

[Viri (DayZ) 1]

I've noticed this too, and I have been wondering about the spawn rates.

Obviously, a town of infected would consist more of 30 or so enemies (ones that initially spawn), but maybe the respawns could be in waves?

eg; 3-5 waves of zombies until it hits a cap, then they dont spawn in the town for a few more hours or something (along with the loot.)

Because as the spawns are now, there really isn't a point to shooting in larger towns, as you'll just be faced with a never ending hoard, at least that's how it feels, I'd like some clarification on this subject.

All in all I agree, the spawns need some tweaking, or at least someone needs to explain how they exactly work.

[bacon55 (DayZ) 2]

Signed up just to comment on this.

Killed every zombie in Kamenka (accidentally had to, got too close to one while stealth), and within less than a minute they were all back.

That's ridiculous. Half an hour would be more appropriate, or a steady respawn rate).

10% of every zombie on the map was crowding around those docks. Not sure how the spawn works.

IE I know that towns without players don't actually have zombies yet, there is a trigger based on proximity, but the respawn based on that proximity seems to be way off what would be reasonable, even compared to Dead Rising which had uber respawning zombies.

[BTK (DayZ) 12]

I have to agree on this.

It's a bit too fast. I spend about an hour today in the same town (was waiting for a friend there, i was kinda trapped), and there were almost non-stop zombies present.

[sgtsnug 26]

I whole heartedly agree that the zombie spawn rate is set too high, I've had it occur to me that I'll have cleared a small village, about to pop the last one then all a sudden I'm surrounded again as if I've done nothing.

Perhaps at the very least a 15 minute gap? so you can get in clean house, loot, and get out? and not long after if someone wanders by they get to do the same.

[Midaychi 9]

Maybe. What might work is some modified version of one of the insurgency maps that ace servers usually run on.

Basically, the map is divided into lots of areas of influence, which insurgents spawn in. These are oddly shaped and usually centered around places they can bunker down. The USMC's goal on these maps is to reach these areas and kill all the insurgents in that bit of territory (or arrest.. I guess. Very unlikely. I think its possible but super hard and annoying to do, just better to shoot.). When they have, the area will turn green and no more insurgents will spawn there.

What might work for this mod is invisible 'zed territory influence'. Basically, kill zombies, but more will spawn unless you take them ALL out. Once you do, it goes into wave mode which spawns a wave every so often. You can then reduce and/or slow these waves by killing them, occupying the area with players, and placing tents (and future placeables) within that area. The end result would be a small territory free of zambies.

To balance this out, you probably would have to make it so that rare items spawn less frequently in those held areas as the zombie horde dies off, to the point where maybe only food and water and common ammo spawn among the sea of tin cans. Meaning you'd have to venture out to zombie controlled area to get the better items.

It would also keep the places where the best rare items spawn, mostly free of occupation, or at least culled by the locals. Reason being, if people occupy it then rare ammo and weapons and stuff spawn less! Thusly, kill the people that occupy it, problem fixed.

Further, you could make zombies start to take over again if enough players die in that territory, or it goes unoccupied or low occupation for long enough.

Lastly, they should probably try to kill tents (and future fortification if any) to reduce their influence.

[norton86 0]

Maybe. What might work is some modified version of one of the insurgency maps that ace servers usually run on.

Basically' date=' the map is divided into lots of areas of influence, which insurgents spawn in. These are oddly shaped and usually centered around places they can bunker down. The USMC's goal on these maps is to reach these areas and kill all the insurgents in that bit of territory (or arrest.. I guess. Very unlikely. I think its possible but super hard and annoying to do, just better to shoot.). When they have, the area will turn green and no more insurgents will spawn there.

What might work for this mod is invisible 'zed territory influence'. Basically, kill zombies, but more will spawn unless you take them ALL out. Once you do, it goes into wave mode which spawns a wave every so often. You can then reduce and/or slow these waves by killing them, occupying the area with players, and placing tents (and future placeables) within that area. The end result would be a small territory free of zambies.

To balance this out, you probably would have to make it so that rare items spawn less frequently in those held areas as the zombie horde dies off, to the point where maybe only food and water and common ammo spawn among the sea of tin cans. Meaning you'd have to venture out to zombie controlled area to get the better items.

It would also keep the places where the best rare items spawn, mostly free of occupation, or at least culled by the locals. Reason being, if people occupy it then rare ammo and weapons and stuff spawn less! Thusly, kill the people that occupy it, problem fixed.

Further, you could make zombies start to take over again if enough players die in that territory, or it goes unoccupied or low occupation for long enough.

Lastly, they should probably try to kill tents (and future fortification if any) to reduce their influence.

[/quote']

Love this idea!

[midhaven 0]

Let's make an example.

Small towns have about 5 to 10 houses, these are the type of towns you should be able to walk around in for a while after you've cleared them out.

What if once you've killed off every single zombie in the town (say 10 of them in this case) it would start a random spawn timer. Wich will at some point within 5 to 15 minutes spawn 10-30% of the original spawn (in this case 1-3 zombies) and from there the town would slowly repopulate itself to it's original ammount of zombies.

This way the towns won't be completely safe once cleared but you won't have to deal with another horde.

[redraptorx 0]

How about after you cleared a town a group of zombies spawn at a random location outside of town and starts walking back towards the town to refill it with zombies.

[oktyabr 53]

How about after you cleared a town a group of zombies spawn at a random location outside of town and starts walking back towards the town to refill it with zombies.

Yup, good idea.

I almost opened a new thread on this but how about having more zombies spawn at random locations along the "dry" borders of the map (since players can't go beyond that area anyway) and then have them head towards the coast until they either encounter players (then just have them linger around that area) or a developed area like a base, village, etc.

I'm starting to get the feeling that this mod will one day have a back story to it and it's sounding more and more as if the DayZ time is not during the initial onset of the infection but rather possibly years after the first days. Having zombines move onto the Chernarus map from *outside* it would reflect the idea that they are migrating to where they will find food... the players. This would also keep the zombie population high without having waves of zombies respawning constantly in a town you just cleared.

Someone else mentioned "minecraft" in another thread and I'll use it here too. The survival mode in minecraft makes things MUCH more dangerous at night. The zombies in DayZ could be similar, moving around more and in greater numbers after dark. You could even throw in a bad time modifier like the occasional thunderstorm... suppose the zombies hate the sound of thunder (and rain) and become even more dangerous then! This would help encourage player held areas free of zombies, maybe one day reinforced with barricades and even a non-PVP zone by constructing a "Trading zone" module from various items. Once constructed the trade zone module could broadcast a no-PVP message to players entering it and make bullets useless against players while they are inside it.