Zombies need a total overhaul.

[TheBrassThief 3]

I think right now the zombies animations and "alert levels" are way to binary.

When still the zombie shambles around limping, his arms sag, his legs drag and he looks like he can barely hold himself up. Looking at him like this i expect him to have the coordination and awareness of a heavily drunk person.

The second i make a noise near him though its fucking go time. He stops the fake limp, once useless saggy arms come up and his boxers muscles bulge and hes flying at me, using his telepathic third eye to tell where i am.

This seems unrealistic. And its a litte immersion breaking to watch such a random and contradictory transition. Instead i propose this:

Zombies have 3 different alert levels rather than 2:

1. Passive

2. Aware of your general location and shambling a little faster toward it - ALWAYS caused by sound.

3. Actually SEEN you and chasing you - ONLY caused by sight.

Zombies shouldnt fly into a state of rage over a SOUND. THEY make more noise than me. The fence sound effect makes more noise than me. Make them investigate my noise without them flipping out kenyan style.

Now i hate the carebear thing. So lets keep this game hard. Add more zombies. Way more. With a legitimate way to distract and evade them adding a whole tonne of new zombies shouldnt be an issue. Also change zombie spawning.

As WELL as this, EXCEPT in major towns and cities (cherno for example), when you come close to a loot location a block lump sum of zombies spawn and thats it. No more spawn until you leave. But no loot respawn either. This way zombies wont spawn on you and killing them is worthwhile because each kill makes your time there looting that much easier until you leave. It also makes leading zombies more predictable since none can spawn-ambush you and you can more tactically moniter movements. It also means establishing a choke point and gunning them down is a viable tactic.

What do you think so far? Discuss.

[WhiteTigerShiro 25]

The zombie AI works as-is because it was the best possible fix, not because it's considered ideal. One of the primary things on the dev's to-do list is working on the AI to get it working better.

[Stoop_Kid 2]

Zombie AI will be fixed, you've got a fair point, though. The zombie spawns (I think) are also on the to-do list. A lot of people have discussed how immersion-shattering it is to see a zombie wink into existence as you're plodding along/sprinting for your life.

Regardless, fair points.

[duddbudda 33]

Rocket stated, during the interview streamed by Evan from PCG, that 1.7.2 will address all these issues