[Zombie AI Suggestion] Allow Closed Doors to be Hit Open

[twing1 5]

This is a humble suggestion to give closed doors a hit box with a given durability value.

Similar to how locked doors can be broken open by players punching them for a certain amount of time, I propose that closed and unlocked doors be given the same treatment.

Then, these closed doors should be made targetable by the zombie AI.

Right now, closing a door in a zombie's face completely stops the zombie from chasing the player, unless another, unobstructed route to the player is available. If another route is available, the zombie will magically know of this existing route and start navigating it's way through it.

This interaction breaks the realism of the zombie AI by either 1) having the zombie give up the chase because they know they cannot get the player or 2) having the zombie exhibit intelligence far beyond what they are capable of in having them omniscient of another, unseen route to access the player.

Allowing closed doors to be targetable by and broken open by zombies would alleviate this issue. 

I believe this should be fairly easy to implement, as similar code already exists in the game.

Locked doors already have this functionality, as they can be targeted and broken open by players after their durability value reaches 0. The idea would be that simply closing (and leaving unlocked) a door would function similarly to this. A closed and unlocked door would be given a durability value, and reducing this durability value to 0 would convert the door to its open state (similar to simply performing the action of opening the door). Locking the door could further increase this durability value. This durability value should be persistent, even if the door is opened and then closed again in order to avoid exploitation. Additionally, a 3-5 second cool down on closing a door after it is broken open could be implemented.

After these changes are made, doors would then need to be made targetable by the zombie AI, but only when they are aggrod on a player and it is obstructing their path. The zombie AI code already has a similar functionality found in its ability to choose to mantle some obstacles in pursuit of a player instead of pursuing through the longer, unobstructed route. The zombie door break mechanic can be further polished by adding unique zombie attack animations, reserved for only when they are targeting doors. 

I'm sure there are levels of complexity that I am not accounting for, but it seems like it should be a fairly easy and straight forward implementation that would go leaps and bounds toward improving the zombie AI and increasing the overall threat of the infected.

 

I am curious to know what others think about this change. Would zombies being able to break open doors in the way described be good for the health of the game?

Feel free to discuss below. 

Edited March 24, 2024 by twing1

[FuzzyBear182 20]

Would be cool, wonder if it is technically possible.

I think zombies are a pretty good threat in this game and work better than most say. They just need some tweaks for like this when you hid in a building, hop on top of something, or they run for the open door to your house; but I literally toss items I don't need away from myself and over them to get them to walk out of my way as I sneak around, it's pretty cool.

They're also infected runners so them spotting me sometimes makes sense to me. They're kinda like feral predators.

One other thing I think that would be cool for them/the world would be if you found them in the woods or fields sometimes. Along with bigger packs like Livonia has.

[Riddick_2K 193]

In my opinion no.
I would, yes, change the behavior of the zombies, but to make them even more stupid.
In fact you are right about one thing: when they chase you into a house, they always know where the second door is and they immediately run there. It's unrealistic and ruins the immersion.
Even zombies jumping over all fences and gates is quite stupid and unrealistic, at least according to a good part of the filmography (obviously, given that... fortunately... zombies don't exist in reality... for the moment , at least... over the years we will see what technology and pollution will combine, but that's another matter).
Rather... since I agree that, right now, zombies aren't much of a danger... instead of making them become "criminal geniuses" (knowing all the routes, jumping fences and opening doors)... since they are zombies and should have a completely compromised brain... why don't we make them more lethal?
A bit like it used to be: they could kill the player (this came in handy a few times, but I really miss it. It was much better once). And I would also add the high chance of seriously infecting the player... at least 75% chance of infecting them and with 50% chance of having serious effects (even death) if you don't cure yourself very quickly.
This, in my opinion, would make the challenge a little more... challenging... but in a more realistic and immersive way.
Oh...
Also increase the "Z-call" distance when a Z discovers a human and chases him while shouting.
AND...
Very important, in my opinion, is that in fact, when they reach a human inside a house, they do not stop passively in front of the windows... they should remain pissed off and continually try to attack the human even beyond the window... at least until when the human is in their sight.
This would be more realistic and immersive, in my opinion.
The way is to make them become more angry and deadly, but more STUPID, not the other way around.
My 5 cents

[Salvatore Spampinato 11]

On 4/29/2024 at 8:30 AM, Riddick_2K said:

In my opinion no.
I would, yes, change the behavior of the zombies, but to make them even more stupid.
In fact you are right about one thing: when they chase you into a house, they always know where the second door is and they immediately run there. It's unrealistic and ruins the immersion.
Even zombies jumping over all fences and gates is quite stupid and unrealistic, at least according to a good part of the filmography (obviously, given that... fortunately... zombies don't exist in reality... for the moment , at least... over the years we will see what technology and pollution will combine, but that's another matter).
Rather... since I agree that, right now, zombies aren't much of a danger... instead of making them become "criminal geniuses" (knowing all the routes, jumping fences and opening doors)... since they are zombies and should have a completely compromised brain... why don't we make them more lethal?
A bit like it used to be: they could kill the player (this came in handy a few times, but I really miss it. It was much better once). And I would also add the high chance of seriously infecting the player... at least 75% chance of infecting them and with 50% chance of having serious effects (even death) if you don't cure yourself very quickly.
This, in my opinion, would make the challenge a little more... challenging... but in a more realistic and immersive way.
Oh...
Also increase the "Z-call" distance when a Z discovers a human and chases him while shouting.
AND...
Very important, in my opinion, is that in fact, when they reach a human inside a house, they do not stop passively in front of the windows... they should remain pissed off and continually try to attack the human even beyond the window... at least until when the human is in their sight.
This would be more realistic and immersive, in my opinion.
The way is to make them become more angry and deadly, but more STUPID, not the other way around.
My 5 cents

wonderful idea, wrong game, you know that will never happen until the whole dayz community asks for it, and it will probably not be done