Jump to content
Supershutze

Max chase distance for zombies.(that or melee attack)

Recommended Posts

After having been chased for 6km by a pair of zombies because I was out of ammo(found a corpse at the end of those 6km, with 6 clips of ammo and a map on him:D), I think there should ether be a Melee attack(probably in the works, this mod is an alpha after all), or a max chase distance for zombies, especially the slower ones.

I was chased by a hopper that I managed to outrun into a forest about a km away, and sat there for about 2 minutes, and sure enough, the zombie is still following me, even though he lost LOS for about 2 minutes.(I shot him, but didn't want to waste the ammo)

If possible, I think zombies should follow to your last known location, and then if unable to reaquire you, they should resume wandering. at the moment they seem to be omniscient hunter-killer drones once they have detected you.

Maybe with the addition of melee attacks you could incorporate some sort of "sneak attack" where you can kill a zombie at close range quietly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The chasing, no matter how far, is really kinda wierd. But if there would be a max distance, you could just always run away, into the woods, until you are safe.

Not sure what would be a good solution here. Maybe the chance of being knocked over could be incrased, so running away has its risks too ( i.e.: Zombie attack from the back while running has a 50% chance to make you fall down). Zombies should run faster than you in this case, or be able to attack you, while you are running. This isnt possible right now i believe?! And if you already got a distance and can run away, a Zombie should stop chasing you at some point.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I suggest that zombies can only run for a couple of minutes before they becom tired and slow down, giving the survivors time to regroup and return for another go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I suggest that zombies can only run for a couple of minutes before they becom tired and slow down' date=' giving the survivors time to regroup and return for another go.

[/quote']

Well technically, zombies don't get tired.

It would be more "realistic" (if I can say that..) if the zombies lose your scent/trail after a certain distance. But still with zombies being able to run as fast or even faster it becomes impossible to outrun them without a hill or building.

Something needs to be done but I have no ideas.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe a max chase distance, but also a chance of tripping and falling while being chased to make up for it?

You're freaked out because you're being chased by zombies... they'll stop after 300 yards or so, but in that 300 yards while sprinting, you have a good chance of falling down or getting otherwise slowed?

I don't know... I'm not 100% happy with that solution... but yeah, being chased to the ends of the Earth by a zombie is pretty crazy annoying... in real life, I'd stop at a trash pile, grab a pipe, and take him down... or start throwing bricks, or maybe even just gouge out the damn thing's eyes and take a little damage.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A dead bodys cells stop regenerating and break down, same with nerves. So ok, the walking dead are perhaps untireable, but half-rotten tendons should snap easier, joints dislocate, bones break etc. Not to mention the damaged done if say running full force, face/groin first into a tree or a fencepost.

Perhaps zombies could start off running like crazy, but after a while, and with some random factor involved be forced to jump and/or crawl?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Placing a max distance doesn't really seem real. It seems exploitable and difficult to manage. What could work in my opinion is to use the aggro range and detection modifiers and say that if there is no line of sight, or noise, or a combination of both, then the zombie will roam to the last known position of the player, and hopefully you've crawled a fair distance away.

Adding in all this about 'more falling down' seems silly. Rather than doing that, we could be more realistic and say that a player can only sprint for between X and X meters, then must slow down. This is much more realistic than 'everyone is so scared that they fall down a bunch'.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Placing a max distance doesn't really seem real. It seems exploitable and difficult to manage. What could work in my opinion is to use the aggro range and detection modifiers and say that if there is no line of sight' date=' or noise, or a combination of both, then the zombie will roam to the last known position of the player, and hopefully you've crawled a fair distance away.

[/quote']

Now the problem then comes when the zombies tails you within a couple of meters, there is no room to put any object in between you and the zombies since they are breathing down your neck.

In a situation where one has no ammo and no melee combat the only solution seems to be to find a barn and run through it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Placing a max distance doesn't really seem real. It seems exploitable and difficult to manage. What could work in my opinion is to use the aggro range and detection modifiers and say that if there is no line of sight' date=' or noise, or a combination of both, then the zombie will roam to the last known position of the player, and hopefully you've crawled a fair distance away.

[/quote']

Now the problem then comes when the zombies tails you within a couple of meters, there is no room to put any object in between you and the zombies since they are breathing down your neck.

In a situation where one has no ammo and no melee combat the only solution seems to be to find a barn and run through it.

That's true. So perhaps slow the zombies down from a random range of the walking to the general speed of how quick a player is running. I've actually had 15 (seemed like 50) zombies chase me. I ran for about 30 minutes, and eventually had only 5 on me. I'm not sure what did this but once I got to some docks I ended up losing the rest of them.

It's possible to lose zeds, but difficult and time consuming, yes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's possible to lose zeds' date=' but difficult and time consuming, yes.

[/quote']

Damn, Im not hard core enough to play this game then. 30 minutes of running chased by zombies every time I run out of ammo hardly qualifies for quality game-time for us semi-cassual gamers.

5 mins are ok, 10 mins is painful and 15 and above is just frustrating and worse, boring.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it'd be nice that they've have a behaviour as follows:

If you break Line of Sight with the zombie for a good 10 seconds or so, they'll enter a state where they follow your scent trail. If you remain within 50 metres of the zombie, but hidden, they'll sniff you out. If you can get away without them behing able to see you, they'll eventually give up and go back to zombie-mode.

If you don't break line of sight, they'll follow you indefinately.

So the players would be trying to get around buildings/rocks so they couldn't see you, then sneaking off without alerting them further.

This would add a nice hide-and-seek element to it, rather than how it is currently of 'Crap! I'd better run to the nearest large building and start shooting.'

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's possible to lose zeds' date=' but difficult and time consuming, yes.

[/quote']

Damn, Im not hard core enough to play this game then. 30 minutes of running chased by zombies every time I run out of ammo hardly qualifies for quality game-time for us semi-cassual gamers.

5 mins are ok, 10 mins is painful and 15 and above is just frustrating and worse, boring.

It's a pretty hardcore game, and I'm in no way a hardcore player, but what made it fun is that it was nighttime, and people had flares all over the place. All I did was run towards them screaming "Arrghhh-hhh". I made it fun for myself, but I agree that running for 30 minutes isn't the best approach that should be taken.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Another positive of this may be lightening stress on the server. From a programmer's point of view, if you create a max chasing distance for certain scenarios, less of the server's powers are spent on pathfinding AI for that one zombie that's 2 miles away from you but still hobbling along on his journey.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Skip the pathing, the line of sight, the chase distance, and just add the melee attack. To prevent someone abusing the melee attack to clear out a town though, maybe have a few requirements:

-need a cheap melee weapon (which takes up 4+ inventory slots when not equipped, just to deter hoarding them)

-cheap melee weapon will break after a random number of uses (that axe you just picked up .. does it have a good 100 whacks remaining? or is it only good for getting stuck in one last zombie skull?)

-when attacking, chance to possibly create not-too-loud noises (not so loud as a gunshot, but not quiet either. think maybe the sound of someone running)

-when the weapon breaks, it makes a loud noise (almost akin to a gunshot. oh look, your weapon JUST broke, and now you aggroed a bunch of zombies!)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Slow them down completely (and massively reduce body hit damage) and give them a max time they chase you for tbh. At the moment zombies never actually catch you dispite the speed they move at as long as your running, but they also never give up which is quite broken.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I like the idea of outsmarting a zombie rather than outrunning one. It probably takes a lot more coding but loosing a zombie because they lost your scent/sight/etc, offered a distraction, feels much better than having them chase you down for miles and miles.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Does Arma even support melee?

How would you code a melee attack around the weapon/projectile system?

Maybe it's easy, I don't know.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This has extensively been going through this topic: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6665

2 issues with this,

First: Zoombies have SUPER SENSES, they don´t see like the regular arma II ai, after they go into alert/bezerk staten, they simply know exactly where you are, no matter how hard you hide.

Two: Zoombies super speed (not for the hopper speed), they simply outrun the player and has better stamina and speed then the player. Wait a sec, this is supposed to be a realistic game right? Not a cursed super badly possessed evil spirit of the sathanic religion of goths. They are infected with some kind of disease and are pretty much dehidrated, in hunger and in a near putrid state. Even if they do get a boost in pain-tolerance, their original bodies will mostly be of original citizens so they may be a 60th year old farmer with arthrites and shouldn´t run as fast as a human. Realism first, but if you want to make the game harder without sacrificing realism, than make more zoombies or other alternatives.

I've given some suggestions in my topic, and im oppening to new ones, please post there and i may update in the main topic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×