ZOMBIE AI - The Definitive Suggestion

[The Killing Joke 43]

Zombies

The zeds in DayZ should be a lot more menacing than they are today.

They share a lot of the same characteristics as human players, but should be better in some regards, and worse in others.

There are a few different types of zeds I've seen in-game. Runners/Walkers, Crawlers, and Hoppers. Each should have their own distinct abilities that make them a threat, and weaknesses that you can use to defeat them.

Generic Rules

Zeds should always, ALWAYS be two things. One, a threat to you until you put a bullet in their head and two, defeatable as a solo player if you play your cards right.

The threat should be able to be minimized by repeatedly putting bullets into them - given - but they should be only able to be killed when they have a bullet through their brain. (Before you flame, read on.)

Runners/Walkers (Offense): If they run, they should be able to outrun you. In a one-on-one foot race, you should be overtaken repeatedly, and they should be able to do minimal damage to your person. That being said, the blood loss from not defeating them will eventually cause you to pass out, and eventually die.

Runners/Walkers (Defense): If they are the running type, you should have the option to shoot them in the leg and have it do something. If a player gets shot in the leg once, they go down. If they shoot a zed in the leg five times, he's still running. I propose that a few shots to the leg should do something to destroy the leg muscle, and turn them into a 'Crawler'.

Crawlers (Offense): These guys should be a lot more powerful than they already are. You can usually outrun them pretty easily, so if you are around them, they need to have more power. If they crawl, they should be able to grab onto you, and either slow you down, or even knock you down. I'm not saying they knock you unconscious, but it gives them a definite advantage.

Furthermore, I would see Crawlers as being quieter, and more stealthy, so I would remove their 'screaming' or alerting other zeds to your location. Why? Because you, yourself, will do that when you realize that the crawler you were neglecting has suddenly come closer to you and is actually grabbing you and doing damage.

They should become almost invisible, and just start coming towards you, especially when you haven't noticed that they are coming. Their attacks should also incite more damage than a Runner would.

Crawlers (Defense): Your defense against them is already built-in. They should not be able to get up and chase you. Ever. There's a reason they're crawling around in the grass, and that's because everything beneath their waist is useless. They are there to be a deterrent, and make YOU cause the other zeds to take notice, and join in on the meal.

Hoppers (Offense/Defense): I'll be honest. I think these are the dumbest zeds I've ever seen. Are they bunnies? Like, wtf. Anyway, I would see that these guys are ... I'll be honest. I don't know. Make them the same as Runners/Walkers. If they see you, they can chase you.

Modified Behaviours

Zeds should not be primarily focused on sound. - If you are standing twenty feet in front of someone and shoot them, they're probably bleeding now. Zeds need to stop running in from behind them and attacking you, just because you shot this guy. (It's like they push the other guy out of the way and say, "excuse me, I realize you have a bleeding artery, but I need to munch on that guy with the Makarov for a minute.")

Give them at least a bit of understanding to know that he's bleeding, and if there's a group of twenty zeds, I think he needs AT LEAST ten of them. If the other guy shoots you back, you should each get at least an equal amount of attention. If they don't, and they're close enough to the zeds and you, the other guy could effectively become cover, because they have the scent of blood, which should almost trump your scent.

In summation

I think I have covered off all of my thoughts on the zeds. I know a lot of the ideas have been covered in other threads, but this is the culmination of my thinking on the matter.

I haven't discussed zed counts, spawning, or what-have-you, because I wanted to focus on what I see the AI could be.

[zamani532 16]

I disagree

[Oddball_E8 1]

I agree with the OP

[MrBloodworth 1]

Before any of this, they should not pop all over the place, run through doors, and hit you through walls.

[The Killing Joke 43]

Before any of this' date=' they should not pop all over the place, run through doors, and hit you through walls.[/quote']

Oh, I most certainly agree.

Worse, I find, is the fact that they can actually aggro you through walls, if you're close enough to them. I successfully snuck into a building, and when I got too close to a wall after being in there for around five minutes, a zed initiated an attack through the wall, and I somehow managed to aggro about five others as well.

[Senrain 148]

I think crawlers should be able to latch onto your ankles and slow you down until you either shoot them or just break free.

[The Killing Joke 43]

I think crawlers should be able to latch onto your ankles and slow you down until you either shoot them or just break free.

I agree. That's up there in my recommendations. (Seriously, I'm so tired of seeing the crawlers just decide, "Hey, I'm motherfucking Ben Johnson!" and chase your ass down.)

[TeaLeaf 5]

I think the hoppers should move like apes rather than hopping like some of... who the fuck knows. They should not be fast enough to catch you in the open, but give them the ability to leap short distances and possibly knock you over briefly.

I'd honestly like to see all zombies have a certain chance of getting you in a death grip that you can't get out of without a second player to kill the zombie, the chance would increase the less blood you have.

[oktyabr 53]

I thought shooting walkers turned them into crawlers (if you didn't kill them). I've seen this happen a few times and *assumed* it was from the damage I've done them... but maybe it's some sort of other behavior?

[Typhus (DayZ) 0]

They should also run directly towards you and stop going through walls.

I don't see how your sneaky crawler idea is good, they're zombies and zombies are in no way intelligent enough to know what their situation requires them to do, they don't know that they have to be sneaky and silent to reach the players, all they know is that they want to feast on the players' guts. Crawlers would act just as a Walker does, with the only difference being the fact that they can't walk.

[The Killing Joke 43]

I think the hoppers should move like apes rather than hopping like some of... who the fuck knows. They should not be fast enough to catch you in the open' date=' but give them the ability to leap short distances and possibly knock you over briefly.[/quote']

I think they need to be removed completely. I don't know what they are, but they look fucking ridiculous.

I'd honestly like to see all zombies have a certain chance of getting you in a death grip that you can't get out of without a second player to kill the zombie' date=' the chance would increase the less blood you have.[/quote']

That's a great idea, but without the 'other player' involved. It would certainly make them a lot more dangerous, but I feel that you would need to balance it so that you could at least shoot them in the head to get them to stop.

I thought shooting walkers turned them into crawlers (if you didn't kill them). I've seen this happen a few times and *assumed* it was from the damage I've done them... but maybe it's some sort of other behavior?

I've seen it happen where they start crawling. I've also seen crawlers jump up and start chasing you again. I don't know what the current programming is, but if it was somehow standardized, you could at least have some strategy on how to fight them.

As it is today - and this isn't a "whaaaaa zeds are too hard" - you never know what to expect from your zeds, except that they will chase you until you are out of bullets, and then chase you and chase you and chase you and chase you. They may never actually catch you, and I think this needs to be fixed.

(Somewhere, there's a great video of someone who had aggro'd about 20 zeds, and then ran into the nearest town and up to the nearest survivor, to get them off him. I think the other guy shit when he saw them all, and took aggro by starting to shoot into the horde. All to the tune of "Yakety Sax", which makes anything hilarious.)

[H1R0 1]

You brought up one point i found really interesting. The part about the scent of blood. It would be cool if zombies could be atttracted to a more wounded player more easily if they smelt more blood. Behaviour wise what if instead of knocking a player down and shambling away they instead went into a "feeding" animation. Would add a new level of complexity for other players if you saw a group of zombies around a corpse "Is that another player and do they have goodies? Should I draw them away and try to search it?" You could even have the zeds do the same animation occasionaly for other fallen zombies making the choice have negative outcomes.

~H1R0

[m.p0v3y@gmail.com 0]

Hoppers moving like apes is a good idea the hopping is just strange, it could be a limitation of the engine.

[TeaLeaf 5]

As it is today - and this isn't a "whaaaaa zeds are too hard" - you never know what to expect from your zeds' date=' except that they will chase you until you are out of bullets, and then chase you and chase you and chase you and chase you. They may never actually catch you, and I think this needs to be fixed.

(Somewhere, there's a great video of someone who had aggro'd about 20 zeds, and then ran into the nearest town and up to the nearest survivor, to get them off him. I think the other guy shit when he saw them all, and took aggro by starting to shoot into the horde. All to the tune of "Yakety Sax", which makes anything hilarious.)

[/quote']

Yeah if nothing else there should at least be some sort of resolution to zombie chases. They should catch you or you should get away based on the circumstances, not how it is now where the chase can go on for literally forever.

[qla 0]

I agree with most of TKJ's suggestions.

What i would like to see is; if the zombies hear a gunshot say 100 meters away, they should not instantly know where the shooter is/was but instead they should move to the location and then, if they see the shooter/someone at that location, attack him.

[chronologger 0]

"Runners/Walkers (Offense): If they run, they should be able to outrun you. In a one-on-one foot race, you should be overtaken repeatedly, and they should be able to do minimal damage to your person. That being said, the blood loss from not defeating them will eventually cause you to pass out, and eventually die."

I really think that this simple solution may not only make the PVE more exciting but reduce the number of PVPers in the game, as I believe the biggest attraction to PVP is the rush you get from it, imagine aggroing a horde that can actually outpace you and attack you on the move, now imagine that in the middle of stary sobor in pitch blackness.

To be honest thinking about it leaves me pretty torn as to what would be the more exhilarating experience, PVP or PVE.

[The Killing Joke 43]

I'm happy to read that we'll be able to hide from zeds, somehow unexplained, in the coming revision 1.7.1. Very happy. It'll be an interesting occurrence, to say the least.

If I can guestimate properly, it should only take a very large building to help my issue of aggro'ing several cities of zeds. If it works as I think it should, I'll enter on one side, wait until all of them are in with me, and run out the other side and around the corner. Voila, no more hangers-on.

Hopefully. I tried that once before when I had no bullets, and they started coming in from both ends. Ugh.