Zombies: Faster and Headshot Only

[catface.jpg 75]

There are two very simple modifications that can be made to zombies in the current game engine that, I feel, would drastically change the game for the better. Make a headshot required for a kill, and increase their running speed so that it's juuuust a bit faster than a player.

The zombies simply aren't challenging enough in the current game to make a good zombie apocalypse sandbox. With enough players on a server, it quickly becomes deathmatch. Zombies are almost IGNORED. I believe this is mostly for lack of anything better to do, or lack of anything that *requires* cooperation. If the zombies were more challenging, the game would change. There'd still be deathmatch and banditry, but it would be in a more realistic proportion and there would now be a place at the table for cooperation, or at least a little diplomatic cease-fire now and again. I'm not a bandit, but I have to say, I cannot fault bandits for getting bored and shooting at people.

In most zombie lore, you destroy the zombie's brain to destroy the zombie. There's nearly NO established canon that provides for a body shot kill - Yet it is quite simple in Day Z with anything but a Makarov. Body shots should *slow* or stumble a zombie - and perhaps in the standalone there could be dismemberment physics or limb-injury for the zombies beyond broken legs. People with assault rifles accustomed to getting chest-shot kills on zombies would have to learn to double-tap.

The running speed of zombies, and the fact that they're always slower than people, is sort of a joke. You can just run balls-out and catch the attention of every zombie in town, then lose them around the corner of a building or run indoors and bottle-neck them to finish them off. The mechanics of this are simple and unchallenging. As long as you keep running, you're in essentially NO danger from zombies.

Speaking of indoors, the running speed for zombies should be the same indoors as it is outdoors. And they should be allowed on concrete piers, and inside the hospital. These "safe areas" are arbitrary and unrealistic, and take away from the difficulty.

These changes would make zombies much more challenging and fun, without having to increase their spawn volume and add to de-sync problems. In fact, you'd likely have to *decrease* their spawn volume in order to not make the game frustratingly bloody impossible :D

[indominator 95]

agree with you, just like night of the living dead, but i guess rocket will try to create his own version of the zombies with his brother, although i prefer this one due to the fact that it could even become more dangerous to be near zombies

[CX316 1]

I say go the other way. Shamblers. PROPER zombies. Just more of them and more deadly. Got bitten? You're screwed.

[velvetpipe 4]

If its head shot only then only hardcore DayZ people that have aiming down will play, it will deter the new player wanting to try it and lower standalone sales.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I know exactly what you mean, but the DayZ "runners" are the absolute best way to keep people on their toes. Rocket already wants to have a Zombie life cycle (where I assume they eventually become "Shambly" and quiet) and in the standalone I would assume a stamina/endurance level will feature. So sprinting endlessly from cross country champion Zeds won't be an option anymore.

Even that in itself will make losing them generally more of a challenge. And by then Zeds will probably be able to run inside (thank fuck) counteracting atleast some of the "Run like a madman to lose them" tactics.

Hopefully encouraging more (attempted) stealth scavenging

[Zeppa 562]

Woudnt change anything... You could still run away from the like now even not bothering to shoot them..(buildings, bushes/trees and so on..) doesnt matter how fast they are when they have to stop and hit you.

And I headshot them always anyway.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Zeppa

[suggestor 3]

I totally agree!!!! I wish Zombies would kill you in one hit

turn fallen payers into zombies quick smart.... then degenerating over time to end up like shamblers after a week

and only die if shot in the head (maybe fall down and crawl if shot in the knee/leg. )

Then they would be an ACTUAL threat and this game would be more realistic... make people band together a bit more ect making survival camps ect.. like walking dead comics. It's too much of just player killing :(

All my buddies agree, we want them to behave like real Zombies! (like also running inside)

too weak!

Having stamina would be also cool to avoid being able to run forever to outrun zombies!

[suggestor 3]

What do people think about zombies grabbing you and holding you so other z can get on ya?

and then have a bite to turn ya. Otherwise punches and drive bys only do damage, but a bite is instant death (and zombification)

[Nasakenai 34]

I would like to see zombies jump on you and try to bore you down to the ground to eat you, not sit there and throw a series of jabs and windmill punches. If you get knocked down your charactor should automatically get back up and possibly be knocked down again if more z's are running in.

I don't like the idea of ONLY heashots killing Z's, because it's so fun turning around and dumping a clip into a horde chasing you. Perhaps making some guns need headshots (and melee weapons) other guns being powerful enough to incapacitate them - put them on the ground making them chase you slower, etc. Larger caliber pistol rounds should put them down as well. Pistol rounds such as a .45 which have decent stopping power should maybe be headshots only but would still knock zombies back/down and give you an opening to escape. A gun such as an m240 should just rip them apart.

[Thunderous Thrust 5]

Yes! Headshot only! But zombies should be crippled if you shoot them anywhere else.

[Jex =TE= (DayZ) 218]

Yes to headshot - yes to turning into a zombie for being bitten - that would fuck things up big time

[T.G. 48]

Before we all start demanding tougher zombies maybe try playing without cross hairs on a difficulty higher than regular. I am legitimately frightened of the the day I log in to see zombies running though buildings. Of course I am very bad at this, so I will apologize to the bad asses who head shot only on expert and still need a challenge.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I reckon you should be able to break/remove legs and arms without killing the Zombie "Dude, I'm already starting to decompose. Does it look like I give a fuck?!"

Maybe then you could use the slow crippled Zeds to block corridors temporarily while you SKIN THE FUCK OUT!!! *Smokebomb*

@T.G. I play on Veteran servers but still 3rd person (fed up of crawling over a boulder and breaking my legs) no crosshairs is FUN! I would still use iron sights on a "Crosshairs enabled" server anyway, fuck knows how anyone can have a firefight in 3rd person, let alone headshot Zeds! Can't see a thing!

[noobsmcgee@gmail.com 52]

I never got that. If you hit an animal in the heart they die. Head and heart i would like.

Edited September 28, 2012 by noobsmcgee

[CX316 1]

rather than bite = kill, more like bite = bleed, then if the bleeding is patched up, infection sets in within 24 hours and when you eventually die you turn. Meaning you can patch yourself up and be a threat to your group if they don't know you were bitten.

EDIT: Oh, and move the hatchet to being a sidearm so you can have a rifle on you and go in melee to take them down quietly

Edited September 28, 2012 by CX316

[catface.jpg 75]

To those who think this will make the game too difficult, consider this: The people it slows down are EXACTLY the people who will otherwise be hunting YOU. When they're bored, you get shot. Plain and simple.

Also, it won't make it too difficult. So you'll die a lot as a beginner. YOu know what I did as a beginner? I died a lot.

[MasterZ 90]

I would agree with you but...

Rocket made it kind of obvious he's going for the infected variant and not the undead variant.

They have blood, bodily functions, need food and drink to survive (hence they attack you). Shoot them in the chest or in the arm, they bleed out, they die.

That's how these infected zombies work and I quite like it.

So no, I don't want faster zombies that can only be killed by headshots.

I want more zombies, shitloads of them. They outnumber you 100 to 1 and detect you fairly easy. That's hard.

[jukaga 271]

The headshot thing about zombie lore never made sense. After I sever a zed's spine with a burst from a LMG, how is he supposed to move and get me? In a related gag, has anyone ever seen the Robot Chicken sketch that shows a guy blowing away a Werewolf with a minigun, collecting the gore into a bucket, pouring gas and lighting it on fire, snorting the ash, crapping the ash out, the effluent goes through a sewage treatment plant then it cuts to a D&D group, with the gm saying 'I don't care! The book says he's still alive!' then the other saying 'That's just stupid' Damn funny sketch and it sums up how I feel about horror lore BS like bullets to the head, stakes to the chest, silver weapons..

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

If you look at monster lore (werewolves,vampires etc.) the rituals and stuff are old wives tales, or warped over the years from ancient stories and misunderstood physical properties of dead bodies/certain diseases.

Night of the Living Dead basically invented the flesh eating zombies idea, so it's kinda the new kid on the block for superstition.

"Shoot 'em in the head" is just a cure-all for every "howdyakillem" (read: unknown enemy)

also - "Kill it with fire" "Cut it's fucking head off" and "Full body dismemberment"

AFAIK The Zed in DayZ are infected, but still alive, a-la 28 days/weeks later. They feel no pain however, so the aim is to just put them down ASAP. Headshots seem to be doing well so far. :thumbsup:

[mrquacka 15]

I

I want more zombies, shitloads of them. They outnumber you 100 to 1 and detect you fairly easy. That's hard.

And if 6 people are in a town there should be 600 zombies and it lags like hell? I don't think that the "bulk of zombies solution" would work in any way...

There should be a way to make them more dangerous without the "only headshot" or the "bulk of zombies" solutions...

Maybe they can infect you in a way by hitting you(it doesnt need to be an infection that turns you to a zombie or condem you to die, but make things harder for you like a temperature or such things)

But I think we can all agree that they need to be more dangerous in the standalone

Edited September 29, 2012 by StupidMachine

[sheriffhd 61]

I like the idea of a mix of zombies, different speeds, different damage types and difficulty to kill.

[apache25 133]

no way................the zombies in dayz are normal humans infected by a virus they are not the living dead lets keep the 28 days later zombies in this game. if you want undead head shot zombies go to the arma 2 undead mod.....it would not be so bad if there were servers for undead and non undead then players who prefered the ordinary zombies could go to ordinary server then players who like undead could g to undead server

[Anticitizen37 2]

I agree with everything your saying but i dont think Zed's should be faster than players, because a new spawn with no way of fighting back could be easily killed chased by a group of Zed's. Just my 2 cents worth.

[borntobewild 31]

I agree with everything your saying but i dont think Zed's should be faster than players, because a new spawn with no way of fighting back could be easily killed chased by a group of Zed's.

And?..... You should be forced to sneak by the forests to get to the locations which are safer and has worse loot. Who said that you should be able to loot Elektro, Balota or Cherno while fresh spawned, without standard equipment like .22, winchester or melee?

Edited September 29, 2012 by Born to be Wild (PL)

[aksuduud 64]

All zombie lore sucks anyways, i have always thought that the zombies are just random civilians who want to bash my head in because i steal their beans.