Suggestions/RejectedApril2006

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This page is for the storage of Suggestions that have failed Peer Review and have been considered Poor and Unworthy Suggestions. This is not the place to put new Suggestions. The Suggestions Page is the queue for new Suggestions to be voted on and suggested. Any Suggestions that have not been voted on will be removed from this page.

Notes for Editors

Those who are placing Suggestions on this page should do so under the following procedure:

  1. Take the entire template and paste it into this section.
  2. Remove the entire suggest_votes field.
  3. Add the field suggest_moved, and then timestamp it with ~~~~~.
  4. replace "suggestion" with "prejection.

So, the new template should look like:

===Suggestion Name===
 {{prejection|
suggest_time=Old Timestamp|
suggest_type=Original type|
suggest_scope=Original scope|
suggest_description=Original description|
suggest_moved= 04:30, 22 Nov 2005 (GMT)|
}}
----

Peer Rejected Suggestions

1st April 2006

The Let you know if you're safe change

Timestamp: 05:39, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Other
Scope: All surviors
Description: Description: After you run out of AP points it says you are exhausted and that is all. What i suggest is instead of you are exhausted and go to sleep...it say You are standing in the junkyard (or insert wherever). You are exhausted...etc. Or if you are not in the junkyard (or other structure) you are standing outside of the blah blah blah. You are exhausted. The reason i suggest this is that many people i have talked to tend to go back on and double check to make sure that they got in the bldg that they wasted the last ap getting into. Yeah its a paranoid thing, but it would be a conveinence that does not alter game play. Since you are unable to access the main screen for one half hour, it would ease many worried minds.
Left Queue: 16:43, 7 May 2006 (BST)

New Character Class: Surgeon

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:45, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Science Character Class
Scope: Adds to medical character choice options.
Description: Surgeon

Scientist Character Class

  • Starts with the Diagnosis skill (The HP values of nearby survivors are displayed next to their name), and Mobile Phone and Kitchen Knife for starting equipment. Surgeons differ from the "Doctor" starting choice in that they have "diagnosis" instead of "first aid", so they can heal less HP "on the spot" but they can see "who's hurt, for how much" right at level 1.

This character's "title" is also a doctor, technically, so there may be some confusion as to which character's "speciality" you need if you see several doctors at the same location, but just ask for a referral, and use the waiting room.

  • It is unfortunate in game terms that the Surgeon is a little farther away from the actual "surgery" skill, than the Doctor, BUT that is a simple matter of 100 XP.
  • To balance this I propose the surgeon has a inherent +5% bonus to hit with knife as a starting bonus, this is not a skill per se, but a method of helping them "carve out" the XP they need to get surgery faster. The knife is a "weak" weapon long term, so this bonus is hardly going to unbalence anything in the game... additionally the skills to improve on this weapon's effectiveness are "millitary" skills, which won't be cheap, so it balances this character out nicely. (Call it "job experience" which helps the surgeon as a survivor.)

If this character class is accepted, we may consider giving the "Medic" and the "Doctor" character classes some other kind of reasonable bonus, but for now, it is not included with this suggestion.. merely mentioned for fairness.

Left Queue: 16:43, 7 May 2006 (BST)

Scent Rememberence

Timestamp: 08:31, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: The Zombies have started to develop a memory of scents that not even a fatal attack can remove.

Basicaly this skill works in the same way as Scent Trail, but it allows Zombies to still know the position of other characters even if they (the Zombies) have died. It is a sub-skill of Scent Trail. Basicaly the reason for this skill is that Scent Trail is useless because most of the time Zombies wake up dead, which means that they loose the Scent. This ability will make Zombies more threatening because you don't know if they'll come along and bust into your safe house.

Left Queue: 16:43, 7 May 2006 (BST)

Exchange XP for AP

Timestamp: 09:33, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Mechanics
Scope: All players
Description: The ability to exchange XP for AP.

I have maxed out my zombie skills and have accumulated 800+ XP. It would be useful to once again have an incentive to collect XP, e.g. if I could exchange it for a scarcer commodity like AP.

Left Queue: 16:43, 7 May 2006 (BST)

The Power Of the Dead

Timestamp: MrAushvitz16:45, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombie's can "store excess AP" to pay for standing up! (Only)
Description: The Power Of The Dead

Appears on zombie skills tree just below "Ankle Grab", therefore requires that entire tree to be completed as a prerequisite. Additional Prerequisites: Minimum level 5. Does not apply any bonuses to your human character.

  • Your zombie, while being a dead body, can store "excess AP" to help pay for standing up costs. Leaving you more AP for your other actions during your game session.

How it works:

  • "Excess AP" is AP that your character could recover but you have already hit your maximum AP limit, so it is not kept. This skill however, allows your zombie to "store" up to 5 AP which can ONLY be used to help pay for the "stand up" AP costs. When you have this skill and you see the stand up button, next to it you see "Power Of The Dead Will Pay X Of This" where X is the AP you have stored under Power Of The Dead, maximum 5 AP of standup cost can be paid. (So headshots still work, by making a zombie take longer to rise!)
  • This "Excess AP" however is not saved on a 1:1 basis. The computer will only store 1 AP per 2 AP you would have missed (1 per hour, past your regular AP limit.) You do not store any "Excess AP" while your zombie is standing, only while on the ground, dead.
  • This skill would mean zombies that were killed can (even if headshot), be able to stand up faster and have more regular AP for their "normal" activities. Giving zombies more freedom during their game session, if they wait the extra time.
  • Survivors who witness a zombie get up at their same location will read the following message:

"You see one of the nearby dead rise quickly, with unnatural speed!"

This allows a survivor to be warned that the "fast rising" zombie probably has a full AP store remaining for combat, and they might to do something about it! This adds to the "fear" element, but it also immediately gets a survivor's attention.... the "drawback" to this skill.

Left Queue: 16:43, 7 May 2006 (BST)

Chains and Padlocks

Timestamp: 08:31, 1 April 2006 (EST)
Type: items
Scope: humans
Description: chains and padlocks to barricade buildings

This suggestion just hit me reading through the wirecutters page how "they are esentually useless now that all factories and junkyards have been opened" well i see it this way why not have a chain and a padlock item for survivors to barricade themselves into a building before the construction skill seeing as some of the newer players acquire that skill last or near completion of the human skills tree they would be found in junkyards or factories and auto repair shops once you have gathered both items the padlock and the chain if you enter a building when the doors are closed you see an option that says "use padlock and chain to lock doors" if you select that option a message says "you chain the doors together and lock them" once this is done if you do not already have the free running skill you are stuck in the building until A)a horde of zombies break down the doors B)you have wirecutters which you use to cut through the lock and chain or C) you jump from a window killing yourself

Left Queue: 16:43, 7 May 2006 (BST)

Construction Worker

Timestamp: 01:52, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Class
Scope: Survivors
Description: It's hard to be descriptive about a new class, but here it is:

Name:Construction Worker Starting Skill:Construct Starting Item:Crowbar If you have any suggestion, other than me committing suicide, please tell me in your vote.

Left Queue: 03:52, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Notes: Declared Dupe of Engineer.

Undo Last Change

Timestamp: 00:12, 1 April 2006
Type: Disimprovement
Scope: Revive Points
Description: Why not. People were retards about the ten AP cost that nerfed combat revives and made death more important. Zombies might have a chance. So I'm gonna poll around for the responce to a nerf on zombies, consitering that most newbs are human players. Why not undo this nerf on rotters that will undoubtedly improve revive points and clean up the rotter population? After all it hurts zombies who got Brain Rot to nerf revive points. So speak your mind Malton. Does the TWO WEEK RULE only apply to zombies complaining about supply crates?
Left Queue: 04:30, 1 April 2006 (BST)

Crucifix Combat

Timestamp: 01:26, 1 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item
Scope: Everyone with Crucifixes, new skill
Description: I noticed a lot of people want knife combat equal to axe combat while going through suggestions. I agree- knives, after all, do as much damage to a zombie as an axe (especially seeing as zombies can usually ignore stabbings what with their internal organs rotting and being vestigal but have a harder time ignoring axes) but it inspired me.

Crucifixes rule, after all. I mean, they're about as useful as knives. So add Crucifix Combat to the list of civilian skills. They can fight with crucifixes, smashing zombies with them.

Damage is equal to a baseball bat (I'm a dedicated zed with rot- I've got a flak jacket, one shotgun shell, and a revival syringe for unknown reasons, so I have no idea what this is.), 15% to hit. With Improved Crucifix Combat, survivor in question gets +15% to hit. SuperDualWieldingCrucifixCombat (name subject to change, at the behest of voters) allows you to hit with two crucifixes (or is it Crucifices? Damn you, English! Cruel, cruel mistress) at 35% to hit, for... erm... 4 damage. And 2d6 Holy damage if you're hitting a zombie or PKer, since they have an Evil alignment.

This could even be rolled into a class- Priest, who would start with Improved Crucifix Combat, two crucifixes, and holy water, which is just like Wine, except it doesn't heal you any HP or get you drunk.

Left Queue: 03:52, 1 April 2006 (BST)

2nd April 2006

New class:Builder

Timestamp: 05:08, 2 April 2006 (GMT)
Type: Class
Scope: Human
Description: * character starts off with construction skill and a crobar and wirecutters.

this ones been driving me crazy since in "the game" i don't have much acuracy and rarely hit a zombie i have been really badly trying to get the construction skill so i thought up a bui

Left Queue: 05:35, 2 April 2006 (BST)

Black Blood Drool

Timestamp: MrAushvitz14:32, 2 April 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Infected bite enhancement
Description: Black Blood Drool

Appears on zombie skills tree under Infectious Bite. Adds no benefit to your human character.

  • Your zombie has a horrible black ooze dripping from their mouth. Every successful bite attack from you has a 2% OR 4% chance of causing a "Phase II Infection"

Zombies, as they advance in their decripitude, undergo many stages of decay. For these living dead, many of the body's liquids are being slowly "drained" from other parts of the body towards the mouth. This may be some kind of advancement to keep the jaw "lubricated" or the mouth from drying out, so a zombie can go on biting (and eating) indefinately.

The end result, zombies with this skill have an even more horrifyingly infectious bite! Their mouths are literally swarming with the zombie "virus" and other bateria who happily thrive in these conditions.

  • "Phase II Infection:"

Your zombie has a 2% chance per successful bite attack to cause a "Phase II Infection" in addition to the normal infection. This Chance of doing so with a bite is 4% instead of 2% per bite attack if your zombie also has the "Brain Rot" skill, due to very very advanced decrepitde and rotten pieces of tooth and gums ending up in basically every single bite!

  • Phase II infection is much, much worse than a regular zombie infection. The 1st infection, attacks the body, slowly killing it. This infection, attacks the MIND, causing delusions, dissiness, nausea and psychosis as the infected survivor starts to "think" and "see" things like a zombie!
  • Game Mechanics: Phase II infection requires an additional FAK to cure. The 1st FAK used cures the 1st infection (the survivor is no longer losing 1 HP per AP), the 2nd FAK cures the 2nd infection. Until the 2nd infection is cured: Every time the infected survivor moves 1 square, or indoors or outdoors of a location, there is a 5% chance the survior will get the message: "Your mind swims with delusions, you stagger in the wrong direction!" and your survivor will move in the intended direction.. but will stagger 1 square "left" or "right" of the origional "intended" direction. In the case of inoors/outdoors movement your survivor will instead move randomly 1 square "away" from your origional location.

As complicated as this may seem at first, it's actually quite simple, you can survive with a phase II infection (if you have to, until you get another FAK).. but your life will be at great risk.. you may very well waste some AP trying to get to your origional intended location, and "one wrong step" may very well help get you killed!

Notes: Refer to original votes on the approiate vote page
Left Queue: 16:48, 7 May 2006 (BST)

FAK Manufacture

Timestamp: 22:50, 2 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill, improvement
Scope: Survivors
Description: This skill would appear after the surgury skill, and will allow the user to manufacture First Aid Kits inside powered hospitals at the cost of 4AP each. This means you will get more FAK's/AP than searching the hospital, but not more FAK's/AP than searching a mall drugstore with bargain hunting
Notes: Refer to original votes on the approiate vote page
Left Queue: 16:48, 7 May 2006 (BST)

3rd April 2006

Bandoleer

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:09, 3 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Item
Scope: Shotgun Shell Storage Belt
Description: Bandoleer

Ever seen one of those mexican gunfighters in a cowboy movie? That thing across their chests with the larger rifle bullets & shells in it, that's a Bandoleer! They are used (in various shapes, sizes, styles and configurations) to make your ammunition "easy access" (especially if you're getting shot at and your hands are shaking and you don't want to drop anything while reloading.) Even in the modern day they exist, and can be found in hunting stores.

  • Game Mechanics:
  • Can be found in: Mall: Gun Store (3%) (Hunting Bandoleer); Police department 1% (SWAT Bandoleer), Fort and Armory 1% (Sniper Bandoleer.) The bandoleer type has no other effect it is just a bonus description as to it's appearance and color (or camoflauge) scheme.
  • You may only have 1 Bandoleer at a time. A Bandoleer can only hold up to 40 Shotgun shells. Item Weight: 1 slots, they're basically an over the shoulder belt with open loops.


  • While in your inventory, if you click on your Bandoleer and you have any single shotgun shells in your inventory: 5 shotgun shells (or up to 5 if you have less) will be "removed" from your inventory and added to your Bandoleer. (It will now read "Bandoleer (5)" indicating how many shotgun shells it currently holds. Each time you move 5 or less seperate shotgun shells to your bandoleer it will cost you 1 AP.
  • If you have no seperate shotguns shells in your inventory, and you click on your Bandoleer, it will reload up to 2 shotgun shells into one of your shotguns. If given a choice between a shotgun with 1 shell and 1 with 0 shells, it will put 2 shells into the one with 0 first. In this manner, the Bandoleer saves you AP for reloading shotguns making reloading them faster (when it counts the most is if the zombie you're fighting is online!) However this is not quite free, since you must spend some AP to load your Bandoleer to begin with, but in times when you need it those AP invested earlier will be a big help.
  • Having a Bandoleer does not prevent you from reloading your shotguns in the normal manner, by clicking on a single shotgun shell. It just stores them, saving room in your inventory (and making it easier to read your inventory!) You may reload the Bandoleer itself in any manner that suits you, but shells contained inside it cannot be removed, except to reload a shotgun.
Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Magazine Belt

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:41, 3 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Item
Scope: Pistol Clip Storage Belt
Description: Magazine Belt

This is usually worn around the waist, for keeping your pistol clips (or larger ammo magazines) where you need them most, right at hand, no fishing or dropping. The police and millitary use them a lot because a lot of combat situations involve a lot of running, taking cover and shooting.. and getting shot while you retrieve the ammunition you just dropped is a very embarassing reason to die. Pistol clips are not too large, however they need to be distributed in a manner that does not interfere with regular leg movement (or free running.)

  • Game Mechanics:
  • Can be found in: Mall: Gun Store (1%) (Hunter's Magazine Belt); Police department 2% (Policeman's Magazine Belt), Fort and Armory 2% (Soldier's Magazine Belt.) The belt type has no other effect it is just a bonus description as to it's appearance and color (or camoflauge) scheme. These kinds of belts are much more common to the millitary and police, than in hunting (you need that much ammo to hunt you're a very bad, or very illegal hunter. Or shooting the particular bird with the call you like the least in nature.)
  • You may only have 1 Magazine Belt at a time. A Magazine Belt can only hold up to 6 Pistol Clips at a time. Item Weight: 2 slots, they're actually reasonably heavy, to protect the ammo from damage!
  • While in your inventory, if you click on your Magazine Belt and you have any full individual pistol clips in your inventory: 2 pistol clips (or up to 2 if you have less) will be "removed" from your inventory and added to your Magazine Belt. (It will now read "Magazine Belt (4)" indicating how many full pistol clips it currently holds. Each time you move 2 or less pistol clips to your magazine belt it will cost you 1 AP.
  • If you have no seperate full pistol clips in your inventory, and you click on your magazine belt, it will reload up to 2 of your empty pistols, for 1 AP. It does not load pistols that have any ammo left in them. In this manner, the magazine belt saves you AP for reloading pistols making reloading them faster (when it counts the most is if the zombie you're fighting is online!) This is not free, because you invested AP earlier to have a readied belt so that you can reload 2 pistols at a time faster, when you need to.
  • Having a magazine belt does not prevent you from reloading your pistols in the normal manner, by clicking on any single clip, you reload an available pistol. It just stores them, saving room in your inventory (and making it easier to read your inventory!) You may reload the magazine belt itself in any manner that suits you, but full pistol clips contained inside it cannot be removed, except to reload your pistols.

Yes, you can have a Bandoleer (if it's accepted) and a Magazine Belt on at the same time. One goes 'round the waist, the other over one or both shoulders. But only one of each of the 2 storage units worn at a time.

Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

A Tool For Managing Alliances: Seeing Your Ally's Allies

Timestamp: 03:10, 3 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Groups
Description: A long suggestion but bear with me. Right now there's no way to control who gets into a group, which allows groups to grow quickly and avoids forcing the group founder to spend time and IP hits confirming people. Since group members don't know each other groups aren't a tactical alliance but more of a shared adherence to a common goal or philosophy. Here's a way to build on group mechanics to keep all the good of the current system but to also allow group officers of a sort to be created. This would also work with allies that are not in groups:

MECHANICS

I suggest that as part of a change to allow contact attitude flagging (marking your contacts as either the default normal, ally, enemy) it be made possible to see if you have common allies with other people. It would assume that you know of this person through your contact and are aware of your shared friendship. When you see a person who is mutual allies with one of your allies their affiliation is signified by a symbol before their name both in the room description and when they perform an action you can see. It would look like this:

MaltonDude(60) said "This building isn't safe."

It'd be the same when a zombies performs a visible action, but only then. Since zombies do not appear individually in room descriptions they would only be marked when they perform a visible action that gives their profile link.

A zombie said "Harman am mazz! bangang ha mazz!"

Clicking on the symbol would bring up a list in the normal game screen all of your allies whom "MaltonDude" (or the zombie) is a mutual ally of:

Of your allies you know that MaltonDude is aligned with:

  • Playerman
  • PersonGuy
  • MisterPerson
  • ZeldaNeo

Performing any action or refreshing the screen would get rid of this list.

Reasoning

What would this let you do? It would allow you to put more importance and trust on the words of people you don't know if you know that someone who you trust trusts them. Sounds complicated? Here's how groups/allies could use it:

I am Jon Pyre. Let's say I make a group called Best Group Ever, or am known as a person of authority within that group. Because of this leadership people add me to their contacts and flag me as an ally. MaltonDude is a valued member of the group and I want people to listen to him too. I flag him as an ally. He flags me as an ally. Then every person who considers me an ally even if they aren't on my contact list can see I place importance on MaltonDude, and that he considers me an ally as well, and assume that any commands he gives are sanctioned by me. I as group leader only need to flag my officers as allies and be flagged by them and then anyone who is an ally of mine can see this alliance.

Since this could potentially be exploited by a PKer to discern who to attack in a group structure any person flagged as an enemy by either the person present or by the connecting ally would not be able to see the symbol. This way while choosing to be high profile would incur a bit of risk you would be able to prevent enemies from exploiting it it once you know who they are.

I feel that this change would provide a elementary command structure for groups and non-grouped allies both zombie and human and result in a greater richer ally dynamic in Urban Dead. Note that an inverse system of that could also be created to allow you to see the enemy of your ally using similar mechanics, but I'm not going to suggest that here as Kevan could decide whether he wants to create an in-game functionality for bounty hunting or not. Personally I'd like it but I'm not sure if Kevan wants PKers to have a hard time or have it easy. The scope of this suggestion is just to improve on alliances.

Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Taser EX

Timestamp: 09:07, 3 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Item
Scope: Defense weapon
Description: This is a defensive weaapon. It costs 1 ap to reload with 10 shots with a battery. each shot does 1 damage. It has 20% base accuracy and is affected by firearms training. HOWEVER, the Taser does double damage when used in a building with a powered generator. It can be found in armories, malls, and any place you can find guns. The ammo, Batteries, can be found in malls and can be recharged with a powered generator. It also does double damage to zombies because of the moist skin. It is weaker than a pistol, so it isn't the weapon of choice for zombie hunting, but it is good as a last resort weapon.
Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Deathly Moan

Timestamp: MrAushvitz11:34, 3 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Survivors cannot search at same location as your zombie!
Description: Deathly Moan

Appears on zombie skills tree just under "Feeding Groan." Does not apply any bonus to your human character.

Your zombie has a hideously disturbing moan whenever survivors are nearby. Survivors may not search at your zombie's current location.

  • When survivors attempt to search at your location, cancels search (no AP wasted) survivor reads: "There is a horrifying moan, making it impossible for you to concentrate on searching!"

Note: This effect does not apply if your zombie is a dead body, only while standing does this skill interfere. This skill only applies if you are at the exact same location as a survivor (indoors, or outdoors at same place.)

  • This zombie skill is intended to allow zombies to "cancel" a survivor's most crucial game advantage whenever possible: Items, weapons and equipment! Survivors will be forced at times to have to "deal" with the zombies rather than ignore them for a time, and then gun them down.
Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Group Member Recognition

Timestamp: 2:51, 4 April 2006 (GMT +8)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Groups
Description: Well its not really a skill, but more of a added feature for the humans. Players would be able to distinguish other players from a group of zombies as long as they belong in the same group/clan. This is like the human counterpart of the recent change on the zombies feeding groan. This way revivers doesn't have to add every single group member into their contact list.

For realism concerns, it could come out as "You recognized your fellow member (name)!.

Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Overweighted

Timestamp: 23:53, 3 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: All players
Description: One thing I find odd is that you can carry a certain number of items, and not a single item more, but the amount of stuff you carry has no effects at all. I also find it odd that 20 pistols and 40 generators apparantly take up the same amount of space/weight, but that's not important right now.

What I propose is simple enough. Any player, human or zombie, can carry as many as five (this number is not set in stone, it may be too high or too low for some people's tastes) items more than the limit usually allows. However, going over the limit causes that player to become encumbered, requiring them to spend 2 AP to move instead of 1, or 3 instead of 2 if they are a zombie without Lurching Gait. This has no effect on anything other than movement. If you want to carry five more first aid kits, or two more guns and some extra ammo, or 5 more generators, you can, but obviously you will need to plan better to get back to your safehouse before running out of AP.

Sure, it's possible that it could be abused. Anything can be abused, if someone put their minds to it. But I've tried to balance it out as best I could, and it seems strong enough to hold up.

Left Queue: -21:39, 13 May 2006 (BST)

4th April 2006

Disturbing Moans (Revised 3.0, took it down another notch)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:45, 4 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Survivors experience search difficulties at same indoors location as your zombie!
Description: Disturbing Moans

This is a corrected re-vamp of yesterday's zombie skill suggestion, as requested by several voting players to instead be given a deduction to search % chances, based on # of zombies invading, and an AP cost for use of the skill.

Appears on zombie skills tree just under "Feeding Groan." Does not apply any bonus to your human character.

Your zombie has a hideously disturbing moan whenever survivors are nearby, especially indoors! Survivors may not easily search at your zombie's current location (they have a hard time turning their back on you, even for a second!) The more zombies moaning at your location, the harder all searching becomes.

  • When your zombie enters an indoors location where there is at least 1 survivor: you have a button available called "Disturbing Moans." If you spend 1 AP any time while you are indoors this location, and there is at least 1 survivor present, this area is now being affected by "Disturbing Moans."

Note: The duration of disturbing moans is indefinite, but there are many ways to cause an end to the moaning, so it will rarely go on for too long.

  • Survivors at this location read: "There is a horrifying moan, making it difficult for you to concentrate on searching!" if more than one zombie adds to the effect the survivor reads "The zombie chorus of moans is rising in volume, it is maddening!" The second message only ever happens once, to prevent players from counting the number of Z's contributing to the interference (maintains zombie anonymity.)

Search Difficulties:

As long as the moans are maintained (explained later) all searching at this indoors location is at a 15% chance of instant failure (before making a search test, this % is rolled, and if it works survivor reads "You cannot concentrate on searching with all this damn noise!", the survivor loses the AP spent on their search attempt, and finds nothing. If that search isn't interfered with, make search attempts normally. This allows a survivor to be able to "measure" the ineffectiveness of their searching if they wish, so they may choose other actions.)

Each zombie past the 1st who adds their moans to the "chorus of the damned" increases the instant failure chance by +5% (each!) However, neither the zombies or the survivors specifically know how high the instant failure % has gotten to (to prevent survivors from knowing how many higher level zombies are here, and because zombies will tend to moan anyways because it's what they do. Also zombies who just entered this location may not know how many other zombies are moaning, if any, or which ones just got up, to be fair.)

There is a maximum search failure of 60% (10 moaning dead total, but only costs them 1 AP each), this allows survivors a "chance" however slim, to tough it out and maybe find something despite all the racket. This skill does not work so well outdoors, because the accoustics really work better with walls and closed spaces. This skill is meant to cause fear and despair to survivors, it is a smaller safehouse's worst nightmare. This moaning does not interfere in any way with a zombie's combat capabilities.. if anything it's a zombie version of a "battle cry" albeit a very slow and loud one.

Breaking The Moans

The computer keeps track of which zombies have "paid" for the moan, and adjusts the search failure % for this building accordingly, as more add to the moan or are removed from it.

A zombie is "removed" from the bonus whenever:

  • They are killed (even if they stand up, it has broken their contribution.)
  • The zombie moves away from this indoor location.
  • They are successfully hit with a "flare gun" (fire breaks the "rhythm" in a way even an axe can't, or if they are "revived" (no longer a zombie!)
  • If there are NO survivors left at this indoors location anymore, it ends the moan for all zombies at this location (yes, if they run away, it ends. Survivors have free running, by all means use it.)

Note: This effect does not apply if your zombie is a dead body, only while standing does this skill interfere. This skill only applies if you are at the exact same location as a survivor (indoors at same exact location as the survivor(s) you are harassing.) Once your zombie has paid for the moan, provided you are still standing it doesn't matter if you are online or offline, it still continues. In all likelihood your zombie will be killed because it is inside a building interfering with searches, so this continuous effect has it's price: it continues if you pay, and you stay.

  • This zombie skill is intended (for game balance) to allow zombies to "cancel" a survivor's most crucial game advantage if possible: Items, weapons and equipment! Survivors will be forced at times to have to "deal" with the zombies rather than ignore them while taking other actions, this may allow for and require different seige tactics for both sides. Smart survivors will now have to protect their best resource buildings from zombies, short term and long term, or lose the advantages they provide.
Left Queue: xbehave 21:49, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Terrorise

Timestamp: 21:54, 4 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Terrorise: When in the same square as a survivor, if the zombie successfully hits they force the survivor to take 2 AP for every action except moving, and survivors shoot at -5% to hit. This means with a gun and not an axe. This is still applicable even if the survivor walks away and returns. This is not completely unbalancing, but is not completely pointless, either.

Possible Flavor Text:The more experienced zombies in the city are learning what terrrorises their prey. This could include illegal corporate practices.

Left Queue: xbehave 21:49, 13 May 2006 (BST)

5th April 2006

Security Access

Timestamp: MrAushvitz16:38, 5 April 2006 (GMT)
Type: Survivor access to buildings
Scope: Based on your starting character class, and some skills, you may be able to get past some building's higher barricades!
Description: Completely different suggestion from me today, we'll give the search inhibitor ideas a break for a month or two methinks.

We've all been prevented, at one time or another from entering buildings that are over Very Strongly barricaded. This usually affects lower level characters without free running, or forces survivors who are outside to wander around until they find the building which is a "gate" to allow free running into that building.

This skill is intended to make it possible for survivors to get past higher level building barricades based on their prior profession, and skills purchased granting familiarity to allow access. Mainly it should help newbies who find themselves in a seriously overbarricaded part of Malton.

Security Access

Appears under survivors skill tree as a new skill tree. Does not grant any bonus to your zombie character.

Your character finds it easier to enter certain buildings, even if they are too highly barricaded for many survivors to enter. Building type is determined by your starting profession, and other skills in addition to this one.

Game Mechanics:

You are permitted to enter specific Heavily Barricaded Buildings (1 rank above VS Barricaded) either from outside, or by use of the free running skill.

The building types you are allowed to enter in this manner are determined by your character's starting profession, in addition to other skills you have also purchased. It is not possible to have security access to all of these buildings currently, but if you have completed enough of the skills tree you will be able to do it with many of them.

Starting Profession: - Building Type:

Cop - Police Department

Firefighter - Fire Station

Consumer - Mall

Private - Fort, Armory

Scout - Fort

Medic - Fort, Hospital

NecroTech Lab Assistant - NecroTech Building

Doctor - Hospital

Some starting character classes are permitted 2 buildings rather than 1, this is based on how few of such beuildings exist in Malton, search considerations, starting skills & overall character balance.

  • Further Skills That Add To This Ability:

Off Duty Leave

  • Millitary Skill - Seperate skill on millitary skills tree - Requires Security Access as a prerequistite, adds the following building types to Security Access in addition to others: Arms, Club, Hotel.

NecroTech Affiliation

  • Science Skill - Appears under NecroNet Access on Science Skills Tree - Requires Security Access as a prerequistite, adds the following building types to Security Access in addition to others: NecroTech Building, Library. * Note: NecroTech Lab Assistant starting class gains an additional bonus after buying this skill, they are permitted +2 levels of barricade entry to a NT building rather than +1 (VH barricaded entry is permissible, with this skill plus Security Access & NT Lab Assistant as starting character class.)

To Serve And Protect

  • Civilian Skill - Appears under Security Access on Civilian Skills Tree - Requires Security Access as a prerequistite, adds the following building types to Security Access in addition to others: Hospital, Stadium, Bank, Building, Tower. (This skill requires as an additional prerequisite Level: 8+, unless your starting character class is a Cop, Firefighter, Private or Medic in which case it is only Level: 5+.)

These skills are intended to show your character has a "on the job familiarity" with these specific buildings, and how to get in if you have to. Your character may know a few trade secrets about such buildings, have a set of master keys, a useful tool (like a fireaxe), or may have had specific training about certain "key areas" which noone who is not of the profession would know. The benefit is rather minimal, but can make movement into such buildings easier, and in the most desperate of situations allows some degree of higher barricading if the area is completely overrun with zombies.

Left Queue: xbehave 21:59, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Symphonic Racket

Timestamp: 22:25, 5 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Feeding Groan lets zombies congregate where the food is, once the meal has been uncovered. But how do zombies organize in order to take down barricades together? This is an essential part of the zombie game, but currently can only be organized through out-of-game channels. I'd like to propose a "Feeding Groan Lite" used to attract ferals to a target for the purpose of wrecking barricades together.

Experienced zombies know that breaking through those desks, vending machines and plastic trees means a meal is almost within reach. As these zeds go about their barricade-breaking business, they send up a symphonic (to a zombie's ears) racket of moans, grunts and splintering wood. Other zombies, even the newly dead, find this noise strangely irresistable.

Symphonic Racket would be found under Memories of Life in the Zombie skill tree. Once purchased, the zombie will see a "Loud Smash" button when facing a barricaded building. Clicking this results in an attack attempt against the barricades, with the same chances as normal -- just as if the player had hit "Attack barricades with claws." The difference is that this Smash is performed as noisily as possible, for the purpose of alerting other zombies to the possibility of food inside. If the Smash results in a collapse, the noise can be heard up to six blocks away by both survivors and zombies.

You smash against the barricade. Part of it collapses with a tremendous noise.

Feral zombies can note where the sound is coming from and follow it to the source. Humans can note the location and run to help!

You heard a loud racket 3 blocks to the north and 2 blocks to the west.

Yes, this will mean a certain amount of additional message spam. However, I can't tell you how useful all that groaning is to a zombie, and this would complete the picture. Ferals need to know where the action is, and zombies need a way to call for help with bringing down barricades. This is the simplest way I can come up with to achieve that.

I thought about making this a "hearing" instead of "calling" skill, but that would fail in bringing low-level zombies to a target. With this suggestion only one zombie needs to have the skill for it to be effective.

I also considered making the racket indistinguishable to survivors, to cut down on useless messages for them. However, I think this feature should carry with it the possible downside of bringing survivors to the rescue when you really wanted help from other zeds.

Left Queue: xbehave 21:59, 13 May 2006 (BST)

Screams Of The Dying

Timestamp: MrAushvitz23:54, 5 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies who are killing survivors may attract other zombies
Description: A variation on how feeding groan works per se.. but in this case it is the survivors who are making all the noise!

Screams Of the Dying

Appears under zombie skills tree as a new zombie skill tree (no pre-requisites), so "newbie" zombies can access this skill.

Your zombie can hear human cries of pain and distress well beyond the normal human range.

Every time a survivor is killed by a zombie in combat it adds it's voice to the "scream stack." being calculated for this location. Once every hour, any location that has had 3 or more survivors killed by zombies at the same exact location (be it indoors or outdoors) will send out a "scream" in a specific range, based on the total killed in that hour span. The time delay is to make it easier to "count" the total dead, and to give the zombies time to finish killing the humans, and to give zombies who hear the screaming time to think and realize the screaming means FOOD! (Zombie response time is a bit slow...)

Scream Radius:

After the computer has tallied the total dead in this location, and it is enough to send out a scream for this hour's activities. It will send out a "scream" whose range is based on the total humans killed at that location. Only zombies with this skill will hear these cries alongside varies eating noises.

Total Humans Killed By Zombies - Scream Range

3 or 4 - 2 squares

5 or 6 - 3 squares

7 or 8 - 4 squares

9 to 11 - 5 squares

12 or more - 6 squares

  • Once the scream has gone out, all zombies in that area with the "Screams of the dying" skill will hear and recognize the noise: "You hear the screams of the dying at (Direction) and (Direction)" ex. (4 N) and (1 W).
  • Zombies at the same location the screams are coming from, will not hear the screams, even if they just missed the action and moved here, to cut down on spam messaging. (One exception, if the zombie is outside and the screams are coming from inside or vice versa, the screams will be heard.. encouraging those outside to tear down the barricades again.)
  • This skill's intention is to make zombie "XP harvesting" a bit easier, whenever possible, and to make survivors who have a "serious breach" work quickly to re-errect their barricades before the next horde comes along. But there's no way of knowing how many zombies may have heard or may be coming, so it adds an element of the unexpected. It also encourages zombies to "mob up", and kill survivors as quickly as they can whenever possible.
Left Queue: xbehave 21:59, 13 May 2006 (BST)

6th April 2006

rifle suggestion

Timestamp: 11:42/6th April/2006
Type: Item/firearm and skills
Scope: Survivors
Description: I've just been reading all the other rifle suggestions, and think this might work. The Rifle would be found in PD's, Mall Gunshops and Armourys. It would do 4 damage, and would start with the same accuracy as a pistol. Basic firearms would also improve its accuracy.
Left Queue: 22:32, 6 April 2006 (BST)

C4

Timestamp: 02:10, 6 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item
Scope: Humans
Description: As the name suggests C4.

What it does - Can Reduce Extremely Barricaded to Very Heavily Barricaded or V. Heavily to Heavily. and so on...

Ap used - Only 1 AP used for using a C4.

Places Found - I thought about this and to reduce C4 spaming only in malls that to 2-4%? with Bargain Hunting.So that its used in only emergencies.

Note: Or Kevan could add a skill for C4 to avoid spamming?

You place the C4 at the lower corner and stand back.It explodes to break a part of it.


Any modifiactions welcome

Left Queue: 17:26, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Paint Cans

Timestamp: 4:15, 6 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item to be used by players
Scope: Item
Description: Exactly like a spray can only now 2 graffiti will appear on a wall like

Some one had painted blah blah ... on a wall.

Looks like some has spraypainted over it blah blah.... .

Paint Can`s can be found in Hardware stores and the percentage of finding it will be quite low. Anything written with paint cant be modified with the tagging skills only by another Paint Can.

Scope - Can help preserve Revive point directions or Place markers for a longer time.

Left Queue: 17:26, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Barricade Modification

Timestamp: 06:43, 6 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Barricade Modification
Scope: Survivors and Zombies
Description: Basically this idea gives more depth and strategy into barricades and how they are used. What I suggest is that there are two kinds of barricades, ones on the inside and ones on the outside. However you can only have one set on the building at a time. Now I'm not going to suggest a new button to make either one, what I'm suggesting is that the type of barricade is based off wether the doors are open or not. If they are open then you are going to build them on the outside because it's more secure. However if they are closed then you can't get outside so you build them on the inside.

So you are probably asking at the moment, what's the difference between this system and the current one which is easier to understand? Well other than flavour text of "The barricades have been built on the outside/inside and appear to be (barricade strength)", when the barricades are built on the outside attackers have a 5% less chance to damaged the barricades. So if a Zombie has a 20% chance to destroy the barricades then it comes down to 15% chance to destroy them. Now the benefit that Zombies get is that all of the newbies that come along without memories of life would be able to destroy these barricades that have been built on the outside and get into the building because the doors weren't closed. This will help newbies because they don't have to rely on older players or the odd survivor on the street. For the barricades on the inside they are left at the normal destruction rate.

If this is implemented then all barricades should be considered to be built on the inside as the doors would already be closed. Also this would only increase the database by 1 8-bit (1-bit if Kevan wanted) variable for each building. So it would total less then 1 Mega byte, which is less then the size of most MP3s.

So in summary, this is suggesting for there to be two types of barricades. One on the inside with a normal hit rate and one on the outside with a -5% hit rate on the barricades. They cannot exist at the same time though. This would only increase the database size by less then 1MB if Kevan uses 8-bit variables.

Left Queue: 17:26, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Symphonic Racket v2

Timestamp: 21:46, 6 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Feeding Groan lets zombies congregate where the food is, once the meal has been uncovered. But how do zombies organize in order to take down barricades together? This is an essential part of the zombie game, but currently can only be organized through out-of-game channels. I'd like to propose a "Feeding Groan Lite" used to attract ferals to a target for the purpose of wrecking barricades together.

Experienced zombies know that breaking through those desks, vending machines and plastic trees means a meal is almost within reach. As these zeds go about their barricade-breaking business, they send up a symphonic (to a zombie's ears) racket of moans, grunts and splintering wood. Other zombies, even the newly dead, find this noise strangely irresistable.

Symphonic Racket would be found under Memories of Life in the Zombie skill tree. Once purchased, the zombie will see a "Loud Smash" button when facing a building barricaded at Quite Strongly or less. A Loud Smash costs 2 AP. Hitting it results in an attack attempt against the barricades, with the same chances as normal -- just as if the player had hit "Attack barricades with claws." The difference is that this Smash is performed as noisily as possible, for the purpose of alerting other zombies to the possibility of food inside. If the Smash results in a collapse, the noise can be heard up to six blocks away by both survivors and zombies.

You smash against the barricade. Part of it collapses with a tremendous noise.

Feral zombies can note where the sound is coming from and follow it to the source. (Clarification edit: the racket can be heard from inside the building being attacked, but not from within other buildings, just like Feeding Groan.)

You heard a loud racket 3 blocks to the north and 2 blocks to the west.

Yes, this will mean a certain amount of additional message spam. However, the racket only sounds when a building is near the breaching point and only when a zombie is willing to spend the extra AP to call his zombie brothers to help.

Left Queue: 17:26, 15 May 2006 (BST)

7th April 2006

Modifcation to Diagnose skill

Timestamp: 11:49, 7 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Modifcation to Diagnose skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: Quick one this, I suggest people with diagnose skill should be able to see early signs of infection. Highlighting infectees in the description, this would allow for faster better placed triage when healing in a busy buildings. Could be denoted as an 'I' next to the HP currently listed if a survivor is infected. This would increase server load, but I don't think by a significant amount unless the building is v.v. heavily populated.
Left Queue: 18:20, 7 April 2006 (BST)

Inventory Display Options

Timestamp: 05:01, 7 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Inventories
Description: Inventories are cluttered. It'd be nice if multiple items could be condensed like so:

Instead of [GPS Unit] [First Aid Kit] [First Aid Kit] [Pistol 0] [Pistol (3)] [Pistol 1] [Pistol 3] [Fire Axe] [GPS Unit] you could have, listed alphabetically in bulleted form exactly like so:

  • [Fireaxe]
  • [2 First Aid Kit]
  • [2 GPS Unit]
  • [Pistol (0)]
  • [Pistol (1)]
  • [2 Pistol (3)]

Since some people might prefer the current system there could be a "Condense Inventory Display" check box under your edit profile page to let you choose to switch to this layout. And of course once you switch that check box would be replaced with "Expand Inventory Display" to change back if you prefer it this way.

I'd prefer a system like this and making it optional would prevent anyone from being forced to switch. Inventories are a cluttered mess and I frequently find things I didn't even realize I had. It's a nice surprise of course but I'd rather have a short list like the one above. And while I know there's a firefox extension for this, using firefox and downloading additional materials shouldn't be a requirement to have a logical interface in Urban Dead.

  • Note: In response to voter concerns the list could get too long and force them to scroll, it would work just as well if the items were presented in two or three columns, but still bulleted and listed alphabetically.
Left Queue: 17:29, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Barricade Modification

Timestamp: 10:30, 7 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Barricade Modification
Scope: Survivors and Zombies
Description: Ok, I suggested something very very similar to this yesterday and it got shot down. I went and took what people said into consideration and modified it so it hopefully will be more accepted. So if this fails as well then I'll give up on this idea because otherwise it obviously won't be accepted ever.

So basically this idea gives more depth and strategy into barricades and how they are used. What I suggest is that there are two kinds of barricades, ones on the inside and ones on the outside. However you can only have one set on the building at a time. Now I'm not going to suggest a new button to make either one, what I'm suggesting is that the type of barricade is based off wether the doors are open or not. If they are open then you are going to build them on the outside because it's more secure. However if the doors are closed then you can't get outside so you build them on the inside.

So you are probably asking at the moment, what’s the difference between this system and the current one which is easier to understand? Well other than flavour text of "The barricades have been built on the outside/inside and appear to be (barricade strength)", when the barricades are built on the inside attackers have a 5% more chance to damaged the barricades. So if a Zombie has a 20% chance to destroy the barricades then it goes up to 25% chance to destroy them.

This will primarily help newbie zombies because most people would then make barricades on the outside for security and therefore have the doors open. So when the newbie comes along and finally destroys the barricades they will be able to enter the building. This will mean that newbies won’t have to rely on the older players to gain levels. This will also not effect the older zombie players at they will have already gained the skill memories of life and would be able to enter the building regardless.

If this is implemented then all barricades should be considered to be built on the inside as the doors would already be closed. Also this would only increase the database by 1 8-bit (1-bit if Kevan wanted) variable for each building. So it would total less then 1 Mega byte, which is less then the size of most MP3s.

So in summary, this is suggesting for there to be two types of barricades. One on the outside with a normal hit rate and one on the inside with a +5% hit rate on the barricades. They cannot exist at the same time though. This would only increase the database size by less then 1MB if Kevan uses 8-bit variables.

Left Queue: 17:29, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Untreated Infection

Timestamp: 11:49, 7 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Flavour, change
Scope: survivors
Description: Not sure if this has been suggestion - have scoped out all suggestions, and this hasn't seem to have come up. If it has, please let me know.

If a survivor has been infected, and the infection goes untreated for 72 hours, the survivor automatically becomes a zombie, regardless of the survivors HP.

At the 72nd hour, the survivor "dies" and must stand up in the normal way. When they "die" the survivors body could be dumped outside like any other dead body.

I think this could be very insteresting, in terms of realism, gameplay and also adds a flavour element. At the moment, survivors can wait around for a medi kit to cure their ailment, but if that treatment wasn't forthcoming, they would have no choice but to succumb to infection, or seek out a hospital. It would thus make movement of the player critical for survival, in that the survivor would possibly need to move from an area with no hospitals. This gives added tension to the fact that the infected survivor would be losing 1HP per AP used.

Evidently, this would also aid zombie spies, and would make the quick disposal of bodies (something that I believe is already done religiously) even more important.

A message would also be displayed when the survivor dies:

The infection takes hold of your body, spreading through each and every cell, up into your brain. Convulsing and foaming at the mouth, everything goes black. You have joined the world of the undead.

Left Queue: 17:29, 15 May 2006 (BST)

8th April 2006

Death Cultists

Timestamp: 00:32, 8 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Character Class
Scope: Humans
Description: "Sinister figures begin to emerge from the shadows of Malton; Flowing black robes trimmmed with blood red, arcane sigils printed down the sleeves and shady hoods obscuring inhuman scowls. The reek of death heralds their coming, and blood ordains each footprint. Turned to diefying the zombie plague in light of the apocalypse, they seek nothing less than absolute destruction and purification at the hand of the zombie virus."

Death Cultists, Zombie Spies, whatever - they're already in the game in a very fundamental way; Hell, a lot of suggestions get shot down here for that very reason. It's time to make it official...

"Death Cultist" is an entirely new set of classes with their own skills, like Military or Science. All Death Cultists would pay 75XP for their own skills, 150XP for civillian skills, and 100XP for Science and Millitary. All other classes would pay 150XP for Cultist skills. Skills:

  • Stealth

Move directly from building to building (just like Free Running), but your name doesn't appear on the user list until you perform another action or after 30 minutes.

    • Masquerade

Changes profile to register as a "Civillian" for 10 actions, other than speaking. Still affects users other than actual Cultists who use the skill.

  • Sacrificial Rites

Extra +20% to hit with Kitchen Knife against Survivors (stacks with Knife Combat skill).

    • Blood Rites

Inflict Infection on Survivors with the Kitchen Knife.

    • Rites of Execution

Extra +15% to hit with the Axe against Survivors (stacks with Axe Proficiency).

  • Necromancy

Heal an extra 5HP and XP when using FAKs on Zombies.

  • Dark Piper

Using this skill gives all zombies on the same block a Scent Trail-like effect, eg. "BobJohn beckons the undead to follow, leaving a trail of blood in his path [2,4]".

Classes:

  • Noviate

Starts with Stealth and a Crowbar.

  • Dark Priest

Starts with Dark Piper and a GPS Unit.

  • Necromancer

Starts with Necromancy and a First Aid kit.

Try not to be too harsh, and I'm open to suggestions.....

Left Queue: 17:32, 15 May 2006 (BST)

9th April 2006

Echoes of Gunfire

Timestamp: 11:44, 9 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Flavour
Scope: Survivors Outside
Description: A shotgun blast is pretty loud, and so is a pistol (unless it's silenced, of course, but there aren't silenced pistols in Malton), so it stands to reason that, in the desolate and abandoned streets of Malton, where there's little sound other than light gusts of wind and the rustle of newspapers, the noise of shots being would echo, or at least carry some distance. As such, I think that ranged weapons should echo.

If a player is killed by any ranged weapon (Flare Gun, Pistol, Shotgun) then a message will be sent to every survivor who is outside within a 5 block radius. People in buildings wouldn't receive the message. Neither would zombies or corpses (zombies because of partially decayed hearing organs and corpses because they're corpses). The message would read like the following:

"You hear gunshots echoing from x blocks away in [direction]. [timestamp]"

Because you would only hear it if you're outside, you wouldn't be spammed (unless you love sleeping outside in zombie hordes, and are lucky enough not to get brutally slaughtered by them). I deleted the original suggestion and modified it with the changes that I suggested here: http://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Talk:Suggestions#Echoes_of_Gunfire_2

Left Queue: 17:37, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Repeat Command Button for Attacking/Removing Barricades

Timestamp: 18:26, 9 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: User Interface
Description: I suggest that a button be added to the user interface "attack barricades ten times for 10ap". This would both save player boredom and save a little bandwidth, as instead of sending/receiving the same page ten times only once would be required.

This might be perceived as providing a slight 'edge' to players attempting to remove barricades rapidly during attacks. This could be countered by the inclusion of an equivalent "reinforce barricades ten times for ten ap" button. If the barricades were reduced to zero, the remaining action points could either be credited back to the character, or wasted. As that's a balance issue I don't wish to suggest which - this is intended purely as a UI suggestion.

Left Queue: 17:37, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Weaken Structures

Timestamp: MrAushvitz23:04, 9 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill (Again)
Scope: Building Damage Effect From Damaging Barricades
Description: I haven't posted any suggestions for a few days, so we'll just see how this goes...

Weaken Structures

Appears under Zombie Skills Tree as a new zombie skill, adds no bonus to your human character. This is intended to be a "zombie mob" skill, so newbie zombies can help out.

Any time your zombie has spent at least 25 AP in a row attacking a single building's barricades, there is a chance you will cause Structural Damage Points to that building.'

This % chance is based on the type of building you have been attacking, some building's infastructure weakens more easily than others.

Chance of Structual Damage: - Building Types:

  • 5% - Power Station, Stadium, Armoury, Bank, Factory, Fire Station, Police Department, Railway Station.
  • 10% - Mall, The City Zoo, Building, Cinema, Hospital, Hotel, NecroTech Building, School, Tower, Cathedral.
  • 20% - Arms, Auto Repair Shop, Church, Club, Junkyard, Library, Museum, Warehouse, Mansion.

When you weaken a building's structure the computer secretly records Structural Damage Points for that particular building. This damage can result in various negative effects for those residing within, until repairs to the building are made. Your zombie, if successful in causing 1 point of structural damage reads: "You have weakened this building! Gain 5 XP!", it is a reasonable bonus, but it takes a lot of AP to earn it.

For the following table, all effects are culmative (they are all in effect at the same time each level of structural damage increased. And for those that mention "per point added" every time this building gains a point of damage a test is made for each of those ones at that level or higher of damage.)

Structural Damage Points: - Effects On Occupancy:

  • 1 To 3 - 5% Chance of build barricade failure: You were unable to find something that wasn't broken! attempt still costs the survivor 1 AP.
  • 4 To 6 - 5% Chance per point added of structural collapse; hitting up to 4 random survivors inside: Pieces of the ceiling are falling on you! You take 10 Damage!
  • 7 To 9 - 25% Chance per point added of electrical failure; this building may NOT be powered until repaired. (Any existing generator is destroyed, and new ones may not be added until repairs sufficient to getting below this level are made.) This building has many of it's wires visible and severed!
  • 10 To 12 - Searching difficulties: The sheer amount of rubble makes searching difficult! all search checks have a 25% chance of automatic failure, before a check is made.
  • 13+ - No new survivors can enter this building, only survivor movement out of this building is possible.. zombies can enter by crawling over dirt and debris (an inherent skill of all dead) Near complete collapse, this building is no longer habitable! Any free running movement to this building results in reading that message, and the movement instead ends outside of that building.

Repairs:

Survivors have a button available to make repairs IF they have the construction skill (which lets them know this building has some internal damage.) Repairs are determined by chance in the same manner as building a barricade, a success removes 1 point of Structural damage, and that survivor gains 2 XP! BUT this is much harder to do, and takes more time and effort, so the effectiveness of making repairs to a building is 1/4 the chance of successfully building 1 level of a barricade.

  • In this manner, there will be some attrition, or "lasting damage" to a building not just the temporary barricades. If there are enough survivors inside to keep the zombies out, they may still have to spend further AP to compensate for the long term effects of a sustained seige. Severe damage to a building can make staying in it dangerous, and eventually uninhabitable. This is not the same level of damage as a wrecking ball through the side of a building, but repeated zombie invasion attempts should definately make a decent mess of a building's infastructure. This allows zombies a very ungly tactic, the ability to "take out" buildings, if there's enough of them!
Left Queue: 17:37, 15 May 2006 (BST)

10th April 2006

Exchange XP for AP

Timestamp: 17:10, 10 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Self explanatory
Scope: Everyone
Description: Now, I know that this has been done before, but I'd like to change it around a bit. Now, after you have achieved level 15 (any levels), you can buy an "AP for XP" skill (very creative name, I know) for 500 XP. This skill is available to all players (zombie and survivor). Buying this skill will allow you to exchange 200 XP for one AP. Obviously, the IP hit limit would still be in place unless you have donated. I just think that it's a skill that takes quite a bit to buy, and if you have a bunch of extra XP laying around, you can get a few more AP.
Left Queue: 19:25, 10 April 2006 (BST)

Bone Breaker

Timestamp: 01:11, 10 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Millitary Skill (Again)
Scope: A chance for double damage with some blunt weapons
Description: Since zombies and humans have one thing in common, the same skeleton, I thought this might come in handy.

Bone Breaker

Appears on Millitary skills tree, adds same benefits to your zombie character.

Adds 5% to your hit chances with any blunt weapon. Your character can deliver horrifyingly precise attacks with blunt weapons at times. There is a 5% chance whenever you attack with a blunt weapon that you deal double damage to a human, triple damage to a zombie.

Message Reads: "Ohhh.. what a bone crunching hit for (X) damage!"

  • This skill allows people who want to go baseball bat crazy, or do some pipe hittin', or just see if you can kill someone with a crowbar something fun to do with them.
  • My rationale is a zombie's rot makes it more suscpetible to bludgeoning possibly breaking their bones better. many may argue against this, but look at it this way.. a living human being has the common sense to stop walking on a broken leg, a zombie doesn't. perhaps stupid zombies try to block bats with their arms rather than duck. it's all the same.
  • Make make things more interesting to see survivors (and some zombies) clubbing their enemies like a baby seal. But hey, it's good!
Left Queue: 17:41, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Bounty Hunter

Timestamp: 07:27, 10 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: Player can track down other survivors who recently performed threatening actions. A skill for high-level survivors, requiring level 10 like the zombie hunter skill or perhaps even level 20.

Bounty Hunter would work exactly like scent trail does for zombies, except that the events which give you a trail will be different. It will give you the current location of another survivor if you have just witnessed them either killing someone or destroying a generator. The rationale for this is that you are seasoned and vigilant enough to react when this kind of shocking event happens, and therefore can follow the perpetrator if you wish. Like scent trail, it will not give you a location when you are dead, so it is useless for revenge.

This skill will add an interesting dynamic to the game, allowing survivors who like the idea of tracking down and killing 'bad guys' to do so. Survivor vs. Survivor PVP will be a lot more interesting and gratifying when it is possible to catch your enemy, or to be caught. Whether this change will increase or decrease the amount of PKing going on is an open question: the potential for getting caught may discourage griefing and cause survivors to act nicely, but on the other hand, the possibility of a bounty hunter wasting a generator-breaker in a safehouse, only to be tracked down and killed by another bounty hunter in another safehouse, and so on, might cause survivors to kill one another a lot more. But it shouldn't affect the zombie vs. survivor balance at any rate.

It will also help the realism of the game, since presently anyone can walk into a crowded mall, murder a couple people, and run away; but it is almost impossible for someone who witnessed the murder to follow them - hardly a believable scenario! PK's are practically able to vanish like ninjas, as it stands. This would force people to be a bit more cautious and sneaky when they want to do something subversive, if they want to get away with it.

Altogether, this skill will add more depth, realism and fun to the game without impacting game balance at all.

Left Queue: 17:41, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Humans Hide from Humans

Timestamp: 16:22, 10 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: This is a shameless lift from NexusWar. I like the mechanic so much in that game that I'm suggesting something very similar for our own beloved zombie apocalypse. Stealth prejections get shot down all the time, but I think this one works just fine. Apologies to jorm.

When inside a building, a survivor has the option to attempt to Hide. The attempt costs 1 AP, but has only a 25% chance of success. A Hide skill addition in the Military skill tree bumps the chance to 35%. On a failed attempt, the player sees

You attempt to hide, but can find nothing to hide behind.

On a successful attempt, the player sees

You think you are well hidden.

Once hidden, the player cannot be seen -- by other survivors. Zombies can "see" hidden survivors just fine; their sensitivity to the manflesh smell is more acute. In other words, you can't hide from zombies at all; only other survivors.

There are three ways that your hiding can be interrupted:

  • Any search action executed by another player inside the building will reveal you to all players. You search and find ____________. You also find PlayerName, who was hiding.
  • Any successful attack by a zombie will also reveal you.
  • Performing any action which makes your presence obvious to others. You can search, reload, spray paint, heal yourself, read and consume while hidden. Speaking, improving barricades, placing/fueling a generator, using a FAK on someone else, or attacking persons/zombies/barricades will reveal you.

Since hiding is not a 100% guaranteed action, has no effect on zombies, and is pretty easily undone, its power is limited. However, it does have one important use -- hiding from PKers. A PKer will have to expend an extra AP inside any building in which he thinks his target is likely to be found. Often, he will pass you by entirely. For those complaining that there is no defense against PKing, I offer this as your answer.

Of course, PKers can also hide to escape retaliation. It's a sword that cuts both ways. But as a defense for those who find themselves frequent PK targets, it may be the choice between surviving another day and waking up as one of the undead.

Left Queue: 17:41, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Small Surgery Change

Timestamp: 17:19, 10 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Small skill improvement
Scope: Survivors with surgery inside hospitals
Description: Just a small change to make buying Surgery more worthwhile. When using a First Aid Kit inside a hospital with a running generator and the surgery skill, using the kit heals 15HP and gives 10XP. This was written in response to some people's claims that the surgery skill was more or less useless, as it healed the equivilent of 3FAKs without the XP bonus that was needed as an incentive.
Left Queue: 17:41, 15 May 2006 (BST))

Lucky Stiff

Timestamp: 12:11, 10 April 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill (Again)
Scope: A chance for your body to land somewhere safe!
Description: Lucky Stiff

Appears on zombie skills tree just under ankle grab, adds no benefits to your human character.

Your zombie has this annoying tendancy when it has been killed, to occasionally wander off.. sometimes finding a good place to die. This makes finding and disposing of your body more difficult.

Game Mechanics:

There is a 1% chance in powered buildings (3% chance in non-powered buildings) that zombies with this skill when killed, their body cannot be seen normally and removed from the building until found!

  • Finding a hidden body isn't hard if this building is used for searching on a regular basis. Every time a survivor searches and would have gotten a "you found nothing" message there is a 1% chance that they instead find a hidden body (if there is one.) If the body is found by even 1 survivor it is now visible and able to be tossed out normally by any player.
  • If there is more than 1 hidden body, a test is made for each body at 1% each, it is mathematically possible to find 2 or 3 hidden bodies at a time! When a survivor finds a hidden body they gain 2 XP each, for keeping things safer.


The intention of this skill is it is an incentive to have power in all safehouses, regardless of building type. Additionally there is a chance, however slight, of your zombie logging in and being inside of a safehouse ready to attack! (Only the zombie is pleased by his good fortune.) It does add a fear and suprise element to the game (where the hell did that zombie come from?!?) which is a mainstay of the horror genre.

"Geez man, I've heard of skeletons in your closet, but what the hell is this dead guy doing in your bedroom?"

Left Queue: 17:41, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Bone Breaker

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:11, 10 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Millitary Skill (Again)
Scope: A chance for double damage with some blunt weapons
Description: Since zombies and humans have one thing in common, the same skeleton, I thought this might come in handy.

Bone Breaker

Appears on Millitary skills tree, adds same benefits to your zombie character.

Adds 5% to your hit chances with any blunt weapon. Your character can deliver horrifyingly precise attacks with blunt weapons at times. There is a 5% chance whenever you attack with a blunt weapon that you deal double damage to a human, triple damage to a zombie.

Message Reads: "Ohhh.. what a bone crunching hit for (X) damage!"

  • This skill allows people who want to go baseball bat crazy, or do some pipe hittin', or just see if you can kill someone with a crowbar something fun to do with them.
  • My rationale is a zombie's rot makes it more suscpetible to bludgeoning possibly breaking their bones better. many may argue against this, but look at it this way.. a living human being has the common sense to stop walking on a broken leg, a zombie doesn't. perhaps stupid zombies try to block bats with their arms rather than duck. it's all the same.
  • Make make things more interesting to see survivors (and some zombies) clubbing their enemies like a baby seal. But hey, it's good!
Left Queue: 17:41, 15 May 2006 (BST)

11th April 2006

Vigilante

Timestamp: 04:13, 11 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombie Hunters, Survivors
Description: As a zombie hunter you've obviously developed some combat and tracking talents. You can put those skills developed against the undead to good use upon witnessing a human murdering another human. Next to each message informing you of a PK would be a track button. This is how a slaying appears to you:

InvisibleGhost killed Medic Man. (timestamp) Track Invisible Ghost.

Clicking on "Track" would cost 1AP move you one space closer to the killer's current location: "You track InvisibleGhost 1 NW". Above all your buttons "Track InvisibleGhost" would remain there. Each time you click on it costs you an additional AP and moves you one step closer to the killer's position. Each time you attempt to track there is a 5% chance you'll lose the trail and the button would no longer appear on your screen. With the exception of talking if you perform any other action the button also vanishes no longer allowing you to track them, essentially you have to track them right away without taking time to do anything else or the trail will go cold. In addition, you can only track one person at a time. If you see multiple killings by different people you can only choose to track one of them. Clicking on one track button makes the others vanish.

This provides an in-game counter to player killing that is by no means giving the Vigilante a free ride. If the killer takes the precaution of moving even a short ways away it'll cost the tracker several AP to find them. It's also quite likely for a tracker to lose the trail midway, costing them all the AP they spent and giving them nothing more than a vague direction as to the killer's position. This would keep player killing a viable game option for those that wish to do it as they'd have very good odds of escaping provided they saved some AP to make a getaway. This is realistic flavor, as to have leftover AP to run a distance they'd want to use a shotgun or pistol to quickly make a kill, which makes more sense than a hit and run attack using an axe to chop at someone 40 times while a room of people watch.

This suggestion is not opposing playerkilling itself but playerkilling without an in-game counter. This suggestion is trying to present a balanced approach that's fair to everyone. This would make murdering a fellow human being in front of a crowd of heavily armed expert combatants slightly dangerous, while still allowing you a very good chance to escape with only a slight amount of premeditation and smarts.

Left Queue: 17:46, 15 May 2006 (BST)

More for Medics

Timestamp: 09:47, 11 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Medic Skills
Scope: Military class Medics
Description: Because the Medics can only really heal other players for a significant period of time until they can get either hand-to-hand or basic-firearms-training, I think that the "healing" skills, (i.e. diagnosis, surgery etc.) should be available to the medics for 100XP each. This would allow those who wish to be dedicated medics get the skills for their character without saving up double the XP they need for the combat skills.
Left Queue: 17:46, 15 May 2006 (BST)

Athletics

Timestamp: MrAushvitz22:51, 11 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Millitary Skill (Again)
Scope: Outdoors distance travel benefit
Description: I put it under millitary, because it makes sense if you're IN the millitary it's easier to take (75 pts.) Won't cost any more for a civillian, so no problem. (Oh, it's not only cheaper, you'll have no shortage of sergeants and master corporals screaming in your face until you've learned this damn skill soldier!)

Althetics

Appears under Millitary skills tree as a seperate skill, does not benefit your zombie character. Has no additonal prerequisites.

Your character is easily able to cover more ground moving outdoors. Every time your character moves 4 outdoor map locations in a row, the 4th square does not cost you any AP for movement."

  • The logical reason for this is a combination of running, endurance, and skill at maneuvering around all that debris in Malton. It also may help human characters scout longer distances outdoors than they could using free running (which makes sense.) The survivor does not get something for nothing, because by being outdoors they risk catching zombie attention. Besides, if you DO see a whole shwack of zombies closing in and you run into a building, you just broke the chain and missed out on your AP savings.
Left Queue: 17:46, 15 May 2006 (BST)

12th April 2006

A Good Friend Watches Your Back

Timestamp: 04:33, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors, Zombie Hunters
Description: Urban Dead news from February 3rd: "As looter raids and sabotage attacks continue, the city's survivors are beginning to camp out in the larger, shared rooms of their safehouses". As people band together for protection those with combat experience look to protect the weaker and more vulnerable, and even the experienced are forced to depend on their allies. Level 10+ players with the skill Combat Coordination would have the ability to check off people on their contact page as either "Ally" or "Enemy". If a survivor flagged as an enemy on your contact list attacks a survivor flagged as an ally in the same location as you there is a 50% attack that you'll intercept the attack, and take the damage instead. The attacker would get a message along these lines: "You fire at Terrance Palmer but Marley gets in the way and gets hit instead.." If a survivor has more than one ally looking out for them the odds of an ally intercepting the attack never goes above 50%, but a random ally will intercept the attack half the time. The target will still receive half the damage on average, but the rest will be spread out among all the target's allies. This does not take effect when zombies attack humans or humans attack zombies in any way.

What This Means

  • 1) This would not stop PKing nor seriously impede PKers, as both the attacker and the target would have to both be on your contact list. It simply adds a feature of gameplay that makes sense from both logically and gameplay wise: That you are safer in a room with several allies than you are by yourself, and that it is harder for someone to take you by surprise when you recognize them. The problem with PKing as I see it isn't that it exists but that it does not matter how many allies are with you. You are no safer from an attacker in a heavily barricaded building with 20 allies that you are by yourself in an unbarricaded building. Strategy, numbers, and skills don't apply, essentially if the PKer knows where you are and chooses to kill you your only option is to run to another suburb. While there's nothing wrong with the possibly of having to flee it seems ridiculous that one person with a vendetta can prove more dangerous to you in a building filled with your allies than sleeping in Ridleybank by yourself. It detracts from roleplaying and social activity because becoming high profile (by founding a group or giving a good speech) is likely to get you killed. Ron Burgandy, founder of Channel 4 News spends half his time dead because he's recognized and people kill him. It seems fairly ridiculous that if the same person keeps coming into the same building to kill him over and over again that the numerous allies that surround him have no options to counteract this save than saying "Sorry Ron, better make a new low-key alt that never talks or run away to another suburb. It was nice playing with you."
  • 2) PKers could still exist to build a "climate of fear" but it would make it harder for them to pursue griefing (attacking the same person over and over again just harass). It would actually amplify the fear and make PKing more like what people claim it should be, random attacks that could strike anyone anytime. This suggestion does not prevent PKers from doing their thing and actually makes their attacks more effective at inspiring fear. People would think "I could be next" not "Better not form a group, that's like asking to be killed each day".
  • 3) Q: Why does this only take effect with survivors attacking survivors? Why wouldn't they do the same against zombies?

A: Zombies and survivors fight differently. While you might notice someone with a shotgun approaching your friend and manage to push them out of the way but accidentally get caught in the blast yourself, it's less likely that a zombie charging at your friend could be thwarted as easily. They'd probably push past you and just leap onto your friend. But beyond realism, this isn't needed for zombies. Zombies and survivors already have a method for opposing each other via barricades, feeding groan, etc. There's too much of Malton to actually find someone that attacks you or a friend and then runs away. It's not a matter of strategy or organization but that the basis of gameplay in Urban Dead, skills, are designed entirely for zombie vs. survivor conflict. If new types of conflict form new skills should be implemented as well.

Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Multiple Floor Cading?

Timestamp: 14:26, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Building Use
Scope: Survivors in buildings that have the option to 'Jump Out from'
Description: If the building has the option to Jump out from, and plummit to death as a result, there are options to barricade lower floors. Let's say a building has that option, making it a tower. Give this building 2 or 3 Cading levels: "every 5+ floors gives 1 Cading level?" It's not possible to Cade the higher floors above VS, you just can't bold a door completely shut, people would still like to enter or leave regardless of Free Running, and you can't Free Run passed a bolded door. The downside is always, you'll have to run down to the 1st Floor to exit the Building. It would mean that high buildings could have 3 levels you can take refuge to, and those levels could be caded separately as it were like a normal building,.. but stacked up. When you enter such a building there will be 'buttons' representing the floors you can go to. When you are at a certain floor only the other floor buttons are displayed.
Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Caregiver

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:03, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Science Skill
Scope: Ability to distribute HP from FAK's amungst the most needy
Description: Caregiver

Appears on Science skills tree as a seperate skill, does not apply any benefit to your zombie character. Has no additional prerequisites.

Your character's improved level of care allows you to tend to multiple wounded. Indoors, at any powered building, you can use FAK's to heal up to 3 of the most injured survivors at a time.

'Game Mechanics: '

On the item use drop down menus, when you're choosing who to use an FAK on, characters with this skill have another selection marked "The most injured." When you select this option, the computer determines who the most injured are at this indoor, powered building. When you use this skill for this healing option, it costs 2 AP to do so instead of 1 to reflect the additional efforts required to attend to multiple survivors.

The computer will choose up to 3 characters who have the LOWEST HP totals here first. In the event of a tie, the computer first selects those who are of the lowest level, if there are still ties, the computer chooses randomly from the remainders. It is possible for the computer to choose 3, 2 or even 1 survivor for this skill's effect.

The computer will calculate how many HP you can heal with your current FAK skills, and this building's type. Then it will randomly deduct 1 to 2 points from that total if this building is anything other than a powered hospital. then, with the remaining HP to distribute, the computer will divide the HP between those survivors evenly if it can, but if there is an extra point or 2 it will give those to the survivor with the lowest HP totals.

Ex. Nurse Janet enters a mall, sees there are at least 50 survivors here, doesn't need to look to see who is the most hurt (or doesn't have diagnosis) and uses this skill. With her 1st aid skill the computer starts with 10 HP, randomly chooses to deduct 2 HP, so 8 HP is left to distribute. The computer assigns 3 HP to 2 survivors, and 2 HP to 1 survivor, based on their very low HP totals. She continues this without having to constantly check the menus to see who is the most injured.

This skill excludes your character as a recipient of the healing, it only works on other survivors, and only at an indoors location, at a powered building. Your character may only gain the 5 XP for the one FAK used for healing these survivors, you do not recieve 5 XP per survivor who gains any HP from the divided up FAK use! The bonus applies only once, per FAK used.

  • Limitation: This skill will NOT heal any characters that are at 50 HP or more! (even if they normally have a maximum HP beyond that.)

If a character had under 50 HP to start and they are healed to over 50 they keep those HP, but anyone who starts at 50 HP or more is considered "well" enough to not need this assistance.

  • 2nd Limitation: This skill, by it's focus on smaller physical injuries (lacerations, cuts, bruises, etc) negates any curing of infection for those survivors treated. It requires full FAK usage on 1 survivor to get the removal of zombie infection. Infected survivors who need FAK's from others will have to talk and ask for help if they need it.

This skill's intention is to make it easier to find "targets" for FAK use if you enter a very populated building. It also makes it easier to "spread out" what FAK's you have on hand, should you find multiple wounded at a location. There are 2 reasonable and balenced limitations to this skill's usage, in addition to the fact it only works at indoors, powered buildings. This allows non-hospital safehouses a legitimate reason to have power, and it prevents the most wounded to go on suffering, unnoticed because of the sheer population size in some buildings.

Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Last Breath

Timestamp: 18:49, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Survivor Death Word
Scope: Last Survival Attempt
Description: Comes into action when you have 3HP Left a Button Called Red Flare comes up

2 of my characters died of infection as i couldnt find a safehouse on time....

1 did but had 2 hp left was stuck there for 10hrs alone when a zed broke in and killed him.

Implementation:

Appears when u have 3HP Left

Appears as:

A bright red flare was fired 1 block to the East and 2 Blocks to the North!Seems someone is dying and needs help!

Maybe the red flare message can be colored red...

Works in buildings

Uses:

Well gives ur dying character a chance to live and it only appears when u have 3 HP so u can only fire 2 flares before you die of infection! Though it can be a Lunch Beacon for zeds it can also maybe call a Helpful Group player....

NOTE

If this may lead to spam maybe the flare only appears if u have a pistol with attlest 1 bullet in it which gets converted to a flare.

Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Horrible Scratchings

Timestamp: MrAushvitz20:07, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Allows zombies to eventually remove spraypainted messages, with their claws
Description: A young raven haired girl in a dirty white dress scratches at the large painted letters on the wall. The smell of the paint reminds her of the warm flesh that put it there. Maybe if she removes it the flesh will return to redo their work. She smiles. It isn't a pretty one.

Being a zombie is about the loss of identity, and of life. The dead do not like to be reminded that they are not living, and tend to remove any current reminders of the living they hate so much whenever they can.


Horrible Scratchings

Appears on zombie skills tree just under "Memories of life". Has no benefits for your human character. Has no additional prerequisites.

Your zombie character may remove (claw attack) spraypainted messages throughout Malton by scratching at them. This does not work so well on stone or metal.

Your zombie is permitted (by claw attack only) to remove messages spraypainted anywhere in Malton. This attack is available at any location that has a message on it, the message is treated as a barricade which is named "message" at the bottom of the choice of attackable targets menu (the same manner as a generator for example.)

The comparable barricade strength level of the message, is determined by the type of building or outdoor structure it is painted on. Stone & metal are the hardest to scrape at, while wood is the easiest (because it's easier to get blood all over the message due to the splinters.)

Message Removal Difficulty - Buildings Affected:

Level 3 Barricade - Any outdoor location with a monument (metal), statue, stone, metal signposts, all cemetaries, Armory.

Level 2 Barricade - All other buildings and outdoors locations not mentioned above or below.

Level 1 Barricade - All outdoor locations with a tree, or only wooden surfaces available for messages to be posted upon.

If the message is removed (final barricade level gone) your zombie reads: "You have scraped away all signs of living existance. Gain 1 XP."

  • This benefit of 1 XP is the zombie-side of the "tagging" skill, survivors can tag messages for 1 AP, and can gain XP, but it takes much longer to remove one, hence the XP benefit. Areas where survivors feel they must post messages on surfaces will also inadvertently help zombies gather additional XP if they wish to do so.
  • The entire purpouse of this skill is zombies "live" outside, it is their domain for the most part. This skill will make it more difficult for human survivors to communicate through non verbal methods, and they may have to resort to other forms of communication (ex. cell phones, radio, in person conversations, etc.), or a lot more paint to keep the message alive.
  • Zombies who have well developed claws may have something to "say" about survivors, in their own way.
Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Scent Sweat

Timestamp: MrAushvitz22:07, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Allows zombies to smell which buildings have had a LOT or barricade building done recently by survivors
Description: Not as attractive as blood to zombies, but they do know that sweat means manflesh and that is enough!
  • BTW, this is also a long term idea, eventually I hope for: Blood, Sweat and Tears as 3 seperate scent skills, message me if you have ideas.

It seems complicated, but it isn't, it is a skill to help feeding groan by using your sense of smell to determine by smelling a building's outside barricades which locations are good candidates for a feeding groan. Even then max. groan equivilent is for 2 survivors tops. But it is often easier than finding a survivor to do your groan, it can also help determine which "quarter" of a mall has seen the most "action" lately.


Scent Sweat

Appears on zombie skills tree just below "Scent Blood", and requires "Memories of Life" as an additional prerequisite to purchase this skill. Adds no benefits to your human character.

Your zombie can catch the scent of sweat on barricades which have had a lot of barricade construction performed on them in the last 3 hours. If the scent is sufficient, you may use it to utter a feeding groan.

You MUST already have feeding groan as a skill to be able to use it with the scent from this skill.

It is the barricades themselves that the zombie can catch the scent from (not just sweat coming through the holes in the building itself.) And barricades being an outdoors feature, unfortunately, do give away some information to an experienced predator. So your zombie cannot "see" what is going on inside the building, just what is outside.

Game Mechanics:

Every building in Malton will have a "Scent" value, which changes every 3 hours based on how many levels of barricades were added to that building in the last 3 hours. This level also drops if there is little or no building being done at all, AND if the building has a running generator (gasoline and smoke masks the scent to some degree.)

Note: This scent does not give the zombie any idea if there are actually survivors inside (or the amounts of survivors), just that there was a lot of building activity here in the last 3 hours. The building may even be empty, which is why the groan range is kept low. The scent value is a simple number it is either 0, 1 or 2.

To use this skill your zombie has a "scent sweat" button when outside a building that has at least 1 level of barricade on it. Using this skill costs you 10 AP, whether it gets a scent or not, after that you may make a feeding groan if you wish, or not. The high AP cost is to makes it so at maximum a zombie can only move and smell 4 buildings a day at most, leaving enough AP to make feeding groans at the ones that DO have sufficent scent to allow it.

Additions to scent:

Any building which has had at 30-59 levels of building in the last 3 hours - Counts as 1 survivor for feeding groan.

Any building which has had at 60 or more levels of building in the last 3 hours - Counts as 2 survivors for feeding groan.

Deductions to scent:

Any building with a running power generator (full 3 hours running without being out of fuel even once) - Deducts all current levels of scent, regardless of construction (computer does not run any scent calculations for buildings with running generators, value is always 0.) The same effect is true of any building that has has 29 levels or less of construction done in 3 hours, even if their previous value was 1 or 2, the lack of activity loses all remaining sweat scent.

  • Limitation:

This level of scent applies to every building in Malton but does not apply to junkyards (accurate scenting there is impossible!)

Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Enhanced Sight (Title Pending)

Timestamp: 23:01, 12 April 2006 (BST)
Type: After-Brainrot Skill
Scope: Zombie flavor text
Description: Once you have brain rot, you can get a skill called Enhanced Sight. Enhanced Sight lets you see exactly how a survivor dies when you kill him. The text would be different for each weapon. I will leave exactly what the text says up to Kevan if this is accepted but here are some of my ideas...

Teeth: You bite into Bananaboy's head and eat his brain. Bananaboy slumps to the ground. Hands: You smash KillerDucky in the chest and here his spine crack as he hits the ground. Pipe: You hit BlackHawk43 in the face with a pipe and crush his skull with your strength.

Left Queue: 10:35, 20 June 2006 (BST)

13th April 2006

1AP for ?rise if not dead

Timestamp: 12:44, 13 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Dealing with ?rise spamming
Scope: Everyone
Description: I don't know what the general perception of ?rise spamming is, but I think it kind of ruins the game when one zombie kan rise up a million times in a row and force a number humans to use up all their AP on this one ?rise spammer. If people agree with me, then I have a simple suggestion; make it so that if you try to ?rise without actually being dead, you spend an AP. This means that a ?rise spammer real quickly will run out of AP if he tries to spam, but it gives room to mistakes if you have a bookmark with ?rise or whatever. --Janzak 12:45, 13 April 2006 (BST)
Left Queue: 18:13, 13 April 2006 (BST)


Length of Chain

Timestamp: 14:00, 13 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item and Skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: In my opinion, a 'Chain' weapon should be in Urban Dead. It would be found in Auto Repair Shops, Junkyards, Factories and Warehouses. It wouldn't be all that good as a weapon in itself, having only 10% accuracy and dealing 2 points of damage. However, there would also be a new skill under Hand to Hand Combat, named 'Strangle' (until I can think of a better name), which would allow players to strangle enemies. In order to Strangle an enemy, the user with the Chain must first score a successful hit (at the upgraded 25% accuracy), which would give the following message:

"You wrap the chain around ["the zombie's", or "______'s"] neck."

After that, they would have a 'Strangle' button along with other actions. Strangling an enemy would have a 75% chance to deal 1 point of damage and would give the following message:

"You strangle ["the zombie", or "______"]."

However, if it doesn't successfully Strangle the enemy then they escape and can't be Strangled again until you score another successful hit. Enemies who are being Strangled would also escape if you or they do any action other than Strangling (even attacking again with the Chain). If an enemy escapes then it would give the following message:

"["The zombie", or "______"] escapes you."

Chains would be unusable by zombies.

Note: I am not suggesting any kind of ability that prevents other players from moving, or that allows players to drag others to different locations. A player who is being Strangled can move away at any time.

Left Queue: 10:36, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Barbed Wire

Timestamp: 22:59, 13 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Barricading Item
Scope: Barricading buildings
Description: Barbed wire is an item you can find in junkyards. it can be used to circle a building with barbed wire to deter people (and zombies) from trying to get in. If there is barbed wire around a building you will see "The Building is surrounded by barbed wire" If you try to enter the building it will do 2 damage. This applies to both survivors and zombies. You cannot wrap barbed wire around multiple times. A survivor can use wirecutters to snip through the barbed wire, which destroys it. It only does two damage, so it won't kill 3 zombies during an invasion. Attacking baricades will not damage you even if there is barbed wire around the building.
Left Queue: 10:36, 20 June 2006 (BST)

14th April 2006

Fire Zombie

Timestamp: 02:58, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Ability to make zombies hand attacks stronger
Scope: Zombies
Description: This is an ability to make zombies more powerful when smashing barricades. A zombie can pour a fuel can on himself and if he does a button "Light self on fire" will appear. If the zombie lights itself on fire, it does double damage with hand attacks to everything (including Barricades, but it loses 2hp per AP. After 30 ap the effect wears off. Because they are on fire, the zombies can be targeted individualy and are marked specialy e.g. "you see 2 zombies. One is on fire." I believe the damage will be enough to deter zombies without body building from using it. It is not blocked by the Flak Jacket. Each fuel can works once for this purpose.

Edit I frogot to mention that the button dissapears after another ap is spent. Edit 2 It does 3 damage instead. 2 is too low. Edit 3 Survivors can now use fire extinguishers to put out flaming zombies. the extinguishers do no damage to anything.

Left Queue: 10:30, 14 April 2006 (BST)

Burn Zombies

Timestamp: MrAushvitz05:55, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Set zombies on fire using fuel, during a seige
Description: Inspired by the old (and effective!) mideaval seige method of pouring burning oil on your enemies from atop a castle wall.

This skill is intended to create the occasional a zombie on fire, to add to the scenery of Malton. But, to prevent griefing, as many players agree to for some reason, flaming zombies are much more effective at smashing down barricades (the fuel really does it, but hey, looks cool in a movie.)

Burn Zombies

Zombie Hunter Skill, appears under that skills tree on human skills tree, prerequisite level:10+. Applies no bonus to your zombie character.

Your character may attempt to throw fuel onto zombies outside your building, and light it! Base hit 15%, plus Hand to hand combat if you have it.'

  • (That would currently mean max. hit chance is 30% with both skills)

How to burn zombies:

You may only do so if your character is online, and inside a building, has this skill, has at least 1 fuel can in their inventory, the barricade level of the building you are in is currently at lightly barricaded or less, and.... there is at least 1 zombie attacking the barricades of the same building you are inside.

Only, only... only then do you even see the button "Burn Zombies" available on your map. This indicates that your skilled zombie hunter is aware the barricades are under attack, and has some idea where the zombies are coming from, and which windows or part of the roof to go to in order to start dumping fuel. This is why it costs so much AP to make these attacks, all those stairs, yelling to other survivors asking where they are.. things like that. It isn't such a simple thing, you have to earn it. This is NOT an X-ray skill, because of all of it's restrictions, the barricades are nearly gone before you can even use it. Meaning, it won't happen too often, but it will be fun.

Burn Zombies Button:

Costs 2 AP every time you throw fuel at the zombies with your 15% or 30% accuracy, you lose 1 fuel from your inventory each time you do this. The computer keeps track of your misses, because when you light the fuel, it may help destroy the barricades (yes, there is a downside, each "miss" on a zombie is 50% likely to have landed on the barricade itself, your character doesn't know...) A successful hit does no damage, but the computer records how much fuel is "on" each zombie that you hit, and the barricades (each fuel can is 1 hit, on one zombie if it hits.)

This attack is different, the zombies it targets is only one that is attacking the barricade, the most current attacker is at the top of the stack. All of the other zombies outside are safe from this attack, because they are not close enough to get hit.

Once you feel you've wasted enough fuel, you may "Light Fuel" this is the second button which is only available: If the zombie(s) you've hit with fuel are still here and attacking this building's barricades.

Note: The fuel doesn't do any damage (yet), but any zombie that has the memories of life skill has a 25% chance per unit of fuel they are hit by to recognize it, by getting the message: "Someone, has thrown... fuel... onto your zombie!" any zombie without memories of life, doesn't remember, or care.

Light Fuel Button:

Costs 2 AP every time you attempt it ("damn lighter.."), doesn't cost you an item, it is assumed you have a lighter or used matches to light some debris and threw it down. This gives the zombie a chance to leave, or stop attacking, which no longer allows you to burn them (too bad!)

The accuracy of your throw is double that of your fuel, but if you miss.. that's not good.

If you hit.. the zombie is now "on fire" (explained later) and immediately takes 10 points of damage per can of fuel you managed to hit them with! (Just as bad as a shotgun blast, debatable, but 3rd degree burns are BAD! they can kill even zombies. It obviously takes a lot of fuel and AP to burn a zombie to death.. but if you really want to.. go for it!)

If you miss... you MAY have hit the barricade, lighting any fuel that got onto it (you can't see the barricades so well either from up here.) the chance is 50% per miss that you hit the fuel on the barricades, igniting them. The barricades will burn fast and hard, immediately taking 3 seperate fire attacks at 50% chance "to hit" per unit of fuel that hit the barricades. The zombie on the ground will see the results of the fire, you will only see smoke to that effect (resulting messages to witnessing zombies and your hunter are based on the outcome.) Yes you may totally destroy the remaining barricades, maybe they were coming down anyways. But that is the risk of this skill.

All fuel once ignited is consumed (gone!) as it makes it's attacks or deals it's damage. Zombies lose the fuel that is on them by walking away from this location, if they do not return to this building for their next 5 AP. If they return, and attack the same barricades again before that time, they can be burned. (The simplest way to do this.)

On Fire!

Zombies which are "On Fire!" have some things to deal with, and do. First things first they took all of their fire damage in one big clump, this is the only weapon in the game that can do this, but it costs a LOT of items and AP to even pull it off (guns are more accurate, and faster at this.)

Your zombie gets the message about how much fire damage they took (yes they can just stand up if they die, but then they are no longer on fire!)

If they didn't die they get another message "You are on fire, you will be burning for X AP!" During that "time" which is 3 AP per "fuel" that your zombie was hit with, your claw attacks are double damage against barricades (just like a crowbar, counts as 2 successes.) But during this time all of your attacks against anything other than a barricade are at -5% to hit (fire makes it hard to see, or smell anything but your burning flesh.) You don't take any more damage (that was determined already, no need for more.) But survivors and zombies will see you as "a burning zombie" (ex. 22 zombies, 2 burning zombies in red on the map.)

This allows your zombie a chance to "finish the job", of destroying the barricade if you can. Or when you log on again if you are still on fire, you get to do this because you took all that fire damage. Your zombie can (if it wants) even go to another building and attack those barricades if these ones are not to your liking (burning zombies running around in Malton, very interesting.)

Any zombie that survives being "On Fire!" gains bonus experience, at the end of this duration, if it did not die during this time. A zombie gains 2 XP per unit of fuel it was burned with (but 5 units of fuel will kill a 50 HP zombie, so don't expect too too much.)

This is the zombie reward for being burned, and adding to the scenery of Malton, to prevent griefing, and make it easier to buy memories of life if needed to avoid being burned again, if they wish.

Left Queue: 16:20, 14 April 2006 (BST)

Looting: A Balanced Search X Times Suggestion

Timestamp: 05:40, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors, Civilian
Description: An ability to enter in a number to search multiple times with a single click (costing 1 AP and 1 IP hit per search of course) would save server load and save players' time. There have multiple suggestions along these lines, but they've always run against the issue that if a zombie broke into a mall/Police Station survivors could rapidly search up a bunch of ammunition to blast them out. Here's a simple solution: implement search X times but simply prevent the multiple search option from working if there's a zombie present. If you try to search more than once when there's a zombie in the building with you you'd just perform one search, spend just one AP, and get a message: "You can't take your time searching when a zombie is in the building!" I feel this is simple solution that doesn't allow the server load/time saving aspect of the Search X Times improvement to provide an in-game benefit besides convenience. Oh, and I think making the ability a Bargain Hunting subskill called "Looting" would work flavor-wise.
Left Queue: 10:37, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Defensive Crouch

Timestamp: 20:13, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: Summary: Military skill under Free Running. When inside a building, a survivor with this skill may invoke Defensive Crouch for the cost of 6 AP. This puts them into a defensive posture and causes them to "stay alert." While in a defensive crouch, any firearm attacks against the survivor are diminished by 20%. Melee and zombie attacks are unaffected. However, a symbol appears next to the survivor's name to indicate that they are in a state of extra readiness:

PlayerName(!)

Thus, an attacker can decide for himself whether the survivor is worth attacking in spite of the accuracy penalty.

Net effect: At max skills and with sufficient ammo, it takes (on average) 23 AP to kill a flak jacketed, bodybuilt target with a pistol. With a shotgun, it takes 12 AP. Given the Defensive Crouch accuracy penalty of -20%, it would take 33 AP with a pistol and 18 with a shotgun. So, the survivor is expending 6 AP to force his killer to spend an extra 6 to 10 AP.

As the AP balance thus does not too heavily favor the target, the attacker has a counter in the form of seeing the target's defensive status, and there is no benefit against melee weapons or zombie attacks, I think this is a reasonably limited counter to attacks by other survivors.

(Note that AP is not a unit of time or indicator of difficulty but an indicator of how valuable the action is.)

Edit for clarification: The player is considered to have moved out of the defensive crouch upon taking any action besides speaking.

Left Queue: 10:37, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Wrench

Timestamp: 20:36, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: weapon
Scope: zombies and survivors
Description: This is an item for flavour. A wrench can be found in junkyards, warehouses, hardware shops, and especialy in auto shops. It can be used by zombies and is affected by my peer reviewed "Blunt Weapon Training". It regularily does 2 damage at 15% chance to hit. the higher damage ratio is offset by that it is the hardest to find of all blunt weapons, but it still is common.
Left Queue: 10:37, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Talking "Packages"

Timestamp: 22:34, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Survivors
Description: We all know how it takes 1 AP to say a single sentence. My thought was that instead of having one sentence per AP, you could "buy" a set of three to five "sentences" for one AP. The actual number can be left to Kevan. (By the way, it's great knowing you're back there.) So instead of having it be 'Say: ____________' it would be 'Say (You have _ left): ____________'. And after you are out, 'Buy _ messages'.
  Just my opinion, so vote below.
Left Queue: 10:37, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Baseball Bats, Length of Pipe, and Crowbars

Timestamp: MrAushvitz23:13, 14 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Another use for these 2 weapons
Scope: Another use for these 2 weapons
Description: This may seem barely worth doing, but it gives these 2 weapons a reason to be kept in your inventory if possible. And it's something about the crowbar I think needs to be taken down a notch (believe it or not.)

Baseball Bat & Length Of Pipe

  • I think these 2 weapons (to give them something they're effective at) should BOTH deal double damage whenever used to damage a piece of equipment (like a portable generator.) This double damage (meaning 2 successes instead of 1 like other weapons) only applies to equipment (currently the only one in game is the portable generator.) This bonus does not apply to barricades (even though equipment is treated like a barricade.)

Baseball bats and pipes are just perfectly suited for smashing expensive metal pieces of equipment, and should be useful as such. The fire axe is good for it too, but it's high to hit rate is more than enough (it tend to get stuck inside while yer smashing, the bat you can wreck it faster if ya know what you're doin')

Crowbar

  • I don't have a problem with this as a hand weapon, a good but short reach skull cracker, but.. I agree it is better suited for doing double damage on barricades (doesn't do more damage, just takes them apart from the building faster!) This weapon already has a useful function in the game (everyone is carrying one, just in case, right?) BUT, I think that crowbars should not deal double damage to equipment! Just barricades.

In this manner crowbars would be good for "getting in" but if you're going for that generator, you need a decent bat, lead pipe, or be real good with a fire axe. ("Get out of the way with that crowbar son, lemmie show ya how to smash something!")

It may seem pointless, but if you think about it.. finding or keeping one of these items can be more useful at times. If you don't think they're useful even after this modification, don't keep them, but people who agree they could be more "fun" this way should be free to choose to do so.

Left Queue: 10:37, 20 June 2006 (BST)

15th April 2006

Heavy Blow

Timestamp: 00:48, 15 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Skill
Scope: Zombie Hunter
Description: Player have a chance to knock zombies to the ground with melee weapons.

Effect: Zombie falls to the ground but lives. Standing up takes half the penalty. Survivor who does Heavy Blow gets 5 bonus EXP. Description from Survivor's POV: You struck the zombie hard enough to make it fall. Description from Zombie's POV: <Name> struck you down with a Heavy Blow. This skill will require 150 EXP and be higher than level 7.

Votes
Eleven spams, with mine.


Massacre

Timestamp: MrAushvitz04:40, 15 April 2006 (BST)
Type: "Man-Hunter" Zombie Skill
Scope: A very viscious series of claw slashes in a berzerk rage
Description: Massacre
  • Appears on zombie skills tree under the subheading "Man-Hunter" skills, these skills are the zombie equivilent of the human "zombie hunter" skills. Minimum level requirement: Level 7+ (zombie massacre skills don't take so long to learn, just a lot of killing to perfect.) Adds no benefit to your human character.

Your zombie is capable of attacking the living with a fast, viscious series of claw slashes. When you miss with any 3 attacks in a row, your chances of hitting with claw attacks go up by 10%, but you are now in a blood rage, and must stay here until you kill a human or none remain at your location.

Game Mechanics:

Your zombie can and will miss with it's claw and bite attacks periodically, but, when it misses 3 times in a row (while attacking a living survivor) it starts to get upset, and viscious. This is a zombie berzerk skill. A zombie when this skill "kicks in" cannot speak, utter a feeding groan, move away, or do anything else but keep attacking survivor(s) at this location until it has succeeding in killing a survivor, or there are no survivors left at your location (then it is "free" of it's rage, it ends.) (You can still log off at any time if you wish, also ending the rage. Your rage can also end when you're out of AP.) You can only attack survivors while in massacre mode, no attacking zombies, no attacking barricades, generators or anything else.. just the living. Remember this skill also only lasts until you've killed 1 human, or you are alone (without humans anyways) then it also ends.

Any time your zombie has missed attacking 3 times in a row this skill "kicks in" your zombie gets the message "You are in a rage!" and now in red letters the word "Massacre" is now on your map screen to remind you it is still on (until over.)

All claw attacks made by your zombie while in "Massacre" mode are at +10% to hit, during this time period any humans you kill you will gain double the bonus XP for a kill!

In and of itself, this skill may not seem like that much but it will make your zombie a very scary enemy, and you are still free to bite any time it suits you without any loss of massacre status (bite is very deadly itself when maxed out.) But you are just that much more effective in combat, and if you are in a survivor safehouse.... you will feed well.

The intention of this skill is to make zombies past level 7 a "killing machine" if they so choose, they still have to find and get at survivors, but the remaining AP they have when they make it in will be very useful, if they get angry. You wouldn't like Malton's zombies when they're angry...

Left Queue: 05:40, 15 April 2006 (BST)

Flare Six-Shot V2

Timestamp: 19:22, 15 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Weapon/storage Item
Scope: Humans
Description: This weapon is like a pistol that shoots flares. Each flare gun provides one ammunition for the flare Six-Shot. When used as a weapon, you can shoot just one flare, or all six flares into a target (which costs six ap, same as shooting individualy. It's just more convenient). If you shoot all six flares into a target you would see "you fire six flares. 1 hit(s) FlakBomber34 in the chest. he takes 15 damage". Also, when you have a Flare Six-Shot, a new button will appear that says "Full Load Six-Shot". It only appears if you have an empty six-shot and at least six flare guns. pressing it fully loads one six-shot for every six flare guns (the flare guns disappear, obviously). I am not suggesting flare guns become ammo, just a new way to carry them. it is like a shotgun in that it takes up two inventory slots. It can only be found in armories. It has the same accuracy and damage as a regular flare gun. If you want, you can shoot up six flares into the sky as an SOS. It would read "You see six flares shoot into the sky. Someone needs help 2 blocks north and 2 blocks east!" Doing this would cost six AP and would be bolded for whoever sees it. this would not cause spam because it only takes one line.
Left Queue: 10:38, 20 June 2006 (BST)

16th April 2006

Radio Stations

Timestamp: MrAushvitz03:04, 16 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Get some radio stations in Malton
Scope: Have 6 nondescript "buildings" changed into radio Stations
Description: He's onto something with that last one, but I'll see if I can polish the nugget till she shines.

Radio Stations

Take 6 "building" buildings in Malton, and change them into radio stations, same search chances, same everything, until we have some rules down the road for the use of radio. Just so they can be strategically "fought over" for future consideration and use by various factions.

Just keep them that way for future consideration, and inspiration for someone to come up with a "radio" suggestion that works (yes, there are several which are very good chances of making it already, we just need the buildings before the rules come into play.)

All I'm saying, make a few radio stations first, make sure they're spaced far apart from one another (to cover a "section" of malton.)

All I ask of these stations:

  • 1 of them should be a university radio station, "something or another campus radio" whatever.
  • 1 Of them should be a easy listening radio station, just adds to the irony of the sheer amount of violence which may occur each time it gets taken or taken back from zombies.
  • 1 Of them should be a Jazz or Country radio station, just because.
  • 2 of the stations regardless of musical selection, should be within capture distance of each of the 2 Forts in Malton. The millitary may have plans for using existing communications to help them in their quarantine efforts.

Feel free with your votes to offer names of radio stations which should be in Malton, name them something that was it's name PRIOR to the attack.

Left Queue: 10:39, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Attack/revive a different zombie

Timestamp: 18:52, 16 April 2006 (BST)
Type: game mechanics
Scope: stacks of 2 or more zombies
Description: After attacking or attempting to revive a stack of zombies for the first time, the shooter/reviver then gets the target option "a different zombie" from the pulldown menu. If chosen, his/her actions then affect the next zombie in the stack. Upon attacking this alternate target, selections switch to "attack: this zombie / the previous zombie / some other zombie." That's it.

Rationale: zombies can already pick and choose between their targets. Survivors can't, unless they have that Z in their contacts already. This would allow a limited form of target selection that is in keeping with game logic (i.e., even though it is difficult to tell one Z from another, one should be able to shift to another target), and keep rotters from clogging revive points (1).

--- (1) this latter point might be superfluous. Does anyone know if, on attempting to revive a stack of zombies, your target selection automatically cycles to the next Z if the first one is rotted? If this is the case, please disregard this last point.

Left Queue: 10:39, 20 June 2006 (BST)

17th April 2006

Advance NecroNet Training

Timestamp: 08:56, 17 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: All players
Description: As scientists practice using the NecroNet machinery they become more skilled in using it meaning that they are much quicker at using the machinery.


This idea is just for a skill for NT guys to spend 5Ap less on making a syringe taking it down to 15Ap for making one syringe. This means that scientists will be able to make one extra syringe on the whole (presuming they use 60Ap). So what does this mean to Zombies then if survivors can make more syringes? Well it'll mean almost nothing really. The NT guy would only realistically revive only 1.5 Zombies on average per day (Three Zombies over a two day cycle) for either manufacturing syringes at 15Ap or 20Ap each. Ok, sure in theory you could revive two Zombies in one day but that would mean the NT guy would be stuck out on the street alone and cold. So really the amount of revives wouldn't go up. What this means to the NT guys though is that they have 5 to 10 extra AP or so to spend for the day. This could be used to get to and back from safety without cutting it as close.


For all of those people who will say, "But that means no one will search for the syringes any more". Although that would be true most likely there is also the consideration on finding fuel and a generator to keep this running which I believe would lead it to being overall equal in Ap cost as searching for a syringe.

Left Queue: 10:40, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Beatdown

Timestamp: MrAushvitz08:36, 17 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Yet another blunt weapon suggestion
Scope: Yet another blunt weapon suggestion
Description: Beatdown

Civillian skill, does NOT add a benefit to your zombie character.

Any time a living survivor has taken at least 20 points of blunt weapon damage from successful attacks in the last hour. Blunt Trauma Damage comes into effect.

Blunt Trauma Damage

So long as a survivor suffering from "Blunt Trauma Damage" is at 40 or less HP, whenever they are healed by the use of an FAK, it heals 4 less points per FAK used. Once a survivor has healed to 41 or more HP the red "Blunt Trauma Damage" status on their map is gone, and they now heal normally. This healing difficulty relates to internal bleeding, concussions and the like, better medical facilities are required to help those suffering from these effects.

Why Bother?

Beatdown is a skill which is intended to allow humans to "punish" other humans for certain infractions "in game" as a result of endangering people to zombies, looting, destroying generators, being a zombie spy, etc. or it is a skill highly prized by many gangs and PK'ers, fighting over turf (even the police have the occasional use for this skill, only other cops are invited to partake.) This skill's time limit usually means to be successful your blunt weapon accuracy must be decent, or it would help if several players were bludgeoning the same player.. hence the name "beatdown."

In this manner, it allows a non-lethal, but very painful method of discouraging other players from being in your area, without having to murder them per se. Players could for example have a conversation about another player's actions at a nearby building, agree to all go over there and kick so and so's ass, and proceed to do so, leaving a message telling them to "leave town" or "betta get muh money to me biatch" and so forth. There could be spraypainted messages at hospitals "do not treat "so and so" he is a zombie spy bastard" etc. How it is used is up to the imagination.

It is a human vs. human non-lethal combat option, also a nasty way to deal with traitors who switch sides in the middle of a zombie fight that you want slowed, but not dead (yet.)

Left Queue: 10:40, 20 June 2006 (BST)

18th April 2006

Shoot From The Hip

Timestamp: MrAushvitz00:03, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Zombie Hunter Skill - Shotguns
Description: Shoot From The Hip

Zombie Hunter skill, appears beneath headshot on skills tree. No benefits to your zombie character.

Shoot From The Hip

Your character is very good at not letting zombies remain standing for too long, so long as they have a shotgun at hand. Every time an online zombie enters your location, one shotgun shell gets put into one of your most loaded shotguns available for no AP cost! This "faster loading" of your shotguns does not occur if you are at an indoors location where the survivors seriously outnumber the zombies. Each zombie that enters your location only applies this loading benefit once per game "day" per zombie, so running around getting them to chase you does not get you 1 free reload per square you moved and they followed.

This is a "lightning reload" skill of sorts, however this version is all about preparing your ammunition for the battle which is about to commence. This skill is a representation of your zombie hunters ability to never really be caught unprepared for a zombie attack as they calmly load their shotgun(s) for an upcoming battle, even as the zombie gets in real close. It's a very macho gun skill.

Limitation: "Not in any real danger"

If the number of survivors at your character's location outnumbers the zombie(s) that just entered by 10 or more, you and other hunters with this skill no longer gain this reloading benefit (suspended, until more zombies start getting in!) This is to represent the fact that you aren't as endangered and not so willing to "dig deep" and get loaded for battle (too many damn "green" survivors, crampin' my style.) This limitation is intended so that safehouses that have a lot of survivors will not get a lot of "free reloads" of their shotguns, just because a few online zombies made it in.

  • This limitation does not apply at an outdoors location so if you're outside, and attracting online zombies to come and do a little shotgun vs claw bite duel you are more than welcome to do so. You will only gain a 1 AP savings per online zombie who enters your location. This is the "lone hunter" usefulness of this skill, for the true one on one zombie hunter.

Why Bother?

For 100 XP it doesn't grief zombies, but it does give you an "instant" benefit right before combat, but then again, you ARE facing an online zombie! Chances are that zombie may even have digestion, and it may take a while to blow them to pieces with your shotgun anyways. So saving 1 AP for being brave and taking risks is more fun for the survivor, and the zombie. "Come get some ya ugly son of a..."

I made sure this was worded just so, to prevent abuse. Now you have a reason not to worry so much about reloading each and every shotgun when you can.. or if you know there's a lot of active zombies nearby, getting their attention might be useful.

It gets the zombie hunters outside, if they wish. This skill is more of a benefit to smaller safehouses, where defense tactics tend to be a bit more "rural" and direct.

Left Queue: 06:26, 18 April 2006 (BST)

Airstrikes

Timestamp: 18:30, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Location Alteration/Game Events
Scope: The Forts
Description: When a Fort is powered by a generator, it has access to the Military radio network and can call in airstrikes against a city block.

HOW IT WORKS:

When inside a powered Fort, a "Radio for Airstrike" button appears along with a speech box in which you can enter a GPS coordinate (For example, you'd enter [19,27] if you wanted to target the famous NW Corner of Caiger). Pressing the button will cause the military to drop an incendiary bomb on the targeted block of Malton city. All zombies and survivors standing outside will be killed, and if it's a building the barricades will be completely destroyed. The buildings themselves will be left intact, and any survivors or zombies indoors will be unharmed (think of it like BattleFront... buildings are invincible).

MECHANICS:

1) Airstrikes are limited to ONE per Fort per 24 hour period. As there are only 2 Forts, that means 2 airstrikes per 24 hours at max. As there are 10,000 city blocks within the Malton area, this will not kill everyone in the city.

2) Airstrikes can be called in by BOTH survivors with the Military Skill "Radio Operator", AND zombies with the Zombie Skill "Death Rattle" (remember in "Return of the Living Dead" when the zombies eat the ambulance drivers and call in for "send more ambulances"?). This means both sides can benefit from airstrikes, instead of them being purely one-sided.

3) Survivors will be unable to use this if standing zombies are in the building. Likewise, zombies will be unable to use it if standing survivors are in the building. This means a group will actually have to OCCUPY the Fort to call an airstrike, not just pop in when everyone's asleep, call one in, and pop out again.

4) Airstrikes create a notice similar to Flares or Feeding Groan. Because if you'd notice them, you'd probably notice a bigass bomb going off nearby.

RATIONALE:

This implementation is not overpowered or griefing. Zombies can stand up from death cheaply and easily, so it's not a major problem for them. Survivors rarely spend much time outdoors, and if they do they tend to die quickly anyway, so it's not a major problem for them either. And indoor survivors have an opportunity to repair the cades before neighboring zeds notice they're down. It's more like a good pantsing, sort of an atomic wedgie.

Because the person at the Fort is not actually at the site being attacked, he has no idea of the tactical situation there. Thus, airstrikes will have to be used with coordination and teamwork, rather than just one guy standing outside blowing up the bystanders and barricades. (I.E. blowing up the barricades of NW Caiger will do yourself no good, because you're all the way over in Fort Creedy. You need to coordinate with your buddies in Chudleyton to invade the Mall at the right moment before the cades go up again. Likewise, if you're sitting in Fort Creedy you have no idea where the large zombie hordes in Ridleybank are, and will have to coordinate with human scouts outside to know where to nuke in order to successfully rain death from above upon the Zed Suburb.)

This addition should add some flavor and excitement to life in Malton. More importantly, it will create added drama and motivation in the battle for Malton's 2 Forts. Previous Fort battles have been some of the highlights of the game, so imagine how this would add even more drama to it. It also adds a tactical element to the overall fight in Malton. You're no longer necessarily just looking out for yourself in your little corner of the city, now your welfare is directly tied to the welfare of others in an entirely different suburb.

Left Queue: 20:29, 18 April 2006 (BST)


Slight Free Running Change

Timestamp: 00:20, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Balance change
Scope: The skill Free Running
Description: Free Running should have a small chance at failure- say, 2%. After all, no one is a perfect acrobat. Failing at free running would put the user outside the building they were trying to run into and they would take 5 damage- have you ever fallen 2 stories onto the concrete? Not healthy.
Left Queue: 10:42, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Carrion's Kiss

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:20, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombie nastier infection "bite" skill
Description: Ironic about the free running suggestion above because I wanted to post this one today.

NecroTech Cadaver Analysis Report - Monday April 17, 2006: It appears that the stronger version of the zombie virus has had an interesting enhancing effect on the distribution of any remaining liquids in the zombies physiology. It appears that many if not all watery bodily substances are drawn upwards to the mouth and jaw area.. presumably to assist the jaw in lubrication for continued biting effectiveness, despite continued decay of the body. But additionally, to encourage a much greater breeding ground for all manner of necrotizing bacteria and viral concentraions in each and every bite used. It is out opinion that this enhancement are nature's (or "anti-nature's") way of improving the species, or an evolutionary benefit to the undead in the propigation of their kind, through increased killing potential. - Dr Morticai Nameez, NecroTech Biochemical Systems Analyist.

Carrion's Kiss

Appears on zombie skills tree as a Man-Hunter Skill these skills can only be aquired by zombies that are level 7 or higher. These skills are the zombie equivilent of the human survivor "Zombie Hunter" skills, but they are much easier to learn for those who have killed so many. Applies no benefit to your human character. As an additional prerequisite, your zombie character must have already purchased the infectious bite skill in order to be capable of an increased bite infection.

Your zombie has this blackish red "drool" which is most visible whenever they open their mouth (at times to groan, but especially to bite!) Whenever you successfully infect a survivor with a bite attack, you deal a 2nd Degree infection!'

2nd degree Infection

Same as a regular infection, but worse! This infection is made by the same "virus" (if that is the true cause), but it attacks the blood as well as the body! Survivors infected with this level of infection suffer painful spasms and cardiovascular damage if they over exhert themselves. (Yes, it hurts, a lot! Comparable to your veins being "on fire".)

Game Mechanics: 2nd Degree Infection

  • Can be cured with an FAK as a regular infection. But the first FAK use cures the first infection (the one that makes you take 1 HP damage per AP until healed.) But it requires a 2nd FAK use to cure this infection as well, your character is still free to survive and act with this infection, but untreated it will be limiting and dangerous.
  • The 2nd degree of infection has the following additional complications: A survivor infected by this will take 1 HP of damage every time they move from one indoors location to another using "Free Running", and 1 HP of damage for every AP spent errecting barricades! This is the damage they get from overexhertion. if your character does not over exhert themselves they take no additional damage. (Yes, if you have both levels of infection and you use free running to move 1 square, that's 2 HP damage for 1 square, better take the short route to that hospital!)

This infection is worse, but it is also going to make survivors have to help one another, so they can continue to help one another (you can spare an FAK for a guy who has the construction skill, right?) This 2nd degree of infection is bad, but it mainly limits your options as to what you can do and not do if you want to live! (ex. if you just got infected and you're out of FAK's, and it's a 2nd degree infection, you're going to head for that hospital using an outdoors route, because time is a factor! Better hope it isn't overbarricaded.)

It's nasty, higher level zombies should be nasty.

The one disadvantage to this skill, is survivors who are bitten by such a zombie will have some idea that this zombie is at least level 7+, however if it is not alone, this isn't so much of a drawback. This doesn't break their anonymity, but it does indicate they are not a small league zombie!

Left Queue: 10:42, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Necrotic Compulsion

Timestamp: 01:18, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Subskill of Brain Rot
Scope: Zombies
Description: I loved "Land of the Dead". For all its flaws as a film, the new way of viewing the zombie (whos the monster here? what are the needs/rights of the zombie? Can zombies become...something more?) stuck with me. And the idea of zombies using items in limited but impressive unique ways (NOT a new way of doing the same thing), got me thinking about Malton's zombies and their inability to use many items in a impressive or unique way. I don't think Zombies should just do "what survivors do"...thats boring and repetitive. They need new and unique "zombie only" ways of using items which are fun both as flavor and mechanics.

However, currently the ability for zombies to fetch items is rather limited, espcially those with Brain Rot. Rather than make this a disadvantage, I've decided to even the playing field by making this a hardcore zombie subskill. It's a "springboard" skill that opens up the door for zombie-item useage. But enough talk. Here's what Necrotic Compulsion actually DOES:


"When you sucessfully kill a survivor, you pluck an item from their corpse that caught your undead eye."

When you kill a survivor with this skill, you see: "You hit <ect> for <damage>. They die. You compulsivly pluck <item> from them." if the search roll comes up. Or "You hit <ect> for <damage>. They die. You compulsivly pick at their body, but find nothing." if the search roll determines you find nothing.

This only occurs during the killing of a survivor; The search function cannot be controled or stopped, it is commited once you kill a survivor. You're not searching buildings, rather their bodies. You cannot search dead bodies that you find. You are simply picking at the survivor you JUST killed yourself.


Now, before you instantly vote Kill, let me address the questions or statements you're probably thinking.


  • Survivors shouldn't lose items.
Agreed. Infact, with this skill the survivor actually wouldn't be affected at all besides being killed by said zombie for the skill to activate. Nothing is removed from the slain survivors inventory, rather a random 'search' is made from a limited list when your zombie successfully kills a survivor and ONLY on survivors. ZKing would not trigger this ability, as that would result in a horrific situation in a "Multiply It By A Billion" situation.


  • Pft, what good is that? Zombies suck at all items.
Yes, and this is the first step needed to fix that. Zombies currently have no ability to search for items, even if they had skills to improve them. I've actually got ideas for blunt weapon and perhaps firearm ideas...one such suggested idea was to perhaps have a subskill of this skill where zombies do more damage with melee weapons but with an inferior to hit % with no additional XP given for the additional damage beyond the standard melee weapon inital damage. But its bad form to suggest skills that depend on skills that don't exist or haven't been implimented. Therefore, I'm simply suggesting this "springboard" skill to see if it gets picked up or even approved by the majority of Maltonites. Perhaps the mass players don't think zombies should use items EVER beyond what they currently can.


  • Zombies shouldn't use medkits/booze, or syringes and high-tech items.
Agreed. The items found would be from a limited list, most likely including blunt melee weapons, flack jackets, 'junk' items such as books and the like (to replace the 'found nothing' effect) and perhaps even firearms.


  • I like the idea, but don't like the subskill suggestions you've hinted at.
That's fine, you're not voting on the subskills...that'd be a faux paus on my part if I did so. If you like the core idea of zombies using the existing items in Malton, then this is for you. I believe its quite balanced due to the restrictions of the skill, namely, succesfully and personally killing (not simply harming) a survivor...which is quite a feat for even a single zombie unless you've awoken with 50AP next to a weakened/lone survivor on the street.
  • Isn't this just an old way to do something new? It's Mall Searching for Zeds, just to let them do what survivors do with whatever subskills future idiots suggest.
Not exactly, but I can see where you're coming from with that. While it would allow zombies with Brain Rot to use and search for the same items survivors do, they'd use it in different ways. The general idea is that zombies are stronger than human beings, but are usually slower and not so great with the motor skills. Some have commented that savage and unthinking attacks would be made since zombies don't care if they pull their tendons or snap their own muscle tissue, and perhaps having future subskills have minor health loss exist to reflect this. Either way, this is NOT about replicating Survivor abilities. It's about creating new abilities using things that already exist and are implimented in the game.


  • What's the math involved?
Since the zombie can only reap items from survivor they personally kill, which can be a significant investment of AP, I figured a search chance equal to a skilled Mall search would be apt. They do not have 100% search find, and they cannot search for specific items...you get what you get from the set zombie-search list. Zombies ALWAYS find something on a sucessful search roll, but its quite possible all nab compulsivly is a useless newspaper or book rather than an item they can use a skill for. I'm more than open for them nabbing nothing but items they can use, but I felt it was more flavor-wise to have them find at least SOMETHING even if its useless...after all, what good Maltonian doesn't carry around something like that on their person?


I originally really wanted to put it under Memories of Life as something like "Impulse Items" for flavor, but I felt that doing so would be a game mechanic nightmare. I felt far too many zombies with item useage would be overkill in a "Multiply It By a Billion" situation. I could be wrong. Making it a subskill of Brain Rot as "Necrotic Compulsion" seems more mechanically sound while still keeping in the 'something is going on in this funky dead brain' motif.


  • Zombies shouldn't use items more than they currently do.
If you feel this way, vote 'Kill'. I don't agree, but I can respect why. Not everyone loved the zombies of "Land of the Dead". :)


  • I like it, but you should change <Ect>...
Don't vote right away, but post about it in the Talk. I'll read it there, and we'll talk about it. I've already had some nice feedback on this idea before posting it here.

I'll be interested in seeing what you all think about this "springboard" ability, and perhaps I'll be lucky enough to see suggested subskills of this in the future. Thank you all in advance for your time and input. --MorthBabid 01:18, 18 April 2006 (BST)

Left Queue: 10:42, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Trade: Smoked's take

Timestamp: 08:39 April 18 2006
Type: Skill/Improvment
Scope: Survivors
Description: A lof of people want trade, but don't want zergers. "Sm0ked wh4t the fu><0rs you can'7 sugg3st trade!" Well, the idea was passed around desensitised a while ago, and peer developed there, so I hope it came out for the better. Anyway, down to business. The main points:

People are scared about zergers when trade comes into play. Therefor, trade will be a human skill, available for learning only after level 3. It will cost 100xp, meaning if you want to zerg, you're going to have to put considerable time into leveling before doing so. Level 10 wouldn't need trade by the time they're eligible, and besides, a level 2 who gets trade can do damage, but probably doesn't have the right search skills. Also, Kevan could use his already in use anti-zerging mechanisms that already trigger faulty FAKs and lowered hit percentages. Both parties involved in trade must have the trade skill (prevents lvl 37 giving his lower alts a bunch of spare clips). One item must be exchanged for another item. Both characters must remain in the same building until the second character agrees to the trade and it's completed. Here's an example: Since Your last turn: Survivor 1 wants to trade for 1 pistol clip (There would then be a button to say deny trade and another to say accept trade. The accpet trade btton would have a drop down menu next to itso you could choose which items to trade for the pistol clips. Maybe there could only be items that survivor 1 could use, so if he doesn't have NT skills you can trade for a sryinge.) If a player leaves, the trade is auto-cancelled.

Left Queue: 10:42, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Drag Outside

Timestamp: 12:07, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies on humans
Description: REQUIRES DEATH GRIP

Once a zombie has "grabbed hold" of a human inside a building using death grip, he may for 25AP drag him outside the building, provided the doors are "wide open". Both zombie and human thereby exit the building. There is no XP yield. Nowadays with "feeding groan" we have hotspots of zombie fun, when we crack a stronghold and feast on its delicious innards! And survivors like it too as it's a race to seal it up before it's much too late for the meatbags inside. This skill gives a little edge to the zombie fraternity and means it's all the more imperative to repair a breach, before even you kill the invading Zeds, to save your comrades! This skill is not overpowered as the zombie receives no personal XP gain and must expend many AP to achieve the goal that could've been used up eating folks.

Left Queue: 10:42, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Wanted!

Timestamp: 16:00, 18 April 2006 (BST)
Type: In-game justice system
Scope: Survivors
Description: Summary: Survivors can call in to the local police station and report their own murders. Others can access the PD computer and find who is "wanted" in that suburb.

This is a fairly ambitious suggestion, but I will try to keep it brief. My goal here is not to eliminate PKing, but to build in some of the tit-for-tat justice that is currently handled through metagaming.

Reporting: A survivor who is killed by another survivor may, upon being revived and standing up again as a human, call in the incident if the following conditions are met:

  • Victim has a cell phone
  • The suburb has cell phone coverage (the mast is powered)

The interface for doing this looks like

Do you wish to report PlayerKiller's attack on you? [Call in the report]

Upon taking any action, this option disappears. You must make the report before doing anything else as a human. Once called in, the report is stored in the databases at that suburb's police stations.

Enforcement: A new Military skill, Enforcement, allows players to discover who is "wanted" in the suburb and then recognize them on the street.

When in a powered Police station, a player with the Enforcement skill may click a button to "Access crime reports." Doing so simply produces the following message:

You will now be able to recognize criminals in the area by their faces.

Now, wanted individuals will be listed with a small skull icon in player lists: PlayerKiller http://withinbounds.com/junk/skull.gif

Players with the Enforcement skill who see these individuals and attack them will receive full experience points for their attacks and kills.

After three "game days" -- that is, once the player has expended a total of 144 AP doing one thing or another -- the player will "forget" the crime reports he checked and will need to access a powered PD again to refresh his memory. A message will inform the player of this fact:

You can no longer remember the faces of criminals in the area.

Absolution: After being killed by other survivors twice, "wanted" PKs will lose their wanted status and no longer show up as such in player lists. However, if they kill again, their wanted status will return. If they kill again while in a wanted state, the number of kills needed for "absolution" will increase by two. The formula is always 2 deaths = absolution for 1 kill.

Also, the wanted status does not carry over between suburbs. If you are wanted in Roftwood and move to Edgecombe, neither those who have checked Roftwood's crime reports nor those who have checked Edgecombe's will recognize you as wanted. However, deaths in Edgecombe will not count towards your absolution. You will still be wanted in Roftwood until you have been killed in Roftwood twice.

Like I said, ambitious. But I think it would be a lot of fun for both PKers and bounty hunters, and would create new reasons to keep phone masts and PDs powered.

Edits for clarification:

  • Wanted individuals cannot report their own murders if they are killed in the suburb where they are wanted.
  • The following suburbs do not have Police stations: Chancelwood, Earletown, Ketchelbank, Starlingtown, Reganbank, Tapton, Gulsonside and New Arkham. Folks in these 8 areas would need to resort to meta-gaming or just live with a bit more lawlessness. ;)
  • Obviously, there is not some secretary at the PD taking these calls. The system is an automated one, developed by Malton police before the outbreak, which survivors are learning to make use of.
Left Queue: 10:42, 20 June 2006 (BST)

19th April 2006

20th April 2006

The Top Tag

Timestamp: 11:54, 20 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Useless fact
Scope: Everyone who has a look at the stats page!
Description: Everyones seen the tags around the city and wondered, whats the most of one kind of tag around. Well what I'm suggesting is a small change where on the stats page it tells you what is the most spray painted message around Malton. Why should this be implemented you ask yourself, well the answer is because it's just an interesting thing to know.
Left Queue: 10:43, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Powered NT Buildings Translate Death Rattle

Timestamp: 16:50, 20 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Zombies with Death Rattle
Description: Memo to Necrotech Staff: After months we have finally managed to fully decode the Zombie's Death Rattle. We have automatically updated our field locations with the translator software. If there is a Zombie inside one of our field offices that has power supplied to it, then the translator software will kick in automatically.


Basically this means that if a Zombie is in a powered Necrotech Building and it tries to speak, the speech will able to be translated into human language. I dont believe that this would be too unbalanced and since the powered Necrotech buildings can revive Brain Rotted zombies they might as well be able to translate Death Rattle as well.

Left Queue: 10:43, 20 June 2006 (BST)

21st April 2006

Generous Heart

Timestamp: 16:24, 21 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Humans and Zombies
Description: This will allow Humans to give items to other humans instead of dropping them. If the player on the receiving end is already over burdened with items, the item is automatically dropped. For Zombies it works much the same, but only items that the Zombie can use as a Zombie, such as crowbars and any further items later chosen to work for Zombies. In both situations, it will cost AP to give an item.
Left Queue: 14:40, 22 April 2006 (BST)

Police and Fire Radios

Timestamp: 19:35, 21 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill and Improvement
Scope: Police and Fire Stations
Description: All Police and Fire stations in the real world have radio equipment that they use to contact their men in the fields. I propose that when a player is in a Police or Fire Station with power and the appropriate skill they are able to send a message to everyone in the Suburb who has a Police Scanner at the cost of 10 AP. The suburb would also need to have an active cell tower to send and recieve messages.

Police Scanners-Can be found in Police, Fire, and Mall Tech stores at a rate of 9%.

Radio Operation: A Civilian skill that is needed to send messages from Police and Fire Stations.

This skill could provide some fun flavor and useful in game communications to tell players what is going on in the Suburb or who controls the area.

Left Queue: 10:44, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Electronic Voice Phenomena [EVP]

Timestamp: 21:02, 21 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Dying Survivors
Description: Under Miscellaneous Skills (100 xp), a new skill called "Electronic Voice Phenomena (Player may phone a friend one time while dying)."

How it would work If (1) the survivor has a cell phone and (2) the local mast is powered, then having this skill allows you to push a button labeled "EVP" when you are dead.
Pushing the button calls the first person on your phone list and leaves an odd message. The message is randomly generated. Examples could include:

  • "Ahhhh....<click>.",
  • "... Yo ...no ... quiero ... morir! ...<click>"
  • "<player> screams in terror, then the phone line goes dead.", or
  • "You hear strange buzzing which could be <player> calling your name."

Feel free to suggest additional messages within your suggestions. Kevan may not use any of our suggestions anyway. Note that this will only work one time per death. Uses A player could have an arrangement with a friend to come revive them when they are killed. This would encourage the regular use of mobile phones to let the other player know where you are, in case you die.

Remember, a zombie could use this to taunt a living player. The zombie could select the leader of a group as their only mobile phone contact, then commit suicide, as a threat to the leader.

Why should you vote keep Because this could add some creepy fun. Wouldn't it be cool to get a phone call from the nearly-dead? Please don't use realism as a reason to kill this suggestion - hitting a cell phone button as you are killed is on-par with the realism of returning from the dead.

Left Queue: 10:44, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Rifle

Timestamp: 22:33, 21 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Weapon
Scope: Humans
Description: Fires a distance of one square in any direction (drop down box) East, North South, West. Saves you standing in a group of Zombies and getting bit. The % to hit would be the same as a shotgun. The bonus of a headshot from a distance would be cool!
Left Queue: {{{suggest_moved}}}

Safe Zones

Timestamp: 21:17, 21 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Map/ Playing Field Enhancement
Scope: Low Level Zeds and Survivors
Description: Areas where New Zeds could be safe from survivors and new survivors could be safe from Zombies.

How it would work An Area slightly smaller than One Suburb is rendered uninhabitable by the opposing type of characters, however a (level to be agreed on by consensus) characters also found the area in hospitable.

Zombie Flavor Text if you are a Survivor: "The Air is thick with Contagion you become infected!" with every AP. Survivor Flavor Text if you are a Zombie: "A High Caliber weapon strikes you; you are knocked to the ground."

In either case the areas will have been so decimated by looters it could neither be barricaded nor would searches be fruitful (since survivors would have completely ransacked anywhere close to being safe.)

If a Zombie was above (the level to be agreed on by consensus) Flavor text might say "The contagion in the air is hostile to your Zombie senses, you can progress no further.

If a Survivor was above (the level to be agreed on by consensus) Flavor text might say "The sound of a bullet and a signal from a Commando indicate that it wouldn’t be wise to get any closer to the quarantine barrier (You can progress no further).

Why should you vote keep Assists Newbies and allows for some Characters to "Get a Break" while trying to get the first couple of levels under their belt. Note: This would not prevent Player on Player nor Zombie on Zombie Violence. However Zombies could stand up w/o penalty (in this area alone) and players would find themselves revived in a "Hospital"

Left Queue: 10:44, 20 June 2006 (BST)

22nd April 2006

Barricade Attack Notify

Timestamp: 09:31, 22 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Anyone inside a bulding
Description: This works in exactly the same manner as when a Flare has been fired, when someone has been PK'ed, attacked, killed, barricades hit. In other words you heard... etc.

What happens is when a barricade has been attacked you get the notification of something along the lines of. You hear the barricades creak/groan/collapse etc.

Left Queue: 15:27, 22 April 2006 (BST)


Zerg-Free Trading

Timestamp: 05:03, 22 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Trading Items, about the fiftieth variation
Scope: Harmans/Survivors ONLY
Description: For the cost of one AP, a character may trade one item to a character in his/her current location.

Restrictions as follows :

Players may not exceed inventory limits. If the target player is at the inventory limit, the trade event fails.

All items are now tagged with the originating IP address of the player that originally searched for and found the item, as well as the player ID of the original searcher. No player may possess :

Items from multiple characters from the same IP (IE : two zerg accounts may not feed items to the same unaligned character.)

Items from characters with the same IP (IE : items from a different character, but the same originating IP address as the player in the player's inventory cause the items to disappear if the player logs in with the same IP address as an item in thier inventory that they did not search for and find themselves.)

I believe tagging items with IP addresses and user ID's as illustrated may solve the zerg issue, or limit it dramatically as it relates to trading. It is not for me to judge how feasable or easy it is for Kevin to implement this suggestion, I merely offer it as a realistic solution that would prevent zerg-stacking items on one or more characters.

Left Queue: 10:45, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Alternate/additional Zombie hand attack text

Timestamp: 13:02, 22 April 2006 (BST)
Type: improvement
Scope: Zombies
Description: Add additional random text to say the Zombie rakes you or rakes at your skin for 2 amount of damage'
Left Queue: 10:45, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Alphabetical Names

Timestamp: 08:40, 22 April 2006 (BST)
Type: View names
Scope: Humans, maybe zombies
Description: Lately i have been making my civilian character start taking some scientist skills (Diagnosis, Necrotech Employment) and am(are?) spending a lot of time healing in a mall. I've noticed it can be a large hassle finding and healing someone who needs it. First you have to find someone who needs it on the big view name lists and then track them down on the drop down list. I frequently get lost and have to verify their location and try again. What i suggest is that there be an option in the edit profile screen to have names sorted alphabetically. This wouldn't force people who like the current system to change, but it would give those who'd like a choice something. I can't really see this hurting or helping zombies at all (unless they have a bizarre hatred for names that begin with the letter M or some such.) so that shouldn't be a problem. Thank you and good night.
Left Queue: 10:45, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Regurgitation

Timestamp: 19:03, 22 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Balance Change and Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: To acquire this skill, the Zombie must first have the skill Digestion. The Regurgitation skill allows the Zombie to throw up the bits of Humans or Zombies it had been feeding on. This can be found and eaten by other Zombies and act much in the same way as a first aid kit.

The draw backs are that it costs 1 AP to throw up plus HP equal to the amount contained within the vomit is now subtracted from the zombie who chooses to regurgitate. If they do not have enough HP to vomit the maximum amount of HP that can be given, a message saying, “Your stomach is empty, there is nothing to throw up.“ or something similar shows up. So a Zombie can’t kill them self by using this skill.

The amount of HP that a Zombie will receive is a random 0-3 HP. It will also cost the Zombie who chooses to find and eat the vomit AP to do so. Yes, Zombies will have to search for it, but must eat it when they find it, they can’t take it with them. Instead of searching for it, it could also just be put into the area description for as long as it is there, making it only cost 1 AP to eat it. Please let me know which idea you like better if you vote to Keep.

Left Queue: 10:45, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Pile Up, Revised

Timestamp: 19:51, 22 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Balance Change and Improvement
Scope: Large groups of Zombies
Description: To prevent something like a Human simply escaping a siege on a building by leaving the building or walking amongst a large group of Zombies to kill a few then walking back out just as easily, I suggested that the number of Zombies in any given area should affect how easily one can enter or exit that space...

1-4 zombies in a space has no affect.

5-9 Zombies in a space causes anyone, Zombie or Human, to use double the AP required for them to move into or out of that space.

10+ Zombies in a space requires that Zombies in that space to be killed down to 9 in order to leave it with the double AP penalty. To enter that space, one will lose triple the AP required to walk, so that is 3 AP for Humans and Zombies with Lurching Gait, and 6 AP for all other Zombies. Should there be 20+ Zombies it a space, that space can not be entered at all till there are no more than 19 Zombies left standing in that space.

All actions within the space in question have no penalty, just entering and exiting. Furthermore, dead zombies do not count until they stand up, which has no penalty until they attempt to leave the space.

Left Queue: 10:45, 20 June 2006 (BST)

23rd April 2006

Hunting Rifle

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:19, 23 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Ranged Weapon
Scope: Largest current ranged weapon, higher accuracy but has many reloading limitations
Description: Let's see if MrA can make a "paletable" version of this idea for UD.

Hunting Rifle

Search Accuracy:

  • Hunting Rifle - Mall Gun Stores (5%/8%), Armories (1%), Police Departments (1%), Mansions (5%)
  • Box Of H.R. Ammo - Mall Gun Stores (6%/9%), Armories (2%), Police Departments (2%), Mansions (6%), Junkyards (1%)
  • Max. To Hit: 75% (with 5 skills, 1 of which is basic firearms training)
  • Damage:7 HP (6 to those with a Flak Jacket)
  • Capacity:8 Rounds
  • Inventory Size: 3 Spaces (Largest ranged weapon available)
  • Box Of Shells: 1 Space - 10 Hunting Rifle rounds per ammo box

Hunting Rifle Skills Tree: Civillian weapon, so it's skills are under the civillian skills tree.

  • Starting Skill: 10% Accuracy (Pistol and Shotgun start at 5%)
  • Basic Firearms Training:35% Accuracy (adds 25%)
  • 'Rifle Training:'45% Accuracy (adds 10%)
  • 'Advanced Rifle Training:'55% Accuracy (adds 10%)
  • 'Expert Rifle Training:'65% Accuracy (adds 10%)
  • 'Marksman Rifle Training:'75% Accuracy (adds 10%)

Limitations:

  • Can only be reloaded when no zombies are at your location (opening the breach or carefully reloading the clip, not easily done under duress.)
  • Reloading rate is as costly as the shotgun, 1 AP per round put into the weapon. (8 AP to fully reload!)
  • Whenever you search and find a hunting rifle, it is never loaded! (Comes with zero ammo, so it will cost some AP to load each new rifle you find.)

Purpouse:

This weapon's intent is to provide a very damaging round, with a higher degree of accuracy. However this weapon deliberately costs 2 more skills (compared to the pistol and shotgun) to get it's accuracy up to that point. Noone masters the rifle very quickly, it takes a lot of practice, patience, and skill. So this weapon is the "middle" weapon between the pistol's easy reloading / lower damage, and the shotgun's expensive reloading / massive damage. This is an excellent "newbie" weapon if they know where to look for it, but best suited to those who survive in malls or search a lot elsewhere. This is also the "sniper" weapon so many have been looking for. (But we're not going to do any of that shooting at nearby locations stuff, keep it simple.)

This weapon's larger size (requiring 3 spaces apiece!) means that few players will be carring several fully loaded rifles into battle. That and the combat reloading limitation, means a player who uses the rifle should have another weapon on hand (probably a pistol and a few clips or a decent hand weapon), just in case things start to go badly. However it is the largest firearm, and has the largest fully loaded capacity. (But pistols reload so much faster, and unload rounds that much more quickly.)

The payback for the obvious limitations of the hunting rifle is when you do find an ammo box, it doesn't take up very much inventory space (compensation for rifle's sheer size, and reloading restrictions.) In this regard it has one advantage over the shotgun (but if you prefer to carry several loaded shotguns, that is also a preference, or if you just prefer that much damage that much sooner, needing less skills to max. out.)

Another reason for it's combat limitations, this is a hunting rifle, not a combat rifle.. it is a very accurate ranged weapon but not something so well suited for enemies up close (or wearing a flak jacket!)

It does make for a wonderful weapon for "zombie hunting", and it does make for lovely headshots.

Left Queue: 10:46, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Shotgun Ammo Boxes

Timestamp: MrAushvitz04:54, 23 April 2006 (BST)
Type: A box of shotgun shells (10)
Scope: A chance of finding an unopened box of shotgun shells!(Requires a skill to scrounge for them)
Description: I'm not looking to push my luck today, but this is much more likely to be a hit with shotgun fans than the bandoleer.

Shotgun Ammo Boxes

When the zombie "phenomenon" first hit Malton, everyone who could grab a gun did grab a gun. One of the #1 guns of choice that was grabbed without a moment's hesitation: The Shotgun.

Unfortunately a lot of shotgun ammunition was used up as quickly as possible in that first week of carnage. Now, for the remaining survivors that aren't in pieces, whenever such ammunition is located it is usually one shell at a time, scattered here and there amungst the rubble.

Game Mechanics:

Requires a skill to be able to find these boxes (often in the most unlikely or constantly overlooked of places.)

Scroungue: Ammunition

Appears under civillian skills tree, as a seperate skill. Applies no bonus to your zombie character. Only additional prerequisites are you must be at least level 5+ to purchase (experienced at digging through the garbage for equipment.)

  • In order for this skill to work you also need to have at least one of each of the following in your inventory at all times when you search the listed locations for this skill: Crowbar, Fireaxe, Wirecutters, Length Of Pipe. These items help you "facilitate" the extraction of the ammo boxes at times, from difficult hiding spots. (The inventory "savings" made possible by ammo boxes is balanced out by the fact that you have to carry these additional items to make these findings possible.)

Your character is adept at finding previously untouched boxes of ammunition in the most unlikely of places. You will need 4 pieces of equipment in your inventory at all times for scrounging: Crowbar, Fireaxe, Wirecutters, Length Of Pipe

Locations to find shotgun ammo boxes (These chances stack with your other chances, but this smaller chance, if successful, yields an entire box instead of a single shell.):

Mall Gun Stores (1%/1.5%), Armories (1%), Police Departments (1%), Mansions (2%), Junkyards (1%), The City Zoo (2%), Church/Cathedral (1%), Tower (1%), Arms/Club (1%), Auto Repair Shop (1%), Bank (2%), Warehouse (2%)

Whenever you find a shotgun ammo box the flavour text is usually something that seems a likely location that was overlooked "You found a box of shotgun ammunition inside a locked desk!" (some may be in the empty water resivoir of an "out of order" toilet, inside a hidden closet door, wall safe, inside a locked car trunk, and so forth.)

Shotgun Ammo Boxes; Usage:

A shotgun ammo box in your inventory simply takes up only 1 slot. It reads SG Ammo Box (10) which means it's a shotgun ammo box, and hold 10 shells.

When reloading your shotguns, you will always use single shells 1st (to make for more room in your inventory, obviously.) Only if there are no single shells remaining in your inventory does the computer dip into the boxes' reserves, taking out one shell at a time for reloads.

You cannot move single shotguns shells into a box, and when a box has it's last shell used it is gone from your inventory.

Rationale

  • This skill, and the finding and use of these boxes is to make it easier to keep your shotguns loaded (if possible), if the need for this ammunition is important for your character. It also will save "space" in your inventory for other items (than shotguns and single shells) for other things as needed. (For example being able to do revives, more FAK's on hand, and so forth.) It also has an in game use for wirecutters, crowbar, length of pipe and fire axe for something other than just combat.. scrounging. A character who is not even combat skilled with a fireaxe may keep one around for the occasional locked apartment door.
Left Queue: 10:46, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Tangling Grasp Adjustment

Timestamp: 13:22, 23 April 2006 (BST)
Type: balance change/improvement
Scope: Zombies and Humans
Description: Hopefully this isn't currently implemented(I don't believe I've seen this in action). Basically my suggestion for adjusting Tangling Grasp is that once it is active (Zombie has a hold of a human/victim), syringes can no longer be used to combat revive the attacking zombie. The player would receive a message along the lines of "Your body is being crushed by a zombie and can not accurately insert the syringe". In addition to "makes sense", such a alteration rewards a feisty zombie for attacking when it sees food. This change doesn't prevent a human player from attacking with punches or weapons, only from using an item that is supposed to be specifically placed to use. Nor does this change completely prevent a combat revive, it merely makes it more difficult for a player getting attacked to use it.
Left Queue: 10:46, 20 June 2006 (BST)

24th April 2006

Pile Up, Revised Again

Timestamp: 00:11, 24 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Large groups
Description: Here is my latest update to prevent something like a Human simply escaping a siege on a building by leaving the building or having a horde of Zombies all pack into one area and disburse as if they were organized in a circle so they all had an easy way out. I suggested that the number of Zombies and/or Humans in any given area should affect how easily one can enter or exit that space, and through some voter suggestions I have made the following changes.

1-149 Zombies and/or Humans in a space has no affect.

150- 499 Zombies and/or Humans in a space causes anyone, Zombie or Human, to use double the AP required for them to move into or out of that space. The only exemptions is for Humans with the Free Running skill, who have no penalty attached yet.

500+ Zombies and/or Humans in a space requires that either Humans and/or Zombies in that space to be killed down to 499 in order to leave it with the double AP penalty. To enter that space, one will lose triple the AP required to walk, so that is 3 AP for Humans and Zombies with Lurching Gait, 6 AP for all other Zombies, and now 2 AP for Humans with the Free Running skill. Should there be 700+ Zombies and/or Humans in a space, that space can not be entered at all till there are no more than 699 Zombies and/or Humans left standing in that space. This will include Humans with Free Running.

All actions within the space in question have no penalty, just entering and exiting. Furthermore, dead Zombies do not count until they stand up, which has no penalty until they attempt to leave the space.

Left Queue: 10:51, 20 June 2006 (BST)

zombie hunter diagnosis

Timestamp: 16:13, 24 April 2006 (BST)
Type: zombie hunter Skill
Scope: zombie hunters
Description: This is a version of diagnosis but you see the current HP of zombies. It would be a zombie hunter skill and head shot would be a prerequisite. The in-game explaination would be that sence you have been hunting zombies so long, you can tell the difference between what was the normal decomposing of a zombie and what was damage. I don't know what to call this skill or how much XP it would cost, so I am open to ideas.
Left Queue: 10:51, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Lab Expertise

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:43, 24 April 2006 (BST)
Type: NT Labwork
Scope: Can save AP if you manufacture at least 2 syringes!
Description: Lab Expertise

Appears under science skills tree just under NecroNet Access, does not apply any benefits to your zombie character. As an additional prerequisite your character must also have minimum level 10+, and diagnosis in order to purchase this skill. (To represent your advanced biochemistry degrees, master's in chemistry, biomechanics, etc.)

Whenever your character is in a powered NT Building, or a powered hospital you are able to utilize extisting lab equipment to mass produce 2 Revive syringes at a time for 5 AP less than the total cost of producing 2 syringes seperately.

When at either of the 2 buildings permitted (if they are powered), there is a button that says "Manufacture 2 Revives", this allows another option for revive production if that is the main thing your character focuses on doing all day.

Additionally, even if this puts you into - AP it is permitted, but only if it would not put you below -5 AP. Otherwise the player gets a message they didn't have sufficent AP to perform this action. ("Burning the midnight oil.")

Left Queue: 10:51, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Infectious Bite Upgrade

Timestamp: 19:26, 24 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Balance Change
Scope: Infectious Bite
Description: Currently, Infection is little more than an annoyance to survivors. Any survivor can say "Ohh ive been infected, well I will just use this First-Aid Kit and ill be good as new."

I propose making Infection something for survivors to be afraid of. This would require implementing a few skills to keep from being too overpowered.

Skill: New Strain-Appears under Infectious Bite on the Zombie skill tree.

      A survivor who is infected by a Zombie with this skill cannot be cured by the use of a First Aid Kit. 
      Survivors can however be cured through the use of the Surgery Skill.

Skill: Isolate Infection-Appears under Lab Experience on the Science skill tree.

      A survivor with this skill can cure New Strain of Infection while in a powered Necrotech Building by using a   
      First Aid Kit.

Skill: Rest-Appears on the Civilian skill tree as a new skill.

      Gives Survivor a new button called "Rest" each time the player presses the button he gains one HP at the cost of 1 AP.
      A Survivor cannot be harmed through Infection while using "Rest".

I believe that these skills would add a little fear when a Survivor is Infected while keeping options open for those Infected.

Left Queue: 10:51, 20 June 2006 (BST)

25th April 2006

Death Groan

Timestamp: MrAushvitz20:32, 24 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: A very loud (and optional) death groan if you are severely overkilled!
Description: Death Groan

Appears under zombie skills tree just under "Feeding Groan", does not benefit you human character. As an additional prerequisite, to purchase your zombie must also have the survivor skill "Bodybuilding" (you just need that lung capacity for a good death shout.)

Whenever your zombie is killed from a lot of damage in a very short amount of time, you have the option to utter a "Death Groan." This groan's range is exactly the same as feeding groan (based on number of survivors at this location), it still costs you 1 AP (even though you were killed), but it has a slightly different "sound" to it.

  • The amount of damage/time is your zombie must have taken at least 20 points of damage (and be killed by it) in the last minute of online time. Your zombie must also be online for this option to be available (killed while online.) The computer only bothers to start counting the "time" if your zombie is below 30 HP, and you are online, and only if you have this skill (to save on server loads.)
  • You are only permitted to utter a death groan up to 60 seconds after you were "killed" (allows you a chance to make your groan if you died, and for those with slower internet access. If you stand up, that option is now gone, if you are moved outside before you are allowed to make the groan (survivors have to be at the same location as you for it to work) the death groan is no longer legal (survivors get a safety benefit for quickly disposing of your body, if they can.)

This skill's intention is for your online zombie to have a 2nd feeding groan option, or way of "alerting" other zombies that you have just been killed (and how!) This second feeding groan is not only intended to alert zombies of nearby survivors, but nearby "active" survivors. This utterance is not a sign of fear or pain (well maybe a bit of pain, depending how you died) but it is the call of the dead, saying "They got me! Come kill them!"

It also may, in some rare situations allow a zombie who got "jumped" to utter another kind of feeding groan if they were killed so quickly they never got to utter a regular feeding groan. (Can happen if a lot of skilled survivors jumped a zombie at the same time, outdoors for example.) And, as always, if the same groans are coming from the same location (but different zombies) you get the message "and again.. and again.. and again.." this adds to the "atmosphere" of zombies being slaughtered at the local mall. Survivors may even come to consider these groans a good sign.

Left Queue: 00:07, 25 April 2006 (BST)

Death Groan (Resubmitted, changed slightly)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz01:54, 25 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: A very loud (and optional) death groan if you are severely overkilled by survivors!
Description: *I'm a little suspiscous of how quickly it got spaminated, and the manner in which it seemed the same group of people auto spammed it (before it could be studied further by other voters.) But let's not dwell on that, I'll tweak it a little and try again, see if we get any keeps.

Death Groan

Appears under zombie skills tree just under "Feeding Groan", does not benefit you human character. As an additional prerequisite, to purchase your zombie must also have the survivor skill "Bodybuilding" (you just need that lung capacity for a good death shout, considering you have less time to do it prior to death.)

Whenever your zombie is killed outright in a very short amount of time by survivors. You have the option to utter a "Death Groan." This groan's range is exactly the same as feeding groan (based on number of survivors at this location when you make it), it will cost you 1 AP (even though you were killed), but it has a slightly different "sound" to it.

  • The amount of damage/time is your zombie must have taken at least 15 points of damage (and be killed by it) in the last minute of online time. Your zombie must also be online for this option to be available (killed while online.)
  • The computer only bothers to start counting the "time" if your zombie is below 16 HP and just took it's 1st hit, and you are online, and only if you have this skill (to save on server loads.)
  • You are only permitted to utter a death groan up to 60 seconds after you were "killed" (allows you a chance to make your groan if you died, and for those with slower internet access. If you stand up, that option is now gone, if you are moved outside before you are allowed to make the groan (survivors have to be at the same location as you for it to work) the death groan is no longer legal (survivors get a safety benefit for quickly disposing of your body, if they can.)

This skill's intention is for your online zombie to have a 2nd feeding groan option, or way of "alerting" other zombies that you have just been killed (and how!) This second feeding groan is not only intended to alert zombies of nearby survivors, but nearby "active" survivors. This utterance is not a sign of fear or pain (well maybe a bit of pain, depending how you died) but it is the call of the dead, saying "They got me! Come kill them!"

It also may, in some rare situations allow a zombie who got "jumped" to utter another kind of feeding groan if they were killed so quickly they never got to utter a regular feeding groan. (Can happen if a lot of skilled survivors jumped a zombie at the same time, outdoors for example.) And, as always, if the same groans are coming from the same location (but different zombies) you get the message "and again.. and again.. and again.." this adds to the "atmosphere" of zombies being slaughtered at the local mall. Survivors may even come to consider these groans a good sign. This skill's intention is not the creation of more feeding groan spam, mainly because this kind of feeding groan will never happen any where near as often. But it adds to the feeding groan element of the game, different kinds of groans for different kinds of messages to surrounding zombies.).

Left Queue: 03:57, 25 April 2006 (BST)

Point Blank

Timestamp: 21:54, 25 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors Level 10+
Description: This skill allows owners to have a 100% chance of hitting a zombie, allthough it grately reduces the amount of damage done, i.e. by 1/2 and rounded up to the nearest whole number. It also costs 2 AP to attack with this skill. It is only an optional to use the skill, where is says "Attack:[a zombie] with [pistol] at [20%, 5 damage]" (for example) you can also have the option "Attack:[a zombie] with [pistol] at [100%, 3 damage]" (the damage is reduced because of the velocity of the speeding bullet passing straight through the target). It is a zombie hunter skill, if you hadn't guessed and costs 100xp to purchase.
Left Queue: 03:58, 26 April 2006 (BST)

How Many Bullets?

Timestamp: 00:03, 25 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Humans
Description: O.K. So you've got a pistol or a Shotgun and it's out of Ammo, but you're carrying plenty of shells. You were told time and time again, but once more you forgot about the importance of keeping at least some of the weapons loaded. Walking calmly outside you level your weapon at a Zombie and pull the trigger... 'Click!' the gun is empty, it needs reloading.

Wouldn't it be better if this forgetfulness cost you 1AP for your incompetence? Text along the lines of 'Your weapon clicks on an empty chamber' would suffice. In the heat of a Zombie confrontation sometimes you would panic and foget about reloading your weapon (look at Stephen in the boiler room in D.O.T.D for a prime example).

Left Queue: 10:52, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Unload/Fury Claw

Timestamp: 19:11, 25 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Skills
Scope: Survivors and Zombies
Description:

Unload

Unload is a new skill. The actual placement of the skill isn't too important, but I was thinking that it could either go under Headshot or Advanced Pistol Training. I'm more parital to putting it under headshot myself, but it doesn't really matter. Either way I believe that this skill should cost more experience that most skills (Perhaps 200 XP?), and if it is put under the military branch, it shouldn't be suject to the military skill buying advantage. The name is subject to change, of course. That was just the first name that came to mind. You must be level fifteen to purchase Unload. The premise behind the skill is that you have become accurate enough with shooting a pistol that you can unload an entire clip without losing aim. In function, after purchasing the skill, a button would appear next to "attack" labeled "unload". Clicking the "unload" button would cost 6 AP (And would also take away six of your IP points, to avoid abuse). When you click the "Unload" button, it doesn't matter which weapon you have selected. If you have any loaded pistols, you will empty one of them into the target you have selected. The computer will then give you the results of all of the shots in order. It would look something like this:


Your first shot missed

Your second shot hit Whatshisface for 5 damage. They dropped to 55 HP.

Your third shot missed.

Your fourth shot missed.

Your fifth shot hit Whatshisface for 5 damge. They dropped to 50 HP.

Your sixth shot hit Whatshisface for 5 damge. They drop to 45 HP.


If you have no loaded pistols that are full, then the "Unload" button will automatically use the one with the greatest number of bullets. This would still cost 6 AP and IP points, however, so it would be a waste of the skill. If the person being attacked is killed before all of the shots are used, then the rest of the bullets are simply wasted. That would be the downside of this skill.

Fury Claw

Of coure, adding this new skill would be horribly unbalanced of it's own, so to make sure that things are even, "Fury Claw" would also be added. I don't much like the name myself, but I couldn't think of anything better, and it can be changed later. Fury Claw is a zombie skill that would require the Zombie to be level 10. (I think it's justified to make the level requirement lower for the zombie, since there are less aombie skills, and Fury claw could be considered slightly less powerful depending on your point of view.) Fury Claw would cost more than most skills, of course (Probably the same amount as whatever is decided for "Unload") Fury claw would be located under "Death Grip" of course, and Would basically work the same way as Unload, but would be for the claw attack instead of the pistol. A button labeled "Fury Claw" would be added right next to the normal attack button, and like Unload, it wouldn't matter which attack you have selected. Attacking with this button would cost 6 AP and IP (Once again, to avoid abuse), would attack six times, and would look somthing like this:


Your first attack missed.

Your second attack mauled Whatshisface for 3 damage. They dropped to 57 HP. You grabbed ahold of them.

Your third attack mauled Whatshisface for 3 damage. They dropped to 54 HP.

Your fourth attack missed.

Your fifth attack missed.

You sixth attack mauled Whatshisfact for 3 damage. They drop to 51 HP. You grab ahold of them.


If the target dies before all of the attacks are used, the rest of the AP is simply wasted. Noticed that all but the final attack are changed to past tense. You may be thinking that Fury Claw is not as powerful as Unload because it's used with an attack that does less damage, but a single pistol shot does more damge than a single claw attack anyway. Please do not vote "kill" for server reasons. I did address them, and it can be handled.

Left Queue: 10:52, 20 June 2006 (BST)

26th April 2006

Death Groan (Resubmitted, again, with changes, if you didn't get to read and vote, check peer rejected)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz06:03, 25 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: A very loud (and optional) death groan if you are severely overkilled by multiple survivors!
Description: Note: This subskill of feeding groan only works if you are quickly over-killed by multiple survivors, it doesn't count (or work) for zombie on zombie violence. (Can't be abused to give misdirectional spam messages, made that way deliberately.)

Death Groan

Appears under zombie skills tree just under "Feeding Groan", does not benefit your human character. Has no additional prerequisites.

Whenever your zombie is killed outright in a very short amount of time by survivors: You have the option to utter a "Death Groan." This groan's range is exactly the same as feeding groan (based on number of survivors at this location at the time you make it), it will still cost you 1 AP (even though you were killed), this groan however has a different "sound" to it and fellow zombies will recognize it's meaning.

  • The amount of damage/time is: Your zombie must have taken from 21 HP (or less) to death the last 60 seconds. And the damage dealt to kill your character must have come from more than 1 survivor! Your zombie must also be online for this option to be available (killed while online, nothing for free, you must be able to choose to spend the AP.)
  • The computer only bothers to start counting the "time" if your zombie is below 21 HP and just took it's 1st hit that started you towards 0 or less, and you are online, and only if you have this skill (to save on server loads.)
  • You are only permitted to utter a death groan up to 60 seconds after you were "killed" (allows you a chance to make your groan if you died, and for those with slower internet access. If you stand up, that option is now gone, if you are moved outside before you are allowed to make the groan (survivors have to be at the same location as you for it to work) the death groan is no longer legal (survivors get a safety benefit for quickly disposing of your body, if they can.)

This skill's intention is for your online zombie to have a 2nd feeding groan option, or way of "alerting" other zombies that you have just been killed (and by more than 1 survivor, to indicate there are several online survivors!) This second feeding groan is not only intended to alert zombies of nearby survivors, but multiple nearby "active" survivors, which definately should draw zombie attention. This utterance is not a sign of fear or pain (well maybe a bit of pain, depending how you died) but it is the call of the dead, saying "They got me! Come kill them!"

It also may, in some rare situations allow a zombie who got "jumped" to utter another kind of feeding groan if they were killed so quickly they never got to utter a regular feeding groan.

This skill's intention is not the creation of more feeding groan spam, mainly because this kind of feeding groan will never happen any where near as often. But it adds to the feeding groan element of the game, different kinds of groans for different kinds of messages to surrounding zombies.).

Left Queue: 02:59, 26 April 2006 (BST)

Lucky Charm

Timestamp: 01:16, 26 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Items
Scope: Zombies and Humans
Description: I have taken the suggestion from proboards, and made some editing. Basically, Lucky Charms are some useful trinkets that give you better odds on certain thngs.

To activate a charm, click on it in your invertory to "wear it" (have it effect you). You can only "wear" one at a time. They efect you even when you're a zombie.

Some ideas:

Buddha Doll Effect: +5% to search odds in certain buildings. Found: Hotels, Buildings, Hospitals, Pubs

Dog Tags Effect: +10% to hit with melee weapons (including zombie attacks, Bite and Claw) Found: Armoury, Forts

Lavender Incense Candle Effect: +5% to hit with firearms (because the smell calms you down, steadying your aim) Found: Hotels, Pubs, Buildings

Gold Plated Brass Knuckles Effect: 25% chance of a successful melee strike dealing 1 more point of damage Found: PDs, Pubs, Amoury, Forts

Blue Rose Breast Pocket Ornament Effect: 10% chance of Flak Jackets absorbing 40% of the damage when hit, instead of 20% (shotgun hits deal 6 damage instead of 8, for example). Found: Hotels

I do suggest that, if Kevan adds them in, that we DON'T know what the lucky charms does, at least at the begining of their introduction...that way, we have to experiment, and see what effects does lucky charms do...like real lucky charms. The above are just ideas of effects a lucky charm could do.

Left Queue: 03:05, 26 April 2006 (BST)

Faith

Timestamp: 09:33, 26 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item Improvement
Scope: Humans with Crucifix
Description: The Crucifix is a worthless item at present. One suggestion would be to make it so any carryer/wearer of a crucifix gets a slight % increase on hand attacks, but only while standing in a church or graveyard. This way even the hand attacks will be of some use. The churches nearly always seem to be poorly barricaded, so to a new player it would give them a fighting chance.
Left Queue: 12:06, 26 April 2006 (BST)

Dropping

Timestamp: 19:31, 26 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Ability
Scope: Humans
Description: This is an ability all humans can use. It allows a survivor to drop certain items (Crucifix, baseball bat, lead pipe, crowbar, Generator) out of a window of a tall building. This is used to hit a random charachter (survivor or zombie) outside for 2 damage at 35% chance to hit (3 damage and 35% chance to hit with generator) The thrower would see "You conk Joe Rombie on the head with a Generator. He takes three damage". The charachter who was hit would see "A/an (item) falls out of a window an falls on your head. You take three damage." It would be a funny and functional technique, enabling survivors to defend barricades from the inside instead of the outside, thus risking retaliation. It would also provide a way for the consumer class to gain easy xp, which we really need. It also gives us a small, if unimportant use for the crucifix.
Left Queue: 00:16, 27 April 2006 (BST)


K9 Companion

Timestamp: 12:22, 26 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Item
Scope: Humans and Zombies
Description: You come across a lone and starving dog, who decides to follow you for both companionship and food in exchange for protection while you sleep/sway.

To start off, the dog must be found as a human. Dogs are very rare and there is usually only a 1%-3% chance of finding them.

Most often dogs will be found wandering in areas that can't be barricaded, such as streets, parks, wastelands, car parks, cemeteries, and monuments. A few have been known to be hiding or chained up in junkyards, stuck in cages of NecroTech buildings, police stations, and fire stations, or trapped in empty mansions, warehouses, hotel rooms, and mall pet stores. Most of the dogs in those areas are already dead from starvation though.

Once it is in your inventory, you must care for it. Next to the dog "icon" in your inventory is a number indicating your dog`s health. Your dog's health will decline fast, having been living on scraps for the last few years. About 10 HP from it's full 30 HP every 24hrs., active or not.

The dog only becomes active and visible to other players while your character is out of action points, attacking every zombie or human, for 2 HP, for every attack made on either their owner or them, or until their owner regains at least 1 AP, where they will then hide from view. Players with multiple dogs will only have one active at a time.

Zombies or other humans may attack or heal dogs until they either are killed, their owner regains at least 1 AP, or till someone kills the dog`s owner. The dog is then presumed to be killed along with them, or runs away.

Should you as a human die while the dog is inactive, you loose the dog/dogs, as they will run away. Active dogs who are killed before their owners are, are ripped to pieces and are unable to come back. If you have multiple dogs, your next dog will activate and continue where the previous one left off. However, if you die first while a dog is active, it is now an infectious zombie dog, attacking in much the same way as it did for when it was alive, while they rest you might have had will run away. Humans encountering a zombie dog become infected every attack the dog makes on them.

Without a way, as a zombie, to feed/care for the zombie dog, the dog's body will continue to decay till it dies (unable to come back), is killed by a human or another zombie before the owner dies(also unable to come back), is healed by a human for some odd reason, or until the zombie owner is revived. Injecting a zombie dog with a revivification syringe directly has been found to cause such a rapid change to the zombie dog's body, that the dog more or less explodes. (absolutely unable to come back). No damage is done to anyone but the zombie dog this way.

If the zombie dog is inactive when the zombie dog's owner is revived, the zombie dog wanders away from it's owner's convulsing body and decomposes. If the owner is revived while the zombie dog is active, the dog nips at the flailing body and gets a secondhand dose of the revivification serum, bringing it back with only 5 HP left.

XP is NOT given to the owners of dogs who attack an enemy. It CAN be gained by killing a dog before the owner either, by the usual means or by trying to revive a zombie dog, or healing a living dog. As far as healing the zombie dogs, the same rules for XP work as if you were healing a zombie human.

All numbers and functions of this suggestion are not to be taken as inflexible. Please include ideas for improvement with your votes. Also keep comments constructive... Simply stating that it`s a "childish" idea doesn`t help. Tell why it is "childish."

Left Queue: 10:53, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Murder!

Timestamp: 19:10, 26 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Minor change
Scope: Everyone
Description: Very simple. When a human kills another human, instead of the text reading. "So n' so killed Whatshisface", it would read "So n' so murdered Whatshisface". This wouldn't change the dynamics of the game at all, I just think it would be more interesting. Afterall, let's face it, murder is the case.
Left Queue: 10:53, 20 June 2006 (BST)

27th April 2006

Street Running

Timestamp: MrAushvitz02:55, 27 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Survivor Skill
Scope: Makes outdoor long distance running not so costly
Description: Street Running

Appears under civillian skills tree, adds no benefits to your human character. No additional prerequisites.

Your survivor is an excellent runner. In addition, they are skilled at circumventing all of the outdoor debris in Malton whereever possible. For every 4 AP of movement you spend in outdoors movement before you log off, the computer will recover 1 additional AP 8 hours later. Your character does not stay exhausted from running for long.

  • It's pretty basic, as soon as your character takes their 1st outdoors movement, the computer starts tallying the total tally until you log off. Then it sets a time (8 hours from now) for you to get back your AP Kickback, then you gain X AP back, where X is 1/4 of the distance you traveled outdoors (rounding down.) This movement does not have to be all outdoors movement (in a row), the computer just adds up the total # of outdoors AP moves, so you can dodge in and out of buildings, using free running as well. All that matters is the final outdoor total when you log out (which in many instances might mean you get back an extra 1 to 3 AP on busy days.)
  • For most this will simply be a useful skill if your character needs to move to a completely different part of Malton, or for long distance scouting purpouses (heavily zombie infested areas.) The main reason you get back a portion of the AP, is your character's AP cannot exceed 50.. but outdoors travel is something you excell at. This skill is also useful if you are planning to do a lot of outdoors movement, prior to something else. Thus assures your character won't be completely exhausted later on when that time comes.
  • This skill is deliberately set up so it cannot be abused, but it can be used to your character's benefit. Not the least of which, is if you have to get the hell out of this part of Malton in a hurry!
  • Note: Moving outside of a building counts as 1 outdoor movement (so the benefit is also inherent in the risk of being seen by zombies.)
Left Queue: 10:55, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Length of Rope

Timestamp: 03:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item/Skill
Scope: Survivors that don't have free run
Description: Piece of Rope. Enables free running without the skill bought. Can only be used once (otherwise people would hold onto it forever). Found in Factories (2%), Warehouses (4%), Fire Stations (5%), Hardware Stores (7%). Lets newbies get into barricaded buildings but still have to spend AP searching and using, also relatively rare. Using the item takes 2AP [3AP total due to mechanics of the way you use it] (due to the obviously difficult task of climbing along a piece of rope to get to another building). Mechanics would work like this:

1. Click the item. (1AP lost). When refresh is finished after clicking this item, a small (in use) text appears beside it and it is "readied". 2. Click adjacent block (2AP lost if successful [adjacent block is actually a building])

If adjacent block cannot be freerun to (is not a building), player is notified that they have moved to this block but the "piece of rope is useless". Rope is not discarded, but player ends up in the block anyway. Rope is not "in use" anymore, and must be clicked again to "ready it". Survivors that have freerun and attempt to use this will be notified after "readying it" that this is "useless". It will not ready.

Left Queue: 10:55, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Making Electricity Important

Timestamp: 03:56, 27 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Rule change
Scope: Metagame (what is considered tactical)
Description: This is a pair of suggestions, which, together, provide a 'gamist' reward for doing something which, ICly, be a goal.

First, while in a building that is powered, all human attacks would gain a +5% accuracy rate. Because you can see, you can tell who is alive and kicking and who is just kicking, as well as making it easier to notice movement and line up shots. Insignificant at higher levels, where the accuracy rates are already very higher, but it gives the lower level characters something they can do to directly aid in defense -- as well as shore up their defenses.

Second, grant humans XP for installing or refueling generators, and grant zombies XP for destroying generators. This reward should be minor: 2 XP in normal locations, or 4 XP in 'major' locations (armories, cathedrals, fire stations, forts, hospitals, malls, necrotech buildings, phone masts, police stations, and stadiums).

For the players, it gives them stronger 'strongholds', while for the zombies, it makes places where fuel cans (and, to a lesser degree, mobile generators) can be found into tactical points alongside hospitals and gun/ammo sources, spreading out the humans into more locations; thus, unless the humans are well-organized to take advantage of strategic electricity, the zombies have an easier time playing "divide and conquer."

Left Queue: 10:55, 20 June 2006 (BST)

ER

Timestamp: MrAushvitz20:42, 27 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Yet another excellent medical skill
Scope: FAK's heal just a bit more for the severely wounded.
Description: ER

Appears under science skills tree just under diagnosis, adds no benefits to your zombie character. As an additional prerequisite your character must also have first aid.

When your character is offline at an indoor powered building, they often assist in the care of the severely wounded in emergency situations. Whenever a FAK is used at your location to heal a survivor (other than you) who is at 15 HP or less, and you have this skill, the FAK used heals an additional 1 HP (2 HP at a powered hospital).

  • This skill is culmative, which is to say the 1 or 2 HP bonus per additional helping ER personnel stacks. But it maxes out at +4 HP per FAK used on a survivor at 15 HP or less. Many players who are using their FAK will be "pleasantly suprised" when their FAK is just a bit more effective due to local assistance. "(player), (player) and (player) offered you emergency assistance!"
  • This skill is a "community benefit" for your character ending their session at a powered hospital or other powered safehouse with wounded (if you wish.) The benefits to your character are other players may be much more interested in your status should you go missing (ie. they may search out and attempt to revive you, use FAK's on you more often to keep you alive, invite you to join their faction, and so forth.)
  • The reason this skill benefits other players while you're ofline, is to represent your character's humaitarian efforts spent when they are not doing things for their own benefit (ie. searching, zombie hunting, etc.) It is assumed your character still rests, but they are often called on in serious emergencies for assistance. This skill is well known amungst doctors, nurses, firemen, police, and medics as well as many millitary professions.
  • This skill is yet another reason for a safehhouse to have power whenever possible.
Left Queue: 10:55, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Senior Lab Tech

Timestamp: MrAushvitz22:10, 27 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New NT Skill
Scope: Manufacture AN-6 Anti-Virus At Powered NT Buildings
Description: Senior Lab Tech

Appears on science skills tree just under NecroNet Access, adds no benefits to your zombie character. Only prerequisite is NecroNet Access.

You are experienced at manufacturing the NecroTech AN-6 antivirus. You can manufacture this antivirus at any powered NT building for 5 AP per vial. Every time you manufacture a AN-6 vial you gain 1 XP, but you are only allowed to gain a maximum of 5 XP per 24 hour day doing this. This antivirus must remain in a refrigerated lab unit, until used. Any NT building that loses power begins to lose viable vials of the antivirus with each passing hour.

  • NT employees are free to manufacture all the vials they like (but XP gain caps at 5 XP per 24 hour day.) These vials cannot be removed from the NT building. The vials are not visable, or usable by those without the NecroTech Employment skill.

Using The AN-6 Anti-virus

  • To use a vial you need simply click on the "Use AN-6" button in the NT building. This antivirus is only available to NT employees (to keep them active in their research, revive and study capabilities.)
  • Each use of the AN-6 will cost 2 AP to administer to yourself, and completely cures infection. (The increased AP cost is due to finding a FAK takes searching, but this does not.)

Loss Of Power, Loss OF AN-6 Stores

Every hour, the computer will check all NT buildings that have AN-6 vials in storage, that are not powered. Each of those buildings will immediately lose 25%, rounding up of their remaining vials. The antivirus loses it's potency very quickly when not stored at at or below 5 degrees Celcius.

NT Building Description

Along with the building's description, if it has at least 1 vial of AN-6 in storage it will also read: "This building contains a lab refrigeration unit which hold (X) usable vials of AN-6."

Left Queue: 10:55, 20 June 2006 (BST)

28th April 2006

Powered Suburbs

Timestamp: 01:49, 28 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Suburb Ability
Scope: Powering the whole suburb via phone mast
Description: Powered Suburbs

Almost every suburb has a Phone Mast. my suggestion is to bring into scope a few annoying problems, and solve them.

  • Powering a phone mast creates power to buildings around it, based ona radius of the whole suburb if the barricades on this building are kept at a certain level. This will cap the ability to power the whole neighborhood at one time, provide a target for zombie attacks, and create more goals for human groups, as this surely would amke zombies upset.
  • This saves us the problem of zombies attacking merely due to pwoer ina building, and makes it more like a real life situation. In the movies, zombies dont think, they merely attack where they think is life. If we have this power running, they would not know which main buildings had people in them or not, this, they would have to focus on the Phone Mast, it gives room for great battles.
  • This plan also gets rid of that annoying little problem everyone has with the power generators, and creates an advance in Malton that is due to happen anyways.
  • The Phone masts power is only on based on it's barricade status. (of course there would have to be a constant generator running in there as well. That means there would have to be alot of human attention to these buildings, in order for this to work effectively, thus, it makes more use of a phone mast, making it more of a zombie target then it would be, and expands game play options.
  • Otherwise does not get rid of the generator, just makes having power more efficient. May lead to new human skill where one becomes effecient at electrical supply, thus is able to use the light up signs on buildings to advertise messages? Just a thought.
Left Queue: 06:27, 28 April 2006 (BST)

Restless Dead

Timestamp: 00:58, 28 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Standing up is easier if there are many living survivors nearby
Description: Restless Dead

Appears on zombie skills tree just under Scent Fear, adds no benefits to your human character. Has no additional prerequisites.

Your zombie has this annoying tendancy to rise from death faster, especially when there are a lot of the living nearby. It costs you 2 less AP to stand if there are at least 3 living survivors at your location.

  • Synergy bonus: If your zombie also has the Brain Rot skill, you are able to stand if there are only 2 or more survivors at your location.

The basis for this is simple, your zombie gets very stimulated by the living being in close proximity to them (their smell especially.) This allows them to "dig deep" and move just a bit faster, to get to their next meal.

Left Queue: 10:56, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Nails

Timestamp: 17:25, 28 April 2006 (BST)
Type: flavour
Scope: All
Description: This is an item for flavour. It can be found in junkyards, warehouses, and mall hardware shops. It allows survivors to nail items to a wall. it does not overide grafiti. You can nail as much stuff to a wall as you want. anybody can use nails, and everybody can nail things to walls. An example of what you would see upon entering a building: "You see a crucifix nailed to a wall. Below reads "Revive point. Sway patiently" If there is more than one thing nailed to a wall, you will see "You see multiple items nailed to a wall. [Click] for list." Survivors can pull down items off of the wall, "You pull the shotgun shell off of the wall and throw it away." I think this would add a nice touch. How many people have wanted to make a weapons gallery in the museum or display the syringe they used to get 60 zombies with?
Left Queue: 10:56, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Wanted!(alternative)

Timestamp: 18:00, 28 April
Type: Game mecanic + skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: Summary: Survivors can call in to the local police station and report their PKers. Others can access the PD computer and find who is "wanted" in that suburb.

Reporting: you can report a PK when your revived and you can report any murder you witness

  • Reporter has a cell phone
  • Only murders less than two days old can be reported
  • The suburb has cell phone coverage (the mast is powered)
  • Police station must be powered
  • A button is added to the end of the murder / you have been revived message
  • Reporting costs 2AP (because u have to deal with their dam automated system)

Hacking: A new civilian skill, hacking, allows players to discover access the police database.
Looking up reports:

  • Can only be done in a Powered police station in the suburb
  • Costs 1AP
  • Has a 60% chance of success- brings up a list of the last 10 murderers, each with a profile link
  • Has a 10% chance of purging – all users in the police station would see a message "<profile> accessed the computer system then it crashed"
  • The remaining 30% of the time nothing happens- “you were unable to crack into the system”

Deleting reports:

  • Can only be done in a Powered police station in the suburb.
  • Costs 1AP
  • Has a 50% chance of success- "<profile> accessed the computer system then it crashed"
  • Has 5% chance of perfect attack – nobody notices anything and the list is just cleared
  • Has a 45% chance of nothing happens- “you were unable to delete into the system”

When a PKer is killed while still on the (in their suburb) list, they cannot report their murder, they are however removed from the list.
Details:
above are the basics, here are some specific details that did not belong anywhere else. IF no police station is available when a report is made then the caller is told their call could not be connected (costs 1 AP). When a generator is destroyed, there is a 30% chance that the list is erased. IF more than 1 station in a suburb is powered when a report is made they all receive the report. For suburbs with no police station there will be no ability to report murders at this time, this may create PKing suburbs. The same murder can be reported several times but will only appear on the lists once. Due partly to the GUI system but also so that you don’t waste half your AP reporting murders, when you wake and see several murders then you can only report one.
Dupe:
Well basically, I liked Wanted! but Id preferred it with a few changes, and I feel it is different enough to not be a dupe.
There is no change to the GUI of urban dead
there is no reward for taking out PKers
PKers may go and erase the records, but as this can also happen by accident, you cannot be sure if it was deliberate

Meta-gaming:
if accepted it will bring part of what is atm meta-gaming into the game itself, this will help everybody. Non-meta gamers have a new feature. Meta-gamers have an easier time confirming reports, and if they do not think its effective enough then they can still keep their old methods. PKers have a valid and fair way of erasing their reports; this system will also reduce usage of Meta gaming so a careful PKer may have an easier time. Also s a game feature, YOU guys, the people voting on this will then have the power to rebalance and adjust the feature if its found to be too pro/anti PKing(which its not as its completely balanced IMO)

Left Queue: 10:56, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Riot Shield

Timestamp: 18:39, 28 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item
Scope: Non Combat Survivors
Description: This is a new item called a Riot Shield it is found at a 5% Rate in Police Departments. If you think that the rate is too high or too low then please let me know.

This item works by simply having it in your inventory. It lowers the attack rate of any melee attack against your survivor by 5%. There is however a catch to using this item, in order for your survivor to get the defense benefit they may not have any Pistols, Shotguns, Knives or Fire Axes in their inventory ammo is however allowed.

So if a player wants to get a defensive bonus then they need to throw away all of their weapons.

Left Queue: 10:56, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Bayonets

Timestamp: 23:02, 28 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Item
Scope: Survivors w/ firearms
Description: When this item is found, a player may click on it to "equip" it to a shotgun. It works like reloading a shotgun, precedence is given to weapons with more shells loaded. The item can not be taken off until it is "used up" - when this item is equipped, shotguns have a 15% chance of doing an extra 4 damage. When "Knife Proficiency" is bought, this chance increases to 30%. This helps balance the "more ammo, easier to find, more damage (6 shots x 5= 30 damage total)" pistol against the "less ammo, not as easy to find, less damage (2 shots x 10 = 20 damage total). A shotgun with this equipped is still statistically weaker, but has an extra incentive to use. Note that the shotgun with the bayonet cannot be used as a melee weapon - the bonus can only happen when a shotgun round connects with an opponent. Therefore, here is the basic summary:

1. Bayonet attached in same way as reloading a shell, and with same precedence (when having multiple shotguns).

2. Bayonet lasts for 10 turns (shots).

* If shotgun round misses, this does not count as a turn
* If chance for extra damage fails, this counts as a turn
* If both connect, this counts as a turn

3. Base chance for extra damage is 15%, increased to 30% with Knife Proficiency

4. Bayonet does extra 4 damage if both shotgun round hits and the extra damage "roll" succeeds

5. Helps balance shotgun vs pistol, as well as gives incentive for Knife Proficiency

6. Shotgun must be able to fire (has ammo, etc) for there to be a chance of the bayonet doing damage. While it doesn't make sense that you have to have ammo for the bayonet to even have a chance of hitting, we don't want people running around using it as a poor man's fire axe.

I hope this is clear, if not I'm happy to discuss it in the comments.

Left Queue: 10:56, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Necrotic Contagion (With Body Handling Addition)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz23:46, 28 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Survivors who handle your body may become infected, a lot of zombies with this skill at same location can infect passerbys.
Description: Necrotic Contagion

Appears under zombie skills tree just under infected bite, adds no benefits to your human character. No additional prerequisites.

Whenever your zombie is a dead body (but not a revived body), you have a chance of causing infection in survivors who spend too much time at your outdoors location. (The sun and rain gives the body a chance to "ripen" for maximum effect!) This is even more true for survivors who handle (move) your body!

Even in death, your zombie causes problems for the living, as your dead body just reeks of contagion and decomposition. Fortunately for safehouses, this only applies to outdoors locations (better heat and wind conditions to compliment the bouqet.)

  • Each zombie with this skill adds a base of 0.25% chance per survivor AP spent at this location of infection. (1% for every 4 zombies with this skill.) The maximum infection per AP spent chance caps out at 5% (20+ zombies with this skill, 10+ with this skill and brain rot), to allow a reasonable chance to "run by" and not get infected, but staying too long it is a eventual infection certainty. (The cap solves the muliply times a thousand and a billion rule.)
  • This chance is increased further for zombies with the brain rot skill, each zombie with brain rot and this skill adds 0.50% chance per survivor AP spent (1% per 2 zombies with this skill and brain rot.)

Per Survivor AP Spent

This does not include Survivor AP spent on speaking (although you should cover your mouth) to allow survivors to communicate "Oh crap, these bodies are infected, get out of here!", or free running (you can't get infected so easily if you aren't quite so close to the ground.) This includes every AP used by a survivor other than speaking, and the test is made for each AP spent, based on the "infected body count." (So those DNA scans and revives can be really harsh in some places!)

This skill makes it quite horrifying and a real danger to get too close to very, very large zombie populations. Because from a distance you can see a lot of zombies, but only up close can you see all the bodies.

Anti-Grief Stipulation: Standing Up Is Safe

Any revived survivor who stands up does not get checked for infection, at least with the AP they spent standing up. This is to avoid "griefing" of survivors who had to wait so long to get revived from being infected if they already weren't. (That and the AP costs associated with standing up, there would be such an unfair possibility of being infected for newbies!)

Handling The Bodies

This skill has a low static chance of infection just for being in the area of the bodies themselves. Moving these infected bodies, that is considerably worse.

Survivors who click on the "dump the bodies" button are tested for infection for all of the zombies they dumped (as a group) for their 1 AP spent. But the chances of infection are '10x normal (so the max. cap is now 50%!) (Mind you, you'd have to get rid of 20 or 10 zombies with 1 click of the button to get that high level of risk. 1 contagion zombie is 2.5%, a brain rotted one is 5%, use your safest gloves.)

This means clearing your safehouse of bodies is risky, but safer for everyone else involved, but the survivor already gains 1 XP per body dumped, so now there is a risk associated with that.

Seeing The Bodies

One (very legitimate) concern was you couldn't "see" how many bodies there are at a location, until you step onto it (stepping blind into infected areas.) This was unfair because it allowed no defense against this skill. Therefore with this skill's implimentation survivors (and zombies) will now be able to see how many bodies are in each square directly adjacent to the one they are at. But you can only see the bodies if you are outside. (Therefore survivors can now communicate to one another about which sights are "Contagion Hotspots" and should be avoided. So now survivors and zombies can see bodies as well if close enough.

Reasons:

  • This is a "payback" skill, because survivors are able to move a zombie's body outside (which is fine, but this is the cost associated with saving your safehouse from the zombie getting up later.)
  • This is a strange zombie mob skill of sorts, zombies benefit from all those not-so-fresh corpses. If a survivor goes to a outdoors location to kill zombies and there's a lot of bodies there, they just might get infected during their zombie hunting efforts!
  • This also is a reason for zombies to possibly give "chase" to survivors who pop in and out of buildings, they haven't been outside as long as you have and you might chase them past an area just stinking of infection! Might make "life" more fun for zombies.
  • Perhaps in time with the creation of this skill, others may suggest items to make it safer (like surgical masks, HASMAT suits etc.) But for now this skill is posted "as is" with the increased range of sight for body counts to balence things.
Left Queue: 10:56, 20 June 2006 (BST)

29th April 2006

Flamethrower

Timestamp: 17:14, 29 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Weapon
Scope: Survivors
Description: This is a firearm. It takes fuel cans to run. It does 12 damage at 5% chance to hit (without skills. It's weakness is it takes 2 ap to shoot it. It is affected by basic firearms training. It has easy-to-find ammo which gives it an advantage over other firearms. It can only be found in armories, which makes the building more valuable for survivors to hold.
Left Queue: 18:11, 29 April 2006 (BST)

Relentless Assault

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:51, 29 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Your zombie can stay standing up to -5 HP (while you're online), provided there are survivors nearby!
Description: Relentless Assault

Appears under zombie's skills tree just under ankle grab, adds no benefits to your human character. As an additional prerequisite, your zombie must also possess Vigour Mortis.

Your zombie's hatred of the living is almost unfathomable. As a result, your zombie has difficulties staying dead until there are no survivors left to attack. When you are online, your zombie may continue fighting up to -5 HP, provided there are still survivors left at your location.

While you are online, your zombie can go on fighting until -5 HP, provided there is at least 1 survivor remaining at your location. If at any point and time there are no survivors, or you log off while at 0 to -5 HP, or your HP's go below -5 you die immediately. "Your zombie falls to the ground, a bloody mess."

  • Massive Damage Limitations: Any time a zombie with this skill dies as a result of going to 0 or less HP, the death is always treated as death by headshot, even if your attacker didn't have the appropriate skill (or was a zombie!) Your zombie's HP still show up on the map as their true value for those who have the skills to read them (survivors can see you're at -2 HP for example.)
  • Movement And Survivor Combat Only Limitations: In this state (of 0 or less HP) your zombie is only permitted to attack survivors, or utter feeding groans. They may not perform any other actions (such as moving away, speaking, destroying generators, attacking other zombies, etc.) If, as a result of digestion (or FAK use on you) your HP is restored to 1 HP or higher, these limitations are waived, and you are free to act normally.

Intentions:

Many have suggested HP boosts for zombies, but they were not accepted. This one, does however permit zombies to remain standing just a bit longer, but only for anti-survivor combat. Survivors can also gain a few extra XP from this zombie having this skill. Survivors also have the option to leave, which will surely cause the zombie to fall (but then they miss out on that prescious killing bonus XP!) The headshot limitation for going over is a fair and balenced one.. and in a manner of speaking this makes mega damage weapons like the shotgun and flare gun just a bit more useful. (You may not even have headshot, but if you take out a zombie with one hit, knocking them beyond -5 HP and they had this skill, it is the same effect!) But zombies with this skill already have ankle grab, so they'll be fine. This skill only applies while you are online, otherwise it is too useful of an ability, and players could leave you at 0 to -5 HP, preventing you from moving away when you log on ("griefed" by your own skill, not nessesary.)

Left Queue: 23:10, 29 April 2006 (BST)

Security System

Timestamp: 23:47, 29 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill and Improvement
Scope: Mansions, Museums, Cell Buildings
Description: I propose that Mansions, Museums, Cell Tower Buildings be equipped with Security Systems.


Security Activation: Appears on the Civilian skill tree as a new skill. Allows a Survivor to Activate and Deactivate the Security System in Mansions Museums and Cell Tower Buildings.


What a Security System does: An active Security System will prevent a survivor from entering the building through Free Running or passing the Barracades regardless of level. A survivor may still exit the building as normal.


What a Security System Requires: A Security System takes 5 AP to Acticate and 5AP to Deactivate. A Security System can only be activated if the building is Barracaded and has a working Generator. If the Barracade or Generator is ever destroyed then the Security System is deactivated automatically.


Does being in a "Secure" building protect my Survivor? Not at all, if another players wants to get into the building then all they have to do is destroy the Barracade


Does a Security System provide any benefits against Zombies? Nope, a Security System only prevents Free Running and Passable Barracades. Zombies will just attack the barracades as normal.


A Security System can provide many benefits:
1) Help keep out Free Running PKers and Zombies Spies
2) Help protect the Cell Towers (which is why it is for the Cell Tower Buildings)
3) Give groups a "Secure" meeting place free from Spies.


If you think that there are other buildings that should benefit from the Security System then please not in your Kill votes. However, resource buildings will NOT be secure, ie no PD, FD, Mall, NT Buildings, or Hospitals.

Left Queue: 00:28, 30 April 2006 (BST)


Shotgun Headshot

Timestamp: 18:40, 29 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Weapon balance change
Scope: Zombie hunters
Description: Currently, the shotgun is a far less valuable weapon than the pistol. It takes so much AP to find and reload shells that I find it a weapon I fire off just to get it out of the way before the "real" combat begins. (Obviously, I fire it off at enemies, I'm not that stupid.) I propose that the Headshot skill be altered to activate only on shotgun hits. This would mean that survivors would save a couple shells for when their target zombie is at less than 10 hp, in order to achieve the headshot. Before you call this a "headshot nerf," consider that most anyone who has the 10+ levels to buy Headshot probably already has both firearm skill trees maxed, and searching for ammo generally produces both pistol and shotgun ammo. This suggestion would only change when survivors choose to use their shotguns, and would give the shotgun an added feature to compensate for its overall low HP/AP damage ratio.
Left Queue: 10:58, 20 June 2006 (BST)

30th April 2006

Fury Blasts!

Timestamp: 00:29, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Buff
Scope: Pretty much everyone
Description: I think if your name is RedZeko that you should be able to rain fire from the sky in an unstoppable blaze of murderous glory, killing anyone you choose in a very brutal way at the cost of 1 AP. Flav-a-falv text could read something like, "You are incinerated by the godlyness of RedZeko's god-hood because he is the god of murder and you are a worhless mortal" RedZeko's text could read something like "You bring firey death to all who oppose you." There'd be no need to list names, since they're all insignificant anyways. Being killed in this way destroys your character and forces you to begin from scratch.
Left Queue: 02:07, 30 April 2006 (BST)

Mindless Scavenging

Timestamp: 04:12, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies with Memories of Life.
Description: Zombies can buy a new skill "Mindless Scavenging" Which enables them to search. HOWEVER, since zombies don't know which items are of value to them, they can only find certain items. The items are: Fuel Cans, Baseball Bat, Crucifix, Piece of pipe, crowbar, and DNA Extractors (The last one for reasons unknown). It would give zombies some more things to do if their not in a horde, and it isn't a way for zombies to find Flak Jackets before they bust into Caiger Mall for vengeance.
Left Queue: 09:23, 30 April 2006 (BST)

EAT BRAINS!!!

Timestamp: 18:10, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombie equivilent of headshot!
Description: EAT BRAINS!!!

Appears under zombie skills tree just under digestion, adds no benefit to your human character. As an additional prerequisite your zombie must also be at least level 6.

Whenever your zombie kills a human survivor with a bite attack, your zombie eats their brains! That character now suffers the exact same AP costs for standing up as headshot.

Limitation:

  • All survivors and zombies at this location read the message "A zombie just ate (character's name) brains!", this skill does not work for zombie on zombie kills. The living character who was killed reads the message "A zombie just ate your brains!" This is the zombie equivilent of headshot, although it actually slows newly created zombies' ability to do more damage, the hungry dead simply cannot help themselves!

There is no additional AP cost associated with this skill's effect, just as headshot has no additional AP costs associated with it's additional effect.

Left Queue: 19:23, 30 April 2006 (BST)

Dump Bodies Out A Window

Timestamp: 18:29, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Building body removal option
Scope: Allows lower level characters dumping bodies outside to do headshot level AP damage!
Description: Dump Bodies Out A Window

This is not a skill, but only survivors may do it.

If you are inside a building that has the "jump out window" option, and such a building is powered, you will see an additional "dump bodies out a window (X) AP" button in addition to the "dump bodies outside" button. Dumping bodies out a window costs 2 AP per body (and requires use of the powered elevator) but each body when it hits the ground suffers the same AP costs to stand up as headshot (but does not stack with headshotm AP cost only applies once!) This means your survivor when assisting in body removal can do headshot level damage even if they don't yet have the zombie hunter skill.

  • You gain the same XP associated with dumping the bodies outside, but you gain an additional 1 XP per zombie that wasn't headshot prior to being dumped (only way to be sure.) This can allow low level characters a means of gaining XP while helping the home team.
  • Anyone on the street outside this building reads "You witness (X) bodies being dumped out of this building's upper windows!" There is no chance of anyone outside being "hit" by the bodies, but it assuredly does make a huge mess.

This modification will make towers and buildings better safehouses defensively in a manner of speaking, and gives an additional reason to make sure they are powered. It also adds to the "fun" of your safehouse being breached. It also gives zombies the pleasure of knowing what it's like to fly, again and again.

Left Queue: 19:33, 30 April 2006 (BST)

Commanding

Timestamp: 21:45, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zergers Survivors
Description: A survivor can buy a skill (Military) called "Commanding training" If another survivor sets themself to "Be commanded" a survivor with "Commanding" can recruit them for 5ap and "lead" them around. Actions taken by the controlled charachters would drain their ap. The commander would have several orders like "Kill zombies!", which would make all men under his command shoot and hit zombies in the block with all they've got. The commands would be "heal the weakest!", "Kill Survivors!", "Search", "Revive", "Follow Me", "Barricade to V.S.", "Barricade to E.H.", and "Extract DNA". Commanders could also set their men to go "All out" (take action without regard for their supplies and ap) or "conservative" (Save some ap and supplies). Imagine how good this would be!
Left Queue: 22:06, 30 April 2006 (BST)


Rend Clothing

Timestamp: 05:11, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Humans and zombies
Description: A zombie lurches up to the human, and wraps its arms around them. The human struggles, and hits the zombie over the head with his lucky fire axe. The zombies staggers back, it's claws still intertwined in the humans bulletproof vest. With a loud tearing noise, the vest gives way, and the zombie collapses with the survivors vest clutched in it's grimy claws. This skill is for zombies to be able to, for 5 AP, attempt to destroy the Flak Jacket of a survivor who they have entagled with at a 15% chance (+5% for each of the zombies claw skills {rend flesh, death grip}). The attempt, successful or not, makes the zombie lose their grip. This really has no more effect then temporarily annoying the survivor, seeing as the zombies can't deal more then 4 damage.
Left Queue: 10:59, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Flak Jacket Damage (Revised)

Timestamp: 20:11, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Survivors and Zombies
Description: When a player takes damage there is a small chance that the vest will be damaged and rendered useless. While this does affect the inventory of the player the chances of destruction are minimal and contextual in terms of how it is destroyed. The purpose of this suggestion is primary to give a purpose to all of the extra jackets that can be found when hunting for ammo as opposed to merely throwing them away, this would also afect the degree of strategy involved in the game - should you keep that extra vest just in case or toss it for an extra clip of ammo?
  • There is a 2% chance of destruction from a pistol with the flavor text of The shot from the pistol damages the flak jacket and renders it ineffective.
  • There is a 4% chance of destruction from a shotgun with the flavor text of The blast from shotgun destroys the protective lining of the jacket and it is now ineffective.
  • There is a 6% chance fo destruction from a flare gun with the flavor text of The shot from the flare gun breifly ignites the flak jacket and it is now damaged beyond repair.
  • If there is 3 claw damage from a zombie there is a 1% chance of destruction and the flavor text is The zombie's claws rake your flak jacket and it is damaged beyond repair.
  • If there is 4 bite damage from the zombie there is a 2% chance fo destruction and the flavor text is The zombie bite tears a chunck out of your flak jacket, rendering it useless.
  • If the zombie grabs a hold of you using Tangling Grasp then the chance for destruction is doubled (2% for claws, 4% for bites).
Left Queue: 10:59, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Quick Reload - Shotgun

Timestamp: 21:43, 30 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors, Shotgun skills
Description: This skill would be part of Military Skills tree and can only be acquired after Advanced Shotgun Training. With this skill the player would be able to reload both rounds at the same time (cost - 1AP) as opposed to one at a time (cost - 2AP). For most players the skill progression would not allow them to get this skill until they are level 5. However, Privates and Cops they would be able to get this skill at level 4.
  • Balance Consideration - Assuming the average damage for two shells is 13 and the enemy is not wearing a flak jacket then this skill would reduce the number of AP required to kill a 50HP enemy from 14AP to 11AP. Similarly the AP required to kill a 60HP enemy would be reduced from 17AP to 13AP.
  • In game Description - Your skill with the shotgun has progressed to the point that you can reload two rounds in the time it take for most people to reload one
Left Queue: 10:59, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Baked Flesh

Timestamp: 17:52, 30 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies and Humans
Description: Having been swaying in the elements for so long, the zombies have begun to develop an almost leathery texture to their skin. This has caused some of the older zombies to be more resilient to damage.

To purchase this skill, as a zombie, the character must be at least level 10. The effect would be that all blunt force damage from bats, pipes, punches, and shotgun and pistol shots (yes, these are technically classifies as blunt force) are now minus 1. Claw and bite attacks are also at a minus 1. Axes have no change, but flares now cause an additional 1 point of damage, and knives do an additional 2 points of damage. The effects of this skill can be combined with the benefits of a flak jacket, and will transfer to humans should the zombie character be revived.

This suggestion is not inflexible and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Left Queue: 10:59, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Rancid Flesh

Timestamp: 18:30, 30 April 2006 (EST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Under a layer of leathery skin is a layer of rotted and almost liquid layer of flesh. Piercing the skin at close range, with a weapon capable of doing so, causes the attacker to be splattered. Although infectious should it get into the eyes, mouth, or open wounds, this substance is more or less harmless. As a precaution, it is suggested that clothing and items covered by this substance be either discarded, or unused for 48 hrs., as the substance will remain a possible hazard for that amount of time.

The way this works it the player, must first have Baked Flesh, should it be passed, or at least be level 10.

Attacking a player who has this skill causes a 5% chance of infection to the attacker, for the initial attack only, should the attacker be using a knife, axe, lead pipe, shotgun, or revivification syringe.

Furthermore, the item that caused the initial damage and, should the character have a flak jacket on, their “outer most layer�? of clothing. Will now cause a 1% chance of infecting the owner with every action taken by them while the items are still in the their possession for the following 48hrs. of the initial attack.

This suggestion is not inflexible and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Left Queue: 10:59, 20 June 2006 (BST)