Suggestion:20071204 Screeching Wail

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	This suggestion has finished voting and has been moved to Peer Reviewed.

20071204 Screeching Wail

The Grimch ^{U! E! WAT!} 06:27, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Suggestion type
Skill
Suggestion scope
Feral Zombies mostly.
Suggestion description
Subskill of feeding groan. A Zombie, after making a successful attack on a set of barricades (A collapse) can let loose a wail for 1ap. This wail can be heard outside for 6 blocks in any direction. Wails exist for a period of 5 minutes, after which they are deleted from the database.

The purpose of this skill is to attract other active zombies to yourself and coordinate with them in game to demolish some barricades and obtain food. Such a skill would also result in a deemphasis on metagaming for zombies to be effective at all as well as their only means for coordination. The message deletion after five minutes ensures only actives/soon to be actives can hear it, and completely nukes its spam/annoyance power. The nature of this skill assists uncoordinated zombies, as opposed to coordinated ones, who are usually already together and hitting the same cades, and usually in the same IRC channel. It doesnt make them more powerful, just more coordinated, letting the ferals feed.

Voting Section

Voting Rules

Votes must be numbered, justified, signed, and timestamped. # justification ~~~~ Votes that do not conform to the above may be struck by any user.

The only valid votes are Keep, Kill, Spam or Dupe. If you wish to abstain from voting, do not vote.

Keep Votes

1. Keep I like it.--Barroom Hero 06:42, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
2. Keep - Sounds good to me. --Druuuuu ^Ocular 07:33, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
3. Keep - Still think it should be called something other than screeching wail though..--Seventythree^Talk 07:51, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   Keep/Change - The time could be a bit longer, like 15 minutes maybe? --Midianian|T|T:S|C:RCS| 07:57, 4 December 2007 (UTC) Vote changed. --Midianian|T|T:S|C:RCS| 16:43, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

4. Keep - Since it's only for a very short time, this gets my vote. --_Ducis ^Dux_Sloth^Talk 08:03, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
5. Keep - Good enough.--Karek^maps?! 09:08, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   Keep - Much more fun fighting coordinated ferals then when there spread out.Pvt human - no timestamp. --Funt Solo ^QT 17:37, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

6. Keep - you mean this isn't already in the game? --Funt Solo ^QT 11:33, 4 December 2007 (UTC) Edit/Change/Grim - the radius is too large - it should be 4 blocks max, so it almost covers a suburb, and, as others, increase the time it's heard to 10 minutes (compromise). That said, the idea is sound and we're just arguing over the fine details, which I always think is daft when you actually like an idea and think it's workable in principle. --Funt Solo ^QT 17:41, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
7. GRIM - Nerfs cades. And shoes. --Karloth Vois ^RR 12:03, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
8. Keep/change As midianian.Studoku 12:21, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   keep - would prefer it to last a bit longer... (think i suggested until the next AP tick on the talk page) but the idea is good. Unsigned struck --The Grimch ^{U! E! WAT!} 16:31, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

9. keep - sounds all good to me--Zach016 12:38, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
10. keep - sounds good--Corndoghero^T-S-Z 13:15, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
11. Keep/Change - As Midianian. 5 minutes is too short a period even in densely populated areas (populated by zombies, that is). -- John Rubin^{T! ZG} 13:59, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
12. Keep - Just fine the way it is, and it's a "good'er" --Ryiis 14:43, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
13. Keep/change - Should last longer, but it's a good idea. --The Hierophant 15:07, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
14. Keep - a nice boost to zombies --Pavluk ^{A! E!} 15:14, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
15. Keep maybe make it 15 Minutes but otherwise a very cool idea. The Feral inside me likes! CharonX 15:18, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
16. Keep - 15 minutes would be alot better but otherwise, great! --Blobdude^{Talk TM MC} 15:54, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
17. Keep (but tweak) would prefer it to last a bit longer... (think i suggested until the next AP tick on the talk page) but the idea is good. Only real problem is the range! Halving it would make this a much better idea. --Honestmistake 16:29, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
18. Keep - *Serious vote* --  AHLGTG THE END IS NIGH! 19:22, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
19. Keep - You know it makes sense. Acoustic Pie 19:45, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
20. Keep - As above. --Pestilent Bob 22:32, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
21. Keep - -- dǝǝɥs oʇ ɯɐds: sʎɐʍ1ɐ! 23:09, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
22. You heard a horrible wailing sound coming from this suggestion. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 23:31, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
23. Keep - --the wallaby^♥ 00:22, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
24. Keep- I want more zombie skills! --Darth Lumis^{T! A! E! SR} 00:45, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
25. Keep - Great skill, but it needs a new name. Screeching wail makes me think more of damsels in distress than of bloodthirsty zombies.--TriPolar 00:59, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
26. Keep - I like it, it definitely would help. -- SgtBop 01:05, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
27. Keep- Because I like it, and Grim rules.-- BKM 17:14, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
28. Keep - Nice balanced, and effective--Anti Gorefest5^TMW!B! 02:22, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
29. Keep ARGHHHH Grim being logical my brain can't take it. Omega 04:52, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
30. Keep help newbies, help the game --People's Commissar Hagnat ^{[cloned] [mod]} 10:34, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
31. Keep - change the name though. --Pavluk ^{A! E!} 14:37, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
32. keep This works good... ~A`Blue`Jelly^TME*V*I*L*_? 05:48, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
33. Keep - Ferals have it rough, yeah? --Howard Bentley 21:47, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
34. Keep - If anything, I'd give it a LONGER time window. Maybe 15 min, or even 30 (since 30 minute increments are already an integral part of the game). However, if 5 minutes is the most others will accept, then so be it. --Steakfish 03:52, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
35. Keep - It would make being a feral more fun. On the other hand, it would also would make ferals hugely more powerful - when they break-in, they'll drain a lot more (say 3 times more) survivor AP than when they didn't get past the barricades. As over 85% of UD's players aren't in any group on the stats page, this could be a very big buff. --Toejam 01:15, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
36. Keep - I love it Bobs Aturd 02:06, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Kill Votes

1. Overpowered This would let zombies communicate much more effectively than survivors! This is like radio that only provides useful information, doesn't require power or a transmitter, and informs everyone in half the suburb. Still, it's not a bad idea. It might be balanced if it carried over a much shorter distance. Perhaps one square area, that would give you every zombie outdoors in 9 city blocks! Not bad at all. Much more balanced than 144! Of course then it would be an outright Dupe of Pounding Hands (Cade Breaks Heard) --Jon Pyre 15:59, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   If letting feral zombies do more than beat on the cades of your impregnable fortresses in utter futility before throwing up their hands and quitting the game in utter frustration is overpowered, then overpower me up. Of course this will lead to more breakins by zombies. Of course this will lead to more human fatalities, of course this will make the game more dangerous. These will be uncoordinated and random though, unlike a horde which obliterates entire suburbs in a nice neat line, which negates much of the OMG! OVERPOWERED! argument. Is it really a bad thing for the city to be a little more dangerous? The purpose of the skill is to snag active zombies. Given the very small duration for a wail, even though it does reach a large number of blocks, it only affects actives within those blocks at the time, thus negating your complaint about the overpoweredness of the area. Most of the time you would probably get no one, or maybe one or two others. This isnt so much a "buff" as it is a change the game needs to survive, because the only things of any entertainment value are the hordes, and they cant be everywhere. Seriously though, i think you are just sore because i killvote almost everything you do as poorly thought out. --The Grimch ^{U! E! WAT!} 16:17, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   Re Actually you usually vote spam. I gave you the courtesy of giving you a kill vote rather than the Dupe vote you surely would have given me if our situations were reversed, mainly because I don't view Spam as a strong kill or Dupes as something to be thrown around whenever there's any aspect in common, which this certainly has on some level with Pounding Hands (Cade Breaks Heard). I'm sure if I voted Dupe I would get at least two more supporters and then I could delete this suggestion and laugh my head off like a jerk as petty revenge for your Dupe on Wave Hello, but I'm not going to since I think that would be unfair. I hope you'll treat me similarly in the future. I'm not biased against your suggestion, I hold Midianian's view that it simply covers too freaking huge an area. A lot of zombies will be active across 169 blocks over the course of 15 minutes, too many to fairly pile on any single building. --Jon Pyre 17:52, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   Discussion moved to the talkpage. --Midianian|T|T:S|C:RCS| 19:54, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

2. Kill - Now that I read more carefully, the distance is fucking humongous! You do realize that if it's 6 blocks in any direction, it covers a 13x13 area, which is more than one whole suburb?! That's 169 blocks total and that's way too much. --Midianian|T|T:S|C:RCS| 16:43, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   As i said, the range is offset by the time. Looking at the stats, there have been 2237 characters active in the last hour. thats about 22 per suburb. using the split this would be about 9 zombies within range, and remember, thats using the whole hour, which is 12 times longer than the range of this suggestion. You would get one or two helper zombies usually, maybe less. Maybe more if there is a very high local population. The range is needed to ensure it isnt useless. --The Grimch ^{U! E! WAT!} 18:35, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   I'd rather take a longer duration and a shorter range. Zombies would be more likely to join the "gangbang" if they didn't have to make a six block trek (that's over half a suburb) to the building. Dropping the range to 4 blocks would approximately halve the number of blocks reached. This could be compensated by doubling or tripling the time. This would keep the average number of zombies reached pretty much the same, but they would be more likely to join and would have more AP (though not much) when they did join in. --Midianian|T|T:S|C:RCS| 19:12, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

3. Kill - This idea is great, but please reduce the area, or distance (as Midianian), and clarify some points - like if there are multiple wails at once how it would read on the screen? Also if it is supposed to last for 5 minutes, would you hear each wail after every turn you took for that time period, or only once? once that's cleared up, then i'll vote keep. --Jack13 17:21, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   I answered that on the talk page when you first asked that. Apparently you didnt pay attention. Nothing else does, so there is no reason to assume this does, and it doesnt. What i meant was that after 5 minutes, if someone logs on they wont see the message. you only get it once. Sheesh. --The Grimch ^{U! E! WAT!} 18:37, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

4. Reluctant Kill - It's a neat idea, but it's out of genre - Zombies arn't the loud sort in any of the classics --Pgunn 18:26, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
5. Kill - Excessively powerful and superfluous given the existence of Feeding Groan. -- RichterFury 20:39, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

   A spectacular case of CNR here. Groan only works when inside, and is only of any use after the cades are breached, and thus only of use to ferals chasing hordes or the occasional feral breakin. This would make ferals effective, allowing those online to cooperate to break into a building and consume human flesh, instead of wandering the streets aimlessly, scratching the barricades in vain and occasionally, by luck, stumbling upon a horde from which to vulture meat. Superfluous? Harldy. It makes the feral game playable again for the casual player, rather than the stubborn persistent player who doesnt mind eating almost nothing but cades, and nearly never killing anyone. Also, as i have already shown, given the time limit, it will attract only one or two zombies on average. Overpowered my arse. --The Grimch ^{U! E! WAT!} 21:39, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

6. Change Sounds good, but I dislike the name, perhaps, roar or something, a wail makes you think the zombie is upset, and it should last longer than five minutes --Happy doodle 06:29, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
7. Kill - Underpowered. Yes, underpowered... a 5 min window to hear such a moan is no window at all. --WanYao 07:37, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
8. Change - As above, 5 minutes is way too short. Either it should be audible for 30 minutes, or it should cost 0 AP. - Grant 08:16, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
9. Change - The nature of Urban Dead and the way it is/was usually played makes 5 minutes way too short for the skill to ever be truly effective. (That is, useful to more than one extremely lucky zombie over coming the abapical probability of ever seeing and being to take action in response to the moan.) --SprCobra 16:32, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
10. Kill - As much as my zambah would love this, it's really over-powered. yes, I read the discussion page, and regardless of the short window I still think the distance range is too large... but besides that, Pgunn has a pretty good point, too. I'd be all over it if it were in the reverse - a longer time for the message but a smaller hearing range would make more sense. Sheana/Gogolnik ^{(T HD-T TMZ)} 06:24, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
11. Kill - Zombies tend not to be loud for no reason and this would create a lot of confusion with feeding groans. When barricades go down and there is no one inside, it would attract zombies to nothing. Zombies are attracted to brains, not nothing. Inky 01:56, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Spam/Dupe Votes

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