Suggestion talk:20080616 Scent Fear Buff

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Scent Fear Buff

Timestamp: SIM Core Map.png Swiers 06:05, 15 June 2008 (BST)
Type: skill improvement
Scope: zombie skill Scent Fear
Description: Scent Fear currently allows zombies to tell whether a survivor is at less than 25 HP- even when that survivor is in an adjacent block. This is shown on the minimap with an asterisk next to the character's name. However, this only works for characters who are outside and this can be "seen" by the zombie (or any survivor in the same location for that matter).

To me, it makes sense that if the ability is based on smell, you should know about wounded survivors you can not see- wounded survivors who are inside buildings. There is a precidence for "x-ray vision" here in that the Scent Death map tells you (at least roughly) how many zombies are in nearby locations, regardless of whether they are inside or outside; if you compare this with what you see, you know what zombies are inside.

In short, I'm proposing that zombies with the Scent Fear skill have access to a "Scent Fear" action that works similarly to the "Scent Death" action. When used (for 1 AP), a small grid-map would be shown to them, with color brightnesses corresponding to how many "wounded" or "dying" (as defined by the Scent Fear skill) survivors were present in corresponding locations. As with the Scent Death map, there would be some "noise" factor, but I'm also thinking the brightness would be higher. The maps size would also be much smaller, for game balance reasons.

Numbers wise, I'm thinking the map would have a 1 block radius (IE, covers the same area as the minimap) and the colors would be various shades of blue, starting with a random value from 0-25 and increasing by 10 for each "wounded" survivor, and by 20 for each "dying" survivor. Obviously these numbers are open to tweaking, but in general I'm thinking of a very small map that would give you a fairly reliable of a "hidden" survivor being present if they were "dying" or if there was more than one "wounded" present who you could not see. (Actually, given the limited and "noisy" information, a larger map probably wouldn't be unbalanced. Maybe a 3 block radius, for a 7x7 map?)

Discussion (Scent Fear Buff)

Me likey. 'Nuff said. --WanYao 06:11, 15 June 2008 (BST)

Me not likey the x-ray vision. More will probably be said :) --Tselita 06:18, 15 June 2008 (BST)

Perhaps he could improve it with a 'wind' function, where you can only smell people 1 block away if the wind's coming from that direction, and only if they're outside at the time? It could be a constant thing too, so if an injured person moves outside at any time, zombies 'down-wind' of them by a pre-set amount of blocks will get a whiff of the survivor. --Blake Firedancer T E RNL? P.I.S.I.T. 10:05, 15 June 2008 (BST)
Hmmm. I'd make it slightly less useful, say there has to be 2 injured or one dying person inside for it to work.To reflect the fact your having to smell through objects.--RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 10:18, 15 June 2008 (BST)
The numbers I selected already make that more or less the case. Take a random number from 0-25 and (if there's just one wounded present) add 10 to it, or (if there's nobody to smell) add nothing. How would you tell if 10 had been added or not? Well, if the value is over 25, you'd know. But 60% of the time, there would be no way to be sure. SIM Core Map.png Swiers 18:40, 15 June 2008 (BST)
I think i get it. Any chance of an example image? --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 19:30, 15 June 2008 (BST)
It would be annoying to produce one by hand, but probably worth it for an actual voting suggestion. Do you just want an example of what it would look like or do you also want an explanation fo exactly what "test info" went into producing that example image? The later would likely clutter the suggestion up a lot, but I suppose I could put it on the suggestion's talk page. SIM Core Map.png Swiers 19:57, 15 June 2008 (BST)
Don't know what to say about the X-ray vision, Tselita. As I said in the suggestion text, Scent Death already is X-ray vision of the exact same type that spots zombies and dead bodies. Se the above comment on the numbers for how the x-ray effect is likely to fail in many cases, as well. SIM Core Map.png Swiers 18:41, 15 June 2008 (BST)

Workable, recently revived people could still hide in ruined buildings if need be (unless they had an infection). - User:Whitehouse 13:50, 15 June 2008 (BST)

Revived people with body building actually get a decent buffer before they even show up as wounded. And yeah- and 1 FAK would fix that, both removing the infection and taking them out of the smelly range. Which is actually an intended effect- this creates a real incentive for survivors to FAK wounded / dying people- or to move away from them / kill them if they are less charitable. SIM Core Map.png Swiers 18:40, 15 June 2008 (BST)

I misread this as "Scent Bear Fuff". Hell jes. --Karloth Vois DR News 23:28, 15 June 2008 (BST)

I don't like the x-ray vision. I'd support this being in effect within darkened buildings, in the square, and inside if the zombie is inside, and outside if the zombie was outside. --F4tal3rror 05:01, 16 June 2008 (BST)


Continuing Discussion

Sample Image

Image:Urban Dead Scent Fear Buff suggest image.png shows what I'm talking about. I changed the color values to gray instead of blue, as pure blue is VERY hard to see at low levels. Mind you, the value levels in the image were generated by pitching dice in a way that gave what seemed like about the same range you might expect from my suggestion, but they have no bearing on actual information. Still, the "noise" level should be about the same. SIM Core Map.png Swiers 02:56, 16 June 2008 (BST)