Some potential problems follow. Maybe people who like the idea in general can suggest solutions: Dogs would probably not have as many skill options as other survivors, and would max out more quickly. Live dogs would probably max out more quickly than zombie dogs (zombie skills are already based on the lack of item use). Yes, zombie dogs would raise questions of why the city isn't overrun with zombie squirrels and pigeons. Then again, cats don't get bird flu.

• Players can only purchase either human or zombie skills above second(or some other defined) level.
• The purchase of a skill above a certain level removes one skill of equal level from the opposite class, if it exists.

This change should be implemented retroactively, based on each character's original class.

This would provide two advantages:

2) The group of mid to high level players would benefit by having more allies there to soak up damage.

It mainly helps the newbs out though. There wouldn't be a way to tell when it causes a new player to spawn near you but it's something for any player who thinks "Around me would be a good place for someone starting off to be".

Chain Link Segments can be found in Junkyards (5%), Factories (2%) and Streets (outside, 2%). They take up 5 inventory spaces, due to their mass. While you have one in your inventory, and you step into (not outside of, into) a Junkyard, you can Assemble the fence for 15 AP. You can only Assemble fences if you own the Construction skill. This, effectively, repairs the hole in the Junkyard's fence, but this fence can be re-cut with wirecutters.

But wait! There's more! If you're in a building with a generator connected, you can Assemble the fence around it for 15 AP. This makes it impossible to attack, unless you cut the fence with wirecutters. There's a downside, though- it can't be refueled with the fence up. Generators inside Malls cannot be fenced, either- Malls are too big and open for a fence segment to have much effect. I know the main concern with GK'ing is inside Malls. I just think it's unfair to have the waiting horde to bust through the mall barricades and be unable to kill the generator, since they're such resource points. There cannot be more than one fence at a location. Fences cannot be put up around Transmitters, since you need to be next to them to operate them. You cannot repair the padlocks on factories with fences.

This will hopefully create a more reliable power supply, since casual passers-by won't take an axe to your generator. In order to kill one, you'll need to carry wirecutters, and really, who carries those?

• Zombie skill, appears as a sub-skill of Digestion. Adds no benefits to your human character.

Your zombie has +5% to hit with bite attacks versus survivors. If you kill a survivor with a bite attack it is possible to earn some bonus XP.

• As an additional bonus (for the risks involved with fighting a lot of survivors, often by yourself): Whenever you kill a survivor with a bite attack.. you gain +1 XP per 10 (rounding down) survivors present at the time of that kill. To a maximum of +5 XP! (This bonus is to reward kamikazee zombie attacks in safehouses where usually at least 1 survivor may be active and often they may kill you before you make your kill.)

Why?:

It's a bite bonus vs survivors only. Basically allows your zombie to go "Berzerk with the bites" if you're low on AP, or likely to be gunned down by survivors shortly after entering. The main reason behind this is it buffs digestion and possibly infectious bite slightly, because you stand a better chance of getting more bites in sooner. Especially if you are going to be on the receiving end of some serious gunfire shortly, that digestion is needed...

The XP bonus, is another small benefit for this skill's usefulness, and zombies doing what they do. Consider it a Fear/Horror bonus +1 XP per 10 survivors you just made see you do a kill on one of their own!

The max, +5 XP on a survivor kill (if done with a bite attack), is not only quite hard to do.. but with at least 50 survivors present.. how fast can you make that kill before getting headshot with those shotguns? (It's also nice that it adds to the list of things bite can do, without taking away from the reliability of the claw attack.)

It's an entirely reasonable skill, and a reasonable XP grant, if you can earn it every now and again. It makes those lengthy seiges all the more satisfying to the zombie player when they break in every now and again...

This might appear to be a huge advantage at first, but if you think about it, it really isn't. A survivor might stand inside for a good ten hours (and 10AP!) before firing a shot at an entering zed. Sure, this is helpful, but consider the same survivor instead stepping outside and unleashing a good six or seven shots with the same 10AP. (a couple AP taken for movement) It offers an alternative to the current slugfest and encourages both suvivors and zombies to work together.

1. "Your hunger for flesh incites you to greater speed."
2. "Despite your hunger, you are unable to force your dead muscles too quickly."

Gameplay notes: this essentially provides a zed with a single free attack on a surivor (by saving it the AP required to move into the square) and a powerful way to follow a fleeing survivor in active combat (as the survivor must use AP to move, but the zed may be able to follow for free if he is fast enough on the draw). The 5 SP limit avoids the possibility that a huge pack could follow a spy to cross the entirety of Malton, and allows for the survivor to still flee in the above situation if he has an AP advantage. It is highly unlikely that a zed would kill more than one survivor during his turn, and most of the time would only receive a single AP bonus.

(optional interaction notes) This skill would complement "Sprint" (above) in that one would be a bonus to survivors and the other a bonus to zeds. Also, this is subtly different to Adrenaline Rush (which I object to as a zed skill, though not as a survivor skill), suggested here: Suggestions/2nd-Nov-2006 It could be implemented as an 'alternative effect' for a zed with Sprint or Adrenaline Rush.

sites ip address)i can log in but if i do anything other than move it says "invalid

referrer" i don't know if you can fix this but if you could that would help those who want to play from school, work etc.

• New Scientist Skill: Undead Anatomy
• Prerequisites: Lab Experience
• Effect: Increases accuracy of an attempted NecroTranq syringe attack by 15%, but only against a zombie.

• New Item: NecroTranq Syringe
• Base accuracy: 15% (maximum accuracy vs. humans)
• Maximum accuracy: 30% (with Undead Anatomy vs. a zombie)
• Capacity: 1-use weapon (an attack attempt damages the fragile syringe beyond use, whether or not it was successful)
• Inventory: 1 space
• Locations: NecroTech Building: 6% (1% taken from DNA Extractor, 2% taken from GPS Unit).
• Effect vs. Human: successful attack does 1HP damage to the target and provides 1XP to the attacker.
• Effect vs. Zombie: successful attack does 1HP damage to the target and provides 5XP to the attacker. Additionally, the zombie is tranquilised (see below).

• Tranquilised:
  • Movement between squares now costs 2AP (this essentially switches off Lurching Gait, and has no effect on a zombie without Lurching Gait).
  • Cure #1: A zombie that carries out a successful Infectious Bite is cured.
  • Cure #2: A zombie that dies (<1HP) is cured.
  • Cure #3: Once the zombie has spent 10AP, doing anything, the tranquiliser wears off.

• Zombie skill, appears as a sub-skill of Ransack. Adds no benefits to your human character.

Your zombie has a limited form of regeneration (healing). You heal 1 Life every 12 hours. This rate of healing is 1 Life every 6 hours at a graveyard, wasteland or ransacked location.

• Your zombie only gets this healing if they are still standing at that location when the healing timer goes off. To simplify this timer is set for regular intervals during the day throughout Malton (just like when you recover AP.) So 2 times a day at regular locations: zombies gain 1 life, and 4 times a day at graveyards, wastelands and ransacked buildings, zombies present gain 1 Life. (Max. 2 Life a day at any other location, and max 4 life a day at the better ones.)
• This healing is weak in the extreme (it doesn't cost you any AP or inventory items, that's why)! But it has to be, survivors have to be able to kill zombies to get XP.. but if survivors don't keep the pressure on zombies.. they'll keep getting up.. and for those who haven't even been gunned down.. heal up all battle damage, eventually.
• This skill allows for a new zombie tactic of being able to hold locations, especially ransacked buildings. But your zombie has to remain standing to do so, so this skill is offset by survivors who get out there and drop the Z's! So zombies with this skill can just stand there and you can focus on your other chacters for a couples days, checking in on this zombie periodically to see if they got taken down... Zombies are patient, dead things, this is something they can do, forever if they have to.
• This skill is a reflection of "Time being on their side" survivors who don't make efforts to control the standing zombie population, and take back ransacked buildings will find that now even the zombies can be hard to cleanse from a suburb once they've gotten a foothold! Even survivors turned zombie may desire this skill, so when they're stuck at a revive point hopefully they won't get headshot every single day they check in on them.. so they will get that damn revive, eventually.

Why?: Survivors have so many options available to them when it comes to tactics: barricades, free running, searching, generators.. grouping up, etc. Zombies don't really have much in the way of taking and holding territory except ransack (which is effective, until cleaned up) this skill is meant to work in tandem with that (subskill of ransack, so it takes a while to earn it!) Zombies just standing there, holding a building, forces survivors to have to put a little more effort into removing those zombies, so they can dump the body and clean up their suburb.

It allows the zombies greater latitude to "punish" survivors for failing to keep a suburb, or work together. Zombies don't need/give a crap about their Life totals, but survivors will! As a survivor you will not like to almost kill a zombie one day, free run back to your safehouse, go back the next day and find out that same zombie has healed back a bit of Life.. you'll like it even less if several zombies are also healing. But miltiply it by a thousand or a million.. those zombies are only healing 2 or 4 Life per day (each, if they have this skill).. hence the very very low healing rate to prevent that being a problem.

It means you're going to have to use up a bit more ammunition the more time you waste not dealing with zombie hordes in your area. Headshots are still good, shotguns are still good.. hiding from zombies forever hoping they just go away, not good.

This suggestion was previously modified, and in accordence with the rules, has been re-submitted with the changes.

The idea is that, much like Malls and Power Stations, the Zombies need a place to hide out away from the human assaults, the same way the humans hide from zombies. Everyone knows that the main goal of the humans is to hide out in barricaded buildings and avoid the zombie hoards that lurk on the city streets. But when one of those humans happens to get themselves killed because they're new to the game, or even if they become PK'd by another human, it's tough to adjust to the life of being a zombie.

I propose that the empty, and otherwise useless blocks of land (streets and alleys) become spotted with entrances to Sewers that zombies can use to hide out away from humans.

WHAT IT DOES:

• Gives new zombies a place to build up in numbers and hide out from humans.
• Sewers can be entered by humans, however the amount of waste and corpses would automatically infect the human (infectious bite, except, no bite). In addition, the cost of movement to humans in a sewer would be 2 AP per block. This is a way to deter, but not prevent, human access to sewers, as a way to protect new zombies from being killed and constantly having to spend 10 AP to stand.
• Should the Ruins of the Damned suggestion be considered and/or implimented, the Sewers could also be a place for the added regeneration.

WHAT IT DOESN'T DO:

• Zombies would NOT be able to drag humans into the sewers, but should a human be IN a sewer, zombies would be allowed to drag the humans out onto the streets, with the Feeding Drag skill.

Open to any and all suggestions for improvement.

"Memo to NecroTech staff: The subjects are developing a resistance to our current antigens - syringe barrels must now be fully emptied to guarantee successful revivification, even if this takes longer and puts support staff at risk."

Today I saw a PKer waste five survivors in one day then leave on the line, which I'll paraphrase "that's five of you f**got asses, or was it six? see you all again soon!" It occured to me that since PKing has a pretty low AP cost compared to the high cost of a zombie killing someone that death by PK might not deserve the same 10AP revive cost.

Here's what I suggest. Reviving someone who was killed by a survivor would now only cost 1AP, as previously. There'd be no way to check in advance which zombies were killed which way, just after pressing the revive button you'd get a message:

"On close inspection you noticed the subject was killed by a human and was not infected with the newest most resistant strain of the virus. The procedure was easier than expected."

All other revives would stay 10AP. This is balanced. Cheaper kill cost results in a cheaper revive cost. It falls in line with the current UD policy of allowing PKing but making it less effective (half xp for attacks). Dying would still be bad, you'd stil become a zombie and need to wait for someone to spend a syringe. But it'd remove the penalty intended to make things fair for people playing zombies.

• New Scientist Skill: Undead Anatomy
• Prerequisites: Lab Experience
• Effect: Increases accuracy of an attempted NecroTranq syringe attack by 15%.

• New Item: NecroTranq Syringe
• Base accuracy: 15%
• Maximum accuracy: 30% (with Undead Anatomy vs. a zombie)
• Capacity: 1-use weapon (an attack attempt damages the fragile syringe beyond use, whether or not it was successful)
• Inventory: 1 space
• Locations: NecroTech Building: 6% (1% taken from DNA Extractor, 2% taken from GPS Unit).
• Effect vs. Human: none. You waste 1AP but the syringe is left intact. A message tells you that "the syringe has no effect against humans".
• Effect vs. Zombie: successful attack does 0HP damage to the target and provides 4XP to the attacker. Additionally, the zombie is tranquilised (see below).

• Tranquilised:
  • Whilst tranquilised, the zombie is at -5% on all attacks.
  • Cure #1: A zombie that carries out a successful Digestive Bite is cured.
  • Cure #2: A zombie that dies (<1HP) is cured.
  • Cure #3: Once the zombie has spent 10AP, doing anything, the tranquiliser wears off.

• Note: - The negative effects of being tranquilised don't stack. A DNA scan could show that the zombie is tranqed - otherwise, sticking a tranqed zombie just wastes a syringe.

User interface description: [GUARD] barricade for [TIME] hours with [ATTACK]

• [Guard] is the action button
• [TIME] is a drop down selector with values of 1 hour to 4 hours, in .5 hour increments. Default value is 1 hour. Selection depends upon available AP.
• [ATTACK] is an attack drop down selector, using the normal attack convention.

Prerequisite conditions: The following conditions must be met in order to guard the barricade:

• The player must be in a building
• The building must be barricaded to at least Very Strongly
• The player must have at least 2 AP
• The player must not be infected (infected survivors cannot concentrate on guarding)

Game Mechanics: When the player clicks the [GUARD] button, he expends 1AP per half-hour that he will guard the barricade of his building, with a minimum of 2AP spent to guard for 1 hour. A value will be stored indicating the end time of guard duty, i.e. GUARD_TIME = CURRENT_TIME + GUARD_HOURS, at which time the survivor will return to resting. A value will be stored indicating the selected attack mode. Guards with zero remaining AP and guard time remaining see "You settle in to guard the barricades" rather than "Exhausted, you can go no further."

• If a zombie enters the building from outside (not from inside other parts of a large building, not if it stands up inside the building), the guarding survivors will attempt their selected attacks (as normal) in order of least guard time remaining, i.e. sorted from lowest to highest by the value GUARD_TIME - CURRENT_TIME. If the zombie dies as a result of the attacks, its body drops inside the building.
• The survivors that attempted attacks drop out of guard mode. Thus, each guarding survivor gets one attack per guard duty, whether it is successful or not. The AP cost of that attack is included in the AP cost of the guard mode. The attack will appear in the player's "Since your last turn" list.
• While guarding, the survivor has a bold warning that indicates, "You are guarding the barricades." Any AP spent on any action, aside from talking, cancels guard mode.
• Guarding survivors also appear in a different list of names to other survivors. "Names are guarding the barricades." or "Number survivors are guarding the barricades. [List names]". "Barricades" is replaced with "doors" if the barricades have been torn down below "Lightly barricaded".
• Zombies can't tell the difference between resting harmans and guarding harmans. They do see the list of attacks made against them.
• Guard mode cannot be used to attack other survivors.

Expected gameplay effects:

• Survivors that congregate in strongholds will spend their last few AP of each day to guard barricades.
• Survivors not in large groups will not guard barricades, as one attack per survivor is not much good against even one zombie. Groups would need at about 14 guards with loaded shotguns and Advanced Shotgun Training to be reasonably assured of stopping one invading unarmored 50-HP zombie, or 42 guards with axes and Axe proficiency.
• Survivors expecting attack will use the 1 hour guard period to cover the expected assault. This gives them one attack of opportunity at the cost of 2 AP. Headshotters will particularly like this option.
• Very coordinated survivor groups may establish guard duty guidelines (i.e. Graffiti "If you intend to sleep here, put in two hours guard duty."), perhaps even guard duty rotations.
• Survivors with remaining guard duty time will not use AP on other tasks, thus cancelling guard mode, unless they are vital, i.e. attacking zombies coming from other parts of large buildings.
• Zombies will be somewhat deterred from making an assault on heavily populated strongholds since the first, perhaps second through the door will certainly get iced, perhaps by a head-shotter.
• Very large coordinated zombie attacks will absorb the losses and press on if they can get many zombies through the door. They may elect to send in cannon fodder zombies first to absorb the guards' attacks.
• Server load will be reduced because the mass of survivor players monitoring a siege will refresh less often, trusting to their guard mode to get at least one shot off on attacking zombies.
• This action will encourage group activity among both survivors and zombies.

This skill can be purchased by anyone (survivor or zombie) that is level 20 or above at 100 XP. What this does is put an option on the player's profile page called "XP speech". When not selected, this option does nothing. But when it is selected, talking no longer costs any AP. Instead, the player will spend 10 XP each time they talk. If the player doesn't have enough XP to talk, the ability automatically turns off and must be turned on again after the player has accumulated enough XP.

This will encourage communication between players by removing the problem of taking away from the amount of actions a person can make that day. At the same time, it minimizes spam talking by putting a fairly high cost on said speaking (talk 10 times and you've just wasted 100 XP). And since this ability can be turned on and off at will, players who don't want to use it can just leave it off or not get the skill.

Decreases the chance to be hit when attacked up to 5% (from 3% in the Festering Boils skill) because of the distracting presence of the smell, and causes the Scent Death skill to pick you up from 3 blocks away as opposed to the normal 2. Festering Boils is a prerequisite skill for Stench of Decay, and does not work when you are a survivor.

Festering Boils

Decreases the chance to be hit by 3% as survivors are distracted by the smell and appearance. Festering Boils has no prerequisites, and does not work when you are a survivor.

Open Sores

Decreases the chance to be hit by 3% as survivors are distracted by the smell and appearance. Festering Boils is a prerequisite skill for Open Sores, as well as the skill being unavailable until the zombie reaches level 10 (like Headshot in Zombie Hunter). Open Sores does not work when you are a survivor.

(Rewritten to fulfil the one-suggestion-a-day rule, and to tie the category of skills together)

Note: I think people are misunderstanding the stats. The first skill gives a 3% reduction. The second one doesn't reach 8%; it only increases the 3% to 5% (+2%).

Explanation of buttons and AP Cost and stuff:

In powered NT buildings people with the item would have a button "Program Chip". Clicking on it would bring up a text field a lot like the one for cell phones. You could save a brief message. Then you'd press a button marked "Inject" and it'd be saved under your skin. The total AP cost would be 2. It'd have no effect while alive but once killed the chip would activate.

This would allow anyone with Necronet Access inside powered NT buildings to find you after pressing another button "Track Personnel" (1AP). Everyone chipped within a 4 square radius would show up on the scan. It'd be a list of names arranged from earliest killed to latest with a profile link, their current location, time of death, and the message. It'd look like this:

Darkman: Deceased 3 days 2 hours 45 minutes (3 west 1 north)

Please help! I'm an active medic and need to get back into action

Redplex: Deceased 2 days 14 hours 37 minutes (1 east 1 north)

Damn it! They got me! Check up on St. Pious, they must have broken in!

HeadmasterQ: Deceased 2 days 10 hours 3 minutes (right outside)

I have brain rot. I'll be waiting outside the Necrotech for a chance to slip in and get brought back

etc...

The process of being revived would damage the chip and require you to find a new one for the next time you die. And when a zombie if you change your mind about being tracked there'd be a new option to attack: "Tracking Chip". This would have a 100% chance of tearing the chip out of your body.

This doesn't buff humans since it doesn't decrease the cost of reviving someone, but it does let you see who's been waiting longest. Better someone who's been waiting a few days get a revive than someone who just died. This doesn't hurt zombies since it doesn't increase the overall amount of revives, just averages out the amount of time any individual person has to wait.

• Clarification: You'd have to be standing to show up on the scan.

The gist of it is this, and I'll get to mechanics later: Zombies would have a single player declared "Horde Leader" and survivors would have a single person declared "Malton Commander".

First, the mechanics of picking. Every two(?) days, the server would check if there is a Malton Commander and a Horde Leader/Malton Commander. If there is NOT, it would pick one currently standing Zombie/Survivor with all the zombie/survivor skills (including Brain Rot for zombies. Note, you only need zombie skills for Leader and you only need survivor skills for Commander, not both) and send them a prompt, to be seen upon login: "Do you want to be Horde Leader/Malton Commander?" To prevent abuse, you would be unable to do anything until you pick either Yes or No. If Yes, you become Leader/Commander, with all its benefits and disadvantages. If No, the server picks another random zombie/survivor that meets the requirements. You lose this special status upon being killed.

Now, the mechanics of Horde Leader. If you picked Yes, you would become Horde Leader. This would change your title on the map from "You see X zombies here" to "You see X zombies here, including the massive Horde Leader!" Additionally, your position would be marked with a bright red asterisk. In return, you would get 200 HP max (and given upon becoming Leader, so you have full health), and an attack and barricade buff. Claw attacks would have 5 damage and 75% accuracy (better than a pistol!) and bites would have 7 damage 55% accuracy. Because of the high damage, they would be affected by flak jackets, but it's still 4 damage and 6 damage! NOTE: There is only one Horde Leader. This would not be a universal buff. There is only one, and the survivors get something too. In addition, you would get a survivor damage negation that stacks with a flak jacket, of a 20% decrease in damage over 5. It's like having another flak on, on top of your current one (if you have one).

Now for Malton Commander. After clicking Yes on the prompt, your inventory is emptied and stored in the server. (So you don't actually lose anything, it's just stored.) You are then given:

• An M1A1 Assault Rifle with 6 damage per shot, 75% accuracy and 14 bullets in a clip (unbuffed by skills).
• 3 extra clips
• SWAT-grade ceramic body armor with 40% damage negation to attacks above 5 (just like the Horde Leader, if he had a flak)
• A special radio that allows you to broadcast from anywhere, if it's powered or not, or even outside.
• A specially designed combat helmet that prevents you from being killed by pk'ers. You can be really, really hurt, but if you go below 0 you can stand back up as a survivor AND as Malton Commander. Sorry, PK'ers, no farming the Commander in hopes of becoming it.
• Emergency Medical Supplies, 6 count, that heal 15 HP anywhere (unbuffed by skills).
• A DNA extractor
• A GPS
• Two MK4 NT syringes, designed to only take 5 AP

You still only have 60 HP (you need all the survivor skills), but you are a survivor and survivors naturally last longer per life. You can search for more materials in a Fort. No one but the Commander can get these supplies there. He has a 100% chance of finding *something*, but it may be something he didn't need (like a GPS.) He can find all other things (pistols, shotguns, FAKs etc) in their normal places at normal rates.

Remember, there are only ONE OF EACH out at a time. If they die, a new one is picked in TWO DAYS. They still have the normal AP cap of 50, and the same AP generation rate. It would just add that 'epic' feel if there were some truly great threats out there, for both sides.

Your zombie is one of many who can't keep their hands out of the windows, constantly trying to grab at survivors within. Every now and again you get to take a swing at a survivor entering this building using free running.

Whoa, WTF?!?! Okay, the game mechanics are actually pretty simple.. stick with me on this.

• Each time a survivor moves from one building to another using free running at there is at least 1 zombie outside that building with this skill:, the computer will select at random, only 1 zombie with this skill outside that building to see if they get to make an attack. (Multiply times a thousand or a million, is not a problem, only 1 zombie at that location ever gets to take that swipe at your survivor.. but the more you move each square has it's risks.)
• The base chance is 1% that this chosen zombie may get to take a swing at the survivor (it's pretty rare.)
• This chance goes up by +1% per 100 zombies (rounding down) in total at this location.. to a maximum of +4%, for a maximum total of a 5% chance to make an attack! (That's for 400 or more zombies outside of this location.. just to get the max chance to attack.)
• So your zombie finally gets to take a swipe! Well it isn't a free action... whether you're online or not it will cost 1 AP to make this 1, single claw attack on this survivor (normal chances, normal damage), if you hit you hit, you miss, you miss. You can still gain XP, and kill a survivor as per any "normal" combat situation. Your zombie doesn't have a choice, if you buy this skill, you will use 1 AP every now and again taking a swing at the occasional survivor trying to enter this building.
• If your survivor is killed, they still die on the square they just entered (movement was not prevented.. just proved fatal!)

Exceptions:

• Moving around inside of a large building is not free running, therefore zombies with this skill do not get to attack you with it (unless you just entered that building using free running.)
• Moving from outside of a building into a building or vice versa, is not free running so there is no grasping hands involved.

This attack is a reflection of a survivor getting caught by suprise at a vulnerable moment in transit from building A to building B. Maybe you got your back slashed open as you climbed into the window.. maybe you jumped onto the other building, but the horde of zombies reaching up from below caused you to screw up and twist your ankle as you landed (or one grabbed your leg while you went down the fire escape to the window).. either way this skill means your zombie is very hands on and distracting, and tends to get their "cheap hits" in on survivors every once in a blue moon even while offline.

This skill does require Tangling Grasp as a pre-requisite, so you will have to be a fairly experienced zombie just to purchase it, as well as having maxed out claw skills would help.

Nerfs Free running? No it doesn't, it makes free running involve risk. You move from one building to another and it only costs you 1 AP.. pretty sweet. But, now you will be aware there is a chance however small you may get the occasional claw swipe taken out of you, so going long distances using free running will be risky. Usually not fatal, but you may have to use an FAK here and there just to keep from dying. Your movement is not prevented, nor does it cost more AP, etc. or any of that hassle.. it just involves risk. Especially entering buildings using free running if there are a LOT of zombies outside. Then again, 1 out of every 20 survivors entering that building getting attacked.. not bad odds.

As a subskill of Feeding Groan, Attacking Scream would allow zombies to let off a Feeding Groan as they fight a survivor. Whenever a zombie with this skill gets three successive attack hits (claw, bite or blunt weapon) on a survivor, they groan on the third hit at no extra AP cost, allowing them to save groaning AP on fighting. For a fully maxed zombie using claws, this is one hit at 50% (and grabbing hold with Tangling Grasp), and another two at 60%, overall a chance of 18% to get the three attacks and use the skill. If an attack misses, the counter starts over again. Given that attacks can miss without loosing grip, this gives the maximum chance for a maxed zombie to groan as 21%.

The classic church doorframe is generally quite high, sometimes even more than one story tall. It's hard to imagine the furniture pushed against the door actually stacking high enough to block the entire thing without collapsing. This could leave a small gap at the top of these barricades that a survivor could climb through. Zombies aren't quite as agile or intelligent and instead just try to bash their way in.

I suggest making it so churches and cathedrals can be entered no matter what their barricade level is. This would make them a natural haven for newbies in neighborhoods that might otherwise be blocked off to them. It also balances out the fact they have no doors. This way newbie zombies without Memories of Life and newbie survivors without Free Running would both benefit from the peculiarities of church entrances.

• The skill would allow a zombie to ATTEMPT to revive themselves, provided that they had one or more syringes in their inventory at the time of death.
• I propose that the cost of this skill would be 20AP, double the current AP cost for a survivor attempting a revive. This is in fitting with basic cost of movement for a zombie prior to buying lurching gait.
• A success rate of 33% (I'm open to suggestions on that) would provide a worthwhile chance of success, without making it too easy for players to self-revive.
• An unsuccessful attempt would still cost 20AP and remove the syringe from the inventory.

I can see two major complaints against my idea, and I will address both:

1) Game Balance. I've considered this, hence why the proposed skill doesn't have guaranteed success, in the same way that an attack is not guaranteed, or reading a book isn't certain to give you experience. In terms of being unfair to the zombie population in UD, think about who this skill would actually be used by. It has no effect on those who wish to play as zombies, and it would reduce the number of zombies congregating at revive points or just being Mrh? cows. These people do not otherwise contribute to the game whilst undead.

2) Syringe hoarding. Yes, some players would inevitably do this, but if that's how they want to spend their time as survivors, then let them waste huge amounts of AP searching for or manufacturing syringes. The huge expense of attempting a self-revive would also prevent repeated attempts in any given day. Also, having many syringes hoarded would not guarantee a self revive if luck happened to be against you...

Thanks for your patience in reading :)

Recovery would be a subskill of Bodybuilding that causes the living to naturally heal...to a point. Obviously any serious wound like a bite or gunshot is going to need stitches from a first-aid kit but even serious wounds can get a little better on their own. A bite or claw mark can scab over even if it isn't cleaned out and dressed. A bullet wound can close even if the bullet isn't removed. Recovery can't heal you fully, just up to 1/2 of your maximum health (which would be 30hp).

Recovering is a slow but steady process, causing you to regain 1hp per half hour. Certain locations are more conducive to resting, containing many chairs, beds, or benches. In non-ransacked Hospitals, Churches, Cathedrals, Stadiums, Arms, and Bars (to the Winchester!) you'd regain an additional 1 health on the hour (meaning you'd recover 3hp an hour instead of two).

Infection would greatly impair your body's healing process and cause you to only regain an hp on the half hour in non-restful building, but nothing on the hour (meaning you'd recover 1hp an hour). In the above mentioned restful buildings you'd get the 1 extra point on the hour (meaning you'd get 2hp again). Depending on your location and whether you are infected or not Recovery can give you either 1, 2, or 3hp per hour. Note that Recovery DOES NOT cure infection.

It isn't overpowerful, healing at most one claw attack's worth per hour up to 30hp. But it can add up. And even a tiny handful of health can mean the difference between life or death.

1) I say, one finds it almost impossible to procure liquid fuel when exploring the insides of an electricity generator house! One finds it highly improbable that when deliberately scouring the halls for the very lifeblood of such complex and powerful machinery one should be dumbfounded like so! [The search rate for finding Fuel Cans in Power Stations should be increased to approximately 4-5% (consider all of forklifts, cranes, trains and other vehicles there are at power stations); the search rate for finding Fuel Cans in Factories and Warehouses should be increased to 3.5-4%]

2) This new age of incredibly modern technology is truly amazing, one believes! Hooks suspended above the ground to aerially relocate objects; lifting vehicles utilising fork-like contraptions; one understands fully the benefits reaped by transportation (indeed, one finds it very agreeable that the lower class labourers be transported to one's mills as fast as possible! Ahawhawhawhaw!)! Yet, and one stresses that such a situation is absolutely out of the ordinary, such devices cannot be found when searching inside our water-mills! My esteemed companions, this is shocking! [Forklifts should be able to be used in Power Stations, Factories and Warehouses; Forklifts require both a powered Generator and a Fuel Can themselves (Fuel Cans would have drop-down menus for Generators and Forklifts) to be Operated successfully; Survivors attempting to Operate a Forklift must have the Engineering skill; Fuel Cans in Forklifts last for approximately 1 week; 3AP would be required to Operate a Forklift (with the option 'Operate Forklift (3AP)'; when Operating a Forklift, a Survivor can Barricade more efficiently and so when Operating a Forklift there is no chance of failure to Barricade in the higher levels (from 8 up to 22, after which point the building cannot be Barricaded); a Survivor stops Operating a Forklift if they perform any action other than Barricading; multiple players can Operate Forklifts at the same time; Forklifts can never be destroyed, but can be attacked in the same manner as Generators and Radio Transmitters with similar hit percentages; when 'destroyed' a Forklift instead loses its Fuel Can; Forklifts cannot be used if there is a zombie present in that block of a Power Station or in the Factory or Warehouse]

3) One is thrilled by the prospects new technology brings, although one is often shocked by the limited extent to which one can observe the effects of new technology at a considerably distance! One believes that this situation could be remedied by allowing the overseers of these mills and electricity generator houses to use such new-fangled technology to obsrve whether or not the other buildings in the area have been blessed by electricity (these blessed buildings strictly being the humble abodes of oneself and one's companions, of course! Ahawhawhawhaw!)! [Monitering Substations should be able to be used in Power Stations; Monitering Substations would require a powered Generator; Survivors attemtping to use a Monitering Substation must have the Engineering Skill; 1AP would be required to use a Monitering Substation (with the option 'Use Monitering Substation'; when a Monitering Substation is used, a small map, similar to a NecroNet map, appears; all buildings within 10 blocks of the block of the Power Station the Survivor is in will show up as either yellow or grey squares; yellow squares represent powered buildings; grey squares represent non-powered buildings; empty blocks would be represented by black squares]

[Engineering - a subskill of Construction that allows the use of Forklifts in Power Stations, Factories and Warehouses and Monitering Stations in Power Stations]

Pip pip, cheerio! One must see to the fine quality product one's workers are creating - one must always be aware that one is not paying them too much for inferior work, ahawhawhawhaw! [Okay, I think this suggestion tops the Stadiums one by quite a bit in terms of daring...]

Forklifts should be able to be found in Power Stations, Factories and Warehouses; they would be used to help survivors barricade more efficiently. Therefore, Forklifts remove the chance of failure to barricade (after a barricade being Quite Strongly Barricaded) because it's much easier for someone using one to find a good place to add another crate/box/whatever to the barricade. Players would see Forklifts as 'you can see the shape of a forklift in the shadows (if building is unpowered, regardless of whether the forklift is powered or not), 'you can see an industrial forklift in the loading bay' (if building is powered), 'you can see a powered forklift in the loading bay' (if both the forklift and Generator are powered).

However, Forklifts require three things to become operational; a powered Generator (you can hardly drive one around in pitch blackness safely), a Fuel Can for itself and the Engineering skill (so 'Forklift Training' is much more accurate, but it sounds wrong for the game) because really, some random guy you pull off the street isn't going to use a forklift properly.

Assuming that Malton is a modern city, it probably has electrically powered forklifts using lead-acid batteries; in this case, 'Fuel Can' becomes a catch-all term for any kind of fuel intended for vehicles or heavy equipment. Fuel Cans, when in Power Stations, Factories or Warehouses, would have drop-down menus for 'Generator' and 'Forklift' options. They would last about half a week, approximately half the time that a Fuel Can supposedly lasts in a Generator.

To operate a Forklift (assuming the player already has the Engineering skill) a player must click a button marked 'Operate Forklift (2AP)'; once they are using the Forklift they may barricade as normal. When barricading while using a Forklift, there is no chance that the attempt to barricade the building will fail; as a result, it would take 22APs (assuming no other actions in between) to barricade a building from nothing to EHB+3. This is approximately 10-20APs fewer than normal. The 2AP cost only happens once while using the Forklift; however, if the player gets out of the Forklift or stops using it (i.e. performs any other action other than barricading) then the cost comes into play again as they must click the 'Operate Forklift (2AP)' button again. In effect, every time they start barricading they have to spend 2AP before they start. Therefore it's in the Survivor's interests to focus on barricading. When successfully getting into an operational Forklift players would receive message such as 'you climb into the Forklift, putting your hands on the controls'. When using Forklifts players would receive messages such as 'you use the forklift to place a stack of wooden pallets/a crate/a large section of pipe/an abandoned car on the barricade' (when using the Forklift successfully) and 'you try to lift the object onto the barricade but there's no room left' (when the barricade has reached its limit).

Additionally, Forklifts can't be used while a zombie is inside the Power Station (only that block) the factory or the Warehouse. Forklifts also cannot be used if the Generator is destroyed or if the building is Ransacked; if either occurs while the Forklift is being used then the player is forcefully ejected from it. Players attempting to use a Forklift without a powered Generator, without a Fuel Can itself or in a Ransacked or zombie-inhabited building would receive messages such as 'you try to get into the forklift, but it's too dark to drive it' (if the Generator is unpowered), 'you try to get into the forklift, but you notice that the battery has run down' (if the Generator is powered bu the Forklift isn't), 'you cannot use the forklift because there is a zombie inside the building' (if there's a zombie inside the building, obviously) and 'you cannot use the forklift because the building is damaged and cluttered' (if the building is Ransacked).

Forklifts can be attacked and damaged at the same rate as Generators; damaged Forklifts are not destroyed, they simply lose their Fuel Can. There would also be indications as to the level of energy left in the forklift with identical messages as those of a Generator.

The Engineering skill is a sub-skill of Construction and is necessary to operate a forklift. Without it, the option to use a forklift doesn't appear.

People with the skill Nursing can tell the freshly revived apart from the truly dead and can drag them indoors for 1AP. The detection aspect would work like Scent Death does but instead of describing their scent it'd just say "There are X bodies here. X are alive." Nurses would be able to drag these bodies one at a time into the building it's laying in front if it's barricaded at Very Strong or less. This would bring the Nurse and the body into the building together and give the nurse 2xp.

Bodies dragged into a building are now visible as "unconcious" and living, even to those without Nursing. They can no longer be dumped outside. If a reviving body was already in a building a nurse could attend to it. This would have the same effect as dragging one in but without moving it.

If the building is conducive to treating unconcious patients, possessing many chairs, beds, or benches the patient would start to recover from bed rest. Bodies dragged into non-ransacked churches, cathedrals, arms, hotels, and motels would start recovering hp at a rate of 1hp per hour. This health is added to their base revived health upon standing up, potentially bring them up to maximum if they've been lying in bed for over a day. It does not cure infection. Standing up ends the healing process.

If the building is ransacked any recovering bodies would stop regaining health. If it is repaired they would start healing again.

This provides a use for several currently useless buildings and also presents a risk/reward tradeoff. These buildings can aid in recouperating the revived, and bring them safetly indoors in case every building is overbarricaded later when they stand up. However it'd mean leaving the building with more vulnerable barricades. And to get the full benefit a survivor would have to wait over a day before standing, which might waste more AP than its worth in many cases.

Let's run the numbers, shall we?

Currently:
No ankle grab or headshot=10 AP
Headshot but no ankle grab=15 AP
Ankle grab but no headshot=1 AP
Ankle grab and headshot=6 AP

Under this suggestion:
No ankle grab or headshot=5 AP
Headshot but no ankle grab=10 AP
Ankle grab but no headshot=1 AP
Ankle grab and headshot=6 AP

As you can see, this suggestion has no real effect on higher-level players. Survivors will still want to get headshot so they can slow down zeds, and zeds are still going to want ankle grab because it significantly reduces the amount of AP they have to waste standing up. All it does is help newbies, be they survivor or zombie.

- Edit - The more I think about this, the above proposal if applied equally would be really tilted for harmanz, so in the interests of maintaining better game balance (and the fact that damage doesn't mean as much to someone who is undead) zombies would impacted less. For instance a zed with a max of 50 hp would be impacted to 4/5 effectiveness between 21-40 hp and 2/5 between 1-20

We know from one of Kevan's updates "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 survivors grow more suspicious and wary of quislings they've begun keeping a closer eye on each other, making an attack from within impossible unless the defenders are distracted by some external threat or calamity.

Survivor on survivor attacks and sabotage would no longer be possible inside buildings unless the barricades are down, a zombie is present, and/or if a dead body is on the ground. All three of these situations would naturally cause panic and give a raider the opportunity they need to cause destruction and escape in the confusion.

This just gets a PKer's AP cost in line with a zombies. If a zombie wants to attack a survivor they need to either break down barricades, find someone outside, or find a building another zombie broke into. This would just make PKers do the same. Heck, it'd still be a little cheaper for the PKer since they could use crowbars to their advantage when reducing barricades.

This would not affect attacks made by zombies at all. From a gameplay perspective this just provides equilibrium in the AP cost spent by survivors and zombies in killing the living.

Genre Considerations (*with spoilers!*)

Note that in most zombie movies rival gangs of humans must break down their rival's barricades before they can attack. Take the original Romero classic Dawn of the Dead which has an assault by motorcycle riding gang of raiders on the protagonist's mall towards the end. First they demolish the barricades the heroes set up earlier in the film and stroll through the opening. As they exchange gunfire with one of the main characters hundreds of zombies begin to stream in behind them, attacking everybody.
The movie Day of the Dead also ends with a human character turning against his companions, but this time motivated by insanity instead of looting. In this instance he also turns against his companions by opening the entrance to fort they've taken shelter in.
In the newer zombie movie 28 Days Later at one point the hero must infiltrate a mansion occupied by corrupt human soldiers. Before attacking he releases a zombie into their safehouse. As it runs around infecting and sowing chaos he stealthily runs through, killing his distracted human enemies right and left.

Bounty Hunting

This would stop bounty hunters as well. However bounty hunting would no longer be necessary. Killing a PKer would have no tactical advantage since they'd be equally dangerous living or dead. And there'd still be negative consequences for angering fellow survivors...they could avoid healing or reviving you.

Personal Biases Of Author

I play two characters. One of them is Jon Pyre, a member of Channel 4 News, defender of humanity and the fourth estate. The other is a ravenous ghoul, who'll retain his zombie anonymity for now. Let's just say those folks in Buckley Mall are delicious. From both sides of the necrotic divide I have a problem with the current incarnation of PKing. As a survivor I dislike seeing myself, or possibly five or more comrades riddled with holes while we are logged out, all without a zombie brushing the cades and providing a chance to spend AP mounting defense. As a zombie I dislike seeing my own abilities and the tactics of my entire race completely outclassed. I play as a zombie to kill survivors by the billions and enjoy seeing a mighty horde come at my call. I like to imagine the surprise any remaining survivors have after a break-in, seeing all the names of their companions dragged out into the street. And I don't like knowing that I and my hordemates are being outdone by some guy who ran in, cried out "lol, got ya", and escaped with a higher bodycount than all of us zed did combined. It's not that we don't appreciate the help. As I said I don't have a problem with PKing, just that it's currently more of a easy to pull off practical joke than a bloody victory hard fought for.

So that's where I'm coming from.

Overall

This doesn't stop PKing. But it makes the choice between being a PKer or a zombie one of roleplaying, not Out Of Character "how many people can I kill" analysis. The person who views themself as a mindless ghoul, or an evil horde leader, or a messiah of the dead, would have their playing style equally effective against survivors as the the homicidal killer, the evil scientist, the ruthless survivalist, the cruel army captain, or even the pricipled fighter striking corrupt fellow survivors.

Problem One: Revivification Experience

Which is harder, shooting a zombie from a distance just to have it stand up again later, or bringing an undead creature back to life by stabbing it in the back of the neck with a syringe before it kills you? Obviously, revivification is harder. Why, then, does it produce extremely minimal XP given the amount of AP spent doing it?

Under current game rules, reviving zombies is a time consuming and unrewarding endeavor. It takes 12 AP to find a syringe (or 20 if you make one), and 10 more to use it. Plus you have to track down a zombie to use it on, which entails a fair amount of risk. It also requires a 200 XP investment just to get the skills necessary to perform this action. Worse, it can only be performed once on any given zombie. Under the best of circumstances this comes to a very low XP return on AP spent.

10 XP gained / (12 AP to search + 10 AP to use + 3 AP to find zed) = .4 XP/AP

By contrast, using a pistol with the same 200 XP skill investment yields quite different numbers. If finding a pistol clip in a police station requires an average of 15 searches and you get 6 bullets per clip, that’s only 2.5 AP used searching per bullet. If you figure with 200 XP invested in Basic Firearms Training and Pistol Training instead of NecroTech Employment and Lab Experience, that’s a 55% chance to hit. Plus, you can keep hitting that zombie until it dies, and you get an extra 10 XP for killing it. Even if the zed is at only 25 health and is wearing a flak jacket, the XP per AP spent is still double what it is for revivification. This is just plain illogical given how much easier it is to pick off a seriously injured zombie with a pistol compared to revivification.

(26 XP for damage + 10 XP for kill) / (30 AP to find 12 bullets + 12 AP to fire them + 3 AP to find zed) = .8 XP/AP

What’s more, with skills like Advanced Pistol Training, opportunities to find ammo even more efficiently with Shopping and Bargain Hunting, up to 14 extra XP for overkill, and the possibility of finding 60 HP zeds, the XP return on AP for hunting is dramatically higher than for reviving.

Problem Two: Revivification Realism and Potential Griefing

On October 18, Reaper with no name made a suggestion based on a very valid point:

Supposedly, revivification works by the character jamming a syringe into the back of a zombie's neck. Sure, it costs 10 AP, but it never fails. Do they really expect us to believe that it would be that simple? Chances are that you tried to stab someone in the back of the neck with a needle, you're not going to be very accurate, even if you try it multiple times. More importantly, it is the only item one can use on another player that never fails and can potentially grief them (if you're a newbie zombie who doesn't have brain rot and doesn't want to be revived, you'll find yourself having to waste a lot of time and AP finding a building you can get into, jumping out of said building, and getting up again). And it just makes so much more sense that should be able to miss when trying to revive someone with a syringe, since you are performing an action that isn't much different from punching or stabbing with a knife (both of which can miss).

His proposal, in a nutshell, was to introduce a 50% failure rate and compensate with a reduction from 10 AP to 5 AP per use. This didn’t pass because of the large AP penalties for failure. Revivification already requires lots of AP and does not pay off well with XP. However, the point he makes holds true regardless.

Solution:

Revivification Syringes should be classified as a weapon type. Different versions like the Mark 1.0 (now out of circulation), the Mark 2.0, and potentially a Mark 3.0 or higher would fall into this category. It would have an extremely low base accuracy and would require 20 AP to use, making it practically useless to the unskilled user. The NecroTech Employment skill would give a 25% increase in chance to hit and lower required the AP to 15, the Lab Experience Skill would provide a 15% increase and lower the required AP to 10, and a new skill, Field Experience, would be added to the scientific skills tree on the same level as NecroNet Access and give an additional 10% and lower the required AP to 5.

Revivification Syringe
Damage: revivification
Base Accuracy: 5%, 20 AP
NecroTech Employment: 30%, 15 AP
Lab Experience: 55%, 10 AP
Field Experience: 65%, 5 AP

In addition, syringes would be refillable instead of single-use. Bottles of revivification serum would be found in NecroTech buildings just like syringes and could be manufactured with the NecroNet Access skill for 10 AP the same way new syringes can be manufactured for 20 AP.

Furthermore, the XP payoff for revivification should be increased from 10 XP to 20 XP. This would make revivification equivalent to the example of killing a weakened zombie which is, if anything, underpowered. This is a reasonable, balanced improvement.

Let’s do the numbers:

Compare these to the Pistol with all skills:

It may seem like a rather drastic change at first but once the numbers have been calculated it is all very reasonable and balanced. Moreover, it gives scientists a chance to level almost as quickly as military personnel while adding realism to the game.

Zombies have a pack mentality - banding together into hordes and identifying members of their own pack. When hostilities break out between different groups, zombies from the same pack move to intercept the attacker, blocking and subduing them in order to protect their own.

• Concept: Survivor vs. survivor or zombie vs. zombie attacks are less effective if the victim has friends in the area that outnumber the attackers. Survivor vs. zombie attacks are not effected.

• Rules:
  • If the victim of an attack, plus all other characters in the same location with the same group as the victim, outnumber the attacker, plus all other characters in the same location with the same group as the attacker, then the attack % is multiplied by attacker group # over victim group #. That's [Attack %] = [Attack %] * ([attacker group #] / [victim group #]). (Outnumbering your enemy confers no additional bonus - in other words, you can't hit at a better % than normal.)
  • Example #1: Bilbo Shaggins is a member of Lord of the Things, and is staying in a safe house with two comrades. Murderous Bastich is a member of Harlots of Death, and Free Runs in and attacks Bilbo. The ratio is 1:3, or 0.33. Murderous Bastich would normally have 65% to hit with his guns, but in this case he's 22% to hit (65 * 0.33 = 22, fact fans). If he brought Leet Killer (another member of Harlots of Death) with him, the ratio would be 2:3, or 0.67. Both attackers would be at 44% to hit instead of 65% (against any member of Lord of the Things).
  • Example #2: The Jolly Funsters are 23 zombies in a ransacked stadium, quietly playing football with the decapitated heads of the recently deceased. They're attacked by the All-Seeing Eye, a group of 17 zombies who want to claim the Stadium and become the dominant local horde. A 50% attack chance would become 50*(17/23), which is 37%.
  • This only operates if there are only zombies or only survivors in a particular location. (Inside a building counts as a separate location to outside a building.) In other words, if zombies are in your safe house, all bets are off - and a sly murder is easier to enact. So to with zombies - if there are survivors present, the idea of pack loyalty is pretty much thrown out of the window (perhaps literally).
  • In order to stop someone freely switching to the group they're attacking (thus circumventing the rule), changing groups will now have a cost of 10AP. (You can roleplay that any way you like - the time/effort it takes to go through a group's Induction Ceremony, or to adopt their style of dress, or to disguise yourself as one of them, or for a horde to get used to your scent.) So, someone could use that tactic, but it's costly. As for someone innocently changing groups - use the roleplay explanations above as to why switching loyalty costs AP. (Someone could, if they continually target the same group - just spend the 10AP once and then never change their group back. Oh well. Call that a thorn in your side. Your ultimate enemy. A PKer would probably only do that versus a sizable group with multiple targets - in which case roleplay says they're easier to infiltrate.)

• Justification:
  • PKing or ZKing your enemy is too easy. That needs to be addressed. This suggestion attempts to level out the playing field, and also to introduce a game mechanic for group membership beyond mere flavour.
  • Nerfs PKing/ZKing? - no, it doesn't nerf it, but, yes, it does effect it. You can still attack a victim who isn't with their comrades (or doesn't have any) at your full attack %. Plus, if you're part of a PKing group, you just need to team up and plan a raid, in order to be able to attack at your full %. This makes PKing or ZKing challenging, as it should be. It also makes defending against a PK/ZK a challenge.