Controversy over whether zombies who got brain rot early should get a bodybuilding equivalent. --RSquared 05:37, 22 Nov 2005 (GMT)

This would cause zombie groups to scatter and possibly waste AP if too zealous to follow gun shots. Also, this would make it so Military users would have to be hastey about being outside and going into too populated areas, causing too much noise could bring the crowds to you.

1. Removing most of the event lines from the map page. Probably all events should be moved to that page, except game news, attacks and death, and replaced on the map page by a single entry describing all of what happened, for example: "7 flares were fired, 3 statements spoken, and 2 other events. Go here for a detail of these events". Attacks and death would show up on both the map page at login and in the event page.

2. Allowing you to view events past the first refresh after you log in. Events could be stored in that page in chronological order (which is probably just the order it's put in the database anyways). They'd eventually be deleted after a few days/weeks/whatever. Depending on the amount of work that's put in it, it could be possible to click a button to have only attacks, speech, or an "other events" category shown.

The page could be available from a link in the bottom left corner of the map page (close to the "view contact button"). I believe this would make the game a bit more polished, and that it could make the game more capable of accepting changes that helps characters see more of what's going on around them, since every new type of event woudn't clog the map page so much.

• Does this skill transfer to a Zombie?
• 80% to hit seems like a lot, but it is just 1 point of damage.
• Barehanded combat against an infected zombie should have a % chance of getting infected.
• Only useful Skill for (a) starting characters or (b) if sort of weapon breakage/gun jam % chance was implemented.

• Survivors who were infected at time of death are still infected when revived. Having the Necrotech Syringe cure infections upon revival wouldn't waste a syringe any more than revives did before, it might actually save somebody else from having to use up one of their syringes.
• This only works on Revivication; if someone infected was revived, I'd say they take a -5HP penalty on rising if they are now cured.
• Change FAK to heal health OR an infection (preferencing infection), not BOTH.
• As it stands now, if you are attacked and infected and a survivor, and you die, then are revived, you will be infected again once you stand as a human. I'm thinking that this is what this suggestion seeks to change, and I agree with it. If a Necrotech Syringe can reverse undeath, surely it can cure infection.
• I've never understood why reviving a zombie (who is a zombie due to a virus) and making them human would not equally cure the infection.
• Reduces the horror of infection. Depowers infectious bite.

The only reason I can think of not to add this feature is if it would overload the server with data. But only one extra field in the profile wouldn't, would it?

• I enjoy never knowing if the survivors and zombies near me might start suddenly moving about.
• This would make it possible to guess if people were out of AP, so you could just grief them.
• A great ability for PKers to make sure they get kills instead of wounds.

Basically you'd log in and see a main page with the name of each character, its current AP, and weather it is alive or dead. These are the basics I think should be there, more info could be added if the server load is justified.

This idea REDUCES server load. Think about how many people log in to check on their character and see if they're under attack, see how many AP they have, or do a couple searches with the 3 or 4 AP they have. With a main screen from which you could view your characters, you wouldn't have to log in AS that character to check one aspect - which would save the server having to show you the MAP, the PLAYER LIST, the ROOM INFO, and the SINCE YOUR LAST TURN events, which would all be shown when you choose to actually play that character of course.

Could just click the name of a character on your User Page to log in as them and begin playing. Succeed or fail, I believe this suggestion would reduce server load greatly by showing AP and Live-or-Dead status without map, events, description, userlist, inventory, etc.

"Let's see. Bob1 is alive. Bob2 is alive. Bob3 has 40 ap so I'll play him and leave 1 and 2 to regenerate."

Unanswered Questons: Should the enhancement be given to Fists as well with this skill? Shold it translate to zombies since they can use blunt instruments?

• Debate raged over weather broken bones would cause more damage than a knife cut.

• It's not like people EMOTING stupid stuff would be any worse than people SAYING stupid stuff.
• One Problem: "/me attacks you for 3 damage." This can make people freak out and run. Fix - different color or italicized text.

Playing as a zombie, and talking with others who play as zombies, I've noticed that being dead isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, we're immortal��but being part of a swarm and dealing with the "Glass Ceiling" for skills makes things a bit tedious. There aren't any real classes for zombies, and the RP potential is low. That is the major reason for my submission. I do not believe that this idea will pass into the game, or receive any Keep votes, but if it gives anyone an idea that is actually GOOD, well . . .

THE CONCEPT�

The Necrotherium, a monstrous undead creature. It is essentially a zombie, only much more dangerous and chaotic. Think of the Licker, Bandersnatch, or Crimson Head from the Resident Evil series, only bigger��what I'm talking about is essentially an undead tyrannosaurus. It differs from true zombies in that it is very strong but can act only as an individual.

CONDITIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION�

I have a few ideas, but I don't really like any of them, so I'll leave it up to you guys or Kevan. UPDATE: Thanks to some suggestions, I've realized it's best if the Beast comes about accidently, so I'm sticking with #2.

1a) After gaining Brain Rot (or perhaps Ankle Grab), a new skill becomes available for purchase: Mutant Strain. Once THAT is gained, it becomes possible for the zombie to become a Necrotherium. If the zombie enters a cemetery it is given an option called MUTATE. If pressed, the zombie loses all his AP and absorbs the necrotic biomass of the cemetery. Once 10 (or possibly more) AP are gained (regardless of Ankle Grab) the zombie is able to stand up as a Necrotherium.

1b) Same as above, only after gaining Mutant Strain, if the zombie enters any outdoor area with more than 5 (or 10, 15, 20, or whatever) dead bodies on the ground, the it is given the MUTATE option.

2) A revivification syringe has a 1 in 150 chance of turning a Mutant Strain zombie into a Necrotherium (in this case, Mutant Strain should be much easier to acquire, possibly available once 5 Zombie skills have been earned). A limit would be placed on the number of Beasts possible at any given time. I say at least 20, because one for every five suburbs isn't too much to deal with.

PLAYING AS A NECROTHERIUM�

The Necrotherium has lost much of its sensory capability during the transformation, and as such cannot distinguish between survivor and zombie (or other Necros)��all players are described as "Meatsack" or some such thing. For example, the area description would read "There is a Meatsack here" or "There are many Meatsacks here" with no HP counts or anything else. It's important that numbers have no definition to the Necro player. When attacking, there will be no dropdown list, just an ATTACK option. Likewise, other players will only see it as a "Necrotherium", since it has mutated beyond recognition. Also, the Necro would have little perception of its environment��all locations would be seen as "A building" or "An open space". These rules prevent the Necro player from coordinating with other players, such as a zombie horde. The Necro must be on its own.

In addition, the Necro cannot enter buildings, since no door would be large enough for it. As this is the case, the Necro has no reason to attack barricades, and cannot even see them as being separate from the buildings themselves. These rules prevent Survivors from being specifically targeted as prey.

Because of its increased mass, the Necro ought to have a high amount of HP, such as 100-300 (I think 250 is fair). It is immune to infection, headshots (pointless, see below), and revivification, and cannot be healed, or use Digestion or items (including any flak jacket defense). When attacking, the Necro actually attempts to hit three different targets (one for each claw and one for jaws), meaning that each time a Necro attacks, three different players may be injured. Note that if the Beast attacks just one player, it can only do one limb's worth of damage. The hit percentages and damage caused by these attacks are carried over from the skills of the original zombie. If a Necro is killed, it loses all its XP and degenerates back into a corpse, becoming a regular zombie again (who may or may not need to relearn the Mutant Strain skill).

Once a zombie becomes a Necro, it loses access to the old Zombie skill set (like when being revivified into a survivor) but gains its own smaller set. Something like:

• Sprout Tentacle
  • Extra Mouth
  • Extra Tentacle

• Necrophagy

Sprout Tentacle would give the Necro the ability to attack four targets at a time (the fourth treated like a tentacle, 2 DAM 30% TO HIT). Under this skill would be Extra Mouth, and Extra Tentacle. A fully upgraded Necro would be able to attack six targets at a time. Possibly there might be a Necrophagy skill that would allow the Necro to regenerate 3 HP for each half-hour spent in a cemetery (in which case, a Necro would need some flavor text to know it is in fact IN a cemetery).

A Necro could also have the option to roar, which would be treated in the same way as a flare ("You hear a terrible bellow x blocks north y blocks west"). It would be interesting if the "birth" and "death" wails could be heard as well.

EFFECTS ON THE GAME�

The way I've outlined it above, I don't think the Necro would have any significant negative effect on the game. It would give Survivors and Zombies a common enemy, and since Necros can't hide in buildings, hunting them would be a bit fun. Simultaneously, it would provide a metagame for bored zombie users.

IN CONCLUSION�

I humbly await your ridicule.

• Kill - I'm not too keen on the way they're spawned with the dead bodies and whatnot but it's an interesting idea. The problem is if zombies had something other than suvivors to pursue, something that was just lying in the open, why would they bother hacking down barricades? Also, since suvivors usually stay inside the Necrothingies would probably just attack zombies.
• Kill - But I LOVE this suggestion - so, change rather than kill. I love it because playing a zombie is a thankless task and it needs to be made more fun - having a very small chance of playing out the rest of your zed's life in a blaze of gutsmashing glory would certainly give the life-challenged characters a peak to aim at. I also think the suggestion is in genre. I don't think it works entirely as it is. Here are my suggestions for improving it: 1. Change the name - necroflaviwhat is too long and hard to shorten. Why not simply call it a beast? As in 'a beast attacks you for 17 damage'. Seeing a beast walking towards me would give me more of a fright than a necrojobbiething. Second point: becoming one of these things (I'll call them 'beasts' from now on) is weirdly tortuous and out of character for the game. On the other hand, I loved your idea about revivication syringes going wrong. Why shouldn't they go wrong from time to time, and what on earth could the results be? Given a sufficiently slim chance of it happening I think that that should be the sole mechanism - zombie must be brain-rotted for it to happen of course. Third thing: I would say that having a bunch of beasts roaming around the game, regardless of how difficult the game becomes for them, could spoil some of the fun. My suggestion would be, rather than giving a slim percentage chance of getting a bad syringe, just limit the number of beasts there can be at any one time. A number between 1 and 3 does it for me - say, when a brain-rotted zed gets jabbed it may become a beast and until that beast has been killed, there are no more chances for others to become one. I like the suggestions for limiting the beast's abilities and alegiances along with the massively high HP. Best, most fun zombie suggestion I've read.
  • RE - Yeah, I don't care what it's called. "Necrotherium" was just the first thing I thought of, and it is admittedly screwy. I like your limited numbers idea, though. The reason I made the transformation process so complicated was to cut down on the number of zombies willing to go through with it.
• Kill - The idea sounds fun, but since it can't enter buildings or break down barricades, you're stuck with eating...other zombies. I like Aberration better.
• KILL No, it is over powered and some firefox additions would give the three the ability to corordinate beyond believe. Imagine three of thos things standing on next to the other on seperate squeres in the open! It would slaughter everything that moved! So no, it is unbalanced, and it is to hard to kill at that.
  • Re - I was thinking of a number closer to 1 than 3 but you are right - it wouldn't even take a firefox extension to be able to make a beast recognise building or character types - just another browser open with a different character, a look at the map or a friend on IRC/IM. One big beserk zombie at a time wouldn't be so bad though and it would encourage more collaborative gameplay (on both sides) as well as giving the zeds something to wish for.
  • Re� While these are somewhat relevant objections, you can see I went out of my way to stagger the Beast's power. It can't enter buildings, break down barricades, or even choose its targets, so even in the unlikely event of a firefox hack, the strategic capability of a Beast is hampered. That's because the idea is meant to be fun, not an attempt to power up the zombies. This is an MMORPG run on HTML, people. Not D-Day.
• Kill i agree.. zombies need to be more powerful.. but this wont do that. this will make fewer zombies and more necro-thingiemabobs. Also, resident evil is a bastardization of the zombie genre.. espeshily in some of its newer incarnations. Zombie games shouldn't be about running from giant indescribable monsters.. they should be about running from zombies. that being said, zombies need to be kicked up a notch YES
• Kill - Change it so that there is a limit (very small limit) of these mutants and you have y support.
• Kill - Hey look, I started a trend with my suggestion about Aberrations. Giltwist 15:35, 30 Nov 2005 (GMT)
• Keep - I LIKE IT. No matter what you say, if it's open to vote i can vote Keep. I like the idea of the beast forming on the graveyard best, too. And you know what, author? Ankle Grab, Infectious Bite and Surgery were all suggested here and shot down before implemented on the game. So, no worries. Kevan reads the Rejected ones, too, and if he finds them interesting, he codes them! It's all up to him, after all, so don't let the Kill votes bring you down. Keep on suggesting.
• Keep via Vair's suggestion on brain rot + syringes, no extra skill necessary, though I like the name "Necrotherium." Sexy. It's a nice counter to all the 'nerf brain rot' whining that's been going on lately. More thoughts on talk page.
• Keep/Change - This sounds like a great suggestion along the lines of "Zombie Elite." However, I don't like the idea about attacking 6 targets at a time. I'd also like the Necro to be able to attack barricades in order to aid other zombies' attacks, though. Otherwise, it would have no use other than as a sitting duck in the street that survivors would avoid, and the poor Necro would be forced to ZK (or whatever's in front of it) for XP.
• Keep - I think this and the Aberration suggestion I helped work on would take the game far into Resident Evil territory, and I realize some people aren't crazy about that. However, because of the fact that there would only be a few of these things running around (and maybe none at all), and it's temporary, and most of all the term "meatsack," I like it. It might make a good event, rather than a permanent addition; January could be Resident Evil month, or something.
• Keep Finally, a really cool idea that's actually really hard to abuse. Just adds a bit of fun, doesn't unbalance since it's impossible to aim, or at least very hard. I suppose you could write down where you were when you transformed, or find a corner of the city and work places out from there, or something.
• Keep - I Like the idea, but make a special revivation serige so that they don't just kill every zombie in a suburb. The seringe would turn them into a zombie again.
• Kill I'm sorry, but this griefs zombies too much and overpowers survivors! That's right, it would actually benefit survivors rather than make a common enemy! You see, survivors can easily just duck into barricaded buildings and simply wait out the storm. Sure, zombies can still attack, but they'd be better off trying to break down barricades to hide from the monster, of which survivors would then go on to waste them once inside. Plus, attacking 3-6 players at once will make it DEVISTATE hordes! Zombies aren't supposed to have to hide each night like survivors do. Besides, this game isn't supposed to be a ripoff of Resident Evil (despite it being a great game, as well!).
• Keep - This is incredible. It will fix the balance problem because so many people will want to become Necrothiums that they will want to be zombies. And then when too many people become zombies it's ok because most of the things on the street are Zombies so it would end up killing a lot of them. It's a really cool idea too. But I don't really love the way you become one (either that or I just don't really get them). I think it should be more based on getting to a high level and then getting the skill of "Mutate" (that would cost a lot of XP) and then going to the proper place to Mutate. Also, about the name: I guess some people don't like it but I think it's fine. If you change it make sure it has Latin in it like Sineanima - "without a soul". Lastly, you should be able to hear them from a few blocks away.
• Kill - I don't like this. Dedicated zombie hordes would keep reviving their zeds until they'd all become these beasts...and these things are WAY too powerful. You have to think about ways these suggestions can be exploited. This one can be exploited a LOT. (have an alt scout out your attack area beats your "cannot target" safeguard, etc.) I also do not like that "attack multiple targets in the same action" bit either. So, kill.
• Keep/Change - I think fighting something like this would make for a kickass event. The changes I would make are as follows: Chance to become a necrotherium is one/ten thousand; only one necrotherium can exist at one time; creature heals one hp every half hour; creature sees barricades as strong buildings and can attack barricades; Those who hit the necrotherium get double experience; Kevan doesn't tell us when he instates this major event.
• Kill -- Zombie xp pignata. And pointless, plus possibly out of flavour. This cannot enter buildings, thus it will attack zombies almost exclusively. Zombies will die, and not care since they don't lose xp. However they can attack it for xp... So in short no one will really care except people who gain xp... far from any type of "Terror"
• Keep - I'm not sure I like the fact that they'll only be attacking zombies for the most part, but this suggestion rates pretty high on the fun scale. Even if it doesn't get implemented in the form it appears here, I'd like it if this made it to the main suggestions page just to increase the chances of Kevan reading it and possibly getting some sort of inspiration along these lines.

• Optional: Requiring a "Radio Operation" skill to use them. Kind of interesting to have a skill just devoted to improving group communication. What do you think?

• Add an imposed skill and high ap like 5 per talk, that would reduce spam drasticly.
• Make it a civilian skill, so it would take at least 100 xp, and it would take 5 ap per communication, which would allow only 10 communication on a specific frequency, which in turn would not allow a sufficiant room for uselss spam
• These radios act something like a group chat.
• This is point to point, person to person communication - thoughtful expansion off the mobile phone item and does much to promote teammwork and RP w/out creating an undue benefit to survivors.
• Add seperate channels to help cut down on spam
• Balanced, as long as it requires a skill to use.
• Dissent: Cell phones, anybody?
• Dissent: Peer_Reviewed_Suggestions#Report to Authority is in Peer Reviewed and is a fine implementation.

Whenever a zombie with this skill lands a killing blow, using a bite attack, on a player without Brain Rot, it feasts upon the yummy brains inside. The zombie gains additional HP, equal to that gained by digestion.

The extra HP may become temporary bonus HP, in excess of normal maximum HP, up to a ceiling of 60 HP. For example, if a zombie with this skill can kill three other players without taking damage, it could have 60/50 HP. But once those temporary HP are lost, they cannot be regained except with another meal of tasty grey matter.

Ex-survivor zombies with bodybuilding will not find this skill particularly useful, since they already have a true maximum HP of 60, but the extra healing still helps.

This skill would be below Tagging of course. A player with this skill will see a drop-down box next to the regular message box for spraypainting messages. In this drop-down would be a list of images such as "Skull, Dragon, Demon," and other such things commonly depicted in urban areas that fit the dark nature of the game. When a user with this skill selects one of these from the drop-down the message they type into the message box will be accompanied by a small ASCII image above it of the item they selected. Small enough to not be annoying or take up too much space.

When you choose to paint an item with your message, you will use 2x the paint. Perhaps there would be a chance of failing to correctly paint the image, like "You try to spray-paint the Skull with your message, but it just isn't coming together." so all that would end up being painted is your message, even though you spent twice the paint.

What is the up side of this? Well, not only does it add flavor and a bit of badassery (yes, badassery) to the look and feel of "Malton", but it could also give you the same XP boost for a successfully completed image that the Tagging skill gives you for tagging certain special places. This XP bonus could be stacked or not. Either way.

When you use Binoculars, you will see a set of 9 blocks in any direction. This view will replace your Map View until you do any other action.

USABLE ONLY FROM TALL BUILDINGS, AKA BUILDINGS WITH A WINDOW TO JUMP FROM.

You can only see the outsides of buildings, and binoculars cannot be used indoors UNLESS IT IS A BUILDING WITH A WINDOW TO JUMP FROM. Using Binoculars costs 1 AP.

You will be able to see surrounding blocks as you would if you were standing there, which means you can see how many Zombies are standing there, and which humans, as you would normally with your map view.

You can still be attacked if looking at a different block. It's not a Teleporter, so you are still at your current location, looking at a different area.

Confusing Example:

• Your PRESENT LOCATION is marked X in the RED CENTER SQUARE.

• Looking NORTH WEST will show you the 9 blocks containing NW.
• Looking NORTH will show you the 9 blocks containing N.
• Looking NORTH EAST will show you the 9 blocks containing NE.
• Looking EAST will show you the 9 blocks containing E.
• Looking SOUTH EAST will show you the 9 blocks containing SE.
• Looking SOUTH will show you the 9 blocks containing S.
• Looking SOUTH WEST will show you the 9 blocks containing SW.
• Looking WEST will show you the 9 blocks containing W.

EACH SQUARE IS ONLY ONE CITY BLOCK, EVEN THE RED ONE. ONE BLOCK.

These locations "North West, West, etc." will be located in a selectable drop-down next to the "Binoculars" button in your inventory.

As you can see from this example, you are NOT being allowed to view some crazily far-off area. It's a relatively close proximity. The value of this item above "Just walk there! LOL!" is that you can actively SCOUT locations in 8 directions, then walk a bit, then SCOUT AGAIN. Repeat as necissary. It is also helpful for those keeping a safe house. I think this has the right mix of Technical and Flavorful elements.

Here is an example of what you would see if you looked NORTH WEST:

You would see the blocks in PURPLE, which represent ONE BUILDING/STREET each.

Notes:

• You go back to your normal map view when you do ANY action, or click a block on the Binocular view. You will not move if you click a Binocular View block, however.

• In Urban Dead one block is only one builing or street, etc. These blocks are NOT groupings of buildings that totally obscure your view. If you can see all zombies surrounding a building in your current map view, you can see all zombies surrouding buildings in a Binocular view. This is a game and as such stretches have already been made in the current running version of the project.

• This does not let you see a whole Suburb for 1 AP. You can only look in ONE direction per AP, and you will only see ONE block of 3x3 "City Blocks", which means a 3x3 block of buildings.

• This suggestion is no more of a stretch than the fact that you can see all zombies to the side and behind of a building you are on the same block as -- as well as all the zombies behind and on the sides of the 8 buildings that currently surround you in the actual game as it works now.

• This item reducs a 2 AP (or 4 AP if you count a walk back) series of actions to a 1 AP action. It is in no way overpowered in the least.

• Even less over-powered with the "From Tall Buildings Only" addition. (Thanks to Firemanstan and anyone I might've missed who said it.)

• The FIRST choice in the Binocular drop-down could be either blank or contain the word "No Direction" so that you can, at any time, select and look in "No Direction" for 0 AP as a fail-safe to stop using the Binoculars. (Thanks to Jack-Swithun.)

Further thoughts which are NOT part of this suggestion:

• This would be an excellent additional item to give Scouts when they start off.
• If there IS ever any addition to the game that lets you look out of windows or climb onto the roof of a building, this item could become much more useful.
• I agree that there could be a skill involved in seeing more space with Binoculars. (Reducing normal use to 2x2 and having a skill for 3x3) Very good concept! The only problem is the fact that directions no longer break down into easy squares of block.

• Voters mentioned the possibility of having a skill to augment distance or lessening "normal" distance until you get a skill.
• Voters expressed dissent about removing any of the 'fear of the unknown.'

• This is one of the primary reasons I don't really like playing zeds and this idea takes care of that nicely.
• Metagaming is a necessary evil for zombies. If we can cut down the need for that, we should.
• I want to know who kills my zombie alt after it gets revivificated, so I can thank them.
• Put people on your contact list, you can recognize them as zombies, regardless if you are one or not. Also if zombies attack you click the "a zombie" part of the message that they attacked you and see their profile, which can be used to add to your contact list.
• Since it is a skill, would it carry over if you bought it and were revived?

Reasoning:

• I made it require a second attack to not be crowded by infectious bite, and made it an attack of any sort as to not to overpower bite over hand attacks. That first bite already rewards zombies with spreading the infection. Further wounds exacerbate it.
• I don't think this will unbalance the game. Most suvivors that become diseased will be able to heal themselves rather quickly keeping the xp drain rather low. It isn't as if the 15 or so xp lost by a suvivor without a kit and not in a hospital will be missed much. What this will do is make live back and forth fights between suvivors and zombies unprofitable xp wise since they'll keep getting rediseased and losing much of the xp they gain. These fights will then become entirely about survival.
• This will actually give zombies further strategy! Right now when a zombie enters a safehouse they have two options: 1) Try to bite everyone and infect them 2) Attack one person to wound them as much as possible and maybe kill them. This skill will add a third option 3)Bite everyone once, and then attack again to cause them to lose xp in addition to health. It's a judgement call on the part of the zombie whether they want to spend the AP to do that.
• In response to possible comparisons to headshot: This skill is obviously quite different. It's an XP draining skill for zombies but I think it's much better than the "Suvivors lose 10 xp per level when killed" suggestions I've seen. This skill would likely never harm an individual suvivor much, but since an entire safehouse could be diseased by a single zombie the total XP lost by everyone combined could be greater than that lost to headshot. It is a useful skill. The fact that one zombie might be able to drain 100 xp in total from ten people without killing anyone is balanced by the fact that suvivors can gain xp quite easily.

All non-Keep votes were Kill. The majority of Keep votes deemed this a good balance to (the old XP-removing) Headshot. Kill votes were mainly statements that any kind of XP loss is bad, and that two wrongs (this and Headshot) don't make a right.

• F*ck that, I'm not taking notes this time. --Squashua 15:39, 23 Dec 2005 (GMT)
• It was a complaint and should never have been posted, most of the non-keep votes were spam votes.--The General 08:35, 27 Dec 2005 (GMT)

"You draw thick kitty whiskers and a black nose onto Bob3231."

The victim will also see a message (with name of the "artist", etc. etc.) concerning this in their "Since your last turn" area when they next log in with AP and are out of sleep mode. Black Markers are one-time use. The victim's description will also be amended so that "They have thick black whiskers and a black nose drawn onto their face." would follow their normal description. (Non-stacking, like Grafitti.) This effect is undone once someone edits their Description, which sort of counts as wiping their face off. Some options for random patterns include: Kitty, Clown, Hitler Moustache and hair-part on forehead, Stars and moons, or Black eye and scar.

I'm not sure what "That's already the case." means, just to clarify I'm proposing that the AP not be used when you make insignificant actions. In case you thought I proposing that the waste was a good idea. If you don't believe that the AP vanished, log on real quick an click on your flak jacket. AP vanishes for me (I just did it to verify). Anyway, I'll quit baby sitting this suggestion now, it seems inapropriate on my part. (Posted by user Bayn)

This suggestion might have limited effect but it might help the Zombies out a little. I was thinking that Cemetaries could provide Zombies with a limited amount of nutritious brains. There's thousands of dead bodies in your typical cemetary, and some of them may have not rotted completely away. Perhaps a Zombie could enter a cemetary, perform a search (with some suitably low chance of success), find a cadaver that fits the bill and feast for a few hit points? The search might implicitly include the requirement to dig up some graves. (I mean Zombies can smell brains right?) What I mean is, you just click on "Search for Cadavers" or something, and you use one AP for the entire process of searching, digging, eating etc... (Assuming you were successful).

It might be an extremely slow way to gain hit points, but at least it wouldn't expose the Zombie to the chance of being wounded, killed or head-shotted. Possibly combined with some other cemetary modifications (like the suggestion from someone else to give Zombies the ability to hide in cemetaries from Survivors who are outside) it might make cemetaries scarier places, as well as congregation points for both the dead and the undead. Difference Engine

For variety, weather and flavor text can be appropriate to both season and inside/outside, as follows:

Spring - Rain or Snow

Inside Rain can be heard drumming on the rooftop. / Small drifts of snow force themselves between the cracks in the walls.

Outside A steady downpour of rain obscures your vision. / The swirling of blowing snow obscures your vision.

Summer - Rain

Inside Rain can be heard drumming on the rooftop.

Outside A steady downpour of rain obscures your vision.

Fall - Rain / Fog

Inside Rain can be heard drumming on the rooftop. / The clammy chill of fog seeps into the room.

Outside A steady downpour of rain obscures your vision. / Thick fog blankets your vision.

Winter - Snow / Fog

Inside Small drifts of snow force themselves between the cracks in the walls. / The clammy chill of fog seeps into the room.

Outside The swirling of blowing snow obscures your vision. / Thick fog blankets your vision.

Flares fired skyward would be rendered useless (or be limited to being visible from a very restricted number of blocks away). A Feeding Groan would not suffer any effects, and Scent Trail would allow a zombie to "see" a survivor on the map (as per normal), even if that survivor is in a map square that would otherwise be obscured by weather (I envision Scent Trail to be some sort of undead ability, not actually related to scent or the sense of smell, hence it's effectiveness in the presence of weather.).

The weather for the next 24 hours is determined randomly at IP-hitcount reset (within the confines of seasons, naturally), and affects the entire city. Edit: The chance for any given weather condition other than "clear/normal" is 10% (i.e., most days will be clear/normal).

A Cure has finally been developed by NecroTech employees, but it is incomplete. It requires an unknown incubation period to become fully functional. Furthermore, it contains the plague virus (much like anti-venom contains venom) and as such is capable of infecting, rather than curing, the entire population of Malton. This makes it very appealing to both Survivors and Undead.

The Cure is housed in an impenetrable, indestructible glass and steel incubator about the size of a microwave oven. It is self-powering and self-maintaining and requires nothing else to operate it. There is no interaction with The Cure beyond carrying it around and keeping it safe. The Cure offers no benefits to the stats or skills of those near it.

It can be moved by Humans, but not Zombies. However, any Zombie that passes within a five block radius of The Cure can "sense" the plague virus within: a weak, consistent pulsing. This happens whether The Cure is indoors or outdoors. Humans can not sense The Cure, (edit) but they can SEE it if it's on the same block/in the same room on account of it being rather bulky and emitting a strange glow. They will also see WHO is holding it.

The only way to force The Cure from somebody is to kill them and take it. The Cure can also be manually dropped. If a person idles out of the game (five days without activity) The Cure drops on the ground in that location. Whole groups can dedicate themselves to the defense of The Cure from enemies or each other, so stealing it will not be so easy. Keeping it stolen will be even harder. Again, this only counts for people who WANT/CHOOSE to play this aspect of the game, so it's not really PKing if they kill each other to gain control of The Cure.

The whole point of this new item is to introduce an element of "Capture the Flag" into Urban Dead. Humans try to keep The Cure out of Zombie hands, and Zombies try to destroy Humans holding The Cure. The Cure acts as a beacon to nearby undead, so it may be dangerous for Humans to have it nearby. On the other hand, since Zombies cannot actively move The Cure around, all they can do is defend it until it is taken again.

Nobody has to care about The Cure if they don't want to, they can keep playing the game normally. It offers a "focused" goal for people who may find randomly attacking others boring. Those players who have maxed out their levels and want a new challenge can make this it. We can have a contest to see which side can defend The Cure the longest, making and breaking records, or individual Humans who can hold The Cure in their possession for the longest durations.

Should Kevan one day decide to bring a final conclusion to this excellent game, that is when The Cure has finished incubating and becomes functional. It may infect or cure the entire city according to whatever factors he deems fit. Perhaps a final war to end all wars between both sides. (Let's hope that day is a long, long way off.) Edit: This idea is tacked on to give The Cure some long-term use, but is definitely not necessary and can be ignored, so please don't vote based on whether or not you like the Cure/Infect finale scenario.

So. Who wants to play CAPTURE THE CURE?