PR Malton

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This page is for the storage of Suggestions that have passed Peer Review and have been considered Good and Worthy Suggestions. To qualify for this page, the Suggestion must fit the following criteria:

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Malton

Malton Events

Gift Giving V2 (xmas special)

Timestamp: Someguy5031 23:09, 2 October 2007 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Humans
Description: Well the season (xmas) is going to roll in sooner or later,and I'm aware that trading is considered bad in the UD game, and I'm inclined to agree. But how about if we're allowed to give people Misc. Items that aren't considered as useful, mainly as a form of gratitude,things such as:

A.beer/wine (1 point hp isn't that big of a deal, also it'd be a reduced form of FAK's)
B.Books/poetry (if the xp is a problem they can either null the xp to 0 or only set it to POETRY BOOKS ONLY).
C.Decorative items(They have no real purpose besides decoration so why not give it to friends as well).

Or D. Crucifixes (which I don't really recommend but just have it in there as a thought, a "what the heck am I supposed to do with this" kinda deal)

To stop people from making you too heavy, you'll either have the option of accepting the gift (from a check box that says "accept all gifts", removing it would reject all gifts), OR players may not give the other person gifts if its over a certain percent, chosen by the player, if not possible a preset percentage like 85%.

I suggest that we insert this idea sometime over the December month, implement it longer if people like it enough, who knows. Also we should find some action for the zombies to give as a form of gratitude... i don't know, i don't want them feeling left out.


Giving items would cost 1 AP, and receiving wouldn't cost 0 or no points (cause we wouldn't want anyone exhausting all your points). Players can also add a message to the present (50 Charachters Max).

Example:
"Random_Player has given you a stuffed animal, "Happy Holidays""
"Al Coholic has given you a beer, "To another year of Survival!""

When trying to give to someone that is too encumbered or will not accept gifts a message would say (this would not remove ap):

"Soandso is not receiving gifts"
OR
"MR.man is too heavy to take items, or is reserving space for more important things"

Notes: 25/34 Keep/Total. Version 1 was considered not descriptive enough.
Left Queue: 21:42, 17 October 2007 (BST)

All-Hallow's Eve

Timestamp: Joe Seeback 21:25, 18 September 2006 (BST)
Type: Event
Scope: All of Malton, for one day.
Description: Halloween night is the evening classically reserved for the Living Dead. In order to reflect the fear that would be inspired on such a day in a town overrun with them, I would suggest that the following changes be in effect any time the server time is 31 October (any year). The changes end once the server shows any other date (in other words, once Halloween is over).

In-game justification: Late at night on October 30th, the air above Malton hummed with the buzzing of dozens of military helicopters, dumping orange powder all over the city (Agent Orange, perhaps) in an apparent attempt to end the outbreak. However, things go horribly wrong; while intended to knock out the zombies, the chemical instead reacts in synergy with their systems and provides them with an incredible burst of speed and power when they are first exposed to it.

1. All zombie movement costs 1 AP (as if the zombie had Lurching Gait, those already with Lurching Gait are unaffected).

2. All zombie attacks against barricades on this night are made with 150% the normal chance of knocking the barricade down.

3. Checks for Headshot flag when a downed zombie stands up are disabled at the beginning of the night (i.e., when the IP reset happens); Headshot is disabled/not available to zombie hunters on October 31; the checks are restored, as is the Headshot ability, when the clock rolls over to November 1. (Basically, zombies don't have to worry about Headshot for this one day, but it comes right back after the day is over).

4. In the face of fighting these "improved zombies," survivors gain 12 XP instead of 10 XP for downing a zed on this night.

I figure now is the time to try to get this peer reviewed in time for Halloween 2006.

Notes: 29/37, Many of the kill/spam voters believed it was overpowered. Many of the voters, including keep voters thought there should be a similiar day for survivors.
  • There was fog and the ability to knock on doors implemented for a single day on 31/10/06, but none of the actual suggested rule changes from this suggestion
  • Was "All-Hallow's Eve (Take 3)".
Left Queue: 07:26, 2 October 2006 (BST)

Crates: Attracted By Flares

Timestamp: 05:18, 4 Jan 2006 (GMT)
Type: Event
Scope: Supply Crates
Description: There have been too many bad supply crate suggestions. Here's (hopefully) a good one.

Overview: There are three variables considered in selecting supply drop locations: The number of zombies outside, the number of flares fired into the sky, and the number of lit houses. Edit for clarity: There is one crate dropped in one suburb, no way to know where in the suburb. The in-suburb-to-total ratios of flares fired, buildings with lights on, and zombies outside are summed up. The bigger that number, the more likely it is that a crate will be dopped in that suburb.

I am suggesting the following: ONE supply crate is to be dropped every X hours at a random lot/street in a suburb (suburb selection mechanism below). The frequency of supply crate drops (that is, the number X) is left up to Kevan. You're welcome to write down numbers in your votes, but none of them will make it into the suggestion body.

Suburb selection mechanism:

  • The following numbers are calculated:
    • ZT - Total number of zombies outside.
    • ZS - Total number of zombies outside in current suburb.
    • FT - Total number of flares fired since last drop.
    • FS - Total number of flares fired since last drop in current suburb.
    • LT - Total number of lit houses.
    • LS - Total number of lit houses in current suburb.
  • For each suburb, PS = FS/FT + LS/LT + ZS/ZT is calculated.
  • The sum of all PS is 3 (number of categories).
  • The probability for the crate to be dropped in a suburb is (PS/3)*100%
Notes: 17/24 Keep/Total.
  • Was "Crate Drops".
Left Queue: 11:39, 19 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Crates: Attracted By Lights

Timestamp: 08:42, 22 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type: balance change/improvement
Scope: Crate appearance %
Description: The new mysterious helicopters should be more likely to drop crates in suburbs with lit buildings and less likely to drop crates in suburbs that have few/none lit buildings. The more/fewer powered buildings in a suburb there are the more/less likely it should be. This makes sense logic-wise as the helicopters would want to drop their care packages in areas that seem inhabited and they would be able to see the lights from the air. But more importantly game-wise it would give generators a purpose to be set up and fueled in any and every building! This way if suvivors want crates they need to put a little bit of work into getting them sent and it makes generators useful for more than just hospitals.
Notes: 26/27 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Chance of Supply Drops Directly Proportional to Number of Lit Buildings".
Left Queue: 13:36, 9 May 2006 (BST)

Fire!

Timestamp: 22:42, 8 Nov 2005 (GMT)
Type: Event
Scope: All
Description: Firemen. Fire Axes. Fire Stations. Apocalypse. Where is the fire?

This concept can be molded by voting suggestions. This event establishes fire as an in-game event. Fires can "start" at the unused power transformers or can be created by individuals. Each building has a damage percentage (0-100) noting how much it is currently damaged by fire. Every time interval (half hour), each flaming building increases in % damage based on the percentage of damage it currently has sustained. In addition, buildings (not cemetaries, streets, etc.) in squares adjacent to a flaming building can catch on fire each time interval based on the percentage of fire in adjacent buildings. Buildings two squares away are affected at a 1/2 percentage chance (so a flame can jump a street, just like in real life).

Certain squares have a higher chance to be set on fire (parks, warehouses), while others have less chance (fire/police stations). Other locations have a natural resistance to having fires being fought (a junkyard fire may take less damage).

Fire can be fought with a fire axe or with different means by adding new equipment that can be found at the fire stations. Firefighters can start with a Firefighting skill to aid them, while others may acquire the skill. Zombies can be set on fire. Those INSIDE a location with fire have their % chance of searching reduced by the % of fire, and also have a % chance per AP of taking 5 HP damage (Firefighting skill or subskills may reduce this to 1 HP).

Like the great Tire Fires that continually burn, fires will not permanently harm buildings, but they render them uninhabitable as long as the % of fire in the building is greater than 0%. Meaning, if there's a fire in the building, put it out before you perform any other action there.

Notes: 8/11 Keep/Total. Generally Accepted. Possible server load issues, and rampant fire might become problem like World of Warcraft plague. Additional weapons to fight fires (fire extinguisher) would be needed.

Fires could be reported on startup screen like flares are (e.g. 'You see smoke rising 2 blocks to the east and 5 blocks to the north').

Left Queue: 18:07, 25 Nov 2005 (GMT)

Malton's Stories

Timestamp: 08:56, 24 June 2006 (BST)
Type: Game events
Scope: Both zombies and survivors
Description: Malton's Stories
  • Introduction

In response to the idea of new objectives or "missions" in the game, Kevan recently wrote:

I've been thinking of something like this, it shouldn't be hard to automate a good range of randomly-generated missions from a stock set of components. Unspecified durations ("be on the dominant side in the Norgan Building when the supply helicopters arrive some time on Thursday") could be an alternative to king-of-the-hill conditions, and would stop people from pouring in during the last few minutes. There's a slight theme problem with how players would find out that these things were happening, though - there could be an otherwise-blocked military/NT radio frequency that announces events, but that's a bit harsh on zombies. Would be good to see some more thoughts on this. --Kevan 03:18, 20 June 2006 (BST)

Here is my suggestion.

  • Story Characters in Malton

At any time during the game, there would be one or two "Stories" running. These would each consist of a nonplayer character with an associated simple backstory and goal. The character would follow a prescripted path (known only to Kevan) across Malton while the "story" was running. When the story was completed, the character would disappear. The path would be precoded - the character would not have AP or anything like that. It's important that the movement of the character would be fast and unpredictable (just like a player), so that many people have the opportunity to participate and so that groups cannot "camp" on a story. Each month, one or two new stories would be announced in the same way as game updates, so that both survivors and zombies are aware of the new story.

At any time, the two sides (zombie and survivor) would each have a way to interact with the character which would move the story forward towards either the success or failure of the character's mission or goal.

When the character's story is completed, there are rewards. All players which interacted with the character (called Story Players) get a Story Badge which goes on their profile page. Each Story Player also gains experience - 100xp for participating on the side that won, or 50xp for participating on the losing side. If you participated on both sides you only get 50 xp (to stop people from "hedging" the outcome of the story).

Obviously all this is a bit vague. Here is an example of a sample story inspired by a suggestion a few days ago.

  • SAMPLE STORY: THE MAYOR OF MALTON

Announcement Flavor Text: The Mayor of Malton has returned from exile and is trying to revive the city's government. However he needs to get to City Hall where some important documents were abandoned during the initial outbreak. Can he make it?

Zombie Goal - Stop the Mayor. If he is killed 30 times before he reaches City Hall, he loses hope and the zombies win. Zombies which damage the Mayor's health are recorded as Story Players for the Zombie side.

Survivor Goal - Help the Mayor by giving him an escort of bodyguards and healers. Survivors who kill a zombie in the same block as the Mayor, or who heal or revivify the Mayor, are recorded as Story Players for the Survivor side. An indirect way to help the mayor is to make sure he can sleep inside (less dangerous!) by only VS-barricading the building he stops in front of each night.

Winning the Story - if the Mayor enters City Hall, the Survivors win. If the Mayor is killed 30 times first, the Zombies win.

Story Badge - "I played a part in the (successful/unsuccessful) return of the Mayor of Malton."

Character Path and Details (known to Kevan only) the Mayor arrives on the city outskirts in Buttonville. Each night he will sleep in a predetermined building in the following suburbs: Dartside, South Blythville, Greentown, Mockridge Heights, Shackleville, Roftwood, Ridleybank. He ends in City Hall, a nondescript building in Ridleybank. While the mayor is travelling, he moves one block every half hour. If his overnight safehouse is too barricaded to get into, he will sleep in the street until it is debarricaded. The Mayor has 50 HP and cannot be Infected. If he's killed, he stands up immediately but does not continue his trip until revived (to 25 HP). The Mayor is always the Mayor, not a survivor or zombie - he is identifiable and targetable whether alive or undead. Kills while undead don't count towards the Zombie victory condition but Zombies can become Story Players in this way.

  • Closing Remarks

As you can see, stories would not be extremely difficult to code (in fact players might volunteer to pseudocode them). The fact that stories are path-based, one-time events allows many players on either side to interact with the story. Additionally this is a good solution to the problem of "camping" the story or swarming in King-of-the-hill situations.

Experience points are a nice reward, in addition to the prestige of collecting many story badges. Finally, the stories themselves are a way to provide new, interesting conflicts between survivors and zombies and add flavor to Malton's history.

This idea is still really only in its developing stages, if you have ideas don't hesitate to bring them up in your votes. Thank you for reading all this!

Notes: 20/25 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is. Some people suggested to have the NPC replaced with an actual human player so their movement is more random.
Left Queue: 07:35, 8 July 2006 (BST)

Monthly Weather

Timestamp: •▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ #nerftemplatedsigs 14:26, 24 April 2007 (BST)
Type: Weather
Scope: Events(plus 1 new item)
Description: Why isn't there any weather in Malton? What I suggest is weather changes at some percentage, depending on the month. Like so:
  • January - Snow(60%), Rain(10%), Sun(30%)
  • February - Snow(45%), Rain(5%), Sun(50%)
  • March - Snow(15%), Rain(45%), Sun(40%)
  • April - Rain(75%), Sun(25%)
  • May - Rain(15%), Sun(85%)
  • June - Rain(5%), Sun(95%)
  • July - Rain(5%), Sun(95%)
  • August - Rain(5%), Sun(95%)
  • September - Rain(30%), Sun(70%)
  • October - Rain(30%), Sun(70%)
  • November - Rain(30%), Sun(70%)
  • December - Snow(85%), Rain(5%), Sun(10%)

The weather will change every 24 hours, sometimes not changing at all.

These weather changes will have some sort of effect on gameplay, like so:

  • Snow - Allows the use of a new weapon: The snowball. It will have a 5% chance to hit, causing 1 point of damage. This weapon can only be used outside.
  • Rain - Lowers your chances of hitting your target with firearms by 1% when outside. Close range meelee weapons are unaffected by this.
  • Sun - No special effect.

To tell what the weather is outside, the description inside and outside the building will be changed. The outside description as so:

  • Snow - "You are standing outside X. Icy snow clings to your legs and chills you to the bone."
  • Rain - "You are standing outside X. It is raining hard, and you are soaked through."
  • Sun - "You are standing outside X. The sun beats down mercilessly, and your throat feels dry and clogged with dust."

The inside description are as so:

  • Snow - "You are inside X. Snow has been blown in through broken windows and melts gently"
  • Rain - "You are inside X. You hear the heavy rain pattering on the roof."
  • Sun - "You are inside X. The heat is stifling. Outside a glaring midday sun hurts your eyes as it reflects of melting tarmac."

Binoculars will also be affected by the weather changes. In rain or snow, the vision will be limited. For example, if you use the binoculars facing north, you will only see the center square and the bottom 3 squares, and vice versa. If being used on a foggy, while facing north, you will only see the bottom center square, and vice versa.

These weather effects will be city wide, so when it's snowing in your suburb, it'll be snowing everywhere else, and vice versa.

NOTE: This is not a complete dupe of this or this. I have much, much, more detail then those (as well as the part where I don't have any footprints things on mine like link number 2...).

Another Note:I noticed I forgot to update the binocs section of this while I was revising. Just ignore the foggy bit under binocs.

Notes: 18/22 Keep/Total.
  • Was "Monthly Weather (revised)"
Left Queue: --~~~~T''' 21:08, 23 August 2007 (BST)

Snow

Timestamp: Uncle Bill 03:55, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
Type: Game event
Scope: Zombies and survivors outside
Description: This would be another weather event, like the fog from Halloween. When it snows, anyone traveling outside would leave footprints in the snow. The next person to enter that square would see a the message "A set of footprints in the snow lead to the (direction)." You wouldn't be able to tell if the tracks belonged to a human or a zombie, and only the most recent footprints would be visible. If the person leaving footprints enters a building, the message would change to "A set of footprints leads to the front door." Footprints in the snow would "time out" after a specified period of time.
Notes: 24/24 Keep/Total, 100% in favour.
Left Queue: 10:59, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Undead Colossus

Timestamp: 08:36, 20 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type: Classe
Scope: Zombies, Game
Description: I was very pleased to see that many people supported my Necrotherium suggestion. With their comments in mind, here is a revision of that idea?hopefully it is complete and balanced (and fun!) enough to warrant acceptance. You can find the original suggestion here.

The Horror, the Horror

The zombie germ has mutated.

During the several months of the Malton Quarantine, the virus has run virtually unchecked through thousands of subjects. As many of the NecroTech scientists expected (and as a certain few hoped), the repeated cycle of infection and revivification has reshaped the genetic profile the disease. Reports have come in about zombies reacting violently to syringes, and several dedicated scientists have vanished without a trace. Buildings have begun to exhibit weird markings, as if rent by monstrous claws. The streets are strangely empty of corpse and man.

In the wasteland that is Malton, a thunderous bellow echoes through the fog. Something terrible this way comes.

Transformation

Any Brain Rot zombie stuck with a revivification syringe has a 1 in 200 chance of transforming into a Horror. The change is instantaneous, though the zombie loses all its HP and must Stand Up to play as a Horror. There will be a cap on the number of Horrors that may exist at one time; I say 20 is a fair cap. A transformed zombie waiting to Stand Up as a Horror still counts as one. If the zombie goes inactive before it can Stand Up, it loses the Horror "tag" and becomes a regular corpse (though still a zombie).

General Mechanics & Combat

The Horror has lost much of its sensory capability during the transformation, and as such cannot distinguish between survivor and zombie??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 Horror player. When attacking, there will be no dropdown list, just an ATTACK option. All Meatsacks net the same amount of XP, regardless of whether they are Survivor or Zombie. Other players will only see it as "Horror", since it has mutated beyond recognition. Also, the Horror would have little perception of its environment??all locations would be seen as "A building" or "An open space". These rules prevent the Horror player from coordinating with other players, such as a zombie horde. The Horror must be on its own.

Because of its increased mass, the Horror a maximum of 250 HP. It is immune to infection, and revivification, and cannot be healed by FAKs, or use Digestion or items (including any flak jacket defense). When attacking, the Horror attempts to hit three different targets (one for each claw and one for jaws), meaning that each time a Horror attacks, three different players may be injured. If the Horror attacks just one player, it can only do one limb's worth of damage (randomly chosen, though only a Bite or a Claw attack).

For example, a lvl 1 Horror enters a street containing six Meatsacks A-F. It attacks. This is what happens in one turn (assuming the Horror connects each time). Phrases in italics will not show up in-game.

  • You attack a Meatsack (A) for 2 damage (A Horror attacked you for 2 damage)
  • You attack a Meatsack (B) for 2 damage (A Horror attacked you for 2 damage)
  • You attack a Meatsack (C) for 4 damage (A Horror attacked you for 4 damage)

If the Horror attacks again, it will target these same three Meatsacks over and over until they die or leave the block. Then it will go for Meatsack D, E, and so on. The order of the Meatsacks is randomly determined when the Horror enters the block (or is determined the same way zombies are stacked).

The hit percentages and damage caused by these attacks are carried over from the skills of the original zombie. If a Horror is killed, it loses all its XP and degenerates back into a corpse, becoming a regular zombie again. The zombie retains the skills it gained as a Horror but is unable to use them until it is transformed again (unlikely). A non-Horror player that kills one receives 3x the XP it would have gained from a regular enemy kill. OR, if everyone feels it is more fair (and it isn't hell to program), possibly the player might retain (or receive, after losing all XP) a certain amount of XP for every Horror skill it gained. That would reward the player for being a good Horror but not turn the whole thing into an XP farm.

A Horror will 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"). Possibly it might roar during its "birth" and "death" for effect.

Buildings

The Horror cannot enter most buildings, as its bulk keeps it from using all but the largest of entrances. It is unable to attack the barricades of any building it cannot enter. A random sample of 1/5 to 1/6 of all the buildings in Malton will receive an extra programming tag designating that a Horror may enter that building. Quadrants of Malls and Mansions will be consider separate buildings in this instance??as such it may be the case that a Horror can enter the North-Eastern block of a Mall but not the North-Western one. Once a Horror comes across such a building, the flavor text lets it know this is so. Doors have absolutely no effect of the Horror, and the building is designated "wide-open" after it enters. If the building it wants to enter is barricaded, it attacks the barricades with the same success rate as a survivor with a crowbar (or in any case, better than a fully leveled zombie) and causes them to collapse by 2 units instead of 1.

Clash of the Titans

The sole exception to these rules is the presence of another Horror. Since the Horror is essentially a beast, it is extremely territorial and will defend its turf against others of its kind. As such, it is able to distinguish other Horrors from Meatsacks, and is given a dropdown list when encountering one (or more). When a Horror attacks another, all of its attacks are employed (meaning it attacks the single enemy Horror with all of its Claw, Bite, and Tentacle attacks). It may attack only one Horror at a time. If Horror A kills Horror B, and the B has 2 or more skills that the A does not have, the A gains 2 of these skills in lieu of the XP kill bonus. If B has no skills A doesn't have, A receives 3x the normal XP kill bonus.

Skills

The zombie skills that carry over into Horror play are:

  • Vigour Mortis Tree
  • Lurching Gait Tree

All other skills have no effect until the Horror becomes a zombie again.

Once a zombie becomes a Horror, it loses access to the old Zombie skill set (like when being revivified into a survivor) but gains the new Horror skill set (all skills in italics are just ideas and not essential). Each of the following skills costs 175 XP (or whatever Kevan thinks is fair):


PREDATION TREE

  • Sprout Tentacle: Gains a fourth simultaneous attack, treated as "Tentacle", dealing 2 DMG with 30% to hit.
    • Extra Mouth: Gains a second Bite attack.
      • Ravening Maw: Bite attacks deal an extra 2 damage.
    • Extra Tentacle: Gains a second Tentacle attack.
      • Deformed Appendages: Claw and Tentacle attacks deal an extra 1 damage.


METASTASIS TREE

  • Reconstitution: Player regains 3 Hit Points every half hour.
    • Terrible Growth: Player has a maximum of 275 Hit points instead of 250.
      • Abominable Growth: Player has a maximum of 300 Hit Points instead of 275.


INSTINCT TREE

  • Lair Sense: Player can identify buildings capable of Horror-entry on the mini-map.
    • Destructive Purpose: Successful attacks on barricades cause them to collapse by 3 units instead of 2.
Notes: 20/28 Keep/Total.
  • Concerns:
    • Pro: It is so awesome ? It encourages Brain Rot
    • Con: It's a zombie-killer ? It needs some way to heal (possibly retain Digestion) ? It should be able to enter all big buildings and those with large doorways (game logic) ? Hard to reprogram 1/5 of the buildings ? Map should remain colored ? Player might retain a fraction of XP when killed
  • Was "Horror (Undead Colossus)".
Left Queue: 03:00, 22 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Weather

Timestamp: 12:08, 21 April 2006 (BST)
Type: Event/improvement
Scope: Everyone
Description: "You look out of the window of your safehouse, it's raining once again in Malton". This only really effects characters that are outside. This limits the amount of what a player is able to see due to weather conditions. What it does is only show the blocks name surrounding your block. So that means you can't see Zombies/Survivors on any adjacent blocks when it's raining or whatever. You will however still be able to see everything as normal on your block. This would add an interesting element to the game as you wouldn't know wether or not the block you are running onto is going to be safe or if there are any Zombies to kill.


For flavour purposes there would be several different types of weather. Each one with their own flavour text to let the player know what the conditions are like.

Rain (5% chance)
Inside - Rain steadily beats down on the rooftop.
Outside - A downpour streams from the sky obscuring your line of sight.
Fog (3% chance)
Inside - The cold depths of the fog can be felt from inside.
Outside - A thick blanket of fog makes it impossible to see beyond the block.
Snow (2% chance)
Inside - Whirls of wind force snow in between the cracks of the walls.
Outside - The snow falls thickly blocking your vision.

Flares would also be impacted upon by only being visible from 7 blocks away as well. This makes sense because the visiable range of them would be severly reduced from the weather. However everything else would remain un-affected.

The weather would be randomly chosen at the IP hit reset. The chance for clear/normal weather would be 90%. When there is clear weather visibility would be as normal.

This is not a dupe of this as I have reworked it a little bit. Note, I am not the Author of the original idea if anyone was wondering but I am alowed to rework it and submit it again.

Notes: 18/27 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is. Some people disliked the idea of visual effects. Some people also pointed out that newbies would be hurt most by this as it hid potential targets. However it was pointed out that it would only occur once every 10 days. Posiable improvements include:
  • Different odds for different seasons
  • Graphics depicting the weather conditions on surrounding squares
  • One of the effects only shows "X figgures" where X is a number less then the total amount of characters in a square

This was partially implemented with fog appearing on 31/10/06

Left Queue: 09:27, 21 June 2006 (BST)

Malton Permanent

Better Location Descriptions

Timestamp: 14:42 22 Dec 2005 (EST)
Type: Game Detail
Scope: Game Location Descriptions
Description: Remember the Infocom series? Zork, Infidel, Deadline...the great writing powered those games, breathed life into them. I think the unique and detailed descriptions of the environments and characters are what make text-based gameplay truly immersive. I love reading the descriptions people create for themselves. I'm tired of everywhere I go reading minor variations on the theme of: "A fire-damaged red-brick building surrounded by a large paved plaza. The building's doors have been left wide open." What about: "Built in 1938, the Cambridge Cinema was Malton's most famous independant cinema. The art deco facade is now illuminated only by several smoldering SUVs and a dumpster fire." I don't know, I just came up with that on the fly. Just a little flavor, is what I'm suggesting. Maybe implemented in small pieces, in different pockets of the city. Let's give Malton a story!
Notes: 14/17 Keep/Total. Voters suggested that they could provide flavor text instead of it all being done by Kevan.
Left Queue: 13:46, 9 May 2006 (BST)

Day Cycle

Timestamp: 22:35, 19 Nov 2005 (GMT)
Type: Game event
Scope: All
Description: This had been suggested before this page was revamped. The game should have a day/night cycle. The day favours humans, and night favours zombies. My idea involves only visibility, but more ideas welcome: when in your favoured part of the cycle, you see people around you in adjacent blocks, as you do now; however, when not (ie. human at night), you walk the streets and see only what's on your block, as if you were inside.

Since people play this game around the world, some timezones would prevent you from playing on your favourite part of the day. So, I suggest the game day actually takes two real-life days. It's even simplier to code that way: when the IP server reloads, it toggles day/night game status.

I can even see skills to bypass this visibility issue, but that's discussion for after this has been voted.

Update Many people are having trouble with my idea for the cycle length: ideally, I think the day should last 24 real life hours, and the night another 24 real life hours, for a total 48 real-life hour cycle. That way, if you can only play at one time of the day, you will still get both "times of the day" gamewise. And since the week is 7 days long, even if you can play only weekends, it will still be a weekend of day and one weekend of night.

Notes: 19/21 Keep/Total. Wow. 90% favorable.
  • One negative was due to time cycle misinterpretation, I don't want same cycle every time I log in!.
  • Change cycle to 5hrs night (favor: zombies), 5hrs dawn (equal), 5hrs day (favor: survivors), 5 hrs dusk (equal).
  • Add variations in: Visibility, Hit rates for ranged weapons, perhaps Search rates.
  • Add items to counter night: flashlights and nightvision goggles.
  • 20 day cycle total, so the day rotates for all players at same time each day.
  • Full day being 48 hours long is a damn fine idea.
  • If characters are active only during their favored time periods, players will be able to play roughly twice as many characters (zombies one night, survivors the next).
Left Queue: 19:44, 4 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Fallback

Timestamp: 22:27, 2 October 2006 (BST)
Type: New Suburbs
Scope: Malton.
Description: The cordon around the city has always been precarious, with frequent zombie and survivor breakouts. The military have decided to pull back to a purpose built security wall, beyond the south-eastern industrial zone and the north-western green belt. NecroTech scientists applaud the decision, keen to observe zombie behaviour in various urban and rural landscapes.


Key Addition:

44 New "Suburbs", expanding evenly on all sides of the current map.

  • These suburbs represent the heavily industrialised zone of south-east Malton, and the north-west green belt, made up of fields, farms and a few outlying villages and hamlets.
  • Additionally, remains of the original military cordon include watch-towers, bunker complexes and NecroTech facilities.
  • Many buildings in the green belt would distinctly not be connected to the Malton Free Running network, although they may be part of their own, smaller networks.


Current Locations: Industrial Zone

Of the existing locations, only the following could exist in the industrial zone:

  • power station, wasteland, auto repair shop, arms, fire station, junkyard, police department, railway station, warehouse, factory, carpark, street, fort/armoury (ie there could be a third), building (representing offices), NecroTech building, monument, hospital.
  • Additionally, both the 2-square power station and mall (that currently exist on the eastern border of Malton) may be expanded to 4 squares.


Current Locations: Green Belt

Of the existing locations, only the following could exist in the green belt:

  • mansion, arms, bank, church, fire station, hospital, police department, school, carpark, cemetery, monument, park, street.


Illustrative New Industrial Zone Locations

  • Cordoned Street: Max VS 'cades. Anyone can attack through the 'cades in either direction, with any weapon type (n% reduced chance to hit), non-powerable, no items, no door. Represents anti-pedestrian military construction: concrete blocks, barbed wire etc.
  • Prisons, as per the Peer Reviewed suggestion. (I know one shouldn't link suggestions, but in this case I think an exception is reasonable.)
  • Malton Airport:
    • Terminal: large building acts as Mall, but does not have a Gun Store or a Hardware Store, and the Tech Store does not have a radio transmitter.
    • Control Tower: single building; allows binocular use; items: radio transmitter, portable generator, binoculars, flare gun.
    • Runway: open location


Illustrative New Green Belt Locations

  • Field: acts as street / park
  • Reservoir: Survivors with Body Building and Zombies with Lurching Gait can enter this square at a cost of 4AP. (Combat, revives, DNA extraction, healing and so on: presumed to happen on shoreline, small island, whatever.) Idea that a map could create a reservoir either as a movement barrier, or with an island in the middle - as a prestige location.
  • Observation Tower: Max. VS 'cades; binocular use; door; max. internal pop. 5 (+5 zombies); tall building (suicide); items: Flare Gun, Binoculars, Radio. (You can't 'cade a tower much, and there's not much room in it: you'd get a message - can't enter - overcrowded.)
  • Water Tower: Max. VS 'cades; binocular use; door; max. internal pop. 10 (+10 zombies). (You can't 'cade a tower much, and there's not much room in it.)
  • Military Compound: No doors; initially padlocked shut (wirecutters to open); items: Pistol, Flare Gun, Pistol Clips, Flak Jacket, Fuel Can, Portable Generator, Radio, Radio Transmitter.
  • NecroTech Compound: No doors; initially padlocked shut (wirecutters to open); items: DNA Extractor, First Aid Kit, GPS Unit, NecroTech Revivification Syringe; no NecroNet, but has syringe manufacture and revivication of a brain rot zombie if powered.
  • Farm: Beer, Wine, Book, Wirecutters, Crowbar, Length of Pipe, Kitchen Knife, Shotgun, Shotgun Shells, Fuel Can, Portable Generator.
  • Suburban Housing: Book, Newspaper, Baseball Bat, Kitchen Knife, Mobile Phone. (All booze taken during military occupation.)
  • Bunker Complex: Allows firing through 'cades if at VSB or less (n% reduced chance to hit, must be a firearm); always shows population outside building (viewports: this square only); always surrounded on eight sides by open locations; items: Pistol, Shotgun, Shotgun Shells, Pistol Clips.
  • Malton University (tbc).


Gameplay Issues

  • GPS co-ordinates would have a new range from (-10,-10) to (109,109). In other words, (0,0) would not move and would still be in the top left square of Dakerstown. That is the start of Malton proper, with the green-belt to the north and west. (The alternative is to re-write loads of pages on the wiki - not a nice prospect.)
  • Roleplay: Set yourself up in the countryside, running a local shop for local zombies. Expand your mind at Malton University, or try to get a flight out of this hellhole at Malton airport.
  • Naming issues: it doesn't make much sense to name fields, so some of the landscape might be a little monotonous.
  • Meta-Roleplay: it's been suggested that an implementation of the The Underworld could explain how zombies and survivors had broken through the cordon (via the sewers and subway tunnels) and forced an organised military retreat and regroup, but hey, you wouldn't catch me linking suggestions (much).


Concept Art

  • The grey line indicates the industrial zone, an expansion of the city of Malton.
  • The green line indicates the green belt of the city of Malton.

MaltonBeltM.jpg


Author Credits: Funt Solo, Gene Splicer (with thanks to Marie & Xoid).

Disclaimer: Please consider the finer details (the new buildings and exactly how they work) as illustrative ideas, rather than a concrete part of the suggestion. It's clear that on the slim chance this is ever implemented that [he whose name must not be spaketh] would pick and choose the groovy from the nerf-worthy.

Notes: 19/26 Keep/Total. (73%) Those against felt that the city was large enough already, in the most part.
Left Queue: 22:30, 16 October 2006 (BST)

The Malton Wall

Timestamp: Certified=InsaneQuébécois 01:06, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
Type: Flavour
Scope: Edges of Malton
Description: It has come to my attention that when you reach the limits of the town, the game just stops displaying blocks of where the exterior of the town would be. I am suggesting that when you are on the edge of the city, it would instead show "A wall" or "The quarantine wall" or something of the like.
New Auto Repair

West Boundwood [37,0]

The Wall The Wall The Wall
Club Lenton New Auto Repair Madill Towers
Lavor Park Pyncombes Plaza Gapper Street

This would add flavour, and would have the minor benefit of removing some confusion beeing on the edges can cause to newbs who wounder why there are missing squares in their map and in which one they are. It would also add to the quarantine feel, sortof like a Berlin wall, that was meant to keep people inside. Now and then he could add "military personnel" on the wall square, but that wouldn't change anything. You obviously wouldn't be able to acess those squares. It would look somewhat like this: (Of course, I used the 9 block template, but in-game you would not see the header you see on the template)

Oh yeah, added note (doesn't really change anything), but for flavor, here and there the text would be different, such as squares that would say "A tower" or "A fortified tower", as well as others that could say "Heavy Iron Doors" or the like. It's mainly for flavor, but if Kevan ever wants to expand the city well the different structures of the wall could serve different purpouses, but this suggestion is purely for flavor, nothing else (I know you ain't suppsosed to edit a suggestion once submitted, but this is minor, and it doesn't change anything, it's still purely flavour)

Notes: 22/23 Keep/Total (96%). Well accepted as is.
Left Queue: 12:46, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

A River Runs Through It

Timestamp: 18:20, 29 September 2006 (BST)
Type: Map Alteration / New Locations
Scope: Malton
Description: A river, crossed by various bridges, runs from one side of Malton to the other, cutting the city in two.
  • New Location Type: River - can only be entered by humans with Body Building or zombies with Lurching Gait, and it costs 4AP - this is to indicate swimming across the river.
  • New Location Type: Bridge (acts as Street, normal AP cost).
  • Map alteration: The river squares would run in a meandering but uninterrupted (except by the occasional bridge square) course across Malton, from east to west, mostly through the central line 'burbs.
  • Roleplay: "I'm with the North-Side Skunks - let's murder those south-side punks!"
  • Obvious roleplay downside: The map would be redrawn, and some buildings demolished. Doublethink required to pretend that it was always like this.
  • Obvious gameplay downside: If you disallow combat in a river square, then it would become a place of immunity, in which characters could tread water without fear of attack. Therefore, actions must be allowed as normal in the river - including combat, revives and DNA scans.
  • Plea: spam me gently.

Concept art:

River.jpg

Notes: 29/38 Keep/Total. Those against claimed there was no logical way to explain it. Those for claimed that "it has always been here". Many felt that the river should follow a more diverse course than shown.
Left Queue: 19:53, 13 October 2006 (BST)

Scavenger Birds

Timestamp: MrAushvitz Canadianflag-sm.jpg 18:37, 14 October 2006 (BST)
Type: New Outdoors Location Feature
Scope: Outdoor locations that contain at least 75 bodies are visible from a distance with a W as having hundreds of scavenger birds circling above them
Description: I actually had to do some reasearch on this sucker! How many dead bodies does it take for a seriously large flock of scavenger birds to show up? Primarily crows, ravens and even seagulls are the birds most likely to feed on the bodies of any dead animals (including even humans.) Depending on where Malton is, other birds may be available (like Vultures in Africa.) But regardless of Malton's actual geography, a free meal is a free meal, and if there's enough meat on the ground the scavengers best suited to swoop down, eat all they can, and fly off before zombies can get them are for the birds!

Flocks Of Scavenger Birds:

Any outdoors location that contains at least 75 bodies will have an itallic W on that location's map. This means there is a very large number of scavenger birds visible overhead even from a distance. This location feature can be seen on the map even from a distance, including the use of binoculars.

While at the outdoors location, there is an addition to the building's outdoor description to reflect all the birds. There is a massive flock of scavenger birds circling overhead, many of them can be seen picking over the dead bodies.

It may seem insignificant, but the presence of a lot of dead bodies will undoubtedly attract hordes of scavenger birds. Many may argue against this, but meat is meat, and nature doesn't waste what it can use. Animals may fear the living dead.. but dead bodies are fair game to be pecked over as much as possible, if those bodies start to get up... the birds take flight.. for a while.

It does add a definate feel to Malton, dead bodies have been found all over the city for over a year now. It stands to reason that this city has probably almost a million carrion birds hanging out on the rooftops, looking for a decent sized battlefield to pick over.

As a game mechanic this does hold potential for wandering zombies to be attracted to what may have been a recent slaughter, or an ongoing seige outside a particular building. The 75+ body count is a reasonably high number, due to the minimum number of birds required (a murder of crows, actual name) to be easily visible from a distance usually must be near 250+ birds or more in total (several birds per body, half of them in the air and half of them on the ground at any given point and time, and all that noise!)

Could help newbie zombies swarm up, and survivors with binoculars can see the aftermath of large scale seiges.

But overall it would be an infrequent thing, 75+ bodies at the same location is usually reserved for malls under seige.. but not always.

Notes: 10/15 Keep/Total. (66%) The no voters thought this simply repeated Scent Death. The yes voters thought this would also be useful for survivors and general flavour.
Left Queue: 00:47, 29 October 2006 (BST)

Subway Tunnels

Timestamp: 16:51, 14 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Everyone
Description: Original idea:

Train station tunnels would have underground passages leading to one another. There would be set directions to get from one station to the next (perhaps the large map of the city could be updated to show these paths). On the in-game map you would see just the buildings you can pass under. All other buildings would be shaded out.

Generators could be set up in a station that would power the lights within the tunnel. Each generator would power the neighborhood subway lighting system (or certain number of surrounding blocks). There would be some kind of indicator when you go into the tunnel to show how much energy is left for the lights (“The lights are at 100%”, “The lights are at 50%.”, etc.). When the lights go out, the in-game map goes black, except for N, S, E, and W indicators. You wouldn’t even be able to see if there were other players around you except, perhaps, by sound. The player could still move but this would force both zombie and survivor classes to diligently take note of where they are and be able to get themselves out using the city map or guessing (“You move further into the tunnel.”, “You’ve bumped against a wall.”). Since there would be, essentially, only two directions you could end up, through trial and error or map reading ability, a player could eventually find their way out.

Zombies with Scent Trail would be able to traverse the tunnels in complete darkness, as their maps would not go black. I would suggest that an equal survivor skill or a flashlight be created so survivors wouldn’t get totally stuck in the dark.

The Tweak:

?Recent files found in various NecroTech buildings have alluded to a partnership between the Military and NecroTech. According to these papers, both organizations knew that an outbreak was inevitable and a series of contingency plans were established. One such plan was the construction of underground NecroTech/Military safe houses accessible only through various subway tunnels.?

Although there may be multiple subways tunnels in each neighborhood, only one subway tunnel (per neighborhood) would contain a safe house. These safe houses would allow players to find any of the following: weapons, ammo, flak jackets, flare guns, GPS units, first aid kits, syringes and DNA Extractors. Also housed there would be a NecroNet computer, the only place in Malton to find such a device.

The door to the safe house may be barricaded but the actual tunnel could not. If the door were heavily barricaded, there would be no possible way to get in without breaking it down (even if you have Free Running).

(NOTE: Search percentage removed due to peer suggestion.)

Notes: 14/16 Keep
Left Queue: 16:47, 22 Jan 2006 (GMT) (A bit late...)

The Underworld

Timestamp: 23:42, 6 September 2006 (BST)
Type: New Level
Scope: Urban Dead
Description: An entire subterranean level of Malton.

The Pitch #1 (role-playing) A wounded zombie, battered and confused, climbs into the crypt beneath a cemetery to gnaw on grisly bones, whilst it's brethren stumble through the sewers in search of fresher meat, unperturbed by disease and the choking stench. Survivors, desperate to escape the slaughter and madness in the city above, hide out in old emergency sub-stations, built to power Malton's half-built nuclear shelters.

The Pitch #2 (game-playing) There are more survivors than zombies (54:46). A common complaint is the zombies don't get enough love in terms of new and exciting ways to play the game, or that being a zombie is somehow considered losing. Part of the idea in introducing this suggestion was to help redress the balance. The Underworld has been designed as a location in which zombies, not survivors, have a natural tactical advantage (but not a game-killing one).


New Underworld Rules

Movement
  • Movement is according to the normal UD rules.
  • Impassable Locations: one key addition is that of squares that nobody can move through. Solid rock, essentially. The ratio of impassable : passable locations would be decided at a later design stage.
Entry / exit
  • If you are in a city square that has an entry to the Underworld, it will say so in the description (e.g. "You see stairs leading down to a sub-basement" or "There is a manhole cover in the street"), whether you're inside or outside of any building. There will be a special button allowing you to enter the Underworld (e.g. "Go down the stairs"). The same is true for exiting the Underworld.
  • It is possible that there be an Underworld location below a city location, but no entry/exit point. (E.g. a subway tunnel passing beneath a building.) How many squares per suburb allow entry/exit would be decided during a later design stage. (It would be several, to avoid choke/swarm points, as we have currently with Malls and Armourys.)
  • Whether the Underworld network be fully connected would be decided during a later design phase. (e.g. the current Free Running network has a few blocks that are not connected.)
  • You do not see what kind of Underworld location it is before you enter but you can get a clue from the Underworld Locations rules presented below. Only certain locations exist beneath certain buildings. (The opposite is also true: you do not see what kind of city square you're going to when you exit the Underworld.) This lack of knowledge would only last as long as it takes for someone to publish an online map.
  • Because you can't see the location before you go there, you also can't see what's down there in terms of survivors and zombies. This is the same as exiting a building.
  • It is possible to exit a heavily barricaded building into a non-building location, when entering or exiting the Underworld (as per the current rules).
  • In all other ways, this is just as if you'd clicked on a neighboring building under the current rules (vis-à-vis Free Running et al).
Visibility
You can always see the type of location you are in, and the type of the surrounding 8 locations. Further, you can always see an exit to ground level, if one is there.
  • You can only see survivors, zombies, barricades, doors, bodies and generators in your current location if:
    • it's powered (either by a generator or a substation: see Locations, below).
    • you're a survivor with a Flashlight (see New Item, below).
    • you're a zombie with Night-Vision (see New Skills, below).
    • you're a survivor that just fired a Flare Gun. (Subsequent IP-hit hides everything again.)
  • If you can't see, you can't attack (survivors, zombies, barricades, generators – whatever) or attempt to enter or exit buildings (except exiting by clicking on a neighbouring open location), or close doors, or repair a ransacked location, or search. In fact, all you can do is move to another location or, if there's an exit to ground level, you can take it.
  • You can only see survivors and zombies in adjacent locations if:
    • it's powered (either by a generator or a substation: see Locations, below).
    • you're a zombie with Night-Vision (see New Zombie Skill, below).
  • Locations for which you do not have visibility will be greyed out (ie you can still see the type of location, but there will be a graphical indication that you can't see there.)
  • This gives zombies a clear tactical advantage in the Underworld, as long as they have Night-Vision: they can always see what's going on around them. Survivors, without a Flashlight or a Flare Gun, and in an area that isn't powered, are effectively blind. This has been done on purpose – the Underworld, as you'd expect, is somewhere where the undead flourish, and survivors need to be well organized and equipped to handle the dangers. Having said that, there are only two locations (crypts and caverns, detailed below) that can never have powered lighting - so in most areas of the Underworld, as long as survivors keep the lights going, it's still an even playing field.
Effects on existing items
  • Several underground locations will initially be padlocked shut and require the use of wirecutters to enter. (Details under Underworld Locations, below.)
  • Flare Guns, if fired into the air, will only be seen within a 1-block radius.
  • GPS doesn't work, and shows as (-.-), or (0,0).
  • NecroNet Scans don't penetrate.
  • Mobile Phones don't receive signals.
  • Radio doesn't operate, and Radio Transmitters cannot be setup in buildings.
  • Binoculars are useless, as there are no tall buildings.
Effects on existing skills
  • Scent Trail works as given, with an indication of whether the prey is above or below ground.
  • Scent Death works as given, with an indication of whether the group is above or below ground.
  • Feeding Groan does not penetrate from above ground to below ground or vice versa.


Underworld Locations Where a location may or may not have an entry/exit point from above ground, "none" is given as one of the options under "possible entry points" (see below).

Buildings
As above ground, buildings can be barricaded, ransacked / repaired and powered with portable generators. Unless noted otherwise, buildings have closeable doors and a chance (suggestions given below) of initially being padlocked, requiring wirecutters to open.
  • Subway Station
    • Possible entry points: Railway Station (Padlocked: 10%; Tagging: +2XP)
  • Power Substation
    • Possible entry points: Building, Towers, Factory (Padlocked: 50%; Tagging: +1XP)
    • Special Rules:
      • Must have one only per suburb. Large Building. Always takes up two squares.
      • If one square is given a generator, then that square is lit, as normal.
      • If both squares are given a generator, then the emergency lighting is switched on for this entire suburb of the Underworld. That turns on lights in underground carparks, all three tunnel types (subway, sewage and utility) and Nuclear Bunkers, as long as those locations are not ransacked. This is the only way to provide lighting for those locations (except for the Nuclear Bunker).
      • Emergency lighting doubles the rate of fuel consumption by both the Power Substation squares.
  • Sewage Plant
    • Possible entry points: Street, Carpark, Junkyard, Wasteland. (Padlocked: 25%)
    • Special Rules:
      • Must have one per suburb.
      • If ransacked, makes subway tunnels in this suburb behave as sewage tunnels (i.e. sewage starts seeping into the subway system).
  • NecroTech Safehouse
    • Possible entry points: none. (Padlocked: 90%)
    • Special Rules:
      • UV Scanner: If the Safehouse has a running Generator, and a survivor has NecroNet Access, clicking this location-specific button will bring up a view of the 9-cell neighbourhood (i.e. 1-square radius) centred on the Safehouse. Numbers of zombies and survivors will be displayed (but not those inside buildings). For role-playing purposes, this is a surveillance system built to monitor the approaches to the Safehouse. The system has difficulty distinguishing multiple signals: if there are more than 5 zombies or survivors, the numbers show as "5+". (E.g. "3 humans, 5+ zombies".)
      • As yet undefined New Item should be unique to this location - something to encourage survivors.
  • Secure Vault
    • Possible entry points: Mansion, Bank. (Padlocked: 90%)
    • Special Rules: Easier to barricade up than other buildings.
  • Cellar
    • Possible entry points: Mansion, Pub. (Padlocked: 10%)
    • Special Rules: Homebrew - beer or wine drunk here provides an additional +1HP. (Silly rule, I know.)
  • Sub-Basement
    • Possible entry points: Mall, Power Station, Building, Cinema, Club, Factory, Fire Station, Hospital, Hotel, Library, Museum, NecroTech Building, Police Department, Tower. (Padlocked: 10%)
  • Nuclear Bunker
    • Possible entry points: none, Building, Library, Museum, Tower, School. (Tagging: +1XP)
    • Search items: Flashlight (+ maximum of 1 other item). +
    • Special Rules:
      • This building is never padlocked, and the heavy bunker doors are initially open, and cannot be closed by hand (see below).
      • Barricading this bunker is difficult due to the spartan, secure design: they cannot be barricaded past Quite Strongly.
      • If powered by a Portable Generator, that only provides lighting. (The other systems of the Nuclear Bunker are tied to dedicated circuits - linked to the local suburb Power Substation - and cannot be accessed by survivors. Typically poor thinking by the city planners.)
      • If the suburb's Power Substation (see above) is fully powered, the following special rules apply (as long as the building is not ransacked):
        • Emergency lighting remains on, even if there is no Portable Generator running.
        • Allows bonus +5HP in use of a FAK (as for a Hospital: the Bunker has a full medical facility).
        • Bunker doors become active:
          • A toggle button will allow any survivor inside the building to open or close the bunker doors.
          • Whenever the bunker doors close, they destroy the barricades compeletely.
          • While the doors are closed, nothing can get in or out - dumping bodies doesn't work, either.
          • As a failsafe, if the bunker is unpowered (i.e. the substation powering it is shut down) while the door is closed, it automatically opens.


Open Areas
As above ground, open areas cannot be barricaded, or powered with portable generators. However, the first four locations here (the carpark and three tunnel types) can have emergency lighting provided by the suburb's Power Substation (see above), and can also be ransacked and repaired to enable / disable the lighting. Caverns and Crypts never have lighting, and cannot be ransacked.
  • Underground Carpark
    • Possible entry points: Hotel, Carpark, Stadium
  • Subway Tunnel
    • Possible entry points: none, Street
  • Sewage Tunnel
    • Possible entry points: none, Street, Wasteland, Junkyard
    • Special Rules: Survivors must spend 2AP to move into any sewage tunnel square, due to the noxious atmosphere.
  • Utility Tunnel
    • Possible entry points: none, plus any except Fort / Armoury, Zoo, Monument, Park.
  • Natural Cavern
    • Possible entry points: none
  • Crypt
    • Possible entry points: none, Cathedral, Cemetery, Church, Mansion +
    • Special Rules: Zombies can "Gorge On Remains" (a special button for this location only) if they have Digestion – gives 10% chance of +1HP per AP spent.


Squares which have no potential entry points to the Underworld (on purpose):
  • Fort / Armoury
  • Zoo
  • Monument
  • Park


New Skills

Zombie Skill: Night-Vision
Prerequisites: Level 10
Allows a zombie to see in the Underworld as they do above ground, regardless of any lighting. This is a standalone skill that doesn't sit neatly within the other branches of the zombie skill tree. The prerequisite reflects that this is a mutation that can only occur after some time as a zombie. Has no effect for a survivor.


New Items

Flashlight
Inventory: 1 space
Locations: NecroTech Safehouse (?%), Nuclear Shelter (?%), Sub-Basement (?%), Cinema (?%), Mall Hardware Store (?%) [More..?]
Effect: Allows a survivor to see in an unlit Underworld location. The batteries in the Flashlight eventually run out, and may be old to begin with: every AP spent in an unlit location, there is a 5% chance for the Flashlight to be rendered useless (and disappear from the inventory with an accompanying message.) Has no effect above ground.


Implementation

Beta Version
As this suggestion would be a major addition to the game, and could have a massive impact on the meta-game, it would be too risky to implement the entire Underworld under all 100 suburbs at the same time. Therefore, it should first be implemented beneath a single suburb as a beta version, in order that further study can be done on the impact it has on the game. (This can be role-played as survivors and zombies slowly discovering entrances that were previously hidden, locked, blocked or simply left undisturbed during the crisis.)
Shortcuts
In designing the map, it would be possible to link two city level locations by a faster Free Running route than is currently available, thus creating a shortcut for survivors. Further, there is the possibility of linking buildings that are currently not on the Free Running network, back in.
Survivor Incentives
The key concern of most players is that a survivor would need some positive incentive (beyond scouting and defence) to venture into the Underworld. To an extent, that's also true of venturing into the street, but with this, there's the added danger of being left in the dark. Natural incentives such as zombie hunting, suburb control, secret bases and short-cuts may come naturally from the geography. In addition, ideas such as higher search rates for particular items, or new items unique to the Underworld are possibilities - but are not defined as part of this suggestion.


Contributers

Thanks to A Bothan Spy, Xoid, The Mad Axeman, Gene Splicer (and probably some other people). Oh yeah, and me.

Notes: 41/45 Keep/Total. High support but some worries over implementing it all.
Left Queue: 12:05, 30 September 2006 (BST)