Suggestions/RejectedMarch2006

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This page is for the storage of Suggestions that have failed Peer Review and have been considered Poor and Unworthy Suggestions. This is not the place to put new Suggestions. The Suggestions Page is the queue for new Suggestions to be voted on and suggested. Any Suggestions that have not been voted on will be removed from this page.

Notes for Editors

Those who are placing Suggestions on this page should do so under the following procedure:

  1. Take the entire template and paste it into this section.
  2. Remove the entire suggest_votes field.
  3. Add the field suggest_moved, and then timestamp it with ~~~~~.
  4. replace "suggestion" with "prejection.

So, the new template should look like:

===Suggestion Name===
 {{prejection|
suggest_time=Old Timestamp|
suggest_type=Original type|
suggest_scope=Original scope|
suggest_description=Original description|
suggest_moved= 04:30, 22 Nov 2005 (GMT)|
}}
----

Peer Rejected Suggestions

1st March 2006

Necrotech Base

Timestamp: 03:17, 28 February 2006 (GMT)
Type: Building Type
Scope: City of Malton
Description: I suggest that a Necrotech Base be implemented much like the Hive in Rez Evil. This underground structure will be accessed by either a very important Necrotech Building, or a Mansion (like in Rez Evil). Inside the Necrotech Base, it is exactly the same as other buildings (generators, barricades, ect.) except Necrotech items are more likely to be found when searching, and the Necro Net display shows all zombies DNA tagged in the entire city instead of a single suburb.
Left Queue: Uncle Willy 00:27, 1 March 2006 (GMT)


Variable Attack Damage

Timestamp: 07:37, 1 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Combat damage modification
Scope: Combat
Description: The combat in UD currently uses a constant damage per successful attack based on the weapon being used. I suggest modifying the damage to a variable amount. This will provide some additional weapon diversity potential as well an additional dimension to combat.

The changes below maintain the same average damage amounts for each weapon but adds a damage distribution. The distributions are based on virtual dice rolls as noted.

Fist - Damage = 1 (No change)

Crowbar - Current Damage = 2, Proposed damage = 1D3, Proposed damage range = 1 to 3

  • Proportional Damage: 1 - 33.3%, 2 - 33.3%, 3 - 33.3%, Average = 2

Baseball Bat - Current Damage = 2, Proposed damage = 1D3, Proposed damage range = 1 to 3

  • Proportional Damage: 1 - 33.3%, 2 - 33.3%, 3 - 33.3%, Average = 2

Pipe - Current Damage = 2, Proposed damage = 1D3, Proposed damage range = 1 to 3

  • Proportional Damage: 1 - 33.3%, 2 - 33.3%, 3 - 33.3%, Average = 2

Knife - Current Damage = 2, Proposed damage = 2D2-1, Proposed damage range = 1 to 3

  • Proportional Damage: 1 - 25%, 2 - 50%, 3 - 25% , Average = 2

Fire Axe - Current Damage = 3, Proposed damage = 1D4 + 1D2 - 1, Proposed damage range = 1 to 5

  • Proportional Damage: 1 - 12.5%, 2 - 25%, 3 - 25%, 4 - 25%, 5 - 12.5% , Average = 3

Pistol - Current Damage = 5, Proposed damage = 2D4, Proposed damage range = 2 to 8

  • Proportional Damage: 2 - 6%, 3 - 13%, 4 - 19%, 5 - 25%, 6 - 19%, 7 - 13%, 8 - 6%, Average = 5

Shotgun - Current Damage = 10, Proposed damage = 2D5 + 4, Proposed damage range = 6 to 14

  • Proportional Damage: 6 - 4%, 7 - 8%, 8 - 12%, 9 - 16%, 10 - 20%, 11 - 16%, 12 - 12%, 13 - 8%, 14 - 4% Average = 10

Flare Gun - Current Damage = 15, Proposed damage = 2D5 + 9, Proposed damage range = 11 to 19

  • Proportional Damage: 11 - 4%, 12 - 8%, 13 - 12%, 14 - 16%, 15 - 20%, 16 - 16%, 17 - 12%, 18 - 8%, 19 - 4% Average = 15

Teeth - Current Damage = 4, Proposed damage = 1D4 + 1D2, Proposed damage range = 2 to 6

  • Proportional Damage: 2 - 12.5%, 3 - 25%, 4 - 25%, 5 - 25%, 6 - 12.5%, Average = 4

Claws - Current Damage = 2, Proposed damage = 2D2-1, Proposed damage range = 1 to 3

  • Proportional Damage: 1 - 25%, 2 - 50%, 3 - 25% , Average = 2

Note that additional damage due to zombie skills (i.e. Rend Flesh) is added to the damage formula listed above. Damage reduction due to flack jackets are subtracted from the damage listed above as described in the WIKI (20% reduction for damage over 5). Thus if the base attack damage = 8, then 8 * 0.2 = 1.6 which rounds to 2 points of damage absorbed by the flack jacket. A base attack damage of 13 * 0.2 = 2.6 would round to 3 and a base attack damage of 18 * 0.2 = 3.6 would round to 4.

Pros

  • Increased combat variability
  • Potential for additional weapons with varying damage ranges.
  • Existing average damage is not modified thus potentially no game imbalance.

Cons

  • Increased server load to perform damage calculations

Note on Voting: - Please do not vote keep on this prejection unless you agree with the damage distributions. As this is Ver.1.0 of this prejection, please feel free to suggest any modifications you feel are appropriate. --Jim Stevens

Left Queue: 11:19, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Cannabilism

Timestamp: 8:07
Type: Improvement
Scope: ZOMBIES!!!
Description: When a zombie kill a survivor (remember, survivor, not other ZEDS!!), the corpse would appear as "fresh body" to the Zeds(though other survivors wouldn't notice this). By standing on the same square as the corpse the Zombie is healed for 5 HP/hour/corpse(equal to FAK). The text would appear like this: You feast upon the remains of the fresh corpse, you are healed for 5 HP.(and again...and again...). A "fresh body" would become a normal body after 24 hours.
  • Note:

-A revived zombie wouldn't appear as a fresh corpse due to the body being of a zombie (in the process of being human again). Therefore the zombies would ignore it.

-The counter of fresh body stands alone for a zombie while it stands among other bodies for a survivor.

-As soon as the body drops dead the timer begins, every 1 hour it will attempt to be eaten by a Zombie. If no wounded Zed is there than it won't heal anyone. If there are multiple Zeds than it will heal the first wounded on the list.

-Multiple fresh bodies will heal the first wounded Zed on the list. As soon as the Zed is healed he moved down from the list, this allow fair healing for everyone.

Left Queue: 11:19, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Adrenaline Syringe

Timestamp: 15:14 PM, 1 March 2006 (EST)
Type: AP Increase
Scope: Survivors
Description: This attacks the "50 AP isnt enough" statements. after optaining the lab experiance skill while being able to make Revive Syringes after making X amount of those syringes (10-20) you are then given an option to make an adrenaline syringe at the cost of 5 AP you can make a syringe that when injected into A)yourself or B)your friends.

you then are given 10AP for each syringe injected into you (which is only really 5APs when you think about it). the standard 50APs perday still applies meaning if you already have the maximum of the 50APs awarded to you and you try and injected yourself with a syringe you waste it or your name is removed from the people able to be injected this applies until youve dropped 10APs and then your name is inserted back into the list

ive had an idea about zombies but i cant figure out how to incorporate the syringe into the zombie character classes the only way i can see is if after your attacked by a zombie and killed you can fall on the syringe(if in posestion of one)like text comes up and says "while falling you landed on your Adrenaline Syringe and can feel the energy pump into your body" and then you wouldnt have to spend any AP to get up unless headshot then youd have to spend 5AP to get up

Left Queue: 11:19, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Bury The Dead

Timestamp: 23:50, 1 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill+ Item
Scope: Zombie Hunters
Description: Because this is a zombie hunter skill you must be lvl 10 or higher to use it And must also have the item shovel with is described at the end

The skill description when buying will be the following-

Bury The Dead- You have the ability to put the dead the rest by putting them into the ground hindering thier progress to feast on the living (requires shovel)

What this means is that anybody with this skill and a shovel has the ability to sacrafice 1 ap to bury a zombie(aka Dead Body) by clicking on the item shovel in his inventory. The zombie once buried has to use 2ap to crawl out of the grave. This can only happen OUTDOORS

To find a shovel you must go to a graveyard and search. YOu have a 10% of finding one per search

If not found- You search the graveyard but only find death Found- Lying near a large crypt you find a shovel

Before you vote look at my balacing Skill for zombies below

Left Queue: 11:19, 27 April 2006 (BST)

2nd March 2006

Zombies know too much!(revised)

Timestamp: 17:54, 28 February 2006 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Zombies without memories of life.
Description: Why can zombies tell humans apart? It makes no sense, a zombie can't tell the difference between two human meat bags. I say that zombies should, when encountering a human or group of humans, see this "you see a group of tasty looking meat bags". But upon gaining the skill memories of life the zombie is then able to recognize different humans. Zombies that cannot recognize humans would attack a random human when attacking much like when a human attacks a zombie. It just makes sense for zombies to not be able to tell humans apart. When zombies with the skill scent blood but does not have memories of life sees a group of humans they can still attack the weakest human or which ever one they want with out it being random. But it would still show only meat bag not "so-and-so" NOTE: This does not get rid memories of life's effect only adds to it. This stops newbie survivors from being killed over and over just because a zombie feels like killing the weak player. Oh and to all you zombies who say that this will make even less people play as zombies how? This doesn't change anything except zombies can't tell the difference between people it does nothing to effect the way zombies attack but think about it in a zombie movie have you ever seen a zombie go after a certain character? I don't think so it makes no sense for zombies to tell the difference between humans I agree there needs to be more zombies but instead of changing unrealistic things to help them out, we need more zombie skills.
Left Queue: 11:20, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Tangling Grasp Immoblization

Timestamp: 01:48, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill mod
Scope: Zombies
Description: Successfully tangle grasping a human creates the chance of preventing that human from moving to another block or leaving or entering a building.

After grabbing a human, there would be a 5% chance that human would not be able to move when he tries to, burning 1 AP in the struggle "A zombie has grabbed you. You cannot escape." The more zombies that grab you, the higher the probability of a failed move. Each zombie grabbing increases the immoblization chance by 5%, to a maximum of five zombies or 25% chance of immobilization. "X zombies have grabbed you. You cannot escape." (five maximum because there are really only so many places to grab someone.)

A further modification could be that the human would deal damage upon escaping from the zombie for experience. "you punch the zombie in the face for 1, damage and escape." perhaps the more zombies you escape from, the more xp you get. "In a terrified frenzy, you batter the five zombies for 5 damage each and escape." After all, escaping from 5 hungry zombies is certainly worth 25 XP --Stare 01:52, 2 March 2006 (GMT)

Left Queue: 11:20, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Pep pills

Timestamp: 02:40, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Item
Scope: Survivors
Description: A new item would be introduced: a box of pep pills. When consuming one box of pep pills, it increases your AP cap by 5 AP for the next 24 hours. Any other box of pep pills consumed within 48 hours after drinking the first one has no effect.
Left Queue: 11:20, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Know Your Own

Timestamp: 20:50, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Other
Scope: Organized Groups
Description: I have noticed that it is difficult to tell if a given person is part of your group/faction in game. I suggest that anyone belonging to a certain group/faction would see the members of their group/faction either in a different color, or with some other tag. This would make it easier to not commit treason in as a member of a zombie-human joint group/faction, thus making combat easier. I do realize that it would be easy to disguise one's self as a certain group member, this responsablity should lie in the groups' leaders.
Left Queue: 11:20, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Body slam

Timestamp: 22:14, 2 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill set
Scope: Zombies
Description: Back story the zombies are learning to use their resistance for pain to their advantage slamming into humans with deadly force. A zombie sees a survivor a tasty meal. He goes to attack it when he trips and slams into the survivor he feels a dull thud as he hits the ground with his prey and begins to eat.

How it works This is a new move for zombies called Body slam it would be purchased for 100xp. The move does five damage to a human and one damage to the zombie. The base accuracy for this move is 25%. The message would show “you slam into ____ for 5 damage but the force of the blow damages you�? for humans it would be “A zombie slams into you for 5 damage it seems stunned by the blow�? It would work the same zombie vs zombie as zombie vs human.

The upgrades: Running speed You have learned to move faster giving your prey less chance to get away. Your accuracy for slam increases by 15%

Tough skin You have been slamming humans for so long you no longer are hurt when performing the action.

NOTE Slam does not I REPEAT does not give you health from digestion this is what balances it out. It’s a strong hit but you gain no health its good for fishing moves and low level humans. Also the skills tough skin and running speed are under Body slam on the tree however the order in which they can be purchased could be change depending on voter’s choices. The message when attack with slam having tough skin would be “you slam into ____ for 5 damage�? and for humans “A zombie slams into you for 5 damage�?. I don’t think the damage for this move needs to do any more damage tell me what you think guys I hope this doesn’t get shot down to fast…

Left Queue: 11:20, 27 April 2006 (BST)

3rd March 2006

Ravenous

Timestamp: 00:25, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Subskill of Digestion. If the zombie has not killed in a long period of time they become even hungrier and more desperate in their attacks. Each bite attack a zombie with Ravenous performs deals 1 extra damage if the zombie has not killed anyone in two weeks or longer. This extra damage would be negated by a flak jacket.
  • Notes: This skill would give survivors a viable reason to wear flak jackets as currently they are only useful against firearms. Two weeks I think is the perfect length of time as it is a significant amount of time as to not just give zombies a free extra attack point for bite attacks, however many zombies do not get kills every week so many of those would be able to take advantage of this skill.
Left Queue: 11:21, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Body Check

Timestamp: 02:22, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombie Hunters
Description: This would be a Zombie Hunter Skill. When in a block with a dead body you are given the option of "Checking the Body" which would tell you how long they've been dead (in hours) and what weapon killed them. i.e. "You check a nearby corpse, it appears to have been dead for X hours, they have BITE MARKS on them." the second part of the check "BITE MARKS" is just an example, it could also say SHOTGUN HOLES, PISTOL WOUNDS or AXE MARKS as a way of telling what killed them. This could only be done to the first dead body on the list. If the body had been there for more than 24 hours it would say "This corpse has been here awhile...". I dont think this overpowers the game or hurts anyone and were in dire need of some other kind of Zombie Hunter Skill.
Left Queue: 11:21, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Feeding Frenzy

Timestamp: 05:46, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies.
Description: You would have to have both Tangling Grasp and Digestion to take this skill. If a survivor is killed while you are holding onto them with Tangling Grasp you are healed 10hp. You need not make the killing blow yourself (although you can). Only heals the equivalent of a first-aid kit and allows a few zombies to work together on a kill and then nibble on some meat together.
Left Queue: 11:21, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Body slam (Fixed)

Timestamp: 15:35, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill set
Scope: Level 5 Zombies
Description: Back story the zombies are learning to use their resistance for pain to their advantage slamming into humans with deadly force. A zombie sees a survivor a tasty meal. He goes to attack it when he trips and slams into the survivor he feels a dull thud as he hits the ground with his prey and begins to eat.

How it works This is a new move for zombies called Body slam it would be purchased for 100xp. The move does 5 damage to a human and 2 damage to the zombie. The base accuracy for this move is 20%. The message would show "you slam into ____ for 5 damage but the force of the blow damages you" for humans it would be "A zombie slams into you for 5 damage it seems stunned by the blow" It would work the same zombie vs. zombie as zombie vs. human.

Note You can only chose one or the other. You can choose tough skin and do 5 damage with a 20% chance to hit and only take 1 damage. or you can choose running speed and do 5 damage with a 35% chance to hit but take 3 damage.

The upgrades: Running speed You have learned to move faster giving your prey less chance to get away. Your accuracy for slam increases by 15% but it also increases the damage you take by one.

Tough skin You have been slamming humans for so long you are only hurt when 1 damage when attacking.

Barricade slam you have learned to use your slam against the human's pitiful barricades. You take 2 damage when attacking the barricades but take off 2 parts of it instead of one. The accuracy when attacking the barricade is the same when attacking a human or zombie. Having the "tough skin" skill does not help when attacking barricades you still always take 2 damage. This message would appear "You slam into the barricade it creaks you feel dizzy from the blow" "you slam into the barricade 2 parts of it collapse you feel dizzy from the blow" "you try to slam into the barricades but you miss" When you miss you take no damage.

NOTES Slam does not I REPEAT does not give you health from digestion this is what balances it out. It's a strong hit but you gain no health its good for fishing moves and low level humans. Also the skills tough skin, running speed and barricade slam are under Body slam on the tree however the order in which they can be purchased could be change depending on voter's choices. The message when attack with slam having tough skin would be "you slam into ____ for 5 damage you take 1 damage from the blow " and for humans "A zombie slams into you for 5 damage". Also this is for LEVEL 5 OR OVER ZOMBIES ONLY I don't think the damage for this move needs to do any more damage tell me what you think guys I hope this doesn't get shot down to fast...

Left Queue: 11:21, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Search Priorities

Timestamp: MrAushvitz15:06, 3 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Survivor Skill
Scope: Increase search chance: Specific Item
Description: Skill Prerequisites: Level 5 or Level 2 (Scout or Consumer)

Game Mechanics: You have a "Search Priority" button that (when you click on it) gives a menu that allows you to choose from a large list of items that can be 'found' in the game when searching. The specific item that you 'choose' as your search priority is the item that is your GOAL item, what you really want to find. You have a +1% search chance to 'find' this item in buildings where this item can normally be found.. a 0.25% search chance to find this item in buildings where it 'might' be found (Kevan's discretion), and a 0.05% chance to find it where it is 'damn unlikely' to be found (searching the middle of a field for example). These % chances do not change normal search chances, they replace the 'you find nothing' chance.

This skill would make some buildings which 'suck' for searching another resevior of possibilities (this skill will make any 'junkyard' more interesting.. as it is likely to be the 'might' location for most items in the game. (If you looked long enough you'll find all sorts of crap in the junkyard, even fuel, flak jackets, etc.)

This skill can come in handy when all the 'good' buildings are too barricaded to even enter. Or you just prefer to use your shotgun, and just want more shotgun shells.

Left Queue: 11:21, 27 April 2006 (BST)

4th March 2006

Trains

Timestamp: 22:05, 4 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Feature
Scope: Survivors and Railway Stations
Description: I always wanted to see working railway stations in the game, so here's my prejection.

When you enter the railway station, you see something like "You are inside X Railway Station. You see a train on a platform, looks like it is damaged." You can enter into the train by clicking "Enter the train" button (1AP) then, using wirecutters, you can fix it's systems (1AP). Building's internal description will change to "You are inside X Railway Station. You see a train on a platform, looks like is is fixed." All you must do now, is to place a working generator inside the train. A generator will work for 30 minutes insde the train, so there won't always be a train waiting for you on every railway station. Person, who placed generator inside the train will choose destenation (he is a driver now) where train will go from a list of suburbs. Room description will be changed again to "You see a train on a platform, it is ready to leave to <destenation>" and any survivor will be able to enter this train, until there will be 10 people inside. The train will leave as soon as driver will press "Go" button (remember, he has only 30 minutes after generator is placed). Traveleing by train cost 10AP for all the survivor inside. Traveling by train is not the same as teleportation, it will take 30 minutes, so when someone is on a moving train, he'll see the same screen, as when he is sleeping, except the message will be different.

  • Generator is automatically discarded after train has arrived.
  • Train can't leave if there are zombies inside.
  • Zombies can attack trains the same way they attack barricades and generator.
  • When zombie attacks train, he is damaging both train and generator inside, so you will need to fix train again and place another generator.
  • Only suburbs with Railway Stations will appear in suburb list. If suburb has more then one railway station, train will arrive to closest station.
  • Survivors and zombies inside trains are displayed in Railway Station's description as all the other people, except their names will asterisked ("There are 8 zombies here. 3 zombies inside the train" for zombies)

I don't think that trains will unbalance the game and make traveling too easy, because you need Wirecutters, Generator and Fuel Can to start the train and they are not easy to find. Traveling is not instant, it cost 10AP and not many people want to go to suburb they don't know... but some of them need this. P.S. sorry if there are many grammar mistakes, my english is bad.

Left Queue: 11:22, 27 April 2006 (BST)

5th March 2006

Burn Bodies (Not perma-kill)

Timestamp: 06:34, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Balance Change (Sieges)/Realism element/Potential skill
Scope: Survivors, corpses (revived or dead)
Description: Ok, let me first state that I do not intend for this to be perma-killing. This idea came to me after observing a few sieges and commments on them. Almost all sieges by zombies of survivor controlled buildings succeed (I say almost because of caiger and really small groups of zombies). Why? It's because you can kill the zombie, but you can't get it to stop attacking you. Regardless of how strong a group of survivors is, as long as a zombie feels like attacking, it can easily come back to life and attack repetedly (Especially with ankle grab). My suggestion would be to add the ability to burn corpses outside of buildings. This wouldn't permanently kill the character that was burned, but just warp them somewhere random in the city (Still as a corpse) in the same manner you are placed randomly at the beginning of the game. Now I understand how this could be potentially seen as an unfair advantages, but there would be limits and disadvantages to it. It would also burn the bodies of revived zombies that haven't stood up yet and it would be very hard to do (I'll be disambiguous with this, since it could be made difficult in a variety of ways). Kevin could make it a skill requirement to burn bodies (subset of fire axe training:Fire control, perhaps?), or likely make it a requirement to use fuel (like for the generator) to prepare for a fire, and use some other item (maybe something new like a match) to start the fire. There could also be an element of randomness or danger (only burns some bodies, potential damage to everyone in the same square). I don't really care what, but I do know there would be. This would also make gameplay more entertaining. Survivors would finally be able to have a chance to win sieges. A group of zombies couldn't just camp outside a building and continue attacking until the survivors retreated; they'd have to strike and run to minimize this ability's effect. And, although it may not quite be realistic, the thought of having zombies materialize in safe suburbs would keep survivors there on their toes.
Left Queue: 08:07, 5 March 2006 (GMT)


Necrotech Field Lab

Timestamp: 07:47, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: item
Scope: Necrotech Employees
Description: This creates two new items, A Necrotech Field Lab kit, and Necrotech Supplies. These items can be found or built at necrotech buildings like syringes

Survivors would set up the Lab Kit exactly like a generator, and fuel it with Necrotech supplies.Like wise they can be attacked and destroyed Essentially setting up the field kit turns the square into a mini-necrotech building. Once you setup a generator you can build syringes, acess the necro net and revive rotters. This would be extremly useful to survivors who need to hold an area that is not close to existing necrotech buildings. However there is a catch. This field kit would only be deployable in wasteland/empty streets and other non-barricadable areas. Thus making these kits completely indefenasable. Imagine the fun as zombie stream down on an undefened group of necrotech scientist, who now need to spend a while standing out in the open. So survivors get a necrotech building whereever they want, zombies get tasty scientist brains. Everyone is happy

Left Queue: 11:22, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Feeding Scent

Timestamp: MrAushvitz10:25, 5 Mar 2005 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies over level 10
Description: Prerequisites: Level 10 Zombie, plus skills: Scent Fear, Scent Blood, Scent Trail, Digestion, Vigour Mortis, Memories Of Life.

  • Feeding Scent: Skill appears just below Scent Trail on Zombie Skills Tree.

Your zombie has hunted humans to the point that it can recognise the smell of multiple survivors within the confines of a building (IF it is patient enough to "stop and sniff" until it is sure).

Game Mechanics: For 10 AP your zombie can "Scent Building" at any non-outdoors location. Your zombie stops to smell each and every good crack, window, and opening it can find to get the scent of recent activity.. which is hard to cover up since most humans have no idea how apetizing their building smells to a skilled zombie.

After you Scent Building on your map it says "You smell X Survivors Inside" on that building, where X is the number your sense of smell gives you.. this number MAY be inacurate. but this is the result you got with your attempt. Further attempts may give you differing results. X can be 0 (even if there are 1 or 2 survivors inside, so this skill when inacrate may cause zombies to wander off elsewhere for food) "Harg, stinky gass oills, not blood, garr".

Scent building is 50% accurate on any 'average' building that has- no barricades, and has 1 survivor inside.

Each additional survivor inside, (more than 1), increases the chance of accuracy by 7%, until you reach 6 or more survivors (+35%), then each past 5 is + 3% each to a maximum of +30% on top of that (conflicting scents, but adding 'layers' the scents in the building).

Survivors in a building that are severely wounded (have 20 or less HP remaining) add another +4% each (for their amount of blood scent in the air!) to a maximum of 5 seriously injured for +20% (yeah, heal those survivors in your safehouse, or you may have a pack of zombies at your door!) This is the "Blood Bonus", which may come into play with other zombie skills later. "There's a bloodhunt zombie on my trail and I'm at 5 life, heal me NOW or kill me and toss me outside!"

Each level of the barricade decreases accuracy by 6% (this is the 'bonus' that a totally barricaded building gives, hard for new survivors to get in.. but you're safer from 'scenting'.) Your barricade may be strong, but hermatically sealed, it ain't!

A running generator decreases accuracy by 25% (gasoline makes it much harder to smell those blood, sweat and tears!), even a generator out of fuel decreases accuracy by 10% (fumes, oil in generator, stinky). The generator also "botches" X survivor accuracy significantly.. it is possible to get a "2 Survivors Inside" scent in a building with a running generator, but no people. (The enraged zombie will probably destroy that generator with their remaining AP).

Each "Fuel" can carried by survivors inside decrease accuracy by 3% per can (to a maximum of 10 cans for 30%.) "Jhonny just put those spare cans over by that window.. yeah the one with all the scratch marks.."

Certain buildings (because of sheer size, and ability to 'disperse scent' with air filtration systems etc.) have an additional decrease to accuracy.. as follows: Cinemas, Club -5 %; Auto Repair, Factory, Schools -10%; Hospitals, Hotel, Shopping Malls -15%

Finally.. your "Maximim Scent Accuracy" is determined by the level of your zombie character.. Max Scent Accuracy 80%+1% per 2 levels of zombie character (and you need level 10 just to get this skill). Therefore- Level 10 - 85%, Level 16 - 88%, Level 20 - 90%, to a maximum of 95% (Level 30+). Keep in mind that is your maximum under the best of conditions, survivors are going to have to modify some ways of doing things if they believe high level zombies are in the area.. or if they want to keep their favorite safehouses intact.

The entire point of this skill is higher level zombies can determine by scent whether or not it's worth demolishing the barricades on this building (and emitting a feeding groan after for such a purpouse.) But by no means is it 100% (them's the breaks!) Survivors may (in time) learn of this zombie ability and develop some methods to better 'stinkify' or 'de-stinkify' their most crucial safehouses. But for now, it adds to the visceral element of the game. Happy feedings!.

Left Queue: 11:22, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Safehouse Fuel Stash

Timestamp: MrAushvitz11:25, 5 Mar 2005 (GMT)
Type: Building Fuel Storage
Scope: So generators have much needed fuel
Description: The basis of this is simple. Any building that has a running portable generator should be able to have a "Fuel Stash" dropped off next to it (in case survivors with fuel get 'gakked' by a zombie).

This should be a button option which is available IF your character is carrying fuel AND the building has a running generator. For 1 AP your character can add one of their fuel cannisters to the "Stash". The location may only have a maximum of 25 fuel cans in it's stash. To USE fuel cans in the stash to recharge the generator you do it normally but you have the option to use your fuel or "Stash Fuel" (which is a button on bottom of your inventory when at this location).

Stash fuel cannot be used unless the generator is getting LOW (to prevent jerks from refilling it until the stash is gone, the tank can only hold so much).

If the generator is destroyed, the fuel stash is still there (though 0-2 tanks get spilled "X Fuel Tanks were spilled as a result of the generator being destroyed!" So when a new generator is set up and running, the stash may be used for refueling normally.

The entire basis of this is why should characters be running around with 'gas on their backs' when thery can be doing 'find fuel' runs for nearby safehouses and drop them off to be used by the "staff" as is required. "Hey, I'm a scrounger not a maintenance man! You keep the damn generator running, I'm just dropping off fuel cans!"

Left Queue: 11:22, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Stabba-liscious

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:45, 5 Mar 2005 (GMT)
Type: New Knife Skill
Scope: Make knives more useful, balanced by flak jackets
Description: Prerequisites: Level 5 Character, or level 3 Private or Level 3 Doctor.

  • Stabba-Liscious: Skill appears just below most recent knife skills.

Game Mechanics: Your character isn't just good with knives, they spend just a BIT too much time playing with knives. Maybe you know where and when to strike...

Every 4th attack you make with a knife counts for 0 AP, if your last 3 attacks were with a knife as well.

So, you get 4 knife attacks for 3 AP.

Your target sees "There is a blur of knife strikes one, after another, aimed at your midsection!"

Disadvantage: This very aggressive style of knife fighting tends to result in a lot of broken blades if your intended target is wearing a flak jacket. This does NOT apply if they are not wearing one or if you don't have this skill. It only applies if you have this skill and the target is wearing a flak jacket. 5% chance per successful hit "Your knife breaks! Dammit!", your knife is lost (dropped), you still hit and did damage. This gives "Knife Fu" players a reason to carry backup weapons, especially knives!

Left Queue: 11:22, 27 April 2006 (BST)

6th March 2006

Rifle Butt

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:25, 5 Mar 2005 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Zombie Hunter Skill, Shotguns And Larger Firearms As A Hand Weapon
Description: Prerequisites: Level 12 character, or Level 8 Police, or Level 6 Private
  • Rifle Butt: Skill appears just above most recent Zombie Hunter Skills

Game Mechanics: Once per location, per 24 hour day, your character may make a "Rifle Butt" as a hand to hand attack. You MUST have at least 1 Shotgun or larger 2 handed firearm in your inventory to do this. This attack's success is at -10% of your current firearm accuracy, but deals 3 damage. (For now we're starting with Shotguns, later you can Rifle Butt with a Rifle, Submachine Gun, etc. If they are introduced later for -10% of that weapon's accuracy.) This uses no ammo. If your character also has the Body Building skill this attack makes it impossible for any zombie you just rifle butted to attack you with a bite attack for the next 16 hours. (The gunstock to the mouth hits just that much harder!) This bonus only applies to zombies which are below level 6 (higher level ones have learned to LIKE it!) "You just rifle butted a zombie in the mouth for 3 damage! That'll show 'em who's boss!" "You just rifle butted ____ in the mouth for 3 damage! Maybe now they'll smarten up!" "You were rifle butted in the mouth by ____ for 3 damage! Your survivor just recieved a harsh reminder of what life in Malton has become!" "You were rifle butted in the mouth by ____ for 3 damage! Your zombie is unable to use bite attacks on ___ for the next 16 hours!" "You were rifle butted in the mouth by ____ for 3 damage! But that just makes you all the more hungry..."

Note: The rifle butter has no idea if the zombie he just smacked is level 6 or higher, that would be too much for 1 skill.

Left Queue: 00:38, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

Decay Skill Tree

Timestamp: MrAushvitz22:15, 5 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill Tree
Scope: Zombie skills below "Brain Rot"
Description: "Decay" skills, are skills which go directly under "Brain Rot" which is what is generally considered "The Point Of No Return" for zombies.

From this point on I will list a number of skills that go under this tree, keep in mind their power allowance will be increased due to "decay", aged zombies who are becoming more powerful, and deadly as they become less and less recognizable as formerly human.

So, what is your vote as to this idea of direction.. even under my ideas or no.. would you agree the more powerful "upper level" zombie skills from this point on probably belong under "Brain Rot?"

Left Queue: 07:40, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

Headshot a Corpse

Timestamp: 10:12, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill change
Scope: Survivors and Recent Corpses
Description: Add an option to Headshot a corpse. This will give the corpse 1 million AP, and XP, plus give it the ability to eat your kneecaps off to reduce the cost of getting up to 1 AP.
Left Queue: 23:19, 6 March 2006 (GMT)


Darkened Living Conditions

Timestamp: MrAushvitz04:45, 6 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: VH Barricaded Buildings
Scope: Effects of being "Cut Off" for too long...
Description: If your character lives in a very heavily barricaded building, they are safe from zombies (for now). BUT if the lights "Go out" under such conditions, you have a serious problem.

What I suggest is this, re-installing a new generator in a heavily barricaded building with the 'lights out' even in daytime will be VERY difficult, costing whomever attempts it 15 AP per attempt, with a base 35% chance of success which may be modified by your level and appropriate skills (Kevan's discretion). Failure results in the loss of the generator you attempted with. (Wirecutters on hand increase your chances by 10%.)

Obviously, you can just reduce the level of the barricades and then make the attempt "Get some light in here dammit!" But the zombies outside may be watching for that.

Seems like a lot, but it isn't. If the place is a fort, impenetrable to zombies, how much light is getting in there? Especially on the bottom floors where the combats take place once they make it in?

Just a thought.

Left Queue: 11:23, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Gore Spatter

Timestamp: 07:40, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: A subskill of Brain Rot.

Zombie has decayed to the point that its body is liable to fall apart at a jarring blow. When a survivor hits with a melee weapon, there is a 10% chance of gore getting into the eyes, mouth or open wounds, causing infection. Same as with bite, this infection reduces one HP per move, excluding speaking, and can be cured with a FAK.

Said survivor would see this message: "You attack the zombie for 3 damage. They drop to 47 HP. Gross! You were hit with some stray gore. You are now infected."

Left Queue: 11:23, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Body Slam (uber fixed)

Timestamp: 23:20, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: zombie skill set
Scope: All zombies over level 5
Description: Back story the zombies are learning to use their resistance for pain to their advantage slamming into humans with deadly force. A zombie sees a survivor a tasty meal. He goes to attack it when he trips and slams into the survivor he feels a dull thud as he hits the ground with his prey and begins to eat.

How it works This is a new move for zombies called Body slam it would be purchased for 100xp. The move does 5 damage to a human and 3 damage to the zombie. The base accuracy for this move is 20%. The message would show "you slam into ____ for 5 damage but the force of the blow damages you" for humans it would be "A zombie slams into you for 5 damage it seems stunned by the blow" It would work the same zombie vs. zombie as zombie vs. human.

The upgrades: Running speed You have learned to move faster giving your prey less chance to get away. Your accuracy for slam increases by 15%.

‘’’Tough Skin’’’ You have built up a slight resistance to slamming into humans now you only take 2 damage when attacking.

Barricade slam you have learned to use your slam against the human's pitiful barricades. You take no damage when attacking the barricades. The accuracy when attacking the barricade is the same when attacking a human or zombie. Having the This message would appear "You slam into the barricade it creaks" "you slam into the barricade part of it collapses" "you try to slam into the barricades but you miss" you do no extra damage to the barricades when attacking with slam.

Note Barricade slam is a skill until you get it you take 2 damage when attacking the barricades with slam.

NOTES Slam does not give you health from digestion It's a strong hit but you gain no health its good for fishing moves and low level humans. Also the skills running speed, tough skin and barricade slam are under Body slam on the tree however the order in which they can be purchased could be change depending on voter's choices. Also this is for LEVEL 5 OR OVER ZOMBIES ONLY I don't think the damage for this move needs to do any more damage tell me what you think guys I hope this doesn't get shot down to fast

Left Queue: 11:23, 27 April 2006 (BST)

March 7, 2006

Unnatural Gait

Timestamp: MrAushvitz18:25, 6 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: New skill under "Brain Rot"
Description: Unnatural Gait

"Gait" - Your natural walk or movements when walking.

By reasons of ongoing decay.. your zombie's "normal" walk is anything but that! Your limbs are at all the wrong angles, your head may not quite be on straight, which doesn't seem to slow you down. This is most unnerving to behold for the living. It is difficult for one attacking you to figure out where the "center" of the target is.

Game Mechanics

Prerequisites: Brain Rot, Lurching Gait, Vigour Mortis, Memories Of Life.

Appears on skill tree just under "Brain Rot".

Each time a living survivor attacks you for the first time today, the computer keeps a record of how many times that player misses you.

If that player is unable to kill your zombie before they run out of AP, or before they log out, your zombie will gain 1 XP for every 2 misses made from this player until they get that 1st hit against you!

What this means is your zombie benefits with XP from frustrating (and frightening) the local survivors.

After the survivor finally hits the zombie (the "you attack.." text), they read the following:

"You finally HIT that damn zombie! If you didn't know any better, you'd swear they were enjoying this.."

Rationalization

Sounds like a lot, but what does it do really? It doesn't make you more effective in combat per se. This just gets you XP for not getting hit in combat, basically your zombie capitalizes on being attacked by less accurate survivors. All in all, it's just an XP gathering skill, but a combat based one. It can gain your zombie some decent XP for being the 1st to crash into a building full of online survivors (until they drop you!)

Note: You gain the XP as a result of the misses, you do not "steal" XP from the survivor that keeps missing you.

"Dammit! I hate fighting that stupid zombie with the head on backwards! You hit him in the stomach and I swear he's laughing at me!"

Left Queue: 04:02, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

Freeloader

Timestamp: 13:27:23, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Pre-req: Feeding Groan.

Purchase Description: Another zombie have learned to associate you with food.

Summary: Frequent summonings by your feeding groan has caused a zombie to associate you with food. You count as two zombies in room descriptions, and he attacks alongside you using your ap.

Long description: You gain a new button, "Groan at Zombie", which costs 1ap to press and "loads" one attack into your follower, to a max of 25 attacks stored at any one time. Whenever you attack, your zombie attacks alongside you and loses one "ammo", assuming he has at least one. You gain exp for your follower's kills and damage, and your attacks are calculated independantly.

You are listed as two zombies in room descriptions. If you die, so does your follower, and you now count as two dead bodies. He stands up when you do, with whatever attacks he had when you died less the same amount of ap as it took for you to stand up, to a minimum of 0. If you are revived, he vanishes untill you die and stand up again. Whenever you and your minion do something linkable, it links to your profile as "Some zombies". You gain a new profile section "Minion name", set to "A nearby zombie" by default. Your follower cannot be targetted or actually affected in any way by other players except through you (see Implementation).

Flavour: Sample messages

Attacking with ap:

You attack Bob for (2/3/4) damage. He drops to (48/47/46)HP/You attack Bob and miss. A nearby zombie attacks Bob for (2/3/4) damage. He drops to (48/47/46)HP/A nearby zombie attacks Bob and misses.

Some zombies attacked you for (2/3/4) damage... and again.

You swipe at the barricade. Etc. A nearby zombie swipes at the barricade. Etc.

With no stored AP:

You attack Bob for (2/3/4) damage. He drops to (48/47/46)HP/You attack Bob and miss. A nearby zombie stands around looking dazed.

Groaning:

You groan. A nearby zombie turns its head towards you. You groan. A nearby zombie watches you a little more intently. You groan. A nearby zombie stares at you and shuffles its feet. You groan. A nearby zombie grunts irritably.

Zombie fullness:

A nearby zombie looks dazed. A nearby zombie is watching you. A nearby zombie is staring at you. A nearby zombie lurches around impatiently.

Purpose and implementation: The purpose of this suggestion is to increase the "number" of zombies in Malton, without requiring an increase in zombie players or resorting to AI zombies. It also gives leveling zombies a "fun" skill to look forward to instead of just better to hit rates or more damage, which will hopefully lead to more actual zombie players. In implementation terms having a follower causes a +1 to zombie or body counts if you are present, and all your attacks gain an additional ammo dependant attribute. He does not actually "exist", he just appears to. But he's still just as adorable.

Left Queue: 17:07, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

Tranquilizer gun

Timestamp: 16:15, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New weapon
Scope: Helpful new weapon that makes Zoos handy
Description: Tranquilizer gun would only in zoo's, around an 8 % chance of being found. It would be a single shot item like a flare gun. It would deal no damage but rather subtrack 10AP, 8AP for someone with body building, on a successful hit (but never letting that players AP to go below 0) It's attack would be based on pistal skills. Experience in this game is largely based on the changes to HP and I don't think this should be any different. So you gain no experience with attack but it will slow active players down, which can prove more useful then doing damage in certain situations. Ex a one on one fight with a zombie who has digestion, doing more damage is ineffective because they just eat back the damage, reduce its AP is much better.

AP reduction attacks are not favorable with some but, this weapon is found in one spot in the city and no gain for the attacker makes it a balanced weapon. Would people stock up on Tranquilizer guns, no, but carrying one around for special encounters would make for an interesting change to the game.

Left Queue: 20:22, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

Incremental Improvement

Timestamp: 07:11, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Universal or Widespread Skill Improvement
Scope: Any unmodified skill
Description: A Hobby for the Killer Elite

Let's give all those maxed-out characters in UD something to do with those unused xp, something so ridiculously expensive that they won't run out of ways to spend it. Put simply, spend 100 xp, raise a specific skill 1%; limited to doing this up to 5 times per any single skill(total possible improvement to any one skill - 5%). A lot of us have basic skills that could use a 5% increase, and 5% won't break the game in most cases. I can see problems with 5% adding up on stacked skills, so no doubt limits would be placed on raising stacking skills, (at the beginning for sure). Where you honestly think it would cause problems- don't allow it at first. 100xp is a hellova lot to burn for a 1% improvement when you're level 4, but after you've maxed both human and zed skills out, blowing 100xp to improve your Construction skill by 1%, or Vigour Mortis by 1%, or Basic Firearms Training by 1%, or even Neck Lurch, or your Hand To Hand Combat, even by 1% would seem pretty nice. I'm currently walking around with 600xp and not a blasted thing to do with it. I'm by no means alone here. raising six skills by 1% or even one skill by 5% would be darn nice and would feel like I'm still learning something. A different option would be having the ability to raise basic stats like HP, Movement, or your innate search skill by 1%. This sort of XP sponge would easily keep high-level guys busy upgrading for years to come, without completely unbalancing the game for everyone else. People wouldn't be forced to spend points on this sort of micro-improvement, but people who really wanted to see things get better, even a little, would be very happy to have the option. Let me point out that improving a 20% skill by 1% would mean a far greater percentage improvement in that skill than improving a 65% skill by 1%. In Conclusion Sounds like a big change at first, but in reality it would be low impact if done gradually to selected skills. Implemented on a few skills, and expanded as Kevan became comfortable with the game effects, this could keep people busy improving their characters for years. -Syncline

Left Queue: 11:25, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Enhanced Memories of Life

Timestamp: 16:43, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: The humans have holed up in safety and only enter the streets to kill zombies for fun and to find supplies. The zombies, meanwhile, just want to live their unlives and eat the occasional brain without constant harassment. Some of the older zombies, however, have begun to remember more things from their previous lives. After watching the humans play Zombie Safari day after day, these zombies have figured out how to use guns, if only they could find them.

Zombies with this skill would pick up any guns and ammunition carried by humans they kill, as long as they have room in their inventory. They would then be able to use these weapons to attack humans until the ammunition runs out, at which point they would drop the weapon. Since zombies aren't very coordinated, they would have only a 15% chance of hitting anything, which averages out to 1.5 HP per AP, slightly less than the 1.8 HP per AP of maxed out Claws with Tangling Grasp. The skill would require Brain Rot, as only the oldest zombies have begun to learn this skill.

The point of this skill is obviously not to boost the killing power of zombies since it would, on average, be less effective than claws, but to provide some gameplay variety. It would also provide zombies with a small chance of finishing off humans with their last AP. Finally, it would give humans a reason to have flak jackets beyond defending against PKers.

EDIT: I forgot about the inventory bit. Although I don't think it would be too big of a deal since only brain-rotted zombies would take the weapons (plus, shouldn't there sometimes be SOME penalty for dying?), but since people object, why not just let the zombie have the weapons, but not take them from the human's inventory? It's not like there's a limited amount of weapons in Malton. This would give the appearance to the zombie that they've taken the guns while the human gets to keep his/her inventory intact. Obviously, this reduces a bit of the realism, but the point of the prejection is to make gameplay as a zombie more fun, not hurt the humans. As a futher elaboration, naturally any zombie with this skill would be able to use weapons already in its inventory. Finally, this would not create a "Zombie Rambo" as one person suggests, unless, of course, Rambo couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun.

Left Queue: 11:25, 27 April 2006 (BST)

8 March 2006

Locks

Timestamp: 17:33, 8 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Item
Scope: Surviors
Description: I know how everyone is complaining about there wirecutters being useless, add locks to the game! Make it so you have a chance, lets say, 8% chance of finding a lock in a Warehouse or Junkyard, those buildings like a junkyard or a Warehouse can be locked with the lock.Also becuase of the likelyhood of finding the right key is near to dumb to add, make them combonation locks. The combonationm is set like a number like 12345 or 56754. Also if you enter the combonation, the lock goes back into your inventory and is reset for next use. Then you also get those whiney people a use for there wirecutters, two problems solved with one try.This lock idea would also add a way to keep zombies out permantly, but can be cut off with wirecutters or be free ran into so I don't believe its way overpowering!
Left Queue: 20:19, 8 March 2006 (GMT)


Religous Leader / Chaplain (Version 2, carefully revised)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz14:45, 8 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Civilian OR Millitary Character Sub-Class
Scope: A slightly different character concept, whose perception of the zombie's motives are less scientific, more theological
Description: Specialized Character Class:
  • Only a maximum of 4 of this character class can be at the same location in Malton at any time!

If you try to move to any location where there are already 4 Religious Leader / Chaplain characters (in any combination of each their classes, up to 4 total) you get the message: "You sense your services are not needed here brother" but you lose no AP for attempting to move. (This limit may be doubled for a few "high frequency" locations such as the Kaiger Mall & outside the mall, Kevan's discretion)

You are any kind of religous person, from any religion for that matter. For your character's name, any title you choose "father", "deacon", "pastor", "sister", etc is appropriate for your character (you may not have even been ordained prior to the coming of the zombies, like if matters!)

Your character's driving goal is: this may be the apocolypse, or the "end times", and you are out to save souls (and lives) wherever you can. Your character will spend a lot of time tending to the needy, and a lot of preaching, trying to spread hope, and probably cursing at zombies.

There are 2 distinct kinds of character with these "General" skills, the "Religious Leader" who is a subclass of Civillian, and the "Chaplain" who is a sub-class of Millitary. Both have access to the same skill trees, with regards to their additional "character" skills.. but one is a Civillian and the other Millitary, which affects other skills' costs for purchasing.

Religious Leader: Starting equipment: Crucifix (or other religious symbol), Length Of Pipe (probably a candlestick!), First Aid Kit. Starting SkillS: Tend To The Needy

Chaplain: Starting equipment: Crucifix (or other religious symbol), Pistol, 1 Pistol Ammo Clip. Starting Skills: Tend To The Needy

The chaplain gets to start with a standard issue pistol, and has some training in it per se, but by no means is he considered skilled with it. That takes practice, preverably on some zombie.

Preacher skills are just a sub-tree of miscellaneous skills, other characters

CAN take them if they wish ('find' religion.) BUT for other character classes to buy the 1st skill on the "Preacher" skill tree costs an additional 400 XP (500 XP total). Additionally there are 2 Preacher skill trees, and the 2nd tree also costs +400 XP to get the 1st skill started as well, so it ain't cheap by any means! The 'crash course' in theology, and the various rituals and readings involved require time and practice. Once you've bought your 1st skill in the tree, the rest cost only 100 XP each.. for the "Religious Leader", and the "Chaplain", they're always 100 XP each.


  • Tend To The Needy -

Your character has a limitation against murder/harming other living characters. Your character gains NO bonus XP for killing any living human character (even a very evil one!) Your character gains 1 XP for every 5 Life you heal on any living human target. You do not gain this bonus for healing other "preacher" characters. "Heal thyself brother.."

  • Note: This skill may be made available under general skills under the name "Do no harm" which is a doctor/medic skill.

It would do the same exact effects and penalties.

  • Last Rites -

Skill tree just under "Tend to the needy" Whenever your character is at the SAME location as a living human or human undead character who was just killed (but NOT by you!) you have a button that says "Last Rites" appear. If you spend 3 AP to perform the ritual you gain 2 XP for a living human, and 1 XP for a zombie. You can only perform this ritual 5 times a day at most (for a maximum of 10 XP for 30 AP.) Note: you must perform it right after they died, you take any other actions, the button is not available, and it's "first come, first serve", only 1 preacher class character gets the XP for the ritual.

  • Bless this house.. -

Skill Tree Under "Last Rites" Level Requirement: 4 "Your character may spend 10 AP at any time to perform a blessing at this location. It is a button that says "Bless", and may only be performed once a day, and it affects this location ONLY. For the next 24 hours, all living humans at this location gain 1 additional Life whenever they consume Food or Wine. Additionally their chances of gaining XP when reading books is increased slightly. You cannot bless any location which currently has a zombie at it (inside or out). Any characters entering this location will read 'it seems unusually calm here, all things considered'. Any preacher class character who blesses and already blessed location just resets the clock to 0 for the 24 hour blessing. The benefits for this ritual may be more psychological based than any other source.. but who knows?

For some strange reason any character who has at least 1 zombie skill gains an additional 3 Life when consuming beer at this location, why remains a mystery. (Maybe 'god" hates a coward.. not sure.)

  • Rebuke The Damned -

Skill Tree Under "Bless this house.." Level Requirement: 5 for the Religious Leader (6 for the Chaplain) "Your character may spend (3 Times X) AP any time they are at the same location as any group of zombies, where X is their total numbers at that location.

By doing this you gain X XP for rebuking them, cursing them, and threatening great and terrible things will happen to them. It has no other effect per se, other than the game text 'A strange human approaches your zombie group and dances about moaning and hissing at you.. for a while.' humans see this as 'A street preacher approaches the nearby zombies and threatens and curses them. Also accusing them of all manner of impurity and hellfire.'

Your preacher character may only do this once per day, for every 5 levels of your character rounding up (level 1-5 once a day, levels 6-10 twice a day, levels 11-15 three times a day, and so on..)

This skill appears as a button at any location that you're at that has any zombies in it.. the button says "Rebuke".

3 Times X for simplicity sake is: 1 Zombie 3 AP for 1 XP 2 Zombies 6 AP for 2 XP 3 Zombie 9 AP for 3 XP 4 Zombies 12 AP for 4 XP 5 Zombie 15 AP for 5 XP 6 Zombies 18 AP for 6 XP And so on, there is no upper limit.. so long as you have AP to do it, and enough zombies to yell at.. it's all good. If there are too many zombies for your AP total there is NO rebuke button listed (too many of them to hear you..)

Each location in Malton may only have rebuke used on it once per 24 hour period, if you attempt to rebuke at a location where it has already occurred today you only use 1 AP and get the message 'The damned here have already been warned today..' "

  • House Of Healing -

Skill Tree Under "Rebuke The Damned" Level Requirement: 20 for non preacher character classes (10 for preacher class) Any church that your character is in is considered a "Hospital" for the purpouses of all characters with the "surgery" skill. But only so long as you meet all of the other pre-requisites required (a running generator, with fuel) and your character must posses the "surgery" skill themself, and at least 1 "doctor" or "medic" character class (also with "surgery " skill) must also be present at the church when you are. Yes, it's good for the cause to end your session inside a church.

  • Strike Thee Down! -

Skill Tree Under "I Shall Smite Thee!" Level Requirement: 8 for any other class, 6 for the Religious Leader (5 for the Chaplain) "Your character gains +10% to hit with any unarmed punch attack." So long as you have at least 1 crucifix in your inventory 1/4 of your level is deducted from your AP requirements to use 'Rebuke The Damned' (ex. levels 5-8 lowers cost by 2 AP, levels 9-12 lowers cost by 3 AP, levels 13-16 lowers cost by 4 AP.) This makes it possible for your character to aproach and rebuke larger zombie groups with your rebuke skill (or wait until their numbers are a bit depleted.)

  • Religious Fervor -

Skill Tree Under "I Shall Smite Thee" Prerequisite: Level 10 (8 for any preacher class) "Your character has only half the normal chances of being infected by any zombie attack or skill. If your character is ever turned into a zombie your character is listed as 'a zombie preacher' (indicated by your garb) so you may be revived sooner (maybe...)"

  • Blasphemy!!! -

Skill Tree Under "Religious Fervor" Prerequisite: Level 15 (10 for any preacher class)

"Your character gains +10% to hit with all attacks against any zombie when inside a 

church, hospital, or at any graveyard. "

RP Benefits: The street preacher believes that he/she is helping the cause. Perhaps they are! But in such a dire situation, many survivors look to anyone who can help them get through it. Many common prejections when taunting the damned include referring to them as "unclean", "hellspawns" and the "fallen". Keep it clean, but by all means be creative!

Left Queue: 11:25, 27 April 2006 (BST)

9th March 2006

DNA Analysis

Timestamp: 12:10, 9 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors, Science skill tree
Description: Currently, DNA extraction is not very useful except as a form of XP gain. The information gained from a successful DNA scan is not particularly helpful. It would be useful to be able to view a zombies profile upon a successful scan in order to be able to make an informed decision as to whether a zombie should or should not be revived.


I would therefore like to suggest the addition of a new skill providing impoved DNA extraction.


The skill "DNA Analysis" would be part of the Science skill tree, with a prerequisite of having Necrotech Employment.


The skill would allow survivors to use a DNA extractor in a similar manner to the existing with the following changes:


1) DNA extracts could be taken from a zombie multiple times in one day.

2) The provided information would include the ability to view the zombies profile page by clicking on the zombie's name.

3) No experience would be gained from DNA scanning a zombie with this skill (to compensate against the improved information and ability to scan multiple times).

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Barricades & Door Text Change

Timestamp: 17:00, 9 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Text Improvement
Scope: Zombies
Description: When a building has been barricaded, the text shown to a zombie when attempting to enter says "The building has been barricaded from the inside". When barricades are smashed down, the door is still secured. How on earth did zombies break down barricades inside a building with the door still being closed? I'm pretty sure zombies don't have 10 feet long arms.

Before: The building has been barricaded from the inside.

After (my prejection): The door to the building has been barricaded.

That's about it. It's not a bug since it doesn't effect gameplay. -Kraxxis

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Shoot From The Hip

Timestamp: MrAushvitz11:30, 9 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Additional shotgun combat option
Description: Ever seen in a movie someone shooting their shotgun "from the hip", Blam! Blam! Thank you ma'm. That is the basis of this Zombie Hunter skill.

Shoot From The Hip

Level Requirement: Level 13 or higher

To choose this attack, you go to "attack" then "a zombie" then choose "Shoot From he Hip".

You MUST have a shotgun with 2 readied shells in it to use this option otherwise it's not listed as an attack.

For 4 AP your character makes 2 shotgun attacks in 1 action against "a zombie" (this attack is only allowed on zombies currently. Both attacks are made at the regular shotgun attack values, no bonus or penalties.

Why would you waste 2 extra AP to do this?

Because the 2 shotgun blasts are made against 2 different zombies! (Ahhhhh..) currently this is the ONLY attack that allows you to "see" what the life total of the next zombie in a stack is if you hit). So blast #1 is made against the 1st zombie in the stack, and blast #2 is made against the second.

The only way to make this attack 2 or more times in a row is to have that many fully loaded shotguns at the ready, otherwise you'll have to reload them before you can do it again. (Someone else may kill zomie #2 by then if it takes enough time).

This is a good idea for a zombie hunter skill because it's a bit of a "lunatic" skill, and you gotta be a bit crazy hunting down zombies.

What the zombie(s) see: "Blam! Blam! A zombie hunter is shooting from the hip!" followed by the combat results...

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Hail Of Bullets

Timestamp: MrAushvitz11:45, 9 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Additional pistol combat option
Description: Both guns a blazing baby, that's what it's all about!

Hail Of Bullets

Level Requirement: Level 13 or higher

To choose this attack, you go to "attack" then "a zombie" then choose "Hail Of Bullets".

You MUST have at least 2 fully loaded pistols in your inventory to choose this attack, otherwise it is not listed as a combat option. Additionally you may only choose this option if you are at a location that has at least 3 zombies at it, this attack may only be initiated against zombies currently.

For 5 AP your character makes 2 pistol attacks in 1 action against "a zombie" (this attack is only allowed on zombies currently. Both attacks are made at the regular pistol attack values, no bonus or penalties. Both are made against the same zombie.

Why would you waste 3 extra AP to do this?

Because the 1st time you do this at this location the computer now begins to keep a "combat record" of all the pistol attacks you missed with, for the remainder of the combat (or until you move away from this location).

Now, every time your character takes a reload pistol clip action, after you reload your clip the computer will calculate 1 pistol attack at 5% to hit for each miss that you made since the last time it fired the misses, or since you started the combat record" initiated by "Hail Of Bullets". After these attacks are made, "Hail Of Bullets" continues, but your misses are back to 0, until you start shooting again..

How this works is your crazy a$$'d character is firing so many shots at the zombie mob that those bullets ar bound to hit something.. so the computer makes all those misses against the #2 zombie in the stack.. until a bullet hits that one, then against #3, till a bullet hits that one, and so on.. if there are no "extra zombies" to hit other than the #1 zombie, they all miss.

"Hail Of Bullets" continues even if there are 3 or less zombies left, but once you're out of zombies it "turns off" even if a new one just entered the area. (If one enters while it's still on, they can get hit in the stack just like any other zombie assembled there, welcome to the party!)

But either way the computer gives the text: "Hail Of Bullets" followed by the attacks, and hits (if any) down the stack when you reload your clip (reloading a second or subsequent clip doesn't break the "chain" or make any more attacks).

You will break the "chain", stopping "Hail Of Bullets" in it's entirety if you take ANY action other than: firing a pistol at a zombie, or reloading a pistol. So this skill is all about shooting like a madman till you're spent, or alone. (Yes, using a FAK breaks the chain, sorry, you needed both hands to use the FAK).

Of course you gain XP as normal for the "extra" shots, it's totally random at 5% but your bullets aren't being wasted anyways.

This skill is meant to be a "2 guns a blazing" concept, one which many zombie hunters will surely enjoy, and use.

What the zombies see when you initiate it: "There is a hail of bullets from _____ as they unload 2 pistols at the zombies at your location!"

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Look at the bodies man!

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:35, 9 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Defensive benefit in body littered areas
Description: Your zombie capitalizes defensively from areas with a lot of bodies, keeping "in close" on the living to screw them up, or taking cover when nessesary.

Look at the bodies man!

Appears just under Scent Trail on the "Scent Fear" skills tree

Requirement: Memories Of Life, and Vigour Mortis, in addition to all skills above it under "Scent Fear" skills tree.

Your zombie is a sneaky bugger, and has this annoying tendancy to take advantage of trying to "corner" and "trip up" characters who face you at locations filled with bodies!

  • Your zombie has a 2% chance to take "cover" from any succesful ranged weapon attack from a living survivor, at any location that has 5 or more bodies on the ground.

What the attacker reads: "Damn, your shot would have hit! But this zombie just used one of the many bodies here as cover.. what the hell?"

  • Your zombie has a 5% chance to cause any character attacking you successfully with a fireaxe to "trip and miss", at any location that has 5 or more bodies on the ground.

What the attacker reads: "You tripped, and missed because of the bodies! This zombie is a bit more clever than the others.."

What your zombie reads with either successful defense: "The bodies gathered here have saved you, yet again from the warm bloods."

For game balance purpouses, characters who favour hand to hand might consider using another hand weapon in areas with a lot of bodies.. making these weapons useful for another purpouse.

Obviously firearms are more effective aginst this skill than a fireaxe, but you have to use more AP to use a firearm (reloading) so it seems fair to give the "faster" bullet a benefit.

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Obscene Strength

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:35, 9 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Damage to building's interrior benefits
Description: Your zombie can truly capitalize on survivor strongholds, if you can get in you can do a LOT of damage (offsetting survivor AP "advantages" forcing repairs, and so forth.)

Obscene Strength

Appears just under Tangling Grasp on the "Vigour Mortis" skills tree

Requirement: Level 15+ in addition to completed "Vigour Mortis" skills tree above it.

Your zombie has strength which is disturbing, to say the least, coupled with it's immortality and endurance it is not a pretty sight.

  • Your zombie is NOT one survivors like to see make it into one of their compounds! Your zombie has +10% chance to destroy generators (or any other "delicate" machinery or equipment which can be attacked in the game later..)
  • Your zombie also has a +5% chance to destroy barricades, but only from WITHIN a building (it is easier to get at the boards from this side, and take out much needed building supports.)

This skill may seem excessive, but given the zombie's level requirements, AND you have to make it inside to capitalize on it (with remaining AP), it is quite fair. Zombie teamwork...

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Body Toss

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:55, 9 Mar 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Throw bodies INTO a building!
Description: An ususual if not messy seige method usuable by some zombies to bypass more heavily barricaded buildings.

Body Toss

Appears just under "Feeding Groan" on the "Memories Of Life" skills tree.

Requirement: Level 20+ in addition to completed "Memories Of Life" skills tree above it.

  • Your zombie gets frustrated with barricades and occasionally throws a body at the building's upper windows whenever possible. This may be an act of anger, or a seige tactic, it's hard to say. But it is an interesting way to irritate the survivors inside. Only the oldest and strongest of zombies initiate such an attempt though their groans often get some helping hands to join in. (Occasionally bodies are even used as battering rams against the doors of buildings!)
  • Game Mechanics:

The computer calculates how many zombies at this location (other than to you) have "Memories Of Life".

For 15 AP your zombie may "Throw Body" under the attack menu, then under the barricades is one listed "Throw Body".

  • Base chance of success is 10%, +1% per each other zombie at this location with "memories of life".
  • Buildings which are "easier" to throw bodies into +5% chances:

Church, Cathedral, Cinema, Club, Hotel, Hospital, Junkyard, Library, Museum, School. ANY building which has only a level 1 or 2 barricade remaining get's this bonus in addition to it's building's bonus/deduction..

  • Buildings which are "harder" to throw bodies into -5% chances:

Mall, Power Station, Fort, City Zoo, Armory, Arms, Bank, Factory, Tower, Warehouse. ANY building which is very heavily barricaded gets this deduction, in addition to it's building's bonus/deduction.

  • The easy/harder difficulty modifiers are based on the breakability of windows, window height, roof height, extra doors, easily securable doors, etc.
  • Success! A successful attempt results in that body being moved "inside" the building! No damage is taken to the building's barricades per se, and the body may be thrown out by survivors as normal if they're able to.

What survivors hear: "You hear the crash of glass upstairs as some hapless corspe was forcefully thrown through a window!"

What zombies read: "The body was thrown successfully through a window!"

  • Failure! The body may have hit a wall or not quite broke a window, the zombie's aim may have been a bit off.

What survivors hear: "You hear the meaty 'thud' as some poor lifeless corpse slapped into the side of this building's barricades."

What zombies read: "Oops, that body didn't quite make it in.."

Failed thrown body attempts MAY still damage a building's barricade but at 1/2 the chance of success of a regular claw swipe from your character.

  • Note: Your zombie character may ONLY attempt this action once per day for every 20 levels (rounding down). So levels 20-39, 1 attempt per day; levels 40-59 2 attempts per day, and so on.

This attack is humourous, but it actually is a reasonable option for some buildings which can be "impossible" to enter.. and a method of filling the interior with a few bodies, which may rise in time to assist.

Left Queue: 11:28, 27 April 2006 (BST)

10th March 2006

Revivacation Markers

Timestamp: 00:53, 11 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: improvement
Scope: Zombies Humans and DNA Extractors
Description: This is a addon to DNA Extractors and does not work on Brain Rotted zombies

Human

Necro Tech has continued it's research to try to drive back the unholy zombie hell that has engulfed Malton. It's result

The DNA Extractor V.2

Whenever you extract DNA from a zombie as long as they don't have brain rot the zombie will also be tagged for revivacation.( No Extra Xp will come out)

  Zombie

The zombie however is still smart enough to know wether they want to be revived or not so they will get the following message-

(Name) Has extracted DNA from you and also attached a revivacation marker on your left ear. Do you want to rip it out of keep it on?

They will then get 2 buttons one saying no and one with yes

Humans

When a person is fighting a zombie who still has a tag on and makes any kind of damage angainst it they will recive a message at the end of their move saying - This zombie has been tagged for a revive

Left Queue: 05:37, 11 March 2006 (GMT)


Masquarade

Timestamp: 08:20, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies (high-level loners in particular)
Description: I'm a bit new to this game, I'll admit, but I'm eager and full to bursting of ideas I'd like to contribute (and not afraid to get shot down in flames, perhaps just as importantly). This is a little idea for a zombie skill that might make the lives of lone wolf zombies more interesting, and maybe add a little flavor to life in the "safe" neighborhoods. This would be a later teir Zombie skill, requiring Memories of Life and Lurching Gait (or only the latter, if skill trees cannot be combined). Zombies with this skill have learned (or remembered) how to immitate the walk of the living. Although the performance isn't quite flawless, it's done well enough to be convincing from a distance. When a survivor (but not another zombie) sees a zombie with this skill in adjacent squares on the area map, the zombie appears as a survivor, using it's survivor name. If they occupy the same square, the zombie will appear as normal. In order to prevent horrible abuse of this skill, I'd say that zombies traveling in groups of more than 10 (or another number, if so desired) appear as normal zombies (regardless of whether or not their companions have the skill). Flavor wise, their immitation isn't polished enough to disguise an entire shambling horde. Practically, it's to prevent the skill from being horribly abused and having huge mobs of "survivors" getting a little too much leeway, and keep it oriented towards lone zombies presenting an insiduous menace in otherwise clean streets. Survivors could, of course, add known Masquaraders to their contact lists, which can be explained as easily as the locals learning to recognize individual zombies despite their ploys. Theoretically, survivors could also simply check the profile of survivors in question to see if they had the Masquarade skill, but they still wouldn't know if they were genuinely alive, and anyone high enough level to be taking this skill probably has just about everything. Besides, it's not much more of an advantage than Zombies being able to supernaturally identify Zombie Hunters. At any rate, that sums up my prejection. I turn it over to ye masses now. Criticize, suggest, lynch, it's all in your hands now. At the very worst, it will be a learning experience.
Left Queue: 11:29, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Street Cars (revised with extended Q&A)

Timestamp: 13:14, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Item/improvement
Scope: Survivors, street squares
Description: OK, I know I said adios yesterday, but I think a lot of people voted kill for the wrong reasons. If you didn't read this prejection yesterday, please read the first section (it's more or less the same). If you did read it yesterday and voted kill, please scroll down to the Q&A section, where your problem may well be addressed. Also please read the Final Summary, which outlines why this prejection is not unbalancing but could add fun to the game while staying in the spirit of zombie flicks. If you still think the game is better with most survivors free running everywhere and never setting foot outside, then that's your call, but I must respectfully disagree.

This prejection follows from these two observations: 1. Many people want vehicles (though, admittedly, some are dead-set against).

2. Street squares are currently the red-headed stepchild of squares, although in many zombie movies they are the setting for much of the most tense action.

Consequently, I humbly make my own addition to the much-reviled canon of vehicle prejections.

1. Streetcars are only available on street squares. The search chance is 20% (set deliberately high, otherwise they're just not worth the trouble), representing the player trying many vehicles do find one that runs. A fuel can must then be used to initiate streetcar movement.

2. Streetcars allow movement for no AP cost in street squares only. In any other square, movement cost is a normal 1 AP. Players in a car can only move or leave the car.

3. Streetcars can move through empty squares or ones containing survivors only, but immediately crash on entering a square with even a single zombie. Yes, this is not totally realistic, but makes a lot of sense from a play mechanic point of view. Crashing costs 15 damage (same as flare) to both the top zombie in the stack and to the player and gives no experience to either'.

4. Cars immediately cease to exist the moment the player crashes or leaves the car. This represents zombie damage, other players stealing, whatever. When you leave it, it's gone.

5. Players in a car are still visible, and can be attacked by Pkers on the same square. If a zombie moves into a square, the car is destroyed automatically, but no crash damage results. Again, not totally realistic, but the best compromise from a play mechanic perspective. (The alternative, that a zombie destroys the car with its first attack, and the car can move out of the square before this, is an option but a little more difficult to code and confusing).


Q. This is unfair to zombies who can't move as far

A. Say this one with me people: a zombie does not care how far his target can move, only how far away it is right now. That is, a zombie hunting for a harman has to move the same distance to his next target irrespective of its speed; the only thing that matters is the dispersal of his targets. It's true that a survivor driving a car could hunt for 60 or 70 spaces, as opposed to a Z hunting for 50 spaces, but really, if you can't find a zombie after 50 moves a few extra isn't going to help. After searching for the car, the survivor will not have any extra APs to attack with unless the zombie he finds is really far away. Also bear in mind that that survivor with a few extra moves to find a target has already spent far more AP to get a fuel can, and will spend more healing himself if he chooses to crash. Furthermore, cars might encourage people to roam further, improving their dispersal and thus reducing the distance to the next target for a hunting zombie. The fact that a survivor can move a few more squares (not make more attacks, just move further) after already spending APs on fuels cans and searches does not disadvantage a zombie. The only case where it would would be one where a survivor has decided to target a specific zombie at a known location 50 squares away, and already has a fuel can; in this case he might get a couple extra APs to attack, but I seriously doubt this has ever happened in the history of the game. Summary: a zombie only cares how far it is to his next meal, and cars will not affect this distance one bit.

Q. A weapon with 100% hit rate for 15 damage? WTF?

A. 15 damage to both zombie and survivor, after using a fuel can, and searching for a car. If I had spent days accumulating an unlimited supply of fuel cans and FAKs, I could do the following damage (assuming 5 APs average search time, 1AP to move into the zombie):

(50/6)*15 = 125 damage in a day, not including time spend to heal thyself after crashes.

By contrast, loaded shotguns would do:

At 65% hit: 10 * .65 * 50 = 325 damage At 40% hit: 10 * .40 * 50 = 200 damage At 15% hit: 10 * 15 * 50 = 75 damage

Loaded pistols:

At 65% hit: 5 * .65 * 50 = 162.5 damage At 40% hit: 5 * .40 * 50 = 100 damage At 15% hit: 5 * .40 * 50 = 37.5 damage

Axe would do (3 * .4 * 50) = 60 damage every day; that's half the damage, without spending weeks getting an inventory full of fuel cans and FAKs (to heal the ram damage). And remember, no XP for this damage. Thus no sane person would consider this an effective weapon; while you could do serious damage, you can do damage far more efficiently with even the humble axe. The only reason you would do it is for roleplay purposes: destruction derby!

Summary: The shotgun, axe, and pistol are all more efficient ways of doing damage, and will also give you XP. The final nail in the coffin to this argument: revive syringe.

Q. You get infinite free movement!

A. No. Street squares are only a small fraction of the game squares; even if you stuck to them where possible, and were untroubled by zombies along the route, you would only every be able to move around 70-80 squares, not including the AP cost to search for car and fuel can. The car is only AP-efficient if you are travelling a very, very long way, and even then will only gain you around 10-20 squares or so. Since it already only takes 2 days to cross the map, this really isn't significant.

Q. Just walk.

A. By walk you almost certainly mean "Free Run". This is boring, hinders zombies, and is not in keeping with the flavour of the game: how many zombie flicks choose walk over drive?

Q. It will mean people spend more time off the streets, not on them

A. Put down the crack pipe, hippie. Thanks to the random search effect, this ability will not help people get back their safe house; if you've spent 30 APs hunting and killing, would you search for car to get you home? No, you'd walk. It lets people roam further, but that won't get them off the streets faster unless they are going to a specific location within the (relatively small) margin where a car would help. It is more likely that people will hop in a car to go to somewhere new, thus increasing survivor dispersal and helping zombies. In summary, while in very specific circumstances it might get a survivor off the streets faster, it is more likely to increase dispersal and (most importantly) break the free-run-all-the-time habit that most survivors use to get to new areas. So no, you are not only wrong, your conclusion is the exact opposite of the logical one.

Q. What about driving into survivors, a Driving skill, etc.

A. These are all fine extensions, but would complicate an already complex prejection. In the extremely unlikely event that this passes, please suggest after the fact.

Final Summary: The car in this prejection is not a useful weapon, and makes very little difference to survivor movement except over the longest distances. The following are the only reasons I can think of to use the car suggested here:

1.If you want to move a really long way and not do anything along the way. If a survivor is going on a long journey, that is really no skin of the noses of local zombies; 50 squares is vastly too far to follow, so 70 squares makes no difference. Long journeys into unknown territory are a staple of zombie flicks, and do not hinder zombies at all; they help by increasing survivor dispersal. 2.If you want to run destruction derby guilds. The car is not an effective weapon, but it could be a fun one. Aren't games about fun? Or are they about free running across an entire city and not exposing yourself to a single zombie? 3.As an extension to point 1: point-to-point racing. See how many APs it takes to get from one place to another, but watch out for zombies on the way!

If anything, this prejection helps zombies more than hinders them, as it gets survivors out of the free-run-everywhere mentality, encourages them to make riskier journeys, increases survivor dispersal (reducing the distance between harman targets), and adds another layer to strategy with the zombie street blockade.

Left Queue: 11:29, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Memories of Life Improvement

Timestamp: 14:17, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: I've been doing some thinking, mostly about Memories of Life. An entire skill that lets you open doors? To me, its always felt quite worthless.... sort of. See, there's no reason for individual zombies to get it- in a Horde, there only needs to be one Zombie to get through the closed door, then everyone hops inside and grabs munchies. Granted, for the soloist its damn near essential, but how many solo zombies are there anymore? My 'give it about thirty minutes of thinking' fix is that a zombie with memories of life can still use his melee weapons with some percentage of his melee weapon skill as a survivor. For example, if you have Axe Proficiency and Hand to Hand Combat, you have something like 40% to hit with your fireaxe. We'll pretend and set the percentage as "One half of your chance to hit if you were a survivor, minimum of 10%" because, lets face it, there is no movie I've seen yet where a Zombie is a blademaster and can flit about like mad... which gives you 20% chance to hit... which is right where I want it to be interestingly.

This seems like a fairly stupid prejection at first (believe me, I was saying "Man thats dumb, why would a zombie get this? Death grip and Tangling Grasp alone are better and do just as much damage, man, Gorth, you should shut the hell up and choke"), but... it serves as a good standby until you can grab your zombie skills for those people who were unlucky enough to switch sides.

Alternatively, this could just be an entirely new skill. My humorous prejection is "Suck Less With Sticks", but if a serious one is warranted, "Bludgeonify" is my current favorite. Clarification: Zombies with Memories of Life could still open doors. I meant that just opening doors was a sucky ability, and not worth 100 XP for just that ability. Its nice, yes, but not comparable to other skills. Sorry for the mixup.

Left Queue: 11:29, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Group buildings

Timestamp: 21:28, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Add on
Scope: All groups of 10 or more
Description: Always wanted an HQ but spray cans leave you wanting more? Well here is the add-on for you! When 10 or more survivors of the same group assemble in a single building they can change the name of the building to a set list of 3 names
  • The _____ HQ
  • Home of the _____
  • The____ building

Also as soon as they change the name they would be able to edit the inside description as well these changes would stay in effect until another group out numbers the first group in the building so if there were 10 People from one group and 11 from another in the same building the building would revert back to its old name until the group with 11 claimed it. If there are more zombies in the HQ than group members than the HQ also reverts back to its normal type. The building being an HQ has no effect on search rates Note All curse words would be blocked. and only warehouses junkyards and other non frequently searched buildings could be used as HQs meaning NO you cant use the PD as a base sorry but to much abuse there as newbie’s wouldn’t know if it was a PD or not. also only one HQ at a time per group is allowed. Malls cannot be used as HQs.

This idea makes the game more fun. HQs can be spray painted normally and give 2XP with tagging if it’s not your own HQ. At least 10 members of the group must be present to make an HQ. for groups with insanely long names The building would on the out side read 'A HQ building'

Left Queue: 11:29, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Bounty Hunter

Timestamp: 22:37, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: The new skill will be called Bounty Tracking. This new skill can be purchased under the Military catagory. When you buy this skill you can track a PKer. This is how it will work: If someone harms or kills you, you can track them, and if someone kills another person in the room, you can track them. The tracking will be similar to Scent Trail and it will show the current position of the PKer.
Left Queue: 11:29, 27 April 2006 (BST)

11th March 2006

Tangling Grasp II/Drag

Timestamp: 21:34, 11 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: I suggest a skill that allows a zombie to drag a human player for a short distance.

For instance, say you're a zombie with the skill(whatever it ends up being named - Drag, Tangling Grasp II, whatever), and you attack a human. An extra button is added with a drop-down list, giving you an option to "grab" or "clutch" a human in the stack. If successful (percentage for successful grab would be something under 50%, I think) the zombie gets the added 15% to hit, just like Tangling Grasp. Basically, it's giving you the option to grab a human like Tangling Grasp without having to attack them.

However, along with this, I propose an option to drag the human. If you've grabbed hold of a human through Tangling Grasp or this skill, and you move to another block on the 3x3 grid, the human is dragged. Of course, to avoid a major unbalance, the human wouldn't be able to be dragged for over a single block.

I can see this being very useful for a higher-level zombie to drag an injured human, or an impressive foe, out of a building, so he no longer attacks other zombies in the building. For example, imagine you're a human in... say, Fort Creedy. The zombies attacking it break in and drag quite a few humans outside, where ferals who cannot open doors or who cannot easily survive being up against active humans in the fort can feast on them.

Lastly, imagine the sheer terror that you as a human would encounter if you woke up outside of your safehouse next to several bodies of the people who were also in this building, because a zombie had managed to waste quite a lot of his APs helping his lower-level fellows get a tasty meal.

It seems realistic enough to me.


Points to Ponder:

  1. Can zombies drag other zombies outside?
  2. Could zombies only do this to sleeping humans because the awake ones would struggle too much?
  3. Could Memories of Life be a prerequisite to this because if the doors are closed and the zombie leaves dragging a human, it should be able to open doors first?
  4. Can zombies do this unlimited times a day? This would make it incredibly easy for them to win a siege by simply spending 3 AP per person (grab, drag, back into the building) and then they're almost surely killed by ferals or coordinated members of their group.

Any prejections or changes or constructive criticisms are appreciated.

Left Queue: 11:30, 27 April 2006 (BST)

12th March 2006

Dance! Zombie! Dance!

Timestamp: MrAushvitz13:30, 12 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Gaining extra XP by unloading additional ammo on a zombie..
Description: Pre-requisites: Level 10, appears on Zombie Hunter Skill Tree just below "Headshot".

This skill is a very simple zombie hunter skill. When using ANY kind of projectile weapon that uses bullet-type ammunition (currently pistol and shotgun ONLY).

You are allowed an additional combat option when you JUST killed a zombie with a pistol shot or shotgun blast.. immediately following the killing there is a button available which says "Dance! Zombie! Dance!" This costs 3 AP in addition to the shots fired, explained later..

IF you click on this button your character will fire off as many shots as they can into the zombie before it hits the ground.. each shot is automatically calculated by the computer normally based on the last weapon you used (pistol or shotgun) until that 1 weapon is out of ammmunition, then you stop firing.

Why bother?

The zombie's death does not occur until AFTER dance, zombie, dance has been resolved.. so if you like you get to pick up extra XP from the same zombie (at maximum, you hit it with up to 4 more pistol shots or 1 more shotgun blast.. gaining XP for each successful hit). If you missed, you missed (but that was some fun a shootin' wasn't it?)

The whole point of this skill is if you want to "unload" onto some poor zombie you can do so.. just for yuks. The only real benefit is it can speed up your XP gains, but the ultimate reward is the game text.

What the zombie sees: "The human _____ just unloaded X more shots into your carcass before it hit the ground, making you appear to dance in midair!"

What other humans see: "____ just unloaded X additional shots into a zombie.. making it appear to dance in midair for a time before it hit the ground!"

What you see, after the additional combat attacks and hits are made, if you hit with at least one of them.. "You made that zombie dance! You'd hit it an additional X times, for X damage total, for X additional XP!"

All in all, this skill is more to add to the "fun" of being a gun's character. .

Left Queue: 22:15, 12 March 2006 (GMT)

Hail Of Bullets (Reworked by origionator)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz13:45, 12 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Firing 3 pistol shots, for 2 AP at 1 zombie target
Description: Pre-requisites: Level 10, appears on Zombie Hunter Skill Tree just below "Headshot".

This skill is a very simple zombie hunter skill.

This combat options is ONLY available IF you have 2 fully loaded pistols in your inventory.

Then under attack - a zombie - with one of the options under pistol in brackets says (Hail Of Bullets).

What hail of bullets does is for 3 AP you fire 2 pistol shots in the same turn, but at -15% to hit for each of those 3 pistol shots. And this uses 3 shots up from your 1st pistol (if you want to be technical).

Why bother?

If a duel with an online zombie this can give you the edge for victory (if you have the ammo).

This also gives your character a benefit for having several fully loaded pistols on hand (after all you can't repeat this attack unless you have a 3rd fully loaded pistol, then you do it a 2nd time if you wish, and so on..)

This skill is mostly for fun, but what the hell, you want to really unload onto 1 zombie you can do so. You want to be a "gun nut" with 10 pistols on you fully loaded, what the hell?

What you, the zombie, and others at this location read attacking with this skill: "Hail Of Bullets!!!" followed by the combat results.

IF you succeed in killing the zombie with your attacks, the 'extra' attacks hit the same zombie but you don't get bonus XP for it (that would be too much, a seperate skill is possible for such a bonus).

Simple enough, 3 shots for 2 AP, but -15% to hit and need 2 fully loaded pistols to do it.

Left Queue: 11:31, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Lightning Reload

Timestamp: MrAushvitz13:45, 12 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Hunter Skill
Scope: Reloads ALL your ammo weapons with 1 button!
Description: Pre-requisites: Level 10, appears on Zombie Hunter Skill Tree just below "Headshot".

This skill is a very simple zombie hunter skill.

Once per day (24 hour period) this character may reload ALL of their pistols, shotguns, and flareguns.. the computer will choose to load your 1st pistols with 5 shots each, one after another based on the (most full) weapon, and then shotguns in same order (most full 1st) and the same for flare guns.

To do this your character clicks on the "Lightning Reload" button, which is only available if you have this skill.

The drawbacks: If you use this skill at a location with other players, all characters and zombies will get the message: "You hear ____ quickly refilling every gun they have on hand!" ONLY zombies with the "memories of life" skill will get this message (only they will recognize it as a danger.)

The bonus: Other than simply saving you the time of clicking on each bullet and magazine one at a time, your character will get back 1 AP immediately after using this skill IF your reloaded at least 5 pistol bullets, shotgun shells, or flares in any comination of types adding up to a total of 5 or more. So it didn't take your character as many AP to reload as it would have.

If your character lacks the AP to reload all your weapons, you get the message "Ooops, not enough time to reload them all." and you did not waste any AP, but the lightning reload once per day WAS used up! (refill them by hand buddy.)

That's it!

Left Queue: 11:31, 27 April 2006 (BST)

13th March 2006

Eat Brains! (Version 2.0)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:26, 13 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombie eats recently killed survivor for XP gain!
Description: Eat Brains!
  • Appears on skill tree just below "Digestion", therefore requires "Digestion" to purchase this zombie skill.

Whenever you zombie has JUST killed a survivor with combat damage the "Eat Brains!" button appears on your options.

If you decide to "Eat Brains!", your zombie uses 3 AP to hunker down and have a satisfying meal which temporarily removes the "pain of being dead" - Night of the living dead.

What this does: You may use 3 AP any time you just killed a survivor, in return, you zombie gains 3 times that character's level in bonus XP for the feast! (Yes, eating a character's brains will indirectly give you what that character's 'level' is, if you do the math and divide by 3!)

Those are the benefits for feasting on your victims, simple enough.

What your zombie reads: "You get down on all fours and devour _____'s sweet BRAINS!"

What your victim reads: "The last thing you hear is a sickening 'Krunch!' as your skull is split open and a zombie happily feasts upon your BRAINS!"

What any other characters in the area reads: "______ was the unfortunate victim of a zombie brain eating!"

Left Queue: 03:29, 13 March 2006 (GMT)

AI Zombies

Timestamp: 05:10, 13 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: balance change
Scope: Everyone
Description: Lots of peopl complain about hte population imbalance. Well, so AI zombies! Its not like zombies have a lot of freedom to do things anyway; it shouldn't be hard to code an AI to move from building to building randomly attacking things.
Left Queue: 16:31, 13 March 2006 (GMT)


Triage (Version 3.0 or higher)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz14:35, 13 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Science Skill
Scope: Survivors use of other buildings as "Hospitals"
Description: Maybe I can define the skill in a way most players might agree on, let's see...

Triage is a war-time/disaster way of priority medicine, so you don't waste your time healing someone who isn't hurt, or won't die (today). This applies under circumstances where everyone is hurt to some degree, but the doctors and nurses must decide who is 'worth' the resources. As well who to just give some painkillers to to keep them quiet, until they die, because they won't be able to save them today that's for sure.

The main purpouse of this skill is for players to have alternate "safehouses" which are like M.A.S.H. units (possibly for specific factions controlling the area.) To provide medical help for the wounded if all hospitals are currently "taken" by zombies.

  • Appears on Science skill tree just below "Diagnosis", BUT has additional requirement(s) you must have "Surgery" as well to purchase this skill.
  • How it works:
  • Your character is counted towards the "Triage" effect in a building that is NOT a hospital, any time you are AT that location. What this does, is ANY building that has at least 2 characters with the "Triage" skill, counts as a hopsital for the purpouses of the "Surgery" skill, provided all other prerequisites are met: Building has a generator that is running.
  • Any living character OR zombie with the "Memories Of Life" skill will read the following when they enter the building, in addition to the description: "Triage is in effect here. Some beds are available."
  • Triage however, does have many limitations on it.

This is due to the fact that only a hospital, is really a hospital.

  • The following buildings may NEVER have "Triage" in effect (usually a matter of cleanliness, draftiness/cold floors, or lack of bedspace): The city zoo (and any sub-buildings), Armory, Auto Repair Shop, Bank, Cinema, Club, Factory, Junkyard, Railway Station, Warehouse, Open Land (or any other outdoors location).
  • Using the "Surgery" skill at a Triage location does give 15 life instead of 10 as though this building were a hospital.. but ONLY to a living character who is: Currently at 30 Hit Points or less OR any living character who is level 6 or less (unless your character has some way of knowing, you just take your chances with the healing.)

For this prejection, to answer questions, I've extended the explanation.

The short version is:

  • Triage:

Requires: Diagnosis, surgery.

When at least 2 characters with this skill are at the same location which is NOT a hospital, it counts as a hospital for the purpouses of the "Surgery" skill. This location must meet all other prerequisites such as a running generator to receive the additional benefit. You may only heal 15 Hit Points (using a FAK with surgery) at this location on a living player if they have either 30 Hit Points or less, or if they are level 6 or less.

Left Queue: 11:32, 27 April 2006 (BST)

14th March 2006

Exponential XP

Timestamp: 00:52, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill buying system alteration
Scope: Everyone
Description: I submitted this a long time ago and it was shot down, but it's been long enough and and situation is different enough I believe it deserves a resubmit. I've also clarified the details somewhat, to please don't be an ass and call dupe. Anyway. My idea works like this: Homogeny is a big problem in today's UD world. The prejection prior to this one, regarding endgame skills with high XP costs, attempts to remedy this problem, but I feel there should be a more fundamental solution. Thus I propose that instead of a flat 100XP cost for skills (with class/crossclass multiplers) the cost should go up depending on your level. The first skill a new character buys should cost 50XP. All subsequent skills should cost a bit more, but going continuously up so that the cost to buy every skill in the game is huge. The progression should probably be something like 50-60-75-95-120-150-190-240 and so on, or just multiply the cost by 1.25 or even 1.5 for each successive skill. But what about all the players that already have huge numbers of skills? Simple: they lose all their skills and are refunded 100XP per each (or 75 for class skills and 150 for cross-class, depending on their status) and this, plus whatever XP they have currently, can be freely spent under the new system. Yes, this will be painful. Yes, I would rather my highlevel characters could stay high-level. But there's really no other way I can think of to solve the homogenity problem short of actually resetting the game, which nobody wants. This method turns an essentially simple skill-acquisition system that becomes meaningless very quickly into one with a lot more depth and strategy involved--you hesitate a lot more before buying Shopping when you know it'll take 100XP before you can get Bargain Hunting, and for that entire 1000XP Shopping will be pretty useless, since it'll be more profitable to search in a Hospital or PD. IF you're going to be a gunner, buying all the gun skills first will make it that much harder to get essentials like Free Running or Diagnosis--perhaps you ought to hold off on the shotgun skills and only buy the pistol ones for now--but of course that means the shotgun ones will cost more later. I think that boost to the flair and flavor of the game is worth experienced players losing some power.
Left Queue: 11:34, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Septic Points

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:22, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Survivor Living Conditions Penalty
Scope: Encompasses disease, need for food, bad living quarters, etc.
Description: Septic Living Conditions
  • The basis for this skill is to provide a disadvantage (of sorts) to survivors who spend too much time hiding out in the same building with several "other" survivors. Believe it or not, not going outside (even with zombies about) can be bad for you as well. Especially when survivors keep getting wounded by the living dead.

The purpouse of this skill is to add to the "infection" conditions of Malton, not just the zombie infection, but the disease and starvation elements... Of which, now that the millitary quarantined conditions have reached this duration, are becoming more.. ripe.

This prejection incorporates a lot of other prejections (use of food, not staying indoors, cramped living conditions, lack of sunlight, hiding for weeks on end, etc) under one subheading.

Each living character will gain a new statistic along with Action Points, and Hit Points.. there are Septic Points! (SP)

Getting a lot of SP is a BAD thing! You don't want or need septic points (you do need a good bath periodically..), and as they accumulate you'd better do something about it, or else. This is the one 'other' vulnerability the survivors have that the zombies don't, living body maintenance! The human body needs food, water, sleep, rest, decent shelter, clean clothes, and to avoid disease! Zombies can walk buck naked through a snowstorm and it hinders their battle effectiveness only slightly. In a long term conflict, this is the ultimate terrible price the zombies bring to the humanity within Malton's walls, human suffering and slow starvation behind a barricade until they venture forth.

Now your character may not be in use for a few days (we all have lives) so you accumulate SP based on what your character is doing during their game sessions. (That way we aren't penalizing people for not being online for a few days or weeks, per se, they might get killed by a zombie while in a building so that's bad enough.)

This additionally (for game balance purpouses) is an actual in game reason to go outside periodically. This gives the zombies a chance to see you, where you were headed, and so forth.. making it more "fun" for all (even you have fun, going outside, seeing an active zombie following you.. made you look!)

Penalties For Current Septic Points: All SP penalties are culmative (meaning they are all in effect if you have at least the amount required to gain the penalty allotted.) So if your SP is high, you are going to need some help! If your SP gets high chances are you're going to do something about it, if you want to live, and FAK's alone won't do it.

SP value (SPV) - Septic Rank - Penalty

5 SPV - Sickened Survivor - Your character replenishes AP at 3/4 normal rate (every 2 hours, you "skip" 1 of the 4 AP you would have gained, thereby gaining only 3 AP per 2 hours) "You don't feel well, and it's hard to go on." 10 SPV - Infected Survivor- Your character becomes "infected" by the zombie infection every time you hit 10 AP (by a SPV increase, not by a decrease... increasing to over 9 AP or more with 1 increase will cause infection if you were not already infected), and that means you need a FAK to remove it (or lose Hit Points for so many turns). "Your terrible living conditions have caused you to become infected!" In addition, your character is at -5% to hit with any ranged attack (shaky hands.) 15 SPV - Infected Wounds- Your character has extreme difficulties having their wounds healed. Your character only gains HALF (rounding up) of Hit Points restored by FAK's (3, 5 or 8 points gained!) "The first aid kit didn't have the full effect due to your infected wounds!" In addition, your character is at -5% to hit with any unarmed attack(weakened grip) "You can't stop shaking, you feel.. so... cold.." 25 SPV - Plauged Survivor- 2nd "Infection", just as "Infected Survivor" status. In addition, your character now replenishes AP at 1/2 normal rate (every hour, you "skip" 1 of the 2 AP you would have gained, thereby gaining only 1 AP per hour) "You can't stop vommiting. You need medical attention!" 30 SPV - Walking Wounded- Now FAK's only heal 1/4 hit Points rounding up (2, 3 and 4 points respectively), zombies that hit you with an infection attack you will lose 2 points per AP instead of 1 unless treated. "Your character is not unlike the zombies in appearance, and speech. You hurt like hell, all over." 35 SPV - Death. "Your character dies horribly oozing sweat, pus and blood from every pore" (survivors in the area witness this as well "_____ dropped dead as a result of disease!")(Note: it is not easy for a survivor to get to this level and run into an area of high survivor activity and just die in front of them, but if that's your game, it's a good way to tick off, and infect a lot of players.)

The 50 AP "Cycle": Every 50 AP your character spends is a "cycle" of sorts. mostly a "day" for your character. Every time your character has spent 50 AP the computer will look at what you did (or didn't do) on the list of LOSE and GAIN septic points, and will modify your SP at the end of the "cycle". When this happens you will be notified: "This cycle has passed you gained X SP.." or "This cycle has passed you lost X SP!" Then your SP rank changes up or down if nessesary, listing how you "feel" currently.

How To LOSE Septic Points: (Note each only is applied ONCE per cycle maximum) Once per cycle if you ate any food, you lose 1 SP (a full stomach makes it easier to put up with a lot in Malton). Once per cycle if you drank any Wine OR Beer, you lose 1 SP (you feel better at any rate). This benefit is for one or the other, not both. Once per cycle if you spent at least 10 AP inside any Hospital, Church, Library, Museum, School, Club or Cinema or at any outdoors location you lose 1 SP. (Includes moving to and from such locations). Once per cycle if you spent at least 15 AP at any outdoors location you lose 2 SP (this is in addition to the above bonus, this is the "moving" bonus)(outdoors also includes outside of any buildings!)(Includes moving to and from such locations). Once per cycle, if you used an FAK and the hit points you healed was in excess of your maximum. Lose 1 SP. (This is the "overage" bonus, or "disinfectant" bonus)

How To GAIN Septic Points: (Note each only is applied ONCE per cycle maximum) While replenishing AP (not logged in, replenishing at least 20 AP), if you are at any location that contains any 1 of the following: Very Heavily Barricaded, at least 7 survivors (exception: Kaiger Mall or other massive buildings this is raised to 70), at least 3 survivors who are at 10 SP or higher. Gain 1 SP. While replenishing AP (not logged in, replenish at least 20 AP), if even 1 zombie entered your location while you were replenishing at least 20 AP. Gain 1 SP. (This benefit is a "bonus" for zombies, to capitalize on attacking safehouses, even if they don't kill a survivor, it is a disruption and brings disease.) While replenishing AP (not logged in, replenish at least 20 AP), if at least 3 survivors were infected by zombie attacks at your location. Gain 1 SP. (Massive locations, like Kaiger mall this requirement is raised to 30 infections at your location.) While replenishing AP (not logged in, replenish at least 20 AP), if even 1 survivor died at your location as a result of a zombie attack. Gain 1 SP. (Massive locations, like Kaiger mall this requirement is raised to 10 zombie attack deaths at your location.) While replenishing AP (not logged in, replenish at least 20 AP), if even 1 survivor died at your location as a result of a 35+ SPV death. Gain 1 SP. (Massive locations, like Kaiger mall this requirement is raised to 10 infection deaths at your location.)

Now all in all seems like a massive boot to the head to the survivors, BUT only to the ones who hide a lot, and don't eat (or drink). This is to offset the "AP Advantage" that survivors have over zombies (for movement anyways) survivors are going to have to search in locations with food periodically (and keep some food handy), spend some time outside when they can (not just building to building movement) and yes, smaller safehouses might be better for many reasons because of the smell if nothing else.

This is NOT intended to screw over mass areas like Kaiger Mall, however, mass locations will definately have their problems, not just zombie attacks. The results of zombie attacks, disease, starvation, and the like.

By all means let's carefully pick this one apart, and work on it.. I think it would be a "major" event for Malton, one that could kick in slowly at first (let's say upper limit of SPV 10 effects to start) until the living conditions worsen (all the way up to 35).

This could also lead to a whole shwack of new skills prejections to offset the SV situation, making "leaders" in healthcare and services (power, running generator, etc) another element of the game. "Yeah there's zombies all over, and we need some damn LIGHTS okay?"

There also could be a lot of items which reduce SPV when used (once per cycle perhaps) and these items could make "other" buildings more useful (it ain't just guns when you got gangerine!)

So, what do you all think?

BTW - I ain't touching your AP, just the rate at which you get it back, get some sun.. son!

Left Queue: 11:34, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Running Out of Syringes

Timestamp: 04:48, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Balance change
Scope: Revivification Syringes that are found, not made
Description: When the NecroNet Access skill came out and allowed you to created syringes for 20 AP, I was puzzled. I can usually find a syringe, and sometimes two, with far fewer than 20 searches, and unless you're trying for a combat revive in real time combat AP is a lot more valuable than time. In addition, I have seldom had to wait in a revive line for more syringes: it is usually the scientists who are missing.

The fact is, it's too easy to get revived these days for the good of the game. Revivification is easily the most magically powerful thing in the game, yet a level 2 scientist can do it with realative ease. The chances to find a syringe in a NecroTech Building currently stands at 6%, and I think it would be better for the game if they were harder to find. Say, a 2% chance. This would make NecroNet Access almost essential for the dedicated reviver, reduce the number of syringes floating around, and force your average slain survivor to spend more time as a zombie. Hopefully, some of them will find they like playing for the other side.

Flavor-wise, this could easily be explained by the dwindling supply of the things, or by the serum in one of the old shipments passing the expiration date.

By the by, those with NecroNet Access would have to deal with the lower percentage whenever the power was out, further limiting the flow of the miracle needles.

Left Queue: 11:34, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Triage

Timestamp: 05:34, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Scientist Skill
Scope: Humans
Description: Months of hectic hands-on experience has made competent medics out of the survivors who chose this support role. They can now more quickly differentiate between those who just need aspirin and a band-aid, those who can wait a little longer, and those who need help NOW!

Triage is simply that - getting medical attention to those who need it most. Players with this skill will find that the first-aid kits in their inventory have automatically targeted the most critically-injured person in the area.

Requires the Diagnosis skill.

(As a dedicated medic, this would be very useful. I work in Caiger Mall, and it's been hard scanning the 500+ possible patients looking for the worst-off. I find myself just topping off people's hit points, while I know that there are others who could use it more, deeper into the listing.)

Left Queue: 11:34, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Find & Read

Timestamp: 22:22, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: improvement
Scope: Reduse server load
Description: Simple solution to reduse server hits. When you find a newspaper or a poetry book, you automaticly and immediately read it. This will save many server hits, because survivor won't need to drop these itmes.
Left Queue: 11:34, 27 April 2006 (BST)

15th March 2006

Burrowing

Timestamp: 01:42, 15 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: For the cost of 40 AP, a zombie would be able to burrow under the building it is standing in front and enter it by bursting through its floorboards. This will bypass barricades of any strenght, although it will not damage them in any way.

This skill would have its own category, and not be a subset of any existing zombie skill.

Performing this skill would be accompied by a description along these lines "Digging through the black earth, you suddenly scratch solid wood. You smash at the panels, they break, and you hoist yourself into the building."

Left Queue: 03:36, 15 March 2006 (GMT)


New Use For Wire Cutters, Sever Finger

Timestamp: MrAushvitz16:22, 14 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Item Use
Scope: Use For Wirecutters To Counter "Tangling Grasp"
Description: Sever Finger - Button
  • The "Sever Finger" button is available IF you are a survivor who has at least 1 "tangling Grasp" currently targeting you, and you possess a set of wire cutters.

Using the "Sever Finger" button costs 1 AP, and (if successful) deals 1 point of damage to every zombie who has "Tangling Grasp" on you, and breaks all of those "Tangling Grasp" effects (just to simplify things it stops them all, if you're online when it happens.

Chance of success Base 25%+5% per level of your survivor, per attempt. (Minimum 30% at level 1, maxes out at 90% success, level 13)

Why bother? Gives a survivor a chance to do something if they're online and hit by a tangling grasp.. it's also extra gross, painful sounding and fun. It also is a decent use for wirecutters, or a reason to keep them, or find them.

Survivor sucess :"You just snipped off some unneeded zombie fingers, freeing yourself from their grip!" Survivor failure :"You fumble with your attempts to remove their grip upon you!" Zombie who loses grip :"You just lost 1 Hit Point, and a finger or two to a survivor using their wirecutters! Your tangling grasp has been broken!" No message to a zombie if the survivor's attempts fail (it is assumed they're to busy trying to bite them to notice, waste of text) Nearby survivors and zombies witnessing a success by survivor:"Fingers fall to the ground as a survivor frees themself from a zombie's grip using their cutting tool." Bystanders get no message on a failure, waste of text.

Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Flare Bomb

Timestamp: 52:47, Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Hunter skill
Scope: zombie hunters
Description: This skill would go under the zombie hunter skill tree

This skill would allow a zombie hunter with less than 15 health, a fuel can in their inventory, and a flare gun in their inventory to douse zombie in gas, then fire the flare gun wildly. A hit with this skill would set the zombie on fire, subtracting 2 damage every turn taken after the initial hit. The zombie could, however, put the flames out without suffering any damage. This turn taken to put ut the fire would give the zombie hunter time to run away.

To balance the effects of this, the flare could lose x amount of accuracy, explained by the panicked state in which the flare gun is fired.It's use as a common weapon would also be negated by the need for less than 15 health to be remaining.

I am certainly open to changes to this, and if I see some good ones, I will re submit it with them included at a later date

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Propaganda

Timestamp: 01:44, 15 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Building use
Scope: Survivors in powered libraries
Description: I love the idea of giving every building type its own particular purpose. I've been thinking for a while about what purpose the libraries of Malton could possibly serve. Here's what I propose.

When inside a library with a running generator, the survivor player has the option to "Print Paper." (Libraries often do have copiers and printers on hand, for various uses. My university library was actually one of the primary places on-campus for printing essays and assignments.) What gets printed? Whatever the player wants -- a large text field next to the Print Paper button will permit any ASCII input up to a 1000 characters (about two paragraphs).

After printing, you'll now have a new item in your inventory -- "First few words" (10), which takes up one block of space. "First few words" means that the first 15 characters or so of what you printed will appear in the item button. If you ever need to check the full contents, you can click on the item to read the entire printout. You get 10 copies.

What do you do with these? Hand them out to other players. A pair of pulldowns will show up to allow this transaction: Give [this printout] to [this player]. Yes, this is a "givable" item, but its whole purpose is to be handed out. When you give a printout to another player, it's automatically added to their inventory without any interaction from them. However, you can only give one printout to any particular survivor per day, to prevent griefing through inventory overloading.

Once your recipient has your printout, she can read it by clicking on it in her inventory.

I see a number of possible purposes for this feature:

  • Spreading the word about your group
  • Spreading the word about the suburb's barricade plan
  • Distributing concise game tips to new players
  • Delivering a message in secret -- only the recipient sees it
  • Creating fake newspapers for fun ("CAIGER SURVIVORS PREFER CREW SWEATERS TO TRENCHCOATS, SURVEY SAYS")

and probably many uses that others will come up with which I can't foresee.

I'm honestly not sure how useful this would be. But I like the idea of libraries being used for something, and printing literature seems as thematically appropriate as anything.

Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Mentoring

Timestamp: 03:39, 15 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Survivors in powered schools
Description: I love the idea of giving obscure buildings special uses. While inside schools powered by generators, survivors with lots of XP banked and the "Mentoring" skill will have the option to "teach" other survivors. Mentoring is found in the Civilian skill tree. Here's how it works.

The "mentor" survivor accesses a pulldown to specify: Teach [this player]. 40 XP is then deducted from the "mentor's" record and transferred to the "student" at a rate of 1/10th the value. That is to say, the mentor's 40 XP becomes 4 XP when transferred to the student. This represents that while learning from another is valuable, it still doesn't quite compare to first-hand experience. The mentor may do this no more than 5 times for any particular student, period. Once the mentor has "taught" the student 5 times, that's it. He's taught him everything he can. At the same time, the student can learn no more from any mentor until the next Urban Dead day begins. That is to say, no more than 20 XP per day can be gained in this manner, and no more than 20 XP per lifetime can be gained from any one mentor.

Every Teach action costs 1 AP. Thus, it takes 5 AP to teach one student 20 XP worth of knowledge.

Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

A Simpler Form Of Redistribute Ammo

Timestamp: 07:17, 15 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Survivors
Description: Currently clicking on a gun in your inventory costs an AP and doesn't do anything. I propose giving these buttons the function that the prejection "Redistribute Ammo" put forth as a new button: moving your already loaded ammunition into as few guns as possible. In addition it should move these guns together to the beginning of your inventory to make it easier to keep track of them. So if you had 4 pistol with eight bullets spread between them and clicked on any pistol the beginning of your inventory would looking like this: Pistol (6) Pistol (2) Pistol (0) Pistol (0). If you clicked on a shotgun it'd do the same thing for your shotguns. It'd cost 1 AP. This would not load shells and clips into guns, it'd only redistribute already loaded ammunition to make your inventory more efficient.
Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Don't dump the living!

Timestamp: 20:31, 15 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: balance change/improvement
Scope: Survivors, Revived bodies
Description: Survivors now recognize and can discern a breathing body (one that has been revived) from a true corpse when handling them. "Dump bodies" inside a building will now only dump fallen zombies that are dead, not bodies created when someone has been hit with a revivication syringe. Attempts to clear bodies cost 1 AP only if dead corpses are dumped.

Sample Success/Failure messages :

Partial Success: "You dump some of the bodies out of the building, but a few are breathing and you leave them alone."

Failure: "You start to throw the body out of the building, but realize that they are just asleep, not dead."

Specifically suggested due to the griefing tactic of combat-reviving zombies that are then immediately dumped outside, regardless of barricade status.

Note that this does not allow identification of bodies or group them into two categories in display. It also, obviously, does not work outside.

Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

The Dead Listen

Timestamp: MrAushvitz15:49, 15 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Your zombie can hear (and understand) construction noise
Description: There are all manners of noise throughout Malton: the occasional gunshot, a blood curdling scream, a lot of cursing, moans of the local dead, moans of a living couple you happen to share a barricaded building with.

It is all a rich tapestry to be sure, however survivors actually CARE what sounds are going on here and there (verbal communication is more effective and nessesary for humans, especially me!). Whereas the zombies merely remember enough to utter a long feeding groan to call their brothers to corner their next meal, not much more need for sound is useful to them (smell is usually their main sense of finding brains anyways).

BUT, zombies that have just enough grey matter to maybe put 2 and 2 together and remember that all that hammering and banging and panicked cursing on the other side of a barricade means ONE thing.... there are HUMANS in this building because of all that noise!

The Dead Listen

Appears on skill tree just below "Feeding Groan".
When outside of a building, your zombie can recognize (and understand) construction noise to the point that they will know that there are human survivors inside this building. (Or there were at some point and time while you were logged out).
  • Game Mechanics -

Every 3 hours (of server time) that your zombie spends outside of a building the computer will post a message IF construction at that location was in excess of 29 AP worth of "construct barricades" (regardless of success of these attempts). Your zombie will only "listen for construction" when you are logged out (inactive) for such noises, because when you are logged in your zombie in focused on finding food, not listening for it.

You hear (and understand), that the noises inside this building mean it contains FOOD that is trying to keep you out!

This message will only appear once every 3 hours if the noise level was sufficent to matter (30 AP or more, inside this building, that you are standing outside of). To cut down on spam messages, you will only get the construction message a maximum of 2 times at a location, no matter how long you were standing there (the passage of time is meaningless to a zombie).

Limitation: You don't hear any noise as a zombie until you stand up, this means smart survivors can kill you, then construct barricades, and you'd not have heard a thing. If you heard anything before they dropped you, you will still remember when you stand up later, more or less.

  • Rationale:

Your zombie is there, and can hear the noise, this is not prevented by anything. But most zombies don't have the IQ god gave a houseplant, they just move and attack anything right in front of them. It is a handicap that they have, one which the survivors have learned to use "Yes, they are that damn stupid! Now keep hammering!" The problem is now there are zombies that can remember enough to understand HOW to get their next meal, that is now bad for the humans. Zombies 1st started humting by scent, now they can listen at your door, and if you're too damn noisy, they will know you're in there!

This skill tree is at the end of "Memories of Life", "Death Rattle" and "Feeding Groan". Which are all intelligence based skills (not all out combat) no zombie will be sopisticated enough to even USE this skill until they have completed those branches of the tree. This skill will NOT give the zombies an advantage immediately, and it will primarily favour higher level ones, but that coupled with "Feeding Groan" it makes it possible for a zombie to call the other shambling dead to "Come here and feed!" Hopefully they might come, get bored, and start munching on the barricade until they can feed.. we'll see.

Left Queue: 11:36, 27 April 2006 (BST)

16th March 2006

Human 'Sentry Duty' Skill

Timestamp: 00:50, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Human Skill
Scope: Affects Humans in buildings and zombies trying to break in.
Description: Buyable human skill, possibly nested under free running. Enables the option "Sentry Duty" while inside a building AND door is secured. After clicking on the Sentry Duty button, two things occur for X amount of time (1-3 hours?): AP is not recharged during this time for the Human and zombies cannot (or make it exceedingly improbable to?) open the door. I foresee this as a great boost to encouraging group behavior among humans... As it stands now for the most part, zombies are the only ones cooperating in groups.
Left Queue: 05:32, 16 March 2006 (GMT)

quick reload

Timestamp: 11:28, March 16 2006
Type: Skill
Scope: zombie hunters
Description: Simple, a skill that allows you to reload without having to use AP, this will be extremilly effective with shotguns since you have to reload one twice to get it fully loaded, although to stop people from getting it early I suggest making it only accecable after level 15
Left Queue: 00:11, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

Syringe AP & XP Revamp

Timestamp: 23:01, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Item Change/Skill Addition/Item Use XP Reward Tweak
Scope: Scientists
Description: My suggestion has 3 parts. First, I suggest that syringes be unable to be searched for. Also, I suggest that there be a skill to reduce the amount of AP required to "create" a new syringe. Lastly, I recommend that the XP awarded for reviving a zombie be increased dramaticly.

My suggestion is to make the AP requirement stay at 20 to make a syringe, but add a new skill for Scientists that would allow them to create a syringe for 10AP instead of 20. I also suggest the XP reward be increased from 5XP per revive to 25XP. This would allow devoted revivers to gain more skills at a pace similar to aggresive cops or firefighters.

Think about it. 100AP to get 5 syringes. then you use them and get 25XP? that's a TERRIBLE turnaround. Now change that to 100AP to get 5, then get 125XP? that'd be about right. I know I could easily get 125xp in 100ap with a low level survivor. When you add in the "faster syringe making" skill, you'll get 250XP in 100AP, which is about what I can get with my 65% accuracy if I'm killing zombies that don't have flak jackets.

Left Queue: 00:28, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

Toe Tagging and Morgue Experience

Timestamp: 11:45, March 16 2006
Type: Skill
Scope: Scientist
Description: Toe Tagging is a Scientist skill that would allow survivors to have it to target a specific zombie instead of a random zombie in the queue. Because of their discerning and perceptive eye, they can target zombies much better than other classes, who would be more prone to targeting random zombies. An intelligent scientist, on the other hand, would be more specific in his targets. The zombies would show up as a gray box with their name in it, allowing the survivor to see exactly who is a survivor and who is a zombie. Morgue Experience, which has Toe Tagging as a prerequisite, would allow a survivor with this skill to see the HP values of individual zombies. A scientist who has done much work in a morgue would be able to ascertain the decomposition of a body, thus knowing how much more damage it could be able to take.
Left Queue: 03:42, 17 March 2006 (GMT)


Death Rattle Tweak

Timestamp: 08:31, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill tweak
Scope: Death Rattle
Description: To allow that most sterotypical of all Zombie expressions, BRAAAAAAAIINS - Or, at least, BRAAAAIIIIINZ without resorting to Leet-speak like use of ! for I, why not allow "i", or at least the combination "ai", to be used with Death Rattle? Unless these are vegitarian zombies with constipation who actually only want some bran.
Left Queue: 11:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Alternative upgrade to knife combat: active vs active

Timestamp: 18:19, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Knife combat
Description: As we all know, knives are worthless, a waste of game content. Many possibilities for how they might be improved would either leave them inferior to axes, or render axes obsolete: the solution, of course, is to make knives better in a limited category of situations. The situation I'm suggesting is when you find yourself facing an actively-played opponent.

The basic idea of how it would work is to give knife attacks priority for the server's processing resources. As long as there are knife attacks to be processed, the server does them and checks for new ones before going on to see what everyone else is doing. So you get to whack at your opponent with a knife as though they were away from their computer. You can't kill them before they get to respond, unless they had let themselves get low on HP, because knives would still be very weak weapons that only do 40 dmg if you spend all your AP.

Left Queue: 11:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Powered Building Bonuses

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:45, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Other Building's Power "Bonuses"
Scope: Other Building's Usefulness
Description: It is quite simple, and I doubt I'll be the last person to suggest this.

But what possible bonuses could we have for a building OTHER than a hospital having power (running fueled generator). It is my prejection the following buildings be allowed the following "bonuses" when they are fully powered. (The bonus is not in effect (suspended) when there is no power available at the building.)

  • Library and School

Create a science skill: "Hit The Books" (new skill tree under science skills.

Hit The Books : When at a library or school that is powered your character has 5 times the normal chance of gaining XP when reading a (non-poetry) book, and if they get an XP gain it is 2 XP per success. The chance of finishing your book is the same (used up and lost) but you are more likely to learn something which can help you survive as a result. "Dear god, I should be making pipebombs!"; "Ahh.. now I know how to reload that weapon.."; "Ooops, there's where I messed up attempting first aid.."
Critical Research : Appears just under "Hit The Books" on same skill tree. Your character is trying to analyze the whole Malton phenomena from ANY source that might point to a conspiracy. You get the same benefits from "Hit The Books" at a powered library or school when reading a newspaper. For role playing purpouses your character may enjoy commenting on who is behind all this "It's all a commie plot!"
  • Museum, Cathedral, Church and Cinema
Patron Of The Arts : Seperate skill tree under Science skills. When at a powered museum, cathedral, church, or cinema you may gain the same benefit from reading poetry books as listed on "Hit The Books" (we'll say you may even be reading some of the psalms for argument's sake). There is an additional benifit however, once every 3 hours you spend offline at one of those 4 buildings while powered you regain back 1 additional AP for the "calm surroundings." (Not a huge bonus, but then again poetry books are a little harder to come across).

These skills would only cost 75 points for a science character which ultimately makes them more desirable (somewhat), and gives them alternate XP resources.. which they can use.

Left Queue: 11:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Powered Building Bonuses 2

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:55, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Some Other Building's Power "Bonuses"
Scope: Other Building's Usefulness
Description: A continuation of some other buildings.

These are some other buildings which would have a benefit when powered (not in effect when not powered)

  • Police Station
Target Practice: Any time this building is fully powered there is a menu button which says "target practice". When you click on it you may choose pistol, shotgun or flare gun (either of the 3 choices always costs 2 AP). If you do so you spend 1 round of ammo for the shotgun or flare gun or a full clip for the pistol (must have a full clip to use), there is a % chance maybe 10% that "You gain 2 XP from target practice!", otherwise "Firing off a few rounds makes you feel better." This is a benefit for the underground targeting range which is prevalent in most major police stations, in addition to gun manuals and such.

BONUS benefit: If your character has at least 1 Zombie Hunter skill OR their starting character class was Cop or Private, you are permitted the more violent and effective training option. When your building is powered AND has at least 1 body in it your target practice effectiveness goes up by 5%. But each time this option is used you get the "A few slugs are used on a nearby corpse" message which can be read by you and other players at this location. This message is written as "and again.. and again.." to cut down on spam. This is one drawback (of sorts) for unsuccessful zombie attacks on police stations.

The dead character reads "While dead, your body was used for target practice by some of Malton's finest!"

Left Queue: 11:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Powered Building Bonuses 3

Timestamp: MrAushvitz12:55, 16 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Some Other Building's Power "Bonuses"
Scope: Other Building's Usefulness
Description: A continuation of some other buildings.

For reasons of 'light sources', certain buildings are very 'bad' to have gunfights in when they do not have power. This is because they lack sufficient uncovered windows to see very well if they have VS or higher barricades. Under such conditions any non-zombie character in the building reads :'It is very very DARK in here!'

  • Game Mechanics:
Under 'It is very very DARK in here!' all ranged weapon attacks are at -5% to hit efectiveness. Any player who uses a "flare" as a weapon indoors (whether it hits or not) actually suspends the darkness (but does not power the building) for a 5 minute period. Keep in mind it is only dark if the barricades are at VS or higher, so as the barricades get torn down it is easier to see.

Zombies suffer no penalties of any kind from this darkness (and if this building limitation is used, there may be a skill down the road which capitalizes on this).

  • Buildings Affected:
Excellent to defend, can't see a damn thing.

Armory (cuz it's underground!), Bank (not enough exits when you need them!), Police & Fire Station (they can be a bit of a fort too), Any Necro Tech Building (because they tend to 'hide' what's going on inside from prying eyes, you take out the power they're screwed), Warehouse (not enough windiows at most of them).

Left Queue: 11:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Death Rattle Tweak [#2]

Timestamp: 11:45, March 16 2006
Type: Skill tweak
Scope: Death rattle
Description: It's all well and good that zombies can't use certain letters in speaking with Death Rattle, but people just 733t1z3 it. Zombies are supposed to be zombies, not script kiddiez. I propose Death Rattle filtering out numbers, punctuation, and special characters (i.e., shift+numbers, '/', '\', etc.).
Left Queue: 11:37, 27 April 2006 (BST)

17th March 2006

Rocketlauncer w/scope

Timestamp: 02:34, 17 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: etc
Scope: survivers
Description: a red rocket launcher w/ a scope 50 damage 100% hit kills all in block/building. Desroys barricade at the cost of your life.
Left Queue: 05:02, 17 March 2006 (GMT)

Flare shot from familiar location

Timestamp: 13:57, 17 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Survivors
Description: I know that Blahblahblah has been working on a fix for the flare as using colors and the angle the flare is shot at, my prejection is one that if the zombies can reconnize a familiar groan, why can't survivors see a flare coming from a safehouse that a friend is at. It makes sense, that if you saw a flare go off over a building that a friend is in, that that flare would stick out in your mind, basically the mechanic would be if you had a friend in your friend list OR just the group you are affiliated to fires a flare you will reconize it as " A flare was fired at X E, XN, a chill goes down you spine, that's a familiar safehouse".
Left Queue: 11:38, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Advance Military Skill Tree

Timestamp: 22:05, 17 March 2006(GMT)
Type: Advanced Class Skills
Scope: Survivors
Description: Player must be at least level 10 to buy Advanced Firearms Overview. Additionally, player must have purchased the Firearms Training series. (Basic Firearms Training, Pistol Training, etc)
  • Advanced Firearms Overview - Player gets an additional +5% to hit on Shotguns and Pistols. 300 EXP cost.
    • Sharpened Eye - Player receives a +5% chance of finding firearms in armories. Does not apply to grenade launchers.
    • Explosives Handling - Player must have skill to use grenade launchers without risk of catastropic weapons failure.
      • Advanced Explosives Handling - Player gets a +5% to hit on grenade launchers.


Weapon: Grenade Launcher Damage: 25 direct, 5 AoE 5% to hit

The big kahuna of guns, the Grenade Launcher can only be found in armories. The success rate is .01% to find the gun and .1% to find single grenades. A limit of 20 grenade launchers at a time is imposed upon the city. The grenade launcher has a 5% chance to hit, not affected by any skill other than Advanced Explosives Handling. A direct hit deals 25 damage with a 10% chance to hit up to 10 other humans or zeds in the area for 5 damage. Without the Explosives Handling skill, there is a 30% chance every time it is fired that the gun will fail, destroying the gun and doing 10 damage to the user. The grenade launcher loads a single grenade at a time.

Left Queue: 11:38, 27 April 2006 (BST)


Timestamp: 23:19, 17 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Advanced Class Skills
Scope: Game-breaking shit I came up with while bombed out on detergent
Description: FUCKING LASERS WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Player must have achieved Level 10, get at least a 12 out of 15 on an in-game romance quiz.


Skill: Sharpened Eye

Player receives weapons from God at will, player's eye is sharpened to a dagger-point which can be used to cause 1 point of "Stupid Motherfucking prejection" damage.

Skill: Advanced Firearms Overview

Player starts an "Antiques Roadshow" style show devoted solely to firearms.

Skill: Ecco the Dolphin

Player must have this skill to fire the Shark Cannon without being eaten. Makes annoying squaking sounds, Lassie of the Sea.

Skill: LAY-ZERS

Player loses all hair, becomes ironic self-parody.

Weapon: Portable Shark Launchers

The thrill and excitement of Jaws, right here in Malton! This weapon does exactly what it's name implies; when activated it launches a shark at the target. The shark has only a 25% chance of hitting, concurrent with sharks being religiously opposed to wearing contact lenses. If the shark connects, it eats the target; target must spend 10 AP to be processed through the digestive system before being shat out. Player henceforth smells like fish crap, which is yucky. Yeah, bitch, how do you like me now? In addition, every fourth shark will have a laser. They don't have opposable thumbs, but what the hell. Lasers are sweet.

Ornamentation: Aquarium

Lets the player give the shark a toy castle, plastic divers. 10% chance of becoming an aquatic bachelor pad with leopard-print sheets.
Left Queue: 11:38, 27 April 2006 (BST)

18th March 2006

You know, I can't think of a good title.  :(

Timestamp: 05:32, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: All players
Description: Add a Panda to the Malton Zoo. Make it give birth. Also a bear pit. Hell yeah. --Ron Burgundy 05:32, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
Left Queue: 11:19, 18 March 2006 (GMT)

Stabs You

Timestamp: 04:03, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Item Change
Scope: Kitchen Knives
Description: Killing someone with a knife will only provide a message that the killed party was killed, and not who killed them to all others who witness this event.
This will create more healthy paranoia and fear. While it is true that someone could still shoot someone's life away and then finish with the knife for secrecy, and this is in fact unrealistic, it is important to remember that many things are both unrealistic, and totally sweet such as Batman, the Toxic Avenger, and Admiral Ackbar.

Example In The Building Fire Department are the characters X,Y, and Steven. X kills Steven with a Kitchen knife and Y receives the message, Steven was killed. No mention of who did it. Because there were only three of them in the building Y deduces that X did that, however Y always resented Steven and helps X cover up his crime.

Left Queue: 11:41, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Putrification

Timestamp: MrAushvitz00:19, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: New Zombie Skill Tree
Description: Putrification
New zombie skill tree (just like "Vigour mortis and "Brain Rot" are seperate trees. Allows for future skills based on this tree if used. (doesn't fit so well under current trees, and should be available sooner for zombie players who wish to purchase it at low levels.)

Game Mechanics

Your zombie is more than just a carrier of the virus, your body is literally swimming with it! (That and your blood is so putrified as to be actually considered a contact poison.)

Every time you hit with a claw attack against a survivor there is a 4% chance that you cause infection (3% if that survivor is wearing a Flak Jacket!)

While this may not seem an overly significant bonus, it makes a big difference considering the accuracy of claws as opposed to bite as an attack form. Additionally one need not rely too often on tangling grasp to augment the bite and merely focus on the "hack and slash" tactics, if that is their preference.

Neither does it make the bite attack useless per se.

There is an additional advantage for the "really, really dead" zombies who suffer from brain rot, a benefit for being extra rotten without and within.

  • In addition to the infection bonus listed above zombies with the "Brain Rot" skill have their infection % chances increased by 2% each 6% infection with claw, 5% infection with claw vs. survivor wearing a flak jacket.
Left Queue: 11:41, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Feast On The Living

Timestamp: MrAushvitz00:45, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Appears under "Infectious Bite" on "Digestion" Skill Tree
Description: Feast On the Living
This is a game mechanic which represents the "horrible death" that can occur when a survivor goes down screaming when several zombies eat them alive! Believe it or not, this is an important game element as it can let nearby zombies (and survivors) know that things aren't going so well today. It is intended to add to the horror of the survivor experience, and is a deeply rewarding moment for the true zombie player!

Game Mechanics

Every time your zombie kills a survivor there is a chance that the survivor will "Scream during feeding" when they die. This is due to the fact survivors feel pain, and zombies don't (as much.) It is a very 'human' element of the game, and contributes to the 'real' stress of being food for the living dead.

This chance is a base 10%, it does not require any AP per se, it just "happens" (you aren't the one doing the screaming, the survivor does it for you, if they live long enough.)

If your zombie is higher level than the target they are eating, this chance goes up by 5% (but your zombie doesn't know the level of the survivor or that you're above their level, they just scream more. You get no information about the survivor from this skill.)

For each zombie at the SAME location as you, when you eat the survivor 5% is added to this total IF they also have this skill. This is a "swarm feeding" tactic of zombies, and saves them AP from feeding groans for combat actions. It's also more fun. Realisticlly this won't happen too often, unless you walk into a group of active zombies ("I vant to hear your shkream! Fraulein!")

If your victim is at least 10 levels higher level than you, this chance goes down 5% (They tough it out, take it like a man, and die more quietly, cursing you with every breath.)

For each Zombie Hunter skill a player possesses this chance goes down an additional 5%, as these skills are based on knowledge of zombie "tactics" (if any), and zombie hunters tend to be tough SOB's.

The maximum chance is 25% under even the best of conditions, the minimum chance is 5% (only 1 Zombie hunter skill currently resulting in 5% min if you also are 10+ levels higher.)

If you don't get a scream out of them, chances are the survivor died before you started eating them so they don't get a message about being eaten. (Dying was bad enough, today)

  • What happens when you "Scream during feeding?"
Well, it is exactly the same as a feeding groan per se. Same range (although a lot more intense and detailed in pitch and frequency.) But it creates a much different game text.

To the eater: "You feast upon _____, and they scream while they die!"

To the eaten: "Your death was horrible, and you screamed while being eaten.. ALIVE!"

To all survivors and zombies within the 6 location radius: "You hear a survivor scream horribly while they being eaten alive nearby."

If this message repeats it simply adds ".. and again, .. and again," etc. as it is doubtless many will be eaten after the first.

This is a simple skill really, it is a "freebie" feeding groan but only when you kill a survivor, and even then it is based on many conditions such as comparative skill levels and nearby flesh connesurs to assist.

The main benefit to be reaped is that this skill can save your prescious AP for combat, and if you are successful it can get a "free" scream from your victim.

High level survivors have a resistance (of sorts) to this skill, so it maintains a balance.

Left Queue: 11:41, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Let the Light In

Timestamp: 20:54, 18 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: General Building Change
Scope: Survivors
Description: Zombies hate smashing into heavily barricaded buildings. Survivors hate wasting days on searching. Can we make the game more enjoyable for both sides? I think we can.

Survivors are finding that the more time they spend holed up in the most secure safehouses, the more lethargic they become. On the other hand, survivors who stay in buildings with more sunlight and fresh air getting in gradually grow more alert and observant.

I propose a search rate bonus for survivors who spend time in buildings barricaded to Very Strong or less. For every hour a survivor spends in such a building, his game-wide search success rates will increase by 5% of the original amount. If finding a flak jacket was a 1% chance before, it'll be a 1.05% chance after taking in the fresher air of a less-than-heavily barricaded building. Each hour spent in these conditions adds another 5%, up to a maximum of 50% improvement over base search rates. Thus, 10 hours in a VSB (or less barricaded) building will get you rates roughly like these:

  • 15.5% to find a shotgun shell in the Mall gun store with Bargain Hunting (normally about 11%)
  • 10.5% to find a pistol clip in a Police Station (normally about 7%)
  • 9% to find a syringe in a Necrotech Building (normally about 6%)

Note that you don't have to expend any AP in a VSB buildling to get these search bonuses. You can rest in a VSB building overnight and come away with the 5%/hour bonus. Also note, again, that these bonuses are calculated proportionate to the original base rate. 50% extra on a 10% base search rate is 15%, not 60%.

Now, conversely, spending time in a building barricaded over VSB will gradually diminish these search bonuses, at the same intervals. After 10 hours in such a building, the survivor will be back to the "standard" search rates which all currently enjoy. There is thus no penalty to sleeping in a more heavily barricaded building, but a lot of incentive to sleep in targets more attractive to zombies.

Over a day of searching, a maxed-out 50% search bonus should save a survivor close to 20 AP. 20 AP is also, you'll notice, about how much AP a zombie has to expend to bring Extremely Heavy barricades down to the Very Strong level.

I believe this change would only help both sides. The only concern I can see is that this might increase the "pace" of the game by making survivors and zombies both more efficient. However, it's important to point out that not all survivors will take advantage of this feature all the time. Many will continue to sleep in Heavily, Very Heavily and Extremely Heavily barricaded buildings. However, for those willing to take the risk, this feature could provide a substantial bonus -- while cutting down on the tedium for both sides.

Edit for clarification: - The fact that resource buildings are already kept at VSB is not relevant to this prejection. it doesn't matter how heavily barricaded the building you search in is. What matters is the barricade level of the building you rest in. I designed the prejection that way precisely because it's not the resource buildings that get heavily barricaded. The goal is to encourage survivors to rest up in more vulnerable spots, regardless of where they go to do their ammo gathering.

Left Queue: 11:41, 27 April 2006 (BST)

19th March 2006

Zombies Need to tell each other apart.

Timestamp: 03:37, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Balance
Scope: All zombies
Description: As of now zombies cannot tell each other apart this is bad not kinda bad its really bad. I think zombies should be able to tell each other apart so 1. they can add each other to their contacts and so ideas like the one above can be implimented. I also suggest that zombies see humans as a Meatbag this will make it so zombies dont have an advantage it makes seanse for zombies to be able to tell each other apart and for humans to tell each other apart but for zombies to only tell humans apart but not their own kind is silly. And please dont say "but zombies are mindless animals" Yeah but they are players too and I would like to know as a zombie who my friends are rather than just 6 zombies. The attacking for zombies would be just the same as the attacking for humans is a random Meatbag Is chose form out of the stack and attacked simple this is obviously needed to balance the game and make it more fair to zombie PLAYERS they are PLAYERS in case some of you dont know that.
Left Queue: 18:00, 19 March 2006 (GMT)


Major Event: Infection 2

Timestamp: MrAushvitz10:45, 19 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Major Malton Event: Infection 2
Scope: New "rules" regarding infection, and infection stacking, a new anti-infection skill, and loss of all infection after being revived!
Description: Infection 2
This is a prejection that would be a major "event" in Malton. A "mutation" of the virus that causes infection (as the scientists understand it). But who is to say what the real cause is. All that matters is the manner of infection takes a change, for the worse! There is a systemic infection increase, infection is now more effective and (for a time) rules the day in Malton (until countermeasures are available) giving the zombies an advantage (for a time.)
There would be a lot of finger pointing and blaming as to the cause, many NT scientists would believe or be accused that the current revification methods have created a more virulent "strain" of the virus. Many may claim that the appearance of "100th generation", or higher zombies that have risen over 100 times (in some cases 200+!)have given rise to a new order of infection. The cause is unknown, to be honest, but the results are horrifying.

My Rationale For Effects Upon The Game

  • Infection is now capable of "Stacking" that is to say you aren't just infected, or not infected.. there are varying degrees of HOW infected you have become (the disease running it's course, stages I through IV). This is due to the new, nasty "fast acting" virus which can make even the most hardcore zombie hunter a Z in no time if he gets bitten enough times, in all the wrong places (ouch!) To be technically accurate, you can be infected from a single bite, but multiple bites you're going to need a LOT more medicine to cure your infection (that and a lot of uninfected plasma to replace your sheer bloodloss.)
  • On the left side with HP and AP is a new stat "IP", that is Infection Points. Simple enough, all survivors have 0 when not infected, when you first become infected it becomes 1 (take 1 damage a turn until a FAK cures infection.) Your infection points can go as high as 4 IP, that is to say 4 points of infection damage a turn! ("Whoa, that's too high, that's crazy! Stage IV infection!") Not really, chances are you may be dead before your infection rating can get that high, BUT if your survivor is mixing it up with zombies and things don't go so well, it can definately happen, especially if you're out of FAK's! Infection level 4 will be a lot more rare, but can happen if you're online (healing yourself) and using FAK's while being bitten repeatedly (at the end of your combat you may find your infection is at 4 and you're in need of medical assistance.) Bottom line, it makes infection a nightmare even for the hardened zombie hunter if they're facing a zombie horde (as it should be!) The "poison effect" of a survivor being seriously infected is now the only smile on a just dropped zombie's face.
  • Obviously you could run to the local (powered) hospital and beg players to disinfect you, and they may very well do so.. but this element of the game would mean players would always want to hold on to 1 or 2 FAK's for their personal use (sorry buddy, gotta save my butt first!) The #1 reason this should be introduced into the game is it creates the infection as a more real, more SCARY thing to be hit by.. not just 1 point a turn until you use an FAK.. something you have to get your hands on an FAK pretty quick or you'll be switching sides very soon "Ohhh noo.. infected.. dammit.. run.. get away from me... gahhhhhh! Rrrrrr." (And so forth). Also the rate of infection means just how far away you are from BECOMING a zombie yourself.. which adds to the "Oh crap, I'm infected" element.

Game Mechanics: Increased Rates Of Infection

Going from rank 1 infection to rank 2 infection requires a LOT more virus being directly added to your bloodstream (ex. a very bad combat with a very skilled zombie). The same zombie can actually get you up to rank 2 if they do pretty well in combat (maybe 3 if they're real, real lucky and they find you as soon as they get up.) But realisticlly this is a way of making "spreading the love" more fun for zombies, now they get to make life harder for survivors, costing the survivors more AP to stay alive (when they log on), creating balance. Additionally more survivors will become zombies for a time, until they learn new tactics to get around the 2nd infection outbreak.
  • Specific Game Mechanics 1, Increased Rates Of Infection:
Going from Rank 0 to Rank 1 Infection ("Stage I"), requires 1 successful Infection.
Going from Rank 1 to Rank 2 Infection ("Stage II"), requires 2 MORE successful infections. (Rank 0 to rank 2, 3 infections total)
Going from Rank 2 to Rank 3 Infection ("Stage III"), requires 2 MORE successful infections. (Rank 0 to rank 3, 5 infections total)
Going from Rank 3 to Rank 4 Infection ("Stage IV"), requires 2 MORE successful infections. (Rank 0 to rank 4, 7 infections total)
  • Note: It only takes 1 FAK to remove 1 full rank of infection, which is quite easy, but you have to have them on hand! This means survivors even ones without surgery and such medical skills are going to have to dedicate some time to the seriousness of infection, and keep a close eye on "how many HP do I have and how quickly can I get rid of this many levels of infection?" it makes the game much more serious for the living, you might have the HP to survive several zombies beating on you.. but you'd better have more than a couple FAK's after it's all over. Additionally, a player may choose to use an FAK in combat not because their HP's are low, but because they don't want to lose 2 HP a turn for the next so many combat rounds.. it makes up close combats much more scary, and challenging. Additionally this is a much needed game balance, yes zombies can gain HP from digestion in combat, but a survivor with sufficient skills and FAK's can gain 10 (or 15) life in a combat whenever they spend an AP for healing.
  • Specific Game Mechanics 2, FAK use in combat:
Using an FAK at any location that contains at least 1 zombie still grants the full HP benefit BUT there is only a 25% chance that it removes 1 full rank of infection (true infection removal doesn't take more time, it takes more careful cleaning, not easily accomplished with a zombie hanging on your back!)
This has no effect on FAK's removing a full rank of infection anytime you are not at a location where there are any zombies. This also makes having a zombie just enter your hospital a very big deal "Get that damn thing outta here!" Zombies may very well start attacking hospitals even more, to add more stress to the situation.. but more patients might just unload some ammo into any non living guest in the lobby. A zombie at your location is something you have to deal with, or leave, in order to deal with your infection!
  • Specific Game Mechanics 3, New Skill, For Hospitals and NT Buildings:
"Zombie Viral Pathology"
This skill allows this character to be able to heal 2 ranks of viral infection IF they are at either a powered Hospital or a powered Necro Tech building.
Prerequisite: Appears just below NecroNet Access on the Science skills tree, so you have to have the above skills to get this additional benefit. A lot of Malton doctors are being given some Necro Tech science access (just to see if the local docs can learn anything new!)
A character with this skill using it in a powered hospital has a 15% chance of healing 2 ranks of infection instead of 1 (when using a FAK), this jumps to 30% if that character has the Surgery skill!
A character with this skill using it in a powered Necro Tech Building has a 15% chance of healing 2 ranks of infection instead of 1 (when using a FAK), this jumps to 30% if that character has the Diagnosis and Surgery skills (NT buildings have a lot of labs, not much for medical supplies and beds)!
Note: These bonuses seem small for a new skill, BUT, keep in mind it's a new strain of the virus and the survivors are being used as guinea pigs to find out what works and what doesn't (ex. a blood introduced form of "non-lethal bleach" is one of the more successful experiments!) The more medical knowledge your character has, the better their chances of helping control "this damn virus", guns aren't enough anymore.
  • Specific Game Mechanics 4, revivification cures all infection points, resets IR to 0.
To prevent "griefing" for players who die of infection, and dying from high IR to boot, a new rule.. when you are revived it means you were cured of being a zombie which requires a CURE of all infection in your body. This keeps the hassles to a minimum, and prevents the "perpetual death" of overly infected characters, keeps the game fun.


  • Note: This does not Nerf newbies, but it does make walking up to a group of zombies more, shall we say, serious? When one takes into account that it takes a "maxed out" zombie to really capitalize on this it means more players will want to play their zombies, more often, and survivors need zombies to level per se. As far as events, this is both a cause and an effect.. the overuse of "revives" has created a backlash effect, not superzombies but a supervirus! Now the Z's will be able to "spread the love" much more quickly and successfully (for now.)
  • Another Note: Please forgive the length of this prejection, even those who voted kill last time wanted to see it continued, so now we have the carfully worded, very-fast acting virus. As well as many answers to some questions voters may have. And to the hardcore survivor:

"Whassamatter, you ain't MAN enough to face some more zombies?"

Bottom line: it's a major Malton event prejection, it should have a lot of checks and balances in place at the same time of it's introduction.

Left Queue: 11:42, 27 April 2006 (BST)

20th March 2006

Firm Grip (Version 3)

Timestamp: 16:14, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: This would be a sub-skill of "Tangling grasp".

A zombie with a firm grip holds its victim tighter, while maintaining a tangling grasp, making it harder for the victim to act.

Mechanic: Gaining or regaining the Grip: A zombie who hits with a claw attack has a %50 chance of gaining a Firm Grip. "You gain a firm grip on Character." "A zombie...and gets a firm grip on you."

Effects: While a Firm Grip is in effect, the victim's chance for success in certain actions is reduced by 20%, but never lower than 5% (or 2.5% in the case of a flare attack). This applies to attacking, healing and barricading. Examples: Max Jill Survivor tries to shoot her shotgun at a zombie, but is held in a firm grip. Her normal chance to hit is %65, but becomes %45 because of the grip. Min Joe Survivor tries to shoot a zombie with a shotgun while in the grip (base chance %5) but still has the %5 chance to hit. Healing, which is normally a %100 chance to succeed action, becomes %80.

The failure rate also applies to manufacturing a syringe, but a failed manufacture costs only 1 AP. A victim who tries to search while in a firm grip also has its chances of finding something cut in half. (For instance, 5% chance to find X-item becomes 2.5%, and so forth.). If I knew exactly how Kevan has coded searching, I would have something more concrete on how the search would be affected.

If the zombie loses its tangling grasp (which is a prerequisite for this skill) then the firm grip is also gone.

The victim would see underneath the room description: "A zombie holds you firmly in its grip, making it harder for you to act."

An action button: "Loosen Grip". Losing the Grip: The victim can press the "Loosen Grip" button, which would cost 1AP in order to break free and be in a normal tangling grasp. The zombie sees this message, "Your grip on Character loosens."

Note 1: I would love to suggest that a victim held in a firm grip would have a %20 chance of failing to move to another block, but I believe a similar prejection (Immobilisation), with a smaller %-chance of failing for the movement, was shot down, so movement has not been included.

Note 2: In a live combat situation, which is the only place that this skill would work, and assuming both the zombie’s victim and the zombie enter combat at 40 AP and they are acting at the same relative speed (click+refresh rate) and they engage in live combat: A maxed zombie will have a tangling grasp for roughly 22 AP (on average) and a firm grip for about 11 AP. This will translate into roughly 2 more failures on the part of the victim. Firm grips that happen on %100 of tangling grasps would result in 4 failures attributable to this skill.

Left Queue: 11:43, 27 April 2006 (BST)

New Zombie Skill

Timestamp: 20:11, 20 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: *Digestion
    • Projectile Vomit - Zombies gain the ability to literally puke on their attackers. Bizarre chemical reactions after death give this a highly corrosive power. Base of 25% to hit. Base 2 damage. If hits, opponent loses 5% on all attacks. If hit two more times, opponent loses 10%, and if hit yet another 2 times, opponent loses 15%; simply, if hit 5 times, opponent loses 15% to hit on all attacks. Zombies can only "store" enough vomit for 4 attacks at a time. A successful bite restores one attack, and it restores itself naturally once every 4 hours. Loss of accuracy can be removed in 10% increments by FAKs.
    • Infectious Bite
      • Disgusting Upheaval - +15% to hit on Projectile Vomit. Opponent now loses 5% for every hit, the limit still being 15% loss, but in 3 attacks. Gives PV a 5% chance to infect target every successful hit. Zombie can now store 5 attacks. Same attack regeneration applies. No damage boost.
Left Queue: 11:43, 27 April 2006 (BST)

21st March 2006

Degrading Slap

Timestamp: 1:49(GMT)
Type: New skill
Scope: Survivors, possibly zombies
Description: A player who possesses this skill gets a new attack under punch, known as Degrading Slap. It takes 2 AP to use, has a 50% to-hit and deals 4 damage to the opponents pride, as well as one damage every fifty action points spent, cured only after two weeks (or three nights if all were spent in a pub/tavern (hic!). Because sticks and stones may break their bones*, but a slap will make them cray themselves to sleep for weeks! This would only do 2 damage to zombies (with no lingering effect), as they have no emotions (sort of like someone who drinks away their problems, except less funny watch).

The flavor text that could added when this was added could be something like:In death, ... groups continue the experiments that brought them here. Still others rough the apocalyptic conditions, making some bitter and others down-right annoying. (end) In the news the skill would be outlined, and all people who anger too many survivors will wake up with severe emotional bruising.

  • We should all pray Mr. Aushvitz never heard that though, he'll suggest they be added and do 90% to hit for 1 damage, are useable by zombies, and cause the recipient to take 5 damage per action due to internal hemmorhaging
Left Queue: 04:39, 21 March 2006 (GMT)

The Power Of The Dead

Timestamp: 13:15, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Can screw up "Free Running" for survivors, when you're there to catch them!
Description: This one is ugly, and dirty. Zombies are ugly and fight dirty.

The Power Of The Dead

New Skills Sub Tree (Zombie Skills): Man-Hunter

(requires level 10), this skills tree is the opposite of the "Zombie Hunter" skills.. and represents the "killing machine" skills of the upper, upper, very scary, high powered zombies in Malton.

Your zombie isn't any faster, or smarter per se. But you have a "6th Sense" of sorts when your prey is trying to finish running between buildings, and unlike the other zombies nearby, you can capitalize on it. This comes from having fed on so much flesh, and knowing your prey, and how to hunt and catch them!

Short Version follows:

When a survivor uses 'Free Running' to move from 1 building to another.. IF you are AT the building the survivor just ran TO you "knock" them out of free running. (If you are outside the building that they used free running to run to, they instead end up OUTSIDE that building at the same location as you, IF you have this skill.) This is a tactic zombies may use to screw up survivors from never having to step (or stay) outside, now you might be forced to! (Giving the zombies a chance to attack!)

Explanation, rationalization, meaning:

Your zombie basically is good at "catching" survivors who think they can just run circles around zombies. You aren't any faster, you are the one zombie who moved into position to take a swipe at the survivor before they made it in. (Like any good predator, you're in position to 'get' them!) This will screw up a lot of "free running" and "hiding 24/7" survivors, because they are going to have to be prepared to use AP to re-enter a building (IF they can still get in! You might be temporarily caught outside and 'oh crap, VH barricades, oh crap!)
May seem unbalenced, too powerful. Hogwash! This means a much more experienced, more powerful zombie, has a chance of 'getting' you! Or making it easier for other zombies to 'get' you. This only happens if you're running from building to building, but doesn't that seem like a good time for the zombies to make their move? This will cut down on a survivor's ability to hide, to sneak, to escape.. and it will help 'newbie' zombies benefit from being next to a powerful 'maxed out' zombie who will show them the ropes. ("Go for the throat son, here, I'll hold him for you..") This has no effect on survivors who stay in their building for weeks on end, just if you move to the wrong building (maybe you should look outside and see if there's 20 zombies outside the building you wanted to go to, just a suggestion..)
Left Queue: 21:51, 21 March 2006 (GMT)

The Dead Never Sleep

Timestamp: MrAushvitz16:15, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Can screw up "Free Running" for survivors, when you're there to catch them!
Description: Formerly "The Power Of The Dead", now re-worked for your voting pleasure
  • This one is ugly, and dirty. Zombies are ugly and fight dirty. This skill is one that makes it harder for humans to fully use a skill that they've taken advantage of, for a long time. It gives high level zombies a way to "screw" a skill survivors used on them when they were lower level, now, it doesn't work so well against experienced zombies. The dead never sleep, they have all the time in the world to watch and wait, for you to come out.....

The Dead Never Sleep

Appears Under: New Skills Sub Tree (Zombie Skills): Man-Hunter

  • (Requires: level 10+), this skills tree is the opposite of the "Zombie Hunter" skills.. and represents the "killing machine" skills of the upper, upper, very scary, high powered zombies in Malton. Balances human potential, with zombie potential.


Game Mechanics:

Your zombie contributes to the "Increased difficulties" of humans using the skill "Free Running." Your zombie (and others like you) is much more skilled at making it harder for survivors to "run" or "sneak" or "jump" past INTO the building which you are OUTSIDE of.

Humans that use "Free Running" to move TO the location that your zombie is OUTSIDE of must pay an additional +1 AP (Per zombie WITH this skill!) to do so. This means it is NOT impossible to "Free Run" to your location, but it is much harder to do so! (This gives zombies a "blocking" tactic, for buildings they want to prevent humans from easily entering. Most likely the most barricaded and strategically important of buildings. If they can't enter, neither will you..... "Oh crap, why are there so many of them blocking the hospital?" "Ask the ones that are smiling and waving at us.. bastards!")

To the human attempting "Free Running" for movement, they get a message "Doing that will cost an additional X AP, do you still wish to move?" and there will be 2 buttons, one is "Yes" the other "No", so no-one will be forced to spend AP first and be "stuck" at a location, however, it may be impossible to "Free Run" to a location, because there are too many very skilled zombies preventing it. You may very well have to use normal movement to get in if possible.)

Why?

No free lunch. For humans, or for zombies.

It doesn't makes sense that humans can "run circles" around zombies all the time (the slower, stupider ones, yes.) Zombies that have reached this level of "hunting" have a LOT of skill at taking down (and eating) their prey.. they know all the "tricks" that humans use to "deke" and try to slip past them from one building to another, not only do they not fall for it, they capitalize on it!

The backlash of this skill does give a human at another location "Free Information" of sorts.. it tells them there are X zombies, that are at least level 10 in front of that building. But that is because when that survivor moves to jump from rooftop to rooftop, he sees 4 zombies that are NOT on the ground, with the others, but instead on the other roof smiling at him almost as if to say "Please try it! We'll catch you!" When same survivor tries the sewer, he sees them at the end of the tunnel, smiling again! These zombies are more annoying (and organized) than the others, they've killed people like you before, and they're more than happy to do it again. These zombies anticipate their prey, and are more patient, and ready, they aren't just wandering back and forth moaning.. they're actually LOOKING for survivors poking their heads out of windows to see where they are going to head next. (They aren't zombie ninjas, they're more like defensive linebackers, they don't have to be fast, just put a "body" in your way.)

Ultimately, this is a "Zombie-interference skill", humans have the AP saving skills for movement, and they can do it if they have to. BUT this screws up free running at "Level Defended" buildings because the "best of the best" zombies are more than happy to make life harder for survivors in that area. Don't like it? Find the "Lead Zombie" and put some slugs in his head.

  • Other Limitation to this skill:

It does NOT work for larger buildings that take up more than 1 square, ex. Malls and such.. you aren't really running from one building to another, you're INSIDE the same building. This may be a programming hassle to figure out, however once it's worked out it will make sure the survivors are able to move normally.

  • Multiply it by a billion rule:
If there's a billion zombies outside of one building, you ain't running in, not even the best sprinter in the world could do it. The best pole-vaulter in the world, yes, but he'd do it without using "free-running" becuase you could NEVER have enough AP to run in, you'd have to go in normally, and take your chances, take your risks, and take your lumps (and bites and scratches.)

Helps zombies get XP, helps low level zombies get XP when survivors step outside to enter a specific building by another route.. screws a game mechanic that technically doesn't make much sense, doesn't hurt people who stay in the same building for days, just when they go to a well defended building. Gives newbie zombies something to aspire to. Makes survivors scared of zombies again, as it should be.

Left Queue: 00:14, 22 March 2006 (GMT)

Grace

Timestamp: 04:03, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: newbie help
Scope: newbies
Description: Newbies would begin the game in a state of grace that reduces HP loss by half (both zombie and human). Grace is removed by either (1) taking a violent action or (2) carrying a weapon. For example, a newbie firefighter would not start with grace because of the axe. However, a newbie zombie would get grace until he uses his claws or bite for the first time. Also, a newbie consumer could have grace until he picks up a shotgun shell. The newbie NecroTech labbie would loose grace on the first scan.

Why? Grace encourages newbies to play longer and get hooked. It is frustrating for a newbie to spawn near a horde and die before figuring out the basics of the game. They quit and don't add anything to the game at that point. Perhaps newbies would play longer. A zombie horde can still kill a grace-endowed newbie, but it gives them a little more chance to run.

Left Queue: 11:45, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Maggot Infested

Timestamp: MrAushvitz09:27, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: New method of spreading infection
Description: Maggot Infested

To date there are no other animal species we know of that can become zombies, but they CAN carry the virus (if that is the cause.) One of the few lifeforms which has always been a nuiscance to man is of course, flies, who happily spread any disease mother nature can cook up to keep our numbers down. (Once we're dead, they're always there to feed on our stinky corpses, even if they get up and start moving, flies have never been overly picky.)

Your zombie is literally crawling, your body swimming in maggots! Once per day (based on game's 24 hour day cycle), the very 1st time you are HIT with a shotgun attack the following happens:

Player who shot you reads "Your shotgun attack just blew a spray of maggots over other survivors in the surrounding area!"

How it works: When 1st hit by a shotgun blast (once per day) outdoors 1 survivor (other than the shooter) is hit with maggots, indoors up to 5 survivors (other than the shooter)are hit with maggots. When "hit" by maggots each survivor has a 10% chance of being infected by the zombie virus! If hit by maggots, the survivor reads! "Nooo, you just were covered in maggots! Ewwww!", and if they were infected, infection message follows.

But MrAushvitz, are you on crack? Maybe, and yet I keep making prejections. Look, this adds a bit of a "ewww!" element to the game, but it will be another way of spreading the virus other than just bites. Keep in mind it is an infection which is trying to turn everything into zombies, and it needs a little help. Adds some "fangora" disgusting element to the game, and it is quite a small bonus.. it doesn't do anything for the zombie itself (than some satisfaction that some dumbass just hit you with a shotgun, again.)

If you regularly use shotguns indoors, not smart in close quarters, you're helping spread contamination by covering your compatrioits in infected maggots (one of which may have landed in someone's mouth!) But it's not 100%, so it's more fun, you see. A zombie who just made it inside a building only to go down in a hail of shotgun blasts will be "content" knowing that the survivors inside now have a new problem to deal with.

This is a punishment (of sorts) from nature for spending too much time hiding indoors, with too many other survivors (too many people=disease!) It is also currently the ONLY "anti-gun" skill the zombies have, let's keep it, it's such a small bonus really.. you like it. come on.. like it!

Left Queue: 11:45, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Zombie freerunning

Timestamp: 18:15, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Zombies
Description: Basically, when xombies spend all their AP breaking into a safehouse, they'll have about 30 seconds before everyone either runs off or kills them. So, how about if zombies have bought 'Free running' as a human, when they break into a safehouse, they can move to adjacent ones using one AP - without having to break into another building!!

Also, this'd reduce survivor's dependence on barricades, as they'd have to watch for zombies breaking in in other places and free running to their safehouse.

It's just a thought!

Left Queue: 11:45, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Exponential XP

Timestamp: 20:31, 21 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill buying system alteration
Scope: Everyone
Description: Resubmitted from the 14th, where it's pretty dead due to most voters misreading the prejection. The following sentence added for clarity:

THIS IDEA DOES NOT RESET THE GAME. YOUR SKILLS ARE WIPED, BUT ALL THE XP YOU'VE EVER GOTTEN, INCLUDING WHAT YOU HAVE SPENT ON SKILLS, YOU WILL GET BACK, SO YOU CAN BUY THE SKILLS AGAIN. THEY'D SIMPLY COST DIFFERENT AMOUNTS. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE VOTING. THANK YOU.

I submitted this a long time ago and it was shot down, but it's been long enough and and situation is different enough I believe it deserves a resubmit. I've also clarified the details somewhat, to please don't be an ass and call dupe. Anyway. My idea works like this: Homogeny is a big problem in today's UD world. The prejection prior to this one, regarding endgame skills with high XP costs, attempts to remedy this problem, but I feel there should be a more fundamental solution. Thus I propose that instead of a flat 100XP cost for skills (with class/crossclass multiplers) the cost should go up depending on your level. The first skill a new character buys should cost 50XP. All subsequent skills should cost a bit more, but going continuously up so that the cost to buy every skill in the game is huge. The progression should probably be something like 50-60-75-95-120-150-190-240 and so on, or just multiply the cost by 1.25 or even 1.5 for each successive skill. But what about all the players that already have huge numbers of skills? Simple: they lose all their skills and are refunded 100XP per each (or 75 for class skills and 150 for cross-class, depending on their status) and this, plus whatever XP they have currently, can be freely spent under the new system. Yes, this will be painful. Yes, I would rather my highlevel characters could stay high-level. But there's really no other way I can think of to solve the homogenity problem short of actually resetting the game, which nobody wants. This method turns an essentially simple skill-acquisition system that becomes meaningless very quickly into one with a lot more depth and strategy involved--you hesitate a lot more before buying Shopping when you know it'll take 100XP before you can get Bargain Hunting, and for that entire 1000XP Shopping will be pretty useless, since it'll be more profitable to search in a Hospital or PD. IF you're going to be a gunner, buying all the gun skills first will make it that much harder to get essentials like Free Running or Diagnosis--perhaps you ought to hold off on the shotgun skills and only buy the pistol ones for now--but of course that means the shotgun ones will cost more later. I think that boost to the flair and flavor of the game is worth experienced players losing some power.

Left Queue: 11:45, 27 April 2006 (BST)

22nd March 2006

Cell Phone

Timestamp: 8:41 AM
Type: Change
Scope: Cell Phone Users
Description: Ok, this was deleted yesterday because i didnt (know how to) use the template, I hope this time it is better.

the mundane task of contacts has been obsolete for far too long, many people find it tedious and time-consuming to get contacts with people, get cell phones, and make sure they have your contact. My prejection is to basically "trick out" the cell phone, it would invlolve a slightly different coding, but become very popular (usage wise).


A: several added buttons (just like shopping buttons in the mall) and the cell phone communication section would be treated like a "speak" box. this would also be a "dial" phone, where there would be a second "speak" box, for users to input the "number" now, "numbers" would be issued to all players (visible on their profile) and given to all newbie players; people could also show or hide it, incase they were getting spammed. the final part of this idea, woulc be the save number button, this would let users save friend's numbers insteead of adding them to contacts.

B: (my favorite idea so far) treat the cell phone as a room, requiring 1 AP to enter, and 1 AP to leave, anything, done in the room doesnt require AP (aside from calling) users in the "cell phone room" would still be visible, but the users can not see out of the room. the button layout would be something like this

(A) (B) (C)

(a) (b) (c)

(1) (2) (3)

this looks like a block in the city, and the "buildings" are the cell phone buttons. A: is play games (small chance of exp gain, up for voting, my idea was 10%) B: input number (for saving) C: view saved numbers a: send information

     send information could be a skill or an item that could be merged
with the cell phone in  order to use this button when information is sent.
it can be classified to a players desired information, or simply send it all.
information would be current HP, Exp, AP, and skills, up for discussion though.
                      

a second item could be implemented which would be a "cell phone charger" after ten uses, (gaming needs 30 to deplete the battery) of the cell phone) it runs out of battery and needs ato be recharged at a generator (giving another use for it)

1: where battery charges left is shown, or battery life "your cell phone is at 30%" 2: check past messages "oh pooh! i forgot where i was going, where did george want me to go?... oh, thanks cell phone! im off to caiger mall!" 3: several phones could be "GPS phones" and would display location here.

this prejection is up for change, so kill it if you feel it needs editing, i also realize there may be some kinks, and those will be worked out if you tell me about them... thanks how do i stop breaking the page? if someone could explain it, or do it for me i would be appreciative

Left Queue: 11:46, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Knife & Axe Skills

Timestamp: 20:13, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skills
Scope: Knives and Axes
Description: *Hand to Hand Combat
    • Knife Combat
      • Knife Mastery - Additional +5% to hit on knives.
        • Knife Throw - Players now have option to throw knives. This deals 4 damage at a 30% chance to hit. If hits successfully, knife sticks into opponent, doing the same thing as Infection. The knife must be pulled out(new button, one AP) and a FAK used to get rid of the HP loss. For zombies, removing the knife is good enough. Hit or not, a knife thrown is a knife lost. Someone can only have one knife stuck in them at a time.
        • Keen Edge 50% chance to hit for 3 damage instead of 2.
    • Axe Proficiency
      • Axe Mastery Additional +5% to hit on axes.
      • Crushing Blow 2% chance to deal 8 damage on a successful attack.
        • Precise Blow 5% chance to deal 8 damage.
        • Mighty Blow 2% chance to deal 10 damage.

You must choose between Precise or Mighty Blow.

Possible pros: More often used knives/axes.

Possible cons: Overpowered? Extends skill tree one tier deeper

Left Queue: 11:46, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Remove Ankle Grab as a Crossover Skill

Timestamp: 22:03, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Game mechanics change
Scope: Survivors
Description: As it stands now, survivors with the Ankle Grab skill who stand up after being revived spend only 1 AP to do so. This goes against the spirit of the skill, which, by my understanding, was implemented to help zombies counterbalance some of the survivor's AP advantage over them. It doesn't seem right that the skill exacerbates the very situation it was intended to help fix. Ankle Grab is a zombie skill, and that's why there's no reason it should work for survivors.

I propose that ankle grab NOT work for a survivor standing up after being revived, and survivors stand up for the full 10 APs instead of 1 AP. This prejection would not change the mechanics of how the Ankle Grab skill currently works for zombies.

Given the current state of low zombie morale from seeing survivors who were just killed being revived within minutes, I believe this small change wouldn't be the cure-all, but it would be a step in the right direction.

Left Queue: 11:46, 27 April 2006 (BST)

No Brain, No Pain (Version 2.0)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:13, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: "Zombies Only" skill, adds 15 to max. HP!
Description: No Brain, No Pain
New zombie skill, appears on zombie skill tree as a seperate tree "*".
It has no prerequisites other than being a zombie, so new zombie players can buy it sooner.
Note: Bodybuilding, the "survivor counterpart" also has no prerequisite, and can also be bought as soon as you have the XP if you're a living character. But you have to be a survivor at some point to purchase that skill. This skill is more for the "dedicated" zombie player. Both survivors and zombies benefit from "bodybuilding", but zombies again have to take the "longer route" to get access to it. This skill is "right here right now", "I am harder to kill".

Game Mechanics

  • Your zombie can withstand much more severe damage and keep on fighting! Adds 15 points to your maximum HP. (By itself you go from max. 50 HP to max. 65 HP)
  • This also stacks with bodybuilding when you are a zombie! (With both you go from max. 50 HP to max. 75 HP!)
  • When human: This skill provides NO bonus to HP whatsoever, but does not interfere with any other skills that boost your maximum HP.
  • This skill is a reflection of the sheer amount of "stopping power" required to put you down, well in excess of human tolerances (humans can be KO'd, you can't!). Your zombie is more defiant, mean spirited, and doesn't die until lying in pieces or several well placed hits (to the head preferably!)
  • Limitations:
This skill, as with "bodybuilding" increases your HP LIMIT, it does not also give you the bonus HP on top of that. You would have to get those HP somewhere else (by digestion, or getting yourself killed and standing up.)
You can still be revived, regardless of your HP (oh joy!), giving another reason to perhaps purchase "Brain Rot", to finally have some NecroTech free fun with your enhanced zombie!

Why would this skill be needed?

Actually this skill is NOT as good as bodybuilding per se (higher bonus, but "Dead Only". Bodybuilding makes you "tougher" on BOTH sides of the equation, this skill only matters when you are a zombie. It is useless to you as a survivor (take that zombie spies!)
The answer is this: You are always tougher as a zombie! You may not be as fast, or as smart, or as skilled, speak as well.. smell as well.. but you ARE much harder to kill, period. Zombies do not have the inherent weaknesses of all living things. They are something else.
Humans are faster, zombies are tougher. For a zombie to not have to spend so much AP for movement they have to buy a number of skills, but humans will always have their "Free Running." This cuts down on the "grief" of being a starting zombie (so what if 3 survivors stepped out and shot you point blank, get some XP before they drop ya! Reach out and infect someone!)

Note: This is the other prejection that was considered the "Dupe" of the last posting of this skill (this version corrects all of that):

Preserved Ligaments

Besides, preserved ligaments... kind of a mummy thing.. ain't no herbs and spices shoved in my zombie's belly!

Left Queue: 11:46, 27 April 2006 (BST)

"Vice" Bite

Timestamp: MrAushvitz19:55, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: "Zombies Only" skill
Description: "Vice" Bite
There is a chance each and every time you use a successful bite attack that you "Clamp Down" to your victim! The best comparasin to what it is like is this: Having a hyena clamp down on your skull, and squeeze, only to realize your skull is nothing compared to massive jaw muscles of this predator! Another comparasin, an aligator just bit onto a wildebeast, and takes them into the water, for a roll, and a roll, and a roll.. until the only thing still moving is the aligator.
Appears on zombie skill tree under a seperate tree named "Man-Hunter Skills", these skills are the zombie's "flip side" or opposite, to the "zombie hunter" skills. All skills under this tree require at least level 10 zombie as a pre-requisite.

Game Mechanics"

  • There is a 3% chance per successful bite attack that you make against a survivor that you "Clamp Down" to your victim. This means you have them fully in your jaws, and if they try to leave your location it will cause significant damage! Not just any bite, a nearly inescapable bite!
Survivor reads: "A zombie just clamped down on you with a bite like a VICE!"
Attacking zombie reads: "You succeeded in getting your victim in your merciless, vice-like jaws!"
  • Once you have "Clamped Down" onto a victim, all further bite attacks from you are +25% to hit! (A miss is just the survivor managing to "shake" enough to avoid some of the damage you could have done.) This also stacks with tangling grasp (you are holding on to them as well, are you not?) But all of the ways of breaking tangling grasp do NOT work on this attack nor any of it's bonuses. Your zombie has to be killed (by anyone), the survivor dead, or the survivor moves away, only then is it "broken".

Zombie died: "The survior only got free over your, dead, body..."

Survivor died: "You released your jaws from the victim."

Limitation: At this stage, your zombie is NOT allowed any "speaking" actions, to move away from this location, or to bite (or even claw) at another player (or barricade, or other object) other than this one. This is the "price" of this attack, you're stuck on this victim (for now!)
  • Survivor Moves Away: 90% chance that you do 15 Points of bite damage! (Your zombie DOES NOT get XP for this!) 10% Chance they get away unscathed!

15 Points of bite, survivor reads: "You spew torrents of blood all around as you tear yourself free of that zombie, but it cost you a pound of flesh (at least!)" Zombie reads: "A satisfying gush of blood spews forth from your victim as they escape screaming.." Nearby witnesses (Surv.'s and Z's at this location) read: "There is a massive spout of blood, and screaming as _____ escapes from the jaws of a zombie!"

Unscathed, survivor reads "You're free! Minus some of your clothing.." Zombie reads "Your prey has freed itself!" Witnesses read nothing.

Why?

Oh, this little beauty adds to the 'gore' element of the game, causes pain and massive bleeding. Doesn't force a survivor to stay and fight, but might kill them if they leave (or aren't watching BEFORE they leave..) Mainly it gives the more experienced zombies a very pleasurable gaming experience, while adding to the "horror" of nearby survivors witnessing the pain and mutilation of one of their own nearby. Survivors being killed or nearly-killed by zombies in a horrifying manner, should be a bit more horrifying. Additionally it does give some satisfaction to survivors who "escape" or kill the zombie who just "got their teeth" on them! However, it does notify to the survivors watching that (Survivor) who just took off was in need of medical attention.. if you wish. there are many limitations to the zombie doing the biting, unlike tangling grasp it's much more dedicated and "vulnerable" in a way.. but if you want to get them GOOD it isn't free.
Left Queue: 11:46, 27 April 2006 (BST)

23rd March 2006

No Brain, No Pain

Timestamp: MrAushvitz17:13, 22 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombie only skill, adds 10 to max. HP!
Description: No Brain, No Pain
New zombie skill, appears on zombie skill tree as a new and seperate tree "*". It has no prerequisites other than being a zombie, so new zombie players can buy it sooner.
Note: Bodybuilding, the "survivor counterpart" also has no prerequisite, and can also be bought as soon as you have the XP if you're a living character. But you have to be a survivor at some point to purchase that skill.
  • Your zombie can withstand much more severe damage and keep on fighting! Adds 10 points to your maximum HP. (This stacks with bodybuilding when you are a zombie. When human: this skill provides NO bonus to HP whatsoever, but does not interfere with any other skills that boost your maximum HP)
  • Limitation: This skill, as with bodybuilding increases your HP LIMIT, it does not also give you the bonus HP on top of that. A survivor would have to use some FAK or several beer to get their HP up after buying this skill. A zombie needs to bite some people, or get himself killed and stand up again, to get the benefits of this skill after buying it. Humans can regain the 10 HP with 1 AP if they have 1 skill to boost HP gain, zombies need 1 skill and to hit with several bites.

Why would this skill be needed?

Actually this skill is NOT as good as bodybuilding per se. Bodybuilding makes you "tougher" on BOTH sides of the equation, this skill only matters when you are a zombie.
The answer is this: You are always tougher as a zombie! You may not be as fast, or as smart, or as skilled, or able to use items, or communicate as well, and your choice of "weapons" is much more limited.. but you ARE much harder to kill, period. Zombies do not have the weaknesses of living things (or living beings for that matter), they do not need their blood, or need to breathe, they can't be knocked unconsious, just chopped (and blown) to pieces. This skill allows a "dedicated zombie player to have +10 to life straight up without ever having to be "living" for a time (if they get that later, that's dependent on other things.) But overall, a zombie now can have a max of 70 HP (instead of 50) with both skills, and a human can have a max of 60 HP with the one skill (this one has no bonus when living.)
The other answer, humans have an "AP advantage" of sorts, almost all players agree, Hum and Zom both have same max AP but the human side tends to save AP all around and doesn't have to buy skills to counter the extra AP costs of doing things, on top of barricades costing zombies a lot more AP than said human to errect. These are debatable game mechanics, but the simlicity is this.. show me any man who can lose half his head and keep on fighting.. okay.. is the man with half a head still able to fight with a minimum loss to his overall effectiveness in battle? If not, the zombie has the greater durability.. which isn't such a big deal.. 2 more pistol hits or a good shotgun blast and a few more HP. The main thing is this CAN help zombies get more XP (takes longer to die), humans may decide "crap, this zombie's too tough I'll shoot a different one" and move on.
Left Queue: 00:54, 23 March 2006 (GMT)

Free Run tweak

Timestamp: 03:41, 23 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: improvement
Scope: survivors with free run
Description: Just a minor tweak. Currently, with free run, if you are in a building and want to go into a square with a building in it you HAVE to go in that squares building. You get no option to go strait to the ground. I simply suggest you get this option (saves at least 1 AP but could be more if allot of buildings are above VS and you can’t get out by the door)

Note: I have only been playing for a few weeks and I may just be completely retarded and this is already around, but it does not seem to work for me.

Left Queue: 11:47, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Door "Smash"

Timestamp: MrAushvitz10:39, 23 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Makes it easier for zombie newbies to get at survivors inside! (Get those XP)
Scope: Zombie newbie "Skill" until they have memories of life...
Description: I have been taking a very careful look at what a "brand spanking new" zombie has to do to get some XP, to get started. Do you realize that a zombie can destroy an entire barricade.. only to be unable to enter building at ALL because of the door?

This is a bit off, but it's not impossible to get around, really. If your zombie has "Memories of Life", you can open the door, and other zombies can now get in, if the door is still open when they log on.. but really it's very very limiting.

Also, a "newbie" zombie can be trapped indoors, if they've entered a building with a door that WAS open, and the last survivor leaving closes it. So.. I can't go chase those survivors, again, because of a door. I'm all alone, and new, nowhere to get XP and I can't even search! (This and the 1st situation has probably lost a lot of new players, definately something to address, when you think about it, just hit the damn door!)


Door "Smash"

(Not a zombie skill! Just what zombies can "do" until they get "memories Of Life")

  • Zombies without "Memories Of Life" just see the door as another barricade, they beat on it until it's open (or ajar) or there's a big enough hole that they can now get through it. This is all they need, new zombies without memories of life don't have to get "nerfed" because they just took down their very first big barricade, only to be stopped by a stupid door, (it ain't a forcefield man!) which they can easily destroy or bust up enough to get past. (Maybe beating on it "opened" it, just takes longer.
  • How To Open Doors: A zombie WITHOUT "memories of life" can't enter a building: "There is "A Door" in your way! You can attack it!", under the attack menu you have the option to attack "A Door", which is no different than the lowest level of barricades. Once you have succeeded in defeating "A Door" it is now opened as if done so by any other less violent method, you and every other newbie zombie here can now enter and get your much needed XP!

Why? Currently, it doesn't make sense, sure the zombie doesn't understand the stupid door can be opened, but if he sees (or smells) survivors inside he wants his dinner! Hell a zombie probably doesn't even remember what glass is or does he just smashes his way through it anyways. Superman had to face 3 enemies who were of a highly advanced technological kryptonian species, they didn't know how to use doors either, they still got through by punching a hole in the wall (which confused Lex Luthor somewhat.)

Zombies should not be stopped by the invincible "Last Barricade", a door, which stops ALL zombies without memories Of Life." Now, they can deal with the door, and pour in, if they can, before they door is closed and more barricades errected. At most, survivors in the building will now have to deal with newbie zombies making it in, and those ones will NOT be able to hit you as hard or as often, so let them have their prescious XP (you might not even be dead when you log in, and kill them, toss them out, shut the door, and build some barricades again.) Everybody is happy! You didn't even have to go outside to get XP from your zombie!

.

Left Queue: 11:47, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Pry & Jimmy

Timestamp: MrAushvitz14:43, 23 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Use: Crowbar
Scope: Higher level zombies actually "remember" what their crowbar is for!
Description: Goes under new zombie skill tree named Man Hunter skills, these skills are the zombie equivilent of Zombie Hunter skills. Zombies who wish to purchase these skills must be level 10+ to purchase them.

Pry & Jimmy

  • This skill also requires as an additional prerequisite: "Memories Of Life" so your zombie is able to remember what a crowbar IS as well as how it is USED.
  • Your zombie may use a crowbar when attacking a barricade at double effectiveness.. exactly the same level of success possible for a human survivor.. no better no less.

Why? (And other crap I said after the basics, ignore if you will...)

If, your zombie was ever human, picked up a crowbar at some point and time, or has ever seen one used at some point and time in Malton. (Possibly been hit a few times by a survivor with a corwbar, just to be 'reminded', metal, hit hard, hurt.. ungh..) Your zombie has finally had a "useful" thought "I, can, use, THIS!!!" sure, this is a stellar leap for any zombie other than eat, attack, chew, get up, bite, groan, fall down, etc. but your zombie isn't the regular smelly horde, he/she has finally remembered that piece of metal slapping their leg is a TOOL, and they can use it.. to get in this building, and eat! (Maybe your zombie doesn't remember it's a crowbar, maybe they think it's a can opener, and this "building" is a can of tuna, as long as they hold it right, it doesn't matter.)

This gives "Lead Zombies" something to do, pry barricades, help lower levels get in, if they can. Multiply this by a billion, hmm, well if there were 20 million zombies doing this 50 times each that's a billion uses per day. Anyways.. if there were 20 million zombies in Malton, um, there are no survivors left in Malton. "Case Dismissed!" (There aren't enough buildings in Malton for it to matter, barricaded or no.. but on a smaller scale a thousand times a day.. well.. the level 10+ zombies are going to get rid of a lot of these damned barricades which are EVERYWHERE including, where they are not needed, and buildings that do need them, survivors will work hard to keep them up. Don't you worry.)

This prejection is about barricades, not doors, completely different from the prior one, so you'll need to find completely different prior prejections (if any exsist) to slap up your "Dupe" vote, if you vote "spam" it can't be overbalenced to do the same damage to a barricade as Joe Shmoe survivor with a crowbar at level 1. You also have to get a crowbar as a living survivor at some point to use this skill.. so it's item intensive!

Left Queue: 11:47, 27 April 2006 (BST)

24th March 2006

Restraints

Timestamp: 01:56, 24 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill (military)/item
Scope: Survivors
Description: When you get the skill and item you can tie somebody up.

They then can't do anything until they, or somebody else, unties them. It takes 3 hits @ 30 to 60% chance of undoing it.

You can tie sombody up with the following:

Handcuffs, found in PD's, junkyards;

Rope, found in firestations, junkyards, factories, malls (hardware), NT's;

Cables, found in junkyards, factories, malls (tech), NT's.

It is a strong skill and could easily be used for greifing so I propose the following things to combat it: it would only work 50% of the time, i.e. Someguy struggles. The handcuffs snap.; and it work cost 3 AP to do. This isn't unrealistic as it would be quite hard to tie someone up with them struggling and fighting you all the way

Left Queue: 07:12, 24 March 2006 (GMT)

Trip

Timestamp: 01:57, 24 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: mechanics mod
Scope: all players
Description: Whenever you move you have a 3% of tripping on something. Then, 15% fall over & hit your head for 3 dam and 2AP to stand up. 20% hitting your head for 3 dam. 25% to hit a limb for 2 dam. 40% to get a minor bump @ 1 dam.

It should be very easy to implement, only about 6 lines of code in basic for example. That's not very relevent but it's a good example.

Left Queue: 20:08, 24 March 2006 (GMT)


Mall Split

Timestamp: 01:56, 24 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Mall mod
Scope: Malls/large buildings
Description: Split the stores in a mall amongst the 4 quads. A realmall is unlikly to have 4 of every store, so split them up. Each mall would have a different configuration.

The existing stores could either be removed or changed into An empty shop or A blank storefront and searching in them would give the same results as searching without the shopping skill, getting anything that could be found in anyof the stores. If you had the bargin hunting skill you would still get the search bonus.

Left Queue: 11:48, 27 April 2006 (BST)

25th March 2006

Vengance Of The Damned

Timestamp: MrAushvitz1:28, 25 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies can smell the "Stink" of Necrotech!
Description: Here is a "hunting" possibility: What if zombies learned (by being revived 50+ to 100+ times!) to recognize the "Stink" of NecroTech.. especifically those chemicals they use on zombies?

Not so far fetched, zombies have a lot of hatred (of the living) and tend to rage when extremely frustrated (or hungry and some damn barricade is in the way.) Their superior sense of smell is their main hunting tool, what do those "unnatural" syringes smell like to the "unnatural dead"?

Is it WISE to keep reviving zombies all the time (antagonizing them?), are they beginning to recognize that "chemical smell" as the "enemy" and start turning their anger towards those NecroTech buildings?!?!

This would be a very major, and very scary possibility in Malton, if the zombies could tell (to some degree, % chance based, could even be "wrong") which buildings are NecroTech buildings, they might definately start to focus their anger on these structures. (Kinda hard to run a lab when the damn building keeps getting "shook" back and forth!)

Vengance Of The Damned

  • New Zombie Skill, appears after "Scent Trail" on the zombie skills tree (so you have to fill out the 3 prior "smell" skills to be able to purchase this.)

Game Mechanics

  • At any time your zombie may "Catch Scent" of a building, when you are outside of that building. There is a "Catch Scent" button available whenever you are outside of any building. Using this button costs your zombie 5 AP while he/she stands there and gets a good smell of what "may" be inside the building. You can do "Catch Scent" several times for the same building if you wish (just to be sure..)
  • Base Chance: 30% of finding a NecroTech building if this is one!
  • Things that increase chances:
(+3%) Each and every survivor in this building that has the "NecroNet Access" skill (Somehow... they know! Could also be the plastic of your access card, the smell of your labcoat, your shoes smell different after being in these labs all the time, etc. Maxes out at +15% for 5 "Whitecoats")
(+2%) for each and every "Revivification Syringe" in all survivor's inventories in this building (maxes out at +60% for 30 syringes, damn walking pharmacies!),
(+1%) for each and every "DNA extractor" in all players inventories in that building (maxes out at +15% for 15 extractors, they have a different scent, not displeasing but it always comes before the needle..)
(Even under best of conditions your "Catch Scent" chances can't go above 80% success after deductions.)
  • Things that decrease chances:
(-25%): A running generator inside that building (gas makes it hard to distinguish the other scents),
(-1%): For each and every "Fuel" item inside that building (living, standing survivors only, doesn't count zombies or bodies), this amount maxes out at -20%.
(Best of conditions -45% to detect NecroTech at a NecroTech building.)

Successful Results: (If it was a NT building)

If this is a NecroTech Building, and you caught it's scent correctly, it appears on your map as a blue NecroTech building (just as it would for a human survivor, with the appropriate skills.) But only this ONE building! So your zombie can use their immortal patience and search each and every building they wish to find out which ones are "Bad". Zombie reads: "You have caught the scent, of the twisted ones!"

Failure results (If it was a NT building) Zombie reads: "You, aren't quite sure..." You may attempt again if you wish.

Successful Results: (If it was NOT a NT building) Zombie reads: "No, it does not have the stink of the twisted." Your map does not change (per se) but when you are in zombie form and at this location in addition to the building's description you read: "* No NecroTech scent" to remind you that you have successfully tested this building.

Failure results (If it was NOT a NT building) Zombie reads: "You, aren't quite sure..." This is just like the failure for the NT building result, so you have no idea, and may test again if you wish.

There is a slim (1%) chance every time you get a "failure" result in a building that is NOT a NT building, that you may mistakenly think it IS a NT building (shows as blue on your map, you get the "successful" NT building result, even though this isn't one.) Your map will remain this way until at some point and time you retest this building and successfully determine it was not an NT building. (You may suspect this if you ever get inside and notice things inside here aren't quite what you expected.. no labs for example.)

The Need?

There are quite a few legitimate reasons. But the best of which are being revived is very infuriating for zombies who wish to remain zombies. This will allow them to "take the fight" to NecroTech itself, resulting in possibkle seiges of NT buildings (and some very, very angry zombie mobs leading them.)

While this is not a pretty sight, keep in mind these NT buildings tend to be well protected and have a lot of survivors tending them (possibly more!) It should certainly prove interesting how it will progress.

There is a limitation, it will take time to "Sniff Out" a number of the true NT buildings, and some time to organize and attack them. but that is the "price" humanity will pay for his curiosity.

Left Queue: 06:30, 25 March 2006 (GMT)

26th March 2006

Play Dead

Timestamp: MrAushvitz20:45, 26 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: When resting, your zombie may be mistaken for another body
Description: Play Dead

Appears under zombie's skill tree just under "Feeding Groan", therefore it requires feeding groan, and memories of life as a prerequisite. This zombie skill has no benefits to your human character.

  • When you are logged off, your zombie character will "lie down" if they wish to do so. It is possible your zombie may be mistaken for a "body", and will not be seen by survivors who are not at your location.

Game Mechanics:

  • You zombie will only lie down and "Play Dead" if there are NO survivors visible on your game map screen. If there is even one survivor visible on your screen when you log off, your zombie will remain standing and can be "seen" normally.
  • When you log off, there is a 50% chance your zombie will "lie down", you have no way of knowing if they did or didn't, the game won't tell you (prevents log off/log on attempts to abuse this effect.) This chance is 75% if your zombie is at a graveyard.
  • While lying down, your zombie is NOT visible as a zombie to any survivors that are 2 or more squares away from you. Survivors that are 1 square away from your location have a 25% chance of "seeing" all "Play Dead" zombies as not being just bodies. Survivors at the same location as your charater can see all zombies at your location. every time a survivor moves 1 square outdoors, they get a new "map" as to what they see, this means they may see zombies in a square that they didn't before (ex. moves 1 square towards the bodies, and now sees 2 zombies, where there were none before.)
  • While lying down, any time a living survivor enters your square from any adjacent square, your zombie will immediately "get up" (no longer is "playing dead" and will remain that way until you next log in. So this skill doesn't last forever, your zombie cannot ignore the living coming and going from their territory, but if they are all alone.. they just lie down, and wait.

Rationale

  • Survivors that never take a step outside don't do so much for scouting nearby zombie populations. Thus, zombies have become often become bored of walking, and those who have memories of life started remembering they could sit down instead of just walking forever and ever, some even remembered to lie down, and stop moving. Many saw a graveyard, and, knowing that the dead belonged there, started lying down in graveyards.
  • This is not a show of disrespect, zombies simply remember that graveyards are where the dead belong, and that dead things belong on the ground. They forget this anytime a living human enters their area!
  • This skill, ironically, is the opposite of standing up. However it does not prevent the standing up of zombies after death (the 2 are unrelated per se, if your zombie is killed, they become a body, for free.)
  • This skill capitalizes on the game scenery where there are bodies, literally everywhere.. but are all of them immobile?
Left Queue: 20:02, 27 March 2006 (BST)

Infectious blood (V3.0 reworked with simpler math and clarifications)

Timestamp: 07:05, 15 march 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: *Prerequisites: Brain rot (infectious bite could be added as an additional prerequisite if you know how we could set it up on the skill tree)
  • Story element:

Whether the zombies initially became infected due to disease, radiation, viruses or an act of God(s) or Demon(s), it is unknown. It is known that now the older, the most decomposed, the most diseased of the zombies have become so putrid that their very blood is filled with death and filth. Leaving those unfortunate souls who get too enraptured in the carnage of death tainted.

  • Theme:

I can’t count the numerous grade B zombie flicks where zombies have managed to infect individuals just by getting a drop of blood into their victims system. The infections are usually introduced through openings in the victim’s body such as their eyes, mouth or open wounds. I.e. 28 days later, dawn of the dead.

  • What it does: It expands on infectious bite and gives an actual reason to get brain rot. A zombie with infectious blood has a small chance of infecting any wounded player that kills it in the same way as infectious bite. It goes with the theme in zombie movies where someone kills a lot of zombies and has a small drop of blood get into an open wound and infects them. See percentage below.
  • Possible flavor text:
  • potential flavor text for both gun and melee attacks.

“As the zombie makes one final lunge for you, you just barely make a killing blow to its head. Unfortunately some of its blood splatters onto you covering your face and makes it into an opening on your body, you are now infected!"

  • For the zombie
“The last thing your rotting eyes see before all goes dark,
Is your blood spraying from your rancid corpse." 
  • other stuff

What this is intended to do is to add a small element of danger, fear, and best of all paranoia. It will have little effect on players but instead cause players to be a little more cautious and prepared. FAX packs are readily available to any player that searches for them. Most Survivors will have a pack on themselves anyway either to cure themselves or others. And since brain rot is a prerequisite you should never have to worry about one out five zombies infecting you. See percentage below.

  • The percentage

The chance of a wounded player becoming infected by killing a IB infected zombie is 20%. A non wounded player is half that or 10%. The lower chance of infection for being at full hit points reflects the fewer entry points of infection. The percentages of course can be adjusted as the population of zombies with the skill IB increases and it should ideally be set at a percentage where the average number of zombie kills before infection is 20, see below.

The percentage is based on this. Given that a percent of the zombie population has Infectious blood then there is a statiscal chance of you attacking a zombie with IB. So lets say 25% of the zombie population had IB. Now given that each IB infected zombie has a 20% chance of infecting you, then your chance of infection is as follows 25%*20%=5% or your total likely chance of being infected with a zombie kill or a statisticall chance of being infected once for every 20 zombie kills.

So given that the zombie population with infections blood(IB) is like this 50%IB or 25%IB or 10%IB, then the chance of being infected would be 10%, 20%, 50% respectfully so the chance of infection would be 50%*10%=5%, 25%*20%=5% , and 10%*50%=5%

so after the math the total chance of getting infected should be about 5% or after about 1 in 20 zombie kills and then ideally 2.5% chance for non wounded players.

  • clarifications

Bitten survivors become infected and lose 1HP per action until cured. Speaking does not cause survivors to lose health. Just like with infectious bite no XP is given to the zombie, only satisfaction at having bled on someone.


If you truly feel that getting infected once for every twentieth statistical zombie kill or so is punishment please vote kill, but I would love to hear comments on ways to get this to work better, thanks.

Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Greedy Metabolism

Timestamp: 10:58, 26 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Brainrotted Zombies
Description: Brain Rot is a prerequisite.

This skill is basically a variant of "Body Building" for zombies. Immediately upon purchasing this skill, the zombie's maximum hit points are unchanged. Thereafter, it's max hit points go up by one for each survivor it kills, up to an ultimate maximum of 65.

So a zombie without Body Building who has Greedy Metabolism and deals the killing blow to eight survivors will have a maximum of 58 hit points. A zombie who already had Body Building and kills three survivors will have a maximum of 63 hit points.

This skill only stacks upon Body Building up to 5 points, so a zombie who has both Body Building and Greedy Metabolism and kills fifteen survivors will have a maxminum of 65 hit points, not 75. Survivors killed before the skill is aquired are not counted retroactively. Fratricidal zombie kills aren't counted either, only humans.

Maximum hit points gained this way carry over to the Other Side, although the ability to raise one's max hit points doesn't. A zombie who is revived will still retain their elevated maximum hit points even as a human, they just won't be able to increase their max hit points by killing anybody until they become a zombie again. If they become undead once again, kills racked up while they were human (even PKs) don't count: only the killing of humans while a zombie. A rehumanized character who'd raised their max hit points through Greedy Metabolism and then purchases Body Building will still have their max hit points go up by 10, up to a maximum of 65.

  • Considerations

Although revived humans can benefit from this skill, it favors the undead. Since both Brain Rot and the slaughter of at least five other survivors are required for the maximum gains to be actualized, it isn't very attractive to humans. On the other hand, quite a few high level zombies will be able to raise their max hit points to 65 this way. If retaining the current game balance is desired, this skill could be introduced at the same time as a new survivor skill, presumably one that allows survivors to deal slightly more damage to zombies.

The reasoning for this skill is to give dedicated zombie characters another way to raise their max hit points without becoming temporarily human, and to give our outnumbered zombies a slight edge. And it adds a little flavor. I'm not too attached to the name "Greedy Metabolism", so I'm cool with other prejections.

Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Night "Eyes"

Timestamp: 12:33, 26 March 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombie "darkness" combat advantage, no longer needs eyes!
Description: Night "Eyes"

Appears on zombie skill tree just under "Scent Trail", to reflect the growing accuracy of your zombie's highly developed "other" senses.

  • Your zombie does not need eyes to see, nor to find their prey. All attacks you make (against the living) indoors, at a location that does not have "The lights are on inside" are at +5% to hit!
  • This bonus turns "off" or "on" every time someone turns a generator "off" or "on".

Rationale

As zombies "evolve" they become more and more... something other than human. They rely on their sense of smell and hearing, and lose interest in what they can see.. (only what they can taste!) Zombies who have a heightened sense of smell have absolutely no problems hitting hard and fast in the dark, unfortunately for human survivors inside, it often takes them a few prescious seconds to know where the zombies are coming from.. a few seconds too late!

This skill will make it a priority for ALL safehouses to have running, fueled generators... if they don't have one. They are going to have some serious problems when the zombies get in.

Mind you, smaller safehouses without power may go unnoticed by zombies entirely.. you never know.

It adds an element to the game which we all have considered, a need for all buildings which are "used" by survivors to have power if and when they can, or life will be "harsh" to say the least.

This gives a much more measurable benefit to zombies who make it inside and "put out the lights" as a prelude to a major attack.

"Why, did the lights just go out... oh SH*T!!!"

Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Alteration to "Night Eyes"

Timestamp: Dickus Maximus 21:36, 26 March 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Buildings with running generators
Description: Right now, generators in buildings other than hospitals and NT's are useful for another level of barriccading. In other words, for using a generator and a fuel can (or maybe just a fuel can), you get another free level.

Therefore, I suggest that any building with a running generator gives a zombie with this skill (a subset of "Memories of Life") a 5% chance to cause a barriccade to collapse. At first glance this doesn't look like a lot, but it changes the percentage to hit from 20% to 25%, therefore lowering the disparity to 1 to 4, which is a bit more fair in my opinion.

Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

27th March 2006

Groan Volume

Timestamp: 21:29, 27 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill tweak
Scope: It applies to zombies, though survivors could make use of it too
Description: This would change the Feeding Groan, as perceived by other players. Sure, "You murmur at the lone survivor in front of you" adds a bit of flavor on the zombie's end, but it ends up just one of the many other Feeding Groans experienced. Also, any zombies that rush towards what they believe to be a feast, end up running towards a single zombie and a dead body. Feeding Groan could be tweaked so that the groans sound different, depending on the number of survivors the zombie groaned at.

To avoid confusion, there would only be two levels. The first one would be for "lone survivor" groans, and it would sound something like "You hear a faint groaning x blocks to the (direction.) The second level would be for "Graaaagh" groans, which is 5 or more survivors. It would sound something like "You hear a loud and powerful groaning x blocks to the (direction.) Anything in-between would simply be "You hear something groaning x blocks to the (direction.)"

Besides helping zombies know whether a feast is at hand or not, it would also let survivors know if a large group is in trouble.

Left Queue: 21:57, 27 March 2006 (BST)


Chainsaw

Timestamp: Monday March 27 2006
Type: Weapon
Scope: Humans
Description: Chainsaws are the idol of zombie killing ... ironicly it isn't that pratical. Base Attack = 15, Base % of Hitting = 5%. Uses a Fuel Can for each use, it dosn't need to load or reload. Counts as a melee weapon, So max Accuracy is 20%. Also becuse how bloody loud they are, Zombies within several blocks recive the message "you can hear a chainsaw running X blocks to the XAXIS and Y blocks to the YAXIS, dinner is served."
Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Supertagger

Timestamp: 16:37, 27 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Civilian Skill
Scope: Survivors
Description: "John Lee Supertagger/Tags more than we do/Everything has an outside/Some outsides are too....much."

Ahem. The proposal is for a beefed-up Tagging skill which becomes available once Tagging is purchased. With Supertagger, spray cans will last a little longer still (I don't see that anyone knows just how much Tagging already boosts the longevity of spray cans), but more importantly, the player will have a pulldown from which to select spraypaint, nail, carve or splatter before inputting a message. (Nailing will require a new item, the Hammer, which can be found in the same places as the Crowbar and has only this purpose. Carving requires the Kitchen Knife.) The results are as follows:

  • "has spraypainted _____________ on the wall"
  • "has nailed _____________ to the wall"
  • "has carved _____________ into the wall"
  • "has splattered _____________ against the wall"

Inspired by some of the ingenious tags around the city. I'm sure it will be abused, but no more so than graffiti already is, and it's fun. Allows for even more creativity on the walls of Malton.

Net result: - Essentially this results in infinite spray painting, as the player can just keep on selecting nail, carve or splatter and never worry about running out of paint. Since it's a 2nd-tier skill and confers no other benefit, and there's still the AP action cost to consider, that seems reasonable to me. Others may balk at how this deprecates spray cans. See what you think.

Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Shotgun Smash

Timestamp: 17:35, March 27 2006 (BST)
Type: New Attack
Scope: Survivors
Description: Being a role player I have always thought of how cool it would be if you could attack other people with the end of your shotgun, this would also be useful if you have ran out of ammo and need a weapon.

In game terms if you have a shotgun in your inventory then you gain a new attack; club, it would have a damage of 2 and a hit rate of 10%, with hand to hand combat it would be increased to 25%

Left Queue: 11:50, 27 April 2006 (BST)

28th March 2006

Dirt Nap

Timestamp: MrAushvitz06:30, 28 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: This is a skill that affects AP. If that's all you need to know, vote now.

This skill would go into the "AP Family" of zombie skills, under Lurching Gait, peer with Ankle Grab. A zombie with this skill can go to his/her home cemetery and regain strength for the battle ahead. Arriving in ANY cemetery, a new button "Dirt Nap: costs 10 AP" would appear. The zombie can pay 10 AP (and 10 IP hits, like with syringe manufacture) for the right to stay in the cemetery and build up to a store of 65 AP, at the usual build-up rate of one per 30 minutes. A dirt-napping zombie is visible as a standing zombie and can be attacked, killed, headshot, revived (ending the dirt nap), DNA scanned, entirely as usual. It may speak, attack, stand up if killed, groan, and receive game messages as usual. The dirt nap continues (AP builds up to a max of 65) even if the zombie is killed: only leaving the square or being revived ends the dirt nap, making the zombie unable to regenerate AP until below 50 again.

The zombie's first dirt nap sets that cemetery as the "home cemetery". Dirt napping elsewhere, the first time, has a reduced benefit: the max AP available is only 55, but the new cemetery now becomes the "home cemetery". A zombie can only have one home cemetery at a time - benefiting stay-at-home zombies more than incessant wanderers.

While this lets an attacking horde slaughter longer inside buildings, it is counterbalanced by the necessity of visibly preparing in cemeteries for a long time. If the zombies arrive at the cemetery and hit "dirt nap" on their last AP (going to negative 9) it takes 74 half-hours, a day and a half, for them to reach the 65. Then some of that has to be wasted in travel. For instance, the nearest cemetery to Caiger NE/SE is 5 steps away. If a horde AP out inside Caiger it takes 5 (walk to cemetery) + 10 (dirt nap cost) + 65 = 80 half-hours to build up; then walk back (5 AP) and attack with 60AP, for an extra 10 swings inside. This doesn't take into account headshots; survivor groups might have a reason to patrol cemeteries to slow or weaken high-AP horde attacks.

Similarly, this will change real estate values: even a heavily barricaded building will be crackable, if it's right next door to a cemetery. There are 130 cemeteries in Malton (spelt "cemetAry" on the map). Ironically, there are none in Ridleybank.

Not every zombie will want this skill: it's a "weekend zombie" buff, but a zombie playing every day will get fewer AP's to use per week because of the 10AP penalty. But it will come in handy for those really special occasions when the player knows a day or so early that something really big is going down.

Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Zombie Hunter Classification

Timestamp: 6:52, 28 March 2006 (MST)
Type: New Human Skill
Scope: Hardcore players can show affinity for the living through the "Zombie Hunter" classification
Description: Prerequisite: Level 10

Currently, zombie players are able to take the Brain Rot skill as a sign of the player's affinity for the zombie class. The "Zombie Hunter" classification allows a player to show loyalty to the human class and hatred for zombies. A player who takes the "Zombie Hunter" classification would have that added as a subclassification to Civilian, Scientist, or Military. This would show up in player descriptions. As a consequence, the cost of any zombie skills is raised to 125 XP, due to a desire to return to human state.

Basically, this offers a slight flavor text advantage, along with a disadvantage when acting as a zombie. While Headshot also establishes a player's affinity for the human side, there is no downside to taking Headshot. Human players who take this skill at low levels will have to work harder to gain zombie skills. High level players (who don't really care about XP) get a cool description. Also, many groups can require this as a prerequisite, which demonstrates a player's commitment to the human side.

Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Pain Killers

Timestamp: 9:12, 28 March 2006 (BST)
Type: New Item
Scope: Survivors
Description: PainKillers are found in Hospitals (14% chance to find) and Mall Drug Stores (20% chance to find and with Bargin Hunting 34%).

PainKillers heal 3HP (This does not change with the First Aid Skill or Surgery skill) and can be used on yourself or other players. Using PainKillers on other players gains you 1 XP, simple.

Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Donation

Timestamp: 16:15, 28 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Donation
Scope: Everyone who donates
Description: Kevan always said he had plans on changing the AP in some form. This is an idea that brings in a little money for some more updates hopefully. For every $5 a user donates (after the first $5 for the IP limit) the user specified character is granted an extra total AP. So instead of the maximum being a 50, the user can have up to 55 AP if they donate $25. The user would only be allowed a max of extra 5 AP.
Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Scent Of Man

Timestamp: 11:45, 28 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Ability to "catch scent" of survivors within buildings which have opened doors
Description: A zombie walks down the streets of Malton, it's only companions are other zombies wandering alone in all other directions. In the far distance... the living dead who have found safehouses smash themselves against the barricades hoping to kill all those inside. But out here, on these distant fringes, where survivors have not allowed themselves to be so easily seen, zombies wander aimlessly, looking, tirelessly, for anything left alive.

This zombie stops, it's head violently jerked to the side.. as it has sensed, no, smelled something.. it stares into a building, with it's dead eyes. A building which has a door.. wide open. The wind blows at the dead things hair, but it does not move, it's expression fixed, very serious, focused on what it smells. It does not move, for some time.. then with an unnatural surge of movement, the dead thing starts for the opened door.. it KNOWS! It knows that inside this building, is MAN FLESH... and whatever unfortunate fools reside within, who were unable to keep their doors closed, certain death is coming! Certain death, pulling back it's lips to reveal dried bloody, and broken teeth. When it finds the meat inside it will let out a feeding groan, so all the undead outside will finally be able to join together again, to remove all living beings from the face of the earth.. finally.. finally.

Scent Of Man

  • Appears under zombie's skill tree just under "Scent Trail", therefore it requires this skill tree to be completed as a prerequisite. This zombie skill has no benefits to your human character.

When outside of any building that has an opened door, your zombie will be able to 'smell' whether or not there are any surviviors inside.

  • This skill is not 100% accurate, only 80% accurate. However, it doesn't cost any AP, and it is an "automatic" test whenever:
a zombie enters a location which is outside a building with an open door
a door is opened to a building that your zombie is standing outside of (including if your zombies opens it)
if your zombie is outside of a building with an opened door, and any survivor just entered that building (by any means including "free running", the movement puts the "scent" in the wind.)
  • The test is only made on buildings with an opened door, and if there are survivors inside it, otherwise it is not even checked (saves on server load.)

Scent Test: Success! Your zombie reads: "You catch the scent of the LIVING inside!"

If you get a number of successes over time (ex. a seige where barricades are downed and doors opened again and again) your character reads ".. and again.. and again" as with any other continued texts.

Scent Test: Failure! You read nothing, and your zombie does not have any information as to what is or is not inside unless you go inside to investigate.


Intentions (not any further game mechanics, ignore if you like)

  • This skill is intended to do one thing: Save zombie's AP by using their sense of smell.
  • A zombie can walk about "inspecting" buildings, with opened doors (or open them by themselves if possible, costing 1 AP.) But this skill will save zombies having to go building to building, opening doors and entering each one that they can, in search of survivors. In short, a zombie's sense of smell does the decision making for it, the zombie moves on, certain there is nothing there, and moves along to other places, in search of a meal.
  • This skill has it's drawbacks, it's not a huge bonus, and only does something every now and again.. however. It does, notify your zombie of some degree of "activity" going on in a building, if the door is open. "Free Running", can be a nuiscance to this skill, your zombie may enter a building, to see a survivor had just left, or only gets one swing before they leave. But it does make "the hunt" more interesting.
Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Bloodbath

Timestamp: MrAushvitz16:15, 28 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Bonus XP to zombies who: "infect" multiple survivors, destroying barricades, etc
Description: Gommorrah slammed through the pathetic wooden barricades, followed by his undead brothers. Those trapped in the flesh of men made noises with their boom-sticks, but they were nothing before this mighty onslaught. Soon, those survivors were bleeding all over the walls, until they were finally stilled, and the feasting began. At last, those worthless souls trapped in the flesh of men would leave, and more worthy ones could enter this flesh, through it's newly created openings. Now using it for a stronger, more pure purpouse.... destruction.


Bloodbath

  • Appears under zombie's skill tree just under "Ankle Grab"; therefore it requires the "Lurching Gait" & "Ankle Grab" skill tree to be completed as a prerequisite. This zombie skill has no benefits to your human character.

Your zombie has a variety of methods of picking up bonus XP: by spreading infection, and contributing to the deaths of human survivors.


*List Of Bonus XP Gains:

  • 1. Every time your zombie infects a survivor, +1 XP, only once per survivor. (If they remove infection with an FAK, you don't get any further XP from this survivor for 24 hours. Computer keeps a "temporary record" of all you've infected, wipes it away after each 24 hours.)
  • 2. Every time your zombie succeeds in killing a survivor with their bare hands (killing damage to a survivor was by claw) +2 XP.
  • 3. Every time your zombie has brought down 7 "levels" in total, of barricades +3 XP (Hidden "level count" on your character, it carries over each time you play, every 7 levels of damage: you gain 3 XP and your zombie's "count" resets to 0.)
  • 4. Every time your zombie enters a building that contains at least 10 survivors +4 XP. (Bonus only applies once per building, per 24 hours.) This "fearless" bonus is for going after the "toughest" and "most defended" of safehouses! It is also an incentive for "zombie swarms" to rush in together en masse.. to get all that XP as a group! Human survivors have a "responsibility" to prevent this from happening, if they can.. major zombie victories are BAD for survivors!)


Reasons for these XP bonuses (no further game mechanics, just explanations, skip if you wish)

  • Zombies can't simply gain 5 XP by using an FAK on a fellow survivor for just 1 AP (for starts.)
  • A zombie's skills' progression is much, MUCH slower (because finding and killing survivors tends to be a slower process.)
  • Zombie's don't have any skills even close to "Free Running" for assisting their movements, and/or defense capabilities.
  • Zombies can be headshot (which, to a newbie zombie who doesn't have the XP to even buy Ankle Grab, is a very frustrating time 10 AP per "stand", until they can purchase it, after spending 200 hard earned XP. This skill, amungst other things is a "payback" to zombies for all those hard times.)
  • Zombies are almost always found outside, very easy to come by, and to get away from if nessesary.
  • Zombies have to work hard to "crack the nut" of a survivor safehouse, usually only helping other zombies in the process when they're out of AP. Zombie "mob" tactics should have a benefit to "all" in the mob, in one manner or another.
  • These bonuses are pretty meager, compared to the ease of human XP gain capabilities, and are hardly unbalancing.. BUT zombies will be able to get them! That will speed up the "effctiveness" and continued gameplay of "newer" zombie characters.. and will contribute to cutting down on the need for zombies to "attack one another" just to get the XP to get the skills they need (doesn't make sense, zombies beating on one another in the street, does it?)

*Last but not least, these bonuses are all applied under 1 zombie skill. But, this skill is not available to level 1 zombies. So they do have to "earn" at least 300 XP to buy "lurching gait", "ankle grab", and this skill before they get all of the XP bonuses thereafter. These bonuses "could" have been suggested under 2 seperate skills, one for "newbies" & one for "mid" levels. However, this is much simpler, easier to understand, and requires skills that "make sense." Your zombie needs lurching gait to really appreciate the path of carnage, and the speed required. And being headshot at least half a dozen times, enough to buy "ankle grab" has made the zombie even more mean, agressive, and brutal.

Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

Revivification Modification

Timestamp: 22:21 March 28, 2006 (GMT)
Type: balance change
Scope: survivors
Description: Ok this happened to me yesterday and really annoyed me. I had spent three days shambling around town trying to find an active revive point and I finally found one and then after another two days of waiting around until someone jammed me with a syringe and I was happy to log in to find out that I was on my way to being human. Here is the problem though; at some point I was bitten with an infectious bite as a zombie. I have to say that after 5 days of hunting and waiting to get revived to be turned back into a zombie because someone got me with an infectious bite which the revive did not clear up is ridiculous. Considering the kind of drugs we're talking about to cure you of the zombie disease, should it not also clear out the variant which will slowly convert you? Or for that matter how do you infectious bite a zombie infecting it with a disease it already has? This just seems like a small thing that really makes sense.
Left Queue: 11:51, 27 April 2006 (BST)

29th March 2006

Reduce AP for making a syringe

Timestamp: 05:47, 29 March 2006 (BST)
Type: improvement
Scope: Syringe manufacture, possibly search
Description: Using a syringe now costs 10 AP, and fearful penalties are attached if you try and revive a rotter. 30AP for a revive is a vbbit much, but if the search chance was doubled, and the manufacture cost reduced to 10AP, the "combat revive" would be eliminated as viable whilst calming a lot of the upset and anger that resulted. Because, let's face it, if you're a newbie that didn't start as a zombie, it's not at all fun playing one until you've managed to get Vigour Mortis and can actually hit something.
Left Queue: 15:27, 29 March 2006 (BST)


Revive Buff

Timestamp: 03:07, 29 March 2006 (BST)
Type: balance change
Scope: Revive Scientists
Description: Ok, So they nerf'd revive ... thats cool, I understand. The problem is they did it a bit TOO much. It takes 10 hours waiting around playing solitare to make a single syringe. It beats looking for them, yes, but its a bloody 4.8% find and in only necrotech labs. And now it takes another 5 hours of more solitare playing to acully USE it.

Come on, this is a syringe were talking about, not heart transplants. Anyway, back to the point. Reviveing a Zed and Scanning him gives only 9 XP, while killing them gives XP per hit and a XP bonus for acully killing them. And ammo is much easyer to find (5 - 11% depending on which of the 4 buildings your in.) So my suggestion? Either lower the AP cost to use a syringe to like 2 or 3 OR increase the XP gain from reviveing.

Left Queue: 20:53, 29 March 2006 (BST)

30th March 2006

Limit revives differently

Timestamp: 04:21, 30 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Improvement
Scope: Dead Survivors, Science
Description: There's a huge uproar against the new syringe rules. However, I think the idea behind it is sound: that there are too many revives going on and that death is really really pointless. The problem is that it really really hurts the reviver to burn so much AP on a single revive. Playing a scientist is really boring already (1 click is 20 AP for making a syringe, another click burns 10 AP for a revive... a fully buffed scientist can't actually do anything if he's playing his role.) What is needed is a revive modification that reduces the number of revives but does not hurt the reviver so much. I propose that each reviver is limited to one successful revive (so brainrot attempts don't count) per day. That is to say that after a successful revive, all subsequent attempts will fail for 24 hours. This could be implemented by giving each survivor a flag like the way that scanned zombies have a flag. This will replace the 10AP cost now, reverting revives to 1AP each.

As far as RP purposes, perhaps all trained scientists have a device to perform revives that takes a full syringe as a cartridge and needs to recharge for 24 hours after every use. It can detect the brainrot and stops so while the syringe is wasted, it doesn't lose the charge and can be used again without recharging.

I think this will make revives a lot rarer and more valued, prevent mass combat revives, but allow the scientist to do other things with his day.

Left Queue: 08:28, 30 March 2006 (BST)

Undead 'Possum

Timestamp: 22:58, 30 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombie
Description: Given that zombies are animated corpses, Malton is littered with the dead, and Zombies cannot reasonably barracide themselves in safehouses, a resourceful zombie that saves the needed AP for the end of their turn should just be able to lay down and relax. Many Zombies do this now by ending their turn with a jump from a window, so perhaps requiring an AP penalty for the rise if folks think this is too strong. Personally, I think it is a decent balancing effect and can be on Memories of Life (to have the idea to hide) or Lurching Gait (as it is a motion enhancement). If cross-tree pre-reqs are viable then it should reside as third in the Lurching Gait tree and require at least Memories of Life. The name is horrible, this just seems logical and I can't see it in previous suggestions since I've been playing for the past six months.
Left Queue: 03:36, 31 March 2006 (BST)

31st March 2006

New Character Class: Nurse

Timestamp: MrAushvitz00:45, 31 March 2006 (BST)
Type: New Civilian Character Class
Scope: Adds to medical "field", completes the 3 choices.
Description: Nurse

Civilian Character Class

  • Starts with the First Aid skill (heals 10 HP with a First Aid Kit), and two First Aid Kits. Nurses differ from the other "medical" character classes in that their starting character class is civilian.. more "middle of the road" if you want to be more "free" with your beginning skills costs initially. (The Medic is a Millitary choice, the Doctor a Scientist choice.)

The medic, for example may go for "free running" sooner. Whereas the doctor may go for improving medical skills like "diagnosis" and "surgery" as quickly as possible.

The Nurse is an interesting option, leaving for a more "open" starting medical choice, your nurse may be "packing" more firepower than the doctors at the local hospital.. or your nurse may begin learning to apply revivification medication to disgruntled "patients" sooner than the Medic.

The nurse may be better off depending on your starting location, and what buildings you will be searching right away (looks like my nurse will be using shotguns for a while, okay..) Either way how you play your nurse is your game!

Left Queue: 11:54, 27 April 2006 (BST)