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=<center>A guide to Life-Culting: a meta-game document</center><br><center>By [[User:A.schwan|Dr. Albert Schwan]]</center>= | =<center>A guide to Life-Culting: a meta-game document</center><br><center>By [[User:A.schwan|Dr. Albert Schwan]]</center>= | ||
==Definition== | ==Definition== | ||
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A life cultist who is inexperienced with area zombies will be limited to softening the top zombie on a stack owing to zombie anonymity. A life cultist who has experience in an area or has access to a database (as described in the section entitled “know you targets”) can soften all of the known zombies inside a building, reducing their HP over time and allowing several of them to be removed by a single survivor. <br> | A life cultist who is inexperienced with area zombies will be limited to softening the top zombie on a stack owing to zombie anonymity. A life cultist who has experience in an area or has access to a database (as described in the section entitled “know you targets”) can soften all of the known zombies inside a building, reducing their HP over time and allowing several of them to be removed by a single survivor. <br> | ||
=====Softening in action===== | |||
:The following example from Colglough NT (a heavily contested in the heart of Feral Undead territory) demonstrates the effectiveness of softening to break a zombie siege<br> | |||
:<span class="plainlinks">[http://iamscott.net/1312949695314.html part 1],[http://iamscott.net/1312949724232.html part 2], [http://iamscott.net/1312949737108.html part 3], [http://iamscott.net/1312949762297.html part 4]</span><br> | |||
:Survivor expendature to remove 3 zombies from a building = 8AP<br> | |||
:Combat revives can also be incorporated as shown here<br> | |||
:<span class="plainlinks">[http://iamscott.net/1313457304208.html part 1], [http://iamscott.net/1313457274436.html part 2], [http://iamscott.net/1313457253707.html, part 3], [http://iamscott.net/1313457235417.html part 4]. </span><br> | |||
:Survivor expendature to remove 3 zombies (1 by combat revive) from a building and repair building(7AP repair cost)= 25AP<br> | |||
====Know Your Targets==== | ====Know Your Targets==== | ||
Among the largest zombie advantages is the ability of a zombie to blend into a horde. The anonymity this affords allows them to spy, scout, clog RPs, and makes them difficult to remove from buildings. As long as their anonymity is intact, anyone wishing to act on a zombie within a group of two of more must act on only the zombie at the top of the “stack” who will be the least active (the one who has logged in least recently and is therefore not the one currently eating you). Effective zombie management demands that zombie anonymity be overcome; enter the life cultist. On one level, life cultists are useful to identify a zombie populace as they are able to remain outside with the zombies. On another level, life cultists benefit from such identification greatly as it allows them to target individual zombies and soften, infect, or communicate with each zombie in a group individually without having to work through a stack. <br><br> | Among the largest zombie advantages is the ability of a zombie to blend into a horde. The anonymity this affords allows them to spy, scout, clog RPs, and makes them difficult to remove from buildings. As long as their anonymity is intact, anyone wishing to act on a zombie within a group of two of more must act on only the zombie at the top of the “stack” who will be the least active (the one who has logged in least recently and is therefore not the one currently eating you). Effective zombie management demands that zombie anonymity be overcome; enter the life cultist. On one level, life cultists are useful to identify a zombie populace as they are able to remain outside with the zombies. On another level, life cultists benefit from such identification greatly as it allows them to target individual zombies and soften, infect, or communicate with each zombie in a group individually without having to work through a stack. <br><br> | ||
The easiest way to accomplish this is to scan them. This requires a life-cultist to be alive for a time and in possession of a DNA extractor. DNA extracting is the easiest way to identify zombies even with the added complication of cortex damage. A quick tour around a suburb will allow a life cultist to scan many of the area zombies and | The easiest way to accomplish this is to scan them. This requires a life-cultist to be alive for a time and in possession of a DNA extractor. DNA extracting is the easiest way to identify zombies even with the added complication of cortex damage. A quick tour around a suburb will allow a life cultist to scan many of the area zombies and add them to his contacts list. First scan lone zombies or those in small groups as it is most efficient; zombies in large groups may prove more difficult since they cannot be scanned if someone else has already documented them unless they first move. Additionally, there are other ways to identify zombies in large groups (identifying zombies in large groups while zombified will be dealt with in the “mosh pitting” section that follows). A life cultist should scan as many zombies as possible during one scouting session as scent trail will lead the scanned zombies to his location and often result in his de-vivication. | ||
=====Mosh Pitting===== | |||
The art of successful life-culting basically boils down to eliminating zombie anonymity (identification), making zombies more manageable to local survivors (softening), and effectively minimizing the impact those zombies can have on an area (wasting hostile AP). Mosh pitting is a practice capable of doing all three of these to a greater or lesser extent. In short, Mosh pitting is picking a fight. A life cultist moves into the largest group of zombies in the area: these can usually be found outside of central NTs or repaired forts. The life cultist then gestures or speaks in such a way that makes them visible to the other accumulated zombies. Mocking phrases such as “ ''Har Har Har! Gaa Zambaz nah habbah manbagz!'' ” or “ ''Graagh! Gaa Zambahz Nahgahn Grab Mah Zambah!'' ” can also be used to attempt to provoke and gain attention. Any zombie that responds can then be identified by the life cultist as can any zombie that attacks him. Additionally, a life cultist may attack any zombies he recognizes or the top zombie in a stack to reduce their HP and to provoke them into a retaliation that will waste AP they might otherwise have used against survivors. Such attacks should not be aimed at killing these zombies but rather reducing their HP to manageable levels. <br> | |||
In some cases, the fight may even be extended to other zombies. If a zombie or zombies begin to regularly retaliate against the life-cultist directing the mosh pit, the life cultist may opt to gesture to any unaffiliated zombie that he recognizes and make a statement of affiliation like “ ''Ha! Mah Zambah Brazzah!'' ” in an effort to make that zombie an additional target for those attacking him.<br> | |||
(''Note: Mosh pitting is a deceptive process that may be unappealing to some life-cultists. It is mentioned here for its strategic value. Adoption or endorsement of this tactic is left to the individual'') <br> | |||
===Feeding=== | ===Feeding/Desiccating=== | ||
While death does not matter much to a zombie, the calculated softening of local zombies provides a substantial advantage as argued before. The zombies targeted by this strategy will need to regenerate in order to counter it. They must therefore either die or feed. A good life-cultist will not finish them off, and jumping from a building--while it will kill the zombie--will not regenerate HP as they will stand back up with the same number that they had before they jumped. Survivors killing them is the end goal, which leaves only feeding. A zombie can regenerate 3HP per feeding attempt which carries an advantage over the life-cultist's ability to cause damage with claws in so far as feeding is automatically successful. In red suburbs or ghost towns though, a life cultist may still gain the upper hand. This can be done by feeding on all of the dead bodies before the softened zombies have a chance. Once a body has been fed on a certain number of times, it becomes unusable giving only text indicating that “The body has already been picked over” and providing no HP. Beating the zombies to the act also provides the advantage of increasing the life-cultist’s own HP to prevent softened zombies from killing and feeding on him. | While death does not matter much to a zombie, the calculated softening of local zombies provides a substantial advantage as argued before. The zombies targeted by this strategy will need to regenerate in order to counter it. They must therefore either die or feed. A good life-cultist will not finish them off, and jumping from a building--while it will kill the zombie--will not regenerate HP as they will stand back up with the same number that they had before they jumped. Survivors killing them is the end goal, which leaves only feeding. A zombie can regenerate 3HP per feeding attempt which carries an advantage over the life-cultist's ability to cause damage with claws in so far as feeding is automatically successful. In red suburbs or ghost towns though, a life cultist may still gain the upper hand. This can be done by feeding on all of the dead bodies before the softened zombies have a chance. Once a body has been fed on a certain number of times, it becomes unusable giving only text indicating that “The body has already been picked over” and providing no HP. Beating the zombies to the act also provides the advantage of increasing the life-cultist’s own HP to prevent softened zombies from killing and feeding on him. | ||
===Trip-wiring=== | |||
A life cultist or life cultists working in a mostly ruined suburb can keep the zombies in several buildings ready to be removed even in the absence of any survivor presence by constantly keeping them softened to a low HP level over several days until survivors return. Alternately, life cultists may arrive well in advance of a survivor force and prepare an entire suburb for survivor habitation in the same manner. One problem with such a slow operation is that local zombies do not stand still while this takes place: feeding on corpses, survivors, and sometimes other zombies to regain their HP. While this can be managed by a diligent life cultist it becomes tricky when a zombie does just hold still. In this case, repeated checks on the HP level of the zombie may result in the life cultist inadvertently killing the zombie and wasting the effort spent to soften it. A final problem occurs when zombies change locations and buildings that were empty become guarded, costing the life cultist valuable AP to scout buildings that may or may not be empty. <br><br> | |||
In all of these cases, a life cultist with the [[Memories of Life]] skill can use the doors themselves as a tripwire system to detect zombie activity. If a building is empty, close the door. If, upon a return visit, the door is still closed, then the building is likely still empty as a zombie entering the building would have had to open it and would likely not have spent the time and effort to close it behind him. Alternately, if the zombies inside of a building are softened, close the door. If they exit to feed, the door will be open and the life cultist will know that their HP will need to be checked. <br><br> | |||
In a case where only one zombie is inside with no bodies, this method works best. If there are bodies, a life cultist may feed on them until they are desiccated to overcome the obstacle. If there are multiple zombies, they may feed on each other without opening the door. There is nothing that a life cultist can do to prevent this but it is rare and requires coordination on their part to not weaken the occupying force. <br><br> | |||
If used, trip wireing ensures that where there is a closed door, there is likely to be a building unoccupied or occupied by softened zombies ripe for the taking by any survivor that happens through. If widely adopted, it will also signal to other life-cultists in the area that a bldg has already been checked or prepared. Survivors who are not able to repair buildings can help with this as well, by closing doors on empty structures. | |||
===Parachutig and Rocketeering (inverse parachuting)=== | ===Parachutig and Rocketeering (inverse parachuting)=== | ||
[[Parachuting|Parachuting]] is the method that a life-cultist or death-cultist would use to create a piñata and will be discussed in the section that follows on that subject. However, just as a trans-mortal zombie can move into position while alive and then die, so too can they move into position while dead and then live (with a little help from an ally). In a nutshell, this is rocketeering: the controlled and strategically directed return from death. Simmilar in some ways to the practice of [[Imagine/DIRT:NAP|dirt napping]], rocketeering differs in that it places a life-cultist somewhere specific and focuses on what they do when they rise rather than safety they obtain by remaining dead. As such, racketeering is an excellent way to scout and reclaim a building. | |||
====A Basic Example of Rocketeering==== | |||
A basic rocketeering strategy is as follows: a rocketeer moves into a target building while they are a zombie. At which point, they may soften the other zombies inside if they wish or just remain incognito. Once they are ready, an ally arrives to render a revive to the rocketeer or rocketeers present in the building. The rocketeer(s) remain on the ground where they are able to view the inside of the building and keep an eye on any zombies without the threat of death, headshot, or infection. Likewise, reviving bodies will not provide food for hostile zombies. The only possible danger is that the rocketeer’s body will be dumped from the building but this is a slight disadvantage at best. Once it is deemed advantageous (when the zombie numbers thin out, while hostile zombies are out patrolling the suburb, when allies are ready, or when the life cultist has reached max AP) the rocketeer may stand and strike. <br><br> | |||
The major advantages of this strategy are that it avoids the expenditure of AP needed to reach a target, it provides the life cultist and his allies with accurate information on the target up until the time of the strike, it eliminates outside variables—like being discovered and killed by a zombie just prior to strike time—from compromising the objective, and (in the event of a combat revive strike on an NT) it provides any zombies inside who do not wish to be combat revived with ample opportunity to vacate the building. | |||
===A note on Piñatas=== | ===A note on Piñatas=== | ||
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====Piñatas==== | ====Piñatas==== | ||
The most useful and most obvious way in which a life cultist can aid in taking a building is in the case of piñatas. Ruined buildings with barricade levels higher than VSB++ cannot be entered or repaired by survivors, yet, while a survivor with a fireaxe or crowbar may easily spend an entire day’s worth of AP attempting to reduce the barricades to VSB++, a zombie—owing to their much higher hit rate against barricades—can do so with a fraction of the AP expenditure. In fact, it is reasonable to assume that a zombie can reduce barricades from EHB to VSB++ with as many if not fewer AP than a survivor would use to move to the building and barricade it to VSB++. Essentially, with life cultists on hand, piñataed buildings become a pre-barricaded repairable buildings that are usually guaranteed to be zombie-free. | |||
====NTs==== | ====NTs==== | ||
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====Forts==== | ====Forts==== | ||
Forts present a variety of problems. They are constantly ruined and fall frequently to the zombies. They are, therefore, often in need of retaking. When active, forts are plagued by constant break-ins at the gate house, PKing, and over-barricading preventing the arrival of reinforcements. Forts do not provide Necrotech syringes. The combination of these factors cause them to fall once repaired. The gate house falls frequently because it is the only entrance to the fort and the largest target in the suburb. It falls through direct action en masse by zombies and through the use of parachuting and beach-heading tactics. It falls quicker when the barricades are kept lower. Removal of zombies is difficult requiring the use of many rounds of ammo. The amount of people within attract s PKers who are not hindered by barricades set at VSB or below. PKers enter the fort, kill their targets, and leave the fort or hide in the armory. A barricade of higher than VSB prevents allies from entering the fort to provide backup transforming the struggle inside into a closed system wherein survivors experience the law of diminishing returns owing to their tactical disadvantage in hand to hand combat. A few of these problems can be corrected through life-culting. | |||
=====Standard fort with survivor aid===== | =====Standard fort with survivor aid===== | ||
Stage one: Tag ‘em (performed by one to two Necrotecnicians requiring a DNA extractor) | |||
The first order of business is to know all of the zombies in the fort. This will allow those present to target each zombie individually and to know who can or cannot be combat revived should later steps call for such action. One nearby necrotechnician can accomplish this goal. He or she should then upload the data to the other participants and to any allies who may assist in later stages. If possible, this person should also attempt to dump any bodies from the fort to remove the food source of the zombies inside. | |||
(Note: if available, this stage may be preceded or replaced by a zombieologist with an extensive contact list providing some or all of the information provided by this stage) | |||
(Suggestion: owing to the scent trail skill, this may lead several zombies out of the fort. The necrotechnician should therefore move just far enough away from the fort for this to be an attractive option to the zombies inside but also far enough that it will make it difficult to return. After remaining in this location for 6 to 8 hours, the technician may move elsewhere to find a safe-house.) | |||
Stage two: Send in the life cultists (performed by as many friendly zombie units as are currently available) | |||
Equipped with the contacts provided by the technician, the life cultists enter the fort and ascertain the HP levels of the zombies inside. Ideally, there will be at least one Life cultist to each occupied building (excluding the gatehouse). They will obtain HP levels by targeting each zombie with a claw attack and observing the result. Finally, having done so, the life-cultists inside should endeavor to reduce the HP of all zombies inside to between 25 and 30, report the IDs, locations, and HP values of the zombies within their assigned area to the others, and then step outside of the fort buildings to rest. After resting and regenerating AP, the life cultists should re-enter their respective buildings and verify that the hp levels are where they left them by clawing each zombie. If they are not, repeat this step as needed. If they are, report and assist other life cultists as needed. If all zombies are at this level (excepting those in the gatehouse, proceed to stage 3. | |||
(note: in this weakened state, other area survivors may reclaim these buildings before the next step is taken. Should this happen, report it and the plan can be adapted to accommodate this.) | |||
Stage 3: Do your worst | |||
During this stage, the goal is to decrease the HP of all zombies within the buildings of the fort (excepting the gatehouse to 4-12HP without killing them. If this can be accomplished in such a way that leaves the life-cultists with at least 20-30AP, proceed to stage 4. If not, rest first until the desired AP level is reached. | |||
Stage 4: Bag ‘em | |||
There are two options for this stage: | |||
If survivor reinforcements are available: | |||
If survivor reinforcements who have been furnished with the contact lists are available, alert them that the fort is ready and move to the gatehouse. The survivors will need to deliver the headshots to the zombies, repair the buildings and then dump the bodies. This will move them to the gatehouse where they will work with the life-cultists to clear all hostile zombies from the building. Once cleared of hostile zombies, The life cultists must either be revived or move to the interior of the fort to await later revive or clear out remaining zombies. The survivors within the fort will then repair the gatehouse and the fort is taken. | |||
If survivor allies are not available: | |||
Should the life culting group be acting alone, the life cultists will instead alert the necrotechnician who provided the DNA extraction service or a suitable stand-in to arrange in place revives. This technician or technicians re-enter the fort and revive the friendly zombies. Even if the last of these revives should result in negative AP, the building will be rendered reasonably safe by his actions. The newly revived life cultists deliver the headshots, repaire the buildings, dump the bodies, and then take retake the gatehouse. | |||
Those wishing to remain in zombie form to assist with the maintenance of the fort, can remove to one of the outside fort locations like the exercise yard. From there they can follow the section later in this document about holding a fort. | |||
=====Lockdown fort with smaller numbers===== | =====Lockdown fort with smaller numbers===== | ||
(taken from operational notes) | |||
Combat reviving and a different approach to barricading can be used to increase the safety of a fort. The fort contains an infirmary and an armory and, excepting the opportunity to revive, can be considered as a closed system. It can only be considered as such when it is closed to outside access. An extremely Heavily Barricaded gatehouse is harder to breach. Parachuting and PKing can be controlled if access to the fort is restricted to trusted survivors. Within a closed system, revive points will not be needed as allies will be easily identifiable from enemies. | |||
Stage 1: Clear and repair the Gatehouse | |||
Once cleared, Participants should remain in the gatehouse for a head count. The Gatehouse must be repaired and barricaded to VSB for 1/2 hour (if participants are missing) or directly to EHB (if all participants are in sight) at least one participant should have enough AP to effect the repairs with some to spare. If possible, we must not exhaust ourselves fully on this first stage. Once the gatehouse is repaired and barricaded, we may move on to stage 2. | |||
Stage 2: access to the interior | |||
Free-running in a fort will take its toll on us is we do not repair another building. I suggest the Barracks as it is easy to repair. Following the same basic procedure, we should take this second building and barricade it to quite strongly barricaded. There should be no need to barricade further as ideally the zombies inside will consider it weak and move from the armory to ransack it. If that happens, it can be retaken. The operation is not likely to last long enough for this to be an issue. | |||
While this building is repaired, move from the gatehouse to this building to avoid losing your footing. This will deposit one inside the fort but outside the buildings allowing us to move freely within. It is not necessary to reenter this building to get into the gatehouse as all movement from within the fort to the gatehouse places one inside the gatehouse. | |||
Stage 3: Removing zombies | |||
Once the first two stages have been accomplished, participants should try to remove other zombies from within as they are able making certain to leave a remainder of approximately 10 AP as long as they are active and dropping below this only in order to increase the barricades on the Gatehouse, respond to emergencies, or accomplish actions before retiring for the evening. Combat reviving is the preferred method of removal but other means will be at the discretion of the participant and should be suited to the situation to accomplish removal in the most efficient manner possible. There are two ways to dump bodies in a fort: outside the building (1AP) or outside of the fort (5AP). The latter, which moves you to the gatehouse, should always be used. To avoid wasted action, those who remove zombies from the interior should accomplish what they set out to do in the interior to the best of their ability before dumping bodies. Always end in the Gatehouse | |||
(Note: the second highest concentration of zombies is in the armory, but these zombies should not be engaged unless a generator and fuel are in place. You cannot dump bodies from a dark building so any zombies killed will not be able to be removed. It should however be noted that one of the zombies in the armory is down to 2 HP) | |||
Stage 4: Repairs | |||
If there is an empty building, do not repair it unless (a) the fort is clear of zombies, (b) it is the last action you perform for the day and you will be able to move back to the gatehouse, or (c) our situation has become hopeless and you wish to strike for the greater good by making future repairs easier. With the exception of one building maintained for freerunning purposes, the other buildings are unessential. Even if you repair them, do not spend time barricading them as, once repaired the first time, ruining a building is far more difficult than repairing it again. | |||
Zombies: | |||
In all stages, life culting may be employed to remove, soften, or monitor zombies inside. | |||
======Combat revive applicability====== | ======Combat revive applicability====== | ||
Zombies can be removed from an area faster and more easily through a combat revive. The danger in a combat revive is in that it creates parachuters. In a lock down fort, parachuters are not a substancial threat as they cannot get in. | |||
=====The Piñata Fort===== | =====The Piñata Fort===== | ||
A specific tactic used to secure a fort for future possession in a deserted or zombie infested suburb, the Piñata Fort tactic calls for the creation of piñatas within a fort set to a specific barricade plan. The premise being that it will remain invisible from adjacent blocks, confuse the local zombies, and make it very easy to reclaim once survivors return to the area. To do this, Life Cultists have to work in teams: 1 Zombie, 1 Living. Beyond that, they can work more or less independently (for explanation of the piñata creation process, please see the “brief note on piñatas” found earlier in this document). The goal is to attain a pinataed fort that roughly matches the following template which describes Fort Perryn (for Fort Creedy, rotate the template 90 degrees counter clockwise):<br> | A specific tactic used to secure a fort for future possession in a deserted or zombie infested suburb, the Piñata Fort tactic calls for the creation of piñatas within a fort set to a specific barricade plan. The premise being that it will remain invisible from adjacent blocks, confuse the local zombies, and make it very easy to reclaim once survivors return to the area. To do this, Life Cultists have to work in teams: 1 Zombie, 1 Living. Beyond that, they can work more or less independently (for explanation of the piñata creation process, please see the “brief note on piñatas” found earlier in this document). The goal is to attain a pinataed fort that roughly matches the following template which describes Fort Perryn (for Fort Creedy, rotate the template 90 degrees counter clockwise):<br> | ||
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====Dark buildings==== | ====Dark buildings==== | ||
While zombies cannot dump bodies from a building or drag other zombies to the street, recent updates have given them a substantial advantage in gripping and clawing another zombie inside of a dark building. This makes softening a viable means to prepare a dark to be cleared in the absence of a spare generator or when the number of zombies inside could not be easily removed in a single strike. | |||
====Other buildings==== | ====Other buildings==== | ||
All other buildings can be taken through the tactics discussed above (especially Softening and Trip-Wiring) with only a minimum of survivor aid. | |||
===Holding buildings=== | ===Holding buildings=== | ||
Under many circumstances, a life cultist may find it easier to receive a revive and participate as a survivor when a building needs to be held. That said, if there are enough survivors to hold the building, there are several things that a life cultist can accomplish as a zombie. In most circumstances, the most direct method to help hold a building is to remain outside with the zombies who are attempting to break in. From this vantage, a life cultist can employ the tactics of mosh-pitting and softening to weaken the zombie effort. If a zombie can be coerced into attacking the life cultist, every AP spent in such a pursuit is an A{P that is not used to break down the barricades. Organized softening of the zombies outside further ensures that, should a break-in occur, the survivors inside will have a much easier time removing the hostile zombie. | |||
====know your friends==== | ====know your friends==== | ||
====NTs==== | Owing to zombie anonymity, a life cultist's primary concern is hostile contacts reserving friendly contacts for other life cultists; however, in a siege situation, friendly contacts are also valuable to prevent a life-cultist from inadvertently softening a friendly survivor who is seeking an in-place revive. Such contacts are helpful but only as space permits. | ||
====NTs (Mrh-Bombing)==== | |||
because of the possibility of rot revives, NTs present another option for trans-mortals. After a life cultist helps to take the building, selective stocking beforehand and an in-place revive can turn them into an emergency fail-safe. Because of their limited need for survivor equipment, a life cultist's inventory can take almost any form. A life cultist carrying 2 generators (40 encumbrance total), 2 fuel cans (20 encumbrance total), a Toolbox (16 encumbrance), and 10 NT syringes (20 encumbrance bringing the total to 96%) could be revived in place and left on the ground as per the [[Imagine/DIRT:NAP|Dirt napping strategy]]. In the event of a forced entry, most zombies will immediately destroy the generator to prevent combat revives. A life cultist would then rise, install and fuel the generator, and CR the attacking zombies. In this fashion, the life cultist could remove 4 zombies, with the potential of a fifth if the generator lasts an hour and a half, while giving the other survivors inside the NT the ability to combat revive further zombies and break the siege. In the event that the siege does not break, the life cultist will often be targeted first by the attacking zombies for such a display. With an in-place revive from a friendly survivor they would then be primed to repeat the process in the next break-in (if the building lasts that long) or immediately retake it from a conquering zombie force of 4 or fewer. | |||
====Forts==== | ====Forts==== | ||
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====Dark buildings==== | ====Dark buildings==== | ||
====Piñatas==== | ====Piñatas==== | ||
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===Scouting=== | ===Scouting=== | ||
====Scent trail for life cultists==== | ====Scent trail for life cultists==== | ||
====Scent death for life cultists==== | |||
====Decay scouting==== | |||
While zombies can be most useful to check ruined buildings to see which ones are empty and ready to be repaired by their survivor allies, they are not able to see repair costs. For this reason, many a survivor has shown up to repair a ruined building only to find repair costs in excess of his current AP and have to return to his safe-house instead or go into an undefended repair-coma to accomplish the task. Thankfully, an experienced life-cultist can develop an eye for [[Decay|the level of decay in a building]] and translate that into [[Decay#In-depth|a workable numeric estimate for the repair cost]]. In brief, the thickness of dust and debris, the progression of rot or rust, the purification of the walls, and the presence of flora as indicated in the building description can estimate the repair cost to with 4 to 10 AP. With a greater margin of error, a life cultist may also estimate the repair cost from outside of the building by [[Decay#Outside_descriptions|by looking in through the open window or door]]. This information, when communicated to survivors, can allow them to formulate a repair or pinata plan appropriate to the situation. | |||
===Misdirection=== | ===Misdirection=== | ||
====Feeding Groan for life-cultists==== | ====Feeding Groan for life-cultists==== | ||
[[Zombie_Skills/Feeding_Groan|Feeding Groan]] is a zombie skill that allows zombies to alert other zombies to the presence of survivors. When faces with one or more survivors, a zombie with this skill is given a button reading “groan,” which consumes 1AP to activate. The resulting groan and the distance from which it may be heard varies in magnitude depending on the number of survivors present. As of the most recent update, the location of the most recent groan heard by a zombie will be displayed on their screen with a message indicating that they are “drawn” to this location (also displayed here may be the location of the last survivor who acted upon that zombie) For life-cultists, feeding groan has both obvious and subtle uses. | |||
=====To select targets for local zombies===== | |||
Just as the average zombie uses this skill, a life cultist presented with a living enemy (such as an area PKer) may groan at them to prompt other zombies to dispose of the target. This works in the interest of the area zombies in that they get a mean out of the arrangement and in the interest of the survivors in that the zombies dispose of a threat. | |||
=====To divert zombies from a target===== | |||
A life-cultist working in conjunction with area survivors can use feeding groan as a means of distraction to lure zombies away from targeted buildings or to simply expend AP. A survivor needs to arrange a rendezvous with a life cultist in the building to which they want to lure zombies. The life-cultist then groans at the survivor and the survivor leaves. This will draw nearby zombies to an empty location and supersede the previous groan on their screens, allowing the survivor they were tracking to escape or overriding groans directing them to legitimately occupied buildings. Additionally, survivors can barricade the diversionary building making it harder for zombies to determine that it is empty. AP spent in this manner is advantageous to survivors as it is traded at a rate of 4 to one as discussed in the barricades section of this document. | |||
=====magnification===== | |||
The groans used in these tactics are louder if more survivors are present; therefore, if a single zombie works with 2 or more survivors, the groan carries farther and is more effective. Also, groans emitted by a member of one’s group are displayed as “a familiar groan” when they are heard. If a life-cultist is working in an area occupied by an established zombie group, it may be worth their while to temporarily change their group tag to match that of their opponents so that the groans will register as familiar to them and thereby gain more credibility. | |||
===Bounty Hunting=== | ===Bounty Hunting=== | ||
===Suggested Skills=== | ===Suggested Skills=== | ||
==Supplementary Material== | |||
===ZAMGRH Life-cultist phrase-book=== | |||
B!gbra!n –(adjective) Intelligent/ informed/ smart | |||
B!gbra!n-man –(noun) Expert | |||
Bag-man zg!zz -(noun) Medicine | |||
Bahznarb z!ng -(noun) chemical | |||
Bang bang zg!zz –(noun) Marksmanship | |||
Barhah-man –(noun) Death Cultist | |||
Barhah-man agzang –(verb) to practice Death Culting | |||
Barhahznarb –(verb) to scent death | |||
Bra!n Z!ng –(noun) scientific instrument | |||
Bra!ngab-agzang –(verb) to research | |||
Bra!ngrab-agzang –(verb) to teach | |||
Bra!n-man –(noun) Professor/Scientist | |||
Bra!n-man zg!zz –(noun) Science/Education | |||
Brazzarh-zmazharh –(noun) Zker/Pker | |||
M!zz –(verb) to miss | |||
M!zz-(noun) a title of address used for an unmarried female | |||
M!zzah –(noun) a title of address used for a male | |||
Maag Na-ahnna naz!ng –(verb) to create/ invent/ make from scratch. | |||
Maam – (noun) a formal title of address used for a female | |||
Mangang –(verb) to protect | |||
Mangang mrh –(verb) to protect life | |||
Mangang z!ngz –(verb) to protect property | |||
Mrh-man zg!zz –(noun) Rot Science | |||
Mrh-zambah –(noun) Life Cultist | |||
Mrh-Zambah agzang –(verb) to practice Life Culting | |||
Mrz –(noun) a title of address used for a married female | |||
NaB!g-Z -(verb) magnify | |||
NaB!g-Z z!ng –(noun) microscope | |||
Nabarn-barn –(noun) Piñata | |||
Z!rrah –(noun) a formal title of address used for a male | |||
Znarb –(verb) to smell | |||
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Latest revision as of 05:34, 4 January 2013
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