Suggestion talk:20090319 Bellow

Discussion (Bellow) from Developing Suggestions

This skill is for when your zombie breaks into a REALLY crowded building, and wants to draw in a LOT of ferals. It could be heard for 12 blocks (for a net 625 block coverage), and the message for those who hear it would be written such that Bellows could be distinguished from Groans.
My thinking is that 12 blocks isn't to far to travel for many ferals, not when they know somebody (likely a member of an organized horde) thought it was worth 10 AP to let out a bellow.
Obviously, it COULD be used in less crowded buildings, but there would not be much point. Still, maybe it should require a minimum number of humans present? If so, how many?  Swiers 01:39, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I'd suggest 25 as the minimum number of humans. I'd also suggest that there only be a single button, "Groan" if the zombie only has the groaning skill, "Groan" if the zed has both this and the groaning skill and there are less than 25 humans inside, and a "Bellow" button for zeds with both skills and 25 or more humans inside. --Bob Boberton ^{TF / DW} 01:55, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

25 Minimum sounds good. Maybe it only costs 5 AP though?--Zombie Lord 05:23, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I like this one alot. 10AP seems about right. Survivors have a number of ways to spend in excess of 10AP with a single action, it would add a nice strategic balance if zombies could make similar decisions with their AP. Also I like this as an alternative to the group moan suggestion currently under voting. Great idea. --Giles Sednik ^CAPDSWA 06:10, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Awesome suggestion! --Johnny Bass 15:00, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Zombie Lord- its 10AP for several reasons. First, it has a very high potential of drawing in extra zombies beyond what feeding groan would, both due to the wider range and the distinctive sound that means a LOT of survivors are there. Second, 10 AP is really only 10-20 HP damage on a single survivor, so (especially for strike teams) letting out one Bellow in a crowded location is easily worth it compared to simply attacking. Third, by making it 10 AP, I'd hope to prevent "Bellow Spam", and reduce the server load impact; each Bellow covers 3.69 times the area of a groan, so has a similarly greater server impact / spam factor. Fourth, its simply not meant to be used in every case where it COULD be used.  Swiers 18:01, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I think 25 survivors is a bit high; there are plenty of times when your 3-4 zombie strike team crakcs open an "important" building with 15-20 survivors in it. Then again, maybe survivors do deserve to be able to cluster SOMEHWHAT. How about 20? And yeah, obviously you would still get the groan button, and would only see a "Bellow (10AP)" button when the circumstances actually allowed you to bellow. And if the circumstances changed before you hit the button (say to many survivors got killed / left the building), it would simply trigger as a normal groan.  Swiers 17:05, 19 March 2009 (UTC)