Talk:Suggestions/13th-Nov-2006

Guard

Timestamp:	Jon Pyre 21:04, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
Type:	Balance change
Scope:	Survivors
Description:	The problem with PKing isn't that it exists but that it has a reduced AP cost compared to a zombie attacking someone. There are no barricades in the way. We know from one of Kevan's updates "As looter raids and sabotage attacks continue, the city's survivors are beginning to camp out in the larger, shared rooms of their safehouses." As survivors grow more suspicious and wary of quislings they've begun keeping a closer eye on each other, making an effective attack impossible unless the defenders are distracted by some external threat or calamity. Survivor on survivor attacks and sabotage would no longer be possible inside buildings unless the barricades are down, a zombie is present, or if a dead body is on the ground. All three of these situations would naturally cause panic and give a raider the opportunity they need to cause destruction and escape in the confusion. This just gets a PKer's AP cost in line with a zombies. If a zombie wants to attack a survivor they need to either break down barricades, find someone outside, or find a building another zombie broke into. This would just make PKers do the same. Heck, it'd still be a little cheaper for the PKer since they could use crowbars to their advantage when reducing barricades. This would not affect attacks made by zombies at all. From a gameplay perspective this just provides balance in the AP cost between survivors and zombies. Genre Considerations (*with spoilers!) Note that in most zombie movies rival gangs of humans must break down their rival's barricades before they can attack. Take the original Romero classic Dawn of the Dead which has an assault by motorcycle riding gang of raiders on the protagonist's mall towards the end. First they demolish the barricades the heroes set up earlier in the film and stroll through the opening. As they exchange gunfire with one of the main characters hundreds of zombies begin to stream in behind them, attacking everybody. The movie Day of the Dead also ends with a human character turning against his companions, but this time motivated by insanity instead of looting. In this instance he also turns against his companions by opening the entrance to fort they've taken shelter in. In the newer zombie movie 28 Days Later at one point the hero must infiltrate a mansion occupied by corrupt human soldiers. Before attacking he releases a zombie into their safehouse. As it runs around killing and sowing chaos he stealthily runs through, killing his distracted human enemies right and left. Bounty Hunting This would stop bounty hunters as well. However bounty hunting would no longer be necessary. Killing a PKer would have no tactical advantage since they'd be equally dangerous living or dead. And there'd still be negative consequences for angering fellow survivors...they could avoid healing or reviving you. Overall This doesn't stop PKing. But it makes the choice between being a PKer or a zombie one of roleplaying, not OOC "how many people can I kill" analysis. The person who views themself as a mindless ghoul, or an evil horde leader, or a messiah of the dead, would have their playing style equally effective against survivors as the the homicidal killer, the evil scientist, the ruthless survivalist, the cruel army captain, or even the pricipled fighter striking corrupt fellow survivors.

Discussion

If I'm going to kill you, I'll do it quietly. Not shoot the barricades and open the doors of a building I'm already in. --Karloth vois ^RR 01:05, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Same as Karloth, this really doesn't make sense.--Mr yawn 23:11, 20 November 2006 (UTC) Of course this doesn't stop Pking! It only nerfs it. There's a big difference. Of course I don't have a grudge against pkers, I just hate them. --Officer Johnieo 20:28, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

I like the general idea but this goes a little too far. Karloth is right if the PKer is using a Knife or other melee weapon however if they use shotguns it makes far less sense! I would suggest that anyone present during a PKer attack where firearms are used has the killer added to their contacts list and coloured Black (or other colour dedicated as PK signifier)this should happen pretty much all the time' say 80%? This would work better if the Knife and only the knife was to cause more damage when used on sleeping (offline) humans; perhaps 4; but reduced the chance of people noticing dramatically (given the 80% above i would say at most 20%) Death cultists would probably prefer to be seen while looters probably wouldn't and thus the tactic used would help identify the psychos from the merely evil! 20% might mean you get away with it in less crowded locations but at the mall? no chance...--Honestmistake 17:43, 29 November 2006 (UTC) ADDITIONAL. it might work better if the extra damage came from a skill (assasination?) and the chance of detection from another (vigilance?) both skills could be graded and could possibly be tiered to improve the benefits ie: basic assasin +1 knife damage, advanced +2 and expert reduce detection chance by 20%, while vigilance merely steps detection rate up in 10% notches from a lower base of 60% firearms, 15% melee.--Honestmistake 17:49, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

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Hunters Eye

Timestamp:	The Mad Axeman 10:38, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
Type:	New Skill.
Scope:	High level survivors.
Description:	Zombies form a huge, faceless mass, that makes it hard to distinguise one walking corpse from another. Often, however, the most important zombie is the one trying to eat your face. Through hard experience, some survivors have learned to judghe just how much punishment a zombie can take before going down. Hunters eye is a zombie hunter skill that requires that the survivor already has headshot. Once this skill is purchased, the hp total of the lead zombie in the stack is shown like this - "There are x zombies here (42 Hp)." It doesn't tell the survivor anything about the other zombies, nor does it give a link to their profiles.

Discussion

So it just shows the amount of hp of the zombie you'd be able to attack? Seems fair enough. --Jon Pyre 17:49, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Re - That's exactly right. It's pretty innocent really, and I'm not expecting many complaints, but I'd thought I'd put it through here anyway. Mostly what I was concerned about was the fact that it is part of the headshot tree. I wondered if people thought it might be better on its own. The Mad Axeman 10:01, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

To be honest, I would rather see this as some sort of science skill (lord knows there need to be more of them). It really makes more sense anyway that scientists (who know so much about the human body) would be able to most accurately diagnose the state of a zombie's body. --Reaper with no name ^TJ! 17:55, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

That's a fair enough idea. Regardless of where it ends up, do you think it should remain active as a zombie? The Mad Axeman 14:18, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I second making it a scientist skill, what they lack in raw firepower they could now make up with precision :D Also, I see no problem with it crossing over. --Gene Splicer 18:37, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

That seems popular then. I think I might change the name to something more scientific like Postmortem or Autopsy. The Mad Axeman 15:33, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I was thinking something along the lines to autopsy as well (or possibly dissection, but that implies more invasive procedures and therefore possibly something offensive). As for crossing over to zombies, I don't really see a problem with that (heck, diagnosis works for zombies, why wouldn't this?). --Reaper with no name ^TJ! 21:18, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Seems fair to me. Crossover also works. --Tahoe 02:39, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Crossover seems fine but a little arbitary as zeds can see and target individuals in the deli-counter that is an open room! I think it works well as a zombie hunter skill (and we do need more than 1) but does suit science as well, probably following surgery? However as a novel thought how about two seperate skills; a zed hunter one as presented and a science one that highlights the weakest zed present (not actual HP)thus giving 2 possible targets? yes this would make xp gathering easier but given you already have most skills before getting surgery it may be a moot point, again it could easily cross over. --Honestmistake 18:02, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

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