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Skill New: Zombie: Memories Of Life Tree

Death Rattle

Death-Rattle Expansion (Add Letters D & V)

Timestamp: 21:09, 27 Jan 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: A new skill to widen the zeds communication ability.

Currently:Zeds without the existing Death Rattle skill get a very limited number of prepared vocalizations. With existing Death Rattle the ability to make proto-words and custom growls is possible with the use of the letters A B G H M N R Z

Proposed:A new skill, building on the existing Death Rattle, that adds the letters D, V to the list of 'rattle-able' letters.

Effect on Zombies:A slightly wider 'alphabet' to compose spoken rattles, leading to a much wider variety of possible vocalizations. D can be easily used for, of course, D and also T. V is also good for that F sound.

Effect on Survivors:A much wider variety of things they get to hear.


  • I'm not looking for Zombies to be able to recite shakespeare, but there's only so much Banana and Hambargar and Grammaz Bra Bags you can rattle/hear before it gets quite stale.
  • The V is thematic, in that you clench your jaw, lips slightly parted, and 'V' almost forms itself.
  • The D is also thematic, because more than half of the tongue motion for 'D' is used for the N sound.
  • Another entire skill, just to travel that last bit of distance to form those letters, seems like a good bargain to me.

Another possible effect might be an increased occurence of invading zombies spending AP on yelling and screaming, instead of on attacking. But that's only because Rattle is such a fun skill to begin with.

(I felt positive that this would have been proposed before, but was quite surprised when I couldn't find it listed anywhere...)

Edit: I placed a few explanations of my thoughts on the discussion page, to address points brought up by voters.

Notes: 13/19 Keep/Total. Well accepted, however people suggested that it should just alter death rattle and not be another skill as suggested as it's only adding 2 more letters.
  • Was "Death-Rattle Expansion".
Left Queue: 10:18, 28 May 2006 (BST)

Memories of Malton (Locations Not Garbled)

Timestamp: 08:35, 4 June 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: This subskill of Death Rattle is designed to help zombies coordinate attacks in their immediate area. Before mortification the zombie was a long-time resident of Malton and knew its streets and buildings well. When they see a building they recall the name easily, activating some of their old brain functions. This allows them to clearly utters the name of a location currently on their 3x3 screen without it being garbled. So if the building to the north was "St. Geneve hospital" the zombie could say "Harmans an Geneve" or "Barhah! Geneve har harmans! Graaaaah!". These higher brain functions go dormant again once they no longer see the target and the memory of how to pronounce its name slips away. If it is not currently seen by the player the zombie cannot utter it. This would only include names. If they were in front of Combly Arms they could say Combly but not arms. If they were by St. Matthew's church they could say "Matthew" but not "St." or "Church". They would however be able to say "warehouse", "factory", or "junkyard" though since those don't have names. The secondary ability this skill would offer is to allow zombies to utter the names of all Malton's suburbs clearly. The reasoning behind that is while an individual building may be difficult to recall for a dead brain if not in plain sight an entire suburb is harder to forget.

This skill would allow zombies to have simple tactical coordination without having them go around reciting classical poetry and discussing physics.

Notes: 27/29 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is as it provides a way for Zombies to co-ordinate their attacks without resorting to meta-gaming easier.
  • Was "Memories of Malton".
Left Queue: 02:11, 30 June 2006 (BST)

Practiced Speech (Talks Normally)

Timestamp: 20:15, 21 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Death Rattle is at the moment nearly useless. This would be a skill underneath Death Rattle, where the zombie now completely remembers how to talk. Only, though, there is a 1/3 chance of failing (number can be debated). Instead the zombies would see the message "A zombie tries to speak but utters something not understandable. Edit - Instead when the zombie fails the others hear the sentence in death rattle form.
Notes: 9/13 Keep/Total. General well accepted. Some people objected to Zombies being able to use the full alphabet and suggested an extended alphabet for Zombies. Note for clarification - When the speach fails the text gets sent through the death rattle filter.
  • Was "Practiced Speech".
Left Queue: 05:46, 7 May 2006 (BST)

Feeding Groan

Call Of The Dead (+1 Groan Range)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz Canadianflag-sm.jpg 00:17, 29 October 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Feeding Groans +1 range with this skill
Description: Call Of The Dead:
  • Zombie skill, appears as a sub-skill of Feeding Groan. Adds no benefits to your human character.
  • As an additional pre-requisite, (and to limit over-use & abuse) this skill also requires your zombie to be at least level 10+ to purchase this skill.

Your zombie's feeding groans have +1 added to their range.

Simple enough, no matter how many (or how few) survivors you encounter when you make your feeding groan... it's base range is increased by 1 when you make it.

Notes: 18/20 Keep/Total (90%). Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Call Of The Dead".
Left Queue: 09:45, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Call of the Horde (Groans Link To Profiles)

Timestamp: 02:00, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: The zombie is a member of a specific horde of undead (be it Ridleybank Resistance Front, Church of the Resurrection, whatever) and calls out to them. Call of the Horde would be a subskill of Feeding Groan. When a zombie with Call of the Horde issues a groan other zombies of the same group as the groaner would see the message like so:

"You heard a groan 3w 2n." or in the case of multiple groans they'd see "...and again".

The link would lead to the groaning zombie's profile. Only zombies that list the same group as the groaner would see the link, all other zombies (and survivors that hear it) would receive the message as they do now with "groan" being ordinary text. This would allow zombies to choose groans from group members over groans from non-affiliated zombies. All groans are equally accurate in revealing the presence of survivors but this would let zombies back up group allies when faced with multiple groans to choose from.

Notes: 21/22 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Call of the Horde".
Left Queue: 06:34, 13 June 2006 (BST)

Frustrated Groan (Empty Building Groan)

Timestamp: Jon Pyre 17:18, 27 September 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Often a zombie might break into a building and find it empty, or break in and polish off the last survivor. But they might get killed and the building barricaded up before other zombies can learn that its empty. Frustrated Groan would be a subskill of Feeding Groan. It only works when you're in a building with NO survivors. It's not as loud either since this isn't an angry attack groan, but just groan of dissapointment. The range is far less than Feeding Groan. It can only be heard in the building and directly outside.It might look like this:

You heard a frustrated roar from inside the building.

This wouldn't create new spam since it'll only be heard by the zombies directly outside the building. It'll let them know that this target was cleared out and it's time to move on.

Notes: 18/18 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Frustrated Groan".
Left Queue: 22:58, 11 October 2006 (BST)

Grisly Demise (Screams Heard Outside)

Timestamp: 03:48, 31 Jan 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: It'd be fun for zombies to be able to know how they're doing during a siege. Right now they're out there banging on the barricades, maybe they're winning, maybe they're not, they really don't know. If they could be informed how many survivors were being slain inside a building the zombie is outside of it'd increase the zombie enjoyment factor many times without making them any more powerful. That's where Grisly Demise comes in: this subskill of Feeding Groan would cause the zombie to kill in a particularly horrific way, feeding on their victims while they are still alive. This causes the survivor to let out a dying scream of anguish so that players directly outside the building would get a message like this: "You heard a dying scream from inside (X times) [timestamp of most recent scream]". The scream would automatically occur when the zombie with this skill kills a survivor, the zombie would not need to spend any extra AP or perform any special action. Note that this is very different than Feeding Groan; while Feeding Groan can indicate the presence of survivors it does not let you keep a running tally of how many are being slain. Players inside the building would also be able to see screams: "You heard a dying scream from inside the building (X times) [timestamp of most recent scream]." Knowing how many of their number are being killed wouldn't provide any tactical assistance to survivors, it doesn't take a genius to notice that there's a huge horde outside and your numbers are rapidly dwindling. However it would be freaking scary to hear it: it'd mean a high level zombie that could afford the skill had broken in and slain somebody. This would provide satisfaction to zombies without making them more powerful, and make zombies scarier to humans. It's good fun for everyone.
Notes: 20/26 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is as it is a moral booster for Zombies during sieges. Some people disliked it as it is similar to feading groan, others disliked it as it appears to high on the skill tree for Zombies.
  • Was "Grisly Demise".
Left Queue: 11:45, 29 May 2006 (BST)

Inhuman Hearing (Groans Heard Indoors)

Timestamp: 23:58, 26 February 2006 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: The zombie's hearing has becoming keener, much like its sense of smell has. If a zombie with Inhuman Hearing is indoors they can still hear Feeding Groans from directly adjacent squares. There would still be a tradeoff for staying indoors as you wouldn't hear groans from far or moderate distances, but it would be a useful skill for zombies to know if the barricades directly next door were broken.
Notes: 17/18 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is, suggested to be placed under feading groan.
  • Was "Inhuman Hearing (revised)".
Left Queue: 05:10, 9 June 2006 (BST)

Moans Of the Damned (Silent To Survivors)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz Canadianflag-sm.jpg 20:34, 3 August 2006 (BST)
Type: Sub-audible feeding groans
Scope: Living survivors cannot hear your feeding groans!
Description: Moans Of The Damned

Sub-skill of feeding groan, adds no benefits to your human character.

Your zombie's feeding groans tend to be mostly on the "inaudible" frequency (just below normal human range of hearing), living human survivors cannot hear them. Animals flee from you much more quickly, especially dogs.

You have the option to make your feeding groans unable to be heard by living survivors, including bodies of survivors that have been revived.

This may cut down on "spam" and server loads (for those who use this skill) because the groan messages will not have to be relayed to the living survivors within the range.

More experienced zombies will find they are able to eat with less interruptions.

Game mechanics

  • When you choose feeding groan you have a little menu to choose from "feeding groan" for 1 AP and "moans of the damned" for 2 AP (takes more effort, and nice brittle ribs & organs) the moan is the "silent" version but there is a 25% chance that it will fail..
  • With failure, your zombie will get a message if it fails "Nearby humans stare at you, unsure if you were trying to say, or hum something to them."

Why?

It is an extension of zombie anonymity, and adds to the mystique of why the dead keep moaning. It is a "less risky" version of feeding groan, in that if successful it will only call zombies to the cause. This is a "zombie mob" skill of sorts, working as a whole to destroy the survivors.

Notes: 11/13 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Moans Of the Damned (Version 1.1)".
Left Queue: 07:55, 24 August 2006 (BST)

Trail Scent (Mutual Contacts Tracking)

Timestamp: 03:22, 12 July 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: This a skill to allow zombies to better organize. Trail Scent would be a subskill of Feeding Groan, as it is a communication skill. The zombie would have a button on their interface to begin emitting a distinct smell of rot labeled "Trail Scent". Once pressed the button would change to "End Scent", allowing the zombie to stop leaving a trail.

Trailing a scent would give other zombies increased information via Scent Death. Scent Death would in addition to its current information give directions to the largest nearby group of your mutual contacts that are both dead and trailing a scent and list their names. It would look like this:

You smell several familiar scents 2n 1e. They are Maneater, ZombieScientist, Boomstick, and Mall Masticator.

This would allow zombies to find their allies and help them horde whether in a group or not, while remaining in flavor and without providing an overpowering ability like being able to provide explicit directions. It would also increase the utility provided by Scent Death, and make it a crucial ability for ally play.

Notes: 17/18 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Trail Scent".
Left Queue: 13:48, 26 July 2006 (BST)

Mournful Moan

Timestamp: Jon Pyre 04:46, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Sometimes a lone zombie knows there are survivors in a building and wants to call over reinforcements. But if the building is not a resource building and it's kept heavily barricaded it is unlikely one zombie will ever be able to break in and use feeding groan.

A zombie bashing barricades without a horde is not feeling too good about its chances and groans quietly, much like a dog unable to get to food. If a zombie with the Feeding Groan subskill Mournful Moan spends 25AP or more in a row attacking a building's barricades it will automatically begin to moan. Unlike Feeding Groan this noise is quieter and can't be heard as easily.

Only zombies that they themselves have Mournful Moan would be able to pick up on the sound. Because the zombie has to carefully listen moans wouldn't leave messages the way groans, talking, and flares do. Instead these zombies would have a display on their interface below their attack, death rattle, and gesture buttons:

[Most Recent Moan: 3n 1w (timestamp)]

There would be no record of any moans that came before, keeping this spam free. There's also no real need to know more than the most recent one. One zombie's efforts is equally valid as the next. So the skill would only let zombies know the most recent nearby location that a zombie spent 25AP or more AP in a row attacking barricades. The range should be the same as Feeding Groan's maximum, six spaces.

Feeding Groan is ideal for helping newbies. They can't break into buildings so it tells them when there's a chance for xp. Mournful Moan would be for more advanced players. These zombies have the attack skills to take down cades and can build on the destructive work of the zombie that let out the last moan. You'd still give preference to a recent Feeding Groan since that could mean actually killing a human, but in the absence of feeding groans or if the only groans are several hours old going after the moaning might be a better bet.

Keep Votes
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Kill Votes
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Spam/Dupe Votes
Insert spam/dupe votes here


Beckoning Groan

Timestamp: Jon Pyre 01:48, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: I think zombies could use better coordination. I suggest adding a Feeding Groan subskill called Beckoning Groan. A beckoning groan is not just a simple reaction to prey like Feeding Groan, but a call made for assistance. This requires a certain amount of intelligence, hence why it should be a third-tier Memories Of Life skill.

A zombie with Beckoning Groan would have a new button on their interface: "Murmur." It would cost 1AP to press. What other zombies would see is:

[ A zombie] murmured to its fellow undead. (timestamp)

This would also replace the murmurer's button with "Call" for an hour. That zombie would then be able to walk away and press the call button wherever they choose. This would change the message the murmured at zombies would see (if they haven't gotten it yet) to:

[ A zombie] murmured to its fellow undead. You later heard it calling from 2w 1s. (timestamp)

Once you call out the button would switch back to Murmur. The range would be 6 spaces. Only zombies that were first murmured at and thus find that zombie's voice familiar would hear the call, nobody else would receive a message. It's the same reason why you can hear your name being called in a crowded restaurant but not hear someone else's. This prevents any one zombie from spamming out calls to the entire suburb but allows a zombie to say to its horde "Hey guys come meet me over here".

Notes: 13/14 keep/total (93%)
Left Queue: 01:16, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Flailing Gesture

Pounding Hands (Cade Breaks Heard)

Timestamp: Jon Pyre 06:25, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Pounding Hands would be a subskill of Flailing Gesture designed to alert nearby zombies that you've damaged barricades. This skill aims for the movie flavor of zombies loudly bashing open palmed against a barricade.

When the zombie finally breaks down the stronger part of a building's barriades it creates a loud racket that can be heard in adjacent squares. Whenever a zombie with Pounding Hands reduces a barricade from the lowest level of "quite strongly" to the highest level of "lightly" everyone outdoors in a 1-square radius would hear:

You hear a loud relentless banging 1E.

The sound would only occur when breaking it down to the highest level of lightly, not every time you break down a section. It would not cause spam. On the whole a pretty useful way of calling over allies when you just barely can't get through to make a groan.

  • Note for Clarification: I intended that this be audible inside the affected building. Just that people inside adjacent buildings would not hear it.
Notes: 20/21 Keep/Total (95%). Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Pounding Hands".
Left Queue: 10:06, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Memories Of Life

Blood Marks (Zombie Graffiti)

Timestamp: Jon Pyre 08:07, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombie
Description: This is an idea for a tagging skill for zombies. This wouldn't use spray cans obviously but blood from kills. A bloody mark would exist alongside graffiti and changing graffiti wouldn't alter a mark, and changing a mark wouldn't alter graffiti. To leave a mark you must have recently killed a survivor. After killing a survivor you would be able to leave one mark within the next ten AP you spend. This can be immediately after a kill, after moving a few spaces, after attacking something, or you can get headshot, stand up, and use one of the next four AP to leave it. If you don't leave a mark within 10AP it's assumed all the blood on your hands has dried. Likewise once you leave a mark you can't leave another until you kill again.

A mark would look like this:

A bloody handprint is on [whatever is appropriate for the location].

Zombies would be able to pick what they want the mark they leave to be from a drop down menu. Here are some suggestions but this could be expanded, changed, or shrunk at Kevan's discretion:

  • A bloody handprint
  • A splatter of gore
  • A long red streak, as if something was dragged
  • A claw mark
  • A crimson footprint
  • A single red spot

A new mark replaces an old mark, just as graffiti replaces old graffiti. Survivors would be able to wipe away marks that are indoors for 1AP, but only if a building isn't ransacked. They wouldn't be able to do anything to marks that are outdoors. Having signs of bloody death around Malton would provide horror ambiance and could also be used by zombies as signals, the same way Mrh? has come to mean "revive me". Perhaps a bloody handprint could mean "everyone dead inside", a splatter of gore could mean "powerful defense", these would take on meanings just like the beginning zombie speech options but with the advantage of staying around for a while. Maybe zombie groups in different areas could adopt a mark as their callsign and tag the buildings they massacre with them. This should be a subskill of Memories of Life.

Notes: 12/12 Keep/Total (100%). Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Blood Marks".
Left Queue: 12:55, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Blood Smearing (Zombie Graffiti)

Timestamp: 17:03, 5 June 2006 (BST)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Your zombie may expend 1 Action Point and 1 Hit Point to smear his blood on the exterior or interior walls of a building. This works like Graffiti: it replaces the last Graffiti or Blood Smear on the wall.

All survivors see: There is a smear of gore on one wall. All zombies see: A zombie has smeared blood along the wall in a message. Racking your brains, you grasp the gist of it: ‘Harman Az Harh.’ Zombies with Scent Blood additionally see: “Sniffing the blood, you recognize it was smeared by FooBarZambah.�?

The message can be of no more than 15 characters of the established Zedphalbet (r, h, g, etc.).

Notes about Blood Smearing: It’s an effective way for zombies to communicate and coordinate, something they desperately need in the current environment, but it remains within the constraints of flavor - unlike other suggestions which would produce “Zombie Shakespeare.�? On the contrary, the Blood Smear message has to be extremely short which encourages the formation of unique vocabulary (as already seen with Mrh?, Barhah! Etc.)

On the other hand there are advantages to Blood Smearing: it overwrites survivor graffiti and it is indecipherable to all survivors. Useful for tagging discovered safe houses for raids, scouting and marking a trail for a horde to follow, in fact anything a resourceful zambah can come up with.

Notes: 30/33 Keep/Total. Some voters thought the message should be longer and cost 2 or 3 AP instead of HP.
  • Was "Blood Smearing".
Left Queue: 23:50, 19 June 2006 (BST)

Defile (Zombie Graffiti)

Timestamp: 03:13, 9 Nov 2005 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: So survivors get to spray paint messages, right? What if zombies could defile buildings and places with their blood, bile, and general gore? Zombies with this skill would see a button similar to the spray painting message, but instead of spraying a message, there would be a drop-down box with Blood, Bile, Spit, and whatever else in it. When a zombie defiles an area, the area description will change akin to when a survivor spray-paints. "There is a massive amount of black, rotted blood smeared against the wall." is an example of how messages could read. Defiling would take away fluids and such from the zombie, so PERHAPS a HP cost would be in order. Something like 1 AP and 1 HP to defile any given block. This part is highly open to suggestion, though and shouldn't be considered a solid part of the concept. There could also be bonuses for defiling certain areas (like churches, maybe monuments -- and graveyards, as per voter suggestion) and there could also be a life-span for the marking. IE: The effect wouldn't be perminent, which would open a building up to being defiled again by a different zombie. Buildings already currently defiled could be immune until this time limit is up. Edits: This idea has some support behind it. I want to respect those voting in the affirmitive and make the concept better through voter suggestions. Options: For a higher AP cost there could be EXP for defiling churches and graveyards. Alternately, for a lower AP cost (of 1) there could be no EXP bonuses at all. Perhaps you could only defile areas with a CORPSE in the block, using the corpse's blood, innards, etc. - This makes sense because you cannot talk in an empty block, so not being able to defile in a block without corpses shouldn't be too far off.

Author's note: I should have said this in the first place, but I kind of picture it like this: "Someone has spraypainted Don't wear shoes today! on the wall, which is covered in putrid chunks of congealed bile." Of course replacing the message with whatever is tagged there, and the type of grossness with whatever a zombie has used to defile the area. I don't see why tagging and defiling can't live together. -- That said, ignore this note if you think they shouldn't. It's not a revision of the idea, just an add-on thought late in the game.

Notes: 17/23 Keep/Total. Suggest to place in memories of life skill tree. Comments about zombie tags being more powerful than regular tags therefore bigger HP cost or less XP bonus. Maybe require 5 HP or a corpse in the block.
  • Was "Defile".
Left Queue: 18:32, 25 Nov 2005 (GMT)

Hold the Door

Timestamp: 21:37, 9 Feb 2006 (GMT)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Note: this is not a suggestion to nerf barricades. I'm not suggesting any changes to the way survivors provide safehouses for themselves, or the way zombies break into them. I'm concerned about one thing only here:

What happens in a zombie raid once the zombies are inside.

The current strategy for humans is to re-barricade the building first, and then attack the zombies. To me, this seems out-of-step with the game's influences, and is frankly a bit cheesy. If your fortress is invaded, shouldn't you have to kill the invaders first, and then rebuild the fortress? Makes sense to me, anyway.

I think some change needs to be made that would make it more profitable for humans to go after the zombies before rebuilding the barricades.

In that vein, I am suggesting a new zombie skill: "Hold the Door." Hold the Door would be a subset of Memories of Life and could only be acquired after that skill is purchased. Here's how it works:

  1. Survivors build up a barricaded safehouse, as usual
  2. Zombies come and tear down the barricades, as usual
  3. Zombies enter, opening the door
  4. One zombie with the Hold the Door skill clicks "Hold the Door" at the cost of 1AP. The zombie is now, well, holding the door and can do nothing else until he/she clicks "Release the door" (no AP cost on that).
  5. Humans cannot shut the door, or build barricades, until the door-holding zombie releases the door or is killed. However, the door-holding zombie is now explicitly listed in the Attack pull-down menu as "zombie holding the door." So humans should lay into the guy! Bring that zombie down!

There are a couple nifty things about this:

  • New way for zombies to help each other out
  • Humans go after zombies first, instead of doing other things

Multiply it by a Billion: There's no problem with every zombie having this skill, because only one zed can ever be door-holding at any given time. Kill that zed, and it's a race between the humans and the zombies to get to the door to either shut it or hold it again. I think this would make for a lot of heart-pounding action and would be Just Plain Fun.

Notes: 33/47 Keep/Total.
  • Concern that metaphor is inappropriate for the genre. Mechanic is solid but the in-game description would need work if implemented.
  • Possible simplification: instead of making Hold the Door a skill to be purchased, prevent survivors from baracading a building from within if the number of zombies in the building is greater than or equal the number of survivors in the building. That is, you need a enough survivors to "keep the zombies busy" so the other survivors can baracade the building from within.
Left Queue: 02:49, 24 February 2006 (GMT)

Memories of Home (Bonus vs. Cades)

Timestamp: 06:16, 27 March 2006 (BST)
Type: Zombie Skill
Scope: Zombies with more than 10 zombie skills
Description: Currently zombies have a 25% (1 in 4) chance to hit against a barricade. After a zombie has achieved 10 zombie levels and has purchased "Memories of Life," it will be eligible to buy "Memories of Home" (or something along those lines). This will give zombies an increased 8% chance to hit against barricades, or 33% (1 in 3) as long as there are no survivors outside that building. This rise in percentage against barricades will not translate in a higher percentage against humans.

My thinking is that a zombie remembers that buildings tend to have more humans than people (I know you do, but go with me), therefore they are more motivated to enter a building. However, if a survivor is outside (same block as the zombie), then the zombie loses his motivation to attack the building when there is a human right there he can munch on.

Notes: 17/20 Keep/Total. Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Memories of Home".
Left Queue: 08:42, 19 June 2006 (BST)

Well-Preserved (Survivor Disguise)

Timestamp: 17:25, 8 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type: Skill
Scope: Zombies
Description: Due to a combination of modern-day preservatives, baggy clothing, and poor lighting, the zombie does not obviously appear to be a zombie at first glance, and passerbys will simply mistake it for a somewhat worse-for-wear fellow survivor. Instead of showing up as "1 zombie is here", the zombie will be displayed as a survivor (either under it's own Player name, or a randomly generated name). Only upon closer inspection (i.e. examining the Player's profile page and seeing that it's a level 15 zombie) will it's true nature be revealed.
  • Skill-wise, this means the zombie has learned to huddle in a dark corner and not look suspicious, instead of shambling around with arms straight forward mumbling "brains, brains" to himself. I see it as an extension of Memories of Life.
  • I've seen this scenario countless times in many different zombie movies, where the protagonists approach a seemingly stoned/drunk fellow, often getting close enough to tap them on the shoulder, without realizing it's actually a zombie (until it lunges at them, of course). I also think this lacks the problems of the reverse situation ("Impersonate Zombie"); i.e., it's more common to the genre than "oH, I saw it once on Shaun of the Dead!", plus survivor profiles can be checked (unlike zombie profiles) to search for fakers.
  • It also make sense gameplay-wise. If you're alone in a building with just one other person, you'd be able to go over to them and check them out to see if they're really alive. But when you're stuck in a crowded mall with 100+ people, many of them doubtlessly filthy and huddled on the floor, it seems a few discrete zombies could manage to blend in amongst them without being immedietely detected, especially if the lights are off.
  • This seems a way to balance out Caiger Mall type scenarios without giving the zombies Uber Barricade Destroying skills.
  • "But won't people in the crowd notice if one of them is running around eating people?", you ask? Yeah, well, you'd think people in a crowd would notice if one of them were running around shooting folks in the head with a shotgun, but (so far) they don't. Plus, the people being eaten would notice, which would give them a chance to warn others before they die.
Notes: 32/44 Keep/Total.
  • Spread out the survivor population, give the zombies something to do that isn't standing in the streets looking brain-dead, and you've got flavor? Holy moly, it's a perfect suggestion!
  • It should require an AP to activate - a zed shambling around the streets would look more obvious than one that appears to be sleeping in a corner...and would solve the neck-biting issue - if a zombie attacks, it goes back to looking like a zombie until it spends another AP 'hiding'.
  • This would also give zombies a way to spy without alts.
  • DISSENT: This skill basically forces the other side to do tedious boring mouse clicking. Rhialto 23:33, 8 Dec 2005 (GMT)
  • DISSENT: It's a good idea in theory, but what does it do to the server - It means that every time a player goes into a safehouse, he or she will be clicking on every one of those profiles.
  • Make this was a seperate zombie class.
  • This skill should not work inside of buildings with lights on, to make portable generators more useful.
  • How do other zombies will see the inconspicious zombie>? Will they be able to tell that the person is a zombie? If not, wouldn't it cause accidental ZKing (especially for newbies)?
  • DISSENT: Doesn't dead stuff smells? Wouldn't you smell the gore?
  • Survivors w/Diagnosis skill should be able to distinguish between badly wounded survivors and zeds and act accordingly.
  • For people who are concerned about having to check everybody in the room all the time, that won't be necessary. The hidden Zs could still only enter with the barricades down, so the room would only need to be scanned after someone announced that the barricades were down. Then (after hordes of people run away!...run away!) the person who scans the room could announce "Cleared of Zs" or "(name) is a hidden Z!". Besides, checking all survivors in the room all the time is boring, so it won't happen. But that's the point anyway; you never know if you're safe!
  • Rename to "Eau de human", which would explain why the Zs don't smell, and why they need to use 1AP every time they activate the skill (that is to say they need to apply the lotion to themselves). That's not something that requires any dexterity either, so it's consistent with Zombieness.--Al'Zataomm 05:33, 9 Dec 2005 (GMT)
  • One of the best parts of the early UD game, before all the organization of squads and teams and PK lists, was the innate paranoid fear that one of the people in your building was going to try and kill you.
  • Was "Well-Preserved".
Left Queue: 15:43, 23 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Ransack

Memories Of Hatred (See NecroTech)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz Canadianflag-sm.jpg 19:13, 19 October 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: You can recognize NT buildings & scent detect survivors carrying NT technology
Description: Memories Of Hatred

Appears on zombie skills tree as a sub-skill of Ransack, adds no benefits to your human character.

This skill is a reflection of zombie rage, and hatred of all things living.. especially NecroTech. Many zombies would be able to single out NT buildings for ransacking, and deal with those who would wish to revive them. One could consider it your zombie persona attempting to assert dominance over your human persona.

Your zombie can recognize NT buildings on your map. If your zombie also posesses at least 2 zombie scent skills: all survivors carrying at least 5 pieces of NT technology show up with a "N" next to their name.

  • Pure Zombies Can See NT Buildings: Although the use of various maps would allow for this, it would be cool for a pure zombie to be able to see NT buildings on their map normally without having to purchase any human skills to do so.
  • At Least 5 Pieces of NT Technology: The following items are considered NT Technology, so each and every one of these items in your inventory counts as 1 item towards the total: DNA Extractor, NecroTech Revification Syringe

This means carrying around 5+ revive needles for example may attract powerful zombies to kill you 1st, given a choice of targets. But it takes quite a number of them on hand for you to give off the "stink" of NecroTech.

Notes: 13/19 Keep/Total (68%). Well accepted as is.
  • Was "Memories Of Hatred (NT Only Edit)".
Left Queue: 23:46, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Rampage (+5% Bonus vs. Cades if Empty)

Timestamp: MrAushvitz Canadianflag-sm.jpg 20:58, 2 October 2006 (BST)
Type: New Zombie Skill
Scope: Easier to destroy barricades from indoors
Description: I took a day off, well rested feel like keeping it short n sweet.

Rampage:

Zombie sub-skill of Ransack, adds no benefits to your human character. As an additional pre-requisite zombie must also be level 10+ to purchase this skill.

Your zombie has a +5% bonus to hit barricades (and barricade objects) with claw attacks while indoors.

It's much easier to yank the furniture out of place from this side of the door.

Drawbacks: The only drawback to this skill is when zombies with this skill attack a barricade or object all survivors present get the message "A zombie is going on a rampage!" (which informs them you are extra-effective against their defenses. ..and again, ..and again.) This is to be fair so survivors know your zombie isn't attacking other survivors... he's trying to help more zombies get into your safehouse.

Logic: This is a sub-skill of Ransack, from the memories of life skills tree.. mindless lower level zombies wouldn't act this way, they'd go for the quick meal so that is why this skill is reserved for the zombie that has grown to the point they can act truly insane.

Notes: 13/19 Keep/Total (68%). Those against felt that it was somewhat overpowered.
  • Was "RAMPAGE".
Left Queue: 22:24, 16 October 2006 (BST)