Combat Revive

“Combat revive” redirects here. For other uses, see Combat revive (disambiguation).

Introduction

Combat Revive (abbreviated "CR") refers to the tactic of using a NecroTech Revivification Syringe to neutralise a hostile zombie, rather than as a means to revive a survivor.

Combat reviving is a controversial tactic among both the survivor and zombie communities. Proponents of Combat Reviving as a legitimate tactic note that the offensive use of revivification syringes allows a survivor to neutralise any zombie without brain rot by means of a single, 100% to-hit attack that costs 10 AP. By comparison, destroying a flak-jacket wearing zombie with bodybuilding requires 12.3 AP on average (8 shotgun blasts) from a maxed combat survivor (65% to-hit) using the most powerful firearm in the game.

Even when preparation time is taken into account, the syringe remains faster than firearms. A revivification syringe takes 8 to 12 AP to locate, no AP to load, and 10 AP to use. This is less than the time required to find, load, and fire enough ammunition for a maxed survivor to put down a maxed zombie: about 16 AP of Gun Store searching and about 4 AP of reloading provides enough mixed shotgun and pistol ammo -- about 18 AP of shooting -- to kill a zombie.

On the other hand, opponents of the Combat Revive argue that the "hidden costs" of Combat Reviving outweigh the apparent benefits. These costs include the potential for a revived zombie to PK, GK, spy or engage in other destructive death culting activities. In particular, GKing is seen as an especially AP-costly potential side effect of Combat Reviving.

Many zombie players oppose Combat Reviving because of its perceived unfairness and its use as a "griefing" tool, especially when used on low-level zombies.

More detailed arguments on the pros and cons of Combat Reviving are listed below.

Pros and Cons of Combat Reviving

Combat Reviving as a Poor Use of Syringes

Although the AP cost of performing a combat revive is significantly lower than the AP cost involved in dispatching a zombie by shotgun or pistol (10 versus and average of 24 AP to kill a flak-jacketed zombie with pistols), combat revives are still unpopular with many groups and players. Many survivors believe that the "hidden costs" of combat revives considerably outweigh the benefits. Specifically:

1. The main argument against combat reviving centres around the fact that a disgruntled combat-revivee can wreak havoc in safehouses by destroying generators, de-barricading and PKing defenders. Additionally, combat revived zombies can scout out targets for their horde, and can spray-paint, shout, or broadcast propaganda or misinformation. Finally, the zombie-turned-human can learn bodybuilding and gather a flak jacket before jumping out the window. Even among zombies who typically do not engage in these sorts of behaviors, it is not uncommon for a revived zombie to thank their combat reviver with shotgun shells. (See Shoot the Messenger)
2. Syringes are the only way of recovering fallen survivors, and are better used to for this purpose than as a "weapon".
3. Any brain-rotted zombie causes the combat-reviver to waste 10 AP of action and a 20 AP syringe, destroying the efficiency of syringes as a combat tactic. (Of course, the simple 1 AP act of DNA scanning a zombie negates this.)
4. Finally, it is worth noting that killing a zombie in combat provides a player with 60-70xp, instead of the 10xp they would earn using revivification.

The Random Revive Policy encourages all survivors to make use of revive tools and revivification points, to make sure that every revive is a wanted revive.

Combat Reviving as a Wise Use of Syringes

However, a number of survivors believe that combat revives can, with preparation, be efficient. Groups such as Humanity's Saviors, COMBAT REVIVE (Group), The Big Prick, and 404: Barhah not found are notable examples. Along with the aforementioned efficiency argument, arguments presented in favor of combat revives include the following:

1. Revive points are necessary, but pointless if the people being revived have no place to sleep. Ergo, when they are revived, combat revival (either by them or by the people who revived them) will still be the most AP efficient way to find a place to sleep.
2. Brain rot is easily detectable if the stack is DNA scanned first. Zombies with potentially dangerous human skills (or the XP to buy them) can also be detected and bypassed in this manner. This creates a "precision" combat revive, rather than a random one.
3. Even if a zombie possess dangerous human skills, not all zombies are equipped to, or desire to, PK, GK, and RK. Any PKing, moreover, is an inefficient use of AP on the part of the revived zombie.
4. Any information a zombie spy could acquire is likely to be inconsequential. Predicting which buildings have concentrations of survivors, and which do not, is not difficult.
5. Shooting zombies only slows them down, but combat revives actually "kill" zombies as opposed to having them stand again and tear down the barricades.
6. The Dual Nature play style is fairly popular with feral zombies. If revived, such characters offer one more survivor to the cause, and one less zombie.
7. Maxed out characters do not care about XP, nor do many mid-level characters.

Combat Reviving in an NT Building Siege Situation as a Wise use of Syringes

Zombies have identified NT buildings in Malton as the most important resource to its survivors, and employ strategies such as the Salt The Land Policy to render them useless. To combat these tactics, the Fertilize the Land Policy encourages survivors to use combat revives in NT facilities to clear and re-take them with haste.

Proponents of the Fertilize the Land Policy do not debate the pros and cons of combat reviving as a whole. Rather, they argue that this one specific use of the "combat revive" tactic -- reviving any zombie in an NT siege situation -- should be accepted by the UD community as a whole.

Historical Controversy Over Combat Revives

Prior to March 28, 2006, revivification syringes required only 1 AP to use. This imbalance enabled a single NecroTech scientist to repel a small organized horde that had just broken into a building by repeatedly using combat revives and dumping the bodies. While the scientist shut down the invasion, other survivors could spend their efforts rebarricading the building and getting back to the business of surviving. Combat reviving was thus frowned upon by many zombies, especially career zombies who had not yet purchased brain rot, since it was a "cheap" way to (temporarily) defeat a zombie in combat. The Let the Dead be Dead Campaign was created to convey to survivors the loathing that zombies felt toward combat revives. In addition, even zombie groups that repudiated spying, GKing, and PKing by revived zombies advocated such "grey" tactics as a legitimate response for any zombie confronted with a combat revive.

Zombie hordes would attempt to foil mass combat revives by including significant numbers of brain rotters in a breaching horde. Since failing to revive a brain-rotted zombie wasted both 1 AP and an expensive syringe, zombie hordes that had a significant number of brain rotted members were able to make combat reviving uneconomical.

Now, due to the stiff 10 AP cost per syringe use, combat revives are rarely criticized anymore as a "cheap" tactic. Indeed, syringe-wielding scientists are often viewed with bemusement (and incredulity) by an invading zombie horde. Moreover, most survivors accept PKing, GKing, and spying as legitimate responses to a combat revive, and revive knowing this risk. Controversy thus centers around the extent to which hidden costs make CRing a potentially unwise tactic.

Templates

	Combat Reviver
	This user or group supports the strategy known as 'Combat Revival'.

	Anti-Combat Reviver
	This user dislikes the strategy known as 'Combat Revival'.

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