Developing Suggestions

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Developing Suggestions

This section is for general discussion of suggestions for the game Urban Dead.

It also includes the capacity to pitch suggestions for conversation and feedback.

Further Discussion

• Discussion concerning this page takes place here.
• Discussion concerning the suggestions system in general, including policies about it, takes place here.

Resources

• The Frequently Suggested List
• Suggestions Dos and Do Nots

How To Make a Discussion

Adding a New Discussion

To add a general discussion topic, please add a Tier 3 Header (===Example===) below, with your idea or proposal.

Adding a New Suggestion

• To add a new suggestion proposal, copy the code in the box below.
• Click here to begin editing. This is the same as clicking the [edit] link to the right of the Suggestions header.

• Paste the copied text above the other suggestions, right under the heading.
• Substitute the text in RED CAPITALS with the details of your suggestion.
• The process is illustrated in this image.

{{subst:DevelopingSuggestion
|time=~~~~
|name=SUGGESTION NAME
|type=TYPE HERE
|scope=SCOPE HERE
|description=DESCRIPTION HERE
}}

• Name - Give the suggestion a short but descriptive name.
• Type is the nature of the suggestion, such as a new class, skill change, balance change.
• Scope is who or what the suggestion affects. Typically survivors or zombies (or both), but occasionally Malton, the game interface or something else.
• Description should be a full explanation of your suggestion. Include information like flavor text, search odds, hit percentages, etc, as appropriate. Unless you are as yet unsure of the exact details behind the suggestion, try not to leave out anything important. Check your spelling and grammar.

Cycling Suggestions

• Suggestions with no new discussion in the past month may be cycled without notice.

Please add new discussions and suggestions to the top of the list

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Suggestions

Newbie Radio

Timestamp: A Big F'ing Dog 05:18, 13 September 2012 (BST)

Type: Item

Scope: Everyone

Description: UD is not very newbie friendly. It's hard to find steady allies, you die continuously, can barely do anything, and figuring out what to do often involves consulting an outside wiki. I suggest that all players, both survivor and zombie, start off with one radio in their inventory. This radio would come pre-tuned to one broadcast restricted channel, receiving regular messages from the outside military forces that provide tips on how to play Urban Dead. Although supposedly aimed at survivors, the broadcasts would also contain tips useful for zombie players. Example of messages: All survivors are encouraged to find a dependable melee weapon to defend themselves if necessary. Axes can be acquired in fire stations located throughout the city. Alert: Zombies often groan loudly when they encounter the living. Other zombies may hear these groans and swarm your position. Zombies cannot easily attack buildings by themselves but are very dangerous in groups. Generators can be installed and fueled in buildings to provide light. This will aid you in finding items but the light may attract the attention of zombies. Zombies can be brought back to life with syringes from any of the Necrotech buildings hidden across the city. Closing doors can stop the less intelligent zombies, but some undead are regaining memories of life and opening doors for their hordes. Only barricades can prevent those smarter zombies from entering your safehouse. Although zombies can be brought back to life our scientists report that many people seem to prefer undeath and commit suicide from tall buildings immediately after revival. A comprehensive guide to Malton has been assembled by our experts at wiki.urbandead.com. If you still have Internet access and are not being devoured alive we encourage you to use this survival resource. Existing players would be able to tune their radios to the newbie tips frequency if they want to listen. Whenever anyone switches away from the newbie tips station the game would display a special warning message: You change your radio's frequency to XX.XX. The radio begins to hiss static. To listen to more survival tips you can switch it back to XX.XX at any time. A large and rotating supply of tips could answer many of the recurring questions newbies have, without inundating them with too much information all at once.

Discussion (Newbie Radio)

Just as long as you can throw it away, it seems like a good idea.--Shortround }.{ My Contributions 11:20, 13 September 2012 (BST)

Yep, it's just a normal item. If you don't like getting messages you can drop it. --A Big F'ing Dog 14:08, 13 September 2012 (BST)

I like this suggestion, and propose the following 2 refinements:

1. Make the station the radio is tuned to a regular radio channel in the restricted band, alongside the EMRP frequency.
2. Make it a regular radio that is pre-tuned to the above frequency.

Nice one! ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 16:58, 13 September 2012 (BST)

Definitely in favor, with the adjustments listed above. Bob Moncrief ^EBD•W! 19:15, 13 September 2012 (BST)

Yes: I invited a friend to play UD sometime after I started and it was an interesting conversation topic but it frequently turned into a Q&A session. After a while I got tired of the questions I answered for myself via the wiki, and he got tired of my constant referrals to the wiki for him to do the same. My friend has since stopped playing. --Klexur 19:34, 13 September 2012 (BST)

Great ideas Revenant! I'm going to make it just a pretuned radio everyone starts off with. --A Big F'ing Dog 00:06, 14 September 2012 (BST)

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Urban Dead Classic

Timestamp: •▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ #nerftemplatedsigs 21:48, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Type: New Game Mode/New City

Scope: Urban Dead

Description: Now call me a grumpy old veteran or whatever, but I'm sure we can all agree that the best days of Urban Dead was before Cade Blocking was introduced in 2008. The classic era, 2005 through 2007, or the Golden Age of Urban Dead, if you will, were the days in which Urban Dead reached the height of it's popularity. How? Well, for one reason. Long term sieges. I wish to propose a new map (something preferably a little smaller than Malton, due to the low number of players Urban Dead currently has) to feature the classic days of Urban Dead, for any players, old or new, to re-experience the classic days of Urban Dead before Cade Blocking was introduced (as well as other old features that no longer exist, such as the Wire Cutters and wired fences).

Discussion (Urban Dead Classic)

Discuss, give ideas, etc etc! --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 21:48, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Maybe as an alternative map. Which would be unlikely to happen, unless there is cash involved to get Kevan to work. -- Spiderzed█ 22:00, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Make it extremely small so as to enable even feral zombies to realize when sieges were going on. If there are several "siege spots" (malls or the like) then there should be no spot on the whole map that a bellow centred on one won't reach. I could see this being interesting but I'd suggest removing headshot from the skills available to players on that map to balance out the loss of interference; that or allowing brain rot to straight up never allow revives. 22:02, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Aye. I agree with you here. The survivors need to lose something dear themselves in this Classic Mode, since zombies will be losing something dear themselves. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 22:10, 10 September 2012 (BST)

This. Make the whole map like 9 suburbs with 1 mall in them, maybe 5 NTs. Something easy with just a few simple siege points on it.--Shortround }.{ My Contributions 22:12, 10 September 2012 (BST)

As for size, I'm wondering if perhaps 7x7 suburbs; possibly even making those 7x7 blocks too; might work. That's 49 blocks each way; a day's AP to get from one end to the other and it would mean you could place 10 or maybe even less hotspots in the map, they'd all be easy enough to place within radio and bellow range so that each one is within range of at least one other. Construct them as hybrid multi-block buildings (say 2x2, one corner is a hospital, one an NT, one a cop shop and one plain but tall) and you assure that survivors will stay there, making them perfect targets. Obviously you'll want there to be some items unavailable there so as to create a tension between leaving and staying; perhaps generators and/or fuel are only available in other locations. Strip down the other building types somewhat and you should have a map that enables this style of play while supporting it just enough without forcing it (obviously surviving is easier for those who avoid the obvious places but then they also miss out on the sieges). Might also be an idea to dispense with all of the dark building types; given the fact that bounty hunting will be a thankless and probably incredibly rare task it makes sense to remove a resource which combats it. 22:18, 10 September 2012 (BST)

I'm thinking Newspapers should be located in Hospitals again. You couldn't spend a day searching a hospital back then without finding four or five newspapers for every FAK you find. As for the size, I was thinking a 5x5 suburb area, which would make this classic city 1/4 the size of Malton. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 22:21, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Yeah, 5x5 suburbs of 10x10 blocks (2500 blocks) is about the same as 7x7 of 7x7 blocks (2401); but it loses the idea of squares inside squares which makes things easier to work with. 22:25, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Kevan has stated on his talk page before that the maps are randomly generated (apart with some minor manual tinkering). So I don't think we have much a choice where the buildings are placed... --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 22:29, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Given the greatly reduced size I think it's conceivable that if the impossible happens and Kevan does anything at all; that he could manually overlay a few specific buildings over an otherwise-random map. 22:33, 10 September 2012 (BST)

I've thought that rather than a smaller map, just quarantine some (20-40) of the suburbs to make a maze like area. This would still allow alts, since most of UD is single players with alts. I've never experienced a lack of cade blocking, so I don't really know what that's like. But rather than compensate for stupid survivors by changing mechanics how about the previous suggestion of Spidey: that HP is dropped to 25/30. Makes it easier to clear buildings of zombies and easier to kill survivors, so more fun for everyone. Drop needle cost to 5 AP. Sorry, I've never played UD when it wasn't just assholes, morons and moronic assholes so this idea of fun is foreign to me. -- _{Org XIII} ^Alts 22:43, 10 September 2012 (BST)

And that's what this suggestion will give you a chance to do. Experience Urban Dead when it was in its prime. ;) --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 22:50, 10 September 2012 (BST)

So...Here's what I've got for the full suggestion so far:

• New map of 5x5 suburb area, each suburb are 10x10 blocks.

• It means this will be an entirely new city, so anyone looking to play in this UD Classic map has to create a new character in this map.
• Cade Blocking will not exist in UD Classic.

• Number of TRPs:

• Malls x1.5-2
• Fort x1
• NTs x5-10
• PDs x5-10
• Hospitals x5-10

• Reintroduction of old items and mechanics.

• This includes the reintroduction of Newspapers in hospitals.
• This also includes wirecutters and the reintroduction of wired fences and padlocks, just like when Urban Dead first began.

• Weakened Headshot.

• In this new city, since zombies are losing something dear (the cade blocking), it's only fair that survivors lose something as well. A weakened Headshot seems to be the best way to go without pissing off a lot of people. In this version of UD Classic, instead of Headshots forcing an addition 5AP to stand up, it will do a lot less (probably 1-3).

That's all I've got so far. Anything else? --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 00:42, 11 September 2012 (BST)

So the best days of UD were before zombies could actually compete against barricades? --Karek^{maps 2.0?!} 10:07, 11 September 2012 (BST)

The best days of Urban Dead were before there were zombies. DUH! ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 14:25, 11 September 2012 (BST)

2008 was when the number of players first started declining. What occurred in early 2008? The introduction of cade blocking. What were the main source of action that almost everyone participated in before 2008? Sieges. What did 2008 kill? Sieges. Also, if you look into it, 2005-2007? Neither side ever really dipped below 40% of the population for a year at a time. So when were the best days of Urban Dead, when the population was actually in a constant back-and-forth? 2005-2007. If you think about it, this suggestion is really a battle between old school and new school. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 18:31, 11 September 2012 (BST)

While I'd think there were a number of factors that was certainly the big one if you ask me. A ZOMBIE ANT 23:07, 11 September 2012 (BST)

Your time frame is a bit off. The first big decline was in the end of 2006 and then mid way through 2007(post yahoomas) a descent started that continued until today with only one really noteworthy bump(SA) since. SA's bump was because they wanted to cause havoc because zombies finally had something that worked with large hordes(ransack maintenance). 2006 and 2007s declines were because the game was balanced in a way that made it boringly stupid simple for survivors and just frustrating for zombies. So yes, barricade blocking had an effect on survivor numbers because the players left were the ones who WANTED an easy no effort game, the zombie player base was already thoroughly decimated and well on it's downward spiral. The games numbers track this quite blatantly. --Karek^{maps 2.0?!} 04:27, 12 September 2012 (BST)

The barricade blocking shifted some of the barricade frustration on the part of zombies to the survivors, while not really alleviating much of the frustration for zombies. Barricades are not really a fun mechanic. If it's not fun people won't play. --  AHLGTG THE END IS NIGH! 04:42, 12 September 2012 (BST)

Meh. —Aichon— 19:21, 11 September 2012 (BST)

I agree with the basic premise, that smaller is better, but beyond that I'm not sure we'll ever get consensus. Still want a pre ruined permadeath city --I'm not the Ross UDWiki needs, I'm the Ross it deserves. 20:34, 11 September 2012 (BST)

I think a no-Construction/no-NT/no-interference city would be interesting. It'd obviously have a time limit on it, with the situation growing more and more dire as the game progressed. Have it set to repeat automatically once the survivor population dropped below a certain amount, which would thus encourage a big siege finish, as opposed to a slow game of fox and hound. More or less, make it a true MMO version of Kevan's Zombie Simulator, where we already know the outcome and it's just a matter of how long (oh, and it needs to not suck, unlike Q2019). —Aichon— 21:05, 11 September 2012 (BST)

Sometimes you read my mind. Certain "victory" conditions may be nice. All NT's ruined, certain survivor/zombie ratio etc. --I'm not the Ross UDWiki needs, I'm the Ross it deserves. 21:09, 11 September 2012 (BST)

Quarantine allegedly does some of this stuff. If only it weren't utter shite! (Appropriately named, too.) ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 04:46, 12 September 2012 (BST)

I'd like to play an original version of UD (prior to any suggestions being implemented). -- →Son of Sin← 22:12, 11 September 2012 (BST)

For me, the saddest thing about Monroeville was that there were no fences, padlocks, or wirecutters. ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 04:46, 12 September 2012 (BST)

I find it interesting that despite what appears to be severe issues with game mechanics and the lack of additions, the game has taken a very long and drawn-out decline over the years, not a sudden expulsion of people. I'd offer something to the discussion if I didn't think it would be futile (from Kevan's end). --  AHLGTG THE END IS NIGH! 04:42, 12 September 2012 (BST)

I sort of suspect that when players declined, zerging began to increase dramatically to counter the pop loss. I wouldn't be surprised if the zerging population were 50% or higher at this point. Because of this perhaps the slow decline is just an illusion giving the appearance of a drawn-out decline. The only other explanation for our weirdly high number of level 1's might be if Kevan had implemented some sort of automatic random character creation.--Alice Gravesend 05:52, 13 September 2012 (BST)

One fact we're not considering in the population decline is that Urban Dead is old technology. It might not be anything the game did wrong other than exist for a long time. Back in 2005 there were a lot fewer and lower quality options when it came to browser MMOs and free games in general. Now people can play Realm of the Mad God and get fast paced action in their browser. Or just load Steam and play TF2 for free. Or play a zombie themed MMO on their iPhone. I love UD but we have to be realistic that as the game gets older and new game options arrive we're just going to get fewer people just from increased competition. So I don't think interference is to blame for the player decline (in fact I think it's a pretty good mechanic), I think the decline is just the result of the passage of time. And if existing players want action packed sieges they don't need a new city for it, instead we just need to agree to fight for the same places. Something similar is going on at Caiger right now, as survivors and zombies trade the mall back and forth, even though there are plenty of other less contested malls either side could easily claim instead. To keep and grow the population I think we should instead find ways of improving the late game and early game experience. We need to make it less boring once you have all the skills, and more inviting when you have none. --A Big F'ing Dog 04:51, 13 September 2012 (BST)

That's not a siege. That's just a constant changing of hands. You want a siege? Take a look at the Battle of Blackmore. Now that is a siege. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 22:19, 13 September 2012 (BST)

Yeah, the Caiger stuff right now is boring and frustrating. It's a bunch of feral players on both sides taking the mall for themselves. Whenever an organized group sends in just a few members to take it, it can be easily retaken and held (I would know: the SoC did that a few times recently, as have some zombie groups that passed through). That doesn't make it a siege. That said, I agree with your premise that we need to pick a place to fight. Interference itself isn't so much of a problem as the River Tactics that it forced the survivors to adopt. As a result, I think we need to get together a group of suckers volunteers if we're to have any hope of having a real siege again. —Aichon— 22:46, 13 September 2012 (BST)

River tactics predated interference by two+ years. Pretty much since Caiger survivors have had it in their head that they can't defend malls(even before that they used to rant about groan and gesture, oh the rants about gesture). River tactics are "My group survived so victory" when what survivors should have been doing is what they did pre-caiger "the area is livable so victory". It's a misunderstanding a lot of groups have historically had about the purpose survivors groups should be serving since about the era they stopped having supermall defenses that made it stupid easy to play smart to the point that you almost didn't have the choice not to. --Karek^{maps 2.0?!} 03:09, 15 September 2012 (BST)

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Buff the Starting Classes

Standard Zombie 09:27, 10 September 2012 (BST)

Type: Skills

Scope: Starting classes

Description Let's face it: Urban Dead is dieing. The number of active players has been going down and down over time. As Yahoomas showed, most players that join the game don't stay. They go out, find they can't really do anything, write the game off as boring, and don't come back. I've seen it first hand in friends who decided to play the game. So, I suggest significantly buffing the starting classes. Almost every player in Malton is expected to eventually get every survivor and zombie skill (with the exception of Brain Rot) anyway, its not like there are unique skill trees to worry about. Doing this, I believe, is the only way to rescue Urban Dead from decaying. It would also make the game much, much more fun for new players. I suggest, instead of level 1, players start at level 5. Military and police classes start with a flak jacket. Medics and Doctors start with a nearly full inventory of first aid kits. Starting zombies begin with the entire Vigor Mortis skill tree (but not survivors who have died). Vote yes on this, and let's hope Kevan does it, or else this game will go the way of so many others that have simply died because their player base eroded. Discussion (Buff the Starting Classes) I'm definitely against giving them consumable items, since that's the sort of thing that would make zerging way more powerful. Create 100 accounts, have 1000 FAKs, or syringes, or pistol shots, or whatever else immediately at your disposal. Anyway, I could agree with certain skills being things that everyone has. Memories of Life or Free Running, for instance, since those are so pivotal in being able to do the most basic things on their respective sides. I wouldn't do flak jackets or Body Building, since getting together your basic inventory is kinda like a rite of passage for newbie players who are figuring out the game, but I would be up for some of the other stuff, such as increased % to hit and the like. —Aichon— 16:05, 10 September 2012 (BST) Giving each of the starting classes an additional few skills based on the class (perhaps expanding zombies out to have a few starting classes too) might be better. If a good number of starting skills was agreed on (three? five?) we could work up a list of classes and starting skills and let Kevan ignore it forever because he's probably dead. 16:17, 10 September 2012 (BST) Think about this for a second. A level 5 zombie would have, vigor, lurching gait, memories of life, death grip and rend flesh. Thats basically a fully effective zombie, immediately. Likewise, a survivor with freerunning and construction is already a very effective individual. Of course, I'm more than willing to give all newb players scout safehouse, tagging, shopping and knife combat. --I'm not the Ross UDWiki needs, I'm the Ross it deserves. 16:40, 10 September 2012 (BST) Yes & No. Yes, give new players/characters starting skills and starter kits. No, new players/characters will be abandoned as usual (waste of development). -- →Son of Sin← 22:12, 11 September 2012 (BST) No. Zergs. ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 04:49, 12 September 2012 (BST) Everything benefits zergs though. At the very least I'd argue for giving everyone ankle grab for free (but take 100xp off everyone who has a couple of harman skills already and still hasn't bought it. Fuck those guys). 04:52, 12 September 2012 (BST) Revenant, you wanna pull a RuneScape where people are so worried about abuse they destroy their own game? Urban Dead is dieing, and this is why. New players do not stay, because being a new player is absolutely awful. It takes weeks (if you're lucky) to be able to do anything at all. If we use your logic, at least you'll get your goal: zergs won't be a problem because there won't be any players for them to zerg against. Standard Zombie 02:20, 13 September 2012 (BST) Zerging is already bad enough. Have you seen the stats page? Something like 2,500 level 1's at any given time. Pretty high for a game that is dying. All this would do is strengthen all those zergs. --Alice Gravesend 04:29, 13 September 2012 (BST) We'll always have zerging, since Kevan's counter-measures are pretty limited and thus nobody really stops them... This could however, encourage new players to stay, since the reverse learning curve of UD really puts off a lot of new players. PB&J 15:05, 13 September 2012 (BST) Simply put, five levels is ridiculous. In all honesty, a few smaller updates, I have no issue with. In all honesty, lets make Rage available in Malton. --I'm not the Ross UDWiki needs, I'm the Ross it deserves. 19:26, 13 September 2012 (BST) What's your actual reasoning? Why is it ridiculous? It would get players to stay. They're going to get those skills anyway, the game is built so that that happens. There is no reason for it to be so difficult, and make the game so monotonous and boring for new players. Standard Zombie 22:16, 14 September 2012 (BST) Mark Lair Timestamp: A Big F'ing Dog 22:48, 25 August 2012 (BST) Type: Skills Scope: Zombies Description: Mobile phones and radios allow survivors to arrange to meet from anywhere in the map. Zombies should also have a way of finding specific contacts. I suggest a new skill: Mark Lair. Mark Lair would give zombies two new powers. The first is the power to mark a lair for 1AP by spreading your blood and ichor around the room. This power can be used inside any ruined building. You can only have one lair designated at a time, and marking another ruined building as your lair erases your link to the first one. Your link is also broken if the ruined building is repaired. The second power is the ability to "Scent Lair" any of your contacts for 1AP. Using this power provides directions to their lair (even if they aren't there anymore). If they don't have a lair, or their last selected lair was repaired, you'll get a message informing you that you can't detect any lair for them. This would allow zombies to use ruined buildings to summon allies from anywhere in Malton. Discussion (Mark Lair) The meta-gaming communications (DSS SatPhone, forums, irc, etc) ruins the need for this. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ #nerftemplatedsigs 23:23, 25 August 2012 (BST) I don't think out of game options should preclude in-game features. And even if you do use something like SatPhone, it's not necessarily available on every computer you play Urban Dead on (for example, playing UD on a school/work/friend computer or using a mobile browser). And for roleplaying reasons, someone might not want to ruin immersion by going to an outside forum. I have nothing against metagaming, but I think it shouldn't be mandatory if you want to find friends. Also, this would allow you to track down any of your contacts. Communicating out of game requires knowing their SatPhone number or knowing which forums they frequent (if they're even on a UD forum). All those practical problems aside, one of the reasons there are so few zombies is that it's hard to be a casual zombie player. You need to organize out of game to be effective, which means that players who only play briefly and casually won't find that side as attractive. There should be better communication for casual players who just spend their 50AP and they're done for the day. --A Big F'ing Dog 01:12, 26 August 2012 (BST) That's not true. I ran a zombie alt before and I played solo. No groups. It's very simple playing a casual zombie. Just follow the latest groan. That's really all you need to do if you run solo. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ #nerftemplatedsigs 01:25, 26 August 2012 (BST) I just don't see this ever being used. Why would zombies need a building to gather in? This might be useful for helping mark NecroTech buldings for other zombies to occupy, but there's already a skill that allows them to do that. Standard Zombie 09:30, 10 September 2012 (BST) Suggestions up for voting The following are suggestions that were developed here but have since gone to voting. The discussions that were taking place here have been moved to the pages linked below. There are currently no suggestions up for voting.