Suggestion:20071107 Fires

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20071107 Fires

LumiReaver 15:06, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion type
New Skills, a New Item, and a Gameplay Mechanic

Suggestion scope
People/Buildings

Suggestion description
Imagine if zombies could set fire to random buildings with the fuel cans they were holding when they were alive. (Or alternatively, they could be given a search ability w/memories of life but that's not what this suggestion applies to.) Big Daddy, a zombie character from Land of the Dead once did something similar, igniting a car with a road flare after pumping it full of gasoline. This is only one lone example of zombies using tools intelligently amidst hundreds of zombie movies. But this is Urban Dead, and every zombie is controlled by an intelligent player, and it would be fun to light things on fire. Sacrificing some genre staples for some fun is okay, isn't it?

Using a fuel can a zombie could spend 10AP to set a building on fire. Survivors in a building set on fire would have lowered search rates, and every action spent inside would deal one point of damage, except talking. This means survivors could potentially wait inside till the fire dies without moving, to avoid taking damage. Every day a fire has a 60% chance remaining strong until the next day. (and a 40% chance of dieing.) A new skill tree for civilians could be added to put out fires earlier. Those make-shift firemen could put the fires out with hoses, and fire hydrants from outside the buildings. This action would automatically put out the fire. costs 7AP and earns 1XP. (For game play reasons we can assume all buildings have fire hydrants outside of them.) A fire extinguisher item could be used to attempt to put out fires for 3AP, and could double as a blunt weapon until used up after which it is thrown away. Fire extinguishers are "used up" like spray cans.

Zombies attempting to light buildings on fire without the prerequisite skill would receive flavor text detailing a failed attempt, and would light themselves on fire. The fuel can would be wasted, but no damage would be taken. Setting buildings ablaze would give the zombie 10XP. Multi-square buildings are treated individually. A mall square can be on fire while the rest of the mall is safe.

The Skills

Civilian Survivor Skills

• Fire Procedure - Fire extinguishers last longer, 1XP is gained for using a fire extinguisher to successfully put out a fire. Accuracy to put out fires is increased by 10%
  • Fire Fighting - Player can put out fires when outside a burning building at the cost of 5AP (Player earns 2XP)

Zombie Skills

• Burning Fascination Prerequisite, Memories of Life - Zombies can use fuel cans acquired as a survivor* to set buildings on fire. Setting buildings on fire earns a zombie 10XP. *Maybe the ability to search would come with Memories of Life?

Fire Extinguishers

Locations: Fire Stations (5%), Mall Hardware Stores (3%/6%), Warehouses (5%), Auto Repair Shops (1%), Junkyards (1%?)

Encumbrance: 8%

Fire extinguishers would have a 50% chance of putting out a fire until Fire Procedure is obtained. Each time an extinguisher is used it has a chance of running out, in the same way spray cans are used up. Putting out a fire with one does not yield XP until Fire Procedure is obtained. As a melee weapon a fire extinguisher has 15% accuracy, and deals 3 points of damage. Base accuracy is not effected by any skills.

This would change UD quite a bit, but please don't kill/spam for that reason. That's kind of why suggestions exist in the first place.

If I'm not clear, ask questions on the discussion page. Before you vote kill, please.

Voting Section

Voting Rules

Votes must be numbered, justified, signed, and timestamped. # justification ~~~~ Votes that do not conform to the above may be struck by any user.

The only valid votes are Keep, Kill, Spam or Dupe. If you wish to abstain from voting, do not vote.

Keep Votes

Kill Votes

1. Kill - survivors should be able to start fires as well. Why should zombies get all the fun? --Sir Bob Fortune ^{RR - FEZ - ATO} 15:09, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

   I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that if used by survivors, it'd mostly be by griefers. Then again, dedicated griefers would just jump off a building and do it anyway. Not only that, but survivors could also use fire to try and get zombies out of a building, which proves that it could be a viable survivor tool. Could I maybe amend it without people crying "Vandal!" <_< --LumiReaver 15:13, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

2. Kill - It's a nice suggestion and you've clearly put a lot of effort into it but I don't really like it. It rewards zombies for delibrately becoming survivors to gather items and is therefore not accesible to brain rotters. It also doesn't seem very useful since the fire is easy to extinguish or escape from. By the way, do zombies have to be inside to burn buildings or can the do it from outside?Studoku 15:17, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

   You got me. Zombies returning to the living just for items really, kills the mood, and theme. I got to thinking, what if the zombie end of starting fires involved smashing generators, with a prerequisite skill. Either way it looks like I'll have to pull this for revision somewhere down the line. --LumiReaver 15:24, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

3. Kill - No, sacrificing genre staples for "some fun" actually slowly turns the game from being a zombie game into a simple war between two gangs. --Pgunn 15:20, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

   I was waiting for this argument. Let's include permadeath because that's a genre steple. Screw fun. :) --LumiReaver 15:24, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

4. Kill Arson seems a bit out of genre as a zombie weapon. Also while I'm not a big booster of realism over fun, perpetually burning but persisting buildings strains belief. --Jon Pyre 15:55, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
5. Kill - as Studoku, rewarding zombies not play as zombies... --~~~~ [talk] 15:57, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
6. Kill - I tend to vote kill on anything that doesn't promote zombies going after flesh and brains. No matter how intelligent a zombie is, he has that one motivation, stronger than any other. Starting fires to kill or flush out victims just doesn't make sense - the former because they want fresh (not barbequed) meat, the latter because they just wouldn't have the patience.--Actingupagain 16:25, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
7. Kill edit conflict, saying almost the same thing. Bah! - afraid I've never been too keen on the "zombies are evolving into cleverer zombahz" thing, even (especially) when it's in films. Personal opinion, but zombahz eat people raw. They don't grill them first. Sorry! --Karloth Vois ^RR 16:26, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
8. Kill - Encourages zombies to become harman in order to get items. A better idea would have all fires be byproducts of some existing Zombie skill, for instance, Ransack. Or, even better, perhaps destroying a genny could 1/2% of the time, start a fire. --Father Monday 17:21, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Spam/Dupe Votes

1. Kill It In. . . Water?(Spam) - No Fires, when I have more time and less laziness I'll pull up a nice big list of dupes cause while I'm sure the zombie part is unique the rest assuredly isn't. --Karek^maps?! 15:17, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
2. Spam - some might accuse this of being a Dupe of the aptly named Fire!, which is smouldering gently in Peer Reviewed (having won a small vote of 8/11 back in '05). I'm spamming because you can't have only zombies able to start fires - it's just stupid. If you allowed survivors to start fires, it wouldn't make sense that zombies would want to put out fires - they'd be more interested in eating the arsonists. It's just unworkable. --Funt Solo ^QT 15:34, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
3. What the Subheader Says - How exactly, does a zombie of all things, start a fire? – Nubis ^NWO 17:24, 7 November 2007 (UTC)