Talk:Zombie skills

The Corpse Class's Starting Skill

When you go to the page where you make a new character in UD, it says that the Corpse's starting skill is Rigor mortis. However, this wiki says that its starting skill is Vigour Mortis. Is Rigor Mortis some kind of new skill separate from Vigour Mortis, or is it just a simple error? Cyrus Hanley 15:00, 25 July 2008 (BST)

Just like with the other classes, it's not mentioning any skill in the text. It's referring to this. --Midianian^{|T|T:S|C:RCS|} 15:30, 25 July 2008 (BST)

Oh, I see. Thank you. -- Cyrus Hanley 23:26, 25 July 2008 (BST)

Zombie XP

the section "Strategy Considerations" says the following: "The only ways a Zombie can earn XP to purchase skills are to attack others or destroy barricades. Strategic consideration thus focuses on dealing the greatest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time." however this is no longer true, as zombies can earn XP from ransack and destroying generators and radios. I felt like just changing it, but i thought i should post here first. maggotbuffet 3:33, 3 March 2007 (EST)

Misc?

Not sure where to put this because I don't know what skill is doing it, I presume it's part of the recent zombie changes, but my character (who is currently alive) thinks that revivified bodies smell strange. Is this an example of a zombie skill functioning when alive again? Elliothatman 11:27, 20 June 2006 (BST)

The skill is scent death. I didn't know it works for both. Might be a bug, as I would think that most bodies smell "strange" for humans. Of course only Kevan can answer on how he meant it to be. --Brizth ^{mod T W!} 11:39, 20 June 2006 (BST)

I don't think it was a bug, I've seen it since (still as a survivor), where I've been in a room with two corpses, one of which was already there and one of which I just revivified, and the message was along the lines of "There are two bodies here. One of them smells strange" Elliothatman 21:34, 29 June 2006 (BST)

out of date info

I noticed there are a lot of out-of-date things in this page. Hows about deleting a few of the older stuff? For example, I quote '::The recent addition of Ankle Grab may be accesible to a revived zombie. Has anyone tested this? --Raelin 20:05, 29 Sep 2005 (BST)' This would help un-clutter this page -- Andrew McM 18:11, 22 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Additional wiki pages for individual zombie skills

Click here to suggest a new Zombie Skill or alteration to an existing Skill

Should there be wiki entries for the individual skills? Obviously their functions are covered on the zombie skills page, but some history or other information might be nice. MoL and Lurching Gait definitely deserve note: originally, zombies moved at normal speed, and doors couldn't be closed. --Milo 23:48, 8 Sep 2005 (BST)

Absolutely! Scroll down to see the questions being asked. It's a crime there isn't more documentation of Feeding Groan and Scent Trail; understanding how these work is crucial to survivor strategy. (Jibbajabba 08:23, 29 May 2006 (BST))

As long as there is something to add that would clutter this page up, (e.g. a full article like the one on the Brain Rot skill), I don't see why the skill shouldn't have it's own page. –Xoid ^S•T•FU! 09:15, 29 May 2006 (BST)

Back when we were fiddling around with Ransack I was surprised that Zombie Skill pages were simply redirects as opposed to full-fledged pages. I'd say go ahead and do it. – Nubis ^NWO 20:31, 30 May 2006 (BST)

Zombie Skills, Do they cross Over?

Question: The FAQ states that after being revived, "virtually all zombie skills become dormant, only being activated when the player dies again." Don't they all become dormant? Scent Fear and Scent Blood do not carry over. Hand and claw attacks are inaccessible, meaning Digestion and the Vigour Mortis tree are as well. Humans can already open doors, speak and run, so that rules out the Memories of Life tree and Lurching Gait unless you want to be super-technical that, yes, a former zombie with Lurching Gait can move 1 block per AP. You can't revive a zombie with Brain Rot. That only leaves Scent Trail, of which I am not 100% sure, but I don't think my revived zombie has ever received its benefits. --dayfat 13:42, 24 Sep 2005 (BST)

I'd like to second that. As far as I know, they don't carry over. I have virtually every zombie skill bar Brain Rot and Infectious Bite because that's what I started as (a zombie), have been Civilian for quite some time now, and there seems to be no evidence of any zombie skill carrying over that I can see. Am willing to be proven wrong, though. And I have no data on Infectious Bite, though alone from IC standpoints, it would make no sense to carry over, even *if* humans could bite... so I think that speaks for itself. pinkgothic 04:40, 25 Sep 2005 (BST)

The recent addition of Ankle Grab may be accesible to a revived zombie. Has anyone tested this? --Raelin 20:05, 29 Sep 2005 (BST)

Nope. I bought it right after it debuted and was almost immediately revived. Took me 10 AP to stand up as a human. Got killed today, and it took me 10 AP to stand up as a zombie. I'm not entirely certain that I've ever actually Ankle Grabbed yet. --Stankow 20:17, 3 Oct 2005 (BST)

I have used ankle grab as a zombie and as a human and it works for BOTH. I was revivified and I had 10 AP so I stood up (it only used 1) walked to a nearby building, threw myself out a window and died and then stood up with 2 AP to spare. --Stygian Inquirer 00:37, 10 Oct 2005 (BST)

This is a recent change. Ankle Grab originally only worked when you were a zombie at the time you were killed. Kevan has changed it to work all the time now. He discusses it on the Known Bugs entry. -Chester Katz 04:20, 11 Oct 2005 (BST)

Can anyone confirm that Scent Fear does not work for humans? I'm thinking about purchasing Diagnosis as the next skill for my human Military character, but since I'm dead right now, couldn't I save 50XP by just buying Scent Fear instead? --Wildfire 16:33, 21 March 2006 (GMT)

The new Scent Death skill seems to allow survivors to recognize reviving bodies from a pile of dead bodies. Not incredibly useful, but it is a zombie skill that carried over somewhat. Bearda 21:40, 13 June 2006 (BST)

Infectious Bite

Tactical Use of Infection

I'm wondering whether there may be scope for an effective tactic for high level zombies which focuses on infection rather than outright killing. I have in mind a policy where survivors are infected as soon as possible and then taken down to very low HP and then left to die through infection or to be killed by other low level zombies. I am wondering if this may have a number of useful effects:

• low level zombies benefit from the XP bump and level up faster (high levels do not need the XP)
• infected survivors who are not cured must remain inactive or die (the effect of this is to selectively neutralise career survivors until they are healed)
• infected survivors are only able call out for help (increases paranoia and encourages AP wastage)
• wider infection rates in zombies increases the likelihood that a revived survivor will be infected (it is the gift that keeps on giving)
• wider infection rates in zombies increase AP cost of revives (because heals must also be used)
• leaving survivors barely alive encourages survivors to heal each other rather than revive zombies (reviving is the only tactic which can decrease zombie numbers)
• it is demoralising to die from infection

Comments?

- Fuster 21:32, 8 August 2007 (BST)

Infection lasts even after revive???

This is a question based on advice/comments from various users. Why does a zombie bite last even AFTER you've been revived? Shouldn't it wear off after you initially die and become a zombie? Doesn't make much sense. Mordac the Refuser 16:15, 11 May 2007 (BST)

Bite should cripple but not kill

• Edit: Actually, I take this all back* Mordac the Refuser 16:16, 11 May 2007 (BST)

I think an infectious bite should leave a survivor with one HP point left. That way the survivor with low hp points, no FAKs, and no medics nearby could still be able to move around and search areas - thus giving them a better chance of survival. This would be not be unfair for Zombies because a 1 HP survivor is pretty much a free meal - in fact, lone Zombies looking for easy kills would certainly benefit as there would be more easy prey out there to hunt. The current system forces infected survivors with one HP left to remain isolated and wait for help - which may never come. If they do anything - even search the area - they die. The infectious bite should instead be something like the Zerg Defiler's plague spores from Starcraft. It doesn't kill the victim, but it turns them into one-hit kills for roaming zombies. Mordac the Refuser 00:12, 11 May 2007 (BST)

APs and Infections

Which actions do and which actions don't cause the loss of HP with infections? I know that reloading doesn't cause the loss while moving, entering buildings(I think), attacking and searching all do. I wonder if any other items cause the loss, and if so which ones. If a list doesn't already exist then I think that one should be made. Xensyria 11:38, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

infectious bite being used by zombie spies

I just witnessed zombies using infectus bite in combination with ankle grab to kill players. It's quite simple. They get bitten, they enter a building, do some damage with a shot gun, die from infection, get back up, and continue attacking. It tottaly sucks. :( -lostfile 15:56, 30 Sep 2005 (BST)

That's pretty impressive. I wouldn't have thought of that. But is it illegal? And can it be fixed easily? --Radoteur 08:06, 1 Oct 2005 (BST)

curing infectious bite

How is someone cured from an infectious bite? Haven't seen this anywhere. -Dreadnaught, Councillor 21:53, 24 Sep 2005 (BST)

I just used a first-aid kit on a survivor, and received the message "You restore 10HP to Someone and cure their infection." Sadly, I got that the second time I healed them too, which was just 2 seconds later. I call Minor Bug! --22:20, 24 Sep 2005 (BST)

So a doctor can heal it the infection. Can someone without First Aid deal with this? Is there a 100% chance of healing when using a first aid kit? --John 18:46, 25 Sep 2005 (BST)

It seems to be 100% (or I've been lucky so far), and First Aid is not needed. For the time being I'd say that is plenty enough. Let's see how it balances out before making it even more of a problem.JanneM 14:57, 29 Sep 2005 (BST)

Oh, I certainly wasn't trying to suggest anything. My questions really were intended as information-gathering questions, not statements or opinions in disguise! That said, obviously wait-and-see is ok here. It didn't break the game right away. =-) --John 19:55, 29 Sep 2005 (BST)

A minor bugfix has been applied. --Kevan 22:53, 24 Sep 2005 (BST)

Can everyone heal someone with an infection or just doctors and medics? It would seem that the first-aid skill would become more valuable if only people with first-aid could heal the infection. Other people would just stem the effect, but you'd need someone with first-aid training to properly heal the patient. For in-game rationale, you could say that the virus has mutated to a point where it is resistant to most treatment and all but the properly trained could take care of it.--FngKestrel 04:56, 27 Sep 2005 (BST)

xp, for zombies by infection?

Question: when a survivor is dealt damage by an infection caused by infectious bite, dose the original zombie, who bit them, gain xp equal to the damage dealt?

Also, could someone post a log of the exp? I'm a bit curious how it shows up. --Radoteur 08:04, 1 Oct 2005 (BST)

According to this thread in the forum, no XP is gained from damage done to survivors via infection. --Raelin 05:27, 2 Oct 2005 (BST)

Ankle Grab

This definitely is a much needed skill. However, the name seems like a misnomer. When I read Ankle Grab, I assumed it was a way to slow down humans. Now it sounds like the zombie is grabbing his own ankles to stand up...or some other equally contorted movement. Can someone clarify why the skill is named ankle grab?--FngKestrel 22:37, 29 Sep 2005 (BST)

I believe it's from the horror movie trope of hands reasching out from the grave to grab the ankles of passers-by. With only one AP, you can rise suddenly, with a lot of AP left and surprise characters in the same area. --JanneM 23:34, 29 Sep 2005 (BST)

Yes, it's a reference to the typical cinematic significance of the move (that being the sudden grapple), rather than it's actual function. I mean, making up a name for it would be quite hard, and that's a fairly good one for the "sudden ressurection" effect. --Elijah 18:54, 16 Oct 2005 (BST)

Perhaps it's meant to convey the sense of a downed zombie dragging himself along, clutching at your ankles. -Chester Katz 00:39, 30 Sep 2005 (BST)

If that were the case, shouldn't it only be useable if there's another person in the square? Not that the zombies need it anymore difficult, but for consistency and in-game realism.--FngKestrel 06:16, 30 Sep 2005 (BST)

Well, in most cases there is somebody else in the square with you at the time you are killed -- the person who just killed you. Noteable exceptions are death by Infectious Bite or jumping from a window. Maybe we could consider the "grab" to have taken effect at the time your assailant killed you rather than at the time you actually stand up? -Chester Katz 16:18, 30 Sep 2005 (BST)

I have to agree, To me Ankle Grab implies grabbing or grappling. Like a zombie that attacks automaticaly, of if human passes by the zombie may drag them back. Or if a human tries to run the zombie will be draged along. I would have given Ankle Grab a diffrent name. Like "Waking Dead" , "Thriller", or maybe "Resiliences"

I posted this in Talk:Suggestions a while back: Agreed. Ankle Grab sounds like a zombie attack of some sort. In fact, I thought it was a new zombie attack until I looked it up on this wiki. Think we could come up with a better name? Some quick lame names from the thesaurus: Rebound, Bestir, Rouse. Maybe a Fast adjective in front of that. Like: Quick Rouse. --Radoteur 21:28, 29 Sep 2005 (BST) --Radoteur 06:43, 1 Oct 2005 (BST)

I also posted over at Talk:Suggestions, where I proposed the term Rubber Soul. --Stuckinkiel 16:17, 4 Oct 2005 (BST)

I thought ankle grab was gonna be something cool like youre a dead body but you can grab a humans ankle and surprise attack him but when you use it you stand up --MrShotgun 06:49, 1 Oct 2005 (BST)

Scent Trail

How exactly does "sensing new positions of survivors" work? Does the zombie, for example, receive a description of how many blocks in each direction the survivor's at? (I need to decide whether to invest in the Scent tree now or later, for my already-has-Diagnosis character). --LouisB3 20:41, 7 Nov 2005 (GMT)

I've recently figured out how this skill works. When a character takes an certain action against you, you'll read a message after said action that reads in a similar fashion towards flares that shows where they now are. Example: "MorthBabid extracted a DNA sample from you. (Time of action) (Now X east/west, X north/south.)" Not bad if you're out for revenge, or just are trying to sniff out safehouses. The problem is you have to write it down, as there is no listing of these scents for a long time. MorthBabid 02:14, 17 Nov 2005 (GMT)

Do you have scent trail information if you die in between the interaction and when you log back in? --Dan 16:55, 5 May 2006 (BST)

If you die after the interaction, all trails will be "Scent Lost." – Nubis ^NWO 16:56, 5 May 2006 (BST)

Is there any information on how Scent Trails really works? Like when exacly does the zombie lose the trail? Is it just how far away the survivor is? Anyone? --Brizth 15:15, 13 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Does a zed still get to scent trail if all attacks against it were misses?--Blasterfire 02:32, 5 August 2008 (BST)

You only lose Scent Trails when you are killed, if you don't have to ?rise you should be able to see scent information if you can normally see the user's profile link(I think talking is the exception).--Karek^maps?! 03:59, 5 August 2008 (BST)

Feeding Groan

I seem to remember getting several different messages from groaning, but I can't remember the first couple I had. If you get something different to the two I have here, please put them up. --Daxx 11:30, 24 Dec 2005 (GMT)

A low groaning means few survivors present for the groan; a loud groan means many survivors. Not sure on the numbers yet - people should start recording the numbers that they get. AFAIK, "You hear a groaning from somewhere nearby" means that a zombie groaned in the same city block as you. -Gtrmp 06:15, 28 Dec 2005 (GMT)

I got "low moan" with 3 survivors present a few days ago, but I don't want to edit because I think Kevan might be tweaking it. I better start testing this. Slicer 03:24, 2 Jan 2006 (GMT)

(Rephrasing of Night Haunter's note on article page) Feeding groan may also be indirectly responsible for the new "... and again" mode of displaying repeated events, as per the suggestion "take spam out of feeding groan". - Dashiva 16:45, 6 Feb 2006 (GMT)

I don't see any information on the range at which various groans can be heard. Do they all travel 6 blocks, or does the sound travel further if the instinct is stronger (more survivors present)? --S.Wiers ^X:00 04:40, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Right, I've been looking for the same information. The article now says that the range matches the number of survivors up to a max of six blocks. The clarification that I'm looking for is whether that includes the block you're in or not - that is, if you were to groan at a single survivor for example, would it only be heard on your block, or would it be heard on the adjacent 8 blocks as well, for 9 blocks total? Delete Me 17:52, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone knows what is the difference between "You heard a _ groaning from very close by." and "You heard a _ groaning from somewhere nearby."? Are these messages shown whenever the zombie is outside and the one who heard it inside and vice-versa? Does anyone ever tested this? --Ben2 02:04, 23 April 2008 (BST)

I think "very close by" is immediately next to you - most often seen you are inside and somebody groans, but occasionally seen outside. "somewhere nearby" is in the same block, but means the noise came from inside while you were outside, or vice versa. That's just a guess though- I'll keep an eye out to terst my hypothesis.  Swiers 06:51, 23 April 2008 (BST)

Scent Fear

Does Scent Fear and Scent Blood work only on your current square or for all the adjacent squares to your current position? The post in the news archives is written like it includes the surrounding blocks but the description on the skills page and here isn't clear about this. Wasteland2 01:14, 29 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Scent Fear will asterisk all the weak survivors on your map; Scent Blood only works for those on your current square. --dayfat 03:45, 2 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Shifting redirects

I've changed redirect back to Zombie skills, because it was breaking a whole bunch of other redirects The prior change still exists as a redirect back to this page. -- Odd Starter ^{talk | Mod} 12:58, 19 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Death Grip

Base claw attack rate increased by 5%, death grip bonus reduced by 5%. Updated skill description and damage table, didn't see any other places that needed fixing. So the change made dead survivors 25% more efficient, new zombies 16% more efficient, and made rend flesh higher priority than death grip for non-ZKers. - Dashiva 11:07, 2 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Skills	Old damage	New damage
None	0.4	0.5
Vigor	0.6	0.7
Vigor + Rend	0.9	1.05
Vigor + Grip	1.0	1.0

Tangling Grasp

OMG new z0mbie skill! If you're interested in looking up details like grip breaking, there is a discussion on this forum thread. - KingRaptor 12:44, 3 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Perhaps someone should calculate whether it is more AP-efficient (incorporating miss and lose-hold chances) to infect survivors by simply biting first; or grab, then bite? In a safehouse where a zombie strategy might be to infect every survivor present, the difference in probability can be significant.

That would be simple, except we do not know what decides the chance of losing your grip on a miss. It could be a straight x%, based on bite accuracy, claw accuracy, how much you missed by, etc. Unless Kevan speaks up, it's going to take a while before we know. - Dashiva 18:30, 4 Feb 2006 (GMT)

As far as I can tell, it seems to take longer to lose the grip when you're attacking with claws. Since bites tend to miss more (only 40% accuracy), they break the grip easier. I've only missed a bite and kept the grip once. All other times I missed the bite attack and lost the grip. There's also some evidence that two missed attacks break the grip immediately. --Omega2 17:04, 6 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Well, recording results is the way to go. It worked for search odds. :) - Dashiva 20:07, 6 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Then someone should start a page or a forum thread on this research. Guess that the first thing to find out is the probability of losing the grip after a missed claw attack, then bite attack? --Omega2 20:13, 6 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Well, for starters just the raw attack result sequences would be best. It's best to not assume anything about memory or lack thereof with regard to writhing->automiss until there's solid data to back it up. I can't think of a brilliant page title, so no suggestion there. - Dashiva 10:57, 7 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Wait this skill raises accuracy right? Does the extra 10% add on every time you attack or just add 10 to it (ie fists to 60% and bite to 40%)? - Apocalyptic Doom

In my recent experience, tangling grasp sets your chance of hitting to 0%. As soon as I land a hand attack and tangling grasp sets in, I can't hit that person again. I've spoken to several people who have had the same problem, and filed a bug report. Should this be mentioned on the skills page as a warning, or is this exclusive to the handful I've talked to? --AusIV 21:30, 30 April 2008 (BST)

It should not be mentioned on the skills page. Bugs go on the bug page. And probably not a bug, just bad luck (or zerging countermeasures). --Pdeq^Talk* 21:36, 30 April 2008 (BST)

Yes Bug Reports and Pdeq, Tangling Grasp has had Mega Man 6 on and off since it was implemented.--Karek^maps?! 06:03, 1 May 2008 (BST)

Mega Man 6 = it is a bug? Okay. --Pdeq^Talk* 06:18, 1 May 2008 (BST)

Copy/Paste error, anyway, point is it's had problems since it's implementation.--Karek^maps?! 09:32, 1 May 2008 (BST)

Attack skills

As it is, this section is giving some very sketchy suggestions. For example, it recommends VM/TG as equal to VM/NL even though the former requires on average three claw attacks to obtain a grab, and loses the grab quite often. Similarily, VM/NL/TG is hailed as the best combination with three skills, but when grabs are taken into account both VM/DG/TG and VM/DG/RF have better estimated efficiency. The annotations mention an assumed grab, but that's hardly a sensible assumption for a player trying to decide which skill to get.

The problem is that the real values can't be computed accurately until we know the chance of losing a grab. - Dashiva 09:52, 10 Feb 2006 (GMT)

Wrong Info?

Doesn't V.M. + D.G. + R.F. + Tangling Grasp give you 1.8 damage average per ap? If so, shouldn't that convert to 0.9/1.8 xp average vs zed/survivor? Doesn't that make V.M. + D.G. + R.F. + Tangling Grasp the best possible combo for the best xp?--Fireswordfight 04:44, 11 March 2006 (GMT)

Besides that possible division error, the figure for V.M. + Neck Lurch + Tangling Grasp shouldn't be as high as it is ANYWAY, because as noted on the page, it's based on Tangling Grasp's accuracy boost; and as people in the Tangling Grasp discussion, above, have been discussing, you need to use a claws attack to get the accuracy boost in the first place, and it seems to wear off faster and requires another claw attack to get the bite hit percentage back up again. So in reality, the gain Tangling Grasp gives to bite attacks actually works out to an indefinite percentage LESS than 10% because you have to keep using AP on claw attacks every so often to get the bite hit percentage back up. --Mihama 05:20, 26 March 2006 (BST)

Ransack

All my attempts at ransacking so far were successful on first try. Also all buildings ransacked were empty. I’m currently in a NT building with people in it, and the ransack button does not appear.Gamer.g33k 13:16, 29 April 2006 (BST)

Certain buildings have unique Ransack messages, whilst others get the plain old "You ransack the Building." (I had found a few other messages, but the window closed on me and I can't get them in my history anymore >_<) I'd say we collect the info and place it under the Feeding Groan messages section. You can only Ransack in an empty building, and it can only be ransacked once before needing repair or cleaning or whatever. – Nubis ^NWO 13:23, 29 April 2006 (BST)

Ransack itself does not use AP as far as I can see. That's a nice bonus. Any idea what it takes to un-ransack a building yet? - Dashiva 13:39, 29 April 2006 (BST)

Apparently it costs 1 AP to use, no info yet to undo it. Finally a zombie skill! Doesn't help me bash 'cades, but my 701 xp needed some use... --Certified=Insane 16:47, 29 April 2006 (BST)

The messages we have noted here have been added to the Article, keep the ones to come alphabetized and using the current format please. – Nubis ^NWO 16:53, 29 April 2006 (BST)

[Perhaps the ransack ability varies to different skill levels, as mentioned in the news, which is why some are unable to ransack.] Nevermind, I didn't know "ransack" is now an actual skill. --Ziffy 20:10, 29 April 2006 (BST)

Maybe ransack should be changed so that it can be used in bulidings not totally empty, but void of survivors - ATM i am in a building with another zombie, and unable to ransack. That just feels wrong.Falk 11:56, 2 May 2006 (CET)

If the building already shows up as ransacked, you cannot ransack it again (It only works once). I've been able to ransack buildings with other standing zombies in them just fine, but if the building is already ransacked the button will not appear. – Nubis ^NWO 16:07, 3 May 2006 (BST)

In heavily Zombie infected areas/suburbs ransacking tipped the balance to the Zombie side and the situation is not going to change in near future. Buildings (most importantly the malls) that Zombies have captured are next to impossible to take back because of (very) limited amount supplies and especially ammo. Do not, I repeat, do not let the Zombies get in to your mall! - Bonefiver 7:22, 4 May 2006 (GMT)

Can junkyards not be ransacked? Is this perhaps because they cannot be secured? But churches can't be secured either, right? Weird. Cigarette 02:12, 5 May 2006 (BST)

According to observations of a friend who obsesses about UD, Ransack costs 1 AP to use, gives no XP, but instead gives the survivor 1 XP when (s)he repairs the building. Isn't this skill actually a potential XP-gainer for survivors? (Please sign your posts. - Apocalyptic Doom)

But it slows down human productivity as the building is useless and can't be repaired until all the zeds are out. -Apocalyptic Doom.

Scent Death

We should really work out the messages. I think "a thick pall of decay" is the highest level (8 zombies + 18 bodies resulted in a thick pall).--Milo 17:58, 15 June 2006 (BST)

Missing/outdated information

I read this article very thoroughly before starting my zombie character and refer to it before buying skills, and the brevity of some of the descriptions are quite annoying.

I just tried feeding drag out of a barricaded building, to find it was impossible. I looked around, and found the only place it was documented was on Talk:News, as an unannounced change about five months ago.

Unless anyone has any objections, some time in the next week or so I'm going to start merging information from my own experiences, this talk page, and Talk:News into the article, so that the skill descriptions are comprehensive. If any of the sections get far too big, I'll split them off onto a separate page. If at any time anyone thinks the information needs to be all split off, or all combined, go ahead and do it. --ExplodingFerret 04:33, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, I've been too busy to actually do this yet. Nice that there have been a few updates in the mean time, though. --ExplodingFerret 20:18, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Feeding Drag

About feeding drag...so does that mean the zombie also spends 1 ap to get them outside, i.e. the zombie physically goes outside with them? And then it would be another ap to reenter the building? I just want to make sure I understand this properly. --Slightly Lions 12:07, 20 September 2007 (BST)

The way it works is the zombie uses feeding drag and that costs 1 AP, just like the attacks, and the zombie and the victim end up outside, so if the zed wants back in then that costs another AP. --Toejam 17:54, 20 September 2007 (BST)

The confirmation is much appreciated. Having not played a zombie to that level (yet), I expected that was the case, but couldn't be sure. --Slightly Lions 07:32, 21 September 2007 (BST)

Dodgy info in the table

Something's wrong here: the table says bite does 1.2 damage per AP if you have V.M. and neck lurch, but then says bite does 1.1846 damage per AP if you have those same skills plus tangling grasp. That can't be right, because there's no way tangling grasp decreases your damage potential. --Toejam 19:11, 20 June 2007 (BST)

The reason it decreases the AVERAGE is because to get the +10% benefit of Tangling Grasp, you have to use claws first. Claws only deal 2HP damage per attack, which lowers the average Damage dealt per AP. armareum 13:57, 23 June 2007 (BST)

New Layout

I'm not sure about the new layout. I like the image at the top, however I don't like that you've restricted the width to 800px. I prefer my text to be the whole width of my screen. And many many screen resolutions are 1280x1024 or so. I'm also not convinced about the change of background colour. I prefer have white throughout all the wiki - I find it distracting. armareum 22:32, 25 June 2007 (BST)

I've got to agree. I think that community pages should keep the standard width and background colour, keeping the pages consistent across the wiki. If we want to change the community page look, do it across the board by choosing a different default skin -- boxy ^{T Nuts2U DA} 11:17, 5 July 2007 (BST)

In that case I might go through and change all the skill pages back to a plain white background. I didn't think about the 'skin' aspect, it's a good point. 'arm. 02:27, 6 July 2007 (BST)

Well, I changed it back. But it's kinda grown on me. So I've reverted for now. 'arm. 07:48, 6 July 2007 (BST)

I'm glad you did, because I kinda like it too. Nice and warm. --  T   02:00, 18 July 2007 (BST)

Comparison of Attack Skill Combinations table

I have finally found the source for the figures used in the table. He uses math which is not easy to calculate. In fact, he uses iteration. I have re-corrected the table (I edited it a few days ago), and even added 3 new rows. 2 to the VM+3 section about Bites, and a VM+4 row to show what the results are when biting with a maxed-out zombie. I couldn't quite find the correct shade of purple to use, so if someone could change that, I'd appreciate it. 'arm. 03:52, 11 July 2007 (BST)

Hey Toejam, thanks for finding a better shade of purple to use. It fits perfectly!
I got around to doing the calculation for each attack, and made a few amendments (mostly the XP earned when hitting another zombie). I added 3 more rows to show bite attacks - now the table shows every combination of attack, but I'm concerned that it's just a bunch of numbers and hard to get anything from.
Finally, I added figures for the actual hit rates when doing Claw then Bite (to get the Tangling Grasp bonus on the bite). It's good to finally know them! Actually, just noticed I've missed a row out, I'll go calculate it and add it in. 'arm. 14:58, 19 July 2007 (BST)

New Scent Death graphic

Does the current Scent Death map work with those who are color blind? --Sexy Rexy Grossman 03:54, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Good question. I expect not, not by a long shot. I'm working on a greasemonkey script that will dress the map up a bit (displaying actual numbers), and it could certainly help with that issue.  Swiers 04:54, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Widen page

Is there any reason why the box that contains the body of this article is so narrow? --Pdeq^Talk* 09:50, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

It's not done as a relative length(%) so it can't be too big of people with smaller monitors will be forced to side scroll.--Karek^maps?! 11:08, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

So is it at the limit of small monitors right now? --Pdeq^Talk* 22:47, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes. More than, actually. The image used to set the table width is 800px wide, and then you have the extra width of the wiki bar on the page left, plus various margins / table padding. All told, it easily runs off the side of any monitor less than 900 pix wide. Which granted, are thankfully rare these days... but still "good practice" suggests a page should be able to render properly at 600px width. This one already can't do that.  Swiers 23:08, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Corpse Digestion skill?

Anyone know which skill lets you feed on corpses? I have a pretty good guess that it's Digestion, but just want to make sure. And on a side note, I'm in the group that's worried that this might make hordes a little too powerful (especially with the lowered Mall FAK search rates) Pakopako 17:13, 14 October 2008 (BST)

Low levels zombies presented with corpses notice no change.--Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 17:40, 14 October 2008 (BST)

Digestion now reads "Digestion (The zombie gains HP equal to its bite damage, when biting a survivor or feeding on a fresh corpse.) " --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 17:56, 14 October 2008 (BST)

Dragging the generator out

The generator is fixed in place. --~~~~ [talk] 22:30, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

scent death?

i dont get it it says that green is where more zombies are and red is where dead bodys are when i go to the green marks theres no zombies there is somthing wrong or did i not understand it --Jose 02:15, 15 August 2010 (BST)

It could be that they're inside a building when you get there, or that they've since moved on or been revived. 02:23, 15 August 2010 (BST)

Could also be the built-in inaccuracy, especially with low zombie numbers. Scent Death works best to pin down large congregations (i.e. siege hotspots and revive points), but not so much for the small fry. Check maybe the colour table while you are at it. -- Spiderzed▋ 02:29, 15 August 2010 (BST)

Tangling grasp change

Anyone have any specifics on this change? I was attacking someone in a dark building today and once I grasped, I hit on 9 out of 14 tries, never once losing the grasp. Of course, it's entirely possible that I just had a great run of luck. Curious about what others have seen with this though. Mink Snopes 16:30, 16 August 2010 (BST)

Persistent scent death

Discovered this after someone stabbed me and ran . . .

You feel drawn towards a block 8 blocks east and 8 north.

There's an ignore button you can press to ignore your instincts. I didn't follow the scent, but it looks a lot like the safehouse functionality. I suspect it stays persistent as you move. Mink Snopes 16:33, 16 August 2010 (BST)

Probably rather Scent Trail than Scent Death ;) Looks interesting, though. -- Spiderzed▋ 16:37, 16 August 2010 (BST)

Yep, you're right. Scent Trail is the correct one. Here's another message: You feel drawn towards a block 34 blocks west and 14 south. This works for a pretty long range, and it is indeed persistent as you move. Mink Snopes 16:38, 16 August 2010 (BST)

It also affects groans, and amusingly enough the groans seem to wrap around the map. I'm in East Boundwood and my instincts are telling me to go past the border. --Shatari 18:00, 20 August 2010 (BST)

Yeah, I noticed this too. I was trying to follow a groan past the border in East Boundwood. Didn't occur to me that it would be from the southern border. The border walls must have a hell of an echo . . . Mink Snopes 14:15, 21 August 2010 (BST)

What part of zombies automatically focus on the most recent groan or scent trail is so hard to understand? ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 07:18, 21 August 2010 (BST)