Online game: Urban Dead

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-12-20 08:26am

Col. Crackpot wrote:this strike nonsense reeks of "waaaaah! i'm taking my video games back and going home!"

How else are the players going to communicate with the dev? The wiki?

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2005-12-20 01:15pm

Some people.. apperantly the horde I run with was accused of zerging, but the guy had to retract his statements when he couldn't produce any evidence beyond a couple of our guys having numbers in their names.

It was kind of funny watching a few of our more proactive members calling for us to march on Randallbank and eat the guy again.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2005-12-20 03:19pm

The Siege Defender in me can't help but think of what will happen to Nichols Mall if and when On Strike disbands...

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2005-12-20 11:03pm

Foolish RC.. they think we withdrew because they retook the PD when we'd moved on more than half a week earlier and started tearing up fresher pastures. Oh I can't wait to go back and eat them. First the zerging talk and now this? Brains will be spilled!

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-21 02:32pm

Here's a question for the zombie fans:

What's up with zombie spies/humans in general not being able to open a building's doors in addition to closing them? I'm in the middle of a little siege on a Necrotech building right now and some smartass revivified me, so I walked inside and busted up their generator and barricades but I can't open the doors. How about if I invest in Memories of Life later, can that be used in human form, or by zombies only?

Post by **Beowulf** » 2005-12-21 03:14pm

Raw Shark wrote:Here's a question for the zombie fans:

What's up with zombie spies/humans in general not being able to open a building's doors in addition to closing them? I'm in the middle of a little siege on a Necrotech building right now and some smartass revivified me, so I walked inside and busted up their generator and barricades but I can't open the doors. How about if I invest in Memories of Life later, can that be used in human form, or by zombies only?

The barricades have to be gone before the doors matter. A human can walk into a building that has barricades, so long as they are very strong, or below.

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-21 03:45pm

Beowulf wrote:The barricades have to be gone before the doors matter. A human can walk into a building that has barricades, so long as they are very strong, or below.

Right, I walked in the building and took down the barricades already, like I said. The doors are the only thing holding back the zombies.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2005-12-21 04:09pm

it's kinda funny, zombies can get through however many extremely heavy barricades, yet a simple door stops them...

Because of this I propose... Barricades made out of doors! Not only are they barricades, they're doors too!

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2005-12-22 06:48am

According to the game news, zombie moans can now be heard from several blocks away. Not sure what that means for the game, but there you have it.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2005-12-22 10:08am

Qwerty 42 wrote:According to the game news, zombie moans can now be heard from several blocks away. Not sure what that means for the game, but there you have it.

Methinks it would be a zed version of a flare.

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-22 10:19am

Matt Huang wrote:Methinks it would be a zed version of a flare.

Pretty much, except it's the new top of the 'Memories of Life' skill tree (Called 'Feeding Groan') and only works in the presence of survivors. Nobody will buy it except maxed-out dedicated zombies with a pile of XP, but it should help new ferals find and glom onto them once it starts getting used.

Edited because I f'ed up the skill name. I rule.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-12-22 11:54am

Raw Shark wrote:
Matt Huang wrote:Methinks it would be a zed version of a flare.
Pretty much, except it's the new top of the 'Memories of Life' skill tree (Called 'Feeding Moan') and only works in the presence of survivors. Nobody will buy it except maxed-out dedicated zombies with a pile of XP, but it should help new ferals find and glom onto them once it starts getting used.

Or maxed out Survivors / Zombies like me.

Faram @ urbandead

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-22 12:58pm

Faram wrote:Or maxed out Survivors / Zombies like me.

It would make a good lure too.. The range is shorter and new zombies are probably more likely to chase the moans than flares, straight into an ambush. The airdrops seem like they have a hidden benefit to the zombies too though: With nothing unique in them, they can be effectively ignored by people with free running and access to resource areas, so they really just encourage new survivors to dick around in the middle of the street where I can get them.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2005-12-22 01:49pm

feeding groan can only be used in the presence of a survivor.. so there's got to be something to chew on. Allows easy horde formation without much planning.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2005-12-22 02:08pm

Raw Shark wrote:
Faram wrote:Or maxed out Survivors / Zombies like me.
The airdrops seem like they have a hidden benefit to the zombies too though: With nothing unique in them, they can be effectively ignored by people with free running and access to resource areas, so they really just encourage new survivors to dick around in the middle of the street where I can get them.

Crates can give you items beyond the normal 50-item inventory limit, so you should try and get to it before a zed tears it open and trashes everything inside. You have a 40% chance of success of opening it with a crowbar, otherwise, normal 20% chance.

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-22 02:11pm

SylasGaunt wrote:feeding groan can only be used in the presence of a survivor.. so there's got to be something to chew on.

Yes, but the survivor you use it in the presence of can be your ally standing in an open building with ten loaded shotguns and twenty of his buddies presumably.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2005-12-22 11:46pm

The same thing could be said of just about any method the zombies used to communicate. Same with survivors.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2005-12-23 07:31am

strike my ass. Rolt Heights is overrun with zeds and my level 7 firefighter is now among the undead. 15 zeds outside silverius general hospital and groups of 5-7 all over the damn place.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2005-12-23 08:10am

Raw Shark wrote:
SylasGaunt wrote:feeding groan can only be used in the presence of a survivor.. so there's got to be something to chew on.
Yes, but the survivor you use it in the presence of can be your ally standing in an open building with ten loaded shotguns and twenty of his buddies presumably.

bwahahahaa...20 survivors in an open building...good one. While they're logged off waiting for something to happen, a zed can just wander in and munch on them, unless you think that they have nothing better to do than sit there all day refreshing their map.

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-23 04:46pm

Matt Huang wrote:bwahahahaa...20 survivors in an open building...good one. While they're logged off waiting for something to happen, a zed can just wander in and munch on them, unless you think that they have nothing better to do than sit there all day refreshing their map.

I've been assuming the existance of some absurdly well-coordinated human groups using off-game methods of communication, mostly based on some statements made in this thread. If you guys aren't that good, then bravo for Feeding Groan.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2005-12-23 08:19pm

I think the main problem with Urban Dead is that the zombie population is entirely dependant on the players willing to be zombies. I think that the zombies should be NPCs, and their numbers being controlled by this equation NPC Zombies=(PC Survivors * [1.5-3, varying from sector to sector] - PC Zombies. That way the feel of the zombie hordes is always there. NPZs will go after you if they notice you(%chance on entering and if you set off a flare, say something, spray paint, attack, etc) So beating on one zombie in the middle of a horde will get you swarmed. Makes movement a lot more strategic since you have to flee if you are noticed, and the chance of fleeing is reduced for every zombie in the area.

Then to make zombies more worthwhile to play give them zombie types taking from various zombie literatures. The four I've thought of are the UD Classic, Bubs, the Stubbs, and the BOWs.

The UD Classic is basicly what the current UD zombie is, only a little bit more developed. The NPZs are relatively weak compared to the UDC. They are the only ones that are infectious.

Bubs are sort of an inbetween. They didn't quite take to the infection, they've retained most of their inteligence, though are mentally retarded. They have access to some low range human skills, but are restricted from high level zombies abilities. Their advantage is that they have two abilities, Skin Regeneration and Zombie Pheromone. Skin Regeneration allows them to appear to be human to all but high level doctor/necrotechs, while zombie pheromone prevents NPCZs from attacking them, allowing them to work as spies for both sides. They can also bypass low level barracades like a human.

Stubbs are weak zombies, their advantage is that they are able to exert control over the pack instincts of the NPC zombies. They start off being able to control a partner zombie, then moving up to 3, 5, and 7 zombie followers. They also have skills that increase their durability and damage of zombies in their pack, and skills that only work in a pack. Such as Window toss, which require a pack of 5 zombies to throw the Stubbs through a window, and 2 NPZs first if the Stubbs has a pack of 7, thus skipping the Barracades. Problem is, the Stubbs aren't much stronger than the run of the mill zombie, and they have no idea(unless a Bubs spies on them) what their getting into, and the Barracade keeps them from getting out as much as from getting in. So they could be throwing themselves into certain redeath situation.

The BOW takes from the Resident Evil series. They are humans that react to the zombie plague much more radically than the average person. They develop into inhuman monsters. They become much more combat oriented then the other three. They have a very low skill tree, but their strength lies in there starting mutate ability. When they die they have a small chance of gaining a HP, when they miss they have a small chance gaining a Hit%, when they run out of AP they have a small chance of gaining an AP. The chances are small enough that it would take on average, dozens of deaths, hundreds of misses, and thousands of AP drains to get significant gains. There is a cap(set by Mutate, and higher tier upgrades) but it is higher than the average cap(like 55% for a UDC claw attack, 75% for a BOW). Also there is a 1/[5/8/10],000 chance that they'll react perfectly to the virus and become a weaponized BOW upon creation, which are a more powerful variant of the BOW. Sort of like how Jedi use to be in SWG. BOWs draw backs are that they don't have Zombie Phermones, so the streets are as dangerous to them as to surviors(though Stubbs can keep their packs in control), and high-level necrotechs have an low % item that can one hit KO them.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2005-12-23 09:05pm

Raw Shark wrote:
Matt Huang wrote:bwahahahaa...20 survivors in an open building...good one. While they're logged off waiting for something to happen, a zed can just wander in and munch on them, unless you think that they have nothing better to do than sit there all day refreshing their map.
I've been assuming the existance of some absurdly well-coordinated human groups using off-game methods of communication, mostly based on some statements made in this thread. If you guys aren't that good, then bravo for Feeding Groan.

It's not the survivor coordination that's the problem. It's the fact that zeds in the area might not log on until ten hours after you've laid the bait, and unless you and your buddies feel like continuously checking for zeds for that period of time, your probably going to be logged off.

And if your decide to go hide in a nearby barricaded building, warning flags are going to go off in the zed player's head when zeds come across a zombieless empty building with barricaded buildings nearby.

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2005-12-24 07:53am

Okay, Feeding Groan has definitely helped me out since its introduction now: My whole mob vanished into a nearby building overnight, but the Groan saved me from wasting all my AP looking for them this morning. From what I've seen of the suggestion pages on the wiki and judging by the (odd, to me) placement of this skill above zombie speech on the Memories of Life tree, it seems like the developer would rather encourage zombie play by adding more diverse options at the top of the progression than at the bottom so as not to upset existing players...

New zombie players can still specialize though... An example I was thinking would work well with the new skill would be a Zombie Scout: He needs to be part of a mob to accomplish anything, but with all his early points dumped into Lurching Gait and the Memories tree he's able to find the humans, open the door if there's no barricade, call the group, and then take a step or three back towards them for safety. He still ends up homogenized at the top, but they all will unless stuff gets introduced that is mutually-exclusive.

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2005-12-24 08:54am

solving the problem in the short term would be giving people random character classes when they start, with the highest probability falling on zombie, then on consumer. Of course, metagamers will shoot it to crap at that point, which is a shame, but other than that the only solution is to install bots.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2005-12-24 09:27pm

The UD greasemonkey scripts are pretty neat.