Zanril
Refugee
For some background info on me, I have 459 hours clocked in, and have been playing since A21, solo. I have always had a particular idea of what bandits would be like in 7DtD since I saw them planned on the 2024-2025 roadmap.
Bandits would be hostile NPCs equipped with any possible weapon with a heavily bias towards ranged weapons since zombies are mostly melee combatants and we have enough of those. They would be found as part of a band - acting the same way a wandering horde would or be in their own POIs.
The equipment they spawn in with would be biome dependent so you could expect to see bandits use low quality protection, and weapons in the forest biome but be at their best in the wasteland. What weapon they spawn in with would determine the optimal range they would be fighting at which they will try to maintain. Snipers will want to keep the furthest distance possible, while melee, or shotgun weilding bandits would be quite the opposite.
As for loot, they would drop something related to the weapon they were using, the armor they were wearing, or nothing at all.
As for POIs, they would only be found in the rural areas of the wilderness, and the biome would determine the highest possible teir a bandit POI could spawn, so you wouldn't find a T5 bandit POI in the forest biome, only T1s. As for their construction, I imagine bandit POIs would be crude, makeshift, and include stolen, well, anything. For names, I have a few ideas:
Krom's Hideout
Raider's Rest
Brigand's Cove
Abandoned Bandit Camp - An overrun bandit camp. Perhaps this could be mixed with zombies, and bandits?
Blood Moon Hordes is the dedicated way zombies attack bases, but what about for bandits? I have two ideas for ways to build up to, and trigger a Bandit Raid:
A) Kill a total number of bandits.
Bandits killed that are in a roaming band or in a POI would contribute to a total that decays overtime, slowly of course. When you reach or exceed the total, and then step into the bounds of a claim you own you trigger a Bandit Raid.
This could be taken further. As you kill more, the longer the higher the teir of the Bandit Raid leading to longer lasting, and possible higher difficulty enemies, and in turn better loot.
B) Finish a bandit POI.
After clearing a bandit POI, You would get a debuff determined by the POI's teir. Maybe a bandit leader inside the POI gives you this debuff upon his death). When you step inside the the bounds of a claim block you own, the debuff would be consumed, and trigger a Bandit Raid. The higher the teir, the more waves, loot quality, etc.
Bandit Raid
It would be similar to horde night where waves of bandits would come to kill the player although I'd want these raids to be shorter than blood moon hordes if possible. What I think I would like about fighting other ranged opponents would be how it would change base design. You'd built slits for you to shoot out of, towers to shoot down from, and create optinmal firing angles for yourself with cleaver/practical design - cover would matter.
Bandits would be hostile NPCs equipped with any possible weapon with a heavily bias towards ranged weapons since zombies are mostly melee combatants and we have enough of those. They would be found as part of a band - acting the same way a wandering horde would or be in their own POIs.
The equipment they spawn in with would be biome dependent so you could expect to see bandits use low quality protection, and weapons in the forest biome but be at their best in the wasteland. What weapon they spawn in with would determine the optimal range they would be fighting at which they will try to maintain. Snipers will want to keep the furthest distance possible, while melee, or shotgun weilding bandits would be quite the opposite.
As for loot, they would drop something related to the weapon they were using, the armor they were wearing, or nothing at all.
As for POIs, they would only be found in the rural areas of the wilderness, and the biome would determine the highest possible teir a bandit POI could spawn, so you wouldn't find a T5 bandit POI in the forest biome, only T1s. As for their construction, I imagine bandit POIs would be crude, makeshift, and include stolen, well, anything. For names, I have a few ideas:
Krom's Hideout
Raider's Rest
Brigand's Cove
Abandoned Bandit Camp - An overrun bandit camp. Perhaps this could be mixed with zombies, and bandits?
Blood Moon Hordes is the dedicated way zombies attack bases, but what about for bandits? I have two ideas for ways to build up to, and trigger a Bandit Raid:
A) Kill a total number of bandits.
Bandits killed that are in a roaming band or in a POI would contribute to a total that decays overtime, slowly of course. When you reach or exceed the total, and then step into the bounds of a claim you own you trigger a Bandit Raid.
This could be taken further. As you kill more, the longer the higher the teir of the Bandit Raid leading to longer lasting, and possible higher difficulty enemies, and in turn better loot.
B) Finish a bandit POI.
After clearing a bandit POI, You would get a debuff determined by the POI's teir. Maybe a bandit leader inside the POI gives you this debuff upon his death). When you step inside the the bounds of a claim block you own, the debuff would be consumed, and trigger a Bandit Raid. The higher the teir, the more waves, loot quality, etc.
Bandit Raid
It would be similar to horde night where waves of bandits would come to kill the player although I'd want these raids to be shorter than blood moon hordes if possible. What I think I would like about fighting other ranged opponents would be how it would change base design. You'd built slits for you to shoot out of, towers to shoot down from, and create optinmal firing angles for yourself with cleaver/practical design - cover would matter.