PC Brainstorming: Ideas for threats

Royal Deluxe

Royal Deluxe

New member
Do you have ideas how to raise the difficulty ? (on a not tedious way)

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My first idea is a additional not healable infection you can get by zombies (and only as option by Zombiedogs and Vultures)

A high infection risk that is greatly lowered by armor

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My second idea is to make Chemistry stations instable (no idea if possible to make that with a mod)

Means theres allways a (very low) risk that a chemistry station can explode

Do you have better ideas ?

 
When I think about possible threats, I tend to categorize the potential sources of threats. So for example, threats could be bucketed into: zombies, basic survival (food, water, shelter, wildlife), human/human-like entities (i.e. other players or something like npc bandits), and other.

Zombies:

I'd like to see rare "boss" zombies that only appear late game when you reach a very high gamestage. Once you are strong enough, you attract the attention of these boss zombies.

Roaming hordes probably could be made to be more threatening. Perhaps if you stay in one spot too long (your base or spend too much time in one city looting) then your presence attracts the attention of the roaming horde.

World War Z style zombie hordes, where the number of zombies just keeps increasing (but would require amazing optimization).

Basic survival:

Some mods have made things more challenging by adding in food spoilage. I think I'd like to see it added to the vanilla game with a few caveats. There should be a game setting for food spoilage (able to turn it off or adjust its severity) and you should reach a stage in the game where you can preserve food (maybe early game you can smoke/salt meat and late game you have a frig)

Wildlife could be made to be a greater threat, but I think to do this well would require good AI so that the animals aren't just standing around waiting for you.

Related to threats, I think the game lacks a clear endgame or "the game is finished point". Right now you just play until you get tired of playing, you aren't working towards an ultimate end goal. Because there is no clear end to a game/map of 7dtd, you need to keep adding threats for the game to not become repetitive.

 
-Imho the holy grail of difficulty: random zombie animations/combat behavior. Chance for tripping, "reaching out", small dashes, bite attacks with different range, small speed variations etc etc. Unpredictability. Who said dramatic movie tricks can't be adapted in video games?

-Spoilage is a phat, big must.

-Block infection/infestation could be the next big thing. Ways that it can be used are plentiful. Still rooting for maggot infestation <3

-Green bullet sponges need not exist, if zombies with abilities become more of a (interesting) threat.

-No legendaries - there are far more obvious, less problematic ways to pace existing content or create chase items (MM's books are better to that end for example, but surely not enough).

-Difficulty zones that gate exploration (e.g. quarantined, radiation, etc visually discernible, counterable zones with special effects on the player).

-Random events (POI alarms, explosions, weather effects like acid rain or sandstorms, power outages etc).

 
Inclement weather? Sandstorm/Snowstorm. Hailstorms. Lightning storms [striking randomly]. Plagues of locusts [that eat your farm]. Floods [raise water level temporarily]. Drought [water dries up] Earthquake [random structure damage]. Bushfires.

 
Allways running and puking zombies which deal incredibly high area damage to players as well as to blocks. Ohh and they should be immortal. :)

 
More variety in zombies, and variety in stats between the same types of zombies (faster, slower, more HP, more attack damage...).

Boss zombies late game. Explosives ones, bulldozers, monstruos HP...

Better and harder mechanic in hunger/thirst. Spoil in foods, more punishing poison/illness.

 
Something akin to Mr. X from Resident Evil 2; Slow, but never stops walking towards you, even if you're 2000+ blocks away. The idea is that it's something you don't have to fight immediately, and it provides a long-term threat. You can avoid it by constantly moving across the map, but it may be more convenient to eventually kill it by luring it to your mega-base. The behemoth could be well suited to this role, but I think a horde of walking irradiated could do the trick too.

 
A small chance of stored fuel to catch fire if near a fireplace or forge. Stored means

either inventory or in storage boxes.

Result: Player catches fire if the fuel is in inventory, and fuel is gone.

Storage container with the fuel burns down/explodes if it is in a storage container.

 
Alarms,flood,lightning etc are all great ideas, but please no more "special" zombies.

Game gets more like house of the dead every alpha! "oh look a puking zombie cop, bet he doesnt exist purely to destroy bases!" But wait the "juggernaut" is coming, he can destroy your base even faster, probably even dig!

Look! its inspector gadget zombie with his helicopter head and telescopic arms and legs ruuuuuunn!!!

 
+1 for areas with varying difficulty, lets you feel the progress you make as you can slowly enter new places, get better loot and fight tougher enemies. This would require better RWG.

+1 for food spoilage. I currently am unable to use all of the food i gathered from crates, buried caches and POIs i looted.

-1 for more bullet sponge zombies, unless we're talking about varying difficulty zones. Each harder zone should have tougher ones.

-1 for random zombie actions. This is not an action fighting game or souls like game, where it's important for enemies to attack randomly and knowing "when to dodge". Though, i would like some variety in zombie behaviour.

 
One unique zombie per map, call him Waldo.

Waldo doesn't directly attack the player or blocks, but he is filled with 20 gallons of nitroglycerin...

If you shoot or hit waldo everything within 100 meters is vaporized.

Find Waldo, then live far away from him! :D

 
quicksand, mud to trap and or slow you down

volcano

trees hurt you if they land on you

take damage and ragdoll / stunned if exit vehicle at speed or take damage when u crash good and proper

avalanches in snow biome - set off with proximity or better yet sound

new plant - blackberry - light damage but slows you like barbed wire does

new plant - stinging nettle

borer or termites to eat wooden structures

garrotte wire you can string up at head height in multi player

whirlpool in water to suck you down

currents in water the sweep you away

damn - sounds like my back yard!

 
new plant - blackberry - light damage but slows you like barbed wire does
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Bushes used to slow you down. No idea why that was taken out of the game. Falling tree damage too. Also think coal doesn't burn you anymore (?) - never visit that biome. More environmental dangers/obstacles would be great.

 
^^ a nice maze poi, with completly Black walls.

Its really annoying to be in it :fat:

(my old scyscrapper had such a room in A16 for pvpler who came from above, all you could see was the turrets behind black steelbars you had never a idea where i placed traps)

 
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Yeah perfect black was kind of fun.^^ Unfortunately, those textures have been removed im A17. :(

 
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If it were possible I'd go with wild animal houses. Like while out exploring you might find a cave or something and explore and either be unlucky enough to wake up a bear/wolf/ dire wolf or be ambushed by it when it comes home.

 
One unique zombie per map, call him Waldo.
Waldo doesn't directly attack the player or blocks, but he is filled with 20 gallons of nitroglycerin...

If you shoot or hit waldo everything within 100 meters is vaporized.

Find Waldo, then live far away from him! :D
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Similar to this but Zombies rigged with Explosives by Bandits to damage your defenses before they mount their assault. Zombie does the same AOE blast as a Cop, destroying blocks in a circular area.. opening a hole for the bandits to attempt to exploit.

POIs with a very slow gas leak in kitchen or basement. The players Screen fogs like the "Cold/Freezing" effect when you enter to warn you that firing a gun in the room could have a very nasty result.

Some POIs still have electricity (As is evident by working lights) so maybe have live wires exposed on the floor or dangling from ceilings that have the same effect as Electric fences.

Weapon failures : We make our own bullets so maybe have a % chance based on the weapon's quality to "jam" requiring maybe 10-15 seconds of labor to unjam before usable again. A lv 1 Grey pistol would jam once in say 100 shots whereas a lv 6 purple one would jam once in every 1000 shots on average.

 
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