PC Headshots, shields, ragdolls, gore, and more!

zombo

zombo

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----------HEAD SHOTS-------------

Remove the mechanic that headshots deal more damage to zombies- and rework it so if any body part takes enough damage they are severed from the body.

Change it so--

-Now zombies can only die if you remove 2-3 body parts.

-Dealing damage to the midsection can also kill them but take a bit more punishment- causing random limbs to break off eventually.

-Leg and arm shots become more useful- remove legs to stop them moving so fast to you- shoot the arms off to make them more harmless- shoot the head off to make them more confused and dumber.

The horror of zombies who just don't stop coming for you, almost no matter what! Why must we ALWAYS aim for the head in games like this? Think of the game design opportunities if you rework this!

------------SHIELDS------------------

THE WORLD HAS ENDED.

ZOMBIES ARE EVERYWHERE.

We build massive forts to keep them out... to.. BLOCK them... from getting to us... why?

Because it works!

Soo what kind of dingus survivor wouldn't think to make a SHIELD?

Hold right mouse to block- uses stam if hit- add new perk to strength attribute "shieldius maximus"

Stam cost to hold shield up- 1 stamina a second

Stam cost each time shield is hit by a lesser attack- 5 stam

Stam cost each time shield is hit by a powerful attack- 15 stam

------PERKS PERKS PERKS------

Perk lvl 1- Your blocks now cost 10% less stam to use

Perk lvl 2- Your blocks now cost 20% less stam to use

Perk lvl 3- Your blocks now cost 30% less stam to use and you can shield bash (press left mouse while holding right- bash staggers small zombies- also does a little damage)

Perk lvl 4- Your blocks now cost 40% less stam to use, shield bash now knocks smaller zombies off their feet into ragdoll, and large targets get staggered.

Perk lvl 5- Your blocks now cost 50% less stam to use, shield bash knocks all zombies off feet, and deals more damage.

---TYPES OF SHIELDS---

And of course you have all sorts of shields, from junky scrap iron signs such as "stop" signs and "no speeding" signs and even my favs- "men working" "no parking" "watch for children"

Then you get nice iron shields, steel shields, which deal more damage and take much more abuse.

High end shield could be the fabled swat shield I guess? Perhaps a rare museum shield from medieval times (from raid like poi's or just really expensive at merchants)

---SHIELD MODS---

Of course they get MODS- including spikes to deal more damage- or blunt chunks of metal for more knockback power- or even fine polishing oil to better deflect blocks thus using less stam when hit.

---HOW BLOCKING WOULD WORK---

When blocking you have to be facing in the general direction of the attack to block it. Being swarmed means you are still in a very bad situation. But blocking a doorway crouched, so friends can shoot over your shoulder becomes a thing. Say hello to the SWAT TEAM you bastid zombs! You can finally properly go into POI's prepared- this mechanic would fit well with the dungeon like homes I feel.

Blocking would also repeal ranged attacks. Spitting mobs become a more interesting fight (the acid spit does more damage to your shield though- but if you have lots of metal to repair with yer good)

----------LEFT MOUSE BECOMES THE NEW POWER ATTACK BUTTON THANKS TO CHARGED FUNCTION-----

Get rid of power attacks with right mouse. They are not done well anyways. Why would I ever use a left mouse attack?

Change it so you just HOLD left mouse to CHARGE UP your swing. The longer you hold it the more stam drains until it hits max power- then unleash. The longer the charge was held of course the more damage done, but even if you only tap you can always swing now (just for a really weak hit- desperate for a lucky stagger in dangerous situations I suppose)

Blunts become more useful- greatly expand their ragdoll knockback abilities- sending mobs even crashing through weaker wood walls with fully charged attacks.

------ZOMBUS BONUS DVD CONTENT SECTION!-----

OTHER CHANGES I'D LIKE TO SEE- (these are more optional and pipe dream stuffs, but I think they would help a lot)

-Much more ragdoll knockback action! Do I really need to make a thread called "YOU HAVE RAGDOLLS- SO USE THEM!"?

-Body's stay in ragdoll mode UNTIL they despawn- hitting a ragdolled body should send it flying about if using a powerful gun or have high str and use a blunt weapon. Bodies should stick around longer too!

-Carry or drag bodies to throw them into firepits (makes more bones for you).

-GUTS GUTS GUTS BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD- eviscerating mobs in melee or with guns should make fantastic messes- would make combat intense and visceral. Blocks can get stained with blood but wash in rain or if you clean them with a mop. This would pair well with headshots no longer killing mobs outright... You now have to really hack away at zombies to finish them off, which means a display of zombie violence not seen since... well... ever!

---WHY?---

Don't get me wrong I like how the game is now, good fun. I just always dream of a better way to zombie! I am aware that performance reasons could be why we never see this stuff implemented. I just like to fart ideas out, so feel free to tell me you hate or love em if you want.

Now if you'll scuse me- I am going back into the apocalypse. This real world thing is not for zombies like me!

 
I'm always up for more content. Madmole said the he personally would like to see a blocking mechanic added in... however, it is of course up to the team as whole if and when this goes in.

Dismemberment was easy in A16, but only happens now with the right perks, or blade traps. I think this change was just to make horde night harder, because spikes and barbed wire would make the limbs fly off pretty easily.

In particular though, I would like to see more blood and gore. Little things can go a long way... like a zombie hanging from a rope on a tree due to failed suicide. Zombies strapped to beds and chairs by their loved ones before they changed. Zombie heads on stakes that are still twitching, placed around the perimeter of the traders or abandoned bases. Imagine strategically placed screamer heads. I could go on and on and on.....

... and on.

 
Just no to removing headshots. Headshots and zombies are a package deal.

But maybe if the Z animations were changed to make them sway their heads from side to side more, headshots would be harder to do, and it would be more incentivized to go for the legs.

 
TL;DR: TFP should make the player much less able to craft things, and be forced to fight zombies for food to survive, along with weapons and money, but the zombies should actually be dangerous to fight against in POI's; weapons should have different roles and strengths, with the majority most effective at bashing in a skull, but also still be somewhat effective if the player misses and hits the torso/limbs. There should be more "tiers" of weapons and loot, and TFP should try to level off high end loot by requiring players to have a specific skill or item in order to get stuff from the next tier, which in turn would lead to the next tier.

Tbf, dismembering multiple limbs should kill zombies and be the standard for using a shotgun- however, I personally think the headshot system works, but would like to see that going for the limbs/torso does not punish the player depending on the weapon. For example, if the player is using a handgun or a club, then it should mostly be only effective against a skull. But, for example, a bow would be more useful for taking out limbs than for outright killing the zed (different for compound bow), a shotgun would just tear the zombie apart (would like to see different tiers of shotguns, and overall would like to see more weapons- this way, TFP isn't just inflating the current content they have behind grinding, but allows players to get weapons of different roles, and get better versions as the weeks go by. That system is kind of in place, but it feels mainly like fighting first with a bow/handgun, then with a shotgun/hunting rifle/compound bow, then with a shotgun and sniper. Not that much fun.

But yeah, shields and blocking are crucial, imo the current system of attack, walk backwards, attack again is unintuitive. The thing I don't understand is that this is a horde defense game, but the majority of the changes/additions the team have been making are about balancing getting loot and leveling up- the only exception I've seen over the past few alphas is the addition of new traps and electricity. I feel like the zombies should be balanced so that low level structures, such as houses, have little or no zombies, but should have basic food/tools/weapons for the player, and the player should be able to use these to try to sneak into towns etc. Might be a better way to gate off loot. Imo, players should go into these basic towns with the handgun, sawed off, and axes/other melee weapons they've looted, along with clubs, spears, and knvies. Imo the problem with balancing zombies is that you can literally just shoot them repeatedly from afar, so I think that zombies should only walk around if they don't know where the player is, like Left For Dead, but should run at the player if alerted, so that way the player is in danger when fighting zombies. Edit: I say this in assumption that TFP can balance this by adding blocking

I don't like how the player crafts almost everything with raw materials, because that means that the process for getting everything is simply boring- hitting cars, hitting rocks, hitting trees, etc, but the game should be centered around fighting zombies and trying to scrape by- food/water should be hard, and the player should only be able to craft crude defenses such as spikes, spears, knives etc until learning a skill from an NPC after completing a quest or something. Weapons should be relatively common to find, but higher tier weapons should be gated off by the player needing a skill in order to pick a lock, or learn how to craft an explosive to break into a bunker, etc; depending how a player builds a character, those with specialization in different categories should have different solutions to the same problem. Also, idk why TFP bothers adding high walls, traps and other crap when it is relatively easy to get past a lot of it using wood frames. Making it much harder to get iron tools is a good start to balancing getting better loot, though, and I applaud TFP for working to create a better system than the boring rng system for loot.

 
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Just no to removing headshots. Headshots and zombies are a package deal.
But maybe if the Z animations were changed to make them sway their heads from side to side more, headshots would be harder to do, and it would be more incentivized to go for the legs.
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Considering half the zombies are tweaking out like they are high on speed+something else already. This game must be a nightmare to play in a15/16 on console, because in a15/16 you bascally required headshots due to the x4 to x9 damage mods for head shots on weapons.

 
I don't know that I agree with the other stuff but having a shield and spear would be awesome.

I wouldn't even care if it was gated at level 150.

Just let me be a Zombie-killing Spartan.

That would make my freaking year!

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So if they did add a shield- how about this for a fun combo- using any 1 handed gun while using a shield at the same time!

Lol @atomicus5000

Screamer heads on pikes- that is absolutely dreadful. Would be like the nuclear Zombie bomb in pvp though!

 
Spears should be viable since the current hitting system is made for piercing, shoving and shooting and not for swinging :)

I also miss Headshot for the kill... not 5 shots, not 5 axe or sledgehammer hits... 1 shot kill. Bring in more zombies than - like horde... Every movie, series you name it - 1 headshot for the kill ( except bludgeoning damage like clubs and bats ).

Also dismemberment of those libs were great in 16 - adds so much more to the game.

OK yes arrow can break, bullet can glance.. but those are small percentages. I don't like zombies skulls behave like they are there just for looks. And it doesn't matter what kind of a zombie.

Just the other day radiated wight had like 5 steel arrows through its head yet it was still running around like nothing happened. If I make holes in the brain ( whats left of it ) it should do something, like it can't walk - turns into crawler, stop running or what ever.. there should be some effect to what you do to the bodies and not that they are "unharmed" till their HP runs out.

 
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It can't be 1 headshot and kill, because this game can't handle hundreds of zombies. So they had to go in a more fallout like direction with harder more mutant like zombies. That's why I think they should go ever more in that direction, play to their strengths. It's not like some magical update will ever allow hundreds of zombies again, we all need 5nm video cards and cpu's and that's a few years out yet. This voxel tech comes with a big price tag.

 
Shields would be terrible against zombies. They're designed to defend you against people hitting you with weapons - the shield will deflect and dissipate the impact of the weapon.

But zombies don't work like that. They don't use weapons. Instead they grasp and grab at you.

So against a zombie, a shield is just a big target for them to grab at, and they'll either pull it off you (if you're holding it) or use it to drag and unbalance you (if it's strapped to your arm).

 
It can't be 1 headshot and kill, because this game can't handle hundreds of zombies. So they had to go in a more fallout like direction with harder more mutant like zombies. That's why I think they should go ever more in that direction, play to their strengths. It's not like some magical update will ever allow hundreds of zombies again, we all need 5nm video cards and cpu's and that's a few years out yet. This voxel tech comes with a big price tag.
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Yeah exactly.

Let's get mini-bosses, big bosses, and higher tiered weapons.

May as well roll with it.

 
Idk about having a shield... This isn't Skyrim, but being able to block with the right click and charging up for a power attack with left click would be okay. Also have you ever seen anything get dismembered by just an arrow? Slashing type weapons should give you a chance too dismember a limb. Give us a katana and machete! Headshots are fine, but when using arrows I would rather there was a chance of possibly disabling a limb instead of it being dismembered completely. Shoot a zombie in the leg and say a 10% chance that it can no longer use that limb anymore and must drag it instead giving a speed penalty. Get both legs and he has to crawl now.

Now what if instead we could craft explosive arrows and ammo which would blow apart "dismembering" them instead? And yes to more gore.

One thing I'd really like to see is more diversity among the zombies. Seeing the same ones everytime gets old. There should be at least 50 different looking zombies imo.

 
I'm not a big fan of the idea of shields, I don't like that zombies just keep hitting you in the game instead of hugging you and trying to eat your face but I can live with that, but being able to "duel" them would be a bit too much for me.

To reduce the need for backpedaling an ability to push them back, possibly making them fall over would be better in my opinion.

More gore and bringing dismemberment back in a more meaningful way would be awesome though.

 
This sounds more like it should be in the Pimp Dreams section.

Anyhow, some of these seem like fun ideas. I don't like the headshot one, though. Why wouldn't zombies die by headshots, and die by limb dismemberment instead? The headshot only thing has to do with certain zombie lore-related reasons, such as in The Walking Dead, but the other way around seems a bit weird.

Now, I definitely agree with more gore.

 
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