PC Magnetic Zombies

AtomicUs5000

AtomicUs5000

Survivor
I don't know if this is a bug or intentional behavior.

I started up a new game, as I have been for each experimental build. I was doing quite well on my first day. I found the tiniest shack that would have been easy to defend for a solo player... and like 30 meters away from a trader. Thought I was all set after a long day of gathering food and resources, but I did not have enough time to set up any real defenses yet. So, I just sat completely still in the shack. Crouched, no light, no movement, nothing.... just listening to zombies pass by from time to time. Then, a wandering horde arrives. They came right up to the shack. I was not surprised by this since they usually head in the general direction of a player, and since I had not moved in the slightest, probably arrived with pin-point accuracy.

When they arrived, I think it was at the end of their wandering phase. I could hear that they split up a little, and I could see through a little crack between the iron plates on my door that they were pacing back and forth in front of the shack. This went on for around 45 game minutes until one of them finally started banging on the door... and then the rest followed... and in just a few seconds I was invaded and eaten by a dozen or so bikers.

Now, if zombies can do this these days, I'm fine with it... I can adapt and prepare for it. I just was not expecting this. However, if they can do this, then is there really any point to being hidden in the shadows? Must I really run around like a maniac on the first night to avoid death? I will if I have to... but like I said... I have no idea if this is intended behavior. Did they just know where I was even though I had not made any light or sound? Did my player-placed door cause them to do this? I don't think so, because if it was just the door, they would have beaten it down right away and would not have toyed with their food for 45 minutes.

 
I believe it's intentional(though I can't prove it) as I've played a decent amount so far and it definitely seems like some of the wandering hordes and groups of zombies are set on finding and killing me as even in complete darknesss hidden in a building they lock onto me. Although it doesn't seem to be all the hordes as some do just wander by.

 
I don't know if this is a bug or intentional behavior.
I started up a new game, as I have been for each experimental build. I was doing quite well on my first day. I found the tiniest shack that would have been easy to defend for a solo player... and like 30 meters away from a trader. Thought I was all set after a long day of gathering food and resources, but I did not have enough time to set up any real defenses yet. So, I just sat completely still in the shack. Crouched, no light, no movement, nothing.... just listening to zombies pass by from time to time. Then, a wandering horde arrives. They came right up to the shack. I was not surprised by this since they usually head in the general direction of a player, and since I had not moved in the slightest, probably arrived with pin-point accuracy.
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In single file no less I'm sure. Ya, I've noticed this too. Even if I'm in a building they just start pounding on it.

 
They do seem to know where you are generally. In A16 they use to be offset by a few meters from your exact location. Now they seem to be run directly through were you are like pre-A16 hordes.

 
In single file no less I'm sure. Ya, I've noticed this too. Even if I'm in a building they just start pounding on it.
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This is happening because doors and boarded up windows are effectively non-existent to zombies. They can see right through them. They do not block vision. Since A17, even solid walls don't appear to mitigate detection of any kind. The only way to not be detected currently is to get up off the ground level and have absolutely no lights near you and remain perfectly silent and still. If the stealth meter on your end goes up much over 15% then every zombie within the radius will instantly know where you are. Even if there is five meters of concrete between you and them. They keep saying this A.I is better. I don't really think it is. It's just bad in a different way. If the zombies can't get to you, they throw a fit and start hulk smashing anything in the vicinity. It's almost like some developer got angry that people used the tools available to them to stay alive in a zombie apocalypse.

I propose that the next alpha build just kill you the instant you spawn in. That way the man child that is running this show won't complain that you defeated his dungeon. It's purely manufactured difficulty. It's not like say Dark Souls where the game play is considered difficult yet it is totally possible to finish the game without dying if you are careful and make good decisions. What we get is revenge programming. Not aimed at making a more rich experience for the player. The sole aim of changes like the massive block damage for zeds and crazy detection is because someone desperately wants this game to be hardcore and lacks the foresight to make it a reality.

One major problem is genre. How do you make a game where your threat is a shambling slow dumb zombie difficult? The answer is to have hundreds of them. Here there be dragons! Because the problem is the technology and expertise to pull this off is unique. Dare I say it doesn't exist. I applaud the pimps for the effort they have gone through to give us the rich world that they have and still being able to maintain the voxel building under layer. The problem is they are not left with the performance delta they need to now populate the world with enough zombies that they actually become a threat. We are talking about a game where a 9mm pistol is a worse weapon than a fire axe.

 
Something similar to this also happened in my first game in the first experimental. In this case, it was during the day and only involved one zombie. That time, I stood as far away from the door as I could, but close enough to be able to repair it. I just kept repairing it as the zombie hit it. Surprisingly, he eventually gave up and walked away! What's up with that?

 
Sounds to me like you are playing experimental. There are a lot of things not working as intended at the moment and I can tell you that it is not intended for zombies to see you through walls and doors and boarded up windows and if you can consistently reproduce that they can then it should be reported for the good of everyone.

You should be able to stealth although not perfectly unless you've purchased some stealth perks. You didn't mention having bought into stealth at all so I'm not sure.

The zombies are intended to move to a target past the player and offset by about 30 - 50 meters. They are not supposed to go right to the player so if that is happening, report it.

 
Sounds to me like you are playing experimental. There are a lot of things not working as intended at the moment and I can tell you that it is not intended for zombies to see you through walls and doors and boarded up windows and if you can consistently reproduce that they can then it should be reported for the good of everyone.
You should be able to stealth although not perfectly unless you've purchased some stealth perks. You didn't mention having bought into stealth at all so I'm not sure.

The zombies are intended to move to a target past the player and offset by about 30 - 50 meters. They are not supposed to go right to the player so if that is happening, report it.
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No I hadn't invested in stealth. But I did sit perfectly still, crouched, in the dark, surrounded by full walls and a single door. My visibility meter, or whatever it's called, was at 3 for the whole night. The only reason why I did this was to see if they would try to bust in without a trigger. I will attempt to do this again, and record it if I can.

 
Sounds to me like you are playing experimental. There are a lot of things not working as intended at the moment and I can tell you that it is not intended for zombies to see you through walls and doors and boarded up windows and if you can consistently reproduce that they can then it should be reported for the good of everyone.
You should be able to stealth although not perfectly unless you've purchased some stealth perks. You didn't mention having bought into stealth at all so I'm not sure.

The zombies are intended to move to a target past the player and offset by about 30 - 50 meters. They are not supposed to go right to the player so if that is happening, report it.
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LOL right. So even though the fact that doors and boarded up windows haven't blocked zombies from seeing you since EVER and had been reported to you guys many times already, this is some how all of the sudden new knowledge to you. No surprise your stealth system isn't working the way you want it to. You actually have to program it to do that. It was an accident when you added increased zombie damage so they go through any block in seconds no matter what it is made of. It was, of course, all a pure accident that someone typed in the damage for the 9mm pistol and several other firearms to be a lower value than a fire axe. These are all accidents.

How the hell are we even supposed to know what is a bug anymore? I got chain stunned and knocked to the ground by my own bicycle five times in a row before I could even do anything about it today. I lost more health to my own bike than I have to zombies since I started fresh in b208.

Man hook me up with the number to your Handwavium supplier. I am fresh out and dude seems to have some good stuff.

 
Z's visual spoting should be just that - visual. Z can't see you through walls or doors (mabye cracked doors or walls). Next big spoting should be sound spoting - if they can't hear you they will wander around. If one Z start banging something no matter reason, nearby Z's should get there and check. If they don't see or hear threat (survivor) they should walk away and continue wandering. Latest is smell. Meat and other food from your bag that could attract them or maybe one of your condition like sweat if you are too hot or something similar. But that smell factor should not be that attractive like sight and sounds. In the end its apocalypse and pretty much everything smell worse then meat.

I feel that combining those 3 senses we can get real and more predictible scenario for hidding. Or maybe I em completly wrong. :p

 
Detection through walls is sometimes really hazy, although with adequate sneaking skills things get better. I already invested some points into that and the results are really good so far.

My favourite activity currently is going out at night and killing off the wandering hordes with a bow and on an open field. Surprisingly 95% of zombies that survive getting hit with an arrow to the head run towards the vicinity where the player is and stop "looking around". Sometimes it's just 3-5 meters away, but i never get out of stealth ("crouch"), no matter how close the zombie comes. As he's standing still another arrow or two to the head up close and move on to the next. I kill even the fatty and big mama zombies easily as they rarely notice me. If so, i still got my hunting knife (i think it's superior with the speed).

The BEST moment i had recently is to one-shot a zombie from like 50-70 meters with a bow... Didn't check the distance, but it was smaller than my crosshair when aiming.

 
I believe it's intentional(though I can't prove it) as I've played a decent amount so far and it definitely seems like some of the wandering hordes and groups of zombies are set on finding and killing me as even in complete darknesss hidden in a building they lock onto me. Although it doesn't seem to be all the hordes as some do just wander by.
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I think the AI has a switch that can randomly get flipped, and when it does they go from wandering mode, to bascally heat seeking missle mode and they always find you. I've watched a wandering horde that was about 100 meters away from the poi I was hiding in, I was on the 2nd floor, and crouched. None of the zombies for the last 5+ real life minutes even looked at the house I was hiding in. Then it happened, all of a sudden one of them starts running beelining it right for the house, next thing I know he is literally right in front of me being able to perfectly find me in a house I can't even see 1 block in front of me because it was so dark. I never moved much, never made a sound, well I did step on a piece of glass or garbage, but again that zombie was over 100 meters away outside of the poi. Yet it was able to find me with no problems on a direct path to me, and never missed swinging at me even though I couldn't even see him because of how dark the room was.

 
I think the AI has a switch that can randomly get flipped, and when it does they go from wandering mode, to bascally heat seeking missle mode and they always find you. I've watched a wandering horde that was about 100 meters away from the poi I was hiding in, I was on the 2nd floor, and crouched. None of the zombies for the last 5+ real life minutes even looked at the house I was hiding in. Then it happened, all of a sudden one of them starts running beelining it right for the house, next thing I know he is literally right in front of me being able to perfectly find me in a house I can't even see 1 block in front of me because it was so dark. I never moved much, never made a sound, well I did step on a piece of glass or garbage, but again that zombie was over 100 meters away outside of the poi. Yet it was able to find me with no problems on a direct path to me, and never missed swinging at me even though I couldn't even see him because of how dark the room was.
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Yeah, that's basically the behavior I am pointing out, and "a switch that can randomly get flipped" seems to sum it all up well. If this is unintentional you can actually witness the point where this bug shows its face. I really can't see this being intentional. It would require some patience and testing, but I wouldn't doubt that even with stealth perks, this same thing would happen.

 
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