PC Zombies behaviour possible glitch

M

Maguvas

New member
Hi everybody!

At last I'm giving a chance to A18.3b3 on my old PC and I've found something very unusual since the introduction of the new super zs AI - which I don't like too much to be honest ;)

Anyway I built just randmomly to try it this base model: a ramp full of spikes and barbwires and so on and beside the top of the ramp I've left one empty space and then I've put a block from where I can kill with the bow the zs.

Now the 'issue' is: whenever the zs finds that there is a spike in front of them and an empty space beside they try to jump towards me by falling inevitably on the ground so they'll go round and return to the beginning of the ramp and I can target them indefinitely. Of course the loop happens until the spikes are repaired on top of the ramp otherwise of course they'll run directly to me without jumping.

That said I'm not for a super smart zombie but I guess that even a zombie by seeing its colleague to fall in the void can then decide to not do the same.

What do you think? Is this everlasting anti-base attack thing normal or maybe should be fixed? Of course as soon as the artillery cops arrive you should move but anyway until that day your base is almost uncatchable.

 
This is the classic bug in the current zombie AI which is the basis for almost all "exploit" bases. If there is a 1-block gap between you and the zombies, their pathing algorithm counts it as jumpable, and since there is no block in the way, it is always the favored route. However the algorithm does not check the block that the jumping zombies will land on, so you can place an obstacle there and cause the infinite ramp loop that you are seeing.

Some people are happy to use this exploit and feel it is perfectly acceptable as a means for controlling the zombies on horde night.

Other players despise such an exploit and would never use it. I am in this camp, but play the game as you see fit of course.

What is interesting is that ~90% of the videos on youtube that are called something like "A18 best horde base ever" will typically use this exploit, so I guess most players do not care one way or another. If TFP ever fix this (and I do not believe they ever will), a lot of players would be crying in the forums since their entire base design relies on it.

 
I'm pretty vociferously in the "there is no cheese" camp* and at the same time I hope TFP fixes this behavior. If zombies are stupid, take advantage of their stupidity. At the same time TFP should make them as smart as they can. I would be thrilled by a cooperative AI where each zombie communicates to the others about pathways which work and which don't. First couple of zombies jump, the rest of them learn to not do that.

I believe there is a trigger in the pathing AI which causes the zombies to go into Hulk Smash mode and just destroy everything around them. They took out the bridge from our base to our crafting area last horde night, for no obvious reason except that they were angry they couldn't get to us up on our tower. They keep trying to get to me though, even though they can't find a path and I can just keep shooting at them. Are tower bases still considered legit?

I expect they will eventually go into Hulk mode on a ramp-based defense also.

*Exception made for actual cheats, like clipping through blocks or dupe glitches.

 
Ah ok sorry for posting something already known :) but I'm from the... past generation so I'm not so used to look at youtube videos :)

From my point of view that's definitely a cheat ok not forced by the player but anyway. I'm the sort of player who looks for immersion in games and 7D2D could have some sort of it but playing and seeing that super smart zombies can avoid all of your traps by choosing the best path even when reaching from afar just to fall in the void, loop and jump there again... definitely it kills immersion :)

About Boidster's post the same happened to me and I was just building a tower base with a looooong ramp of course.

So in the 2020 after 1000 years of humankind evolution we're saying that the best defence is still the arch-famous medieval tower structure. Is it something or not? :)

Kind regards and happy playing.

 
The smarter they make the AI the easier it is to exploit it it seems. At the end of the day some randomness is required to avoid exploit. Perhaps completely different algorithms for different zombie types could be done?

 
The smarter they make the AI the easier it is to exploit it it seems. At the end of the day some randomness is required to avoid exploit. Perhaps completely different algorithms for different zombie types could be done?
Click to expand...
Well now it seems you peacefully hugged my battle :) Until the game worked smoothly on my PC I posted monthly in several threads - without going OT of course - a note about zs different behaviour based on zs types: no one seemed to think that would be a game changer but to me it is indeed.

I even reported examples: military units can indeed analyze your base to find the weak spot and to a certain level even the cops but the other zs cannot do that. We can figure the impact on a player to have a base full of traps which resists for 2 or 3 BM nights without military z then at the 4th BM a military appears he can find a weak spot and then all the z will follow him: terrific :)

The nurse should of course be found near hospitals: if you've nurse's dresses as a zombie either you're doing some cosplay with your - lucky - husband or you were working. In case of attack the nurse should at least try to heal its zs friend as a priority and not to advance towards spikes... and to a certain level they could even heal who knows.

The business man should never be alone: I do not know in your country but here in Italy if you obtained money in some way you're a saint, women love you and 'friends' for sure will ring at your door hence the business man should never work alone but it should be followed by the 'friends' of his money. During an attack the business man may act not in the front line but he'll order his friends to go on. Due to the fact that these are not real friends in case of serious injuries they'll not kill themselves but instead they'll retreat.

...and more. Even from a technical point of view I guess it should not too performance killing doing that: it would be just a change in their related behavior scripts (Python?). A patch like that could even be called: 7D2D immersion patch :)

Kind regards.

 
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