# \[Exp 416\] Zombie Soldier Loot Pinatas

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574>\
**Category:** The Garage\
**Created:** [December 20, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574 "2013-12-20T20:16:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dominae](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/dominae/32/53_2.png) [@Dominae](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Dominae)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/1 "2013-12-20T20:16:14Z")

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Hey, did something change with the item drops on Zombie Soldiers recently? I killed three in different locations (one crash site, one randomly in a city, one just now in a basement) and they’re sporting a bunker worth of items on each corpse.

See this basement kill for an example:

 ![](http://i.imgur.com/10I9mmV.jpg?1?8614)

The guy had two sets of ballistic glasses, several weapons & mods, a UPS, ammo … and … chocolate.

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/2 "2013-12-20T20:29:46Z")

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Feature, not bug.

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**Author:** ![Rivet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rivet/32/11_2.png) [@Rivet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rivet)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/3 "2013-12-20T22:36:11Z")

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I’ve seen this happen once or twice.

My guess is that the RNG decided it was going to be really kind to you.

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**Author:** ![HunterAlpha1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@HunterAlpha1](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/HunterAlpha1)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/4 "2013-12-21T05:21:30Z")

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and you’re complaining why?

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**Author:** ![jimboblordofeskimos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/jimboblordofeskimos/32/2_2.png) [@jimboblordofeskimos](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jimboblordofeskimos)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/5 "2013-12-21T09:06:13Z")

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Yah, it is a feature. Does feel a little off to kill a zombie and have him drop 2 rifles, ammo, explosives and a LAW.

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**Author:** ![Dominae](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/dominae/32/53_2.png) [@Dominae](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Dominae)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/6 "2013-12-21T18:57:24Z")

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> [@HunterAlpha1](#):
>
> and you’re complaining why?

lol … I almost have to expect responses like this from you now.

I’m complaining because its totally unrealistic (to me) to have a zombie fall down and have so much stuff pile out of it, and since I had three in one play session do this I wondered if it was working as designed. Having so much loot just flop out takes a big chunk out of the challenge.

Hell, one gun a sidearm and MAYBE 1 mod + the ammo and I’d say “wow that was an uncharacteristically well equipped zombie” and maybe “why do zombies walk around holding things in their hands?” … having duplicates of the stuff just struck me as bug territory.

Guess I was wrong 🙂

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**Author:** ![HunterAlpha1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@HunterAlpha1](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/HunterAlpha1)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/7 "2013-12-22T05:23:20Z")

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> [@Dominae](#):
>
> [quote=“HunterAlpha1, post:4, topic:4574”]and you’re complaining why?

lol … I almost have to expect responses like this from you now.

I’m complaining because its totally unrealistic (to me) to have a zombie fall down and have so much stuff pile out of it, and since I had three in one play session do this I wondered if it was working as designed. Having so much loot just flop out takes a big chunk out of the challenge.

Hell, one gun a sidearm and MAYBE 1 mod + the ammo and I’d say “wow that was an uncharacteristically well equipped zombie” and maybe “why do zombies walk around holding things in their hands?” … having duplicates of the stuff just struck me as bug territory.

Guess I was wrong :)[/quote]yeah having multiples of the same mod doesn’t make sense. just one of many inconsistencies i’m sure will eventually be cleared up. maybe more ammo instead of the extra mods.

as for “walking around holding things in their hands”, i’m assuming you mean their guns? most soldiers these days use single point slings, so after they died and zombified their weapons would be still be dangling there.

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**Author:** ![Datanazush](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/datanazush/32/1055_2.png) [@Datanazush](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Datanazush)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 9:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/8 "2013-12-22T09:46:46Z")

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> [@jimboblordofeskimos](#):
>
> Yah, it is a feature. Does feel a little off to kill a zombie and have him drop 2 rifles, ammo, explosives and a LAW.

Shit, you must have killed the guy from Call of Duty, only soldier I know that carries that much shit with them.

Does make me wonder if that soldier dropped a knife too.

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**Author:** ![Dominae](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/dominae/32/53_2.png) [@Dominae](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Dominae)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/9 "2013-12-22T18:01:53Z")

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> [@HunterAlpha1](#):
>
> as for “walking around holding things in their hands”, i’m assuming you mean their guns? most soldiers these days use single point slings, so after they died and zombified their weapons would be still be dangling there.

True, didn’t think of that. Sidearms I assumed could still be holstered, so that never struck me as odd.

Still goes for stuff like “frying pan” or “crowbar” or the worst offender because its so huge “sledgehammer” I find on regular-people-zombies I drop in the street though. If they don’t drop any sort of container I wonder if they were just marching around with the weapon.

… and if they ARE holding it, then I’d think they need to attack with it.

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**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/10 "2013-12-22T23:05:37Z")

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> [@Dominae](#):
>
> [quote=“HunterAlpha1, post:7, topic:4574”]as for “walking around holding things in their hands”, i’m assuming you mean their guns? most soldiers these days use single point slings, so after they died and zombified their weapons would be still be dangling there.

True, didn’t think of that. Sidearms I assumed could still be holstered, so that never struck me as odd.

Still goes for stuff like “frying pan” or “crowbar” or the worst offender because its so huge “sledgehammer” I find on regular-people-zombies I drop in the street though. If they don’t drop any sort of container I wonder if they were just marching around with the weapon.

… and if they ARE holding it, then I’d think they need to attack with it.[/quote]

[Worst Offender Ever](http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=450.msg67282#msg67282)

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**Author:** ![Binky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@Binky](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Binky)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/11 "2013-12-23T01:50:21Z")

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Yeah I would like to see a ‘one main item per zombie’ rule put in to deal with this, as I’ve come up against loads of military zombies (and others) which have had a whole arsenal of stuff on them. Possibly if there was a flag that could be used to say that this item is a ‘main’ item (like rifles/hammers/pans ect) which would stop zombies carrying more than one item in that category?

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**Author:** ![Grendus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Grendus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Grendus)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/12 "2013-12-23T04:06:26Z")

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It is possible that these soldiers were “survivors” for a period of time. I know I usually wind up running around with two or three weapons (at bare minimum a melee weapon, a silent ranged weapon, and a shotgun loaded with slug/explosive rounds), more if I’m in a situation where I have a lot of guns available and a lot of zombies/monsters nearby.

It does seem weird when you get soldiers with lots of guns with no ammo or duplicate weapon mods, but it’s not impossible that the soldier was hoping to find a matching weapon or ammo before he got killed.

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**Author:** ![kevin.granade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kevin.granade/32/1316_2.png) [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:41am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/13 "2013-12-23T07:41:39Z")

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The technical answer is that the item spawning isn’t all that smart. There have been very good proposals on how to make it smarter, but no one has put any work into it.

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**Author:** ![Zipo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/fbc32d/32.png) [@Zipo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zipo)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 11:32am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/exp-416-zombie-soldier-loot-pinatas/4574/14 "2013-12-24T11:32:29Z")

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[quote=“Grendus, post:12, topic:4574”]It is possible that these soldiers were “survivors” for a period of time. I know I usually wind up running around with two or three weapons (at bare minimum a melee weapon, a silent ranged weapon, and a shotgun loaded with slug/explosive rounds), more if I’m in a situation where I have a lot of guns available and a lot of zombies/monsters nearby.

It does seem weird when you get soldiers with lots of guns with no ammo or duplicate weapon mods, but it’s not impossible that the soldier was hoping to find a matching weapon or ammo before he got killed.[/quote]  
That was how I rationalize it when it happens. I generally don’t carry that much stuff with me when I leave my safe house but I can end up carrying that much stuff at least on my way back.