Features with Z-Levels: How it would affect Gameplay

[KA101]

maybe add a climbing ability with some type of mutations or maybe a CBM, making you able to climb up skyscrapers without worrying about not having a way back down.

Insect/Spider legs would be expanded to handle that, no questions asked.

[BeigeSand]

Has anyone completed any of the bounty issues for z-levels yet?

Also, glidesuits and jetpacks. Climb to the top of a large construction crane and fight off a pack of flying fungal monsters. Then dive 30 stories and be perfectly fine because you landed in a cart of hay.

[KA101]

[quote=“BeigeSand, post:26, topic:6920”]Has anyone completed any of the bounty issues for z-levels yet?

Also, glidesuits and jetpacks. Climb to the top of a large construction crane and fight off a pack of flying fungal monsters. Then dive 30 stories and be perfectly fine because you landed in a cart of hay.[/quote]

Nope. CIB’s been our front-runner but it’s no joke, even for a coder of xyr caliber.

[kevin.granade]

Climb to the top of a large construction crane and fight off a pack of flying fungal monsters. Then dive 30 stories and have your spine snapped because you landed in a cart of hay.

FTFY

[Turtlicious]

[quote=“BeigeSand, post:26, topic:6920”]Climb to the top of a large construction crane and fight off a pack of flying fungal monsters. Then dive 30 stories and Be totally inundated from the fall because you had the glide suit mutation.

FTFY[/quote]
FTFYx2

[Pageman]

What about a pushing ability for zombies or grabber zombies? This may discourage anyone last stand on the rooftop edge against a horde

[Zarthull]

Flying equipment, I could totally see a plutonium jetpack that gives you a few min of flight, or some sorta jump boots/mutation to jump right onto houses.

[Keyreper]

i can’t see a person in the cataclysm making a jetpack, it would probably be one of those things that you find at the bottom of the lab or a vehicle found in a garage (no idea why it would be in a garage though)

[Daidalon]

i can’t see a person in the cataclysm making a jetpack, it would probably be one of those things that you find at the bottom of the lab or a vehicle found in a garage (no idea why it would be in a garage though)

You can already make an auto laser turret and a charging pulse rifle.

To be honest, you could make a “jetpack” in your backyard (a guy actually did). Now, surviving the tests…

[Big_Dumpling]

i can’t see a person in the cataclysm making a jetpack, it would probably be one of those things that you find at the bottom of the lab or a vehicle found in a garage (no idea why it would be in a garage though)

You’d be surprised at what people do in their homes. Now if one was to get a jetpack by either means, and not know how to use it, will they end up flipping around the air uncontrollably and fling themselves into the stratosphere?

[Daidalon]

[quote=“Keyreper, post:32, topic:6920”]i can’t see a person in the cataclysm making a jetpack, it would probably be one of those things that you find at the bottom of the lab or a vehicle found in a garage (no idea why it would be in a garage though)

You’d be surprised at what people do in their homes. Now if one was to get a jetpack by either means, and not know how to use it, will they end up flipping around the air uncontrollably and fling themselves into the ground?[/quote]
fixed for realism.

[Keyreper]

the only problem is the leg guards then?

[Vanigo]

[quote=“Keyreper, post:36, topic:6920”]the only problem is the leg guards then?[/quote]No, the big problem is fuel. I think modern jetpacks - homemade or not - have less than a minute of airtime before they run dry.

[kevin.granade]

Making a human-portable device capable of lifting itself and a passenger is no easy matter. The best examples of it have flight times best measured in seconds, and are only technically human-portable even then. Typically it takes a crew to set them up, and they’re so heavy they need separate landing legs because it’s unreasonable for the pilot to carry them around, much less handle landing impact under their weight.
The only practical use I’ve ever heard of for one is a quick excursion to gain a birds eye view of enemy movements, and even then it’s very questionable that it is of any real worth.

[Vanigo]

[quote=“Kevin Granade, post:38, topic:6920”]Making a human-portable device capable of lifting itself and a passenger is no easy matter.[/quote]Actually, it’s not that hard unless you’re married to using rockets. Check out powered paragliding.

[kevin.granade]

It’s not the rockets that are the issue, it’s the verticality. The problem is vertically lifting itself rather than initiating mostly-horizontal flight. On the broader “human portable flying machine” front, there are a different, but still terminal list of issues, such as the need for large cleared takeoff zones and the inibility to operate in even slightly adverse weather.
Specifically within the context of the game, Hoverable vehicles are attractive because of ease of implementation. For anything else you have to implement some kind of flight envelope and lift/stall speed model, and it’s a pain.

[Zarthull]

One thing to remember everyone is this is a game where I can read books and work on a car to become skilled enough do basically do brain surgery on myself to install some bionics, or mutate into an unholy beast of terror that will die of its own radiation in a few days. We don’t need to keep everything realistic, for the sake of fun game play let there be jet packs that most players end up crashing into the ground with from 100+ft because they forgot to refuel.

[kevin.granade]

One thing to remember everyone is this is a game where I can read books and work on a car to become skilled enough do basically do brain surgery on myself to install some bionics, or mutate into an unholy beast of terror that will die of its own radiation in a few days. We don’t need to keep everything realistic, for the sake of fun game play let there be jet packs that most players end up crashing into the ground with from 100+ft because they forgot to refuel.

No u.

[Daidalon]

[quote=“Zarthull, post:41, topic:6920”]One thing to remember everyone is this is a game where I can read books and work on a car to become skilled enough do basically do brain surgery on myself to install some bionics, or mutate into an unholy beast of terror that will die of its own radiation in a few days. We don’t need to keep everything realistic, for the sake of fun game play let there be jet packs that most players end up crashing into the ground with from 100+ft because they forgot to refuel.

No u.[/quote]

You can make a chargable pulse rifle out of a few circuit boards, some scrap, and a needle for drawing blood.

While you might be able to explain away the materials, unless your household batteries are fallout fission batteries, there isn’t much chance in real life of blowing apart an 8 foot mound of flesh with a pulse rifle (modern ones can only burn small holes in plastic/flesh and light wood on fire).

Realism hasn’t been at the party in well over 2 years ( I can’t confirm prior to that). Coders and writers define the rules of reality in a game, so there is no reason to immediately stomp out an idea… just make it impractical. Frankly, if an advanced ups can hold enough energy for multiple fusion reactions, I have no trouble believing it can send a plucky survivor into a parabola of death: burial included.

[kevin.granade]

Coders and writers define the rules of reality in a game,

Ok, let’s go with that one then, I’m the head coder for the project, and I don’t think throwing a reasonable approximation of reality out the window based on some ill-defined “rule of cool” is a good idea. Appeal to authority when arguing with the project lead, great plan

I’m not even that opposed to having sci-fi like rocketpacks in the game, I’m just irritated at you kibitzing a perfectly reasonable discussion about the pros and cons of personal flight technologies with drivel about “We don’t need to keep everything realistic, for the sake of fun game play”. You’re begging the question that tossing out realism is necessary for fun, it’s not. Fun AND realism is what I’m going for.