Right now labs come in two flavors, with a set of 5 or 6 finales that are shared between them, with the major distinction between them being that one is cold. It would make sense for there to be more lab types with more thematic separation and definition between them. Here are a few ideas:
[size=14pt]Biological Lab[/size]
Among other nasty things, this is where samples of the blob were tested. Medical isolation ward type areas would have groups of zombies in quarantine, airlocked biosafety suites where the blob is evaluated for warfare purposes, and the classic cages full of test animals (that have all zombified) would all be possible areas that could spawn. For the majority of it, this lab should have more “environmental” hazards, rather than zombies themselves. Most of the stronger zombified things should be isolated or quarantined or locked in cages after all. For environmental hazards, we could introduce some sort of toxin/bio-agent field that induces sickness if you are not wearing protective gear. This could play out in many different forms, you could experience flu/cold-like systems while in the area of effect, you could get the flu after prolonged exposure, you could experience a series of increasingly dangerous symptoms while in the area, like coughing->vomiting->wild temperature changes->hallucinations->death, or it could give you some other disease that hasn’t been introduced yet. The dangerous areas would have to have some sort of indication that they are there, like dangerous areas could have a red tint to them, or before you enter an airlock with an infected area beyond it, you can access a computer that tells you. Or, the entire lab could be infected, and it could be a sort of a race against the clock to loot it as much as you can. Potential rewards would be advanced chemistry recipes, like the zombie pheromone recipe (it would have to be removed from current books), possibly mutagen recipes, lots of advanced medical supplies, possibly tailored biotoxins to do things like kill triffids/fungals quickly and efficiently, and other chemistry crafting supplies.
Summary: Environmental hazards focus more than zombies. Containment suit required for prolonged exposure. Chemistry/medical supplies/recipes, and special use weapons as rewards.
[size=14pt]Weapons Lab (semi-conventional)[/size]
Standard projectile/explosive based weapon R&D lab. Features include workshops and firing ranges, along with metal/ammunition crafting supply storage. This lab type would have to be smaller than the rest, to keep from providing too much overpowered loot. You might have to use explosives to breach into some of the storage areas, but those should be relatively abundant. Turrets should be guarding a lot of the areas and should be the primary enemy (maybe have these areas lit by emergency lighting so they’re not completely useless, or have them be IR turrets). This could be where the mininuke launcher was developed, so potential rewards could be mininukes, mininuke launcher plans, fabrication parts/tools, armor/armor parts (for testing purposes), and the obvious weapons, ammo, and ammo crafting supplies.
Summary: Guns, but you’ve gotta fight turrets.
[size=14pt]Weapons Lab (energy weapons)[/size]
Energy-based weapon R&D lab. Basically the same as above, but with energy weapons and electronics parts. Maybe integrate them into the same lab, but that would be too much of a pinata.
[size=14pt]Materials/Chemistry Lab[/size]
Basically a source for the high powered materials, superalloy, car reactors, crafting materials, etc. Not sure how to arrange it thematically, but it would definitely include large, open, manufacturing areas. Robots could be an enemy here, maybe they were utilized for the majority of the production, and now they’re running amok. Radiation could potentially be an environmental hazard in some areas, along with accompanying hazmat robots. Finale rewards would include things like the minireactors, superalloy, quantum solar panels, possibly construction related bionics, like the toolkit and muscles, and possibly strong armors.
Summary: Manufacturing-type area with robotic enemies. Strong materials and rare vehicle parts and CBMs as rewards.
[size=14pt]Teleportation Lab[/size]
This will probably become the standard lab, since according to the lore, most labs became dedicated to the teleportation research due to the immense amount of energy required. I imagine it looking a lot like black mesa, random computer equipment and other typically science-y things. Hard to pin down exactly what it should include, besides lots and lots of zombies, and whatever other creatures managed to sneak through. The main thing you get out of it should probably be lore, along with some advanced electronics. There should be a small chance for mutagen, and basically the spawns in the labs we have now, with a few exceptions. One thing that could be done with these labs is have some sort of a “coordinated finale”. After going through some steps, you can re-power the facility. After powering up so many facilities (probably 3), all of the labs now become available to host a portal to the nether dimension. They could possibly have other finales, but honestly, the armories that spawn sometimes are way better than any of the finales currently, and probably any I can think of to replace it. There could potentially be a small cache of gear near the portal entrances, including weapons, armor, a little food and water, a little medicine, and science equipment that would be used by a potential exploratory team.
Summary: Standard sciencey type area. Nether portal finale. Generically decent loot as reward.
[size=14pt]Genetics Lab[/size]
Mutagen ahoy! This is where even more sinister and disturbing experiments than those in the biological lab are performed. When the government discovered the mutagenic properties of the blob, these facilities were created/repurposed to examine the potential of breeding all sorts of mutants, from radiogenic hybrids to be used to clean up their various nuclear mistakes, to super-soldiers, and just good old fashioned playing god throwing genes around to see what sticks. Convicts, mental patients, and the homeless were all rounded up for the various experiments, and the ones that have not died and turned into horrible mutant zombies have gone insane from the sheer mental strain from being horribly experimented on. Features include cloning vats, autopsy rooms, horrible experimentation chambers where mutants are tested, incineration chambers to expose of failed experiments, and cages full of animals for genetic samples. New monsters would include mutated humans (still living and still human) and mutated zombies. It would be nice if there were a system that rolled for the # of mutations they had, then rolled again to determine which mutations, then named the zombie based on the most obvious/most dangerous mutations (mutated beast zombie, mutated bird zombie, etc). Then for finales, there could be mutated horrors that contain an amalgam of all sorts of different mutations. Killing the horror causes it to drop a scientist’s journal, which reveals that he has discovered the formula for the ultimate mutation and that he used it on himself so that he could become a superhuman/save himself from the zombies/advance the human race/just test it out. After reading it, you can learn the formula for one of the hybrid mutations. The butchered meat should also be useful for some special crafting recipe, possibly the aforementioned mutagen. Other finales would probably just be similar mutated horrors, but those would be actual experiments, not the result of a scientist infecting himself, and would give no special reward besides the meat. The labs loot in general would be mutagen themed, recipes, mats, tools, misshapen things, etc. Other potential hazards could include having a path you need to go down blocked off, forcing you to navigate through an active/malfunctioning test chamber, where you have to dodge fire/acid/etc., and turrets at chokepoints to keep the mutants inside.
Summary: Mutated humans/zombies, animals, cloning labs, experimentation chambers, autopsy rooms, mutagen/chemistry tools and mats, mutated horror finales that give particularly good recipes
[size=14pt]Others[/size]
A couple others that people will probably want will be bionic labs. I haven’t had a chance to put thought into those yet, but they might fit in as part of the materials labs.
Also, I’d probably pull almost all advanced recipe books from spawning outside of labs and move all of them to inside labs only. Even books on corpses should be exceedingly rare in my opinion. The player should be encouraged to explore everything they come across, and things like the environmental hazards should tantalize them and stick around in their mind as they wonder what’s beyond and how they can get past them.