# Lurker / Stalker zombies

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [September 24, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202 "2013-09-24T18:42:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![An0n3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/an0n3/32/2257_2.png) [@An0n3](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/An0n3)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/1 "2013-09-24T18:42:46Z")

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> **[Persistence hunting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting)**
>
> Persistence hunting (sometimes called endurance hunting or cursorial hunting) is a hunting technique in which hunters, who may be slower than their prey over short distances, use a combination of running, walking, and tracking to pursue prey until it is exhausted. Grey wolves, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas, lungless spiders,\[citation needed\] and humans are adapted to using this hunting strategy. A persistence hunter must be able to run a long distance over an extended period of time. Humans a...

Borrowing a page from our own history, how about a zombie type that doesn’t approach the player to attack unless it sees the player either try to sleep/exhausted, or that they’re critically injured?

Otherwise it’s just there, following a screen or so behind the player. It doesn’t interfere it just follows you. You start to get near it and it backs further away, but it tries to never break line of sight.

Optionally it could also:  
be really hard to spot, like a chameleon affect  
have to be detected purely through sound

All those questionmarks on the map just got a lot creepier.

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**Author:** ![vache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@vache](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/vache)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/2 "2013-09-24T18:52:16Z")

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[http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=2920.msg40654](http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=2920.msg40654)

😉

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**Author:** ![An0n3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/an0n3/32/2257_2.png) [@An0n3](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/An0n3)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/3 "2013-09-24T19:16:18Z")

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Great minds think mostly alike.

What I’d like to see is a liiiiiittle different from your idea but not that much.

I like the idea of a moderately powerful mob that passively confronts the player. You see it and you think “that is going to complicate things” but isn’t an immediate threat. It’s unique in the context of the enemies in the game, which go right for the throat with maybe a little hit-and-run kiting.

Ideally if it hangs around outside immediate archery/thrown weapon range your options for dealing with it in the here and now force the player to decide between making some noise or just playing it cool until the worst possible moment.

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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:** [September 24, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/4 "2013-09-24T20:03:27Z")

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A particularly mean thing to do is have an AI set up to maintain distance to the player, just inside the monster’s detection range, so if the player tries to approach they back off. If you’re the same speed you can’t catch them without cornering or otherwise impairing their ability to move, if they’re slower than you it still takes a large amount of effort to catch them.  
See the game “Smart Kobolds” for an exquisite implementation of this.  
With this setup, something you can do is have them just maintain distance, but keep track of how many allies they can see. If the number of allies goes over a certain threshild, they attack!  
This would totally not work for zombies, and I’m not sure it’s a good fit for Cata in general, but it’s a neat idea.

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**Author:** ![An0n3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/an0n3/32/2257_2.png) [@An0n3](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/An0n3)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/5 "2013-09-24T20:07:27Z")

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Yeah, it might be a little too “intelligent” for zombies, but maybe as some sort of [REDACTED] type enemy?

Most of the mobs in the game, if they inspire any dread at all, do so because they’re strong or tough or have a weird side effect to fighting them like obscuring your screen or poison etc.

I think it’d break it up a bit to have a mob you dread because of how it passively behaves.  
The sleeper zombies you mentioned I think do that as well. Antagonize the player without directly attacking. You dread going into areas with them sprawled everything.

The lurker makes you dread the passage of time.

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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:** [September 24, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/6 "2013-09-24T20:11:42Z")

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[quote=“Kevin Granade, post:4, topic:3202”]A particularly mean thing to do is have an AI set up to maintain distance to the player, just inside the monster’s detection range, so if the player tries to approach they back off. If you’re the same speed you can’t catch them without cornering or otherwise impairing their ability to move, if they’re slower than you it still takes a large amount of effort to catch them.  
See the game “Smart Kobolds” for an exquisite implementation of this.  
With this setup, something you can do is have them just maintain distance, but keep track of how many allies they can see. If the number of allies goes over a certain threshild, they attack!  
This would totally not work for zombies, and I’m not sure it’s a good fit for Cata in general, but it’s a neat idea.[/quote]

Actually, that AI you describe would be perfect for wolves, coyotes, wild dogs, or any other sort of pack hunters, since that’s how they tend to track and hunt in the real world.

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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:** [September 24, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/7 "2013-09-24T20:21:43Z")

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I kinda want augmented zombie soldiers. Due to your character’s limitations, that can only see the outside CBMs.

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**Author:** ![An0n3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/an0n3/32/2257_2.png) [@An0n3](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/An0n3)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/8 "2013-09-24T20:23:48Z")

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> [@FunsizeNinja123](#):
>
> I kinda want augmented zombie soldiers. Due to your character’s limitations, that can only see the outside CBMs.

Isn’t that the fluff behind the shocker zombies?

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**Author:** ![GlyphGryph](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/glyphgryph/32/847_2.png) [@GlyphGryph](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/GlyphGryph)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/9 "2013-09-24T20:29:14Z")

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Stalker/Lurker critters of some sort have been suggested pretty much every month. I suggested them myself back when our branch first started in fact.

Hopefully they’ll go in eventually!

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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:** [September 24, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/10 "2013-09-24T20:43:25Z")

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> [@An0n3](#):
>
> Isn’t that the fluff behind the shocker zombies?

More or less. Shockers are filled with malfunctioning bionics. The ‘lightning’ they shoot at you is supposed to be a side-effect of being undead cyborg mutants.

Initially I thought they were kind of silly - in my experience, shooting lightning at you is something smartypants wizards do, not mindless zombies. But when I read the explanation that it’s a result of broken cybernetics, I decided it was an acceptable enough handwave.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [September 24, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/11 "2013-09-24T20:53:41Z")

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No, I mean different CMBs. Like hydraulic muscles and solar panels. Plus they’re soldiers and apparently have thick skin.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![An0n3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/an0n3/32/2257_2.png) [@An0n3](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/An0n3)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/lurker-stalker-zombies/3202/12 "2013-09-24T20:56:48Z")

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Maybe a regular zombie that, when dealt damage, shreds some meat off to reveal a terminator style endoskeleton underneath?

ILL BE BACK (FROM THE DEAD)

As long as we’re just referencing stuff, can we have a Grey Jumpsuit item with the flavor text “Wearing it makes you want to steal everything around you and start fistfights.”?