In the game right now roofs are very safe places because we lack enemies that spawn there or can get up there. I think that creatures with the leap ability should be able to jump up one Z-level to follow the player onto the roof of buildings. This would make roof not as safe as they used to be without having to add entirely new enemy types. This would also make sense since enemies with the leap ability are supposed to be agile and nimble so jumping/climbing onto a roof would make perfect sense for them.
If we also where to make them spawn on roofs than this would make them a danger during night raids given that some of them have good night sight and could easily spot the player from the roof since you can’t hide behind anything. This would give the impression of them setting ambushes by waiting on roof tops and striking when seeing a survivor while also using the roofs as vantage points to spot prey.
Currently in the game we lack a enemy type that spawns on rooftops and
Turn on Experimental 3D field of vision and you’ll experience them leap up and down Z-levels.
Unless that “bug” was fixed. I had them jump through the floor from the basement or even from the outside on a lower level (probably if they got close to stairs or other structures that allows climbing).
I had Zombies spawn on roofs, but they usually just fall off, either killing themselfs or receive severely damage.
Should make jumping right through solid floor a feature. Vertical smash, just for the “oh shit” factor.
Can also confirm the zombies above ground floor have a habit of just walking to their death. Apartment towers are a regular source of surprise raining corpses for me, they’ll bash through the windows to chase down my gunfire and not survive the fall.
Something to keep in mind is vertical tile displacement is about 5x horizontal tile displacement. On top of that vertical leaps require a great deal more force than horizontal ones of the same distance.
Between those two factors, I don’t think anything in the game can clear that vertical distance with a jump.
Couldn’t many of the enemies that are able to leap like the zombie hunter or predator clear some of the distance by jumping and make it the rest of the way by scrambling up the wall given that their anatomy is better suited for this than standard human anatomy. They have claws/bony spikes that would give them better grip that a standard human. Their anatomy has also changed to be more similar to something like apes/cats since they have mutated to move swiftly on al four limbs and are able to jump further than normal human anatomy would allow, one could easily imagine that these same changes allow them to be better climbers.
Otherwise we could also say that only the more advance versions like the zombie predator or spearcat hunter are mutated enough to climber one Z-level up.
Cats are great at climbing and jumping. But if I have learned anything from their videos. There are many that just plain suck at the task as well. Hunters and predators are unlikely to jump straight up in the air as they can get some traction and perform a leap forward at their targets. I think straight upward jumping is a little more difficult because you don’t have that momentum to offset the body mass.
As a teen, I used to rollerblade. I could sail through the air no problem moving forward. But I could only jump straight upwards around 3 feet in the air.
So…maybe a new creature that is kinda on the slim and sleak could be added that does vertical jumping? But would be weak? Thin like a praying mantis with sharp blade like arms. They could have light wings to offset the boddy mass and slender strong legs to spring board them upward.
Running jump could be a thing. Like if you get enough speed you can jump a longer distance, say between rooftops. I also really like scrambling up something, at a huge cost of movement, for zombies and players alike.
Misjudged that running jump? You hit the wall and catch the gutter. Spend 400 movment to climb up with 70% chance of failure? (Y/N?)
make that chance of failure vary with str, dex and body/carry weight and that would seem reasonable
could just implement it as an action as ive never seen a jumpable location where there wasnt some space to get some momentum