Sleepers & ambush type baddies

[Trivega]

Perhaps its already been modded or suggested, but I’m surprised there aren’t any creatures in the game that play possum or of the ambush type. Entities that lie in wait until ambushing prey that gets too close whether its you, npc, animals, or opposing creature-faction. Could make it so perception & trapping skill increases odds of detecting ambushes.

[sleeper Zeds] - appear in game as dead human bodies, until one gets too close.
[trapdoor spiders] - giant trapdoor spiders that set up in forests,etc.
[Brown Snakes/Possums] - will play dead if anything spooks it or gets too close.

These are the few I can think of, but will spice things up a bit. Sometimes it feels a little too safe to loot dead bodies or walking through the woods.

[Erk]

Even when I’m far beyond the point of being threatened by a zombie, having one I thought I’d pulped suddenly stand up beside me has given me some of the biggest scare moments in the game. I agree this would be great.

[nameless_survivor]

Yeah I’ve had that happen a couple times. That’s one reason why after killing a bunch of zombies I started dragging them into one pile, pulping the pile, then burning it.

Also, to keep the vermin under control. No point in reclaiming the world just to let the roaches have it.

[Erk]

I wish it were easier to build funeral pyres. When spawns are high it’s such a damn time sink. Feels like something my NPCs should do for me.

[nameless_survivor]

I think the jury rigged robots mod has a robot that picks up random trash and burns it. It might work on corpses and stuff. I haven’t tried to build one yet. I might have to make a squad of them to act as a hazmat decon crew.

[kevin.granade]

I’ve wanted to do this for years, but just haven’t gotten around to it. In particular if all of the zombies in an area are dormant, you could attempt to sneak past them.

[nameless_survivor]

Or stealth kill them with a knife or something.

[mentos046]

[trapdoor spiders] - giant trapdoor spiders that set up in forests,etc.

PK’s Rebalance has these. They don’t lay traps though; they just stay underground and chase you, only surfacing when they’re next to you. They’re basically giant worms except that they can also walk across above ground surfaces.

[nameless_survivor]

Maybe you could make zombies that climb up walls and hang from the ceiling, then drop down on top of you when you are under/near them. That would make looting every building scary af.

[Trivega]

Or if the body your searching suddenly reached up attempting to grab you & eat your face off. Making looting scary again would be great! Sometimes it feels too safe when you’re doing simple looting or wandering in an area you think is cleared.

[Malkeus]

How about some good old fashion chest bursters? They lay in wait in corpses and burst out when you get close enough to hit. Maybe give em a gestation period and butchering the corpse will give you embryonic bursters we can turn into organic weapons of some kind…

[Azure_Soul_Azur]

“Oh goddess Athena nooo!
Not more ailen thingys!.. Oh wait…
There on the side with the river…
Finally the wall was useful!”

• Charlotte VampIr Battle Maid of the Cathedral of Athena

… But yeah no. Please no chest monsters.

[nameless_survivor]

embryonic bursters we can turn into organic weapons of some kind…

Nah, bioweapons are for suckers. Anything that can evolve, self replicate, or act with unfettered independence is too dangerous to use as a weapon.

But I do like the idea of enemies or corpses that have parasitic infestations. Would make looting/corpse disposal scarier and less like taking out the trash. Maybe if left unattended for an extended period corpses can rarely spawn dermatiks or something rather than roaches or plague carriers.

[kevin.granade]

Fungal and triffid chest bursters make sense “Corpse Flower”.
“Oh hey, this guy have any good drug… aaahh my face!”

[TheZoneWizard]

This would make more sense if those little spore clouds got into a corpse. Pulped or otherwise. Something being able to jump out at the player at random would be a scary thing indeed.

[Malkeus]

Well, I imagine some additions would need to made to the code to even have chest bursters, wouldn’t be a stretch to give spores the option to settle into a corpse instead of creating a piece of fungal terrain or dusting a creature.

[TheZoneWizard]

Exactly what I was thinking. Those little floaters that make patches all over the place. They would settle into a corpse and have a percent chance of creating a critter.

Which would also explain how they make more monsters. The spores killed and then made a new mob. Reminds me of that Stephen King short film when he portrayed the red neck getting over taken by a space fungus. Then he blew his head off when he was barely alive from it changing him.

I would prefer the spores only having a chance of popping out. I think it would be more natural than a 100%.

[Trivega]

If scarier what if that npc you’ve decided to team up with suddenly got sick for no reason, and then POP comes the chest burster! And if you try to scan/accuse an npc they might be infected, they could get really angry & murderous if you fail that speech check.

[TheZoneWizard]

The Thing + Alien = WTF moments lol xD

This would be amazing bad-assery to have NPCs be a sleeper threat

It would have to be an overhaul to get NPCs to this point. I imagine rather difficult.

[Trivega]

The thing! Ooooh good one, i forgot about that one. I love it. Imagine being stuck in a cabin with several npc buddies you’ve been traveling with, and suddenly they start accusing You of not being who you seem? And if Npc overhauls are worked on, they could accuse each other!