The crawler

Rivet · 2013-11-07T05:34:54.000Z

Vronkio:

How feasible would it be to make them invisible to the player if they were behind certain things like counters and such, only being visible when the line of sight permited? Maybe that would make for some surprise encounters which seems interesting.

This dovetails into the proposed stealth system that’s been talked about. Once that’s in place, I expect that things like small monsters hiding behind furniture will follow naturally.

moist_zombie · 2013-11-07T06:17:38.000Z

Nice idea!! … +3! These would be good to spawn around any kind of destruction or wreckage, and it’d be cool if we could get the torso dismemberment action going on where a full-fledged zombie could be chopped or blown into crawler form during gameplay

Belteshazzar · 2013-11-07T08:08:24.000Z

I think the crawler is a good idea, albeit in my opinion strictly a hack around the idea of basic body parts for monsters in addition to NPCs (more Fallout series vats, or X-com style ‘basic limbs’ than DF’s “modeled down to the layers of skin, hair, bone density, and fingernails.”)

But that may be because I want to see bits reanimating and trying out solo careers on occasion as the blob tries to bootstrap its way into making the best of it’s situation, pasting itself back together or filling in the blanks wholesale with mutations. Since even the player is technically infected it would be hilarious to be attacked by your own severed arm on occasion (terrifying again when it stalks you, inevitably growing into a mutation-riddled doppelganger. Yet it still doesn’t feel… whole.)

Hazmat zombies I could see being a type along the lines of the Police, Military, Child, or Shocker zombies (being based on some equipment or profession before they died, rather than subsequent changes.) Medical+Fema Reponse teams, CBRN Squads, Survivalists, Research Teams, and Govt ViPs might all be people who could be ‘turned’ while in a suit.

Not much suggestion as to how Hazmat zombies would fight differently though except that they probably have really cruddy hearing/scent, but resilience vs cutting or chemical weapons (gas grenades.)

WeendVidente · 2013-11-07T08:58:24.000Z

I think, this game in need for zombie dissection (DF-like limb system)

FunsizeNinja123 · 2013-11-07T13:44:51.000Z

“You whack the zombie with your zombie arm”

TheNineRings · 2013-11-07T19:13:46.000Z

I agree that enemies do need individual limbs as well, but I think that it would be quite a bit of work to implement it, when monsters currently work fine as they are.

BadSniper · 2013-11-07T19:31:34.000Z

[quote=“Belteshazzar, post:19, topic:3840”]Not much suggestion as to how Hazmat zombies would fight differently though except that they probably have really cruddy hearing/scent, but resilience vs cutting or chemical weapons (gas grenades.)[/quote]Perhaps upping their armor against cutting (bullets should still deal some damage, though; hazmat suits aren’t made of ceramic-plated kevlar), dropping their sight down to 10 or 15 tiles, and removing their [SMELLS] or whatever tag. Not entirely sure how one would go about creating their chemical resistance, however; I’ll have to look into that later.

GlyphGryph · 2013-11-07T19:36:28.000Z

…

I just had a horrible realization.

The stuff Belteshazzar describes isn’t possible with the current game lore which requires a certain density of biomass for resurrection, and will probably stay that way - with one notable exception.

Hulks. Hulks could totally get chopped in half and still have both parts with sufficient biomass to resurrect individually.

A hulk crawler(top half) and hulk stomper(top half) are now hunting you. Is this better or worse than the original hulk?

BadSniper · 2013-11-07T19:39:10.000Z

[quote=“GlyphGryph, post:24, topic:3840”]The stuff Belteshazzar describes isn’t possible with the current game lore which requires a certain density of biomass for resurrection[/quote]According to the current lore, then, how much biomass is required to resurrect successfully?

GlyphGryph · 2013-11-07T19:42:03.000Z

A bit over 60lbs is about right, from memory.

BadSniper · 2013-11-07T19:47:23.000Z

So everything from the waist up from an average human should be about right, assuming our “normal” zombies all weighed about 185 pounds before zombification. Thus, the torso of a regular Z should be just barely enough biomass to resurrect.

RadaRadaRada · 2013-11-07T19:52:33.000Z

[quote=“GlyphGryph, post:24, topic:3840”]…

I just had a horrible realization.

The stuff Belteshazzar describes isn’t possible with the current game lore which requires a certain density of biomass for resurrection, and will probably stay that way - with one notable exception.

Hulks. Hulks could totally get chopped in half and still have both parts with sufficient biomass to resurrect individually.

A hulk crawler(top half) and hulk stomper(top half) are now hunting you. Is this better or worse than the original hulk?[/quote]

Or, the zombie stayed “alive” after loosing the lower part of body, thus circumventing the need for resurrection process to begin anew?

GlyphGryph · 2013-11-07T20:40:28.000Z

Zombies die if they can’t mantain biomass or expand their current biomass (like it does with insects) to compensate. If a limb was cut off, it would either need to mutate rapidly or it would quickly become inert.

FunsizeNinja123 · 2013-11-07T20:52:50.000Z

“you slice the zombies leg off!”
“what is this?”
“the zombie is mutating!”
“the zombie has turned into a one-legged hulk”

system · 2013-11-07T21:28:01.000Z

Crawlers, you say?
I’m TOTALLY okay with crawlers.

large01.jpg800×600

kevin.granade · 2013-11-07T22:05:59.000Z

GlyphGryph:

Zombies die if they can’t mantain biomass or expand their current biomass (like it does with insects) to compensate. If a limb was cut off, it would either need to mutate rapidly or it would quickly become inert.

So for example you’re fighting in a window, chopping zombies to pieces and pushing them out into a pile just outside* the window, then a zombie torso falls on the pile…

*Or just inside the window, right under your feet…

John_Candlebury · 2013-11-08T09:54:17.000Z

[quote=“GlyphGryph, post:24, topic:3840”]…

I just had a horrible realization.

The stuff Belteshazzar describes isn’t possible with the current game lore which requires a certain density of biomass for resurrection, and will probably stay that way - with one notable exception.

Hulks. Hulks could totally get chopped in half and still have both parts with sufficient biomass to resurrect individually.

A hulk crawler(top half) and hulk stomper(top half) are now hunting you. Is this better or worse than the original hulk?[/quote]

One could change the lore to require a certain amount of nervous tissue instead of just simple biomass, justifing that small critters actually become zombies, just that they don’t move as the blob can’t exert control over the body and just gives up as it has no way to collect the resources to expand it.

Then after the body is successfully under its control, it starts collecting biomass to expand and mutate it’s host nervous system, in order to decentralize it through the body.

GlyphGryph · 2013-11-08T16:27:06.000Z

We could - but it would mean zombies would probably get a good deal tougher as they would become effective impossible to kill, and picking up a few pieces of zombie meat would have them merge together into some sort of meat gremlin in your backpack, and who wants that?

TheNineRings · 2013-11-08T17:24:36.000Z

I want that.

John_Candlebury · 2013-11-08T23:58:32.000Z

GlyphGryph:

We could - but it would mean zombies would probably get a good deal tougher as they would become effective impossible to kill, and picking up a few pieces of zombie meat would have them merge together into some sort of meat gremlin in your backpack, and who wants that?

Not necessarily one could justify their mortality by saying that quick loss of significant quantities of this neural network would stun the blob (AKA kill the zombie), something that would force the blob to install its network on the much more protected torso of the host to avoid being stunned lets say in the case of losing a leg.

And well shouldnt the meat merge into a monster under the current lore anyway (proven of course there is enough biomass) actually it should be easier under the current lore as normal meat doesn’t has much nerves inside them (well compared to other kinds of tissue)