Currently I’m trying a new map with city size 10 with dynamic spawn. My character being a hunter, starting with bow and some arrows. So far it’s being interesting since I have no idea if he will live though the night.
But there needs to be some longer-term goals-quests.
I like the idea of every map having a larger & denser city somewhere faraway that has some challenging buildings.
Or maybe different kinds of ‘citys’;
A Collage campus, large area with librarys & dorms and science Zs.
A Military base, Barracks, Armoury, things that kill you. Possibly have some bases not be over run by zombies.
I just feel there needs to be some places that are A) Hard to find B) Hard to loot, and C) Have a chance of killing a survivor.
I keep hoping for a focus on NPC and faction development, as I would like an endgame goal of building a fort/settlement populated with NPCs that is attacked by and regularly repels zombies. Becoming a powerful character and keeping yourself alive is never going to be challenging enough for experienced players, but building a strong settlement full of effective NPCs that can turn back a tide of zombies has much more potential.
[quote=“John Candlebury, post:3, topic:5635”]B) Increase the number of zombies n town to ridiculous amounts once the first week is done.
More zombies more fun. Well, probably…[/quote]
My current game I have spawn rate set to 50, and I agree with Murphy, it mainly becomes enormously tedious. 500 zombies in a hotel…
I think for my next game I’m going to set spawn to normal, but reduce loot rate instead, so you really have to search for those good things.
[quote=“John Candlebury, post:3, topic:5635”]A) Never become a"true" survivor.
Like in, role-play like you would if you were an actor/character of your favorite zombie media. Avoid the strongest of weapons and the most protective of clothes. This is what I do, use more basic or improvised weapons (machetes, spears, shovels, mops, small caliber guns) and wear civilian clothes/hunting. (If you played DayZ, aim for something like the clothes most character models wear). And if you are worried about loosing your characters, keep a rivtech gun on you all the time to save yourself from real awful situations). Aka make a well rounded character and aim for telling a story instead of winning.[/quote]
Sometimes you end up shedding more than you intended for the sake of comfort. When summer and the 90+ degree weather came rolling around, I shed pretty much everything that provided warmth, leaving only a bikini top, boyshorts, a tactical dump pouch and utility vest, not counting the backpacks I use for hauling large volumes. I feel like that’s actually from something. In before the pictures of Lara Croft.
[quote=“HeadWar, post:25, topic:5635”][quote=“John Candlebury, post:3, topic:5635”]B) Increase the number of zombies n town to ridiculous amounts once the first week is done.
More zombies more fun. Well, probably…[/quote]
My current game I have spawn rate set to 50, and I agree with Murphy, it mainly becomes enormously tedious. 500 zombies in a hotel…
I think for my next game I’m going to set spawn to normal, but reduce loot rate instead, so you really have to search for those good things.[/quote]
Turning loot down does help (a tiny bit). Right now I play at 2-3x normal Z spawn, and set loot at around half as frequent (0.4-0.5 most times). It can make the first couple weeks of survival more difficult for sure, but nothing will extend the game out past that right now. Once you crest the initial learning curve you’ve basically broken the game over your knee. You can push through the special sites as suggested in this thread, but there isn’t much reason to do so other than for the thrill of it, so once you do it you’ll be back to square one again.
My current survivor I forced myself to play with only run-of-the-mill items I find, no crafting anything too super-good. So no survivor gear (that is basically an I-win button) and I never make some of the crazier physics-breaking melee weapons. No bionics, and no special/targeted mutations (I drank random normal mutagens and purifier I found on science corpses and only keep things if they don’t make me into a monster).
By summer, armed with only the worst firearms I could find, two knives (1 dive, 1 trench) and clothes I found and fixed with a sewing kit I’m basically unkillable. Even with hordes in (they’re currently just a big dynamic spawn point that follows you around the map).
The Enemy Variety mod (http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=5600.0) is a little bit odd in that it has “human” enemies that are on the same faction as the monsters, and apparently top hats and monocles are de rigueur amonth the zombified wealthy, but it does add an interesting challenge in the form of firebreathing zombies (get close and you’re probably dead), exploding zombies (melee kills are a bad idea), zombie Titans that shrug off grenade launchers and can punch down walls, and so on. Worth a look, if you’re looking for a week 2-10 challenge.
[quote=“CylonOven, post:9, topic:5635”]RPing a new char sounds like a nice idea, however I think it would eventually turn into the same situation, too powerful for the environment.
Most RLs have ever increasing difficulty and item spawns. Taking Crawl as an example, finding some artifact is great and being more powerful is an awesome feeling, but as you descend into insanity the dungeon; things get harder and harder and it remains challenging.
In CDDA once I reach a point where I can take the fight to the Zs without fear, the game starts to loose its appeal. There is no endgame other then endless driving from city to identical city.
I feel that there should be some final goal that players can try for once then have reach their peak.[/quote]
I typically make my own end goals like storming into a city with like 1000 rounds of ammo and fast firing gun and absolutely slaughtering huge masses of…well everything. Or sitting on a farm and reading some books. After surviving ya gotta make your own missions and objectives.
Simple, Start searching for your homeland of Random Numbers, and preform a crusade against the vile thing called: Luck!!
Or just do what most people do, make the shopping cart of lag, and destroy the world with your magical super powers mininukes by placing them in a shopping cart and launch them at about… 4000 miles per hour.
Assuming you don’t crash into a zombear or tree, you should be completely and utterly destoryed having !!!FUN!!!