# Zombies Beatable with Skewers, Lighter
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849
**Category:** The Drawing Board
**Created:** [June 21, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849 "2013-06-21T21:19:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/1 "2013-06-21T21:19:37Z")
Can zombies be adjusted so they don’t wander into fire. As of right now, I can drop a skewer on the ground, light it with a match, and wait on the other side of it as zombies, potentially huge mobs of zombies, wander into it and autogib. A small fire no less. It doesn’t even cost an action to drop the skewer or to light it, making you essentially invulnerable to zombies. LAME.
Some possible solutions:
Make zombies less vulnerable to fire. A LOT LESS.
Make the unique zombies avoid fire (spitters, shockers, boomers etc)
Make their flesh melt off and become skeletons, which are invulnerable to fire I think…
Make the fire activate some kind of defense mechanism in the virus/bacteria that’s driving them, making them become supercharged. They will burn like torches and eventually die, but will in the meantime become faster, stronger, more infectious etc…
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### Author:  [@Stevensonz](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Stevensonz)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/2 "2013-06-21T21:39:08Z")
[quote=“Cinghiale, post:1, topic:1849”]Can zombies be adjusted so they don’t wander into fire. As of right now, I can drop a skewer on the ground, light it with a match, and wait on the other side of it as zombies, potentially huge mobs of zombies, wander into it and autogib. A small fire no less. It doesn’t even cost an action to drop the skewer or to light it, making you essentially invulnerable to zombies. LAME.
Some possible solutions:
Make zombies less vulnerable to fire. A LOT LESS.
Make the unique zombies avoid fire (spitters, shockers, boomers etc)
Make their flesh melt off and become skeletons, which are invulnerable to fire I think…
Make the fire activate some kind of defense mechanism in the virus/bacteria that’s driving them, making them become supercharged. They will burn like torches and eventually die, but will in the meantime become faster, stronger, more infectious etc…[/quote]
it’s the small fire field itself that does big dmg not the on-fire effect as the on-fire effect does moderate dmg but that yellow/light red 4 will burn even the hulk.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/3 "2013-06-21T22:34:26Z")
Fixing this problem would require a complete re-write.
You can’t just change core game files and expect nothing to break, because everything breaks! All the time! Even if you don’t change anything!
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### Author:  [@Bladerock](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Bladerock)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/4 "2013-06-22T00:49:39Z")
It was said in another thread that blobs already avoid fire, so the zombies (being the same creatures) will too. Once someone gets around to it.
Also, this is one of those things that makes players feel clever when they discover them. Kinda a dick move to go “This should be completely removed because it’s effective.”
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### Author:  [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/5 "2013-06-22T01:01:31Z")
[quote=“Bladerock, post:4, topic:1849”]It was said in another thread that blobs already avoid fire, so the zombies (being the same creatures) will too. Once someone gets around to it.
Also, this is one of those things that makes players feel clever when they discover them. Kinda a dick move to go “This should be completely removed because it’s effective.”[/quote]
Seconded. It’s possible that controlling a zed impinges on the Blob’s ability to promptly process threats. As for the effectiveness=removal problem, yeah, I’ve seen that in other games. Probably not Cinghiale’s reasoning, but that’s the feeling I’m getting too. Sorry, Cinghiale.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/6 "2013-06-22T02:16:24Z")
> [@Bladerock](#):
>
> Also, this is one of those things that makes players feel clever when they discover them. Kinda a dick move to go “This should be completely removed because it’s effective.”
Well, I think this crosses the line from effective to basically cheating. And the “discovery” is that a huge amount of the game’s challenge can be arbitrarily eliminated. There is effectively no threat from any zombies at any point if you make this connection. You can walk within five squares of a hulk, or 10 hulks, 1 hp away from death, without skills or weapons of any kind, and still automatically win with some sticks and a bic lighter. I mean, you can play without doing this (I do) but knowing that you have a pocketful of +9999 BBQ Sticks of Oblivion kind of takes the tension away don’t you think?
It seems like there could be some work arounds that wouldn’t be too code shattering. Make it so that only “raging” fires can hurt zombies. Or yeah just make them avoid them like blobs.
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### Author:  [@utunnels](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/utunnels)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/7 "2013-06-22T02:24:44Z")
It is not the problem of zombies, but fire. Something like light a fire on a pack of ciga and roast meat.
Also lighting a fire should cost some turns. It would make it less efficient in combat.
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### Author:  [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/zombies-beatable-with-skewers-lighter/1849/8 "2013-06-22T03:08:21Z")
Personally IMO the answer here isn’t to make zombies go avoid fire or go into some super-mode, but rather simply to make it so that the pathing algorithm will correctly path them out of the fire.