Every scratch is lethal

[Enrico Pallazzo]

Hi, I've been playing for some 35 hours now, and I've gone through atleast 12 characters. I always die in the first week, and It's always slow zombification from the first scratch. The wiki says the scratch zombie infection chance is 7% percent, but in my experience it's like 90%. I try to keep my clothes clean, I use disinfectant, sterilised bandages, but It's no use. If I get a Laceration or Bite, i just start over cause I know I'm dead anyway.
So, are the wiki numbers ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, or what?

Edit: To all those saying zombie infection is not wound infection, I know. When I write zombie infection I mean zombie infection.
I'm just tired, I would like one of my characters to survive a bit longer than a fewe weeks, but every single scratch is a death sentence.
After my third character, I've run a statistic, my scratch zombification chance is 87% percent.
I just think that the official number of 7% is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Brainslug]

Bites are 100% zombification. Can't remember what percentage lacerations are - BUT in general, if you get scratched and bitten that often you are doing that whole "survival" part horribly wrong. :)

[Rincewind]

just turn it off
In every playthrough i allways turn zombification off as long there don´t exist any possible heal for it.

[ronvon]

well how many times did you get scratched?

[Gyang]

I've been running into something similar. Every playthrough, on my first (and only) scratch from a zombie, my character is turning up infected with the virus. That's been the last 5 characters for me.

I know it has to just be super unlucky, given the 7% chance from scratches, but it still sucks to always feel the only time I take damage that I will most likely die.

I'd like to keep it on, as it makes sense immersion wise, I just find the probability *feels* higher than 7% you know?

[saurce]

I had the same experience as well. Many, many of my characters have died to their first scratch. Now, I'm playing a character who has survived two scratches and a laceration.

Fortify yourself and kill more zombies. You'll endure one day. Good luck.

[Amereth]

I don't think i ever became a zombie from a scratch. Most of my death are me being surrounded and eaten like a pumpkin.

There is only one acceptable death and it is the death of a warrior.

joke aside, laceration or scratch can indeed turn you, but if you deal with infections and keep the bonus you get from food, you should be fine most of the time.

If you are bitten, just take every weapon you have and go Rambo on those meatbags.

[quothz]

Originally posted by Amereth:

being surrounded and eaten like a pumpkin.

Now wait just a darned minute. I think we all need more information about how you eat pumpkins. How many people join you in eating a typical, medium pumpkin? Do you do the same with butternut squash? Do you go for really big pumpkins for large groups, or multiples?

[Made in-Human]

I personally have only dealt with this twice in my short time. One time iirc it wasn't even a scratch from a zombie, but a deep unhealing wound in my hand from jumping a broken window. Second time I recovered completely from the wound but my guy still died from the virus.

Maybe it's the low not-so-low percentage. I sometimes believe there must be something in the water or maybe some food is tainted with the virus, idk

[Makkenhoff]

Tip one: Avoid risky melee, by this I mean don't put yourself into high threat situations to start with. Walking away from the loot is an effective strategy for not dying.

Tip two: Sandbox your Zombie Apoc: everyone's infected AND the infection is not lethal is a blast even on multiplayer. Results in a bite/scratch/laceration that won't kill you at all, unless you bleed out and/or are overwhelmed. Still, I've got well over 1k hours clocked in since the Baldspot and Kate days on Desura - death is going to happen and it's a lot easier to accept once you get over the mentality of 'I am the hero of my story" that is so often in gaming.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by Gyangrene:

I just find the probability *feels* higher than 7%

That's just how confirmation bias works. You "feel" like you shouldn't be infected as often as you are, so you convince yourself the stated percentage chance* is wrong.
And by "you" I don't mean *you* specifically - I mean "you" as every human being with emotions. ;)

*Also, if the "7% infection chance" is from the wiki...well, it's a wiki. There's a VERY good possibility that value is wrong, since who knows who wrote that number and where they got that value from.

[OG.UA SAPUTRA]

... how many times were you scratched ? if you got scratched like 20 times in a week then yeah

[Death]

Originally posted by DasaKamov:

Originally posted by Gyangrene:

I just find the probability *feels* higher than 7%

That's just how confirmation bias works. You "feel" like you shouldn't be infected as often as you are, so you convince yourself the stated percentage chance* is wrong.
And by "you" I don't mean *you* specifically - I mean "you" as every human being with emotions. ;)

*Also, if the "7% infection chance" is from the wiki...well, it's a wiki. There's a VERY good possibility that value is wrong, since who knows who wrote that number and where they got that value from.

The 7% was confirmed by the devs some time ago. So it's correct. For the record it goes 7% for scratches, 25% for lacerations and 100% for bites. All dev confirmed.