Do hordes get bigger / more zombies, the more time that passes?

[a three-colored carp]

I have a character that's been alive about 2 months, longest I've stayed alive. I'm noticing a lot more zombies on the drive to downtown Riverside. Do zombies spawn at an increased rate / form bigger hordes, the longer you stay alive?

This is assuming default settings, .41 survival mode

[Equil]

Think on default settings zombies hit their peak population after 28 days, so after that date you shouldn't be seeing more than usual unless meta events/noises drew a ton to one spot or something. I could be wrong though.

[Zhikura Kishard]

As for hordes, default horde size cap is 20. That's a decent number already, but it's quite likely that you'll find 25-30, even up to 50 and more, in the area of a horde simply due to wandered pathing and outside influences, like the aforementioned meta events and noises.

It's worth noting that they actively form and dissipate regularly, because hordes are not allowed to exist inside of buildings and forests. This can lead to an excess of zombies gathering around buildings, as the ones inside are no longer part of the horde, leading to some extras on the outside moving in to backfill for the horde.

Hordes are thought to have somewhat sensitive hearing compared to the average zombie, although this is hard to pin down as they will wander, sometimes for days on end, for no apparent reason at all. This is quite rare, however, and it is usually quite easy to observe a horde from a distance and track their movement, which is often less than 20 tiles a day.

In a more direct answer to your question, no, hordes don't increase in size over time, but the increase of total zombie population can make them larger than they actually are, as well as the context of an event bringing masses together.

[tr1ck]

I like to set my horde limit to at least 300 with grouping distance at 50, but I still rarely see more than 30 in a group. Real hordes aren't implemented yet.

If you want a real horde find the nearest car with its light bar intact and put it on "yelp".

[Binnie]

They actually don't want to be in big groups.. So the large groups that are made from noises (meta events, alarms) will in time disperse and spread out a little.