massive horde outside my base???

[George]

story time cuz this was the biggest surprise in my 160 hrs playing but you could just skip to the last paragraph for my actual question itself

So it's a month in, 1100 zombies killed and because most of that was around my base following the HC event I THOUGHT the perimeter around the Rosewood FD&PD buildings was clear. There's a thunderstorm going about and I was just driving back to my base in the FD building from the bar way north. It's also 11 PM and I’m going back cuz my character is tired.

I got near my base, and I saw nothing driving down the street west of the FD. Once I got out of my car directly in front of my garage door, I scanned the field north of the building, the street south of it and even the one west of it that I came down through the heavy rain. I vividly remember saying to myself in my head "aight nothing followed me.” So I go inside, depot a bunch of stuff taking like 2-3 minutes to do so.

After spending a solid minute outside my base confirming that everything was clear, and spending a good amount of time putting stuff in my base, I get a sense of security. As I walk outside to take more stuff out the trunk, I open the garage door. Because of the thunderstorm, I couldn't hear anything outside. I press e expecting a peaceful stroll spanning 10 feet towards my trunk. Instead, there's at least 30 zombies DIRECTLY outside my garage door. They weren't even banging on it... My heart dropped and in panic I jogged past them—thank God without tripping—firing a single shot from my pistol. Then I notice that there were easily 100 in the street, outside the FD and outside the PD combined. Quickly recognizing that I didn’t have the resources to clear them all, I spammed the living ♥♥♥♥ out of Q and walked west down the road under the police station.

I don't think I'll forget how nervous I was leading that gigantic horde away—in near pitch black darkness that was broken only by my flashlight—with my character, by now, very tired, hungry and thirsty, and the overwhelming sound of thunder and heavy rain blaring in my ears, barely drowning out the moaning of the undead. But… why? How did such a large group of zombies congregate around the street? And not just after I had cleared the area during the helicopter event enjoying a week or two of peace, but also in literally *no more than 5 minutes?*

[BanDHMO]

Freaking cities make everything more complicated, don't they? :) What would've been a quick mop-up job in the countryside becomes a horde requiring more resources than you have in the heart of the city.

But, hey, you got a seriously cool story out of it and some real-life adrenaline, so there's that. :D

Personally, I try to have multiple bases for just such rare cases, and a couple of vehicles parked a walking distance away from each base, but not right next to it. So that if the base is overrun for whatever reason, I can at least drive to the next one and sleep, regroup, and gear up for a mission to secure the main base again.

[𝔗𝔢𝔞 ❀]

Magic zeds, ready to party in the rain.

[George]

Originally posted by BanDHMO:

Freaking cities make everything more complicated, don't they? :) What would've been a quick mop-up job in the countryside becomes a horde requiring more resources than you have in the heart of the city.

But, hey, you got a seriously cool story out of it and some real-life adrenaline, so there's that. :D

Personally, I try to have multiple bases for just such rare cases, and a couple of vehicles parked a walking distance away from each base, but not right next to it. So that if the base is overrun for whatever reason, I can at least drive to the next one and sleep, regroup, and gear up for a mission to secure the main base again.

Yeah I was really surprised by this horde since I was getting used to the occasional 3-5 that decide to show up out of nowhere in the morning. But dozens in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm REALLY threw me off. I'll keep that strategy in mind cuz it's very doable considering the amount of gated houses in Rosewood.

[George]

Originally posted by 𝔗𝔢𝔞 ❀:

Magic zeds, ready to party in the rain.

That party will have to wait in the forest until I have enough ammo for em all. But they're definitely gonna come back till then so... damn.

Originally posted by Cat Supremacist SM:

It's all about how spawning zeds work, zeds spawn in cells outside of the one you're in even if they belong in it, then they'll move inwards to equalize the space which is where migration comes in. It's more then likely you crossed a zed spawning boundary, as for the ones in front of your garage I'm not sure. Seems a little weird but it's possible they followed, zeds can follow a sound up to 100 tiles on default apoc.

PS : By your post, you clearly have a knack for writing stories. Would love to read more of your adventures if you ever made a post or "guide" with them :P

Soooo they spawned outside the cell with my base, and they moved into my cell? Cuz from there they were likely drawn to the front of the door by one my hundreds of digital watches that I haven't disassembled until I can finish Electrical Vol. 1... lol. But damn is it really that loud to draw in zeds from the whole cell? Cuz if it wasn't the watches I'm not sure what else it could be.

Still, I'm baffled by the fact that they populated the cell and got drawn to my base in a handful of minutes. Just when I was beginning to get comfortable in my month old save, this happens lol. Lot of work ahead for this character, cuz the horde is sitting in the cornfield bordering Rosewood... not that far honestly

And thanks for the compliment abt my writing! I had to put some effort into the post for such a good moment on this game. If I get trolled by the game in the future something like this is probably gonna pop up on steam forums again :)

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by George:

Originally posted by 𝔗𝔢𝔞 ❀:

Some text

Text

Originally posted by Cat Supremacist SM:

More text

Even More text.

Sorry i edited it:) I try to keep short this time.
So the thing is regarding the zombies unnatural behaviour during thunderstorm is an issue i have been keeping saying for a LONG LONG WHILE:)
(Once even Enigma replied to it saying it is not what i am thinking:P But i am still not convinced!)

The thing is, a thunderstorm, hail, any kind of weather effect with big audible sounds seems to trigger migration events. Firstly you killing all the zeds in the cell of Rosewood FD would spawn a few zombies in that cell, and a few outside. The rest should be migrating in from someplace. This can happen in smaller groups or in one large group, when certain close-by cells are selected that have overpopulation to move toward a less populated one.(Regarding how far these selected cells are matters only how long it takes for them to get to your base.)
That is the usual working. However during Thunderstorm and after a Thunderstorm (and such weather events) if you cruise around you can encounter multiple MASSIVE HORDE MIGRATIONS (few hundred zeds usually around 300-700).
I nearly allways came upon such when i was playing apocalypse. (Since i play harsher settings these are nothing out of the ordinary now, since they are a common happenstance.) One of these migration paths is one where from someplace due south, a huge horde comes from the south towards WP. (Either from Marsh Ridge, or the Trainyard. It seems certain zombie hot spots tend to overpopulate faster in Apocalypse and this triggers the massive migration.)

My guess is that those zombies you encountered came from March Ridge, or the Prison. And when they entered your cell they behaviour might have changed a bit, since before entering the cell you are active in, they are just variables. They become zombies when they reach your extended field of vision.

Actually since you already had the FD as your base, you should have just parked your car in the garage, so as to not need to go out during a Thunderstorm:) Going outside at night, while your vision is impaired along with your hearing due to the weather is a very very bad idea;)
(Trust me, I got caught outside during thunderstorm, fog with hailstorm outside a few times because i did not find the EBS-s channel yet. And those times can be REALLY deadly on foot.:P)

[BanDHMO]

Originally posted by George:

Originally posted by BanDHMO:

Personally, I try to have multiple bases for just such rare cases, and a couple of vehicles parked a walking distance away from each base, but not right next to it. So that if the base is overrun for whatever reason, I can at least drive to the next one and sleep, regroup, and gear up for a mission to secure the main base again.

I'll keep that strategy in mind cuz it's very doable considering the amount of gated houses in Rosewood.

Note that it's less doable within the city. You need to actually visit the alternate base(s) and clear them out periodically. If you have low respawn set and if your base is in the countryside, it's a lot simpler, but if you are talking about just having another base in the heart of the city, you might just find it surrounded by zombies when you get there in the middle of the night in case of an emergency.

My main thing is to get out of the cities. Have a base at the very edge of town for scavenging runs and storing what I find, and another one or more in the country. I want to be able to fall back into a country base if things get too messy.