Why don’t zombies attack animals?

[Narf]

I’ve been playing Project Zomboid for a while, and one thing that keeps bugging me is: why don’t zombies attack animals?

We know from movies, books, and other zombie games that some versions of the undead are obsessed with devouring anything that moves. But in Project Zomboid, animals like sheep, pigs, cows, and even chickens seem completely ignored by zombies.

So, what’s the in-game reasoning for this? Do zombies only target humans due to some specific infection rules? Is it a technical/gameplay decision? Or could this change in future updates?

Maybe someone could even make a mod that adds this behavior… or what if we found a dead animal on the road, and if we don’t inspect it properly, we could get sick from eating infected meat because a zombie bit it before it died? There are so many possibilities—even zombie animals! Why not?

What do you guys think? Would you like to see zombies attacking animals, or do you prefer the way it is now?

🚑💀

[Dr.Chazzzzz]

isn't there a sandbox option?

[Yarblatt]

I figure that the computational load of tracking all zombie/animal interactions at once would make CPUs melt down. I'm pretty sure that it's a system limitation rather than a design preference.

[Armagenesis]

You need to ask Romero for that. The zombies in Romero movies don't attack animals.

[Nachoman]

IMO, no to zombie animals.

Also, no to zombies attacking animals. By default settings the zombies are slow so they wouldn't even be able to catch up to them unless they trapped/cornered them somewhere.

Plus someone mentioned huge computational requirements. If it's 1 animal: 1 zombie it'll be fine but imagine different scenarios.

1:20
20:1
20:20
1:100
100:1
100:100

Having 100+ zombies in one cell is quite normal.

Next.

[Silmaril03]

I would assume it is on purpose for the reason that the zombies would wipe out all domestic animals within the first couple of hours of any game, which means you will not see any ever

Zombies do not have a gorge mechanic as far as I have seen on B41 multiplayer, so they would kill and eat every animal, they would also chase every animal all over creation, and with animal kept in zones, it is GG

Maybe via mods or B43 we would see animals fighting back, which would balance it out, but my assumption on B42 is to add limited behavior for animals with extensible api for modders or future dev work

[Urban Legend]

Armagenesis eredeti hozzászólása:

You need to ask Romero for that. The zombies in Romero movies don't attack animals.

The zombies in Romero's movies are inconsistent on this point. I think I remember seeing zombies eating worms and rats in the original Night of the Living Dead. Probably it's just a matter of 'they eat what they can catch', and most wild animals are easily capable of escaping a living human's simple grapple attempt, to say nothing of a shambling wreck of a walking corpse.

More importantly, though, I would guess coding this kind of interaction is challenging and processing it would be quite a workload. Since this is the first appearance of animals, I would imagine we will start out with the simpler interactions they think are necessary to even have them here in the first place and only later might we see more complex interactions.

[[Censored]]

Narf eredeti hozzászólása:

I’ve been playing Project Zomboid for a while, and one thing that keeps bugging me is: why don’t zombies attack animals?

We know from movies, books, and other zombie games that some versions of the undead are obsessed with devouring anything that moves. But in Project Zomboid, animals like sheep, pigs, cows, and even chickens seem completely ignored by zombies.

So, what’s the in-game reasoning for this? Do zombies only target humans due to some specific infection rules? Is it a technical/gameplay decision? Or could this change in future updates?

Maybe someone could even make a mod that adds this behavior… or what if we found a dead animal on the road, and if we don’t inspect it properly, we could get sick from eating infected meat because a zombie bit it before it died? There are so many possibilities—even zombie animals! Why not?

What do you guys think? Would you like to see zombies attacking animals, or do you prefer the way it is now?

🚑💀

while these guys babble - yes - there a zombies chase animal option in the settings - the animals will now pull hordes to your base - your welcome

[Nachoman]

Censored eredeti hozzászólása:

Narf eredeti hozzászólása:

I’ve been playing Project Zomboid for a while, and one thing that keeps bugging me is: why don’t zombies attack animals?

We know from movies, books, and other zombie games that some versions of the undead are obsessed with devouring anything that moves. But in Project Zomboid, animals like sheep, pigs, cows, and even chickens seem completely ignored by zombies.

So, what’s the in-game reasoning for this? Do zombies only target humans due to some specific infection rules? Is it a technical/gameplay decision? Or could this change in future updates?

Maybe someone could even make a mod that adds this behavior… or what if we found a dead animal on the road, and if we don’t inspect it properly, we could get sick from eating infected meat because a zombie bit it before it died? There are so many possibilities—even zombie animals! Why not?

What do you guys think? Would you like to see zombies attacking animals, or do you prefer the way it is now?

🚑💀

while these guys babble - yes - there a zombies chase animal option in the settings - the animals will now pull hordes to your base - your welcome

That option is labeled: Animals attract Zombies. Tooltip is: If true animal calls will attract nearby zombies.

Nothing about chasing or attacking animals. So it seems similar to a meta shotgun event where they're just lured to the sound.

If you search for it in a reddit post someone said that devs said they will not do this (zombies attacking animals) so husbandry wouldn't be too frustrating.

Not sure how accurate that is as I haven't kept up with all dev posts.

[VANGUARD]

The virus can't infect animals, so it doesn't care about them.
On the other hand zombies need some sort of sustenance to keep going.
I'm split on the issue whether they should attack animals or not.

[★Rainmaker★]

VANGUARD eredeti hozzászólása:

On the other hand zombies need some sort of sustenance to keep going.

I seem to remember that Romero zombies (which PZ zombies are heavily based on) do not need any sustenance. They don't eat to satisfy a hunger, and in fact no matter how much they eat, they can't even process it.

What's the explanation for it, you may ask? Space radiation from Venus. That's the explanation, and it works for me, lol.

[VANGUARD]

Maybe we all should adapt to use space radiation from Venus then.
Seems really convenient to me :)

[96sawa3]

Just having livestock running around in fear of approaching zombies is already causing chaos.
If they actually started attacking us, it would be impossible to control them.
I'm also worried about the strain it would place on my computer's processing power.

[Rincewind]

thank god Z´s don´t attack animals... imagine how frustating it would be if you wake up the next day and all animals are dead... no thanks.

[Grishnerf]

Yarblatt eredeti hozzászólása:

I figure that the computational load of tracking all zombie/animal interactions at once would make CPUs melt down. I'm pretty sure that it's a system limitation rather than a design preference.

this is the right answer.

[Naustghoul]

Beyond the technical requirements, if you want to just look lore wise, zombies are not interested in animals because they do not have the one compatible thing that humans have... and I am NOT disparaging any religion or beliefs here (this is conjecture and fantasy remember.)

Zombies are missing their driving life force of soul. They want to fill themselves with one, so they consume to fill themselves up. Animals just do not have the right, frequency/type/whatever to do so. So zombies are not interested in them.

Another is that viral strains that cannot jump species look for a vector to a biome they can inhabit, incubate in, and spread from. Since animals will not work, human targets we get.

I mean if you look at the only fictional instances of cross species contamination, look tot he Resident Evil series. That showcases, for the most part, a virus that will use any biological entity to house and propagate itself.