"Zombies OP"

[Jeshbaal]

So, before everyone starts throwing out the "Git gud" garbage, I feel as though I'm fairly accomplished in the game. I have quite a few more achieves to get, but then again, I'm not going for achieves, just playing with friends for fun, and have just over 200 hours.

I've seen some of the other posts about people complaining about the zombies being OP. I have to agree to some extent. I don't know what difficulty other people are playing on, but on the server I dedicatedly host, we have spawn set to either 125% or 150%, depending on what we're feeling at the time. We have zombie difficulty set to max. Run at night, etc.

I do empathize with people a little bit. There's no way a zombie should, when I have a 600 crossbow with good bolts, not go down after 4+ headshots. If I'm just starting the game, a new adventure with friends, and one of us happens to be lucky enough to find a, say 150+ (specificially thinking of a 169 I found) pistol in a toilet or on a zombie within the first 30 minutes of play, it should not take 10 or more headshots to kill a zombie. Yes. Actual headshots. I'm not talking about when you're melee-ing a zombie with the crosshairs on their head and their arm got in the way and you felt justified in saying it was a "Headshot."

In addition to zombies being unrealisticly difficult to kill in the first couple out of game hours, I feel that their ability to pulverize concrete and metal in a matter of seconds, before you can realistically get a base actually going, or keep it standing is ridiculous. How does rotting flesh break through concrete, ever, let alone in a matter of seconds. Yes. Seconds. When you have a small horde (hardly a horde) or 7-10 that are spawning in the direction of your base on day 3 (remember all you people that are saying, "Avoid Zombies when you begin" but then a small horde spawns just below your base, there's only so much you can do to avoid it), and when 3+ zombies stack to hit the same concrete block/pillar/what have you, and it takes them just a matter of 30 seconds in game to completely plow through at least 2+ pillars...it gets exhausting to rebuild, especially when you're level 3 and don't have the capability of getting concrete yet.

Honestly, these are my *main* two issues that I have. Rather than this be a complain-fest, I'm looking for people, these "Experienced" and "got gud" people to provide constructive, helpful advice on how to deal with these issues that are present. Even as a lore perspective, not even cheesy movies allow zombies to burst through 1 meter thick solid concrete blocks, so how do i resolve that it's *so* easy in this game? I understand that, honestly there has to be some sort of challenge, or else it's just a minecraft game. I get that. But, is there no better way?

Your thoughts?

[ANZAC]

main thing I think you need to do is experiment with your builds. The great wall of china approach does not work with this game... ok well.. it does... but the repair bills are huge best cost free defence is a row of poles 1 high and behind it a line of poles to look like a railing kep it within 5-6 of ur base so they dont spawn on the wrong side of it. They dont hit it, but bewarned it is NOT foolproof if dogs are against it zombies will jump ontop of the dogs and come on over... also crawlers (which arent a real issue) will crawl under it... cops may also blow on it but ferals and all that will stand at the railing and just wait for you to whack em to hell
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1722967667729964&set=a.540812315945511.156499.100000502415189&type=3

Of course this by no means has you now smashing them with explosive bolts or launchers as uneven terrain on their side ruins the majestic that is a simple pole fence and has them obliterate it and you followed by your base on respawn inside what your trying to defend

[SmilesLikeJoker]

I tend to think misdirection is the key to keeping zombies from even attacking your main base. Never plan to have your main base be the only place you plan to fight the horde. Your main base should be your last resort. If it's not horde night and you have them show up at your base, draw them away! Make them follow you! Protect your base with misdirection!

Small secondary fighting pits, underground passages/rooms, basically any place but your main base. I have an underground room leading away from my base about 40 blocks. I use it for furnaces, campfires, crafting, and basically a safe place if I don't even feel like fighting the horde. On horde night, they just hover above my head since they can't dig (flat ground) and I never have to worry about them attacking my base.

Once you truly get settled and built up, then you can use your main base to find the horde. By then you'll have some ideas about traps and such that will keep them out and damage minimal.

[Liquid ID]

Originally posted by Razzey:

I don't know what difficulty other people are playing on, but on the server I dedicatedly host, we have spawn set to either 125% or 150%, depending on what we're feeling at the time. We have zombie difficulty set to max. Run at night, etc.

Sets higher than normal zombie spawn and max difficulty. Complains about enemies being OP...
I barely made it past this part, it was just that blatantly moronic.

I'm looking for people, these "Experienced" and "got gud" people to provide constructive, helpful advice on how to deal with these issues that are present.

Turn down the difficulty and adjust server settings to something more agreeable to you? Change the block durabilities, or reduce zombie block damage? Maybe wait until the game is out of alpha? Maybe move on and come back later?

[Swagmaster Love 🇪🇺]

Originally posted by Razzey:

I've seen some of the other posts about people complaining about the zombies being OP. I have to agree to some extent. I don't know what difficulty other people are playing on, but on the server I dedicatedly host, we have spawn set to either 125% or 150%, depending on what we're feeling at the time. We have zombie difficulty set to max. Run at night, etc.

1. Play on maximum difficulty
2. Complain on the forums about zombies being very strong
3. ???

The problem is obviously your intelligence, not the game.
Some people.....

[LunarMorph]

Tips:

#1) Begin underground, keep your Campfire and Forges at a distance away from your main Base. Once you have progressed far enough and have enough Mats you can start your above ground Base.

#2) If you prefer to start above ground then Log Spikes and Wood Spikes are your best friends. Keep you Base surrounded by them and use a Ramp, with a gap, to access your Base. Then your next best friend is Barb Wire...slows them down allowing your to pick them off before they start trashing your walls

But I only have 2800 hrs in game so what the hell do I know......

[Jeshbaal]

Originally posted by Officer Sexy:

Originally posted by Razzey:

I've seen some of the other posts about people complaining about the zombies being OP. I have to agree to some extent. I don't know what difficulty other people are playing on, but on the server I dedicatedly host, we have spawn set to either 125% or 150%, depending on what we're feeling at the time. We have zombie difficulty set to max. Run at night, etc.

1. Play on maximum difficulty
2. Complain on the forums about zombies being very strong
3. ???

The problem is obviously your intelligence, not the game.
Some people.....

I expected comments like this, which is why I'm not really bothered.

Just because something is difficult, is by no means an excuse to make it unbalanced. Just because I like to play on high difficulty settings and expect great challenges, does not mean that I want to play a game that calls "Difficult" based off of asinine rules/code.

Before you even waste your time commenting, please think of the intent of the post. My intent wasn't to complain, as I pretty much stated. My intent was to get help adjusting the game to have balance. From a lore perspective, you could die in one hit from a zombie. If the zombie bit your neck, you could reasonably expect that you're as good as dead. You wouldn't, however, expect that a normal zombie could burst through solid concrete in a matter of seconds, or survive 10 or more well placed headshots.

I don't know how people who love to flame others and insult their intelligence on a public forums expect to look more intelligent. If anything you allow others to see how little reading comprehension you have.

I have looked into turning down zombie block damage, and increasing only headshot damage/multipliers, but then the game feels too easy. It's not that I'm sitting here complaining. I came here looking for people who just simply have a good solution. If you don't, then don't bother wasting my time, or even other readers' time.

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by Razzey:

So, before everyone starts throwing out the "Git gud" garbage, I feel as though I'm fairly accomplished in the game. I have quite a few more achieves to get, but then again, I'm not going for achieves, just playing with friends for fun, and have just over 200 hours.

Let's be clear: you are not "fairly accomplished" at this game.

I've seen some of the other posts about people complaining about the zombies being OP. I have to agree to some extent. I don't know what difficulty other people are playing on, but on the server I dedicatedly host, we have spawn set to either 125% or 150%, depending on what we're feeling at the time. We have zombie difficulty set to max. Run at night, etc.

If you intentionally turned up the difficulty you have no right to call the zombies OP. YOU MADE THEM THAT WAY.

On normal difficulty they are not that hard. On harder difficulty they still aren't actually very hard you just turned them into bullet sponges that run faster.

But the sin there is whining about the changes YOU chose.

I do empathize with people a little bit. There's no way a zombie should, when I have a 600 crossbow with good bolts, not go down after 4+ headshots. If I'm just starting the game, a new adventure with friends, and one of us happens to be lucky enough to find a, say 150+ (specificially thinking of a 169 I found) pistol in a toilet or on a zombie within the first 30 minutes of play, it should not take 10 or more headshots to kill a zombie. Yes. Actual headshots. I'm not talking about when you're melee-ing a zombie with the crosshairs on their head and their arm got in the way and you felt justified in saying it was a "Headshot."

Again most of this goes back to you turning up the settings to cause this

In addition to zombies being unrealisticly difficult to kill in the first couple out of game hours, I feel that their ability to pulverize concrete and metal in a matter of seconds, before you can realistically get a base actually going, or keep it standing is ridiculous. How does rotting flesh break through concrete, ever, let alone in a matter of seconds. Yes. Seconds. When you have a small horde (hardly a horde) or 7-10 that are spawning in the direction of your base on day 3 (remember all you people that are saying, "Avoid Zombies when you begin" but then a small horde spawns just below your base, there's only so much you can do to avoid it), and when 3+ zombies stack to hit the same concrete block/pillar/what have you, and it takes them just a matter of 30 seconds in game to completely plow through at least 2+ pillars...it gets exhausting to rebuild, especially when you're level 3 and don't have the capability of getting concrete yet.

Here's the biggest flaw in your argument: you are trying to justify that "fleshy" hands can't break blah blah blah

Hey genius: corpses in real life can't get up and walk either

So here's where things come together: You have an unexplained "something" that is allowing the dead to get up and walk. Is it a virus? Is it magic? Is it alien technology?

Here's the real answer: IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT'S CAUSING IT

Why?

Because the moment you accept that "something" is making zombies, you need to realize we aren't in "reality" anymore. And whatever that "something" is that makes zombies get up and walk also makes their hands into and bodies into something unnatural.

Do cops in your town normally puke acid on you? Or explode after they are punched in the face a few times?

Last I checked humans don't explode.

But you know what? These aren't humans, and whatever biological changes are effecting them to allow them to get up and walk after death has made their hands into weapons, and their bodies into exploding bombs and who knows what other wierdness is going on in there

You are ignorantly trying to justify squishy hands based on, what now? Reality? Hey genius, if we follow that logic path there won't even be zombies in the game

It's an animated walking mass of who knows what at this point. Exploding chemicals and claws as hard as metal, whatever allows them to get up and move is obviously changing other things about them, simple as that

Honestly, these are my *main* two issues that I have. Rather than this be a complain-fest, I'm looking for people, these "Experienced" and "got gud" people to provide constructive, helpful advice on how to deal with these issues that are present.

Constructive and helpful... got it:

Git gud

No seriously, you suck at the game and than whine about it.

On a more serious note:
The zombies being bullet sponges is almost entirely your own fault, play on a server where that's not turned up so high. It's really on you to find the settings that are fun FOR YOU. But do not complain when the settings you chose are challenging, CHANGE THE DAM SETTINGS

Do you know what I play on most of the time? Difficuly 4 (one above the default 3) with Run/Walk (the default walk day, run night), but more importantly: Increased spawn rate (the highest spawn setting).

Do you know why? Because I enjoy the zombies being slightly more difficulty than the default, but I hate that on 5 or 6 they become stupidly massive bullet sponges that don't die. That's not making them "harder" to me, it's just boring me while I shoot them for longer.

I do run/walk because I like building and I want my days to be mostly building stuff without worrying about a running horde on my back (I still have to watch for dogs, etc). But I still get the running challenge of runners at night and on blood moons and on days when I want a challenge I can go explore a town and loot at night with runners. Then go home and build in peace all day long.

But you know what the key here is? Finding settings that work FOR ME. I don't expect anyone else to automatically like my chosen settings. I spent 100's of hours playing the game at higher and lower settings and with run/run and with walk/walk and with less spawns and with many other difficulty combos.

Then I found what I LIKE. I didn't go to the forum and cry about the game being too hard, I learned how to play it, realized how easy it was and than selected the settings that I enjoyed the most.

As for the zombies breaking down walls, get over yourself. This isn't reality and if the zombies were of no threat to a wall, the game would be baby-easy-mode, it's halfway there already and you are asking to remove the only threat that currently exists (their ability to tear down a wall)

You want to challenge yourself? Try playing without walls. I do it all the time.

Have you ever played nomad where you don't build anything? Now that's a challenge.

Or build towers without walls to hunt from (which is what I do most of the time). I can kill from my perch without being over run

There are clearly more playstyles than you have bothered to consider, and more game settings than you have bothered to try. You picked one group of settings and decided to cry about them

Even as a lore perspective, not even cheesy movies allow zombies to burst through 1 meter thick solid concrete blocks, so how do i resolve that it's *so* easy in this game? I understand that, honestly there has to be some sort of challenge, or else it's just a minecraft game. I get that. But, is there no better way?

Can you think of any? Either the zombies can break down walls, or you are never at risk.

Either you are allowed to build walls, or this isn't really a crafting and bulding game anymore (and that's a large part of it's intent)

Your thoughts?

My thoughts are you don't understand the game or the settings available to you to change how it plays.

This isn't just zombie horror, it's a surival AND crafting game that happens to have zombies. Those zombies exist to pose a threat rather than be just another minecraft game.

If you think the zombies are actually hard: it's a combination of your lack of experience with the game AND you have the settings turned up harder than you can handle

If you think the zombies shouldn't be able to break down walls... you're asking for baby mode. Seriously? Do you even realize just how magically easy the game would be?

You know you can just turn on cheat mode and fly right? Because that's about how easy the game would be without zombies able to break down walls

It's already that easy if you know how to build in ways that avoid letting the zombies destroy your stuff, but you obviously haven't figured that out yet

Change the settings, learn how to play a wider range of styles, or go play Left4Dead it might be more your speed

[Swagmaster Love 🇪🇺]

Originally posted by Razzey:

Originally posted by Officer Sexy:

1. Play on maximum difficulty
2. Complain on the forums about zombies being very strong
3. ???

The problem is obviously your intelligence, not the game.
Some people.....

I expected comments like this, which is why I'm not really bothered.

Just because something is difficult, is by no means an excuse to make it unbalanced. Just because I like to play on high difficulty settings and expect great challenges, does not mean that I want to play a game that calls "Difficult" based off of asinine rules/code.

Before you even waste your time commenting, please think of the intent of the post. My intent wasn't to complain, as I pretty much stated. My intent was to get help adjusting the game to have balance. From a lore perspective, you could die in one hit from a zombie. If the zombie bit your neck, you could reasonably expect that you're as good as dead. You wouldn't, however, expect that a normal zombie could burst through solid concrete in a matter of seconds, or survive 10 or more well placed headshots.

I don't know how people who love to flame others and insult their intelligence on a public forums expect to look more intelligent. If anything you allow others to see how little reading comprehension you have.

I have looked into turning down zombie block damage, and increasing only headshot damage/multipliers, but then the game feels too easy. It's not that I'm sitting here complaining. I came here looking for people who just simply have a good solution. If you don't, then don't bother wasting my time, or even other readers' time.

Adjust the difficulty according to your expectations, instead of ramping the difficulty up for the sake of playing on the maximum difficulty.
If you dont wish to play with lore-unfriendly (Whatever lore you're talking about) zombies, don't set them to be lore-unfriendly.

I consider people who punch themselves with a stick and complain about it hurting to be rather "special."

You wouldn't, however, expect that a normal zombie could burst through solid concrete in a matter of seconds, or survive 10 or more well placed headshots.

I have looked into turning down zombie block damage, and increasing only headshot damage/multipliers, but then the game feels too easy.

Figure out what your problem is in the first place.

[Jeshbaal]

Originally posted by Darc Shado:

Tips:

#1) Begin underground, keep your Campfire and Forges at a distance away from your main Base. Once you have progressed far enough and have enough Mats you can start your above ground Base.

#2) If you prefer to start above ground then Log Spikes and Wood Spikes are your best friends. Keep you Base surrounded by them and use a Ramp, with a gap, to access your Base. Then your next best friend is Barb Wire...slows them down allowing your to pick them off before they start trashing your walls

But I only have 2800 hrs in game so what the hell do I know......

Thanks. If being underground is actually helpful, I'll look it up on YouTube to see how people are doing it right.

[Swagmaster Love 🇪🇺]

Make them walkers and crank up the spawnrate.

[Jeshbaal]

Originally posted by joker1231978:

I tend to think misdirection is the key to keeping zombies from even attacking your main base. Never plan to have your main base be the only place you plan to fight the horde. Your main base should be your last resort. If it's not horde night and you have them show up at your base, draw them away! Make them follow you! Protect your base with misdirection!

Small secondary fighting pits, underground passages/rooms, basically any place but your main base. I have an underground room leading away from my base about 40 blocks. I use it for furnaces, campfires, crafting, and basically a safe place if I don't even feel like fighting the horde. On horde night, they just hover above my head since they can't dig (flat ground) and I never have to worry about them attacking my base.

Once you truly get settled and built up, then you can use your main base to find the horde. By then you'll have some ideas about traps and such that will keep them out and damage minimal.

We've started doing things like this, and I can say that it does help out a lot. I wasn't sure if it was completely viable though. Do you allow your secondary base to be destroyed? How "Expendable" is that secondary base? We'll just camp out on the roof of some other building in the city, but my worry is eventually those buildings will be pretty much demolished as hordes become larger and difficulty is ramped up according to the day/number of days progressed.

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by Razzey:

Originally posted by Darc Shado:

Tips:

#1) Begin underground, keep your Campfire and Forges at a distance away from your main Base. Once you have progressed far enough and have enough Mats you can start your above ground Base.

#2) If you prefer to start above ground then Log Spikes and Wood Spikes are your best friends. Keep you Base surrounded by them and use a Ramp, with a gap, to access your Base. Then your next best friend is Barb Wire...slows them down allowing your to pick them off before they start trashing your walls

But I only have 2800 hrs in game so what the hell do I know......

Thanks. If being underground is actually helpful, I'll look it up on YouTube to see how people are doing it right.

Zombies do not attack vertical, only horizontal

Above, below, makes no difference. Out of reach is out of reach

Properly build underground = 100% safe

Properly built floating = 100% safe

The only time you are at risk is putting yourself in line with where zombies attack

[Patouski]

About zombies at higher difficulty being OP. Here are things to consider;

1. Zombie health goes up considerably as you increase the difficulty level. Thus, all bodyparts (hitboxes) have considerately more HP to go through.

2. Quality level of any weapon plays only but a part of the whole equation. Skill and its damage modifier plays an also and if more more, important part to that whole equation.

3. Realism. Surely, if zombies were as they are portrayed in TWD or any other zombie flicks... formally human beings, then yes - 1 shot to the head should do it. However, this isn't real life, nor are zombies real.

3a. To follow on realism and consequently on point #2, if you were to headshot any zombies after but one headshot on any difficulty levels, there would be no need for increased difficulty levels. Your weapon does increase in damage from one difficulty level to the next, same QL and all, but so do the zombies and therefore, create said "difficulty".

4. Block damage. Zombies have a natural bonus against wooden structure, avoid those for late(r) game situations. Also, zombies will natural hit at anything is in their way to get to YOU.

4a. Again to expand on point 3, 3a and 4. Realism. No, mere flesh should not pulverize concrete, but again - this is a game and not a real life sim. To portray a difficulty to survive the zombie apocalypse, zombies are able to eat concrete in a matter of seconds. Why? To test your base designing skillset and put you in HARMS way. Again: Survival.

5. Git gud. (Had to put it in, point #5 seemed good XD ).

6. This game is moddable to hell and back. Something bothers you and regular options cannot fix it? Edit them in the .xml files.

7. The hordes. What you mentioned were wandering hordes. 9 times out of 10 - they pass right by your base. Simply avoid them. Hide. Run. Fart in their general direction and get them away. They won't attack your base unless it's blocking them and they have nowhere else to go.

7a. Feral hordes will ALWAYS find you. So design your base accordingly. Be it a "coward's base" underground; a sniper's heaven platform type; a kill pit for those who like getting things messy and interesting - the challenge lies therein. Base design makes of breaks your "survival odds".

7b. 200 hours... you merely scratched the surface, son. Your post shows this clear as day. However, I'm not bashing you... we've ALL been there. Try and try again.

8. It's a game. Not real life. Do not expect "real life logic" to apply to a ZOMBIE survival crafting GAME.

Thanks...

and git gud. :P

[Jeshbaal]

Originally posted by Officer Sexy:

Originally posted by Razzey:

I expected comments like this, which is why I'm not really bothered.

Just because something is difficult, is by no means an excuse to make it unbalanced. Just because I like to play on high difficulty settings and expect great challenges, does not mean that I want to play a game that calls "Difficult" based off of asinine rules/code.

Before you even waste your time commenting, please think of the intent of the post. My intent wasn't to complain, as I pretty much stated. My intent was to get help adjusting the game to have balance. From a lore perspective, you could die in one hit from a zombie. If the zombie bit your neck, you could reasonably expect that you're as good as dead. You wouldn't, however, expect that a normal zombie could burst through solid concrete in a matter of seconds, or survive 10 or more well placed headshots.

I don't know how people who love to flame others and insult their intelligence on a public forums expect to look more intelligent. If anything you allow others to see how little reading comprehension you have.

I have looked into turning down zombie block damage, and increasing only headshot damage/multipliers, but then the game feels too easy. It's not that I'm sitting here complaining. I came here looking for people who just simply have a good solution. If you don't, then don't bother wasting my time, or even other readers' time.

Adjust the difficulty according to your expectations, instead of ramping the difficulty up for the sake of playing on the maximum difficulty.
If you dont wish to play with lore-unfriendly (Whatever lore you're talking about) zombies, don't set them to be lore-unfriendly.

I consider people who punch themselves with a stick and complain about it hurting to be rather "special."

You wouldn't, however, expect that a normal zombie could burst through solid concrete in a matter of seconds, or survive 10 or more well placed headshots.

I have looked into turning down zombie block damage, and increasing only headshot damage/multipliers, but then the game feels too easy.

Figure out what your problem is in the first place.

I understand how my position could easily be mistaken as such. I guess I feel an accurate depiction of difficulty is compared to other games. For example, I consider Dark Souls series to be pretty difficult, at least until you learn the game. But, on the other hand, there are other games that are difficult without making sense why it's difficult. Rather than taking a well working mechanic and ruining it for the sake of "Difficulty," I'm looking for when the Dev takes a mechanic and figures out a way to make it more appropriate for players seeking a greater challenge. WoW is probably a bad example, but in order to provide increased difficulty, they provide additional settings in dungeons with extra abilities for the enemies. Most of these aren't simply a "You just died for no reason" mechanic. Most of them revolve around, there's a couple different specific ways to tackle this issue.

Which brings me full circle to the intent of my original post, that I'm looking for ways to progress successfully in an increased difficulty. Personally, I don't like that some of the zombies, when I have a nearly maxed out weapon, still do minimal damage to zombies. When considering I have 30 to kill, it's difficult to take out that number while your base is simultaneously falling due to zombies slapping concrete into nothing in mere moments.

[Zourin]

Zombies are nasty, but manageable.

You have to keep in mind two things: Zombies will destroy anything in their path, and their torsos are effectively invulnerable.

The first rule of surviving nights is to not be at ground level. Above, or below, but as long as there isn't a clear path to you.

Perimeter walls are delaying tactics, not foolproof security, and will require constant maintenance and progressive upgrading. At day 60 solo, I still have sections of a perimeter wall that are still sod.

Do not engage combat (except simple 1-on-1 if neccessary) if you have a weapon that does less than 25 damage. Keep crafting until you can. Aim for the head, and always fight defensively and pay attention to what's behind you.

Avoid towns until you are comfortable engaging combat with a decent weapon (a good bow, and either a hunting knife or reinforced club). Uneccessary ombat ultimately wastes your time better spent resourcing and scavenging.

Kill screamers immediately during daylight hours, avoid them completely at night. They are THE prime threat. It's not hard for an active base to trigger 2-3 screamers a day, and they can cause nearly as much damage as a blood moon horde if triggered and left alone.

Also, the crossbow is not a zombie skirmish weapon, except at close range and firing from the hip. it's an effective hunting weapon, or a stealth sniping option at best. The bow offers better visibility and accuracy at range, and only does a few less points of damage. In a skirmish, give me a bow and a knife, and I'll survive fine. The slow reload speed and lack of ranged accuracy while aiming cripples the crossbow consideraby.

Get the 'Quality Joe' perk.. it helps a lot in finding better weapon components. Once you have operable firearms, you should consider leveraging skillpoints to bring their damage to something functionally useful. Spending a full 9mm magazine on a normal walker is a waste of time and resources. You would have been better off using a good bow.