Non 7 Day Hordes?

[Bromulus]

Clarity question...

Reading through posts (and even the xml) I sometimes see people discussing/reference to a horde of wandering zombies, daytime, nothing to do with the blood moon.

Is this a thing (that I have never seen) or am I misinterpretting?

[Ragequit Inc.]

Yes, there are random wandering hordes. As far as I've seen recently, they're up to about 30-ish in numbers (less early game ofc.). They spawn randomly (as indicated) at point A, and they aim for point B with basically you in the middle at the time of spawn. These hordes aren't feral, so there's a good chance they don't notice you, unless you make noise or they see you.

[Bromulus]

Originally posted by Ragequit Inc.:

Yes, there are random wandering hordes. As far as I've seen recently, they're up to about 30-ish in numbers (less early game ofc.). They spawn randomly (as indicated) at point A, and they aim for point B with basically you in the middle at the time of spawn. These hordes aren't feral, so there's a good chance they don't notice you, unless you make noise or they see you.

This is exciting. So you are saying mid game or later? Once they are spawned do they stay forever? Is there a mega horde wandering my random gen as we speak!? I love this idea. Or do they dissipate organically like an animal attracts a few here a noise calls some others there and they eventually just fall out and blend in with the regular spawns and stragglers? Or do they evaporate magically a la blood moon mobs?

Also, are you familiar with what area of the xml docs manage this? I have seen some references in their but i think its mostly 7th day stuff, although there was a block misspelled "Hoard" that intrigued me.

[Patouski]

Originally posted by Bromulus:

Originally posted by Ragequit Inc.:

Yes, there are random wandering hordes. As far as I've seen recently, they're up to about 30-ish in numbers (less early game ofc.). They spawn randomly (as indicated) at point A, and they aim for point B with basically you in the middle at the time of spawn. These hordes aren't feral, so there's a good chance they don't notice you, unless you make noise or they see you.

This is exciting. Does it only start happening mid game? Once they are spawned do they stay forever? Is there a mega horde wondering my random gen as we speak!? I love this idea. Or do they dissipate organically like an animal attracts a few a noise calls some others and they just fall off and blend in with the regular spawns and stragglers? Or do they evaporate magically a la blood moon mobs?

These hordes appear randomly and will wander off in the distance if they do not detect you. What happens then, is they wander, the zombies get removed from the WanderingHordeAIDirector and they'll just idle it out for a bit. You can either clear them out (which may make the AIDirector spawn more - if the horde wasn't completely spawned) or let them be, move away for a day or two and they'll de-spawn.

No, there are no "Massive Hordes" wandering around aimlessly - like in TWD's season 2 or season 5-6. With the current issues, it would drain way too much resources on any server / PC especially in a Random Gen map. But, who knows - maybe in a future update. (one can dream!) ;)

[RageMojo]

i havnt seen as many as 30 yet, but i have had horde attacks on my home base during a regular day. They are not anywhere near as aggressive as day 7 hordes.

[Ficelle]

There isnt any huge zombie horde anywhere in the game.

I think ive seen somewhere in the XML that there can only be a max of 50 zombies alive at the same time on the whole map (or some similar number, can be edited, but dont expect 1000 without a nasa supercomputer).

That is why the game has to spawn zombies near / toward you on a regular basis, just to give the illusion than zombies are everywhere.

[Mugzz]

I can get a large 30-50 spawn horde nearly every day after day 28ish if left alone they may just walk by your base. I guess its dependent on your level. Sometimes ill get 2 hordes a day this is not related to the screamer hordes.

[Bromulus]

Originally posted by Patouski:

No, there are no "Massive Hordes" wandering around aimlessly - like in TWD's season 2 or season 5-6. With the current issues, it would drain way too much resources on any server / PC especially in a Random Gen map. But, who knows - maybe in a future update. (one can dream!) ;)

Well here's the thing, if you are saying its even 10 zombies that are clearly school of fishing it separate and distinct from the standard spawn/stragglers along the road this would completely freak me out in game. It would look so foriegn. It would be delightfully and unexpectedly shocking.

Originally posted by Ficelle:

I think ive seen somewhere in the XML that there can only be a max of 50 zombies alive at the same time on the whole map (or some similar number, can be edited, but dont expect 1000 without a nasa supercomputer).

Do you just mean the <property name="MaxSpawnedZombies" value="?"/> in the serverconfig file? If so I have had that set to 80 since go and have never seen a single skipped frame. Tempted to crank it to 100 but I have some more modding/balancing to do first. BUT keep in mind I am on a same room hardwired LAN game with just 2 players.

However this brings up an interesting point. If your game is set to say "50" and one of these hordes wanders by with 30 does that mean only 20 other zombies can exist nearby? Or is it accumulative in this one special case?

Originally posted by Ficelle:

That is why the game has to spawn zombies near / toward you on a regular basis, just to give the illusion than zombies are everywhere.

The most beautiful feature of the game. This is how they solved the (imho non-existent) problem of "walkers" not being good game fodder in the eyes of the typical ADHD faster faster shoot 'em up MOBA-minded segment of the gaming community. And they nailed it, and I love them for it, with every slow shuffle of a zombies foot.... wait, whats that behind me... I swear I checked that corner just a second ago... ahhhh! Romero FTW.

Originally posted by Mugzz:

I can get a large 30-50 spawn horde nearly every day after day 28ish if left alone they may just walk by your base. I guess its dependent on your level. Sometimes ill get 2 hordes a day this is not related to the screamer hordes.

So this experience seems to go against the grain of the rest of the class here. So maybe it does have something to do with how far along the game is afterall?

I truly had no idea this was a real feature of this game. Love it. No idea if I'll ever see one of course. Off to hunt through the xml.

[Bromulus]

I found this in the xml - hmmmmm - going to head over to modding section of forum with it.

entityspawner name="RoamingHordeSpawnDay"

[Ficelle]

RoamingHordeSpawnDay is the 'name' of the wandering non bloodmoon hordes you are speaking about in first post.

They can be quite big as the game progresses (30 50 zombies).

And yes, if you are fighting 30 zombies in a place with only a max of 50 alive zombies at the same time on the map, only 20 other will be kept spawned on the whole map.
The rest is just despawned.

If you could just take a 'picture' of the whole map at a time without any more spawn and just count zombies, you would just find 50 of them, vast majority just around the player and in recently visited areas.

That is how i understand it anyway.

Of course, all of that can be edited, only limit being your computer power.

[Critter]

On our original server we all split up to keep the "heat" down. It would spawn wandering hordes infrequently but could only really hit us one at a time and they tended to be smaller...

Since server restart we decided to take over a town... With 6 of us all doing stuff we see a lot more action, not just from screamer scouts but wandering hordes as well.

[Lerch Addams]

Originally posted by Bromulus:

I found this in the xml - hmmmmm - going to head over to modding section of forum with it.

entityspawner name="RoamingHordeSpawnDay"

That would be the one.
There is also a night version.

Some players have upped the max number into the hundreds (usually on a very powerful rig).

Reminder to anyone tinkering with .XML: Make a backup before you edit!

:)

[Bromulus]

So the xml, or pattern, is a bit confusing to me there. They are broken down into days (which stop at 27 btw?) and they show single digits for the "horde" until day 9 when it bumps to 10 or so. Maybe thats why I never saw them if the horde masquerades as a single zombie for early game. Thoughts?

Then the gap between days and numbers seems very developer whim random, some go way down some back up, its interesting to say the least. Not sure what the idea/thought was.

Now I just need to figure out these 3 values meanings, esp why there is a 5,10 (meaning random between 5 and 10 maybe? or is it "5 if this, 10 if that" like item degradation values?))

<property name="DelayBetweenSpawns" value="1" />
<property name="TotalAlive" value="5" />
<property name="TotalPerWave" value="5,10" />

[Ficelle]

<property name="DelayBetweenSpawns" value="1" /> 1 second between new spawned Z
<property name="TotalAlive" value="5" /> 5 alive max at the same time
<property name="TotalPerWave" value="5,10" /> Random between 5 and 10


Say random is 9.

Only 5 (TotalAlive value) out of the 9 Z will spawn.

If you kill 1, another will pop in 1 second to try to match totalAlive value.
Continues until the 9 are dead.


Some 0 around days 7 14....to ease people around those days for the upcoming bloodmoon horde (it is new) by basically removing wandering hordes those days.

[Bromulus]

Thanks for the expo on the value meanings. So why wouldnt you just want the total number of zombies to pop at once? Especially in the case of a wandering horde. It seems strange that you could potentially see this visually appealing wave of 10 zombies shuffling with great yet mysterious purpose in the same direction, but as you go out to kill them its like whack a mole and one pops up to replace it. I mean its a wandering horde, show it, thats the point, shock and awe, something aesthetically different than the 10 zombies twitching out in the street, right? Or is this a resource governing issue?

As far as the individual days, while there is relief on the 7th days the pattern is much weirder than that. Strange nose dives in numbers at day 12? Um... Ok...

Also what happens on day 28? Day 29? (no entry past 27). Do the roaming hordes just cease to exist? or...?

[Ficelle]

Many balancing is done on this file, and it is changed every alpha release.

You can up the numbers quite a lot (used to do this in previous alphas, add 10 to almost everything, didnt bothered in A15).

Dont really know why spawning is done this way, only noted that maxalive has to be same or bellow lower random number (makes sense anyway).

Bear in mind the hardware factor too, this game has to run on 'computers" using Win XP and on consoles by default, so perhaps it is done this way for technical reasons.

As for what happens past day 27, wandering hordes are still there and strong, just not sure which spawner they use.

There is also this new gamestage file controlling bloodmoon hordes and probably way more things in future.