Electricity and electronics

[Guahos]

Really would like to see in 7d2d some electricity sources crafting, like solar pannels or wind generators, maybe accumulator arrays to collect a power for dark night during sunny day, using solar panels.
And of course a lot of interesting stuff crafting, that use electricity, ie: electrical powered fences, electrical light, survey systems, alarm systems, maybe even some defencive automatic turrets, and a lot of more cool stuff that uses electricity. Just why there isn't such stuff in the game for now?

[Dare Arkin]

Honestly I'm more up for 'Hooking a car battery to a barb wire fence to create a zap-barrier,' but I think the reason is this stuff -is- a bit complex.

[AgentSmith]

As long as they don't get ridiculous and let you start building turrets I completely agree with electricity. Electronic decoys/distractions maybe even a zombie attracting drop indicator for the supply drops. I would love to just start with electric lights and go from there. But if they add in food decay then we definitely need electricity for the refrigerators

[gnorf73]

Turrets have been planned to be in the game since day 1. Electricity has also. Hooking a car battery up to a fence is stupid. It's not going to stop a zombie that doesn't feel anything, let alone a hoard.

[AgentSmith]

Turrets seem like a bit too techy for someone making iron in a forge made of random rocks and an iron pipe. Why not allow us to craft cell phones?

[Zig-Zag-Man]

Originally posted by SoulChaserJ:

Turrets seem like a bit too techy for someone making iron in a forge made of random rocks and an iron pipe. Why not allow us to craft cell phones?

lol cell phones who you gonna call

[Guahos]

Originally posted by SoulChaserJ:

As long as they don't get ridiculous and let you start building turrets I completely agree with electricity. Electronic decoys/distractions maybe even a zombie attracting drop indicator for the supply drops. I would love to just start with electric lights and go from there. But if they add in food decay then we definitely need electricity for the refrigerators

Well, turrets could be a bit overkill, but the game is kinda tower defencive-ish and turrets may be suitable in such environment.
But turrets are not the only feature powered by electricity.
I've built an underground bunker of reinforced concrete and now it have to be lit by a torches, made of a stick and a pile of hay, so electrical light is really a must I think, cause I wanna construct a real high-tech ultimate doomsday shelter and it cant be done without such stuff as electrical lighting at least.
Also it would be great to create an underground farm, using a daylight electric powered lamps to be able to grow crops right inside my bunker.
And the idea with fridges also sounds pretty lovely.
So, electricity is an absolute must in the game, I think.

[Mark]

Originally posted by gnorf73:

Turrets have been planned to be in the game since day 1. Electricity has also. Hooking a car battery up to a fence is stupid. It's not going to stop a zombie that doesn't feel anything, let alone a hoard.

If it's a high enough voltage, yes it will. Realistically it would have to be more than a 12 volt car battery, but it has nothing to do with pain signals; rather, it has more to do with paralysis by over-stimulation. Muscles contract to give you movement in response to signals, those signals come from neurotransmitters from the nervous system which travel by electric charge propagation, so essentially your nervous system is a network of electricity conducting wires. When nerves are stimulated and subsequently muscles are stimulated to contract, the muscles go into a temporary period of tetanus (a period where they cannot be stimulated again and are effectively "paralyzed" in that contracted state) which will be constant at least for some period of time if the body is being shocked by electricity that conducts through the nerves and causes such a charge propagation. Thus, it is sensible that an electric fence will immobilize and potentially repel a hoard. Not saying it's insurmountable by the zombie hoard if since they are stupid enough to keep hitting it even though the first few zombies got zapped, but it is viable.

[Dare Arkin]

Originally posted by Mark:

Originally posted by gnorf73:

Turrets have been planned to be in the game since day 1. Electricity has also. Hooking a car battery up to a fence is stupid. It's not going to stop a zombie that doesn't feel anything, let alone a hoard.

If it's a high enough voltage, yes it will. Realistically it would have to be more than a 12 volt car battery, but it has nothing to do with pain signals; rather, it has more to do with paralysis by over-stimulation. Muscles contract to give you movement in response to signals, those signals come from neurotransmitters from the nervous system which travel by electric charge propagation, so essentially your nervous system is a network of electricity conducting wires. When nerves are stimulated and subsequently muscles are stimulated to contract, the muscles go into a temporary period of tetanus (a period where they cannot be stimulated again and are effectively "paralyzed" in that contracted state) which will be constant at least for some period of time if the body is being shocked by electricity that conducts through the nerves and causes such a charge propagation. Thus, it is sensible that an electric fence will immobilize and potentially repel a hoard. Not saying it's insurmountable by the zombie hoard if since they are stupid enough to keep hitting it even though the first few zombies got zapped, but it is viable.

EXACTLY. I was thinking it would help paralyze or spasm out a first few of a wave of zombies to make them stop and jerk around, providing an easy kill, or make a barried to seriously delay the hell out of them. ( I realise as well a car battery is too light-weight, but it's the only thing short of a full blown generator that I can think of finding and using. )

[Lerch Addams]

All good suggestions.

Keep 'em coming :)

Although regarding electric fences, paralyzation and danger avoidance.

We are talking about the same zombies where an entire horde of 50 zombies just walked up to my base and destroyed itself on the wood spikes and i had placed in my water moat?

So i'm pretty sure they would keep whacking away at your electrified fence.

Unless until they get the AI upgrade that TFP is talking about.

[Mark]

That's why I said since they are stupid enough to keep going at it.

[Lerch Addams]

It'll be fun to see how the AI upgrades change zed behavior.

It's planned but there's no set date for release on that feature.

So carry on making fun traps for your silly zed friends.

[sherlockskerlock]

If we're talking about the time frame being after a nuclear halocaust, then most anything electric wouldn't work. It's circuitry would have been friend by an emp pulse that is sent out ahead of a nuclear blast.
That said, there could be very seldom deposits of things found which were protected in vaults.

A suggestion instead of turrets that an ordinary guy could figure out is rope traps and/or nets which could be setup outside a house or off a tree. It wouldn't do anything but slow down a zombie hoard for a minute or two. At which time you could light them on fire to kill them or beat them down. (I'm new to the game, so if those are in there, then great. But I haven't seen rope or nets yet.)

[Mark]

Originally posted by sherlockskerlock99:

If we're talking about the time frame being after a nuclear halocaust, then most anything electric wouldn't work. It's circuitry would have been friend by an emp pulse that is sent out ahead of a nuclear blast.
That said, there could be very seldom deposits of things found which were protected in vaults.

A suggestion instead of turrets that an ordinary guy could figure out is rope traps and/or nets which could be setup outside a house or off a tree. It wouldn't do anything but slow down a zombie hoard for a minute or two. At which time you could light them on fire to kill them or beat them down. (I'm new to the game, so if those are in there, then great. But I haven't seen rope or nets yet.)

Well, considering that we are in a zone that is not irradiated itself rather surrounded in irradiated land, then it's plausible that the area in which the game is played was not affected by such an EMP just like this zone was not affected by the radiation, particularly since nuclear fallout tends to drift long distances from the explosion. Just a thought.

Regarding the rope traps, that mechanic is already in the game from what I've read. Those are cobwebs which spawn in empty, player-made secure wooden chests. They are placed like blocks and apparently slow down zombies (and players).

[Rhea]

This has been brought up many times before. I hope they add something in as well, theres certainly enough interest in it to make it worth while.

Edit, -added- http://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/0/558754259670401626/
for those of you that would like to see whats already been discussed. There are others as well.

[Rhea]

Originally posted by sherlockskerlock99:

If we're talking about the time frame being after a nuclear halocaust, then most anything electric wouldn't work. It's circuitry would have been friend by an emp pulse that is sent out ahead of a nuclear blast.
That said, there could be very seldom deposits of things found which were protected in vaults.

A suggestion instead of turrets that an ordinary guy could figure out is rope traps and/or nets which could be setup outside a house or off a tree. It wouldn't do anything but slow down a zombie hoard for a minute or two. At which time you could light them on fire to kill them or beat them down. (I'm new to the game, so if those are in there, then great. But I haven't seen rope or nets yet.)

Emps are less likely to effect circuits that aren't active, or machinery. Theres plenty of simple and easy ways to generate electricity that you could probably go out and make right now. Easy example would be to grab a lawnmower and a alternator. Obviously anything gas powered would be noisey, but you could also hook an alternator to a water mill or something of that nature... even a bycycle would work. Given the location, I doubt any survivor would have trouble finding what they need to set something up. All of which an emp wouldn't effect.