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[GlyphGryph]

"SURPRISE!", just on the off chance there's someone on the other side.

(You can avoid them by avoiding the loud shouts of "Surprise!" that regularly ring out across the city)

[Mephansteras]

"SURPRISE!", just on the off chance there's someone on the other side.

(You can avoid them by avoiding the loud shouts of "Surprise!" that regularly ring out across the city)

I love that idea.

Oooh, then they should sulk for a bit if no one was there to surprise.

[DrPoo]

Can we please be able to load syringe guns with sedatives to manage those monstrous crybabies?

[Micro102]

I've been peeking around corners, but I keep running into the problem of zombies showing up when I turn that corner. Does peeking have a smaller range then your normal sight?

[FaultyLogic]

Welp. I haven't played Cataclysm since it came under new management and after seeing this thread I thought I'd give it a go again. I quickly made a run of the mill grunty kinda guy and set off towards the nearest city after begging for supplies from they guy at the evac shelter.

I stake out the sporting goods store on the map and plan my route to procure my backpack, baseball bat and other assorted things. As I draw near the first row of houses I'm surprised to see a full blown horde milling about the street, with spitters, brutes, boomers and electro-z's galore. I retreat, thinking I've spent too much time searching the dead scientists I found outside the shelter, and approach from another angle.

This part of the town is fairly quiet save for two wolves who followed me and then started fighting each other outside the window of a house I was searching. I search another house and find nothing useful. I try once more to approach the sporting goods store but it seems it's guarded by Z's from the other direction as well. Fuck it. I make a wild dash through the horde thinking I can loose them in the alleways. NOPE. More and even more zombies arrive from all directions and I take the odd bite here and there slowly increasing my pain level. As a last resort, I dash toward a parking lot with the towns whole zombified population in tow. But, to my great relief, there is a vehicle! It's a... bicycle.

I die straddling the bike, pedalling into an electro-zombie at 1 mph.

--

After that I spent some time reading on the new homepage. Basically there is a new spawn system that spawns all mobs at world creation and that's it?

[Sirian]

Basically there is a new spawn system that spawns all mobs at world creation and that's it?

Yes, although you can change it in the options. I kinda like it, since it means Zs wont just spawn magically forever (so now you can, with some effort, make part of a city safer). It also means you can't just make a run for it before 9:30 and take all the good things, now cities are a reward with a challenge from the beginning. You can however loot some houses safely if they're far enough from the city center. And you can craft all sorts of things so that you don't have to loot them.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

   One thing I have noticed about the system is sometimes I find a town full of black widows and wasps. No zombies in the town but there are wasp nests and widows webs. Is this a feature or a bug?

[HailFire]

So, I'd had a thought last night: Currently, martial art styles are a sort of pseudo-weapon you equip that give buffs depending on which one(s) you have and how high your unarmed skill is; but this means that should you ever obtain more than one (I've never managed this, and I'm not sure it's actually possible, but I digress), you're automatically equally proficient with them, which seems a little odd.

I'd suggest making each style an individual skill that gives you the style 'weapon' after the first full rank, and possibly making 'unarmed' a generic street brawling style (possibly with it's own style perks) that your bare fists defaults to. Sure, this'll probably clutter up the skill list quite a bit, but it would mean you wouldn't become an omnidisciplinarian martial artist just by virtue of a single high skill, would enable you to learn new styles much easier via books or NPCs, and would subject unused styles to skill decay.

In fact, while I'm on this train of thought, dojos could be a relatively small (rare?) building that contains rollmats, protective gear, and the aforementioned skill books.
_{Kung-Fu zombies would be ridiculous, but AWESOME.}

Is there a way to maybe hide skills that you have no rank or percent in on the '@' screen?

[FaultyLogic]

I think I like it too. I'm only on my second character, though. And while it seems alot harder to get into anywhere but the outskirts of the town you can actually win a fight. I was just cornered in a cramped toilet, killing zombies as they tried to push through the doorway. I barely survived and was gravelly injured. I'm now lying passed out on the toilet floor. My wounds have turned green from infection and I don't think I'll live much longer if I can't find a pharmacy. But at least the good guy horde let's me rest in peace.

[Greiger]

Tiny Text

That would be an awesome challenge game if/when players could have the option to easily manipulate zombie spawns.

Challenge game rules:
All zombies are martial arts masters.
You must take a martial art.

Challenge Name: Bruce Lee of the Dead

P.S. Anybody know any Hollywood big shots?  I think I have an idea for the next blockbuster.

[Nighthawk]

If you have no intention of introducing a full stealth system any time soon, please let us see if a zombie is aware of the player or not by using 'x' and scrolling over them. It would help, especially with the insane new static-spawning deal.

[Knight of Fools]

I don't see a stealth skill as a bad thing if done properly, and makes sense in the context of the game mechanics (Where skills primarily determine the process rather than the action).

Stealth, for the most part, would determine the use of obstacles in keeping hidden from monsters the character is aware of, and keeping quiet when moving over noisy surfaces, such as gravel or foliage. The player still determines where to hide, where to go, whether to actively sneak, etc, but the character does the small things. Primarily it'd determine how fast you go when sneaking, how far behind an obstacle you can be and remain hidden, and the likelihood of enemies seeing you in certain situations (Such as hiding in an item, like a bush or cupboard). Hiding in plain sight should be impossible solely by using the stealth skill, unless you can turn invisible or something.

Of course, in order to have proper stealth gameplay the game would need the enemies to have a cone of vision and facing. I'm not sure how I feel about that.


Alternatively, allow the player to be very involved in stealth, and forget the skill altogether or have it determine the amount of noise you make when performing certain actions. This would require the ability to crouch, keep low while moving, go prone, and crawl.


I also had another idea while thinking about alternative ways to avoid zombies. You know how you can distract a dog that's tracking you by touching objects you pass by, like trees? It'd be fun to have zombies do the same thing. Obviously useless if they can hear you or see you, but it might give you a few precious seconds to get away from the horde.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

   A stealth skill is a bad thing because when use correctly it always breaks any realistic stealth system. That is the basis of what a stealth skill does, it makes it so you hide in a situation where you would not have been able to hide before. Done right a stealth system based on positioning and such is better as it depends on player skill rather then character skill. In most systems this makes the system a bad thing as a first level character played by an experienced player will always be better at hiding then a high level character played by a low skilled player. Its the basic difference between an fps and an rpg. In a fps the ability to head shot depends on the player (a true fps that is, not the ones that mix in rpg skill leveling) while in a rpg the characters level in a head shot skill will matter more.
   Now what I would like is to have a second level of safe mode. I want the current version and then I want a version that activates upon being seen by a hostile entity. Seeing who can currently see you would be nice but with all the various ways to detect the player I would much rather be alerted of when a hostile is actively coming for me.

[beorn080]

Why not use lower case z for unaware zombies, and capital Z for aware zombies.

[Neonivek]

A stealth skill is a bad thing because when use correctly it always breaks any realistic stealth system.

Well then what you want is a dual system that uses both the skill and situation. With stealth just providing mitigation factors against detection.