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Author Topic: zombies now insanely hard?  (Read 8788 times)

puke

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zombies now insanely hard?
« on: September 21, 2014, 03:48:09 pm »

I'm not gonna lie, I cheat the heck out of Adventure mode.  Even so, I have not been able to crack a necro tower yet.

I've tried a few times going in with full iron armor and legendary in all skills.  But even when I kite them and fight one on one, eventually they wear me down.

I can decapitate most humans and gobbos and night creatures with ease, but I can whack at a zombies neck all day long and not sever it with a finely crafted halberd or great axe.

Are vaults easier or harder than towers?  I explored the nearest goblin capital, but found no vault there.  Will have to try another one.
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Robsoie

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2014, 04:05:23 pm »

40.x undead are insanely strong (capable of punching through armor with ease), the only semi-reliable way to defeat them is to use blunt attack, not cutting ones (so if you have an axe by example do not choose "hack", but choose "slap" or "strike") so you can pulp body parts that should kill the undead.

I find too that oddly undead , even freshly raised ones, aremuch more resistant to having body part severed than living people, probably "yet another bug" of adventure mode.
But even if you insist to sever undead body parts and finally manage to do so, depending on where you are (evil biome that reanimate everything, or presence of a necromancer) , it can make the danger worse when the body parts will reanimate
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Jacob/Lee

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2014, 04:11:45 pm »

The undead are some of the most dangerous creatures to ever walk the earth now. They don't bleed, tire (so they can sprint endlessly, which is only around 2.2 max for human zombies but still fast), feel pain, or just about anything that the living do. Even taking their head off isn't a guaranteed kill and only produces another potential zombie if it isn't mangled enough. More than once I've managed to take off three limbs on a zombie and it was still going.

Bladed weapons will just make the problem worse. Cutting the limbs/head off only reduces the number of parts on the zombie and edge it closer to falling again, all the while giving the necromancer(s) potential fodder to raise. The key to stopping them for good is to bring hammers and reduce them to mush, which can strike them down, make them impossible to raise again, and avoid creating new targets with detached body parts.

Due to a trainwreck of odd mechanics, they're also extremely good at killing anything that feels pain. Their punches/kicks have a surprisingly good chance of chipping bones (sometimes through armor) which will likely trigger an immediate pain blackout before they brain you, likely through your helmet. Companions are especially likely to suffer this fate as they don't know how to kite enemies. Naturally, your best bet is to put on as much of the best armor as you can and get your armor user skill high enough that it doesn't slow you down a ton. Speed is key when fighting the undead.

Spoiler: On vaults (click to show/hide)

Sutremaine

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2014, 04:31:40 pm »

I haven't had too many problems with the undead, but I was pretty competent before I took them on with my trusty copper scourge. Also my base speed is 1.7 - 2.2.

First I go for a foot (first one on the list, unless there's a really good strike on the other one), which takes them to the floor. Then I do nothing but beat them in the head, going for heavy strikes on the easy shots and fast strikes on the difficult ones. I always try and keep only one undead within range, and my combat preferences are set for dodging.

I've also been hauling the dead corpses off. One time I had to cut and run because it was getting dark and my companion was waiting a couple of map tiles away, and later I ended up taking down some Corpse corpses.
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I am trying to make chickens lay bees as eggs. So far it only produces a single "Tame Small Creature" when a hen lays bees.
Honestly at the time, I didn't see what could go wrong with crowding 80 military Dwarves into a small room with a necromancer for the purpose of making bacon.

Rumrusher

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2014, 04:50:07 pm »

great thing zombies all still have the same weakness where they have poor stealth checks, and you could sneak pass them if they are unaware.
though that was 31.xx and 40.xx kinda has the whole there's no such thing as off or on sneaking.
40.xx sneaking is well MGS3 sneaking where you have a camo index on how well you are hidden and the option to bring up everyone's vision cones.
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I thought I would I had never hear my daughter's escapades from some boy...
DAMN YOU RUMRUSHER!!!!!!!!
"body swapping and YOU!"
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puke

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2014, 04:54:37 pm »

I read (on the wiki I think) that you can pulp with cutting weapons as well -- the text is "chopped to pieces" or something like this.

I guess it does not work well in practice?  Sounds like the successful folks are using blunt weapons, so I'll give that a shot.

I can sometimes sneak around them if I lure them out and run around first -- but getting into a full tower since sneaking was fixed is pretty impossible.
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Rumrusher

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2014, 05:19:57 pm »

I read (on the wiki I think) that you can pulp with cutting weapons as well -- the text is "chopped to pieces" or something like this.

I guess it does not work well in practice?  Sounds like the successful folks are using blunt weapons, so I'll give that a shot.

I can sometimes sneak around them if I lure them out and run around first -- but getting into a full tower since sneaking was fixed is pretty impossible.
can't you open the door then run the hell out, exit the site, and return with most of the zombies gone?
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I thought I would I had never hear my daughter's escapades from some boy...
DAMN YOU RUMRUSHER!!!!!!!!
"body swapping and YOU!"
Adventure in baby making!Adv Homes

puke

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2014, 06:49:46 pm »

only if you're unencumbered and you can out distance them before you get tired and slow down.  They can sprint forever without getting exhausted, and it's hard to put enough distance on them before running out of steam.
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Jacob/Lee

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2014, 06:57:06 pm »

Another easy way to get in is to turn yourself into a vampire. Undead ignore other undead and you can casually walk into the tower and steal their everything. Strange loyalty cascades happen in towers as it stands and the undead will slaughter all the necromancers, so there's literally nothing to oppose you after a short while. Vampires can still learn the secrets of life and death.

Dyret

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2014, 06:53:46 am »

I find too that oddly undead , even freshly raised ones, aremuch more resistant to having body part severed than living people, probably "yet another bug" of adventure mode.

Yeah, the game doesn't differentiate magical and mundane strength, so it probably counts them as having insane amounts of muscle. Vampires have the same problem.
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Rumrusher

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2014, 11:15:57 am »

Build a fire campsite wall around the door, open the door, run the other way and jump over the campfire, now the zombies can't get to you and you have a large distance between them.
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I thought I would I had never hear my daughter's escapades from some boy...
DAMN YOU RUMRUSHER!!!!!!!!
"body swapping and YOU!"
Adventure in baby making!Adv Homes

puke

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2014, 12:39:02 pm »

what i *wish* i could do, is climb the outside wall and pull a roof tile of the top and enter in from above.

Even at legendary sneaking, those things were able to detect me when I got close to the tower.
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Rumrusher

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2014, 01:26:34 pm »

what i *wish* i could do, is climb the outside wall and pull a roof tile of the top and enter in from above.

Even at legendary sneaking, those things were able to detect me when I got close to the tower.
hmm that seems like something you can do if Advfort works.
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I thought I would I had never hear my daughter's escapades from some boy...
DAMN YOU RUMRUSHER!!!!!!!!
"body swapping and YOU!"
Adventure in baby making!Adv Homes

puke

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2014, 04:05:13 pm »

I have not checked out the undead templates in the RAWs, but these guys have some crazy detection abilities.  360 degree night vision, and I'm guessing uncanny sense of hearing?

I was fighting a "master" at the top of a Spire (well, "fighting" might be a generous interpretation of what was happening.  The reality is I tried to talk to it and it made one 'scratch' attack that sent my iron-armored superhumanly muscled arm flying off in an arc) when I decided to flee.

I was able to start sneaking and hide behind pillars and get away without further pursuit, no problem with my legendary sneaking.

But the zombies can somehow detect me around corners and behind cover, even outside of their 'vision' radius. 
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ClorrProdigal

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Re: zombies now insanely hard?
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2014, 05:39:48 pm »

But the zombies can somehow detect me around corners and behind cover, even outside of their 'vision' radius.
Do zombies have extravision along with their 360 vision?
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