[Gondolin]

Burn, zombie, burn! 

[Jakkar]

I assume it has occurred to you that setting a z's hair/clothing on fire simply makes him singe slightly until the fuel is exhausted - but that while on fire, he becomes a far more dangerous threat as you cannot grapple him without sustaining burns while may ignite your own clothing.

Being on fire is bad enough without being surrounded by zombies when you stop drop and roll.

Military grade flamethrowers coat the target in a slow-but-harsh burning chemical gel, usually - to ensure lethality and destruction of soft targets and materiel. Entirely different thing, and still impractical except for corpse-disposal.

On that note though; Brian, any thoughts on 'confirming' zombie kills. Will there be a 'structurally weakened' state whereby zombies collapse with too many musculoskeletal wounds but remain a crawling bag'a'bones that needs finishing?

A damage threshold akin to a traditional hitpoints system that places the zombie into a crippled state at depletion, but a localised threat as he remains able to grab and bite from the floor, perhaps.

More generally; are these 'remove the head or destroy the brain' zombies, or just half-dead humans who ignore pain for a while?

[Gondolin]

Oh, man, don't spoil the pleasure of an improvised weapon. It's... work in progress, okay? 

[Tiavals]

Who knows what happens to the zombies upon zombification.

Perhaps their bodies dry up really fast, or a chemical that causes zombism is spread to the body, which happens to be very flammable as well, bubbling up from their skin pores.

[Bjergtrold]

Way too convenient I think... The universe would never be so kind, were it to release the zombie hordes upon us.

[sporky]

I assume it has occurred to you that setting a z's hair/clothing on fire simply makes him singe slightly until the fuel is exhausted - but that while on fire, he becomes a far more dangerous threat as you cannot grapple him without sustaining burns while may ignite your own clothing.

Statements like this always come in "Comic Book Guy" voice.

PS, that flamer is sweet, Gond.

[Brian]

I assume it has occurred to you that setting a z's hair/clothing on fire simply makes him singe slightly until the fuel is exhausted - but that while on fire, he becomes a far more dangerous threat as you cannot grapple him without sustaining burns while may ignite your own clothing.

Being on fire is bad enough without being surrounded by zombies when you stop drop and roll.

This is along the lines of what we have planned. Zombies will eventually burn up when on fire, but until they are completely consumed by the flames, instead of normal zombies you now have flaming zombies, which can now do fire damage to you if they get close enough to grapple. If you're going to set zombies on fire, do it at a distance, and maybe run after you do it.

Military grade flamethrowers coat the target in a slow-but-harsh burning chemical gel, usually - to ensure lethality and destruction of soft targets and materiel. Entirely different thing, and still impractical except for corpse-disposal.

Completely impractical weapons. The US doesn't even keep them in their arsenal anymore. They are practically a fantasy weapon at this point. You'd be more likely to die from the strain of hiking for six miles with one strapped to your back.

On that note though; Brian, any thoughts on 'confirming' zombie kills. Will there be a 'structurally weakened' state whereby zombies collapse with too many musculoskeletal wounds but remain a crawling bag'a'bones that needs finishing?

A damage threshold akin to a traditional hitpoints system that places the zombie into a crippled state at depletion, but a localised threat as he remains able to grab and bite from the floor, perhaps.

More generally; are these 'remove the head or destroy the brain' zombies, or just half-dead humans who ignore pain for a while?

Destroy the head, burn them, explode them, or severely maul them zombies. There are a few weapons that have attacks specifically meant to destroy the brain. A critical hit on a zombie always means you hit it in the head. Certain types of weapons (like slashing weapons) do very little damage to zombies, but a critical hit might mean you severed the head or penetrated the skull, making it a fatal hit. I'll go into detail about the weapons at a later date, but I will say that your armor/weapon combos definitely make a world of difference when fighting zombies or melee attackers or ranged attackers. You won't find a universal build that's good at handling every type of scenario, that's for sure.

[One Wolf]

This is along the lines of what we have planned. Zombies will eventually burn up when on fire, but until they are completely consumed by the flames, instead of normal zombies you now have flaming zombies, which can now do fire damage to you if they get close enough to grapple. If you're going to set zombies on fire, do it at a distance, and maybe run after you do it.

Great.

Completely impractical weapons. The US doesn't even keep them in their arsenal anymore. They are practically a fantasy weapon at this point. You'd be more likely to die from the strain of hiking for six miles with one strapped to your back.

Been laughing at modern games using flamethrowers for years.  Glad to see a dev that can resist their cinematic flare.

Destroy the head, burn them, explode them, or severely maul them zombies. There are a few weapons that have attacks specifically meant to destroy the brain. A critical hit on a zombie always means you hit it in the head. Certain types of weapons (like slashing weapons) do very little damage to zombies, but a critical hit might mean you severed the head or penetrated the skull, making it a fatal hit. I'll go into detail about the weapons at a later date, but I will say that your armor/weapon combos definitely make a world of difference when fighting zombies or melee attackers or ranged attackers. You won't find a universal build that's good at handling every type of scenario, that's for sure.

Excellent in many ways.  Makes having a diverse inventory sensible, makes planning important, makes inventory management contribute to the gameplay as opposed to being a moderately irritating chore.  Making inventory an integral part of the gameplay is a welcome relief.

I also like the way crits work.  Someone clumsy with a blade greatly reduces the effectiveness of the weapon, but someone with some training - or mastery of the weapon - would be a zombie nightmare.  Also likely means that since being close to zombies has its own dangers then less skilled party members will be better off with firearms (ammo/weight/rarity aside).  As someone who has trained with both, firearms are much easier to learn and deal with than swords are.  Especially when in one situation you've got a ravenous zombie in your face =)

[CanadianWolverine]

 

Ooo ooo! Let me! Let me!

Take your improvised flame thrower and turn it into part of a snare, tripwire, pressure switch trap and throw in a ankle biter securely anchored in the same spot or a pit with spikes to keep them immobile. Bonus points if you can make it some sort of repeating setup in a bottle neck of an area that you don't care if the fire spreads, perhaps some where with lack of/fire resistant surroundings or far enough away you figure the wind won't push the fire your way too quickly that you gotta deal with fire survival on top of the zombie survival and regular eat and breath survival - heck it could even act as a warning when you see the flames and smoke ... but dang, its going to stink.

And do we want to discuss other improvised anti-zombie weapons?

[sporky]

How about a bear trap that when someone steps in it, completes a circuit, lighting lightbulb above trap, and the light bulb has been carefully filled with jellied gasoline?

[zingaran]

Destroy the head, burn them, explode them, or severely maul them zombies. There are a few weapons that have attacks specifically meant to destroy the brain. A critical hit on a zombie always means you hit it in the head. Certain types of weapons (like slashing weapons) do very little damage to zombies, but a critical hit might mean you severed the head or penetrated the skull, making it a fatal hit. I'll go into detail about the weapons at a later date, but I will say that your armor/weapon combos definitely make a world of difference when fighting zombies or melee attackers or ranged attackers. You won't find a universal build that's good at handling every type of scenario, that's for sure.

One thing that came to mind after reading this was an improvised cattle gun similar to what was used by Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men.  I suppose it wouldn't be that useful if you missed the head.  However, it could be an interesting all or nothing weapon against zombies and it would still be useful against regular people.  And, of course, you could put a silencer on it if noise was a concern.

[Gondolin]

PS, that flamer is sweet, Gond.

Thanks. 

And do we want to discuss other improvised anti-zombie weapons?

I think we do.

[sporky]

That cattle gun was pretty quiet already, wasn't it? What I want from that film is that sweet, sweet suppressed shotgun Chigur had.


Would have less of a chance of attracting more zombies.

[grisse]

Wouldn't a flamethrower be of more use against living opponents? Because they'd probably stop attacking when on fire, and generally shy away from the flames.

[One Wolf]

Wouldn't a flamethrower be of more use against living opponents? Because they'd probably stop attacking when on fire, and generally shy away from the flames.

  Sure, but the problem is with weapon itself.  Unless you`re talking about the improvised version; in that case you might be simply working with whatever you can get your hands on.  Mil-spec flamethrowers aren`t practical for a number of reasons.