Making Urban Dead not suck
If there's one thing I've noticed from watching the DHPD get clobbered by SA goons and the numerous similar groups tied to a neighborhood, it's that they're a bad idea.
Yes, while it might be more realistic to try and secure a section of town in the face of the shambling horde, where survivors would try to band together, scrounge supplies and defend each other, this is simply not an option. Since zombies stand with full health after being killed, and can only be dumped outside the building where they are free to simply stand up and rejoin the charge, attempting to hold an area is folly.
At first I thought that this was a problem with the game, exacerbated by the problems with Free Running being counterproductive in zombie-infested areas.* I toyed with a few ideas for changes to the game itself, perhaps an option to burn zombie bodies (the zombies would "respawn" with all their XP and abilities at a distance square, or perhaps a graveyard). However, if "trenchers" had such an option, they might never leave their safe houses and the ever-present danger element would be gone. Maybe if the game took food and water into account, but that's probably needlessly complicating things.
So, I figured the best way might be to simply ditch the DHPD-style concept. Don't try to hold an area or get tied down to it, especially if your group gains large numbers: You'll just be a target. And don't even TRY to "take back" an area: You can't push a zombie horde out. You can annoy them into walking away, maybe. But chances are they zombie players will just post somewhere that there are lots of harmanz hambargaz to be had, and soon will gain many reinforcements.
Instead, form a migrant/nomadic group of survivors, staying in an area only as long as it is safe, gathering supplies for when it is not. However, a migrant group is going to use a lot of AP staying on the move and fortifying new positions when they settle down. Some strategy would need to be involved in order to keep a decent AP level amongst the caravan (or whatever you want to call it).
To this end, each survivor should pick a class role and stick to it, even when they have enough XP to branch out. Purchasing other abilities is fine as an "in case of emergency" thing. However, doctors and scientists shouldn't waste precious AP fighting zombies, ESPECIALLY given how costly revives are. That would be left up to the soldier and cop types.
So basically, the fighting-type classes should act as the survivors' guards and scouts. Brainy types would keep the group going with healing and revives, and others (or anyone, perhaps) could fix buildings up and build 'cades.
Advantages:
-Lack of commitment to any buildings or neighborhoods means that the group is actually far more resistant to attack.
-No need to set up dead giveaways like tagged revive points or rows of heavily barricaded buildings
-Less of a target for fucktards
-He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. Zombies are unlikely to follow migrant survivors as long as there are stubborn hambargaz to be had.
Disadvantages:
-AP cost of movement.
-Requires a fairly large group to function properly as a fully autonomous unit (otherwise it'd rely on other groups' revive points, etc)
-Without scouting it could be easy for the wanderers to blunder into an untenable position.
So, y'know. Maybe if we can get enough people together...
*For those who haven't been playing recently, if zombies ransack a building, you can't successfully Free Run in or out of it, and you take fall damage.
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Originally Posted by Ska Wars
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