Hey guys,
I wanted to put this here (as I am not aware of zombies finding their way into another forum anywhere else except maybe for the Left4dead thread) as kind of a really short primer with "holes" to better our understanding of the gameplay in zombie panic. For the most part, a lot of this is taken from Skarth's own testing so don't give me any credit.
Basic movement speed
Zombie - 131
Lunge - 171
Carrier - 142
Lunge - 182
Survivor - 175
Spectator - 1504
A few things about survivor speed, after running for about 15-20 seconds (or immediately after panicking), you will hear a "heart beating" noise, which means you will become fatigued. Every second or two, you will lose 0.5 speed, and continue to lose it as long as you keep running, this will continue going down until you cannot move. Upon hitting a max speed of 40 (through fatigue or carrying too much weight) you will not be able to move forward normally, but must jump to move instead. This occurs most often while moving around in vents. Due to the way Zombie Panic designed crouching, it is very difficult to move while crouching unless you are carrying very little.
About the chart -
-Damage
This was calculated by simply whacking a zombie over the head, these values are accurate.
-Speed
This was calculated by timing how long it took a weapon to attack 30 times, then diving the time it took by 30, to find out how many attack per second the weapon did. This value may be very slightly off.
-DPS (Damage per Second)
Simply how much damage each second this weapon does on average.
-Weight
This is how much speed reduction you get from carrying this weapon, a weight of 11 would slow a survivor from his base 175 speed, to 164, making him move slower. Multiple items simple add or subtract weight when they are carried together. So if you had a 11 and a 13 weight item, you would move at a speed of 151. Ranged weapons have two weight values, the first is how heavy that weapon is unloaded, and the second value is how heavy it is when fully loaded.
-Knock back
This is approximately how far back this weapon will push someone in one hit, the value for this was measured by recording the position of a character before, and after he was hit. This value is only mildly accurate.
-Reach
This is how from far away you can hit someone with a melee weapon. This was measured by comparing the position between two characters and finding the maximum distance they could hit each other with that weapon. A higher number means further reach.
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Important highlights of the chart above:
All pistols deal the same amount of damage! They are also considered one of the best all around weapons due to the fact that they also deal as much damage as a MP5 or Rifle, have lower carry weight, and tend to be more accurate. Weight is so important for speed that many prefer to carry several pistols with ammo as opposed to a rifle with a lot of ammo.
Headshots deal far more damage than shots to all other body parts. Pistols can often kill 1 and a half zombies to 2 zombies if you land a lot of headshots.
Magnum headshots kill normal zombies in 1 hit making it overpowered in many ways.
Best Melee Weapons:
Pot - Combination of speed and damage
Shovel - Best range
Frying Pan - Best damage and knockback (while its dps is lower, 50 damage per hit is far more useful than faster attacks when engaging zombies as you can hit them before they can hit you)
Machete - Fastest
Keyboards - Most hilarious weapon but will mean the end of you
Crowbars - These are a separate category because of the different types. The "super crowbar" as it is known, is the lightest .4 speed crowbar. The reason it is called super crowbar is because if you crouch into a vent or crouch only crawl space area and hold down the attack key, most if not all zombies will die/get knocked back too fast to actually land a hit on you. Note that it has 0 weight, has superb reach, etc.
About Weapon Spread: Bursting with the AK makes it as accurate as the MP5. However, at full auto, the MP5 is more accurate (think circular cone) while the AK will kick into a square pattern (beginning as a cone).
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Tips/Tricks/Misc
This section isnt really about teamwork or tactics or knowing weapon spawns. Its more about the random stuff you can do to kill humans or zombies, and generally get the job done.
Resting while fatigued (0 bars for example) regenerates the same amount of energy as if you had all but 1 bar missing from your fatigue bar. The optimal rest time is at exactly half at any weight above 45. Any weight below that and you are considered light weight.
All actions except grabbing items uses up energy. This means jumping, crouching, and shooting. This does not include falling however. Make sure you take this into consideration when you are spraying with the rifle or shooting your shotgun a lot as this will fatigue you with continued use.
Hitting the "p" key will panic you. This drops all items except for what you are holding and the clip loaded into the weapon. This typically makes you faster than all zombies even when they are lunging. Can be used multiple times, as the cooldown is something like 45 seconds. I don't believe this gives you a speed boost however. What it does is unload all the weight so that you are at your fastest movement rate.
Barricading: Perhaps the most interesting element of zombie panic (and zombie panic classes where you can be a constructor) is barricading. What works: Using indestructible items that are heavy. What does not: Everything else. Examples of good barricades: Furniture down stairwells, in front of vents, windows. Examples of awesome barricades: Interlocking tables/shelves with crates/barrels to make it almost impossible to breach. What not to do: Place a interlocking barricade in between a swinging door and prevent it from opening. The reason for this is that the survivors then automatically win and nobody can kill them until the time is up. Generally this can be done on most maps and require humans to work together in finding a suitable spot to begin barricading. Cabin b5/b7 is a good map to learn barricading on or zombies_ate_my_neighbor map.
Moving objects as zombies and humans. A lot of people dont realize that the right mouse button click moves objects far more effectively than hitting it with a melee weapon. For zombies, simply right click and you will attempt to push an object aside. For humans, you must press "h" to holster your gun before you can move objects with ease. Hitting objects at different angles can flip them, or adjust the amount of impact given to the object. For example, we will look at the couch. Pushing it vertically is much slower than angled hits to the side of the couch. Also if you crouch and hit it at the very tip you can flip it onto its side, if you need to slide it into a narrow hallway. Note, this "push" attack can break windows in the case you do not have a melee weapon (often the case).
Anti-barricading: When you find a bunch of humans stuffing some poor doorway, it can be tough breaking through without getting your face blown away by some ammo whore or dude with magnum. This is where you need to find yourself an explosive barrel. You can use your secondary attack to push that barrel along and forcibly move barricades by blowing them with the explosive barrel. The blast can often damage/kill humans close behind the barricade and have enough force to move heavy objects or scatter them.
Zombie vision. Activate this by pressing "F". This will black and white much of your vision which helps in darkly lit areas (kind of like natural night vision but not). This also marks humans who are fatigued over 50% as red and makes them stand out greatly. Warning, using this also makes your eyes glow more so that if you are hiding in some dark spot, its easier to see you.
Zombie lunge: Use this sparingly, typically when you are ambushing someone or attempting to gain ground on someone. This sprint doesnt come back unless you kill people (which restores something like 25% energy back).It is equally useful to get a running jump to make it to more interesting ambush spots on many maps.
Infection rate is roughly 10% per attack for the "carrier" zombie usually referred to as whitey (since they are white zombies).
Standing in fire as a zombie or human will light you on fire. Doing so as a human will get you killed rather quickly. Zombies take very little damage while on fire.
If you dont move as a human (when hiding or doing nothing) for 30 seconds or longer your character will start to cough or make noticeable noises.
Many maps have hidden passage ways or breakable walls that have goodies or alternative barricade spots.
Objective maps get the most out this game as opposed to survival maps.
How to tell if you are infected: Your HP redcross turns into a virus icon and your heart starts beating rapidly.
How to tell if your teammate is infected: When you hear his heart rate beat rapidly twice.
When do weapons and ammo respawn? 5:00 minutes per round.
How does survival maps work? Humans win if they survive 10 minutes or if they kill all the zombies (typically 2.5x human lives at start),
If you don't move for a while (while trying to hide), you start to glow red if zombies have their vision turned on.
Seriously, if you are infected (if the red cross in upper right changes to red blotchy blood spots) you are going to change to a zombie soon. YOu can either let the humans know, throw down your weapons and run away to help them. Or you can pretend all is well. Walk closely behind someone and then eat them like a snickers bar.
