Zombies - At last science takes the threat seriously

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Cheese Elemental**

You know what would completely screw us over though?

Nazi Communist Muslim Extremist Zombies.

**SilverMK2**

Frazzled wrote: thats what bunkers are for, to insure the ammo NEVER runs out

I don't think anywhere has 6+ bn rounds of ammo, or a gun which can fire that many shots without breaking

**Cheese Elemental**

Anyways, Australia is the place to be in a zombie attack.

Surrounded by sea, no food in the desert, the heat would dry them up, the sharks would rip them to bits, and we have hordes of angry bogans with crowbars and fast cars.

**Frazzled**

SilverMK2 wrote:
Frazzled wrote: thats what bunkers are for, to insure the ammo NEVER runs out

I don't think anywhere has 6+ bn rounds of ammo, or a gun which can fire that many shots without breaking

Thats what the backup stick with rusty nail is for!

6bn +, all righty then. All Dakkaites into the backyard, we’ve got burgers grilling. This may take awhile…

**Witzkatz**

A thing that bothered me: What exactly is the infection vector? You need to get bitten, that's a given. Being scratched works, too, it seems. Zombie blood and gore in eyes/mouth is probably not good, either. But what about zombie breath? Do they even breath? And I guess zombies reek of disease...is the virus in that smell, too? In that case, this would get bad.
In the same league bad would be if zombie blood and gore on skin - or simply zombie touch - could be contagious.

Therefore, just to be sure, I'd vote for a military grade gasmask. And about the touch...ah, well, let's just go with the Death Korps of Krieg. They do it right. Protective coat, gas mask, helmet and a lasgun that can work on solar energy if necessary.

Ah, that would be nice against zombies. A lasgun. If it's a good one, you'd never run out of ammo if you're in a sunny combat zone.

**Cheese Elemental**

Dude.

Awesome idea right there. Solar weapons.

Solar panel+big focusing crystal+zombies=barbeque?

**Frazzled**

Speaking of Zombies, we forgot the worst kind... Band Zombies!!! Run or they will play their Zombie Fight Song!

**SilverMK2**

If you all had mirror shields you can burninate stuff fairly easily.

Though solar weapons would not work in the UK, as we never see the sun.

Also, you can't really dry out a zombie, as they can function without water. You just get a zombie which is slightly crumbly

As for vectors, it is usually considered to be in the zombie's congealed blood/fluids, so a scratch has the possibility of infecting you if you get some gore in it, a bite almost certainly will infect you.

As has been said before, some good quality leather gear will protect you quite well from most incidental ways you can be infected.

A ski mask/goggles might help with any spray (you have to remember that all the blood and flids will be pretty congealed after a few days).

I don't think a gas mask is required until the bodies which have not been infected start to decay and become hosts for disease.

This is another advantage of a really high building, you might be in some cleaner air (and zombies are less likely to hear/spot you too, plus you avoid zombies piling up and reaching you so easily in large scal outbreaks).

**Cheese Elemental**

Ah, but remember, after a while in the desert, the zombies will be dry as paper. Get a flamethrower (or a simple match), and... whoomph!

**Witzkatz**

I think solar weapons are worth the thought. The problem with continuous beams is, they won't make zombie heads explode.

I just read on wikipedia that some US company is working on some kind of laser weapon for the army. The laser beam creates a little ball of plasma on impact (no, not super-heated powa killa plasma, just plasma in a physical term). However, this ball can somehow assplode. The main effect seems to be a lout bang and an EMP effect that causes serious pain in people's nervous system.

...yeah, not that good against zombies, BUT! They're working on a lethal variant I think

So, pulsed laser weaponry? Not really existent, but would be quite useful.

Ah! Another idea!

How is the general consensus - do zombies still have a working nervous system, working muscles and stuff? (They don't in most fantasy environments I think) If they have still something resembling a normal human physique...

...then you settle down in a big house with lots of solar panels on the roof, get to 2nd or 3rd floor...and try to get the basement flooded. THEN you use your daily solar energy output to shock-electrocute all the zombies standing down there trying to come up. Fry their nervous system, all synapses, BLAM.

Everyday a little BZZAP! and your town's zombie population will shrink. You probably should take another way back to ground level, later though...don't wanna go through watery-swampy-zombie-corpse-terrain.

**The Dreadnote**

You all raise excellent points. But for real emergencies, or when you need to make a last stand as the biggest zombie-killing badass of all time, there's only one weapon to use.

**Lint**

Cheese Elemental wrote:A virus that reduces us to mindless eating machines? What? The closest thing I can think of to that would be rabies, and even that wouldn't create actual zombies. If Romero hadn't made Night of the Dead, we never would have had this silly idea.

You know what was actually a really good movie? Quarantine We never quite find out if it's zombies, but it does start out as a version of rabies that some government hater was cooking up. And watching how fast the "man" locks down the building at the first signs of zombification makes you wonder if law enforcment actually does have an "in the event of a zombie outbreak" manual.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

The Dreadnote wrote:

As a side note, this is awesome.

**notprop**

Witzkatz wrote:........... The laser beam creates a little ball of plasma on impact (no, not super-heated powa killa plasma, just plasma in a physical term). However, this ball can somehow assplode.

Ooooo sounds hurty to me

side note - 50 not out [raises gore stained cricket bat and soaks up applause from crowd watching from 3rd floor balcony and readies himself for the next wave]

**SilverMK2**

@ Cheese

Even when bone dry, flesh is not all that flammable. Certainly not in a "light a match" way.

Flame throwers are only good on huge crowds (and when you are in a really safe place), as they weigh a tonne and only have 3-4 shots, or a few tens of seconds of continuous fire (depending on what model you are using).

Plus they are illegal and not in use by a lot of armies any more. So no fuel or weapon available anyway

@ Witz

Electricity can stun zombies, but it might take more than normal. As with anything "lethal", electricity can char zombies in "overhead cable" levels of power, just as they would regular people.

The generators required for such feats are complex and fuel consuming. And noisy...

**Lord-Loss**

I think we should all prepare for the zombie invasion. So everyone play Left 4 dead and watchg Shawn of the dead.

**Witzkatz**

I agree that my solar fueled zombie electrification idea is a bit flawed when looking at voltages and energy consumption.

Something that occurred to me while walking through our corporate building here; if you are hiding in a building with an open spiral staircase - in a way open that there is only a hip-heigth barrier from keeping you falling down - you can use that as defense and attack! Build some kind of barricade they have to climb over. Then get a pitchfork or some other large pole-weapon and simply push everyone a bit back and left and right when they're up on the barricade...and watch them fall down three to four floors and break every bone in their body. Yeah, won't kill them, but it's hard to bit someone when your legs are so shattered you can't even crawl on them.

Very situational method, but I found it interesting to adapt to terrain and use it to you advantage.

**Lint**

Yeah but what do you do when the bodies pile up three storeys?

**SilverMK2**

Solar chargers should certainly be carried in a zombie outbreak, as they will allow you to recharge torches and walkie talkies etc, which will be invaluable when the power cuts out.

But the spiral stair method you describe would be quite labour intensive and people, especially tired people, make mistakes.

Far better just to demolish the stairs and have a bit of peace and rest.

**Lord-Loss**

The best weapon against zombies?

A mans genitals covered in gravy strapped to a stick, chuck it into a crowd of zombies, lols ensured

**SilverMK2**

Yeah...

... not sure that would do much

**The Dreadnote**

Personally, I think the most hillarious method of zombie disposal would be a combine harvester. Or a steamroller.

**Moopy**

Lint wrote:
You know what was actually a really good movie? Quarantine

Forget that remake, watch the original. Man... filming a remake less than a year after the original? We need people who can come up with their own ideas.

As for gas-masks/helmets- they're not the greatest as they'll kill your periferal vision and also might be grabble; you want to be able to see everything at all times. Some helmets might cut down on your hearing as well. Remember you don't need something tough, you just need to protect your eyes and mouth so a paintball mask would probably do the trick. Speaking of grabbing, don't forget to cut off your hair.

As for smell? Probably goes from bad to worse. Dead people usually defecate when they die, so there will be that. How fast actual rot sets in depends on the weather- some will be faster, while others in colder climates would have less smell and take a lot longer to go to pieces.

While L4Dead is a great game, it's a horrible teaching tool. Fast zombies? Huh. Being able to kill zombies by shooting them in the legs? No. It's a FPS with super undead and lets you eat asprin to survive. Bad role model but great game.

**jp400**

Um... L4d isnt about the "undead" smart guy.

They are Infected with an advanced form of Rabies. They are just as alive/human as you and me. Think 28 days later.

**Moopy**

jp400 wrote:Um... L4d isnt about the "undead" smart guy.

Oh? Cause I'm looking at the back of the game where it says, "Can you survive the ZOMBIE apocalypse". Hey! There's another one, " ... fighting HORDES of SWARMING ZOMBIES".

Soo... yea... sure does lead people to think that capping a zombie in the legs will kill it, when they're told they're fighting the undead.

Do they act like 28 Days Later infected? Yes. But the game was hyped about being about the undead. Take a look at the L4D2 trailer. Go to the spot on the bridge- you'll see the infected with huge massive wounds that no living being could survive.

**jp400**

Ok first of all,
Ive been apart of L4D forums since they were still thinking up ways to mod it from its roots.... (zombie mod for CSS)
They are INFECTED with an Advanced form of rabies.... they used the term zombies (even though they are not in a classical sense) cause of people like you couldnt grasp the concept.

Dont believe me? ripped straight from the site:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=535896

Read the info and then the comments... Turtle Rock Studios called them infected the whole time. It wasnt until valve bought them out that the word "Zombie" really started popping up.

As for that ripoff crapfest that is L4d2...... once again... Valve made vs TRS.

Shall I call and inform the School that you wont be takeing the bus today......... cause you have already been taken to school?

**Moopy**

jp400 wrote:Ok first of all,
Ive been apart of L4D forums since they were still thinking up ways to mod it from its roots.... (zombie mod for CSS)
They are INFECTED with an Advanced form of rabies.... they used the term zombies (even though they are not in a classical sense) cause of people like you couldnt grasp the concept.

Uh, I got the concept long before I got the game asshat. I hated the fact that 28 Days Later called the infected zombies because PR couldn't figure out what else to do, so they took the easy route. What the Valve forums say is absolutely meaningless because THEIR marketing of the FINAL product is what the vast majority of people see. So, looks like they underminded their original ideas with what's stated on the final product/magazine adds/billboards, etc. The amount of people that see those > the amount of forum readers and it propagates the misconceptions I already stated.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

jp400 wrote:
As for that ripoff crapfest that is L4d2...... once again... Valve made vs TRS.

Lastly, you can't magically discount/wave off the various parts of marketing you don't like since it's all the same to everyone else. We're talking about the general idea the game is publicly portraying via the E3 videos, the wording on clam shell game box and magazine ads.

**FITZZ**

A quick side note on "the need to carry loads of ammunition".
While I've never traveled "across the pond",I know here in the good old U.S of A the need to load oneself down with tons of ammo would be a waste.
A good stockpile off ammo at "home base" or multiple "home bases" would be all that would be needed.
As for carry ammo,a few 100 round would be plenty,so long as you stuck to comman rounds, 9mm,.357,.45acp,12 Gauge,.223,30-06,etc,there will more than likely be plenty of ammo readily available,hell I have 2 Wal-marts with in 2 miles of me and both are LOADED with ammo.

**Witzkatz**

And there's a difference to us here in Europe. At least to Germany. The only store in my whole city (~200,000 inhabitants) that probably packs SOME ammunition is a little tiny shop that mainly sells air rifles and shiny fake swords. Oh, and there's a hunter's shop in some backwater village a few dozen miles off that might pack a few rounds of hunting ammo.

So, yeah, we Europeans definitely have to take all ammo we can get with us

And, as I said before, should get some efficient CC weapon.

...though, when I think about it, there's a little gun club not a kilometre from my house. Funny how you can forget about that. Problem is, they got mostly air rifles, too, maybe some .38s or something like that. Well, at least a bit useful.

**person person**

Cheese Elemental wrote:You know what would completely screw us over though?

Nazi Communist Muslim Extremist Zombies.

The worst part is they would have the guns, bombs, Leopard tanks, and more bombs, if they know how to use them.

Man, up north, our only hope is a good winter against zombies, even then, I live in the land of rainy winters.

**Ketara**

I'm a Ken-Jutsu student, and I have to say, my sword techniques would be pretty screwed against zombies. Side cuts-nope.
Wrist cuts-nope
Precision neck piercing cuts-nope
Head techniques-yes.

So in other words, the only ones that work are the ones that blunt my katana relatively quickly, and leave me the most open.

Not good. Where did you say those crowbars were again?