We introduced the Mega zombie to Melbourne HvZ today and spent a lot of time playing-testing it. In this Nerf Game Report, Ill be going through the blasters that saw use, the game modes we played, and in particular how the Mega zombie affected games.
Gamemodes.
Regular
- (Regular Survival Standard Gametype), humans attempt to survive for a certain amount of time or until the last person falls. Zombies are given access to upgrades at various times, we used Infectors at 5 minutes, Tanks at 10 minutes and Husk at 15 minutes. Last human to fall wins.
- Secret VIP There are 3 special players in this game: the VIP, the General and the Traitor. The VIP is a human who the other humans are trying to protect and is restricted to a given area (we used the usual tambark area), while the Traitor is a zombie masquerading as a human. After being stunned, zombies need to move out of the VIPs area. The only person who knows the VIPs identity is the General, while all original zombies know the Traitors identity. Everyone knows the identity of the General, making them the only guaranteed trustworthy human. While the Traitor is a human, they can do one Traitor zombie tag at any time. This reveals that they are the Traitor and turns them into regular zombies. Additionally, if a human hits another human, the hit human is stunned as if they were a zombie, however they can still fire their blaster. The VIP is protected by the humans for a set time period (e.g. The humans win if the VIP is protected for a set time (e.g., 15 minutes). The zombies will win if they successfully tag the VIP. Zombie upgrades are unlocked on a timer like Survival, with Infectors available from the start, 5 minutes for Tanks and 10 minutes for Husk. If a human is hit by a grenade, they are instantly turned into a zombie.
This is the only way you can actively eliminate the Traitor.
Infrequent/New:
- None
Zombie Rules:
Zombies can attach their hands to any body part, blaster or tactical gear and turn a human into a zombie. If a human hits a zombie with a dart, the zombie is stunned for a count of 20. A human can also stun a zombie with melee, but only with a direct hit to the back.
There are three standard upgrades/mutations/perks for zombies:
- Infector zombies get to use foam swords, pool noodles, etc. Tags with said foam melee weapons on humans count as regular tags. These melee weapons can also serve to block darts.
- Tank Zombies can use shields to block darts. The shields cannot be used to tag humans, presumably as a precaution against shieldbashing which could cause significant injury.
- Husk A zombie can use a ranged attack. In this case, a Zingbow. A ranged Husk attack counts as a regular zombie tag. The Husk may move from the place they were stunned to retrieve their ammo, but do not count down their stun timer until they return to their original stun place.
Upgrades to zombies cannot be combined, so one zombie upgrade can be granted at a time.
If in play, grenades can stun a zombie with a hit to a shield, and can be reused at will. A grenade struck to a person will instantly turn them into zombies if human-vs-human rules are in place.
We also added the fourth zombie upgrade, Mega zombie. They can only be stunned by Mega darts. The Mega zombie typically leaves combat when the shields enter combat, though this depends on the gamemode.
Blasters
There were many blasters out there. I have compiled a list of the most important and notable ones. It is possible that I missed some blasters because I cannot be everywhere at the same time.
Regulars/Recurring
Elite Rapidstrike (various motors, LiPos) standard high ROF flywheeler at HvZ. This is a great way to reliably amaze a lot zombies but requires a lot more ammo.
Elite Stryfe (various motors, LiPos) standared all-round flywheeler platform. Highly effective, compact and very customisable, they are probably the single most popular blaster at HvZ.
ZS Hammshot saw more action than usual today, especially for players with light loads. This is a great option for ultra-light loads, as you don’t need to carry spare mags. However, it relies on player mobility to survive late game.
Doomlands Lawbringer essentially a bulkier Hammershot with a much higher capacity, also quite effective for a light, magless loadout.
ZS Slingfire (various upgrades springs) is notable for its near Retaliator performance and performs quite well with a spring upgrade. The main attraction is its style, but functionally it is quite inferior to a good pump gripped Retaliator.
N-Strike Modulus (internal overhaul, unknown motors) essentially a bulked up Stryfe. Although it is a very effective all-round blaster, it is not as popular as the Stryfe and so is much less used.
Mega Rotofury (rebarreled for Elites, various upgrade springs) high power springers, primarily notable for the ease of reloading on-the-fly.
Their firepower is much less noteworthy in HvZ due to the low muzzle velocity cap (~130fps), but they are particularly effective at picking off zombies at longer ranges.
ZS Sledgefire (upgrade springs, various barrels) an easy to use high power single shot, notable in this event for its ability to easily switch to a shell that fires Megas. Effective for picking off zombies at longer ranges, however suffers drastically in close quarters, especially against multiple zombies.
Elite Retaliator (typically various upgrade springs, pump grips) typically sees a lot more use than what was seen today, it is the go-to mag-fed springer blaster. Packs a solid punch in a highly customisable platform, and has a fast enough ROF with a pump grip to fend off multiple zombies effectively.
NStrike Rayven performs almost like a slightly less powerful Stryfe, a semi-auto flywheeler. A number of internal issues greatly increase the effort required to bring it roughly up to par with a similar spec Stryfe. It is generally used less than the Stryfe.
Elite Alpha Trooper (various upgrade springs) a decent out-of-box pump action mag-fed springer. Not as powerful as a comparable Retaliator build, but saves the cost of a pump grip. Still quite an effective all-round blaster for HvZ.
New/Infrequent:
Rival Nemesis was a lot of fun to use and watch. The 3S LiPo can launch foam at will, with muzzle velocity of around 120 fps. The massive capacity also means that the user doesnt need to reload often, and can also easily top off the giant hopper when necessary. It suffers from several notable weaknesses however. Firstly, even rewired for a LiPo, it is extremely large and bulky, and rather heavy. It also has the same problems as other Rival blasters. Rival balls can stall out quickly and become nearly worthless after 15m. Rival balls are also a very rare ammo type in Australia. It is also difficult to quickly refill large quantities of balls without having to replace the hopper. Some trigger-happy players were able to burn through their loads very quickly, but this could be attributed to inexperience.
Buzz Bee Thermal Hunter (upgrade spring) decided to give it another shot after the various mods Id performed to it since the previous event. This time around, it was much more reliable and didnt jam once, however I suffered from significant accuracy issues, with darts never going where I wanted them to. It was also quite weak with the Elite upgrade spring that I used. I will be giving it a further spring upgrade before the next time I give it a shot.
Modulus Regulator (assumed stock) didnt see in in action, but added it as its the first time Ive seen it in person.
Alien Menace Incisor (Meishel 2.0 motors, 2S LiPo) an awesome looking, effective non-mag-fed flywheeler. Suited to magless, light loadouts if you still want to pack the firepower of a Stryfe. As with all other non-bulk-loading blasters though, its quite time consuming to fill up from empy/near-empty.
Elite Dual Strike (removed Elite ARs) a rather odd blaster that can switch between firing Elites and Megas simply by flicking a switch on the side. It is one of few blasters that can combat both Mega and regular zombies, which gives it an interesting niche. However, it is limited in both ammo type and capacity, which makes it less viable. Three dart types of each ammo type are not enough to fight off more than one or two Zombies. This particular Dual Strike had all its Elite ARs removed, making it fire all three of its top darts at once.
Megas
Due to the introduction of the Mega zombie, Ive put all Mega firing blasters that saw action in this section. This section is unlikely to become a regular one. If the Mega zombie is accepted into the rules, any blasters that are notable will be moved to the normal sections.
Mega Mastodon was used primarily to create a silly, entertaining Mega primary. Excessively large for what it is, but not actually a terrible blaster, with quite a good capacity. They were used primarily to stop the Mega zombie, and had backup for other zombies.
Mega doublebreach too large and complex for a two-shot mega blaster. Surprisingly, it was also one of the weakest Mega blasters on the field, leaving it with pretty much no niche whatsoever.
Modulus Tri Strike Barrel Attachment is notable for being the only Mega blaster to attach to other Nerf blasters natively, making it easier to carry than others. Its rather weak and a little clunky to use with no trigger, but its a usable and convenient Mega attachment.
Mega Magnus is one of the most popular Mega blasters in the game. It packs a reasonable punch and holds 3 darts in a relatively compact form, making it reasonably effective for holding off the Mega zombie.
Mega Rotofury (some with upgrade springs) one of the only Mega blasters with a reasonable capacity, allowing to to effectively combat a couple of regular zombies as well as the Mega zombie. It is too large to be carried around as a secondary blaster and it has a drastically lower effectiveness and efficiency when dealing with regular zombies.
ZS Sledgefire (upgrade spring, Mega firing shell) with a Mega firing shell, it is capable of switching between firing Megas and regular darts, and is pretty much the only primary that can switch between ammo types quickly. That said, the time necessary to switch shells is more than enough for an opportunistic zombie to take advantage, so dart choice should be pre-determined before combat.
Mega Hotshock The cheapest Mega blaster available at the moment (the Bigshock in Australia is an exclusive TRU product, so it is extremely expensive), so there were many of them. A Mega shot was sufficient for an emergency, but it was often not necessary due to the large number of Mega blasters.
Mega Cycloneshock is probably the best Mega blaster overall, offering a decent amount of power while being relatively small. It can be used against up to three zombies at once, Mega or not. However its bulk and size compared to a similar Elite firing blaster (e.g. a Strongarm/Disruptor or Hammershot) does hurt its viability as a secondary/sidearm.
Elite Dual Strike is the only blaster that can fire both Megas or Elites. It switches easily by flicking the switch at the side. A reasonable Mega blaster and a fun gimmick, but not a particularly practical blaster overall.
A few brief periods of light rain were possible throughout the day. However, they weren’t enough to interrupt play. The sky was generally overcast for the remainder of the day. We had a lower player count than previous events, peaking around 25-30 people.
Due to the lack of experienced players, the overall player experience was less than it was in previous events. Although it was enough to provide decent zombie gameplay, Secret VIP felt less claustrophobic. HvZ is generally more enjoyable with more players.
As always, we started with a round of Survival, with a Mega zombie for the first ten minutes before Tank shields were made available. The Mega zombie could only walk in this round. In early game, the Mega zombie did move the humans about more than usual. Although the Mega zombie was not a threat to the humans, many of them seemed to panic when they were confronted with it and tended to focus their attention on them. While I dont think the Mega zombie themselves made any tags this round, I would not be surprised if in the confusion and mayhem, the other zombies made a couple of tags themselves.
Once the Tank shields were made available at ten minutes, the Mega zombie was removed from play. It was then business as usual. The Tanks would push people around and attempt to break them up. This allowed the other zombies to concentrate on the uncoordinated and isolated stragglers. I survived the round and ran out of ammunition before falling to the horde.
Then, we played two rounds Secret VIP. We added the Mega zombie at the start of both of these rounds, and allowed them to run.
The Mega zombie had a significant impact on the early game in the first round. The sudden charges of a mostly-invulnerable zombie from a mere several metres away was very effective at panicking and scattering many humans, particularly those without a Mega blaster at the ready. This was combined with numerous regular zombies waiting for an opening, which resulted in more game tags being generated early than usual. The sheer amount of fire from humans kept the zombies at bay and prevented them from making any significant progress towards the human group.
As usual, the moment when the zombies can seriously threaten the human group is marked by the release of Tank shields. In this round, the Mega zombie was mistakenly left on the field for a couple of minutes longer than intended. Combining Tank charges and the Mega zombie’s near-invulnerability caused chaos, leading to many people being tagged.
It was near impossible to fend off such a charge without the humans exposing themselves to nearby, opportunistic zombies. After realising their mistake, the Mega zombie was removed from play before the Husk was released. The human group was generally able to stand firm, however had suffered significant earlier losses and so were a little lacking in firepower. The General was eventually tagged. I don’t know if it was by the Traitor or a regular zombie. The zombies were aware of the identity of the VIP and began to focus their attention on him. In a moment of poor situational awareness, the VIP was tagged near the edge of the tambark by a recently un-stunned zombie, ending the game with a zombie victory.
In the second round, I won the title of VIP. This time around, we had a Mega-equipped player specifically assigned to keep the Mega zombie away. In turn, any nearby humans would keep that human safe from other nearby zombies. This turned out to be far more effective, and the Mega zombie posed almost no threat for the time it was on the field. As a result, the early game of this round progressed much more cleanly for the humans, and there were almost no human casualties by the time the Tanks were released. On top of having more humans alive than previously, the human group was also better coordinated, with one Tank always covered by the grenade wielder. Even with the Husk in play, the human group managed to keep casualties to a relative minimum, and had substantial numbers even in late game. A couple of minutes from human victory, the General was tagged. Again, I am still not sure whether it was the Traitor, or a regular zombie. In fear of the Traitor, I decided not to reveal my identity. The zombies began to focus their efforts more towards me, in particular the Husk, however I was able to survive the entire 15 minutes for a human victory.
We took a break for lunch, and upon returning, played two rounds of Defence Survival.
All zombie upgrades were placed in squares during the first round. The zombies were initially focused on the square in the south with the Tank shields from the beginning.
In contrast, most of the humans gravitated towards the middle and northern sqaures. The southern square was compromised quickly, giving the Zombies almost instant access to the Tank shields. This in turn heavily diminished the strength of the other human defences, as Tanks are far harder to ward off than regular zombies. It was only a couple of minutes more before the zombies gained access to essentially every upgrade, including both Husks and the Mega zombie. With human organisation in shambles, and the zombies fully equipped, this game did not last all that long.
While I was able to survive late in the game, I was tagged in a mess of a confrontation. After escaping the zombie attack in the northwest corner, I was able to group up with some other humans and were now running southward. We regrouped with a couple of other humans in the southern open area, and were faced with the majority of the zombie horde, all from the north. The ensuing assault and chaos caused a complete collapse of any human coordination and communication. I was run down by a Tank and several other zombies, with no backup. The rest of the humans were also tagged soon after.
The second round was less chaotic. The Mega zombie was removed from the upgrade pool, and the game was run again. This time, the zombies split up, with some focusing on the southern Tank square, and the others attacking the middle Infector square. Human defences were much more solid in this round, with the zombies taking significantly longer to acquire the Tank shields. Human coordination was generally better as well, so even after the zombies had acquired Tank shields, they did not have an easy time picking off humans. The zombies could still earn tags by attrition and poor situational awareness. This was as usual for Survival gamemodes. I survived until the end, and eventually defeated the entire horde by myself. I was able to stun many zombies, but of course eventually ran out of ammo and conceded. It turns out that one other human had managed to survive almost completely unnoticed, but they were quickly overrun.
After my Defence Survival round stand, I felt my legs getting crampy so I stopped participating in the rest of the rounds. The Secret VIP round was followed by the Bounty Hunt round. Each round started with a Mega zombie.
To speed up the game, we selected two Traitors for this Secret VIP Round. I do not believe this had a significant effect on the game however. This round ended in a zombie victory, not long after the Husk was made available. In this round, the zombies had been able to make deeper and more threatening charges into the tambark area than usual, with the lucky zombies achieving a tag or two. This apparent lack of human coordination resulted in a higher human casualty rate, which coupled with the shields, gave the zombies a significant attritional advantage.
I did not catch much of the Bounty Hunt round, as I spent that time packing up rather than chasing around players to observe.
As a disclaimer, I was involved in the original design and implementation process for the Mega zombie. In the beginning, the intention was to give zombies an extra boost in early game before Tank shields were made. Without Tanks, the zombies have no way to approach and threaten human groups without the humans lacking situational awareness, and this makes early game quite slow. I proposed that the Mega zombie leave the field once Tank shields are made available, as their presence and power is no longer necessary. Furthermore, I felt that their presence in late game would be nothing but detrimental to late game dynamics.
The Mega zombie did not have a huge effect on the regular Survival round. Being only able to walk in that first round, they had little function except encouraging the humans to move more than usual in early game. They offered essentially no real threat, due to the ease of stunning. However, their invulnerability against regular darts was a distraction for other zombies. They are similar to Tanks in that they attract a lot of attention. Their semi-invulnerability makes stunlock more difficult. Even when granted the ability to run, the Mega zombie did not pose a significant threat in Survival.
They were easily visible in the large open space, making it easy to find them. Nonetheless, their mere presence did encourage more movement from the humans. A Mega blaster is far more dangerous than regular zombies, and it has the psychological effect of making humans semi-invulnerable. Avoidance is often the best way to survive against Mega zombies.
In the Secret VIP rounds, the Mega zombie applied a similar sort of rush and pressure that Tanks do, but their semi-invulnerability forced humans to either rely on other Mega-equipped humans, or switch to their Mega blaster. Given the claustrophobic nature of Secret VIP, neither of these options is ideal as the zombies are at any time only a couple of metres away. Relying on Mega-armed humans is not always reliable in the close quarters of Secret VIP, and as mentioned before, switching to a Mega blaster often makes the human far more vulnerable to other zombies. This problem was amplified when the Mega zombie was accidentally left on the field alongside Tanks. Between the Tanks offering directional protection from all attacks besides grenades, and the Mega being invulnerable to regular darts, a combined Mega-Tank charge is extremely difficult to fend off, even with prepared humans. It becomes an absolute mess in the cramped conditions of Secret VIP. Almost every Mega-Tank charge guarantees some tags for the Zombies.
The Mega zombie was a major problem in Defence Survival. Like in regular Survival, it is much more risky to stunlock the Mega zombie than a regular zombie. Stunlocking in Defence Survival is the entire early game. The inclusion of the Mega Zombie in Defence Survival’s early game puts its dynamics at risk. This is similar to the way Tanks impact Defence Survival when they retrieve their shields. Furthermore, there is no distinct point in the game at which the Mega zombie should be removed from the field, and such, it stayed for the whole game.
My argument for the Mega zombie leaving the field once Tanks are available is centred around the combination of Mega and regular zombies, particularly in late game or in close quarters. To combat such a combination, there are three primary methods. The first is to focus on the regular zombies with regular dart blasters and rely on other humans to stun the Mega zombie. The second is to switch to a Mega blaster and focus on the Mega zombie, relying on other humans to stun the other zombies. The third is to run a Mega blaster that also functions as a good primary.
All three of these methods have significant issues. The first two offer a lose-lose situation for heavily outnumbered humans, such as in late game. With minimal human numbers, it is unsafe to rely entirely on other humans to help fend off a specific zombie type, at least when it comes to the Mega zombie. Late game encounters are often conducted with a small number of heavily outnumbered human beings.
It is difficult to stun all types of zombies when there are so many. There is not enough time in combat to complete all of these actions before one of them reaches you. Although the blaster switching time can be decreased by using a Mega blaster in conjunction with a primary, it still poses a problem. It is simply unfun for human to be faced with any kind of confrontation they cannot combat and win. Even Tanks, with their directional invulnerability, can be fought off within a combined zombie charge as a lone human, as they are still completely vulnerable outside of the shields face. The Mega Zombies do not have this vulnerability and must be fought with an additional type of ammo. The third solution is a problem of a completely different kind forcing players to run specific blasters or loadouts is unfun, detrimental to the hobby, and suggests poor game/game mechanic design.
This problem was present in all Secret VIP rounds, particularly the first, as well as the Secret VIP round. The most reliable way to fend off the Mega zombie was to have a human assigned specifically to stop them, which while ok in early game with high human numbers, became a struggle as human numbers diminished, and in particular when Tanks came out. It is not difficult for a Tank to block the Mega darts fired at a Mega zombie, especially given the limited capacity of most Mega blasters, thus giving the Mega zombie a short period in which they are essentially completely invincible. Mega zombies are extremely powerful in late-game alongside regular zombies. The combination of Megazombies and Tanks is virtually unstoppable without large amounts of fire.
Mega zombies seem to be a good mechanic for certain gamemodes in the early games. They are especially useful in early game Survival, where there is no forced lose-lose situation due to the sheer number of humans. They also give zombies some way of actively distracting and disrupting the humans in early game, which makes for a more enjoyable early game. The Mega zombie makes it very difficult for humans to defend themselves against them in close quarters games like Defence Survival and Secret VIP. Although I think it could use some more testing in Secret VIP I don’t believe the Mega zombie should be in Defence Survival.
On top of being quite restrictive and risky to counter, there is also no easily well defined time at which the Mega zombie should leave the field, which leads to potentially uncompetitive late game encounters. I would like to be able to take part in play testing the Mega zombie in Bounty Hunt. The Mega zombie is a good option as it doesn’t require close-quarters combat. However like in Defence Survival, it is not easy to designate a fair time for the Mega zombie to leave the field.
I wouldn’t mind the Mega Zombie appearing at future events. It adds an extra element of variety, and can make games more fun and entertaining. However I feel it needs to be limited in use, as it can very easily unbalance games and make them uncompetitive for the humans.
The same post can be found on my blog, Outback Nerf
