Escape From Zombie Island 2 ready for public consumption

[Cloner4000]

At higher difficulties the zombie have more starting units, which just makes them even more deadly. The zombies have really strong late game units. Keep playing...you'll see.

So far I don't see any bugs and the AI handle themselve relatively well. I'll try to finish the authority games.

 

[bkwrm79]

Great Vuldacon is here. I can go get some sleep now.

Sleeping in shifts? You really are ready for the Rise!

My game as the Farmers (all my games are 12A) continues. Zombies captured the School from the Survivors, I captured the School from the Zombies. Zombies counter-attacked me heavily at the School and Garage, but I held them off while I wheeled up a couple trucks full of Pyromaniacs, miscellaneous other units, and a wagon full of sheep and captured the Graveyard.

The Zombies gave me the Church and a few supplies to leave them alone for a little bit. I used the opportunity to take out the Survivors and capture the Coast Guard station from the Authorities; I was in effect defending all those buildings anyway, so I needed to gain their production.

The Zombies have the Company on the ropes as well as the Authorities so before too long it will be just us. It's late on Day 6 if I recall correctly. I'm preparing a high speed offensive mounted in Troop Trucks, Mean Machines and Shaggin Wagons. If it's successful I should hold more than half the island and have a good chance of finishing off the Zombies; if it fails, the zombies may well crush me with numbers once they rid themselves of other distractions.

The Farmers seem quite playable - I never really expected to get this far. The ability to extort from all the other factions, including the Zombies, and then conclude peace, makes up for a lot. At the same time things remain quite challenging.

 

[Vuldacon]

Cloner4000... Great...I am sure you will enjoy the Powerful "Toys" the Authorities will gain later in the game. Yes, Higher Game play Levels will be tougher not only due to the AI gaining more units but the Human Player will have more corruption and less ability to build as fast. The AI also work together and trade more on higher levels.

bkwrm79...King Arthur and I live on different parts of the world so the time difference helps with any so called shifts

It sounds like your game as the Farmers is going very well. The Farmers really have the best of it in this game due to their ability to make peace with the Zombies and the fact that they are not at war from the start. Of Course IF you use Bubba to Rescue Sam Hammer on turn two, you will be at War against the Zombies...but I always do this. I gain Sam Hammer and the Zombies are not yet strong enough to cause me any real problems. I sue them for Peace several moves later and they pay Big Supplies for it which really help me. I can keep tech research at the highest level and gain techs fast as well as afford to buy units I want.
...exploding Sheep can be stock piled until you have as many as you want to launch a massive attack. They do not require support so it costs nothing to build many and keep them.

Prepare yourself for the Mid to end game because the Zombies will surprise you. They will be very strong and you will probably be the only one remaining other than perhaps a couple of buildings that the Zombies may not bother with until later.....so they will all come for YOU in force and with much stronger units.
One technique you can use is to go after buildings that will cut the Zombies territory in half. This will cut off many buildings from their Bastion and effectively put a damper on them.
Players can choose to Raze any building they want but most buildings have Key or Minor Locations so the Zombies will not Raze them. I recommend keeping all buildings because all will benefit you greatly. Good Luck

 

[Nwoll]

Okay, another day of testing.

1. The wild boar inn was razed, when the zombies took it from Zeb. Are there no key locations there or is it just too bad. (Along with that, maybe change the ruins graphic - it looks nothing like the cities [buildings])

2. Why does the land mine have an attack number if it cannot attack?

3. According to the civilopedia any unit with an attack and defense number can pick up supply parcels but my joggers cant for some reason. Any idea why? (maybe they cant have the ai strategy explore?)

4. Here's my story: I took the detective agency at 4pm on day 4. The zombies are running over the other factions but none of my buildings have even been attacked or even threatened.

I took my "army" (10 smg security and thetwat800) to attack the conference center.
(bombarding mainly) and began that attack at 10am day 5.

By 12pm day 6, my confidence had been completely shattered. I lost both sales and marketing and the detective agency. In spite of having the manbot, the hordes of zombies make me realize that this game is lost.

Looking back i see some of the mistakes i made which hopefully will allow me to at least get a little closer to victory next time i play.

 

[Cloner4000]

The big toys are coming out!!! Except they are zombie's toys not mine XD. Crawling brains and monster zombies!!
I found a good way for authorities is to have several "outpost" on the fringe of authorities' line made up of one or two swat in the building. I use them to bomb any appoarching zombies and is able to take out monster zombie before they comes close and keep crawling brains at bay. That way you can significantly reduce zombies's hp and their number before they come close to your building as it slowly moves toward you. The only thing you have to becareful is the brain and dog both of which are just as deadly.
only 12 turn before the big toys of authorities shows up can't wait!


I have taken out farmers early with one building left and found that zeb's farm are higher productive, even more then City Hall. I can't build sheep though. But I guess Authorities don't really need them.

At this point it's hard to say which has the upper side. My outpost distraction had hopefully bleed the zombie and not one of company and surviviors building has fallen. I take that as a good sign.

 

[Plotinus]

I don't like Kinboat's Squid graphic. What about using this instead?

 

[Vuldacon]

Nwoll... The Wild Boar Inn does not have a Pre-Placed "Wonder"...Booze Imports has to be built so the Zombies can Raze the Wild Boar Inn If the Booze Imports has not been built.

Land Mines have an attack setting because they have Zone of Control and the unit operates this way. They are immobile so just place them and Fortify them where you want. Cars and Trucks can place or pick them up and move them as well as placing them with Parachutes.

The Jogger is not set correctly.Capture should be flagged in the Editor. Just Open the Editor and place a check in "Capture" under "Special Actions"...no need to flag Attack or Defense, just keep explore.

Sounds like you had an experience with your game...if you wade through the very long posts I wrote these past several days, it will help you.


Cloner4000... Good Luck, it sounds like you have a plan. Yes, OLE Zeb's Farm is not easy to capture, especially later when it has a hugh Population. Population increases building defense. No Exploding Sheep and "Shaggin' Waggons are not available to anyone else...just the Farmers.

Plotinus... It is a possibility but even a Giant Squid is pushing the limit in this game

 

[bkwrm79]

Cloner4000... Great...I am sure you will enjoy the Powerful "Toys" the Authorities will gain later in the game. Yes, Higher Game play Levels will be tougher not only due to the AI gaining more units but the Human Player will have more corruption and less ability to build as fast. The AI also work together and trade more on higher levels.

bkwrm79...King Arthur and I live on different parts of the world so the time difference helps with any so called shifts

It sounds like your game as the Farmers is going very well. The Farmers really have the best of it in this game due to their ability to make peace with the Zombies and the fact that they are not at war from the start. Of Course IF you use Bubba to Rescue Sam Hammer on turn two, you will be at War against the Zombies...but I always do this. I gain Sam Hammer and the Zombies are not yet strong enough to cause me any real problems. I sue them for Peace several moves later and they pay Big Supplies for it which really help me. I can keep tech research at the highest level and gain techs fast as well as afford to buy units I want.
...exploding Sheep can be stock piled until you have as many as you want to launch a massive attack. They do not require support so it costs nothing to build many and keep them.

Prepare yourself for the Mid to end game because the Zombies will surprise you. They will be very strong and you will probably be the only one remaining other than perhaps a couple of buildings that the Zombies may not bother with until later.....so they will all come for YOU in force and with much stronger units.
One technique you can use is to go after buildings that will cut the Zombies territory in half. This will cut off many buildings from their Bastion and effectively put a damper on them.
Players can choose to Raze any building they want but most buildings have Key or Minor Locations so the Zombies will not Raze them. I recommend keeping all buildings because all will benefit you greatly. Good Luck

Yup, I got Sam Hammer right away (and captured the Hospital as well, even more importantly) and got peace on my terms.

You also aren't wrong about the punch the zombies are packing! My offensive took 3 buildings (Fast Food Joint, Gentlemen's Club and Docks) to bring the Western half of the island under my control, but those Terrors, Spiders and other monstrous creatures inflicted heavy losses, attacking mostly at the Church - I had to divert a Troop Truck full of Pyromaniacs to reinforce the defenders there, and this diversion helped stop my own offensive.

The Zombies asked for peace so I granted it, in exchange for 1600 supplies I can use to help fortify my recent conquests. I'm running out of Sheep anyway, and need to reposition some units before I can renew my attack.

My next step may be to try and cut the Zombie territory in half as you suggest. Alternatives are attacking in the South to try to capture potentially the most useful buildings (esp the Conference Center, although there's no direct approach yet) or a direct attack on the Research Lab.

 

[Vuldacon]

bkwrm79... each building in the game provides some benefits...some more than others. Any building you take away from the Zombies Hurts them.

The Dockers, Strippers and Chainsaw Maniacs are all more helpful than they may seem. They are effective Fighters because they move more than once and have Blitz. You might want to consider going after the Hardware Store first. When attacking any unit that only has one move, they will turn away if losing and you can use many of them together as attacks.

Stacks of units make each unit stronger as if they are overwhelming to the Enemy. This is the same in CIV Games and you will have fewer losses if you attack with many units rather than one at a time on a square.

A Player will get more benefits from gaining particular buildings and also taking them away from the Zombies but IF you Cut Straight through the Middle of the Zombie buildings and keep what you gain, it will Cut Off the Zombie buildings that you are between them and the Zombie Bastion "the Research Center"...then you may find it easier to gain the Cut Off Buildings. Divide and Conquer remains as true here as it always has been in reality.

...Any "Bombarding" Unit that can at least manage to injure a unit will help because very injured units do not tend to attack and even the Most powerful Zombie units will retreat. This can provide you time when you do not have enough units to Kill the Hordes but do have enough to injure most of them. Pick your Targets

The AI is actually One, which includes all other Factions other than the one you play. When you are too weak or starting to become too strong, the Other Factions can declare War against you. This is something the AI uses to Spread you out on many battle fronts to weaken you. IF and when this type thing happens, even as a tactic of the Zombies, ...stay Focused and Devote the majority of your units toward one Faction such as the Human Faction that had the Audacity to attack you in the Middle of this Zombie Nightmare

 

[Vuldacon]

Concerning Land Mines:
The AI will tend to place them on Manholes and inside their buildings but as a Human, you will place them in other areas.
Problem is because they are invisible and many units such as all transportation units do not detect invisible...IF a Friendly Faction Runs into one of your Land Mines, it will cause a War with them.

The Workers and Engineers use to do this constantly so were set to detect invisible in order to prevent a needless War.

Question for Testers: Should the Troop Trucks, Shaggin' Waggons, the Rushmobile, the Company Car, Motor Cars and Super Coupes be given the Setting "Detect Invisible" to prevent them from running into Land Mines? ...OR I will simply add the Statement "Caution...IF a friendly Faction runs into one of your invisible Land Mines, it will cause War with them!" This would then Warn Players about this possibility and it will be their decision as to where to place Land Mines and the Risk involved.
Any Unit that does not detect invisible can run into Land Mines but transports tend to hit them when they are placed on Roads.

This is one of the many situations that are difficult to resolve with some needed unit and game play settings.

 

[Cloner4000]

I believe we should just place a warning sign if possible like the how sub used to work in regular games. I think because there are other invisable units. Sneaky and Black Ops.having transport as detect invisable would significantly weaken them.

 

[Vuldacon]

Cloner4000... I agree. It was bad enough to have to set the workers and engineers to be able to detect invisible units. I have found the Land Mines are not really a problem unless used on Roads....Since Monster Zombies only use Roads, that is where they are placed by Humans to slow them down. Just watch out for an unexpected War if another Human Faction hits them

On another Note...I am adjusting the Spunky Kid for several reasons. He will have lethal Bombard and 3 Hit Points. I have the Civilopedia is adjusted.

 

[Virote_Considon]

I also agree. If every unit had "Detect Invisible", then Sneaky Zombies would be pretty useless!

 

[bkwrm79]

I tend to agree that increasing the number of 'detect invisible' units would be a bad thing, as there are a lot already.

So far I've only had one war start because of a landmine issue... earlier in my game as the Farmers, a trespassing Zombie fell onto one of my landmines and the war was on. Even this was no big deal as it was early in the game and I had been planning to attack them in a couple turns anyway.

I think it's a small hazard that humans will have to deal with. Be careful with your transports (or build dogs etc). And if you have RoP agreements, send out other units to warn your allies away from your minefields... understandably they will be upset if you don't.

I don't put landmines on roads much anyway... better to boobytrap the skyscrapers. Monster Zombies are slow and easily whittled down... it's the fast, high-ground using monsters that I worry about!

 

[Vuldacon]

Thanks for the Feedback on the "Detect Invisible" settings for Transports. They were not set with the ability to detect invisible from the beginning for the reasons you all have stated but because land mines can cause Needless Wars, I wanted to get more opinions. I have a warning in the Civilopedia for the land mines concerning this.

Espionage as it is on the game screen and Civilopedia is being addressed. The Detective's Office you build at the Detective Agency allows Spy Missions. There are hard coded factors but some buttons and statements do not belong such as Steel Map. If the Buttons have to remain, the Labels and Civilopedia entries will be changed so everything is clear.

Concerning Monster Zombies, Yes, they are slow and also forced to stay basically on roads. I had considered removing the "Wheeled" setting so they could use any terrain but because the Monster Zombies are usually sent out in large stacks, if they could use the Spyscrapers and houses, they would be overwhelming early. The Stronger, Faster Zombie Units that come later are there to offset all the Bombarding units as well as renew the challenge later when the game would otherwise become too easy with the power that most Human players will have by then.

Testers... I realize it takes time to play several games to the end and really understand more where you will be able to judge everything better. I also realize that level 12A may not be strong enough for many of you. As you play an entire game to the end on level 12A, I am interested in your over all opinions concerning the level of difficulty for level 12A. IF you have time later to play a game on a higher level, that should also serve to verify the 12A Default settings. The Number of turns set for this game are more than needed for 12A or lower levels but because some will want to play higher levels all the way to Banned, they will certainly need more turns to have a chance

Your feedback concerning the game and areas you have found that needed adjustments or corrections are very much appreciated.

 

[Nwoll]

Alright, I started my second test game as the authoritites on level 12a.

1. Eack key location (wonder) needs to be given the correct flavor flag in the editor. This makes it more likely that the AI will build those key locations (booze imports in wild boar inn, nuclear plant, missile facility, etc.) I've tested this extensively so i know it's true. Unless there is some reason you don't want the AI building these key locations?

2. Story:
I retook the hospital on my second turn, took armory on day 3, and took hardware store day 4.
By day 5 I was following the zombies as they took the survivor buildings and i got the garage and the school.
On day 6 i took the furniture store and the graveyard, and the rest of the southern buildings soon followed including the rest of the survivor buildings as Zeb and I wiped them out.
By day 8 I know I'm going to win, it's just a matter of patience.

3. The authorities were definitely easier than the company but thats to be expected. I felt like I was playing a normal monarch level game in degree of difficulty. Seems right for 12a.

4. The squid seem way overpowered to me. I had to keep all my cruisers in the city they were built in and just bombard from there. Any cruiser that met or was attacked by a squid was killed. Coulda just been bad rng, but 4hp vs. 10hp will almost always lose i think. Right now the cruisers seem almost useless.
If anyone else agrees with me, here's some suggestions for fixing it.
a. give the cruisers more hp's
b. give the squids (squidae?) less hp's or defense value.
c. add this sweet unit http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=170787for the company as a corporate yacht that gets armored at guns, guns, guns. (I realize this is the most disagreeable option.)

 

[bkwrm79]

I agree with Nwoll about the cruisers (my recommendation is a couple more hps). I'm going to try the Authorities again when I get the chance and see how much good the new SWAT stats have done.

I will finish my Farmers game - I'm pretty optimistic.

I decided to play a bit as the Company first though. Some neat toys. Day 1 I captured the Bank, then I got stalled at the Conference Center for 3 days! That delay may really cost me. At least my next target is close - the Car Park, desperately needed since the Company Car was squashed by a Giant Spider.

I've also got a whole bunch of dogs fighting to help the Survivors keep the Garage.

 

[Cloner4000]

a ship for company? well there is the talk of a giant lobster or something.
Does AI know where the invisable unit is? or would AI stumble upon each other and cause needless wars? I had a feeling that in my game the company declear on survivor becuase of the landmine.

 

[Cloner4000]

I also have another suggestion regarding authorities. I think the coastguard station at where it is are pretty useless. it's literaly at middle of nowhere and the production isn' so good. The crusier are so far away from supporting troops that they keep getting sunk by squid. Maybe move it where the armory and barrack are? It make sense that the station would be close to where it is.

I also found that I don't build marine much as they are much better units right after them. Maybe make it so that coastguard station can build them to? but not the big toys.
Also does moblize for war change anything? Can you still build regular improvement?

 

[Nwoll]

I agree with cloner about the marines - I only built like 4, and they got killed pretty quickly. I like the idea of the coastguard station building them, but that would probably mean adding another resource which you probably dont want.