Escape From Zombie Island 2: The Remake

I've been playing this scenario a lot for the past year or so and so far I've lurked the thread, but I can't help noticing that the AI is completely moronic when it comes to handling the authorities and survivors. Even with a lot of support from me they still manage to lose two or three cities between them in the first two days :wallbash:. They don't even use that wonderful firepower the SWAT teams give them. Blasted hardcoding.

Anyway, the scenario is still great. Armed farmhands can create a real mess around the place.
 
Thanks for a really nice scenario! I've tried it with different factions and they all offer a challenge. The part I enjoy the most is the beginning, when your rock-throwing kids make a difference and things are a bit realistic (as realistic as zombie apocalypse can be). I've modified it slightly myself to suit what I liked the most best, and here's my (hopefully) constructive critics:

- Authorities gain SWAT early, but in effect they are the end of the line unit-wise. If you survive long enough to get marines, you should get a lot of them. Tanks and F15's is another matter, specially since tanks are so powerful.
My solution: make marines require ammo instead of army gear.

- Pyromaniacs aren't good enough to make a difference.
My solution: add collateral damage.

- Here Boy! is redundant for all except Company and Zombies.
My solution: zombie dogs (all types) require Dogs, a few more Dog resources.

- Skreetches and the various spiders are just no fun, even if you are zombie. They are powerful enough to kill any other unit except maybe tanks, and at great range.
My solution: reduce their movement, remove "treat all terrain as road" - they are powerful enough as it is.

- Mutant Zombies are hardly ever seen except the auto-spawns.
My solution: moved them to earlier tech, also moved Monster Zombies to earlier.

- Company has a hard time to start with with no shooting units except specials.
My solution: moved SMG security to earlier tech.

- Farmers only have the sucky pyromaniac.
My solution: added bombard to armed farmhands, moved them to later tech, added a dog resource.

- Sated alphas are a real pain, and to make matters worse they enslave more sated alphas. AI tries to assault them anyway, and in my first playthrough there was a ridiculous amount of sated alphas near some of the other human's facilities (attack dogs from the warehouse = zombie snacks).
My solution: make them enslave roaming alphas.

To balance things up, pile-up autoproduces zombies, graveyard can be built with supply res within city borders (added 2 res), buffed graveyard swarms attack and HP, made bats enslave "To be continued..." zombies.

My gaming experieces so far on the Monarch difficulty:

Survivor:
Spoiler :
Felt like I was putting out fires more than advancing - zombies took hospital, I attacked to stop the nurses. Zombies took radio station, I attacked to stop the spiders. Attacked graveyard to stop the swarms. Company and authorities took heavy losses, eventually lost all but 2 facilities each. After that I advanced, treating it like a normal civ game (minding borders and trade routes more than the facility specials).
Reached a deadlock at the conference center, with ~50 pyromaniacs and ~10 champions + sniper king not being able to finish a single kill. An absolutely massive horde of monster zombies approached, along with spiders and brains. Things looked bad, but then I got biker gals who just melted away all in their path. Destroyed all zombies before winning of victory points.
Greatest moment: killing the first skreetch at conference centre.
Biggest disappointment: Gatling gals; couldn't do anything in either offense nor defence.


Authorities:
Spoiler :
Aimed straight for SWAT team tech and attacked the conference centre to get the Dalek. Upgraded as many riot cops to swats as I could afford - after that it was just aiming and shooting. No other faction took any facility from anyone.
Greatest moment: getting the first cruiser and blasting away an alpha on the first shot.
Biggest disappointment: (almost) No marines :(


Zombies:
Spoiler :
Conquered the first 3 buildings with the starting troops. Got zombie dogs, ate a lot of kids who had been pestering me. Nuclear zombies wiped out all humans before I had researched zombiegeddon.
Greatest moment: zombiefying the mayor and T-W-A-T robot.
Biggest disappointment: Graveyard swarm; useless unit who can't even kill workers.


Farmer:
Spoiler :
Started good with taking the hospital and assaulting the graveyard. The buzzard got shot down, and soon swarms of zombies approached the inn. Not much help from other humans, who suffered losses as well. Took a lot of zombies down but couldn't hold them off and the zombies made unacceptable demands for peace. They ate Jed's brains and promptly marched towards the farm, apparently still hungry.
Greatest moment: Loading the truck with sheep!
Biggest disappointment: Unloading the truck and finding out that the sheep suck.


Now I just need to try company and multiplayer ;) Thanks again.
 
Hi, and welcome to CFC! :)

First off, EFZI is really meant for a human player to take the reigns, rather than the AI being able to effectively wield the non-zombie players. The Sated Alpha Zombies are to stop it from being too easy; even with the current number, it's still too easy; just park a bunch of champions outside the city, and blast away with bombardment.

Pretty much in the early game, you leader farm, rather than actively attack and conquer buildings, save for the ones that fall to the zombies. Then it becomes incredibly easy.

1. SWAT are more useful than marines though, because of the offensive bombard capability. The Authorities' biggest problem early on IMO, is how scattered they are. But they are relatively easy to play as because of the SWATs.

2. Pyromaniacs are very useful, if you load them into cars and use drive-by shootings. (click on the portrait on the lower right corner when loaded into a car, and then bombard; they stay in the car, and can be used for hit and runs) Also, collateral damage isn't very useful to be honest, as it just ruins the roads if you use them as attack units, and breaking improvements really isn't that useful in the long run.

4. Stacks of death. ;) The AI does not like attacking Stacks of Death, and by the time they show up, that means you need to step up your pace and hunt them down yourself with cars or w/e, rather than sitting idly by and guarding your borders.

6. Leader farm. ;) 10 or 20 leaders isn't very difficult to come by really. I've had turns where I have generated 3 of them in a single go.

7. Eh, the farmers are possible to win as, but they are intended as the more difficult faction to play as. (2 buildings to begin with isn't going to get you very far unless if you are very good at both diplomacy and combat) Pyromaniacs and cars are a good combo, so they should be able to make do with that.

8. Yeah... Generally the first few days are spent leader farming, because you have nowhere near enough units to kill buildings. After a "critical mass" of leaders are achieved (after you can kill 1 or more sated zombies in a normal building in a turn), buildings can fall very quickly. Also, since the AI avoids stacks of death, and your champions generating more leaders, you can very quickly snowball a massive army and crush buildings in one or two turns.

A new version of this is being worked on, with a larger map, and more goodies and toys for you to play with. :)
 
Can't wait for the new version.:eek:

Yeah, my experiences are similar to Bluemofia's, except I haven't tried drive-bys with pyromaniacs. I'll have to try that.
 
Thanks Blue! I've actually lurked around here for a while, just not bothered to make an account until now.

I do ofc realize that the intention is to play as survivors, but trying the others is fun as well. And as I said, I enjoy the start of the game the most where a couple of spunky kids and a war vet is a leathal force for anyone. I'm still modifying the scenario for my own pleasure but in general my aim is to make the human forces smaller (increased cost) while increasing the number of 'regular' zombies to make it more like a few desperate survivors fighting off hordes of horrible undead. The scenario, as it is released, is of course great already. Adding a buildable/upgradeable zombie unit with 0 movement might be the answer to their defence needs though.

1. Marines have off. bombardment but I agree with the rest.

2. Collateral damage = destroying flesh-eating bacteria, machine shop and killing citizens (lowering defence bonus and production). Very useful.

4. Guarding borders? Nothing I've ever done except in WWII scenarios ;) Zombie buildings with auto-production of monster zombies each turn is IMO a better way of saying that it's time to hurry up!

7. By the time farmers have cars, zombies have spiders... Meaning you'll waste production on defensive units that gets eaten each turn by zombie spiders.

8. I understand the point of sated alphas, but having 60+ units bombarding (with 10+ bombard) a city for several turns without effect was a lowmark of that game.
 
Freeborn... I have long ago Changed all you have mentioned in different ways for EFZ2 Complete.

Some examples are the SWAT are now gained later and then become Obsolete with Send in the Marines. There are pre-placed SWAT to start. Marines can only be built in the Military Buildings ...same for most "Military" Units because I don't want a Tank or Jet being built at the Garage or School, etc...

There are 5 Military buildings on the West side now and one of them is the Paratrooper Base and it will Auto-produce Paratroopers from the Paratrooper Academy. Marines are Auto-produced from the Marine Recruit Depot and can be built in all 5 Military Buildings.

Pyromaniacs are Only for the Survivors now and they move 2 with Blitz. The Farmers have the Drunk rather than the Pyromaniacs but any Human Faction can build Booze Imports at the Wild Boar Inn to gain a Drunk that is Auto-produced from it.

Dogs Resource is needed for All Human Factions. It allows Guard Dogs and Attack Dogs and can be used in negotiations. Dogs are Stronger.
The Zombie Dogs have all been adjusted and all of them except the Monster and Nuclear Dogs are Totally Controlled by Auto-Production from New Zombie Improvements.
I do not want any more Strategic or Luxury Resources because it would cause Bug problems with resources. Another Dog Resource is not needed because the Zombie AI will not use a Dog Resource as intended. For one thing, they do not Road as effectively as a Human so would not gain the Resource with good timing.

:lol: Skreech and Spiders and Other Units are more powerful now and they are needed to offset the Extreme "Bombardment" Shooting Power a Human Player has.
All Factions have Extreme Power Units so the more powerful Zombie Units are not a problem if played well.

Mutant Zombies are gained with the Mutation and Monster Zombies are Gained at Zombiegeddon as they are intended. You will see plenty of both :)

No Human Faction has the ability to build any Shooting Unit at the start of the Game. They all must now gain Guns, Guns, Guns to be able to build a unit with a Fire arm. That was not correct in the past... otherwise, why research Guns, Guns, Guns :)
I am Making New Units for the Factions who do not have a starting Unit without a Gun such as the Company. I am making a "Corporate Executive" for them. Security can be built with Guns, Guns, Guns.

The Farmers have the New Armed Farmhand that moves 2 with Blitz and all terrain as roads.
Like all Human Factions, they can gain Dogs if they gain the Dog Resource through trade or capturing the Dog Pound or Warehouse.
There are Two Dog Resources in Both Buildings so there are enough for all Human Factions. Obtaining the Dog Resource is part of game play strategy... some may want them sooner while others may not.
The Farmers have the "Farm Truck" which are Auto-Produced from "Elmo's Farm Trucks" Key Location and later can gain "Zeb's Marauders", which are Auto_Produced from the "Farmland Strike Force" Key Location. Zeb's Marauders have Great Bombardment "Shooting" ability with long Moves and Blitz.

Sated Alpha Zombies do Enslave Roaming Alpha Zombies now and there are many more Sated Alpha Zombies in each Starting Zombie Building. That is no Problem now because of the Fire Power all Human Factions can gain. There are only 4 buildings that will require many turns to gain but the Reward is greater.
"Arthur's Sniper School" can be built at Mr Tokugawa's House and produces a Sniper Ever 3 turns! They are equal to King Arthur except they are not invisible... King Arthur does not have the time to teach them the art of being invisible so he focuses on teaching them to shoot well :)

Voyagers have Overkill Bombard Power arranged by the Nerds :) Fantastic Movement and Blitz. You will need it.
I added the TARDIS and TARDIS Transport which allow Faster Transport for Units as well as POWER. The TARDIS is another "Project" of the Company and Dr Lazar. Must be captured and upgraded to Full Power.
I added Captain Spiff and the Aero Space Center. Captain Spiff will gladly Help any Human Faction who Rescues him by Upgrading to Captain Spiff Power Packed. He Has his Fantastic Laser but needs a Power Pack for it to work.

Pile Ups Auto-Produce a Sneaky Zombie every 20 Turns and the Sneaky Zombies cannot be directly built. ... and there are plenty of them.


Many more Key Locations, Minor Locations and Improvements and a Few New "Techs" I call "Capabilities" now.

Detectives cannot steal Knowledge now because there is no need and also because of the different Capabilities each Faction has. If a Capability is gained that is not meant for that Faction, the Game Screen will just Freeze. I also remade and adjusted the Detective's Office Screen and all screens for that matter :lol:

The above is just to state a few of the changes and additions.
I have made thousands of Changes since EFZI2 The Remake and still working on it all.
I have an ongoing List of Changes and Additions but it is so long, I seriously doubt anyone will ever read it :)
Suffice to say that there are just too many changes and additions to state here.

Plotinus is making a New Civilian to help me out with my extreme work load and Rob agreed to make a New Farmer Leaderhead to my specifications. Other than that, I have done everything alone and I mean everything in the game so that requires more time than I can say.

Currently going to start the "Mortician" and "Paradise Mortician" for the Zombies then make the "Corporate Executive" for the Company. "Morticians" and "Paradise Morticians" use Black Coffins to Come up from the Ground anywhere on the Island and there are also Zombie Coffins and Mutant Coffins used by those Units to do the same. It will be a Must to Guard each Tile surrounding your buildings now throughout the game.

I have uploaded the game in its current state at SOC to have a Testers Forum. two people in the group at this point and even they have been too busy lately. I expect Testing will pick up in about a month. I Game Tested the Survivors for 5 Months and am Now just focusing on completing the Units and other Work... then I will Test each Faction Many Times and Adjust, Change, etc...
Rest assured, I am working on everything constantly.

Edit... The intention is to play as any Faction you desire, not just the Survivors :)
The Farmers will be much more finished in EFZI2 Complete and my intention is to have the Game Complete in every way.

As for Multiplayer... it was not set up for that but I might set EFZI2 Complete for Multiplayer after Completing the Game. Settings for the AI would need to be set stronger for Multiplayer to be effective.
 
Just to state the reason for the Many Sated Alpha Zombies in the Starting Zombie Buildings and there are even more now:

The AI by Program Default will just Not Keep enough Units inside their buildings to prevent a Human from Easily Capturing them with the "Shooting" Power they have so I set Sated Alpha Zombies with Many Hit Points to Guard the Buildings. They Are Immobile so they stay inside the buildings.

That said, I totally agree that due to the lack of effectiveness of the Shooting Units against those Zombie Buildings, it required far too many turns to Kill the Sated Alpha Zombies and all units to be able to capture the Building.
It will continue to be a "Chore" but because the Human Faction "Shooting" Units are so much more powerful as well as more moves with Blitz, it is far easier to capture even the strongest Zombie Building.
Example... I Bombarded "Lethal Shot" the Zombie Research Center and gained it in 2 turns and that was later in the game when they were large and more powerful. I used Snipers, Hazard Trucks, Chemical Bombs, Mustard Gas Bombs, Pyromaniacs and my Special Units such as The Annihilator Armed, The TARDIS Full Power, King Arthur, Hero Hannibal Smith and Captain Spiff Powerpacked.

There are many more Units and things players can do now so No more Grueling tedious turns with little effect.

It is important to keep the Zombie Buildings Strong or a Human Player could easily capture them all and the game would not be any Challenge. I believe I have accomplished a "Happy Medium" that provides Good Game Play without the Boring Turns.

Sheep, Gatling Gals and Graveyard Swarms are all stronger and more effective.. and you can gain more Marines as you desire. The Marines are also stronger.

The Graveyard Swarms were not really intended to be more than an annoyance to do away with.

I didn't mention that the Zombies build Zombie Nurse Stations in every zombie building now as well as have the Zombie Nurse School at the Hospital. This provides Zombie Nurses throughout the game even if a Human Player plays as the Authorities and prevents the Zombies from capturing the Hospital. There is a Good Balance.

The Zombies also have the "Omega House" improvement that Auto-Produce an Omega Zombie besides being able to directly build Omega Zombies.

All Factions including the Zombies have a Special Capability they gain that allows them to build a Key Location that provides two free Capabilities. This was strategically added at differernt points on the "Tech Tree" to allow each Faction to gain All Capabilities on their "Tech Tree" with Good Timing for Game Play Balance.

I have not found it necessary to have the Monster Zombies Auto-Produced as the Zombies build plenty of them.

...there is much more I can say but I will stop here :)
 
It sounds like a lot of hard work for you Vuldacon, and I must say that the overall quality of the units is amazing - love the graphics/sound/animations.

In my games so far, human AI players have built a lot of landmines that they've kept inside buildings, so just saying that that might be a solution. I agree that it shouldn't be too easy to take buildings, specially early on though (company director is very powerful for instance).

I am still testing different tweaks but I find it to be more enjoyable with more regular zombies to shoot at and less fast enemies (spiders/skreetches mostly). With pile-up autoproducing zombies each turn there are massive swarms of zombies all over the map early on (without totally overrunning the human AI too, probably because zombies just roam around to kill workers) and that creates a sense of desperation from the start. Looks like the problem will be that human AI won't finish roads as quickly though. But as I said, that's just tweaks I've made because I think the game is more enjoyable that way and is probably not what a lot of players want.

AI problems and other things I've thought about:
1. Human units with blitz making attacks with very low HP (2 HP badass attacking full HP roaming alpha - retreating after losing the first, then attacking again and dieing/becoming zombie). Perhaps issue with extra HPs? AI not knowing when to retreat to heal?

2. Not using exploding sheep. Don't know why, usually AI uses tactical missiles better than that.

3. Not using leaders to produce champions. Probably not possible to fix.

4. I also believe that a higher maintenance for units is needed. Everyone seems to agree that it becomes easy when you've amassed a certain amount of champions and other bombarding units and I think that needs to be countered somehow.

5. Multiplayer (hotseat) didn't work, it gave a read error in pediaicons.txt - strange since it works perfectly fine on singleplayer.

But from your post it sounds like you have enough good ideas already so I won't bring everything up. If I happen to find a solution to different problems (such as AI using bombard or starting to build road properly) I'll let you know though. Or ofc if there is anything else you'd like opinions on/help with ;)
 
Freeborn... First, Thanks for the Compliment :)

Again, I have already addressed the issues you are speaking about. Note that I have been working on EFZI2 Complete for over 3 Years past the release of EFZI2 The Remake.

Land Mines are now called "Homemade Mines" and are no longer built, they are Auto-produced from the Improvement called the "Explosives Room" every 10 turns. The AI was building too many of them so that is no problem now.

The AI Does Upgrade their Champions and use them now... see ScreenShot Segment below :)

The Farmers Use their Exploding Sheep, although the AI will Not Use any Land Transports by default so they do not load them into Shaggin' Wagons but they still use the Sheep.

As for Countering the Bombarding Units, the Zombies are Far Stronger and if a player fails to at least double their starting buildings by Zombiegeddon, the Zombies will be a Huge Problem.

I made the Champion Names List 50 names for each Faction so the names do not repeat.

There are now a Total of 525 Elite Sated Alpha Zombies in their 30 beginning Zombie Buildings... each Sated Alpha Zombie has 20 Defense and 10 Hit Points. If a Human Player is not playing as the Authorities, the Zombies will gain the Hospital so will have 31 Buildings after turn 1.
By Comparison, Human Factions have 6 to 7 starting buildings so each are out numbered 5 to 1 when the Game starts.

Many of the "issues" you are seeing in EFZI2 The Remake are just not applicable now in EFZI2 Complete.

The AI uses many of their Bombarding Units. Especially when their buildings are attacked. The Authorities tend to use a SWAT with an Infantry unit to go around Bombarding "Shooting" the Zombies.

I am not concerned about the Zombies and Roads. I adjusted the game so the Zombies are not as penalized if they do not Repair their Roads as fast as a Human. I have taken more control of the AI in many ways. Especially where Units and what they build are concerned.

The Game is set to End after 15 Days = 180 turns at this point (and that requires 5 to 7 full days of game play). I might adjust that figure according to game development... but there is some time pressure in the game now as well.
 

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Vuldacon, what on Earth makes you think that 50 names are enough? :)
There's a point where champions keep generating champions.
btw why not make a WIP thread -or even a subforum- so we can all pich in suggestions? Of course, you can keep it private if you wish.
 
Vuldacon, what on Earth makes you think that 50 names are enough?
There's a point where champions keep generating champions.
btw why not make a WIP thread -or even a subforum- so we can all pich in suggestions? Of course, you can keep it private if you wish.
Click to expand...

Takhisis... Concerning the Great Leaders, I "Leader Farm" and use Champions to gain More Leaders. Testing has shown that 50 Leader Names is about right. Generally have fewer than 50 in a Game now.

Anyone can voice their opinions and suggestions here...and they have :)

A WIP Thread would probably be redundant as well as require more time.
Because the New Version of this Game is Changed in so many ways, I would have to explain all that has been changed, added and adjusted. The List alone is huge.

I have read the comments concerning EFZI2 The Remake and understand the over all opinions.
Most of the opinions are in keeping with my own and I have been working on EFZI2 Complete to address those issues.

I believe the Game will Please the Majority but it is not possible to please everyone.

The best I can do is digest the over all opinions and try to accommodate them with my own :)
 
Then we expectz a changelog... a BIIIG changelog...
Even though most people will just say
d9ef8156-9a98-11de-adf0-001ec94d5d3f.gif
and go straight to downloads.

Da Authorities:
I want a T-1000!

Also, Operation Sledgehammer could bring Inspector Sledge Hammer (played by David Rasche) into the affair... c'mon, he even calls some of his victims San Francisco's criminals 'mutants'...

Could Captain Haddock join in from the navy? Blistering Barnacles!!
 
After this long a wait, I would read a changelog as a prerequisite to download! :lol:

Also, Takhisis (chuckling at your username, bty), I'm not sure what your graphic means. Will most people say "deer" and download? What does "deer" mean?
 
It's a teal deer…

Aaahhh… now I'm playing as Zeb the benevolent and the Zombies still haven't eaten me, even though I've taken tehir Church and Hospital while I've expelled those Company landgrabbers from the Dog Pound. It's easily the best spot for basing Old Buzzard.
 
Humm, yes, nice, but I don't think I can make the savegame file answer to the new .biq, can I?
 
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