Post by Ed Harken on Aug 4, 2006 11:54:31 GMT -5
Well, just as promised I was finally able to get a rather candid interview with ZombieMcAllen. We are not up against dummies here folks, some of these zombies have brainz. He was gracious enough to give up over an hour of his time and I hope you enjoy the depth of his replies. He has his own unique zombie perspective.
----
<EdHarken> I'd like to thank ZombieMcAllen for taking the time to invite me over for an interview.
<ZombieMcAllen> Thanks Ed, it's great to be here.
<EdHarken> For the first question just to get it out of the way tell us ... Teeth or Claws?
<ZombieMcAllen> Good question. Claws all the way. There's nothing like the satisfaction of eviscerating a survivors intestines and watching my prey writhe in pain before I eat his brains.
<EdHarken> How does being on a tour like the Big Bash differ from working with smaller groups?
<ZombieMcAllen> There are pros and cons. For example, there's a great deal of satisfaction from witnessing the destruction that hundreds of zombies can bring to bear on a suburb. We instill fear and panic in neighboring burbs and love hearing the chatter we hear from trembling survivor groups. However, communication can be difficult. It's a bit like herding cats... well, undead rabid cats. You get the idea... The attack on Ackland was carried off by a number of independents and there are some still at Giddings.
<EdHarken> What is the average size of a strike team?
<ZombieMcAllen> It depends. We have found that a team of three is enough to take down EH barricades. But then we need zombies with AP left over. A group of about 6-8 works well on most average buildings. We sometimes depend on ferals and target areas where ferals tend to be active when not with the Big Bash.
<EdHarken> Are some building types targeted more heavily than others?
<ZombieMcAllen> We don't tend to look at the nature of the building but rather barricade levels and whether the lights are on. If you put a candle in the window you can bet we'll show up to put it out after we dine on your brains in a romantic setting. Zombies enjoy the ambiance of dining by soft light.
<EdHarken> Does not having doors make Churches and junkyards anymore of an appealing target for younger or feral zombies?
<ZombieMcAllen> Before feeding groans came along and before joining the Undeadites I did, but feeding groans revolutionized our dining habits. It really is as good as ringing the dinner bell. We salivate like Pavlov's dog -- an undead crazed dog -- and come shambling.
<EdHarken> Are there certain groans or calls that have a particular meaning in game?
<ZombieMcAllen> Oh, yes. The Undeadites' signature groan is Rnrarrrh! which we typically yell when barging into a survivor safe house and join the squaredancing. I usually like to follow that up with a reference to my genitalia: Grabba mah manbagz harmanz! And instructions to grab other things like: Grabba brainz! Grabba g!n! and Grabba azz! It's a little know fact that zombies tend to enjoy a dry martini and so we often [say] grabba g!n.
<EdHarken> Have any groups put up a really good fight or has the Bash simply been a walk through?
<ZombieMcAllen> Until Giddings we haven't run into stiff resistance. Small cohesive groups tend to put up a valiant fight, though. I recall an incident in the early days of the Bash we hit a southern burb. We ate the Bowman Blackwatch group of about 12 survivors. Their brainz were tasty, but they wouldn't give up as zombies. They launched an attempt to kill zombies while they were zombies. It was futile since it takes ankle-grabbing zombies only 1 AP to stand up, but it showed that they had heart, which was rather tasty, by the way.
<EdHarken> Have any groups been more tasty than others?
<ZombieMcAllen> In general the more effort a group puts up improves the taste of their sweet, sweet brainz. The Malton Retirement Housing group in Nichols was a fun group to hit. Goofy names and descriptions are welcome as well. Ottis Spunkmeyer's brain tasted like cookies - chewy, gooey, succulent cookies.
<EdHarken> What suburb have you so far found to be the most entertaining?
<ZombieMcAllen> Stanbury was a hoot since there was so much dismay over defending Ackland, Nichols and, eventually, Hildebrand. Many zombie groups consider the center of Malton home turf and Nichols Mall as a zombie mall. Taking Nichols back was as satisfying as eating the brainz of Roger II, an early rival of the Undeadites and a leader of Paradox. Should Nichols fall back to survivor hands you can bet that zombies will not be far behind.
<EdHarken> I've heard some complaints about combat revives. Does that drastically effect the outcome of a particular strike or maneuver or is it more of a general nuisance?
<ZombieMcAllen> It's a nuisance if you don't have any silly harman skills. However, since more and more zombies are maturing that has become less of a problem. Some of us look at it as an opportunity to PK, tag, or simply yell at people.
<EdHarken> I would expect working with a team or participating in a tour would be a great for raising the maturity of a young zombie. What strategy would you recommend to a feral zombie who is not ready to or hasn't found a group to work with? Is there any way a zombie can really enjoy themselves alone on the streets of Malton?
<ZombieMcAllen> Groans. Groans are the feral's friend. We've had a number of ferals coming along for the opportunities presented by the Big Bash. If you are not ready to follow in the wake of other hordes then I suggest finding a burb with a mix of ferals and survivors. Too many zombies in a burb and there's no food. Too few and the buildings will be overbarricaded. Look for boundaries where survivors are trying to gain ground on zombie turf. That happens frequently in the center of Malton. That seems to be where many pitched battles are fought.
<EdHarken> Early in the summer your group participated to a certain degree in the Malton World Cup. Were there any highlights from that event that were worthy to note?
<ZombieMcAllen> Ah, the World Cup... It had great publicity and potential. I give the World Cup Committee tremendous credit for spinning it up and publicizing it. However, the scoring was not clearly established and there was some early controversy when they claimed one of the players who wasn't present was claimed to have scored a goal. It seemed as though zombies were not going to win regardless of how many members of the World Cup Committee we ate. In the end, we decided to go with the original plan which was to eat the refs, take the trophy, and run.
<EdHarken> What zombie skill was the most fun to gain and make use of?
<ZombieMcAllen> Feeding Drag. It's not the most strategic but it is the most fun. I once had the pleasure of dragging a survivor named 'king of malton' out of a building and tossing him to a pile of ferals. I enjoyed hearing his screams as he was ripped limb from limb. I think he was screaming for his mother. She was tasty, too.
<EdHarken> What skill could you most easily do without?
<ZombieMcAllen> Scent death comes to mind. I hardly use it. It seems like it could be more useful to survivors looking for a revive queue than a career zombie interested in leaving a trail of destruction.
<EdHarken> In describing your group the UnDeadites, Whats your greatest strength?
<ZombieMcAllen> Cooperation. We have designated attack times and regulars who show up ready for the feeding frenzy. I think establishing a simple pattern of behavior is important for the success of any horde. We have a hit list of building updated routinely by admins and moderators. We also have a thread spun up for each building we hit giving the current status. We rarely leave a building until it has been declared empty and ransack. We accept nothing less than total devastation. Of course, we have room for zombie games. We enjoy a friendly kick around the pitch with a survivor's head. And survivor head bowling. The eyes and mouth make for good grips, but they tend to fall apart rather quickly and so we go looking for more. You survivors need to find a better way to grow more durable skulls.
<EdHarken> What your favorite zombie movie?
<ZombieMcAllen> Oh, that's a tough choice. There are so many. I like to choose my zombie movie based on mood much like a connoisseur chooses the right wine to go with a meal. However, some survivors like to stock their safehouses with a standard easily-drinkable table wine. And that's how I view the original Dawn of the Dead. It has all of the quintessential zombie elements such as small groups of survivors holed up in a mall under siege. It's common for older zeds to tell this story to lull younger zeds to sleep. Those Romero zombie know how to squaredance. If I'm depressed, I like to watch Shaun of the Dead as I tear into a femur or two. That always puts me in a good mood.
<EdHarken> Would you mind a couple of meta-gaming question on current events?
<ZombieMcAllen> Ah, I suspect this relates to the Giddings controversy. Fire away (with your questions, not your shotgun, please).
<EdHarken> Do you find the game in its current state well balanced for zombies and survivors?
<ZombieMcAllen> Tough question. Feeding drag seemed to tip the scales in favor of zombies. It does have strategic value above and beyond its comedic value. However, the recent update to DNA scanning has, in turn, tipped the scales towards survivors. I don't begrudge this update. Frankly, I see it as a bug fix rather than an overt skill boost. The rapid shift from 57% zombies to 50% zombies, though, suggests that the shift will continue. And I suspect it will. Given the acceleration of the change, this seems inevitable. Therefore, based on current statistics and trends it would seem that the game favors survivors. It could be argued that I'm biased after our lack of success at Giddings. However, based on the sheer number of survivors I don't think we could have taken the mall proper - bots or no bots. Since I've been a member of a horde, finding food has not been difficult. At the moment, I don't feel that the game is out of balance, but I expect that to change shortly as more and more survivors revive their buddies.
<EdHarken> On the possibility of the use of bots or programs to artificially control characters in game at faster than normal speed or which may be active while the player is away has provided an unfair advantage to some of the areas recently visited by the Bash. Is it your impression that this is the case or can it be explained by coordinated survivor behaviour?
<ZombieMcAllen> I can cite a case study. The Undeadites hit the Sprod building after giving up on Morrish. Upon breaking in the barricades were up again in a matter of seconds. I focused on the most recently active survivor and ate his brains. He did not run or attempt to fight me and yet the cades were going up. I expect an active, infected, survivor at 10 HP to run away. This one stayed and I ate his brainz. They tasted a bit metallic. The rest of the Undeadites didn't have the AP left to take down the cades again. I was headshot and unceremoniously tossed outside in a smelly heap of dead bodies.
By the way, contrary to popular belief, zombies never grow numb to the headshot. It's wholly unpleasant. And we don't like waking up in a pile of bodies where we may occasionally be placed in compromising positions. If I ever find the survivor that left me covered with whipped cream and wearing nothing but a feather boa and a thong, there will be hell to pay.
Anyway, this incident left me convinced that bots were being used. I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of survivors did play fair, there were a few that did not. Many survivors were checking on Morrish after the siege and the siege pattern was established. However, I think we had a good chance of taking Morrish given the number of survivors inside against the number of zombies outside. In the early days of the siege the check-ins from Giddings Mall proper were not as frequent. I think bots may have prevented us from taking Morrish in the beginning, but once a pattern of routine checks was established by survivors I don't think we could have taken it. The fall of the other malls is largely owed to the lack of coordination. Morrish might have fallen if bots were not in use, but I don't think we could have taken Giddings, itself. Survivors had numbers and coordination on their side.
<EdHarken> I'd like to thank ZombieMcAllen on behalf of the whole Channel 4 News Team for the sacrifice of his time and wit. I know everyone will find it enlightening and entertaining.
<ZombieMcAllen> Thanks Ed, for this experience and your hard-hitting questions. Hmm... you seem to have something on your forehead. Let me come in for a closer look ...
----
<EdHarken> I'd like to thank ZombieMcAllen for taking the time to invite me over for an interview.
<ZombieMcAllen> Thanks Ed, it's great to be here.
<EdHarken> For the first question just to get it out of the way tell us ... Teeth or Claws?
<ZombieMcAllen> Good question. Claws all the way. There's nothing like the satisfaction of eviscerating a survivors intestines and watching my prey writhe in pain before I eat his brains.
<EdHarken> How does being on a tour like the Big Bash differ from working with smaller groups?
<ZombieMcAllen> There are pros and cons. For example, there's a great deal of satisfaction from witnessing the destruction that hundreds of zombies can bring to bear on a suburb. We instill fear and panic in neighboring burbs and love hearing the chatter we hear from trembling survivor groups. However, communication can be difficult. It's a bit like herding cats... well, undead rabid cats. You get the idea... The attack on Ackland was carried off by a number of independents and there are some still at Giddings.
<EdHarken> What is the average size of a strike team?
<ZombieMcAllen> It depends. We have found that a team of three is enough to take down EH barricades. But then we need zombies with AP left over. A group of about 6-8 works well on most average buildings. We sometimes depend on ferals and target areas where ferals tend to be active when not with the Big Bash.
<EdHarken> Are some building types targeted more heavily than others?
<ZombieMcAllen> We don't tend to look at the nature of the building but rather barricade levels and whether the lights are on. If you put a candle in the window you can bet we'll show up to put it out after we dine on your brains in a romantic setting. Zombies enjoy the ambiance of dining by soft light.
<EdHarken> Does not having doors make Churches and junkyards anymore of an appealing target for younger or feral zombies?
<ZombieMcAllen> Before feeding groans came along and before joining the Undeadites I did, but feeding groans revolutionized our dining habits. It really is as good as ringing the dinner bell. We salivate like Pavlov's dog -- an undead crazed dog -- and come shambling.
<EdHarken> Are there certain groans or calls that have a particular meaning in game?
<ZombieMcAllen> Oh, yes. The Undeadites' signature groan is Rnrarrrh! which we typically yell when barging into a survivor safe house and join the squaredancing. I usually like to follow that up with a reference to my genitalia: Grabba mah manbagz harmanz! And instructions to grab other things like: Grabba brainz! Grabba g!n! and Grabba azz! It's a little know fact that zombies tend to enjoy a dry martini and so we often [say] grabba g!n.
<EdHarken> Have any groups put up a really good fight or has the Bash simply been a walk through?
<ZombieMcAllen> Until Giddings we haven't run into stiff resistance. Small cohesive groups tend to put up a valiant fight, though. I recall an incident in the early days of the Bash we hit a southern burb. We ate the Bowman Blackwatch group of about 12 survivors. Their brainz were tasty, but they wouldn't give up as zombies. They launched an attempt to kill zombies while they were zombies. It was futile since it takes ankle-grabbing zombies only 1 AP to stand up, but it showed that they had heart, which was rather tasty, by the way.
<EdHarken> Have any groups been more tasty than others?
<ZombieMcAllen> In general the more effort a group puts up improves the taste of their sweet, sweet brainz. The Malton Retirement Housing group in Nichols was a fun group to hit. Goofy names and descriptions are welcome as well. Ottis Spunkmeyer's brain tasted like cookies - chewy, gooey, succulent cookies.
<EdHarken> What suburb have you so far found to be the most entertaining?
<ZombieMcAllen> Stanbury was a hoot since there was so much dismay over defending Ackland, Nichols and, eventually, Hildebrand. Many zombie groups consider the center of Malton home turf and Nichols Mall as a zombie mall. Taking Nichols back was as satisfying as eating the brainz of Roger II, an early rival of the Undeadites and a leader of Paradox. Should Nichols fall back to survivor hands you can bet that zombies will not be far behind.
<EdHarken> I've heard some complaints about combat revives. Does that drastically effect the outcome of a particular strike or maneuver or is it more of a general nuisance?
<ZombieMcAllen> It's a nuisance if you don't have any silly harman skills. However, since more and more zombies are maturing that has become less of a problem. Some of us look at it as an opportunity to PK, tag, or simply yell at people.
<EdHarken> I would expect working with a team or participating in a tour would be a great for raising the maturity of a young zombie. What strategy would you recommend to a feral zombie who is not ready to or hasn't found a group to work with? Is there any way a zombie can really enjoy themselves alone on the streets of Malton?
<ZombieMcAllen> Groans. Groans are the feral's friend. We've had a number of ferals coming along for the opportunities presented by the Big Bash. If you are not ready to follow in the wake of other hordes then I suggest finding a burb with a mix of ferals and survivors. Too many zombies in a burb and there's no food. Too few and the buildings will be overbarricaded. Look for boundaries where survivors are trying to gain ground on zombie turf. That happens frequently in the center of Malton. That seems to be where many pitched battles are fought.
<EdHarken> Early in the summer your group participated to a certain degree in the Malton World Cup. Were there any highlights from that event that were worthy to note?
<ZombieMcAllen> Ah, the World Cup... It had great publicity and potential. I give the World Cup Committee tremendous credit for spinning it up and publicizing it. However, the scoring was not clearly established and there was some early controversy when they claimed one of the players who wasn't present was claimed to have scored a goal. It seemed as though zombies were not going to win regardless of how many members of the World Cup Committee we ate. In the end, we decided to go with the original plan which was to eat the refs, take the trophy, and run.
<EdHarken> What zombie skill was the most fun to gain and make use of?
<ZombieMcAllen> Feeding Drag. It's not the most strategic but it is the most fun. I once had the pleasure of dragging a survivor named 'king of malton' out of a building and tossing him to a pile of ferals. I enjoyed hearing his screams as he was ripped limb from limb. I think he was screaming for his mother. She was tasty, too.
<EdHarken> What skill could you most easily do without?
<ZombieMcAllen> Scent death comes to mind. I hardly use it. It seems like it could be more useful to survivors looking for a revive queue than a career zombie interested in leaving a trail of destruction.
<EdHarken> In describing your group the UnDeadites, Whats your greatest strength?
<ZombieMcAllen> Cooperation. We have designated attack times and regulars who show up ready for the feeding frenzy. I think establishing a simple pattern of behavior is important for the success of any horde. We have a hit list of building updated routinely by admins and moderators. We also have a thread spun up for each building we hit giving the current status. We rarely leave a building until it has been declared empty and ransack. We accept nothing less than total devastation. Of course, we have room for zombie games. We enjoy a friendly kick around the pitch with a survivor's head. And survivor head bowling. The eyes and mouth make for good grips, but they tend to fall apart rather quickly and so we go looking for more. You survivors need to find a better way to grow more durable skulls.
<EdHarken> What your favorite zombie movie?
<ZombieMcAllen> Oh, that's a tough choice. There are so many. I like to choose my zombie movie based on mood much like a connoisseur chooses the right wine to go with a meal. However, some survivors like to stock their safehouses with a standard easily-drinkable table wine. And that's how I view the original Dawn of the Dead. It has all of the quintessential zombie elements such as small groups of survivors holed up in a mall under siege. It's common for older zeds to tell this story to lull younger zeds to sleep. Those Romero zombie know how to squaredance. If I'm depressed, I like to watch Shaun of the Dead as I tear into a femur or two. That always puts me in a good mood.
<EdHarken> Would you mind a couple of meta-gaming question on current events?
<ZombieMcAllen> Ah, I suspect this relates to the Giddings controversy. Fire away (with your questions, not your shotgun, please).
<EdHarken> Do you find the game in its current state well balanced for zombies and survivors?
<ZombieMcAllen> Tough question. Feeding drag seemed to tip the scales in favor of zombies. It does have strategic value above and beyond its comedic value. However, the recent update to DNA scanning has, in turn, tipped the scales towards survivors. I don't begrudge this update. Frankly, I see it as a bug fix rather than an overt skill boost. The rapid shift from 57% zombies to 50% zombies, though, suggests that the shift will continue. And I suspect it will. Given the acceleration of the change, this seems inevitable. Therefore, based on current statistics and trends it would seem that the game favors survivors. It could be argued that I'm biased after our lack of success at Giddings. However, based on the sheer number of survivors I don't think we could have taken the mall proper - bots or no bots. Since I've been a member of a horde, finding food has not been difficult. At the moment, I don't feel that the game is out of balance, but I expect that to change shortly as more and more survivors revive their buddies.
<EdHarken> On the possibility of the use of bots or programs to artificially control characters in game at faster than normal speed or which may be active while the player is away has provided an unfair advantage to some of the areas recently visited by the Bash. Is it your impression that this is the case or can it be explained by coordinated survivor behaviour?
<ZombieMcAllen> I can cite a case study. The Undeadites hit the Sprod building after giving up on Morrish. Upon breaking in the barricades were up again in a matter of seconds. I focused on the most recently active survivor and ate his brains. He did not run or attempt to fight me and yet the cades were going up. I expect an active, infected, survivor at 10 HP to run away. This one stayed and I ate his brainz. They tasted a bit metallic. The rest of the Undeadites didn't have the AP left to take down the cades again. I was headshot and unceremoniously tossed outside in a smelly heap of dead bodies.
By the way, contrary to popular belief, zombies never grow numb to the headshot. It's wholly unpleasant. And we don't like waking up in a pile of bodies where we may occasionally be placed in compromising positions. If I ever find the survivor that left me covered with whipped cream and wearing nothing but a feather boa and a thong, there will be hell to pay.
Anyway, this incident left me convinced that bots were being used. I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of survivors did play fair, there were a few that did not. Many survivors were checking on Morrish after the siege and the siege pattern was established. However, I think we had a good chance of taking Morrish given the number of survivors inside against the number of zombies outside. In the early days of the siege the check-ins from Giddings Mall proper were not as frequent. I think bots may have prevented us from taking Morrish in the beginning, but once a pattern of routine checks was established by survivors I don't think we could have taken it. The fall of the other malls is largely owed to the lack of coordination. Morrish might have fallen if bots were not in use, but I don't think we could have taken Giddings, itself. Survivors had numbers and coordination on their side.
<EdHarken> I'd like to thank ZombieMcAllen on behalf of the whole Channel 4 News Team for the sacrifice of his time and wit. I know everyone will find it enlightening and entertaining.
<ZombieMcAllen> Thanks Ed, for this experience and your hard-hitting questions. Hmm... you seem to have something on your forehead. Let me come in for a closer look ...
