We had a great turnout at MHvZ today, which resulted in some rather impressive hordes. We tried some new gamemodes. This Nerf Game Report goes into particular detail about the new gamemodes.
Gamemodes
Regular
- (Regular Survival Standard Gametype), humans attempt to survive for a certain amount of time or until the last person falls. Upgrades are available to zombies. We used Husk at 15 minutes, Tanks in 10 minutes, and Infectors in 5 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. When stunned, zombies must move outside of the VIPs area before counting down their stun. Only the General knows the identity of VIPs, but all original zombies are aware of the Traitors‘ identity. Everyone knows the identity of the General, making them the only guaranteed trustworthy human. The Traitor acts as a human, but can at any point do a single Traitor zombie tag, revealing that they are the Traitor, and thus turning into a regular zombie. A human can also hit another person as if they were zombies. However, they can still fire their blaster if they are stunned. 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.
New/Infrequent:
- Zombie Payload A zombie is designated as the payload, and carries a bucket as an indicator of this status. They cannot run, however otherwise behave as an ordinary zombie. The objective of the zombies is to escort their payload from the start area to the end zone. The humans will attempt to hold off the payload from reaching the end zone. If the payload reaches the end zone within 15 minutes, zombies win. Humans win if the payload doesn’t reach the end zone within 15 minutes. Zombie upgrades are made available at 5/10 minutes ala Secret VIP.
- Bounty hunt Three people are designated as VIPs and given a specific zombie upgrade. A VIP who is tagged will be granted their assigned zombie upgrade. Otherwise, the game operates as a normal Survival round. In the second round of Bounty Hunt, a Traitor was added, operating on the same rules as in Secret VIP.
Zombie Rules
Zombies can attach their hands to any body part, blaster or tactical gear and turn a human into a zombie. A zombie will be stunned for 20 seconds if a human strikes it with a dart. A human can also stun a zombie with melee, but only with a direct hit to the back.
There are 3 standard zombie upgrades/mutations/perks:
- Infector Zombies can use pool noodles and foam swords. Regular tags are those that have foam melee weapons attached to humans. These melee weapons can also serve to block darts.
- Tank Zombies can use shields to block darts. Shields are not allowed to be used to tag people, probably as protection against shieldbashing that could cause serious injury.
Upgrades to zombies cannot be combined, so one upgrade per zombie is allowed.
If in play, grenades can stun a zombie with a hit to a shield, and can be reused at will. If human vs human rules are in effect, a grenade hit to a human will turn that human into a zombie immediately.
Blasters:
Since there were a lot of different blasters there, Ive generalised them and only listed down the ones that I saw as significant or noteworthy, or remember for that matter. Being that I cant be everywhere at once, its entirely possible I completely missed some blasters. There were probably more players than usual so I missed more blasters.
Regulars/Recurring
Elite Rapidstrike (various motors, LiPos) standard high ROF blaster for MHvZ. Capable of excellent volume of fire at decent range, however requires good trigger control and a lot of ammo to keep in check.
Elite Stryfe (various motors, LiPos) standard semi-auto flywheeler for MHvZ. Simple, dependable and very effective in the right hands, Stryfes are very popular for good reason.
Megarotofury is a popular high-power blaster. It can be rebarreled and upgraded with various springs. When rebarreled for regular darts, the Rotofury can be very powerful, effective at flinging darts at mid-to-long range with the right darts. However, the MHvZ Koosh darts are not as useful at long ranges. They are unstable at high speeds and do not like long barrels. Its relatively low ROF compared to most other popular blasters also makes them more vulnerable in close range or against multiple zombies.
ZS Slingfire (unknown mods if any) a fairly standard manual-action mag-fed blaster. It is outclassed by popular, better-known options like the Retaliator, which has the main advantage of being easy to use.
Elite Retaliator (various springs, pump grips) the most popular mag-fed springer at MHvZ.
It is a compact, solid blaster that can be converted from a pistol to a powerful pump action rifleblaster. Although it’s not the best in terms of power or ROF, it is my favorite springer, at least here in Australia.
Buzz Bee Sentinel is a lever-action blaster with a powerful output-of-box. Compared to the Slingifre, it is much harder to one-hand prime, however packs a whole lot more power and is much more competitive with more popular blasters like the Retaliator. However, its low ROF due to the lever action makes it difficult to use against multiple zombies or in close quarters.
N-Strike Modulus (unknown mods, assumed overhaul) essentially just a bulky Stryfe, with similar performance in a much larger shell. Although the handle is quite uncomfortable, the battery tray in front of the foregrip offers more space than the Stryfe for a LiPo.
Elite Rampage (unknown mods if any) a solid mag fed blaster that is pump action out-of-box. The main problem is the side magwell. It is unbalanced and unfriendly for left-handers. It is a little behind the Retal for power, however I find the Rampage to be better for rapid-fire.
ZS Sledgefire (singled, upgrade spring) a high power single-shot blaster. This blaster is simple, but powerful enough to be effective at long-range potshots. Its single shot nature makes it very vulnerable against multiple zombies and in close quarters combat.
New/Infrequent:
Jyn Erso Blaster (Meishel 2.0s, 2S LiPo) brought this along to test out not only the Meishel 2.0s, but also the Jyn Erso blaster itself as a semi-auto flywheeler. Both performed well, but not exceptional. The Meishel 2.0s are perfectly suitable for 2S flywheel motors. They have a decent spin-up speed and a non-extreme current draw. I have no issues with them and would definitely recommend them for their intended role.
The Jyn Erso blaster performed about as expected, being noticeably but not unusably worse performance wise compared to my other flywheelers with aftermarket flywheels. It does have some notable usability issues that in my mind put it behind most of the other semi-auto flywheelers. It has a somewhat awkward design with a small handle and awkwardly placed foregrip, making it difficult to hold. A particular issue I had was how easy it is to accidentally press the rev trigger due to the handle design and the significant front weight. Additionally, the magwell is rather tight, and this coupled with the right-side-only mag release can make it a little more difficult to change mags. The front-heavy design combined with this made it more difficult and awkward to switch mags than other flywheelers. Finally, the Jyn Erso blaster is not compatible with F10555 Pmags due to the magwell area design, which I discovered to my dismay on the field.
Rival Artemis (assumed stock) my first time seeing these in person, they are a very solid out-of-box Rival springer, and a pretty good stock blaster all round. It has a good capacity, which can be easily filled from empty/near empty. There is also good stock range and accuracy. The pump action is smooth and provides a solid ROF. The Artemis is not as powerful as a standard Stryfe or similar modded superstock blasters but it’s a great stock blaster.
Air Zone Tripleshot/Lanard Shotgun (completely overhauled) These things are absolute beasts. Each barrel has 3-dart inline clips. The yellow one packs the standard 4 barrel arrangement of a typical Quadshot for a total capacity of 12 darts, while the beige one uses an 8 barrel arrangement for a total capacity of 24 darts. These blasters are powerful and can shoot at distances far beyond those of other blasters. However, they are not as accurate as Koosh which are unstable at high speeds and inaccuracy.
Elite Hyperfire (various, unknown mods if any) generally speaking, in my opinion, a worse Rapidstrike. Stock canted flywheel cages present a serious problem, especially with Koosh darts, which are, as I mentioned, the dart of choice at MHvZ. They have a higher chance of spinning out than straight cages, but this is less problematic at lower speeds. I found the belt feeding mech to be far less reliable than a pusher as well. That said, there arent many Hyperfires that see use at MHvZ, and those that do are rarely put through as comprehensive combat testing as Rapidstrikes often are.
Dart Tag Swarmfire (unknown modifications if any), is an old but still very effective blaster. Provides fairly slow full-auto fire when stock, though packs a solid punch for a stock blaster. Its main draw besides easily upgradeable full-auto is its on-the-fly-reloadable 20 dart turret, which is a decent capacity, easily enough to fend off small groups of zombies.
Though a pain to fill up when empty, the Swarmfire can be a novel and rather effective option as a non-mag-fed full auto blaster when modded.
Doomlands Desolator (unknown modifications, assumed overhaul) As mentioned in previous posts. It is essentially a Stryfe with fancy body kits. A very solid all-round blaster.
NStrike Vulcan (unknown modifications if any). This blaster is primarily used for its cool factor and a greater than average capacity. Struggles compared to most other popular blasters without major work (usually involving a flywheel afterburner).
Rival Apollo (pump grip) didnt see any combat use, its just the first time Ive seen an Apollo with a pump grip.
Caliburn, a homemade blaster, was not used in combat. However, I included it because I’ve never seen one before and it’s pretty cool.
Elite disruptor is essentially a Strongarm, but it is easier to reload. This is still a useful improvement. Works well as a sidearm blaster, with enough capacity, power, and a good enough ROF to fend off a few zombies quite comfortably.
The same play area, but all deciduous trees have lost their leaves due to winter. This resulted in some of the trees losing a lot of their effectiveness as cover. The day was cool for Melbourne winter days, with only a hint of rain and cloud cover. Today we had 45 players at the peak, which was one of the largest turnouts I’ve ever seen.
We started off the day with a standard Survival round. It played out as per usual for Survival, with the humans surviving with minimal losses until Tank shields were made available for the zombies. The most effective tool the zombies have to split up human groups is the tank. However, smaller groups of people, especially lone ones, are easier for them to take down. I was able to survive until the end of the game, primarily by avoiding the main human groups and their pursuing zombies. In this way I was usually only targeted by a small number of zombies at any one time, and very rarely drew the attention of the Tanks. With human numbers dwindling and the zombie horde growing to an impressive size, I inevitably became the target of many zombie attacks. I was the last remaining human being, and eventually had to dump my empty Jyn Erso blaster. After that, I used up all my Sweet Revenges darts before being tagged.
We played a round of Secret VIP afterwards. Secret VIP was played as usual. The zombies received very few tags within the first five minutes. The release of Tank shields allowed the zombies to more effectively push into the humans tambark zone. Successive Tank charges yielded very good results for the zombies, often catching much of the human group off guard or forcing them to scatter, opening the door for opportunistic zombies to move in for some easy tags. The new Husk contributed a significant factor as well, being capable of tags from well behind the zombie ranks. These helped to reduce the human group’s size in the final minutes of the game. I was tagged near the end of the game during a moment of poor situational awareness, distracted by an incoming Tank. The zombies managed to tag the VIP in one their many charges with less than ten people remaining and ended the game with a win.
The effectiveness of the Tank charges was a key factor in the success of the zombies, or the inability of human groups to fight them. In past Secret VIP rounds, a well coordinated human group could easily split up and force back a Tank charge while other nearby humans protect them from nearby zombies. Today’s round saw a Tank charge often met with a large number of human groups running and scattering, breaking up formation and reducing defensive solidity. This allowed the Tanks to spend more time in the tambark and also gave zombies more chances to profit. All too often I would hear a commotion from a different side of the tambark, and turn to see a large group of humans all running from a lone Tank. The Tank would eventually be stunned of course, but the humans would end up scattered all over the place, often with many arcs uncovered. Any unstunned zombie nearby could, and often did, take advantage of the gap to grab a few tags before being eventually hosed down.
After the Secret VIP round, we began a new Six Dart Survival pickup gametype, however I personally have become severely disillusioned with the effectiveness and fun of such games. Several of us players have found it much faster and more effective to simply perform a proper pickup sweep, allowing for proper gametypes to be played more quickly. As such, while the other players were being briefed on this new gametype, we instead began to sweep up some of the lesser-explored areas of the play area.
After our lunch break, we played the new gamemode ZombiePayload. The southernmost corner of the play area was where the zombies began, while the central tambark zone was designated as the end zone.
The first few minutes were a disaster. The zombies spent the majority of their time being stunlocked by darts that came from an essential wall of human death. There was no way for them to escape it. Any zombies who did manage to avoid the crossfire could do little to the humans, being hosed down by darts as soon as they approached. The Payload was slow to move during this period, and spent far more time being pounded by darts that actually moving. Although some zombies were able to get tags on unsuspecting humans, the majority of zombies made little progress. This is similar to other game types. This changed at the five-minute mark when zombies were allowed to access Tank shields.
With Tanks, the zombies could actually threaten and push back the humans, nabbing many more tags while also clearing the way for the Payload to move forward. They could quickly and effectively disperse the human groups, making it possible for the Payload not only to move forward but also for other zombies make easy tags. They also drastically reduced the effectiveness of the human wall of death formation. The Payload was able to move forward much more easily with Tanks in play. It became more difficult for humans to reach the Payload in time to stun them, due to the ever-growing number of zombies and the ever-present dangers of Tanks. Combine that with the short distance between the end zone and the start area, and you have the recipe for a zombie victory. In the final minutes of play, the humans were pushed further away from Payloads, making it possible for them to move towards the end zone.
I personally didnt like this gamemode. It heavily promotes stunlocking of zombies, which I personally do not particularly enjoy, either as a human or zombie. Unlike Defence Survival however, which also promotes stunlocking, Zombie Payload does not have any limit to how far a zombie can creep forward towards an objective. In Defence Survival, zombies are limited by having to unstun outside of the Defence squares, being unable to creep any closer than about 2m from the zombie upgrades. In Zombie Payload, there is no such limitation, and as such, the Payload can creep forward slowly even with near-constant stunning from guarding humans. There is no way for the humans to reliably slow down or stop the Payload short of a constant barrage of darts, which I consider to be very boring and un-fun for both sides.
I believe that Payload gamemodes should be stopped completely and consistently.
They should be able to stop without resorting to mindless, overkill tactics like constant dart hosing. This is a poor game design. The Payload itself should not be able to slowly inch forward of its own accord, certainly not still while confronted with a large group of humans. A Payload that looks more like the Bomb in Blind Bomber (a separate piece of game that is carried by a person) or more like Payloads from shooter games (think Overwatch and TF2, Payloads that move only when the relevant team members are near) would be a better, more fun way to play. Of course a lot of alteration would be necessary to make a Zombie Payload gametype work, given the drastic imbalance in teams, but I do not think the gametype currently is competitive or fun.
We tried two rounds Bounty Hunt after the Zombie Payload round. The first round of Bounty Hunt did not have a Traitor, while the second round did.
The game went along the same lines as a Survival round. However, the zombies were more focused on VIPs and not on any human group. In turn, the humans were also grouped a little more tightly than usual, with more focus of actually protecting a particular human rather than just survival. Once all the VIPs were tagged and all the upgrades made available (in particular Tank shields), the game turns into just a standard Survival round. The difference is all in the mid-game, in how and when the zombies acquire the upgrades.
In the first round, although the Infector VIP was tagged relatively early, the zombies generally struggled to make much impact on the human groups. I’m fairly certain that the zombies did not get Tank shields access until after about 10 minutes of gameplay, even though I was not paying attention. I believe that they were denied access to Tank shields even though they did gain it. I do know that the Tank VIP was still alive at the time. This highlighted the fact that the zombies needed a bunker buster other than Tanks. In most games, the zombies can rely on getting access to Tank shields at some point during the game. This gives them a relatively reliable method of scattering and disrupting most human groups. Although acquisition of Tank shields in Defence Survival is not guaranteed, it is almost certain that humans who defend the Tank square will have a lapse in concentration at some point, giving zombies the chance to grab a shield.
In Bounty Hunt, since the upgrades are tied to particular human players, it is possible that the zombies may never get access to a particular upgrade. If a VIP is the last survivor, the zombies will never get access to that upgrade during that round. This leads to a potential problem if the Tank VIP is particularly good or lucky, the zombies may not get access to Tank shields until very late in the game if they even get them at all.
This can drag out the game for a very long time. Tank shields, as has been mentioned many times, are crucial to the zombies ability of threatening larger groups of people. The zombies will struggle to make an impression on large groups of people without Tanks. They are too easy to hose down when they get too close. As such, I felt that in Bounty Hunt, the zombies should have some other method of human group disruption to compensate for the no longer guaranteed Tank shields. I proposed the creation of a Traitor. This was completed in the second round.
Bounty Hunt uses a Traitor to bunker bust in Bounty Hunt. It guarantees that the zombies get at least one upgrade, ideally Tank shields. In the second round, it was in fact not the Traitor, but poor situational awareness, that got the Tank VIP tagged. The zombies focused their efforts on the human group with the Tank VIP, and were eventually rewarded when the Tank VIP strayed too close to zombies coming to the end of their stun time. However, a Traitor is a suboptimal solution to Bounty Hunt. Secret VIP’s Traitor is a person who prevents VIPs from being too open with their identities and causes paranoia and discord within the human group. This works for Secret VIP because of the anonymity of the VIP, the short round timer and the relative safety of the VIPs tambark zone. Bounty Hunt makes the VIPs prime targets because they are all known to everyone. The Traitor can stay with the Tank VIP and tag them immediately at the beginning of the game. This is a very frustrating situation for both the Tank VIP as well as the human group. The humans don’t have any way to stop this except by creating an exclusion zone around each VIP. I do not know what would make a better bunker buster, however I believe that with a suitable special zombie, Bounty Hunt could become a solid staple of MHvZ, like Defence Survival.
I would like to also discuss the Zing Bow Husk that was used in this event. The Husk was equipped with one Vortex Mega Howler in the latest set of events. The Husk is intended to keep people on their toes and disrupt them. Although it can be used against non-wary humans, direct combat should not be an option. The Husk shouldn’t be considered a direct threat to human life in the same manner as Tanks or blasters.
The Vortex Mega Howler Husk is my favorite implementation. It is quite obvious, both on the field and in flight. It can fly quite far with a good throw. Due to its long travel time and loud whistling sound, it is difficult to hit alert humans with it. However, it can draw attention to humans and aid in human formations. The Vortex Mega Howler isn’t very effective in direct combat because it is hard to throw off while being under fire.
The Zing Bow is also capable of quite good range and accuracy. Compared to the Vortex Mega Howler however, Zing arrows are much less obvious and much more effective as a ranged weapon. They are smaller and make a quieter whistling sound. Zing arrows also travel significantly faster, and with multiple arrows available, can be reloaded and fired again very quickly, making the Zing Bow much more effective in direct combat. This effectiveness as a ranged weapon overall is my biggest problem with the Zing Bow as a Husk weapon. Although the Zing Bow’s effectiveness as a ranged weapon for zombies is not an issue, it is too effective and blurs the line between zombies and humans. Past Husks such as the Vortex Mega Howler, and various rocket launchers, have worked as Husk weapons because they do not compete with human armament for ranged combat, and when pitted directly against most blasters, will not fare well. The Zing Bow has the range, accuracy, and refire speed to match blasters. It is at least as good as the other Husks. As such, I believe that the Zing Bow is not suitable for Husk use, or at least not the Husk as it is implemented at MHvZ.
Today’s event was very enjoyable. There were a lot of people who made it quite intense in Survival games, and Secret VIP (as intended) was quite claustrophobic. Zombie Payload could use some work. Bounty Hunt might benefit from a new zombie to replace Tank shields.
The same post can be found on my blog, Outback Nerf
