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Contagion (Mutation)
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Game Modes: Mutations
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14 Nov, 2022 @ 3:46pm
5 Aug, 2023 @ 8:52pm
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BoxFigs
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Contagion (Mutation)

Description
The infection is spreading, and you are not immune.

Infected attacks increase your Infection, which depletes over time. Reaching 100% Infection zombifies you (kills you and spawns a Special Infected). The Infected go down more easily, but you have less ammo.

NOTE: When you die by reaching 100% Infection, your corpse will be teleported outside the map. This is intentional, as it is neccessary in order to remove the player's corpse. Attempting to delete the dead player crashes the game, so moving it is the only option.

Recommended strategies:
Avoid damage as much as possible.
Use pistols or melee to conserve ammo.
Stick together so that you can free each other from Special Infected.
Revive downed teammates quickly.
Make use of grenades to manage hordes.

This mutation is intended to force players to play better, without needing to play on Advanced/Expert or Realism. It serves as a more effective learning environment to improve at the game, as it punishes poor performance in such a way that makes the player fail faster. Healing can undo damage, but time is the only remedy for Infection. Therefore, the player is punished for taking damage too often, raising their awareness as to how often they're taking damage. This makes the player more focused on avoiding damage, since they can no longer afford to take damage as often.
At the same time, killing zombies is easier, which makes it more approachable than increasing the difficulty setting. The limited ammo balances this out, as well as making the player spend their ammo more wisely.
14 Comments
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Sanctified 25 May, 2023 @ 12:53am 
@BoxFigs I get what you're saying. I actually found a mutation very similar to yours but instead it had the mechanic that i'm referring to. The survivors would start out as uninfected, with there being a random chance of contracting the infection via an attack from one of the infected. There is however a way to cure the infection with adrenaline shots. Using a med pack and or pain pills slow the infection down by lowering the amount of infection. The only thing about said mutation that I dislike is the fact that when a survivor dies from the infection, they do not turn, they just die.

This is where your mutation shines in my opinion, and I have to give you credit, it's one of my favorite mutations to play.
BoxFigs  [author] 24 May, 2023 @ 2:19pm 
@November Rust I feel like that would be too punishing, especially on higher difficulties. As it is, having high Infection is risky, as the higher Infection is, the closer survivors are to being zombified. This means that they have to avoid damage for increasingly longer periods of time, to make up for the damage they took earlier. That's punishment enough, and makes the outcome dependent on the player's actions.

Something like you're suggesting would force players to speedrun the rest of the map while also minimizing damage. That sort of thing would be better as its own, more difficult mutation: Infection constantly increases, with zombie damage adding a small, consistent amount (instead of depending on the damage). It would also need some other way of reducing Infection, such as it being reset when starting the next chapter and/or being reduced by pills/healing.
Sanctified 22 May, 2023 @ 11:27pm 
I've been messing around in the mod file and have been experimenting with infection recovery times. Is there any chance that you might add in a feature to where if a survivor is over, say 50% or 60% infection rate that instead of recovering from the infection it slowly spreads and goes up until it eventually reaches 100%?
Wood Man 15 Dec, 2022 @ 2:51pm 
69% infected WOW
Wood Man 15 Dec, 2022 @ 2:44pm 
It's work!
Wood Man 15 Dec, 2022 @ 2:42pm 
testing!....
web 30 Nov, 2022 @ 6:26am 
love it
BoxFigs  [author] 21 Nov, 2022 @ 7:12pm 
@Darkdeplayer
5: I see, you just want it to be harder. I was going for a more balanced, difficulty-dependent challenge. It's not supposed to be punishingly hard. The amount of Infection depends on the damage, so you can just play on Advanced or Expert if you want it to be more difficult.
BoxFigs  [author] 21 Nov, 2022 @ 7:11pm 
@Darkdeplayer
1: Why would zombification still happen when dying normally? Besides, most of the time, players die by reaching 100% Infection before they die normally.
2: That would kind of defeat the point of using melee weapons, which are extremely useful for dealing with hordes without taking damage.
3: You mean like actually playing as a special infected? That's only possible in versus. Even then, I'm not sure it would be possible to change a player's team on the spot and force them to spawn as a specific infected type.
4: The entire point of the Infection mechanic is to give more consequence to taking damage, other than the damage itself. You have to worry about Infection more than you do damage, so I feel like increasing the base damage taken wouldn't have much of a point.
Darkdeplayer 21 Nov, 2022 @ 7:13am 
Heres the idea :

1 - make when you die it turns you into zombie too
2 - By Getting Near Of Zombie The Infection Could Increase
3 - When Get Infected you insta spawn as an zombie
4 - increase an little bit the damage of zombies
5 - make easier to get infected because the game still easy