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Zombie Mod

Have you ever been playing through a run of Caves of Qud and thinking to yourself, "Gee, there really aren't enough ways for my run to come to an end. I wish that the NPCs each had a random chance to be a zombie!"?

Of course you have, so this is the mod for you!


"So what does this mod actually do?"

With this mod enabled, each creature has a 50/50 shot at being infected with the Zombie virus. Each infected creature has a 50/50 shot of either being a full-on zombie, or at one of the other 9 wonderful stages of infection!Some of you may want to just try the mod for yourself and discover what happens at each stage, but for those who want the details right away, check the pinned discussion titled "Stages of Infection".


"What's so special about zombies, anyway?"

There are several differences that set Zombies apart from their still-living counterparts. They're not as intelligent or charismatic, they usually have at least one limb that's rotted to the point of uselessness, they can only eat meat, and they can't be Espers (though through supernatural means, there are a select few mental mutations that they may still carry into undeath...). They do get a couple benefits, such as becoming a chimera and having Night Vision, but overall, they're usually weaker than they were before and want to spread that to everything that moves and isn't a Zombie.

The way they accomplish this is simple: Any time they successfully deal damage with a melee attack, the victim has a 25% chance of getting the infection, stemming from a random part of their body. Even before becoming a full zombie, those infected with the virus have a chance of spreading it in the same way (though at a lower chance that's dependent on their stage of infection).

Finally, as you may have guessed, other factions and Zombies tend to not get along, attacking each other on sight. Those who are infected but not yet full zombies aren't generally any more hostile than they were prior to infection, but unfortunately for them, most others simply see them as Zombies in the making and will start a fight with them anyway. When traveling in a group, other group members are usually more lenient to infected non-Zombie members. Beware groups with a zombified leader though, as some of Qud's denizens find it difficult to accept that the one they followed is gone for good, and may still try to fight by their side...


"What can I do to survive the Zombie horde?"

Just don't get infected! :)

Just kidding. But in case you wanted to figure that out yourself, I've put this section in spoiler text.

• Consider investing in Toughness, since a toughness check is used when determining if the infection should advance to the next stage. Keep in mind that gets more difficult each time the virus doesn't progress, so this only holds it off for so long...
  
• Don't get reckless: If you would get the Zombie virus from being hit but are already infected, it will instead increase the difficulty of resisting the infections progress to the next stage!
  
• Focus on using ranged weapons and avoiding unnecessary conflict with the infected so you have less opportunities to get infected yourself.
  
• If you do end up getting infected, as long as you aren't in the final couple stages of infection, you may be able to miraculously save yourself by removing the infected body part! Of course, depending on which part of your body is infected, this may be easier said than done...

"Why can robots also be Zombies? Why do other factions still care about me killing their legendary creatures even after they turn undead? Why don't the NPC's just-"

I thought robot zombies was funny and didn't want to spend more time on the rest I mean uhh... Oh, would you look at the time! I ought to be heading out! Have fun attempting to survive in a zombie-filled Qud, and try not to get infected!

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Disclaimer: This was supposed to be a janky, hastily-coded mod made over the course of a few days. Instead, it became a janky, time-consuming mod made over the course of a couple weeks. So apologies to anyone who looks at my code! I may end up coming back to this mod and improving it at some point down the line, but for now, it's just a fun little kinda-Halloween-themed challenge, and I hope you have fun with it. :)