Hello Damz ! That a huge message :D


Thank you so much for this detailed feedback! Your insights will help improve the mod and ensure it's heading in the right direction. I'm always open to community suggestions to provide the best possible features for this mod.

The mod is intentionally in BETA access because I know it still needs a lot of work, improvements, and additional content to offer maximum interaction with computers. My roadmap keeps growing thanks to community feedback, which is a great sign! Together, I’m sure we can create the best possible version of this mod. 😃

# LORE
I really like the lore you’ve written for the mod! I had started writing my own vision for it, but I really enjoy your take on it as well. If you're okay with it, I’d love to merge our ideas into a cohesive story.

# Your Suggestions & My Thoughts
## 1-3. First connection to the PZLinux network & Tutorial
I love the idea of a first login event that introduces players to the PZLinux system. A message like "We've noticed the first login after the power outage. Who are you?" would help with immersion and provide a built-in tutorial.

Instead of a cable system, I’m considering using a satellite system to allow players more freedom in setting up a computer at their base. Another idea I had was a hacked USB drive that survivors must find in the world to establish a connection.

## Money
I had this feature in early versions, but I forgot to reimplement it when I migrated to ModData. I’ll fix it! 😃

## Inflation & Economy Balancing
There is already inflation in the mod—prices increase every 3 months based on getGameTime():getWorldAgeHours(). However, balancing the economy is tricky. I want it to be accessible early on but progressively harder in the late game without giving players instant access to the best weapons/equipments.

## Wholesale Trade for Farmers
This is already on my roadmap! I plan to add contracts with a timer, where players have 3 days to deliver as many vegetables as possible to a specific location. The amount delivered will determine the amount of money received.

## Request to Purchase a Specific Item
Also on my roadmap, but I haven’t figured out the best way to code it yet. I’ll keep thinking about it!

## Shipping Delay for Packages
In an early version, I tested a 72-hour delay for purchases, but I removed it because I was worried players might not understand the mechanic. I can reintroduce it, but I’ll make sure it’s properly explained in the tutorial.

## Stock Market & Economic Simulation
Currently, companies offer contracts. Successfully completing a contract increases the company's stock value, allowing players to manipulate the market. In the future, I plan to add contracts that decrease stock values, which could create conflicts between survivor groups in a potential multiplayer setting.

I really like your idea of raw material pricing based on supply & demand. I’ll add it to the roadmap!

## More items available
I’ve started adding gold bars to the DW, and I’d love to integrate more realistic market mechanics. Since I spend most of my time developing the mod, I haven’t fully explored all the new professions in B42, but I definitely want to represent all trades through either requests or the DW. I’ve added this to my roadmap! I know there’s still a lot missing in terms of available items.

## Credit Card
I can change how credit card works via ATMs. Instead of the current system:
ID cards will keep the Mastermind-style PIN guessing minigame.

But I can change that for Credit cards with a new mechanic:
The player has 3 attempts to guess the PIN with ATM. If successful, the player must withdraw all funds immediately. This will give ATMs a more active role in gameplay. What do you think?

## DW Should Buy All Electronics
This is a great idea! It would help balance Electronics skill progression by giving players an alternative to disassembling devices. It would also help new players earn money for their first purchases.

# New Contract Ideas
I’m taking note of your contract suggestions! They’re fantastic. Here are a few things I’m already working on:

Version 0.1.12 will introduce a water delivery contract. Liquids are handled differently in B42, so once that system is in place, fuel delivery contracts (200L) will be possible too!

Burning down a building is tricky because I need to ensure it never targets a player base. Instead, I might add cargo shipments that spawn on the map and must be destroyed.

NPC integration in B42 will be huge! I’m waiting to see what’s possible before adding NPC-based contracts.

If you have more ideas, or even another wall of text, don’t hesitate to send it! 😃
Thank you again for your message and your interest in PZLinux!

Happy Z cleaning! 🧼🧟‍♂️

Thanks for reading and responding so quickly! I understand that the mod is in BETA, and I absolutely did not intend to criticize the mechanics used in it. I just wanted to share my opinion as a 90s computer nerd who found a lot of nostalgia in your mod, along with a well-justified in-game immersion of invisible NPCs.

About lore. Great! I’m really glad you like this story. You’re absolutely welcome to use it when developing the mod’s lore. It’s based on actual corporate procedures in real life.

A disaster recovery plan (DR or DRP) is a formal document created by an organization that contains detailed instructions on how to respond to unplanned incidents such as natural disasters, power outages, cyberattacks, and other disruptive events.

While the military was fighting on the streets and civilians were dying to zombies, bank IT specialists, following protocol, connected industrial generators to fuel tankers. Then, inside safe, windowless server rooms with armored doors—where there was no external threat—they switched over the servers while the world was falling into apocalypse.

Your decision to use money as a form of payment instead of barter goods like cigarettes is excellent and strongly justified. Modern banknotes are documents confirming an agreement between both parties that this piece of paper has a value reflected in goods. The same kind of agreement was made by IT specialists in the early days of the apocalypse—they paid with money while promising that it would still be usable for purchasing other goods from them. In addition, the bank's employees hold the largest amount of cash, so they care most about keeping it in circulation. This situation, where real money was used post-apocalypse, was also seen in The Walking Dead’s Commonwealth Community.

To allow a computer connection in a base without using cables, the only method that would be both technologically and historically accurate in my opinion would be to use a broadcast van from a radio or TV station. The USB standard debuted in 1996, but it took several more years before it became widespread on motherboards. Satellite communication, without maintenance and constant orbital position corrections, would be irreversibly lost within months. Broadcast vans could have a “Connect to Radio Broadcast” option in the radial menu. Connecting the van to the radio network would allow computers to be used within a 20-30 tile radius of the van.
While the radio connection is active, battery power would drain if the engine is off.

Ordering Specific Items

Regarding the implementation of this feature—I'm not sure whether the problem is on the backend (extracting item data from the game) or the frontend (how to present it clearly to the player). From a player’s perspective, I think the best approach would be a search bar with autocomplete, where items appear after entering 4-5 characters of the name. I see this feature as a way to order a specific item that I know, am looking for and can't find it, rather than browsing a full item catalog like shopping on Amazon.

Delays in receiving ordered goods and getting paid for sold items would introduce mechanics like:

-Planning purchases
-Managing account balance to ensure funds for transactions
-Regularly selling looted goods to maintain cash flow

A randomized delivery/pickup time would add more realism, and there could even be a chance of lost shipments due to courier deaths.

Contract Idea: Recover the Courier’s Vehicle
"A courier was supposed to deliver your package, but they never made it. Find the vehicle, retrieve the packages from the trunk, send the goods back to us, and you keep the payment for the lost parcels."

ATMs & Credit Cards
The ATM & credit card idea is fantastic! It would add another layer of interaction with the existing ATM interface used for deposits. The same PIN guessing minigame could be used, but it should be a high risk, high reward mechanic. Only 3 attempts to guess the PIN, but potential payouts of $5,000 - $20,000 od credit card limit. To maintain balance, ATM withdrawals could be capped at $50,000 per machine. A new contract type could be added for restocking or retrieving cash from ATMs.

If there is anything else I could help with then write away, I will be happy to support the project as much as I can.

I have to admit that the mod is also inspired by what I see in everyday life. The messages from corporations come from the series The Day of the Jackal. The reintroduction of money, as you mentioned with the Commonwealth community, is taken from The Walking Dead. From a game engine perspective, having a virtual balance via the ATM is much easier than handling a large quantity of cigarettes, for example. The game doesn’t handle large stacks of items well—it crashes once a certain limit is exceeded.

You're absolutely right; USB drives are too modern for the world of Project Zomboid. The game takes place in 1991, and using a floppy disk for connectivity would feel odd. Radio waves seem like the best compromise. The game already features "Makeshift Ham Radios"(https://pzwiki.net/wiki/Makeshift_Ham_Radio), so there might be a way to incorporate them for added realism.

The item list in the game is quite large, so I don’t iterate through the full list to avoid performance issues. Right now, I manually add items to a table along with their prices to determine what appears in the interface. What I’d like is for players to sell whatever they want, and depending on their asking price, find a buyer quickly—or maybe never, if the price is too high. The main challenge I’m facing is how much money players will earn from this feature. If a player gets rich too fast, it could break the survival balance and make the game too easy.

I’m trying to find the right balance between pricing, supply and demand, and overall game equilibrium. In the first version of the mod, players could only sell items when they appeared on the DW, but that was too restrictive and made earning money too difficult. Finding the right balance is tricky, but I’ll get there! 😃

I’m definitely keeping the contract idea about recovering a lost package and adding it to my roadmap!

I also really like your idea that packages could be lost. Instead of receiving their order, the player could get a letter saying that their package was lost in transit or that the courier died.

The ATM limit could also lead to a new quest idea. The main issue is compatibility with other mods that allow ATMs to be moved. To avoid conflicts, I would only take into account ATMs that are built into walls. I’ll add this to my roadmap as well!

You have great ideas—thank you! 😊

If I can add something to your speech I have a couple of ideas for credit cards.

First you could add a device that allows the player to hack the credit card (obviously it doesn't have to be easy to build, you could provide the project through a purchase on the dark web for a fairly high price or via quests). Basically, once the device is produced, the player can insert a credit card and get access to the account or code to be able to log in.

As a second point I thought that if you want to add a minigame where you can guess the code of a card via ATMs you can basically get 3 chances (as you were saying) and you have some tipe of leds on the interface that suggest you how many numbers in the inserted PIN are correct and in witch position, like a green/red led system, similar to other game that have a concept like this.

Finally, as a third and last point I would like to offer my help, I'm not very good at programming because I'm developing my very first Mod in this period, BUT I'm a sound technician by profession so in case you might be interested in having custom sounds for your mod, just tell me and I'm available to help you!

@LordKrono: Thank you for your feedback! I really like the idea of using LEDs—it would probably be clearer than just displaying a message indicating which numbers are correctly or incorrectly placed. I'll add it to my roadmap ideas!

Thanks for your support, and if I ever need help with sounds, I won’t hesitate to reach out to you :D

Thanks for another reply! I'd like to quickly go back to your previous response because I think I misrepresented what I meant. I use machine translation, so sometimes misunderstandings can happen.

Regarding the stock exchange, I wasn't referring to contracts but rather to commodity prices, similar to what's available here: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities. This would enable the same functionality as buying stocks but would have a more plausible narrative justification in a post-apocalyptic world.

I've expanded the lore further, giving the whole concept a stronger narrative. The tasks and roles take into account the future multiplayer functionality. Tasks/contracts/missions don't need physical NPCs—they can use "invisible" ones who will empty resources in SAFE HOUSES, leave notes, or perform other actions that don't require a physical NPC presence.

THE HOST LORE
The beginning of the apocalypse was both the end of the old world and the birth of a new order for them. As chaos engulfed the streets and bloody riots accelerated the fall of civilization, a group of bank IT specialists and administrators didn't abandon their workplace. Instead of fleeing, they followed DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) procedures—not only to protect the servers but also in a desperate attempt to maintain the functioning of the world they knew.

This was no ordinary bank. Knox Bank handled corporate clients, major investments, and stored fortunes worth billions of dollars. Access to these funds—even in the form of digital currency, which the real world no longer had access to—became the key to survival. Thanks to the Manager, the only high-ranking employee who chose to cooperate with the Admin, The Host took control of electronic funds in the early days of the apocalypse. They then exchanged these funds for weapons, medicine, and food.

Over time, The Host evolved into an organization resembling a digital oligarchy, whose goal became the restoration of technological order in the world.

WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE HOST?
Most of the original IT specialists who implemented the DRP perished—killed in fights, lost on field missions, murdered by rival groups, or bitten by zombies. At this point, only the Admin and the Manager remain inside the sealed server bunker, and their influence grows thanks to a carefully structured network of subcontractors and mercenaries.

Admin – Architect of the New World
A former IT administrator who once managed the bank’s digital infrastructure, now oversees the last functioning network in the world. His vision shapes The Host—an organization striving to restore technology and order in the post-apocalyptic world. He remains mysterious, never appearing in public; no one except the Manager has seen him in person for months. He controls everything from behind the monitors, managing the economy, data, the stock exchange, and digital assets while planning the long-term reconstruction of civilization.

Some PZLinux users call him the "Digital Overlord," while others believe he might not exist at all, suspecting that his messages are generated by machine systems running on Knox Bank's servers.

Manager – The Practical Mind, The Admin’s Right Hand
The man who saved The Host by granting them access to real money in the first days of the apocalypse. Unlike the Admin, the Manager is pragmatic, capable of making tough decisions, and assigning missions that often walk the fine line of morality. He believes that sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good.

He is responsible for recruiting Operators, Moderators, and HelpDesk members. While the Admin envisions an ideal technological order, the Manager takes care of the reality—organizing transport, securing the server room, and handling The Host’s internal politics.

Operators – The Hands and Eyes of The Host
Former bank employees who managed branches in different cities. Today, they serve as local overseers, negotiating with survivors and ensuring the smooth operation of the PZLinux system. They are often targets for bandits—both those who distrust The Host and those who want to seize their resources.

Moderators – Engineers and Mechanics
Technicians and mechanics hired to maintain the infrastructure—repairing servers, reconnecting power, restarting old power plants, and fixing military-grade equipment. Some see them as heroes, while others consider them collaborators working for their own benefit.

HelpDesk – Couriers and Logistics Specialists
Subcontractors who deliver packages, generators, resources, and replenish ATMs with cash. Their job is the most dangerous, as they often travel through gang territories, zombie hordes, and high-risk zones. For many, this is their only chance at survival—without weapons or combat skills, HelpDesk work is their way of staying alive.

Users – System Clients
Anyone who buys or sells something on the Dark Web or uses PZLinux is part of The Host’s system. These are regular survivors—farmers selling food, craftsmen making weapons, thieves trading stolen goods. To them, The Host is just a tool for survival, but some have begun to see it as the new government.

THE HOST’S GOALS AND CONFLICTS
The Host seeks to rebuild civilization, but their methods are not always ethical. Their biggest problem is the lack of skilled personnel needed to implement their plans—they can't build power plants without engineers, nor can they maintain the system without IT specialists.

Because of this, rumors have started circulating about forced contracts—people whom The Host "hired" against their will. Is this true? Is The Host really the new dawn of civilization, or just another corporate dystopia treating survivors as mere tools?

THE SEALED SERVER ROOM – THE HOST’S SECRET
The server room on level -3 of the Knox Bank building is permanently sealed. No one enters, and no one leaves.

Some say the Admin and Manager are the only living people inside. Others believe the server room hides something more—a secret bank project, a machine neural network designed for emergency bank operations during a catastrophe.

One thing is certain—while The Host controls the digital world, their influence grows. And if their system ever collapses… the entire post-apocalyptic society might descend into chaos.

WHY THE ADMIN?
The Admin was the first person to realize that the apocalypse was beginning.

Like any IT worker in a large corporation, he was accustomed to analyzing vast amounts of data. He spent his days monitoring server traffic, analyzing system logs, optimizing databases, and ensuring the bank's digital infrastructure remained stable. But one morning, everything started to fall apart.

First, there was a drop in activity—initially minor, barely noticeable. 5% fewer transactions than usual. Maybe a system error? A temporary network issue? Nothing to worry about. But a few hours later, transaction volume had dropped by 40%, and by that evening—80%.

By the next morning, it was worse.

When he logged into the system, Admin saw that overnight, transactions had fallen by 99%. Transfers, withdrawals, payments—everything had almost completely stopped. It was as if the world had simply ceased to function.

He checked the security cameras. What he saw was impossible. It wasn’t an economic collapse—it was societal collapse. And so, instead of running, he stayed.

He realized that if he kept the servers running, he could rebuild something new from the ruins of the old world.

And thus, The Host was born—the last functioning digital fortress in a world consumed by chaos.

STORY-DRIVEN CAREER PATH IN THE HOST STRUCTURE
HelpDesk Contract (available in cities with a bank branch)

Deliver supplies to 3 POIs (bank HQ, transformer building, radio antenna)

Deliver fuel, generators, food, water

Refill ATMs with cash

Deliver/recover lost packages

Rewards: Money/task-based payouts

Resources from The Host: Food, weapons, fuel

Completing all HelpDesk contracts unlocks access to Moderator contracts.

Moderator Contract

Maintain continuous power in 3 POIs

Maintain generator functionality

Clear POIs of zombies attracted by generator noise

Rewards: Money/daily wages

Resources: Food, weapons, fuel, tools

Completing all Moderator contracts unlocks access to Operator contracts.

3. Operator Contract (contracts in every city with a bank branch)

Establish a SAFE HOUSE in the bank branch (convert rooms into bedrooms, create a communal kitchen, and secure other safety areas)

Replenish resources in the SAFE HOUSE

Distribute flyers informing about safe zones and The Host

Protect the SAFE HOUSE from hostile groups, zombies, and bandits

Payment: monetary/weekly wages
RESOURCES FROM THE HOST: food, weapons, ammunition, fuel
After completing all Operator contracts, the player can take on new assignments in the next city.

STORY FINALE – MANAGER AND DISCOVERING THE ADMIN

The player’s goal is to take over and establish SAFE HOUSES in all bank branches on the map. The final location is the main headquarters with the server room in Louisville (12566, 1696). After completing this mission, the player is promoted to Manager and gains access to the server room.

Inside the server room, there is a single body—the Admin. He took his own life when he first saw the security footage from the bank branches in the early days of the apocalypse, showing zombies tearing people apart. Losing all hope, he initiated a hard shutdown of the system.

What he didn’t know was that the corporation had long anticipated a global financial crisis and had implemented autonomous security procedures for the database. When the emergency shutdown occurred, a script activated "thehost.exe"—a system designed to maintain the bank’s debt records.

The system operated on pure pragmatism: to survive, it had to be maintained and managed by people. That’s why "thehost.exe" started ordering goods, paying suppliers absurd amounts, and creating the infrastructure necessary for its continued operation. Restoring antennas, bringing back power, expanding logistics—all of it was aimed not at saving humanity but at preserving the debt database.

The Admin and Manager were personas invented by the computer to facilitate management and control over other survivors—like a good cop and a bad cop.

POSSIBLE ENDINGS

1. Continuing The Host
The player chooses to take the role of the Admin. They take control of the system, fulfilling its original purpose—maintaining order, controlling the economy, and expanding the network of bank branches. The Host becomes the dominant force in Knox County, and survivors are bound by a system of credits and debts.

2. Destroying the System
The player decides to shut down "thehost.exe", dismantling the banking system and causing the collapse of the organization. Without its structure, survivors are forced to return to chaotic survival struggles. The Host faction fractures into smaller groups, and SAFE HOUSES are abandoned or taken over by other factions.

3. Reprogramming the System
The player hacks "thehost.exe" and changes its priorities. Instead of debt collection, the system begins to function as a humanitarian organization, providing resources and securing survivors. The Host becomes the greatest stabilizing force in Knox County, restoring a semblance of civilization.

Each ending affects the further development of the game world, NPCs, and resource availability.

@Damz: Wow! This is amazing! It almost feels like a Hollywood script! 😃

In a future update, I wanted to add a "mail" feature alongside IRC to create a stronger narrative thread beyond the auto-generated contracts. The player would randomly receive an email from an unknown sender on their computer. Your lore could fit perfectly into this feature!

We could imagine that the player gets hired for one of the roles you mentioned, earning a weekly or monthly salary. On the other hand, if they fail to complete their tasks, The Host could retaliate—maybe by sending a horde to their location!

Regarding the possible endings, how exactly do you see them playing out?

If the player becomes the Admin, what new features do you have in mind?

If the player shuts down thehost.exe, does PZLinux become completely unavailable worldwide?

For the humanitarian path, does the stock exchange shut down, and everything becomes free?

Looking forward to hearing more about your vision!

Nota: feel like we're in the same UTC. I’m a native French speaker if that helps you! :)

@Raixxar: Yes, that's correct, we are from the same region. I'm from Poland, unfortunately, I don't know French.

Penalties for not completing assignments for THE HOST could be dynamic depending on the game mode and stage of gameplay. For example, in single-player mode, you are the first to create physical structures, so initially, you don't have an Operator above you. So, for example, if you fail to keep the generator running continuously for, let's say, 4 weeks, in addition to losing the payment for the task, your promotion to a higher level will be delayed, and you will have to maintain at least 4 weeks of uninterrupted operation before you can be promoted to higher-level assignments.

In multiplayer mode, where positions can be filled by real people logged into the server, real consequences could be applied. Interrupting fuel deliveries could mean a lack of power for important infrastructure, which will directly affect the supervisors of the given position. The consequences, in addition to the obvious loss of payment, could include blocking access to the Dark Web in PZLinux, reducing food rations or the quality of food, or even demotion to a lower position or even temporary/permanent exile from THE HOST.

Also in multiplayer mode, different factions can control bank branches and POIs in different cities under the joint management of HOST, but they can conquer each other's spheres of influence, which will result in the factions receiving more resources from HOST. The ability to unlock the contract for the last bank location in which there is a server room will be obtained by the faction or person who has under control all the other bank branches on the map.

If the player becomes an administrator, what new functions do you have in mind?

The new Admin can manage resources, for example:

-Buy resources on the stock market that are used to maintain the safe house, and then order their deliveries to the operators.

-Manually control prices on the stock market.

-Order the construction of safe houses in smaller towns and deliver the resources needed for construction and maintenance.

-Tax users on the Dark Web, the stock market, enforce amounts of student loans, credit-cards, mortgages taken before the apocalypse.

If the player disables thehost.exe, will PZLinux become completely inaccessible worldwide?

For single-player, yes, the system stops working and middleages era starts. For multiplayer, the system remains disabled until someone turns it back on and gains Admin status. So if a multiplayer faction is aiming to shut down technology again and develop towards medieval living, they will have to defend the building from factions wanting to recover the technological era.

In the humanitarian path, will the stock market be closed, and will everything become free?

Here, one could attempt to simulate a small socialism, where everything is centrally controlled in THE HOST, private production is handed over to the state, and the state redistributes resources as it sees fit. For single-player, this could be simulated, and for multiplayer, it could be based on the actual economy and production generated by players. I find this interesting, because despite the initial "advantages," over time, systemic flaws will emerge, which will eventually lead to its collapse. Unless this time, people manage to build a successful socialism.

I thought for a while more on developing the story of the penalties from the Host and more on the ending of the story line and how the player will start the game on their terms.

Consequences of Failing TheHost Missions:
In the world of PZLinux, The Host is a highly structured organization that thrives on efficiency, resource management, and strict adherence to contracts. Players working under The Host are expected to complete their assigned tasks reliably. Failing to do so doesn’t just mean a delayed promotion or withheld payment—it can have far-reaching and sometimes unexpected consequences.

Financial and Contractual Repercussions
At the most basic level, if a player fails to meet the contract’s requirements, they will:

Lose their payment for that job.
Delay their promotion, forcing them to re-prove their reliability over a set period.
Potentially lose access to better contracts, forcing them to take on lower-paying, riskier jobs.
However, The Host is not just a bureaucratic entity—it operates like a post-apocalyptic mega-corporation with absolute control over its assets. Players who attempt to exploit the system, steal resources, or sabotage operations will be met with increasingly severe consequences.

Examples of Task-Specific Penalties
1. Financial Mismanagement: The HelpDesk Theft Scenario
A HelpDesk worker is given a mission: deposit $5000 from a package into an ATM controlled by The Host. The expected action is to load the ATM, ensuring the money enters the organization's economy.

If the player instead deposits the money into their personal account, The Host will immediately flag the transaction as fraudulent activity. This triggers a set of escalating consequences:

Soft Penalty: At first, the player might receive an automated message warning them that irregularities have been detected in their transaction history.

Intermediate Penalty: If the money remains unreturned, The Host disables certain PZLinux functions, restricting access to the marketplace, internal communications, or job offers.

Severe Penalty: If the player ignores warnings, The Host escalates its response, such as:
Dispatching a horde of zombies to the player’s last known safe house location.
Deploying NPC bounty hunters or mercenary-style enforcers in multiplayer.
Banning the player from Host contracts for an extended period, forcing them to find alternative survival strategies.

2. Fuel Resupply Fraud: Delayed Punishment for Theft
Player receives a contract to refuel a fuel storage tank at an important POI (e.g., a bank HQ, antena, or other Host-controlled facility). The Host provides a precise shipment of fuel, with the expectation that every drop reaches its intended destination.

However, a player may attempt to siphon some of the fuel for personal use, filling their own generator, vehicle, or selling it on the black market.

Unlike the HelpDesk theft scenario, The Host does not immediately react to fuel shortages. Instead, this system introduces delayed consequences, adding an element of suspense:

The player may believe they successfully took fuel without The Host noticing.
The contract continues as normal for a full in-game week.
When the weekly contract settlement arrives, The Host performs a precise audit—detecting the missing quantity.
At this moment, The Host determines the punishment, which could include:
Immediate loss of future fuel contracts.
A heavier tax or docking of pay on all future earnings.
NPC bounty hunters or enforcers appearing in-game, specifically targeting the player for their crimes.
The delayed punishment system adds tension—players may think they got away with it, only to realize later that The Host always knows.

3. Equipment Loss: Generator Theft or Misuse
A Moderator is assigned a critical task: install and maintain a generator at a designated POI.

If the player fails to install and run the generator properly, The Host considers it gross negligence, potentially leading to pay deductions or contract suspensions.
If the player damages or loses the generator, the consequences escalate:
The Host may want to palyer find new generator on the map.
DW replacements may only be available at premium prices, making it harder to obtain another generator.
In multiplayer, The Host may issue a public bounty on the player, marking them as a traitor who sabotaged vital infrastructure.
The most severe punishment occurs if the player steals and sells the generator, which is seen as an intentional act of sabotage. In this case, The Host may:

Send a kill squad (NPC mercenaries or rival players).
Impose a permanent blacklist, preventing the player from working for The Host again.
Flag the player’s location for increased zombie activity, making survival significantly harder.

4. Safe House Resource Management: Invisible NPC Raids
In single-player mode, The Host expects Operators to maintain well-stocked Safe Houses. These outposts serve as rest stops for wandering survivors under The Host’s protection.

To simulate the hidden population of survivors, Safe Houses experience NPC looting events:

When the player is away or asleep, invisible NPCs arrive and take small amounts of supplies (3 to 10 total weight units per NPC).
If there are no supplies left, the NPCs turn into zombies inside or near the Safe House.
Upon returning, the player must fight and reclaim safe house—learning the hard way that Safe Houses need constant resupply.
This system introduces a resource management challenge, ensuring Safe Houses don’t become overpowered infinite storage zones or empty when needed.

The penalties for failing Host contracts are designed to simulate a realistic, high-stakes economy where every action has consequences. Players are encouraged to:

Stay honest, as dishonesty may lead to severe punishments.
Plan ahead, knowing that theft and neglect might only be punished days or weeks later.
Manage Safe Houses carefully, ensuring they remain functional and well-supplied.
These systems add layers of suspense, realism, and strategy, making every decision matter in the long run.

New Admin Features

PZLinux will allow the new Admin to rename "The Host" to anything they choose.

They will be able to change the names of roles and functions within the organization.

The Admin can create new structures and roles, such as:

A militia to protect city streets.
A fire department for disaster response.
Medical services to aid survivors.

The Admin can change Safe House policies, for example:

Charge entrance fees.
Adjust the quantity of available resources.
Convert Safe Houses into hospitals, community kitchens, or gun stores, requiring a different type of weekly supply delivery.

They can create contracts for new functions and professions, setting wages for militias or exterminators.

The Admin gains access to the financial balance of The Host's bank, and they must manage these funds to ensure the organization remains operational. This provides numerous ways to generate income, such as:

Charging transaction fees on the Dark Web.
Imposing commissions on stock market trades.
Enforcing old debts, such as pre-apocalypse student loans and mortgages.
Introducing new forms of taxation and financial policies.

Story ending - Three Key Moral Dilemmas for the Player

1. Maintaining the Status Quo

The first option allows the player to continue expanding the technological economy, ensuring The Host remains a powerful force in the new world. This may involve tough decisions, such as suppressing rebellious factions or enforcing strict regulations to maintain order.

2. Destroying the System

This choice forces a moral dilemma on players who believe in restoring the old technological world. Everything they have worked for—the financial system, infrastructure, and economy—must be sacrificed to protect survivors from becoming permanently trapped in debt. The system they built through hard work, either as an individual hero or as a clan, would need to be torn down to prevent future suffering.

3. Utopian Experiment

The third option explores whether a utopian society can truly function. The player can attempt to build a world where everyone has a job, wages, and their needs fulfilled—without using capitalist economic structures.

Instead of PZLinux operating as a financial hub, it may become a centralized distributor of essential goods for shops or citizens.

The Dark Web could be replaced by a community-driven supply system, offering home deliveries of vegetables or other necessities, all managed by a socialist redistribution model.

I have some additional thoughts. Please don’t take what I write as expectations or as me trying to act like I know better. I fully understand what it’s like to create something and suddenly be surrounded by voices from strangers claiming they know how you should do it. I just have a very vivid imagination, and it's easy for me to speculate.

As I mentioned in my first post, I’m completely hooked on this mod and see huge potential for new gameplay mechanics in PZ. Instead of just "survive", it introduces new goals and objectives, making the game even more engaging.

Using the In-Game Pager

The pager item already present in the game could be repurposed to notify players of incoming emails through a sound alert. Going a step further, there could be a crafting recipe that combines a watch and a pager to create a wearable pager.

This could work as follows:

Whenever the player receives a message in PZLinux, an envelope icon would appear on the watch display in the top-right corner of the screen.

If the watch had a small text display, it could show short messages, such as:

PZLINUX: CHECK INBOX
HOST: MOTION SENSOR #3 ACTIVATED
OPERATOR: NEED MORE FUEL
COURIER: PACKAGE DELIVERED

I’m not sure if text messages on pagers were already available in the early '90s, but this feature could add more dynamic gameplay when completing contracts or missions. It could also be used to trigger meta-events, forcing the player to:

Patrol an area
Make an unexpected escape
Defend a POI from an incoming horde

Adding Partial PZLinux Functionality to ATMs

If you’re considering adding a PIN-cracking screen for credit cards at ATMs, maybe it’s also worth giving ATMs some limited PZLinux functionality?

For example, ATMs could allow access to:

Reading emails
DW marketplace
Contracts
Credit card hacking

Preventing Players from Sabotaging Computers in Multiplayer

I was thinking about potential player behavior in multiplayer and realized that some might intentionally destroy or steal computers to block others from using DW or accessing funds.

Giving ATMs partial PZLinux functionality would ensure that all players have equal access to core features. ATMs are already connected to the same network as branch computers, so this could be justified in the lore. It would also let players check their emails while out in the field, far from a computer.

Using Radio Stations as PZLinux Transmitters

Going back to the radio station as a transmitter idea you mentioned—I think this is a great solution. Radios are much more accessible than radio trucks, making them a more practical way to establish a network connection in PZLinux.

This would also make perfect sense in the lore and could be tied to missions involving the restoration of power to radio antennas across the map.

Sorry for the late reply!

I didn’t realize pagers were added in B42. As you said, there are some really cool things we could do with them—it could be a great notification tool. I’ll think about what else we could build around this and add it to my roadmap.

I hadn’t considered the possibility of computers being stolen by players, though there are online settings to lock doors and prevent the use of sledgehammers to break them open in safehouse. I think ATMs shouldn’t have these features by default, but maybe they could be upgraded using electronic parts or even a radio to connect to the user’s account and the DW.

Thanks again for these great ideas! This is turning into a great brainstorming session for new features in the mod. 😃

Hi, thanks for still listening to my brainstorming. I hope that maybe some of these ideas might turn out to be useful.

Regarding Computer Theft

I was actually thinking more about the very beginning of the game. If I knew that every PC provided unlimited access to money, weapons, and resources, I would immediately try to limit others’ access to PZLinux in order to gain an advantage over my opponents.

This would mean that in the first few days of the game, I’d focus equally on gathering resources, weapons, and stealing or destroying every PC I find on the map. Alternatively, if I played as a loot goblin, I’d hoard every PC in my base for speculative resale later on.

I’m worried that this could create gameplay imbalance where new players joining the server later would find that every PC is already controlled by a single group or faction, effectively locking them out of PZLinux.

Some potential fixes that come to mind:

Players could find a floppy disk with a hacked ATM operating system.

Players could find a magazine/manual similar to the generator guide, but for ATM security systems.

Make standalone ATMs unmovable and turn them into limited-functionality PZLinux terminals.

The ATM terminal could allow only contract acceptance or purchasing a PC for delivery to a mailbox.

PC purchases could be on credit, meaning the player's account balance would be updated to -$3000, requiring them to pay off the debt before accessing DW or financial features in PZLinux.

Player-Created Contracts

One more idea came to mind—will players be able to create their own contracts?

For example:

A player plans to leave for another city for a few days and needs someone to water their garden or take care of their animals.

Another player might hire a transport service to move between cities.

A player could offer a fixed weekly salary to hire a personal bodyguard (MP).


Let me know what you think!