Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG

[Alienman]

Can zombies wear armor? Will fallen companions keep the gear on them when they rise as the undead?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Zombies wear what they had on when they died (your buddies included). So yes, you can very well meet full Level IIIA zombies if - let's say - you actively help bring down the army faction.

They are very fun to fight if you're under equipped.

 

[Jrpgfan]

Zombies wear what they had on when they died (your buddies included)

What are you gonna wear during release day? What do you think the fashion trends will be in 2036?

 

[HoboForEternity]

Is there new demo build planned? Last demo was pretty janky (either late 2022 or early 2024 next fest)

 

[luj1]

Last demo was pretty janky

last demo had very barebones character systems

this is my number 1 gripe with the game

show me the "RPG" in this game, if it's an RPG at all or just a "tacticool". Where are the character builds, I want to see how I can develop my chars. This is the essence of the RPG experience. What those 6 attributes do, skills/perks, etc.

I spoke about this before and they said it was in the game from day 1 but wasn't fleshed out or linked with the interface

This is leading me to believe it's a mere afterthought

USG_Mucifikatorul Please man, is there actually some build variety in this game? Do attributes even matter?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

We use 6 basic attributes:

Endurance = determines maximum health, max stamina (combined with STR)
Strength = determines max. carry weight, melee dmg, max stamina (combined with END), used for bully check in RPG
Agility = determines max movement AP, interrupt chances and evasion in melee
Dexterity = determines AP for using items, melee CtH
Marksmanship = determines ranged aim accuracy
Intelligence = determines progression speed of all attributes, used for INT checks in RPG
..
There's a special affiliation "perk", the faction. All encountered NPCs except the player have an allegiance to one of the 3 major factions; this is part of their story and used as check in RPG
..
Certain specialization/perks below require Str/Dex/Agi/Mrk levels above 75. Atm we're tracking the following events for specialization progression (list is subject to change, it's still WIP, so I am not going to go into details/bonus/malus yet but if you feel like something vital is missing, feel free to mention it):

RANGED
- close range attacks with handguns/shotguns
- medium range attacks with rifles/crossbows
- long range attacks with sniper rifles
- headshots
- burst fire attacks
- attacks from higher ground

MELEE
- blade/pierce attacks
- blunt attacks
- hand to hand attacks
- heavy melee attacks

UTILITY
- carrying weights encumbered
- using medical stuff
- using grenades
- backpack crafting

SPECIAL
- virus immunity (player's avatar)
- barter expert
- drone pilot
- stealthy
- field exp. vs zombies
- field exp. vs human enemies

You can build stealth ranged, stealth melee, CQB, snipers or h2h characters, medics, grenadiers, mechanics and other mixed flavours (such as INT/STR interrogator). You get one preset perk from the recruit's backstory and you can train as many others as you want. When you assemble the team, you choose each member's secondary role from the list of perks known. So you can have two "running" perks at once.

We are not going full RPG character customization and never will, especially with purely non-combat stuff. We feel the above support the scope of the game, since it's first and foremost a turn-based strategy. Same with base building, we're not going to have another Banished/Manor Lords inside the walls of the shelter. As long as the RPG and the survival stuff enhance the experience & immersion of the player we're happy.

 

[goregasm]

Game takes place in suburban Georgia, USA, somewhere in mid 2000's. Urban is a fictional county & town, of course.

Interesting point about FMJ. But having armor piercing stuff in abundance would be a massive pain (considering you don't start with much protection), while not helping much with the zombie problem. One would argue it was a worthy depart from real world stats.

I read somewhere police uses hollow point 9mm to avoid over-penetration and secondary unwanted casualty. Isn't that true?

Not trying to drag this into gun nerd stuff, just giving some personal insight as an American gun owner who has lived in gun "friendly" states and anti gun states.

I understand the idea with fmj in relation to the gameplay, not really a thing to me, would just make me slightly grumble about "realism". I'm just providing some information rather than any "YoU sHoUlD cHaNgE ThiS" to accommodate my firearm autism.

Police forces use different ammo across departments in the U.S.. When I lived in Chicago they carried HP, when I lived in NJ they used fmj,
(HPs are actually illegal in NJ in most cases, because NJ is retarded) North Carolina was FMJ, NYC was HP, where I live now it's more rural and patrolled by a small force and Sheriffs and Staties, they all tend to use FMJ, there is some wiggle room on caliber as well.

Again not a "thing" to me just jumping into the convo, been looking forward to this game for quite awhile now, and excited to see what's in store for full release.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

I see, that's all very good info, since as non-US citizens we must rely on second hand information usually from reddit, quora and random articles.
Guess it depends largely on the field experience of those police departments and what works best. Which is perfect, because it gives us the leeway to choose what's best for Urban setting.

To explain better, the so called "army faction" is actually made up for various governmental services and agencies or what's left of them: sheriff's office, court police, feds, secret service, firemen, CDC and everything else in between. The "army" is just the boss faction that has some sort of control and influence, but the camps are run by these smaller groups (some have army squads as backup), so there will be plenty of space to progress through the various gun/ammo/armor types.

Bikers are more on the underground weapon smuggling side of things so expect the more exotic stuff to be there, like Warsaw pact weapons and others.

The cultists do not rely much of human fighters (except herders and some monks) because they have a huge supply of undead "recruits". They are more on the melee/houseware/handmade/silent side of gear. While they rarely drop good weapons, their zombies are the best source of gold molars, which is kind of "Nuke Cola" bottle cap of the zombie apocalypse.

 

[lightbane]

Will there be "special dialogue" if your Int is low enough, Fallout 1/2 style?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

We considered adding that, but we already have to juggle a lot of stuff on the RPG side so we simply didn't have the time and energy for another set of dialogue options. We'd rather focus on having the recruits & NPCs well shaped as individuals and reactive to what happens around them (and to them).

Plus Fallout did it already well enough.

 

[Alienman]

Just make the main protag shoot himself when he finds a gun if the INT is low.

 

[Harthwain]

There's a special affiliation "perk", the faction. All encountered NPCs except the player have an allegiance to one of the 3 major factions; this is part of their story and used as check in RPG

Do you have to pick a side at some point or can you avoid joining any faction?

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Just make the main protag shoot himself when he finds a gun if the INT is low.

In the dick, like that poor bastard from 8'mile

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

There's a special affiliation "perk", the faction. All encountered NPCs except the player have an allegiance to one of the 3 major factions; this is part of their story and used as check in RPG

Do you have to pick a side at some point or can you avoid joining any faction?

You can, in theory, kill each and every faction in game. But without their help, both in resources and blueprints, the endgame will be extremely tough and painful. But there's no magic plot armor for any of them if that's what you want to do and you're prepared for the consequences. There are only two hardcoded fail conditions (that can happen before game end): your hero dies or your shelter falls.

 

[agris]

There's a special affiliation "perk", the faction. All encountered NPCs except the player have an allegiance to one of the 3 major factions; this is part of their story and used as check in RPG

Do you have to pick a side at some point or can you avoid joining any faction?

You can, in theory, kill each and every faction in game. But without their help, both in resources and blueprints, the endgame will be extremely tough and painful. But there's no magic plot armor for any of them if that's what you want to do and you're prepared for the consequences. There are only two hardcoded fail conditions (that can happen before game end): your hero dies or your shelter falls.

Thats cool, props for not making joining one required.

Can you play them off of each other and/or betray one for the other? Think Reno houses in Fallout 2.

 

[Litmanen]

Think Reno houses in Fallout 2.

I honestly think he has already underlined he doesn't want to copy Fallout but make something different.

Plus Fallout did it already well enough.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Until a certain point of no return you're free to juggle between faction groups, cherry picking rewards. But there will be a certain threshold where a faction will declare war on you if you kill too many of its warlords. Once they did that you cannot sway them back into friendly zone, all of them will be KOS. You can betray your ally too after you bleed them dry of resources, if that's something you fancy.

Everyone in your team will hate you, the good Mayor Adams will be close to a heart attack, but it's the end of the world and you hold the big gun so it's your call.
You get one chance to make good and plenty to be the a betraying backstabbing scumbag.
It will certainly make for one hell of an endgame summary.

 

[Alienman]

USG_Mucifikatorul I have to ask. I can't remember from the demo. Anyway, Jagged Alliance 3 only had static animations on death, which made any kind of explosion death disappointing since they never rag-dolled away flying, landing in hilarious poses. Will Urban Strife have ragdoll effects for NPCs?

 

[The Wall]

How much world simulation are you aiming for? It's clear as day you'll have some and tie it to gameplay. Which is FANTASTIC and boosts appeal of survival in zombie post-apo. From Battle Brothers to Stalker to Rimworld/Songs of Styx, where do you fall on scale?

I believe what Daggerfall started should be continued. Future of Incline is in World Simulation tied to gameplay systems. Code co-written, assets co-created with AI and story written by Humans of Chris Avellone writing calibre. Imagine...

 

[9ted6]

Will the zombies be configurable in terms of strength, speed and so on similar to Project Zomboid?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

We use ragdoll for death.

We do not like simulation and realism for the sake of simulation. We are building a game that should be fun to play. That's our goal at least.

Zombie threat does not come from individual zombie stats or skill in USG, but from them acting as a group, moving as one and being relentless in their attack.