Zombie Ambient Horde

1.0.5

This update is a major rework of the zombie director, with the focus shifted away from constant scripted hordes and toward a more natural ambient infected system.
What’s Changed
New group-based spawning system — the director now treats nearby players as one survivor group instead of targeting every player individually. 
Players within roughly 225m are grouped together. 
Players who move away from their squad have a short grace period before becoming a separate group. 
Ambient zombie population now scales with the number of players: 
1 player — 15 infected 
2 players — 30 
3 players — 45 
4 players — 60 
5 players — 75 
6 players — 90 
7+ players — up to 100 
Ambient packs are now larger: 
1 player — 5–10 infected 
2–3 players — 8–14 
4+ players — 10–18 
Uses 11 civilian Bacon Zombie variants for much better visual variety. 
Removed normal armed/military infected from the ambient population. 
Ambient infected can now roam naturally instead of simply waiting around for players. 
Gunshots attract existing infected. 
Unsuppressed weapons attract zombies from much farther away than suppressed weapons. 
Gunfire does not generate additional zombies — it only alerts infected already present. 
Distant infected now seek toward the nearest player instead of simply wandering away. 
Zombies roughly 250–400m away will attempt to move back toward active survivors. 
Living infected beyond 400m are eligible for cleanup to help server performance. 
Global infected safety limit introduced to help prevent runaway AI populations. 
Base Protection
Base protection has also been reworked.
175m protected base radius. 
Zombies cannot spawn inside the protected area. 
Any director-spawned infected that enters the protected base is automatically killed. 
Base protection kills do not increase the Mega Horde pressure gauge. 
Corpses still remain temporarily instead of instantly disappearing. 
Mega Horde System
The Mega Horde pressure system remains and has received several improvements.
Zombie kills increase the group's Mega Horde pressure. 
Mega Horde becomes eligible at approximately 75% pressure. 
Pressure gradually falls when combat dies down. 
Mega Hordes have their own cooldown. 
Mega Horde size scales with the number of players. 
Mega Hordes now approach from ONE direction only. 
The entire Mega Horde is treated as ONE large cluster instead of spawning around players from multiple sides. 
The director now checks different approach directions and attempts to choose better terrain. 
Mega Hordes spawn farther away and then advance toward the survivor group. 
Special infected remain restricted and are primarily reserved for larger encounters with enough players present. 
Cleanup & Performance
Dead infected remain for approximately 2 minutes before being removed. 
Improved cleanup tracking so active zombies are not removed just because their original cluster position is far away. 
Distant zombies are given a chance to return toward players before cleanup. 
Improved server-side population limits and group population management. 
Spawn replenishment now has a delay, so cleared areas do not immediately refill with zombies. 
Audio
The experimental Horde audio system has been removed for now.
Audio will return in a future update once the new placeable sound/prefab system has been completed and properly tested.
Overall
The goal of this update is to make infected feel like they are naturally occupying and moving through the world rather than constantly being spawned as scripted attacks.
Expect larger ambient groups, more roaming infected, zombies reacting to combat, safer protected bases, and much more focused Mega Horde events.

1.0.4

1.0.3

Zombie Encounter Director — Patch Notes
Major update focused on making encounters feel more dynamic, difficult and less predictable.
⚔️ Ambient Encounters
New multi-wave system. 
Wave scaling: 
1–2 players: 2 waves 
3–5: 3 waves 
6–8: 4 waves 
9–12: 5 waves 
13+: 6 waves 
Around 15–20 zombies per nearby player. 
Global cap remains 100 living zombies. 
Zombies now spawn in multiple mixed-size groups from different directions. 
Groups are generally around 6–12 infected. 
Next wave begins before the last few stragglers are killed. 
Straggler limit scales with population. 
Removed the separate breathing-room system. 
After the final encounter is cleared, normal ambient spawning can resume after a 60-second cooldown. 
☣️ Special Zombies
Specials now use rarity tiers:
Common 60%: Exploder, Exploder 02, Exploder Smoker
Uncommon 30%: Bomber, Bomber Spitter, Hazmat, Random Exploder
Rare 10%: Bloater, Bomber Heavy, Summoner, Long-Range Summoner
Bloater moved to Rare due to its high health. 
Normal Specials remain locked until 6+ nearby players. 
Shamblers remain excluded. 
💀 Mega Horde System
Added a global kill-pressure meter.
Mega Horde requirements:
1–2 players: 200 kills 
3–5: 400 kills 
6–8: 600 kills 
9–12: 850 kills 
13+: 1,100 kills 
At 100% pressure, normal waves stop and the Mega Horde becomes the next major encounter.
Mega Horde size: roughly 40–100 zombies. 
Spawns as multiple directional clusters, not one blob. 
No normal waves spawn while the Mega Horde is active. 
Includes guaranteed Specials: 
1–5 players: 2 
6–8: 3 
9+: 4 
After defeat, pressure resets to 0%. 
Mega pressure cannot rebuild for 15 minutes. 
Normal ambient encounters can still resume after their usual 60-second cooldown. 
🔧 Other
Corpses remain for around 2 minutes. 
Performance limits and cleanup remain active. 
Civilian Bacon Zombies remain the main infected population. 
Horde audio on modded dedicated servers remains a known issue.

1.0.2

Reduced ambient horde frequency to make encounters more manageable. 
Horde spawn chance now scales with the number of nearby players. 
Reduced spawn distance to 100–150m for closer encounters. 
Removed the Conflict Base exclusion radius — infected can now enter and attack around objectives and bases. 
Player spawn/start protection remains at 60m. 
Dead infected now remain for approximately 2 minutes before cleanup. 
Improved cleanup behaviour to prevent infected from disappearing around active bases. 
Horde clustering remains tighter for more natural-looking groups. 
Continued improvements to server performance and zombie population management. 
Added additional horde call audio variations to the ambient sound system. 
Horde audio balancing is still being worked on. Some calls may currently be louder than intended. Volume, attenuation and distance settings will be adjusted in a future update to provide a more comfortable and atmospheric experience. 
Known Issue: Horde audio can occasionally be too loud depending on distance and position. This will be addressed in a future patch.

1.0.1

1.0.0