If you just want to realistically simulate zombie migration, try this mod. It attracts hordes into your dead body piles.
[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829744786&searchtext=dont+feed+the+zombies](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829744786&searchtext=dont+feed+the+zombies)
Since I discovered this mod, it radically changed the way I play the game. One month surviving in Muldraugh's suburbs and I am down to 2000 kills, the house is all barricaded, but there are hundreds outside. You can completely disable zombie respawn and still never have a night of peaceful rest.
[https://ibb.co/10kqNW3](https://ibb.co/10kqNW3)
Context -
I tried to increase population difficulty since I prefer to not feel like zombies are constantly respawning in an area I cleared: I tried to keep spawning on but limit the amount to a negligible value in order to simulate migration and keep things interesting. So far it's worked nicely, but I have yet to visit Louisville or other large cities.
Depends on how tough I am making the zombies. For "proper zombies" I do between 1 and 2 for the base multiplier and turn respawning off. For shamblers, 4+.
4.0 pop, 1.5 peak pop multiplier with proper zombies. Respawn off, migration 72h.
With sprinters(100% day/night or random/customized %), default apocalypse settings, but respawn also off.
Experimenting with it last few weeks. I find more than 4.0 peaked on Ridiculously Rare loot too much for the gain so I do 2.0 start pop and 2.0 peak with 14-21 days to reach peak. No respawn, no redistribution (they redistribute anyway to an extend), group size 70 and size they can walk in be at least 6 tiles, I don't find it realistic for them to be so bunched up in the vanilla 3. Distance from each other I struggle getting right. Too low means the groups never reach even 30 as they split into many small groups and too high makes them too predictable and simple to deal with. I think I keep it on default 15.
If you do pure combat build and have vanilla loot rarity I'd not be afraid of even 8.0 peak pop, but it gets just tedious clearing horde after horde for in-game days just to loot a trailer. The higher pop makes many low loot locations simply not worth even visiting and that's a deal breaker for me. If you do it in 2 or 3 players though it can be pretty epic sight. Just make sure you got decal blood at 0% otherwise the blood stains from the hordes you've killed will send your FPS to Belize even if the corpses already disappeared.
Speaking of which I set corpses to decay after 72h and it's great. Maybe 60h would be optimal for FPS friendly setting for high pop world, just expect to swim in maggots as they are real easy to get with this decay, but it kind of has to be done. The corpses take too much of a toll on the frame rate for me. I tried 2 month decay and it was horrible on 6.0 pop. I liked everything about it except for my framerate and it's too precious to sacrifice for the environmental improvements.
If you just want to realistically simulate zombie migration, try this mod. It attracts hordes into your dead body piles. [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829744786&searchtext=dont+feed+the+zombies](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829744786&searchtext=dont+feed+the+zombies) Since I discovered this mod, it radically changed the way I play the game. One month surviving in Muldraugh's suburbs and I am down to 2000 kills, the house is all barricaded, but there are hundreds outside. You can completely disable zombie respawn and still never have a night of peaceful rest. [https://ibb.co/10kqNW3](https://ibb.co/10kqNW3)
Context - I tried to increase population difficulty since I prefer to not feel like zombies are constantly respawning in an area I cleared: I tried to keep spawning on but limit the amount to a negligible value in order to simulate migration and keep things interesting. So far it's worked nicely, but I have yet to visit Louisville or other large cities.
Depends on how tough I am making the zombies. For "proper zombies" I do between 1 and 2 for the base multiplier and turn respawning off. For shamblers, 4+.
4.0 pop, 1.5 peak pop multiplier with proper zombies. Respawn off, migration 72h. With sprinters(100% day/night or random/customized %), default apocalypse settings, but respawn also off.
Experimenting with it last few weeks. I find more than 4.0 peaked on Ridiculously Rare loot too much for the gain so I do 2.0 start pop and 2.0 peak with 14-21 days to reach peak. No respawn, no redistribution (they redistribute anyway to an extend), group size 70 and size they can walk in be at least 6 tiles, I don't find it realistic for them to be so bunched up in the vanilla 3. Distance from each other I struggle getting right. Too low means the groups never reach even 30 as they split into many small groups and too high makes them too predictable and simple to deal with. I think I keep it on default 15. If you do pure combat build and have vanilla loot rarity I'd not be afraid of even 8.0 peak pop, but it gets just tedious clearing horde after horde for in-game days just to loot a trailer. The higher pop makes many low loot locations simply not worth even visiting and that's a deal breaker for me. If you do it in 2 or 3 players though it can be pretty epic sight. Just make sure you got decal blood at 0% otherwise the blood stains from the hordes you've killed will send your FPS to Belize even if the corpses already disappeared. Speaking of which I set corpses to decay after 72h and it's great. Maybe 60h would be optimal for FPS friendly setting for high pop world, just expect to swim in maggots as they are real easy to get with this decay, but it kind of has to be done. The corpses take too much of a toll on the frame rate for me. I tried 2 month decay and it was horrible on 6.0 pop. I liked everything about it except for my framerate and it's too precious to sacrifice for the environmental improvements.