Hunting: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:44, 21 September 2026

Hunting is an escalating combat activity. Every hunting location has its own normal Zed, boss Zed and independent progress. The Zeds at a location become stronger each time you defeat its normal Zed.

How hunting works

A location begins with its normal Zed. Each victory adds one permanent Mutation level at that location, making its next Zed one level stronger. After ten normal victories, the next hunt is a boss fight.

Defeating the boss resets the ten-victory counter but does not remove any Mutation levels. The next cycle therefore begins against stronger normal Zeds. Only victories advance the cycle; losing or leaving keeps the same normal Zed or boss as the next encounter. Each location tracks its progress separately.

Hunting locations

The table shows the useful differences between locations. Hunt cost is consumed on every attempt. Access required is an item you must own but which is not consumed.

Location	Hunt cost	Access required	Normal Zed	Boss Zed
Concession Stand	4 × Rad Immunity	None	Crawler	Skinless Crawler
Hall of Mirrors	4 × Rad Immunity	None	Zombie	Zombie Pack Leader
Projection Room	4 × Rad Immunity	None	Bloater	Bloater Mother
Ticket Booths	4 × Rad Immunity	None	Spitter	Sapling Spitter
Central Atrium	6 × Rad Immunity	None	Raging Crawler	Glowing Crawler
Food Court	6 × Rad Immunity	None	Raging Zombie	Alpha Zombie
Loading Bay	6 × Rad Immunity	None	Raging Bloater	Bloater Queen
Storage Area	6 × Rad Immunity	None	Raging Spitter	Thorned Spitter
Dining Area	8 × Rad Immunity	None	Frenzied Crawler	Inflamed Crawler
Kitchen	8 × Rad Immunity	None	Frenzied Zombie	Zombie Puppet Master
Toxic Dump Site	8 × Rad Immunity	None	Frenzied Bloater	Bloater Matriarch
Sewage Plant	8 × Rad Immunity	None	Frenzied Spitter	Vine Riddled Spitter
Main Wall	8 × Rad Immunity	1 × Buddys Pass	Undead Soldier	Undead Commando
Courtyard	8 × Rad Immunity	1 × Buddys Pass	Bloater	Bloater Mother
Foyer	8 × Rad Immunity	1 × Police RFID	Undead Supervisor	Enraged Undead Supervisor
Armory	8 × Rad Immunity; 1 × Silver key	1 × Police RFID	Lurcher	Darting Lurcher

Mutations and NPC scaling

A location's Mutation count is the permanent level bonus its Zeds have gained. One normal victory adds one Mutation. Each encounter recalculates Health, Strength, Defense, Speed, and Agility from that Zed's original configured stats and current encounter level; scaling is not compounded from the previous encounter. Strength, Defense, Speed, and Agility can then receive a small additional random increase, while Health does not receive this variance.

For example, a base Crawler has 100 Health, 4 Strength, 10 Defense, 6 Speed, and 5 Agility. At level 11, before random variance, it has 111 Health, 4 Strength, 11 Defense, 7 Speed, and 6 Agility.

Boss victories do not add another Mutation. They reset only the ten-step boss progress, so the difficulty gained from normal victories is permanent.

Boss fights

Each location has a boss NPC distinct from its normal NPC. The boss inherits all Mutation levels accumulated at that location and receives a further 10-level boss bonus. This creates a noticeable difficulty jump after every tenth normal victory.

Bosses also provide better rewards than normal hunts:

Three times the location's normal Hunting skill XP.
Double the mutation-scaled Zed Juice payout.
An additional location-specific boss loot pool.

Boss loot can include Boss Tokens and special armour with resistance traits.

Costs and rewards

Starting a hunt consumes the location's displayed cost, reduces Morale by 4–5, and begins a turn-based fight.

Guaranteed Zed Juice

Every defeated hunting Zed awards guaranteed Zed Juice. Mutation count can gradually increase this amount, Hunting Skill Bonus increases the final quantity, and bosses double this guaranteed portion.

For example, with a Rad cost of 4 and 1,000 Mutations, mutation scaling produces 5 Zed Juice. A +76% Hunting Skill Bonus raises this to 8 after rounding down. For a boss, the 5 Zed Juice is doubled before the Skill Bonus is applied, producing 17 after rounding down.

Bonus Zed Juice

Every hunt also has a separate approximately 10% chance to award bonus Zed Juice. Hunting Skill Bonus increases its quantity, but Mutation count, Rad cost, and boss status do not increase this separate bonus.

XP

Starting a hunt awards 10–20 player XP; winning adds no further player XP. The hunt also awards 30% of its Hunting Skill XP when it begins, while the remaining 70% requires victory. Losing or leaving therefore awards only the initial 30%. For a boss, the ×3 Hunting Skill XP multiplier is applied before the reward is split into these portions.

The normal and boss loot pools differ by location.

Preparing for a hunt

Equip weapons and armour from your Inventory.
Check the current mutated NPC stats rather than relying on its original difficulty.
Match weapons to the Zed's weakness and prepare for its combat attacks.
Restore enough Health and carry medical items for repeated hunts.
Prepare carefully for a boss fight: it is substantially stronger than the preceding normal Zed.

A loss does not remove Mutations or boss progress, but the starting cost is not returned and your Health may need to recover before another attempt.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''''So, we still have a few Zeds inhabiting the city and this is your chance to help us remove them permanently.'''''
+'''Hunting''' is an escalating combat activity. Every hunting location has its own '''[[Zeds|normal Zed]]''', '''boss Zed''' and independent progress. The Zeds at a location become stronger each time you defeat its normal Zed.
-===Hunting===
+== How hunting works ==
-Hunting tests your physical mettle against the Zeds in the world. You can gain XP for hunting zeds and some will drop items related to their types, e.g. Soldiers drop camo armour and so on.
+A location begins with its normal Zed. Each victory adds one permanent Mutation level at that location, making its next Zed one level stronger. After '''ten normal victories''', the next hunt is a boss fight.
+Defeating the boss resets the ten-victory counter but does not remove any Mutation levels. The next cycle therefore begins against stronger normal Zeds. Only victories advance the cycle; losing or leaving keeps the same normal Zed or boss as the next encounter. Each location tracks its progress separately.
+== Hunting locations ==
+The table shows the useful differences between locations. '''Hunt cost''' is consumed on every attempt. '''Access required''' is an item you must own but which is not consumed.
-==== Locations ====
 {{#zed_list:job_hunting|city}}
+== Mutations and NPC scaling ==
-==== Zeds ====
+A location's Mutation count is the permanent level bonus its Zeds have gained. One normal victory adds one Mutation. Each encounter recalculates Health, Strength, Defense, Speed, and Agility from that Zed's original configured stats and current encounter level; scaling is not compounded from the previous encounter. Strength, Defense, Speed, and Agility can then receive a small additional random increase, while Health does not receive this variance.
-{{#zed_list:npc}}
+For example, a base Crawler has 100 Health, 4 Strength, 10 Defense, 6 Speed, and 5 Agility. At level 11, before random variance, it has 111 Health, 4 Strength, 11 Defense, 7 Speed, and 6 Agility.
-==Fighting==
+Boss victories do not add another Mutation. They reset only the ten-step boss progress, so the difficulty gained from normal victories is permanent.
-:Here is a play-by-play of how your first attack might go if you '''win'''. Choose the hunting tab, select the arcade, press the green hunt button and we’re off. The page will then change. On it you’ll find your life bar to the left with your in-game name and that of the Zeds placed to the right. The weapon you are equipped with and a blue attack button in the middle of the screen, below is the fight log. So, let's start by pressing that all important ‘attack’ button. You attack in turn, you are first. A box will appear under your life bar saying either you missed or the damage the zed received. The same will happen after every attack, this then moves to the fight log. Next is the Zed, the same type of box appears but you’ll notice the colour has changed. Green for you and red for Zed. When the fight is over win or lose a new page presents itself. Items gained are now at the top of the page, your name on the right again VS the type of Zed you fought and the outcome, fight log reminds bottom.  You gain XP for successful Zed hunting and this all helps you to level up over time.
-=== Weaknesses ===
+== Boss fights ==
-Weaknesses halve the defender’s relevant stat (agility or defense) if the attacker's weapon type matches the defender’s specified weakness.
-=== Ratios ===
+Each location has a boss NPC distinct from its normal NPC. The boss inherits all Mutation levels accumulated at that location and receives a further '''10-level boss bonus'''. This creates a noticeable difficulty jump after every tenth normal victory.
-Ratio is a comparison between two player stats, used to scale outcomes dynamically.
-In hit chance, ratio = attacker speed / defender agility.
+Bosses also provide better rewards than normal hunts:
-In damage reduction, ratio = defender defense / attacker strength.
+* Three times the location's normal Hunting skill XP.
-A higher ratio favors the player with the stronger stat, increasing hit chance or reducing damage taken accordingly.
+* Double the mutation-scaled Zed Juice payout.
+* An additional location-specific boss loot pool.
-=== Hitchance: Speed vs Agility ===
+Boss loot can include Boss Tokens and special armour with resistance traits.
-Base chance scales with attacker speed vs. defender agility:
+== Costs and rewards ==
- if (ratio > 64) return 100;
+Starting a hunt consumes the location's displayed cost, reduces Morale by 4–5, and begins a turn-based fight.
- if (ratio >= 1) return 100 - 50/7 * (8 * sqrt(1/ratio) - 1);
- if (ratio > 1/64) return 50/7 * (8 * sqrt(ratio) - 1);
- return 0;
-Tips:
+=== Guaranteed Zed Juice ===
-Speed vs Agility: Increase speed or employ modifiers that boost effective speed to improve the hit chance, as the hit probability scales directly with the ratio of attacker speed to defender agility.
+Every defeated hunting Zed awards guaranteed Zed Juice. Mutation count can gradually increase this amount, Hunting Skill Bonus increases the final quantity, and bosses double this guaranteed portion.
-=== Damage: Strength vs Defense ===
+For example, with a Rad cost of 4 and 1,000 Mutations, mutation scaling produces 5 Zed Juice. A +76% Hunting Skill Bonus raises this to 8 after rounding down. For a boss, the 5 Zed Juice is doubled before the Skill Bonus is applied, producing 17 after rounding down.
-Initial Damage:
+=== Bonus Zed Juice ===
- strLvl = log10(strength / 10);
+Every hunt also has a separate approximately '''10%''' chance to award bonus Zed Juice. Hunting Skill Bonus increases its quantity, but Mutation count, Rad cost, and boss status do not increase this separate bonus.
- dmg = (7 * pow(strLvl, 1.98)) + (26 * strLvl) + 30;
-Damage reduction:
+=== XP ===
- if (ratio >= 14) return 95;
+Starting a hunt awards '''10–20 player XP'''; winning adds no further player XP. The hunt also awards 30% of its Hunting Skill XP when it begins, while the remaining 70% requires victory. Losing or leaving therefore awards only the initial 30%. For a boss, the ×3 Hunting Skill XP multiplier is applied before the reward is split into these portions.
- if (ratio >= 1) return 50 + 50 / log(14) * log(ratio);
- if (ratio > 1/32) return 50 + 50 / log(32) * log(ratio);
- return 0;
-Final damage (Initial damage - damage reduction)
+The normal and boss loot pools differ by location.
- finalDmg = totalDmg * (1 - reduction/ 100);
-Tips: Damage vs Mitigation: Enhance raw strength or weapon attack to maximize base damage, particularly when facing opponents with lower defense or mitigative stats, ensuring the reduction percentage does not nullify your damage output.
+== Preparing for a hunt ==
-==But what if you lose?==
+* Equip weapons and armour from your [[Inventory]].
-:Don’t worry, you don’t die or lose any progress made in the game. You become temporarily injured, your life bar will be empty and need to be regenerated over time, you can see the statistics in your Medical Bay. Or if you can’t wait that long, you can always heal yourself by purchasing a bandage or two from Zed Mart, take one from your inventory or make it at your Crafting Bench, if you have the items needed on hand. Removing medical items from the faction store will become available in a future update.
+* Check the current mutated NPC stats rather than relying on its original difficulty.
+* Match weapons to the Zed's weakness and prepare for its combat attacks.
+* Restore enough Health and carry medical items for repeated hunts.
+* Prepare carefully for a boss fight: it is substantially stronger than the preceding normal Zed.
-==What is Zed Juice?==
+A loss does not remove Mutations or boss progress, but the starting cost is not returned and your Health may need to recover before another attempt.
-:Zed juice is gained by killing Zed’s while hunting. At the moment you can sell Zed Juice to the Junk Store or save it until the release of an update, where Zed juice will become the main ingredients in crafting mutations. Mutations will be both a consumable and tradable.

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