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Zombies: Weaknesses

2

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭SmileyPaul


    What do they say about assuming, it makes an ass of you and makes me dead.

    If the infected were sprinters first, they could get a good week out of their bodies and not all people will be infected in week 1, so for the first couple of months there will be freash sprinters.

    On another point who's to say how the infection acts on the body, it may preserve flesh and muscle, we just don't know and should be prepared for the worst.

    Fail to prepare, prepare to die :p

    I have the strangest feeling you've gotten those sayings wrong my friend :P
    but still..... you make sense! we could be just looking at some sort of rage virus... then we are boned :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    What do they say about assuming, it makes an ass of you and makes me dead.

    If the infected were sprinters first, they could get a good week out of their bodies and not all people will be infected in week 1, so for the first couple of months there will be freash sprinters.

    On another point who's to say how the infection acts on the body, it may preserve flesh and muscle, we just don't know and should be prepared for the worst.
    I have some experience with lifting weights and the point of doing that is to over excerpt your muscles which causes micro tares in the muscles, these tares heal back twice as strong which would not happen when your dead, there's also the problem of fueling the muscles where does it get all this energy from? With a complete shut down of the digestive system the only food these zombies will have is them selfs.

    The only time I've lifted 100kg plus was at a party off me head, my arms and chest where ****ed for a week afterwards, i didn't feel anything at the time but within an hour or two I was like a rag doll (not recommended I was lucky my heart didn't explode). Zombies without pain to protect their bodies would be ****ed within hours of over excerpting them selfs. I also don't think things like the inner ear will not survive to well after death making complex movement like running impossible.

    The human body is complex and even the loss of one of the dual organs will seriously impact it's ability to operate.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    They'll get their energy from eating human flesh.

    I think it is misleading to discount what a Zed can and can't do, well atleast until after Zed day when they can be observed in their movement and mannerisms.

    For starters we have no idea what form of zed they will be. I for one, will not be taking the chance that they will be only shamblers come Z Day.

    A much bigger problem than the zeds will be other humans, who will try and steal and kill you after the collaspe of society. My defences will be geared toward human attackers. If it can stand an assult from a group of humans, I would be confident that it would survive an attack from a possibly weaker enemy like zeds.

    All I am saying is prepare only for shamblers at your peril.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    You all may as well prepare for vampires and goblins if you're preparing for sprinters. Zombies don't sprint, the source text behind our devotion to preparation for Z day even says so. If you think zombies run then go and read some of the factual accounts of small outbreaks that are in The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.

    The very thing I like about the whole zombie thing is that they don't run and you think that you could outrun, outfight and outsmart them but through sheer tenacity, endurance, and quantity, they can still overwhelm towns and cities.

    Running zombies, despite not being very plausible at all, take all the things I love about the zombie thing and throws it out the window, Hollywood style.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    I think it is misleading to discount what a Zed can and can't do, well atleast until after Zed day when they can be observed in their movement and mannerisms.

    For starters we have no idea what form of zed they will be. I for one, will not be taking the chance that they will be only shamblers come Z Day.

    You need to get your hands on The Zombie Survival Guide ! All these questions have been answered.
    A much bigger problem than the zeds will be other humans, who will try and steal and kill you after the collaspe of society. My defences will be geared toward human attackers.

    This I completely agree with. Once you have settled in and defended against the zombies, you have to worry about bandits.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    Valmont,

    There's another book written by four dudes who claim they met and saw the son of God, didn't care for that one either :p

    When Zed day arrives we will have no idea how it will affect the human body.
    They may be a new breed of zed and I for one am not willing to chance my life on it, are you?

    Great if there shamblers cos we can point and laugh at them and poke them with large sticks. However I will be prepared for the worst case scenerio. My defences will be human proof and this should protect me from any hybrid/infected zeds.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    They'll get their energy from eating human flesh.
    There are more problems here, it's been mentioned in a thread before that once your body dies it starts digesting itself. The contents of your stomach and bowels start dissolving through into the abdominal cavity but even assuming this doesn't happen the heart has stopped. How does that food get from the bowels to the muscles? How do the non functioning lungs get oxygen to the inactive heart? The only way I could see human flesh sustaining a zombie would be if it bathed in blood.

    I'd say it's more likely the body will go into starvation mode getting all it's energy from it's own tissues, which is a slow process with obvious side effects.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    You are assuming how an unknown enemy will operate. If there is a battle readiness manual that would be on the Don't do list.

    I am convinced that when Zed day arrives it will be the fault of humans trying to engineer some sort of biological weapon/vaccine/<insert animal name here>Flu strand or super soldier ala 28 days or I am a Leg End.

    I hope for my sake you are right and I hope for your sake I am wrong.

    Netherless when the day comes I will be prepared for almost any outcome.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭SmileyPaul


    I've just been thinking about this..... what do butchers use to tear all the dead meat off of a carcass? a proper power hose, could be handy to keep one somwhere once the Z's start decomposing


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 122 ✭✭glennb


    what about water no one has said how water will afect them like in dawn of the dead at the end when they went on the boat i no they probley dide but if it was all planned right that you tricked out a ford transit good for nine people to get in and enough tined food and some bottled water you could drive to a river get a few empty boats and out wait the zombies in the middle of the the river and when suplies are out go back to the transit and go back to where you got first suplies from (mine being navan shoping center easy wasy in for humans) and a car park so there will be a transit


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    You are assuming how an unknown enemy will operate. If there is a battle readiness manual that would be on the Don't do list.

    I am convinced that when Zed day arrives it will be the fault of humans trying to engineer some sort of biological weapon/vaccine/<insert animal name here>Flu strand or super soldier ala 28 days or I am a Leg End.
    I'm not really making wild assumptions I'm using what I know about the facts of nature and laws of physics. It could be an engineered virus or a cocktail of virus and bacteria but the problem with a bioengineered weapon is your hardly going to drop a weapon that makes the enemy smarter and stronger most bio weapons are designed to kill the other side.

    Even if they where engineering something to make a super soldier they're not zombies. They're juiced up people that can be killed and that still suffer from all the normal drawbacks to being a living thing. Your describing something similar to someone on steroids, which in a living organism would still see the person a shivering wreak within hours if they're running around like a mad thing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,342 ✭✭✭Mantel


    glennb wrote: »
    what about water no one has said how water will afect them like in dawn of the dead at the end when they went on the boat i no they probley dide but if it was all planned right that you tricked out a ford transit good for nine people to get in and enough tined food and some bottled water you could drive to a river get a few empty boats and out wait the zombies in the middle of the the river and when suplies are out go back to the transit and go back to where you got first suplies from (mine being navan shoping center easy wasy in for humans) and a car park so there will be a transit

    Theories vary slightly but most point to the slow to medium decompositon of the zombies while under water (compaired to a normal non-aminated corpse) Worst case is that animals won't feed on them it's more so the sea water/fresh water acting on them. Which means they roam the bottom of the ocean/sea/lake/river until they break appart. If you drop anchor you better have a guard watching it for Zeds that like to climb.

    If your pretty unlucky the Zeds that have been underwater for awhile will bloat up and start to float to the top and then towards your boat.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,307 ✭✭✭Xenoronin


    A zombies greatest weakness is range. They cannot do much else other than use themselves as weapons as they don't understand how to interact with objects like guns, etc. Keep a nice distance away using ranged weapons and you should be a bit safer.

    Anybody thinking about the day/night cycle and how it will affect zombie behaviour?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    ScumLord wrote: »

    Even if they where engineering something to make a super soldier they're not zombies. They're juiced up people that can be killed and that still suffer from all the normal drawbacks to being a living thing. Your describing something similar to someone on steroids, which in a living organism would still see the person a shivering wreak within hours if they're running around like a mad thing.


    It is possible that a super soldier type going horribly wrong, Even Zombies don't constantly go, unless they have something to go after, so there would be rest periods.

    If an angry horde of humanoid type non humans are trying to get into my safehouse, I will not wipe my brow and go "thank fcuk there not classic zombies"

    When zed day arrives, Facts about human limits and capablities will be throw out the window.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 47,866 Mod ✭✭✭✭cyberwolf77


    SmileyPaul wrote: »
    I've just been thinking about this..... what do butchers use to tear all the dead meat off of a carcass? a proper power hose, could be handy to keep one somwhere once the Z's start decomposing
    *Makes note to raid firehouse after Z-Day* Thanks for the idea.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    I've written out a complete explanation of the zombie virus (as I see it) to explain the stages of the zombification process.

    http://irritainment.biz/bowels/node/23


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭SmileyPaul


    ScumLord wrote: »
    I've written out a complete explanation of the zombie virus (as I see it) to explain the stages of the zombification process.

    http://irritainment.biz/bowels/node/23

    dont forget to say how you should NOT incinerate the body, this makes the virus airborn again


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    SmileyPaul wrote: »
    dont forget to say how you should NOT incinerate the body, this makes the virus airborn again
    Would the intense heat not kill any living organisms? I didn't really go into what should be done, it's more of a these are the facts you deal with them article.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    Micky, you're a bit late on the zombie bandwagon. There have been zombie outbreaks, some which are meticulously chronicled in The Zombie Survival Guide. Max Brooks even went so far as to research the disease behind the living dead.

    Zombies, by their very definition, as I understand it anyway, do not run or sprint. If a zombie sprints, it isn't a zombie anymore. Having zombies run changes the whole equation of how people think about zombie survival and in my opinion it spoils the fun, mystery, and allure that zombie survival has in the first place.

    The running zombie is a very recent invention by Hollywood producers trying to remake old zombie classics by making them more sexy and exciting. If you even watch the original Dawn of the Dead, you'll see that this was a pointless exercise as there was nothing wrong with some of the better older movies.

    Here's a good article on the subject
    Simon Pegg on real zombies

    Even Romero (I suspect his movies are based on some real experience), the father of the zombie genre insists that they don't run:
    Romero

    Add to this Scumlord's points about the impossibility of zombies actually sprinting and there you have it. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    You are assuming how an unknown enemy will operate.

    If it is unknown then why do we have a forum dedicated to discussing survival in the event of a zombie outbreak.

    If there is a battle readiness manual that would be on the Don't do list.

    Argh, there is such a manual. The Zombie Survival Guide !


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    Valmont wrote: »
    Micky, you're a bit late on the zombie bandwagon.

    :eek:

    First off Brooks or Romero don’t own Zombies or are the definite experts on them, Zombie survival guides (movies) were being made 35 years before Romero put pen to paper, I.E it was not his original idea.

    It isn’t, in my opinion, as clear-cut as you would like to think. Let me explain.

    The Zombies aren’t the problem as such, it is the virus that they carry. Max Brooks refers to one particular virus strand, Solanum , and it’s effects on the human body. As we all know and the current Swine flu has shown, is that virus do/will evolve and mutant.

    Just a few of the thousands of survival guides out there. Why would you limit yourself to just a few?

    Examples
    28 days later = Rage Virus
    I am a Leg End = re-engineered measles virus
    Resident Evil = Bio weapon
    City of the living dead = Zeds sent from hell
    City of Rott = parasite known as Rot Worms.


    Z day should really be called V-day. We have no idea what strand of virus we could be up against until it arrives, it may even be like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors.

    However survival preparation will be similar regardless of what the threat is.
    All the same survival rules will apply. Small pods of people in isolated areas will have a higher chance of survival, less people less chance of infection. Defences should be geared toward humans as this will be the biggest threat, I also believe what ever shape the virus comes in, It won’t make Zeds faster, stronger than humans and If it did it would only be short term for the reasons ScumLord has explained.

    Regardless this discussion/debate and the many more like it will save lives.

    I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, fail to prepare, prepare to die.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    :eek:
    As we all know and the current Swine flu has shown, is that virus do/will evolve and mutant.

    Swine hasn't been making dead people come back to life. Don't link me to that joke BBC page saying it does either!
    Just a few of the thousands of survival guides out there. Why would you limit yourself to just a few?

    Thousands? I don't think so.

    Examples
    28 days later = Rage Virus
    I am a Leg End = re-engineered measles virus
    Resident Evil = Bio weapon
    City of the living dead = Zeds sent from hell
    City of Rott = parasite known as Rot Worms.

    The only example here that actually has zombies is Resident evil. You're making the critical mistake of calling the infected in 28 days later and other such movies as zombies, they are not zombies, they are just infected with some other virus i.e. a wholly fictitious one.


    fail to prepare, prepare to die.

    I'm living in interior Alaska right now in a cabin 4 feet off the ground. I have a rifle, 700 rounds, and my neighbour has an AR-15, and an AK-47. I am so well prepared that my location means the Zombies won't even get to me.


    Anyway the main thing here is a difference of opinion. I find the whole zombie thing more interesting if I take zombies to be exclusively shambling flesh eating monsters as outlined by Brooks and Romero. It makes for a more exciting discussion imo. With all the different "zombie" types you outlined, it dilutes the discussion and just confuses everyone I think.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    Valmont wrote: »
    Swine hasn't been making dead people come back to life. Don't link me to that joke BBC page saying it does either

    I used that as an example of how a current virus works. They mutant and evolve. I never said people arose from the dead.


    Thousands? I don't think so.
    .

    ever try googling Zombie?
    The only example here that actually has zombies is Resident evil. You're making the critical mistake of calling the infected in 28 days later and other such movies as zombies, they are not zombies, they are just infected with some other virus i.e. a wholly fictitious one.

    you are kidding, Right?!!


    Anyway the main thing here is a difference of opinion. I find the whole zombie thing more interesting if I take zombies to be exclusively shambling flesh eating monsters as outlined by Brooks and Romero. It makes for a more exciting discussion imo. With all the different "zombie" types you outlined, it dilutes the discussion and just confuses everyone I think.

    just because something doesn't fit into your way thinking doesn't make it wrong. Again, why pick two specific writers?

    How does it confuse you?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭SmileyPaul


    "The only example here that actually has zombies is Resident evil. You're making the critical mistake of calling the infected in 28 days later and other such movies as zombies, they are not zombies, they are just infected with some other virus i.e. a wholly fictitious one"

    dude your insane... we dont know how these Z's are going to act when they come! they could be shamblers they could be sprinters, or enraged or whatever, we're still gonna have to kill them and survive against them


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Zombies are the living dead and with that as the basis of everything sprinters are just an impossibility like Valmont said we might as well be preparing for vampires or superman if zombies can be anything with the flu.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    I used that as an example of how a current virus works. They mutant and evolve. I never said people arose from the dead.
    Ok, I misunderstood you. Apologies.
    ever try googling Zombie?
    I'm talking about published books like The Zombie Survival Guide.
    you are kidding, Right?!!
    Yes! In my little make-believe-play zombie survival world, I pretend that the Romero/Brooks zombies are the only real ones and that everything else is just a Hollywood creation. It's only fun.
    just because something doesn't fit into your way thinking doesn't make it wrong. Again, why pick two specific writers?
    It does make it wrong, subjectively speaking, that's why I mentioned a difference of opinion.

    I pick Romero and Brooks because their zombie world i.e. the original one, is the one that appeals most to me and I'm not interested in any others unless I'm watching a movie.
    How does it confuse you?
    No need to be smart. You know what I meant. When someone makes a new post about household items, that sort of thing, the discussion could take many different paths depending on what zombie definition you work with. It's simpler when we all agree.
    Scumlord wrote:
    like Valmont said we might as well be preparing for vampires or superman if zombies can be anything with the flu.
    This pretty much nails it on the head for me. Where do you draw the line when you say "we don't know what to expect" ? Why not have a Zombie/Sprinter/Vampire/Werewolf/Jumping-jackrabbit-attack-machine survival forum?

    Well when the real zombies shamble along, you can still come to my Alaskan cabin:D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    ScumLord wrote: »
    Zombies are the living dead and with that as the basis of everything sprinters are just an impossibility like Valmont said we might as well be preparing for vampires or superman if zombies can be anything with the flu.


    You can't use words like that in here, surely? But since you have, what is more possible.

    A) Corpses rising from the dead and attacking the living

    or

    B) A virus of some sort, EG rabies, That sends it victims insane and eventually kills them. The virus spreads across the globe and kills millions of people, leaving survivors to rebuild society.

    Valmont wrote: »

    It's simpler when we all agree.

    If we did that, Boards.ie would be right boring :D
    This pretty much nails it on the head for me. Where do you draw the line when you say "we don't know what to expect" ? Why not have a Zombie/Sprinter/Vampire/Werewolf/Jumping-jackrabbit-attack-machine survival forum?




    This forum isn't for sh1ts and giggles, it is to prepare you for survivng a complete break down in society. Use Zombies as a metaphor if you wish as anything that could make that happen, it is a very real threat and could possibly happen, all the survival tips found here will apply no matter what happens.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,788 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    You can't use words like that in here, surely? But since you have, what is more possible.

    A) Corpses rising from the dead and attacking the living

    or

    B) A virus of some sort, EG rabies, That sends it victims insane and eventually kills them. The virus spreads across the globe and kills millions of people, leaving survivors to rebuild society.




    If we did that, Boards.ie would be right boring :D






    This forum isn't for sh1ts and giggles, it is to prepare you for survivng a complete break down in society. Use Zombies as a metaphor if you wish as anything that could make that happen, it is a very real threat and could possibly happen, all the survival tips found here will apply no matter what happens.

    A body that gets hijacked by a parasite/virus/bacteria is very common throughout the animal/plant/insect world. Zombies are based on real life.


    I just have a huge problem with the idea that any illness could give people superhuman ability. A sick person that can run faster than they could healthy just ain't happening, if they did push them selfs like that they would burn themselfs out in minutes and wouldn't be able to do it again unless they where healthy enough to sleep and repair he damage they did to their body..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭Valmont


    ScumLord wrote: »
    I just have a huge problem with the idea that any illness could give people superhuman ability. A sick person that can run faster than they could healthy just ain't happening, if they did push them selfs like that they would burn themselfs out in minutes and wouldn't be able to do it again unless they where healthy enough to sleep and repair he damage they did to their body..

    Unfortunately, Hollywood > Logic.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 783 ✭✭✭Kromdar


    Valmont wrote: »
    Unfortunately, Hollywood > Logic.

    lies


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