Zombie Ambient Horde

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.