Topic: zombie apocalypse question
squeegee started this discussion 11 years ago #40,399
ok, so, like, i've seen all the zombie movies and the TV shows and played some games and all that, and, i guess, my question is, like, about the Roman Phalanx. you know, it's pretty much the perfect defensive/offensive weapon to use against foot-soldiers and about the only thing that beats it is, of course, cavalry or ballistics of some sort. but zombies don't ride horses or use guns, right, and it wouldn't be fucking hard to knock out a plywood shield and you could even clad that fucker in sheet metal and have something probably better than any actual ancient roman shield. and it wouldn't be hard to sharpen lawnmower blades into short swords.
it's just that there's a problem with guns once you lose, like, you know, manufacturing. Sure you can recycle casing and make your own, but eventually you'll run out of lead or brass or powder even if you're making bullets yourself. I mean, you're not going to mine your own copper and tin to make more brass once all the easily recyclable materials are gone. So i would think it's best to go melee early especially when encountering the undead. Save the guns for killing people, right? right, but then there's the problem of being overwhelmed by huge herds of zombies, and that's where the shield wall phalanx formation would be perfect. but no, no one ever carries a fucking shield and survivors never take up old-school hand-to-hand melee formations or anything like that, if anything they maintain more like a ranged group of archers with 2 or three feet between everyone. it's just stupid, especially when more often than not you're fighting close range. bad tactics, it's probably why main characters are always dying.
also, put some fucking anti-bite armor on you fuck sticks. cut a strip of leather off an old leather jacket or even a fucking car seat and wrap your forearms to make fucking bracers, and people are always getting their legs bit. If they'd just take the simple precaution of wearing clothing humans can't bit through- it's not hard -then half of the people would still be alive. You don't need a god damned iron suit of armor, but maybe a cotton undershirt by Hanes isn't appropriate clothing for a fucking apocalypse, Rick.
it's just that there's a problem with guns once you lose, like, you know, manufacturing. Sure you can recycle casing and make your own, but eventually you'll run out of lead or brass or powder even if you're making bullets yourself. I mean, you're not going to mine your own copper and tin to make more brass once all the easily recyclable materials are gone. So i would think it's best to go melee early especially when encountering the undead. Save the guns for killing people, right? right, but then there's the problem of being overwhelmed by huge herds of zombies, and that's where the shield wall phalanx formation would be perfect. but no, no one ever carries a fucking shield and survivors never take up old-school hand-to-hand melee formations or anything like that, if anything they maintain more like a ranged group of archers with 2 or three feet between everyone. it's just stupid, especially when more often than not you're fighting close range. bad tactics, it's probably why main characters are always dying.
also, put some fucking anti-bite armor on you fuck sticks. cut a strip of leather off an old leather jacket or even a fucking car seat and wrap your forearms to make fucking bracers, and people are always getting their legs bit. If they'd just take the simple precaution of wearing clothing humans can't bit through- it's not hard -then half of the people would still be alive. You don't need a god damned iron suit of armor, but maybe a cotton undershirt by Hanes isn't appropriate clothing for a fucking apocalypse, Rick.
(Edited 3 minutes later.)
Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 1 hour later[^] [v] #537,800
@OP
Zombies aren't real.
Zombies aren't real.
briemode !!VcXse1uvL joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 3 hours later, 4 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,806
what was the question?
FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 16 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,807
Killer Lettuce !!iNo3FkiZx joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 19 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,809
Wouldn't barricades be better than a Phalanx? At least on the defensive? They still give you the barrier between you and the dead, but they're not vulnerable to human exhaustion or mistakes. Granted, setting up good barricades could take a lot of time, and they'd obviously only be useful in the area you set them up. But still, in a zombie scenario you'll probably have a home base to defend, hence a location to defend.
@537,800 (B)
Not yet...
@537,800 (B)
Not yet...
Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 11 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,812
Anonymous G joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 11 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,814
@OP
What about the outflanking problem? It seems like hordes of zombies would come around your flanks pretty quickly unless you were fighting in a bottleneck. Also, zombies don't line up for battle. If you were fighting in the flat open ground (A Walmart parking lot?) traditionally needed for a phalanx, then it seems like zombies would just swarm you from all sides. Maybe something more flexible? Even the Romans abandoned the phalanx for the cohort system during the late republican period.
What about the outflanking problem? It seems like hordes of zombies would come around your flanks pretty quickly unless you were fighting in a bottleneck. Also, zombies don't line up for battle. If you were fighting in the flat open ground (A Walmart parking lot?) traditionally needed for a phalanx, then it seems like zombies would just swarm you from all sides. Maybe something more flexible? Even the Romans abandoned the phalanx for the cohort system during the late republican period.
Syntax joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 2 hours later, 8 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,839
squeegee
Apparently DOD has this figured out - They as of yet have not made the solution pubic as of yet.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/16/politics/pentagon-zombie-apocalypse/
Apparently DOD has this figured out - They as of yet have not made the solution pubic as of yet.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/16/politics/pentagon-zombie-apocalypse/
Anonymous B replied with this 11 years ago, 18 minutes later, 8 hours after the original post[^] [v] #537,847
squeegee (OP) replied with this 11 years ago, 2 days later, 2 days after the original post[^] [v] #538,421
and another thing: dogs. Sounds like another mouth to feed, right? Wrong, dogs + humans are the perfect killing team. Not only that but you'll never get ambushed again. and when you've got nothing but time on your hands training dogs is easy. And it's fun! it gives you something to do to take your mind off of death all around you.
So get yourself a big dog, train it to hunt, with a dog you can track and run down anything, you'll hardly even need to shoot it, just chase the thing down and kill it when it collapses, just like old school hunters.
So get yourself a big dog, train it to hunt, with a dog you can track and run down anything, you'll hardly even need to shoot it, just chase the thing down and kill it when it collapses, just like old school hunters.
FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI replied with this 11 years ago, 48 minutes later, 2 days after the original post[^] [v] #538,428
Anonymous G replied with this 11 years ago, 2 minutes later, 2 days after the original post[^] [v] #538,430
Killer Lettuce !!iNo3FkiZx replied with this 11 years ago, 1 hour later, 2 days after the original post[^] [v] #538,441
@538,421 (squeegee)
Better hope that zombie flesh isn't toxic or doesn't cause infection, though
It would a really poetic way to be turned, actually. Becoming a zombie because you bit a zombie.
Better hope that zombie flesh isn't toxic or doesn't cause infection, though
It would a really poetic way to be turned, actually. Becoming a zombie because you bit a zombie.