Sensory overload and zombies

[Faran Brigo]

I was just thinking, like any other animal zombies also use their senses to catch prey. I know this isn't new, for instance some people have suggested stinking yourself up to mask your smell, but I have to wonder if the opposite would work too.

By that I mean since Zeds use sight, hearing and smell, then maybe using flashbangs or tear gas could give you an edge over zombies in a pinch, could be useful in clearing buildings or making an escape route.

Like, say you were trapped on a rooftop and below there was a small crowd of them below and for some reason you can't go back inside the building (fire, the way is blocked, there's more zeds coming for you inside). Just toss a flash bang at the crowd and before they can recover you can make your escape. If you don't have flashbangs maybe regular fireworks could do the job, provided they're also noisy and flashy.

Or, using tear gas, pepper spray, chlorine or other irritants you could impair or disable their sense of smell.

[Hitman]

I think flashbangs would work . the same should hold true with large fireworks (mortors come to mind) . the real question is how long would the effect last.

[Faran Brigo]

Depends on the kind of zombie I suppose, but I think with traditional Romero ghouls it would knock them out for quite awhile, probably longer than a regular human since they already have pretty bad motor skills and reflexes on account of being dead, and if I understand correctly, there's after-effects to those sorts of weapons even after the initial confusion has worn off.

[Dave Of The Dead]

I really don't think that a zombie, in any situation, can get "confused". I'm sure you can blind them or make their ears ring for a few seconds with a flash bang, but I really don't think that they're are intelligent enough to not be able to decide what to do in a situation of choosing between "Looking at the my surroundings or looking at my prey." I'd think that if there was a human around, the zed would use all of its available senses to locate it.

[JakAttak]

flashbangs won't impair smell either and all pepper spray does is cause pain which Z's don't feel

[Faran Brigo]

Originally Posted by JakAttak

flashbangs won't impair smell either and all pepper spray does is cause pain which Z's don't feel

Nobody said flashbangs affect smell, and I for one can't think of someone who would think a light and sound grenade would somehow.

Only pain? how do you know? I HAVE been sprayed with pepper spray (prank by friends) and you can't smell anything but an acrid, choking smell for quite awhile, even after the intense pain is gone (which is ironic because the pepper spray itself smalls faintly of anatto). What's your source on that?

Originally Posted by Dave Of The Dead

I really don't think that they're are intelligent enough to not be able to decide what to do in a situation of choosing between "Looking at the my surroundings or looking at my prey."

Ever gotten drunk and into a fistfight? You can see the other guy, that still doesn't mean you can land a hit on him, even if he's not moving, simply on account of the disorientation. It'd be the same with the zeds, the disorientation could cause them to stumble around and trip while they're trying to chase the outline of whatever they think their prey is (and since their eyesight wouldn't work fine and they couldn't locate you by sound, that "prey" may very well be another zombie).

[Dave Of The Dead]

Hahaha, you have a very good point.

[Augustus Desius]

Sounds like it should work, Though I don't think there will be much confusion, just a momentarily blind and deaf zombie. Note that the main effect only lasts about 5 seconds before vision is restored (don't know about hearing), with only minor effects lasting longer. So this may work if you're just trying to run from one room to another and they are in the way, but you couldn't do much in 5 seconds other than run.

Still, every second is valuable in emergencies.

Also, unless you are particularly smelly, I wouldn't worry to much about their sense of smell. I doubt they could identify a human scent amongst all the environmental scents in any given area. It's just too faint, unless life itself has a smell.

[JakAttak]

just a quick question to disable a Z's senses you would need a combination of flashbangs and pepper spray. how would you get close enough to spray them while keeping away from flashbang

[mattifikation]

You wouldn't need a combination. The way any of those devices work is that they overload one or two senses, and that in turn overloads the brain's ability to process *any* sensory information.

The only sense that zombies don't have is touch, so pressure points are out. But flashbangs work through site and sound, air horns work through sound alone, bright flashlights or lasers could work through site, anything that smells awful would work through smell, and so on.

I think zombies would recover faster than regular humans because the pain factor would never be there, but usually weapons designed to work by sensory overload do NOT rely on pain alone, so there would be some effect still.

You should be able to use a stun gun on a zombie also. Stun guns don't operate on sheer pain, contrary to popular belief. They actually operate by overriding the electrical signals traveling through the nervous system, causing the body to tense up or go limp (sometimes, if you're really lucky, you can get a great laugh when the effect causes somebody to do both at the same time.) In Land of the Dead, electrical fences stopped zombies from being able to move, so there's movie support for that theory too. :-)

[Dave Of The Dead]

Now just because zombies ignore all pain doesn't mean that they don't have the ability to feel you when they can't see you.

[JakAttak]

But Z's would have to rely on all senses equally because of decay of organs

[mattifikation]

Right... but... one sensory input overloaded = all sensory input shut down.

I'm pretty sure a flashbang would work, but it's only going to buy you a few seconds.

[Faran Brigo]

Still, a few seconds is all it would take to wade past a crowd if you don't have enough ammo (or time to deal with them). I'm thinking it would also help tremendously in tight places packed wall to wall that you cannot afford to destroy, but you need to get into.

Besides, unless you'd attract too much attention in a place that's already crawling with zeds, I think tossing a flashbang inside a room where you suspect there might be resistance is a good idea regardless. Zombies aside it might also be the difference between apologizing profusely to temporarily blinded survivors, or being accidentally shot in the head.

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by Faran Brigo

Besides, unless you'd attract too much attention in a place that's already crawling with zeds, I think tossing a flashbang inside a room where you suspect there might be resistance is a good idea regardless. Zombies aside it might also be the difference between apologizing profusely to temporarily blinded survivors, or being accidentally shot in the head.

"I like this point. Well thought out, Faran Brigo, good job."