Post-Apocalyptic Weapon of Choice

Plus, would the fire even really kill the zombies immediately? Oh, and Windsong, how would you plan on approaching a large horde, or if a bunch of sprinting zombies went for you, how would you commit to that without a gun?
 
B-but.. The alcohol.. You can drink that! Pour it on boo-boos! YOU CAN DRINK IT!
Exactly. Alcohol (mostly hard liquor) would be one of the best multitools you could nab. Need to disinfect a wound? Alcohol! Need a fire bomb? Alcohol! Need to bury your sorrow "improve" your aim? ALCOHOL! Not to mention, alcohol is !@#$ing everywhere. It's a nearly unlimited resource, at least for the first part of the apocalypse, in terms of what you'll find when scavenging.

Just don't bother with beer or wine. It's absolutely useless in terms of fire bombs or disinfectants.
 
Plus, would the fire even really kill the zombies immediately? Oh, and Windsong, how would you plan on approaching a large horde, or if a bunch of sprinting zombies went for you, how would you commit to that without a gun?
Within seconds the degenerated muscle and tissue of a zombie would burn them to a crisp. The heat from the flames would be sufficient to literally burn them to ashes shortly after rendering them immobile.

The whole idea of a fire bomb is area denial. Zombies walk through? Zombies die. Not to mention they make a lot of light and noise, letting you slip away while zombies are attracted to it instead of you.
 
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@Herzius56 Who the hell approaches a large hoard!?! If they're in my way it'd probably be better to lure them away somehow. Sprinting zombies? Flesh degradation would leave them capable of such speed for a very limited time. And guns are extremely loud. Every living or unliving thing would probably begin shambling towards that noise with some haste.

@Brovo Doesn't flesh not burn too well? So you may end up with flaming zombies instead of regular ones? What if they set other stuff on fire? Smokey the Bear frowns upon this. Better for drinking.
 
Have you ever seen someone catch fire? They don't exactly get crispy. They sort of, melt first, and even further, it takes longer than a couple of seconds, a lot longer even.
 
@Herzius56 Who the hell approaches a large hoard!?! If they're in my way it'd probably be better to lure them away somehow. Sprinting zombies? Flesh degradation would leave them capable of such speed for a very limited time. And guns are extremely loud. Every living or unliving thing would probably begin shambling towards that noise with some haste.
@Brovo Doesn't flesh not burn too well? So you may end up with flaming zombies instead of regular ones? What if they set other stuff on fire? Smokey the Bear frowns upon this. Better for drinking.
The sprinter's abilities vary on the methodology of zombie, doesn't it? And eh, it depends how brave you are and how far into the apocalypse you are. Also, if you have a stable home, you'd logically want to defend it, though, people don't think past point and shoot most of the time.
 
Have you ever seen someone catch fire? They don't exactly get crispy. They sort of, melt first, and even further, it takes longer than a couple of seconds, a lot longer even.
Depends on what they've been drinking, if ya know what I mean.

Molotovs aren't human skin. They've got some better burns stats.
 
@Brovo Doesn't flesh not burn too well? So you may end up with flaming zombies instead of regular ones? What if they set other stuff on fire? Smokey the Bear frowns upon this. Better for drinking.
For a regular person with not-dead skin? Yes.

For a zombie who likely has rotting flesh? No. They'll burn up like a firecracker.

It also doesn't help that alcohol-based fires burn hotter than normal fire. The objective here isn't necessarily to literally burn the zombie to a crisp, but to have the heat cauterize the muscles to the point where they're useless. Cauterize enough muscle and the zombie, even if it's still "alive", is rendered virtually harmless while the rest of him slowly burns away until the fire runs out of fuel. (Oxygen or rotten flesh. Whichever comes first.)

Have you ever seen someone catch fire? They don't exactly get crispy. They sort of, melt first, and even further, it takes longer than a couple of seconds, a lot longer even.
They're still alive. They're typically wearing clothing, and attempting to put out/combat the fire. A zombie is rotting flesh, with shredded clothing (if any at all), and makes no efforts to preserve itself in the face of being burned to a crisp.

See? :bsmile: Molotov cocktails don't replace something like a crowbar, but they're undeniable useful "oh fuck this" tools in the face of a horde.
 
For a regular person with not-dead skin? Yes.
For a zombie who likely has rotting flesh? No. They'll burn up like a firecracker.
It also doesn't help that alcohol-based fires burn hotter than normal fire. The objective here isn't necessarily to literally burn the zombie to a crisp, but to have the heat cauterize the muscles to the point where they're useless. Cauterize enough muscle and the zombie, even if it's still "alive", is rendered virtually harmless while the rest of him slowly burns away until the fire runs out of fuel. (Oxygen or rotten flesh. Whichever comes first.)
They're still alive. They're typically wearing clothing, and attempting to put out/combat the fire. A zombie is rotting flesh, with shredded clothing (if any at all), and makes no efforts to preserve itself in the face of being burned to a crisp.
See? :bsmile: Molotov cocktails don't replace something like a crowbar, but they're undeniable useful "oh fuck this" tools in the face of a horde.
Flesh doesn't typically burn well, just, trust me on this one. Gasoline burns hot too, and well, let us just say my cousin isn't going to win prom king.
 
Crematoriums have to burn at about 1800 degrees for over an hour to reduce a body to ashes. A Molotov doesn't have the fuel or heat to do much damage. Fire is a fear weapon. They feel no fear, so it's kinda moot.

As for a horde approaching what would be my home? Bunker down and let them pass. If they don't know I'm in there, what reason do they have to remain? They'll move on and keep going. At worse they get led away.
 
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Crematoriums have to burn at about 1800 degrees for over an hour to reduce a body to ashes. A Molotov doesn't have the fuel or heat to do much damage. Fire is a fear weapon. They feel no fear, so it's kinda moot.
As for a horde approaching what would be my home? Bunker down and let them pass. If they don't know I'm in there, what reason do they have to remain? They'll move on and keep going. At worse they get led away.
I meant a civilization rather than a home, where there are variables other than yourself.
 
For protection of a small settlement as a whole? Contingency plans. Evac plans.

At best they're lured away by a small group. At worst its evacuated while the first plan is being attempted. Perhaps the horde seen too late.
 
Variables extend further than that, but, that's efficient I suppose.
 
If we are talking civilization, the zombies are boned anyway. A hundred armed and trained humans defending their home can easily mow down unintelligent hordes of melee locked zombies. Which does defeat the whole idea of a viable zombie apocalypse, but hey, it is a fun fantasy at least.
 
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Not to mention how quickly a zombie would deteriorate. I mean, there's nothing regenerating its tissues and a combination of the elements, bacteria, and maggots are going to quickly turn mister zombie into mister pile of useless, non functional limbs.
 
Well, 100 humans vs a couple thousand zombies never works in favor of the humans, no matter how armed, mistakes are made. Plus, other civilizations, things like that.
 
@Herzius56 Sprinting zombies? Flesh degradation would leave them capable of such speed for a very limited time. And guns are extremely loud. Every living or unliving thing would probably begin shambling towards that noise with some haste.
While I have called them "zombies", I never said they were dead; I was just using the term colloquially to get people involved.

But yeah, I said they can run and whatnot; they're a mixed bag of physicalities, ranging from slow and weak to strong and fast.

They are more like the infected from 28 days later than Romero zombies.

You can kill them by normal means, but they are highly contagious (we really need to be talking about protective gear like plastic jumpsuits and masks).

Another thing: lots of things are loud. I just have a problem with the whole Walking Dead "Gunfire=Zombies" equation. If that's true, then you'd better not run any loud motors or co any construction, even just the sound of banging nails travels pretty far, I would assume doubly so if the world has shut down.
 
Well, 100 humans vs a couple thousand zombies never works in favor of the humans, no matter how armed, mistakes are made. Plus, other civilizations, things like that.

Until you include land mines, electrified barricades (attacks and disables/damages the nervous system), barb wire (rips through flesh and muscle), high calibre firearms, flamethrowers, motor vehicles (though especially tanks, jeeps, large trucks) cannons, snipers... Hell, two helicopters with .50 calibre machine guns on them could shred through hundreds of zombies, safely, all by themselves.

Any civilization of humans on Earth, right now, save maybe a couple African or Oceanic states, could utterly crush hordes of zombies. Any state in the united states could.

As for competing post apoc civilizations, humanity isn't stupid. It is petty, but not stupid. They wouldn't turn on each other until the zombie threat was no longer a concern for humanity.
 
Until you include land mines, electrified barricades (attacks and disables/damages the nervous system), barb wire (rips through flesh and muscle), high calibre firearms, flamethrowers, motor vehicles (though especially tanks, jeeps, large trucks) cannons, snipers... Hell, two helicopters with .50 calibre machine guns on them could shred through hundreds of zombies, safely, all by themselves.
Any civilization of humans on Earth, right now, save maybe a couple African or Oceanic states, could utterly crush hordes of zombies. Any state in the united states could.
As for competing post apoc civilizations, humanity isn't stupid. It is petty, but not stupid. They wouldn't turn on each other until the zombie threat was no longer a concern for humanity.
I have a feeling the term "no longer a concern for humanity" will be interpreted different ways. Also, I think there WILL be some people or groups of people that consider themselves to be the section of humanity that counts, and try to build a civilization around their cloistered ideals, perhaps hostile to outside influence.

Also, I was trying to get across in the Intro that almost everything like helicopters and tanks would be destroyed. Very, very little high tech stuff, and even less infrastructure to support it's operation and maintenance.