explosives and zombies

[azazel1024]

So I am reading through WWZ right now. Damn awesome book. Something it mentioned, obviously in a fictional context here guys, but is an interesting point, is how little damage high explosives would like to do to a "real" zombie. Because of how blast pressure waves injure humans, it is unlikely to do much at all to a zombie. Now fragmentation might kill one from putting some shards through the brain, or decaptating them, but blast overpressure might do nothing.

One thing I have been wondering though, is if it wouldn't still be pretty effective. The book gets in to the overpressure wave damaging organs and that sort of thing, but what about still jellying the brain. As, unfortunately, a lot of service members have found with IEDs, even protected inside of body armor a lot are recieving traumatic brain injuries from the blast waves. If the zombies are close enough in, I'd think the blast overpressure would still potentially destroy their brain or decapitate them.

Now the lethal radius is probably must smaller on high explosive blasts, and the injury radius is effectively ineffective, but I'd think high explosive would still be lethal at a resonable distance to zombies. Fragmentation weapons even better, and incendiaries just as effective as against people. Maybe more so. Humans at least are probably going to try to put out fire on themselves. Zombies are likely to just shamble on till they burn to the ground.

The book did make me think of how much we'd need to rethink how the military is equipped and would respond to a zombie outbreak though.

[Armorlord]

Meh, considering that the brains are either decomposing or jerky, I wouldn't really imagine concussive shock being a viable anti-zombie tactic. The viable radius for explosives is the one at which their head explodes, otherwise we're just making more garbage creepers.

[azazel1024]

Standing 10ft away from a kilo of C4 is probably going to do as much or more damage to the brain of a person/zombie than a 9mm through the forehead would. Even if it isn't necessarily as visually aparent from a vaporized skull. The overpressure wave is going to basically crush the brain inside of the head. I'd think that level of distruption would be enough to "kill" a zombie. In the DR world at least zombies can eventually decay far enough to completely die. So there is obviously a certain level of decay of the brain going on, and once it reaches a point they die.

I'd assume as a corrollary, enough damage to the brain, even if it isn't that the brains are ejected from the skull box, would also kill a zombie. I'd think HE isn't going to be such a sure fire way to kill zombies as a shot to the head, but I'd think it would also be pretty effective still, if at a somewhat more limited blast radius than against humans.

[Armorlord]

Well if we're talking about enough damage to liquify a brain, I'd generally call that the range as which the head explodes, which is what I meant above. Though I suppose the head doesn't always literally explode.
As far as being 10ft away from two blocks of C4? Yeah, we can both agree that should do the job.

[Grell]

Dead Reign list explosives/shrapnel as doing 1/2 damage to zeds. Take or leave as you see fit, I suppose.

[cornholioprime]

Standing 10ft away from a kilo of C4 is probably going to do as much or more damage to the brain of a person/zombie than a 9mm through the forehead would. Even if it isn't necessarily as visually aparent from a vaporized skull. The overpressure wave is going to basically crush the brain inside of the head. I'd think that level of distruption would be enough to "kill" a zombie. In the DR world at least zombies can eventually decay far enough to completely die. So there is obviously a certain level of decay of the brain going on, and once it reaches a point they die.

I'd assume as a corrollary, enough damage to the brain, even if it isn't that the brains are ejected from the skull box, would also kill a zombie. I'd think HE isn't going to be such a sure fire way to kill zombies as a shot to the head, but I'd think it would also be pretty effective still, if at a somewhat more limited blast radius than against humans.

Unfortunately, not necessarily.

The Zombies of Dead Reign are SUPERNATURALLY vulnerable to removal/massive destruction of the brain, not physiologically vulnerable. And as you most certainly remember, not even Head Shots are going to be a sure-fire means of bringing them down, not unless it actually removes a large enough portion of the brain from the skullcase.

As such, I for one would say that even if the explosive in question totally jellies the brain inside the head, it won't have any effect.

Remember, the brain inside the head of a Dead Reign zombie is ALREADY massively damaged by the mere act of advanced decay (the brain is the first organ in the body to die and decay as a whole upon death).

[azazel1024]

True, I was thinking more on the context of traditional/WWZ zombies, a little less DR zombies which seem uber tough.

[batlchip]

I think that certain sized blasts would kill zeds.Like I don't think zeds inside a grenade blast wave would do much.But Zeds inside the radius of a car bomb would be taken out.So would any thing that's got the same force of a 100lb bomb.

[cornholioprime]

I think that certain sized blasts would kill zeds.Like I don't think zeds inside a grenade blast wave would do much.But Zeds inside the radius of a car bomb would be taken out.So would any thing that's got the same force of a 100lb bomb.

Agreed.

Too many times -and think how unfortunate that would be if we ever found ourselves in a Dead Reign Zombie World of our own! -we reasonably but mistakenly assume that whatever can knock out, seriously wound, or even kill delicate little meatbags like us, will also take out super-durable-by-the-simple-fact-that-their-bodies-no-longer-work-at-all-by-the-rules-of-biology Zombies.


I mean, can you IMAGINE just how many Martial Artists, Athletes, and people armed with simple weapons or even firearms fell to The Horde for the simple reason that they unleashed their best, deadliest moves on the undead, erroneously believing until it was too late that whatever works on their fellow human, would work on a Zed??