Hmm seems strange but attacks on the player from behind are 100% bites and are lethal so it could be that.

Originally posted by betanormie:

Hmm seems strange but attacks on the player from behind are 100% bites and are lethal so it could be that.

I know it was not that. No time passed for me to realize what happened. As soon as the sound queued that I was hit by a zombie, my character was on the ground dead and I had the deceased moodle.

I mean instant in the most literal sense in the title.

I had full health and no existing injuries when it happened either.

its most likely just a beta build bug iv'e never experienced it but in that case theres not much you can do. Try go into some throw away games and replicate getting bitten in the back and see if it happens again? if its a bug its probably quite rare.

though if you do get attacked in the back its always a bite so you are 100% dead anyway, you're just missing out on a slow death. (oh just saw you had a mod nevermind)

i think he reached your spine so you got off haha. and it is normal regarding to sound. this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ learn from their mistakes too. they know if they make a sound, player will kill them so they just patiently wait there for you to open the door. but no really, you seen them fall asleep while standing outside right? and when u get close, they wake up. same thing happened to that guy there

Dead-Wish is referring to the rare-but-super-lethal zombie fatality move that can be accomplished by [redacted by fictitious admin]...
In all seriousness, you die instantly if your settings are 'instant infection mortality' and you get bitten or scratched and infected. Maybe since your save is old, one of these settings got auto-ed to that upon being loaded in a new version.

I have been 'insta-killed' by a 'hidden' zombie before.

I was at the theater by the mall. I was on the second floor, going around the corner to the stairs and there was a zombie that I didn't see until I got on the stairs. It insta-killed me.

I was very surprised and angry at the time, but it made me more cautious when going to stairs or through doors.

I'd venture the possibility the zombie broke your neck.

Not really sure if that's a thing tbh, but it would be instantly fatal. The scarf also wouldn't protect you that much from neck attacks, which are very dangerous already.

Happened to me as well and I've thought "Oh, yeah. It's pretty much like a D&D campaign and I've rolled a critical failure."

Me thinks if the settings are just right, such as Take Down being ON, Rear Vulnerability being very high etc, if you get yourself into a scuffle of which your toon doesn't have any possibility of escaping, you just drop dead. That's what happened to me. I didn't even see any bleeding moodle or any animation of my character trying to push them away. Just the crackling death sound accompanied with the skull moodle in red.

Originally posted by bickdutt:

Happened to me as well and I've thought "Oh, yeah. It's pretty much like a D&D campaign and I've rolled a critical failure."

Me thinks if the settings are just right, such as Take Down being ON, Rear Vulnerability being very high etc, if you get yourself into a scuffle of which your toon doesn't have any possibility of escaping, you just drop dead. That's what happened to me. I didn't even see any bleeding moodle or any animation of my character trying to push them away. Just the crackling death sound accompanied with the skull moodle in red.

That's the drag down. If you get I believe 3 or more zombies on you there's a chance they'll drag you down for an instant kill.

The only instances of insta kill by zombies that I know of are neck bites and drag down

Neck bites man. Neck lacerations are already pretty much a 10 second bleedout, I can only imagine getting bit from behind in the neck is a guaranteed death. I have been instakilled by one zombie that bit me before from behind. If you get grabbed by a zombie from behind kiss your ass goodbye unless you are really lucky. Zombies always go for the neck if they get behind you. Always.
You can experiment in debug mode with clothing. Inspect it in your inventory to see what the protection values are, and if it covers the neck. As for armor, it may be worth going with the clothing that provides the least mobility and combat speed penalties. Experiment to see if those penalties affect your turn speed and character inertia.
Scanning behind you and using the Q key while crouched will save you much more but it requires good habits and vigilance.

If you were "dragged down" by being attacked in the back I think that's considered an instant kill. In the options before the game there is the "infection mortality time" which determines the speed at which the infection will kill you. If the mortality time was "instant" and you were bit, that's that.

The best resistances I could muster up for my stomach up include tailoring 2 (This is about as high as the average person will get it)
and leather padded long johns, tank top, denim shirt, diamond sweater, firefighter top, along with any helmet that covers the neck. Helmets that give neck protection give 100%.

From my testing, I survived 4-5 bite attacks where the zombie grabs me from behind with this combination. Its quite a cumbersome set of armor though. Any neck covering helmet is worth its weight in gold imo. The zombies ripped it off my head a couple times but it certainly saved my skin.