05-02-2017, 12:18 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Kenai, Alaska
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[Zombies] Going Green?
Trying to build some less unrealistic zombies for an up coming low point survival game. I'm wondering if the undead having photosynthetic skin could hypothetically provide enough calories for them to not just starve within the first few weeks of the outbreak?
I'm also wondering just how much more efficient a humans metabolism could be made especially if they're functioning as an effective zombie. I know these questions won't have simple answers but the GURPS community never ceases to surprise me. |
05-02-2017, 12:56 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
Photosynthesis requires raw materials as well as sunlight. Your zombie will still need to obtain the necessary nutrients to do anything with photosynthetic skin. You can get carbon photosynthetically by breaking up CO2, that's how it works, but you have to have to other stuff to combine with the carbon.
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05-02-2017, 01:46 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Kenai, Alaska
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
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05-02-2017, 02:32 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
Isn't there a fungus that turns ants (and other insects?) into what are effectively zombies? How long do those zombie-ants last compared to regular non-infected ants?
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05-02-2017, 02:39 AM | #5 |
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
Humans have a high metabolic rate and a low surface area to volume ratio. This can be useful for very small creatures with low metabolic rates, but it's pretty hopeless for human-sized animals.
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05-02-2017, 02:39 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: The former Chochenyo territory
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
Doing some wikipedia math, it seems a largish person has 2 square meters of skin, which at a high insolation level of 7 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day, comes out to 14 kilowatt-hours per day, assuming perfect energy capture and transformation. (Maybe there's a mirror on the other side of the zombie, to get the sun from both sides.)
14 kWh converts to about 12 million calories (small c), or 12000 food Calories. What a surplus! Sadly, we now start cutting back. Actual photosynthesis is only 3-6% efficient, with a theoretical maximum of 11%. Our best case scenario has reverted to 1300 Calories per day, which is probably plenty for a cold-blooded ambush predator ("slow zombie"), but not a "fast zombie" unless they have some ability to store energy for those bursts and regain it during rest periods.
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05-02-2017, 03:47 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Feb 2014
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
Not very long. If I recall correctly, their new drive is to drop to the forest floor, climb under the first leaf they find before they die and spread new spores. The fungus "wants" as much energy left in the body as possible for reproduction.
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05-02-2017, 03:52 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
There might be some energy gains to be made by making the zombies cold blooded. Slow (quiet) zombies by night and faster zombies by day.
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05-02-2017, 04:07 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Land of the Beer, Home of the Dirndls
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
Given the skin care regime of your average zombie, this would seem a bit ineffective. (Well, maybe it's a subdermal layer, and when zombies go hungry they naturally try to expose it, thus giving a reason for their usual flayed appearance).
But low energy output would be perfectly fine, as that would give a reason for dietary supplements, i.e. people. Unless, of course, these zombies attack just to spread the disease and not for raw food Soylent. |
05-02-2017, 04:16 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Melbourne, Australia (also known as zone Brisbane)
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Re: [Zombies] Going Green?
What if the zombies are like radiotrophic fungus and derive energy from gamma rays instead of using photosynthesis?
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