Day Z alpha: How the zombie apocalypse should be

[_Rick_]

Talking of servers - what kind of servers do you guys usually play on, and in what manner? Regulars on a server, or just take whichever one is currently available?

Also, 3d/CH preferences? Friend of mine refuses to play without 3d person view available (to be able to see out of the grass when prone), while neither of us is too hot on cross hairs. Plus, we tend to play on servers that have some daylight, instead of night time. I guess once you have equipment to deal with it, night raids become an option, especially on spots where bandits are likely to wait for you. Having someone set off a flare in a close-by POI might attract the zombies and bandits, while elsewhere it's possible to loot relatively undisturbed.
Without sufficient organisation and gear though, this could turn into a disaster real quick

 

[Sidekicknichola]

We had another great night before this weekend... it was my usual group (myself and two other guys) ... we had been surviving in the north for days and days and finally figured we would head to the NW airfield for some excitement.

Two of the guys had sniper rifles and camo so they sat up on the NNE hill watching as I entered the town and starting looting... dump'd my alice pack to make room for the goodies I might find and was on my way. No more than like 5 minutes after I reached the tents they start telling me there were 3 players headed down to my location from the warehouse on the east.... I hunkered down near the pot-o-potties and waited for their updates... Then I hear them say there is another group of four survivors coming from the West.... I was directly between what was sure to be a huge shootout. I was pretty well armed G17 and a M4 with a red dot but still scared since we had been alive for so long.... and of course when I dumped my pack I left my grenades.

I slowly tried working my way up to the hill they were on when the group from the east must have saw me and instantly opened fire.... I managed to get behind the dumpsters there and stay protected a bit. The guys on the hill kept updating me on where these others were, while all of this is happening they're also trying to fight off zombies.... and I keep hear the group from the West is trying to circle around to the south side to check things out.

There is a small standoff for a while and eventually my buddies tell me the other group is really close to the ones that engaged me.... next thing I hear, more gunfire... these two groups are now in a battle and have forgotten about me.

Out of nowhere I hear sniper fire, which is NOT my group... so I'm freaking out now that someone I'm going to be sucked into this scrum and killed by this sniper. One of my guys realizes the sniper is like 5m from where they are laying (their camo worked!) so they managed to take him out easily and not alert the others by using a silenced M9-sd.

So I keep getting updates on the fight and it is down to a 2v2 fight (but two of the guys keep passing out so basically 1v1) with zombies hording to them.... another few minutes of them fighting pass and my buddies decide to open fire (without telling me)... I hear two shots at almost the exact same time and then hear one of them say, "its all clear".

I wait for the zombie horde to move away and I loot like crazy.... after all the chaos we're regrouping and getting packs squared away when we hear a vehicle coming... sure enough a UAZ (I think its called) comes over the hill (doesn't see us) down to the military base, two guys pile out, the third drives around keeping zombies busy, didn't take long before one guy got swarmed by zombies in a tent and the guy in the car happened to park and get out right near us to keep an eye on the other guy still in the tents... I was able to sneak around and steal is UAZ and take off.... came back for my group after the others left.


... it was easily the most exciting 30 minute stretch of DayZ I've played.... and reminded me why I hate Cherno/Elektro/NW Airfeld

 

[PingSpike]

So I've been playing this game over the weekend and a couple days before that. The learning curve is pretty brutal, half of it due to the buggy inventory system and cumbersome controls. How do you bring up iron sights/scopes? I've played on a few servers with crosshairs but I found a rifle with scope the other day and suddenly I realized I don't know how to use it, LOL.

After frustrating experiences learning how to do mundane things like open a door (most of them don't open, even the ones that you can see behind) or picking up items and equipping weapons (G for gear and when in doubt...scroll wheel? What? OK) I was raging pretty bad and about to quit because I couldn't find anything wading through dangerous towns. Then I used the online maps (which is kind of like cheating to be honest) to get my bearings and find locations where there actually ARE some items to pick up. While looting is still dangerous, if I can get an axe out of a barn I'm no longer completely helpless and from there can acquire a water bottle and finally stay alive for awhile.

My main problem now is I need morphine for broken legs, which a zombie can lay down on you with a smack at any time. If your leg gets broken without morphine then all you have to do is hit ESC, then click Respawn to kill yourself because you're 100% screwed and you might as well get it over with. I gather that there are only a few places where you're likely to find morphine and because of that they are camped by bandits which is frustrating. I read a few suggestions about how this process should be changed. I personally liked the idea of bandage + wood = split for half speed, leg heals in a day but morphine removes the speed disadvantage. But I'd settle for more morphine spawns honestly.

And I need matches to cook meat because blood bags sound just as dangerous to find as morphine, plus you need another player to use them, plus you have to eat anyway. But I guess matches are really hard to find which makes no sense. I should be able to start a fire with that flashlight I start with since its only other purpose is to attract zombies.

I haven't encountered many other players. One time we both just ran away from each other in the woods, another time a guy crawled into the barn I was in and disconnected (I actually thought he was type of crawler zombie I had never seen before at first) and I've seen a few others that didn't see me because they were hauling ass with a bunch of hungry zombies on their heels.

I haven't encountered the "legs break all the time for no reason" situation as some others have. But I'm actually pretty careful dealing with ladders and stairs and the like. I have had the "one hit and dead" from a zombie thing happen. It wasn't really dead though, rather the one hit knocked me out and then the zombies ate me to death while I stared at the hourglass. I thought I read that this can happen if you're attacked at below 9000 blood, which I may well have been.

I'd be interested in trying out that server, Rinaun. I like to get used to the controls and maybe actually play with some other people instead of running from them before I tackle raiding hospitals on the regular dangerous servers LOL.

 

[pontifex]

i can never seem to find better weapons. i can find the ammo for them, but never the weapons.

 

[Arglebargle]

We had another great night before this weekend... it was my usual group (myself and two other guys) ... we had been surviving in the north for days and days and finally figured we would head to the NW airfield for some excitement.

Two of the guys had sniper rifles and camo so they sat up on the NNE hill watching as I entered the town and starting looting... dump'd my alice pack to make room for the goodies I might find and was on my way. No more than like 5 minutes after I reached the tents they start telling me there were 3 players headed down to my location from the warehouse on the east.... I hunkered down near the pot-o-potties and waited for their updates... Then I hear them say there is another group of four survivors coming from the West.... I was directly between what was sure to be a huge shootout. I was pretty well armed G17 and a M4 with a red dot but still scared since we had been alive for so long.... and of course when I dumped my pack I left my grenades.

I slowly tried working my way up to the hill they were on when the group from the east must have saw me and instantly opened fire.... I managed to get behind the dumpsters there and stay protected a bit. The guys on the hill kept updating me on where these others were, while all of this is happening they're also trying to fight off zombies.... and I keep hear the group from the West is trying to circle around to the south side to check things out.

There is a small standoff for a while and eventually my buddies tell me the other group is really close to the ones that engaged me.... next thing I hear, more gunfire... these two groups are now in a battle and have forgotten about me.

Out of nowhere I hear sniper fire, which is NOT my group... so I'm freaking out now that someone I'm going to be sucked into this scrum and killed by this sniper. One of my guys realizes the sniper is like 5m from where they are laying (their camo worked!) so they managed to take him out easily and not alert the others by using a silenced M9-sd.

So I keep getting updates on the fight and it is down to a 2v2 fight (but two of the guys keep passing out so basically 1v1) with zombies hording to them.... another few minutes of them fighting pass and my buddies decide to open fire (without telling me)... I hear two shots at almost the exact same time and then hear one of them say, "its all clear".

I wait for the zombie horde to move away and I loot like crazy.... after all the chaos we're regrouping and getting packs squared away when we hear a vehicle coming... sure enough a UAZ (I think its called) comes over the hill (doesn't see us) down to the military base, two guys pile out, the third drives around keeping zombies busy, didn't take long before one guy got swarmed by zombies in a tent and the guy in the car happened to park and get out right near us to keep an eye on the other guy still in the tents... I was able to sneak around and steal is UAZ and take off.... came back for my group after the others left.


... it was easily the most exciting 30 minute stretch of DayZ I've played.... and reminded me why I hate Cherno/Elektro/NW Airfeld

Wow, that's about the best story I have heard of in Day Z!

Now if I could only find my Arma disks. Sigh, they're in a box somewhere.....

 

[sandorski]

So I've been playing this game over the weekend and a couple days before that. The learning curve is pretty brutal, half of it due to the buggy inventory system and cumbersome controls. How do you bring up iron sights/scopes? I've played on a few servers with crosshairs but I found a rifle with scope the other day and suddenly I realized I don't know how to use it, LOL.

After frustrating experiences learning how to do mundane things like open a door (most of them don't open, even the ones that you can see behind) or picking up items and equipping weapons (G for gear and when in doubt...scroll wheel? What? OK) I was raging pretty bad and about to quit because I couldn't find anything wading through dangerous towns. Then I used the online maps (which is kind of like cheating to be honest) to get my bearings and find locations where there actually ARE some items to pick up. While looting is still dangerous, if I can get an axe out of a barn I'm no longer completely helpless and from there can acquire a water bottle and finally stay alive for awhile.

My main problem now is I need morphine for broken legs, which a zombie can lay down on you with a smack at any time. If your leg gets broken without morphine then all you have to do is hit ESC, then click Respawn to kill yourself because you're 100% screwed and you might as well get it over with. I gather that there are only a few places where you're likely to find morphine and because of that they are camped by bandits which is frustrating. I read a few suggestions about how this process should be changed. I personally liked the idea of bandage + wood = split for half speed, leg heals in a day but morphine removes the speed disadvantage. But I'd settle for more morphine spawns honestly.

And I need matches to cook meat because blood bags sound just as dangerous to find as morphine, plus you need another player to use them, plus you have to eat anyway. But I guess matches are really hard to find which makes no sense. I should be able to start a fire with that flashlight I start with since its only other purpose is to attract zombies.

I haven't encountered many other players. One time we both just ran away from each other in the woods, another time a guy crawled into the barn I was in and disconnected (I actually thought he was type of crawler zombie I had never seen before at first) and I've seen a few others that didn't see me because they were hauling ass with a bunch of hungry zombies on their heels.

I haven't encountered the "legs break all the time for no reason" situation as some others have. But I'm actually pretty careful dealing with ladders and stairs and the like. I have had the "one hit and dead" from a zombie thing happen. It wasn't really dead though, rather the one hit knocked me out and then the zombies ate me to death while I stared at the hourglass. I thought I read that this can happen if you're attacked at below 9000 blood, which I may well have been.

I'd be interested in trying out that server, Rinaun. I like to get used to the controls and maybe actually play with some other people instead of running from them before I tackle raiding hospitals on the regular dangerous servers LOL.

It's best to run Arma 2 first and play some Tutorial Missions. There certainly is clunkiness to the Interface, but after awhile you learn the quirks.

 

[Rinaun]

I posted the private server information on the Steam AT Day Z group. If you don't have Steam, just post a message and I can send you the information. Once again, your data on this server will not be linked to any other Day Z server. This means you can goof with your friends on this server, and keep your decked character on the official servers. No modification of files are needed to play either the private or official servers.

 

[_Rick_]

Once again, your data on this server will not be linked to any other Day Z server.

So you should even be able to play when someone is launching a DDoS attack on the DayZ servers (which someone did yesterday, incidentally)

 

[Rinaun]

So you should even be able to play when someone is launching a DDoS attack on the DayZ servers (which someone did yesterday, incidentally)

Yup!

I'm just not sure on the ruleset we want to use. I usually go with what people want but right now we have no users playing. Tempted to set the server public ATM just to get people inside.

 

[PingSpike]

It's best to run Arma 2 first and play some Tutorial Missions. There certainly is clunkiness to the Interface, but after awhile you learn the quirks.

Yeah, I've mostly gotten used to the quirks now but that's the same as saying you get used to a car with a bad clutch and learn to compensate. You have to remember to check for space before putting something in your pack or it goes into the ether and I figured out how to use iron sites...TAP right mouse, not press. OK Game! If you say so...

I died because I ran out of bandages and frankly I was out of food. Mostly stank because I had an ALICE pack, everything else I had was pretty easy to find. Found firing a gun away from civilization (say at a farm) isn't that big of a deal, you just have to be ready to deal with a little fallout. I was going to huff it back to my body but I read bodies only hang around for 15 minutes and it was painfully apparent to me I was looking at least a half hour walk so I just started over.

Successfully raided the hospital in Electro last night on a lightly populated server. Despite only like 12 people being on I still encountered another survivor while crawling out of there who must have just raided the supermarket. He didn't see me (at least I don't think he did) but pissed me off because he went off through the shortest escape route that I was going to use forcing me route through a field that was filled with zombies which took forever. Plus I didn't even bother going in the supermarket since he just came from there, figured he must have already taken the good stuff. I got out with 10 bandages, 5 morphine and a bag of blood. Really wish I had some matches (and a better pack) though, but I might try my luck at that northern supermarket for those since the southern cities seem to dicey.

i can never seem to find better weapons. i can find the ammo for them, but never the weapons.

What do you mean by better? Generally deer stands seem to be the best reward to risk location to find weapons for me so far. I usually just take the one that actually has ammo.

 

[pontifex]

i used to use worrom's auot-updater but i must have deleted it by accident. re-download it and it says java is not installed. um...yeah, it is...but i reinstall it anyway.

it doesn't even launch, no errors or anything.

tried the six updater. can't install it. get so far and it says it can't find one of the install files...


wtf???

 

[pontifex]

What do you mean by better? Generally deer stands seem to be the best reward to risk location to find weapons for me so far. I usually just take the one that actually has ammo.

better than enfield or winchester.

every time i've gone to a deer stand it only had ammo. i go to towns and they only have ammo or pistols or enfields.


did just find an AK 47 with 2 mags at the power plant outside elektro so thats the 1st automatic rifle i've found.

 

[hoorah]

Yup!

I'm just not sure on the ruleset we want to use. I usually go with what people want but right now we have no users playing. Tempted to set the server public ATM just to get people inside.

I'd be happy to join up as soon as I get ARMA2 and get the mod. Looking your way, steam summer sale. You too, Amazon. Someone give me arma2 cheap.

Anyway, count me in soon.

 

[hans030390]

I posted the private server information on the Steam AT Day Z group. If you don't have Steam, just post a message and I can send you the information. Once again, your data on this server will not be linked to any other Day Z server. This means you can goof with your friends on this server, and keep your decked character on the official servers. No modification of files are needed to play either the private or official servers.

How do I join this group? And do I have to have Arma/DayZ installed through Steam or no? Because I have the retail, non-steam version.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

It seems like in a lot of ways this is Minecraft for shooter fans. No end, you just stop playing one day.

Funny clip

Yeah, my end game right now is more or less hunting humans either via extreme long range sniping (had a 520+m kill yesterday ) or stalking them at night with my night vision and having my way with them. I really wish there was some sort of tranquilizer weapon because the stuff you can do to a fellow survivor after they're knocked unconscious is pretty funny with being able to heal them and drag them around. Granted, most players would likely just log out to avoid whatever fate.

Has anyone ever been one-shot by a zombie? I got a hair too much aggro in a hangar but could still handle it, took one bone crunching whack from a zombie and died w/ 8400 blood left. WTF is up with that? I really don't think it was a sniper because my friend was there with me and continued to be exposed for a long time and never drew any attention. Lost a lot of meds, AKS-74-KRDS and SD-M9.

I've had worse. I've killed a zombie only for his corpse to fall into me and break my legs...

I would have easily been overcome by the ensuing zombie hoard if not for 3 other buddies I was playing with

But yeah, I'm really hoping they fix the zombie mechanics. Not only are the stupidly fast and agile through buggy mechanics, they always seem to know where your major arteries are and you end up bleeding out in less than 5 minutes from a single hit. Then of course there's also the seeming fact that all the survivors seem to be suffering from some extreme form of osteoporosis and legs break way too easily (which morphine somehow instantly cures, lol)

 

[Rinaun]

How do I join this group? And do I have to have Arma/DayZ installed through Steam or no? Because I have the retail, non-steam version.

You just go to the multiplayer server browser(not sixloader browser), and either filter host name for San Jose, or enter our IP (Rinaun.com) by hitting the remote button on the bottom right of the broswer page with default port (2302). Make sure you are using the latest arma 2 beta patch found here!

ftp://downloads.bistudio.com/arma2.com/update/beta/ARMA2_OA_Build_94444.zip

The server name is : DayZ Non-Hive Server Daytime (San Jose,CA)

Please remember the server I run is separate from every other server. What happens on my server stays on my server. It's nice to have more than one character to screw around with or have multiple personalities

I'd be happy to join up as soon as I get ARMA2 and get the mod. Looking your way, steam summer sale. You too, Amazon. Someone give me arma2 cheap.

Anyway, count me in soon.

Good! I'd like to get the less experienced people playing here. I think it might give you a better chance at finding people willing to help you guys learn. Plus, we have a teamspeak so you can set up groups and such.

 

[PingSpike]

better than enfield or winchester.

every time i've gone to a deer stand it only had ammo. i go to towns and they only have ammo or pistols or enfields.


did just find an AK 47 with 2 mags at the power plant outside elektro so thats the 1st automatic rifle i've found.

Its kind of random. I was looking for matches forever and then right after I found some in a super market finally I found a set in a dumpy house when I was looking for a can of beans. You might try the south west side of the map, I seem to remember there being a ton of deer stands close together around there. Its not unusual for some of these locations to get looted pretty often though. Once I was running the circuit on the southwest side and finding not much in the deer stands before I caught up with a player who must have been just ahead of me and cleaning things out. Another time I found two assault rifles with two magazines each in a deer stand.

A loot map will help you figure out where to look. Basically it seems like: Pistols in residential areas, shotguns, hatchets and basic rifles in barns and higher end military weapons are in deer stands and military areas like helicopter crash sites and barracks. I've stayed away from military areas so far. No idea why there are assault rifles and more strangely, silenced submachine guns in deer stands but there you are.

I just have an AKM with a couple mags now. I've been packing the macaroni pistol because even though it kind of blows its pretty quiet and there are magazines everywhere for it.

 

[pontifex]

You just go to the multiplayer server browser(not sixloader browser), and either filter host name for San Jose, or enter our IP (Rinaun.com) by hitting the remote button on the bottom right of the broswer page with default port (2302). Make sure you are using the latest arma 2 beta patch found here!

ftp://downloads.bistudio.com/arma2.com/update/beta/ARMA2_OA_Build_94444.zip

The server name is : DayZ Non-Hive Server Daytime (San Jose,CA)

Please remember the server I run is separate from every other server. What happens on my server stays on my server. It's nice to have more than one character to screw around with or have multiple personalities



Good! I'd like to get the less experienced people playing here. I think it might give you a better chance at finding people willing to help you guys learn. Plus, we have a teamspeak so you can set up groups and such.

so much for teamwork. got killed by the 1st person i ran across. i didnt even have a fucking weapon, barely had any supplies.

 

[Rinaun]

so much for teamwork. got killed by the 1st person i ran across. i didnt even have a fucking weapon, barely had any supplies.

I never promised PVE gameplay, and if I did this game would be boring. What I promised was a spot where:

your character is off the Official servers (you die, you die here only)
A community that is much tighter knit than an official server
the ability to play with friends and teach them to play


I would suggest joining the teamspeak next time (Rinaun.com) and allying up. We have usually a few people inside willing to help you/pick you up.


As a side note, be thankful you died to someone when you had nothing. Someone who has been playing for a week or so got his car shot up with tons of loot in it!>.< The good part is he saw the name and now people avoid the shooter as he was called out as a bandit. He even died a few times. That is how it should be; you remember people because they cant just leave and play elsewhere. I am still saddened by your bad experience though I hope you give it another chance with a friend or two sometime!

I started a post on reddit to discuss the future of the project (Non-Hive) as it's becoming pretty big. I'm deciding on how I want to handle donations for hosting in downtown sanjose and such. I really don't care who is sponsoring or donating towards it but the amount needed is a bit out of my range as a college student

http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/w5q3t/nonhive_servers/

 

[_Rick_]

Dying is the best part of the game.
Or rather: it's the merciless dying that makes the me appreciate the game.

Currently way over equipped, but bad luck on the last few loots, and running out of food - not even found any wild animals. Might have to direct some friends to where I am to help me out with a bite, as I carry some of their rare loot -.-

 

[GoodRevrnd]

My humanity system idea... http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=27366

 

[PingSpike]

My humanity system idea... http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=27366

Not sure I care for it, especially since banditry and murders seem to be impossible to distinguish from self defense. I'm not sold on having any kind of alignment system in the game though. A faction system might be a useful/interesting addition.

Really they just need a logout timer system that works to prevent logging out at this point though. Apparently that is a pretty serious issue.

I'm surviving pretty well now, finally found an Alice pack again. Have plenty of food and water and medical supplies. I need to find a better weapon, I had an M4 but I fucked up my inventory management and it disappeared into the ether. That inventory system really needs some work, its really cumbersome to load thinks into you backpack.

I had lots of morphine from my first raid but yesterday I found a helicopter crash which was just loaded with medical supplies. I couldn't even get a quarter of them. Seems like the weapons were all gone or never existed though. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 4 blood bags since I'm running solo though. I usually just take off when I see other players, I can't trust them. The other day I was running through the woods and some dude in a pickup truck came by. I just hid behind some trees and changed my route, not sure if he caught sight of me raiding the deer stand and was stalking me or what.

If I hear voice chat does that mean some one is direct chatting? I went on one server that had global on but I think that is not a usual setting now. I'm pretty sure some guy spotted me yesterday and was trying to make contact but I just kept moving figuring it was probably a trap, LOL. Butchered a goat and ended up having to drop some zombies in a barn near the coast. Then some dude crawled in with a crossbow. I freaked out and popped a couple makaroni rounds off at him (pretty sure both missed) and then just ran outta there. I kind of doubt I was being hunted by a PK with a crossbow though, that is a shit weapon for player killing so I feel kind of bad.

 

[sandorski]

I think the idea of the Bandit Skin wasn't all too bad, but it had unintended consequences and really doen't make too much sense with Camo/Gullie in the game. I too am a Lonewolf and just take off at the first sign of Others. So I really don't know how well/poor the Heartbeat system is.

Whenever I have picked up a Blood Bag, eventually I tossed it for something more important. I keep 2 Bandages and right now have 3 Morphine because 5 days ago I had to crawl from Polana to the hospital in Berezino after a Z attack. Painkillers are common enough that I'm comfortable with only 1.

Only have the Czech Backpack right now, so Inventory is tight, but have Winchester/4 slots as Primary, M1911/6 Mags as Secondary, and have a M4A(something)CCO/4 Mags in my backpack. No Chem Lights/Road Flares, 2 full Water Bottles(though I only drink Coke/Pepsi as I find them), 2 Cooked Meat and a can of Food(generally eat a Can as I find one, unless I lose a lot of Blood then I eat the Meat..generally lose 600-1000 Blood/day).

Everyday I try to kill 30-40 Z, sometimes it gets as highs as 60-70 depending on Spawn rates. I do it partially for the Stats, partially for the excitement/challenge, but mostly just to Consume Ammo/Med/Food supplies, it makes finding Loot more important. The risk to doing this, as I found out first hand approx a week ago, is that some Z can 1 Hit kill, and in my case, sometimes from 5-6 meters away.

The only thing I really want are NVGs. I'd have to break from my routine though. GPS and Entrenching Tool would be nice as well. If I had NVGs and Entrenching Tool, I might head back to the coast and undo Barbed Wire shenanigans at key Loot Spawns, when I died to that Super Z a week back, I found out how hard it is to Spawn with no Weap, especially when Barns were all blocked off. That crap lead to 1 premature Death and 1 longer than necessary hunt for sufficient Supplies at the Coast first.

 

[Whirlwind]

I agree .

I think the bandit skin and being able to tell a bandit from a survivor, made for better game play.

If you cant tell the difference beteen the two..then more survivors are going to get shot.....with the skin, more bandits will be shot...IMHO.

 

[pontifex]

i never start an attack against another player but 99% of the time I get killed by other players no matter what I do, so I'm ready to say fuck it and and just shoot on sight now.

so fucking tired of it. like the other day on rinaun's server, I had no weapons whatsoever and the asshole still shot me.