Ind0ctr1n3

[The Idea:] Implimenting groups of AI controlled Survivors (Bandits, Military, Civilian) into Day Z to increase gameplay. [Argumentation:] To put it simply; Due to the vastness of Chernarus, a lot of time spent in the game is running around just holding W for 10 minutes or longer. In fact; 70% time is running, 25% is scavenging, and 5% is avoiding zombies and/or engaging human targets. What we need besides a auto-walk button (Future suggestion!) is more unpredictability in gameplay, such as running into variably enemy, neutral or friendly targets besides other players. This would modify gameplay immensely ofcourse, due to the fact other survivors can also be just AI. These can be moving patrols/convoys, or stationary targets like castles. It increases chances of something random and unexpected to happen (Such as AI bandits engaging a group of players, whom could gain support or yet more harrasment from an AI military unit depending on them being bandits themselves) and many more possibilities. As how it is now; Smart players will not usually fire on zombies because it would only attract more and they are easily avoidable, and besides the main cities the chance of running into somebody coincidentally are slim. There are also only zombies found near structures, which makes anywhere else relatively safe. Having the possibility of various random groups potentially running into you would increase the level of constant paranoia Day Z is looking for. The way things are now, it means running around a lot with a full clip and pretty much never losing ammo. This is ofcourse discounting certain clans having wars with eachother. Ergo; quite boring for an fps for an average player. [implimentation:] AI groups with varying numbers (Say 4 to 10) and various default allegiances, exampled below: Allegiances; Bandits: Allegiance with other bandits (including player bandits, unless fired upon), hostile to civilians, non-bandit players, military, Black Ops, infected wildlife and moving/spawned zombies. Engage on contact. May disengage and flee from certain enemies. (Such as Black Ops) Military: Allegiance with other military, civilians, and non-bandit players. Hostile with bandits and bandit players, Black Ops, infected wildlife and moving/spawned zombies. Engage on contact. Civilian: Allegiance with military, civilians and non-bandit players. Hostile with bandits and bandit players, Black Ops, infected wildlife and moving/spawned zombies. Do not engage unless fired upon. May disengage and flee from certain enemies. (Such as Black Ops) Black Ops: Allegiance with Black Ops. Orders to terminate everyone else. Engage on contact. Infected Wildlife: Allegiance with Infected Wildlife (Depending on species?) and moving/spawned zombies. Hostile to all other AI and players. Engage on contact. Moving Zombies: Allegiance with infected Wildlife, moving/spawned zombies. Hostile to all other AI and players. Engage on contact. Weapons; Bandits: Variety of all available weaponry, but only the ones possible from scavenging others. (Rarely if any Black Ops Items) Military: Military equipment. No camo or 'specialised' weaponry. Civilian: Low grade equipment. Varies between Makarov to Lee enfield (Farm weaponry, etc) Black Ops: The 'specialised' weaponry mentioned earlier. May or may not include NV. Infected Wildlife: Claws and teeth. Possibly hooves. Moving Zombies: Same as spawned zombies. Interactions; - Patrol at random through Chernarus, possible with various missions assigned to them (?). May also be stationed statically at certain locations. - Do not spawn zombies. All groups will however engage player-related spawned zombies, besides the zombie-groups. (Which, due to the fact the zombies would keep spawning if a player was close enough, could lead to the demise of said groups.) - Once an AI team has been neutralised, a new group may be spawned at random at a specified interval. Due to the scale of the map, quite an amount of groups could be deployed simultaniously. - May respond to external stimuly such as gunshots, radio chatter, movement, possibly wildlife and lakes? (Food + Water) Groups each respond differently to vehicles. Some will flee, some will ignore, and some will engage. - Military may or may not have access to vehicles. Recommended keeping those low-armored due to low likelyhood of AT armaments. - Have fixed or random salvage-able spawned gear. - Do not have player-specific targets. Can therefor usually be easily avoided when encountered, unless ofcourse already spotted by that group. (Increases player awareness of surroundings at all times to avoid unwanted contact) - Have HP equal to players, may or may not have additional stats and conditions for temp, blood, etc. - Limited ammo, will flee when depleted. May or may not re-ammo themselves from fallen comrades when possible. - Military medics can heal fractures and make blood transfusions when a patient is below + - 4000 blood, may also apply this to other military units, civilians, and non-bandit players when they happen to be near them. (Perhaps only with hero status?) - Possibility, amount and density of roaming groups may or may not be configurable per server. - NOTES - Edits are due to continious updates on idea.

Something like an underground tent? I like it. But it shouldn't be with a shovel (Equals millions of holes everywhere) but with some kind of only-usable-once item like tents. That way you can only make an underground cache after you find said item.

Not exactly true. Depends on how well you can program. (Which, judging by the bugs currently in Day Z, is done by first year programming students) Besides. Again. It's not the point of these AI groups. You can't interact or trade with zombies either, so according to your philosophy, we might as well get rid of those too.

The fact you can't even differentiate between 'you're' and 'your' deems any arguments (which you don't even have) as negligable. Kindly begone of this post.

AI is still configurable, including their detection rates. Right now, bandits have nothing to fear because they're always in the advantage. Most players never notice a ghilly with a sniper as it is. If this is all you want in a game, why not just play Sniper Elite v2 or something? Is this a zombie game, or not? This philosophy of 'player-only' interaction is fake anyway, because most interaction is you running into somebody with better weapons and shooting you without any kind of communication. If this is a PvP game, why are there zombies at all?

Worst grammar. Ever. Also still don't get the concept. Figures.

Besides the point, since we are talking about non-fixed objects.. And in that context I obviously meant if you don't know where to look, they are rare to find. Since the AI groups would be on the move, it would be even harder to encounter them.

Which still means most of the map is deserted. And, if they don't want suggestions, they shouldn't ask for it. Nobody is making you install updates either.

So zombies ruin player interaction. They are NPC's. And that damn cattle and bunnies! They impede with human interactions all the time, I know. Why can't anyone seem to understand these groups do not interact directly with players? You can't make them do anything, nor can you trade with them. In almost all regards they are similar to zombie NPC's. I think it would actually encourage real player interaction to protect yourself against these threats, unlike the only threat now being some overequipped loser laying near Elektro sniping newly-spawned survivors in his ghilly suit. Some real player interaction now, I know.

Then you simply mis-understood the concept. You're thinking like you'd run into these groups continiously, but it would probably be as rare as finding a chopper chrash site. It would probably still be long walks with nothing to do, but still be more on the edge because you know there is more in the forest than the VERY occasional other player (I've been playing Day Z for a while now, and never encountered anyone on the move in the forest, even in crowded servers) so I ask you; Doesn't the fact you know there isn't gonna be anything in the forest is less terrifying than knowing there could be roaming groups in the forest and fields aswell? I don't know about you, but I've already gotten bored with the fact I won't run into any zombies unless I come across a building. It's that predictability that kills the game. Players are usually just assholes, and without any distractions besides eachother, we might all just be playing CoD.

That's just a very sad and limited view. If we're trying to build another PvP game, why are their zombies at all? Is the average player to see this as a marketing ploy because it has some zombies in it? The game right now is sadly predictable, where zombies are a laughable attempt at a viable enemy who spawns nearly no-where, in an area where 40 players can walk around all day and have maybe 5 encounters unless pre-arranged. Some survival game, if it's just made for clan wars. It seems to me the Day Z authors are missing a big chance to appeal to the masses if it's true what you say. Most people I know would stop playing within 10 minutes if they knew they'd have to walk long distances with absolutely nothing to do and with extreme little threat unless you come near a city or vehicle spawn point. Chernarus is simply too big to use efficiently on an IDEAL server load of at least 40/50 players continiously and even then you'd be pretty safe in the woods.

You are obviously not grasping the entire idea, unless you think we might as well get rid of all the zombies because they are bots.

Thank you for your input, but I don't think you fully understand the idea. I'm not proposing to program these AI to attack anyone, just to patrol at random. Instead of diminishing human emotions, the unknown whether that other survivor is a player or not could significantly make you more paranoid. Are they a threat? Are they just friendlies passing by? Can I use this group to perhaps enhance my fighting capability against other human players and or zombies? I think it would infact open up a world of additional options and events without impeding too much on the gameplay so far. Even with these groups, encountering them would be highly irregullar, and they would rarely wander into town (If there are players around, they'd be quickly surrounded and killed by zombies, giving the players in the area a new variable to contend with in their fight amongst themselves, again increasing human emotions) If you really think about it, a correct implimentation and balance could give the gameplay a whole new dimension. Not impede on it. That you can't interact with them the way you would with humans is irrelivant, because that is not their purpose. Just like zombies, they are more like a 'prop' or a source of equipment/weapon/ammo, not a significant threat, nowhere near the level of a human player.

Actually, one of the best tactics is to keep on the move. Quick in-and-outs are preferrable, because even if the enemy spots you, they'll have a hard time tracking you. In my experience it's never wise to stay somewhere over 15 minutes.

This was posted on the 13th. As of the 25th of August, they're at it again. Because of this continued violation of the rules (And denying me access to my tent which is on that server) I hereby ask to revoke the Hive status for this server.

Confirmed, have my (permanent) tent on this server, and suddenly everyone got banned, and nobody can join anymore. (Unless ofcourse, you're a friend of the admin) I hereby request action to be taken against this violation of Day Z rules and revoke the Hive connection this server currently enjoys. EDIT: Note that this happened on the 25th, again, even after the admins of that server were warned before on the 13th. Please note this post: http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/70307-obvious-server-hoster-abuse-de-1686-proof-inside/page__hl__%2Bde+%2B1686