entspeak

I don't think this idea lends itself to a post-apocalyptic world where there is no law. Now, it will be interesting to see if people form some sort of law. There may be some servers with players who dedicate themselves to hunting down bad guys and meeting out justice - but, of course, one man's justice is another man's tyrrany... so, it would be interesting to see how that played out. I think it will be fascinating to see how a community comes together or breaks apart based on moral views in the server. The harder it is to survive, the more this will be able to play out, imo. Will it be an eye for an eye, do unto others, or some form of nihilism? Interesting to see.

Rocket also mentioned that you may be able to track people by the items they've interacted with. But, yes... if you bump into some people you can always warn them about the guy with the motorcycle helmet, red hoodie and green jeans. You might even be able to track them by interacting with other players... "Have you seen such and such a person?" It will make for some interesting gameplay.

Ah, ignorance and fallacious rhetoric all in one sentence... how very dull.

KoS will never go away completely. A "god mechanic" is not likely to be implemented based on what Rocket has expressed. In times of stress good people sometimes do bad things... that is an element of the game Rocket seems interested in exploring. The game is not going to make judgements as to "good" and "evil" as occurs currently in the mod (in an incredibly flawed way). I'm glad that there will be more ways to indicate "friendliness," but the trust would always be an issue in a survival situation and the game shouldn't load the dice one way or the other when it comes to that - that is authentic, and as it should be. So, you can go on about it, but it's likely just not going to happen. Adding skills is a great idea especially the idea of a medical skill that can be accumulated. Then get rid of blood bags for everyone and force players to seek out medical help. Need a blood tranfusion? Get a buddy and head to a medical specialist or pray that they have a blood bag. Need a heli fixed in a hurry? Seek out (or kidnap) an experienced mechanic. There's a lot of potential to be seen in the skill system. The reason KoS occurs so much in the mod is out of boredom, it's fairly easy to get weapons, to meta-game, and the current medical system is not much different from any other team based FPS. If you are in a group, there's not a big risk of loss or any real need to back out of a fight. If dying meant starting over with your skillls (meaning you couldn't possibly fix a car let alone a heli as a new spawn), then acquiring and keeping those skills might make one think twice about engaging in a fight. I also agree that "notoriety" could play a role in the game and you shouldn't be able to change your username... I don't know that this will happen because courting streamers seems to be a popular thing for developers nowadays. There are ways to impose a sort of community morality without morality being a game mechanic in and of itself. It will be interesting to see how clothing plays a role - gangs of baddies in red hoodies and motorcycle helmets. I also think there should be a body timer... if you die, your teammates or the guy who killed you has about 10 minutes to gather what gear they can get from the body or it's lost forever.

On second thought, I don't wish that... Take On Mars is an exercise in frustration as an Early Access title. If DayZ was in the condition Take On Mars is in as of this weekend (at least the Space Program part of it)... you'd lose people quick.

No, no release date set... he just says it's not ready as of this particular multiplayer test. Yes, he describes some of the elements he feels should be in place before the alpha can be released. At the moment, he says there's nothing really there for people to enjoy playing. I wish they could do an Early Access release like BI has done with Take On Mars, but perhaps it's not even ready enough for that level of release.

Thanks for the update. I love the look at injury... seeing the guy limp away is very cool. And, the other stuff that was showcased is really fantastic. It's coming along! Whether or not it's the focus at the moment, I was wondering about the zombie targeting mechanics and the concept behind sight and sound when it comes to detection of players. This has been and continues to be something worked on with the mod and is, of course, a very difficult thing in the mod to get working well. My thought has always been that sight and sound should operate differently - that zeds should only truly aggro on two occasions - when they see a player, or if there is a sound loud enough to "startle" them into a frenzy. My thought has always been that for walking, small gun fire and certain repairs that zeds should become "interested" in the target and move toward it, but not aggro unless they see a player - even if the player isn't the one making the noise. And, that when attracted to noise, they go toward where they heard the sound and then roam again if no player is seen. I've expressed this idea in more detail here. So, my question to rocket, I guess, would be: What is the zombie AI like in terms of player targeting? And, are there plans to make it more dynamic than it currently is in the release version of the mod. I'm not referring to pathing - which I've seen and read is changing dramatically, but to player detection. As for the leaping zeds, apart from the current frequency of that particular type of animation, I like it. It doesn't seem unrealistic as a running leap - again, people are really exaggerating the distance. As for the comments about the "energy" and strength of the zeds, it all depends on the nature of the infection. Rabies, for example, is an infection... that doesn't seem to make the body weaker, it affects the brain. To be infected with something doesn't mean you necessarily become weaker... there are many neurological parasites that simply alter behavior - cordyceps and toxoplasma gondii, for example. It is believed that roughly 1/3 of the world population is infected with toxoplasma gondii - a parasite that has been linked to schizophrenia. Does this mean those people are physically weaker? If a parasite alters the way adrenaline works in the body, for example, you could see infected people with incredible strength and speed. So, open your minds when it comes to the nature of these zombies... what "zombification" by parasite can do in the real world is, frankly, disturbing.

Stealth? Who needs stealth with the hotfix? Just walk right into town and take what you want with little attention paid by the zeds. ;) At one point I just sit on the sidewalk and watch the zeds go by. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjZ0E0LlJCo

So, yesterday, I did my first long recording of gameplay. Normally, I just record to illustrate bugs and provide proof of hacking and such. I feel there are some issues with the hotfix... the devs know that there are as well and are working on some fixes. So, this video, while originally recorded to show how easy the patch made playing and illustrating some faults, is now meant more to show my gameplay (dull as it may be), show some of the fun I had with the hotfix, and to illustrate that getting an infection is in no way a death sentence. In total, I recorded 1 1/2 hours of footage and wanted to show it unedited so that people can see just how long one can survive on low blood with an infection. I've cut the video up into 3 parts and recorded another part on Twitch this morning. So, if you're bored and want a snooze... check it out. Part I: A Walk in the Park with Zeds - no zeds were harmed in the making of this video... can't say as much for Part 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjZ0E0LlJCo&feature=youtu.be Part 2: The Dinner Bell, will be posted later.

Well... I'll never know how long I could've survived with an infection. Was playing with one other guy on the server and the sky went from night to day and then I was killed... death by skiddie-douche. Bah! http://www.twitch.tv/entspeak/c/2451422

Still having ammo eaten by the backpack if there's not enough room for the weapon and the ammo. Even though there's no room, the game pulls in all of the weapons ammo and destroys it.

Played yesterday and a bit today and, in game, I've been infected for almost 3 1/2 hours with incredibly low blood. The infection didn't give me low blood, the zeds did - took a bit, but they did it. When I was infected, my blood icon was empty with a skull in it... over 3 hours later, I'm still alive and I haven't had a blood bag. Infection is survivable. From full blood to death can take an hour by infection alone. I've eaten cans of beans, cooked meat and raw meat (still don't have a matchbox). So, I'm relying on the food mechanic for blood restoration. As a result, I've managed to get my blood back up enough that there's a red sliver in the icon. In addition to looking for antibiotics, I've gone about my day... looking for ammo, tent, etc... I just have to make sure I have some food... which can be a bit stressful - but that's the game. I will say this though... I'm at the point that if I see a player, I will kill them to see if they have antibiotics or a can of beans. I don't have enough blood to risk a robbery, so I have to shoot first and check their inventory later. I'm not a KoS player, but this is life or death (not the "life or death sometime in the future" mentality most bandits play with), so the situation I've found myself in has changed my gameplay. And that's what this game is all about. Suicide is boring. Having a mechanic of the game temporarily turn a hardcore survivor into a coldblooded killer... that's fun.

I think new spawns should occur along the middle of the map from West to East near roads. New players will be disoriented for a bit, but people will have more options for gearing up before heading off to where they want to hang. And new spawns would have a 360 degree avenue of escape rather than being forced to choose between running toward trouble or into the sea.

This isn't hate mail, just my thoughts on the hotfix based on a few hours of play. In terms of the zeds, it functioned fine... immersion was fine with 1.7.7. It wasn't perfect, but it's never going to be perfect. People may have had a point about infection, the clunky knockdowns and getting hit from a good distance away (I thought this last was a problem as well), but in terms of getting aggro'd the zeds were actually a threat. With the hotfix, out in the open in the middle of Cherno, I killed 10 zeds in a couple of minutes with only a Lee Enfield and 2 clips (with 2 bullets left over - mostly looking down the sights during the aggro) without having to run for cover and lived to tell the tale with very little blood loss and no infection. That was wave 1... perhaps, I was lucky. But, then I then killed 6 more in the same spot using the last of my Enfield rounds and my M1911. I only ran for cover when I was out of ammo. I was able to walk upright most of the time and not draw aggro in Cherno - a PvP wet dream. My thought is, it's too easy. Now people may say: you wouldn't be able to be out in the open and do that on a high pop server... but that's not the point. Yes, players are a threat, I don't think we've ever had a problem with the players not being a threat... the zeds, however, have gone back to being a mild nuisance... fairly easily dispatched and only occasionally giving you a wollop that's harder than a shiatsu massage. You can now waltz into markets and houses looking for loot with very little threat. And, if you do draw aggro, you can easily outrun it and lose it. The upside is, that they don't seem to hit you from far away anymore and they don't give you an infection as often - though, you definitely still have a chance of getting it. I love the new knockdown animation... I wish it happened more often and I hope that sometime we'll get a cool knockdown animation for those using a pistol. It will also be interesting to see how the new zed spawning mechanic works with PvP. When you're on your own, you walk into a town and it seems empty... but that's because zeds are spawning inside buildings. It takes a bit of time for them to come outside - if they ever do. My two cents. :)

Places where more people go will always have fewer resources... that's just the nature of demand with limited supply. If you get infected in Cherno or Elektro, you will find it hard to get antibiotics. Perhaps, you shouldn't go to Cherno unprepared?

Here are a couple of examples of the new "Viral" zeds compared to their 'non-viral' counterparts. There are a few more, but I don't want to give it all up. So, if it's dirty and extremely bloody... chances are, it's a zed who will make you sick.

The amount of hyperbole in here is going to cause some kind of trigonometric meltdown any moment.

Ummm... newp. They spawn in forests, too.

welcome to the zombie apocalypse. *** Will also add that antibiotics also spawn in industrial areas. Found some at the Polana Factory within about half an hour of fresh spawning near Solni.

The way zeds work and have always worked in DayZ: Believe me, I've had my issues with the zeds - had chats with devs of this mod and others who have strengthed the zeds. They will never be perfect. The key is balancing threat with glitch. First: zeds don't constantly scan for you, they take snapshots every couple of seconds... so, a zed may not hear you or see you because you fall into that window where they aren't paying attention. They also have a fairly narrow field of view - during testing I was able to be almost directly in front of one without it seeing me. Since field of vision works as a cone spreading out from the point of view, the farther away you are, the easier it is for them to spot you at an angle. They also can only see for 100m - which seems a fairly short distance... unless you're in a town. The farther away you are, the more likely you will be in their field of view - that's just the way vision works. So... what this means is... one farther down the street is more likely to spot you than the one right next to you if you are crouch walking. The way to deal with this is to make sure you are not just paying attention to the position of zeds near you when you are moving. It is actually the zeds farther off that you have to worry more about when it comes to being seen. And, it is only the new, "Viral" zeds that have the increased chance of infection. Learn to recognize them. They look like other zeds, but they are dirtier and covered in blood... you will come to know them when you see them. If you see them, just know... either take them out stealthily before they aggro... or avoid them. In other words... adapt. I've seen so many videos of players simply taking hits by zeds so that they can take a shot at another player... or take a couple of shots in order to loot a body or a building. Welp, this is the answer to that. Lo and behold, now you will have to actually deal with zeds in this zombie survival game. It's a welcome change.

Just make sure they aren't next to other buildings or trees... and you can no longer spawn custom buildings inside other buildings. ;) Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

Ah... so, you spent 3 hours looking for one can of beans and then spent another 3 hours looking for a hunting knife and never found it? I played for a few hours today on US3279, a 100 slot server with close to 40 players on it at that time - found what I needed pretty quick... wasted most of my time heading back to my favorite camp area only to have a hard time finding a good place to put my tent. Now, some of that was dumb luck - on the part of some other poor sod who died in the middle of the road in Stary. I got my Czech pack off of him, along with his MP5SD, M4 CCO and that tent. But I was infected and found a couple of antibiotics in a loot pile in a house and a CZ550 in the long white barn. People are looking in the wrong places for things and relying on resources that are more scarce while not paying much attention to others that aren't. People aren't thinking outside the box. I passed up a number of hunting knives, water bottles because I'd already found one. The problem is people want to do one stop shopping in Cherno and Elektro and that's no longer possible - especially with the zed situation being what it is. Adapt. Survival of the fittest. And that no longer means simply the guy who's got the best weapon.

No... looking for one can of beans for 3 hours is just silly. Why would anyone spend 3 hours looking for one can of beans? In 3 hours you could likely find a hunting knife, a hatchet and matchbox, if you looked hard enough and didn't limit yourself to the big cities. Then you wouldn't need a can of beans. Hell, the only thing you really need to find is a hunting knife and something to kill an animal with. You can light the barrels in the various cities in towns where they exist and cook the meat.The problem is that nobody wants to think outside the box, they want the game spoon-fed to them: "Give me beans, so I can stave off hunger, coke so that I can not be thirsty and a good gun so I can get my kill fix... all in half an hour, please." "Make it easier to survive so that I can get back to the important work of gathering with friends to shoot people, hello zombie - stay over there, please, while I take this shot, thank you very much." Why on earth would you need to go from Three Valleys to NWAF while infected? You were making a ton of noise. And noobs running around Cherno looking for antibiotics preeeetty much get what is coming to them. They will either learn not to do that again... or... they won't. Played on a 100 slot server with close to 40 people on it. Was infected... killed a goat and took the meat, cooked it up and ate a steak. Watched a couple of people leave Stary to hit up a nearby heli crash. Went into a house and found 2 antibiotics in one loot pile. Found some good weapons, too... an MP5SD and an M4 CCO... on some poor sod who couldn't handle the zeds, I imagine - along with his Czech backpack and a tent.

Yeah... that's why I stay out of the Cherno area when the majority of people are "awake." :) It's a really dangerous place, I hear. If I was running around Cherno like that, I would deserve to be shot. If I fresh spawn in Cherno, you know the first place I go? Away from Cherno. I know I can get most of the way to Stary before I have to drink and all the way there before I have to eat... and there are a ton of houses, barns and ponds between Cherno and Stary. Maybe my next video will be on how not to aggro zeds in the first place and how to deal with them before they become a problem. I aggro'd those ones on purpose to illustrate a point. If I had a hatchet, I would've taken care of them before they aggro'd. These zombies are not dead humans.

Overall, I like the new update. Yes, there are issues: the zombies are more erratic in close quarters and they can hit you instantly if you're not careful, the restrictions on where you can place a tent are a bit much (you can't place them under tree branches or even next to a building, it seems). But, I have to laugh when people complain that the majority of deaths are due to zombies... really? In a zombie survival game? Shocking!! Seriously, that's as it should be. No longer can you be engaged in a fight among the zeds and expect to be able to focus solely on your enemy... if you have zeds around, you have to deal with them and if you try simply to get out of the way, you'll be knocked down. For all the "joy" of geared up squad firefights, that's not what this game is primarily about and, for a while, the mod seemed to lose sight of that. That's not to say you can't do that anymore, but it means it's more of a challenge to do it and survive. You can avoid the zombies, but you can no longer ignore the zombies. They are more of a threat now. I realize this translates into "greater annoyance" for many, but that's simply because it's not you that's actually in danger, it's your character. For everyone complaining about "trains" of zombies for hundreds of meters, come on... either you're exaggerating or you simply don't know how to ditch a zombie. Yes, it's a bit harder to ditch the aggro, but if you're running for hundreds of meters with a train following you, you aren't using the terrain to your advantage... that isn't an issue with the mod, it's an issue with your ability to play the game. Yes, loot is rarer, but it's not impossible to find. If you only look for beans and coke... well, I don't know what to tell you. I've seen plenty of water bottles... and, once you find a knife, matches and a hatchet, you can hunt. You know those four legged things walking around on the map? You can eat them. Can't find a bloodbag? Meh... no sympathy here, I've rarely used them myself - relying primarily on the ever tougher cooked meat health mechanic. And, antibiotics? Technically, they are more available because there's a chance they can spawn in residential buildings - and there are a ton of those on the map. If you want to know how to stave off bloodloss until you can find antibiotics, please refer to the mention of the four-legged things above. The blood regen of one piece of meat is enough to replenish blood lost from infection so long as you don't wait too long to eat. In other words... adapt... that's what survival and this game is all about... adapting to your environment. If that's not for you, then... perhaps this game isn't for you. There's so much potential for interesting and exciting PvP when the zeds are a part of it... it's not just you and another player, your squad vs another squad; it's your squad, the other squad and the zeds - that's the way it should be. Man, if I were in a squad, I can already think how I would handle the new zeds in a firefight... get creative. I can't imagine the amount of disappointment many are going to feel when the standalone comes out and gets developed. The complex survival mechanics that have been described are going to drive people bonkers, if they can't handle this. Imagine how "annoying" it's going to be when you have to crap during a firefight because you've got cholera.