wulfenrider@msn.com

If you want to get people cooperating to a greater degree.....how about being very brutal in terms of what equipment you can carry. Make it that every character can carry a map,compass and watch as a standard belt inventory.....and only another two slots for other items, and one melee. Melee...axe OR survival knife. Binoculars OR NVG's. Maybe have a medical kit that replaces all items other than the emergency field dressing,pain killer,morphine...that has to be carried on your toolbelt. You could still survive by looting and scavenging...but it is going to really ramp up the difficulty and you could not really depend on looting other players for your items.

Mission Update 4 Servers.....French. Canadian. Time.........pretty much on and off all day. Started today's antics of a couple of French servers at random, making a change having a good ping for once and playing in the same timezone. Language obviously proved a bit of a problem....not any excuse from me as France is only 26 miles from England, I will learn it one day when we invade them again. This was the first time I have managed to treat an injured player with success in this manner, saw an injured male character crawling across a field heading into Cherno....a well equipped character with an m16 and large pack etc. I ran ahead of them in full view with a flare ( daylight ) and tried to initiate a conversation...we could not really hold a conversation however I think at one point we were discussing Pixie Lott's tits. I left a morphine injector, pain killers, field dressing and 3 steaks ahead of him on the ground and saluted and scooted off. The character crawled to the gear and used the items, gave me a couple of salutes then turned around and headed back the way he came...presume so, to get some infected revenge. He left me two frag grenades and a smoke grenade! Mission a success....and you do get a good feeling when you help out like that. The rest of the day, proved far less a success. Being sniped at distance with no communication or challenge when restocking from a medical tent in Berezino on Canadian server, then repeated killings at spawn from being unlucky enough to appear where their local hacker was nuking the cities. Lesson learnt. 1) Language is not an excuse for not communicating....just resort to Pixie Lott's tits. 2) Having a side channel comms, does not mean people will use it...even if they are not under threat. 3) Hackers.....?

As has been stated before, at this stage of development I am sure that actual game play mechanics and balancing are higher up the list than fluff for the background story...you might even see the country DayZ is set in changing. It also depends how far down the authentic and realism route you want to go with these things. If you want to go to full realism, then you would be spending a great deal of time, cleaning some of your more modern western weaponry after crawling through the mud,rain, saltwater and gunked zombie than would really add to the game.The MP5 variants spring to mind here in being infamous in needing rigid cleaning and maintenance. There should be a huge bias in Soviet weaponry and vehicles in the games present setting but in the grand scheme of things, just wait till they get around to it.

Mission Update 3 Server......Various UK and Portugal FR6 Time.........GMT 10:00 to 15:00 roughly. Having spent all last night driving off-road through woodland at work, I was in hind sight a little too tired to play well this morning....Hence the Noob mistake of clicking respawn instead of abort. Whoever finds the fully stocked 24 slot backpack with fresh cooked steaks, G17 and mags etc next to a roaring fire...good luck. Mission Disaster Through bad luck or me just being crap, I managed to spawn next to instant aggro zombies a good half dozen times and effectively instant death. In a change of tactics I was now playing on Daylight servers to hopefully get over the problem of inadvertently sneaking up on and maybe causing players to panic shoot. FR6 Portugal Server still has side chat enabled, and to be honest it did make a difference in a simple way of bringing DayZ from a brutal single player game, back into a not so brutal multi-player game.....but that is a seperate argument. I could immediately inform other players as to my intent and plans..even though being newly spawned I could not actually offer medical assistance as of yet. But I could provide map and location advice and I could leave small stockpiles of emergency food/drink weapons in areas for struggling players.....as you can imagine, there is a massive amount of suspicion from the other players and quite rightly so. I do not believe this is really breaking the game atmosphere as I assume in real life, there would be shortwave radios/broadcasts even simple banners and posters put up in this respect.....It did make a very relieving change of getting shot from an unknown assailant and actually communicating with fellow humans. More time tomorrow after work to see if I can actually Provide medical help. MedicalBaBoon will be the tag....but please be aware that these names can be copied.

The Question. Does your real life impact on the way you play the simulation of DayZ? My Answer. Real Life. Occupation History. 16...................... Years British Army, Royal Engineer. 2....................... Years Private Military Contractor. 2( present )......... Yrs Defence Contractor. Impact in game. 1) I do not by instinct shoot on sight on an unknown target. 2) I will return fire or shoot first if I witness an act of banditry or observe a known bandit. 3) I will help other players ( sometimes just leaving items on the spawn beaches ) with out reward needed. 4) It goes against my ethos to work solo. 5) I find it massively frustrating for the in game lack of communication....the single most important aspect in any environment is communication of intent. 6) I find no pleasure in player killing, but do in creating,constructing, helping. Just post what you believe applies to you...It might be an interesting result.

Just as food for thought. These are not in-game at all, but if something like this was used for a medical character.....would that be a visual solution to being shot on sight? I am thinking of a actual choice where the survivor has to swap a equal sized normal backpack over with one of these at a hospital/medic tent to gain one.....you cannot just pick one up. No slots for a primary ballistic weapon. etc

Thank you for the advice and feedback, some of the server invites I will take up once the experiment is over. I have checked out what some really organised player groups are doing as well....very good work. Again, I really appreciate the offers of escorts and such. I just need to complete this week working solo to see if a single player/new player could possibly role themselves as anything other than hunter/hunted if they jump into the game. This is obviously going to prove a challenge either in a full game if its not implemented let alone a simulation that is going through extensive alpha testing. I know a fair few people who love the concept of this game in all aspects except the full on combat aspect of it, players who would love to play as medics or in an another essential support role.....which they already do in other types of mmorpgs that allow it. Now I do not want to dangle the a juicy carrot as bait here....but every single one of those players I am on about are female players....a missed resource? For those worried about the mental impact of such a experiment I have prepared. a) I am ex-military, so waking up in some bizarre place ( drunk ), eating crap food and drinks of questionable origin( while drunk ), dealing with hordes of dangerous hive mind like individuals ( drunk while with more drunks ) should prove fortunate. b) watched some " Friends " episodes to burn all my emotions out of me. c) I have been eating red freshly slaughted cat and dog with mountain dew to get into the mindset needed.

Mission Update 2...using mates account as working away from home tonight. Server: Several Russian ones at Random. Location: New spawns at beach and initial spawn in Electro. Time: Various Spawn 1 Appeared in the world crouched between two bushes on the edge of the woods overlooking the fields north of Electro, basic equipment of axe, pistol and medical supplies.Local time unknown, still dark. Whip out my map to plan my route when " BLAM " headshot and killed in one hit, collapse to floor etc etc. Take 2 Respawn on unknown beach and see almost immediately to my left a firefight with a gaggle of infected and two players, One who is running around in circles with a lit flare and the other who appears to be shooting sea gulls.One player is knocked down and the other spots more pretty sea gulls and runs after them shooting with the infected chasing him. Jog over to downed but alive player with a " Medic " in direct chat and voice a few times and start to bandage him with my single bandage. " Blam " unknown shooter kills me from somewhere nearby. Take 3 Spawn on beach in sight of docks, just starting to get daylight. Loot a nearby work shed and come up trumps with some flares, food and 3 bandages. Start walking towards the town making myself obvious unless avoiding infected. 2 players watching me approach, so I light a flare and keep hold of it for a few seconds then do a couple of salutes, drop flare and walk towards them....still out of direct comms range. As I get near, I am still saluting and being careful not to aggro anything and have no weapons showing ( have not got any ) I stop just in front of the two players watching me and type " Medic :) " when I get hit by several shots from an unknown source behind me. Take 4 Spawn in unknown location in daylight on the coast, i assume near to Balota. Jogging up the coast I come across 3 dead players bodies in a short space of time and then start taking incoming rounds from the town to my right, I run left and take a few hits and swiftly consumed by the infected. Lessons Learned 1) I need to perfect my standing still while holding a blue chemlight routine to continue being bullet proof. 2) Impossible to communicate over distance and especially if there is a language problem. 3) ex-soviet states do not do medics....the ex-soviet states medic you.

83: The animals in DayZ have no other aim in life than to be food for you, running or hiding is not in their DNA. 84: Rabbits in DayZ are made of titanium and are the exception to rule 83:

Ah shame that the dates collide with another event that I am going to, my main passion being adventure motorcycling.....the annual meeting of Horizons Unlimited is on those exact dates or I would have loved to come and joined in....I only live in Guildford. Good Luck.

Mission Update 1. Server: Atlanta 10 Time: 03:00 local Location: Stary Sobor Pitch black and rummaging around in the tented military camp for some medical supplies and a serviceable pistol.No attempt at stealth or guile and in fact doing the exact opposite..firing off my beloved M16 to kill the infected around the town before I ditch it for my new hatchet and illuminating myself with a rather fetching bright blue chem light. I suddenly hear a suspicious sound near me, and while stationary and lit like a Christmas tree started to type in local " Friendly...Medic, can I be of help and....." Where upon the suspicious looking bush opened up in rapid semi auto. I took this as a hint that they were not in need of my medical services and made my excuses and left. Fortunately I must have met the worst sniper in DayZ or one that was blind, because he/she did not manage to hit me once, even though you must have let off a full magazine at me.....obviously my running blindly into tents and dead ends and holding a bright blue chem stick confused you. When you slowly crouched around the large industrial hanger, I was indeed no more than 30 yards from you and had your skull in the m16 sights until you wandered off....good job I am a medic. Lessons Learnt 1) My fault I suppose, by getting some infected kills in, I assume I immediately broadcasted myself as hostile. 2) No attempt at all to communicate from the wall-eyed sniper even though they had me cold. 3) Continue using bright blue chemsticks and standing still as it makes you hard to hit.

Very good, happy to see you just left them at that rather than taking shots at them.

Like most of the best idea's......this is a simple and obvious solution. Well done on suggesting this as it is far more sensible than just popping morphine etc.

Good place to target, will do the same....I know about the wire, its a shame....but I like to pretend that its helping :)

Well, you can count me in on that one. I have been doing the same thing myself in between getting shot by fellow survivors. One twist though is that I do place wire/traps/sandbags as well, but I place them in a way that is helping people out....place the wires out front to channel infected and give survivors a route to aim for.Even been trying to construct a bunker kind of arrangement that is proving semi-crap.

Good Post. I share your frustration with this being used in a way to wind up other players either intentionally or not. With a mod like this, there is a great attempt to provoke realism but also to keeps things practical, and one part of that is in the use of field fortifications. In real life the placement of concertina wire/razor wire coils or low wire entanglement ( a carpet of barbed wire covering an area ) is actually quite robust, the coils are held in position by 2 foot pickets hammered into the ground and attached together by 16 gauge tensioned wire....there is really quite a science to its various configurations in aspects of tension and/or loose attachment to counter explosive blast damage etc. I.e. quite a sturdy construction that is awkward to put up and to pull down. A compromise suggestion maybe ? 1) Have the wire as it is now in game. 2) Make it that it cannot be placed inside a building to represent the pickets needing to be hammered in soft-ish ground. 2) A new tool needed to place and remove the wire....something like a Gerber Suspension tool that I have myself used quite effectively on wire placement?...carrying a sledgehammer is going over the top I believe, And lugging around a toolbox is too inventory punishing as well. Tank Traps Effectively metal I-beams forced into the ground in a pre-fabricated design or more often reinforced concrete constructions.Very labour intensive to construct and very robust, hence their ability to greatly wind up tank crews and get them throwing their teddy bears in the corner. Compromise Suggestion 1) Keep as they are in game except for a few changes. 2) Cannot be placed inside structures. 3) Cannot be taken down after placement with anything short of an explosive charge. 4) Need a Toolbox to place the tank traps. 5) Only a limited amount can be placed in an area. Sandbags These are not going to stop your infected or even an enraged sheep, for they are intended to stop small arms fire and fragmentation. These humble bits of fortification are very versatile and easily placed to perform whats needed in real life, they ARE USED INSIDE buildings and often placed in window openings and along exterior walls to greatly increase the buildings resistance to small arms.They are used to control access to buildings...you place them in doorways to block off or narrow the opening. Suggestion 1) Keep them as they are in game. 2) You Can place them inside buildings. 3) No tools needed to construct. 4) They do not really cause any great problems in game through griefing/bad placement...keep them as is .

I was thinking this same thing last night as I was running screaming in a slalom course of desperation between a couple of sheep with a huge train of ravenous infected behind me. Did they stop and tear apart the docile and rather stupid stationary lamb chop vendors......No! A good Idea from Takish, and a good suggestion from Copgun. Having a natural interaction between players,zombies and creatures could add greatly to the mod.....any one who has come face to tusk with a wild boar knows that the big gnarly sods don't just stand there and take rounds. 1) Fight or Flight response from creatures. 2) Hunting instinct from the infected. 3) Infected meat being uneatable unless you do a deal with McDonalds.

Well I managed to download v1.6.01 from the auto installer. However, hardly any servers are running the version yet which means I cannot play in their servers, so I would suggest giving it a little while until everyone is all up to date with the latest patch.