Sinaz20

What a shitty thing to say.

I like the dynamic range during the daytime, though, because it allows me to use the sun tactically-- I mean... using light and shadow to avoid detection was a skill I developed playing Ghost in the Graveyard and Hide and Seek games during summer nights as a child. Street lights, passing cars, anything to distract from and mask my silhouette. During the day, keep your silhouette against the shade side of foliage. Man up! ...er... child up! Or something-- just learn from experience and get better. That's how most people do it.

Well, last night, I was on a server that was overcast-- even in 3rd person, I couldn't see ME... and I know my character as dressed mostly in khakis. Everything was black except for the sky and vertical surfaces. Despite this crippling darkness, I encountered a guy who was exceptionally more comfortable in the darkness than I was. First, he spotted me by swiping his flashlight down a street. Then he started tossing flares at me, flushing me through a building and into active evasion. He kept tossing flares uncannily close to me. I kept managing to get back into pitch blackness and cover, but I could tell he was able to track my silhouette as I moved because he basically chased me with flares. I managed to get behind a wall, but when he finally caught up with me, he spotted me first and killed me with no resistance. Hats off to this guy. I learned something valuable from him... and now I really look forward to another pitch black server so I can put this experience into practice. I feel like I was doing everything right-- and it came down to a coin toss whether or not I managed to ambush him. There was a point where it seemed like he lost me-- there was a long period before he threw another searching flare. I had been covered by the corner of a building and I was scanning the source direction for the flare. I probably was completely undiscovered. Instead of waiting him out and catching him on the move, I decided to seek better cover to avoid the flare. I think at that point I exposed myself and lost any initiative I had gained. Sorry-- that turned into a story. TL;DR: Some people are really freaking good at engaging in pitch blackness because they are bold and clever. [Edit]After re-reading my last paragraph, I'm just acknowledging that obviously I DID do something wrong :P[/edit]

Part 1: We Spurn Our Brothers Linked up with a buddy in Chenarus. We respawned to give us both a fresh start and not have to sprint across the map from corner to corner to meet. Made way to the apartments and hospital in Cherno. Bounded to the northern most building, checking the windows for movement. Looked clear, moved in. Cleared building, took turns looting while the other covered the front door. Found a Winchester, no ammo, odds and ends... mostly soda. My buddy found a 1911. Covered each other across the expanse to the apartment building catercorner to the one we were in. Repeated clearing process and looting turns. Found another Winchester for my buddy, no ammo. Suddenly-- "Whoa-- someone is entering the building across the way!" My buddy is watching out the 2nd story landing. "Hospital?" "No. The apartments we were just in-- shit, there's two of them!" "Keep your eye on the building, let's wrap up here." I go about searching. "I see him in the up stairs window." Then gunfire. Realized he was shooting Zeds. We wait, spying out the windows to see what's going to transpire. "Shit! He's coming our way!-- Both of them!" "I'll tell them to go away." "No, just take them out." We quickly get into position- my buddy stays up high providing security, I cover the stairs. The first guy comes up slowly, covering his corners well. As soon as I have a clear shot, I unload half a clip from my Makarov. He goes down, but sends a lucky bullet through me. I'm immediately low on blood. I manage to bandage, but we are jockeying roles on the stairs in case the infiltrator's friend follows up. I manage to stabilize, but I'm hyperventilating and in shock. Buddy covers me with his 1911. We look into the guy's pack and find blood... lots of it. We manage to patch me up-- transfusion, morphine, pain killers. Essentially, field surgery. I elect to cover the stairs waiting for the 2nd survivor, tell my buddy to hurry up and clear the building. Part 2: An Opportunist Announces Himself We decide to move to the next building-- Buddy covers flank from doorway while I bound to the apartment. I get to the alley quickly check my corner and spot a dead survivor-- our infiltrator's buddy, agroed by Zed. I stop to investigate. We find some more useful gear and Winchester shells. I suggest my buddy make his way to the apartment while I cover him from the alley. He makes his way towards the door and a bullet skips off the asphalt. My buddy leaps for the door. "SNIPER! SNIPER!" We figure the shot came from down the road, but we can't spot him. I make a mad dash into the building. We clear the building, and begin spotting out the windows. We can't find this guy, and we want to leave. I go back down to the front door and try leaning out to do some spotting. PAP PAP PAP! Shots impact all around me, I duck back inside. My buddy alerts me, "Oh, I got him-- He's on the silos." I move up to the window to confirm. We make a plan. I will provide cover fire- my buddy will make a dash across the asphalt. I fire on the sniper with the Winchester-- I know it's unlikely I'll hit him, but I do manage to chase him from his perch. My buddy makes his dash. Success. I move down to the door ready to make my sprint. "Hold! He's back-- wait for my signal." My buddy takes aim from the edge of the Hospital. Fires a few rounds. "GO!" I sprint. Make it to the Hospital. We hunker down for a moment and listen for Zed-- a few are agroing, but we don't have a fix. We let them come, and I take them all down with my Makarov-- no sense inviting more Zed to us. We exfil along the groves to the north... we're moving slow, checking our line of sight to the silos. Fortunately, we see a broadcast of our sniper's demise. We're home free. My buddy is aching to tell me something. "You know when you were bleeding out and I was covering you?" "Yeah, thanks." "I didn't have any ammo for my 1911." :s

I see this comment a lot. I can tell you from personal experience I've been in a bivouac pulling security in a forest where it was black and a slightly darker shade of black. After an hour of staring at nearly nothing, I could finally separate the edges of trees in the distance. I don't think the level of darkness presented in the game during overcast night is very "fun"... but I've been in that real life situation.

Well... to be perfectly honest... about 5 minutes later, we were in the forest sorting loot. My buddy, who is still a little new to the Arma II interface was fumbling about, and I was trying to help him through the gear menu... When some dude walked up on us and shot us both before we could close our menus. So-- we went from this great tactical infil/exfil to death by stupidity. :D

Yeah, but Rocket works for Bohemia... so in buying Arma II, you are supporting the company that's going to bring you the end product of DayZ.