tommy290

Good info here: http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/147661-my-survival-suggestions-for-noobz/ Also, I'm finding Epoch to be easier (I'm relatively new to playing DayZ). The fact that you can buy and sell stuff is nice, which means if necessary you can buy any item you're having trouble finding. There are a few buildings to look out for. Firestations (big doors on the side with a tower), churches, grocery store, hospital, office building, warehouses, barns. Most of these have at least two entrances, making escape easier. Churches only have one, but they're big and it's easy to run around zombies that come in (as long as you don't have a horde in the doorway). The hospital doesn't have doors per se, but rather windows you shatter (throw an empty can at the far left or right window to shatter them all) and zombies can't cross the barrier (but will hit you if you stand too close). Be careful of climbing ladders if zombies are around. You can get stuck on top of a building pretty quick, and you make yourself an easy target for snipers. Running away from zombies is the way to go unless you have a lot of ammo and are a good shot. They only walk indoors, as mentioned. They also only walk up steep inclines, so head for the hills. They will chase forever, unless you get far enough away and break line of sight. This is very easy though. I like to run around buildings, hop over fences, etc. Depending on what server you play on, you can also ask for help. Lots of people have Skype/Teamspeak, so you'd be able to talk without telling everyone your position. Sure, you might get ambushed, but there really are a lot of good people who will gladly help you.

The TMW people I've met so far have all been really cool.

Better than 95% of what's on TV right now.

And boom goes the dynamite.

Didn't know about holding left shift to walk. Nice tip.

Crouch to avoid zombies without it taking forever to get somewhere. Took me awhile to learn this, as I was getting fed up with crawling from so far away. When you get zombies chasing you, just run around buildings. Pretty easy to lose most of them. Also learn the buildings that are open inside and have multiple exits. Much easier to lose zombies if they chase you into a building and start walking. Run out other side and you'll be long gone when they come out. The Enfield is called a dinner bell for a reason. Probably stay away from the tops of buildings in the big towns. Easy target for snipers. Personally, I also play loose and dangerous after first spawning. Why be careful until you at least have the basic gear you need to survive (ax, matches, etc as originally posted)? May as well be fearless and stock up quickly.

I'm sold. I'm gonna switch to TMW.

I wonder what would give them that idea?

Germans are a fiesty bunch, aren't they?

Technically, I was the one that blamed all Germans and you. Diddums was an innocent bystander.

There are some older gents at Musty Gaming: http://mustygaming.com/Forum/ Servers in US, EU, and AUS. Personally, I just started playing on the US server. EST evenings mostly. Although, I'm not sure I qualify as an old fart yet. Getting there though! Also, don't have Skype but Musty has a Teamspeak server that's quite interesting.

I'll second Musty: http://mustygaming.com/Forum/ Lots of really nice people, servers in US, EU, and AUS, active admin. Can't really go wrong there.

It seems that opening my backpack causes one of two things to occur, and I don't know why it's different. In one scenario (which happens most often), nothing changes except it shows the number of items from the list that are in the pack on the left side, and the number of items that are in inventory on the right. However, other times a new screen pops up on the right side (where it normally shows your player with the slots for weapons, items, vision, tools, etc) and it shows all the contents of the pack. For the life of me I can't figure out how to do one or the other consistently. I think it's easier to see all the pictures of stuff in the pack, but I can't get it to show it all the time. Am I missing something?

Hahahaha. I completely agree with these two. I agreed with everything else too, but these two were key for me. I found that the instruction booklets that came with my components were extremely helpful. I'm sure someone who builds PCs for a living might know all the stuff, but for a guy like me that only does it every couple years, it was great having everything labeled and laid out. I admit that I had the mobo completely installed, hooking up components, when I realized I didn't put in the i/o shield. Had to take it all apart again. Live and learn. :)

I put Windows 8 on my new PC and I'm loving it. Not sure what all the fuss is about. I've already eliminated most of what people complain about, or already figured out how to do what I need without a Start button. It seems to run quite well. Also, have you thought about getting a SSD for the OS/main programs? I bought a 128GB Samsung 840 Pro Series. Holy crap does it make the boot time fast. Seems to run all my programs quite well too. If money isn't an object, I recommend. :)

They added giant spiders to DayZ. You just keep getting eaten.

Someone was chasing me saying "let me love you!" First time they shot me, as I couldn't figure out how to talk to them. Second time I was able to let them know it was me, and we ran around a bit, then I ran away. Good times. Always funny when you run into other people.

Were you the one that did this to me the other day? :)

I have yet to find a single sandbag or etool. I wanted to make stashes, but no can do without tools. I have run into an ATV though. Shoulda stolen it, but then it would've angered the original owner. :)

If all you have is a hatchet and tin cans, then why on earth do you care if they kill you? Personally, I'd hop on direct chat and see if they'd consider kidnapping you instead. Tell them you don't have any weapons, but you just don't want to die. Let them know that you could be useful, for example to attract zombies or lure other players out into the open. It won't be long before Stockholm syndrome sets in and you'll be one of the gang.

I am running the home (not professional) version of Windows 8 and DayZ works just fine for me. Although I would recommend just getting DayZcommander (http://www.dayzcommander.com/) instead of trying to download everything separately. I got Arma II and all that installed through Steam, but then had DayZcommander do the rest. For some reason the Arma II: OA installed from Steam wasn't the right one so DayZcommander installed what I needed.

I think one of the best pieces of advice is not taking big risks. I have a severe problem of doing that, and it often gets me killed. However, that's how it goes. I'm not interested in killing other players, so I don't care about getting big guns or whatever. My goal right now is to just find antibiotics and blood bags to help other people. So I try to figure out the best way to get to hospitals and other places that might have medical supplies. I've determined that I'm not very good at being a ninja, so I try to concentrate on big buildings where I can get away from the zeds. Instead of going in a door (when being chased by zombies), I run by it and look sideways to make sure it has a separate exit. If not, I don't go in because I will get trapped. I'm learning to not climb ladders either, unless I haven't aggro'd anything. I've gotten myself into a couple sticky situations by climbing up to a scaffold only to learn there's not a ladder at the other end. That's not good if a zombie follows you up the first ladder. I also tend to stick around a city too long and get the entire population of zombies chasing me. That's a bad strategy. I have much better luck when I go in, hit a couple good spots, then get out of dodge. Go check a couple buildings outside of town, let everything get back to normal, then come back if you want to try again. Hunting is a great tip. So glad I figured that out. Although, but sure you're not in range of zeds. I made the mistake of shooting a goat with a Lee Enfield right next to a heli crash site. Who knew so many zombies were around?! But yeah, I much prefer hunting to silly cans of food. Normally I start my life by trying to find the matches/axe/knife/weapon combo and then go fill up on meat. My only other bit of wisdom: just don't give a crap. Not everyone can do this or wants to do this. But it's how I deal. I just don't care. If I die, oh well. I will either go try to reclaim my body (if it's not too far) or I just start over. I figure one of these days I'll have the ultimate successful loot run and get so stocked up that I can go set up a stash or tent and start collecting goods. Until then, I just die and learn. I'm a complete noob, so I still get lost in pretty much every city, I have to look at an online map when I spawn to figure out where to go, and I have to take an abnormal amount of time to lose zombies chasing me. At this point, I figure why worry. Once I have a better grasp on the game as a whole, I might decide to start having longer lives. Until then, it's party time.

More people need to try not killing everything that moves. Granted, I haven't been playing very long, but I have not taken a single shot at another player even when given ample opportunity (and them being totally unaware of my presence). It's still been a great amount of fun. To each their own, but I would rather help people. Also, I think from a strategy standpoint, new players might want to consider the knowledge advantage veteran players might have. If you go blasting away at someone, they could very well have friends who will gun you down or will be able to find you quickly after they respawn. So sometimes it might be in a noob's best interest to let sleeping does lie. I will commend the point about crouching and prone. That is about the best tip ever. My first couple games I couldn't figure out how not to get attacked (I was upright running past everything). Once you start using crouch and prone, things get so much better.

Can a stash be destroyed by other players, or can it only be raided?

I've been having a blast on US46! I'm brand new to DayZ, but the BB people have been very patient in answering my million questions. I can't say how the server compares to others as it's the only one I've played on, but I can say that I haven't had any issues. There's usually a lot of people on when I play and the experience has been just what I expected. I'm starting to really like Teamspeak too, as it's much easier than trying to use side chat for everything. The guys I've talked to are hilarious. Makes the game way better. I've even had a couple guys let me team up with them so they could show me the ropes. All in all, I'd highly recommend people check out the server. I've found that there are awesome people there who all have different ways of playing DayZ. Doesn't matter if you want to be a lone-wolf, medic, or assassin. The server has them all which makes the game very interesting.