pinkdino99

tried for a few hours to get a game in this eve to no avail. Patience is a virtue, even on Friday nights :)

There are collectable cooking stones, firewood, matches, gas canisters, cooking stoves and cooking pots. None can be used as yet. I know what you are saying, I was desperate to cook me some rice !

Shorts ! YAY !

Rip the t-shirts into rags before you start bleeding + hotkey bandages or rags. Eat everything you can as soon as you can - a hotkey for the food makes this easier. By maxing out consumed water + food levels your healing rate is faster after damage and also frees up valuable space. Ammo magazines can be emptied so you again save space by stacking ammo. Blood types are different, find yours with a blood test kit (write it down !) and only accept a transfer if you know it is a match. When a zombie attacks, back off slowly until it lunges at you, then it'll pause for a second, long enough to bash it's brains in with an axe, bat or wrench. Ignore shovels, they are only good for digging holes to bury your friends and family. If someone handcuffs you .... JUST WIGGLE ! A wiggle with hands raised (F2) is the universal signal for friendly. Bandits usually wear masks. If they don't respond to voice chat and they are armed, shoot them. If you are moving stuff around in your packs and have a full inventory, don't put anything valuable on the floor, sometimes it'll just disappear. Other times it'll take +10 seconds to reappear. If you hear a gunshot run for solid cover (head down, zig and zag!). Don't just drop down in the grass as sniper rifles will still see you. The draw distance will not let the long grass you are hiding in show up in their scopes. All tips as of 17.01.13 - likely to change with updates

60 round MAG + ammo crate FTW

Sorry Badash, that was a misspost due to internet floppage. Due care and attention to carefully read and understand each post before replying has been taken. Sorry for the confusion there, have some beans Incidentally fyi, you can also stack x60 if it comes from a x60 mag which also takes 1 spot

Sorry that was a misspost - "Why empty the magazines?" Simply because the magazines come in x10, x20, x30 and x60. As a noob guide it's prudent to keep the biggest mags and ditch the small ones. Some peeps may not be aware that if you come across a small mag, you can still empty the shells into your inventory.

So it's been a long, sleepless week. I promised myself that I wouldn't stay up 'till 2am on a work night again after Tuesday night, so ended up crashing at 1.30am the next two nights. My lunch hours and breakfast internet activity has strangely been focused on the DayZ community website and some amazing DayZ videos on youtube. So my adventure continued. I was weak, a coward, and I'm ashamed to look in the mirror. I checked an online map , realizing that I was actually on the NORTH EAST corner of the world rather than the SW where my in game map (which I assumed was the full map !) hinted I might be. Oh yes, the map is some 24km squared. OMFG ! So I now fire up my MacBook and have izurvive.com running in parallel. It's a really cool interactive map with satellite, weapon, medical, water and food spawns included. In the back of my mind I know that it's cheating, but I was SO wrong with my initial assumptions that I need the help. Second I went to http://forums.dayzgame.com/ where you can put your name out onto the forums in the hope of finding like minded players to roam Chernarus with. I linked up with a gamer on Steam and we spent the first evening going to completely different locations in completely opposite directions, mainly because he didn't have a map to help him. Oh well, at least I started to get some good gear at last. My medical kits, which started out being a bit rubbish have by now started to, bit by bit, be replaced with some prestine gear. I have full camo gear with a pistol and a revolver in case I run into any nasty people. The head bonking zombie slayer axe is still working a treat, although I did have a few scares from some vicious mobs in some of the bigger towns. Wednesday and Thursday disappear. Still have not seen any people online. I have been inland the entire game, so plan to head down to the coast with the idea of finding people heading into Cherno. I have watched a couple of outstanding videos which I'd like to give credit to. The wonderful Merino DayZ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9YSGX22B6Z3k9-hJzJcz4w who taught me everything about eating, drinking, stamina and health in DayZ, and all the tricks that my medic will need to survive, and help other players in Chernarus. Also the hilarious jackfrags http://www.youtube.com/user/jackfrags who has remixed "Call me baby" with a DayZ theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS1wzdlu-WM His video "Betrayal" is one of the key reasons I bought this game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HvFrp7o9ss It is funny, heart warming and beautific. As he says mid way in "MAN I LOVE THIS GAME !!!" So I stumble across another airbase on the south coast. I now have a lovely automatic rifle with a prestine suppressor. I have 2 ammo crates full of ammo, 2 full medi-kits with a bunch of morphine, anti-biotics, blood packs ... the works. Now where are all the people ? My server is apparently jammed with them ? I still aim for Cherno, but pop into a few adjacent towns to fill my belly with food. In the second town, bricking it incase of snipers, I run into my first player. He approaches hands raised. We exchange food and I give him a gun. He states not to worry, he's a pacifist but I still worry ... a LOT. I tell him I'm going AFK to grab a beer and hover above the keyboard ready to pounce if he pulls my gun on me .... he doesn't ! Litmus test achieved, he's a top bloke. Now we are two ! HA HA !

I was under the impression you can "wiggle" out of handcuffs, no ?

Hello Matt .... My first DayZ session was 10.41pm-2am (on a work night), and I have logged 6pm-1am for the last two nights. My hands shake whilst I'm at work, and I keep reading forums and watching DayZ youtube videos. It gives me comfort that I am not alone in my addiction.

Morphine FTW (+Alchohol for the comedown) It's ok .... I'm a doctor !

Another point I picked up from reading the Jack Reacher books (he was an ex gold medal sniper in the USA Army) is that the curvature of the Earth, and gravity play a heck of a role in distances over 1000 meters. At distances over 1000 meters the number of shooters that are proficient at this range are very very few in the real world, and they have to practice all the time. Would be nice to see that balance here. Snipers are bullies at the end of the day.

If someone handcuffs you ..... JUST WIGGLE !!! (thanks JackFrags for totally putting that song in my head all week !)

A comprehensive guide about health/blood sickness and healing has been exhaustively researched online by Merino DayZ on you tube. Check him out and share the love. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9YSGX22B6Z3k9-hJzJcz4w

I want a pony

reason 6,142 why this game is awesome already

My first game last night and there was stacks of loot. On a 30+ population server I didn't see anyone in late session. It's the luck of the draw methinks. It did take me 2.5 hrs to get comfortably looted in though, and that was in an untouched area. Patience may be the key. Open doors should be a sure sign that a house/building has been done so I wouldn't bother.

I'd put money on that one of the strongest post apocalypse groups would likely be the fascists. Zero morality, universal hatred ... they'd be in nirvana !

IGN has put up a few posts about DayZ, and Naomi has been on twitter chatting about how much fun she's been having ... especially rolling down hills ... I thought I'd jump on youtube and have a look at some longplay videos. Whenever I have done this on games previous (Simcity), if I have watched more than 5 minutes worth of footage, then I know I'm going to end up making a purchase. Arma interested me, but I'm not a great fan of military games. I'm ok at FPS, but get tired mentally quite quickly, as the required adrenaline to sustain 10 straight deathmatches seems to be fading for me with age. DayZ seems to be the perfect mix of survival horror and epic size sandbox. I bought my first ever gaming headset on the way home, then a nice smooth and rapid transaction was made on Steam. Then came a miserable 3hr wait while it downloaded. For the record, if you do watch the clock, it does move REALLY SLOWLY ! Thanks goodness there was some football from the playoff weekend I could watch. So it's Tuesday night. It's a work night. The game is ready to play at 10.41 pm. I've got goosebumps. I spawn for the first time at some docks, which I later find out are on the very SW corner of the map. I'm instantly impressed by the feel of my surroundings. The grass, draw distance, sea all give a feeling of space around me. Space where I feel instantly vulnerable. I run for the warehouses at the docks. First building I check has a pink beanie hat for me. WOW ! They knew I was coming ! The keyboard controls are a little clunky, and for some reason 3rd person won't work. A little reading online suggests that some servers turn that function off. Oh well ! The other side of my brain is wondering how I'll deal with the other people playing, assuming they don't just snipe me from a distance. I want to appear useful and resourceful to them, so I plan to start collecting as much food, tools and medical supplies as I can. About an hour later, the controls are starting to feel more natural. I've even braved a few ladders to get some idea of the surroundings from a high vantage point. The small village surrounding the port has rewarded my search with a backpack, some decent walking shoes, a raincoat, camping gear, lots of food and some decent first aid packs. I carry a copy of the Bible I found for as long as I can justify the space. I am not religious, but I figure if the world has gone to s**t, then that's what I'd probably do in real life ! Best of all, I find a map, and hotkey it for quick use. I've bumped into a few zombies which have been axed quite efficiently, and I've had to bandage myself once. Looking at the map, I see a military base to the North. I'd really like a gun for defensive purposes, and also to help get into a negotiation with a small group to pimp out my medical and food supplying resources. I've gotten into the habit of drinking soda on sight. The last place in the village that I checked had a kitchen knife, so now I can munch away on canned food. I never leave food behind, but instead eat as much as I can when I can. My SHIFT button keeps having problems. It stops toggling the walk/run, so all I can do is walk, or double tap W to sprint. I look online for a solution, no suggestions work aside from re-logging, and the problem kicks in again and again. I turn all my sticky keys off. This actually ends up being really beneficial later in open terrain, and has created a tactic for movement which I think may stick with until I can get into a group. Crossing the terrain becomes a long sprint into cover of the trees, avoiding the roads. I pride myself of having a great sense of direction, but wish that I had a compass. Even so, the sea behind is south. Sun is on the west. I have a map, so this should be easy peasy. Problem becomes that I have no sense of scale. Have I run for 1/2 mile, 1 mile, 2 ? I cut across East to where I feel the base is and it isn't there. I see farmhouses here and there but no major landmarks. My life becomes sprinting from cover to cover, and then scratching my head whilst resting and looking over the map. There is a radio antenna close by on top of a hill. I walk up to have a look around. Once up, and looking at the map I swear I know where I am and head off down a path. I don't find a military base, but an airstrip. Where the heck am I ?!?! Then I hear a gunshot. All of a sudden It's metal gear solid time, and I creep and crawl to the airstrip buildings, but whoever was there is long gone. I find a few Magnums, a larger rucksack and take out three or four zombies with my trusty fire-axe. Maybe I've eaten too much, or run too much, or eaten something dodgy because my character is making the odd groaning noise. She sounds like me on a Monday morning, and that's never going to be good. My inventory screen says she's healthy enough though, but it's becoming a disconcerting feeling. A quick glance of the clock says that it's nearly 2am real time, and I have work in 6hrs. I find a nice safe farmhouse and log for the night. I now have that nice addicted buzz that I get on really special games. This means that this game is all I am going to be able to think about all day, waiting, clock watching 'till I can get back home, log in and continue my adventure. Hooked.

Thanks, will give that a go !