Comanche6

It appears the esteemed Frequent Posters Club on this forum disagrees with a simple thought experiment, "correcting" my logic and telling me I can't compare Syria to Chernarus: in effect, defending the game design choices already made. Nevertheless, I still disagree with the choices they made regarding firearms. Instead of some narrative to tie it all together, which I attempted to present, the devs have selected a bunch of curios and relics (excluding the military models) to represent in game. Despite whatever blather you offer on the subject, there is no logic to the models of firearms they have selected other than meta-game logic (we need one lever action, a revolver, etc.). They don't fit in the game universe and thus dilute if not break immersion. I just wish the story were more consistent, other than "Torchia thinks it's cool" and the forums whined enough to get a Red 9, for example.

Uh, there may have been some freedoms but the pattern of post Soviet republics is very limited private gun ownership--there is nothing to suggest that civilians could even own firearms in Chernarus. You TOTALLY missed my point I made that Chernarus had its own limited industry. Maybe an industry dedicated to servicing the military and making sporting rifles and pistols for export only. There is nothing to suggest that firearms ownership was thus legal. Just because you expect to see civilian arms in the game, doesn't mean the "lore" behind the game universe supports that. I'm presenting an alternative view to all the silly weapons they are adding to the game. (some of them because this forum shouts loud enough to have them, Red9, for example).

Let me digress into a thought experiment for a moment. Take the ongoing civil war in Syria as a case study and search briefly for small arms used in that conflict (Google image search is best). Then think about how that war started and contrast it to fictional "lore" Chernarus. Syria is very similar to pre-DayZ Chernarus. A former Russian puppet state, equipped and funded to carry out their aims in the region. Maybe Chernarus is slightly more like pre-Velvet Divorce Czechoslovakia, having it's own, if limited arms industry, but it's basically the same thing. There were several conflicts in Chernarus and then a civil war, all involving NATO and Russia and the local CDF/rebels. NATO/UN left peacekeepers there sometime prior to the outbreak which led to DayZ. Syria had its own share of conflicts in the region, then came under despotic rule and a civil war erupted during the tail end of the "Arab Spring", with NATO and Russia backing sides in a proxy war, along with local rebels broken in to factions. I'm not looking to argue politics here so leave it. Pre-civil war, Syria had a military almost entirely equipped by Russian made small arms. Civilians had been largely disarmed--firearms ownership amongst the population was restricted, placing Syria in rank 112 of 178 for private firearms ownership. You think a despotic ruler needs firearms in private hands to help fuel a rebellion? There was very limited local small arms industry and all of that was dedicated to the government. The entire inventory was Russian small arms, save for some post-WWII Mausers, MG42s, some captured Israeli stuff (FALs, mostly) and some sample pieces from Steyr and the like. The rate of firearms ownership amongst the population was 3.9 per 100, pre-civil war, and this includes illegal firearms. http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/syria Chernarus was similarly a Russian puppet state. As a communist, totalitarian state for many decades, it would have had a similar makeup to Syria in terms of firearms. Restricted civilian ownership, and a heavy police and government stockpile, mostly Russian made, augmented by Czech made firearms, in keeping with the lore. For examples of gun ownership in former Russian states, take a look here: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/armenia But both countries entered a period of civil war. All those guns would have come into play, especially the illegal ones, and then another very common thing happened, foreign COMPANIES spotted a business opportunity and moved in to make some cash. War equals profit for arms, ammo and accessories manufacturers. It works like this: they sell stockpiles of inventory (read guns, ammo and scopes) to other countries or to middle-men known as dealers. Some of these dealers are "gray market" dealers, which means they bend the rules. Some of these dealers are controlled by superpowers involved in the conflict. These gray dealers sell direct to the fighters on both sides, or through other black market dealers and a steady flow of arms enters the conflict in order to fuel it so that everyone in that distribution chain can make money, often a lot of it. Other arms "fall off" government trucks both in the country in question and outside of it. Take a look at the aforementioned Syria small arms Google images. Where did all that stuff come from? Dealers in both direct sales or via smuggled channels. We have Stg44s, Garands, and tons of Chinese (Norinco) made Type 56s and clones of Remington shotguns, among Steyr hunting rifles and tons of Chinese scopes. The real winner in Syria is going to be Norinco. It is a grab bag of any and all guns and scopes. You name it, it's probably in use there. However, the likelihood of encountering a weapon, even in Syria, is based directly on its volume shipped/in use. That means, in order: AKM, AK-47 and clones (Type 56), AK-74(M), PKM, RPG-7V, F1 grenade, RPK, RPD, M16 and derivatives, FN FAL, G3, Uzi, PPSh-41, Mosin 44 carbine, then everything else, including pistols. The reason it's this way is because the top produced weapons in the world are most likely to be sold in a conflict first (because there's the most inventory of those types lying around with nobody buying)--and that list of weapons above were made in the tens of millions--and they swamp the competition, mostly because they are common, but moreover, effective. Chernarus too had a big internal conflict backed by superpowers and then NATO/UN/Russia set up bases there. There would have been tons of arms shipped into the country during the war. But what happens when a civil war ends? They DISARM the fighters, then the populaton and either destroy or sell the arms. If the conflict in Syria ever cools off, that's exactly what's going to happen there and it's safe to assume that's what happened in Chernarus. They don't want ANYBODY except the government powers that be running around with guns, until everyone cools off. That means door to door searches, voluntary amnesty/buy-back, snitch for cash, cracking down on arms dealers, the whole works. All of sudden, guns become REAL rare, not counting the ones in soldiers' hands. So my theory of what arms should be available in DayZ (post-civil war and then post-outbreak Chernarus), in order of likelihood of encountering, is the following: Russian military weapons (COMMON): AKM, AK-74(M), PKM, RPG-7V, Makarov, SVD, maybe Bizon, 12.7mm sniper (unlikely as not need for peacekeeping) NATO and UN military weapons (depends on which countries were there--UNCOMMON): M16/M4 derivatives, M249/Minimi, FN MAG (M240), G3, M14 (DMR), L85/Steyr AUG, AT-4/M72 LAW/Carl Gustaf, various bolt action .308 snipers, MP5, shotguns and pistols, .338/12.7mm sniperr rifles (unlikely as not need for peacekeeping) Foreign military weapons (illegal and therefore RARE): Type 56 (AK-47), FN FAL, G3, Mausers, maybe Lee Enfields/Garand, FN MAG, MG42, Uzi, MP-40/MP5, PPSh-41/42 Civilian guns (illegal and therefore RARE-UNIQUE): largely 12 ga. shotguns, pump (Rem 870 clone) and single/double barrel, a few hunting rifles (think Rem 700), a grab bag of common pistols (mostly 9mm/.38/.380/7.62x25--Tokarev, 1911 clones, Beretta clones, lots of .38 revolvers) Ammunition available (in order): 7.62x39, 5.45x39, 7.62x54R, 5.56x45, 7.62x51, hand grenades, 9mm, 12 ga., RPG rockets, land mines, 7.92x57, .223, .308, .38, 7.62x25, .380, .45, some 12.7mm, other rockets

Working on it.

Look us up! We run these every Thursday and one big one a month on Saturdays.

Last night's event was Presidential Escort, hosted by =UN= on their server and organized by none other than [-ZaP-]Mordon. The objective was simple: the Secret Service had to get "The President" from near Novodmitrovsk to Zaprudnoe on the main east-west road while being ambushed by teams of assassins at floating points along the route. The assassins weren't allowed to kill the President, just detain him by any means necessary. Anyone else interfering in the event, was to be ignored or shot. The event was well attended, with an estimated 18 participants from both clans, as well as onlookers. [-ZaP-] turnout was especially strong, with over half the event being represented by them. Festivities began at 19:00 CST, but the event started late, in any case. This was no fault of the organisers as people had to make their way to the rally point at Severograd and contend with all the usual DayZ'isms: disconnects, getting shot at, getting lost, starving and having to gear up. While milling about in the square at Severograd teams were split off, either on a volunteer basis or by selection. The Escort group numbered about 9, a mix of [-ZaP-] and =UN=. [-Zap-]BearJew manned up and took the role of the President, unarmed and wearing a blaze red shirt, so he couldn't be missed. He also took to the role immediately and demanded to be addressed as "Mr. President", flipping the bird to anyone who would not comply. Four teams of assassins were paired off and given their own TeamSpeak channels and started to move out to ambush points of their own choosing, within 20 metres north or south of the east-west road. The escort team donned =UN's= trademark blue berets while assassin teams wore green berets. Curious bambis and other, armed interlopers who happened on this scene were either shooed away or politely asked to leave. As the event was set to begin, =UN=CommanderCesar somehow got stuck in the wall on the ground floor of the office/school building and no amount of crouch jumping and other techniques could get him out. Faced with starvation, an attempt was made to shoot or punch him while he was sticking out of the wall. When that failed, even a grenade was tried, but to no avail. Ultimately and unfortunately, his assassin team was dissolved and his teammate, [-Zap-]Vizel didn't participate. This commotion and shooting must of been audible for quite some distance, as it drew in hordes of zeds, who were shot in turn, and then sniper fire from the hill over the southern train station. As event organisation continued, a sincere attempt was made to ignore the incessant sniper fire, with participants sprinting across the town square or hiding behind the statue, while rifle shots cracked nearby. After a =UN= member was eventually killed by the sniper, counter snipers began to return fire and a payback team consisting of [-ZaP-]Comanche6 and [-ZaP-]PlasmaWolf moved to intercept. [-ZaP-]Mordon put an end to that nonsense and demanded that the escort team stop "fapping about" and move east on the road to their start point, immediately. Like irritated cats, the participants reluctantly complied. While en route, east, towards the startpoint at Svergino, the escort was diligently organising themselves and discussing moving in bounds on the shoulder of the highway so that effective fire could be brought on any would-be attackers. Just shy of the start point, and prior to the event's start, at a crook in the road bordered by two small hills, a =UN= escort team member fell dead on the street as the rest of the escort team came under effective fire. The President began dancing a figure eight right in the middle of the road, with bullets smacking the pavement near his feet. As the escort deployed to fight, =UN=Snipps and [-ZaP-]Comanche6 put in a sharp counter-ambush attack that saw "purple backpack" eat several dozen rounds, put his friend to flight and pin and then kill an assassin team member. That counter was short-lived, however, as the intensity and scope of the gunfight grew and as an unseen sniper and flankers began to take their toll on the escort team. Soon alone, but for the President, =UN=Snipps eventually succumbed to his wounds, after being shot several times. Over comms, the President desperately queried: "What the fuck do I do now?!" The almost universal response was: "Run west you idiot!", and the President complied, sprinting west on the highway, under constant, but ineffective fire. Shortly after that, the event was called, having never really started. It turned out that at the crook in the road ambush, an assassin team, including =UN=Genty and his teammate had stumbled into a firefight with "purple backpack" and his friends, and that fight was still in progress as the escort team came ambling by. "Purple backpack" was already dead but hadn't ragdolled, and as a consequence, drew a lot of fire. =UN=Genty and his teammate were killed by the escort team's counter attack. As fate may have it, another assassin team had chosen an ambush spot on the southern side of the road nearby and were drawn to the shooting. They eventually managed to kill the rest of the escort team and the other assassin team as well as a couple of unfortunate passers-by. [-ZaP-]Bushido, of the surviving assassin team, the "unseen sniper" with four kills to his credit later commented: "It was easy.". Although aborted early, the event was seen as a success and was regarded as very entertaining for the participants. Much was learned about handling events of this nature and changes will be made next time, including having participants meet on their own time near their designated start points. A special thanks goes out to =UN=CommanderCesar and [-ZaP-]Mordon for taking the time to organise this event, and for having to deal with the usual bunch of mouthy, drunk or distracted players. Despite all the difficulties that DayZ throws at any attempt of organised events, everyone remained cool and rolled with the punches. =UN= and [-ZaP-] demonstrated once again that two large clans can build bonds and a foster a sense of community, in ironically, a game world which is designed to prevent that. More information at: =UN= TS: uk-voice2.fragnet.net:10053 [-ZaP-] TS: ts3.zombie-abomination.net

Just shoot at everybody. If they run, they're heroes.

Next episode: http://youtu.be/RRBeHI4TyfE

Thanks for the pos commments guys. After I missed that (obviously armed) guy and heard the shotgun blasts, I went into "extra"-paranoid mode but just couldn't resist going in for the hunt! I happened to listen to that track on the same day in the car and voila!

I think Spoon was a little upset.

Sorry to disappoint but the guy I shot had sticks in his backpack and I was up and out of there in a minute. My next vid will continue the saga.