sokaku

I play solo 95% of the time. I used to run with a squad to get into some shenanigans, mainly as overwatch since my machine crawled. I don't bother with millitary loot, I aim to make my character non-intimidating, favoring a cowboy hat and civi clothing rather that cammo. I'll use an imp. backpack or a hunters pack if I find one. I move around the map, stalking players when I spot them. Sometimes I'll bring food to the coast for newspawns. I look for stashes, and typically add stuff to them such as food, an extra can opener, or ammo I come across. Just this week I dragged a barrel from Pustoshka all the way up to a stash I found South of Lopatino. Got killed by wolves half way there, geared back up in Berezino, crossed the map finding a tent, box stash, and a heli crash and made it back to find the barrel & finish the trip. Gave 'em an SKS and a bunch or. 308 I found on the way. I know most of the map by heart so I just roam. Nothing comes close to the pulse rate hit spotting a geared player or two in the town ahead, or breaking away from an ambush. Make up a character and interact with people. Just don't do it carrying gear they will want. 🙂 Just remember what you find in Chenarus stays in Chenarus.

Movement speed when your inventory is open is walking speed, but quickslots I believe still allow at least a jog, I haven't really tested yet though. That said, quick slots seem to be a bit of a death sentence (still?) with items getting "stuck" and hands glitching through guns... Someone set up a nice stash in one of my favorite backwood locations that I came across with a couple barrels loaded with goodies. I borrowed a couple items and swapped my carbine /w LRS for a mosin and some ammo. I went off looking for some goodies to add to the stash and came across some wolves which were either chasing a player or zombies. (no gunshots so probably zombies) Gave them a wide berth and was looting up a town when I came across a barrel. I thought it would make a nice addition to the stash so I started walking it back. I was checking that I wasn't going to get too close to where I saw the wolves, but without a growl, howl or other noise I got nailed by one. I couldn't drop the barrel for some reason so I had to place it, then managed to get the mosin out. Killed one wolf and wounded 2, tried to switch to pistol, no joy, hand glitched through gun, couldn't reload, already bleeding. Somewhere in a field southwest of Vybor is a barrel memorial to a poor sod. Welcome to DayZ.

Rifles, shotguns, SMGs, Axes, and other large tools should be able to be carried over the shoulder, but only after using a shoulder strap or piece of rope. Quickslot access should be restricted to back, holsters, belts, and jacket & pants. The backpack should be excluded from quickslot selections. The time taken to take items into hands and returned to inventory should be determined by where the item is being taken from or returned. From fastest to slowest: Drop to ground, Holsters, pants, pick up from ground, (crouch or prone) back, jacket, backpack. The backpack should be Notably slower than all others, but sped up considerably when on the ground. (Or not accessible all together unless on the ground.) Picking up items off ground should require crouch or prone. Picking up from tables, standing or crouch. Top bunks, cabinets, standing. If a player is ordered to drop their gun, they should not be able to immediately pick it back up without first crouching. Movement when in inventory animations should be restricted to walking speed, and no jump. I really like what the devs have done with loading/unloading and magazines. Dayz is not a "twitch shooter", and I would love to see some changes to help encourage player interactions, even if to rob, grief, or take people hostages rather than simply shoot. Right now the advantage that a "locked & loaded" player has in an encounter is minimal at best, seeing how quickly someone can pull a concealed weapon from anywhere in their inventory while sprint-dodging I suspect many people just don't bother taking the chance with a hold-up or chance encounter.

The first wish I have with this game would be to make ammunition and magazines a lot more scarce. Make shooting another player that isn't posing an immediate threat a decision "is it worth the ammo?" It's an apocalypse, stuff is in finite quantities so it should be far more scarce and far more valuable. Of course this could lead to more "opportunity" kills, 1 bullet to potentially score more ammo or a better gun. The game lacks an objective, so when 2 reasonably geared players meet, the only reason to be reasonably geared is to kill other players. Things like griefing, robbing, murder, canabalism, they need to be in the game because that adds to the tension of being in Chenarus, but there's got to be some kind of incentive for players to take a risk cooperating with others on a server. It's moving in the right direction by discouraging things like server hopping/ghosting, and I get now why they've made it tougher to get inland from the coast (starting condition, lack of resources) even though that's gotta discourage new players to the game. It helps cut back on "Negging" Something from the old Subspace MMO days where new players had a negative bounty so bountied up players would lose points if they attacked them, even if it was just to defend themselves. It meant you have fresh spawns being a pain, rushing back into the fray with nothing to lose and everything to gain. I get why many people shoot on sight because if you do interact with someone in an area, it's not always evident if they are carrying a weapon, and between the rather insane sprint speed and the fact that you can draw a pistol or even SMG out of your clothing as quickly as pulling a gun off your back, it makes encounters quite tricky if you're not a confident twitch shooter. You're giving up your advantage in a gunfight, the element of surprise. The second wish is that they adjust the inventory system so that items in your backpack cannot be quick-slotted, and pulling an item out of a shirt/pants is made slower than out of a holster or shoulder. Put a shoulder strap in the game or require a piece of rope to be able to put a weapon on your back. Weapons should be concealable, however it should be a trade off for ease of access. Having a shotgun in your backpack should *not* be able to be whipped out in an encounter. They've already added a nice touch with need to pre-load mags. if the guy's got a weapon on the back or a holster, tread carefully. If it's tucked down the pants or in a jacket, the animation to pull something out should give you a couple extra seconds to get your own weapon up in case they are pulling a gun.

Playing a nomad on a busy server can be fun, especially when running around without a gun. The challenge is to be sure and try out everything the game has to offer. Hunting, fishing, crops, tanning, etc. The other day I was fishing and decided to try baking the meat in a pot over the fire. I think I burned the first batch, though the game always reports the fish meat as "raw". Turns out it was burnt and pretty soon I had food poisoning. I searched the nearby town for charcoal but found none. At first I wasn't too concerned because I thought you could "survive" food poisoning by staying bright-green energized/hydrated, but the status messages kept appearing. Then I noticed that I was losing colour so I made my way to Pustoshka, South of Vybor in search of charcoal... Nothing. Getting pretty damned gray and the occasional confrontation with zombies didn't help, I was now at deep orange "Sick". So I had to risk Vybor in my search for tablets. Within a few houses I had found a single tablet which I quickly consumed. The status message didn't disappear so I figured I'd keep searching a few more houses for extras. Then just as I'm moving house to house I come up to a shed and a player comes out around from behind the shed. We both stop. I have a hatchet out, and I see him pull out his rifle. I'm gray on my screen still, neither of us say a word, so I turn around and book it around the house, and circle wide zig-zagging cutting through some fence gaps in a wide arc out and back South out of town. Not a shot thankfully, we must have just startled one another as it was a 1PP server. Made my way back South and thought to try the "shelf house" on the way to Myshkino through the woods. Turned out a good call as I found a packet of 8 there, but by then I noticed that my colour was clearly returning, even with the status message. Spent a bit of time searching the area for deer or cows, but enjoyed the colour of another sunset alive on the server. :)

I've lost a character to the double-stair barn where I got glitched off the side of the steps. These days I get bouts of some kind of weird disconnect where my character will start sliding sideways for no reason. I believe it happens when I bump into the side of terrain like a fence or doorway at a critical point. Usually it is fixed by strafing into the slide and letting go but I dread the day that bug rears its head and I'm on a rooftop or something. So far it managed to cost me a sprained ankle scooting around. I've never really put my thumb on it with DayZ and Miscreated. I've played many FPS and PvP games but with DayZ I'm very hesitant to engage other players. I have more fun stalking them and running away. I think part of it is that you spend so much time traveling, equipping, and generally taking care of your avatar, but also how unforgiving and buggy combat can be in this game. I marvel at people's ability to manage their inventory in a fire-fight to reload weapons and the like, it's just not natural to me and the hot bar is little to no help. I'd love to be able to switch weapons and such without worrying about dropping my items arbitrarily. Combat is disconnected, laggy, and you cannot trust your, or your opponent's position at any given time being accurate. That said, you're generally all in the same boat. It plays more like a First/Third-person RTS than anything. :)

For videos on how to play and different elements of gameplay there are a number of channels out there. Search on WOBO Dayz for useful tips and info about the game dynamics and how they have changed over time. A couple streamers that I watch on Youtube with recent content: DeadlySlob (Often with AcesFury(?), M1nder, RunningManZ. There is an Aussie that's a fair bit of fun watching going by FubarBundy which can be a lot of fun to watch for a bit of creative banditry. Also consider following players on Twitch. There are a few good ones without a ridiculous number of followers so you can actually ask the occasional question and get a meaningful answer, and just generally watch how they play the game. Some switch between banditry, maybe some survival play, role playing, etc. Streamers on Twitch that I follow include RunningManZ, and 5moke when I can catch them from here, but check who's on around your timezone and pay them a visit for an hour or so. Some are a blast to watch online, one of my old favourites that I just saw getting back into the game was Mr. Moon. He was on the other day with another streamer who's name escapes me and I just about dropped my tablet laughing watching their antics trying to make their way up to NW Airfield in a V3S.

Try the hatchet. It's my favorite melee weapon in the game. Has the same reach as an axe, same damage as the splitting axe, and swings faster with a 1-handed chop. The only downside is that it has to be kept in inventory, won't go on back. A real bugger when doing rounds looting you have to ensure you have space reserved and be cautious when swapping weapons. I typically lose at least one per character. :) Fire axe is king for damage, but based on speed & damage, the hatchet is a close second.

I play nomad. The fuller the server, the better though I prefer 1PP servers which there are fewer. :( Generally I avoid contact with other players though I do have a bit of fun stalking groups when I'm not busy hunting /w bow. Watching groups of Gillies running up a tree-line between Stary and the Northern bases is a bit of a rush. It makes the trips into town for water/supplies (fertilizer, leather sewing kits, nails, etc.) a lot more suspenseful. Anyone I come across is a bigger potential threat than anything else, but not necessarily. Since I don't carry a rifle most of my encounters are friendly and I always carry a spare waterskin & food which generally is accepted well. That said I find people on 1PP servers are usually more approachable than 3PP public servers as it's a lot harder to stay hidden and ambush. (I.e. know someone's not looking your direction before popping out to take advantage.) My goal is a full set of leather gear from deer using just the bow. From there it will be trying my hand at hunting wolves though I expect that will need to involve a hunting stand/shed or doorway. Not too eager for that challenge yet as I've been mauled a few times even with firearms. :D

@Kirov (DayZ) I don't know about baking, but I typically just stick-cook them. They cook faster over-all boiled since you can do 4 at a time but usually when I'm cooking it's when it's raining so I'm drying out and warming up. That said I almost died from an odd "bug" where I was running around in the rain chasing cows with a bow and it was getting dark on the server. The status message was saying I was getting warmer but I know from experience that as soon as I stop moving around the temp drops off quite fast. I made it back to my cabin without an issue and started a fire. I cooked the 8 steaks, my clothes dried out completely and I had no cold/freezing status message at all. It had stopped raining and I packed up the remaining stuff including a cow pelt to do some tanning and started running to my barrel stash when I got no more than 500m from the cabin and it immediately went to "I'm hypothermic" I was a bit confused and was thinking maybe "hyperthermic" (too hot since I was running and had just cooked all that meat) but then headed back and lit another fire. I ended up burning off 3 full logs and a stack of sticks before my status went back to normal. I almost thought the Hypothermic was bugged since it would just repeat as I was "rapidly warming up". Took a while to drop to "Freezing".

As a survivor, when I equip an item out of my inventory into my hands, the space in my inventory that this item was occupying should be reserved for when I return that item to inventory. Putting the item on the ground and picking it up into hands would invalidate any inventory reservation. A big problem with inventory management comes when you are looting and have equipped your pistol for example. Later when you go to switch to a primary weapon or melee, rather than returning the pistol to your inventory, it gets dropped on the ground because items you had picked up occupied at least one space needed for the pistol. Inventory needs to be constantly shuffled around to ensure space for equipped items is reserved.

As a survivor, when I am adding the fletching to improvised arrows (feathers), I should have the option to work with the entire stack. When sharpening the sticks there is an option to sharpen all sticks, it would save time and inventory management to add fletching to the entire stack. Crafting time (animation) should reflect the # of arrows being worked. On a side note, the crafting recipe for an arrow should be revised to 3 feathers per arrow.

There was an interesting set of tests with helmets against a Mosin at close range, 100, 200, 300, and 400m. Only the ballistic helmet survived the round, and only at 300m+. AFAIK the gorka is effective against light melee hits to the head. (I.e. fists) It may offer some protection from smaller rounds, but other than that it's just aesthetics if you like that Juggernaught/ Sontaran look. :)

It's 9 pellets, and yes 9 individual projectiles in a relatively random spread. A sawed off IZH-43 will demonstrate the spread by firing it at a wall or hill-side from about 40m. A MP133 or full length IZH will have a much tighter spread. I'd say the sawed off effective range is under 30m, while the MP133/IZH can be effective up until around 80m. My guess is that for reasonable shock/damage you need at least 5-6 of the pellets to hit.

Carrying a lot of food means you take more damage. Up to 15% more. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDHpIS8GR-8) Food isn't scarce, and you should easily be able to keep yourself light-green energized, especially considering the amount of extra food you can eat past the initial light-green state. Getting shot/ambushed spending an extra couple minutes fiddling with inventory space when you're looting a military location is a far more likely scenario to be concerned about than suddenly finding yourself injured and starving. (Aside from being a newspawn, in which case you should be stuffing yourself with food)

The only food I carry is stuff I plan to give away, and that is generally 2-3 pieces of stuff that doesn't need to be opened. (Steaks, or tuna generally) Asking to open cans is a good way to get people to drop their guard as they fumble through inventory and switch out weapons. If I'm planning on a cross country trek to meet up with friends I'll also fill up and carry a couple items of food to top up so that I can avoid towns. (Zeds/players) I avoid carrying food to free up inventory space especially around military locations where fumbling to free up space will get you killed. Also, the more items you carry the more damage you take when you get hit/shot.

The biggest factor I've found, and seems to correlate on WOBO is that your gear level is the biggest determining factor as to whether you get shot or not when someone gets the drop on you. Too new-spawn or fully geared and you're more likely to have trouble. At least looking mid-geared gives you the best chance at not immediately appearing to be someone that is a potential threat, hacker, or possessing anything worth killing for. I've never been killed after surrendering, and I've surrendered to at least 5 players/groups so far, including a group of 2 and a group of 6+; I've never been "griefed" after surrendering either, as I have a mic and chat politely. However I've never surrendered if I'm kitted up with full cammo, it's run or fight. (usually run:) )

Gotta learn the zombie dance side-step around them, don't try to back up out of range. Don't bother attempting to fight them until you've found an axe, pick-axe, or hoe. (Machette or hammer can be good if you're confident with the 1-handed attack and dodging) When approaching a town, look for visible zeds and plan an approach to stay out of the FoV of as many as you can. Before you enter, sort out and free up your inventory, ditch anything you don't need, eat any food you can until you're stuffed. Your job in town is to get through there as fast as possible grabbing anything useful and locating a decent melee weapon. Close doors behind you, but beware because crawlers still go through closed doors, and walkers can still glitch occasionally as well. don't rely on elevation to keep you save, zeds can still hit you from below through the floor. Issues will be had by stopping to sort out inventory in the town, or eating etc. This is when Zeds get the drop on you, get you bleeding and ruin your clothes/gear. For the zombies that do spot you, the important thing is not to panic. Let them chase you, then as you move from building to building, weave around other buildings, hop over fences etc to tie them up. Pop in, take what you need. Once you have a decent melee weapon then your strategy changes. If a zed agros on you, don't run, just look for some cover from expected threat angles that players may be watching from, then dispatch that zed before moving on. Again try and avoid their FoV and either hit them in the back of the head, or avoid them completely.

Regarding guns. IMO the best gun to pick up early on in non-military locations if you find it is the SKS. If you're a good shot, then a Blaze would be my other consideration. Shotguns, carbines, an even the Mosin I'd leave. The Mosin is a great gun once you have a scope for it, so generally I'll carry an SKS until I find a worn/pristine LRS and then I'll track down a Mosin. As for the .22, this is an under-valued gun, but I don't recommend picking one up until you have one or more 30-rd clips with it. Where it shines is fights under 200m in woods or buildings, and for 3 reasons. #1 it is rapid fire with very little recoil, you can sustainably pepper a target area. #2 it is pretty close to silent which in a "busy" environment means if you get the jump on someone they won't easily be able to pick out where the fire is coming from, and other enemies in the area won't even hear it. The audible range on it is under 50m as opposed to ~400m for Mosin/SKS. #3 people don't take it seriously. With no magazine or a 10rd it's pretty harmless, but with the 30rd it can be lethal in close quarters firing continuously, or in the 100-200m ranges with 4-5 rounds bursts. It's biggest drawbacks are that it cannot be equipped with a scope, and with it's relatively low damage you're bound to be peppering players so a lot of gear will be getting ruined. (negative if you're after gear) It's ammo can also be a bit hard to come by IMO considering how much you will use.

Grenades are as dangerous (or harmless) to the thrower as to the target. All I need to say is "The grenade and the Scarecrow of Life." ;)

There is a known issue raised where if you are on a server when the server restarts, and you re-join it, or another server that has recently restarted within a few minutes, the server cannot sync you with the hive and will create a new character for you. Basically, if the server you are on has restarted, you need to either wait several minutes (5 or so?) before attempting to rejoin, or join another server that has been running for at least 5-10 minutes to avoid the hive disconnect or whatever is plaguing .48 stable. If you do get a re-spawn, simply exit and continue to attempt to rejoin servers in the same hive until you get your gear back. This can be 3-5 times. This bug will be more prevalent with players using low-pop servers to gear up, or trying to use a low pop server or the same server to lower the risk of joining another server when the reset may have left them in a vulnerable place, since that low-pop server may itself be low pop due to a recent restart. Ideally target a server with at least 10 players and a game time in an odd interval. (I.e. 12+ minutes after the hour) Hitting a server like that you'll usually spawn in without incident. Then after 5-10 min you can opt to return to your previous server, but be prepared for the 30-60 second login timer. I've lost 2 characters since .48 stable due to this bug after the first couple attempts to recover a character didn't work. It should work eventually as long as you log out as soon as you know you've been fresh-spawned without moving. (No idea how long you have, but generally if you move, you're screwed, the hive updates.) I have recovered characters since then, but it typically took at least 3 very anxious hops. If you do get a login timer, after it goes to "please wait" you can hit esc to get a peek at the location you'll be joining the server. If it isn't where you were with your main character, exit right then and try a different server. If it is your old spot and you leave the menu up you'll eventually see a fresh-spawn pop in at the location, don't panic, your gear pops in after that then the screen will change to your in-game PoV. :)

Prior to .47 I'd never run into anyone in Vybor-Pustoshka, and very infrequently in NWAF tents. Even on mid-high pop servers. However, since .47 I've been seeing a lot more activity around Vybor, and you're lucky *not* to see anyone at NWAF or it looted to uselessness. Pustoshka's only really good for food with the market, cows, and I believe 3 nanna houses. Can find weapons and basic equipment in jeeps and a couple decent houses, but you're generally far better off heading to Vybor or Zelenagorsk. Slightly annoyed coming into Vybor now and finding it looted. It's been a bit of a home-town for me. :) I actually did run into someone in Pustoshka the other day when I was just heading out of town, looked back and saw movement, so I headed to a tree and scoped in to see a relatively ungeared, but armed player aiming up the road where I had been headed...

I recall reading something that if your shirt is wet you cannot make rags from it. I don't know if that means it prevents you from tearing rags, or that it would produce ruined rags. Something to check/test.

Personally, I think it was a joke from one of the devs that wasn't supposed to get released. I cannot see why/how something like that could be introduced due to code logic unless it was deliberate.

Head inland. Get familiar with the map and rough roads/locations. Basically scour near where you start for essential food and a fill of water, and hopefully a weapon like a hoe, axe, or machete to deal with zombies. (the later two are good for cans) Hit apple trees off the beaten path once you've dealt with any nearby zombies for an initial feed before your journey. In inland towns, focus on schools, piano houses, and the brick houses with arched doorways. Most players bee-line for police stations and pass by most of these which have pretty good loot, including guns. Check any 2-storey house as well for the odd useful item, as well as the long steel barns with the upper walkway. Once you have a gun, and a decent size backpack you can take a chance at a military base or airfield but be extra cautious because these will be generally KoS locations. Have a plan for what you're looking for. I.e. cammo clothing, hunter pack, magazines, scopes, etc. Get familiar with what spawns where, so that you can move efficiently. I typically stash my main pack outside somewhere safe along with anything valuable and raid the area with minimal gear. A) there's a chance you can get back to your gear if you're shot, and B) it makes you less of a valuable target/threat if you come across someone. C) An empty pack (I.e. courier bag, or finding one of many that will be lying around in the base) is easier to fill with anything of value use that you can sort out in safety later.