Running around Cherno looking for survival gear I had a 12 gauge. Managed to get head to head with some player at point blank range and we both pointed. I waited for a sec and then he shot, I instantly returned fire. He died (saw it writtend on screen) and I passed out. Woke up on 1k of blood, walked around (passing out a few more times) on black and white and died some time later I believe. Boy was I proud that guy didn't get away with murder! This is a cool thread by the way!

This is my survival tactic for a long term hero gamer: 1. Work with a goal in mind. Get thing X, go to place Y, explore area Z and so forth. By focussing on a goal you eliminate wasting time and energy on unneccesary undertakings. Why go to an army base to get guns, if you don't even have enough food to get there in the first place? By not going to unneccesary places you have less chance of being killed by a threat. Which brings me to point 2. 2. Work down your priorities. If you want to be a hero, first you need to survive. You got to beat your threats. For that you need tools, supplies and resources. The greatest and nearest threats in DayZ Mod are: a- Zombies and Players b- Thirst and hunger c- Disease and hyperthermia To cover these your must work down a list of priorties in the order of the time you have before a threat comes into effect. Personally I go for: Priority tier 1; don't even leave the city without it. - Backpack, axe, hunting knife, matches, bandage, antibiotics, morphine, a few food cans and any firearm. Priority tier 2; intercity travel capable. - Wild food, duct tape, water bottle, a food can empty (or filled) and extra ammo. Priority tier 3; visiting army bases. - Bigger packpack, binoculars and a map. With this covered you are pretty much ready to go down any route you like and any next item will make life better, easier and less prone to death. However, not necessarily essential (i.e. minimum to have) in order to be a hero and help others. Goodluck!

Good explanation. I agree, breaking the line of sight is quite vital. On sharing tactics, no problem. However honestly, I'm not a gamer nor have ever been so my PvP tactics derive from the real world and don't really apply that well in a game scenario. Plus I'm no great gamer to begin with as I have very little time on active duty. So I'm sure most of your tactics will beat mine by miles and are better suited for this guide. Either way, feel free to copy anything you like you might find useful! With regard to being discovered; like we both say every situation (surroundings, elevation, distance, type of weapons used by enemey etc) all require a different approach. In general, my opinion is that an ambush - especially a well laid one - is pretty much death. Since I rarely get discovered, anyone who ambushes me is pretty good or damn lucky. So I consider myself beaten in DayZ, and in the real world. So the only two chances I think I have is to force the enemy to make mistakes or ALT-F4. The choice is clear to me. So whatever the tactic I use, I try to put pressure on my oponnent and go trough my contact drills hoping my experience and knowledge, combined with his error gives me the upper hand. As I described, pushing up to my enemy FAST is my favorite. Not to be confused with rushing at him. Closing in from cover to cover at a fast rate and using plenty (if not all) of my ammo. Bullets whizzing by WILL discomfort anyone, even if they miss.

That of course, is a different matter. Agreed.

+1 for dense fog. I like DayZ as a simulation of (possible) reality and dense fog is part of that. In the real world fog has even brought plenty of BLUE on BLUE situations or panic fire as an enemy turned out to be where you just walked past 20meters ago!

Interestinging guide, with many good pointers such as practising estimating distance on zombies with a range finder! However some things I don't a gree with such as: "A important thing to understand in DayZ mod (and i cant stress this enough to Standalone players who are trying out the mod.. ) is that everyone kills on sight and everyone shoots to kill because they want that first bullet to disable any threat to their own survival.." Not everyone kills on sight and neither does everyone turn into a bandit or cares that much about his "reputation". I've been playing this game for quite a time as well and have still never turned bandit, and have found a fair amount of friendly players who helped me out or just engaged in some interaction. Being a bandit is just easier, hence why many choose it. It's the road of least resistance. Being a hero is much more challenging, and more rewarding in my opinion. On a nother note, being in the military as well I have a different approach to PvP than you. In the event I have been discovered - obviously every situation requires a different approach - I more ofthen than not move towards the attacker. Closing in puts him out of his comfort zone (which he was in as he discovered you first and probably got into a comfortable position before firing) which in turn inclines him to making a mistake. Also it keeps him firing making it easier for me to spot his exact location and either cover fire him and make him retreat, or with some luck take him out. Informative guide all in all, I think many will benefit!

I think this is the 'mod' section and you are referring to the Stand Alone game. In the mod there is no .56 / .57 version. In order to fully acces your backpack just click the zipper icon next to it. You will see in the inventory list what is in your backpack and what is on your body with the help of numbers. If you however hover over a item and thén click on your backpack, you will SEE your backpack inventory.

You can use water bottles that I tend to find mostly in supermarket shops. Most come broken so you'll need duct-tape to fix them. After that, you can fill them and boil the water (have a empty tin can in your inventory) in order to have safe, transportable drink. Soda cans help a bit but water is the best way. You can fill the water bottles at a pump which should be safe water. Once somehow I managed to get infected though, perhaps a bug or maybe because I was attacked by Z' after filling up, dunno. Either way, I boil all my water. You can also fill at a lake, puddle or whatever water source except the sea. However that water is very likely to be infected so needs to be boiled 100%. Also, having a spare duct tape helps as bottles to break as well. Goodluck. On a sidenote, in the military we learned the so called 'Rule of 3'; a human's survival basics are indexed as following in order of priority: 3 minutes without air. 3 hours without proper body temperature. 3 days without water. 3 weeks without food. Of course these are variable based on the environment, i.e. running in the jungle won't last you 3 days without water. However in DayZ food and water demands are a bit exaggerated in my opinion. Especially food. Good luck and have fun playing the game!

So, my opinion of this server is quite good overall. It is decently stable, I can connect fast and rarely have any technical issues. The mods/admins are very helpful, speak good english and are available when needed. Thankfully only needed them rarely. Vinyl Junkie does seem to put a lot of time and effort into keeping it running. And it pays off as the crowds hit 30-45 last few times I was on. As for critique, loot seems very scarse but perhaps I'm used to UK410 (doesn't work anymore after public hive shutdown) loot distribution system, also maybe the owners intended it this way. Either way, it does take a bit of joy out for me personally as it takes me a lot of runing back and forth around elektro/cherno/berezino to get my 'survival'-kit together and really go play. Maybe it's my personal interpretation, but the above seems to reflect in the player stats. I think people don't bother to get geared anymore and just go out and either die, or kill and get gear. Average lifespans are quite low. Also, don't expect to fly around heli's or humvee's if you don't want to spend a LOT of time searching for it, getting parts for it, getting a team togheter and so on. Takes a lot of time. The people seem ok. Many bandits but I think this is normal on popular servers. Met more friendly people a year ago or so when it was less crowded. But it's ok, makes being a HERO more of a challange, and thus more of a reward. Without crime, there would be no purpose for cops! FPS is great, server restarts are nicely timed and the day/night cycle is fine. Good stuff.

Wow, just seen this topic, amazing! I'm gonna go there for sure. Just sad the pictures in the first posts don't work anymore!

The key to my survival (usually 10+ hours per life easy) is working down your priority list and having a goal. You can have a ghillie suit and a M21 but without antibiotics you are likely to die. You can have a helicopter, but without a hunting knife you are likely to die cause you can't kill wild food (primary food source IMO). So work down your priorities and then develop your character. Personally, I don't even leave Cherno/Elektro without: antibiotics, morphine, bandages and wipes, backpack, 2x waterbottle, matches, hunting knife, axe and duct tape. Preferably I'd have 2 tr-kits and a empty bloodbag too in case I manage to still not find replacement food/water. As for goal-setting, it helps you to stay focused and weigh risks. I.e. going to a military place is like going to a candy store and sounds like a good idea anytime..but, do you really need extra candy and is it worth getting killed for this time? If I want a range finder or dmr..yes, as there is no other place (except heli crash) to find it. But if I have a DMR/M4 SD/M14/Ghillie suit etc, than what are my goals there? Prioritise, think before you act and think ahead should keep u surviving. Have fun!

Cool story! I can totally imagine it happening and know plenty similiar experiences myself. Nice man!

Nice taking out the HMV gunner but I have never seen such nervous behaviour and likewise talk.

Was raiding NEAF with my buddy during dark times. Low luminance. We had shotguns and winchesters. After finishing the ATC tower, my buddy goes down and point blank runs into somebody and opens up on him - the other returns fire. I am at the second floor. Buddy runs back to reload while I supress fire. Miss him. He reloads and supresses - misses. While I reload and look. It got even darker and I can just see his leg on the lower floor and fire a shot in his kidney taking him out. This all happend within 10 seconds or so it seemed. 200bpm moment right there. Even some palmsweat. We don't even check his stuff and run out of there in total darkness heading for the low ground forest. Got out alive and shook off the adrenaline.

It might be the mechanic of "finding a randomly infected bottle". As in, sometimes you used to find a water bottle (military canteen style) which was full, and after you drank it, it turned out to be infected (had this on 2 servers). Perhaps the game has treated the transition from military canteen to water bottle as "finding a randomly no/yes-infected water bottle". All I know is that I had 3 military canteens filled from a well (near the church at Gorka). Which I even believe were boiled but cannot say for sure. Either way, it shouldn't have happend.

Word of warning: In 1.8.1 I had 3 military canteens with boiled water. Came back today to 1.8.2. to see they have become water bottles. Which is fine. Drank.. and got infected. Great... So the update has changed my boiled water into infected unboiled water.

:(

Thanks! Indeed PvE / PvP are two very different things. Like I said, everyone prefers their own challenge. Surviving firefights, surviving hunger, finding a chopper, kill 20 rabbits.. whatever. The challenge for me is not to get killed and help others. Therefore before I engage in a interaction I stalk a person, watch his interaction with others and then consider contact. I get a lot of satisfaction when *insert Hannibal Smith sigar* my plans come together. I.e. I confirm a hostile and walk away, or help a survivor who gets engaged at while nobody knows where those helpfull shots came from. Try sneaking/stealthing around Stary in broad daylight in a Ghillie suit - it is amazing. The things u see, and the choices you could make with that M40A3 zero'd in.. no game like this. The beauty of DayZ is that one can play it any way he likes so everyone gets pretty much what he wants. Except a KoS-free world..yet. So I support the appeal of the OP.

The idea of no PvP is an option i.m.o. as diverse people, have diverse interests. So why not give those people a PvE world? If that makes somebody happy, why not. I can image people like to play this game because they like walking in a post apocalyptic environment, or try to 'survive' from zombies or just enjoy the scenery. For somebody who lives abroad of Russia and want to see a virtual Russia, DayZ is a great place.* For me personally, DayZ would lose my interest sooner or later if it was only PvE. After a while, the game would become predictable. Predictable is the opposite of interesting. A human player is never a 100% predictable, hence the game retains a grade of interest. No virtual bot can replace the human factor like a human. On a further personal not, I like to play as a hero / helper and if there were no bandits, than like a policeman in a crimeless area, I would out of a job. Lastly, it is possible to adapt to the current PvP / KoS culture. I had trouble in the beginning like many others but by remaining stealthy my current character is alive for 23 days now. Goodluck man, hope you'll enjoy the game after all! * Yes, I know it's modeled on Cz. but trust me, it's nearly identical.

Tip: put the bloodbag and trans-kit in your backpack and let your buddy take it from there. Works easier than dropping it on the ground and picking it up.

Well the internet is a different world from 'the real' world were one feels safe in the comfort of his chair and anonimity. The laws of psychology and human behaviour don't apply like gravity differs at Jupiter and Earth. Unfortunetly, the internet - thus, online games are a attractive place for selfish, immature, aggresive, childish and anti-social behaviour since it goes unpunished. At least, far from what the consequences would if one was to behave such a way in 'the real world'. So maybe its better to just - accept - that there are d!ickheads out there, and always will be. The only thing we can do about it, is not being one yourself and behaving in such a way, that others feel inspired by our behaviour and change their ways. Like somebody once said in a certain video I can't remember "I'd rather die 99 times so I can save a survivor from bandits 1 time". That inspired me to strive becoming a hero.

Not too sure of that. Killing a human being is very contra-instinctual. Therefore many people will have doubts, bad feeling in the 'gut' or other forms of emotions preventing them from killing a person. Especially a survivor in a zombie apocalypse. A good example of this, in true warfare out of 10 soldiers being fired upon or given the order to fire, about 3 will actually fire or fire to kill. Some will not fire at all or just aim above the given target. The human anti-kill instinct is that strong. And these are trained and conditioned soldiers, not civilians who have no clue about a gun confrontational situation.

It's hit and miss I think. Out of 6 times (give or take) I will find: 2: nothing 2: low value stuff like cans, G17 1: medium value stuff: AK kobra, M4 CCO 1: high(er) value stuff like a MK48, M21 etc

When u see a cow your instinct tells you to take your hatchet and go at it..

Yup, UK410