Euryon

So one of the things I love to do in DayZ, especially when going solo, is to wander aimlessly in the Northern reaches, trying my best to live off the land. After I've energized and found a decent gun and ammo, I try to go craft my own backpack, keeping whatever greenish clothes I can find, and live purely from hunted and gathered food. I know gathering will improve over time, likely with squash, more fruit, vegetable gardens, etc. Animal hunting, however, whilst a nice rush when you finally spy that buck 2 fields away, is really quite random. Thus, to improve the process, I'd like to make some suggestions... 1) Animals leave spoor. By this I mean evidence of their movement. Animal droppings (each individual for each animal) would be great. They could be 'touched' or smelt, much like taking a pulse, and the warmth or texture could give a clue as to their age. Thus, a warm deer poop would indicate a deer within a mile or so. A cold, hard dollop would be next to useless... Unless there are several, possibly indicating... 2) Animal territories. Some (but not all) animals are territorial. Whilst in real life their habitat may include areas as large as Chenarus itself, for the sake of the game, a large buck might 'own' a solid square KM in the game, assuming it is not infracting on a town or high-traffic area. This would mean, if you happened to find a reasonably large quantity of deer poop, and there's water nearby, you may be close to a buck's grazing area, and can be alert with such information. Similarly, when bears and possibly wolves are introduced, we might get lucky enough to introduce a meta-game where driving the bears in a server to extinction (Assuming some persistence) allows bucks and pigs, etc., to increase their territory, and perhaps 'reproduce' more - effectively creating a form of in-game artificial selection. Perhaps this is too much though, just a thought. 3) Further animal spoor. Broken branches, hoof/paw prints, genuine localized sounds, blood trails, etc., could all be incorporated using existing game functions (IMO), and give tell tale sign of animals nearby. 4) Animal psychology. I like that cows tend to show up in herds of 3 or 4, whereas your average buck is by it's lonesome. This feels about right, considering the apocalypse is fairly recent, and other than hogs, most animals tend to retain their behavior when released into the wild (Cows will remain in herds, as an example). Similarly, I like that animals run from you, but I would like the ability to creep up on some animals a bit easier. If moving in an animals blind spot, at the slowest possible crouch-walk, I certainly should be able to sneak up on a cow or pig - a buck, perhaps not, they're wiley for sure. 5) Gun shots should scare animals away. Dramatically so. Sometimes if trying my luck with an unscoped Mosin from a couple hundred meters away, I will miss the headshot I try to go for (I'm still trying to figure out all what factors better meat carving - a buddy and I both carved 3 deer with pristine kitchen knives - he got an average of 80% quality, whilst I got 50% quality), but the deer won't budge an inch. If anything, deer and zombies should have their sound responses switched over - bucks bolt at most anything, whereas I can see the degenerated brain of a zombie/infected being slower to respond to specific noises. 6) Not insta-kill. Depending on the caliber and range of the shot, not all guns should instantly kill an animal. I've known bucks of similar maturity to those in the game (I forget, are they 8pts or 10pts?) to bolt after taking pretty large rounds to the gut. Hogs (boars in this, I guess) might need a whole damn clip, having heard stories from buddies who've hunted them. Either way, an extra level to 'the hunt' would be clipping an animal, and trying to mark where it goes to ground, and hunting it down, following blood trails, listening for struggling, etc. (Edited additions) 7) Animals fleeing. If a careless hunter, zombie or animal moves too quickly through a particular spot (by a tree, or through a bush, or whatever), a few birds could fly away screeching. This could give a cool audio addition to the paranoia-inducing environment, but also lend some further strategy. Chasing a *player* into the woods is often a bad idea, as the amount of cover it affords often allows them to escape. However, imagine chasing another armed player through the woods, and you hear birds screech 20m to your right, you quick-scope, but it's just a deer strolling through the woods... This could also work the same as how Zeds will occasionally aggro on animals, with bears etc., aggroing on other animals... ---- Ultimately, I know hunting isn't entirely what DayZ is about, but it IS A survival game, and living off the land should be a viable option for those of us who like to challenge the system in this way. I don't think these sorts of ideas will require a massive time/money investment from the team, and I fully accept they would be low priority when compared to fixing technical issues, and getting other more important features opened up. Nevertheless, we can discuss it here, and determine if it's something we, as a community, think is a good idea. IF not, no harm, no foul.

You are correct. Typing too fast without thinking. Beans for not being a dick about it.

I've considered discussing caloric intake as a mechanic in the game. I figured it was overly complicated, but here goes: So, the average person (ie, your standard DayZ avatar) requires about 2000 calories a day. I'm not sure if that equals what it takes to 'energize' yourself, but I'm sure it's fairly close. However, considering your character will no doubt *sprint* for about 50% of his daily play - anywhere from 30 minutes to 5 or 6 hours for some - that's a shit tonne of exercise and calories burning. I know stamina is going to be introduced, so I don't want to get into caloric replacement so much... But, yes, if your character is just eating TacBac and beef steaks, and generally sits on sniper-hill for 100% of his in-game day, I think it would be neat to see his/her ability to run decrease, perhaps have him/her grow some belly fat. A bizzare advantage might be an ability to withstand the cold a little better? Similarly, starving oneself might be an option to reduce ones visibility, but suffer lower lengths of energized status. However, eating a balanced diet, with exercise, would maximize stamina, raw power (for melee), etc. I dunno, just a thought :)

Joined a mid-pop server (20ish) as I was on the outskirts of Bere, a few months ago. Scoped the cop-shop out, and looked as clear as it was gonna look, so headed in. Unlooted (wtf right?). Got what I needed, and as I closed a door behind me... "Get out of my police station.... ...NOW!" So I scanned outside the windows, couldn't see him. Bolted out the side door, and through houses onto that low hill to the west of the northern road. Then there's shots at me. Lots of shots. Take cover, slowly start to flank through the trees. Hear footsteps. Hide in a bush for 10 minutes. Footsteps again. STILL no visual. Then someone blew the gas station. Shit myself. Combat logged. Too much adrenalin. Fuck that.

Inventotris?

As far as poop goes, it'd be nice for animal spore. You could see how warm it is, get to know which animals poop looks like what, figure out if you're near a regular animal haunt, etc. Ways other than randomly seeing 5 zombies chasing a cow, and the occasional unicorn-pig and stag would be nice, to track animals. There should be some little skill involved in hunting, past random luck of the spawn, IMO.

Wow, you learn something new everyday! I wondered why Maniac and BlackOut always had an M4 in their videos, lol. Thanks guys, now I can keep my two favorite guns :D

Benefits: With foresight, you can choose the method of an engagement. As it is the Mosin and M4/AKM/AK101 which is the most preferable combo, you have the opportunity to provide overwatch, or lend a hand in CQC. You feel pretty badass. Negatives: You will lose one of the guns when you log off. You can never run at full speed. It can take some time to pull out the required weapon if you need to change on the fly. I prefer to run with a Mosin and MP5/Sawn-off/fully decked FNX. The MP5 is only worth having if you have 2 30rd clips. The 15's are too unpredictable in whether you'll take an opponent down. The sawn-off is satisfying, but you'll want plenty of cover (like inside a house) so you can duck out and reload constantly, as it's tough to be close enough to get a OHK (with double barrel fire). The FNX will at least give you a chance in a firefight, and is the best all round sidearm, IMO. This way you have range (Mosin), CQC (with your other weapon), and can still sprint, won't lose your second weapon, and have them all on hotkeys.

Spend two weeks looking for enough ammo and clips to make it a worthwhile firearm in a gunfight. Probably be KoS'd before it happens.

A totally rare set of plate armor that can be looted at one of the castles. 100% armor against zombies. 50% buff against other melee damage types. Some protection against small caliber firearms (.22's, mostly). But you can only walk with it.

March them up to a high rooftop at gun point and order them to jump... Get a few zombies aggro'd, then lure them to a broken legged victim... Tell them to run along the runways at NWAF with an unloaded SKS (have a mosin on them at all times), if they do 2 laps, they get to live...

Also include the school (or whatever it is) that has the 3rd floor room with an almost 100% chance of a gun... The hospital and small clinic for medical supplies... Railway station for backpacks and occasionally Press vests...

Would be great if you could tag which essentials have a medium to high chance of spawning in these buildings... For instance, the Piano House is a pretty good chance of a firearms (from a sporter to the mosin)... The small restaurant has a decent chance of backpacks... The red-brick house always has some sort of food (sometimes rotten though)... The red-brick house with an archway often has a firearm... Firestations are good for axes, yellow containers, kitchen knives, ammo, compasses, handcuffs and low-end military clothing... Etc...

Whilst I bow to your knowledge of bow-making, I have to disagree to a point. Time should be a relatively minor factor, as this is still a game. No-one wants to sit looking at their guy animate carving a bow for several hours. Perhaps a compromise? 1) You can spend up to an hour 'carving' a bow. If you spend the full hour, you get it pristine. 45 mins = worn, 30 = damaged, etc. You can split this time up and do 10 mins today, 10 mins tomorrow, etc. 2) The improvised bow might just be the only crafted bow, and others - composites, longbows, etc. - might be fully built items later on in development. I do like the arrows idea - certainly the ability to carve a basic wooden arrow and harden it over fire. Not sure about attaching glass or metal though. I'd like proper arrows to be lootable, and in-a-fix arrows craftable myself. Finally, I'm a big fan of the first line of your signature. First time I heard that was in a weird alternative history novel, some years ago. ;)

Found one in the upstairs of an unlooted piano house. Kept my mosin though.

You have my beans. My next regular character is going to be a hooligan. Tracksuit jacket, jeans, red punk military boots, baseball bat, rocks to throw... hehe Would be funny to get 35 hooligans similarly geared, against 5 armed riot police ;)

Thinking about playing my next character in extreme survival mode (possibly recording it for youtube)... The conditions I'm thinking of implementing: 1) Server must have 30+ population. 2) Hardcore (though at first I'll play with whichever of my characters dies first, giving me a fresh spawn). 3) No guns - only allowed melee weapons and crafted bow. 4) Only allowed to change pants and shirt once. Must craft backpack. 5) No vests, no headgear, no masks. 6) Allowed to eat and drink looted food/drink until light green energized and hydrated. Once that status is hit for the first time, only natural food (hunted meat, apples from orchards, fish, etc) and water (lakes, rain) Added: 7) Obviously no glitching or gamma-tweaking. 8) Only wood fires, no gas fires. Anyone else ever tried something like this? Got any suggestions for more rules? This is of course a self-governed ruleset, which is why I might record it, if it proves fun to play.

You can use it for long range vision, but the accuracy will be absurd on anything below pristine. If I have no pristine one, I carry any version, as it takes less slots than binoculars. I don't use it for combat though. If I also have a longhorn, I might use it instead (but then I likely won't carry a mosin). 1) Mosin with pristine LRS 2) Longhorn (pristine) with an automatic main firearm (or sks in a pinch) 3) Mosin with non-pristine LRS, but not used to fire with using scope. 4) Whatever I have with binoculars You really are gonna want something to scope in on cities and AOE's in this game. Makes a massive difference if you camp a zone for 10-20 minutes beforehand to see if anyone's around.

King of Devil's Castle Hill I'd like to run a DayZ-SA contest, pitching two teams against each other, in the style of 'King of the hill' (the game, not the show). Two opposing teams would start out from opposite sides of 'Devil's Castle', and attempt to capture the structure. The contest would be recorded, and possibly streamed. How to apply: Respond here with interest. What you need to apply: Your character can be geared in any fashion you like, with one exception. Players on the Green Team will need Green Berets, and players on the Black Team will need Black Berets. Referees will need Red Berets. Green Team Black Team Referees Starting Locations: The Green Team will start approximately 2km SSE of Devil's Castle, in the town of Grishino. The Black Team will start approximately 2km NE of Devil's Castle, at the end of the road highlighted. (See image below) Composition: Teams will have 12 members each. There will be 6 referees. 1 referee will run with each team, to ensure no cheating. Each team will have: 1 Captain 1 Lieutenant 2 Sergeants (Ranks are not intended to represent real-world military hierarchy, simply to provide an overall command structure [Captain>Lieutenant>Sergeants>Everyone Else], allowing for up to 4 independent fire-teams) Each soldier may carry any weapons or equipment they like. You can have designated marksmen, snipers, medics, shock troops, whatever. The only equipment stipulation is that there will be no double main-gun carrying (just what you spawn in with). Team Rules: Only in game chat. No teamspeak (or alternatives). There will be ample opportunity to discuss strategy before the battle, and in game, I would like to emulate 'combat' as much as possible, thus radio discipline. Walkie-talkies will be allowed. Obey your referee. The ref's will be on an out-of-game chat program, and will communicate in real time with one another (to ensure everyone kicks off together, etc.). Do NOT attack ANY referee. A team that purposefully kills a referee will suffer a harsh score penalty. Obey your commanders. Whilst lone-wolfing or trolling can be fun (for some), the point of this is to simulate combat, to some degree. Sure, we could play BF or CoD for that, but DayZ offers a unique environment, with some minor environmental obstructions (zombies can give away positions, for example). If you are not interested in this, just go elsewhere, as some might be interested, and want to take it seriously. In any case, listen to your commanders. Be a good idea to know your team-mates before hand. Pre-battle practice is encouraged! Berets. You may ONLY carry one beret of your teams color. No enemy berets, no referee berets. Just ONE of your teams beret, on your head. Referee Guidelines: (This will be discussed further at a later date, but some highlights...) Respect your team (if you are assigned to one). Use cover and voice discipline, stay near the back, there's no need to give them away unnecessarily. Weapons - You can carry an axe of some sort for personal defence against zombies, and a gun for emergencies. Equipment - Wear as much red clothing as you can; red beret, red backpack, red hoodie/jacket, etc. This will make you less likely to be shot. Binoculars, a Longhorn, or an unloaded scoped Mosin would be useful, as well as personal medical supplies. One referee will be assigned to each team. The other 4 (likely myself included) will patrol the Castle proper, and it's surrounding area. Referees will need to record the game from beginning to end, to be published to youtube afterwards (and perhaps edited into main footage). Scoring: If at least one member of your team controls the castle for 5 minutes, the game will be over. If all members of one team are killed, the game will be over. If at least one member from both teams are within the castle, the game cannot end. 100 points will be allocated for every team member alive inside the castle walls. 20 points will be allocated for every team member alive outside the castle walls. 100 points will be allocated for every enemy hostage your team has handcuffed (or otherwise under your control [broken legs + disarmed, etc.]) 50 points will be allocated for every enemy cap your Captain has in his possession when the game is called (possessions will be checked prior to ensure no-one is carrying enemy caps). 250 points will be deducted for killing a referee (in this event, footage will be watched to determine the murderer, if there is a dispute). This will be reduced to a 50 point penalty if an officer or NCO (Cpt., Lt., Sgt.) executes the offender ASAP. Miscellaneous: This will be played on a regular server (allowing 3PP) This will be played during the daytime (to prevent gamma abuse) This will be played on a 30 person server (so no bambis or bandits get in the way) No teamspeak (or alt.) for teams ----------------------------- So what are your thoughts? Something you are interested in? Any suggestions to improve or modify the plan as it stands? Any volunteers for teamplay or referee positions? (Officers and NCOs will be decided once enough players are signed up)

As stated in the OP, all refs WILL be on a 3rd party chat program. That's the point of having assigned referees. The point in not letting teams have TS is to emulate the fact that Johnny sneaking up the hill can't reasonably yell over to his buddy on the other side of the castle without giving his position away. I guess modern radio comms allow for this sort of communication though, so it can be reconsidered...

If HC is preferable to more people, it can totally be changed to HC. I just want the discussion at this point :)

There's no real way of enforcing, but that's why I think a referee with each team will help. They will be able to hear in-game comms, and be party to the walky channel used. It can't be 100% guarenteed, but I think if 12 more-or-less random volunteers join a team, the honor system will go some way. However, if people who want to play, really want teamspeak or something, it can certainly be discussed. Nothing is a make-or-break for me :)

Under misc. rules :)

(Saving for additional info) Confirmed Players (Forum name/Steam name/DayZ name) Confirmed Referees (Forum name/Steam name/DayZ name) Euryon/the_last_bastard/Redcoat

I'm always up for playing in groups. Start a "Mountain folk" sub-culture in DayZ ;)