Kirov (DayZ)

I think you handled that situation well, running for the bolts was his huge mistake, I definitely wouldn't do that. I try to help people as well, sometimes actively like in going to spawn points, making camfires and giving cooked food and basic supplies. Met very nice guys in that way, even groups. Fresh spawns met more up north tend to be more deranged somehow. I had to kill in Berezino and in Novo and it leaves a bad aftertaste to finish off a defenceles moron whom I wanted to help. Like the guys say, keep your distance, don't fiddle too long with your inventory screen and judge the guy by how he talks. I like to have a Magnum in my hands when I deal with someone who looks like he's got nothing to lose. After that I just follow my guts - some people will try to kill you given the first chance, others will go out on a limb to return the favour.

Sorry, I didn’t mean it in a personal way, it’s just your post reminded me of KOS-related threads here which made me shake my head. Many normal players, Survivors if you will, tend to KOS always or almost always based on often ridiculous criteria. Among the reasons I see I can get KOSed by a ‘non-Bandit’, there is as follows: - I am armed (as in ‘I want a weapon for my protection’) - I have high gear (as in ‘I want to have stuff’) - I have low gear (as in ‘I died and just respawned’) - I have no mic (as in ‘my ears ache from headphones and I switched to speakers’) - I yell ‘friendly’ (as in ‘I’m new to the game and saw people doing that on youtube’) - I’m slow with my responses (as in ‘I’m new to the game and still figuring out the controls’) - I don’t want to put my weapon away (as in ‘I’m afraid you’ll handcuff and kneecap me’) In short, in order not to KOS you, KOS players expect you to behave in a way which gets you in a very deep shit if they are Bandits. That’s why KOS-ing for the above or similarly stupid reasons is plain Banditry in my book, even if you don’t cuff you victims and sex them up with a Zucchini. Which is fine, people have different approaches to the game, just admit it that if KOS mentality is a problem in Chernarus, you’re a part of it. Again, this is about you directly, salutes for being a medic. I think I’d like to become one, once more stuff is implemented. As it is right now, only bandages/rags and Morphine are of any use, only once I had a need of a Saline Bag or Epi-pen. Usually if you need them, there is another bullet flying straight towads your head. So I guess I’m waiting for diseases, infections, etc.

Or it could be me and we would trade and maybe tag along to raid Balota and maybe exchange steamids later. Listen, I'm not going to pretend KOSing doesn't extend your life expectancy, because it does. But the choice is clear to me - play an FPS and (try to) kill'em all or choose an intense, survival-oriented storytelling and yeah, sometimes take the risk of running into an a-hole... Good for you for not being naive, though, that's how you should handle such encounters in my book.

See, this is a problem for me with people who are inherently non-aggressive but still so cautious they need little reason to KOS. If you 'start shooting', this means you 'have guns', which means you meet your own criteria of being untrustworthy and, by logical extension, you should closely watch yourself or even auto-KOS right away. People often say they KOS only high-gear/armed players, but as a friendly player, I do want to have good guns against bandits and I do want that military loot, if only for the more slots it provides. This doesn't make me any less friendly. So the bandits win in the way that most blood in Chernarus is probably shed by people who would be otherwise nice or at least neutral toward each other, but quickly start shooting just to stay on the safe side. I've never joined experimental servers for fear of losing my character. Are there any special requirements to join? Do you play a normal game down there or is it basically just bug fishing?

On several occasions I noticed people use red chemlights inside the Novo town hall and for some reason I always decided not to investigate, even though the chems actually burn for quite a some time. A friend of mine tells me this is what snipers on nearby hills do to light up their targets, but I don’t know what to think of that. The other day, I noticed a red chemlight near the jail in Turovo and sure enough, there were two guys behaving like bandits (i.e. waiting for targets instead of looting) inside. Can someone tell me what the chemlights are used for on all-day servers? And what actions do you recommend?

OP, don't give up so easily, it's true you probably shouldn't just give ammo to someone just met, double so at military spawn points, but the lesson is not to KOS right away, but rather apply more caution and common sense. Within ten minutes of a natural conversation you should determine the chances of somebody being trustworthy or not. When in doubt, don't help (with arms) and just tell them you got let down a lot. Guys, your stories about some friendlies at the NWAF encourage me not to shoot first next time. I play as a super friendly player and will give you my last rag, but I've been taught that the airstrips operate on a strict 'KOS-or-get-KOSed' policy, so I had no qualms about shooting somebody there even on friendly servers. Will try to watch and talk in the future, and the V. Putins of Chernarus may laugh to their heart's content.

Oh by Jehova, I've seen the mushrooms on my own and trust me, I did ponder their medical applications. I certainly hope the devs will expand the range of... medical supplies. Right now I don't find enough Morphine for my character to develop and sustain a habit, so I gave up RPing this. :)

I do want to switch to night servers, only I'd like to do it in a fair way, not like most people adjusting their gamma and playing Dayz black and white. What source of light do you recommend? I figured pistol/weapon flashlights? This is not to say I'm a real man enough to do that. I run away from chemlights in the broad daylight, after all... :p

So basically people use chemlights mostly to fuck with other players? Well played, Survivors. Well played, indeed.

Yep, the idea of a lure/deterrent purpose did cross my mind, it's just I doubted the effectiveness of this trick. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ones you scare away will tend to be no-gear/low-gear players, lone wolves who avoid the dodgiest locations, etc. Conversely, the ones you do attract will be high-gear groups, experienced PvP players and so on. And the Novo city hall can be a deadly trap if you get surrounded by a group. But yeah, I agree this totally works on me when I'm by myself. A chemlight broken sure cry 'want some, get some' for a mile. :) Kanuck, last time I checked a banana doesn't work like that. Better tell us what you have found in the woods. And where exactly. ;)

Care to elaborate? I never pulled this trick and thought that the additional Mosin zoom-in with RMB actually replaces the breath, but it seems here I'm the only one to think so.

No problem and enjoy your lunch. :) While you're at it, try switching to low gear (the bow is low enough) and approaching fresh spawns near southern spawn points (i.e. not in Berezino, Svetlo or Krasno) on friendly servers, more chances (never 100%) to have an actual meaningful conversation.

We'll miss you. You'll find chickens south of Msta (quadrants 111, 100 and 112, 100) on the online map. Try switching to the crossbow, which requires more effort to get, but can also actually hit something other than a deer or a charging Zeddie.

As Merino points out: and I believe this stands as of .48, you need either to get dark green 'energized' and at least no 'thirsty' bar (slow regeneration) or much better, light green 'energized' and at least dark green 'hydrated' bar (fast regeneration). With the latter, you should regain your colours soon enough. And no, you can't use blood bags or saline bags on yourself. If you play only solo, throw away stuff like the mentioned two, Epi pen or Defi. Don't worry about overeating, you can eat even a few cans after you get the 'stuffed' bar. Just stop eating and drinking when it goes to the next colour (red or orange) of 'stuffed'. In general, you want to be as close to 'stuffed' bar as possible.

Actually there are pumps on the ingame map, they are visible on non-complete maps (you need to zoom in a lot) and look like this: Some of them are actually not there - there is a symbol like the above in Dubrovka, but the pump is out of order (closed with wooden boards, like you probably saw many times). Actually, I'd be completely fine with such inaccuracy - the map is supposed to be pre-apocalypse after all. But I'd still like to mark such stuff in a permanent way... You say the map is accurate and up-to-date, yet it doesn't even have the names of new northern towns yet. And yeah, the road grid is fine, but there are areas where if you want to navigate along the lines of 'go through this grove, pass a clearing on your left, then turn right and stick to the edge of the woods', you can get hopelessly lost. But yeah, it's Alpha and I'm sure they have more important stuff to do than cater to such maniacs. ;) Oh, and there are not feedshacks on it, so good luck finding your tent without that.

Thanks guys, yeah I really could've googled that interval. ;) As for updating the map, I agree it's probably low priority at this stage, but I saw so many people around here complaining against the non-immersive use of the browser map when the ingame one is just unreliable at times. An option to add permanent notes would sure be cool and help a bit (even if it required a separate pen). Right now notes persist on a map which is dropped and then picked up (just checked that), but whenever you log out, they're gone.

I can't agree more with OP and I actively dabble in heroing and avoid straight PvP, if only for my graphic card limitations, but KST has a point - after a few deaths when you can even starve to death, the game becomes incredibly easy. You can find abundant food, water and medium gear within an hour, less if you know exactly where to run. I'm looking forward to DayZ being a gritty horror, but if you take the threat of other players away, I just end up being a well-fed guy who wears fashionable clothes, enjoys fishing and taking screenshots of cool landmarks. I'd love to see people wanting to raid the NWAF but forced to go hunting instead lest they die of hunger, but as of .48 this is still a distant dream.

I had exactly the same story, me and my friend got friend requests after we had a chance of asking about the steamid. I would find it hard those guys to be hackers, though. And I'd like to know how to do it, the other day a friendly guy gave me his id, but there were 8.5 thousand nicks like his...

Speaking of the scale, do you know what 'contour interval' means in the ingame map legend? I can't figure it out...

I'm not sure if I can agree with that. Zoom in on any incomplete piece of the ingame map - it clearly tries to depict every fence, even individual trees in the fields, almost every rock formation, the smallest sheds. Real life maps don't look like that, you just get a general line delineating the woods. I would be completely fine with that, but on a few occasions have trusted and been let down by the map at its smaller grain. I understand agree that trees can be cut, which is why they shouldn't make their way onto the ingame map at all.

Re. hunting - I noticed most of the game somewhere in the middle belt of the map. Try Dolina, Polana, definitely Msta, Gvozdno. There should be cows south of Zelenogorsk and I saw boars and deer close to Severograd and Svergino. On the other hand, north-east of Krasny I haven't met a single animal. Fishing is also an option in virtually every pond, don't give up if you fish out just a pair of wellies. ;) German friendly servers should increase your chances of not being KOSed, I met some great people there.

I still recommend you do that, but exercise caution as well, lol. This is what happened just yesterday, my story with a moral: After I got hold of a crossbow (far better than a bow!) and my friend at last found a Mosin, we went to a medium-pop 'RP No KOS' server to help fresh spawns. Starting in Novo, we immediately got shot at by a sniper, but he missed by quite a far margin. We tried to flank him, but he was gone already. So we went down to Dubrovka, killing and quartering animals on our way. After we started a campfire (again in the middle of the street, at the crossroads), we met 3 German clan guys, one after another, all of them having been sniped by someone in Olsha. We figured it's probably the same sniper, but somehow it didn't change our behaviour in any way, sigh... Then another fresh spawn came in. We shared like 16 steaks with the guys, gave them rags and basic stuff like compasses, knives, etc., also backpacks. Discussed the game, explained the controls to the new one, took pictures, in general had a lot of fun. Then two Mosin rounds were fired so we quickly dispersed. One after another, all of us perished within a minute. My friend claims that the sniper was a hacker as he was running around houses way too fast. One moment you have absolutely everything you need in your backpack and just want to have fun with a great character, minutes later you desperately try to run to your gear (it was gone by then) and stave off starvation by eating berries... Yet another day in Chernorus. Yes I got sniped for trying to help, but I'm not going to resign from that. The next time we'll just try to be more careful, maybe build a campfire in front of those doorless sheds and stay inside, scout around more, etc. Yesterday 4 guys added me as a friend via Steam, they're likely to help me out in the future more than once if we meet, it was worth getting sniped by a guy who's not only a hacker, but also preys on fresh spawns on friendly servers! I mean, how low can you stoop? (which reminds me - fuck you, twat!). Still, with that most recent encounter I have a ratio of 12 friendlies/neutrals vs. 3 bandits, not bad for a game which routinely drives normal, friendly people into KOS-just-to-be-safe paranoids. ;) Coming back to fresh spawns, I noticed also that what helps is giving something extra. Anyone can find enough food and rags to survive, but if you give a decent backpack or a gun, most newly met people will appreciate a lot and will follow you even to dangerous areas (as long as you loot some guns on your way). Maybe some will put a bullet through your head the moment they are armed, shit happens, but I believe (and have certain experience with that) that most will cover you and use their last Morphine or Rag on you. So when you dish out steaks and good loot at campfires, in one evening you can raise an army capable of raiding the NWAF or Berezino like it belongs to them... Think about that. :) Below - my friend, then a Latino boy, to the left, with three guys from a German clan. Less than an hour before we all got killed.

Tough luck, I noticed people here report very different impressions with their encounters. Tonight, once I've finally completed all the game options related to survival (crafting, hunting, fishing, cooking), me and my friend went helping fresh spawns. Made a campfire right in the middle of the street in Msta (a spawn point plus many animals and a well). We met a guy who barely spoke English, fed him with deer steaks and chicken, gave him rags and sent him on his way. Then we moved to Dolina, caught like 8 fish, set up a campfire right next to the police station, met an Irish guy, gave him steaks, rags, a loaded AK (yes, we did that and no, he couldn't believe that either), crafted an improvised backpack from a boar pellet for him. Another guy was hiding in the police station, we heard him and fed him as well. The four of us went through a factory to Polana, where we met another two fresh spawns. Killed a cow and gave them steaks and whatever spare stuff we could find (both Dolina and Polana had been heavily looted by then). Then we had to log out, leaving the whole gang warm and happy together around a campfire. I will cherish that moment the next time I take a Mosin round to my face. :) Low/medium gear seems to make people much more at ease, I deliberately got rid of some military stuff (bow is my primary) and put on a yellow raincoat to look less intimidating (now it's an orange raincoat and a red bonnie hat). This all happened at a server called something like German survival playground be friendly. HC. Just wanted to share this story, I thought it's really cool. The last BBQ is below, me to the left, the other four have been meet within the past hour or so. :)

A friend of mine got me interested in the game, but I’d watched only a minute or two of an LP. We were on Skype and tried to find one another with our fresh spawns. I was somewhere near Dolina, he was way up North (now I think probably Svetlo). After running around in circles, scared as shit of the zeds and in general doing my best to win the Most Clueless Bambi award, we finally establish where we are and decide to meet on the coast. We’d been playing for 1,5 -2 hours by then. I run up somewhere in Nizhnoye or the lumber mill, he’s coming down to me and we know we’re super close now. I lay down in the grass and check up my online map. Alt+tabbing back, my char is punched senseless by a zed. Back then I had a problem switching between weapons, let alone actually strafe-circling and hitting something. So I go down once (unconscious), but after a moment I wake up. My friend sees me already in the distance at this moment. Soon afterwards I go down for the second time, as the offending zed is still near me. But I regain my senses again, just as my friend comes attacking, axe-drawn. Then I go down for the third and last time (still only unconscious, but this time for good), while my friends smashes into the zed. It took us more than 1,5 hours to meet and he was too late to save my sorry ass by less than 20 seconds. With no epi or defi, the only thing for him to do was to open my canned tuna and munch it over my dead body. :) This made me fall in love with the game. Before that I thought DayZ could as well be called “Lootcraft”. But with my death I realized what a great storytelling potential dwells in this sandbox setting. :thumbsup:

I've spent some considerable time in Chernarus on my own, crafting stuff and getting to know the map, now I'd like some more interaction (so far was killed twice, killed somebody twice - 1 in the NWAF, 1 a berserk fresh spawn - and had one great NWAF raid with a stranger; but I actively avoided other players, not being a good shoot). I figured if I looked medium gear (good jacket and pants, hunting pack, vest only inside the pack, no rifle) and armed with a bow as a primary, maybe people won't be that hostile. We're going to find out soon enough. :) Which reminds me - do you think that using vests like protector cases (they can be put inside a backpack for less slots) is a clear-cut abuse? After all, you can't do the same with jackets or pants with stuff in it, so maybe it was done on purpose. I found the vest trick somewhere here on this forum.