eno

^ That is what I want to help deal with... though I'm not good enough to get up close yet over time I think I'll build that confidence. I JUST found out that I had a broken arm for however long so trying to aim the mosin was like trying to aim a pissed off rattle snake... Someone mentioned there is a bug with broken arms where you can suffer the results but not get any indication. I "ghost" splinted and now my aim is true! Berezino is the area I'm working around in an "overwatch" capacity. Wish I'd seen that go down and been able to interdict. Nice work Sacha

A little new to the game to enter the debate objectively but at a subjective level I'd like to think that they'd take into account that people who are killed either by zombies or other players would have an accelerated decay (same way we see gardens grow in 8 minutes) so the smell draws the zombies if the sound of a melee weapon crushing a skull doesn't. Running low on ammo and food? Well, killing the guy in front of you will get you whatever he has... which, if your status is any indication, may not be much- but you're going to need every last morsel of what he's carrying in order to sustain you through the escape and evasion from the incoming horde. So the potential benefit cancels itself out... This will be significant when we can't sprint across a country in an hour and a half without stopping with 50lbs of gear on our backs. People are going to kill people no matter what- I think I've read about that enough. It shouldn't, however, be perceived as the easier way out of the predicament... Whether that predicament is survival of the game, or just the human interaction.

I didn't have that bug- I've been able to make splints but thanks for putting it out there in the event I start having trouble. On ANOTHER note though- HOLY CRAP now it's MUCH better... obviously I've been walking around with a broken arm all this time. Thankful since I wasn't sure how much use I was going to be for anyone given that I wasn't sure I'd have even been able to reliably hit the hospital reliably from 500m at the rate it was going. Thank you thank you!

I wasn't aware of the fracture thing I'll definitely have to make some splints and try it out.

Very briefly, I can run in almost a straight line and somehow go in a circle... particularly through the trees- It's downright disorientating. I put my compass up and it shows me going the reverse of the direction I started. It's happened twice to me now in the last couple days... Anyone else have this happen?

I think what's really getting to me is when I am in the woods- and I mistakenly switch from free view over to normal view and turn when I don't mean to... then check my compass to get back in line and I suffer the compass bug. Like I mentioned over in "How was your DayZ" thread- I had 3 different headings with 3 tries. Very frustrating. At one point while lost I came to a T intersection... but two of the three towns weren't on the map with stylized script- Trying to use the compass was futile... but I saw a castle on the horizon- which one? The lone tower? Devils? Not sure from that distance since it was only an outline. If you can imagine this- SOMEHOW I ended up on a mountain abreast of the AIRSTRIP- to the east... heading to the NWAF from Severograd AFTER running past the castle! How on earth did I get that badly turned around? I don't know... but I was. I have tried to "line walk" to various destinations- finding some of the high tension power lines on the map and taking them until I see another landmark and break off trying to stick to objects that will get me where I'm going without being right on top of them. This is since if I'm using these landmarks / roads / power lines etc then undoubtedly other people may be too. So I step away a wee bit farther and that's when I get lost lol. I'll be walking and at some point I'll check the compass and it'll have flipped on me. In the transition I'll get turned around and not know which way I came from. On the plus side I've started to use the sun as a reference to counter the 180 flip of the compass... with that said I'm pretty sure it pulled 90 degree turn on me last night as mentioned earlier. All of the information above from you guys has been VERY helpful and I am learning more about it all the time. What I also liked was the guy who wrote the STALKERS guide mentioned that you get to know a certain area really, really well and just stick to it. Start learning how to reference landmarks and direction- and developing a natural ability to know that if you see this building and that road is on a certain side of it- you just know your location on a map.

I crested 100 hours last night- learned a few things and shot my first Zed with the Mosin. I've been romping around in my familiar area now, kind of relieved to know where everything is (or could be)... and I noticed a couple of zombies hanging out by the hospital. Figured... hmmm- 2 of them eh? If anyone heads into the hospital they'll have their work cut out for them (if they're still relatively fresh. Out comes Mr. Mosin with the LR Scope and the compensator- First thing I want to say to those of you new folks- your "hold breath" and "zoom" keys are configured the same by default... so I recommend you get that squared away and if you don't you'll figure out why when you try and shoot anything. I'd read about the "sway" in another thread and I wrote it off as guys just complaining that they couldn't KOS fast enough- but man... when I tried to aim for the first time it was a bit ludicrous. I read in another thread about a geometric shape the sight travels- look it up since it may help you predict the best time to hold your breath. Anyway- I'd found a range finder a bit ago and lazed the building near the zed and dialed in my zero, then tried to aim. I hadn't yet figured out about the simultaneous zoom / hold breath thing (I knew I was holding my breath- and I knew I was either zooming or "concentrating / focusing." Realized maybe I wasn't zooming at all- I tried to aim (I was about 500 meters) but just couldn't hold it. Then, one of the zeds launched and headed off towards the hospital! The other stayed still... No idea what that was about- other than the fact that about a minute later a cow raced across my LOS with about 4 zeds in tow... not sure if my target was one of them but meh- there's another one to worry about. There was about a dozen people on the server so I was feeling pretty confident- but I figured I should probably go practice some place less likely to have anyone. I'm not sure how far people can hear you- so I headed over to the factory and low and behold there was a zed "outstanding" in its field. I lazed it and was about 500 meters again. Kind of winged it a bit- I'd never fired the mosin before and didn't know what to expect but even with the chaos in my scope I managed to drop the zed. I was kind of proud actually! So I mozied around a bit... server reset... went back over to Berezino and saw the second zed was still there by the hospital. Hmmm, okay, let's try this again. Lazed him again- still set at 500... tried for 5 minutes to get the aim to work properly but it wouldn't cooperate. I fired and missed. It got me thinking to my earlier gaming days where folks recommended that snipers switch their fire button to one off the mouse for their sniper rifles or at least have a second input- reason being when you move to fire you could slightly move your mouse at the same time... Taking that off the mouse as well as the hold breath really helped (I have a simple non gaming mouse on my laptop- I'll probably put the breath hold back on it when I have the buttons) afterwards. I got my second shot in and dropped it. Nothing really remarkable about it- I can't IMAGINE what it's going to be like tracking moving targets but now I definitely understand why it is that most people transition between areas at a full sprint. Hope everyone had a decent night!

I'm starting to realize my drama at the air strip was just a glitch and not a sniper- too bad, really. That was intense. And now I know never to go upstairs^ I had a really frustrating night last night in a relatively quiet server fortunately. I don't know what my problem is with landmarks- but I sure wish there was a way to look back at a trail on a map of what amount of ground I covered- where I stopped and got directions and sped off in the wrong direction. LITERALLY HOURS running around the NWAF- not sure if I made it to the NW corner but holy F. In one instance I got 3 directions from the compass... One when I looked at it, another once I'd put it down and looked at it again... and yet another when I put it down and looked at it again. VERY difficult to identify where you are when your at a crossroads with road signs and 2 of them aren't on the map in the stylized script. At least at my level. I did stumble into one little town and saw more loot in a single building than I have in any 3 days I've ever played. One full shelf of just books- I mean a full shelf, every single level... books upon books. FINALLY I just gave up and started running down this road- eventually wound up where I started off. HOURS. Anyway- confirmed directions from my known point this time and just ran straight. Just disregarded everything and ran straight. Had lots of food... lots of liquids... good to go. 5 minutes later I arrived. I ran back to the coast (probably 15 minutes of holding down the shift-w key) and tried to figure out a place to work. I'm hoping to help some people out between Berezino and Solnichniy (sp)- watch for freshies or others in trouble and generally just wait for the inevitable wipe lol.

Had exactly the same problem OP... SBJ (my associate) also- and usually if you've attracted one zombie then most within a couple hundred meters seem to want to latch onto you. Nevermind if you find a gun that early in the game and discharge it. Oy vey! I'm a relative noob so I'll try and add a bit to what StayAlive mentioned. Without wanting to overemphasize the obvious- situational awareness is extremely important in those first few moments- There is a beginners guide pinned in this section and in it is a link to the "STALKERS guide..." Something to that effect. It's the last of 4 links offered in the thread. Go in there- there's a map that shows MOST of the spawn points... Not sure how up to date it is but every time I've spawned in I've been able to find my location using references from that map. It's helpful too in that it shows high loot areas and other good to know things. Once you've identified where you are, then you can start trying to figure out if there is anyone else around- particularly these zombies. Now- in saying this... In your first 1 minute you're going to need to look around for landmarks- that's a good time to do an initial scan and listen for activity. If you switch out (alt tab) to the map I recommend above, or the one below- you won't be able to hear that you're being beaten to death by zombies... so if you're going to switch back and forth be careful! There is a chance in locating Zeds (in the case you described) that they just spawned in near you and you were line of sight to them but generally what happens is they catch you in their LOS as you go by and unless you're listening for the "launch" (as I've taken to calling it) then they will surprise you. Just today I sprinted from Berezino to a factory down the coast a bit- probably 5 minutes of straight sprinting. I stopped at the factory and started looking around. About a minute later I hear this gurgling Zed- apparently been chasing me for awhile. Killed it... THEN another one comes up about 40 seconds later. Kind of brutal- but that's our reality right now. So what normally happens is you'll have crossed a Zed's line of sight- MUCH farther away when you cross in front of them during the day at a sprint than at a slow crouch behind at night- there are some useful photos that show their various detection capabilities- Walking is less likely to get their attention than running... I think I even read something that indicated that soft ground was less noticeable than pavement etc. I may stand corrected. Also as mentioned, once you know they're coming at you it's time to bob and weave. You'll notice about 10 feet out they will lunge at you- typically you can side step out of the way and they'll stop, take a second to turn around and then lunge again or just flail their arms at you. That's when I strike- during that second they take to turn around. Now, if you're just using your fists- don't even bother... just wail away on their head like you mentioned. It does help to have your shirt already torn into rags to bandage yourself up quickly before the next melee. Once you get a weapon, the techniques will differ depending on your style- but the method above works well for me and I'm new. The fire axe is a one hit wonder and the splitting axe will kill a Zed in 2- so if you can find either of those you'll be happy! Don't let that stop you from grabbing a pipe wrench or a shovel... or a crowbar- ANYTHING! Generally you find them in sheds- but you could find them anywhere. There are even brass knuckles out there. Keep your eyes peeled! One thing that helps is to "tab search" when you go into an area and move around the room in areas that are harder to see. Sometimes items are glitched through the floor slightly and you can see them with your "vicinity" window in the tab screen. This may reveal things you didn't know were there or have not yet learned to recognize. About your nutrition etc... When you start you are basically in a depleted state. The story is you've washed up on shore and are thirsty and hungry already. You can use your tab screen to monitor this- when things are light brown it's not a big deal but it's there... as things get darker and turn red then you're in trouble so time is a ticking! In addition to the stalker map I think the standard map is this map: http://dayzdb.com/map/chernarusplus#6.093.065 Once you've figured out your location, you can use this map to find the nearest wells... Oh- and don't just drink until the "thirsty" goes away- if possible, keep drinking until you are "hydrated" and the banner is bright green- not just dark green. If you've already eaten some, then it can pay to take a few more drinks after that. If you haven't eaten you can get "stuffed" with very little food- maybe an insufficient quantity to last. At least that's the way I understand it. You can open any canned food with any sharp object. To be honest I'm about 80 hours in and probably half a dozen lives and I've only found 2 can openers. I find the screwdriver works really well to open the cans and not spill too much. Use an axe and you might spill most of the contents... Peaches seem to be the favourite food but I'm not going to lie the THOUGHT of tactical bacon makes my mouth water even as I write this. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Bacon. Tactical. As mentioned fruits and veggies are available- and as you get more comfortable with the interface you might find a few items to plant your own garden. Takes about 8 minutes to grow tomatoes and they come in waves! Anyway- sorry this turned into a bit of a ramble. The game can be as fun as you make it. Choose the role you want to play and play it. Know that people will kill you on sight in some cases... in other cases they may actually even mislead you into a sense of comfort and then kill you anyway... I've seen a relative balance of both types of people- awful, and some who were cautious but friendly. One guy was so taken aback by the fact that I was easy to deal with that he took off all his stuff and told me to take what I needed. This guy had a clown mask on and a shotgun- usually a sure sign that you're about to eat the green wiener! Fact is awesome people are out there- so are jagoffs. Manage yourself accordingly! Hope you enjoy your tenure in Chernarus- Maybe we'll see you out there!

You may have posted them already- but may I ask your video settings? That really is gorgeous.

I had similar happen. Was able to crawl downstairs though- it made me crouch but I got down and cut down a tree and made a splint. I also had a broken arm and was bleeding. Not sure why you can't get outside?

Had a rather intense moment at the factory between Solichny and Berezino... I was scrounging looking for some stuff and while on the main floor I heard what I thought was the sound of a V3S- Again, I'm a noob- might have been the wind blowing but I'm pretty sure that it was a truck approaching. I looked around various openings in the factory building I was in but didn't see anything... The truck sounded like it drove around a bit, then stopped. I figured- ah frick... do I go up or go down? Hide or get ready to stand and fight. There were 50 people in the server and I know folks who are of the feint of heart (like me) don't come in there except to get it on. When I joined there was 5- must have been right after a reset... when I looked and saw there was 40+ I thought about dropping out- but what kind of story would that have made? I stuck to the grind. To top that off- I don't have comms because my laptop mic decided not to work so I'd be stuck to typing. Not fantastic odds. And, speaking of stuck- now I'm stuck in this building- KNOWING there is someone on my doorstep but not sure which one, front or back?! Crap. What to do? There was a ramp leading down onto the main floor of the building with a little notch between it and the wall and it was in a shadow. I pushed myself in that corner and crouched down hoping at the very least that the guy wouldn't come in and if he did maybe he wouldn't see me. I waited there for what felt like 10 minutes but was probably 30 seconds... I was JUST about to head out when the guy came racing in from the left side- from towards the water / train tracks / road. He ran past me and it looked like he must have looked to his right to see if there was anything in there (I'd just grabbed the paint I needed) just long enough for me to zip out the door (I was on his left as he ran in). I just beat cheeks out of there- waiting to start hearing bullets flying over my shoulder... or hackers eating my food and unloading my weapon... Or screaming over my headset for me to put my hands up and get on my knees. I quickly made it to the treeline- but as I ran I actually heard the sound of someone eating. I'd just watched a video where a guy was talking about the ghillie suit and a hacker started unloading his weapon, making him eat his stuff- all sorts of weird warping stuff... I thought for sure the same was happening to me. I ran and ran... looking over my shoulder. Finally after I'd ran a few hundred meters at least I settled in and waited- listening... watching. Unfortunately I kept hearing this sound like smacking lips- so I couldn't tell if that was someone taunting me? Only about 30-40 seconds passed and I was watching the side of the factory- I saw the guy come out and run around the corner out of site. Perhaps he hadn't seen me at all? I know one of the first rules to this game is to not get attached to your stuff- but I also know that finding the stuff you want can take PAINFUL hours- and I ALSO know that's the point! But caring for your stuff also makes you more careful- just like playing in a server with 50 people in it makes you play more carefully than a server with 5. What I'm really interested in doing is getting kitted out so that I can act as an overwatch in busy areas and watch out for the freshies. My concern is I know what it looks like- and the assumption from some who have been playing awhile (if they encounter me out there) would be that I'm poaching the freshies instead! Or as someone said in another thread "target practice." Anyway- I spent hours running around the beach to the boats and then packing burlap sacs... ugh- just to find the last paint can I needed to finish it off and get killed in the same building I found it?! Goodness no. I'm working my way inland now to go see if I can grab some webbing to get some additional pockets and a warmer set of clothes so I'm not shaking like a leaf when I look through my scope... once that's done I'll head back down and keep a watch over Berezino and that highway along the coast.

Neither does you playing like a jagoff...

Every time I try to sit down and write something with the intention of being objective, I keep stepping back and thinking- it's early access... it's a performance limitation... it's a gamestyle preference... is a survival scenario- it's not supposed to be easy. Whether it's about the long load times and clunky server reset times, relatively short ranged grass rendering making concealment difficult in an environment that rewards KOS style play, the amount of useless loot available that is seldom used versus items that would be more useful. I checkmate my own gripes each time... The server hopping? Given the state of servers crashing and resetting what seems like every hour or so depending on which one you're on... no wonder people get in the habit. The hacking... the platform does seem a bit vulnerable but then many games are at all stages of development. Rendering, even if it could be turned on to show grass at longer ranges would be turned down to enhance performance anyway on the PVP style side computer... Loot- well... tighten that belt! Times are tough. Then there are the obvious things that will be polished- guys bleeding 4 feet from their bodies... stuff glitching through the floor (including people but it looks like that's been fixed)- zeds being killed and sliding for 100 feet down a hill... The repetitive houses / interiors... Instant on / instant off sprinting no matter the loadout again- all things that will be fixed over time. Anyway, just my .01 cent.

Wondering too if it can happen if someone else joins the server with poor ping... since their server related information would be transmitted back and forth at a slower rate. The few times I've had it it seems to resolve itself within about 30 seconds- at least as far as I notice it in game. If I look into my stats (p) then sometimes the desync will still lag a bit longer but not by much.

Glad guys are still weighing in here. I agree that as I start getting more comfortable with various aspects of the game that naturally cuing on landmarks is getting easier. When looting, I'd get all turned around if I went into a house one way and then out on another side... I'd end up turning around and re-looting the house I'd just left since I didn't recognize it in the middle of all other houses. Now I'm starting to be able to recognize house types... where there are fake entrances... where they sit in relation to the direction I'm headed... where are the powerlines... which feature is on which side of my direction of travel when I go into the house so that I can find it after I leave on whichever side and resume. One thing I am still struggling with is estimating distances that I cover. Has anyone ever established what speed you're travelling when you walk, jog, run? Figure if I knew about how far I was supposed to be going and then how fast I was going to be going there- I might be able to figure out that if I'd been running for 5 minutes and still hadn't found my destination that I could stop and regroup.

I had something similar happen to me but I was with SBJ- and I know he didn't kill me (he sits beside me, remember. My character got wiped and his didn't... so not sure if he (your buddy) did it or not? On another note- WEIRD thing happened today... I was at the air strip closer to the coast up north last night bopping around looking for some decent kit and ended up going into one of the multi story buildings closer to the corner- can't remember which side. I was standing near a window not being TOO careful since there might have been 4 other people on the server (it was about 3am my time)... walking along the shelves looking at stuff when with no warning whatsoever my guy sort of glitched and then had a broken arm, broken leg and was bleeding. I'm PRETTY sure that I just glitched like a fall through the floor (similar to our gear sometimes when you're upstairs) which resulted in me getting busted up pretty badly. My pants were ruined- but my jacket was okay. At the time I figured I'd been shot from someone off on the hill spying me with a long range scope through the window (mostly broken I think). It would have been a heck of a shot that's for sure. I crawled down the stairs (well... actually crouched since you can't crawl prone down the stairs...) and to the nearest tree and was able to make a couple of splints and put them on my character. The fact my character is still alive is one reason why I figured I might have glitched. I tempted fate a little by running around to find some new pants and boots- I wasn't shot at or anything... As time passed I realized it may have just been a glitch- but I have to say that was FRICKEN intense for me! Trying to get healed, wondering if someone was making a mad dash to finish me off... Very creepy feeling indeed!

Happy New Year folks... Yesterday was pretty mild. I spent most of it trying to connect with SBJ who, unfortunately, kept spawning on the south side of the map near Cherno and Electro... He was getting mauled by zombies left and right- finally he ended up east of Cherno so we started running towards each other brazenly along the beach. I was in Berenzino... so it was a bit of a haul. I was also "extremely hungry" but had a canteen that was keeping my thirst in check. One thing I know for CERTAIN is that Cheranus' economy was heavily orientated towards welding and the manufacture of chem sticks and gas stoves. When I first got into this game- I couldn't walk a step without tripping on bacon and peaches... and now I can barely stay alive. As I was running down past Solichny (sp?) I came across a relative fresh spawn (I had some warm stuff on, a fire axe and a camo Mosin (no rounds)... and he was just jogging along with a crowbar on his back. I had my axe out... I got eyes on him about 5 seconds before he saw me standing there looking at him. He stopped... then crouched and drew the crowbar. We still had 20-30 feet between us... so I got a little brave and put my axe away and then put my hands up. I asked him if he needed anything and that while I didn't have any food I did have some water. He sat down, then applauded... (seemed like a familiar process to me considering my first interaction). He then stood up and I asked him if he had comms. I got the impression he could hear me but not talk- I told him he could come with me if he wanted and he pointed behind me... While he was doing that I saw a Zed boil up from behind him. I warned him about it "Zombie behind you!" and started to draw my axe. He pulled his crowbar out but took a hit. This is tricky- since he's right in the zed's face and I pull out my axe wanting to help him but knowing my luck I'd kill him instead. He got hit again so I took a careful swing and hit the zed... knocking it out / killing it (whatever you do to a zombie). I asked him if he needed any bandages and put some down for him thinking he might need them- but if memory serves he waved at me and turned back heading his own direction towards Berenzino. I turned and headed south- keeping an eye open behind me as he ran out of view. I ran into SBJ around that coastal "corner" and he gave me some bacon. He was dying of thirst so I gave him some of my drink stuff. Seems to me we found a fountain there or nearby which helped. I remained starving in spite of his generous offer. We investigated Tulga (again sp?) and headed NE towards MSTA. I'd had some luck there finding good stuff once before but we found it lacking everything except welding helmets and stoves. SBJ and I were getting critically low on energy / food so we explored gardening. He suggested we leave some plants up for others which I thought was extremely courteous of him considering some of the jagoffs he's encountered in the game. Takes about 8-10 minutes I think to grow fully? My times may be off but that's in the ballpark. You need to turn over the ground with the hoe and then set pit or something like that for each seed that you intend to plant. Was pretty cool actually- for a noob! I'm going to be heading in tonight- I do hope to bump into some of you guys from the forums. I keep thinking someone will say "Oh yeah! I remember you... you're one of the good guys!" and then work with me... maybe join teamspeak (I have a TS3 server running 24/7.) Anyway guys- looks like we're all still enjoying the game... Will enjoy it more when people are motivated to work together first before resorting to killing out of boredom.

Very good info. I just lost my prized character doing the "rejoining too quickly" thing- Took a bit of getting used to how long it takes these things to reboot... I generally know one is coming on when I try to step over a fence or open a door and nothing happens. Or I swing my axe into the side of a house and it doesn't make a sound (even though I am there to hear it). I have found it frustrating with the amount of "please wait" and "waiting for host" messages... which was the original result of my prompt disco / reco with various servers. That's when my character got wiped. I've since learned to be more patient. Good info on the private / public venues as well- It took me awhile to get my head around it... with persistence on and off. Seems simple enough now that I'm used to the difference between a shard and a hive... and what persistence means! Anyway- thanks again.

I had this happen to me a couple days ago too now that you mention it. I haven't searched anything yet(in the forums) - but I'll be watching to see any feedback. If I find anything I'll post it here,

You know, I keep seeing this- I'm not sure what "on top of tripple yellow" means but I am looking for a mosin and will undoubtedly kit it out with a long range scope and a compensator... but my intentions are actually to use it for good- in particular keeping my distance from people and watching out for bandits beating up on the freshies. Counter sniper work... this type of stuff. It is still with the intention of being "nice" to the good side.

Bit of a mixed bag for us today. I got in early before SBJ and ran into a guy wearing a mask and had a shotgun- We had a very brief standoff and figured out pretty quickly that we were friendly. He was very cautious and I understood. I didn't have much- but was getting ready to head up to NWAF to grab my Gorka gear back so I was hunting for some food / drink.... I asked him if he needed anything- he said he was good- then asked me to put my hands up. I thought to myself: "Ah crap- here it comes." He then stripped almost naked and said "Take what you need." He was loaded to the gills with good stuff but I was so taken aback by the gesture all I could see was the spaghetti- I left him with all his other stuff. He said something to the tune of "you've been so nice to deal with, you should be rewarded." Wow- top shelf. Truly top shelf. So my gaming experience was good- but that exchange made SBJ want to come in with me. Unfortunately he was flogged by zombies and had to respawn... so he did- I think northern spawn near Guba. He went in there and started looking around and in the process stumbled into someone- I listened over SBJ's shoulder (our computers are next to one another) and he was saying all the right things... he was a fresh spawn so he asked the guy for some food and water or a drink... the guy told him there was some canned goods in the building they were in but SBJ didn't have any tools to open them. They had a brief conversation and SBJ mentioned he had a friend (me) by the shipwreck and wondered if he wanted to come with him to join up with us. I didn't hear a reply but suddenly SBJ was taking shots in the face with that pitch fork thing... SBJ was saying: "What are you doing?! Why man why?" but the guy just kept hitting him. So SBJ grabbed his cattle prod (crap btw) and started hitting him back in the face. Round and round they went... eventually I think they were both unconscious- He ended up respawning pretty much as far away as he could have... got ambushed by zombies and killed... So we're hoping to be brought closer together now. I was close to Guba so I was going to kill the jagoff- but then the server either crashed or reset... either way- was time to switch out. Sigh.

Well, ran into a couple of jagoffs down south- actually followed them trying to hail them on the direct contact voice comms but didn't get anything back from them. Finally caught the guy in the open and basically said "No threat- I got nothing, just letting you know I'm here. I have a shotgun but not ammo..." And this IDIOT then starts me down the whole mugger road- "Come on this way!" he says in his disgusting accent. I knew right away I was done for. Then I got hit by a bullet. No big deal- spawned too far south for my liking anyway... but seriously? Maybe I'm the moron... No. This is a learning experience... And I'm learning. And what I've learned is that the next person to say "come over here" to me is going to get an axe in the face.

Just ran into a couple of guys in Berezino... the transaction actually went pretty well. A lot less stressful since I was practically a plebe in there- purple backpack and a splitting ax and that's about it. Brown knitted jacket or whatever it is... The conversation was good- I caught a flash of the guy's backpack as I wandered around the hospital... Told him I was there and quite harmless and he apologized for not entirely trusting me and kept his gun on me. He told me he had a friend in the hospital as well- and I asked him to please tell his friend I was in there and quite content to go about my business. They were good- Then SBJ got all excited that I was interacting so he wanted to come in. I went to grab him at the construction site to the west a bit and the other guys went their own way. We ended up in a supermarket and I could see a dead player with a zombie on top of him... so I killed the zombie and tried to take some stuff out of his pack but couldn't. I figured maybe he was just unconscious so I tried to talk to him but go nothing. Then the server either reset or crashed... Still annoyed at the whole character wipe- but in some respects I'm enjoying the game more now that I'm not so afraid of interacting for fear of losing everything I worked so hard to collect!

I'm friendly as well- though the way I'm trying to develop is that I'll know you're around and you won't know I am. If I stumble into you I'll consider it a tactical failure on my part- but I'll be friendly as long as you're demonstrating good faith.