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if i'm just cooking some meat and will be vacating the area shortly thereafter i'll leave the fire lit. otherwise i cover my tracks and put it out.

i found the following post extremely useful when i first started playing: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=7282

arma 2 is a complicated (and buggy) game, prepare yourselves for a higher learning curve than any fps out there, and prepare to be screwed over by bugs. definitely play through the boot camp single player stuff in operation arrowhead before you attempt day z. do not get attached to your gear, you WILL die. it's supposed to be brutal and impossibly difficult. approach the mod as though you are living out the story of one survivor at a time during the zombie apocalypse. one of the major design goals is to generate emotions with an emphasis on frustration. be aware of this. stealth is your absolute best friend. focus on learning how to avoid the infected's attention. it's very often better to not open fire than it is to open fire. if you must open fire, do so either indoors so zombies move more slowly, or draw them out into the woods so your gunshots do not attract more zombies. when you do fire, have an exit plan immediately, players will also be attracted to your gunshots and all players should be assumed hostile (unless you like gambling or don't care about getting shot or stabbed in the back). if you do not want to get killed by players, head inland IMMEDIATELY. the coast is a bloodbath. it's not fool proof, but it significantly reduces the probability of getting killed by players. remember, this is a free alpha mod/anti-game for arma 2. it will be buggy because it's alpha, zombies will clip through floors, attack through walls, have generally buggy behavior. you will be one of the testers for this mod by playing it right now.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=686&pid=6313#pid6313

i've experienced the phantom bodies and flies before. however, i've also come across legit bodies via fly noises, so i think it's variable. as for elektro, i never go there as it's pretty much suicide, so i can't help you there. i've had no problem finding weapons outside of major cities after a bit of searching though.

can't you mantle/step over barbed wire and tank traps via the V key?

use L to turn on your flashlight once it's in the pistol spot and out of your toolbelt.

yeah i realized that i might have framed that wrong, as there's other instances in which you can disconnect in combat without trying to exploit. try waiting a bit after taking damage and resolving conflict before you disconnect if you can. and if your connection gets dropped mid conflict there's really not much you can do but wait out the three minutes.

last i knew, if you're in combat or have taken damage in the recent past, if you log out, when you log back in you will be rendered unconscious for three minutes. so if you're logging out to avoid death or confrontation, you may try not doing that. not saying you definitely are, just presenting a possible explanation as to why you might be logging in unconscious.

i believe the concept of the mod is to have the threat be the players, not the zombies. want the northwest airfield to be hell for lone wolves? get a group out there to take and hold it from anyone and everyone that comes into the area.

2. i have a pretty good sized national park about an hour or so away with a pretty low population density. winters might be a problem though.

yes makes the whole start more tense and interesting. have not been killed by a bandit ever while weaponless.

my experience has been the exact same as slash-7. i've never been killed by a bandit while i have been without a gun. i probably fell to zombies shortly after the update as i wasn't used to their new mechanics though, but they haven't gotten me weaponless in recent memory. i pretty much do the same thing every time. i spawn where ever the game puts me, i follow a road or train tracks sticking to cover. i'll circle around a town (cherno/elektro excluded) avoiding zombies while looking for enterable buildings, i loot whatever i can, often sticking to buildings on the out skirts of a town, and then i head inland immediately following some civil feature and look for barns.

on top of this, i believe i've also had look toggled to always on if i've gone unconscious while looking around. double tapping alt fixes that one.

i like the idea of having rain and other inclement weather in game, but i'm not sure i like the rain effect in arma 2. it seems like a two dimensional curtain placed right in front of my face. could be my settings though.

there's a tutorial/boot camp type mission in the single player options somewhere, it's definitely handy to play through it.

i do not feel this is a viable option. if you do this' date=' players will likely only key into blue colored text and potentially ignore anything that doesn't show up blue. essentially anyone who is not in side chat and doesn't want side chat will be at a distinct disadvantage. it's kinda the same argument but from the other side. i think, and this is definitely just my thoughts, that global chat was removed to make us feel more lonely, more isolated. it makes communication rare and precious, something you get extra excited about when it happens, and potentially increases your connection to whoever actually does talk with you. it's sorta like how before the recent patches, when starting out i would see tin cans and bottles and just curse and move on. now when i see them starting out i get excited and feel like i have more options. removal of initial abilities made what little you have that much more significant. i might like other compromises though, but i'm (respectfully) not in favor of this one. [hr'] So basically: I hate chat it breaks immersion. But I wouldn't disable chat, that means I'm at a disadvantage too everyone else? You can't argue both of them. That's like dragging everyone down with you because you're a selfish person and don't want people too play the game the way you're playing. You don't like chat? Don't use it. There's no disadvantage too it either unless you wan't too exploit people through meta gaming and that's up to both yourself and the person typing if they want to put themselves in that situation. I honestly don't think the radio idea would be that wise anyway. That's like telling people they have too work for their radio...for what? What happens when they get a radio anyway? The luck or chances of finding a radio so you can actually talk to someone? Come on, I'd agree if I was playing a Roleplay game where I was forced too Roleplay with others in a small community and we pretended we were living out as survivors through a character but we're not. There was nothing wrong with the system as it was, you could join a server that had chat enabled or disabled and understandably, the majority of servers had chat enabled...why would a server host disable chat for his community of players and more likely than not upset them? It was the more popular feature I think it is fair too say and there was a simple option Yes/No if you wanted it or not. If it breaks immersion...(not like a god tonne of other things don't in this game) then turn it off...if you were that bothered by it you wouldn't argue that you were at a disadvantage so you'll have too turn it on just in case you don't want too miss anything. Ever played a roleplaying game? They use a system called IC and OOC. In character (IC) is local chat in proximity and Out of character (OOC) is global. Almost every RP game I know uses this and its extremely popular because people do want to just relax and talk too each other while they're playing a game, even when they're doing something that requires a lot of immersion such as roleplaying. It is not a unwanted feature although admittedly it can get accessive especially on roleplaying games but this is not a roleplaying game as there are no rules. P.S. The idea behind it is potentially good but the reality isn't. Sure, if some of the things you were saying happened then yeah, I'd be all for it but at the moment it actually encourages shoot on sight and as this games had more and more changes it has become even more frequent. Those rare chances of communication people are getting are too rare; this is a game and people want too enjoy themselves and too interact with others online. no you're completely misinterpreting. it's not that i hate chat and it breaks immersion, it's that i like the experiment of it being local only. it makes you more connected to the person you're talking to and the game world. also if every server has side chat enabled, that will be the only channel utilized for communication. any messages i send in gray coloration could be lost in the spam of side chat for everyone else. so if i only want to deal with direct chat, it'll become useless because chat will be monopolized in side chat and people will only look at blue text and ignore anything that isn't necessarily blue. as for the game part of things, rocket has addressed this. it's not supposed to be like other games, those all fit into a comfortable cookie cutter mold with little innovation or experimentation. it's not a game, it's not for entertainment purposes, please read the following quotes: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=125&pid=6296#pid6296 http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=125&pid=6280#pid6280 http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=588&pid=7100#pid7100 http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=588&pid=4431#pid4431 that is what day z is, regardless of what pigeonholes the players try to impose on it. if you're feeling lonely, frustrated, isolated, all because he took away global chat, he's done his job. on 5/6, mod was 20% http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1012&pid=9458#pid9458

i do not feel this is a viable option. if you do this' date=' players will likely only key into blue colored text and potentially ignore anything that doesn't show up blue. essentially anyone who is not in side chat and doesn't want side chat will be at a distinct disadvantage. it's kinda the same argument but from the other side. i think, and this is definitely just my thoughts, that global chat was removed to make us feel more lonely, more isolated. it makes communication rare and precious, something you get extra excited about when it happens, and potentially increases your connection to whoever actually does talk with you. it's sorta like how before the recent patches, when starting out i would see tin cans and bottles and just curse and move on. now when i see them starting out i get excited and feel like i have more options. removal of initial abilities made what little you have that much more significant. i might like other compromises though, but i'm (respectfully) not in favor of this one. [hr']

more stuff me babbling Well each to their own' date=' I understand your line of thinking and hope you understand mine. The "asking for help in chat" thing was just one point of many, it's not the strongest by far but you can't admit it's not useful, not everyone wants too sign up for every forum for each game or create a thread that could potentially get ignored or receive negative feedback from (judging by the state of this forum...seems very likely) and really, it's just helpful in general. Heck I didn't even know how too type when I first played but I figured it out...like (it says global but everyone is typing in this side channel and there's numbers...hmm?) and yeah not everyone understands things but a lot of people don't like having too search online when they can just jump into a multiplayer game and interact with others. I joined a ARMA 2 domination server yesterday and had no idea what I was doing so this guy spoke to me on voice chat and others during chat and told me all about it and it was a pleasant experience, I enjoyed talking too them and they even offered me to come back too the server any time and they'll help me. It was certainly a lot more enjoyable then simply alt tabbing...searching up what "Domination" is on google....reading through information trying to find suitable parts...you know? [/quote'] i do understand. the engine is pretty obtuse at first, and it helps to get instant answers for sure. i sympathize with new player's plight in this regard. but at the same time, this mod was made to be stacked against the players. to be brutal and make you feel a gamut of emotions including isolation. and part of me thinks that, as a result of this unforgiving nature, if you don't have the patience to figure out the controls on your own or ask for help out of game, you likely won't have the patience to deal with getting shot from nowhere and losing all your gear, from having zombies glitch through walls and break you leg and render you unconscious, etc. that's not a judgment on you personally, just my own thoughts on the game mechanics and the mindset it helps to have to play it.

i love this thread.

The fun factor with this game' date=' like other sandbox style games, is that you can do whatever you want. Survival, albeit a core part of the gameplay, shouldn't be your overlying goal. Look on these forums, there are a ton of groups that enjoy roleplaying. Try taking survivors hostage or robbing them. Find a car, repair it, and drive around the countryside playing Sweet Home Alabama. Be a crazy homeless guy throwing JD bottles at everyone you see. You are the one that sets the goals, not the game. [img']http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs5/2084577_o.gif this. make your own goals and objectives, find different ways to challenge yourself.

couple things. first, if you go to your steam library list, right click any game, there will be an option to show you the manual in pdf form (just in case you didn't know). i like the tension of not knowing whether someone is a bandit or not. rocket does not regard this as a game (and technically it's a mod for arma 2 and not really a game), but more of an antigame, art, and experiment. i do lament that it might be harder to approach for new players who cannot ask in game questions, but you can always ask here, or alternatively join up with a group from here... there's a thread somewhere in new players section about this. you could also try playing some regular arma 2 and asking questions about the game mechanics there. so there is options outside of in game chat. and really, i am very much for no global chat. it adds authenticity and tension, and is not something you can find in other games. it adds more value to being able to communicate.

it will not give away your position. throwing can be kind of awkward and hard to aim in my experience. you can also toss flares and that will draw zombies in from a larger range over a longer period of time... but it will also draw in players at night as flares create a lot of light.