ChaoticRambo

So, I absolutely love the dynamic weather in this game. It comes on so realistically and really changes the entire mood of the game. However, other than the audible and visible effects, not much else happens. I understand that the body temperature system is affected by rain, but I honestly don't see it at all. I have never had to use a heat pad, use a fire, or go inside specifically to warm up. Running is enough to keep a person warm. Under any circumstance than rain, I completely agree with this. With rain however, once your cloths are wet, you are going to lose body heat very quickly. My suggestion is simple, drastically increase the amount rain affects your body temp. The only way to maintain or increase your body temp during a rain storm should be to get under shelter or be within a 5m radius of both a tent and a fire. A warming pad should be ineffective during rain, as should a fire without a tent. If you don't have shelter, you will get very cold when subjected to rain. Not only does this add to the realism and feel of the game, it could also have an interesting impact to drive people together during rain. You could decide to either wait it out in a lone barn or your camp, or you could continue raiding by going to a larger town being able to go building to building. But others would have to make this same decision. I feel like this is the intended effects of rain, but it is just not implemented well enough.

So I was trying to ponder some different ways that might be easy to implement that would cut down on people disconnecting and server hoppers. I don't think anyone honestly thinks these "abilities" should be present in the game, the trick is how to remove them or make them inefficient while not ruining other aspects of the game. So I started thinking of games I have played in the past, and started coming up with some different ideas. Not all of these would have to be implemented per-say but give different options and see which ones people like (or don't like) the most. Idea 1) Simply add in a disconnect timer. Something along the lines of 15-30 seconds that your character would have to be standing completely still and you would not be able to look or anything. The only con I could really think of is if you disconnect your character will be in that location for the specified time, and if you disconnect you probably were not necessarily in a fantastic place to not be able to move. So I am not sure if the pros out way the cons in this case. Idea 2) Not being able to disconnect directly after / during combat. This would basically mean that if you have shot a weapon or taken damage within the last 60 seconds (or so) you would not be able to log off. And should you disconnect, your character would still be on the server for the allotted time. This would still enable people to possibly hide and disconnect, but I think it would greatly cut down on it without being that intrusive to the game. I can honestly say I have only once disconnected (on accident) while being chased by zombies. I really didn't like that I was able to do that, and started thinking about how to stop it. Idea 3) Not being able to log off while there are zombies within your vicinity (10-15 meters?). This would possibly prevent people from logging off in most towns and locations where they could easily farm loot by switching servers. You would have to go out into the woods, log off, switch servers, and then go and regain access to that building. EDIT: Would have to add in a timer, perhaps 120 seconds for disconnects and people that alt+F4 I truly and honestly can't see how any one of these ideas could be harmful to the "idea" of the game intended by Rocket and those that enjoy playing how it is meant to be played. It does not punish or reward either survivor or bandit, because I believe both play styles benefit equally from the current ability to disconnect. Ideally, I personally would like to see all three of the ideas implemented over top of each other. I have always viewed logging off of a game as the time your character sleeps or rests. So when I look at the ideas, I can honestly say I would surely not sleep within the vicinity of active zombies, I would not rest in the location of a hostile person who shot at me, and I surely don't fall asleep instantly. I am sure some of these ideas overlap some other ideas posted here, just wanted to add my 2 cents. FYI I play both bandit and survivor depending on my mood, and I enjoy both regular and veteran servers. So I hope my ideas are balanced for all.

That is the entire point of this system. You may alt+F4 out, but your character does not. Your character will still have to wait the allotted time. Not sure if ARMA would allow this, but it would be fantastic if it did.

Well, I have moved from the survivor camp to the bandit camp recently with my first hunt. (its so much more fun to hunt things that think and can shoot back) So I happened to be on a server with server wide chat enabled. I had just recently raided a bunch of buildings in Cherno and gotten a full kit together plus a Lee Enfield. I was just starting to head north for tree-stand raiding when I noticed I was seeing some chat about a group of three people trying to meet up. Lucky for me, one guy they were guiding didn't have a map, and they were having to talk him over to their location. I realized they were just north of me using the power lines to navigate. I figured I could possibly set up an ambush for the person they were guiding down from the north to the south. Well as I got to the power lines and definitely figured out my location, I was saddened by finding out the group had met up. I missed my ambush! This is about 45 minutes into my hunt from first deciding to do this. Now the group decides they are going to a town to the north west following the power lines. I realize they are going to pass right by me as I am between them and the town they are going to. I set up in the tree line uphill of the power lines with good line of site but not to far since I didn't have a scope. My only question is if they will be smart and follow the power lines in the tree line, or be dumb and directly follow the lines in the open. Sure enough, three survivors start running down right under the power lines with wide open fields to either side. I watch as the come closer and figure out which will be the first to drop. I notice only one actually has a rifle, he has been evidently the group leader through all of this. I wait until they have passed me so I will be shooting into their backs to disorient them more. BAM group leader drops. One survivor drops into the ditch instantly and the other starts to turn and thinks the other just shot the leader. BAM he drops. The two are now talking in server wide chat about what happened and I chime in saying they shouldn't have trusted the other one (who I have yet to kill). The third survivor had dropped into a ditch just below my line of sight. I wait for a moment before deciding to flank him. Finally, BAM hes dead. Had some nice loot, but the best reward was the hunt - and making the two honestly believe the other had turned on them. Looking forward to future hunts, and trying to hunt on servers without server wide chat.

Oh it was :)

My idea is very simple: Base the spawn chance of loot on the number of people in the server. The reason I think this is a good idea is because from my experience so far, the real threat in this game are other players rather than zombies. So why should someone be able to join a server with no one in it and go raid the airfield or cherno or name any other location. It obviously is much more difficult to raid those locations in lets say and 80 person server. So why not simply make the rarity of items scalable to the number of players on a server. For example: Lets say the GPS unit has a 1/40 chance of spawning inside a house in cherno in the current game build. (I have no idea what the actual chances are for this) So lets make a formula that is: (spawn chance) = (max server size) / [(max server size)*(1/(current spawn chance))] * [(current servers population) / (max server size)] This formula is easily adjustable depending on what the maximum size of server currently is. Lets see it in action: Current Max Server Size = 80 Current Spawn Chance = 1/40 Current Servers Population = 40 (Spawn Chance with 40 server population) = (80) / [(80)*(1/(1/40))] * [40/80] = 1/80 spawn chance for a GPS in a 40 person server (half of what it would be in an 80 person server). One more example: Current Max Server Size = 80 Current Spawn Chance = 1/40 Current Server population = 20 (80) / [(80)*(1/(1/40))] * [20/80] = 1/160 This provides a risk / reward scenario for those people who like to play in small servers so they can avoid players more. Now they have to think, would I rather join a small server and more easily avoid people, or join a big one and try to have a better chance at getting loot. Just an idea.

Although I have yet to actually play at night, this seems like a good (and possibly easy) thing to implement.

Did this get no replies because it was a stupid idea or because people don't understand it?

unless your the last one with eyes ;)

So I noticed some servers are recruit, regular, veteran, expert, (any more?). What are the primary differences in these game modes, as I have also noticed some differences between regular servers so there must also be some server side liberties. Thanks, ChaoticRambo

Ok, I am very new to both the game and community but absolutely LOVE this game and the sandbox Rocket is developing. There are so many suggestions being suggested every day, many duplicate previous suggestions. The suggestions range from things like taking away pvp all-together and on the other end players being able to build entire towns on their own. As cool (and very un-cool) some of these ideas may be, a lot of them are completely unrealistic. I think it would be really helpful to the community as well as the forum moderators if Rocket kept and up-to-date thread that said what suggestions he likes, things that are completely out of the question, things that may be awesome but are not feasible in the Arma 2 game engine, etc. I believe this would help people formulate new unique suggestions as well as refrain from continued posting of suggestions that can't or wont happen. It could also give the community a good idea of which direction ROCKET wants the game to go in. I have a lot of ideas myself, but I don't want to say something that is completely contrary to the direction Rocket wants the game to go in, after all - it is his game! No point in wasting my time as well as the communities time posting ideas that would never happen. Just my 2 cents :) Loving the game, and love even more where the game could go.

Ok, before I start on my suggestion I want to state a few things: #1 - Yes, I am EXTREMELY new to both this community and the game #2 - I started during build 1.7.1.1 and love the way we spawn with hardly anything (finally got to the airfield today after a 6 hour life) #3 - I love how realistic this game is #4 - You can respawn, so the game is not perfectly realistic Having said this, I will get to my suggestion (forgive me if I did not read every single suggestion to see if this has been suggested before). My idea stems from a few different zombie / apocalyptic type movies and shows. Everyone knows that in any "real" zombie apocalypse resources would be hard to come by and difficult to get exactly what you are after. Surely areas would crop up that would be safe to travelers where people could converse to find others to travel with and trade. So my idea is that somewhere near the coast but not in any one town set up some tents with a fence around it known as a safe area. Make it so people would not be able to shoot into it (perhaps on top of a hill). Inside this area you would not be able to attack with weapons. Simple as that. Now, before everyone starts yelling that this goes against open world and sandbox games, let me say that by simply being able to respawn a new character, we inherently are not playing how we would if you could never spawn again. So people tend to kill other people way sooner than they might in real life. This safe area would be a great place for people to go to trade, and possibly find groups. It might also be a great place for bandits to set up ambushes outside and wait for unsuspecting survivors. Also to note, there would not be any resources available outside of trades, so no water well, no food, no medical supplies. It would not be a place people could camp. The only downside I could imagine to this is that if you were chasing someone they may be able to make it into this area preventing you from getting them. But I suppose that is realistic, imagine in real life if there was a town being guarded by a contingent of paramilitary police and the person you are chasing got to the guards, do you think they would just let you keep chasing him? Again, nothing prevents bandits from setting up shop outside. The idea is that it simply inputs a game mechanic to give individuals one area of safety (and surely there would be towns and buildings that were guarded by people in real life). It does not force any type of trading or group building, simply a place to let those things spawn. Who knows, the group you are forming could also have a bandit spy in it. So lets recap: You would not spawn in this safe zone It would be near the beach but not in a town There would only be one There would be no new trading or grouping mechanic It would not let you us melee or firearms INSIDE the fence You could not snipe (or throw grenades) into it. It would not prevent bandits from entering It would not prevent bandits from ambushing once outside Nothing will spawn inside this area There would be no resources (water well, food, medical supplies) Maybe this idea is crazy stupid, I just feel that in any real apocalyptic scenario, trading hubs and safe zones would develop. Unfortunately, since this game does have respawning, something like that would naturally never develop because any random guy can find a gun and just walk in killing everyone.

Again, let me reiterate that I wanted this addition to be as minor as possible to allow the players to decide how they would use it. Here are my replies: -Because people could be trading, and it is supposed to be safe, I would say no to the idea that bandits could shoot into it. If they want to camp and setup ambush outside - thats fine. -As for stashing loot, remember - this is merely a safe location from player killing. Anything you left there could easily be taken by others. And there would be no easy location to do it. -I don't know how rocket's coding works, perhaps there is a way to make an exception to zombie spawns? I am not sure. This would certainly hamper this suggestion if it can't be adjusted. -Remember, this idea is for a VERY SMALL little tent town on top of a hill with a solid wall around it, kind of like a make-shift fort. -I think the idea of bandits camping it would balance out the reward of a truly safe area from other players and also the security it adds. It would force people inside to really be careful when coming or going. I like this idea of bandits camping it because it adds that little bit of realism. -Again, I don't know what rocket's abilities are in terms of editing the map. This could also be a major downer to this suggestion. -I am not sure about the idea of patrolling guards, perhaps we could leave it up to the players to patrol? -Zombie trains would probably be the greatest risk. And I don't want this to be an instant safe haven for those being chased by zombies. Honestly not sure on how this issue could be tackled, perhaps the path to get there would be difficult to make with zombies following you? -I did intend this to be a single location, as to not provide an instant solution to a survivors problems. You would have to work to get here just like any other area.

I think that would be a good idea, or maybe you could get a random item say maybe food or bandage or a drink. Like you were washed up on the beach and happen to have one item with you. I like the idea though

Inherently by being a bandit you must hunt other players, who themselves may have weapons and friends. Hunting players is just as risky to yourself as it is to them. Survivors on the other hand tend to spread out into small towns and the country side where the risk is more from zombies than players.

I actually really love this idea. I must admit, I really hated it at first, but the thought of getting one of a dead body (even someone you didnt kill) and see what they wrote would be very neat. Could also be a cool way to freak out people who killed you :)

Not of fan of this idea, simply because I don't think people should be punished by game mechanics based on the decisions they make. If someone wants to be a bandit, why do they suddenly get treated as a lesser. Bandits are Survivors that choose to survive in a different way, nothing more, nothing less. HOWEVER - I do think some sort of tent should be available that would allow you to lock your stuff up on one server. (Because common, who can be on 24/7 to guard their loot). Perhaps this tent could only be on one server and you would have to access it every 24 hours to keep it or something.

Well considering this is the ALPHA TEST of the mod, I don't think this is necessary. You are talking about something that would be done once the mod is officially released. Plus, a lot of the bugs being found now can only be found when large amounts of people are playing (either due to the possibility of encountering the bug or the server load).