DoshDosh

I've only played this game solo so far and I like it. Everything becomes more desperate and every single decision you make becomes a make-it-or-break-it situation, not to mention the difficulty spike. If you like a Silent Hill-type atmosphere, playing DayZ solo will give it to you for sure. You can totally win engagements with other survivors (even groups of them) provided you have the proper preparation, but the odds will generally be stacked against you in a straight out firefight- the easiest way to take down players is to stay hidden, spot the enemy first and put some quick damage into their back so they don't have the time to react or alt+f4. It's generally easier to play with a bandit playstyle if you're solo, since rule of thumb is you shouldn't trust anyone except your IRL buddies you play together with.

The M14 AIM? I actually recently stumbled upon that gun with tons of DMR mags, and I haven't used it in combat yet. Is it any good? From the stats it pretty much looks like a FAL with an ACOG; a little too loud for my liking, especially considering the reduced range it has compared to the "proper" sniper rifles. Have you gotten any use out of it? I'm sort of wary to try mine in a gunfight since I'm unfamiliar with it.

I guess that makes it just a frequent occurence for me, since when I do die and respawn, the winchester's been what I end up finding and stocking up on about half the time- by the time I get to the military gear I usually have about 60 or so shots to spare? I'm pretty reluctant to fire it in any case though, so I guess in the end I never really got any use out of them, haha.

If I break my legs somehow near the coast, I'll try to find a secluded spot then respawn. If not then I'll probably end up just respawning anyway... but it doesn't happen since I carry 2 morphine at all times, and head back to scavenge for some more when I'm down to 1 left.

Lack of shotties is sad :( Before I stumble upon military-tier gear I'm usually rolling with slugs. I guess the winchester's been the most common, but I try to get the m1014 when I can; it's quieter, has better sights and deals the same slug damage at the expense of less rounds per "clip/mag". Once I'm fully geared up it's usually a sniper rifle (anything I can get, don't usually get the luxury of choice here due to my luck). I forgo assault rifles when I can, but I'll take any that can 1 hit bodyshot zombies over quiet ones. EDIT: if I can find a Lee-Enfield, I'll take that unless I'm carrying a sniper rifle. I know it aggros the entire town, but the ability to one shot kill any unaware player (or even aware, if they suck) is too good to pass up. I just tend to stay on the outskirts or in the treeline, make the kill then deal with any zombies by switching to m1911 before heading in to loot.

Yeah, I feel like axe murderers can be considered player-controlled zombies that are more difficult to deal with- they have humans controlling them (they can use cover, flank, etc.) and they have 12000 life over the zombie's 4500. It's hilarious to see the groups of hatchet-wielders going on killing sprees in youtube.

As long as you don't empty out your magazine/clip, it should refill upon login (note that this is a bug that's supposed to be fixed). Other than that, I agree that SVD ammo is extremely rare, so if you stumble upon a sniper rifle with more common ammunition (DMR ammo seems more frequent; CZ550 is good too, but the scope on that sniper rifle isn't as good) you can switch out for it. I believe that the SVD/DMR/M14 AIM/CZ550 have the same stats as far as damage/noise goes, so it would just be about clip/mag size and availability of ammo.

I actually like to hide myself near Stary Sobor with a sniper rifle and wait for someone to start looting the camp. When I hear sniper rifle shots, I'll locate the sniper and take him out. The best part is that these snipers almost never realize there are people who go there to camp for THEM instead of looters.

My luckiest character found top level military gear in the Cherno firehouse because some poor sap died from a firefight. I came away with the Coyote Backpack, silenced M4 with plenty of ammo and all the tools, but I was too noob at that time to be able to survive more than 2 seconds with all that gear. Sort of makes me wish it could have happened to me now instead of way back then, haha.

It's a pretty dangerous status effect so you'll probably want to cure it as soon as possible... which may be tricky or take time since antibiotics are fairly rare. If your character doesn't have anything particularly super-rare and you're impatient, then I think it might not be a bad idea to just restart (since antibiotics are super-rare, you'll be exposing yourself to other players frequently by having to revisit hospitals until you find them).

I'm generally cautious and try to get in a position where I can observe zeds or players as much as I can before taking an action. When I've freshly spawned, I'll pretty much flip a coin to decide whether I'll be reckless until I get geared up or sneak around. I've had moments where running like a madman and leading a train of zombies down Cherno didn't actually end badly, so I started giving it a try.

I try to visit the hospital upon spawn and get at least 2 bandages, 2 morphine and 2 painkillers. Once that's done, I'll get matches/hatchet/knife/water bottle for thirst and hunger. Anything else, like maps/compass/watch/GPS/military flashlight/range finder are all luxuries to me, but ones that can be found pretty quickly with a few supermarket raids. For weapons, if I want to focus on PVP in a particular life/run, I'll try to find a sniper rifle or lee-enfield. If not, then a weapon with low noise or 1 hit zombie kill capabilities.

There was also one time when I asked "Friendly?" and got a "No." back. Most honest bandit ever.

Haha if I were to somehow spot you and you haven't noticed me, I'd totally be more inclined to let you go if you had your M4 out instead of your sniper rifle; maybe other people would shoot on sight, and maybe you would shoot me, but seeing that sniper rifle is the easiest way for me to confirm that the chance the dude is a bandit is high (at least over other methods). I carry a sniper rifle myself to hunt bandits (hiding in a spot that has a good viewpoint of the hills around Stary Sobor or the starting cities and having fun sniping them while they're training their sights on the poor looters), but I wouldn't mind if I got mistaken for a bandit by carrying my sniper rifle, haha.

If you see someone carrying a sniper rifle, chances are he's not using that sniper rifle to shoot zombies. I prioritize hunting bandits, so usually if I come across someone who has a sniper rifle (but hasn't noticed me) I'll usually find a good opportunity to gun them down before they could react by disconnecting. I've definitely racked up the occasional murder, but I think that this is a pretty good way to gauge bandits from survivors.

I actually play by a separate set of rules while I'm in any of the coastal cities as opposed to out in the wilderness or in a smaller city up north. Usually I prefer to keep my distance and scout out a target and size up the situation, and most of the time I end up quietly leaving the area since the bullets in my gun aren't worth what he's carrying. I've had some bad experiences in Cherno in the past, so in coastal I shoot on sight. I like to lie hidden in the wooded outskirts and see if I could clear out a street as much as I can if I need to head into the city to get something (most of the time it's just medical supplies).

I'm more prone to letting people survive if I have good rapport with them in side chat, which most servers as of now don't have. If there's no side chat, I usually don't bother with chatting... but more often than not I'm inclined to simply watch what the other guy does rather than open fire at first opportunity- not only do you find out if he's rolling with friends or not, but you can more easily catch them with their pants down.

To my experience, there are: 1. People looking to raid NWAF or other loot spawns that have a chance to spawn the rarer loot 2. People hunting group #1. 3. People heading north but towards more secluded areas to setup camp, replenish their stock of cooked meat or to simply keep a low profile. I've been a part of each group on separate occasions.

I'd read about it plenty of times, but I'd just reconnected inside a barracks after the bug that just kicked everybody a few hours back, and I wanted to get the hell out of there before someone stumbled in. I wanted to switch to my pistol so I could maneuver a bit easier through the doorframe, but accidentally clicked "Close Door". So the door swung shut and I hear a crunch. I'm unconscious, bleeding, broke my legs and was in shock and pain. I was laughing so hard I didn't even mind when someone came in and finished me off.

The only rifle-type weapons that kill in 1 bodyshot are AS50, M107 and Lee-Enfield, I believe. Other than that it would be good to get good at headshots, but considering that Arma 2 is a military sim. engine over a FPS game like BF3 and COD, you're probably better off not going for headshots unless you're absolutely 100% sure you'll be getting it (for example on a player who's in the middle of looting and is stationary or a prone sniper who's zoomed in).

Tell me about it, I think I fear opening doors in narrow hallways almost as much as player encounters :/. If I can keep away that's fine, but in a cramped space, I usually pray for good measure.

When I gear up with a sniper rifle, I like to find a nice hiding spot near the hot areas (NWAF/Stary Sobor/Cherno/Elektro/Bere) and wait for bandit snipers. Once they start shooting and I know where they are, I do my best to take them out while they're focused on the new guys running into town. It's pretty fun, but I've noticed that a ton of these players love to disconnect when they get shot at, assuming they don't die instantly.

Implemented properly I think this could work; there would have to be effects when you hit them in other body parts, such as legs breaking with legshots, not being able to attack as quickly or at all with armshots, and stumbling or losing speed when hit center of mass. That being said, I don't think there's any way this system could be implemented on the zombies as they are now; aside from indoors areas, they are insanely difficult to hit if they've noticed you and on their way towards you (not at all when they're unaware and lumbering about or if they're already in your face, stationary and just smacking you... unless you've just gotten your legs broken and are in pain). I think the running/charging behavior should be fine-tuned and the teleporting bug quashed before we look into this.

It's possible his buddy disconnected, then joined another server, went behind your position, then reconnected. If that's the case, they can go to hell, server hoppers are lame and should learn how to play the game the way it's supposed to be played.

I don't think the realism comparison really fits into this game despite the fact that Arma 2 and DayZ are commonly assumed by most players to be the "realistic shooter". I think in relation to other FPS games on the market they are, but I don't think it's enough to simply compare them to real life (might as well add crapping and sleeping to gameplay elements). I think this is a great idea because it forces gameplay at the endgame to become more dynamic, rather than allowing highly geared players to simply camp in a forest with a lake and live quietly until the game servers get taken down, or have bandit snipers hunker down with plenty of ammunition, some food and drink and never have to move. I'm saying that as someone who's become bored of the endgame, where essentially there's no threat to you after you have the best gear aside from server hoppers.