kander

I've played for hundreds of hours now, and my main tip is the game gets so much easier once you get your first melee weapon. Even a baseball bat. EVEN a baseball bat. Sure, you'll need to sneak around for a while. By all means pick up a rifle or shotgun for emergencies / unexpected PvP situations, but drop it the second you find a melee weapon unless you have a pack that will take it. Then you can sprint around towns to your heart's content looking for good stuff. To lose aggro, all you need to do is run into one of the larger buildings (supermarket, fire station, industrial barn, pink house) and line up zed kills as quickly as they come through the door. This will help you clear spaces easily and keep up your supplies of the basics such as beanz, soda and bandages as the zeds will drop them.

Exactly this. Go upstairs next time.

Hi all, So, I'm not really a n00b any more, but I had a problem yesterday where I tried to pick up an AK and put it into my backpack with 12 empty slots and it wouldn't go. I then tried to transfer it from my hands into the pack and it vanished (which I am awre of, but I thought this only happens when there is not enough space.) Is this just some sort of glitch? The gun didn't have any ammo with it, as far as I am concerned it was a simple 10 slot weapon trying to go into a 12 slot pack. It was a Czech vest pouch, is this the problem (the wrong shape IRL to take a weapon)? Thanks! K EDIT: PLEASE CLOSE MODS! FOUND THE ANSWER, THE CZECH VEST POUCH IS THE ISSUE!

Thanks guys! Wow, still a newbie after a whole year! The extra annoying thing is I tried another approach to get it in which was 'drop hatchet', then move gun into pack. The hatchet dropped all right, out of this dimension into another!

Does anyone really dislike bandits? I don't and I have been killed by them more times than I care to imagine. People have a problem with the unrealistic proportion of them in the game world, that's all; the idea that there becomes nothing much to do aprart from PK.

Saw a bandit in the woods this morning (one of the UK servers). First time I had obviously seen someone in the bandit skin. He had not seen me. Instead of shooting him with my fully loaded DMR I found myself thinking 'that''s interesting, wonder where he's going". It was near a deer stand so maybe I thought he might be a zed, and not worthy of my DMR round, I dunno! If you could picture some dopey theme music (maybe off Curb your Enthusiasm) that would sum up my woolly apathy at this moment. Then he turns and sees me, I am aiming at him, he still needs to aim. Instead of shooting, I try to run away. He shoots me. I die. Not KoSing a bandit when I had him in my sights? That's a facepalm!

I feel like a noob every time I die. Generally thinking 'How could I have been so STUPID?' I feel like a noob every time I respawn until I get the crowbar, or ideally the hatchet, which makes running around cities, especially on a low-pop server, relatively consequence-free.

1000x this

So did I! Just this morning. I'm playing with by far my most geared up character yet, but managed last night to get into an unnecesary fight with a zed and got infected. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise when I logged on this morning and saw a crashed heli. I had been avoiding these because of the risk and because I had almost everything I needed, but thought I'd check it out and see if there were any antibiotics. En route there was a farmyard and, standing next to it, was a ghillied player with his DMR out. I have not idea is he was AFK or if it was a corpse glitch but I managed to take antiBs from his ALICE pack and also his NVGs, the first pair I have yet found in-game. I also, in case he was alive but AFK, dropped my DMR and revolver and replaced them with his DMR and G17 (and 5x silenced G17 ammo). A good haul, which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't got needlessly infected!

For me, this game is about realism and survival. Getting any gun should feel like a massive achievement, and even then, 99% of all spawns should be Lee Enfield, Winchester, shotgun, basic handguns etc. This would really help with the rampant PKing, and make combat far more strategic. I'm not saying that there should be no military hardware, just that it should be ridiculously hard to find. There are so many other games out there for gun pervs, this really shouldn't be one of them.

I completely agree. This doesn't necessarily need to be done through skins however (though this is the best way to deal with it at present). It is a case of trying to achieve a realistic balance of PvP and survival by discouraging folk shooting each other JUST because they are bored and it is fun. It doesn't have to be a moral deterrent; it could be, off the top of my head, any/all of these. These are PRACTICAL considerations for a REALISTIC outcome: 1.) Rarer military weapons: I only have a shotgun or Lee Enfield, I'm probably going to miss my target and expose myself. 2.) Rarer ammo: I won't shoot for the sake of it because I might need the ammo later 3.) Weapon jam: I might get only a couple of shots off and give away my position and then be a target myself 4.) Implement safety catches: I won't run round with an unsafe, loaded weapon for the sake of it because I might injure myself if I trip/fall and it goes off. 5.) Weapon degradation: I won't get in too many fights because my weapons might get damaged and become less reliable (maybe increased risk of likelihood of #3 occurring). Similarly, I won't just keep my gun out if it's raining because it might rust or similar. 6.) Misfiring: Do I want to trust this ancient shotgun I just found in a barn with questionable cartridges because it might explode in my face? If all of these were implemented, it would do the same job, IMO, as the bandit / hero skin, by forcing people to make balanced cost-benefit analyses of their circumstances.

Very quick question to all posters here. I'm assuming that the bandit skin is only really hated by 'bandits' themselves. People who roleplay survival / co-op either think it's a good thing or are indifferent to it. My question is, if you play on your own and play to KoS, ideally (let's face it, much/most of the time) as a sniper, why do you care if you get the bandit skin? It's not like you are there to interact with other players apart from to kill them for sport. Sure it's unrealistic to start to look different as a result, but it's an unrealistic playing style in any case, right?

Briefly distilled. The 'problem' if there is one, is not a case of the game not being as good as real life at showing people others' intentions, but rather that others' intentions simply do not match what they would do in the real world, because the consequences are not the same. Those who consider themselves as the 'tough guys' vs the 'bambis'/'care bears' etc , ported into the same situation would: a.) shit themselves, same as everyone else b.) run around like a bandit in game and last maybe a day. Because it would be stupidity. Such people would wipe themselves out in no time (natural selection), leaving the only true survivors as cautious players with a genuine survival strategy.

Yeah, I played 150 hours or more last year without seeing one, and found three in the first week since coming back at the start of this month.

Exactly this. IRL people wouldn't get involved in so many fights just for fun, because of the risks. There would therefore be fewer bandits and more co-operation, so there would be the ability to spread the message of "Watch out for this bandit who likes to hang out in this area. Looks like this, wears that and packs such-and-such a gun". I'm not sure about wanted posters because that, I think, is more reflective of a more ordered, stable society, but people's infamy would definitely spread. Likewise their renown for doing 'good' deeds. In this absence of this much customisation in-game, a bandit skin is probably the best solution for now. It shouldn't be possible to do whatever you want completely without consequence. Most 'bandits' are cowardly snipers anyway who don't generally give people a chance to even see them, so I don't know why they would be bothered.

I just shoot down their helicopters with a singe Makarov bullet. That irks 'em..

Yeah, sorry guys. My fault. Had this can of mountain dew right next to the forum, and a zed knocked it over (through a wall of course). It took a few rolls of toilet paper and a dozen heatpacks but it looks like it dried out OK

I LOVE THIS. Not really, it's a terrible idea

So... Can zeds land head shots? I was going up the stairs in Cherno Fire Station last night, with some good gear and full health. Surprised a zed on the second floor, going up the stairs and ONE hit took of 2/3 of my health AND knocked my unconscious. By the time I came round and was even in a position to kill it I was down to about 10% health. One zed. One, single zed. I think it was regular variety as well....

Beans for your post and your sig..

I'm loving the idea of infection. Problem is, it seems to have coincided with zeds being able to see you when you lie still, which is taking a massive amount of adapting to. I got so used to being able to lie there and let zeds walk past, but now they will see me whatever. This makes fighting zeds impossible and sneaking round them near impossible. I'm going to have to resort to PKing soon just to get the basic supplies necessary NEVER to have to go anywhere near a town or city!

Regards the loot: I'm just coming back to this after nearly a year and, sure, it's harder, but I'm enjoying it just as much. Scratch that, even more. I think it comes down to 'little victories'. If you sneak around for ages and end up with just enough to be able to leave the towns and cities and become self-sufficient, THAT's a goal, an achievement. If later on you find some military gear, and you have enough other supplies to support yourself, that's an achievement too. Before it was too easy to get supplies, stay alive. Now, I don't care if I don't have all the military stuff (previously I was getting bored if I didn't get hold of it, and quickly). With the latest patch I can still beat a tooled-up guy with a Lee Enfield and a little cunning, and God does it feel like an accomplishment. Why do you need gear to have fun? You just need enough to survive. My point really is it doesn't matter if you can't get 'the good stuff' without a lot of work, because you only use that stuff against other players and they are in the same situation. If other players invest loads of time server-hopping etc to fast track this then it’s their own time they’re wasting IMO.. They’re still gonna die sooner or later and have to do the whole lot again... Are they playing the game for the immersion and the post-apocalyptic experience, or just to grind their way to good equipment?

Hi all, First post in nearly a year (first time I've tried playing for about the same time) so please be gentle. I know a lot has changed and, as a foreword, I did a search for this topic (though it's a hard thing to search for) and found nothing. I was wondering if it were a known bug in the community or if it were worth reporting. This is why I'm not putting it straight into the 'bugs' forum. Basically, the problem is a zed glitch. In the past, zeds either saw you, or didn't. If one was shambling towards you and you kept prone and still it would walk straight past, even over you. Since I started playing again (latest patch) zombies appear, at least in my game, to have adopted a highly irritating third state where they will crouch down next to you, making sound effects like they are hitting/eating, but without doing any damage. This means though that they will get stuck in this animation and not move on, making it impossible to move myself without attracting some aggro. The animation glitch causes the zombies to topple over and fall like they are drunk also, so it's thoroughly immersion-breaking. Since super zombies have been introduced, with infections etc, the reward to be gained from being patient and stealthy, sneaking around zombie threats, should be greater. This just seems to mean the worst of both worlds. It is harder to engage with zeds without being beaten up or infected, and much harder to sneak around them too. Is this just me or is it happening to other folk? Again, it's my first time back since Summer 2012, so sorry if this has been done to death. It's hard to imagine that it is anything other than a glitch/artefact of another bit of coding. Cheers K

Thanks for the helpful clarification XathDATG, especially this bit. I must say it comes as a bit of a shock to come back and find zombie behaviour seemingly worse. But I do understand the purpose of the mod and realise that there are likely to be a few potholes on the road to paradise...

Can't edit on mobile but forgot to say I was still ' alive' even though the server said I was dead..