Tartantyco

Night will never be relevant as long as people are free to switch to a daytime server.

You can't use the current state of the servers as an argument. Your argument about economics seems senseless. You bring a lot of vague bits into the discussion so there is really little I can comment on. Basically, the economic problems are numerous. First of all, the over-abundance of equipment de-values everything(And devalues your life as well). Second, the fact that you can loot across multiple servers means that rare items aren't that rare anymore within the world. A group of player can have all the high-end toys that they have looted across several servers and crash one server with their gear, completely unbalancing the natural ecosystem in terms of economics, power, interaction, etc. It is very much akin to invasive species devestating natural ecosystems in the real world. I have mentioned nothing about things not spawning anymore or stuff like that, these are some assumptions you've constructed, so I'll not respond to those. Maybe you're referring to something someone else said. A functioning economy requires scarcity, supply, and demand. None of these exists currently, so it is quite broken(Or, more accurately, not implemented as this is an Alpha). As for your life having value, you spell out the problem very well. You don't care about your character's survivability to an appropriate degree until you get a hold of equipment that is truly rare, something most people will not have. This means that reckless behavior is fully acceptable, allowing bandits to behave in ways that are completely unrealistic(Within the context of the mod), throwing themselves into situations that are almost certainly lethal.

You will still have character persistency, just not cross-server persistency as it is too exploitable and undermines a lot of the gameplay possibilities. First of all, you can have much more than 75 people on. Second of all, you don't have the same 75 people playing 24 hours a day, and most people will likely be outside of these communities. Kolchak, I said nothing about ripping out the cross-server persistency today or in the near future. Too many people in this thread are making assumptions that do not make any sense, muddying the waters. Try to keep to what I actually said and not extrapolate too much on what you might think I'm saying.

No. Bandits and survivors shouldn't even be classifications, they should be constructs created by the players themselves. Don't start messing up the emergent gameplay by imposing artificial roles and classes on the game. The whole Survivor vs. Bandit thing isn't something that should be built-in to the mod, it should be a possible outcome of emergent gameplay. Bandits are who and what the various server populations and communities decide they are, not their skins or some chosen role decided at the start. The problem right now is simply that a lot of features are missing right now seeing as this is an ALPHA version, and as a consequence the current emergent outcomes can become distorted, leading people to have an incorrect understanding of what the actual issues are. The aim, as I understand it, with the design for this mod is for it to be player driven, not game dictated. That means the players create the majority of the constructs within the game, such as factions, communities, roles, etc., based on the basic conditions and situations encountered in the game. The majority of your suggestions pretty much destroy the gameplay the mod can provide because you have an incorrect understanding of the gameplay and the actual issues.

Mendelevius, there's a dude on the Norway 1 server called Ryan. He's kind of a PKer. Anyway, my first murder was during my first ever life just North of Chernogorsk up by the transformers(Power relay or whatever). I had found a CZ550 in Cherno and was making my way up North as fast as I could. I was camping on a hill just west of the relay, observing the area, when I spotted two bandits moving fast north on the east side of the relay. I got my rifle up and fired off four shots before I finally hit one of them as he was moving between two trees. He started bleeding out and I tagged him another time, but by then the zeds had all gone mental and I had to run like hell. After running for maybe 5 minutes I gave up and was eaten by the zeds. But not before I had gotten my bandit kill. The only time I have been murdered was while Alt-tabbed in the middle of a field, so I have no idea what happened then. All my other encounters, with one exception(Bandit shot a buddy, had to put him down), have been friendly.

It's big because of how the terrain is and to allow people a large entry area so we don't herd people into a bandit kill zone. We do not claim to keep you safe in the outskirts of the zone, the big hill in the center should be the really secure area. As for the exclusive area, we are likely going to drop that part as some other groups would like to join us if we drop that claim.

It's got a church that spawns some very useful loot at times, but we're in talks with several groups who would like to join if we drop our claim on Stary and Novy Sobor.

One option could be to have a few locally persistent servers and the rest cross-server persistent. But I'm not sure what the workload would be for that.

We are very interested in that proposal tebbutt. We are in talks with other groups, as well, who will assist us with manpower if we drop our claim on Stary and Novy Sobor. PM me with details. We can meet up on TS or something to discuss further.

The objective is not to keep a loot area safe for people, the objective is keep an area safe for people to interact. We couldn't keep a zombie spawn area safe for people...

The reason why we have an exclusive zone is because the militia will actually have to be equipped and fed in order to operate properly. Therefore we need control over certain areas. We keep an area safe, but it doesn't come for free. And the militia does not consist solely of the people mentioned in the post, those are just founding members.

Well, that's easy. You have to invest time in your character before he is able to kill or be killed by other players. Soblem prolved.

Slight exaggeration on my part. I has almost no value. Loot is too frequent and you don't lose enough when you die for life to be very valuable. Bandits are generally better equipped, which shows that killing survivors is generally more rewarding that not doing so. As such, life is not a valued commodity.

Yes, I can tell that you do not like words Frito.

I can only hope that it is an efficient mechanic, rocket. I hesitate to believe it will allow for the emergent gameplay that is possible, but would love to hear more about it. I had some ideas myself, but found that they did not function as efficiently.

Yes, because the current server situation that exists in the Alpha version of the game is going to exist forever. The reason why the mod is able to provide the gameplay it currently does is precisely because of restrictive game mechanics. The fact that players can be killed in one shot makes them more cautious when moving around. The fact that there is very little difference in the damage output of weapons means that the game doesn't get skewed in the direction of the players who possess those weapons. The fact that you need to eat and drink regularly creates a need that drives player actions. The restrictive mobility inherent to the Arma 2 engine means that fights aren't focused around players running and gunning, bunny hopping, etc. Restrictive game mechanics are what create the gameplay you enjoy, but because you have experienced it you accept it also. Your initial reaction were I to propose any of the above mechanics to a game that did not possess them would be derision and rejection of the idea, and I ask that you do not jump to that conclusion for the same reasons with this, but try to consider the argument and provide your own.

I do understand that a lot of people find the cross-server persistency very helpful for playing with friends and if there is an alternative that rocket has up his sleeve then I am very happy to hear that, but I see no way around this except through horribly invasive restrictions and byzantine rules that can only lead to more trouble.

We just established it today, Duncan, and it's the middle of the night over here so not much has happened yet. We hope to gradually get this stuff online throughout next week, but we will start our initial patrolling tomorrow. It will be fun to see if we're invaded by bandits tomorrow :D

There are just a few zombies within the free zone and PKers are just something we'll have to deal with. Consider this a test of sorts.

To stem the tide of naysayers, WE ARE AWARE OF THE VARIOUS ISSUES THAT MIGHT ARISE, SO PLEASE DON'T SPAM THE THREAD WITH YOUR OBVIOUS OBSERVATIONS. Hopefully cross-server spawns, and even characters, will be removed eventually as they completely destroy players' ability to create emergent gameplay like this. It's what's made the mod appealing to many, and it's what would increase it's popularity.

Welcome to Alpha. You may experience mild Alpha during the Alpha.

Arma2 engine issue, don't know if there's much that can be done about it.

Nothing would destroy this mod more quickly than "side-missions" or the like.

Not really, Renaissance. Even when you're waiting on server response you're listed as a player. I've been on lots of 50p servers where only one or two guys are actually in game while the rest are just waiting.

I'm pushing North as fast as I can at the moment; the further away from Chernogorsk you are the better.