-Atlas-

Exactly the info I was hoping for. Thanks guys. Enjoy mah beans.

What you need is a couple of trustworthy friends to back you up. Just a couple of things I came across as useful: 1. Never get careless. When you kinda figure out how zombies work, it's easy to get careless and it'll KILL you sooner or later. 2. Never trust ANYONE, unless you have a good reason to trust them. Yesterday night I came across this guy that seemed pretty alright. We looted some buildings together and then, out of nowhere, we started to get shot at. I got picked off, but he never caught a bullet, so I'm kinda thinking that he lured me into a trap that his friends set. Just to make it clear; I think I had been scavenging with him for a good hour. 3. When you're joining a crowded server, always use your binoculars (if you have them already) to scout rooftops and all that. Take your time. The loot and the zombies are going to be there, whether you make some preperations or not. If you're hidden well, you may actually see a couple of players running around while scouting. SCOUTING IS IMPORTANT! 4. When you panic you make mistakes. I'm a noob myself, but hey, you pick things up quickly in an environment like this.

One of my looting attempts turned south and I basically spent a lot of time running into random directions. Eventually I got hit a couple of times and now I'm down to 1.2k blood. I have a bit of food and water, but not enough to last a long time and I decided to find shelter in a lighthouse where I don't think zombies spawn. I put out some flares to signal other survivors that I'm in here. It's kind of a desperation attempt, since there might aswell be a bandit that spots the flares and comes to kill me. I don't have a gun, so really, I've no other choice. Tips anyone? PS: I'm posting this while I'm waiting for my rescuer/reaper.

Well, I've got only one death so far. I glitched off a lighthouse after passing out ontop of it (had been knocked close to death by zombies). Rescue was close, the guy was climbing the damn stairs already. FFS!

NOOOOOOOOO... NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I finally had a guy that came to help me and I glitched and fell off the lighthouse.... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF....

I'm in a lighthouse somewhere east of Kamenka. Zombies don't spawn there. The thought of simply suiciding has sprung to mind, but I'm kinda hoping that this will turn out less than sour and hopefully give me some human contact. Believe it or not, I was ~5k blood a bit after I first got smacked, when some guy ran just by me with a couple of zombies chasing him. I tried to ask him for help, since he was holding a gun, but he didn't respond. Those same zombies made my day even worse and took me down to 1.3k.. >:C

That first time I saw an axe in a tree stump and went like "A WEAPON FINALLY", only to be disappointed. YES I want a woodaxe to chop zombies, but the animation doesn't really have to happen, just for the sake of not giving the developers even more work.

Hey folks, So yesterday I installed DayZ and decided to give it a spin. Figured I'd share some experiences with you guys. Perhaps pick up some advice along the way, right? Foolishly enough I didn't read any of the topics in this forum before starting up the game for the first time, so naturally I completely missed the word "Kamenka" floating in the corner of my screen when I spawned. With no clue where to go and without a weapon, my inner hermit quickly decided it was best to head into the forests and along the hills, because there'd be less chance of running into zombies there. I didn't really know what to expect by then, but I really loved the atmosphere, mainly because I started playing at around 01:00 in the morning. After about half an hour of walking I realized I had reached the edge of the map (facepalm!) and figured that, because I knew I spawned somewhere in the south, that I was now in the bottom-left corner. A while of admiring the starry sky and enjoying the ambience whilst walking through forests later, I finally stumbled upon what I had hoped for; An abandoned shack. Thus far I had been telling myself that the strange feeling that my thirst-meter was slowly changing colour had just been my imagination, but the icon was now clearly a different shade of green. I figured that in the "abandoned" shack there would perhaps be some water. As I came closer, though, (mind you, this was still quite far away, since I am paranoid like that) I saw my first zombie creeping around the shack and I soon realized he was not alone. I had no idea how far I had to stay away from them, since I had no means to defend myself. Instinctively I just sat in a bush and observed them for a while from a distance, before realizing that they probably weren't going anywhere and that my cunning idea to plunder the shack wasn't going to happen. Honestly, I don't know how long this whole ordeal took me, but my water meter was deep orange by the end of it. This is when I decided to log out for the day, though. The creepy soundtrack and sleep deprivation were getting the better of me. The next day (which is today!) I logged in during daytime, which I, needless to say, found a lot more comfortable. What I didn't find quite as soothing, though, was the fact that time was running out for my character and that I desperatedly had to get my hands on some water. The scene that followed was both horrifying and hilarious at the same time. Because it was day now, it was much easier to find out where I was and where I should be heading, so after climbing a nearby hill I managed to finally spot Kamenka. The place where I practically spawned next to, but failed to notice. As I approached the village, I spotted more and more zombies lumbering about. Since it was daytime though, they weren't quite as intimidating, so I just creeped past them and tried to keep my distance. I entered the small dockyard from the eastern side, because I saw a small house there with an open door. However, right about when I hit the pavement of the docks, I heard something behind me... Even before I turned around I already realized that a zombie had sneaked up and me and was about to have a taste so I did what any unarmed noob would do; Run like the wind. Like an idiot I decided to sprint across the dockyard, which ofcourse arggoed more zombies. When I reached the edge of town, there were still two persistent zombies chasing me. The rest I had managed to shake off... Somehow. These particular two really wanted me dead though, so I ran into the woods, pretty much into random directions, trying to use the trees to make some distance. A mile or so later, after losing one of the zombies, I looked to my right and there I saw Kamenka AGAIN. I was at the same hill from which I entered Kamenka a while back. My first thought was to use the water to shake off this last bastard, but I had pretty much already given up on life by this point. I ran down the hill, which kind of glitched on me, and when I turned around to check out my zombie friend, I saw him flying by me and smacking face first into the ground. Hills > zombies? Sounds somewhat logical. A few moments past, in which I hoped that the zombie wouldn't stand up again, and he didn't. When I looted his body, I found what I was looking for; Pepsi. My watergauge was flashing red by this time, so the timing couldn't have been better. That's most of it so far. Using the knowledge I had gained so far, I sneaked around Kamenka for a while longer. I managed to find some more water, some bullets, still no weapon though. Hell, I need a frikkin weapon...

Well, I've been walking around a couple of hours now, and haven't found a weapon yet. I like this, though, since it keeps the atmosphere alive. I'd say weapons (and especially guns) should be quite rare, but with more variation. Melee weapons should be more common, though. Knives, crowbars, woodaxes. That's stuff that could be in anyone's backyard, basically, whereas weapons would be much harder to come by.

I am no more than a noob myself in this game, but I have managed to stay alive so far. What I think may pay off is whenever you see a house, or a place that could have loot in it, to just observe it for a while. Lets say, 5 to 10 minutes, from a decently close distance. This will: A. Make sure there are/aren't any zombies around. B. Familiarize you with their locations and paths. Zombies lumber around, but the way I've experienced it, they have loooong, seemingly random paths. So it pays off to wait for a zombie to pass by before sneaking into a building.