Taphonomy

It seems most people think the Save for Group option is dumb. I admit I thought it sounded a little awkward when I proposed it. Still, I believe in the basic concept. Maybe instead: the normal save option initiates the maintenance requirement. Not saving means no maintenance is required, but storage goes away immediately on death.

Yeah...I originally gave it that title because I figured it would mean a lot of people would comment on the thread just to flame me, and then my idea would get noticed more. In retrospect, I wish I had given the thread a title that actually states the idea I'm proposing. Oh well...

I wanted to address this because this type of gameplay is probably pretty rare. I wanted to show how it could also work in this system. I believe that this type of behavior would definitely be appreciated by just about anybody that is nice enough to pause for a second and not shoot you in the face. By virtue of this... I believe that you, Sir, would be one of those rare few who would be able to maintain a persisting tent without ever having to be part of a permanent group. If you came up and bloodbagged me or gave me food, I would definitely want to return the favor by "tipping" you a few spare parts. If I didn't have any, I would try my best to help you find some before we parted ways. You could definitely be a good samaritan solo player, and I don't believe the proposed mechanic would punish you for it. If you still disagree let me know. I'll definitely think about that some more. The type of playing you're proposing is NOT how the majority of people play, but diversity is IMPORTANT for a good game. So it is important that there be a solution that allows for exactly the kind of thing you're describing.

I agree completely, and would be totally fine with this. I think my idea would add more complexity / depth in many player interactions. I realize complex is not always good though... sometimes simpler is best. I partially agree with both of you, which is why I made this topic. It is supposed to serve as a kind of compromise between: "everything goes away, period" and "stuff stays around". With this system, individuals lose their stuff. They die. Groups have more power to make their items persist, the ability to do that is directy correlated with the number of people in the group. More people contribute, more things can be saved past death. This allows for meaningful solo play that doesn't get boring. And allows small communities to come together and play socially in a way that rewards them over time, without forcing everyone to start over if somebody dies.

You make good points, but I think you're focusing on the details of the mechanic which I meant to leave open to discussion. The idea is that the tent would require maintenance constantly (IF "Save for Group" was chosen over the regular save option). Any time a player dies, there is a chance that he either won't make it back in time to perform maintenance, or he will make it back but not have enough of the repair item. It is also entirely possible that he makes it back and gets everything out of the tent, and no harm is done. A single player would never be able to manage multiple tents, and a single tent only has enough space to provide a finite number of re-gears. Unless the player is skillfull, and manages time well... the tent will degrade before even one regear is possible. The point is to just set the maintenance requirements in such a way that it is extremely unlikely -almost impossible- for an individual to maintain a (GROUP) storage unit without help. Also, I merely suggested scrap metal because it already exists in the game. Maybe scrap metal is used for tent poles? It doesn't even NEED to be scrap metal. I also mentioned "spare parts" which do not exist in the game. Notice how I made no attempt to designate any numerical values for the mechanic? Industrial spawns all over the map do no good if you don't have the time to hit them all. Even if you found 10 scrap metals in one warehouse, I never mentioned how much would be required to repair one tent. All of this could be worked out to provide a balanced system that addresses some current issues without removing any types of emergent gameplay. ((Hell...you could make the storage require BEANS. It doesn't really matter what you use as long as the maintenance requirements are adjusted accordingly.)) Also, the vehicle's operational status and maintenance status should not be confused. If the vehicle stores items and is Saved for Group, then failure to meet the maintenance requirements only means that the items stored inside go away. That's all. I don't want to focus too much on the scenario of a single survivor trying to take advantage of the "Save for Group" option. Remember, the point is to increase the amount of "permadeath" individuals experience, but allow groups of players to be able to build up supplies in a way that makes sense based on the number of people contributing. Good points to address and think about, but I do not think they detract from the positive potential of the idea I'm proposing.

I'm shamelessly bumping this because I genuinely think it is a great idea... I've seen posts concerning item storage, permadeath, and also the current state of bandits vs survivors. This mechanic should directly or indirectly improve those areas, but I would like to hear other people's thoughts. My basic points: -Increased "permadeath" for individuals -Permanence of a group's items is directly related to that group's ability to scavenge for parts to keep up maintenance on their storage units. -Mechanic is flexible enough to allow for "balancing" of the maintenance times and items required. -Mechanic could potentially encourage varying levels of player cooperation. (Depending on the values set for maintenance of storage units,would require an amount of "effort" such that it would be very difficult for an individual player to meet maintenance requirements.) *** -It would give well-geared survivors something to do other than go human-hunting. *** Ideally, an individual would not be able to meet the maintenance requirement on a single storage unit unless he got lucky / is very skilled. If a survivor chooses the "Save for Group" option on a tent, but has no group to assist him, it should be assumed that the player is skilled enough to be a potential leader. In this case, yes, his stored items would persist through his death; but the time lost due to death would make it even harder for him to meet the maintenance requirement by himself, and he would need to weigh the options of: a) risking losing his tent and items; B) finding another survivor to help him. I think a scenario like this has the potential to give rise to new, emergent game experiences, while also preserving the current play styles preferred by many. For those who want to be a lone-wolf bandit that murders anyone and everyone else...you can still do that! You can even store items to re-gear yourself after you die! The difference is: you can not do it indefinitely, and it will be more difficult. You WILL be faced with perma-death at some point. When staring down your scope at the undergeared player, you will need to at least give a slight pause for thought, "my tent needs repairs, can I fix it on my own?". Pull the trigger and you MAY lose your items on next death. Next time it could be you, undergeared and tent-less, in the scope of a player who gave more thought to survival than to senseless murder. Eager to hear other people's thoughts, especially those that give good reasons why this proposed mechanic would not improve the game. At this point I see no downside. This would improve DAYZ while staying true to the core of the game. Discuss...

Cool! I like my idea! Care to elaborate on the finer points of your argument?

I agree with you. However, lots of servers restart every 6 hours or so to avoid performance issues. Is this what you meant by reboot? If so...I would request that there be a separate type of restart that resets the world. That way, servers could continue to restart on schedule, but could also set it to where all storage units and vehicles reset on a different schedule.

Oh! Also, this would encourage players to team up more, as the decay rate and maintenance cost of storage units could be tweaked to require varying levels of player cooperation.

No...wait. I didn't mean to mislead you. See...this is the suggestions forum and...

It's simple: Tents, vehicles, whatever you store items in: If you die, the storage unit and all the items go away IMMEDIATELY. (edit: In the case of vehicles, items disappear from storage. The vehicle does not despawn.) New option for tents and vehicles: Save for Group. With this option, the tent or vehicle will now persist through your death. However, upon selecting this option the storage unit now must be maintained periodically in order to persist. Example: Steve puts gear into his tent. He selects the Save for Group option. Now the tent and the items will stay there if Steve dies, free for his buddies to use. However, maintenance must be performed on the tent every (X) hours and with (X) spare parts/scrap metal. The Maintenance option now appears on the contextual menu of the tent. With this mechanic...small teams would be able to save small camps, large teams would be able to save large camps. The ability of a GROUP'S items to persist is directly related to the group's ability to loot areas and find spare parts. Storage units would still be able to be looted by anyone, allowing raiding if the camp is unguarded. Also...I think that the same mechanic should apply to tank traps and barbed wire. This would give LARGE groups some minimal security. Since larger camps are harder to hide, it would be helpful if they could set up barbed wire around their tents. In the same way, a lone wolf could use barbed wire and tank traps to block other survivors from good spawns, but these too would disappear immediately if he died. Am I a genius or what!? This will almost assuredly be the most awesome way to handle this aspect of the game. Don't even try to argue with me. ...Okay do....

I'm probably going to be playin 1.7.2.4 until SU hosts the updated version. I've been tinkering with various launchers and installations and mod directories and pathing and battle eye for most of the week. I finally got comfortable using SU, and it has been allowing me to switch between DAYZ and ACE/ACRE servers flawlessly. But seriously, thanks for the input and support! It's always nice to see people in the community being helpful!

Is there any ETA on SU hosting 1.7.2.5?

Oh...I'm just gonna say this to the OP before anyone else does: "Your PC sucks. Upgrade ur junk to reduce loading times bro."

...once I'm dead (usually along with everybody else on the server)... It typically takes around 7-10 minutes to load into a new character and spawn!! Losing items or losing your location can be annoying, but at least it sets you off on the immediate goal to scavenge, resup, and possibly encounter other players in the spawn areas. I know some people have trouble with being "stuck on the loading screen". Is there anyone else who doesn't get "stuck" permanently, but just has to wait for what seems like an eternity just to be able to start fresh and get playing again? The astute reader might ask, "But why complain about hacking specifically when death by ANY means will force you to wait a long period of time?" "Well, forum warrior..." I reply, "It is because any LonelyTroll using that kill-everyone-on-the-server hack can easily keep multiple servers entirely on lock down such that a small handful of the DAYZ community is forced to continually experience Survivor Genocide / 10 minutes of black screen." In short: death itself doesn't suck half as bad as not being able to play the game. I know most everyone has to deal with this, that I'm not special, and that not much can be done. I just needed to rant. Also, feel free to refrain from posting your opinion of me and/or hackers. Instead, brainstorm ways to lessen the pain of this particular brand of hacker terrorism!