curiousepic

What if the chance of normal empty cans was reduced (or 0%), and the server cleaned up player-spanwed cans after a day or so?

Bear traps should have a high (~15%) chance of infection.

YES. Make audibility inversely proportional to humanity with a logarithmic scale (1 kill - 25 meters, habitual PKers alert everyone in the city)

A shift in availability from secondary weapons to primary weapons would be very interesting - Maks would become a lot more valued for their quietness. And you're not stuck right off with a gun you can't lower.

The caffeine could act as a mild painkiller.

I think incentivizing this kind of gameplay may require lots of subtle changes, rather than one single mechanic: Large items - jerry cans, barbed wire, vehicle parts - should take up your primary weapon slot, or backpack slot, or at the least, many more inventory slots. This would encourage even more grouping for protection while (re)building things. Adding the ability to lower your secondary weapon would help ease tensions when new spawns meet. Generators for lights are a great idea - both peaceable ones and ones connected to the existing energy grid in Chernarus. Connecting them to radio towers and having lootable radios is another common suggestion which would be amazing. Randomly spawned abandoned supply trucks that have a huge amount (far more than any one person could carry) of a single type of fairly common loot like food, but also sometimes blood bags, etc. *may* encourage sharing. (dynamically reduces scarcity) - with a radio system the location could be announced, and good guys can keep a watch out, if they have control. Eating, fire-making and cooking and other processes like this should take more realistic lengths of time - encouraging wanting someone to watch your back. I'm still trying to think of some way to encourage "rescue missions" of real players in distress.

I'd love to see scent/wind affecting your detectability - having to take wind direction into account when approaching a town so as not to alert all the zed to your presence.

Interesting idea. We need more non-lethal ways to interct with other players :)

Are matches at least more common? In all of my like, 12 lives of playing Day Z, I've never seen them.

Tears for the Tear God!

Awesome! I just hope the loot spawn tweaks increase chance for matchboxes.

I don't often play at night, but I realized I had spawned on the south coast, and I'd recently heard Balota airfield had good loot. I started on my way, trying not to use any lightsource, and using my star navigation skills to travel East. I had no idea how far it was, but I made this my goal. I also was in the red for thirst and had no drinks, so I'd have to find something along the way (I refuse to refill in the sea). I stuck near the hills to the North, so I wouldn't be silhouetted from anyone travelling more closely along the shore. I noticed some flares that someone was dropping, and sort of shadowed this guy as he also made his way East. Whenever I came across a town or some buildings, I veered north to stay out of the populated areas, but at one point near a village, I barely made out the shape of a building I knew was enterable. Against my better judgement, I threw a flare far enough away that I wouldn't be exposing myself too obviously, and used the half-light to make my way over a fence and into the house. ALmost immediately after entering, I heard footsteps. SHIT. I spun around, and there was another survivor right in the door. Immediately I said over direct VOIP "Friendly...!" He didn't shoot on sight, but didn't respond. I just went about my business, moved to another room, and saw a soda can right there. Picked it up and drank it immediately. Then over VOIP I tried to make a peace offering: "DO you need any Mak ammo? I've got a bunch I don't need" (I'd come across a dead survivor earlier), dropped a few mags, said "good luck", left the house, and made a bee line for the tree line, my head over my shoulder, making sure he didn't follow. I vowed to stay even further away from any buildings, but later, in the pitch dark, I still found myself stumbling into a zed infested area - I had to risk a flare, so I popped one and lay stock still as the Zed wandered towards it, some coming so close I could feel their staggered breathing on my neck.Slowly but surely I made my way out, the adrenaline subsiding. Eventually, as the adrenaline subsided, I noticed the tell-tale curved silhouette of a hanger against the bluish sky. I took my time and approached slowly, making out the fence - I assumed the whole airfield was mostly fenced off, so I'd have to find an entrance of some kind. I made out a building I assumed was a guardhouse, and heard zed stumbling around it. Then, I saw it - a falling star! No, a flare, coming STRAIGHT towards me. I froze, then hit the dirt... did someone see me? Were the friendly, just lighting the area so I could avoid the zed around the entrance? Or was it a bandit, toying with me? I slowly crawled out of the light, hoping they couldn't see me in the grass. 'I bet they had night vision goggles... Oh man, I'm probably so screwed.' I crawled along the fence - maybe I could find another way in. I sure as hell wasn't going in the front, well-lit entrance. I came across a break in the fence, which was behind the ATC tower. Slowly made my way up to it... I noticed a ladder right there, but I had no idea where the entrance was, and I couldn't risk any sort of light, here. So I waited. eventually I noticed another flare on the far side of the airstrip, near the shore... 'Heh, a clueless survivor. Let's see what happens to this guy... maybe the bandit will think it's me.' He wandered around in the light, and eventually left... hmm. I heard more zed, but no shots or anything. 'Wait, what was that? I don't think I've heard that sound before...' I hadn't moved for something like 10 minutes, just letting the situation soak in, hoping it would heighten my situational awareness. I heard it again... 'That has to be a player... He must be biding his time, too. Probably the bandit.' It sounded like it came from the hangar area. I haven't shot another player, ever, and wasn't about to start. SO moments like these are always tense for me. I know I'll hesitate in that moment trying to determine if it's a bandit or not. A few more minutes of silence, and I go impatient and decided to try the ladder, as soon as this zombie wanders far enough away. I listened to his groans grow quieter. Up I went, and with luck I didn't fall down (I didn't have a primary weapon). Growls. 'Shit, that's a zombie.. did I alert it? Was it someone else?' I climbed up the second ladder to the very top, and lay prone, searching for something lootable. Then I heard the ladder climbing-sound. 'It must be another player, trying to escape that zed!' I pointed my weapon at the ladder, and waited. The climbing sound, again. 'HOLY SHIT IT'S A ZOMBIE!' Pop pop pop pop! 'AAAAH ZOMBIES CLIMB LADDERS!.... OMG... whew' damn. I stood up. POP. Dead... 'GAAAAAAH' One of the most intense releases of pent up tenseness I've ever had in gaming. TLDR: After a very tense situation, staying silent on the top of a airfield tower, I heard what I thought was a player climbing the ladder behind me being chased by a zombie. BUT IT WAS A ZOMBIE.

Situation: Balota Airfield. Moonless night. Bandits around the corner. I freeze, not daring to make a sound... I want to reposition, but I'm terrified of giving away my position by moving on this gravel. Where is the grass? I don't have a chemlight, and flares are just right out. Situation: With the new temperature system, I need to stay warm, but matchboxes are just so damn rare. Situation: I'm at extremely low blood pressure, deep in the wilderness away from any hospital, and even if I did have a blood bag, I'm alone and can't trust anyone to transfuse me. I'd love to hunt, but matchboxes are just SO DAMN RARE. Matchbooks (small numbers of matches) or lighters should be one of the most common drops from any zombie. Surely everyone in Chernarus smokes. Half these zed are probably dead from lung cancer (they certainly sound like it). Matchbooks could be like roadflare items, with a small, random amount (3-10). You could strike them to start a fire, or to produce a very small amount of light for about 5 seconds - just enough to determine your immediate surroundings, navigate a pitch dark house, etc.

I'm pretty sure this would be difficult to mod. It also adds tenseness to these situations - rifling through a dead body, turning them over to get to their back pockets, etc, isn't exactly a stealthy action. You have to wait for an opportune moment.