Jamz

I really think that KOS is the easiest way to play right now, to eliminate a potential threat before it becomes an actual one, and that is worlds away from how DayZ should feel. There are plenty of reasons for this and at the end of the day it's up to the player to try the harder path and make contact first. KOS gets no respect from me at all,but confronting a player first and then deciding if that option is the right one gets it all. In many ways it's so much more satisfying sparing a players life if possible rather than killing them.

Apologies, I think I misunderstood your OP. One way used by most MMO type games to attach worth to a players character is to introduce a stats system. If a players kills/zombie kills/time survived (in played hours)/players healed etc was recorded and then wiped with each characters death, then that might give players a reason to persist. The problem here is that some of the examples I gave are arguably meaningless, so what was recorded as statistics would have to be carefully considered. There could also be a way for other players to see or be shown a players stats outside of the game, perhaps.

I always preferred the idea of difficult to traverse areas of the map over learned skills and traits. I think survivors should only have their own knowledge and experience available to them, which they have learned from playing. Having areas populated by so many zombies that a only group of players working together would be able to survive there, could potentially lead to uneasy ad-hoc groups forming (if the lure of gear is strong enough).

Do I look serious?

Has anyone tried licking a battery yet?

Thankfully they are rare, which is refreshing. Having said that, I found an M4 within 10mins of spawning at Balota barracks, no mag so I couldn't use it, but I prefer using the axe anyway. It did look quite cool though.

I was doing fine with melee, its a bit tricky with the shovel and pointless with the baseball bat it seems, but the fireaxe seems to 1 shot zombies where ever you hit them. With the shovel it looks like I'm doing a wierd dance with them though, as I lure them into the street and then run round them furiously swiping... I'm sure it will improve soon but there are other more important issues to deal with first.

I have to admit though, it does seem a little odd that the zombies seem to have stolen all the can openers. I assumed every kitchen which had cans in it would obviously have some way of opening them, but it's possible to survive on powdered milk and tuna tins until you can find a can opener I suppose (I've not found one in three hours of playing today).

That looks good.

The clue is in the name...

This will inevitably be my next tactic...

I can't even see any servers now, it was OK earlier. Hopefully, they will come back from their Hiatus soon so I can get back to trying to find a way out of the house I'm stuck in.

It would have been nice to have the option, downloading now from Steam - will take 9 hours due to my archaic BB :(

I'm not too impressed with that particular mask, but I think the idea of headgear in general is a good one. I'm talking about masks/bandannas/balaclavas rather than motorbike helmets which players may use to give themselves added protection. I believe that personalisation of a players character will be very important in the SA, not only for fun but also to identify other players (perhaps even temper some of that wayward KoS...). If it's rare enough then so be it, to be honest if anyone is wearing that I'll see them long before they see me so they put themselves at a distinct disadvantage anyway.

I'd like to see the SA more survival centric, and the mod to go more towards pvp in parallel. Of course there should and will always be pvp as it is core to DayZ, but for the SA I want people to have to be always concentrating on not being swarmed or beaten to death at least as much as being shot...if not more.

It would be great if there was just a chance that they took notice of a gunshot, diminishing the further away they were, and if they noticed it they looked around for it's source. That way other players who were hidden or hadn't been noticed would remain out of threat but a player who was running in plain view of zombies in earshot would probably become their target, regardless of whether they fired or not. Gunshots could be used to drag them away from areas too perhaps, if they sauntered off towards roughly where it came from.

I would imagine with a virus based on Ebola that the host would die a lot sooner than 60 days, starving or not. I've seen these films and they don't go into too much detail about their chosen virus with good reason. However, looking at the infection in DayZ I would think it would have to be not linked to Ebola or Rabies. The incubation period would have to be too fast for a Rabies variant to be a danger as the host would die too quickly and an Ebola variant would not cause the aggression observed. I think it would have to be something entirely new, suggesting a man made origin. I kind of like the idea that it might not be a virus, but rather a parasitic, maybe something similar to a form of Malaria.

Yes, it could be similar to Rabies I suppose. Then the problem would be that if the virus affects the CNS and takes hold quickly enough to become pandemic then fatality of the host would also be very quick.

This is one of the problems I see with the modern infected 'zombie' lore. Most virus' manifest their symptoms in a similar way to the flu, but I can't figure out how this could connect to the victims being so spritely. The body should be locked in battle with the invading virus and unable to find the strength to move, let alone sprint after people. I don't think it would even be possible. That was an interesting read Orlok.

To begin with, they are infected people, so still alive and not zombies. I see the virus itself as being very much flu like initially with flu like symptoms. Upon contraction, the victim would develop flu like symptoms within 15 minutes or so, which would then worsen over the course of the following few hours at which point the victim becomes incoherent and hostile. We know the infected can swim, so they must still retain something of their former brain functions. The incubation period allows victims to travel enough of a distance to potentially spread the virus globally (with the accidental aid of concerned family members) but more importantly the transmission of the virus would be waterborne in droplets. The violent nature of the infected enables them to get close enough to spread the virus, not by bite but simply by proximity. The fact that they kill is due to the virus's effect on the brain itself but a bite, or even contact at all, isn't necessary to spread it. I like to think this is the nature of the situation, but if it was then it would all be over after a few weeks. Obviously players survive beyond that and the infected persist, so this is one of several errors with the scenario as a whole. I think zombies would have been better in this respect.

The self proclaimed saviour of mankind, he knows he has to die by the hand of a zombie to be reborn again. Sadly, by a series of comedic incidents and farcical mishaps, he just can't get bitten (zombies tripping at the last minute and falling onto his axe, running into Cherno naked and shouting only to have an unknown sniper clear zeds for him etc)!

The thing is, KOS is essentially a form of griefing which is part of the game. If there is no reason not to do it, it then becomes the easiest way to progress (kill player take stuff save time). This in turn makes it more and more difficult for people to buck the trend and communicate before potentially killing a target - too much risk with so much KOS going on. This then saps the most interesting part of the game, the initial contact with a stranger.. do you trust them etc. Killing them out right before they know you're there is much safer. It's a vicious circle which will only continue unabated, as players who want to interact leave the mod as it becomes more difficult to do so, leaving just KOS players. I believe things can be added to encourage players to cooperate but without removing any of the flavour of the mod. For instance, consider the possibility of building a fortified settlement somewhere in the wilderness. To do so requires the concerted effort of 20 players working over time on the server and working together to maintain this safe (from zombies) area when constructed. Yes, other players can come and destroy it but the possibility of constructing something like this might encourage an uneasy alliance between a large number of players who don't know each other. Or they might end up just falling out and killing each other, but at least they have a story to tell!

This. If you create a game where everyone can get a gun and can shoot each other with absolutely no consequences, then killing will be the order of the day. Ultimately KOS is all that can exist in DayZ without forced controls (which won't happen) - trusting people is hard, killing them is easy.

KOS is why I will be leaving the mod for the SA when it comes out. Like you said Regulator, Hackers are a major influence on the mod and always will be (although not as bad at the moment, perhaps they've moved on) which shouldn't be an issue in the SA, so if you start your clan again then I'm sure good will come of it. Reasons for KOS have been covered in the past and it's something that I disliked about DayZ after I started playing, but it has to be part of it. It's simply too much of it now and has unbalanced the game somewhat. I think the game I thought DayZ was hasn't been created yet but this is a step on the way to it. Hopefully the SA will be the next step. Keep up the stand though... :beans:

Actually I prefer to think of it as Horizontally transmitted by anterior station. The virus causes the host to spread it through a bite in this case, which explains the aggressiveness of the infected host. Both modes are possible though. In the SA things will be more complicated with multiple infections. It would be nice to be able to cauterize a wound and limit infection that way.