I'm having a difficult time

[xW10 1]

Hey guys,

So yeah, every time I try and play this game, I don't really get very far. The game is very entertaining, but I just think it's way too difficult. It's not the players, the hackers (I haven't met any of those), but it's the zombies. How do you guys survive them in the very beginning? When I spawn at the beach and head towards a city it's easy enough. But as soon as I get to the city/village/whatever, there's a ton of zombies, and I find it very difficult to

a ) sneak past them, 'cause there's always like 3 of them sneaking around at one building

b ) kill them - if I have been lucky enough to find an axe, I always end up getting hurt by the zombies, because they are glitching so much or are so fast. This normally ends by me bleeding out somewhere in an abandoned house.

This usually happens no matter what. I think this game is way too difficult for me at least, so I was hoping I could get some advice from some of you old folks that have played this game in a while. :)

Thank you very much in advance,

xW10

Edited November 4, 2012 by xW10

[jaytmuk (DayZ) 621]

Run, run and then run :), also you will learn what buildings have 2 exits, running through buildings with 2 exits will slow them down cos zombies cant run inside buildings, look around in the building before you exit it, keeping an eye on the zombies that followed you in, do this till you get an axe, then take zombies into buildings and axe them do death while they walk, always keep a certain distance from them. Also if there are no buildings that are open you can run through bushes and around trees and buildings to try lose their line of site, you will learn it soon with practice :)

[Rastamaus 323]

^^ what he said, if you follow his advice, avoid panic and don't get yourself cornered you'll always survive zeds. Except for those glitches you refer to which we all experience, like rocks and trees that you can't really avoid or prevent.

[Jamz 253]

Next time you start fresh, make a point of sprinting towards the first zombies you see. Just remember not to stop and you'll soon realise that although they chase you and make strange noises behind you, they can't hit you. you'll then see how dumb they really are and you can start leading them around imagining Benny Hill music playing. When you get bored, run through a house or zig zag through the nearest bunch of trees and you'll soon be back to being mr no zombies.

If you do this for 5-10 mins I promise you'll have lost your fear of zombies and will have a much greater understanding of their limitations.

[Crimly 8]

Although what Jamz says is true never get comfortable around the Zeds. I've lost my life a couple times becuase I got comfortable. It only takes one lucky strike from one to break a leg or knock you unconcious. So if at all possible stay with out of arms reach.

[xW10 1]

I just find it irritating that you can't defend yourself against them with perhaps an axe without getting a small scratch that can make you bleed to death. :/ Moreover if I run away from the zombies, I'll just end up running for half an hour, because I don't know which houses are safe, and which are not.

[Mash Tactics 3]

Manuevering around zombies is the easiest thing in the game to do, right after pressing the log-in button.

You can run infinitely without them ever catching you, so there's never an excuse to get killed by them, in my honest opinion. Once you learn how their mechanics work, and how to lose them, the game gets a lot simpler. The zombies in this game are child's play, and a lot of people know it.

[Jamz 253]

Don't forget, like most of us here I'm sure, zombies love bush. They can't pass one without stopping for a quick sniff and lick, just draw them to one and jog away!

[HMS 115]

I just find it irritating that you can't defend yourself against them with perhaps an axe without getting a small scratch that can make you bleed to death. :/ Moreover if I run away from the zombies, I'll just end up running for half an hour, because I don't know which houses are safe, and which are not.

I will tell you very little and I encourage you to not look up videos on the matter, or even to ask too many questions yet until you have played for a day.

The Zs must stop before they hit you.

The Zs cannot catch you if you are running, standing up.

The Zs cannot run in or through buildings. <<-THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO REMEMBER SO YOU CAN GET OUT OF LINE OF SIGHT AND SOUND RANGE.

The Zs cannot see squat at night but you can use the moon to illuminate enough to get around.

The Zs don't care if you close a door on them. They will no-clip through any door or wall the damn well feel like to get to you.

If you find a gun - and I sincerely hope you do not - you should refrain from shooting it at all costs until you know exactly what you are doing.

The inventory system is sado-masochistic nightmare.

You are not using your backpack.

Now go back out there, and learn to crawl and evade. Then hit me up with questions about survival beyond this and you will be glad you kept it minimal.

Don't even look at an online map. You don't have one in-game for a reason.

[Harlico 25]

Watch your noise levels

Watch your visibility levels

If in doubt hit the dirt (go Prone) and crawl

As you get used to what buldings are around you by sight you will realize which of them have a front and a back door. Z's cant run in buildings so dart in one door wait until they are at the entrance you came in and sneak out the back... They will loose interest fast.

Pistols are good for taking them down with little noise. If you use a larger gun you will attract a large group from around the area and that is not always the best way to try and survive.

Dart around a corner when you have some lead on them and when you get out of sight, hit the deck and start crawling.

As above said... once you reaize Z's limitations you can get back to the real threat.... Other players!

Good Luck!

[Sula 1205]

xw10, Harlico's is sensible advice that will help you practice improving your skills. Ignore people who say "it's easy". It isn't. That's like saying rocket science is easy - only if you're good at it.

I'd suggest you watch every video you can find on youtube but I'd start with Nooby Noobster's youtube page because he's funny, sweet, kind and a deadly killer with a gun or an axe. You can learn a lot from him but until you put it into practice you won't start to get better. Good luck, mate. :thumbsup:

[liamcz@hotmail.com 98]

Just enforcing the fact that all you need to do is run. When you come across a building, break the line of sight and enter the building crouched and holding shift. It's simple. Zombies are the easiest part of the game by far.

[HMS 115]

oh 1 more thing, xW10 - totally forgot to say this before.

You mentioned using the axe on zombies. You are absolutely right about it not being as easy as it should be with the axe vs. the aggroed walkers.

If you are out of their line of sight (behind them in the day, or just dead silent in front of them at night), it's a piece of cake. Except for the crazy mechanics of using the axe. It's too slow to take multiple swings.

That is why 2+ aggroed zombies means trouble. They run and zig-zag. And yeah, there's a pattern to it, but as you said they can get glitchy. And while you swing at 1, another one swings at you.

So yes, fully agree with you on that situation. It can get rough. Hmmm... I wonder what might be better than taking on 3 aggroed walkers.

[klesh 2423]

One of the "weapons" against zombies that I think is underrated is using those empty tin cans, soda cans and whiskey bottles. They can be thrown and nearby zombies will be attracted to the sound where it lands. This is super handy when trying to navigate through a city and needing a particular alley clear.

[liamcz@hotmail.com 98]

One of the "weapons" against zombies that I think is underrated is using those empty tin cans, soda cans and whiskey bottles. They can be thrown and nearby zombies will be attracted to the sound where it lands. This is super handy when trying to navigate through a city and needing a particular alley clear.

Or you could just run through them and easily break the line of sight and get away...

[volatile 2]

Hmmm... I wonder what might be better than taking on 3 aggroed walkers.

You ask the perfect question, and I have the perfect answer. As Jamz said above, they love a bush, but what he didn't say was that the bush is also a double edge sword to a zed.

I've done this many times and it works with a little fancy footwork in the bush for positioning, but I can ditch 10+ aggroed zeds like this every day. Go to the bush and stand perfectly still as close to the center as possible. Make sure it's a big bush, not a little one. One that will break up 70 - 80% of your outline. They'll lose interest and walk away, so long as you don't stand where they can hit you. But they can't get close enough to you to hit you when you stand behind one.

To xW10 specifically:

And for all that's glorious in ditching zombies in this manner, do stand on the *opposite* side from the zombies. Keep the limbs of the bush between you and them and you'll be able to not bleed out from a glitch hit, because you'll actually be able to take a breather and bandage yourself up.

You are using the green packets that occupy slots in your secondary inventory, aren't you? Those are bandages, and they stop you from bleeding out. Make it a priority to seek axe and pick up every bandage you can find till you have 4 in your secondary slots and 2 in your pack. Right click on one and click the green icon that says 'bandage myself'. This will stop your bleeding out in houses.

Right click and hold that right click to zoom in without a weapon or with one to see further and clearer at range than normal, and pick out groups from a distance and use my friend the flank. Always flank zombies and crouch run around them to minimize visual and audible signature. If you aggro one, bee-line to a bush and put it between you and it. 3rd person to keep an eye on it, and listen for its position. shift position to maintain that ever vigilant shield against the zombie. It will quickly lose interest. 5, 10 seconds tops and amble off. Then creep out and go about your merry way. If no bushes, and near buildings, all the above advice still applies.

With an Axe, you need to keep the circle on them. Remember, it's a little like a shotty in that circle reticle. Aim high on the zombie and you might get hit once, but it may not make you bleed, just keep hitting it till it goes down. The wonderful thing about axes against zombies is they can 'headshot' and one hit kill and they are also perfectly silent. I've killed many a zombie with a trusty hatchet. It's my favorite means of killin' em. They glitch about too much to aim properly, causing a waste of rounds, so I'd rather go axe when trying to fight zombies, but I don't kill them unless I have to anyway. Pistols are the best bet with them, because while they do less damage than rifles, they're by far quieter, especially sd types and the G17. A headshot kills in one bullet, so controlled fire is best.

This of course means, crouch, take aim down sights and focus on the head shot. Get it off before they hit you and you're golden and can take several at a time this way. After 2 or 3 though, it's time to move and find a place to quietly 'lose them'. Hope that helps.

I think I went beyond the purvey of this posting by talking pistols, but if you remember only one thing from this. The bush is their arch enemy. It prevents them from feeding. Stand behind one when in trouble, you'll soon see bushes as your guardian angel, always near, always waiting and always protective. Good luck survivor. keep surviving.

[Fun With Flares 72]

oh 1 more thing, xW10 - totally forgot to say this before.

You mentioned using the axe on zombies. You are absolutely right about it not being as easy as it should be with the axe vs. the aggroed walkers.

If you are out of their line of sight (behind them in the day, or just dead silent in front of them at night), it's a piece of cake. Except for the crazy mechanics of using the axe. It's too slow to take multiple swings.

That is why 2+ aggroed zombies means trouble. They run and zig-zag. And yeah, there's a pattern to it, but as you said they can get glitchy. And while you swing at 1, another one swings at you.

So yes, fully agree with you on that situation. It can get rough. Hmmm... I wonder what might be better than taking on 3 aggroed walkers.

Taking on 3 aggroed walkers... WITH A CROWBAR??

[Gert-Jan 32]

Taking on 3 aggroed walkers... WITH A CROWBAR??

Works for Gordon Freeman....

[xW10 1]

I will tell you very little and I encourage you to not look up videos on the matter, or even to ask too many questions yet until you have played for a day.

The Zs must stop before they hit you.

The Zs cannot catch you if you are running, standing up.

The Zs cannot run in or through buildings. <<-THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO REMEMBER SO YOU CAN GET OUT OF LINE OF SIGHT AND SOUND RANGE.

The Zs cannot see squat at night but you can use the moon to illuminate enough to get around.

The Zs don't care if you close a door on them. They will no-clip through any door or wall the damn well feel like to get to you.

If you find a gun - and I sincerely hope you do not - you should refrain from shooting it at all costs until you know exactly what you are doing.

The inventory system is sado-masochistic nightmare.

You are not using your backpack.

Now go back out there, and learn to crawl and evade. Then hit me up with questions about survival beyond this and you will be glad you kept it minimal.

Don't even look at an online map. You don't have one in-game for a reason.

oh 1 more thing, xW10 - totally forgot to say this before.

You mentioned using the axe on zombies. You are absolutely right about it not being as easy as it should be with the axe vs. the aggroed walkers.

If you are out of their line of sight (behind them in the day, or just dead silent in front of them at night), it's a piece of cake. Except for the crazy mechanics of using the axe. It's too slow to take multiple swings.

That is why 2+ aggroed zombies means trouble. They run and zig-zag. And yeah, there's a pattern to it, but as you said they can get glitchy. And while you swing at 1, another one swings at you.

So yes, fully agree with you on that situation. It can get rough. Hmmm... I wonder what might be better than taking on 3 aggroed walkers.

Thank you for your advice. I didn't know they couldn't see anything at all at night, so that might become helpful. I'll still have to go sneaky though, no?

One of the "weapons" against zombies that I think is underrated is using those empty tin cans, soda cans and whiskey bottles. They can be thrown and nearby zombies will be attracted to the sound where it lands. This is super handy when trying to navigate through a city and needing a particular alley clear.

Wow, thank you! I didn't know that. I'll make sure to try that out sometime soon :)

You ask the perfect question, and I have the perfect answer. As Jamz said above, they love a bush, but what he didn't say was that the bush is also a double edge sword to a zed.

I've done this many times and it works with a little fancy footwork in the bush for positioning, but I can ditch 10+ aggroed zeds like this every day. Go to the bush and stand perfectly still as close to the center as possible. Make sure it's a big bush, not a little one. One that will break up 70 - 80% of your outline. They'll lose interest and walk away, so long as you don't stand where they can hit you. But they can't get close enough to you to hit you when you stand behind one.

I don't really get this bush thing. Can you seriously just aggro a zombie and the crouch behind a bush, that'll cover you? Or have I misunderstood something?

To xW10 specifically:

And for all that's glorious in ditching zombies in this manner, do stand on the *opposite* side from the zombies. Keep the limbs of the bush between you and them and you'll be able to not bleed out from a glitch hit, because you'll actually be able to take a breather and bandage yourself up.

You are using the green packets that occupy slots in your secondary inventory, aren't you? Those are bandages, and they stop you from bleeding out. Make it a priority to seek axe and pick up every bandage you can find till you have 4 in your secondary slots and 2 in your pack. Right click on one and click the green icon that says 'bandage myself'. This will stop your bleeding out in houses.

I did figure this already, but most of the time, I'll just end up finding nothing and getting hurt twice which ends up in me dying unmarried and lonely :(

I think I've got the most important gameplay features settled so far, but it's just those damn zombies..

Right click and hold that right click to zoom in without a weapon or with one to see further and clearer at range than normal, and pick out groups from a distance and use my friend the flank. Always flank zombies and crouch run around them to minimize visual and audible signature. If you aggro one, bee-line to a bush and put it between you and it. 3rd person to keep an eye on it, and listen for its position. shift position to maintain that ever vigilant shield against the zombie. It will quickly lose interest. 5, 10 seconds tops and amble off. Then creep out and go about your merry way. If no bushes, and near buildings, all the above advice still applies.

With an Axe, you need to keep the circle on them. Remember, it's a little like a shotty in that circle reticle. Aim high on the zombie and you might get hit once, but it may not make you bleed, just keep hitting it till it goes down. The wonderful thing about axes against zombies is they can 'headshot' and one hit kill and they are also perfectly silent. I've killed many a zombie with a trusty hatchet. It's my favorite means of killin' em. They glitch about too much to aim properly, causing a waste of rounds, so I'd rather go axe when trying to fight zombies, but I don't kill them unless I have to anyway. Pistols are the best bet with them, because while they do less damage than rifles, they're by far quieter, especially sd types and the G17. A headshot kills in one bullet, so controlled fire is best.

This of course means, crouch, take aim down sights and focus on the head shot. Get it off before they hit you and you're golden and can take several at a time this way. After 2 or 3 though, it's time to move and find a place to quietly 'lose them'. Hope that helps.

Thank you, but I'll stick with you first advice - to keep a distance. I'm just not good at this melee/ranged combat at all. I think I'll have to get used to that, but for now, I'll just keep my distance to them, or run if necessary.

I think I went beyond the purvey of this posting by talking pistols, but if you remember only one thing from this. The bush is their arch enemy. It prevents them from feeding. Stand behind one when in trouble, you'll soon see bushes as your guardian angel, always near, always waiting and always protective. Good luck survivor. keep surviving.

Thank you for all of that, I'm glad you took the time to help me. I'll make sure to try this bush thing out...

Me and some friends actually once played this a few days, but ended up hating it, because we could not choose to spawn at the same point and therefore not play together. Of course we could meet up somewhere, but we would always end up dying or being half-killed before we would meet. Once I actually managed to meet one of my friends on top of a hill without a scratch and guess what happens then? My friends walks over to the edge of the kill to take a screenshot, because he just loved the details and then - bam. Shot by a damn sniper... This stupid sniper came up to - yes he actually didn't shoot me, but just walked up to me and said: "This is your lucky day" and walked away. If just I've had a gun... Jesus christ.

This is the why we actually quit the game. It's way too difficult, the zombies are glitching a lot, and it just takes so long to find each others...

Do any of you know, if they plan to make people able to spawn together? That would be a lot nicer, as it's otherwise just way too boring, before we meet each others. I guess we're kind of casual players :)

[ast65 11]

I don't really get this bush thing. Can you seriously just aggro a zombie and the crouch behind a bush, that'll cover you? Or have I misunderstood something?

yes you can...same goes for trees of course, just crouch and stay still or move around the bush/tree slowly (walking or even better short tapping 'W')

and remember: the bigger the bush/tree, the better ;)

[Sula 1205]

Zombies most certainly can see you very well at night, so don't be surprised to be attacked and remember, you won't be able to see well either! Good luck. :thumbsup:

[AIRCAV 62]

Sula, zombies can still see, but the distance at which they aggro seems much lower. This statement is based solely on my experience, and while I clearly am contradicting you, my intention is not to be rude.

AC

[DazTroyer 227]

Just enjoy the struggle, once you learn the best ways to avoid them, they are never really a problem again. The first few days in Chernarus are by far the best.