Group Spawning and Buildable Respawn Bunkers!

[Cobs 49]

Right, I've been playing DayZ for quite a while now, and despite the many flaws it is one of the best games I have ever played. This mod has huge potential to come forth in the standalone version to be one of the best games ever made.

This game was born out of a strive for realism and survival, and the following list follows that general principle. I think that is what makes the game so immersible.

1. Guns do not blow up cars. Cars are hard to blow up for that matter.

I am tired of driving a car and being shot at by a Lee Enfield a few times and having my car just blow up after a few shots, or I accidentally get stuck on a fence and blow up trying to get out.

2. Vehicles are more common. Parts a bit rare.

After playing on many different servers, I've found the best balance of vehicles is around (server claiming) 300-400 evenly spread across the map. On good servers almost every vehicle you find will be missing a piece or two, so some work is required to get them going. Most servers claim 300 vehicles or 400 vehicles, but that amount is simply not the case. That amount is a max number if I understand it correctly, so in reality the vehicle count is a bit less than that. Ideally players should be able to find a vehicle within an hour, and then begin scavenging a bit rarer parts to try and repair it.

3. Players should start with only the bare minimums.

Servers that give players starting stuff takes away 3/4 of the game.

4. Zombies improved.

Okay, zombies need a LOT of work. Firstly, zombie paths need to be revamped. The jerky fast movements make it near impossible to aim at them and take them out without wasting precious ammo by missing. But first lets talk about zombies as a creature

Zombies have many different characteristics. I'm going off the standard apocalypse survival zombie, as you would see in the hit TV show "The Walking Dead". My ideal zombie in Dayz is like this:

• Zombie starts out slow, he has been wandering around for quite some time and is a passive creature, weak from hunger and used to quiet non living company.
  
• As a zombie slowly becomes aware of a player he makes a chilling zombie cry and begins accelerating towards the player, not too fast, but determined and hopeful of a meal.
  
• As he draws nearer his speed quickens, he is in full realization that there is blood to be eaten and becomes crazed. Like mad he wants to eat flesh and will not stop until he gets it.
  
• His zombie cry draws dull attention from the other zombies. Depending on proximity, they know food is around and slowly begin staggering in that direction.
  
• Once the other zombies get close enough to see / smell the player they start the pattern.
  
• Zombie animations differ between zombies, with different animations of walking, running, and crawling, it makes the zombies come to life as many different creatures. If there was 5 animations for staggering walking rather than 1, the games immersion level would increase like CRAZY! It would feel more real, feel more eerie, make you forget for a second that it is a game.
  
• When a zombie attacks, he claws at first which does a bit more blood damage then it does currently. Never does it knock you out unless you have below 4k blood.
  
• After a few claws and you still are not moving, then he BITES. A bite is rare but fatal. I think it is too much work to have player afterlives as zombies so we will leave it at that.
  
• Zombies do not spawn only when a player is in the area. That gives away the fact that players are around.
  
• Zombies huddle around not doing much unless they are provoked (ie player, shots, throwing tin cans, flares, etc.)
  
• Paths redone for smooth zombie movement. This is probably the most important for immersion.
  
• Players are no longer safe by running into a bush or a pine tree. There has to be some kind of player escape tactic, so the zombies speed should be a little less then a player. Once a player is a sufficient distance away from the zombie, breaks line of sight, the zombie becomes confused and wanders off. Another way of losing a zombie would be flares. Flares are bright and distracting. Throwing a flare should attract all zombies to it. Likewise at night, players with flares will be beacons for zombies and attract MUCH attention.
  
• Shutting doors should keep yourself safe from zombies, but after a while they will bang on the door enough to open it and spew in.
  
• Zombies should be able to move faster inside
  
• Zombies still attracted to sound and such.
  
• Zombie spawn should be random. Some areas can have 0 zombies spawn, while others you may encounter a hoard.
  
• Zombies should be scarier looking.
  

5. Thermal Scopes removed for obvious reasons. 50Cal Snipers removed.

Only because 50Cal could in real life take out an engine in a car or with a proper shot, really damage a helicopter. These aspects of the game would make it too unbalanced. If the community is set on them, they should be so insanely rare that if you did manage to find one, you would spend another week of looting to find ammo for it.

6. Fall Damage fixed

I'm sick of the overly sensitive and weak bones of the players of Dayz. Maybe introduce sprained ankles but falling out of a 2nd story to your feet should not give you a broken bone / bleeding / death. Also various crawling broken bones need to be fixed. One time I decided to crawl into my tent to see what it was like. It was a very dangerous tent and broke my bones and rendered me unconscious. I think I'll sleep in the car.

7. Groups and name indicators.

Say you meet up with someone and you guys want to team up. Jack Frags had this idea of a "Handshake" where you shake hands with a player and he becomes in your group. After hes in the group you can see a name above his head. This may strike away from the "realism" aspect but this feature is needed. In real life you have situational awareness of the people you know and where they are. That is impossible to replicate in game so something like this is needed to make sure you don't shoot your buddies by mistake. Killing a group member should have a penalty of a respawn delay of an hour or so.

8. Direct chat and walkie talkies.

Direct chat is GREAT, but side chat should go away except for admins, and walkie talkies should be able to be found. Complete walkie talkie channels would be great as well as broadcasting stations. Perhaps the option of spawning with a walkie talkie as well. This item should be pretty easy to find so groups can dish out walkies to entire squads.

9. Food & drink plays a bigger role.

Food and drinks need to be rarer. Way rarer. The player should have a real hard time finding food and beverage spawn, and have to resort to hunting and gathering water. After the food or drink icon starts flashing, the player should move slower, get cold easier, and take more damage when hit. Too long without and then yes blood should start going down.

10. Extreme weather / Storms

Random extreme weather can come and zombies will seek shelter or fall over and only be able to crawl. Players would need to find shelter as well. This would lead to house / building clear outs and holding off a building from more zombies.

11. Build-able shelters for safe haven and bases

This one is difficult. Maybe finding the items "powertools", and "hardware" which would be nails and such. Allow you to gather wood, stockpile it somewhere, use powertools and hardware to build different tier bases.

A lean-to shack: protects from the storm, but player still gets cold without fire inside it. Sturdy shack: Protects against storm and cold, has lockable door from the inside, cannot lock from outside. And finally Fortified Shack, which would require locking parts of some kind, where users can lock loot inside and quit / join inside. Destroyable only by RPGs, vehicle mounted machine guns, satchels, and other explosives that may be introduced (Molotov?) Possibly the option of a Fortified bunker with garage, which can only be made with 4 players working together. Players could then respawn inside the safe bunker after death, and have access to stored loot inside. Bunker also destroyable by explosives only.

12. More weapons / melee weapons

We need more variety, and some kick ass melee weapons like machete's and swords. Melee fighting should be improved so you can take down zombies close quarters without getting hit by a zombie. More civilian weapons would be great too. Like .22 rifles, more hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols, flare guns etc. Flashlights should be mountable to ANY gun or your head. Duct tape required.

13. Group spawning.

If you ream up with a group before joining in the game, I think an option should be put in place to spawn together. This game is AWESOME when played with a friend and I think players should be encouraged to do that. Even teaming up with a stranger should be an option, lobbies, etc. You should get a respawn penalty for killing one of your group members (ie cannot respawn for an hour or more).

14. Various apparent bugs fixed, hacking impossible, other misc.

There are too many to list. Disappearing items, duping, private map markers, reloading hatchets, performance optimization, more / all buildings enterable, cars getting stuck in walls, falling off ladders, etc.

Hacking is a huge problem and I'm sure they are working on that.

Well that is just what I could remember right now, I had to get that out of my system. Any thoughts / comments are appreciated!

[UmBe 125]

nice topic name ... didn't expect such a post ^^

I'm to tired right now to read it all, but it seems to be a couple of good suggestions

[CreepySalad 108]

I disagree with 13 and 7.

With base building, they shouldn't be official bases.

They should be improvised.

The game just should be able to tell if you're sheltered or not.

Then you build something to accommodate your needs.

There shouldn't be specific bases.

A good example of this being done well is the ArmA II gamemode, Wasteland.

Except things are more scarce and realistic to carry.

Combine that with the ability to nail windows shut and stuff, and it'd be pretty cool.

Edit: AND NO SPAWNING INSIDE OF THEM.

Edited January 26, 2013 by CreepySalad

[±Traditore± 17]

13.

No.

You're meant to explore and search for survivors, not spawn on/with them.

[shadowjack 254]

@ Cobs

Some good stuff here and i appreciate the effort but have to call exception to 3 points.

11. Players could then respawn inside the safe bunker after death, and have access to stored loot inside.

O hell no. You are DEAD!!! Not asleep or in a coma, DEAD. you should have no awareness of where you were or what you had. you DIED. If i had my way ... when you die so does any stash you may have had.

7. In real life you have situational awareness of the people you know and where they are. That is impossible to replicate in game so something like this is needed to make sure you don't shoot your buddies by mistake. Killing a group member should have a penalty of a respawn delay of an hour or so.

13. You should get a respawn penalty for killing one of your group members (ie cannot respawn for an hour or more).

What you are wanting is mitigation of friendly fire. This goes completely against the anti game theme. Situational awareness can degrade very quickly in tense situations. This is why a smaller well organized and coordinated team can take down larger numbers and greater firepower. This isn't a walk in the park with the wife and kids. No penalty either, penalty is you killed your buddy.

Edited January 26, 2013 by ShadowJack

[terminal_boy 860]

No. DayZ isn't BF2 + Project Reality.

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

No to the respawn bunkers, for reasons mentioned by others. I don't think group spawning/respawn penalties should be implemented, either. The group indicators, I don't know about. That is one way to make up for recognizing people. I think it would be better if characters were just able to look more distinct, so it would be less artificial, more natural.

Everything else I like, like food being rarer (although not too much rarer in homes and markets). Honestly, why are the zombies carrying cans of beans? Why would people have that on their person?

As for 3, I agree, and I'd say players should start with absolutely nothing. Maybe a watch, or other things that most people carry.

[CreepySalad 108]

Honestly, why are the zombies carrying cans of beans? Why would people have that on their person?

You don't carry a can of Heinz© beans whenever you leave the house?

You're gonna get hungry dude.

I'd start carrying beans if I were you.

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

You don't carry a can of Heinz© beans whenever you leave the house?

You're gonna get hungry dude.

I'd start carrying beans if I were you.

Well, I carry cooked goat meat in my pockets.

In case I need blood.

[Cobs 49]

The respawn bunker I was thinking of would be so incredibly hard to build that it would give the game a huge long term goal for teammates to work together towards. I'm talking incredible difficulty in building the thing, with items needed from all around the map in rare random spawns. Something so rare that only a few ever manage to get it done.

But ShadowJack & CreepySalad you have a very valid point, respawning in a base takes away from the realness of the game a bit. It was a thought I had on motivating players to work together / need eachother instead of the constant pvp.

Thanks for all the feedback!