Natural disasters and events.

[landfish 62]

Well I think the icing of the cake to make DayZ really brutal is to have natural disasters and other events such as high tides and low tides. First of all, the only thing I can think of to make this really effective is to have a global day/night system for all servers, so the server owners can't just reset the server time or weather if they're base got obliterated by a disaster. Some suggestions I have to make are below:

Tornadoes:

Tornadoes should appear like 5 times a week in a server and is mostly very common in open fields. Tornadoes should last for like 5 minutes and should move from area to area. As time passes by, the tornado should get smaller and smaller until it finally stops. Tornadoes should also vary in sizes and tornado spawns should be very random in the time of the day and sizes.

Small:

A small tornado should have lesser duration and is smaller in size, very easy to be avoided.

Medium:

A medium tornado should be bigger than the small one and be harder to avoid.

Large:

A large tornado should give even the most experienced player trouble and lasts the longest and is the largest in size between the three sizes. Large tornadoes should be fairly rare.

Danger: If you get caught in a tornado, it should throw you into a far distance, resulting in an injury or death depending on your condition or the size of the tornado.

Storm:

Storms should be the most common of the natural disasters, occurring in cities but is heavier in the woods as it can cause flooding, this should give players who camp in the woods trouble and some would be forced to move to cities or towns, risking their lives and their gear. This should also add some flavor to the survival elements of DayZ as you can no longer camp in the woods forever. Players should also have signs of the storms coming, if the rain is lasting long and there is heavy thunderstorms, then its very likely that there is a storm coming. A normal rainy day and a storm should have a very distinctive effects on the players, for example, storms should make the area darker and cloudier than a normal rain.

Flooding:

Waterbodies like rivers, lakes and ponds most commonly found in the woods should cause flooding depending on the strength of the rain or storm. Camps/tents caught in the flood would have most of the equipment inside destroyed or damaged.

Forest fires:

This should be a fairly rare event but a forest fire should occur once every two weeks. However, to prevent forest fires from destroying every forest in Chernarus, it could be intervened by rains or by players. There should be a firehose present in the game so that players can stop forest fires, one player have a very little chance to stop it but working together can be more effective and give greater chance in stopping forest fires. If a forest fire gets too out of hand, then no amount of player efforts should stop it from destroying a large portion of a forest. Forest fires should last for only 5 minutes max.

Earthquakes:

Most of the disasters above mostly occurs in the woods but nowhere is safe and the biggest fear in living in a city are earthquakes. Earthquakes should be fairly uncommon and varies in magnitudes. Earthquakes should cause players wobbling,shaking or even unconsciousness.

Low magnitude:

A low magnitude earthquake is nothing more than an annoyance to the very experienced players. A low magnitude earthquake have the ability to crumple tents or cause a small tsunami at most.

Medium magnitude:

A medium magnitude should be taken more seriously by everyone. It causes greater side effects to the players and their gears and is likely to cause a medium-sized tsunami.

High magnitude:

The deadliest of all earthquakes, there should be some enter-able buildings designed specifically to be destroyed by high magnitude earthquakes, this earthquake is capable causing a devastating tsunami. This is a really rare but deadly disaster.

Tsunamis:

Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes and is most devastating to the coast and the coastal towns. If there is an incoming tsunami, new players spawn should be change away from where the tsunami is supposed to hit. The size of the tsunami should depend on the magnitude of the earthquake that caused it.

Other natural events:

Tides:

The coasts tide should be at its highest at night and lowest in the afternoon. New players shouldn't spawn on a coast with a high tide.

Meteor strikes:

Another rare event could be a meteor strike, mostly occurs at a clear night and makes a loud sound on impact. It should be devastating to the areas it landed on, meteors rarely land on the cities and mostly lands on the woods or other small towns. Meteor strikes should attract zeds on impact.

Disasters shouldn't occur too much and become too annoying. At most only 2 natural disasters should happen if they were to occur at the same time. Natural disasters should also be unpredictable and clear days without rain or disasters should still be feasible.

What are your thoughts? can natural disasters make DayZ too brutal for comfort or can it enhance the survival elements of DayZ?

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

Nice work, But It's a little too much, If weather can be as effective, strong winds, snow storms then yeah but earthquakes? Meteorite showers?

I would like to see real tidal influences though.

[taco241 393]

Dynamic weather patterns with some greater variation would be neat, as would a seasonality to servers (rotate a winter season in one week/month, or one month out of every four)?

Tsunamis/Meteor strikes and tornadoes are a little excessive imo.

Tides might be ok but is it worth adding this feature? Does it really influence gameplay much? I tend to think no.

Edited February 5, 2013 by taco241

[kieran.thorpe88@gmail.com 12]

love the idea of world events, gnerally a more immersive world with wildlife that is not just for meat, ie dangerous animals etc storms bad weather. idea like everynone so far has but is a LITTLE bit OTT but i like your train of thought.

[boxman80 964]

Nice work, But It's a little too much, If weather can be as effective, strong winds, snow storms then yeah but earthquakes? Meteorite showers?

I would like to see real tidal influences though.

I agree. I think if you start introducing massive events like earth quakes, tornadoes, tidal waves etc.. the game pretty soon becomes more about those events (as they happen so often) than it does about zombie survival. I think just having better weather effects would do.

[BdogZ 17]

Nice ideas you got there, although if the game had all these, Chernarus would be destroyed in less than a week xD

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

Dynamic weather patterns with some greater variation would be neat, as would a seasonality to servers (rotate a winter season in one week/month, or one month out of every four)?

Tsunamis/Meteor strikes and tornadoes are a little excessive imo.

Tides might be ok but is it worth adding this feature? Does it really influence gameplay much? I tend to think no.

tidal influence would affect Boat travel and to a certain extent swimming. having player swim against the tide would put players off from entering the water. One thing I was always annoyed at was the lack of water craft in Chernarus. For the new Island Utes being included we will need accessability to get there.

Add stormy weather, the sea would become a threat also.

[King Tubbs 224]

Tornadoes should appear like 5 times a week

omg no 1 a month maybe

really all of you're ideas are nice but WAY to common they should be rare REALLY rare

[Sutinen 635]

One tsunami per hour and small earthquakes every 30 seconds. Also, make small meteorites rain all around the map all the time. It's the apocalypse, you know?

[CreepySalad 108]

It's not about just the zombies. It's about survival.

I agree with this idea, but there shouldn't be set numbers, like "one tornado a week" or anything like that. They should be random. As they are in real life.

[THEKIDINABOX 1]

i think this is good but it needs to change the game... this is a zombie apocalypse not a natural disaster survival game sorry. But tides and floods would be cool like low ground would be flooded some times and rain and snow in different areas and places.