Too much ammo. Just 2 cents from a nobody.

[nerd3d 3]

I'm likely to get flamed for this, but who does that hurt anyway? So, flame away!

OKAY! Idea!

Short version: Ammo is TOO common.

Longer version: The setting is "Post-catastrophe". The vast majority of the population has fallen to the infection. Civilians were overrun defending their homes. Military presence couldn't hold against the uncountable numbers. Panic forced everyone out of populated areas where many starved or otherwise met their demise in the wilderness.

In this setting, you're not going to be finding an AK with 4 full magazines in a barn. Weapons/firearms would be pretty common to find. But guns would likely be found with their actions open and the magazine missing (maybe with an arm still hanging on.) Panicked people would have fired most of their rounds before dying. A magazine would be a lucky find with 2 or 3 rounds.

Extra Long version below (probably TL;DR. Feel free to skip this section and share your thoughts if you want.):

My rationale for the idea:

As I anticipate the SA release, ideas are coming to me about emersion. Comrade Clash has a great post about "localized" guns here. He definitely raises a valid point. However, I think having "out of place" guns is fine, but if the chance of finding one were much lower, it would help with the emersion he's talking about. And it would be THAT much cooler to find one!

Also, There are numerous posts about magazines being very important and valuable in a scavenge driven post-apocalyptic world. (I particularly like this topic from Trizz). I couldn't agree more with this. I think firefights could become WAY intense if you’ve got to find cover to fill your magazine. We probably won’t have a little gnome in our backpack topping off the magazines we aren’t using.

Now, I know there ARE common ammo types that exist, but there are SO many different types of ammo. Scavenging would most likely land you with ammo you can't use, or a magazine that doesn't fit your gun. (eg. you’ve got a Beretta M9 and you found an MP5 mag that has a few rounds left. Nice find! but the best you can do right now is strip those 9mm’s and top off your Beretta mag(s) and hope you find someone willing to trade for an MP5 mag, and not just kill you for it)

What else this may change:

-Less Shoot on Sight? I recognize that people are drawn to this game for different reasons. Some people want to role-play and immerse themselves into the world to experience what such an event would be like. Some people enjoy the challenge of hunting the "most dangerous game." Some like to snipe defenseless newly spawned bambi’s because they can.

While peoples reasons may be diverse, I think we can all agree that shooting people before they shoot you is a pretty regular occurrence. The increased rarity of ammo may make pulling that trigger a more meaningful choice. “Is this guy worth the bullet? Are the Beans worth it?” Running around with 100 round belts doesn’t seem like a realistic scenario for this lore.

-Alternatively, rare ammo may have no/little effect on ‘shoot on sight’ policy. Instead of murder for the beans, it may just turn into murder for the ammo.

Zombies become more dangerous? Currently it seems that players aren’t very concerned about the zeds. Run in a straight line, then turn around with full auto and I’m right as rain. However, if I’m lucky enough to have a machinegun, but only have 20 bullets total.. maybe this is a sign that I should learn to be a little more sneaky.

Well, if you made it through my rambling this far, Thank you for giving my idea a chance! Please toss a word in about what you think rare ammo would do to the game.

[scoffield77@gmail.com 192]

Ammo isn't common enough for the civi rifles, but is to common for the military rifles =\ Spec the 50 cal rifles

[Rage VG 4033]

The latest update lowered spawn rates of all forms of ammo.

[shadowleaper 22]

Some really great ideas here. I agree that ammo scarcity would make pvp more meaningful.

Like you said, there are different gameplay styles that players prefer. I think the SA team would be wise to recognise this.

I see points of interest as being a good enough reason to group up and take on difficult areas. Not entirely unlike MMO guilds raiding difficult dungeons. I would go one step further and make some areas almost impassible. This could create a lot of drama around sneaking.

Your idea gave me one idea that would be totally awesome. Hear me out.

Instead of just finding big points of ammo and health fueling like choppers and crashed ac130s, why not create smaller ones: randomised NPC corpses, people that lost to the zombies and dropped their stuff. Finding these in forests and against blood splattered walls would drive the story and like you said, have little ammo after defending themselves. Another idea would be that the zombies are actively feeding on this body until someone does something about it.

TLDR? Hehe, thanks if ya did! Good post man.

[CreepySalad 108]

I agree completely.

There should be a lack of ammo in a zombie apocalypse, and most of the guns should be used.

No one would kill unless they're positive that that person has what they need.

More civi weapons would be cool too.

[enforcer1975 1111]

I agree completely.

There should be a lack of ammo in a zombie apocalypse, and most of the guns should be used.

No one would kill unless they're positive that that person has what they need.

More civi weapons would be cool too.

It doesn't matter if you are low on ammo or not, there will still be enough people who would shoot their last round because they want to fight and even continue it with just an axe if not only by their teeth if it was possible. I had tons of ammo and still i conserved every round i had because i might need it later. And i even dumped it somewhere just to have some spares when i needed them...

In reality nobody would just shoot and kill for the fun of it ( some psychos still might do it ) or start a fight because the chance of beeing hurt has a psychological effect on a person, even when someone is threatened with a puny .17 handgun they would still think about attacking or not especially when living in an environment like DayZ where you have a low chance of survival when recieving a harmless scratch ( --> possible infection ) due to the lack of even the most basic medical treatment.

The bigger the caliber the less ammo should spawn...best thing if they wouldn't be spawned in the general pool but spawned seperately with the chance of it beeing there or not and then placing a certain amount on the map.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Enforcer

[OrLoK 16185]

Hello there

This is bought up fairly often

ie rarer ammo/loot and finding things in the appropriate place.

it is a good idea.

L

[landfish 62]

I agree completely and it just makes a lot of sense, isn't Chenarus overrun because the infected greatly outnumbers the living? If that's the case then I can see the civilian population and the military losing the battle only because there isn't much resources and weapons left. By the way, I think high caliber rifles don't and will never fit the DayZ theme, I just can't imagine a civilian running around with a 50. cal sniping people XD Common military/police rifles like the AK,MP5 and some sniper rifles like the SVD are fine but having high-tier military weapons which are rarely if not, never even found in countries like Chernarus is way too arcady for me.

[nerd3d 3]

The latest update lowered spawn rates of all forms of ammo.

I didn't know that! Thank you for the info. I have to admit that I haven't played the recent updates (last 4 months maybe?). I'm one who is waiting for SA, but is very excited to jump back in!

[nerd3d 3]

Hello there

This is bought up fairly often

ie rarer ammo/loot and finding things in the appropriate place.

it is a good idea.

L

Thanks Orlok. I tried searching for them but I only saw references to the rarity of weapons.. not the rarity of ammo itself. Glad I'm not alone in this idea though! :)

Also, I just saw a video referring to the stand alone blog which lead me to this little nugget of information in the "Customizing your Weapon" section!

Quote:

"You must load the magazine with ammunition and then it is considered an attachment to the weapon. The quantity and condition of your magazines will be particularly important in the standalone. Look after them!"

That is Awesome! I'm getting so ramped up for this game again!

[Sentinel Lyons 0]

I agree. On some servers I never have to visit Chernov (or whatever the town name is) or Elektro for supplies. I can loot farms and small towns and find ammo and weapons.

[disorder 344]

That's why I like the mp5, I can use 3 sets of ammo. MP5, SD and G17 pistol rounds. I've got craploads of ammo on me at all times.

Also nobody ever hears where I am either, so I don't get discovered.