Vehicle Customisation

[AJK (DayZ) 3]

Hi guys,

Just had a thought about something that could come into DayZ. As the standalone will soon be bringing some new features to vehicles such as replacing parts from different cars, etc. I thought that it might be a cool idea to have other customisations. Now, by this I don't mean a bus with a spoiler, I mean useful mods that could have some impact on how successful players are.

Here are my ideas:

- First off, it would be good to be able to add metal "shields" to the car. For example, chunks of scrap metal could be combined to create a "bulletproof vest" for sections of a vehicle, such as side panels, rear bumper, front bumper and even for the windows. This would make it much harder for players with guns to shoot down a moving car, or to shoot players in the vehicle while they are travelling. This doesn't have to be made easy, for example it could take 5 or 6 pieces of scrap to make 1 panel, that would cover say one window - therefore taking maybe 20-30 metal plates to protect a car to the maximum level.

- Another idea of mine is bulldozers. Currently when a vehicle runs into a player/zombie it causes damage to the car. A bulldozer would make it easier to move through a town without having to dodge zombies, and would make it a more viable option to run over other players. Bulldozers could be very hard to find, and may also fit only certain types of car, for example a quadbike is unlikely to be able to support the weight, whereas a bus would have no trouble.

- Trailers. Ever had a full vehicle when playing on your own? Many players don't like to set up bases as they often get destroyed by other players with frag granades, tents get run over, etc. Having a trailer (again, very few in each server) would make it a much more viable option to have a "mobile base". In order to even things out, having a trailer could mean that you burn more fuel, therefore making it more of a player preferance than need.

- Engine swaps. Why can't you take the engine out of a quad bike and replace it with maybe a 1.3L from a sedan? Sure, this wouldn't work for a lorry to moped conversion, but in some instances this could be a make or break factor when trying to escape from a squad with guns when your car has the horsepower of a food blender.

Thanks for reading guys, love to hear some feedback on my thoughts. :)

AJK

[-Gews- 7443]

The scrap metal armor is apparently planned for the standalone. It makes sense to me, but it shouldn't be able to stop any reasonably powerful round fired from anywhere close to 90 degrees - 7.62 would go through light galvanized sheets without blinking. At lower angles of incidence, I imagine they could certainly deflect or lower the damage of certain rounds. Heavier steel plates would provide much more protection but would also slow down a vehicle's performance and increase gas guzzling. Bush bars and other mods would be cool, too. I watched "Chinatown" recently and was reminded of the usefulness of running boards in a quick getaway, perhaps some vehicle mods could help with that, too. Take off the doors and gain the ability to hop in and out faster, etc.

Bulldozers would be an interesting addition. There are small quarries on the map and they could be found there, although I don't want to see one of those monstrous armoured bulldozers capable of shrugging off small arms fire.

Trailers make sense and they are found on the map already, but are unusable objects. Should be added.

Not sure about the engine swaps, I don't think a car engine would work in a quad, and in a zombie apocalypse I wouldn't spend time and effort on something that could potentially turn a perfectly good car into a pile of nuts and bolts merely to gain a few more MPH. :lol:

[thegalakrondian 17]

If you were to add more armor plating to an existing vehicle, it should affect speed, mobility, control, balance, sudden acceleration, armor health, how easily/hard it can fall. etc. Say if you were to have one side of a bus full of metal plates, the other side no plates. A player rams a car into the side of the bus that does not have the plating... 1. It causes heavy damage to the side of the bus that does not have plating. 2. It should cause the bus to go into an unbalanced state. 3. Increased chance of tipping over. Also, not everyone is a car mechanic that know how to manufacture equipment pieces on spot, so I suppose there should be a system worked out for a skill set/tree/talents/etc. Lots of variables.

Trailers sound interesting, because of it's low spawn rate, it shouldn't affect a player's gaming experience. Engine swaps, then again, not everyone in real life know how to do that, so I guess they can work out a skill set/tree/talents/etc.

[Azziax 81]

no skillset/tree/talents please.... Just keep all on same level! just make people able to do it.

Trailers are a nice idea, but in ArmA you can tow vehicles. This is also possible on some well scripted DayZ servers.

They could implement this way easier

[Glebov 36]

I wold like to see a simpel Key, like once you found a car you can craft maybe a key so not like everybody can just take it with out tools. :)

[AJK (DayZ) 3]

Thanks for the feedback.

Having read your comments I completely agree that engine swaps would be a little unrealistic :)

I understand that armour plating cars would be a tricky addition to the game as there are many things to think about, but its just a suggestion for something that would be good to implement... I also agree that it shouldn't block all bullets ^^

The key thing is an interesting idea, however I think it goes along with the engines point.. How many people are trained as a blacksmith? Keys these days are lazar cut, which would make them VERY difficult to craft by hand. The other side to this though is how many poeple can shoot a sniper rifle 1000m (accurately) in real life? I guess there would need to be some player interface that would make the process somewhat about the players skill. This would also ruin the point in having to hide your cars, and would leave new players to a server NO chance of ever having a vehicle.

I think that the talent tree's/leveing idea would ruin the game for me, however its an interesting idea for things like mechanics.

As far as trailers go, yes, you can tow cars, however this means that cars have multiple purposes. Having trailers would give them a single funtion, making it much harder to have a mobile base. Transport is becoming too easy in this game, there are many servers with 100+ cars, when the origional version had about 20. You couldn't use a pistol as a sniper, so why can you use a car as a trailer? I know this example doesn't exactly reflect real life circumstances, but then again, why can't we punch zombies, collect water from tree's when its raining, dig out a bunker or drive a car that has 3 wheels? There has to be a balence between realism and game content, not eveything can be accurately reproduced ^^ There needs to be some new items in the game that gives you an advantage without destroying game play. This used to be cars, but then servers started spawning thousands of them.

[Glebov 36]

haha man i just found this video

and i think a screwdriver make a good key ^^

[LancerG2 369]

An armored back truck would be awesome to drive around. Something like the one from crash course from L4D or the One from dead island.

http://images.wikia.com/left4dead/images/4/4b/Armoredcar_1.png

http://deadislandwiki.com/w/images/thumb/a/a4/Dead_island_Armored_Truck.png/250px-Dead_island_Armored_Truck.png

[-Gews- 7443]

An armored back truck would be awesome to drive around. Something like the one from crash course from L4D or the One from dead island.

http://images.wikia....rmoredcar_1.png

http://deadislandwik...mored_Truck.png

I like the first one, we're already seeing stuff like that in certain places, like this one pictured in Syria.

Here's one from Libya:

Here are a couple belonging to Mexican cartels:

[Blondedash 403]

or the zombie bus from black ops II cant supply picture yet.

[LancerG2 369]

or the zombie bus from black ops II cant supply picture yet.

nononononono... No. No call of duty. Please.

[Blondedash 403]

I was using it as an example an kidding at the same time. :o

[Djmack2011 0]

I would say the ability to customize your vehicle with parts you find laying around would definitely add immersion and an increased desire to protect the vehicle, within reason. You can't mount a bulldozer to a hatchback and still get it to hit 50+ KPH (though that would be hilarious).