Liberation! (Mechanic of reclaiming towns for Survivors)

[rolfwar 5]

This idea is da bomb! It's really awesome!

I nevertheless think that implementing this mechanic should come along with other changes.

First of all, a clan/guild/faction system should be created,otherwise this would just be an excuse for bandits to get near other players with an apparently friendly behaviour and then shooting them in the back just to loot and leave,while the honest people/survivors are sinking in the shit.

If the clan/guild/faction system were created,we could also make a spy-mechanic,that could allow clans to send spies in enemy clans,just to find out when they will try to liberate which city and attack them from behind.Ambushes of this kind may turn a simple horde-mode into a huge meat-grinder between clans and zombies.Simply epic!

Then,the conquered city could go back to its nrmal daily-routine,although everything would exist just to serve the victorious clan.

More skilled players could bring back to the stores equip that they don't need,allowing less geared players of the clan or neutral players to purchase items and so on.

Creating a clan system would really make this game the most awesome shit in the universe,allowing people not only to choose which faction to join,but also making possible for a player to lead from the smallest group of bandits to a army of 70-80 people!!!

Uh,the idea has gone a bit far,maybe i should create another topic for this?

Oh god,i want to cry for how cool this would be.

[Dreganius (DayZ) 55]

Most of what you've just described, rolfwar, would be able to be done in DayZ at the moment, if Zombies stopped spawning in towns for some kind of reason, such as eliminating them or having a power source or somesuch.

Actually implementing a faction system wouldn't be necessary. You can organise with friends outside of the game, and be infiltrated outside of the game, too. Trading would be possible as it is right now, just look at the Freeside Trading Company :P

[b.heijltjes@gmail.com 0]

I agree, creating a 'faction' system and always being able to 'officially' recognize what 'faction' players belong to would be terrible; the only way I can see that becoming interesting if there was enough distinctive-looking clothing available. Them groups could identify their members by having them wear a certain scarf or something (aka skin). Don't see anything like that happening for some time though.

What I think is most important for all these ideas is that they should be made available through emergent gameplay, not scripted. There's a system and people play with it and eachother and through that interaction something interesting happens. I feel that that is very much the core of DayZ. (in that way it is similar to Eve)

It would be madness to first create a system for recognizing player factions only then to create a system to subvert the first system and stay unrecognizable.

[rolfwar 5]

.

Actually implementing a faction system wouldn't be necessary. You can organise with friends outside of the game

thing is,not everybody has friends to play this with,such as me...

[thorlax 32]

i only read the first few pages but didn't read 4 - 11, but while i like the idea, I think there would be a problem. now, there's only 50 ppl on a server right? 15 - 20 of them have to liberate a town... and hold it. there's the potential problem, a town would need guards, people paroling to keep the peace, and 15 - 20 people would have to stay in the town at all times to keep the town liberated right? while i think its cool to role play as a guard and such, I think it would get very boring. If someone walk into the town with 15-20 ppl there and shoots someone yea hes gonna die, but what if hes doing it to just be a dick and doesn't care because he re spawns anyways? I do like the idea dont get me wrong, I just dont see it working, maybe if once a town is liberated 3 - 5 NPC guards could appear that you have to arm yourself? I dunno.

[b.heijltjes@gmail.com 0]

i only read the first few pages but didn't read 4 - 11' date=' but while i like the idea, I think there would be a problem. now, there's only 50 ppl on a server right? 15 - 20 of them have to liberate a town... and hold it. there's the potential problem, a town would need guards, people paroling to keep the peace, and 15 - 20 people would have to stay in the town at all times to keep the town liberated right? while i think its cool to role play as a guard and such, I think it would get very boring. If someone walk into the town with 15-20 ppl there and shoots someone yea hes gonna die, but what if hes doing it to just be a dick and doesn't care because he re spawns anyways? I do like the idea dont get me wrong, I just dont see it working, maybe if once a town is liberated 3 - 5 NPC guards could appear that you have to arm yourself? I dunno.

[/quote']

What? Arm some guards and no more zombie problem?

We don't know if it won't work without NPCs. Heck, we haven't even established what would make capturing towns interesting. Having a place where the game's main emotion (suspenseful anxiety) ceases to exist sure as hell wouldn't be my design objective.

I'm against towns that will be held for very long times. I think holing up and trying to weather the zombies should be an interesting and viable strategy though.. For a short while...

You say that you don't think it will work; that players won't 'play that way'.

Fair enough, that's possible; but if there's one thing I've learned about players it's that you can never really predict what they will and will not do until you've prototyped and tested on real players.

[thorlax 32]

tell me, would you walk in a circle for a few hours around a town patrolling it? in real life? probably because its necessary, but in a game I doubt it would be much fun.

[b.heijltjes@gmail.com 0]

tell me' date=' would you walk in a circle for a few hours around a town patrolling it? in real life? probably because its necessary, but in a game I doubt it would be much fun.

[/quote']

So don't take a town; take a single building. And you'd be busy fighting zombies while you're at it.

If you read my suggestion I never meant for it to sound like towns, or other areas, should be complete safe havens for many hours at a time (unless you manage to defend them for that long, but you'll be busy defending them).

[keep_pabst_blue 0]

I was actually discussing what could make DayZ more fun with a coworker today and I started thinking up a scenario very much like yours.

However, I would suggest this. There is no "minimum" player number to take over turf. Like in gangwars in GTA San Andreas (sorry for the unfortunate example haha) the zombies are a "gang". A single player can enter a small town (cities would have many sectors - for example the "factory could be one sector, or maybe a small block area) and kill off the zombies. That area is neutralized but zombies keep coming from surround block areas.

Of course, small villages or single farmhouses would be easier to take over because there is less spawnable area surrounding them (forest, plains, etc.) This would require a large team to take over large villages/cities, while a single guy or a friend could take over a small farm in the middle of nowhere, or maybe a deer blind.

This accomplishes two things.

One, you don't NEED 15 people to stall zombie spawning. You could take over a farmhouse momentarily, kill the zombies, raid supplies, and GTFO (then zombies resume spawning of course). Or you could wait there for your newb buddy with no supplies to come get some stuff.

Two, you don't need to write a crazy "horde" script or "town" script. Just pause spawning while people have cleared it.

I think "held" areas SHOULD spawn new items. This will not only give you a reason to hold areas, but also give bandits a reason to try to raid.

While bandits earn "negative humanity", survivors that hold secure areas could gain "positive humanity". I think there needs to be a REASON to kill zombies and help people.

Very well fleshed out original post/idea, compared to my rather rushes suggestions, but I think this kinda of "territory" gameplay HAS to emerge to keep players interested.

[b.heijltjes@gmail.com 0]

Very good idea, keep_pabst_blue.

I'd only add that zombies should start getting attracted from the surrounding areas to places that haven't been able to spawn for a while.

[scoffield77@gmail.com 192]

as I said about all the post that came before you on this subject:

+1 ;)

[alkaline (DayZ) 1]

i havent read all the pages, but has anyone mentioned liberating an island instead of a city, they would have very low if any zombie spawns depending on the island and if the entire coast was covered in barbed wire except one "entrance" it would make it harder for bandits to sneek in and try to kill people, also they would be forced to try and snipe from the mainland coast which would be much harder than doing it from the tree line right outside a city.

[Carlc4 0]

+1 I was skeptical of this idea at first but after reading I really like this idea. This would make a real end game goal and a reason to gather supplies and stay in an area. But I think it should only be on certain servers that are RP servers.

[keep_pabst_blue 0]

If we are going to implement this sort of late game gameplay' date=' it should be TOTALLY up to the player and encourage it, not limit it but release complete freedom and control to everyone involved. Cities can be razed, built, and destroyed. Stories will be told and empires will be remembered!

[/quote']

While I think the ideas in your post are cool, building a government, building cities, and all that, is just an entirely different game. It would not even work in this engine. There is no destruction in the game or building, and no policies, etc. That is an insanely deep mod of a mod you are describing.

I think these ideas need to be fleshed out given the limitations of what we have here - an already elaborate mod of a not-exactly-simple-to-mod base game.

I like the original ideas, but as stated previously, I think that you should be able to take small turf with a small crew. Zombies already spawn in "boxes" once players approach them. It should be simple enough, I'd imagine, to turn these boxes off given a set of preconditions.

Also, zombies should never STOP spawning entirely. That would be incredibly boring. You need to defend your turf from Z's and B's, and your reward should be Z's not spawning ON you, added loot, and "positive humanity" (as opposed to Bandits' "negative humanity" when they kill players)

This is just my opinion, of course, but I just think if there's any hope of implementing a new mechanic, we have to stay rooted in reality with such expectations.

Great discussions here.

---

Oh I also wanted to add that it may be cool to somehow spawn new characters with no gear in these zones. PKing is ALWAYS going to be an issue in this game, but it will be less so if there are mechanics that foster cooperation rather than simply wandering in the woods by yourself (if you, like me, have no DayZ friends haha)

[devilswings5 6]

this is a great idea and i would love for it to happen but theirs 2 problems

#1 its not realistic like rocket wants it to be in a real world apocalypse safe havens would not exist and even if they did disagreements would tear them apart

#2 IM JUST GOING TO CAMP OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR U TO COME OUT SO I CAN SHOOT YOU

[alcatraz968 100]

Your idea is a great End Game idea. Hope the Devs listen to the idea.

As the game is, there is no point of playing in the long run. Your idea turns it in to a tower defenses, for both Zeds and Players.

[Dreganius (DayZ) 55]

this is a great idea and i would love for it to happen but theirs 2 problems

#1 its not realistic like rocket wants it to be in a real world apocalypse safe havens would not exist and even if they did disagreements would tear them apart

#2 IM JUST GOING TO CAMP OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR U TO COME OUT SO I CAN SHOOT YOU

1: Rocket wants authenticity, not realism. Also, havens already do exist. They're called campsites, and players make them in the middle of nowhere. And YES, the liberated towns would be destroyed/raided/torn apart eventually, but that's the whole point! Nothing should be permanent in DayZ, but at least liberation gives people an end-game objective and such.

2: If you start shooting on people who have spent all this time in the end-game with heavy kit, you're going to have a bad time.

[omnipotent 0]

I think it's idealistic at best... Like how are we going to keep the city? 24 hour watch? And if we need many people to hold such towns, how do we ensure that enough people stay online to keep it? I think it would be fun but realistically any player that attempts this would be risking a lot to gain very little....

[NobodieCro 11]

I like it alot ! Maybe give some AI soldiers to cover the Area from Zombies , bandits ...Because not everyone can stay all night covering the camp :D

[darkliberator 2]

Sounds fascinating, though there'll need to be tweaks on the server side to let the horde be less laggy looking.