Primitive weapons

[Whyherro123 2283]

Which "primitive weapons would you like to see? By Primitive, I mean "not chemically powered", ie gunpowder

I basically would like to see:

-Spear: one of the oldest weapons made by humankind, and for good reason. Effective, multipurpose (equally good for hunting and self-defense), and easy/cheap to make, use, and train with. Gives you about 10 feet of reach (assuming a 7 foot infantry spear), and can penetrate many forms of armor (Saxon spears could punch through mail armor relatively easily)

 

-Hammer: again, one of the oldest purpose-made weapons, in the form of the mace. Easy to use, cheap, effective. Can't break, nor ever needs to be resharpened. A claw hammer is multipurpose, capable of prying open doors, then bashing heads, then hammering closed doors in short order.

 

-Sling: again, one of the oldest weapons. Surprisingly effective, capable of concussing (is that the word?) through armor/helmets, breaking bones even without penetrating. Ammunition is free, and with lead shot, capable of reaching out to 300-400m. Only drawback is ease of use; slings are ridiculously hard to master. Easy to pick up, hard to get proficient with. However, once you get good, you can take down (apparently) both game and people with ease.

 

-Self-bow: I am rather leery, concerning the amount of work one must put into a bow in order to make it effective (accurate and powerful enough to be worthwhile). A stick and a string would work, but not be very effective, nor last that long. A purpose-built selfbow would be much more effective, but take some time and effort to make.

 

Any more suggestions?

I just really want spears and slings....

[DropBearChick 1216]

Id like to see:

1. Plank (plain, nailed, barbed wire)

2. Bitsof furniture such as chair, leg, table legs as well as fence pieces and poles

3. Bone weapons E.g, bone knife, spear, arrow head, club

4. Nailed and barb wire baseball bat

5. Scissors

6. Needles with deadly chemicals in them

7. Craftable arrows with differnet tips such as bone and flint or knife's tide to the stick

8. Club

9. Glass shard

10. Feet

I lersonally beleive meele including improvised weapons should be a big part in dayz, with pistols being rare as well as hunting rifles and anything anove that being found once in a blue moon.

[ZombieHeadHunterALPHA 7]

Mace would be fun. Traps would also be great too if you could dig a hole or make some stuff fall on unsuspecting survivors when they open a door, etc. many creative ways to kill if they get the physics right in this game. And maybe ninja stars, nunchucks, or swords.

[gibonez 3633]

Adopting primitive weapons will be useless in dayz.

 

Just like the bow and the crossbow the primitive weapons will be a week long distraction then nobody will use them.

 

Primitive booby traps would get used.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Why? Make ammunition scarce (and tie players to one server, to prevent hopping for more ammo) and I believe players will jump to primitive weapons pretty quickly.

 

Got to defend yourself somehow

[gibonez 3633]

Why? Make ammunition scarce (and tie players to one server, to prevent hopping for more ammo) and I believe players will jump to primitive weapons pretty quickly.

 

Got to defend yourself somehow

 

You know that wont happen though.

 

All the PVPers will be pissed.

 

They will be angry cause there are no SCar hs because the dev team is too busy making spears.

[Brim1944 9]

Great idea, you have to start somewhere with your weapons. Imo firearms should be harder to find, because nobody wants a spear when they can get an M4 after 10 mins of playing. In a real situation you would have to grab whatever you could find and stick it together some way, better that than your fists.

[gibonez 3633]

I am not against this route by the way.

 

The thing is if they do go this route there is no going back. They have to start from scratch and emphasize the primitive weapons and make the m4 the rarest gun out .

[Whyherro123 2283]

You know that wont happen though.

 

All the PVPers will be pissed.

 

They will be angry cause there are no SCar hs because the dev team is too busy making spears.

Too bad, so sad, IMHO. There should be other avenues of gameplay, other than "ALL PVP, ALL THE TIME". Limiting ammunition is but one way to open that way up, without unduly limiting PvP. Note, you can still kill a person dead with a spear, it just takes a little more effort and patience than "POINT AND CLICK HEADSHOT"

[Whyherro123 2283]

I am not against this route by the way.

 

The thing is if they do go this route there is no going back. They have to start from scratch and emphasize the primitive weapons and make the m4 the rarest gun out .

Yeah, pretty much. A firearm, especially an assault rifle, should be a rare, awesome find. New firearms and ammunition aren't being produced, why would they be lying about everywhere?

Of course, this ties into my hopes for the game. Let the players reindustrialize, building factories to produce that ammo and those weapons again, rather than finding them lying about in a random building.

[Brim1944 9]

Yeah, pretty much. A firearm, especially an assault rifle, should be a rare, awesome find. New firearms and ammunition aren't being produced, why would they be lying about everywhere?

Of course, this ties into my hopes for the game. Let the players reindustrialize, building factories to produce that ammo and those weapons again, rather than finding them lying about in a random building.

 

Producing ammo and weapons is a cool idea, maybe using old shell casings to make new ammunition or using scrap metal to make an improvised firearm like one of those $10 .22's, with the right equipment of course.

[Etherious 907]

Isn't there already a Ashwood String Bow? and I think they would be cool but only when they nerf the weapon spawns like crazy.

[liquidsnake 275]

Survivors aren't properly trained to use spears and other primitive weapons proficiently. Punching through armour with a spear requires more finesse than simply stabbing as hard as you can. I'd prefer to just see bats with menacing spikes and other weapons like that. Using spears and swords properly requires some sort of training in ancient weapons. See it as getting the black belt for martial arts.

[AshleyP 121]

It would be an interesting novelty if you could use string or rope as a garrotte. Against ambulatory players it would be almost useless - unless they were logging out, or away from the keyboard - but if you've put someone in handcuffs it would be a great way of offing them silently. Perhaps you could have a mechanism where the other player has to mash the movement keys in order to break free, but if he reacts too slowly it's over for him.

 

Alternatively, get this, a functioning bayonet. Not sure how it could be made to work in the game from a programming point of view. The obvious answer would be to code it as a kind of short-range projectile weapon that fires invisible bullets to a range of six inches, accompanied with the appropriate animation.

[Whyherro123 2283]

-snip-

Not really. Using a spear or sword in a martial art is very different from using it in actual combat. Martial arts tend to be much more flashy.

With a spear, you literally just stab as hard as you can, and it will go through almost everything, plate armor excluded. It isn't so much a "finesse" thing, as it is a "physics and shape of the spearhead" thing.

And, note that swords were never on my list.

 

Case in point: I can take an old knife-blade, lash it to the end of a sturdy broomstick, and, using two hands, put that sucker through a road-sign.  A purpose-made spearhead would be more effective than that.

Edited May 4, 2014 by Whyherro123

[liquidsnake 275]

Not really. Using a spear or sword in a martial art is very different from using it in actual combat. Martial arts tend to be much more flashy.

With a spear, you literally just stab as hard as you can, and it will go through almost everything, plate armor excluded. It isn't so much a "finesse" thing, as it is a "physics and shape of the spearhead" thing.

And, note that swords were never on my list.

 

Case in point: I can take an old knife-blade, lash it to the end of a sturdy broomstick, and, using two hands, put that sucker through a road-sign.  A purpose-made spearhead would be more effective than that.

I actually think you can't without knowing exactly where to hit the sign.

And I must've taken that sword thing from someone else then.

[Brim1944 9]

I think your chances of using a spear or sword effectively without any real experience with them would be pretty bad, but im sure people would have the general idea of how to use it, even if its only basic knowledge. And if others weren't proficient either, then your opponents would be the same.

 

And like Ashley said, a functioning bayonet would be very useful especially in close quarters. 

[falcon1439 20]

If primitive weapons become commonplace, the normal player will be preyed upon by bandits armed with the best using a combination of server hopping and sheer dedication. For people who play the game casually, the game will be descend into a genocide of not so dedicated players. Maybe top military stuff needs to be toned down. But I really think the loot spawn isn't too badly balanced. Fresh spawns can find weapons to defend themselves, and whilst bandits can find perhaps better weapons more easily, at least other players can be a challenge. If primitive weapons are more common, hardcore bandits will ruin the game, simply by killing everyone.

Edited May 4, 2014 by falcon1439

[Katana67 2907]

They need to make the melee system better before I'd like to see any more "primitive" weapons. I haven't tried the bow out yet, so I don't know how it feels.

 

That and I like firearms, I like that DayZ embraces them readily (as opposed to a lot of zombie games, which treat them as an afterthought).

[Chaingunfighter 917]

They need to make the melee system better before I'd like to see any more "primitive" weapons. I haven't tried the bow out yet, so I don't know how it feels.

 

That and I like firearms, I like that DayZ embraces them readily (as opposed to a lot of zombie games, which treat them as an afterthought).

Yeah, it's just that crafting spears and bows seems relatively pointless considering the availability of firearms and conventional melee weapons. Obviously we'll have reduced weapon spawns in the future, but I don't think we should have to play for 6 months at a time to find an IZH-43 just because some people want primitive, craftable weapons.

I'm not sure what the point of having them would be without super rare pre-existing weaponry (including even basic melee weapons like knives), but that's something for the devs to figure out.

 

Knife-Spears would be cool, and obviously molotov cocktails and IEDs are a must. Bows, at the very least, seem necessary simply for variety's sake if anything.

Edited May 5, 2014 by Chaingunfighter

[Katana67 2907]

Yeah, it's just that crafting spears and bows seems relatively pointless considering the availability of firearms and conventional melee weapons. Obviously we'll have reduced weapon spawns in the future, but I don't think we should have to play for 6 months at a time to find an IZH-43 just because some people want primitive, craftable weapons.

I'm not sure what the point of having them would be without super rare pre-existing weaponry (including even basic melee weapons like knives), but that's something for the devs to figure out.

 

Knife-Spears would be cool, and obviously molotov cocktails and IEDs are a must. Bows, at the very least, seem necessary simply for variety's sake if anything.

 

I think the main point of "primitive" (and when I say that, I mainly mean melee weapons) is the fact that they're relatively silent. In the absence of a suppressor (and even if they beef up the stealth mechanics), these types of weapons are the only way to dispatch zombies without making a fuss.

 

You're right, firearms will be rarer in the future. But I don't want the gap of that rarity to be filled by sticks and stones. I want the firearms themselves to be the hierarchy in which the player proceeds.

 

Pistol to shotgun, shotgun to hunting rifle, hunting rifle to assault rifle, assault rifle to battle rifle, battle rifle to sniper rifle (this is just a random hierarchy, I'd want the final one to be much more nuanced than this, as it's just an example).

 

I don't really want melee or primitive weapons being primaries, ever. They're useful tools, sure. But I don't think they should represent the bulk of weaponry in a "rare firearm" world.

Edited May 5, 2014 by Katana67

[Chaingunfighter 917]

I think the main point of "primitive" (and when I say that, I mainly mean melee weapons) is the fact that they're relatively silent. In the absence of a suppressor (and even if they beef up the stealth mechanics), these types of weapons are the only way to dispatch zombies without making a fuss.

 

You're right, firearms will be rarer in the future. But I don't want the gap of that rarity to be filled by sticks and stones. I want the firearms themselves to be the hierarchy in which the player proceeds.

 

Pistol to shotgun, shotgun to hunting rifle, hunting rifle to assault rifle, assault rifle to battle rifle, battle rifle to sniper rifle (this is just a random hierarchy, I'd want the final one to be much more nuanced than this, as it's just an example).

 

I don't really want melee or primitive weapons being primaries, ever. They're useful tools, sure. But I don't think they should represent the bulk of weaponry in a "rare firearm" world.

I can see having some decently powerful, albeit rare melee weapons like authentic officer's swords or stun-guns be available, but I guess in the end you'd probably just take an Amphibia or suppressed gun when available.

I would, however, prefer the majority of weapons that spawn to be melee items (since most of them are improvised/tools/more common in general), simply for authenticity (Not to the extent of having more katanas/halberds/gladius' than Mosins but definitely more knives/hammers/axes/shovels/wrenches/etc than FNX-45s)

[captainvette2112 84]

None... its a total waste of dev resources.

 

The bow and crossbow were a big enough waste of time that dosent need to be repeated. 

 

I would rater see them implement ammo reloading benches/tools or any thing else useful rather than waste time creating content for the 35 or so "hardcore" survivalist wannabes that will end up using a fucking sling shot.

[nexdemise 16]

Why? Make ammunition scarce (and tie players to one server, to prevent hopping for more ammo) and I believe players will jump to primitive weapons pretty quickly.

 

Got to defend yourself somehow

If you want that then let me point you in this direction.

 

Still, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing random things become weapons, like a rock, or a plank, or a broken leg of a chair, or even the entire chair (you can only keep it in hands and you move slow with it), or a frying pan. Pretty much after running through a town you should be able to find at least one sharp or heavy blunt thing to use as a weapon.

Edited May 5, 2014 by NexDemise

[Chaingunfighter 917]

None... its a total waste of dev resources.

 

The bow and crossbow were a big enough waste of time that dosent need to be repeated. 

 

I would rater see them implement ammo reloading benches/tools or any thing else useful rather than waste time creating content for the 35 or so "hardcore" survivalist wannabes that will end up using a fucking sling shot.

Ammo reloading is a complex process, it requires tons of machines and tons of necessary components. Besides, if you were required to reload for most of your ammo, primitive weapons would end up being the majority of weapons regardless, so your argument is null.