Situational Awareness - Have some

[Brew78 27]

I don't care if you like music, keep it low.

I don't care if the gunshots and zombie growls are too loud for your situation, wear headphones.

You need to PAY ATTENTION to the environment and listen for what sounds like footsteps that aren't your own.

On top of that, turning around to check your 6 every now and then wouldn't hurt either.

Quick CSB:

I've been murdered 100% of the time I've ever gone to the Factory, so I tend to stay away. I spawned there last night so said what the hell, gonna be careful, gonna KOS anyone I see.

There is no loot of any kind other than car parts and ammo. And a toolbox. Which I took. I'd found a hatchet in a house just outside town, so at least I wasn't completely defenseless.

Taking it as a loss, I started inland toward the long barn. There's a dead survivor. Not a whole lot on him, but I got a bandage and painkillers so RIP "name unknown who died of unknown causes".

Getting closer to the barn, I start seeing dead zombies. I get stealthier.

I enter the rightmost door facing the barn, and there's no loot here either. I look to the left and there's a guy in a gillie suit with a hatchet looking at something, maybe a loot pile.

I crouch-run towards him. The FULL LENGTH of the barn. He never once looked back. He turned around to look at what was on the other side of the barn door, then crouch walked outside. I'm still crouch-running toward him.

As soon as he was out of sight, I Gump'ed it the remaining few meters to the door and switched back to crouch run. He was still slowly crouch walking back towards town and still never looked back.

I got close enough that he saw my shadow and turned around just in time to take an axe to the face. He swung back and we had a hatchet battle. He took out a pistol and started firing, but it was too late, he went down for the count.

I got a Czech backpack, lots of raw meat, a Makarov (with <1 mag), compass, hunting knife, food and soda. He had a toolbox too, but I already had one. Couldn't get the suit but.. *shrug*

The moral of the story is, if he'd turned around ONCE in the ample amount of time he had available to do so, he could have said over VOIP "Oh, hai, let's team up" to which I probably would have agreed (even not knowing if he'd murdered the survivor I came across), or he could have drawn and fired and there would have been nowhere for me to run except back down the long narrow barn.

Situational Awareness. Keep an ear out and turn around once in awhile!

[gizm0 96]

you didn't even say "Oh, hai, let's team up", so why complain he didn't?

[Shomet 0]

I keep my music high, but my sounds higher.

[Reth (DayZ) 2]

you didn't even say "Oh' date=' hai, let's team up", so why complain he didn't?

[/quote']

I don't think hes complaining he didn't say the phrase. I believe hes just stating that if this guy had more situational awareness, said those words, then he wouldn't have died.

[guidez 180]

The audio queues still need to be fixed up though. I hate the branch breaking noise in the forest.

[unknown..2..u 0]

Ok, so how does your advice stop you from being killed while in the inventory system?

I've been done that way most of the time i've been killed by bandits, there is situational awareness but to suggest that you can scout and make sure 100% that no-one else is there is frankly insulting.

I played Arma before DayZ and know how to play and scout, but in a one man team you're near blind if the person is waiting in a good spot and not moving and at range. This forces you to make the first move, you get spotted and then he can track your movement.

For example, i scouted out a town and with no sign of anyone there i move in across a little open ground (no other choice). I go to hit the church first, i keep looking behind now and again but keep pushing forward, i get into the church and go to a loot pile. I enter the inventory then BAM...i'm dead.

NOTHING can stop that apart from someone watching your back.

[Brew78 27]

I'm not talking about being able to cover yourself solo 100% of the time.

Of course you're going to be killed while in inventory from time to time.

My first murder was when I was in inventory.

What I *AM* saying is that while you're out and about, ESPECIALLY in a city where there's a higher likelihood of running into other players, you should turn around from time to time to look behind you.

This guy completely failed to be aware of his environment and forfeited multiple opportunities to know I was crouch-running straight towards him for dozens of meters, so I'm using his story to perhaps enlighten some newbs as to a survival tactic that may keep them alive a bit longer.

Speaking of which, another tip is that the Alt key is your friend. Whenever you're moving from point A to point B, hold this key down and sweep from side to side to look over your shoulder while still moving forward.

[LackofCertainty 2]

Ok' date=' so how does your advice stop you from being killed while in the inventory system?

I've been done that way most of the time i've been killed by bandits, there is situational awareness but to suggest that you can scout and make sure 100% that no-one else is there is frankly insulting.

I played Arma before DayZ and know how to play and scout, but in a one man team you're near blind if the person is waiting in a good spot and not moving and at range. This forces you to make the first move, you get spotted and then he can track your movement.

For example, i scouted out a town and with no sign of anyone there i move in across a little open ground (no other choice). I go to hit the church first, i keep looking behind now and again but keep pushing forward, i get into the church and go to a loot pile. I enter the inventory then BAM...i'm dead.

NOTHING can stop that apart from someone watching your back.

[/quote']

Actually, there's a simple way to watch out for yourself while doing inventory.

Step1: back yourself up against the wall with the loot at your feet.

Step2: Look down at look and select gear.

Step3: There is a brief animation of your character hunching down before the inventory opens. During that time, quickly move your mouse up, so you're looking straight ahead instead of at the ground.

Doing so doesn't give you perfect vision, but the gear menu is slightly see through so it does a good job of simulating peripheral vision, and it lets you watch at least one of the entry points for the building while you're looting.

Looting a pile while facing a corner is about the same as taping a "please shoot me" sign to your back, so try not to do it. :P

P.S.

If the loot is too close to the wall for you to back into the corner and do this, you can swing your view from side to side if you're fast enough. (although it is more difficult)

[Lukio (DayZ) 24]

Sounds like the guy was playing first person - tunnel vision.

[Brew78 27]

I actually found myself with some tunnel vision myself last night. Going through barns I kept reminding myself to look around and not take my solitude for granted.

[UbiquitousBadGuy 846]

The audio queues still need to be fixed up though. I hate the branch breaking noise in the forest.

A source of constant paranoia, no doubt.

[Xelacalle 0]

I just want to add to this thread, to keep it alive.

Situational awareness is important - just today, I died because of a lack of it, and my killer was swiftly dealt with due to a lack of it, too.

So here's what happened. This morning, me and some friends were playing for a few hours on a server we frequent, and we investigated one of the castles. We were very cautious, and picked up a few useful things from it. A pistol for me, (I was carrying a CZ at the time) and various types of common ammunition we were running low on.

After our visit to the castle, we decided to take a break, retreating to a safe distance and logging off for a couple of hours.

On our return, we decided to take a look at the castle again. This time, we were not so cautious. Having had no problems previously, we were too confident.

All was well to begin with, but as my friends moved into the main castle building, I hung back a little, checking some other stuff. I then proceeded to follow them. Halfway up the stairs, I hear four fast, close shots with a pistol and I am dead. I had not been watching my back, or my sides. It would not have happened on our first visit.

Unfortunately for my killer, it would seem that I was the only person he had seen and he was dispatched shortly after with a headshot from my friend's crossbow as he looted my corpse.

My friend lost my rifle to bugs as he dropped it in a panic, thinking the murderer may have had allies, but most of my stuff was saved, and we picked up blood bags, morphine and binoculars from his corpse so, all in all, it wasn't so bad... But had I turned around in time, seen him, and talked... Perhaps we would have had an ally, rather than another death and murder hanging over our heads.

Since, we have resolved to ALWAYS have a lookout and/or someone watching any entrances to a building we're in.

tl;dr - be aware of your surroundings, and maybe you'll survive a while.

[CommodoreFrank 13]

It's definitely funny how little people pay attention to their surroundings. I had a guy in a ghille suit run past me in an open field yesterday about 30 or so meters away. I was heading to kill a boar and wasn't even trying to stay hidden. He's lucky I'm a nice guy. I would have loved his DMR, but I can't bring myself to kill for my own gain.

I suppose I had a bit of tunnel vision there, too. I was with a friend, but he's a moron and couldn't find his way out of a plastic bag, so he didn't have my six like I thought. Things like this help me to remember to look over my shoulder, even if nothing bad happened.

[Siophis 0]

Friend of Xelacalle here, it also pays to be aware of where you actually are moving to. After hearing the shots, me and my friend upstairs waited for a while to see if they would come up to check for any other people. This may have helped us kill them as they were too busy looting Xelacalle's corpse when we went downstairs. I took aim with my enfield, not having a good enough line of sight as I was trying to be as unseen as possible, I moved a bit too far right, fell off the stairs, and broke all my limbs. This was the first time we've all encountered a bandit killing one of us, and so we were all panicking, which was a leading factor in my underestimating how much room I had left. The person who shot Xelacalle WAS a bandit as my friend confirmed on his debug monitor, they shot on sight, and it wasn't even warning shots, it was 4 quick shots to make sure death was guaranteed. There was no chance of us making a friend out of them.

[chaz gelf 15]

All excellent advice in this thread. If I'd exercised some more situational awareness while hunting down zeds, I wouldn't have been surprised by the one that jumped me from my blind-spot, so I might have still been alive :P

The beauty of Permadeath is that it's not about winning, it's about trying to get a little further before dying each time. Trial-and-error, it's why I love these kinds of games.

[djkling 5]

Use trackIR... I can just look around and see what's near me

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Try getting TrackIR. I can just look around and see my surroundings!