Publik's handy list of tips

[Publik 404]

Had a nice conversation with someone asking for tips about DayZ. Since I went ant typed this all out, figured I'd drop it here :)

• Any suggestions for a fresh newb who's just crawled his ass around and only found one loot pile? :P
  Let's see... Don't get attached to anything
  You will die
  Once you've accepted that you're going to die, that backpack doesn't mean much when you lose it
  Instead of "how long can I live?", ask yourself "how long can I stave off death".
  
• Stay away from Cherno and Elektro
  
• Stay away from people you don't know
  
• If you want good military grade loot, look for the deer stands (look along tree lines), fire stations (two stories, has a tower in the middle), and military looking green tents
  Stary Sobor (another town) has great military loot, but it's a rough place
  Airfields are also dangerous but give good military gear
  
• The Lee Enfield is extremely loud, so be careful with it
  
• If you're spotted by a zombie, get inside
  If you can, get out of town without alerting any more of them and dispatch the few that follow, as opposed to shooting in town where you attact all of them
  
• Know which buildings you can go into
  
• At first, the zombies will be a pain and will probably kill you
  Then, once you've figured the zombies out the players will be the real threat
  Once players aren't a threat to you, bugs and glitches will be
  If the bugs and glitches don't get you, you'll probably be offed by a hacker
  You're gonna die ;)
  
• Find an axe, matches, and a knife
  Then you can hunt animals, gut them, and cook the meat
  
• Meat > canned food
  
• Water bottles are better in the long run than soda
  
• There aren't any "better" weapons
  It's mostly preference
  
• You can fill water bottles back up
  Some towns without any loot have water pumps
  You can also fill up at ponds/lakes
  I'd rather have 5 empty bottles than a coke
  
• If you see someone heading south with really nice gear, they're probably up to no good
  
• If you find a person in a vehicle, watch out. They either have the skill, resources, or team to repair the thing, or they killed the previous owner
  
• Player tents that you find are usually empty (already looted by someone else), but sometimes you find some alright gear there
  
• Get used to the map; know landmarks like castles and mountains
  
• Though if you have a map and you can find landmarks, you can do the same thing [as using a compass]
  
• All of the stuff that goes in your utility slots (compass, map, tool box) is useful and should be collected
  
• NVG is overrated
  
• Rangefinders are golden
  Way better than either NVG or binocs
  
• Some people watch towns for 5 minutes minimum before entering. I just look for zombies
  If there are zombies in a town you're far away from, another player caused them to spawn
  
• Blue chemlights are the only ones worth using
  Green ones are really bright and red ones arent bright at all
  Blue ones give enough illumination and can only be seen from 30m away
  Green is something like 60m
  Red is I don't even know, but it doesn't light much up
  
• Flares are useless
  Well, useful but risky
  They're so bright and can be seen from forever away
  
• Play with friends
  
• If you crouch with a primary weapon out, lower it, look at your feet, and free-look (alt) straight up, you look like a turtle
  Most important one of all of them :D
  
• Crossbows are useless, ignore them
  bolts take up one slot each, no ironsights, slow
  You can sometimes retrieve them [bolts], but only if you hit and the zombie doesn't cover it up
  
• If you alt tab, hit esc first, because if you don't and don't alt tab back in, you'll shoot once
  Hitting esc brings up the menu, so when you come back nothing happens
  
• If something looks too good to be true, it probably is
  
• Avoid hacked items like the plague, and report hackers whenever possible
  Rocket bricks their copy of Arma and many lols are had
  
• Learn the sounds each weapon makes
  
• Basically, know what's supposed to be there and avoid what isn't
  
• Get a mic
  Map direct chat voip to something easy to reach (mine's space bar)
  VOIP goes out 80m before falling off, and text goes for 40m
  VOIP does taper off as distance increases, so you may need to shout
  
• Walk on grass, it makes you quieter
  Crouch walk near zombies or crawl
  
• Car parts take up a lot of space and aren't all that useful unless you're in the repair business
  
• When you sign in, your default movement speed is sprint
  Double tap shift to make the default walk
  
• Make your run button (double time) something other than double tap W
  Cause that triggers all the time
  And makes a ton of noise
  Mines ctrl + W, for example
  
• Be active on the forums
  
• Always patch yourself to the highest possible
  Especially the BIS beta patches for Arma 2
  http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php/ or just google "arma 2 beta patch"
  Those update all the time, so you'd be good doing it once a day before you start playing
  
• Only attempt to trust people you can talk to
  
• Use TS3 or ventrilo or mumble or whatever floats your boat
  I've got all 3 just in case
  And skype, some people use skype
  
• On the topic of groups
  Do whatever is best for the group
  They'll watch your back
  For example, if you aggro a ton of zombies and don't have much important gear, don't bring the horde to your group
  It makes them waste ammo saving you
  
• Blood bags are great but they can only be used on another person (IE a friend)
  
• Don't swim
  Don't fucking swim
  
• Zombies can swim
  And they can climb ladders
  And they can open doors
  Sometimes they just walk through the walls (that's a bug though)
  
• Barbed wire is a dick tool
  Thing with barbed wire is that it only stops players
  If you see some by a building, someone's probably camping that building and hopping servers for loot
  
• Sandbags are more reasonable
  Sandbags I think actually stop zombies
  
• Tank traps are I don't even know. They just ruin vehicles
  

[wordplayuk@gmail.com 101]

good tips.

"At first, the zombies will be a pain and will probably kill you

Then, once you've figured the zombies out the players will be the real threat

Once players aren't a threat to you, bugs and glitches will be

If the bugs and glitches don't get you, you'll probably be offed by a hacker

You're gonna die ;)"

pretty accurate.

[Fischer541 0]

Really did help me out. When I first asked I wasn't anticipating such a large list :P.

[foamy_d_squirrel 10]

Add something about debug zones.