Starting fires: so easy a cavema--Nah.

[FoxKeegan 0]

So...Hello. First post. Started playing today. Played for several hours. Didn't die, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue as...well, I couldn't find a box of matches anywhere. Checked dozens of houses and a city, and finally looked it up on the wiki and read they're supposed to be rare. So, I tried to find this question on the forums, but failed. Either I didn't find it, or it hasn't been asked, so I guess I've a few questions about all this:

1. Why is something as common as matches rare?

2. Where are all the lighters? (Did people give up smoking?)

3. Why do I need a match?

The first two are pretty straightforward. But I'll explain the third: Any boy scout knows that when I killed and gutted that boar the hatchet was all I needed to start a fire. Rubbing sticks together isn't a fun way to do it, and should take a hell of a while but it's a perfectly legit way of starting one with the right tinder. Hell, that flashlight I start with is one of the old kind with the reflector. Those parabola are perfect for focusing the sun to the center and lighting your tinder.

Granted, the above methods are pretty primitive, but they work just fine. Now, I've never tried it but I'd bet a fair wager that if I took one of these dozens of road flares I keep tripping over and jammed it into a pile of leaves I could set a whole field on fire, cook my raw meat and entertain myself while eating by watching all the stupid zombies in the field burn to the ground.

After reading over all the forums I seem to have had a much better first experience than most. To be fair, I guess most people these days wouldn't know how to start a friction fire or how important silence is while hunting/hiding. *shrug* Unfortunately, armed with all that knowledge (and road flares) it was increasingly annoying (for me) to know I had several ways to start a fire, and couldn't. And I really needed that 800bp. It's not a big deal now as I got stuck at the "waiting to create character" screen for about 10 minutes before I hit ESC and clicked "Respawn", half expecting what happened to happen, but I didn't care at that point. :)

Anyway...yeah. I can guess why they're rare, and that's fine, but cavemen did it without matches. We're supposedly smarter. Creating fires, in my opinion anyway, shouldn't be that difficult. Campfires are the screen savers of the wilderness. It's not a camp without one...and I really want to camp.

And add tarps and paracord. Tents are for pansies.

Thanks for listening,

--Fox

[Tranqlusion 0]

1. I swear they aren't that rare, I find them mostly all around Cherno and Elektro, look in the little market?

2. There is none, I have no idea. Just ask Rocket and the DayZ Crew.

3. You need matches to light fires, you get a log and then you put it on the floor and by clicking on create fire place and then click light fire.

Hope I helped (I didn't read that boy scout stuff!).

[Ssgt_Perez 35]

It sucks but that is the way the mod is designed.

Hit up a few grocery stores/apartments and you should be on your way to enjoying some steak.

[fml 29]

I like how you can just light a barrel without any matches.

[puffu 0]

While I agree matches and lighters aren't exactly rare items realistically, if everyone immediately were able to survive in the wilderness, not having to hunt for cans of beans in the cities and towns the game wouldn't be as difficult anymore is my guess.

Also I think it's counted for that most survivors aren't scouts, but yeah it would be lovely to see the arsenal of options expand greatly in this game in every aspect.

[StealthyBrayden 6]

I'd like to see lighters implemented... They are pretty common within our community these DayZ (see what I did there :o)

[machomanugget 26]

7 towns yesterday looking for matches..

didnt find any at all anywhere... then died and lost all my gear due to a magical broken leg walking into a building. :)

Give lighters! or atleast more never ending matchboxes.. 200 blood from a can of food just dont cut it... plus the fact a blood transfusion is a no no, due ot the games recent updates and the fact everyone is a wanker and shoots on sight.

[Kain Phalanx 9]

I often find matches in those yellowish sheds.

Not saying the op's point isn't valid though.

[Esoteric 2]

I completely agree with having the need to risk your life to get food/supplies from a town, perhaps make matches more common and wild animals less common/harder to kill (not harder as in super god mode madcow).

For instance, lets say you spot a cow in a field, now you can go sprint on up to it and kill it atm, what it should be like is the reverse of a zombie, you make yourself really noticeable by sprinting towards it, it'll feel threatened and run away from you (at about 80% of your running speed..?) this will force you to be stealthy, crouch up to it til your close enough and then charge, otherwise be prepared to chase the cow for a fair distance.

That's just my opinion anyway.

[SystemiK 366]

Well the problem, as usual, is that people are expecting realism to make the game right. Yet the reason matches are rare is that they are tied into the blood mechanic and it needs artificial constraints to ensure that it is somewhat balanced. Blood bags are the group mechanic for replenishing blood, and matches (along with knife and hatchet) are the equivalent blood replenishing mechanic for solo players.

Blood bags are only found in a select few places on the map, and likewise, matches spawns are also very limited. Matches are rare for a reason. Think of it as a safeguard making sure that life does not get too easy. Otherwise all we have left is to run around shooting each other...

[Wulfear 6]

Lighters would be cool, tho mostly fluff if they don't actually light up the area

[FoxKeegan 0]

Honestly I'd prefer matches be more common, but consumable.

Fireplaces should take longer to make, fires to start, and food to cook.

While cooked meat is certainly linked to the blood mechanic as it raises blood by 800 points, you can still survive without raising blood. You'll die without food. I don't think about healing myself much with food. I think about keeping myself alive with it. I was really surprised I could scarf down three steaks and heal myself 2400 points. If anything I'd prefer the food took longer to eat, there existed a limit to the total food you could eat, and gorging yourself would slow you down or make you sick. Health shouldn't come back immediately upon scarfing food either. Obviously the rule of 3 does not apply to DayZ. (Survival rules: 3 min w/o air, days w/o water, weeks w/o food) This said, since times between having to eat and drink are decreased, time required to regenerate health should as well, but not the instant regen it is now.

I suppose there's a limit to when things are realistic to the point they're not fun, and that varies with everyone. But I don't want to die of starvation for no reason other than because the supermarket just wouldn't spawn a can of pasta or a box of matches. That's as bad as dying of dehydration while swimming in a pond. Just because you couldn't find a canteen doesn't mean you should die of thirst.

*shrugs* Perhaps there's some very intricate system of checks and balances involved in all of this during the gameplay development stages and my suggestions throw it dangerously out of whack. I wouldn't want that to happen and I doubt this post will have any impact anyway. But if it doesn't, I think it would at least make more sense to players who haven't read up on every little aspect of survival in this game and are running under the assumption that "some things just make sense".

*laughs* Besides. I'd love to see some unarmed noob running after a wild boar trying to beat it to death because he's been driven to that level of desperation by hunger.

[sandorski 17]

Why do we need a Canteen to Drink?

[Surg3on 4]

I have been playing a month and found ONE packet of matches. Then last night I find 3...in the same supermarket.

Random is random :)

[nomorechillies 11]

For instance' date=' lets say you spot a cow in a field, now you can go sprint on up to it and kill it atm, what it should be like is the reverse of a zombie, you make yourself really noticeable by sprinting towards it, it'll feel threatened and run away from you (at about 80% of your running speed..?) this will force you to be stealthy, crouch up to it til your close enough and then charge, otherwise be prepared to chase the cow for a fair distance.

[/quote']

Great idea +1