Avoiding/Killing Zombies? Finding Food?

[bmc341999 3]

  I just bought standalone a couple days ago and some of the first things I noticed was that zombies would seem to appear out of no where and chase me endlessly and refused to break line of sight, so after I got tired of trying to ditch the zombie(s) I turned and tried to kill it with my fists. I know you're supposed to aim for the head but is there a way to kill the zombie without taking damage while using your fists? I can't stay alive long enough to find a better weapon.

 

  Another thing I noticed is a few seconds after spawning, my character would start getting hungry so I'd start running down the road toward the nearest town to try to find food but by the time I found a town my character would be almost dying of starvation and most of the lives I've already gone through my character could not find any food so I'd die.  Am I doing something wrong?

 

  I do realize the game is still in alpha, but I want to know if the reason behind my many deaths is that I'm doing something wrong or if it's because of the game still being in alpha.

 

 

 

[Bludy 324]

i think everyone had your same issues in their first tries.

 

try and try and try.

 

take a few lives just to see how the buildings are and what loot contain. grab a melee weapon as soon as you can, you can find them easily in almost any building, even in barns outside the cities which commonly have less infected to deal with. this will also help you in recognizing a bit more the landscape, so you'll end respawning in a place you've already been and help you establish a looting path

[StayAlive (DayZ) 169]

Zig zag up a hill, close doors after you while running (most does not work though, since

zombies can clip through) and pick up a weapon while running. You will have a high chance

of finding an axe in one of the sheds scattered around cities and small towns. You can also

use your shirt as bandage if you do get hit by a zombie while you are picking up a weapon

or before. You can survive a long time while bleeding.

 

When it comes to food, there will almost always be food left in buildings players have looted.

Most players just do a fast scan and pick up what gives them most nutrition. If you look close

enough, there will most likely be leftovers like tomatoes, potatoes, etc. Also, most of the best

loot is just meters away from the main roads. Take a little detour, you never know what you

will find:)

[eno 1049]

Had exactly the same problem OP... SBJ (my associate) also- and usually if you've attracted one zombie then most within a couple hundred meters seem to want to latch onto you. Nevermind if you find a gun that early in the game and discharge it. Oy vey! 

 

I'm a relative noob so I'll try and add a bit to what StayAlive mentioned. 

 

Without wanting to overemphasize the obvious- situational awareness is extremely important in those first few moments- There is a beginners guide pinned in this section and in it is a link to the "STALKERS guide..." Something to that effect. It's the last of 4 links offered in the thread. Go in there- there's a map that shows MOST of the spawn points... Not sure how up to date it is but every time I've spawned in I've been able to find my location using references from that map.  It's helpful too in that it shows high loot areas and other good to know things. 

 

Once you've identified where you are, then you can start trying to figure out if there is anyone else around- particularly these zombies. Now- in saying this... In your first 1 minute you're going to need to look around for landmarks- that's a good time to do an initial scan and listen for activity. If you switch out (alt tab) to the map I recommend above, or the one below- you won't be able to hear that you're being beaten to death by zombies... so if you're going to switch back and forth be careful! 

 

There is a chance in locating Zeds (in the case you described) that they just spawned in near you and you were line of sight to them but generally what happens is they catch you in their LOS as you go by and unless you're listening for the "launch" (as I've taken to calling it) then they will surprise you. Just today I sprinted from Berezino to a factory down the coast a bit- probably 5 minutes of straight sprinting. I stopped at the factory and started looking around. About a minute later I hear this gurgling Zed- apparently been chasing me for awhile. Killed it... THEN another one comes up about 40 seconds later. Kind of brutal- but that's our reality right now. 

 

So what normally happens is you'll have crossed a Zed's line of sight- MUCH farther away when you cross in front of them during the day at a sprint than at a slow crouch behind at night- there are some useful photos that show their various detection capabilities- Walking is less likely to get their attention than running... I think I even read something that indicated that soft ground was less noticeable than pavement etc. I may stand corrected. Also as mentioned, once you know they're coming at you it's time to bob and weave. You'll notice about 10 feet out they will lunge at you- typically you can side step out of the way and they'll stop, take a second to turn around and then lunge again or just flail their arms at you. That's when I strike- during that second they take to turn around. Now, if you're just using your fists- don't even bother... just wail away on their head like you mentioned. It does help to have your shirt already torn into rags to bandage yourself up quickly before the next melee. Once you get a weapon, the techniques will differ  depending on your style- but the method above works well for me and I'm new. 

 

The fire axe is a one hit wonder and the splitting axe will kill a Zed in 2- so if you can find either of those you'll be happy! Don't let that stop you from grabbing a pipe wrench or a shovel... or a crowbar- ANYTHING! Generally you find them in sheds- but you could find them anywhere. There are even brass knuckles out there.  Keep your eyes peeled! One thing that helps is to "tab search" when you go into an area and move around the room in areas that are harder to see. Sometimes items are glitched through the floor slightly and you can see them with your "vicinity" window in the tab screen. This may reveal things you didn't know were there or have not yet learned to recognize. 

 

About your nutrition etc... When you start you are basically in a depleted state. The story is you've washed up on shore and are thirsty and hungry already. You can use your tab screen to monitor this- when things are light brown it's not a big deal but it's there... as things get darker and turn red then you're in trouble so time is a ticking! In addition to the stalker map I think the standard map is this map: http://dayzdb.com/map/chernarusplus#6.093.065

 

Once you've figured out your location, you can use this map to find the nearest wells... Oh- and don't just drink until the "thirsty" goes away- if possible, keep drinking until you are "hydrated" and the banner is bright green- not just dark green. If you've already eaten some, then it can pay to take a few more drinks after that. If you haven't eaten you can get "stuffed" with very little food- maybe an insufficient quantity to last. At least that's the way I understand it.

 

You can open any canned food with any sharp object. To be honest I'm about 80 hours in and probably half a dozen lives and I've only found 2 can openers. I find the screwdriver works really well to open the cans and not spill too much. Use an axe and you might spill most of the contents... Peaches seem to be the favourite food but I'm not going to lie the THOUGHT of tactical bacon makes my mouth water even as I write this. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Bacon. Tactical. As mentioned fruits and veggies are available- and as you get more comfortable with the interface you might find a few items to plant your own garden. Takes about 8 minutes to grow tomatoes and they come in waves! 

 

Anyway- sorry this turned into a bit of a ramble. The game can be as fun as you make it. Choose the role you want to play and play it. Know that people will kill you on sight in some cases... in other cases they may actually even mislead you into a sense of comfort and then kill you anyway... I've seen a relative balance of both types of people- awful, and some who were cautious but friendly. One guy was so taken aback by the fact that I was easy to deal with that he took off all his stuff and told me to take what I needed. This guy had a clown mask on and a shotgun- usually a sure sign that you're about to eat the green wiener! Fact is awesome people are out there- so are jagoffs. Manage yourself accordingly!

 

Hope you enjoy your tenure in Chernarus- Maybe we'll see you out there! 

Edited January 3, 2015 by ENO75

[krazypenguin 174]

I'm still fairly new myself (100 hours or so) but my standard tactic on spwaning is to look around myself to find the nearest town or major landmark since you almost always spawn in sight of something that will let you work out where you are.  Check the map (I use: http://dayzdb.com/map/chernarusplus) and work out the best way to get to a town that is one or two "steps" away from your location on the coast - since the closer you are to the coast the less loot you will find (generally).

 

So if I spawn in or near Solnichniy I'll usually head straight out to Msta, Dolina or Orlovets.  And I move at a jog, not a sprint since that depletes your levels much more quickly.  Once I reach one of those towns, I'll use the local well to hydrate myself and then look for loot.  I'll usually find enough things to set the foundations of my character - maybe a jacket with 4 slots, or trousers with 6, some sort of melee weapon (in order of preference - firefighter's axe, splitting axe, then pickaxe or sledgehammer - IMO, nothing else is worth it) but probably no spare food or ranged weapon.  Then, I'll look to move on to the next town away from the coast, like Staroye, Shakhovka or Polana where I will expect to pick up a bag, a gun, ammo and, hopefully, some spare food.

 

As for engaging zombies in close combat - my current experience is that without one of the 4 weapons above it's just not worth it.  Others may be able to sidestep zombies and kill them with a knife or even just punches but that's not my experience.  And you certainly shouldn't engage them unless you have sufficient medical supplies and food to deal with any injuries you sustain. 

 

Edit - Breaking contact is possible - you just need to learn the knack.  I find that sprinting away towards a line of trees\bushes, and then following the line of bushes, gently weaving between each one or two to keep the zombie out of sight works.  It will stop and go into search mode which gives you time to get away.  Note that they will still keep following you (they can hear you running) which is why you need to keep line of sight broken - so they keep stopping to search until you are so far away they cannot hear or see you. 

In towns, use low fences you can jump over to make them go the long way around, keep weaving between buildings and hope you don't run into any others - or another player.  Generally, if I pick up a zombie in a town that I cannot kill, I'll immediately exit the town, taking him with me, break contact outside the town, then loop all the way around to come back into town from a different angle.

Oh, one other really neat trick - if you are being chased by a zombie and see a wild animal run to it, then break away as it starts to run away from you.  Zombies will usually follow the animal... :-)

Edited January 3, 2015 by krazypenguin

[bmc341999 3]

Thanks everybody for helping me.  

 

I have another question about the zombies, is it possible to prone through a whole city while going undetected like I could in the mod?

[sachad 1016]

Thanks everybody for helping me.  

 

I have another question about the zombies, is it possible to prone through a whole city while going undetected like I could in the mod?

 

You can sneak past zombies if you don't get too close. But their ability to spot and follow you over vast distances makes it quite tricky. Once you've got a weapon capable of killing zombies in one or two hits, I'd suggest just killing them.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Sacha

[bmc341999 3]

Should I attempt it with only my fists?

[jedslather 4]

Find a well or pond, drink until you're hydrated 100% you can last a long time without food, but not that long without water.

 

Head inland, eat apples and berries. don't stop eating until you're full (stuffed) rise and water is the best way to get energized asap! from there its pretty easy if you can avoid bandits and KOS players.

[StayAlive (DayZ) 169]

Should I attempt it with only my fists?

 

Well, you can kill them with your fists, but I would recommend finding

something that can kill them faster, especially since people might notice the

zombie following you. Also, two people cluttered together looks bigger from a distance, so you

might also not want to cuddle for to long with a zombie in the open.

 

Melee weapons that you can use: Sword, Axe, Fire Axe, garden hoe, Sledge hammer, pick axe, hockey stick,

and so on.

Edited January 5, 2015 by StayAlive