Basic Survival Features

[atempleton 123]

This post is really long, but it contains a heap of survival mechanic suggestions that I think would be great to have to improve the survival aspect of Day Z:

 

Solar Stills:

 

Solar stills are a simple but efficient improvised method of acquiring fresh, pure uncontaminated water. In order to construct one, you will need a shovel/hoe/pick, a stone, a plastic sheet, an empty water container and green foliage. You first use the digging tool on the sheet to dig the still. You then add a water container of some sort into the still, as well as green foliage, which can be acquired from grass, or bushes. Finally, a stone is added to the still to commence the operation. The sunlight's heat directed onto the still will evaporate the water contained within the foliage (which will degrade throughout the process.) This will in turn collect on the sheet, and the weight will cause the condensation to run down into the container, slowly filling the container with fresh water that doesn't need to be purified. This will allow someone thus with the appropriate tools to always have a method of acquiring fresh uncontaminated water, whether they go. It also provides bases a source of fresh water they can always come back to as well - a nice addition to your camp.

 

 

Signal Fires:

 

Signal fires are fires designed to deliberately attract attention to them to communicate and signal to other players. They are simple to build - all you will need is to add branches and green foliage (as acquired above and explained) to an existing functioning fire and the fire will emit a large amount of smoke and a tall flame - easily spotted from afar during the day or night.

 

 

Improvised Shelter:

 

An improvised shelter functions in the same way as a tent - providing basic shelter from the elements and safe storage for your equipment. You simply will need a few branches stacked together in a bundle (normally could be several dozen, but for gameplay sakes we will make it a small number of say 4 or 6.) You then would set the branches against one another on the ground into the shape of a shelter, and then use green foliage (again as explained how to acquire earlier) to insulate and complete the shelter. The completed shelter will have enough storage to hold 2 primary weapons, and will be difficult to locate.

 

 

Improvised Blow Gun:

 

A blow gun is a simple weapon designed to launch dart like projectiles through the use of air, blowing into the weapon. All you require is a branch and a knife to construct (just for simplicity sake and to make the weapon able to compete with the Shortbow.) You can then use darts to load into the weapon (with a range of about 10m) and fire them completely silently, doing a small amount of damage. Darts can either be preacquired (they're going to be used in the air pistol after all) or you can make them yourself with feathers and nails. You can also add to the improvised darts a poison of some sort, or a tranquilizer, and the victim will either acquire chemical poisoning or be rendered unconscious, depending on the substance used.

 

 

Spear Fishing:

 

Spear fishing is just that, fishing with a spear, trying to impale fish on the spear to catch them. All you require is an improvised spear - constructed out of a sharpened stick, and can have bones added to the tip (like arrows) to improve the damage dealt by the spear, and the chance of bleeding. Obviously of course, spears are going to be added into Day Z, and the spear can simply be used to look into fresh water, and take a stab in the dark to try and catch a fish. The spear has a low chance of catching a fish and may take longer than using a rod, hook and bait, but not everyone can find the appropriate tools for the latter. Also, to increase the chances of catching a fish, you can use a knife on a stick to sharpen it, and then add the sharpened stick to the spear (that hasn't had bones tipped to it) to create a multi pronged spear, increasing the chances of catching a fish by double.

 

[VahidkinG 192]

Solar Stills and Improvised Shelter are pretty good ideas and love to see them in the game. #HaveMyBeans

[Whyherro123 2283]

In the type of environment Day Z takes place in, solar stills are completely unnecessary. Plus, they kind of suck. Have you made one before? Great in deserts and arid environments, where it gets hot enough. Not so great in places where it doesn't get so hot.

 

Temperate deciduous forests have PLENTY of water, in the form of streams, ponds and lakes. There should be  no problem finding water in Day Z. Making it safe to drink, on the other hand.....

 

Take a look at the standing bodies of water in-game, both the streams and the ponds. ALL OF THEM are chock-full of green algae, suggesting two things 1) the water doesn't move fast enough and 2) there is some serious agricultural runoff happening in Chernarus.

 

Boil and filter your drinking water. Hell, filter them twice. Solar stills are ungainly and unnecessary. Hell, if my farm warrants it (large enough, with a large enough population), I would probably just dig a well and throw bags of charcoal at the bottom. The water table in Chernarus can't be that deep: with the exception of the hills, we are on a coastal plain.

[atempleton 123]

I've built solar stills before and they worked remarkably. Granted, this is in rural North Queensland and not Eastern Europe, but if there is open sunlight it will work, just it'll be slower.