My New Player Guide (Spoliers/SFW)

[keyboard45 9]

Hi there. I have been playing for about 3 days now and thought i would share some important information to all. May post edits/updates as i learn more.

 

Choose the right server.

 

Public/Private

Private servers will require you to start a new character, however you can log into a public server to continue your current character. This scared me when i first logged into a private server, as i thought my player had died. So fear not! I recommend playing on a public sever to get used to the game. The advantages are you can log around servers to avoid bad weather and surviving at night time. However, later on in the game you may decide you want the game to be more challenging, then i would recommend a private server as you will have to face the nature of whatever the game throws at you. Also i figure that if you play in a private server, you will meet the same players often and beable to create allies and enemies.

 

Number of players.

Start in a world with a few players. The players here are likely to be less PvP orientated so you are less likely to be killed. And the world shouldn't be so heavily looted.

 

Time of Day.

This is something very important to a new player. Log into a world where the time is 7-9AM. The sun rises in the East and settles in the West. Now, if you know where you want to go, you have natures compass to guide you.

 

If you have just started and it's raining, find a new server. Being cold and wet will kill you if you are not prepared.

 

First Steps.

 

Looting guide

As you enter the game as a first timer, or a troubled survivor. Look around for some tall buildings which should locate a city, or just your nearest village.

have a "stick left" or "stick right" policy, where you enter the first building on your left, then you stick left hitting every building on the left hand side until you loop round to where you began. Making sure every building is ransacked. As you enter a building, press tab to bring up your inventory and walk around the room. Any items in that room will display on the left hand side of your inventory.

 

Water

Since playing, i have only had to eat a couple times. Drinking is a different story. You will dehydrate quite often. Fortunately, water sources are plentiful.

Hopefully you will be near a city, and i think every city and some villages will have water pumps, and also lakes rivers etc.

Ideally you want to find a canteen to fill with water (however you can drink from these sources without one)

I made the stupid mistake of throwing away my 2nd canteen thinking one would be enough, how naive of me, i very nearly died.

Now i carry around 4 canteens. This way i can rehydrate myself whilst raiding areas that are far away from water supplies without having to pit stop to hydrate, and if i am close to death it should be enough water to begin healing.

If you become thirsty, you can drink a couple of times to clear your thirst, you can then drink two more times to become 'hydrated' and then drink two more times until it displays 'i am really stuffed'. I highly recommend doing this if you are at a water supply. You can even drink more and become 'over stuffed' which looks problematic, but i actually had no side affects from this status.

Once you have canteens filled and are filled with liquid, any extra beverages you find should just be drunk on the spot to keep up hydration.

P.s. I have had no problems drinking straight from these pumps without using purification tablets, and no problems with 'damaged' cans/canteens.

See Water Pump Locations map below for spoiler.

 

Food

Stuff your face until it displays that you are 'really stuffed'. It has been at least 6 hours since this status and it still hasn't said i am hungry. Then begin collecting canned goods that only take up one space. If you come across the carbohydrates that take up more than one slot, just eat it their on the spot (i.e. cereal).

You will probably need a bladed instrument to eat the canned goods, you can also find a can opener which only takes up one spot!

(and if you want the ultimate multi-tool blade) - http://www.primagames.com/games/dayz/tips/how-craft-improvised-stone-knife-dayz

 

Heat

Ideally you will log into a server where it is not raining. If however you want to stick it through the harsh weather life has thrown at you, follow these steps.

You will need a bladed instrument that can cut bushes down.

You will need a match.

You will need either paper/rags/bandages (obtained from a book/ammo box/rip up shirts/hospitals)

Now you can cut down a small bush (you will need 3 spaces) to collect some sticks.

You can now combine the stick with a bandage or rag or paper to create a firepit on the ground where you are standing.

You can load that firepit with more burnable stuff.

Now light it with a match in a building.

This will warm you up very fast.

 

As a new player, being fed, hydrated and warm is a make or break situation. It really is a 'Sprint-around-every-building-praying-there-will-be-supplies' situation. Chances are, you might come close to death and you screen will turn black&white. What you have to do is stuff your face with food and water and your status should become 'healing'. Now wait 5 minutes or so, log in and out. And your screen should be back to normal. (You might not have to log in and out)

 

I might also note, i do sprint everywhere. Some guides will tell you not too, but it's worked for me. Just know your water supplies.

 

Now here might be some spoilers....

 

Maps (Player Made/3rd Party)

Ideally, if your a hardcore player. You will navigate yourself only using what is in the game. If you are like me however and more of a power gamer (most likely as you are reading a guide...) These maps could save your life..

Also note, some maps you find online will be old and not feature the new cities etc.

 

The 'where the hell am i' map.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/468671662627014298/C5392B7F638C16FD3D1D65FDEA3B90D4D0539782/

 

This map is great for one reason. It shows you where churches and gas stations are. If you can then pair the church you are standing next to with the road formations around it, combined with what direction you are facing adjacent to the sun (rise in the east/sets in the west). You should be able to find exactly where you are. Even better, it tells you the names of the areas in both languages.

 

If you see a road sign and can't find it on the map, check out this list of all villages/cities/bases and their language counterparts.

 

http://dayz.gamepedia.com/Towns_and_Cities

 

Water pump locations (What it says on the tin)

 

http://spartanwarfighters.net/2top/3forum/images/Arma_2/DayZ/standalone/WaterPumpWells_Map.png

 

A fun map.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8eWeckQ.jpg

 

A map with more city/village names updated.

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/580153246479432329/246500332D0894DE55A3CD1584BF8D30AA5380AE/

 

I have these 4 maps always available to hand, and also the in-game map binded to a numerical key so once i know where i am going i can just stay in-game.

 

Now time for some quick pointers.

So far i have discarded all the kind of 'crafting' materials. Nails/hammer/rope etc.

I have 4 canteens filled with water and 6-8 canned foods and i am energized and hydrated.

You want to look for some more essential items.

Compass (you can bind this to a numerical slot for navigation)

Binoculars (again bind it and use it to scout around, i believe it is similar zoom function of sniper scopes).

Lockpick (you can lock doors behind you so bandits/PvPers don't gank you)

Leather sewing kit (repair damaged gear)

Some melee weapons you can carry on your back, the fire axe is best in game, splitting axe second, anything else will do if you can't find these. Ideally something that has a fast animation.

Always use this instead of a small melee weapon, some small weapons don't even hit your opponent.

If you haven't found a large ranged weapon such as a rifle, then a pistol will suffice in the mean time. But when you do find a rifle, discard the pistol until you can gear for it more efficiently (holster/ammo capacity)

You want to head NW to the airstrip on the map.

South of the air strip is a water pump, and north of the base is military barracks.

You will find some basic weapons in the barracks, more weapons and stuff on the scouting towers, and there is also a stone bunker that has a huge amount of loot. Here is where i found military vests and a pistol holster so you can improve your inventory capacity and also camouflage yourself.

A top tip is to find the IZH-43 Shotgun, and use a hacksaw on it and create a sawn of shotgun. It is supposedly one of the best weapons in game.

I'm currently using the SKS semi automatic rifle. It is a handy newbie rifle as the ammo is plentiful (7.62x39) and you can load it into 10 chamber clips and reload just by pressing r. I was able to shoot someone at medium range from a window, weakening them so had an advantage.

 

Now you can start exploring comfortably, meeting new players without feeling unarmed and survive easily enough.

Servers will restart and this is the best time to find the best loot and even vehicles http://247gaming.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Vehicle-spawn-map.jpg

 

Here are some more useful pages on what else to expect from DayZ

 

http://www.primagames.com/games/dayz/tips/dayz-top-10-loot-buildings-chernarus

http://www.primagames.com/games/dayz/tips/dayz-10-items-every-player-should-have

http://www.primagames.com/games/dayz/tips/dayz-15-tips-will-save-your-life

http://www.primagames.com/games/dayz/tips/dayz-standalone-best-places-find-gun

 

I will consolidate and structure this guide better when i have the time, and please let me know if there is anything else you want me to cover or any questions to answer.

 

Find me IG: Dom

Edited October 27, 2015 by keyboard45

[GaryWalnuts 1680]

Hi there. I have been playing for about 3 days now

Welcome new guy, have some beans for your efforts  :beans:

 

Servers will restart and this is the best time to find the best loot and even vehicles http://247gaming.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Vehicle-spawn-map.jpg

This map is for DayZ Mod, not DayZ SA, while some of it may be relevant most of it is outdated.

 

 

In my first few days playing DayZ the first player I met (translation: the first player who didn't kill me  :P ) gave me the best bit of advice ever

"See them before they see you"

...but that's much easier said than done .

 

Good luck out there

Edited October 27, 2015 by GaryWalnuts

[KenoSkir88 181]

- I have been playing for about 3 days now and thought i would share some important information -

 

Not so bad, tho i think maybe 3 days in is a little early to make a comprehensive guide. BeanZ anyway :beans:

 

Here are the only 2 maps you will need plus a few changes / additions :

 

One for measuring distances quickly

http://dayzdb.com/map/chernarusplus

 

One with a slightly clearer layout and easier group creation / group sharing

http://www.izurvive.com

 

○ Servers don't generally spawn new loot when they restart, there are 2 kinds of reset. All servers are currently set to persistent meaning loot is not reset during a restart. The server admins must manually reset the persistence file to reset loot.

 

○ Lock picks are not generally recommended since a locked door is like a flashy neon sign that you're holed up in a building, and you can open a locked door in less than a second without a lock pick.

 

○ Not sure what stone bunker you're talking about that was full of loot, but i think you might mean the sandbag bunker. If it was full of loads of loot, players put it there and it won't be like that on very many servers.

 

○ 133 is the best shotgun in the game, bring the pain ;)

 

Welcome to DayZ, hope to see ya out there, hopefully not CoDing in Cherno :P

Edited October 27, 2015 by KenoSkir88

[jeffroland 26]

4 canteens? That's a bit much. Often I end up dropping all of my canteens. There are sodas and water wells liberally sprinkled throughout the land. Depending on the server it can be very hard to find drink or food if you're character has just spawned. You're already near a state of hunger and thirst when you spawn, but once you're hydrated and full of food, you rarely have to worry about either. You can run around for many hours without being in danger of thirst or hunger, certainly long enough to get to the next well or find a soda or food. So don't be afraid to ditch your canteens, at least in this Alpha version of DayZ. Possibly they'll make water and soda a bit harder to find later on in development but for now it's quite easy. 

[BeefBacon 1185]

Good guide - pretty solid considering you only have 3 days' worth of playing. Obviously it'll be rendered obsolete before long, but there's some good tips in there. The compass hotbar thing, for example, I only learned about a few days ago.

 

Speaking from personal preference and experience, I'd say give 1pp a go at some point, and hold off using online maps for as long as you can. When I first started playing the feeling of being lost was awesome. I could pick a direction and run without much of an idea of what I'd find, so I'd explore around and see what I saw. Now I've learned the map pretty well, I have a good idea of where I am all the time. I miss being lost, but I'm looking forward to community-made maps so I can get lost all over again.

 

Anyway, welcome to the forums.

 

 

○ 133 is the best shotgun in the game, bring the pain ;)

 

 

I dunno, I quite like the sawn-off. Makes a solid backup. I guess the 133 is the best primary, but you don't get to Mad Max or Ash Williams - which is obviously the most important aspect of wielding a shotgun.

Edited October 27, 2015 by BeefBacon

[keyboard45 9]

Thanks for all your beans and great tips!

I like how @KenoSkir88 has mentioned that locked doors can actually attract attention. I might trial using a locked door as bait to pick of some PKers in the future ^^

Also i think you were right about the sandbag bunker. Ever since visiting there i haven't been so lucky with the loot but i will be stopping back there to see what others have dropped off :)

As for CoDing around cherno, i will be trialling PvP on a private server that promotes PvP, and keep the friendly RPing across public servers.

@jeffroland I'm hanging onto the canteens so i can have the option to camp out for a long period of time if i need to. Also i'm sure i will be close to death in the near future and they will come in handy then, we'll see.

As for the using 3rd party maps. That's just the way i play. I wish i could be naive and lost in the world with just a kitchen knife to fend myself. But that mature gamer inside of me just wants to power through guided by wikis and what not, heh.

Anyway, heres to hoping your all as friendly on the field as you are in the forum :p

and thanks for the kind welcomes ^^

[jeffroland 26]

Well, certainly play how you want to, but I'm just saying that you don't need all those canteens. Especially considering the amount of limited slots you can carry stuff. As for camping, I have no idea why anyone would do that. All the fun is exploring from town to town looking for equipment, running from zeds (when they're in the game) and unexpectedly running into another survivor. I can't imagine sitting around in a camp except to get warm, but then it's time to move on to the next adventure.

 

And since you're into using 3rd party maps then you'll be much better off with this one : http://dayzdb.com/map

 

It's frequently updated and has all the new northern towns as well as updated loot locations. 

[BCBasher 2465]

I didn't for my firs couple hundred hours but no I use a map app on my phone or tablet called iZurvive, less by myself as I have most of the map memorized but it's awesome if I need to meet one of my kids as a fresh spawn or cover long distances without land marks and roads. It's nice because you can plot a path giving the exact bearing and approximate jog/sprint time that with the ingame compass and IRL stopwatch can do very accurate navigation through the woods, at night, whatever.

 

I carry also 2-4 canteens or water bottles because my avoidance playstyle, currently filling at and drinking from ponds has an extremely slim chance of making you sick as long as you are healthy to start with so I do that over wells.

 

I like Gary's see them first philosophy but have had it bite me when I announce myself and declare my non threatening intentions, see and be unseen is the safest with equally or better geared players in recent patches. 

[keyboard45 9]

So, as i was chuffed to find an AKM and begin scouting magazines for it, i see some smoke in the distance thinking it might be a player campfire, zoom in with binoculars and realize i have stumbled across my first heli site! To my amazement i find a Steyr Aug Automatic Rifle. It looks beautiful and the scope looks great. God help me if i will ever find any mags though. Should i keep the AKM or try my luck with the Steyr?

[KenoSkir88 181]

So, as i was chuffed to find an AKM and begin scouting magazines for it, i see some smoke in the distance thinking it might be a player campfire, zoom in with binoculars and realize i have stumbled across my first heli site! To my amazement i find a Steyr Aug Automatic Rifle. It looks beautiful and the scope looks great. God help me if i will ever find any mags though. Should i keep the AKM or try my luck with the Steyr?

 

I'd go AKM since your chance of finding mags for AUG is slim if you don't know where to look, AKM mags are easier to come by generally. Double primary weapon can be a nuisance since you will drop the one in hands whenever you drink or eat etc. AKM has much more stopping power per round than the AUG also if a bit of a bitch on recoil.

 

I'll pm you across my steam id since it seems you play similar times to me and are from the Uk (chuffed ;) ).

[jeffroland 26]

So, as i was chuffed to find an AKM and begin scouting magazines for it, i see some smoke in the distance thinking it might be a player campfire, zoom in with binoculars and realize i have stumbled across my first heli site! To my amazement i find a Steyr Aug Automatic Rifle. It looks beautiful and the scope looks great. God help me if i will ever find any mags though. Should i keep the AKM or try my luck with the Steyr?

 

hehe, you're already finding out that you'll have space issues. Maybe dropping some canteens is a good choice. You'll probably have to once, and if, you find some mags.

 

Anyway, as you've probably already found out, you can shoulder one large weapon and keep the other in your hands. The only problem is that when you want to pick up or interact with any other item, you'll have to put the gun down. In the past, due to a bug, there was a really good chance you'll loose the item that you place on the ground. I'm not sure if they've fixed it.

[GaryWalnuts 1680]

So, as i was chuffed to find an AKM and begin scouting magazines for it, i see some smoke in the distance thinking it might be a player campfire, zoom in with binoculars and realize i have stumbled across my first heli site! To my amazement i find a Steyr Aug Automatic Rifle. It looks beautiful and the scope looks great. God help me if i will ever find any mags though. Should i keep the AKM or try my luck with the Steyr?

 

No matter which gun you decide to keep the DayZ gods will give you a mag for the other  :lol:

 

You can try to keep both,

Double carry both guns until you find yourself a barrel (or a tent).

When you find a barrel then drop one gun, pick up the barrel and hide it in the woods, then go back and get the extra gun and stash it inside the barrel.

(try to do this swap quickly, I'm not sure how long a gun will last just lying on the ground)

There's always a possibility that someone will find your stash, but at least you gave yourself a chance  :)

[keyboard45 9]

someone sneaked up to me in a building whilst i was scouting around and punched me to death ;-;

[KenoSkir88 181]

someone sneaked up to me in a building whilst i was scouting around and punched me to death ;-;

 

Classic :) Helmets are key to avoid being knocked out. Better luck next time :beans:

[thatguyoverthar11 47]

someone sneaked up to me in a building whilst i was scouting around and punched me to death ;-;

been there man, been there. That was one of the first few deaths i had. Never heard the guy coming and got a baseball bat to the face.

 

A pretty good guide but you should know that Cop cars are fantastic loot spots. they seem to spawn in any town with a police station and hop between spots per server. You can find cr75s, mp5ks and attatchments, chest holster, ammo, and a couple of other goodies.

[keyboard45 9]

Classic :) Helmets are key to avoid being knocked out. Better luck next time :beans:

 

damn i was wearing one of those gangster old boy flat caps >_<

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

Something like this should have already existed. This game tells you nothing about really anything so new players can have a hard time figuring out what the hell is going on. For example, I think I played for the first month without any idea what public or private meant. I also eventually found a friend here on the forums and he explained to me how the healthy/energized/hydrated statuses work and how to keep them at top level. I had been running around and dying quite liberally for approximately two months without understanding the system. 

 

Anyway, nice job OP. Beans for you, since it isn't often that we see brand new players try to be so constructive right out of the gate.  :D

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

another way to get rid of the canteens is the use of a pot. You can store 2l of water in it and can use the four slots inside for food or something. The stuff inside the pot will get wet but I didnt had any problems to store some beans in it.