Base Raiding Etiquette

[sachad 1016]

We've all experienced it. We are just going about Chernarus, minding out own business, when we stumble across somebody else's camp. Maybe it's a single tent or a barrel with some useful but basic goodies in it that a lone wanderer could not carry with them. Maybe it's a sprawling base rivalling Tent City in size, with an arsenal that could see you overthrow a small country by yourself. What do you do? What are your own personal rules to raiding camps?

 

Do you pick the place clean and smash everything you couldn't take? Do you leave their stuff untouched, unwilling to profit from another person's work? Do you take a few things here and there based on your immediate needs? Do you use the 'take a penny, leave a penny' principle and leave some stuff behind as 'payment' for what you took? Most importantly, do you leave a thank you note? Tell us here!

 

For me, it mostly depends on the camp. The first camp I found was a tent in the woods with an oil barrel, and nothing inside except a bunch of cooked deer steaks, water bottles, clothing and tools, and an SKS with no ammo. So I took a hatchet, a water bottle and a few steaks and left my PU scope and two stacks of SKS ammo since I had no use for it at the time, plus a note detailing the 'exchange' and my sincerest (well not really) apologies. 

 

Yesterday, however, I found a big camp at the camo building just north of the NWAF tent city. It had a dozen military tents and as many small ones, filling up the whole premises. I stopped counting the guns at thirty-ish. Thousands of rounds, of every conceivable type, and the magazines to put them in. Attachments up the wazoo. Grenades, smoke bombs, mines and bear traps. Military clothing from Gorka to USMC. And a freakin' sword. Just hoarding for the sake of it. So, I spent some time there, taking my pick of all the good stuff, and then I took all the mines they had and booby-trapped nearly every military tent.

 

 

[nl 986]

I will take what I need or want from a camp, leaving the stuff I have on me and don't need in the camp. Will not ruin the camp. Will leave a note if I have a pen and paper or find some.

[Etherious 907]

I like to pick up the most common items they have and then replacing the stolen items with extra crap that I don't need. That crap is usually ammo, and guns. xD 

Edited July 23, 2016 by DJ SGTHornet

[bfisher 561]

I assume they probably wanted those landmines turned on :)

 

[Judged_Guitly 80]

Typically I dont take anything from someones stash unless I'm in really bad shape.  My approach is to mark down all my discoveries for a backup plan if I do fall into hard times.  I am currently tracking 5 bases that I have found and several single barrels scattered throughout the map.  I even contribute to some bases if they are strategically located in my stomping grounds.  I recently added a lot of gear to a base I found then left a note with my steam ID in hopes of gaining an ally.  

If you raid a camp they will abandon it but if you keep an eye on it they will continue to build up and you can come back later for the pick-of-the-litter. 

 If I come across a dupper camp I take appropriate actions but it has to be blatantly obvious before I toss it.

[ebrim 998]

If they have an ammo type I need and don't have, I'll take it. Also, if it's full of GI Joe gear I'll take it and dump it in a bush for their own good. There are plenty of good looking clothes in Chernarus without resorting to military nonsense. I can only assume they are just lazy and never look in houses. Mostly everything else I'll leave untouched.

[FlimFlamm 509]

I never take more than I need, partly out of sympathy and partly because I might come back for more later on. I think ruining a base for the sake of ruining it is bad form.

[emuthreat 2837]

I will leave a note, explaining what I took (usually among the most valuable items, just to get their attention).  I'll keep checking back to see if they have noticed yet, and after three days, I will begin moving everything from their camp to a new one that I would establish a short distance away; leaving their camp full of nothing but food.

[Kohlbar 270]

I usually destroy and take everything I can and if I have a note I'll write something like gotcha suckers

[Mookie (original) 799]

If there's something I really need, I'll take it and leave a friendly note. Maybe swap it for something I think they might like. 

What I don't do is trash/destroy camps, or impose my playstyle on the owners by dumping things I don't think they should be using... Wheaton's Law applies. 

Places you really should not be placing stashes - Bashnya Hill or the woods around Myshkino tents. Blindlingly obvious places, where I find stashes on at least one server in every ten.

I really like Red Ensign's public camp idea, where people have pretty much free access to what he's collected. Might start doing that myself with heli loot. 

[GaryWalnuts 1680]

Unless they have great loot I like to leave them untouched and check back regularly to see if they have anything new in stock.  

Taking a few bags of rice or silencer off of a pistol would only tip them off that someone has found their camp - and they pack it up.

However, if someone sets up a camp too close to my own range I'll make it obvious that I was there, and typically they bug out after that

kind of like pissing on a tree to keep the wildlife away 

[Merc. 37]

I like your style OP. I'm practically the same way. 

I've stolen 5 tents from a camp that had about 13 of them. On the other side, I've plotted a farm and put a bunch of pumpkin carvings in the guy's barrel with some tools and fertilizer (he only had seeds in it). Looked modest and like he was just trying to survive, I respect that style of play.

[Blownupicus 7]

I get that this is a game and that camps are inevitably going to be found and looted, but I just don’t feel right taking anything I don’t need. I need a PU and you have one? Awesome, here’s some magnum rounds and a note thanking you.

When camps first became a thing I went through my phase where I would move any camp I found to a different location and just sit on it. I quickly realized I didn’t need the gear and probably wouldn’t use it, so I now make a mental note of locations and sometimes mess with the owner(s). Last week I moved an entire camp (2 tents and 2 barrels) about 10-20 feet away – made sure to put everything back where it had been before. I’ve since gone back and the camp is still actively being used so I’ll probably move it another 20 feet the next time I get bored.

[Funkmaster Rick 373]

I play with a group these days, so I take any high-value loot that the group might want:
Standard medical gear, like saline, pristine rags, morphine
Standard maintenance gear, like sewing kits
Standard 'power weapons' and their ammo, such as 5.56, 5.45, SVD, FAL, and .45 - oh, and .357 of course, because the Swagnum is the king of sidearms regardless of what anybody else says
Premium clothing, like military boots, good vests, 8-slot jackets, whatever specialty clothing people want for their personal uniforms
Standard survival gear, like combat knives
Canned Food and can openers, because they just make life easier

But that's because I'm constantly stocking up on extra gear to give away to my buddies after they get horribly murdered. Group playstyle means you learn to prioritise a certain standard set of gear that everyone wants, usually because everyone pretty much needs it to be effective long-term in DayZ. Actually, now that I think on it, that list of six categories really reminds me of what some refer to as the Big 6 in Dungeons and Dragons, a sort of standardised set of items most combat-oriented adventuring teams gravitate towards as a way of keeping up with growing challenges.

EDIT: rearranged the list in order of importance.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Funkmaster Rick

[Parazight 1599]

I'm a freedom fighter.  I like to liberate the oppressed grenade pins from their prison and then carefully return their tyrannical enslavers back to where they came from. 

[sneakydude 480]

Since the game is broken when it comes to tents, barrels and persistence and you can warp find a base it is impossible to enjoy them.

One day i hope we can have a base camp like this

This should have been added to the game by now, it has not. Exile mod for arma 3 had this ready in a few months.

Ark had base building by mods in a few weeks, ark saw it as a perfect addition to the game and included custom corners, roofs that snapped right etc..

Epoch worked well, but ark mods actually worked better. Snapping of base walls etc has to be perfect with the ability to resize the existing objects.

we need to have the ability to build like this in sandbox games

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=30624

It is becoming to the point games need to include a house designing software included into the games with the ability to add mods to the existing code. BI wants and has mentioned Mods are very important to the survival of games these days. To extend the life of it.

So I feel because i have modded, and scripted different arma 3 servers with different objects that allows me to place them in the game save then re upload my design, it was perfectly fun to do.

I need the ability to snap objects, resize the walls and structures if i have the correct materials in my inventory to do so. It is much like mindcraft (which i have never played) but it is a big thing these days.

I would try to raid and take over the territory, much like the walking dead series.

 

The negative part about Dayz right now is we have nothing, nothing of any importance to care if someone has a camp or not. Just walk in when they are offline and steal everything.

 

 

[Red_Ensign 990]

On 7/25/2016 at 5:40 AM, Mookie (original) said:

I really like Red Ensign's public camp idea, where people have pretty much free access to what he's collected. Might start doing that myself with heli loot. 

what he's talking about is I maintain a 'public camp' (more of a supply dump really) in a known spot, where I drop all my extra supplies for other people to take (or leave things if they want).  it's prettymuch just a convenience now, but later when stuff gets rare or hard to get to, it'll be more and more valuable as a community resource.  I've been doing it for a few patches now.  only two rules: don't take the red barrels, and don't shoot at other visitors.  only one guy's ever broken the rules, but I think he was a beginner and probably hadn't developed a sense of game etiquette yet.

location 090 073, server dayz wa 2-4

as for my own behavior coming upon another camp, I take what's rare.  usually not for myself though - my own needs are very common (I don't pvp, I just hunt animals and scavenge).  I take it to the public camp for my 'customers'.  if it's a small camp with nothing much of value I leave food/water and spare ammo.

Edited July 27, 2016 by Red_Ensign