Survival mechanics promotion (growing plants, using bow etc.).

[Blyatimov 5]

Hello everyone.

(this text doesn't contain any reference to berries as they aren't present in 0.62 as of yet(?) and the topic aims at the future versions of DayZ)
(berries are back on stable)

 

Since last week I've been trying to play as a simple bushman - get a small tent, make a garden plot and try to become one with the forest. I decided to make a quick report on how were my impressions so far and address present issues with the system.

 

Ever since I started playing like that I noticed many pros:
- ability to avoid player contact by looting smaller towns and staying in the forest
- once you establish food source you can survive for quite decent amount of time
- having fun while gathering necessary tools

However, here come significant cons:
- time period Persistence serves doesn't help you
- if you rely on wild animals as a food source, you're pretty much dead - there aren't many, even though you're probably the only person hunting
- bow effective distance is a bit questionable
- low quantity of animals around makes you strive for a bunch of bone arrows if you can't even find a single chicken sometimes

 

Theoretically, this way of playing is very enjoyable, until it shows off in practice.
Starting off with Persistence - this is the most disencouraging thing. It forces you to regularly check garden plots and campfires, deleting them all of the sudden on server crash/restart. As soon as you experience this several times you easily get pissed and abandon this playstyle, knowing that you have to sit near crops 24/7 so that you won't have them taken away by the game itself. Time lapse in DayZ is a very important thing which becomes a huge problem with horticulture going on. Player simply doesn't have that much time to keep an eye on it.
Now, animals and the bow. Unless you are deep in forest you will probably survive by making use of chickens. Eventually, when you finally spot a deer you won't get close enough to kill it with a bow - leaving you with empty hands. That, of course, forces you to find a gun - but what if you're a spritual forest habitant in-game? Well, nothing. You can't really continue this way of playing efficiently.

 

Time for summary. \o/
Overally, those mechanics are enjoyable but then listed issues heavily interrupt them. Possible solution for that Persistence problem would be tuning up the amount of time things can exist until they are wiped and making the "wipe timer" reset every time player makes interaction with those objects. A bit more animals quantity would also be nice to see in the future. I believe that eliminating irritating issues will be enough to make this playstyle used more widely.

Off the balance, I may be mistaken and those mechanics were made only as a quick temporal solution for fresh spawns. Some dev could come in and clear things up.

Cheers !

Edited June 8, 2017 by Blyatimov

[solodude23 649]

Hey, nice writeup. I usually play as a bushman of sorts but I'm more of a nomad so I haven't messed with the gardens or tested fireplace persistence recently.

Haven't messed with farms in quite a long time because of the persistence issue. Did you make the basic fireplace or upgrade it into a stone ring or stone oven? I haven't tried myself, but perhaps only the latter two are intended to be persistent.

As for animals, I'm with you in that they seem too uncommon. However, I recall seeing them more frequently before the more advanced stealth mechanics and animal AI were added, so perhaps I'm just scaring them off before I have a chance to notice them. Either way, they still seem a bit rare. I've only seen cows and chickens in the law few days.

I think the bow is pretty sufficient for being improvised and is definitely much better than it used to be. Once added to the game, I imagine the recurve will be a bit better. Not sure what you meant about the bone arrows, but the regular improvised arrows (sharpened stick + feather) work quite well. I might be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that they have a better trajectory than the bone arrow anyway (but deal less damage/blood loss).

I'd also suggest that you give fishing a try if you haven't already! Despite the current clunky implementation, it's quite a reliable source of food and you can just disassemble your bow temporarily if you're short on rope.

Good luck!