Choose Your Background

[Chiefmon 93]

I know that this has been suggested before, but not in the way I envision it. When you choose one of the following survivor backgrounds, you do not get different items on spawn or anything. Instead, you receive little class specific buffs, abilities, and a corresponding armband to designate them as each class. All of the buffs are designed so that they would benefit a group more than an individual. By having these little buffs, it will encourage people to work together as opposed to shooting on sight. I will give explanations about each survivor ability at the bottom of this post.

THESE ARE IDEAS TO BE IMPLEMENTED WHEN THE DESIGNERS SHIFT GAME ENGINES, NOT FOR THE DERPY ARMA II ENGINE. PLEASE JUDGE THESE IDEAS WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE DIFFICULTY WITH WHICH THEY WOULD BE IMPLEMENTED.

Medical Background (Medic): Carries out medical treatments on other survivors twice as fast and can perform them while moving. Also gains the 'apply pressure' ability that will allow them to stop bleeding for as long as both survivors are not moving. (in case there are no bandages) Any survivors within 3m of the medic will regain 1 blood unit per second. DOES NOT APPLY TO SELF OR OTHER MEDICAL PERSONNEL. DOES NOT STACK.

Military Background (Soldier): Gains ability 'Rally' which gives designated survivors +20% Accuracy with firearms when within 30m of Soldier. DOES NOT APPLY TO SELF, DOES NOT STACK. The survivor that chooses this Background will also gain a +5% Accuracy bonus. Gains ability 'Blood Brothers' to be used on another Soldier. When within 3m of each other, reload speed is doubled. CAN ONLY BE USED ON OTHER SOLDIERS AND IS 2-WAY.

Engineering Background (Engineer): Can build kits twice as fast. (Tank traps, wire fencing, campfires, ect) Gains ability 'Tinker'. Tinker allows the engineer to make vehicles run 1.5x as efficiently (i.e. 200L of gas will make a car go as far as it would if it had 300L of gas.) Gains ability 'Blockade'. Blockade allows the Engineer to force a door to stay closed against mid level damage. Blockade would have a cooldown. Gains ability 'Overclock' Overclock allows the Engineer to mod flashlights to shine brighter, but will permanently burn out if left on for longer than 5 minutes straight.

Athletic Background (Athlete): No negative effects from prolonged sprinting. Gains ability 'Carry'. Can pick up a wounded or unconscious survivor and run with them. Cannot shoot or use items while carrying. Gains ability 'Show Off'. When within 30m of a friendly survivor, Athletes do 50% bonus damage with melee weapons. Athletes will autovault over obstacles.

Social Background (Socialite): Can see how many survivors someone has killed. Gains ability 'Disguise'. Can change the appearance of the armband so that they may trick other survivors or bandits into thinking that they are of another background. Gains ability 'Surrender'. Surrender waves a white flag and forces the user to disarm for 60 seconds. If hit by a zombie or survivor, the 60 second wait time is cleared. Gains ability 'Sabotage'. Sabotage allows the Socialite to make a gun jam, a car not start, or a grenade explode instantly when the pin is pulled. Socialites will see English subtitles beneath the Russian on the signs throughout the world.

Hunter Background (Scout): Gains ability 'Track'. Track allows the scout to examine the ground for tracks. The traveled path of the trackee will glow for the Scout. Gets 50% extra meat from hunting animals. Crossbow bolts fired by the Scout will have a trail along its flight path allowing for an easier retrieval. Survivors within 5m of the Scout will have their noise levels reduced by one bar.

Loner Background (Lone Wolf): Gains +1000 maximum blood. When within 30m of other survivors, accuracy goes down by 25%. Gains ability 'Adrenaline Rush'. Adrenaline Rush increases sprint speed by 25%, forces the player out of shock and allows them to WALK on a broken bone. Adrenaline rush lasts 20 seconds. For this duration, bleed rate is multiplied by 4. Adrenaline Rush can only be used once every 24 hours.

Medic- Meant to be the most sought after member of a group. Disguising as a Medic is a bad idea since Disguise doesn't give the socialite the small healing aura.

Soldier- Supposed to be a leader type. Blood brothers is a bond between two soldiers that will allow for a last stand next to each other with nonstop firing.

Engineer- More of an independent background. Would be sought after if a small group had a vehicle. The Engineer's blockade ability would allow for a moment's rest when a group or individual dives into a small house to escape a ravenous horde.

Athlete- The first line of defense, meant to do heavy lifting.

Socialite- A bandit's best friend. They can swap out their armband to trick a group into accepting them. If a group already has a couple of medics and a Scout, one could disguise themselves as a Soldier so they could more effectively infiltrate their group. Surrender is meant so that a player could effectively declare I AM FRIENDLY to other players. Most of the shooting I've seen is due to everyone living in fear of being shot. This would allow a short cease fire so that a player could negotiate as opposed to open firing. Sabotage would be useful in group vs. group situations. A socialite could leave a bunch of sabotaged equipment out in the open for the enemy. The ability to read the Russian signs is meant to be an incentive for all groups to have a Socialite with them.

Scout- Great for sneaking and chasing enemy bandits/survivors.

Lone Wolf- For people who want to play the game solo. Adrenaline Rush is meant as a risky escape. Bleeding horribly and limping from a zombie horde could be better than laying their being eaten. The Lone Wolf would have an incentive to avoid large groups.

The final goal with these classes is to reduce the amount of survivors killing each other. I want a bandit to aim his sights at a survivor, see that he is a medic, then threaten him into healing him. Better yet, I want people to keep an active look out for the other classes so that they can all benefit from each others' presence.

PLEASE COMMENT WITH FEEDBACK OR OTHER BACKGROUND IDEAS!

[Captain Q 3]

Not only would this be very hard to implement considering ArmA's base files not incorperating such matters, but it would also not contribute quite as much to the overall scheme. While I like the effort that you put into your idea, and in any other case would support it, the whole concept would just put an extra burden on the developers shoulders that, right now, they would not be able to handle.

First, we must take into account the character models: They do not include armbands, and since skins are changable, armbands would have to factor into ghille suits and such, unless they are scrapped entirely.

In terms of the suggested characters, a few stat differences would be good ideas, like the + or - of blood, however, this coming at the cost of something else would be strange.

A lot of these ideas have potential, but the engine simply will not support them. Maybe when ArmA 3 rolls along, you would have a better opportunity to present this idea. Otherwise, I like it, but it's not likely.

[noobsmcgee@gmail.com 52]

Yeah i have to agree, great idea love to see it but seems unlikely.

Having said that it would be cool for the scout type to have an ability "Paranoia" That if a player is within a certain distance that isn't apart of there "pack" they get a warning Not a distance not a heading and will only toast for a few seconds. passive and has a cool down of a few or more minutes. Since it is paranoia it can happen randomly for no reason but will give you a second message a minute or two later proving it false doesn't trigger cool down. If there is a gunshot they get another brief and general message again not distance but a cardinal direction toasts for 1 second but will stay up as long as shots are less than 1 second apart 10 or so second cd if it drops. Tracking as you describe it could only be balanced for animals. All other classes should absorb the social ability surrender and social should be changed to something else or removed.

Again Sounds amazing and would play the shit out of it and suggest stuff for every class. But don't know if it can happen.

Edit: you shouldn't gain group bonus until you're within 5 or so feet and acknowledge it.

[scoffield77@gmail.com 192]

it's a good idea, but I don't think it suits DayZ

[Chiefmon 93]

Let me reiterate, this is for the FINAL edition. Right now DayZ is in pre-alpha. I figure that recommending these HUGE upgrades early would make them more likely to be made.