Walkie Talkies.

[Miragenz 71]

- Local chat alerts zombies and everyone within the area can hear you

- Walk talkies (make them as rare as say.. CZ ammo maybe) don't attract zombies (talk quietly in theory) but can be heard by other players using scanners at the base of the big antenna towers

- Scanners can intercept comms so you'd still use local chat if you wanted to be sure you weren't being listened to

Yeah?

One point that seems to get lost all the time is the fact that a walkie talkie isnt just the voice part, it could also allow you to communicate by chatting, since obviously many people will be using teamspeak or ventrilo etc, would be pointless to add ingame teamspeak.

But since global chat were to be removed you wouldnt have any way to communicate other then direct chat, which in my opinion is lacking

[bogroll (DayZ) 26]

Walkie Talkies- great idea. Takes up a slot where your binoculars go up at the top of your inventory.

Direct comms is lacking due to the range and evesdroppers.

[Miragenz 71]

Walkie Talkies- great idea. Takes up a slot where your binoculars go up at the top of your inventory.

Direct comms is lacking due to the range and evesdroppers.

Not sure where it should go, but i believe there are a number of spots left down below at the map, compass etc anyways. But dont know what else they have intended for those spots.

[Miragenz 71]

Best part would probably be to be able to communicate with your surroundings, other then direct chat, to be able to communicate with a x amount of km radius.

Meaning you could ask if there are people in Stary Sobor for example when you are abit outside of town, and they could reply to you, without the entire server knowing about it.

The fun thing is, that there could also be people in the area that are catching your transmission, and they can be eavesdropping in on your little chat.

[TheJackal_112 3]

Sounds like a great idea - I am all for it

[Miragenz 71]

Tomorrow ill have a look at all the ideas and suggestions proposed so far, sum it all up.

[AccidentalHuman 2]

I really do like this idea and I know for fact that it can be accomplished by incorporating the group system. Even a very rudimentary system exists in ARMA II already in which you can create a group through the UI, lock the group and unlock the group for your friends to join so you can talk to them as well as type with them.

Get er done?

[deepfried 95]

I agree with the walkie-talkie suggestion but it think it should enable side channel rather than global, and bandits and survivors should be on different sides for the purpose of the side channel (and only that purpose).

That way survivors can chat to each without bandits listening in, and it also helps survivors trust each other and group up.

If not side channel then group channel with different groups as different frequencies.

[Miragenz 71]

I really do like this idea and I know for fact that it can be accomplished by incorporating the group system. Even a very rudimentary system exists in ARMA II already in which you can create a group through the UI' date=' lock the group and unlock the group for your friends to join so you can talk to them as well as type with them.

Get er done?

[/quote']

Not sure about a group, fairly sure that rocket was against groups etc. But who knows

---

I agree with the walkie-talkie suggestion but it think it should enable side channel rather than global' date=' and bandits and survivors should be on different sides for the purpose of the side channel (and only that purpose).

That way survivors can chat to each without bandits listening in, and it also helps survivors trust each other and group up.

If not side channel then group channel with different groups as different frequencies.

[/quote']

The idea was to add several channels in atleast, havent completely determined on what to set each channel as, also it shouldnt really allow global chat, but have more of a limited radius.

[Miragenz 71]

Not quite sure as to how to implement channels, but i think it would be interesting to create some form of private channel, which could or could not be intruded.

Sounds, perhaps the walkie talkie could emit a certain sound when in use, as in a beep or static, giving a more tactical thing to using the walkie talkie.

Range, to prevent this from becoming a global chat, and to make it more realistic it should have a maximum range, maybe 4-5 km, maybe make it dependent on a radio tower in one way or another, and be able to adjust the range just like you adjust the range of your weapons.

Eavesdropping, if certain channels would be implemented, private'ish ones mainly, there could be something that allows others ( bandits ) to listen in on your conversation when in range.

GPS, just thought of this, but ( intensive ) use of a walkie talkie could allow people with a GPS ( or/and some other tool ) to get a rough idea of where you are located. As with every use the person gets a certain mark on their GPS indicating a radius of which the user is located in.

[robosheriff 13]

does direct coms work?

[McStabYou 0]

I like the idea of a radio, but not for team communication. People wouldn't use a radio for communicating with team mates if there where any downsides to using it, people would just continue to use third party voip software. But if you wanted to use a radio to try to call for help in desperate situations or brodcast a message, that would make things interesting.

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of certain survivors becoming merchants. They could brodcast a message advertising themselves to prospective clients. On the other hand, bandits could use it to lure naive players to an ambush. It could also be used to broadcast recruitment messages/propaganda for clans trying to expand. And of course there would be multiple channels and the ability to turn it off completely.

Doubt anything like this would come into actual consideration for the game, but it's a fun thought.

[Miragenz 71]

people would just continue to use third party voip software. But if you wanted to use a radio to try to call for help in desperate situations or brodcast a message' date=' that would make things interesting.

[/quote']

The walkie talkie doesn't have to be voip only though, also as a 'chat enabler'.

And ofcourse you dont need it if you use teamspeak or whatever to converse with your group, and have no intention of talking to anyone else.

But if you do want to communicate with other survivors, who you dont know so dont have on teamspeak etc a walkie talkie would be the way to go.

[mosesuk 0]

I very much like the idea of a walkie talkie you could use to communicate with other survivors you may not know already.

What if when near a radio tower you could somehow boost the signal of your walkie talkie, allowing the maximum range to be increased? So if by default you have a 5km range the radio tower could boost it to say 50km

[Miragenz 71]

I very much like the idea of a walkie talkie you could use to communicate with other survivors you may not know already.

What if when near a radio tower you could somehow boost the signal of your walkie talkie' date=' allowing the maximum range to be increased? So if by default you have a 5km range the radio tower could boost it to say 50km

[/quote']

Yeah i think it would be interesting to have some options with the range, i shouldnt be equal to global chat, since thats pretty useless to inform the entire world of something that is going on nearby.

Also not quite sure what the actual distance is from north to south, east to west on the map, but i dont think you would need more then 50% of the range at most.

My main reason for this idea is to be able to communicate with people around you, other then the unrealistic global chat, which is just for chatter, rather then anything productive. And the direct chat is really just for whoever is right next to you.

In between that you lack the option to talk to people who are in the same town or whatever. Which means that now you end up talking to everyone on global chat, so that even the people at the NW airfield know what you're saying to a guy in Cherno. Otherwise you have to be right next to the guy to ask that thing, which in this PvP world nowadays isnt something you want to do.

[kloust! 0]

The title speaks for itself. The walkie talkies in vanilla ARMA 2 are awesome.

[greenfist (DayZ) 11]

Walkie-talkies would be great! Maybe just an item you carry and set a channel/password with gear menu action. A simple GUI would be needed since there's no native user input text system in arma, i think. If you select the same channel as someone else, you'll be moved to same group as him. Then the group chat would be available. It's not even disabled now because there are no groups.

Drop the radio and you'll be removed from group and back to individual using only direct chat.

Atleast sounds simple and foolproof to do. Right?

[boneboys 7988]

Maybe...

Hall:: Oh, yeah, a baby monitor, I want to see that. Cruising around Cherno with baby monitors.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/23/day-z-arma-3-interview-optimization-map-design-radios-porting-day-z-into-arma-3/

[Miragenz 71]

Maybe...

Hall:: Oh' date=' yeah, a baby monitor, I want to see that. Cruising around Cherno with baby monitors.[/i']

yeah i also read that actually, i guess the basic idea is the same.

I don't know a whole lot of whats going to be possible regarding walkie talkies and whatever, but i think there are good possibilities

Walkie-talkies would be great! Maybe just an item you carry and set a channel/password with gear menu action. A simple GUI would be needed since there's no native user input text system in arma' date=' i think. If you select the same channel as someone else, you'll be moved to same group as him. Then the group chat would be available. It's not even disabled now because there are no groups.

Drop the radio and you'll be removed from group and back to individual using only direct chat.

Atleast sounds simple and foolproof to do. Right?

[/quote']

Yep, i'd say

[Miragenz 71]

Anyone else got some suggestions? or remarks?

[Miragenz 71]

Bumping for more thoughts.

[vision1776 42]

Walkitalkies would be useless because people use Skype and Team Speak

[aknur 0]

my idea:

new starting tool (radio-receiver) which will give you the ability to listen to the global channel (text only, cause voice mostly used for annoying someone :/ )

new tool as often findable as a map - the radio-transmitter - for the ability to write into the global channel

in that way pple, who finds the global chat annoyingly, can deactivate it by simply dropping the starttool and the ones who wanna get some survivor (to kill them or to join into their own grp) can contact them simply.

communication over long range was ever a shoutlike communication which everyone can receive, the channelbased communication should then be availiable without any protection, cause that would goin too straight into military use...

the direct communication should then be changed to different say modes (as said by someone) whisper, say and shout

*push*

Why i think its useful?

Im lonely! :/

no, seriously, we are 4 guys at the moment who sneak around and we act thery aggresive, and dont let someone get to us near than 400 metres (exept someone with vehicles if they really insist :D )

that makes direct communication unavailiable for us to get new ones in our lines :/

surviving is no problem, hold bandits away from us either, but thats a lonely way to go.... without any changes in communication ways

[Miragenz 71]

Walkitalkies would be useless because people use Skype and Team Speak

Thank you for reading the thread.

It has been spoken about already' date=' and its not a voice only thing.

And serves a different purpose then skype.

[hr']

Why i think its useful?

Im lonely! :/

no' date=' seriously, we are 4 guys at the moment who sneak around and we act thery aggresive, and dont let someone get to us near than 400 metres (exept someone with vehicles if they really insist :D )

that makes direct communication unavailiable for us to get new ones in our lines :/

surviving is no problem, hold bandits away from us either, but thats a lonely way to go.... without any changes in communication ways

[/quote']

Thats the main issue for me aswell, i understand the original reasoning however, how being able to communicate with the entire world is taking away some realism from the game.

However not being able to talk to anyone about anyone unless they're in the bathroom stall right next to you is rather lacking.

There has always been a range which wasn't covered, since it was either global, where people in Elektro and NW Airfield could hear you ask a guy at kamenka if he was friendly.

Or direct, which is just very limited, there is nothing inbetween there either.

[hellocam3 0]

I think this is a great idea that would add this idea of that there is hope out there. Imagine that you've been alone for days and you finally find a radio that has different frequencies and can be used to communicate with other survivors. This would add more imersion into DayZ and be a great addition to the mod. Fixed Radios are also a good idea but I wouldn't mind it that you could take them but they would take the place of the backpack.

And people who don't have the radios will just use teamspeak or another VOIP client. It's nice from a gameplay/RPG standpoint but with such an easy work around that particular game mechanic the dev's time would probably be better spent elsewhere. :/

I wouldn't worry about this. Sure you can communicate with other players but you'll be talking to everyone in the TeamSpeak channel plus It's hard to identifiy players when talking through TeamSpeak. I rarely use TeamSpeak when I play DayZ because of the confusion and risk that it has. The radios could be a more safer way of communicating to other players that have the skill to get one.

Sounds good to me. But would they always be on? Or only in text? So that you can only whisper (use the walkie feature) when you have one? I know I was having a hard time last night wanting to give a guy info about some loot (he wasn't finding any and getting frustrated)' date=' but I didn't want everyone knowing what I wanted to tell him. I was in a sort of loot heaven (ammo, food stuffs, parts, cars, etc) He was a few villages from me at the time. But even if direct worked I couldn't have told him. Some other way would've been nice. Hehe.

[/quote']

The radios should be battery operated and you have the ability to turn them off for a period of time to conserve power untill you find more batteries to use. Also different frequencies should be used. One example of the frequencies I can think of is the Metal Gear Solic codec frequencies format.

All in all - radios would be a great feature adding even more to the imersion of the mod.

Thanks for reading,

HelloCam3