Starting Gear (Finding a weapon)

[Glor86 0]

Hello fellow survivors,

I am having a difficult time. First off, every guide I have read says that you start with a pistol and a canteen. Every time I join a server all I have is Bandage, Painkillers, Flashlight, and a Backpack. I have played a few lives, the first few I could not find any building that is not full of zombies and even after trying suicide runs into the buildings to try to find a weapon I always find nothing. This past time I thought for a moment that I had gotten lucky. I spawned and within a few minutes of walking came across a barn with three zombies inside. I do a suicide run into the barn and, what luck, I find a crossbow. I take off running because I am being chased, once I lose them I stop to try out my crossbow only to find out it has no bolts. I can plainly see a bolt on the weapon but it will not let me fire even after trying to reload and everything. So I backtrack back to the barn and do another suicide run, hoping to find some bolts. Nope, just a hatchet and some wood. I am psyched because hey, the hatchet doesn't need ammo right... wrong you cannot use it as a weapon. By this time I am dying of thirst and low on blood so I sneak through town trying to find something to drink. But the doors on all houses are closed and nothing I can do will open them. I am about ready to quit. It took me three hours to download the proper mod files and whatnot to play this infuriating game and it seems that I wasted three hours of my life for nothing. Any suggestions or advice would be awesome, otherwise I will just delete the game and continue my search for an open world zombie survival game. Thanks.

~Glor

[-MadTommy 367]

You can use a hatchet as a weapon.. a very good one in fact.

If it is not in your hand after picking it up you need to right click it in the gear menu and select 'remove from belt', you will also need to reload it before you can 1st use it. Use r button to reload.

Using a loot map link this one really help when you 1st start.. http://dayzdb.com/map

Large barns are the best place to find starter weapons... and the pistol was removed a few patches ago as a starting weapon.

Good luck

Edited July 22, 2012 by MadTommy

[LockeDown 144]

Take time to familiarize yourself. Wiki up.

[nihilistmisanthrope 0]

Hi man. Nowadays you start with next to nothing. But once you find one, the hatchet is your friend, it CAN be used as a weapon! You just have to go into your inventory after you pick it up, right click on it, remove from tool belt, now it is in your primary weapon slot. You then need to RELOAD it! Yes, ridiculous, but it's a way for it to be "fired". Don't let the silenced pistol sounds scare you. That is your hatchet's sound. You can kill zombies/players from several feet away. so no need to run into the swing of the zombie. Strike before or after he has taken a swipe. But remember to reload it everytime you take it out of your toolbelt, or else you are zombie meat.

The crossbow is practically good for nothing except game hunting for food. Kill animals with a weapon, then use the knife you find in a grocery store, on a player body, etc., to gut the animal.

Now you have to cook the food. With the hatchet, go into a forest, be near a tree, and right click on the hatchet in your inventory, gather firewood. Now you can't do jack until you find matches, usually found in a supermarket. Right click on the matches, make fireplace. Then you can use the scroll wheel to cook the meat. It will only cook the meat that is in your inventory, will not touch what is in the backpack, so move the raw meat over to cook it.

Once you get that down, you can survive quite easily. Be sure to search the zombie bodies with your gear menu for cans of soda and canned food. This will supplement your cook meat and waterbottles (you can fill those at ponds, but not at the big water (real life Chernarus has a river apparently, but on the map looks like a sea/ocean. You'll find the inland towns at least slightly less risky than coastal towns like Cherno and Elektro. Hit some deer stands, and youll get some weapons/ammo/water/food. Maybe a paid of NVGs.

Good luck.

Edited July 22, 2012 by nihilistmisanthrope

[Markedgun 15]

It is very important to know where loot it. First off if you feel like you have nothing to lose try Elecktro or Cherno, but beware of bandits and people. Second weapons are not as common as you think, it takes me maybe a minute or 2 of sneaking before I even find a weapon if I am lucky.

[noobfun 87]

Hi man. Nowadays you start with next to nothing.

but somehow still to much :-/

[Glor86 0]

Alright thanks for the advice all, reload the hatchet... got it haha. Yes I do need to do some research apparently. Thanks all, happy hunting and stay safe out there!

~Glor