Refugee camp

[hoffa (DayZ) 71]

You know how every post-apocalyptic movie has a rumor about the existance of a refugee camp where most survivors decide to head to?

Well, this is what I had in mind, and I'll try to devide the whole thing into few paragraphs.

Location:

Take a few random locations. I'm new to this game, so don't know every suitable one, but Devil's Castle and Stary Camp come to mind. Simply, anywhere that is somewhat protected by walls, has high positions around it, and can make you feel like you are really in some kind of improvised structure.

Now, make the camp (I'll explain how I thought it should look like later) spawn every day for about 2-3 hours. Every time in one of those random locations.

To add that feeling of disbelief and paranoia which you would have if someone told you in RL situation that you could be safe if you decide to travel for miles and miles - make the server anounce a liitle rumor every couple of hours during that day. Let's say it's monday and the camp is at Devil's Castle, spawns at 6 p.m. and lasts till 8 or 9. Make the server send out information like "Rumor is there is a refugee camp at Devil's Castle" at random hours that day before and after the spawning of the camp. So the people who are far away, but want help desperately, would think "Is it really there? Can I make it in time?" Maybe they'll go, maybe not. Some of them would probably team-up if deciding to go there. The next day, put the camp at a different location, at different time, and make the server anounce the rumor, but with the location for that day. This way the players know where the camp is supposed to be, but are not sure if it really is. And 24 hours is too long to sit in a forrest next to the announced location and wait.

Camp:

Simple - spawn basic resources... a few water pumps and a few fire places. So people could make themselves warm, tend to their thirst. For medicine, ammo, food, or anything else, they need to cooperate, and trade with other players. Maybe make friends, assemble teams for future playing. Also spawn some unuseable tents, just for the atmosphere.

Defence:

People need to be defended to feel safe. Spawn a few NPCs. I'm talking about some army soldiers, with the best fire-power, make them invulnerable, so zombies and bandit players can not destroy the feeling of a safe camp, make them 100% precisse, so they hit anyone and anything they need. They should kill zombies in one shot (also, make zombies not spawn anymore in that location as long as army's there). Whoever commits a murder in or around the camp - make them kill that player. The game already recognizes murders from zombie kills - so I don't think it should be a problem. Also, everyone with 5+, or 10+ murders gets shot on sight.

Despawning:

As I said, make the camp available for a few hours a day, so it's a privilege to be there. When it spawns, you have a goal - get there, be safe for just a while, get geared up with medicine and go your way again. For despawning, NPCs should despawn about 15mins after the rest of the camp. So if there's 5-10 players in there, they have enoguh time to go away and not be imidiately swarmed by bandits or zombies.

So that's my idea. I'm don't know if this is even doable, but I really think that players need a feeling of security and calmnes in a game like this. Not always, but just for a while. And it would be cool, because, let's take me as an example - it's my idea and I could roam that map for weeks before I'm lucky enough to stumble upon that camp.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

You lost me at invulnerable army NPC's.

P.S - You'll lose most people at "a safe place like Starry military camp".

Edited July 23, 2012 by Fraggle

[drseptapus 49]

I like the idea of having a safe area, but they way you are implementing it is at odds with the current direction of the game. Anybody feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but I was under the impression that there will not be any NPCs. In addition to not having NPCs I also believe that there will never be a police force of any kind. Rocket has stated that he wants player interaction to be controlled by the players. Invulnerability will never happen.

That being said I would say this idea is not completely useless. Your server wide broadcast has already been discussed in spirit. I'm sure you have seen all the threads about the radios. I seem to remember somebody throwing out the idea that there could be stationary radios that would sometimes play messages that would provide insight as to what happened to the area and why there are zombies everywhere, I think it would be cool if the players could input messages and have them broadcast to all players within range of the radio.

The basic concept of a base hopefully will be implemented in the future. Rocket has said that he hopes to implement the ability to allow players to make their own bases that take a long time to build. What I think would be cool is if somebody makes a camp outside of a town, and when he leaves in the morning, sends out a message on the radio saying that there is a camp set up at [location] and it is open to anybody in the area.

This also opens up the possibility of player run safe areas, which would be where you would able to meet up with people and form groups like you had proposed.

Edited July 23, 2012 by drseptapus

[hoffa (DayZ) 71]

Yeah, I'm not from an english speaking country, so I may have messed up some of my thoughts :D

Anyway - NPC - I was thinking about guards, so people don't have to worry about enemies. And making them have unlimited ammo and health if that is possible, just so bandits or zombies can't wipe them out and that kill the entire party inside or just outside the camp.

Stary camp - I think it looks well surrounded by fences and a few high buildings where guards could spawn. And it's a camp after all, so it should feel like a camp :D

[xTLRxPrototype (DayZ) 15]

And making them have unlimited ammo and health if that is possible, just so bandits or zombies can't wipe them out

Guards with infinite health and ammo?

Edited July 23, 2012 by xTLRxPrototype

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Yeah, I'm not from an english speaking country, so I may have messed up some of my thoughts :D

Anyway - NPC - I was thinking about guards, so people don't have to worry about enemies. And making them have unlimited ammo and health if that is possible, just so bandits or zombies can't wipe them out and that kill the entire party inside or just outside the camp.

Stary camp - I think it looks well surrounded by fences and a few high buildings where guards could spawn. And it's a camp after all, so it should feel like a camp :D

Your English is fine.

I don't want to see NPC's in DayZ at all. If there's ever going to be a safe area in DayZ, it needs to be set-up by players using the tools available (which I know isn't the case at the moment).

[hoffa (DayZ) 71]

I like the idea of having a safe area, but they way you are implementing it is at odds with the current direction of the game. Anybody feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but I was under the impression that there will not be any NPCs. In addition to not having NPCs I also believe that there will never be a police force of any kind. Rocket has stated that he wants player interaction to be controlled by the players. Invulnerability will never happen.

That being said I would say this idea is not completely useless. Your server wide broadcast has already been discussed in spirit. I'm sure you have seen all the threads about the radios. I seem to remember somebody throwing out the idea that there could be stationary radios that would sometimes play messages that would provide insight as to what happened to the area and why there are zombies everywhere, I think it would be cool if the players could input messages and have them broadcast to all players within range of the radio.

The basic concept of a base hopefully will be implemented in the future. Rocket has said that he hopes to implement the ability to allow players to make their own bases that take a long time to build. What I think would be cool is if somebody makes a camp outside of a town, and when he leaves in the morning, sends out a message on the radio saying that there is a camp set up at [location] and it is open to anybody in the area.

This also opens up the possibility of player run safe areas, which would be where you would able to meet up with people and form groups like you had proposed.

If I understood correctly everything you wrote, there would be a difference. I was thinking about a respawning base, so the players don't know if it's there or not, and have to take their chances if they want to go to that safe place. What if you decide to go to that specific location and it turns out the camp rumor was a lie. That's a psychological aspect I was aiming at mostly. If you're 50km away from that spot - do you risk getting killed? Or do you decide to stay where you are and hope to stumble upon it some day.

If I completely missed what you wrote, I'm sorry, look for an explanation in the first sentance of my post right above this one :)

[thatcommiekid 57]

So when it despwans... POOF* its gone? Doesnt sound like a very practical idea to me.

[hoffa (DayZ) 71]

Guards with infinite health and ammo?

I said I don't know if that's possible. They don't have to be guards, I'm not sure if I explained right. "Guards" are just a way to make people maximally protected in that camp. It's just a suggestion

Your English is fine. I don't want to see NPC's in DayZ at all. If there's ever going to be a safe area in DayZ, it needs to be set-up by players using the tools available (which I know isn't the case at the moment).

Well, they would spawn for only the duration of the camp. Later, when camp despawns, they would despawn also. So they're not affecting the game, just making the camp effective.

[hoffa (DayZ) 71]

So when it despwans... POOF* its gone? Doesnt sound like a very practical idea to me.

Well, yeah. Make it spawn for a couple of hours, then despawn it. The other day make it spawn on another location.

It's not the camp that is the main idea here (although I would like it that way), it's the feeling you would get when the server would inform you that there's a camp in some place. You know that there might not be a camp at that time, you know, even if it is, it may be gone until you get there. You should choose do you want to believe the rumors or not, and if you want to go there or not. Some players wont even have the need to go, but for new ones, and players that get shot constantly, it would be as tempting aswell as unbelieveable.

[Womb Raider 92]

No matter how much you want it to happen, unless everything about this refugee camp is player made and player driven, this will not happen.

[hoffa (DayZ) 71]

Well I don't actually care if it's realised or not, I like and enjoy the game as it is already. I had an idea, and this is a suggestion sub-forum, so I layed it out here. I'm almost certain every apocalyptic, or post-apocalyptic movie, or even a real life tragedies have some sort of place where survivors are taken in. This was my idea for a place like that in DayZ, and my idea how to make it work with added effect of disbilief an paranoia about the whole thing.

[MarkL 0]

Only played 2 day, but i can confirm there are safe places in DayZ already. Once I strolled into the woods and could not find any zombie or player (or a way out) for 15 minutes.

But I think your point is more to a social meeting place, like a clan or a village. From what i can see in DayZ, instead of movie style "refugee camp", There are normadic group that roam between town and gather what they can, and move on. Which makes sense, in an apocalypse there will be a very little chance to have a place that can shelter, feed and protect a larger number of people for a long enough period without getting raid.

To put it simply, it IS apocalypse. A safe place or resources, choose one of them.