Base Building/Endgame Suggestion- Shipping Crates!

[Bribase 251]

It seems from interviews that rocket is pretty hooked on the notion of base building being a feature in Day-Z or whatever the standalone or arma 3 mod might be. Allow me to offer a suggestion.

People have been making permanent or semi-permanent structures out of old shipping crates for years. They are prefabricated, modular and importantly for the purposes of the post apocalypse, bullet proof. There are tonnes of them sitting at the edge of the ports of Cherno, Electro and Berezino just waiting to be used. It's a simple way to build complex structures from flat labyrithine towns, courtyarded structures with a single fortified entrance to tall towers with a "Jenga block" style configuration.

But how do you get these huge steel structures where you want them? Unfortunately, that's where my suggestion requires a great deal of extra design and coding. Hear me out, it might be awesome.

As far as I understand it, we have two options here; by chopper airlift or by truck (I have no idea of the Huey's airlift capacity and I know that such a mammoth truck doesn't exist in Arma). both have disadvantages and advantages. The airlift technique means avoiding the route through the city but it requires an experienced pilot and men on the ground to hitch the heli up to the container itself, the truck route means navigating a treacherous route into and out of a major city. Both possibilities involve the carriage and transport of what has become the most precious commodity in the game, far exceeding the most powerful weapon or versatile vehicle; the means to build a home.

But it's not just the challenge of getting the loot and getting to your base without bandits ambushing you. The ship's containers are stacked by the large cranes on the docks. The truck has a small crane that can deposit it's load off of it's trailer but it can't reach the ones in the stack, the heli could feasibly lift the container from the top of the stack but the men can't reach the desired container to hitch it to the chopper unless it's on the floor. That's where the huge cranes at the docks come into the equation.

Once the crane is powered up (no idea whatsoever how this aught to be handled) a single man must operate the crane to get it into a suitable place for the airlift/loading. On the crane, a large print sign reads "WARNING- ALARM WILL SOUND WHEN CRANE IS IN OPERATION". See where I'm going here?

The siren sounds and every zombie in the city (and I dare say every player in the city as well) will make a beeline to the harbour area. Hordes of zeds make for the crane and begin to climb the ladder to the crane operator booth, the man in the crane must be protected while he gets the container in place! Swarms of zombies need to be fought off while the truck is loaded and the heli is hitched up. And that's before the snipers come to thwart your plans of building a base. And even if the container is sucessfully hitched to the chopper it cannot land with the container slung underneath it, the booth of the truck only seats two. The men in charge of protecting the crane operator and cargo must find their own way out of the city and back to the prospective location of their base. And that means getting through a wall of infected.

Not only that but the glacially slow speed, tiny crew capacity and enormous size of the truck means it's the single most valued item on the map. The heavy lifting of getting the truck from the harbour is done for them, all they need to do is dispose of the driver and his passenger and build their own base where they please. And if the heli is destroyed by bandits it will leave the container close to where it crashes, voila! the beginnings of a new bandit base!

I understand that this is a tall order for the dev team. The physics may even be impossible for the engine (fingers crossed that the PhysX of Arma 3 will). But one can dream can't one? And I like to dream of a fortified town in the hills made of scavenged cargo containers, a newly established home away from the infected towns, beans for every survivor and an assault rifle for every backpack.

[3rdparty 229]

err yes +! (and i meant !)

I think this is a great idea matey, more ideas/discussions on group activities/objectives/basebuilding/environment manipulation needs to occur on this forum.

Activities like this are clearly not suited for lone wolves which is good because there should be a whole host of interactive/customizable environments/objects suited for lone wolves to small groups to large clans.

+1

[AluCaRdBe 32]

shipping crates? at least we'll finally have a good use for the crowbar :P

[CarloNord 29]

Good idea, what exactly will the crates be used for at the base? Something specific or you use the scroll wheel to pick a function for it? Like a barracks where you can regenerate blood up to 9-10 thousand? Maybe simply for storage and it can hold up to 400 items, 30 backpacks, and 50 weapons? Or you could simply use it as an "airlock" type door for your base's entrance. I love it!

[Strogg 23]

What really sells this to me is the idea of finding a player made base overrun by zombies. I'm hoping there will be roaming zombie mobs in A3: Day Z to effect this.

[Raghammer 1]

The idea sounds nice but theres one problem...me!

Why me ? Because im the sniper who puts out your lights even before you have the chance to leave your truck :-)

But except that i like your idea

Edited July 25, 2012 by Raghammer

[Bribase 251]

err yes +! (and i meant !)

I think this is a great idea matey, more ideas/discussions on group activities/objectives/basebuilding/environment manipulation needs to occur on this forum.

Activities like this are clearly not suited for lone wolves which is good because there should be a whole host of interactive/customizable environments/objects suited for lone wolves to small groups to large clans.

+1

A skilled lone wolf couldn't retrieve the container from the docks. But could he take out one driver and his passenger as they transport it to the site of their base? Taking out a chopper is a much tougher task though. Perhaps the chopper would have a limited altitude and speed due to the extra weight of the container? Hearing the siren of the dock crane would be a signal for rival factions to ready roadblocks and ambush points as the truck/heli team expends their ammo and bloodpacks on waves of zeds.

[3rdparty 229]

A skilled lone wolf couldn't retrieve the container from the docks. But could he take out one driver and his passenger as they transport it to the site of their base? Taking out a chopper is a much tougher task though. Perhaps the chopper would have a limited altitude and speed due to the extra weight of the container? Hearing the siren of the dock crane would be a signal for rival factions to ready roadblocks and ambush points as the truck/heli team expends their ammo and bloodpacks on waves of zeds.

I see noot wrong with this, could end up with some very cool PvP scenarios XD

+1

[Ribano 46]

this is the best idea yet to create real nice bases. multiple crates can be joined together with interior walls replaced or left in to create compartments.

digger required to bury them (as i know this game is going underground) with perhaps a concrete ring and a ladder to get into them?

[h3retic 224]

this will definitely require an enormously long period of time to code, and then to recode in order to fix bugs/glitches.

but nevertheless this is a very good idea.

i can imagine myself shooting the zombies while protecting the crane guy <3 sounds very intense

[Grodenn 53]

This is without a doubt one of the best ideas suggested on these forums, +1! want this asap :D

[doom4mr 135]

You mean containers?

I thought about using it to store gear in it, same as tents, with option to save the gear.

your suggestion will require more scripting (if it even possible in A2) but its very interesting idea.

[ledo1222 13]

This can be done, other mod have done this, and coding this isent that big of a problume.

If you play the ACE, or the PR mod for ARMA:2 they both have a system where you can load objects into crates and load them into trucks.