20 rules of DayZ

[Guest]

I'm basing these tips and tricks through my Dayz experience and hoping that you can pick up on these tricks too if you haven't already. If not keep practicing until they're second nature.

1. Scan: You'd be surprised how much you miss if you don't scan. There might be a tent filled with loot, or a guy with an as-50 sniping your ass. Regularly scan, even if you think you're safe in some wooded area, you never know whats around that tree.

2. Getting shot at? Don't Panic!: I cannot tell you how many times I probably could have saved myself by taking the time to aim my shots, or just picking a clever route to evacuate, or some distraction to get away. When you get shot at find the nearest cover, and think your plan out before you execute it. You will notice that survival rate is much higher.

3. Realize that your going to die on every character: When I first started playing this game, I was always scared of seeing other playing and worried about dying. I didn't want to die because some bandit wanted my stuff, and to be honest with you, it kind of stopped me from having fun. I didn't like to go into hot-zones for fear of dying and I began to realize that I was removing a major aspect of the game, the risk. So the sooner you realize that you're gonna loose your equipment sooner or later, the more fun you're going to have.

4. Never disconnect in hot-zones: Even if you're running out of time, try to disconnect in the woods, even when you're in a small town. You may reconnect in that spot later with a guy pointing a gun at you, and probably shooting you. ( I actually killed a guy this way, and he had quite a bit of stuff on him).

5. Grow a backbone: If you know you're going to die, don't disconnect. The guy that shot you out bested you in a fight, let him have the satisfaction of getting your loot and killing you. If everyone in this game did this tactic, it would be a whole lot more fun for everyone and enjoyable.

6. Explosives: Hand grenades and M203s are the only explosives in Dayz (besides the satchel charge and AT4). Hand grenades are a bit tricky to use because Arma's tossing animation, but are just as effective as M203s. M203s, if you can get hold of an AR gun that has one, are much easier to use, being faster, quicker to load and shoot, and overall practical to use. Now to the explosive part, Arma 2 is actually one of the few games that doesn't go wimpy on the blast radius. So, you really only need to land your explosive in the general area of the target, about 25 meters and your target should get hit. Not only are explosives dangerous in that respect, but they're a great intimidation tool. I once fired a M203 at a group of six survivors and I pinned them all down even though I had missed. Even one man with a M203 has enough firepower for 6 men, so yet again great thing to have in your possession.

Satchel charges are mostly useless and is usually used for trolling, scaring, or for the lulz; but it can sometimes be used for ambushes, place it on a vehicle or something else that will attract any survivors that pass by. Unless you place it in NWAF; or any other highly populated place expect to wait for a long time before anyone comes.

And even then you might just get pretty bad loot from the survivor. Be aware; satchel charges cannot blow up vehicles, it is a well known Arma 2 bug, that makes it impossible for satchel charges/IEDs to blow up vehicles. However; it will always kill the people inside the vehicle. The AT4 is to be used similarly to the m203, but from a longer range. The splash damage on the AT4 can at some times be broken and not deal any damage to survivors at all unless you get a direct hit.

7. Never use weapons outside their effective range: Although this is already self-explanatory, I cannot tell you how important this is. Even when in the effective range the weapon is still wobbly nearing it, meaning that your shot will have reduced power and accuracy regardless of the round type. Always try to shoot within the range.

8. Having two different primaries: I myself keep going back and forth between which one is better but, its all about your preference. Would you like to carry more stuff as if you were going on a supply run, use a single primary. If you are going to do some banditry, use two primaries (usually a long ranged rifle and a assault rifle, sub-machine gun, or a assault rifle and a machine gun is another good combo.)

9. Watch and stalk your target: Sometimes your target is not alone, he may have a buddy covering him or a whole team behind him make sure you watch around him and let him run for about a kilometer and follow. Even if he does have buddies you should have a good kilometer buffer zone to kill your target.

10. Weather or not to aim for the head or torso: This really depends on your range and gun. Use this as a general rule:

Sub-machine guns: short ranges aim for the head/upper chest, medium range aim for the torso, long range don't even try.

Sniper rifles: Short range aim for the chest, medium range aim for the head, Long range aim for the chest

Assault Rifles: short ranges aim for the upper chest/head, Medium ranges aim for the torso, Long ranges aim for the torso

Pistols: Short ranges aim for the upper chest/head, and don't fire it past 50 meters at anyone.

11. Sniper Rifles and Distance: I'm sure some experienced snipers have noticed this but it's always important to notice drop differences at different ranges. For example, If I zeroed my rifle at 300 meters and my target was 325 meters away the shot would dip down a little, not too much. Now lets take this target to 525 meters, and I zero my rifle for 500 meters. The drop, if you notice, is much larger than the previous shot even though the difference in meters from zeroing is still the same; 25 meters. This can determine whether your shot is a hit or a miss at long ranges.

12. Should I take a silenced weapon?: In my personally opinion I cannot stand silenced weapons for quiet a few reasons.

-Reduced damage

-Reduced effective Range

-Reduced accuracy

-Reduced Flatness of your shot (More bullet drop).

-The ammunition is much harder to find then the unsilenced version

All of these is for the exchange of:

- noise REDUCTION (Silenced guns still have that really annoying pew pew noise when you shoot them players can hear it up to 50 meters if I remember correctly.)

-No muzzle flash

For me the cons of silenced weapons out weigh the pros that if I had the choice between a M9SD and a G17 I'd chose the G17. If I had the choice between a m4a1 CCO SD vs an m4a3 CCO I'd obviously choose the m4a3 due to the fact that the m4a3 can shoot up to 300 meters + and still retain large amounts of damage whilst the m4a1 can only shoot maximum 100 meters and dealing almost no damage at all. This is mainly caused by weapons losing damage over range, silenced weapons losing a large amount of damage over a rather small range and unsilenced weapons less so.

13. Where should I bandit?: I never want to bandit in a town, ever. I would rather choose to bandit around a city/hot-zone then in it, or maybe even the out-skirts. Try to choose locations that people might run near, rather than the person's destination. This will ensure that you have a greater chance of not being spotted and shot at.

14. How do I beat suppressive fire?: If you're getting suppressed, first find the biggest chunk of cover you have near you. Next, return fire and try to suppress your target. If it isn't working or you have suppressed him lay down some aimed fire on him, after that you should be golden.

15. How to use cover: Always lean out of cover and never look over cover. You should do this for a number of reasons.

- You expose less of your body when you lean out of cover.

- It takes less time to lean back into cover than it does to duck back into cover.

- It allows you to peak around cover more efficiently.

16. Why you should chose a high caliber gun over a smaller caliber:

- Of course higher Damage

- A higher chance to knock a man down

- A higher chance to break a leg bone

- Scaring the living bejebies out of the guy your shooting

- Generally higher calibers equal more effective range

17. Why using sub-machine guns are a bad idea:

- Extremely low damage compared to other primaries

- Effective range is only 100 meters or less

- You can the same sub-machine gun benefits if you used a ak-74U ( So get one if you want to play a sub-machine gun role)

- Extremely inaccurate

You might as well be shooting your target with an m9, g17, or makarov if your using a sub machine gun

18. Listen to gun shots always, they will tell you a story of you target:

Listening to gun shots is one of the MOST vital skills in DayZ you can have. It can tell you what gun they're using, where they are, and how many people there might be (you might be able to geusstimate how many people there are depending on the gun fire rates and what gun types there are). Try to memorize the gun sounds this skill is very helpful.

19. Know the other guy's gun flaws and expose them:

Is your target using a sniper class weapon? You should probably rush him and expose the sniper rifle's weakness. Is your target using a sub-machine gun? Get far away enough to use your gun, while making his ineffective. Is your target using a machine gun, try flanking him and make him hip fire (machine guns are terrible when hip firing and the recoil is ridiculous). Assault rifles are one of those exceptions, they are the all-rounders that are hard to beat. If your gun excels more at something than an Assault rifle get in a position to max out your gun's effectiveness.

20. When in doubt RUN, FOREST, RUN!

There is nothing harder to hit than a moving target. You'll be surprised how many times your opponent will miss. Weave in and out of cover, change directions, and don't stop moving. Your foe will have a hard time smiting thee.

I hope you will make use of this.. this comes from our forums but I thought I'd post it here.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Guest

[orangeknoxville 1]

rule1:scan...... i wish i had eyes in the back of my head just died with really good stuff because i was having a drink in a forest and got shot from behind :(

[Guest]

rule1:scan...... i wish i had eyes in the back of my head just died with really good stuff because i was having a drink in a forest and got shot from behind :(

lol, chances are he had been stalking you over a longer period. ^_^

Edited August 13, 2012 by Guest

[Food 309]

21: ALWAYS listen to Queen while playing.

[Fidget (DayZ) 19]

21: ALWAYS shoot Russians on sight.

fxd

[Guest]

I am thinking of extending this to; DON'T FUCKING LISTEN TO MUSIC, YOU WONT HEAR SHIT INGAME.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Guest

[bigblockelectra 4]

_{I disagree with #12 in regard to the handgun. What is the purpose of the handgun? The only reason I have the handgun is for zombies--especially after the damage reduction was done.}

_{There is no reason to take the Makarov over the M9SD. Once you run out of SD ammunition, dump it and pick up a different handgun, they are easy to find. A headshot kills the zombie instantly--And unless it is all you've got, PVP with a handgun is pointless. The M9SD allows a lone player (which most are) to go into a town easily during the day.}

_{All the other stuff if #12 makes sense if it is true. I have never looked at the stats, but hopefully they will "unequalize" some of that stuff (since this game is not supposed to be like rock, paper, scissors). There shouldn't be any accuracy changes, or damage reduction for that matter--there is no body armor in the game. A bullet going through somebody above the speed of sound vs below the speed would be moot out in the wilderness.}

_{And on #9, make sure to remember that players can look behind them while running forward. You have to keep that in mind when following somebody. Most other games force players to turn around as they don't feature a free-look mode. It is not very obvious in DayZ if someone is running away from you and looking at you at the same time.}

[ZekkCC (DayZ) 51]

#5 is my favorite.

[Guest]

I disagree with #12 in regard to the handgun. What is the purpose of the handgun? The only reason I have the handgun is for zombies--especially after the damage reduction was done.

There is no reason to take the Makarov over the M9SD. Once you run out of SD ammunition, dump it and pick up a different handgun, they are easy to find. A headshot kills the zombie instantly--And unless it is all you've got, PVP with a handgun is pointless. The M9SD allows a lone player (which most are) to go into a town easily during the day.

All the other stuff if #12 makes sense if it is true. I have never looked at the stats, but hopefully they will "unequalize" some of that stuff (since this game is not supposed to be like rock, paper, scissors). There shouldn't be any accuracy changes, or damage reduction for that matter--there is no body armor in the game. A bullet going through somebody above the speed of sound vs below the speed would be moot out in the wilderness.

And on #9, make sure to remember that players can look behind them while running forward. You have to keep that in mind when following somebody. Most other games force players to turn around as they don't feature a free-look mode. It is not very obvious in DayZ if someone is running away from you and looking at you at the same time.

Fixed.

Thanks for the feedback.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Guest

[bigblockelectra 4]

I used Makarov as that was your example. I was just saying that taking an SD was good for a lone player since they do not disrupt the zombies, and that is the only reason to use a handgun. That is all I was saying.

[Guest]

Understood, I would choose a m9sd if there was more ammo for it.

g17:

flashlight

more powerful than a m9sd

higher ammo capacity

ALOT more common than m9sd, mainly because it can use all 9mm, including m9 and m9sd etc etc ammo.

Extremely good sights and very accurate

M9sd:

Fewer rounds

sights suck

ALOT less likely to spawn (also does not take any other ammo type)

less powerful

lesser range

BUT, it can silently kill zombies.

_________

I removed the makarov example as it was shit, exchanged it with a g17..

Additional: my clan leader has a video of the topic;

Edited August 14, 2012 by Guest

[P1nbaK 4]

#9....... :ph34r:

[cyanyde 165]

The m1911 is better than the g17 imo

The reason I don't choose the revolver despite the better range and iron sights, but it's got less rounds and waaaay too long between shots.

Just my opinion. ;)

[Guest]

The m1911 is better than the g17 imo

The reason I don't choose the revolver despite the better range and iron sights, but it's got less rounds and waaaay too long between shots.

Just my opinion. ;)

Aye, but I compared the two due to the fact that they are the same caliber, and spawns at the same areas.

Personally I have a hard time choosing either one of them over the other, they both are excellent zombie killers and both also being great player killers. m1911 due to damage and g17 due to accuracy and large ammo capacity.

Makarov - 6/10 - Low power, fairly accurate, good rounds per clip (8), good rate of fire.

Revolver - 7/10 - High power, very Accurate, low rounds per clip (6), slow fire rate.

M1911 - High Power, Low accuracy, Low rounds per clip (7), High rate of fire.

M9 - 8/10 - Fairly low power, good accuracy, high rounds per clip (15), high rate of fire.

Glock - 9/10 - Fairly low power, good accuracy, high rounds per clip (17), high rate of fire.

PDW - 7/10 - Low power, fairly accurate, high rounds per clip (30) Highest rate of fire (Auto).

Edited August 14, 2012 by Guest

[M O N S T E R 599]

Good thread. Should mention something about being wary of players in hot spots. Perhaps some tactics?

-MONSTER

[PoisonedAl 128]

Silenced weapons have a use. I don't bother shooting them at players but they are great for dispatching zeds without pulling a horde or alerting bandits. When the poop hits the cooling device I will have a more meaty assault rifle out.

[PoisonedAl 128]

Good thread. Should mention something about being wary of players in hot spots. Perhaps some tactics?

-MONSTER

Have a plan. Know what you want, where it is, how to get in, how to get out and how to get out another way when the plan goes to shit. Look for sings of life (dispersed zeds), if the coast is clear, get in, grab what you need and NOTHING ELSE then get out!

[servicestud 4]

Rule 2x: Don't even TRY to play the game in its current state, even IF (and that's a big if) you succeed you will be disappointed. The hype was generated by previous versions where the mod was either a) new, or B) in a still-playable (albeit buggy) state.

Play now and you will have fun for 15 mins (about the time it takes to install) Whereafter hacks, glitches, failures to connect and various other errors will make you question your will to live.

I had fun because I got in (and out) before the hax. And "Loading".

[Guest]

Good thread. Should mention something about being wary of players in hot spots. Perhaps some tactics?

-MONSTER

1+ Thanks for feedback, will be considering doing this.

Have a plan. Know what you want, where it is, how to get in, how to get out and how to get out another way when the plan goes to shit. Look for sings of life (dispersed zeds), if the coast is clear, get in, grab what you need and NOTHING ELSE then get out!

And thanks to you too, will be considering this too, as to your other post I have already explained my opinions of it.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Guest

[Bobcomss 189]

Nice thread :) have to 1000000% agree with the gun skill in terms of hearing what type! so useful! :D

Nice!

HAZ MA BEANZ!

[sveinungchr@gmail.com 11]

Rule1# is for pussys playing in regular severs.. Grow som F**King balls and go play on veteran or expert servers... Wimps..

Thinker.

[Guest]

Rule1# is for pussys playing in regular severs.. Grow som F**King balls and go play on veteran or expert servers... Wimps..

Thinker.

Excuse me? Are you seriously telling me you cannot scan on veteran and expert? I have been playing on expert/veteran ever since I started playing DayZ and the amount of times it has saved me is staggering.

Nice thread :) have to 1000000% agree with the gun skill in terms of hearing what type! so useful! :D

Nice!

HAZ MA BEANZ!

I am glad you found it useful :)

-EDIT-

Added the following to Rule #12 to further explain my reasons for my preferance over unsilenced weapons.

If I had the choice between a m4a1 CCO SD vs an m4a3 CCO I'd obviously choose the m4a3 due to the fact that the m4a3 can shoot up to 300 meters + and still retain large amounts of damage whilst the m4a1 can only shoot maximum 100 meters and dealing almost no damage at all. This is mainly caused by weapons losing damage over range, silenced weapons losing a large amount of damage over a rather small range and unsilenced weapons less so.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Guest

[aru_azif 70]

you have my beans

[Guest]

you have my beans

I appreciate that you appreciated my thread, and I am glad to have been to your assistance. :)

Edited August 14, 2012 by Guest

[HMS 115]

Rule1# is for pussys playing in regular severs.. Grow som F**King balls and go play on veteran or expert servers... Wimps..

Thinker.

I have no idea what you are referring to. Maybe you thought Hugge was suggesting that you scan the map or something? We'll never know.

Either way, I could probably think of 30 more constructive ways you could have expressed your thoughts, Thinker. LOL