Suggestion: 3 or more kinds of radios for long rage voice communication.

[JoranBerserk 2]

I'm gonna head off by linking two similar ideas to what I have in mind and to get some eyes on their posts cause I think their ideas are good.

Some feature ideas requesting feedback

http://dayzmod.com/f...__communication

Walkie Talkies.

http://dayzmod.com/f...ion#entry446733

Any who, to start displaying my idea to combine/improve and what not the two in the links.

So I was thinking of radios that differ in spawning possibilities such as spawning % and areas where you can find them. For instance maybe a budget version of a walkie talkie with a shitty range but long battery time that could work well in towns and cities with the option of selecting a few channels. So people with the same radio would hear you if you had the same channel on and are within range.

The better kinds of radios you could find would be transmitting on frequencies and longer range ofc.

All radios would also have effective areas and such within their range, If your recipient is close to max range he/she would start breaking up with static. The environment would have effects on the range depending on the radio type. Being on a high spot with no forest would give you almost no static close to max range (that is if your recipient also meet those conditions).

Also, some of the more high tier radios should have the ability to connect into a radio tower to give them a massive boost in range.

So something like this:

Tier 1:

Crappy walkie talkie: Range of maybe 300-400 meters (effective area 300) but no negative effects in forests or urban environment.

Takes up 1 inventory slot and 2 AA batteries.

Tier 2:

Expensive Walkie-talkie: Range of 2 or so km. Uses frequencies (something like the Walkie Talkie post I linked above) to transmit meaning that 2 people with the same Hz set in within range would hear each other, while if their Hz was a bit off they would only hear static or the other players speech breaking up as if to far away. Has the option to broadcast on all frequencies, but thats only a send function. You can still have a frequency selected and broadcast on all at the same time.

Takes up 1 inventory slot and takes 4 AA batteries.

Tier 3:

Connect-able radio: Range of 5 km or something like that on it's own. Has the same system as the T2 talkie with frequencies. Can be linked up to a radio tower to boost range greatly.

This is where the "Some feature ideas requesting feedback" post come into play. The radio itself can be driven by 2 power sources. Either by batteries (witch it would consume a lot of but still be manageable) or by portable generator driven by fuel.

Takes up 1 or 2 inventory slots (not sure) and uses 8 AA batteries.

Tier 4:

Mountable Radio: Range of 15 km. Frequency operated as T2 and T3. Can only be powered by a generator. Can be connected to a Radio tower. In order to use it have to be mounted down and connected to a generator.

Takes up 2 or 3 inventory slots.

Radio towers: In order to use a radio tower you need to have a T3 or T4 radio and a generator filled with fuel. You will have to power up the radio tower with the generator and then connect the radio. The generator should be able to power both the tower and the radio if needed. Not sure how much of a range boost they should give... was thinking that if you mount up 2 radio towers they would at least be able to transmit to each other clearly (that is if they are "next to" each other and not on the other side of the map).

What ya all think?

Possible?

is there a problem with something?

You have something to add?

Write what your thoughts are on this matter and of ways to improve upon the idea.

[D3nty 114]

It's easy just download Skype/Vent/Ts or any of 100 other programs...........

[hatfieldcw 184]

I like the idea of radios, but why make it so complex? Currently DayZ doesn't use batteries for anything. NVG, GPS, Flashlights and illuminated gun sights all have fusion cells in them. Let the radio run for free.

The radio should go on the toolbelt, not in inventory.

Frequencies are awesome. There should be a ton of them, so channel surfers have a hard time locking down your comms.

I don't like the idea of having so many variants, though. Why not just have one radio and give it a 5km range?

The big problem with radios is that they aren't needed. In-game comms are less useful than Ventrilo or Skype or Teamspeak or Mumble or any one of a dozen other VoiP solutions that do not have restrictions. What if I'm on a different server than my buddy is? He has to call me up, find me, join my game and get within radio range to ask me what I'm up to. I'll stick with Teamspeak. What if I drop in the middle of an operation and have to log back in real quick? I'll be totally out of the loop until I get back in the game, but not if I'm on Ventrilo. People can get lucky and catch my broadcasts on their radio? They'll have a harder time listening in on my Steam Voip.

You need to find a way for the radio to be relevant. Can it help you find downed choppers? Does it link with your GPS to let you see your buddies' position on the map? What does it do that makes me use it?

[Plaguetongue 47]

you have my beans

[JoranBerserk 2]

I like the idea of radios, but why make it so complex? Currently DayZ doesn't use batteries for anything. NVG, GPS, Flashlights and illuminated gun sights all have fusion cells in them. Let the radio run for free.

The radio should go on the toolbelt, not in inventory.

Frequencies are awesome. There should be a ton of them, so channel surfers have a hard time locking down your comms.

I don't like the idea of having so many variants, though. Why not just have one radio and give it a 5km range?

The big problem with radios is that they aren't needed. In-game comms are less useful than Ventrilo or Skype or Teamspeak or Mumble or any one of a dozen other VoiP solutions that do not have restrictions. What if I'm on a different server than my buddy is? He has to call me up, find me, join my game and get within radio range to ask me what I'm up to. I'll stick with Teamspeak. What if I drop in the middle of an operation and have to log back in real quick? I'll be totally out of the loop until I get back in the game, but not if I'm on Ventrilo. People can get lucky and catch my broadcasts on their radio? They'll have a harder time listening in on my Steam Voip.

You need to find a way for the radio to be relevant. Can it help you find downed choppers? Does it link with your GPS to let you see your buddies' position on the map? What does it do that makes me use it?

It would for one bring up a way to actually find people that aint your friends, the common folk so to speak, that roams around the map. It could also be a way for bandits to lure people ofc, but that's like the same risk as with anything involving people you don't know in this game.

Would be a great thing for those solo players to get in contact with others if they need a transfusion.

Over all I could agree that maybe you could narrow it down to only 2 versions and that one of them would be connect-able to a tower.

How ever, the idea of having a chance to pick up a distress call from a heli crash site would be cool... I like that. Though it could get messy if there are several sites within range depending on how one goes at doing it.

Edited August 13, 2012 by JoranBerserk

[GoofballJungle 0]

It's a tough item to really work out. It has some strong points though. A radio channel with music, clues or even a S.O.S. would be cool. Imagine some hints about building that silencer or stuff. And no i'm not alking about some tutorial. Just a neat kind of backstory that passes on the knowledge partially if you listen closely.

Just throwing it out there.

[bazbake 456]

It's easy just download Skype/Vent/Ts or any of 100 other programs...........

Missing the point....

[hatfieldcw 184]

Missing the point....

Not at all. Chrome Hounds for the XBox 360 had a rich and innovative radio system, where you could maintain voice comms only while you were in your team's territory. Venturing out into the parts of the map that your control points did not command cut you off from your allies, so you lose the ability to report to them until you got back from your sortie, if you got back at all. Sometimes you'd come under fire and have to disengage and head for home because losing the fight wouldn't just cost your team a player, it would cost them all the knowledge that you and only you had learned. Tense stuff. When XBox Live introduced party chat, people would just party up their mates and use that instead, removing the disadvantages of Chrome Hounds' voice system. It's metagaming, and it definitely changed the game (for the worse, in my opinion, since a lot of strategy often revolved around gaining and denying intel), but nobody is going to voluntarily hobble themselves when there's an easy way to be stronger with no ill effects.

They could have just had a conference call on their phones, or fired up their PC and used Teamspeak or Skype, but since those measures are inconvenient, they played it straight, using the game's rules. Here on the PC, the easier ways of voicechatting are so common and simple that most players are already using them. After all, who uses the in-game direct chat to talk to their team? Meeting strangers, sure, that's what the caps lock key is for, but as soon as I meet a newb and give him a Makarov and a can of beans, he's asking for my Steam ID or my Skype or inviting me to his Ventrilo server, because it takes twelve seconds to permanently eliminate all the problems that come with in-game chat.

So it would be with the radio. Inevitably the server MOTD would include, "Tune to 103.7 for newbie help!" and then 103.7 would be a cacophony of voices--newbs wanting help, heroes looking to help them, bandits looking to exploit them and trolls doing what trolls do best. Anyone with the wherewithal and organization to pick a frequency and use it will find it easier and more powerful to have a Teamspeak server and use it.

[bazbake 456]

I was being slightly facetious. Most of this game has fallen to metagaming and there's no easy solution to a lot of it (who even really uses direct chat)?

[kebman 213]

I like tier 1 and tier 4.

• Tier 1 would let you connect with local players
  
• Tier 4 would let you build a radio station
  

The rest is fixed by Mumble and Skype and would only be a feature for hardcore role players.

[jarrodchambo 8]

i think a simpler example of this would be an excellent idea :) you have my beans frend