Authentic loot and zombie spawns--the excellent authentic effects in DayZ

[joikd 25]

I posted this once before, but it was lost. Here it is again (if I can remember everything).

Let me begin by saying that I love DayZ, and am very thankful for this mod. My goal with this post is to propose a couple of ideas that I think would dramatically change DayZ for the better (much more authentic) without trying force (punish/reward) anyone/anything artificially. The ideas simply change the environment to a more authentic one given the zombie/survival apocalypse that is the setting for DayZ.

Loot--current system:

1. Spawns only in structures (authentic only if zero re-spawns occur)

2. Spawns in the same exact locations (authentic only if zero re-spawns occur)

3. Spawns an unlimited number of times (completely ruins the authentic scarcity of resources that would be present in this situation--combined with #1 & #2, players can actually thrive instead of struggling to survive)

The real culprit of the inauthenticity with loot in the current system is the unlimited re-spawning. But, just removing #3 would not work in the current system since there are not permanent players for each server (server loot must sustain much more than the 25, 30, 50, etc. number of players that the server allows simultaneously). Even if each server did have a permanent set of players, removing #3 completely would make for a setting where, eventually, all players would be reduced to crossbows, canteens, map, compass, matches, etc. (all of the unlimited items) since the initial loot piles would not be re-spawned. While this may be an authentic scenario, I do not think that this is Rocket is trying to accomplish. Reducing loot spawns, while creating a more playable scenario than removing them altogether, still leaves that inauthentic feel of magically reappearing loot in places that have already been completely

scavenged--no authentic explanation of these re-spawns can be made.

So, if #3 is necessary, how can the loot system be made more authentic while keeping #3? The answer is removing all structure spawning, and replacing it with air drops (maybe have structures continue to infrequently spawn a non-weapon item (can of beans, etc.). The authentic basis for this idea comes from a man who describes his experiences during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990's when the Balkan city where he lived was surrounded and cut-off for a year (google "Selco" & "Balkan"). He credits US air drops with saving his life. Add zombies to Selco's experience, and you have something very close to DayZ.

The aircraft making the drops in DayZ could originate from the regions to the north and west (south and east is ocean) of Chernarus, and either be random (time and location), somehow authentically influenced by players, or a combination of both. The aircraft would then fly across the map to its drop zone, make the drop, and fly back across, and off of the map. These air drops would create all kinds of interesting (and authentic) scenarios. Players desperate for supplies may rush recklessly to the drop zone to grab what they can before zombies and/or bandits arrive. A large, well-supplied group might secure the drop zone to try to take everything for themselves, and engage anything that comes near. A group with a functioning Huey could become extremely powerful, since they could use radar to locate incoming aircraft, and quickly travel to drop zones all over the map (not to mention its weapons). Who is making these air drops? It could be the same group that failed in its military missions (crashed choppers). The variety of weapons/ammo/supplies that are dropped is explained by the fact that this group is just scavenging, stealing, etc. whatever it can find to include in the air drops.

Zombies--current system:

4. Spawn and remain (unless giving chase) only around structures (unauthentic--zero zombie threat in the wilderness (opposite of what one would expect))

5. Re-spawn an unlimited amount of times (combined with #4 makes for a completely unauthentic experience--even if all 50 players banded together, they cannot keep a small town clear since the zombies just keep re-spawning forever right in front of their eyes)

Just like loot, it is the re-spawning that makes the current zombie system unauthentic. And, just like loot, partially or completely removing zombie re-spawns still leaves a feeling of inauthenticity (either zombies still magically re-spawn by structures even if it has been cleared, or no zombies ever threaten a cleared area again).

Again, we need an authentic solution that allows re-spawning (zombies this time). The answer is moving all zombie spawns/re-spawns to the north and west edges of the map, and have the zombies migrate in packs to the south and east across the map. The packs would change their migration path if it sees/hears players, aircraft, and/or vehicles (sprint toward any of these). If the ArmA engine could view these packs as a single unit (unless they are being viewed by a player--similar to the current system), then the packs could be large (25 packs with 40 zombies each = 1000 total zombies).

The combination of both the loot and zombie ideas would also give an authentic risk/reward system regarding player location. The further north/west a player is located, the earlier the player can spot an aircraft on its way to making an air drop, which is a big advantage (reward). But, the threat of zombies is also increased the further north/west a player is located (risk). Conversely, the further south and east a player is located, the less chance they have of seeing/hearing an aircraft, but the less chance they have of facing zombies (zombies killed off as they migrate south and east).

[hoik 415]

I am very highly in favour of randomised loot drops, and like the idea of large caches being spawned randomly around the map (whatever the explanation) but I dont think air drops should be the sole source.

Yes static spawning of items is unrealistic, but (for me) more imprtantly it removes all reason for exploration, to keep a sence of exploration dynamic loot spawning is neccecary INMHO.

This post is more what I envision (http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10468 ). It suggests a "contextual" loot system. If it was applied across the game world (towns etc) Id love it!

[ironpants 2]

I agree, the two key changes which would most contribute to DayZ are randomized loot locations and wandering groups of infected. Predictability should be avoided, but right now the threat that infected pose is mitigated by their locations being so predictable.

[Golgo82 28]

Airdrops arent really authentic to me, if I take one look at the Metagame.

The highest pop servers I have seen so far have about 66 people on them, so thats 66 people spread across 225km². Since most of the worlds population has been wiped out by the Zombiecalypse i seriously doubt that any still functioning Government or Paramilitary Post-Apo-Organization would be willing to spend the fuel, the Tech(Heli/Airplane), the resources or the manpower to make supply drops into a Zone with an unknown, if even existent, number of survivors that havent even been able to make contact with the outer world.

People are killing each other in this game for a lousy pair of boots(well..if there were boots..we would kill each other for them) so I have to ask..why would anyone outside, with their own problems at hand(you know the Zombiecalypse) do something like that?

And please dont use the Heli crashsites as an argument..they clearly had problems..otherwise they wouldnt have ended in a big heap of scrapmetal.

Migrating Zombies dont feel "authentic" to me either.

Where do they come from? Why are they coming to Chernarus? Why would they follow Aircraft if they are physically unable to get to it?

Zombies in the woods also doesnt feel "authentic".

Who becomes a Zombie? People do.

Where are people nowadays concentrated? In Cities, Villages, etc.

For what "authentic" reason would they stay in the Wilderness, when there are no brains to eat?

I do understand your concern about the "gamey-ness" of spawns in DayZ, but if spawns were authentic, there wouldnt be anything to eat left unless new servers would open up every frickin hour. Some things need to stay gamey in a game - no matter how hardcore it is.