Make survival more difficult (Brainstorm thread)

[oshi7 365]

A lot of these probably cannot be implemented until the stand alone, but lets brain storm!

So right now, if you're hit by a zombie and in pain, your character uncontrollably shakes until you use painkillers. Personally, in a zombie apocalypse where everyone is either trying to eat me or kill me, I'd be shaking a hell of a lot. Heck, this game makes my hands shake already.

I personally think that the "shake" should be put to better use and not so easily curable. Being hurt should make you shake, but also simply being shot at or when you aggravate a larger number of zombies should induce the same effect.

Being dehydrated should cause you to lose focus and slow you down. As you begin to become more and more dehydrated, your vision should become tunnelled so you lose peripheral dots and actually lose a lot of your screen. You'll know when you need to drink because of the dark border that slowly creeps onto your screen.

Becoming hungry or even starving should effect you significantly as well. The more hungry you get, the lower your max blood should be. You'd literally have to constantly eat to have 12000 blood all the time. I know it doesn't make too much sense that your blood would decrease if you don't eat, but being hungry means you can't take pain as well, so perhaps as the hungrier you are, the more everything hurts.

I also think that if you are red-flashing on dehydration or hunger, you should lose the ability to be able to aim down your sights so it becomes hip-fire only and you get the shakes like you would if you are hurt.

I think anti-biotics should play a bigger role in the game. Sickness is important and a good mechanic. Being sick should only allow your hunger and thirst to fill up to 50% and your chances of being knocked down should double.

Zombies in this game have been a weird thing. They're either too annoying or too easy. Thing is, right now we're just playing with the running speed and awareness variables of zombies. They should have other mechanics that make them scary, such as zombies that are not mobile, slumped against a wall that can catch you off guard by leaping at you.

One idea I've had is to be grabbed by zombies, needing a friend to shoot the zombie off of you before you can run again. You can drag the zombie, but only at walking speeds. So you can't let zombies get too close, otherwise you might not get them off of you. I think things like smoke and bottles smashing against walls should distract zombies more effectively than they do right now for this to become effective. There needs to be more ways to avoid zombies and lure them away from you.

I wouldn't mind special types of zombies either, but not in the Left 4 Dead sense. Zombies that scream when they see you, which amounts to the same thing as firing an Enfield in the middle of Cherno... you'll get the hoard coming down on you very quickly if those zombies see you and scream.

Most of all though, I think there should be less loot everywhere and more decent loot (like food or equipment) on zombies bodies. Right now there is usually more loot than I can carry or find useful, such as food and water and even backpacks. Getting a decent backpack in the game is a big thing, but right now you can get an Alice Pack and not even think much of it because they're so frequent.

Reduce the amount of loot in civilian areas, force players to constantly have to stock up to survive, because if they don't keep themselves hydrated or fed, then when they come across that survivor they want to kill, they'll have a hard time.

Then it becomes a more interesting game, do I keep this AKM in my back pack to compliment my sniper rifle, or do I take food and water I will desperate need later on?

[Lewf 27]

As you said, many of those ideas could be implemented in the standalone, and most of them already have a topic:

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/38742-suggestions-for-the-dayz-standalone-thinking-outside-of-the-limitations-of-an-arma-2-mod/

I do agree on most of them, though.

[XDarkside 0]

I love you oshi.

[hawaiianess 8]

I Have an idea. I usually run around with only an axe in my hand. I just run through elektro. I gather supplies (no guns.)

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

I like the idea of dehydration causing letterboxing around the screen edges.

Why not go a notch further and actually shrinking the FOV?

[wolfstriked 143]

I think a rework of hunger to be more realistic is a great idea.Its silly to die from lack of food in one hour.Water is different and should need to be consumed twice a day with increased consumption if you are doing a ton of running.Food on the other hand should not cause death but instead a bunch of annoying effects.Lower blood max level,easier fatigue from running and easier chance to get sick.Then to give Chenarus a more post apocalyptic feel,make food and drink rare and spread everywhere.If they want people to meet in Cherno then keep big cities as ammo/medical hotspots but remove the shopping spree supermarkets filled with foods galore.You want players to feel the deprivation of lack of food and water....then why are they everywhere.The mechanic needs to go more realistic IMO.