Finding a vehicle

[Pirate_PL 0]

I'm pretty new to DayZ and I have a question: How the heck am I supposed to find a vehicle ?

They're never at their spawn points cause somebody already took them. Server restart doesn't reset them. AFAIK the only way to get one is to stumble upon a one that has been hidden by another player. That's not exactly easy.

I've played it for like 20 h and haven't even seen a vehicle. I like the fact that if you find one you can hide it and everything, but it's almost impossible to get one which makes the above moot.

Do I have to play for like 24/7 hoping that someone crashed his car a week ago and I'll be lucky enough to be at the right spawn at the right time ?

[Spliffdk 1]

Hello, Pirate_PL.

Finding a vehicle is supposed to be hard, I remember spending 32 days alive, without finding or seeing as much as one single vehicle, if I am not incorrectly informed, vehicles are to respawn one time each week.

Otherwise than that, you just gotta be lucky.

Also, remember that, -if- you are to find a vehicle, there's 80% chance of it missing parts (Hull, Engine, Fuel Tank, Fuel, wheels) -which you also gotta find.

[Pirate_PL 0]

I read that vehicles respawn after a week of not being used or getting destroyed.

I know that you generally have to repair them first. I just wish to have seen at least one that is broken, so I had a chance of grabbing it before someone else.

I love the game but if it's that hard to get a vehicle (not to mention a chopper), it's not worth playing anymore for me. I know myself, I won't have enough patience to do this. I've got some gear cool gear, but now I'm supposed to wonder around aimlessly always afraid of getting killed with little hope of ever finding a vehicle. I have other games I'd like to play.

[klesh 2423]

Ask yourself, what would a vehicle do for you? Drive around aimlessly, always afraid of getting killed? Sure, you can get to places faster, but that vehicle you might find is a potential liability. You might stash it, and find it stolen the next day. You might get lit up as you drive it along the road, because it makes quite a bit of noise. On the flip side, you might wander upon someone else's stashed vehicle as well and go for an awesome joyride.

Vehicles are endgame like equipment, so don't feel, as someone just learning the game, that you need to have one right off the bat. Most of the time if you find one, you'll need to do a bit of work repairing it before its operational.

What other games do you play?

[Pirate_PL 0]

I know that you generally have to repair them first.

If there was a reasonable chance of finding one I'd go and search. But the chance is too slim for me to keep looking.

It's just not worth spending 50+ hours looking for a vehicle. And on top of it, as you said: you have nowhere to drive it to and will be constantly scared of loosing it.

Besides the cars there's not much in this game for me anymore. I've got some cool stuff and some weapons and don't have much trouble surviving now.

Guns used to be my goal but after I found some I've learned they're pretty much useless, except for some emergency or self-defense. They attract more zombies than you can kill with them.

I made a new goal to find a vehicle only to learn that they're close to impossible to find. Now I have nothing interesting to do in this game unless I plan to spend the next month playing only Day Z.

Besides the vehicles you can't do much. Can't build an actual safe house or at least a secure camp, cause somebody's probably gonna raid it while you're gone or offline.

I theory this game sounded great, but in reality it gets old too fast for me.

Next.

[[email protected] 271]

My friend and I spent a couple of days checking out vehicle spawns in the end we checked about 75% of all spawns and we still couldn't find any vehicles so we stopped looking and then a white pickup truck spawned right next to us. I've probably played a couple hundred hours of DayZ and my friends and I have found only a handful of useable vehicles.

List of vehicles found

Fishing boat (next to a lake out side Elektro) sort of useable

Offroad (given to us by a friendly chap in Cherno) useable

Bus (belonged to hackers in Cherno) not useable

PBX (next to the Balota Airfield) not useable

Offroad (spawned next to us in Zelenogorsk) useable

Bus (noob bait in to Stary Sobor) not useable

Old Hatchback (hackers used it to loot our camp) not useable

Bus (hackers spawned it on top of people) not useable

Ural (nicked in Cherno lost in less than an hour because of hackers) useable for a bit

Offroad (found abandoned in Cherno) useable

ATV (found abandoned on the side of a road) useable

Ural (Hacked spawned it on top of us) not useable

Bus, Fishing Boat and Old Hatchback (noob bait out side of Balota) not useable

ATV (that someone was driving) not useable

Edited October 13, 2012 by Shrimpy223

[herrjon 478]

It's hard to find them at the spawns, that for sure, but if you go to the common hiding spots, you'll find something soon enough. NE corner is popular for instance. Some hide them off the map, but not all. Also gotta keep your ears open for people driving/flying by, usually how people lose a chopper is getting shot down or ambushed upon landing/taking off.

Fixing it up can be harder that sounds too. After a mission, we had 3 guys and the patient and looted Starry, found the UAZ at the spawn pointed. It needed 2 wheels, an engine and a fuel tank. We were alone on the server at night and spent the next 4 hours fanning out over the whole north of the map looking for parts. We got the wheels and fuel tank, but no luck with the engine. We even server hopped factories with no luck. Ended up driving it off with a crappy engine, but the server locked soon after.

In the end, you just need to decide what you want to do with your "endgame". Some scavenge, some kill, some heal, there are possibilities out there. Or just wait for standalone when there will be more depth to the game.

Edit: If you are dead set on finding a vehicle, I'd recommend finding a good private server that has increased vehicles. Less hacking there too, and some even roll back the server if there was major hacking. It would probably be fun to start out on the coast again anyways.

Edited October 13, 2012 by HerrJon