Day Z, the post apocolyptic zombie survival game

[weemadando]

And I'm glad I've only come in today after the hotfix which corrected the temperature mechanics. But that still needs to go.

[Alyeska]

Elektro is the best place to loot. Smaller overall than Cherno. Some very good loot buildings that spawn all the basics. Compass, watch, binocs, Alice pack, and lots of Winchester and 1911 gear.

[weemadando]

I think I'm on Windy Mountain, next time I'm in I'll be looking to raid Bor or Drozhinho for additional survival supplies before going bush again and trying to move back over towards Elektro to hook up with some new blood I'm expecting.

[weemadando]

Forgot to say that I was playing on a US server because I needed daylight (for nerves as much as anything else). That game is a completely different kettle of fish during the day. The zeds are no longer your priority as you can easily spot them and avoid them. Other people become a whole new level of hell.

[Tolya]

I don't play in the dark. It boxes you in and restricts movement. Well, safe movement at least. Because running with a flare in your hand you are nothing but a moving target. Moving blindly at that.

It's just too dark right now. Im up for darkness, but we should at least be able to navigate the map.

I will start playing in the dark once I get hold of some NVG's.

[weemadando]

I bump my gamma a bit, gives me at least some silhouettes to work off and up.close detail. Makes it at least realistic in comparison to nights I've spent in the wild.

But near towns, where flares are commonly about there's usually enough ambient light and alerting from the lights that you can navigate easily. I like the night, it makes avoiding other players easier.

[weemadando]

Creeping around in the pre-dawn, went from Windy Mountain through a few towns and to one of the ruined castles. Holy shit, those things are just FULL of loot. Am still making my way across to the forests in the interior north of Elektro, ready to hide out and await friends joining in.

I still need meds and matches though. Damnit.

[Tolya]

1.5.8 update fixed the zombies a bit. Now they die almost instantly when killed, with no visible lag. Killed 39 of the bastards in a single fight.

[Alyeska]

Creeping around in the pre-dawn, went from Windy Mountain through a few towns and to one of the ruined castles. Holy shit, those things are just FULL of loot. Am still making my way across to the forests in the interior north of Elektro, ready to hide out and await friends joining in.

I still need meds and matches though. Damnit.

I am currently stuck in Elektro trying to team up with Chris O'Farrell. Would love to see another friendly face.

[cadbrowser]

OMG, this sounds like too much fun. Going to try to sneak in a few here at work.

[Edward Yee]

Note: The mod is actually a "spare time" side project of one of one of ARMA 3's multiplayer devs:

RPS: Am I correct in understanding that you work for Bohemia – the Arma 2 devs – in the Czech Republic? What do you do there?

Hall: I sure do! I am working there as a game designer in multiplayer. My responsibilities are with multiplayer for Arma 3.

Just thought that should be in the discussion.

The original game... never heard of it until now but this mod clearly is causing a surprise windfall for the developers.

According to the developers' CEO, Steam sales of Combined Operations (the ARMA 2/Operation Arrowhead bundle) are up fivefold since the mod's public debut, and several threads on DayZ articles are littered with "bought just for DayZ!" comments.

Would be more interesting if it did more than just cater to people that want to kill each other or run from zombies. The ability to build bases would be a fairly interesting addition and the game seems to accomodate that kind of play. Kinda sad noone seems to have made an C&C / Battlezone 2 mod.

Actually, ARMA 2 does have Warfare mode.

And I don't think Bohemia should be put down. They should be infused with an actual QA department that would force them to fix the damn game out of its permanent beta stage.

Unfortunately for this front, from the BI CEO courtesy of GamaSutra:

Modding is and always was, essential to Bohemia Interactive's work, sometimes even more important than completely polishing the built-in content in our titles. Without our users Arma would never be what it is now.

That they are rolling out Arma 3 next summer is nothing short of a miracle.

The official ARMA 3 Web site puts it as being this winter; pushed back from this summer.

Y'know, while they're reinforcing terrible market trends

Which market trends are those?

[weemadando]

Creeping around in the pre-dawn, went from Windy Mountain through a few towns and to one of the ruined castles. Holy shit, those things are just FULL of loot. Am still making my way across to the forests in the interior north of Elektro, ready to hide out and await friends joining in.

I still need meds and matches though. Damnit.

I am currently stuck in Elektro trying to team up with Chris O'Farrell. Would love to see another friendly face.

Sounds like a plan. I've got map, binos, watch and knife going spare at the moment so I can equip some new blood if needs be.

I'll likely be playing tonight (Aussie time) so hit me up via Steam.

[Alyeska]

Creeping around in the pre-dawn, went from Windy Mountain through a few towns and to one of the ruined castles. Holy shit, those things are just FULL of loot. Am still making my way across to the forests in the interior north of Elektro, ready to hide out and await friends joining in.

I still need meds and matches though. Damnit.

I am currently stuck in Elektro trying to team up with Chris O'Farrell. Would love to see another friendly face.

Sounds like a plan. I've got map, binos, watch and knife going spare at the moment so I can equip some new blood if needs be.

I'll likely be playing tonight (Aussie time) so hit me up via Steam.

Not sure if our times will match. But if I'm not around you can probably team up with Chris O'Farrell. Should be able to find him under the username Rogue Canon or something like it.

[weemadando]

I may have a chance to play for an hour or two in about 4 hours when my son has his nap. Be nice to get some daylight play in on low pings.

[Losonti Tokash]

Is the game day/night cycle an actual 24 hours or something?

[weemadando]

Yeah, it's tied to your server location. Lunar cycles are modelled in game too. Along with random weather. You don't want it to have no moon and be overcast. You cannot see shit in those circumstances.

[Losonti Tokash]

Hmm. I can understand the appeal, but that'd be kind of irritating if literally the only time you can play is when it's dark out.

[weemadando]

There are time-shifted servers (none in Aus yet as apparently it has a massive server load so costs a bit to host) or you can just play on a server in another timezone. Pings of 200 sound bad, but given the way you should be playing, it's no big deal.

[weemadando]

http://tra.fi/dayz.html

List of useful maps and some stats cheat sheets so you have an idea of just how fucked you really are.

[Alyeska]

Is the game day/night cycle an actual 24 hours or something?

Yes. So finding a server that is in a day cycle can be hard.

[Alyeska]

http://tra.fi/dayz.html

List of useful maps and some stats cheat sheets so you have an idea of just how fucked you really are.

After some work Chris and I finally had a good run. We found a server where Elektro had no bandits. Everyone was friendly survivors. Even ran a medical mission to heal someone. We got stocked up on all the essentials. Though for some damned reason Rogue couldn't pick up any backpacks.

The Winchester is a zombie magnet now. But still the ammo is plentiful. M1911 is a good sidearm. Chris and I are heading to the NW airfield. Weemando, if you get the chance. We are currently holed up in Pusta in the hotel.

[weemadando]

NW airfield? Are you fucking kidding? I'll take my chances in the central highlands raiding deer stands and farmhouses for now. Was considering heading up the NE coast to the airfield there. There's a nice cluster of towns and other facilities that might be good living.

[Alyeska]

NW airfield? Are you fucking kidding? I'll take my chances in the central highlands raiding deer stands and farmhouses for now. Was considering heading up the NE coast to the airfield there. There's a nice cluster of towns and other facilities that might be good living.

High risk, high reward. We are hoping for NVGs or GPS.

[MKSheppard]

I'm shivering. Need meds.

How well is the medical side of things? Have they put the right amount of detail into things to make it more complex than "drink beer or eat animals to regain HP", while not overburdening it with complex detail which nobody needs anyway?

[Alyeska]

I'm shivering. Need meds.

How well is the medical side of things? Have they put the right amount of detail into things to make it more complex than "drink beer or eat animals to regain HP", while not overburdening it with complex detail which nobody needs anyway?

Bandages to stop blood loss. Pain killers to deal with shock and uncontrolable shaking. Morphine for broken limbs. Epi pens to wake up unconscious players. Blood bags to replace blood (health). Antibiotics to cure colds/infection.

Food replaces blood, but only part of it. You have to eat and drink regularly. Weather, water, and to,e of day affects your body temperature. The lower your temp, the more likely you catch a cold. A cold won't kill you, but it will reduce your blood slowly.