Going North
So last night we went on a big trek through the countryside heading North away from the big cities (or fucking deathtraps as I like to call them). To give you an idea of the scale of the world, this took about four hours including time taken to raid towns along the way. "You sad bastard!" I hear you cry. Fortunately it's not as boring as you'd think, when alone you still have your comrades on voice chat, you have to navigate, keep an eye out for zombies and other players. Trekking is even more atmospheric at night. After about an hour's jog from the coast (the game had respawned us again, grr), I met Strategos and Plums in a small town, and we continued north.
Out in the rural areas it's very quiet, but there's still plenty of zombies around settlements. You have to be careful because even small isolated buildings can have a number of zombies in the vicinity. At night it's really hard to see them, often they make sounds giving away their position but some are silent (until the bloodcurdling yell when they see their walking dinner: i.e. you). Sometimes you just spot a silhouette against the skyline at the last minute and have to rapidly step away. The great thing is, if you crap yourself and start running, you'll just make more noise and increase your chances of being zombie a la carte. As soon as there's zombies in the area you have to walk instead of run to reduce your noise, so you tiptoe through towns dodging them just like a goddamned ninja. Thankfully at night you can get really close to zombies without them spotting you but they still shamble surprisingly fast. They like to aimlessly wander around which makes it impossible to predict where they'll go next, we almost got trapped a few times by zombies cutting us off.
Zombies roam the countryside
We passed through at least three or four villages and small towns on our trek, plus a few farms. We stole weapons and supplies from farm buildings and houses (I doubt drooling Farmer Giles will need his binoculars any more...) Our sneaking went pretty well, only alerting zombies a few times. Despite some Rllmuk standard "SHIT! JUST SHOT THE GUN BY ACCIDENT!", and "IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU! TURN AROUND NOW! FUCK!!!!" we never attracted a horde too big to handle, but picked up some injuries in the fights. We're out of painkillers so those of us who are hurt are shaking, making aiming harder. I've also got an infection from the other night when it constantly rained and my temperature dropped. Although there's no health penalty, I keep coughing and it's audible to those around you. It's pretty funny because it actually gets really annoying - including for the others, and would be a dead giveaway in a stealth situation. Thankfully it doesn't alert zombies. The only cure is antibiotics which you can only get in hospitals, if I survive long enough I need to go and find some.
Strategos defiles a church with a chemlight. I'm staying away from him, I don't like lightning.
Seeing each other in the dark is another challenge/pain in the arse. Even with only three of us, it was quite easy to lose each other. The server had player tags so if you hover the crosshair over someone, even in the distance, their name appears. That helped a lot. But still we'd sometimes be directing each other when we got separated, only to find that the person was only about three meters away! Strategos would sometimes carry a chemlight so we could stick together. The advantage of a chemlight is that the light range is quite low making it less likely for people to see you. They also last about half an hour compared to flares which last around five minutes. It's quite cool coming into a town and finding a chemlight and wondering just how long ago that someone's been here. Are they watching you even now...?
Strategos leads the way with a chemlight. Like a bloody christmas tree.
In towns we used the occasional flare or chemlight to light up building interiors. This far into the countryside it was unlikely anyone would be around, and even if they did see it and investigate, there would have three or four of us to contend with. Safety in numbers (and sniper rifles). I had a flashlight too but it wouldn't work. To my delight I found another one en-route and proceeded to blind my teammates and alert everyone in a ten mile radius to our position. This is what a flashlight looks like to the user, but to everyone else it's like a bloody lighthouse visible from space. I only used it sparingly even though everything in my heart screamed "The Light! The Liiiiiiight!"
Maybe Plums will post the photo that shows what this looks like from his view
Flares create a cool atmosphere. I feel like bleeding just to colour-co-ordinate.
Navigating required our elite Scout knowledge using maps and compass. The compass glows green at night which is a cool touch. The maps even have contours which helped us figure out where we were when we inevitably got lost a few times. Our embarrassment was complete when we got beaten to our destination by Cheeko who legged it there by himself. We started to try to pitch tents, but an annoying bug wouldn't let us anywhere around. We turned in for the night in some bushes, my final elite maneuver was to accidently throw a flare giving our position away to anyone nearby (hopefully noone!). And so ended a very enjoyable and atmospheric journey to the north.
So last night in the helicopter was a great laugh.
I managed to direct them to me in the dark countryside by listening to where the sound of the rotors was coming from, quite cool! Then they came along and you could see the chopper from miles away with the searchlight, billowing out dust as it gets close to the ground. It's also a massive zombie magnet and you just see hordes belting towards it. So I got picked up and we flew up to the north airfield. Then we got the disconnection and Plums, the only one of us who can pilot a heli in Arma II, was reset back to the south. Thankfully during the server reset the other people at the airfield didn't spot the heli sitting in the darkness!
Then I had an entertaining time watching Strategos flying around over the airfield as he learned the controls, all the while followed by a rabid zombie horde sprinting behind him! Here he is practicing.
After I was safely on board we went south and picked up the others, who had made a landing zone very clear!
Here we are all loaded up. I had the pleasure of manning an awesome machine gun with tracer rounds. Sadly it doesn't have infinite ammo!
Navigating is quite hard in a chopper, we had to have one guy on a map directing the other. Because you move so fast over the landscape and because it was dark, it was very easy to lose your bearings. Big landmarks like the tower at green mountain help!
Searching for petrol stations
Here's where we had to ditch it, alongside the crashed helicopter. Brilliantly on my computer you can't even see the flames (compare to Cheekos screenshot). I struggle to run this game, pretty much all the graphics are on Very Low, and the performance is still crap, which makes life very difficult!
Three of us scouted a nearby town to find out where the hell we were. It is really hard to see anything at night and doubly hard on my PC, can you spot the two other players in this shot?
We found out where we were by reading the road signs, and went back to get empty jerry cans from the helicopter, to take to a town to the north. The 4 of us trekked across country in the dark, skirted round the town and sneaked into the petrol station. We couldn't find any petrol though in any of the tanks! We later discovered that only certain tank objects will give you fuel, wish we'd know that then! Whilst we were hunting around for a tank that worked, one one of us attracted a zombie and he shot it, which attracted about five more. I opened fire to help and that attracted even more... and once that many are alert the horde can easily descend! It was game over then but a great experience.
Later that night we had some more torrential rain - which in the dark makes the game almost unplayable. This is me trying to figure out where the zombies are hitting me from! You can just about make out the outline of a head in there!
I didn't do well last night, I kept making forays into towns and accidently alerting the hordes. I've learned a few lessons though, like how to walk, and never to run on concrete, the noise attracts zeds from miles around!
Today I fared a lot better, making an expedition into the heart of Chernogorsk; the biggest city and death trap on the map.
Entering the outskirts
I snuck through the streets, dodging shufflers and hearing nearby gunfire, the place attracts loads of players. I got some good equipment in some houses and headed for the church. Another survivor with a rifle suddenly came around the corner facing right at me and I froze. In that circumstance you have a split-second to decide whether to fire and as he had a bigger gun than me I thought I'd hope for the best and do nothing. He walked across the road with his gun trained on me, then his friend appeared around the corner too, also toting a huge gun. "Fuck" I thought, "I'm screwed now!". But they both carried on across the street keeping their guns trained on me, not saying a word. I pegged it around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief - at least not every player is a bastard bandit!
I met another new player at the church and we held off some zombies together there. He logged off and I continued to the center of the city in the hopes of finding a better gun. I raided pubs, houses and supermarkets with no success. I had a hairy moment where I could hear another player walking right next to me, on the other side of a wall and he must have been able to hear me too. He moved closer and I lay down and trained my gun on the hole in the wall where he'd appear. He got very close and then I heard him crawl off slowly - clearly he didn't think it was worth the risk. Moments like that are brilliant, you're so tense with your finger on the trigger, wondering if this is it...
I raided another pub and found a dead survivor upstairs with a rifle, which I gratefully took. I then got to the central square where the army must have had its last stand, there's sandbags, wrecked army vehicles and dead army personell lie motionless. A load of body bags fill the square by the momument.
I also found a flaming barrel to raise my temperature, which had fallen in my adventures. This new mechanic was only introduced yesterday. I moved away when I saw two survivors moving in, friendly or not I wasn't going to hang around to find out!
I made it to the outskirts after narrowly avoiding being shot by a noob, who kept his cool and accompanied me for a bit. I was almost out of the city when a message came over chat - "guy by pipe - friendly?". I was the guy by the pipe and could see noone nearby... "yes" I replied, wondering if my brains were about to be shot out. I then spotted him up on the top floor of a wrecked factory nearby. I ran off in case he changed his mind, being sure not to look like I was approaching his spot. I reached the traintracks and started to head north to the countryside, I was fully kitted out now with compass, map, matches, wood, flares, chemlights, guns, food, drink, rucksack, ammo, hunting knife... I was ready to head into the wild!
Just a short way along the train tracks, I saw a cow. "You can get 6 meat off a cow" advised Strategos. Great, I thought, some more supplies to take with me. I had to shoot it with my pistol. Just as I was standing over the body, I heard a bang and suddenly I hit the floor. My vision went grey and then black. I'd been sniped. Game over! I was gutted! I'd given away my position to someone in a vantage point by shooting the cow. I thought it might have been the chap from the factory but he asked who shot me... unless that was a ruse of course. A few hours life gone in an instant. Bandits like to camp up in the city and just kill people for fun.
By jigsawn at 2012-05-22
Later this evening I started again and made a trek inland through the countryside, raiding small villages, farms and barns. I didn't encounter any players, only hearing nearby gunfire. The zeds are still in full supply in the hamlets, but there are good supplies to be found. A stray zombie wandered into the barn I was looting and I had to shoot him, alerting pretty much the whole town. Fortunately barns are quite defendable and I had plenty of ammo! I stood at the top of the stairs and mowed down every last one of them... leaving this rather amusing sight:
By then it was dark and raining, and I thought, what better place to shack up for the night than a cosy barn? This life I will survive for longer!
A lonely zombie goes for a stroll
Me, Plums and Strategos tried to meet up in the big city. After half an hour me and Plums met on the outskirts of town and made our way towards Strategos who was deeper inside. We sprinted across an open field. BAM - I was shot, BAM, Plum was shot. Oh cruel world! Strategos spent the next twenty minutes creeping around looking for the sniper as we cursed our luck. Rule of thumb, in the big cities, don't approach in the open!
Welcome to my Day-Z adventures! The entries added today were originally on a forum, hence why there are so many for one day!-----
I've just returned from my first night in Day Z. I woke up on the beach and in the text chat another newbie was being warned about a gang of guys flying a helicopter along the coast looking for trouble. So immediately I was wary. It was pitch black, I could only see the silhouettes of trees and swaying grass around me, and no landmarks to speak of. I figured out the basic controls with the help of an online guide and threw a flare whilst messing around. I was forced to get away in case it attracted unwanted attention, especially from the helicopter. I thought I heard it coming but then realised it was the fan on my laptop having a fit!
The music is atmospheric and unnerving, it reminds me of Amnesia: Dark Descent. So this is playing as I'm creeping around the very dark countryside. I suddenly hear concrete under my feet and realise I'm on a yard or perhaps a heli pad - there's white markings on the floor I can't make out. There's a gurgling and grunting not far off, but I can see nothing but black in that direction. I turn away to get out of there and just then I see the silhouette of a figure shambling only a few meters away! My heart skips a beat, I had no idea he was there, I didn't hear a thing from him. I hold my breath and he carries on shambling past me, they can't see too well in the dark I guess. After a safe amount of time I crawl off again, I'm going to have to be more careful.
The silhouette of a telegraph pole finally comes into view and I see it's connected, surely these poles will lead me to civilisation? Following them I discover they're parallel to a road, but I have to stay off it, my footsteps are far too loud on asphalt. The shapes of buildings loom out of the darkness ahead. It starts to pour with rain. Over the din I can hear zombies nearby and so I slowly crawl in the grass towards the pitch black buildings. I reach one and start to move around the outside, looking for an entrance. I can't even see the walls it's so dark, I'm using touch alone. A gurgling zombie approaches but shambles right past me, stay still and you're safe. I take a moment to switch to Windows to see how to open doors. When I return to the game, the mouse click causes my gun to fire! Shit! The zombie screams and in seconds he's clawing at me, I can't even tell from which direction because it's so dark! I shoot around wildly until the the light from the gun flashes lights him up. It's like a horrible strobe as I expend a clip into him. He finally falls and I quickly try to crawl away before more arrive... but I'm too late. Another two zeds, screaming, charge towards me in the grass and I shoot them down. I back up against a wall but no more zombies come, that time I was lucky. Amazingly despite being clawed, I don't seem to need medical attention. The downpour finally stops.
I can't find any way into the buildings so I'm forced to throw a flare. Red flickering light illuminates the area. It makes you feel extremely vulnerable even though the light is a godsend. I quickly skirt the buildings but it turns out they are just scenery and you can't get in the doors - disappointing! I move on to avoid any attention from the flare, crouching and running along the telegraph poles. Before long a black warehouse rises from the gloom as I can't hear any groans, I throw a few flares around. The area looks like a sub interior now. There's a ladder on the side of the warehouse and I decide to climb onto the roof to scope out the surrounding area and spy any intruders. I spy a zombie shuffling towards the flare, presumably attracted by the light. I can see through cracks in the roof that the building isn't just scenery and might have loot inside. I head back down, running towards the ladder - but in a disaster of lag, I overshoot the edge of the roof, and heroically plunge two stories to the hard floor. There's a horrible crack as my legs snap and my vision turns grey. Five zombies charge towards me, gurgling and ranting in the flickering red light, and start to rip at me. It's the last thing I see as everything goes blacker than the night... and another life is snuffed out, in a comically tragic fashion!
After this slight mishap (!), I decided to try some American servers as Day Z uses a near real-time clock. It's so much harder at night and I wanted to experience some daylight. I spawned right in a town this time and as the server was quite full, the text chat was busy with people making plans, cursing bandits and asking questions. A thriving community compared to the last one. I started to explore the surrounding buildings and found zombie bodies strewn around everywhere. A lot of fighting and looting had happened here. Any open building had been ransacked by recent scavengers, only body bags and bare furniture remained. In a garden I found the body of an unfortunate scavenger like me, whether he was eaten or shot was unclear. His body had been looted though. The tension increased as I scurried from corner to corner, expecting to run into bandits at any moment.
I was getting to the outskirts of the town when I heard gunfire back the way I'd came. Skirting behind the town sticking close to the woods, I could see zombies charging from the town towards the trees ahead. I could hear the pops of a pistol in there. A zombie, attracted by the noise ran from behind me towards the woods but he suddenly had a change of heart and turned around. I didn't want to fire and give away my presence but had no choice, this game doesn't do baseball bats... He got his claws into me before I gunned him and down. My vision was blurred and swinging around at every step, I needed medical attention. I hoped the human wouldn't come for me as I hid behind a house bandaging my wounds. He clearly had more pressing matters though: ten seconds later gunfire rang out from a big storehouse in the town center, close to his last position. I went back into the woods and climbed a small hill - from this concealed position I could see the storehouse clearly. Zombies were charging around it in a frenzy and the human inside didn't have a shortage of bullets, they kept coming and dropping. I saw occasional glimpses of him holding out and looting zombies. For some reason player tags were on this server, so I could see he was a bandit when I put my crosshair over him. I was at too far away for an accurate pistol shot so decided to observe, plus, he didn't know I was here. Eventually the zombies stopped coming and the bandit moved off. I decided to check out a small fenced quarry through the woods and found my first loot in a shed there, an empty whiskey bottle and some ammo. Sweet.
I headed back into town in the opposite direction from the bandit to find fresh houses to loot. It was broad daylight and I was crouching down, moving through gardens and running across streets. There were a few zombies around here, just shambling around aimlessly. I knew they didn't have very good eyesight, but I got careless. I got spotted by one which moves like an ape and it screeched down on me. This was bad. I managed to shoot him before he reached me but already I could see three more zeds coming my way from all directions. I managed to run into a fence corridor helping to thin their numbers but more kept coming. I was gunning them down but my ammo was running low. Hurt and surrounded, I knew I had to run for it. I pushed past the zeds and dodged through gardens onto the main road, picking up even more screamers along the way. I ran and ran, heading for a petrol station in the distance. The zombies were slavering inches away but I didn't dare look back. At the petrol station I used a wrecked car for cover and pumped the last of my bullets into the throng of about eight runners. I didn't even kill one. I ran through the petrol station shed and tried to close the back door on them but I wasn't quick enough. The last hope was a ladder onto one of the fuel tanks, but at the top I fell off into the horde. I was surrounded and they quickly clawed me down. I stayed conscious for far too long on the ground until everything went mercifully black. Game over.
That was a harsh lesson in zombie survival - if it's daytime and there's a few around, alert one and they're damned hard to stop if you haven't got a lot of munitions. I'm going to have to be more careful in future. It's testament to the game's atmosphere that even with only minimal human contact it was still tense and felt like a survival horror - the mere possibility of hostile humans being out there is a threat enough. I definitely had flashbacks to Operation Flashpoint as I crawled around in the grass inches away from zombies - except in that game it was tanks!
