Arma II: Dayz

[tehrozzy]

To be continued tomorrow.

And the best part is yet to come for our tale. :D

True. Quite an interesting tale you have Scotty! Makes me wish my team were online right now...

[Mr Pwnage]

Pwnage is screaming through our communication system everything he sees, be it blowing grass, leaves on trees, while Lucifer and I both silently scope in on the targets.

Haha, this is so true...

[Scotty]

And for the second half...

My heart was beating faster and faster.  We only took out one of the four hostile survivors.  We had made it too far, and gained too much gear to get taken out due to a stupid mistake.  I slowly crouch to my left a very short distance in order to reach a tree line that may provide some concealment from wandering eyes.  I can't see any of the remaining enemy survivors, and find that as every second passes without a sighting, my heart beats that much faster, that much harder.  Had they logged out?  Are they flanking Lucifer and I?  Are they on a different server, coming up the hill to get behind us before they log back on to the server we are all unsuspecting on.  There's no way to know for certain.

Suddenly, I spot another enemy survivor running across the field, away from Nick.  It's all bets off, I can't let him get away.  They were hostile, we returned fire, and we had the advantage, they weren't going to just let us walk through the town and take the car that they were attempting to repair and drive off in.  Suddenly, the survivor stops dead in his tracks, right in the center of the field.  This is my chance.  I sight in, and apparently so does Lucifer.  As though we were equally prepared to take the shot, both our rifles ring out with near synchronous timing, and the body begins to bleed.  Surprising to both of us, he doesn't drop, so we shoot him again.  By this point, he has more holes in him than a water fountain, and there can only be one thing he's doing.  Sure enough, within moments of our second shot, he disappears from our sights, vanishing into thin air.  That's the first disconnected survivor we witness, but what about the other two that remain?  Had they been more wise and logged off prior?

Nick comes rushing up the hill back to Lucifer and I, and I immediately direct them to push further back to the tree line, to not indicate our position.  Not even fifty yards behind us and to the left there is a very large forest, providing very good concealment.  Nick clearly wasn't satisfied with that near death experience, and is determined to go back for the vehicle.  He takes Pwnage with him after scolding him for mentioning every cloud formation and naming every leaf on every tree while Nick tried to communicate with Luci and I during his last skirmish.  Lucifer and I immediately go prone or crouch in trees, eyes glued on them, and the vehicle.  One by one, we clear their path of zeds, and suddenly, Lucifer exclaims that he sees another survivor approaching to their unsuspecting left side.  Before I could even get eyes on the enemy survivor, shots ring out, and Lucifer drops him with impressive speed and precision.  I applaud his sharp-shooting with quotes like "Nice shooting Tex!", among others.  That's three survivors down, or disconnected, one remaining, or so we suspect.  With all their wisdom, instead of rushing to the vehicle, Nick and Pwnage scavenge the carcass.  I press them to move on, but they are steadfast in their decision, taking what seemed like 5 minutes to go through his belongings.  I pick off a few zeds that were getting a little too close for comfort to them, eventually convincing them that they are out of time.

The vehicle wasn't going anywhere.  It's tire on the front passenger side is out, and it won't go anywhere.  Pwnage elects to stay in the vehicle, while Nick scavenges the city to find a replacement tire.  Without any luck, they both abandon the vehicle and move back to Lucifer's and my position.  While they perfected the art of Lolly-gagging below in the city, I had noticed that there was a castle upon a hill in the distance.  I was mistaken when looking at my map, and managed to find exactly where we were.  I had not been to that specific castle ruin in the past, and it isn't difficult to encourage my comrades to join me in fulfilling my curiosity.  As we approach, we re-supply on what little gear we can scavenge, and for third-person reasons, I had to take a 15-20 minute break while they all relaxed in the castle.

Upon my return, we continue to head south in our search for Chaos.  We pass by a small building, eliminate a few zeds, and depart further down the field.  Suddenly, I call everyone to a halt.  I can hear something.  Something.... Mechanical.  I quickly scan the roads ahead, the tree lines, uncertain of what the sound is.  Suddenly, a bus emerges from a fork in the road, and drives down the road that lies over a couple hundred yards out from us, plain as day.  As though we were all thinking the same thing, all four of us immediately get up from the prone position, and run back towards the city that we abandoned the vehicle in.  Nick advises me to climb to the top of the castle with my sniper rifle, and Lucifer takes up a position in the open field along side the structure.  Both Nick and Pwnage run straight for the city, determined to acquire the bus.  Before I can even get up into the tower, I hear them call out four survivors that exit the bus.  Without a doubt, it's the previous crew coming back with the proper equipment to not only defend themselves, but also repair the vehicle, and we had to act fast.

I reach the top of the castle, and carefully go into a crouched position far enough back to where they would only spot the top of my head if they were smart enough to look back towards my position.  Within seconds, I see a couple of survivors around the car.  As we all deliberate whether or not to fire, I see one survivor trying (and subsequently failing) to skid over the hood of the car, as though he was vaulting over a low fence line. 

I make the executive decision and fire the first shot.  He immediately bleeds at the waste, indicating to me that I need to adjust the elevation of my scope since I was aiming for the upper chest.  Again, shots ring out from all directions.  The unsuspecting movie star thinks he is safe behind a building, and crouches down as he moves towards it.  It is at this point that I realize that once again, they have underestimated just how prepared we were.  He was on the wrong side of the building.  He either decided some side of the building was better than where he was at the vehicle, or he thought we were still on the northern hill.  Had we remained at the northern hill during our first assault, he would have been covered from any shots fired, but we were to the south.  An easy kill.  Both Lucifer and I fire upon him again, and he drops dead on the ground.  I immediately scan the area around him looking for the next survivor, and I find him, crawling towards the carcass of his fellow comrade.  Another easy kill for us.

Among all the shooting, I hear that there are five total.  They must have recruited another friend to join them in an attempt to recover the vehicle.  I spot another survivor taking concealment by a fence, not moving.  He, as well as his friend who are close by were no match for Lucifer and I, they both die within seconds and feet from each other.  All this time, I was concentrating so hard on eliminating the survivors that I hadn't take the moment needed to find where the survivors left the bus.  As I scan to the right, I see it moving, Nick calling out that he has commandeered the large vehicle, Pwnage aimlessly trying to figure out how he should enter the vehicle.  Nick gets out of the bus, and a fifth survivor makes his appearance.  He approached from the far side of the bus, unnoticed by both Lucifer and I.  Nick immediately fires his shotgun, and before anyone knows the outcome, the survivor vanishes.

At that point, I begin my descent from the hundred foot tower, telling them I'll sprint to the road and meet them there.  I exit the castle, and immediately run for the road, bringing Lucifer with me as I run.  Nick stops the bus alongside the road, we both hop in, and depart.

We stole their bus.  We either killed or scared them all not once, but twice.  The reward of total victory over a team of survivors was enough in of itself, the fact that everyone on my team survived made it that much sweeter.  To be rewarded with a bus was beyond any of our expectations.  I can't stop smiling, and my heart can't stop thumping.  We stole their bus.  They shot first, when Nick had no intent of causing bodily harm, and as a result, we killed them all twice, and we stole their bus.  It couldn't have gone any smoother.  Sure, we may have left the car behind, we didn't even scavenge their bodies.  We stole their bus.

We would meet up with Chaos in no time at all.  Sure enough, a couple of miles down the road, and there he is, emerging from the forest of concealment to join us on our magical bus ride.  The entire time we celebrate our victories by retelling the story over and over again as though none of us knew what happened the first time.  In all of our celebration, we decide to press on to our next adventure, and even happen to stumble across a survivor on the main road.  Nick graciously offers the stranger a ride to the next city, in an attempt to be friendly to at least one stranger, but this was no stranger....

It was Titan.  Yep, we randomly drove by Titan, and offered him a ride, unsuspecting of his identity until he revealed it to us on the bus.

Quite frankly, the rest of the story is irrelevant, and likely will be boring after all of this.  It would be hard to top this adventure, because we killed them twice, and we stole their bus.  Take that bandits.

[tehrozzy]

BEST. STORY. EVER.
Scotty, from now on you must record your groups adventures in DayZ

[TANK]

sounds like you guys have alot of fun. When i try to be tactical and sneaky like you guys i usually just get owned. I recently made a friend for a short while though, i snuck up on him and tried to play the friendly game because i just recently died and had nothing to lose and it worked out. It didn't last long we alerted some zombies in a little town, we had to split up and i later found his dead body by a door, appeared like he was trying to close it and got owned. It was a good day for humanity though, two random strangers not shooting each other in day z.

[Lucifer]

Today I killed a man in Cherno. I've murdered before, the act itself was nothing new, yet.. this one tears at my soul. I entered a house in search of food and instead found him, AKM in hand, aiming at my chest. I yell that I am friendly, unarmed, I ask him not to shoot. He continues to look at me for a few seconds more, then perhaps deciding I was telling the truth, or perhaps simply not caring, turns away and looks out the nearby window.

I ask him how he's doing and he looks back at me, puts his AKM on the floor, and proceeds to say what will haunt me until the end of my DayZ days.

"Take this gun and shoot me."

I'm stunned. I crouch down next to him and ask him why, I tell him that I do not wish to shoot him, that he's done me no harm. He tells me that he hates his life, that he has simply given up the will to live. I try to ask him why, but as I do he pulls a Makarov Pistol from his belt and aims it at my head.

"Just do it."

My heart is pounding, I don't want to die. I pick up the AKM but attempt to plead with him. I tell him that his life is worth living, that I'll help him, that we can leave this city together.

"Hurry up, I have an itchy trigger finger."

My conscience is overridden by survival instinct, I take aim at his head and ask him one last time if he is absolutely sure.

"Yes."

I say "See you in another life, brother," and pull the trigger. My heart sinks as he yells and falls to the floor, but I can't stop to think now. The AKM is extremely loud, nearly as loud as the Lee Enfield, zombies are already entering the building. I grab what I can off his corpse and dash for the back door, into sunlight, into freedom, into hell.

Chernogorsk, the city of the damned, where either a man looks at you in fear or looks at you in envy. Chernogorsk, where men go to die.

P.S. Yes that's a Lost reference.

[Scotty]

P.S. Yes that's a Lost reference.

Way to ruin it man...

[Lucifer]

P.S. Yes that's a Lost reference.

Way to ruin it man...

I love Lost and I'm not ashamed to say it!

I'm loving all of the stories I've had in DayZ so far, and all of the stories I've read on reddit & the forums. If anyone is interested in an interview with Rocket, this is a good listen. Definitely explains a lot about how the game has progressed so far, and what his plans are for the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CNh-Mp_KhQ

[tehrozzy]

Being decked out with the best gear in the game gets quite boring from time to time. However, all that changes when a hill decides to become covered in grease and you slide to your death.

So after starting a new life in DayZ, I headed to the location of my death (Thankfully near the coast) and searched for my body. Unfortunately, it had vanished, but I waited partway up the hill for my good friend Jester to arrive. He scanned around, and much to our dismay, could not locate the body either. It was then that we noted the sound of a helicopter overhead. I went prone on the hill, as it was dark and the chopper was flying over some distance away. After a quick contemplation on whether or not to search for it, we heard it head back, and looked to see it flying back towards where it came from.

Thinking nothing of it, we headed off in the same direction, when I noticed that my temperature was drastically low.
We headed towards the forest to start a campfire, but as we approached, the helicopter flew back towards us, this time right overhead. Jester was fine, he had a Ghillie suit, and simply dropped to the ground. However, I was spotted, and as I sprinted to cover, bullets rained down from overhead. Somehow I managed to make to the trees, and hid in-between two of them and some bushes. The helicopter circled overhead, firing a few more shots, then flew off.

Taking care, me and Jester headed further into the woods to make our campfire. Taking only enough time to fix my temperature, we re-armed, Jester giving me his side-arm (an M1911) and his spare Ghillie. During this time we heard a large explosion somewhere in the direction the helicopter had headed. We headed back out, towards an ATV that was next to a fence we saw up ahead.

We find the ATV is missing two wheels and is unusable, so we continue down the road in the hopes of finding a way to fix it. We continue towards the city of Elektro, approaching the outer buildings. We restock our water at a pump, and I head inside the nearest building and acquire a Double Barrel Shotgun. Proud of my weapon, I head back outside, to hear the crack of bones snapping, and see my friend fall to the ground. Too late do I realise my peril, as I hear that crack once again, and collapse.

It was after this that I decided that I'm never going to assume the better of people, and will instead stick to 'shoot on sight'. We also never found out the cause of the explosion, though we assume that whoever took us out probably took down the chopper as well. That's because whoever took us down instakilled us with near silent weapons at long range with near instant aiming on both of us after we rounded the corner. Even if it was mere skill that they used, it seems like it would have been enough to take out the helicopter.

EDIT:

Adventures in DayZ #2
Once more I started a new life in DayZ. I turned to see a giant glitchy fire, and, intrigued, headed towards it. Moments later a car drove out from the distance, parked next to me, and a guy jumped out and started barking illegible orders at me. Upon my failure to respond, I was shot.
Spawning once more nearby, the same car drove up, two guys jumped out, and once more I was yelled out.
Bandit 1: DROP TO THE GROUND
I complied.
B1: ROLL TO THE RIGHT
I complied.
B1: NOW TO THE LEFT
Once more, I complied.
Bandit 2: Now put your hands in the air like you just don't care.
Me: How do I even do that!?
Bandit 1: Wrong!
Once more, I was shot.

Spawning further up the eastern coast, I was free from the tyranny of some bored bandits, and checked a nearby quarry to find a V3S Civilian Truck there, missing some tires and in need of repairs. Noting this, I headed off to find Jester and Jake.

Upon regrouping with my team, I mentioned the truck, and we decided to head to the North Eastern Air Field. We scavenged some better items, all of us gaining powerful sniper rifles, and eventually holding off a large horde of zombies from two different towers. Having managed to survive the veritable army of undead, we headed off towards Berezino and the eastern coast.

Arriving at Berezino, we looted both the grocery store and the hospital, fully healing ourselves in the process, and left back down the coast towards the truck in prime condition. We get back, fix up the truck, refuel it with what we have, and head straight to the nearest petrol station.

We get there, and there's another survivor. Unarmed, he calls out that he's in friendly and would like a lift. He hops in the back as me and Jake refuel the truck, but before we leave, the stranger says goodbye and logs off. We head northward up the coast, the wind in our hair and the sun on our face as we drive through this god forsaken wasteland.

Arriving at our new destination, a bay at the far north east of Chernarus, we stop to hunt some animals, cook our food, and have a relaxing campfire (PICTURED BELOW). We reflect on our good fortune, and forget about the worries of the world. But all too soon we need to head out. We snuff out the campfire, and me and Jake head through the trees to the bay, while Jester waits with the truck. We locate a PBX (Speedboat), and after slightly refueling it, me and Jake say our goodbyes, before he drives off with it. I realised, as he went into the horizon, that I may never see him again.

I return to the truck and give Jester the news. Already our spirits have been dampened, though we maintain radio contact with Jake as he travels down the coastline. Me and Jester head back inland to once more refuel the truck, and as we arrive at the petrol station, we recieve a message from Jake, saying he's made it to Skallisty Island. And even better news, he found a helicopter! It was in prime condition, even fueled, though there was a tent nearby. Taking a moment to read the manual, Jake takes off with the Helicopter and aim to meet us inland.

Me and Jester jump back into the truck to head to the rendevous point, when a distressing message comes through.
~MAYDAY, MAYDAY~
After that all contact with Jake had ceased. We headed down to his last known location, but we could not locate any wreckage. Silently wishing our friend a final farewell, we headed back to Solnichny, where we first got the truck, and the closest petrol station. However, there was a sudden flash and we were in the middle of nowhere, with some douchebag hacker firing at us. Luckily the truck was bulletproof, so we quickly disconnected before the glass broke and left everything behind.
RIP Jake, Truck, and all our stuff it had.

[Lucifer]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/6276-DayZ

[Scotty]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/6276-DayZ

Yeah, that about sums it up.  Watching that, I can understand how any uninitiated player would think it's the worst idea for a game ever.

[Lucifer]

Heya peeps, for anyone still interested in Day Z, the 1.7.3 patch has finally been released.

http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/12emlo/173_has_been_released/

A couple notably important updates;

• [NEW] Alt-f4 is now locked and will only open your status menu.
  
• [NEW] New Combat System If you fire a weapon, then you go into combat. During combat, "ABORT" is disabled. (Need to look at the effects with high player counts)
  
• [NEW] Combat 30 sec timer on all combat actions.
  
• [FIXED] Zombie death animation is delayed (now it plays instantly) (Demonstrated Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXpeN5YjUQ&feature=plcp)
  Hacking is still of course an issue, one of which that most likely will not be fixed in the mod but definitely fixed in the Standalone, which should be coming out by the end of this year! If you've been taking a break from Day Z like I have, I highly recommend giving it another go, there's some community made maps that have become popular lately; Lingor Island, Fallujah, Panthera, Namalsk. Check them out!

[Lucifer]

In case anyone here who played DayZ in the past hasn't heard, the DayZ Standalone has been released! It is of course still in Alpha & riddled with bugs, but thus far I've had a lot of fun with it in the few hours I've played. It's on Steam for $30 bucks & I think it's worth every penny, but as they say in their warnings everywhere I'd only recommend it if you're alright with all of the bugs & exploits that come with alpha territory. I'll be playing every couple of nights when I'm not otherwise occupied, so feel free to hop on Scotty's TS & join me.