Shopping for sharp objects Playing DayZ has made me analyze what goods I might need in real life. I've decided to start listing some of my wants, needs, and haves on this blog so I have a list for anyone who might be interested and also for myself. I'll post things as i find them so here's the first grouping. Uncrate.com is an excellent place to spot survival gear that is not only useful but also badass looking. Here's a few of my favorites.
Fiskars Unbreakable Hatchet - For chopping wood or zombies, you need a good axe. This lightweight, "stronger than steel", hatchet is an excellent option. At only $23 this is a steal.
Stanley FuBar Demolition Bar - In the apocalypse you may need to "break in" to the occasional house, business, car, chest, etc... the dirty but effective solution could be this FuBar. There are a number of sizes and styles available starting at $25.
Gerber Apocalypse Kit - The name says it all. Gerber even has their own /apocalypse site. They know what's up. You can buy each item individually or all together with the carry bag for $350.
The Crovel - Get yours now because they bad boys are on a 30-45 day wait. This not so innocent looking shovel/crowbar combo also acts as a saw, axe, hammer, bottle opener, watertight storage, para-cord holder, etc... the uses are endless. Get the Ultimate Crovel for $110 or also check out the Crovel 7 Day Bug Out Bag for $910.
Speaking of Bug Out Bags... Uncrate made their own impressive BOB complete with links to buy everything you see. Some of the items are priced as TBD but not including those this BOB will still set you back a pretty penny. You can always start one piece at a time.
Uncrate's Essential Blades is another collection to work on. Including the Fiskars Hatchet listed earlier and a variety of other bladed tools, this will pretty much have you covered in the "sharp things" department.
Having a million knives at home won't do you any good if all hell breaks loose while you're at work or away from the house. Keep things looking professional and meaning business with this Hibben belt knife set. There will be more pointy things and not pointy things to come...
Day 3 When I logged off, I was in a warehouse on the docks of the city of Chernogorsk, or "Cherno" as most survivors call it. I logged back in, safe and sound and I took a few minutes to survey what loot was available in the room. All I could see was a tire and a jerry can full of gasoline. Being that I didn't have a car, nor any idea of how to find one, I left those alone. So, do I sit in my "home" for a little while or make my way out in the scary world? Unfortunately, that wasn't a decision I had to make for myself. As I was walking towards the large hangar style doors in the warehouse, all of a sudden they swung open. Four heavily armed men in ghillie suits ran through the door and trained their guns on me. "Get down on the ground! Get down on the ground! Get in the corner, lay down, and drop your gun." Hoolleee shiiiit.
Assaulted by 4 green Chewbaccas in rubber boots. I have to say, in addition to being very surprised, I was genuinely terrified. I had no idea what these guys planned to do with me. Were they just going to rob me and let me go? Did they plan on killing me? I would soon find out. They surrounded me, closed the door, and trained their guns on me. After I got on the ground and fumbled to figure out how to drop my gun, they went through my inventory to see if I had anything they wanted. Judging by the gear they had, the answer was no, so they decided they just wanted to mess with me. Before they started, somehow one of their members died... I'm guessing he was bleeding and somehow didn't notice but one second he was there then the next he was on the ground. They flipped out. They weren't sure what happened and they weren't sure if I had anything to do with it. I thought this might be the end for me here. They had decided he died of his own stupidity fortunately. So they were back to messing with me. They handed me an axe and told me to attack the jerry can. I don't think any of us knew if it would actually do anything. After a few seconds of nothing happening, I decided this was going nowhere. I couldn't wait anymore to see what ridiculousness they had planned next. I stood up and made a break for the door. It took them a few seconds to realize I was bolting so I managed to get the door open and round the corner before they managed to gun me down.
...As I sat there with my jaw agape, I couldn't believe the experience I just had. I was accosted in a video game and I really felt fear. I had spent some time with my character to get the gear he had and out of nowhere some random strangers decided to torture another player. What can I do about this? If I start over, will I run into the same thing again? Is this how the world will be? I sat there for a minute trying to decide my next next move. Finally, it hit me. How can I get back at these guys when they are so well armed compared to me, especially when I'm going to re-spawn with no gun? I can use arguably the most dangerous weapon in the game... the zombies. I have my plan. I spawn on the beach and try and find out where I am. I spawn about two towns away from Cherno and I make my move. I start running full speed towards Cherno. Along the way, I try to get as close to every building I can see and round up any zombie that spots me. I suppose I should take a second to talk about how zombies move in the game. When you see a zombie from a distance, they're moving in one of their pre-defined styles. They walk in a random pattern Romero zombie type pace. If they see or hear you however, they'll let out a growl and the chase is on. As long as they're on open ground, they can do a pretty good job at keeping up to you. The best way to lose a chasing horde is to make your way into some cover. If you zigzag through some buildings or trees and manage to get out of their line of site then you can typically hide them out. Another way to escape your pursuers is to use the buildings. The zombies stop running whenever they get indoors, so if you can lure them inside a building and make your way back out, then you have another good chance of getting away.
Free brain muffins... This way. Back to my plan... So I stayed in the open and tried to get as big of a tail as possible. I had managed to get anywhere from 5 to 7 zombies at a time following me. Occasionally I would have to slow down to keep them on me but even though it took me about 5 minutes, I managed to make it back to the Cherno docks with a trail of the undead. I headed towards my warehouse, opened the hangar door, and... they weren't there... except a dead body. I closed the door behind me and my zombie trail wandered off. One of the guys who had accosted me had apparently got what was coming to him. After inspecting the body, it said he was shot in the head. I assume one of his buddies took him out just to be a jerk. I wasn't going to waste this opportunity. I went through all of his gear and man was he loaded. He had the biggest backpack, nice guns, tons of ammo, the works. I took it all and tried to decide where to head out of town. Next: Castle Grayskull.
On my next birth, I have a little better idea of what I'm doing. I still have no idea how to use a gun but I'm hoping I can find one this time around. This time I started with some buildings in sight. From what I can see I think it may be one of the 2 big cities on the map. I should mention that when you spawn, the name of the town or area you're in pops up on the screen for a moment. a. I don't speak or read Russian very well so they all sound the same to me. and b. I don't have a map to know what that name means anyway. (You can find maps online, but taking time to read an online map while sitting around a zombie infested world could get you in trouble.)
So I've heard a few things about this game and watched enough videos by now to know that cities mean two things: 1. Lots of buildings to find loot and supplies. 2. Other people. Now you may be thinking, "Yay people!", but this is a short lived thought. The problem with the apocalypse is that you're not the only one struggling to find supplies. Your odds are about even as to whether someone will ignore you when you bump into each other or shoot first and ask questions later. Chances are you have something on you they could use and either way there's one less person to fight over supplies with. I should point out that I am not a shoot first person unless I feel like I may be threatened but hopefully I won't have to test this often. I weigh my options and decide I will take my chances with the city. I tried the small town last time and it didn't work out great. I make my way along the shore towards the silhouetted buildings in the distance. As I make my way along the shore I make sure to keep my eye out for any snipers in the taller structures. So far the coast is clear. No zombies or survivors. I make my way to the dock area along the coast. There are a few buildings in sight. The first one I can see is a large dock crane. There are a few zombies around but they seem to be far enough away that I can make my way without egging them on. I see a ladder at the base so I decide to make my way up there to see if I can find anything. No supplies, but I get an excellent view of my surroundings. I see a couple of high rise apartment type buildings that look promising and some other smaller places that look like they could be explored.
Not me. I head down and make my way into the heart of the city. Again, I'm always walking in a crouch and often slowly. I see zombies wandering all over the place but I make a path to a building that looks like I can enter it. It's a two story cafe that sits on a corner. I head in the entrance and I make my way behind the counter. Behind the counter is a curtain and an entryway to the upstairs area. As I make my way up the stairs and round the corner, pay-dirt! There's a pistol and some ammo on the ground. Woohoo! I pick it up and equip it then I make my way to the next room. Another gun! This time it's a revolver. I decide to stick with the one I have and keep moving (you have a limited amount of storage and can only really carry a sidearm and a rifle). The next room and I find some soda and a can of frank & beans.
FRANK AND BEANS!!! I now have everything I need to survive for a little while and I'm feeling confident. Not that confident though... I decide I need to make my way back out of the city before someone catches me that has a bigger gun and a craving for tomato and molasses sauce. First I take in what I can. Looking out all of the windows, watching the zombies walk around the adjacent streets. I watch another survivor make his way through the lobby of a high rise near me.Not wanting to run into him, I decide to head out the way I came in and make my way back to the docks. In DayZ (and I would imagine real life), zombies pay attention to what they can see and what they can hear. I don't know about you, but a gun is usually something that can be heard from a pretty good distance. So rather than see how many zombies in a 12 block radius I can invite to chase me, unless I have to, I slowly make my way around their lumbering corpses. I head past the crane I scouted from initially, towards some storage containers and warehouses. Near the containers there were another handful of zombies. In these close quarters I had to crawl behind some weeds in order to not be noticed. So after a couple of minutes sliding, and pausing, and backing up, and moving around a corner, and moving forward again, on my belly, I find a warehouse with a giant set of double doors I can open.
Home Sweet Home. I make my way inside and find a nice open floor plan, a couple of loot drops with ammo and another coke can, and some car parts. I can sit in the corner and see the doors if someone opens them and I can hope that new gear will pop up occasionally. This looks like a nice place to set up shop and defend against the zombies for a little while. I log off for the day. Next: Robbed at gunpoint...
I had also talked to a few coworkers who had just started playing and their experiences so far had been enticing. So I picked up the game via Steam http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/sub/4638. DayZ (Day Zed if you're British or don't want to sound like you're playing a game about a flower) is free but the ArmA 2 collection is $30. If you like realistic military simulators then ArmA 2 may be something you would want to play by itself. Before DayZ though I don't know that it was tearing up the charts. The DayZ mod and DayZ Commander (for finding games and updating DayZ) can be found and www.DayZMod.com
During the download process for all of the games I decided to do my homework on what to expect and how to play. YouTube will get you lots of content by searching DayZ but here's the one that I found to get oriented. (22min. You may want to finish reading first ;) )
You can check out the DayZ Wiki and such for controls and maps and more tutorials. I would also recommend playing the ArmA training mission to get a feel for the controls. The inventory system can take a bit of getting used to. So after I got everything going I had a small window to play and I decided to see what I could do. A few things have changed since this video was posted and could change back maybe later. You no longer start with a weapon. You start out in a 22 sq. km Russian area called Chernarus. The scenario is the zombie apocalypse has wiped out almost all signs of civilization. You are armed with a backpack, bandage, flashlight, and some Tylenol... yup. That's it. You start on a coast, somewhere between towns and villages.You make your way to signs of previous life in search of food, water, supplies, and weapons. I started without any buildings in sight. Considering how far you can see in the game, that's pretty impressive/depressing. I picked a direction and started off. I had heard that you should try to keep away from plain sight so i traveled from cover to cover in the middle (crouch/stealth) position. I made my way along the coast until I came to a forest. Being that zombies tend to spawn near buildings I figured I'd be relatively safe. I still trekked slowly along the way just in case. As you move along, here's what you'll see:
Again, some things have changed in the recent updates. The debug monitor is now off by default (you can turn it on in game settings). The face icon is no longer in use. Most games actually have no information about other players for you to use. You don't see any names or info hovering over their heads. No team colors. Nothing... Some players may be wearing a bandit outfit which doesn't mean their a bad guy but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck... you get the idea. So in my first game I was able to just make my way around the forest a bit without seeing any enemies or finding any stuff so I found a random place to log off and hoped I wouldn't have any surprises for me when I logged back in. The next day I sat down to try and dive in to a longer game. One of the most important things that sets DayZ apart from most other games is permanent character info. That means that no matter what server you log in to, you start with the same gear, health, and location as you left. That means most importantly, when you die, you die. Everything you worked to collect is gone. :( Anywho, I logged back in and kept on moving. Before long I came to a valley and a small town. There were about a dozen houses/farms etc... and a few destroyed cars in the streets. As I got closer to the town, I found the zombies starting to show up in the fields and around the buildings in the town. There are a couple of different zombie types to watch out for:
The walking zombie which typically comes in a mechanic, priest, or Jamie from Mythbusters skins.
The "monkey" zombie which you can find hopping around in a crouched or humped over pose. They seem to jump around on all fours.
The crawling zombie is hardest to spot as they are always on the ground. If you hit the other zombies without killing them, sometimes they'll turn into one of these.
All of these guys move around in slow random patterns. You have to just make your way around them the best you can. If you notice the ear and eye icon on the screen, these are how well you are keeping yourself hidden. Crawling around keeps you at 0-2 bars for either icon and running at full speed can give you 5 of both. There are other things that affect these icons like shade, foliage, what type of terrain you're running on and how fast you're moving (holding shift moves you more slowly).
I kept myself at a crouch/crawl trying to find a house to enter and find some gear. My liquids were getting low and my food was following behind. Not to mention the fact that I don't have a weapon. After a few close encounters or moment of sitting still hoping I wasn't spotted, I managed to get in a small house. Success! I was able to get in, close the door behind me, and take a look around. On the floor I found some ammo for a couple of guns, a can of Coke (yes, you survive mostly on Coke or Pepsi), and some more bandages. The coke kept me going for a bit but I was still a sitting duck for any zombie attacks. I sat in the house looking around for a little while to see where my next move was and after I saw what looked like another house I could enter, I decided to make my move. This is where I should point out that this game is intense. It keeps you on the edge of your seat almost all of the time. There are creepy sounds, ambient clicks and gongs, clocks chiming in the distance, wildlife noises, zombie shuffling and growling, and everything else to keep you jumpy as you play. So... I wearily headed out of my safe house (except that zombies can bust open doors if they know you're in there) and made my way to house #2. House #2 was not completely enter-able. There was a little shed/entryway type deal and inside... a crowbar. Yay! Self defense. I'd like a gun but this'll have to work. I equip the crowbar and make my way back to house #1. I log out and wait to die another day.
On the next log in, I find myself needing to find some food fast. I am in the red. I think I've seen all there is in this town, so I make my way out. Unfortunately for me, there were zombies in the waiting. I headed around a rock pattern in the town and found a walker waiting for me. He managed to get a couple of hits on me before I could move out of the way. I turned and got a couple of whacks on him. In hind sight I probably should have ran first and not stopped but they can keep up pretty well when they have you in their sights. so I decided to fight. I ran off as he fell to the ground. I was bleeding fast so I popped open a bandage and stopped the leak. Unfortunately for me, my battle had alerted a couple of other zombies who were fast approaching. By the time I had stood back up I had taken another couple of blows. I whacked the other zombies to the ground but by then it was too late. The world had gone grey and blurry from my blood loss. I was having trouble standing up and moving was almost impossible. I decided it was time. I hobbled towards the next closest zombie (blurry blob) so he could take me out of my misery. As I stumbled towards my foe and he spotted me, I hear a pop. A player must have showed up in the village. I don't know if he was doing me a favor or just killing me for potential loot but either way my suffering was over.
So that was game 1 & 2. I hope you liked it. Check out DayZ and see what kind of adventures you can get into surviving the apocalypse.
Next: A gun (guns!), a threat worse than zombies, and robbed at gunpoint...
