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Yea you have to wary of other player activity constantly as not everyone is friendly, plus pvp is a lot of fun. The zombies are fucking viscous as well though so you have to be careful of thek as well when near any kind of buildings. The vehicles in game are rare but if you can find a reppable chassis you can find parts to fix it, whether it be a car, truck, chopper, or boat. If you have a vehicle it helps a lot but the sound will draw a lot of attention your way and the vehicle itself will be covetted by other players, but it also makes an entertaining target. I met a guy the other day who had just been killed after a 13 day survival streak, and he was killed when stopping to refuel. His buddy went to fill some jerry cans while he guarded the vehicle, someone shot out the tyres and put a sniper round into his engine block, setting the vehicle on fire with him in it. He either died in his seat or when he jumped out to more sniper fire.
Story coming up later in the chronicles about some pvp action last night.
Lol that’s the spirit max, survival of the fittest and all š Cc and me are in a bit of a remote location but ben is going to spawn fairly close to electro and should be able to link up with you. If If not we’ll make an effort to get back that way ourselves. Had some good pvp last night and we can always use more, though we’re on a mission atm to try and build a car. I should be on tonight around half six.
Day 2 ā Fail
Ok this wonāt be as long as yesterdayās marathon but given the interest shown so far there are likely to be one or two others considering getting this so Iām trying to give as accurate a feel for what youāre getting into, including all the negatives. Iāll start where we left off after my last post, as itās a short story š Itās also worth noting this was on Wednesday night, and the marathon post actually took a couple of days to produce so any reference in it to āyesterdayā was Tuesday ā not that it really matters, but last night was Day 3 and has been referred to already by CC above :)ā¦more on that to follow but that was awesome.
Ben has been off this week so when I got in from work on Wednesday evening, heād already been on for an hour or so and had managed to equip himself even better than the night before. He was however off galavanting in the hills, and while he was still fairly close Cherno, where I was spawning, I would be on my own for a while. Streff was due on later, so we couldnāt wander too far, however we had discovered from some research overnight that there was an airfield a couple of km to the west of Cherno which was a good place to pick up some military gear and prepare ourselves for the big test of an expedition across the wilderness. That was the target for the day.
Given the night before had started late for me, Iād had little experience moving in daylight, and even though I was quite well equipped, I hadnāt really used a gun before in the game, and I was perilously short of medical supplies. I started moving as I had the night before, but zombies could see me much easier and I was jumped on within the first few minutes. I fought them off, but Iād been injured by the attack and was losing blood. You need to apply a bandage fast if youāre to survive, and while bleeding can apparently stop randomly, in this case I didnāt. I made it as fast I could therefore across town to the supermarket, in the hope of finding a bandage, but instead passed out and bleed out on the floor. Game over, for that survival attempt anyway, so back to the respawn screen I go to start again from scratch.
This was the beginning of a difficult relationship with the respawn screen for the night, as I was struggling to cope with zombie aggro in daylight. I did eventually get the hang of it, but Iād always do something careless and get myself killed, especially since I was quite often trying to enter some high value loot areas, which spawn harder zombies, and a lot more of them. I did make it to the airfield a couple of times and met my first friendly survivor unaffiliated with XDC, who ran out of the bushes and on seeing I had an AK, shouted he was friendly over the direct comms channel. I was curious so I indicated I was also friendly, and we had a wee chat and went about our business with me covering him from a couple of zombie attacks. Unfortunately our affiliation ended prematurely when the server crashed, but I have him on steam friends now and plan to meet up again sometime.
In the meantime, Ben and Streff (who was now online) were not having any better luck, and while theyād occasionally get themselves equipped, theyād end up killed by either players at Cherno hotspots, or from careless zombie aggro. Ben met a couple of friendly players, but a few hostile as well, and on this particular night I was unable to survive long enough to meet up with either him or Streff. We were also all experiencing regular connection issues with us having to reconnect to multiple servers, multiple times, and enduring long loading times while the central servers appeared to be suffering another attack, but this could possibly be normal performance as pc gamer had warned us about this. It wasnāt all frustrating, but it certainly wasnāt as good as the night before.
It ended up on a fairly positive note with me able to skirt around Cherno to the hospital in the North, where I was halted for a while by a sniper in one of the apartments covering the hospital entrance. It looked initially like I might be able to sneak into his building when he had turned his gaze, though I only had an axe to chop him with, but Streff will attest to my axe wielding skills in close quarters. I also felt it would be worth the risk given my recent spawn and the fact he was clearly equipped with a nice rifle. So I creep up towards the building, keeping to the shadows and was half way across the road when I saw his silhouette move back into the stairwell of the building overlooking the street I was on, so I went prone in some bushes. It was pitch black again, but Iād seen him using flares as Iād moved up here, so I thought I was surely done for. I then saw him make a move and climb up the ladder onto the roof, which gave me my chance, and I ran to better cover. As the guy was on the roof and I was relatively safe, I called it there for the evening since it was getting late.
Next day will see me respawn in a very nice but high traffic area which sees a lot of bandit action, where risk is high alongside potential high rewards. In the meantime Ben and Streff managed to equip themselves well at the airfield and are about a kilometre out from me. If I can secure some good medical supplies from the hospital, we should be able to find me a weapon at one of the military outposts in the hills to the north, then we can hunt some banditsā¦..
Worth adding that if you already have arma 2, then all you need is the mission pack operation arrowhead, then the mods files.
That’s what we’re doing tonight actually Gary, exploring the wilderness for the first time. If you fancy joining us, we’re on ts š
I love it when a plan comes together, itās just a shame it never happens.
When the laughter calms down, we find out that Streff hasnāt respawned too far away and we meet up again after about 10 minutes with the help of some torch signals, and weāve also come up with plan B by now. The map suggests there are some high value loot drops on the other side of the train tracks, so we head over that direction, run around a few warehouses, but sadly find nothing of use to us immediately, although there were jeep parts which are high value later in the game. We move along what is the shoreline, but as zombie aggro is fickle, or because weāre still noobs, we pick up some from a few, who swarm towards Streff, who doesnāt have a replacement weapon yet so I have to charge in to kill a few with my axe. While we got ourselves clear of the aggro, Streffās leg had been broken and Ben has to use his morphine to put him right. Weāre now very low on medical supplies, and still only have the one gun between us, which tbh weāre hesitant to use due to the noise it makes and being low ammo, so this leaves me as the only one able to fight off Zombies. Given my earlier injury and us picking up more aggro across this stretch, of what was starting to look like a dockyard, I end up with a broken leg myself but as weāve no morphine left, Iām now stuck, unable to walk. I can crawl but basically we now need supplies or Iāll be dead.
Thereās another hospital in town, but itās some distance away and thereās still a chance we could find something near by, so Streff and Ben start searching, with me hiding at the back of a warehouse, with a view of the large loading area in front of it. Theyāre still scavenging when out of the corner of my eye I suddenly spot a player, and give the shout on TS.
āGuys, player spotted, across the yard, under thecraneā
Both of them immediately stop what theyāre doing and ensure theyāre in some sort of cover, while trying to get line of sight on the yard. Iām watching him from what was probably quite an exposed vantage point, but it was pitch black and Iād have been difficult to see in the prone position, whereas the other player was silhouetted against the skyline.
āHeās gone prone, and it looks like he has agun.ā
āQuick Ben, he might have some morphine, can you get ashot on him?ā
Again, without hesitation, Ben gets into position and lines up probably a 100 metre shot with his Enfield. We collectively hold our breath as he takes the shot, and thereās relief as he hits, but the guyās hard to see while prone, so Ben fires a couple of follow up shots to ensure heās dead. Brilliant, a genuine pvp kill, now letās see what he has in his kit. Ben runs over after checking around briefly for snipers, but sadly he doesnāt have what we need.
This now leaves us with a dilemma, Iām on the ground unable to move really, and to have a chance of recovery Ben and/or Streff will need to reach town and secure a morphine injection, then make it back to me, taking them through an extremely busy area, while Iāll be totally exposed to any players or zombies in the meantime. Given the shots Ben just took, weāve also now alerted people that weāre nearby, and itās a safe bet thereāll now be a bandit group heading our way.
When we weigh up the value of saving my life, we realise that I donāt have much to lose in terms of kit, so we make a decision to put me out of my misery and give Streff a chance at some hatchet revenge. While Iām trying to give him my axe though, a bug intervenes and causes Ben to lose part of his own kit while looting the other player (I suspect this may also have been part caused by a lack in our understanding of how to store kit in our backpacks). Almost immediately after this happens, we hear avoice on the wind, indicating someone in ādirect communicationā with us. The voice is distant to me, but the mechanics of direct communication mean heās within 80 metres (with the voice increasing in volume up to maximum within 20 metres range). Heās threatening to shoot Ben, and teasing him slightly, though Ben can hear him better than I can from my distant vantage point. Benās lost his gun in the inventory mess up and neither me nor Streff have much to work with anyway, so we change our plan here and Ben dances around to get himself shot, and I discover thereās actually a respawn option, so take it, while I think Streff does the same. Weāve had a taster of the game, so weāll start again from scratch in hopefully more lucrative area.
The story goes on for this evening, with more adventures around the other big town nearby, called Cherno, where we have greater success, along with another comedy death, but it would take another 2000 words to describe, so Iāll leave it there for now š We log off for the evening, with Streff suffering from hypothermia after a swim in the Russian seas, and passing out occasionally due to lack of blood, but Ben and me are both well stocked, near Cherno dockyards. Tomorrow promises rich pickings as weāve got medical supplies as well as a main gun and pistol each. Weāll save Streff and then go hunting for some targets š
Who says a plan ever comes together thoughā¦ā¦
Out of the frying pan into the (friendly) fire.
Weāre aware of some high loot buildings in the town, in particular a hospital where we should be able to find blood packs to help replenish what Iād lost earlier, so that becomes our target, while still waiting for Streff to reach us. Given that weāve already seen 3 people we have to take it quite slow, while trying to keep ourselves under the cover of walls and out of the streets as much as possible. Occasionally we hear a gun shot, sometimes close, sometimes in the distance, but nothing yet in our immediate vicinity, however it does tell us there are armed people about. We come across several dead players on our route, and see the occasional player being chased by zombies in the distance, only once near us, but weāre quite comfortable by now in how weāre managing our movement, so this doesnāt cause us too much trouble. A lot of the buildings we try to get into have been wired off, indicating player activity, but also making it difficult for us to get inside without exposing ourselves to snipers, so pickings are slim, however at some point here Ben does come across his first gun, an Enfield rifle. Weāre creeping round towards a mosque, when we hear Streff on TS advising heās reached the petrol station, and had spotted the jeep weād warned about earlier. Itās still raking about, so he ignores it and follows our directions into town. We use the train tracks as a landmark to guide us in, and while we almost miss each other in the dark, weāve finally linked up. Ben has also found a crowbar and some random items which weāre able to equip Streff with so, with 3 of us now, we go back in the direction of the mosque, all of us armed, though hardly armed to the teeth.
By the time we reach it weāve heard a lot of gunfire and weāre worried because the entrance has been wired off. The gunfire was definitely close, and one or two of the shots we thought pinged off stuff in our direction, so we quickly change our plan and head to a fire station on the other side of the mosque, and take a route that puts the mosque in between ourselves and the direction the shots were coming from. Suddenly we spot a player straight ahead of us and it looks like he has a gun. Through the darkness we just about see the building heās gone into and, without any hesitation, Benās off in pursuit. Something went wrong here though as in trying to equip his gun Ben instead throws a Red flare directly at his feet and lights up the entire street where weāre standing in an eerie red glow (something we assume, and later confirm, is visible for literally miles around). We abort the mission immediately and scurry back into cover and as far away from the incident as we can manage before rechecking our maps and coming up with a plan B, while trying to stop laughing. Sometime around here Streff needs a smoke, so I alt tab to check the map on google, while Ben scouts around the immediate area. Unfortunately I encounter what appears to be a bug, as I reopen the game and my axe is āfiringā out of control, with Streff lying there in a very dead looking pose. āOopsā
Orientation.
We donāt start with a map when we first spawn, but the game does at least tell us in which area weāve spawned, which allows us to use an online map to orientate ourselves. I was near a town we refer to as Electro, which happened to be where Ben was as well, so I had to then find some landmarks to see where I was exactly, given the town is pretty big. I was led to believe this was the most frustrating stage of thegame, the first hour, when you have no idea where you are or what youāre doing, but I found it was no bother at all given a little assistance, and it felt like Iād been Para dropped in behind enemy lines somewhere and having to orientate myself to find the rest of my unit.
I look around, and lightās fading fast, so Iāve really only got a short time before I need to start using my torch, which can be seen from miles away, so I had to be quick in gathering some Intel. Iām at the shore (as is standard when you start), and run up to the crest of the small hill up ahead, crouch down then scan the scene in front of me. Thereās a wooden house to my left, and the top of something just visible through the trees to my right down at the bottom, and I can just about make out a couple of zombies moving about, though theyāre far enough away not to worry. I see thereās no way into the house, so I move down towards my right and when I emerge from the vegetation I see itās a petrol station, and as I get closer thereās a road visible over the crest of a verge, and a railway track now visible at the bottom of the hillside Iām sitting on. Perfect, three clear landmarks should be easy to locate, and right enough; on the map it took less than 30 secs to find my spot. I communicate this to Ben on TS and he starts making his way my direction, as heās not far. While heās doing this I start exploring the petrol station to see if I can find a weapon. I luck out on this and pick up a firemanās axe, which is perfect for killing zombies and not attracting attention.
Now I seem to be doing a good job here not aggroing any zombies, but all of a sudden I have to go prone as in the distance I see a player running straight towards me, with a small hoard of zombies chasing him. He runs straight past me but doesnāt see me in the long grass, however a couple of the zombies do and I have to start beating them back with my axe. Iām struggling with this due to the nature of the inventory, but Ben is able to explain on TS and while doing this I learn that the guy who came running past, and who was still running through the buildings at the station (trying to use the AI pathing to deaggro the hoard) was in fact Ben himself. Ok mission accomplished, weāve met up and Iāve scored a couple of kills, but I notice Iām bleeding and have lost a 3rd of the blood Iām permitted to lose before dying, so need to apply a bandage, and fast!. Done, and while things have gotten a little greyer, Iām good to go.
We still need to find Streff at this stage, but heās played the game briefly before and seems to be doing ok, making his way over the 2 or 3km from the next town, so Ben and me start looking for buildings to loot. We start moving along the track and see what looks like a factory with a walled enclosure, so move over to investigate. Itās now getting quite hard to see given the light, and while increasing the gamma settings help a little, we have to be very careful not to walk straight into a zombie, or worse, another player with a weapon. We understand at this stage that all players spawn at the coast, and while thereās a long coastline, Electro is one of two large towns side by side, which see a lot of player activity, and even though players have the same survival goal as ourselves, they are unpredictable, and so we assumed all would be hostileā as we generally plan to be ourselves. It was for this reason then that we froze in our approach to the walled enclosure when we notice zombies running around, clearly aggroād, which means another player has stirred them up.
We fan out in opposite directions, trying to getting a better view on both the enclosure and the buildings on either side, and Ben catches sight of someone on the roof of the one opposite me, with direct line of sight on me, except for the fact I was in the shadows. Right ok, he looks preoccupied by the Zombie hoard, so we find a way into the first building and scooped up some food and drinks, though still no weapons, but suddenly we become aware of a sound in the distance which is approaching us, and before weāve time to react, headlights are blazing across the enclosure in front of us, and directly into the room weāre looting. We go prone in a corner, but surely they saw us? Weāre cornered, so if they want a fight and if theyāve got guns, game over. They carry on though, through the courtyard, and while it stirred up some more zombies, weāre able to make a dash for it out of the factory area and start moving closer into the town itself, but at least away from the noisy vehicle.
@Captain_Chronic wrote:
Yes I have it and have been playing it a little.
It is a little buggy in places but the gameplay makes up for it , it is not a game for Max as you dont even start with a gun and avoiding shooting zombies in many situations is a very sensible option .Would be up for getting on teamspeak and playing with you guys .
Cool cc, we’re on ts most nights and wil either be on this or bf3. Even if in another channel just give us a shout
What you mean Doc is that that bloated fucking engine will take up your entire monthly bandwidth allowance.
Back on topic though I’ve watched that video and both me and Ben now have a copy of the game so we’re going to be putting together a wee squad to give this a go and see what it plays like.
Oh and as for a meet up, anyone fancy another one over the edinburgh festival this year? We promise to bring Doc who’ll tell the comedians, straight faced, how he met you all online playing battlefield š
I know the names, or at least would recognise the real name of about maybe 50% of XDC but Darren Boyle and Dean Rigby I don’t recognise at all. Maybe randoms you added at some point, or maybe two of the 50+ xdc we don’t see much anymore.
