Arma 2 Zombies

Necronic · Apr 27, 2012

I've never liked Arma, always seemed to complex and required too much setup to make for a good run and gun FPS (which it really wasn't ever intended to be.)

But someone went through a LOT of effort and turned it into a zombie survival game with the "Zday" mod. And it may be one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

The world map is something like 225 square kilometers, and the servers are persistent (as is you're equipment etc). They use something called "Direct Speak" so your mic only gets heard by people that are near you in the game (you can do global but it will get you kicked because it's distracting/irritating.)

There's no in game map, although there is a "map" item you can find, and there are maps of the world online, but you need to be handy w/ a compass to make it work well.

The zombies run faster than you, and are attacted to noise/light. There are a number of stories about someone going into a town to try and get some gear and firing off a shotgun blast which in turn attracts every zombie in the region (then they die.)

Resources are extremely limited. For that reason, there are a lot of players that feel that killing other players is a way easier way to get the guns and ammo and food that they need. So, there's a lot of situations where one player will sneak up on another and say (using the DirectSpeak) "I have you in my sights, drop your equipment and say if you are friendly". Or they just shoot them and take their gear.

The game looks amazing. I've seen some interesting videos of it so far and downloaded it last night. Hopefully I will get some game time in today. It requries you to own Arma2 and Arma2 OA.

I'm at work so I can't link videos but there are some really good ones, someone should link them for me.

Azurephoenix · Apr 27, 2012

Is this something I could host my own server of so I can play with my friends and not a bunch of backstabbing weenies? It sounds interesting, but the whole part about it being easier to kill players and steal their stuff doesn't appeal to me (because for sure I'll be the one always getting robbed).

Necronic · Apr 27, 2012

Yeah if you don't want to be PK'd this isn't your game. Although tbh I can't imagine what would be interesting about it (or make it different from L4D) w/ out the added danger of players hunting you.

Azurephoenix · Apr 27, 2012

From what I've read, the insane level of realism (bullet drop, huge vision range, bullet penetration, realistic weapons and vehicles) is enough to make me want to try just the normal game. Throwing zombies in is just cake for me. Left for dead was fun, but not satisfying (for me personally).

Actually, reading more about how mod friendly this game is I may actually have found a platform to make my own damn mod with everything I want in it lol.

Jay · Apr 27, 2012

Necronic · Apr 30, 2012

I spent all weekend playing this. It's ridiculously fun. To be fair I was playing with a bunch of other dudes that I could communicated w/ using a seperate mumble client, so I didn't have to rely on direct speak, but I ended up abandoning them and just going solo. Moving with large groups is crazy difficult because it's hard for people to keep up and together.

There's also the possibility that someone in your group will execute you, mafia style, for making a mistake. This happened to someone I was playing with. He fired off a loud rifle which ended up pulling a bunch of zombies. The group cleared all the zombies and then one of the other members just walked up to him and shot him in the back of the head.

I almost executed someone who was low on blood. He was slowing us down....But instead we just abandoned him in the woods to die.

The best parts have been when we get the drop on some other survivors and murder them. There was one point where we were running around and someone sees a campfire out of the corner of their eye. We screech to a halt (we were about to go into a field where we would have been much more visible) and keep eyes on the campsite until we see one, no two guys. One sniper lines up the shot on the left, one on the right. 3,2,1, and then we got a TON of good supplies.

After that is when I started going off on my own a bit more. I learned how to clear houses and towns on my own. Gets a ton easier once you find a revolver (the starting makarov is terrible). The winchester shotgun is fantastic as well.

Anyways. This game is BANANAS. B.A.N.A.N.A.S.

Jay · Apr 30, 2012

The concept idea is nice. The whole PVP thing is kinda douchie and turned me off. Can't see who kills you? Takes one shot to kill you? Griefer city IMO.

And after looking at their forums... yeah, pretty much that. If there was a way to host a server without PVP enabled, this would interest me.

Azurephoenix · Apr 30, 2012

I'm with Jay... because sure enough I would be one of those hapless idiots you murdered around the campfire so you could steal my stuff.

Jay · Apr 30, 2012

If this game had private servers with the PVP flag off I'd buy it until then, I'll just watch gameplay videos.

Honestly though, when 70% of people are bandits in the game it's pretty much deathmatch with a side order of zombies.

Necronic · Apr 30, 2012

Eh, not everyone is a bandit, and I've let a couple of survivors live. The thing is that the zombies themselves don't really represent a threat to an organized group (or even a moderately well armed individual), so you have to have the PvP stuff to make it interesting. Also it's not one-shot-kill. You can definitely survive being shot (just have to make sure to bandage before you bleed out.)

I do agree that they need to add stuff like making it obvious who shot you, simply for intel sake, and I think it may be worthwhile for them to ramp up the PvE content difficulty to force players to cooperate more. But I don't think the mod would work w/out the pvp side of it. It's simply too easy w/ just the zombies, and the pve side of it isn't really that interesting.

I mean, you have to appreciate that it's not just you getting killed. The average lifespan in game is something like 4 hours. Very very few people live past 10 hours. And I don't think anyone has lived past 30. So everyone has to start over from time to time. You just have to learn how to be a bit more stealthy.

As for having your own server 1 man server I don't think you can. It's linked to a main database that manages the characters, and if I understand correctly you have to go through the dev's to set up your server. The server files themselves aren't accessible by default. And iirc you're looking at a substantial amount of CPU and bandwidth running a server.

You guys shouldnt' knock it until you've tried it. Joining up with others is difficult but not impossible. The Dallas 2 server is the home of The Legion, a group that seems to be trying to set up some sort of civilization in Electro. You may be able to get assistance from them when you start up.

Edit: I just remembered that my group has a spy in their group and we are going to take out their base of operations in the next couple of days. Hopefully get some good gear, and leave a lot of corpses. So maybe you have a point.

Azurephoenix · Apr 30, 2012

Necronic said:
Edit: I just remembered that my group has a spy in their group and we are going to take out their base of operations in the next couple of days. Hopefully get some good gear, and leave a lot of corpses. So maybe you have a point.

I'm sure this game is interesting... it's just not my cup of tea and your edit here underscores exactly why.

Necronic · Apr 30, 2012

The developer made an interesting point when talking about this issue. He pointed out that the entire zombie genre was never about "omg there's zombies it's scary", it was about how people acted in this kind of situation. Were they good guys or bad guys? Or somewhere in between?

Also remembered another interesting situation. If you're a trigger happy jerk you may end up shooting one of your own men. That happened in the first group I was with. Someone wandered off a bit and when he came back a member of the team thought he was some badguy out for their beans, so he shot him in the face. Only to find out later it was his buddy

Jay · Apr 30, 2012

I'd love to see everything except for that PVP crap, maybe ramp up the PVE difficulty as needed. Whatever.

I'd like to play with suspense that one zombie can take me out.... and I don't mind lose-it-all PVP.... hell I've done it in the past such as UO... but to get sniper across the field? Yeah no thanks. There's no pleasure for me to get from that and I believe a lot of people feel the same way.

The mod is new, it's already turned sour and recent stats state that it's lost more than half its players. Heck, some cool people I've watched them play have stopped playing altogether while the Dev fix the rampant douchebaggery. That ain't right.

As far as my option to experience this, I'm not spending any money to buy a game to try it out. My first option is a functional demo and if that's not available then it's a torrent.... then if I like it I buy it. But since this game requires you to connect to an official server, meh. They lose. Just pop a no PVP switch for select servers. Won't do it? Then the Devs are douche players themselves and I can move on with my life.

You should just change the title of this thread to "Arma 2 - Sandbox Douche PVP with a side order of zombies."

I'd love a real survival sim though. Scraping for ammo, food, water to build your fort to survive the night? Hells yea.

Azurephoenix · Apr 30, 2012

I like how a group of people is trying to build a town to help out new people and there's already people infiltrating it with the express purpose of killing them all and stealing their stuff in a one time raid. No thanks.

Don't get me wrong... I enjoy PVP too (hell I used to play old school Ultima Online too and got my stuff stolen all the time)... but I don't like it in a zombie apocalypse scenario. I prefer teamwork.

I just think the level of griefing on this thing will keep increasing as "good" players leave and dicks take their place.

Jay · Apr 30, 2012

http://dayzmod.com/character/display.php?char=54881

This isn't a zombie survival sim.

Azurephoenix · Apr 30, 2012

Wow... in just under 2 hours he murdered 92 people?

Jay · Apr 30, 2012

It's such a shame that this mod currently encourages antisocial gameplay. This mod could have been far better. Damn that so close yet so far feeling I 'm having.

I did find this link tho: http://www.moddb.com/mods/bobtoms-arma2-missions/news/dynamic-zombie-sandbox-90-release

Gonna research that tonight.

figmentPez · Apr 30, 2012

Necronic said:
The developer made an interesting point when talking about this issue. He pointed out that the entire zombie genre was never about "omg there's zombies it's scary", it was about how people acted in this kind of situation. Were they good guys or bad guys? Or somewhere in between?

The game is missing one of the big aspects: needing people. That's the draw for tension in zombie movies. There are only so many people left, and you need someone to watch your back, and someone else to keep watch while you sleep. From what you've said about this game, it's possible to go it alone for a fair period, and there's a constant influx of new people.

Don't trust someone in a zombie movie? You'd better be darn sure you don't need them before you kill them, because their replacement may not exist. In the game? Execute them and try with another player.

Necronic · May 2, 2012

Yeah, I think you're right about the game needing more PvE difficulty so that you need other people.

Also, I've noticed something about the "bad guy" groups. The guys I play with use a seperate VOIP client and organize themselves that way. I recently realized that it's way easier for me to simply listen in to their comms, or work w/ them as a group, and murder one of them for their gear, than it is to kill a survivor. If it's set up correctly they wouldn't even know it's me.

I pointed this out to them as my justification for flying solo (because it's only a matter of time before someone does this). They are now incredibly paranoid and refuse to work w/ a group of larger than 3 or 4. The point being that the bad guys have some of the same concerns about betrayal. In some ways they have greater concerns, since they are working with a group of bad guys.

So you know, two wrongs DO make a right. But anyways, I'm not playng at the moment due to them making it so that your character drinks/eats when you aren't logged in. Which is crazy stupid (don't log in for 3 days and your character will die.)

Jay · May 2, 2012

I read about that as well. I book marked their forum. Once they fix the game a bit and rethink about the flawed PVP system I'll be more than happy to check out if this game is on sale or not.

You need an expansion too for this right?

Necronic · May 15, 2012

Yeah you need Operation Arrowhead. Or you can by the Combined Operations pack which includes both.

Apparently they just massively increased the PvE difficulty, meaning that it's effectively impossible to hit major towns solo anymore. I think this is a good change. It means that people will have to work together more for PvE content. It's also going to seriously escalate the PvP in those zones as well, but v0v that makes it more interesting imho.

Also they put helicopters back in the game. They are incredibly difficult to repair and fuel, we spent something like 5 hours putting one together. And fueling (which takes 5 guys something like 20 minutes) only gives you 10-20 minutes of flight time. But when you set your duders up as door gunners and fly over cherno laying down fire on the whole town....man. Totally worth it.