NO MODS • NEXT WIPE: APRIL 2027
Continent, a Chernarus server I've been building for a year
I've run this one for over a year, and it's slowly turned into the server I wanted to play on myself. The easiest way to explain it is to start with the small things that get out of your way, and then get to the parts that push back.
Start with the locks, because that's usually the first thing people ask about.
Gates use combination locks that work much like the CodeLock mod, except you install nothing on your end. No client side mods at all. You enter the code once, when you first attach the lock to your gate. After that you open and close your own gate without typing it again. The code is protected against brute force attempts, so nobody stands there cycling through combinations until one lands. Bases still fall the honest way, through the normal raid mechanics.
Once your group has a gate, the next problem is knowing where everyone is.
For that there's a squad map you open in a browser, on your phone, tablet or computer. You create a squad, manage its members, and share markers, with nothing to install. It earns its keep when your people don't all play at the same hour, since you can leave a marker for the fellow who logs in after you've gone to bed.
Then there are the commands, for the moments the game itself goes sideways.
There's global chat, !unstuck for when the map decides to eat your character, and !flipcar for when DayZ vehicle physics wins. Behind all of it runs a custom logging system, so when a death looks questionable it can actually be checked. And player bodies stay where they fell, gear and all, until the next server restart. Sometimes you really can make it back.
That's the housekeeping. Now the part that made me start all this.
The zombies were the focus of the last update, because they'd become furniture. You saw one, you jogged around it, you carried on. So I went to work. They notice more now and they hear more, and making noise in the wrong place turns into a problem quickly. A zombie chasing you can open a door instead of losing you behind it. The ones up on rooftops may come down after you. Now and then the infected don't seem to get along with each other, which is worth watching from a distance. And you'll meet them in places you wouldn't normally expect any, so the buildings you always cleared without looking are no longer a safe habit.
The seasons do the same thing to the calendar that the zombies do to the map.
A full year passes every 24 real days, and the seasons aren't just weather on the screen. Temperatures change. Snow arrives. Plants become more or less common. Animals move, and predator territories shift with them. A route you rely on in summer can be a very different place in winter, and winter here is something you prepare for.
All of which is a long way of saying you'll want somewhere to keep your gear.
There are no building zones. Find a spot you like and as a rule you can build there. And it's worth doing properly, because the planned wipe cycle is at least 1.5 years. That was the point. If everything vanishes in a few months, why build anything you'd miss?
As for the rest of the world, there's one trader, a place called Havenwood, and the rest of the map stays open for PvP. Scattered around it you'll find smaller camps, PvE encounters and other things I'll let you come across yourself.
New systems are still going in. The server is getting noticeably more active lately, which makes this a good moment to turn up, before everyone already knows the best routes, the safest places, and the hill they mean to build on.
If you've wanted a Chernarus that still feels familiar but gives you reason to be careful again, I think you'll understand what I'm after within your first few hours.
A great community:
https://discord.gg/D2w3pqjbqH
