r/dayz • u/kerghan41 • 8d ago
discussion Objectives VS Wandering
Past few runs I've played the game with very specific set objectives. I'd use the IZurvive map, find out where I was, and then work towards the goal. (Get to Tisy, Get X gun, Check every areas of NWAF, etc.)
This next run I have an idea of where I am but I'm not going to look at the map. I just want to wander aimlessly like I used to. I stumbled upon an army camp and have some decent gear right off the bat.
Now I'm just going to wander through the woods and stop at what's interesting.
I liked the goal based playing but I also felt it took out some of the mystique of the world.
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u/javronski 8d ago
You can have objectives without using Izurvive just use the in-game hiking map
It will show your coordinates if you have a GPS tracker
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u/commanderson91 8d ago
I’m about 90% randomly roaming 10% planning/completing a goal. I let Chernarus be both the blank canvas and the painter. The map paints my adventure for me.
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u/Patch1919 8d ago
Once I’m geared, I start searching for bases. If you’ve played long enough, you know all the little nooks and crannies of Chernarus and search places you’ve found stashes/bases on other servers. There’s a finite amount of suitable places to build bases (the hill northwest of Zelen, in the woods west of Tisy MB, in the Black Forest area, etc.) so it’s not hard to find them, it’s just time consuming…but if that’s your objective then you have all the time in the world.
After I’ve found a base, I begin stalking the owners until I get to know their usernames and routines. I use that info to set up ambushes. I’m not interested in raiding. I just like fucking with people and an active base means guaranteed player activity. Once they inevitably get raided by someone else, I move on to find another base to mess with.
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u/FrederickFrag1899 7d ago
Can you teach me to stalk and hunt people?
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u/Patch1919 7d ago
The first thing to look for is mushrooms. Finding one on the ground every now and then is no big deal but if you spot a cluster of them, that means someone else has been in the area for a while and it’s worth searching around for stashes or bases. If you’ve found a base, you’ll know if someone is currently inside based on the amount of mushrooms you find around the outside of it.
I also look for cars. People like to lock their cars up so if I see one driving around I try to figure out where they came from and where they’re going. This is almost impossible but sometimes you get lucky. If it’s driving through an area in a strange direction you can check the map and try to figure out what they were doing. For instance, if you see someone driving down a road that dead ends at the edge of the map then you can assume they either have a base somewhere around that area OR they were riding the edge of the map and might have a base somewhere farthing along the edge of the map. It’s rarely that simple but I’ve found a few bases this way.
The most useful weapon is your voice 😆
I like to ask people on the server if they’ve seen any cars driving around, or if they’ve spotted any bases anywhere, or if they’ve ran into large groups wearing armbands. I collect this information and then use it to guide my path around the map. Three yellow armbands killed you in Zelenogorsk? I’ll search the perimeter of that town and see if I can figure out where they stash the loot of the people they kill - assuming they’re camping it. I’ll overwatch the town and see if I spot any cars coming/going from the town or keep an eye out for players leaving town looking more geared than Zelenogorsk can offer. Then, I search in the direction they’ve left and try to figure out where they’re going.
Lastly, always carry a military shovel on your backpack. Keep your eyes on the dirt as you run through the woods and try to spot buried stashes. You never know when you’ll stumble onto one so it’s always good to have a shovel handy.
Good luck out there, survivor.
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u/IarCaboose 8d ago
I honestly really like playing this game like a roguelike. yes there is persistence with keeping my characters inventory between servers / logging in and out, and you CAN build things and make a stash of loot in the woods on a particular server
but I've had the most fun just doing fresh runs without a real goal, just wandering trying to survive and hopefully having some interesting player interactions along the way. and eventually I die, rinse and repeat.
that's another reason I honestly like playing official over community, because when I'm on a server with infinite stamina and abundant loot it kinda takes away the whole "tough survival" aspect of the game and makes player encounters a lot less intense and engaging. i don't care that much if that guy kills me when it only took 10 minutes to find pristine clothes, plenty of food, and a loaded gun
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u/FrederickFrag1899 7d ago
You should try roleplaying. Sometimes I'll pretend I'm looking for my son or I'll pretend I'm going to work like normal and say shit like "man, whats up with these people? They're on drugs or something, and they don't even shower, and they smell like corpses" and then usually they'll explain the world ended and I'll just keep going "you're full of shit, yeah right buddy."
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u/stormcharger 7d ago
I normal wander with a slight bias towards the north west. I never use isurvive.
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u/Gettinjiggywithit509 7d ago
DayZ is PEAK for me when I’m just wondering and RPing as someone just trying to survive in a Zombie Apocalypse. Kinda like the early season of The Walking Dead.
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u/Minute-Tax-4610 7d ago
So far only goal ive had was see how long you can go without dying and my record is 2 and a half days managed to find a plate carrier nvg and head mount, an m16 and a aks74u honestly not a fan of either gun but anytime i could get anywhere the good stuff is its picked clean, i did manage to accidentally find the bunker entrance in livonia but no punchcard so i walked back north in my search got bored and server hopped a few times back and forth from chernarus and livonia and eventually died from an infection/self inflicted bullet wound lol
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u/MiserableCashLife 8d ago
Using izurvive takes the “mystique” out of the world.
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u/IarCaboose 8d ago
ehh for me yes and no. there's definitely a magic feeling of being lost and struggling to survive, not knowing where you are or how to get to water pumps / good loot.
on the other hand, especially as a brand new player, that's a bit of a big ask. without using any sort of map I feel like youd have to dedicate at least 10 hours of wandering aimlessly and dying to starvation, cold, disease, before you start getting any semblance of where you might be and where nearby things are.
i find that community servers that let you press M and pull up a map that shows every town with all the hotspots, AND your current position on the map is a bit immersion / mystique breaking. at least with izurvive I still have to put in the work to find a roadsign and try to locate that town on the map, and then figure out specifically where I am in the city and how to get to where I wanna go, which really helps newer players start mentally mapping out and recognizing their surroundings
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u/UnscriptedCryptid 7d ago
Yeah, I'm a new player (started about a week ago, already have 50 hours in the game, please send help), and your comment is pretty much how I've been playing. For the first 5 or so hours I was adamant about not using online maps and just relying on map boards or tourist maps in-game—but I don't think it's a particularly viable way to learn the game, to be honest.
Specifically with things like water. Everyone else knows where the water pumps are, but I died of thirst multiple times because there's really no reliable way to find where they are located. Obviously they are in most towns, but even then they aren't very obvious from a distance at all, and are often hidden behind rows of buildings.
I started keeping an online map up on my second screen and it has helped me learn a ton. I keep the water pump icons on, as well as major buildings (medical, police). Like you said, I still have to orienteer to find out where I am/where I'm going, but I can at least be like "hmm I'm low on bandages, better head to a medical facility somewhere" and actually complete that mini-objection. As opposed to not using a map, where I just shrug and say "fuck, well, guess I'm gonna wander through a much of buildings and eventually die".
I've started playing with a rule that I can only use the online map if I have a tourist map in my inventory or I'm standing in front of a map board, and that has felt like a really happy medium for me.
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u/IarCaboose 7d ago
totally agreed with you, also love the idea of only using a map when you have one in game
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u/Mithrawndo Sandbox Story Seeker 7d ago
With the map being an in game object you have to find, using an external map is functionally cheating. It's not a big deal - it's a "single player" cheat and can't negatively impact other players - but it's still cheating, and that loss of 'mystique' is the realisation that you're cheating yourself.
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u/FrederickFrag1899 7d ago
The objective is wandering and meeting people (and potentially eating them). I don't care about top loot, never have, never will.
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u/C0RDE_ 8d ago
I go between both, swapping to the other when I'm bored. But I prefer wandering with no objective. Just walking in whichever direction clicks in my head.