• The Long Dark

    From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to All on Sun Mar 1 15:47:48 2020
    I just finished up the last episode currently released for The Long Dark and was wondering if anyone else has played it and what they thought of it.

    I tried it many updates ago and found it to be too difficult. I play games to relax now and have adjusted my difficultly level accordingly. I decided to give it another try recently and really enjoyed the game. Based on some changes I saw when I restarted I think others must have felt the same way.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From Lem Kilmister@1:154/700 to Ray Sbaitso on Tue Mar 3 03:56:24 2020
    Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to All on Sun Mar 01 2020 03:47 pm

    I need to go back to The Long Dark. I've only played it for several hours during Early Access phase when story mode wasn't available. How long do episodes last? Maybe I could do a gameplay video for Youtube if they're not too long.
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Linux
    * Origin: thePharcyde_ telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/700)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Sat Mar 21 12:30:07 2020
    Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to All on Sun Mar 01 2020 03:47 pm

    I just finished up the last episode currently released for The Long Dark and was wondering if anyone else has played it and what they thought of it.
    I tried it many updates ago and found it to be too difficult. I play games to relax now and have adjusted my difficultly level accordingly. I decided to give it another try recently and really enjoyed the game. Based on some changes I saw when I restarted I think others must have felt the same way.

    I've had and played the game since early beta days and and a love/hate relationship with the game. I don't care for the 'difficulty' settings, at one
    end, all th ewildlife other than moose run away from you so quickly you have slim chance of hunting. At the next difficulty the wolves will hunt you in packs and make it difficult to survive at all. I've not even tried the next two 'more' difficult levels.

    The same thing happened to me Story mode, but in reverse. It started quite difficult and dying before I would reach the end of the story, but later updates seem to make it almost impossible _not_ to get to the end. Story mode does have some encounters that are set, you will get mauled by the bear multiple times, etc, but it rarely kills you.

    I enjoy the sandbox mode the best, and am thankful for periodic updates to the maps as I typically play in exploration mode because I have having to deal with
    wolves attacking me multiple times each day.

    --JH

    ... I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it.
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to Lem Kilmister on Sat Mar 21 08:30:52 2020
    Hi Lem,

    I would definiately recommend you give it another look. I've really enjoyed the story. As far as how long they last, I would say it would be too long to do any kind of video on. There are a lot of side missions and there is also a lot of exploriation to be done. The world isn't as big as the Fallout seris, but you get the idea as far as how long that would take.

    Let me know what you think if you end up trying it again. I'd be curious to hear.



    On Tuesday March 03, 2020, Lem Kilmister said to Ray Sbaitso...

    Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to All on Sun Mar 01 2020 03:47 pm

    I need to go back to The Long Dark. I've only played it for several
    hours during Early Access phase when story mode wasn't available. How
    long do episodes last? Maybe I could do a gameplay video for Youtube if they're not too long.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Sun Mar 22 12:01:20 2020
    I agree that one of the things that is probably holding the game back is the difficulty. I'm not sure how one would go about it, but there does seem to need to be a better balance. I have also messed with the settings a bit and found it challenging to find the balance I'm looking for.

    I haven't worked with the sandbox mode at all. What is out there on those maps? Is it just endless woods? Are there any kind of "goals" that you have to work towards? Locations you need to visit, etc.?



    On Saturday March 21, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    I've had and played the game since early beta days and and a love/hate relationship with the game. I don't care for the 'difficulty'
    settings, at one end, all th ewildlife other than moose run away from
    you so quickly you have slim chance of hunting. At the next difficulty the wolves will hunt you in packs and make it difficult to survive at
    all. I've not even tried the next two 'more' difficult levels.

    The same thing happened to me Story mode, but in reverse. It started quite difficult and dying before I would reach the end of the story,
    but later updates seem to make it almost impossible _not_ to get to the end. Story mode does have some encounters that are set, you will get mauled by the bear multiple times, etc, but it rarely kills you.

    I enjoy the sandbox mode the best, and am thankful for periodic updates
    to the maps as I typically play in exploration mode because I have
    having to deal with wolves attacking me multiple times each day.

    --JH

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Tue Mar 24 12:36:44 2020
    Re: Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to John Hiemenz on Sun Mar 22 2020 12:01 pm

    I haven't worked with the sandbox mode at all. What is out there on those maps? Is it just endless woods? Are there any kind of "goals" that you have to work towards? Locations you need to visit, etc.?

    The maps are not endless, and you basically have free roaming rights over any of the maps with the premise of just try and survive. You are completely alone, other than wildlife. You will find resources and shelters in the same locations, and the resources are a bit randomized, so as an example, I once had
    explored 3 regions and had found over 80 rounds of rifle ammo, but still had not found a rifle. No set goals, just you wandering around trying to find what
    you need to survive. And avoid getting eaten.

    -
    JH

    ... All things are possible. Except skiing through a revolving door.
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Sat Mar 28 08:57:14 2020
    I'm sure it wasn't at the time, but that story about the ammo was funny. I've had stuff happen like that and eventually I end up looking at the computer like
    "You have to be kidding me!?!?".

    When I first started playing the game I had no clue what you did and didn't need, so I started picking up everything that wasn't nailed down while trying to find a hammer to get the rest of it. I'm famous for grabbing everything in site in these kinds of games because "I might need it later". It didn't take too many piles of scrap metal before I realized I was going to have to make some serious adjustments or starve / freeze to death.


    On Tuesday March 24, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    The maps are not endless, and you basically have free roaming rights
    over any of the maps with the premise of just try and survive. You are completely alone, other than wildlife. You will find resources and shelters in the same locations, and the resources are a bit randomized,
    so as an example, I once had explored 3 regions and had found over 80 rounds of rifle ammo, but still had not found a rifle. No set goals,
    just you wandering around trying to find what you need to survive. And avoid getting eaten.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Sat Mar 28 14:44:00 2020
    That's me in a nutshell. I have that game mentality from years gone by.. if
    I can pick it up and carry, there must be some importance to this that will become clear later in the game. Pick up and carry all the things!

    As I learned a little more abouth TLD, I would hoard stuff and haul it to certain areas where it would make sense to have it, near or on the way to
    a forge or crafting table. I've started using the in-game notes and
    calendar to write down where I've placed things in case I forget what I
    have or don't have and where it is.

    Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-
    When I first started playing the game I had no clue what you did and didn't need, so I started picking up everything that wasn't nailed down while trying to find a hammer to get the rest of it. I'm famous for grabbing everything in site in these kinds of games because "I might
    need it later". It didn't take too many piles of scrap metal before I realized I was going to have to make some serious adjustments or starve
    / freeze to death.

    ... I don't trust trees, they just seem a bit shady.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Sat Apr 4 12:45:10 2020
    Did you happen to play Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Infocom? I am the exact same way and I believe that's where the issue came from with me. There was a point in the game where you got told you needed a certain item to finish the game. If you didn't already have it, you had to start all over because you
    couldn't go back. The first time I went back and started over I didn't realize
    it was apparently random or there was at least a list of items it could be because I picked up the item it mentioned the prior time and it asked for a different item the next time. From that point on I grabbed everything in sight! :)

    I think Deus Ex was the first game I ever played with a limited inventory. I couldn't grasp it at first. There's a LIMIT to how much you can carry!?!? Everyone else thought it made complete sense, but I was mortified. Why can't I
    carry 3 truckloads of items in a backpack anymore?!!?



    On Saturday March 28, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    That's me in a nutshell. I have that game mentality from years gone
    by.. if I can pick it up and carry, there must be some importance to
    this that will become clear later in the game. Pick up and carry all
    the things!

    As I learned a little more abouth TLD, I would hoard stuff and haul it
    to certain areas where it would make sense to have it, near or on the
    way to a forge or crafting table. I've started using the in-game notes and calendar to write down where I've placed things in case I forget
    what I have or don't have and where it is.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Sun Apr 5 14:45:28 2020
    Re: Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to John Hiemenz on Sat Apr 04 2020 12:45 pm

    If I recall, I never finished that one. When this type of game was new, I would sit for hours playing games where I would tediously map on paper and maintain notes. Because of the great amount of time this consumed, I didn't get to play many of those until later, when computer games were starting to incorporate these features, and I grew impatient having to do those things myself and they would lose my interest.

    I do have a version of THGTTG running on my BBS using DOSemu, but I haven't spent much time with it other than making sure it would run as a 'door'. I may
    have to go back and look at it again, since it can save progress.

    Thinking back to The Long Dark, I find myself talking back to the game a lot.. when I pick up a feather and my character complains they don't think they can carry much more. I don't think I've every carried so much that it resulted in anything other than moving at a snails pace.

    Did you happen to play Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Infocom? I am the exact same way and I believe that's where the issue came from with me. There was a point in the game where you got told you needed a certain item to finish the game. If you didn't already have it, you had to start all over because you couldn't go back. The first time I went back and started over I didn't realize it was apparently random or there was at least a list of items it could be because I picked up the item it mentioned the prior time and it asked for a different item the next time. From that point on I grabbed everything in sight! :)


    On Saturday March 28, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    That's me in a nutshell. I have that game mentality from years gone
    by.. if I can pick it up and carry, there must be some importance to
    this that will become clear later in the game. Pick up and carry all
    the things!

    ... It would be illogical to assume that all conditions remain stable.
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Fri Apr 10 12:27:49 2020
    Now that you mention it I seem to recall reading that some of the old Infocom games were running as BBS doors. I didn't realize you could save your progress
    in them though. That's great to know. I was talking about how my gaming tastes have changed over the years and the ability to save whenever I need to is far more important than it used to be. I like things I can just pick up and
    play with the amount of time I have, instead of having to worry about if I have
    enough time to make it to the end of a level. I guess that's what happens when
    you become an adult and have to be responsible. What was I thinking?!!? ;)

    Talking back to games is at least half the fun of playing them. Some of the best times I've had gaming are based on my running narration as I play the game. Depending on the game and what's happened I've had to pause to give myself time to quit laughing or wipe the tears out of my eyes.

    If you do try paying HHGTG again, remember that "Punch Prosser" is an option. :)

    There was a point during The Long Dark where I was in real danger of freezing to death and did not have time to stop to drop things after finding a wolf killed deer. I managed to "motivate" the character to make it to a cave without an ankle sprain. I like to think that my encouragment was the difference in that little adventure. :)

    What games are you working on now? Anything new?

    Any word about when the next level will be released? Are you on the mailing list?



    On Sunday April 05, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    Re: Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to John Hiemenz on Sat Apr 04 2020 12:45 pm

    If I recall, I never finished that one. When this type of game was
    new, I would sit for hours playing games where I would tediously map on paper and maintain notes. Because of the great amount of time this consumed, I didn't get to play many of those until later, when computer games were starting to incorporate these features, and I grew impatient having to do those things myself and they would lose my interest.

    I do have a version of THGTTG running on my BBS using DOSemu, but I haven't spent much time with it other than making sure it would run as
    a 'door'. I may have to go back and look at it again, since it can
    save progress.

    Thinking back to The Long Dark, I find myself talking back to the game
    a lot.. when I pick up a feather and my character complains they don't think they can carry much more. I don't think I've every carried so
    much that it resulted in anything other than moving at a snails pace.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Sun Apr 12 09:20:06 2020
    Re: Re: The Long Dark
    By: Ray Sbaitso to John Hiemenz on Fri Apr 10 2020 12:27 pm

    I haven't tested this, but I think if you are playing in story mode on the easiest level, it is very difficult to die while playing.

    These email conversations urged me to pick my story mode game back up and see where it goes. Honestly, I hadn't really played since sometime in January. I've just finished the last bit the preacher gave me for the town hall and am working on the next bit of travel out of the area.

    I've picked up an old game, Might and Magic VI, and have been tinkering with that off and on. Weird I have 'fond' memories of this one but first thing I find is a lot of grinding to get characters at a decent enough level to do anything.

    Other than that, I frequent Sniper Elite 4. There's an aspect of role playing and discover when playing in the campaign mode, typically play campaign solo.

    I am on the Hinterland mailing list, no news that I've seen regarding the next level yet...

    Stay safe and be well.
    --

    JH



    There was a point during The Long Dark where I was in real danger of freezing to death and did not have time to stop to drop things after finding a wolf killed deer. I managed to "motivate" the character to make it to a cave without an ankle sprain. I like to think that my encouragment was the difference in that little adventure. :)

    What games are you working on now? Anything new?

    Any word about when the next level will be released? Are you on the mailing list?

    ... Prepositions are not good words to end sentences with.
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Sun Apr 19 09:21:32 2020
    I never played Might and Magic. At the time I think was the only person I knew
    who never did. I haven't thought about those games in years. I picked up The Witcher on CD a few years back and still haven't gotten it installed. At some point I had a look around and found there are some patches to fix various issues caused by 10, newer drivers, etc. I keep meaning to take the time to get it installed and patched again.

    There was a long list of stuff to get done at the Town Hall. At one point I never thought I was going to finish.

    I just started working on Cities in Motion. I was looking for something that reminded me of the earlier versions of Sim City. I really should take a look at the most recent Sim City, but the version or two before it just didn't hold my interest the way the earlier versions did. That may be a perception situation based on what other games were available when the earlier versions were released.

    Keep me posted if you hear anything about the next episode being released. I check the Steam forums every once in a while.

    Take it easy out there...



    On Sunday April 12, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    I haven't tested this, but I think if you are playing in story mode on
    the easiest level, it is very difficult to die while playing.

    These email conversations urged me to pick my story mode game back up
    and see where it goes. Honestly, I hadn't really played since sometime
    in January. I've just finished the last bit the preacher gave me for
    the town hall and am working on the next bit of travel out of the area.

    I've picked up an old game, Might and Magic VI, and have been tinkering with that off and on. Weird I have 'fond' memories of this one but
    first thing I find is a lot of grinding to get characters at a decent enough level to do anything.

    Other than that, I frequent Sniper Elite 4. There's an aspect of role playing and discover when playing in the campaign mode, typically play campaign solo.

    I am on the Hinterland mailing list, no news that I've seen regarding
    the next level yet...

    Stay safe and be well.
    --

    JH

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Mon May 25 17:56:19 2020
    John,

    I spotted the update for The Long Dark and when I saw the size of the download I was certain it must be the next chapter. I was so certain that I didn't bother to go read the news item related to it. I was really disappointed earlier today when I got ready to play and went for a look.

    I saw a post on the forums where someone said they were going to answer the question they knew was on everyones mind. "Can you spray paint a sleeping bear?" The answer is no. I've never spotted a sleeping bear in the game. The only bears I've seen are the ones that keep attacking you.

    I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you heard of it?

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Sun May 31 12:35:00 2020
    Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-

    I spotted the update for The Long Dark and when I saw the size of the download I was certain it must be the next chapter. I was so certain
    that I didn't bother to go read the news item related to it. I was
    really disappointed earlier today when I got ready to play and went for
    a look.

    Apologies for the late reply, it looks like I replied and then forgot to upload the REP packet in a timely fashion.

    I was slightly disappinted with the update, but probably only because the features added had no benefit for me. I've been playing long enough, that most of the long standing maps I know a lot of the landmarks already, and I've used sticks, stones, cattail heads, and tinder plugs to mark things on the gound. I realize the new update lets me note those new marker locations of spray paint and rock piles. eh. At this point I am guessing some of those new features might be playing a part in the new chapter, but I guess we have to wait and
    ee.

    I saw a post on the forums where someone said they were going to answer the question they knew was on everyones mind. "Can you spray paint a sleeping bear?" The answer is no. I've never spotted a sleeping bear
    in the game. The only bears I've seen are the ones that keep attacking you.

    That's actually pretty funny. The only bears I've seen are either walking around, chasing /attacking you, or dead. I suppose a dead bear sort of looks like it might be sleeping, but it's going to disappear in a few days anyway.

    I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you heard of it?

    I have not. I briefly looked it up but was convinced to start playing DayZ by/with some gaming friends I'd been playing Sniper Elite 4 with. In my opinion, survival in DayZ makes survival in The Long Dark look pretty easy.

    ---
    J
    ... So easy, a child could do it. Child sold separately.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Sun Jun 7 14:52:02 2020
    On Sunday May 31, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    That's actually pretty funny. The only bears I've seen are either
    walking around, chasing /attacking you, or dead. I suppose a dead bear sort of looks like it might be sleeping, but it's going to disappear in
    a few days anyway.

    I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you
    heard of it?

    I have not. I briefly looked it up but was convinced to start playing
    DayZ by/with some gaming friends I'd been playing Sniper Elite 4 with.
    In my opinion, survival in DayZ makes survival in The Long Dark look pretty easy.

    I listen to Jason Scott's podcast and I'm pretty sure he has talked about DayZ on that. It sounds pretty intense. I haven't done any multiplayer online gaming in years. He mentioned that it could be fairly buggy. Is it still under development?

    It's good to have a group of people you know to game with, there can be so much hostility out there if you just have to wander into a random server or game that it takes all the fun out of it.

    I was always interested in more multiplayer co-op, but there just isn't much of that out there. I guess it's difficult to find a way to put something like that together that would draw a big enough player base to make it worthwhile.

    I remember Leo Laporte talking about Minecraft once and him saying how unreal it would have sounded if Notch had gone to EA to try to pitch the game. "It's going to be all pixelated and it's going to sell a million copies." You just hear the EA rep yelling "SECURITY!!!"

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Sat Jun 13 11:21:00 2020
    Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-

    I've started playing Breathedge. It's an interesting game. Have you
    heard of it?

    I have not. I briefly looked it up but was convinced to start playing
    DayZ by/with some gaming friends I'd been playing Sniper Elite 4 with.
    In my opinion, survival in DayZ makes survival in The Long Dark look pretty easy.

    I listen to Jason Scott's podcast and I'm pretty sure he has talked
    about DayZ on that. It sounds pretty intense. I haven't done any multiplayer online gaming in years. He mentioned that it could be
    fairly buggy. Is it still under development?

    It is under development, sort of. Not a lot of 'new' things I've seen, though in the last month I have seen new updates fixing bugs. There are also a lot of community mods for it, and it is usually those mods that highlight the game's quirks and bugs. If you play on the 'vanilla' server, it's not very buggy. If your character spawns in the woods and it's raining, or in an area infested with the 'infected' ( zombies by any other name ... ), well... then your character is likely to die very quickly. I do have one character that I play on a vailla server and finally spawned in an area without rain and some fruit trees, so a 'hack' I learned it to navigate the fruit trees, removing any rotten fruit and eating the good fruit. Without any fruit on the ground, new fruit will spawn. Then, if it is dark and cold, or starts to rain, I tend to hide in a building and leave the server for a few hours until the nighttime cycle has passed. That has kept me alive long enough where I finally found an axe and a knife, so now I can stay around at night, build a fire. Usually in the middle of the floor of an old building...

    It's good to have a group of people you know to game with, there can be
    so much hostility out there if you just have to wander into a random server or game that it takes all the fun out of it.

    This is the main reason I avoided multi player games for so long unless I was playing with friends. Our group tries not to be like this, though we also try to retaliate against those that do. So far the score is 1-1 in that arena and we've been left alone since.

    I was always interested in more multiplayer co-op, but there just isn't much of that out there. I guess it's difficult to find a way to put something like that together that would draw a big enough player base
    to make it worthwhile.

    Sniper Elite 4 does have that, and thats where I met the online gaming friends.
    You can do cooerative maps with one other player, or survival against the enemy with up to 4 teammeates on the same side. The game difficulty level will dictate if there is 'friendly fire' or not, but there is also an option to vote-kick a player if they are being unruly and won't leave when asked.

    I remember Leo Laporte talking about Minecraft once and him saying how unreal it would have sounded if Notch had gone to EA to try to pitch
    the game. "It's going to be all pixelated and it's going to sell a million copies." You just hear the EA rep yelling "SECURITY!!!"

    Ah.. Minecraft is another game I used to love playing. I love the creative ability the game offers, though my biggest issue is I'm not freelance creative.
    I can follow plans and instructions though, and have built some castles with moats and towers, but only if someone else has designed them. If I build from my own plans, things tend to look like big pixelated squares.

    Be well. Cheers.

    John
    ... I don't trust trees, they just seem a bit shady.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)
  • From Ray Sbaitso@1:19/38 to John Hiemenz on Sun Jun 21 14:04:37 2020
    On Saturday June 13, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    It is under development, sort of. Not a lot of 'new' things I've seen, though in the last month I have seen new updates fixing bugs. There
    are also a lot of community mods for it, and it is usually those mods
    that highlight the game's quirks and bugs. If you play on the
    'vanilla' server, it's not very buggy. If your character spawns in the woods and it's raining, or in an area infested with the 'infected' ( zombies by any other name ... ), well... then your character is likely
    to die very quickly. I do have one character that I play on a vailla server and finally spawned in an area without rain and some fruit
    trees, so a 'hack' I learned it to navigate the fruit trees, removing
    any rotten fruit and eating the good fruit. Without any fruit on the ground, new fruit will spawn. Then, if it is dark and cold, or starts
    to rain, I tend to hide in a building and leave the server for a few
    hours until the nighttime cycle has passed. That has kept me alive
    long enough where I finally found an axe and a knife, so now I can stay around at night, build a fire. Usually in the middle of the floor of
    an old building...

    How long have you been able to stay alive using this method? What is the average survival time on that type of server, any idea?

    Ah.. Minecraft is another game I used to love playing. I love the creative ability the game offers, though my biggest issue is I'm not freelance creative.
    I can follow plans and instructions though, and have built some
    castles with moats and towers, but only if someone else has designed
    them. If I build from my own plans, things tend to look like big pixelated squares.

    I have trouble being creative in games where you're supposed to be creative, but in games where that isn't the point I have all kinds of ideas. Years ago I played NASCAR Heat for a while it had a drafting feature that I had not seen before. I wanted to get a track editor and instead of building a racetrack build an extremely long, multi-lane dragstrip with pits located about halfway to the finish line. The entire race would be about having to keep the draft and working traffic in the draft, etc. With the pits properly spaced the computerized cars would have have to stop at the same time so there would be no worries about getting left behind.

    I never took the time to go past some rough design work, but I always wondered if I could have gotten it work and if it would have been any fun.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: CIA AMIGA BBS - ciaamigabbs.dynu.net:6400 (1:19/38.0)
  • From John Hiemenz@1:154/40 to Ray Sbaitso on Thu Jun 25 16:58:00 2020
    Ray Sbaitso wrote to John Hiemenz <=-

    On Saturday June 13, 2020, John Hiemenz said to Ray Sbaitso...

    <blah> <blah> <blah> DayZ stuff <blah> <blah>

    How long have you been able to stay alive using this method? What is
    the average survival time on that type of server, any idea?

    a few hours of game time is pretty good for staying alive. I have since learned to avoid most servers because, well... people are jerks. Not everyone playing has the same goals in mind and it seems most peoples goals are to just kill anything and anyone that moves. A couple of friends and I were playing and had joined with 3 other players, so we had this party of 6 wandering around, none of us armed with anything more than a small knife. We got picked off by a couple guys that had found guns. I hope they were disappointed to see we didn't have anything of value, but then I'm sure their goal was just to kill other players and not for looting them.

    I've found a few servers that are not quite this bad and started enjoying the game there, and now am working on putting together a server that will focus on the player vs the game. If I ever get it to the level I desire, I will put it on a hostling platform and run it public. I have 'zombie' and wildlife rates cranked a bit high, so finding food, shelter, water, and avoiding being eaten by a bear or wolves or killed by zombies becomes more of the game instead of being able to wanser around looking for other players to kill. Teaming up with other playrs will actually aid your survival in the game play I am trying to cobble together.


    ... Weeds! No, that is my vineyard! Ever heard of dandelion wine?
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    * Origin: The Universal JoiNT - bbs.ujoint.org (1:154/40)