American Steel

If you are using the same round, the max range is going to be the same. However, since you are dealing with compounding recoil your effective range is actually going to be reduced. Have you ever tried to head shot a target with an automatic weapon? You generally "walk" your rounds up the target. SMGs dont really get the full benefit of this as the recoil gets to be so overbearing, you are left to accurately shoot in 3 to 5 round bursts. Anything else is just wasting rounds. I would put most automatic weapons as a waste of ammo against Zeds. The vast majority of your rounds is going to impact the body, which does nothing.... unless you sunder the corpse from ammo displacement. Sounds cool, not likely to happen with a 9mm. You might have a better chance blowing someone in twain with a 18 to 20 ga shotgun using Goose Shot. You still have to deal with what is left trying to clamor after you, if you somehow do manage to blow them appart. I thing a drum fed automatic shotgun (like a CAWS) would be great for sheer knockdown power, allowing you to clear a path to quickly run through. I think both of these ideas would really set the Zed radar on "Red Alert!", bringing a swarm of them to your location PDQ. The silencer issue has been beaten to death more times than Dracula. It is not going to happen (except perhaps the pillow mod). Just let it die

I would attempt to fashion a crossbow before I attempted to control the gas output and reduce the velocity of a round at the end of a gun. If you screw it up, you might end up killing yourself. Also, where do you plan on testing this creation and not drawing attention to yourself? There are all sorts of bs tricks to muffle a pistol shot (from pillows to 2 liter plastic bottles). None of them address the explosion in the pipe when the primer detonates the powder in the cartridge. Also while is does "supress" the bullet from breaking the sound barrier, it still makes a good bit of noise. Considering the noise from the din of humanity is gone, popping a cap in a Zed (even with a fancy supressor) is going to alert any of their undead kin less than 50 feet away. It is my understanding bows and crossbows are coming. Lets wait for them to be the silent killers and leave guns well enough alone.

Well, then I want a guitar case that hold my collection of death dealing devicies...

I have waded in on this once, so I will do so again. : 1. With a belt you could attach say 5 hard points: holster, ammo pouches, d-ring (flashlight or club holder), etc. The problem is beltss gear on them make you louder. So expect to take a hit on your sneakyness. Faster than taking it out of a bag. 2. We need an option for bra pistol rig. This has three hard points (holster and ammo). Dont take as large of a hit to stealth. Not as fast as taking it out of a belt holster, though it is close. 3. Pancake holster - holds a gun at your waist line. About as fast as a traditional hip holster for drawing your weapon 4. Ankle Holsers - holds a gun, slower than pulling a weapon of of a bra pistol rig. 5. Shotgun bandolier. For ease, lets say the belt holds 20 shotgun shells. Increases reload speed of a shotgun. Take a hit on your nimbleness. I would have the characters have a torso hard point and an ankle hard point. So a player can wear a traditional belt, pistol bra , pancake holster or bandolier on the torso. They could then have the additional ankle holster. Ammo in either rig would increase reloading speed. Now I have seen some movies were people strap shotgun cases to their backs, but I have never seen it on a person I have every run across. Straps for shotguns are very common and do make them easier to carry. However, they also get in the way. Imagine climing through a window with a long gun a strap on it "at the ready" or running through the brush with the strap trying to grab every branch in sight. They are nice when you are walking about but a pain in combat conditions. If you want to use a strap with a weapon (I say attach a belt, it is already in the game) then you can draw the weapon out of your backpack faster (to simulate having it slung over your shoulder) but you take a hit to nimbleness as things tend to get snagged on it. For balance, I would make this gear VERY rare in houses (except the belt) and rare in police stations & the Gun Store.

No. Right now Zeds spawn so there will still be some that just appear. However, when migration comes in... to quote to Lousiville, KY wiki The city's total consolidated population at the 2010 census was 741,096. However, the balance total of 602,011 excludes other incorporated places and semi-autonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings. As of the 2012, the Louisville metropolitan area (MSA) had a population of 1,334,872 ranking 42nd nationally.[7] The metro area includes Louisville-Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties, eight in Kentucky and four in Southern Indiana. The Louisville Combined Statistical Area, having a population of 1,451,564, includes the MSA, Hardin County and Larue County in Kentucky, and Scott County, Indiana. There are a lot of potential Zed round these parts.

Maybe we can use Zed corpses and gravel/concrete like they did with the Persians in the 300! Stelios: Our ancestors built this wall using ancient stones from the bosom of Greece herself. And with a little Spartan help, your Persian scouts supplied the mortar. My character talking to himself: I am building this wall using the junk I found laying around town. And with a little elbow grease, the Zeds round these parts supplied the mortar

War Story for the kiddies out there... Here is the set up. I am in British Hondo down in Central America. We were attached to an engineering company who was rebuilding a local hospital. More "Feel Good" diplomacy for the locals since we really shook some nerves by jumping into Panama and taking Noregia out of office. Anyway, the hospital that was in place was some wooden sided structures with tent tops and wood floors, like a M.A.S.H. tent. Anyway, they were having the problem that people were coming in for treatment and getting all sorts of nasty infections. I mean, who would have though rotting wood in a tropical environment would hold bacteria?! I mean, really! So, the engineers come in and doze the place. They then doze the woodline back to about 500m and they burned the lot. There was some highland about a 550 to 800m which let the locals watch what we were doing. We asked the engineers to dig us some deflades for our hummers and we spend out time filling sand bags and lifting weights (I kid you not). Now the locals just see us come in, round up all the docs and truck them off. We then clear the place slick and burn it. I bet you can guess what they thought we were doing. Engineers start off by laying a foundation and then the foundation for four rain cisterns. They start building up the cisterns first and you know what they look like after about a day? Pill boxes. Now I bet you can really guess what the locals think we are doing. Anyway, I was part of a medium MP platoon 2 squads with 9 soldiers each (six, three man fire teams) + LT, Plt Sgt and the Lts Driver. Seven trucks total. Now my Sergeant, (I was a PFC at this time) did not like tents. He was a very train like you fight kinda guy... so we slept in/on our truck. I was in our deflade, laying with my feet dangling in the turret (sporting a .50 cal). I was wearing unlaced boot, boxers and my harness. I hear a "twack!" nearby and look around. Nothing. I lay myself back down and work on my tan some more. "Twack!" I look around, nothing. I lay back down again and hear a "Twack! Pingggg!" I get up and look around and holy smokes, the five gallon water can in the back of the truck is leaking. And look there, you can see daylight though that hole...and two more holes?!?! It then sinks in to my PFC brain someone is shooting at me. I jump into the truck and pull my kelvar on when the rounds start to fall. I am not talking like The Godfather. About 10 to 30 rounds a minute. I get on the radio and call for support. I stand up and then it starts falling a bit harder. My Sgt and Driver are not nearby. The driver is about a truck over playing spades and the Sgt is in the platoon leaders tent doing whatever. The driver start shouting, shoot! Shoot! SHOOT! I spin the 50 around (unlaced boots, boxes, harness and kevlar) and go back into truck to pull out a box of ammo. The Sgt starts running out of the tent yelling all sorts of color phrases that if I fire that weapon I will be digging a hole with a bayonet to China. Rounds start to fall more. Tempo is increasing. I put the can up into the rig and start loading. Sgt starts yelling at me as he runs I will be all day Private and his B!tch for ever if I load that weapon. Slap! Ammo is in the throat of the M2. Driver is yelling and running, shoot! The rounds then start falling into the compound from a few different directions (still from on high). Rounds land in front of my Sgt's feet and he dives for cover, taking a mouthful of sand for his trouble. He spits sand and shouts at me "What th f!@k are you waiting for, shoot!" I pull back on the charging handle, point the .50 up and press the butterflys. Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! The effective range of a M2 is 1800m and I start walking rounds into the last flash I saw, 600 to 700m out. This is not a chain gun at close range, I am not chopping down trees. BUT, I would not want to be on the receiving end either. I spin out the last of my box when the driver arrives with a smoke in his mouth and a smile, laughing at my load out and hands me a box of ammo. I load up and start spending more ammo downrange. Sgt shows up and starts to comment on my wardrobe malfunction when the other 50s in the platoon come on line. Next thing you know, six 50 cals are setting the side of this hill on fire. I spend out the rest of that box and go fo another with my driver cackling like a hen and wanting to get in on the gun. Then the Lts Mk-19 HE rounds start to dance around the hill side. It is like the Chariots of Fire theme song went off in my head, with the runners going in slow mo. I swear they bloomed like flowers before our eyes. We then get the cease fire. Our Female Lt walks up to our truck and then stops dead. Me in my "beach uniform" and her acting all West Point like, mouth open so wide you could drive a truck in it. She barks for a sitrip and before anyone can say a thing my driver blurts out, "Brief enounter Ma'am!" Dead silence for about a second and then we were all on out @ss laughing... even the Lt. We got out act together, put out a patrol and went into the woodline to see what we could see. We found nothing. Narry a soul. I guarentee we just spent 1500 .50 rounds and at least 20 Mk-19 rounds into the side of a hill and found some blood traces here and there. Two weeks go by and we get a few more pot shots, but the locals know we are not going to tollerate any non-sense like the first time. The building goes up with cinder block wall, tin roof and a gap between the roof and the wall with some mesh to keep the bugs out. They then bring the docs back and set up the surgical ward in box in one room. Next day, Red Cross flag goes up. Engineers move out to do some road improvement and we are slated to go for the ride. Folk come down out of the hills and tell us they think we were going to invade. Some of them were tore up bad, lots of 2nd and 3rd degree burns. They said it was all a misunderstanding and were happy the docs came back with a new hospital. I never found out if we killed any of them. I we stayed in Hondo for another week and then deployed stateside to prepare for NTC. First day back, received my Specialist... blooded in. Top said Boxers and briefs was funny but made from a crappy call sign, renamed Shorts. Kept that moniker the entire time I was at Ft Carson. When I went to other duty stations and saw old platoon bugs from Ft Carson, Shorts was the first thing to come out of there mouth. However, they were the only one who had the right to use it. Can't have some wet nose private call me Shorts like he had been there. Pfft! Good times.

First time I was shot at, cool head I did not have However, once you have been shot at and live... it kinda changes your perspective. I am not saying I am any sort of Barnes (ahem, Platoon) or love to spout out phrases like "I love the smell of naphalm in the morning." You just have to swallow it and drive on with the mission/job.

Planned, will happen at some point. That'd give an use for the bleach. And WET towels

You could cut Zed's heads off and mount them on a pike, they would still be looking around and mouthing. Kinda like the Governor's wall of heads or Dawn of the Dead remake with the head in a cooler.

Isn't that difficult while under fire? or just a matter of practice like anything else? I know I keep a count even on movies without meaning to. Practice and a cool head. Not to say it does not get your blood pumping.

Let me give the real world explination of how you count your ammo, from an experienced soldiers perspecitive and a cops. Rookies and Privates do what they do, until they learn better. Soldier: You know you load out going in and have to gave a check after every fire fight (Bullets, Water & Wounds, add gas if you roll). After every engagement you redistribute ammo and max out every mag you have. M16A2 or M4 Carbine - You are firing semi automatic and you count your rounds. I always counted down. If I have a lul in the action and I am sitting low in my current mag, I switch out. Nothing like being over run or trying to give cover fire and going "Bang! Click!" Also if I have to give a rep, I can just add then number of mags (x20) + what I have left. 3 mags + 12 rounds = 72. Crew Server Weapon (M60, SAW, M2, Mk19) - Experience gunners should have a feel for their load. M2 and Mk19 are emplaced weapons, so you have cans of ammo. You load you next to last can, you best have someone getting your more. Nothing like running out and THEN shouting for more ammo. Also, screaming "I'm out!" when you team knows that means low and taking a lag in fire can get an enemy to pop his head up thinking you are actually out. M9 Beretta - This goes back to standard cop tactics, count your rounds.Cop - Count your rounds, again I count down. However, with standard automatic, the slide locks. So it is not like you have to wait for the audible click. This is not a revolver. The slide locks back, you automatically drop the mag, slide in a new one and chamber the next round. It is not EVER over, so be ready. No you can do the Segal trick of pushing the slide back a bit to peek at a loaded round.... but that says he is accustomed to carrying around his weapon without a bullet in the pipe. He checks to make sure. Is it cool, yes. However, I already know I am locked and loaded. I dont have to peek. If it is your last round, you can't tell by peeking in the chamber. I carry a wheelgun for concealed carry and I still count rounds, I am just not as liberal with my trigger finger. I only have to hit once with my .357 Even wearing armor, 95%+ will be on their back "dazed and confused" or out cold. I carry speed loads in my blazer. Man I love my little Tarus, however it kills my hand when it goes a barking

Also seems like some of my constructions have vanished. The Northern Fence and the SW fence are completely gone. Even the nearby trees reverted to prior cutting. The Western and Eastern fences are intact. The SE Fence is partially intact, though the trees regrew too. Northern Fence SW Fence SE Fence The bummer is I am burning through a ton of materials (about 100 nails for the small fences and over 200 for the SE fence). Plus the time it takes to cut down the trees, haul the logs, cut the lumber and then build the fence. This is not just game time, but real time I could be looting or whatnot. I am not sure what is causing the bug, but I do not have the nails to rebuild was is now missing. Time to head back out, if only to find nails. As a side note, I discovered you can shoot through chain link fences! That said, if a lot of Zed pile up on the fence acting all hungry... one or two seem to slip though.

My game finally crashed (see thread Holy Sheet Rope?!), and upon restarting it put me back to the beginning of Day 9, even though I last saved at the middle of Day 10. All of my Day 10 stuff is there. Well, I can see the crops I put down but there are just an illusion. I had to replant those. My recent fence additions, sheet ropes, spilled dirt and supplies levels are all as Day 10. So it seem the bug revolves around saving some information but not all... at least not all correctly. It seems in the crash also reset the natural environment. At least as far back as Day 4 or so. The area that is "X" out I cleared out for lumber. It was just a slick patch of grass before the crash. The logs you see on the ground were cut down around Day 4 or 5.

I agree. However, if realistic options lets @sshats abound... then I am for gamey mechanics. On small servers, admin could do the trick. As long as they are logging someone sort of unique id for the purchased product and not just some created charater.

I dont disagree with you one bit. However, having your stuff stolen by another player who did not know it was your place... I think MP comes into its own with Private servers, where I could invite a few other people and we could agree to a play schedule. We log in at the same time and play until we run into another player, team up, move on. After a period of time we could send out a team for looting while the other fortifies, farms, etc. Switch up now and again. The ability to have four or five people work is a game changer. Then it does not become immersion breaking for the group. If we want to invite someone else into the fold, give them the codes and welcome aboard. I really look forward to see how Zed kiting is going to work in MP. With two or three man hunting parties. Or hell, just have all of them equiped with small arms. It is going to be like plowing a field

Forgot, there is also the point when loggin off of how much time has past. If I log off @ 10:00 PM on Day 1 and come back at 7:00 PM on Day 2, that is a lot time time! Food, rotted. Crops, withered. Friends, who knows. Heaven forbid I leave for a weeks vacation!

If everyone agrees to be helpful, this is not a huge issue. However, even with small groups leaving your base becomes an issue. A person makes a base fortifies and logs off. Goes to sleep, goes to do their day thing (job, school, etc) and log back in that day, or even the next day. What has happened to all your stuff in the intervening time? Has another player looted your home? Has someone run in, tossed a few steaks into the over and fire it up? Has someone looted it? Has some kited a horde into my place? Same thing applies to someone sleeping and staying in the game. Someone could easily open a door, walk in, loot my stuff and leave. Or they could throw a steak in the oven or start a campfire at the base of my stairs AND at the bottom of my rope ladder?!?! Lets take this the other way. Lets say I run off to loot, come back, drop stuff off and leave for another run. Another player finds my house and loots it. Now they could loot it because they know I am gone. OR they could loot it thinking it was a find. Maybe I have not logged in in a week and they don't have a clue. The end result is when I come back, my stuff is gone. The anonomity of the game turns a lot of people into bastards (see Dirt, DayZ). They say this is "because this is how it would be"... when they are really saying "I am an @sshat, deal with it!" The abilites to greif in an assundry of way is immense. If I were to devise a solution I would make "Player Housing". If a player invests enough resources into a space, then other players cannot enter it. Lets say that resource is 3 planks. So if a player has at three barricades on an entrance/egress another player cannot pass. If a player sealed off all the doors and window on a house, then another player could not enter. If I had a sheet rope, then I need to put a little room at the bottom (a few walls and door) then another player could not enter. A player made door would not even need to be barricaded. If I go so far as to barricade a city block and added walls to the gaps, then it could no be crossed. However, if someone could find a way in, or kited zeds into a fortifcation, then they would be in. So even this method is not fool proof. The next step up would be "Guild Housing". Where as, if you are part of a guild you can cross any player made housing of the same guild. The devs would then have to add some sort of boolean value if a player wanted they constructions allowed in guild access (o = guild, 1 = no guild). My .02

I am going to pick on starting a fire, because I think the concept is easy to grasp and damn hard to implement. I know people who can't start or sustaine fire in their fireplace and they have lighters, fat wood, etc. We have come to an age where most kids think a fire involves a "Fire Log" you purchase at a store and light on both ends?! Starting a real fire almost becomes a magical experience... it is primal, that is for certain. Starting a friction fire is hard, even if you have a fire bow. I mean it looks easy for the guys on those TV shows but that is because of the magic of television. Flint and steel (actually churt and steel) can cause a spark, but you still have to have your tinder prepaired (TP works great for this, if you dont have charcloth). People can have an epic fail starting or maintaining a fire, with a lighter or a fire stick in the best conditions. Starting/maintaining a fire, like firing a gun, requires a lot more than book learning. Muscle memory and corrective training are essential. You can read how to start a fire, misunderstand the text and do it wrong until the palms of your hands bleed, never managing a spark or ember. You can also do it 90% right and not grasp the last 10%, hoping effort alone will fill in the blanks. That ends in failing too. I like the idea of How-To books, but I think some sort of time is needed along with the correct materials. Also, without some corrective training some people might not EVER get a particular method of starting a fire. Take this analogy into other subjects and I think we can all agree it is never as easy as it appears. Then take this into areas that can cause bodily harm (like sutures or dermal staples) and people might not even want to really try. At least a weak attempt = no immedate pain, even when failure could be death.

While I know we all want to save materials, I think knocking shoddy contstruction down and rebuilding is the only way to go. We are only talking about what, 3 planks and 4 nails? If you want to take a level three fence and reinforce it... add barricades. I think there is a mod out there for graffiti, if you think upgrading means adding that bit of urban charm.

Maybe he landed a J O B NOTE: In all seriousness, I have no clue who Fj45 is or what s/he does. It just seemed s/he became passionate about PZ and jumped into the forums with both feet forward.

Zombies tend to congregate where people use to congregate. In Dawn of the Dead (2004 remake), they hung around in huge numbers at the mall. Now is that because they "knew" something tasty was inside, one was they so they might as well join them or some residual memory. In TWD (Season 1, Atlanta) they also hung around in huge numbers, waiting and wandering. In TWD something catches they attention and the go on the move as a herd, though never explained why. I think it is all the standing in line and walking in lines they drum in during elementary school In all seriousness, they respond to stimuli and their only drive is to eat. Something out of the norm for them (norm = no stimuli), cause them to go in that direction. Also an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Once a Zed herd gets some mass, they may just continue on because (like a goldfish's 30 second memory) that is what they have "always" been doing. Individual Zeds move and then just wind down and stop OR keep on going. I would LOVE to be able to set the Gas 2 Go near the police station in Muldraugh on fire. A huge freaking explosion would be bonus, though modern fuel delivery systems do not just go boom. Getting the Zeds attention for miles would be a fantastic way of pulling a great lot of them westerly. Sure, we are going to get some moving from the east that are out in the boonies... but they will be slowed down by the trees. Would be a great way to clear out a huge section of Muldraugh so I could get busy looting some prize spots that seem to hold a special place in Zed's heart.

Wilson!!!!

no more save file corruption? Dunno. I have not exited the game. I have been saving, but I have left my PC up and the game running. I have it paused when I am not playing. The total size of my save game files is increasing, so I know it is actually saving all the stuff I am doing. I just don't know if it will load it back. I dread the next time the game crashes or Windows/Virus Protection Software forces a reboot. Considering I have moved from Day 4 to Day 11, if the game reverts back to Day 4... I will be done. That is just WAYYY to much work to have to repeat.

Ladders can also become bridges, er catwalks. That is what I want to use them for.