Meet Survivor #21

Welcome to the Series

Welcome to ‘Survive and Thrive’, a DayZ series that will initially follow the movements of Survivor #21, a castaway washed up on the shores of Chernarus. This series is being played as a newbie player – I have around four hours of gameplay under my belt – and I’ve just learned how to setup my own local server. Obviously, this character is likely to die partway through the series (I’m not that good at the game yet), so from a narrative perspective I’ll then switch to a new survivor on the same map. I won’t be wiping the server between characters, so in theory the map will stay the same in terms of anything I’ve setup in-game. I’ll try to write this up as a kind of rolling avatar diary; following our survivors’ progress as they try to stay alive, one after another.

As a relatively new player, this series is being played on a local server on my PC, which means I’m able to play without certain server issues (latency etc), I can play the game full spec (extreme quality) without issue too. I do think I’ll enjoy playing it this way initially, before moving back to shared servers with other players once I’m more seasoned (and have a headset).

I’ll be playing out the series on a duel-screen setup, with the game running in windowed-mode on one, and iZurvive on the other; so I can hopefully keep track of my whereabouts.

Ultimately, the goal is to survive the initial harshness of the game, find a town to call home and develop a cosy little campsite, improve my resources and gear, then eventually thrive by learning to hunt, fish, forage, even grow my own veg, with a good sense of ‘where things are’ around me and how roads/trails connect. Essentially learn the map.

Introducing Survivor #21

Meet Survivor #21, the first castaway of our ‘Survive and Thrive’ series:

Survivor #21 build

I awake on a beach cold, thirsty, alone. It’s nearly dark and I have little on my person; just a piece of fruit, some bandages and clothing that’s seen better days. I scout the beachside for loot before making my way inland to the nearest town in search of food and water…
Survivor #21

Survivor #21

My priorities will be to scavenge anything useful off of the beach before scouting the nearest town for food/water and anything else that might be useful.

I’ll then try to locate my position on iZurvive and find a place to setup camp.

I’ll want to recon that town and locate useful survival sources such as a fountain (for water), and orchards (for food) etc.

Priority List

1. Scavenge the beach for loot
2. Head to the nearest town and ascertain my whereabouts
3. Search the town for food/water
4. Find/fashion a knife
5. Find warmer clothing
6. Find/fashion a backpack
7. Develop a campsite

Wish me luck.