Avoiding KOS, carry weapon or not?

  • Around 99% of my deaths are KOS. The remaining 1% is because of 'proper' bandits; survivors pretending to be friendly, only to kill you a few minutes later. I don't mind the latter, but can't stand KOS.


    I often run around carrying my gun in my hand. I do this because 1) I want to be prepared in case someone starts shooting at me and 2) I hate the weird sound it gives when you carry a gun on your back.


    So I've been thinking, one of the reasons I get KOS'ed could potentially be _because_ I'm carrying my weapon? I can imagine someone is more inclined to fire at me when they think I'm a potential threat. On the other hand though, when it's on my back, it could make me an easier target, because taking out my gun takes some time (a little, but still).


    What do you guys do?


    (I know KOS can't be avoided entirely ;))

  • IMO you should carry the gun in your hands like you usually do. I've robbed A LOT of people, and the guys coming out alive has rarely ever anything to do with if he carried a gun in his hands or not.

    I've 3 different situations where the outcome had nothing to do with it:

    Vudo, Justin and I are running near camo at NWAF, I see a player sneaking up in the forest and we all start screaming "Put your hands up" even though he's sitting crouched with an ak in his hands. He puts his hands up, we hold him up in camo and he survives.

    Me and 4 other RUF were running from Stary to Novy. We run into a 5 man group all carrying guns in their hands and we tell them all to put their hands up while blending in between them. They all put their hands up and we rob them inside of piano. 2/5 died due to combatlog and russian roulette. :^)

    Last situation is Schluu, Ghost, Vudo and I in severograd running into 3 players with guns in their hands, we tell them to put them on the back and follow us, they do so. We come into a factory building and tell all 3 to put their hands up, they all start running in circles pulling guns and we have to put them all down.


    Honestly I'll take a chance if it once in a while ends up being a great encounter, having the gun in your hand might end up saving you from some KOS scum. :^)

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  • I wouldn't worry about what others will do, Afterdune. Ask yourself this. If you see a player running with a gun on his back and empty hand or carrying a bag is he approachable to you? KoSers aka ToSsers will shoot at you no matter what you have in your hands. Personally I will always feel under more threat when I see a dude with a gun in his hands and react to that accordingly.

    Every situation is different. Some people seem to assume "friendly" as in the faction that the Queen's Guard are means "i will bend over and you can f888 me in the a88." It's quite the contrary. My survival and that of my squad is the primary importance and concern for me. Never leave your guard down and evading a firefight is not an act of cowardice. If everyone survives, everyone is a winner.

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  • As someone that has played a journalist on many different servers for a long time i can tell you that not carrying a gun definetly helps to approach people and creating some bond of trust between you and the guy you just met.

    People are less inclined to shoot you if you have no gun in hands. However some people might just play friendly and doom you when they are close enough, so yes it helps a bit, but when you get KoS'd you feel a bit worse because really there is nothing you can do.

    I personally am very careful when approaching people. I usually tail them a bit and look how they act before coming close to them like in Deadly's video, i was tailing him for a good 5 mins, when he went for a good loot place (cernaya train station) i decided it was the best for me to apparoach, he had nowhere to run or hide, i had high ground and he didn't know of my presence until last second.

    But i almost always keep my gun in my hands, i have village PTSD :D

    But in the end, every encounter is dangerous as fuck, it's DayZ and i rarely have the opportunity to engage people on my terms, i am ready to die at every encounter.

  • At the end of the day it depends who you encounter. A bandit or someone who intends to rob you will see you as a slightly unprepared and an easier target as they know you are probably more friendly than the average player and you'll need a second to get your weapon out. Someone whose out for a friendly interaction will look at you with less suspicion. For me i'd rather a friendly player look at me with more suspicion then an unfriendly player having an easier time killing me.

  • I feel not having a gun in your hands increases your chances of avoiding KOS considerably.


    On another server in a galaxy far far away, i used to play as a bandit and would take advantage of those situations where he/she had no gun out to interact with those survivors, while those who had guns out didn't always get that same courtesy. As a bad guy, I would actually interact with them and say stuff like "What are you doing in my town?!", "I had a pair of shoes like that but now their missing?!", "Look, I'm a bad man with bad intentions so you have 5 seconds to hit the floor and drop your gear, or you'll be eating lead"...And that's how you bandit.



    Just say No to KOS.

  • Personally I'll try to interact if the person doesn't appear to be an immediate threat. That's the curse of double carrying as well. If we meet outside of what I consider to be a hot-zone, and your gun is on your back, I'll lean towards interaction. The location and age of my character dictates how careful I'll be.

    you too huh? Probably the same guy that got me there recently

    I'm wondering if that was the dude in Bere camping around near the tents murdering bambis. I rushed him with a stick and poked him in the eye, sadly my stick and t-shirt were no match for a leather riders jacking and rak with mag :(

  • A similar thread on reddit as well. Here is my take on it:


    What not carrying a weapon in your hands does is communicate to other players that you are friendly. Beyond that it really depends on who sees you. Like everything in DayZ it is a calculated risk. The reward is to communicate visually from a distance to people that you are friendly, the risk is that some might view you as gullible, easy prey and so on. And there are ofc those who never make any sort of decision at all and will KOS regardless.


    So bottom line: Yes, I think not carrying a weapon in hands reduces the risk of death quite a bit. But it is in no way a guarantee.


    My advice: Do both. Carry your weapon on your back when in the open fields or in any area where people can observe you at a distance. When you are moving in areas where no one will see you before you are in their face you might as well have your weapon in hands.

  • I mostly only have a sawed off in my pack, and maybe a pistol in a chest holster, ....also, I run with no military gear, so I tend to always look like a relatively non-threatening new spawn to everyone else. If I do ever get KOSed, it's been for sport at long range, not because I'm 'scary' up close. I don't KOS myself ... but if I did, I'd see someone double carrying, or even single carrying as obviously up for a fight, and I'd be thinking they were fair game.


    Said it before ... this game is so much better when you play to keep your character alive at all costs!! I won't even shoot at a cow or deer, let alone another player unless I have no choice ... just because someone may be around to hear the shot. I really think more value placed on character lifespan would end so much of the needless KOS ... even the real asshats out there would think twice before starting something that could go bad for them unexpectedly. I don't want KOS to go away completely, that removes way to much enjoyable tension ... I'd just like to see it less of a casual thing to do.


    I don't think how, or what you carry should be the determining factor ... I think it should be, "is this person going to risk something, or not?" . But for now, yeah, you run with a gun out, you look like you're up for some PvP.

  • I mostly only have a sawed off in my pack, and maybe a pistol in a chest holster, ....also, I run with no military gear, so I tend to always look like a relatively non-threatening new spawn to everyone else. If I do ever get KOSed, it's been for sport at long range, not because I'm 'scary' up close. I don't KOS myself ... but if I did, I'd see someone double carrying, or even single carrying as obviously up for a fight, and I'd be thinking they were fair game.


    Said it before ... this game is so much better when you play to keep your character alive at all costs!! I won't even shoot at a cow or deer, let alone another player unless I have no choice ... just because someone may be around to hear the shot. I really think more value placed on character lifespan would end so much of the needless KOS ... even the real asshats out there would think twice before starting something that could go bad for them unexpectedly. I don't want KOS to go away completely, that removes way to much enjoyable tension ... I'd just like to see it less of a casual thing to do.


    I don't think how, or what you carry should be the determining factor ... I think it should be, "is this person going to risk something, or not?" . But for now, yeah, you run with a gun out, you look like you're up for some PvP.

    Yeah. Maybe, just maybe, staying alive will increase your maximum stamina over time? That would be the perfect incentive to stay alive rather than go fighting and killing just for fun.

  • I mostly only have a sawed off in my pack, and maybe a pistol in a chest holster, ....also, I run with no military gear, so I tend to always look like a relatively non-threatening new spawn to everyone else. If I do ever get KOSed, it's been for sport at long range, not because I'm 'scary' up close. I don't KOS myself ... but if I did, I'd see someone double carrying, or even single carrying as obviously up for a fight, and I'd be thinking they were fair game.


    Said it before ... this game is so much better when you play to keep your character alive at all costs!! I won't even shoot at a cow or deer, let alone another player unless I have no choice ... just because someone may be around to hear the shot. I really think more value placed on character lifespan would end so much of the needless KOS ... even the real asshats out there would think twice before starting something that could go bad for them unexpectedly. I don't want KOS to go away completely, that removes way to much enjoyable tension ... I'd just like to see it less of a casual thing to do.


    I don't think how, or what you carry should be the determining factor ... I think it should be, "is this person going to risk something, or not?" . But for now, yeah, you run with a gun out, you look like you're up for some PvP.

    With the introduction of softskills, surviving for longer will have more value. however, as some people in discord suggested now that server files are out. is to make ammunition extremely scarce. Making guns rare is pointless, but making it so that you'd be lucky to have a full mag, now that could mean something. It's easy to hide a gun and shoot someone, but if you got so little ammo you need to really make sure whoever you shoot is worth shooting. It would make you more likely to avoid conflict.

    Killing is only one small aspect of survival. And hardly necessary. A person's desire to kill, is not out of thrive to survive. But rather a false sense of pride, a sick form of amusement, a disgusting form of empowerment. They who feel the need to kill and call it "survival" are just refusing to accept their barbaric ways. Self defence is another matter entirely, but how often is that self defence not against those who feel an unnatural need to harm?

  • Making ammo rare would definitely do the trick ... that, along with really useful soft skills would be enough to make people think twice before engaging in a hostile manner ... even from long range, as you don't know who / what else may be close by. Like I said, I don't want it gone altogether, I just want to crank up the tension in random encounters. KOS as it is, is not even so much frustrating, as it is just a dull way to lose a character .. especially here on an RP server.

    "Yeah, these guys I just meet are double carrying!, but do they have the ammo to finish the job if shit goes down? .... and .... do I?" That's how we start to make real Mexican Standoffs a thing in Dayz :)