Some Useful Tips

Now that the game has been running for a few years we have out together a few useful tips we've picked up in play.

First Aid

Unlike most other larp games, The Zone gives you the ability to self-heal a lot of the time. If you do not take the First Aid skill you will be solely reliant on other people finding you and healing you in a gunfight. This can get surprisingly frustrating after a while, even as an experienced larper used to relying on a healer class. Some builds, particularly scientists, might mean having to leave First Aid out, so be aware. It will always be on the list for learning skills in downtime, so it can be picked up very quickly. There's also nothing stopping you buying a first aid kit and painkillers so people healing you can use your supplies instead of theirs.

I Lurves Ma Gun

It does more damage than the lesser skill, but it incurs a damage penalty on all other types of gun. If you've never used lasertag kit at a larp before, you might find the phys-rep for your chosen gun type to be not to your taste (pistols and sniper rifles are key offenders here). Buying a new gun in game is easy, but overcoming a skill penalty is not. We're generally happy to adjust skills for new players at their first couple of events, but the time needed to reprogram your gun and headband is more of an issue. We can do it, we just can't guarantee we can do it now.

Data Gathering/Analysis

The intention was that Data Gathering would be a near essential skill. Freelancers would scan anomalies and sell the data to the Bar, intel dealers or the Factions, with the first to sell getting the most money, and this would be the primary driver of the in-game economy. It didn't work out that way.

With characters now working as a largely cohesive unit on the whole it is less essential, there will be scientists and technicians who can scan whatever needs scanning. However you are keeping yourself apart from a key piece of the game and you're relying on the rest of the players to tell you what's going on. Like First Aid, Data Gathering will always be available in downtime.

Data Analysis is mainly used to further plot. When you scan a Data Gathering code it may sometimes contain a note telling anyone with Data Analysis to speak to a ref. The ref will tell you anything you can infer from the data, or any conclusions you can immediately reach. Data Analyis is also the key skill for downtime projects that involve archive work.