Gray Zone Warfare · Dad Ops

Into the jungle, dads

Slow, tactical co-op on Lamang. Our Gray Zone nights, and everything you need before your first one with the crew. Read it once, set up your character, and you're good.

Checking the board…

Gray Zone tools

Dad OpsLoreThe story of Lamang in one sitting: the Sayavongs, the Event, and who's who on the island. Dad OpsBossesEvery boss: where he's been seen, what he carries, who guards him, and the gun his first kill unlocks. Dad OpsMy tasksTick off the tasks you've done. The Item lookup then tells you what you still need. Dad OpsKey finderFound a key? What it opens, where the door is, what's behind it, and who in the crew has one. Dad OpsItem lookupWhat your loot sells for, whether it's worth the slot, and what a task or the hideout needs. Dad OpsWeapon builderBolt a gun together before you spend a dime. Horton picks a build for the job, and the crew shares theirs. Dad OpsAmmo chartWhat goes through what. Every round rated against every armor class; pick your caliber and their armor, and Horton names the round to buy. Dad OpsArmor guideEvery helmet, vest and plate carrier: its class, what it covers, what it weighs, who sells it, and which rounds go through it. Dad OpsBlueprintsThe gun magazines stashed around Lamang. Tick off the ones you've found and the camos you've unlocked. Dad OpsHideoutEvery 0.5 hideout module: what it costs, what it unlocks, what to build first. Track your build with the crew.
Read this first

Getting started

What it is

Gray Zone Warfare is a slow, tactical shooter on Lamang, a quarantined island in Southeast Asia. You play a private military contractor running jobs for the vendors at your faction's base, getting paid and getting better gear. What you carry can be lost when you die, so it plays careful, not run-and-gun. It's still in Early Access, so things change with every big update.

Set up your character: PvE, Mithras

This is the one that matters. In Gray Zone you can only squad up with people on the same faction and the same mode. The Dad Ops crew plays:

  • Mode: PvE. Co-op against the AI. No other players hunting us.
  • Faction: Mithras Security Systems. Base camp in the south of the island.

Since update 0.5 "Rogue Ops" (October 2026) you can have up to four characters, each with its own faction and mode. If you already play on another faction or in PvP, keep that character and make a PvE Mithras one for Dad Ops nights.

Already had a character before 0.5? The first time you start the game after the update, it asks which mode that character moves to. That choice can't be undone, so pick on purpose.

Squad up

  1. Save your seat on the op post, like any Dad Ops night.
  2. Muster in the Gray Zone muster channel in Discord about 15 minutes early.
  3. Squad up first, before anyone loads into a server region. The op lead sends squad invites in the game's squad menu. A Gray Zone squad tops out at four, so bigger nights split into fireteams.
  4. Once the squad's together, the op lead will join a server region and everyone loads in as one.

Stuck in a queue joining the squad's server? That faction's slots on that server are full. Wait it out, or the whole squad backs out to the main menu and deploys again together.

Comms

We talk in Discord, same as always. Two things to set in the game:

  • Turn off Squad voice chat in the game's audio settings, so you don't hear the squad twice.
  • Make sure your Discord push-to-talk key isn't the game's talk key. Proximity chat can stay on if you like saying hi to strangers.

Your first drop

  • Base camp is home: the vendors who give you jobs and sell you gear are there. New characters start with a short tutorial and starter tasks. Do them; they pay.
  • Getting out there: open the map, pick a landing zone you've unlocked, and a helicopter takes you. Finding new landing zones opens up more of the island.
  • Getting home is the job. Your haul only counts once you're back at base, so fly back in.
  • Tasks come from the vendors. Dying on a task fails it, and it usually locks for a while before you can try again.

When you go down

  • You drop everything you're carrying except what's in your secure container.
  • You can get back to your body and take it all back. Die again before you do, and it's gone.
  • So: don't bring what you can't stand to lose, especially on the first few nights.
  • A downed squadmate isn't dead yet. Drag them into cover and patch them up.

Staying alive

  • Go slow. Sprinting burns stamina fast, and the jungle hides a lot.
  • Wear armor. Bring water, food, bandages, tourniquets and blood bags: you manage blood, water and energy, not just a health bar.
  • There's no ammo counter on screen. Learn the key to check your magazine before the fight, not during it.
  • Tap-fire, and know which fire mode you're in.
  • Stick with the squad. Four dads together is a lot harder to kill than four dads spread across a hillside.

Written for update 0.5 "Rogue Ops" (October 2026). The game changes with every big update, so if something here's out of date, tell an S3. On the night, the op lead has the last word.