I Tarkov Poorly

I had a dream last night. It's already fading and I want to get it written down before I forget it. Normally, I wouldnt' bother. My dreams are usually about my parents, my childhood, girls, or Tarkov. Most of them are about Tarkov, and this one is no different. I dreamt there was something I had to do for Prapor, and I was moving with urgency, upset perhaps. I hurriedly grabbed an armored vest, pushed a grenade in my pocket, and picked up a hunting rifle that I had recently modified with a huge suppressor. I had four magazines for that rifle, but could only find three. No time.  I jammed them into my vest and ran out. And then in the dream I was fighting some BEAR operative, but the damn rifle was too long and unwieldy.  I dropped it and rushed him pulling out a little submachine gun I had tucked into my vest. As I ran up to him I began firing, but too soon. The rounds, they emptied into the sandbags he was crouched behind and I brought the SMG up to his face but it was empty ...

Pursuing the "kill 3 PMCs with a pistol" has not been working well on Interchange. That's fine, I have a ton of Interchange quests right now and I'm getting them done.  Today the plan is to just focus on the Interchange quests and maybe a PMC will accidentally wander in front of my reticle. Destination: Interchange Goals: mark 3 tankers get manifest from Oli and Goshan kill scavs (need a lot more) Raid 104 Loadout: Class 4 M2 armor.  Silenced SR1MP pistol with two magazines of SP13 and SP10. Meds, markers, backpack, ears, no grenade. Spawned on street behind Goshan, right next to one of the tanker trucks. OK, that's convenient. Marked the truck. The next truck is right down the road, but I need the manifest from Goshan and there is a better chance of encountering players inside.  I don't know the Goshan part of the mall well. Supposedly there is some elevator shaft with a ramp that will let me ascend to the main floor?  Found it and ascended.  Before I reached...

I need to kill 3 PMCs with a pistol. And I have several Interchange quests, so I'll try to get the pistol kills while undertaking them.  Not sure if this strategy will work. Presently stand at Raids: 2, PMC Kills: 0.   My plan is two-fold. If I get a "close in" spawn, I'm going to run into the mall and set up for a kill on other PMCs who will enter the mall. If I get a "far away" spawn, I'm going to focus on my Interchange quests and see what opportunities arise. Raid 103. Loadout: Shiny new M2 class 4 armored rig.  SR1MP pistol with silencer, with an extra 18 round magazine. Each loaded with SP10 and SP13. Meds. Ears. A marker for a tanker truck. No grenade. I spawned at the freeway clover leaf, near IDEA. This is closer to this end of the mall than many of the spawns on this end, so I'm rushing.  Rushed into the mall. Killed a scav in the underground area, inelegantly.  Went to my chosen camping location and waited.  Players should be showing up an...

 I have several Ragman quests that all take place on Interchange: visit 5 shops (done) kill 25 scavs mark 4 tankers find 3 manifests And one Skier quest that can be done anywhere: kill 3 PMCs with a pistol So I'm going to focus on the Skier quest, but try to perform it at Interchange.  We'll see how that goes. Interchange is my go to scav map for making money, but I never go there as a PMC.  As a scav, it's rare for me to enter a raid with more than 15 minutes on the clock - so my loot runs are pretty safe and quick and while not making me rich, I have them to thank for my 2 million rubles which makes me more secure in taking risks and wasting money.  But I don't know Interchange in the way a PMC should. I know the basics of the spawns and the pathing intellectually, but not from experience.  So my current thinking is to arm myself with a pistol to force myself to use it as my main weapon. And given the limits of that, my best strategy is to catch players unawar...

 [This raid was submitted by a reader. If there are any other readers who have battles or raids they want to stream via text, feel free to send them to me.  I'm on discord: cperk#8871 or cornflake-cperk when trapped in Tarkov]  I spawned on Customs next to the Crackhouse with an SA-58, some grenades, health, a PACA and a 6B47: Horribly underequipped, but I am trying to do Punisher Pt. 5 (kill 10 PMCs while wearing that crap armor). I immediately sprinted up the stairs to check for folders of intelligence and was smart enough to close the door behind me. After entering I quickly checked the first room on the right, but remembered that the good loot spawned in the first, bigger room with the computer and the filing cabinet. And indeed, there I found a folder on the very first shelf. I headed deeper into the room to check the other places, and just when I was searching the floor at the far end I heard someone running up the metal stairs and coming in. The closed outer door o...

I need to raise my reputation with both Skier and the Jaeger. Today went well. Three raids and three completed quests.  Raid 99 - Kill 5 Scavs on Woods, Without Armor Destination: Woods Goals: need 3 more scav kills (while not wearing armor) to complete quest extract alive Loadout: VPO-209 with two 30 round magazines of TKM FMJ (the scav killing rounds), a grenade, meds. No armor.  Spawned in near UN extract.  Oy. This one isn't near any of the prime scav destinations. Headed out towards Emercom camp.  At one point saw a player behind me, walking along the wall towards my spawn. I hit the deck and crawled into a bush. Scoped but couldn't see him anymore.  Continued.  I arrived at Emercom camp and it seemed quiet.  Was some other PMC here before me, lying in wait?  I did a circuit of the camp. No scavs, no bodies, nobody. Guess I'll head to sawmill. Just then I heard voices speaking in Russian. Scavs.  I continued the circuit, killed one then ...

I need to kill 5 scavs on Woods without armor.  Assuming I can find scavs, this should be fairly straightforward.  I would be overjoyed if I could do it in one raid, and quite satisfied if it takes two.  I'm not going to try this at night anymore - it might be easier, but likely boring.  Destination: Woods (daytime) Goals kill 5 scavs without wearing armor do this with as few raids as possible Progress I am not achieving either goal Raid 96 - Premature Extractulation Loadout VSS with PSO scope and canted sight. Two 20 rounds magazines of SPP, two of SP-5. One grenade. Meds. Food and drink in backpack along with 3001 rubles for extract.  AFAK, CMS and extra ammo in alpha container. No armor. The VSS was a good weapon for customs, not so sure about Woods, but it's ready, so I'll use it.  Spawned near RUAF roadblock.  I want to prioritize areas that will most likely have scavs: the sawmill and scav bunker. But Emercom camp is pretty good and it's closest....

Destination: Woods Goals deposit food and water at east and west bunkers kill scavs while not wearing armor (because quest) Raid 95 Loadout: Class 4 ceramic armor, VSS with PSO scope and canted sight. Two 20 round mags of VPP and two of SP-5.  Grenade, food and water for Jaeger, meds. CMS kit, AFAK and extra SPP ammo in my container. NVG gear. I decided to run this at night, because I've never done Woods at night.  One of the problems I encountered when trying to kill scavs on Woods for Prapor was that other players would kill the scavs, and I would just waste time looking for them. Maybe if I go at night I won't have to share?  We'll see. Spawned into woods. Took me a moment to get my bearings, but after a bit of looking around realized I was south of the old train station. Made my way to the train station, was in a bush below the west side of the station when I heard running footsteps approaching the train station from the north. Is that a player? I know there's a spa...

After yesterday's setback I decided to just give up on finding the white armor and craft it.  I have a ton of building supplies, and was holding onto them to be able to build a shooting range. But now, instead, I am using them to build the water collector and the advanced lavatory. Today I almost went to Shoreline, I like that level. However, I felt like I needed to get back on the horse that threw me. So today's destination is, once again, Customs. Destination: Customs Goals: kill scavs have fun seek trouble find Gas Analyzer for Therapist find croutons for Jaeger find 60 round AK mags for Prapor survive Raid 94 Loadout: Class 4 Ceramic armor, VSS with PSO scope and canted sight, two 20-round mags of SPP, two mags of SP-5, meds, one grenade, energy drink. Have extra SPP and CMS kit in alpha container, along with Director's Office key. Spawned at far corner trailer park, somewhen after 3:30 am. Made my way to the customs house yard. Looted the two cabins and the director...

I'm still disappointed with the last few raids - they were successful in that I survived and achieved quest goals, but quiet. Loot and action are the main goals today.   Destination: Customs Goals: kill scavs and find white armor find gas analyzer. find intel, and various other things try to relax and have fun.  look for trouble Raid 93 Loadout: Class 5 Ghzel armor, SVDS with 2x Monstrum scope. Three mags of SNB. Armasight NVG gear, one grenade, energy drink and meds.  Customs office key, CMS kit and extra ammo in alpha container.  Spawned in at the far corner, trailer park.  I seem to get this spawn a lot.  I had wanted a night raid. It was 4 am in Tarkov when I first joined the raid, but the waiting screens took forever.  Sure enough, the sky is already lightening for the dawn.  I looted a small shack at the edge of the customs yard and put away my NVG. Should I hide it in a bush? I decided to keep the NVG until after I looted the director'...

I can't believe I brought the wrong portable cabin key on the last raid.  Is this easy quest going to drag out for raid after raid like the BP Depot quest? Destination: Customs Goal: pick up Prapor package from portable cabin and survive and extract find white armor find gas analyzer (and other stuff) don't tarry, I don't have a lot of real-world time for this raid. Raid 92 Got one of the new spawns - next to the wall that runs between dorms and the new gas station/railroad.  I believe this is the new "closest to dorms" spawn.  Sorry to waste it, because that's not where I am headed.  I followed the wall down towards new gas.  Hit a stash (empty). Should I go peek new gas and maybe kill a scav or two?  I was considering this when suddenly weapon fire broke out at new gas. One of the weapons is pretty full-throated, probably that DT .308 DMR assault rifle that I envy so, or maybe a FAL.  Should I see if I can third-party this?  I decided not, to st...

One of the easiest quests in the game is BP Depot where you simply have to put four markers on four out-of-the way tankers and extract. I was sure I would finish it in one attempt. Instead it took me three raids (83, 84 and 85) to get the markers planted, but I didn't survive any of those. Then another two attempts at just surviving Customs (Raids 88 and 89) were also failures.  So here I am, on my sixth attempt, the only thing I need to do is go to customs and extract. Here is a quick log of how my five previous attempts went. Raid 83: killed from behind by another player in first minutes of raid Raid 84: planted 3 markers and died of exhaustion 10 seconds before protection timer on fourth one Raid 85: planted fourth marker. killed by cultist Raid 88: killed by shotgun scav and new mouse. Raid 89: killed by another player and my own poor PvP ability (and poor weapon choice) Goal: Go to Customs and extract.  Avoid anything that breathes. Progress: Quest Completed Raid 90 No re...

Got a new mouse today, Om3ga recommended it.  On my keyboard, it's extremely awkward to press left alt when my hand would otherwise be over WASD.  I usually have to lift my hand to do anything involving the left alt key, such as checking a magazine level or changing scope magnification. It's one of the reasons I prefer a canted sight over a variable one. Control clicking is easier.  I struggled with the variable scope on my recent duo raids, and in the past having to move my hand to check magazine level actually resulted in my death . Looking forward to making those things smoother, and maybe start using the fancy "alt lean" and "alt side" features one day. Destination: Customs (at night) The goals are simple: kill two or more scavs to complete Therapist quest survive raid to complete BP Depot quest Progress:  only completed one of the goals. Raid 88 Loadout:  Class 5 Gzhel armor, Armasight NVGs, VSS with PSO scope and canted dot-sight. Two mags of SPP, seve...