Bronze Pocket Watch - Raids 15 and 16 - Level 6

I got the machinery key as a scav.  Now to get the watch.

Raid 15 - Fractured Watch

Loadout: Well loved Class 4 armor, AK-74N with some mags of 5.45x39mm BP and PS, meds, ears, small rig, backpack, and no grenade.  

Spawned along road in front of the customs house.  I got squeezed between two other spawns the last time I caught this spawn. I entered a bush and waited.  Take my time, let's see if anyone comes waltzing along from any of the neighboring spawns.  No one did.  After a few minutes I heard some action in the customs house yard, but the road was quiet. So I headed out.  

I crossed the river on the low junk bridge, checking that everything was clear before heading out. I crossed the first span, double checked that everything was clear, and then walked across the second metal span. Just as I finished crossing I saw someone above me. I dove into a bush, leaned out and started firing. My adversary ducked behind a tree and began leaning out to return fire. I don't have hard cover here, only concealment, this isn't safe. I ran forward up the hill slightly and took cover behind a tree, leaned out, and took him down. Despite the giant purple backpack, he looked like a player scav, not a PMC.  I hustled over to his body. Yes - a player scav. I started looting.  Perhaps prematurely.  

Someone started firing over my head - I ran back down the hill and over - to get cover from a rock. And not a moment too soon, because a grenade was thrown. Fortunately I was gone when it detonated.  I rose up the hill  - no sign of my assailants. I peeked the road - no one.  Who threw that grenade and from where?  Maybe they are down the hillside already - heading to the metal span.  I flanked wide.  After crossing the road I ran into an AI scav in the open field (an unusual place). I brought him down, but didn't loiter. I went and took the top of the hill between dorms and construction.  No sight of anyone anywhere - no one in the intersection, no one on the main bridge. No one on the roads or anywhere in-between.  Still not sure who had been firing on me earlier.  Oh well. Whatever.

I made my way to construction, entering it from the gap in the wall that faces dorms.  It was quiet.  I went behind one of the tanks to loot the grenade box there, hoping to get grenades. But just got ammo.  Just then heard someone else approaching, I think from the same gap in the wall that I had taken. I quieted down and began to creep around the tank - quietly trying to enter the bush and avoid the barbed wire. But even with my speed at the lowest and crouching I still made noise. The player took a position just on the other side of the tank from me. He stepped and turned, stepped and turned. I could hear the concrete under his boots. Does he know I'm here?  I braced for an attack, but none came. What is he doing? I should run around this thing and kill him. I started raising my walk speed again and going through the checklist - I'll run to the edge of the tank, lean out left, hit him fast. My weapon is on autofire, right? And I reloaded earlier, right?  Just as I was running through these thoughts the player took off, running into the construction area.  Weaponfire blasted. Holy shit. I stayed put and stayed quiet. But there were no other sounds.  

I left my bush, rounded the tank - no sign of anyone. Crossed over towards construction. The truck door was opened already, and a dead PMC lay outside it.  Damn.  I did not push to the truck - I circled round the yard - there was an AI scav there. I took him down, but he blacked my arm. God damnit. I don't have a CMS kit with me. But otherwise I was mostly fine.  I went to the truck, got the watch.  Should I loot the PMC? No, he's some low-level like me and who is having a rough day. 

My extract is ZB-011.  My plan was to exit construction the way I came and follow the road to New Gas, then jump the razor wire on the pipe.  Good plan.  I exited construction, went down a bit, and there was a scav in the road. Shit - I have no cover and a blacked arm.  I kneeled and aimed down sight, but the damn weapon would not stay trained, the scav turned and blasted me. I fired back. We traded a significant amount of fire, and amazingly I won that fight. But not before he had blacked one of my legs and my other arm ... and gave me fractures in the leg and both arms. I didn't know you could fracture an already blacked limb, good to know.  I only had one splint. Used it on my leg.  I took a pain killer. Looks like I won't be jumping over that razor wire after all.  So I went the long way round, taking pain killers whenever I approached a dangerous spot. I finished severely dehydrated, energy drained, limping and barely able to see. But I survived and finished the damn quest.  

Time in Raid: 25 minutes, 19 seconds
Exp: 2092
Kills: Artur Lysyy (player scav), Syoma Spartak (scav), Oficerskiy Dzhentelmen (scav), Korneliy Breyk (scav).
Ammo Used: 78, Hits: 13, Accuracy: 0.13, Damage to Body: 483, Damage to Armor: 13

Mistakes

• I'm not exactly sure what I could have done different  that last battle - maybe just rush closer to the scav and autofired him to oblivion.  Oy.
• Did not loot any of my kills today, which means I may have overlooked the white armor which I desperately need for Skier.
• I'm trying to learn how to "tap fire" (ie single fire when the weapon is set to autofire). I'm not good at it. Need more practice.
• Didn't get much loot.

Successes

• Completed Quest
• Survived
• Excepting the last Scav, most of the combat was conducted fairly OK.  Generally used cover. Need to work on my aim (always) and tap firing.

Raid 16 - The Crossing

Now I have the Delivery From the Past quest, so I need to get into the Tarcone Director's Office. But I don't have that key.  So the plan is to just go to Customs, kill time and scavs and players, and then hope that someone has left it open when I finally get to the office.  I started to join a raid, but thought the lobby too empty. So I backed out and joined another with a fuller lobby. I'm not seeking combat, but the odds of someone opening the door for me are higher if there are more players. 

Early dawn. Spawned into one of the buildings in the cul-de-sac of the industrial area.  Took my time to loot the building.  Looted the computers in a van. Went into the next building, started looting. I heard movement in the brush outside the building. A player. I went to the side door, leaned out, aimed down sight, and stepped around the corner. The sun was directly behind my target, blinding me. But I could just see enough to spot him. I fired. And fired. And fired some more. He started returning fire. I opened up a blast of autofire and he went down to the ground. I returned back around the corner and reloaded.  Man, that sun is something. I don't want to rush his body - he might have friends. So I circled around south and approached from there. If he has friends I should hopefully see them.  But there was no one. And, there was no body. What? Where is the body?  Did he just go prone and then run away?  Shit.  I scanned around, but couldn't see him. Hopefully he's not east of my position, because I can't see jack that way.  Well, maybe he'll go unlock the director's office for me. That would be swell.

So I went west, to the corner of the map, and started looting stashes.  Long story short - I made my way across the map slowly. I killed two scavs, one at the bus depot, on near the RUAF checkpoint. But it was otherwise a quiet raid, no sounds of combat besides my own.  I crossed over to the customs house and the door was still locked. Damn.  

Time In Raid: 28 minutes, 51 seconds

Exp: 1924
Kills (scavs): Ashot Torch and Vovchik Lysyy

Ammo Used: 89, Hits: 24, Accuracy: 0.19, Damage to Body: 789, Damage to Armor: 251

Mistakes

• "hoping for the door to be open" is probably not a great plan? 
• did not kill the PMC at the outset of the raid. I think the chain link fence was blocking the shots for both of us. Most likely I just scared him.  But quite the embarrassing mis-read.
• Did not loot the scav bodies. Once again, I may have missed the white armor. 

Successes

• Survived
• Got a lot of loot, including a nicer chest-rig, which I filled up

PostScript

Before these raids I ran a scav raid with the intention of getting the machine key I needed for the bronze watch quest.  As fate would have it, my scav spawned into the first floor of the three-story dorms with just over 10 minutes on the clock. I went upstairs, got the key, hit a couple of stashes and extracted.  Loot-wise not a lot of money, but probably my single greatest scav run so far just for the virtue of the key.  Priceless.

Post PostScript

I've been Level 6 for four raids now.  That's not good. I was originally hoping to make Level 10 in twenty raids, but unless I level up one per raid, that's not happening.