Reserve and Customs. Raids 7-10. Level 5

I have named my Vityaz SMGs "Svetlana" and "Natalia".  I took Natalia with me to Interchange where I got those three kills. But I feel bad about dying and leaving her there.  Hopefully she'll come back to me.

Svetlana has served me well too, with two PMC kills on Reserve, and she came back like a true love. I am not wasting her on some stupid stash run. I'm taking her out to show her off. We are heading to Reserve!

Raid 7 - The Streamer

Loadout: Class 4 armor, Svetlana, meds, ears, a flash grenade and a Vog.  

Svetlana and I spawned above the spiral staircase that leads to D2.  Awesome.  I headed down to the bunker, looting lightly. As we approached the staircase that ascends to the underground bunker area I heard the sound of quite a bit of combat.  Damnit - we are late to the party.  But Svetlana felt that we were fashionably late and that I shouldn't stress. She's always right.  I heard a PMC panting at the top of the stairs. Turned off the flashlight, crouched, and slowly ascended. Damn that staircase is dark. But as we came around the last bend, I could just make out the some glints of light coming off a crouching player. I aimed down sight and fired. Dumped almost half a mag into him, but I was making a stupid stupid mistake. I still had my flashlight off. Dumb. If I had turned it on right when firing I would have blinded the player, scared the shit out of him, and been able to see.  As it is, I could barely see him from my own weapons muzzle flashes. He had the Killa helmet ("oh fuck, it's Killa!"). I was aiming as best I could through the staircase railing ("oh god, I hope that's permeable"). The PMC moved around, my aim swung with him. My magazine was empty and I was wounded - I ran back down the steps.

And here I made my second and third mistakes.  The second mistake is that while I turned the light back on I forgot to reload (Svetlana does not approve). And the third mistake is re-attempting this combat at all. Fighting up these stairs? What was I thinking?  I should have withdrawn. I bet the D-2 extract was open - I could have left. Or I could have gone all the way up and flanked the long way round or taken up a different fight.  Or camped.  But my poor decisions led to the inevitable outcome.

Time In Raid: 5 minutes 56 seconds.
Exp: 50
Killed By: Shadowreaperttv  with many rounds of .45 ACP FMJ.  GG Shadowreaperttv.  Shadowreaperttv is on twitch here. However, todays video doesn't seem to include the raid on Reserve.  I was hoping to see a stream of myself getting cut down.  

Ammo Used: 30, Hits: 4, Accuracy: 0.1, Damage to Armor: 49  Damage to Body: 130

Mistakes

• not flipping on the damn flashlight.  
• losing a battle where I had both the initiative and surprise. damn
• not reloading
• poor handling of combat
• poor decision to re-engage.
• disappointed Svetlana. She may likely dump me.
• died

Successes

• It was exciting

[ Update ]

I later chatted with shadowreaperttv on twitch. . He was very cool and remembered me in the stairwell. Says I landed those shots on his head and if it weren't for the Killa helmet he'd be dead. He was carrying a med-case and some sweet loot he had just gotten (including the helmet).  He generously invited me to go raiding with him, which I very much wanted to do, but couldn't at that time due to other obligations.  

Raid 8 - Return to Questing on Customs

Ok, my "zig when they zag" plans are an admitted failure. It's now nearly a week since the wipe and I'm still Level 3.  I will return to Reserve and I will kill those raiders and I will get their armor and weapons, but not today. Today I need to stop avoiding the questing and face it like a man. I'm on my way to Customs to kill 5 Scavs.

Loadout: Class 4 armor. Remington M870 12 gauge shotgun with 7mm buckshot, ears, meds (including 2 esmarch). No grenades.

Spawned in along the wall the runs between dorms and the railroad tracks.  I headed to New Gas.  Made my way in via the back way, and crouched in the bushes. There was hella combat being raged somewhere in the woods back above Military Checkpoint.  But it was quiet here. I hung out for a bit, remembering that the Scavs don't always spawn right away. However after a few minutes I was anxious to get moving. Went into the gas station. Quiet.  Made my way across the road and over the railroad bridge. There was a Scav in the road. I tried firing at him from the railroad bridge, but couldn't land the shot.  Ran down to take cover behind the vehicles in the road. The damn shotgun was giving me trouble, but after a bit of effort I took down the Scav and came away from the conflict unharmed.  Looted the Scav.

Crossed the road, made my way into construction. Quiet.  Circled construction all the way to the little skeleton, but quiet.  I exited through one of the hole in the walls - there was a PMC at the intersection of the bridge and the roads. I tried firing on him, but at range couldn't seem to land my shot. I ducked down, scrambled, came up again just peeking over the roadside. He had crossed over to the dorms side. I crossed over too. He fired and missed. I'm not exactly sure where he his, but I think he's still on the road that goes to sniper roadblock. So I flanked - running through the woods a bit, and coming out through the containers to peek down the road, hoping to catch his rear. But no sign of him.  I ventured forward - cover to cover along the roadside, scanning and listening for him. Suddenly I started catching sniper fire from above somewhere (little skeleton). Not good. I ran across the road and dropped into the river valley. Now what? I'm not giving up now.  I went underneath the bridge, and carefully started edging my way up towards the roadside. Was the sniper on the little outbuilding beyond the first roadblock gate? Was he up on the skeleton? I carefully peeked but couldn't see anyone.

Suddenly there were footsteps on the other side of the bridge divider - someone was right behind me, descending toward the river. I turned around, crept forward, and there through one of the divider gaps was a Scav.  I dumped a bunch of shots into him, and he went down. Looted him.

Now what? Let's check out RUAF, there are often Scavs around there. So I ascended to the road, crossed it, and checked out the entire area  - but no one. The dead body in the grass with the Unknown key had already been looted.  I crossed the river via the lower land bridge and then entered the customs yard. 

The customs yard was quiet.  Suddenly there were footsteps running across the yard - must be a Scav. I pursued. It was a Scav.  We inelegantly traded shotgun fire. He could land shots on me even if I was directly behind a container, and my shots didn't seem to land on him. I flanked the other way, and finally took him down, but not before he blacked a leg and messed me up.

I looted him, medded, and left via Trailer Park.

Time In Raid: 21 minutes, 20 seconds
Exp: 1945
Kills (all Scavs): Archi Koryaryy, Tima Ebalay, Volodonya Tapechnik
Ammo Used: 22, Hits: 20, Accuracy: 0.32, Damage to Body: 619

Mistakes

• I'm not liking the shotgun, though it's getting the job done.
• Utter mishandling of combat on last Scav.
  
• Shame the PMC got away
• Never did get eyes on the sniper. I wonder if he was even further away, like Stronghold?

Successes

• Got three of the five Scav kills. 
• Survived
• Got some good loot

Raid 9 - Bare Survival

Loadout: same as last raid.

Spawned into RUAF checkpoint. Didn't know this was a spawn. There were no Scavs, but mightn't there be some soon? I looted the dead body in the grass and put the Unknown Key in my secure container for later. I should have taken up a more deliberate hiding place, but instead I was just sort of "hanging around" not appreciating that there may be other nearby spawns.  There are other nearby spawns.  Suddenly someone began shooting on me. It felt like from above somewhere, but it wasn't on the little skeleton. I dropped into the river valley and scooted over toward the divider.  Deja vu. 

Medded. Then returned topside. No sign of anyone in the RUAF area. I went over to construction, stepped into it. I heard a reload (or magazine check), but from where? Back over the wall? I went back outside construction, poking through the weeds. No one. Re-entered construction through a different gap. Nothing. Exited again.  Down near the little road-side shop there was a Scav. I ran down to the road and fired on him. Damn this shotgun. I was hitting him (I think) but he wasn't going down. I started into the road, heading for the cover of the truck bed when I started catching sniper fire from above (Deja vu). I ran back over the lip of the river and down.  This time I didn't go under the bridge, I circled the other way toward sniper roadblock, crossed the road, and began to advance on the Scav. He was dead in the road.  Looks like I got him. No way I'm looting him though with that sniper overwatching.

I backed up towards sniper roadblock. As I prepared to cross the lawn that leads to dorm, I heard footsteps approaching. I should have found hard cover, but instead I crouched where I was and aimed down sight. Someone with no armor ran up. I shot him. Twice. How he continued to stand I have no idea. He had a pistol and made good use of it. I got off another shot, but was badly messed up. Fortunately he disengaged and backed down the hill. He started shouting "Cease Fire!" "Good One!" and "Knives Only!".  I backed up and staggered away, around the containers. I had two heavy bleeds, blacked limbs, and was making in-pain sounds that must be new for the wipe. Fortunately I had two esmarchs. I stopped both bleeds. Used up my cheese. I was still messed up - couldn't walk right, kept making in-pain breathing sounds. I crouched and rounded back. The hatchling had his knife drawn and kept shouting "Knives Only!" at the spot where I had been crouched before.  Unfortunately for him, I'm BEAR this wipe and don't speak English. But my shotgun does.  I asked my shotgun to translate for me, and it did, and the PMC understood, falling over dead.

I really wanted that dog-tag, but I wanted to first address my health situation. I withdrew back around the container - crouching in cover and medding my head, torso and stomach, trying to figure out what the source of that breathing and gasping was.  This was fortunate. Another player must have heard the commotion and came up, sniffing for blood. He circled round, clearing the area. How he didn't see or hear me, I do not know. He descended on my DuoLingo partner and began looting. I started to advance again, getting ready to ADS and lean out, when the vulture took flight, heading in the direction of Dorms.  I did not give chase.  I stood and made my way down away from the road. The trip was long - I was walking very slowly. I kept breathing and making an in-pain sound. Somehow, miraculously, I made it all the way to ZB-1011, looting some stashes as I went, and extracted.

Time In Raid: 26 minutes, 32 seconds
Exp: 1522
Kills: USEC 0-10
Ammo Used: 18, Hits: 21, Accuracy: 0.5  Damage to Body: 675

Mistakes

• I did not kill that Scav in the road. The sniper must have finished him off and snatched my kill.
• I need to either get rid of this shotgun or learn how to use it properly. I was having trouble against an unarmored player. WTH.
• "hanging around" RUAF was dum without the "b".
• This is the fourth PMC I've killed this wipe, and the fourth time I have not retrieved the dog-tag.
• There is a med-box in the shack at the top of the power tower. I should have gone there looking for more meds. 

Successes

• Barely killed a PMC
• Survived
• Achieved Level 4

Raid 10 - Woods Introduction

I had an extra hour to raid tonight, but I waited twice for 11 minutes for a daytime raid and once for 12 minutes for a nighttime raid, but no luck. More than half my play time gone, and I haven't even been able to jump into a raid. I switched out the shotgun for a beat up SKS and went to Woods instead.  After 8 minutes, I was able to join the raid. I'll skip the blow-by-blow. I looted the loot-picnic that is Emercom camp and found the airplane and hunting blind and got the message and turned it in.  The Exp from the raid and the quest was enough to send me to Level 5.   Yes!

Here is a story I wrote about this quest last wipe: https://itarkovpoorly.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-jaeger-wtf.html

PostScript

I did a Scav run on Interchange, and found a GPU in IDEA.  Sold it to Therapist for 120K rubles. This alleviates some of my financial woes.