Skip to main content

Painful Progress, Raids 31 and 32. Level 9

I started these Woods raids with Raid 24. I'm presently trying to kill 15 scavs, kill 5 scavs without armor, and stash food and drink for the Jaeger.  With some luck I could finish all of these quests in one raid. I should live so long....

Raid 31 - The Duo

Loadout: AK-74N with scope and laser, meds, ears, food and drink for Jaeger and a snack for myself. No armor.

Plan: Go to Emercom and kill scavs. Before or after hit ZB-16 which is not far from there and stash stuff for the Jaeger.

I spawned halfway between Emercom and ZB-16, facing Emercom. So I went to Emercom. There was no one there. That's OK - the scavs here usually take a few minutes to start spawning. I looted a medical bag and what do you know: a syringe!!  I put it in my secure container. Awesome. That's a high priority item for me.

A scav ran into the camp, I circled round and killed and looted him. I took up a secure position inside one of the containers, ears open for more activity.   Footsteps approaching, probably another scav or player scav. I waited for him to enter the camp and then I flipped on my laser, stepped out and looked left - it was a PMC. I started firing immediately, the player sprang for cover, without returning fire. I was about to flank when I heard more footsteps to my left. There's another? (There's always another).  Moved to get a view of my left - no one. Hmm. I checked the PMC again - he's still huddled there.  I shouldn't flank him like I was planning, but before I start firing on him, I want to check the left again. I stepped around and there was a second player leaning out, aiming down sight. I backpedaled, but it was too late. He took me down with a single shot. It was a great shot. Nicely done!

Time In Raid: 11 minutes, 3 seconds
Exp: 363
Kills: Petro Hitrozhopyy ( AI Scav )
Killed By: 250MeterBeamer .  with one round of SNB. Nice shot, 250MeterBeamer !!
Ammo Used: 10, Hits: 4, Accuracy: 0.3,  Damage to Body: 133, Damage to Armor: 42

Mistakes

  • Not being more careful stepping to the left. I knew someone was there somewhere. 
  • Repeeking == Death
  • Not killing the first player - I landed shots on him, but probably could have gotten a headshot if I had been more circumspect with my fire, instead of spam firing him.
  • died

Successes

  • syringe
  • did not die to a scav

Raid 32 - Why Do I Play This Game?


Loadout: VPO-209 with laser and scope, meds, ears, no armor. I have to keep Jaegers food in my secure container now - I'm down to my last lunchbox and I can't easily replace them. 

Spawned below the main village. My destination is ZB-16 and Emercom, but since I'm close, I'll first go to the village to see if I can pick up some scav kills. I carefully advanced and circumnavigated the village, looting a bit.  Got some good loot, but no scavs. Just as I was leaving I heard PMCs fighting down near the bridge. I couldn't see the parties, but someone was using a Vector and someone else an M4 or something.  I don't need this. I backed up and went over the ridge to the old sawmill. Scoped the village but couldn't see anyone.  Got even more good loot at the sawmill. 

Found ZB-16 with no trouble at all. Planted the stuff for the Jaeger. Continued to Emercom.  It was quiet. Someone had already been there looting, but that place is a loot buffet - there was still more. I took up a secure position and waited.  An AI scav came bounding in. I know his path and where he is going. I went round and came in behind him as he sat crouched. I didn't have cover, but I was quick. I started firing off shots into his back - he turned instantly, started saying something in Russian, and opened fire on me before he even finished his remark. I was dead instantly, headshot.    On the post-mortem screen it says I fired four shots with no hits. I beg to differ,  I was there and I was close and definitely hitting him both in the body and the head. Where do I file a complaint?

Time In Raid: 23 minutes, 50 seconds
Exp: 228
Killed By: Filipp Skripka
Ammo Used: 4

Mistakes

  • I have killed "impossible" level scavs in this manner many times before - quick close shots to the body (or the back) before they can react. But, despite this, I did violate the golden rule of scav combat: don't combat scavs without cover.  

Successes

  • finished one of the stupid Jaeger quests.

Postscript

This Woods purgatory is eating at me. Last wipe I wasted many many raids chasing down 15 scavs to kill. But many of those raids I survived, just with 0 or 1 kill. But this wipe, I am just dying and dying on these quests. I die to players, I die to scavs, I die to my own mistakes. I predict that I'll soon be dying to mayonnaise. 

Post Postscript

I see that on some YouTube videos that one of the scav combat strategies is to expose more of yourself, rather than just a head.  The theory being that scavs are just aim-bots and if you only show the head, that's all they have to aim at, and so you are soliciting a headshot that way.   But if you expose more of yourself, then they have more targets to choose, and this will lower chance of them hitting you vitals.

But I haven't seen any evidence that supports this. At first blush it seems like a fine theory, but I don't think it lines up - if I were programming the scav combat system, that's not how I would do it. Tracking all those hit-boxes to see which is visible and then to select one to aim at and then do the RNG for the actual shot, that's a lot of busywork. It'd be simpler to just assign player a single point (or maybe two) and then RNG off that for the shot and then see if an exposed hit-box was hit. Also, I have often stood behind cover where my legs are exposed, and the scavs did not shoot at my legs.  Lastly, I have often stood completely obscured by walls and have had AI scavs take shots at me. They aren't limiting their shots to my exposed hitboxes.

Until I see some evidence otherwise, I still think the best strategy when fighting scavs (or players) is to effectively use hard cover. Always be moving to cover.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Field of Fire of Emplaced Weapons at Lighthouse USEC Base, for BEARS

On the new Lighthouse map, the USEC rogues are very aggressive against BEARS and will sight on you out to 300 meters or more, and will fire on you far quicker than they will on a USEC PMC.  The fixed guns are particularly dangerous as they can kill you with a single hit when you might not even realize you are close to the base. I made a map with some fields of fire noted on it. There are two mounted machine guns on building 1 , two mounted machine guns and a grenade launcher on building 2 , and a single machine gun on building 3 .  Plus there is a mounted machine gun and grenade launcher on the southwest corner of the base (lower right on this map).  I have noted the general field of fire of each of these weapons on the map. Obviously, there is a lot of cover, so just because you are standing in a red zone on this map doesn't necessarily mean you can be seen and hit. BUT, if there is any sort of line of sight (including through trees, bushes, walls and vehicles) and you a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sucks to Be a Beginner

Tarkov is brutal, and it's especially brutal to beginners.    In the game you have some amount of money, which you can choose to spend on weaponry, ammunition, body armor, medicine. But as a beginner, even if you have money, your access to these things is extremely limited.  Many a levelled player will sagely intone to us noobs "It's not the gun, it's the ammunition."   "I never use anything less than M80."    Really?  You don't say! ... and fuck you. The only M80 ammo I've ever got close to was buried in my stomach right before I died.  And don't get me started on the weapons.  Even if I find some M80 ammunition, what will I run it in? An SA-58 ? A Vepr Hunter?  I can't buy those. As a beginner, what are my options? Besides a couple pistols, there are five that I can buy with cash:  Kedr PP-91 SMG, the Mosin bolt action rifle,  the SKS hunting rifle, the TOZ-106 shotgun, and the AKS-74U assault rifle.   Modding ...
2 comments
Read more

Raid 61 - Dumb Funny - Level 16

Practically nothing came back from insurance on my last two failed raids. I don't have any armorsets, but maybe I don't care. I just want to go to Reserve and see if I can kill some raiders.  I've been practicing keeping my weapon aimed at head height, instead of letting it slump down. This one little change makes a huge difference in my offline CQB fights against raiders.  Time to put this new skill to use.  Raid 61 Loadout: HK rifle that I've modded to have two sights: 4x Pilad scope and canted delta point dot sight, plus a flashlight.  Meds, ears, backpack, grenade. No armor. Spawned outside one of those vehicle bunkers on Reserve. I scooted out and began to move when I saw a wall where I was expecting barbed wire and realized that I didn't know where I was. Oh God - this is that far in the corner death trap spawn. Just then grenades began exploding. I hit the deck behind a bush, praying the grenade fire wouldn't get any closer.  Eventually the emplacement wa...
2 comments
Read more