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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.

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