Fun and Interminable - Raids 77 & 78 - Level 18

There has been a new update to EFT that has several bug fixes and big changes to the Scav AI. I haven't had much time to play this week, but I tried some short offline raids and the AI opponents are definitely behaving better. Wow. Impressive. 

Raid 77 - The Duo

Destination: Customs

Goal: Retrieve "the Information" for Skier, murder scavs for Prapor

Loadout: ADAR with 855 and used Class 4 armor, ears, meds, food and drink.

Spawned into one of the buildings in the industrial cul-de-sac.  I really need to return to Reserve to finish killing raiders, but I wanted to see the new Scav AI first hand.   I looted the building and as I exited things really started hopping - there was weapon fire from every direction.  I slowed down and carefully went from cover to concealment to cover but there was no one in my immediate area.  The train car I need is on the other side of a wall - I doubled back listening to the weapon fire.

Some of that fire was definitely combat. Some of it might have been lonely scavs just calling out for attention, hard to say. But it was unsettling to have shooting going off everywhere except where I was. I made it to the train car and settled into the really hard part of the mission: getting my position lined up in the corner so I can "take" the info. OMG I spent minutes crawling, crouching, standing, leaning, everything to get the little white dot to finally switch to Take.  So fun.

Got the package, now what? My plan is to just slowly cross the map and look for scavs to kill. Maybe hang out until the player scavs appear and kill a few of them. I headed towards old gas. The map was quieter now.  I was above old gas, getting ready to lean out and spy the action below when I heard running footsteps approaching from somewhere below.  Two sets.  Shit - I don't have cover from that direction - if they are heading to old gas they will surely come up here onto the railroad bridge. A scav from old gas must have spotted them, because he shouted out a warning.  The timing was perfect. The players focused on the scav, thinking he must be alone.  One of them came up on the bridge, forgot to check his nine, and immediately started aiming down sight into the old gas area.  Meanwhile I started aiming at the side of his head and with one shot brought him down.  But his friend was below, unseen by me, and my weapon unsuppressed. He threw a grenade - a really good one, but I was already on the move. I scooted down the hill, trying to keep trees and train cars between us. He pushed my previous location.  He was wearing one of those purple berry backpacks, and I might not have seen him but for that.  He was geared thick and aiming to where I had been, I was now behind him. I aimed at the back of his head, and smashed the fire key. Oh wait - this is isn't an autofire weapon - I fumbled and right clicked so I was no longer aiming down sight - I fired again and again, trying to bring the weapon back up. I got shots on him, but too many misses. He spun and gunned me down with a Desert Tech .308 MDR loaded with M61.  Yeah, I didn't survive that.

Time In Raid: 11 minutes, 16 seconds
Ammo Used: 13, Hits: 4, Accuracy: 0.23, Damage to Body: 120, Damage to Armor: 49
Killed: Unknown USEC, Level 1-10
Killed By: HaStoopidIdyet, Good game HaStoopidIdyet

Mistakes

• I am not a big believer in "always use the best ammo", for various reasons. But in this case I wonder if M855A1 or M995 might have made the difference. My first shot on HaStoopidIdyet definitely hit him in the head, but his helmet shrugged it off
• Really poor conduct of combat - mashing keys, changing sight mid-combat. This fight was mine to lose and I lost it.
• Not great use of cover. There was cover just a step or two away, but I was so eager to fire on him from behind that I didn't avail myself of it. Had I done so this might have gone the other way. Despite countless hours practicing I make this same mistake: foregoing cover in my eagerness to get a shot on someone.

Successes

• The scav deserves the credit for my kill by bringing attention to himself, but I killed a PMC. Yay me.

Raid 78 - The Quiet Darkness

Destination: Reserve

Goal: Kill those last two raiders and extract alive (for two different quests)

Loadout: Vityaz, Class 3 armor, meds and ears.

Spawned on the hill. I marched down the hill to White Pawn and descended. As I entered the bunker I heard someone breaking glass. I was expecting a fight as I furthered my way down there, but the intruder left.  I scoured the bunker areas - no raiders, no bodies, D-2 switch already pulled. 

Now what?  Someone online insisted that raiders always spawn in the bunkers, but not always early. They can spawn late. So I guess I'll wait?  I waited. I heard a scav voiceline in the big room. It was a scav and I killed him.  I patrolled the area again, including up near the marked room under Black Pawn. No raiders, no players. I waited.  Two more sets of footsteps - sound like player scavs.  I caught one looting the body of the scav I killed earlier and put an end to his activity.  The other player scav bolted. 

I patrolled the area again, it's getting late. I went and looted the player scav I had killed  - he had found an .300 MCX somewhere. Nice! I've been wanting to try one of these.  I headed out.  The D-2 doors were in their closed positions, but I went carefully, shooting out the lights as I proceeded.  Extracted safely.

Time In Raid: 30 minutes, 30 seconds
Exp: 1878
Ammo Used: 56 (mostly on lights), Hits: 3, Accuracy: 0.03, Damage to Body: 124
Kills: Svyatopolk Vorobey (scav), Nikitka Nezhnyy (player scav) -  My apologies Nikitka for ruining your raid, it's not your fault there are no raiders. I shouldn't have taken out my frustration on you. Better luck next time.

Mistakes

• believing things I read on the internet

Successes

• by surviving I completed the Ragman mission.  

PostScript

For BSG's birthday Prapor sent me a weapon case and an ammo case and other sundries. OMG - those two cases mean the world to me.  As a basic account player, my stash is never big enough. Thanks!!

Also, I just happened to watch some of the Twitch Rivals Escape from Tarkov competition.  Are those live?  It seemed to me that one of the competitors was told by a fan in his discord group where one of the other competitors was hiding and went and killed that guy.  Is that cheating?  According to the Twitch Rivals rules this is allowed. I somewhat understand - it's weird to punish a competitor for something a fan does. But I was surprised and dismayed. I think for most video games information doesn't have the premium value that it does in Tarkov.   

While I'm on the subject, why was I not invited to participate? I started a Twitch stream - I even streamed one of my offline raids recently. Most likely it was an oversight, I'm sure to get invited to the next one, no?