Three Raids - Three Deaths - Raids 80, 81, 82 - Level 18

Get 15% More Game with this One Simple Trick

As mentioned, I finally accrued over a million rubles. It's time to spend some of that money on yours truly. Can you guess what I bought? Not armor, not a weapon.  I dropped 340K on a Labs key card.  Awesome! Now instead of only six maps to enjoy, I have seven.  My Escape from Tarkov is 15% bigger!  I have no intention of going into a real Labs raid, but I very much want to learn and explore a new map.  So I've been running Labs a bit offline.  It's not going well.  I wander around lost for fifteen minutes, and then a raider kills me before I even see him.  Not that different than my online raids.

On Ammo

When I first started playing EFT I read and believed the advice about always using the best ammo. And once I reached the flea market last wipe I spent untold millions of rubles on SPP, M995, M61, BP. But now I no longer ascribe to that philosophy.  In all my raids for this wipe and last, I doubt there have even been a handful of times when "but for better ammo" a battle might have gone my way.  The first and most important marching order is to get shots on target.  If I can't hit a target, it doesn't matter if I'm using PSO or M61 - the result is exactly the same.

So the unofficial standard I set for myself was after dying three times because of bad ammo, then, and only then, should I consider prioritizing ammo.  Certainly, if I have both BP and PS in my inventory, I'll use the BP. But I'm not going to go buy some ammo on the flea market for a thousand rubles a round when I can get a lesser round for fifty from Prapor.  Until I've died three times because of this.

Which brings me to my beloved Vityaz.  This SMG is the greatest. It takes AK mods, is cheap to put a silencer on, and has very low recoil and good ergo. I can control it well and get shots on target. I can put shots on heads with this thing.    But the Pst gzh I'm putting in it is problematic. It's so weak.  Has it cost me fights yet? Arguably. There are a couple of fights I lost because I was simply killed first, but had I engaged better it would not have gone my way - my adversaries had big helmets and face shields.  Also, the raiders only rarely run face shields, but I have had a couple of offline battles and one online lost because of those.

So maybe it's time to consider jumping to a better ammunition. The problem here is that the next step up is AP 6.3 and that round is expensive (a thousand rubles per round) and not even very good. It has the same stats as 855.  

Long story short, I decided to try to graduate from the Vityaz to a proper assault rifle. I've been testing out the AK-102.  It takes 5.56x45mm, it has good ergo, recoil that I can almost manage, and the round is fast. So I can use the AK-102 in medium or even some longer range situations where the Vityaz would just not be practical.  I'm using 855 (not great, but as good as AP 6.3, right?).   

I'm also trying out a new scope. The NcStar ADO. 3x and 9x zoom and dot sight all in one, small sight picture though.  Haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet. 

Raid 80 - Camped

Destination: Customs
Goal: fetch the information for Skier. Kill scavs
Loadout: AK-102 loaded with 855.  Class 4 armor, meds, ears. 

Spawned near RUAF. Made my way carefully across map to railroad car. Got the info. Now what? I think I'm just going to head to extract.  Scoped the way in front, seems clear. I walked on the railroad tracks along the wall. I don't totally like this - it's a bit exposed.  If someone fires from below I should be able to go prone to avoid fire, but there's not a lot of cover.   Suddenly I started catching fire from someone waiting in the bushes at the end of the rail line. Are they camping the extract?  I ran down slope heading for cover, but couldn't reach it before dying.

Time In Raid: 17 minutes, 23 seconds
Exp: 75
Killed By: MADMAX4936  .  

Mistakes

• should have been smarter about constantly moving cover to cover

Raid 81 - Sniped

Loadout: I prepped an AK-102 again, threw on some Class 4, grabbed a headset and returned.

Spawned directly outside military checkpoint.  Scoped it and the surrounding area. Clear. I waited a bit for scavs to spawn. Eventually I started to hear the telltale sounds of bait shots, so I headed out.  Hit New Gas - it was empty. Took down the sniper on the tower from 265 meters. (Gotta love the fast rounds).  Back to Military Checkpoint - empty. There was a scav in the industrial section, took him down.  Made my way to the railroad car. Just as I entered it a scav shouted and shot at me. I ducked into the car and waited.  The scav followed me into the car, where I killed him. Then another witnessed his distress and came to assist. I downed him as well.  Once it was quiet I got the info.  

My extracts are across the river. Headed down the railroad track towards Old Gas.  No sign of anyone - very quiet. At Old Gas I crouched behind the wall and aimed down sight - then I leaned out of cover, saw a scav, and quickly headshotted him. There was a second scav. I started aiming at him when BIP, I was dead. Killed by a single round of 5.7x28mm SS190.  That round comes from the FN pistol or the P-90 SMG. Neither are particularly long range weapons, and I didn't hear a retort from the firing weapon. I wonder where my killer was? Sniping from the hill over New Gas? Or from stronghold? Or, more likely, a lot closer - but where?

Time In Raid: 18 minutes, 43 seconds
Exp: 1342
Ammo Used: 87, Hits: 28, Accuracy: 0.24, Damage to Body: 758, Damage to Armor: 340.  
Kills (AI Scavs): Ruslan Bazuka (265 meters), Feoktist Fikus, Goga Essentuki, Sergey Tamada, Volodya Trehsotyy.
Killed By: nutwacker   GG nutwacker - where were you and what were you firing?

Mistakes

• did not check my sectors?
• having trouble getting AK-102 recoil totally controlled. Dumping too many rounds into scav bodies instead of few rounds into scav heads.

Successes

• killed some scavs

Raid 82 - Blurred

Loadout: suppressed SIG MCX assault rifle with FMJ. No armor. Meds, ears, drink.

Spawned in far corner trailer park location.  Waited for scavs to start sounding then headed out.  I decided on using the main bridge, so I went through the customs yard. I scoped it before advancing - it seemed clear. But as I ran across a short open area a scav shouted and shot, tagging me and breaking an arm.  I took a PK, rounded the corner and took him down.  Stepped away into some bushes to heal. I accidentally took a second painkiller. Can I cancel that?  Too late.

Someone entered the customs yard and began sniffing around - I stayed put, hidden.  My visitor spotted the body of the scav I killed. Stopped. Looked at it, and then pounced on it. I stood, took two steps and killed him. It was a player scav. Looted both, but they didn't have much.

I crossed the river via the main bridge. A scav fired on me as I tried crossing the road - I jumped down to the river embankment for cover. Not sure where he was, exactly, or where he disappeared to.   I made my way down the road. Another scav near the bus depot. I carefully put my scope crosshairs on his head, when he stood up and ran off.  My vision was blurring. Did that last scav tag me? I seemed fine, but dehydrated. I drank my drink and continued.  

I was just approaching New Gas when my vision began blurring again. What is going on? My health indicator says I have "pain" in my head. Someone shot at me from New Gas. I proned and crawled into a bush. A second later footsteps came tromping my way - probably a scav sent to investigate. I waited until they started getting close - tromping in the bushes - then I switched to crouched and started firing. That's a player!  He turned and fled. I followed. The little go-between that requires the Factory key was open - he dodged into there. If I follow, I'll be cut down. Where is good cover? Why is everything so damn blurry? Someone fired on me from New Gas again. Is that a scav?  

The player reappeared, moving back and forth and back and forth like a hummingbird. I laid into him with the MCX. Shots are landing, but on his nuts. He'll definitely be singing in the soprano section after this!  But I need to get this weapon up, on his head. Why isn't it going up? Is something wrong? And then he fired and I was dead, cut down with M61.

Time In Raid: 22 minutes, 54 seconds
Exp: 672
Ammo Used: 53, Hits: 7, Accuracy: 0.13, Damage to Body: 260, Damage to Armor: 60
Kills: Spiridon Potroshitel (AI Scav), Spridon Baton (Player Scav)
Killed By: assface123

Mistakes

• I may have put fewer rounds on assface123 than I initially thought
• did I crouch and fire too quickly? Maybe I should have waited another second

Successes

• killed a player scav

PostScript

I also did some scav raids on Customs, and many of them did not go well due to extract campers and snipers.  I have a theory that the new Scav AI is challenging to a lot of players, so they are forced to play more cautiously with less risky strategies - like extract camping and sniping.  Probably, given my skill limitations,  I should take a page from that book too, but it's just so boring. 

These three raids all went poorly. But at least I died to players, not to scavs.