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Punisher 4 Progress - Raids 135-137 - Level 23

I keep thinking about dropping Punisher 4, but this week I kept at it.

Raid 135 - Bushes

Loadout: Class 4 armor, Ash-12 with Monstrum scope and PS12B ammo, food, meds, balaclava and scav vest. Keys (plural, because I finally bought a key tool).

Spawned somewhere north east of the resort, not familiar with this spawn. Made my way towards the resort. That's maybe the best place for finding Punisher kills, and I need to hit Sanitar's office for a quest.  As I approached the resort I started to hear weapon fire. Sounded like bait shots at first, but then I heard someone firing a rifle in some sort in a strange pattern. It sounded like they were in the north east quadrant of the resort grounds, like maybe on the the playground.  Awesome! That's close to me. I hustled up and then quieted down, skulking my way up to peek over the wall.  Suddenly there were running footsteps behind me. I spun. This is bad - I have no hard cover anywhere to protect from that direction. As luck would have it, I was crouched and there was a bush between me and where the footsteps were storming. Will he go around the bush to the left or the right? He went straight through the bush, which was great for me, maybe not so great for him. The second I saw just the faintest darkening of his figure in the bush I opened fire. BAM BAM BAM BAM.  "Subtask Completed."   ???  Wha?  I didn't stay to figure out the subtask. I hustled down, passed the body I had just dropped, and took up a position behind a rock. 

Whoever was on the playground definitely heard that. Will they come to investigate? Please do!  I waited.  He probably won't come straight down - I wouldn't. He'll flank around - probably using the east side, but maybe the north. Just wait.  I waited more. And more. And a little more.  I guess he's not coming, perhaps I frightened him.  I did a small flank myself, made sure the area was clear, peeked the grounds of the resort, and then hit the body.  Got myself another pair of tags for my collection and an SR-25.  Nice!  His armor was unscathed. How is that possible? Did I headshot him? 

I made my way into the resort, checking the safes in admin (already hit) and the blue tape key room for my quest. Should I head to Sanitar's cottage? No - I decided to head out. Killed a sniper scav and had a small battle with a scav who I couldn't really see, but I evaded and extracted. 

Time In Raid: 34 minutes, 31 seconds
Exp: 1975
Kills: zznihuisi (Level 31 USEC), Zhora Suhodrischev, Garri Gefors.   GG zznihuisi ! Thanks for walking right into my fire, good luck on your next raids.
Shots Fired: 14, Hits: 5, Accuracy: 0.29, Body: 299, Armor: 79

Mistakes

  • should I have pushed the resort grounds instead of camping the body?
  • should I have gone to Sanitar's cottage instead of just leaving the map?

Successes

  • mostly good fire control
  • killed another PMC. Just need six more.
  • survived and completed two quests
  • The "subtask completed" was for "Friend from the West", zznihuisi was the last USEC kill I needed for that quest. I completely forgot I had that one, all my recent kills have been BEARs.
  • The two quests pushed me to Level 23

Raid 136 - Sniped

I now have the "Fishing Gear" quest to deposit crap in an exposed boat on the shoreline.  Got a spawn on the eastern edge of the map.  Passed between resort and the power station. As I made my way past the power station I carefully scoped its roof. There was just one sniper on it, and he was lying down aiming at something to the east. Is there a PMC over there? I waited, but nothing seemed to happen. So I killed the sniper.  I took a few steps and BAM - I was hit, blacked arm, badly damaged. I ran and took cover. Did I get hit by a PMC? No - there was now a second sniper on the roof and he had shot me with his SVDS. I healed. Tried to get a bead on the sniper, but he kept moving. I moved closer, leaned out of cover.  He was aiming right down on my position.  I aimed and then blasted him.  That was dumb - I could have been killed with that stunt.  

Made my way to the gas station. Began circling it. BAM - stomach blacked. More weapon fire. That's a PMC firing on me. I ran, zig zagging, and collapsed on the far side of a small hill. Healed again. Oy - this raid is not going well.   What am I going to do about that PMC? Where was he? Am I going to be able to deposit these items if he's above me?

I think he might be on the other hill, the one across the river that looks on the gas station. If so, I think he doesn't have an angle on that boat, right?  Well, I guess I'll find out. I circled way around, crossed the road and dropped down onto the beach. The beach is pretty exposed, but there is a bit of cover every fifty meters or so. Maybe I can do this.  I began going from cover to cover, zig zagging down the beach. Just as I was approaching a big rock, BAM a shot rang out. I was hit in the other arm.  I saw the weapon fire - the shooter was down the beach - maybe 150 meters away, right below the bridge.  I dropped behind a rock. Healed, fixed the fracture, my vision started darkening - took a pain killer and ate and drank my snacks. Meanwhile the player kept firing at me. Bang! Bang!  Thank god for the rock. Now what?  

I really wanted to try and peek to see the lay of the land ahead. Can I zig zag and rush him?  I just don't know this beach well enough.  I need to flank, and I need to get the hell out of here. I threw a grenade and then ran back the way I came. My stamina gave way before I reached the cover of a wall. Oh shit. I sauntered over behind the wall and tried to lay down. Tarkov wouldn't let me lay down. I crouched. Just let me stamina recover, and then I'll run to the next wall and then I'm outta here.  BAM!  Headshot.  Thanks Tarkov.

Time In Raid: 21 minutes, 40 seconds
Exp: 695
Kills: Silvestr Schekotun, Monya Pekar. Godspeed gents.
Shots: 5, Hits: 2, Accuracy: 0.4, Body: 120
Killed By: Kernel-Pult   .  Good game Kernel-Pult - nice positioning and firing. Were you also doing the fishing gear quest?

Mistakes

  • terrible idea to go to the beach when I knew there was a PMC sniping somewhere in the vicinity. Just really dumb.
  • what about getting hit by that second sniper scav? Seems avoidable.
  • died

Successes

  • smart to have not peeked from the rock
  • turning around and fleeing was smart too, though I never should have been there to begin with.

Raid 137  - Survived. Disappointed

Spawned in north east of the resort again. Began to make my way there. Heard someone shooting up scavs in the resort.  What should I do? I'm supposed to drop off this fishing gear for Peacekeeper, but I need PMC kills for Punisher. Should I go into the resort?

By the time I arrived at the resort it was quiet again.  Hmmmm. Well, the victor is likely looting. And when they are done, they are almost certainly going to the Path to Lighthouse extract. How about I set up on them?  For some reason this seemed like a good idea. Low risk.  I proceeded to the northwest corner of the resort and set up just outside the fencing. I can see down the west side and hopefully hear anyone on the north or west sides.  I waited.

I was about to give up when suddenly footsteps were running closer. Coming along the northern edge. I turned, but my view was blocked. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, louder and louder. Bush whacking sounds. Is he right there in that bush there?  I stared hard, but couldn't see anyone. The footsteps were now on stone, running and jumping down the cliff face.  I'm looking at the whole cliff face, and the whole descent. There is no one here.   The footfalls ran off to the west. I had the best view of the entire valley and didn't see a soul. What is going on?

Now I felt stupid. I should have gone into the resort instead of cowering outside it. I heard the sound of automatic weapon fire, coming from north of the cottages. Didn't sound like the same weapon as earlier, but whatever. I headed out. Didn't see anyone. No bodies. No signs of combat.  Made it to the cottage. Quiet.  I unlocked it, looted the safes, then went to the beach, deposited the gear, then made my way to extract. Tried firing on some scavs on scav island, but didn't have a rangefinder and couldn't land my shots. Lame.

Time In Raid: 39 minutes, 44 seconds
Exp: 612
Shots: 13, Hits: 1, Accuracy: 0.08, Body: 91. 

Mistakes

  • need to play more aggressively. These camping raids are boring. And I'm terrible at camping. Just go for it. Why am I not swinging inside the resort?
  • Why am I not bringing the rangefinder?

Successes

  • survived
  • used key tool
  • completed lame quest

PostScript

My Survivor class was marauder for a while, but now it is back to neutralizer, though only barely.    Marauder means you get more XP from looting than from killing. And neutralizer means more from killing than from looting.    I'm only neutralizer because I dislike looting and don't prioritize it.

But I may need to prioritize it. With crafting I was able to set up a modest income pipeline by running crafts simultaneously through the Lavatory, Med Station, Nutrition Center and Workbench.  Just enough to cover re-equipping after failed raids and insurance and the requisite fuel.  But there have been recent changes to the game, and now there are fewer profitable crafts and most have only meager profits - they are barely worth undertaking - and given the fuel costs they are probably not worth running at all.  This means I need to be better at looting. And surviving. 



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