User blog:Byte Me/Exploiting the game

Question. Why do you play a game?

Any game.. Have a think about this in the privacy of your own basement. Just as a heads up - I'm in my attic. Come up with your own answer. Mine are numerous but basically because:


 * 1) It entertains
 * 2) Provides a challenge
 * 3) Rewards clever play
 * 4) Has a good story / backstory
 * 5) It's nonlinear...
 * 6) Has variation

(Amongst others)

Lost Alpha

 * So I've been playing dozens of games of this with hundreds of "what if" forks for close to six years. Does it have a tenable future?
 * Probably not. Too many of the fanbase (fane) - including me - got seriously teed off with the 1.4005 incarnation. Whoever has the bragging rights on that release deserves the 'pointy hat' and a future assignment as the matrimonial partner of Theta Gruntberg when xhe achieves her majority. They will be well matched.


 * But I like what is referred to as LADC 1.4007. Eventually. I can see why the other players mostly went to new pastures. I also see that the golden rule of any polity was broken - the good stuff was removed (replaced) from the map.
 * The famous example - getting a scoped gun.
 * This was simple in 1.3003 - you knobbed the Bandit sniper and took his perfect AK + scope, probably to the end of the game.
 * Then the midnight dev-monkey struck:
 * The rest of the story you know. Bottom line - Bs now carries BS...

Exploiting this mess

 * ALL of your Skill points go towards "endurance".

Day one

 * Do stuff in Cordon (well -- duh)
 * If you can - collect any Jellyfish
 * Try to go to Garbage and "do stuff" too. Make a POINT of luring dumb mutants into that nasty Witches' Jelly by the dead chopper. Keep any Bubbles...
 * (You already kicked the crap out of Nimble and are running point?)
 * Maybe you fit in the "Pig rush", bitch to Warrant Officer and get the other pig / flesh job (which is a doddle) and open up your option base...
 * Maybe you hit the Hangar with Yurik - get dirt on yourself from Seriy - on the way back, and further open up your options...
 * Best of all, you get back to Cordon at twilight or later for Sidorovich's night job. Which you combined with staggering upmap with provisions, and downmap with crap for Sleepyhead.
 * Maybe you're in fine form - don't get Blowout hassles - and run back to Checkpoint Boris and 'pick the safe' since the code is known as 4-7-1. But it's optional.

Day two

 * What? already?


 * Heads up. The annoying Military Stalker preventing you from going south is off the board (you picked the safe if you were on form)
 * You can now haul ass to Rostok Factory. WHY? Well, one reason in RF itself - the toolkit, and maybe the poxy Stone Blood. Any other business will probably center around the variant IL86 for Nimble and a second possible "safe job" in Duty HQ since the code is known as 4-3-7 and the place is not gassed as yet...
 * It's pretty optional what you make of this minor windfall. My preference is to generally travel LIGHT (selling all to Sid - including binocs and the free AK he gave me - but it's always 'adjustable'..)
 * So - pretty obviously, - I'm back on the roof - running, jumping to X-14.
 * Make a save before you descend. It's unclear at this stage whether the spawns inside are fixed at game start or level start.
 * Inside X14 (after making another save) the shotgun is usually sufficient, the Zombies can be ignored (unless you have a 'zombie thing', and you have various priorities:
 * 1) Kill the Bloodsuckers (duh)
 * 2) Milk the dead scientists for stash info. They only give two. Both have a 10% possibility. Only Made a run for it is worth shoe leather. Last request has the highly useless "Threaded SPAZ" as part loot and can be ignored.
 * 3) The "Run for it" stash contains a highly desireable Elite anomaly detector...
 * 4) Here's the kicker. EITHER corpse might be carrying a Chaser boomstick (also good to end game), or an IL86. This becomes your "scoped rifle" for a big section of the game.
 * 5) If the stiffs don't pony up the dirt - reload a recent save.
 * 6) If they don't carry the stated weaponry, reload from OUTSIDE X14, and try a replay.
 * 7) If it's fixed at gamespawn, well hell, this is only morning of day two, maybe you want to restart the game for a better break?


 * If all else fails - you can at least snag the Balanced IL86 from RsFac and take that back.
 * But basically you snag an ordinary IL86 and Chaser - scoot back to Fox (with the basic toolkit) and fix them up.
 * Importantly (since 5.56 ammo is pretty much unavailable at this point) you get Fox to convert the IL86 to 5.45mm stuff.

Day 2.5

 * Since you had the good presence of mind to rob the Cordon safe of 50000 earlier, you have plenty left to grab a PDA memstick off either Sid or Barkeep. Do that small thing as it saves grief later on (yes I know it will cost 9000+)
 * The map is now largely open to exploration.
 * DON'T go to Agroprom just yet - they can wait until you get there from the Yantar direction...

OK - what about some bulletproofing?
Said nobody, because everyone except me can shoot straight on full auto and drop Bloodsuckers with one cartridge from a disintegrating sawn-off that they found and never jams for them.
 * So what about some BP???
 * Well the only place to be for that is Forest in the early game. There's nearly 40 points of BP on that level... very tempting.. plus a reward or two for rescuing some twit...
 * OTOH - you're supposed to go and get the Kill Strelok mission achieved on Agroprom in a Leather Jacket, or a clone of a Leather Jacket.
 * So a handy strat is to hang off the "Agro Visit", run or guide up he map and do all on Forest for the rewards and gear. Even then - an orthodox entry to Agroprom is so passé. Better to strike from the rear via the lakeside entrance, stiff a baker's dozen from the roof, and gain double brownie points for the missions in the process. Seems this works best from the Forgotten => Agroprom direction.
 * Of course, picking them off with that IL86 5.45 is child's play this early. Looting more ammo needs to be quickly done but a question remains - "How do I get to Forgotten so early in the game?"
 * There are at least four ways:

(This allows "reverse platform jumping" to Yantar (tricky), a boring run to Forgotten around the hinterlands (stultifyingly boring but not punishing at all), or a Badland jump to MilWare with further opportunities to visit Dead City (as a neutral party) and Swamps.)
 * 1) From RosFac via Agro - but this tends to spawn the Save Mole sequence however the RI is approached.
 * 2) From Yantar via the Bar. There are various exploits to do this but they reduce to ONE OF:
 * 3) Hacking your way through Wild Territory to the gate (fun but punishing)
 * 4) Exploiting the Bar => Yantar "platform jump" (easiest)
 * 5) Exploiting the Bar => Badlands ladder-jump-and-a-skip to open the map further...
 * Pretty tempting.. but wait - some of these "exploit options" get you closer to some of your targets - right?

Why not do both?

 * Turns out I did...
 * Cased MilWare (see below) got burdened down with lots of rocks.
 * Stashed some at the Bar and traveled light to Forest to score "bulletproofing" ..
 * Farm the Music Village zombies (not much good, shrugged, moved on) ..
 * Did the Unlucky stalker jig early to get the Compass  (now I have a "bleeding" rock of sorts) ..
 * Grabbed the placement Firefly in that part of the map (so now I have a "health" rock too) ..
 * Since I made a point of wetting my blade on the Boar and Flesh packs, I rescued that twerp 'Paulie' and trundled back for my Toadstool reward.
 * (Another lootdrop at the Bar and "back over the fence" to Milware and beyond.

Day 2.75

 * Mooching around MilWare for all the juicy loot. Artifacts mostly. In fact, only artifacts, but useful crap compared to the lower levels. Shouldn't be too hard to snag a few Slugs - one or more Micas and maybe the odd Pellicle. There's some Horn / Sphere / Spine variable placement down in Bloodsucker village where Murk hangs out in SoC. Maybe there's some Rusty Hair doing its thing at game spawn, not sure. It's a bit like the Discharge / Lightning flip-spawn in the Sarcophagus, one game it's a Horn, the next it's a Sphere. (who cares said everyone in unison)
 * The Strelok Hideout is predictably locked, so if you need a container to store excess loot, either farmhouse backpack is probably safe.
 * Finding Crystal Thorns is not unknown, and these can make some interesting "rupture" combos if five lots of 0.75kg Night Star seems like a drag.
 * Playing with the doggies is pretty easy and who knows, might spark up a spare Bubble Mica or Pellicle for the collection.
 * Usually I let my actor do ordinary nocturnal business (sleep) but sometimes it's just too tempting to unload at the Loner hamlet and press on to Dead City in search of Vortex loot... maybe the Bandits' Tools for fine work as well..

Dead City - early visit

 * No Mercs attack...
 * Yes, I remembered my "rupture" rocks (and I brought whatever "burn" talismans I might have.
 * More later..

Day three

 * Sleepover at the Cultural Center is verboten- "enemies nearby!!" bleats my actor referencing the docile Mercs, so it's a camp out in the apartment block where the trader will appear later. (Check Dead City's Streets for loot)
 * I'm going to be using Army box to stash excess junk on the basis that it's most of the way to Yantar and secluded in the open.
 * I fully intend to visit the Swamps(Lost Alpha), defuse the heli-chase, and comb the level for goodies later on but first up is casing THIS level for decent artys..
 * So it's off north to see if anything bulletproof drops out of the Vortices and doesn't fly over a fence. Or just happens to be 'lying around' anyway.
 * Most games IME have at least one Goldfish or a pair of Gravis...
 * Crescents and Soothers are not unknown..
 * Take a wiiiide rear entry to the Bandit's Village - sprint in and up the tower - grab toolz - GTFO stat (lol)
 * Drop crap at "Junk Box" - head to farm Zombies as best effort cremations in the Graveyard (sic) - fry Flesh and Dogs in the Bridge electros - and stash junk in the "Junk Box"...
 * Head to the Swamps.
 * I tend to avoid the Psy dogpacks directly south of the levlelchanger. Not because they kill ME, but because packs of 30+ PDs tend to shag the engine into freezing and crashing the party to desktop.
 * (Yes yes, they also get 'underneath' - pitch me into the air massively and the fall causes "impact" damage and my actor gets to bleed to death - that too - working on it...)

Day 3.5 Swamps(Lost Alpha)

 * Run north a little, "hey look, he works for the scientists!"
 * Go anywhere.
 * IME the NE quadrant is usually a waste of time. You can not proceed to Outskirts, and loot is thin.
 * The south of the map is better with the middle having some of the best chances.
 * While rare, a Bubble or Goldfish could show - more likely a Cuttlefish or Crystal Thorn (elsewhere).
 * And this is why you try these stunts with the EAD snagged in the Made a run for it stash. Makes those annoying Ameba and invisible Grabber poison holes show up as a double bleep - which helps find their "seeds" with the underpowered arty detec... (working on that too)
 * Since the Detector "Echo" or its cousin Detector "Ocher" if you cheated, is a bit gutless in all of these explorations - I'm only giving these places a 'surface scan' - I promise not to be pissed off if I walk past something major. FFS players, this is the afternoon of day three (I still haven't been to "Rescue Mole" - but I'm working on that too) but I've done major work on my "Parameter Immunities"..
 * 1) You can pretty much guarantee that all of these exploits have gained me (or you) the ability to 'balance' AT LEAST one "immunity".
 * 2) Generally speaking, 'balance' needs something like 15-16 Radiation warding points (more for "bulletproofing")
 * 3) Not all immunities are needed at any given time. "Rupture", "bulletproof" and "impact" are quite useful and are easily "stock overhead".. "Burn" is also useful in the endgame and other specialized 'mooches'.
 * 4) "Chemburn" could be five Micas weighing 2.25kg, letting you dissolve Bloodsuckers and Snorks in WJ acidpools while you stand in them as bait and pick up Artifact Spawns to order with zero ammo expenditure. Think of it all as in-game leverage.
 * 5) The "psihealth" and "explosion" deelies may usually be ignored and migrated to the "Junk Box" for Sakharov later in the game (pays best for shit artys)
 * So with evening approaching, a decision is needed: whether or not to take on the Tuzla Tunnel honchos for a second Tools for fine work bearing in mind that I'm just going to faceknife Zombiifieds in Yantar for the same thing in short order.
 * Player's choice. Sometimes I have a bit of "bulletproofing" and take these TT monkies on. Mostly the game has not been forthcoming, it's dusk, there's NO COVER, and I don't fancy 8 vs 1 in a Bandit jacket. Might just be me.
 * So I lug my spoils to Yantar gate and give it a miss.

Next up - Agro via Yantar

 * As described, you could have been here 1.5 days ago...
 * It's not what it was...
 * Gravis used to be plentiful.
 * The green SSP-99M suit has been removed in 1.4007...
 * The Snowflake remains, and maybe it's useful.
 * Otherwise there's a toolkit I don't need (but will grab anyway)
 * Sakharov's Bunker is guarded - and while I might think that a rumble is a poss, it won't help, because I haven't got the "Black Suit task" yet off Nimble because I haven't YET been to Agroprom.
 * So, variously, it reduces to a lootdrop (any non-vol victim underground near the Duty Boathouse works well, and on for fun and giggles at Forgotten.

Fimbulweather

 * Doesn't work.
 * Sprinting into the Bandit Camp (Construction Site) - snagging the "Transistors" - any other crap that's handy - and "making a run for it" gives the locals a chance.
 * Mostly, it's a bug-out and gtfo event, and the level is not worth exploring for stones. Pick up the Pumping Station crap instead. Even do the nearby SD14 truck cab...
 * Alex will gladly pony up the forgotten password, give you another job for later on - and so will this weirdo Milo .. but he pays well.
 * Pick up another Small toolkit for stock.
 * Run into a mixed dogpack on the Lake Agroprom side..

OMG - NOW you do Agroprom?

 * Got that right.
 * Been known to take this place in a green spacesuit. But since the greenie has been removed, the loot in the Duty HQ safe made into a running nightmare and useless IMO, I have to do this BS in a BJ or a MJ.
 * Now you know why I wanted an edge. And a strategic one for best effect.
 * 1) You remember that 5.45mm IL86 that I haven't used for four levels?
 * 2) Snag the Battery from Lake Agroprom.
 * 3) Run into AgInst from the lakeside (no Bandits), climb a ladder, pick off Mils...
 * 4) After about a dozen (added to your scorecard) Mole bleats his hurry-up about there being more in the yard.
 * 5) Most of these are what you didn't stiff in the railroad side. Jump down / rundown to the platform level (swap in "impact" or bandage the fall) and get the f**k on with it.
 * 6) Get as fast as feasible to Mole - dish out as many Medkits as poss - loot as many gifts from the dead as poss. Get information about Strelok from Mole shouldn't be a prob, and for good measure, DOUBLE task points for BOTH missions seem to be possible... (open to 3rd party confirmation)
 * Dirt off Mole.
 * Go under, do stuff, find stuff.
 * Be tuf.
 * Wipe a MilBase to order...
 * Take crap back to CORDON village by struggling back to the Hangar - getting the reward off Seriy for 'saving Paulie' - and use the Guide to Cordon, and then proceed as you like at the end of your fourth day.

The game board is your oyster

 * With a bit of luck you can sort some business with Nimble and complete a few "jobs" in short order. Payment for the 'Personal Tunder' has to wait, but you get the task for "Borov's Blaster" and maybe some other "job junk" that you already partially moved down the map towards this ripoff merchant (actually the pay is reasonable)
 * You only ave to accompany him ONCE to his "stash"....

Review - Is it worth the effort?

 * So if you read this far you'll see that I spent most of four days darting around the map picking up rocks to make my experience more pleasant.
 * But this oversimplifies things, and I didn't cheat at any stage.
 * I just used what was available on the board.
 * If I had started on day one at wakeup with "jump_to_level la13u_oso" and rearrived at my starting point 30 seconds later with +10 Skill points, well yes, that WOULD be cheating. And pointless (sic)
 * All I did was pick a safe for 50000 at first opportunity. I got a LOT of 'bang' for that buck..
 * 1) Not just the near 20000 spent on refurbs to an Il86 and a Chaser on day two...
 * 2) But also some detector info (which I made prompt use of)
 * 3) An Xray memstick upgrade for the PDA (why wait for Veles to pony up?)
 * 4) An 8000 bribe to shortcut GMF through the Arena (forgot to mention that)
 * 5) Trivial repairs to a Mail jacket to fit a bum bag.
 * And here's why, when you consider that I had a cracking PS5 "Duty" Suit from another safe on day two...
 * These mid-level suits are shyte for the player in the early game.
 * They have marginal embellishments compared to the basic stuff (like everything 1.4007 being dumbed down...)
 * They run like the player has "glue filled boots". Destroy any stamina right quick.
 * So I sold it to Sid for funding...
 * About the only entry level suit worth the effort is the Wind of Freedom suit, and you might as well stick with the MJ TBAN...
 * But I digress, is it worth lugging rocks around - or a shedload of ammo??
 * Only an individual player can decide that for themselves; it seems like you need a poly-dimensional mindset to grok what the hell the devs did to 1.4007 artifacts compared to the previous releases.
 * This is what I'm carrying after three days:


 * 1) Radiation: 4x Jellyfish, 4x Bubbles !, 3x Knots (about 4.5 kg - I'll stash Jellies as more BoT / Knots come up, but this is 33 points of radiation warding (and occupies 11 of 18 slots))
 * 2) Rupture: a single Fungus, a Crystal Thorn and 3x Night Stars (weighs 3.15kg). Five NS weigh 3.75kg, are easier to swap in/out and do just as good a job.
 * 3) Impact: 2x Battery, 2x Springs for 2.7kg giving 94% impact protection.
 * 4) Bulletproofing: a mixed bag of 2x Goldfish, 4x Gravis, a Generator and two Droplets (fiddly, weighs 5.2kg and provides a mostrous 114% BP. I'm only carrying the Droplets because they're like gold dust in this "game".
 * 5) Bleeding: just that mongy Compass and at 0.85kg, it's in the "junk box" as soon as a Red beads or an Eye shows up...
 * 6) Health: Usually I don't bother, but I'm carrying that Firefly until tomorrow JIC. 0.5kg.
 * 7) Explosion, Psi-health, and surprisingly Rad protection, "not on load" - all worming their way up towards Sakharov....
 * So let's add it up. 4.5 + 3.15 + 2.7 + 5.2 + 0.85 + 0.5 = 16.9kg...
 * Add in the 'overhead' 1.4 + 1.05 + 2 = 4.45kg... (for the warding artys)
 * And I'm over 21kg !!!
 * So some strategic planning is needed. If I'm going to "X" - do I need to take "Y"?
 * (Example, since I'm going to Dolina, and no-one is shooting at me until 'later',I might need to TAKE my BP rocks there and stash them somewhere convenient.)
 * (Example 2, "all I'm interested in is exploring lethal gravitational pits or acid-traps, and luring wildlife into them for big bux$) Might work. Cheap on ammo... Best of luck.
 * I just want more fun, fun, fun. Such as it might be.

Is the 'Base Plan' helping?

 * So, bearing in mind that my base plan was to pad my Skill points exclusively onto the "endurance" side - how's that been working out?
 * Well I think that I scored FOUR points. One each for :-
 * 1) Saving the cheap fixer
 * 2) Eventually "saving Mole"
 * 3) Helping a deserter..
 * 4) ( Find the documents (Forest) ) - nope, couldn't do that - but soon...
 * ( Run-in at the old mine ) -nope. Been there. Nobody home - but on the soon list..
 * 1) Unlucky stalker - Yes! Which means the return for "Run in" might combine with the document run. Maybe.
 * 2) ( Get the scientists package ) - nope. But I was in the area earlier and could have slotted the military..., spoken to Sakharov about "being sent by Sid", and gone back to DC for the headbop, package and a skill point. Looked unethical (and I'm sticking with that alibi)
 * So that adds 10kg to carry, and 14kg to upper weight limit.
 * A bum bag on any variant of a Bandit jacket is +7kg and I like the ORDINARY Mail jacket from Bandit Mine...
 * So I'm 21kg - 17kg = 4kg of "rock overhead" give or take.
 * Seems like a working strategy...
 * I'll press on.

Day 4.5 - Do I really want Gussarev's rifle?

 * Unless perfect. NO.
 * Don't misunderstand me. I'd take a Sniper Obakan to the end of the game, but I don't have a superiour weapon to drop next to him (so that he drops his), and this just sounds kinky anyway.. Not my scene. And this modded IL86 is fairly useful as far as it goes.
 * And this is the rub with 1.4007.

It's been balanced to death

 * Consider just one example the evolution of the Vintar:


 * 1) In SoC you could pretty much beeline for a free Vintar BC in MilWare (plus the free ammo) and heave it round the board to the end. It didn't matter that it degraded, once you figured the ballistic drop into your aim it was bliss.
 * 2) In Clear Sky it was nerfed crap. But all of the guns were.
 * 3) Same for CoP. And here's the thing:
 * 4) People don't like having something nice taken away from them - it's human nature.
 * What happened there was that the 'Vitorez' lost literally HALF of its power between the "Base Game" and its prequel. A bit got added back for CoP. Big deal.. Not only that, but after a bit of fiddling, you could "acquire" Scar's Vintar BC - repair and upgrade it - to find that it had turned into a pop-gun.
 * Don't misunderstand me:
 * I'm all for BALANCE.
 * But this is just more of "waving the Camembert under your nose - gaining the player's interest - then whisking it away - because {insert reason} we had second thoughts"...
 * But the problem is multifold.
 * My thinking is that if you shag a weapon (or anything else) up 'for balance' - then you call it something ELSE.
 * To a quite impressive degree the PRM Modpack did just this. Complete with skins and sounds.
 * I didn't LIKE 99% of the changes (just me) and I 1000% didn't like that it was a preselected install option for v1.4007. That's cheating - by the devs.