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EFT-- had some good sorties this evening and some not-so good. Kind of a mixed bag, but all entertaining. Finished two important missions that unlocked two more traders/support types. Managed to figure out how to attach a scope ring-set and a scope to a Remington sniper rifle and then test fired it in the range. In our last run of Woods we, as our PMC characters, ran into the map boss and his cronies who had been attracted to where we were finishing up a bloody encounter with a large group of scavs. I had taken out two enemies with mid-range headshots, but they closed rapidly and tossed some grenades at us- we were taking cover in a treed area near a camouflaged scav camp. I switched to my carbine, killed a couple more onrushing zips, then had to yank out my pistol (Glock) as these guys were trying to hit us with trenching tools and knives/bayonets. Got one more headshot kill, this time with the pistol, and a couple of thorax kills. I'm almost positive the entire map's worth of scavs had descended on us. Both of us were hit pretty bad and were busy trying not to bleed-out when the first potshots by the map boss started landing nearby. Crawled into cover to finish using up all my medical supplies, reloaded all my long guns, but I'd blown through the three mags I carry for my semi-automatic pistol, and had expended all my grenades. We managed to return fire for a good two, maybe three minutes, when we realized the boss was flanking us while his support section kept suppressing us. This is AI, man, it's supposed to be dumber than a sack of hammers! Anyway I took a solid round straight to the side of the skull and my sortie was done. Luckily my son managed to crawl out of the killing zone and stayed hidden until the boss and his boys went elsewhere. He managed to limp over to where I was laying and took my dog tags (He had a quest to kill PMCs and collect dog tags--- CHEEKY!). He managed to make it to an extraction point with a single hitpoint remaining. Talk about lucky lol. There I was with ants crawling in and out of my nose...

Also learned that you can hitch a ride inside roaming BRDMs, and if you have cash the driver will take you to various checkpoints of your choice. This on the Woods map btw. Not sure how useful it would be, since legging it gives you more freedom?

Wow what a battle! Glad you survived.

Ashrack is the name of the dude that saved me twice two days ago. I ran in to him again last night but I needed no assistance thankfully. K/D is over 400:1 now. How long can I stay not dead? It's been mighty close, not least of which were the two comas Ashrack pulled me out of. I'm sure with a K/D like this you'd conclude there's little danger afoot, but there is plenty about. I always have survival as my priority, and won't hesitate to wait, withdraw, retreat or just go elsewhere if I feel it is prudent. Repositioning is such a vital thing in games like this. Shoot and scoot.

And I don't hesitate to use my limited carry space for medical items so that when I do make a mistake, or get caught, I have what I need to survive.

After making the last post about needing AP ammo I looked again and Gunny had it for sale. Hmm, well, whether I was just blind, or it had only just unlocked doesn't matter. I have green tip now. Plus I've moved in to a region where most NPCs are using M855 so there is now plenty of it to shoot without restriction, and it gives a big boost to my lethality. Two rounds center mass even on plate is probably going to do it. GZW has the AI suffer the same medical system, so a hit or two makes that AI bleed and often they will bleed out. Sometimes you can catch them administering aid, come around the corner and there he is.

EFT--- Discovered that 'Fence's goods are all from players selling stuff to him. What is listed for sale changes a lot but that's because his blackmarket shop services either an entire region, or a specific group of servers (not sure which). There have been times I've gone to buy some brass and get a pop-up saying "That item has been already sold". Anyway, just means another player has beat you to it. Went to buy a keyring Fence had for sale and someone got it before me. Lol. Anyway just a tidbit of info. I found a working compass and working rangefinder on one of the traders goods lists (Jaeger) and hot darn that compass is worth the coin, especially on new maps where disorientation is easy. Rangefinder is helpful if you want to zero in on a specific spot- not quite as handy as bore-sighting would be, but helpful none-the-less. I've got both pieces where they stay with me (like the safety box you carry, where you can put stuff that does not get wiped when you croak or fail to extract).

Oh, and when traipsing around some maps you really have to pay attention. There are booby-trapped bodies (Usually claymore and wire), claymore tripwire traps, mines (hidden and otherwise) that are not marked in anyway. A multi-tool will let you disable the trap. Note that on Woods there is at least one non-map-edge spot that has some nasty AP mines that are buried and grass is growing on top. Can't recall the exact location, but it was on top of a grassed low hill and when we crested the hill we walked into some tall grasses seeing as we spotted a sandbagged emplacement and a blue tent just inside the woods that crowned the hill. We started approaching the encampment when I heard a click. Then BOOOOOOOOM. Just thankful it wasn't a bouncing betty. My son also triggered a mine. I think, and this is pure speculation, that the minefield was an old one, predating the Tarkov conflict or maybe at the very beginning? There are hulks of knocked out T-72's and BMP's (and BRDMs) scattered together in wrecked platoons/or singular in spots in Woods which speaks to some tank/afv fighting over that map. Regardless of the history, neither of us took catastrophic damage.

It's been a decent day in Tarkov so far. Seven sorties done, four as Scav and three as PMC. One death for each. I'm currently at the top of the gear roller-coaster (flush with gear, where the bottom is dirt poor) so my PMC character lost some 'okay' gear, which I purposely left uninsured (helps clear out the stash lol). Surpassed level 10 which is good and bad. Bad because it now costs ingame coin to get medical aid if you need physical repairing, whereas up to level ten you got 'free' healthcare. Oh well. That's what scav runs are for- building up inventory, earning money for the main character. Will likely go do another couple of runs later this afternoon. Its a lazy summer day for me.

Nicely done Leaf, level 10 is hobo stage done, I'd expect. Do you run a specific loadout? Are you customizing your weapons?

Tarkov calls faintly and I'll return to it, but Gray Zone has drawn me in. It's what I was thinking I hoped Red River evolves in to, but then it won't be quite the same, with Gray Zone having populated servers. Both will be really good for co-op with friends. And Tarkov I think co-op with friends (and offspring) is the way to go to increase both players' survivability. Maybe I can convince my son to pick it up. He does play a lot of Hunt Showdown, so he's in to this sort of concept anyway. In GZW I'll join up with a player or two here and there, we tackle the target together, then loot it and fade away.

Having that populated server takes GZW to a different level for me. Having players about, doing their thing gives the game world a cool, emergent vibe to it. The map is massive, and there are three factions, and each can have a maximum of 16 players. So that's not all that dense really, but players are always intersecting in one way or another. In Joint Operations, the PvE mode, each of the other factions essentially act like allies. In PvP it means there are twice as many enemies as friendlies, for each faction. I haven't done any PvP yet, but I can see exactly how it would play out because both modes are identical aside from no player damage. I have been taken by surprise a few times at very close range and mag-dumped players from other factions. Your faction members show on the map, the others do not, so it's easy to get surprised, especially indoors. I would have a few PvP kills by now haha. I'm not super keen to go over to that side, but I like how invisible you are to the other factions and it would reward good play. If they get a handle on the cheaters I will probably start some PvP after the first wipe. But I'm not sure they will ever get a handle on that, as most games like this also fail to do. The PvE experience is really good for me so no rush.

One of the things that I really like about all of these extraction shooters is the weapon and gear side. Customizing weapons, finding better gear, putting together a personalized loadout, experimenting with all the different weapons and attachments. It's cool and I like it. This is me in GZW. Rifle is a M4 with a 20" barrel. I have several M4s, with 10", 14" and 20" barrels. The short one is for CQB, with laser and flashlight, holo sight, good ergonomics for close quarters, clearing corners and so on. The long one is four-times as accurate, MOA of 1 versus 4. Plate carrier is III+. Not seen any IV or higher. This one is a bit heavy, but my lighter one got shot up. Patch on carrier says "But did you die". Still waiting for my second death, and it cannot be far off now, I've taken a lot of hits. And when it comes it will cut that K/D in half.

Very cool, DB. Really glad you are enjoying GZW.

I agree about the co-op play. It's as good as soloing- what I mean is it adds a new aspect to the gameplay. I don't know about GZW, but in Tarkoff, friendly fire is on and it's as deadly as everything else. There is also adjustment in co-op play that you don't need to make when solo- for example, having to call 'frag out', or 'man. 2 o'clock, 50 meters' , or 'target down', 'suppressing front', 'man times 3, enfilade left' or whatever you develop as your comms protocol. Ways to communicate are essential. You need to know where each other is- especially with FF, but also tactically so rapid deployment decisions can be made. Tarkoff is very fluid, at least that's what I'm finding.

I have started customizing weapons a bit. What I like is I can save potential builds and when I have the actual parts in hand, can then build it. For example, I have a Remington sniper rifle that I scavenged. There was no scope, no fittings, at all. I built a plan to add a scope attachment, scope, and flash suppressor. Saved the profile. When I managed to obtain all the parts I went to the workbench in my hideout and put it all together. Then I test fired it on my range. Took it out in a couple of sorties and used it to decent effect, including a headshot to a boss sniper behind a broken window in a factory on Customs map. Rather satisfying. It's been handy on Woods with firing lanes that open up into vistas that aren't ordinarily something you see traipsing around.

Thanks mate I'm having a blast with it. All I want to do it gear up and deploy to the AO and get lost in it. I've turned a few laps for leaderboards in my racing sims, but otherwise, since picking up GZW, I've done nothing else. 70 hours in already.

My premonition of my impending doom proved prescient. Within an hour of making the last post I took a mag dump to my brain. Was clearing a town in the harder parts of the map. Enemies here are para military, AKs, plate carriers. I had only just discovered that I actually DO have a variable scope. I've been desperate for a Specter, but turns out I have two 1-6 variables, and fooling around with the various attachments, discovered I could use a 30mm ring mount, then attach the scope to this, and just like that, I'm in business. I wish I had discovered this forty hours ago.

Having used the new scope to good effect, at least doubling my effective engagement range, I had cleared most of the town. Moving forward I crossed a street, having cleared left and right. Suddenly a gomer opened up from my right, from 20 feet away. He had popped out of an alley and I didn't catch it. Full auto mag dump and I lay wasted in the street. Why do I always die in the street? I respawned at the closest outpost and took a AK, two mags and nothing else and managed to recover all my gear. But my K/D dropped to 298 haha.

One more cool thing about this game, and maybe other games have it too. Crouch can be changed by holding control and rolling the mouse wheel to raise you up by increments. So if you need to peek just a tad higher you can do it without standing up.

Ahh yes, The Street. I've been gunned down a couple of times crossing a street, always because I didn't pick up the hidden sniper. I also sprinted into a multi-claymore trap while scrambling across a wide intersection. That was exciting. When my son and I are playing we've done High/Low along the street, tucked against the buildings which mostly works, but is fallible. especially on the maps that boast very high places a sniper could hang out in (like 100' tall brick smoke stacks, or catwalks/scaffolding, refinery tanks etc). We've also done lefty/righty where the guy on the right-side of the street observes to the left at a corner, while the guy on the left observes right. The trade-off for a way better view angle than quick peeks around the corner is that the exposure risk is slightly higher. EFT has the ability to roll the mouse button and rise or lower (C+scroll, 7 incremental stances). You can also change your walking speed to lessen the noise of footfalls (default CapsLock).

Haha, I bet it was. Explosive action. Team tactics are the way to go, and two players who play together a lot can really start to be far more than the sum of the parts, increasing survivability and lethality far more than two solo players could manage. I'd like to have that in GZW, and I get it, in small bits, as I join with other players to hit certain targets. There is proximity voice chat that only works at short range. So we can co-ordinate, assign targets, flanks and so on to each player to be as efficient as possible. But a friend to join me night in night out would be fun, if we think alike tactically. Not all players have my level of patience and I won't mesh with everyone. Go on ahead if you're in such a rush. I'll spend the next ten minutes scoping it all out first. Measure twice, cut once, as they say.

Plus, having a partner means someone is always close at hand to save you when your brain gets mag dumped. The last update in GZW did away with instant kills, even headshots, and now the player drops in to a coma which can last eight minutes. If the player hasn't been revived when the time runs out he dies.

One other thing I liked about GZW is I'm getting in early, so not every name is taken. In Tarkov, I do believe that every word or phrase known to man is taken as a Tarkov user name. In GZW I made up Taktikal because I think it is cool and got it, so there's that.

When it rains it pours, as the saying goes. So I played 70 hours pining for a variable assault scope only to realize I already had two. As soon as I discovered that, I found a Specter. And now a second. My cup runneth over.

The first scope is called a Vudu 1-6 and it works nicely, but each step from one to six magnification is .5. So you gotta roll the mousewheel like ten clicks to go from 1.0 to 6.0. That works fine in many scenarios, but not when you need to switch it rightnow. In Red River I found the Specter was my favorite piece of kit, and now in Gray Zone too. It flicks between 1.0 and 4.0 and that's it. My lethality went up massively since acquiring these scopes, Survivability has increased too as I can shoot from longer range and therefore expose myself to less return fire, and the increased accuracy means the target goes down faster.. All basic stuff, but you need to find it first. ELCAN SpecterDR 1x/4x is my most treasured bit of kit.

Neither of those scopes work with night vision, and at night it's still a holo red dot. But during daylight, watch out! You can switch out the optics on the fly

I bought this game a little more than two weeks ago I think, and am nearly on 100 hours. That's mind-blowing. But I fire it up and get lost in it and where did the time go? I gotta work in the morning!

Spent some time last night having a look through all of my attachments and weapon parts, plus all of those available through the vendors, and put together a new M4A1. Better MOA, better recoil control, ergo and it's considerably lighter than the ones I'd been using. I read about 16 and 18-inch barrels but have yet to see any of these so using a 14-inch for my main rifle. I get in to this sort of thing. I love firearms, and the ability to personalize and customize it so much really appeals to me. GZW isn't unique in this regard, but it does it well. 5.56 is the best overall cartridge in GZW, the AP rounds.

Vendors must be leveled up by completing tasks for them, or buying/selling from them. Each new level unlocks higher-tier gear and I am getting close to tier three for Gunny, who is the NATO weapons dealer. Can't wait to see what he has for sale at that point.

GZW runs beautifully on my modest box, which is 7800X3D, 4070 Ti Super and 32 gigs o' ram. It is smooth at all times, and looks fantastic. But no game makes my box run as hot as this one does. In those 90+ hours I've had no crashes or any trouble really. And last night something happened that shocked me, in a good way. I was deployed in the field, a long way from any outpost and a thunderstorm rolled in to my area. I thought, uh-oh, maybe I should head back in case we lose power. To lose my new best rifle and all the other fantastic gear I've worked so hard to acquire because of a lightning strike would be bad. Very bad.

Started heading home and boom, power went out. It immediately flicked back on, but it made my router reset and I lost connection. The game stayed up because of my uninterruptable power supply. The game asked if I wanted to retry connection and I did, but it failed, then a second time and I'm sat there going woe is me. My stuff!

Exited the retry screen, despondent. Reloaded the game and when I went to join it asked me if I wanted to rejoin the previous session. Umm, yes I do want to do that. I can do that? No, it can't be. I respawned five minutes later in the same spot and state I had left, all gear intact. I couldn't believe it. That this was even possible surprised me, I thought I was done for. GZW took another step up in my eyes.

Switching gears to Tarkov for a second.... I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, my first impressions makes me feel like the switch the Gray Zone was excellent timing, and saved me from hours of frustration. I see the success Leaf is having and I'm a little jealous honestly. But then I see stuff like this. This dude spawned in and was shot in two seconds. All gear lost and he said the loading hadn't actually finished and he was drilled by a boss who he spawned in front of. I would not enjoy that.

Death screen from thread on Steam forum

I'll certainly give GZW a go at some point, probably pick it up in the next Steam Sale as it sounds like a lot of fun.

Why Tarkov for me? No idea, if I'm being honest. It can easily be what that comedy troupe pegs it as ' a game that makes you feel like you've been punched in the dick.', but it's compelling enough that I still want to play it. What I'm not grasping is the "why do I keep going back in?"

My current thinking is this (and I'm sure my reasoning can be picked apart). I normally really dislike games that kill my characters over and over again, and make character death a feature. The souls-like games usually pretty much suck for me. You can probably count the number of hours I have in Dark Souls series and Elden Ring on two hands in each. Normally I don't have the patience to even come close to mastering a complex move-set in those games where they don't give you a chance from the get go. One single f-up and your day is ruined. To me that's not fun, not remotely entertaining. Luckily most games don't do that, and I learned to avoid the games that delight masochists, lol.

So why Tarkov? I think it's because it does the mil-sim simulation part just right. It's very ARMA-esque. And that is a big positive for me. All the other parts (hideout, builds, weapon customization etc) are just the gravy. The granularity and the learning curve, as steeeep as it is, has actually worked. So there is that too.

When my character get's downed in Tarkov it's primarily my fault. There have been a few times when you just have to throw up your hands because you know you were unlucky. For example, last evening on Streets of Tarkov map we stumbled into a large group of well armed enemy scavs who were waiting to ambush a group of PMCs. Instead of backing out of the ruined warehouse, I tried to lob a frag and got taken out before I could. My son was well shot up but not quite dead. In the end he survived the scav attack, but the PMCs whom the scavs were prepping to ambush when we interrupted them, came in to the warehouse and finished off the scavs and him. Ouch. Whatever, as it didn't bother me. The good thing is that Tarkov encourages me to learn from it because it gives me time to ruminate. Also because it doesn't shove your screw-up back in your face with a giant neon red "YOU DIED" (really? no sh*t). For me, all that does is create the momentary dreaded red-mist, which makes thinking about where I went wrong in, say, a Boss Fight, an utter chore worthy of my middle finger. Instead, I find Tarkov provides a very analytical yet subdued set of stats to peruse and use as you will, when you have managed to croak. Somehow, some way, weirdly enough, I find that more acceptable. And then I want to go back in.

The other aspect is the number of 'stories' Tarkov has generated in the 70+ hours I've dumped into it so far. I'm not sure there has been a meal gone by where there hasn't been a "Oh yeah, remember 'X"" followed by some laughter or a clink of beer mugs. Honestly, I still have no explanation as to "Why Tarkov" other than it was the right game at the right time. For me. YMMV.

I totally get it, and thanks for such a good post. I wish more folks around here made posts like this.

You have embraced the challenge and I get it. That was my intention too, and frankly if I hadn't picked up GZW I suspect I"d be right there with you. I might have persisted despite the pain. And I plan to, just not any time soon haha. That time will come.

I used to play the Misery mod for Stalker CoP. Not sure if you know of it, but it was an overhaul mod that changed everything. Economy, items, AI, and all the rest. It changed Stalker from a shooter to a true survival game. Unfair in certain ways, brutal in others. Not for the faint of heart. I got stuck in though and embraced it, overcame it and succeeded. I believe Tarkov holds the same sort of adversity/triumph vibe, and I know there's a game there for me. Is it fun? That's harder to say. I suspect it's more the feeling of accomplishment having overcome all the bullsh!t. Take that Tarkov!

But mostly it is Tarkov saying this to you.

I hope you do pick up GZW and the sale ended yesterday so it might be a bit before it comes up again. Seems every few weeks it gets marked down. If I notice it I'll post about it. GZW obviously suits me but maybe it won't suit you so well. Emerging from Tarkov I expect your entire paradigm will have shifted. But we can bring you back to a sober and functional member of society haha. As the dude in your hilarious video said "It's in the name"

Escape. From. Tarkov.

And he also said that that gun costs one shampoo. I totally lost it

But I have real money!

Nope, one shampoo

Yeah the traders are kinda funny that way, using barter despite cash available. I'm not sure how much that changes (if at all) as you gain rep with each trader.

I'm just glad you put the challenge out there. Ordinarily I likely wouldn't have grabbed IRR or EFT after my experience wobbling about in S:AE (the mech extraction) LOL. Thanking you!

Off to do a sortie on Exchange while I wait for my scav timer to expire...walked in to a tiny office that had a desktop PC since I'm now seeking an LCD (last piece I need in order to build the Intel Center)...got all giddy. That alone should have been the warning to stop, but noooooo. No trip wire at boot level, instead walked into a belt high trip wire and triggered a claymore about two meters away sitting on a shelf. I'm sure I completely redecorated that office in "No. 2 -- Fine Red Vapor"

Well in that case, happy to help! Haha, Tarkov might make you regret those words

Hopped on to GZW tonight and focused on getting Gunny to level 3. I had no idea what this would unlock, but mostly I was hoping to finally get a suppressor for my M4s. I have suppressed MCX, SVD and M700, plus my Glock. But I rarely use those weapons. 5.56 is where it's at, as I said.

Sig MCX is a good rifle, and I like it in Red River too. It shoots .300 Blackout, but in GZW the FMJ rounds are sh!t. This rifle is only viable outside the starter town with AP. I cannot buy this yet so I don't use it much now that I've moved on from the starter area. SVD is a good rifle, but all I seem to have for optics is a PSO and I don't like PSO's. Maybe I have another which will attach, but don't know which foundation attachments are also needed. I'm not looking to use sniper rifles much anyway. I have less than 40 kills with them so far. Now and then I'll see a perfect application and bring it along., but not often.

The Remington M700 has a better scope, 5-25x, but it isn't semi auto like the SVD, it's bolt which throws the scope off as you chamber another round. I would prefer the SVD if and when I can stick a better scope on it. I am 24 out of 24 with the M700. It's hard to miss with that much magnification.

So I did a couple of missions for Gunny and hit level 3 and opened his shop to find a DDM4. This is probably the best overall rifle in GZW. It's a Daniel Defense version of the AR-15/M4 family and this one has a 18-inch barrel. This is the rifle I've been searching for in all those loot runs, and Gunny has one. It's expensive at 11k but I have gobs of cash as I hadn't bought anything really, and was saving it for level 3 vendors and glad I did. I swapped out the foregrip, added the Specter after removing front and rear sights, and that gets swapped with a red dot at night, and added a suppressor, which I've unlocked as well. I bought two 5.56 suppressors not knowing which was correct. Took a bit to work out why they wouldn't thread on and had to change the flash hider from a prong style and then could screw the can on. This rifle is a full kilogram heavier than the M4 I was using, but is better in every other way aside from ergonomics. 1.40 MOA is a very tight group for an assault rifle.

This screen will be familiar to anyone playing extraction shooters as they all seem to have followed Tarkov's lead here. The newest rifle in the stable.

EFT- had some decent runs this morning before getting some yard work done. Managed to complete one of my missions for Therapist/Doktor on the Customs map- find the water stash in the dorms. My son's character took a high explosive round to the head (he had no helmet due to...depletion of gears...) from a close-by PMC, whom I promptly shot dead with a snapshot from my 'new' Mosin-nagant sniper rifle. As I made my way towards Dorms I got dragged in to a firef\ight at a petrol station. Took out a PMC and two scavs. My frag grenade toss was spot on. Made it to the dorms, found the room I needed and unlocked it with a special key, found the water, and started to exfiltrate when I got attacked by several well armed scavs. Was down to using my .357 Magnum Dirty Harry Style when they ran off leaving three dead. Luckily for me none of them had the ammo I needed for my SMG, so I reloaded my revolver and headed out. Made it to the river and followed the west bank until I reached the extract road-block. Found two scavs waiting for me so I just simply shot them both in the head with my pistol (close quarters) and extracted. Would love to find a speed loader for the .357.

Professional. And down to your last few rounds and extracting is what it is all about ha. Good work. What happens to your son (or you) when he gets shot but you survive. Are you attempting to meet again, is he clearing your path out? Does he wait for you to return to the safehouse? Are you kept in the same server as a co-op teammate when you bite the bullet?

I bit the bullet again in GZW, demise number three. This time I got lit the fook up from very close range when I took too much for granted. I had cleared this town 20 minutes earlier and went on to complete a task, and then was returning back through the same area. A pair of players had just swept through before I returned, I could see them on the map, hear the gunfire. So the AI must have just respawned from when I killed them, and I glassed the area from distance, saw no enemy and proceeded as I reckon they've cleaned it back up. As I passed by some stacks of stuff, like crates stacked 10 feet high I was shot by someone off to my left and I never even turned. Full auto from probably ten feet and that was that. The town was not, in fact, cleared. I should have cleared that corner, and every corner always all the time, but you know how it is. That was my brand new DDM4 out there and all top gear so I went back with just a M4 and one magazine, no armor or anything because I need the space to reacquire my stuff off my body. Probably not a bad idea to keep a plate carrier on hand I won't mind leaving behind for these recovery missions, now that I think about it. Managed to reach my body without issue, not sure where that enemy went but it's still a big problem, as you have to assume he's around. And the worst is when you don't know where, and every angle that opens as you move around can be the one. The AI do some shouting to help keep track of them, but not much else. No heavy footsteps like Red River, very little idle speech. But they will shout and taunt once you've been discovered. The best part of that is it helps to know there are more still alive.

The DDM4 is superb. The sound reduction in the stats says 45% but it's more like 95% the way it sounds. Its just a fantastic way to shoot enemies, with that sound and a headshot. Suppressed is the way to go of course as it is in virtually every game. The stealth reasons are obvious, but just as good is how a suppressor affects the recoil of the weapon it is mounted on. The cost is ergonomics as the weapon is considerably longer with a can on the end of it. The suppressor makes the rifle shoot better and quieter and this makes surviving and extracting that much more likely, and the reason I got Gunny to level 3 the fastest.

After using the DDM4 (formerly known as Mk-18) for a few missions I swapped out the 18" barrel for 16. Arm stamina is a thing in GZW and this rifle is fairly heavy, and it's difficult to really take advantage of the wonderful Specter when you have to drop it so often to recover the stamina. 16 inch isn't much weight savings but it all adds up and lets you keep the ADS up longer. MOA dropped from 1.40 to 1.70 with the change but this is still highly accurate for the sort of shots I take in this game, Longest kill is 210 meters, but most fights are inside 100. I can drop to a 14" and it will still be more than accurate enough. It's cool to have all this kit and have it be so modular. You can redesign it on the fly to do what you want, which of course has always been one the the AR-15's top selling points. I will keep looking for ways to shed more weight off my DDM4

I added an IR light and laser to it. That adds a little weight back in, but it is so cool. The AI can detect flashlights and lasers in GZW, but not IR, which only shows with NVGs on. The effect is very cool, useful and stealthy.

Very nice, that weapon sounds pretty boss. One good thing in Tarkov PvE is that it's just you, or you and a small squad, so you don't have to worry about re-pops because other players have already tackled that area. That sounds to be...exciting though. Do the re-pops have spawn protection?-- some games I know have a short delay before you can attack something that spawns in.

In EFT co-op when you get dropped you get shunted out to the main menu after you get some stats/injury report, and a gentle reminder that you've lost your gear (everything goes except items in the three special boxes on you inventory screen-- you might recall the tape player being there. I keep a set of tools, a compass and a range finder in those three slots. Also, anything in your secure container is auto-returned--- that's where I keep key rings, wallet, anything ultra important). But unlike ARMA when yer ded in a mission, you don't get to be Jonathon Livingston Seagull. You are taken away and can no longer interact in that mission. Your body is there where you fell and loot-able (hence my son taking my dog tags to fulfill a quest for USEC PMC dog tags) but not visible to you. If you've insured things there is a decent chance you'll get some of the gear back some 20 hours real time later, but anything missing has been scavenged. Bullets, shells, grenades, bandages and health packs, food and drink, weapon parts are all guaranteed gone. I've also had a single empty magazine show up from Propar, but nothing else. Basically it's a crap shoot lol since both Propar and Therapist use scavs to retrieve your stuff. The same death sequence holds for when you play as a scav.

One thing I'll likely end up trying is playing EFT as DiD, but only when I feel more confident and have my keybinds exactly as I want them. I'm only 80 hours in and feel like I've barely scratched the surface in many of the games aspects.

I don't believe so, but you can only spawn at an outpost or your faction's main base. And in Joint Operations (PvE mode) no players can damage you anyway. In PvP I don't know how it works, but at an outpost at least, I believe you'd be vulnerable straight away. Main base has a lot of NPCs defending it, plus any players there and it would be hard for the enemy to get in I think.

I bought a second DDM4 for when one is on the bench undergoing repairs, which can take a few hours. I now have 10, 14, 16, 18 and 20-inch barrels for these rifles and swap those, and other bits and bobs according to what I expect in the upcoming raid. The longer the barrel, the heavier the rifle, and the more it drains your arm stamina. The trade off is higher accuracy, with each successive two-inch drop in barrel length equating to .3 MOA. One thing I had not taken in to account is how longer barrels increase muzzle velocity. So not only are they more accurate, they hit harder and pen better. I find the 14-inch is the best compromise when stamina, weight, accuracy and so on are considered. Rifles that shoot straighter and harder are great and all, but the key for me is maximizing ADS time. The longer I can look through the scope the more effective I'll be in a firefight.

In POIs where the toughest enemies are I can go longer for the added AP from increased velocity, and better accuracy at stand off range.

Compromises are common. Another example is my plate carrier. The tradeoff is protection versus weight (and pockets). I run a III+ rig most of the time because it only weighs 4kg. I have III++ carriers, but they weigh double. And every kg counts. I'm continually looking for ways to lighten my load, but still be prepared for anything.

And thanks for answering my questions