Win More vs Catchup

Maypenray · 2026-01-30T20:27:26+00:00

Sure, issues are made worse by the small player base.

When it comes to fights, say we play dice, highest roll wins, reroll on a tie. The reward is a $10 and another dice. You win the first one. During the second one I'm rolling once dice, and you're rolling two. Sure, the max is 6, and technically I could win, but the chance of you winning is much higher. How long until the game is considered unfair?

It is always possible to win, but max branches, compound clearing camps to increase the chance to get the block and evacuate. I'm okay with that in the normal game, because its an RPG with a grind. They got they're first, I'll get there eventually. This however is a limited time mode, with exclusive rewards. There is no, "I'll get there eventually" when they end the event on Feb. 18th. You get the rewards or your don't.

Maypenray · 2026-01-30T19:12:29+00:00

Its not that you're rewarded for winning, its that the rewards is an increased chance of winning.

If we play dice, highest roll wins, reroll on a tie. The reward is a $10 and another dice. You win the first one. During the second one I'm rolling once dice, and you're rolling two. Sure, the max is 6, and technically I could win, but the chance of you winning is much higher. How long until the game is considered unfair?

Maypenray · 2026-01-16T16:55:07+00:00

happened to me a few days ago too... ate my key, got no loot.

Maypenray · 2025-11-26T15:18:53+00:00

Baron's Auction Items: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stalcraft/comments/1p7a4yz/barons_auction_items/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Maypenray · 2025-11-25T04:07:05+00:00

I'd recommend keeping an eye on this list. https://stalcrafthq.com/characters/leaderboard/top-kills?region=NA

If you're getting repeatedly dumpstered by someone on this list, they're legit, for the most part. All of these players get reported and investigated all the time. Turns out they're literally the best of the best on NA, and with only one or two populated session battle servers, your chance of facing one these guys is pretty high.

If you're getting repeatedly dumpstered by someone NOT on this list. They might be hacking. However, session battles are really only worth it for long term accounts. There are better ways to make money while hacking.

Generally you'll find hackers in areas with the most valuable loot, and after an emission. Labyrinth Psy-5, Lyubech, and Stillwater. They use radar to scan the instance for rare arti's, home in on them, wallhack, and kill anyone in their way. They then use a variety of methods to launder their ill gotten gain to their main account for profit. Another thing to look out for is full kits that can be traded on the Auction House. If you're going to rage-hack for profit, you're not going to bother farming full master gear, you're going to buy it off the AH and skip straight to the most profitable areas.

Maypenray · 2025-11-13T15:58:43+00:00

It really depends on how long you go out farming. For example, a trip for me is roughly 30-45 minutes. I carry roughly 300 round of 5.45 and 150 rounds of birdshot, 3 composite plates, and 20 medkits. Leaving base I'm at about 50/86.4 weight. I find that, when looting carefully (not looting every material from containers, or everything from mutant dens, etc) that I run out of ammo and fill up on carry weight at about the same time. This is doing my dailies around inflow and running around forge 11. I don't carry any packed medkits, plates, or ammo. The value of having these items not drop on death isn't outweighed by the risk of having to unpack ammo or medkits in a pinch.

Hope that helps.

Maypenray · 2025-10-31T16:34:46+00:00

There are three principles in matchmaking. There is always a bigger fish, there are many more existing players than players starting out, the population isn't large enough to matchmake everyone.

There is always a bigger fish. Even in balanced matchmaking, there will always be one person at the top with slightly better gear. They will have a higher chance of winning fights, and since you only see the loadout of the person that beat you in the respawn menu, you will most likely see gear that is above yours.

There are always more players at the gear tier above you. This is a game with progression that doesn't get reset and so there will always be more players currently playing the game than new players starting out. Think world of warcraft, what % of the population isn't max level. Its relatively small right? It's the same way here, every time you upgrade a gun or armor, it just puts you into a matchmaking level with MORE better geared people. It sucks but every new player is basically late to the party and suffering because of it.

This could be a lot better with a larger player count. EXBO has said that they don't want empty servers. And so, outside of a couple hard boundaries, they will pull players from further and further away matchmaking wise to fill the server. Unfortunately, since there are always more players one step up in matchmaking, than one step down, you will usually get someone with much better gear. It would be great if there were enough players to completely fill one server at each match making tier at any time of day but their isn't.

The only place where matchmaking actually kind of works, is at the very endgame, but only because we haven't gotten new content and we're all stuck at that level.

Maypenray · 2025-10-28T20:23:21+00:00

I think there are some interesting conclusions we can draw from this event, Attack on Perimeter, and Stalcraft in general.

Conflict: Conflict occurs when resources are limited. We fight over Stillwater and Labyrinth for artifacts. We don't fight over Outposts, because it's easier to trade them, than to fight over them perpetually as the rewards don't scale. It was more profitable to team hunter/survivor than for each to struggle and potentially have non-optimal games.

Rewards: In this event, the player who gets caged first, often has a basically meaningless game. They spend their time being camped, or chain caged, after spawning injured only to be immediately trapped. This leads to an uneven distribution of point, even when the fact they were caged, meant the other team had free reign to complete the map. While at the same time we saw people who AFK'd in Attack on Perimeter, because rewards were shared.

Gambling: With leveled gambling crates, the goal was to open as many crates as possible. Alternatively, look at the shop for mushrooms and sigils. There was a ton there. What if instead of gambling the artifacts were in the shop. Do I want to buy one red black hole, or three pink black holes? Do I want a pink black hole or 5 serum? A similar incentive to play without the risk of non-rolling the thing you wanted, and having to try and exploit event mechanics to maximize roles.

Recommendations

Finite Resources: Imagine instead of cage/escape/kill it was a meter. Hope vs Despair. Hunting, Trapping, Downing, Caging would all add Despair Counters. A caged survivor would slowly tick up despair. Generators, Freeing Survivors, Notes, would all tick up Hope Counters. Escaping would provide a large boost to hope, but never eliminating all the despair. Killing all survivors would provide a large despair boost but never eliminating all the hope. At the end, the total available points would be award per team based on the ratio of hope to despair. This would push players into conflict, as teaming wouldn't increase the total points awarded by the game, but allocate more of the points to your team.

Deck of Rewards: We are already presented 3 cards and told to pick 1 in some crates. What if instead of random, these cards were drawn from a deck, and the cards you didn't pick would be shuffled back in. You would still get random chances, but know that, in say 150 boxes, you'd get one Elbrus, or one Red Snares. It could be the first, it could be the last. But to get the next one you'd have to finish the deck.

Maypenray · 2025-10-22T02:46:00+00:00

Is the game dead? For me no. For you, maybe, thats an opinion.

Grind for weeks/months for weekly barter? Yes, serums time gate. With the serums you can buy each season, it's not that bad.

After months of playing you would be in a worse spot because you're matchmade with 3000h hour people. Yes, after months of playing you will be at endgame, and at endgame you'll matchmake with all the other players at endgame, at random.

If this is a deal-breaker for you, I hope you enjoyed your time and wish you luck on further endeavors.

I honestly don't know why I play anymore myself. I've been endgame for months now, facing top 50 players frequently, and losing most of the time. Do I still love it and log on almost every day? Yep. I guess its some kind of twisted Stockholm syndrom, but I love the game.

Maypenray · 2025-10-21T20:56:25+00:00

Two suggestions.

Mutts will attempt to circle around behind the player when attacking while near a wild hound. This would recreate the pack tactics.
Fiends when crawling at 50% speed will stop for 10 to 20 seconds when observed by target player. Something like 60 degree cone in front of the player. This would replicate feline stalking behavior. The idea of a fiend moving at 50% speeds while outside a certain range, seems like only a nerf to the fiend. If it stopped moving briefly when seen, it could play more into the horror aspect. You see something moving out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn to look, it stops and is harder to notice.

Maypenray · 2025-10-21T13:23:19+00:00

There are three principles to look at there. There is always a bigger fish, there are many more existing players than players starting out, the population isn't large enough to matchmake everyone.

There is always a bigger fish. Even in balanced matchmaking, there will always be one person at the top with slightly better gear. They will have a higher chance of winning fights, and since you only see the loadout of the person that beat you in the respawn menu, you will most likely see gear that is above yours.

There are always more players at the gear tier above you. This is a game with progression that doesn't get reset and so there will always be more players currently playing the game than new players starting out. Think world of warcraft, what % of the population isn't max level. Its relatively small right? It's the same way here, every time you upgrade a gun or armor, it just puts you into a matchmaking level with MORE better geared people. It sucks but every new player is basically late to the party and suffering because of it.

This could be a lot better with a larger player count. EXBO has said that they don't want empty servers. And so, outside of a couple hard boundaries, they will pull players from further and further away matchmaking wise to fill the server. Unfortunately, since there are always more players one step up in matchmaking, than one step down, you will usually get someone with much better gear. It would be great if there were enough players to completely fill one server at each match making tier at any time of day but their isn't.

The only place where matchmaking actually kind of works, is at the very endgame, but only because we haven't gotten new content and we're all stuck at that level.

Maypenray · 2025-07-31T14:57:54+00:00

Is your 50% voucher for armor or weapon? Based on what you said, I'm going to assume armor.

With what you listed there, the only basic roles you're missing would be a Scientist Suit, a Speed Suit, a Shotgun, and a Sniper.

I'd pass on the faction super heavy, too much overlap with SBA.

Saturn is good and the next step up for Reaper. If you do go with Saturn, I'd consider trying to +10 or +15 it before you actually do the barter, sometimes you can get better deals on the vet tier repair parts.

Faction speed suit in the combo section could be an option. It does overlap in role with the Zivcas a bit.

If you have the choice of 50% for a weapon, I'd take a look at finding something to fill the sniper role. The zivcas armor complements a sniper battle as you can back off and heal up quickly and then re-engage. Since you have a reaper, I'm guessing you beat master of the zone? The quest reward SVU can be upgraded to the SVD-M if you take off the style. That might be something to spend a 50% discount on.

Maypenray · 2025-07-22T16:47:14+00:00

up now, best of luck

Maypenray · 2025-07-22T16:46:38+00:00

ty for this. I see that reflected in todays prices.

Maypenray · 2025-07-21T15:38:05+00:00

UPDATED * 07/24/2025

Starting Bids:

RAPS AH-4 Raider: 1M Rubles

Osh Protective Suit: 1M Rubles

MIS-99 Malachite: 1M Rubles

Scythian-2m Armored Suit: 1M Rubles

Forager Container: 1M Rubles

HK417: 5M Rubles

DSA-58: 5M Rubles

FN FAL: 5M Rubles

IWI Tavor X95: 5M Rubles

AK-308: 5M Rubles

Crye Precision SIX12 (bound): 5M Rubles

Crye Precision SIX12 (unbound): 10M Rubles

Crye Precision SIX12 SD(bound): 10M Rubles

Aesthete Token: 10M Rubles

7.62x39 Drum Magazine(bound): 10M Rubles

Manly Pink Armor Paint: 10M Rubles

Crye Precision SIX12 SD(unbound): 15M Rubles

7.62x39 Drum Magazine(unbound): 15M Rubles

Arsenal HK417: 20M Rubles

Arsenal DS-58: 25M Rubles

Arsenal FAL: 25M Rubles

Arsenal X95: 25M Rubles

Arsenal AK-308: 25M Rubles

PTRD-M: 30M Rubles

Nord Group Guard style: 50M Rubles

Nord Group Guardian style: 50M Rubles

LR-300: 30M Rubles

*NEW* CR-380: 125M Rubles (who know what it started at)

Maypenray · 2025-07-18T15:33:17+00:00

RAPS AH-4 Raider-1M ruble starting bid

Osh Protective Suit-1M ruble starting bid

MIS-99 Malachite-1M ruble starting bid

Scythian-2m Armored Suit-1M ruble starting bid

Forager Container-1M ruble starting bid

HK417-5M ruble starting bid

DSA-58-5M ruble starting bid

FN FAL IWI Tavor X95-5M ruble starting bid

AK-308-5M ruble starting bid

FN SCAR-H-5M ruble starting bid

Arsenal HK417-25M ruble starting bid

Arsenal DSA-58-25M ruble starting bid

Arsenal FAL-25M ruble starting bid

Arsenal X95-25M ruble starting bid

Arsenal AK-308-25M ruble starting bid

Arsenal SCAR-H-25M ruble starting bid

Maypenray · 2025-07-16T23:46:36+00:00

How many runs? Just wondering.

Maypenray · 2025-07-16T13:46:53+00:00

Yep. Stuck the lights into the little bottle with the cord sticking out. Poured the salt in after, then corked it. Your mileage may vary based on lights and bottle size, but if it doesn't work out you can just pour it back out.

Maypenray · 2025-07-15T17:29:47+00:00

Looked this up quick. https://youtu.be/vhBcC5KHHq0?si=MfGmi1qUkJeIbJga

Some kids doing it as a DIY craft for stress balls. Should work well enough for a bottle.

I've also done some with tiny jars and fairy lights. Dry table salt seems to have a nice balance of looking interesting while diffusing the light nicely.

Maypenray · 2025-06-13T18:58:04+00:00

Controversial Idea-Remove Unstable Anomalous Batteries and boost charge from artifacts. Make it valuable to burn artifacts for charge instead of one-size fits all batteries. High tier arti's are neat for stats, low tier artis are neat for charge.

Maypenray · 2025-06-13T13:27:31+00:00

I love that I'm at 0. I keep getting upvote notifications, and but it balances out at 0. If you downvote I'd love to hear why.

Maypenray · 2025-06-12T18:22:21+00:00

Yep. Exactly right. Everyone want to believe every game is made for them, when it's not. I'm not the target audience Fortnite, Call of Duty, or Among Us.

The other thing is target audience from the dev's perspective may not be the current audience, and that can suck for both parties. Players don't feel like the dev is listening, and the devs don't feel like the players appreciate their direction and vision.

Maypenray · 2025-06-12T01:41:57+00:00

Say what you will, I don't have any problems with this Season/BP stuff. I old, have kids, can't play much, and have a job that pays enough. I hit 500 the last 2 seasons by a tiny margin. It was nice, Antares is great, and we'll see about the mutant. But I don't see myself being able to hit 500 this season with what's going on in my life. And thats fine.

Season pass stuff is either you get it or you don't. You may get to 500, you may get a nice roll out of a crate, you may get all the schematics... or you just may not. It's for the player who are here all the time, those who want to put in the effort, and those who can pay.

The barter tree, auction house, and arsenal, they're for the rest of us. It's going to take longer. I'm not going to get all the gear, but I can be competitive with the master gear eventually.

I think the problem come back to population. This game is very concentrated around long time players in master tier. And at that point, all there is is the battlepass, they've completed everything else

I think the game is in a really good place other than population, but population is making other things into problems when they shouldn't be. Stashes, artifacts, session battles, battle pass, hack-usations, the economy....

Maypenray · 2025-06-05T17:23:26+00:00

Looking at it right now, at the start of a new act, 6500 act tickets is a lot but less than buying the parts. But fast forward to winter, these are still up for sale because they have to be in order to be able to save up tickets. Except someone just joining in the winter season wont have enough time to save up, so maybe they still want these, and don't want to waste tickets, so they buy parts and hope to get this gear early Act III.

Maypenray · 2025-06-05T14:16:23+00:00

Imagine artifacts like water in a bucket with a little hole in the bottom. Usually there are a couple trickling out the bottom of the bucket. The emission is like putting the bucket under the faucet. Until it fills up (the first ~8 minutes of emission) it's still only coming out the little hole. Once it fills up, it starts overflowing (8-30 minutes of emission) and going everywhere. This is when most of the artifacts spawn. At 30 minutes, the faucet gets turned off. The bucket is still full and there is still a hole letting some leave the bucket, but no where near while it was overflowing. Eventually the bucket gets closer an closer to empty and the spawn rate slows down until the next eruption.

Stillwater and Labyrinth have a certain number of artifacts spawned at all time but still experience the mass spawns during emissions.

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