Incline Hunt: Showdown

[Beowulf]

[...] It doesn't affect gameplay but I do not understand why they have to be so greedy at times, especially for a game that is not f2p.

Precisely because it's not f2p. You cannot maintain the core game sells indefinitely, so selling those skins is their second main stream of income, I presume.

 

[Reever]

Precisely because it's not f2p. You cannot maintain the core game sells indefinitely, so selling those skins is their second main stream of income, I presume.

Which is why I'm fine with them selling skins and all that. My problem is when they stealth nerf BB gains, than introduce FOMO shit like that 5-day streak, blood donation thingy, chary's contracts, worse events and so on.

 

[Silva]

Anybody playing this could give me some tips? I just got it on a steam sale.

After a dozen tries I managed to succeed at killing a bounty and escaping intact. The sensation was awesome. But it was all due to my partner (which I randomly picked after giving up going alone).

 

[Beowulf]

Anybody playing this could give me some tips? I just got it on a steam sale.

After a dozen tries I managed to succeed at killing a bounty and escaping intact. The sensation was awesome. But it was all due to my partner (which I randomly picked after giving up going alone).

There is no other way, but to git gud.

Try to find our own playstyle. If you are good at shooting, then get more into fights.
If you're poor at shooting try sneaking around and ambushing people from vantage points. Caveat - crouching the whole way is not sneaking. It will only make you slow and get you killed.
The more you play, the more you'll learn the layout of different maps, which will translate to your experience.
Try to push from time to time, so you'll get the hang of it and learn when is the right moment to do it.

 

[Belegarsson]

Anybody playing this could give me some tips? I just got it on a steam sale.

After a dozen tries I managed to succeed at killing a bounty and escaping intact. The sensation was awesome. But it was all due to my partner (which I randomly picked after giving up going alone).

I think I got a single hunter kill in my first 20 hours. Now my KD is 1.4 so yes, git gud is the only way.

I'm not sure if it's the same in other regions, but playing trios with randoms put a lot of pressure off your back, and players in Asia are supremely chill. Stick together, ping stuff and enemies, play a lot to learn boss lairs location, move fast but smart, minimize the amount of walking in open areas, as long as you don't get shot in a field then teammates will always get you back up. If you can sit in a bush and observe hunters crossing by then do it, just be prepare to move once opening fire.

For combat, don't try to fight fair, if you have nades then throw them, if you're stuck inside a compound then just camp a door that you think they will walk through, if you don't have a close range weapon then just stay in position and put pressure, don't try to revive teammates unless it's safe to do so, and don't be afraid to back down. Don't skim on any kind of nade, fire bomb, choke bomb and of course health items. For guns, everything is viable, the only thing that matters is experience. Whenever I'm tilted as hell, I pick up my Springfield with dumdum rounds, that shit has super high bullet velocity it's pretty much hitscan. Or you can go with Vetterli or Martini or Winfield, just find a (cheap) gun that you feel comfortable with.

If you have to fight AI, like a hive on a roof or a pack of dog, don't hesitate blasting them. Making sound is bad but losing health is worse. Always pack health and at least 1 vitality/regen shot, and try not to use them before fighting other hunters. Never fight hunters when you have less than full health, that could go from 0 to 100 real quick.

For bosses, some basic counters are: butcher is weak against bleed damage (sharp weapons like axe or sword), assassin is weak against blunt damage (hammer) and poison (poison arrow), spider is weak against fire damage (lantern, fire bomb, fire ammo), scrapbeak is weak against pierce damage (pitchfork, bayonet). Sticky bomb is useful against all except assassin (the bomb drops to the ground when he disintegrates), but it will also damage loot from scrapbeak. If you want to run smash and grab then pack a stamina shot, find a heavy melee weapon and go wild. Antidote shot is also useful against spider. If scrapbeak drops concertina then you can break it with axe or shovel Bosses go into rage mode after losing 25% of their health (I think?), they gonna scream and that's when you should run away for a bit. Big important reminder is that if there's hunters near boss compound then the boss icon will flash red in dark vision.

For traits, sort the menu by points and prioritize taking these: Salveskin (fire deals less damage), Mithridatist (screen gets less fucked from poison), Bulwark (because I know too many beginners died from explosive), Gator Legs (cuz fuck water), Ghoul (free heal!), Beastface (avoid crows), Physician/Doctor (heals faster/more). The rest are niche and situational, Necromancer is good but you have to make sure downed teammate isn't in enemy's range, Bulletgrubber is useful for guns that lose remaining bullets after reloading, Pitcher if you play super aggressive, Vigor and Serpent if you're ready to solo.

A very good weapon/utility that I feel not a lot of people bother to learn is the crossbow. The iron sight is funky so it's hard to aim, but it's super versatile against AI and hunters, can kill horse and dog/chicken cage from safe distance, can pack poison and explosive (very fun to meme around) AND choke bomb, is underrated against bosses. IMO learn xbow, I promise it gonna be worth it.

Also a technical note: I find the anti aliasing in this game to be pretty terrible, the image is all jagged to hell and sometimes has heavy ghosting in all settings which is detrimental in a game where you often have to look and shoot at tiny pixels. Try playing the game on 1440p (use DLDSR if you have a RTX card and 1080p monitor like me) and SMAA T2X, it's the best way to make the game actually look proper.

 

[markec]

Anybody playing this could give me some tips? I just got it on a steam sale.

After a dozen tries I managed to succeed at killing a bounty and escaping intact. The sensation was awesome. But it was all due to my partner (which I randomly picked after giving up going alone).

Dont rush, move carefully and avoid open areas and walking trough water. Sound is very important and you should pay attention on the sources of the noise. Rushing can disrupt ravens and dogs all that can signal your location on a long distance.

Try to avoid killing zombies with guns as gunshots can be heard across the map and often you will have difficulty finding ammo before you learn the map.

When coming to a compound with the boss if you plan of doing a stealth kill with melee weapons dont kill zombies in the area and instead sneak past them and leave them as a obstruction for enemy players.

When getting in a shooting match with other players dont crouch as that makes you a slower easier target, you should move and change your location after every few shots.

Avoid going on elevated positions like bell towers and rooftops, it gives you a better view but that goes both ways.

When playing in a team, its recommended for one player to have a gun with silencer or knives to sneakily kill zombies that obstruct your path.

When killing boss place traps on entrances to the location, you always find several bear traps lying around inside.

Its also recommended to have one weapon that has long/medium range, dont go with two short range weapons unless you play with a team.

Crossbows should be avoided unless you have a perk that gives you faster reload.

At start only take free hunters to learn the game, even later you should take paying ones only if they have a really good perk.

 

[Zombra]

Anybody playing this could give me some tips? I just got it on a steam sale.

Ultra beginner tips (I never got far in the game but I wished I'd learned these earlier):
* You already figured this out: don't solo, even if like me you're the kind of person who prefers to team only with friends. Even if you don't communicate, you're much better off with randoms than by yourself.
* Go through the keybinds menu and make sure you understand all your options. There is a key binding that I've never seen in any other game where you can bind your sprint key and your sniper zoom to the same key! It makes sense because you can't sprint and snipe at the same time anyway. I didn't even realize sniper zoom was there until I went through the options menu, was trying to snipe with plain old iron sights like a moron. Don't be me.

 

[Silva]

Thank you very much for the tips, folks. I've managed to get a couple more bounties, all in duos. I'm learning.

Game reminds me of STALKER and DARKWOOD somehow, I think due to it's dirty setting and realistic but creepy vibe. I'm loving it. The sound design is amazing, I don't think I've seen something like this in a multiplayer game before.

Something I don't think works so well is the "permadeath" feature? I mean, do people actually manage to nurture hunters effectively? The only one I grew attached was the tutorial one who couldn't die until level 11 but once she died everyone else is a blur. Do you actually try to save your hunters asses at all costs like, running away to extraction even with a failed mission, or escaping firefights to live another day? I have the impression nobody cares for this shit.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Game iz hard but if you are hard up for cash you can collect a bunch of clues and then bail. Or does that give XP only? Been too long since I've tried this.
My nerves aren't up to the task and neither is my aim. I'd really wanted to like the game but ultimately couldn't hack it even though some people really tried hard to help me along. I felt bad for being no help at all even though they didn't mind. So to circle back round to the question, I don't think most people cared about keeping a character for long.

 

[Beowulf]

I think that you only try to preserve your characters if you go for the achievements, or just got a big amount of $ and are in dire need of money, in which case you can just leg it to the nearest evac.

 

[markec]

Thank you very much for the tips, folks. I've managed to get a couple more bounties, all in duos. I'm learning.

Game reminds me of STALKER and DARKWOOD somehow, I think due to it's dirty setting and realistic but creepy vibe. I'm loving it. The sound design is amazing, I don't think I've seen something like this in a multiplayer game before.

Something I don't think works so well is the "permadeath" feature? I mean, do people actually manage to nurture hunters effectively? The only one I grew attached was the tutorial one who couldn't die until level 11 but once she died everyone else is a blur. Do you actually try to save your hunters asses at all costs like, running away to extraction even with a failed mission, or escaping firefights to live another day? I have the impression nobody cares for this shit.

I got multiple hunters to max level and yes me and my team often run away from bad fights and extract without bounty. You try to keep your hunter alive since you can get really useful perks and buying new weapons and items you like can quickly drain your bank.

Some more tips, you dont need to kill the boss the moment you encounter his hideout. You can lay an ambush and wait for other hunters, as said before, dont kill zombies since a compound without zombies is a sure sign that either someone was there or still is.

If you find clues and realize the boss is on a far away compound and still nobody killed him or is in process of killing him there is a big chance someone is waiting to ambush you.

Sometimes its good to trigger ravens and dogs in order to mislead other hunters of your movement. Using a silenced weapon you can do it over a larger distance.

Hunters who picks up a bounty is marked with lightning signal on the map so other can see their movement.

When fighting boss often use dark vision to see red flickering signaling other hunters are nearby.

When running away with the bounty its recommended to keep atleast some enhanced dark sight for your extraction point as enemy players will often try to ambush you there instead of charging into a compound.

If you are fighting with a team and you kill one of them try to burn his corpse, burned corpses cant be revived and it forces his teammates to expose themselves in order to put the fire out.

 

[Silva]

markec , what's usually more advantageous: to go for the bounty, or to let enemies do it and then assault during the banishing?

Letting the banishing complete seems like the worst case as they can see you with darksight, right?

I got multiple hunters to max level and yes me and my team often run away from bad fights and extract without bounty. You try to keep your hunter alive since you can get really useful perks and buying new weapons and items you like can quickly drain your bank.

Oh yeah, I can see this working with a team of friends. "Hey, I got a lvl 20 hunter here so let's play safe ok? If shit gets ugly fire the flare and we extract". But with randos it's very hard cause they're gung-ho types most of the time.

 

[Puukko]

It depends on the situation, but you may be able to get the jump on them in the chaos of the boss fight. As soon as that is over, they'll be sure to keep an eye on their surroundings more.

 

[markec]

markec , what's usually more advantageous: to go for the bounty, or to let enemies do it and then assault during the banishing?

Letting the banishing complete seems like the worst case as they can see you with darksight, right?

Depends, there is no sure fire tactic. If they are attacking boss then you should attack them while they are distracted, thats given.

Now this is my personal opinion, If they are in the middle of banishing you should try to sneak up on them hoping they didnt notice you, if they notice you I dont like to charge in unless I and my team have a good options of close range weapons like shotgun, dual wielding pistols, automatic pistols or have a Fanning perk. Also personally I dont see darksight as much of a massive advantage, you just need to constantly move around the compound and force them to waste it. Keep in mind that enhanced darkvision has a limited range so if you keep outside the range they cant see you. So setting and ambush with long range rifle on a route that leads to the extraction point is a safe tactic. But many tactics depend of the layout of the map and locations, exists from compounds, terrain and location of the extraction points. All of this will start to click as you get more experienced and learn the maps.

As for going for bounty also depends on many factors, firstly when you encounter bounty, as boss can be located exactly at or near your spawn location in which case its better to rush it. As said before if its located at far end of your spawn and nobody is attacking it, it just might be an ambush. Also how many bosses are on the map also is important, if there is only one boss it means everyone will be coming there and you better be careful. Also if there are several bosses the mentality of most hunters is to minimize risk and if they see someone banishing a boss they will simple go and find another one to kill, avoiding contact with other players. So if you are on a map with multiple bosses and you find one early there is a big chance you can kill it and extract without seeing enemy hunter. Although I had encountered aggressive players who after killing a boss would rush across entire map just to try to take our bounty.

I got multiple hunters to max level and yes me and my team often run away from bad fights and extract without bounty. You try to keep your hunter alive since you can get really useful perks and buying new weapons and items you like can quickly drain your bank.

Oh yeah, I can see this working with a team of friends. "Hey, I got a lvl 20 hunter here so let's play safe ok? If shit gets ugly fire the flare and we extract". But with randos it's very hard cause they're gung-ho types most of the time.

If they get themselves killed nothing is preventing you to run away. If they dont burn their corpses you can just hide and wait for some time and return to revive them. And if they burn them just leave the map, no point of dying in a outnumbered fight. Even with my friends when we get in a bad situation and I get myself killed and burned out I just tell them to fall back.



Few more advices, pay attention to windows, when the game starts all windows are closed so if you see a house, fort and other location with a open window it means a player was there or still is.

There are extraction point with horses, they can be spooked by hunters, so if you hear horses yelling from extraction point it means someone is there.

You can safely level up a hunter and give him few perks by simple tactic. Just start a solo game, go to a nearby compound and kill bunch of zombies and extract. Not only can you get few levels safely but if you are lucky find a cash register and some items.

 

[MasPingon]

Something I don't think works so well is the "permadeath" feature? I mean, do people actually manage to nurture hunters effectively? The only one I grew attached was the tutorial one who couldn't die until level 11 but once she died everyone else is a blur. Do you actually try to save your hunters asses at all costs like, running away to extraction even with a failed mission, or escaping firefights to live another day? I have the impression nobody cares for this shit.

No one cares. Once I started a game on russian server by mistake. That was fucking hilarious, no one was interested in bounty, it was all out shoot out. Those bastards are savages

 

[markec]

Something I don't think works so well is the "permadeath" feature? I mean, do people actually manage to nurture hunters effectively? The only one I grew attached was the tutorial one who couldn't die until level 11 but once she died everyone else is a blur. Do you actually try to save your hunters asses at all costs like, running away to extraction even with a failed mission, or escaping firefights to live another day? I have the impression nobody cares for this shit.

No one cares. Once I started a game on russian server by mistake. That was fucking hilarious, no one was interested in bounty, it was all out shoot out. Those bastards are savages

It's fun to have a game when you don't care and just charge at enemy team with dual wielding pistols, got myself quickly killed many times that way but also got many kills.

That said there is a certain tension when you are trying to survive multiple matches in the row and get to max level.

Being lvl 49 knowing you are st the summit of that achievement while you see multiple signals in your enhanced darkvision closing on your position is a rare thrill.

 

[Silva]

So, after 20 or so hours I think I'm getting better. Had a handful successful bounties and extractions. I learned to pick different weapons for different ranges and keep constantly shifting them for the case I stumble with another hunter in the wild, and I also learned how to use the Gunslinger's "rise x lowered" gun settings, meaning for long/middle ranges I keep my gun low for the higher FOV and awareness, while shouldering them for short range engagements.

Speaking of short range engagements, this is an area where the game gets weird because it promotes the kinda twitchy ADHD on coke behaviour of bunny-hop/crounch-rise/fast strafe movements to avoid getting hit. You know, like Counterstrike or some casual shooter. And that feels sooooooo against the spirit of the game it hurts. But the middle/long range engagements are good and the other mechanics are great so I can live with that.

Oh, and I'm convinced the current hunter recruitment concept doesn't make sense, as it doesn't provide for an interesting/addictive gameplay loop. On the contrary, it makes the hunters feel disposable and unremarkable. I'd rather have hunters with more longevity (by giving them some limited ressurrection capacity?) that I could plan and evolve how I see fit, and if I manage to evolve him and it's his last "life" I would be super tense to go on a mission. Right now the game could as well give us an option "auto-recruit the cheapest hunter" and it wouldn't make much difference.

 

[Silva]

Oh, and advice for novices from South America like me: play on US East server instead. For some reason the South America server always puts me against super experienced players, making the game frustrating as hell. While the US server usually pitches me against other players from my aproximate level. I guess the SA server player count is too low and there's not much novices, so when noobs enter they become easy prey for the same old farts.

 

[Silva]

Holy shit, this game's soundtrack must be one of the best ever.

 

[manifest]

Oh, and advice for novices from South America like me: play on US East server instead. For some reason the South America server always puts me against super experienced players, making the game frustrating as hell. While the US server usually pitches me against other players from my aproximate level. I guess the SA server player count is too low and there's not much novices, so when noobs enter they become easy prey for the same old farts.

I had no idea things had gotten so bad for our South American brothers. While your solution may temporarily reprieve the problem, it doesn't address the root. We need to launch a grassroots effort to repatriate as many South Americans to their own servers, because there's certainly no shortage of them on our end.

 

[Silva]

Oh man, I'm really liking the game but I can't avoid the feeling that there's something off with player movement. It feels schizophrenic having such a grounded and gritty setting and music and guns and damage system etc.... and then player movement is all spastic ADADADAD-jump-jump-crouch-rise-crouch-rise-ADADADAD-repeat like in a super arcady shooter. And I've been noticing the higher the experience level of adversaries, the more they keep constantly moving like a Parkinson patient on coke. It's jarring.

I don't know how the devs could fix this, because if they slow down side speed it will be too easy for campers/snipers. Perhaps the answer is to make sniping harder? I notice the game doesn't have bullet drop (only for cross/bows?), so maybe if they implemented some degree of bullet drop it would make it harder for snipers and make slower/realistic side speed viable?

 

[Cyberarmy]

Holy shit, this game's soundtrack must be one of the best ever.

Yeah, menu soundtrack is dope. Also the books and trait drawings are nice as well.
Loving the game so far, playing with my 2 friends and having fun. They sure tried to their best with this game and it kinda paid of.
Shotguns feel fantastic. The one with the max damage is unforgiving in close querters, unless you miss horribly.

I notice the game doesn't have bullet drop

Hımm, I think there is bullet drop, at least some weapons really lose effectiveness after their optimal range.

 

[Silva]

Cyberarmy , what there is is damage drop, not bullet drop. The exception being cross/bows and throwables like tomahawks & throwing knives.

The learning curve is steep. Don't feel frustrated if you can't kill other players or extract with bounty at first. That's normal. Keep at it and anytime now you'll be getting those bounties and seeing your KD ratio rise.

I'm still playing and loving the game, but still think the devs sold themselves to casualization and the money it brought. A few adjustments in a more hardcore direction would made this into a timeless classic. A more coherent Stalker multiplayer than any attempt so far.

 

[Silva]

About the casualization, found this post which confirms my suspicions...

(taken from here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/594650/discussions/8/3362524065548499383/ )


"Hunt is becoming more main stream, aka casual. The more mainstream it becomes, the larger the crowd it draws in as casuals make up the highest percentage of players. Which makes some of the original supporters of the game upset as they enjoyed more hunt and less showdown. Sadly there isnt enough of them to support the game, so the changes to a more accessible game from a niche game is inevitable. The player count increases with every mainstream change.

From changing the 1 shot mechanics, added gun slinger mode, adding a couple COD style weapons, adding dark sight that allows you to see players if you have the bounty, this new bug thats basically a UAV, adding trios, allowing reshade so people can see better, less night map rotations, allowing multiple teams to get the same clue, having clues warn you when other players are near, making battle passes, weapon charms and more.

Its still a very unique game, but I understand their complaints even if I dont agree with them all. It is and has been on a trajectory toward mainstream (atleast from where it started) and those players are wondering how long will that path continue? Does it stop with the bug? Does it ever stop? Will they one day wake up and not recognize the game anymore?

The devs and players talk about anti camping mechanics, but the game is built around camping, you have to hold a building for minutes at a time while the banishing happens. And with the ability to see where players are once they have the bounty with dark sight, people are less likely to leave their trapped up fortress of a building because they can see other people are waiting for them outside. Reversely, nobody wants to push a trapped up fortress full of players with shotguns with dark sight wall hacks. They created this type of gameplay, and now aim to destroy it, they want everyone moving around, but hunting is mostly about being still, the game has literal deer stands. So they created a game, that they desperately want to change. Some people arent happy with the game changing from where it is currently, while other people arent happy with how it got to where it is to begin with.

This is just what happens when you start with one thing and slowly alter it into something else. For the game to go back toward more hardcore, simply get rid of being able to see other players in dark sight, so the bounty team has to make a mad dash for the evac with everyone chasing them instead of camping buildings and wall banging. Go back to hunters having 100 health, with the ability to buy more health chunks as they level up, and go back to only 1 team can get a clue and then its gone. I do not agree with those changes minus dark sight wall hack ability, but that would def make it hardcore again."

 

[Shadowfang]

And you came late into the boat Silva.
Now imagine what it was like for those who played during the beta, when the swamp was darker, your hand would shake for a little when you went for the iron sights, and you wouldn't hear the sound of a women for miles and miles.