"Dead man's marathon" [10/25/23]

Every Halloween in STALCRAFT we celebrate with a big bang - this time you'll find a new game mode and a lot of festive content! The event will take place from October 25 to November 15 - don't miss it!

"Dead Man's Marathon" is the name of a TV show hosted by a team led by a certain Coach. The show is as simple as an early morning scavenger hunt:

• You land on Boral Island with a squad of three runners;
• Search for crates with equipment and various wunderwaffles;
• Fulfill the quests given by The Coach;
• Evacuate by a comfortable helicopter.

The unique atmosphere of the dead resort is additionally overshadowed by the squads of rival runners and a trio of "The Converted": especially creepy zombies armed with samurai swords. Rumor has it that The Coach also picks the "Converted" among the participants...

But it all doesn't matter, because you can easily blow them all away with cool modified guns with a huge variation of modules. And all of this under the thundering quips of a famous commentator, who narrates about your deeds to the entire Zone!

The Coach's storyline

The host of "Dead Man's Marathon", The Coach, offers you a series of challenging tests to conquer the popularity on his show...

Become a star of "Dead Man's Marathon" in an exciting storyline! To start the new quests, find The Coach in the Bar.

"Battle Pass"

For any actions on the "Dead Man's Marathon" you will constantly receive "views" - they are the local currency. After the end of the race, all earned (including spent and lost) views are converted into "Battle Pass" points, in the format of 10 to 1.

Views earned on the run can be greatly multiplied by the following actions:

• Fulfillment of the squad's primary tasks;
• Successful evacuation.

For the first few games of the day, you will receive a daily bonus of Battle Pass points. Points are awarded for completing a match and are added to the main points earned. Bonus points will be awarded until the entire reserve is used up.

The "Battle Pass" can be purchased in a personalized or transferable form.

Barter coupons

You can find a new addition to the free Battle Pass - Barter Coupons! They give a discount for bartering an item of the appropriate rank and type.

Coupons are divided according to the following criteria:

By rank

• Stalker;
• Veteran;
• Master.

By type of equipment

• For weapons and attachments;
• For armour.

By amount of discount

• 30%;
• 20%;
• 10%.

Coupons have a limited validity period! They are valid until December 15, 2023.

Quick marks for the squad

Quick squad marks have been added to the game. They can be placed at a distance of up to 200 meters.

A quick mark can be placed by pointing to the desired location and pressing the spot key "Tab". If another player hovers over the mark and presses "Tab", he will be able to draw the attention of his teammates to it - a notification will appear in the squad chat and a sound signal will be made. If you hover over a mark, you can find out the distance to it.

To remove the mark, you need to press "Tab" on it again.

"Dead Man's Marathon" styles.

The new themed case features unique looks for weapons like the FN F2000 Tactical, the Shinobigatana and more. Available until November 15!

Permanent offer

Starting this Halloween, we will be adding some of the styles to the permanent sale to commemorate the past holiday event. We are starting this wonderful tradition with the "Contender" (on Centurion) and "Peashooter" (on RSh-12).

Within 30 days you can buy these looks in special sets and get 3 "Dapper's case" and premium for 14 days as a gift!

Rework of the Backwater

Today, a particularly strong "Emission" has reshaped and expanded the landscape of “Backwater”. Monoliths soldiers have also become more active - convoys with psi-field antennas have been spotted, as well as new fanatics of special rank. But there is a silver lining! In “Backwater” you can now get new Master-tier equipment.

Rework and visual improvements

The level design of "Backwater" and the appearance of its points of interest have been updated, additionally new territories in the south and east have been added.

Gameplay changes

• The value of rewards for completing activities in "Backwater" has been increased compared to the
• locations "Red Forest" and "Yanov Outskirts";
• Digamma data fragments are now guaranteed to drop from signal stashes in “Backwater”;
• When you exit the game in “Backwater”, your character remains in the game. The character will die if you do not return to the game within 30 minutes;
• Lootable objects can now contain coins that can be sold to a fence;
• The base radius of visibility of events has been reduced from 300 meters to 120 meters;
• Placement of all activities on the location has been changed.

Entrance and exit from the location

Hidden teleporters to “Backwater” have been added to “Red Forest” and “Yanov Outskirts”. They are not marked on the map and a teleporter disappears after one player uses it. It reappears after 5 minutes.

The are entry points that are suited for combat armor as well as for scientific armor.

Changed the drop off zones in "Backwater ". Now drop-off takes place in a specially created "antechamber" in the southern part of the location.

There are 2 ways to leave the location:

• By clearing the group extraction event "Monolith Outpost", you can leave the location with a squad of up to five people.
• Leaving the location alone through one of the three "wandering teleport bubbles". The bubbles change their location immediately after use or after 2 minutes of inactivity.

New enemies

Sniper

You will notice the scope glare if you become sniper's target. The worse your agility, the easier it is for the sniper to hit the target.

Grenadier

He has a supply of F-1 grenades and eagerly uses them to smoke enemies out of their cover.

Assault Trooper

Quickly closes the distance and deals a lot of damage with his shotgun. Also has several flash bang grenades in his arsenal.

Machinegunner

Fires long suppressive bursts at the last enemy cover.

New Events

"Monolith Antenna"

In "Backwater" from time to time appear groups of Monolith soldiers, who set up their strange installations. "Antenna" goes through two phases : startup and active operation. During the startup phase, it poses no threat except for its guards. During the active phase, the "Monolith Antenna" emits level 4 Psy contamination throughout the area.

The event has a visibility radius of 400 meters.

The installation can only be broken if you shoot at it within range. This area is shown on the map. For destroying the "Monolith Antenna" you will receive "Psy-trackers" as a reward, as well as items to sell to the fence.

"Monolith Base"

The objective of the event is to clear an area occupied by 20 Monolith soldiers, some of whom have their own special traits. The event is designed to be cleared by a group of players, so it has a bigger reward of resources and reputation.

The event has a visibility radius of 300 meters.

"Protoelectro Cluster"

An event that is familiar to players from previous stages of the game. The completion time of this event has been reduced compared to its "southern" variants. For successfully completing the event objective, you will receive Digamma data fragments and items to sell to the fence.

The event has a visibility radius of 80 meters.

A fence of trading packs

A merchant has settled in one of the shelters on the location, who will be interested in buying trading packs lost by other players.

Airdrop changes

Along with the changes to “Backwater”, the mechanics of airdrops have also changed.

• Tools for equipment improvement and component packs for the recovery of max durability have been put into a separate "guaranteed reward" category for the event.
• In the airdrops at the locations "Red Forest" and "Yanov outskirts", master-tier component packs (20%
• max durability recovery) have been replaced with master-tier components (5% max durability recovery)
• Veteran-tier component packs were removed from “Backwater” airdrops and master-tier components were added.
• Clan airdrops have been reclassified as "sugar" airdrops and are displayed on the map in the appropriate blue color.
• "Glowing Sugar" is no longer considered a barter item and will drop on death until it is delivered to a safe zone.

"Glowing Sugar" obtained by players prior to the update will remain bound to them.

“Golden Airdrop"

Every 3 hours from:

• 9:00 ~ 21:00 (CET)
• AM 3:00 ~ PM 3:00 (EST)
• PM 3:00 ~ AM 3:00 (GMT+8)

There is an airdrop. It contains various tools, spare parts, "Combat Peas", food crates, consumables and a "Weapon Case". The latter contains parts of new weapons and master-tier attachments.

The mechanics of hacking airdrops on the "Backwater" have been changed.

The "defense" stage of an airdrop has been removed, and part of the time allotted for defense has been

transferred to the "drop" stage. In order to get the contents of an airdrop, you must continuously breach it for:

• 5 seconds - regular airdrop;
• 10 seconds - "sugar" airdrop;
• 20 seconds - "golden" airdrop.

This is not a complete rework of airdrops, but only one part of it.

New weapons and attachments

New Master Weapons:

• AM-17 (temporarily uses the AK-12 model);
• Scorpion EVO III;
• SIG Sauer P320.

New Master attachments:

• Viking Tactics UVG tactical grip;
• Lantac BMD flash hider for 5.45 and 5.56 calibers;
• Lantac Dragon flash hider for 7.62 caliber;
• P320 extended magazine for 24 rounds;
• Scorpion drum magazine for 50 rounds.

New items can be obtained by collecting all the necessary parts from the "Weapon Case". You can assemble the parts into one item through bartering at the bases of the northern factions of the 7th level or in the bar "100 Rads".

Parts of the items cannot be exchanged for each other, but you can sell unneeded ones for Crimson Casings.

Balance changes

Karbach OTL-03

• Damage now increases with distance;
• Damage at distance 95 → 105;
• Damage reduction start distance 20 → damage increase start distance 50;
• Damage reduction end distance 60 → damage increase end distance 100.

Models, animations, sounds

• Updated interaction animations and sounds for MP-153, Protecta
• Updated F2000 sprint animation (now similar to other bullpup weapons)

Other changes and fixes

• Removed chaotic movement of the character when moving on slopes with the "cling" key pressed. In addition, when ctrl+q is pressed, the player will not go to the lying position after climbing on any surface;
• Added guitar melodies in honor of the autumn event;
• Visually updated paint patterns for FN F2000, FN F2000 Tactical, AEK-545 and AS Val;
• Reward markers are now also hidden when the "Event waypoints in the world" setting is turned off;
• Stash markers can now also be turned off;
• Roulette animation added to the interface of opening cases;
• Fixed incorrect silencer position on SR-1 "Gyurza";
• Fixed incorrect display of modules on FN P90;
• Fixed incorrect animations of Karbach OTL-03 and updated interaction sounds;
• Updated NATO drum magazine model.

Thanks for your attention,

And have a good hunt at the Marathon!