Posted November 18, 2014
Sometimes you won't get the Market Square as a location at all in your game. Sometimes the location is Sniper Junction instead. But if you do happen to get Market: don't go in there. Ever. It has a very huge bug, that - granted - works very well in your favor but will remove a lot of the challenge of the game.
The Bug
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Sometimes (can't tell for sure if and when) the traders in there will completely dismiss the value of their trade items and practically sell them for free. I say practically, because you have to have at least one item to discard, but it doesn't really matter what that item is (except maybe a part; that isn't a valid trade item in many cases). Doesn't matter if you offer a gun, an armor, a bottle of booze, a coffee bean, a cigarette or even a block of wood: you'll get all their stock. All their medicine, all their alcohol - everything.
The Effect
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Needless to say, this pretty much kills (if not all, at least most of) the challenge. Imagine having ten rolls of bandages, ten bottles of medicine, all the food, all the materials you will ever need, available to you most of the time (except when there's an ongoing effect such as winter). You won't ever need to go anywhere else. It will make the game really, really easy. Don't exploit the bug.
My Story
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I absent-mindedly traded a few shotguns for water, alcohol, cigs and coffee, before realizing (thank goodness that I did) something's not right when I was about to leave. I did a few tests and yeah, everyone in there was giving their stuff away. I decided I would only take what I would assume is the going rate for two shotguns, but once I got back to base, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't know what the going rate really is. So, I decided to haul all of it back the next day and just accept the two shotties as my loss (of course, I could've kept at least something but I mostly just wanted to forget the whole event), because I don't want to cheat. I was worried I might had accidentally got free stuff earlier in the game (because I had visited the Market once before that too), so I decided to go back there the next day and see if the bug was still in effect. This time, not all of them were eager to give away their stuff for nothing anymore - but some still were. Back at base, I took a look at how I was doing on items, and came to the conclusion that the previous time I went there, I got a trader who wasn't a world's most self-destructive salesperson. I probably would've have noticed it then already.
Occurrence
----------------
Like I said, I'm not sure when the bug will happen or if it's constantly existent. I've only been to the market twice, and I won't be going there ever again. What I can say, is that it was Day 33 when everyone was in a donating mood. Winter had recently passed, and the radio said that peacekeeping troops would arrive in the city in the next two weeks. Not sure if the information is relevant. So, one last time - don't go into the market (at least before a patch), so that you don't ruin this otherwise marvelous game for yourself - accidentally, or not. You can get the full experience just once - on your initial first playthrough - and if you wreck it, then...you'll wish you hadn't.
The Bug
------------
Sometimes (can't tell for sure if and when) the traders in there will completely dismiss the value of their trade items and practically sell them for free. I say practically, because you have to have at least one item to discard, but it doesn't really matter what that item is (except maybe a part; that isn't a valid trade item in many cases). Doesn't matter if you offer a gun, an armor, a bottle of booze, a coffee bean, a cigarette or even a block of wood: you'll get all their stock. All their medicine, all their alcohol - everything.
The Effect
--------------
Needless to say, this pretty much kills (if not all, at least most of) the challenge. Imagine having ten rolls of bandages, ten bottles of medicine, all the food, all the materials you will ever need, available to you most of the time (except when there's an ongoing effect such as winter). You won't ever need to go anywhere else. It will make the game really, really easy. Don't exploit the bug.
My Story
-----------
I absent-mindedly traded a few shotguns for water, alcohol, cigs and coffee, before realizing (thank goodness that I did) something's not right when I was about to leave. I did a few tests and yeah, everyone in there was giving their stuff away. I decided I would only take what I would assume is the going rate for two shotguns, but once I got back to base, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't know what the going rate really is. So, I decided to haul all of it back the next day and just accept the two shotties as my loss (of course, I could've kept at least something but I mostly just wanted to forget the whole event), because I don't want to cheat. I was worried I might had accidentally got free stuff earlier in the game (because I had visited the Market once before that too), so I decided to go back there the next day and see if the bug was still in effect. This time, not all of them were eager to give away their stuff for nothing anymore - but some still were. Back at base, I took a look at how I was doing on items, and came to the conclusion that the previous time I went there, I got a trader who wasn't a world's most self-destructive salesperson. I probably would've have noticed it then already.
Occurrence
----------------
Like I said, I'm not sure when the bug will happen or if it's constantly existent. I've only been to the market twice, and I won't be going there ever again. What I can say, is that it was Day 33 when everyone was in a donating mood. Winter had recently passed, and the radio said that peacekeeping troops would arrive in the city in the next two weeks. Not sure if the information is relevant. So, one last time - don't go into the market (at least before a patch), so that you don't ruin this otherwise marvelous game for yourself - accidentally, or not. You can get the full experience just once - on your initial first playthrough - and if you wreck it, then...you'll wish you hadn't.