Rivals

[Paaaaaaandaaa]

Are rivals random events? I killed one and I don't think they're in the same spot or there again after reloading the check point. I was on the first mission trying to get a target (some guy in blue I didn't even know was an objective?) and I had a rival almost spot me, I hid and shot them, and then I messed something up and returned to the check point.
This made me want to go find their body and I couldn't even find them the second time.

Some clarification on this mechanism would be awesome, thanks!

[Cujo]

Whenever you autosave, it logs that you've killed someone, but not that their body is there. Upon reloading a save, it will not respawn them, but also get rid of the body. If you know where the game autosaves/checkpoints you can abuse the hell out of this by quickly killing a bunch of guards you know will get found, walking into an autosave before they are discovered, and then reloading by dying. Upon reload, you'll be at the checkpoint and the bodies will be wiped.

[doomedSniper]

Rival spawning are the most random events the game offers. Every time you reload the checkpoint, the rival spawns at different locations(you'll find 8-9 different randomization sometimes). So, if you've killed a rival and then reload the checkpoint, you won't find the body there cuz he re-spawned somewhere else and alive as well.

Inside a bounty area, the game won't save until you collect the bounty. What Cujo said is true but I haven't seen that wiping mechanism working inside a bounty area.

The fact is this randomization thing works on observer kind(snipers and guys with binoculars) and ordinary foot soldiers too. They do have a specific patrolling route but no one can tell where they will spawn next time after you reload the checkpoint. This is where anticipation comes in.

Have fun collecting those bounties without any alarm. They are the most creative things the game offers.

[doomedSniper]

As Cujo said, the save system can be manipulated via the 'wiping mechanism' which makes the game-play completely worthless. This is one very crucial vulnerability the save-system has. This is how the random system works(best of my knowledge).

[cyberwiz97]

Originally posted by doomedSniper:

Inside a bounty area, the game won't save until you collect the bounty. What Cujo said is true but I haven't seen that wiping mechanism working inside a bounty area.

Me neither. A good example of this is in Beketov Valley. When going for the bounty Leonid Streltsovin, in the northern part of the map, near the area where you "find evidence of Dorzhiev's illegal activities." This is the bounty where, after looting his body, you are notified of the approaching "Alpha Team".

Here is my experience with this...
Whether I killed only one enemy, or all enemy including the bounty, even after looting his body, then if I die or just "load last checkpoint", the game starts the entire bounty session all over again, from when I first entered the area. Even when I've gotten as far as having killed all enemy, bounty, rival sniper, plus all the Alpha Team, if I somehow die or load last checkpoint before officially leaving the bounty area, the game still puts me back at the very beginning of the mission, with all enemy respawned. Over many playthroughs, I've lost hours of progress because of it.

Not all bounty areas are this way but there are some others. The bounty mission for Pvt. Ilya Stalikov in the far west end of the Arakcheyev Fortress map is another where you'll be put all the way back to the start should you die or load last checkpoint. This is also one of the areas where you'll find multiple snipers. There will only be one official "rival sniper" but I've seen as many as four snipers in all - two before looting bounty, and two after.

[Paaaaaaandaaa]

from what I have seen now it looks like the bounty areas are zones where there are no checkpoints and they use a system to force you to stay in the zone so you can't abuse the checkpoint system. It's kinda smart, seems like they know you can abuse the checkpointing system.