Tarkov Stims Need More Debuffs

(Intro)

Stimulants in Tarkov are powerful. But what makes them strong isn’t so much what their effects are, or how long they last, but instead the fact that many stimulants in the game have weak side effects after the buff wears off. For how diverse of a range the positive effects are and how useful they can be in a variety of situations, it’s strange to me that most of the stims almost have no downside to using them. Something that makes you reconsider popping this particular stim because there may be no coming back from it. It doesn’t have to kill you once the effect wears off, but these things are like free stat boosts for a prolonged period of time. And because of that, not only do people use and abuse the stims, they combine them with other stims to make powerful concoctions that would rival real life PEDs. There are a couple examples of downsides actually having a drastic effect on your PMC once they kick in, but Tarkov would benefit from having harsher penalties after many of the stims effects wear off. It sounds blasphemous, but this is a mechanic in the game that isn’t tied down to any sense of realism. That conversation has left many years ago, so don’t think about stimulants from that perspective. Instead, if we are going to have items that grant powerful boots to stats or other effects to a player, how do we balance them more properly so there are costs and risks associated with using them?

(The benefits of downsides)

People might immediately poo poo the idea of nerfing stimulants this way, but I suppose my next question would be would you rather have BSG gut all the good stims so they are useless? Probably not. These things are inherently too powerful; again, not the effects that provide once used, but not having any semblance of penalty or risk once they wear off. Having effects that are synonymous with certain stimulants creates these moments where you might open your injector case and go for something like a zagustin for example, which of course fixes all bleeds and prevents anymore occurring for two-hundred seconds. But what if, after the effect wears off instead of just a loss in hydration recovery, you instead are now twice as susceptible to bleeds for sixty to ninety seconds? It creates this play of you can fix this problem now, but after it’s over you better be in a position where you won’t have to deal with it, otherwise you suffer the consequences of using the stim in the first place. It forces the player to seriously consider if they need the stim right now to get them out of a bind, or is there another choice, another option available that can solve their problem. This is just once example; we would be here for a long time if we went through this for every single stim in the game, but you get the idea. Tarkov’s entire gameplay loop is all about risk versus reward. So why don’t the stimulants lean into this when the medical system already does? As of right now, the only injector that feels like you need to have a plan once it wears off is the Trimadol; which provides a bonus ten skill points to strength, endurance, attention and stress resistance for three minutes. But the downside while only being reducing your energy and hydration, the side effect will actually nuke those numbers forcing you to fend for food and water. The most basic penalty but it’s severe enough that it cannot be taken lightly. The obdolbos I wouldn’t technically count in this context of harsh penalties because it’s kind of a gimmick injector where you have the chance to get a massive buff from it across a variety of soft skills but you also have a chance of just straight up dying. Which don’t get me wrong is really funny sometimes but maybe that downside is a little too extreme.

(Mad scientist)

On top of inflicting harsher penalties on most injectors, the idea on paper of being able to pop multiple stims back to back and have their effects stack on top of each other makes sense. However in practice, it essentially creates meta combinations that turn your PMC into a super soldier. The best example of this is stacking an SJ6, Meldonin and Trimadol together for true marathon levels of performance. You don’t lose stamina while sprinting. In fact, you actually gain it while on the move. It’s a wild combination and is honestly something that should be brought into question: should we be able to stack injectors together? Again on paper it sounds cool and you think how bad could it be. And then the players figure out which stims work best together and late game Tarkov turns into how juiced can I get my PMC before he falls over dead. It feels like legal steroids or any performance enhancing drugs. What makes this sting even more is it boils down to your ruble count; stimulants aren’t cheap especially late game, and when you are popping these every raid, it becomes quite costly. So only those who have the capital to purchase and run these stims every raid get to feel the benefits the most. To me, this way of using injectors is antithetical to why they were added in the first place. A last ditch effort to get out of a jam that could swing a potential gun fight or crappy position into something that feels winnable. And then afterwards you have to deal with the consequences of using that injector by having a more lethargic and vulnerable PMC. But sadly that’s not how they operate at all.

(Attacking everyone’s favorite)

I’m going to propose something no one is going to like. And that’s fine. But propital needs heavier penalties after it’s effect wears off. It’s the most common, most sought after, and most used stimulant in the game. A two second painkiller that regenerates one health point every second. It’s very powerful even if the health is as slow as one per second. If given enough time that can heal any chip or more serious damage without needing to pause and heal manually. And the fact that once the entire stimulant is over the only two downsides are tunnel vision and tremors, really doesn’t make people think twice about using it. I’ve seen people get hit by a scav, and take only minimal blunt damage pop a propital out of pure habit and panic. We use them like candy and no injector should be that common. So what should the new side effect be? It’s hard to say. If I want to be brutally honest, my take is the side effects can stay the same. However, propital is once again no longer a pain killer. It’s a slow heal overtime stimulant. At one point in its life BSG removed the painkiller effect from propital and the community was in an uproar. But to be honest I didn’t mind. It lost the ability to be this all in one injector that can be used at any time and solves all your problems. By it losing the painkiller effect it became more about winning a war of attrition. You could sustain damage and slowly by using proper cover or flanking maneuvers you would slowly top up your health and be ready for a fight once again. To me it was mechanically deeper than pressing the button when I take damage or can’t run. So in this instance the side effects are actually fine. But remove the painkiller and it becomes more interesting, not less.

(Outro)

Stimulants are such an interesting mechanic in Tarkov. But what keeps them out of being great is the lack of diverse side effects that truly makes you think and consider if a stimulant is worth using at this particular moment in time. The days of pre popping injectors before every single fight or worse, at the start of a raid would be gone. You would need to use them wisely; less you suffer the harmful new and dangerous side effects they all should have. People are definitely not going to like these ideas I’ve proposed and that’s fine. But come on seriously; let’s shake the game up a little. Make it more interesting. The medical system in Tarkov is already so rich and deep. What’s one more layer, you know? These specific examples don’t have to be the ones that get used. But something anything more than what would currently have would go a long, long way. Thank you very much for taking the time out do your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on all these changes to injectors, should they be more harmful to the players and be sure to subscribe for more videos as about potentially controversial changes to a system that has been rather set in stone for far too long. I hope to see you in future ones.