Sure your game is not open to every one join?
Also there has been rumours that deploy field radio might open the game for other players, even if its set to invite only.
This has never happened to me.
Only rumors 
Sometimes the “falling through the ground” bug affects machines and they just fall to their demise, maybe that’s what happened.
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Nope private game between me and my buddy. We checked the MP screen and was just us
I have came across random dead tanks in the airfield before. I literally spawned in my game at airfield and came to two tanks that I could loot. Was odd, and would have rather got the EXP for it,…
Hey guys 
As we have been seeing more reports of this lately I took the liberty of hi-jacking this topic and renaming it’s title somewhat to make it a place to gather more info on this occurrence.
Rivals and Reapers appear to be dying without player interference and although there are theories which seem likely we are not entirely sure what is happening at this time and why.
Here’s a Youtube video from December 2020 of this issue:
Reading comments on e.g. The Official GenZ Discord server there seems to be indications to what might be happening (machines falling through the terrain/ground and dying when they hit the water underneath the ground), however, where we are now in the investigation we want to start off by asking a few questions and confirm what is happening before making any assumptions.
IF you have observed this issue please consider taking the time to answer the questions below;
- What platform are you on?
- Have you experienced this issue?
- How many times have you observed this? Does it seem rare or does it occur frequently?
- IF you have seen it, were you playing SP or MP when you observed it?
- How did you see it happen? (e.g. Saw the notification saying the Rival/Reaper was killed by a player, saw machine fall through the ground, etc)
- Have you seen a machine falling through the terrain/ground?
- Have you experienced falling through the terrain/ground with your character?
- Do you know of any means of reproducing this issue (Or does it just occur seemingly randomly)?
Also, If anyone has a video recording or image of this issue occurring we’d be very interested in getting a copy of it (If you have a screenshot or recording please post it here in this topic OR send me a DM here on the forum).
Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your time! 
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-
What platform are you on?
PC -
Have you experienced this issue?
Yes -
How many times have you observed this? Does it seem rare or does it occur frequently?
Rare occurrence. In all my time (since Rivals were introduced), i’ve seen it 3-4 times. -
IF you have seen it, were you playing SP or MP when you observed it?
Both, in SP and in MP. -
How did you see it happen? (e.g. Saw the notification saying the Rival/Reaper was killed by a player, saw machine fall through the ground, etc)
-
instance - SP game.
I Fast Traveled to Hiker’s barrack safehouse (2327, -2627) in Forest region. As soon as i stepped outside of the safehouse, i heard an explosion and got a notification that “Rival was killed by the player”. It was a Resen B-something. I did not fall through the ground. Luckily, i was able to tell from which direction the explosion came (East from safehouse) and i started searching the woods. Some time later, i found destroyed military tank, E-NE from the safehouse. I was able to loot it just fine. Also, my region score dropped like it was supposed to. -
instance - MP game. 3-4 players in game, i was Client.
I don’t recall much but what i remember is that after we all Fast Traveled to safehouse, we got the pop-up of “Rival killed by the player”. Since no-one wasn’t tracking nearby Rivals, we had no clue where that Rival was, so we can loot it. -
instance - MP game. 2 players in game, i was Client.
I was helping out my buddy to kill his Rivals and after 2-3 Rival kills, we both Fast Traveled to Rusksele safehouse (-1000, -3275) in Marshlands region. Once the game loaded, we got the message of “Rival killed by the player”. I suspected where the Rival might have died (since it was near the farm when looking from the map, before Fast Travel) and we made our way to the small pond, just North of safehouse. Sure enough, the Rival military hunter was in the pond, legs up. My buddy tried to jump into water to loot the Rival but was unsuccessful.
-
Have you seen a machine falling through the terrain/ground?
Yes. But so far, only once and in SP game. I can’t recall where it was but what i can recall, is that once i fell through the ground, i saw regular military tank falling with me, approximately 100m away me. I also heard some other machines (most likely runners) behind me and once i hit the water, many explosions followed. -
Have you experienced falling through the terrain/ground with your character?
Yes. Countless of times. -
Do you know of any means of reproducing this issue (Or does it just occur seemingly randomly)?
I have no reliable info on how to reproduce it. But what i can tell is my observations throughout all of time and possible reason.
In the beginning (launch day), i played only SP game and i was falling through the ground randomly at random points of the map.
At some point (can’t recall which update, but around Oct-Nov’19) my fallings through the ground in my SP game changed. Now, it is rare for me to fall through the ground in my SP game and it only happens when i Fast Travel and exit the safehouse. I don’t fall through the ground when i’m walking on the map in my SP game anymore.
However, in MP game (where i’m always Client), things are different. In MP games, i can fall through the ground as soon as i exit the safehouse after Fast Travel and even when walking on the map. Latest instance was during the same game as i described my 3rd instance of seeing Rival die on it’s own.
After we couldn’t loot the hunter in the pond at Ruskele, we went onwards. Some time later, we decided to go after Rival FNIX harvester, which was at FOA2. We both Fast Traveled to Hemmanskogen Logging Camp safehouse (-1856, -2930) in Marshlands region and started walking/running towards that Rival. At some point, i fell through the ground, while my buddy and Host of the game, did not.
I spawned myself into another region (Farmlands) and exited the safehouse to make sure ground holds. It did and i Fast Traveled back to Hemmanskogen Logging Camp safehouse. I exited the safehouse and ground hold. I started to make my way to FOA2 again and again, i fell through the ground at about same spot.
Another Fast Travel to different region, getting out of safehouse to check if ground holds and Fast Travel back to Marshlands. This time, i Fast Traveled to unnamed safehouse, NE from FOA2 (-1915, -3831). Once i exited safehouse area, ground held. So, i started to make my way again to FOA2, to help out my buddy dealing with FNIX harvester Rival. At some point, i fell through the ground again, roughly the same distance from FOA2 as before.
Screenshot
Taken during my 3rd fall through the ground, while trying to reach FOA2. This time, coming in from NE.
For some reason, game created area-of-denial around FOA2 for me and if i tried to reach it, i fell through the ground when i got at specific distance of it. Regardless from which direction i came in (2 times from SE and 1 time from NE).
My buddy (Host of the game) was able to walk/run to FOA2 just fine, kill the Rival on it’s own and loot the nearby spots. At this point, i exited the game and restarted it. I even rebooted my PC, just in case.
As of why Rivals die on their own, especially after Fast Travel (which i’ve seen), my guess is that during the game loading, game places Rivals either too close to the ground or into terrain objects. And once the terrain loads, the Rival hit box collides with terrain hit box and that kills the rival. Or rival is placed above body of water (pond) and after terrain load, it falls into water and dies.
Shared some of my images above and in this topic, there are more images of players falling through ground: Falling Through the Ground
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Very detailed reply, much appreciated @Aesyle !
I have gone through your info and added it to our ticket for tracking this issue.
I find it especially interesting that this always (or at least 3/4) has occurred for you after fast traveling which further strengthens the case that the machines are falling through the terrain. If I’m not mistaken I believe Falling Through the Ground has also been more prone to occur after fast traveling.
This above is (to my knowledge) the first account of someone confirming that they have seen machines falling through the ground so this is very helpful and tells us more about what is happening.
Thanks again for taking the time to share this information!
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Ekhm…
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Hey @0L0
Just to clarify, with that sentence I meant that it was the first confirmed visual account (at least that I had seen) of someone who had directly observed machines falling through the ground.
I guess you have seen machines falling through the ground as well then? I did not catch that based on your (on anyone else’s) replies in THIS topic, and hadn’t seen the particular reply you just quoted from the OTHER topic. What I had seen so far on this issue I had interpreted as theories based on knowing that players can sometimes fall through the terrain AND seeing the “Reaper/Rival has been killed” pop up so did not know that more had seen machines falling!
Reading your reply (above) in this topic closer I can see that you actually said it pretty clearly. Apologies for not catching that! It can sometimes be hard to keep track of all the replies and topics in this forum, however, know that we do appreciate everyone who’s taking the time to provide and share info in this forum!
EDIT: Thanks for sharing the screenshot btw @0L0, that is really helpful and sure shows it like it is! Attaching it the ticket.
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- What platform are you on?
Xbox - Have you experienced this issue?
Yes a few times - How many times have you observed this? Does it seem rare or does it occur frequently?
Its pretty rare - IF you have seen it, were you playing SP or MP when you observed it?
It happens in both but the more lag there is, the greater the chances seem to be. It seems to mostly be harvesters that I’ve had this happen with. Its not them falling through the ground as most of the time, if you can locate the body, its still there. - How did you see it happen? (e.g. Saw the notification saying the Rival/Reaper was killed by a player, saw machine fall through the ground, etc)
Standard rival has been defeated - Have you seen a machine falling through the terrain/ground?
Only when it happens to me the player, bu they machines never die - Have you experienced falling through the terrain/ground with your character?
Yeah. Its usaly in multiplayer but has happened in single. - Do you know of any means of reproducing this issue (Or does it just occur seemingly randomly)?
It seems random but I’ve noticed its more common with more lag and more players.
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- What platform are you on?
PS4 - Have you experienced this issue?
Yes - How many times have you observed this? Does it seem rare or does it occur frequently?
Just this once, between frequent game crashes. - IF you have seen it, were you playing SP or MP when you observed it?
SP - How did you see it happen? (e.g. Saw the notification saying the Rival/Reaper was killed by a player, saw machine fall through the ground, etc)
Notification after a fast travel.
https://youtu.be/smwDN-XVN3Q - Have you seen a machine falling through the terrain/ground?
No - Have you experienced falling through the terrain/ground with your character?
Yes, a few weeks ago - Do you know of any means of reproducing this issue (Or does it just occur seemingly randomly)?
No
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I have a PC it has an I7-8700K CPU, RTX 2080 Super GPU, 32gb of G-Skill Ram and an Z390 AORUS Elite motherboard and 1tb EVO 970 SSD AND a Crucial 1TB SSD HD’s. All Software upgrades are up to date.
I was hunting in the Mountains Region The Region Level was 20 with 8 reapers and 9977 points. I was inside the port bunker collecting ammo. The game was on “Invite Only” with only me playing. All of a sudden a red highlight came on the screen and said “RIVAL C-686 was destroyed by a player”. I immediately went to maps and there were no other players on it. I went to team and only I was shown on the list. My Region dropped 3 levels and I lost over 3,971 points. So I know something happened I figure you will have to tell me what.
I’m assuming by “8 reapers” you mean “8 rivals”. When a rival dies your region level drops which is why it dropped by 3 levels and ~4k points. (The higher the level of rival, the more points you drop.)
As for how the rival died… There’s a bug at the moment where rivals die on their own, but the message always says “rival was killed by player” regardless. I’ve personally seen them fall through the floor to their deaths and have it say that they were killed by a player when they weren’t.
Hopefully this will be fixed in a coming update!
Same issue topics merged.
//Mod
has this bug been fixed yet? I want to play but I currently have a reaper in my world, scared it will die before me and my party can fight it
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Hey @Megamalistic
We have a potential fix for this issue that will roll out with the next patch. As for when that patch rolls out I can not say at this time, but the release date will be communicated in our official channels eventually!
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Sorry for chiming in late, but I’ve just found this topic - I witnessed a rival falling through the ground two times now. Both times, I was in its vicinity, but not within weapon range, clipped through the floor and saw the rival falling down with me. I fast-travelled to a close-by location, and both times the ‘falling-through-the-ground’ bug persisted after respawning, so no loot and more leveling…
On a semi-related note, I had tons of crashing on my older build (April 2020) after creating secondary characters, and close to none once I deleted them. Not sure if this persists in newer versions, or if this has been reported at all?
This happened to me today. Rival on Himfjall died randomly in a solo game. Made sure to double check and confirm I was alone on invite only. It happened as soon as I fast traveled into Himfjall
**Edit after getting more info:
Had 2 more rivals die on Himfjall about 30 minutes after. I kept hearing god awful racket coming from one area, it almost sounded like robots fighting each other similar to the Soviets and FNIX, but this was on Himfjall Isle. After finally getting to the location of the noise I found two dead Apoc class Hunters that were Rivals, and around the dead Hunter bodies Apoc ticks and FNIX ticks with the big C4 bodies were endlessly spawning from the dead hunters and killing each other. It kept ragdolling the Hunter bodies everywhere, and the bodies had no option to loot them. …aaand then my game crashed. So I don’t know if the first was caused by the AI falling through the map, or if it was due to what I ran into half an hour later.
This hasn’t happened to me, but I was in a fight yesterday where a load of Seekers summoned a lot of machines to the bunker where I was bravely hiding. During the fight, I noticed a lot of them bumping into one another and I saw a Tank flying 4 to 5 meters into the air before coming down.
While this is nothing more than an amusing glitch to me and would not need addressing on its own, I am wondering from reading this topic whether, if a lot of machines are wandering around together, could they be causing one another to fly into the air and damaging themselves when landing, and this is causing Rivals to blow up.
Just an idea. If so, making machines not have physics when they are not in view would fix it.
I had multiple tanks in a small area a few days ago. While they didn’t quite end up clipping together and sending each other flying they were definitely running into each other which was constantly causing blue sparks to fly around (the type you get when you hit a weakspot). And I literally just witnessed endless spawning ticks sending dead Hunter bodies ragdolling around, so I could easily see what you described happening. Either getting flung into water and exploding or clipping through the map and into the void