diff --git a/MosswartMassacre/LiveInventoryTracker.cs b/MosswartMassacre/LiveInventoryTracker.cs
index 8712463..1fc3c7a 100644
--- a/MosswartMassacre/LiveInventoryTracker.cs
+++ b/MosswartMassacre/LiveInventoryTracker.cs
@@ -24,13 +24,27 @@ namespace MosswartMassacre
         // so the backend sees ~1 update per item per flush instead of many per
         // second. Adds and removes stay immediate (they're rare and meaningful).
         private readonly HashSet<int> _dirtyItemIds = new HashSet<int>();
-        private const int FlushIntervalMs = 60000; // 60s — tune here if needed
+        // Flush on a RANDOMIZED interval — 2 minutes plus up to 3 more (so
+        // 2–5 min) — re-rolled after every tick. This de-synchronizes the
+        // fleet: even when many clients hot-reload at once (an auto-update
+        // wave) and start their timers at the same instant, each picks a
+        // different interval, so their flushes spread out instead of arriving
+        // at the backend as one synchronized burst (which starved telemetry
+        // and made the player count flap).
+        private const int FlushBaseMs = 120000;    // 2 minutes
+        private const int FlushJitterMs = 180000;  // + up to 3 minutes → 2–5 min
+        private readonly Random _rng = new Random();
         private readonly System.Windows.Forms.Timer _flushTimer;
 
+        private int NextFlushIntervalMs()
+        {
+            return FlushBaseMs + _rng.Next(0, FlushJitterMs + 1); // 120000–300000 ms
+        }
+
         internal LiveInventoryTracker(IPluginLogger logger)
         {
             _logger = logger;
-            _flushTimer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer { Interval = FlushIntervalMs };
+            _flushTimer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer { Interval = NextFlushIntervalMs() };
             _flushTimer.Tick += FlushDirtyItems;
         }
 
@@ -53,6 +67,7 @@ namespace MosswartMassacre
             {
                 _logger?.Log($"[LiveInv] Error initializing: {ex.Message}");
             }
+            _flushTimer.Interval = NextFlushIntervalMs(); // fresh random phase per login
             _flushTimer.Start();
         }
 
@@ -148,6 +163,11 @@ namespace MosswartMassacre
         /// </summary>
         private void FlushDirtyItems(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
+            // Re-roll the interval every tick so the fleet's timers keep
+            // drifting apart and never re-synchronize. (Setting Interval on a
+            // WinForms timer restarts its countdown — desired here.)
+            _flushTimer.Interval = NextFlushIntervalMs();
+
             if (_dirtyItemIds.Count == 0) return;
 
             // Snapshot then clear, so changes arriving during the flush are
diff --git a/MosswartMassacre/bin/Release/MosswartMassacre.dll b/MosswartMassacre/bin/Release/MosswartMassacre.dll
index 0bbea51..c01e9a9 100644
Binary files a/MosswartMassacre/bin/Release/MosswartMassacre.dll and b/MosswartMassacre/bin/Release/MosswartMassacre.dll differ