(funny) Tactics and Tips

[Art Blade]

Welcome to

   (funny) Tactics and Tips   

Last update: 10 January 2014 (updated all links so they point to www.openworldgames.org)

Because this topic has grown so much, here is a special service for you:

Every tactic and tip in this topic can be accessed directly using the links on the index ;) Since the first post was published, many things have been added that are not only tactics or tips. You'll find a variety of info here. Have fun reading and enjoy checking out some of the stuff :)

yours,

Art Blade

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INDEX:
(please click those links, they will open in the same browser window/tab)
pink = update

1 Blow up a bunch of mercs = this post, below index
2 Rush a Guard Post
3 dodge guided missiles
4 Keeping your favourite car 30/31 May 2009
5 A different use of IEDs 29 May 2009
6 Handgrenades from the sky
7 African Roulette
8 Stealth Driving
9 Accuracy
10 Dental Clinic abandoned and deserted
11 Interesting things to know about the game's AI
12 Timing Malaria attacks 04 June 2010
13 Blocking Your Enemies
14 Take out the mortar in South Bowa. 21 September 2009
15 Preparing a car bomb and setting it off.
16 Relight my Fire (Lamp trick)
17 Tip for PC screen caps "where is my weapon?"
18 Reduce Weapon Degrading 08 May 2009
19 Mike's Bar: Missions In A Row (PC)
20 Driving Fun: Drifting / 180° turn 16 May 2009
21 Car Bombs, II.
22 "Unstuck" your car
23a) + 23b) Repair upgrades / battle-ready 29 May 2009
24 Carl G Rocket Launcher / RPG - Skydive Rocket 19 May 2009
25 Merc Fire 02 June 2009
26 shooting stop, chorus of cursing 28 July 2009
27 Increase your rescue buddy's history - quickly.
Manipulate who will be rescue and best buddy 17 January 2010
28 crazy driving (shortcut to Marina) 14 September 2009
29 Speed Freak 21 September 2009
30 AI & Quirks discussion 26 September 2009 (read follow-up posts / focus on mandru's observations)
31 Danger Seeker (Pala) 14 December 2009
32 extra silent stealth technique 02 October 2009
33 How to make Reuben get angry and swear at you 27 October 2009
34 Mosate Selao Buggy 05 December 2009
35 Avoiding Detection (sneak kills) 05 December 2009
36 The door gap trick 05 December 2009
37 Higher reputation may make mercs trigger shy 23 August 2010
38 Kicking propane tanks 23 August 2010



Also on this forum:
More (funny) tips and tactics in other topics:

MODDING FC2 SP 08 September 2011
Article: Locations of Interest (Dune Buggy locations, Sniper's Paradise location) 02 July 2010 (added here)
Merc War - Mercs vs Mercs, real firefight <incl savegame> 17 January 2010 (added here)
how to make mercs swear for minutes
Hold them Hostage!
Practicing something new with the mercs that chase me in their vehicles...
42/40 side missions in buddy locations
Wanna get a laugh at the expense of the Datsun and Jeep mercs?
Travelling: by Bus or...? 29 May 2009
The lag problem... 30/31 May 2009
Goka Falls bridge collapses... 14 June 2009
Tricky way to find hidden mercs... 25 July 2009
Better aiming (switch scope) 30 August 2009
Fun with your rescue buddy 05 September 2009 (topic is "older" but should not to be forgotten)
Throwing an IED 12 January 2010
infinite arms dealer convoy missions 30 January 2010
How To Mate Vehicles 14 April 2010

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1) Tactics: Blow up a bunch of mercs

If you have the chance to try this, you may like it:

Find cover and hide. Then shoot with a silenced weapon somewhere near a bad guy -- he and his friends will come and investigate where your rounds hit. Then throw a grenade at them -- they will want to flee. Now shoot again next to the group, they will immediately freeze and again want to investigate the impacts. Say "sorry" and watch them blow up all together  ;D

edit: to stop the mercs from fleeing (from a grenade), you can as well shoot at them, as quickly as possible after your grenade is out, with a silenced weapon such as MP5. I did that a couple of times now, mostly got them all, so I wanted you to know :)

[PZ]

This is a great tip Art, just the kind of thing I look for - new ways to do things that can potentially change how you play the game.  Thanks for posting.

[Art Blade]

welcome, glad if you like it.

I was thinking about the above mentioned tactic and want to add that the dart rifle might not be the silenced weapon of choice... they tend to identify a "miss" as sniper fire and frenzy. I used the mp5 for that. I think it is also of advantage if you shoot at something that is not between you and them but behind them so they turn away from you.

Another tactic:

2) Rush a Guard Post

If you're in a hurry and have to pass a guard post, best do it with whatever grenade launcher available. Rush through the GP and they will both try to man stationary weapons and assault trucks. In the meantime you stop and turn around, firing a grenade at one of their trucks. The explosion gives you time to reload or to continue lobbing grenades at their explosives etc. Usually I end up without a scratch and a rewarding wildfire :)

[PZ]

I've noticed that point about the dart as well - many times it is identified as sniper fire, especially if you fire and miss the merc - they often identify your location.  Good advice on the GPs - some of them are a challenge (especially the kind with the RPG snipers) while others are a cake walk you can blast through.  Curiously, I have favorite posts that I like for one reason or another.

[Art Blade]

I too like some GP, but there are some I really don't. Especially if they have guided missiles...

Here is how to avoid your car getting blown up by those missiles (risky though):

3) dodge guided missiles

The RL merc aims at you, not your car. So you best steer your car to the side of the road and bail out, leaving it intact. Of course you will have to deal with the impact...

I find it more useful to snipe/shoot the gunner. You can tell you hit him when his missile goes mental (starts to fly in circles or off and away) :)

[PZ]

Yeah, I recall when I was first becoming accustomed to the game, the RPG guys did me in quite frequently.  These days I know which posts have them so like you, I go in with a sniper and then finish the post with the grenade truck (if I have one that is...)

[Art Blade]

4) Keeping your favourite car

The game FC2 allows you to keep your vehicle, as long as you keep it inside the map you see on your handheld. Especially if you enter an area with a detailed map (like Dogon Village) just park your car at the rim of the map so you may sneak in on foot. After the job is done you will find your car still waiting for you. You will lose it if you travel far, ie by bus.

My gren truck is still the same, only it looks a wreck. Everything that can fall off indeed has fallen off (I drive with the motor exposed). I like that car like that, an old veteran :)
[smg id=186 type=link align=center width=500]
A side note: When I first got it, I thought it was brown. Then, after a rainfall, I saw my car was crisp white LOL

A discussion has come up, read here

A report of a related experiment can be found here

[PZ]

This is an excellent tip Art - I've never noticed exactly how I lose my cars so this is really good to know.

Well, it is a beautiful sunny day and my wife is inviting me outside to have some champagne in the hot tub - see you guys later and happy Easter!

[spaceboy]

That is a great tip Art.  Just the other day I parked my Unimog just outside of Mokuba and it was gone when I got back, I think you do go into another sector so maybe that was it.

[Art Blade]

5) A different use of IEDs

Ever thought of laying out a series of IEDs without having to ignite them all at once? Try placing them somewhere both exposed and isolated from blast radius. Then snipe them... you can set them off by shooting at them, setting them on fire or use the blast radius of other explosives...

Also remember they can be used to start a wildfire. You may as well lay a series of them in a line just far enough they don't go off due to blast radius but within the radius of expanding wildfire. Like that you can provoke a chain of fire, each IED starting a fire that will set off the next bomb :)

Have fun.

A discussion has come up, read here

[Art Blade]

6) Handgrenades from the sky

You have most certainly heard those mercs comment on a grenade like "have you seen where it came from" - "yeah, it came from over there!"

You can trick them, however, if you throw it in a very steep arc ie throw it high in the air so it comes falling down like a raindrop (best if thrown from a high ground). The result is the surviving mercs will glare at the sky while you can pick them with your sniper rifle like ripe fruit. LOL

[Art Blade]

I have something I don't know where else to post, so I put it in here.

7) African Roulette
(RPG rather than a revolver)

[smg id=170 type=link align=center width=500]
In this pic I fired at that rock and the rocket bounced off. It went high up, and dropped like a bomb somewhere not far away.

Get your RPG and aim it at anything solid (e.g. a road sign, a rock) only a step away from you (you could also use the ground). Shoot at an angle so the rocket will bounce off. The rocket uses a propelling charge and most of the time (hehe) this prevents the payload from exploding during the charge time. Now watch where it might go... I've seen really acrobatic stuff then :)

Have fun.

edit: made the pic small.

[Art Blade]

8 ) Stealth Driving

No Lights

While driving at night, do so with your headlights switched off. When you start the engine, immediately hit your light switch (whatever button you use), so it won't even switch on to start with. You will find the night bright enough to safely drive where ever you want. Besides, what could possibly happen -- afraid of running over some mercs? :)

There are some advantages driving without light. First of all, to the mercs you are a dark spot in the dark = invisible. On the other hand, you can see other cars much better if you're not blinded by your own lights. You can see them from really far away, hehe. And you get used to the darkness and can keep it up when leaving your car - you don't have a torch/flashlight either.

I ran over a couple of mercs who sat next to their car somewhere next to a deserted road... nasty. And I remember a car that came hurrying along without noticing me until we had passed each other. Since then I keep doing this.

Silent Driving

Especially at night with your lights switched off, you may pass a guard post unnoticed if you don't maintain full throttle. Release the pedal and stomp on it again. Do so a couple of times until you have passed the GP. Apparently your engine isn't as loud like that as if you came flying past with a full blown nitrous oxide need4speed tuner ;)

Enjoy.

[PZ]

These are some great tips Art,

We probably should keep a collection of material like this - you've mentioned things I've never thought of before (except for the headlights thing) and I'm on my 9th play through.

[Zomby Woof]

Wow, that's some good stuff man.  I'm off to try this stuff out, Thanks Art.

[Art Blade]

Cheers, glad if you find this stuff useful :)

At least it's worth a try, if only for a laugh. I always liked to do things you weren't supposed to do in a game, and watch what happened. Sometimes you happen upon really strange stuff, sometimes it's quite useful. Then again sometimes I play seriously and analyse a situation. I then have to choose between radical or extreme solutions (not always the clever ones) and the ones that keep my skin mostly intact ;)

What you find here is a result of trial and error and also of some extreme suicidal experiments. Funny thing, the extremely suicidal experiments often produce the funny stuff you just read :)

[Art Blade]

9) Accuracy

If you wonder how that works, well, I can't tell you how to aim but how your outcome might improve statistically.

I think three things are relevant (given you can hit a barn door with a shotgun)

- mounted and handheld weapons are treated equally
- weapons that use bullets (ie no explosives such as grens, or flames)
- number of actual hits on a living human target

And it is also important to think about consequences of how you shoot someone. If your main goal is headshots, imagine killing four mercs, 100%. The next miss means you had 4 hits out of 5 shots, thus leaving you with 80% accuracy. If instead you use ie the 6P9 and shoot your target like 5 times in the chest and do that with four guys, you get 20 hits out of 20 shots = 100%. should you miss a couple of times, your accuracy will still be better than those 80% of some unlucky headhunter. Problematic are shotguns (I think they blast 8 bullets per shot, of which only a few do the trick, the rest count as misses) and of course any automatic weapon, since they tend to spread a little and are hard to keep on target; also they tend to "overkill" just as do shotguns.

For what it's worth... at least you can influence your accuracy with that knowledge by considering certain tactics.

[PZ]

I noticed the accuracy bit as well, but did not know about the mounted weapons - makes sense though - started the game intending to use the 6P9 for head shots and all went well for a while - later in the game I looked at the stats page and my accuracy was only 25% or so - probably due to using the mounted assault truck weapons.

[Art Blade]

What I noticed is after I decided to keep a somewhat decent accuracy, I concentrated more on the actual firefights. Hence my style improved and it actually feels nicer when finishing off a couple of guys with only a couple of rounds (rather than running out of ammo). Sometimes, when I shoot like a lunatic but hit nothing, I revert to the last save game and start over.

Today, just now, I had another fight over at Mertens Segolo Piplines because I had to pass those buggers on my way to marina. The fight was quite ok until that ba$t@rd mortar gunner from that isle presented me with a couple of explosives. Took out my car too. So another reload... usually I try to take out that mortar first, then finish the other mercs, only he is hard to spot until he fires...

[PZ]

I really don't like that area of the world and if I take a mission to the pipeline area, I usually take the southeast bus to the southwest stop, then head east toward the safe house and the canyon leading to the pipeline area from the west.  A bit of a round-about way, but the mortar guy and the grenade gunboats are a bit much at times.  However, as a variant, I'll take the boat from the marina and sneak up behind the mortar guy - off him, then shell the pipeline area with grenades - earned payback...

[Art Blade]

It's my own fault - the reason I do that is because I want to keep the very same gren truck which has served me well so far. It is nice to always have such a car at hand, they're not that often around. So I protect it, and that means cope with that mortar guy. But in a way... I like the challenge on my way across the map. Like that, you see a lot more than by bus :)

[PZ]

Keeping your vehicle is a good idea that I'm going to try next time thanks to your advice on parking it so that it stays on your current map.  I can appreciate using the same truck as another way to increase the immersion.  I've heard that the vehicles degrade like the weapons do - true?

As an aside about the grenade truck - have you checked D_B's maps to see the grenade assault truck routes?  I'm rarely without one, usually because I steal it at my first opportunity - of course, that's because I'm a lazy kind of merc and like to leave the driving to Greyhound!

[retiredgord]

Art that's good advice and adds a lot of fun to the game.  I drove without lights for most of my missions done at night.  Those headlights are like a bulls-eye when you're behind a .50 cal or grenade launcher.  It's also fun to park the vehicle on the road and wait till someone starts to check it out. Then you welcome them from a good spot.  I might try the IED next time thru.

[Art Blade]

PZ: About the routes... I wasn't aware there were any! You guys are incredible :)

Thanks for the info. To me it was either an accident or luck to grab one of those gren trucks.

About degrading cars, never noticed anything like that. I mean, you can repair them, and I've heard that once you've got a "manual" for a certain vehicle, your repairs are not only quick but last longer. What ever that means, I always have to repair any vehicle if some idiot uses it for target practice ;) So, since it can be repaired, other than weapons, I don't think there are any problems involved other than the need to defend it or simply keep it.

Retiredgord:
Hehe, n1 :) - Good idea about the truck bait on a road. hehe

[PZ]

I'm glad that I was able to give you some useful information!  If you look under the Overview maps menu at the top, then look for Patrol legend, you'll see the colors that D_B assigned to the mapped patrol routes (grenade truck routes are in red) - then go to the Bowa main map (or any region map) and look for the colors - voila, you have the vehicle of your choice.

One thing you might try if you have a color printer is to have the paper copy of the main maps, or even of the regions to look at while you play - as you know, the main map in the game leaves much detail out - detail that would be useful to have when planning your specific routes to a mission and/or other things to do along the way.  Although I haven't done it yet, I'm planning to take the data file into the print shop and have the maps printed as posters - laminate them, and they could serve as wall art near your gaming unit!  (Man, my wife is going to have me committed, especially when I come home with a new PC just to play FC2 and the games like it in the future...)