Unexpected results

[grenada]

So I got my first convoy mission(yes, I am still quite a newb) and it was the northern one in Leboa-Sako. I decided to take an airboat(I got the mission at mikes bar) and travel by river. You can see where this is headed.
   I got past Pala fine. Right after I passed Shwansa, however, things started going down-hill. I passed the guardposts, thinking they were land-based. They aren't. I ended up with 2 airboats chasing me and fire coming from the town on the other end of the bridge. I thought I killed both of teh guys(headshotted the gunner, no driver in sight) when the airboat blows up. I ended up with a nail between my fingers. I got a buddy rescue. He got bout 15 kills in the village across the river.
   So I swim the river, and mop up, using up my second syrrete. I walk towards the convoy route and get a safehouse. I see the weapons shop, and go inside. I save, get a full thing of syrretes. I outside and wait for the convoy(which I missed by about 10 seconds) The first pass I my old, rusty AK jams on, so I can only fire at the last vehicle effectively. Bad move. This things jumps the rock I am on, missing me by an inch, and flies into the lake behind me. The rest of that is ancient history.
   This changes the plan, as now I got a 50. I repair the truck, and hop in, still in the waist high water. Next pass, I concentrate on the lead vehicle, thinking if I blow it up, it will stop the target vehicle. I shoot it up good, but it gets away.
   The 3rd and final pass is a little wierd. The lead car must have crashed, because the target comes barreling down the road alone. I figure the AK isn't going to do damage, and my only decent thing for the job is molotovs. I throw my first one, land five feet short, causing him to drive into the side of the mountain. My next throw lands straight behind him, blocking his escape. This is about when he pops out. I throw one last molotov, missing the truck and landing behind. He jumps out and starts shooting. In our firefight, he doesn't notice the nice flames behind him. I get a nice armament truck barbeque. Now thats good eating.

**Disclaimer**I am a newb, this is my first post, take it easy on me

[PZ]

Traveling by river is usually safe if you know the boat routes, but yeah, I can see where you're headed...  welcome to the forums by the way!

Edit: I'm envious of you - you're just starting out in the game which in my opinion is one of the best I have ever seen (although I admit that I don't game much) - just finished my 9th play through and will begin the 10th tomorrow morning.  The interesting thing is that I still see and experience new things after all these plays through.

[Art Blade]

welcome, grenada! Derives your name from the famous weapon or the city in spain? :)

[spaceboy]

Welcome to the forums grenada.  River travel was tougher than i thought at first, but two tips I'll give you is to try traveling at dusk or night (the mercs are less active) and also keep moving, most of the shots are coming from shore and you can outrun them normally.

Also for travel in general, if you go offroad, along railroad tracks, or especially in the dunes surrounding the map you'll come across less mercs.

Of course, enjoying taking out guard posts is  half the fun, but I too sometimes just want to get where I'm going.

[grenada]

I do travel off-road. The reason I was taking fire from land was because A. That was the spot I needed to get off and B. I needed to take out the gunner on teh speedboat chasing me

Also, my name comes from the island in teh caribbean(even though I have never been anywhere near there) ???

It seems that the more w@&k I do to avoid guardposts, the more I get ambushed and lose half my syrretes I need later. Why were mercs sitting in an abandoned bus in the middle of nowhere?

[JRD]

Welcome grenada...
I see you are an I-won't-give-up kind of guy. Thats cool... no matter how things go, you always find a way to do te trick ;)
Improvisation is the key in this game.
Let us know how your unexpected results ends up... we just love to hear stories ;)

[Art Blade]

thanks for the reply, grenada. No worries, you never know what is in for you in your life... maybe one day :)

[spaceboy]

Sometimes unexpected results are a blessing in disguise with new gameplay or taking a route and seeing something new.  I can't tell you how many times a toss a grenade at a roadside attacker and manage to blow up my own ride...doh!  But it leads to another chapter of fun adventure so it's all good.

And definitely keep up the stories, as JRD says it's great to hear "far crying moments"

[Art Blade]

ah, the moments of surprise and spitting blood... hehe. On my first through I had similar experiences. I think I did everything I shouldn't have done so now I'm trying to avoide all that :) First time = education

[grenada]

By popular request, Part 2

I was assasinating a guy in northern Pala. I went in carrying a brand-spankin' new homeland-37, some IEDs, and my old, rusty, corroded, hunk of junk flamethrower. The guy was walking the alley on the east side of the hotel. My plans were

A.walk up to him with a machete and hope he doesn't get a shot off.
B.Try to hit him with my flamethrower before it blows up
C. Stand in the middle of teh road with my Homeland and pump him full of bird-shot
D.Drop a nade or shoot him from a hotel window.
E.Climb onto the roof of teh building behind  the hotel and throw a molotov
F. Improv

Guess which one I did. I ruled out A, B, and C because i would get mowed down in seconds by the crossing fields of fire from teh HQs. I ruled out E because of the cumbersome escape and exposed position to small arms fire from the HQs. I decided on D, so I went into that hotel. Problem, the windows have these thick, wooden shutters that allow perfect sniping positions at teh HQ and gates, but the guy I can't quite see. I decide to pull out my pistol, and blow out the shutters. I then remember I am carrying IEDs. This made it interesting. I randomly threw one out the window and detonated. I got two messages. Mission complete, and get out of dodge. I walk out of the room to the indoor balcony, and train my homeland on teh door. To my surprise, no one comes in. They were searching out-side. Three minutes later, a UFLL guy comes in, and gets promptly blown away. I wait for a dozen of his buddies to rush in, but their shadows go by the door. I go down to the main floor, and they are gone. I walk outside, preparing to sprint to cover in the alleys around the church. To my surprise, no fire comes from teh UFLL side of teh street. Problem is, the APR must have got rienforcments or something, it was pure muzzle-flashes. Let me tell you, that was one of those get out of dodge moments you don't forgot

[Art Blade]

sounds like a proper adventure to me, well done :) and a nice story too, cheers.

As for buildings, I observed those mercs never storm it with everything that can move. Apparently they get thrilled at walking in one by one. The only thing missing is they don't knock before they enter :)

[spaceboy]

I like your style grenada, good w@&k.

[grenada]

I see no one else has any stories like these?

Wait...Is anyone else here as stupid as me? :-\

Also, funny tidbit from after the first real underground mission I got.

I had just nailed all the mercs around teh UHQ south of Mokuba. This had been a nightmare getting into on foot(I always look for back routes, so no vehicles) I must have put down a dozen mercs, using AKs and SPAZ-12s, along with a jeep with a nade launcher. I hade my extremely old AK(which jammed every other clip if I was lucky), an equally old Star .45, and the flamethrower I have already talked about. I ended up taking one of them mini-cars which was actually a steel roll cage with a motor and a seat duct taped on. I was crashing the one guard post between me and teh UHQ. Malaria. Yes, I had a malaria attack while speeding through a guard post at 45 MPH, crashing into a rock. I had to take a malaria pill with 3 AKs and a SPAZ 6 feet away, behind some sandbags. I got to use a SPAZ 12, and got a nice Jeep with a .50 cal. I never used the .50, I just used the bus instead(the storage compartments are surprisingly comfortable)

[PZ]

Oh, lots of stories, grenada - check out the Articles sections when you get a chance, and the Missions board contains lots of stories you might be interested in.

[Art Blade]

hehe, your stories sound like diary entries of a merc just after boot camp ;) Keep it up, matey! You are absolutely not stupid, at best you could call that inexperienced. But hey, that sort of crap (still) happens to me and everyone else. You're in good company here :)

[Ricamundo]

Welcome grenada, and nice stories. Glad to see you're enjoying it. 8)

[JRD]

I agree with PZ... check the Articles section and feel free to tell us what you've been doing lately ;)

[PZ]

Here's something unexpected that I ran into this morning - was cleaning out a GP and prepared to leave when the last remaining merc assaulted me on the way out of town - he was clearly South African because all I could understand is that he was angry at what I had done to his friends (language was clearly a barrier at the time).  Imagine my surprise when I wounded him and he exclaimed in an Irish accent "Aww, I'm hit!"

[Art Blade]

LOL yeah hahaha
Also, the only American in the game is the doctor (by way of accent)

[Ricamundo]

LOL yeah hahaha
Also, the only American in the game is the doctor (by way of accent)

One of the buddies is American, no? Im terrible with names. ???

[Art Blade]

same here. I didn't even know what my own character's name was until recently  ;D

About the Americans, I didn't think of playable characters, silly me. Those mercs in the wild who don't speak Africaans, don't exactly sound american to me, but when that doctor arrives, he sometimes shouts something with a strong american accent. Made him stick out, soundwise, when listening to the usual rants :)

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Hi all,

Great to be on a forum and not worry about trolls.   ;D

I ran into a really odd situation (or two) the other day.  Warren Clyde was my primary buddy, and for whatever reason Michelle Duchss just didn't want to become my rescue-ready buddy (she kept hanging out at Mike's Bar spurning my advances, I guess), no matter how many times I slept at a safe house.  Anyone ever have that happen?

So I was rescue-buddy-less when I did the railyard "blow up the tanker" mission.  Afterward, when getting to the place where Warren needed rescuing, I just sort of hung back for a sec and watched through the scope of my Dart Rifle.  Here's another weird part - I watched him get hit by round after round (blood was literally spurting everywhere), and he NEVER WENT DOWN!  I watched for a good two minutes, until he'd finally eliminated the remaining hostiles.  Then I went over and there he was, cleaning his gun.  I wonder if not having a rescue-ready buddy had anything to do with it?

Afterward, I decided to go seek another buddy (using the Buddy Missions thread as a guide - thanks!) and rescued Flora Guillen.  Well, sure enough, the next safe house I hit, there was Michelle Dachss waiting for me!  Apparently it's true - show too much interest in a woman, they don't want you.  But as soon as ANOTHER woman shows interest.... :-X

[PZ]

That's a good one about the ladies Foghorn Leghorn! 

I too have noticed similar to what you mention about the buddies - I thought that one of our members had a theory as to how the buddies appeared (or failed to appear), but I've forgotten.

It is interesting that sometimes your buddy seems to have the resistance of Kevlar while at other times the softness of a jelly fish.

Welcome to the forums by the way.  I'm sure you'll develop camaraderie with the membership of the site!  :)

[JRD]

I must echo PZ's words, you'll find camaraderie with our members.... as long as you stay away from Michelle... too many folks hitting on her already.
We'll spoil that woman in no time  ;)

[DKM2]

Does the American say "ya'll" a lot?  That's a dead give away, especially if you're the only one around.
*looks around* who?  :D, its just me?!?!?....  oh, I get it. men in black,  shhhh..    ;)


Anyways,
I've never had too much of a problem with the rescue buddies so I can't answer to that.
But I've long suspected that wither the best buddy gets killed on a mission or not is just random, like you described.
The game just seems to roll the fate dice, and they live or die. Just like real life?