Merc War - Mercs vs Mercs, real firefight <incl savegame>

[PZ]

It is rare that I've been able to kill a merc without every other guy in the place immediately aware of that fact.  For instance, I like to go to the 3rd floor in the Church towers in Mosate and Sefapane to do a bit of sniping, and after I fire the first dart, every merc in town is immediately firing on my position.  I think I'll try waiting until I see a merc off by himself and see what I can do - would be fun.

[fragger]

Yeah, I like to do that too, PZ, and like you I haven't been able to pull off whacking one merc without the rest being immediately aware of it. As has been said, it must depend on whether the target makes any sound when he buys it or is in line of sight of the others.

A funny thing happened to me in Sefapane yesterday. As I drove my 'mog into town, I heard someone say, "We've got a live one!", and all the mercs in town immediately started gunning for me. I didn't run over anybody coming into town or anything, nor had I been having any combat anywhere nearby, so why they went for me I don't know. I guess they were just bored and wanted to liven things up a bit! ;D

[Art Blade]

I've read a couple of times about the player getting shot at in a cease-fire zone, looked like a glitch. All I can think of is that you might have crossed a restricted area, if it wasn't a glitch.

[mandru]

Without a single shot.

I had one whole play through in both Pala and Mosato Selao where every time I accepted a faction mission the whole surrounding town would kick into alert and I'd have to sneak or blast my way out as well as I could. It just added some spice to the game.

Also sometimes when I bus into Port Selao, I get the "Escape Ceasefire Zone" message as soon as I jump into the Jeep to drive into town. Because the faction door guards are also after me there's no sneaking in and I have to drive east out of Selao on the train tracks until it resets and I can drive back in normally.

[Art Blade]

That would be funny if it wasn't sad... It's alright if you provoke an argument, but the game playing games on you is a plain bug. Nice of you taking it like a sportsman, "it just added some spice to the game"  :-X

[fragger]

It just added some spice to the game.

A true merc/philosopher! ;D

[raistlinmajere8]

So.... wait. I'm a tad confused...... how exactly do you start said merc wars?

You just go to the prescribed place, and start shooting/exploding everything? 

[PZ]

Not exactly - the only place that it is easy for me personally to start a merc war is in the Cock Fight arena.  I start from Pala, and race through the GP (guard post) east of town on the way to the arena.  The mercs there give chase in their AT (assault truck). but as I (and they) race through the arena area, the mercs there begin shooting at all of us, thus starting a fight between the mercs.  Keep going until you get past the arena and then turn around.  If you are lucky enough, they will not see you walking back, but you will be able to see them fighting one another.

Alternately, if you're on PC, download Art's saved game and you're in the midst of a fight you can witness.  Use the ignore_player cheat and they will not see you.

[Art Blade]

Indeed, the only true place for merc wars is Cock-Fights, and best enjoyed with ignoreplayer cheat. It does w@&k without, thought. The trick is, make some noise away from you (throw a grenade, detonate an IED or the likes) and make it so that both the CF mercs and the guard post mercs want to investigate. If you did it right, both parties will meet in the middle and start killing each other. If you're in between without cheat, they will most likely chase you down and that will spoil the fun  ;)

[Art Blade]

Today I've witnessed again a little merc war at Goka Falls, around the mission when you have to kill a faction leader up there. I entered the area, ran past the shooting pier mercs at the mouth of that canyon, jumped into the river, crossed it, and ran up the hill, following that path, and went out of sight of the mercs. When I arrived at the bridge, I heard gunshots down at the pier. Obviously the ruckus when I ran past those mercs attracted some other mercs and a firefight ensued. It gave me time to shoot the single guard at my side with my 6P9 and the only visible merc on the other side of the bridge with a dart. I crossed the bridge, looked inside that mansion and donated a third nostril to the faction leader. I escaped via the same route. Only down at the river, near the pier, two victorious mercs were loitering, so I needed to shoot them too. This was the most silent Goka Falls mission so far for me.

Previously (I had a savegame for that) I had tried a different method, yet again I had left those pier mercs alive. I detonated an IED on the wall of the mansion and torched the bridge so it collapsed, preventing those mercs to cross the chasm. The explosion and the shooting must have attracted mercs from down the river, as some time later a firefight ensued behind and to the left of the mansion.

I don't know if it is only those two parties or if a patrol from the roads comes into play there, but it has been the third merc war I witnessed there (first time the mercs from the bridge came running after me and attacked the pier mercs) :)

By the way, one time only, I witnessed a DD (Datsun Dummy) and a PAT (lol, PatrollingAssaultTruck, usually ATP, ATParol) near the airfield in Bowa fighting each other. It was halfways between the bridge near Marina and the Airfield, the DD came after me, and an AT showed up, and they killed my car and each other :)

[PZ]

Nicely done  :-X

[fragger]

I never realised this before, but in Bowa, along the eastern lakeside road, the patrolling .50 cal AT and the DD are NOT on the same side. I only became aware of it when the DD was pursuing me northwards away from the Marina and we ran into the AT. The mercs in both vehicles got out and immediately started shooting at each other while I nicked off into the shrubs. Finally there was only one of them left - but not for long ;D

[mandru]

Cool find fragger!  :-X

[wexer9]

Nice finds, fragger and Art. :-X

I will have to watch out for this myself. :)

[Art Blade]

thanks, wexer9  :)

[fragger]

Cheers, guys!

[Art Blade]

Something I found out recently about the classic merc war at Cock-Fights: If you start a merc war there and immediately leave while both factions are about to fight or already started fighting, in many cases you'll lay the foundation for a new merc war that will ensue as soon as you return to the area.

How? Well, they tend to throw grenades. Grenades that have been thrown while you were leaving the area will not explode. However, when you return, the area picks up on how you left it, and the grenade will explode. Of course, the mercs will be in their original places, yet they'll think someone threw a grenade (which is true) and try to find out what is going on. They will soon find each other and start another merc war...

I did that three times in a row, and each time I returned from Mike's Bar or somewhere else, a grenade would set off, alarming the mercs of the guard post, and I heard them talk across each other "what the hell was that?" "Let's check it out!" and so on... hehehe ;D

[wexer9]

Awesome, Art, awesome. :-X

I really have to try this sometime. :)

[Art Blade]

Cheers, wexer9  ;D Do it, it is the best pastime I can think of during the Leboa part of the game :)

By the way:

Cool find fragger!  :-X

I just happened to read the entire topic again and found this:

I did a "mini" merc war [...] in southeast Bowa [...] anticipating the fire fight when the Datsun dummy shot and killed the ATP merc!

So PZ found out about it long ago, while fragger and I happened to see it for ourselves only just recently :)

[fragger]

I did a "mini" merc war [...] in southeast Bowa [...] anticipating the fire fight when the Datsun dummy shot and killed the ATP merc!

So PZ found out about it long ago, while fragger and I happened to see it for ourselves only just recently :)

@PZ - I doff my hat to you, sir ;D

[Art Blade]

me too: tip of the hat, PZ :)

[PZ]

lol, I'd forgotten all about that one, but thanks for the reminder guys!  ;)

That's cool what you discovered about the grenades, Art - the whole "merc war" thing is intriguing - I sometimes wonder how carnage has occurred in an area that I've just entered.  Many times I've seen the aftermath of some kind of conflict between the mercs.  One time I even watched it while it happened - was on a rock overlooking the GP north of the southeast bus stop in Bowa - heard an ATP approaching and just watched what would happen.  The driver casually ran over a merc walking across the road and a fight broke out.  This is not the first time I've seen that GP wiped out, but was definitely the first time I'd seen it happen first hand.

[Art Blade]

I have trouble finding that GP north of the bus stop to the south east of Bowa... All I can think of is Underground, Airfield, maybe the GP behind the airfield... or the one you pass when entering Port Selao, near the arms dealer... can you please go a little more into detail?  :)

[PZ]

oops, my mistake - I just checked the map and it's Leboa, not Bowa - sorry for the mix-up!

[Art Blade]

don't worry  :)