OpenWorldGames Server ONE

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 (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1484#msg1484)
3 dodge guided missiles (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1503#msg1503)
4 Keeping your favourite car (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1508#msg1508) 30/31 May 2009
5 A different use of IEDs (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1556#msg1556) 29 May 2009
6 Handgrenades from the sky (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1557#msg1557)
7 African Roulette (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1562#msg1562)
8 Stealth Driving (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1563#msg1563)
9 Accuracy (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1597#msg1597)
10 Dental Clinic abandoned and deserted (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1712#msg1712)
11 Interesting things to know about the game's AI (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1906#msg1906)
12 Timing Malaria attacks (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg2115#msg2115) 04 June 2010
13 Blocking Your Enemies (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg2258#msg2258)
14 Take out the mortar in South Bowa. (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg2367#msg2367) 21 September 2009
15 Preparing a car bomb and setting it off. (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3063#msg3063)
16 Relight my Fire (Lamp trick) (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3067#msg3067)
17 Tip for PC screen caps "where is my weapon?" (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3211#msg3211)
18 Reduce Weapon Degrading (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3291#msg3291) 08 May 2009
19 Mike's Bar: Missions In A Row (PC) (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3308#msg3308)
20 Driving Fun: Drifting / 180° turn (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3370#msg3370) 16 May 2009
21 Car Bombs, II. (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3806#msg3806)
22 "Unstuck" your car (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg5018#msg5018)
23a) + 23b) Repair upgrades / battle-ready (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg5668#msg5668) 29 May 2009
24 Carl G Rocket Launcher / RPG - Skydive Rocket (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg5851#msg5851) 19 May 2009
25 Merc Fire (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg7355#msg7355) 02 June 2009
26 shooting stop, chorus of cursing (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg11550#msg11550) 28 July 2009
27 Increase your rescue buddy's history - quickly.
Manipulate who will be rescue and best buddy  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14097#msg14097)17 January 2010
28 crazy driving (shortcut to Marina) (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14113#msg14113) 14 September 2009
29 Speed Freak (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14426#msg14426) 21 September 2009
30 AI & Quirks discussion (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14632#msg14632) 26 September 2009 (read follow-up posts / focus on mandru's observations)
31 Danger Seeker (Pala)  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14764#msg14764)14 December 2009
32 extra silent stealth technique (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14922#msg14922) 02 October 2009
33 How to make Reuben get angry and swear at you  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg16643#msg16643)27 October 2009
34 Mosate Selao Buggy  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg18487#msg18487)05 December 2009
35 Avoiding Detection (sneak kills)  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg18523#msg18523)05 December 2009
36 The door gap trick  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg18558#msg18558)05 December 2009
37 Higher reputation may make mercs trigger shy  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg28512#msg28512)23 August 2010
38 Kicking propane tanks  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg30202#msg30202)23 August 2010
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Also on this forum:
More (funny) tips and tactics in other topics:

MODDING FC2 SP  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=2337.0)08 September 2011
Article: Locations of Interest (Dune Buggy locations, Sniper's Paradise location)  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=36)02 July 2010 (added here)
Merc War - Mercs vs Mercs, real firefight <incl savegame>  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=617.msg7444#msg7444) 17 January 2010 (added here)
how to make mercs swear for minutes (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=215.msg1493#msg1493)
Hold them Hostage! (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=414.0)
Practicing something new with the mercs that chase me in their vehicles... (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=210.0)
42/40 side missions in buddy locations (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=82.msg4172#msg4172)
Wanna get a laugh at the expense of the Datsun and Jeep mercs? (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=211.0)
Travelling: by Bus or...? (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=583.msg6729#msg6729) 29 May 2009
The lag problem... (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=590.msg6921#msg6921) 30/31 May 2009
Goka Falls bridge collapses... (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=654.0) 14 June 2009
Tricky way to find hidden mercs... (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=872.msg11227#msg11227) 25 July 2009
Better aiming (switch scope) (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=508.msg13336#msg13336) 30 August 2009
Fun with your rescue buddy (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=220.msg1524#msg1524) 05 September 2009 (topic is "older" but should not to be forgotten)
Throwing an IED  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1296.msg20377#msg20377)12 January 2010
infinite arms dealer convoy missions  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1313.msg20779#msg20779)30 January 2010
How To Mate Vehicles  (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1531.msg25339#msg25339)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 :)

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.

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 :)

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.

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) :)

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...)

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 (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=580.0)

A report of a related experiment can be found here (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=591.msg6927#msg6927)

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!

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.

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 (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg6726#msg6726)

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 :)

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.

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.

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...

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...

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 :)

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!

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.

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

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...)

*snicker* yeah yeah, the missus. Well, I don't carefully plan how to finish a mission, all I do is try to get there safely, kill everyone I see or hear, and head back to either Mikey's or the capital (Port Selao, mostly). On assigned missions I tend to carry that big revolver grenadelauncher with me instead of the mp5, just to keep mercs on wheels off my neck. Most of the times I rely on my 6P9 and the dart for long range recon. The gren truck is good for clearing everything out on my way there. And there are always hand grenades... I love that on easy level, each merc drops a present for me to pass on  ;D

Yes, the trucks do degrade over time, but it may only be cosmetic. I've had trucks that are nice bright colors when I first steal them, then after driving off road a lot, they get dingy and dirty and turn brown. Then, after a few fire fights, I usually lose the hood as well, which is actually a bonus, since it's faster to repair a truck with no hood.

The other day my Unimog hood was stuck up half way impairing my view out of the windshield...I had to side swipe a tree to get it off so I could see better.  btw, the Unimog is so easy to flip over, it happened like 4 times just going off road in the dunes, luckily I could push it back upright.

I think the degradation will come in how fast they drive and how quickly they need another repair, it seems after a few smoking repairs it's best to steal a new one unless its a "special" like the grenade launcher or ATV

Is that Unimog a diesel, spaceboy?  I just love the sound of a diesel...

D_B (and everyone):

My old car needs a repair after it has attracted a series of mg rounds, but it never had its engine on fire even after like days of playing.

My gren truck lost everything that can fall off long ago, including the hood, and when I first got it, it was dirty and brown. Imagine my surprise when I left the car for a nearby mission during which it started to rain. When I got back, a white car without hood and all was in the place where I had left mine... so my car WAS WHITE! -- It seems rain works as a cosmetical repair LOL

I never had the chance to compare a brand new gren truck to my worn-out one. I'd try to put both next to each other and shoot either one until I know which one is first to start showing white smoke.

I don't care if the car degrades -- it is still alive and my happy veteran companion :)

I kind of like that level of immersion, Art... you become accustomed to your vehicle kind of like one can with a favorite weapon - golden AK for me - even when it starts to degrade I find it difficult to part with.

PZ, it may be a diesel come to think of it, I'll have to listen closer to the sound.  If only I could smell it.  Way back I used to lay asphalt as a summer job and to paraphrase: "I love the smell of diesel and asphalt in the morning."

ahhh..... kicking back and remembering one of my favorite movies of all time.. Duel - Spielberg's first I believe...

sorry to interrupt your nostalgic memories, but I just had something going on in the game :)


on topic: (funny) Tactics

10) Dental Clinic abandoned and deserted


Just happened to me, actually it was a side effect to something silly I did. You know there is that underground location right next to Dental Clinic, a small path connects them.

I had to get my bloody medicine from those underground blokes, but some moron mercs were peppering that crib when I arrived. So I touched them up with my jeep's grenade launcher and knocked them out with my 6p9. I left one merc standing and hopped back into my jeep because I wanted to imprint the wall with a merc. I tried slamming my car into him and squelch him between car and house but he just didn't want to obey... so I fed him some pineapples. Originally there were like one Datsun driver and four or five mercs. Then came another, and another, and a few more... I spent like 10 minutes shooting them all. I don't know how many, but finally it stopped. Out of curiosity I visited DC - only the sniper in his tower had a smoke there, so I smoked him for good. All the other peeps from there must have joined the party before... it was deserted! (The nearby guard post had sent his mercs too, it was abandoned when I looked it up...)

I remember there are at least one or two missions that send you to DC, and I also remember that I had quite a bit to do over there back then. Now I know how to drain that place before I go in :)

The same thing happened to me when I visited the DC a short time ago.  Funny thing is that it was not always so - if I did the mission at night, the mercs seemed to be a bit too sleepy to come my way.

LOL - I just came back to say the same... I tried to bait them by moving in a bit, shoot some birds (erm, those flying animals), and pull out. I hoped I'd attract them that way but no. Sad, really :)

I've had that happen at the Dental Clinic as well. Other places too, but not as much as at the clinic. I was parked outside the clinic with the grenade truck, and after only a couple shots, they all started to come down the road towards me. Made for fairly easy picking with the grenade launcher. I had already given the sniper in his tower a tasty HE treat from the launcher, so he and his tower were already toast. Once I rolled into the clinic, it was empty.

I kind of like the DC and always enter from the western end, via the narrow passage from the underground house.  The last time through, I just waited behind the rock and picked the mercs off one-by-one as they came towards me.  There ended up being quite a pile of them after it was done, and I took hardly a hit.

Regarding degrading vehicles: Testing armour

I managed to compare my worn-out gren truck with one (almost) untouched.

1) I parked both cars side by side, then I shot mine until white smoke showed. Then I repaired it. I did that so I had it "freshly repaired" and no old wounds interfering with the test.

2) I then shot with my 6P9 exactly 47 rounds into it, the last shot started the white smoke.

3) Then I shot the other car, expecting it to take at least as many shots in before starting to smoke, but somewhere around 20 it stated to smoke - apparently old wounds in that one.

4) So I repaired it too. It took exactly 47 rounds for the smoke to show...

Conclusion: I think after that there is no need to worry about worn-out degrading cars. They can take hits if you had them repaired. :)

edit: revised text.

A truly scientific method to test a vehicle's integrity!!!
Use a test subject and a control subject!!
Very clever Art... well done ;)

thank you :) I think it's "obligado" or something like that in your language, isn' it? :)

Another test with those cars showed that none of them can stand more than one grenade. (Kids, don't try that at home or with your neighbour's car, the test had been performed under controlled environment by a professional) Need to choose a different weapon for further tests... or skip that entirely. LOL

You should try testing how many shots from an AS50 takes to smoke a jeep. I read somewhere it is very effective to stop vehicles due to its high powered rounds.
Another good thing to try (now that you seem to be looking for things to try) is check how many rounds of a Desert Eagle.50 takes to smoke a jeep. Its the most powerfull firearm in the game (check weapon stats)
That would be nice  ;D

And its "obrigado" in portuguese  ;).
You are welcome Art ("de nada" Art)

I used Art's advice on keeping my vehicle on the map so that it doesn't spawn away, and it works great.  Used my grenade truck to blast one of the northeast GPs, left it on the road and hoofed it to a safe house that was quite a distance, cleaned it out, saved my game and then returned to find the truck still there (and the GP still smoking)

Thanks PZ, for confirming it. Great you can immerse more now :)

JRD, I don't really plan on testing everything to the bones, but I also heard of the great stopping power of that sniper. I remember I checked during a live game, and it took too many rounds (like 2 mags / 10 shots, roundabout). The Deagle takes too many rounds too, I remember firing at a truck like a complete moron, clip after clip, and the noise both guns make attracted mercs from all around the planet -- if you keep firing like that, you'll have a hardcore game even on "easy" :)

Thanks for the info Art.
When I got the Deagle.50 I also started firing against a jeep to see how long it would take to blow it up, but never conted how many shots I fired.  If I was trying to test something, it was pretty pointless  :P.
Anyway, I like that pistol and the best target to test its punch is a target that fires back  ;)

JRD, I think what you did with the Deagle was to find out it took too many rounds :) So you accomplished a valid result, hehe

But really, the shooting-the-truck test was only to find out if there was a difference between my very old car (say 20 hours in-game) and one I only just found abandoned on the street (after helping the unlucky pre-owners to decease). If you really wanted to stop any vehicle, you'd need only like 2 or 3 rounds of any small weapon to stop the drivers ;D

... or a single grenade / M79 round ;)

11) Interesting things to know about the game's AI

Today I wanted to find out (as probably some of you wanted to know too) what those mercs do when you're not around. More precise, if they don't recognise you - I used a cheat "IgnorePlayer"

When I activated the ignore-cheat, it was really... strange... to drive and walk around unnoticed by those mercs. A car came my direction, swerved, and passed me untouched. Strange non-violent behaviour. It feels odd, that much I can tell :)

What I wanted to know in particular is, what do they do in Port Selao (Cease-Fire Zone) and around any guard post, once you attacked them, knowing that they can't see or find you.

First of all, they don't seem to react to destruction as long as no one gets hurt. I even set off an IED, and they didn't care. That means, they completely ignore everything that has nothing to do with them. By the way, it didn't matter wether I used a Deagle next to their head or a silent 6P9.
They do react to fire though, since it's a threat to their lives. Also, they didn't realise it was my car that ran over one of their own. The result of a headshot with the dart caused them to say "what's wrong?" - "He's dead, someone fukin killed him!". A headshot with any other weapon made them suspicious of an attack, as did a regular mayhem (hehe). And yes, they search the entire place (Port Selao) but they didn't enter the bell tower of the church. Guard Post mercs search wide areas around their post.

Using the Dart Rifle without hitting them was sometimes recognised as a sniper shot / long range gun - they started to run around and swearing a little.

Interesting about any hit, once they thought an attack was going on, was that they managed to find the exact spot from where I had been firing. They seem to check the angle from the impact to the shooter and somehow manage to guess the distance correctly, too. And, they don't come from one direction only. Sometimes I noticed no one ahead, but I was being pushed from behind -- when I turned around, there were like 10 of them breathing down my neck LOL

Regarding tactics, I realise how bad an idea it is, camo or not, to stay in the same place, once you've fired a couple of rounds.

edit: without starting any fight, I watched them do the regular idle routines, they chat, drink etc, nothing special.

Very interesting stuff Art, being on PS3 I don't have a cheat like that.  I guess these guys are forensics experts too seeing as they can determine the location of the shot!  I'm surprised you didn't hear more interesting conversations though, I'm always just coming into earshot and hear pretty funny stuff, but I they always seem to shut up once I get close.

I might have heard more but my focus was on battle... the stuff I overheard was already known to me, so I didn't pay much attention. One thing though, I watched one merc walk up to an ammo crate and it looked like he grabbed a couple of whatever there was before he walked away :)

ah, edit. You should try to sneak up from behind a building or around a corner so they don't notice you - the'll keep their conversations going.

My latest AI watch was coming from the south into Shwasana.
I spotted a guy on the dock so I decided to just wait till he moved on before moving in closer.
Then he pulls out a fishing pole and starts waving it around like he's fishing,
obviously he didn't watch D_B's training videos, he'd know there's nothing in the water.  :)
Anyways, after a while he just threw the pole into the water in frustration and walked away.


Another I seen was watching some guys near an unmarked outpost in the northwest, (the center one I think) anyways,
one guy bends down, it looks like he's tending the fire, then suddenly flames burst out
and spread quickly setting the guy on fire. His buddy comes to his aid and soon finds himself ablaze too.
Well, that was easy, Darwin strikes again!

Patience is a tactic.

Cool observations DKM2 - that may explain some of the strange fires and other havoc that is created in guard posts even while we are not there.

I've seen it happening too. I mean, I arrived to a place right before it happens, so I figured that out.
It was in a safe house in leboa, north of the unmarked village. Night was falling and as I came closer one merc was on fire and the other was astonished... didn't know what to do, so I cleared his mind of worries :D

The AI ignore is fun, what it does is essentially make you invisible - they can hear you but not see you. I've had them eventually start shooting at me if I stand in one place long enough and fire at them but not shoot them. They home in on the sound and just start shooting at you, even though they can't see you.

To sneak up on them, use crouch, you don't make any footstep noise that way, and they will not hear or see you, and you can watch all you want. Otherwise, it's sorta like the mercs in town, you can bump into them and they get mad, etc.

You can also try zombie AI where they just stand there and do nothing, though that gets boring fast.

interesting observations from DKM2.
D_B, you're perfectly right about the sneaking up (crouched). But I wonder why they didn't react to the sound of gunshots -- remember, I was right next to a couple of guys and fired away with my Deagle (impossible to ignore) and I set off IEDs blowing up half the street, and they just went on as if nothing had happened.

Stupid question, what's a Deagle?

a Desert eagle (big silver pistol)

edit (only found this today... this pic for new readers)

[smg id=487]

Tactics:

12) Timing Malaria attacks

During my first through I was quite uncomfortable with the thought of getting a malaria attack while being already attacked by mercs. You know that feeling, the entire staff is after you and you have nothing else to do but perform a tremendous act of a malaria dance and just conveniently stop reloading, firing etc... Those mercs must have loved my malaria strikes.

Those attacks are timer based, so you can find out how long it takes between two strikes (simply check your statistics > total time played) Unfortunately I don't have the exact durations (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg25873#msg25873) (<- click for D_B's accurate time table) but it is about one hour between two pills. I think you have like half an hour and less if you skip a pill until the next attack. If anyone here fancies checking out the schedules, you are more than welcome to post :) (I can't be arsed anymore, I simply cheat with god mode now during my 2nd through)

edit 1:
erm... the tactic would be, time your attack and avoid being in the middle of a raid just then :)

[smg id=394 type=link align=center width=500]

edit 2:
Now on my third through I realise that it may be a difficult task to time the attacks. Because the "window" (time between two attacks) depends on your sickness level. The highest (5) forces you to almost keep your pillbox open, the lowest (0) allows long periods of game play without an attack. So, if you want to time it, make sure you're still on the same sickness level when you want to take advantage of the timing.

edit 3: linked to Dweller_Benthos' timings (thanks, mate :) )

read more about malaria (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=190.msg2069#msg2069).

Quote from: Ricamundo on April 18, 2009, 07:40:48 AM
Stupid question, what's a Deagle?

That's not a stupid question in my eyees Ricamundo.  Back on fc2world someone said he was so distraught at having to mercy kill a buddy that he "took is Deagle and put it in the case in the safe house for the rest of the game".  Even with that hint I didn't get it for like weeks. You can't put anthing BUT a gun in the cases. Duh!

Sounds kind of like a dog...
... maybe a dachshund/beagle mix?

... what an ugly dog...

took me a while to figure "deagle" out myself. No worries

Tactics

13) Blocking Your Enemies

Some jobs lead to locations that have narrow paths to it (remember for instance the dental clinic path to the underground location) and some guard posts that are sitting next to a bridge.

You can use a car, drive it up the bottleneck entrance and block the escape route. Then you start your mayhem, run back, climb over that car and watch...

The mercs will pile up behind that car while you escape. Watch them go crazy trying to bypass the road block with their cars... of course you can additionally heave a grenade against them and watch them all blow up.

Have fun

Hey Art, (and everyone else that has a favorite thread that they "own")

I just found out that when you reply to a topic you can change the Subject line to something that is completely on- "new" sub-topic (no pun).  For instance, Art has been posting some great topics called "Tactics" whose subject line could be changed to make it easier to sort.  Like the last one Art posted, the Subject line could be changed to Tactics: Blocking Your Enemies and when members express their appreciation, the RE will reference that particular post within the entire thread which separates the replies from the main instructional posts.  Just a thought however, everyone should do it however they like.

like this? :) cool! I fear most of the time I (and I bet some of you) will be just eager to post and forget about that gimmick... I'll try to keep it in mind though. Good to know, anyway.

edit.

I just thought that actually it might be pretty confusing if you check for latest posts and look at that "re:" and then remember it. When you try to find that reference later as a proper topic, it will drive you insane... LOL

ahhh.... good point - important for members that keep track of threads they want to watch by it's name, so maybe not so good an idea for general posting.  On the other hand it might w@&k nicely in the Site features forum where you might want to see only the new features.

Tactics:

14) Take out the mortar in South Bowa.

The guy that peppers the area from the brewery to MS Pipeline Co.

[smg id=114 align=center width=480]

I have just observed that guy using the IgnorePlayer cheat.

What I found out is, he walks in a straight line from one end of the small isle (where he observes the brewery) to the other end (where he observes MS Pipeline Co.) and back. Each walk takes about 30 secs, but the observing time varies. I followed him a few times back and forth. Observing took him from about 30 secs to like 1.5 minutes for each location.

When he is observing, he turns slowly from one side to the other, as if really scanning the area (which he probably does).

Now I understand why I could see him from far only sometimes on that small isle. Best is to find a sniper position so you can see the isle and wait for him to show up. Then pop his skull... makes life much, much easier if you plan to travel by boat or anywhere near the shore around MS Pipeline and that Bowa Brewery.

Edit 21 Sept 2009
Perfect Location to get rid of the mortar guy:
(read here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1013.msg14153#msg14153) how to get there easily)

[smg id=1409 align=center width=400]
[smg id=1410 align=center width=400]

Hope that helps :)

Art, another good observation.  I was fish food quite a few times because of him. To get to him I had to charge the island swerving (but he still got close) and run right up to him to kill him.  This way should be a lot easier when having to play in that area.

Thank you, retiredgord :)

believe me, I once took a boat and was headed straight to that isle, at night. I thought I might surprise him this time and literally aimed my boat at him (at least the position he used to be quite often). He had already shot that yellow stuff at me when I arrived, too late for him to reload, and I ran him over with my boat! It was entirely stranded on that isle, the merc being lubricant  ;D THAT was satisfactory hehe

One technique that I've found effective with that guy is to take a boat keeping far north and come up on him from that direction.  Because he tends to be on the south end of the island, I can usually get away with that.  The only thing you need watch for are the grenade and machine gun boats - don't attract their attention or everyone is on you like flies in stink!

Edit: PS - this is another good one for the maps...  I'll be everyone would like to see that guy up close.

Those boats...

You can take one out, make it loud, ie use a grenade launcher, and all other boats will come and ask for the exact same treatment. Just be careful not to be too close to that mortar guy. It may w@&k the silent way, strangely that too sometimes attracts the other boats' attention (visual?). Once you've collected those boats (three I believe?) you can choose one and head over to the mortar or simply snipe him :)

"I have just observed that guy using the IgnorePlayer cheat."

I think a comma is missing... "I have just observed that guy >,< using the IgnorePlayer cheat."

he didn't use the cheat. hehe

Quote from: Art Blade on April 19, 2009, 04:23:07 PM
"I have just observed that guy using the IgnorePlayer cheat."

I think a comma is missing... "I have just observed that guy >,< using the IgnorePlayer cheat."

he didn't use the cheat. hehe

Nice self correction Art.  I love things that can read two ways.  One of my favorites was an actual headline I saw that read something like:

"Crocodile attacks puzzle experts"

I thought, thank God I'm not a puzzle expert!

Great find Art. Like seemingly everyone, I've been killed by that ^&%&$@#!! sob more times than I can remember. one time, I was crouch walking in the trees at night on the other side of the brewery. No one else near me was aware of me except that Mortar guy on the island. >:(

Road Block

here a pic of how to "block'n'roll" :)

[smg id=129 align=center width=480]

Love it Art,  how did you steal all those trucks?  The way they're parked leads me to believe that there must be a story...

hehe, well... This is MS Pipeline Co.

First I took out that bloke with his mortar, using a dart, so I could waltz in unpeppered. Then I took out the few mercs at the crossing using my 6P9. Along came the white truck, from the left road that leads to the prison - I sniped the driver and his immediate replacement, the truck came rolling down on its own... then from my back (leading to marina) came that brown truck, which I stopped the same way as the white one. Then I walked over to that house near the lake to finish off the remaining mercs, and took the stationed orange truck to get back.

You can't see my own old truck, but that's the one to the right in the pic down here. I parked all cars side by side because they hadn't been blown up... no explosions at all. Strange, really... and I realised that each of those three trucks had a different weapon mounted, so I thought of a screenie... yeah, that's about all. Nothing special, really. I wish I could tell you a better story, but FC2 life isn't always Hollywood ;)

[smg id=128 type=link align=center width=500]

Well, we talk about memorable moments, and this qualifies as a memorable screen cap!   :-X

thanks :) Actually, the handgren screenie gives you an idea of what it could look like what I wrote about blocking the mercs' escape route; only here the road is far too broad to even think of trying that. Perhaps parking across rather than along the road. That I did sometimes, throwing a handgren at the car hoping to take out whatever was near it :)

Yeah, I enjoy the blocking trick myself - the first place I used that method was on the Mbantuwe's furniture convoy - waited in the narrow passage between the rocks with my truck parked sideways.  Was quite comical to watch the escorts hitting my truck, bounding off the wall etc.  They finally started their own rigs smoking, and then the big truck came up effectively sealing them in.

tar and feathers spring to mind...  :-* I sometimes use flamables, those butan tanks and that kind of stuff. I try to attract them to something that I can shoot at from afar, setting the entire crew on fire.

Remember the mission you have to go to Politechnic and take out that teacher? He won't leave his office, so you can take out the entire staff and he just waits for you. So when I had finished everyone else, I went about and kicked red and yellow barrels and those silverish small butan things (careful with those, they may explode if you kick 'em too hard) towards the office. I kicked them until they piled up inside his office (he must not see you, that's important). Then I saved the game and tried various things to set the office on fire, the goal was to make the pile of flamables go off and obviously kill him. I did that for like four hours straight, tears in my eyes from laughing so hard, always reloading and mumbling,here we go again, LOL  ;D

hahahaha, that almost brings tears to my eyes!  I've not used the flammables much, but I sure am going to do so from now on!   ;D

I really wish you could pick things up like in Half Life. Imagine the fun you could have hauling propane tanks and those acetylene tanks (the ones that fly around before exploding - looks like a welding tank) and the barrels and make a big pile of explosives somewhere. Or just carry one of the small tanks with you to use whenever you need it. Load up a truck with them.... the ideas are endless.

Agree with D_B.
In Crysis you can pick almost anything in the scenario and throw it.
Imagine if you could pick yellow barrels, toss them in a GP and shoot them? You will never be out of grenades or molotovs. Or just pick one object and throw it in a place to attract mercs and sneak through the other side...
Will add it in my FC3 wishlist ;)

Wow, if Ubi would take your recommendations, FC3 would be a total winner... :-X

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on April 22, 2009, 05:01:02 AM
I really wish you could pick things up like in Half Life. Imagine the fun you could have hauling propane tanks and those acetylene tanks (the ones that fly around before exploding - looks like a welding tank) and the barrels and make a big pile of explosives somewhere. Or just carry one of the small tanks with you to use whenever you need it. Load up a truck with them.... the ideas are endless.

Hmmm, I remember hiding behind a box crouched at the rail yard once,
and a merc was firing at me from close range, so I popped up and started firing back.
That's when I realized a propane tank was on top of the box, right between us.    :o
I thought, "Whoa this isn't good", but we never hit it.
Anyways, neither of us will be labeled a suicide bomber or a tactician for that matter.

Actually they never use the environment against you.
It would be cool to have them shooting at a yellow barrel next to you, trying to torch you or get you out of cover using molotovs!

Ok, I know, some guys will say "No way, leave it like that!"...
But its just a thought  ;)

Quote from: JRD on April 22, 2009, 09:31:53 AM
Actually they never use the environment against you.

true, but against themselves... :) I've seen a merc run away from me and hide behind a yellow barrel. He shot it after making sure he couldn't miss ;D

They manage to set stuff alight and then wait until they're toast ("ahh-haaahhh") LOL

They use rocks, walls, whatever obstacle there is to catch their own rebounding grenades :)

I love them when they do that.

hahaha, I too have seen them do that with the grenades - they toss one, it bounces off something right back at them, yet you still see them looking off in the distance as if they expect YOU to to be blown to bits - must shock the heck out of them when their own 'nade frags right in their face...

that is tactics. Climb something and hope for them to blow themselves up with their own grenades :)

I hate when I do it to myself thou   :-[   Oh shhhhiiitttt..

if your own gren comes back at you, try to go out with a bang and headbutt the ba$t@rd  :-*

Funny Tactics:

15) Preparing a car bomb and setting it off.

Most people think of IEDs when preparing car bombs. I don't.


First pick a suitable place you want to blow up with a car of your choice. Preferably right next to a huge propane (or what ever flammable) tank.

then use the tank as fuse...

[smg id=167 width=400]


...and watch how lovely your piece of Art works out on the environment  ;)

[smg id=168 width=400]

Please note the car in the top right corner of the pic :)

another excellent picture and idea, Art.  That truck flew so high!

thank you :)

Tactics

16) Relight my Fire (Lamp trick)


[smg id=169 width=400]

Shoot those lamps to start a fire. Even a single dart breaks them easily. Good if you want to surprise mercs far away. I noticed most of those lamps break and start a fire (a few just went out). Also, those lamps are usually placed near or on top of wooden things and often close to or inside huts. A silenced weapon, a surprising fire... nice distraction :)

for your information, I added a pic to the "African Roulette" tip, far above in this thread.

I use those lamps all the time...

you are a pro :) Ever tried the above car bomb? It doubles the explosion force

That's a great tip about the lamps, Art - being a bit of a pyromaniac, I'll definitely put that one to good use.   :-X

Quote from: Art Blade on April 24, 2009, 08:46:37 AM
you are a pro :) Ever tried the above car bomb? It doubles the explosion force

Oh yeah...my first experiments with car bombs involved attempts on GP with explosives supplies...

Your IEDs + Your car +  explosive supply + any vehicle around = magnificent Kaboom ;)

that's true... and somewhat deafening too (nearly blew my loudspeakers with a setup similar to what you described above) :)

Foghorn Leghorn, thanks for your reply. I wasn't sure wether or not to post that tip since to me it seemed to be kind of erm, late... (see JRD's reply, I think I would have replied exactly the same). I'm glad you like it, and anyone who hadn't found out about the lamps yet :)

Look how many time's I've played through and I didn't know about the lamps - thanks for the tip, now something new (again) to try out in the forums.

I like your "Art" w@&k with the car bomb, Art (reply pun intended...)  ;D

thank you :) oh forgive me, I couldn't resist that capital A there... :)

I know, and I've been on the lookout for it ever since you mentioned it that first time!   ;D

In fact, I used it myself once when talking about "...Arthritis"  ahemmm... with a capital "A"

I've seen that then, since it was green as can be  ;D Quite Articulate  ;)

Road Block

(special)

[smg id=171 align=center width=400]

if you can't find enough cars... well...

You should throw a grenade and capture the chain reaction.....

I needed the boat for my escape.

I decided to modify the Subject of this topic and put a comment in the first post. This is not just tactics here (any more), some stuff is more likely a tip. I hope you enjoy reading and checking out some of it.

Thank you all :)

PS: I'm not finished yet!  ;)

Quote from: JRD on April 24, 2009, 03:48:12 PM
You should throw a grenade and capture the chain reaction.....

[smg id=173 type=link align=center width=500]

I tried... but it was kind of a hot shot... <tends his blisters>

That's incredibleArt... tha blast radius must've shaken trees kilometers away... you should have been thrown in the air too  ;D

Too bad you don't have a video of that!!

17) Tip for PC screen caps "where is my weapon?"

(this is not a fake, it is pure FC2)

[smg id=176 align=center width=400]

If you go get one of the main missions (here: Bowa, Port Selao), you sometimes leave the house with your weapon "holstered", I'd call it a bug. So you leave the HQ and you don't see your weapon? Cool, let's go for a walk... and look what we got here :)

ahem, I used the PlayerIgnore cheat so I could leave town and go out for a stroll without having to draw my weapon.

Here one more rain impression (it doesn't always have to be clear sky at noon, does it?) You can see how much more interesting a picture gets if the gun is missing. It's a pity you can't holster your weapons by default.

[smg id=177 align=center width=400]

Beautyful, beautyful pic Art... seem a real place.
I think I mentioned it in another post and you probably know it, but... if you cycle hrough your weapons, there is a moment no weapons is on the screen, so if you hit print screen you get a pic without any weapons on it... Takes a little practice, bt its cool to have pic like that...
Good w@&k  :-X

cheers :) I edited the above post and stuck another pic of the same flavour in...

I'm on a photo-safari right now, weaps holstered... and got a couple of cool (screen)shots. A whole lot actually. One is in memorable moments topic, "these guys can't be serious" / or just check gallery my stuff folder. Might start a seperate topic... anyway, I got carried away when I saw how beautiful the landscape is when it's raining and if you don't have to worry about your car or mercs... new experience :)

About those weaponless pics - there is a new post at "screenshots", we may discuss about screen capturing there :)

click me to get right there (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=349.0)

Tip

18) Reduce Weapon Degrading

EDIT: please ignore this tip. See ->  my test (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=384.msg3940#msg3940) (it seems to be a myth)

As far as I know, the speed at which your weapon degrades is determined by the times you reload it. That means, if most of the time you fired one or two rounds and then reloaded, you'd run into problems (jamming, dissolving) somewhat sooner than you would if you reloaded only if the weapon ran dry. Obviously this doesn't help the Dart Rifle, but I hope you can keep your weapons functional just those couple of seconds your virtual life depends on in a shoot-out :)

So, only reload when running dry - it keeps your weapon in better shape for a little longer.

excellent tip Art, I always reload alot (hate getting caught reloading during the next fire fight)  But I also get new weapons all the time from the gun shops so I don't run into jams too much either.  I'm wasteful like that.

hehe, can't help it either... a half full gun is an empty gun  8)

Tip

19) Mike's Bar: Missions In A Row (PC)

The first times I did side missions that I got from my buddies at Mike's, I believed I had to slip in any other mission before I could get another one. Simply because when I looked at the map after debriefing, there was no mission symbol. I found out, however, that after debriefing you can hop in your car, leave the map segment, and check the map again -- there is another mission available?! I went back and voila, another mission... like that I finished all buddy side missions in a row before I cared about main missions or assasinations or the like.

Hope that helps a little :)

I was the same as you and subsequently missed out on alot of missions the first play through.  This time I got 'em all early  ;D   Thanks to this very site and helpful members  :-X

got a new car... (I was forced to leave the old one behind on a mission).

After a couple of battles already fought and survived together, I don't like to leave it behind. It may have lost a bit of its brilliance and decorations... yet it's hardened  :-*

[smg id=186 align=center width=400]

Just want to add to Art's tip...
Drive to the intersection to the road that leads to the Lumbercamp and back. That's how far you should go to leave Mike's area and get the mission icon again ;)

Quote from: Art Blade on April 26, 2009, 10:37:41 AM
got a new car... (I was forced to leave the old one behind on a mission).

After a couple of battles already fought and survived together, I don't like to leave it behind. It may have lost a bit of its brilliance and decorations... yet it's hardened  :-*

[smg id=186 align=center width=400]

Did you shot it till the hood was off or the mercenary life did it?



Oh, before I forget... my dealer never saw what happened to him ;)

Add to my FC3 wishlist:
A garage to park my vehicles... (and keep them)  ;)


GTA has it...

Quote from: JRD on April 26, 2009, 11:16:51 AM
Just want to add to Art's tip...
Drive to the intersection to the road that leads to the Lumbercamp and back. That's how far you should go to leave Mike's area and get the mission icon again ;)

Let me add to your tip that you can keep the map in your hand while driving, and the mission icon will show on it without having to close the map :)

about the car, you guessed it... I used my machete to get rid of all flim-flam before I used the car :) (the first car lost it on the "path of combat" hehe)

oh, a garage per house (multiple) - TestDriveUnlimited

Cool.... That looks like the post office - did you get the boat at the dock on the east side, and if so, how did you get it to the front of the fuel station?

reference: special road block

phew... had to find your reference but then got it. yes, it is the post office and I had a hell of a time pushing it up the stairs and over to the fuel station :)

Tip

20) Driving Fun: Drifting / how to perform a 180° turn

Successfully tested with Assault Trucks, Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Liberty(*)
Not so successful with Datsun
Worst with Dune Buggy (well, it can w@&k its way out easily)

(*)edit 4:
I've noticed the cars perform better once you've purchased the repair manual for the car. Now that I've got the upgrade, the Jeep Liberty does a swift powerslide too :)

Find a steep track, road, whatever, so you're about to drive downhill. At full speed, turn the wheel and hit the handbrake key. Your car will actually start to drift...

I tried it in Bowa, the path down to Marina. I usually drive full speed there anyway, and hammer the car against a tree, wall, whatever. Today I thought, let's check this out. I was quite surprised to find the back of my car going to overtake my front  ;D I tried it a couple of times and now it's the way for me how to approach Mikey's with style ;D

edit 1: At Mike's in Bowa, I now managed to do a power slide, that means race down, turn and keep hitting the handbrake - the back swings towards Mike's and the front points straight at the way out... no need to manoeuvre the car back and forth until you get away ;) Ah, it's called "a 180"

edit 2: to perform a 180° turn, drive at top speed, turn (keep turning and accelerating) then use the handbrake, still turning, and keep all 3 buttons pressed. You should end up looking into the direction from where you came. You don't need slopes for that.

edit 3: maintain full speed (accelerate) while turning and hand-braking = 3 buttons. Like that, you can turn your car around everywhere (i.e. before you get out, so you can just walk to your car and drive back)

Sounds like a good technique to use when playing with the Datsun mercs as long as you can get up enough speed!   ;D   [I'm liking the grin more each day]

 ;D

I noticed that you can even bomb down the road into Port Selao and do a 180, leaving your car ready to go the direction you just came from :)

On a sidenote, I lost my car again due to a mission (thanks to Jackal who sent me to prison. I rescued Frank and got the gren truck (literally a "Pick-up") from the Airfield. Somewhere along the road I hit an animal in the head with my fender, and it sent off sparks! I don't know what they're made of, but if the animals are built like that, no wonder it sounds like hitting a lamp pole when you hit a plant. Which stops you as efficiently ;D

I edited the driving tip, 180° turn in detail here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3370#msg3370). Have fun

Excellent tip, and great find, that iurl tidbit.  Much nicer to have the url open in the existing window - avoids the frame break-out issue for those that like to use the map menus.

Tip

21) Car Bombs, II.

In case you haven't tried yet, you can set off explosive barrels (yellow, red) with your car just by running them over. Last time I couldn't escape one and blew myself up. I then tried again, accelerated (a different car, hehe), steered my car so it would collide with a bunch of barrels, and bailed out at full speed and duck away. It is safe to say that it attracts mercs  ;D

just edited the tip regarding weapon degrading - seems to be a myth, please read here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=384.msg3940#msg3940).

The good news is, you can shoot and will never know when exactly it jams, so keep shooting and reload often :)

edited the very first post again - added info to the tactic that gets a bunch of mercs killed by your hand grenade.

edited the 180° turn tip (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3370#msg3370) again, so even those of you who are not familiar with drifting cars should be able to perform that manoeuvre :)

Quote from: Art Blade on April 26, 2009, 03:03:08 PM
Tip

edit 3: maintain full speed (accelerate) while turning and hand-braking = 3 buttons. Like that, you can turn your car around everywhere (i.e. before you get out, so you can just walk to your car and drive back)

Cool... I think that I'll assign this key sequence to one of my mouse buttons...

maybe two mouse buttons? Or do you want to slide your car always to one direction...?

note to self: Would be fun watching him hit that one button, a left slide programmed, and there comes a right turn... because to the left is a f@#$ing cliff ;D

Good point!  I guess I better see how wide the swings are first...

they're not really wide... if you do a left 180, your left front tire will be like nailed to the ground, and the right rear tire doing the radius of the half circle. you can turn ON a road.

Hello all,

this topic now features an index (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1441#msg1441), clickable, leading you right to a specific tactics/tips post you want to read :)

Quote from: Art Blade on May 08, 2009, 08:21:40 AM
Hello all,

this topic now features an index (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1441#msg1441), clickable, leading you right to a specific tactics/tips post you want to read :)

Excellent Art... I once thought we could split it into many others... but an index is much better to find a specific topic-inside-a-topic ;)

wow, nice job.  that must have been a lot of w@&k. Thanks it is really helpful.

thanks, guys :)

I'm glad this topic is still one topic... and yes, it took maybe an hour or more to edit the posts (adding numbers, correcting minor typos etc) and putting together that index. But I think it was worth it, and I did it for you - the members and guests of this site.

Thank you for reading and posting here :)

New info added (2nd edit) in timing malaria attacks (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg2115#msg2115).

Tip

22) "Unstuck" your car

This only makes sense if you like to keep your car for some reason (a mounted grenade launcher perhaps):

Moments ago it happened again. I managed to drive my car onto a rock and got bloody stuck. No way to move it without help.

Well... sometimes there are other cars around. Ask politely if you may use it (headshot) and then use that car to ram your own old and beloved ride off the rock/obstacle  ;D

haha, good story, Art - I've also used vehicles to become "unstuck" - was driving east from Dogon Sediko toward the easy access road and got stuck in a hidden gully - used the buggy at Dogon Sediko to ram it out.  I really like these open world games where you can improvise your tactics to achieve a goal.  Maybe that is the foundation of why some people take issue with FC2 - they are accustomed to scripted pathways (like COD-WaW) and have not found a method of improvisation yet in games like FC2.

haha, true... I'd like to have the opportunity to "shout" myself in FC2. Remember DukeNukem3D? you had a couple of pre-recorded lines in a cool voice, even a yell (AAaaaargh!) and could bind those to a key. Would be fun to hit a key and hear yourself go "Well, look what we got!" and then go on a rampage  ;D

hahaha, yes, indeed - I'd have lots of those lines scripted into my keyboard!  Along similar lines, I'd like to have a sound track of the music from FC2.

All of this talk is getting me excited to play again - I think that I'll fire up the gaming PC and have a go at it

funny how that works, isn't it?  ;D I'm off too now hahaha

Intermission:

This was and is my first topic on this site (if you don't count the very first post on introductions (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=208.msg1422#msg1422)).

It has become something I really didn't expect: For quite a while now it is number one on the forum statistics regarding views and posts.

So I want to thank you all for reading and posting :) And I also thank PZ and the members of this site who make this place so special  :-X

To further improve this topic, I again edited the first post. I've started to add "interlinks" which link to tips or tactics on this forum that I think might be of interest to the readers of this topic. I'll keep doing it, randomly, when I happen upon something that I think fits in here. Then again... maybe I'll just skip all that ;D

I hope that you enjoy this topic as much as I do and that you'll keep coming back to this site, forum, and topic :)

<ducks away to seek out new crazy stuff>

I know that I enjoy reading the posts in this thread - great idea to interlink as well!   :-X

 :) Now thoroughly immersed in the second play I'm now enjoying some of the tatics mentioned by our members, like pi**ing off the mercs.  I adapted one of the driving ones with the cars by driving backwards down a long straight stretch.  This is especially fun on the railway tracks.  I drive forward until I see the datsun Dummy coming then stop, reverse and drive backwards.  He pursues, I stop he gets out to shoot and I back away again.  I do this 3-4 times. So much fun. The one chasing me ended up getting his vehicle stuck and I drove by ..wished I could've flipped him the bird.  He tried to shoot at me but just piinged rounds off the assault truck.  I stopped and helped him to see with a third eye.

You know, the truly funny aspect is that we are pitting human intelligence against the artificial intelligence programmed in by the development group, who never anticipated us trying to deliberately antagonize the Datsun dummies.  When "playing" with them, they will behave in a predictable manner, and with us humans, you can never truly predict what we're going to do!

To some of those mercs I must be pretty predictable myself. Especially those mortar mercs seem to know exactly what I'm about to do and are usually damn close to taking me out  ;D

Quote from: Ricamundo on April 18, 2009, 07:40:48 AM
Stupid question, what's a Deagle?

Although we discussed that already (Desert Eagle), I only just noticed something I didn't before... maybe it's my 1900x1200res that helps old and half-blind people like us...

[smg id=487 align=center width=400]

Holy crap... is that a FC2 screenshot??

Man.. those devs are really into details... congrats Art!

it is a FC2 screenshot :) I was in Sefapane, beautiful weather, and shot everyone there was. The weapon went up again (as they do in cease fire zones) and there it was... I read that imprint LOL I turned the image so you could betterly read it

Great attention to detail, Art!

The game amazes me every time one of you guys finds something new.  :-X

cheers :)

Man... 4th edit on 180° powerslide... only just found out that repair manuals for cars increase performance, now I tested the Jeep Liberty and it worked like a charm too.

Very interesting - by performance, do you mean speed and agility off-road?  If so, that would make the upgrades worth every diamond.

Come to think of it, I am sometimes able to blast past check points and even out run vehicle mercs from time to time.  I have never correlated it to the upgrades, but perhaps that is it.

Actually, that's a huge tip if the upgrades help speed...I almost never buy the upgrades because I thought it only helped speed up fixing times.  Great tip again Art!

23a) Repair upgrades / 23b) battle-ready

You know, when you buy the repair manual for vehicles, you can check your notebook under upgrades, the last entry is vehicles. It's always the same:

-50% repair time, -50% degradation.

When I wrote the post about 180° I was fully upgraded with everything, and mostly using the truck. So, that went fine. When I started my 3rd through (current), I had no upgrade for the Liberty, when I first tried a 180 with it -- it was crappy.

When I was recently fooling around for fun, I just grabbed any car, and happened upon a Liberty (and its driver upon my bullet). It took quite a bit of time to repair it and it just didn't feel "right" when driving, no power slide... And I love  that 180° slide. I can't stop the car without doing it, haha  :)

Now that I've bought everything, I again happened upon a Liberty. I only did a 180 out of habit, thinking "why are you doing it with this crap c.. huh??" and had completed a proper turn. It is only logical that it has something to do with the upgrade.

The only reason I can think of is, you seem to find cars that are already degraded to some point (explains why it took PZ only 3 shots with an AS50 to black-smoke an assault truck) and therefore those genuine merc cars are not so sportive. With your upgrade you seem to "heal" the car on repairing it beyond its best state you found it in.

I have no idea if the upgrade helps agility. Speed and thrust perhaps, a little. Check the dashboard: cars go either 60mph or 100km/h after your upgrade-repair, downhill even faster. Without, I noticed that they seem to go a little slower, not as sportive... I haven't yet researched if what once happened is due to upgrades: I remember even downhill the car wouldn't go any faster, to my dismay. Whereas I am positive that I did go 130km/h (maxed on speedometer) downhill with an assault truck once :)

[smg id=604 type=link align=center width=500]


23b) battle-ready

Get a repair manual for the desired vehicle.

You may have noticed that sometimes all your car needs to start emitting white smoke is driving over a pebble. That obviously is a sign for degradation. Since your car immediately looses engine power, it might be a good idea to prevent your car from doing exactly that when you need it least.

[smg id=596 type=link align=center width=500]

How? Simple. Once you got it... Shoot  it :) Or whack it with you machete. Just until it starts to smoke... then repair it. Now you've got a car as fresh as can get  ;D

edit:
please read degrading vehicles: Testing armour (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1872#msg1872) here in this topic. For some reason it didn't make it into the index... now it's related :)

Ok, spaceboy and PZ, you convinced me to add this and edit it. New entry in first post then :)

Quote from: Art Blade on May 16, 2009, 11:08:18 AM
I have no idea if the upgrade helps agility. Speed and thrust perhaps, a little. Check the dashboard: cars go either 60mph or 100km/h after your upgrade-repair, downhill even faster. Without, I noticed that they seem to go like 55mph / 88km/h.
ou've got a car as fresh as can get  ;D

Pretty sure most/all of the speedometers on the cars are in km/h, not miles. The couple I looked at were anyway. So, if you're used to a car that has speedometer in miles, that's not as fast as you're going.

The assault trucks have only km/h, you'll see "100" if you kick down the gas. The Jeeps and Buggies have km/h (inner small scale ) and mph on the speedometer, they'll show "60" on the big scale, it is mph.

I need to get back on my PC - I can't even begin to read the speedometer on the PS3!

No need, I did it for you. You can see the top speed is either about 55/60mph or 100km/h and that there are two different speedometers (showing either mph+km/h or km/h only)

see here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=482.msg5732#msg5732) thanks JRD :) doesn't inflate this post too much then haha  :-X

Copy + Paste in the details gallery....  ;)

cut & paste  ;D done.

Great Art... I hope you didn't get my message as an order... I was just saying you could copy this post into another thread...  ;)

that's why I didn't do it  ;D Instead, I kind of removed the post. Actually, you had the idea I was looking for... I didn't like that many screenies only about speedometers here. Yet I wanted them somewhere :)

Quote from: Art Blade on May 17, 2009, 10:13:39 AM
No need, I did it for you...

Well, actually I miss the beautifully detailed graphics one has the opportunity to see on a PC - my PS3 is connected to a 32-inch 1080p right now, and the graphics are not as crisp as I get on my standard 60 hz 19-inch PC monitor using a vga cable.

that's what I wanted to help you with - sit on your PS3 but check this post (link to details topic) hehe, but I do understand your problem. So get back to the PC!  ;D

Believe me, I play the PC whenever I can, and it is my favorite because of all the other things you can do.  For instance, I was doing the documents at the pipeline mission this morning - stole the GL boat at the brewery and parked on the north side of the mortar island in Bowa - killed the mortar merc and then lured the other boats into the island - I had 4 gun boats line up next to one another - would have been quite a screen cap, but alas, was on the PS3 because I was still in bed (I can play as long as the wife is still sleeping)

hahaha, just imagine you cranked the headphones up real good and unexpectedly a sharp explosion blows your eardrums, making you shake like hell in bed, waking the wife, converting her into another funny merc  ;D ;D ;D

PS, this is NOT a funny tip  ;D

hahaha, I've done that a few times and she starts moving - and there I am praying that she doesn't open her eyes and say...

"Well, look what we got...."

[sorry to be off topic, but I couldn't resist...]

I think the topic contains "funny" so we are still on topic  ;)

I'm kinda glad that the PS3 is in the Rec room and not in the bedroom.  My wife if she was awakened because of my sound and movement from the game would probably instantly present me a pair of Anus phones and I'd be hearing "Well look what we got here" from my bowels.

hahaha!! Try that: Tell her in a very low voice, like a whisper, "I'm gonna buy a real big machete, like in this game. Did I mention machetes to you? What you can do with them? What real ugly things you can do with them? Like, slice and dice games? No? Well, you better go back to sleep then or I'll raise my voice."  ;D ;D ;D

ok, if you want to appear sane and love your wife, you better don't  ;)

Noooooo!!!..  The Bobbit case comes to mind and I'm having trouble having a pee now.   lol

Don't worry... "it" was re-attached by Dr. David Berman during a nine and a half hour operation (thank the gods for wiki). Now we're seriously drifting off topic  ;D

Ahem. Any new tips, anyone?  ;D

Me!

24) Carl G Rocket Launcher / RPG - Skydive Rocket

If you want to attack something far away that is perhaps behind walls or rocks, aim above the target at say 45°, fire the rocket and wait (you can even let go of the scope) until the rocket is above the target. Then use the scope again (it guides the missile) and aim down where you guess the target is. If everything works fine, your rocket should come down like a bomb, and the surviving mercs will likely not know where it came from (apart from "out of the sky") :)

By the way, you can do that with an RPG too (only the RPG has no guidance system), works like a mortar then. Aim up, steeper angle perhaps, and the propelling charge will burn out over the target, dropping the payload right onto it. :)

[smg id=266]

I had no idea the rockets were guideable, I will have to try that.

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on May 19, 2009, 05:38:53 AM
I had no idea the rockets were guideable, I will have to try that.

Only the Carl-G is guide-able after launch; the standard RPG just goes where you first point it.

Thanks for the remarks, I edited the tip to clarify that.

My pleasure - I knew what you meant, but others might have thought that all are guide-able.  :-X

Even if it has been said a couple of times across the site: I enjoy the way people communicate here. Instead of ranting or flaming, there are useful hints or simple but clear remarks that do help improve context. Thanks again, and again  ;D :-X

I'm on the same page, Art.

Visiting other forums is becoming more painful by the day when you see how veteran members treat the new guy.  On other sites, you feel like you need to scrutinize every word you post so that someone won't misinterpret.  No hidden agendas on our site; I know that I can post away here and not worry about receiving a nasty post in return.  Great job you regular posters, and it must be working because we regularly receive new members!   :-X

I sometimes go through the Tips board looking for topics that contain funny tips. I want to give them a chance to stay on top featuring them here in the first post.

Looks like we're running out of ideas. If you can think of new (funny) tips or tactics, don't hesitate posting away right here :)

Also, if you find something on the FC2 Forum you think should be featured here, post the link, I'll stick it in the first post :)

Using the IED's:  I went looking for the post for this and couldn't find it readily.  I'd like to learn this method as it has some great mission story potential. I can't remember who the sites Unibomber is but could they step forward and explain to  me (us) again how to set multiple devices and do they all go off at the same time.  Thanks

alright, retiredgord :)

You can find most of that stuff (tips) if you go to the very first post of this very topic. There I have an index where you can read the subject of each tip, click it, and there you are.

In your case, the tip you're looking for is 5) A different use of IEDs (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg1556#msg1556)

One thing that may need mentioning is, when you have placed your first IED, you'll see the remote control in your hand. To place more IEDs, you need to click your right mouse button (probably "aim" for console) to get the next of your IEDs ready to place.

You can stack IEDs, one on top of the last, and pile them up like a layer cake. Make sure your loudspeakers are cranked up to the limit if you detonate your cake  ;D

To set them off independently, either shoot, burn, or blast them (with other explosives or flammables).

They will go off all at once if you use that remote control.

If you need more info, I'd be happy to help :)

man, this topic is alive :) various edits, if you are interested, please check the first post (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.0) and its index.  :-X

Just had an idea. I'm going to add the dates of the latest edits to the index. That way it should be even easier to keep track :)

<walks away and does it>

Done :) phew.

A technique that I use a lot is, going into a Guard Post, going off the car while it is still at full speed, let it roll to where the enemies are, hurl a Grenade then watch them die because of the explosion that turns as big as a rocket's, lol.

Other than that, I have seen enemies using funny tactics, too, I was driving by Cattle Xing in Leboa-Sako, there was this very huge cliff, I saw a Datsun Dummy driving on the road on top of the cliff, well, he must have been high because...

He went off the cliff at full speed and flew!, lol, it was the funniest thing ever, the song "Born to be wild" by Steppenwolf played in my head, he landed on the road that I was on, and "kindly" stopped before hitting my car face-to-face (That makes me suspect that Datsun Dummies are actually using their own cars, rather than the factions', so they take extra care for not wrecking them, lol).

haha, not always... I never saw a DD fly though (great story!) but I remember my funniest story with one DD near marina, bowa. He came bombing down the road at me, missed me, turned like a maniac for some time and disappeared. Nothing. I jumped into the lake and like three trucks lengths away he and his car was, on the ground of the lake... must have driven as if it was a bloody sub!  ;D

Thanks. :P

... Hahaha, nice story :P, poor guy, that supports my theory about that Datsun Dummies drive while high... or drunken at least, I think that he was having hallucinations about being James Bond and having Q's Submarine Car, hahaha...!

Seems like that the Datsun Dummies have a James Bond complex or something while driving high.

LOL! So that's why they get out of their Datsuns once you're close, they want to introduce themselves. I need a weapon that goes "BOND" rather than "BANG". Then I can complete their sentence... "My name is..." "BOND"  ;D

Haha, nice idea, I would love to see a Merc saying that!, I would crack up laughing for like half an hour... or at least if they went like, "My name is Mayer, Oscar Mayer."... :D

That would explain why, most of the time, they attack you using their Pistols rather than whatever weapon they have strapped on their back, they think that a Pistol will do it. Lol.

that would make a small tip, go in close so they change to short-ranged weapons.

Speaking of Mercs with a James Bond complex...

[smg id=639 type=link align=center width=500]
(Click for bigger image. (http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/5444/screenshot0019.png))

I saw a Grenade land right by me in front of the Gun Shop... I got my weapon ready then it just happened, three full flips into the air after the crash, then bam, they landed, one of the mercs went like, "Oh Jesus!" "Get me up, get me up!" and the other was like, "Shoot him, shoot him!", funniest thing ever.

25) Merc Fire

I just found a new way (well, to me, anyway) to "dispatch" of a merc.

I was at the Bivouac (where Greaves and Voorhees are) casing the area.  I spoke to them and then started planning their untimely demise, when one of the mercs bumped into me and backed off apologetically (Reputation of 5 certainly carries some weight, it would seem  :) ).  Anyway, I looked behind him and noticed that the little fire they had going hadn't been put out.  So I nudged him back.... and again....and again....into the fire.  He lasted about 2 seconds and died right in front of me.  The best part....no alarms went off, it was just business as usual.

I wonder if you can clear the whole area like that.... :-\

I modified your post (added a headline for the index) and put it on the "front page" of this topic.  :-X

Indeed, sometimes there are opportunities to make mercs go into fire :) I once torched one of those Jeep Liberty inside Port Selao, and mercs came to investigate. I then shot the burning wreck with a silencer (6P9) so they would go closer, and LOL three of them burnt themselves  ;D

Quote from: Foghorn Leghorn on June 02, 2009, 04:33:16 AM
So I nudged him back.... and again....and again....

How? All I can do is shoot or slice...?

Quote from: Art Blade on June 02, 2009, 04:50:54 AM
How? All I can do is shoot or slice...?

Just by walking into him - depending on your Reputation, they will either threaten you or back away....

thanks for the reply :) I asked because spaceboy (I think) once had his machete equipped and happened to accidently push a merc. He couldn't recall how nor redo it.

been some time since we last had a new trick, but PZ managed (again)  :-X Updated the first post. New is his tip "Tricky way to find hidden mercs..." which you can read here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=872.msg11227#msg11227).

I had a funny moment (for me) this morning on the console - was driving the Unimog (my favorite vehicle) along the north-south route on the west side of Bowa-Seko.  To orient the reader, there is a place where you find a safe house among several other shacks in a row.  You also fine two walking mercs north of that spot, and two walking guys south.  I was driving north from the Weelegol area.

The moon was high in the sky as I raced toward Sefapane when I encountered the first two mercs, standing off the right side of the road right next to one another.  One of them had the nerve to say "Well, look what we..." that's all he could get out before he tasted the underside of the Uni - that was probably not a wise thing to say while you see two tons of rolling metal careening your way. (I was choking down my laughter because my wife was still sleeping, and I was playing FC2 in bed)

The second funny moment was with a couple of mercs at the safe house (among the shantys) - I had stopped the Uni and was machine-gunning down anything that moved.  Almost everyone was dead when one of them, standing right in front of a smoking .50 mounted on a huge vehicle said "Who's smart today..." (I guess he must have meant me  ;D).

Finally, regarding the two roving mercs north of that area -they too fell under the wheels of the Uni - almost ran off the road in trying to choke down the laughter.

I really like that stretch of the road...

26) shooting stop, chorus of cursing

Another tip using the Unimog and it's mounted .50.

I've mentioned firing single shots from the .50 to hear them mutter their expletives.  Here's an interesting side affect, but I'm not sure yet if it is consistent, or dependent on the time of day.

I was using that method (laughing mostly) on virtually every GP I encountered (except those that have the RPG guys) when I noticed that I didn't need to exit my vehicle due to being fired upon - was able to kill everyone while in the Uni.

Here's my thought, and it was repeatable, at least at night.  When you enter an area and the mercs start firing from afar, shoot single shots at them - they curse at you but stop firing at you.  In quick succession, target anyone shooting at you and do the same, rotating around.  Soon, you won't see anyone shooting, but you will hear lots of cursing - keep firing until the cursing stops.  Occasionally, a bold merc will run toward you (still not firing), and you can continue the single shots at him (cursing all the way).  If there are many of them, a merc or two might get close enough to fire so beware.

I must say, it is really funny to experience the shooting stop, and the commencement of the chorus of cursing.  You might give it a try if you want a laugh or two - probably will w@&k with the .50 AT, but that one is not as armored.

Added that one to the first post, sounds fun, and a nice discovery  :-X

This is not exactly a tip, but a funny observation for me - I've often heard mercs say this line: "hey..Hey..HEY" in increasing pitch - I've wondered why they say that and had the chance to see it a couple of times now.  I think I mentioned it once before, but up close I saw a merc running in front of another merc shooting at me and he uttered that phrase, to which the offending merc replied "Christ, sorry mate" or words to that effect.

Now ehn I blast through a GP and hear "hey..Hey..HEY", I laugh to myself envisioning what must have just happened at that GP.

I need to pay attention more to what the characters are saying.  It seems like I hear some all the time, while others are quite rare.

I've noticed that heyheyhey thing myself, while using ignoreplayer cheat. They did that when they couldn't see me but heard my bullets zip past their heads (me fouling up a headshot). It's the same with "careful!" I think. :)

I've been enjoying playing the "stop the cursing" game with the mercs using the .50 on the Uni.  My favorite place is the GP east of Port Selao on your way to Polytechnic - the one at the Y before you get to the bridge where on the other side is an RPG merc.  I did my usual single shot firings, and was watching the tiny white blobs moving in the distance.  i finally stopped firing and heard absolutely nothing.  I did not think I had shot them because no one yelled their death scream so I went to investigate.  Not a single body except for one - a merc I had killed next to an exploding barrel near the water tower.  But by the rail car, there was no one to be seen, no bodies, no guns lying around - it was almost as if they had run away.

hehe, funny and strange at the time. That never happened to me (not using your technique) that those mercs just snuck away. Unfortunately I have no DLC, no uni, no .50 - either Jeep Wrangler or, more likely, Grenade launcher AT. Might have to borrow one of those ATs with .50 to check it out :)

It works with the .50 on the AT as well - and apparently distance makes a difference.  If you are too close, they'll be more likely to attack - if you're too far away, they you can't hear their cursing too well, which is the point of the whole thing to begin with  ;)

[I just love hearing all that cursing...]

FC2 is running in the background right now, going to read/post some and then I'll check it out myself... I want to hear that too ;D

First attempt (not the best idea) was the next GP with a .50 patrol close to it: south of DC (Dental Clinic, hehe) the red cross GP. Unfortunately they have .50 cals and a Dragunov sniper on a tower... they smoked my AT, but I heard some cursing. Since they had good weapons, they wouldn't stop shooting - instead, they got to replace each new gunner I shot off their .50 and the ruckus attracted some mercs from somewhere else and, encouraged as they were, they shot me in the back. Got to find a lesser hero hive...  :)

Got it  ;D

I drove around DC and parked in the road next to the Underground house, shot a grenade with my M-79 at the wooden fence and one more down the track to DC. Then I hopped back in my AT behind the .50 and waited.

Not for long, the first scout spotted me and opened fire which I returned with single shots, without shooting at him - only close. He came closer, fired again, so did I, this time I could see him better and aimed closely, which had the disired effect, he uttered something we wouldn't want to repeat here, but it made me chuckle.

We repeated that once more, and reached a cease-fire agreement:

[smg id=1106 align=center width=400]

Some other merc joined from the left (obviously attracted from that guard post down the road) but apart from "you gonna die"  he didn't say or do anything...

this is really funny  ;D

Here's something strange - it does not w@&k on the PC the same as it does on the console - the PS3 gives me a curse with each bullet that hits near a merc.  I even had to turn off the music to hear the cursing on the PC.  It sure is a different experience on the PC when compared to console.

I see, the desired effect came sparsely, and the first GP was almost like "not working" - I had to read your tip again, and considered that my distance to the GP wasn't right. When I was far away, I didn't hear anything, when I got closer they started firing, yet still too far away for me to understand what they said (just recognised there were voices). So I got closer and closer, but by the time I was close enough, my AT was smoked and the last merc still firing...

When I got to the second place around the corner near the Underground, it was better. I did hear and understand the merc in the distance depicted above - quite close actually. So it does w@&k, and is fun. But a little too dangerous... On a PC any grenade launcher, fired at the sky, makes all mercs go alert and swear until the grenade explodes. Since all mercs swear, it is quite loud... and you can keep a larger distance.

However, you discovered something unique, and it sure is fun and a different approach.  :-X I'll not forget it and occasionally try it. Glad to hear that console people finally have something that works better on their platform :)

Yes, it works so well on the PS3 (don't know about the 360) that I do it regularly, and look forward to it with excitement.  You can clearly hear the cursing even with the FC2 music playing, and makes it quite funny [snickering while firing the .50 in my AT]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a new way of killing, but anyway....

So I'm headed up to the area where Prosper Kouassi is celebrating at his rally.  I'm coming up from the SW bus stop, taking the off-road route to the right of the road.  I get to the little shanty that houses an ammo pile, a diamond, and three mercs.  I snipe the first one and then, all of a sudden, I hear some rustling and a second merc FALLS OUT OF THE TREE and dies when he hits the ground!   :o

Has anyone else had that happen?

Not at the spot you mention, but a few days ago I was in Mosate Selao and a merc fell screaming from the sky - have absolutely no idea how he got there, but evidently he spawned a bit too high!  ;D

Those sky divers have been spotted a couple of times, I saw a few myself. Simple explanation is the game doesn't always handle collisions of "merc vs obstacle" right. You can see it frequently in Port Selao, some of the park benches where mercs like to rest must have invisible "ramps" to the mercs. So sometimes they try to sit down but instead get flung up and soar away... up to like third floor of a building. Of course they don't survive the landing... Also in Sefapane, the centre building you can enter: facing the entrance, to the right is a wooden table and a chair. I wrecked it once and a merc didn't see it - when he passed the wrecked table, he got sent in the air as well. Seen it twice there. I reckon what you saw at that shanty was something like that, he must have hit something, sailed away, and then you looked at him the moment he came dropping down arms and legs flailing - must have hit the tree on the way down :) I bet you have seen dead bodies in the cease-fire zones... all victims of that sort of "rampage"  ;D

I have not seen any of the instances of the mercs falling from the sky. I need to keep an eye out for those. ;D

You're not alone Hacko; until the other day I hadn't seen it elther, and didn't until I used the IgnorePlayer cheat on the PC.  I've been playing since last October (or somewhere during that time frame) on the PS3 and still have not seen it.

maybe you have heard that hilarious uhh-huuuuurgh!  telling you a merc died somewhere - in a cease-fire zone like Pala, Sefapane or Port Selao. Most probably it was one of those sky divers  :)

at least a hundred times, but have never seen what was happening.  It's great see them come raining down first hand!  (shocked me so much I didn't have a chance to hit my screen cap key)

LOL you make it sound like they came down by the hundreds  ;D ;D ;D You're lucky if you actually see ONE... it shocked me too, and the next times I too was not quick enough to capture it

Does that old song "It's raining men" play in the background when it's happening? ;D

You two are funny guys!   ;D  :-X

Quote from: Hacko on August 10, 2009, 10:14:25 AM
I have not seen any of the instances of the mercs falling from the sky. I need to keep an eye out for those. ;D

As Art mentioned, Pala, Sefapane or Port Selao seem to be the in-places for Mercs That Go Thud. Hang around places where there are benches, and if you see a bad guy sit down on one, turn and walk away, and listen for an "Aaaaaaagh!". Chances are, you'll be rewarded with the sight of a first-class baddie faceplant!
Must be something about the towns. Apparently they like to get high there, but coming down's a bitch.

 ;D ;D nice play on words, LOL

I tried an interesting twist on attacking a guard post this morning - was headed north toward Private Property in Leboa and came upon the GP containing the health pack.  Instead of blasting through (was in my Unimog), I turned around and backed toward the GP - a foolish merc was in the road, and did not dive out of the way as they have in the past - ran him over with the back end of the Uni.  Then gunned the engine (forward) and headed back south - a couple of ATs gave chase, but I had the .50 already trained in their direction so as they approached, it was a turkey shoot.

:)

I mostly use a GL AT, and mostly my GL is pointed to the back. When I rush through a GP or past an ATP, I switch to the turret and just squeeze the trigger. Usually I drive away after like 3 seconds total, leaving a wrecked something behind :)

Thanks JRD for the following tip (click the quote referrer to read more) - another example of how we do things and take it for granted everybody does the same... we don't :)

Quote from: JRD on August 27, 2009, 06:56:39 PM
The only way I can do headshots from far away is aiming with a dart rifle (empty, or I'll use it), swaping to another gun without touching the mouse and firing.

Any scope will do, aim, switch weapons, shoot - done.

Entire post edited and reformatted. 17 January 2010

---

27) Increase your rescue buddy's history - quickly.
Manipulate who will be rescue buddy and who will be your best buddy.

Why do you want to do that?

Your rescue buddy doesn't show up at Mike's bar, so you cannot get his/her side missions. By increasing the history with him/her, you can "set him/her free" making him/her your new best buddy and hence the side missions are now available to you.

In case you want your rescue buddy to be your next best buddy, a lead by 2 history points will promote him/her before any other buddy with equal history points is picked at random.

If your best buddy dies during a mission, the buddy with the most points who is still alive will take the job once you take on the next main mission. If no one dies, the highest ranking buddy will become best buddy when you take on the next main mission. The second highest ranking buddy will become rescue buddy. :)

How to do it:

• Find a place with mercs that is very close to an unlocked safehouse. Example: Cock-Fights (Leboa) and Weelegol (Bowa)
• Go there and have fun until you need rescue. Do it so you really need rescue, that is ;)
• Make sure your rescue buddy survives (a fully operational Weelegol might be harsh)
• Get rescued, which will increase your history with him/her by 1 point
• Risky: (if you are on a PC, you may save your game now) Try to wound your buddy. Don't leave your buddy wounded! Respond to the blue smoke and heal your buddy. Tricky part: If he/she survives, you'll again increase his/her history by 1 point. But it is likely he/she won't survive, then it's reload time.
• Escape to the nearby safehouse. Your buddy will be already waiting for you there. Reactivate your buddy (from "alive" to "rescue-ready")

And then... you can start over... and over... and over...  ;D

Where to do it: (recommendations)

Leboa: Cock-Fights and the safehouse to the north. Rather close, and there are cars unless you blow them up. Excellent opportunity to create a merc war (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=617.msg7444#msg7444) there, over and over :) Due to the proximity a tip: Once you've been to the safehouse, best drive a little north towards the bridge and only then return to Cock-Fights. Like that, the area can respawn and you can go in again.

Bowa: Weelegol and the safehouse west of it. Because that safehouse is rather close, make sure you get rescued a little into weelegol, like around the mounted grenade launcher, else the distance to the safehouse is not sufficient and your buddy won't be there when you arrive (probably to be found in the safehouse to the north, then).

The highest history I ever created with a buddy was 34 points ;D

That's an interesting way to play with your buddy - I've forgotten, does your reputation increase along with buddy history when you save them?

Not that I know of. You get reputation points for doing main missions and buddy missions. Also, a premature rescue of buddies held captive increases rep, I assume because it would have become a mission to rescue them (the bouncers of the faction sometimes tell you to rescue some buddy).

28) crazy driving (shortcut to Marina)

When you are in Bowa and want to go to Mike's, you always drive down that road... why? :)

Drive full speed towards Mike's, as usual. When you reach the part of the road that is behind Mike's, aim for the 2nd gap between the 2nd and 3rd tree (first gap between 1st and 2nd tree is blocked by a rock) and turn left, full speed. Yes, I'm serious, and no, I didn't use godmode ;D Did it five times in a row. One time my car was upside down but with the hand icon I was able to push it up again. I didn't always land in the same spot though, but was always able to drive away easily. Incredible, but I never even got a scratch! Before I dared do it, I thought "this is going to kill me" but I did it anyway, and now it is my new express way down to Mike's  :)

See for yourselves... three steps to success lol

[smg id=1405 align=center width=400]
[smg id=1406 align=center width=400]
[smg id=1407 align=center width=400]

I've done that once or twice in the datsun, not had enough speed, or just hit the wrong spot, and ended up on the roof of Mike's. pretty funny. I think I have a screenshot of it somewhere.

I remember that screenie :) ... can't find it quickly though :(

Got it - it was by JRD! Posted on Friday 01 May 2009 :)

[smg id=241 align=center width=400]

edited tip #27

You can actually influence who is your best buddy and rescue buddy. Increase their history :) If you are interested, read the edited orange part here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg14097#msg14097)

Man, there's even more potential in this... edited again:

By swapping places, you can now get the ex-rescue buddy's missions at Mike's because he's/she's available as a best buddy!

;D ;D ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on September 13, 2009, 03:17:51 PM
When you are in Bowa and want to go to Mike's, you always drive down that road... why?

Tried your short cut to Mike's on the ATV, Art - here's the result:
[smg id=1418]
:-X Cool ride! When I launched into space I could almost feel my stomach float...

I always get the "floating stomach" feeling when I jump/fall from a high cliff or building, it´s really annoying  ;)

hehe, fragger, looks like you can flip down from the roof easily :)

Floating stomach... I love that feeling. That is the best part of taking off in a real plane, best part of the entire flight. Only topped by air holes in a thunderstorm...  ;D In virtual realities, games, I loved the part in Assassin's Creed when jumping off the top of a huge cathedral... man, that feeling was almost like real  :)

Quote from: deadman on September 17, 2009, 03:08:13 AM
I always get the "floating stomach" feeling when I jump/fall from a high cliff or building, it´s really annoying  ;)

I get this one big time when I use the high jump feature in the trainer.  It is even bigger when I find myself falling by accidentally stepping off a ledge that is a bit too high.  I can almost feel the crunch as my virtual body hits the ground

29) Speed Freak

Something I want to ask you (not sure if it is a tip or tactic) - have you ever tried to have a DD or ATP or Jeep patrol connect with the rear end of your car and let him push your own car? Not easy to do, if you stop, the mercs will get out, if you brake too hard, their ride will soon loose power (crashing into you causes their engine to send up white steam). And a 2-man-crew on an ATP will shoot you down.

But if you ever manage to have a chasing car connect with yours, let go of the gas pedal and try to steer straight so the guy in your back starts and keeps pushing you.

What's so special about that, you ask? Well, let me ask you, have you ever noticed how those mercs manage to pull up to you no matter how far away? If you drive at top speed in an AT, how can they pull up to you in theirs? The answer is, they go way over your top speed, and if they chase you (pushing you), your car will get up to their speed. That means, your speedometer pointer will hit its limit :)

Good to do around the desert parts where Jeeps patrol the area and the railway is close - a long straight would be perfect. I couldn't believe it when my AT speedometer was about to break  ;D

lol, this is a good one for playing with Datsun Dummies  :-X

First off Art Blade, great thread! I've probably spent 6 hours working my way through it today and I'm feeling fired up to get to my next fresh restart to try out some of the cool stuff you've covered here.

I'm a new comer as a registered boards user and this is my second post so I'm kind of feeling that I've arrived after most of the party is over.

I'm a PC player so my comments are only accurate for that game set up as far as I know.

On page 32 you discussed sky diving mercs. I've seen that glitch quite a few times and almost every time I go through a town with a cease fire I'll either see a body from a drop death or hear a scream of some floating merc being reintroduced to Newtonian physics.

Getting to see the rise and drop of one of these air striders is rare because of how the game A.I. handles and presents what you are allowed to see. Getting around that programed presentation priority and using it to my benefit has become quite the hobby. Although the A.I. quirks I've been able to harness to my advantage while tips are not really funny unless you expand the word funny to include weird. Otherwise I'll have to dig around the boards a bit more to find where to share those.

I've also seen my buddies(usually a wall leaner) in Mike's bumping their heads on the rafters when I've walked in on them at an awkward moment. Fortunately for my unfulfilled buddy quests the game lets them down a lot easier.

Greave's compound in Sephapane has a table in the in the North East corner that seems to be a real death trap for mercs.  If there's not someone already dead on the ground occasionally a merc will walk over sit down and over the course of 15 to 20 seconds slowly levitate into the air(the mechanics for this is true for all floaters but this guy at this location will think he's still sitting on the chair).

If you are looking straight at it you will never see it happen as there are things the A.I. hides from view and the fact that I'm using wide screen settings may make it possible for me to occasionally catch but when I see a merc walk over and sit at that table I'll turn towards the east compound entry and slowly turn towards him so he is just on the very left edge of my screen and I've been able to see it several times.

Thanks for your hard w@&k and to everyone else that has contributed on this thread.

- mandru

thanks a lot for the nice comments and hell, the party is still on  ;D

Interesting for me is how long it takes to actually read through this epic topic (thread) and "page 32" made me go "gee" because I've changed my forum settings to display "only" 5 pages (I think I set it to 50 entries per page).

Also, interesting observation about levitation timing and how to watch mercs go up into the air, will check that out asap  :-X

Don't worry about posting "in the wrong place" - we are very chillaxed here and go off topic almost on a regular basis hehehe, but "weird" things might fit into the Memorable Moments Board. What I try to do with this tips and tactics topic is collect stuff that can be reproduced and either helps playing the game or have some more fun playing it.

Just have fun, read, post, we always love new input :)  :-X

Geat post mandru - and as Art said, don't worry too much about where to post observations - much more important to get them online rather than worrying about posting etiquette.  Also as mentioned, FC2 is a wealth of new experiences, even for veteran players, so the party is still alive and well  :-X

PZ just started the 6th page for me ;)

Yeah, if someone posts something interesting as well as off topic, we can still split it off and create a new topic. So, keep it coming  :)

when doing the Arms dealer mission in the North map, East sector if you look through a sniper scope or the monocular you can see the convoy drop onto the road.
also have you guys noticed when you kill a merc in water his body never floats to the surface?

Indeed - they sink ever so peacefully beneath the waves - reminds me of a time when I was in a contest with a couple of swamp boat mercs - one of them stood up, moved to the edge of the boat and calmly stepped into the water.  Descended to his death without so much as a wave of the arms.

seen that, its probably a good job they are all a bit dumb and not anywhere near as smart as us or we would never make it out of Pala alive :)

They do float - but after a couple of seconds they sink like a rock  ;D

Every time I think of my favorite lines...

• Hey, you hear about Ned? ... shot himself in the foot... [chuckle] that f'in guy...
  
• Who?  Where who is?
• Well, look what we got!

....I have a good laugh, and when I return from being away from FC2 for a while, I'm always anticipating their antics.  You can always count on them behaving the same way each time you play with them!

hehe PZ  :)

here, I shot this merc off a boat and he floated. I tried to get there in time, but he just started sinking the moment I took this pic.

[smg id=1458 align=center width=400]

Yeah, I noticed that they don't stay on top very long - you only get to enjoy their predicament for a short time before they depart.  They do seem to be a bit like cats - they don't go into the water much - voluntarily anyway  ;D

If they are a bit like cats, I'm just so glad I don't have to smell their fishy breath  ;D

RedRaven's recent post where he said "when doing the Arms dealer mission in the North map, East sector if you look through a sniper scope or the monocular you can see the convoy drop onto the road." directly relates to my first tip about using the game A.I. to your advantage.

There are things the game doesn't want you to see. Any time you hear the spawn of a new land based patrol vehicle there will be an engine rev followed by a chunk as it drops onto the road. If the spawn takes place over a bridge sometimes the edge detection glitches and the vehicle falls through the bridge onto the shore underneath or is trapped with in the bridge deck as I have seen in screen caps elsewhere here in OWG.

**Possible Spoiler** You've been warned.

The Barge Escort mission can be murderous but the A.I.'s priorities can be used to advantage.

How I approach this quick version.

I am basically a pure snipe though I enjoy rushing in and fighting with the Dragonuv's or AS50's single shot single kill capability at close quarters. For the barge I equip Dart and Dragonuv with the grenade launcher in the secondary.

Equip needed ammo right now. You'll soon be too busy. Talk to the pilot then scurry to the front center grenade launcher and clear the rocks on either side of mercs as the barge exits the channel.

Waste no time and switch to a snipe rifle(Dragonuv's multi shot clip is best for this mission) and target the Carl G wielder directly ahead and slightly up the cliff a bit before he can get a shot off.

The second he goes down a ways to the left and just above water level on a rock shelf is a mortar man setting up. I don't know why (other than for toughness) this guy is always a black character in dark clothing against the dark rocks and even though I know where he is from many plays through I have trouble spotting him before he starts his bombardment. Snipe him as quickly as possible. Just once I'd like to see this guy sporting one of those spiffy little red berets.  ::)

From where you are if there are any swamp boats visible in front or even with the barge snipe the gunners and pilots as quickly as you can then run up to the deck behind the barge's pilots cabin. Not blowing up the swamp boats gives you a little extra time to make this w@&k as it delays the respawn cycle.

Keep your eyes directly to the rear of the barge's course into Port as much as possible. All respawns will occur in that direction and if you can get all three attack boats out of commission at once and intently watch their respawn zone the A.I. follows its "things that should be hidden from view" priority.

If one does manage to elude your initial sweep or respawn if you become distracted, snipe them at long range and continue to keep watch until the barge docks and you get the mission update notice and tone.

I usually make the last half of the trip over with almost zero fuss.

Good luck - mandru

Excellent tips, mandru! :-X :-X
That barge mission is usually a toughie.

I dread that mission, sounds like you have it nailed.

haha, you tricked that mission  :-X Nice one, mandru :) At first I didn't quite catch what you meant with taking advantage of the game's quirks, but now it's obvious. It is amazing how simple it seems, to just watch a zone so the AI doesn't spawn there.

I found out that in Pala and Port Selao there are a couple of spawn locations where you can actually watch mercs spawn. The trick is to be on higher grounds, and indeed to watch the far sides from your location. In Pala are a couple of roofs you can easily access, and down on the streets in the shacks to the side of your location you can sometimes aim straight with your sniper rifle at those spots, killing them off in a steady flow. You see them drop dead but standing - the replacement will be there before the dead merc hits the ground, in exactly the same spot :)

Thanks guys, now if I could find as easy of a way to get back out of Port Selao afterwards.

Art that rooftop respawn spot sounds like something I need when I'm trying to get my shot accuracy up.

- mandru

One thing you could try for fun is to grab a grenade launching AT (assault truck) before you do the mission.  Instead of heading straight down to the starting point:

• Take the bus to the northeast bus stop, then steal the GL AT from the mercs that patrol that area
• Drive the GL AT to Mosate Selao and park it in a choice spot for easy access
• Swim to the barge and complete the mission
• Go see the Doc and be sure your GL AT is in an easy access spot then initiate the fight sequence.  Use the AT to blow up the place.

I've never tried this approach with the GL AT (I usually park a Unimog at the port), and I wonder of the same spawning will ensue.

I never dared to start a town war right after the barge mission, apart from my last try which was cruel. To me :)

I briefly wrote about it in that Art-icle (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=31) :)

That's a good one - icles by Art

Let's hope we'll never have anyone using "Test" as a forum nickname.

hahaha  :-X :-X

Here's another AI observation that can be turned to the player's advantage.

One of the biggest FC2 complaints in game that I've encountered on other boards is the respawn rates. My opinion from the start has been respawns are what the are, live with it or die by it. Your choice.

But Patrol respawns...

For example, in the first half of the game, South Central grid, where you turn up the rail spur towards Claes Chemical and then there at the rail shack get back on the road headed East for the Cell Tower just beyond the Y in the road that leads up to the CP before the Chem Plant you hit a AT Patrol route.

For me this is the easiest Cell Tower to get to, I use it almost exclusively and I can't tell you how many times I've been pounced by that patrol as soon as I'm in their territory.

When encountered they cripple my AT usually before I can clear them, fix my ride and proceed to the tower.  Then when I'm parked and ready to head up to get my assignment they come flying in again with mounted gun blazing.

My early efforts to w@&k around this menace was to try to arrive first, dismount  jump up and squat on the turret and with the secondary grenade launcher give them flying lessons but invariably there at the parking zone for the tower they'd be back!

Finally one time to save the few seconds repairing my AT, I took their AT and drove to the tower. I waited for their typical reappearance before walking up for my mission. And I waited. And I waited.

After quite a while they didn't show up! Getting my mission it turned out to be the Official's convoy that circles the Southern Airport. A quick and easy one and traveling out past where I'd stolen the patrol's AT there were no bodies and my original AT was gone.

Getting to my objective I cut right before the rail shack skirted the South running ledge at the base of that ridge on the right and crossed the gully at an obtuse angle to avoid getting hung up. Cutting East I got to the bottle neck the convoy has to squeeze through as they are coming North well ahead of them Grenade launcher ready. Outcome predictable.

Only what happened next wasn't.

With minimal ammo used, I was up for another Cell Tower mission and retraced my path back to pick up another. I hit the dreaded "This is where the patrol usually hits me" zone and Nothing! I drove on to the tower without interference, got a mission in Pala, then waited a fair bit and the patrol never showed.

I had their ride and had not gone far enough outside of their route for the AI to respawn them another!

Through experimentation I've found that this works for every type of patrol vehicle even boats.

I'll apologize to you guys right now who take pride in nursing a favored set of wheels through long ownership but if you're tired of a recently dispatched annoyance coming back and joggling your elbow while your trying to pull off a bit of w@&k, stealth or otherwise, this may be a solution for you.

In summation: Grabbing a Patrol's ride limits their respawn within reason.

Good Luck - mandru

Excellent description mandru,

I've noticed similar with the GL AT near the northeast armory in Bowa.  If I need to do anything at Dogon or east of that area in the northern regions, I'll steal that AT.  I've managed to stray quite far without having the patrol re-spawn (have not experimentally determined how far is beyond reasonable though).

On the topic of cell towers, my favorite in Bowa is the one east of Mosate Selao - past the Polytechnic.  I always have fun with the mercs at the post with the water tower, and love to try sniping techniques on the RPG merc on the east side of the river.  Add the bonus of an ATP to play with near the cell tower and I have loads of fun just getting to the cell tower.

cool. I think the respawn quirks of ATPs and in general motorised patrols is something worth playing around with a little more ;)

Maybe something for you guys to check, I have not yet been able to approve this: Apparently mercs that got off their ride don't take it back if you used it. I think if you repaired it for them does the same trick. I can tell because I wanted them to follow me, repaired their AT or Datsun or Jeep, and they bloody wouldn't get back in  ;D Same if I played around with them, running around in circles, quickly snatching their ride and get off of it again, they kept walking rather than using their old vehicle. Both cases, I got in my own ride and drove away, leaving angry pedestrians behind  ;D

What lets me hesitate, however, is they sometimes grabbed my ride instead. I think they do use "public" cars (stationary cars without owners) if available, ie some GPs that supply more than one car. And I think sometimes they did reuse their old car despite of the games I played with them.

could add some fun to that cell tower, playing "whose car is this" with those mercs :)

Quote from: Art Blade on September 25, 2009, 12:42:17 PM
... I wanted them to follow me, repaired their AT or Datsun or Jeep, and they bloody wouldn't get back in  ...

hahaha, that's just like a merc (and my wife's poodle) they never do what you want them to.

It could be reasoned that the game developers to increase consistency in the game coded it so that when a player got out of a vehicle and stayed within a certain range, that vehicle should still be there, in case they were expecting to return to it.

A vehicle that a player has interacted with appears to becomes tagged as such (possibly more than 1 at a time) and probably has limited interaction possibilities from that point on for the mercs unless the players actions change that priority.

For player standing on the roof of a car they have just exited, if shooting at mercs, it could be reasonable that the mercs may toss a grenade under it to get to the player. The damage to the vehicle is incidental and brought about by the players choices and the games AI responding to those choices. If the player was standing somewhere else the car would most likely be left alone on the off chance that the player my be planning on returning to it.

I'll have to remember all of that to check in game, if it ever comes up.  :P

- mandru

Sounds reasonable, from a programmer's point of view, they had to think of situations like that. Well, I love the way they did it :) The surprises are funny  :)

31) Danger Seeker (Pala)

If you want to have the extra bit of thrill, go to Pala right there:

[smg id=1477 align=center width=400]

And start a town war. Here you have good chances of surviving quite long, you'll get loads of supplies (grenades, weapons, ammo, suicidal mercs) and will dead sure have some fun :) Good if you are bored or just need something to shoot at. Best make a savegame right there and start over whenever you like. Test your loadout for a siege :)

[smg id=1478 align=center width=400]

Erm, should you wonder why I have a Desert Eagle (aka Deagle) in my hand... I took it upon myself to travel from Bowa to Leboa, and dropped in for some fun while those mercs dropped dead... couldn't dodge a bullet for the life of them ;)

14 December 2009 additional tip

So you have fun messing around with the town mercs. Need a break (or a quick get-away)?

Probably the default solution would be to grab a car and drive away. Well. Takes time to get a car and away, usually the mercs are quick followers once you go down that path. Takes time to get far away from the cease fire zone and I don't like it for this danger seeker diversion.

If you check the map, Pala has three openings towards the river, each one with a swamp boat. The piers are outside the cease fire zone but very close to the roads and buildings. What I keep doing to get a break is to run to a pier and walk just far enough so I don't fall into the water. Well, you could even jump into the water to make sure they don't see you.

The trick and tip is, use those piers. Shortest ways: Best is West (hehe) or East for the Beast, longest way: North. (I mostly use East).

It usually only takes a couple of seconds there to get the "you escaped" message. And only a couple of steps to get back and admire the chaos you left behind :) When I do that, I usually start another fight...  ;)

(last edit: found typos)

I found the spot Art, having never been able to initiate faction conflict I wanted to give this a try.

To get the ball rolling I walked out to the street and dropped a grenade round on each of the factions doorsteps killing the doormen and scurried back to the spot you indicated in your pictures.

It got a war started alright but I was a side of 1 and both of the factions joined forces, differences forgotten and were after me. I tried several times but each time I was the object of their affection.

In retrospect I think, if its going to be a fight to the finish, I'm going to go back when I'm in the second half of the game with my ammo upgrades for marksman weapons and the AS50 to be able to knock down 2 or 3 at a time and try the same start up but go into the hotel and fight from behind the bar just to gain the advantage of that narrow entry way so they cant flank me and to line them up for power shots.

I think I even got a few new word tracks from the mercs but was so busy fighting I couldn't make notes.

Great fun and for me I appreciate anything that adds this kind of novelty to the game.

- Thanks  :-X  ;D  :-X

Quote from: mandru on September 28, 2009, 07:54:55 AM
...I think I even got a few new word tracks from the mercs but was so busy fighting I couldn't make notes.

I sometimes also come across a few rare clips - many of the merc phrases are repeated so often you can almost memorize them, but once in a great while one of them will say something quite unique.

Quote from: mandru on September 28, 2009, 07:54:55 AMhaving never been able to initiate faction conflict

Actually, this isn't about getting those two factions to kill each other. It doesn't w@&k in cease fire zones, you got it right, they're all after you :)

Quote from: mandru on September 28, 2009, 07:54:55 AMTo get the ball rolling I walked out to the street and dropped a grenade round on each of the factions doorsteps

LOL

Quote from: mandru on September 28, 2009, 07:54:55 AMtry the same start up but go into the hotel and fight from behind the bar just to gain the advantage of that narrow entry way so they cant flank me and to line them up for power shots.

It's possible, but usually, after some time, they'll stop popping in. So you need to get out and attract more. You may then go to the spot mentioned above, as it's like across the road, and later back into the hotel :)

Quote from: mandru on September 28, 2009, 07:54:55 AMI think I even got a few new word tracks from the mercs but was so busy fighting I couldn't make notes.

That is exactly what this tip is for: Fight, tension, and get a grin out of the lines you hear while you patch yourself up for the next wave to come  ;D

Quote from: mandru on September 28, 2009, 07:54:55 AMGreat fun and for me I appreciate anything that adds this kind of novelty to the game.

- Thanks  :-X  ;D  :-X

That too is the purpose of this tip: Have fun doing things you usually wouldn't :) Welcome matey. Glad you enjoyed it :)

Right now I have a savegame going in "Fresh Fish" - there are only 5 mercs that won't respawn. Current loadout for that savegame: Desert Eagle, mp5, dart. Mostly I shoot them with my Deagle only, trying to kill them as quickly as possible, or silently, or set off a grenade so they storm my position and I kill them in a mortal agony - and laugh if I survive :) Else, reload ;)

oh by the way, I recommend the unlimited ammo cheat plus weapons reliability cheat. Like that, you can have fun for a longer time but you may still die.

32) extra silent stealth technique

Edit: it works ;) So it's a tip now.

I just tested something, extra silent sneak around.

Not sure if it is actually a useful tip, but I might consider putting this onto the index of this topic. First I'd like some of you to test it and comment here :)

If you sneak around, for some reason those mercs seem to be able to hear you, especially when you step on plants that make noises, like crunching down bushes.

If you keep your weapon aimed (at nothing particular) while crouching, you do move a lot slower, but it seems the crouching noises get muffled, and if you walk around and through plants, it's quite silent, too. So keep your weapon aimed while crouching.

I was able to sneak into Slaughterhouse in plain daylight like that, and the mercs were like five steps away from me when I got into the yellowish house with exits towards the stationary AT and the other exit towards the Datsun.

When I fired a silenced weapon (mp5 and dart), they didn't know where that came from as long as they didn't see me shooting from inside that house.

Anyone fancy testing and approve or disapprove that technique? :)

I'll definitely play with that one - sounds like loads of fun  :-X

good :)

I come to believe that crouching with aimed weapon is below their attention threshold, unless you are right in their faces. I am still at the Slaughterhouse and they didn't hear me inside the house, and when I killed a merc and got outside, they were looking elsewhere for me. They didn't notice me until we looked each other in the eye  :) they most certainly saw it coming, what happened next  ;D

 :-X   :-X   :-X

Crouching while aiming (for me the right click on my mouse) and advancing is a good tip. I was aware it cut down on brush noise and had used that to shift side to side to get a better look at an objective (you know, making sure I wasn't getting ready to blow my cover by shooting a rag draped over a crate  :-[) but I've not tried pushing the limits with it by penetrating by moving inside a defended perimiter with it.

Good one!

Also, I've tried the command line cheats but any attempt I make to alter the target line is denied when I try to save changes in the properties window for a new short cut. I'm running Vista 64 bit and I think that may be the problem.

I came across these cheats here on OWG quite a while back but couldn't get them to stick so I've just been making my saves and pushing on through.  :-*

I'm using Vista64 and am not having problems with command line options.  Are you running a limited permissions account?  I am when doing normal things like Internet browsing and playing games, and only use admin mode to do major installations or system changes.  However, even with the limited account I can still make changes to the shortcut and make them stick.

I just chalk it up to perversion of the less than animate  :)

Was just playing with the Police Chief using Art's new method of stealth.  It worked great - as long as no one sees you, you can sneak around in what appears to be complete silence.   Kind of slow moving, but it works.  I also tried the technique of using the Datsun (my apologies to the poster of the original idea - lost track of the post from which it came!) to drive beneath the tree when helping your buddy - managed to run down 5 mercs! (great method by the way - made this mission much easier.  :-X

Here are a few screen captures of the entire saga:

The wounded mercs don't stand a chance against the Dragunov
[smg id=1487]
[smg id=1492]
Take a look at the Police Chief through the window (I think this was Art's method posted a long time ago)
[smg id=1488]
...a closeup...
[smg id=1490]
...psst - like blowing out an egg  ;D...
[smg id=1493]
The aftermath of running down mercs that were not paying attention to their environment
[smg id=1491]
... and rescuing the fair-haired damsel
[smg id=1489]

you can also take out the police chief thru one of the holes in the roof, not at my home system at the mo but will post  a screen shot asap.

Alright, alright  ;D So apparently that "new" way of sneaking, or stealth approach, works. I think those mercs don't even see you when you move that slowly and wear your camo suit.

Walking with your weapon aimed all the time can be quite stressful for your hands, I too use the right mouse button. Just release it when you halt, and press it when you move on. Should you be a happy owner of a gaming keyboard such as Logitech's G15, you might want to program a G-key: Record a keystroke, any will do, and edit that macro as follows: delete the keystrokes (in fact, everything) and right-click into the macro so you see a popup menu from which you can select "add mouse action" (or something alike) which would be "press right mouse button." Make sure it doesn't contain "release" mouse button. Save macro, done. Now you hit your G-key, the scope zips up to your eye and stays there, any other firearm will lock into aim mode. You release that (go back to normal) by simply pressing the real right mouse button - more precisely, when you release it :) Like that, you hit G5 (in my case) and walk, get up, you can go away from your keyboard and still keep that weapon trained on whatever you were looking at :)

Regarding those command line cheats, I'd like to discuss it in the cheats topic, but for now I'll answer here. Mostly command line parameters don't w@&k because you messed up those quotation marks. It is important to keep the progam path with the exe inside them and to add parameters outside.

Example: "X:\Far Cry 2\bin\farcry2.exe" -GameProfile_UnlimitedReliability 1 -GameProfile_UnlimitedAmmo 1

Hope that helped :)

think i'm gonna have to invest in one of those keyboards, keep hearing good things about them. good tips as alawys from Art, just need to finish off rest of the quick start packs so can get stuck into it again.

Alright, the extra silent stealth obviously works. It's now another official OWG tip :)

I went to Leboa, Lumber. Parked my car on the road, coming from Mike's. Plain daylight... undiscovered, I slowly walked (crouched) into the garage with the local AT, and out, hid between some logs next to it and shot one merc with my dart rifle. The other mercs didn't know where I was, they did say "sniper fire!" though. Funny to watch, how they ran about the place not finding me, even when they were like five steps away. I shot all Lumber mercs with silent weapons (this time 6P9, MP5, Dart). They did not return fire once. Never cleared that place so silently  ;D

Quote from: mandru on September 24, 2009, 02:05:02 PM
over the course of 15 to 20 seconds slowly levitate into the air(the mechanics for this is true for all floaters [...]).

If you are looking straight at it you will never see it happen as there are things the A.I. hides from view

Now here's a surprise :) See there is some bright ball on the floor, it's a small propane tank. I wanted to push it between them but the left guy suddenly started floating... LOL

[smg id=1505]
[smg id=1506]
[smg id=1507]
[smg id=1508]
[smg id=1509]
[smg id=1510]

lol, that merc looks like a gymnast in one of those pics!

Yay! Someone finally got good screencaps of that! Nice w@&k, Art!
That merc looks pretty nonchalant on the way up, then it's "I want my mommy!" time ;D
Btw, cool new avatar, mate :-X

cheers, guys :)

Quote from: Art Blade on June 02, 2009, 04:50:54 AM

Indeed, sometimes there are opportunities to make mercs go into fire :) I once torched one of those Jeep Liberty inside Port Selao, and mercs came to investigate. I then shot the burning wreck with a silencer (6P9) so they would go closer, and LOL three of them burnt themselves  ;D

I saw a weird one last night.  I was on the NW map, coming from the safehouse and looking for diamonds.  I scouted the pond and hut inside the curve of the mountain and N of the rail tracks.  When I crept close enough to see what was going on there, those stupid mercs let their campfire get out of control!  It started burning the grass, trees and their hut. 

Funny part was them just standing there staring down at the fire as it crept towards them...  I intentionally leg wounded one guy with SVD at 10M or so, and he fell into the fire and died. 

His buddy, 2 meters away, stood there watching him burn.  No response to my shot.  He was obviously suffering combat fatigue so I offered him some warm Vodka...  He couldn't handle his liquor and fell down in a ring of fire too, hehe.  Once the valley fire died down and the other merc offered me some ammo, and I returned the gesture, polite chaps that we are, I was able to find the <> no problem.

What an interesting experience - I've not directly experienced merc fires becoming out of control, although I have witnessed the aftermath (burnt areas where I'd not been).  Fascinating that the merc did not respond to your shot - typically the AI treats the fire as a separate threat, but to completely ignore your presence is unusual  :-X

Quote from: Ceres Tauri on October 07, 2009, 08:02:53 PM
He was obviously suffering combat fatigue so I offered him some warm Vodka...  He couldn't handle his liquor and fell down in a ring of fire too, hehe.  Once the valley fire died down and the other merc offered me some ammo, and I returned the gesture, polite chaps that we are, I was able to find the <> no problem.

That made me laugh out loud  :-X :-X :-X :)

well, maybe that leg wound was when I was testing the dart and I forgot, due to so little sleep lately (playing) and usually carrying the SVD and dismisrememberification error.  Possible.

say that again twenty-five times, fast.  ;D

Here's a funny tip, maybe even a two for the price of one.

33. How to make Reuben get angry and swear at you.

When you get the call to rescue Reuben at the air field and you've cleared all the mercs, when you enter the hanger Reuben will say to you "I'm over here" but if you turn to the left and walk over to the woman crouched just inside the door he gets angry and scolds you with "G#@ Damn your selfishness, get over here and listen to what I have to say".

I just got this and it cracked me up.


2. (I've not come across this here at OWG before so I'll add it) *Working the double cross.* In every play through after you've escaped the prison  either Greaves' or Voorhees' will call from Sephapane and after meeting with you they will send you out to kill the one surviving opposing faction leader with a statement meet them back at the main office in Mosato Selao when things have settled down. The only problem is when you get to the office it's not the one you were expecting behind the desk.

Feeling slighted and disgruntled at being left behind the random lieutenant wants you to go find and kill his newly promoted boss and the equal he now sees pulling ahead of him in rank due to the new arrangements.

When you complete that run surprise! Reuben calls from Mike's bar at the marina and there's another slighted and disgruntled lieutenant wanting you to do the same for him.

There will be one opportunity to pull a double cross. When you get to the Diamond mine or Sepoko make sure to save before entering the office where Greaves or Voorhees are conferring with their underling. The dialog you get during the office confrontations sometimes can assist you in selecting which of the two (boss or underling) to shoot first.

Sometimes the dialog is a red herring to get you to waste time so the one remaining can get a draw on you. If you shoot one and the other starts shooting at you, you either picked the wrong one to shoot or they are not the pair with the double cross option this play through. You can return to a save and try again, shooting the other of the pair first. Some times it's the first boss underling pair that offer the double cross and sometimes it's the second but in either case it can be boss or underling that offers the deal. If one of the pair is dead and the other has raised his hands that's the one you want.

Coming from Greaves' team you have to shoot from the roof of the building through a window to perform the double cross.

When it's Voorhees' team you walk up to the faction door man and he gives you the spiel "Orders man, I gotta take your guns and all" but when he should pat you down he leans in close to you, gives you a big cheesy grin and a thumbs up, then lets you through with all your gear!

Once you've done the job, the whole town kicks over to alert and they're out for blood so make sure you've planned your favorite escape route including a well placed get away vehicle but at least there are none of the RPGs going off around you while you are fleeing as in the Weapons Barge mission.

Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks for tip one, mandru :-X - made it 33 on the index  ;D

Hehehe, yeah, I've done that and heard Reuben do that to me, but unfortunately you have to go back and listen to him :)

Quote from: mandru on October 27, 2009, 12:15:40 AM
2. (I've not come across this here at OWG before so I'll add it)

Thanks a lot for that elaborate tip  :) If you want to read a less elaborate yet previous version, that includes a slightly different approach and shows how to with some pics, please check our "How to" series: House cleaning (Port Selao, Bowa) right here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=364.msg3497#msg3497)  ;D  ;D

Ah! I hadn't come across that yet so I tossed it in.

But then hey! I made the index for #33.   ;D

16,000+ posts, it's virtually impossible to accidently find a single information. If you don't know the right keywords, that is. I found it because I knew the keyword "mine" and the author (me), so an advanced search gave me only like three hits, one of them was the right topic  ;)

Quote from: mandru on October 27, 2009, 06:55:35 AM
But then hey! I made the index for #33.   ;D

I added a comment to #30 on the index post, because you started from there on with many big posts containing very interesting observations. Although I didn't make each one a tip, they should be accessible and not be forgotten  :-X

This has to be the best FC2 tips thread on the Internet today thanks to the excellent observational and reporting skills of OWG members  :-X

and 100% flame- and diss-free  ;D

Quote from: PZ on September 25, 2009, 11:34:35 AMOn the topic of cell towers, my favorite in Bowa is the one east of Mosate Selao - past the Polytechnic.  I always have fun with the mercs at the post with the water tower, and love to try sniping techniques on the RPG merc on the east side of the river.  Add the bonus of an ATP to play with near the cell tower and I have loads of fun just getting to the cell tower.

I've been thinking a lot about which cell tower I like, if any, since you first came up with "favourite" cell tower. I've tried your tower, too. I don't like that part of Bowa much (or, not yet, hehe) because there is nothing around there worth a trip for me. The tower in the south near MS-Pipeline is a lot of w@&k due to various GP plus a mortar merc. Too much w@&k for a cell tower. Then in the north, quite difficult to reach, a long way and away from anything halfways close to fun. So the remaining cell tower is in the west. And now I know why I started using that one: There are many landmarks we know and like, such as Port Selao, Post Office, Ranger Station and perhaps a trip to Sefapane,  rewarding patrols of all kinds, including Grenade Launcher ATs (GLATs) Jeep Liberty, and close to Port Selao the uncharted GP with the red Wrangler. Also, quite a bit of nicely reachable safehouses. My usual route to the cell tower starts with exiting Port Selao via the southern route crossing the bridge with the red Wrangler, passing a flammable GP where I usually meet an AT, passing PO with a GLAT as icing on the cake, taking out two or three Wrangler Patrols on my way to the GP near the final destination, cell tower, which is easily to reach. Sometimes a trip to Sefapane, because it's close and I don't need to cross Dogon Village, and then back :) Oh, and no annoying rocketeers (RPG or Carl Gs) on the way :) Also, from Marina to Port Selao, the eastern route with Datsun Dummies and a .50 AT is a walk in the park, too.  :)

Second thoughts about this post: continue reading here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg21182#msg21182)

Alright well.... one of my favorite tactics ever has to be using the Molotov's to start fires. It just works wonders!!! Everytime I'm sniping, I always use either the crossbow or the Molotov's to start a fire somewhere next to the people I'm sniping. This distracts them, and gets them all to come out into the open, usually. Next is all just history.... Yea. Sniping is beastly in this game.

Thats all I got now, mainly because I'm tired. But, once I start playing, I'm sure I'll think of some awesome stuff.  :-*

heh, I once threw a molotov at a guy and set him on fire -- saved me the bullet  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on November 29, 2009, 02:16:00 PM
heh, I once threw a molotov at a guy and set him on fire -- saved me the bullet  ;D

That is always fun haha. I always like to bounce my frag's off of their faces, it really gets there attention.  ;)

lol, that does w@&k indeed, and now that you mention it, I realise it's exactly what I do most of the time: Throw grenades at them  ;D

Quote from: raistlinmajere8 on November 29, 2009, 12:49:10 PM
Alright well.... one of my favorite tactics ever has to be using the Molotov's to start fires. It just works wonders!!! Everytime I'm sniping, I always use either the crossbow or the Molotov's to start a fire somewhere next to the people I'm sniping. This distracts them, and gets them all to come out into the open, usually. Next is all just history.... Yea. Sniping is beastly in this game.

Thats all I got now, mainly because I'm tired. But, once I start playing, I'm sure I'll think of some awesome stuff.  :-*

Even though it seems a lame weapon at first glance, you might try the flare pistol - you can shoot it relatively accurately to start fires, and you can also shoot it directly at a merc to set him ablaze, which then continues the spread of fire.  I can recall spending many hours of game play with the flare gun as one of my weapons.  ;D

Needless to say its a great pleasure to hit a merc square in the chest with that flare gun and watch as he run and scream.... sweeeeeeeeeeeet  ;D ;D ;D

Yeah, the only thing missing would be tar and feathers  ;D

Sounds like a type of African Merc-B-Q

34) Mosate Selao Buggy

If you don't have any DLC, you cannot drive into town with your tiny ATV. But I found out that the dune buggy is just small enough to squeeze through the gaps of the concrete barriers in Mosate Selao, and that offers a great opportunity to add extra explosive power to an IED, and, if you stick IEDs to your buggy before you drive "into town," the mercs won't even take notice that you're driving around in a big trojan horse. Leave the buggy, leave town, and blow it up remotely :)

Comes in handy for those side missions if you let one of the faction leaders live in the TaeMoCo Mine who offers you a mission in Selao...

[smg id=1732 align=center width=400]

Just on a sidenote, it is so funny to watch the mercs in Port Selao, they are afraid of that buggy! They utter those sounds of surprise and mild shock, like they sometimes do when a molotov explodes near them. When I got out of the buggy, a couple of exclamations made me chuckle  ;D

You've got to drive carefully, the mercs won't step aside, and if you accidently run one of them over, they'll tell you very clearly what they always thought of a cease fire agreement  ;D

Oh, one more tip: If you think you can't drive around a concrete wall, turn your buggy around and try again backwards. The turn radius is different then and you can drive around almost every small obstacle and through most gaps. Also, you can drive up some of the stairs :)

35) Avoiding Detection (sneak kills)

I've tried this with a GP in Leboa where 6 mercs are stationed (it's the explosives GP south of the arms dealer in the west, with a railroad crossing).

I've observed the GP from a hidden and not so close position to find out how many mercs belonged to it and then I observed their movements with the scope of my dart rifle.

After that I waited for a moment when 5 mercs were positioned in a way that they didn't see the last one. Or, in other words, everyone has to look away from a single merc.

That single merc I killed with a silenced weapon, and none of his companions noticed. Of course, they walk around patrolling small areas, and eventually one of them saw the dead merc. Because they didn't hear the shot and because no one had seen the kill, they were alerted only for a very short time, looking around a bit and returned to their original positions.

Then I did the same thing, pick a merc who was outside of his conpanions' vision, and killed him. Waited until they found him, waited until they calmed down, and then killed the next and so on. I've actually managed to kill all of them without a single shot of return fire :)

The simplest version of that tactic is a two-men patrol, you kill from behind: First the one walking behind, then the one walking ahead, they'll never know what happened.

So the alert system is bound to a visual trigger. They'll all know instantly someone died when one of them spots a dead buddy, and if anyone saw you doing it, all of them will home in on you. As long as you can avoid being watched while you kill, you have a good chance to get away. If they don't even see that someone got killed, your chance is even better.

36) The door gap trick

Some doors just don't close tight. Many of the safehouses have doors like this one -- view from inside, so you can better recognise the gap:

[smg id=1734 align=center width=400]

Now, I use that to my personal advantage. I hate the constant noise the light generator produces inside those safehouses. You know, there's always a lamp behind the door humming. With my M-79 handheld grenade launcher, I aim at the gap (I walk up to the door as close as possible, from the outside, until I can't go any further) and launch one grenade inside through the gap. Heavy shaking and rattling inside, then silence... SILENCE! I mean, that's where my bed is!  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on December 06, 2009, 06:04:12 AM
35) Avoiding Detection (sneak kills)

I want to add one thing to that tip:
Make sure you land a headshot... not only its funny, but they don't make a sound when they die... if you hit someone in the chest, he'll go ggggnnnnniiiiaaaaarrrrr and even if nobody sees him being shot, it can draw some attention and blow your cover.

I realised that when silent assaulting PetroSahel or the Northern Railyard at night  ;)

very nice, JRD  ;D  :-X Indeed, it may attract attention we don't want if they scream at the top of their voices  :)

hehe, I like your "ggggnnnnniiiiaaaaarrrrr"  ;D ;D ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on December 06, 2009, 01:37:12 PM
Now, I use that to my personal advantage. I hate the constant noise the light generator produces inside those safehouses. You know, there's always a lamp behind the door humming. With my M-79 handheld grenade launcher, I aim at the gap (I walk up to the door as close as possible, from the outside, until I can't go any further) and launch one grenade inside through the gap. Heavy shaking and rattling inside, then silence... SILENCE! I mean, that's where my bed is!  ;D

I'd hate to see what you do to a dripping tap ;D

Hahahah  ;D ;D ;D

Well, ever heard of a Gordian knot?  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on December 07, 2009, 02:27:21 PM
Well, ever heard of a Gordian knot?  ;D

My goodness, what's Gord done this time?  ;D

hahaha, poor gord :) Nothing, I'm afraid. At least nothing I could see or hear.  ;)

That's good - I thought maybe it was some kind of new technique that he'd discovered in FO3!  ;D

Ahh just when I thought everyone had forgotten about me. Gordian Knot.yep some of my untyeables that I force on people. Especially tying their Christmas Trees to their roof. They have to call and pay me to undo.  Good side business  lol

Hehe, nice one :) And no, we won't forget you  :-X

I know all about Gordian knots, they're what I always manage to tie into at least one of my shoelaces each morning ;D

I've also got a reel of fishing line somewhere that's one big Gordian knot. I was thinking of marketing it as a brain-teaser type puzzle, sort of like a Rubik's Cube. My marketing slogan could be:


They'd be cheap and easy to manufacture. Just open a couple of hundred fishing reels, throw them into the boot of the car and let them rattle around in there for a month or two. Hey, presto - genuine, mass-produced Gordian Knots.

Dumb idea? Hey - if they can con people into being pet rocks owners, I reckon I might have a shot with this ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on September 25, 2009, 05:45:56 PM
31) Danger Seeker (Pala)

I've been playing that again. You know how to start already, and I thought you should know how to get away, too  :) Click the quote to read the additional tip at the end of that post.

re-edited, three ways out. "Best is West" motto added lol

I can't decide. My favourite exit is East, then West.

Quote from: Art Blade on December 06, 2009, 01:37:12 PM
36) The door gap trick

I've just remembered this, I'm on the buddy mission where you've got to kill the King at the fort and go to deliver his ring to the Prince. Of course there is a door gap in that safehouse... Never been so easy to kill the Prince ;D

On a sidenote, if you're inside the fort walls, you can throw a hand grenade through the shades of the King's rooms. Apparently a glitch, because they are shut. Just go anywhere near the King's Tower and lob a hand grenade up at his window  :)

Excellent finds!  It still amazes me how much detail there is in the game, and how finds like these are missed probably by  a huge percentage of FC2 players.  Kind of reminds me of way back when we first discovered you could collapse the Goka bridge.

Cheers :) Yes, there are so many things we found, and I believe we can expect more to come  ;D

Goka bridge, the police station bridge... those were interesting finds :)

Quote from: Art Blade on September 13, 2009, 11:48:57 AM
Entire post edited and reformatted. 17 January 2010

---

27) Increase your rescue buddy's history - quickly.
Manipulate who will be rescue buddy and who will be your best buddy.

Revised the entire post. Now it should be clear and it includes Cock-Fights (not only Weelegol)

Also, I added the merc war topic to the index. For some reason, it never showed up there lol

Thanks muchly, Art :)

Quote from: Art Blade on November 28, 2009, 10:14:27 PM

Quote from: PZ on September 25, 2009, 11:34:35 AMOn the topic of cell towers, my favorite in Bowa is the one east of Mosate Selao - past the Polytechnic.  I always have fun with the mercs at the post with the water tower, and love to try sniping techniques on the RPG merc on the east side of the river.  Add the bonus of an ATP to play with near the cell tower and I have loads of fun just getting to the cell tower.

I've been thinking a lot about which cell tower I like, if any, since you first came up with "favourite" cell tower. I've tried your tower, too. I don't like that part of Bowa much (or, not yet, hehe) because there is nothing around there worth a trip for me.

This is bugging me for some time now, because it sounds like I was completely dismissing your cell tower and probably hurting your feelings, which was totally unintended.

However, the "or, not yet" part comes into play now. I've been rather busy around that part of Bowa lately and out there it is much better for me, since. Especially the nearby dune buggy locations are well worth a trip for me ;D

I think, by comparison, that the eastern cell tower bears a lot less risks than other towers, assuming you're leaving Port Selao or Marina to get an assessination job.

Now I have two cell towers to choose from  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on January 25, 2010, 03:21:35 PM
This is bugging me for some time now, because it sounds like I was completely dismissing your cell tower and probably hurting your feelings, which was totally unintended.

Thanks for your concern my friend, but I didn't give it a second thought - we've all had favorite places/experiences in the game and all are not necessarily the same.  Varied opinions are always appreciated, as is your thoughtfulness in expressing concern.  ;)

thank you, PZ :)

Time and time again I'm impressed with the attitude of OWG members. On any other gaming site, the previous exchange would have been replaced with an all-out battle of flaming and insults.

I'm proud to be a member of this site.

I must add this comment after my last post - flaming and insults don't happen on spaceboy's excellent gaming site, either:

http://mygamepages.com

This too is a site to be applauded for the mature conduct of its members.

Sorry, space, I've been remiss there - I must visit very soon :)

Quote from: fragger on January 27, 2010, 04:08:20 AM
I must add this comment after my last post - flaming and insults don't happen on spaceboy's excellent gaming site, either:

http://mygamepages.com

This too is a site to be applauded for the mature conduct of its members.

Sorry, space, I've been remiss there - I must visit very soon :)

I second fragger's thoughts.
MGP is also a breath of fresh air on the net... spaceboy did  a great job there and little by little his community is growing to become an excellent reference for gamers alike!

I said that before and will say it again: I see MGP as a place to check for user created content and, specially, non biased reviews of games. It may co-exist with OWG and fill a niche I appreciatte a lot... wanna see what gamers like you think about a game? Check out his pages  ;)

well said, and indeed, I take my hat off to spaceboy and his efforts, and his great site.  :-X

well thanks guys (and thanks Art for directing me to all of your kind comments - I almost missed them).  Of course my intent with MGP was to model the friendly and mature atmosphere we developed here at OWG. 

I wish I had a tip or tactic to add to this thread - but this is the apex of FC2 knowledge.  I'm surprised as you guys mention we keep finding things new in the game, but that's part of what makes it so special.

cheers mates  :-X

Today, for the first time, I've shot a merc through a closed door  ;D

I've recently noticed that some thin walls (wooden fences, corrugated iron fences) could be penetrated not only one-way (mercs) but the player can shoot through those, too.

The merc I shot through a closed door was the sniper on that balcony at Private Property (I had snuck inside the mansion and killed him from inside) LOL

Cool! :-X :-X

I once nailed a merc in the shack at the end of the jetty near Gola Falls with a PKM. I knew he was in there, against the wall to the left of the doorway, as I could see the barrel of his gun sticking out. So I stitched a pattern of hits along the wall, heard a "Haaargh!" and saw him fall dead in the doorway (I must have scored an accidental head shot in the process).

hahaha, "accidental headshot" is a term to remember  ;D Funny story, too :)

I shot through thin metal (corrugated iron fence) at Petro Sahel and some guard posts that sport those fences, and through wooden walls at Shwasana. There were a couple more occasions, well, it works  ;D

 One of the things game developers always tend to ignore / forget is that planks of wood, even house bricks and concrete blocks will not stop a standard round from an assault rifle or high calibre pistol. And guns like the PKM and M249 SAW can often do more as they fire faster and longer.
I know they are only games, but I wouldn't of thought a little basic physics is beyond what they can program and simulate with computers.

Quote from: fragger on February 06, 2010, 11:09:08 PM
So I stitched a pattern of hits along the wall

Brilliant phrase fragger :-X

Quote from: fragger on February 06, 2010, 11:09:08 PM
I must have scored an accidental head shot in the process.

ssshh - don't let the mercs know ??? ;)

indeed, the only game I can think of which had that sort of physics quite right was OFP2. Not entirely, but more than the rest of the games I know.

Oh, and I agree, nice phrase  :-X

I guess there's a game (MAG or BFBC2, maybe?... spaceboy?) that let you shoot holes on walls... if wooden walls, then you can shoot an enemy with a shotgun or a high caliber gun through it or just remodel the wall into round windows and throw grenades inside. If a brick wall, then you need some explosive rounds to pierce through it, but the physics allow you to open up holes where you hit...  :-X :-X

Quote from: JRD on February 07, 2010, 05:14:05 AM
I guess there's a game (MAG or BFBC2, maybe?... spaceboy?) that let you shoot holes on walls... if wooden walls, then you can shoot an enemy with a shotgun or a high caliber gun through it or just remodel the wall into round windows and throw grenades inside. If a brick wall, then you need some explosive rounds to pierce through it, but the physics allow you to open up holes where you hit...  :-X :-X

That sounds cool, whatever game it was :-X

Quote from: RedRaven on February 06, 2010, 11:43:58 PM
ssshh - don't let the mercs know ??? ;)

Me and my big gob ::)

Modern warfare 1 and 2 lltes you shoot through walls aswell. That feature both saved  :-X and cost  :D me my life on many occasions when I played those games.

AHHhhhhh, CoD4. You are so right, deadman, I remember the battle in the TV studio, in the main office with the video wall. Behind the copier was a small room where I used to hide, it was dark inside, and I remember how bullets pierced the walls leaving holes through which light filtered, nice "god rays"  :) And indeed, I used that gimmick to kill a couple of enemies through walls  ;D

The games JRD mentions are unknown to me, but good to know that there are games which got it right :)

Quote from: deadman on February 07, 2010, 06:04:44 AM
Modern warfare 1 and 2 lltes you shoot through walls aswell.

Good, at least some games out there are getting it close to Earth based physics.Think my total playing time on all CoD games comes to less than 10 minutes, and that was all on Modern Warfare 2, looks good but it's not my type of game.
The ballistics in all 3 Stalker games are done well too (not going to start rambling on about it on this thread, will get it written up with some pic & vid examples).


Back to physics in FC2, even though most of the walls, be they brick, mud or metal can all take an unrealistic amount of hammer. However vehicle windows are done well, I like to find a nice high vantage point so can practice head shots on moving targets. Datsuns are perfect for it and the Assault Trucks are good target practice when they do a 3 point turn. Thats when they manage to turn around properly, once saw one trying but I stopped counting when it became a 10 point turn and sent the driver and gunner off on the last journey they would ever make :)   (got to love the Dragunov SVD ;D )

@fragger - not seen or heard anyone use the word Gob for ages.  :)

I've just gobbled some crisps and now I'm gobsmacked... I've heard/read "gob" a couple of times. But that's probably just gobbledegook.  ;)

LOL. :P

Quote from: RedRaven on February 06, 2010, 11:43:58 PM
One of the things game developers always tend to ignore / forget is that planks of wood, even house bricks and concrete blocks will not stop a standard round from an assault rifle or high calibre pistol. And guns like the PKM and M249 SAW can often do more as they fire faster and longer.
I know they are only games, but I wouldn't of thought a little basic physics is beyond what they can program and simulate with computers.

Probably comes from watching too many movies where some guy hides behind an empty steel 55 gallon drum while someone else is shooting at him with an ak-47. We used to shoot oil drums with a .22 rifle with short rounds, they went right through, I can imagine an ak or larger rifle would have little trouble.

If they had real bullet penetration in a game, I'm sure the average player would be surprised to find that a lot of things aren't "bullet proof". It's one of the things they do on Mythbusters all the time, finding out what can and can't stop a bullet.

Quote from: RedRaven on February 07, 2010, 07:24:04 AMnot seen or heard anyone use the word Gob for ages.  :)

Just happened upon another variant of it which you probably recall: gobstopper  ;D (AE: jawbreakers)

Willy Wonka!

I don't know if this is a quirk to my system (XBox360) or is something that can be exploited by others.

I first noticed this when saving at the safe house near the pipeline in Bowa. If I save the game when an AT is passing by the safe house,  the mercs in the AT are killed and often end up thrashing about partially materialized within the AT. This is repeatable and I used it as a way to silently take out that AT without expending any ammo.

I just had the same thing happen at the safe house near the cell tower due east of the Polytech.

In both instances, the AT passes within close proximity to the safe house.

I believe  this is caused by physical object not being properly re-oriented when the spatial / time continuum is altered. For lack of a better word, I call this The Philadelphia Effect.

In the movie "The Philadelphia Experiment" scientists attempting to cloak a WW II US Naval Destroyer cause a rift in the space/time continuum. When it reappears after traveling through time, the sailors bodies are partially materialized within the hull of the ship.

The presence of such technology in this Bowa-Seko suggests that the CIA is involved in the APR / UFLL conflict.  ;)

 :-X Interesting phenomenon eor, I'll have to try that and see if the same thing happens on PC.

Re: The Philadelphia Experiment, that was quite a good, thought provoking movie. It has also for a long time been a staple of conspiracy theorists, who claim that the movie was based on a real experiment in which an electromagnetic field was generated around a ship in an attempt to render it radar-invisible. Apparently (so the story goes), after the field was on for a while the ship actually became optically invisible, along with the crew. When the field was switched off, the ship gradually faded back into view again - but not all the crew members did, and as in the film, some re-materialized imbedded in the hull, deck and bulkheads.

Remember, this is a conspiracy theory... Make of it what you will ::) I love conspiracy theories, even though very few of them have much credibility - well, for me anyway - and some are patently flat-out ridiculous. I still find it fun to speculate, but I'm of the "show me incontrovertible evidence, then I might believe it" school ;D

Here's Wikipedia's take on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment

If you are entertained by conspiracy theory and lunatic fringe stuff, I recommend

www.godlikeproductions.com

I'll warn you....there are some seriously messed up folks hanging out there. Entertaining, though.

Quote from: Art Blade on April 18, 2009, 08:37:04 AM
Tactics:

12) Timing Malaria attacks

edit.........

I've been keeping track of the timing of my malaria attacks the last few episodes. I'm at sickness level zero, and reputation 2 I think, don't know if that matters or not and about 50% done with the game. Here's the game time of the last four malaria episodes I had:

34:49:12
36:01:48
37:16:01
38:27:05

I checked the game time right after finishing taking a pill, if that matters. So, doing some math, that's between 71 and 75 minutes of game time for each attack. I'll keep track from now on and see how they get closer together as my sickness level increases. It seems you would need to keep track of your game timing if you wanted to predict when the next attack would occur, and when you're within 5 minutes, just stand there in a safe house until it arrives. I don't think sleeping advances the game clock, so that won't w@&k.

cool, thanks for picking that up, D_B  :) :-X (Err, the tip, not malaria)

Yeah, we'll see how they turn out later in the game. I plan to keep track of all of them from now on, just didn't think of it earlier.....

OK, here's more info:

Game Time    Spacing    Sickness Level

0:21:16        0:21:16    5     (First attack came at 21 minutes into the game)
0:37:08        0:15:52    5
1:09:31        0:32:23    4
1:42:15        0:32:44    4
2:13:06        0:30:15    4
2:43:58        0:30:52    4
3:14:31        0:30:33    4
3:51:58        0:37:27    4
4:24:21        0:32:23    4
4:57:29        0:33:08    4
5:47:33        0:50:04    3
6:52:20        1:04:47    2
9:21:21        2:29:01    0   <---- Another weird time, and probably because I went through the
10:35:12      1:13:51    0            missions so fast, it didn't have time to catch up
11:51:00      1:15:48    0
13:10:35      1:19:35    0
14:17:32      1:06:57    2
15:18:37      1:01:05    2
16:22:26      1:03:49    2
16:48:16      0:25:50    5
The above times were during my speed run (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1623.0), so it skipped levels fast. I don't think I even did all the malaria missions.



These times were during the second half of a normal game, so the times are more accurate.
34:49:12       0:00:00    0
36:01:48       1:12:36    0
37:16:01       1:14:13    0
38:27:05       1:11:04    0
39:38:50       1:11:45    0
40:55:21       1:16:31    0
41:59:27       1:04:06    1
43:07:46       1:08:19    1
44:16:09       1:08:23    1
45:10:56       0:54:47    2
46:10:10       0:59:14    2
46:57:16       0:47:06    3
47:41:39       0:44:23    3
49:23:01       1:41:22    4    <------- I think this one's a glitch
49:59:53       0:36:52    4
50:24:05       0:24:12    5
50:46:49       0:22:44    5
51:08:17       0:21:28    5

The attack at 40:55 took a long time to arrive, and it happened just as I was getting on a bus. Had to take a pill when I arrived at the bus stop. I must have hit sickness level 1 sometime in the next few minutes as I took the first mission of the southern map. At that point, I ran out of pills and had to take on a malaria mission to get more, which is where I stopped, but going by average, it looks like there's about 5 minutes less time between attacks for level 1 from level zero. We'll see how it goes once I get higher in sickness levels. My next attack should occur somewhere around 43:03 game time, we'll see. --- Happened at 43:07, so I guess that's close enough, I'll keep this updated as I time the attacks for the rest of the game.

Final averages:
Sickness level zero, about an hour and 15 minutes between attacks. I also think you never run out of pills at this level.

Sickness level one, about an hour and 10 minutes give or take. The variance between level zero and level one almost make them the same thing.

Sickness level two looks to be between 55 minutes and one hour.

Sickness level three between 45 and 50 minutes.

Sickness level four between 30 and 40 minutes.

Sickness level five between 15 and 20 minutes.

almost missed the edit there, thanks for the update  :-X

I'm just going to keep editing the post above with new times, instead of adding a lot of posts with just a one line entry for the next malaria attack.

I think I'll feature your post on the index. Keep it up :)  :-X

And I was certain the malaria attacks were somehow triggered by the beginning of a fire fight.   ;D

 ;D ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on May 03, 2009, 06:51:34 AM
edited the 180° turn tip (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=212.msg3370#msg3370) again, so even those of you who are not familiar with drifting cars should be able to perform that manoeuvre :)

Just found a short vid on youtube that made me think of that tip. A guy parking his car by performing a 180 :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REpXf0cmJ64

Quote from: Art Blade on May 01, 2010, 02:52:19 AM
I think I'll feature your post on the index. Keep it up :)  :-X

Done  :) Edited tip #12 (timing malaria) and updated the initial post (index)

I decided to add the Article "Locations of Interest" about Dune Buggy locations (and "Sniper's Paradise" location) to the index because I no longer use a link to my articles in my signature.

37) Higher reputation may make mercs trigger shy -or- Using a high reputation to enter out of bounds areas in towns.

I'm not sure if this is a tip or if it's really very funny but it made me grin when I pulled it off.

Hakim had sent me to Sephapane to grab the data packet from Greeves' bunk and because I had something come up here at home I set a save point so I could stop and attend to it right before I stormed the complex.

On my return I thought to myself, "Hmm with a recent save point I can explore the limits on what I can get away with here."

So with that in mind I strolled right in past the guards who became highly alert with my passing but other than a few off color comments about my ancestry and some of my biological functions made no move to stop me.

I marched straight upstairs, grabbed the dossier turned around and strode straight out of the compound with out a single shot being fired, though as I walked away I was holding my breath expecting a bullet in the back! They let me get away with it!

I checked my reputation level when I got back to my AT parked at the rail crossing for the North road out of Sephapane to the Dogon Village and it was solidly at 3 so I'm not sure if this being attempted at a lower rep level would w@&k or not but it might be worth a try for you.

Anything goes, mandru :) I think this might be worth a try, as some of our readers may be at a point they think they tried it all or nothing so far. Always good to read about something that is kind of "off track" or inventive.. thanks :)

But I don't recall that mission you're talking about (been into other games for some time now). Would you be so nice and give a few more details, please? I really don't remember "a data packet"

Sure Art, it's not one of the faction missions but rather a Buddy mission.

Hakim's first mission is to the watch tower at the pipeline to kill the guy who mugged him. This is his second mission to steal a packet of documents from Greeves' bunk which is upstairs at the APR building with the high walls on the western half of Sefapane.

When you return the documents to Hakim at Mike's he says "Mbantui will be pleased, I know that I am.  It's good doing business with you."

Beyond that there's not much memorable about this specific task other that it sends you upstairs to grab the papers off the bed on the floor above Greeves' office.  Sorry if that's spotty but it is a make w@&k assignment that's not much more than an excuse to send you trekking completely across the game map to fulfill a mission requirement.

It is 1 of 4 scripted times in the game you get to shoot up Sefapane.

1. This time related to Hakim's 2nd mission
2. Nitrous truck to blow up the garage
3. Target of opportunity from cell tower mission
4. Marty's buddy mission (when he appears in the South) to kill an arms dealer at the UFLL HQ

Thank you :) I'll give it a try with either a savegame or a new playthrough  :-X

For no real reason other than the fact I'd earlier missed the chance to shoot up Sefapane one more time, I went back into Hakim's second mission as listed above while the save file was still in my backups but this time I went in guns blazing.  I went straight up grabbed the documents and back out again to where a swarm of angry mercs were gathering.

Oddly enough through the front gate I could see the opposing faction's men strolling around their area completely unconcerned about the rumpus the neighbors were raising.  Only half the town was on alert.

Ever ready to experiment when I notice something interesting I resisted killing any of the angry mercs around me and ran over to the opposing forces compound to see if I could get a merc war started.

Voorhees' men were strolling around as if there wasn't a care in the world.  I positioned myself, with them in the middle, so that shots that were coming from the angry mercs were hitting and eventually killing them but they never raised objection.

They would stand and stare at me with only the occasional question "What do you want?" while an enemy counterpart was shooting them in the back with a shotgun or an M-249 SAW.

Oh well, no hope of stirring up a merc war that way while the pax is on in Sefapane.

 ;D ;D ;D

Sefapane is a funny town. I've always liked to play evil tricks on those mercs there and always tried to make use of those two halves. I remember how often I was amazed at how one half could just wander around innocently while I was gunning down the other half within earshot  of their brethren.

Nice (and funny) tips and info back there, mandru, cheers ;D :-X

Speaking of Sefapane, I discovered the other day that you can get up into the big pile of rocks outside the gates at the west end of town. You have to begin your ascent on the side of the outcrop away from the road, towards the far end of it from town. It's not a bad view from up there, but be careful you don't fall off - as my rescue buddy will tell you, it can be a lethal drop.

In the surrounding area of Sefapane there are a couple of places you can climb around in. And fall off.  ;D

38) Kicking propane tanks

Disclaimer **Warning this was experimented with while playing under the influence of the command line edit for God mode! I'm sure attempting in normal play mode will deliver damage so be aware of your health level before trying and of course that will be at your own risk.;)  **  

Here's another minor discovery (minor but they sure do add up  ;D).

Usually I avoid or just outright shoot propane tanks for the fun of it and as far as kicking a propane tank my perspective has always been "Bump it once shame on me, bump it twice Flame On Me!"  :o  But I've found ignited spinning propane tanks have different properties than the typical propane tank.

I found this while using the command line edit for God mode during a recent rampage run.  I had shot one of the small propane tanks causing it to ignite and go into that spin thing they do before blowing up.  Because I wasn't concerned about the blast I walked over the spinning propane tank and the game registered it as a kick that sent the tank flying off over the horizon and I thought "Hmm".   8)

With some experimentation (and a lot of driving around trying to find fresh propane tanks) I found that I could by bumping the propane tank into position I could line it up with a tall enough back stop, target or into the doorway of a building so that it wouldn't just fly off into the distance, shoot it, run into it to launch it and watch the fun.

Maybe not too terribly useful as the kick is a bit unpredictable but blowing up things in unique new ways is just too much fun to not share it.   ;D

Quote from: mandru on August 21, 2010, 08:05:56 PMa kick that sent the tank flying off over the horizon and I thought "Hmm".   8)

I like that line.  ;D

Nice tip, and yeah.. should try that myself  :) :-X

Good one, mandru  :-X

I love the stuff you think of to try doing, mandru :-D  :-X

Try stick as many IEDs as you can in one of those tanks, set it on fire, kick it towards a guard post or an enemy infested area like Weelegol, Dogon Village or Mokuba and set the IED off!

A JetIED bomb... coming from out of nowhere zooming and setting everything around on fire before exploding!

I would like to see the look on their faces if you manage to pull that one! Actually, I`d like to see the look in YOUR face if you manage to pull that one!  ;D ;D ;D

Heh heh heh!  :-X

Now I've got something to go back in and try.  If the spinning flame doesn't set the IEDs off in my face it's possible that might just w@&k.

Just remember to use something other than an AS50 to start them off because the tanks skip straight to the blow up bit when hit by one of those.

That line of thinking makes me wonder if the larger long tanks for welding that are scattered around wouldn't do much the same thing with less chance of premature detonation.  Sure you can't aim them but adding a bit of extra explosive power to them when they eventually go off stacks up as a Positive in my book no matter how I add it up.  ;D

 ;D good ideas  :-X

Good ideas guys  :-X  Those welding tanks seems a bit more unwieldly - i've seen them shoot off before but they seem extremely unstable, might be pretty hard to "aim" one.  By the way Art, does this thread hold the title for longest in OWG history? 50+ pages has to at least put it in the top 5!

it actually is on top of all categories :) If you go to the OWG front page and check (click) the forum stats, there you'll see what I mean  :)

We've now got those last two tips on the index, thanks mandru  :)

By the way, I started this topic the same day I registered with this site and it keeps growing ever since..  it's the most viewed and most replied to topic of all boards on OWG.

Thanks, guys  :) :-X

 :)

Quote from: Art Blade on August 24, 2010, 10:11:54 AM
We've now got those last two tips on the index, thanks mandru  :)

By the way, I started this topic the same day I registered with this site and it keeps growing ever since..  it's the most viewed and most replied to topic of all boards on OWG.

Thanks, guys  :) :-X

You've been one of the best contributors to the site, Art - thank you  :-X

 :)

Ok so I think this is the best location, and I am sure most of the users will know this tips, but I came across one recently I didn't know. And there are also two tips I forgot or didn't know they existed. Maybe its useful for new players. Didn't find anything here about that in this thread.

So I read my FC2 manual which came with the Collector's Edition and came across three things (the first are the ones I knew already about but not from the start e.g. my first playthrough)

1. Monocle: If you have your map open press the right mouse button and you can scout your surroundings and mark "targets" like snipers or ammo crates. Ok nothing new cause it's in the tutorial, but that I forgot during my many playthroughs.

2. Baseball-Slide: If you are sprinting and press the crouch key you perform a baseball-slide, which lets you slide a few meters in crouch stance and it looks very cool.

3. Flip over or turn up your vehicle: This was completely new to me. If your vehicle crashes and lies on the roof you can turn it around by pressing the use key - tried it and worked. Maybe it is a common ability and everyone knows it but I haven't read it here and didn't know our protagonist is possible to perform this.

Good points to post - I recall a long time ago that a few members didn't know that the headlights could be turned off, while others took it for granted that everyone knew how to do it.  :-X

Hehe, a new entry :) Thanks, mate :)

All three tips can be found in the tutorial, the manual and the key map (if you want to reassign your keys). In other words, accessible through the game, so I didn't list those.

It's funny how easy it is to miss simple things that in hindsight seem obvious.  ::)

I was 50+ times through the game before I figured out that when you are driving the mouse buttons allowed quick glances right, left and behind (both buttons depressed at once) but that was probably because I almost never drove in most areas of the game before coming to OWG.  This is where I learned a few tricks of the trade to make it a survivable skill.  A lot of my knowledge about out of the way areas in FC2 comes directly from hoofing it almost every where I went.

Learning that I could switch from the driving to gunner position by hitting the "C for Change" button ("C for Crouch" when on foot") in an AT revolutionized my play style.  :-X

I didn't receive a manual with my copy of FC2 and I never thought to look at the key map as Art mentioned.  It wasn't until I came across remapping controls mentioned here in the forums that there was control information that could be picked up even if I didn't change anything.   ;D

Hehe yes the glances. I figured that out by accident. First thought was only wtf? :D I wonder which things Far Cry is still hiding from us. Maybe the unknown buddy mission  :-D

Funny thing is that there is a suspicious reference to a "Black mamba (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=2354.msg43868#msg43868)" buddy mission in some of the xml that we discussed some time ago.  :-()  Never went anywhere as far as I could tell.

Quote from: TheStranger on April 02, 2012, 06:36:48 AM
1. Monocle: If you have your map open press the right mouse button and you can scout your surroundings and mark "targets" like snipers or ammo crates. Ok nothing new cause it's in the tutorial, but that I forgot during my many playthroughs.

I found out this trick because my graphics card (or something else in my rig) was playing tricks on me. I remember having weird artifacts and mercs who were jumping like pogo sticks. Shortly after the tutorial mission, where you could 'marc' certain points of interest like ammo crates or health stacks, I ran up to the guard post. The artifacts were making it hard to do a regular approach to the guardpost, so I used the monocle to 'get' the info I wanted from a distance. Then the game told me "Guard post unlocked" and I said to myself :D :D :D
All the sweat I've spoiled to get some lousy guard posts unlocked @#%!! 8-X

Quote from: TheStranger on April 02, 2012, 06:36:48 AM
2. Baseball-Slide: If you are sprinting and press the crouch key you perform a baseball-slide, which lets you slide a few meters in crouch stance and it looks very cool.

That is very interesting, and something I didn't know of. Great ability :-X I liked that option in other shooters, since it was a way to tackle an enemy or 'slide-into-hide'. I'll try it next playthrough.

@ Mandru: Damn, you ARE a FC2 veteran!!! Over 50 playthroughs and counting :o

To be honest: I don't know if you can tackle an enemy with the baseball-slide; never tried it. Does anyone here know that?

I haven't tried that but I have a feeling you'll just bump into them, they'll say something like "WTF" and that will be it. Then they'll shoot you :-()

I certainly wouldn't try that in my current 'thru without saving the game first because I'm playing on Infamous and that sounds like a sure fire way to get a life-threatening amount of lead into my system :-\\

Quote from: Binnatics on April 02, 2012, 12:21:23 PM
@ Mandru: Damn, you ARE a FC2 veteran!!! Over 50 playthroughs and counting :o

Spoiler

That was the count when I joined OWG.  I lost actual count somewhere around 120 or so (quite a while back) but my trips through the game started taking a lot less time once I started driving everywhere.  Oh that and using non-degrading weapons, infinite ammo and godmode. ;)

[smg id=4280 type=av]

CAUTION ! ! ! !  Please do not attempt this act if you do not have the high jump mod   :-D

There was a thread about this activity over here:

http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1303.msg20504#msg20504 (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1303.msg20504#msg20504)


I was doing this without high jump but you've got to time it so that you don't let the bumper touch you.  ;)

I tried to jump over the AT so I could shoot them from behind    ;D

Whereas I was landing on the hood and targeting the driver.  Jumping completely over them would have been cool.  :-()

[smg id=4281 type=av]

Look Behind you a$$hole !!!

It takes ages for me to download these vids ??? :(

Heheh, good tactic Nexor :-X :-X ^-^

Good one nexor.  :-X

 :laugh:  :-X

[smg id=4379 type=av]

Catching a ride   :-D

Good one!  Who is driving?  ????

 :-D :-X

Since this is the funny tactics and tips topic, I'd very much like to know what the tip or tactic used in the vid is, how you do it and so on :) My guess is that you used an ignore cheat and jumped on a patrol AT :)

Erm, "P"atrol, Assault Truck, a PAT? Why the hell did we never come up with that abbreviation?  :-()

Sorry everyone, I was busy modifing the posting when we got a power failure so I couldn't finish it, also I didn't know where and if I should post it, I just got the idea of trying it out and it looked funny riding on the hood of an AT.

As it was done using a cheat I suppose I shouldn't have posted it here as it cannot be pulled off without a cheat

No worries - I think we all knew it had to be some kind of cheat else the driver would have been blasting away instead of driving.  :-()

 :-D

Nice one nex :-X 8) :laugh:

Thanks Hell Diguner :)

I noticed you were checking this topic and for fun and giggles I clicked on one of those tips (after a bloody long time since I last did that) only to find out the links were pointing to our old forum. Worked, but looked weird. All links have been fixed now.

Why did nobody tell me they had been broken for apparently a LONG time.. well, it's fixed, that's what counts.

Have fun, guys  ;)

Thanks Blade.

my pleasure :) In case you find more "broken" links (pointing to "openworldgames.org" rather than the www. version) please let me know so I can fix them.  ;)