Animal Magic

[RedRaven]

Africa. A continent with a vast array of wildlife, from tiny Malaria infected insects to the largest land based animal on the planet. So ubisoft give us Zebra, Chickens, Goats, Flies and Impala (at least thats what i think they are!). Oh, and of course the unidentified birds circling above in the skies.
Where are all the Predatory breeds ???Just imagine the fun we could be having getting mercs to chase us whilst unbeknown to them a rabid pack of Hyena, or a hungry Cheetah is right around the corner.
Of course it would also keep us on our toes too, but imagine the fun.....
Instead each animal currently in the game is dead after no more than 2 hits MAX!
Having said all that, there is one instance where to my surprise they actually fought back!!!!!
Was on a mission for the Arms Dealer to take out the convoy in the North, jumped the bus from Pala to the North-West bus stop then took the dune buggy across country to find a suitable place from which to launch my ambush. Racing across the rough ground i spied a couple of Impala prancing around. How could i resist!. Floored the gas and went straight over one with no damage to my wheels. As i had a little time to kill before the convoy came back round decided to have a little fun with the rest of the Animals, spun the buggy round and speed towards another one who, having seen his friend get a nice tyre track tattoo had begun to run away. Next thing i see is a 3rd one of them running at me!!! Crazy animal! Decided to  ignore it and continued after the cowardly one. BANG!. All of a sudden i,m upside down, climbing out of the buggy, out comes the gun as i crouch low scanning for mercs but there was none in sight. Then i saw it, the 3rd impala had charged at they side of the buggy and had actually managed to flip it over.
I was gob-smacked, couldnt believe my eyes.
Below is a map, with the route i took in Blue, the Red cross is near enough where it happened.

[smg id=1711]

Since then i've had 2 other instances of the cheeky creatures running at me but that was the only time one managed to make contact.
Has anybody else got any tales of crazed animals from their explorations?

[PZ]

Good story Red - I typically run over animals at the following locations:

• Heading north on the road from the eastern-most cell tower in Bowa (zebra)
  
• Heading north from the southwest bus stop, cross country, toward the Taemoco mine (wildebeast)
• Heading north from the southeast bus stop toward the airport in Bowa.  There are typically gazelles in the road by the underground house.  Like turkeys in cartoons, they run up the road so I can't help but run them over in my 'mog  ;D

[Art Blade]

I've had some animals attack my car too, Red.

See this post :)

[RedRaven]

Synapse failure..... After looking at your post Art there is the dimmest glimmer of recollection to having red it before, way way back when it was posted, not long after joining OWG. :) 

[Art Blade]

heh, I re-read that old topic and it was funny to see how similar the discussion went, already  :)

[mandru]

I had a goat take a disliking to a sandbuggy that I'd brought all the way around from the bus station near PetroSahel to the safe house where you meet your BB in for the subverted mission that you have to go up and whack the Belgian after he changes the task forces orders. I'd come in counter clockwise skirting the desert edges of the map grabbing a few diamonds and opening a few safe houses along the long way there.

When I came out of the update briefing there was the goat with its head down and horns hooked under the nose of the buggy, Every time the goat lifted it's head it lifted the nose of the buggy off the ground.

When I walked forward to take the buggy back, the goat spooked and bolted for the brush flipping the buggy off the driveway and into the surrounding woods where it became irretrievably lodged among the trees.

Oh well I kind of enjoy the stroll from there up to "Private property" and coming in on foot insures I don't alert the mercs at the entry GP to what I've got in store for them.

[Art Blade]

<chuckle> nice story, mandru  :)

[Art Blade]

I have something entirely different to show you: Zebras love buggies.  :)

[smg id=1753 align=center width=400]

[fragger]

Lol, cool picture Art ;D ;D ;D Did he crash into you, or did you crash into him?

Geez, I get animals charging into me all the time! I've had them run up and head butt my vehicle when I'm not moving, they fall down just as dead. I've even had a zebra catch one of my RPGs once. Another time I had a memorable firefight on the road to the Railroad Bridge in Bowa. There's always buffalos hanging around near the safe house on that road, so of course on this occasion they got all caught up in the crossfire while I was trying to unlock the safehouse, and I swear one of the mercs was using an animal for cover at one point. Final tally: 3 dead mercs, 2 dead buffalo (I got one, I think a bad guy got the other one).

Chickens and goats around safe houses aren't very safe at all if I'm anywhere nearby with a vehicle ;D

Here's a tip: don't play chicken with a buffalo whilst riding an ATV ;D

I'm with you Red, I'd love to see some dangerous wildlife in the game. You might risk a crocodile attack to swim across a river - but imagine the rush you'd get! You might be able to plough through a small herd of gazelles on the road and make 'em fly, but try doing it with a small herd of elephants!

As long as there's not too much of it. I wouldn't want to be constantly getting mauled, bitten, stung, clawed, chewed or pounced on. Gotta have some fight left for the mercs!

[Art Blade]

The zebra ran into me from behind and ended up dead while trying to cross over my ride from the side, hence his head on the chassis.

I've even had a zebra catch one of my RPGs once

LOL!!!

Fragger, I kept laughing and chuckling all the time it took to read your post. One more applaud to you for that kind of humor and way of thinking  :-X :)

And one more pic :)

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[mandru]

A little thing I came across in game, very little actually.

As the map shows I was on task pushing through the back woods and there at a fork in the path (the left one leading to a safe house I needed to clear) danced maybe 15 or 20 green fireflies.

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and the close up

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I was so surprised that I stood and watched them flicker on and off for 5 minutes. I've also located another batch of purple fireflies in a very similar situation but I'll let you find them on your own.

They are also there in the day but the shine in their full glory after dark.

[PZ]

cool  :-X

[Art Blade]

outstanding  :o :-X :-X :-X

[fragger]

Nice discovery, mandru - I haven't seen those before :-X :-X

[Art Blade]

I had to go there and see for myself, found them :)

[smg id=1783 align=center width=400]

I didn't expect them to be virtually stationary. It's like a collection of stars in a galaxy, you can walk around that "cloud" of fireflies and they will remain in the same order, keeping their relative distance to each other... funny and interesting, and simply beautiful  :)