Polytechnic mission

[fragger]

Art recently posted a story about Frank's side mission to blow up a stash of some sort at the Polytechnic (I can't remember what it was a stash of, either) in Memorable Moments, and it jogged my memory of a cool way I found to accomplish that mission, so here 'tis:

You'll need a sniper rifle that fires bullets (dart gun won't cut it). Go to the safehouse NE of Port Selao, the one just up the road from the turnoff to the Weapon Shop (you can see the safehouse on the map in the first pic, near the top-left corner). There you'll find a swamp boat. Take the boat a short way along the river to the Polytechnic, to about here:

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Land on the right-hand bank, near the leafy tree just past the rocks (to the right of the boat's bow in the first pic). Looking back across the river, you'll see the Polytechnic:

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Now turn to your left, and you'll see these rocks:

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Move in the directions of the arrows, trying to keep as close to the escarpment as possible. The white arc/arrow is a jump, it's a bit tricky. It's one of those sweet-spot affairs, you may have to try a few times to get up on the rock. Once up, keep going in the direction of the last arrow, and you'll find yourself with this view of the Polytechnic:

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The green circle shows the approximate location of a window. Bring up your sniper rifle of choice, and if you move around a bit, you should be able to see one of the red barrels through the window (I tweaked the colour saturation to make it stand out a bit):

[smg id=1890 align=center width=400]


Then just shoot it! It may take 1 or 2 shots, but then, boom, mission complete. Jump back in the swamp boat and head back to the safehouse. You should even find whatever vehicle you drove up in still there. The mercs won't even know you were around, and you won't have to worry about sullying Frank's good name!

[JRD]

Nice tips fragger... this one could also be place the in "Articles" section!  ;)
I love how FC2 gives room for experimentation... there's always a different approach to do things
Nice images too mate  :-X

[Art Blade]

very nice article, and with those arrows it is a really nice walkthrough :-X :)

I like the screenshots, too. Funny how some things appear to be so easy, all you need is a good idea  ;D I'm going to test that myself, looks fun  :)

By the way, it was the same mission I was talking about here (incident at Mike's Bar)

[KingRat]

Excellent w@&k fragger :-X, going to try that myself  :)

[Art Blade]

just tried it, works like a charm  ;D :-X

[Art Blade]

If you continue climbing around, and desperately try to get to the top of that ridge behind your position, you actualy can do it. You then get to see a maphole (polytech is just a sky-coloured area) but on the other side of the ridge, you get a nice view over that guard post there :)

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[fragger]

Cheers guys :)

Nice exploratory effort there, Art, now I'll  have to try that ;D

[KingRat]

I'm in the perfect spot to give that a try. Rolled back to a 50% save and was in the NE; finished collecting the diamonds & unlocking SH & GP's then took a convoy mission....the loop near Poly. Did that and took a cell mission back in town. I saved and quit at the safe house near that cell. I'll do some more diamond collecting then try that climb on my way to town  :)

Thanks for the tip guys!

[Art Blade]

now I'll  have to try that ;D

HEHE!  ;D ;D ;D

I found the sweet spot towards the safehouse, you'll notice there are several big chunks of rock around there. The one trick I've learned is to look for grass. For some reason, grassy parts are most likely to be climbable and offer friction. So, if you try to get up, look out for that and you should find it. I didn't take a screenshot then because it did take quite an effort to jump and run up a wall and I really didn't expect it to w@&k. When I was up, I thought gee, I'm up, but didn't want to go through it again just then :)

Thanks for the tip guys!

More likely, thanks fragger for the idea and that sweet spot. I didn't really do anything but follow his lead :)

[PZ]

Excellent job, fragger  :-X

[JRD]

Did that mission yesterday... found the spot but couldn`t make the jump  :(

So I swimmed across the river, tossed one grenade throught the open door and just walked away waiting for the BOOM... which came in no time, with a mission complete message...  ;D ;D

Cool thing is that nobody saw me either... guess I could`ve done it planting lots of IEDs around the place and watching from that rock....hmmmmmmmmm will try this during night time (hope I can get my panoramic seat this time  ;) )

[fragger]

That jump can be a royal pain. Sometimes I get it in one, other times I try and try and try and just can't seem to get it. It's odd - it's as though the coding governing it varies from one visit to another.

I've experienced something similar at the GP in the NE sector of Leboa, the one north of the lake area with the sniper on a small bluff overlooking it. I once approached this GP from the bus stop to the east. After passing the abandoned house with the diamond case in it, and just before reaching the GP, there's a large mass of rock embedded in the hillside on the left. I actually managed to get up on top of that once, and try as I might, I've never been able to do it again. I've tried every time I've been back there since, but no dice. And it sucks, because it's a perfect place from which to clobber the sniper, assault the GP and take out the AT and Jeep patrols.

The green arrow shows the approximate location of the rock:

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There's a bit of a slope before it with a small embedded bit of rock sticking out. I remember I got up onto that small rock, and from there onto the larger mass of rock, but I just can't seem to do it anymore.

Hmm... I wonder if that was before I patched the game...

[KingRat]

On my way into Pala to take care of cell tower mission. Made fraggers (Poly) rock climb, but couldn't make the jump to the top. I know the spot fragger is talking about in his last post; so I'll jump a bus to the NE once this job is complete  ;)

[Art Blade]

Fragger, I found the path up to the place indicated in your pic. You need to go a bit further towards that house with the diamond in it. You can see it in my pic, sunlit. Look for the single, bright piece of rock sticking out of the wall, go for the bush to its lower left. The bush is the start, go left of the little rock and jump ontop, keep left and up, until the ledge of the big flat chunk of rock you initially wanted to climb, you need run+jump to force the jump up (again, left-ish of it).

Here you go:
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rock at the tip of my rifle:
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again, different perspective:
[smg id=1977 align=center width=400]

[KingRat]

Excellent w@&k Art! I know I've been up there before...raining 'nades down on the GP  ;D

[Art Blade]

Thanks, KingRat  :)

[fragger]

 :) Great stuff, Art! I must have been mistaken about the smaller rock... all I know is I was up there once. Thanks heaps for that, mate :-X :-X

[Art Blade]

you're most welcome, fragger  ;D

Well, I'm not sure if you were mistaken about the smaller rock. In those two pics that follow the view across the GP, both times my rifle tip "touches" the small rock you need to get up there. The last pic is lacking a little bit contrast due to its contre-jour style (not so easy to differentiate) but you're looking right at the wall, the GP is to the right of it. Just try to find the bush/little tree there, and keep left while getting up. :)

[fragger]

I tried Art's trick of climbing further up onto the rocks near the Polytechnic, and found that the area up there has a few holes in it. Here's one: once up on the ridge, try and find this rock (look east):

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The rock has a cleft in it. Move up near the cleft and face back towards the Polytechnic (which you'll notice has disappeared) so that you can see this bush:

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Now walk slowly towards the bush. You'll drop through the ground and find yourself on an underground ledge – with a portal into outer space beneath it (I'm actually looking down in this shot):

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If you move too fast towards the bush, or move forward off the ledge once you're down there, you'll drop even further and end up in this fascinating subterranean realm:

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You can actually swim around quite a ways down here. I managed to make it all the way back to the safehouse, before I went too far and got stuck in space:

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Back on the ridge, if you avoid the bush but keep moving east, sooner or later you'll fall into a hole. I've found two so far, but the one near the bush offers the most hallucinogenic scenery:

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I had to brighten these pics in Photoshop as it was night when I did this.

[KingRat]

Nice w@&k fragger....I tried and tried to get up there but couldn't make it  :'(

[Art Blade]

sorry to hear that, KingRat :(

fragger, nice exploration  ;D :-X

[mandru]

Very cool.  :)

[PZ]

I just love the numerous sniper points in the game - never a dull moment  :-X