Mercs Say The Darndest Things

[mandru]

In finding sleeping mercs, night time is a must. Several times I have thought that there was a pile of rags in my way while skulking through a CP in stealth mode only to realize I'd found the easiest of targets.

There are a lot of places through the game that there will be a bedroll positioned near a CP that can be found and at night they're the first place I look when passing through as they are a nap spot magnet for mercs assigned to that area.

The CP on the river just North of the POLY Tech (where the merc with the Carl G is posted) is one such spot with an established preset bedroll laid out about 10 feet S.E. of the ammo cache. Off the top of my head this is the easiest to remember but when I'm in game I have a mental map as I approach different areas to scope out.

[PZ]

I've not encountered too many sleeping mercs, but I dearly love to sneak around.  One of my favorite GPs is the one north of Weelegol village - there are propane tanks that you can torch with your 6P9 - it takes a few shots, but the mercs don't hear them.  Once you set off the propane, it spins about, then explodes setting the grass on fire, which in turn sets off other tanks.  Soon the entire area is ablaze and the mercs are frantically running around.

Another place I like this approach is from the western fuel tower at PetroSahel - standing on top, you can shoot flammables through the window of the warehouse, and elsewhere in the area.  If lucky enough, the resulting ball of fire is massive, and they never know you're there because of your position and the use of a silent weapon.

[Art Blade]

the resulting ball of fire is massive

I love that place... and I had my share of a massive ball of fire there  :)

[Didius Falco]

I had a problem with my sound - it was reversed; you could hear noises/talking clearest and loudest when facing away from it. I just toughed it out the first three play-throughs, but finally got around to fooling with the sound setup before my current (4th) time through.

So, finally able to hear clearly, I accepted a mission from the UFLL and was in my vehicle driving too fast out of town. I missed my turn without realizing it until I distinctly heard a merc say "Wrong way, a$$hole!" I stopped and checked my map, and sure enough...

[fragger]

Cool - I haven't heard that line before ;D

[Art Blade]

LOL me neither  ^+-+

[mandru]

Wow, I know that phrase but it's unrelated to driving!   ????

When you are in one of the towns that have the off limits areas that are guarded (such as the the two diamond locations up North in Pala) if you approach too closely that is one of the lines the mecs will use to warn you off right before they start shooting.

I've had word tracks pop up out of the blue at inappropriate times  but that's a good one and coincidentally got you back on the correct course.    :-X

[PZ]

I had a problem with my sound - it was reversed...

I never noticed that line either, but I do recall quite a few individuals mentioning that sound localization was a little "off" in FC2.

[mandru]

I came across a line this morning deep into Bowa-Seko that I've heard on the periphery of merc chatter but was in a position to pay attention this time.  This is not an exact quote (working from memory I've got it as close as possible) but but I think I've captured 99% of the conversational intent.

Merc 1: "What say we get some guys together and crack out the beers?"

Merc 2: "Sounds good!  Where to?

Merc 1: "How about that place Mike's?"

Merc 2: "No can do mate, it's off limits. That place is for Independents only, it's part of the cease fire agreement."

[Art Blade]

I keep hearing that small conversation every other time I enter either Pala or Port Selao.

[PZ]

For some reason I'm hearing lots more dialog this play through - perhaps it is because I'm not so focused on just plain basic survival.  :-()

In fact, I appear to be lots better at shooting, running, hiding, and escape than when I left the game some time ago - perhaps it is the skill I've been acquiring in AC2, AC:B, JC2, etc.  >:D

Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying the game quite a bit more because I not so worried about dying.

I recall the complaints about the driving times, the uncanny ability of the ATPs to find you, and the hostility of the guards at the posts.  I happily report that none of these things are bothering me (they didn't much before, but even less so now, even though I play games with fast travel)

   
• ATPs - I used to dread these, but now they're just plain funny (unless there are 3 or more that simultaneously descend)  I stay in my vehicle, typically the Uni, and when they hit me, I climb up into the seat of the .50 and start blazing away.
• Driving time - if you take the time to check your map to determine the best method of travel, you can usually get to where you want quite simply - for instance, I needed to meet a buddy at a safe house south of Mike's place - the one on the river near an island that has a diamond.  Although I could have driven to it, taking a boat was so much more convenient, and quick.
• Hostile guard posts - if I'm not in the mood to fight, I simply travel overland to bypass the post, but most of the time I like to look for flammables to start a little chaos  >:D

[nexor]

As I love nature and the bush of which we still have a lot of "bushveld" farms, I only drive around when it's absolutely necessary, otherwise I leg it from one place to another, day time as well as night, when I come across a merc outpost  I would either attack or sneak past depending on my mood at the time, sometimes I stay in hiding and listen to their conversations, some are quite funny  :)

[deadman1]

Yesterday I was racing through the unmarked CP west of Mosate when I heard one of the mercs yell "motherf'''''''''''r" at the top of his lungs. That was closely followed by the usual comments and ended in a nice race across the countryside, involving my jeep, the CP:s jeep and a couple of AT:s.

[Art Blade]

some of them are really civilised, aren't they  ^-^

[mandru]

Genuine charm school graduates.   ;)  :-X

[PZ]

... when I heard one of the mercs yell "motherf'''''''''''r" at the top of his lungs.

I've noticed this comment more as my reputation level rises - however, I'm not sure if there is any correlation because I've not paid attention to it enough.

[Art Blade]

Unfortunately the mercs are deaf to what we say, they only listen to themselves. When someone shouts "motherf.." at me I have a couple of replies at hand, like "your Mom always asked for more" or "I never touched your mother, ugly as she is" but they never pay attention.

[mandru]

I picked up a new line of dialog from the mercs last night while checking out this latest driver for my GTX 295 NVIDIA GPU.

I was traveling in a freshly acquired GLAT from Sepoko back down towards the N.E. cell tower to where there's that one GP straddling the road.  I rolled up to where I was close enough to alert the mercs posted there and switched to the gunner position to deal out some death.

I distinctly heard one merc shout to the others "HEY! Let this guy be, he's a psycho!"

None of the others heeded his warning but then neither did I.   >:D

[PZ]

Good one! I love that spot, but then again, I love most of the spots where mercs are to be found  >:D

[Binnatics]

I've noticed this comment more as my reputation level rises - however, I'm not sure if there is any correlation because I've not paid attention to it enough.

I'm pretty sure about the change of dialogue when rep level rises.  I've noticed them getting afraid faster and sound more panicking once you reach higher levels.
I think I was quite focused to that phenomena since I'd recently played Batman AA, where that was a common part of any 'silent-takedown' confrontation.  >:D

I distinctly heard one merc shout to the others "HEY! Let this guy be, he's a psycho!"

That's quite an original line, great find!!! :-X

[PZ]

Indeed - they run away more easily - satisfying after the pushing and shoving they give you in town at the lower reputation levels.  :-()

[Art Blade]

It is related to your reputation level. You may hear mercs in villages go in a panicking voice, "did you hear about that crazy merc? I hear he is headed this way!" (or something quite like that) :-D

[fragger]

Good one, mandru :-D You have to wonder just how many lines of dialogue were recorded for this game since we're still hearing new ones after several years of playing. Impressive :-X

[Jim di Griz]

...I wonder what the Mercs who are speaking the non-English languages are saying?

I assume they are using Afrikans, Swahili, and Russian?

There is definitely one Dutch speaker and an Afrikaans too - the Dutch one's accent is very Hilversum, just outside Amsterdam and the accent used lots on Dutch TV. I've not been able to hear the whole sentence as the merc was usually approaching, plus just having started the game (and it being night) I was too busy trying to spot him before he found me...but this is what I can infer from the last snippet.

"...je had er moeten spelen." which is roughly "...but you just had to play." I'll listen out for it again, especially now that I'm more able for them and don't have to focus so much - if I'm lucky I should be able to get right up behind their GP and catch the whole dialogue once they know I'm there.

[Binnatics]

There is definitely one Dutch speaker and an Afrikaans too - the Dutch one's accent is very Hilversum, just outside Amsterdam and the accent used lots on Dutch TV. I've not been able to hear the whole sentence as the merc was usually approaching, plus just having started the game (and it being night) I was too busy trying to spot him before he found me...but this is what I can infer from the last snippet.

"...je had er moeten spelen." which is roughly "...but you just had to play." I'll listen out for it again, especially now that I'm more able for them and don't have to focus so much - if I'm lucky I should be able to get right up behind their GP and catch the whole dialogue once they know I'm there.

That is an interesting observation. I've mainly interpreted every Dutch-sounding conversation as Afrikaans, since I hadn't figured there would be a Dutch guy running round the African bush, but you may be right. I'll try to take a careful listen next playthrough (note to self; start that new playthrough finally)

Just a side-note: I've recently been listening to internet radio broadcasted from South Africa (with my new network receiver toy) and I could pretty much understand all the Afrikaans they were speaking. Very interesting to hear how the Dutch language has passed through a different evolution. You can also hear changes in the Dutch spoken by people from Surinam or the Antilles. For example in Surinam people have some sort of old fashioned way of speaking, which has already disappeared in Holland. There it's still quite common.
The Afrikaans Dutch seems to have evolved into a ruffer language with more rasping sounds and seems a bit simplified to me in grammatical aspect.

I wonder how that must be for English people? Do local accents still surprise you and make your own language feel like spoken in a place far away in space and time? Or has it all somewhat merged together again due to the global importance of the language?