Hot Air Balloon - potential SPOILERS

[batdog]

I "discovered" the hot air balloon today! When I say discovered, I mean I found the co-ordinates on YouTube.  :)

Absolutely unbelievable!  Dusk was falling when I started the burner. I'd put a waypoint on the map below me so I could see how high I could get.  Unfortunately it was right below me so I couldn't angle the camera enough to see it.  When I tried to re-position the waypoint it couldn't detect it at the height I was so I don't know how high I got to.

The view was amazing.  I could see pretty much the whole map and all the lights from the various towns and cities.  Then when the sun came up...man, it was one of the most brilliant sights I've seen in a video game for a long time.  At that point I decided to base jump from the basket.   I fell for over 4,000 metres, got an achievement and an additional message of congratulations to say that I'd beaten the Avalanche team's highest base jump.

I'm not sure what the limit is as to how high you can go.  A video on YouTube showed the balloon at over 6km up.  Knowing how crazy this game is it wouldn't surprise me if you could go into orbit.

[Art Blade]

coooool!  :-X well done, PZ  :)

[JRD]

coooool!  :-X well done, PZ  :)

PZ??  :(

[Art Blade]

ARGH!! sorry!  :-[  I did of course mean batdog. I had read like 10 posts all from PZ before and didn't expect that  :-[

So,

COOL! WELL DONE, BATDOG!  :-X

[PZ]

Very nice, batdog - do you chance have the coordinates?  I'd like to fly this thing myself.  ;D

[spaceboy]

I've seen vids of it (even someone landing it on a building in the city).  But haven't found it or looked for it yet.  Nice job on the base jump record.  I definitly want to try that.  4000 meters!  woo hoo!  :-X

[batdog]

Decided to see how high I could get with the balloon last night. So I fixed a waypoint near the location of the balloon (for those interested, the approximate co-ordinates are X:7350, Y16192) and took off.

It probably took about 20 to 25 minutes of flight time when I was approaching 7km (yes SEVEN km!!!) above the islands, when the whole balloon started to shake. Next thing balloon and basket parted company and I plummeted towards the ground.  Took a few minutes to get there. I tried the trick of opening the parachute at the last minute and sliding along the ground but the speed of my descent killed me instantly.

The frustrating thing is it didn't register as a base jump as I hadn't jumped from the balloon, it had fallen apart.  Also I'm not sure if I caused the break up of the balloon as at the time I was jumping up and down and moving from side to side to change direction.  So, 7km may or may not be the highest you can get. 

Next experiment - how high can I get in one of the aircraft?

[spaceboy]

brilliant, setting the waypoint is like a makeshift altimeter (as long as you stay as directly above it as possible).  Nice!  I doubt you broke it though, you probably did reach the top of the map!

[PZ]

Outstanding w@&k, batdog  :-X

I'm going to try the balloon - sounds like fun  ;)

[Art Blade]

That experiment and the spirit is worth a Karma-slap on the back, batdog  ;D :-X

[PZ]

That experiment and the spirit is worth a Karma-slap on the back, batdog  ;D :-X

I'll have to add one as well - experimentation in true OWG style  :-X

[batdog]

Thanks for the karma guys.  :)

My partner, who's also hooked on JC2 ( :-X :-X), decided that she wanted to get the base jump achievement and beat my record. She baled out of the balloon at over 6.5km up. When she opened her parachute at a recorded jump of 6500m she got the developer message along the lines "OMG you've beaten the Avalanche base jump record!" but bizarrely she didn't get the achievement.

After wrestling the Xbox controller from her grip I did a bit more experimenting with high-flying.  I got both the passenger airplane (474?) and the little agency jet to hit 5km high but then they would both lose power and "stall".  Couldn't seem to push them any higher.

[Art Blade]

Nice one, Mr and Mrs batdog  ;D  :-X

[PZ]

The epitome of what it means to be a gamer family!  I only wish that my wife would get into her games as much as I have mine (she plays Guitar Hero and little else).

Keep us posted on how the rivalry goes  ;D

[Art Blade]

Where is that balloon? (I want to fly that myself :) )

And I very much liked the music you slapped on that vid  :-X

(topic split off from JC2 vids and then merged with this one)

[eor123]

I knew the balloon was out there somewhere and the coordinates were available, but I was hoping I'd stumble across in my travels. I was flying a helo from Panau City to the airport, saw a flashing resource item, and decided to check it out. 

X: 7391
Y:16153

It wasn't immediately obvious to me how to get it off the ground.  ;)

[PZ]

Cool  :-X

[Art Blade]

thanks mate  :) :-X

[Art Blade]

Found it! Now I understand what you meant when you said it took you some time to figure out how to lift that thing off the ground  ;D I noticed when I got out of the gondola what the reason was that kept me down  :)

I'm in it right now but would like to redo that some time. Does anyone know if the balloon returns/respawns?

[Art Blade]

Another ride for me... :)

First the answer to my question in the previous post: The balloon does respawn.

Then:

My partner, who's also hooked on JC2 ( :-X :-X), decided that she wanted to get the base jump achievement and beat my record. She baled out of the balloon at over 6.5km up. When she opened her parachute at a recorded jump of 6500m she got the developer message along the lines "OMG you've beaten the Avalanche base jump record!" but bizarrely she didn't get the achievement.

After wrestling the Xbox controller from her grip I did a bit more experimenting with high-flying.  I got both the passenger airplane (474?) and the little agency jet to hit 5km high but then they would both lose power and "stall".  Couldn't seem to push them any higher.

Today I wanted to get something like that, too. I drove to the balloon and took off. Marked a spot on the ground and flew close to it so I had an altimeter. Took me a few minutes to reach 1km and around 10 minutes to reach 1.80km and it was barely getting there. I gave up on gaining altitude and jumped out of the gondola. It didn't register at all, in spite of a perfect landing with the glider.

I assume the PC version differs here, at least regarding height, and maybe registering a balloon jump as a base jump. Is there anyone else out there who tried the balloon base jump with a PC game? How high could you climb with the balloon? Did your jump register? If so, what precisely is necessary to make it register? (not jumping off the gondola, perhaps? As in climbing the balloon itself?)

One more thing, I'd like to get the "I believe I can fly" achievement (1km basejump) but I can't find a spot where to do it because the balloon doesn't seem to w@&k... any suggestions?

[Art Blade]

just by the way, my record for parachute climbing is 1,256m... almost as high as that balloon went, whereas my free fall (base jump) record is only 456m.

[spaceboy]

fyi a base jump off the top (balloons) of the mile high club will net you over 1000m which is a trophy/achievement.

[Art Blade]

Thank you very much, sir  ;D That is what I needed... good tip  :-X

(could have guessed that, though  :-[ )

[Art Blade]

Done. Opened the chute at 1,031m... finally got that achivement :) :-X

[PZ]

I still haven't even found the balloon, and I'm already into RDR.  Will need to get back to Panau one of these days because I sure miss the tropics!  ;D