(funny) Tactics and Tips

[PZ]

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)

[Art Blade]

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

[Hacko]

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

[PZ]

You two are funny guys!   ;D  :-X

[fragger]

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.

[Art Blade]

 ;D ;D nice play on words, LOL

[PZ]

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.

[Art Blade]

:)

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 :)

[Art Blade]

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 :)

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.

[Art Blade]

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 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

[PZ]

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?

[Art Blade]

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).

[Art Blade]

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

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[Dweller_Benthos]

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.

[Art Blade]

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

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

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[Art Blade]

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

[Art Blade]

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

[fragger]

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:
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:-X Cool ride! When I launched into space I could almost feel my stomach float...

[deadman1]

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

[Art Blade]

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  :)

[PZ]

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

[Art Blade]

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

[PZ]

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

[mandru]

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

[Art Blade]

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