Normal vs. Hard difficulty level

[JRD]

You can drive a buggy from the soutwest bus station to the MS Pipeline through that dry river bed and come back using the swamp boat... a nice trip  ;D

[Art Blade]

LOL! in my case, I did what I had done before... take a hazardous shortcut (=me plummeting down a steep slope like a boulder) only this time I didn't have to push my car back upright but to keep myself from drowning ;)

[PZ]

Reference: ...Only this time it was a river... whoa! I found the boat and drove upriver...

[thanks for teaching me about this reference thing Art]

I hadn't noticed this until one of the other members (D_B, DKM2, dke58?) had mentioned it.  The mission is to flood the mine which flooded the dry river bed and then the mine area.  Funny how even large changes like that escaped my notice on earlier plays through the game...

[Dweller_Benthos]

I still wish Weelegol got flooded too, but I guess there isn't enough water to get over that little hill in the way. It is definitely a fishing village though. Another thing that would be nice in the FC2 world - running water like in Crysis, so you could have actual streams & rivers with currents.....

[JRD]

... and floating dead bodies passing by  ;D

[Art Blade]

... you could empty a couple of barrels of gasoline into the river, set it on fire, and watch boats and towns downriver burn down ;D

[PZ]

There's an idea... Greek fire...

[Art Blade]

... and feathers! loads of 'em!

[Ricamundo]

I'm on Infamous this time thu, and so far, I have to say, althoiugh i have been killed many many times, it's still quite enjoyable. The silenced shotty from the DLC is great. I think it's a keeper. The crossbow is great! I did a gun dealer mish today, and took out the munitions truck with one shot from the crossie. Kahboom! 8)

[Art Blade]

what was that word again... sounds like mustard, only doesn't start with "mu" ;D

I want DLC... no, let me rephrase that. I want C, on a CD!

[B33 ENN]

I still wish Weelegol got flooded too, but I guess there isn't enough water to get over that little hill in the way. It is definitely a fishing village though. Another thing that would be nice in the FC2 world - running water like in Crysis, so you could have actual streams & rivers with currents.....

I started playing on my media centre PC which is an "old" 2.66Ghz Quad Extreme (not O.C) and has my "old" HD4870X2 card. I had settings in game as DX10 and everything "Very High" or "High". The rivers always looked pretty flat, but real enough for me.

When I recently switched to my gaming PC with i7-920 and a HD5870, I noticed "Ultra High". The main difference that caught me was the rivers now have visible ripples and currents! It looks like real water!  :) :-X

Been too busy playing to do real comparison tests, but I assume this is more to do with full DX10 feature support in the HD5870 rather than just the detail settings.

[JRD]

I play FC2 on my REALLY old and obsolete intel dual core 2,20 GHz, Win XP 32 DirectX9 and always had Ultra High settings on - my GPU is a nVidia GeForce GTX 1 GB, and it makes all the difference in that case.

Other games require more CPU power (GTA IV, Crysis) so even with 1GB on a video card I don`t play all maxed out!

Weird, you should be able to play Ultra High on your old rig!

[B33 ENN]

Just did a check running on both systems...

You're right, they're the same, Ultra High on both, and water looks the same from what I can see now.

One runs on plasma 1280x768, other is 3840x1024 so maybe that changed my perception.  :-[

Oh.. and I moved up to Hardcore, early days, but so far I found the mercs hide more, and move with more purpose. Again, could be my perception, but will keep playing at this level to see if there is more of a challenge.

[JRD]

I only played once in normal and twice in hardcore... my playthroughs takes a long time to end.  ::) , so I realy don't remember if I felt something diferent when I moved up on difficulty level. Maybe mercs do flank you a bit more and use better tactics to tackle your presence, but nothing really noticeable.

I remember reading at the Prima Guide that you sustain more damage when hit, mercs drop less ammo and grenades when shot down and you carry less stuff with you (ammo, syrettes, grenades etc)... don't remember if the AI is really... ahem...smarter  ;)

Anyway, Hardcore is my way ever on FC2... maybe next time I'll try Infamous...

[B33 ENN]

I remember reading at the Prima Guide that you sustain more damage when hit, mercs drop less ammo and grenades when shot down and you carry less stuff with you (ammo, syrettes, grenades etc)... don't remember if the AI is really... ahem...smarter  ;)

Anyway, Hardcore is my way ever on FC2... maybe next time I'll try Infamous...

I think I agree. Made my way back south as North seemed deserted. Did an arms dealer mission which was easy enough. Getting there was another matter, got a hiding while trying to travel by boat from Safapane to Mosate. Lost two boats, and had to swim. Hijacked a unimog and got run off the road, over a hill, and into a lake/river. Stayed in it till it sank. Was damned upset about that as they aren't easy to find and I hoped to hang on to this one.

Then I got to a GP near the convoy location, fought well with the local rent-a-mercs, but one had a CG, and nuked me from far away, I only know as I heard that familiar whistle and saw a fireball before I went down. Nasreen had already pulled me out of the riverboat incident and I musta forgot to re-charge her, so I bought it big style.

Reloaded and did it better this time. Anyway, I noticed the less ammo, but can't be sure if the mercs are different or if the South is still too new and they are just better at getting the drop on me.

I'm in Mosate again now, looking for a bit of action, but both factions have their upstairs doors closed so I can't get a mission evne though they are in there talking...

:( is this one of those bugs?

[PZ]

I'm in Mosate again now, looking for a bit of action, but both factions have their upstairs doors closed so I can't get a mission evne though they are in there talking...

:( is this one of those bugs?

I don't recall exactly, but that is a bad sign if you don't see the mission indicators on the map.  I take it that you've able to get past the doorman?

As to the Unimog, there is a handy one at the armory east of Mosate Selao - blast past the merc-infested village and turn left at the nest road to get to the armory.  I always pick one up when I go east of the city.  There is another one north of the southeast bus stop in Bowa - just across from the pathway that leads up to the safe house above the bus stop.

I also recall a post or two in which we had located quite a few of the DLC vehicles.

[B33 ENN]

I don't recall exactly, but that is a bad sign if you don't see the mission indicators on the map.  I take it that you've able to get past the doorman?

Found the Unimogs you refered to  :) cheers. It's cumbersome and not my favourite (prefer the dune buggy and quad bike) but it's great for ram raiding or exploring unknown areas.

About the mission issue, yes, I get in past the door man who disarms you. I go up and hear the usual chatter, but the door is closed, same for the opposite faction. However, the markers on the map are mission active showing the hazzard symbol. In fact, the cell towers and gun dealer also show available missions, and the journal page says go to any mission location etc.

[PZ]

The quads are found in several places as well, but the only one I can think of right now is at the northwest bus stop in Bowa - I normally use that one to take the foot path shortcut to Sefapane.

Maybe one of our other members will recall better than I do for a solution to the closed door, but one thing you might try to do is a different kind of mission in an attempt to abort the current one.

[B33 ENN]

Maybe one of our other members will recall better than I do for a solution to the closed door, but one thing you might try to do is a different kind of mission in an attempt to abort the current one.

Well, I'm not sure if this was the solution but seems to be solved now... I went out into the town and was irritated. I bumped one of the mercs wondering about accidentally.

He shoved me! and told me to back off or something. I didn't like that so I started bumping him, he kept pushing me away and saying a few more interesting lines. THen two other mercs came along telling me to stop, essentially. Not having encountered this before I tried to see how far I could push them!

They're reactions and name calling were hilarious. Eventually, one said he had enough of this and pulled his gun from his holster. I shoved him again and again a friend of his came in between. I kept it up and his pal told me to get lost or else. SO I pointed my gun at him ln aiming mode He seemed to lose his bottle and stick his hands up backing away, mumbling something, but his pals got nervous and told me to lower the gun or else... Then one of them yelled and crouched down at which point they opened fire and I blew the other guys head off and ran for cover... and outta town as fast as i could as every merc in the place converged on the location.

Most hilarious fun I had in 10 minutes of FC2! Just the variety conversations and comments they make is awesom attention to detail!  ;D Needless to say when at a safe distance I lobbed grenades into the town until I cleared the area.

When I came back and everything was calmed, I went into a faction HQ and the door was open, and Greeves, I think was in their offering a mission for some dental clinic bombing  :-X

[PZ]

Cool story  :-X

I've encountered a few rare incidents with mercs on the outskirts of town, and have enjoyed every one of them.  I recall a time when a merc in the village east of Mosate hopped into a Jeep and chased me toward Mosate - typically then won't cross the line into town, but I was able to sucker him into doing so.  When he crossed the line, he immediately calmed down and was no longer hostile, and strolled down the road to mingle with the town's folks.

[Art Blade]

That closed door issue has to be a glitch. I never experienced it myself, though.

Being in town, I also like to stir up the mercs rather frequently and basically I just cannot leave town without starting a war first  ;D

[mir24]

Hmmmm. Playing on Insane, I can't comment except that the vehicles do try to avoid any grenades flung at them...

So my two cents would be:

Convoys are like ants. They follow a trail. Try this for an experiment: Locate a trail of ants. Now, using just one finger, repeatedly rub a line perpendicular to the trail. This "negates" the chemical trail the ants lay down so other ants can follow them. The next ant that comes along suddenly finds a blank trail. Ditto the next one. So they all mill about in confusion until one wanders off ahead and ah-hah! relocates the original trail... Then everything's hunky-dory...  :)

So it is with the convoys. Use an RPG-7 to destroy the first Assault Truck. The ensuing confusion will give you time to reload and destroy the truck, and the second AT. To make this method even more effective, position yourself on a straight stretch of road with yourself directly in front of the convoy. In the words of Lord Baden-Powell at the Battle of Mafeking: "When the time comes, all you have to do is shoot straight!"  :P

An alternative option is to scout for a bottleneck in the road. Usually a bridge or a very narrow path through a ravine or such. Arrive wayyy before the convoy and block off the route with another AT, car, jeep or Unimog. The convoy will arrive, try to get around the block, fail miserably and then EVERYONE gets off their vehicles... At which point you can use a single humble grenade to blow everything sky-high!  8)

[Art Blade]

cool, very nice observation and idea. I'll remember that  :) :-X

[PZ]

Nice technique - one of my favorite ways is one you mentioned.  There is a bridge near a GP north of the southwest bus stop on which a convoy passes.  I like to park an AT on the bridge and then go to the side opposite of the GP where I'll hide just over the edge of the ravine and wait.  When the convoy arrives, I dispatch the ATs but keep the big truck, which I typically load with IEDs and race toward some target.

[Art Blade]

Hehe, I once drove that big truck (target) to Cock-Fights and started a merc war. The truck blew up in the process  ;D