Crime scene forensics - diamond case mysteries

[fragger]

I particularly like some of the diamond case locations where there is a tableau of some sort hinting at some past drama. Like the one NE of the GP which in turn is NE of the Mine in Bowa-Seko. There's a pit that's been dug and a couple of dead mercs lying around, suggesting that they've been about to bury the case but got ambushed before they could do it (their shovels are still stuck in the ground at the rim of the pit). Then there's a few instances where you can follow a trail of blood on the ground and find the poor pathetic sod who was wounded and was trying to crawl away with his precious diamonds but didn't make it. Stuff like that :-X

[Art Blade]

What I remember of that watchtower was the way getting there held a surprise for me.. a merc with a rocket launcher patrolling the path near the river (on the "other" side where the watchtower is located). I didn't expect him in the least and man, did he give me a start  ??? :-D

[fragger]

 :-D

[nexor]

In all the play throughs i have never been on the other side of the river, thanks PZ    :-X
i'm going there now     

[mandru]

Traveling away from that blood and bone pit diamond case in S.E. Bowa mentioned by TheStranger and going up the draw to the next closest diamond case which is located at the big baobab tree with the glider caught in its branches there's the dead merc with his treasure where he had fallen to his death underneath it.  After arriving up on the level the baobab sits on and moving towards it there's another puzzling detail one of the developers tossed in.  There's a shovel out in the middle of nowhere with no clues to why it would be there standing up all by itself stuck in the ground.

I've always wondered if it's another piece of random weirdness or if I'm missing something significant.  :-\\

[Art Blade]

probably dropped off the glider before the crash landing  :-()

[PZ]

I always wonder when something appears on the landscape that you are not expecting.  Who knows, there may be more hidden gems like the one fragger recently found at the Polytechnic - the great vantage point from which to snipe all the mercs in the area.

[TheStranger]

Traveling away from that blood and bone pit diamond case in S.E. Bowa mentioned by TheStranger and going up the draw to the next closest diamond case which is located at the big baobab tree with the glider caught in its branches there's the dead merc with his treasure where he had fallen to his death underneath it.  After arriving up on the level the baobab sits on and moving towards it there's another puzzling detail one of the developers tossed in.  There's a shovel out in the middle of nowhere with no clues to why it would be there standing up all by itself stuck in the ground.

I've always wondered if it's another piece of random weirdness or if I'm missing something significant.  :-\\

Maybe he left the shovel so that when he came back with the glider and the case he could dig in the case. Or another guy left the shovel for him at that place as part of a deal - who knows?

The "stories" of the diamond cases add a great amount of atmosphere to the game in my opinion. Do you know any other story telling spots? Maybe this could be a thread of its own? :)

btw. I just want to start another playthrough with the new realistic weapons mod (didn't play that far with Quarbani). My fingers are itching and I want back to FC2, but first I have to do some exams - but afterwards I know a reward for me :) And I have to inspect closely my FC Collectors Edition Box which I got last autumn.

[PZ]

Good idea, TheStranger - now I have a reason to inspect those spots (and take pictures) to post in this CSI thread.  :-()

Enjoy your play through with the weapons mod.  I was just on the console using the AR16 with it's 3-shot burst limit - man I thought my weapon was broken after using the modded version on the PC!

[PZ]

Where is this crime scene?

Click for the map

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[Art Blade]

  :)

Spoiler

"behind" Weelegol, the whole road down to the bus stop shows signs of a massacre  :)

[PZ]

Kudos, AB!  :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

I always liked the hang glider crash site as a good "diamond story". As for the one mentioned where the mercs are digging one up, or burying it, since the diamond is still there, my guess is that someone was either digging it up or hiding it and someone else came along and tried to relieve him of it, they both kill each other, leaving the hole, their bodies, and the diamond for you to find.

[Art Blade]

Cheers, PZ  :)

And yes, D_B, exactly what I had in mind when I saw that "crime scene"  :) :-X

[TheStranger]

Argh can't wait to start my new playthrough (actually a restart) and make some nice mercenary-tourist-photos ;)

[PZ]

Looking forward to your pics  ;)

[PZ]

Most of you likely know this location - the glider in the tree above a diamond case.  A question I had was where this glider might have come from.
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Going east past the safe house, you can find this glider
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Although my flight was short, I'm perhaps too heavy, or perhaps my flying skills are not what they should be.  Maybe the poor dead merc flying the glider that crashed in the tree made it a bit farther than I did.  :-()
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[fragger]

Nice pics PZ, and cool idea :-X :) Is that the glider from near the Pipeline construction site?

Speaking of glider experiments, has anyone tried taking the glider from the lodge at Goka Falls and going back down the river on it instead of using it to get the nearby diamond? You can get an impressive distance downstream with it, almost all the way to that biggish riverside village with the dock. It's a fun flight but it's easy to get snagged and dumped by the riverside trees in places, so try and stay near the middle of the river.

Something else I want to try, now that I think of it: taking the glider from near the Railway Bridge in Bowa and seeing how far down the river I can get with it. Probably best to do it on a rainy or foggy night so as not to get shot down by the mercs at the riverside GP along the way, or by the sniper on the opposite bank. I've used that glider to get the diamond from on top of the rocks just past that GP (I've long since discovered that I don't need the glider for that) and I still had a good dollop of altitude at that point. I can't try it yet as I'm still in Leboa on my first 'thru since my PC rebuild and all my previously saved games died with the old hard drive. If anyone else is in a position to try it, or has already, I'd be interested to know how far you can get, or did get.

[fragger]

I've often wondered about this one, near the Weapon Shop in SW Leboa:

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Why is there a sledgehammer lying on the ground near him? The murder weapon? Doesn't seem to be any other reason for it to be there - there's nothing else there to use it on except the car wreck, which incidentally looks way older than the body. The body still has flesh on it and isn't a skeleton, while the car is an ancient, rusted-out, wheel-less hulk, so the bloke doesn't appear to have been the victim of an ambush or about to use the car for a fast getaway of some sort.

And if this is the body of a guy who was sledgehammered for his diamond case, why is the case still there, unopened? Or did someone shoot him and then try to use the sledgehammer to get the case open, but couldn't? Which doesn't make sense, seeing as how you can just open the case when you find it. And why would someone be carrying around a gun and a sledgehammer? And why not try to shoot the lock off the case, instead of hammering away at it? Maybe the sledgehammer-wielder was just an imbecile (duh, I can't get dis open...)

Or maybe the dead guy was the thick-headed sledgehammer user. There's no blood visible, so maybe he stupidly tried to bash his way into an already unlocked case until he tossed his sledgehammer at it in a fit of pique, collapsed and died from a deadly combination of heatstroke, exhaustion and crankiness.

Interestingly, there's another car wreck just a stone's throw away from this one, in a similar condition. Related?

Curious scene, Watson...

[mandru]

I'd lamented that we were unable to pick up and use those sledgehammers scattered around in FC2.  :-\\

It wasn't until I played AC:R (another UBI game) where Templar guards on the rooftops use the same sledges to tear down Assassin zip lines that I was able to kill guards and take their sledges.  >:D

[TheStranger]

Speaking of glider experiments, has anyone tried taking the glider from the lodge at Goka Falls and going back down the river on it instead of using it to get the nearby diamond?

Sure and the canyon reminds of the one at Dogon village which has a similar "flight route". Don't know how often I crashed here.  ;D

I've often wondered about this one, near the Weapon Shop in SW Leboa:

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Or maybe the dead guy was the thick-headed sledgehammer user. There's no blood visible, so maybe he stupidly tried to bash his way into an already unlocked case until he tossed his sledgehammer at it in a fit of pique, collapsed and died from a deadly combination of heatstroke, exhaustion and crankiness.

Interestingly, there's another car wreck just a stone's throw away from this one, in a similar condition. Related?

Curious scene, Watson...

I tend to that theory too, because it seems to be the most likely one. and I would have posted it exact that way.

In the next days I will also post some crime scenes ;)

[PZ]

@fragger - thanks, and yes, that's the pipeline glider.  You make good points about the crime scene - there must be some really stupid criminals to have missed the diamond case  :-()

@mandru - I never noticed that the rooftop guards would take down zip lines!

[mandru]

Back @ PZ  ;D

They don't actually take them down but on the West side of the map there's a few posted near the top end of a zip line and they're whacking halfheartedly on the support posts with the sledges.  You can hear the whacks from quite a ways away to alert you there's one in the area.

In fact while establishing the South Eastern Assassin den Leader (first of two missions) the game takes you right to one of these rooftop sledge bearers.  The assigned den leader you are escorting to speak to the community leader who is bribing the merchants at the market to favor the Stewards (Templars in disguise) will stop to fight with that Templar if you don't kill him first.  ;)

[PZ]

Ah, I see... I've played FC2 through a couple of more times now, and am almost ready to go back into AC - one of the good things about becoming old is that the memory of past plays through fades quickly  :-()

[mandru]

That's funny PZ, I get the exact opposite.  :-\\

It's the important things that I can't keep track of because of all the insignificant trivia that keeps clamoring for all the attention.  ???