FC3: Tips and Tricks

[fragger]

I've settled upon what I think will henceforth be my standard approach for doing the drug field mission. Twice now I've done it this way, and it has worked both times:

Snipe as many bad guys as possible from the ridge between the plantation and the "flamethrower test field" (the one that the mission's initial yellow dot directs you to), then go down and burn one field. You need to burn at least one field to make the boat appear at the dock, otherwise there will be no boat and this method won't w@&k.

Get to the dock, kill the boat pilot (he'll fall out onto the dock and the boat's motor will die), then leave a mine or two between the boat and the shack at the end of the dock.

Go back and torch the rest of the fields. A baddie or two will probably still spawn, but once the last field goes up a heavy will spawn in or near that shack at the end of the dock (I'm not sure exactly where he appears, but both times I've later found him dead inside the shack). He will immediately set off the mine(s) you left there, destroying the boat in the process and saving you the trouble of running back and grabbing the RPG. Success!

Even if you don't do the mine thing, the boat can't go anywhere without the driver, so you can kill the heavy and destroy the boat at your leisure, whichever way you want. But you might as well let the heavy do the job for you >:D Either way: no more racing against time to get to the RPG!

[fragger]

There's a place where you can scope out the Medusa site from really high up and take out most of the trash, from a ridge north of the crater lake into which you later jump to get to the Chinese tomb. NW of the crater, at x:481 / y:799, there's a wooden platform with a small shack and a hang glider. From there, you can tag all baddies except for the welding guy inside the Medusa's hull. But he should come outside and offer himself up as a target once you drop the other dirty rotter he hangs around with.

[smg id=5509 width=600]

I was able to snipe all but the two furthest-away guys (using silenced Z93), then I hang glided (hung glode?) down to the beach. This was tricky because if you go too far in any direction you'll get the warning message about leaving the mission area. Because the hang gliders in FC3 lose altitude so slowly you'll need to either circle around a lot or risk some "power dives" to get to the beach whilst staying within the mission zone, but it's doable (I actually managed to fly right through that stone arch - that was cool). Theoretically you could jettison the glider over the water, drop into the sea and swim back. Theoretically - I haven't tried it.

If you time your sniping well (and with a sound-suppressed weapon of course) you won't alert any of the other guys, except for the aforementioned welder-in-the-hull, but you actually do want to alert him in order to get him to show himself and thus become meat.

Incidentally, regarding jumping into the crater lake to get to the Chinese tomb: You have to do it that way in the relevant Buck mission, but if you want to get into the crater lake at any other time without jumping in, you can in fact swim into it. There's a cave not far east of the Medusa site, and if you go as far into that cave as you possibly can and then go underwater you'll find a subterranean passage that leads into the crater lake.

[PZ]

Very nice fragger; I knew you would be among the best at finding alternative ways to approach missions.  I can easily envision in my mind your experience on these missions as I read of your adventure +1!  :-X

[mandru]

Nice spot fragger.  :-X  To get down from there quickly when you're ready to dig in I'm wondering if there's enough clearance there at that ledge to deploy the wing suit and then parachute or if you can get enough lift from the wing suit to splashdown in the surf or the harder target of that pool at the base of the cliff. 

And yes the wing suit can safely deliver you to a water landing without the parachute if the water's deep enough.  ;)

Incidentally, regarding jumping into the crater lake to get to the Chinese tomb: You have to do it that way in the relevant Buck mission, but if you want to get into the crater lake at any other time without jumping in, you can in fact swim into it. There's a cave not far east of the Medusa site, and if you go as far into that cave as you possibly can and then go underwater you'll find a subterranean passage that leads into the crater lake.

I've also observed that a fall that would normally kill you can be avoided by driving a vehicle off a cliff or into a deep hole if there's water at the bottom.  Well maybe not the buggy or the quad runners which have managed to get me killed surprisingly easily.  :-\\

There is that hard to reach cavern with a relic way up the Southern wall in the canyon where Sam sends you on the mission to get the photo of the treasonous privateers for Hoyt.  The South island map at the top of the page shows a pink marker for the location of the cave entrance holding that relic.  If you completely enlarge the map you will see that roughly a bit to the South of that pink relic marker there's a road that leads up to a pool and a road that leads away from the pool.  They may have been parts the same road once.  ^-^

What the map doesn't show you is that the pool (sinkhole is more like it) is about 50 or 60 feet lower than the road.  If you are being chased by privateers in a few of their little red jump buggies after getting them all frothed up by killing many of their companions in the canyon as well as all their dogs and you happen to select that route to make your escape it's easy to see that this is a discovery anyone could have made on their own.  :o

I should probably mention that there weren't any bridge out signs (at least that I happened to notice in the rush) before plunging down the hole and into the dark pool that hosts the relic at that location.  Although it did ruin a perfectly good escape vehicle I survived the fall with little or no damage and by exiting back into the canyon it put me in position to have another go at the privateers who had respawned in the canyon again.  >:D

[fragger]

A base jump from anywhere along that ridge should be doable. It's a very sheer drop and the edge is pretty well defined. OF course you don't have the wing suit at the time of the Medusa mission, but once you do, it should be a straightforward jump. You can always steer the parachute back towards the land if you fly too far out to sea before deploying it.

[mandru]

Too early in the game to have the wing suit.  :-\\

You are absolutely right fragger.  I keep forgetting that this UBI game doesn't have the utility to be able after completing or failing a sequence to go back and enjoy it again the way you can in the AC series.  :(

You would seriously think that UBI would understand by now that including the re-play functionality of a mission would be a huge selling point adding tremendous value to the gamer's purchase/investment.  >:(

[PZ]

Too early in the game to have the wing suit.  :-\\

You are absolutely right fragger.  I keep forgetting that this UBI game doesn't have the utility to be able after completing or failing a sequence to go back and enjoy it again the way you can in the AC series.  :(

You would seriously think that UBI would understand by now that including the re-play functionality of a mission would be a huge selling point adding tremendous value to the gamer's purchase/investment.  >:(

You're absolutely correct, and it isn't like they need to design the whole system from scratch; they already did it for the AC series.

[fragger]

 :-X

Left hand, allow me to introduce you to right hand. Please observe what he does and learn from him.

[mandru]

Right you are fragger, as long as those hands aren't in mittens.  ???

I hate mittens there's only two things you can do while wearing them.  Clap your hands like a seal and pi$$ yourself.  :-\\

[Art Blade]

Clap your hands like a seal and pi$$ yourself.  :-\\

If you can't avoid the seal part I suggest you remove those mittens if you want to avoid the erm, other, part which I don't dare to imagine out of fear for thinking up some very shocking graphical images. :-D

[fragger]

  Both of you!

[mandru]

Here's a couple tips on completing two of the Achievement requirements that gave me some trouble.

Rock Always Wins: Fully distract an enemy (animals don't count) "X" number of times (I think "X" was something like 25).

With hundreds of throws Rock always ranks as my most popular thrown weapon.  You can imagine my frustration with this achievement stubbornly failing to be awarded.  I've finally determined what I was doing wrong.  :D

When a rock is thrown and an enemy investigates the sound you have to allow them to completely return to their original position and drop out of alertness mode.  A second thrown rock while they are on alert and investigating will permanently lock them into suspicious and alert mode ready with a hair trigger which will thwart any credit towards the achievement.

If you have the patience allowing time for the "at ease reset" and can avoid detection it is possible to gain all required full distractions from just one enemy.  :-X
-----------------------------------------

Never Saw it Coming:  Kill an enemy from hang glider, parachute or zipline.

The toughest part of this achievement is:

1. After fifty or sixty attempts I found it near impossible (I never did succeed) to get the timing right for an attack from a hang glider or parachute to drop and make the required kill.  I used over several hours the air strip (where you rescue your brother) and the gliders near the radio tower immediately South of there.  Each failed attempt I would provoke the yellow jackets and let them kill me which would then drop me back at the radio tower for the next attempt.  Combinations of glider/drop to wing suit/parachute all failed me.


2. Most of the zip lines are part of an enemy populated outpost or in an active mission setting.  The trouble with that is there's some effort needed throwing rocks to position an enemy directly under the zip line path and if any other enemy present spots you attempting your slide they will shout alert and you will fail taking down your target.  The conditions for a successful attack in these circumstances brings to my mind a poster one of my first bosses had hanging on his office wall -

"When you are up to your a$$ in crocodiles it's difficult to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp"

As I noted in JRD's thread http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3146.msg58305#msg58305 "Pirates respawn points in the northern island" there is a prolific respawn point in the village immediately below where Vass gives you private (or is that pirate?  :-\\ ) swimming lessons complete with targets and a convenient zip line.

Fail an attempt?  Kill everyone, pull back, allow the pirates to reset and give it another go.  I'm finding this packed with surprises location to be a fun place if only for mayhem and ransacking. ;)

[fragger]

Great tips mandru, thanks :-X :)

I'll look at that village you mentioned as I still haven't pulled off the Never Saw It Coming achievement. In fact that's the last one on my to-do list.

[Art Blade]

very nice, mandru, I have the same issues and still need to accomplish those two achievements.

By the way, if we use a zip line and then let go of it in order to drop, would we call that to "unzip" ?  :-D Kind of funny to think that I'm going to peg away and keep unzipping just to land arse first on the nut of a yellow jacket or red shirt hoping for them to peg out. :)

[mandru]

Shooting from the hip a lot with an SMG or BMG?  Other than at point blank distances you may want to rethink that.

Stand or the bank of a river or in a well elevated spot overlooking the ocean and use one of the machine guns shooting from the hip into the water at a medium distance.  Even with the improved hip shooting skill tree bump added there's little rhyme or reason to the splash pattern.  Now try bringing the iron sites/scope into play and the difference of the scatter pattern is greatly diminished.  It's the difference of a scatter zone the size of a basketball or the side of a barn.

OK, it's a small barn but still...  ;)

[Art Blade]

 :-D

you're right, aiming pays off.

[Art Blade]

Rock Always Wins

thanks to you I managed, quite easily, even  :) time for yet another  +1  :-X  :)

[mandru]

Thanks Art.  :-D

[Ricamundo]

Hi folks.  :-D I just got FC3 last week, and after some initial swearing at the start (one weapon, hardly any ammo), i've started to get the hang of it. TBH, I can't say all the hunting of wild animals sits well with me. Anyway, i've progressed to a point where i've liberated many of the bases, thus making fast travel easier, and several of the radio towers. The remaining towers are off the island(?) as every time I try to pilot a boat in their general direction, the game warns me i'm out of bounds and sends me back.

I haven't done any missions yet, except some of the main mish, up to the Professor's house, whatever his name is. Love the driving/boating/zip lines/and flying. I've died a million deaths, mostly from being blind sided by the wildlife whilst scouting out bases. Speaking of dying, what is the deal with the quicksave/load? when im out wandering or trying to liberate a base and I die, I get sent back to my latest safehouse or radio tower, even tho I quicksaved while in the field. :D I understand that I can't QS on a mish, but not being able to QS/QL while wandering the jungle is frustrating!

I can see by these discussions that i've barely scratched the surface of this amazing game.  :-X

[Art Blade]

Hey Ricamundo!!! Great to have you back, matey  :) And no, you're not falling behind.. I too have got only 744 hours of gaming time so far, according to steam.  :-D

The towers you tried to reach are on a still locked part of the map, you'll have to do more main missions that will lead you there eventually. Just like North and South in FC2. :)

[Dweller_Benthos]

That's right, Art, but the saving function does suck big time. There's no way to do experimentation with the save function the way it is, you can't try to get a guard post one way, then reload and try something different. Severe case of console-port-itis. As it is now, since I'm going to be sent to a safe house anyway, I get to one first and then save, that way I know which one I'm going to start off at next time. Usually the radio towers are off in the boonies and getting back to where you want to be from one is a hassle.

[Art Blade]

indeed. I don't know when and why, yet sometimes the quicksave/-load does take you to the exact position, the way it should always be.

[mandru]

Hey Ricamundo, good to see you.  :-X

I know what you mean about the saves and respawns being fouled up but I might have a w@&k around for you.

When you are attacking an outpost if you are trying to capture it undetected and get spotted or have the reinforcements called even if you leave and do something else for a few hours the moment you get back within range it picks up right where you left off with the your cover blown or you'll hear the reinforcements' radio call to the outpost that they will be there in two minutes or some such.

If you are trying to be a purist on outpost captures and don't like the way things are going there's still hope.  As long as you've not killed all of the defenders you do have the option of  dropping your guard, walking out into the open and letting them kill you.  As sucky as that sounds your death does give the outpost capture attempt a clean restart when you respawn giving you the chance to try different tactics the next time you give it a go.

[Abletile]

Good tip Mandru  :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

indeed. I don't know when and why, yet sometimes the quicksave/-load does take you to the exact position, the way it should always be.

I've had that happen a few times, too. I think if you're close enough to an outpost or tower it will save your position. Hard to tell what the correct distance is though.