Roaming the islands

[PZ]

I thought it might be fun to have a topic in which we can post what we experience as we travel the islands without being in a mission.

   
• South island outpost - I began an approach on an outpost on the southern edge of the island because I wanted a fast travel station to that area.  I'll leave the outposts flanking that area alone.  The outpost was on the shore and I found a high sniper hide on the cliffs above.  My sniper is my new silenced .50 cal with high powered scope.  I did not deactivate the sirens because I wanted additional waves of pirates to come in, which included Molotov chargers, Heavies, and general troops.  It was a simple matter of first picking off the heavies.  The Molotov chargers ran at me, but they could only make it to the bottom of the cliff - others joined them and a grenade later I had multi-kill experience points.  This was a very satisfying way to play the game  ^-^
• Traveling the roads - my favorite is the machine gun truck (MGT).  I can be traveling along when I hear another vehicle approaching - I recognize it as a pirate truck and immediately enter the gun turret - a couple of short bursts later and they exploded.  The machine gun is terribly effective on these trucks.  In fact, while traveling I saw a bear attacking a water buffalo, and another time a jaguar attacking a tapir - both fell to a few machine gun rounds.  I tried using my best assault rifle on buffalo but it took clips of ammo before it went down.  It took literally a 2-second burst from my mounted machine gun to accomplish the same.
• Finding relics without a map - I'll bet this would be quite difficult.  I had just dispatched three pirate trucks on the far side of a bridge and wanted to walk over to see the results of my w@&k.  As I returned, I looked to my left across the river and barely saw the opening to a cave.  Into it I went - it was filled with water, so down I dove and followed a passage hoping it would not drown me.  I found a chamber with a relic within.  It was great fun discovering this gem on my own.

Is FC3 worth it?  A resounding "YES" would be my answer.  Sure I'm disappointed in the main story line due to it's linearity and boss mission, but now that I have both islands opened and literally 99% left to explore I'm as happy as I can be with the game.  I can see all of the map, have all the weapons and skills I need, and now it is time to simply enjoy myself to the fullest.
I can also say that if Ubisoft had not acquiesced to the masses that like the linear CoD missions, and instead had created truly open world missions, FC3 would be a perfect game for me.

[fragger]

I can also say that if Ubisoft had not acquiesced to the masses that like the linear CoD missions, and instead had created truly open world missions, FC3 would be a perfect game for me.

I feel exactly the same way, mate :)

[Art Blade]

me too :)

I liberated the entire northern map, by that I got all the Path of the Hunter missions needed to acquire unique animals skins which would allow me to upgrade pouches (rucksack, ammo..) to the maximum. Taking out all outposts undetected but the first two (didn't know, then) gave me 1,500XP each, all the supply drops, all memory cards and lost letters as well as about 60 relics gave me both loads of XP and unlocked signature weapons. I had striven to get all unlocked skills and even had a surplus of XP points I couldn't spend any more so I had to do main story missions (the 11th unlocks 26 more skills) and spent them at once, did what was needed to max out the skill tree that had been unlocked. Time to do more story missions to unlock the rest of the skill tree. Which lead to the southern map.

Entering the southern map I did all radio towers and supply drop missions and perhaps a few story missions to unlock and spend XP points on the rest of the skill tree until it was maxed out entirely. Now I still do get XP but I cannot make any use of it any more, so I don't get any more XP points. I have unlocked all weapons and signature weapons and they're all in my possession.

The southern map has got quite a few fast travel stations ("camps") without needing to free outposts. After a few story missions you'll get the notification that "fast travelling is now available" on the southern island. So I only liberated a single outpost which I liked the most, the Lonely Shore Way at the west end to the north. Like that, I get loads of enemies to kill in the South (as long as I don't liberate the outposts) and a holiday version almost without enemies in the North.

"Purrrrrfect"   :-D

[PZ]

... After a few story missions you'll get the notification that "fast travelling is now available" on the southern island. So I only liberated a single outpost which I liked the most, the Lonely Shore Way at the west end to the north. Like that, I get loads of enemies to kill in the South (as long as I don't liberate the outposts) and a holiday version almost without enemies in the North.

"Purrrrrfect"   :-D

That's great news; maybe I'll do more story missions because I like having the red areas of the map to explore with the threat of possible interaction with the pirates.

[PZ]

How to get fast travel stations in south island and the "blend in" uniform

The Doppelganger mission is one of the first few missions when entering south island, and I highly recommend doing it because that is what gives you the privateer uniform and reveals many fast travel stations as Art indicated.  The privateer uniform lets you walk freely among the bad guys unless you do something outrageous.

Now I can roam south island assassinating at will, and have fast travel to boot  :-X

Now it's a$$-kicking time  >:D

[Art Blade]

have fun :)  :-X

[PZ]

Thanks AB  ^-^

I just had another cool experience - very small detail but satisfying.  As I was traveling across country toward my next objective, I found a hut that looked interesting.  As I approached I saw the relic icon and picked that up.  I also saw the diamond indicating a loot chest - which was evidently at the bottom of a well.  Down I jumped, found the submerged loot chest (looted it) and then swam through a sewer pipe toward the river where I emerged.

This kind of attention to detail is what I really like about FC3.  The linear missions remind me of the AC series, CoD, and JC2 (the last one I completed), however so far there have only been a handful of really odious missions (like the boss mission), so I can say that my appreciation for the game grows with each passing session.  ^-^

[Art Blade]

Having finished the story missions and having left most of the outposts in the southern part of the map intact, I wonder if it was a good decision. The place is crawling with mercs! They have both patrols and road blocks in place! Every important road and bridge is blocked. I feel like a paratrooper behind enemy lines who lost his unit. I used a car from The Compound towards the airfield and already a road block out of town, merc patrols chasing me, and some troopers on top of a hill spotted me, too. I finished all off and finally I came to this bridge:

[smg id=5015 type=link align=center width=400 caption="2012 12 16 00006"]

After I killed the mercs there with three explosive arrows, reinforcements came waltzing in and some of them parked their car right next to me (see mini map in the pic below). Like that, I'm going to waste a lot of ammo on my way getting anywhere.. I might liberate an outpost or two somewhere in the middle of the southern island to keep the mercs in check.

[smg id=5016 type=link align=center width=400 caption="2012 12 16 00007"]

[Art Blade]

I tried a few different variants to see how it would affect the overall merc presence.

First I liberated the outpost north of The Compound which seemed to have caused the roadblocks around The Compound to disappear. There were still plenty of patrols everywhere and the mercs inside The Compound were still there and respawning.

One after another I liberated the nearest outposts to the East, South and West and after every single one I checked the situation at The Compound and roads: fewer merc patrols, more Amanaki patrols. After the Compound was surrounded by liberated outposts, the roads were clear yet mercs kept spawning inside The Compound. Interestingly, when I picked a fight there (well, easy.. just get spotted or make noises such as an explosion :-() ) I could start a merc war among Hoyt's men and Amanaki warriors if and when those were outside the gates. They'd come inside and the mercs would go outside, so it was pretty nice to watch  :-D

However, I reverted the whole process and only kept the outpost to the North (Stubborn Kid Farm) as well as the first one I liberated earlier (Lonely Shore Way). It actually is way more fun to have mercs buzzing and crawling everywhere in the South  :-()

Oh and a tip (how I did it) -- make a manual save so you can revert to it (I gave up the one from before the last mission.. I now know that I like the "afterlife" as it is) and liberate any outpost you like which will cause an autosave. Quit to menu, Story, Load, > save1 or whatever your current manual save is. Ta-dah, all outposts "un-liberated"  :-D

[fragger]

Cheers Art :) I thought about using that save technique as well, nice to know it works :-X

[durian]

I agree with PZ that finding relics (and chests) without maps are more fun. In my next play through, instead of getting weapons for free, I'd to explore to loot then buy weapons, activate tower to unlock more weapons, explore to loot and get more weapons. Rinse and repeat. Getting weapons for free would kill the joy of looting and exploration IMO.

[Art Blade]

In my first playthrough I ended up buying all maps there are just to spend money (purse was 10,000/10,000 and I got the message "can't loot, buy items from the store")  Which resulted in a map that was so peppered with diamonds and relics and letters I hardly found locations any more -- I disabled the diamonds and so forth by unchecking them in the maps "legend" menu. Unfortunately the game forgets that after a reload.

[fragger]

I agree with durian regarding getting free weapons via the towers. It might have been better if the towers merely unlocked the weapons in the same way as the weapon shops in FC2 did, but would still require you to pay for them. Getting the weps for free by unlocking the towers makes it a bit too easy - besides, I keep ending up with too much freaking money stuffed into my wallet and nothing to spend it on :-\\

On another subject, this was a bit of an odd experience. While relic-hunting, I came across this APC
[smg id=5027 width=600]

here.
[smg id=5028 width=600]

But before I could take it for a spin I went looking for the nearby relic, managed to fall off a small cliff and killed myself. Later, when I came back to this spot, the APC was gone.

Maybe the APC appearances are randomly located each game load and you have to be in the right place at the right time to find them.

[Art Blade]

Crazy  :-D Reminds me of road blocks I encountered when all the surrounding outposts were still not liberated. Maybe that's why you see it there, the area is luminescent red  ??? :)

[fragger]

I was on the south island and I made my way to the radio tower west of Turtle Hill. Near the tower is a higher hilltop with a hang glider on it. On a whim, I took the hang glider and was able to glide all the way over the water back to the north island, landing on the coast just near Citra's Temple. The flight must have lasted at least a couple of minutes and that hill I launched from is nowhere near being the highest peak on the south island.

Next thing I'm going to try is launching the highest hang glider I can find from the highest land on the north island (on the small map above, it's about in the middle of the darkest green area) and see if I can make it back to the south island from there.

I love the flying in this game :-X The wingsuit too is marvelous fun but of course you lose altitude faster.

On another subject, I found a quite extensive cave system in the northern region of the north island with a lot of ledges that you need to jump across or risk falling down into some scary-looking crevasses with waterfalls disappearing into them. It was like something out of Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 8) If I can find it again I'll post the location.

There's a lot of cool caves and so much else to discover in this game :-X

[Art Blade]

nice :) Feels as if a quarter of the map was subterranean.

[PZ]

Good finds guys.  I read somewhere about the APCs, but mention was made that you cannot interact with them.  Hope that's as wrong as many of the things we find on the regular internet.

Looking for a relic solution

Caves sound like fun, speaking of which, I was hunting a relic in north island that was underground.  I swam to a cave opening into which the water flowed, went in and ended up on a ledge with the water falling down a high waterfall.  The relic is across a deep chasm with what looks like lots of mining wooden structure.  There is a small zip line in the cave, but it does not lead to the relic.  It looks like you need to find a way down and then climb a ladder up a wooden structure to get to the relic.  Anyone know how to go about this one?

[Art Blade]

about the spoiler: I think I found that one and I plunged down. A liana to climb back up hangs from a stone wall. Just hop in and see if that's it :)

[PZ]

I'll give it a try, but using the camera reveals wooden decking below; I've already died once  :-()

[Art Blade]

then maybe you entered through the exit?  ???? :-() Try find a tiny blue spot on the map when zoomed in as much as possible, these indicate cave entrances or exits.

[PZ]

then maybe you entered through the exit?  ???? :-()

I'm confident that I'm in the proper entrance because there would be no way to get up to where I am standing; perhaps this area just offers a tantalizing glimpse of the objective.  I do see light in the distance, which I assumed to be the exit, but maybe I'll try to find that opening and go in from there.  Thanks for the tip on the blue dots  :-X

[Art Blade]

welcome :)

can you give us the X/Y coordinates? When you're there, open the map and use the "centre" function (centre is where you are) and just jot down the coords from the top right corner of the map. I'd like to see it myself and hopefully be able to help you :)

[PZ]

I'll do that.  Although I'm not positive, I think that is an area where there is some kind of stone ruin atop the hill, and I'm wondering if it might not be one of those places you need to encourage with some C4

[fragger]

I've found a few sinkholes too that will drop you into a cavern if you're not careful. There's always a way out though, even if it means swimming underwater.

There's one where you do a bulletin board hunting mission (not a Path Of The Hunter one, just a reward one) to bag a few leopards with a bow and arrow. In the hunting area is a bunch of rocks around what looks like the remains of a temple pillar. I tried to jump from a high rock onto the top of the pillar, didn't make it and fell down a deep hole in the ground next to it which was really hard to spot when I went back and looked. There was a cave at the bottom with a tricky underwater swim required to get out of it, and I think there was a relic down there.

I found the island with Vaas' compound on it during my wanders but you can't get into it outside of the "Payback" mission (this island wasn't at all where I thought it was, it's way up north). You can climb onto the first platform but can't open the big door. I also found the hotel that you and Liza escape from (the one Vaas sets alight) but once again you can't get into it. This was after I did that mission though - I wonder if you can get in before that mission?

You'll see the hotel if you move along the high ridge NE of Citra's Temple. You need to go a ways north, but keep looking to your left and eventually you'll see it. There's a path that leads down to it from up there.

[PZ]

Nice, fragger, you are definitely an explorer!