Tricks and tips

[PZ]

... I think it was a final one-off Easter egg kind of thing.

I tend to agree - Ubi has the habit of leading you down a path of potential greatness in the game only to completely drop the ball on what might have been an epic winner.  I guess they just don't want to show up the other developers.

[Art Blade]

I'll have to find out whether it happens to me, too, fragger, as I too played exclusively the Amita line of the story.

However,

I have one question

What or who the F is Tirtha?  ???

[fragger]

Answer:

It's a town in the southern region, down near the SE corner, not far from the Sleeping Saints.

[Dweller_Benthos]

I'm doing mostly the Sabal missions, as I've watched a video series where they did mostly the Amita missions, and I can say one thing, doing Sabal's missions is the easier way to go, at least so far.

For instance, there's the heroin production facility mission, where if you take the Amita path, you have to defend the fields from the attacking troops. This can get hectic as you run around turning on the pumps and putting out fires. The Sabal version is to destroy them, and can be done from the gyro-copter with molotovs until the fields are burned and then you can land and burn the opium stockpiles.

Then there's the mission where you have to drive the fuel truck into the gates at the bridge, on the Amita path, you have to chase down the fuel truck first, and capture it, hoping it doesn't blow up in the meantime. Taking Sabal's side, you don't have to do that, it's already parked at the checkpoint for you, and you just take out a couple squads of army guys from across the river and walk up to the truck and drive off.

I haven't gotten farther than that, as I just broke into the north and currently occupied clearing things out before I go on missions again. But the videos I watched show you can fast track the north and only do two or three missions and you're done.

Oh and another tip for you, buying the garden upgrade at the Ghale homestead gets you a patch of all the plants needed to craft syringes. If they are like the plants elsewhere, they will respawn after you cut them and leave the area and return.

[PZ]

... But the videos I watched show you can fast track the north and only do two or three missions and you're done.

Cool - do you know how to fast track north?

[fragger]

I found the same thing with the opium fields mission. Sabal's mish was way easier than Amita's.

A couple of other handy things to buy for the Ghale homestead are a trading cabinet, a buzzer and a free body armour. I think you initially have to buy a drinking fountain or something to make the armour available. You can fast travel to the homestead, and those things will be there whenever you need them.

[PZ]

Initially I was going to do another play through with Amita, but not now - I detest having to chase things and catch them before a timer runs out, or they fall off a cliff, etc.  >:((

[Dweller_Benthos]

Cool - do you know how to fast track north?

I watched Generikb's videos and it seemed he did two or three missions in the north before the final confrontation, maybe an hour or two total in the north? He wasn't specifically trying to fast track or do a speed run, he just did pretty much only main missions.

Initially I was going to do another play through with Amita, but not now - I detest having to chase things and catch them before a timer runs out, or they fall off a cliff, etc.  >:((

On the truck mission, if you fail to capture the truck, I think it will just end up at the checkpoint anyway, at least that's what I saw in the video.

[PZ]

Thanks, D_B, that's somewhat reassuring.  Funny thing is that I have been quite pessimistic about FC4 and almost did not purchase it, but have been pleasantly surprised by the small details that are an improvement over some of the other Ubi games.  I can't recall where, but in some when you fail a timed mission, you start completely from the beginning, which is what I hate most about timed events.

[Art Blade]

I think that was AC2

[PZ]

I think that was AC2

That's what I had in mind, but was not sure - thanks.

I do recall some of those races where the guy with the feather in his hat was chasing, and you had to out run him - never did like those, and the similar ones in which you had to repeat the "mission" until you found just the right scripted path.

[Art Blade]

yep, I was thinking about those, too. They were so crap  :)

[fragger]

If you're riding an elephant, did you know you can ride him right across rivers and lakes? He'll swim across with you onboard.

I finally had an elephant-back one-on-one with a rhino. The rhino lost, but it took a lot of chasing and trunk-bashing :-()

I also found out that if you leave a hovercraft on water, it'll sink and you can't get it back.

[Art Blade]

yep, elephants are versatile :) As opposed to hovercrafts; you can almost only go straight.

[Binnatics]

A hovercraft that sinks...that is really weird ????

[mandru]

One side amusement to collecting the raging rhino skin from Karkadann in the Fashion mission is the big truck that is right there in that area before going out onto the bridge and triggering his charge that leads to the death of everyone else standing around.

Tactic to take down Karkadann

Karkadann is the embodiment of the word monster and carries the signs of a long running battle to take him down.  Across the road from the big truck is a nicely placed rock that once you're safely atop it allows you to use the required shotgun to bring Karkadann down.  You get a few shots off on him and he'll dash off out of range for a bit but holding a grudge he will come rushing back in straight at you.  Time your shots and conserve your ammo for facial hits when he comes at you (yeah sure, a parting shot in the rump as he huffs off is fun and fair game  ;) ) and he goes down in a time consuming fashion (but yes) fairly easily and safely.

The amusement begins when you've got the skin and turn your attention to that big truck.  You'll probably need to push it back onto its wheels and repairs will almost certainly be needed.  Because the flatbed or possibly cargo box of the truck has been torn off it has acceleration and handling that I would almost call frisky.  8)

I spent almost an hour and a half driving this rig around running over every animal that stepped out into the road (including troops) and unlocking undiscovered locations marked with question marks along with the occasional stop for previously unmarked but revealed by proximity Mask and Propaganda posters.  At one point one of the Golden Path 50 cal ATs swung over onto my side of the road and hit me head on and there wasn't even a jolt comparable to hitting a chicken with any other vehicle.  A bit down the road I pulled over to administer repairs to any damage from the collision but the applying the torch showed that no damage at all had been accrued to the truck.

After a while I knew I needed to get back on game track and captured an outpost knowing that there would be one mission or another unlocked that would require me to let go of that ugly yet powerful beast of a truck which I'd affectionately come to think of as Rhino.

In FC2 we could hang onto a vehicle as long as we didn't hop into and drive a different one but that's simply not the case in FC4.

A bit unfortunate that. :(

[Art Blade]

yes, it is a pity. However, nice story :)

[mandru]

What I neglected to say about the collision I mentioned between the AT and my big old truck was that the AT was swept off the road like I was driving through a pile of fresh raked leaves.  >:D

[PZ]

Nicely done  :-X

[Art Blade]

heh heh, mandru  :-D

[nexor]

After a while I knew I needed to get back on game track and captured an outpost knowing that there would be one mission or another unlocked that would require me to let go of that ugly yet powerful beast of a truck which I'd affectionately come to think of as Rhino.

Love the story mandru   

Ok, so now that truck is officially named "Rhino"    :-D 8)

[mandru]

 ;D

[mandru]

By aiming your weapon at an elephant you can determine the alignment of the rage it is feeling when you have sent it in to cause general havoc and knock the crap out of the Min's troops.

If the reticle goes Red stay away or the elephant will attack you as well.

If the reticle is Blue it has no ill will towards you but it's probably best to keep some distance as I would assume it is still possible to be injured from flying debris, thrown enemies, explosives being triggered etc... .  In this condition (Blue reticle) if the elephant calms while there is still another part of the area that you are attacking in need of some special bestial destructive talent, you can remount and redirect the elephant's focus against the enemy.

[PZ]

Nice detail  :-X

Just have to hope no one nudges your trigger finger when scoping the elephant  :-()

[Art Blade]

heh, reminds me of Unity. "Do you see that guy over there? Hold on, I'll mark him for you.. oh crap. I accidentally shot him."