Tricks and tips

[Art Blade]

 :-X :-D

[PZ]

  :-X fragger

I guess I'm the odd man out (as usual  :-()) - I have never completed any game with all challenges/collectibles.

Even though I played through FC2 so many times I can not remember (at least a couple of times for every buddy), I never did collect all the diamonds even though I knew I'd see lots of great sights.

[mandru]

I do like that whether using stealth, openly lobbing explosives or employing some other loud weapon (gotta love that buzzsaw  >:D ) on the troopers for any of the missions as long as they don't make clear visual contact with you they can't set off the alarms so the mission will register as completed Undetected/No call for reinforcements and they won't start killing hostages or initiate the countdown timer during the bomb defusing missions.

It's also helpful that the discovery of a dead body sets off an AI response in a nearby trooper to walk over and stare at it first giving you a chance to stack opportunity kills.  :-D

[PZ]

... giving you a chance to stack opportunity kills.  :-D

Reminds me of JRD using the Dragunov to wound FC2 mercs to draw in their friends 

[mandru]

I just stumbled across a funny little stunt.  I had smoked a drive by group of Min's men with the buzzsaw and one them ended up under the vehicle.  I was trying to get close enough to him so that I could loot him without moving the vehicle and I spotted a new feature in FC4 I'd not seen before.

When a vehicle (other than a buzzer) is parked/stopped on a hill and you are crouched near the right or left corner of the bumper (it's best to stay on the uphill side of it) there will appear an action option of "Press E to release brake".  It will of course be a different action button if you are on a console.

It's sometimes a little touchy about showing that option and you might have to fidget around a little to make it show up so you can use it.  Once the brake has been released the vehicle does a commendable job (even if it's rolling backwards) of keeping to a straight line of decent down the incline.


Then it occurred to me.  :ideas

By positioning a vehicle with proper alignment above an outpost or somewhere Min's troops are gathered it could be loaded up with landmines and a C-4 charge for remote detonation if needed.

Then release the brake and send it on its merry way.  >:D

[PZ]

Very good one, mandru +1  :-X

Now we're getting in to some real sneaky action  >:D

[Art Blade]

yep, I found out about that option rather early in the game but haven't yet made good use of it. Nice idea, mandru  ^-^

[fragger]

Excellent tip mandru +1 :-X Must try.

[mandru]

Thanks guys.  :)

Once I get into a game I've gotta keep digging.  :-D

[nexor]

Haven't thought of the C-4 idea mandru, nice tip thanks +1  :-X

On one occasion after killing the driver of a supply truck I parked it on the edge of an embankment, released the handbrake to let it run down the embankment, the truck exploded when it hit the bottom, mission completed  ;D

[PZ]

My problem was that I did not know to use the handbrake when first starting the game, and when I left a vehicle, more often than not, it was gone when I returned 

[Art Blade]

"Do I know where your car is? The only car I know of was totalled when crashing backwards into that china shop downhill, at the end of the road."

[PZ]

  that would be my car!

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[JRD]

Oh I know that little trick all right!  ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWUh2qNq1dI

[Art Blade]

 :)

[mandru]

@ JRD's vid   :bow +1

One of the mercs see it coming and utters a curse under his breath right before the switch gets flipped.

I'm still chuckling over it. 

[mandru]

There's a trick that was available in FC2 but absent (and for me at least was much missed) in FC3 and now it's been restored to the mechanics of the game in FC4.  :-X

When you are trying to get a clearer line of sight on the targets of an objective in the game it is sometimes difficult to get the view you need through trees between you and what you are trying to see.

In FC3 you could set fire to a tree but it would burn however all the limbs and leaves would just turn to char but not clear out of the way.  Now with FC4 as in FC2 leaves, twigs and all but the stoutest branches burn out of the way opening a clearer view beyond.

Min's troops do respond to the fire.  Of course they blame you for it but if you are able to maintain deep cover their running around trying to find the source of the danger with a now at least slightly less obscured view you have a better chance to tag all of them for when you are ready to begin you assault for real.

[mandru]

Ah!  I found it.  I thought  this belonged over here too and wanted to make sure fragger got the reference for discovering it.  :-X

Nice read :)

I like the elephants. If you're not immediately attacking someone and thus aren't using your "trunk" key to butt them with, you can use the same key to make your elephant trumpet. If there's another elephant nearby, it will trumpet in reply and will come over to your mount. Once you're on the move, periodic trumpeting will keep the other elephant following your own, so that when you do come across bad guys they will have two cranky pachyderms to deal with instead of just one >:D

I wanted to try an elephant based attack on an outpost straddling a roadway.  They will typically have a fairly open layout and draw in every enemy on the ground as soon as a fuss arises.

I trumpeted up a companion drawing it along to near the targeted outpost where upon I paused and from elephant back sniped (breath control eliminates the animal's movements too  ;) ) a trooper as he crossed the road to draw attention.  I then immediately began the charge.  Shrieking "Kill the beast!" troopers started firing on the elephant I was riding and as the awareness meter for myself was starting to form I bailed and scurried into some nearby cover to break line of site.

Other than the one rooftop sniper that I was able to remove from my covered position the explosion of pachyderms overwhelmed the rest of the site.  No alarms and undetected.  :-()


Other than the fact that they can't scurry to a rooftop it occurs to me that Hurk's monkeys in C-4 vests have got nothing on a rampaging secondary elephant similarly wired for detonation via remote control.  >:D

[fragger]

Nice technique, mandru :-D And cheers :)

[OWGKID]

Reminds me of JRD using the Dragunov to wound FC2 mercs to draw in their friends 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItDa6y9p6nE >:D >:D >:D :-D :-D :-D

[mandru]

Wow.  Make them chase was an aspect I'd completely overlooked.  ???

I usually just picked a secure spot and gunned them down as they came at me.  >:D

[OWGKID]

>:D

[T.V.]

This is not a game play tip, just a precaution to avoid some irritating glitches when starting all over a new game (at least with the PC version). :)

Short version:
When You decide to start a new play through, You should delete Your local savagame files.

Long version:
I decided to start from "scratch" because I would like to play the alternative "20 min. finish". That was kinda fun, but there was (as You also found out) no free roaming after this "end".

So I made a new start and progressed to the first Kyriat Race to unlock one of the skills. Did the race within the time limit, but nothing unlocked, and it was not registered in the statistics either... Tried again, still nothing... I had to liberate another outpost and do another Kyriat Race before it got registered and the skill was unlocked. - OK, it's a glitch, I thought, but I'm not so keen on those races anyway, so I don't mind the faulty statistics... ????

Went on liberating outposts expecting Pagans Wraith to pop up somewhere, so I could get the heavy take-down skill. But no convoys popped up, and I progressed to the north hoping that a liberated outpost here would do the trick. No dice... :-(

- OK, something must have gone wrong when I started the new game, so I'll give it a new try. Started a new game, and the same glitches appeared again, also this time reaching the north with no convoys... >:((

So I resigned and searched Steams and UBIs forums to see if I could find the solution. I found that a lot of people having problems with the races, convoys and also the escort missions not working when they had a new play through. And the solution was to delete the local savagame files, as there is probably some of the info in those files that does not get reset when starting a new mission.

- S**t, I thought, remembering all the time I spent in the arena to get that rifle unlocked... :D (I just hate "arena" games...) But fortunately, the arena rank is not stored in the savegame files, so after a new clean start with the old savagame files deleted, my arena rank was still listed at the same level.

And this time the race unlocked the skill, and after liberating a couple of outpost the convoys started to pop up again. I have now finished off "the king" for the second time, and must also say I now know the south of Kyriat very well after 4 play troughs there... ;)


The savagame files is typically placed here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\-long_random_string-\856

I suppose the 856 folder is random too, and if You have other Upay games they will have their own "856" folder. Check when the files (1.save, 1.save.upload, 2.save, 2.save.upload) or folders, is last altered, to find witch game they belong to.

Also then make sure that Upay starts in off-line mode, and start a new game in off-line mode as well, so no previously on-line stored saves replaces the deleted ones.
When there have been a couple of off-line auto saves, one can go on-line again, to get the arena ranks. 8)

[PZ]

Thanks for the tip T.V.  :-X +1  Although this does not appear to be an issue on the PS4, I plan to purchase the PC version once modding becomes commonplace.

Excellent video GKID  :-X

If I just arrived on this planet and did not know anything about video games, I'd have placed FC2 above FC3 or 4 in realism.  Just looking at the environment, the interaction between player and the AI, and I'm hooked.

In fact, it was watching videos like that back in 2009 that got me back in to video gaming after I'd left being bored to death by the *yawning* lack of innovation in the genre.

I still to this day have not had the same sense of excitement when firing up a game.