Tricks and tips

[mandru]

OK, so I wrote a long article on Shangri-La earlier here in this thread (here http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3631.msg73788#msg73788) and I'm finding some of the details regarding the final battle in mission five is incorrect.

I replayed those missions with cheats set for GodMode="1" UnlimitedAmmo="1" IgnorePlayer="1" which worked fine to burn through the first four missions.

The first thing I learned was the IgnorePlayer="1" cheat makes you invisible to the final boss in mission five and it will not register that you are successfully getting hits on it and it just spends a lot of time flapping around and only occasionally spawning demons.  I had to abandon mission, close out the game and remove that cheat condition to be able to proceed.

It turns out three hits in the mouth makes the monster bird crash to the ground then you direct the tiger to jump down it's throat to do internal damage.  When (on the ground) the tiger is inside the monster you have to score one hit on its open mouth each time.

If you can do that quickly with no deaths that will complete the battle and you won't encounter the demons that spout fire.

It appears that the observations from my first attempt at this mission were flawed.  I had so many deaths that I either wasn't getting my three consecutive ground events or possibly the hit on the monster's mouth while on the ground.

[fragger]

Thanks for the update mandru. Though I'll probably never need to use the info - I can't see myself persevering with Shangri-La enough to ever reach level 5 :-()

And thanks T.V. for the info :-X

[mandru]

You may not want to liberate any of the Fortresses too quickly.   ????

In the FC4 skill tree one of the skills I most look forward to acquiring is the "Heavy Takedown" unfortunately I stumbled across how to really foul things up and never allow it to become available.  ???

Once the Heavy Takedown becomes available for unlock (by the prior skill tree unlocks) the only requirement is to complete just 1 Pagan's Wrath mission.  That's the three trucks broadcasting propaganda moving together as a caravan.  It's one of the easiest side activities in the game to complete as they typically drive slowly while following a path that makes a complete circuit.  You just need to figure out their route, get ahead of them and smoke 'em as they approach.

However unlocking Min's Fortress or one of his Generals fortresses stops all attacks against your captured outposts in that region except for those from random motor and foot patrols.  The fortresses of 'De Pleur and Noore cover the middle section of the map and Yuma and Min's cover the area North of King's Bridge.

Unfortunately I learned the hard way that Pagan's Wrath missions are considered to be a form of attack.

After I get access to the central part of the map (which includes being able to fly Buzzers) I first clear the outpost that unlocks the Fashion missions and from then on I go after every bell tower as soon as they become available.  That allows me to clear the map up but more importantly gain access to the Buzzsaw as soon as possible.  I've found that using buzzers is the quickest way to accomplish that.

But in my current play through after an accident where my buzzer became irretrievably wedged into the top of a  bell tower and not knowing where the closest replacement for it was I captured the two central map fortresses to have instant and easy access to those buzzers in the event of future aviation mishaps.  In the long run it turned out to be a poor choice.

With the capture of your second or third outpost the Pagan's Wrath missions are introduced into the game but because I had captured the regional fortresses they never became available.  Then to complicate matters it wasn't until after I'd captured Yuma's fortress that I noticed that I wasn't getting access to the Heavy Takedown and figured out how I'd bollixed it up.  :D

Not having the Heavy Takedown unlocked means that the Death From Above move is missing from your skill set against them too.  This not only affects dealing with Heavies but also against the demons that spout fire in the Shangri-La missions.

I've captured all of the outposts now and while I've intentionally left Min's fortress unmolested I'm not having luck spawning a Pagan's Wrath event even though I've spent a lot of time in that region doing various odd side missions, collecting the masks, spinning mani wheels, hanging about and so on.

It appears that I'm too far beyond some critical threshold for that to become available this time as I play on through.  :-\\

[PZ]

Good to know, mandru  :-X

I have a few skills that I cannot get - they appear to be available, but when I purchase them using a skill point, they never become active although my total number of skill points decrements.  I do not know why this is happening.

[fragger]

Thanks for the tip, mandru :)

PZ, sounds like what's happening with your skills is something akin to what mandru reported. Maybe by progressing too far in some area, those skills, while still purchasable, just haven't had some essential criteria met to allow them to operate. I haven't had anything like that happen so I don't know what you would have to do to get them working.

Could you tell us which skills are affected? Maybe between us all we can nut it out.

It appears that the devs may not have taken all possible contingencies into account...

[nexor]

I do know there are some of the Elephant skills you need to purchase a few of before they become available, everytime you purchase one a number appears in the middle indicating how many you have.

[PZ]

I'll have to check for the numbers - did not notice anything.  I can't recall exactly which skill, but they are the far right, the bottom 3-4 or so on the elephant side.

I've finished the game by killing Min, but there are plenty of side things that I have not completed - none of the races, and few of anything else that does not appear to be open world in nature.

[nexor]

[smg id=7761 type=preview align=center caption="FarCry4 cs7"]
This one and the one below it PZ, It indicates you need to keep learning this skill until you have ten

[PZ]

Thanks, nex, that must be it  :-X

I've tried to purchase at least a couple of them several times thinking there was something wrong with the game, but now I'll look closer at the numbers.

[T.V.]

Mandru, this sounds like the savegame glitch I experienced... :(
Did You delete the savegame files before this play through?

[mandru]

Did You delete the savegame files before this play through?

Savegame files?  I'm not sure where I would find those.  So far I've only used Notepad++ to apply cheat variables and would be seriously concerned about digging too deep into and altering other system files.

[T.V.]

Savegame files?  I'm not sure where I would find those.

I posted the path where these files typically are put earlier in this topic:

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.

Of course, do not delete these files unless You plan to make a new start "from scratch"!
(You'll keep Your arena rank, thoug).

[mandru]

Thanks T.V..  :)

Last night I tried starting a new game and this time I didn't attack the fortresses.  Not even a little.

Once I broke through into middle part of the map and gained access to the buzzer I first went around and unlocked all the bell towers.

After that I went after the outpost that unlocks the Fashion missions and then the Tea Terraces outpost with all of the poppy fields.  Having completed the side missions unlocked with those two outposts and while I was on my way to unlock the third outpost the Pagan's Wrath convoys started up right about where I expected they should.

I've now had four or five of the Pagan's Wrath missions occur so it does seem (at least in my situation) it was my capturing the fortresses before any of the outposts that may have played a part in preventing the convoys from occurring my last time through the game.

[nexor]

I'm doing almost exactly what mandru is busy with now, except, I have killed all the big hats including Pagan, Sabal and Amita, no Pagan's Wrath missions have occurred, and yes, I deleted the savegame files   :D

[PZ]

I am SO looking forward to the first mods that open everything from the start of the game  For me it would be much more true to a real open world

[mandru]

I had an interesting go around with Fashion mission where you take down the rhino Karkadan using a shotgun.

Disclaimer: Your experiences may vary!  ;)

I'd selected the double barrel shotgun that's found in the Sidearms menu to march into battle.  I like that sawed off shotty as it has the ability to fire off a doubly potent volley every two seconds.  While it's true that I can't unleash five shots in as many seconds the trade off that I never hit one of those frustrating moments where I'm tied up for twelve or thirteen seconds frantically fumbling with shells for a reload more than balances out the slower fire rate for me.

I'd hopped into a truck and was making my way from the outpost to the check in point to launch the event but en-route there was an elephant standing at the roadside.  That was where I had a    moment.

I recalled an account where someone had posted (working with my spotty memory, I believe it was fragger) that they'd used an elephant to hunt the rare dhole for another fashion mission and I said to myself "Sure, why not?".

It is just a game and we get to do replays when we get smeared trying something stupid.  Right?  :-D

I ditched the truck, hopped onto Ellie (my pet name for whichever one of them I happen to be riding) and discovered that by riding her directly over the check-in point that I didn't even need to dismount to trigger my encounter with Karkadan.

I pushed through the the bystanders and upon reaching the mouth of the bridge my ele(phant)vated position gave me (for the first time) an excellent view of the mayhem out in the middle of the span.  I have to say that other than the fact that Karkadan is hell bent on stomping you into paste and painting his toenails with your blood he really is a marvelous piece of w@&k.  I give full kudos to the designers and developers who got him into the game.

And then he came at me.

There were two of the patrol trucks between him and my mount.  He hit the first truck and it went sideways in the road keeping its wheels under it.  That truck then was driven into the second truck which also went sideways in the road but under the force behind it was still slammed forward and right up against the elephant I was sitting on.

There was a moment of disorientation from the impact but good 'ole Ellie stabilized and with just a bit of a nudge forward from me absorbed all of Karkadan's momentum.

The two trucks completely corked the mouth of the bridge being pinned in place between the opposing masses (of first) all that stunned malevolence at being balked glaring up at me and (secondly) my elephant, determinedly holding her ground.   Two shots and Karkadan went down.

It was almost anticlimactic that it was over that quickly but then again "Man! What a show."  :-X

[PZ]

Now, that's a true open world experience  :-X

[nexor]

I did that one earlier today, but reading mandru's story make me want to do it all over again  :-D
And that's what I miss the most about FC2    :-(

[PZ]

Same here, nex - I have not played any game of 2009 vintage (for me) more than FC2

[fragger]

Great story mandru, and a novel approach for that mish :-X

I think it was Art who did the dhole hunt on elephant-back. I did actually kill an ordinary rhino using an elephant, but it involved a lengthy process of chase the rhino, trunk-thump him, chase him some more, thump him some more, etc. I never thought to try the elephant method on old Kark :-()

[Art Blade]

 :)

[mandru]

Well then.  Art gets the blame.

Er... I mean credit.  ;)

[Art Blade]

hehe :-()

[mandru]

As you unlock bell towers there are supply truck escort and supply drop missions that will spawn near them.

If you save those missions (that become available from liberating the bell towers) for later in the game they can continue to be a good resource where it's easy to find buzzers which can grabbed and used elsewhere for other purposes.  ;)

[PZ]

If you save those missions (that become available from liberating the bell towers) for later in the game they can continue to be a good resource where it's easy to find buzzers which can grabbed and used elsewhere for other purposes.  ;)

Good to know - have not done many of those