Idle Mercs

[Art Blade]

I second that. It is really a great experience to drive through entire maps, from Bowa back to Leboa, completely unmolested, and park next to an otherwise hostile GP to be able to observe and listen to the mercs. Maybe lay down waste, if it's too peaceful... :)

I believe I would not be half as involved in the game if I hadn't got the ignore player cheat at hand :)

[Art Blade]

I've been to Sepoko again, about the same spot where I took that screenshot with those two players, and used ignore player cheat. So I waited, not long, and again two mercs started to play. This time I knew what I had to look for, and they were playing a good long time. This time I almost bumped my nose on them, so close that I could really see every detail.

It definitely is mancala  :-X

[smg id=1891 align=center width=400]

[Art Blade]

Just by the way:

I've noticed some of the more unusual idle animations appear to be bound to certain locations. It ocurred to me when I returned to watch those mancala players, then we have those gold washers near Sefapane (there are some at the Heart of Darkness, too), the bug collector near Goka Falls, at the GP near the safehouse where the gold trimmed Jeep waits after the "kill the king" mission etc.

So I believe chances are good if you want to see some of those animations yourself, if you go to the locations where they had been observed. :)

[mandru]

The TaeMoCo diamond mine at the open South West end of the mine by the explosives cache I've often seen mercs panning for diamonds as part of their downtime activities.

Also cool find on being able to identify the game they are playing.  :-X

I notice this second set of mercs playing are not quite as friendly towards each other as the first couple. This time the one on the right is keeping his handgun ready to keep the other honest.  :P

[Art Blade]

You were the one who came up with mancala, and I needed to put it right :)

They were actually playing like an entire match. So many different movements from both players, and the one to the right did not always keep his pistol in his hands. The one to the left was pushing marbles around and taking the ones collected in one hand and then he put them into his mancala. Was fun to watch :)

[mandru]

Ah what the heck.  Someone can have a theory but it's usually the person that proves it that gets the credit.  ;D

I'm more than happy to share the kudos.  :-X

[Art Blade]

:) cheers  :-X






(Psst... He's the one who's been right all the time ;))

[wexer9]

Wow, I had no idea a lot of these things were in-game; I never remember seeing them before.

I will have to look for these the next time I play through... :)

[Art Blade]

now FC2 got you!  ;D It is a really cool game, considering those gazillions of details the devs put into it, and a great deal of those are not exactly obvious. But if you spend time looking around, and I mean really looking around, you'll find many a gem in FC2.

Have fun :)

[PZ]

I couldn't agree more - of all the games I've encountered, FC2 stands in a category all it's own - there has never been anything like it in my opinion.

[mandru]

Art I have found bit more info related to the Sepoko mancala players or to be more accurate there are also a pair of mercs in Weelegol Village on the opposite diagonal corner of the Southern game half maps that are at times also involved in a game.

I noticed this while on a faction mission getting ready to kill the DJ and destroy the radio tower.

Sneaking up to Weelegol I'd perched up on one of the rocks to the right overlooking the village just before the drop off to the lake bottom. I was waiting for a group of five or six mercs to form in one of the village open areas so I that could tag as many of them as possible with my secondary grenade launcher to start my assault.

I had a good group of mercs assemble in front of the building that has the explosives cache and hesitated firing on them because I'd hoped to get in there ahead of the fire that invariably starts and reload my grenades.  So I waited a bit longer and then I saw two of the mercs break off from the others and just to the left of that building's front door they squatted down and started to play the game.

Now I'm wondering if there are others, possibly even up North, that are playing but I've just overlooked it.

[Art Blade]

The original finder, deadman, named Mokuba  :)

I was entering Mokuba on a mission to blow up a supplydump when I saw 2 mercs playing what looked like checkers ( I couldn´t see the board but there handmotion made me think of checkers or backgammon). I also overheard one of them say jokingly " just so you know, I always assume you cheat"

[mandru]

Cool.  :-X

Thanks Art.  :)

[Art Blade]

And thanks, deadman   :)

[PZ]

It amazes me, the things that Art remembers, and is able to find among more than 20,000 posts  :-X

[JRD]

That's what one would expect a computer to do, right?  ::)

ARTificial   Brain Leading Automated DEvice

A nice machine though... seems quite real actually!

[Art Blade]

*Beep* "Error"  ;D

[deadman1]

Would someody please reboot Art? We might need him for forum maintinense  ;) ;D

[Art Blade]

Hahahaha  ;D ;D ;D

No need to, if you booted a human (like me) you'd get a response you really wouldn't like  ;)

[deadman1]

 ;D

[Art Blade]

still, funny comments, guys  ;D :-X

[JRD]

Hahahaha  ;D ;D ;D

No need to, if you booted a human (like me) you'd get a response you really wouldn't like  ;)

You'd get a flat line followed by a big fuss, people running and shouting
"Clear" - "BZZZZZZT"
"Clear" - "BZZZZZZT"
"Clear" - "BZZZZZZT"
"Clear" - "BZZZZZZT"
"Bip", "Bip","Bip", "Bip","Bip", "Bip"


Oh... it reminds me... House is on!!!  ;D ;D

[Art Blade]

LOL

[fragger]

I had a quick look through this entire thread, and I don't think anyone's mentioned this bit of merc behaviour before:

Merc trying to start generator with a cord-pull (like a lawn mower's)

I saw this at the GP in NE Bowa, south of the Crash Site (the one with the sniper and the RPG guy). Couldn't see the actual cord as I was watching from a bit of a distance, but he was clearly going through the proper motions with it.

[Art Blade]

yeah, I've seen some merc doing it over at Sepoko, but indeed, we didn't mention it here if I remember correctly. Nice catch, matey  :) :-X