My katana!!! I am dishonored!
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Completed Let's play Silent Storm!
- Thread starter Azira
- Start date
My katana!!! I am dishonored!
dextermorgan
Arcane
Shamefur Dispray.
My katana!!! I am dishonored!
Mission completed succesfully. Got 135 sceenshots from this mission alone to sift through and write commentary to now. 
I hope to get it done and posted sometime tomorrow, and after that, the A-team is back.
I hope to get it done and posted sometime tomorrow, and after that, the A-team is back.
No update today I'm afraid. My youngest has a fever and woke us up much too early. Only got 5 hours of sleep and been running on fumes most of the day. Maybe an update tomorrow, but most likely sometime during the week. 
No update today I'm afraid. My youngest has a fever and woke us up much too early. Only got 5 hours of sleep and been running on fumes most of the day. Maybe an update tomorrow, but most likely sometime during the week.
no problem bro.. family first. we will wait!
eklektyk
Erudite
True That.No update today I'm afraid. My youngest has a fever and woke us up much too early. Only got 5 hours of sleep and been running on fumes most of the day. Maybe an update tomorrow, but most likely sometime during the week.
no problem bro.. family first. we will wait!
marooned
Liturgist
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2009
- Messages
- 313
If I choose to also do an allied run, the people who signed up for this one, but didn't make it to the A-team will be first in line for the allied LP as compensation.
Promises, promises...
I won't care _much_ as long as you finish this one at least.
The kid doing alright? Good. Now get to work here.
Possibly some of the update this evening, the rest I hope (no promises) tomorrow as I work an afternoon shift tomorrow. Might post the update in two bits (stuff that happened, and stuff that didn't, in reverse order).
Welp. Imgur is down for maintenance, so I might get nothing done on the update at all tonight. Here's to hoping I'm productive tomorrow.
Welp. Imgur is down for maintenance, so I might get nothing done on the update at all tonight. Here's to hoping I'm productive tomorrow.
Time to get on with this, even if this update is somewhat of an embarrasment. I admit I didn't screenshot all the "your main hero is defeated and the game cannot continue" screens, but I restarted this mission about 5 times...
First, what didn't happen:
What really happened:
I will be using the A-team from here on out, unless someone actually dies and has to be replaced, due to not being able to manually assign skillpoints to "new recruits". They will gain levels in the background as the game progresses, and the game assigns skillpoints as it sees fit, not as I would want them. So to best fit my idea of how our group shall evolve, I'll have to stick with a select few.
To compensate, I plan on also showing the allies playthrough (though mostly where it differs, not as much focus on hints or the gameplay particulars), and those who have volounteered but are not in the current A-team, will be enrolled in the allied team instead.
That means:
UncleJ as grenadier
light as engineer
kent as scout
And Loti and Bee as whatever class I don't pick for Kodex as the allied soldier. Either medic, sniper or soldier.
Once this LP and the allied are done, I might do Sentinels. Enrollment for that one will not be until I actually begin the thread, so no need spamming this thread for that. M:
Next update will be done when I feel like it.
First, what didn't happen:
And I'll start with how we didn't win this mission.. In the following you'll see my miserable failure, ending with actually completing the mission but having lost the katana.
The mission seems simple enough. We're infiltrating (read raiding) a UK laboratory for hints and clues, as something important seems to be going on here. The objectives screen is from a short time into the mission, as I forgot to screencap that at the beginning. Our group is deposited at a dirt road leading to the main entrance, and as is always prudent, we immediately go into hiding.
Before we progress any further, we take a look at what we can see of the house. Note, that there is no fog of war in this game when it comes to layout and buildings, only when it comes to people moving around. Consider it thorough scouting beforehand.
Yeah, okay, so they have a Vickers MG nest facing the main entrance. Let's not use that, and instead make use of that strategically placed hole in the wall. Yes. That hole is there from the beginning, we don't need to make our own entrance. Seem suspicious? You'd be right.
We're quite willing to risk a cunning trap here though, seems a brighter prospect than charging the MG nest.. And we quickly make our way inside, still hidden, and take up strategic positions inside the ground floor corridor. It doesn't take long before WetWo hears movement from outside, coming his way..
And there they are! Seems like an early birthday present for WetWo, how they have nicely lined up in front of his MG...
Three down in one burst! That's a record so far.
Note that the enemy is rarely this accomodating, so this was a freak occurence. Which I saw plainly demonstrated later, when I had to restart the mission.. Still, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I take a moment to revel in the glory.
On the other side of the corridor, kent has heard movement and is closing in to investigate.
Braving possible reaction fire, he rushes towards the lone soldier and in one simple swipe of the katana, the soldier is out. You can just make out the red "85" denoting damage dealt.
On the table near the soldier are two more game hints. I get the feeling we'll soon not be getting any more of those..
They deal with the ability panel, recommend that you plan the progression beforehand so you get the skills you want, and they also hint towards multiple level maps.
The group pauses for a short while to take in the carnage they caused in a single round.
Then Kodex spots a nasty surprise..
This is why you bring along Engineers. Given the right tools, they can dismantle traps like this one. There are other ways of dealing with trapped items, which I will cover later, but disarming them is the more silent approach.
While light is approaching the task at hand, WetWo takes down the allied soldier that didn't quite stand in line with the others, and UncleJ finds our possibly last clue on the first floor.
Ah, "Panzerkleins". The smertensbarn of the game. When this game came out, I was on one of the last semesters at university, and my studygroup played the game a-plenty when not studying for our exams. I kind of liked the PKs, but my two buddies who played the game just as much as myself loathed them. Other people I've spoken to since about the game seem to share the latter opinion.
They certainly do take the game in a different direction once introduced. So far, this is a squad warfare, turn-based game, based on an alternate, but still following our own, timeline. We recognise the weapons and can compare them to real world alternatives.
This will change later. But let's let that beast lie for now. I play the (almost, only a few tweaks installed) vanilla game and intend to show you the game as the developers intended it, and that includes PKs.
Back to the task at hand, we know we have two objectives here, but have yet to discover either.
Kodex assists WetWo in the cleanup near the main entrance and runs to off what turns out to be an officer.
Officers are not bulletproof. Immediately after this, I move Kodex further into the room, and he is interrupted by SMG fire through the window and KO'd.
...
Forced restart of the mission.
We make much of the same progress, Kodex takes some wounds clearing another room at the other side of the corridor, and kent chimes in about improving his skills. Seem's kent believes himself to be japanese, and even then he manages to lose the katana? The dishonour!!
This room on the other side of the corridor causes me some grief and will be the cause of another restart later. It's been some days since I played, so I will see if I can pinpoint it later.
Oh, and I'm not sure when or how kent lost all that health.
Anyhow, on the first floor of this building, UncleJ finally finds one of our objectives.
This is the second mention we've seen of this rocket fuel business..
On the ground floor, light has defused the trapped door and opened it. Up until this point, there had been three action phases. Ours, the allied soldiers', and one simply listed as "allies" which usually means either friendly troops or civilians. Upon opening the door, we see some troops in german uniforms, and Kodex exclaims something akin to (didn't get a screenshot) "Reinforcements! They are on our side." which is immediately followed by the "reinforcements" opening fire on us.
They are marked as Renegade Soldiers, much like the ones we fought in the katana encounter. The difference here being that these soldiers are carrying firearms and are not prending to be ninja.
Engineers have an amusing option when it comes to causing damage. They can use grenades just like everyone else. But depending on their engineering skill, they can use increasingly powerful explosives in other forms. And the damage they cause is dependent on their engineering skill..
Here light is preparing to toss a stick of dynamite, the weakest of those explosives.
The engineering items can often be thrown farther and with better accuracy than grenades with corresponding damage values, making these items useful in a pinch. Still, an engineer is not likely to have the best throwing skill, and light being two levels behind our A-team doesn't do very much damage with his stick of dynamite, so he follows up with the grenade he just defused from the door trap.
Yep, that's the body of the soldier being thrown sideways down the stairs.
Shortly after this, Kodex was gunned down by a renegade soldier MG.
Restart.
We make it to roughly the same point, and Kodex opens the door to the room you see in the top of the previous picture, only this time he's interrupted by the two soldiers inside, who both wield SMGs.
...
That makes 3 restarts so far, right? I'm really ashamed of this... But still, it's kind of fun, if aggravating.
On the next restart, I think "Screw the damn trap, I'll just blast the door to bits!"
MG fire is made for that kind of crap, and Tind follows up by actually killing one of the renegades.
Note, the renegades don't have the same chatter of the allies. This seems to indicate they're fanatical. Is this to justify having them as priority targets?
In any case, knowing that one of the renegade soldiers carry an MG, they are my priority target. Also, they are possibly the ones who made the hole in the wall, trapped the door at the end of the corridor to work undisturbed, then snuck down into the basement I haven't shown you yet, and their objective seems to be to escape from this place. If they succeed, our mission fails. So with that in mind, there's just all the more reason to exterminate them like rats.
kent seems to enjoy this, and takes a rather deep wound but goes all macho about it.
Remember, what doesn't kill you trains your VP stat.
The situation with the allied soldiers stays pretty much the same. WetWo ties anyone outside up near the main entrance with his MG.
While the rest of the group is picking off renegades, and an allied soldier on the other side of the courtyard.
Destructible environment makes for funny situations.
Meanwhile, kent opens the door to the two SMG wielding allied soldiers and bites a bullet. Kodex moves in to avenge him.
Now, I'm not quite sure what triggers it, but around this point (maybe it's killing enough soldiers?) reinforcements arrive via the dirt road. Not for us mind you, but the allied soldiers.
Seven of them, including a sniper, an officer and an MG specialist.
Unless you give them a reason otherwise, they will attempt to enter via the main entrance. If you've done your homework, that means it's time to man the Vickers.
WetWo can do that though, Kodex still has some vengeance to dish out.
That means the house is more or less cleared, with the allied soldiers inside purged, and the renegades holed up. We can now concentrate on cleaning the map.
Funnily, in this playthrough, I spotted an allied officer sneaking around outside, this didn't happen in the subsequent playthrough.
It isn't good odds for the officer, being faced with Tind and light, both wielding rifles, while all he has is a pistol. The results need not be spelled out.
At the other end of the house, Kodex is engaging in some pest extermination, first a renegade soldier.
Then an allied soldier that he spots through a window.
That seems like an unlikely position to land in when shot, but that's ragdoll physics for you.
The only part of the main building not yet searched is the basement. The stairs down there are guarded however, the remaining renegades have been clever enough to retreat and are covering the stairs with their SMGs.
Kodex' hide skill is good enough to actually get the drop on one of them though, and he steps back a bit, letting UncleJ explore further.
UncleJ did what was expected of him. He spotted the last SMG wielding renegade, took some bullets for Kodex, and finished the renegade. Unlucky for UncleJ, even though he ran all he could, and Tind tried to rush to his aid, just before actually making it, he bled out enough to go KO.
Note, that even tough I play on Hard difficulty, being KOed is actually not too bad. You don't continue bleeding, so there's no risk of dying as long as you have enough healthy troopers to carry the unconscious ones. Sustain enough massive damage from one burst or explosion though, and you do not go KO but are killed outright and you're removed from the character panel in the bottom of the screen.
With the last renegade soldier down, Kodex explores the basement and finds the last objective.
Carrying an unconscious person means you can only move at walking speed (unless you're a medic with the appropriate skill) and can't use any weapons or items. In short, this renegade was a sitting duck. Lucky for me, the full burst to the soldier didn't kill the scientist, or it would have been mission failure.
All that remained from this point out was cleanup, and it went without a hitch. Enjoy this montage of screenshots:
At this point I decided to sneak WetWo out to assist Kodex, and he happened to really get the drop on this sniper. You'd have thought a sniper had better spot skill than WetWo's hide skill, but apparently not. And as light drily coments, he shall pay. Full burst MG to the face, and he was down. Rest of the cleanup was equally one-sided.
The Browning MG is actually a decent piece of equipment, but it being of allied make, I don't have unlimited ammo, so WetWo sticks with his current piece.
All that was left by this time was to pick up the unconscious people and make a getaway.
That's the debriefing notes, and a medal to WetWo which he sadly did not get due to a loop in time, and finally what the map note says about the next mission.
Of course, as already mentioned, when kent was knocked out, he lost the katana and it was nowhere to be found. Such a slight on his honour could not be tolerated, so we had to restart the mission. Again.
The mission seems simple enough. We're infiltrating (read raiding) a UK laboratory for hints and clues, as something important seems to be going on here. The objectives screen is from a short time into the mission, as I forgot to screencap that at the beginning. Our group is deposited at a dirt road leading to the main entrance, and as is always prudent, we immediately go into hiding.
Before we progress any further, we take a look at what we can see of the house. Note, that there is no fog of war in this game when it comes to layout and buildings, only when it comes to people moving around. Consider it thorough scouting beforehand.
Yeah, okay, so they have a Vickers MG nest facing the main entrance. Let's not use that, and instead make use of that strategically placed hole in the wall. Yes. That hole is there from the beginning, we don't need to make our own entrance. Seem suspicious? You'd be right.
We're quite willing to risk a cunning trap here though, seems a brighter prospect than charging the MG nest.. And we quickly make our way inside, still hidden, and take up strategic positions inside the ground floor corridor. It doesn't take long before WetWo hears movement from outside, coming his way..
And there they are! Seems like an early birthday present for WetWo, how they have nicely lined up in front of his MG...
Three down in one burst! That's a record so far.
Note that the enemy is rarely this accomodating, so this was a freak occurence. Which I saw plainly demonstrated later, when I had to restart the mission.. Still, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I take a moment to revel in the glory.On the other side of the corridor, kent has heard movement and is closing in to investigate.
Braving possible reaction fire, he rushes towards the lone soldier and in one simple swipe of the katana, the soldier is out. You can just make out the red "85" denoting damage dealt.
On the table near the soldier are two more game hints. I get the feeling we'll soon not be getting any more of those..
They deal with the ability panel, recommend that you plan the progression beforehand so you get the skills you want, and they also hint towards multiple level maps.
The group pauses for a short while to take in the carnage they caused in a single round.
Then Kodex spots a nasty surprise..
This is why you bring along Engineers. Given the right tools, they can dismantle traps like this one. There are other ways of dealing with trapped items, which I will cover later, but disarming them is the more silent approach.
While light is approaching the task at hand, WetWo takes down the allied soldier that didn't quite stand in line with the others, and UncleJ finds our possibly last clue on the first floor.
Ah, "Panzerkleins". The smertensbarn of the game. When this game came out, I was on one of the last semesters at university, and my studygroup played the game a-plenty when not studying for our exams. I kind of liked the PKs, but my two buddies who played the game just as much as myself loathed them. Other people I've spoken to since about the game seem to share the latter opinion.
They certainly do take the game in a different direction once introduced. So far, this is a squad warfare, turn-based game, based on an alternate, but still following our own, timeline. We recognise the weapons and can compare them to real world alternatives.
This will change later. But let's let that beast lie for now. I play the (almost, only a few tweaks installed) vanilla game and intend to show you the game as the developers intended it, and that includes PKs.
Back to the task at hand, we know we have two objectives here, but have yet to discover either.
Kodex assists WetWo in the cleanup near the main entrance and runs to off what turns out to be an officer.
Officers are not bulletproof.
Immediately after this, I move Kodex further into the room, and he is interrupted by SMG fire through the window and KO'd....
Forced restart of the mission.
We make much of the same progress, Kodex takes some wounds clearing another room at the other side of the corridor, and kent chimes in about improving his skills. Seem's kent believes himself to be japanese, and even then he manages to lose the katana? The dishonour!!
This room on the other side of the corridor causes me some grief and will be the cause of another restart later. It's been some days since I played, so I will see if I can pinpoint it later.
Oh, and I'm not sure when or how kent lost all that health.
Anyhow, on the first floor of this building, UncleJ finally finds one of our objectives.
This is the second mention we've seen of this rocket fuel business..
On the ground floor, light has defused the trapped door and opened it. Up until this point, there had been three action phases. Ours, the allied soldiers', and one simply listed as "allies" which usually means either friendly troops or civilians. Upon opening the door, we see some troops in german uniforms, and Kodex exclaims something akin to (didn't get a screenshot) "Reinforcements! They are on our side." which is immediately followed by the "reinforcements" opening fire on us.
They are marked as Renegade Soldiers, much like the ones we fought in the katana encounter. The difference here being that these soldiers are carrying firearms and are not prending to be ninja.
Engineers have an amusing option when it comes to causing damage. They can use grenades just like everyone else. But depending on their engineering skill, they can use increasingly powerful explosives in other forms. And the damage they cause is dependent on their engineering skill..
Here light is preparing to toss a stick of dynamite, the weakest of those explosives.
The engineering items can often be thrown farther and with better accuracy than grenades with corresponding damage values, making these items useful in a pinch. Still, an engineer is not likely to have the best throwing skill, and light being two levels behind our A-team doesn't do very much damage with his stick of dynamite, so he follows up with the grenade he just defused from the door trap.
Yep, that's the body of the soldier being thrown sideways down the stairs.
Shortly after this, Kodex was gunned down by a renegade soldier MG.
Restart.
We make it to roughly the same point, and Kodex opens the door to the room you see in the top of the previous picture, only this time he's interrupted by the two soldiers inside, who both wield SMGs.
...
That makes 3 restarts so far, right? I'm really ashamed of this... But still, it's kind of fun, if aggravating.
On the next restart, I think "Screw the damn trap, I'll just blast the door to bits!"
MG fire is made for that kind of crap, and Tind follows up by actually killing one of the renegades.
Note, the renegades don't have the same chatter of the allies. This seems to indicate they're fanatical. Is this to justify having them as priority targets?
In any case, knowing that one of the renegade soldiers carry an MG, they are my priority target. Also, they are possibly the ones who made the hole in the wall, trapped the door at the end of the corridor to work undisturbed, then snuck down into the basement I haven't shown you yet, and their objective seems to be to escape from this place. If they succeed, our mission fails. So with that in mind, there's just all the more reason to exterminate them like rats.
kent seems to enjoy this, and takes a rather deep wound but goes all macho about it.
Remember, what doesn't kill you trains your VP stat.
The situation with the allied soldiers stays pretty much the same. WetWo ties anyone outside up near the main entrance with his MG.
While the rest of the group is picking off renegades, and an allied soldier on the other side of the courtyard.
Destructible environment makes for funny situations.
Meanwhile, kent opens the door to the two SMG wielding allied soldiers and bites a bullet. Kodex moves in to avenge him.
Now, I'm not quite sure what triggers it, but around this point (maybe it's killing enough soldiers?) reinforcements arrive via the dirt road. Not for us mind you, but the allied soldiers.
Seven of them, including a sniper, an officer and an MG specialist.
Unless you give them a reason otherwise, they will attempt to enter via the main entrance. If you've done your homework, that means it's time to man the Vickers.
WetWo can do that though, Kodex still has some vengeance to dish out.
That means the house is more or less cleared, with the allied soldiers inside purged, and the renegades holed up. We can now concentrate on cleaning the map.
Funnily, in this playthrough, I spotted an allied officer sneaking around outside, this didn't happen in the subsequent playthrough.
It isn't good odds for the officer, being faced with Tind and light, both wielding rifles, while all he has is a pistol. The results need not be spelled out.
At the other end of the house, Kodex is engaging in some pest extermination, first a renegade soldier.
Then an allied soldier that he spots through a window.
That seems like an unlikely position to land in when shot, but that's ragdoll physics for you. The only part of the main building not yet searched is the basement. The stairs down there are guarded however, the remaining renegades have been clever enough to retreat and are covering the stairs with their SMGs.
Kodex' hide skill is good enough to actually get the drop on one of them though, and he steps back a bit, letting UncleJ explore further.
UncleJ did what was expected of him. He spotted the last SMG wielding renegade, took some bullets for Kodex, and finished the renegade. Unlucky for UncleJ, even though he ran all he could, and Tind tried to rush to his aid, just before actually making it, he bled out enough to go KO.
Note, that even tough I play on Hard difficulty, being KOed is actually not too bad. You don't continue bleeding, so there's no risk of dying as long as you have enough healthy troopers to carry the unconscious ones. Sustain enough massive damage from one burst or explosion though, and you do not go KO but are killed outright and you're removed from the character panel in the bottom of the screen.
With the last renegade soldier down, Kodex explores the basement and finds the last objective.
Carrying an unconscious person means you can only move at walking speed (unless you're a medic with the appropriate skill) and can't use any weapons or items. In short, this renegade was a sitting duck. Lucky for me, the full burst to the soldier didn't kill the scientist, or it would have been mission failure.
All that remained from this point out was cleanup, and it went without a hitch. Enjoy this montage of screenshots:
At this point I decided to sneak WetWo out to assist Kodex, and he happened to really get the drop on this sniper. You'd have thought a sniper had better spot skill than WetWo's hide skill, but apparently not. And as light drily coments, he shall pay. Full burst MG to the face, and he was down. Rest of the cleanup was equally one-sided.
The Browning MG is actually a decent piece of equipment, but it being of allied make, I don't have unlimited ammo, so WetWo sticks with his current piece.
All that was left by this time was to pick up the unconscious people and make a getaway.
That's the debriefing notes, and a medal to WetWo which he sadly did not get due to a loop in time, and finally what the map note says about the next mission.
Of course, as already mentioned, when kent was knocked out, he lost the katana and it was nowhere to be found. Such a slight on his honour could not be tolerated, so we had to restart the mission. Again.
What really happened:
Much like all previous attempts, we rush through the convenient hole in the wall, take up positions in the corridor, and light disarms the trap. This time though, one of the renegade soldiers is attracted by the noise and actually opens the door.
And lobs a concussive grenade at us, hurting himself in the process! We're quite happy with that decision, as it is the MG wielding renegade and he could taken any one of us out with a burst. So good choice on that slightly damaging grenade instead.
We immediately show our gratitude towards him and his closest pals.
Now, we know there's at least one more renegade waiting just through the door, and I suspect he's carrying an SMG, so we send Kodex, in hiding, around to flank him via the first floor.
Beautifully executed!
Note, the grenade tossed at us did manage to cause some annoying critical damage, though it is light enough that it will wear off on its own.
AP reduction critical is quite annoying, but since it only lasted 3 turns total, it was no biggie. Especially considering the amount of firepower I had pooled in one location.
The renegades are still our top priority. It seems unlikely they will manage to sneak out the scientist past us, but not willing to take any chances on that account, UncleJ sneaks around the corner and drops the nearest renegade, positioning himself perfectly for overwatching the exit from the basement.
And even though kent is 2 levels behind our A-team, he still seems confident about his chances against these opponents. Justifiably so, it would seem.
The silenced SMG doesn't do impressive amount of damage when the bullets are taken one at a time, but the amount of bullets will make an impression on most foes.
Still, he can't toss enemies around with his hail of fire like WetWo can..
Look at him fly! Literally knocked metres backwards by that burst! I know it's unrealistic, but it's quite amusing nonetheless.
Then I send Kodex outside to snipe allies still on the premises, and try to get the drop on the two with SMGs inside that particular room. They seem unwilling to move at all..
When Kodex moved up next to the other window, he was interrupted and gunned down..
Restart #5. (actually, this time it was a reload, as there had been a lull in the fighting where turnbased mode was disengaged, allowing for saving. At that point I didn't relish the prospect of having to play the beginning of the mission for the fifth time, so I saved to have the option of reloading handy..)
Same room, different procedure. I had kent sneaking around outside, making enough noise that the SMG toting goons were facing away from the door, and then.
Ah, targets down.
Kodex acted as our spotter in this mission, as he had the best hide skill (due to kent lagging 2 levels, otherwise it'd be the scouts job), and he went outside to flank the reinforcements nearing the main door. Note, these are not the reinforcements that we saw in the previous attempt, they are still on the dirt road. These ones here represent the last allied soldiers inside the compound.
And this is where I notice something odd. With Kodex acting as spotter, Tind can apparently shoot at the unseen targets outside, as her rifle is powerful enough to punch through a brick wall and a window and still carry enough kinetic energy to cause serious injury..
It's a bit unfair, but I'll take it. M: The enemy is unable to react to this, as they can't see Tind, and Kodex is too far away for them to hit him.
This is also how you're recommended to use the scout class: as a spotter for rifle/sniperrifle wielding teammates standing back. It's a dirty but handy way of disposing with enemies with little risk to yourself.
kent isn't useless as a result of him lagging level-wise though, far from it. I just prefer to have the best man up near the front entrance. Meanwhile kent is clearing the back part of the map, and finds an enemy we'd overlooked last time.
At around this time, the reinforcements from the road start appearing near the main gates.
So WetWo springs into action, he needs to get to the Vickers ASAP.
On his way there, he spots a soldier we'd missed.
Tough luck for said soldier that he's sitting with his back to WetWo. Note, in this mission, I didn't have WetWo use his RPG a single time. Its effective range is shorter than that of the MG, and I didn't want to wreck the house or cause friendly fire. We will get to see the RPG in action later though.
With Kodex and WetWo acting as spotters, Tind continues her rampage.
She has rather poor shooting skills, but seem blessed by Nuffle, as she hits more often than the percentage chance suggests she should.
And the slaughter starts.
Yes. Tind did make 3 33% shots consecutively, killing that allied soldier. Meanwhile light is also flanking the soldiers, and around this point, they had hidden themselves, so we needed someone to flush them out...
That didn't work out too well. Kodex was at this point on the other side of the wall, sniping the sniper and shooting at the officer.
While Kodex did take some wounds, they weren't serious. And the last picture shows how prettily WetWo has decorated the wall with allied soldiers.
With that done, all that remained was cleanup, and shooting locked door since our enginner was KO'd.
UncleJ seems to take an inordinate amount of pleasure from shooting a simple door, imagining it to be an enemy, but whom am I to judge?
This is where we sling light and the unconscious scientist over our shoulders and leave. We loot anything useful first though, obviously, but we make our getaway without a hassle now that the "leave" button is green, signifying all hostiles have been eliminated.
See, this mission can be completed more competently than I did first time, even if this try also included a reload due to stupidity. Don't expose yourself to reaction fire from burst weapons!
Also, this time WetWo gets another medal. It isn't the iron cross, but you'll have to make do. I am not replaying this mission.
Back at the base, I just have to check..
Yep, it's still there.
Now, for the stats of our three newcomers, after this mission:
This is the team I will be using from here on out, unless there are actual casualties (KOs don't count):
And lobs a concussive grenade at us, hurting himself in the process!
We're quite happy with that decision, as it is the MG wielding renegade and he could taken any one of us out with a burst. So good choice on that slightly damaging grenade instead. We immediately show our gratitude towards him and his closest pals.
Now, we know there's at least one more renegade waiting just through the door, and I suspect he's carrying an SMG, so we send Kodex, in hiding, around to flank him via the first floor.
Beautifully executed!
Note, the grenade tossed at us did manage to cause some annoying critical damage, though it is light enough that it will wear off on its own.
AP reduction critical is quite annoying, but since it only lasted 3 turns total, it was no biggie. Especially considering the amount of firepower I had pooled in one location.
The renegades are still our top priority. It seems unlikely they will manage to sneak out the scientist past us, but not willing to take any chances on that account, UncleJ sneaks around the corner and drops the nearest renegade, positioning himself perfectly for overwatching the exit from the basement.
And even though kent is 2 levels behind our A-team, he still seems confident about his chances against these opponents. Justifiably so, it would seem.
The silenced SMG doesn't do impressive amount of damage when the bullets are taken one at a time, but the amount of bullets will make an impression on most foes.
Still, he can't toss enemies around with his hail of fire like WetWo can..
Look at him fly! Literally knocked metres backwards by that burst! I know it's unrealistic, but it's quite amusing nonetheless.
Then I send Kodex outside to snipe allies still on the premises, and try to get the drop on the two with SMGs inside that particular room. They seem unwilling to move at all..
When Kodex moved up next to the other window, he was interrupted and gunned down..
Restart #5. (actually, this time it was a reload, as there had been a lull in the fighting where turnbased mode was disengaged, allowing for saving. At that point I didn't relish the prospect of having to play the beginning of the mission for the fifth time, so I saved to have the option of reloading handy..)
Same room, different procedure. I had kent sneaking around outside, making enough noise that the SMG toting goons were facing away from the door, and then.
Ah, targets down.
Kodex acted as our spotter in this mission, as he had the best hide skill (due to kent lagging 2 levels, otherwise it'd be the scouts job), and he went outside to flank the reinforcements nearing the main door. Note, these are not the reinforcements that we saw in the previous attempt, they are still on the dirt road. These ones here represent the last allied soldiers inside the compound.
And this is where I notice something odd. With Kodex acting as spotter, Tind can apparently shoot at the unseen targets outside, as her rifle is powerful enough to punch through a brick wall and a window and still carry enough kinetic energy to cause serious injury..
It's a bit unfair, but I'll take it. M: The enemy is unable to react to this, as they can't see Tind, and Kodex is too far away for them to hit him.
This is also how you're recommended to use the scout class: as a spotter for rifle/sniperrifle wielding teammates standing back. It's a dirty but handy way of disposing with enemies with little risk to yourself.
kent isn't useless as a result of him lagging level-wise though, far from it. I just prefer to have the best man up near the front entrance. Meanwhile kent is clearing the back part of the map, and finds an enemy we'd overlooked last time.
At around this time, the reinforcements from the road start appearing near the main gates.
So WetWo springs into action, he needs to get to the Vickers ASAP.
On his way there, he spots a soldier we'd missed.
Tough luck for said soldier that he's sitting with his back to WetWo.
Note, in this mission, I didn't have WetWo use his RPG a single time. Its effective range is shorter than that of the MG, and I didn't want to wreck the house or cause friendly fire. We will get to see the RPG in action later though. With Kodex and WetWo acting as spotters, Tind continues her rampage.
She has rather poor shooting skills, but seem blessed by Nuffle, as she hits more often than the percentage chance suggests she should.
And the slaughter starts.
Yes. Tind did make 3 33% shots consecutively, killing that allied soldier. Meanwhile light is also flanking the soldiers, and around this point, they had hidden themselves, so we needed someone to flush them out...
That didn't work out too well.
Kodex was at this point on the other side of the wall, sniping the sniper and shooting at the officer.
While Kodex did take some wounds, they weren't serious. And the last picture shows how prettily WetWo has decorated the wall with allied soldiers.
With that done, all that remained was cleanup, and shooting locked door since our enginner was KO'd.
UncleJ seems to take an inordinate amount of pleasure from shooting a simple door, imagining it to be an enemy, but whom am I to judge?
This is where we sling light and the unconscious scientist over our shoulders and leave. We loot anything useful first though, obviously, but we make our getaway without a hassle now that the "leave" button is green, signifying all hostiles have been eliminated.
See, this mission can be completed more competently than I did first time, even if this try also included a reload due to stupidity. Don't expose yourself to reaction fire from burst weapons!
Also, this time WetWo gets another medal. It isn't the iron cross, but you'll have to make do. I am not replaying this mission.
Back at the base, I just have to check..
Yep, it's still there.
Now, for the stats of our three newcomers, after this mission:
This is the team I will be using from here on out, unless there are actual casualties (KOs don't count):
I will be using the A-team from here on out, unless someone actually dies and has to be replaced, due to not being able to manually assign skillpoints to "new recruits". They will gain levels in the background as the game progresses, and the game assigns skillpoints as it sees fit, not as I would want them. So to best fit my idea of how our group shall evolve, I'll have to stick with a select few.
To compensate, I plan on also showing the allies playthrough (though mostly where it differs, not as much focus on hints or the gameplay particulars), and those who have volounteered but are not in the current A-team, will be enrolled in the allied team instead.
That means:
UncleJ as grenadier
light as engineer
kent as scout
And Loti and Bee as whatever class I don't pick for Kodex as the allied soldier. Either medic, sniper or soldier.
Once this LP and the allied are done, I might do Sentinels. Enrollment for that one will not be until I actually begin the thread, so no need spamming this thread for that. M:
Next update will be done when I feel like it.
I've done the next two missions already, and am looking forward to doing the third as soon as possible, so another update might not be too far away. Will need to actually play the third mission, sort the screenshots and write the commentary though, and that part tends to be the time-consuming one.
My work week usually works out so that I have the morning until noon free on wednesdays, and the early afternoon for myself on fridays. So possibly an update might be produced on friday. Not making any promises though, made too many LPs to fall for that one. M:
Will need to actually play the third mission, sort the screenshots and write the commentary though, and that part tends to be the time-consuming one.My work week usually works out so that I have the morning until noon free on wednesdays, and the early afternoon for myself on fridays. So possibly an update might be produced on friday. Not making any promises though, made too many LPs to fall for that one. M:
Thor Kaufman
Arcane
Nice. Soon you'll have the penultimate gamebreaker, the silenced Kar98k. (Real gamebreaker are throwing knives used by a scout)
Are you planning on getting the other bonus items? (big fat 3 shot rifle and UFO landing site with TH panzerkleins?)
Are you planning on getting the other bonus items? (big fat 3 shot rifle and UFO landing site with TH panzerkleins?)
But of course, the LP wouldn't be complete without them. Will have to wait until I unlock the Switzerland map though.
Will have to wait until I unlock the Switzerland map though.
Mwuahaha. The ancestral katana is restored!
I agree Herr Kaufman, House of Flying Daggers style is OP. I might reinstall and try a mostly scout team. Humping crates of throwing weapons around is a bit too much micro for my taste though (to say nothing about retrieving them from the new orifices they make).
I agree Herr Kaufman, House of Flying Daggers style is OP. I might reinstall and try a mostly scout team. Humping crates of throwing weapons around is a bit too much micro for my taste though (to say nothing about retrieving them from the new orifices they make).
Well! Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for you people, I contracted a spot of food poisoning last night, so I stayed home today, and in between frequent visits to the bathroom, I found the time to type up this update.
It's nice to have something to occupy oneself with, when you're not feeling too well, so I'm happy to do this.
We have three missions to cover in this update, the first of those the most combat heavy, the others less so (the third is completely free of combat actually...)
You know the drill, click the spoiler tag to get dug in.
First off is an old english manor.
Our team starts on the road just outside the manor.
We go into hiding, as usual, and carefully make our way towards the entrance. The single rifleman we ignore for the moment, then we hear another person closing in. And this captain Henford steps into view. Unfortunately for him, dexte is quite close on the opposite side of the wall, and he carries no less than 10 grenades with him..
Trajectories are a bitch.
We kill the rifleman without much fuss. Those two guards were the only ones at the gate, so we send Kodex and Loti over the wall to scout the garden before the rest of the team follows.
Sure enough, there are enemy patrols inside the walls, but neither Kodex nor Loti are impressed with their threat-level.
Still, they do outnumber Loti and Kodex and manage to wound both slightly, so a tactical withdrawal followed by some baiting follows.
I admit, I actually laughed when Kodex drily commented "Surprise surprise!" here.
The AI doesn't seem too strong. They happily follow noise to investigate, and I feel they should. They are guarding an officer after all, but that they continue running into the teeth of fire like this seems a bit daft.
It's a game though, and them doing this just makes things easier for me, so I won't complain too much. I would probably have moved up either WetWo or dexte and either peppered the supposed position of hostiles with either MG fire or grenades.
Anyhow, we've established a comfortable foothold inside the walls, so we might as well take a look at our objectives.
Three of them. Probably all found inside the manor. Should be simple enough.
I start sneaking Loti around the manor, noticing that it has a back entrance. She's crouching while sneaking to reduce the sound she makes the most.
While Loti is doing this, the rest of the gang, led by Kodex, makes a bit of ruckus near the front door. Notice that noone seems to be manning the Vickers.
I do believe it was this trooper who was supposed to do that, but instead he crept out to investigate. He shouldn't have.
WetWo spots another soldier and takes cover, so as not to expose himself to retributive SMG fire, while Loti is closing in on the back entrance. So far she hasn't encountered any resistance on this path, it seems the patrol in the garden that they took down, was all they had guarding this entry.
Out in front, Kodex is enjoying a little shootout with the allies, and he is rather heavily wounded in the exchange. Must be the reason the allied soldier thinks he has divine help..
Kodex is withdrawn a bit and healed up by Tind, while dexte moves in as spotter..
If you have eyes on an enemy, any trooper can fire at said enemy with better accuracy, even if said trooper cannot see the enemy him/herself. Just like Tind shot through a wall last mission, WetWo here chews through wall and flooboards, turning the allied soldier into red mist without problems. God, I do adore those MGs..
Meanwhile, Loti takes advantage of the noise from the front door to enter through the back and clears the ground floor, one room at a time.
The housekeeper is left alone, but all hostiles are taken down, one after the other. Loti has pretty good hide skill by now, and that silenced SMG will take down anyone in close range if she gets the first turn. And most times she does. No hitches in this mission at least.
Now, we can enter the house. WetWo is the first through the front door, and Kodex spots another soldier from outside..
As I commented earlier, MGs make a mockery of walls and floorboards. Here, WetWo even punched a new route from the ground floor to the first floor. Not on purpose, but this is a viable tactic later. Instead of assaulting a strongly held position, you can try to make your own entrance somewhere else.
Loti is still taking point. The silenced SMG the main reason for this, the other being that Kodex is seriously wounded, and having him KO stops the mission. Loti is more expendable here.. M:
Expendable doesn't mean she's easily spotted though, and she takes care of the few remaining allied soldiers inside the manor.
Kodex walks into the room where Newhouse, one of the targets of this operation, is.
That's two thirds of the mission complete. The bedroom next to Newhouses office is locked though, and we hear someone moving around inside. Cappen is sent to unlock the door.
He even uses the hole that WetWo made for changing floors.
Encrypted letter! Sounds interesting.. It's also our last objective in this mission. We could walk to the edge of the map and click the "leave" button, but there are still hostiles about, and there might be some interesting equipment to be found..
Aside from the occasional, embarrasing miss, the cleanup goes smoothly. We are now free to examine the weapons dropped by the enemy.
The MG would have been nasty if the enemy had had a chance to use it, and the same can easily be said of the pistol. The thing about pistols, their range might be pitiful, but they usually do more damage than a rifle for some reason. Don't let an officer get the drop on you. If they're close, the number of shots they can squeeze out in a single turn can drop several of your troopers if you're unlucky.
We weren't, and we can wrap the mission up now.
Several well-deserved medals and some interesting information on what is going on. We'll get to the bottom of this, but so far it seems obvious that there's a third part in this conflict, besides the allies and axis. That coded message should be decoded ASAP.
We got a new location unlocked, maybe we'll find something there can help with the decoding. First though, a completely new map has also been unlocked, so we take a quick look at what we can do there.
It would be nice to go question the Oberst right away, but I'd rather finish the loose ends in England, so we go to another place of interest.
Just one objective. The map is rather small as well. A bit of forest, a single house with a stable/outhouse next to it.
Clearing the map goes well.
Right up until a certain point. First, dexte botches a grenade throw.
Then WetWo is flanked by an SMG wielding soldier.
Fortunately, our medic can do more than stitch up wounds, she can also fire a rifle.
First rule of First Aid. Stop the accident. Now that the allied soldier cannot put anymore holes in WetWo, Tind can start patching him up.
First, WetWo proudly proclaims that he's gaining needed experience by bleeding (training his VP stat), then he whines that the bleeding isn't stopped..
The approaching allied soldier doesn't get to pose a threat though, as dexte pulled an interrupt.
And Tind finishes wrapping WetWo up in bandages.
Loti and Kodex continue the assault on the house while WetWo is bleeding and whining.
By this time, they have gotten to the rear of the house, and WetWo is cautiously advancing towards the front. All hostiles aren't down yet though, Kodex spots one.
Then another one.
And suddenly two more..
In this screenshot you can see that both Kodex and Loti are hidden. If Kodex fires his weapon, he'd better be pretty certain of killing his adversary, because he'd blow his cover. Not so for Loti though, she still has her trusty silenced SMG..
Two down, and the numbers have been evened out.
Meanwhile, from the front of the house, WetWo has entered and found our mission objective.
Ah! A map with an 'X' on it! Surely, this is important, and totally not a trap!
The rest is simple cleanup.
Prestigious medal for our esteemed leader.
That's no reason to rest on our laurels however, we have that odd map to investigate.
Small map, no hostiled (notice the green "leave" button) and a ruin.
When you get closer to the ruin..
You see it has 4 floors, and it is mined. And this is where we need to find our clue..
We send in Cappen and have him defuse the first mine.
These mines are all over the place, and because I know you're a morbidly curious lot, here is what happens if you trigger one of the mines:
Happy? Note, I saved beforehand and reloaded after, as I knew what was coming, and I don't consider it cheating to not commit suicide..
Anyhow, what we're looking for can be found in the basement.
Our very own decoder book!
Ooh, that sounds important. It opens up another mission in the Urals.
Important as it might be, I feel we need to go Discuss some things with Oberst Koch before we rush to Russia..
So that's where we'll be going in the next update. Before that though, some new toys arrived in the armory for Kodex and WetWo:
The sniper rifle has better damage and 1 more ammo per clip, whereas the MG has vastly more ammo and just looks badass. Koch will be in for a treat.
No character tab updates yet, as none in our team has gained a new level yet. I suspect at least one level will be gained in the next update, so you'll eventually get to revel in your increased stats and your well-deserved medals.
In other news, I've also started an allied playthrough, but only done the introduction mission. Should I post the allies playthrough in this LP once I've wrapped up the axis one? Or would you prefer I start a new thread for that? Oh, and all spots in the allied playthrough are taken so far. New spots only open upon death of one of the people in the group.
It's nice to have something to occupy oneself with, when you're not feeling too well, so I'm happy to do this.
We have three missions to cover in this update, the first of those the most combat heavy, the others less so (the third is completely free of combat actually...)
You know the drill, click the spoiler tag to get dug in.
First off is an old english manor.
Our team starts on the road just outside the manor.
We go into hiding, as usual, and carefully make our way towards the entrance. The single rifleman we ignore for the moment, then we hear another person closing in. And this captain Henford steps into view. Unfortunately for him, dexte is quite close on the opposite side of the wall, and he carries no less than 10 grenades with him..
Trajectories are a bitch.
We kill the rifleman without much fuss. Those two guards were the only ones at the gate, so we send Kodex and Loti over the wall to scout the garden before the rest of the team follows.
Sure enough, there are enemy patrols inside the walls, but neither Kodex nor Loti are impressed with their threat-level.
Still, they do outnumber Loti and Kodex and manage to wound both slightly, so a tactical withdrawal followed by some baiting follows.
I admit, I actually laughed when Kodex drily commented "Surprise surprise!" here.
The AI doesn't seem too strong. They happily follow noise to investigate, and I feel they should. They are guarding an officer after all, but that they continue running into the teeth of fire like this seems a bit daft.
It's a game though, and them doing this just makes things easier for me, so I won't complain too much. I would probably have moved up either WetWo or dexte and either peppered the supposed position of hostiles with either MG fire or grenades.
Anyhow, we've established a comfortable foothold inside the walls, so we might as well take a look at our objectives.
Three of them. Probably all found inside the manor. Should be simple enough.
I start sneaking Loti around the manor, noticing that it has a back entrance. She's crouching while sneaking to reduce the sound she makes the most.
While Loti is doing this, the rest of the gang, led by Kodex, makes a bit of ruckus near the front door. Notice that noone seems to be manning the Vickers.
I do believe it was this trooper who was supposed to do that, but instead he crept out to investigate. He shouldn't have.
WetWo spots another soldier and takes cover, so as not to expose himself to retributive SMG fire, while Loti is closing in on the back entrance. So far she hasn't encountered any resistance on this path, it seems the patrol in the garden that they took down, was all they had guarding this entry.
Out in front, Kodex is enjoying a little shootout with the allies, and he is rather heavily wounded in the exchange. Must be the reason the allied soldier thinks he has divine help..
Kodex is withdrawn a bit and healed up by Tind, while dexte moves in as spotter..
If you have eyes on an enemy, any trooper can fire at said enemy with better accuracy, even if said trooper cannot see the enemy him/herself. Just like Tind shot through a wall last mission, WetWo here chews through wall and flooboards, turning the allied soldier into red mist without problems.
God, I do adore those MGs..Meanwhile, Loti takes advantage of the noise from the front door to enter through the back and clears the ground floor, one room at a time.
The housekeeper is left alone, but all hostiles are taken down, one after the other. Loti has pretty good hide skill by now, and that silenced SMG will take down anyone in close range if she gets the first turn. And most times she does. No hitches in this mission at least.
Now, we can enter the house. WetWo is the first through the front door, and Kodex spots another soldier from outside..
As I commented earlier, MGs make a mockery of walls and floorboards.
Here, WetWo even punched a new route from the ground floor to the first floor. Not on purpose, but this is a viable tactic later. Instead of assaulting a strongly held position, you can try to make your own entrance somewhere else.Loti is still taking point. The silenced SMG the main reason for this, the other being that Kodex is seriously wounded, and having him KO stops the mission. Loti is more expendable here.. M:
Expendable doesn't mean she's easily spotted though, and she takes care of the few remaining allied soldiers inside the manor.
Kodex walks into the room where Newhouse, one of the targets of this operation, is.
That's two thirds of the mission complete. The bedroom next to Newhouses office is locked though, and we hear someone moving around inside. Cappen is sent to unlock the door.
He even uses the hole that WetWo made for changing floors.
Encrypted letter! Sounds interesting.. It's also our last objective in this mission. We could walk to the edge of the map and click the "leave" button, but there are still hostiles about, and there might be some interesting equipment to be found..
Aside from the occasional, embarrasing miss, the cleanup goes smoothly. We are now free to examine the weapons dropped by the enemy.
The MG would have been nasty if the enemy had had a chance to use it, and the same can easily be said of the pistol. The thing about pistols, their range might be pitiful, but they usually do more damage than a rifle for some reason. Don't let an officer get the drop on you. If they're close, the number of shots they can squeeze out in a single turn can drop several of your troopers if you're unlucky.
We weren't, and we can wrap the mission up now.
Several well-deserved medals and some interesting information on what is going on. We'll get to the bottom of this, but so far it seems obvious that there's a third part in this conflict, besides the allies and axis. That coded message should be decoded ASAP.
We got a new location unlocked, maybe we'll find something there can help with the decoding. First though, a completely new map has also been unlocked, so we take a quick look at what we can do there.
It would be nice to go question the Oberst right away, but I'd rather finish the loose ends in England, so we go to another place of interest.
Just one objective. The map is rather small as well. A bit of forest, a single house with a stable/outhouse next to it.
Clearing the map goes well.
Right up until a certain point. First, dexte botches a grenade throw.
Then WetWo is flanked by an SMG wielding soldier.
Fortunately, our medic can do more than stitch up wounds, she can also fire a rifle.
First rule of First Aid. Stop the accident. Now that the allied soldier cannot put anymore holes in WetWo, Tind can start patching him up.
First, WetWo proudly proclaims that he's gaining needed experience by bleeding (training his VP stat), then he whines that the bleeding isn't stopped..
The approaching allied soldier doesn't get to pose a threat though, as dexte pulled an interrupt.
And Tind finishes wrapping WetWo up in bandages.
Loti and Kodex continue the assault on the house while WetWo is bleeding and whining.
By this time, they have gotten to the rear of the house, and WetWo is cautiously advancing towards the front. All hostiles aren't down yet though, Kodex spots one.
Then another one.
And suddenly two more..
In this screenshot you can see that both Kodex and Loti are hidden. If Kodex fires his weapon, he'd better be pretty certain of killing his adversary, because he'd blow his cover. Not so for Loti though, she still has her trusty silenced SMG..
Two down, and the numbers have been evened out.
Meanwhile, from the front of the house, WetWo has entered and found our mission objective.
Ah! A map with an 'X' on it! Surely, this is important, and totally not a trap!
The rest is simple cleanup.
Prestigious medal for our esteemed leader.
That's no reason to rest on our laurels however, we have that odd map to investigate.
Small map, no hostiled (notice the green "leave" button) and a ruin.
When you get closer to the ruin..
You see it has 4 floors, and it is mined. And this is where we need to find our clue..
We send in Cappen and have him defuse the first mine.
These mines are all over the place, and because I know you're a morbidly curious lot, here is what happens if you trigger one of the mines:
Happy?
Note, I saved beforehand and reloaded after, as I knew what was coming, and I don't consider it cheating to not commit suicide.. Anyhow, what we're looking for can be found in the basement.
Our very own decoder book!
Ooh, that sounds important. It opens up another mission in the Urals.
Important as it might be, I feel we need to go Discuss some things with Oberst Koch before we rush to Russia..
So that's where we'll be going in the next update. Before that though, some new toys arrived in the armory for Kodex and WetWo:
The sniper rifle has better damage and 1 more ammo per clip, whereas the MG has vastly more ammo and just looks badass.
Koch will be in for a treat. No character tab updates yet, as none in our team has gained a new level yet. I suspect at least one level will be gained in the next update, so you'll eventually get to revel in your increased stats and your well-deserved medals.
In other news, I've also started an allied playthrough, but only done the introduction mission. Should I post the allies playthrough in this LP once I've wrapped up the axis one? Or would you prefer I start a new thread for that? Oh, and all spots in the allied playthrough are taken so far. New spots only open upon death of one of the people in the group.
dextermorgan
Arcane
I'm dropping my 2000th post in this thread in recognition of your continuing efforts, and this forum section as a whole.
I am honoured!
With regards to this LP, I finished the next mission and indeed there were levelups going around. Now I have a bunch of screenshots to sort through. It's possible I'll weed them enough that I can fit a second mission in the next update, but I rather think the missions are reaching the point where they deserve their own update each. M:
With regards to this LP, I finished the next mission and indeed there were levelups going around. Now I have a bunch of screenshots to sort through. It's possible I'll weed them enough that I can fit a second mission in the next update, but I rather think the missions are reaching the point where they deserve their own update each. M:
Currently writing the update. It doesn't bother me to have three updates on the same page, but if some of you would rather we split them up over more pages, I guess you should start bumping this thread.
Bump
Heh, I thank you both for the effort, but I think that three updates to one page, that's not too much, is it?
Anyhow, here it is:
Do I have an update for you!
This next mission has it all. Or, rather would have. A dastardly ambush! Narrow escapes! Evil wrongdoers! Hidden technicians wearing gas-masks! A silenced sniper rifle! A personal escape vehicle for the evil mastermind!
Not all of which you get to see.
Ah yes. That was a fun mission. I'm thinking of going to the Urals next, but possibly I could go to the "Organization's Storehouse" in England. We're not supposed to go there next, but I think I can manage. I'll let people have a vote. The time you actually have to vote in is completely arbitrary. Once I set my mind to starting the next mission, that's when the vote is over.
Until then, should I:
A do as the game suggests, and go to the Urals next, or
B go and see what this storehouse is all about?
Anyhow, here it is:
Do I have an update for you!
This next mission has it all. Or, rather would have. A dastardly ambush! Narrow escapes! Evil wrongdoers! Hidden technicians wearing gas-masks! A silenced sniper rifle! A personal escape vehicle for the evil mastermind!
Not all of which you get to see.
Those are big words, aren't they? Well, most of the above you will get to see in this update, and one of the things in particular is going to make this game, oh-so-much-simpler for me.
First off we take a look at what we know before entering the mission proper.
Well, that sounds simple enough. We are agents of the Reich, so we should have no trouble entering his manor to have a little chat now, should we?
Traitor! Who would have guessed?
Sure enough, the manor is littered with both Renegades and Axis personnel, all of them hostile towards us and us alone..
Standing out in the open seems an incredibly stupid idea, so we immediately run for the tower on our left (except for Kodex who chose to turn his back, so it's now on his right).
Just inside, we find the Oberleutnant who wouldn't just let us in to talk with Koch.
Amazingly, he takes the 5 bullets and remains standing. He is not alone in this small room either, so the rest of the gang is moved in to mop up.
The enemies on this map are on par with our level, or possibly higher. No disparaging remarks this time when new enemies appear. Well, not quite. The comparison with roaches would probably be considered disparaging, but Loti doesn't say the enemies are laughable..
Once the whole team is inside, Cappen closes the door and we take a look at our objectives screen.
5 objectives in one map. Not all of them are compulsory, I know one is to capture Koch, but he can get away if you're not quick about it, and that doesn't necessarily lose you the mission.
Even with Cappen closing the door, one enemy sighted Loti through the window in the door, and she took a burst to the back. Here, Kodex is thanking that enemy in his own special way.
For some reason, the AI doesn't automatically throw the entire mansion at us. See all those "enemy noticed" symbols around? They don't move at all. If they knew they were under attack, it would make sense they rushed us, yet they remain where they are unless we're careless enough to walk close to them. The tower isn't close enough to activate them, so we can enjoy the relative peace in here.
Looking to the back of the manor, we see something peculiar.
Yes. This is where Koch runs to if you let him. Then he'll jet away! Very Evil Genius like, wouldn't you say?
We're not going to let him do that though.
I suspected Koch of hiding on the third floor, in this here office.
I haven't noticed any movement there though, so I split the group up into three teams. Kodex and WetWo overwatch the entrance to the tower, Cappen and dexte runs to the second floor to assault where I assume Koch is, and Tind and Loti take the first floor, first for some first-aid, then to explore the other rooms.
Tind is a good medic, so Loti's bleeding condition is quickly treated. Meanwhile, with the rest of the team acting as spotters, I found Kodex could shoot at the outside guards with relative impunity. Even through walls, if no more than one wall intervened.
It feels a bit like cheating, but I'm not averse to abusing the AI in conditions like these, where you're massively outnumbered and outgunned. M:
Tind, being the member with the highest int stat, is the first to earn a levelup.
This skill is useful in itself but I choose it more based on what it unlocks. We'll get to that later.
With Tind and Loti properly healed up, I send Loti, hidden (of course), off to search the other first floor rooms, and what do I find in the nearest office?
Ahah! Our prey! Loti quickly closes the door again, and stands guard. Koch is backed up by an officer, so I'd like some more firepower, and seeing as noone seems intent on rushing the tower entrance, I leave Kodex as the only guard, telling WetWo to leg it up to where Loti is.
He takes a few bullets to the back, including one that hampers his accuracy. I have Tind take a look at him before he joins Loti, for Koch doesn't seem to be in a hurry moving anywhere..
Cappen and dexte have heard some movement from the floor above them however, and sure enough, dexte spots a renegade solder.
Poor schmuck never stood a chance. dexte got a nice interrupt there, and he was in the sweet spot when it comes to SMG range.
WetWo healed up, he moves up to the door, we check the objectives screen, knock out our target and confirm that we've not botched anything.
Apparently, the trigger causing Koch to make a run for it is killing around 50% of the hostiles on the map. Since I went straight for the tower and found him before killing more than a handful (5 soldiers in total at this point in fact), he never moved. This makes him easy to bag. If he got away, some missions might not unlock until later. As is, we gloat, then notice another objective nearby in the form of some papers.
Oho, so Koch styles himself "Heimdal" eh? And their leader "Hel" we've seen mentioned before. Seems to draw heavily on Norse mythology.
Immeditately after bagging Koch, Kodex gets his levelup.
Just two more levels for his always ranged criticals skill. This one's not too shabby either though. 25% extra range.
He puts that to use, shooting MG wielding soldiers through a wall, across the courtyard..
dexte is being witty because Kodex missed one of his three shots. Still killed the soldier, so that's no shame.
Loti finds another objective in the room adjacent to where Koch was hiding.
So, evil scientists, jet-pads in the backyard, and a secret Island hideout? Sounds more and more like
Loti and Kodex in conjunction start clearing the other wing of the manor.
Earning another levelup, this time for Cappen, our second-brightest groupmember (Kodex had a lead, not due to his int stat, but due to the intro mission being solo).
Again, this skill is chosen not because of the benefit it confers, but for what it unlocks down the line. We'll be wanting them PK related skills.
Then! A momentous occasion! dexte happens upon a soldier that gets an interrupt. Normally, this is Bad News, but dexte is unfazed for the enemy is using a silenced sniper rifle!
Individual shots from this rifle are quite unimpressive and low in damage caused, where this weapon shines is that it lets Kodex (or some other distinguished sneaky sniper) fire at enemies with impunity. Apparently, in this game, such a silencer not only muffles sound quite effectively, it also disguises the muzzle fire, as you can stand about 10 paces away and fire this weapon without being noticed, at least with current level enemies.
So naturally, Cappen picks up the rifle and runs to Kodex with it. A few enemies are killed before the exchange takes place, Cappen even tests the rifle for himself, but his inferior shooting and sniping skills show.
The shenanigans afford even more xp though, letting dexte and WetWo level up as well.
These skills are taken purely to build towards the "second skin" PK skill. It'll take 9 more levels before we get there, but boy, when we do. (note, I'm not actually sure if we'll make it to level 15 before ending the game, but having a long-term plan never hurts. )
Only one of our team has yet to reach level 6..
Yes, this map also contains a third group of hostiles. Armed civilians. Loti slaughters one, and picks a skill that will eventually lead to her becoming a melêe powerhouse, but for now will help her scout in relative security.
What follows is an unbroken string of how awesome the silenced sniper rifle is:
Sniping on unawares enemies means you get to spend a number of APs dependent on your snipe skill (Kodex' is around 70 now) meaning you can get an almost certain headshot for extra damage. Even if you don't kill the enemy outright, the damage caused will cause most hostiles to start bleeding, and quite possibly have debilitating criticals with either deafening or blinding effects. In short, it's an I-win button against ordinary foes. M:
That doesn't mean the rest of the team doesn't chip in though. They're just a bit casual about it.
I find it highly amusing that we encountered an unarmed armed civilian. dexte was less amused and gunned him down.
Then follows another Kodex killing spree. No hitches, all fell dead where they were spotted. The ammo for this weapon is even native to the axis forces, meaning that our current group has access to unlimited ammo. If this was an allied playthrough, we'd have to scrounge. It'd be worth it though, as you can plainly see.
Inside the manor, where we don't have the luxury of long lines of sight, I send in the rest of the crew to flush the second floor and find some more civilians.
Notice the stylish gasmask wearing gentleman? Unfortunately, there's no chemical weapons in this game that I know of, so that mask is for purely cosmetic purposes. Must be a hell of a thing to be wearing while operating a radio though.
And in this manor we find no less than two more silenced SMGs!! (the second is in a chest in the ground floor of the tower we entered at the start of the mission. Just didn't get around to looting said chest until the end of the mission..)
Only one enemy remains, and Kodex happens to spot him from below in the gardens...
Yeah, nitpicking, this wasn't the last enemy, but it was the last one I cared to screenshot dying.
With all enemies gone, Tind even levels up a second time in this mission!
This skill is actually very powerful, as we now get access to the best first aid gear available. I'm not quite sure what skills I want her to take from here on out, but I'll figure it out.
Now all that remains is looting the place and picking up the final objectives.
Ah, poor Helena is homesick, and she's from Sweden. Is this the Hel we've hear mention of? Is the grand villain a swedish woman?
Guess we'll have to wait and see..
With all objectives finished, we're good to go. Prepare for an infodump.
The secret organisation that we're combating is called Thor's Hammer, and apparently, Koch was a big fish in that pond. All the intelligence we picked up unlocks two new locations for us to go.
Oh, so many interesting places I can potentially visit.. I'm not sure where I choose to go next, but be certain I'll be bringing the silenced carbine 98K scoped...
Speaking of toys, some new ones await us back at base.
The sniper rifle has a good ammo capacity, so I give it to Tind, to aid her in shooting from the back ranks. The new RPG launcher is just lovely. It even causes fragmentation damage!
We'll be needing that firepower eventually, and we'll run into enemies where the silenced sniper rifle won't do much of an impression.
But for now, I'll leave you with the glory shots; character and medal tabs for the A-team:
Well, most of the above you will get to see in this update, and one of the things in particular is going to make this game, oh-so-much-simpler for me.First off we take a look at what we know before entering the mission proper.
Well, that sounds simple enough. We are agents of the Reich, so we should have no trouble entering his manor to have a little chat now, should we?
Traitor! Who would have guessed?
Sure enough, the manor is littered with both Renegades and Axis personnel, all of them hostile towards us and us alone..
Standing out in the open seems an incredibly stupid idea, so we immediately run for the tower on our left (except for Kodex who chose to turn his back, so it's now on his right).
Just inside, we find the Oberleutnant who wouldn't just let us in to talk with Koch.
Amazingly, he takes the 5 bullets and remains standing.
He is not alone in this small room either, so the rest of the gang is moved in to mop up.
The enemies on this map are on par with our level, or possibly higher. No disparaging remarks this time when new enemies appear. Well, not quite. The comparison with roaches would probably be considered disparaging, but Loti doesn't say the enemies are laughable..
Once the whole team is inside, Cappen closes the door and we take a look at our objectives screen.
5 objectives in one map. Not all of them are compulsory, I know one is to capture Koch, but he can get away if you're not quick about it, and that doesn't necessarily lose you the mission.
Even with Cappen closing the door, one enemy sighted Loti through the window in the door, and she took a burst to the back. Here, Kodex is thanking that enemy in his own special way.
For some reason, the AI doesn't automatically throw the entire mansion at us. See all those "enemy noticed" symbols around? They don't move at all. If they knew they were under attack, it would make sense they rushed us, yet they remain where they are unless we're careless enough to walk close to them. The tower isn't close enough to activate them, so we can enjoy the relative peace in here.
Looking to the back of the manor, we see something peculiar.
Yes. This is where Koch runs to if you let him. Then he'll jet away! Very Evil Genius like, wouldn't you say?
We're not going to let him do that though.
I suspected Koch of hiding on the third floor, in this here office.
I haven't noticed any movement there though, so I split the group up into three teams. Kodex and WetWo overwatch the entrance to the tower, Cappen and dexte runs to the second floor to assault where I assume Koch is, and Tind and Loti take the first floor, first for some first-aid, then to explore the other rooms.
Tind is a good medic, so Loti's bleeding condition is quickly treated. Meanwhile, with the rest of the team acting as spotters, I found Kodex could shoot at the outside guards with relative impunity. Even through walls, if no more than one wall intervened.
It feels a bit like cheating, but I'm not averse to abusing the AI in conditions like these, where you're massively outnumbered and outgunned. M:
Tind, being the member with the highest int stat, is the first to earn a levelup.
This skill is useful in itself but I choose it more based on what it unlocks. We'll get to that later.
With Tind and Loti properly healed up, I send Loti, hidden (of course), off to search the other first floor rooms, and what do I find in the nearest office?
Ahah! Our prey! Loti quickly closes the door again, and stands guard. Koch is backed up by an officer, so I'd like some more firepower, and seeing as noone seems intent on rushing the tower entrance, I leave Kodex as the only guard, telling WetWo to leg it up to where Loti is.
He takes a few bullets to the back, including one that hampers his accuracy. I have Tind take a look at him before he joins Loti, for Koch doesn't seem to be in a hurry moving anywhere..
Cappen and dexte have heard some movement from the floor above them however, and sure enough, dexte spots a renegade solder.
Poor schmuck never stood a chance. dexte got a nice interrupt there, and he was in the sweet spot when it comes to SMG range.WetWo healed up, he moves up to the door, we check the objectives screen, knock out our target and confirm that we've not botched anything.
Apparently, the trigger causing Koch to make a run for it is killing around 50% of the hostiles on the map. Since I went straight for the tower and found him before killing more than a handful (5 soldiers in total at this point in fact), he never moved. This makes him easy to bag. If he got away, some missions might not unlock until later. As is, we gloat, then notice another objective nearby in the form of some papers.
Oho, so Koch styles himself "Heimdal" eh? And their leader "Hel" we've seen mentioned before. Seems to draw heavily on Norse mythology.
Immeditately after bagging Koch, Kodex gets his levelup.
Just two more levels for his always ranged criticals skill. This one's not too shabby either though. 25% extra range.
He puts that to use, shooting MG wielding soldiers through a wall, across the courtyard..
dexte is being witty because Kodex missed one of his three shots.
Still killed the soldier, so that's no shame.Loti finds another objective in the room adjacent to where Koch was hiding.
So, evil scientists, jet-pads in the backyard, and a secret Island hideout?
Sounds more and more like
Loti and Kodex in conjunction start clearing the other wing of the manor.
Earning another levelup, this time for Cappen, our second-brightest groupmember (Kodex had a lead, not due to his int stat, but due to the intro mission being solo).
Again, this skill is chosen not because of the benefit it confers, but for what it unlocks down the line. We'll be wanting them PK related skills.
Then! A momentous occasion! dexte happens upon a soldier that gets an interrupt. Normally, this is Bad News, but dexte is unfazed for the enemy is using a silenced sniper rifle!
Individual shots from this rifle are quite unimpressive and low in damage caused, where this weapon shines is that it lets Kodex (or some other distinguished sneaky sniper) fire at enemies with impunity. Apparently, in this game, such a silencer not only muffles sound quite effectively, it also disguises the muzzle fire, as you can stand about 10 paces away and fire this weapon without being noticed, at least with current level enemies.
So naturally, Cappen picks up the rifle and runs to Kodex with it. A few enemies are killed before the exchange takes place, Cappen even tests the rifle for himself, but his inferior shooting and sniping skills show.
The shenanigans afford even more xp though, letting dexte and WetWo level up as well.
These skills are taken purely to build towards the "second skin" PK skill. It'll take 9 more levels before we get there, but boy, when we do.
(note, I'm not actually sure if we'll make it to level 15 before ending the game, but having a long-term plan never hurts. )Only one of our team has yet to reach level 6..
Yes, this map also contains a third group of hostiles. Armed civilians.
Loti slaughters one, and picks a skill that will eventually lead to her becoming a melêe powerhouse, but for now will help her scout in relative security. What follows is an unbroken string of how awesome the silenced sniper rifle is:
Sniping on unawares enemies means you get to spend a number of APs dependent on your snipe skill (Kodex' is around 70 now) meaning you can get an almost certain headshot for extra damage. Even if you don't kill the enemy outright, the damage caused will cause most hostiles to start bleeding, and quite possibly have debilitating criticals with either deafening or blinding effects. In short, it's an I-win button against ordinary foes. M:
That doesn't mean the rest of the team doesn't chip in though. They're just a bit casual about it.
I find it highly amusing that we encountered an unarmed armed civilian.
dexte was less amused and gunned him down.Then follows another Kodex killing spree. No hitches, all fell dead where they were spotted. The ammo for this weapon is even native to the axis forces, meaning that our current group has access to unlimited ammo. If this was an allied playthrough, we'd have to scrounge. It'd be worth it though, as you can plainly see.
Inside the manor, where we don't have the luxury of long lines of sight, I send in the rest of the crew to flush the second floor and find some more civilians.
Notice the stylish gasmask wearing gentleman? Unfortunately, there's no chemical weapons in this game that I know of, so that mask is for purely cosmetic purposes. Must be a hell of a thing to be wearing while operating a radio though.
And in this manor we find no less than two more silenced SMGs!! (the second is in a chest in the ground floor of the tower we entered at the start of the mission. Just didn't get around to looting said chest until the end of the mission..)
Only one enemy remains, and Kodex happens to spot him from below in the gardens...
Yeah, nitpicking, this wasn't the last enemy, but it was the last one I cared to screenshot dying.
With all enemies gone, Tind even levels up a second time in this mission!
This skill is actually very powerful, as we now get access to the best first aid gear available. I'm not quite sure what skills I want her to take from here on out, but I'll figure it out.
Now all that remains is looting the place and picking up the final objectives.
Ah, poor Helena is homesick, and she's from Sweden. Is this the Hel we've hear mention of? Is the grand villain a swedish woman?
Guess we'll have to wait and see..
With all objectives finished, we're good to go. Prepare for an infodump.
The secret organisation that we're combating is called Thor's Hammer, and apparently, Koch was a big fish in that pond. All the intelligence we picked up unlocks two new locations for us to go.
Oh, so many interesting places I can potentially visit.. I'm not sure where I choose to go next, but be certain I'll be bringing the silenced carbine 98K scoped...
Speaking of toys, some new ones await us back at base.
The sniper rifle has a good ammo capacity, so I give it to Tind, to aid her in shooting from the back ranks. The new RPG launcher is just lovely. It even causes fragmentation damage!
We'll be needing that firepower eventually, and we'll run into enemies where the silenced sniper rifle won't do much of an impression.
But for now, I'll leave you with the glory shots; character and medal tabs for the A-team:
Ah yes. That was a fun mission. I'm thinking of going to the Urals next, but possibly I could go to the "Organization's Storehouse" in England. We're not supposed to go there next, but I think I can manage. I'll let people have a vote. The time you actually have to vote in is completely arbitrary. Once I set my mind to starting the next mission, that's when the vote is over.
Until then, should I:
A do as the game suggests, and go to the Urals next, or
B go and see what this storehouse is all about?
laclongquan
Arcane
The trapped location is scripted. There's one or two impossible to disarm mines there, and the destruction is on script. So even if you disarm them all (great to train your engineer) you then still can destroy the location with one burst of gunfire at the mine left.
EDIT: And if I remember correctly, your sniper can discover far far away enemies that you normally cant detect yet by snipe-aim in that direction. I normally used sniper in support of scout for that function.
EDIT: And if I remember correctly, your sniper can discover far far away enemies that you normally cant detect yet by snipe-aim in that direction. I normally used sniper in support of scout for that function.
B
A
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