Completed Let's scavenge with feelings. Marauder - Man of Prey LP

[Baron Dupek]

UPDATES

1. The Begining - Part I / Part II / Part III
2. Culture hall / Communism in Practice
3. Don’t You just know it
4. Stairways to [marauder] heaven p.2
5. Here comes the guests
6. Dog Day Sunrise
7. Disturbing visit
8. The Bad, The Ugly and The Drunk
9. Free like a bison.
10. Picnic on the roadside
11. Into the darkness.
12. Last Home Defense, I Promise
13. Last shopping list
14. Lead flavoured hot dogs
15. REMOVE KEBAB HAMBURGER


Greetings codexers in my first Let’s Play on the Playground. If you remember old (and unfinished, what a pity) LPs of 7,62 High Calibe / 762mm made by R@S (guy responsible for Blue Sun Mod, biggest modification for 762mm) and Haba then you know something about Apeiron’s games.
But they’re not only heavily inspired by JA2 games.
They’re also finest example of real-time with pause (RTwP) done right.

I didn’t get Pillars of Eternity but from what I saw it’s something like that i.e. timing attacks with precision to 0.01 second. If they somehow use character movement similiar to JA2 (facing to direction, preparing posture etc.) which was second thing that made this kind of combat great - this will be good game, (almost) insta-incline .

Game was released in 2009 but only in east Europe, rest of the world could buy it in February 2014 when it hit Steam Store. €2,5 on promo, definitely worth it. I got my copy from potato gaming magazine Play. Potato gaming magazines have tradition to add CD/DVD discs with full games and other stuffs like demos (extincted species). I have absolutely no idea how Play got that game. Apeiron was closed after MoP release, only in east Europe....EDIT. Ok, some clue lead me to some helluva niche publisher that deliver garbage or AA-segment games, before indie games were thing and only “AAA or indie, nothing between” conception exist. Actually after digging it seems like that release in magazine was...accident?

Funny that everyone get upset cause there was also Red Orchestra release and they send keys for free from page. Should stay and ask for Marauder...

Alpha Antiterror is another tacical game with RPG elements but honestly - I never tried it.

Allright, buckle up.
This time we're not going do any mercenary work in any southamerican country or fictional island lead by dictator-that-must-fall-from-our-(armed)-hands This time we jump into boots of ex-engineer from russian army named Akhmed. No hero in term of video games, with superpowers etc. but for his family - surely he is.

Instead of dictator-that-must-fall-from-our-(armed)-hands we need to survive in anarchistic Russia (Chelabinsk-40, Ozersk). The reason why it’s happen? Country lead by oligarchy decided to sell all their properity (to be precised - whole country) to the West, which caused riots. Peacekeepers come to calm situation, while in reality - they come for resoures and strategic points like factories.
Game is based on book “Marauder” written by Berkem Al Atomi.

This is main menu. If you stay for a moment you can see various characters activity, including playing on harmonica, dog guarding duty (no jokes here, dogs in this game are bigger threat than soldiers).

For some reason game crash (on XP and Vista, Win7 have no issue here) when you click Setting on newer operating system. You can just edit config.c8g file with notepad and change things like speed of camera movement (important) and disable fancy graphic settings that slow down game on old computers (actually game do this when you want to see bigger area of the map at once).

Here we make starting stats for Akhmet, some explanation required.

First of, they increase by use. Sounds great in open world game (like previous Apeiron games) but Man of Prey is linear game, no respawning enemies or random encounters.

Basic shooting (hipfire+aimed) don''t require that much points, even character with few points in it may fight. Opposite to Heavy Weapons where you need to invest lot of points to make them usable for character.
Camouflage - it's the only time when you can add decent amount of points, skill is hard to raise (need to get close to enemies, with shitty skill it’s not best idea to come close) and Akhmet is only character that can have good Camouflage skill.
Most important skills? Camouflage, Engineering (lockpicks and maintaining weapons with Repair Kits), Hearing.

Big advantage of Hearing is not only decreasing chance of falling into trap/ambush/surrounding, you don't need to have weapon prepared to shoot all the time (which consume fatigue with time way, way faster than in previous games).

We can change various things except one - health. Characters are fragile. Which is 3rd reason why combat in Apeiron games kick ass. Nothing better than intense combat where one shot can end the game.

And it’s possible that some screenshots may repeat, that’s because I write updates for few days and may forgot that something is already here.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Routine kills but not this time

Spoiler

So yeah, it’s not good. That’s the second intro and there is already shootout.

With our companion we gonna do what we always do - scavenge and marauding.

Previous Apeiron games didn’t have any tutorial (not even pop-up messages) and now we get real tutorial.
Say hello to Akhmet, main character.

I’m testing one of the combat feats - jumping out of the corner. With gun prepared to shoot you can cook goose before goose answer with fire.
Problem is - you will pixel hunt like hell to make this thing working.

This in new thing.

Like in Silent Storm you can choose various improvements after every level-up. They will improve your health, carrying capacity, shooting stuff better.

There is one OP trait that improve armor penetration but considering the fact you’re often outgunned and always outnumbered it shouldn’t feel like a cheat.

You may also (later) notice little yellow bar under stats, which tell you how it grow until it increase stat permanently. Yes, they increase with using. Walking with full backpack make you stronger, sneaking near the enemies increase your Camouflage and opening chests and doors with appropriate tools increase Engineering.

Grabbed some basic items. Should be enough for start.

Buckshots and slugs. One for close encounters, second worn on some distance - bigger than pistol, shorter than SMG.
And few Fives (5,45mm), for now they have no use since we don’t have any assault rifle.

I always liked that double-barrel hunting shotgun from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Mastering this gun is best way to make you a man. Or dead man if you miss double-barreled opportunities...

Here’s is our first encounter. For unknown reason he’s unconscious but wake up if you sit too long. I shouldn’t tell that but I almost lost melee fight with him

Two chests, left one contain crowbar, we use it to open right one. It have bag that work as a backpack. Really helpful for gathering all that crap. Weight limit is not a problem, (even though 35kg for an ex-soldier is pathetic) but space itself.

Time to go outside.
What a mess in such...wait, is it military base? What if there is someone?
I mean... Guards? Other marauders? Raiders and other groups? It’s post apocalypse after all.

Look at these textures!. That’s why I love games from this part of Europe - maybe things are blocky but textures are detailed.

wat

Someone’s coming!
These yellow figurse are enemies that we managed to hear. They’re static and show only possible location. Similiar to JA2 system.

Not gonna lie - that’s how you do your fir first encounter.

Hold on, he’s near my doors!

There you go. Covered with buckshot. I like it.

That happen with well placed shots. Just like in cartoons stars dancing around your head. And he’s all yours.
If we get hit and dazed - it’s game over in almost all cases unless AI went full retard. But I won’t count on that.

Ambush in the doors!

Now step’n’shoot

You’re mine....I’m gonna hit ye in the gobber!

FUCK

Game Over
Cry Me a River

These tavern brawn finally pays off isn’t it?
Allright then eat buckhots instead.

This is hard chest to open, if you don’t boost your strength (to bash) or engineering (lockpicks)..
I found scope for my hunting shotgun inside and grenade. Scope give Akhmet ability to aim from first person perspective (FPP).

And there is separate ballistic calculation for this mode, believe or not.

Bus stop.
For now it have different function in these times, like, point of direction, or gathering point for raiders.

Found brand new cap “ushatka” (it’s literally mean “cap with ears”) some snack and medkit but, as you seen before, you need some iron guts to survive fight.

Not to mention we’re not good medics and may just waste it.
WHEN SUDDENLY


Seems like the cops adopted faster to the overwhelming situation.
No surprise when half of them have face expression a’la“do you have any problem?”.

Let’s pay them a visit...

I did it wrong. I should take down the bald guy, then rest run away.
Then I could test my luck and hit the second guy. Good luck hitting last one.
They got: damaged guns (useless), some ammo and that’s all.

There are baracks remains on the left, contain broken kettler, wooden stick for booby traps, lockpicks and repair kits.
This time they’re not for maintaining weapons, like it previously.
Now they repair weapons (based on your Engineering skill) so you can pay less to technician.

In Options there is Autopause section, where you can decide whenever game stop the time. For example - when your character notice item.

Like mines but this one is not one of them. Actually it’s something good!
And dangerous only for your head and stomach day after.

We get it home, maybe it have some use.
You think even in post apo there will be plenty of vodka around but nope.

Last undiscovered place on the map

http://i.imgur.com/j43HRuA.jpg/img]
:trustno1:
Damn, Akhmet is great detective.

Carefully moving around the building,
[img]http://i.imgur.com/7Z8kdZD.jpg
I decided to ignore front doors, climb the ladder...

... and stay in the room.

All I need is to bait them one by one.

O-oh.

And here’s our ex-comrade.
Farewell backstabber. You ended on the wrong side of the knife. Or barrel in this case.

There is military shotgun on the roof but almost destroyed.

Forgot to mention about facial expressions of Akhmet.
Yarah!

I have no idea what’s this thing under the desk. Seems like it merged with the object. Hope nothing important...

We come back home, stash all that junk into safe, then talk with wife

Wife: Holy shit, how did you manage to carry it? Your husband is hard-working, lady.
You should have worked like this long before the crysis.
Maybe we could be watching it all from Australia on TV.
Akhmet: Why watch it on TV?...Move out! Give me some space, for God's sake!"
Wife: "You want something to eat?"
Akhmet: "I have no time. I need to unpack the stuff."
Wife: "Leave your guns for a second. Go, relax! You're on last legs."
Akhmet: Allright...

Time to pay a visit to the local Bazaar.

 

[abnaxus]

Is this same engine as Planet Alcatraz?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Is this same engine as Planet Alcatraz?

Planet Alcatraz use TheEngine, other games made it - King's Bounty series (the modern one). But he can do similiar things like calcualting trajectory of bullets in real time.
Apeiron's games engine is AGE (Apeiron Graphics Engine).

 

[Baron Dupek]

Bazaar aka in between chapters

Spoiler

I won’t buy anything here.
Most things that we need can be found on the missions.
Traders buy certain things. Doc buy meds, gunsmith take our guns, tanner like leather&fur and everyone accept food&bullets
Same like Metro series bullets work as currency.
"Nines" is 9mm, "Fives" is assault rifle ammo. Everytime you go to the Bazaar you need to give single bullet (“Five”) to bouncer.

Some townfolks around, mostly blaming everything and everyone.
And females sometimes say “nobody want buy me for few cereals”. Ugh...

That's some shady persona, work as a currency exchange point on two legs (if you - for some reason - have no money to enter) but his offer is not attractive.
Bloody cinkciarz (that’s their name in Potato, no idea how they’re called in rusia).

Bazaar is set in old gym building, might be school gym?
I see some “windows” (holes in the wall) that are supposed to help in case of defense. I tried to set my character properly but no vail.

Oh wow...4 answers, one rude, one neutral, one to trade and one edgy&rude.

Doc"Are you ill, my friend?"
Akhmet"What the fuck are you?"
Akhmet "I'm as strong as an ox. But pills could be useful. You have something for sale?"
Doc"I'm a doctor. Was a surgeon in the hospital before, and doing the same here. Name's Gennady. So what bothers you?"

Barter with medic, everything other than food and ammo is rejected.
These so called “meds” do nothing to Akhmet. But they cost nice sum.

Kitchen

Osetin"Hey, it's Akhmet here. Salam, Salam Akhmet, Salam my friend!"
This greetings give you clue that Akhmet is kebab.

Akhmet"How are you, Sanek?"

Osetin"What can possibly harm me now, Akhmet? Everything bad has been done already - I think it'll be only better in future.. Sit down, wanna eat? I've got roast, Lagman, Harcho is about to be ready."

IIRC.., Lagman is soup based on lamb meat from Usbekistan.
Harcho is Georgia’s soup based on lamb meat with vegetabes.

Akhmet"No thanks, Sanek. I'll pass."
Osetin"So would you like a drink? I probably have something tasty."

Akhmet "Why not! Bring me a glass. By the way, where do you get all your alcohol? It's been a while since it disappeared, and you still have whiskey and cognac."

Osetin "You know how many people, either locals or from the suburbs, are settling their business at this place. And when you're friendly to people, they always try to do you something good in exchange. You should know, I'm not greedy. Bring me a bottle of whiskey and I'll give you half a hundred of Fives right away. I'll still make a profit out of it. There are always some rich people around, they will pay. Look, brother, if you see some fine booze or smoke, bring it to me, I'll make it worth your while."

New quest - bring whiskey to the chief.
To give a value to this fetch quest - you should know that there is maybe 4 bottles in the whole game? Each cost nice sum but you will get even more if you give the bottle to Sanek.

Gun vendor sell them p.damaged and if you find something with 75+% condition - consider yourself lucky.

Since kitchen is taken Masha decided to take a role of wardobe.
She looks for someone that can bring dogs furs for her.
Sounds like starting quest in MMO? Hah, nope. And you see why...
Not sure if you need knife to gather dog skins though.

Why there is trader who sell woods (in packs) or why we need it? Except some feature cut during game development nothing comes to my mind.
There is trader that sell cigs and alcohol, we can share some gossips with him.

Now here is most important person here, at least for Akhmet
Akhmet: "Greetings. What do you sell?"

Prof "More or less, pretty much of everything. If you need tools or liquids, don't hesitate to ask me! Should you break something, bring it to me and I'll make it better than it was before. Or if you wanna upgrade your shooter, I'm your man again."

Akhmet "Upgrade? Hmm...tell me more about it."

Prof "I'm a jack of all trades. I substitute fore-ends and butts, upgrade barrels, tune trigger mechanics - you'll never recognize your shooter after my work. If you need anything, just show me your gun."

Some items have description about “there is somebody that may put that junk into good use”. Well, here he is. But he buy our crap when we use some trick.

Profesor"Greetings. What can I do for you?"
Akhmet "Nothing important. I'm just browsing. Where do you find this rubbish? It must have been gone a hundred years ago!"
Prof "Akhmet, you're wrong. If one is smart he can make money from any stuff. By the way, people always bring me things, but I need more. Akhmet, you're a stranger, just watch your foot - if you find any electronics, bring it to me, okay? Everything that has some electronic stuff inside, phones, stereos, even kettles. I'll give you a score of Fives for each."

Ding! Another task. Selling electronic to gain both money and XP. Splendid.
In the meantime I’ve checked my neighborhood.

Found some junk, food and Makarov pistol in better condition (it doesn’t change the fact that Makarov is piece of shit peashooter anyway).
And of course stole radio from the car

Potato heritage at best.

One of the apartments in my building is locked, all I’ve found is some pills.

Map of the blocks

Time to take a nap. That’s how you end the chapter - by going to the bed.
Mind you that time between chapter may be different - from one day to few months.

Currency

Some missed journal entries

And stuff

Something about interface
Let’s see... We have face of our Akhmet (I mentioned about ir before), red bar (health) blue (stamina, to run and have gun ready, deplet a lot faster than before in 762mm and Brigade E5)...
No Action bar and on the right - counter (to 0,01sec...)

Three icons, one is for movement and stances (crouch, crawl and stand), one for aiming (you may shoot like cowboy in close combat, make better aim or point to certain parts of the body manually, which is recommended for unprepared enemies on longer distances.

Last icon is to prepare your gun to shoot. It eat stamina like there is no tomorrow, if you have good hear you can save some.
We have 2 slots for grenades and switch for firing modes. We can shoot both barrel in the same time, but even single barrel shot is deadly.

 

[abnaxus]

How buggy is it?

 

[Baron Dupek]

How buggy is it?

That's really suprising but... compared to older Aperion titles - it's bugfree. Like really, you can beat game with no issues. Nothing game breaking or quest failing or random crashes or CTD. For game that was made a moment before studio get closed it's really impressive.
There is one thing that infested all their titles - if you move character somewhere (on long distance) and hit Cancel - it may stuck, especially when there's something near them like cars or buildings. Other than that? Never met anything. You need to hunt for them, not find during casual playthrough.

And there is no patch for this game. From devs or modders. Mostly because there is no need for it.

 

[laclongquan]

Man, that's a rare beast nowaday. No patch at all?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Man, that's a rare beast nowaday. No patch at all?

After some research - there was 3 patches for russian version. Nothing for west version.

 

[mondblut]

Jesus, the translation

 

[abnaxus]

Translation is not that bad. Try playing "Farewell to Dragons" in English. It's an unholy chimera of Google Translate and the nearest thesaurus they could find.

 

[Grimwulf]

Translation is not that bad. Try playing "Farewell to Dragons" in English. It's an unholy chimera of Google Translate and the nearest thesaurus they could find.

"Farewell to Dragons" in english? I've GOT to see that, if only just for lulz.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Translation is indeed horrible, but on the other hand - dialogs are better than average modern RPG with "Good day", "Who are you", "Tell me about..." and other bland crap.
Especially 762mm was hilarious, reading carefully answers of local chief police was absolutely cringeworthy. Especially some "secret sign" that was spanking middle aged guys. Ugh...

 

[MicoSelva]

Seems pretty cool. WIsh I could see the screenshots. Fucking firewall.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Well, minus.com is first image hosting site that I found, which have no limits and sharing pics is quite fast.

 

[abnaxus]

Come to think of it, I think Farewell to Dragons was removed from Steam because there was a bug with the ending that was never officially fixed. Basically the game would crash unless it was put back in Russian.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=11038

 

[Baron Dupek]

Culture hall

Spoiler

Well, shit.

Some banditos set the base near my house.
Culture Hall is good choice though - not much cover for frontal attack, hard to flank.
Only proper army, artillery barrage or smart sabotage can deal with them.

Wife "What are you mumbling?"
Akhmet "Hey, you know, there's a bunch of bastards in Culture Hall."
Wife "Oh! They got rifles! What shall we do?"
Do what you can do best! Start the screaming.

Akhmet "That's okay. I'll take care."
Wife You have no chance against this crowd! Don't even dare! Look at you, damn terminator! Sit here! I don't want you to be dead!
Akhmet "Oh, shut up! Stove the cooker, and don't be shy, make it really hot. I need some big coals. After you finish, put it in the bucket. I will visit the Bazaar to buy some Niter."

We head to the Bazaar.

Found some folks here:
Centerman"What's up?"
Akhmet "Any news?"
Centerman "Nothing good, Bearded. The shooting ceased, but that's not for the better. The most crazed bastards are down, but there are a bunch of powerful gangs on the rise. They divide the city between themselves. We don't know what to do if Fatman or the cops will fancy our market..."

I guess Fatman sit in the Culture Hall.

Akhmet "What's the news, Oleg?"
Oleg "Rumors say Fatman's gang is moving into Culture Hall. Damn bastards! If they can fortify the hall, nobody but U.S army will be able to knock them out. Shit, it's close to your place, Akhmet! You better hurry and do something about it, or else..."

Do I look like a videogame character? This is not modern shooter, it will be fight to the death.

For the 50 “fives” I got these things:

Result? Pair of Ammonal canisters, 15kg each. Akhmet weight limit? 29,8kb.
On the bright side - it’s RPG so we grow stronger while carrying them.

There is two really important things before we start.

First - you can bring only one gun and one tool. That phat loot on the Hall is too sweet to miss.
Second - do not show your gun near Culture Hall. In your hands or on your back.
It will trigger them and chance to win at the yard are somewhere between “u wot m8” and zero.
Third - we need some rags to wear.
Point 2 and 3 is mentioned by Akhmet when we enter the map with Culture Hall.

Our first meet with the guard
Guard"Man! Yes, you, bearded one! Are you looking for problems? Walk away, buddy."
Akhmet "I'm not disturbing anybody, am I? What's happening here?"
Guard "No, you don't understand. You must be stupid. Get out of here or I shoot you now!"
Akhmet’s roleplay is quite impressive, when you need to play idiot.

Remember that autopause explanation from first update?
I found some moonshine. Now it come handy.

We can attack the Hobo but 9 out of 10 times they lost their camouflage properties.
"Excellent. Vasya the Hobo is ready to slave off for the respectable persons."
Oh right, now I remember. You may buy rags from Masha, but they won’t work.
Why? No idea.


Another excellent roleplay.

You may place canisters and run but then forget about stuff buried beneath the remains.
Trust me, you don’t want it to happen.

I can clean this place without any reaction from raiders.

We rob Fatman while he watch it.

What he got:

There you go, whiskey for the Oster.

Balcony is another reason to avoid frontal attack.
One chest contain Infantry Showel (nothing beside melee) and Tripwire Kit (single wooden spike from horror movies with vampires).

The other one have this

This is nice wall art, but shitty camera angle block full view.
Damn.

Allright enough of this shit. Time to make them dance with my trusty gun. The best introduction will be taking down their boss, with slug.

No squatting on my, watch criminal scum!

I could use some traps here, like mines or booby trap, but decided to save it for better days and give free buckshot for everyone.

That’s the way to fight here. Dare to jump through that door?

OH SNAP THERE IS SEC...

Allright, try again.

Wee! Hilarious ragdoll in action. Another improvement compared to 762mm where ragdoll literally choke your computer when bodies fall.
And watch out for him, he might be unconscious but will get you in worst moment.

Precise shots to the rescue. Similar to the one from Fallout series. Normal shots just land in the column.

Get out of here squatter.

So that’s it. Battle is over.
It took me 3 minutes, slowed down 4 times for better control.
Feels like an hour passed.

Finally something to replace shitty Makarov. And laser pointer on the same floor. Neat.
Silencer for assault rifle. You know what it mean?

Probably best pistol in the game.
And I have aiming module.
Greedy bastard have 2 cans of food.
They were snacks years back but now - they’re delicatessen and food for whole family.
Even little bastards will eat it when they get hunger in post apocalyptic world.

Looks like there is something, but nothing happening after click.

I just come here to kick butts and throwing puns. And I just run out from puns...

Cool guys don’t look at explo...

Oh.

Stashing loot. Probably never come back but you never know.

With new level I grabbed lockpick improvement and boost weight limit by 10kg.

Bazaar
Oleg "Fatman met his death at last! I heard Culture Hall was blown up completely, with everybody inside cut to pieces. Somebody must be responsible..is that you, Akhmet? Well, anyway I don't want to knowabout it." Not even autograph?

Upgrades - orthopedic handle for APS pistol (which decrease time required to prepare gun to shoot).
Every milisecond count when you face enemies, especially in close combat (that’s what pistols are for, duh).

And only this pistol because I’m not sure if there will be better pistol in the future (gun seller don’t have other handgun ammunition) and I want to get better shotgun soon.

By bringing car radio to Professor Akhmet gained new level and spend it on better rifle handling, which slightly increased my accuracy, preparing to shoot and range with shotguns and rifles.

New pistol.


Some upgrades for my AKSu but leaved it untouched with hope of getting “bigger brother”

And townfolks blame Democrats. Whatever.
I can’t find picture of Akhmet’s wife cause screenshot key doesn’t work when NPC talk and just skip his sentence.
Return to the house

Wife"You're alive? Thank god, I was so afraid...the explosion was so strong!"
Akhmet "There are no bandits anymore. Unfortunately there's also no more Culture Hall."
Wife "And what now?"
Akhmet "Nothing. I need some rest."

 

[The_scorpion]

Looks very good.

Judging from these screens it seems that combat revolves around camping besides doors and corners? I guess that's gonna change with longer ranged guns and diferent locations?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Communism and collectivism in practice.

Spoiler

I wanted to write short essay about my loathe toward codex commie lovers, who wank to the book and how they never experienced real communism like but said “nah”, because nothing convince these retards..

Back to the game.

Some noises awoken me, lot of people nearby.
Some gathering? Maybe some revolution?
Finally... but why they’re under my apartment?
Wait a minute

Wife: "What's there?"
Akhmet: "Oh, that's our neighbors. What a surprise. They've come with guns. Seems like they're seeking for food. But I only serve lead and steel for breakfast."
Wife: "Maybe we can do the talking? I believe they still belong to humankind."
Translation... is...bad...

Akhmet: "Look in the window, Woman! What are these people going to do? Maybe kill us? Stop crying."
Baldman: "No need to negotiate! Let's break the door an take everything! - He's rich and greedy while we have nothing to eat!"
And fuck you too.

SPOILER: I’ve tried to make use of my mines and traps (by setting them in staircase) but there was two problems.
First - for some reason guy with the gun shoot me down. He’s outside, we’re separated by some (glass) wall on staircase, but for some bizarre reason - it’s not a problem for him.
I know that you can shoot through wooden doors and kill enemy behind them but seriously...
Second - I’ve decided to rush outside and pray for miss and hit. Hit mine and miss their.

So traps are out, time for Phase I - shooting from my apartment with hunter shotgun+scope+slugs.
I don’t have screenshots from hiding. Obviously staying too long make you easy target.
You know that something somewhere is squatting, prepared to take you down.
You just know it.

First hard battle. There will be few battles in this game, both very long and hard like hell unless you’re king of micromanagement.

You’re alone, have shotgun, pistol, some mines.
They are hungry, armed with shotguns, crowbars, hatchets and stones. They’re worst thanks to the daze effect. Get dazen and enjoy game over screen.

Good start

Don’t be a sitting duck Akhmet.

Damn. Break and enter. Wish I have shottie with bigger chamber...

So what

What a surprise, his shotgun is broken.
He will jam in our hands but not their. Justice.

Leper train.

Get hit by stone, luckly not dazed.

But he do. Long enough to fill the barrels.

The fuck you’re talking about old hag?
Now here is new thing - there are 3 agitators on the yard. They will spawn enemies as long as they breathe.
Akhmet like to breathe but even this good shouldn’t be wasted in collective, not these days.

The Many??

I tried to hide in the garage, where I found Makarov in old update, but was quickly overwhelmed.
Element of surprise is gone.

Let’s try again

There you go. First agitator. One spawning point less for me.

Now I have fugitives on my tail.

*updated my journal*

Runaway and shoot manuveur worked almost perfectly except this cat lady, who soon put some though in my head with crowbar.

T’was lucky shot. Squat is not amused.

What’s this? Saiga?! I want it!

And done.

Yeah, get lost!

No Akhmet is not crying over his cause. He just check pockets for any valuables.
I swear I saw someone with sawed-off shotgun (one or two) but couldn’t find it on the battlefield.
Good thing it’s not important item.
I found 3 hunting shotguns (each for 20b), one pump action shotgun for 15b and ~80stones, separated by 10, each heavy like potato bag.

Yeah

Not much ammo, one canned food. And dozen of hatchets and crowbars, each for 10b.Not sure if sell this crap, since I have no urgent deal and have no time for this.

best shotgun in the game. Only need some repairs. There is only one upgrade that allow ot use automatic fire. No need at the moment cause bigger ammo capability is best thing at the moment. Repaired it with my remains of repair tool (+10% of worn) and get it to Professor, now it’s like new for 90b.

Wife:"Oh God! What have you done?"
Akhmet:"That's over, don't be scared. Those who could walk are gone. They will never be back again."
Wife:"Really?"
Akhmet:These will not attack again. Half of them is lying dead in the street. Another half has suddenly understood that I'm not the guy to rob."
Wife:"Did you kill all of them?"
Akhmet:"No, I convinced them! Of course I shot them! What did I have to do? To wait before they break down my door?"
Wife:"We've been living together as neighbors our whole life!"
Akhmet:"Stop it! What do you think they wanted from us?"

Bazaar time
Akhmet:Any news?
Centerman:"Well, we're still alive, ain't we? Lotsa folks died in the winter, but at least the Administration keeps the order around. That colonel Konev is alright! Scared off gangsters, hanged the cops, it seems we survived the mess.."

Interesting. Maybe it’s not another betrayer and he really clear mess. Hope he’s not that army men from intro that shake hand with some VIP...

Akhmet: "Any news, Oleg?"
Oleg: "You had troubles with your neighbors? Women are against you - I think you killed somebody's son. But I understand you. We've got to protect ourselves and our stuff."
What can I say? Really sorry? Dog eat dog?

That’s some funny name. The real name should be “lifchik” or something like that.

Other notable items:
-light vest (45% of worn)
-light helmet (also damaged)
-titanium plate to put under vest (guess again).

 

[Baron Dupek]

Don’t You just know it

Some infodump here
First - I’ve discovered something funny. There is function to control speed in the game. Thing is -
+/- keys for decrease/increase speed are under one key “-”.
And you can’t change key for Decrease. Did I mentioned that game crash when you go to options? Good thing you can still edit .cfg file.
Don’t ask.

Second - as you will know soon, Akhmet will do his work as a sapper again for the army. That should give you clue about new enemies. Armed with better guns (including assault rifles) and maybe some of them armored.
In older Apeiron’s games (Brigade E5 and 762mm) you just change magazine with ordinary bullets to AP rounds (armor penetration).

And... Well... Problem is... There is no such bullets in the game.
Only LMGs have them, but mounted machine guns and sniper rifles are hard to use in frontal assaults or rush.

Another thing you should know - damaging armors is not always good idea. If you shot someone wearing the vest, then nothing stop you from stripping it off the corpse and wear yourself.
So you not only shoot money (bullets is currency) but also crush money (expensive protection).
New economy in a nutshell.

Do you remember that info about imbalanced perk that make armor penetration easier? Well, that’s our only hope.
Really, it’s not that cheat perk as you may think.

And I don’t know why they get name for Administration base from kwans.

Spoiler

All right, I got message, will go but need to calm down someone...

W:"What did they need from you? Why did they come? Or were they just angry?"

A:"They're always angry and arguing, it's their purpose. Don't worry, it's okay. I told them everything and they understood me. And just for you to know - later today I'm going to Konev. Let's see if he has any tasks for me. Let's see. Maybe I'll have a duty to serve?"

W:"What duty? Don't be an idiot! What duties do you have? They can shoot you there and what will I do alone? How will I find you? Sometimes you should think about me, too!"

A:"I ain't asking you for an advice. Woman, duty implies money and food. You got it? Now, calm down."

I could mention about her duty in kitchen but I’m not sexist.
Something touched me in the though, went to Bazaar to check latest gossip

Oleg: "My mate from the Administration says Konev has something big on his mind. Either he wants to start a big war or to dig in the Rusreserve complex exploded by the U.S..."
I guess we get there some day? Or even now.

First - I need to unlock some traits.

Oh surely appropriate. It increased our weight limit by another 10kg. With bigger bags it will be helpful with carrying all that crap we find.

That’s the second from the 4 traits affecting rifles, but after 2nd mission I don’t need them that much.

Assault Rifles. Time to give them a chance. We do military job, and may find tougher resistance on our way.

<whissle>
Sup bitches, I come to chew cereals and kick asses, and I’m out out cerreals.

That Konev (only guy in the uniform) is decent fella but I don’t like his left hand, Formenko (red beret)..


So here we are, Barabash base, Rusreserves. That name tho.

That’s the whole map, nothing outside of the yard. That marked buidling with some orkish gibberish name is our objective but I need to clean the oudoors from traps and mines.
Let’s check that square below.

A-Ha!

It’s good advise to walk slowly, who knows maybe skillcheck is slow enough to inform you about the fact that YOU FOUND MINE +50XP when you already put feet on it.

Pointing mouse cursor over the mine... You know how claymore works - they have small dose of explosive stuff, that launch enormous amount of tiny steel balls, that shred living things into meat jerky, even with armors. And don’t forget about ricochets, not that important when they fly toward your face but still nice trivia. Surprisingly, there is no framerate drop when it fire,

All that calculation, ballistic, ricochet and else...
We can walk safely in green field, be careful with yellow and avoid red.
Disarming skill... Depend more on difficulty setting. On higher you got more fails even with high Engineering, while lower is forgiving.

Ctrl to check surrounding. I guess that red barrel is dangerous or I can interact with it? No idea, wonder if enemies are dumb enough to get closer to ir? Cause I know about me and my luck.

What a shame, it’s completely ruined. Seems like I need to find another.

You know what happened? Claymore was deep digged and didn’t scratched me.

Fight againt chest with crowbar. Chest still win.
Could just use sparing lockpick. If i find more there then I surely spend them, walking with more than 10 is pointless.

FEW MINUTES LATER

Reported.
M:"How is it?"
A:"That's it, Maksimych. Removed all I could find, we can approach now. And where's Fomenko?"
M:"Still nothing...Look! We got someone on the flank."
Who could guess, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! PANTS UP! TO THE ARMS!

You don’t need ghille or uniform for good camouflage.

I could stick to the group but that lead to situation, where I will be surrounded. Better to attack and taking cover in right places, watching yourself all the time.
I don’t worry about my group, they’re Specnaz after all. Even computer AI can’t dumb them down.

Such taktics
Much rollings
Like Twicher with guns

Some sneaky basterds want to take me from behind
No more screenshots, believe or not but team took care of marauders. They said they were former specnas members, and didn’t lied.

Now middle-long range fight is an option.
But I won’t use it now since my next objective is under ground.

I don’t feel special in any way.

Before I go underground (to become hipster? Nah, just kidding) it’s time for some jogging. Running around and gathering all crap
I put the stuff from surface here and manage it after the mission.
It’s time to go down.

What? 5 medias per post? Cut it down.

 

[Grimwulf]

I've been following this LP for some time now.

Let's be clear: I hate EVERY rus rpg and nothing will change that. It's hard to judje how good or bad is Man of Prey gameplay-wise without actual playing it myself. But I must admit:

1. Damn good writing and voice acting. Lot of very national slang stuff, that can't be really translated into english. The translation itself does it job in covering the general picture, but hardly nails the atmosphere, intonation and characters.
2. Strangely enough, it's the first russian rpg on my memory that isn't filled with "national humor" crap. In fact, MoP is almost serious buisness (intro video is garbage tho).
3. This LP is magnetizing.

Can't brofist on Codex yet, and don't really have anything else to comment, except for keep it up. Wonder what's gonna happen next.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Thank you for appreaciation.

EDIT
Post nr 21. IIRC there's limit of 25 posts per page.
Time for some
BUMP-YARAH.

 

[Baron Dupek]

YARAH

 

[Grimwulf]

YARRRah

Spoiler

Why are we doin this again?

 

[abnaxus]

Brobump