Part 5: There goes the neighborhood

I figured the best way to treat a hangover, would be by doing some work.


There goes the neighborhood






Okay..this will probably turn out real nasty..


Welcome to one of the hardest chapters of the game. As the scene and the diary entry told you, the people in Akhmet's neighborhood have run out of reserves and want to take a share of his. And I don't think that they'll ask nicely, as there is an agitated, and armed crowd at his door.

:"What's there?"

:"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."

:"Maybe we can do the talking? I believe they still belong to humankind."
Great translation, guys!

:"Look in the window, Woman! What are these people going to do? Maybe kill us? Stop crying."

:"No need to negotiate! Let's break the door an take everything! - He's rich and greedy while we have nothing to eat!"


Yeah, so what was that about talking with them?
You can actually open the door to the apartment complex from the inside and step out. But Akhmet will just say that the crowd can't be reasoned with, which will trigger combat and leave you in range of several axes and crowbars. Not a great idea. He really has no choice, both from a gameplay and story perspective. I mean, even if he could pacify the crowd and give out some freebies. What's to say that they'll be satisfied with their share? Or that they won't come back in a week?

It will take a minute or so till they break down the door and then shit's hitting the fan. Aside from melee weapons, there are also a couple of rifles out there and everyone has stones for throwing. Don't underestimate the fucking stones! I'm serious. They'll come flying from all directions and will stunlock you in a second.

But while the door still holds, Akhmet races down the stairs to place a little surprise.

A quick look out of the staircase window. That's like half of the group.

:"Why are we waiting for him? Blockhead is late for the date!"

So, remember those mines I grabbed in the first update?



I manage to place two more in the staircase...

:"Hold on, blockhead, we're coming!"


..and combat kicks in.

The door is still shut tight, so Akhmet figures it'll be a good idea to thin the herd. With slugs in the chamber he takes position at his apartment windows.


One gunner down.

Here's a neat thing:

Akhmet will actually aim down, and also shift his field of view. But sadly you can't do this without shooting which makes spotting guys close to the house a pain.


Lesson one: Grannies can't stand up to a slug in the chest. She was actually throwing a stone at Akhmet. Optimistic, I'd say.

It's not a good idea to stand at one window for too long.

Fun fact: Bullets will ricochet. Good to know when you use buck in tight areas. It's not like I ever had Akhmet's own buck flying back into his face. Nope, that surely never happened.




Fuck!

The mines will buy me a little more time. Thing is, they'll spot the mines but can't do something about them and will stand around at the entrance for a bit longer. The battles in this game never really play out the same way. I had runs where they just suicide charged through the mined staircase, or aborted after the second mine exploded. This time they were really reluctant to enter the house.


Not reluctant enough though.

You can also see the health bar for the door pop up. You can shoot down doors, instead of picking/opening them. Really useful if there is an enemy right behind it.

That blast killed two people and made the rest fall back for the moment.

Giving Akhmet more time to pick them off.

:"No mercy! He's a beggar, he only lives thanks to marauding!"
Fuck you! It's not like you couldn't have gathered stuff yourself.

:"What evil bastard is agitating people?"



And here we have the gimmick of this battle. Each time the bearded guy, and one other person, will make a taunt the game will spawn more civis. You can duke it out but I never had the patience to see how many enemies the game will spawn, I killed at least 30 at some point. I always choose to go out and look for the agitators, as it is a bit boring otherwise.

But before Akhmet can move out on the street, there is a lot of cleaning to do.

Picking off the shooters first, should be a no-brainer.

:"Killed! Killed!"


You were saying?


More optimistic shots.


With the appropriate response.

Things start to get a little quieter, so Akhmet decides to head down. He has to defuse the mines on his way as the crowd really didn't want to enter the staircase this time. Kind of a lucky break for him, but seeing two guys get fucked in a hail of shrapnel has a certain effect on you, I guess.

:"Let's kick his ass, good people! Let's share his wealth by the law of justice!"
The second agitator is another granny. And a fresh spawn isn't what I need right now!


It'll take them a moment to run up and it does look clear right now.


Abort! Abort!

Shit, some guys are closing in from the left and I really don't want to get bogged down in the entrance.

With no time to reload the shotty, Akhmet brings out the APS.

Gangster style.


NOT SORRY



:"Killed...bitches!"

One. I killed one bitch as the other ran away.

Of course she came back a moment later.



That's how you really white knight!

With the APS almost empty, I take the risk and reload both guns. I've been in this doorway for too long and really want to push into the street before the next spawn hits.


She really shouldn't have stood there, fumbling around with a stone.


I love it when quick aim pays off.

:"We're many! You will pay for everything, bitch!"



There is kind of a sad story to this shot. I got the guy in the leg, earlier, and he was slowly limping away. I must have scored a wound. So I felt a little bad as I shot him in the other leg.

But Karma is a bitch and two clouds of buckshot whiz past Akhmet. I totally forgot to scout around a bit and almost got fucked for it. He quickly darts back into the doorway and reloads the shotty.


I chose buck here because my hit chance was shit anyway. I hoped for some stun, and got it.


Cause I really wanted to kill this guy without getting shot in the flank. But you can't get lucky with every shot.

Time for the slugs again...


Oh, come on!




Automatic fire: the best thing ever invented.

Okay, I'm getting angry at this point. I've never had to screw around in the doorway for that long. Fuck waiting for another spawn, this needs to end.


One..


..and two shooters down. Which gives Akhmet the break he needs to move out.

Both agitators will always be at the same spot, so I'm at an advantage here..

:"He's..killing..He's killing people, damn fucker!"
FUCK YOUR SPAWN


The beard guy is hanging out behind the garage area.

:"Aha, I see him! He's crawling outdoors!"


Get fucked!

That only leaves the granny which is one the other side of the map.

:"Look, here he is! Why, bastard, is your home too small for your ass?"
No, you.


Almost forgot about that last spawn.


Akhmet takes out the ones that charge him, not giving any fucks about the stray buckshot clouds.

While they aren't great shots, it still would be foolish to take them head on.

Flanking, the best trick in the book.


You expected me to be closer to the corner, didn't you?


Take that lesson to the grave. In the background you can see that one guy was smart enough to outflank my flanking.

But he gets discouraged by the death of his friend and backpedals, for now. This is a pretty bad situation as he'll come back in a moment and there are still people on the other side of the corner. It was a pretty tense moment for me, not gonna lie.


One down, and granny comes running. You probably can't see it but there is a stone flying towards Akhmet. It only missed him by inches. Had it hit him, he would have been killed by the guy in his back.

Speaking off..

Shit! He's almost on me and granny just ate the bullets..I really hope the stun is enough and Akhmet can turn in time...




He'll bleed to death, but granny is back on the move...




She managed to throw at the same time as Akhmet shot her. See the damage and stun, just from one stone? Yeah, it's secretly the best weapon. At least for a melee guy.


Fuck you, granny!


And fuck you too!




Yeah, he really didn't have a choice and I'm sure he didn't enjoy it. But he also is bad at math as he actually killed 24 people.








:"Oh God! What have you done?"

:"That's over, don't be scared. Those who could walk are gone. They will never be back again."

:"Really?"

:"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."
Still bad at math.

:"Did you kill all of them?"

:"No, I convinced them! Of course I shot them! What did I have to do? To wait before they break down my door?"

:"We've been living together as neighbors our whole life!"

:"Stop it! What do you think they wanted from us?"


The bodies don't have a lot of loot. If you should be playing with melee, collect every damn stone. They are so overpowered that you can chuck em at a fully armored guy and then just run through him with your melee weapon.



The MR-133 is a decent shotgun. 5 round tube mag has it's advantages but also takes longer to reload. All of this is irrelevant though, because..



The Saiga is a work of art, really. It's reliable, fast, accurate, has a five round clip , a folding stock and can take an upgrade. What's not to like? I'm not going to skill Akhmet with rifles but this will be his main gun for the next chapters and will eventually replace the APS as his sidearm. Yeah, it's a bit extreme to call a shotgun a sidearm. But the folding stock makes it quite compact and quick to ready. Also wait till you see that upgrade, it's the best.

As always, Akhmet will make a short trip to the Bazaar before he finishes his day.



:"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.."
The Administration has already been mentioned in a cutscene and we will learn about it in the next chapter.


:"Any news, 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."
It clearly was self defense, there isn't even any room to joke about it.

From selling the meager loot, Akhmet makes 150 Fives. He invests some into spare clips for the APS and the Saiga. I really like to carry several Saiga clips, filled with buck or slugs. You can even mix loads in a single clip, which can become handy in the late game. I also should have bought the upgrade for the Saiga now, but forgot about it.

And thus, one hell of a day comes to it's end. Akhmet really had no choice, and on the bright side, people now know what to expect of him. He isn't some guy that you can walk over. While he probably won't have a guilty conscience, he'll still sleep uneasy tonight. I'm sure of it.

He decides to take the couch, to be closer to the window. Who knows what will happen now?



Author's note: This update was also longer than I liked. But as you might see, it didn't really have a split point to it, sorry! I have a little bonus thingy ready as the next update, by Wednesday I think.