Part 2: A Leap in the Dark - Part 2

A Leap in the Dark

Last time, our crew stepped out of their bunker and discovered that the world seems to be still habitable. After a bit of demolition work, they now can leave their small valley and explore the surroundings.


The road leads towards the next objective, but there is also another one to the side. I guess I should also mention that yellow dots mark optional objectives, while green ones are mission critical. But it's always a good idea to do everything that you can.

Let's drive over to that optional objective.

It's a logging camp, with another bear.

"We've found some kind of timber yard here. The wood looks freshly cut."

"Great! That means we're definitely not the only ones left on this Godforsaken planet!"

"Looks like there's enough wood here to supply a whole village."

"Be careful. You're about to come across some people soon."

"Agreed."

The bear dies quickly and I grab some loot from the camp.

Some medkits and a bit of shotgun ammo, to be exact.

At least it's good to know that we're not the last humans around. Though we have no idea if the other folks will be friendly, or flesh-craving plague zombies.

I drive up to the next objective, which looks like an industrial area. When I come close to it, a little scene gets triggered.

"I can hear shots! Someone's fighting with wolves!"

"Help him!"

"Yeah, as if I was just going to leave him there. Don't worry, we'll take care of these wolves! "




No need to worry though, this person is perfectly capable of killing them on its own, and also immortal. Still, I drive up and help out a bit. Fun fact: If you scare the wolves with your Humvee and make them flee, you have to hunt them down. Otherwise the next part will not trigger.


When the show is over, a white Blip appears over the guy I just saved which indicates that I can talk to him.



And so the circus of wacky voices begins! Also this scene is broken at the end.

Some other scenes are also broken a tiny bit, but this one is the worst by far. Anyway, we have just met a very important character. Vladimir is a Seeker, which is a fantasy word for a trader. I'd assume that he's a handy guy to know, so let's follow him to his village. Also, "Seekers" is a name for a gang of ruthless scavengers in The Fall.


He jumps into his car and drives off. You don't have to stay on his tail though, as his village gets marked on your map. He will also stop for a moment when he's halfway there, so there is really no way to get lost.

But it's quite the drive...



...which eventually leads us from the main road, into the countryside.


Ahw, shit. That doesn't look too good.



Welp, I guess I'm a gang leader now.

As I've already said, it's probably a good idea to buddy up with the Seeker. I mean he's already offering me free stuff, imagine what awesome deals he will offer later! We've also learned something about the new world - that it's ruled by force. If the gangs make the rules around here, I can't imagine life being easy. It's probably rather miserable and short, for the most part. Of course, we're going to be the good guys and will save the day.

But before I deal with this, there are some secrets to discover first. Next to the village, is a sneaky dirt road that leads into the woods.


At the end is a little hut.

When I get close to it...

...it just blows the fuck up.

A random guy flees into the woods, and two orange Blips appear.



Those must be Slingers. And they look just like us, with a different hat.

Let's kill them!

The M60 just lights them up in a matter of seconds. And they drop a pistol and a shotgun for me.



The shotgun has a pretty low range, but is great at killing these early enemies. Though it's better to ambush enemies with it, otherwise you'll catch some hurt in return.

After a moment, the person that just fled comes back...



So, how exactly does an American Redneck end up in post-apocalyptic Russia?


Still, say hello to our new member, Akim. He has the Sniper skill and will become a very valuable unit along the line. It'll be a while till he gets a real sniper rifle, but he will still do some cool stuff in the near future.


There are some medkits hidden here, and I use one to heal his tiny wound.

Since the Hummer can only carry four people, he has to walk for now. I'm pointing this out since vehicles will move a bit slower when they are selected along with infantry. That's pretty neat and prevents mixed groups from getting spread out too much.

After I hike back to the village, I move across to the other side of it and find something kinda weird.

It's a graveyard with a guy just chilling there.





Welp, the apocalypse always brings out the crazies, and I'm sure this will never become relevant. I mean, who believes in ghosts, right? That's silly.

With these things done, let's look at that village and plan the next moves.


In the middle of the village, there are two static soldiers and one on patrol. Outside of the village, another two guys are on patrol. You can see one of them on the right, but the other disappeared from my sight range. And lastly there is a Humvee on the hill to the left. This is our first real challenge and requires a bit of finesse. Obviously, the Humvee is the greatest threat here. Its M60 will just wipe out my crew, and they have no chance in a straight fight. I could send my own Humvee against it, but it would suffer significant damage. And I want to avoid that really hard.

So here's what I'll do.


I'll hide my Humvee in the woods, so it won't get spotted by the outer patrol. I plan to keep it hidden for much of the battle, only to have it rush into the back of the hostile Humvee, after I have drawn it into the village.


I'm going to accomplish that by sending my other three soldiers around to the right, and having them hop the wall behind the houses there. Not only do the houses keep me hidden, but that is also the point where the Seeker has stashed his free guns. I have to avoid the patrol though, as engaging it would probably tip-off the rest. Detection ranges for gunfire/battles are a bit wonky, and it's better to not try your luck when you're not forced to.

Let's roll!

This symbol shows that this wall can be climbed. Most walls/fences can't be though, and you need to destroy them if you want get past.

Once inside, I carefully grab the goodies.

The crates hold a stash of 9mm, two Mp5s, two Molotovs and a box of 7,62.



The Mp5 is the best light weapon in the game, and getting it this early says something about that weapon class. It'll do a good job for the early game, but you want to get rid of it when better guns appear. However, the Molotovs are pretty useful throwing weapons. Every soldier has a single slot for a throwing weapon, and will automatically fill it from his inventory. There is a special key command for a throwing attack, and a symbol in the context menu for your mouse pointer. Everyone is a pretty accurate thrower by default, and you don't really have to worry about missing. You can pull some very cheap stuff with throwing weapons, but that's for much later. A Molotov will create a little fire that will do ongoing damage to whatever it touches. And I'm going to use that against the Humvee.

See, here's an important fact about vehicles: They have "classes" but also some special properties. The Humvee counts as a light vehicle, which makes it weak to all kinds of stronger attacks. But it also counts as "open", which not all light vehicles do. Basically, this means that a Humvee and its crew will be more vulnerable to fire than a light APC. The APC has armor all around, hatches, and only small open slits for spotting. The Humvee has big windows and a hole on top, so the fire can get all up in there. Makes sense, doesn't it?
There's much more to say about vehicles, but I'll get into that later.

Right now, I have to ponder a little problem.

There is another crate left, but it's out in the open. You can see it near my mouse pointer. I really want what's in it though. To get it, you have to crawl or you'll get spotted. But you also have to wait till the patrol has passed, since he'll spot you either way.


WHERE ARE YOU GOING


NO NO




I somehow managed to kill him without alerting the rest! I swear I watched his route for several minutes before going in, but he just decided to stroll down here. This totally caught me by surprise, and could have ruined my whole setup. As said, sometimes the conditions for getting detected can be wonky, but that was really lucky. Well, I guess this shows that you can never be 100% sure that your plan will work. Sometimes the AI will decide to be an asshole.

After that little scare, Akim quickly crawls to the crate and picks up two Kevlar vests.


Armor adds another layer of health to your units. It gets depleted by damage and vests will break when they reach zero health. There are a few weapons that can bypass armor, but I'll talk about them when we get there. Since you can't repair damaged vests, they are the number one trade target in the early game. You really want to suit your team up ASAP, it'll give them a much greater chance at surviving. And with those two vests, my units actually have a small chance to stand some fire from the Humvee. They're not safe by any means, but can take a couple rounds before dying.

Now it's finally time to end this, and I'm sure you want this too.

I set up Akim for a shotgun ambush, while David runs into the village to pull the soldiers.


Works perfectly, even if David took a few rounds in the back.

This draws the Humvee into the village, and here things get a bit tricky. If a stationary unit is pulled towards a battle, it will come there and investigate. If it can't spot an enemy, it'll often just move away again. Since my guys are hidden, I have like a second where the Humvee will be stationary before going away again. This is my window to strike.


Bombs away!


Shit, Akim didn't fully hit and only caused some minor damage. But David is already rushing out with the second Molotov in hand. My own Humvee is also coming out of the woods, to strike from behind.

The Molotov flies...





Bullseye!

Dang, I really didn't expect this. I planned to damage the Humvee and finish it with my own. But that's way better!


So I just tell my Humvee to light up the patrol outside of the village. Job done!

"Those bastards! But we'll show them. I'm a Seeker! I'll get the best weapons from the Old Times and then we'll finish them."

"Well, yeah..."

"They shouldn't have messed with us! Damned Slingers!!!"

Whoa, easy there. But I like that part about the best weapons, and in fact, he'll become our personal trader from now on!

But there are more folks in the village...




Sweet, two new members and more accents. I think that's Pirate? But I'm kind of worried by that kidnapping thing. It was also a plot point in The Fall, and there it was connected to genetic experiments and some other unpleasant stuff. Well, I'll guess we just have to find out.

Anyway, at this point the mission counts as complete.



This is the end screen where lootable vehicles will show up, aside from something else that doesn't become a thing for quite a while. Yeah, if you manage to kill the crew of a vehicle, you can salvage it later as long as you have one free unit to drive it. You'll also sometimes find free vehicles during your missions. Right now, we could just end the mission, but let's not!

You don't have to end a mission when it's completed. And in fact, it's very likely that you still have loot to collect. Just like me. The Slingers have nothing new, but I grab everything that I can find. The Humvee also dropped a bit of 7,62 ammo. Sometimes you can collect the gear from vehicle crews or leftover MG rounds, but it's kinda inconsistent. Also, larger ammunition, like tank shells or something similar, will be lost. Hostile vehicles do not have infinite ammo, and if you can capture them fast, you'll get some good stuff out of them.

And there is one last thing of note. Remember the car that the Seeker drove in?

It now counts as neutral and can be driven by your units.



Here's the thing, when your units enter a neutral vehicle even once, it counts as lootable. As long as nobody else grabs it in the meantime, of course.


Yeah, I'm stealing the car of my new friend, only to sell it back to him later.