Part 3: You better left some room for desert.

Double posting for maximum effect

You better left some room for desert.
Last time we found an old friend, got a lot of bad news and gathered a crew that should help us reach our goals. Which are revenge and the search for our sister. But mostly revenge.

Before we can get to that, we still have to jump through some hoops though. From the mercenary camp, we just follow the path and eventually reach the training area.

They actually put some effort into that, it seems.

:"Hey! What is this? Some sort of training camp?"
Sharp as ever Seagull.

:"Right! You get your training here under my supervision! And by the look of you it is going to be real hard work! OK. So run over to the starting point northwest of here by the tents! When you get there, I'll tell you what you have to do!"
A reference

We follow his directions and reach those ragged tents.

I'm pretty sure you will have no real effect on Seagull's path to greatness.

The first part of the training is just boring control stuff, which you don't need. At the end, we are ordered to search the tents.

Some items pop up, for us to use. You can highlight items near you with a key command. Pretty handy, especially if you search for stuff in the wild.

As soon as we pick up one thing, Sgt.Shouting here will sprint away and yell at us more. The game places our squad on standby for now. This is Seagull's show.

But it is also is a jerk again, and spawns one damaged revolver. So I have to double back to get the other. I really hope this will not become a theme on this run.

Cpl.Loudface has opened the course for us.

Here you can see the combat pause screen. As I said in the Op, the game has real time combat with controlled pause.

That screen is pretty self-explanatory so I'll try to keep it brief.
The auto behavior tab governs what your fighters will do on their own. This does cut down on some micro managing, but the system is not made for tactical combat. Most engagements will be duked out, with lot's of ammo and healing items. If you want to play fancy, you have to micro manage. And even then it is not really rewarding for the most part. I'll expand on this during later updates.

Autopause does what you think, and let's you choose from a list of triggers. It takes a bit to find a mix which comforts you though.
The slider in the upper left will let you influence the speed of combat. If you're bad at micro managing, you could set the slider to slow and have an easier time keeping an eye on everybody. I just have it set to slow for testing. I am good at games, I swear!

Lt.Yellington also told us about the crosshair, which will turn red once you can make a shot. You can just click on a target and your fighter will move to a shooting position.
But what he chooses may not be the best spot, so keep an eye out. Also, the game has bad pathing and collision. You might get stuck or move on a very wonky path occasionally.
I hope I can capture it.
As said, combat is pretty basic otherwise and cover does not seem to play a big role. Your stance does affect accuracy and your chance to be hit though. Just focus your fire, keep your health up and you're good for the most part. I'll try my best to be at a bit fancy though, if I get the chance.

Now that I have successfully bored you, we should finally shoot a damn gun!

Bang!

Blammo!

Sir! That's nonsense, sir!

:"Well, at least you hit the targets! The way into the second section is now open. Go through! This is where field combat training takes place."

:"Field combat is the most difficult exercise on the course! You have to hit 5 cut-outs to successfully complete the training. That only four targets are visible means nothing. If you can't find the fifth for yourself, I'll guide you there myself! Never forget to move quickly. All those rats out there ain't gonna be as gentle as our cutout friends here.
Maj.Volume is lying. This is not hard at all.


Secondary, or rather throwing weapons work very straightforward. The context menu however, is a nifty thing.
You will have different symbols, depending on where you open it and it cuts down on your keyboard use. For the moment we can, shoot, change stances, throw, exit, pick up everything around us, rest or change to the world map. I really like that they made a batch pick-up command. It's a rare thing I think.

Let's get back to shootin!

You tell him partner.

Marvel at my excellence in taking out evil cardboard.


They actually expect you to use the Molotov on the guy behind the sandbags. But I have a better idea, so I just pop him.

Capt.Screamer also educates us about climbing. If that cursor turns into a green ladder you are good to go. I just failed to get it, and the text on screen simultaneously.

To make up for my failure, let me commence operation fire bomb.

Seagull will never be a pitcher.

This is embarrassing.

On a serious note though, throwing relies heavily on your skill. At low levels you will have a lot of deviation per distance.

:"I nearly forgot to tell you: you can use objects from the Inventory! That goes for all kinds of food and for the medkits too. Just do a left double click on the object and you can use it. Try it out at the next best opportunity."
This is actually a helpful tip. When you are hurt, just hit pause and stuff your face!
We also get a bit of Xp, which is pretty much the only reason why you should do this.

Phew, we are finally done with this drag and can move on. Let's do a bit of sightseeing. Also stealing!
You see, every map is littered with objects that you can investigate. While it is a good bet that a chest is a container, basically every object can be one. You have no way of telling, other than clicking on it. This very tedious but ultimately worth it. As an example, you could find a big heap of identical barrels and one may hold a treasure. Or you might search twenty barrels for nothing, while some random flower pot on the map will hold a gun. If you don't want to deal with this, I can't blame you. But you should at least look around for chests. Though for the most part they will be locked and often trapped, so watch out.

I'll show you a bit of the map while I pilfer it.

We just continue from the training camp. On the map you can see that we have almost completed our lap through the area. In the distance we can spot the President's house.

Let's check it out.

Looks swanky. But unfortunately we can not enter it, ever. The guards will also yell at us when we got too close. But at some point, I'll check what happens when you try to blow up the fence.

Next to it we find another house that we can't enter.

Maybe the guards can tell us something?

:"What is this building you are guarding?"

:"This is the President's guest house. Now move on!" Dat face.

:"And? Any guests there at the moment?"

:"I would not be standing here otherwise now would I? The President has visitors - two scientists. And now beat it before I fill you full of holes!"

:"Scientists? There is still some around? What does the President want with them? Who cares? It is not my problem."
Nope nothing suspicious about it. And I am sure it will never ever come up again.

I started my looting spree and it took so long that night came about.

Yeah, this game has a dynamic day/night cycle. It will influence some things but most importantly NPC's. I didn't mention this so far but generic townies will follow a lifecycle. During the day they will perform various tasks/labors, and at night they will gather around campfires to cook, talk or hang out before going to bed. Also each generic will have an unique name, and some text lines. I really like that they put so much effort into the background and created a lot of life around you.




I just had to put this shot in.



Once morning rolls around, I am finally done with my sweep.


For your viewing pleasure I have stuffed Ivana& Butch with our old things. Victor is holding the crap we will sell, but Agnes has picked up some honey and Aloe Vera. With the right talent she can heal us with these items, or turn them into some pretty good ointments.
Seagull has the good stuff.
First, some leather gloves, a cap, some ammo, a Molotov and a 9mm Calico Rifle.
It's damaged( ), but still the first heavy weapon we get. Ivana and Butch will each trigger a joyful line when given it, but I couldn't capture that.

That black box is very important, because it is gunpowder!
Victor can use this to blow locks, once he has the talent. I will not use lock-picking for the most part. For starters you need a lockpick item, and secondly those traps will fuck you up if you don't have the right talents. A dedicated lockpicker is just not useful enough. But there also is a small hitch to it, as there are more locks than gunpowder in the game.
I will just quicksave before opening a lock and then decide if it's worth it. That's because I am a pro, you see?

Lastly we have some raw meat and a flask. The meat will heal a bit, but it's better to cook it first. You can do that at a fireplace if you have a pan or a pot. The flask holds two liters of water, while skins only hold one. But you can stack the small containers so it doesn't really matter. A decent haul overall, but keep in mind that I have not opened any locked chests yet.

I give the armor to Seagull and Agnes. They are nice enough to show it for us.

Seagull is totally like :"Your hat is pretty dumb."

We stand directly next to a warehouse, in which a trader resides. When we enter, Ivana speaks her mind.

:"A trader. If he screws us, I will blow him away!"
Can't argue with that.

Here is the trade interface.

On the lower left you can sort his goods, and on the right you can browse through your members. Always initiate trade with your talky guy to get his bonus.
By now you may have realized that there is no currency in this game. It's another part of the realistic flavour they're going for. It's straight up trading like in the stone age.
Traders are dicks, and you have to offer them more than you are getting. With high speech skills you can lessen this, but you will never make a real profit. The exact math is unclear, but the extra amount you have to pay is influenced by how valuable each single item is, instead of just the combined value. But with a certain speech talent you can tip the odds to your favour a bit more.
For the moment I buy another pair of gloves, a hat, some ammo , a box of gunpowder and all the healing items I can afford.

Afterwards we look like so.

We've even gotten an apple for Agnes. Which heals 2hp! Also I forgot to buy a pan and cook my meat.

Now we should finally move out, but on the way Agnes pipes up.

:"Hang on! There could be a water source there. I should take a look just in case."

She forces me to explain more!
Okay, mercs with a decent survival skill can spot water sources in the wild and detection range rises with the skill. Just bring up the context menu and choose the shovel symbol. They will find it on their own then.

With a neat animation.

Each source has a fixed amount of liters, so try to remember them and fill up your containers if you can.
Agnes also leveled up from this, indicated by the yellow light. You will get Xp the first time you perform any of the skill actions. I pump her medical skill and reach the next major break point. For her second talent I choose "Alternative medicine" because it is damn useful. We already have some herbs, and we will find more soon.

Well, now we can finally move out right?...Wrong! Be honest, how many of you remember that we should visit our fathers grave? I sure didn't on my first run.
Seagull will remind us when we get near the gate, but if you leave the map via the context menu you can totally miss this.

We have to walk quite a way around and and then..




:"Yeah, you should better disappear! ... They are gone. I wonder what they were after?"
Me too! Sure was a weird thing.



:"And then I just want to say that I'm going to find this Phoenix and deal with him once and for all. I mean, you can take my word for it. The guy is finished. It may take a while before I find him. But then he is done for! ... So, I guess I'll be getting along. I'll be back soon, Dad... There is still plenty to be done. Be seeing you, Dad. With a little luck, real soon..."


Okay, now we are ready to-NOPE! See that blue icon on my guys?

They are tired because we spend all day&night mucking about the place. They'll perform worse while tired, but nothing else really.
Best catch some shut-eye before going ahead.

Your group will then pick a suitable spot in the wilderness. No idea why they don't go into towns for that.

I really like this though. Your crew will engage in various group or solo activities. Often, I caught myself just watching them for a moment. We can also appoint lookouts so we don't get ambushed, but the chance is minimal on this map.

We are rested and ready to go!

Look at us. We have the looks, the guns and the authority. We'll kick ass and take no names! We'll raise all hell for those fucking Ratskulls!
We're big, we're bad and we're...what?


:"Just imagine we'd never met, Butch."

:"Why?"

:"Why? Oh, no reason... Ah, just forget it."


Next time: With the sun in the sky, bullets do fly, and my - oh my, people will die!

Thanks for being a cool thread guys!

Expect the first bonus roundup on Friday, and an actual update on the weekend, if all goes well.