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So I've really, really gotten into this game. If you overlook some of the technical glitches, it's really fun. It's a real-time strategy game with a 'smart pause' feature that makes it very turn-based-strategy-esque, with RPG elements. The smart pause pauses the game so you can input tactical commands whenever something important happens: enemy spotted, character ready, grenade incoming, 'I heard something', etc. Your characters also yell useful information, like "I'm out!", "He's down", "There's another one", "I'm hit", etc. There's 150+ accurate, realistic weapons in the game each and every one of which is modeled just like it is IRL. Makarovs, Tokarevs, Uzis, 1911s, Mosins (91/30, 44, and scoped 91/30 variant), Remingtons (700 and 870)... if you want one, it's probably in here. I'm not too far in though, so the heaviest weapons I've come across are an AN-94 (empty, and I've never seen a single round of 5.45) and an M60. Basically, the story is that you're a retired mercenary who was disenchanted by the bloodbath in Palinero (this took place in the game's prequel, Brigade E5), and you're called at 3AM and offered four million Euro to track down a man in 'Algerya', just north of Palinero. The hunt begins...


I'm currently running a 5-man team (please note, I only got to pick the one name):

Fresnel - Point Man
Main - Remington 870 Magnum, red dot scope - 00 buckshot
Backup - Springfield Armory M1A Scout, ACOG
Sidearm - H&K USP .45, flashlight, suppressor
Armor- NIJ Class IV/V full vest (chest, back, sides, shoulders, waist) w/ Class IV plate, titanium helmet

Dessert - Sniper
Main - M14 Sniper, 3-8x scope, bipod
Backup - H&K UMP, LAM, flashlight, suppressor
Sidearm - H&K USP .45, LAM, suppressor
Armor- Class IIA vest with a Class III ceramic plate insert, titanium helmet

Warlock - Designated Marksman
Main - M14 Sniper, 3-8x scope, bipod
Backup - H&K MP5, suppressor, red dot
Sidearm - H&K MP5K, red dot sight
Armor - Class IIIA vest, Class III titanium plate, PASGT helmet

Beaver - Medic
Main - Benelli M4, ACOG 4x32 - slugs
Backup - H&K MP5K, red dot sight
Sidearm - FN FiveseveN, suppressor - AP
Armor - Class IIA concealable vest

Dimwit - Oh God Why Did I Hire Him (Actually He Is Useful)
Main - Saiga 12K, LAM, flashlight, bipod, reflex sight - flechettes
Backup - Mini-14, LAM, flashlight
Sidearm - H&K USP, suppressor
Armor - Class IIA concealable vest

PICDUMP TIME

Death from the Mini-14. There's a glitch (I suppose?) where occasionally, one or two bandits in a group will be unarmed, but you have to kill them anyway to complete the encounter.



There's a mission where you have to steal a man's gun and then shoot him with it. Halfway through the ensuing firefight with his gang, he charged my point man barefisted (apparently the .45 to the chest only put him down for a minute instead of killing him). He got his just desserts.



Grenades do shrapnel damage in 7.62 in addition to a small concussive force which generally disorients you more than it does damage. This is Beaver lucking out of a grenade. Pretty sure one of those shards put a tear in the inseam of his boxers though.



Dimwit blasting out a load of Flechettes. If you look, you can see them inside the muzzle flare, and the shell is hot out of the action.



Another load of flechettes downrange. Damn they did some detail work. Too bad slugs look like giant hollowpoints.



A native rebel doing the midair jitterbug as one of Beaver's slugs sorts out his internals.

Playing it on 7 beta now. Macs? Haha, NO. Well... unless you're running Boot Camp and don't have an Intel graphics card.

Also, editing for massive weapons changes. Found me a dealer who had some good s**t.

Games won't run through Fusion. Fusion halves whatever your computer is capable of. 2GHz processor? Windows thinks it's 1GHz. I mean, you can play old 16-bit stuff, like I played The Art of Theft on XP, but you're not running Fallout 3.

Mine didn't have too many problems until about two weeks ago, when my drive ATE ITSELF.

Also, my webcam is dead. I never use it, so I didn't notice... one of the Apple techs killed it, and it's past warranty. gonk

Looks kind of neat. But Fallout 3 is occupying me more than enough lately. I spent maybe three hours last night just roaming around, looking at stuff. I found some raiders on these three satelite-looking towers and had fun sniping with the last rounds of my .32 rifle. That thing is surprisingly useful. The .308 is more reliable for instant kills, but it degrades so quickly and ammo is scarce. I can still pop raider heads like red gelatin balloons from good distances. As long as I don't use VATS. I'm learning that a lot of times I'm better off without it.

Oh and I encountered a Death Claw! Took me three frag mines, three bursts of the mini gun, and at least a whole magazine of 5.56 from the Chinese assault rifle to take him down. And the only reason he didn't kill me is because those three frag mines kept him from running fast or lunging.

That game is so badass. heart

Oh sweet Jesus I found the motherload of super-high-end weaponry, and 90% of it is far out of my price range.



As you read, left-to right:
Mauser C96, FN FiveseveN, DEagle (.44 Mag), Gyrojet pistol, Colt Python
H&K MP5 + M203, Vz.81 Skorpion, PPSh-41
Chinese SKS, Zastava LK M59/66 (Serb SKS), M91/30 Sniper
L85 Carbine Prototype, Obrez Mosin, SIG 552, G36
G36C, G36KE, Gyrojet carbine, SIG 551
Mauser C96 Carbine, CAR-15

And yes, they had ten boxes of 13mm gyrojets in stock. If only it were a better weapon.

And finally, Dimwit has a new shotgun. Tacticool city, man. It's a Saiga 12 with two 8-round mags ghetto-taped together, a folding stock, a laser, a flashlight, a reflex sight, and a bipod ('cos I had a spare). ******** yeah tacticool.

And with any luck, I'll have a humvee soon, in camouflage colors. Knowing this game, it's either an H1 or an HMMWV.

ETA: Figured out those missing guns. He still had them in stock when I loaded the save file

Lol. Gyrojets?

Give one to dimwit just for novelty. xp

Check torrent sites. It's not out in the US yet, and won't be until Q2 '07... wait, no. Q4 '07. Ooh... Q2 '08? No... Q1 '09, we promise. Damn... Q4 '09? That sounds good, doesn't it. Oh... that's almost over? Guess we'll have to work faster... or something.


Just make sure to torrent the ENGLISH version, not the Russian.