Let's play 7.62: High Calibre

[mondblut]

Re:

I can't speak to him, and as soon as I leave the area I get a log notification that he died in battle. That wouldn't be so bad, cept the money I'm supposed to have is nowhere to be found. No Ricardo's body to loot or anything. Couldn't find any forum posts with google. What am I supposed to do? Did this bug for you as well?

Either Ricardo is alive somewhere (he should have a case with money on his body - don't pick it up unless you want the police to turn hostile), or, well...

 

[Haba]

Every last enemy on the map was dead? (The leave button started working again?) If you left through the exit grid with a enemy still alive, the mission will automatically fail.

It could be that he bled to death. Make sure to medicate him if he's bleeding. Normally you'd leave and meet him back in the city to get your money.

That quest has so many alternative endings, that it may well be that some trigger didn't activate. For example, I ended up killing everybody and keeping the money myself, despite my best efforts to share it ;-)

What I encountered with that quest wasn't so fatal - if you kill key NPC's of that final fight in certain order, it won't leave the active quest list on log. But that wasn't game breaking - for me that mission is purely for making early money.

So, I'm guessing you'll have to redo the battle, if you don't have a save during it. Maybe delay it a bit, for example do the army base mission to get better equipment and try again after that. I recommend having several saves spread out for this kind of cases.

 

[overtenemy]

Ricardo's toast, the leave button works. I've looted all the bodies, haven't seen a briefcase, can't talk to anyone. When I leave it says the police chief died. No comprendo. Fucked up my saves, so I may just have to write the 10K off as a loss, but at least I got some cool guns out of it.

Oh and to clarify, the police chief is still alive when I leave the area. Replayed over and over to make sure of that.

Double edit: Looks like the problem is Ricardo's body has disappeared, and no items were left behind. I'm going to see if there's a console command I can use to get him to spawn, or to spawn the briefcase, but failing that I'm screwed. Thanks though :O

 

[The_scorpion]

Ah, I see now. Well, Algeria is "Alzhir" in muscovite, so a likelihood of it all being a coincidence is higher than it appears to be. Believe it or not, this similarity never occured to me before, and "before" means over 3 years. Talk about cultural context...

i did think that it was a coincidence because your Algeira and Algeria have very little in common. Just thought i'd point out the similarity of the names in english and probably also in sme other languages. I was almost going to ask how the country is called in the different localisations, but when you explained that the real country has a remarkably different name in your language, things were cleared up. :idea:

 

[mondblut]

I was almost going to ask how the country is called in the different localisations, but when you explained that the real country has a remarkably different name in your language, things were cleared up. :idea:

The game's country should have been "Algueira" in localizations actually (with a G as in "Goblin"). "Algeira" would sound as "Alheira" or "Aldjeira" depending on the language. Oh well.

 

[buccaroobonzai]

This game looks really cool. Anyone know where to buy this somewhat cheap, its like $50 everywhere I've looked-ebay, Amazon.

 

[Ion Flux]

So far this game looks like what BE5 should have been in the first place. Will definitely play this.

 

[Haba]

Chapter 5: Drawing of the Three

So, when we last met we were busy travelling all over the countryside, looking for the perfect dream team of slaughter and pillage and making a few bucks to finance our enterprise. The two hirelings I’d acquired were not satisfying me so the work was still far from done. As a businessman I’d found my niche in the country and made enough money to buy my first car. A Willis jeep.

Getting a car meant that I could travel across the country in mere hours – a trip that used to take days. Thanks to the armored cars mod being included in the B.F.X. mod, I didn’t need to be so afraid of a stray hand grenade blowing up my hard earned 60 thou either. It was time to get back to the main business.

If you remember my meeting with the rebels and their lovely leader, I ended up getting a quest from her to deliver a message to certain individual. That was to be our next task, but we also had some unfinished business with the government, so on our way to the rendezvous we’ll make a stop in Artrigo.

If I’d happen to have any regrets about double crossing the rebels, I could redeem myself by visiting the hospital afterwards to take care of that problem.

Uh huh… That name sounds familiar. Mr. Calderon seems to be important man.

Nice walled estate. With a lot armed guards. Hmm…

Delivered both quests to him and made some pocket money

To those of you who didn’t guess it – Calderon is a drug baron. He is the true power behind both the government and the rebels, funding both parties. Further talks with him revealed that he didn’t view either too highly. An attitude that will bring him trouble in the future, mark my words!

Now that we had progressed the questline a bit, it was time to look for more mercenaries. I’ll fast forward through several smaller battles and lots of travel between cities. In the end I found three suitable candidates for my dream team.

First, we have Slick.

Sylvester Abbot was born somewhere in the US, possibly the Midwest judging by his accent. His dad is apparently still serving the sentence he received right before Sylvester was born. His mother went from one menial job to another, changing her men even more often. Sylvester was left to himself so, from an early age, he would try different ways to make easy money.

Surprisingly, he didn't get caught until he held up a fuel station at the age of fourteen. That landed him in juvi, and for the next 10 years Sylvester's life were spent in and out of prison. During his last stint in the pen, this time for fleeing and evading on a suspended licence, he met Doug T. Kozlowski, a career criminal doing time for fraud. They became firm friends, brought closer by the fact that they were scheduled to be released within two days of each other. Doug rekindled Sylvester's ambitions with a grand idea: to abandon their wretched lives and join the French Foreign Legion. The men spent the remainder of their sentences in the weight room, getting in shape for service.

After getting out of jail, Sylvester and his friend got jobs on a cargo ship bound for Portugal, then made their way to Aubagne in France where the nearest FFL recruiting station was located. Passing the physical and medical with flying colours, Abbot chose a new name for himself, Paul S. McNabb, which, for some reason, found amusing. Serving with the Legion for five years, he was eventually promoted to Legionnaire premiere classe. His service in Dijibouti ended, after which time Slick went freelance.

Slick is my main man when it comes to heavy weapons. He has a bit low strength for that purpose, but that’s something we can work on.

Next up, we have TNT

Theresa Tinsdale was born in Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Her parents were never married. Despite being brought up in a hippy household, Theresa was always interested in all things military. As soon as she was old enough, Theresa joined the British Army. She wanted to prove that women were just as capable as men and apparently she proved herself very capable. That's when she got her nickname, which apparently is not just her initials, but also a reference to her skill with explosives. However, deep inside, she always remained her parents’ daughter. She despised army discipline and she hated the officers. That's why she refused to join the Special Air Service when she was offered it.

After tiring of army life, Theresa decided to change careers. Since fighting was the only thing she was good at, she became a mercenary. She spent a few years in Africa and recently came to the Americas, eventually ending up in Palinero.

This lovely Brit will act as my explosives expert. As she has maintained her good looks, she obviously has the skill. Due to her relatively high intelligence, I’m also going to work on making her my backup sniper.

Last we have 1-1-2

An only child, Hilda Strummer grew up in Frankfurt, Germany. Her family was extraordinarily disciplined and organized even by German standards. Her father was a tax inspector, her mother a child psychologist. Hilda grew up in a perfectly black-and-white world, where any hint of grey was eliminated. Home-schooled until the age of 15, Hilda seemed to enjoy life, but when she finally went into high school, the transition was a shock to her. Socially awkward, she did not fit in and was constantly ridiculed by her peers.

Like many other outcasts, Hilda joined the military after graduating from high school. Finding a more familiar atmosphere within the Bundeswehr, Hilda excelled as a field medic. In 1992 she went to Cambodia as a part of a UN peacekeeping effort. After that she went to Somalia as a part of UNOSOM II. However, German politicians soon began to overwhelmingly oppose sending German troops internationally and, instead of going back home, Hilda decide to freelance. Regardless of the theatre, 'Ein-Ein'Zwei' takes care of the wounded, whether they like it or not.

Like her call sign implies, 112 is the medical expert of the team. Being german and a butch, she seemed like a likely candidate for next merc dropout round. For the first combat test, I gave her my back-up Desert Eagle. She single handedly killed five bandits with clear headshots that time. Maybe she’s a keeper after all...

As you can see, all three of the new mercs aren’t really higher tier ones either. Unlike in Jagged Alliance though, even a low skill merc can hit targets with ease on good conditions and equipment. The differences between professionals and starters are highlighted during the real extreme conditions where fractions of seconds determine whether you live or die. Now with a full team of mercs, my monthly wages are already close to 60 thousand eldos. Obviously you wouldn’t normally have such funds at this point of the game.

So how to make the dough to keep the boys (and girls) around? After quest rewards, the main source of income early in the game is equipment sales. You can get loot to sell from bandits that ambush you when you travel inside the restricted zone.
Thankfully the local bandits are glad to help.

Now those random encounters can be rather difficult and frustrating. However, with proper preparation and choosing your ground wisely, it can also turn into rather satisfying slaughter for the enemies.

My mercs are armed with nagan mosint’s (TNT & Spartan), 12 gauge shotgun (Toker), ruger rifles (Slick & 112). Good enough gear to wipe the floor with bandits unless they get into short range (or they simply outgun you with lucky shots).

Thankfully the enemies don’t have any grenades. Otherwise I’d probably still be picking up pieces of my mercs.

The AI isn't as idiotic as the pictures might imply. There was actually a flanking attempt. Thankfully Slick noticed their approach. AI does this kind of stunts quite often. I've even seen snipers going for high ground to counter my own snipers.

For now, however, they stand no chance. Wouldn't want to have a re-match during nighttime though.

Now, like I was telling earlier, certain mercs have been hitting my nerves. And I happen to know that the next rebel quest requires a free slot in my team. So the time has come to let someone go.

It was either Spartan or Toker. Both are equal asshats, but Toker has slightly better stats (despite being a whiny pussy), so he got to stay. Spartan on the other hand went to look for a burrito.

Time to visit the hawt rebel leader again.

Decided to spice the otherwise boring "quest done, reward plz" -dialogue with a bit of flirt. She's so into me.

Oh-kay. So what's next?

Great. So, from fed-ex to tour guide. And the person I'm escorting happens to be a right asshole as well. Bah.

At least the journey was short and uneventful.

Before letting arsehat go, I decided to liberate him from his kevlar vest and desert eagle. My employers will be happy, but somehow I get the feeling that the residents of Sagrada won't share the joy...

Now, the eagle-eyed of you may spot the massive influx of cash. Well, easiest way to make that kind of dough is to edit one of the inventory files of game to include a lot more cash for an easier start.

There is also a way to make money without any danger, which is technically not cheating.

It's something that has existed ever since mankind started to wage war on large scale. In feudal Japan they were called buraku, and considered tainted due to their contact with dead bodies. In 7.62 they are considered "soon to be rich".

In the world map you often see red and green arrows travelling. Those represent patrols and war bands belonging to different factions. And when a government patrol meets rebel patrol, a battle occurs.

Now lets say that you happen to be in the vicinity. Let's say you happen to end upon a large ammount of dead soldiers with a lot of equipment...

This kind of encounters are 90% safe. 10% comes from stepping into a firing zone or being hit by a stray grenade. You can get quite good equipment for sales, and the stench of death wears off in just few hours! Once the combat is over, the survivors won't mind you stealing from their dead comrades. So feel free to lob your trunk full of loot.

Well, that's my dirty secret. Now that we have more than enough money to last us through several months and several mercs with decent equipment, it's time to tackle on some tougher side quests.

On the next update: political schemes, epic violence and the very first fade to black -screen of this LP!

 

[overtenemy]

Fun update, but it's raised a few questions for me. I've just picked up TNT myself, and she has 0 skill in sapping. In fact, her shit is all backwards. She's got like 70 snapshot, 70 shooting, 70 heavy weapons, 40 doctor, 30 camo, 0 in everything else. I don't get it. :[ I'm using BMX mod, same as you. Did I get a crazier version or something?

Also, since I now have a merc with heavy weapons, I can't help but to wonder what qualifies as a heavy weapon, because so far I've yet to actually see a grenade launcher or machine gun. Do shotguns count? Or are heavy weapons just the heavier rifles or something? No comprendo. >:0

 

[mondblut]

Machineguns and shoulder-mounted grenade launchers are heavy weapons.

With TNT, something fucked up her ini file apparently. Mods most likely.

 

[Haba]

Fun update, but it's raised a few questions for me. I've just picked up TNT myself, and she has 0 skill in sapping. In fact, her shit is all backwards. She's got like 70 snapshot, 70 shooting, 70 heavy weapons, 40 doctor, 30 camo, 0 in everything else. I don't get it. :[ I'm using BMX mod, same as you. Did I get a crazier version or something?

Short answer: yeah. I think in the latest version of the mod the merc profiles were changed. I started my game with the earlier version that didn't include the profile changes yet. Silly change IMHO.

Also, since I now have a merc with heavy weapons, I can't help but to wonder what qualifies as a heavy weapon, because so far I've yet to actually see a grenade launcher or machine gun. Do shotguns count? Or are heavy weapons just the heavier rifles or something? No comprendo. >:0

Heavy weapons skill also helps when shooting long bursts with any weapon. Unexperienced mercs will blast their load all over the place (which can actually work to your benefit sometimes).

 

[pipka]

Good LP, Haba. With every your chapter i have a craving for trying out this.
One question. Do you consider the gameplay balanced?

 

[Haba]

Well, that's a tricky question to answer. Yes and no, I'd say. Ultimately it is a flawed game.

There are some parts that are not balanced well - for example, conquering cities for yourself (JA style) is quite frustrating. But then again it's not a central part of the game - you can conquer all the cities and kill everybody to win the game, but you can clearly see that it's not the way the game is supposed to be played (as holding the towns is really hard).

The combat can be frustrating as well, especially if you are by yourself. In some sense the game doesn't try to balance out to support all playing styles. If you rely solely on one tactic, the game will become quite frustrating for you as the campaign progresses. Going from fighting poorly armed bandits to professional soldiers is quite the change. Even after spending days playing the game I had to really readjust and reconsider my strategy totally.

So some people could consider that "imbalance", but I liked it myself. Then again I was raised by the truly sadistic games of late 80's and early 90's.

Mods can change that balance quite radically. For example, in vanilla 7.62, the only thing you need to worry with your car is it's duration and the amount of cargo. With the russian Hard life add-on you also have to take care of petrol and your car can overheat.

So, to wrap up: you'll need to have some tolerance for bugs and small annoyances and patience. Ultimately the game balance depends largely on yourself - 7.62 is one of those games that lets you imbalance the game hopelessly through your own actions, and doesn't really hold your hand and stop you from doing it.

I've been damn frustrated with the game at times, but even in its unfinished and unpolished state it has provided more entertainment than most of the games I've played during the past 9 years.

 

[Kaiserin]

Okay, I got the hang of things and I'm a fair deal more impressed now. The bugs really irritate the fuck out of me though, it seems like there's a one and five chance that the game will crash any time my mercs get hit.

I'll go ahead and buy it, hopefully more people will do the same and it will get more support?

 

[Haba]

7.62 sales will also probably increase the chances of this getting translated.

Yes, it is a post-apocalyptic RPG in the making.

 

[overtenemy]

Oi, what's the deal with an UPDATE? Also, I suspect if that post-apoc game gets translated into English it'll be GOTY for life, but can anybody give more details? I can't read Russian and I can't just run a translator on the screenshots. What are all the skills listed in the character sheet and inventory screenshots? Are they just the same as 7.62? I mean, if they remade their old stuff in a post-apoc setting I wouldn't complain at all, but at the same time if it's gonna be a role-playing game it might as well have a few non-combat skills, perks and stats.

 

[mondblut]

http://www.tacticularcancer.com/content.php?id=46

 

[overtenemy]

Aw, I was hoping for a map with free roaming. Oh well, it'll be good anyway I'm sure. Too bad I've got to fucking learn Russian. How fast you reckon I can go about doing that?

 

[Haba]

Chapter Six: Sex, Drugs and Hollow Point Ammunition

Have been taking a few days break from 7.62. I took a bit of a bad choice which rendered several days worth of work useless. A word of advise - don't bother trying to conquer Cali Cantinos for yourself.

If you're one of those kids who wants to have pretty in their games, you might want to look at this. ENB-Series enchancements can be applied to 7.62 too.


Chapter Six: Sex, Drugs and Hollow Point Ammunition

Life is good in Algeira. I have a nice ride, some good friends and enough eldos to last me through a couple months. Scavenging battlefields was starting to grow old, so it was the high time to find some action.

I remembered the bar in Puerto Viejo being especially populated. Maybe somebody would have a task for me, now that I had made my name more known in the country?

Surprise surprise - once I entered the bar, I was greeted by an English speaking gentleman dressed up too well to be a tourist. Most likely from CIA or MI5.

So you want me to take over an army base by myself? Sounds do-able.

Once I leave the town, a new location has appeared on the world map.

My initial game plan for the base assault.

Yes, you can climb to watchtowers and (some) rooftops. Might not be a good idea though?

As often happens, in this case it only rewarded TNT with a bullet to back of her head before she even got to the top. Rest of the team died a little later. Didn't even get a chance to return fire.

Why? At this point I was still relatively new to the game, holding childish notions from JA games. Well, this ain’t no JA. The army base is small. You're essentially charging through the gate straight into enemy's arms. Staying in the open is not a good idea. The enemies have rifles and there are more of them.

Try two. Fuck positioning. Split the troops to two groups and just run as fast as you can for both sides. It mean that we had to go straight into gunfight, but at least this way we're only being shot at from one side instead of all three sides.

An epic gunfight ensues.

Bang bang! Kapow! Aaargh!

Ach! You dastardly snigger think you can just cleverly sneak into the cover of that watchtower?

Think again!

At some point this buddy-boy woke up and tried to sneak away. Good thing that Toker just loves shooting people in the back of the head.

Things got so heated that I forgot to take screenshots. Both groups were fighting, enemies trying to flank them. I and TNT took care of a smaller group while the others were fighting the large majority of the foes on the other side of the base.

Seeing (or hearing) their palls get slaughtered, the remaining enemies got weary and tried to set up an ambush. Thankfully good hearing revealed their positions.

Nothing a grenade or two won't solve. You can adjust the trajectory with shift, which comes in handy.

After more heated gunfights, only one enemy remained, camping inside a house, only popping through the door (let us imagine there is a door, and the enemy is not clipping through a solid wall...) to fire a few potshots and then retreating back inside before I could score a hit on him. Slick gladly volunteered to sneak up on him to deliver the finishing blow.

Victory pose time!

Now, I did promise you a fade to black, didn't I...?

Uh... Of course our valiant savior would never abuse victims of human trafficking. Instead we chose to rescue them, being rewarded in the progress.

I wonder what other wonders this place holds?

Now lets see what loot they gave us... Not bad. Though shorter in range as my nagan-mosint's, they sport higher clip, have faster rate of fire and can be equipped with all sorts of attachments.

But what about those boxes?

Holy mother of a... A fully decked out sniper rifle with a silencer and a ghillie suit!

This little baby is one of the best sniper rifles in the game. It's time to become a rear commander! Unfortunately I cannot obtain ammunition for the rifle yet... We'll need to visit Cali Cantinos again.

Inside one of the buildings, I found a safe with the documents I was sent for... They proved to be rather... Thought provoking, to say the least. Looks like this gig was of bigger importance I realized.

Spoiler

If you didn’t get the joke yourself, have a look at the manual in the safe… heh heh.

While my sniper rifle waits for ammunition, I also liberated a HK UMP .45 cal SMG from the safe. Coming with a silencer, it will prove to be a solid sidearm for me.

Now that the base is ours, it's time to visit Puerto Viejo again.

Uh... I don't recall this bar being so full of tourists on the last time.

Especially with armed American tourists... I'm starting to think that returning this quest might not be a good idea. The quest log hints of an alternative ending for this quest. Let's leave this one be for now.

Even though we're missing the reward for the quest, the trip certainly proved to be worth it. Besides obtaining new gear, we also obtained a base of operations for ourselves. And a fade to bl... a honest thank you from the poor girls we rescued.

Not bad for a day’s work!

 

[mondblut]

*sigh* they screwed up an easter egg with the gang's name. Locals misheard it as "Khamy" ("nasty, rude persons"), which I'd translate as "Huns". And the real name of the gang... "Khans" (Khany), of course.

By the way, if you'd bring the folder quickly enough, Lond wouldn't get his reinforcements in time, and would play honestly. He'd still send his thugs after you later on. The "alternative" hinted at isn't an alternative per se (I don't think it closes down the quest), just a way to get rid of the folder once Lond is dead.

 

[wjw]

Game looks pretty fun. Keep on playing!

 

[Balor]

And a slave girl named Isaura, he-he-he.

 

[Haba]

Saturday evening special

Since I'm feeling too lazy for a full blown update, I'll just post something short from my escapades this morning.

Yes I don't need no stress
'Cause that's the kind of stuff that makes a mess
Breakin' me down and takin' me to the test

Turnin' my head around and around
Takin' me to the highest level
Diggin' my own grave with a shovel

Keepin' me brother from givin' my best
Gotta chill gotta chill gotta gotta kill
Before I cannot feel anything that's goin' down

Many boss remain in my brain
Cover me truly and sing.
I cannot speak, I cannot speak

I cannot speak, I cannot speak
I wake up sweatin' up in my sleep
That's why, that's why I'm flyin' high.

We're flying high (We're flying high)
We're flying right up to the sky
We fly so high (We fly so high)

With an extra station from the ground

The stars are shining round and round
So high we're flying right up to the sky.

We're flying high (We fly so high, we fly so high)

We're flying high.

Who can guess what just happened?

 

[Yeesh]

I wish they would start you out with a backpack or a vest or something. In my game no one at the first town had anything to put loot in, and I had to leave those weapons from the first ambush on the ground. Piss me off.

And how on earth did you get that girl out of the building? As soon as I talk to her and say I'll figure something out, I'm hostile to umpteen guards. And if I try and talk to the former mayor, I'm hostile to umpteen guards. Which I'd like if I had any kind of equipment and a team of mercs.

And I wish I could spend less time running around and listening to everyone's fascinating stories and more time shooting people dead in tactical combat. Remember how JA2 started you out? With a frigging fight? The 7.62 devs must have looked at that and say, "hmmm, why fight when you can chat?"

 

[overtenemy]

Yeesh, you can go to the northeast corner of Puerto Whateverjo and search the boxes there. Often times they contain backpacks. If that fails, you can pretty much always buy a backpack from the trader or bartender. I don't leave the starting town without a backpack.

On a separate note, is it even possible to raise skills like camoflauge and sapper? They never seem to go up for me, no matter what.