Well. It's been a while. As far as I can tell, right now I'm not even playing the most recent version. I'm still hammering away at v1.20, having fun, doing it at my own pace, and quite obviously behind the rest of you all
The lag... I know this isn't news for anyone. But THobson, the mission often is almost unplayable. You mentioned a long time a go that Abandoned Armies isn't for everyone due to its freeform style of play and its overwhelming odds against the player. However, I seriously believe that the amount of lag will reduce your audience by quite a lot more... if there is anything you can do, it needs to be done! I plan on dePBOing it and having a looksie at the next opportunity, whenever that may be.
Anyhow, from where I left off. This is going to be a looong post, so apologies in advance
I left you at my ambush point on the main road in the south of the island. I began to really feel my proximity to chapoi, with the Vulcan battery frequently opening fire on me, the odd patrols crossing by, and one or two more investigative units stumling across my hiding spot. Eventually the M1A1/go-chira and BMP that had stationed themselves in a paddock directly north forced me out of hiding and brought it home that my little spot wasn't so ideal, after all. A black Op lying prone in the middle of the field without a care in the world provided some welcome satchel charges, and I plucked a launcher off an unprotesting corpse nearby. Then I set off to kill the two bastard pieces of armour that were making my life so difficult, in a final rude gesture towards Stamenov before I left for greener pastures.
The pair of tanks, it turned out, were guarded by a very static 'vee' of soldiers who spotted me through the curtains of rain and shot me dead. Many retries occured at this point. The tanks themselves were suprisingly apt at spotting me as well, and I was frequently shot or blown up, in addition to being run over on one occaision. I realised the futility of engaging or even attempting to sneak by the formation of sentinels standing guard, so I eventually made use of the shrubbery to the east, crawling up to the Abrams to lay a satchel. Having done this I crawled back (or at least, the time when I
wasn't discovered and killed by the BMP, abrams or infantry I crawled back) to my bush and got ready, launcher poised to get the BMP once the abrams was down. By happy coincidence, the Abrams was not flipped over or completely and utterly destroyed, so providing a reclaiming opportunity for later. Position duly noted on map. Even more pleasingly, the BMP blundered into the infantry formation and the ensuing fireball killed off a whole lot of them. Meanwhile the abrams crew fled into the haze. Deciding the time was more than ripe to leave, I made my leafy way through the paddock and back to the road, amazingly once being shot by the vulcan battery and killed, first burst, from such a distance that the death movie took 5 seconds to center on the the vulcan. I couldn't even rouse any feelings of anger at this point, I just had to applaud the gunner.
#retry
At last I made my way back to the fuel station which had become like a home to me. I wiped a teary eye as I proudly surveyed the corpses spread throughout my ambush point. 'I will be back, Stamenov, and next time I will bring tanks.' Chosing a jeep from the roadblock I journeyed on back to the relative quiet of the West half of the island. From here it was decision time. I was, at this stage, not ready to visit the mountain lodge and take on the responsibility of leading a group of men. I still wanted the freedom I had when there was just me to look after. And so, at the roadblock towards the mountain lodge I veered right instead of straight and headed through the centre of the island, with vague ideas of La Trinite in mind.
Arudy loomed in front of me, and I unsuccessfully swerved to avoid a group of soldiers patrolling the road. Getting out to see if they were alright, and if there was anything I could do to help, I noticed a collection of tents, which spoke to me of a permanent military presence in the town. I'd have to be cautious. I reboarded my jeep and observed a guard standing at ease, staring at me uncomprehendingly, and totally disinterested in the fate of his comrades now lying splayed at the foot of my jeep. As it turned out, caution was completely unnecessary - the inhabitants of the camp just refused to believe I was a member of the resistance, no matter how many of their number I ran down. I left the base with not one survivor, but confident in the knowledge that I'd just raised the average IQ of either Stamenov's or Andropov's army.
La Trinite was deserted when I got there, which suited me fine. (The AP/AV mine inteface has changed, greatly improved in my opinion, and the dialog gets the thumbs up too). I loaded up a repair truck and left in haste, however, recalling from previous experience that La Trinite is never empty of troops for long. A long line of mines across the south road of La Trinite was my only legacy, but would provide a warm surprise for Stamenov's convoy when they stumbled into them some time later. Back at Dourdan (which I'd picked as my next ambush spot) I prepared my trap to catch some armour amidst the corpses of yet more soldiers who hadn't quite been able to tell the difference between me and something they should really have gotten out of the way of . No sooner had I laid the last satchel-mine than the telltale squeek-squeek of approaching tracks sounded from the middle distance. I saved, then ran back to my supply truck to load up on a launcher. Disaster! Somehow I'd loaded a whole heap of empty lauchers onto the truck, no more use against a tank than my pistol. However, there was bound to be an AT soldier somewhere that I could scavenge... sure enough, there was one silhouetted against the greying sky on the far side of the town... I rushed towards it, but the tracks were getting closer and closer now, and a vulcan suddenly burst out of the haze, it's turret swinging around, perhaps having spotted me and now ready to deliver a killing burst of fire. I didn't find out however, because at that moment it hit a mine, did a spectacular flip, expelled its crew, and exploded. I picked up my LAW and moved away.
Not far behind it came a T80, travelling more cautiously, turret swinging wildly, having witnessed the vulcan's fate. He chose to travel through the city and at a slightly slower pace, which suited me well since he hit a second one of my mines, careened into a house, and took a LAW to the turret. His crew had had enough, they fled the tank. I dealt with them, then readied myself for the final member of the convoy - a T72 travelling at breakneck pace, quite the opposite of the T80. He seemed anxious to get out of the city as fast as he could. He avoided the remainder of my mines, but I was waiting for him behind a shed and hit him with two laws, reloading as soon as I fired, the lag making this a difficult feat to achieve. Suprisingly, he slowed to a halt, teetered on the brink for a moment, then silently imploded in that operation flashpoint way which armour does, before exploding. From this I assumed that he'd seen some prior action, accounting for his weakiened state.
The T80 was soon repaired and I rejoiced at my first piece of captured armour. I decided to head down the east coast for a way, to see what destruction I could wreak. I passed Houdan having run into only one group of infantry, who suprisingly seemed a little more clued up on my identity and proned, with the exception of the two law soldiers who scrabbled for their launchers. Unfortunately they were highlighted against the road and my tank's considerable inertia killed them in one swoop before they had a chance to do anything about it. I then switched to gunner and shot the remainder of the group, who were helpless. Past houdan, which was deserted and thoroughly destroyed, I thought it prudent to check the commander view for nearby armour, and sure enough there was a faintly red speck, but not close enough to target with any accuracy. I proceeded forward, switching to commander every 10 metres or so, until without warning a shot rang out from the red dot and my tank recoiled back under a Sabot round; Alexi no doubt receiving a black eye for his troubles. Quick as a flash (well, quite fast at any rate) I returned fire as gunner, but was struck again by sabot. I fired another accurate shot towards the target in my view, and fortunately did not receve any more fire. I put two more shots into the target before I grew bold enough to invesitgate. The target was a godzilla, and I appreciated how lucky I was when I noticed the angle it lay on the dunes, which had made it impossible to fire back at me. Only that had saved my life this time. I approached closer and saw several infantry and a lone surviving crewmember nearby, then my tank was rocked by a burst of cannonfire and I received my second lucky break; a BMP-2 was placed directly behind the M1A1 and unable to fire any more at me, whilst I was able to inch forward and take it out by some quick shooting. Having done that and taken care of the infantry about the beach, I examined the Godzilla and to my delight it was still intact, though badly knocked about. A plan formed in my head, and looking at my worse-for-the-wear T80 I decided to go with it. I would return to Dourdan, heal up at the medical tent, fix my T80, leave it there, then take the repair truck back and trade in my T80 for an abrams.
I returned to Dourdan without incident, except for finding one infantryman who'd escaped my notice earlier on. Back in the town I healed then headed to where I believed the repair truck to be stashed. I blundered through some trees, then suddely came into a small corner behind a house, literally piled up with the dead - Alexi exclaimed ("Bastards! The sooner we rid the island of these soldiers, the better!"). My resolve against Stamenov heightened. I located the truck, repaired, stowed my T80 away, took the truck and headed back down the coast. The return trip was slighly more incidental. I came across a couple of gormless soldiers who almost let me reach them before they shot me dead through the cab window. #retry. I took the road at even higher speed this time and managed to squish one of the pair, but I didn't stop to finish the deed. Shots rang out from behind but missed me. Having passed Houdan I realised that I'd forgotten to mark the position of the disabled abrams on the map, and was having some trouble finding the spot. I pulled over near a likely spot- nope. Nothing. I continued on at slower speed. Then, unexpected and shocking as always, shots rang out of the fog, one hitting Alexi and spurting blood out the window, but thankfully not killing him. I zoomed over to the opposite side of the road out of harm's way and collided with a mangled truck of unknown type. Bodies were strewn about. I jumped out to investigate, and Alexi exclaimed once more at the carnage and uttered his disgust with Stamenov. This was undoubtedly why, when I subsequently found my attackers, I emptied two full magazines at them. It turned out they hidden were right next to the hulk of the abrams.
The abrams was salvaged, restored to good condition, but I was now faced with a dilemma. I had two tanks, but noone to help me take advantage of them. It looked like my solitary sojourn was coming to an end. I needed men to drive the tanks, and then I could look at dealing Stamenov a major blow. But, seeming as I was so far down the island, I thought I might as well have a quick look around. Turning right and heading inland, I drove my tank rather quickly along the flat road, when unexpectedly a lone figure came running out of the gloom towards me. I saw it was a woman too late; i'd already crushed her. Feeling remorseful, because this was certainly not what I intended, I reloaded the game. This decided me. I'd be interested to hear her story another time but right now I was aching for my friends at the mountain lodge.
The remainder of my journey passed without incident, except for the shooting down of the cobra which began hunting me shortly out of Dourdan. I returned to the town hastily and repaired, then abandoned my abrams alongside the T80, before casting around for a Strela Launcher. After I'd located it I quickly sent the cobra down in flames. (Looking back, this incident probably explained the heightened Nothron/Andropovian armoured presence in the region of Dourdan, and the appearance of a Hind which made it impossible to return to the tanks later, forcing me and my men back to la Trinite.)
Upon reaching the mountain lodge, I took the 'stop or I'll shoot' warning much more seriously this time and inched forward. Cue the cutscene which just keeps getting better and better. I much prefer this version, the summary of the situation is excellent, in fact, greatly improving on v1.00, the dialogue is more believable and so are the character interchanges. The characters themselves have become much more so, and I actually know them by name now
.
Just one further interesting thing of note happened before I leave you; During the superb cutscene where the first lot of civilians were rescued and set about restoring the lodge, the lady I was talking to who asked me to search for her family suddenly, inexplicably, hit the dirt. Shots flew through the air, and there was gunfire everywhere. This continued for a full 30 seconds
as the cutscene progressed, with Alexi alone standing straight and tall as the others crawled about amidst heavy gunfire. I couldn't work out what the hell was going on. It just didn't make sense given the context of the cutscene. The shooting was real enough. But (thankfully) no one was dying, as the cutsecene progressed showing the various participants to be alive, if under attack and somewhat shaken. The cutscene finished and I discovered the cause - upwards of a dozen enemy soldiers now lying in various states of death across the hillside. Not one Alexi's allies was killed, and just how the hell Alexi himself survived I'll never know.
You'll do alright, men.
Topic: (Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies (Read 261939 times)