What single player FPS campaign are you playing?

[Exhuminator]

I believe you're able to map out a route for them to take

I literally mapped out every step my squadmates took in the later levels, because leaving the AI up to its own decisions meant they were as good as dead.

[Ack]

Continuing on in GRAW...

I didn't get too much time to play this weekend(and almost no time on Sunday), but I made a little headway. I'm now on level 3, currently working to take out two anti-air vehicles via air strikes that are protected by infantry and machine gun turrets. But before I get into the issues I've faced in this level, I figure I'll recap my experiences with the previous two levels.

LEVEL 1: When I last posted about this, I had just mopped up three defensive positions equipped with RPGs that were preventing a helicopter from rescuing a wounded man. This tutorial level proved to be easy enough, but I also realized I needed to stop using orders at the squad level and move down to the individual level after my sniper got gunned down doing stupid shit. Personally, I'm glad he got killed; I ordered the squad to take up a position outside of a giant warehouse, and his dumb ass ran around the far side of the building, entered it, and stood in front of a machine gun emplacement. I'm sorry, I don't care how highly trained or decorated you are or how much your equipment cost, if you do stupid shit like that, you deserve to get fragged. I easily wiped out the guy on the turret and proceeded to the building's rooftop for extraction.

LEVEL 2: This is where things got interesting, and where I found myself most comfortable as a guy who enjoys stealth games. In stealth games, I can be extremely patient, sitting, watching, waiting for the perfect time to strike, setting up myself for the best possible outcome while ensuring my enemies have the worst. This mindset crosses over to tactical FPS pretty well it turns out, and even when the game tells you to hurry, you don't really have to. Early on in this level I spent a good five minutes staring at an empty street after a big firefight, wondering if anyone was left. Finally I made sure my squad mates were in positions to cover me before I ran out and slid behind a tree, only to discover nothing but corpses. That's ok, I don't mind being slow in the name of caution. Hurrying gets you killed, and GRAW is a game where progress is often measured in inches.

I still ran into problems though, particularly towards the end of the level where I had to blow up a gas station. My issue was that I wasn't entirely certain how to blow up said gas station, so I went with grenades. Unfortunately this meant I had to be close enough to chuck a grenade at a giant tanker truck on the far side from where I needed to be, and the first couple of times I tried, the explosion caused a daisy-chain of detonating vehicles that killed me in spectacular fashion. Finally I decided to put my squad in a small alleyway to make it through the blast. It worked spectacularly, and we all survived...only to then be forced to immediately flee across the square and down an alleyway as enemy troops flooded the area along with a tank. The infantry wasn't a problem; the tank was. I had no way to destroy it, having not brought anti-armor capabilities. I didn't even know how to equip anti-armor at this point. Instead, I immediately chose to run my ass off and pray we made it. On my best run(there were a handful of attempts with varying strategies and levels of success), I made it through nearly unscathed...but my squad didn't. Only my machine gunner survived, while my rifleman and sniper both hesitated too long and took a tank round to the face.

Surprisingly, the AI compensated, and suddenly my machine gunner stepped up and became a superman. He started mowing down everybody who got in my way as we booked it down the street. Enemy infantry were slaughtered, snipers were ferreted out, vehicles were suppressed. Anything that got in his way died. We made it to the final showdown in a parking garage largely because he went full Rambo. Once inside, he successfully held off nearly all ground troops on his own while I took on the snipers. Only one man made it past him, and I walked up and put him down without him even realizing I was there. Then a tank rolled up...and my boy Audie Murphy killed off all the infantry around it and then hid like a pro. I managed to get upstairs, rearm, run back down, and pop the tank(after figuring out how to equip and use anti-armor weaponry), and he kept everything back while critically wounded. He met me halfway up the parking deck to the helicopter, and we bailed. At that moment, I liked my machine gunner. Seriously, he can come to my house and fuck my sister. I don't even have a sister.

LEVEL 3(so far): This level actually started fairly easy, and I discovered there are various elevated gardens and such to climb up into for a better firing position. An ambush spot early on went down easy because of this, as did a couple of APC personnel at a later spot...after I figured out there was a guy with a mounted rocket launcher on top of a building. I originally thought I was getting hit with a tank, but I couldn't find a tank on my map. Finally I realized what I thought had been a mounted machine gun was actually something much, much bigger...so I put a bullet into the guy while he had his back turned. I then crawled around a back way and easily dropped the rest of my enemies from afar. I've discovered I really favor the back routes which usually put me up against fewer enemies, though often make me take on snipers instead. That's fine with me, snipers so far have been easier to spot on the map, and they often just hide when I look in their direction and don't pop back up until after I'm gone.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently at a point where I have to take out two anti-air vehicles via airstrikes. I made a few attempts at this and have worked out a way to do it that is pretty simple actually, because both can be picked off from vantage points that I have identified. There are a few problems however: a boatload of infantry(much of which dies to the air strikes if I'm stealthy enough), two machine gun emplacements(one of which is right next to my current checkpoint and starts with his back turned, one of which is much harder to take out as he is down two long streets which give him perfect lanes to fire down), and glitches. I've discovered there are several specific points where I can stand, and suddenly the textures vanish when I look in certain directions. Ordinarily I would avoid these kinds of points, but they are right in my chosen path in defensive positions I really like. I also managed to get through this portion of the level at one point, but for some reason the game either didn't save or the checkpoint was deleted, so I'm stuck having to redo the process...which actually suits me fine, because that last run was a learning process where I took more damage than I'd like.

Anyway, I wish I had more time to play, as I could very likely have gotten a bit further in this level, but I'll take it.

[Exhuminator]

I found myself most comfortable as a guy who enjoys stealth games.

There are a few solo missions that require stealth above all else, it will be interesting to see how you handle those.

Hurrying gets you killed, and GRAW is a game where progress is often measured in inches.

Too true and that should have been a quote on the back of the box.

Seriously, he can come to my house and fuck my sister. I don't even have a sister.

I wonder if the AI suddenly got so much better because the other two AI squadmates had been killed off. So the AI routine was only having to compensate for the one guy.

Right now it sounds like you're on Mission 3 "VIP is down". There is an objective called "Endure and await extraction" at the end of this mission. At that point, GRAW takes the kid gloves off for the first time and shit starts to get real. If you can survive that objective and make it to Mission 4, you're already a better FPS player than 90% of the rest of the world.

I've enjoyed reading your progress so far, and I look forward to reading even more. There are a total of eleven missions in this game. And each and every one gets harder and harder, though also more and more interesting. You've still got a long hard road ahead of you, but I bet you can do it soldier.

[ExedExes]

Exhuminator's encouragement to Ack is really familiar

I remember mission 3. The airstrikes are one of the fun features of the game, a satisfying explosion!

Yes, this mission has the VIP protection, which I recall I only had to restart once. My squadmates took all the good cover though!

Here were my thoughts on 3 from earlier:

Mission 3 completed on GWAR.

The first half of the mission wasn't too bad, but when you had to go find those ADATs was when it all went downhill quickly. I tried a few by myself and then with the team, but ultimately we prevailed, because the "hold position" objective wasn't too bad.

I also answered my own question on what happens when you lose a team member; I had lost one with about a minute to go before the mission ended, so I continued forward. The game had enough mercy to resurrect the fallen member next mission, so with this knowledge moving forward, I may be able to complete the game faster not having to worry about being short a team member. That, and also equipping sniper rifles for everyone seems to be more effective.

[Ack]

Ok, I had about a half hour of game time last night, so I mopped up Level 3 and started Level 4. I won't say much about Level 4, because I had about enough time to get off the helicopter, but I did make sure two of the squad have anti-armor capabilities.

Anyway, onto my description of the end of Level 3:

Turns out you can use the airstrike option for the ADATs to also take out the enemy APC that rolls in after you destroy the first ADAT. You can not, however, use said airstrike option to take out the entrenched machine gun emplacement. I note this with sorrow, as I really wanted the prick manning that weapon to experience the full force of what it feels like for God to go, "Nope!" While I found an easy way to take out both ADATs with minimal problem, the emplacement drastically hindered my ability to get to the helicopter for resupply. I ended up drawing his fire in a different direction and then using my sniper to flank and take him out from afar. It worked out, but I had to duck a few rounds in the process. Thankfully there were two checkpoints in a row with no enemies present that let me recover all of my health. Once at the resupply with my full squad intact, I issued a new sniper rifle to my rifleman as well as submachine guns to everyone for backup weapons and extra ammunition to my machine gunner. Unfortunately I did not give more ammo to my other sniper, which resulted in aggravating AI hilarity that I'll explain in a bit.

But on to the final objective: ENDURE. Not gonna lie, this took me a few tries, though I feel most of my failures were entirely fair. Not all, but definitely the vast majority. I also feel like the Endure objective at the end of Level 3 is the most bad ass part of the game I've gone through so far, as my squad, two Marines, an Apache helicopter, and my wits sat in the bombed-out US embassy and held off a massive force involving multiple tanks, APCs, and a metric fuckton of infantry. I ended up positioning my machine gunner on the first floor behind some rocks and rubble next to VIP2 so he could deal with enemy troops who made it inside the line with the two Marines while my two snipers took positions on the second floor and took out any approaching infantry long before they could arrive.

Rescuing VIP2 is actually quite easy, and I now know the pattern through that section pretty well: two infantrymen spawn right beside the embassy's left side, two more run in from the far left side and can be picked off from afar, then a squad of three infantry runs in from the right, then an APC comes in from the left and parks in front of the embassy, then a tank comes in from the left. Take out those threats and you can get VIP2 onto the helicopter easily. More infantry will start running in from the far side of the roundabout in front of the embassy, but two snipers meant I had more than enough cover to make it back without anyone firing a shot.

Unfortunately this is when the Endure objective begins, as I wait for a helicopter evac to arrive for my squad(and possibly the two surviving Marines...if they survived. They generally didn't). At this point you get rushed by infantry, at least two more APCs pull up, and two more tanks arrive on the scene from different angles. I spent most of the time popping infantry and calling in Apache strikes, though the second of the two new tanks proved to be the bane of my existence. The problem I had with it was that I would easily take out the first, but the smoke from its smoldering wreckage generally concealed the second's arrival, so I wouldn't know it was there until I was taking tank fire, which was often being directed at the snipers. The shock from the explosions would be enough to take me out. I eventually just compensated by repeatedly directing the Apache to strike where that tank would spawn once I knew it was coming, resulting in it never getting off a shot.

Oh, the Apache has some weird rules regarding its use. Order it to take out a tank, and it arrives in around 5-10 seconds to do the job. You can also order it to take out APCs, but this is a much longer wait, around 20-30 seconds. By far the funniest thing I managed to do was order it to drop the first tank and then the first APC while protecting VIP2. The Apache blasted the tank but then waited to take out the APC until the last possible second while the Blackhawk helicopter was coming in to pick up VIP2. The end result was a massive explosion as the Blackhawk got clipped and exploded in mid-air, resulting in a failure of the mission. I...I didn't know that could happen. Oh man, I laughed so hard at that.

AI hijinks also ensued during this portion. I mentioned earlier I forgot to resupply one of my snipers. During one of my attempts at this, he apparently shot off all of his rounds, switched to his submachinegun, and then repeatedly shouted that he was reloading. What followed was five minutes of him constantly declaring, "Reloading, sir! I'm reloading! RELOAD! I need to reload!" Over, and over, and over again, all while holding a weapon that he had not fired and I knew for a fact held a full magazine. Thankfully that last tank put me out of my misery. I've discovered that when I get frustrated at the dumbass AI, the game doesn't penalize me for shooting my own guys.

Anyway, the final Endure round, we all survived until the final tanks arrived. The infantry overwhelmed us and the tanks dropped my snipers right before I could drop them, until only I was left. The nice thing about the Blackhawk is that it immediately spots all the enemies in the area for you for a few seconds, so I memorized the locations of all of them and hunted them down. It also appears that the enemy infantry don't understand how to use the embassy stairs, so I sat up there and shot down onto the first floor to take out the two guys who had wandered inside. Once I finished cleaning house, I chucked a few grenades at the last enemy position and then booked it downstairs and to the helicopter. I even stopped on the way to give all the dead guys the finger. Because I'm classy, yo. On to Level 4.

[Exhuminator]

I think it says volumes about how intense PC GRAW is, that you remember all of that in such a level of detail. I think it's awesome that you survived the first Endure objective. Although I regret to inform you the game only gets harder.

The "Reloading!" thing is some kinda glitch, it's happened to me before. I think it's your AI squadmate's way of declaring he's out of the type of ammo he actually wants. But instead of saying "I'm out of 7.62" he just screams about reloading until he gets his head blown off.

The next mission you're on now, "Strongpoint" is a demolition one. It's not too bad. Although the complex layout of the area will cause you to have to babysit-pathfind for your AIs more than you'd like.

I'm stoked that you've made it this far though Ack. Most folks quit by now. Except for ExedExes, but he's a hardcore mofo.

[ExedExes]

I'm stoked that you've made it this far though Ack. Most folks quit by now. Except for ExedExes, but he's a hardcore mofo.

Going back to finish Far Cry easily earned me that title, but anybody who beats GRAW can also be called that.

I liked his mission 3 approach, but would have been very upset if my pickup helicopter was destroyed!

I hated mission 4. I spent hours and hours just getting to the bunkers. Once I hit the third checkpoint, it got slightly easier, but then you have to get to the power station, which is the next frustrating part. But that's not the end! Honestly, once I finished this mission, it gave me the resolve to finish the game.

Well look, I dug up my old post on that, and I remembered it well!

Mission 4 of GRAW?

#$#*&$@*!!!!!!!!!!!

Elapsed time in game to complete: 42 minutes

Actual time spent trying all sorts of ways to clear the bunkers, getting lost a few times, sending squad in without me, going it alone, destroying the power station while simply avoiding instead of shooting enemies, clearing the roadblock and getting a checkpoint while being shot at, and finally letting my squad die because when you tell them to move to where you are, they take the long way and find all the enemies I missed, and then the easier task of taking out the final 3 artillery units, and of course reloading, reloading, reloading, RELOADING: about 2 to 3 hours.

[Ack]

Going back to finish Far Cry easily earned me that title, but anybody who beats GRAW can also be called that.

I already beat FarCry, so what does that say about me?

We'll see how I do in Level 4. Like I said, I'm saved right at the start, just out of the helicopter. I did walk down the mountain, but my sniper walked out into a big fire fight at the meeting point and decided to stand there scratching himself in full view of enemy fire. That was when I chose to go to bed last night.

[Ack]

A few of us started up Star Wars: Battlefront II last night. After some finagling to get things working, we finally settled into a general rhythm. I definitely prefer playing Empire to just about anything else(suck it, Rebel scum), and the traditional Conquest approach that Battlefield uses is my preferred game type.

I haven't gotten to play GRAW since Monday.

I did manage to slip in a little Quake while we figured out tech issues and the like. I cleared the second episode last night and am now sitting at the start of E3M2: Vaults of Zin. That puts me at just over the halfway point in the base game, and once it's done, I've still got the mission packs to check out.

[noiseredux]

A few of us started up Star Wars: Battlefront II last night. After some finagling to get things working, we finally settled into a general rhythm. I definitely prefer playing Empire to just about anything else(suck it, Rebel scum), and the traditional Conquest approach that Battlefield uses is my preferred game type.

def enjoyed it - and agree on Empire. Storm Trooper felt really comfortable. I'd have liked that sniper trooper more if sniping worked better in this game. No reticle for a sniper makes no sense to me. And Vader and Maul are the shiznit for just popping out of nowhere and F'ing up large crowds of dudes.