Is there a target in a real bullshit area where there's no possible way to kill them without everybody seeing it? Are they an enforcer who will see through your disguise? And is there a safe secluded spot like a bathroom nearby?
Let them spot you.
First off if you lose them then nothing happens, they don't alert anybody and just go back to normal. But run to the safe spot and let them follow you. There's a good amount of time before they officially turn aggro (run to get help if a civillian, attack if a guard). Once you're alone, just bop 'em. I don't know if this will work if you're also trying to do a SA objective. They actually programmed in where if a target sees you do something illegal but you kill them, you don't get dinged at the end for it. Because... well think about it. It's possible with the objective system that once you do something that fails it, that's it.
Should note that this only really works if you're not trespassing. If you're trespassing and you run from a guard, they go to full alert. Civilians don't care, but if they're in a group then odds are everybody will detect you regardless. One of the quirks of a location that's on alert though is that all targets can see through any non-civilian disguise. So as long as you're in a legal guard disguise for the area, nobody should care if you run away.
Half the playstyle around Freelancer is letting go of the notion you don't have to do perfect SA runs. And you might have forgotten that suspicion isn't all that serious a state. You can just run away and everything is fine.
Just as a heads up, from what I and other folks have seen the SA Prestige Objective doesn't work like normal SA: If a target spots you, you lose SA and can't get it back when you kill them.
Well, I at least think I have most of my basic tools available now; a silenced pistol, silenced sniper rifle, card reader descrambler and both dart guns.
Now I just need a store to offer a lockpick while I have enough money to buy one.
Is there a target in a real bullshit area where there's no possible way to kill them without everybody seeing it? Are they an enforcer who will see through your disguise? And is there a safe secluded spot like a bathroom nearby?
Let them spot you.
First off if you lose them then nothing happens, they don't alert anybody and just go back to normal. But run to the safe spot and let them follow you. There's a good amount of time before they officially turn aggro (run to get help if a civillian, attack if a guard). Once you're alone, just bop 'em. I don't know if this will work if you're also trying to do a SA objective. They actually programmed in where if a target sees you do something illegal but you kill them, you don't get dinged at the end for it. Because... well think about it. It's possible with the objective system that once you do something that fails it, that's it.
Should note that this only really works if you're not trespassing. If you're trespassing and you run from a guard, they go to full alert. Civilians don't care, but if they're in a group then odds are everybody will detect you regardless. One of the quirks of a location that's on alert though is that all targets can see through any non-civilian disguise. So as long as you're in a legal guard disguise for the area, nobody should care if you run away.
Half the playstyle around Freelancer is letting go of the notion you don't have to do perfect SA runs. And you might have forgotten that suspicion isn't all that serious a state. You can just run away and everything is fine.
Just as a heads up, from what I and other folks have seen the SA Prestige Objective doesn't work like normal SA: If a target spots you, you lose SA and can't get it back when you kill them.
Actually funnily enough, I just had a mission in Hokkaido that kind of confirmed the opposite and you can. The starting point was the ninja cliff overlooking the area. I make my way down, past the entrance, hang and shimmy over towards the spa, then down the drainpipe into the room with the neurochip controller. Exit the room and I'm instantly spotted by a new guard that has never ever been there. But my SA objective isn't blown, because coincidently he's a target. I head outside, because one of the two guards out there is another target. After I deal with them, I'm searching around figuring out my next move when I get the "BODY FOUND" warning. It's for the outside guard, which absolutely nobody could ever see. I'm kind of pissed off and as I'm wondering what bullshit glitch must have happened, who should come running but the head surgeon, coincidently the third target. ...Fuckin nani?!?! You don't ever have fucking eyes on this area you motherfucker. But my SO objective still isn't blown. 4th target was some nobody who walked around the room entrances, so I shimmied over from Yuki's room and lured him in for an easy kill. And that's the story how I was a Silent Assassin by sheer luck of only alerting the targets.
So TL;DR, you can potentially do illegal things around targets that would cost you objectives. I wouldn't take my anecdote as fact or anything, but I suspect it's probably intended. If anything these games have always felt like they're held together by spit and gum what with all the bugs and shit. Like, I have taken and used a Sieker on "no firearms" challenges and it works... unless I miss the shot at which it fails the challenge.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
This shit is tense! I got seen taking out a guard and I was in the open - bad enough situation that I quickly hit start and figured to quit out. But then I saw that quitting = failed.
So I try to keep going, run and climb a ladder under fire and just escape. I turned it around and completed it after that, it must have been just one glancing hit left to finish me… I took so god damn many hits. Felt really nice to turn that mission around!
Then right afterwards did a showdown mission and got two bonus objectives, the prestige objective, and a courier. Hot damn. Sometimes I just get the 250 or whatever for the main objective and sometimes like that mission it must’ve been like 6-7k.
PSN: Honkalot
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
And my favorite run so far. Andaman Island with time trial prestige for +3500.
I spawn at a beach, courier is right there. Sprint to target in the middle of village - snap neck in front of everyone. Run back to beach, take out courier, escape. Like 50 seconds real time.
I tried out the demo of this, and it's pretty fun! But also it's controls dont feel the best and the lack of tutorial on how to do things really has been throwing me off.
I'm keen to play more but i also think i'm just gonna leave it on my wishlist for now and wait for some future thing - the fact it's also 70 fucking gigs is offputting on my poor 250g SSD. (I need a new computer ;.;)
I tried out the demo of this, and it's pretty fun! But also it's controls dont feel the best and the lack of tutorial on how to do things really has been throwing me off.
I'm keen to play more but i also think i'm just gonna leave it on my wishlist for now and wait for some future thing - the fact it's also 70 fucking gigs is offputting on my poor 250g SSD. (I need a new computer ;.;)
I haven't tried the demo but the full game does have a tutorial
There's a whole level on a fake boat to train you to be an assassin, it's great.
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Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
I tried out the demo of this, and it's pretty fun! But also it's controls dont feel the best and the lack of tutorial on how to do things really has been throwing me off.
I'm keen to play more but i also think i'm just gonna leave it on my wishlist for now and wait for some future thing - the fact it's also 70 fucking gigs is offputting on my poor 250g SSD. (I need a new computer ;.;)
I haven't tried the demo but the full game does have a tutorial
There's a whole level on a fake boat to train you to be an assassin, it's great.
the beach level I found was also great to learn the game, Hawke's Bay
I would do the story missions first, the 2 tutorial ones, and then a few runs at Paris and Sapienza to have save/load available while you learn to interact with people.
Paris is one of the most open maps but you have to learn it to get upstairs and to get silent kills, Sapienza forces you to interact with different tiers of guards getting to the virus.
The freelancer mode makes mistakes really punishing, and a lot of behavior is not immediately obvious.
There's a weird mix of extreme harshness and stupid leniency.
For instance:
If you trespass and stand still, they will call a guard over and he will escort you out. But if you try to hide, they will immediately call in people to shoot you.
The suspicious flag is opposite: You can try and run away and usually this will lead to a lengthy 'searching' flag but will then reset. But if you stand still and let npcs talk to you, they will yell over a guard which will lead to an arrest flag.
Combat can turn into hunted which can turn into compromised. But if your luck is bad you can die fast. Be especially careful around guards with automatic weapons, you probably can't run 20m in the open. Cover and shooting them is then a better choice, or somewhere to hide and move away from the scene.
A hostile area is shoot on sight.
The main method of poking at the clockwork is throwing objects around so that the object can be heard, but you can't be seen throwing it. You try to peel an annoying guard around a corner, and then bonk them.
Sound in general is important. Doors/rooms are really muffling. People won't hear a propane tank clinking against the wall in the next room, but if you open the door and then throw it they will investigate a coin throw.
In related news, I pulled a Jeff Gerstmann today when 8 maps into the mode I wanted to hit someone in the head with the briefcase, but lock-on got unstuck somehow and instead I threw the briefcase on his feet. This insta-alerted (Because he turned around and saw me in a hostile area before I could reopen the inventory), and ended with me having to kill 10 people. I still managed to rob the bank, but that could've easily ended a run. Currently on run 11, 4 target alerted Dubai I'm going to save until tomorrow.
On that note a small but worthwhile tip:
Bananapeels that are placed on the ground trip couriers. They will slip and drop their coin. This is an accident.
This on PC is bound to hold capslock, which is a Keymapping Choice.
Freelancer definitely wants you to be at least somewhat familiar with maps. If I get dropped into a place I haven't played since 2019 or whatever that gets... bad. Quickly.
There is a pretty broad consensus to avoid Colorado for this reason, if you mess up shooting starts nearly immediately, and targets can be in really annoying spots.
My knowledge of H3 is pretty bad but I am managing to mostly make it work.
If you have a little mastery, you can pick up a banana, a bottle of wine and a wrench at the start of a run, which gives you tools to manipulate the first guard even if you spawn in a deserted spot (Like the Isgail and Dartmoor top starts, where you start hostile). When you unlock outside, some more items become pickups.
If you bring an illegal big weapon it will come in a suitcase, which is a handy thrown object.
A big part is where all the best keys are.
I also had a run very nearly die on the third syndicate, I ran onto a balcony and bumped into a lookout, which aggroed way faster than normal. It sent immediate panic. I had already learned that my target was on top floor, the AI was really slow leaving and I could just run up there and shotgun them. On an earlier run in Argentina the meter to leave filled way faster.
Now the final leg, definitely a lot of things that can go wrong when you have 4 targets on an alerted map. Planning on Haven as the final map, which has the upside of having a lot of clear viewing lines to find the right target without having to infiltrate to many different places.
I played a lot of the gamepass pc version last year and picked up the hitmans on the steam winter sales. There was a story mission on the Chongqing map that I had an audio bug, I think. It's the one where you had to use a sniper rifle to take out flying drones to lure out the 2 targets on a bridge. They are arguing on the bridge but I couldn't hear them and the subtitles weren't showing. Does this happen on the steam version?
I played a lot of the gamepass pc version last year and picked up the hitmans on the steam winter sales. There was a story mission on the Chongqing map that I had an audio bug, I think. It's the one where you had to use a sniper rifle to take out flying drones to lure out the 2 targets on a bridge. They are arguing on the bridge but I couldn't hear them and the subtitles weren't showing. Does this happen on the steam version?
I don't think you're supposed to be able to hear them? They're arguing face-to-face and you're on the other side of the map. You don't have a magic eavesdropping sniper rifle.
(But I haven't done that for years, maybe it was always like that and I never thought anything was wrong).
For Freelancer prep, I'd say it's always worth going on a walking tour of all the maps before going in there. Even little stuff like knowing what disguises will get you into what areas can be huge. Especially maps with a lot of locked doors, it's well worth learning where you can find the keys before you get dropped in there without a lockpick.
I remember the hacker woman specifically saying she's made their comms available as you snipe the drones, and she said something about you enjoying listening in as you draw them out in the final part.
I'm slowly replaying the story to get back in the groove before trying out freelancer.
Their comms, yes. You can (or you should) hear them getting more annoyed with each other as you take out their drones. But then they go to an off-comms meeting.
I dunno, it made sense to me but it totally could be a bug, it's not unheard of (I miss the invisible washing machines).
You can get a free sniper rifle on the Argentina map.
The lawyer that starts by the ordinary map entrance (and ends up on the first floor in the villa) has a suitcase, there's a sniper team doing overwatch somewhere on the distillery side of the map.
You can get a free sniper rifle on the Argentina map.
The lawyer that starts by the ordinary map entrance (and ends up on the first floor in the villa) has a suitcase, there's a sniper team doing overwatch somewhere on the distillery side of the map.
Do you know if you can still do the sniper-kill by remote thing in that level? I love to outsource my murder whenever possible.
Their comms, yes. You can (or you should) hear them getting more annoyed with each other as you take out their drones. But then they go to an off-comms meeting.
I dunno, it made sense to me but it totally could be a bug, it's not unheard of (I miss the invisible washing machines).
About around 7:12 you can hear them talking in the final part where you can take them out. So I guess the game pass pc version was bugged for me back then. Using the hold breath/slow time for that sniper rifle used in this mission was hard for me when using a controller. I think my right trigger is a bit finicky.
I've had the guard at the entrance to the VIP section on Marrakesh be silent since this release, so the first time on that map in Freelancer I completely missed that he was telling me to GTFO and blundered in there and blew the Silent Assassin complication.
On the west side in the catacombs, but you have to bring a shovel to dig near footsteps which is on the Eastside.
And you can get silenced weapons in Dubai. Both smgs and AR. Just by knocking out the right guards.
Silenced shotgun you have to buy.
All these make for easy objectives. The xp bonus for doing all objectives is large. So if you want to build Mastery, you probably want to either do maps asap, or do full completes.
I am starting to think that the more loadout you have at home, the loot in crates gets replaced by non-permanent items.
But on the vendor is always permanent.
It may be tactical to buy the cheap stuff on the vendor to make your loot pool better.
I think I saw a tooltip saying the vendor only offers what you don't already have on The Wall, and possibly what you brought into the level. So if you have enough spare cash buying a sniper rifle seems to be a given for all levels. (Unsure what happens if you have them all unlocked already, might be a random one then.)
The two pistols that spread poison are Rare tier, and my hope was that by filling out my loadout with all the common stuff I could force those to show up. But I'm not sure it's working, I'm really far into this run (3 maps from finale) and they never showed. And I checked vendor every map, and went out of my way to open boxes.
But that does work for firearms, things on the Wall are never on the vendor, so keeping the wall filled will over time make sure you get those light / concealable weapons.
They remixed the levels in tiny ways all over the place. I'm in Colombia and climbed over the wall to the villa, and they moved the gardeners around and removed the AC outside of the small guard building so I can't lure them out for an easy disguise.
Had my second find the suspect mission in a row to glitch out on me. I eliminated most of the suspects, but was left with two who it might have been. I couldn't check to see if either of them went to a secret meeting because one of them was standing several feet above the garden in Hokkaido after possibly phasing through an office wall.
On the bright side this meant that no-one could apparently see him, as I confirmed his identity by dart gunning him and getting the 'poison target' objective, then shot him in the head and no-one noticed that either, so I kept the SA prestige objective. All in all, pretty good.
I then turned a thirty minute mission into a fifty minute one looking for the safe codes (one was tucked away behind the Brain Chip Morgue Doctor, I only found it after systematically taking out every single person down there).
Question about alerted areas (the ones in yellow on the freelancer map); do they stay like that the whole time, or if I avoid them for a few missions, would they calm down? I've been doing them ASAP so I don't get stuck with them to do last. Also, is it established if dart guns count as firearms for the No Firearms objectives?
There's definitely different versions of maps in terms of guards and cameras and the like, and probably just using the professional/master layouts. I've had 2 starts in Hokkaido, on the cliff the ninja starts on. One of those starts had 2 guards on the path, which is like... good luck not getting spotted.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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AkimboEGMr. FancypantsWears very fine pants indeedRegistered Userregular
edited February 2023
Has anyone had Miami show up yet? I've had all other locations show up multiple times by now, but not a single Miami.
Edit: Also, I really like how they give you access to the New York and Haven Island locations for Freelancer, even if you don't have the DLC that lets you play them in the campaign.
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Has anyone had Miami show up yet? I've had all other locations show up multiple times by now, but not a single Miami.
Edit: Also, I really like how they give you access to the New York and Haven Island locations for Freelancer, even if you don't have the DLC that lets you play them in the campaign.
Freelancer mode is definitely not for me. Fortunately, it's easy to ignore. It has given me a much greater appreciation for the community contract system; they're subject to the same bugs and glitches, but you aren't set back several previous missions if you encounter one.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
So I've spent a fair bit of time in Freelancer mode now and honestly? This is how all three of these games should've been structured. It feels the closest to Hitman: Blood Money, which has handily been my favorite entry in the franchise.
I wouldn't keep the part of Freelancer where every mission is a one-shot with no saves, that would obviously be a big problem for lots of people. Let people select their own difficulty level like the regular campaign and have multiple saves accordingly. But the justification for repeating levels in the original game structure always felt pretty lame to me. Beat the level to get more stuff on the level to unlock things to beat the level you already beat, except slightly better/easier. Repeat several times per map, with results on any map have no bearing on any other map besides items unlocks. Then beat the game. It just feels like a very... inorganic and silly reason to revisit levels to me.
With Freelancer mode, there's an actual reason to go back to each map and the variables can change between multiple visits, plus your performance directly impacts the tools you can get. Fuck up a level and risk shoots up for the next one. Do well on a level while doing a clean sweep of all rewards and items and you can end up with a pile of cash, great new gear, and you actually get to keep stuff you found. The bonuses also incentivize playing in ways you wouldn't normally play by encouraging things like messy explosions, picking up lots of disguises, or noisily gunning people down; doing everything the "perfect", but dull, way isn't the only approach to a successful, rewarding mission.
Case in point, I had a trio of targets in Paris. I've played this map a whole pile of times over the years. This time around, the targets have nothing to do with the usual ones so I'm not setting things up for people I've memorized. Start at the default map entrance, but one of the ground level targets? High-level guard who walks off by himself. So in short order I snag a waiter uniform, cruise over, kill the guy, take his outfit and dump him over the railing into the river. Boom. I can now pretty much waltz through the map almost unopposed. Go around the place scooping up every item, chest, and vault available. Second target? Runway model... and my Prestige objectives is to intentionally get collateral damage killing a target. So I hustle upstairs, get to the crank that drops the lighting over the runway and disaster: the target is on the runway and I don't have a crowbar! But I do have a breaching charge. I chuck it at the crank, sprint away, blow the charge, and glorious penalty-free chaos ensues.
Third target is on the top floor and the bastard does not move from his spot on the balcony. But wait! Nearby is a gunrunner and, by sheer luck, the guy is selling the emetic dart gun. I can juuuust line up the shot so that nobody can see me pull out the dart gun, tag the guy, follow him to the bathroom, and there we go, three targets down. Even better? I had a bonus objective for poisoning a target and emetic poisoning counts. I waltz out the front gate, three target down with a pile of cash and gear.
And as I go mission to mission, I get more hideout and more gear unlocking, but it's gear I have a choice in unlocking. I'm not doing dumb arbitrary objectives just to unlock a sword or something so the gameplay is padded out. Fuck up too bad and my target progress is scrapped, but I still keep my gear. So each successive mission feels like how I want to try and play, not ticking off boxes to get stuff to do an efficient run on the same mission I've already done a dozen times.
Has anyone had Miami show up yet? I've had all other locations show up multiple times by now, but not a single Miami.
Edit: Also, I really like how they give you access to the New York and Haven Island locations for Freelancer, even if you don't have the DLC that lets you play them in the campaign.
Miami shows up all the time for me. Still haven't gotten New York or China, though.
I think the only maps that aren't in the pool are Hawkes Bay, the train, and the training levels. The rest is just down to luck when they show up.
Also, Dartmoor doesn't seem to have a security footage server to wipe? Cameras in that map are brutal.
Has anyone had Miami show up yet? I've had all other locations show up multiple times by now, but not a single Miami.
Edit: Also, I really like how they give you access to the New York and Haven Island locations for Freelancer, even if you don't have the DLC that lets you play them in the campaign.
Miami shows up all the time for me. Still haven't gotten New York or China, though.
I think the only maps that aren't in the pool are Hawkes Bay, the train, and the training levels. The rest is just down to luck when they show up.
Also, Dartmoor doesn't seem to have a security footage server to wipe? Cameras in that map are brutal.
The security room is actually the staff room, 1st floor, near the entrance.
Also kind of cool that the 2 maps that come with the deluxe version are playable in freelance mode for everyone.
PSA for people who haven't played the regular maps; Haven Island is a nightmare to take people out in. To compensate for the wide-open area the devs gave everyone massively improved vision range compared to any other map, so if you knock a guy out on a bridge, someone on the beach a hundred yards away will be able to spot you.
I'd say that and Colorado are probably the toughest maps for this mode.
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Just as a heads up, from what I and other folks have seen the SA Prestige Objective doesn't work like normal SA: If a target spots you, you lose SA and can't get it back when you kill them.
Now I just need a store to offer a lockpick while I have enough money to buy one.
Actually funnily enough, I just had a mission in Hokkaido that kind of confirmed the opposite and you can. The starting point was the ninja cliff overlooking the area. I make my way down, past the entrance, hang and shimmy over towards the spa, then down the drainpipe into the room with the neurochip controller. Exit the room and I'm instantly spotted by a new guard that has never ever been there. But my SA objective isn't blown, because coincidently he's a target. I head outside, because one of the two guards out there is another target. After I deal with them, I'm searching around figuring out my next move when I get the "BODY FOUND" warning. It's for the outside guard, which absolutely nobody could ever see. I'm kind of pissed off and as I'm wondering what bullshit glitch must have happened, who should come running but the head surgeon, coincidently the third target. ...Fuckin nani?!?! You don't ever have fucking eyes on this area you motherfucker. But my SO objective still isn't blown. 4th target was some nobody who walked around the room entrances, so I shimmied over from Yuki's room and lured him in for an easy kill. And that's the story how I was a Silent Assassin by sheer luck of only alerting the targets.
So TL;DR, you can potentially do illegal things around targets that would cost you objectives. I wouldn't take my anecdote as fact or anything, but I suspect it's probably intended. If anything these games have always felt like they're held together by spit and gum what with all the bugs and shit. Like, I have taken and used a Sieker on "no firearms" challenges and it works... unless I miss the shot at which it fails the challenge.
So I try to keep going, run and climb a ladder under fire and just escape. I turned it around and completed it after that, it must have been just one glancing hit left to finish me… I took so god damn many hits. Felt really nice to turn that mission around!
Then right afterwards did a showdown mission and got two bonus objectives, the prestige objective, and a courier. Hot damn. Sometimes I just get the 250 or whatever for the main objective and sometimes like that mission it must’ve been like 6-7k.
I spawn at a beach, courier is right there. Sprint to target in the middle of village - snap neck in front of everyone. Run back to beach, take out courier, escape. Like 50 seconds real time.
I'm keen to play more but i also think i'm just gonna leave it on my wishlist for now and wait for some future thing - the fact it's also 70 fucking gigs is offputting on my poor 250g SSD. (I need a new computer ;.;)
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I haven't tried the demo but the full game does have a tutorial
There's a whole level on a fake boat to train you to be an assassin, it's great.
the beach level I found was also great to learn the game, Hawke's Bay
Paris is one of the most open maps but you have to learn it to get upstairs and to get silent kills, Sapienza forces you to interact with different tiers of guards getting to the virus.
The freelancer mode makes mistakes really punishing, and a lot of behavior is not immediately obvious.
There's a weird mix of extreme harshness and stupid leniency.
For instance:
If you trespass and stand still, they will call a guard over and he will escort you out. But if you try to hide, they will immediately call in people to shoot you.
The suspicious flag is opposite: You can try and run away and usually this will lead to a lengthy 'searching' flag but will then reset. But if you stand still and let npcs talk to you, they will yell over a guard which will lead to an arrest flag.
Combat can turn into hunted which can turn into compromised. But if your luck is bad you can die fast. Be especially careful around guards with automatic weapons, you probably can't run 20m in the open. Cover and shooting them is then a better choice, or somewhere to hide and move away from the scene.
A hostile area is shoot on sight.
The main method of poking at the clockwork is throwing objects around so that the object can be heard, but you can't be seen throwing it. You try to peel an annoying guard around a corner, and then bonk them.
Sound in general is important. Doors/rooms are really muffling. People won't hear a propane tank clinking against the wall in the next room, but if you open the door and then throw it they will investigate a coin throw.
In related news, I pulled a Jeff Gerstmann today when 8 maps into the mode I wanted to hit someone in the head with the briefcase, but lock-on got unstuck somehow and instead I threw the briefcase on his feet. This insta-alerted (Because he turned around and saw me in a hostile area before I could reopen the inventory), and ended with me having to kill 10 people. I still managed to rob the bank, but that could've easily ended a run. Currently on run 11, 4 target alerted Dubai I'm going to save until tomorrow.
Bananapeels that are placed on the ground trip couriers. They will slip and drop their coin. This is an accident.
This on PC is bound to hold capslock, which is a Keymapping Choice.
wat
My knowledge of H3 is pretty bad but I am managing to mostly make it work.
If you have a little mastery, you can pick up a banana, a bottle of wine and a wrench at the start of a run, which gives you tools to manipulate the first guard even if you spawn in a deserted spot (Like the Isgail and Dartmoor top starts, where you start hostile). When you unlock outside, some more items become pickups.
If you bring an illegal big weapon it will come in a suitcase, which is a handy thrown object.
A big part is where all the best keys are.
I also had a run very nearly die on the third syndicate, I ran onto a balcony and bumped into a lookout, which aggroed way faster than normal. It sent immediate panic. I had already learned that my target was on top floor, the AI was really slow leaving and I could just run up there and shotgun them. On an earlier run in Argentina the meter to leave filled way faster.
Now the final leg, definitely a lot of things that can go wrong when you have 4 targets on an alerted map. Planning on Haven as the final map, which has the upside of having a lot of clear viewing lines to find the right target without having to infiltrate to many different places.
(But I haven't done that for years, maybe it was always like that and I never thought anything was wrong).
For Freelancer prep, I'd say it's always worth going on a walking tour of all the maps before going in there. Even little stuff like knowing what disguises will get you into what areas can be huge. Especially maps with a lot of locked doors, it's well worth learning where you can find the keys before you get dropped in there without a lockpick.
I'm slowly replaying the story to get back in the groove before trying out freelancer.
I dunno, it made sense to me but it totally could be a bug, it's not unheard of (I miss the invisible washing machines).
Do you know if you can still do the sniper-kill by remote thing in that level? I love to outsource my murder whenever possible.
About around 7:12 you can hear them talking in the final part where you can take them out. So I guess the game pass pc version was bugged for me back then. Using the hold breath/slow time for that sniper rifle used in this mission was hard for me when using a controller. I think my right trigger is a bit finicky.
And you can get silenced weapons in Dubai. Both smgs and AR. Just by knocking out the right guards.
Silenced shotgun you have to buy.
All these make for easy objectives. The xp bonus for doing all objectives is large. So if you want to build Mastery, you probably want to either do maps asap, or do full completes.
I am starting to think that the more loadout you have at home, the loot in crates gets replaced by non-permanent items.
But on the vendor is always permanent.
It may be tactical to buy the cheap stuff on the vendor to make your loot pool better.
But that does work for firearms, things on the Wall are never on the vendor, so keeping the wall filled will over time make sure you get those light / concealable weapons.
Had my second find the suspect mission in a row to glitch out on me. I eliminated most of the suspects, but was left with two who it might have been. I couldn't check to see if either of them went to a secret meeting because one of them was standing several feet above the garden in Hokkaido after possibly phasing through an office wall.
On the bright side this meant that no-one could apparently see him, as I confirmed his identity by dart gunning him and getting the 'poison target' objective, then shot him in the head and no-one noticed that either, so I kept the SA prestige objective. All in all, pretty good.
I then turned a thirty minute mission into a fifty minute one looking for the safe codes (one was tucked away behind the Brain Chip Morgue Doctor, I only found it after systematically taking out every single person down there).
Question about alerted areas (the ones in yellow on the freelancer map); do they stay like that the whole time, or if I avoid them for a few missions, would they calm down? I've been doing them ASAP so I don't get stuck with them to do last. Also, is it established if dart guns count as firearms for the No Firearms objectives?
Edit: Also, I really like how they give you access to the New York and Haven Island locations for Freelancer, even if you don't have the DLC that lets you play them in the campaign.
In other news:
Really fun, though I don't think I'm going to go for Hardcore mode anytime soon.
I have seen Miami as a listed location.
I wouldn't keep the part of Freelancer where every mission is a one-shot with no saves, that would obviously be a big problem for lots of people. Let people select their own difficulty level like the regular campaign and have multiple saves accordingly. But the justification for repeating levels in the original game structure always felt pretty lame to me. Beat the level to get more stuff on the level to unlock things to beat the level you already beat, except slightly better/easier. Repeat several times per map, with results on any map have no bearing on any other map besides items unlocks. Then beat the game. It just feels like a very... inorganic and silly reason to revisit levels to me.
With Freelancer mode, there's an actual reason to go back to each map and the variables can change between multiple visits, plus your performance directly impacts the tools you can get. Fuck up a level and risk shoots up for the next one. Do well on a level while doing a clean sweep of all rewards and items and you can end up with a pile of cash, great new gear, and you actually get to keep stuff you found. The bonuses also incentivize playing in ways you wouldn't normally play by encouraging things like messy explosions, picking up lots of disguises, or noisily gunning people down; doing everything the "perfect", but dull, way isn't the only approach to a successful, rewarding mission.
Case in point, I had a trio of targets in Paris. I've played this map a whole pile of times over the years. This time around, the targets have nothing to do with the usual ones so I'm not setting things up for people I've memorized. Start at the default map entrance, but one of the ground level targets? High-level guard who walks off by himself. So in short order I snag a waiter uniform, cruise over, kill the guy, take his outfit and dump him over the railing into the river. Boom. I can now pretty much waltz through the map almost unopposed. Go around the place scooping up every item, chest, and vault available. Second target? Runway model... and my Prestige objectives is to intentionally get collateral damage killing a target. So I hustle upstairs, get to the crank that drops the lighting over the runway and disaster: the target is on the runway and I don't have a crowbar! But I do have a breaching charge. I chuck it at the crank, sprint away, blow the charge, and glorious penalty-free chaos ensues.
Third target is on the top floor and the bastard does not move from his spot on the balcony. But wait! Nearby is a gunrunner and, by sheer luck, the guy is selling the emetic dart gun. I can juuuust line up the shot so that nobody can see me pull out the dart gun, tag the guy, follow him to the bathroom, and there we go, three targets down. Even better? I had a bonus objective for poisoning a target and emetic poisoning counts. I waltz out the front gate, three target down with a pile of cash and gear.
And as I go mission to mission, I get more hideout and more gear unlocking, but it's gear I have a choice in unlocking. I'm not doing dumb arbitrary objectives just to unlock a sword or something so the gameplay is padded out. Fuck up too bad and my target progress is scrapped, but I still keep my gear. So each successive mission feels like how I want to try and play, not ticking off boxes to get stuff to do an efficient run on the same mission I've already done a dozen times.
Miami shows up all the time for me. Still haven't gotten New York or China, though.
I think the only maps that aren't in the pool are Hawkes Bay, the train, and the training levels. The rest is just down to luck when they show up.
Also, Dartmoor doesn't seem to have a security footage server to wipe? Cameras in that map are brutal.
The security room is actually the staff room, 1st floor, near the entrance.
Also kind of cool that the 2 maps that come with the deluxe version are playable in freelance mode for everyone.
I'd say that and Colorado are probably the toughest maps for this mode.