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[LET'S PLAY] Silent Storm! (extra stuff)

VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
edited June 2011 in Games and Technology
"1943.
World War Two.
Madness engulfed the planet.
The future was uncertain.
And I was there."


s2logo.jpg

s2main.jpg

Hey every peoples, I've decided to do a LET'S PLAY Silent Storm! (Mod-approved by Captain K.)

My apologies to Hotlead Junkie, but I'm going to restart the campaign. It's my first LET'S PLAY, but I'm also making up a more personalized storyline in order to explain my decisions during the game. I love this game so much for some reason, (fully-destructible environment and ragdoll physics may be it), as I feel it is the best tactical squad-based game out there. Sorry Jagged Alliance 2. That being sai-
No! Don't stop reading because I insulted JA2! I'm sorry, I won't do it again, I promise. JA2 is excellent and has a much better plot. That being said, I have pumped this game full of mods that I have found to be essential in gameplay balance. And fun. Since this is an Axis campaign, I won't even try to do this in proper German, but some words will pop up now and then. I think the game is more interesting as an Axis player overall though. I'll also try not to break your h-scroll too much.

So what mods did I use in the game? For starters, I unlocked the camera mode which was driving me up the wall when I was trying to take pictures as cinematically as possible.

I also used these mods:

Ammo Fixes 1.2 - modifies the names of most equipment and rebalances some.
Changed Axis Standard Skin - makes your Axis troops look like the Wehrmacht/Fallshirmjager.
Class Value Changes - revalues some combat skills to make the game more realistic.
Difficulty Grade Changes - makes the difficulty selection for certain values and coefficients more balanced.
Easier Specialty Items - makes the better engineer and medic items easier to use, as they require an impossibly a high skill in vanilla.
Fast Animation - speeds up all action in the game and shortens the enemy turn phase animations.
Faster Skill Progress - increases the statistics of enemy skills and sets your initial character level to 0 so you can pick any skill at the start.
Improved Backstab - because when you actually get a chance to use it, use it for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
No PKs - removes all PKs from the game and replaces them with a soldier carrying an MG, but you need to remove it at the final battle or else it will crash the game.
Also I have the "Watchdog mod" which is a block of text added to one of the .ini files. This mod makes your characters gain skill without forcing them to use the skill so many times. Finally, engineers and medics are useful when they are needed. Your soldiers have the same skill as the soldiers you don't recruit (because they get skill without seeing combat, which is retarded.)

If anyone has any questions or comments about the thread, please let me know. I have spoilered all my missions to save your v-scroll so that navigating the thread isn't a daunting task.

Well then, let us begin!

Introduction

Abwehr Section II

Mission 1: Investigate General Bauer

Mission 2: Protect General Bauer

Character Biographies

Mission 3: Infiltrate British Intelligence HQ

Mission 4: Confirm status of the German spy

Mission 5: Briefing on the mysterious weapon

Attributes, Skills, and Abilities

Mission 6: Capture British scientist

Mission 7: Gather intel on British counter-intel

Mission 8: Recover hidden documents

Mission 9: Question British officer

Mission 10: Capture decoder

Mission 11: Protect undercover courier

Mission 12: Steal British documents

Mission 13: Infiltrate Russian manor

Mission 14: Question Oberst Koch

Operation Silent Storm

Mission 15: Capture Russian engineer

Mission 16: Infiltrate renegade factory

Mission 17: Question General Muller

Mission 18: The Berger Factory (part 1)

Mission 19: The Berger Factory (part 2)

Encounter 1: Defend German consulate

Encounter 2: Ninja ambush

Encounter 3: Capture unknown technology

Mission 20: Thor's Hammer

Victory in the North Sea

Extras: Individual action shots

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Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
VeritasVR on
«13

Posts

  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Introduction

    On his way to the Wehrmacht Quarters in the city of Stuttgart, Germany in 1943, our hero, Hauptmann (Captain) Lukas "Luke" Varner comes across a panicked civilian near the bank at night.

    m0_scene.jpg

    "Notify the authorities! Tell them... they will need to collect some bodies." Luke ducks behind a tree for cover as two armed civilians approach him.

    m0_shoot.jpg

    He takes them out with his MP38 after a few near misses from flying bullets and makes his way toward the bank front door. Spotting a bandit inside, his lobs a grenade through the window and opens fire.

    m0_fire2.jpg

    When the dust clears, the enemy is down. He spots the leader of the group and takes him out with a grenade. Luke carries the bandit leader's unconscious body to the car nearby and continues on his way.

    Next up, selecting the team.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Abwehr Section II

    Hauptmann Varner’s actions gained the attention of an organization known as Abwehr Section II under the command of Oberst (Colonel) Schubert. It is responsible for Axis special operations not part of the Waffen-SS.

    m0_clue.jpg

    For his role beyond the line of duty, Luke was given command of an elite team of five others in order to carry out infiltration, extraction, assassination, and investigation behind the front lines for AS2. Upon is selecting his team, he notices that there is a limited choice for snipers.

    "Oberst Schubert, sir. I am concerned that you recommended a woman, "Eagle" as part of my team."

    "I know, Hauptmann. She is very, very good, but look at it this way. Your only other options are a traitor to his native USSR and an insane widower who gouged out his own eye because he was having trouble aiming."

    "Ah... good point sir. Very well."


    So my squad is picked out, loaded up, and ready to go protect General Bauer because the Allies are trying to kill our smart people. What do we do now? Team photo! “Smile!… or look stoic. Yeah, stoic is fine.”

    teamphoto.jpg

    From left (top row): Eagle (sniper), Gari (medic), Luke (grenadier),
    (bottom row): Gunar (scout), Mike (soldier), Axel (engineer)

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • Lavender GoomsLavender Gooms Tiny Bat Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Ah I loved this game so much, the physics are incredibly fun to play around with. Too bad I suck at it, and that it falls into the same traps that Fallout: Tactics did. >_<


    Looking forward to reading more :)

    Lavender Gooms on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 1: Investigate General Bauer

    So we need to protect this bugger, General Bauer. He’s the head of Military Research for Germany.

    m1_vip.jpg

    We're assigned to augment his guard in Hanover.

    m1_talk.jpg

    Suddenly... *gasp!*

    m1_scene2.jpg

    The stone wall surrounding the compound asplodes. Intruders!! (Ah nuts.)

    m1_fire.jpg

    Gari takes a shot at an intruder through an doorway.

    Overall there wasn’t much action and the environment was... unwilling to cooperate, so I didn't get many good screenshots. I sent two in each direction to cover the courtyard and interior, but many intruders were killed by the soldiers already stationed here so I picked off the rest. I basically chased them into the house, where they tried to destroy the floorboards below General Bauer, but that left them open to our own grenades (priorities, man!) I wonder how they knew exactly where he was? Also, it was weird how all the civilians on the street happened to pull out sub-machine guns and charge the place during the first scene. Hmmm...

    Next up, General Bauer needs a bodyguard again.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • EspantaPajaroEspantaPajaro Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Nice , I never got to play this game.

    EspantaPajaro on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 2: Protect General Bauer

    Our second mission is to protect General Bauer again during his visit to th-
    You know what, read the briefing.

    m1_clue.jpg

    Enroute to General Bauer’s convoy in Brandenburg. This town is considered a VIP protection assignment from hell because of all these places to ambush someone.

    Hey, what’s that on the roof? What IS that?!

    m2_scene.jpg

    Oh for the love of-

    m2_wreck.jpg

    *KA-BLAMO*

    m2_clue.jpg

    Epic fail. Damn those British!

    We begin at the other end of the map, and the assassins are trying to escape to any edge they can. Naturally, I’m trying to run after them as fast as possible but someone tries to shoot us on the run. Here’s one of the tactical screenshots I may or may not do more of later on.

    m2_target.jpg

    Notice that this guy is in a booth (good cover) with a rifle (good range) while we’re running behind some trees (okay cover) but can’t fire back (cuz we’re running). He sees three of us on the move, but fails to see Eagle on the left who has taken aim behind the fence.

    m2_eagle.jpg

    She’s got him scoped, which means she can devote all her action points to aiming, and then cumulatively save them each round until she gets close to a 100% hit percentage. Later on, snipers are good enough to target individual body parts with said accuracy to inflict various criticals. She keeps him occupied while Axel flanks other side and shoves some dynamite up his ass.

    Meanwhile, I’ve taken Gunar across the street, running from cover to cover until he’s at the other side of the road. He spots the assassin with the death ray thing trying to get away, but he’s being escorted by two men with machine guns. Gunar is no match, but now we know where the little bastard is. Everyone in my squad opens fire before he can get away, and Gunar sneaks into a house wherein he does this.

    m2_fire.jpg

    Goddamn son.

    So then the MG guys try to take out Luke, who is across the street, but Mike unloads his own MG on the guys trying to flee with Eagle covering his back. This works out pretty well except for the one guy who is kicking the crap out of Luke at the edge of the map who is without cover. Then Gunar sneaks OUT of the house and does this in the middle of the street.

    m2_backstab.jpg

    It’s Liam Neeson! Gah, blood. Gaaahhh. Reminds me of that vault scene from Die Hard 3. Mike picks up the mystery weapon and we hit the road before anything else blows up.

    m2_clue2.jpg

    This was the analysis of the weapon. We’re actually not going to go help him yet.

    Next up: Britain, to find those blokes who knocked off the General.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Character Biographies

    I guess this is as good a time as any to go over the character in-game bios.

    Hauptmann (Cpt.) Lukas “Luke” Varner – Grenadier
    pic_Luke.jpg
    Equipment: submachine gun, grenades, rocket launcher
    bio_Luke.jpg


    Leutnant (Lt.) Gunnar Zumwald – Scout
    pic_Gunar.jpg
    Equipment: silenced submachine gun, melee weapons
    bio_Gunar.jpg


    Hadnagy (Lt.) Gari Kovacs – Medic
    pic_Gari.jpg
    Equipment: rifle, medical supplies
    bio_Gari.jpg


    Locotenet (Sr. Lt.) Mitica “Mike” Caslaru – Soldier
    pic_Mike.jpg
    Equipment: Machinegun (with tripod), pistol, grenades
    bio_Mike.jpg


    Podporvcik (3rd Lt.) Ela “Eagle” Jelinek – Sniper
    pic_Eagle.jpg
    Equipment: scoped rifle, pistol
    bio_Eagle.jpg


    Oberleutnant (Sr. Lt.) Axel Bieber – Engineer
    pic_Axel.jpg
    Equipment: rifle/submachine gun, demolition supplies, mines, lock picks
    bio_Axel.jpg

    VeritasVR on
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  • Golden LegGolden Leg Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I loved Silent Storm. If I can find my copy of it, I'm going to reinstall.

    Excellent combat system. Destructible environs FTW!

    Golden Leg on
  • The Count Of Midget FistoThe Count Of Midget Fisto Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Why did you use the No PK mod? It was always fun to fight against them.

    The Count Of Midget Fisto on
    In Low Orbit Over Budapest
  • ErgandarErgandar Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    How does this compare with Jagged Alliance 2 besides the obvious graphical superiority?

    Ergandar on
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  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Why did you use the No PK mod? It was always fun to fight against them.

    Later on, the PKs completely destroy any sense of tactics present in the game. The later missions were extremely easy in a PK, whereas going on foot like you should proved to be much more fun.

    Ergandar wrote: »
    How does this compare with Jagged Alliance 2 besides the obvious graphical superiority?

    Jagged Alliance 2 had character interactions and a great story to further the events of the game. I feel that the combat engine in this game is superior with all the bells and whistles, but the story here is a series of short non-CGI cutscenes and clues presented in a non-linear fashion.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • Bacon-BuTTyBacon-BuTTy Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Oh god i loved this game.

    So many hours spent on one map, just intracately creeping around.

    The best moments are when you hear someone on the other side of a door, so you use the machine gun to just blast through it, using all your ammo.

    It's even better if you're in a house and one of your bullets happens to hit a gas tank.

    EDIT

    Actually, funny story about this game, i bought it on release day, knowing full well that it was a niche title and i would probably find it in a bargain a week later for 10 quid.

    But i picked up my copy, marked 39.99. Took it to the cash register.

    The guy beeped it through.

    *BEEP* £3.99

    :D

    Bacon-BuTTy on
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  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 3: Infiltrate British Intelligence HQ

    This is one hell of a mission. We’ve come across a simple British village in Scotland, but this village is the central HQ for British Intelligence. That attack was traced back to this location.

    The mission begins with us on one side of a road with a house. The other side of a road has 3 houses facing us, and all presumably filled with Tommies. I like to “hide” everyone so that I can get into a good area before giving away my location. Gunar goes to scout the road to watch for any patrols. We move in through the back door. We’re not sure who is in here so we try to stay crouched and make as little noise as possible. Axel moves ahead and spots a British patrol through the window. Okay, stay away from the windows until we can set up some good firing points.

    All of a sudden, Eagle hears some commotion on the second floor and hides under the staircase, pistol in hand.

    m3_ambush.jpg

    CAPPED! That is what pistols are for. Everyone begins to move their way into position to attack. Let’s do this. Eagle grabs their attention by landing a hit on a guy in the house across the street. With the soldiers firing back at Eagle, Gunar creeps behind the house and pegs them in the back totally unheard. After that, he sneaks into the HQ through the back window. Did that guy see Eagle in the open window on the second floor?

    m3_fire.jpg

    Nope.

    One of the Tommies who was designated as a “Field Agent” in the house dropped a clue. Since I don’t want to overwhelm this mission with clue screenshots (there’s a lot already,) it basically says that General Bauer was killed by an unknown weapon and was not carried out by any department in the British Commonwealth. The agent concludes that it must have been done by the Russians, and they will contact a Captain Trofimov, head of Local Soviet Intelligence.

    Meanwhile, Mike and Gari are laying down the suppressing fire on the guys out front. Eventually the HQ looks like this.

    m3_hq.jpg

    That’s from 5 clips of machinegun fire on full auto. Luke storms the second floor to discover the leader of the place, Captain Rex Weller. Let’s intimidate him shall we?

    m3_rocket.jpg

    PANZERFAUST’ED! Takes out half his health (and his desk). Luke finishes him off with his MP40 Mark II. (I don’t carry any extra PF rockets in order to make it realistic. PFs were one-shot disposable weapons.) Gari comes in to pick up the British Captain’s “unconscious” body and fulfill my objectives after a quick shootout with reinforcements that spawned on the roads.

    m3_objectives.jpg

    The last objective is complete when I carry the dude out of the mission. I get some nice clues for this.

    m3_clues.jpg

    The first is a note that was found on Captain Rex Weller’s person. This raises more concerns:

    1) Who is responsible for the assassination? Now that the British as apparently not responsible for this attack, we need to investigate the Russian Intelligence.
    2) This weapon seems to be extremely advanced. Whoever used it is probably going to keep us from studying it.
    3) How did the assassins know where General Bauer would be at every moment?
    4) What are “T.H. Personnel” and who is “Hel” on that note? And why do they need scientists from BOTH sides of the war?
    5) What is Captain Weller’s involvement in all this? Perhaps our local uncover agent mentioned in that second clue knows about something.

    Things just got a little more complicated. We need to verify if our agent is alive, and what he knows. Maybe the British are still neck-deep in all this.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • Tim JamesTim James Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Time out for a second. This game is near the top of my long list of classics to play. I tried the first mission and it was enjoyable enough. I'm a huge fan of tactical squad combat but never played this (or JA2, which is lower on the list).

    What was the comment about how it's like Fallout: Tactics? Do you mean it gets tedious near the end? I can understand that, but I like Fallout so much that I overlooked it in that game.

    For a first-time player, are there any mods that are absolutely essential? I usually play classic games without any. Should I play Allied or Axis first?

    Finally, you should do a Let's Play for Company of Heroes. ;-)

    Tim James on
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  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 4: Confirm status of the German spy

    We enter a small village near the last mission in order to find out if our undercover man in this area was killed and what he knows. It may be a trap because we have reports that he was both killed and still alive in this area.

    Our men- sorry, men and woman, scale a brick wall leading into a small park with the target residence facing toward the road. No problem, we just open the back door and go inside without exposing ourselves to possible British patrols. Axel takes point to detect any traps that may be around. Everyone else sets up position in the park, overlooking the back window.

    Luke checks the house and discovers our spy, alive! However…

    m4_trap.jpg

    IT’S A TRAP! They were just using him as bait to catch us! Luke is not amused and sprays the guy at point-blank range. Our spy, Ludwig Weber, temporarily joins our team and we make a break for the back window. Some trouble though, Axel spots two guys run in the front door and are right below us. He drops an explosive charge out the window.

    m4_window.jpg

    But it doesn’t fall directly under the archway, so they’re probably still alive. It’s too risky to go down the stairs and draw reaction fire. A plan forms in my head: the door on the first floor connecting the kitchen to the foyer is locked so the enemy can’t get through, and there is a back window in the kitchen. We are above both places. Conclusion:

    m4_floor.jpg

    Luke puts a panzerfaust rocket through the floorboards. “Don’t mind us, ma’am. Schnell! Schnell!” We jump down the hole into the kitchen (which Gunar reported as empty of activity) and make our getaway through the back window while armed civilians and British patrols bear down on us.

    m4_clue.jpg

    So apparently all the Allies are experiencing the same thing we are. The Allied joint force Ludwig speaks of sounds like it has the same objectives we do. We need to investigate this further, but right now we’re being called back to Germany.

    Next up: Our scientists have some results they need to share about the mysterious weapon.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    You should take some overhead screenshots of the battlefield sometime, maybe after all the fighting, so we can see all the dead bodies and items and stuff.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    There are missions with death and destruction on a massive scale, but none of my missions have been spectacular... yet. It will get better as I get further into the game, but I'm trying to focus on tactical screenshots for the most part. I did show the aftermath of the British HQ mission.

    Believe me, I will be showing carnage. It's one of the best parts of the gameplay. Unfortunately, screenshots don't capture action which is what makes it truly amazing, but I will do what I can.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Wow, you really are going about this in a creative way. I should reinstall the game and try to think harder about group tactics. :P

    DarkPrimus on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 5: Briefing on the mysterious weapon

    Montage edition.

    m5_scene.jpg

    m5_scene2.jpg

    m5_scene3.jpg

    m5_scene4.jpg

    m5_scene5.jpg

    m5_scene6.jpg

    m5_enemy.jpg

    m5_grenade.jpg

    m5_fire2.jpg

    m5_pass.jpg

    m5_fire3.jpg

    m5_enemy2.jpg

    m5_fire.jpg

    m5_clue.jpg

    The traitor Oberleutnant Friedrich Keller was killed in action. Dr. Ulrich Strauss was not harmed.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Attributes, Skills, and Abilities

    One of the great parts about this game is the RPG element. Your characters level-up as they go on missions and do actions. Experience growth is based on intelligence, one of three attributes with the others being strength and dexterity. These also go up, albeit slowly. Level and attributes determine action points, vitality points, and evasion.

    Characters also have skills, which increase proportionally to level and class (with the Watchdog mod). For example, a sniper will have the highest “Snipe” skill and a decent “Hide” skill, but not a good “Burst” skill. That one is best with the soldier. Skills like Engineering and Medicine determine what items the character can actually use. Even though all characters can use all weapons, a particular class does them best. A medic CAN snipe with a scoped rifle, but he’ll suck in comparison. Skills along with attributes determine how far you can throw grenades, if you are detected whilst hiding, etc.

    stats_Gari.jpg

    Here are Gari’s stats. The blue bar is progress to next, not overall progress.

    Abilities are the most dynamic part of the game. Every class has an ability tree ala Diablo 2. This ensures that no character turns out the same, even if you have a bunch of scouts in one party. They could specialize in stealth, vision/hearing, small arms skills, melee skills, or a little from each. However, the game won’t last long enough to get all of them, and some are much better than others. There are abilities for the Engineer and Medic that reduce the limitation on equipment. The best sniper skill is Always Inflict Ranged Critical (last one at the bottom).

    stats_Eagle.jpg

    This is the sniper skill tree.

    Always Inflict Ranged Critical guarantees that whatever part of the body you strike will cripple it in some way. A shot to the leg can reduce AP, arm can reduce hit %, chest can reduce VP, and head can be blindness, deafness, stun, or instant-death (head literally asplode). Oh yeah, snipers also do insane damage anyways. In fact, that whole skill line is basically: shoot for less AP, and farther, and more accurate, and more damage, and always critical.

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • TzenTzen Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    This thread is so awesome it's making me want to buy this game so badly.

    However, if I do, I think I'll just A) get my ass handed to me and B) get turned off whenever I shoot a dude in the face with a rocket and he doesn't die.

    Tzen on
  • Mustachio JonesMustachio Jones jerseyRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    I managed to find the Gold box a couple months back, and bought'd it so fast everyone in the store was looking at me funny.

    Needless to say the joke's on them.

    Mustachio Jones on
  • inthegrayinthegray Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    fantastic thread. were the old x-com threads your inspiration for presenting Silent Storm in this format?

    inthegray on
  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited November 2007
    No! Don't stop reading because I insulted JA2!
    I stopped reading there.

    Nah, just kidding. :P Silent Storm is a good game (mostly) Although you do make me want to do a Let's Play of JA2.
    Which is a superior game in every way. :D

    -SPI- on
  • TzenTzen Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    -SPI- wrote:
    Although you do make me want to do a Let's Play of JA2.

    I dare you. I double dog dare you. Others have tried; all have failed.

    Okay, so I think one other guy started one and never finished.

    Tzen on
  • davertrondavertron Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Very nice thread, I just have to say that I absolutely loved this game when it came out. It was definitely one of those games that kind of snuck under the radar though. I really wish that it had multiplayer of some kind. Also, is there a story to this game??? Heh, I remember playing it and not having a clue what was going on. Anyway, I've thought about going back and playing it again, but haven't for whatever reason. I'm going to see if I can dig up my copy later after reading this. :)

    Also, I've never played the Jagged Alliance games, but if they're similar to this I would definitely give them a try. I've really been jonesin' for a good tactical rpg lately. Any other recommendations?

    davertron on
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  • TzenTzen Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    davertron wrote: »
    Also, I've never played the Jagged Alliance games, but if they're similar to this I would definitely give them a try. I've really been jonesin' for a good tactical rpg lately. Any other recommendations?

    JA2 is hard. Hard. Fallout: Tactics is pretty fun.

    I must confess that I never finished either. I get annoyed with all of the micromanagement and just give up.

    Tzen on
  • davertrondavertron Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    What I really like about SS was the ragdoll and environmental stuff. That made it pretty fun, but I'm the same way. I think I played half of SS and then moved on to other stuff at the time, but I liked it a lot.

    I remember playing the demo for Fallout Tactics when it came out and I really liked it even though most people seemed to hate it at the time. I loved the Fallout games, and even though this was a pretty serious departure, I thought it seemed solid. Maybe I'll have to go back and give that a run.

    davertron on
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  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    inthegray wrote: »
    fantastic thread. were the old x-com threads your inspiration for presenting Silent Storm in this format?

    Very yes. All of a sudden the X-COM threads started popping up and I realized how much I wanted to play my favorite turn-based strategy game (sans X-COM).

    Should I put my mission posts into spoilers so that I don't kill everyone's v-scroll when they're trying to read the rest of the thread?

    VeritasVR on
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    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 6: Capture British scientist

    We need to get this guy before whoever attacked us at the lab does it first. We enter the map at the front of a British mansion. The mansion is surrounded by a stone wall, but it is low enough that we can climb over (unlike the German stone wall from the first mission). Gunar crawls up to the gate and notices that there’s only one guard. Eagle takes aim and spends her points on aiming for a few turns, while Luke, Axel, Mike, and Gari scale the wall and head to the side of the mansion.

    m6_hole.jpg

    “I’m pretty sure this isn’t supposed to be here-“ *BRRRATATATAT*

    m6_fire2.jpg

    “What the hell is going on? Who else is in there? Axel, Mike, check the rear of the mansion and report back.”

    m6_back.jpg

    Some British guards hear us sneaking around. Two approach the side of the mansion where Luke and Gari are.

    m6_tactical.jpg

    Gunar fires his silenced submachine gun at the front guard, but he’s too far away to effectively take him out. Eagle takes her shot after having several turns to aim, and strikes him through the skull.

    m6_fire.jpg

    Luke and Gari finish off the two remaining guards after they run into our reaction fire. We finally catch a glimpse inside of a German Fallschirmjager uniform (same as Gunar’s). Didn’t know this place was scheduled for infiltration by another unit.

    m6_talk.jpg

    Meanwhile…

    m6_scene.jpg

    British reinforcements show up en masse. Mike and Axel spot some more of our guys, but then they open fire on us! That is, until Axel tosses an explosive charge at the window which blows another hole in the building. Gari and Luke are in a firefight with the same until-recently-presumed-friendly troops at the other side.

    It’s a bloody free-for-all. British vs. German impostors vs. AS2! They must be from the same renegade group that attacked us at the lab.

    “Come on, we got to go save the professor.” Eventually we take out all non-friendly troops on the floor. Mike descends into the basement to discover one of the mystery troopers carrying out an unconscious British scientist, presumably the one we need.

    m6_carry.jpg

    Mike drops the soldier and picks up the scientist as we all make a quick getaway out of the hole in the back wall. Luke picks up a note address to Dr. Compton a special rocket fuel stored at a nearby military warehouse. We need information about this and what it’s being used for. That’s our next stop after we bring the good doctor back to Germany.

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • KerdosKerdos Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Seeing this made me want to play the game again... but where did you download the mods from? Watchdog is the one that I really must have if I'm gonna start playing again.

    Kerdos on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Watchdog mod

    Version 0.2, but it works perfectly with the latest version of Silent Storm (v1.2).

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 7: Gather intel on British counter-intel

    Intelligence wars. So there’s this warehouse that’s apparently involved with the scientist that the renegade soldiers were trying to capture. Some of the stuff he’s working with is really important, and we need to find out why it’s so important.

    Lots of people have trouble with this mission because they go in with guns blazing to try take down everyone. There’s only one objective and it’s quite simple really. First, look at the overview map.

    m7_map.jpg

    Where do you think hidden documents would be? If you said the warehouses, you’re wrong. If you said The Office- I mean, the office, then you’re right. Unfortunately the train gate is on the far side from the office, and the other gate is very exposed.

    So what do we do?

    Set explosives near wall.

    m7_mine.jpg

    Hit with Panzerfaust.

    m7_explode.jpg

    Profit!

    Okay so we’re in, and Gunar gets inside through the office window. Meanwhile, the rest of AS2 takes up position outside the wall to cover Gunar’s escape from the massive amounts of British infantry that just heard that explosion. Eagle and Mike provide covering fire from the nearby house, but that isn’t too necessary as Gunar encounters no one in the office. He gets in, grabs the papers, and gets out in 2 turns.

    m7_clue.jpg

    Not exactly what I was looking for, but this is interesting nonetheless.

    Everyone retreats under a hail of gunfire and I’m pretty sure I counted at least 12 red silhouettes hot on our tail.

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • totallytotally Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Yeah, I love this game. I play through every six months or so. Lots of variance in what missions you will get per game.
    The Axis have it so much better than the Allies in this game though. Better missions, cooler weapons/uniforms and a way more pimp base.
    Too bad the Jagged Alliance game based in this engine got canned. SS2 or 3 set in modern times with modern weapons would be so fucking awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUWAvqjnYw WW2 gets kinda played after a while.

    totally on
    GT: totallyrobot GSID: totallytotally
  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    -SPI- wrote: »
    No! Don't stop reading because I insulted JA2!
    I stopped reading there.

    Nah, just kidding. :P Silent Storm is a good game (mostly) Although you do make me want to do a Let's Play of JA2.
    Which is a superior game in every way. :D


    JA2 will always be my favorite, but Silent Storm did have some sweet things that JA2 didnt.

    Basically, JA2 and SS need to make a baby.

    Kris_xK on
    calvinhobbessleddingsig2.gif
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 8: Recover hidden documents

    We seriously need some answers to this goddamn mess we’ve got ourselves into. A guaranteed lead starts with those documents that our spy left behind in Scotland. This should be rather uneventful. We’re the only ones who know the location. But just to be safe, we proceed slowly ahead. Are you ahead of me here?

    m8_hide.jpg

    That’s right. British troops. (Why?!) And here comes a patrol. Let’s try to stay hidden for as long as possible.

    m8_ambush.jpg

    Gunar is stuck in the middle between two squads of infantry. As everyone else attacks the patrol, Mike guards our flank by providing suppression fire.

    m8_fire.jpg

    Our scout slowly comes up behind one of the soldiers on the road. Eagle holds fire to not hit Gunar, but the soldier turns around and tries to shoot him at close range with his Lee-Enfield…

    m8_cqc.jpg

    … but is bested in melee combat. By the way, that is one of the sweet screenshots I've managed to capture. Gunar then goes behind the infantry pinned down by Mike and grabs the documents lying behind some rocks without further incident. FYI, this mission was amazing with the Bourne Identity soundtrack considering what happened in this mission. Just wanted to point that out.

    m8_clue.jpg

    So the Russian scientists are being kidnapped too, but they have apparently seen proof of a third party involved in these incidents. Perhaps this is the same party that tried to recover the mysterious weapon, eliminate us, and kidnap the British scientist?

    This was an excellent lead.

    For his actions, Gunar was rewarded with the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords.

    m8_reward.jpg

    We need to question our mole in the British Commonwealth, Major Alfred Newhouse, to see what he knows about this possible third party. If there is such a force, they already have the ability to compromise our ranks and eliminate any threat to their organization.

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • totallytotally Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    VeritasVR wrote: »

    I also used these mods:

    Ammo Fixes 1.2 - modifies the names of most equipment and rebalances some.
    Changed Axis Standard Skin - makes your Axis troops look like the Wehrmacht/Fallshirmjager.
    Class Value Changes - revalues some combat skills to make the game more realistic.
    Difficulty Grade Changes - makes the difficulty selection for certain values and coefficients more balanced.
    Easier Specialty Items - makes the better engineer and medic items easier to use, as they require an impossibly a high skill in vanilla.
    Fast Animation - speeds up all action in the game and shortens the enemy turn phase animations.
    Faster Skill Progress - increases the statistics of enemy skills and sets your initial character level to 0 so you can pick any skill at the start.
    Improved Backstab - because when you actually get a chance to use it, use it for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
    No PKs - removes all PKs from the game and replaces them with a soldier carrying an MG, but you need to remove it at the final battle or else it will crash the game.
    Also I have the "Watchdog mod" which is a block of text added to one of the .ini files. This mod makes your characters gain skill without forcing them to use the skill so many times. Finally, engineers and medics are useful when they are needed. Your soldiers have the same skill as the soldiers you don't recruit (because they get skill without seeing combat, which is retarded.)

    Ok, I have found that this combination of mods crashes the shit out of my game.
    Any pointers? I am patched to 1.2, of course. Of all the mods listed I have only not previously used the Axis skins, no PK mod and the faster skill progress mod. So it is one of these, I think.
    Are you getting all your mods (excluding the watchdog .ini patch) from the StrategyCore website? http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/index.php?cid=33
    or from here? http://s2mods.tripod.com/

    totally on
    GT: totallyrobot GSID: totallytotally
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Mission 9: Question British officer

    "I have a simple job planned for this evening.

    Break into a guarded mansion, question another fat officer for information, and leave quietly. Major Alfred Newhouse is at his desk, and rumor has it that the captain of his house guard went with him, as a bodyguard. The time is ripe for a bit of burglary.

    The front gate of Major Newhouse's manor is always guarded, and the main street is far too exposed.

    m9_plan.jpg

    But our mole tells me there's a better way in....around to the side, more out of the way. One patrol and likely no witnesses to...complicate matters.

    m9_sneak.jpg

    The information we want is a lead... reliable, solid, the usual adornments. It should command a high price. Newhouse, like most of his kind, probably has his office on the top floor of the place. Close to his heart...and far from his servants.

    No point in waiting. I have some recon pictures of the place, and everyone who's going to be asleep inside already is. It's time to begin....”

    m9_explosion.jpg

    So much for the covert approach. My grenade set off some compressed air tanks in the basement which took out the entire floor along with two people.

    Unfortunately for me, the front entrance has the only path to the second floor. Well, who said I couldn’t get up there another way? The bathroom on the first floor is right below a corner bedroom so I won’t get ambushed when I blast through the ceiling.

    m9_faust.jpg

    Except that guy.

    m9_fire.jpg

    I found an odd note in that room, by the way. Apparently an Irish cargo ship was sunk in the North Sea, 260 kilometers off the coast of Scotland. I wonder why this would be notable? Anyways, everyone else is doing their own thing to prevent me from getting flanked on my way to find Newhouse.

    Ah, the mole is willing to cooperate.

    m9_scene.jpg

    Good point. Next time, I’ll phone. We found a note in his office about another conversation with “Hel” and another name “Surt”. What does this mean?

    I’ll save the screenshots of the other clues out of this one. The interrogation basically went like this: I asked him all my questions and he responded with this:

    - The note we just found? Apparently he sent it to one of our agents in a British village to decode it.
    - The secret rocket fuel that the British scientist was working on? The details were sent to a British courier working for the Axis.
    - The Irish ship being sunk off the coast? Newhouse played ignorant. Oberst Koch asked him to keep an eye on vessels in that region though.

    There’s that name again: Oberst Koch. He signed the pass to the German officer that tried to kill us in the lab. So many questions, yet so few answers.

    For his actions in this mission, Axel was awarded the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords which was also awarded to Gunar in the last mission. Luke is awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his situation awareness and efficient execution of tactical maneuvers.

    m9_reward.jpg

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    totally wrote: »
    VeritasVR wrote: »

    I also used these mods:

    Ammo Fixes 1.2 - modifies the names of most equipment and rebalances some.
    Changed Axis Standard Skin - makes your Axis troops look like the Wehrmacht/Fallshirmjager.
    Class Value Changes - revalues some combat skills to make the game more realistic.
    Difficulty Grade Changes - makes the difficulty selection for certain values and coefficients more balanced.
    Easier Specialty Items - makes the better engineer and medic items easier to use, as they require an impossibly a high skill in vanilla.
    Fast Animation - speeds up all action in the game and shortens the enemy turn phase animations.
    Faster Skill Progress - increases the statistics of enemy skills and sets your initial character level to 0 so you can pick any skill at the start.
    Improved Backstab - because when you actually get a chance to use it, use it for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
    No PKs - removes all PKs from the game and replaces them with a soldier carrying an MG, but you need to remove it at the final battle or else it will crash the game.
    Also I have the "Watchdog mod" which is a block of text added to one of the .ini files. This mod makes your characters gain skill without forcing them to use the skill so many times. Finally, engineers and medics are useful when they are needed. Your soldiers have the same skill as the soldiers you don't recruit (because they get skill without seeing combat, which is retarded.)

    Ok, I have found that this combination of mods crashes the shit out of my game.
    Any pointers? I am patched to 1.2, of course. Of all the mods listed I have only not previously used the Axis skins, no PK mod and the faster skill progress mod. So it is one of these, I think.
    Are you getting all your mods (excluding the watchdog .ini patch) from the StrategyCore website? http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/index.php?cid=33
    or from here? http://s2mods.tripod.com/

    I got them from both of those sites, yes. If you start a the last mission with the No-PK mod active, it will crash. That was the only crash I've ever had with this game. I tried using the "Realistic Item Size" mod that make weapons and stuff take up a lot more room, but this ended up disabling enemy AI. As a result, I handicap myself by only using half of my inventory space.

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • totallytotally Registered User regular
    edited November 2007
    Looks like my crashes were from a recent Windows update. Woops, thanks MS! Rollback the OS and problem solved.

    I really enjoy your smash and grab style VeritasVR, very gung ho. No sense in having destructible environments if you can not exploit them.





    As an aside, anybody play that Night Watch game that Nival released?

    totally on
    GT: totallyrobot GSID: totallytotally
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