Just started a few days ago, have a few questions

[AFSST]

I'm active duty USAF living in Korea. I read about Silent Storm in one of my gaming magazines, and since I enjoyed X-com. I decided to purchase a copy of Silent Storm over the internet. Installed it a few days ago and after tweaking the graphics settings a little, am on my way. I have a few questions now that I've completed two missions. I apologize if this is not the proper forum to ask...

 

1) How do you throw grenades or shoot your weapon at a door or other object? A few times, I encountered enemy that was "red" (because I couldn't see them) and I wanted to chuck a grenade in the middle of their group. They were very close, so I don't think range was the issue. My engineer (strength of 10) had the 'nade. Another time, I couldn't get through a door (it wasn't boobytrapped because my other engineer was there and she had previously detected and disarmed a boobytrapped door), and I wanted to blow the door up, but I couldn't figure out how. Each time I equipped the gun or grenade, all I got was a finger symbol or the red circle with the slash through it.

 

2) A few times, there was a game clue on the table, but my character couldn't pick it up. Was his/her intelligence too low?

 

3) How do I train on a new weapon? I picked up a new machine gun, but the familiarity to my soldier was zero. Should I just use it and he will train up automatically?

 

4) I've been reading on this forum about numerous patches, but I don't want to make the game unrealistic by adding super weapons or by increasing my characters' abilities beyond reasonable levels. What patches are essential (don't need 1.2 since I already have it) to improve game play without creating a "win button?" (Right now I'm playing on the easy level to familiarize myself with the game, then I'll increase the level).

 

5) When I'm back at "headquarters," only my team leader can trade with the weapons guy. So I have to trade back and forth with my leader and the other 5 team members. Is that the intent?

 

I guess that's all for now. If this post is not appropriate for this forum, please let me know. Thanks!

[DoomMunky]

First of all, ASSFT, you're in the right place, and welcome to the forums! You chose a kick-ass game. I might move this post to the Support forum, but it doesn't really matter that much.

 

1) To target a door, press A (attack default) with a character selected and you should get the red targeting icon when you mouse over something that the character can see and is in range (if it's attackable, in other words, and basically everything is). You should be able to blow any door or window this way: a red outline should even come up around the door. For windows, keep in mind that you should probably attack the closest thing BEYOND the window, along the characters line of sight, so that if they shoot at that thing, they happen to shoot through the window...

 

2) Int. too low? Probably not, but a good guess. If you have hints turned off in the Gameplay options screen, you won't see anything if you pick up a gameplay hint in-game. Otherwise, if it was a mission objective-type of clue, you might need to have room in your inventory to successfully pick it up. Also, in a few rare cases your character can't 'get to' the clue, and you should shoot the table/chair/dresser that it's resting on so that it falls to the ground and can be picked up. Do these ideas help?

 

3) All training in this game is through use of the skill; Burst is trained by using burst fire, Medical by using medical items, Engineering uses engineering items, and so on. There's another thing called Familiarity, too, which is not a skill. In S2, the Familiarity rating your character has with a weapon is a very poorly explained and understood function in the game. You gain it by using the weapon, and it confers bonuses on the character, but how much of a bonus it gives or how fast it rises is hard to tell. I'm usually just happy when it's there, and cry when it's not. Trading up to a 'better' weapon might not always be a good idea if your Familiarity is very high, but how you make this call is up to you. Maybe it's a Role-Playing choice for you (My characters tend to get attached to certain weapons, and go so far as to sleep with them).

 

4) In my book, there are three or four Mods I load every time I play. You should absolutely go through the game 'cleanly' until you have a really good sense of the game. Then you can use Mods to fill in the holes as you see them. My essentials areDifficulty Grade Changes, Easier Medical and Engineering Items, The PKMod , and the Resized Items Mod. I also use the speed mod from https://s2mods.tripod.com because it makes the gameplay faster (though this is for those of us who have played through a couple times). Actually all of these are for those who've played it a bit. All of these are safe, by the way, and run fine with every version I've ever used.

 

5) Only your leader can initiate conversation with the weapons dude, but everyone should be able to be selected and trade directly with the dude. Just press the number key that corresponds to them, the TAB key to cycle through them, or click on their name-tag to select them, and their inventory will come up and interface with his...

 

Whew! Great questions! Keep 'em coming!

[AFSST]

Thanks very much for the great responses!

 

I finally figured out how to throw a grenade at an area. I'm sure after some more trial and error, I'll discover more intricacies.

 

I still haven't been able to make it through a mission without having at least one member of my team die. I know it's cheating, but I usually just reload the last "safe" file and proceed from there (with the new knowledge of the threat of course).

 

I've transitioned all my soldiers to rifles except one (who has a heavy machine gun). The rifles give me many more options, and I move to pistols in the close in fight (where I formerly used the SMG).

 

The game is way too addicting though, and I spent all last night dreaming about clicking in moving along colored dots...anyone else have that problem?

[DoomMunky]

Hmmm, moving along colored dots? In eighth grade I was playing a ton of Civilization, and once I was in the bathroom, examining a zit, and wondering how many turns I had to pop it. My sophomore year in High School I was playing so much Tie Fighter that when I went on a camping trip with my Drama class and closed my eyes that night I saw the HUD of the Tie Fighter suspended in the air before me... Hell, last night I dreamed about editing my brand-new blog https://doommunky.mindsay.com/. That's pretty sick, right?

 

You're in good company!

 

And yeah, rifles are totally the way to go. If you install the Resized Items mod, you can only carry one rifle, in one of your quick slots, making your connection to and reliance on that one rifle that much more intense.

 

Blowing holes in everything with grenades and rocket launchers is one of the singular pleasures of this game, as is identifying so much with all the guys and gals in your squad that you can't bear to leave them for dead. You know, on the easier difficulties, they 'die' very infrequently (you have to get down to -150 VP for perma-death to happen) and can actually be carried out of the map at the end and revived after the mission? I like this a lot, as it means I have to take the immediate consequences of my actions, but I don't have to lose that character for the rest of the game.

 

No! Toki! Not again!