Screenshots

[FullAuto]

"I say, the house is surrounded. Why don't you gentlemen surrender now and save yourselves a spot of bother?"

 

One stick of dynamite later.

 

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/1dynamite.jpg

 

German engineering, mein Englander liebchen.

 

"Sir, I challenge you to a duel. Ten paces, semi-automatics, first person to flinch and run away is a big girl."

 

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/duel.jpg

[Zombie]

Funny stuff!

 

I should have took a screenshot of the initial mission I was just on. I got behind the stationary gun on the bike and shot a whole bunch of rounds. Didn't do much except punch a hole in the fence. The enemies turn had one guy run through the fence to get a closer shot. Pling, pling. Shots ricocheted of the bike. Next soldier moves through the fence. Because his buddy was blocking LOS, I thought he would move next to him and shoot. Nope. He actually got directly in front of his friend! Pling, Pling. More shots ricocheted off the bike. Now it was my turn. Let out a full auto with that chain gun at near point-blank range with both soldiers flying back about 20 feet. Idiot AI at it's best!

 

- Zombie

[Pete]

Gotta admire the physics in this game though. I've had corpses dangling from branches of trees in that first mission when I fired at point blank range.

[Zombie]

I like the physics engine, don't get me wrong. But it exaggerates things to the point of being ridiculous. I mean, bullets cannot and will not cause living or dead bodies to fly backwards that far when shot. The conservation of energy prevents that: bullets have very little mass so a body (having much more mass) will just absorb the kinetic impact causing it to go backwards a fraction of an inch not feet.

 

It makes for some very funny scenes though, that's true.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

I like the physics engine, don't get me wrong. But it exaggerates things to the point of being ridiculous. I mean, bullets cannot and will not cause living or dead bodies to fly backwards that far when shot. The conservation of energy prevents that: bullets have very little mass so a body (having much more mass) will just absorb the kinetic impact causing it to go backwards a fraction of an inch not feet.

 

I knew I liked you, Zombie. Firearms are my occasional hobby, and the amount of people who think bullets knock people flying is unbelievable, it really makes my blood boil.

 

The entire point of a bullet is to penetrate you, not knock you over. Thankfully, the penetration physics are a bit better, although TBH I don't think any of the bullets penetrate enough. /pedant mode off.

[Pete]

But it's fun to launch people in games

[Knan]

Cinematics, people, cinematics. Blowing people through windows with automatic fire is much more fun than having them fall down on the spot and bleed just a little bit.

 

And to be pedantic, the point is killing you/putting you out of business, not penetrating you. Having the bullet stop inside your body somewhere is good, since then all the kinetic energy will have been transferred to damage your body.

 

Hmm. Screenshots. Better make some, I guess.

[FullAuto]

But it's fun to launch people in games

 

Yes it is. Just as long as you don't expect the same thing to happen when you shoot your neighbour over that hedge WHICH IS COMPLETELY OVER THE PROPERTY LINE OMIGAWD.

 

Having the bullet stop inside your body somewhere is good, since then all the kinetic energy will have been transferred to damage your body.

 

Far as I am aware, the three main things to take into account are 1) hit location, 2) penetration and 3) calibre, which are all to do with the projectile's path. The damage from temporary cavitation only becomes noteworthy with high velocity rifle rounds. Anything less, it doesn't really matter whether the bullet dumps all its KE or not - "The amount of kinetic energy lost in the tissue by a pistol bullet is insignificant to cause the remote injuries produced by a high-velocity rifle bullet." (Good old Dr Di Maio and his Gunshot Wounds, the scamp!).

 

Also, more screenshots, swine!

[Knan]

The neighbour has probably watched enough movies to oblige, unconsciously

[Zombie]

Bah to cinematics and yeah to realism in squad based strategy games! I think Nival could have made the game both fun and believable at the same time. But stooping to the level of Hollywood special effects to bamboozle the general populace into buying (and enjoying) the game is just weak in character. Instead of souped up special effects, I would have liked to see that effort put forth to better blood spattering. (At least on the very low video settings I'm running it on, the spattering is rather disappointing). Or a faster enemy turn, or text which matches gun to clip, or better AI, or any number of things. Lots of these issues can be fixed with mods, but Nival could have done a better job of eliminating them before the release.

 

Also, more screenshots, swine!

Aye aye Cap'n. Next time I run across something funny I'll be sure to do a print screen.

 

- Zombie

[Knan]

We were in need of an alternate entrance. The engineer obliged.

(Yes, that is a pretty thick reinforced wall...)

 

The guy in the foreground just got caught in the ensuing crossfire, I think.

 

https://anduin.net/~knan/alternate_entrance.jpg

[Slaughter]

Seeing this I wish I had the games here (being home on Easter vacation) instead of where I live... Keep them coming!

[Zombie]

Say, did you hear something upstairs?

Yup.

Want me to take care of it?

Um, sure. How...

 

 

That's how! A blaze of hot lead from the trusty Lewis MK1 from below is a great way to open things up.

 

That Nazi scumbag refused to move. Not only that, but he was very proficient in hiding: meaning my L4 scout couldn't find him. Could have dumped a grenade or two through the door and that would have finished him off, but 2 rounds worth of .303 bullets did the same thing. Sucka!

 

- Zombie

[Kizmiaz]

Damn you! Now you gotten me to fire up this old game.

 

The extra entrance to this floor seen behind the sniper armed with a scoped Mosin-Nagant and a Mauser Schnellfeuer was a collaboration between Jerzey and Bren, nicely scouted out by Injun Kate.

A particularly nice shot rendered an enemy folded over a chair like an old suit.

 

https://www.postimage.org/aV1we24A.jpg

As the smoke slowly drifted from the barrel and the pungent smell of cordite blanketed the room, the insight of what she had done slowly began to dawn on Tavarich.

[Zombie]

Damn you! Now you gotten me to fire up this old game.

My sinister plan is now starting to come together.

 

The extra entrance to this floor seen behind the sniper armed with a scoped Mosin-Nagant and a Mauser Schnellfeuer was a collaboration between Jerzey and Bren, nicely scouted out by Injun Kate.

A particularly nice shot rendered an enemy folded over a chair like an old suit.

Looks like that dead soldier is trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver on himself. That's an inventive way of getting snipers from floor to floor without going up the stairs which can be a bottleneck (and need I say it: deathtrap). I'll be sure to remember that little trick.

 

What type of weapon did you use to make the hole? I'm trying to find a decent Machine Gun for opening up floors and walls and the only thing I found in the soldier inventories is the Lewis MK1 so I've been using that. (As an added bonus, it uses .303 ammo so I can load it with clips from my Lee-Enfield snipers or visa versa. More importantly, one clip of Lewis ammo takes up 4 spaces and provides 47 rounds while 4 Lee-Enfield clips only provide 40 rounds in the same space. Thus my snipers can carry one clip of Lewis ammo and be set for 3-5 missions without going back to base to restock).

 

I'm in awe of the lighting effects in that pic. Unfortunately for me, I have to keep the settings at the bare minimum to prevent the game from crashing my system. So please excuse the quality of any of my screenshots.

 

- Zombie

[Kizmiaz]

What type of weapon did you use to make the hole?

A Bren LMG to which you can feed the same ammo as to the Lewis and Lee-Enfiled. The drawback is that it only take 20 shots in the mag, but it has a better range than the Lewis.

I usually use the Chatellerault MG until I can find any better. When you play Allies you can use the MAS rifle ammo in it.

[FullAuto]

The drawback is that it only take 20 shots in the mag, but it has a better range than the Lewis.

 

The Ammo Fixes mod corrects this to 30, as well as being more accurate overall as far as ammo types are concerned, and sorting out things like 'Lee Enfiled'.

 

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/bongeye.jpg

 

Losing one eye obviously didn't worsen Klaus' aim at all

[Zombie]

LOL! Though, you don't really need 2 good eyes for sniping as scopes are monocular, right? There isn't any depth perception involved there. Or is there? Is the other "naked" eye used for judging things?

 

Why is it that the Lewis MK1 which uses .303 ammo has a severe range limitation when compared to the Lee-Enfield? Is it because the Lee-Enfield has a rifled barrel while the Lewis does not? It's a pretty big drop in distance though, I was always under the impression rifling was mainly done for accuracy, but I guess it plays a role in distance as well. Not that it matters really, the intent of machine guns is mainly ROF but you would think that distance is just as important.

 

Never really noticed the misspelling of the Lee-Enfield before. Though it doesn't surprise me with all the crazy naming conventions used for ammo/guns.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

Though, you don't really need 2 good eyes for sniping as scopes are monocular, right? There isn't any depth perception involved there. Or is there? Is the other "naked" eye used for judging things?

 

You can use a scope effectively with one eye, but if you keep your other eye open it prevents you getting 'lost' in the scope, and waving your rifle about like a loon when trying to find a target.

 

Why is it that the Lewis MK1 which uses .303 ammo has a severe range limitation when compared to the Lee-Enfield? Is it because the Lee-Enfield has a rifled barrel while the Lewis does not? It's a pretty big drop in distance though, I was always under the impression rifling was mainly done for accuracy, but I guess it plays a role in distance as well.

 

I think it's just for game balance reasons, with the Lewis being a WWI era design. AFAIK the Lewis gun had a rifled barrel. Rifling does improve accuracy, so you can hit targets at longer ranges with it, because it imparts spin to the bullet, making it more stable (as long as the spin lasts, anyway).

[Kizmiaz]

I'm in awe of the lighting effects in that pic. Unfortunately for me, I have to keep the settings at the bare minimum to prevent the game from crashing my system.

Well, this game was one of the reasons I got a new graphic card.

Aside from lightning effects, the shattering glass, the little puffs of smoke and bulletholes appearing on the walls when you shoot is really beautiful.

 

https://www.postimage.org/Pq1P1ukS.jpg

 

 

When engineer Hans Gr

[Zombie]

Hurray! My hero has her first medal!

 

https://www.postimage.org/aV2fRaxi.jpg

 

I just visited a random encounter and came across this enemy formation:

 

https://www.postimage.org/aV2fRr_i.jpg

 

That's my "U" formation!!! Too bad I'm smarter than the AI, because that setup didn't do them any good against my team. You'll notice I gave the Silenced & Scoped Mauser 98 to Abala to use; my scout has decided to use a pistol from now on.

 

Here's a good one. I was at this random encounter today and killed most of the enemies on the map. However, I didn't visit the house with the fireplace yet simply because I knew there was going to be an enemy crouched below the steps waiting for someone to peek through the door. That guy always carries a Chatellerault so anyone stupid enough to get too close to the door will get mowed down. Instead of shooting the brick wall with a Machine Gun (which would open up reaction fire to my gunner since he can't stay hidden during a burst mode) I decided I'd make my hero scout attempt to open up the wall with some attacks from her trusty Combat Dagger. Guess what? It eventually worked! So I went along the wall attacking it until I found the bugger:

 

https://www.postimage.org/Pq2gOgMJ.jpg

 

*from Predator* "I seeee youuuu". A few shots with the silenced pistol was enough to put that baddie down! Too bad my scout couldn't reach through the hole to stab him in the head, otherwise it would have been perfect. This is going to be my primary strategy whenever I visit this type of map in the future.

 

Same mission, about 20-30 turns later. Thinking ahead, I sent my Scout upstairs to do some cursory exploration (there's usually a baddie in the upstairs living room/bedroom). So instead of opening the door, I had my scout attack the wall again. Once through that, she had to attack a dresser which was in the way. After that she came barging through the hole to find, well, nothing! WTF! The room was completely empty. Feeling let down, I decided to train her melee stat by attacking furniture. Chop, chop. She blew through most of it quite easily. Then she accidentally attacked the floor she was standing on and fell through to the lower level. Fine, I'll just attack that square black leather chair that sits in the middle of the room. Standing up didn't seem to do anything so I had my scout kneel down and attack the chair. After a couple rounds she hit something on the chair which caused the debris to fly back and close the door! Intrigued, I continued to order my scout to attack the chair. A few swipes later, the chair disintegrated but this enemy soldier came falling down out of nowhere:

 

https://www.postimage.org/gx1kBnhr.jpg

 

Do you think he was kneeling on top of the chair? The floor above was fine, so that would be my only guess... Why couldn't my scout see the enemy though? Was his hide stat good so my scout wasn't able to detect him? Whatever the case, when he fell to the floor below he became visible. Standing that close to my scout with a knife in the ready could only mean one thing: 2-3 stabs in the back with the ol' Combat Dagger. Gotcha!

 

The mission didn't end there though as the leave button was still red. So I slowly advanced my troops to the far side of the map. Found one guy hunkered down next to the electric transformer on the ground, so I had Nessy sneak up with his silenced M3A1 SMG while my two snipers circled around to hopefully get some shots from the rear in case things didn't work out. Nessy was spotted (of course, his hide isn't too good right now) and took a Mauser shot to the back. It didn't take him out, so he shot a burst at the enemy. Another one bites the dust! But the mission still wasn't over!!! A couple rounds later my two snipers heard someone sneaking around the corner of the building. I had them stand up (which revealed the enemy) then sent a few sniped shots in the direction of the enemy. Dead. That was the end of the mission! So I had Abala heal some minor wounds on Katya and Gator (to gain medical experience) then sent the troops home for a well earned rest. Great job team, you earned your pay this week!

 

So that's my mini-mission summary.

 

- Zombie

[Kizmiaz]

Congrats on the Medal!

 

Hidden enemies is a pa

[Zombie]

Congrats on the Medal!

 

Hidden enemies is a pa

[Kizmiaz]

So did you recover two Sea Devils or did you recover one and the second just popped up in inventory? I haven't found this weapon yet, but I assume that if you visit enough missions you can recover more of them.

I found 1 Sea Devil when I got that special encounter. I rarely use them but since I hata to throw a good weapon away, I stored it at the base.

Later on I got that special encounter again and to my surprise I recovered yet another Sea Devil.

These encounters renders a lot of nice loot and experience besides the gun, so I usually go for them.

[Zombie]

I found 1 Sea Devil when I got that special encounter. I rarely use them but since I hata to throw a good weapon away, I stored it at the base.

Later on I got that special encounter again and to my surprise I recovered yet another Sea Devil.

These encounters renders a lot of nice loot and experience besides the gun, so I usually go for them.

It doesn't surprise me really. I think Silent Storm has preset weapon loadouts for each type of enemy on each map/mission (not unlike X-COM) so that would mean it's certainly possible to recover more than one of each item, assuming you visit enough missions to increase the probability in your favor.

 

Well, back to screenshots and a quick mission summary (if you guys don't mind). Sent my squad out on another random encounter for a quick training exercise but it didn't quite turn out that way. Instead of a road mission with the fence on each side, my squad found themselves on the same type of mission they were on the other day (the one with two big buildings and a wooden shed). This time it was during the day though. For the first couple of rounds I spaced my troops out, had everyone hide and put my 2 snipers in a prone position. Then I waited. Didn't take long to hear some activity inside the building near my starting position, so I had everyone dig in for the long haul. The door opens, an enemy steps out, then another enemy walks right in back of the other guy. Thinking I could get a 2-for-1 special, I had Nessy fire a full auto into the enemy soldier. Hurt, but not dead. Not wanting to reveal the locations of my snipers, I had Abala take a shot with his fancy Mauser 98. Dead! The soldier flew backwards and ended up leaning up against the still-hidden enemy in the doorway:

 

https://www.postimage.org/Pq2m9SWS.jpg

 

After I killed that guy in the doorway, all hell broke loose. Enemies came crawling out of the woodwork from all directions. My team held strong. My hero scout Katya, did a little stabbing at the wall next to her for a few rounds and finally made a hole big enough to look through. Good thing she did that because there were so many enemies inside the building that my guys outside would have never been able to handle all of them had it not been for Katya pre-injuring or killing the enemies as they crossed her LOS. My troops were still pinned down outside, so I sent Katya indoors when things started to cool off a bit. An enemy came running down the steps into the living room and didn't notice her standing in the doorway. So she dispatched that guy with a couple swipes from her Combat Dagger. As she turned, she gained LOS to an enemy who was camped out in the corner of the building. A few shots with her silenced pistol sent him packing. Another Nazi decided to sneak up to a picture window. Katya spotted him and my snipers outside shot him dead. Spotted an enemy with a SMG who ran out in front of the truck, but he didn't last long once my snipers opened up and Abala finished him off. Waited a good many rounds just to make sure the outdoors was clear so my squad could do some exploring. Here's a shot of the front of the truck with that enemy sporting that dead flexible look:

 

https://www.postimage.org/Pq2mcd6i.jpg

 

As you can see, the truck is full of bullet holes and is smoking not to mention that huge pile of corpses next to it. ("Leave anything for me"? Arnie: "Just bodies").

 

My men circled the truck inspecting the damage (it was the first time they saw a truck on this map). When I got around to the back of it I noticed a couple things on the ground laying partially under the truck:

 

https://www.postimage.org/aV2kuJ8S.jpg

 

It looks like it may be the wood chopping axe and another tool of some sort (maybe the Mine Shovel?). Pressing ALT doesn't bring up a description and the cursor will not recognize them either. It's like those two things are part of the truck. I tried shooting at the truck which partially destroys it, but those items cannot be recovered. Bah. I even modded a PIAT Rocket Launcher into the hands of my soldier along with 15 rockets but the explosions didn't hurt the truck (so much for fully destructible terrain). Any of you guys know what's going on?

 

Anyhow, Katya was just itching to kill again so I sent her into the last building. In preparation, I had her knock a hole in the wall just in case there was an enemy hiding there, but he must've got flushed out earlier. Had her start to kill the black leather chair, but before she could destroy it she heard movement upstairs. Ah-ha! The troops took up positions outside looking at the base of the steps. The enemy headed to the steps as tension builds. Katya makes a mad dash and takes up a spot under the steps where an enemy normally is. Next round the enemy vaults over the handrail and strafes (in a crouched position) down the steps looking away from Katya. (I think he was worried about those troops outside, so that's why he was facing in that direction the whole time). Then this idiot backs up until he is nearly one with Katya:

 

https://www.postimage.org/aV2kvK_A.jpg

 

I think you can guess what happened next? That knife was sharp and sliced through him easily so in two jabs he was a goner. "I'll take pleasure in guttin' you, boy".

 

Since my guy had a Rocket Launcher, I decided to partake in a little unauthorized demolition of structures. He obliterated one building and collapsed the other in a cloud of rubble. When inspecting the damage, I noticed there was a "Big Joe" gun sitting on the lower floor along with some darts. There was nothing there before the collapse so I theorized that there must be an enemy camped out somewhere upstairs. So I reloaded and carefully brought my scout and a machine gunner upstairs to investigate. Nothing. I increased the Level view and it looked like there was an attic up above. So my gunner blew a hole in the floor and Katya went up to snoop around. Well, well, well. Look what I found hidden in the attic:

 

https://www.postimage.org/Pq2mfdG9.jpg

 

Yup, it's that "Big Joe" gun. Gee, I wonder what else I have been missing in my previous missions...

 

- Zombie