Return to Castle Sentinelstein.

[Puksiskissa]

Indeed. Once again, it is time to play through the Silent Storm: Sentinels.

 

As an experienced player, I decided to make it (almost) as difficult as the game can be:

-Enemy AP: 160%

-Enemy VP: 200%

-Enemy level: +3

-Enemy damage: 200%

-Enemy hides: Always

-Player damage: 50%

-Weapon durability: 200% (Luckily only a few jams and misfires so far.)

-Save possible: Real-time. (I was thinking about going for the Map only, but I am glad I didn't. Would be actually impossible.)

-Healing: Based on skill.

-Hidden Random Encounters: Off (I might need to go for the German Bank mission. And I do need to level up for sure, especially for the UN Bomb mission)

-Manual Casuality EVAC: On.

 

Overall Difficulty Coefficient: 3,36.

 

And oh boy have I forgotten how absurd the early-game is.

 

As a meme lord, I did start up with an Engineer. Then I bought a medic - and only now I got a Sniper. My soldiers are between level 6 and 9.

 

The enemies hit like a truck. Most enemies with a sniper rifle literally one-shot you every time. Without exceptions. Meanwhile you need to empty half a magazine of an MP40 directly at their head.

 

I haven't completed a single mission outside the Test of Loyalty. I will most likely need a scout and / or further level up the Sniper for the Penemunde archives finale. Also I need to BUY grenades for the mission, as the enemies still don't drop them in Random Encounters. Even though I'm facing Renegade Soldiers..

 

I see how far I can get. Currently, it feels like Olli Heikkinen would say, "Mahadoton"

[Space Voyager]

Ooooh, niiiice! Will there be pics, will there be vids, will there be a story for us?

[Puksiskissa]

Finally cleared my first story mission - "The Penemunde Archives", after grinding random encounters in order to afford the following group:

-An engineer, the main hero.

-A medic, which can actually heal something.

-A sniper, who does the least amount of damage of the whole team.

-A scout.

 

I ground more random encounters, so that everyone was at least level 6. I also ran boot camps to reach highest possible "Hide", "Spot" and "Action points".

 

The mission itself wasn't that bad, apart from the latter half. The first half went with the usual vision abuse and MP40-camping behind a corner. I also went through the wall north of the entrance.

 

In the latter half, I was forced to save-scum a few times. My (wo)men deal negative damage at the moment, thus I was literally forced to get lucky with the PPD officer. I also had to save scum MANY times in order to get the "IMPORTANT MISSION OBJECTIVE THAT UNLOCKS A MISSION TREE", due to having sub-50% hit chances and damage values of.. 12.

 

I ended up with a nice amount of loot, including the Scoped Lee-Enfield, Lewis Mk I and grenades. Yes, grenades are a valuable loot atm I did pick up the gold and other artwork, but will not sell them if not actually needed. They belong in a museum!

 

A few pictures I got during the session:

 

The main hero is armed to the teeth.

 

Took this during the mission. Just to show how pathetic throwing is with an engineer who has STR of 3.

 

My medic still wonders, why the Gauze bandage is 2,5 times cheaper while being better in every way other than uses / square.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Next, I will most likely grind more randoms, so that I can afford a grenadier. Ideally Olli, due to me being biased for being a Finn and his stats being nice overall. The reason: I need a hero that is actually strong, and I kinda need another burst fire user.

 

Comparison between the stats of Olli Heikkinen and my current best "grenadier".

 

After that, it is time for "The Scientist" or "The Snitch".

[Puksiskissa]

The Snitch went better than expected. Literally a rifle shooting range after the target was assassinated.

 

Damage is still an issue. Or the lack of it tbh.

 

As always, the one sniper enemy on top of the ruins was absurdly hard to kill. He either interrupted and one-shot or wasn't spotted. Had to cheap-goat and blind fire him to death.

 

 

Overall, the mission is really boring. Next, I will go for "The Scientist" mission, and begin to grind attributes due to the UN Bomb mission. I'm not even sure if it is possible without a full SMG loadout.

 

And in order not to have a simple brick of text, here is something cool I found from the manual - which I have never read in the history of playing the game..

 

Currently it takes me 4 high damage roll critical headshots to kill a single soldier. And the chance of a crit is still really low.

 

Unfortunately the best non-headshot criticals come from the lowest damage parts.

[Puksiskissa]

Completed the Scientist. I never realized you could "bribe" the townsman for 100 dollars.

 

The mission was as absurd it has always been. It felt more like a "Home Alone" movie rather than an escorting mission..

 

Quite a few enemies waiting downstairs . Half of them aren't even in the picture, but behind the building.

 

Meanwhile upstairs, things got more interesting. Accidentally shot the bed from underneath the scientist. Also demolished the stairs to force the enemy to climb in.

 

After completing the mission, I began to grind more gear to the upcoming challenge. Currently my Sniper could afford the scoped Springfield and Olli got the Browning HMG. I might get enough money to get Mannlicher-Carcanos for everyone else, as it is a direct upgrade to the Mausers and Enfields, while also being easier to handle.

 

I have thought about the strats I'm using in the finale of the UN Bomb mission. The strategy looks like this:

 

During the random encounters, I have faced "UNKNOWNs", Officers with 200 hp and even civilians shooting at me for no apparent reason.

 

Btw, I tried to screen capture the game. It worked fine, will most likely record the UN mission.

[Puksiskissa]

Captured the gameplay of the UN mission. But the former part is simply too boring to watch. (Pretty much Hide, strafe, snipe, aim, fire, hide behind the corner. Repeat).

 

It seems the Steam version isn't patched. There was a mine blocking the path to the other mines in the corridor. Luckily a well-placed grenade blew up the blocking mine.

 

The finale room before Olli's small preparations:

 

The room after Olli had finished the preparations:

 

Took 9 PIAT shots and a few grenades. (You don't need to open the door leading to the cutscene. You can shoot it to pieces - and shoot to the room if you don't step on the cutscene trigger.

 

Here's the recording of the finale. Took a few tries, due to the enemies' hide values. (It was literally a coin-flip if I spotted them). Also one try was ruined by an enemy interruption into main "hero" getting one-shot. Because obviously.

 

What has changed after the mission? Main hero's rifle was upgraded to the "Springfield" (Actually an Enfield in Springfield .30-06) M1917. Abala got the M1 Garand (Was still stuck with the Lee-Enfield, one of the inferior rifles of the game). Carm got the DeLizl carbine (Likewise, was still stuck with the Lee-Enfield).

 

Current skills:

Main: Level 11. Rifle Specialization, Faster Reload, Pistol Specialization, Faster Snap Shot, SMG Specialization, Aim Before Shot, Burglar, Faster Skill Growth, Trap Sense, Disarm Traps.

 

Medic: Level 11. Body Carrier, Know Enemy Health, Bandage Master, Faster Critical Healing, Surgeon, Faster Snap Shot, Faster Aimed Shot, Better Careful Shot, Force of Habit, Increased Shot Range.

 

Sniper: Level 11. Look For Free, Faster Crawl, Good Shot From Any Pose, Pistol Specialization, Rifle Specialization, Better Careful Shot, Aim Before Shot, Increased Familiarity, Better Chance of Critical, Better Critical Severity. And yes, I am skipping the Holy Grail and go for the Master Sniper instead.

 

Grenadier: Level 11. Force of Habit, SMG Specialization, Faster Aimed Shot, Faster Short Burst, Rocket-Launcher Specialization, Faster Reload, Grenade Master, Throwing Specialization, Better Grenade Timing, Faster Attributes Growth.

 

Scout: Level 11. Look For Free, Awareness, Steady Gun, Hide In The Dark, Night Vision, Stealth Run, Better Hearing, Increased Spot, Increase Sight Angle, Ambush.

[Puksiskissa]

Full gameplay (without commentary, because Finnish reasons) of the mission "The Pen". Quite uneventful apart from a single moment.

 

 

Nothing important has changed. Replaced Tadas' Scoped Springfield with the Scoped Mannlicher-Carcano. The upgrade might not be massive, but the rifle can be used all the way to the end-game.

[brandeburg]

I'd liked either play with Carcano scope at beginning (good look good damages), but Enfield scoop was good too, sadly no Kar98K...Why they forget it in game?

Dismiss sometime some of you members, do not play always with full team and keep 1 or 2 only squad member and do a lot of ramdom encounter.

By this, after taking 4 or 5 levels more, switch guys from other of your squad and they will advance level fastly.

I could reach with this ''trick'' level 28 or 30...

[Puksiskissa]

I'd liked either play with Carcano scope at beginning (good look good damages), but Enfield scoop was good too, sadly no Kar98K...Why they forget it in game?

Dismiss sometime some of you members, do not play always with full team and keep 1 or 2 only squad member and do a lot of ramdom encounter.

By this, after taking 4 or 5 levels more, switch guys from other of your squad and they will advance level fastly.

I could reach with this ''trick'' level 28 or 30...

 

There is the Kar98k, it isn't forgotten. It is just strangely named "Carbine 98K". (Kar is short of Karabiner. German for carbine.)

 

I'd love to dismiss some of them - but all are needed. The level above is on the unique side, where you can actually abuse vision mechanics. In most levels, your team doesn't have the damage required. Keep in mind, compared to the normal difficulty, my soldiers do 3,2 times less damage.

[JohnnyRu]

I knew you can tear down doors with bullets on UN mission, but never thought you can throw grenedes there lol

[Puksiskissa]

Completed "Border" from the Finnish side. One of the easier missions of the game, although you can get unlucky with one of the objectives.

 

Went with a new strat this time. Gave the mines to the worst engineer of the team, as I wanted to get the mines back. Unfortunately the enemies seem to be blind, they didn't spot the mines set by engineering level 27.

 

All set and done. Planted those with Carm while remaining in stealth before the (I) arrived.

 

Mission completed. Olli took a single hit, my plan was to put him underneath the bridge and start tossing the lightest grenades to the formation. He was ambushed, and took a hit while retreating. Also the first objective can fail easily if you get bad RNG. No soldier survives a full SMG burst to the face..

 

Two missions to go from this set. Which one should I pick?

 

You get a silenced Kar98K from the Border mission.

 

No one got a level up during the mission, most of them are one or two kills away from reaching level 12. Thus no skills received.

 

Weaponry has changed though. Bought the FG 42 (for 10500 D:) for the main, as it was a direct upgrade to the PPs 43 and has EASY handling :3 . Gave a looted AVS-36 for the medic, the silenced Kar98k for Carm (Still has the DeLizl, as they share a different purpose) and DP for Olli - as there has begun to be ammo for it in the base.

[Puksiskissa]

Oof. Just realized this is in the wrong section. If a kind moderator would move this to SS:S, I'd be a happy Sentinel.

 

Completed "The Corrupt official". It was almost impossible for me to complete it with stealth, as I didn't want to spend a fortune on stun darts. Although I did manage to hide a scout to the attic before starting an assault. I was sad to realize how well the AI does shoot towards the sound, causing multiple reloads. Carm was basically stuck there, only providing audio cues. I did find the art and jewelry. Like before, the paintings and part of the Amber room belong to a museum, thus aren't for sale.

 

I was also incorrect when it came to level ups. From the said mission, only the main and Abala leveled up. Gave the engineer Increased Familiarity (as it leads to Master Engineer) and Master Medic for Abala.

 

I'm in a tough spot atm. I could buy the beam weapon from the merchant - but I don't want to. But if I don't get it, the upcoming mission might become quite difficult due to limited damage output.

 

Current weaponry:

Main: FG 42, Springfield 1918. Nothing changed.

Abala: AKS-36. Might buy him the SKS that came to the merchant. Has medium handling and is a historical upgrade.

Tadas: Mannlicher-Carcano /w scope. Nothing changed.

Olli: PD and PIAT - now that I can actually afford some of the PIAT Armor-Piercing ammo.

Carm: DeLizl and Silenced Kar98k remain. Replaced the Sten mk III silenced with an M3A1 silenced. The M3 has a lower range but higher damage output. And for real, the reduced range doesn't mean a thing when the enemy is 2 feet away

 

Took a squad picture, as Olli found a fresh suit from the mission. Obviously he lacks the ammo and grenade resupply atm.

 

EDIT: Abala took a beating during the mission, got a 3-turn motionless from an officer's pistol wound.. Tadas was absurdly close to dying, thus I used a medical stimulant for the first time in my life. It seems it bugged out though, as Tadas currently has the bonus permanently. But then again, against the AI's damage, it doesn't really matter if you have 90 or 140 HP.

[Puksiskissa]

Spent a fortune on the PIAT AP projectiles. Only to find AP projectiles for the M1 Bazooka. Fun.

The first part of the mission was a cake walk, pretty uneventful.

When the first armored suits arrived, I was in trouble.

 

I had to rely on quite cheap tactics.

 

I moved all of my soldiers inside. Boris' men left outside, trying to beat the armored units. Olli was near death and had blindness, he was being treated.

 

One of the engineers driving a suit came out on the yard, to shoot the remaining allied soldier with his pistol. I could use pot shots from the building to kill him.

One of the enemy armored suits came in. Luckily he had mortar shells, thus he didn't fire them. (Would've taken self-damage, most likely programmed not to do that). The engineer came out and began to shoot Olli (most of the crew were hidden).

 

After Olli was healed, he took the armored suit, took all the mortar shells and opened the door..

 

Two of the enemies were waiting outside.

 

Olli had three mortar shells. He fired all in the middle of the two armored suits. One was destroyed and one was heavily damaged. My main took the PIAT Olli left next to them and fired a shot. A 30% shot actually hit quite close - but didn't destroy the remaining one. The AI-controlled Boris (before joining the crew) did pick up the M1 (I saw the action he made), used the only shot which destroyed the second one.

 

Olli did move on, picked mortar shells from the two suits and went to hunt the 4th (and last one).

 

Crew did increase in levels.

 

Main: Difficult Trap (Requirement for Master Engineer). Main's Engineering is at 116 atm.

 

Abala: Faster skill growth. (Required for Perfect Medical Knowledge)

 

Tadas: Faster Pose Change, Faster Shots.

 

Olli: Fast Throw, Good Throw From Any Pose.

 

Carm: Faster Pose Change, Run For Your Life.

 

Weaponry hasn't changed, apart from Olli's.

 

Olli has been prepared for the upcoming base defense mission. Time to grind randoms, in the hopes of finding mines. Currently I only have 6. Also it is kinda bad how I only have one PK atm, thus no sniper PK for it.. Also still no beam weapons.

 

EDIT: Gave the stimulant for each. Will not use the better stimulants, booze shall be enough

[Puksiskissa]

The base defense went easier than I expected, mainly due to how high damage output the allies had. When they hit, they dealt 80+ damage each shot. Usually over 130. I also did a few random encounters and some boot camp training with my soldiers.

 

I had the main and Abala on the left-hand roof top. They were pretty useless, they only got a few shots in due to lack of range.

 

Olli was in the only PK I had, with the loadout shown in the previous post. In the end, I had 3 AP rockets remaining.

 

Carm tried to spot first, but was spotted. Had to retreat. She took the only damage in the whole mission! (Obviously the NPCs did die)

 

Tadas was positioned on the right-hand roof top. Out of usual, he had Carm's silencer Kar98K, as I tried a new strategy. He could actually one-shot the armored suit drivers with a double-turn sniper shot D: . Unfortunately I had to break a promise I made, and used a single shot of the beam weapon against the enemy beam armored suit.

 

Before I made the preparations, I noticed an interesting thing:

Talk about girl power..

 

Did the usual strat, unfortunately most of the mines were ineffective:

The worst penetration mines were at the front, just in case normal enemies walked in front of the enemy armored suits.

 

Olli sharing his usual optimism with everyone. The beam armored suit was destroyed quickly with a salvo of Olli's mortal shells.

 

Abilities gained:

Main: Wisdom, Master Engineer (Engineering at 136). Can use all the engineering items in the game.

Abala: Perfect medicine knowledge (Can use all of the medical items in the game), Resist Critical Severity

Tadas: Faster Skills Growth, Solo. Two level ups required for Master Sniper, three for Master Sniper + Faster Aiming. Tadas is still the main damage dealer, he can actually one-tap enemies with a sniper head shot.

Olli: Increased Throwing Range, Increased Area Attack Damage.

Carm: Faster Crouching.

Everyone is at 15, apart from Carm. She needs mission to reach 15.

 

Weaponry:

Main: I did decide to give the SKS to the main, as I found it from the mission. Might replace the FG42 with the newly unlocked AK47, arguably the best non-beam firearm in the game.

Abala: No changes.

Tadas: No changes. Might buy him the scoped SKS.

Olli: Might replace the PK PIAT with a Sniper rifle. Olli's shooting is actually really good.

Carm: No changes.

 

What next?

"The Firm". I might try it without the phone call.

 

Other notes: The game has "given up". Like with most RPGs, the hardest difficulty mainly affects the early and mid-game. Although care should still be taken, the enemies do hurt a lot.

[Puksiskissa]

Completed "The Firm" and "Shipment company". Firm was the usual. Tried a new strat for the Shipment company.

 

And got a quote I have never heard. Also got Tadas' comment: "Look at that damage! I proud of you." for the first time during this run. (Olli threw a HEAVY grenade next to 6 men). I might be wrong, but I think getting shot many times actually decreases the gun durability, as it was that low after a single magazine.

 

Completed the secret mission. Had to cheese and use the beam weapon four times.

Good to have a 160 engineering skill engineer. Could repair the PK and fall back to the alcove in one turn. While remaining in stealth.

 

Need a few random encounters to get Master Sniper for Tadas.

 

Chose assault. Never done it before, even though I have beaten the game 6-7 times in the past.

 

The squad after the secret mission. I have around 50k to spend. Didn't even know the Sea Devil appears in the store. Might get it - or not.

[Puksiskissa]

Didn't level up, as randoms gave so little XP even with a reduced squad size. I did arm the soldiers quite well to compensate.

 

Olli is ready for the 3rd World war - if needed.

 

Bought the Sea Devil for Abala, although didn't use it a single time. Also didn't use any beam weapons in the whole map.

 

The first part was insanely easy, especially due to how broken sniper class is. Tadas didn't even need the Master Sniper, which he did get after a few kills, as he could actually one-shot everyone. I feel the extra AP spent over 100% hit ratio actually increases the overall damage / crit chance, as ALL my "over-aimed" shots with a Silenced Kar98k blew their head off. Even worked against PKs.

 

Tadas in position. Carm was next to him as a backup spotter.

 

Main got a fresh PK from the enemies. The grenade autocannon was really nice. Do note how most of the enemies didn't even get a chance to move..

 

Part II of the mission was arguably the hardest part. The enemies did damage through the PKs, also critting like no tomorrow. (Main got Motionless, AP reduction and even stunned a few times.) The strat was to occasionally hide behind the corner, repair the PK and get back to the position.

 

 

The 3rd part of the mission was, and wasn't difficult. I couldn't beat them in a frontal assault, thus I had to lure them into a howitzer trap. They did high amount of damage, they could destroy an allied PK in one turn.

 

After the battle, even Olli's supply of weaponry was starting to get low. I did swap the guns a bit, giving the main the "sniper cannon instead".

 

And in the end, this is the screen that I was waiting for:

 

Beat my former 'record", which I thought was a decent score - by almost 6000 points. This was a fresh install on my desktop PC, thus no other scores are shown.

 

So.. How was the run? Well.. It was an experience, frustrating, actually really difficult up to mid- to mid-late-game and quite fun tbh.

 

Is it possible to beat it with "Save only outside mission" enabled (I played with "Save outside combat", thus making it even harder? Yes, but it wouldn't be fun. Even with over 150 spotting, some enemies were ludicrously stealthy.

 

If I ever play with this high of a difficulty, what would I change? First of all, I wouldn't pick an engineer as a main. Yes, the secret mission is nice to beat, but the PK you get isn't even that great.

 

Do I recommend to play the game in such a high difficulty? No way. If I wanted to have a more balanced yet challenging run, I would enable the "Save only outside mission" but make the AI never hide, decrease the enemies' AP from 160% to 120% and increase the player's damage from 50% to 100%.

 

The random info:

-Didn't rob the German bank.

-Didn't sell any artwork (goblets, paintings) or the "piece of Amber Room". They got to the museum.

-I did occasionally disable quotes.

-MP40 remained the most used weapon of my main.

-I have never gotten as high stats I got this run. Some of the soldiers had shooting over 170.

-I will never pick Carm again. I hate her quotes.