Questions on inventory and recovery.

[Zombie]

So from reading the forums here I'm guessing that there is a limited supply of items in the base armory. For instance, let's say I use up all the lockpicks on a mission. When I get back to base will there be more in the armory? Or will I have to wait for more to show up? Or is that it? I have been using a lot of pineapple grenades out of necessity, but there seems to be a lack of replacements showing up back at base. I recovered some "grenades on a stick" from my latest mission, but the 2-3 I recovered isn't enough to replace the ones I used.

 

Another stupid question: do I need to pick up and haul everything from a mission back to base if I want to recover it? Or is all the equipment automatically recovered like in X-COM? Here again, I'm guessing I need to haul it all back to base manually. This is a really annoying feature if it turns out to be true. I'd much rather let the game handle this mundane aspect. As much as I like micro-management, there are some things I'd rather not have to do myself.

 

Any answers people? I'm getting sick of hauling equipment back to base just to be safe... Not to mention the constant shuffling of items to the primary character to put items into the armory cabinet is very time consuming as well.

 

On another note, thank heavens for the alt button for showing items which may be small and hidden underneath overgrowth of trees and bushes. If it wasn't for this, I'd be in big trouble.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

So from reading the forums here I'm guessing that there is a limited supply of items in the base armory. For instance, let's say I use up all the lockpicks on a mission. When I get back to base will there be more in the armory? Or will I have to wait for more to show up? Or is that it?

 

After the initial supplies to get you started, you get a 'drip' of items and weapons, when you return after a mission there should be a few more of each item in the inventory. This varies with the type of item, there may be one extra large explosive, 1-2 lockpicks, 5-6 grenades of various types, etc. At certain points in the game you get a 'big' resupply, with new weapons and lots of items turning up.

 

Another stupid question: do I need to pick up and haul everything from a mission back to base if I want to recover it? Or is all the equipment automatically recovered like in X-COM? Here again, I'm guessing I need to haul it all back to base manually.

 

You do, yep, but the vast majority of stuff isn't worth nicking. Don't bother hauling every enemy weapon, for instance. If you find a particularly good gun, steal it by all means, but just steal the associated ammunition type as well, should cut down on your load a bit.

[Zombie]

After the initial supplies to get you started, you get a 'drip' of items and weapons, when you return after a mission there should be a few more of each item in the inventory. This varies with the type of item, there may be one extra large explosive, 1-2 lockpicks, 5-6 grenades of various types, etc. At certain points in the game you get a 'big' resupply, with new weapons and lots of items turning up.

So items slowly trickle back into your base inventory? Is it based on usage (such as if you use 6 mine probes will a couple more show up in stores after the mission) or is it a semi-random/scripted replace procedure (such as after x missions y mine probes are placed into inventory)? Not that it matters too much, but it would be helpful to know whether using up all your lock picks for training an engineer will result in a guaranteed replacement of y units or will you need to hope and wait. Suppose I could scavenge off some of the (yet) unused characters in the dossier like some have mentioned if need be. I just don't want to be caught with my pants down. But certain machine guns can fix most lock picking problems.

 

You do, yep, but the vast majority of stuff isn't worth nicking. Don't bother hauling every enemy weapon, for instance. If you find a particularly good gun, steal it by all means, but just steal the associated ammunition type as well, should cut down on your load a bit.

I just realized I never picked anything up in my first mission. Oh well. So, what would you recommend? Say there is a ton of clips for a Mauser rifle on a mission. Should I pick them all up, unload the weapons themselves and haul it all back to base (plus enough weapons to equip a full squad)? I figure if another (better) scoped rifle ever comes along for my sniper, I'll start using the now worthless clips and weapons for training purposes. Also, is there a limit to how much the armory can store? I certainly don't want to clog it up with a ton of useless rifles and clips (though here again, I could use them for training and leave the weapons on the battlefield if need be).

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

So items slowly trickle back into your base inventory? Is it based on usage (such as if you use 6 mine probes will a couple more show up in stores after the mission) or is it a semi-random/scripted replace procedure (such as after x missions y mine probes are placed into inventory)?

 

I believe it's the latter, as early on you can easily run out of lock picks/mine probes early on, for instance. You get a fixed amount every so often.

 

So, what would you recommend? Say there is a ton of clips for a Mauser rifle on a mission. Should I pick them all up, unload the weapons themselves and haul it all back to base (plus enough weapons to equip a full squad)? I figure if another (better) scoped rifle ever comes along for my sniper, I'll start using the now worthless clips and weapons for training purposes. Also, is there a limit to how much the armory can store?

 

It really does depend on how you play, but a decent machine gun with a large magazine (50 rounds and up) is always welcome. Initially, you only have access to MGs with small magazine capacities, which means you're reloading too often (if you're firing in long burst mode). An MG34 or MG42 or other large-mag MG is good as your machine gunner can lay down a lot of fire before having to reload.

 

Enemy ammunition you have to steal. If you're the Allies, for instance, you can get all the .303 ammo for the Lee-Enfield you want, but if you've got a Mauser, the only ammo available will be what you have stolen. It can be difficult to equip your squad entirely with enemy weaponry and keep them supplied with ammo, though some weapon types (a lot of Allied and Axis submachine guns both use 9mm Parabellum rounds, e.g. the Sten and the MP40) share ammo. For example, if you're the Allies and you manage to acquire an MG42, you'll probably have to use all the 7.92mm ammo you find to supply the MG, and have little left over for riflemen using a Mauser rifle.

 

There are some good Scandinavian/Russian submachine guns with large mags (about 75 rounds IIRC) as well as the German MP40 II, though I think the American M3 or Thompson is the most powerful. The Allied pistols are the most powerful (Colt 1911, Webley .455), the MG42 is probably the best MG, the German 'potato masher' grenade is probably the most all-round useful (decent power, but light enough to throw easily)...the choice is very wide-ranging, so just have a look at the weapon's stats and work out how you want your squad to work.

 

I have yet to find a 'limit' to the armoury, it can hold however many weapons you steal and the supply of ammo seems to be limitless for your side's weapons.

 

My memory may not be 100%, but this is broadly accurate.

[Zombie]

I believe it's the latter, as early on you can easily run out of lock picks/mine probes early on, for instance. You get a fixed amount every so often.

Just did a little testing on this. Not my usual in-depth research spree or anything, just a good old fashioned once-over. My new game was intended to test ability improvement, so it wasn't the best setup possible. I picked a female American sniper for my character and got past the first mission just fine. Then I went on a random mission. Urgh, 1 sniper against 4 soldiers + an officer in a tiny map. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It was all close quarters but luckily none of the enemies had SMG, otherwise my sniper would have been screwed. She somehow managed to pull it off. After the mission, the base inventory remained the same. Then I sent my lone sniper on the first "true" mission. (You know the one: it has a truck and a trunk of goodies with a whole bunch of enemies). Don't know how I managed to do it, but in a true test of marksmanship and courage my sniper was able to hold them all off all while being massively injured. (Found out that just injuring an enemy till it bleeds is good enough, then you can focus on other unharmed enemies. Meanwhile the injured ones can't shoot straight anymore and they eventually bleed out and die on their own). Her health was almost all red except for a tiny sliver of green and no bleeding wounds. Lucky stuff; she hauled the objective to the edge of the map and I left. Back at base I had a whole slug of new items to look at. So it seems as though only the "scripted" missions give you new weapons and items. I have a partial itemized list of what you get after the first mission if anyone is interested (Allies). The only part I didn't quite nail down was the rifles since I brought a couple back from my first mission and forgot to write down what they were (I think there were 2 Mausers). But I can restart and get a baseline to compare.

 

From looking at the miscellaneous supplies, it seems like you just get the same quantity of things for replacements when compared to the initial stockpile. So when you start a game and look at the inventory and there is a single lock pick and mine probe, you'll see one of each for replacements after the first mission (plus a whole bunch of new things as well).

 

It really does depend on how you play, but a decent machine gun with a large magazine (50 rounds and up) is always welcome. Initially, you only have access to MGs with small magazine capacities, which means you're reloading too often (if you're firing in long burst mode). An MG34 or MG42 or other large-mag MG is good as your machine gunner can lay down a lot of fire before having to reload.

 

Enemy ammunition you have to steal. If you're the Allies, for instance, you can get all the .303 ammo for the Lee-Enfield you want, but if you've got a Mauser, the only ammo available will be what you have stolen. It can be difficult to equip your squad entirely with enemy weaponry and keep them supplied with ammo, though some weapon types (a lot of Allied and Axis submachine guns both use 9mm Parabellum rounds, e.g. the Sten and the MP40) share ammo. For example, if you're the Allies and you manage to acquire an MG42, you'll probably have to use all the 7.92mm ammo you find to supply the MG, and have little left over for riflemen using a Mauser rifle.

 

There are some good Scandinavian/Russian submachine guns with large mags (about 75 rounds IIRC) as well as the German MP40 II, though I think the American M3 or Thompson is the most powerful. The Allied pistols are the most powerful (Colt 1911, Webley .455), the MG42 is probably the best MG, the German 'potato masher' grenade is probably the most all-round useful (decent power, but light enough to throw easily)...the choice is very wide-ranging, so just have a look at the weapon's stats and work out how you want your squad to work.

Thanks for the info. Don't think I'll be getting to those bigger machine guns anytime soon. I have the Browning M 1922 M6 in storage now and that will definitely come in handy no matter what the clip size. Those potato masher grenades really are great though. I'm glad they are so lightweight and yet very powerful too. That's a great combination, even though I have to scavenge them off the enemies.

 

So far, the Lee-Enfield scoped rifle seems like the best sniper rifle you'll run into early on. Would this be an accurate assessment, or do you have an opinion on scoped sniper weapons? I heard there is a 30 aught six in the game, so I'm anxiously awaiting getting that. Don't know if it comes in a scoped variety, but if it does it'll be one of the best one-shot, one-kill rifle IMHO.

 

I have yet to find a 'limit' to the armoury, it can hold however many weapons you steal and the supply of ammo seems to be limitless for your side's weapons.

 

My memory may not be 100%, but this is broadly accurate.

No, you are accurate on this one I think. One mission I completed recently I hauled a lot of stuff back to base (mostly SMGs). I was scrolling down the list forever it seemed like. So it's fair to say there isn't any limits imposed on the armory. I'll leave this as a test for someone else though.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

So far, the Lee-Enfield scoped rifle seems like the best sniper rifle you'll run into early on. Would this be an accurate assessment, or do you have an opinion on scoped sniper weapons? I heard there is a 30 aught six in the game, so I'm anxiously awaiting getting that. Don't know if it comes in a scoped variety, but if it does it'll be one of the best one-shot, one-kill rifle IMHO.

 

The scoped Lee-Enfield, Mauser and Carcano are okay early on, I think it's a toss-up between the Lee-Enfield and the Mauser, Mauser is slightly more powerful but the Lee-Enfield has twice the mag capacity. There is a scoped Garand in there, which takes .30-06 ammo, there may be a scoped Springfield as well, but the best is probably the scoped SVT-40, a Russian semi-auto.

[Knan]

Woo, finally got logged in again.

 

Can't actually remember what my favourite sniper rifle turned out to be in S2. Probably because it's been five years or so, and I can't remember my team clearly... In S3, my Zinaida stuck with her scoped Mosin-Nagant throughout the game to great effect.

[Knan]

Ah. Mosin scoped in S2 as well. Found my old savegames.

 

Familiarity 29 really helps sniping and panic snapshot efforts, and makes it a pain to switch to a new sniper rifle.

 

[Zombie]

Geez, 29? What level is your sniper at? Crikey, my L4 sniper is still at 0. Guess that's a good thing as I'm planning on upgrading to the .30-06 when it comes along.

 

Anyhow, I was curious as to what was initially placed in my stores after the initial Allied pseudo-training mission. So far I ran 3 separate trials. The first as a sniper, the second as a soldier and the third as a sniper again to verify the results. At least by what I found, your initial stores can contain a mix for each category (it's not a whole lot, but there are differences). For example, my first initial sniper mission had 1 Lee-Enfield Rifle and 26 rounds in the armory. When I ran a second trial with another sniper I had that plus 1 Carbine M1 1936 Rifle and 10 clips (just like the soldier had in this category). I might try the medic next to see what he/she gets.

 

- Zombie

[justinstyles]

Glad to see people are still playing!

(I'm on hiatus from S2 / S3 while I play through "Hammer & Sickle" a half-dozen times; I'm on play-through# 2)

 

Hope FullAuto will permit me to elaborate slightly on his detailed posts: if you play on Allied side, your "shop" tends to offer (and replenish) weapons and ammunition from those weapons (i.e., Lee-Enfield, .45, etc.) while if you play on Axis side, you will see appropriate weapons (i.e., Mauser, etc.).

There's the so-called trick of placing a weapon into the "shop", refreshing it then getting ammunition, but I found it only works for the appropriate "side" (Allied v Axis weaponry). Since I'm not well-versed in weapon manufacturing knowledge, I had a fair amount of "hmm, why can't I get more ammo for this weapon?"

 

If you want to raise a character's weapon familiarity, you'll need to use the same weapon consistently without switching to another (durability doesn't exist in S2 so you can literally use the same rifle for the entire game; in S3, one ends up swapping or repairing due to wearing out).

For engineers and medics, I tended to keep the same weapon for the entire game, which (slowly) builds their familiarity. Depending on which abilities that the character's class has, there are some that will allow familiarity to be increased faster while others increases its effect, but slows the rate of gain....

 

One can use same calibre ammunition rather than worrying about weapon-specific clips. For example, the Lewis MG ammunition can be used for the Lee-Enfield rifle.

 

The posts at this forum are wonderful.

I used my own experiences, the posts on this forum, and the gamefaq walk-through to attempt a comprehensive set of notes for myself (I finished six play-throughs so far of S2 and three of S3 thus far). I never did make it consistently to Nival's boards so they're only a small part of my S2 / S3 / H&S life so far.

In terms of explaining gameplay mechanics, the Gold Edition "hardcopy" manual is poor; the S2 manual was OK and the S3 manual (PDF) was better, but somewhat reliant on knowledge of S2 conventions (not astonishing considering that S3 is an expansion). Although I quite like the H&S manual, some folks have said it's overwhelming; hard to please everyone, I suppose.

[FullAuto]

I like that M1 Carbine out of proportion to its usefulness. Neat little gun, good mag capcity.

 

Same goes for the Sauer 38, lovely little pistol, just what you need for a back up gun when you're rifle's empty and there's an enemy or two coming right for you. Takes up little space, 8-round mag, just not very powerful.

[Knan]

Geez, 29? What level is your sniper at? Crikey, my L4 sniper is still at 0. Guess that's a good thing as I'm planning on upgrading to the .30-06 when it comes along.

 

That's my level 14 Zinaida, somewhere around the endgame. Got both the "more familiar" perks and used the same rifle all game. (The Mosin is better than most at shooting through things, and I generally like it.) Gaining familiarity goes pretty slow for a sniper, since they tend not to shoot like mad.

 

Without any perks, familiarity is capped at 10, like my scout (silenced smg) and medic (russian semi-auto rifle) have in the same save. While the rest of the team have recently upgraded/mixed things up and are at 0-3 familiarity with their new fancy toys.

 

(And heh, in S3 I had a machinegun practically melt mid-battle in the "defend the home base" mission. After several hundred shots and around ten jams it broke for good. Thankfully, the battle was pretty much won by then, though it was all a bit shaky. Damn memorable battle.)

[Zombie]

Well, no wonder. I'll be looking forwards to the time when I get a decent scoped rifle for my sniper. The Lee-Enfield isn't too bad as an interim weapon though.

 

Bask to inventory. I sent my squad out on a couple training missions today (random encounters close by). When I went to pick up the loot I found a couple grenades and some medical tape. So it's good to know those can be picked up anytime, not just on those "pseudo-scripted missions". I've been keeping my inventory lean and mean with one or two types of enemy (Axis in this case) rifles, pistols or SMG. Hoping to get a silenced pistol (or heck any different kind of pistol) for my scout to use. So far no luck. Knives are in short supply as well. I might have to raid the base kitchen for a Ginsu knife or a meat cleaver. Those have to do more damage than the little one I have now!

 

Edit: Just recovered 2 Machetes from my last mission. It takes 6 APs more to use than my knife and is significantly higher in damage power too. Woo hoo.

 

- Zombie

[Kizmiaz]

Medicine equipment can be found on random encounters yes. It seems to be different equipment in different areas though.

 

My favoutite cutlery (aside from the Katana) is the Ka-Bar. Nice damage and bonus compared to its size. That and the SS-Dagger is what I usually equip my squad with.