playing on "IMPOSSIBLE" setting/Shock2

[E.T.]

Im struggling a little attempting to replay Shock2 on hardest setting.
I compounded the problem by making OSA my initial path.

I have gained/spent cyber modules on basic weapons, so I have hand gun & repair ability.

My current objective is to purge the coolant tubes in engine core.
I take on so much damage & deplete resources in attempting this goal that I decided [maybe wrongly] to return to CREW QUARTERS on deck 2 to "milk" pipe hybrids for whataever they may carry in hopes to rebuild my inventories. [I do this by triggering security alarm] Killing pipe hybrids is no problem.
This works to a point, that point being those damn, hard to kill primates.
In order to conserve, I use the pipe wrench for melay attack [I have overhead swing now].
Primates seem to be to low to ground to hit, so I crouch...it doesnt help.

QUESTIONS:
[1] Is there a source that the primates spawn from that I can terminate?

[2]Is there a more effective way to kill primates? [psi is too expensive to expend, as well as hand gun rounds].

[3]Has anyone had success playing Shock2 on "IMPOSSIBLE" setting?

[moya]

"[1] Is there a source that the primates spawn from that I can terminate?"

Nope.

"[2]Is there a more effective way to kill primates? [psi is too expensive to expend, as well as hand gun rounds]."

Keep practising with the wrench. It's the most effective way to kill such a weak enemy and almost essential on the higher difficulty levels to conserve ammo for the bigger beasties. Crouching should work, but keep trying and aim for different parts of the body.

"[3]Has anyone had success playing Shock2 on "IMPOSSIBLE" setting?"

Yes. It's possible (despite the name), just very VERY hard. Especially with OSA as you've found out. I find Engineering and Hydroponics two of the toughest decks. You don't start to come into your own until Deck 4/5 really so it'll be an uphill struggle till then. Make sure to pick up all cyber modules - find ALL the hidden ones, every little helps so search everywhere.

By the way, did you get that Rebirth mod to work?

[E.T.]

<div class=\"smallfont\">"[1] Is there a source that the primates spawn from that I can terminate?"
"[3]Has anyone had success playing Shock2 on "IMPOSSIBLE" setting?"

Yes. It's possible (despite the name), just very VERY hard. Especially with OSA as you've found out. I find Engineering and Hydroponics two of the toughest decks. You don't start to come into your own until Deck 4/5 really so it'll be an uphill struggle till then. Make sure to pick up all cyber modules - find ALL the hidden ones, every little helps so search everywhere.

By the way, did you get that Rebirth mod to work?</div>

Its funny, I can take on multiple pipe hybrids w/little or no damage, yet those damn primates can take me out if paired in twos!

Aside from searching bodies, crates & the occasional counter tops, where else have you found cyber modules?

Yes moya, I DID get Rebirth mod to work, lets just say it was the obvious I overlooked, lol. :o
I think we agree, no matter how good game play is, if graphics are poor, game is less attractive...less likely to be played. Rebirth mod combined w/not playing Shock2 for a couple years makes game fresh...ahh..& what a game it is!

[Suicides-by-Steve]

" think we agree, no matter how good game play is, if graphics are poor, game is less attractive...less likely to be played."

I don't agree with that at all. If that were the case, and alot of people thought that, the game never would have been played by legions of fans, nor would games like Space Empires IV, Steel Beasts, Combat Mission, SMAC, or hell even MoO III for that matter...

[Suicides-by-Steve]

""If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.""

Haha! Excellent.

[Aku]

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Yes moya, I DID get Rebirth mod to work, lets just say it was the obvious I overlooked, lol. :o </div>

So, give us some details about the mod. Does it look really good? Does it work well - any bugs?

[Suicides-by-Steve]

<div class=\"smallfont\"><div class=\"smallfont\"></div>

So, give us some details about the mod. Does it look really good? Does it work well - any bugs?</div>

Absolutely NOT! It's a simple reskin job... Now all the guy has to do is rework the ship textures, and I think I'll have to play it once again! :) ;)

[E.T.]

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So, give us some details about the mod. Does it look really good? Does it work well - any bugs?</div>

Look good? Yes, a definate improvement on Npc's I've encounter so far:
[1] Pipe & shotgun Hybrids.
[2] Crew members [of the dead sort]. The art work shines here, the facial expressions of horror captured on their faces are well done!
[3] Ghosts, more detailed, caused me to back up & look twice.
There are several other reskinned NPC's I've yet to encounter. I'm savoring the mod & game, plus playing on "impossible" & as OSA makes for slower progress.

Does it work well? Rebirth does inhance the "scare factor" of Shock2, Hybrids are a little more menacing. This game still manages to give me a jolt now & then [I play in the dark].

Regarding bugs, I've yet to encounter any. There have been a few concerning the invisibilty of service bots & pipe wrench. [insturctions are available to fix this if you should experience it].

As with any replay of a game, Im discovering things I missed the first time around, the rebirth mod simply enhances this.

There are other mods, a fan mission, ambient sounds Im checking out latter today.

*AKU, are you still "up & running"? Where are you in 'Cong?

[Aku]

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*AKU, are you still "up & running"? Where are you in 'Cong?</div>

'Cong? I just crawled out of those stupid tunnels and emerged in a hut in a VC village. After killing the VC and burning down the camp (much more fun than just sneaking out of it), I'm at a save point where I'm alone in the jungle at night.

[E.T.]

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'Cong? I just crawled out of those stupid tunnels and emerged in a hut in a VC village. After killing the VC and burning down the camp (much more fun than just sneaking out of it), I'm at a save point where I'm alone in the jungle at night.</div>

Christ, Im having a little dif following your progress.
Maybe a couple questions will tell me where your at.
"Q"[1] Have you done the mission where you start out @ night in a swamp WITH all your squad? [its pitch black out].
[2] Have you done the mission where you start out in a jeep w/2 other team members, blasting up a winding mountain road?

I dont recall being alone in jungle @ night..I dont think anyway...
this is what happens when I try to play multiple games [Im so into Shock 2 now, thanks for suggestions on mod & OSA path, its HARD!].

I need to return to 'Cong.

[Aku]

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Christ, Im having a little dif following your progress.
Maybe a couple questions will tell me where your at.
"Q"[1] Have you done the mission where you start out @ night in a swamp WITH all your squad? [its pitch black out].
[2] Have you done the mission where you start out in a jeep w/2 other team members, blasting up a winding mountain road?
</div>

Yep, I've done those. You go through a long stretch of tunnels again after you clear out the temple ruins. You emerge from the tunnel through a hole in the floor of a hut, with VC right outside. You're supposed to sneak out of the village without being seen, into the jungle. I had a grenade left from the tunnels, so I did it the fun way. I fired a shot to draw some of them into the hut. I killed a couple shooting up from the hole. Then I tossed the grenade into the hut, killing a couple more and setting the place on fire. A few more VC caught on fire, and I picked off the last one. Then, it was of to the jungle, where I still am now, 'cause I haven't played it tonight.

[Hieremias]

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Look good? Yes, a definate improvement on Npc's I've encounter so far:
[1] Pipe & shotgun Hybrids.
[2] Crew members [of the dead sort]. The art work shines here, the facial expressions of horror captured on their faces are well done!
[3] Ghosts, more detailed, caused me to back up & look twice.
There are several other reskinned NPC's I've yet to encounter. I'm savoring the mod & game, plus playing on "impossible" & as OSA makes for slower progress.
</div>

Allright, after reading this thread last night I finally decided to reinstall SS2. I found the Rebirth mod (a much smaller download than I'd anticipated) and got right into Impossible mode. I'm now in the medical subsection.

Even though I'm home sick for the next week or two, I think I'm going to save this game for the evenings. I played it last night with the lights off and I'd forgotten just how scary it is.

I've found the Rebirth mod to be a good addition, but it doesn't really add THAT much. Yes, the zombie models and ghost models are a lot better, but I thought the game was plenty scary to begin with. What I'd really like to see is a background texture mod.

I'll have to admit, I've played the game a few times but I've never gone the OSA route. In fact I've never bothered using psi powers at all, it just seems sort of cheesy to me. I haven't decided whether or not I'll use psi this time; I started out with no psi powers but I would do that anyway, you NEED some basic hacking/repair skills to start off with. This brings up another point; I find the character creation system in this game pretty weak (not the development, just the initial creation). Navy is really the only way to go, you get a nice intro to weapons, maintenance, hacking, etc. Going OSA at the beginning is a much harder route, and going Marines is like Navy minus those essential technical skills. But how you start the game has almost no effect on how you must play; you can start with Navy and then train up your psi powers in-game without any ill effect.

[E.T.]

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Yep, I've done those.</div>
Yup, your ahead of me, no wonder I couldnt recall that mission.

I'll be a while till I get back from Shock.

[Aku]

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I'll have to admit, I've played the game a few times but I've never gone the OSA route. In fact I've never bothered using psi powers at all, it just seems sort of cheesy to me.</div>

PSI is the best. It's so much fun later in the game when you have all these powers. I just loaded SS2 with Rebirth too. The original character models were so lacking that even when I played this game four years ago it turned me off. The new models are a great improvement.