Hi and thanks simsalabim. No, still haven't finished it yet, but I haven't been trying to neither. Actually I haven't played the Port mission since you showed me how to fire rapidly with the Mosin Nagant (and Mike tipped me on how to kill Morello proficiently - though I must confess to Mike I discovered this same technique myself when fighting Golem, I just never thought of applying it to Morello). Where've I been? I'm just busy doing other things right now. I don't have much time to play games lately, but when I do get some downtime, I prefer to try new things in the Alive mod (instead of punishing myself at the Port, hehe).
It's typically hard to maintain a level of novelty and inventiveness for a mod that's been around for such a while. But the Alive mod is the exception to that rule. Creativity is entirely up to the individual. I can tell by the number of views of my posts, what it is that interests people, and what doesn't. But to be honest it's what doesn't which probably interests me personally the most. I've emphasized many times my fondness for mixing super weapons, AI enemies, and Tommy's body guards, to see how they all react to each other in different situations. That's not really about beating the Alive mod's many supplementary missions (defeating everything it has to offer) playing it as such, but more so about, What don't we know about the Alive mod yet?
Finishing a sub mission successfully (e.g. Port, Morello, Dirty Street Race) is one thing, and I commend anybody able to do it, they're MUCH harder than any of the native Mafia missions, that's what Mike intended with them, to challenge us (and to send me to the Looney bin). But discovering a new behaviour or new anomaly is something completely different, it's something I enjoy doing, because that's something Mike didn't always foretell. And surprising the Master with his own mod is an honour, at least for me.
For example: who knows how the Doppelganger reacts with the Doghead and the Dragon toy together? I've never tried it, and I've never read about anybody else trying it! As far as I know it's never been mentioned before. It'd be interesting to see what happens to an enemy when they come into contact with all three of these things at the same time. And this is just the Doppelganger/Doghead/Dragon toy combo, there's lots of untested combinations. It's obvious we have more to learn about the Alive mod. In fact several of the discoveries I've made, happened recently, after webgamer.ru came about.
So in the case of the infamous Port mission... Can Teleporters teleport enemies? (We know they don't teleport cars) but has anyone tried pushing an enemy into a Teleporter with a car? (I don't know, I'm just asking...) The Balefire is the only way to gain a Super Power (Super Speed) at the Port. Yes and where can we go with Super Speed in the Port? Are there any "steps" that can be used to climb up onto the roof of a building? (Remember objects like car tyres can be used in conjunction with Super Speed to leap HIGH up into the air, you might even be able to jump out over the Port's wall if you do it correctly). Does the (Change camera view in a micro-car trick) set off VIP's when done in the micro-BM4WD? I must admit I'm not reading the Russian forum, but I wonder if these types of questions are being asked? and answered?
Hi Gerasim, thanks for your kind words. I try to give a little back to Mike when I can.
Two more unrelated/uncategorized events...
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Note these screenshots are not from the savegame I uploaded (even though the situation is similar - Silver Fletcher gang near China town, 3 Body Guards hired including the Super Body Guard, Priest). This is a different save (no Terrorist) at least not that I know of, hehe. The Detective Lassiter (Lassiter Gang) are waiting at the closest Doghead Phone Booth to Salieri's restaurant and bar. I'd already killed them in this case.
Now it won't be special for most people, however it was a new behaviour that I myself haven't seen before. The Silver Fletcher gang was parked and the gang members were shooting it out with my Body Guards. I placed a Doghead behind the car and one gang member caught alight, just as the fire flash occurred the driver drove off leaving me standing there. I didn't move from my position so they weren't following me, the driver just decided to speed off down the street, away from the Doghead. I know it doesn't sound like much "driving off" but if you know Alive mod behaviour, you know this is unusual. If the AI stay in the car, typically the Doghead will kill them one by one. If they get out of the car well then you have problems because you have to deal with two or three enemies on foot, but driving away from Tommy instead of staying close to him is something new. The Doghead was useless because I had to move away from it and take my fight to them. In the end I gave the Fletcher a little bit of a push with the Jumping Car function and decided to use the Dragon toy instead. Got some nice shots of Little Paulie and Golem shooting it out. Notice after the Dragon toy changes into Little Paulie how quickly he charges Golem. Look at the ricochet of Golem's bullet on the ground. He misses Little Paulie completely. He's a quick little mobster, like a mouse
Oh BTW did you notice the BIG Tommy gun clip in the previous montage? Take a look at Little Paulie popping in a new magazine. The empty one he discards is bigger than his little body, hehe.
Did everyone know that a second Mutagen 4WD (a.k.a. Flying Car) can be saved in Ralph's garage (even when you cross the City limits)? but a second BM4WD (from the Countryside gang) cannot?
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This started out with a Doghead anomaly. A moment before the policeman turned into a dog I shot him. A dog spawned but the policeman (model) remained behind too, falling back from the shotgun blast and then expiring, then it caught alight. From that point on a weird fire would appear whenever I stopped the car I was driving. Sometimes it appeared beneath the car I was driving, sometimes it appeared underneath a car a normal civilian was driving. It happened in Little Italy all the way over to New Ark. See the two Detective body guards, well that green Lassiter behind it spawned this weird fire. I imagine this is some bizarro bug or something?
I ended up at that place beside the Armory in New Ark. These screenshots aren't an anomaly, it's just a place you can get into with the Jumping Car function. The Body Guards can stand on the invisible platform too, for some reason I thought they'd fall through, but they crouch when you crouch so maybe they'd attack an enemy as well? (if you drew one to this spot) e.g. Terrorist, Lassiter Gang, Golem.
Game physics seem to function normally back there, however 1 shot from the Pump-action shotgun was enough to blow up the car (normally you'd have to shoot the grill for a while before this happens). The Armory wall is also solid (you don't fall through it) so you can use it to climb up onto a car. Getting back out is easy too, just drive back over the wall and you'll drop down onto the grass. I know this won't interest 99% of people here, but it could be useful if you're wanted by the police and you're low on health.
OK I have a question... what's the "easiest" way to get onto the elevated railway in Downtown? I always use a car and the ramp near Lucas Bertone's, but is there an easier method? I can also do it (now and then) by running up the ramp at Super Speed, but that method is tricky. So is there some smarter, faster way up there? (Please don't suggest a trainer, MafiaCon was to document some decent screenshots of the Port mission) I'm after a genuine gaming method, perhaps the Jumping Car function? If someone knows a good way please share it.
