Junior Member
For starters: Thanks for a really great game!
I do, however, have some thoughts about the game, or rather about the future development of the same. I´ll start with the "running around looking for weapons cases and upgrades". This feels plain wrong in a game of this calibre and I think you should be able to get all that gear in a different way. Here are my thoughts:
Factions & Markets
1. The CIA
Reliable Uncle Sam. Here you should be able to buy both weapons, upgrades, ammo, tech and intel. Currency would be “political influence” (Prestige points if you will) from completing ops that promotes and improves CIA operations in the country and/or with its political allies. Contacts for this market would be the groups Handler/handlers.
Other stuff that can be bought from CIA:
a) Satelite pictures.
b) Information about targets and organizations.
c) Files on rogue agents in the country.
d) Briefings (Side missions) that will earn you cash, coke or others.
e) Safe-houses.
f) Brieifings on the political situation.
2. International Black Market
At this market you should be able to get pretty much what ever you want if you got the cash to pay for it. Since cartels have dollar bills coming out of their noses, money cashes should not be problematic to trace down from interrogations and other methods. Killing the guards (high level security), packing the cash in cases, stash em in a vehicle and drive them to (relative) safety is the real challange. There can also be other types of problem with this market such as rivalry between contacts, customs problems that slows down the shipping, over-prized goods, embezzelement and breaches of trust etcetera. Goods from this market might also be traced. The contacts for getting access to this market is both scarce and hard to find. They also need to be convinced that the group can be trusted. Currency: Cash or coke!
Other stuff that can be bought from the Black Market:
a) Information on other buyers in the country.
b) Contacts that might sell you rare items if you stroke, or hit them the right way.
c) Forged papers for customs and other inspections.
d) Express delivery on selected goods.
e) Contract killings. Get money for murder.
3. The Resistance (Several independent rebel groups)
Here the group can buy low-level weapons, ammo, tech and intel. Also they deal in all kinds of vehicles including stolen military, armed cars and helicopters. They have a lot of contacts all over the country and are always happy to do business. The price varies according to deeds and reputation. Currency would be coke, cash or favors (side-missions).
Other stuff that can be bought from the Resistance:
a) Information about military targets.
b) Contacts that might sell you rare items if you stroke, or hit them the right way.
c) Maps of secret roads that lets you travel safe.
d) Safe-houses/Farms.
e) Assistance when raiding military installations.
4. The Cartels (Two cartels and several independent gangs)
Even thou the group is in the country to dismantle the main cartel (or all of them) there are always those inside every criminal organization that doesn’t care about any agendas, besides their own (or this might be true for every organization…). They are willing to sell you weapons, ammo, vehicles, coke and intel on the competition. Currency would be contract killings or other kinds of favors. Money or coke is no good here.
Other stuff that can be bought from the Cartels:
a) Information on other criminals and cartels/gangs.
b) Contacts that might sell you rare items if you stroke, or hit them the right way.
c) Contract killings. Get money for murder.
d) Transportation jobs. Drive and guard a coke-shipping.
e) Guard-jobs. Guard a place, vehicle or a person from harm.
f) Steal something specific from another cartel, gang or military base.
I also think you should make some gear matter in the game. If I put on a gillie-suit I want it to matter when crawling to a good position, when I dress up in black for a night ops I want that to be game-mechanic-tactical and when I put on a heavy rig I want it to give me more stamina. But this is of course more of a personal opinion.
Thanks for the time.
/ Sol
Member
Member
Junior Member
Community Manager
Banned
I couldn't disagree more. Whether or not you like the idea of adding interrogation, intel gathering, exploration and scavenging dimensions to the game to obtain such things, you're basically advocating handing them out as freebies just for gameplay progress. Yeah I know you called it prestige points, but spending mission points on such things is just an added step, and not as good as spending XP on skills.
I also feel buying such things from the black market or cartels is not only ludicrously risky, but hypocritical as well. The way they have it set up is far more practical and realistic. There would be intel gathering, interrogation, and scavenging of items found in real operations of this type. What you're proposing would drastically change the persona of the Ghosts to that of mere mercenaries.
Junior Member
Well, Frag_Maniac,
Thanks for your feedback. I do actually think its more realistic to have intelligence passed on to you by your employer (CIA or whoever), bargained for from other factions, bought with money or services rendered or simply forced by interrogation or other - in-field-tactical means. I am - however - not suggesting to interfere with XP dedicated to "skills" since they are what they are and I like it that way. It´s cool and workable.
I´m simply suggesting to broaden the approach to gathering information and gear in the game (again: not character-build). I still dont think (since we´re playing a special operations team on a straightforward CIA-sponsored mission to dismantle a cartel) that picking up new weapons from cases and gathering upgrades from all over the place is very realistic. Neither am I suggesting to trade one way of playing for another. The old fashion intel-gathering field work is absolutely fabulously fun and I´m not in any way trying to argue this out of the equation.
Still, its a matter of taste. If you want to play a "by the book" kind of game with a hero-flair I have no problem with that. I simply think there could be a couple of more layers to the experience. As for "hypocritical" I think judge-dredd-plowing a deep and bloody ditch thru all of Boliva - lined with thousands of no-trail-and-error-corpses is kind of "hypocritical" for being the good guys anyways so... I dont really see a "black market" as a very "drastic change" to the personas.
However, the story-line is of-course key. If the story is stern in making Ghosts into a narrow concept we´ll have no choice but to accept that and play the part I guess.
Banned
Sorry, disagree again. Like I said for me it's not a matter of taste on how things are done, it's a matter of practicality and realism. You can't expect the handler (CIA in this case) to be able to obtain all the intel needed. As far as your handler buying intel, seriously? Do you not see that that would be a problem as far as some informants giving out false info just to get the cash? REAL intel, the kind you can trust, comes from field operatives, the kind that are good at covert interrogation, like ghosts. At the very least they are needed to extract those whom Bowman interrogates.Originally Posted by Sol_McKenzie Go to original post
As for your interpretation of my comments on hypocrisy, it seems to all be based on your assumption that everyone plays the game via a "Kill em all and let God sort em out" method. I have gone on record here many times stating I feel the game is actually EASIER to play by killing only those whom need be to avoid detection, and that is often times very few. You're taking what I said out of context though. I'm not talking about tactics, but the cause behind them, and if you somehow equate the killing the ghosts do with that of the cartel, black market thugs, or mercenaries, then clearly it's more than a lack of practicality or realism in your idea of intel gathering that's a problem here.
Bottom line, like I said, I feel you're seeing it OK to label Ghosts as mercs, and you even justify it by assuming we all play the game by killing anyone that gets in our way, apparently even civvies. All I have to say to that, is maybe you need to get better at aiming, and paying attention to the dialog. Ubi did a pretty good job I think at putting in lots of squad dialog where they let Nomad know civvies, and even surrendering enemies, should not be harmed. That's NOT the way mercs behave. Their priorities are getting the job done by any means, and getting paid. Collateral damage is of no concern to them. The Ghosts are there to help make the place more civil for the citizens.
Beyond that, it makes zero sense to trust the black market or especially cartels to get their gear, I mean REALLY? Whereas paid informants might merely set you up with a ruse, black market thugs or the cartel could ambush and kill all the ghosts, or at the very least sell them sub par, sabotaged, or bugged gear. Like I said, it's a ludicrous idea.
Senior Member
Interesting ideas Sol that you obviously spent some time considering. I don't know if I would particularly enjoy that sort of spin on this game but perhaps a variant of it would change my mind?
I do agree with you in regards to your gear making a difference. Beyond camouflage effectiveness (which I agree with), I always thought weight should have been factored in so it would affect stamina, weapon choice and overall loadout. The fact that people can carry all of those frag grenades, flashbangs, C4, drones, ammo, any two primary weapons of choice, etc. always felt silly to me. ......as did a few other aspects that I won't get into.
At the very least I think choice of camo could have at least had a simple effect on detection depending on the province or terrain, time of day, etc.
