Session 3 - 1/28/10 - 8:00PM to 10:00PM

It doesn't seem like I got much done in this session but the Dust sector is more than twice as large as the Parker sector.

The screenshot archive can be found at:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pastorek/RFG/Session 3/

===========================================================

My last game save left me in Parker so that's where I'm starting. It's nice that the game is geographically consistent in respect to my location. The only problem is that Dust is quite a long drive from here. Speed limit signs along the road vary, but I passed by one that said "90 km/h", which is about 56 mph.
Instead of driving straight to the Dust safehouse, I'm going to engage in a hostage rescue mission. I preemptively swapped my light utility truck for a heavy dump truck. A stupid EDF transport ran into me and opened fire. What gives?

One of the hostages immediately jumped in the bed but the other lingered to fight the EDF. Flashing face icons in the corner show relative health levels of the hostages and I started getting nervous when the fighting hostage's face was flashing red. I backed the dump truck up to block her line of sight and she gave up the fight to get to safety in the truck.
The truck is far too damaged to continue driving. I'm ditching it for a 4-door EDF transport with a roof gun. Surprisingly, neither hostage took over the gun and instead preferred to sit in the back seats. While not unusual, I expected at least one of them to take control of it.
===========================================================
It appears Fraps randomly closed on me so I don't have pictures for anything passed the first hostage mission I went on to the Marauder mission. Although this saves me some time sorting through the pictures I'm really frustrated that I lost an hour's worth of in-game information. I'll be more careful to prevent this from happening in the future.
===========================================================

After blowing up a random smokestack I happened to be escaping from the EDF in the direction of some kind of mission with a gun icon. A voice on the radio identifying itself as Jenkins asked me if I was interested in being a gunner. The voice sounds a bit redneck-ish so I expect this mission to be funny. While waiting an EDF transport showed up behind me and all hell broke loose.

I can't say I'm surprised. This vehicle looks like a fine example of Mad Max engineering, but yhe driver, Jenkins, is no Marauder. Based on the hubless front wheels I'm assuming this vehicle has rear-wheel-drive. The point of this mission is to destroy a quota amount of EDF property, which further instills the hatred the colonists have for the EDF.

The vehicle's primary weapon is a rocker launcher and it's secondary is a machine gun. Like the tank, the only weapon I'm using is the rocket launcher. Turret rotation is sluggish so I can't quickly change my field of view. Yellow arrows point out targets I'm supposed to attack, which is somewhat difficult since the vehicle is moving and I have to compensate constantly.

Apparently Jenkins is a "red blooded Martian" who despises Earth and wants all Earthen presence gone. He sounds like he needs a beer in his hand and a soap box to shout from.

I keep trying to shoot at an EDF gunship but the turret can't angle upwards high enough. I'll have to wait until Jenkins decides to drive along a hill.

I see some crystals but I can't leave or direct the vehicle. Oh well.

We're driving up towards the safehouse but since I didn't reach the mission goal of $35 million in damage I didn't succeed. Now that I have a better understanding of the mission and what it entails I should succeed this time.

I saw the gunship flying low enough to follow it and I took it down early. Apparently I took down *A* gunship, but not the one that follows me throughout the mission. How annoying. I'm not supposed to fire at colonist vehicles but it's difficult when they're fleeing from the EDF in all directions, although that adds to the realism.

I passed this time. It was a close call though and it feels like I had to work really hard to just barely pass. I hope future missions aren't like this.

An EDF transport showed up, but it looks like the nearby guerrillas took care of it. Thanks for the free vehicle guys!

The next story mission requires me to head into a Marauder hideout to find some sort of package. The briefing warns me to be careful because the Marauders are hostile. Wow thanks for telling me I sure didn't know that!

I'm starting this mission by following a Marauder vehicle into the Badlands. When I got close enough a red circle appeared on my minimap showing me the minimum following distance. I've encountered missions like this in Grand Theft Auto so I know the drill.
The vehicle entered some kind of portal in the rocks.
This is the vehicle I was following. It definitely looks like Marauder technology. As I was taking the pictures my truck rolled down the hill so I'll likely be driving this vehicle back to Dust.
The commander told me that this building might belong to the Ultor Corporation and was likely abandoned after the first Red Faction uprising. I like that this game is referencing it's predecessor and provides realistic chronological continuity.
I found something interesting in this building. This might be what I'm looking for. As soon as I picked up I was alerted that EDF was moving in on my position. I was expecting a giant boulder to start chasing me.....
Sam asked me about the artifact I found. She was strangely focused on whether or not I killed any Marauders and speaking in a calm and sad voice, but when Alex questioned her she quickly changed the subject.

I swapped the Marauder shotgun for an EDF shotgun. I've learned in other shooter games that it's always a good idea to carry weapons that the local enemy is using since it'll ensure I have a steady supply of ammunition.

When I reached the place I had arrived from the Marauders and EDF were busy fighting each other, so I took the opportunity to steal the Marauder vehicle and escape. Its front end is really wide and I used it to clip some soldiers along the way. I tried to avoid killing any Marauders since it seems Sam is concerned about them for some reason I can't fathom. The vehicle's only weapon is a harpoon launcher. It fires a single shot at a time so I'm sure it does massive damage.
I gave Sam the artifact but she didn't tell me what it was. I'm sure I'll find out later.

A cut scene showed dialogue between the Admiral of the Hydra, a spaceship approaching Mars, and someone in command, I'm not sure who or where. They both mentioned that "the terrorist" has the "nano forge", which apparently is what that artifact is, and are concerned about the Red Faction turning it into a weapon.

If I was driving along minding my own business and some vehicle belonging to a known hostile faction approached me, firing randomly, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't continue along the road at a constant velocity (spoilers: this actually happened in-game).

Red Faction morale is at 100, but I still have to clear the EDF out of Dust to liberate the sector.

I've engaged in another "defend this area" mission. There are a lot of people here but only 10 of them are RF members. That means the rest must be civvies and I'll have to protect them. My first act is to electrocute the occupants of this APC and use it to shoot back at the soldiers that got out. The trend of keeping the soldiers' faces hidden is still present. Their voices are projected through radios so they even sound robotic. They remind me of the Civil Protection from Half Life 2, although I know these aren't human/machine hybrids.
Having completed the mission, I unlocked a new weapon called "The Grinder". It looks like a weapon that fires saw blades that likely are able to penetrate multiple targets. This game is following the trend of offering more valuable rewards for accomplishing more difficult challenges, which is motivating and creates positive reinforcement.
There's another gunner mission nearby. I'll do this mission because if it's like the previous one it'll take me to the southern Dust safehouse, which is where I was heading anyway.
This mission ended much better than the last one. I didn't even have any civilian casualties.
Because Mars is much smaller than Earth its gravitational pull is smaller. I can clearly feel this when I'm driving the ATV since it's quite easy to get airborne. Giving light vehicles low gravity physics really adds to the realism and helps me immerse myself in the game.
The next story mission requires me to break into a supply building and steal a "walker" to put on a truck and take to a safehouse. This sounds like it'll be a fun mission.
I just barely had enough time to get to the walker's garage. I didn't have a vehicle that could punch through the EDF so I had to push through on foot. A risky endeavor, but the reward speaks for itself.
This mech has incredible momentum and isn't hindered by anything but steep slopes. It's heavily armored as well. No wonder the EDF confiscated all of them from the civilians. Clicking either mouse button rotates the arms in opposite directions and I was able to fling a utility truck with ease.

Now that I'm on the flatbed truck my job is to keep the EDF away using a rocket launcher mounted to the truck's bed. It's not as powerful as Jenkins' but the experience I gained from gunning for him will help here.
An EDF transport's corpse bounced onto the bed of the truck. I don't think the programmers intended for that to happen.

After we passed over a bridge the Red Faction blew it up with a memorable explosion.
The trench separating both sides is accessible by ramps on the side of the bridge so I really don't know why blowing it up stopped the EDF as they can clearly traverse the trench, but I'll settle for the fact that blowing up the bridge was the "explosive" finale of the mission.
I bought the grinder and it "fires razor sharp blades that pierce enemy armor". I also bought the ability to carry more arc welder ammo. Since it's described as an anti-armor weapon I'll swap out my remote mines for the grinder.
To fire it I press and hold for a couple seconds and it fires a single blade in a trajectory that follows projectile physics. Four blades and that ATV is nothing but a pile of parts. I think I'll like using this weapon.