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#which would also give us the bonus of making the Assault Ship the only class without an Aiur variant
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after all these years i’m still annoyed that the Purifier starfighter wasn’t a Scout
Scouts have literally been in the singleplayer campaign as enemies since wings of liberty!! the fact that we don’t actually get them in lotv is such a tease!! and they're literally the only starcraft 1 unit we don’t get in lotv if you don’t count Observers or Shuttles!!
and like, Mirages aren’t bad but they are ultimately just reskinned Phoenixes so putting a Scout in that spot would have been such an improvement
and it would mean all three Starfighter variants would have a unique take on how to deal with ground forces!! Phoenixes have Graviton Beam, Corsairs have Disruption Web, and Scouts can just straight up attack ground units
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fapangel · 3 years
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>onslaught | I mean at least you didn't say Conquest or whatever the midline battleship is. I don't understand why everybody jacks off over that ship.
At LEAST? Are you implying it's BAD? SIT YOUR ASS DOWN SON WE GOAN HAVE A CHAT
Every time I see someone bitch about that ship, EVERY TIME, it's about its flux stats, because they miss the part where it's only supposed to raise shields to stop high-damage HE (so basically anyone carrying a Hellbore) or a Reaper torpedo. More recently I saw someone make excuses for the literal "three offensive guns, the rest PD" by whining about flux capacity for sustained fire. Yes. Yes, because it's the same damage-per-flux ratio either way, given the same guns, but they'd rather be able to apply constant pressure, which only makes one ship back off to vent while its buddies move in to block for it and shoot you themselves. Instead of, you know, putting out enough firepower to actually overwhelm a target which is greatly aided by the big-ass pulse cannons on the front.
And that's all true of the Onslaught before the latest update dropped, too, which gave it direct and indirect buffs which, in fairness, it did deserve. It was good before, but now it's great, the equal of any high-tech ship. The biggest upgrade was getting Heavy Ballistics integration, which REALLY helped the Onslaught as it's a hull that works best with a particular hullmod package and was a bit OP starved to start with. The pulse cannons got a flux efficiency boost, which really helps since the Onslaught likes to burn-drive in and dump those into a big target for an initial burst of damage for low flux cost. It had one nerf; more reasonable arcs for the side-facing large ballistic turrets, but that is completely negated by the reduction of the Heavy Armor hullmod's agility bonus from its previous 25% to a mere 10%, and the hullmod's armor bonus was increased as well. Even without considering built-in hullmods (referred to as "s-mods" now since you use story points to add them) the Onslaught really kicks ass now.
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This is how I tend to fit it - three Hephaestus Assault Guns for the large slots and autocannons in the mediums. (Note this screenshot is from v.91, a newer one would have even more goodies even without s-mods.) Swapping the central forward dual flak for two single flaks on the left and right and a medium autocannon in the center is also good, as the single dual flak can be a bit limited in reach for attacks coming in at an angle.
Both the autocannons and the HAG are decently efficient flux-wise and also have good DPS; the HAG especially is the DPS king. They pay for it in accuracy: this build doubles in firepower against cruiser-sized and smaller ships once you get the skill that reduces recoil; (elite gunnery implants now IIRC). With that skill this thing is a monster.
The challenge with any combat in Starsector is flux management, but especially so for this Onslaught, because despite being flux-efficient the DPS is so high that it can max out the flux bar fairly quickly, leaving you unable to raise shields if some bombers dump a scad of torpedoes in your direction. I set my guns to groups by class - autocannons on one, HAGs on the other. In retrospect when I get one in my current playthrough; now that we have more weapon groups to work with, I might break it down by broadside as well, one group for the three HAGs and two for the autocannons on left and right. That lets one carefully manage which guns are firing when; you can pulse your autocannons on and off to punish clowns why to raise shields as soon as your kinetics go quiet. You don't necessarily have to though; the HAG's description about "raw damage output being able to overwhelm some smaller shield emitters" isn't bullshit. The Onslaught isn't really a "broadsides ship," it's more of a front-quarter broadsides ship with anyone who tries to get right in front of you to avoid it eating pulse cannons for their trouble.
The key to the Onslaught - or at least my Onslaught - is applying that pure DPS supremecy. By the time your soft flux is a problem, your target should have serious hard flux problems and be backing off to vent, at worst. As is often true in Starsector, the hard part in big fights, esp. outnumbered, is confirming your kill once you've fluxed out the target; before his buddies can come cover for him and he slips away to vent. This is where missiles come in to play, and an example of why the new OP dividend from Heavy Ballistics makes this ship shine now - adding Expanded Missile Racks is very doable. I'm usually a Sabot SRM Supremacy guy; I'd use those for initial burst overload of a target, hammer the hell out of them, and then when they recovered, raised shields and tried to retreat I'd unload the pulse cannons into them to secure the kill. When 0.95 initially dropped we had insane enemy officer spam problems and they typically had at least a few of the new tank skills, which made them incredibly hard to kill. That's when I started trying Harpoon missiles again; I'd never been much impressed with them before, but I've come to respect them. Nothing, nothing, nothing confirms a kill like Harpoons; they're long-ranged and fast and with Heavy Ballistics Integration (to say nothing of S-Mods) fitting four Harpoon pods onto an Onslaught is very doable (though two works fine.) If you want to burn drive in blazing away with your pulse cannons like Abdul charging on his Toyota, that's your initial burst damage; put Harpoons in the missile slots and use those to polish off those clowns trying to give you the slip.
The other key to flying DPS Onslaught is what you do after you've murderized that first clown - when all his buddies and escorts come after you from all sides and you're high on flux. This is when you start managing your fire; I typically turn off the HAGs and pulse the autocannons on and off to give the usual horde of smaller ships hard flux concerns on their shields, and god help them if they drop shields and I get to turn the HAGs loose on them. Once that armor is gone it stays gone, except unlike your Onslaught, they don't have nearly as much of it to start with. The armor comes off them easy under HAG fire and after that you needn't bother with the HAGs; the autocannons will hit hull hard enough to obligate them to raise shields and, naturally, take hard flux. Your maneuverability is horrible, but since your guns cover both broadsides it doesn't really matter. The real challenge here is if you've got hostiles on both sides so all your autocannons open up when you turn on the group, sometimes you'll want this but if you've got an actual threat to starboard and a single Kite without torpedoes to port, well, not so much. That's where facing-specific weapon groups come into play. Pulsing your groups also helps with the recoil; putting more shots onto smaller targets and improving flux/damage ratio accordingly. You have the DPS to beat these clowns off like a man laying about him with a big stick, you just have to use it right.
If all of this is too much work for you, well, go get a Paragon kid, nobody will notice the training wheels. Git gud scrub etc. In truth tho I think that describes most of the divide on the Onslaught. I adjusted the game combat speed to be half of what it usually was when I first started playing. These days I'm up to 80% of normal combat speed, but I still find the normal speed to be too insanely fast to handle shield micro and even weapon group switching. And yet, I know other people who complain that Starsector's combat is too slow. Depending on how you want to play, certain ships will work fine and certain ships (or builds of ships) just won't. Which is fine.
The Onslaught is a good ship; but it is definitely not a "turn off brain, turn on pew, watch fireworks" ship.
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jxstiice · 5 years
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Stephanie Beatriz, 32, cis female, she/her. 🗽 looks like that’s AVA BURNS reporting for duty. they’re originally from QUEENS, NYC, so i wonder if working as a DETECTIVE for SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT ever gets old. anyway, i heard that they’re UNDAUNTED but also kind of HOT-HEADED, which is why i guess they always remind me of TIGHT LEATHER JACKETS, WAR STORIES OVER WHISKEY AND CIGARETTES, and A HARD EXPRESSION BROKEN ONLY BY THE PRESENCE OF A DOG
HELLO! I am sara and i got REALLY carried away because i had like 8 hours of boring meetings today. please feel free to ask me for a TLDR! Come plot! I love my girl and i love some ANGST!!
tws: death, assault, war, ptsd
YOUNG & LOVED
Matías and Mariana Burns were high school sweethearts from Queens. they didn’t move far once they married fresh out of high school, to a nice house in Richmond Hill. from there, Mariana worked to become a nurse, and Matías went straight into the academy. they were an eager young couple, but it wasn’t long until their first child came around-- a surprise, but one they took in stride.
Ava was rambunctious, and always wanted to be like her father. she took various martial arts classes growing up, played soccer for a time, her energy never seemed to fade.
Her mother worked as an ER nurse, and her father became a truly prized member of the NYPD, so selflessness and hard work are hard-wired in her system. 
Ava is the oldest of three, her sister and her sibling mean everything to her, and she took it upon herself to make sure they were okay through everything. with two busy parents, she never questioned helping out as she got older. 
WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED
When she was 15, Ava's life flipped on end. What started as a normal day at school turned into the worst day of her life when she was pulled out of US History and told her mother had been the victim of a hit and run in Manhattan. she was killed instantly, and Ava felt her world fracture before her.
things were hard after that. once she got back to school, she was acting out. she took the shift in the household hard, and though she stepped up even further for her siblings, instability was setting in. an anger formed in ava she wasn’t familiar with. sure, she was always tough, but after that she closed off.
one day, the same day Ava and Matías had a particularly bad fight, ava hit a breaking point and proclaimed she was leaving. Matías never expected everything to go so badly, even sent a friend on patrol to go follow her. he knew she ended up at a party with friends, called the patrol off, and figured she’d be back in the morning. they had a similar temper, and she’d even sent him a text later to tell him she’d be home. 
he was called to the 16th precinct at 3:30am to find his 17 year old daughter in an interview room, borrowing a hoodie and sweatpants with tears dry and fresh staining her face.
the party got wild, and Ava and her friends weren't trying to get too wild. ava wanted to just get out of the house for a few hours. none of them expected to be followed outside the frat house and cornered, but they were. two high school girls cornered by 5 frat boys wasn't going to end well in any of the girls' minds. Ava's years of self defense took over, but it wasn’t enough.
the two men that Ava actually ended up hurting in the struggle went on to press charges for their broken noses, but the truth came out in the DNA. The men took a plea and it never followed them past their community service and fine. Ava didn't recover so easily.
Matías struggled to make sure Ava got the help she needed. she was resistant to therapy and often skipped it. she got more aggressive and outspoken in school. her grades dropped. she graduated, but barely.
FINDING A PURPOSE
By the time Ava graduated from high school, depression was deep and responsibilities of being the oldest sibling of three was setting in. College seemed like a far off dream between her family. Ava running into a recruiter outside her neighborhood boxing gym was pure chance, but it changed everything.
When Ava told her father she wanted to join the Marines, he struggled. On one hand, he saw a fire in Ava that he hadn't seen for a couple years now, and he wanted more than anything for that fire to stay. on the other more obvious hand, the idea of his first daughter going to war was terrifying. It was Aarav's sergeant that finally convinced him. A veteran himself, he saw a lot of similar emotions in young Ava. she shipped off for bootcamp during the first week of September, just a few months fresh out of high school.
In the Marines, Ava excelled. the structure helped her thrive, and her drive was exemplary. from the start, she made it clear she was never someone to be messed with. It brought back confidence she'd lost since her mother’s death and her assault, and she clung to it as she once again became sure of herself.
In 2006, Ava Burns was deployed to Afghanistan to the front lines. she served overseas for 6 years with outstanding performance. her fellow troops called her a tank as she never backed down from running into situations if she knew she could help. Ava was a good soldier. her family was proud, and would welcome her home warmly each time she came.
NOT JUST A SOLDIER
In 2012, Ava and three others from her unit were captured by enemy forces after a roadside bomb caught them off guard.
They were held hostage for two months. during this time, it was everything they could do to stay alive and there for one another. They were physically beat and hounded for answers about the operations of the US armed forces. The three soldiers gave up nothing. All three were rescued.
When rescued, Ava's leg was broken and she was flown home for the recovery. It didn't take long for symptoms of PTSD to set in. This time, though still a little weary, she accepted therapy easier. after all, if being a prisoner of war for two months didn't constitute a little therapy, what did?
things got more frustrating though, and Ava could not hide the symptoms. her higher ups noticed, and Ava was offered an honorable discharge and a purple heart. She was told she would not return to active duty, and taking the leave now would save potential catastrophe on the battlefield. begrudgingly, mostly after her siblings and father talked her into it, Ava accepted. they say once a Marine, always a Marine. Ava doesn’t always feel that too much.
HOME ANEW
Ava's next steps happened quietly. she didn't even share with her family once she decided, simply shared it one day about a month after she was cleared to walk again with no crutches. with her coffee in hand, she announced simply: "First day at the academy today. Exciting, huh pops?"
Matías, was beyond thrilled.
Just like the army, Ava excelled once more, and she stuck out from the crowd in more ways than just her name.
By that point, Matías was a lieutenant at a precinct in Queens and known throughout the NYPD for support for community initiatives, but Ava was firm: never give her special treatment because of her father. she didn't need it, and if she found it was the case, she'd refuse it. 
Working as a beat cop seemed like the perfect balance for Ava. She was known in Richmond Hill certainly, and there were many neighbors that welcomed her as a cop warmly. With the slowly growing strife regarding police, people wanted cops they could trust. Ava was one, and prided herself in it. It also offered her the action she'd come to excel at in the Marines.
Fast forward four years, and Ava is hungry. It's never been a secret that Ava's fire made her advance, and after months of weighing, she decided: Ava Burns wanted to be an SVU detective. After her experience, it seemed right deep in her core.
Now, Ava has been an SVU detective for six months. She's constantly searching for ways to excel, but it's harder work as a detective. Now, she's working on balancing her impulsive nature with a more thoughtful process.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
Partner -- TAKEN by BEATRIZ GARCIA
Veterans: I imagine Ava has (occasionally) gone to support groups, as well as just made some friends that served in the past and get it. I’m open to various dynamics, only requirement is your character was a solider at one point or another. Bonus points if they served together!! OR if they were one of the people ava was held hostage with! gimme dat good good angst
Old Partner: Ava was a beat cop for four years, so she’d have had at least one partner! Open to dynamics, lengths, stories, anything!
Serious Ex: This was a relationship that Ava was very serious with, and they maybe even toyed with the idea of marriage. Unfortunately, this would have happened while Ava was recovering from her discharge 6/7 years ago and she was in no place for a healthy relationship.  
Flings: Ava is a bisexual queen and copes with things physically. she likes sex a lot and doesn’t put that much seriousness into one night stands. Open for various dynamics, come at me!
Mentor: I’m very very open to the dynamic, I have so many possible ideas. Someone ava’s known since she was little? someone that promised her dad theyd look out for her? her old/current partner? SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!! please just give ava guidance she needs it. so bad.
Childhood friends: Ava’s mom worked at a hospital and her dad was NYPD so I’d absolutely love some people from Ava’s childhood stemming from those!! also any other Queens kids would be cool!
Any! All! Come to me!!
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neoscarlet13 · 7 years
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Neo’s (great?) Ideas:
1. Creating a device that reverses the reaction of the human lungs turning oxygen into carbon dioxide and creates O2 from CO2 by using a catalyst (of some sort, more research needed) to lower the energy required to reverse the reaction and by using an electric current to replace solar energy in a Synthetic Photosynthesis Reaction.    This technology could be used for deep sea divers, deep space astronauts, planetary colonists, and asteroid miners. Another thing to consider is that Platinum makes a good catalyst and is likely in abundant supply in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
2. Synthetic Artificial Gravity. When spaceships rotate on a specific axis and with a specific speed relative to the size of the ship, it creates artificial gravity. However, what if you're on a small planet with low gravity but it's inconvenient for you to try and make a rotating base?   By using directional gyroscopic motors or potentially very strong electromagnets, you could create biosuits with these gyroscopes in place that would evenly distribute downward pressure all across your body. A helmet or headband would be used to simulate a strong gravitational pull on the head, and bands around the wrists and ankles would simulate resistance on the limbs to keep bone decay at a minimum.   Furthermore, this idea could be combined with the Carbon Dioxide Reaction Reversal Technology to create fully independent exosuits for exploring deep space, asteroids, moons, and small planets that would only require a supply of electrical energy (which could also be charged from the motion of the astronaut wearing the suit).
3. It should be mandatory for Politicians to take the 16-personalities test before becoming candidates and have their personality information and how strongly they agreed or disagreed with every question on that test be public information. There should also be high incentives for answering honestly rather than trying to uphold a specific image. They are free to take the quiz multiple times, so long as each personality result is put on public access.   (In case any of you reading this are curious, I've now taken that quiz twice. The first time I got INFP-A, the Mediator personality. This time I got INTP-A, the Logician personality. I guess I have evolved to be more thinking than feeling within this past year of my life, which I rather like because Logicians are typically associated with science and philosophy whereas Mediators are idealist problem solvers who consider all sides. Not to say that I don't retain any of that idealist nature, but I'm glad to be changing!)
For that matter, I think all of society should take advantage of the information gathered by personality tests and research into the various types of personalities. Furthermore, I believe psychological and physical checkups should be mandatory for the general public at least once every 2 years. Today's society has lost all sense of connection, and we need to do more to make sure people aren't getting depressed or having suicidal thoughts and that they are physically healthy and aren't being slowly killed by inactivity (haha, I should take my own advice. I really should).
4. Using these personality types, high-paying teaching positions should be offered to individuals who show good traits to become teachers. They, along with others who may not meet the personality types but strive to be teachers anyway, will then go through the training process to see if they are capable and knowledgeable about various teaching strategies for various types of students (the athletic, the nerds, the popular ones, the introverts, the special ones). This training should also prepare the teachers how to handle themselves in deeply emotional situations, and how to connect with students who are feeling depressed or isolated. Even if they don't come to you for help, you need to be ready to go to them and help.   Additionally, it is truly criminal that teachers must add their age + the number of years they've been teaching and make that number reach 80 years before they are allowed to get their retirement funds. Firstly, the number of years that they teach (and are evaluated as being good teachers-able to communicate knowledge and handle emotional situations effectively) should be the number of years that they are secured for retirement. Additionally, teachers should be getting paid far more than they currently do, and it may even be wise to create a 'teacher tax', where teachers are paid $1-$5 for every student that they ever touched with their abilities. In large school districts, this can help teachers with the stress of having 40 students in each of their 6 classes every semester.   (It still perplexes me as to the connection between money and happiness. Today's society sees money as a cure for stress and unhappiness, when in reality money is the very cause of many peoples' stress. Money, very often times, is the source of all criminal activity in the world, whether it be casual theft or an outright bank robbery).
5. Speaking of which....Crime. Do you know how much crime rates would drop if instead of spending money on giving police officers military-grade assault weaponry, we redistributed that wealth into $1,000 bonus checks for all the citizens in the United States which we gave out to everybody once or twice a year? Neither do I, but I assume the individuals who've been stepped over by Capitalism, the ones most likely to commit crimes, would very suddenly NOT HAVE ANY REASON TO.   Yeah, I said it. Criminal activity isn't caused by mental illness or violence between gangs, the majority of criminal activity has simply been bred into the economic systems of America.   The way the media misuses the term "mental illness" truly sickens me, partly because I myself have spent a week in an insane asylum once (FYI it was because I chose to, not because others put me there). I have seen true mental illness....as well as the TERRIBLE procedures they use to try and "cure" it.   No, the individuals classified by mainstream media as "mentally ill", are normal individuals like you or I. The only difference between a law-abiding citizen and a mass murderer is the sickening desires of greed, the soul-erasing emotion of wanting more. And what else do we see on mainstream media? That's right....thousands upon thousands of commercials and advertisements broadcasting to a mindless audience and preying on their desires to have more, to have better things, to improve their life. The only downfall is when they act upon those primordial desires...even if they don't have the money to do so. They enter debt, crises, their lives are ruined AND they get their greedy possessions taken from them. THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the true turning point of a criminal.
6. Speaking of mental illness (the real mental illness), it is truly barbaric how we attempt to treat and "cure" peoples' differing states of mind in the age of modern medicine. I know firsthand the things that they do. Day one of choosing to enter that mental hospital, they isolated me in a room with very little natural light and bars covering the windows. That in itself is enough to make a person fearful, depressed, and panicked, unwilling to continue further down the rabbit hole. Furthermore, none of the children were allowed to socialize with each other (a basic human need for the developing mind of a child). After that, before even addressing the reasons why I had come to the facility, my parents received automated phone calls containing lists of prescriptions for various mental illnesses, most of which we just very strong anti-depressants. Before even realizing that this 12 year old just wanted to escape societal stresses, school, and homework for a week, they wanted to lock me in a room with an armed guard and inject me full of strong anti-depressants. Thankfully, my parents (being of sound mind unlike the people working at this dreadful facility), decided to take me home by the end of the week.     Barbaric.
Hmm, I would continue, but that would leave nothing for other days. So until next time~! -Neo Out
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ftwrthtx · 4 years
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We have spent the last week running around Auroa in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Does the game stay true to the series, or did the franchise go AWOL?
  Read on to find out
The Ghost Recon franchise dates back to 2001 and has seen ten previous installments in the series. The series follow soldiers from Delta Company, First Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, also known as Ghosts, a fictional elite special operations unit of the United States Army under the Joint Special Operations Command. Ghost Recon Breakpoint picks up 4 years after the last game in the series, Ghost Recon Wildlands, and takes place on a fictional archipelago in the Pacific called Auroa.
Deep Storyline
The story opens as you are riding in a helicopter on your way to investigate who or what sunk a cargo ship as it was departing the island chain. You are Lieutenant Colonel Anthony “Nomad” Perryman: a well trained Tier One Operator, in charge of the group of soldiers sent along with you to investigate what really happened in this archipelago. Your chopper is brought down by an unknown enemy force, and you are left hanging in a tree while all of your group’s choppers are also taken out by a swarm of what looks like angry bats. As you work your way down out of the tree, and wade through the wreckage and carnage of your downed choppers, you come across a group of heavily armed soldiers called Wolves, being led by someone you thought was your friend, former Ghost Cole D. Walker.
The island chain of Auroa had been purchased by Jace Skell, a tech genius and founder of Skell Technology. Skell Tech was world known for its development of AI and drone technology, married together in a frighteningly deadly way. Knowing this, it was pretty obvious that your choppers were taken out by swarms of drones. It is up to you, and your teammates, to free the archipelago from the military force that has taken over the island chain, with whatever weaponry you can scavenge for, and no government support. You must unravel the truth, and kill anyone that gets in your way, and find out why your buddy Cole went to the dark side.
Storytelling Throughout the Gameplay
The story is told through cut scenes and collectibles as you complete missions and gather intel. The story is well written with an intriguing storyline and even more so intriguing characters. The voice acting and character animations, both facial and physical, are well done, and fans of the Walking Dead will recognize the actor playing Cole Walker as Shane Walsh (aka Jon Bernthal). He does a great job as the villain in the story, which isn’t always easy when all you are doing is talking into a mic. Even his walk is recognizable, so the animators did a great job of capturing his likeness as well as his facial and physical animations.
This is Ghost Recon
The game is played in the third person, and is designed for co-op play and stealth. The game stays true to its Ghost Recon roots, but also evolves into a bit of a looter-shooter in that guys you gun down generally drop weapons, ammo, or other gear and gathering it up is a huge benefit for you. The tougher they are, the better the loot, generally speaking, and the gear is usually a bit better than what you currently have equipped. All of the gear has a gear score, which determines your overall score when averaged out across every slot, and the higher your score the farther in the game you can progress and the higher ranked enemies you can attempt to defeat.
The game has an evolved weapon and gear system reminiscent of The Division series, but also with an underlying permanent level up system. The MK weapon upgrade system, once fully unlocked in your skills tree, upgrades not only the current weapon you are working on, but all future weapons of that exact same kind. i.e. Upgrade an MP5 to MK3 and all future MP5s you pick up will already be a MK3.  Same goes for your HTI or your M82, as well as handguns. It’s a great underlying system that will make your weapons more accurate, deadlier, and easier to handle, and only have to be achieved once for each unique weapon. It would be nice if additions such as extended mags, once purchased, were also automatically added, but instead you’ll have to manually add any of the desired add-ons manually every time you pick up a higher valued weapon. The add-on system is very deep, and add-ons can be found in the shop and scattered through Auroa.
The Classes of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
With Breakpoint being designed for co-op gameplay, it’s a great idea to not only understand the Class system of the game, but also utilize it to your advantage as a team. There are four classes, each with their own unique abilities and traits. A well rounded team would theoretically have one of each, but really that should be determined by your squad goals and not just let the game dictate your set-up. The four classes are Field Medic, Assault, Panther, and Sharpshooter. Each class compliments the team differently, with things like a healing drone for the medic, cloaking spray for the panther, tear gas for the assault class, and a sensor launcher for the sharpshooter. The effects generated are shared across the team, so those bad guys the sensor launcher finds are revealed to everyone, and that healing drone owned by the medic might just save your ass on more than a few occasions if your teammate can reach you with it.
Ubisoft was nice enough to send us 4 codes for the game so we were able to squad up and play through quite a few story missions, as well as attack a few bases full of Wolves. We also spent some time alone to get a feel for the differences between the two play styles. Playing solo can really suck if you try to take down a Wolf base or even some of the story missions, depending on your difficulty settings. You can unlock some little drones that give you some sync shots since there is no AI to assist you when going solo right now, but even with those going solo can be a challenge. The game truly is designed with co-op in mind, and it’s also designed to have the different classes working together. Matchmaking is available, so even if you have no friends with the game, finding some teammates is pretty easy.
Massive Game World With So Much to Do
The game world of Auroa is huge. Massive. Immense. There are side missions to be had everywhere and a team could be easily side tracked for hours, hunting folks down, gathering intel, blueprints, or weapon accessories. The missions range from a simple hunt-and-kill-without-being-seen, to multi-location searches that will have you flying across the map, with several stops along the way, clearing locations, gathering intel, and then moving on to the next location. It’s damn near impossible to focus on the main mission when there are so many other things to do, and/or kill.
Fast Travel Points Called Bivouacs
The game world does have a central hub called Erewhon. It’s a hidden cave, masked with some sort of electronic blocker, almost like a Faraday cage, so that the bad guys can’t find this hidden location with their ever present drones. Within it you’ll be able to find squad mates, buy new gear, find new missions, and start raids. As you progress through the story, more and more people move to this location, and unlock even more missions, as if you didn’t already have enough to do. There is also a special area called a bivouac (pronounced biv-wack for those that have never heard the word before) .
Bivouacs can be used to rest up, replenish grenades and such, visit the shop to purchase weapons and gear, as well as purchase vehicles or spawn vehicles you already own. You can also swap out your class while there.These things are everywhere and if you are flying around in a chopper and see smoke trails from a camp fire, be sure to fly down close enough to unlock that bivouac. They are also fast travel points, so Erewhon is always a fast travel away. They are also great for using buffs like bonus XP for 60 minutes, or increased accuracy or better stamina. There are 6 different buffs to choose from, and they help others as well. Each game session should be started at a bivouac just so you can fire up one of them. Not all bivouacs are created equal, as some wont allow spawning of vehicles due to their confined locations, so keep that in mind if you are looking for a spot to grab a chopper you own.
Shortcuts With Real Dollars
Ubisoft has decided to offer gamers the ability to pay for some short cuts via the in-game store. There are two types of currency in-game. There’s Skell credits which you’ll earn at a pretty quick rate, and then there’s Ghost Coins which you can purchase with real world cash. If you are impatient and want to unlock certain weapons right away without having to play through the game to unlock them, you can purchase Ghost Coins and then proceed to purchase blueprints, weapons, and even the material needed to upgrade a weapon to MK1, a long with vehicles and Skell Credit bundles. Everything purchased with these Ghost Coins are shareable across all three of your available game save slots. All of these items and upgrades can be acquired from just playing the game, but not everyone has the time to invest to fully reach that potentiality.
Micro-transactions have been around for a long time now, and as long as they don’t give a gamer a true advantage in multi-player (sports games are really bad about this), I have no issue with a company trying to make a few extra bucks. In the long run, it’ll help them create a better future product, while we as gamers reap the benefits of the available short cuts if we so desire. For a group of gamers that have the time to invest in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, these shortcuts really take away from the fun in acquiring the items they are selling. For folks that just want to play casually, when ever they have some free time, shortcuts make sense.
Not Perfect But Still A Lot of Fun
Ghost Recon Breakpoint isn’t a perfect game, as we came across a few glitches and bugs here and there, but there is truly never a dull moment. Playing as a group, we all shared some of the same criticisms and concerns such as the inability to bleed out if you are out of reach from a healing teammate, or when spawning on a teammate we were sometimes spawned over a kilometer away, or spawned right into an area with bad guys on top of you, emptying their automatic weapons into your quickly dying corpse. Occasionally when flying as a group in a chopper, the pilot might be 40 feet out in front of it, flying through the air in a sitting position.
Developer Ubisoft Paris took a lot of what worked great in Ghost Recon Wildlands and brought that over to Ghost Recon Breakpoint, then added a new skill system, created a better weapon and gear system, and created an awesome Class system geared towards team work. If you are looking for a team based shooter, with incredible graphics, a lot of stuff to do, and some challenging bad asses to kill, this game is for you.
  8.5
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint review codes provided by publisher and reviewed on a PS4 Pro. For more information on scoring, please read What our review scores really mean.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint Review - An Ever Evolving Franchise We have spent the last week running around Auroa in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Does the game stay true to the series, or did the franchise go AWOL?
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