A sneaky use for a Banshee at the rear door.

(7:38) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. In my latest escapade with the rear mob, I get into some sneaky cyborg mischief at the nearby tower door. Because I'm just like that.

Released April 20th 2024, gameplay recorded April 15th and 19th 2024.

00:02 (Initial play) With the Banshee like this, notice how the covies apparently can't see you. In this relatively early play from April 15th I get some tagging mischief going, but then make a mistake and accidentally tag the Banshee's tail instead. Having literally blown my cover, things quickly get desperate as the covies close in. I go down to my last health bar but just manage to pull through, humiliating the cloaked Elite into the bargain.

01:39 (Ghost added) In due course I noticed that if I gave the covies a Ghost, the pilot would actually target me. Apparently he could see me, unlike the other covies. This play is an example of that, obtained around 15 minutes after that last one. Again I have some fun with grenades, and this time my cover is blown by a tagged Grunt. At least I moved out of the way in time though! There's a nice little skirmish after that, including an amusing bit where I tag a red Elite and hop over him, leaving him to swipe air with a plasma stuck to his head.

03:19 (Raised tail) Later on I realised that if the tail is raised off the ground somewhat, your shots can get through to the covies, and grenades too, which can all make for some good fun. This play is an example.

04:43 (Chain reaction danger) Four clips now illustrate some of the hazards (and provide further amusement, albeit at my expense). First off, you have to be careful about chain reactions. You can easily get yourself killed that way. And I certainly did, lots of times.

05:13 (Hunter swipes) Secondly there's an issue with Hunter swipes. Hunters may not be able to see you, but when close, they're nevertheless likely to take a swipe in your direction, if you've just indicated your position by firing. This is quite a serious pain actually. I was killed many times like this, when recording for the movie. Actually, Elite swiping is a hazard too, but a rather lesser one.

05:32 (Watch those throws) Thirdly, you need to just be generally careful when throwing grenades, quite apart from the chain reaction danger. In this example my frag bounces off a Grunt and lands fatally close to me. Bit of a hasty throw.

05:46 (Shield bounce disaster) The fourth clip is along the same lines but is more comical, and the unique comedy of it is why I wanted to include it. My plasma grenade bounces off a Jackal shield and comes back to me; and after a skirmish, I'm toast. There's something interesting at the end too. Notice that after I die, a dropped frag goes off, detonating my other grenades. But why did it go off? Looks like it was due to the heat of the plasma ball that got me. Notice how the frag, which drops to my left, was very close to the green after-glow as it fell. Have I see this effect before? Maybe, but I can't remember for sure.

06:10 (Raised tail again) In this final play I have the Banshee tail raised higher than last time, which allows some different shooting. In particular, note that I'm able to shoot through the gap between the legs. I almost kill a red Elite that way, but he's actually finally killed by friendly fire, and you can hear another Elite complain.

After a nice frag on some minor covies to the left (6:38), I try some more shooting but the covies are moving around a lot and I'm losing health bars, so eventually I decide to detonate some loose plasmas and mop up, which goes pretty well. Nice Ghost boom at the end, although it took me three throws to finally tag it! That guy was a slippery customer.

Incidentally, if you ever want to raise the Banshee tail higher, just whack it and that'll probably work.

Closing remarks That final play was the only part not recorded on April 15th, the day I was exploring this stuff. Originally I had a play for that slot from the 15th, but on the 19th I did some further playing in the hopes of getting a good play with a more spectacular Ghost explosion at the end. And I did get one, so that replaced the original.

This movie ended up being a bit longer than usual (I normally try to keep things under seven minutes), and that's because I wanted to include some additional hazard clips. Originally I only had two of them, the first and third, and I was thinking to hold others back for a possible sequel movie in which I went into more depth on things. But after a while I decided to include another two clips - and never mind that we went over seven minutes. I especially wanted the comedy of the Jackal shield clip, but also I thought I should include the Hunter swipe clip, as that really is a key hazard.

And yes I know I only just put out the last movie yesterday and now here's another, but I'm trying to reduce the backlog waiting on the assembly line. It keeps building up, with all the fun 'n games I'm having. Could be another several movies before things quieten down.

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