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Commandos 2 FAQ
Version 1.2, 30/Dec/2001
By Jurcoane Aurelian

====================
Table of contents:
====================
I.   Before anything
II.  Tips
- Quicktips
III. My opinions
- My dictionary
- Blabber-mouth (SPOILER)
- Commandos top
- My results
IV.  Bugs/Dislikes
V.   History of changes
VI.  Credits

=========================================================================================
I. Before anything:
=========================================================================================
1. This FAQ is intended for Commandos 2: Men of Courage v1.00
2. This FAQ is best viewed with Microsoft (R) WordPad, font Courier New 10.
3. I'm not a fan of those people that fill their FAQ with useless info that you can get by reading the Help. Therefore, I will not write about obvious things. If, while reading, you don't understand something, just start the game. It's there.
4. Many FAQ writers slap you with some charts, facts & other stuff, but never state an opinion. People, this is why I read the FAQ...to hear what others THINK about this game that I liked so much.
5. I tried to keep the balance between my own way of seeing things and your wish to discover the game by yourselves. If I have, in any way, spoiled your fun, e-mail me so as not to do it again... though I hope you'll be kind.

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II. Tips
=========================================================================================
1) There are two important keys of which the Readme says nothing about: F10 & F11.

F10: This one highlights all the doors and "interesting" furniture. It also shows you any items lying on the ground (sometimes useful when unconscious bodies keep cigarettes and stuff). But there are some things it doesn't reveal: mechanisms (elevators, handles, etc), vehicles, stairs.
I can't begin to tell you how useful this key is! It must have shortened to half my total play time.

F11: Highlights all hostiles. It is pretty useful, because it makes a better connection between the mini-map and the actual field-view. For example, when you know from the map that there should be enemies around and still can't spot them, their contour will be shown in red. Another advantage is differentiating between the enemy and the civilians in just a quick glance.

2) There is a viewing ability perhaps unknown to many (the help doesn't mention it):
Rotating the camera while inside a room.
Press ALT + arrow keys (right, left), or, if you have a three-button mouse, try holding ALT + middlebutton. The room starts spinning continuously, not just 90 degrees at a time. Very, very useful!
Before I discovered this (accidentally), I had doubts on the 3D nature of the game!
Note1: This option doesn't work outside. Probably, it would have took too much time to render the scene.
Note2: I prefer much more the middlebutton-turn, because it reminds me of 3DMax (for those who know it).

3) SHIFT-split items in the inventory!
Am I not right when I say you didn't know about this? Well, at least I didn't (see
Credits). This works for anything that stacks upon each other (e.g. recipients, guns, cigars, clothes(!)). If I had known this in the 9th mission...(!!!SPOILER: so many prisoners, so many clothes to get; END OF SPOILER!!!)

4) Difficulty setting: I propose "Very Hard".
Well, it's true that I played C2's predecessors (C1Bel & C1Btcod), but I advice you to choose the same way I did. Rather then finish the game with "Easy" setting and then start over with "Hard" and so on, you defeat the game completely on your first try. It isn't that difficult, and the feeling is great. Warning: afterwards, be prepared to be bored with C2 (nothing else to win in the game).

5) Shortcut-keys tips:
Note: I still haven't figured out why the wise guys at Pyro didn't allow changing the shortcut keys from the in-game Options!
-You should map the "throw bottle" option. I found the bottle very useful as a back-up for the magnificent Cigarettes (didn't I tell you about the Cigarettes?... allow me: THE CIGARETTES ROCK! so you'd better learn the "T" key like nothing else)
-You could learn the important shortcuts and then not use the rightside toolbar anymore (" ~ "). This expands your screen and gives a natural look to the game.
-You should also learn (besides "T"): "Q", "U"/"J"

6) Opening doors: Stay on the side where the door knob is.
It sometimes happens that an enemy is facing a closed door. If you want to get him, you should use, let's say, a cigar. In order for him to see it, you have to open the door, but not be seen, which is a difficult task, I might add. Keep in mind, when I say "Stay on the side where the door knob is", I'm thinking of a door that opens towards you. :-)

7) The "adrenaline rush":
A burning wish for staying alive animates the gagged soldiers when you try to squash them using a vehicle (why do that? well...). They will instantly rip their bindings and get up. You should know this applies only to patrols.
As much as this may sound as a bug to you, I realized I would do the same think as they do when seeing a maniac trying to run me over with a tank.

8) The bait-body tactic:
Especially when preparing for those invasions in the bonus missions, you may try this: after positioning your men properly (after a corner I mean) put a gagged soldier in their field-of-view so as to be seen by incoming soldiers. The enemy prioritizes the living comrades to the dead ones, so they will run "to the rescue", blindly getting shredded by your crew.

9) The unachievable goal: 5 stars in mission 1
Pyro was a bit piggish about this one. If you're one of those people that try and try to get a merit of 5 stars, get used to the idea of not being able to. Mission 1 has a lot of impenetrable doors, therefore you loose credits for "Visited areas". They should have warned us! BTW, don't you agree that such a success as getting 5 stars should have been rewarded in some way?

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Quicktips (in no apparent order)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01 Start walking before the enemy's view field has passed you (your commandos have inertia)
02 When in a hurry, just after you knocked-out someone, tie him up and lift him in quick succession (the animation for tying is useless)
03 The above tip works for other animations as well (e.g. unlocking with the thief), but for others it doesn't (deactivating mines, unlocking safes)
04 Usually, when you enter a building, you can take your German uniform off (being a tight space)
05 Enemies can see bodies at high altitude
06 Sometimes the view-field of an enemy is false, especially behind vehicles (but don't count on it)
07 Use QuickSave(Ctrl-S)& QuickLoad(Ctrl-L) a lot
08 By using F10, the furniture you have inspected is shown in dark yellow. If a cupboard contains a BonusBook, you have to visit it twice in order for it to turn dark yellow.
09 If you want to get an enemy further and further, use cigars, then wine bottle.
10 There are some special patrols which can spot even the Spy. "Dismantle" them using the above technique.
11 When seen, your best bet is to hit SPACE
12 If you're spotted/injured and have high hopes for a merit of 5 stars, shorten your misery and reload. :-<
13 When in a vehicle, use arrow keys for a tighter control and SHIFT for speed.
14 The white rope is used by the Thief, who hangs it as a ladder.
15 The shovel is used for hiding bodies. Just drop the body in the hole.
16 After deactivating a mine, the Sapper can pick it up for later use.
17 Dropping a body over a mine does not activate it, but it's a good bait.
18 A sentinel may not move when seeing a dead body, but will, when seeing a gagged comrade.
19 Don't be afraid to waste Aid Kits. There are plenty of energizers in the game (quite too       many!).
20 Should you get a message like "one of your men has died", don't think you're being granted the favor of finishing the game. You only get to test tactics for future reload.


=========================================================================================
III. My opinions
=========================================================================================
There are two ways to play Commandos II: my way or the highway... just kidding.
Seriously, you can play either to get those nice little stars at the end (my way), either to have some fun as a butcher (from inside a tank, :-)). I hope I made it clear which type of game I like. If you want a challenge, prepare for this: forget about the riffle, the gun, the grenade, even the so much loved Sniper rifle. Instead, start using excessively the Q-Hand, sleeping gas, the Spy's syringe. Remember though: you must say good-bye to all the other nice gadgets. Kinda spoils the fun, ey? Not at all, because now you have an objective: a merit of five(5) stars!
Pyro thought of us, so they gave us the Bonus Missions: kill all you want, get shot, play loud music on the battlefield... you'll only get a medal.

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My dictionary
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-Green Beret + Sniper + Diver + Sapper + Driver = Binders/Carriers
-Blabber-mouth section = free flow of ideas
-M01,M02...=Mission 1, Mission 2...
-B01,B02...=Bonus mission 1, Bonus mission 2...
-Commotion = Pink-field-view

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Blabber-mouth (this whole section is a !!!!!-SPOILER-!!!!!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you see the ending of the game? I really enjoyed it! I liked especially the part with the retrospective of the commandos' photos. Made my peace with the game. About those pictures: I think Pyro attached the figures to real photos as I recognize the diver in a well known scene of the D-Day. If this is so, they did a really good job. Congrats to them! Because we're at the movies subject, I must give another round of applause to Pyro for making such a beautiful game that for creating the inter-mission movies, they only had to render the scene a bit harder. Talking about rendering, did you notice the long times for loading a savegame? You might have realized that the bigger the physical size of the file, the longer it takes (9MB->55 sec) (All of you people with better PCs then mine must be laughing their eyes out by now). It seems only normal. My burning wish is for Pyro to reduce this time. It is possible, as they did it in C1 (bel=>btcod).
I like the Credits of the game. One of the best Sections of this kind I've seen in a game. BTW, did you notice where does the cheat phrase "Gonzoandjon" come from?
Let's get down to business (this is not a walkthrough, but merely my organized opinions):
M01,M02,B02: The first two missions are pretty big, one bigger then the other (guess which is which). The second mission is somewhat HUGE. Not because of size, but because of the ever-coming objectives. Only to get those "checks" at the Objectives, I had to do a lot of useless "coming and going". And there is that submarine hall at the end that by its size and flatness scares you. That is that. Next, Bonus Mission 2. This is a real killer and my opinion is that every game should have one of this. Depending on the
Difficulty level you have 3, 1.5, respectively 1 minute to finish it. Of course, one who plays on "Easy" has no idea of the blood/sweat/tears he would have paid on "Very Hard".
My first approach got me, by the end of 1 minute, just halfway. It was obvious clever means were in order, so, with tons of patience, I started blowing-up mines by getting close enough to them and then suddenly running (use arrow keys for this). I created a short-cut through the circuit, but couldn't foul the game. So, I gave up. Only, later did someone tell me the secret (see Credits): DO NOT USE the mouse, only arrow keys and SHIFT (continuously). When you get to the ribbon, you must pass by it driving forward.
M03: Next, we have the ice-cycle mission. Niiice looking! Nothing special here, except some critters (penguins, sea-lions) that are not very fond of you. I still don't understand how do your commandos swim in that blistering cold. It makes me shiver! The Bonus 03 is, as most other, simply a refreshment. In fact, the only bonuses that pose problems are 02, 04 and 08. We'll get there.
M04: The tyrant is the highlight of this one. Don't put a trip-wire in front of his guards. Why not? Because nothing happens, that's why! I chose to put the tyrant to sleep from beneath the bridge with the Driver. It's your choice, though. I've been told (and I've tested it) that there's a more direct approach (kinda spoils the fun):
"This bug allows you to kill the tyrant at your leisure, even killing him before you call him via radio! First, you have to switch to the angle that shows the 'Buddha' statue showing it's back on you, and that the two windows on its back should be facing you... now if you look on the side of the bridge where the tyrant first appears, you should notice that a part of the bridge on the 'edge' is slightly shaded. Now, send one of your commandos to that shaded area. If you walk near enough the edge, you can see the 'blue line of sight' as if you're walking on the 'far' portion of a soldier FOV. Upon seeing this, you can either stay put and wait, or go back, put a body on the shadow area, either way, the tyrant will come out, alone. One more thing is that he cannot see beyond the shaded area until he steps out of it."          BY WAZA
B04: The Bonus is... yeah man, this is to my liking. My solution was a bit strange:
imagine, I positioned all the allied soldiers on their bellies, in line (|||||), in open f
with the sniper behind them to get other snipers :-). The sapper was waiting at a corner close-by, so that whoever escaped my firing squad would get some heat from his flames. BTW, when you first saw burning, screaming bodies in Commandos 2 weren't you just terrified? I know
I was.
M05: There has been a lot of mystery around the Elephant. To begin with, there is a bug about it (see Bugs section). Secondly, you will never manage to make it move if you don't use the keyboard (stupid, isn't it?). Thirdly, it's quite useless in the scenario. Thanks for the investigation go to Arm Claude (see Credits), who also discovered (haven't tested it though) that you have to cross the river on the side where the captive officer is, otherwise you don't get the check on your Objectives list. But you can't manage to cross without being spotted.