Game:

Time Stalkers (1999)

Duration: 34:07

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I was discussing with a friend how the earlier events unfolded, in dealing with the Game giving me a 1,000-point reduction in my Military Faction relations as a Loner. While we both knew the Game could suddenly give large random amounts of points to suddenly make an enemy a friend, and a friend could suddenly become an enemy, some events like the four Bandits entering Dead City could also be like a catalyst too. It was then that I wondered, if the Mercenary had not killed the 4th Bandit during the Emission in front of the Party HQ, what would have happened if I shot him instead?

I say this because I had killed two of the Bandits and my Companions had killed the third and, in that occasion, I left the 4th Bandit alone and I did not get the Military-Loner relations are deteriorating message. I wondered if that specific Bandit was the catalyst, so I went back and reloaded the save and shot him first. Nothing happened. Then I shot the second one, and then the third one in the street, which this time triggered the deteriorating relations. I reloaded a second time, decided to go inside and stop the intruder Bandit first and shot at a dark figure in the stairway and another one that surprised me, that turned out to be my men. I found the Bandit already killed inside along with the Mercenary squad leader.

I checked my PDA relations and by killing my own men accidently, both allies of the Mercenaries and Military, my relations points dropped to new lows of 785 and 651 respectively. This is why you don't want any incidents of friendly fire by the Player. I have to pay more attention if this happens with Companions killing Companions. This scenario was the biggest drop, and I was beginning to think that this experiment didn't really show me anything as I had hoped to figure out. I decided to give it one more try.

This time I shot the two Bandits in the streets, and I went down below and found the third Bandit killed on the first floor, which had not happened before. Then I noticed there was a green star inside the Mercenary Base. All my Companions had different symbols in the Mini-Map. I looked at my PDA relations and now surprisingly had my personal relations points at 1,021 with the Mercenaries. I had made them friendly green and had jumped from 898 to 1,021 which was a gain of 123 points. The Loner Faction had risen from 498 to 621 and there was no loss of any points with the Military. I don't know how this happened other than my men stopping the Bandit inside the Mercenary Base and the squad leader had survived. Some type of bonus points for no casualties, I guess.

With this huge gain in Mercenary relations, I decided I would not go back to my Game that had progressed half a day or so when I left it, getting ready to travel to Limansk to get a reward for the document I had been carrying for several weeks. I would give up killing the Burer and Bloodsucker, that I had just posted a few hours earlier. I would give up the Mercenary who had snuck in the Party HQ and killed the 4th Bandit during the Emission. I certainly didn't want to kill him or have my men do it and possibly lose all I had just gained with the Mercenaries and kept from losing with the Military.

So, I had no choice but to wait. The Emission was coming soon and there was still a chance he could become Zombified. However, this time it appeared he was standing more in the opening, probably safe from that. The Emission arrived and I watch that Mercenary squad run past behind the building but this time none of them entered the Party HQ as before to kill the 4th Bandit. I left the Mercenary Base and went out and did a few things and then I returned. It got dark and I kept waiting. Suddenly my target acquisitions showed me some friendly green NPCs were coming up behind him. I thought oh no, some Loners entered the level and were now going to undo all my hard work and good fortune. There was nothing I could do as I watched the 4th Bandit get killed. Then no message appeared. What had happened? I went out and discovered that it was not Loners. It was Mercenaries who were friendly green now. I had been very lucky and from this point on is where my Game lives on.

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