GasBandit
Staff member
Ahhh, I've played with way worse than you guys.I will say that my husband was watching over my shoulder and saying Gas's back must hurt from carrying us all.
How to play Left 4 Dead (2).
- Thread starter GasBandit
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So is Amy just watching, always watching?
GasBandit
Staff member
Sometimes. Incidentally, anyone on my friends list can watch live when I'm playing something in steam, just pull down the arrow by my name and click "Watch Game."
Just started watching the Swamp playthrough. The beginning area looks so strangely desolate with fewer infected.
Hey, I like to think I held my own. Who was it pulling Gas's ass out of the fire when he thought he was dead? That's right, me!I will say that my husband was watching over my shoulder and saying Gas's back must hurt from carrying us all.
... Course, I also set that fire... But that's not important.
GasBandit
Staff member
I haven't been very happy with the blurry/muddy quality of recent videos... I thought the problem was just that h.264 wasn't good at rendering dark area stuff, but Swamp Fever largely happens during the day and I'm noticing all kinds of smudging and artifacts, so I'm boosting the VBR's floor to 10mbit and trying to re-render the finale video. Hopefully that will clean it up some. But in my research I discovered that a lot of people have problems with Adobe Premiere's h.264 compression and this exact sort of thing. It's discouraging. I wish I had more upstream bandwidth so I might could entertain the idea of uploading uncompressed video, but that's a pipe dream.
Do you have film grain turned on? The compression might be compounding it
GasBandit
Staff member
I think I do. But, for example, watch Coach's forearm through most of the video, there's no reason it should be that muddy. Also, reference the article I linked earlier showing that Premiere's h.264 compression just sucks balls.
Nah, that's a stupid name.
"Xx_Null_xX"
figmentPez
Staff member
I find that a magnum is better in the early stages of a campaign, when it's very useful for picking off small numbers of zombies before they get close. It helps you move faster when the horde isn't on you. Also, if you do get surrounded with a magnum, shoot slower. You don't need to fire multiple bullets in one direction. Spread out your shots.* However, during a rolling crescendo, especially the finale to The Parish, melee weapons are a much better choice.
Also important is what primary weapon you're pairing your secondary with. @GasBandit could benefit from using pistols more often, and a magnum is a good pairing for a shotgun. Switching to the magnum or dual pistols to pick off special infected is usually better than unloading a half-dozen rounds or more.
During these videos I keep hearing "I'm out of ammo", and I'm guessing that's because you're using one of the machine guns (especially the M-16) and using it a lot. If you're going to use a machine gun, you're going to have conserve ammo. Switch to your secondary weapon whenever it's appropriate, burst fire (almost always), and aim for the head. If the horde isn't coming, it's often better to be using your secondary weapon to pick off random zombies, and save ammo for when you really need firepower.
My weapon of choice is the hunting or sniper rifle. Here's why:
- Infinite zombie penetration. A crowd of zombies rushing down a crowded path? 3 or 4 shots can often clear it, in a hallway it can be 1 or 2 shots. 1 bullet from this type of rifle will kill any normal zombie it hits, regardless of where on the body it hits, and will continue traveling.*
- You have to work to run out of ammo. Even if you do get trigger happy (and this isn't advised, due to reload times), you'll probably still make it to the next ammo dump with rounds to spare.
- Highest damage to the tank.
*More on bullet penetration. While sniper/hunter rifles can shoot through thin walls, that usually doesn't matter. What matters is that shotgun blasts and hunter/sniper/magnum bullets pass through zombies, while machine gun and pistol bullets don't.
My preferred weapon pairings for early and mid game:
Sniper Rifle / Magnum
Shotguns / Magnum or Dual Pistols
Machine Gun / anything.
For the late game the pairing is almost always melee. Though the more stationary finales of Dark Carnival, Swamp Fever, etc. are more friendly to pistols, especially when there are multi-level areas you don't want to be jumping off of to make a save.
Also, stop saving your chainsaws for the witch. It's much better to kill her with a shotgun or combined fire.[DOUBLEPOST=1436728146,1436727980][/DOUBLEPOST]
<Coach voice>"This here is some serious Nullshit." </Coach>
figmentPez
Staff member
I've never liked the chainsaw. It attracts any nearby infected.
But that's just my playstyle, I prefer to be picking off zombies at range, especially off the backs of teammates.
But that's just my playstyle, I prefer to be picking off zombies at range, especially off the backs of teammates.
It's not just you. Premiere has something going on that's been causing more problems than just H.264 compression.
--Patrick
If you can save it, the chainsaw makes some finales a joke. For instance, Dark Carnival 4's Line of Death, where you need to run through a single, massive wave of zombies to get into the safe room. Throwables help here, but a chainsaw wielder at the front of the pack can help keep things moving really well. Really, it's built for those times when you MUST keep moving.
GasBandit
Staff member
I think I've figured out, the trick is to make sure you hit the witch in the BACK with the chainsaw. The extra fraction of a second it takes for her to turn around is what lets the chainsaw kill her. If I chainsaw her from the front or side, that seems to be when I get clawed up for my trouble.
figmentPez
Staff member
You can do that with an auto-shotgun as well. Any shotgun will one-hit kill the witch if you headshot her from close range; if you do it fast enough you won't even startle her first, that's how you get the Cr0wned achievement.(Crone + 0wned, not crown.) The tier 2 shotguns just give you a little big more security because you have time for a second shot if you hit her in the back instead of the head.
This is correct, but we still call it "crowning" the Witch when someone does it successfully because it makes more sense entomologly.
I can only assume that this is a hilariously bastardized 'etymologically'
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, zombies are crawling with bugs....
figmentPez
Staff member
Who is "we" because I sure don't. But then, I pronounce "pwned" as owned, and find "pohned" to be silly.
*makes notes to used "pohned" frequently during next session*
figmentPez
Staff member
I'll laugh every time. I might even start giggling. I said "silly" not "annoying".
I think I didn't look close enough at my auto correct.
I have never, in 205 hours of play time, heard someone call it anything other than crowning. It makes sense: you're putting someone down on the head of the Witch. It's just that it's a shotgun shell, not a crown.
This works too.