As a novel form of parking, I don't think it's gonna catch on.

(7:38) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. While trying to obtain another snow machine, two new developments occurred. First I got a situation in which a tree was in the Warthog's nose (not in one of the two front corners), a new position. And secondly, that hog ended up with all four wheels off the ground, held up by the tree. The possibility of such a suspension was something I'd wondered about earlier; so now I know it can occur. Anyway, here's my video report on the whole affair.

Released October 19th 2024, gameplay recorded October 14th-17th 2024.

00:02 (Intro) This opening clip introduces you to the suspended hog, and as you can gather, there's some business going on at the hog's nose where it's suspended (there's a closer look at that later on). Something to notice is that my tracker shows a yellow dot for the hog. So as far as the game is concerned, the hog isn't in a settled state, even though it's actually motionless. Note also that when tagged, the grenade manifests a long tail pointing downwards. I assume this indicates a downwards force the hog is under (or something like that), akin to the situation you can get when tagging a frozen covie (e.g. see BCM278).

00:38 (Flashback: how it happened) Having set out to try and get a new snow machine, my suspended hog turned up unplanned after about fifty minutes' work, involving over half an hour's gameplay. In this two-minute segment I show and describe the key developments. Except, along the way there was also some strategic checkpointing (using delayed tunnel checkpoints) which I've omitted, but which I can mention here.

For starters, I checkpointed after the initial hog positioning, ready for giving it a shunt with the Banshee. I'd been hoping I could get the tree in a front corner of the hog, with enough tries (front corner desired because that was the deal with my original snow machine).

Next, I checkpointed and formed a separate save after getting the tree in the hog's nose (and doing the brief bit of attempted reversing at 1:20). Definitely wanted to save that new configuration to explore.

I also checkpointed after 2:04 when I had the tank under the hog, a situation I thought might soon lead to a snow machine, depending on what I did next.

Naturally, I also made a save after getting the suspended hog; and that formed the basis for the rest of the movie (everything not in this flashback sequence). Incidentally, I couldn't get the checkpoint close to the hog. Its odd state had a checkpoint delaying effect. I had to back off a way before the checkpoint was granted.

One other thing to comment on. Around 2:15 where I start trying to raise the hog's rear, that was so I could hopefully get under it again. Multiple blasts failed, but eventually ramming did the job. That angle actually held in place during around two further minutes of ramming, trying to get underneath (I also paused to have a look underneath, and there was bark coming down, plus scraping noises). Then came the ram from the side (2:33) which happened to lift the hog to a suspended state.

02:54 (Test drive) Now we start with some exploration. Needless to say, there was no chance of driving the hog free, but I hoist myself aboard and hit the gas anyway. During this sequence there's some careful camerawork to give you a close-up of the hog's engine activity display, or whatever that thing is called.

03:18 (Proximity factor and more) As you can see, there are some effects at the hog's nose which seem quite dependent on my proximity. I'm able to turn thing on or off just by varying my distance a little. Underneath, I get some nice close-ups of bark fragments churning out. I do like a bit of flying bark (see my 'snow machine special' BCM518 for more, and there's also some in BCM419).

There's also a clip (a late addition) drawing attention to the manic sounds, and then I board the side-seat to check out the experience. Lot of snow in there, though I noticed that it would turn off if I looked left a bit, at the large display panel.

04:29 (Missing effects) The stressed situation of the hog seems to cause the game major strain, and one way in which this manifests is that some weapon related effects are absent or at least unreliable. By way of demonstration I melee the hog to the ground, and you can see that things are back to normal (although, I notice that the hog is still a yellow dot on the tracker, indicating a non-settled state).

This missing effects phenomenon is actually something I'd already noticed a few weeks ago with another 'tree in a Warthog' situation, and I'd been meaning to highlight it sometime.

You may also have noticed that when I shot the hog twice around 2:51 (at the end of the flashback sequence), some effects were missing, so things looked a bit flat.

04:54 (Freeing the hog) Although the hog was pretty firmly attached, with the bond rather resistant to blasts, I found that it could be blasted off with a bit of effort. It could also be pried off by the tank, as I expected.

05:35 (Trying to add Marines) I thought it would be amusing to see Marines aboard the suspended hog, but first I have to get them off the tank. They don't have auto-dismount behaviour as the crashed Pelican area hasn't yet been triggered, so I have to get them ejected. Fortunately there's a nearby drop to facilitate that. Thereafter, I get them chasing me towards the hog, then I herd them closer with the Banshee.

But it turns out that they won't board. I should've expected that as the game considers the hog unsettled. Yellow tracker dot, remember? Two inserted clips show that they'll even dive clear of the hog if they get too close. Amusing, no? I spent quite a while getting that second clip, where they take multiple dives to get clear. I was making attempts from a convenient checkpoint. Usually they were both quickly clear, but this time it took five dives between them, due to getting a bit caught up underneath.

As a consolation prize, I at least get them aboard after using melee to bring the hog to a settled state (see how the tracker dot disappears), and that gives me the chance for a comedy ending.

Closing remarks From the opening footage, it looks as if the tree is in the front right corner of the hog. Visually it is, but structurally it doesn't seem to be. If I blast the hog so it settles on the ground, the tree would be in the nose again, where it started out (see 1:11), and the driving experience would be as seen around 1:20. If the tree were truly in the front right, I'd be able to do anticlockwise rotation in reverse gear (like in BCM516 around 3:52). But it can't be done.

Although I didn't obtain a new snow machine during the play that lead to my suspended hog, I did actually get one (unintended) while recording for the movie. It's only a quiet one, but maybe I can cajole it into becoming noisier. Anyway, it's progress at least.

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