Bad drop-off by the jail Phantom
Posted July 9th 2011
When you get sufficiently near the dam's pump station in the final area of the level, enemy reinforcements get flown in to be dropped off on the section of broken bridge outside Johnson's 'jail'. But if you get over there promptly and slam multiple Brute shot rounds into the ship fast you can make it drift out over the river, causing troops to be deposited into the water. Dear me, nasty accident eh? I suggest aiming for the rear right side to try and swing the back of the Phantom out as quickly as possible.
I'd recommend using Easy for this mischief, and preferably having Cowbell on. With Cowbell the displacement effect looks to be a bit stronger which will help, though you can certainly do without.
It's easy to reach the ship in time if you don't dawdle. Use the passageway via the doorway where you see 'PUMP STATION', and you can be ready to fire even before the ship is quite at the jail. Normally I'd be firing shortly after emerging from the exit. For getting the ship out over the water in time, the sooner you start nudging it the better. Give it a full six rounds for starters, then preferably more. On Easy it won't matter much if there are enemy troops around, unless they happen to be physically getting in your way. I generally aim to the upper left of the gunner to try and swing the rear of the ship out as quickly as possible, but there's no precise spot you have to aim for. Shots anywhere into the Phantom can give it a nudge, and plasma grenades work too. If you'd like to quickly get onto the jail roof, you could bombard the ship from there instead of from ground level, though you'd probably only have time to get the final wave of troops wet.
Actually you don't even have to go all the way to the other side of the river. If you stop in the passageway where you see '05' or thereabouts, you can slam rounds into the back of the ship to move it along, causing troops to get dropped beyond the side of the broken bridge.
Multiple waves
On Easy the Phantom drops between one and three waves depending on the current enemy count. I did a bit of testing and it looks like you if you've killed at least ten enemies in advance you should get the maximum three waves; so I suggest you do that prior to triggering the ship. More waves means more time to shift the ship and more likelihood of wet covies. I'd especially recommend killing the chieftain if you've got a sniper rifle, because he can otherwise be a pain.
When getting three waves on Easy, the first comprises two Jackals, then come three Grunts, and finally three Grunts and a Brute. There doesn't seem to be enough time to get the Jackals to drop into the water, but the subsequent two waves are viable. After completing its drops, the displaced ship returns to its proper station before departing.
Watery view
In Theater mode you might like to watch the unfortunate covies go into the river and sink down. They end up settled on the bottom but their weapons drift off in the current. Even spikers. Yes, apparently spikers are lighter than water! You wouldn't think it to look at them.
Or stacked covies if you prefer
Another effect you can end up with, namely if you don't shift the ship quite so much, is covies stacked up on one another on the edge of the broken bridge. Or at the very least, covies right on the edge. These guys make a lovely target for your Brute shot or perhaps a grenade, so it's easy to subsequently get them into the water if you like. Heck, even when a drop is normal it's good fun to blast enemies the moment they're down, or to've left a plasma grenade ready to go off.
Stacked covies were what first caught my attention actually, and quite amusing they were too. I got them when I was trying to kill the near-side gunner early, while playing about with using the jail Phantom. When I realized that my Brute shot blasts had shifted the ship, it was natural to think "Hey, if I could give it more push, maybe I can get the troops to go straight into the water!".
Handy checkpoint for replaying
If you're lucky you'll get a checkpoint shortly before emerging from the exit doorway, which would be ideal for having repeated goes at shifting the ship. Another possibility is getting a checkpoint part way through the passageway, which is still pretty convenient. In particular there's a checkpoint associated with triggering the Phantom, and although it could initially be delayed by enemy threat, you might then get it in the passageway. Even if there are lots of covies around, there still seems a good chance you'll get at least one checkpoint somewhere between triggering the Phantom and reaching the exit doorway.
Starting from a rally point
For this fun it's ok to start from rally point bravo if you like. A couple of Brutes in the crashed Pelican area can furnish you with a decently stocked Brute shot, though probably not a full one. For a full one you'd better start from rally point alpha or earlier. On Easy you can run past enemies with no trouble, so starting from rally point alpha wouldn't add much delay to your fun.