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Current campaign is going pretty well. I've done five operations so far and it took until stun lancers showed up for any of my soldiers to actually take damage. I have no idea how I'm doing on the base management/geoscape game--better than last time, I think--but these operations are going smooth as silk. I did luck out at least once, though. During the first retaliation mission, my Ranger triggered a Faceless while standing right next to it. The only soldier in my squad who still had an action at all was my Specialist. I decided the best thing to do, rather than taking a piddly shot at the Faceless, would be to Aid Protocol the Ranger. It worked--the Faceless missed a claw to the face and was blown the gently caress up the next turn.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:36
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 19:53 |
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Oh, wow, important note: Grenadiers with shredder ammo shred more enemy armor the more upgraded their miniguns are. That is VERY attractive over Blast Armor now.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:36
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Vengarr posted:I never had a UFO Hunt Dark Event and it still spawned a UFO after I took out the Codex Brain site. I had already done the Forge site, so maybe it appears after you do both of them? Do you have medical protocol, field medic and a medkit equipped? If so Revival should share medical protocol's charges. Restoration also will fix unconsciousness, while healing fixes damage over time effects and solace fixes all mental conditions, so I could see the value in a medical protocol/haywire protocol/field medic/threat assessment/guardian/restoration build for covering all your bases with a single specialist, though most of the other options are good as well.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:37
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Vengarr posted:It has 11 health. Explicitly because the Blaster Bomb does a maximum of 10 damage and you can hit the spike with it from the spawn Unless you have the combined arms perk from the leadership mod. 
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Feb 9, 2016 05:37
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I destroyed the target in the Avenger defence mission by sending out a Squaddie to blow it up with a single grenade since it was sitting next to a propane tank. Bradford got upset that I tried to leave without my good friend ADVENT MEC though.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:40
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Alkydere posted:You're worrying too much about the Avenger Defense. I had 3 people run ahead (2 Rangers, 1 Specialist) while everyone else manned the defense. The hardest part is reaching the target, but once you do it has hilariously low HP (about 10 if I remember correctly, gently caress those horrible health bars) and you can just NOPE right back to your buddies holding the ramp. I probably could have done it a turn faster if I'd replaced the Rangers with Grenadiers and their hilarious bombardment range. I'm wondering, can you just Null Lance the target from the ramp? It seems like the kind of thing you'd be able to do. Maybe have one concealment ranger move up and throw a scan out to spot it.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:41
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Speedball posted:Oh, wow, important note: Grenadiers with shredder ammo shred more enemy armor the more upgraded their miniguns are. That is VERY attractive over Blast Armor now. I feel there's no point to Blast Padding. Enemies don't really use all that many explosives (or you really shouldn't be letting them) and 1 armour is, well, kinda insignificant. If it also changed with the armour tier you had, then it would be pretty nice on a tanky suppressor, but having some extra shredding power is really nice no matter the situation.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:41
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Ravenfood posted:Any way to make backup saves? I really enjoy ironman and haven't had an issue yet, but save corruption is a concern and I wouldn't mind the ability to make periodic backups. Losing a few hours isn't too bad. Tucked away in XComGame.ini there is a field called "bArchiveHistory". It's set to false but if you set it to true the game will save after every tactical mission and at the squad loadout right before you go on a mission. The saves get kept in a separate folder next to the regular one. Pretty useful if you want to do a bronzeman run. Ironman is cool but ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7qKEnliMQI
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Feb 9, 2016 05:41
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Speedball posted:Oh, wow, important note: Grenadiers with shredder ammo shred more enemy armor the more upgraded their miniguns are. That is VERY attractive over Blast Armor now. Yeah, Blast Padding is one of those skills that really isn't all that worth it, down there with Shadowstrike. It's only one point of armor and tanking poo poo still results in injuries. Even if you're going all-in on armor you're only going to have four points after blast padding, WAR suit and armored vest, and several late-game enemies will punch through that pretty well. Meanwhile shredder only becomes better and better as the game goes on and more enemies run around in armor, especially on longer story missions where you don't have enough explosives to go around. If you want to tank poo poo, use a psi op to rustle up meat shields (or a specialist to rustle up metal shields).
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Feb 9, 2016 05:41
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Cheston posted:I'm wondering, can you just Null Lance the target from the ramp? It seems like the kind of thing you'd be able to do. Maybe have one concealment ranger move up and throw a scan out to spot it. Null Lance has a range of slightly more than visual area. It wouldn't reach far enough unless the Psi-Op could see it themself.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:42
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Draxion posted:No, I started in Africa. The continent bonuses are also randomized each game too. This is what I get for always playing North America in EU/EW.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:43
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Dongattack posted:They hosed up the pacing again. You spend a good amount of time in tier0 gear, okay amount in tier1, but before you can really roll out tier2 gear the game ends Uhh this is on you buddy. I've been in tier 3 gear longer than 2 or 1 stuff.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:44
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Squadsight apparently stacks 
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Feb 9, 2016 05:45
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Oops posting pic
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Feb 9, 2016 05:45
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If you're playing Ironman and want to back up your saves in case of a bug, they're in Documents/My Games/XCOM2/XComGame/SaveData
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Feb 9, 2016 05:45
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Strobe posted:I absolutely am. There's the normal handful of pods between you and the target and then after 3-4 turns Advent grunts start drop-podding in. The one time I did the defense my biggest issues were having 3 Elite Shieldbearers up at once, and the pod actually guarding the pylon was composed of 2 Codex and a single Gatekeeper. The Codex were actually the biggest threat to the mission as I failed to one-shot both and I ended up with mitosis clones on the ramp (if the aliens get in the ship it's instant game over since they know all the overrides because it was their ship originally). Though the trio of Heavy MECs that had just been dropped might have been annoying to deal with. But yeah, you can totally stand in/near the Avenger's ramp while Bradford keeps feeding you a drip of under-level and/or wounded soldiers that have been stuffed into their armor and given a shot of morphine so they can fight without screaming every time their armor rubs against their plasma burns. Apparently after like 40-50 kills the enemy drops do slow down. Cheston posted:I'm wondering, can you just Null Lance the target from the ramp? It seems like the kind of thing you'd be able to do. Maybe have one concealment ranger move up and throw a scan out to spot it. Null Lance has a maximum range, and I can guarantee you without checking it's shorter than the distance from the Avenger to the Pylon. Doesn't mean you can't snipe the pylon from hilariously far away with 1-2 psychic railguns, just not all the way from the ramp.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:46
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Yeah if you sprint to the finish you can get done with the game by early July. I think I'm currently in early September and I did the Shadow whatever research stuff like a week ago.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:47
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LightWarden posted:Yeah, Blast Padding is one of those skills that really isn't all that worth it, down there with Shadowstrike. It's only one point of armor and tanking poo poo still results in injuries. Even if you're going all-in on armor you're only going to have four points after blast padding, WAR suit and armored vest, and several late-game enemies will punch through that pretty well. Meanwhile shredder only becomes better and better as the game goes on and more enemies run around in armor, especially on longer story missions where you don't have enough explosives to go around. If you want to tank poo poo, use a psi op to rustle up meat shields (or a specialist to rustle up metal shields). Shadowstrike can actually be pretty good with phantom/conceal, since it basically means you get two guarenteed crits/hits per mission. 
Karasu Tengu fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Feb 9, 2016 |
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Feb 9, 2016 05:47
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So uh... I was on a capture/kill the VIP mission. The car she was near was set on fire. I knocked her out and had my specialist pick her up and start booking it to the evac. Two turns later I am roughly five squares from evac and twenty five from the car she originally started near. The car explodes. And...I guess she has a heart attack because she dies in my specialist's arms. I still evac and get supplies, but I really could've used that 100 Intel. Fix your game Jake.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:48
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Is dodge chance separate from a soldier's hit chance? If so, I really hate that mechanic. RNG on shots is fine, but I don't need RNG in my RNG, y'know?
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Feb 9, 2016 05:50
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LightWarden posted:Do you have medical protocol, field medic and a medkit equipped? If so Revival should share medical protocol's charges. I did, but it is Stabilization that shares medkit charges. You only get one Revival no matter what. It's not like in EU where Revive just replaced Stabilization. If someone starts bleeding out, you have to Stabilize them first. Then they become Unconscious and can be Revived. Presumably with only 1 HP, so you'd have to heal them again...If you're on any kind of timer at all it's impractical. Either MEDEVAC them, or stabilize them and carry/leave them for later.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:51
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Today I learned that if you're on the you-hosed-up countdown, any black site will reset it, not just the one they give you when you gently caress up. Hooray for me, I have bought few more precious weeks for humanity. Also Jane Kelly with Bladestorm hosed up two Vipers at the black site so bad the game glitched. A viper grabbed her from across the map and tried to grapple, but she bladestormed it to death before it could, then another Viper moved in to try its luck at a grapple and she bladestormed it to death too, but the game clearly didn't know how to handle two enemy deaths plus a grapple that never actually started in a single action, so she was in the Bound animation for the rest of the mission. She followed it up by critting a Codex in one shot and then teleporting to the evac zone, the only downside is that the game decided she was greivously wounded despite only taking a puny 5 damage glance off her armor earlier in the mission.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:52
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Harrow posted:Is dodge chance separate from a soldier's hit chance? If so, I really hate that mechanic. RNG on shots is fine, but I don't need RNG in my RNG, y'know? It seems like their way to balance certain enemies (flyers and "agile" enemies like lancers / snakes) without having absurd miss rates / lightning reflex style traits like in Long War. This way you can at least pile up grazing damage to finish off those kinds of enemies instead of praying while you take 20% shots.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:54
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Harrow posted:Is dodge chance separate from a soldier's hit chance? If so, I really hate that mechanic. RNG on shots is fine, but I don't need RNG in my RNG, y'know? Yes they are and they are really loving annoying. I honestly would have really preferred they start adding an extra alien or two to pods instead of the player finding out the game's turned on the damage roulette mod from EU that drops the floor of all successful hits to 1. So loving annoying when I take 3 shots at a viper, any one should kill it, and get three "DODGE: 2 DAMAGE" popups in a row.
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Feb 9, 2016 05:55
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CapnAndy posted:Today I learned that if you're on the you-hosed-up countdown, any black site will reset it, not just the one they give you when you gently caress up. Hooray for me, I have bought few more precious weeks for humanity. Fun fact: there are pips underneath Alien Facilities. They represent how many points of Avatar Progress the Aliens will lose if you destroy the facility. So just because the Aliens build a new facility doesn't mean it will always appear for you on the map, right? Otherwise, what's the deal with the "Alien Facility Lead" hack reward?
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Feb 9, 2016 05:56
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Vengarr posted:Fun fact: there are pips underneath Alien Facilities. They represent how many points of Avatar Progress the Aliens will lose if you destroy the facility. Alien Facility Lead means you can assault one of the facilities this second, even if you haven't made contact with that region, they're super good. For dodge, they can't dodge explosions!
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Feb 9, 2016 05:57
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So I started again after playing a few missions on normal non-iron man. Anyone got recommended build paths at the start?
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Feb 9, 2016 05:59
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I think that facilities have a maximum pips they can get, since I've been going for like a solid month without any pips being added (to the project as a whole) and even longer since the facility in Western Europe actually did anything noteworthy. I'm kinda unsure whether the clock is actually going to keep going, it's taking so long. I started and finished the Powered Armor research and two separate non-instant speed autopsies since the last one, plus two interruptions on that for the Shadow Chamber or whatever it's called of 8 days each.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:00
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Elliotw2 posted:Shadowstrike can actually be pretty good with phantom/conceal, since it basically means you get two guarenteed crits/hits per mission. I know, but it still seems kind of like giving up the valuable information-gathering power of concealment in exchange for a bonus that isn't really needed. With Run and Gun instead of conceal the ranger could have activated it every couple of rounds, run right up into the enemy's face for the shotgun aim and laser sight bonuses of close range and then just let them have it, then scamper back with Implacable. Vengarr posted:I did, but it is Stabilization that shares medkit charges. You only get one Revival no matter what. Man, I don't know how I made that mistake. Yeah, then put me down as someone who is also disappointed with Revival Protocol's charges- with only one charge then I'm definitely more in favor of just taking Haywire Protocol and picking up Restoration for those emergencies.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:02
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AlternateAccount posted:So regarding Dr. Vahlen: There's going to be a DLC, right? I like the idea of Shen and Vahlen both getting a DLC. Pure speculation on my part, but the summary of her role in the book as 'collecting' alien specimens makes it seem pretty likely that the second DLC, titled "Alien Hunter", is probably going to feature her as the driving force behind the hunt. It would also explain the 'drama' and 'confrontation' part of the description, where the new weapons are coming from, and so on.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:05
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The Easy Rider posted:Pure speculation on my part, but the summary of her role in the book as 'collecting' alien specimens makes it seem pretty likely that the second DLC, titled "Alien Hunter", is probably going to feature her as the driving force behind the hunt. It would also explain the 'drama' and 'confrontation' part of the description, where the new weapons are coming from, and so on. I had similar speculation. I suspect that "sidequests" in this game can be put in fairly easily with stuff like various scanning sites and whatever which actually kick off missions. I'm curious if Vahlen's new lair might also serve as a second black market-esque site, with more intel rewards rather than supplies.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:13
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Faceless have such long butts must be alien genes.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:23
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 Just beat my first run. What a drat fun game. Improvement all around on EW. Grenadiers remain the all star god class. Both of their spec lines (aside from Blast Padding) are incredible and once I started rolling with 2 Grenadiers the game really changes in my favor. Well I can't say they are the god class because Psi Ops exist. And are bullshit and awesome. I can't wait to watch Beagle try and do Legendary and ignore them because he hates psykers. The only spec I am disappointed in is sniper snipers. Serial is good, and Killzone is...alright, but they just haven't performed how I'd have wanted them to. It was the only use I really found out of the Wraith suit so I guess that's something? They just weren't my jam, which is odd because I was ALL about snipers in the original. I guess I can't quite figure out why I want them, since like many small guys is handled by Reaper or Face Off, tough guys get the Chain Shot treatment or a shotgun to the face, grenades in general, Psi Ops mind control on bullshit like Andromedons. And with Fan Fire its not like Gunslingers are weak against single dudes or that you can't use their rifle when it's needed. Only big thing about the campaign I didn't like is that the Avenger defense mission isn't guaranteed. Seeing it on youtube looks fun, and it has a ton of cutscene work put into it when it isn't forced, it feels weird. Also the ending isn't TFTD, it's clearly Pacific Rim. Shen's last gift is a Jaeger. 
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Feb 9, 2016 06:23
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I ran into a magic hate ball for the first time. It fired a massive rift into a group of civilians, hitting none of my soldiers. It did that just to turn them all into zombies. It was completely ineffective but drat that's cold.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:26
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So you don't even need a comm center to make contact?
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Feb 9, 2016 06:27
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LightWarden posted:I had similar speculation. Stuff like that can already happen, and you can get a few scanning sites that mention a makeshift lab, aliens with brain probes, and a journal filled with notes in English and broken German, complete with the picture saying VAHLEN on it
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Feb 9, 2016 06:27
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Tenzarin posted:So you don't even need a comm center to make contact? No, you have two spare contact slots at the beginning of the game, so you have a little bit of room to expand. You will want one or two comm centers eventually though.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:28
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emTme3 fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Mar 31, 2022 |
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Feb 9, 2016 06:30
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I wish this game had something like Civ5's simple graphics mode so I could play it on my laptop 
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Feb 9, 2016 06:33
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 19:53 |
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Eimi posted:The only spec I am disappointed in is sniper snipers. Serial is good, and Killzone is...alright, but they just haven't performed how I'd have wanted them to. It was the only use I really found out of the Wraith suit so I guess that's something? They just weren't my jam, which is odd because I was ALL about snipers in the original. I guess I can't quite figure out why I want them, since like many small guys is handled by Reaper or Face Off, tough guys get the Chain Shot treatment or a shotgun to the face, grenades in general, Psi Ops mind control on bullshit like Andromedons. And with Fan Fire its not like Gunslingers are weak against single dudes or that you can't use their rifle when it's needed. Kinda regretting grabbing Deadeye instead of Lightning Hands on my first Sharpshooter this run. It's weird, though. I've seen people heap praise on snipers, and looking at their skills they look incredible, but this thread's been pretty solidly pro-gunslinger ever since people started to finish the game.
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Feb 9, 2016 06:33
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