Okay, so... I'm going to lift my foot off the gas as far detail goes. You should experience this section on your own. Don't worry too much: It's fairly straightforward. When you gain control, follow the path laid out in front of you and enjoy it - if enjoy is the right word.
Eventually you'll end up in a room where a flashback plays out in front of you with two of the ship workers. After the flashback you can use the hatch in the floor to progress. Drop down into the vent, and when it forks hook a right - this is a dead end, but there's an antique coin to be had.
Very shortly after your trip through the vents you'll pass a dead body and drop into a room that's watery. There's a short ladder out of the water, and that's where you need to go next - but first search along the left hand wall of the room, to the left of the ladder. You'll find another antique coin there.
You'll see somebody escape through a door, and then you'll be sealed in a doorway. The figure you're chasing seals the door behind them. This is WRECKED SHIP 1F. First off: consult your map. You'll see that door is your way out.
I actually grabbed the gun and the ammo that's around, given that your inventory is currently empty, but I simply ran from the enemies. I ran, grabbed the fuse, and as the enemy lumbered after me ducked into side rooms to lose it.
Now you'll need to head back to the elevator near the starting room. Beware: There are now enemies about. You might have a big gun but the same rules apply: plant your feet, take your shots carefully. Whichever way you go the game will be sure to put a few enemies in front of you, and this area is so small and the enemies here so aggressive that running isn't really an option.
Once into the elevator, all floors are blocked except one. Well then... Head down, and keep on moving. Downstairs you'll go through some corridors. As you reach a door, don't miss the machine gun ammo atop some wooden palettes and a herb on top of some boxes to the left of that.
Through the door there's another hallway. At the very end of this hallway there are two Remote Bombs, a new weapon. Grab 'em. There's an achievement/trophy for killing an enemy by sticking a smart bomb to them and then detonating it, by the way - you might want to try that.
This is all fairly linear, like most tapes. Head through the next set of double doors. A molded spawns in here but has quite a way to walk to reach you - use that to pick it off; there's some machine gun ammo on your left as you enter. Up the stairs and through the doors, again.
There's a door on your right in the next hallway, but ignore it and head straight. There's another door on the left here. Inside this room, break the box for some chem fluid and open the blue gate thing to get 3x Corrosive. Corrosive is a new item and is used to burn metal locks.
You'll be forced to go back the way you came. There'll be several enemies, including a few times where more than one spawn near you at once. Use the smart bombs wisely! On the way back to the elevator you'll also pass a side-room with double doors that you couldn't open earlier. If you use corrosive on that door you'll find the following inside:
When you get back upstairs, you'll notice that blast doors have for some reason dropped (maybe because you're letting bombs off?), forcing you to take the long way around. In the bunk rooms on the way you'll find a wall-mounted lockbox with 2 smart bombs - corrode it open. There's also one of these on the right at the top of the hallway after exiting the bunk rooms.
Your path around the blast doors is simple: head into the crew quarters style area adjacent to the 'vomiting room'. In the room to the right of that there's a hole in the right-hand wall you can clamber through, thus bypassing the blast doors. There are enemies around here, and you have a choice about if you want to engage them directly or just try to dash past them - that's up to you.
Travel to the present where you'll find a flooded basement. Swim down to pick up the crank wheel and then to the left where you can attach it to a drain valve. Drain the cellar, and you'll find a rune nearby.
There's a dead dog and a note on the floor warning about bloodflies. Burn the dog's body in the furnace in the past to prevent the bloodflies in the present. Now that they're out of the way, travel back to the present to find the combination to the safe (this is random, so our numbers probably won't work for you). Head back to the past and enter the combination to find a black bonecharm.
In the present, watch on the left for a note about replacing a damaged window. Travel to the past and discourage the workers nearby from completing their job either with unconsciousness or murder. When you come back to the present, the window will be missing.
"I have nothing!" This is the common lament of many Mah Jongg players once they rack their initial tiles. It's true that luck has a large part to play in the game, but whether you're playing in person or online, having a good grasp of strategic and tactical moves can increase your chances of turning this "nothing" hand into a winning one.
In this article, we will discuss various strategies to help you make the most of your tiles and how to win Mah Jongg games more often. This post will focus on American Mah Jongg (National Mah Jongg League rules) because this is the style we are most familiar with, though many of these tips will apply to all styles of Mah Jongg. We will not focus on a specific year's card but rather provide more general advice that can be applied when using any card.
The tips listed in this article have been gathered over many years from our own experience and from the wisdom imparted to us by more experienced players. We are thankful to all those who have helped us to improve our game.
Please bear in mind that there is rarely a "best Mah Jongg strategy" for a given situation. Often there are several options and you'll need to pick one and run with it. We will provide hints along the way to help steer you in the right direction, but remember these strategies are not rigid rules to follow. Flexibility is the name of the game.
This post assumes you have mastered at least the basics of American Mah Jongg and are familiar with its rules and practices. If you're new to the game, check out our Beginner's Guide to American Mah Jongg to learn the fundamentals.
And don't forget, you can practice your newly acquired skills on I Love Mahj, the American Mah Jongg online game! This is a fairly long post but we wanted to be thorough and provide as much value as possible for all skill levels. So sit back, get yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of Manischewitz and let's get started!
The first (and arguably most important) piece of advice we'd like to give you is to prepare for the game. Mah Jongg is a fast-paced game and if you take too long to think through your options, you'll feel your stress levels rising, you'll make goofy mistakes and win fewer games. On top of all that, you're likely to feel the frustration of your fellow players, who wish to keep the game moving and this is likely to raise your blood pressure even higher!
So it's important to familiarize yourself with the current year's card. You need to know not only the general categories in order to narrow down your initial hand, but also the idiosyncrasies of each. Yes, this is tedious but it's a worthy investment of your time, because being able to quickly "pattern-match" between your tiles and the available hands (without having to look at all possible options) will give you the edge over others.
We often hear in various sports "The best offense is a good defense"and that's true in Mah Jongg as well. We would argue this is what differentiates the average players from the great players. Again, keep close tabs on what others are playing, determine their hands and watch your discards accordingly.
If you realize you cannot win, switch to full defensive mode, actively doing everything you can to prevent others from winning. This is all part of the game and in no way unethical (more details here)
The first thing to realize is that, at this early stage in the game, you don't need to settle on a specific hand. You just need to determine which section(s) of the card (evens, odds, consecutive runs, etc) your tiles lend themselves to.
See which of these combinations (pairs, singles combinations,...) go together. You may be excited to get two pairs, but if no hand on the card can use them both, one of them is useless (but may be used later as joker bait). But if you are able to use the two pairs in one hand, you have a strong contender
Next, look at hands that use your base combinations and see how many of your other tiles work with them. This is where your knowledge of the card comes in handy, as it helps quickly determine which combinations work together. If you have to look at each hand line-by-line, you're only going to increase your stress level!
If you have a few potential options, you may not need to make a final decision yet. As long as you have three tiles that definitely do not fit into any of your options, just pass those first and see what comes your way in the Charleston.
Though you are narrowing down your options, you don't necessarily need to come out of the Charleston with a specific hand to play. Through each step of the Charleston, you are eliminating options and getting a more precise direction of where you're going. Though it's good to keep options open, do not keep too many options as it will only lead to confusion.
Using the strategy described in the previous section, you will pass the three tiles that fit the least, based on your current assessment. Then given the three tiles you receive, you go through that same process again. Rinse and Repeat.
Remember that as long as you have three tiles to pass, you don't need to lock yourself into a particular hand just yet. But if you have only two or fewer (and you can't blind pass) you will be forced to pick one potential hand over another.
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