Watch Dogs

Edit history:

Random_Machine: 2014-06-20 05:03:40 pm

2014-06-20 04:58:45 pm

I'd like to figure out strats in this game before I even consider doing full runs. And I prefer to watch runs instead of doing them.

That stealth car is not something I would accept. It's like DLC, which I do not like in speedruns.

Also, fast travel strats should be used to get to A4M2. The mission start is right next to the train station. Just drive to the nearest train station from the bunker.
A4M7 is another mission where I considered using fast travel, but I need to time it to see if that's faster. I have doubts that it is faster.

HoboWithaShotgun

Edit history:

HoboWithaShotgun: 2014-06-20 05:50:32 pm

2014-06-20 05:43:34 pm

Wake up and be awesome

Alright, I found much better strats for mission 5 of Act 1. I can tell they're better by the dialogue that occurs. Once I hack into Bradley Coughlin's computer, Aiden and Clara are still talking. Hell, this even delays the ctOS yellow circles for a couple seconds, alllowing you to get into a better position. It's hard to describe my strats, but it's mostly using hacking. Also, when escaping from the ctOS yellow circles, I stick to the underground areas because for some reason, most yellow circles down they're don't move around. 95% of the time I'm able to get through there with only using the required jam coms, leaving two free ones unused. Maybe these could be used for later. Anyway, I'll post a video later

Edit: I'm also planing on routing Watch Dogs 95% speedrun. The reason it's not 100% is because the game says that online parts count towards 100% which is completely random, and I won't be doing the drinking games. The game wants you to get to level 10 in all three drinking games, but since only 2% of all Xbox 360 gamers have gotten to level 10 on all three (not me though), I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to try. With that being said, anyone wanna help route?

Alright, I found much better strats for mission 5 of Act 1. I can tell they're better by the dialogue that occurs. Once I hack into Bradley Coughlin's computer, Aiden and Clara are still talking. Hell, this even delays the ctOS yellow circles for a couple seconds, alllowing you to get into a better position. It's hard to describe my strats, but it's mostly using hacking. Also, when escaping from the ctOS yellow circles, I stick to the underground areas because for some reason, most yellow circles down they're don't move around. 95% of the time I'm able to get through there with only using the required jam coms, leaving two free ones unused. Maybe these could be used for later. Anyway, I'll post a video later

Edit: I'm also planing on routing Watch Dogs 95% speedrun. The reason it's not 100% is because the game says that online parts count towards 100% which is completely random, and I won't be doing the drinking games. The game wants you to get to level 10 in all three drinking games, but since only 2% of all Xbox 360 gamers have gotten to level 10 on all three (not me though), I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to try. With that being said, anyone wanna help route?

Ouga

2014-06-20 07:11:08 pm

The 100% category should be "offline 100%", I don't see why drinking game would be excluded. I'm sure it's just knowing the strategy, I personally haven't completed it but banning it just because "only" 2% have done it doesn't make any sense. You don't naturally end up trying them even, I'm sure they're doable if you know the strategy? Admittedly they're boring, but a lot of stuff on 100% is Smiley

I actually originally thought this would be nice game for (offline) 100%, so good luck. I'm not big fan of routing, kinda just like playing game through to slowly learn things instead of bashing head to wall one mission at a time. I think I'm complete opposite of machine in this one :> Anyway probably not interested in being big router for it, I'll prob just stick with any%.

Gotta take a look at A4M2. Stupid brain never noticed you aren't actually inside mission while traveling in A4M2 from bunker, of course fast travel should be faster.

HoboWithaShotgun

2014-06-20 07:20:25 pm

Wake up and be awesome

If I can actually beat any of the drinking games, then I'll give it a go, but in the end, I'll probably never even beat it, and I know the strategy.

Random_Machine

Edit history:

Random_Machine: 2014-06-20 07:41:54 pm

2014-06-20 07:41:22 pm

I would be interested in that "100% run". My highest % that I got up to was about 84%(without online) in this game. The SongSneaks, drinking games, poker game(clearing the table), and chess games were the only things that I did not complete offline.
Those 23 songs might be a problem to get; I only got 21 and I couldn't bother with the rest. The Pawnee one is probably the hardest drinking game. Level 4 was the highest that I got to. I could've completed the drinking games, but I didn't want to. The drinking games shouldn't be a problem if you learn how to do them.

What I'm more interested in is all missions(side, main, investigation missions, no minigames, no collectibles, no online, maybe DedSec missions).

But I'd finish with any% first before I go on to other categories.

HoboWithaShotgun

2014-06-20 07:45:58 pm

Wake up and be awesome

I got incredibly lucky with the songs, took me forever, but I didn't use the consistent strategy, so it might not be that big of a pain in the ass. Poker and chess should be somewhat easy if you get good at it. And yeah, then side missions are my main priority, collectibles will be a pain to route though

Ouga

2014-06-20 08:09:36 pm

Now that you mention it, all missions% might indeed be more interesting. IMO it just turns very boring once you start adding collectibles after having done with main,side and investigations. I also got to around 85% on my first playthrough, missing mostly online/minigames stuff.

Such a shame there's too much unskippable stuff with main stories, because this could easily be better speedrun game than most GTAs are. But when it comes to speed, cutscenes are slowing this too much Sad

All missions might even be better category than any%, in terms of cutscene% getting lower while content still remaining somewhat interesting and not pure grind.

Tried A4M2, fast travel def worth it. I was worried of not finding a car there, but there seems to be midtier cars always available on side of the road quite close. And I feel like it's probably better to shoot some civilian while searching for car, to make sure someone calls cops to force faster police scan. Sometimes Yellow circles are just starting to show when you've already killed the fixer. And there certainly seems to be 2 syskeys inside Defalt's party always. I'd see even chance to use extra blackout somewhere where we haven't used them before. Maybe A3M6 to bypass the enforcers or something similar?

Now that you mention it, all missions% might indeed be more interesting. IMO it just turns very boring once you start adding collectibles after having done with main,side and investigations. I also got to around 85% on my first playthrough, missing mostly online/minigames stuff.

Such a shame there's too much unskippable stuff with main stories, because this could easily be better speedrun game than most GTAs are. But when it comes to speed, cutscenes are slowing this too much :( All missions might even be better category than any%, in terms of cutscene% getting lower while content still remaining somewhat interesting and not pure grind.

Tried A4M2, fast travel def worth it. I was worried of not finding a car there, but there seems to be midtier cars always available on side of the road quite close. And I feel like it's probably better to shoot some civilian while searching for car, to make sure someone calls cops to force faster police scan. Sometimes Yellow circles are just starting to show when you've already killed the fixer. And there certainly seems to be 2 syskeys inside Defalt's party always. I'd see even chance to use extra blackout somewhere where we haven't used them before. Maybe A3M6 to bypass the enforcers or something similar?

HoboWithaShotgun

2014-06-20 08:33:58 pm

Wake up and be awesome

Well if your counting fixer mission, you could be in for a problem, since they're are from what I remember, like 80. Only 40 are required though for 100%. Also, certain missions only spawn after doing all the collectibles, so yeah

Ouga

2014-06-20 11:10:28 pm

Yeah I don't know about pre-requirements for sidemissions availability.

Tried the A1M5, certainly hacking does make the first part of the mission clearly faster... which doesn't help at all Sad

Still have to wait for phonetalk to finish with Clara T_T.

I learned other stuff though. No matter how you do it, you want to go back to garage. Seems so stupid, assuming nobody was doing it, but you can go grab your old bike, and also syskey that is ~hard to pick while infiltrating there in the first place. Guaranteed bike, good eh? And there's one edge from doing hacky way: you won't be in middle of all scans when you're given jamcoms, thus giving maybe better chance for good RNG. I never realized how luck dependant those scans can be. I timed the mission starting from skipped cinematics with Clara, and ended up always having jamcoms forced use at close to 2:10-15. However mission pursue ended with good luck pre-3min, and with more avg luck 3:20-3:30. Huge luck depending if you get lucky and never spawn in middle of a scan, since if they never touch you, chance to skip couple scans I guess. Wonder if there are some safespots to possibly manipulate to not spawn in middle of one the first time.

Yeah I don't know about pre-requirements for sidemissions availability.

Tried the A1M5, certainly hacking does make the first part of the mission clearly faster... which doesn't help at all :( Still have to wait for phonetalk to finish with Clara T_T.

I learned other stuff though. No matter how you do it, you want to go back to garage. Seems so stupid, assuming nobody was doing it, but you can go grab your old bike, and also syskey that is ~hard to pick while infiltrating there in the first place. Guaranteed bike, good eh? And there's one edge from doing hacky way: you won't be in middle of all scans when you're given jamcoms, thus giving maybe better chance for good RNG. I never realized how luck dependant those scans can be. I timed the mission starting from skipped cinematics with Clara, and ended up always having jamcoms forced use at close to 2:10-15. However mission pursue ended with good luck pre-3min, and with more avg luck 3:20-3:30. Huge luck depending if you get lucky and never spawn in middle of a scan, since if they never touch you, chance to skip couple scans I guess. Wonder if there are some safespots to possibly manipulate to not spawn in middle of one the first time.

Random_Machine

2014-06-21 01:35:35 am

I couldn't find blackout strats for A3M6 no matter how hard I tried. Those guys see you even if you use the blackout. Maybe you can use one outside, but I don't think that saves time.
But here's some risky strats for this mission:

You can also take a boat to the side of the Pawnee ctOS control center where the guy with the access code is. The boat you take there can be used to go to the next mission.

Ouga

2014-06-21 02:04:19 am

I did try A3M6 blackouting myself with mixed results. You can use one before first enforcer, and he'll never notice you, also others before 2nd enforcer shouldn't see you either. 2nd enforcer was problem though, since he seemed to occasionally idle and you could run past, but more often he started shouting his stuff even before seeing you, so it's a bit scripted act. I'd say, if we can afford blackout here, it's good to use before first enforcer, then do your strat to flip him with grenade launcher if he IS starting to shout and move and shoot. I'd personally just kill the top floor guys with U100, or kill like 3 of the first 5 at least before proceeding, seems too risky otherwise.

I'm not sure if pawnee ctOS strat saves time? Would have to at least be able to hack the access code faster. Well, not big time saver or waster either way.

Random_Machine

2014-06-21 10:32:04 pm

You can forget about those other Pawnee ctOS strats. These are much better and you can see the difference.

I managed to find consistent strats for A4M5, but you need to load the autosave to do it.

lillbrorsan

2014-06-22 03:27:08 am

Truljin @ Twitch

Is there a complete list of videos of the strats used in a full run?

Random_Machine

2014-06-23 02:30:32 am

There is no complete list, but Ouga has done full runs in which he uses all of the strats. You can watch some of his recent runs at http://www.twitch.tv/ougaa . Most of the strats that he used were found by me if you're interested.

Also, improvement of a few routes:

Having a bike to travel to A4M7 saves time because you don't have to switch to one on the grass. Keep in mind that there isn't always a bike spawn for the alternate route. You can choose which route you would like to use.

A good opportunity to buy the Sayonara motorbike is after A4M1(when you're leaving the bunker). Buy the Sayonara and order the bike as well to use it for traveling to the train station. Because you've bought the Sayonara already, you don't have to waste time buying it after A4M6.

Ouga

2014-06-23 01:03:18 pm

Doesn't Sayonara cost 10k? I checked from my previous run and had 5,7k at the beginning of A4M1. Also save file for A4M6 had like 7k and couldn't buy it.

Random_Machine

2014-06-23 02:23:13 pm

It costs 5k. You have more than enough at that point.

Also, you should consider using Jam Coms for some missions when the enemies try to call reinforcements. Those guys shouldn't chase you in A2M11 if use a Jam Com. The same thing goes for the Mad Mile ctOS.

Ouga

Edit history:

Ouga: 2014-06-23 04:46:03 pm

Ouga: 2014-06-23 04:45:08 pm

Ouga: 2014-06-23 04:39:37 pm

2014-06-23 04:38:28 pm

I use jamcoms always when people calling cops or aid duh. I just pracced the "make a lot of noise" strat for that mission and they never summoned aid so didn't expect it. Similarly first time for mad mile. I don't end up with too many jamcoms in the end so not worth it to take the chance. There's nobody to see you if you kill the right guys before hacking the place.

http://aijaa.com/IRZArb I wish to download the hack to cut this price :p

Pewable

2014-06-23 05:49:25 pm

What do you think? It's a timesaver using the camera + vehicle I uploaded days ago.

The description I wrote on Youtube:

It's a little tricky to aim for the guy and kill him (you just push him if are you driving too slow) but you are near something to destroy his car anyways so you don't end up losing time.

Random_Machine

Edit history:

Random_Machine: 2014-06-24 01:48:01 am

Random_Machine: 2014-06-24 01:47:32 am

2014-06-24 01:46:42 am

I see what you're saying, but it doesn't look like you should run out of Jam Coms. Your last run wasted 2 blackouts because you already had 4 by A3M6 before they give you the 2 blackouts. Some of those extra system keys can be used to craft some Jam Coms instead of blackouts.

I've done some research and found that some people have the Sayonara at 5k and others have it at 10k. Those people with the 5k Saynora also have all of their cars at half the price of the 10k people. The price differences might be due to different versions. There were many different versions of this game released(I think 9) and any one of them could have different prices for the cars on demand. But I could not find any information about the prices of vehicles being related to different versions so I am not completely sure why they are different.

You could try buying the chopper bike instead. That bike is faster than the Kodachi but slower than the Sayonara. It should cost 5k for you (2.5k for me). I would also recommend using the fast travel route because of less driving. I'm not sure if a car can take the same driving route as the bike for going to A4M7. However, I'm also not sure how much slower the chopper is than the Sayonara for the driving routes.

I see what you're saying, but it doesn't look like you should run out of Jam Coms. Your last run wasted 2 blackouts because you already had 4 by A3M6 before they give you the 2 blackouts. Some of those extra system keys can be used to craft some Jam Coms instead of blackouts.

I've done some research and found that some people have the Sayonara at 5k and others have it at 10k. Those people with the 5k Saynora also have all of their cars at half the price of the 10k people. The price differences might be due to different versions. There were many different versions of this game released(I think 9) and any one of them could have different prices for the cars on demand. But I could not find any information about the prices of vehicles being related to different versions so I am not completely sure why they are different.

You could try buying the chopper bike instead. That bike is faster than the Kodachi but slower than the Sayonara.  It should cost 5k for you (2.5k for me). I would also recommend using the fast travel route because of less driving. I'm not sure if a car can take the same driving route as the bike for going to A4M7. However, I'm also not sure how much slower the chopper is than the Sayonara for the driving routes.

Ouga

Edit history:

Ouga: 2014-06-24 02:05:27 am

2014-06-24 02:03:58 am

Actually, on THAT run (with 2 wasted blackouts) I didn't run out of syskeys ...but electronic parts lol. Made me think I might want to use extra 2secs to actually buy more than one from that shop in A2M1-2. I just meant the need for jamcoms is pretty random, sometimes you need more than other times. Anyway I'm pretty sure it's better to kill Crispin by destroying glasses with silencer instead, thus never causing alarm. I also tried fast traveling from A2M11 to A2M12. No time comparisons, it certainly is related to car you end up catching at the train station since time different is somewhat small. I think I like it a bit more.

Chopper is pretty sloppy, I think its maxspeed is its biggest issue. On the other hand I really like the idea of driving bike all the way, not having to switch vehicles at all is really nice. Oh well it's prob like 5s difference, I'll live with it. Just a shame that I prob would have 10k by just going to ATM somewhere, but it's just not worth it.

Pewable: I only tried for few minutes, but I had a bit of issue making the glitch work everytime. It's neat strat, but I think the time save is very small so I'd do it only if it was 100% consistent. But yeah could've been just me messing up.

Actually, on THAT run (with 2 wasted blackouts) I didn't run out of syskeys ...but electronic parts lol. Made me think I might want to use extra 2secs to actually buy more than one from that shop in A2M1-2. I just meant the need for jamcoms is pretty random, sometimes you need more than other times. Anyway I'm pretty sure it's better to kill Crispin by destroying glasses with silencer instead, thus never causing alarm. I also tried fast traveling from A2M11 to A2M12. No time comparisons, it certainly is related to car you end up catching at the train station since time different is somewhat small. I think I like it a bit more.

Chopper is pretty sloppy, I think its maxspeed is its biggest issue. On the other hand I really like the idea of driving bike all the way, not having to switch vehicles at all is really nice. Oh well it's prob like 5s difference, I'll live with it. Just a shame that I prob would have 10k by just going to ATM somewhere, but it's just not worth it.

Pewable: I only tried for few minutes, but I had a bit of issue making the glitch work everytime. It's neat strat, but I think the time save is very small so I'd do it only if it was 100% consistent. But yeah could've been just me messing up.

Pewable

Edit history:

Pewable: 2014-06-24 06:58:08 pm

Pewable: 2014-06-24 02:36:15 am

2014-06-24 02:35:16 am

Doing the camera + vehicule glitch is not random at all, just have to enter it at the end of the hack, then what I do is doing R2 (RT on Xbox I think) 2 quick times to the left, then I wait a little and go backwards. Like I said, even if killing the guy fails (if you go at his right/left or just push him) , you are close to something to hack to break his vehicle, you can shoot him from here and go back to the car. BUT the game froze 3 or 4 times already, I am sure it happens because I was driving backwards too early and the guy just pop up on me. I also uploaded this thing:

Most of it is boring but check 05:50, it's quite something. I have no idea what happened but the clips are not in the right order and I just see that I lost some of them!

Edit: Wow I found a way to exit a mission and acces to a very big oob (meaning the town itself, where things load very slowly, but it froze... I will upload it a little later.

Ouga

Edit history:

Ouga: 2014-06-24 07:12:44 pm

2014-06-24 07:12:07 pm

http://www.twitch.tv/ougaa/c/4530667 Harhar, nice thing to happen during A3M6 Tongue

Might make me not want to shoot the grenade before enforcer drops from initial IEDs explosion.

But yeah that run ended in 4:43. 4min was lost on A3M6, maybe 4min before that, prob more than that after. sub4:30 might happen with current strats already. Certainly lately new strats don't instantly save minutes anymore, more often 10sec, 15sec etc so we're getting closer to real times. I still want to stick with my original claim that sub4:00 is impossible Tongue

Random_Machine

Edit history:

Random_Machine: 2014-06-25 12:02:08 am

Random_Machine: 2014-06-25 12:01:15 am

2014-06-25 12:01:00 am

It looks more like the enforcer fell off the roof rather than clip through the floor. That grenade shot probably knocked him off the building.

Here's some more optimal A2M8 strats. The fast travel at the end is the important part.

It is definitely worth it to fast travel in this section as well.

Wolfsta

2014-06-25 06:44:43 pm

I'm a little late to the party, but I've been trying to learn the game by myself for the past week or so and I've managed to do Act 1 in 59:40 as from pressing new game, which makes it 54mins-ish from where you guys start. (not used to using forums, don't know how to properly link videos)

I'm just looking through all the strats you guys have come up with and I definitely think that sub 50 for Act 1 is possible.
Will give it a couple more runs over the next couple days.

Quick thoughts of my runs vs you guys. (using these as comparison https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4qoBrFIYjABG24FeW65i6VRjm10xTTZz)
A1M1, the police chase mission restart is amazing.
A1M2, the slow mo quick kill is hilarious.
A1M3, not a whole lot that can be improved on.
A1M4, not a huge difference, 5-7 secs can be saved over my run.

A1M5, This is where I like my strat more, you guys have done the intro better with the ramming the bike into the first guy and just driving on through. however, I hack box faster, and staying underground is better for the CTOS scans as they have a much higher chance of not moving. Another plus is the bike that you rammed all the guys with will also be out there and since you have a phone call with Clara and a wait time for the next mission AFTER you escape the CTOS scans, being underground is better.

A1M6, I would call mine safe strats, but your runs are way faster if you lure them properly.

A1M7, My strat is 100% safer than bike strats and has no luck involved, Bike strats seem to work most of the time if you have blackout, but can still have luck thrown in for police cars and helicopters, also you don't have to rely on being able to drive the god damned bike.(Tried the bike strat, first time I got the bike stuck going down the stairs, the second time I fell off and got shot to death) my strat is also always faster than non-bike strats.

A1M8, This is a mission I hated and kept dying to when just driving at them and hoping to shoot them all, so I would call mine safe strats as it works 100% of the time with no luck thrown in. (grab a truck, block the road, use it as cover) maybe 30secs slower.

A1M9, My fight with the guards is better, they always spawn in the same place and their movements can be manipulated by where you walk. although your get away off of the roof is way faster.

Thanks for reading, and thanks even more for showing me all this cool shit, sub 50 by tomorrow, I promise it :p

I'm a little late to the party, but I've been trying to learn the game by myself for the past week or so and I've managed to do Act 1 in 59:40 as from pressing new game, which makes it 54mins-ish from where you guys start. (not used to using forums, don't know how to properly link videos)
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48dGt625NhQ[/url]

I'm just looking through all the strats you guys have come up with and I definitely think that sub 50 for Act 1 is possible.
Will give it a couple more runs over the next couple days.

Quick thoughts of my runs vs you guys. (using these as comparison [url]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4qoBrFIYjABG24FeW65i6VRjm10xTTZz[/url])
A1M1, the police chase mission restart is amazing.
A1M2, the slow mo quick kill is hilarious.
A1M3, not a whole lot that can be improved on.
A1M4, not a huge difference, 5-7 secs can be saved over my run.

A1M5, This is where I like my strat more, you guys have done the intro better with the ramming the bike into the first guy and just driving on through. however, I hack box faster, and staying underground is better for the CTOS scans as they have a much higher chance of not moving. Another plus is the bike that you rammed all the guys with will also be out there and since you have a phone call with Clara and a wait time for the next mission AFTER you escape the CTOS scans, being underground is better.

A1M6, I would call mine safe strats, but your runs are way faster if you lure them properly.

A1M7, My strat is 100% safer than bike strats and has no luck involved, Bike strats seem to work most of the time if you have blackout, but can still have luck thrown in for police cars and helicopters, also you don't have to rely on being able to drive the god damned bike.(Tried the bike strat, first time I got the bike stuck going down the stairs, the second time I fell off and got shot to death) my strat is also always faster than non-bike strats.

A1M8, This is a mission I hated and kept dying to when just driving at them and hoping to shoot them all, so I would call mine safe strats as it works 100% of the time with no luck thrown in. (grab a truck, block the road, use it as cover) maybe 30secs slower.

A1M9, My fight with the guards is better, they always spawn in the same place and their movements can be manipulated by where you walk. although your get away off of the roof is way faster.

Thanks for reading, and thanks even more for showing me all this cool shit, sub 50 by tomorrow, I promise it :p

Wolfsta

2014-06-25 06:48:01 pm

Also, how are you guys able to do splits while the game is running?
I have to alt tab to do mine, which pauses the game