Merchants

Updated 11 May 2015

This page has not yet been fully updated to reflect changes in v1.06 in Arulco Vacations


Merchants in the vanilla game are very basic. Their inventories are small, and it is very difficult to find regular, everyday items elsewhere. Yet, in tongue and cheek fashion, we can find ceramic armour plates in the countryside being used for ceramic dinner plates . . . uh, OK. Hmm. Or is it that we are using someone's best china platters for armour? Really now, it's a bad joke and the in-game benefit is too great.

Another aspect of the merchants is that they sell stuff you don't, or don't have much of, a need in-game -- unless you're playing with the Food System turned on. They've got the usual . . .beer, wine, alcohol, beans, pizza . . . then, when they do sell things you need the selection doesn't seem anywhere good enough for the trouble the Player went through to purchase their wares, or for the notoriety of the merchant.

Let's start with Tony. He's an arms smuggler and dealer in a town completely controlled by an organized crime boss who is in cahoots with the Queen. Note, this is not the MAFIA model of organized crime, it is the Dick Cheney model. That aside, let's make Tony a little more interesting, and make him more MAFIA.

For an arms dealer with such connections in a militarized police state in the middle of an organized crime capitol that is also a vacation retreat for all the bad guys in the game . . . he has a very poor selection of arms. So I gave him some more variety.

I always thought Tony was Italian (he is Italian in Arulco Vacations, otherwise he's officially listed in Vanilla 1.13 as Polish (!?), see MercProfiles.XML page) so everything Italian is available from him now -- which isn't as much as it should be because whoever stocked the weapon list in this game must have gotten a kickback from Heckler & Koch . . . and if they didn't, then that is just plain you-know-what. Tony now has an expanded inventory regarding other weapons -- more in line with what you'd expect (or at least, what I expect) from a person in control of all the organized gun smuggling in the country. He is also intimately connected with the gun smugglers in Arulco vacations -- meaning, if you attack the gun smugglers then Tony & Hans will attack you . . . and vice versa.

Next, Frank. Thank goodness there's a bartender in Arulco who isn't one of those quintuplets! Frank, I imagine, has a penchant for knives -- he just looks like he likes knives. So his inventory now includes every knife and knife sheath in-game. He also has some other melee and covert weapons for sale under the counter, and . . . the in-game drugs that are not exactly medical in nature can also be bought from Frank. He has what you need if you have Mercs like Haywire and Razor on your team.

Over at the junkyard Jake also has an expanded inventory. There's more junk available of all sorts, and I imagine Jake likes his revolvers. He looks like someone who would take great pride in a varied selection of old revolvers. Yes, you guessed it! Jake has all the different revolvers that are in-game. Of course, being a junkyard, these revolvers are not in the best of condition. Oh, and he has explosive stuff too . . . Maddog's been harvesting the Army's minefields. Be careful -- the explosives are junk too!

Howard over at the pharmacy in Balime now has more medical equipment available -- everything medical, including medical drugs (of course) and gear, that is in-game can be bought from Howard. After all, it's Balime -- the rich resort town. Nothing is too good for the rich and fabulous of Arulco.

Perko . . . ahh Perko. I really can't stand Perko, and have no need of his services -- but I acknowledge that some Players like him. He is now recruitable.

Then there's Charlie, aka The Druggist. Yes, you guessed it . . . under-the-counter drugs. All the drugs already in-game plus a few more just to keep things interesting. Check out the Terrorist and Miscellaneous pages for more info on Charlie and his new drugs.

Keith in Cambria now sells camo kits, quality binoculars, "civilian clothes", civilian hunting accessories, civilian personal defence accessories, and more assorted gear that seemed appropriate considering the general social climate of Arulco. Oh, he's got a hedge trimmer also, so you don't have to hire Reuben to give the Arulcan Army a rough haircut.

Franz in Balime has had his inventory slightly expanded. I have to wonder how an electronics wiz in a rich resort town got started selling scopes? He no longer sells C-mags (another gamey cheat as there is no foundation for him to have such an item), but he now sells more scopes and suppressors. He also has a couple of special, rich people-type handguns and ammo.

Tina in Grumm now sells a lot of load bearing equipment, 3.11 & MOLLE equipment and all the clothes and uniforms that are available in-game. Sure, she's terrified of soldiers, but Grumm is the military-industrial base of Arulco. Her clientele is the military. Her store would not survive if she didn't repair and sell items to the soldiers. As well, her persona is such that she would do whatever the army told her to do. She doesn't have the courage to say no, yo.

Devin Connell, the explosives expert who is recruitable, now has a bit larger and more varied selection for your perusal. He has also been fully outfitted with new personal gear -- fair warning, don't get him angry! Remember that if you recruit him he loses his merchant-ability. So purchase what you need from him and only recruit him when you no longer need his merchant service.

Gabby, the Bug Scientist, has a few more items of interest for you Bug Hunters.

Sam Rosen, in Balime, also has an expanded inventory of Mechanic-type items.



I'm haven't gotten to all the other merchants -- when I do I'll make them available in a patch, or include them in a full x.point upgrade.

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