Ambrose Island sucks.

[Rocket]

There are shortcuts, but all of them are necessary to navigate the map unless you enjoy running around for long periods of time. The entire map is full of vegetation, but comparatively few hiding spots that count as concealed. The entire map is also filled with invisible walls, the black suited guards stronghold is a complete mess, There's too many walls, too little navigation, and everything involves backtracking hard. And even with the best disguise, you need to sit and wait constantly for multiple enforcers to talk for minutes on end. You need to shoot the camera in the cave, and then wait, then you need to hear the dialogue with the guards. In the prison room, you are often forced to hear that conversation. There are multiple guards and enforcers all over the place. Visibility is garbage too. One bad shot from anywhere and 20 guards will come at you. Enforcers are everywhere, not that it matters because there's a real NPC everywhere that you need one not to be.

Most targets are in populated areas with constant roaming guards, no place to hide a body, and no angle to shoot your shot. There's a bunch of environmental accident kills you can do, but multiple people you can't remove from watching said environmental kills. The whole map is a dumpster fire of bad flow.

Mental note, never again will I pick a syndicate with this map. I enjoy every other map in the game but I f*****g hate this one.

I'll take Bangkok or Colorado any day over Ambrose Island. I also hated it when I mastered it. Everything about it is clunky and forces running around forever. It doesn't feel like any other map in the game, there's absolutely no flow and it doesn't feel good to play in.

[Devil Daughter]

Ambrose is best map.

[Material Defender]

The durians you find on the map are even better than the emetic gas grenade (glass one) that you can get from the biochemist student by the hippie.

You can find up to 5 of em:

• one can be found at the village in the building next to the metal worker working on an engine, the cook looks like he is sick as he moves around the building.
  
• one can be found by digging at the beach where you can find a bone lockpick which is also near that same shrine where you find the hippie and biochemist student, but requires lighting all 4 braziers each with a torch, there's 4 torches you can find on the map.
  
• 1-3 can be found by shooting the clump of durians hanging above the campsite the hippie and biochemist student are at, visible in instinct.

What makes durians so great is that it is completely legal to throw and drop, and will create an invisible cloud of emetic poison in both cases (used to be a blue cloud about the same size as the emetic gas grenade, but the visual effect was removed). Also durians can only be found on Ambrose Island.

[Bloodartist]

I have only finished this map once so far, but already I can say this is far from the worst maps in the franchise.

Also I found the grave of Guybrush Threepwood on Ambrose island. I find that funny.

Colorado, Marrakesh and Hokkaido are my bottom three currently..

[Phantom Limb]

Bad opinion. Ambrose is amazing because how tight and simple the map is. If you can't find an opportunity to make a move, it's definitely your personal issue.

[Ender]

Originally posted by RocketJump:

There are shortcuts, but all of them are necessary to navigate the map unless you enjoy running around for long periods of time. The entire map is full of vegetation, but comparatively few hiding spots that count as concealed. The entire map is also filled with invisible walls, the black suited guards stronghold is a complete mess, There's too many walls, too little navigation, and everything involves backtracking hard. And even with the best disguise, you need to sit and wait constantly for multiple enforcers to talk for minutes on end. You need to shoot the camera in the cave, and then wait, then you need to hear the dialogue with the guards. In the prison room, you are often forced to hear that conversation. There are multiple guards and enforcers all over the place. Visibility is garbage too. One bad shot from anywhere and 20 guards will come at you. Enforcers are everywhere, not that it matters because there's a real NPC everywhere that you need one not to be.

Most targets are in populated areas with constant roaming guards, no place to hide a body, and no angle to shoot your shot. There's a bunch of environmental accident kills you can do, but multiple people you can't remove from watching said environmental kills. The whole map is a dumpster fire of bad flow.

Mental note, never again will I pick a syndicate with this map. I enjoy every other map in the game but I f*****g hate this one.

I'll take Bangkok or Colorado any day over Ambrose Island. I also hated it when I mastered it. Everything about it is clunky and forces running around forever. It doesn't feel like any other map in the game, there's absolutely no flow and it doesn't feel good to play in.

It sounds like you got unlucky with your targets. Let us know which ones they were and we can help you with techniques for those tricky ones.

Was one the woman that walks around the bar area and the second floor above the bar?

[Devang]

Originally posted by Material Defender:

The durians you find on the map are even better than the emetic gas grenade (glass one) that you can get from the biochemist student by the hippie.

You can find up to 5 of em:

• one can be found at the village in the building next to the metal worker working on an engine, the cook looks like he is sick as he moves around the building.
  
• one can be found by digging at the beach where you can find a bone lockpick which is also near that same shrine where you find the hippie and biochemist student, but requires lighting all 4 braziers each with a torch, there's 4 torches you can find on the map.
  
• 1-3 can be found by shooting the clump of durians hanging above the campsite the hippie and biochemist student are at, visible in instinct.

What makes durians so great is that it is completely legal to throw and drop, and will create an invisible cloud of emetic poison in both cases (used to be a blue cloud about the same size as the emetic gas grenade, but the visual effect was removed). Also durians can only be found on Ambrose Island.

Love it for the durian meta!

[tmwfte]

Whether true or not, they say that those without skill will always blame the map. Or the AI. Or the weapons.

[Ender]

Originally posted by tmwfte:

Whether true or not, they say that those without skill will always blame the map. Or the AI. Or the weapons.

Colorado is still terrible

[Rocket]

Originally posted by Ender:

Originally posted by RocketJump:

There are shortcuts, but all of them are necessary to navigate the map unless you enjoy running around for long periods of time. The entire map is full of vegetation, but comparatively few hiding spots that count as concealed. The entire map is also filled with invisible walls, the black suited guards stronghold is a complete mess, There's too many walls, too little navigation, and everything involves backtracking hard. And even with the best disguise, you need to sit and wait constantly for multiple enforcers to talk for minutes on end. You need to shoot the camera in the cave, and then wait, then you need to hear the dialogue with the guards. In the prison room, you are often forced to hear that conversation. There are multiple guards and enforcers all over the place. Visibility is garbage too. One bad shot from anywhere and 20 guards will come at you. Enforcers are everywhere, not that it matters because there's a real NPC everywhere that you need one not to be.

Most targets are in populated areas with constant roaming guards, no place to hide a body, and no angle to shoot your shot. There's a bunch of environmental accident kills you can do, but multiple people you can't remove from watching said environmental kills. The whole map is a dumpster fire of bad flow.

Mental note, never again will I pick a syndicate with this map. I enjoy every other map in the game but I f*****g hate this one.

I'll take Bangkok or Colorado any day over Ambrose Island. I also hated it when I mastered it. Everything about it is clunky and forces running around forever. It doesn't feel like any other map in the game, there's absolutely no flow and it doesn't feel good to play in.

It sounds like you got unlucky with your targets. Let us know which ones they were and we can help you with techniques for those tricky ones.

Was one the woman that walks around the bar area and the second floor above the bar?

I was more speaking in general about the map and everything else in the OP.

As far as the target, it could be easy if the stupid thing was highlighted correctly.

The one target was one of Noel Crests bodyguards. An easy way to take him out is by dropping a boat on his head, but the front wooden supports are not only not highlighted in instinct, but also really finicky with the shot.

There's a shot from the engineer pier and another shot under a hut. At range its a 1 pixel shot. Sure you can do that with an ica pistol and pressing hold breath, but it's clunky and has a super tiny hit box.

There's a water drum that they walk past but shooting it always triggers an npc so now you need to wait another entire cycle for everybody to calm down and you need to know to bring the taser or perfectly time a car battery toss that bounces anyway.

There's other ways of getting him like anyone else, but you don't know who your target is going to be and sometimes the setup is a huge drag.

Anyone in the prison takes forever to kill if the guards start talking and it's just so time consuming and boring if it's an alerted mission.

It's exactly what I said. If you want to do your objectives and you play the map right it's just ridiculously time consuming if you've chosen the wrong items or have just recently used a useful one in a previous mission.

And my luck with Ambrose is that the various targets are always at extreme ends of the map. It just feels like a chore to play.

The cave and prison conversations are super annoying to wait through.

Originally posted by tmwfte:

Whether true or not, they say that those without skill will always blame the map. Or the AI. Or the weapons.

This is stupid. It's a giant map and flows poorly and the targets are always spread out. And certain choke points and conversations force you to just wait. It's simply not fun.

[Ender]

Fyi, I think the water puddle you are referring to has a light above it you can shoot that will land directly in the puddle so you don't need to worry about the car battery

[Ender]

I saw this a while back and dug it up for you.
This won't magically make you love the map, but should help make the map feel more in line with the difficulty of the other maps.

Ambrose Island Deep Dive (Perfect Setup Guide)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM6-iL5QBbQ

[36 bald fat lives with parents]

Lol. I totally get it. I refuse to go to Bankok and I avoid Chongqing. I just don't like the design of the maps and especially dislike that we go to these 2 very interesting locations and then waste them inside buildings instead of getting to embrace the richness of the cities around them the way you get to in places like Marrakesh and Santa Fortuna.

I happen to like Ambrose but not because it is well designed. It is a tropical nightmare, but has a nice ambience to it even though I know very well it will never let me take a mission here where I don't have to go to some place I hate going, like the cave. Not a fan.

It's a little like Sgail to me. I know I'm in for some work. And I just know it's going to make me go up that stupid tower to the glass room and pull that fool off the roof. But sometimes I'm in the mood to take it slow and find out what kind of inventive homicide I can pull off in weird locations.

Once you have everything, it is less of a bother to deal with maps that don't resonate with us. Though... it does take a heap of motivation to get me to choose Bankok. There's definitely a little "to each their own" in there somewhere.

Here's a tip for you though, which might only apply to freelancer. It helped me stop hating Colorado so much... kill everyone. Use that map as an excuse to just go nuts wiping out everyone and everything and make it a goal to clear the whole map down to dust. If you're confident in your skill set, that is. I don't mean a wild shootout. I mean choose a remote corner, and systematically eliminate however you can. It felt like an accomplishment to have everything deceased and all equipment sabotaged and burnt in Colorado. Therapeutic almost. And since the game has no real end, you might as well treat yourself to a little revenge every now and then.

[Rocket]

Originally posted by 36 bald fat lives with parents:

Lol. I totally get it. I refuse to go to Bankok and I avoid Chongqing. I just don't like the design of the maps and especially dislike that we go to these 2 very interesting locations and then waste them inside buildings instead of getting to embrace the richness of the cities around them the way you get to in places like Marrakesh and Santa Fortuna.

I happen to like Ambrose but not because it is well designed. It is a tropical nightmare, but has a nice ambience to it even though I know very well it will never let me take a mission here where I don't have to go to some place I hate going, like the cave. Not a fan.

It's a little like Sgail to me. I know I'm in for some work. And I just know it's going to make me go up that stupid tower to the glass room and pull that fool off the roof. But sometimes I'm in the mood to take it slow and find out what kind of inventive homicide I can pull off in weird locations.

Once you have everything, it is less of a bother to deal with maps that don't resonate with us. Though... it does take a heap of motivation to get me to choose Bankok. There's definitely a little "to each their own" in there somewhere.

Here's a tip for you though, which might only apply to freelancer. It helped me stop hating Colorado so much... kill everyone. Use that map as an excuse to just go nuts wiping out everyone and everything and make it a goal to clear the whole map down to dust. If you're confident in your skill set, that is. I don't mean a wild shootout. I mean choose a remote corner, and systematically eliminate however you can. It felt like an accomplishment to have everything deceased and all equipment sabotaged and burnt in Colorado. Therapeutic almost. And since the game has no real end, you might as well treat yourself to a little revenge every now and then.

Chongqing would have been amazing if a lot more of it's setting was outside. In Freelancer the game almost always manages to put some targets or suspects in the ICA Underground Facility. It's not like I don't know my way around there, but its such a chore to get down to level 3 especially if you have any stealthy objectives.

I know how to navigate alerted Bangkok, but getting the disguise and getting the master keycard needs to happen every time, then going up to Jordan Cross' penthouse is another chore where undeniably someone is a target. And if certain enforcers are in the way. Ugh.

Colorado is a blast. I always have fun with it, alerted is a little annoying. There've been a few targets that lost it for me, and it's no fun to start on the water tower alerted. I usually Kalmer the two guys at each end, and then pacify the guy in the chair. But aside from water tower alerted, it's pretty fun and easy to get a disguise if you circle the perimeter.

Same for me with Sgail. It's a cool map but inevitably someone's going to be at or near the highest part of the tower and it ends up being such a drag with certain objectives.

Despite the critiques, I still like them all SO much better than Ambrose though because they all have something to like in them for me. But Ambrose, I don't think I've ever actually enjoyed it.

And i inevitably always end up stuck on some geometry when making an escape. That just frustrates me to no end even if I slip away safely.

[Rocket]

Originally posted by Ender:

I saw this a while back and dug it up for you.
This won't magically make you love the map, but should help make the map feel more in line with the difficulty of the other maps.

Ambrose Island Deep Dive (Perfect Setup Guide)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM6-iL5QBbQ

I'll check it out, but its still a big map with annoying geometry. Thanks.

As a side note it'd be nice if some website outlined every useful item that an NPC might be holding but I realize that's kind of impossible. Like how the Bangkok manager has a master keycard. Or even just a general outline of the general area an NPC might be holding a useful item.

It's impossible to remember every detail of every map unless you have a notebook full of information.

Or like the curly haired guy in New York. I never know where to look for him and I think he has a useful key and keycard. I can't recall exactly.

[tmwfte]

Originally posted by RocketJump:

This is stupid.

Not at all. It illustrates that people will often blame everything but themselves when trying to overcome an obstacle.

Originally posted by RocketJump:

As a side note it'd be nice if some website outlined every useful item that an NPC might be holding but I realize that's kind of impossible. Like how the Bangkok manager has a master keycard. Or even just a general outline of the general area an NPC might be holding a useful item.

Hitmaps does this.