Brink (video game)/Headscratchers

• So Medics throw revive syringes to incapacitated Allies. Why can't everyone just carry around revive syringes for themselves?
  • All the other classes have their pockets full of Molatovs or Turrets. If they were to carry a revive syringe, they'd reach the critical encumbrance limit and crash. If they're already on the floor, however, the limit is meaningless, so they can be given the syringe and have consumed and discarded it by the time they're on their feet
  • Medics can use the revive syringes on themselves with the correct perk (which presumeably gives them a higher pain threshold, allowing them to focus and self-medicate). This makes sense since they have an inventory slot for syringes in the first place
• Where do all the guns and ammo come from?
  • Handguns, SMGs and shotguns were brought onto the Ark for the Security force before the floods. Bigger guns got shipped aboard by Guests or just cobbled together from scrap and duct tape. Remember, the Founders were scientists and the Guests are maintenance workers, they've probably got the know-how to make a muzzle brake or silencer as well.
  • One of the audio logs mentions that many of the original guests were criminals, so its likely they were smuggling weapons.
    • Another audio log (from the african bloke at the bottom, can't remember his name) mentions that they get all their lead for bullets from the ships they came on, and it's the same with the brass for shell casings.
• Why is it that telling the people that the British Isles are now occupied by brutal savages would cause them to lose hope? Wouldn't they instead be more unified under the purpose of building and maintaining the Ark?
  • In an ideal world, perhaps, but most people don't drop such deep-seeded hatred so easily. They've been at war for several days; everybody has killed members of the other and likewise lost friends to them. In their position, would your reaction to such news be "let's work out our differences" or "now we're stuck with these bastards"?
  • Not the op, but I think my reaction would be more along the lines of Oh? There's land, but there's a bunch of savages on it?...How about we go kill them so I don't have to put up with these other guys and live in a supply crate anymore?
    • (Person who posted that) Actually, I'm going to expand on that as the whole defeatist attitude towards the situation annoys me. The ark has its security force, it has a lot of guests that are combat capable, and strained as they are they have the renewable sustainable supplies. It's stated and implied that anyone on the outside is going to be in worse shape than they are, and their state is "dead in a few decades". Did "go on the offensive" honestly never cross their minds? One assumes the mission they sent to look for survivors wasn't expecting a bunch of savages and wasn't full military.
      • I don't think the Ark simply has the numbers to fight a war against the outside world. The most soldiers we see in one place is something like 20. The actual fights are skirmishes, with the troops involved able to fit on a speedboat with room for a maintenance bot.
        • One of the main contributors to the Resistance's strength is numbers. So, why not just say "Hey, if you guys want to live on dry land again, You'll have to join forces with us to conquer it." That sound perfectly fair to me, and it's not like the Savages on the Isles will be great military strategists. They'll be lucky to have functioning guns, much less ammo.
          • What? The Resistance are exactly equal to the Security in terms of numbers, firepower and any thing else you can think of. Also, the "savages" are only described as such because they tortured Mokoena's men. They aren't necessarily stupid.
          • Yes, but they are totally insane. And the Resistance would have numbers in these circumstances, considering the amount of people living on the Ark. Think about how many of them are Guests, then consider that the Resistance is entirely composed of them. Theoretically, a random civilian, of which there are more than a few thousand, would be just as good as any other Resistance fighter, who they would basically have to recruit. That's a lot of Resistance fighters, all bonded together to fight the totally insane, wildly deranged survivors.
            • The savages are never stated to be insane. All we know about them is that they tortured some people, possibly because the Ark was their only chance for survival. Plus, the Resistance have equal numbers to the Security because it's part of the game. No uneven teams, therefore no numerical advantage
• Why doesn't CPT Mokoena just order a hit on Chen? Mokoena seems to be the Only Sane Man on the whole Ark!
  • Chen's not an easy man to get to, likely. He's deep in guest territory; getting security forces near him unnoticed wouldn't be easy. He could try dirtying one of his troops up to disguise him and send him to one of Chen's rally's, but after the conflict the resistance would probably be on the look out for strangers, and it would likely be a suicide mission regardless; the resistance members would tear them apart as soon as the shot was fired. If it fails, Chen will be locked away in a bunker that he'll never get at, and if it works, one of his men will die and Chen will be a martyr.
  • It's also worth mentioning that Mokoena believes that Chen's the main force holding the resistance in check; that without him the mob will go out of control. Granted he also believes that sooner or later Chen won't be able to control the shitstorm he's kicked up, but he may be trying to run damage control and make sure things don't go out of hand.
    • Apparently confirmed in the very last What-If mission. As the reactor goes critical, Chen comes on the com screaming that he was just bluffing, and you idiots just killed the Ark.
• Why is it that even though "the world's oceans rose", and we see what looks like NYC getting flooded and drowned, how can England still be above water? Wouldnt it be one of the first places to go? Where is the Ark anyway, in regards to the UK? Is it even within flying distance?
  • According to the audio logs for Chen, the Ark launched from San Fransisco, not New York. As for where it is now, it's mentioned that the Ark was moved at some point, so its current location is unknown.
  • Actually, if you do the final "What-if" mission for Security, Captain Mokoena says during the loading screen that The scout team that they sent out was tortured to death, down to the last man for the location of the Arc. They had to move it and lack the resources to move it again.
• I'm sorry, At what point does the game indicate that the land still above water is the British Isles? I mean it's pretty much considered fact around here but I beat both campaigns and just saw a random island
  • I would assume its somewhere in the audio logs; they're apparently unlocked at random for completing missions and I haven't unlocked one that stated the location myself. So I could be wrong.
  • Having read them all recently, I don't recall the Isles being mentioned at all.
  • Well, where else would it be? The Ark started around New Orleans, I think, and as is indicated in an Audio Log, they only just got out before it flooded. The Guests came from areas like Africa, and if THAT area wasn't flooded, why did they leave? America, at least most of it, was flooded, and that doesn't leave a lot of options. Judging by the fact that nobody has frozen to death, it can't be near the North Pole, so it can only be in the area around the Isles. Plus, the Ark couldn't have moved far - they mention that the Ark's engines could barely sustain the movement they had to make.
  • Well, first of all, the Ark started of the shores of Cali (San Francisco is mentioned in an Audio Log). Secondly there are a whole mess of places it could be. The only requirement is height, so any mountain-y area like India or France
• This is more of a mild headscratcher than anything else, but no one, from the audio logs I've heard or otherwise, seems to mention the war trimming down the Ark's unbearable population, and how that's actually helping them.
  • The "war" lasts about 8 days, max. Most of the audio logs are from before the start of fighting, the resistance doesn't want to trim resources, and security is more concerned with saving lives in the short term than with long term stability. It just doesn't come up. Plus, it seems to be small skirmishes rather than a true large scale war, so the number of actual deaths may not be all that many.
  • Plus, everyone respawns shortly afterwards
• Why do the two black Security switch argument positions from Aquariam to Terminal? I mean, the one who was defending guests is accusing them and the one who was accusing them is defending them. What's up with that?
  • Try to think of them less as actual people with discernible goals and more as just representing people's ideas. That might be why they're nameless, if I'm right, which I am beginning to doubt once I've put it to Internet paper.
• This might be a stupid question, but if the Resistance would have never caught Chen's bluff of blowing up the reactor, why didn't he just tell them it was a bluff, not an actual threat?
  • I got the impression that he never involved them directly, but they heard the same wide-broadcast threat that all the civilians and the Security heard, and just figured he'd want them to go through with it. It's not as if Chen walked into Mokoena's office and left a memo on his desk, after all
• Why are people worried so much about the crazed survivors on the Isles? Sure, there's presumably a lot of them, but take into account the population of the Ark, all of whom (children and elderly notwithstanding, of course) would basically have to defend themselves. The survivors are apparently also quite insane, for some reason, so they're probably not the best at military strategy, unlike both factions, no matter which side wins. So why is the prospect of fighting them so scary? I know there would be a lot of torture, raping and pillaging and things like that, but I doubt it would last long.
  • Like I said, no-one ever says the savages are insane, and their savagery is up for debate for that matter
• What happened to the Asian Resistance member? Did they mention him in dialogue before the last Resistance mission?
  • The asian is the crazy guy who leads the attack on The Reactor in the finale.
    • But didn't that only happen in the Security campaign because the Resistance didn't save Nechayev? I'm sorry but I was always under the impression that the events in both campaigns took place in different universes.
  • Oh, you mean Runway! Uh, let's say he was taken out of duty because, without the Resistance as a whole taking a dark path, his radical views got him ostracised
• Is there a story explanation for why you cannot play as a female character? I'm just curios about it.
  • No story reason. Women were originally planned but the developers had neither the budget nor the time to include both genders. It's a depressing reality when it comes to things like this; it takes a lot more work than you'd think for this sort of thing, even when just duplicating pre-existing items.
    • Okay. Maybe they can add female models in DLC.
• How come no matter which side you are on when your turret is damaged Mokoena tells you or am I the only one with this problem?
  • You are not the only one with that problem. Probably just a glitch.
• How come in prelevel cut-scenes the security chracter does more? I mean look at them all you seethe security guy do more than the resistance one.
  • Resistance guy does more in the what-ifs. He's the one fixing the missile you're going to launch at the tower. Apparently, no matter what, you're The Smart Guy.