Part 18: Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle

Time for some payback.

We'll meet Pashkin and his dudes on the way to the Rusreserve.

:"Alright, it's time to pay a visit to our friends."



Welp! Since the guy is so eager to kill some Americans, we have no other choice than to go along with it.


I'll show the map in a second, but you probably remember this place a bit.

We don't have to care for Pashkin's group, as he's immortal and his fighters don't matter. This fight is pretty straightforward in the beginning but can quickly turn chaotic, when you don't pay attention to enemy movement.

I send Serb and Vitek around the left side to flank, and Akhmet will go out to the right. Pashkin's group stays in the middle and I hope that they take the brunt of the fire. Because fuck em, that's why.

When Akhmet reaches his position, he rounds a corner and has a good look over the area.



This is the first American model we'll see. There is another one, but we'll only see it during the end of the game. This daring fellow charges towards Akhmet with a nade in hand.


A few things happened in quick succession here.

First, Akhmet spotted the other Americans also charging towards him. So I let him shoot a barrel next to the group, for some damage and lot's of stun. I mentioned that most maps have some explosive stuff, right?

But there was also a grenade flying towards Akhmet...

In the nick of time.

Since the ball is rolling, let's check the map.

My lads are mostly in position for flanking/crossfire shenanigans. But the enemies are concentrated and you better not underestimate them. Also see that question mark in the middle area? Yeah, I didn't and allowed it to walk into my back eventually.

Vitek and Serb start to fire into the main group.

They have a sweet flank on the brunt of the enemies.

But the AI has a good day and figures out that this is really bad for it.

It rushes me, fires a whole bunch of bullets and throws some grenades.

Yeah, I quickly have to abort this maneuver and need to figure out a new plan for Vitek and Serb.

At least Akhmet is doing some good work.

Killing the stunned squad, one by one.

Let's check the map again.

Akhmet went farther to the right so he can take some pressure of the other lads. Vitek is effectively pinned, as the AI keeps shooting at where he was before. He can't move forward and has to sit tight for now. Serb is at the top of the map and is about to intercept that question mark.


This turns into a goose chase as Serb realizes that the contact had already moved past him.

Remember that I pointed out the one question mark I missed? Yeah, bullets now whiz past Vitek and slam into his cover. I panic for a moment as I have no idea what the fuck is happening. Two guys actually snuck past me and are now supported by a third guy. All of them gun for Vitek.


Luckily, Serb is awesome and headshots the three guys in quick succession.

Thanks for making up for my stupidity!


Akhmet fires some quick rounds before going back to cover. He's really exposed here and several barrels point towards him.



He was so close to the cover. Two seconds in the open shouldn't be that bad, right?

Wrong!

At least he only passes out. Cross your fingers that no one walks up and puts a bullet in his face.


He's fortunate enough to fall behind the car, and therefore out of sight. You're one lucky devil, Akhmet.


But things are mostly under control. The last enemies are ducking out of sight and I can take a breather. No lie, this could have gone really bad at several points. Not my finest battle.

Serb and Vitek will take care of the clean up.


Serb starts with a sweet corner jump.


While Vitek snipes another sniper. I like to think it went straight between the eyes.

Both of them spot the last standing guys.





To my surprise the battle still goes on. Probably a straggler left.


Since Akhmet is back up, I let him go on the hunt.


A straggler, indeed.


So, funny story. He used his last moments to throw his gun at Akhmet.

This is not such a dumb idea as you may think. Due to the stun system Akhmet would have been wide open for a melee attack. I seriously have never seen the AI try that.



Well, with that mess behind us, we should have a chat with Pashkin. Especially about the Americans. They weren't part of the plan!

:"Fuck it! Hell, these bastards were in contact with the U.S.!"

:"I'm curious too. How could it happen? As far as I remember, our goal was Nigmat's band, but not the U.S. Army!"

:"You think I was tricking you?"

:"If I thought so, you would have been shot a long time before. What was their business, what do you think?"

:"No need to guess. Maximych was suspicious about Nigmat's behavior. He sensed something wrong."

:"It's believable. For U.S. it's easier to kill us with our own native hands. Means that the dead were thinking of both controlling the Rusreserve and meeting with these guys. A meeting to report and gain their reward."

I'm fairly sure this got butchered by translation. It's a stretch to assume that the mutiny in the Administration was instigated by the U.S. forces. It's plausible when you know about something that comes up later, but it's definitely not the case.

:"Or just selling drugs. I heard smart locals were selling grass and opium for huge money to Americans."

Yeah, that's actually the reason for this meeting as the Americans had a lot of Vodka in their pockets.

:"You think they would pay instead of taking it?"

:"Yeah, rarely, but it happens. And..thanks, Akhmet. I appreciate it. Without you, we would be dead. This is a sign of my gratitude. It fired less than ten magazines."

:"Umm.. Is it AEK? I've never held one before. Ok, it's time to go home. Farewell, Pashkin."


This rifle is so awesome! The stats are neat to begin with, but it's also really accurate. Akhmet will use this for the rest of the game.



Well, everything seems well and good. People died and we're fine as always. Vitek and Serb leveled from the fight and I gave them some minor talents. As I've said before, at this point there is nothing interesting left and I just pick whatever I feel like.

And I'm sure you're all exited to see the American gear, right?


Using them is mostly a matter of taste. They have roughly equal stats as the Russian guns we have at this point. Ammo is also not an issue as it will be sold at the market in the next chapter. I'll give the short variant to Vitek though. As it makes for a sweet backup gun that doesn't suffer from shitty ammo. The SAW would also be interesting if you could attach a sight to it. At least they included the ability to feed it from STANAG magazines.


The grenades are neat. They're not weak but only take one cell of inventory. Sadly, they are not sold.


The vest is also kind of useless. It's as good as a medium vest, but weighs more.

That are all the NATO items that are in the game. Kind of a disappointment if you take into account how late they show up.

Since there is nothing left to do in this chapter...

..it's time for a nap.

I wonder if the Americans will notice that a few of their soldiers have been killed today?