The Let's Play Archive

Soldiers of Anarchy

by Tin Tim

Part 20: And Follow Your Destiny

And Follow Your Destiny



Our goals are very clear this time - Get to the Monastery and find out what's up with the COTUC. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, the briefing brought up the Crawler mines again, so we'll have to jump through at least one hoop during this mission. We also have no idea what the COTUC may have up their sleeve, so caution is advised.


I want to correct something that I got wrong earlier. While you can control twelve soldiers, you can only bring ten into a mission. That's a safeguard so that you can pick up additional recruits, if a mission has them. I also replaced one of my BMPs with another T-55. BMPs are still useful, but it should be obvious that using two tanks is the better idea.




Don't ask me why it's snowing, it just is. Well, at least they included different vehicle models for snow levels. I think they look pretty neat, with the snow on top and all.

Okay, let's break down what we have to do here.

The monastery is on top of a hill, and quite far away from our starting position. To get there, we have to dodge the Crawler mines and several COTUC outposts. You can't use your vehicles, because they'll attract the mines. And alarming one of the outposts also leads to seriously bad times. So, how do you solve this? Well, the developers intended you to sneak a group of soldiers through this map. Soldiers can still trigger Crawler mines, but they can get closer to the damn things than vehicles, and can use small gaps in the fields. You also have to fight a few patrols, while being mindful of mines, and doing your best to not raise any alarms. Sounds kinda annoying, right? That's why I say fuck that! I have a much better idea.

Instead of using a group of soldiers, I'll carefully sneak a chopper through this map, and will land right in front of the monastery

I'll mostly creep along the edges of the map, but from our starting position we can already see the first COTUC outpost.

Getting a little closer, triggers a small scene.

"Base! We got a pretty well-patrolled outpost here at the monastery. Should we stir things up a little?"

"No way! Keep your distance and don't get caught up in a fight. If there's an outpost, there's a good chance that there are other units in the vicinity. We're only interested in info about the COTUC's headquarter. So just sneak past to the monastery."

It's a good idea to heed that advice. Alarming the COTUC will pretty much ruin you, and even if you can deal with them, it'll break the mission. I never really checked the full extend of it, but raising the alarm prevents you from talking with the COTUC. So I assume you're boned at that point.

Anyway, my chopper ride goes smooth.

This is obviously not sneaky at all, but works very well.


Damn, Sorana. You're really bad at lying.

I guess you can't knock the COTUC for not trusting us. I mean, we kinda dropped out of the sky and then told a bunch of bad lies, so their response isn't surprising at all. However, our own commander has a great idea in return. If they won't talk with us, we'll just attack their troops and see what happens! Pure military genius

Though, before we do that, there is an item in the monastery that is needed for later.

I honestly have no idea how you are supposed to figure this out, but in the back of the monastery is something that you need to grab. The monks will turn hostile when they see you, which breaks the mission and leads to failure. You also can't kill them silently, because they don't count as enemies until you alarm them. So you have to watch their patrols, and slip through.


Believe me, it'll be important later.

I sneak my chopper back to the start, and carefully move my units past the mines in the area. I'm going to show and discuss the Crawler mines a little later. Right now, I can avoid them with proper spotting and careful pathing.

This is the first outpost. It's close to our starting location and I showed it earlier.

It's staffed by a bunch of soldiers and some light vehicles. But the important thing is right in the middle...






The BM-21 is pretty much the evolution of the Katyusha rocket-trucks from WW2. And it's really good! It has an insane range, doesn't need a line of sight, and can kill a T-55 with two good hits. It's really tempting to abuse the hell out of it, but the rockets are pretty rare. If you want to make the most of your ammo, you have to pick your targets with care, and also micromanage a bit. See, the BM-21 will fire on its target till it is destroyed. You can kill most targets with two hits, but since the rockets usually have some travel time, a third rocket will be fired before the second one hits. So you pretty much want to fire two rockets, and then tell the BM-21 to stop. Kind of a hassle, but it's worth the effort.

Let's liberate that poor rocket-truck!

First, Akim plugs a cheeky sniper. He was right next to the base, with a good view of the area.


I place some units next to the outpost, so that they can flank the COTUC when the party starts.


Here come the party-bros!




The COTUC takes the invitation...


...only to get caught in my crossfire.


The COTUC soldiers are fanatics, and keep charging through my shower of HE shells.


They don't get very far


The outpost is pretty much cleared, but there is one lone guard left in the distance. He deserves a special treatment, don't you think?




I loot a crate of heavy ammo, and grab my new ride.

It'll see a bit of use during this mission, but I really want to save most of the rockets for later.

The next outpost is pretty much a ruined city.

And it's protected by mines.

So let me finally tell you how those damn things work. As the briefing said, they react to vibrations. Vehicles will trigger them from quite far away, and then the mines will actually track your vehicles. Anything that's slower than a Jeep, will not be able to outrun them. Soldiers can get much closer, but will eventually trigger them. Soldiers with the Athletic skill can outrun them, but others are boned. Now you can see why those mines can't be defused, right? Your only way to deal with them is to use the decoys.


Shortly after you deploy a decoy, it'll do its thing. But it will be destroyed as soon as one of the mines hit. Clearing out a whole field would require a lot of decoys and time, and I don't really care for that. So my preferred method is to use the decoys to lure away most of the mines, and just create a big gap.

Once I'm satisfied with my work, I assault the town.

I shell a T-55 with APFSDS to get some salvage.


Luckyyyy


And that's a salvaged T-55 for me.


More COTUC units pour out of the city, but they don't really stand a chance against two waiting tanks.


A Vulcan starts to shred one of my tanks. Wouldn't be a big deal, but my tanks suddenly decide to forget how to hit.


Good thing that I had some backup.

The rest of the COTUC soldiers hide in the city, and I either snipe or ambush them with grenades.

I really like the flying animations

Then I grab a heavy crate and check my salvaged T-55.

The wonders of APFSDS!

The last outpost is small and at the edge of the map.

It has a good ring of mines though, so I clear it out with my chopper.

The soldiers die to MG-fire...

...and a missile does the rest.

Besides a heavy crate, this outpost also holds a crate with plot inside.


Oh hey, isn't that a lucky coincidence?

This is the point where you need the item from the monastery. You need to attach it to the chopper of the COTUC official, to then track it back to their headquarter. As said earlier, I really have no idea how you are supposed to figure this out. This would be a good point for splitting the update, but we go all the way this time!


The airfield is pretty large, and very well guarded. The COTUC have a lot of units and a BM-21 there. Yeah, you really don't want to alarm them. I never did it, but I assume it also fails the mission since the VIP is still on the way.

The hills next to the airfield also hide a sort of easter egg.

The only tiger in the game Killing it does nothing, so I leave it be.

I set up Akim and Prof near the fence around the base and wait for the VIP. I really suggest that you watch this scene!


This scene teaches us a bit about the COTUC, but I don't want to comment on it. My reasons for that will become obvious later. Though, I want to point out one thing. Did you notice how the guys next to the Humvee turned invisible? We've already seen something like that

I made a clean recording of this scene for your convenience. On my real run, I was already making an entry when the VIP was still talking.

Grenade on the fence, stealthy as always

When the VIP has left...

..Prof sneaks past the guards and bugs the chopper.

On his way out, Prof faces some trouble.

The Patrols in this area have pretty tight routes. Prof gets trapped and has to hide between the houses.


It gets very close. But Akim helps with a sneaky bolt in the end, and Prof manages to get out again.

Now we have to pass the time till the VIP leaves again, so let's do something cool.

At the far end of the airfield, is a hangar.





Another tactical insertion...


..is followed by some totally not stealthy kills. The patrols back here are thin enough, so Akim just uses his rifle.

All you have to do now, is to enter the plane once. Then it's tagged for salvage Planes require a few words, so I'll discuss them during the next base update.


The area also has some loot, so I grab it and get out.

Then I just have to wait till the VIP returns, and flies off again.



"Be a dick to the monks" Got it!

Now, before I can get to that, I have to tell you about something that happened right here - the game bugged the fuck out.

I told you that the COTUC have a BM-21 at the airfield, right?

Okay, for some mysterious reason it suddenly knows where my units are, and starts to kill them. This shouldn't even be possible, because no COTUC unit has a line of sight on any of my units! But sure enough, this fucker rains rockets on my empty truck, before targeting my tanks and soldiers. Most of my units chill on the other end of the map, so I don't even know anymore. I tested things a bit here, but it just happened.

Well, since the VIP is gone, I can safely attack the airfield. So it's time for some counter artillery.






As fate would have it, the BM-21 gets disabled. I honestly want to assault the airfield now, just to grab it. But in another twist of fate, a lone COTUC soldier reclaims it, and I have to destroy it anyway.

With the crisis averted, let's bully some monks!


MAKE YOUR CHOICE