Part 25: Base

Base

This is going to be the last base-update for this path!


And just before we step into the last mission, Prof gets his second skill! That means that all the initial characters except David(benched him), and our first recruit(Akim), have two skills. That's pretty much the best that you can hope for at the end of your playthrough. There simply isn't enough Xp to train the brunt of your squad, so you have to feed a select group of soldiers as best as you can. But tbh, you only should worry about having two skills, if you make use of your soldiers a lot more than I did.


The garage gives me more than enough time to repair and strengthen whatever I want. It's a nice break right before the end

Before we hit the hangar, let's make our last visit to Wlad and gear up.



Finally! I have been waiting for this vehicle to spawn...


This is the other artillery unit in the game - a self-propelled howitzer.


It's very similar to the BM-21 in terms of overall performance, but its shells have a slightly bigger AOE and are less accurate. It also has a machine gun to defend against infantry. While the rockets of the BM-21 will always hit where you aim, the shells fired by the HOW will have like a 50/50 chance to either hit your target, or slam into a tree standing behind it. Yeah, the HOW is actually worse than the BM-21, and I just had bad luck with Wlad spawning the thing. I mean, the first shells for it will appear during the first mission after the choice between the TFR or the Claws, and it has been quite a while since then. Really wished that I got it earlier! But I still like the damn thing, because I have a soft spot for SP artillery cannons. It also has a really sweet animation for deploying the supports before it fires!


On the other hand, I get lucky and Wlad carries a quad missile tube for my Hind. It already came with one, and having two of them is really sweet! The single-shot version of it is actually on my side of the trade, jfyi.


I also pick up a third Abrams. Bringing some spare tanks is pretty vital for the last mission, as there are a few things that can go badly for you.


And lastly I grab all the bombs, and whatever stuff I still can use. I also pick up a few more missile-types while outfitting my Hind, but didn't felt the need to cap it. Oh, speaking of the Hind...

Let's talk about it!



The Hind has two fixed weapons, a machine gun and a two racks for two AT-2 missiles each. The racks actually count as a single weapon, and it just has double the ammo cap. But the really sweet thing about the Hind, are the four hardpoints! You can pretty much equip those how you please, and are only limited by what the game gives you. In theory, you can outfit a Hind with four large rocket pods, giving it a whooping amount of 128 small unguided rockets...

Carpet bomb everything

This is going to be my setup for the final mission.

The first two slots carry the quad AT-6 launchers. It takes three missiles to destroy an Abrams, but the Hind can use two and then finish it with an AT-2 missile. So in a perfect world, this baby can smash four Abrams from a safe distance


The UV-32 carries small unguided rockets. While it has a larger ammo cap than the other type of rocket pod, it's also a bit weaker. The rockets are HE, so they won't do much against tanks. But infantry and light vehicles will get blown to bits quite easily. Though, since the rockets are unguided, hitting moving targets is a matter of leading your shots right. It's really best to just hose down a meaty static target, though you should be careful not to fire too many rockets. The pod has a pretty high rate of fire, and it's easy to just burn through your ammo.


This is the other type of rocket pod. More power, less ammo, and everything else I said about the UV-32 also applies here.

So, now you see why I called this unit the God of Destruction, right? It's a real shame that you get it so late in the game. It's just plain fun to wreak havoc with it, and I honestly think that the devs should have given you more room to play with it! If I would really understand how you make custom missions, my first goal would be to pit a squad of fully decked out Hinds against a literal army of hostiles

Oh yeah, we also got this thing during our last mission.




The only difference between this and the F-15, is an additional hardpoint. Kind of a disappointment, but the plane mechanics aren't really fleshed out in the first place.

Well, there we go. The next mission is going to be the end of this path, and will clear up some of our questions, but will also bring up new ones