Part 30: The Sign - Part 1

The Sign


Our first mission with the COTUC, sends us on a quest to retrieve a spy that infiltrated a NOAH lab and can get us the proof for NOAH's hand in SGDS. Judging by what we know of the COTUC by now, this mission probably won't be done with just finding the spy and getting the data. Well, let's just hope that our new allegiance doesn't reward us with a knife in the back


I decided to bring only a very select number of vehicles for this mission, five to be exact. A third tank would certainly have been a good idea, but this mission has a few freebies and an uncanny large potential for salvage. So I want to haul back as many things as I can get away with!




Okay, before we start this, I have to say that this mission had a few bugs. The most notable one was that the music refused to play, jfyi. I also encountered some more minor bugs, but you're going to see them as we go along. Anyway, this mission drops you right into some action and a cutscene so let's watch that shit!


Welp, our contact is neither friendly nor caring, but at least he's on the level and hands us an Undead Knight to play with. You already saw him kick ass before the cutscene, and I'll talk about him in a moment.


A nice little detail is that the COTUC VIP will actually get picked up by a chopper after giving his speech.

And here's something annoying.

The gate of the first NOAH outpost is just wide enough for a vehicle to pass through. Since the pathfinding in this game is less than good, it's really finicky to guide your vehicles through that one damn gate. I honestly spent like five minutes trying to get my units to the other side

The outpost also has some basic loot, but we have better things to discuss.



Knights are pretty fun to play with! Aside from being able to take a lot of bullets, they will also absolutely shred anything weaker than a BMP. Their miniguns can't be reloaded, but it's highly unlikely that you'll blow through all that ammo. Their only weakness is that explosions and AP weapons seem to do increased damage against them. So if you can stay clear of that, a Knight can kill a huge number of enemies on its own. And if they should die anyway, who cares? Being expendable is their job! Though, a small bummer is that their cloaking gimmick has no effect on the AI. Damn, now I want a game/story/movie about ninja terminators...

Let's get on with our mission.

The road to the NOAH lab, winds through a long canyon. Also, there are texture bugs


The left side of the canyon is where we want to go to, but the only way is the road. NOAH has lined the whole area with tank barriers and concrete obstacles. You can't get your vehicles past that, and due to invisible borders, there are also very few gaps that soldiers can hop through. This would be the perfect setup for a tough gauntlet, but it's honestly no that hard.


There are some RPG soldiers and a BTR on the way, but that's trash to us by now.


I really like the look of the opening area for this mission though. All the barriers, outposts, and dug-outs make it look like you approach a serious military installation.

When the road curves...

...we find another checkpoint. Let's scout that!


It's kinda hard to scout properly without getting noticed by that BMP, so that's all we can see for now. But here we can also discover something pretty weird...

Execute zoom command!

Do those guys look familiar to you? Well, they should because it's the TFR.

And on the other wall...

...is a member of the CLAWS. Wat

Welp, no use in dwelling over this now. We need a bit more intel on the outpost before attacking it.

I sneak my chopper around the edge, and spot a few more vehicles behind the gate. Also, there's a fresh T-55 up for grabs.

Let's do this!

First up, I nuke the shit out of the hostile T-55.

And most of the NOAH units pour out of the checkpoint after that.

But I've set up my tanks on the ridge, with RPG soldiers as support. Akim also chills somewhere on the right, and snipes the soldiers on the wall. There are a few guys with Dragunov rifles in this mission, and it's honestly a good idea to look out for them.


The fight doesn't go down without a scratch, but it's pretty one sided.


However, this BMP refuses to leave its dug-out. So I fire Katyusha rockets at it, and that results in a weird bug.


See, when a vehicle loses the Blip above its head, it normally means that the crew is dead. But this BMP gave no fucks about that, drove a few circles, and continued to be alive anyway!


Then it charged at my units

Since this unit is bugged and doesn't actually count as an enemy, I also couldn't target it directly. So I had to predict its path and fired HE shells in front of it.


Ghost busted

There is still a Humvee cruising around, but killing the last unit triggers a cutscene so here we go!

Will we ever learn what's up with the sudden reappearance of the gangs? Maybe! And we can already see what downsides our alliance with the COTUC has. They pretty much call the shots now, and we have to jump. However, I do like that little angle, because it adds a certain tone to the COTUC path. Like the lingering fear of getting double crossed

Anyway, there's more basic loot here...

...and the T-55 comes with a nice amount of shells. Picking up this tank is pretty vital for me. See, the late stage of this mission actually is kind of a gauntlet, and my two tanks will eventually get worn out by it.

On we go!

After a bit of a drive, the roads makes another turn and we can see a strange area ahead of us.




A stash of free boxes you say? And in the middle of a fortified but seemingly empty area? Wowzers, let's just run right in there!


Or rather, let someone expendable run right in there


Oh no, who could have predicted this?

"Damn, it's a trap! They knew we were coming. NOAH must have spies in the COTUC's ranks. They really are going to try everything to stop us!"

Easy there, bud. It sure is a trap, but not a very good one. The guys on the ridges have pistols for Christ's sake, what can they even do at this stage? The soldiers at the gate have proper weapons like RPGs, and the game also spawned an Abrams and a BTR that try to pincer you from the sides. But honestly, this trap is only dangerous if you just blindly move your whole squad into the middle. And really, who is foolish enough to do that?


I've pulled my units out of sight, so that the vehicles won't bother me for now. Time to have some fun with the Knight!




This turns into a pretty cool little skirmish, as the Knight dodges RPGs like a god damn pro.


And I lmao as I realize that one of them plinks at the Knight with a freaking crossbow




NOPE


They never had a chance.


Did I already say how much fun I had with the Knight?

Well, that only leaves the vehicles.

The BTR eats shells, and my Katyusha takes care of the Abrams.


It won't be of any use in this mission, but gets added to the ever growing list of salvage.

We're also free to collect our bait prize.

Shiny!

Okay, ahead of us lies the entrance to the NOAH base. And after surviving this dastardly ambush, you may be inclined to just plow ahead and give NOAH some payback. But if you do that, you're in for a fucking nasty surprise! See, this mission has another developer dick move

Let's see what my helicopter can find when I order him to scout the area north east of the ambush...







Yeah, there's a pair of Howitzers just waiting out there. And those fuckers will shell you to kingdom come, when you engage the defenders inside the base. They don't have infinite shells, but will still do major damage while you're confused and flail around. It's also pretty hard to trail their shells back to their position. So chances are that you'll lose half of your units without even figuring out why. Dick move.

Fortunately, my chopper crew has the right tools for the job!