Part 31: The Sign - Part 2

The Sign

Last time, our crew started a joint operation with the COTUC, to retrieve a spy that was planted in a NOAH base. This spy is also supposed to give us the final proof for NOAH's guilt. After dodging a not so well planned ambush, we're now standing at the entrance to the NOAH base.


The area ahead is another pretty expansive base. It's also encompassed by another line of hills, similar to the canyon in the beginning. If it wouldn't require me to post a ton of images, I'd really like to show the area off. It honestly looks pretty neat, with watchtowers and outposts spread along the fortified line of hills.


The entrance is guarded by a minefield, but Boris quickly clears it.

Now, the thing about this base is that you have to be kinda careful and sneaky at first. There are a lot of units spread around the place, and they will swarm you when you aggro too many at once.


I start by having Akim sneak along the wall, aiming for the area where the spy is held. He pops a few lone soldiers on the way, and everything looks good.


Except that a roaming Shilka strolls by and decides to camp the area


I soften it up with a TOW from my chopper, and then Prof nails it with an RPG. Luckily, that didn't alert anyone around.


Akim moves into position to snipe the guards in the prison. The first shot will alert the units here, which also includes a T-55, but that's a risk I have to take.


The guards drop like flies, and the tank decides to not be mad anymore just before he rounds the corner


I felt like tackling the tank with my soldiers, so they lured him around the corner with some grenades.


And then nailed it with grenade launchers and RPGs


Now I carefully move all my units to this area, before chatting up the spy. Oh, there is also a free Vulcan APC here.


That's one creepy guy! Also, our new objectives include to just kill everybody, which shouldn't be a surprise at this point.


The spy joins us, but he's pretty much only good for hacking the computer terminal.


Okay, our next objective is where my cursor points to. And right here, the mission also can get a bit tough. The lab area isn't that large, but it's still filled with a bunch of troops. If you don't approach this with a bit of care, they will likely rush at you in one big wave.


The outer ring is guarded by soldiers and a T-55. The soldier on the right also is a sniper, so you want to take him out first, as he can spot you easier than the other guys.


Due to terrain-fuckery, Akim has to get much closer than I like.


And it also turns out to be a bad idea!

Welp, Akim is on the run, and I hastily call in my tanks. They arrive in the nick of time, and beat the first wave of guards.

The hostile T-55 also gets fucked after being hit with a single APFSDS shell! Not sure how that happened, but I'm not complaining. It's really weird, and maybe I have to rethink my stance on how vehicle damage works. It certainly can't be totally flat, as shown here. I guess the devs maybe included an obtuse critical hit system? Cause when I checked on that tank, it turned out to be in a very good shape, but the turret in its status picture was still flashing red. Weird.

Then I blow a nice and wide hole into the entrance, and sic my Knight on a patrolling Humvee.

Forgot to check what weapon it carried. Woops Oh well, the Knight was about to become less useful anyway, since there are a lot of tanks in the area.


After that, I start a pretty straightforward assault on the lab.


Multiple vehicles show up and die, but a crafty T-55 hangs back and starts to shell me from maximum distance.


My Abrams took a bit of a dent by now, but this isn't over.


Eventually, I'm forced to close in, because the wrecks fuck with my line of fire. This allows a sneaky Shilka to jump me and wail on my T-55 a bit. But that's also the last of it for the lab area!

Before getting the data, let's have a quick look around.


You can find a fresh BMP behind the lab area, and the airstrip also has a free fighter jet!


Dunno why, but this line always cracks me up


Okay, here we go...


This scene is kinda similar to the scene during the NOAH ending, but it's much more clear. So yeah, NOAH actually fucked up the world! If you put the pieces together, the canon goes something like this: NOAH was a pharmaceutical company that wanted to make money. So they developed a seemingly harmless flu virus, released it, and wanted to cash in on the vaccine. But the virus suddenly mutated, and NOAH couldn't stop what they had started. And here we are, six billion dead people later. The lesson in all of this? The only good people in this game are us.

Well, now we have to destroy their lab, the main bunker, and kill everything that moves!


The lab goes down fast.


The bunker is still guarded though.


I also get a bit sloppy during the assault


I pulled my Abrams away, because it was dangerously low on armor. Luckily, the T-55s still could finish the job.

Here's the bunker.

I'm also delighted to find a fresh Abrams behind it. It comes with only a couple of HE shells, but at least it's at full health.

Welp, let's drop a bomb on the bunker!

Or rather, let's learn that a small bomb doesn't do jack shit to the bunker!

Luckily, you can find a brick of dynamite in the area.

There we go.

Okay, all that's left to do now, is to kill any remaining units.

My tanks search this side of the base...


...and a squad of soldiers takes care of the side that I avoided until now.


The units in this area are spread out pretty far. So it's easy to snipe soldiers, and ambush vehicles with rocket launchers. This area also hides another stash of crates that you can nick.


I honestly have no idea if you can do something with this. I just never wanted to come to this part of the base, before taking care of everything else. Maybe you can blow this up, and lure some units away from the lab? No idea, really.


The last unit dies, and we get a pat on the back from the COTUC.



"His tool? Whatever...on our way."

Before leaving this mission, I spend a lot of time collecting loot and thinking about what vehicles I want to take home. I already said that this mission can spit out a lot of salvage, and it didn't disappoint.

I still have to leave some neat stuff behind, but grabbing four new tanks and a jet is pretty good!