Our greed will not be contained!
- Comrade Gorky, this is a flagrant breach of military conduct. If it is repeated you will be court-martialed.
- I am sorry, comrade major, I could see no other way, but our supplies are sufficient now.
- That is why I have recalled convoy that was coming to you. You will receive nothing more!
- Nothing would have come anyway.
Comrade Kuzmov knows all too well how the army works.
...Naaah.
- Nothing. Drive on, comrade.
So, this is what we came up with. 4 turrets, 3 gun tanks, 3 armories. Not half bad.
And now, I suppose, time has come to put it all to test.
- (over radio) Comrade Yuri Ivanovich Gorky, the enemy is on its way. You must hold them off until I give you orders to retreat. Our hopes are with you.
He is using our full name. Shit's serious.
- (into radio). They will not pass, comrade major Platonov.
- We are left to die so those yellow bastards can run in safety.
- Talk like that and I will kill you myself. It is an honour to save our countrymen’s lives.
Oh, Belkov, you were the broest of bros. Rest in peace, comrade.
- Our orders are to stop the enemy, and that is what we must do.
- Comrade Kuzmov has a point. We have been left here to die.
- No. We have been left here to kill as many US sons of bitches as we can. And if we win then we stay alive. We have to work together.
- I have faith in you, Burlak. You saved me twice before.
No I didn't.
- I have trust in comrade Gorky. We all should.
I swear, this game tries to make me feel bad.
A quick reminder of who is who in our band of buggers.
Tamm and Javorska are undisputedly soldiers, as that's their highest skill. Gorky is best used as a driver. Strusanov is a bad soldier and a mediocre driver, but he is also a lvl5 engineer, so I keep him around for repairs. Our unlucky guy, Sharifianov, is only good as a medic, but we have no need for them now. He'll be one of the armory soldiers, seeing how there are no particular requirements for those (the ones on the turrets need to be the best ones as their efficiency is doubled). His colleague, Scholtze, can only be used as a driver - but he is quite good at it, on par with Gorky. Gnyevko would be an ideal candidate for the third mechanic with his 5lvl skill, but I also have some lousy guy by the name of Kedr who is only good at driving and nothing else, while Gnyevko also doubles as a soldier - and that's the assignment he gets.
I must get the most out of the limited resourses I have.
Here come the bastards. They have a rally point right outside of my base... which is in range of my gun turret. They just dance around, dodging shells, as they haven't received the order to attack yet. Unfortunately, due to poor gun efficiency against troops, they can do this all day.
We'll bait them out. They are experienced, but driver ranks count double while they are in vehicles, so it's 6lvl soldiers versus my 8lvl Gorky. And an armory with 2 soldiers in it, who get the final say.
At the same time we are besieged from the west.
There are too many of them, the gun turrets can't handle the infantry, and the armory only has one soldier in it. I hastily redeploy one vehicle from the eastern side, but they still make it inside the base. The engineer I summoned to fix the armory ducks into a depot and waits until the attack is over.
Look at that neet row of bodies lying at at equal intervals. That's one soldier in the armory for you. Imagine what they can do when there are six of them inside.
One mercenary soldier ducks behind the rows of oil power plants where the tanks can't follow him. Clever. However, he is still mowed down once he comes out on the other side.
Meanwhile, on our eastern front. The cavalry has arrived!
Actually, they keep arriving from both sides simultaneously.
All the hell suddenly breaks loose as I find myself frantically jumping between two locations. The main forces are here!
- Here they come. Ready. This is going to be hot.
- Come here, dickheads! We'll show you what Russian soldiers can do!
- Prepare to meet your deaths, you bastards.
- Don't worry, Burlak, we'll clean up!
- The medics are ready for action, comrade Burlak!
Uh, you are currently a mechanic, and a badass one, too, if the screenshot above is of any indication.
Flamethrowers? Would have been scary if I had my infantry in the open. Shame you haven't brought your exploding monkeys for my armory, eh?
The enemy forces are numerous, but they keep arriving one at a time, and by the time the next ones arrive their predecessors are just a smoking hole in the ground. Their mechanics are excellent, but their vehicles can't keep up with our rate of fire.
Some of them are not really attacking the base, just trying to get past through the road. Unfortunately, that's where my tanks are waiting for them, blocking the passage and forcing the confrontation. And our armor is much,
much better.
Normally, the Arabian vehicles are very fast, so the turrets have problems aiming at them, and the shots only graze them without doing much damage. That's why one of the most important tasks for my vehicles is to make them stop - by standing in the way, if need be. Once my guns get a good lock on their trikes, they rip those to shreds.
Boom!
Once I start seeing engineers and other non-combatants driving Arabian vehicles I know the victory is within reach.
But not before they make their final, desperate push. However, my tanks are there to delay them while the turrets do their job.
One neat trick I have come up with is baiting the vehicles in range of several turrets at once. Normally a vehicle and a turret start shooting at each other once they come into each other's range, and some of their vehicles - particularly rocket launcher ones - aren't good for my structures' integrity. What you can do is pull your soldier from the topmost turret away, causing the enemy to lose contact (since the turret is on the high ground and they can't see it unless it is firing at them) and come closer, in range of the second turret and the armory. That's when the soldier gets back in to obliterate the vehicle that suddenly finds itself caught between our defences.
Hey, I know you! Where do I know you from?
- We are coming for you, losers! Surrender and we'll spare your lives!
Ah, you are Sheikh Omar's sweetheart from the American campaign. How about you join our harem instead?
- You are the ones about to die.
Bold words, Heike, but you guys are running out of steam. That's the last one of you.
Still, we get a panicked message from one of ours.
- We can’t survive much longer. If we don’t retreat now we are dead!
That would have been scary if they weren't all dead already. Get over your PTSD, comrade!
- Not until the order. Many lives depend on us. Every second counts.
I distinctly remember this being a lot harder when I played this mission 10 years ago. Then again, I didn't have the Codex to guide me and steal
every single fucking truck coming our way.
I remember the Arabs launching an attack from the south where I have built the third armory, however, now that I think of it, there never
was an invasion force from the south - it was just the northern forces, the ones that managed to break through, assaulting my position from another angle. This playthrough we killed them all en route, so there was no sudden attack from the backdoor.
- Comrade Gorky. We are leaving the area now but I cannot allow you to retreat yet. Comrade captain Timur Gaydar is heading towards you and has information that must survive.
- As long we are alive we will give comrade Gaydar protection.
- Thank you comrade Burlak. Your bravery is supreme. For now you report to comrade captain Sergey I. Popov.
- I wish you well, comrade major.
All is well that ends well.
Comrade Gaydar arrives soon after.
- This is captain Timur M. Gaydar calling base. We are in need of assistance.
- Comrade Gorky here. We see you, comrade captain, and we’re on our way.
- Gorky? Who is your commander? (into radio)
- (over radio) Comrade Gorky is in charge of your rescue operation, comrade Gaydar. He will get you out.
- (mutters) He'd better hurry. It is death for us otherwise.
Relax, you drama queen. The worst is behind us already. We send out a soldier to meet him.
- What the hell kept you!? We could be dead!
I have picked you up 15 seconds after you showed up! What the hell did you want?!
- It wasn't easy, comrade captain.
It was easy, dammit! Gah, why are you indulging him?
While we escort the captain out, we are being ambushed and attacked... By a lvl0 mercenary.
Is that what you were running from, captain?
None of the higher-ups can set their foot inside the base without trying to lecture us, eh?
- This was hardly a professional job Comrade Gorky.
My patience is running thin. And I thought Platonov was insufferable.
- You are alive captain comrade...
But keep that attitude up and I can arrange for an accident or two.
- Only because of my will to survive! Left to you the Arabs would have killed us!
*sigh* We need to research the bulldozers ASAP.
- What Arabs?
Oh, right. I am not supposed to know that, am I?
- These mercenaries do not work for themselves, they were assembled by the Arab nations.
- This is news. So, I wonder what is their purpose.
Finally, the order to retreat comes.
- Comrade Gorky, you are now authorised to retreat. Don’t leave buildings or supplies for the enemy to use.
- We shall destroy them before we leave, comrade commander.
- Do not allow the enemy to follow. Lose them in the forest before you come to the meeting point. (Area revealed on the map) And take good care of captain Gaydar. He must survive.
I wonder what's up with the constant reminders. Maybe the captain has a history. Maybe the Arabs wanted to kill him because he was a douche to them, too.
Primary objectives received:
- Take captain Gaydar to the meeting point.
- Retreat to the meeting point. No enemy must be visible when you arrive.
- Destroy your base so it cannot be used by the enemy.
Anyway, we begin dismantling the base, as much as it pains me to part with all the stolen treasure.
One by one, the structures disappear from the map. We had borrowed 700 crates, but after everything is said and done we are left with just 300.
The armory is the last one to be disassembled, after I change some of my men into soldiers. An odd mercenary still sneaks up on us now and then, but they are all easily dispatched.
I pick up a few crates. Can't leave all of muh loot behind!
And with that, we are off.
Mission Accomplished.
+ Few casualties.
+ Great losses inflicted on the enemy.
+ The base was dismantled before abandoning it.
The intermission screen.