GGGGGGG HH HH OOOOOOO SSSSSS TTTTTTTT GG HH HH OO OO SS TT GG HHHHHHH OO OO SSS TT GG GGG HHHHHHH OO OO SSS TT GG GG HH HH OO OO SS TT GGGGGGG HH HH OOOOOOO SSSSSS TT RRRRRRR EEEEEEE CCCCCCC OOOOOOO NN NN RR RR EE CCC OO OO NNN NN RRRRRRR EE CC OO OO NN N NN RR RR EEEEE CC OO OO NN NNN RR RR EE CCC OO OO NN NN RR RR EEEEEEE CCCCCCC OOOOOOO NN NN SHADOW WARS ____________________________________ FAQ version: 1.00 Written by: Crazy Diamond Email: crzydiamond65@gmail.com Last Updated: 08/02/2012 ____________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Version History II. Introduction III. Basic Info IV. Character Classes V. Campaign Chapter 1 - Kestrel Down 1.1 Separated 1.2 Kestrel Destroyed 1.3 Pinned Down 1.4 A New Ally 1.5 Striking Back Chapter 2 - Dead Hand Play 2.1 The New Crew 2.2 Mountain Ambush 2.3 Pipeline Defense 2.4 The Hatch 2.5 Perimeter Sweep 2.6 Dead Hand Base Chapter 3 - A New Threat 3.1 Gas Station 3.2 Rooting Out 3.3 Hijack 3.4 Black Sea Approach 3.5 Sevastopol Breached Chapter 4 - Invasion 4.1 Russia Attacks 4.2 Holding the Desna Crossing 4.3 Behind the Lines 4.4 Knockout Blow 4.5 The Tide Turns Chapter 5 - Back on Trail 5.1 The Rail Depot 5.2 Mopping Up 5.3 Drone Attack 5.4 Search And Destroy 5.5 Friend or Foe Chapter 6 - The Coup 6.1 Raid On the River 6.2 Hell's Road 6.3 Incoming 6.4 Precision Strike 6.5 Deep Freeze Chapter 7 - The Last Stand 7.1 Outside Looking In 7.2 The Passage 7.3 Production Line 7.4 Megadrone 7.5 Dream's End 7.6 Meltdown VI. Skirmish Maps VII. Multiplayer Maps VIII. Legal Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 0.70 (May 13th, 2011) - First version. Includes introduction, basic info, character classes and campaign map srategies. Skirmish map and multi- player strategies soon to come! Version 1.00 (Aug 2nd, 2012) - FAQ finished (for now)! Skirmish maps added. Minor grammatical/spelling corrections. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, first off, congratulations on owning the incredible Nintendo 3DS! I hope that you are enjoying it as much as I am. And congratulations as well on making the purchase of Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars! As a big fan of turn-based strategy games like Advanced Wars and Final Fantasy Tactics, Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is easily my favorite Nintendo 3DS game at launch. Also, this is my first time writing an FAQ, so please feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions. I have tough skin, so write away! And please, if you discover any alternate tactics for any maps, let me know and I'll give you credit and include it in the next version. If anything isn't clear enough and my strategy isn't helping, email me and I'll try to clarify and update the guide accordingly. View the bottom of this guide for email guidelines. The basic strategies of combat and unit placement will just have to be acquired knowledge. I can't really outline specific placements. Instead I've tried to save you trouble and time by telling you who to send in what general direction, and how to anticipate changes in objectives if you haven't played a level yet. If someone keeps dying and you're following my instructions, look at the 5 basic tips below. I know they sound obvious, but I guarantee that the problem lies below. If you aren't taking advantage of all five points, you're not doing it right. Finally, all strategies outlined below are for Veteran difficulty. If you're playing on Rookie (shame on you) or Elite, there may be a few changes in unit placement or type. I did this because I believe most people will be playing through on Veteran their first time. If you're having a hard time on Elite, you should probably just play through on an easier difficulty anyway until you learn the ins and outs of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Basic Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm going to keep this section brief. Much of the basic information you need is contained in the instruction manual and taught to you in-game. Here I'll just include some general tips and guidelines for successful play. 1) Return Fire - Whenever an enemy fires at you (or you fire at an enemy) the defending character has the opportunity to return fire. Before firing against the enemy, check their weapon class. Every weapon has different return fire percentages, anywhere from 0% - 100% of normal damage given. Make sure your character can handle the damage that will be coming your way before engaging the enemy in a firefight. 2) Support Fire - Not only can the character being fired upon return fire, but any of its friendly units as well. There will be times when 4, 5, or even 6+ units all fire back upon one poor, overzealous character. Use this to your advantage. Always travel in packs of 2-3, and keep them grouped close together. 3) Line of Sight - While seemingly obvious, your character must be able to see the enemy its firing upon. Position them carefully. Elevation, walls and buildings all come into play. Use this to your advantage. Generally, stick to the higher ground, and hide behind corners, walls and even cars/trucks when needed. 4) Cover - There are many different levels of cover throughout the game, from the most basic, like trees/bushes and fences, to walls, cars, and especially buildings. If you have the option of being out in the open or using a building or tree as cover, stay covered. This sounds obvious, but if you get too impatient or trigger-happy, you'll take a lot of damage quickly. It only takes one turn for your carefully laid plans to fall apart when one guy gets killed. Sometimes waiting in a safe spot and not attacking is better than carelessly charging out in the open. You're no James Bond, you're a Ghost, dammit! 5) Healing - In general, medikits are pretty limited. This means that you'll rely on your medic to heal your units and keep them in good health. Do so every chance you get! Some missions allow you to choose which characters you bring with you. I highly recommend bringing the medic with you on every level possible. Heavy firepower does you no good if even ONE of your ghosts dies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Character Classes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You have six ghosts at your disposal, each with different weapons and abilities. It is important to learn about each one and know when and where to use them properly. It won't do you any good to send your medic out to the front lines, only to be overwhelmed by the enemy forces. Likewise, keeping your gunner back and away from the action can be just as foolish. Below is an overview of each of the character classes and some basic strategies on how to use them. Duke - Commando Primary Weapon - Assault Rifle Secondary Weapon - Missile Launchers Duke is going to be one of your primary front-liners. Keep him towards the front of your squad as you advance on the enemy. He has above average health and some decent assault rifles but its the missile launchers that really set him apart. Save most of the ammo packs scattered throughout the level for Duke to replenish his missiles. Don't skimp on ammo either! Every level starts fresh, so fire away. Haze - Sniper Primary Weapon - Sniper Rifle Secondary Weapon - Grenades Haze is a great asset to your squad. He has an amazing movement range and can fire on enemies before they can touch the rest of your squad. His sniper rifles also do surprisingly decent damage against vehicles, so keep that in mind on later levels. Choose the lightweight jackets to keep his movement up. Once you start encountering drones make sure you bring along EMP grenades to effectively immobilize them. Richter - Gunner Primary Weapon - Machine Gun Secondary Weapon - Grenades Richter is your heavy artillery. His machine guns do the most damage of any of the primary weapons and his health is the highest of any other ghost. Try to always keep him near your other ghosts so that he can support-fire against any enemy that tries to attack near him. His return-fire damage is at 100%, so he can be just as effective, if not more so, by hanging around and mowing down anyone who gets near. His grenades can be good for taking out enemies bunkered up behind cover or grouped together tightly. I tend to bring Richter on any mission that offers that choice. Saffron - Medic Primary Weapon - PDWs Secondary Weapon - Medikit Saffron should accompany your group on EVERY possible mission. She keeps your ghosts healthy and strong, and eventually her medikits provide invaluable secondary abilities to your ghosts. Her primary weapon is actually pretty decent if used properly. By that I mean you only use it for return/support fire. Keep her close behind your front-liners and heal/boost on every turn. If you use Saffron for anything else, you're not doing it right. Banshee - Recon Primary Weapon - Silenced SMGs/Assault Rifles Secondary Weapon - Knife/Grenades Banshee is less recon and more assassin. Its hard to tell if Richter or Banshee have racked up the most kills on my first playthrough. Her knife is deadly and allows you to earn her Rapid Strike ability quickly. This will double the damage she deals AND allow her to move again, making her a killing machine. The choice between knife or grenade depends on whether or not there are drones. I tend to throw her deep behind enemy lines to do as much damage as possible. Watch her health though. If anyone stands next to her, don't expect her to last long. Mint - Engineer Primary Weapon - Assault Rifle/EMP Gun Secondary Weapon - Turret/Drone Mint is the dark horse of your team. His assault rifles are pretty standard, but what sets him apart is his diversity. His turret is indespensible in some levels. I really don't think they'd be possible without it. Try to maximize the usefulness by setting the turret in a place where enemies have to pass by, like a hallway or bridge. Its return/support fire will tear through enemy assaults. His drone is more mobile, but significantly weaker and less useful. Mint's EMP Gun is another valuable weapon. Properly used against drones and vehicles, it can literally be a lifesaver. Use Mint wisely and he'll be an invaluable addition to some of the more difficult levels of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. Campaign ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For each mission I will include a section outlining the suggested gear for each ghost, and if applicable, which ghosts to take with you. As always, these are only suggestions. Because of the nature of turn-based strategy games, it would be impossible to explain exactly how to win. Much of the damage is random and the AI will vary from turn to turn. I'll only outline a basic battle plan that can help you to succeed quickly and efficiently. ---------------------------Chapter 1 - Kestrel Down---------------------------- 1.1 - Separated Ghosts - Haze, Duke This is mostly a tutorial level and will walk you through basics of the game. Move Haze up towards the left side of the cliff and fire on the closest enemy. Continue killing the reinforcements and taking advantage of your super shot whenever available, and you'll have no problem. Duke will join you from the north east of the map. Advance him towards the enemies and use Haze as support. When the officer shows up, use Rapid Strike to take him down quickly. Once all the enemies are eliminated, the mission will be over. 1.2 - Kestrel Destroyed Ghosts - Duke, Haze, Saffron As you begin the mission, Saffron is stuck behind enemy lines. Move her quickly between the walls and towards the building indicated. After two turns Duke and Haze will arrive from the northwest. Position Duke so that as he fires on the enemy, only one can return fire. Continue running to the building with Saffron, firing on the enemy only if it doesn't slow you down. Once Saffron reaches the building, have her heal herself while Duke and Haze run down and protect her from the incoming hostiles. Once they've been taken care of you'll recieve a new objective to destroy the kestrel. Advance all your units across the bridge, healing them with Saffron as you go. Once across the bridge, move Duke towards the kestrel, while Saffron and Haze guard the bridge. When the explosives are set, the exit location in the southeast will be revealed. Ignore the reinforcements and head there. Once all three ghosts have reached the exit the mission will end. 1.3 - Pinned Down Ghosts - Duke, Haze, Richter, Saffron Move Richter to the corner of the building to provide cover as he attacks. Keep this position until the reinforcements arrive. Immediately have Saffron heal Richter while Duke and Haze take care of the sniper on the ridge. Send Haze up around the east side while the other three continue along the river towards the west ramp, taking care of the snipers as they go. Be aware of cover and use the trees and cliffs to protect you as you go. Regroup at the cliff above the building, shooting and sniping anyone who gets in your way. The last enemy should be a gunner inside the building. Proceed with caution, he can decimate your ghosts if you're not careful. Don't be afraid to retreat and heal if necessary. Use Richter's Super Shot to take down the gunner, or save it to kill the enemy officer. He has a lot of health, but shouldn't be a problem. 1.4 - A New Ally Ghosts - Duke, Haze, Richter, Saffron As you begin, keep your ghosts firing safely behind cover. Use Saffron last to take advantage of her medikits. Also, make sure Haze keeps his distance so that he doesn't take any unnecessary damage. Don't attack with Saffron's pistol unless it will finish off the enemy, she won't recieve support fire, and she can't heal anyone. In other words, never. Don't rush through, but don't waste time either. You have to get up to the north to save Aydana. As long as you stay grouped together and use the rocks and trucks as cover, you'll be fine. Once you gain control of Aydana you'll be shown how to use grenades. Consider Aydana your seventh ghost. She'll be joining you frequently throughout the rest of the campaign. Keep advancing your ghosts towards the prisoners and using Haze to snipe any enemies from a distance. Clear out all the hostiles and the mission will be over. 1.5 - Striking Back Ghosts - Duke, Haze, Richter, Saffron Move Richter into the building to fire upon the soldier there, while you send the antitank soldier under your control to damage the SAM. Use Haze to attack the soldier next to the SAM. You can finish off the enemy in the building with Saffron, while the rest of your group moves forward. The SAM is your initial priority. Stay behind cover, such as fences or buildings as you make progress towards the policemen. You have to move quick to keep them alive. As soon as you're able, send Duke north towards the building with the police. When all the enemies on the southern road are taken care of, send the rest up as well. Use the buildings to protect yourself as you take care of the enemies coming across the bridge. Hopefully you've kept 2-3 of the policemen alive, substantially increasing your squad. Keep back away from the bridge until your sniper can take care of the enemy gunner holed up on the other side. Take your time and play it safe. Continue making your way from building to building, leading with Duke, Richter, Aydana and the policemen, followed by Haze and Saffron. Keep the two antitanks in the rear and refill their ammo if necessary. Don't get too overzealous or you'll be torn apart by their snipers and gunners. Keep it slow, heal up, and eventually you'll make it through. Use the antitanks to finish off the SAM and you'll be successful. -------------------------Chapter 2 - Dead Hand Play--------------------------- 2.1 - The New Crew Ghosts - Banshee, Mint This mission will introduce you to the final two ghosts of your regular squad. First you have to move counter-clockwise around the outpost setting explosives around the trucks. Keep your distance from the three guards tailing you and make killing the sniper in the middle a priority. If you get spotted, he'll take you out quickly. With the sniper gone you should have no problem taking out the other three, as long as you keep your distance. Once you've blown up the trucks and regrouped with Mint you'll gain control of him and get the chance to use his turret. Place it in the spot that's recommended and send Banshee to pick up a medikit. Use Banshee to shoot the advancing soldiers from the other side and keep Mint back at a safe distance. If necessary, send Banshee out to take care of the sniper. Finish them off and you're done. 2.2 - Mountain Ambush Ghosts - Duke, Haze, Richter, Saffron, Banshee, Mint, Aydana As the mission starts, use Banshee and Haze to take down one of the guards to the west and finish him off with another ghost. Send Banshee down south to attack the gunner and take control of the far south command flag. Use Haze, Richter, and Aydana to slowly make your way to the north and take out that command flag. The rest of the group should head to the command flag immediately west and setup a defensive position around that area. Have Mint set up a turret directly west of the flag, overlooking the road. Once all the command flags are in your control, get into a defensive perimeter around the north west corner just above the road. Once all of the reinforcements have been eliminated the real fun starts. Your job is to make sure none of the trucks make it to the end of the road. Wait for two trucks to come out and then call in an airstrike. By this point you should have plenty of command points, so whenever you see two trucks, blow them both up with an airstrike. Line up all of your ghosts towards the north west corner and take care of anything that survives the assaults. Your top priority is the trucks that drive by, so focus on them. Once the convoy is eliminated, you'll end the mission. 2.3 - Pipeline Defense Ghosts - This is your first sub-mission. You may choose only 4 of the available 6 ghosts. I highly recommend taking Saffron with you on every sub-mission. The choice is really up to you as to who else will accompany her. I chose Mint, Richter and Banshee. This is a hunker-down-and-defend mission so Mint is an ideal choice with his turret. I wouldn't bring Duke but Haze could be useful. At the beginning, use whoever you chose to eliminate the hostile to the south west. Once he's taken care of, have Mint cover the fences immediately north west of the building and the rest hang out on the far east side while remaining inside the building. Protecting that building is your priority. Keep moving your units north and south along that east side, taking out the enemies as they advance on the building. A good place for Mint's turret is in the opening between the fences to the northwest of the building. If you chose Banshee make sure to take advantage of her knife. At this point in the game one attack is all it will take to kill any of the hostiles. Abuse this. Combined with Rapid Strike and she'll be racking up the kills in no time. Keep Mint and his turret to the northwest and the rest guarding the east side with Saffron running between. After a few waves the mission will be over. 2.4 - The Hatch Ghosts - At this point you should have some secondary equipment for some of your ghosts, if you've been upgrading after every mission. Get in the habit of pressing "Y" over a ghost and checking their equipment for each mission. Your choices at this point are limited, but be sure to see what's available and decide accordingly. I'll offer up some advice, but ultimately the way you play and what you're comfortable with is up to you. Have Banshee kill one of the guards with her knife, and use Haze to snipe the other. That should leave him with just enough health for Richter and maybe someone else to finish him off. Saffron can immediately heal anyone hurt, and you can move on to the keys and enter the facility. Use "Y" to check the range of the turrets inside and stay just outside. Keep Haze up where he can see the entire hallway and send Banshee in to disable the turrets. With the turret disabled advance through the corridors with Richter and Duke at the head and Haze and Mint covering their tail. Keep Saffron nearby. Send Banshee in to take out turret number two while Aydana heads towards the command flag and key. Have Haze head to the far right and overlook the hallway while Mint sets up a turret here. Banshee can help them finish off the last soldiers while Richter and Duke head up through the blue door Aydana opened. Here you get your first taste of a drone. Its tough and dangerous, even at half health. Take it out quickly with Richter and keep Saffron nearby. After its killed, send Duke in to capture the remaining command flag so you can earn command points. Split up here with Duke and Mint going north while Richter, Haze and Banshee lead the way just east of the command flag. Try to take out the enemy gunner as quickly as possible with either Haze or Banshee. At this point, have Haze turn north and meet Duke and Mint in the middle. He's going to go off on his own while the rest of the ghosts continue heading south. He'll disable the turret and snipe anyone he can. Banshee should head south and disable the last of the turrets. Keep everyone else out of range until she does. Have Haze try to take out the mortars. Use the command power 'reactivate' to allow him to kill them without taking too much damage in return. If they move out of range, try to have Haze rejoin the group as soon as possible. Setting up a turret with Mint is a good idea at this point, because you have enemy gunners advancing down the hallway. Reactivate combined with Rapid Strike for Banshee is a deadly combo, allowing you to kill 4 (or even more) enemies in a single turn. Be cheap, show no mercy. As long as you stay grouped together and keep Saffron nearby, you'll be done in no time. 2.5 - Perimeter Sweep Ghosts - Another sub-mission. Choose your equipment (which probably consists of flak-jackets) and pick your ghosts. Once again, take Saffron with you. I also recommend taking Banshee and using her knife frequently. The other two are up to you, but be aware that you won't have many opportunities to use Mint's turret as much this time around. I would say to take Richter with you. The choice between Haze or Duke depends on your style. Do you want to stay back and play it slow or blow them to hell with your missile launcher? Both work. The key is to quickly take control of the command flags and keep the enemy numbers from growing too much. To accomplish that, I would split up and send Banshee by herself to the west while the remaining three head north. With Banshee, don't stop to attack anyone, just make a straight line. You have to keep them from getting six command points. Retaking the flag will give the others time to take the other flag. Keep Banshee safe and take out anyone who gives her trouble. Once both flags are under your control, have everyone meet in the middle, where the enemy is bunkered up. Attacking from out in the open is suicide, so use trees as much as possible and take advantage of grenades, missiles, and/or Haze's sniper rifle. Really all you're doing is distracting them so that Banshee can flank them and take 'em all out with her knife. Keep everyone up against the closest wall and wait for the advancing wave to die. Start moving everyone up to the next wall, advancing towards the northwest building. Banshee should be leading the way and killing pretty much 90% of the guys. Feel free to use up your points for reactivate with her as well. Or, as I prefer, save up for an airstrike and bomb the crap out of that shed. 2.6 - Dead Hand Base Ghosts - You have access to all your ghosts, but the only choice in equipment at the moment is probably just armor selection. Feel free to select stronger armor for characters you feel are getting hurt a lot. I'd keep Haze and Banshee light so that they can be more mobile. This strategy will pretty much follow throughout the game, but once again, its a personal decision. This can be a long mission, so don't do anything stupid. It might be a good idea to save it somewhere in the middle when you have a pretty good set-up. Also, be more cautious with Mint, Banshee and Aydana. They don't have a medic nearby to patch them up, so they can't afford to be reckless. Allow Haze clear shots down the hallways so that he is the first to fire on any incoming hostiles. Richter should lead the way and take the brunt of the damage. Have Mint set up a turret in the hallway that heads straight towards the closed red and white door. It'll provide cover fire and keep the damage off of Aydana. If she needs to, there is a room to her west that has medikits. Use Banshee to clear out the east side of her area and when that's done, wait by the far eastern red/white door. When Mint and Aydana have cleared out the rest, send them to the key and free the prisoners. Keep the turret by the door. The other team should be having a much easier time. Even though the path forks south, keep them together going west and taking out anyone who resists. Use grenades and missiles to get over the sandbags and be sure to have someone (Saffron) capture the command flag in the room nearby. Keep heading south and hold your men by the door, with Duke going alone to the control room. With the key activated, the doors open up and everyone is free to move again. Have Banshee go through her door and run along the back wall, eventually flanking the enemy. Mint and Aydana will try their best to stay out of the turrets range while holding their position, and the rest will fight their way to the PDA. Keep Mint's turret in the hallway where its at, you'll need it there later. Clearing out all the enemies will likely take some time. Ignore the enemy turrets for now, just keep out of range and you'll do ok. Duke will need to use his missiles and try to regroup. Aydana will likely need to make a medikit run, and Mint's turret will need repairing. Once Banshee has accomplished her task, have her run up and take out the turret that is blocking Mint and Aydana. Have Mint pick up his turret and run for the reactor. With the PDA in hand and the enemies cleared out, regroup near the reactor with everyone. Its helpful if Mint drops off his turret near the bridge again before reaching the reactor. Reinforcements will be arriving and you don't want him to be interrupted. Have Banshee out cutting up anyone she can, slowing down the enemy's advance. You'll have to keep Mint alive for six turns and then retreat into the back of the base. Banshee and Haze will hold off most of the units along with the turret. Everyone else can hang back near Mint and keep him company. Use reactivate on anyone if necessary. You should have plenty of command points left. Once the six turns are over, high-tail it out of there. --------------------------Chapter 3 - A New Threat----------------------------- 3.1 - Gas Station Ghosts - You have your selection of all ghosts, but once again, not much to choose from yet. That will change soon. For now, stick with the lightweight armor. You'll need to move quickly in this next level. Move all your units up as far as they'll go. Banshee will head by herself to take care of the cooling unit to the west, the rest will go to the eastern cooling unit. Haze should stick around somewhere in the middle. Take out the first guy in the middle with a combination of Banshee's rifle and Haze sniper. Just make sure you're moving Banshee quickly towards the unit. Have Mint place a turret in the middle path, somewhere near the red SUV/truck/minivan-thing. It can suppress the gunner so he doesn't give your squad any trouble as you try to make it to the eastern cooling unit. Move as quickly as you can, even ignoring enemies if necessary. You shouldn't have too much trouble. When the area is secured, have Mint grab the southern command flag and move Haze up the middle of the map. With both units taken care of, move your group around the eastern edge of the map and up towards the command flag. Watch the snipers carefully and stay out of range. Move Banshee unseen up to the valve and shut off the gas line. Two trucks bringing reinforcements should arrive, with Mint and his turret and Haze greeting one, while Duke, Richter and Saffron say hello to the other. Make short work of both groups while Banshee claims the final command flag. With both sets of reinforcements gone, the mission will be over. And you never even had to deal with those pesky snipers! 3.2 - Rooting Out Ghosts - Another sub-mission. My team consisted of Saffron, Richter, Mint and Banshee. Seeing a pattern? Feel free to take whoever you'd like, just make sure you have Saffron and Richter on the team. This is a good map for heavier armor because its very small and doesn't require much movement. First off, if you have Banshee on your team, send her down to the southern-most command flag by herself. Have her take control of that one while the rest of your team situates themselves among the buildings around the north flag. Try not to engage the enemy too much, they are in a very defensive position. Its best to just rely on return and support fire for now. Make your way near the flag and sit tight. If you brought Mint along, now's a good time to lay your turret. Grab the command flag when you get the chance and keep the enemy from getting six command points. If they do reach six, you'll just have to fight off more enemies and make the level harder than it needs to be. I'd just say to restart and try it again if that happens. Richter is going to be your main guy here, and if you brought Duke, use and abuse his missiles. Haze is a little out of his league here with all the tight corners and buildings. If you did bring him along, try to keep him in a building where he can look out over the flag. Banshee can just run from guy to guy, knifing as she goes along. You'll win once everyone is killed. 3.3 - Hijack Ghosts - I recommend traveling light on this one, not because you don't need the armor, but because it can take FOREVER to get all your guys where they need to be if you don't. If you're patient, heavy armor might be useful. That probably wasn't very helpful, but oh well. To begin with, move Banshee and Haze up the stairs and wait by the door. Everyone else should head as far right as possible to help save the guard. This is a good spot to demonstrate the power of elevation. These buggers can be tough to put down. Once the security guard is safe, move Haze through the door and have him take down the soldier down the hall. Move Banshee to the command flag and capture that. Send Duke and Richter towards the keyed doors while Mint sets up a turret at the bottom of the stairs. Duke, Richter and Saffron should be more than capable of taking care of the prisoner's guards while Mint finishes off the two coming down the stairs. Once that's done, have everyone group by the key doors in the center, while Haze and Banshee hang out by the key doors at the far north. DO NOT ENTER the doors yet! Wait for ever- one to be grouped and ready. This could take a while. Once you're ready, have Saffron activate the doors at the beginning of your turn. Then have Haze snipe from as far a distance as possible while Banshee closes the gap and attacks with her knife/rifle. Get Mint, Duke and Richter up and into the fray while claiming the command flag. They should all meet at the top and start advancing on the enemy officer and his entourage together. It doesn't take much for the enemy to kill one of your men, so don't get over- zealous and split up. Take it slow and eventually you can make your way to the officer and finish him off. If you need to, have Mint lay a turret to provide some extra fire-power in the room. Or just have Banshee run in and use Rapid Strike and Reactivate to wipe them all out in one turn. Pretty cool! 3.4 - Black Sea Approach Ghosts - This level requires sitting tight and defending, so Mint's turret is ideal. Take Saffron as always. This is a good level for Haze because its wide open and has a nice hill for sniping. Banshee, as always, is very useful. I would also bring heavy armor for each character. They're gonna need it. When the level starts split up into two groups of two and take the command flags. If you brought Haze, send him to the southern flag. If you brought Mint, place his turret on the road just on the other side of the fence by the other command flag. I used Saffron and Banshee and kept Saffron by Mint. Banshee can pretty much run between the advancing enemy groups, silently killing anyone who causes too much trouble. This is a very short mission and can be easy, or it can be hard, depending on how well you position your guys. All you have to do to win is score 15 kills. If you're having a hard time surviving you can try ignoring the south command flag and keeping everyone together and in the building. You won't really be able to use any command powers, but you'll have a greater chance of survival. Also, don't be afraid to have Haze turn tail and run. If he gets overwhelmed by multiple enemies his low health can disappear quickly. Get him to a medikit and near some support. Another trick is to use the turret's suppress ability to keep vicious enemy gunners at bay. That way you can focus your attacks on the rest of the weaker assaults without having to worry about the gunner retal- iating. Focus on your 15 kills and you shouldn't have too much trouble. 3.5 - Sevastopol Breached Ghosts - Once again, there aren't really any specific recommendations for this level. Mobility will be very helpful with Banshee and Haze, but other than that feel free to choose whatever weapons and armor you'd like. I like to go with the lighter weight machine gun for Richter because the heavy gun has terrible move-and-shoot range. However, if he mostly just returns/support fires, that won't matter. He will need heavy armor though, so go with that. The Russians at the top of the map are capable of taking care of most of the incoming hostiles, but they're going to need a little help. Your main strategy is going to be getting Mint and Haze up there to help take care of the stragg- lers. Meanwhile, Banshee and Richter should head towards the command flag to the west, taking care of the enemy gunner there. Duke and Saffron can head up somewhere towards the middle, turning west towards the boat just below the first building. Be sure to have your ghosts grab all three command flags. When you've taken care of the first wave of enemies, you'll gain control of the Russians. At this point, you want to have Banshee and Richter moving over the bridge, going over the boat to the other side. Duke and Saffron should be following a little ways behind. Enemies will start pouring in on both sides of the north, so you need to play the coward and immediately get Haze, Mint and the Russians back to the south and over that bridge with the rest of them. One thing first, however. Have Mint lay a turret just below the north command flag. This will serve as a little distraction and should keep reinforcements from following for while. You'll probably notice that you can't actually get to the bomb yet, so you're going to want to send Banshee over to that tall building in the southwest corner. Do it quickly, while Richter, and eventually Duke and Saffron, guard the area around the bridge. Your men will take a lot of damage, and Saffron will certainly be working overtime healing up both you and the Russians, so you're definitely going to want to stick together as much as possible. It would be a good idea to abuse 'reactivate' on Banshee to make sure she can lower the bridge and take care of the guards without getting killed. Between that and Rapid Strike you shouldn't have a problem dispatching far more guards than seems reasonable. While she's doing that, have Duke ready to disarm the bomb as soon as the deck is lowered. Get Richter into a defensive position and keep Saffron nearby. Your turret will probably get overwhelmed, but that's ok, it fulfilled its purpose of buying you time to regroup. With the bomb disabled, all you have to do now is finish off the rest of the assualt. This can be done by literally forming a wall of soldiers, with the more disposable Russians at the front. I know, I'm terrible. Don't attack, just defend. The moment one of the incoming troops fires onto your men, he'll get torn apart by 4-5 in retaliation. Just keep Saffron nearby and if you need to, use reactivate on her so she can keep your more important ghosts, like Richter, alive. This is a VERY good time to use Duke's missiles as well, and if you have Wide Impact, it will pretty much finish the level for you. -----------------------------Chapter 4 - Invasion------------------------------ 4.1 - Russia Attacks Ghosts - Go ahead and take the heavy armor for everyone but Mint, Banshee and possibly Haze. I like to keep the lighter-weight weapons for higher move-and- shoot capabilities, but that's up to you and how you play. Mint is gonna need the mobility though. To start, you're gonna have a lot of enemies advancing on your position, and you'll start to notice Banshee's knife isn't quite what it used to be. Enemies are more amored and will take a little more to kill than just one knife. A good set-up is having Haze fire on an enemy to get their health to 20 and finishing them off. Get to some covered spots and do as much damage as possible with Haze before they come at you. For now, keep them together, but be aware that Haze, Mint and Banshee will be heading across the river to the east while the others move up north. Keep Saffron with Haze and Mint for a little while just to keep them in good health as long as possible. Eventually she'll join Duke and Rich- ter and the others will be on their own health-wise. Mint is going to have to make his way slowly to the rocks to detonate them and block off the road. Banshee and Haze will essentially cover him and allow him to get there safely. If needs be, feel free to lay a turret down and then pick it back up as you move across the river. As far as Duke and Richter go, try to keep them out of range of that sniper until you can move in and finish him off. Keep them under cover and rely on return fire if needed. The enemy gunner has very high health and does a lot of damage, so use any special abilities your men have acquired to take him down quickly. Saffron should have her work cut out for her. With the road blocked, your next objective is to eliminate the squad that appears surrounding the bridge. Start moving both groups towards the bridge, carefully keeping them under cover of buildings and trees. Mint should lay down a turret just below the hill. Haze should stick back and snipe while Banshee can pick off only those who are wounded. Meanwhile Duke, Richter and Saffron should be having an equally difficult time with all the snipers, but if they stay in the buildings and are healed consistently, they should be fine. If things get really bad, save up some command points and call down an air- strike, or make a break for the medikit to your direct west. If you think you can spare her, have Banshee make her way up and over the bridge to help out. When Mint is finished, move him to the bridge. He'll have to blow it up to end the mission. Don't worry about his turret, you won't need it anymore. 4.2 - Holding the Desna Crossing Ghosts - Mint and Saffron are no-brainers. I chose Haze and Richter, but Duke would make a good choice as well with his missile launcher. You can bring Banshee if you'd like, but her knife doesn't do enough damage to kill in one turn anymore. This mission is all about sitting tight and defending a bridge from incoming enemies, so don't worry about mobility. You want power and high defense. This is a quick mission. Have Mint lay his turret down on the far side of the bridge and quickly retreat back to safety. Saffron can grab the command flag to the west while Haze heads to the fences on the east. I would resist the urge to claim the command flag on the island simply because its not worth it. Use Richter up at the front lines right next to the turret. He can take a lot of damage and his return fire, especially with a heavy machine gun, is incred- ible. If Haze starts having trouble, send Mint back to assist him. Keep Saff- ron near Richter, and use the medikits either on the island or by the build- ings to the north if necessary. There aren't too many enemies on this map, and once they're all gone, its over. 4.3 - Behind the Lines Ghosts - This is almost completely the opposite of the last mission. Its a very large map and requires a lot of movement, so travel as light as possible. Mint especially. You're going to be moving him around a lot. This level is pretty straight-forward, but you can run into complications in a couple of spots. Move Mint onto the glowing box next to the missile silo to watch it go up in flames. Now three more to go. Get everyone into the trenches with Banshee and Richter leading the way. Have everyone fire upon anyone they meet, including the adjacent trench. Mint should be moving as quickly as poss- ible from one missile silo to the next. Everyone else should clear the path for him. Keep Haze in the rear. This will allow him to fire upon the enemy engineers. Think of them like Dark Mint. Don't let them touch the silos. When Mint blows up the second silo, have Banshee start heading north to clear out the area and guard the fourth silo, while Mint and the gang continue west. Take out the third silo and continue on up north. You'll be forced to watch frustrating displays of Ukrainian military stupidity (this is why you don't go charging in, kids!) Ignore it for now, just do your job and blow up the last silo. This shouldn't be too difficult, because by now Haze should have killed the first engineer and Banshee should have cleared out the area of sol- diers. With the last of silos gone, start marching your men up to the glowing bunker at the far north. Mint will have to blow it open, allowing everyone to escape further north. Group them all together as much as possible and just keep mov- ing. Don't bother to stop and kill guys, just rely on return/support fire. Get Mint there as fast as possible. Once you blow open the bunker, only one ghost needs to make it to the blue safety zone, so send the closest there, while the rest get into the bunker for cover. 4.4 - Knockout Blow Ghosts - You can only select three ghosts for this mission, so choose wisely. The first time I played I used Haze, Saffron and Banshee and ended up playing ring-around-the-rosy the whole time. It worked, but it was sloppy. For Saff- ron, bring her miniPDW as a primary weapon. It does 100% return fire damage. Also bring her medium armor. I'd bring Richter, with his heavy machine gun and heavy armor. And just to mix it up, go ahead and bring Duke with the marksman rifle and heavy armor as well. This mission gives you 30 turns to accomplish your goal. The map is small, so moving quickly isn't the issue. Its the heavy defensive position the enemy holds. I recommend heading west instead of south, simply because it offers more cover with the trees. Either way works. Try to keep Saffron somewhat close to the front so that she can support fire as much as possible. Her miniPDW does a lot of damage. Have Duke in the rear, shooting towards the soldiers coming from the south, while Richter positions himself in the trees to return fire on the soldiers to the west. Once the first four are taken care of, your next goal is to capture that comm- and flag. This is a great opportunity to use grenades or Duke's missiles. Don't waste too much time with it though. The clock is ticking and you need to keep pressing forward. Keep healing both your men and pressuring your way south via the trenches. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting to the SAM in time, just focus on keeping your men safe. Save your abilities such as Super Shot or Rapid Strike for enemy gunners. They're the ones you have to worry about. With everyone killed, all you have left to do is destroy the SAM. Use Richter or missiles if you have any left, and it should go down fairly quick. And trust me, that was a LOT easier than using Haze and Banshee. 4.5 - The Tide Turns Ghosts - This is your first real mission up against drones. They'll be showing up in pretty much every level from now on and are a real pain in the ass. This changes your strategy up a bit. Mint is going to want his EMP gun. Its a real drone killer. Also, have Banshee ditch the knife in favor of EMP grenades. I know, I love the knife too, but trust me, drones suck. Richter's heavy machine gun also does 50% damage against vehicles, so bring that too. Send Haze and Banshee to the command flag to the south, Duke to the command flag at the north, and the rest head for the bridge. You'll want Mint to lay at turret on the bridge as soon as possible, protecting the Partisans. Once Haze has claimed the command flag, bring him up north to help Duke while Ban- shee continues across the river. As soon as Mint has layed the turret down, send him up to the command flag, distracting the reinforcements. When all the enemies are taking down you'll gain control of the Partisans and Aydana will show up. Use Aydana and your new Partisan allies to QUICKLY grab control of all the civ- ilians and move them south as soon as possible. Richter should sit tight in the building by the command flag, and Duke and Haze should try to rejoin the others as soon as possible. Keep saving up those command points. They'll come in handy later. Mint's EMP gun is going to be vital against the drones coming in from the north. It acts like suppress, keeping it from being able to move the next turn, while still dealing a decent amount of damage. The best use of your command points will be airstrikes that can ideally do damage to at least three drones. Keep the civilians running along the far east side of the map and get them out of there as fast as possible. Everyone else is going to be trying their best to cover their escape and eliminate everything on the map. Once all of the drones are destroyed and the civilians have escaped, the mission will end. Just a quick word of advice about drones. You'll learn quickly what works and what doesn't. For example, what works are EMP grenades, missiles, sniper rifle, machine gun and EMP gun. What doesn't work are assault rifles, pistols, SMG's, and most anti-infantry grenades. Always stay covered, preferable with a build- ing. They do massive amounts of damage per turn, especially the blade drones you'll see later. ---------------------------Chapter 5 - Back On Trail--------------------------- 5.1 - The Rail Depot Ghosts - More drones on this level, so EMP weapons/grenades, heavy launcher, basically anything that does extra damage to vehicles, bring it. Anti-material grenades, heavy armor for some of the characters. Be ready to bring on the heat. Keep Mint moving light though, he'll be moving around again. If Saffron is upgraded for it, bring her stim pack medikits. If she uses a stim pack on someone who's already moved, they can move again. Nice! Keep the set-up they give you, Mint, Duke, Haze and Saffron running along the south of the train, while Banshee and Richter take on the north side. Clear it out of enemies while Mint dashes from one spot to the next. There are three total to blow up the train. The sooner you blow up the train, the less drones you'll have to deal with. When Mint's about to lay the last bomb, get everyone at least one space away from the train. Before you blow up the train, Aydana and her partisan army should arrive, giving you some much needed firepower. Once the train is gone however, the enemy will recieve some reinforcements of their own. Now all you have to do is take out the rest of the Zemya troops. There are a lot of them, so you should try to group up as much as you can. Elminate the northern squad that is separating the rest of your troops first. Then you can split up, having Mint and the Partisans going west along the north of the train and your ghosts going around the other way. As long as you keep covered you shouldn't run into too much trouble. Use up the rest of your missiles and use any command powers you may have accumulated. Don't be afraid to retreat for medikits if necessary. You have to keep all your ghosts, Aydana, and at least three partisans alive. Once the map is clear, the level will end. 5.2 - Mopping Up Ghosts - This mission will require you to quickly capture and maintain control of command flags to deny the enemy reinforcements. Banshee works great for these kinds of missions because she can easily split up from the rest of the group. For the others, I brought Saffron, Richter and Haze, but really Duke and Mint would work equally well. Its up to, and at this point I'm sure you've figured out which ghosts and what equipment work best for you. This isn't a very complicated mission, so specifics are up to you. Oh, and no drones, so bring anti-personnel grenades, and Banshee's knife. Start off running Banshee to the northeast command flag. Get everyone else into the buildings/trees below for cover. Use a stim pack on someone if you'd like. Keep under cover and try to make as much progress as possible towards the two command flags. Don't be discouraged if you're not moving as fast as you'd like. There are a lot of enemies and its best to play it safe. Banshee can make a quick turn and grab the central command flag as soon as the north flag is secure. If Banshee gets overrun, don't play hero. Her health is way too low for that. Just run and try to group her back with the others. Eventually their numbers will start dropping, and as long as you don't let them get multiple reinforcements, the mission will be over in no time. Just remember, cover, cover, cover! 5.3 - Drone Attack Ghosts - Ok, no drones on this level. Just kidding, you saw the title, right? You know the drill, EMP's and heavy weapons. Bring Duke's heavy launcher, it does 100% on vehicles. Ditch Banshee's knife in favor of EMP grenades. To start off, you're going to want to get to a position where you can defend the civilians as they make their way to the exit. Send Banshee and Duke west, Haze and Mint north to guard the bridge, and Richter to take out the command flag directly east of the bridge, along with the enemies guarding it. Saffron can hang out with Duke initially, but you're going to want her up at the bridge where the real action is taking place. Make use of your EMP weapons as much as possible. This will go a long way towards keeping those civilians alive and keeping the drones from demolishing your ghosts. Your goal here is to have Duke and Banshee meet Haze and the rest in the midd- le near the third command flag. When Aydana and her bodyguard show up, have them move towards the northwest corner. Eventually, capturing one of those trucks will be your new objective. Your ghosts should all be moving in that general direction, clearing out the drones on the way to that corner. Be care- ful of separating your ghosts out too much. It only takes one turn for 2-3 drones to completely eliminate a full, healthy ghost. If you get the chance, saving up for an airstrike is a fun way of wiping out the drone reinforcements. However, as long as you have plenty of EMP grenades and use them wisely, they won't even have a chance to retaliate. With the truck captured, drones killed, and four civilians saved, the mission will end. 5.4 - Search And Destroy Ghosts - You can't really make any wrong choices about who to take with you. I chose Banshee and Richter, along with Saffron. I brought Banshee so that she can sneak around and disable the turrets, while Richter slowly takes out anyone trying to kill him with his return fire. There aren't any drones, so knife, heavy machine gun, anti-personnel grenades, etc. If there are other ghosts you prefer over the slow-moving tank Richter, feel free to bring them along. I just don't recommend Haze. Unless you get really creative with Mint's turret, he's probably not going to do well either. Also, as a sidenote, I find Saffron's boost ability to be more helpful on this map than the usual stim packs I use. Have Banshee head over to the radio tower, knifing anyone along the way who only has 20 health. Make sure she stays in good health, Saffron won't be near- by. Keep Saffron next to Richter as they make their way carefully north to the command flags by the hospital. As soon as she takes over the radio tower, have Banshee head north to the power generators and shut them off. With the turrets disabled, nothing is stopping Banshee from running in and killing the commander with her knife. He has 40 health, so it will take more than just one turn, but as long as Banshee has full health, it won't be a problem. The real trick to this level is keeping Richter alive long enough for Banshee to finish the mission. Richter and Saffron are essentially your elaborate dis- traction to get the enemy away from the commander. Keep Saffron nearby to heal Richter and keep Richter inside a building whenever possible. His heavy machine gun is extremely effective at defensively killing enemies with return fire. For that reason, keeping him along a building edge, even if he can't offensively attack from that position, is a great strategy. Enemies will attack him from various sides, inflict minimal damage, and Richter will unleash the pain in retaliation. Works every time. 5.5 - Friend or Foe Ghosts - For this mission you only use the first five ghosts, not Banshee. (Small spoiler - Duke will explain at the beginning why Banshee isn't with the rest of the squad, but she will join up by the end, so you might want to check out her equipment regardless.) Your focus on equipment is heavy armor, heavy weapons. You won't be fighting against drones until the very end of the mission so the choice of grenades and weapons is up to you. I suggest bringing EMP grenades with Haze and Banshee while keeping anti-personnel grenades with Rich- ter. As soon as it begins, keep Haze out of range and firing on the enemies. Have Mint lay a turret as far forward as possible, but don't have it fire on anyone. Use Dukes missiles to attack the rear gunners. Keep everyone moving up and wipe out the rest of the troops. Once everyone is taken care of, pick up the turret and move for the locked door. An elaborate scene will play out and you'll gain control of Aydana while enemies will pour in and take defensive positions in the next room. This next part is fun. Feel free to use up grenades and missiles whenever they're grouped together too close and just asking for it. There are ammo crates scattered around, so you might as well use them. Keep Aydana alive for this first part, if she gets too aggressive she'll be overwhelmed. As long as they all stay closely grouped, their support fire will destroy anyone who gets too close. Clear out the room and get to the next locked door. Mint should be towards the front and close to the door when you open it. Quickly make short work of Morozov's guards and then turn your attention to Morozov himself. He has a lot of health and should take a while to kill. As soon as he's down, Mint will have to access the computers. Once he does so, you'll have a limited amount of time to get everyone into the central hallway, so move them as quickly as possible. Clear out the incoming hostiles and make sure the hallway is clear for Mint to come in within the six turns. As soon as the area is clear and the western section of the base gone, you'll regain control of Banshee. Zemya forces will send in gunners and drones in your direction, so quickly set up a defense and start taking them out. If you save up and use a Wide Impact with Duke, you should be able to take out most of the drones. Banshee's EMP grenades will be able to finish off the rest. Haze and Richter shouldn't have any trouble with the remaining gunners. Clear them all out and head south towards the locked door. As soon as the door opens, you'll be greeted by a large number of reinforcements, so make sure you're pre- pared for that. If one ghost opens the door by himself, he'll be torn apart in seconds. Deploying a turret right by the door, prior to opening it, is a good idea. After you've secured Demidov you'll lose control of Richter and Aydana. You'll just have to finish the mission without them. Keep clear of the southern enemies. They have the upper ground and its not a battle you want to fight. Move north towards the central hallway you huddled in earlier. All that remains is taking care of the rest of the enemy forces. The four gunners at the far north will be the last to take out. Just keep everyone alive and close together and you should be fine. Save up Banshee's Rapid Strike for the last gunners and use Mints turret if you need to. With everyone taken care of, this long, event- ful mission will come to an end. -----------------------------Chapter 6 - The Coup-------- ---------------------- 6.1 - Raid On the River Ghosts - More drones, so bring EMP weapons and grenades, heavy armor, heavy machine gun. The rest is up to you and how you play. Have Mint immediately shoot the nearest drone with his EMP gun. Mint, Banshee and Haze will make their way across the frozen river to the east while the two drones, Saffron, Richter and Duke will head for the bridge to protect the Russians. The blade drones are your priority. They do too much damage to let live, so take them out as quickly as possible. Duke and Richter should hold this position at the end of the bridge, defending and protecting the Russians. Be very liberal with your use of missiles and grenades. Meanwhile, Haze, Mint and Banshee will make their way across the river and take out the two officers. A complication will arise when you try to get to the second officer. A tank. It has a massive range and powerful attack so your options are limited. By this point, if you've been grabbing the command flags, you should have enough for an airstrike. Use that to take out the enemy officer. If he's still alive, Banshee or your sniper drone can finish him off. This mission is straight forward but it can be tough. If you're having problems, just try being less aggressive and more defensive, saving up those command points for that airstrike. 6.2 - Hell's Road Ghosts - For this mission, bring along Haze, Saffron and Mint. Heavy gear, heavy armor. Mint should bring his EMP gun and Haze needs his EMP grenades. Saffron should bring along stim packs. Immediately send Mint up north as far as possible. He's going to lay a turret down just at the bend in the road to the north. This will be your emergency defense in case the enemies recieve reinforcements or a truck makes it past your defenses. Send Haze and Saffron to the west to take out the command flag. Have Haze go first and stay within range of Saffron's stim pack so that he can make as much progress as possible. Once Haze gets to the command flag, ignore the enemies and take it. You HAVE to keep them from getting six command points. Keep Saffron nearby and keep moving Haze to the west along that ridge, taking out the enemy drone. Meanwhile, Mint should do his best to take out the enemies and truck. This will be tough. Haze will be able to provide some level of cover for Mint, especially if you use Saffron's stim packs instead of healing, allowing Haze to fire twice. This will build up his Super Shot much faster and allow you to clear out any stragglers. All you need to do with the trucks is shoot them once with Mint's EMP gun. The turret you set down should be able to cover the rest, as long as you make sure you shoot the truck as close as possible. Take out the blade drone before it can do any damage and get to the second command flag before they reach six points. If you can accomplish all of this and stay alive, the level should be made from here on out. Otherwise, just start over and try it again. Its tough, I know, but if you get lucky and play your cards right, the rest will be cake. Stop all the trucks from getting past and the level will end. 6.3 - Incoming Ghosts - For this level, you'll fight against some drones, but not too many. Bring Banshee's EMP grenades, however. They'll come in handy. Also, you don't need to worry much about movement speed. Go ahead and bring heavy armor and weapons. Mint will be moving around a good deal, so if you want light armor for him, go right ahead. Immediatly have Banshee move north and throw an EMP grenade into the center of the three drones. Then have Duke finish them off with a well-placed missile. Have Haze and the sniper drone fire on the gunner to the west while staying out of range. Then bring Saffron down, stim-pack Haze, and fire again. This should make cleaning up the rest of the enemies a piece of cake. Slowly fight your way up to the center. Once everyone is taken care of, have Mint blow up the debris blocking your progress. You'll want to move everyone out and get into the building as soon as possible. Mint should lead the way and start heading around counter-clockwise, taking control of each of the three turrets as he goes around. You'll need these later. Have Banshee head to the south of the building and make her way around west, capturing each of the command flags as soon as possible. DON'T spend any points yet! You'll need them for the end. From the cover of the base you shouldn't have any trouble taking care of the incoming drones. Clean up the area and get ready for the reinforcements that will come in. Take out this next wave while maintaing a defensive position. Don't get too agressive, just wait for them to come to you. That way the turrets can do as much of the damage as possible and keep the brunt of their attack off of you. Once the next wave is gone you'll see why you needed to save up those command points. Drones will arrive from two positions to the east. Wait until both groups are sitting together and call down an airstrike. If you were fast enough you might even be able to call down two. Otherwise take care of the rest with Banshee's EMP grenades or your snipers. Once the last drone is destroyed the mission will be over. 6.4 - Precision Strike Ghosts - Take Saffron, Richter and Banshee for this mission. There aren't any drones, so go ahead and bring Banshee's knife. Heavy weapons, heavy armor. This is a different kind of mission. All you have to do is take out the enemy commander. There isn't a whole lot I can say because the commander's location is random each time. He could be very close, and he could be on the opposite side of the map. Your strategy will be different depending on where he is. Basically, if you think you can get to him and kill him before the enemy gets six command points, or soon after, then go for it. Otherwise, you need to keep them from getting reinforcements. Once you control the command flags the rest of the mission should be very easy. Don't underestimate the commander, he has a LOT of health and won't go down easy. Stay persistant, and if necessary ignore his bodyguards, and he'll go down. All you have to do to win is kill the commander, so you can be a little reckless if it'll help end the mission sooner. 6.5 - Deep Freeze Ghosts - You'll want heavy armor and weapons again. The only exception to this is Mint. Go ahead and bring light armor so that he can move a little faster. Banshee won't be able to use her knife really so bring her EMP grenades. Send Mint up towards the command flag directly north and lay a turret as close as possible. Use the turret to fire on the guard here. Fire upon this same guard with your sniper drone. Then have Haze and Banshee move towards the gunner to the east. You'll want Haze and the sniper drone to take over the high ground directly to the east and fire on anyone they can see. Meanwhile, everyone else should start making their way towards the bridge of the ship, clearing out anyone they can from here. Have Richter take out the turret on the ship from a safe distance while Duke and the drone try to take on the gunner on the opposite side of the fence. You'll need to clear out this entire area of enemies. You might notice that if you get too close to the ship a commmando will fire missiles at you. Use this to your advantage once he's the only enemy left. Have him continue to fire missiles at Duke or Richter and keep healing them until the commando is completely out of ammo. This will make things easier later. Once you gain control of Aydana make sure you don't send her too far north. Instead you'll want Haze and your sniper drone to clear out these enemies until her path is completely clear. Take your time, you don't have to rush this part. Once everything is clear, wait until all of your men are gathered around the bridge to the ship before moving Aydana to the control tower. Once you're ready move Aydana into position. Next you'll want to have Mint head directly west to the command flag and STAY THERE for a long time. Send Haze and the sniper drone up to the middle of the ship to take care of the two enemies up there while Banshee moves as fast as she can to let Aydana onto the ship as well. Once she's safe, use Richter and your drone to take out the incoming enemies. Hold this position until they're all killed and then move your ghosts off of the ship to where Aydana was. Keep Banshee on and move her to grab the intel. This whole time, Mint should be hanging out by himself and having a grand 'ol time. Once you grab the intel all of this will be clear to you. Its crucial that you have as many command points saved up as possible. At this point spam reactivate on Mint and get him to both detonation sites and off the ship, all in one turn. Keep everyone off the ship but close enough to help clear out the drones. Its no use trying to kill all the drones, however. They just keep coming. Instead, use up any last command points you have to get Banshee off the ship as soon as possible. Once everyone is clear Mint will detonate the charges, destroying the ship and all the drones with it. ---------------------------Chapter 7 - The Last Stand-------------------------- 7.1 - Outside Looking In Ghosts - There aren't as many drones as usual for this mission so you don't have to worry about that as much. Heavy launcher for Duke and some EMP grenades should be enough. Go ahead and bring Mint's assault rifle and drone instead of the turret. Also, pack Banshee's knife and light armor. The intro will tell you about two different entrances into the compound. The northern entrance isn't too useful for anyone but Banshee. Send her up north, killing anyone she encounters with her knife. Everyone else should start making their way west. Have Mint set down his drone and start having it follow your men. Mint can repair it if it gets too damaged. Use Haze and Saffron's stim packs to take out the sniper and gunner in the guard tower. Feel free to throw down a missile with Duke as well. Once that's taken care of, position all your men as close to the wall as possible, including Banshee, without going inside the compound. Then, when you have a new turn, send Aydana in and have her capture the command flag by the tanks while Mint goes to the command flag to the west. Enemies will start showing up so position everyone inside the compound and get ready to take 'em down. Use Super Shot with Haze to make short work of one of the drones while Duke and Richter take out the Engineer's bodyguards. Your goal is to make sure none of the engineers reach the tanks. While this is going on, have Banshee knife the engineer to the north with Rapid Strike so he goes down in one hit. Try to keep her away from the gunners and use the medikit here if necessary. Once all the engineers are killed and the compound is clear, head up to the hole in the northwest as soon as possible. Banshee should lead the way, moving to the building to the east, while everyone else tackles the incoming hostiles and drones. As long as you keep a consistent pace and don't screw around, the tanks won't be a problem. But if you take too long, they WILL come up into the compound and it won't be pretty. All Banshee needs to do is get inside the building and then enter the secret entrance, so everyone else is just there to distract. This is a good time to use reactivate so you can just finish the mission before they find Banshee. 7.2 - The Passage Ghosts - The mission says that you only have Banshee but that's not exactly true. Be sure to check out Duke's gear as well. Banshee MUST have EMP grenades in order for this mission to work. Also, be sure to bring Duke's heavy launcher and heavy armor. Also, bring Duke's assault rifle instead of his Marksman. You should recognize this level as soon as it starts. Its pretty much the same as the tutorial mission, but that doesn't mean its just as easy. Move both Banshee and Duke as far as they can go and fire whenever they can. Once you get to the two turrets, however, leave Duke behind. He'll have to take care of the enemies behind while Banshee moves on ahead. Ignore the turrets and just get past them with Banshee and open the door. Here's where the real fun begins. If everyone is in good health, I suggest saving at this point. You might have to try this a couple of times before you get it right, especially with Duke. Once all the enemies and drones to the north are grouped together, launch a missile with Wide Impact to take out as much as possible. With Duke, just keep dancing around the enemies, moving from medikit to mediki as necessary and launching missiles at the drones. Banshee's strategy is a bit different. Move up to spot diagonally above the first drone and throw an EMP grenade so that it hits the first three. Don't use a grenade on the same group twice, you need to try to maximize the damage done with the three grenades you're given. When you have to resort to your rifle, get into the same position earlier, one space diagonally away from the drone. This will keep you hidden while still doing maximum damage. If you need to, run back to where Duke is, who probably has already taken care of his group, and grab the ammo refill there. Duke's missiles can help support Banshee while she refills. Once all of the drones and turrets are gone the mission will end. 7.3 - Production Line Ghosts - Bring Duke's heavy launcher, Mint's turret, and Banshee's knife. The rest is up to you, but like normal I recommend heavy armor and weapons. I'd leave Mint's EMP gun behind, he'll be more useful with an assault rifle. Get Banshee up to open the door as soon as possible. Get Duke up there to join her as well. Ignore the guards on the scaffolds above him. Once he gets up there and Banshee has opened the door, have them both wait as close to the blue door between them as possible. Now its everyone else's turn. Move Haze up as far as he can and use Saffron's stim on him so that he can fire on the gunner to the west. Move Aydana up north to take out the sniper and let Mint take care of the guy to the east. Richter will move in and try to finish off the gunner to the west. You'll notice reinforcements coming over to try to take out Duke. Throw a grendade with Aydana or fire on them with Mint. Don't worry too much about it, but any little bit helps. Use Haze to take out the turrets while Richter and Saffron make their way along the scaffolds to the west and head up to claim the command flag and console. As soon as they do so, move everyone up against the door to the north and wait there. Now its time to run. The strategy here is speed. Get Banshee straight over to the console and get that door open as quickly as possible. Duke will follow behind as best as he can, but he'll get stuck doing all the fighting Banshee doesn't have time for. Ignore the reinforcements to the southwest. If you move fast enough they won't be a problem. Once Banshee opens the doors, get ready for a fight. All you have to do to finish the mission is get everyone up to the north and out of the complex. This is easier said than done, but once again, just keep moving and it won't be a problem. Its helpful to lay a turret down here with Mint to slow down the advancing reinforcements from the south. Meanwhile, Ban- shee will run over and fulfill your secondary objective of sabotaging the pro- duction line. As soon as she does so, get her out of there. Use reactivate as necessary. Duke's missiles and any grenades you have will come in handy for blasting away the drones that try to block your advance. Just remember, the longer you stick around and fight, the more you'll have to kill. 7.4 - Megadrone Ghosts - No knife for Banshee, she needs her EMP grenades. EMP gun for Mint too. The name of the level is Megadrone for a reason. Heavy armor, heavy weapons, you know the drill. And as a side note, I highly recommend that you fully up- grade both Duke and Haze before this level or the next. You need to set up two teams and split up for this level. I suggest sending Banshee, Duke and Mint together to the right and Haze, Richter, Aydana and Saffron to the left. The reason for this is because Duke and Mint both regen- erate small amounts of health every turn so they don't need the same constant attention as the others. This first part is pretty standard. Just keep making your way through the complex and taking out anything that gets in your way. Just don't open up a door and spawn the next group of enemies until everyone is ready and waiting by the door. You don't have to worry about coordinating the two groups, they can pretty much just work on their own until you get to the consoles at the top of the map. With the group on the east side, don't open the door at the very top unless you absolutely need the medikit or extra ammo. A few guys will spawn, nothing you can't handle, but its really just a waste of time. With both consoles activated the real fun begins. Now your objective is to defeat the megadrone. Hopefully the drone will start veering off into the hall- ways on the west side. Hit it with everything you've got, don't hold back! Wide Impact, Super Shot, grenades. Anything that will do decent damage. EMP grenades are particularly useful becaues it'll keep it from retaliating on its turn. Once you've brought its health down halfway the megadrone will retreat. This will give your ghosts time to regroup, but the mission is far from over. This is a good opportunity to save, just in case something goes wrong. Reinforcement drones will start pouring in from the sides. Instead of trying to blow your way past, I've found it easier to instead try to group your ghosts together in the middle and take out all the drones one by one. Eventually they'll stop coming. The megadrone will probably try to come down and join the fight, so put it down for good this time. It does massive damage so make sure that you retreat anyone who is getting hurt. Just get them out of there and into the hallways. There are a few medikits lying around out there. As long as you stick together and concentrate on the deadlier of the drones you shouldn't have any trouble. When all the drones are taken care of, move north and take out the last three guys. The mission will end once all your units have exited the compound. 7.5 - Dream's End Ghosts - This mission has more enemy soldiers than drones so feel free to bring Banshee's knife. Its the last time you'll be able to use it. You can pretty much bring whatever you want, its a mixed bag. I still recommend heavy sniper rifle and Mint's EMP gun, as well as his turret instead of drone. Its also a good level to try out Duke's light launcher if you prefer a larger explosion with less damage. Works great on infantry. Go ahead and move Mint up as far north as possible and lay a turret down. Use it to take out the nearest soldier and bring Haze out into the hallway. Move Saff- ron up to Haze and use a stim on him. Move all your ghosts out into the hall- way and fire on whoever is left. Have Haze slowly make his way up the hallway with Banshee while the rest of your ghosts head into the room on the west side. Mint can grab his turret on the way after its done its job. Keep Saffron with Haze so that he can either heal if he gets too close to the snipers, or use stims so that he can kill more. If Banshee gets to the far end of the hall before the others, have her come around and flank the enemy. Grab the command flag and keep moving. You can go in the room in the northwest corner if you'd like. It has some ammo, a medikit and a command flag, so its worth your time. It also has two enemy commandos. To make sure they don't do too much damage, lead with Mint and lay his turret in the middle of the room. Use suppress and follow up with Richter. Have him use suppress as well on the other guy. Banshee can follow them with her knife and that should make the other a sitting duck. Keep Saffron with Haze and using the stims on him as your ghosts continue east. He should have Super Shot every other turn this way, so use it on any gunners. Mint can keep laying turrets down and picking them back up. The keyed door in the middle of the hall just opens up to a drone, so just skip it. The pass you want is in the keyed room at the eastern-most end of the hall. Open it at the beginning of your turn with Aydana. There should be a drone guarding an officer. As long as Banshee is fully upgraded, you can do 12 damage to the officer and finish him off with her knife. Mint's EMP gun and Haze's sniper rifle should be more than enough for the drone. Or you can just throw some grenades. Once the officer goes down, reinforcement drones will start showing up. Quickly get everyone through the door below you to seal the drones out in the hallway. Start winding your way carefully towards the room where Demidov and Strashin are waiting. You'll encounter a large number of blade drones, so be careful about who leads the way. Richter is a good choice because of his high return fire % and high health. Haze's sniper rifle is also very effective. As long as Saffron stays close by you shouldn't have much trouble. As soon as you get to the keyed door where Demidov is, get Mint through to the other side and lay a turret down. Its crucial that you do this BEFORE the four soldiers inside are killed. Finish them all off and soon Mint will run over to the computer. You'll now have to protect him for a few turns while he gets the power back to the elevator. Keep Banshee and Duke up by the turret to protect Mint while the rest of your squad moves south to the end of the hallway. Haze and Saffron's stims should be enough to hold back most of the incoming troops but keep the others nearby in case any get past. All you have to do is survive for a few turns, so don't worry about getting overrun. Mint will finish his thing right before things get really ugly. As soon as he's done, the mission is over, so don't sweat about the retreat. 7.6 - Meltdown Ghosts - Think "exclusively drones" and you get the picture. Not a whole lot of moving around either. Kind of a disappointment seeing as its the only level where you can use all your ghosts fully upgraded. Ok, the idea here is to ignore the drones and get to those buttons as fast as possible. Just make sure that all your ghosts are on the other side of the door first. This'll trap the drone and keep it from getting to you. Every turn a new drone will appear, so don't screw around! Move Mint, Duke and Banshee to the left and Haze, Richter and Saffron to the right. It helps to lay a turret down with Mint. This distracts the drones and lets you slip by unharmed. Worry about healing as soon as you're safe on the other side. Also, move Aydana to the far southeast corner of her area. When the turret appears here, blow it up with a grenade. You should be able to seal off the doors with only one or two drones in each area. Finish them off quickly. Next you're going to want to move as quickly as possible to the two switches. The longer you wait to get there the more drones you have to deal with. If you'd like, take out another turret with Aydana's grenades. This will give her some more breathing room for the next part. As soon as you hit one of the switches, the door to that side will close, blocking off more drones from coming. After you do that, you can take care of the ones that made it through. All that's left to do is finish off Strashin. Apparently Aydana REALLY wants to do this herself, so its probably best to just finish him off with Haze. GO USA!!! You'd think she'd be pissed about this, but instead she just takes credit for it herself. Typical. And THAT is the end of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. Skirmish Maps ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Skirmish Missions! First off, my apologies that it took me so long to finish this section. Some of these missions can be extremely difficult. One in particular nearly had me throwing my 3DS across the room! Once again, these strategies mostly apply to Veteran difficulty. If you find any strategies outlined don't work for Elite, or you discover a better way to do it, please email me and I'll be sure to credit you for the suggestions in my next update, which hopefully won't be quite as long as this first one! Lets get started! -------------------------------Training Missions------------------------------- Training 1 - Sniper Defense One of the main differences you'll notice starting off is that not ALL of your units must survive in order to complete the mission. If one dies, its not over yet. Granted, trying to finish a difficult mission with one less unit can be worse. First off, ignore the incoming enemies and get your snipers across that bridge. Its tempting to try to start picking them off right away, but there are going to be a lot guys coming and you need better cover. Send the sniper closest to the bridge all the way around and near the cliff with the helicopter. The other two can start hanging out just on the other side of the first bridge. When the enemy is in range be sure to take out the same guy with both of your snipers. Your goal is to have the fewest able to attack you as possible. Once all three are in position and firing, you'll notice that the enemy is rec- eiving a large number of reinforcements, one of which being a gunner. Use the lone sniper on the far cliff to start picking away at his health as soon as possible. Also, keep an eye on his range. He can reach a little further than you will probably expect. As the enemy continues to advance on the two snipers by the bridge, have them continually retreating backwards, yet still firing on the closest in range. You don't want to get swarmed, but you don't want to waste a turn not attacking either. Keep this up, using Super Shot whenever you can on anyone who isn't injured yet. Eventually, all three should be in about the same spot on the far cliff by the helicopter. At this point there should only be two or three left for you to kill, and that shouldn't be too big of a problem for you. Especially if you have any Super Shots left over. Training 2 - Medical Emergency First off, get your two Commandos into the building. Start moving your Medic down and over to towards the bridge. There's a path just below where you start. When you have the option to either go north or south on the second turn, head south and across the bridge. Meanwhile, your Commando's should stay inside the building. Once the medic is about to cross the bridge, have the Commando's take out one of the northern enemies from the cover of the building. This will protect the medic enough to get inside the building and begin healing your men. The strategy here is keep your units with more health on the outside edge of the building. Any units that are extremely injured should stay at least two squares inside the building. Be sure to keep them separated to an extent once the mortar gets close enough to take a shot. By that point they should be healed enough by the medic to survive. Just keep anyone in danger of dying outside of the range of any threats, especially the mortar. Training 3 - Go Gunners The key to success with this mission is the Suppress ability. Immediately move the western-most gunner south and suppress the sniper in the building. Move another gunner into the southeastern most corner of the building up north. Suppress the sniper that is in the building with another gunner, and then move the last gunner up into the cover of that building as well. Your goal on the next turn is to suppress the mortar enemy and any other sniper who has a shot on your gunners. As long as they have been suppressed, they can't do any damage to you. So refrain from going for the kill and play it safe. Once the first wave of enemies is taken care of, start to make your way east using the cover of buildings and/or trees. As soon as you get a shot on a sniper, suppress him. This will clear the way for the rest of your gunners to charge up and get into better positions. Continue making your way east and then north, taking out the sniper in the building up there. Use the trees as cover and then, when you have an opportunity, get a gunner inside the building with enough health to survive one shot. This shouldn't be too big of a problem since the sniper won't be able to do too much damage from inside the building. Suppress him until his health is down enough to kill. At this point you'll want to group up and send them towards the southern build- ing from the western side by the river. The tree here will provide excellent cover allowing you to get close enough to suppress their snipers. Use Super Shot if you have it, but otherwise you should have enough opportunity to suppress each of the three in the building, effectively ending the level. Training 4 - Fire in the Hole This mission can be a bit tricky at first, but the solution is really quite simple. Right away have the northwestern most assault begin heading north and around to the cliffs on the west side. His goal is to make it all the way to the structures and walls that line the cliffside. Meanwhile, the other four should strategically attack the five closest enemies with their grenades. This can best be done by placing two in the tree and two behind the burning truck. Lob the grenades from safety and be sure that they can't fire back at you. Four grenades should be plenty to take out this first wave. You should be able to use your grenades and the cover of the trees and the truck to take out the second wave as well without any casualties. Just be sure to keep the two soldiers in the tree on the FAR side of the tree. This will keep them from being able to fired upon while you wait for the enemies to get within range. Once the third wave starts to strike you'll probably begin to run low on grenades. This would be a good time to fall back and get to the ammo packs that are scattered along the cliff's edge. Feel free to leave one or two men behind to slow their advance. You really only need one or two alive at this point so a couple of guys can stay behind and fight to the last grenade. This mission can either go one of two ways, depending on how well you held off that first position. Either you can defeat all of the enemies between the men in the trees and maybe a final grenade or two from the cliff, or you can wait for them to make their way all the way around and up to the spot where the walls are. This is the reason you had one soldier trek up there and wait. From the safety of the walls, one soldier can do devastating damage with his grenades. This is your fail safe in case things go horribly wrong. If you play your cards right, it will be completely unnecessary. Training 5 - Hidden and Dangerous Immediately have each Recon capture the nearest flag. You're going to need all of the command points you can get. The enemy will leave the flags alone as soon as you capture them, leaving you to accumulate all the command points you need. Starting from the northwest corner, lets call this one Recon #1. Moving clock- wise we have Recon #2 and Recon #3 on the far south. Start moving all three units north and through the gate, across the bridge, and to the glowing corners on the far north of the map. On the second turn you'll probably notice that Recon #3 is in a very bad position right now. Use your command points to allow him to move again. On the third turn you'll need to use reactivate again in order to get Recon #2 to safety. Fortunately you'll be able to use this ability once every turn. After they all clear the bridge split them up and collect your knives. This is where the real fun begins. Start attacking the closest enemies with your knives, but make sure that you don't leave anyone within movement range of the advancing troops. This is where Reactivate and Rapid Strike come in handy. I've actually finished this mission with only one Recon alive at this point by taking full advantage of your abilities. With careful planning, the seemingly unstoppable advance will be completely destroyed. Training 6 - Tool Time This mission is pretty straightforward. Move each Engineer towards their flags and either capture the flag or lay down a turret in a good defensive position. You'll notice that each flag is near a hill. The turret should be right on the closest flat spot to each hill, not one square away. Otherwise its line of fire will be all screwed up and they won't be able to fire unless the enemy climbs the hill first. The northeastern Engineer has a great turret spot just three squares south of the flag. For the northwest, place it two squares south and one square west of the flag. And finally, place the south turret one square south and three west of the final flag. With these placements, all you have to do is stay out of range (which means by the medikits) and only pop out when you need to repair one of the turrets. This won't happen often, maybe once per turret, maybe never. That depends on whether or not a gunner comes. Their placement tends to be random, so keep an eye out for them. Heal up with the medikits and wait for 12 commands points so you can call down an airstrike. You should get to use an airstrike twice if you've done everything correctly. Use them only on areas that have enemy gunners approaching. Try to kill anywhere from 2-3 guys with each strike. There really isn't any need to wait for a larger group than that. This mission should end without any trouble at all. Training 7 - Rocket Men This is a short and simple mission of the "shoot a bunch of stuff with rockets and don't die" variety. The first thing you should notice is that not all rockets are created equally. You have two Commandos equipped with the SMLAV3 launcher (meaning shoulder mounted launcher anti-vehicle) and three Commandos with the SMLAP2 (shoulder mounted launcher anti-personnel). This basically boils down to "kill the drones with the SMLAV3 as quickly as possible". In order to maximize your damage first have the two anti-vehicle Commandos attack the group of drones to the north. One of them can attack area right in the middle, hitting all four enemies. The other can hit and hopefully kill two of the drones. The rest of the Commandos should fire and hit the three groups of Assaults. On the second turn, do your best effort to protect the anti-vehicle Commandos by clearing out the stragglers. With a little luck you should only have the sniper drones left to deal with. If you're playing on Elite, by this point the anti-vehicle Commandos are dead and you still have sniper drones to deal with. Make your best effort to take them out with the resources you have left. Keep your guys grouped together so they can return fire on the drones. If they separate, focus on only one of them. This mission can be quite strange. The large range of randomness with the rockets damage will vary the difficulty every time you play it. Meaning, if it doesn't work the first time, try it a second time and it might be incredibly easy. This is just one of those levels that requires a little bit of luck. -------------------------------Battle Missions--------------------------------- Battle 1 - Lightning Fast This is a much easier mission than the last one. Start off with your northern pair of soldiers. Use the sniper and commando to attack and kill the nearest enemy. Keep the sniper up on the cliff and bring your commando as close to the enemy as possible. Don't worry about taking damage, that won't really be a problem on this mission. Do the same thing with your southern pair. Use the sniper first, keeping him in the same spot he started in. Then finish the guy off with your commando who will move in as close as he possibly can. Go ahead and end your first turn here. For turn #2, use your northern sniper to finish off the closest enemy assault. Use your commando to target one of the enemies iniside the building. Obviously you need to either attack area or select one that will allow your blast radius to hit every single guy inside that building. Now use your southern sniper to attack the next assault, then finish him off with your commando. Try to get the commando as close towards that building as possible while still finishing him off. Now spam reactivate with your northern commando, attacking the guys inside the building until you run out of rockets. You should get a Wide Impact at some point, so be sure to use that. Try to keep moving towards the building so that you can get orange square damage. Once he runs out of rockets, start using reactivate on your other commando and finish them off. Save your Wide Impact with this commando to use on the two assaults just north of him. The enemies in the building should be finished off by just the first three rockets, saving the last one and Wide Impact for those two assaults. Go ahead and end your second turn here. If you did everything correctly you should have only two more guys to kill and plenty of command points in order to do it. Ignore your two men in the south west corner and just start using your other sniper and commando. Once again, don't worry about taking damage, just focus on whatever it takes to hurt them the most. Your soldiers have plenty of health to outlive whatever they can do to you. At this point you should be able to finish the mission with command points to spare. Battle 2 - Cave Escape This can be a little tricky, and its much longer than most other missions. For that reason, I recommend saving frequently at the beginning of your turns. Start off by moving your gunner in to capture the flag. Get your medic right up to the locked door and move the engineer in to open the door for the medic. Have the sniper shoot the assault in the corner of the building and the commando use a rocket on the building with the gunner. The recon should move east and fire on the closest target over there. After you watch your opponent take his turn, save the game. Next, have the gunner move down and attack the assault there. Move the engineer to the door lock space and place a turret directly south of his position. Move the medic as far inside the door as possible. Use the commando to fire another rocket, this time hitting both the gunner and the mortar along with anyone else who happens to be in range. Move your sniper as far out of range as possible while firing on the mortar. Move the recon one space west and use a grenade on the advancing assaults. Once again, save at the beginning of your next turn. By this point, you've probably noticed that I'm far more specific than normal. These first turns on this mission are critical. Start moving the gunner, medic and engineer towards the rest of your team while using the turret to slow down the advancing reinforcements. This turret will be able to hold its own for the duration of the map, effectively stopping any units from this area ever getting to your ghosts. Have the recon stay put and finish off the two assaults with another grenade. While being careful of your position, have the commando use another rocket to finish off the mortar and gunner. Keep him far away from the sniper to the east. Use your sniper to fire on the assault while keeping close to the enemy sniper but out of range of the assault. Be sure to save again. At this point you should be able to finish off the assault with your sniper. Then, use your commando and Wide Impact to kill the enemy sniper that is making his way along the balcony. Move your recon over and unlock the door by the balcony. Keep moving the rest of your ghosts east. Now grab the medikit with your commando and capture the flag with your sniper. With your recon, use Rapid Strike from two squares away, inflicting red damage. Finish the gunner off with another attack from this same distance. Be sure to save again. Next move your recon over towards the medikit to the west. Start healing up your gunner and keep everyone moving. Get your gunner up onto the balcony while everyone else makes a break for the door where your recon should be waiting. Feel free to use reactivate on your gunner to make sure that he can make it across in time. Once you get the door open, move your recon down to help cover everyone. All you have to do is get enough distance so that you can move to the extraction point without getting fired on. Once you feel like you have that distance, start moving as fast as you can and don't look back. Use reactivate if you need to, but by this point you shouldn't have any problems. Battle 3 - Shootout This can be another difficult mission. Start by immediately moving all your men as far east as possible. Your goal is to get them situated inside that two story building by the blue car. You want your sniper to be positioned at the far south end in the street. He doesn't really need any cover here because he'll be out of range for the most part. You'll want to keep everyone out of range of the sniper and especially the gunner, even if that means cowering deeper inside the building. As soon as one of their units is out in the open streets attack him with all of your men and finish him off. Your sniper should be extremely valuable at this point. You'll want to especially use him against their gunner or sniper. Those are the two units that will do the most damage. Keep your gunner alive as long as possible. Don't get sloppy with him. It may take a few turns, but I've found this spot to be particularly good. It forces them into the open, allows your sniper to pick them off, and gives you a reasonably decent area of cover. If you fail, learn from your mistakes and give it another shot. This is a particularly difficult mission to give a step-by- step for so all I can say is keep at it and experiment with your placements. Battle 4 - Tank Trouble Start off with your engineers. Have one engineer move east and capture the flag there. After capturing the flag, move him down a little ways south and lay down a turret. This should be all you need on this side of the map. Have the other engineer move as far west as possible, lay down a turret, and use suppress on the gunner there. Then move the recon in and attack the gunner. Have a commando attack the gunner with a rocket. Start moving your gunner down south towards the command flag there. On your next turn, finish the gunner off with your recon and engineer. Have the turret suppress the enemy sniper and your gunner suppress the commando capturing the flag. Use your sniper to start damaging the other assault near that flag and have your commandos start moving in and up towards the flag on the far northwest corner of the map. Just keep using suppress on the sniper with your turret. Get your recon over to the northwest corner flag as soon as possible and capture it. Don't worry about being spotted, just get that flag before they do. Despite your best efforts to secure the flags, chances are pretty high that they will get 8 command points and call in reinforcements, which include an extremely tough tank. Don't panic, just don't let them get another 8 after that. You should be saving up all your command points for airstrikes and using them to take out the tank that appears. Don't bother trying to attack it with any of your ghosts. You'll get killed before you know happens. Use your recon to run down south and secure the last flag. This shouldn't be too difficult. Use your sniper and your gunner to cover the recon and attack anyone who gets near the flag. Go ahead and use up any rockets you have left. This part should be extremely easy. All you have to do now is save up those command points and airstrike the tank if one appeared. Battle 5 - Zombie Survival This is a pretty easy mission. Its also a lot of fun. There isn't really any major strategy. The zombies are pretty basic enemies. They can move four spaces and can only attack adjacently, so as long as you keep your distance you shouldn't have any trouble. To start off, move your men down onto the far side of the bridge. Group them up into a square. Some of them are going to get hit, so that part is unavoid- right now. Just focus all four on one zombie and it should go down. When one guy gets hit, move him into the back row and just keep shooting. Eventually you'll be informed that you can upgrade a unit. Grab one of your injured soldiers and move him up to one of the key spaces. I recommend grabbing the engineer for your first upgrade. The turret is great against zombies, it can suppress, and doesn't take much damage. Place the turret on the bottom of the bridge and use suppress to stop the zombies from advancing. Soon you'll get the option of uprgading another unit, so send up another wounded soldier to be upgraded. They are all good choices to make except for the recon. Its not really very useful compared to the others. I like to use the gunner, but the commando's rockets will come in handy at the end. The sniper tends to rack up a lot of kills and can use Super Shot which is also useful, but it can't support fire. The choice is yours. Eventually you'll notice a red zombie appear. Keep a close eye on this one. It can move incredibly far and does more damage than the other zombies. Suppress is probably a good idea until he's damaged enough to finish off. Just don't let him attack your men. This is the final wave so if you can survive this one you're in the clear. Battle 6 - Convoy Ambush This is one of my favorite missions. You get some good firefights in the beginning, provides a nice little challenge, and you get to use anti-tanks. First send the assaults in your western group up and into the building to the west of the road. Bring the sniper up and into the corner there by the fences. Have the eastern group do the same with the gunner coming up as far north as he'll go. Start positioning your men so that they can support each other and fire from cover of the buildings. This part will take a few turns so be patient. There are plenty of medikits lying around so make use of them. Try not to let anyone die at this part. The more guys you have the easier the last part will be. Keep fighting your way north towards the road at the top of the map. You should be able to make use of the medikits and keep everyone alive the whole mission. When you get to the middle of the map, join the two groups together. Make sure that your gunner and sniper survive. Reinforcements will come from the south for you, a medic and three anti-tanks. Have them join with your group as soon as possible. Use the medic to heal up and make your way to the far northwest corner of the map. This is where the tanks are going to start coming in. Get everyone healed up and positioned around this spot. You'll want your assaults in the little vineyard on the hill, the sniper down by the two-story building, your gunner inside the little shack, and the anti-tanks spread out in the road. As soon as a tank appears have all your men attack the enemy assaults that are guarding it. Use the anti-tanks to destroy the tank, obviously. When you run out of ammo for your RPG's, run down and grab an extra pack by the buildings. At this point in the mission you should outnumber the enemy to such an extent that this will be a piece of cake. Battle 7 - Zombie Apocalypse The hardest part of this mission is getting the civilians to safety so they can be upgraded. Immediately have all three move as far as they can towards the bridges. The eastern and southern civilians should head for the eastern bridge while the western civilian takes a round-a-bout path, eventually making it to the same bridge, while avoiding the zombies. Move one commando and the medic towards the western bridge and the other commando to cover the eastern bridge. The key to zombie missions is counting out the six spaces required to stay safe. This is especially important when trying to get the third civilian to safety. Just do what it takes to keep him six squares away from any zombie and you'll eventually be able to get sneak him across one of the bridges. I've found it to be easiest to have him go the long way around the southern part of the map and get across the eastern bridge. To be perfectly honest, all of that is a little unnecessary. You will be perf- ectly fine with only two civilians surviving. The priority for upgrades should be the gunner first, sniper second, and mortar third. The mortar is actually pretty useless, so if you don't feel like going through the trouble you can use the third civilian as zombie food. Maintain a safe distance and protect the bridges as long as you can. The gunner's suppress ability comes in handy here, just as it did before in Zombie Survival. Eventually the red Zombie Boss will appear again. By this point its best to group up in the middle on that hill between the bridges. This way you have more fire power and regardless of which side the Boss appears on you can suppress him with your gunner. This mission shouldn't be too much trouble as long as you keep track of your distance from the zombies. Battle 8 - Mega Munch There's really not a whole lot of strategy to this mission. By about the second turn you'll pretty much be surrounded anyway. All I can do is give you a few pointers and hopefully you won't have any trouble with it. For one, avoid the tanks whenever possible. Don't bother attacking them. Just stay out of their way and kill off the drones as quickly as possible. Try to take out the sniper drones and rocket drones first. The gunner drones won't be too much of a problem because you can return fire on them, taking them out much faster than the others. Whenever you see a group of three or more within range, use your rockets. You come equipped with ten, which should be more than enough, so make liberal use of them. If you do use your machine gun be sure to get in as close as possible. Maximize the damage you do, because speed is crucial. As long as you keep away from the tanks long enough, the ten drones should be destroyed with plenty of health to spare. Battle 9 - Deadly Game This is a fun little mission that will test your basic combat skills that you've acquired throughout the game. You also have a fair amount leeway with your ghosts. Its ok if one, two or even three ghosts die. As long as your Recon stays alive, you'll be just fine. There will be two waves of enemies on this map, so keep that in mind. First, get your sniper positioned up along the wall with the medic right behind him. Have your recon run out and greet the first wave head on. Get your commando pressed up against the western wall on your side of the middle. This will allow him to fire rockets at the enemy over the wall. Have your gunner stay back a bit, pulling him out just far enough to cover anyone in case one of their units gets bold and comes closer. From this position you have three things to worry about. First, their two snipers can do massive damage to one unit in one turn. Keep an eye on their range and try to heal up anyone who gets hurt. Take at least one of them down as quickly as possible. Second is their commando. He'll be firing rockets at you from across the wall just like you are. As long as he only hits your commando, you should be fine. Third, if your recon gets surrounded and killed its pretty much game over. Stay safe and only come in when you think you have the advantage. Be extremely cautious with all of your men. They tend to try to target your sniper right off the bat so keep the medic nearby and try to keep the sniper out of range. You don't really need him firing on them right now. The real damage will be coming from your commando and recon. If they start to get too close your gunner can join up as well. Keep him directly behind one of the small walls for extra cover. The second wave should arrive just as the first wave is taken care of. Send your recon up to greet the new arrivals. Hopefully you have Rapid Strike available. Have everyone else wait in the middle, bringing the enemy down to you instead of marching up to them. Combining your sniper with the medic's stim packs can really do significant damage to their units. Your commando will probably be low on ammo, so have him run to your starting point and pick some up. The second wave is much easier because they tend to split up on their way down. As long as you keep out of range of their snipers your recon can take care of the entire wave. Battle 10 - Reactor Race This mission is extremely easy for being the final Battle mission. Your goal is to protect the civilians so that four of them reach the launch panel at the top of the map before four of their engineers. This can be accomplished with one extremely cheap move on your part. Immediately move your engineer down to where the civilians and engineers are spawning. Have him lay a turret down just out of range of the enemies light turret but where it can still attack the engineers that spawn there. What you're going to do is continually suppress the engineers with the turret and then attack them with your own engineer. Meanwhile, have your medic power up your sniper and then use him to attack their sniper. Keep your gunner down and heal him as he suppresses their gunner. You'll be in this position for a while. They'll attack your gunner, you heal him with the medic, and your sniper slowly takes care of them. If your gunner is getting too beat up, get him out of range and heal him up. As soon as your sniper gets Super Shot, have him run over and use it help out your engineer. He should be having some trouble with a sniper. Once the first wave is taken care of you should be in an extremely good position. There really is no rush. Your turret and engineer can keep them from getting a single engineer up to the panel. Meanwhile, the other three can start clearing a path up for the civilians. Be sure that whenever you don't need to use your medic to heal someone you power up either your sniper or gunner. By keeping your engineer down below you lose a lot of effectiveness against their turrets. The best way to compensate for that is with Super Shot. The only thing you'll need to watch out for is a commando who likes to use rockets against your weakened units. Play it safe and slow and keep everyone alive. Like I said, there really isn't any rush. Even if they kill a few civilians, all it will do is delay the inevitable. Once you've taken care of all the turrets and enemies along the way, all you have to do is wait for four scientist to make it to the panel and the mission is over. -----------------------------Challenge Missions-------------------------------- Challenge 1 - Lighthouse Defense This was the first mission of the game that nearly made me throw my 3DS across the room! If you're trying on Elite, good luck! It can be extremely frustrating so I suggest saving after every two or three turns if you feel like you've done well. If you get unlucky with the damage that you deal on a particular turn just load your previous save file. Be prepared for some real frustration! Its possible to complete this mission on an earlier difficulty by leaving the turrets on the edge of the hill. This would logically be a good spot for them. A better strategy is to retreat to the lighthouse and place the turrets along the edges of the building. You'll start the mission off with one engineer and a second when you move him into the lighthouse. Immediately place those two along the edge of the lighthouse. By the 8th turn you'll recieve a third engineer. Try to get him back inside to safety as quickly as possible. Part of the problem with this map is that the enemies just keep on coming. At first there seems to be no end in sight. Just keep repairing those turrets as much as you possibly can and keep at least one of the engineers safe. You'll notice that whenever possible they will ignore your turrets and run straight for your engineers. Just try to sit tight and fight through the waves. I realize that I'm being a little vague, but really this map is all about your turret placement. Once they're laid down it just comes down to knowing when to attack, suppress or wait. You'll more than likely fail mulitple times, so just remember to save at the beginning of your turns so you don't have to go through it all over and over again. Completing this mission on Elite is a true accomplishment. Good luck! Challenge 2 - The Great Drone Robbery This mission is kind of a joke. Compared to the other two Challenge Missions its incredibly easy. In fact, its probably the easiest of all the skirmish missions. Immediately move your sniper into the southern tree. Next, move as far southeast as possible. Wait in this spot for another turn. Now start moving towards the glowing spot on the train. Keep just barely out of range of any soldiers. Get to the train car as fast as you can, resisting the urge to fire on anyone. As soon as you do you'll receive quite possibly the most imbalanced set of reinforcements of the entire game. No offense, but if you still need help after getting two gunner drones, a sniper drone and a launcher drone, you should probably find a new game to play. All you have to do at this point is keep your original sniper alive. Have fun! Challenge 3 - Turret Defense Its a toss-up between this and Lighthouse Defense for most challenging mission of the game. Most people seem to find Lighthouse Defense to be more difficult, but I was certainly stuck on this mission for a longer period of time. Once again, be prepared for 3DS throwing rage! The first wave shouldn't be a problem at all. First move as far left as poss- ible. On your second turn, lay the turret down below you and along the cliff edge. Use the turret to take down any attackers, and if necessary, any trucks that make it through the canyon. Get the engineer down into the canyon as soon as possible and fire on the trucks that come by. After three or four trucks, the first wave will be over and you have the choice of a new unit. Your choice is between a gunner and a sniper. I recommend the gunner because of his return fire and superior health. You have unlimited turns between waves, so make sure that you reposition and heal your turret. I suggest getting the turret to a position closer to where the enemy spawns, preferably at the top of the hill to the west of the tree. Once the turret is in place and you've selected the gunner with your engineer, start moving the engineer down into the canyon. Keep the gunner on the ramp above to lure the enemies towards him and not your engineer. This should keep him free to EMP fire on all the trucks that are moving past. As soon as two trucks are in range use Rapid Strike on them. As long as you use it to fire on two trucks each turn, don't hesitate to activate it. If you use it at the beginning of a wave, you have the chance to use Rapid Strike twice. If any trucks make it past the engineer, move him to the east to cut them off. You can also use your gunner at the north bend of the canyon to fire down on the trucks and do a little damage. When the enemy sniper appears, just avoid him and let him fire on the turret. Keep everyone out of range until he is the last unit left. Hopefully your gunner will have enough health to charge the sniper. Use suppress as soon as you're able to effectively disable the lone sniper and take him down. Speed is key in the third wave. If all enemies on the screen all killed by the end of your turn, the wave will end. Otherwise, for the third and fourth waves, the enemies will appear to be endless and frustratingly difficult. I highly recommend getting the recon for this new wave. The recon has a very effective knife, allowing you to deal 30 damage per turn. That combined with Rapid Strike can be very effective for taking down difficult targets. Converge on the newly spawned enemies and take them all down as quickly as possible. Save before this new wave and restart if you suffer any casualties. Be sure to heal up and refill ammo before starting the final wave. Position the recon at the far west of the map along the ridge the enemy sniper was in the second wave. Otherwise have everyone near the turret when you start. I recommend forgoing the medic and just sticking with a unit that can quickly eliminate the next wave. It is crucial that you do so quickly and efficiently. If you do so, you'll notice that this level can actually be quite easy. Trust me, it took me a while to learn this secret. If the enemies are allowed to continue spawning you will quickly be completely overwhelmed by some very annoying and very powerful rockets. And that's not even covering the mass amounts of trucks. So in short, you essentially cheated your way out of an impossibly difficult level. Congratulations! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. Multiplayer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- coming soon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. Legal Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm assuming this FAQ is reaching a small audience, but the standard info stays the same. This was written completely by me, and as such, requires my permission to post on any website. It may not be sold or posted without my knowledge. Feel free to print a copy for personal use only. If you would like this guide to be posted on your site, please email me at - crzydiamond65@gmail.com If you send me any emails, please include (GR:SW FAQ) in all-caps in the subject line. If this guide helped you in any way, send me an email and let me know. It'll make me feel better for spending so much time on it. Not that I mind, because this game is so much fun! Good Luck!