___________________________________________ * * * R.U.S.E. * * Walkthrough/Strategy * * Version: 0.4.6 * * Last revised: 03/01/13 * * by: roar888 * *___________________________________________* =========================== Table of Contents [TOCT] =========================== I. Opening Notes........................[OPNN] 1. Revision History.....................[RVSN] 2. Introduction.........................[INTR] - Complete 3. Walkthrough..........................[WKTR] - In progress 3.1 Prologue...........................[PRLG] 3.2 Taking Command!....................[TKCM] 3.3 Kasserine Pass.....................[KNPS] 3.4 The Wild Bunch.....................[TWBN] 3.5 Digging Out the Fox................[DOTF] 3.6 From Bait to Prey..................[FBTP] 3.7 Hide and Seek......................[HASK] 3.8 Tangling With Barbara..............[TWBB] 3.9 Battle of Monte Cassino............[BOMC] 3.10 Utah Beach........................[UTBC] 3.11 The Hedgerow War..................[THRW] 4. The Ruses............................[RUSE] - Complete 5. Nations..............................[NTNS] - Coming soon! 5.1 Germany............................[GMNY] 5.2 Italy..............................[ITLY] 5.3 United States......................[UNST] 5.4 France.............................[FRNC] 5.5 United Kingdom.....................[UNKD] 5.6 Soviet Union.......................[USSR] 6. Battles..............................[SKMS] - Coming soon! 7. Operations...........................[OPNS] - Coming soon! 8. Contact Information..................[CTIN] 9. Copyright & Thanks...................[CRTY] ========================== I. Opening Notes [OPNN] ========================== Thank you for reading my R.U.S.E. FAQ/Walkthrough. I appreciate suggestions and all other constructive input. Also, if you think it's helpful, (on GameFAQs) please click the Recommend button at the top of the page! All recommendations and strategies detailed in this guide are geared toward the various singleplayer modes, though many may work (sometimes even better) in the multiplayer as well. This guide is currently authorized for hosting on GameFAQs, Neoseeker, Cheat Code Central, and Super Cheats only. If you are reading this on any other site, it is in violation of copyright and may be outdated, and I ask that you please notify me of such an occurrence. Thanks! ============================= 1. Revision History [RVSN] ============================= 0.4.6 - 03/01/13 * Completed walkthrough for The Hedgerow War scenario. 0.4.4 - 02/19/13 * Completed walkthrough for Utah Beach scenario. 0.4.2 - 02/18/13 * Completed walkthrough for Battle of Monte Cassino scenario. * Minor formatting correction to The Ruses section. * Added some additional recommendations to The Ruses section. * Apologies for the long delay and thanks for your patience! College is a busy time for me right now. 0.4.0 - 07/22/12 * Completed walkthrough for Tangling With Barbara scenario. 0.3.8 - 05/02/12 * Completed walkthrough for Hide and Seek scenario. 0.3.6 - 04/30/12 * Completed walkthrough for From Bait to Prey scenario. 0.3.4 - 04/29/12 * Completed walkthrough for Digging Out the Fox scenario. 0.3.2 - 07/27/11 * Completed walkthrough for The Wild Bunch scenario. 0.3.0 - 07/21/11 * Corrected Contact Information entry in Table of Contents. * Reworked introduction for The Ruses section. * Updated copyright information. * Minor clarifications to The Ruses section. * Began Walkthrough section, completing Prologue, Taking Command!, and Kasserine Pass. 0.2.5 - 07/17/11 * First published version! * Set up the basic layout of the guide. * Completed the Opening Notes section. * Completed the Introduction section. * Completed the Contact Information section. * Completed the Copyright & Thanks section. * Completed The Ruses section. ========================= 2. Introduction [INTR] ========================= R.U.S.E. is a real-time strategy game set in the World War II time period. It differs from other RTS games in a couple of ways. First, fog of war is handled differently. By default, you can see all of your opponents structures and units, though the units are represented by a dot, which denotes whether it is a heavy or light unit, but not its actual unit type. Line of sight on a unit will reveal the specific type of unit. Also, you can hide your units in a forest or town and they will actually vanish from the map if your opponents don't have line of sight. Another unique aspect of R.U.S.E. is the ruses themselves. I will discuss them in a later section, but suffice it to say they can be game-changers. Also, the various strengths and weaknesses of units in R.U.S.E. are much more important than in some other RTS games. For example, (and you may have already learned this the hard way) a couple of anti-tank guns concealed in a forest can literally wipe out an entire line of medium tanks without breaking a sweat. You actually will need units of every type to combat what your enemies will throw at you. Last, the units in R.U.S.E. don't run around the map as quickly as in other games. Nor are the resources as plentiful. You'll need a well-formed plan of attack to emerge victorious. ======================== 3. Walkthrough [WKTR] ======================== The R.U.S.E campaign follows the story of American commander Joseph Sheridan throughout his tour of North Africa and Europe. It is a satisfyingly long campaign; you really would get your money's worth even if the game simply included the campaign and the skirmish mode called Battles. In addition to the aforementioned Campaign and Battle modes, you also get the typical Multiplayer mode along with a game mode called Operations, which is essentially the RTS version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops. These other game modes are covered later. While I will describe the strategy and tactics needed to complete the missions, I don't believe in spoiling the story for others and therefore will reference it as little as possible unless it affects the dynamic of the missions itself. ---------------------- 3.1 Prologue [PRLG] ---------------------- This is understandably an incredibly easy mission, so I won't waste much time on it. To teach you the dynamics of combat, you are given control of a couple of tanks, Super Pershings. Just drive them up to the specified points, letting them destroy the enemy units along the way. They will have no trouble doing so, as they outmatch every other unit on the field in this mission. When you get to the final rally point, the mission will end. ----------------------------- 3.2 Taking Command! [TKCM] ----------------------------- You'll start this mission with a few infantry units, with orders to head up the road to rally with some anti-tank guns (AT guns from here on). There are a couple scattered enemies to take care of along the way, but nothing your units can't easily defeat. Another few enemy infantry occupy the town ahead, but they split up before you get there, allowing you to easily handle them piece- meal. Once you rally with the AT guns, moving on to the objective is simply a leapfrogging maneuver. As you forge ahead, move your AT guns to the front when faced with tanks and your infantry to combat enemy infantry. With this tactic you'll easily make it to the final objective before the enemy catches up with you. ---------------------------- 3.3 Kasserine Pass [KNPS] ---------------------------- You start with some AT guns and infantry. Move the AT guns that are farther from the river closer together so they both have line of sight on the two roads nearest them, and the ones closer to the river so that they both have line of sight on the bridge and the road that runs along the river. Keep your infantry inside the city behind the AT guns unless you're faced with an infantry assault. These positions allow your AT guns to shred enemy tank columns regardless of which direction they come from. You'll be introduced to the Decryption ruse, which allows you to see enemy units' orders in the chosen sector. You might as well use it as you get the opportunities, since there's nothing to save it for. Your allied support units across the river will hold off the enemies for quite a while, so they're not a threat for the early stages of the mission. At about halfway through you'll be reinforced with some paratroopers, but you shouldn't even need them, since the enemy attack waves are very light. After you destroy all attacking units, the mission ends successfully. ---------------------------- 3.4 The Wild Bunch [TWBN] ---------------------------- You start with control of a few light tanks, tasked with running straight up the center pass at the enemy. Essentially, just head to the objective point, taking out enemy units as you go. Once you near your objective, you'll encounter some medium tanks. The first lone one you can destroy, but the next two are together: too much for your puny light tanks, so you need to fall back and await medium tank support. It helps to have your light tanks preselected so you can immediately turn them around when you get the order to retreat. Once you rendezvous with your medium tanks, they are turned over to your control, so roll in with your whole force and tear the enemy a new one. There are a few infantry units mixed in with those medium tanks, but they should be easy to clear out. After taking the town where the objective lies, you'll have to hold until your allies can set up a barracks for you. Since the enemy has AT guns, you'll need infantry to get to them. You should be able to split up your forces 50-50 and defend both sides easily enough. If you lost more than a couple tanks, though, you may want to sit in the middle and take on the threats with your full strength as they present themselves. After the barracks is constructed, you automatically get a few infantry, so it's time to go to work. Move out against the AT gun battery, making sure to cover your infantry with tanks, while ensuring the tanks stay out of range of the AT guns. The enemy will counterattack in an attempt to prevent the infantry from reaching their goal, so stay wary. Once you have destroyed all the AT guns, the mission ends in success. --------------------------------- 3.5 Digging Out the Fox [DOTF] --------------------------------- You start this mission with several infantry units and few light tanks, medium tanks, and anti-tank guns. Your first objective is to take out the enemy HQ, though there are several points you'll want to handle along the way. First, use the Spy Ruse to reveal the anti-tank guns that are dead ahead of you. Hit them with your infantry, since the couple of infantry units they have covering them won't put up much of a fight. Move your other units up parallel to your infantry to provide cover against a few advancing tank units. Stagger your advance, allowing your AT guns to take out enemy tanks, while using your tanks to take on infantry and your infantry to hit enemy AT guns. Use your tanks to destroy the enemy armor base, while sending your AT guns west to deal with the tanks lying in wait there. Your infantry can then sweep up the remaining AT gun hiding behind them. Move west along the lake, repeating this strategy as necessary, until your tanks are in range to destroy the enemy HQ. Oh yeah, the HQ is a decoy. So once you destroy it, you'll have to hold off an enemy assault against the city you're trapped in. It's largely a tank assault, so you'll want to maximize the effectiveness of your AT guns. Two on each end of the city should be enough to hold off the tanks. Station some tanks on each side as well, to deal with any accompanying infantry. After you hold the city for the allotted amount of time, you'll get some reinforcements of tanks, AT guns, and infantry. Use these to accomplish your next objective, which is to aid the allied force on your left flank by destroying some AT guns there. The infantry reinforcements you receive should easily be enough to defeat them. Next, your advisor will panic over the appearance of a Tiger tank, which is a heavy tank. Use your AT guns to make short work of it, making sure to keep them covered with your remaining tanks and infantry. Your final objective is to score 1000 points. Your best bet here is to just sit tight while your units handle any enemies that come close. Once you reach the 1000 point threshold, the mission ends in success. ------------------------------- 3.6 From Bait to Prey [FBTP] ------------------------------- ** For directional purposes, it seems that "north" is diagonally forward and left from your initial viewing angle. I'll be using the directional cues used by the game. For example, east is diagonally forward and to the right from your initial viewing angle. You may want to realign your view so these directions are easier to understand. ** The first few objectives in this mission are very scripted, outlining exactly how many buildings and units to deploy and where to deploy them. This is described in the following paragraph. Go ahead and skip to the third paragraph if you so desire, since it's really kind of unnecessary. You start with just an HQ, with the directive to set up a supply depot dead ahead of your position. Do that, and then follow the subsequent order to build a Barracks nearby. Move your recon units to the designated location to reveal some troops hiding in the forest east of your position. You'll be told to deploy some infantry to handle the situation, so go ahead and deploy 4 units to take them out. You'll be advised to use a Ruse to unveil the enemy unit types and/or their orders, though both of these things are fairly obvious through the use of recon units and common sense. Once the easy part is over, things start to get interesting quickly. You'll be expected to take on several hidden units in the forests around your HQ, so use your recon units to reveal them to eliminate the possibility of an enemy surprise attack. Next, you'll have to take the city to the north, again, using only infantry. There will be enemy infantry occupying the town, so you can recon ahead, or overwhelm them with numbers, as there are only two. After taking the town, have your infantry occupy the town square to set up an ambush for the approaching enemy armored units. While this is happening, you'll want to deploy infantry to the forests all around your HQ, as you will shortly begin to see attacks from all sides. If you deploy them correctly, they will be able to lay ambushes against any approaching enemy units. After repelling the Italian offensive, a large force of Panzers will move in on your left flank, or rather, what seems to be Panzers. Don't panic just yet: they turn out just to be decoys. The real attack is coming on your right flank in the form of an Italian armor and infantry offensive. It shouldn't be too difficult to fend off, since they hit you in twos and threes rather than all at once. After the attack on the right flank begins, the Italian forces will also resume their assault on the town, so be prepared with another ambush there. They will try to mix things up as well, going around the town rather than through it, though any infantry you had in place to fend off the fake panzer attack should be enough to handle them. Once you destroy all of the attacking forces and clean up any stragglers, the mission will end in success. --------------------------- 3.7 Hide and Seek [HASK] --------------------------- You'll start with a few infantry units and a recon unit with the objective to capture the supply depot being guarded by a couple Italian light tanks. Their line of sight doesn't extend to the road that runs right next to the depot, so just have a few infantry units run along the road using the Radio Silence Ruse, sparing one to capture it, and send the others a little farther to hide in the forest on the other side. After you capture the supply depot, the enemy will counterattack from all sides. Your infantry hidden in the forests should be able to handle them fairly easily with the element of surprise. Following the initial wave of attacks, you'll be given two Lee medium tanks. They'll help deal with some of the more overwhelming infantry and light tank assaults. If you can help it, avoid using them to repel the medium tanks you'll see a little later in the battle, since Lees are really bottom-of-the-barrel medium tanks. Use infantry ambushes to take on any medium tanks you face. At this point, the game hands the reins over to you to best decide how to capture the HQ. It's hard to lose this mission, since there's no time limit, and the AI doesn't attack very often or in very large numbers, but if done wrong, it can take a long time. The most effective MO is to use Radio Silence and forest ambushes to leapfrog your infantry units forward to within striking distance. Patience is the key here, as this strategy involves the efficient use of recon units, and a lot of sneaking around the edges of the map. Be careful around the advanced medium tanks you'll find patrolling around the cluster of towns midway between your HQ and the objective. The only two effective means of dealing with them is a large-scale surprise attack, or simply skating around them. Your call there. Once you're within range, you'll face one last major obstacle: a flamethrower tank. It is deadly against infantry in a head to head fight, but luckily it sits right in front of the HQ, so you can run a perfectly planned pincer move with your infantry, one side from the town on its left rear flank, and the other from the forest directly in front of it. There are also a couple enemy infantry in the forest behind the HQ, but if you have at least a few infantry left after surviving the flamethrower tank, they should handle it. And remember, only one needs to make it to capture the objective. Get it, and the mission ends in success. ----------------------------------- 3.8 Tangling With Barbara [TWBB] ----------------------------------- You start with infantry positioned in a few of the forests and towns surrounding your HQ, right between several groups of enemy tanks. Your first objective provides the counter to these with the goal of producing some tank destroyers to fend them off. The initial attacks are piecemeal, and primarily from the right side (using your initial viewing angle). After a couple futile attacks, you'll start to see attacks from both sides, though still in easily manageable numbers. As you'll be reminded several times throughout this mission, Recon units greatly extend the range of your tank destroyers, and I highly recommend using them. It'll definitely help prolong the life of the only two medium tanks you'll get throughout this whole mission. These medium tanks are valuable, since they're the best defense against the infantry units that will start hitting you from the front after the first tank assaults. After you fend off these initial attacks, you'll be tasked with crossing either or both of the two bridges spanning the river ahead from your HQ. Take your time with this one, since there's no rush, and you'll face a variety of unit types along the way. Capturing the three enemy bases (an armor base, a barracks, and an anti-tank base) is also a much better plan of action than destroying them, since they'll allow you to construct units closer to the front, and you'll get access to light tanks and AT guns. Keep this in the back of your mind, as the AT guns in particular make the last part of this mission MUCH easier. The push forward here is really an excercise in leapfrogging, push forward with the tank destroyers when facing enemy armor, infantry when facing AT units, and tanks when you see infantry ahead. Recon units make this strategy doubly effective as well. After you clear your side of the river, take a moment to regroup for the final push. You can proceed a couple of ways here. Leapfrogging, of course, is one. My method (IMO) added a little more fun to it, though. Send the bulk of your force across the rightmost bridge and have it hang back there, while sending a column of light tanks across the left bridge, with some AT guns and infantry trailing a bit behind. Hiding the AT guns and infantry in the forest nearby, have your light tanks engage the waiting enemy defenses, then quickly have them retreat back toward the forest where your AT guns and infantry are lying in wait. When your ambush begins to tear the enemy units to shreds, send your main force up the right gap in the forests, mopping up any remaining enemies and destroying their HQ. This strategy also has the secondary advantage of avoiding the worst of the enemy artillery barrage from the towns on the left side of their HQ. Once the enemy HQ is either captured or destroyed, the mission will end in success. ------------------------------------- 3.9 Battle of Monte Cassino [BOMC] ------------------------------------- This scenario starts off giving you control only of one airfield, with the ability to build B25s and nothing else. Your first objective is to take out the artillery pounding your base. Use all your available funds to construct four new bombers, to bring your total to five. Get them all in the air as quickly as possible. Continue to do this throughout the game, since they are useless on the ground, and it will allow you to respond more quickly to impending threats. It will only take one bomber to eliminate the single enemy artillery unit, so send two of your other bombers to destroy the group of three enemy light units camping out near your base. Once the enemy artillery unit is destroyed, you'll be instructed to destroy the artillery base. Take the remaining two airborne bombers and hit that building to complete the objective. Remember to reassign your other bombers to nearby airborne positions immediately after they are rearmed and refueled so they aren't caught on the ground by artillery or other ground units. Upon completing this objective, you'll be given full command of the buildings at your base. The first order of business is to destroy the enemy AA tanks directly ahead of you. The best solution here is a couple of Wolverines. While you wait for those to be constructed and get in range, take the opportunity to construct supply depots at the empty locations and use your bombers to take out the anti-tank base and the couple units off to the left of the AA tanks. Next you'll be asked to help out American units on your left flank. Take out the fortified position over there as well as the machine gun nests to the far right for the French, using your bombers for both, and you'll clear that objective. While you're waiting for your bombers to get there and back, start construction on an armor base and get a few medium tanks up to the front with your Wolverines. These will help out with your next objective. After clearing the way for the French and Americans, you'll get your main mission: to destroy the enemy HQ. Don't jump the gun here; you'll need to build a few more bombers to get past the AA guns and fighters. You're not able to build AA units or fighters yourself, so you'll need to rely on Radio Silence to slip by the fighters and your ground units to eliminate whatever AA guns you're able to get to. Use your tanks to destroy the enemy bases directly ahead, leading up to the airfield. Slow your advance, since there will be AT guns hidden in the forest. Use your bombers, under the cover of Radio Silence, to destroy these. You'll also get another couple objectives, to clear the way for the British, and to prevent your allies from losing too many units. The British objective is actually very useful, because once loose on the enemy's left flank, they will help you by destroying some of the AA guns back there by the HQ. Keep advancing with your tanks and Wolverines to eliminate enemies on the ground, both for the sake of protecting your allies units, and to destroy as many AA guns as possible. Once you're in the enemy's backfield, the quickest way to victory is an all-out assault with all your bombers, combining Blitz and Radio Silence. It takes 10 hits to destroy the HQ, so you may have to conduct more than one bombing run, particularly if you take heavy losses. Succeed in breaking through and destroying the HQ, and it's mission success. ------------------------- 3.10 Utah Beach [UTBC] ------------------------- ** Note: The camera angle shifts directions even more than usual in this scenario, so to make things simpler, all my directional instructions will be from the perspective looking from the initial beach head. North is directly forward, away from the beach (yes, I know this is historically inaccurate, but it makes things simpler). You'll start with a wide front line all along the beach and only infantry units. Your first goal is to take out the two 88mm AA/AT guns. Split your forces to go wide to both the right and left around the machine gun nest, each half taking one of the guns. Use the swamps to your advantage to hide and execute surprise attacks against the enemy infantry. Once you've eliminated the guns, allied air units will clean up the rest of the enemy infantry along the beach and take out the machine gun. After a short briefing, you'll get an HQ and the ability to fortify your position against counterattacks. You'll want one or two machine gun nests to both the east and west of your HQ, as the enemy will launch infantry attacks from the town to the west and the road to the east. After you fend off those attacks, set up at least one anti tank bunker directly behind each machine gun emplacement to defend against the armored assault coming next. Having beat back several of these attacks, you'll be notified that you should link up with the paratroops that have dropped behind the enemy lines in the towns off the beach. Relieve the 82nd (the ones directly ahead) at this point. Almost immediately after this, you'll begin to be bombarded with artillery from the area near the 101st. Attack west through the forest with some infantry to eliminate the AT gun hiding there while you wait for a few tanks to be constructed. You'll need them to destroy the machine gun nests and artillery. Once these are destroyed, you can relieve the 101st. Now you'll be facing attacks from almost every direction. Quickly get some AT guns and infantry hidden in the forests around chokepoints to cut off the attacks at their most vulnerable locations. For attacks from across the bridge to the north, hide some infantry in the nearby town, along with some infantry and a couple AT guns in the southwest area of the forest to its east. Some infantry in the eastern area of this forest will also help prevent enemy infantry from ambushing your AT guns from behind. The bridge to the west is much more difficult, as you will be faced not only with light and medium tanks, but heavy tanks as well. Hide at least 7 infantry in the nearby town, backed up by some light tanks just north of the forest road to cover the exit from the town if the enemy breaks through. Some AT guns hidden in the eastern part of that forest covering the exit from that town are also a good idea. Also hide some infantry in the southwest area of the far northwestern swamp to pick off tanks coming across the western bridge. This will be at the far edge of the AT guns' range, but it helps a ton when those Tiger tanks start crossing that bridge. You'll also be facing attacks from the east again, so get some AT guns in the swamps along the beach. Artillery will probably destroy your machine gun nests, so you'll want to have roving tank patrols (Shermans, preferably) to destroy infantry and artillery both from the eastern beach road and, more importantly, the open area to the northeast. If you can hold off all these attacks, the mission will end in success. ------------------------------- 3.11 The Hedgerow War [THRW] ------------------------------- ** Note: This is essentially the same map used in Utah Beach, so it should feel very familiar. My directional instructions will be slightly different, though, as North will be used to mean directly forward from your base to Valognes. You'll start out with a briefing in which you see two groups of armored units moving toward your outer defenses. You're then given control of a recon plane and told to gain line of sight on these units. Scout the ones moving in from the northwest first, as they pose a threat not only to your machine gun nests, but also to the infantry stationed in the town near the river. Once you have LoS on the Stugs, you get control of four fighter-bombers. Send all of them at the Stugs coming from the northwest. By the time they're destroyed and your fighter-bombers are rearmed, the other Stugs should have moved within LoS of your recon plane by themselves. Hit those with the fighter-bombers as well. In the meantime, an enemy fighter will have appeared, and you'll be given three fighters to combat it. Pull your recon plane back a bit so when your fighters give chase they won't get within range of enemy AA. Don't worry, though. If any of your planes are shot down during this period, you'll be given replacements. Once these threats are all dealt with, you'll get full control of the units and buildings in your base. Use this lull to set up a more fortified defensive position: - First, get all your planes back in the air, with your fighter-bombers over the large forest just NW of your base and your fighters covering your recon plane just to their north. - Set up another airfield and two supply depots at the nearest ones to your NW. - Also construct a AT base. - Move the armored recon that's just next to your medium tank up into the forest to the NE. - Build a few medium tanks to complement the one you already have. - Build at least four AT guns and hide them in the forest with your armored recon. - Move the armored recon that's stationed outside the town to the far NW into the forest NE of that town. - Lastly, train at least three infantry and send them to the SE side of the swamp just to the east of your HQ. At some point during the mission, the enemy will send some Stugs along the beach. These infantry will handle that. You'll periodically see some Stugs attempt to cross the river to the NW. The infantry in that town nearby will easily handle them, but make sure to keep an eye on that area, because if they bypass the town, you'll need your fighter- bombers to take care of them instead. Now that you're set up, build a few infantry and send them east with your medium tanks toward that secondary HQ. Let your tanks take out the infantry in the town near the beach, then pull back this whole group, because the enemy will respond by sending a tank group from the armor base out east. Draw them within range of your AT guns and let them have it. Now move in again and capture the secondary HQ. While those units are on the way over there, build another armored recon and a few more AT guns. Send them to the forest just NE of the secondary HQ. Once the armored recon has LoS on the forest, use your tanks and infantry to clear it out. In the meantime, construct a supply depot next to the secondary HQ. Keep your tanks in the area to destroy an enemy counter-attack of mixed units. That will most likely be the enemy's last effort from that area. With that area secure, use your infantry to ambush the AA gun just north of the forest. Stay away from the forest on the west side of the road for now, as the enemy armored recon there will tear up your infantry. Now that you've most likely acquired a decent amount of resources, use the increased capacity of your second airfield to construct two more fighters, two more fighter-bombers, and four bombers. After those are constructed, send three fighter-bombers at the armored recon in the forest and three at the AA gun just to its west. Use your fighters to cover their return trip. Blitz will work well here to minimize casualties. Now send two fighter-bombers to take out the AA gun just to the SW of Valognes, again using your fighters to cover their return. Use your other fighter-bombers to pick off enemy units around the enemy's other secondary HQ to the NW. (I usually take out the Tiger tank and AT gun camping out there.) Use your air units to clear the rest of the NW sector across the river, then capture the secondary HQ, build a supply depot, and use your remaining infantry over there to hide out around it to the north. The enemy should have one AA gun left at this point. Send two fighter-bombers to take it out, and send the rest of your fighters and fighter-bombers to hover over Valognes (they'll pick out their own targets from there). Send all four bombers at the Siegfried Blockhaus. Don't worry about a ground assault; your goal should just be the enemy buildings around Valognes. Replace any air units you lost in the previous attack, get them all back up in the air, and do the same thing again, with two bombers now targeting the enemy airfield and two targeting the armor base. If you've eliminated all enemy tank destroyers with that attack run, you can send your medium tanks up the east flank to take out the barracks on that side of Valognes while your bombers hit the AT base and any other buildings that may be there. Once all the enemy buildings have been destroyed, the mission will end in success. ** More coming soon! ====================== 4. The Ruses [RUSE] ====================== The ruses are obviously the reason for the game's title, but do they really impact the strategy of the game as seen on TV? That entirely depends on how you use them. You can play through the game without using them, but it will be much more difficult. Misusing or not knowing how to use them will garner the same results. On the other hand, if you make efficient and effective use of your ruses; combining a fake tank assault with a well-timed radio silence order, for example, you could entirely outflank your opponent when he thought for sure he had you on the ropes. The aspect of the game that really makes the ruses useful is its take on fog of war. The fact that your opponent can essentially see what you're doing at all times means you need some other way to conceal your intentions and augment your forces' abilities. The list that follows will detail the effects of each ruse as well as my recommendations for their use. Blitz | Description | Increases the movement speed of all units in the sector. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | This works well in combination with Radio Silence when | attempting quick flanking maneuvers. I also suggest using | it at the start of a game to speed up the early building | process, especially of supply depots. In multiplayer, Blitz | could be used with Reverted Intel to sell your opponent on | a deception that a group of infantry is really a large | column of tanks. Fanaticism | Description | Causes your units to fight to the death. No retreats! _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | Works well in skirmishes between units of the same type, | especially if your units are inferior to your enemy's. | Also useful in difficult situations where you're forced | to try to take out enemy units with units that are weak | against that type (tanks vs anti-tank guns). This ruse | can give them that extra push to get through and hit the | opponent with the big guns. Last-ditch defensive efforts | could also see this ruse being useful. Terror | Description | Causes enemy units to retreat with less damage. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | Can be deadly when used in combination with Fanaticism, as | it allows your units to finish off the opponent's more | easily. Keep in mind that this won't necessarily help you | in a tank vs anti-tank situation if your tanks can't make | it in range in the first place. Like Fanaticism, this ruse | works best in even skirmishes between same-type units and | in defensive positions where you are otherwise overmatched. Decoy Base | Description | Continually builds a booby-trapped base in the sector. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | This ruse comes in 4 flavors: Armor, Airfield, Artillery | & AA, and Barracks. In general, this ruse will have the | same effect regardless of which you choose. You may want to | weigh the believability vs induced panic, however. Will | your enemy believe that you'd place an Artillery base one | grid over from his HQ? Will he overreact to the Armor base | you placed near his weaker left flank? In any case, this | ruse is useful for diverting your enemy's attention from | another action you're mounting elsewhere. One added bonus | to remember, though, is that if your opponent tries to | capture the base instead of destroying it, it will blow up | and kill the infantry sent to capture it. Fake Offensive | Description | Constructs free controllable dummy units of chosen type. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | Like the Decoy Base ruse, this one comes in multiple | varieties for maximum effect; however, the type of unit you | select seems to have a greater impact on the type of | reaction you'll provoke. One thing to note is that the | first option will generate units of all types, which will | probably cause your opponent to scramble everything to hold | it back. A fake tank assault is useful for showing where | your opponent has lined up his anti-tank defenses, while a | fake air assault is a good way to cause the opponent's | aircraft to waste ammo and fuel, forcing some to land, thus | thus lightening the air cover you have to deal with if | yours is thinner than ideal. One last use is to mix in fake | units with real ones during an attack to decrease the | chance of enemy units hitting yours. This is particularly | useful when facing more advanced units than yours or when | facing a type disadvantage. Spy | Description | Reveals the specific types of enemy units in the sector. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | First, an important caveat to this ruse is that if your | opponent is using radio silence in the sector, this ruse | does nothing since if you have no line of sight on the area | there appear to be no units to identify. If you do have | line of sight, sending a spy is redundant since you can see | the unit types anyway. In the case where using this ruse | will have an effect, it is particularly useful when your | opponent has a lot of light units, since they are more | varied than heavy units. It is also good for determining | the composition of a large enemy attack force if you think | you're not properly prepared to repel it. This is also a | good foil if the enemy is using the Reverted Intel ruse. Decryption | Description | Continuously reveals the orders of enemy units in the | sector. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | This serves as an early warning system of sorts when you | have an idea of when an attack is coming. It also can serve | to show whether your opponent is reacting to an action as | you had planned. Used in combination with the Spy ruse, you | will literally know exactly which of your enemy's units are | doing what in real-time. Keep in mind that, like Spy, if | your opponent's units are under Radio Silence or hidden in | forested areas, this ruse will treat them as if they didn't | exist. Unlike Spy, however, if you have line of sight on | enemy units, this ruse could still be useful, as it will | show the orders for the units your troops can see. Radio Silence | Description | Will cause any of your units not in line of sight of enemy | units not to appear onscreen in any form. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | As mentioned earlier, used in combination with a fake | offensive elsewhere, this ruse can be used to outflank your | enemy to great effect. Radio Silence can also be used to | prevent enemy artillery from targeting your troops if your | opponent doesn't have line of sight on them anyway. Another | use for Radio Silence is to hide your units from view | before sending them to hide in a forest or town so that | your opponent doesn't know where to look at all. Camouflage Net | Description | Will cause any of your buildings or construction units not | in line of sight of enemy units not to appear onscreen in | any form. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | Like Radio Silence, Camouflage Net is useful for protecting | your investments from artillery fire and bombings, except | applies to buildings and construction units instead. The | other most effective use is to hide a building you have | placed closer to the enemy HQ than would otherwise normally | be recommended. Reverted Intel | Description | Will cause your light units to appear as heavy units to | your opponent and vice versa if they are not in your | enemy's line of sight. _________________|____________________________________________________________ | Recommendations | As mentioned earlier, this ruse could be used with Blitz to | better sell your opponent on the deception. Another fun use | for Reverted Intel is to watch your opponent have his | machine gun nests all set up for an infantry assault while | you roll in with tanks. This could also be used on defense | to cause your enemy to think he's going up against a group | of tanks rather than a battery of anti-tank units. Overall, | much hilarity could ensue from the use of this ruse. ===================== 5. Nations [NTNS] ===================== Coming soon! ==================== 6. Battles [SKMS] ==================== Coming soon! ======================= 7. Operations [OPNS] ======================= Coming soon! ================================ 8. Contact Information [CTIN] ================================ Feel free to email me with comments, questions, suggestions, corrections, etc. I will gladly respond to any game- or FAQ-related emails. Please include something like "R.U.S.E." or "R.U.S.E. question" in the subject line. DO NOT contact me with any kind of advertisements, spam, malicious attachments, etc. Email: rhurley24@gmail.com **I will probably get back to you within 24-48 hours. Check out my other work: Alien Swarm - FAQ/Walkthrough (PC) =============================== 9. Copyright & Thanks [CRTY] =============================== Copyright 2011-2013 Ryan Hurley. This work may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. Use of this guide on any other web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited and a violation of copyright. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission from myself. I reserve the right to require any website hosting this work to remove it. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Websites currently authorized to host this guide: GameFAQs.com, Neoseeker.com, SuperCheats.com, CheatCC.com. GameFAQs - For hosting my work and for that matter for hosting everyone else's work that I have read. Neoseeker, Super Cheats, Cheat Code Central - For hosting my work. Eugen Systems - For developing the game. Ubisoft - For publishing the game. My readers - AKA you. Yeah. Most people don't realize that I appreciate your reading my work just as much as you appreciate the help you (hopefully) get from reading it. I guess I just enjoy doing things to help people. So yeah. Thank you. __ __ __ /'_ `\ /'_ `\ /'_ `\ _ __ ___ __ _ __ /\ \L\ \ /\ \L\ \ /\ \L\ \ /\`'__\ __`\ /'__`\ /\`'__\/_> _ <_\/_> _ <_\/_> _ <_ \ \ \/\ \L\ \\ \L\.\_\ \ \/ /\ \L\ \ /\ \L\ \ /\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \____/ \__/.\_\\ \_\ \ \____/ \ \____/ \ \____/ \/_/\/___/ \/__/\/_/ \/_/ \/___/ \/___/ \/___/