SOCOM US Navy SEALs Tactical Strike FAQ/Walkthrough V. 0.300 Written by: Freddonzolo Sorry about the lack of ASCII art - I couldn't sit here for three hours trying to make this game's logo. Feel free to send me some, though, and you'll get full credit and I'll be very impressed. See the Contact section if you want to take me up on that. UPDATE HISTORY 12/30/07: V. 0.140: FAQ begins. Added Table of Contents, Disclaimer and Story Introduction, Mission 1: Insurgence- Insertion Point A Walkthrough, Training Guide, Contact, and Legal sections. 12/31/07: V. 0.142: Updated Story Missions Section with "Suggested Auxiliary Equipment" element, added Thanks Section, and added an outline of all story missions, so I can just add whatever goes in each field when I go through each mission again. (Also, I beat the game.) 01/03/08: V. 0.147: Updated Missions Section with more detailed Objectives descriptions, added an Instant Action Mission section of the Table of Contents and put it after the Mission Section in the FAQ itself. Also, NotePad was being a royal pain in the ass, so I transferred the FAQ to Word (and spent the next hour reformatting the text). 01/05/08: V. 0.201: Updated Weapons Guide, added Mission 2: Gone To Ground- Insertion Point A Walkthrough. 01/17/08: V. 0.201: Added to list of sites allowed to host this FAQ (I�ll be getting back to walkthrough-writing this weekend hopefully) 01/18/08: V. 0.202: Updated Controls Section. 03/08/08: V. 0.209: Updated Controls Section, added Mission Objectives, Difficulty, and Suggested Auxiliary Equipment for Mission 3: Walkabout, and started Mission 3: Walkabout- Insertion Point A Walkthrough (remains unfinished at this point). 03/09/08: V. 0.210: Completed Mission 3: Walkabout- Insertion Point A Walkthrough and updated the Weapons Guide. TABLE OF CONTENTS- For most Internet browsers, pressing Ctrl+F brings up a Search command. If you're looking for something specific, highlight the text inside the brackets next to it, copy the text (Ctrl+C), then bring up the Search command (Ctrl+F), paste the copied text into the Search field (Ctrl+V), and hit Enter. DISCLAIMER AND STORY INTRODUCTION: [000] CONTROLS: [001] STORY MISSIONS: [002] Mission 1: Insurgence [003] Tutorial Walkthrough [003a] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [003b] Mission 2: Gone to Ground [004] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [004a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [004b] Mission 3: Walkabout [005] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [005a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [005b] Mission 4: House Call [006] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [006a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [006b] Mission 5: Double Cross [007] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [007a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [007b] Mission 6: Devil's Due [008] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [008a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [008b] Mission 7: Nowhere to Hide [009] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [009a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [009b] Mission 8: Diplomacy [010] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [010a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [010b] Mission 9: Eleventh Hour [011] (isn't that fitting?) Insertion Point A Walkthrough [011a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [011b] INSTANT ACTION MISSIONS [012] Insurgence Missions: [013] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [013a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [013b] Gone to Ground Missions: [014] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [014a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [014b] Walkabout Missions: [015] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [015a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [015b] House Call Missions: [016] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [016a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [016b] Double Cross Missions: [017] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [017a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [017b] Devil�s Due Missions: [018] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [018a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [018b] Nowhere to Hide Missions: [019] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [019a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [019b] Diplomacy Missions: [020] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [020a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [020b] Eleventh Hour Missions: [021] Insertion Point A Walkthrough [021a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [021b] TRAINING GUIDE: [022] WEAPONS GUIDE: [023] CONTACT: [024] LEGAL: [025] THANKS: [026] Now, onto the show. DISCLAIMER AND INTRODUCTION . . . [000] DISCLAIMER: Before you start playing this game, you should know that it's NOT like any SOCOM game that's ever been on the PSP (there's a good chance that if you're reading this you've probably played both of the PSP SOCOMs, but I just want to say it anyway. It helps me sleep at night). I can't attest to the nature of the console SOCOMs, because I've never played them, but if they're anything like the two PSP SOCOMs, then Tactical Strike is completely different. Stealth is what will complete a mission for you. If one person sees you and starts shooting, at least two more people will come after you, sometimes more, and sometimes from different directions, including your flanks. Cover and stealth are your best friends. In summation, if you're thinking "Yeah, he says stealth's important, but they say that in all the SOCOM games and even if you don't keep stealth you can still easily beat the mission," then you're in for an extremely rude awakening. STORY INTRODUCTION: (Note: This is for the SEAL version of the story, as I haven't played the game as any of the other countries' Special Forces teams) The precise year is unknown, but some time has definitely passed since the operations in Combined Assault and Fireteam Bravo 2, as is evident by the fact that Wraith, formerly a member of Fireteam Bravo under Commander Sandman, is now a Commander himself. But to the story. The US Ambassador to Panama is enjoying a discussion with the Panamanian Interior Minister in the Minister's office in Panama, about, of all things, insurgency in Panama, when a group of La Mano Los Gente (literally Spanish for "the Hand the People," but it should be La Mano de Los Gente, which would be "the Hand of the People") insurgents busts in and takes them both prisoner. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) immediately activates your SEAL fireteam and you're sent to Panama to get back the Panamanian Interior Minister and our own Ambassador. CONTROLS . . . [001] While the in-game Options Menu (located on the Main Menu) and the game manual that comes with the game both have a very good list of the main controls, there isn�t much about using the controls in concert with one another, or commands, so that�s what I�ll put here. The following is a list of commands that I�ve found useful, what they do, the reasons why I found them useful, and how to implement them. 1. The �On Signal,� or as I call it, the �On My Command� action, is the one of the most useful things you can do. It allows you to assign an action to the whole team, Able or Bravo, or an individual SEAL, and then have them take that action whenever you want them to, at your own discretion. It�s invaluable for moving either squad past an area where a patrolling enemy might see them, but they can�t see the enemy or know where he is until they�re potentially in his sight. Using this, you could position one squad somewhere where they could see this patrolling enemy, and know when his back was turned, and then send the other squad safely. To do the �On Signal,� you must first know what action you�re going to take. The actions that are compatible with the �On Signal� are as follows: Moving (all types), using your gun (field of fire, single target, etc.), knifing, sniping, throwing grenades, performing jobs (hacking, picking locks, etc.), breaching doors (all types), collecting Intel, telling escortees what to do (tell them to bypass security, etc.), reviving fallen allies, and breaking windows. To my knowledge, the only time you CAN�T use the �On Signal� is when you�re using a Medpack. A good rule of thumb is this: UNLESS it�s a Medpack, if you have to hold X, Circle, Triangle, or Square to bring up the action you�re about to do, you can do the �On Signal� with it. Once you know what action to take, highlight it, then move over to the little lightning bolt to the right of the action, and release whatever button got you to that menu. Now you can switch to either the other team or the other teammate (i.e. Able to Bravo or Wraith to Bronco), and all you have to do is tap X and whatever action that you set up will be done. 2. The Double-Knife is a very useful technique that comes from the �On Signal.� There will be times when you will have your whole team behind cover, close enough to knife two guards that have their backs to you. The Double-Knife not only is quick, but it looks badass too. Select the team closest to the first enemy, then hold X to bring up the Attack Menu, highlight �Stealth Kill�, move right to the lightning bolt, and release X. Do the same with the other team, and then switch back to the first team, make sure the reticle is NOT on an enemy or interact-able object, and tap X to send one SEAL from each team out to knife the two enemies. 3. The Throw and Mow is also a very useful technique that, like the Double- Knife, stems from the �On Signal.� Part of being successful in this game is knowing when you�re overwhelmed. Yes, these are highly skilled spec-ops soldiers, but when faced with an area with ten or more enemies, you have to know that you�re going to need a strategy. This is where the Throw and Mow comes in. What you do is hold Square to bring up the Inventory menu, and select the HE, position the throw how you want it, move to the lightning bolt and release Square. Then, switch to the other team and hold X to bring up the Attack menu, choose Field of Fire, set the field where you want, move to the lightning bolt and release X. Then, switch back to the first team and tap X to have them throw the HE, while the other team mows the enemies down. Best done with the enemies sandwiched in between the two teams, so while the enemies retreat from the grenade blast, they�re flanked by the other team. I remember there were a few more, but I�ll have to play through again to find out where I used them and what they were. STORY MISSIONS . . . [002] The way this section will be laid out is as follows: 1. List of mission objectives. Primary Objectives will be in ALL CAPS, Secondary Objectives in normal type, and Bonus Objectives will have (BONUS!) before their names in the list. If objectives are added during the mission, they will have (!) before their names in the list, and if objectives are subtracted or change in priority (i.e. Primary Objective changes to a Secondary Objective), they will have (E) for Eliminated, or (D) for demoted, respectively, before their names in the list. 2. Difficulty on a 1-10 scale, 1 being "I could do this asleep and upside-down with one hand in a cast" and 10 being "What in ****'s name were the developers thinking!?" As a note, I�m writing a walkthrough for all the missions on the Lieutenant difficulty level. 3. Suggested Auxiliary Equipment for the whole team (meaning everything BUT which guns to bring, because it really doesn't matter much in the long run). 4. Mission Walkthrough for Insertion Point A. 5. Mission Walkthrough for Insertion Point B (most likely, this will be the same as Insertion Point A's walkthrough after reaching a common area, so I'll just say "refer to Insertion Point A's walkthrough above for the rest" once this common area is reached). 6. My Mission Stats from that particular run-through, and my personal best time next to it in parentheses (not to show off, but to show how much easier the game gets once you've grasped the basics, you�ve upgraded your SEALs' attributes - each best time will be a run-through with SEALS that have completed their training 100% - and you�re going through the mission without writing down every move you make to create a walkthrough.) Whenever you have to move your team as two separate units instead of as a whole team, I�m going to default to moving Able first (assuming there isn�t an escortee with Able). Obviously, it doesn�t matter which team you move first, but it saves me time, because I don�t have to keep alternating, or say �move one team,� I can just say �move Able� which also saves me typing one letter, as �Able� is one letter shorter than �Bravo.� That said, if one team is more injured than the other, send the non-injured team ahead always. If the non- injured team is escorting someone, put the reticle over the escortee, press X, switch to the injured team, put the reticle over the escortee again, and press X again. This way, the injured team will be escorting, allowing the non-injured team to scout ahead for enemies without the risk of three or four shots killing them both because their health is so low. Also, I'd just like to point out that each mission walkthrough that follows assumes that whatever you've done up to the action you're taking now has been done in complete stealth. I have no idea how things change with regards to enemy placement and number after stealth is breached past the point I breached it myself playing through for the first time, which I'll do my absolute damnedest to keep as low as possible while I go through the game again to write this guide, to keep things fair. That said, if you do get into a firefight, the walkthrough will still tell you where to go and what to do, but any and all references to enemy placement, number, and patrol patterns will go out the window. Now, to the missions. MISSION 1: INSURGENCE . . . [003] Objectives: (E) LOCATE THE AMBASSADOR (!) SECURE HOSTAGES (!) INFILTRATE WAREHOUSE (!) SECURE THE WAREHOUSE (!) EXTRACT PSF AGENT SANTOS (!) Collect Intel - Shipping Manifest (!) (BONUS!) Collect Intel - Map Difficulty: 2. Maintaining stealth may be difficult at some points the first time through, but you shouldn't have much trouble with this mission. After all, it IS the first mission. Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: None really, besides a medpack for each person. If you're having trouble maintaining stealth, have one person on each team not bring a Medpack and bring a set of AN M8 Smoke Grenades instead. I can't remember how many inventory slots you have available when you first start the campaign, and I'm not about to restart mine to find out, so if you just got the game and can tell me how many auxiliary inventory slots you have, or if you remember off the top of your head, shoot me an email and tell me, and I'll credit you as such. Oh, and I find that a Red Dot Scope on all guns (primaries and secondaries, except for Wraith's sniper rifle) makes them slightly more accurate. Even with maxed-out Marksmanship and Weapon Skill, the SEALs DO miss (again, with the exception of Wraith's sniping - if you've maxed out Marksmanship and Sniping Skill, he CAN'T MISS if there's a clear shot). I'd very much advise against the Rifle Laser, however; not only will it be absolutely useless to you unless you're on a night operation (and there's all of three night ops in the entire game), but it will give away your position if an enemy sees it. So, Wraith: Sniper Rounds first, and if you can, the rest Medpacks. Bronco: If Wraith can only hold Sniper Rounds, Medpacks; if not, AN M8 Kahuna: Medpacks or AN M8 Aztec: Whichever Kahuna doesn�t have. Tutorial Walkthrough: [003a] I will not be including a Tutorial walkthrough, because that would be like giving a "walkthrough" walkthrough, which makes no sense. Follow the prompts the game gives you and do what it says when it says and you'll get through the mission. Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [003b] Move Able to the third car in the line (a white one on the right side of the street (Note: Unless otherwise stated, every movement is to be done with stealth). If you want a good teamwork score, after you drop the skimmer and place it at the back of the car, hold Circle so the Movement Menu comes up, and press right to get on the little lightning bolt. Then, switch to Bravo and press X. This will make Bravo tell Able to move. A good rule of thumb for getting an A in teamwork is to do this as much as possible; ten or so times will get you an A about 99% of the time, and every time you do it after that just gets you more CE to unlock weapons. And the great thing is, it can be done with pretty much any action (the only exception is using a medpack, I think). Anyway, keep Bravo one car behind Able (i.e. when Able leaves one, Bravo takes its place), until Able is behind a green car. Ahead, there is a sort of wagon made of wood, a white truck, and a pacing La Mano insurgent. Select Wraith and snipe this guy (you can do the "On my command" trick here if you want to try it again. However, if you do use that, make sure when you press X you're not aiming at any enemy, or else you'll start shooting instead of giving the go- command, which has forced me to start over many a mission because of total loss of stealth.) Once he's taken out, move Able forward to a second wagon, and Bravo to behind the white truck. Two enemies will approach from ahead. Time to knife some fools. One of them will almost always be walking slightly ahead of the other - for me, it's usually the guy on my right - so when the patrol route is finished, he stops first, then the other guy. Then the first guy turns around to start back, and then the second guy does. While you're waiting for the second guy to turn around, put your reticle over him and hold X until the Attack Menu comes up. Choose "Stealth Kill" and move over to the lightning bolt, and let go of X. Now hit L to switch to Bronco and wait until the second guy turns around before pressing X - MAKE SURE YOUR RETICLE IS NOT ON EITHER ENEMY! As soon as you press X, press L again to get back to Wraith. As he's sneaking up behind the enemy, put your reticle on the other enemy, hold X, and select "Stealth Kill" but don't release X until you've stabbed the first enemy. As soon as you release X to have Wraith kill the second enemy, turn your reticle around and drop the skimmer, putting it behind the grayish car ahead of the wagon thing that Bronco is hiding behind. As soon as the enemy is killed, confirm the move and watch as two more enemies come patrolling, somehow not noticing the dead bodies of their fellow La Mano insurgents, sprawled on the street. They'll stop, then turn and go back to the right, around the corner of the building and out of sight. As soon as they're out of sight, send Able to the brownish car ahead, and bring Bravo to the car that Able just vacated. Wow, we've been here before, haven't we? Time to knife these guys, same as you did the last time. This time (for me, at least), it's the guy on the left who's the fast one, so first take down the guy on the right (unless it's not the same for you). As soon as you release X to have Wraith knife the second enemy, drop the skimmer and put it behind the grayish car in front of where Bronco currently is. After the enemy is dead, confirm the move. There's another enemy ahead. While his positioning qualifies him as a sniper, I don't think he has a weapon (I couldn't see one, anyway). Select Wraith and snipe him (he's smoking, so you're just saving him the pain and financial burden of cancer). Now select the whole team (hold R), and move them down to the gates ahead. It's going to take two trips, because you can only extend the skimmer so far from your current position, but no worries, it gives you another chance to use the "On my command" action. Once you're at the gate (denoted by Navpoint Echo), have someone pick the lock. If this is your first time through this mission, it doesn't matter who does it; they all equally suck at lock picking so it'll take the same amount of time for all of them (about 10 seconds, but you can cut that in half or more with the proper training - see the Training Guide, below). Once the lock's been picked open, select the whole team and put them close to the door. Point the reticle at the door and hold X to bring up the Action Menu, and choose "Breach with Stealth." As soon as it's executed, the team will take cover. Ahead, there are two La Mano insurgents with their backs to you (God knows why they're looking AWAY from the door, but whatever). Now we can do something fun. Able and Bravo's respective members stand next to each other behind cover, two on the right edge of the cover, two on the left. Take control of whoever's on the right and put the reticle over the enemy on the right. Hold X and bring up the Attack Menu, select "Stealth Kill" and move onto the lightning bolt before releasing X. Now, switch to the other team and do the same thing with the other enemy. Switch back to the first team, point the reticle somewhere other than either enemy, and press X. This will send Wraith and Kahuna out from behind cover to simultaneously knife the two enemies. Pretty badass. Now select the whole team and move them down the ramp and to the door slightly to the left. Breach this door with stealth. There are two enemies out here: one pacing back and forth on a very short route on the other side of some boxes up north, and a stationary one to the west behind some more boxes. Keep Able where they are for now - you'll see why later. Move Bravo west behind the stacked crates, so that the orange dot on the radar before you confirm the move is as close to the stationary enemy as possible, but still behind the crates. You need to be able to put your reticle on him from a covered position. Once the move is complete, put your reticle over him and bring up the Attack Menu, select "Stealth Kill" and put on the lightning bolt. Switch back to Able and watch the patrolling guard up ahead for two complete laps of his patrol route, or until you know exactly where and when he turns his back on the stationary guard. Wait until a second and a half before that point, then press X to send Kahuna to knife the stationary enemy. I'm not sure the patrolling guard can see you at all, but I never took the chance. Now move Able behind the boxes on the other side of which the guard is patrolling. This may not be possible the first time through due to the low stealth attributes everyone has, so if you feel safer, snipe him from where you hid after breaching the door, then move Able up to the boxes ahead. If you didn't snipe him, wait until a second before his back turns and knife him too. Move Bravo first to where Able is, then to the stack of crates to the north. On the radar, it looks like an arrowhead, with a rectangle on the left, a square forming the point, and another rectangle on the right - this last one is the stack I'm referring to. Just before you reach the crates, two La Mano insurgents will come running out of God knows where and take up positions behind the two boxes ahead - THEY KNOW YOU'RE IN THE AREA, BUT HAVE NO IDEA EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE SO DON'T SHOOT THEM! Switch back to Able and have Wraith snipe the one on the right, because he's sticking his head out. There was one time I played through where he wasn't snipe-able from Able's position, so if that's the case, move Able back to where you hid after you breached the door and the enemy should be snipe-able. About two seconds after his buddy gets capped, the second enemy rushes over to investigate. Snipe him too, then bring Able up to where Bravo is. There are two enemies behind that window up ahead to the northeast, but for some strange reason, they can't see you. Now there's a couple ways of handling this next part. First of all, you're going to need at least one team to go to the Objective Star to the east. It doesn't matter which one. From here, have them Breach with Stealth. There are two guards, again, with their backs to you. Common sense is not a strong suit for La Mano, apparently. Kill them both however you please, just keep it quiet. Now here's where the decision comes into play. Through the door to the left of where those guards were standing is the room you saw the two guards in through the window outside. You can either have all four men breach the room (I'd suggest Breach with Frag in this case), or you can have two breach and two stay outside and shoot through the window, or two breach and two come inside and around the corner, where there's another window, and do the same. It's really up to you, because the two guys are outnumbered, outgunned, and outskilled, so the firefight should be short, and they can raise all the hell they want to, but no one's coming to their aid regardless, so deal with them however you want. Once they're eliminated, take the Intel laptop on the desk, completing Secondary Objective "Collect Intel - Shipping Manifest". Leave the room and head north towards the Objective Star. Around the corner are some boxes, take cover behind those. Quickly select Wraith and snipe those two La Mano insurgents ahead, then run in and revive the Panamanian Security Forces Agent on the ground before he dies. Once the two enemies are down, Primary Objectives "SECURE HOSTAGES", "INFILTRATE WAREHOUSE" and "SECURE THE WAREHOUSE" are complete, and a new Primary Objective is added, "EXTRACT PSF AGENT SANTOS," once you've revived him. You're now escorting Agent Santos, and if you put your reticle over him, pressing X will either make him stay put or follow you, depending on what he's already doing. Select the whole team and send them west up the ramp and put them behind the boxes directly in front of the metal bridge/catwalk that leads across the warehouse to another room, with another enemy inside. Send whichever team ISN'T escorting Agent Santos across the bridge/catwalk to outside that room. Once again, there are a few ways to play this next move. One, if you're feeling stealthy, you can Breach with Stealth on the door and knife the guy. Or, if you're feeling more badass, you can break the windows and shoot him, or Breach and Clear, or if you're really twisted Breach with Frag. No matter how you kill him, after he's dead, grab the Intel map on the desk, completing the Bonus Objective: "Collect Intel - Map". Regroup with Able, either by manually dropping the skimmer and moving over there, or by switching to Able, holding Triangle, and selecting "Regroup Fireteam." The latter is a bit faster, as Bravo will run over to Able as opposed to moving with stealth. Usually I don't recommend using "Regroup Fireteam" for that reason, but as you've just cleared the warehouse of all threats, nobody's going to see or hear you, so why waste time? Once the team has regrouped, select the whole team and move them to the doors to the west. Have someone hack the door on the right, and eventually it will open. At this stage, I say do the door on the right, because that leads directly to cover, unlike the door on the left, and since your stealth attributes are likely to be pretty low if this is your first time playing through, you're going to want to maintain a low profile as long as you can. Select whoever's NOT escorting Agent Santos and put them behind cover. If the three enemies ahead see you and engage, kill them, if they don't, don't. Either way, move this team to the left, behind the building with the green awning. Move the other team to where the first team just was. As a rule, you always move the team WITHOUT the escortee ahead of the team WITH the escortee - you don't want to get ambushed and have your VIP die. Move your two teams in this fashion - non-escortee team ahead of escortee team - around the corner, until you see two barrels and a box in the middle, a planter with a tree to the right, and a stack of crates to the left. Move the non-escortee team behind these crates, and watch your flanks, because the same enemies you saw after hacking the door to the warehouse are there, to the north. Face south, and there will be two paths to take. Take the left path with both teams. Careful, though, because there's an enemy to the west, down the right path, behind some boxes. He most likely won't notice you. Move the non-escortee team down the path, with the escortee team one cover-zone behind (although I've never encountered another enemy from this point until the end of the mission any of the times I've played through it, which were many - see the Training Guide, below). Go around the corner, past the planter on the right and keep going west along the building. Once you reach the corner, get behind the first brownish car on the left side of the street with the non- escortee team. Then, move northeast across the street behind the next car, a brownish convertible, and bring the escortee team to the car the non-escortee team just left. Now, I seem to remember, when I first played through this mission, that the enemy ahead - the same one I warned you about before, when I told you to take the left path - somehow saw me, something I blame on low stealth attributes. If you're at higher stealth levels, he won't notice you, but if I'm remembering correctly, it may be a good idea to have Wraith snipe him (you should have two or three sniper shots left). Once that enemy is out of the way, move the non- escortee team to the edge of the wall near the Objective Star that denotes the extraction zone, so they can provide cover in the odd, almost impossible event that enemies swarm (crazier crap's happened to me in SOCOM games, this one included). Finally, move the escortee team to the extraction zone for Mission Complete (the non-escortee team will be close enough to the extraction zone that you won't have to move them again). MISSION STATS: Time to Complete: 01:06:09 (00:18:54) Command Equity: 4485 Local Influence: Great Mission Summary: A Primary Objectives: 4/4 Secondary Objectives: 1/1 Bonus Objectives: 1/1 Objective Summary: A Breaches Completed: 5 On Signal Used: 9 Jobs Completed: 4 Teamwork Summary: A Close Combat Kills: 0 Stealth Kills: 11 Stealth Maintained: 100 Stealth Summary: A Final Grade: A (After completing this mission for the first time, I highly suggest you read the Training Guide, below) MISSION 2: GONE TO GROUND . . . [004] Objectives: (E)LOCATE THE AMBASSADOR (!)LOCATE HOSTAGES SECURE GHETTO COURTYARD INFILTRATE LA MANO STRONGHOLD MOVE TO EXTRACT Secure Ghetto Alleyway (!)(BONUS!) Search for Intel Difficulty: 3. You only HAVE to get into one extended confrontation (not even shootout, because �shootout� means they�re shooting back, and it�s possible for them to never shoot at you) in this mission - every other enemy can be taken out with stealth by knifing or sniping. However, since the area is so rife with enemy soldiers, any amount of gunshots will bring the whole place down on you pretty quickly. Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Once again, AN M8 and Red Dot Scopes are your friends. By now, you should have a lot more carrying capacity than you had last mission (even if you didn't replay the first mission to rack up the training points like I suggested you do). One set per SEAL should do the trick, and then once you have that set, one set of HE grenades for each SEAL BUT Wraith, who gets as many Sniper Rounds as he can, minus one for a set of Medpacks. Everyone else, once they have one set of AN M8 and one set of HE, fill up the rest of their slots with Medpacks. So, Wraith: One set of Medpacks, one set of AN M8, and the rest Sniper Rounds. Everyone else: One set of AN M8, one set of HE, and the rest Medpacks. Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [004a] Send Able southwest, up that little ramp and behind cover next to the second ramp, behind the lone stationary La Mano insurgent standing up there. Knife him, then move Able to where he was standing. Look northwest and you�ll see a bridge with a patrolling enemy. Snipe him. Now from here you can snipe a few more guys and make it easy, or save the sniper rounds and go for some knife kills, which takes timing and patience. If you opt for the sniping, turn a little more towards the north and look up at the structure across the street. There�s a stationary enemy in between two palm trees on the porch-ish thing up there. Snipe him, then look down and snipe the two enemies patrolling the street below. Then regroup with Bravo and refer to the paragraph below marked with an asterisk (*). Now if you want to save your sniper rounds, switch to Bravo. Drop the skimmer and bring it down the ramp to the northwest and then to the left slightly, behind the nearest end of a long, low wall. Activate the �On my command� move, then switch back to Able. Look down and watch as the enemies patrol below. When they both have their backs to where Bravo�s moving to, give the signal and have Bravo move there. Switch back to Able and move them back to where you were when the mission started. Now repeat the process of getting Able to the low wall like you did for Bravo, except with Bravo looking out and giving the signal. Then put the skimmer across the street behind the wall as close to the street as possible (still as Able), and wait for the enemies� backs to be turned before moving there. Lastly, put Bravo behind that bombed-out car on the other side of the wall. Once everyone�s in position, have Able do a Stealth Kill �On my command� on the enemy closest to them, and Bravo do the same on the enemy closest to them. You need to wait until the enemies are patrolling in the same direction at roughly the same place (like they need to be pretty much next to each other, not with one way far ahead). This may take some time (hence the patience I mentioned above). Once this condition is met, send both Wraith and Kahuna out to knife them both. I�d recommend just sniping everybody, as there�s not much sniping that needs to be done later (as long as you have enough Sniper Rounds, that is). *Regardless of how you play that little bit, let�s move on. Move everyone up the staircase, around the roof-looking thing, and up the next staircase, and put them all behind cover at the edge of the building to your right. Send Able around the corner and put them behind the corner of the bridge ahead (it�s the same bridge the first enemy you sniped was on). Be careful, there�s a patrolling enemy ahead, and for some strange reason, both teams have this thing about moving in a huge arc to cover instead of going right to it, which sometimes gets them seen by this enemy. Anyway, once this guy starts going away from you, move Able up to the orange wall. Once he makes another pass and starts going away from you again, knife him and bring Bravo up to where Able is. There�s a passage shaped like a weird T that faces south a few steps ahead of where you knifed that guy just now. Go to the corner of it and below you�ll see a patrolling enemy, and on your level, to the right, is a sniper with his back to you. Knife him, then snipe every enemy you can see on the street below (there should be three: one to the left next to a car, one off to the right patrolling around a fountain, and one in the middle that goes between the other two). Move Able back to where Bravo is, and then move everyone west to the top of a staircase. To the southwest there�s another enemy on a balcony. Snipe him, then move everyone behind the fountain. A new enemy will come out of nowhere and start patrolling almost directly south of where you are. Send either team to the bombed-out car ahead when the enemy�s not looking, wait for him to come back and start walking away again, and knife him. Immediately after you knife him, put the team behind the corner in back of the gray car in front of where the enemy was patrolling � two more enemies pop out of the ground, one on the street ahead, the other on the bridge above him. Snipe both of these enemies, then move towards Navpoint Echo with everybody. Go up the stairs, then up the ramp around the corner. From the edge of this wall, snipe the two enemies ahead. Move everyone forward until you see a staircase. Send Bravo down the first flight and hold at the top of the second flight, because there�s another enemy on the street to the east. Keep Able up top, where you�ll have a clear sniper shot to get this enemy. Once he�s dead, bring Able to where Bravo is and continue down the staircase to the street. As soon as you get to the other end of that alleyway ahead, that �mandatory� confrontation happens, albeit briefly, if you act quickly and do what I say. Move Bravo to the wall as far east as you can go and be roughly next to the bathtub. Kahuna will get behind a part of the wall, and Aztec will get behind a pillar. Next, move Able to the next farthest wall past where Bravo is. This will trigger the mini-cutscene, as you�re blocked off from behind by cars without drivers (apparently, because no one gets out of these cars and tries to shoot you). As soon as the cutscene is over, move Able behind the bathtub, and proceed to snipe every enemy you can see, but DO NOT MOVE FROM BEHIND THE BATHTUB UNTIL THERE ARE NO MORE ENEMIES YOU CAN SNIPE FROM BEHIND THE BATHTUB. Once you can�t snipe any more enemies from there, move to the left slightly, and you�ll see an enemy up on another balcony ahead, so snipe him too. Closer at hand, there�s a square-shaped hole on the second story of the building to your right, with a small railing in front of the edge. Get a good angle (but DON�T MOVE OUT OF THE ALLEY), and lob an HE in there to take out another enemy. You may want to throw two just in case, but if you know that the guy�s dead, don�t bother. Move both teams up to the edge of the staircase to your left. Send Able up the stairs to behind cover at the top of the stairs. There�s a little hut-like thing to the northeast on the second story, and there�s an enemy there. Usually he�ll be in plain sight and snipe-able, but the time I played through this mission to write this walkthrough he wasn�t, and I had to throw a grenade into his little hut to flush him out. The grenade landed right at his feet and he tried to dive away, but since it was such a confined space, he hit the wall and landed right on top of the grenade. Yet, somehow he not only survived, but didn�t take any damage at all, so I had to shoot him, but I maintained stealth. There�s another enemy to the north-northeast, so snipe him, then bring Able back to Bravo. After sniping that last enemy, Primary Objective �SECURE GHETTO COURTYARD� and Secondary Objective �Secure Ghetto Alleyway� are complete. You�ll see the green arrows that denote Breach-able doors ahead, but we�re not going to use them. Send the whole team up the stairs to the right of those doors, then up the short flight of stairs to a pair of glass-less windows and a door to the right. You can either snipe the enemy below (through the glass-less windows), or Breach the door with stealth and go down there and knife him. If you do the latter, leave one team up top to watch the enemy�s route through the windows and send the other team down the stairs to the bottom step. Drop the skimmer and put it behind the low wall to the north, then do the �On my command� move and switch back to the other team. Once the enemy has his back turned to the staircase, send the first team. Now this next part will be your trickiest knifing yet, but it�s not hard. Since the enemy patrols past the edge of the low wall you�re hiding behind, you can�t move any closer to him without him spotting you. So, drop the skimmer and put it around the corner of the low wall, and when he turns around, confirm the move. As soon as you�ve confirmed the move, target the enemy and select Stealth Kill. The team leader will continue after the enemy and knife him and the other teammate will stay where the skimmer put him. After knifing this enemy, Primary Objective �INFILTRATE LA MANO STRONGHOLD� is complete. Bring the teams together again in front of the staircase going down even further, and send the whole team down both flights. Ahead, there are two hostages (denoted by orange dots on the radar). As soon as you get to the second landing, Primary Objective �LOCATE HOSTAGES� is added. That�s not too hard, so just walk close to them, target them, and press X on both to complete Primary Objective �LOCATE HOSTAGES.� Next, move the whole team west, then down the slight ramp and head north through the short tunnel to behind a couple boxes (there will be a mini- cutscene that shows the inside of the area ahead). From the boxes, move to the low wall ahead of them. From here, snipe the enemy on the second story, then another enemy on that same level will rush over to investigate, as they so love to do, so snipe him as well. From here, you can either snipe the remaining three guys or take them out silently; I�m going to snipe them this time, but it shouldn�t be too hard to knife them, it�s all about timing and positioning. At any rate, after all the guys on the floor below are dead, move Able to the table closest to the far west wall, on the west side of the table itself. Then, move Able a bit closer to the table against the wall, until you get a �Take Photo� action prompt. Take the picture, completing Bonus Objective �Search for Intel.� Move back to the table you were just behind, and snipe the enemies that appear to the east (there are two). Once these enemies are dead, move the whole team to the two doors to the south of where those enemies were standing, and breach the one on the right with stealth. As soon as you�re through the door, put the whole team behind that pile of what looks like cement and sewage pipes ahead, because there are two patrolling enemies ahead. Do the �On my command� double-knife attack with Wraith and Kahuna, but be careful, because there�s another enemy ahead, and another one around the corner watching the extraction point. After the patrolling enemies are dead, you can do one of two things. If you have sniper rounds, you can snipe the enemy ahead, and then snipe the other one around the bend. If you don�t have sniper rounds, send Bravo back to the pile of crap that you hid behind when you came through the door, then send them west around the lower path to behind one of the large oil containers (at least I think that�s what they are). From there, send Bravo further west to behind a big stack of boxes. Then, send Bravo up to the enemy and do another �On my command� double-knife attack with Kahuna and Wraith. Once both enemies are dead, move the whole team to the Objective Star for Mission Complete. MISSION STATS: Time to Complete: 00:51:14 (00:35:09) Command Equity: 5580 Local Influence: Great Mission Summary: A Primary Objectives: 4/4 Secondary Objectives: 1/1 Bonus Objectives: 1/1 Objective Summary: A Breaches Completed: 2 On Signal Used: 12 Jobs Completed: 1 Teamwork Summary: A Close Combat Kills: 0 Stealth Kills: 10 Stealth Maintained: 100 Stealth Summary: A Final Grade: A Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [004b] There is no Insertion Point B, as far as I can see. MISSION 3: WALKABOUT . . . [005] Objectives: (E)LOCATE THE AMBASSADOR LOCATE DOWNED HELICOPTER (!)INFILTRATE WAREHOUSE (!)FIND CONTROLS FOR BUNKER DOORS (!)EXTRACT INTERIOR MINISTER (!)Destroy Helicopter (!)(BONUS!) Photograph Contraband (!)(BONUS!) Sabotage Drug Packaging Equipment (!)(BONUS!) Recover Data From Computers (!)(BONUS!) Photograph the Smuggled Weapons Difficulty: 6. The first two missions were really designed to get you used to the control scheme and the idea of using the commands and not having singular control over a specific SEAL, but over the entire four-man team. This mission assumes you�re acclimated to the controls and the mindset, and if you�re not, this mission is a bitch. Even if you ARE, it has its moments. The main reason that this is a 6 is because there are many shootouts throughout, and if you lose stealth, no less than three enemies � in addition to however many there were present in your immediate area when you lost stealth � will descend upon you with utter quickness. This is also the first mission where maintaining 100% stealth is, if not impossible, near-impossible. However, as long as you maintain around 85% stealth you�ll still get an A rating. Watch your ammo, and watch your surroundings before making any moves, and you�ll be fine. Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Wraith: As many sniper rounds as possible, plus a set of Medpacks. Everyone Else: No AN-M8s this time, as they�re pretty much useless, so two sets of HE, and the rest Medpacks. Make sure you don�t use the HE�s just for the hell of it, either, because you�ll be kicking yourself in the latter stages of the mission if you do. Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [005a] Move the whole team behind the first box-shaped thing on the left, then move Able to the next one ahead, on the right. Knife the guy ahead (yet another fool with his back to you). This next part can potentially be tricky. There�s an enemy patrolling to the southwest on a southwest-northeast patrol route, as well as another one on an identical route about ten yards further southwest than the first one, and a stationary enemy on the other side of another one of those box-shaped cover things. However, you can�t see any of them from behind any kind of cover available right now. So, drop the skimmer and put it as far to the southwest as you can. This will pan the camera out and allow you to see around the corner. Wait for the nearer of the two patrolling enemies to enter the screen, and as soon as he turns back around, put Able behind the first box-shaped cover thing to the south. Once the move is complete, bring Bravo up to that archway that Able was just at, and then switch back to Able. When the patrolling enemy�s back is turned, move Able to the next box-ish cover. Switch back to Bravo, drop the skimmer and put it where Able just was, and use the �On my command� action, switch back to Able, and when the two patrolling enemies� backs are turned, send Bravo to the cover, then switch back to Able. Watch the two patrolling guards ahead. With me, the one closest to you always starts back towards the southwest first, so wait for both of them to be looking away before knifing the closer one and getting behind the cover with the enemy on the other side. Switch back to Bravo and do an �On my command� action to move them to where Able just was. Switch back to Able and as soon as the last remaining patrolling guard turns his back, send Bravo, and then knife the stationary enemy, and finally return to behind cover. Snipe the last enemy. Move Able and Bravo up so that Bravo takes Able�s vacated cover spot until you�re in front of two pillars. Ahead, there�s another patrolling enemy. Wait for his back to be turned, and then move Able to behind that fallen log ahead. When his back is turned again, knife him, then return to cover. There are two enemies in the surrounding area that you can see: one due south, one south- south-west. Don�t worry about the first one. Snipe the second one � he�s pretty far to the south-south-west, across the bridge. Once he�s dead, move Able to the West, along the short vertical hill face to your right, until you see a small path that leads north. Put them behind the log there and switch back to Bravo. Move Bravo up the path to the west, and have them hold behind the log, for support if needed. Ahead, you�ll see the burning helicopter that you�ve been tasked with locating, as well as two enemies guarding it. Thankfully, they are of the same batch of idiots as the rest of the La Mano Los Gente insurgents are, and they BOTH have their backs to where Able is currently positioned, so switch back to Able and knife both of them, first the one closest, of course (weird thing: every single time I played through this mission, there were ALWAYS two enemies here. This time, as I�m playing through in order to write this walkthrough, there�s only one). Once the enemy(s) are dead, look at the helicopter and take whatever the Intel could be that survived a crash and subsequent fire, then watch the mini cutscene as a helicopter carrying more insurgents flies overhead, and a few more enemies on the ground flood the area below. As soon as you have control of your team, you�ll have completed Primary Objective �LOCATE DOWNED HELICOPTER�, and two new objectives will be added: Primary Objective �INFILTRATE WAREHOUSE� and Secondary Objective �Destroy Helicopter� (the one that you saw flying, not the bombed-out one in front of you � I scratched my head a bit at that to at first). Move Able behind the log in front of the team, and then move Bravo back down the path they took up to where the downed helicopter is, and have them hold at the end, behind cover and still on the path, before switching back to Able. Watch the enemies below for a bit, until a group of two or more gathers as far away from Able as possible without being on the bridge. Snipe one of the members of this group. As soon as the shot�s off, the other enemies will rush over to that area, allowing you to switch to Bravo and attempt to flank them. Move Bravo east-south-east behind the low wall and then switch back to Able. This time, as I�m going through to write this walkthrough, I was unable to flank them, because of the patterns they ran (it�s different every time, depending on who you snipe, when you snipe them, and it differs a bit from run- through to run-through, but usually you can flank them). Make sure you snipe the guy across the bridge BEFORE you have Bravo flank them, or you�ll get shot in the back. Snipe and/or knife everyone in the area, then switch back to Bravo and regroup back on the lower area. Select the whole team and go across the bridge as far as the skimmer will allow you, then send the whole team to the edge of the huge rock to the south. Send Able around the corner and behind the similarly huge rock ahead. Below is a sort of village area, and the helicopter you�re supposed to destroy, as well as five enemies below and one around the path above to the east. Send Able to the west and up the small hill to behind the log to get a good sniping spot. Move Bravo south to behind the rock just before the path down to the village area. There are two enemies close, one that�s very close with a sniper rifle � you�ll snipe him in a sec � and another patrolling up and down the path. Switch to Able and do an �On my command� snipe of the sniper, then switch back to Bravo. When the patrolling enemy turns around, send Kahuna to knife him, and when Kahuna is close enough to kill the guy even if he is alerted to anything, press X and have Wraith snipe the sniper, just as Kahuna knifes the patrolling enemy. Then return Kahuna to where Aztec is. Do another �On my Command� action to place Bravo behind the blue pickup truck below in the village area. Switch back to Able, wait for all enemies to be looking the other way, and send Bravo. Once Bravo�s in position, snipe the enemy furthest away from your position. This is only possible if Able is as far left along the log as possible, and will make everybody run towards the helicopter. Now you can do something pretty funny, if not a bit pointless. Move Able back down the hill and then take a left at the bottom of the hill to go west-south- west down a short path past a house to behind barrels about ten feet from the helicopter. From this position, you should be able to set the C4 charge on the helicopter without the enemies nearby noticing. Once it�s set, clear both teams the hell out and get as far from the helicopter as possible. Then blow the charge, completing Secondary Objective �Destroy Helicopter.� What�s stupid is that the enemies somehow survive, but it�s fun anyway. Kill the rest however you like, but just keep it quiet. Once the area is clear, head towards that tunnel northeast of the helicopter with everyone. Move through the tunnel cover-to-cover in a team-by-team fashion, with Able ahead, until you reach the end of the tunnel. Ahead are three enemies, two stationary and one patrolling in an east-to-west route. Move Able to the log ahead, and bring Bravo up to where Able just was. When the patrolling enemy has his back turned, move Able to the right into a sort of sunk-down path that goes to the right of the three enemies and have them hold there. Then switch back to Bravo and move them along the left side into a similarly sunk-down path (make sure the patrolling enemy has his back turned first, of course). This is the first of a few unavoidable firefights � unavoidable if you want to save your sniper rounds for when you really need them later, that is. In addition to the two stationary and one patrolling enemy in the immediate vicinity, there are three additional enemies, only one of which you can see from your current position, and he�s stationary due east of your position. The other two come from the east as well, but only when the shots start going off. I�d suggest sniping the one to the east that you can see and just mopping up when they all go to investigate, but it�s up to you. Regardless of how you do this, you�re going to end up in a firefight (unless you snipe everyone, because you can�t knife them � at least I couldn�t, and I tried a bunch of different ways. If you find a way that works, shoot me an email and fill me in and I�ll update this and credit you). Anyway, once everyone�s dead, move Bravo east until you see a path that goes down to the north. Down the path there�s an enemy facing towards the left behind a log. Send Bravo east around the large �island,� turn back down the path and approach this enemy from behind and knife him, then move Bravo up to the gate/door thing in the fence, but don�t pick the lock yet. Switch back to Able and move them east and then north past the �island� and to a log on the right side of the path. There�s an enemy ahead, so get closer behind another log and knife him, then get back behind the log and snipe the remaining enemies (don�t forget the sniper in the tower to the north). Once the area�s clear, move Able ahead to the log that�s at a 45 degree angle, and then have Bronco hack the doors. While he�s hacking, have Wraith cover the eastern approach if necessary, because most likely enemies will be coming, but they don�t know where you are for the first few moments. You won�t have to snipe many of them if you concentrate on the enemies closest to you, who would be the first to spot Bronco hacking and open fire. Once Bronco�s done, it gets a little tricky on the other side, as there are three enemies � two right next to the door and one about twenty feet away � that are waiting to greet you. Greet them with an HE or two thrown over the wall (one at a short distance and the other a little further, so nobody gets left out), then go in and start mopping up. Once the initial three are down, two more will come, so take them out as well. They�re not hard, as they come by themselves, and don�t know where you are, so just have both Wraith and Bronco attack together and they won�t even have time to find cover before they�re killed. At this point, switch back to Bravo, pick the lock and enter. Ahead are two patrolling enemies, but don�t engage yet. Get behind the barrels in front of you, and then when the enemies are moving together to the right, you move to the right behind the boxes. Back with Able, move forward a bit, and there will be anywhere from five to seven additional enemies in the area beyond the truck, as well as a sniper on the balcony to the west. Clear a path to a place where you can get a clean sniper shot of the sniper and take him out before clearing the rest of the area out with Able, then move forward and take out the sniper in the tower to the south-south-west, then move west with Able to behind the pickup truck angled towards a pair of trailer hitches (one red, one white-ish). There�s a sniper on the balcony to the north, so take him out, and watch for the enemy that comes from around the corner to the north-north-west. Throw an HE over there, and as soon as you finish entering the command, set a Field of Fire there, so as soon as the HE goes off, you�ll be ready to pop him the couple of times it�ll take to kill him when he comes out. Switch back to Bravo and take out the enemies patrolling however you want. I don�t think it�s possible to knife them both, so just do a field of fire. You�ll catch them by surprise and kill one almost instantly, and the other will go down pretty quickly as well. Then, to the west, two or three more enemies will appear. In order to save ammo (you�ll need it for later, trust me) move Bravo west to behind the green tarp-covered boxes and use a grenade to cause significant damage before setting a Field of Fire to finish up. Then move Bravo west to the door and hack it. Make sure you�re watching your back, because enemies will come from behind you while the door�s being hacked. Engage if you have to now, but if not, once the door is open regroup with Able. Move the whole team down the corridor to the north, past the door, to the end. There are three enemies on the ground level � two patrolling and one stationary � as well as a sniper up on the balcony. Snipe the sniper, and then move Able to the boxes nearest the corner, watching the closest patrolling enemy. Once his back is turned, move north-north-east to the next set of boxes. Watch both the patrolling enemies � the stationary one YET AGAIN has his back to you - and wait for them to have their backs turned again before knifing the closer one and returning back to the boxes. Next, bring Bravo up to the first set of boxes that Able was behind, and then around the south-facing side of the green tarp-covered boxes on the right. Switch to Able and move them to the west-facing side of the green tarp-covered boxes to the left. Switch to Bravo and do an �On my Command� knife on the patrolling enemy, then switch back to Able and do the same on the stationary enemy. Once the patrolling enemy has his back turned on Bravo, press X to send both teams. Since the stationary enemy is closer, he�ll get killed first, but if your stealth is maxed out, the patrolling enemy won�t see you and react until Bravo is right on him, and he�ll be knifed before he can do more than swear at you in Spanish. Once the area is clear, send everyone up the stairs and Breach the door above with Stealth, completing Primary Objective �INFILTRATE WAREHOUSE� and adding Primary Objective �FIND CONTROLS FOR BUNKER DOORS.� There are two enemies here: one stationary along the balcony to the south- south-west, and another patrolling along a north-south route to south-south- east. Move Able to the boxes ahead and slightly to the right, watching for the patrolling enemy. When the patrolling enemy is going away, knife the stationary one and return to the boxes. Watch the patrolling enemy, and when his back is turned, move Able to the pillar at the end of the northward part of his route. Knife him when he turns back south. In the area below are two enemies currently, but as soon as you move south towards the door and control room they�ll see you and another enemy will arrive and start shooting. Take them out however you like, then move everyone to the south, through the door into the control room. Ignore the random enemy that appears right underneath where Able currently is. Once inside, hack the controls along the north wall of the control room to complete Primary Objective �FIND CONTROLS FOR BUNKER DOORS,� watch the mini- cutscene of more enemies coming up from the bunker, and get ready for another firefight. This is made an extremely quick encounter by having everybody use the window and using grenades as necessary. Once all enemies are down, move to the door on the west side of the control room, breach the door and go down the stairs. Go north from the stairs, then turn right and go up the ramp into the room below the control room. Straight ahead are a bunch of boxes that say �Sabroso� (�delicious� in Spanish) on them. Photograph them to complete Bonus Objective �Photograph Contraband.� Next, move further east into the room and you�ll see a large green machine. Plant an explosive on that, then get as far as you can from the thing, and then blow the charge to complete Bonus Objective �Sabotage Drug Packaging Equipment.� Once that�s done, move the whole team to the bunker doors you just opened and down the two flights of stairs, stopping at the end. There are two patrolling enemies around the corner to the north, patrolling on a north-to-south route. When their backs are turned, move Able around the corner to behind the first set of boxes against the right side of the hallway, then wait for them to turn their backs again before moving to the next cover-area, which looks to be some sort of radiator-ish thing. Target the closer of the two enemies and do an �On my Command� action to knife him with Wraith, then switch to Bronco and as soon as the second enemy turns his back, target him and knife him WITHOUT the �On my Command� action, pressing X (WHILE THE RETICLE IS NOT ON EITHER ENEMY), to send Wraith after the other guy. Once both enemies are dead, bring Bravo up to where Able is, then look to the east, where there is a computer and some servers. Hack the computer to complete Bonus Objective �Recover Data From Computers.� Once that�s done, move west to behind the low banister/wall. Below, there are two enemies. Using the whole team and a Field of Fire, take these guys out. It shouldn�t last more than a second or two, and when you�re done, move down the stairs and if you need to, have Wraith grab the fallen enemy�s UMP (it has a full magazine and extras, if you need them). There�s a door ahead, and I�m going to say Breach and Clear this one, because there�s an enemy on the other side, as well as the Panamanian Interior Minister (SO DON�T BREACH WITH FRAG, OR YOU�LL KILL HIM). After you kill the enemy, the Interior Minister will say some stuff that�s not really important. Press X while the reticle is over him to secure him and replace Primary Objective �LOCATE AMBASSADOR� with Primary Objective �EXTRACT INTERIOR MINISTER.� Press X while the reticle is over him to have him follow you. Go back outside and have Aztec collect as much ammo as he needs from the enemy with the MG. 43 machinegun (if that�s what Aztec has), and have everyone else but Wraith collect the little ammo Wraith�s secondary had when he switched it for the UMP (again, if that�s what you did). Move Bravo (we�ll have them be the non-escorting team for simplicity�s sake) north, until you see two staircases and a bunch of crates on the ground in between them. Photograph these crates to complete the final Bonus Objective, �Photograph the Smuggled Weapons.� Move Bravo up the stairs and behind the box and barrels against the left side of the hallway. Shoot the enemy ahead (shouldn�t take too long), and then move up to the next set of box and barrels, bringing Able (escorting the Interior Minister) up behind to where Bravo just was. Move Bravo around the corner and up the stairs to behind the two boxes out in the outdoor area. Ahead is a stationary guard, to the left up on a sort of hill is another stationary guard with a sniper rifle, and there are two guards to the south-south-east patrolling together on an east-to-west route. First off, go get the sniper. Move up the path to the east to come up behind him. There�s no cover here, but if your stealth is maxed out you won�t need it. Wait until the patrolling enemies are going back to the east before knifing this enemy and returning to the boxes below, then moving ahead to the log behind the stationary enemy. Knife this enemy when the two patrolling enemies are heading back east, and then move to the log that�s perpendicular to the first log and to the south, directly in the path of the two patrolling enemies. Wait for them to come back towards you, and as soon as they turn back east, knife them both. After they�re dead, bring the whole team east along the perimeter of the wall until the corner. Make sure Wraith is closest to the corner, and snipe the stationary enemy ahead to the east-south-east. This will make the patrolling enemy rush over there. If you have sniper shots left, snipe him and go to the paragraph below marked with an asterisk (*). If you don�t have sniper rounds left (like me as I�m writing this and playing through the mission), move Bravo to the corner and then around the corner to behind the log to the south. The enemy will now be stationary on the other side of the log, within stealth kill lock-on range. For some reason, it�s not letting me knife him (even though the �Stealth Kill� is an option and I�m using it), so I just got really close and shot him pretty much point-blank. * Anyway, regardless of how you played that bit, bring the whole team south and then to the east, towards Navpoint Hotel, for extraction and mission complete (you�ll have to go a few feet past it for the end-of-mission cutscene for some reason). MISSION STATS: Time to Complete: 01:55:51 (01:33:05) Command Equity: 6825 Local Influence: Great Mission Summary: A Primary Objectives: 4/4 Secondary Objectives: 1/1 Bonus Objectives: 4/4 Objective Summary: A Breaches Completed: 6 On Signal Used: 24 Jobs Completed: 10 Teamwork Summary: A Close Combat Kills: 0 Stealth Kills: 17 Stealth Maintained: 78 (that was a bad run-through, but I was experimenting with a few things that got me spotted. The run-through before this I got an 85) Stealth Summary: B (again, experimentation got me spotted. The run-through before this I got an A � yes, an A, even with an 85. Go figure) Final Grade: A Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [005b] As far as I can see, there is no Insertion Point B MISSION 4: HOUSE CALL . . . [006] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [006a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [006b] MISSION 5: DOUBLE CROSS . . . [007] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [007a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [007b] MISSION 6: DEVIL'S DUE . . . [008] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [008a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [008b] MISSION 7: NOWHERE TO HIDE . . . [009] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [009a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [009b] MISSION 8: DIPLOMACY . . . [010] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [010a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [010b] MISSION 9: ELEVENTH HOUR . . . [011] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough: [011a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough: [011b] INSTANT ACTION MISSIONS [012] This section will be laid out exactly the same as the Story Missions Section, so refer back to that if you�re confused. INSURGENCE MISSIONS: [013] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [013a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [013b] GONE TO GROUND MISSIONS: [014] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [014a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [014b] WALKABOUT MISSIONS: [015] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [015a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [015b] HOUSE CALL MISSIONS: [016] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [016a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [016b] DOUBLE CROSS MISSIONS: [017] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [017a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [017b] DEVIL�S DUE MISSIONS: [018] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [018a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [018b] NOWHERE TO HIDE MISSIONS: [019] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [019a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [019b] DIPLOMACY MISSIONS: [020] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [020a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [020b] ELEVENTH HOUR MISSIONS: [021] Objectives: Difficulty: Suggested Auxiliary Equipment: Insertion Point A Walkthrough [021a] Insertion Point B Walkthrough [021b] TRAINING GUIDE . . . [022] Besides the obvious difference in gameplay style between Tactical Strike and the other SOCOM games, there's another huge difference, in the ability for the player (you) to make the SEALs better at what they do. The following is a quick guide to which traits to upgrade first. First off, max out Wraith's sniping skill. Sniping is THE MOST VALUABLE SKILL you have at your disposal in this game, and once maxed out, you CAN NOT MISS. Distance doesn't seem to be a problem either (for me, anyway) - basically, as long as your reticle turns red and you have sniper rounds left, you can snipe your target. Secondly, max out everyone's stealth rating. If you don't have the points available to do everyone at once, do the leaders of Able and Bravo (Wraith and Kahuna, respectively). I say this because it's more likely that you'll use one of them to do stealth kills, because when you switch between teams you control the team leaders by default. But definitely max out EVERYONE'S stealth as soon as Wraith's sniping skill is maxed out. Thirdly, max out everyone's carrying capacity. This way, you can carry a LOT more sniper rounds, as well as a LOT more Medpacks, and, hell, a LOT more of ANYTHING. Fourth, max out everyone's marksmanship. That's an obvious one. Fifth, max out everyone's job specialist attribute. This makes picking locks, hacking computers and security systems, and perhaps most importantly of all, reviving people, a HELL of a lot quicker. Sixth, max out everyone's grenade weapon skill. It increases their grenade- throwing range by an impressive amount, as well as grenade accuracy, which is sometimes more important. Lastly, max out everyone's toughness, although, I must say, I didn't notice much of a difference in anybody's resistance to bullets after this was maxed out, and I maxed out everyone's at once. After that's all done, max out everyone's weapon skill that's associated with their weapon. Wraith is sniper and light weapons, Bronco is medium weapons and light weapons, as is Kahuna, and Aztec is heavy weapons and light weapons. And once that's done, max out all the other weapon skills, especially if you plan on trying the insane Instant Action Missions for the last couple of mission areas, one of which sends you in with everyone carrying only sniper rifles, another with everyone carrying only HK7 SMGs, and another with everyone carrying only two AN M8 Smoke Grenades apiece, and NO GUNS (they call it a "Stealth Mission." I call it "stupid," but that's me). Now, there's a pretty quick and painless way to do all this, and that way is . . . do Mission Redeploy on Insertion Point A of the first mission, Insurgence. At most it will take you half an hour (I get it done in an average of 23 or so minutes), and each time gives you 2500+ points, as well as upwards of 4000 CE with which to buy weapons and equipment. Those 2500+ points can max out three or more skills, depending on their current levels. At most, you'll do the mission over three or four times and you'll have steps one through five done, from which point you can keep doing missions and use the campaign to increase your attributes instead of Mission Redeploy. WEAPONS GUIDE . . . [023] Now let me just preface all this by saying that, in my experience, it doesn�t matter much which gun you take (Primaries or Secondaries). The Auxiliary Equipment, however, can make a mission a walk in the park or a walk in Hell. That said, these are the most useful weapons/equipment available to you. 1. Medpack: This is an obvious one. You get hurt, you use it, you�re fine again. Not rocket science. 2. AN M8: Smoke grenades WILL make Devil�s Due possible to beat (I think that it�s safe to say that without an extreme amount of luck, Devil�s Due is IMPOSSIBLE to beat without AN M8). There�s the obvious advantage of being temporarily invisible to your enemy as long as you move with the smoke between you and them. However, there�s also the (not-so-realistic) advantage of you being able to use it without arousing the suspicion of your enemies! 3. Sniper Rounds: Like I said in the Training Guide above, sniping is THE MOST VALUABLE SKILL you have in this game, and the more times you can use it during a mission, obviously the more useful it gets. A word of advice, however: if there�s a way for you to take the enemy out WITHOUT sniping him, even if it may force you to rearrange your team or wait for enemies to turn around so you can move closer, whatever � DO IT. If I had a dollar for every time I whisked through the first bit of a mission, sniping everyone I saw, and then got to the hard part at the end and had no sniper rounds left, I�d be rich. Even once you can carry up to thirty rounds, you can NEVER have enough, so use them wisely! 4. HE: The ability to take out or seriously wound a large group of enemies . . . �nuff said. 5. Red Dot Scopes: They actually DO increase accuracy, I�ve found � not by a HUGE amount, but it�s noticeable. 6. Everything else. Also, just in case you�re wondering what weapons and equipment I bring into missions, I�ll tell you. Wraith: M82A1A with a High Scope and a Bipod, and an HK7 with a Red Dot Scope and a Suppressor 1, with a Model 18 Pistol (although I�ve never had to use the pistols before, and don�t know how to anyway). Three sets of Sniper Rounds, one set of Medpacks, and one set of AN M8 grenades. Bronco and Kahuna: SFCR-LW with a Red Dot Scope and Suppressor 1, and an HK7 with a Red Dot Scope and a Suppressor 1, with Model 18 Pistol. Three sets of Medpacks, one set of HE grenades, and one set of AN M8 grenades. Aztec: MG. 43 with a Red Dot Scope and a Bipod, and an HK7 with a Red Dot Scope and a Suppressor 1, with a Model 18 Pistol. Three sets of Medpacks, one set of HE grenades, and one set of AN M8 grenades. CONTACT . . . [024] If there's something I missed, such as Bonus Objectives or tricks to make missions easier, or if you want something explained further, or you want to hook me up with some sweet ASCII art, or pretty much want to talk anything about this game, email me at freddonzolo (at) gmail (dot) com (spelled out to avoid those damned spambots). LEGAL . . . [025] SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike (c) 2007 Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. Developed by Slant Six Games, Inc. This guide and all its contents (c) 2007 Wilfredo S. Duran. GameFaqs, Cheat Code Central, Neoseeker, and Supercheats are the only sites allowed to have this guide. If you see this guide somewhere other than those sites, please email me immediately with a link. THANKS . . . [026] I'd like to thank Sony and Slant Six for making this game interesting enough to spur me to write my first FAQ about it, I'd like to thank my dad for getting me the game, and I'd especially like to thank the actual, real-life U.S. Navy SEALs who put their lives on the line every day for real, to keep us safe.