Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps by Kaizoebara Version 0.50 6/24/2009 Contact me: m21peace_at_gmx_dot_de ***Contents:*** 1. Introduction 2. General Advice Misc. Strategy Briefing Trouble-Shooting 3. Walkthrough Intro Mission Mission 1 Mission 2 Mission 3 Mission 4 Mission 5 Mission 6 Mission 7 Mission 8 4. Legal stuff ***1. Introduction*** Well now, after reading a lot of FAQs, I think it's time for me to contribute. I have the 1.18 version of the game in German and would like to present you with my walkthrough for this neat little game - let me know how it worked out! For starters I only wrote up the German missions, so if you are interested in the rest, drop me a line and I will amend my walkthrough. Since this is a pretty old game, I don't want to spend time on writing a complete walkthrough that nobody's interested in. I played through this game on normal difficulty and then again on easy to write the walkthrough. It seems to me that the difficulty settings do not influence the number of enemies, rather their strength and intelligence. I have played the story mode, so there will be some more missions than in the campaign mode. Although this walkthrough was written using the German version of the game, things should be easy enough to understand, I hope. If not, drop me a line. I will not list anything that the game will tell you anyway so as not to unneccessarily inflate the walkthrough. I will give you the strategy that worked for me, but there are of course different possibilites to win a mission. I will give you secondary and hidden objectives before each mission so that you will know what to expect. Accomplishing secondary and hidden missions will reward you prestige points that translate into special units. I will give you my selection of units at the briefing, however, missions should be possible to complete with default settings. ***2. General Advice*** You might want to consider the following advice. Misc.: - quicksave often - units will gather up to three experience points, provided they see the end of the mission - captured enemy units will carry over into the next mission, i. e. be availiable for selection in the briefing - the minimap will be the reference for N, E, S, and W in the walkthrough; remember to adjust your field of vision holding the mouse-wheel button - beware of mines, especially in harder difficulties they're devastating - units can't shoot while in the process of digging in, so make sure you have time to do so Strategy: - frontal assaults will most likely end in desaster - scouting will give you the opportunity to get the first hit, which is always a good idea - riflemen can't harm tanks, but flamethrowers and grenadiers can - pause to give out orders as this will help you manage difficult situations - elevated positions enhance reach and view - flanking will be effective as units have weak sides and are slow to turn, especially when dug in - move in formation if your units have different moving speeds to avoid spreading them too thin - moving in formation will also prevent repair trucks from being the first unit to confront the enemy - use the cover of buildings to protect the weak sides of your tanks, if there are no buildings let them dig in facing the direction where you expect the enemy assault to come from - repair your tanks/heal your soldiers inbetween fights - sometimes it may be a good idea to temporarily abandon a tank or other vehicle that is about to be destroyed, because the enemy units will stop shooting it, giving you the chance to recapture and repair instead of loosing that unit - try to confront enemy units one at a time with as much firepower as availiable, take your time - luck favors the well prepared, use briefings to swap useless units like trucks, jeeps, or flamethrowers for tanks, be picky - make sure your units are properly manned, as they will be most effective that way - make your hits count, let your units aim for the turret on enemy tanks - pick out flamethrowers in enemy squads and shoot them first, as they are the most dangerous, also, they will explode, killing or injuring other enemy soldiers Briefing: - vehicles that are occupied by your hero will sometimes cost two mission points more than normal, so simply delete the vehicle from your selection and then add it again, so your hero will start the misson without a vehicle, but you can always throw out one of the crew and let your hero hop in - also in briefings, prefer the more experienced units, as they cost the same amount of mission points as unexperienced ones - flamethrowers and grenadiers are expendable most of the time, though they may harm tanks, they seldomly get close enough to do so Trouble-Shooting: - AI is weak in finding its way, your units will ignore move commands if the way is blocked, friendly units will not move out of the way - sometimes units won't move when the way is too far and/or poorly scouted, use shift key and right click to set waypoints to make sure your units take the route you want - ocassionally units get hung up on one another and you will have to untangle them before they will behave normally again In the walkthrough, consider all of the above advice, since I will not repeat it. This goes especially for repairing/healing your units, check them after each of the steps and patch 'em up as needed. I will also assume that you have read the manual, so read it if you haven't already. ***3. Walkthrough*** Intro Mission Primary Objectives: - all heroes must survive (I will list it this once, since it is an objective in every mission) Solution: - you can go through the village to the N or use the less heavily guarded valley to the NW, both passages should not be a problem since your heroes' reach is far greater than that of the nomads - when you reach the plane there will be a cutscene - Hartmann volunteers to man the MG-42 and you can fetch him with the Sd.Kfz.250 after he has fought off the nomads - when your hero is in the halftrack just move to the smoke to end the mission Mission 1 Briefing: Trade one rifleman, the BMW-R75, and the Opel Blitz for another Sd.Kfz.250. Primary Objectives: - proceed to the oasis - secure the village Secondary Objectives: - kill all retreating enemies Hidden Objectives: - occupy all 3 Daimler MK-II Solution: - load 6 of your soldiers onto the Sd.Kfz.250s - drive your Sd.Kfz.263 to the W of the rocks, together with one Sd.Kfz.250 as a guard - you should see the first Daimler MK-II, the other two are to the SW of the village - drive the Sd.Kfz.250 and the Sd.Kfz.263 in formation towards the SW of the village - drive the other Sd.Kfz.250 to the first Daimler MK-II, unload your soldiers and let them occupy the Daimler MK-II - by now the Sd.Kfz.263 should have uncovered the location of the two other Daimler MK-IIs - send your remaining soldiers to occupy one of those and unload the Sd.Kfz.250 to occupy the other one - when all Daimler MK-IIs are occupied, you can sweep the village - as soon as the secondary objective pops up, send all of your Daimler MK-IIs N to the left-turn in the road N of the village, they should be able to catch all enemies on their way - as soon as the message pops up saying you fulfilled the secondary objective you should regroup in the center of the village - the allied assault consists of two tanks coming from the N and one coming from the S - a good strategy is to leave one Daimler MK-II to the S and two N, all three near your Sd.Kfz.263, so that they get the first shot - the remaining units should be placed between the Daimler MK-IIs - after the first two allied tanks have been defeated, command one or both of the Daimler MK-IIs in the N to reinforce the Daimler MK-II in the S - mission will end when you have defeated the allied assault Mission 2 Briefing: You can trade one Opel Blitz, both grenadiers, and machine-gunner for the Daimler MKII Primary Objectives: - hold Mersa Brega - destroy the allied camp Hidden Objectives: - rescue both 75-mm-cannons Solution: - drive the Sd.Kfz.263 up the W mountain and place it on the E edge of the plateau - use your soldiers to fully man the Italian tanks and occupy the 75-mm-cannons on both mountain tops, use the Opel Blitz to transport the 75-mm-cannon from the E mountain to the foot of the W mountain - move your Panzer II Fs to the W side of the pass behind the Italian defenses, since this will be the focus of the allied attack, let them dig in - it is a good idea to have your tanks and PA PAK-38 aim for the turrets of the incoming tanks, although it may be tedious, but it will pay off - keep your remaining soldiers ready to stock up the crew of the tanks and PA PAK-38s in case they are killed - when the command comes to counter-attack, immediately place all of your tanks at the foot of the E mountain and have them dig in, because 2 tanks will come down the path soon - when the message doesn't appear although there are no more attacks, send one of your soldiers to look for remaining enemy tanks and use your Daimler MK-II to lure it towards the PA PAK-38s to finish it - after the remaining enemy units are destroyed, the message should appear - shortly after the command to counter-attack, reinforcements will arrive from the S and so send them to the E and place them behind your already dug in tanks and let them dig in as well, if time permits - destroy both enemy tanks and regroup to go N - you should have 4 Panzer II F by now, so assign them group 1 and assign group 2 to the Sd.Kfz.263 and one of the other tanks as a guard (it's best to switch this tank to "return fire", so that he doesn't draw unwanted attention to your scouting vehicle) - drive both groups up the road and have group 2 stop as soon as you spot an enemy, order group 1 to take 'em out - proceed that way N until you reach the end of the road, then turn left first - there are two small cannons and one enemy tank, so again scout with group 2 and attack with group 1 - return to the road and use the same procedure (scout with group 2, attack with group 1) until all enemies are defeated; wait a bit after you shoot anything, because there are several units that will come to charge while you proceed - mission will end after you have killed all enemies Mission 3 Briefing: No changes this time. Primary Objectives: - destroy the allied base Secondary Objectives: - intercept the allied convoy Hidden Objective: - capture both trucks of the convoy Solution: - scout N and take your sniper along to shoot the guards on the S end of the city - guard your right flank as some enemy soldiers will come to attack you - in the middle of the city there is a tower with a sniper, to the W of the tower along the dirt road is the enemy base; in the E also following the dirt road, there is another small camp where you can get a Bedford MW repair truck, and yet another base to the NE of the city where you can get some tanks - scout along the SE border of the city to reach the E camp, stay close to the houses and don't leave your main force too far behind, as the attack from the right should commence, when you are spotted by an enemy plane while passing the first few houses - there will also be a jeep coming out of the city from the N, the crew will get out and also attack your units - go to the E camp, snipe the guards - get the Bedford MW and repair the Mark VIB you found S of the city, have it dig in in the middle of the road facing N and leave one of the scouts in a house nearby to provide reconnaissance, this will be important later - with the rest of your soldiers go along the E most way to the NE camp, take care to aviod the truck and the small tank patrolling the area - when you arrive at the NE camp use your soldiers to mount all of the tanks, leave the Cruiser behind to deal with the enemy soldiers attacking the camp, and to fend off the aforementioned tank and truck - move your brand new M3 Stuart tanks straight W to intercept the convoy that will appear soon after you capture the tanks - shoot both trucks once to immobilize them for later capture (it's best to order the tanks to hold fire for that) and let the half-track escape, your Mark VIB you left in the S will handle it - if you are successful in immobilizing (not destroying) the trucks, a tank will appear, shoot it - as for the crew of the trucks, run them over with your tanks, as shooting them may very well destroy the trucks - regroup your tanks to the N and take a scout along, move south and kill the snipers on the tower as well as the soldiers guarding the crossroads - turn W towards the enemy base, flank them from the N by taking the route along the hill that runs parallel to the dirt road - take out the two tanks at the entrance of the base - enter the base and capture the flag to end the mission Mission 4 Briefing: Trade the flamethrowers and as much as neccessary of the grenadiers, machine gunners, and soldiers to get two Panzer IIF, since soldiers are only needed to occupy vehicles in this mission. Primary Objectives: - your hero must be the last one leaving the area - get at least one truck through the valley Secondary Objectives: - destroy the allied artillery Hidden Objective: - lead all trucks of the convoy into safety Solution: - first tighten the column of the convoy by placing your soldiers near the trucks (the "move in formation" command works wonders here) - let the Sd.Kfz.11 join the line and place one Panzer IIF in front of the column and one in the back - take the remaining tanks and the Sd.Kfz.263 and assign 1 for the tanks and 2 for the Sd.Kfz.263 as these two groups will do nearly all of the fighting - scout/move W, until you are engaged by allied tanks, destroy them - move back to the column and then go E to the S side of the oasis and destroy the tank there - return to column and engage the S entrance of the city, destroy the bunker and all opposition that charges at you - move to the SW corner of the city and move NE to flank an allied tank - use the W-E road to flank a small tank on the main road, then return to where you destroyed the other tank in the SW corner of the city - move N to the next W-E road to flank two tanks guarding the main road, these have priority over the small tabk in the camp NE of the crossroads - SE from the small camp is another tank that can be flanked easily - there should be no more tanks in the city by now, so now look for houses occupied by allied forces and sweep 'em - use your hero tank (Panzer IIIJ) alone to go up the W mountain and destroy or disable the artillery there (I'd advise against destroying it, since it will come in handy clearing the entrance of the valley) - the artillery on the E mountain can be reached by using the small path leading straight up, I can't see how, but your tank will be able to climb up the narrow path and destroy/disable the artillery - if you occupied the artillery, use your Sd.Kfz.263 to scout and the artillery to destroy the tank and the two cannons guarding the entrance of the valley - if you destroyed the artillery just reassemble your group 1 and have the Panzer IIIGs attack one cannon each and take on the tank with your hero - frontal assault will work here, since the defenders are weak - lead all of your units to the green smoke in the N with the hero tank trailing to end the level Mission 5 Briefing: I'd swap specialized infantry like flamethrowers for riflemen, because you will need a lot of soldiers to man the defenses and the damaged tanks in this level. Primary Objectives: - defend the repair shop - repair and evacuate at least 10 tanks - retreat with all units Secondary Objectives: - evacuate all units before your hero leaves the area Hidden Objective: - evacuate all damaged tanks Solution: - this mission doesn't require a lot of strategy, I'll give some hints nonetheless - first, man the defenses, the Flak 88 have priority over the PA PAK-40 - group your tanks which are located SW of your base and send them around the base to give fire support where needed, beware of the mines around the camp - look for the damaged tanks, they will be shown as black spots on the mini-map and have a red circle above them, which changes to green when the tank is repaired - send the soldiers to those tanks that have intact tracks and let them drive to the repair shop - send one soldier for one tank and make sure the tanks don't run over mines on their way to the repair shop - use the Sd.Kfz.11 halftracks to repair those tanks with broken tracks, bear in mind that two soldiers can ride in the back, command those to man the tanks - send them for the repair shop as soon as the tracks are repaired, move on with the Sd.Kfz.11 - use the street towards the exit as a rallying point, as it is relatively safe, don't let the tanks evacuate yet - make sure to check the repair shop regularly for finished tanks, order them to the rallying point - have the truck and some of the tanks, especially those with large crew capacity wait in the base - count the soldiers in the base, including those manning the defenses and occupying buildings, and make sure you have room for all of them - when you have collected all the tanks start moving them towards the exit and be ready to abandon the base - when the order comes to leave the base, simply put your soldiers in the truck and tanks and leave - evacuate everyone to end the level, make sure your hero leaves last *You are asked whether you want to use the blitzkrieg mode in the next mission, meaning you'll start with all the units that have survived, they will be repaired and ready to go. As this is a surprise attack, the enemy will have less reinforcements. If you saved all the tanks this might be a good thing to try, but I chose not to, in order to be able to give you information on the briefing for the next level. Mission 6 Briefing: Trade anything that doesn't look like a tank, but keep one Sd.Kfz.263, a Sd.Kfz.11 and the Blitz special unit Primary Objectives: - destroy at least 10 enemy artillery - retreat Secondary Objectives: - destroy all tanks in the "Cauldron" Hidden Objective: - destroy all enemy artillery Solution: - the weakest point in the defense line is far E - scout and breach the defense line with some of your tanks, establish a foothold in front of the defenseline and let one of the pinoneers (there should be two of them on your Sd.Kfz.11) sweep the mines - establish another foothold beyond the defense line - have your remaining units catch up - a good tactic is to split your tanks in two or three groups of the same number and strength - move with one group while the other covers the advance of the first group - then the first group provides cover while the second group overtakes the first and sets up in front of them - always order the covering group to dig in and have the repair units hide behind - with this method you should be able to fend off enemy tanks that will come for you - move to the NE of the map, to the entrance of the valley and destroy the tanks there, in defeating those tanks you complete the second objective - from there move W towards the enemy artillery in the NW - be especially careful when you close in on the artillery as there is a bunch of tanks guarding them - after destroying the stationary artillery, the rest of the mobile artillery will try to escape - follow the artillery S down the slope, but take your time and be careful, since the artillery will not leave the map - at the end of the slope you should be able to catch up with two of the enemy artillery - you can now go NE and round the N of the lake to find a deserted allied tank waiting for you to take and get back to where you cut through the defenses - now carefully go W and sweep up the remains of the defense line, the remaining artillery should be somewhere along the way ot the S of the lake - remember to stay away from the sandbags as there are mines everywhere - as soon as you got the remaining artillery you can retreat to the existing breach or continue W - if you continue W, destroy the remains of the defense line and make a new breach (that's what I did) - when crossing the defense line rember to sweep those mines - evacuate S to end the mission Mission 7 Briefing: Again, trade anything that is not a tank, an anti-air unit, repair unit, or your rusty trusty Sd.Kfz.263. Try to get antoher Tiger tank or, if you completed the secondary and hidden objectives, the special Tiger tank; you can even trade in some of the weaker tanks, because those Tigers more than make up for the loss. Primary Objectives: - search and destroy British anti-air units - kill El Ifirit Secondary Objectives: - secure the "Via Balbia" street Hidden Objective: - capture the British Bofors units Solution: - the secret objective of this mission was too much of a hassle for me, since I already had enough prestige points and completing the hidden objective will give you only one prestige point, I didn't bother - if you want to try, the best way to do it is probably to command one of your Tiger tanks to hold fire and move in on the Bofors units, manually destroying all other enemy units, close up on the Bofors, unload your soldiers to kill its crew and mount it with one of the men - anyway, if you have completed all the secondary and hidden objectives up to this point, you already have all the prestige points you'll need for the German missions - except for the secret objective this mission should not be hard to beat, just make sure that your anti-air units are switched to anti-air mode at all times - save often, as bombers will attack you frequently in this mission and they might get lucky despite your Flaks and even after you have successfully shot down an allied bomber, it might crash into one of your units - from your starting point move E to the road, watch the enemy coming in from the S go up in smoke, you gotta love them Tiger tanks :) - you may want to take a deserted anit-air unit with you, but leave the rest of the deserted units for now - move up the road and destroy the bunkers as well as the MG-42s along the way to complete the secondary objective - watch for mines in the vincinity of the road blocks and around the anti-air positions - to the W of each road block is an anti-air position, which you may want to destroy while you're in the area - by the time you're done with your second objective you should be near a dirt road that leads W to a camp - N of that dirt road is another anti-air position, destroy that as well - follow the dirt road until you are at the gates of the camp - shoot the guards, sweep mines and liberate the Italian POWs with your hero - load the POWs on the trucks and return to the road in the E - mount/repair the tanks you want, don't go for second best, you didn't trade in your weak units during the briefing to capture puny amored troop carriers, leave the trucks behind as well - the last anti-air position outside of the city is at the small lake on the SE corner of the city - there are two anti-air positions in the city, one N and one S, marked by red Xs on the minimap - since you are already near the S one you can take that first - gather your troops on the field S of the city and keep your distance, because when you are getting near the city there will be enemy artillery aimed at your troops - I have found it easiest to just take the two Tiger tanks and move N on the street that runs straight through the city from S to N - when you are near the town you will be warned of incoming artillery, but they should fall down behind yout tanks if you keep them moving - just going past the position of the S anti-air position should give your Tiger tanks enough opportunity to destroy it - continue N and you will find El Ifirit W of the road with some tanks around - your tigers should make short work of the tanks without taking a lot of damage - El Ifirit will mount one of the tanks, destroy it and kill El Ifirit when he leaves the destroyed tank - continue N to destroy the last anti-air position - if you want to capture the Bofors units, it is probably better to get the N one first, then go for the S one, and kill El Ifirit last *You are again asked whether you want to use the blitzkrieg mode in the next mission, but again I chose not to, to give you information on the briefing for the next level. Mission 8 Briefing: Get 3 Tiger tanks and whatever units you have come to prefer, probably Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs. Trade in the Semovente and other useless units, like the planes and artillery, you won't need those. Primary Objectives: - conquer and secure the harbor - conquer and secure the palace - conquer and secure the station - kill artillery on Medaura Hill Secondary Objectives: - destroy all allied artillery Solution: - this one's tough with the standard selection, but with three Tiger tanks you should be able to tear through the allied defenses like nobody's business - first, take your three Tiger tanks and move N - destroy allied trenches and all the tanks in the area, move to about halfway up the minimap - retreat to the hill in the S and drive up the slope on its W side - destroy all units on top of the hill to complete the that part of the primary objectives - move all the way to the W and take the rest of your units with you - again, select the Tigertanks and move N - attack the bunker in the N, be careful of mines in that area - after the bunker is destroyed and the area secured, have your remaining units join the Tiger tanks - sweep the mines - let your Tiger tanks pass the defense line and move them E along the S edge of the city flanking the defenses which are pointing S - you will be attacked by mobile artillery, but you won't need to rush to get them, since they are pretty inaccurate and weak - continue E until you have destroyed the last bunker, on your way you should have shot up all of the mobile artillery, thereby completing the secondary objective - you probably won't need to stop for repairs, the Tiger tanks are that strong - anyway, return W to your remaining units at the W bunker - from there, move the Tiger tanks N to the harbor, destroy the allied reinforcements coming from the W - continue E and conquer the flag, have the rest of your units follow - leave 3 or 4 of your weaker tanks (of the Panzer III-type) at the flag and have them dig in facing SW - if you have a scout, let him go prone behind the tanks, this should be enough to guard the harbor - continue E along the fence of the harbor with the Tiger tanks and conquer the palace - again leave some of your tanks (Panzer IV-type) dug in facing SW together with a scout in prone position right behind them - continue E with your Tiger tanks on the way to the N that runs parallel to the main road - secure the N of the station and have your Stug IIID or other assault guns (tanks without a rotating turret) dig in, aiming along the main road towards NE - you can also place a scout or the Sd.Kfz.236 behind them - place the rest of your tanks at the watchtower NW of the railroad tracks, have them face W, but don't dig them in - move S with your Tigers and destroy the remaining units in the S part of the station, intercept the allied reinforcements that will appear to the SE of the station, leave your Tiger tanks there together with your repair unit, no need to dig them in - since you have destroyed the allied air defense, you now have bombers at your command - the bombers will most likely not be of much use, since your defenses should be able to handle all opposition before the planes arrive - you can call them nonetheless, as they will circle the assigned area if they don't find targets for their remaining bombs, and start attacking enemys as they come into sight - the mission ends when you are able to hold all three flags for 5 minutes, there is a countdown on top of the screen telling you how much time is left After the mission stats there will be a little cutscene. That's it! This concludes the German missions! Congrats! The allied missions will be added if there's demand, so drop me a line! ***4. Legal stuff*** I have the copyright on this walkthrough, guide, however you want to call it. If you want to use it for your site, you are kindly requested to ask permission. Any fair use, however, will be tolerated. Fair use includes, but isn't limited to: - giving proper credit when citing or using the FAQ in whole - not trying to make any money with the information presented here. If you do, contact me about a proper compensation If you can't follow these simple rules, there'll be a special place in hell for you! And possible legal repercussions, too. If you have spotted mistakes or if you have anything you want to contribute, just send me an email with the information and I will include it in the walkthrough and give you proper credit for it.
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