Duck and Cover

Yeah, so I'm new to the game... Anyway, I don't understand how to complete this mission. The part giving me trouble is the hill to the northwest. There seems to be only one entrance, and as soon as I send anyone there they get killed in one hit. There doesn't seem to be any way to get inside since SM's are guarding the entrance on permanent overwatch mode. There are also mines which my 95% trapper can't detect.

Am I missing something? So far this seems impossible.

Yes, you're missing something all right, namely that you're not supposed to go inside the SM Operations Center, which is what you're trying to get into. That place has abosolutely nothing to do with completing the mission, so you might want to spare yourself some of the headache and just leave it alone.

But then again, you might not want to leave it alone, so I will give you two little tricks that you can use to figure out a solution.

First, the APC can cross the "moat" around the SM Operations Center. I suggest crossing it at the SE corner, right near a pile of sandbags that has a chest near it.

Second, there is a "secret" (hard to see, really) entrance along the eastern side of the SM Operations Center, near the NE corner. You can get troops up there, but I recommend clearing off the bulk of the SMs defending it first, else you'll probably have more than a few KIAs thanks to SMs w/SAWs and a nasty height advantage.

It's up to you now.

Cheers,

OTB

PS This should go w/o saying, but, "Save your game before you try any of it." I doubt you'll get it first try and you very well may get the APC stuck in the moat, which means you'll be unable to complete the mission.

those mines piss me off

if you don't want to risk getting the APC stuck, maybe send in a lone sniper

Yeah, it's a tough place to crack. That's why in your map it says you're not authorized to take it. You get lots of experience for clearing it out, though, plus some super-rare depleted uranium .50 caliber shells. What I do is clear out the top side first from the trenches across the moat. The sniper rifle you find in this mission is perfect for that, plus you can turn the otherwise annoying burst-fire bug to your advantage by shooting a pack of mutants and usually hitting everybody _but_ your target even if your chance is 0%. Once you've cleared them out, you can go around. You can't climb the hill with the undetectable mines, but you can hug the moat and go around the other side. Once there, your best bet is to sneak around and then ambush enemies with everything you've got at once once you get in position. That's pretty much the only way you'll take out the two with Brownings and depleted uranium shells, as they will wipe your party out if they even get one burst off.

If only I had MV's 50 caliber sniper's rifle in that mission I could have kicked ass.

As i refused to read all of the instructions i was unaware of the fact the SM command center was not to be assaulted, so i did.

Eventually i managed to kill all mutants but the leader that for some reason seemed to be able to spot me whichever route i took to get close enough to attack him. Perhaps hes invulnerable since killing their leader would make the situation unsuitable for the plot ahead. Anyway, i never made any further attempts to neuralise him cause it was at that point i found out i wasnt supposed to infiltrate the base at all.

All well ud say....yet there is this one thing that drew my attention as i was playing the mission that i havent yet made out. When u attempt to enter the base via the main entrance which is guarded heavily, at a certain point u get shot at by a minigun. the gunfire seemed to be comming out of the side of the stairways i wasclimbing but i couldnt see nor destroy it.

Could anyone tell me what this is about?

Ok, thanks for all the advice... I actually hadn't read the little blurb that said I'm not authorized to attack the main base, I just thought I was supposed to get in there and rescue Barnaky...

I still tried attacking them just for the hell of it, but my squad wasn't that powerful. So after getting chewed up by those M2's and invisible mines for the umpteenth time, I've decided to leave it alone for now.

You should at least try to get that chest OTB mentioned, it contains a unique weapon. A quite good one at that, uses common ammo as well.

Good gun, i liked the Enfield, its just i never thought it was good against super mutants. And the way i would take the hill, patience, you just move up 2 ppl at a time.