BLADE THRUST TACTICS STRATEGY GUIDE The Short Version Last Updated 12 November 2009 © Edy Kajang 2009. All rights reserved. TABLE OF CONTENT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Stuff Introduction Urban Combat 101 Which Operative to Choose? Marksmanship Skill Points List Personality Matters in This Game Energy and Health - Can't Live With Them! Rules of Engagements Choosing Your First Mission Suggestion For Mission Order Valour Alliance Base Equip Your Squad With Weapon and Ammo Buy Ammo and Combat Jacket Valour Lead Mine Get Rid The Outdoor Resistance Get Rid The Indoor Resistance Unlock Door Using Locksmith Kit Assemble TNT With Detonator Get Rid The War Machines Get Rid The Rooftop Resistance Get Rid The Bodies Valour Iron Mine Where Can I Get That RPG Launcher? Valour Soldier Warehouse Valour EVF Fort Valour Tranquillity Inn Valour Town Hall What To Do Next? Reverence Alliance Base Reverence Asylum Reverence Gun Factory Reverence Cutlery Factory Reverence Nickel Mine Reverence Copper Mine Reverence Aspire Hall Honour Alliance Base Honour Obedience Mansion Honour Cemetery Honour Old School Honour Wine Factory Honour Bread Factory Honour Theatre Game Unknown Secrets Easter Egg Explore Mode Get Free Item! LEGAL STUFF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This strategy guide is provided free of charge from the game developer to anyone who are interested to play Blade Thrust Tactics. There are 2 versions - the short version and the full version. The short version is accessible to anyone and can be distributed to any website or any means necessary. The full version of strategy guide is reserved for anyone who upgrade to the full version of the game. It is some sort of incentive to persuade anyone to upgrade to the full version. You can only get the full version of strategy guide directly from developer through e-mail. You have the right to make a backup copy of it but you are not allowed to distribute the full version to any website or any mean necessary. This strategy guide is continuously updated from time to time so the most recent update of the short version are always available from the game website. The full version will be automatically sent to anyone who upgrade to the full version of the game from time to time through e-mail. If you rather not having the full version sent to you from time to time, just send blank e-mail to the developer with the title "Stop Blade Thrust Tactics Strategy Guide". E-mail contact - edykajang@bladethrusttactics.com This strategy guide is in printer friendly format. Yahoo! INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the exciting world of Core. Blade Thrust Tactics is a challenging tactical combat game with lots of things to do in the game. For the beginner who've not get accustomed to playing tactical combat game before, this game can be intimidating to play at first. But don't worry. As much as I'm working hard to make this game enjoyable to play, I'm also working hard to make the game accessible to be played for beginner. The game has training game mode which works as some sort of tutorial game mode for the beginner. In addition, most of the game feature has been extensively documented in the game manual so you can refer to it if you get confused playing the game from time to time. If you are having problem playing certain mission, there is even mission recon details you can refer in the game website. With so many reference available on your fingertips, does this strategy guide is necessary for you? Absolutely yes, my friend. Otherwise I won't write this stuff for you, won't I? If you decided to refer to this strategy guide, let me remind you this strategy guide contains lots of spoilers. If you are the kind of player who like to discover things by yourself, then don't read this strategy guide. The strategy and tactics mentioned in this guide gives you general idea on what you can expect from the game. You don't have to follow it to the letter. In fact, I will encourage you to come out with your own tactics as you play the game. You can enjoy the game more that way. The game is flexible enough to allow variation in tactics and strategy. Take note that this strategy guide only works on game with version 0.90. If you have older version such as 0.87, I suggest you upgrade the game to the latest version. You can either download the latest game version or the latest game patch on the game website. To know which game version you have, go to Main Menu Panel. The game version will be displayed on the right part of your screen. Blade Thrust Tactics 0.90 - http://www.bladethrusttactics.com/BladeThrustInstall.exe Blade Thrust Tactics 0.90 Patch - http://www.bladethrusttactics.com/BladeThrust0.90.zip URBAN COMBAT 101 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most of combat in the game takes place inside building so you need to brush up your tactical knowledge in urban combat warfare. If you have played tactical combat game that focuses heavily on urban combat, you can easily apply your knowledge and use it to handle challenges thrown out by the game. If you are a newbie and don't even know what urban combat means, here is some quick guide that you can follow: 1) Don't be in stand position all the times. You have to change to crouch position especially when you move. 2) Get close to any cover you can find at all times. This way if enemy spot you, you can take cover much faster while reducing the chance of you getting killed. Cover does not necessarily mean object. Wall also can be used as cover. 3) Charging towards enemies is not always the best policy. If you can attack them from distance, do it. Sniping can be fun if you have the right attitude. 4) Make every shot counts. Don't just shoot for the sake of shooting. Learn several factors that can improve your chance to hit enemies. 5) Take advantage of light. Always try to move to the darker area so stay away from bright area. 6) If you suspect there are enemies inside the room, you can quickly open the door and throw frag or stun grenade into the room to confuse the enemies. Then quickly charge towards the room. WHICH OPERATIVE TO CHOOSE? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The early part of the game is the most important part because if you make bad decision hiring wrong type of operative, you'll find it harder to carry out your mission. So don't pick any operative just because he or she is good looking. Pick an operative for skill they have and their personality. Since this is a combat game, you must have at least 2 operatives really good in marksmanship skill. What I mean really good is operative with skill around 80%. The rest of the squad could be operative having lock picking and explosive skill. You must have at least one operative having lock picking skill because there are lots of locked doors in the game. Operative skilled in explosive is needed to activate TNT which can be used to destroy war machine. There is no need to hire any operative with medical skill because all operative can patch their injury by using painkiller drug. Marksmanship Skill Points List Here is operatives marksmanship skill points arranged from the top to the bottom. I also include their specific skill for easier reference. As you can see only as much as half of total operatives have really good marksmanship skill. The rest have mediocre marksmanship skill especially the operative with specific skill in explosive and medical skill. So you should not depend on them to provide major fire power. Chill - 85 - mechanical Phantom - 84 - leadership Frenzy - 83 - leadership Finesse - 82 - leadership Reaver - 82 - mechanical Steel - 82 - mechanical Slayer - 81 - mechanical Temper - 81 - mechanical Butcher - 80 - lock picking Legacy - 80 - mechanical Spook - 79 - mechanical Blaze - 76 - lock picking Rogue - 75 - lock picking Curves - 54 - lock picking Shiver - 54 - mechanical Stone - 54 - explosive Shield - 53 - explosive Havoc - 52 - explosive Shadow - 51 - lock picking Shark - 51 - explosive Rush - 50 - medical Mercy - 51 - medical Talon - 49 - medical Cross - 47 - medical Personality Matters in This Game Does personality is that really important? You probably thinking this is just a combat game so combat skill is much more important than personality. If you think like that, that you are absolutely wrong! Personality is as much important as combat skill and sometimes more important in certain condition. Personality affect how much each operative can sustain getting hurt before they gave up and automatically take cover ignoring your order. If you want tough operative, choose the one with aggressive or psychopathic personality. On the other hand, any operative with friendly or pessimistic personality will just flee the moment they get hurt. How sissy! Personality also affect their own behaviour when handling enemy. Most operative will gladly attack any enemy they see if you give them option to act on their own ( Guard or Assist behaviour mode ). The exception to this is operative with friendly personality. If you give them option to act on their own, they didn't do anything if they see an enemy. Check out this funny dialogue. Squad Leader : Why didn't you attack the enemy? Curves : I just can't! I didn't have the guts to kill them. Squad Leader : What kind of crap are you talking? I give you order to kill someone and you do it. And now they tell me you don't have the guts? Curves : That's different. I'm just carrying out your order. If you don't order me to kill someone, then I'm just sitting around. Squad Leader : What? You just sitting around when the enemy try to kill you? Curves : I can always flee. It's what I do best if I get hurt. Pretty amusing dialogue don't you think? Here is the list of personality with operatives that belong to it: Friendly - Finesse, Shiver, Curves, Talon Optimistic - Steel, Stone, Cross Calm - Phantom, Legacy, Spook, Rogue, Shield Individualistic - Chill, Reaver, Shadow, Shark Pessimistic - Slayer, Mercy Aggressive - Frenzy, Temper, Blaze, Rush Psychopathic - Butcher, Havoc ENERGY AND HEALTH - CAN'T LIVE WITH THEM! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Health and energy is also resources in its own way because without it, your operative can't function properly. For every minute, certain energy point will be depleted. So don't be surprised to find out your operative will get tired. To recover the lost energy, all you have to do is to instruct your operative to take a rest ( sleep ). Fortunately, you can also instruct your operative to eat some food to instantly recover their energy. If your operative get hit, some of their health point will be lost. Same as energy, the lost health point can be recovered through sleep. In Inventory Panel, make sure both Hand 1 and Hand 2 are empty. In Main View Panel, there is Rest button. Left click on it will force the operative to drop to the ground to sleep. Rest is only possible in a safe place not populated by alive enemy. I have written a list of exact energy and health point recovered for every minute for each operative. Endurance Operatives Energy Health Energy Health Point Per Minute Per Minute Per Hour Per Hour 60 Phantom 0.24 0.06 14.4 3.6 Chill Finesse Frenzy Cross Talon Rush Mercy 70 Temper 0.28 0.07 16.8 4.2 Steel Spook Butcher Shadow Rogue Blaze Curves Shark Havoc Shield Stone 80 Shiver 0.32 0.08 19.2 4.8 Legacy Slayer Reaver Roughly speaking, 1 hour of sleep will be able to recover about 4 - 5 health point. So a good night sleep of about 8 hours will be able to recover about 32 - 40 health point. This is almost equivalent to half of total health point. So if your operative is very badly injured, he might take about 2 good night sleeps to fully recover. However due to advancement in bio-pharmacy technology in the game, there is a wonder drug called Cell Vigour which can speed up recovering process of 1 health point for every minute. However the drug is rare. If you are playing the free version, you can get this baby out of Bang's hand in Valour Town Hall sector. It won't be easy, though. RULES OF ENGAGEMENTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The game has a flexible time table to it which allow you to play it slowly or as fast as your squad can handle it. For standard engagement, you can finish a mission every day. Since there are 18 missions, you can finish all the missions in 18 days. If you use this strategy, you probably attack at dawn. Once you've finished it, your squad will return to the base to recover any injury and to sell the loot. Repeat this process every day. For fast engagement, it is possible to finish 2 missions every day. This allows you to finish all the missions in 9 days. If you use this strategy, your first attack will be carried out at dawn. Once you've finished it, your squad will return to the base to recover any injury and to sell the loot. Your second attack will be carried out just after dark. Once you've finished it, your squad will stay at the sector, take a little of bit rest and get ready for another attack at dawn. Repeat this process every day. Fast engagement is possible and I've done it a couple of times. The problem with fast engagement is since the Alliance reward you with money for every successful mission, you are seriously draining the Alliance money pretty fast. It is possible the Alliance will run out of money in Day 3! With no money on the Alliance coffer, guerilla don't have the motivation to attack the soldiers which in turn will make the campaign slow to finish. So as you can see, your action can directly affect the progress of campaign. If you want a challenging campaign, be my guest and execute that fast engagement. If you can't handle the pressure, just taking your mission slowly. The game is very unique because just because you have finished all the mission does not necessarily mean you have win the campaign hence the game. You have done your part but the other guerilla also must do their part to make the campaign successful. So don't be surprised if you have to wait almost forever for the campaign to finish if you execute the fast engagement strategy. Well, you can use the free time selling loots you haven't have the chance selling it before. Or you can just participate in game of chess with Curves. Just kidding! I intend to add feature for your operative to do some marksmanship sparring training with the fellow guerilla. The benefits: 1) You can improve guerilla rank so they stand a better chance against the soldiers. 2) You can also improve your operative marksmanship skill point. 2) You can utilize time better instead of just waiting. Choosing Your First Mission Click Map Button to go to Town Map Panel. This panel allow your squad to go to any valid sector in the town. The valid sector in the town is marked with big dot. There are 7 big dots. One of the dots represent your current sector. In this case, it's the Alliance base. So you can go to any other 6 sectors. This gives you a tremendous flexibility in choosing which sector you want to go. You can either go to easier sector such as EVF Fort/ Tranquillity Inn or you can go to tough sector such as Lead Mine/ Iron Mine/ Soldier Warehouse/ Town Hall. You best option right now is to go to the tough sector. Choose either Lead Mine or Iron Mine at first. Soldier Warehouse mission should be done after that. Town Hall is the toughest mission in the town so you should do it the last. Probably you'll be asking why didn't I suggest a much more easier sector such as EVF Fort or Tranquillity Inn at first? Ah, that's the beauty of this game. It can trick you to go to easier path at the expense of severely making it harder for you in later part. You can carry out your mission at either EVF Fort or Tranquillity Inn. Problem is the enemy in that sector only carry melee weapon. Of course this makes killing them easier. But you'll depleted most of your ammo supply if you follow the path. It is possible your squad will run out of ammo after you've finished both sectors. This makes it harder to kill enemies in other sector as you have to use melee weapon to kill enemy that use ranged weapon. If that is the case, the enemy have an unfair advantage over you. So as you can see, the game force you to think strategically to survive in addition to tactical thinking required in the game. Your action in the game has consequences in later part of the game. Suggestion For Mission Order Since you are given a flexibility in choosing the order of mission, maybe you need a little bit of help in term of suggestion. OK, you've got it. For Valour town, you can either carry out Lead Mine or Iron Mine mission at first but don't carry out Soldier Warehouse mission at first. This is because TNTs which can destroy war machines can only be found in either Lead Mine or Iron Mine. The trio missions will gives yourself loads of spare ammo. Once you've finished all trio missions, now you can do EVF Fort and Tranquillity Inn mission without worrying too much about ammo problem. The last mission you should do in the town is Town Hall. Once you've finished all missions in Valour town, now you can go to Reverence town. If you have free version, you can't go to Reverence town so if you would like to continue the campaign, you have to upgrade the game to full version. Reverence town and beyond provides different challenge than what your squad face at Valour town. Valour town has been designed for newbie. Reverence town and beyond has been designed for experienced player. The enemy carrying powerful weapon so a successful burst shots from enemy is just enough to kill your operative. In Reverence town, you should do easier mission such as Asylum and Gun Factory. Both missions are populated with non soldier enemies so that should not pose a big problem to you. Once you've finished both missions, now you can do typical soldier populated missions such as Cutlery Factory, Nickel Mine and Copper Mine. Cutlery Factory mission provide boast to the Alliance coffer. The last mission you should do in the town is Aspire Hall. Once you've finished all missions in Reverence town, now you can go to Honour town. In Honour town, you should do easier mission such as Cemetery and Obedience Mansion. Both missions are populated with cultists. It is a very interesting encounter as it has a little bit of supernatural touch to it. Once you've finished both missions, now you can do typical soldier populated missions such as Old School, Wine Factory and Bread Factory. Old School mission provide boast to the Alliance coffer. The last mission you should do in the town is Theatre. OK, here is the suggestion order list: Valour - Lead Mine - Iron Mine - Soldier Warehouse - EVF Fort - Tranquillity Inn - Town Hall Reverence - Asylum - Gun Factory - Cutlery Factory - Nickel Mine - Copper Mine - Aspire Hall Honour - Obedience Mansion - Cemetery - Old School - Wine Factory - Bread Factory - Theatre VALOUR ALLIANCE BASE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you haven't play training game mode yet, I suggest you play it right now. The training game mode will give you basic knowledge on how to play the game. When you start a campaign, you'll start in Valour Alliance Base sector. This sector is basically a forest so if you scroll throughout the sector, all you can see is just loads of tree. Where is the base? The base is located beneath the forest - underground. This is necessary from security point of view because it makes the base hidden from plain sight which makes it harder for soldier to raid the place if they ever think to do that. Follow the path until you come into a small area covered with brick fence. There is stairs that lead beneath the underground base. Move your cursor on the edge on the stairs will turn it to climb down cursor. Left click on it and voilą, your operative is instantly on the underground level. No need to watch that tedious climbing down animation! Holy crap! What the hell is this place? The base is actually an ancient tomb to house the bodies of several warriors of the past involved in the First World War that happen several hundred years ago. So it's quite normal the place looks a little bit creepy. Notice the black cat? It is the manifestation of guardian spirit who protect the tomb. Equip Your Squad With Weapon and Ammo The base is basically comprises of 5 parts: 1) Left middle part in mini map - Blade Thrust squad room. 2) Top middle part in mini map - control room. You can talk to Pose. 3) Right middle part in mini map - guest room. You can talk to Skipper, Poise, Bang and Plus. 4) Bottom middle part in mini map - spare room. 5) Centre part in mini map - trader room. You can trade with Pinch, Single and Pierce. You should go Blade Thrust squad room. In this room, you'll have 3 cabinets to store items you've collected in the battlefield. In one of those cabinets, you'll find your initial supply of weapons, ammo, medical supplies and other stuff. There is another ammo supply on the next cabinet. Equip your operatives with the supply. Don't forget to bring locksmith kit. You need this stuff in order to open several locked door throughout the game. Once you've equipped your squad, it's time to buy more ammo for your squad. To buy item, go to the centre room. This is the room of which you can find traders whose willing to buy or sell item to your squad. Pinch is a weapon specialist whose only interested in weapon and explosives. Single is a doctor whose only interested in medical supplies. Pierce is a tailor whose interested in jacket or pant. Since the underground base is dark and the game does not render any creature in dark area, you might not see certain people even though you are absolutely sure he was there. The only way to get around this limitation is to allow one of your squad member to wear night vision goggle. Since your initial supply do include night vision goggle, instruct any of your squad member to use it. To use night vision goggle, you have to put it on face slot. That's it. Now you will be able to see Pinch in his full glory. Previously he wasn't there. Buy Ammo and Combat Jacket Buy any ammo you can get from Pinch. You need all the ammo you can get. This is necessary because the game has been designed in such a way that ammo is painfully scarce at the early part of the game. Without a careful planning, it is possible to exhaust all ammo your squad have since it takes a lot of bullet to kill enemy. This does not necessarily mean the enemy is tough. It means most of the weapon in the early part of the game inflict low damage. But as you progress through the game, you'll find more powerful weapon that inflict more damage so ammo wasn't a problem any more. Don't forget to buy High Explosive Shell. This is explosive you can use with Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher. You can get this awesome weapon for free in due time. You can also buy combat jacket and pant from Pierce. I suggest you buy some of it especially combat jacket if you have some money left. Choose the jacket with brown colour - it gives the most protection. In fact, the brown jacket is the most powerful armour in the game. It's good thing you can wear it right from the beginning. When was the last time you play a game that allow you to wear powerful armour right from the beginning? Once the shopping session is over, now it's time to get down to business. On Main View Panel, left click Map Button will give access to Town Map Panel. This panel will allow you to plot which sector you want to go. VALOUR LEAD MINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Town Map Panel, left click big dot on top left part of the town map. Then, you must choose a safe entry point to enter the sector. By default, you'll enter through south part of the sector. If you care to read mission recon details on the game website, you'll find out that 2 war machines aka tank are guarding the area. If you enter the sector through south part, then you are asking for trouble because the moment your squad enter the sector, the war machines will fire straight at you. Yes, they fire at you not at your squad member. Most of time they didn't miss. This will get you killed which in turn will kick you out of the game. You have been warned. Actually this eventual death has been mentioned in FAQ section of readme file of the game. I don't know how many people who play the game read that important stuff. If they read it, then they can avoid this calamity. If they didn't read it, well let just say they are going to have one hell of time playing this game! Get Rid The Outdoor Resistance The only safe place to enter the sector is on the north part aka top right of the map. This mean your squad start the game level from inside the mine itself. Carefully get out of the mine and get rid about 8 soldiers that guards the outdoor area. Although there are soldiers that guards the rooftop, currently they can't attack you on the ground floor. The best way to attack the soldiers is to attack them from distance. This is possible if you use full hunting rifle provided to you as it gives you good effective range. You can minimize missed shots if you follow my advice of hiring operative with really good marksmanship skill and attack with crouch stance. It is a good idea if you can spend some time to observe their behaviour. Most of outdoor enemies do patrol on certain area. From their starting position, they will patrol to Point B, wait for a minute and then go back to their starting position. It is when they are at Point B they are vulnerable because they are alone and get separated from their group. This is the golden time to eliminate them. If any of your operative get shot, order them to use painkiller shots to stop the bleeding. In Inventory Panel, put the drug on Hand Slot 1. There is Consume button on the Main View Panel. Click on it will make the operative use the drug. Get Rid The Indoor Resistance Once you've eliminated the outdoor resistance, now it is much easier to kill any enemy stationed indoor. The reason why I suggest getting rid outdoor soldiers at first is because it gives you more opportunity area to snipe the indoor soldiers. This allows you to open any window from outside and snipe them. So you don't have to open any doors and getting shot by them in the process. Quite a subtle tactics, don't you think? I guess a lot of people playing this game don't realize they can open any window from outside thus giving tremendous opportunity in sniping. Window behaves just like a typical door in this game. You can't see someone inside the room if the window is closed. Once you open the window, then you can see what nasty lies inside the room. There is actually an algorithm flaw in the game of which on some occasion, once window is opened, anyone inside the room that face the window area can't see what lies outside the window. Use this flaw to your own advantage. But don't be surprised if they can see you and starts shooting at you. Unlock Door Using Locksmith Kit Some of the doors are locked. If the door is locked, then you can bet there is something hidden or stashed in that room. Although every locked door in the game has the key that open it lying somewhere else, the placement of the key itself makes it impossible to get it. For instance, the key to unlock office room is in the office room itself hold by the soldiers. So you can't always depends on finding the key. That's why you should have operative with lock picking skill on your squad and locksmith kit on their inventory. In Inventory Panel, put locksmith kit on Hand 1 Slot. That's it. The operative is ready to pick lock any locked door. Move your cursor to any locked door will change it to Open cursor. If you left click on it, the operative will say the door is locked. His first reaction is to search key slot on his inventory. But since there is no key in key slot, he abort the search. Now right click on the door will turn to Pick Lock cursor. This looks like key graphics. Then left click on it will force the operative to pick lock the door. Since the locksmith kit is already on his hand, he will use the locksmith kit to pick lock the door. Pick lock is always successful but you have to wait for about 30 seconds or more depending on lock picking skill point. Higher lock picking skill point will make the process runs much faster. The operative will automatically open the door once he has finished pick locking the door. Assemble TNT With Detonator There are about 6 soldiers inside the left building and 2 soldiers on the right building. Once you've eliminated the indoor resistance, now you can have stuff to destroy war machines that's been guarding the south area. On the left building there is a small locked room that stash lots of TNTs. You need this powerful explosive to destroy the war machines. Get any operative with explosive skill to grab as many TNTs as he can get. There are as much as 8 TNTs you can grab. Currently the TNT is useless because it is not assembled with any timer detonator. To assemble a timer to a TNT, you have to do it on Inventory Panel. Right click on any TNT will open up a new panel on the right part that show any item accessories attached to the TNT. As you can see, there are 4 slots and all of them are empty. Left click any timer and move to it to the first slot on the panel. Voilą, now you get yourself an useful TNT. You can even instruct anyone to assemble it. It's just some simple electronics. Repeat the process for other TNT. You need at least 4 useful TNTs to get rid both war machines. Get Rid The War Machines To destroy the war machines with TNT, you need to activate the TNT. On Inventory Panel, put the TNT on Hand 1 Slot. On Main View Panel, there is Explosive On button. Left click on it to activate the TNT. Take note only any operative with explosive skill can activate the TNT. Actually activating TNT is as simply as pushing the right button but if I don't force this artificial rule, then there is no need for explosive specialist, wouldn't it? Once you've successfully activate the TNT, you have up to 60 seconds before the TNT unleash its power. Get close to any side of war machine and drop the TNT. Do not drop the TNT on the back of war machine because it does not work. It seems whoever design this stuff knows that most people will try to destroy the war machine by dropping TNT on the back so he design the back with as most protection as possible. He's clever guy but not too clever. On Main View Panel, there is Drop button. Left click on it to drop the TNT. As long as you are behind the war machine gun turret, you are perfectly safe. This is also one of the war machine weakness as the machine can't recognize anything behind its gun turret. Unlike the typical tank you've seen, the war machine in this game is 100% controlled by computer so there is no human controlling it. Heck, you can't even get inside it. Once you drop the TNT, now get the hell away from the place and wait patiently for the big explosion. The explosion will bring major damage to the machine but it's still not good enough to completely destroy the machine. And get this - the machine behave as if nothing happen! If human was inside the machine, then definitely he will panic like shit and start acting appropriately. But since the machine is just a shoddy computer, it just stands there. Take advantage of this weakness to repeat the process. If you are doing it right, the second TNT will completely destroy the war machine. As you can see, it's not that hard to destroy a war machine. You need to learn its weakness and take advantage of it. Get Rid The Rooftop Resistance Getting rid the enemy on rooftop is simply the tricky aspect of the game. If you are not doing it right, you are going to get your operative heavily wounded most of the time. Part of the problem is because there is no object that provide cover for your operative. There are 2 soldiers guarding the rooftop on the left building and another 2 soldiers guarding the rooftop on the right building. The best tactics I can think of is to spend your time observing the enemy behaviour. Most of rooftop enemies do patrol on certain area. So they are not fixed on certain area all the time which mean their line of sight changes from time to time. If you climb a ladder and see they face at you, quickly climb down. Wait for a minute and then climb again. Most of the time, the enemy moves to another area and facing the other direction. Now this is the right time to eliminate them from behind their back. Use any weapon that fire quickly against the enemies especially if the weapon has burst fire shots. You have to kill them fast because most of them are equipped with weapon that have burst fire. If you have weapon with only single shot, you are definitely at a disadvantage here. If you only have single shot weapon, turn off aim option as it greatly slows you. I've played many combat sessions on rooftop and I've never been able to eliminate the enemies using single shot weapon such as hunting rifle without getting my operative heavily wounded. It's almost impossible to do. The other tactics is to use frag grenade as it inflicts splash damage to enemies so you don't have to be accurate. In later part of the game, you can even use nerve gas to eliminate them. However this stuff is rare so use this nasty weapon for special occasion only. Get Rid The Bodies Once your squad eliminate all enemies and war machines in the sector, the mission is considered finished and the Alliance will reward your squad with money. You can use this money to hire another operative or to extend the service of current operative in your squad. Feel free to loot any weapon, ammo, money, jacket and even pant used by the dead enemies. They aren't using it any more. You can loot it and put it on your inventory or you can sell it to Lady Junk. Lady Junk will gladly buy any item in working condition at 20% discount. This is more profitable than selling it directly to trader at the base if your squad don't have any operative with high trade skill. If your squad do have operative with high trade skill, it's more profitable selling it directly to the trader. But since trader only buy certain items and your squad have to carry that item to the base, selling to Lady Junk seems to be a good option overall. If you decided not to sell to Lady Junk, just loot all the item you can grab anyway. Since you have a small squad and your operative has a limited carrying space, put your excess loot on certain cabinet in the sector. You can put the excess loot on the small room that store the TNT. Don't forget to check other cabinets throughout the sector. There are some goodies you can grab. In the kitchen, there are some food. Office on the right building has some money. Before you can leave the sector, you have to clean up the mess you brought in. You have to get rid all of enemies bodies. This usually mean you have to carry the bodies and put it in one place. Fortunately this have been done automatically. All you have to do is go near any dead body, click on it and there is Dispose Body button on Give Take Panel. Click on it and voilą, the enemy is gone! Repeat this process for every dead bodies in the sector. As long as you don't completely get rid all dead bodies in the sector, you can't leave the sector. This force you to remember specific area where you kill each enemies. What? Do you hate this boring stuff? The reason why I include this stuff is because it fits within the context of the game. Since you can revisit the sector over and over again, leaving the dead bodies just gives a depressing mood to anyone who've seen it. In addition, the game world is rife with plenty of plagues and leaving the dead bodies just make the plagues spread faster. Hope you can understand the logic of this decision. In fact in the future, I might add disease feature in the game of which your operative might get infected by certain plague due to exposure to dead bodies that has been lying around for days. This also adds opportunity for me to introduce items for plague antidote which cost lots of money and quite rare. Once you've disposed all the dead bodies, you can access the Town Map Panel by left clicking Map button on Main View Panel. It is time to return to the base so you can sell loot you've collected and get some rest. Probably some of your operatives get injured so by getting them to rest, their lost health point will recover. VALOUR IRON MINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Town Map Panel, left click big dot on top right part of the town map. Then, you must choose a safe entry point to enter the sector. By default, you'll enter through south part of the sector. This will be your safe entry point. There are about 8 soldiers that guards the outdoor area. From south part of the sector, don't move northward as 2 war machines are going to greet you at the end of the path. Instead, turn right to go to the hill nearby. This is a much safer path bypassing the war machines. But don't tend to slack! If you play day mission, a patrolling soldier will venture out and will definitely notice your operative. He starts to shoot you. Finish him off. You have to circle the building to finish the outdoor resistance. The rule of thumb is just follow the outline of hill. Did you notice that the hill kind of resembling a figure trying to grab something? Once you've eliminated the outdoor resistance, now it is much easier to kill any enemy stationed indoor. There are 4 soldiers stationed at loading room, 2 soldiers at office and another 2 at supply room. Once you've eliminated the indoor resistance, now you can grab the TNTs at supply room. How to get close to the war machines? The way the war machines are being parked, you have to pass in front of it in order to get close to its sides. Of course you already know that this is definitely a suicide. You have to be creative and make use of your environment. Did you notice that the war machines are being parked next to the brick fence? What if I tell you can climb the fence which drop you right next to the side of war machine and the machine won't even notice a thing? Yes, you can. Do it. Activate your TNT, drop it and climb the fence again. It's a very subtle tactics making use of your environment to your advantage. To climb the fence, you need to position your operative so they face the fence perpendicularly. To align your operative, use Turn Left or Turn Right button on Main View Panel or press Left/Right key on your keyboard. If you thought getting rid rooftop resistance at Lead Mine is painful, you haven't seen the worse yet. Instead of trying to get rid 2 soldiers at the same time, now you have to get rid 4 soldiers at once! Now this will be the right time to save your game as you probably going to replay the session several times to get it right. The best strategy I can figure out is to attack them when they get separated. Do not attack them when all 4 of them regroup. You can attack the female group when they get separated from male group. If you are doing it right, the male group won't even notice a thing. Once you've deal the female group, then you can finish the male group. Where Can I Get That RPG Launcher? Don't forget to check the blue cabinet. You can find one high explosive shell stashed in one of those cabinets. Now you have 2 high explosive shells on your possession if you already buy one from Pinch. So where can you find the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Launcher that can use the shells? If you play day mission, talk to all miners. Eventually one of them will reveal an interesting info worth checking out - "Rumours says someone mysteriously leave some RPG at the inn. You better check out. Maybe it's true." OK, lets check it out! Go to Tranquillity Inn to grab your RPG now! Tranquillity Inn lies in the middle of the town. You can enter the sector from any part. The best option is to enter it from the west part. That way you only have to do a minor walk to reach the front gate. The idea here is not to do a full scale attack on the fanatics whose hiding at the inn. You just want to grab your RPG and get out. You can eliminate them later when you have plenty of ammo on your hand. The RPG is surprisingly stashed at a small room next to the inn lobby. And the best part is you don't have to enter the lobby area to get to the small room because there is a second door that lead to the room from outside the inn. The trick is you have to climb the fence to reach the area. The door is even unlocked! Who would thought that? The first door connecting to the lobby area is locked though and the lobby area is guarded by 6 fanatics. Now since you get yourself an awesome weapon and explosives to feed the mayhem, you can test it on the war machines at Soldier Warehouse sector. VALOUR SOLDIER WAREHOUSE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Town Map Panel, soldier warehouse is represented by a big dot just south of the dot that represent the Alliance base. The safe entry point is anything but the south part. So you can enter the sector from the north, the east or even the west but not from the south. This is because 2 war machines are guarding the south area. You do not want to get them fire at you. Since you've get yourself an RPG launcher with explosives, why don't you test the destruction power of it on the war machines. It usually takes about one successful shot to completely destroy the war machine. Since you get yourself 2 explosives, you can destroy both war machines without using TNT. There is no outdoor resistance in this sector which mean most soldiers are stationed indoor. Your first reaction might be to enter through the front opening but don't! There are 4 nasty shotgun toting soldiers ready to kill you just across the hall. Instead, use the environment to your advantage. If you carefully observe the warehouse, there are 5 points to enter it - 1 big opening in the front and the other 4 doors. To get to these doors you need to climb the fence. You can just open any of these 4 doors, fire at them and then quickly close the door. Repeat the process as needed and don't hesitate to change to other door if they get close to you. It works for me so it should work for you as well. The right part of warehouse consists of 3 small rooms which supposedly stash ammo and guns for the soldiers. Within each of these rooms, 2 soldiers are guarding it. There is an office on the left part of the warehouse and 4 soldiers inside it. Since direct confrontation isn't such a good idea, why don't you open the window from outside and snipe them. There are 4 locked doors and 5 cabinets to unlock. So this can take some time. Well, surprise, surprise! Where is the ammo and guns that Pose has been talking about? Turns out the soldiers has taken all the ammo and guns and put some food instead. You can also find a lot of gold coins. Grab it? Don't, it's not for you. It's for the Alliance coffer. You can technically take it but you are seriously affect the Alliance ability to fund their whole operation. This mission earns between 35000 to 45000 Money to the Alliance. That's a lot of money. There are 6 soldiers you have to eliminate at the rooftop. Yes, your nightmare has just began. Nevertheless, all it takes to get rid them is your tactical ingenuity. Probably you had acknowledged that the best way attack them is when they get separated. Fortunately, they aren't elite soldiers which mean they aren't using night vision goggles. So night time mission is much easier as they can't see a thing! VALOUR EVF FORT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first three missions you've carried out provides a considerable challenges so it's time to relax a little bit and do an easier mission. EVF Fort will give a sense of deja vu if you've done training game mode before. On Town Map Panel, EVF Fort lies in the top middle of the town map. You can enter the sector at any point but the best way to enter is through the north. This way you only have to do minor walk to the front door instead of walking like an eternity if you choose to enter the sector from the south. The original design for EVF Fort was actually much grander than the crap you've seen on the final version. It was supposed to look like a smaller version of Forbidden City of China with moots, tall walls, labyrinth and nice decorations. As you already know, the sector is populated by fanatics who attack using machete. This mean they have to get close to you in order to hurt you. Use this to your advantage. Use your rifle to attack them from distance before they managed to get close to you. On the ground floor, there are 4 fanatics guarding the hall, 2 fanatics guarding the left dorm and 2 fanatics guarding the right dorm. Both office contains some money you can loot. Don't forget to check out the cabinets at the dorms. You can find 2 high explosive shells and a strange looking ammo called electric charge pack. This ammo can be used on Pulse Electric Gun which you can get it for free on Reverence town. This is simply the best pistol in the game as it inflicts lots of damage. On the second floor, there are 6 soldiers guarding the hall, 2 soldiers guarding one of training room and Roar, the person you need to assassinate. I've played this mission several times and these 6 soldiers can be pain in the neck as they tend to swarm you. The best tactics I can think of is walk across the right training room and attack them bit by bit. This basically mean shot, walk, shot, walk. To make it easier for you, use only one operative for this purpose. Yes, they can chase you to the training room which mean you have to hide at the toilet. Then walk back to the hall while they try to chase you without forgetting to shoot them. Repeat the process until all of them have been eliminated. The storage room at the first floor contains some painkiller shots and testosterone pills. Make sure you kill 2 fanatics at the training room before you attempt to get rid Roar. He is the only fanatics in the sector which use rifle so be careful. There are 4 fanatics on the rooftop. If you've successfully use the tactics to eliminate those 6 fanatics before, then this should not pose a problem to you. Although you can follow the fort wall tunnel, there is nothing you can find at there. Hmm, maybe I should add something special at there in the future update of the game. VALOUR TRANQUILITY INN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previously you go to this sector to grab your RPG and get out. Now you have enough ammo, it's time to do a full scale attack on the fanatics whose hiding at the inn. In Town Map Panel, Tranquillity Inn lies just south of EVF Fort. You can enter the sector from any part but the best option is to enter it from the west part. That way you only have to do a minor walk to reach the front gate. There are 6 fanatics guarding the lobby area of the inn. Open the window and snipe them. You can't snipe some of them because the view is blocked. What you have to do is to draw their attention so they come closer to you. Get your operative skilled in lock picking skill to enter the small room next to the lobby area without going through the front door. To recap your memory, this requires you to climb a fence and enter the room through the second door. Once he get inside the small room, get him to pick lock the door that leads to the lobby area. Get him to go to the lobby area and walk back to the small room if the fanatics try to chase him. Close the door. If you are doing it right, the fanatics is getting closer which make it easier for you to snipe them. There are 2 fanatics on the right building - diner. Just open the window and snipe them. Don't forget to check out the kitchen. You can find one high explosive shell stashed at one of the kitchen cabinet. There are 4 fanatics hiding at some of the rooms at the ground floor. Since plant wall surrounds area around window, you can't open the window overlooking the room and snipe them. Instead, you have to open the door and attack them. There is nothing special you can find at the cabinets - just some jacket and stuff. On second floor, you have to deal 4 fanatics guarding the hall. There are other 4 fanatics hiding at some of the rooms. If the door is locked, then you can bet fanatics is in the room and the cabinet contain something. In this case, it's money. If the door is unlocked, the room is empty so don't bother searching the cabinet. VALOUR TOWN HALL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to your worst nightmare. This is simply the toughest mission in the town so expect to get your operative injured most of the time. In Town Map Panel, Town Hall lies a far south of Tranquillity Inn. There are only 2 safe entry point - the north and the south. You first objective is to get rid all 4 war machines in the sector. Irrespective whether you start the sector from the north or south, destroy the war machine on your left. It is much easier if you can destroy it with RPG. Then move to the right to destroy another war machine. Once you've destroyed 2 war machines, you can move across to the other side of the sector by climbing the fence on south or north area, move to the left, go forward, move to the right and then climb the fence again. This means you are half circling the back of the town hall. Are you confused? Simply put, try to move across to the other side by bypassing the front gate area and field area behind the town hall. Once you reached to the other side of sector, you can repeat the process of destroying the other 2 war machines. Once you've destroyed the war machines, now you can have a lot of space to get rid both outdoor resistance and indoor resistance on the ground floor. There are 2 soldiers that guards field area on the back of the town hall. They usually stands next to the jeep. There are 4 soldiers that guards the front gate area. They usually hides at plant and tree landscape. Don't attack these soldiers through the front gate. It's suicide. Instead, you have to climb the fence on south or north area, move to the right and then move forward will get you close to the front door. But don't get close to the front door or they might spot you. Stop just as you arrive at fence intersection. This is the perfect spot to snipe them. There are 2 soldiers guarding the front office, another 2 soldiers guarding the back office and another 2 soldiers guarding the storeroom next to the dining room. So use the usual tactics of sniping them from window. Both of the office has the usual the money you can loot. The storage room does not contain anything special - just some gas mask and canisters. Getting rid of 4 elite soldiers that has been stationed at the balcony of the first floor is a little bit tricky. The idea is not to attack them when they regroup so you have to attack them when they get separated. There are 2 stairs leading to the first floor. It does not matter which stairs you want to use. The soldiers will patrol across the corridor so if you climb upstairs but you don't see them, chances are they are already at the corridor so you have to act fast. If you spot them at the balcony, just quickly climb down and wait for a minute before you climb upstairs again. Once you've annihilate the balcony threat, your final hurdle in the sector is to venture into the control room, get rid 4 elite soldiers at there and assassinate Bang, the soldier commander. Since you can't snipe from window, you probably thinking to just open the door and do the carnage. But that my friend is a foolish idea. You have to be creative in this situation by utilizing the environment to your advantage. What if I tell you can just destroy part of the wall next to the control room to distract the soldiers so they come charging towards the hole and you simply kill them one by one? Use TNT for this crafty tactics and the best part of the wall is just next to the big TV screen. If you are doing it right, you can even snipe Bang through the hole! There is no need to engage him directly. He is carrying a sniper rifle which can cause a serious damage to you. Once you've neutralized the control room, activate a TNT and drop it next to the computer server. This cuts off their whole communication system, earns big points to the Alliance and gives yourself a lot of money for this simple task. Congratulations! Now your job is finished in this town. What To Do Next? If you would like to continue the campaign, you can upgrade the game to the full version. Valour town is easy. It's Reverence town and beyond that provides a real challenge for you. Nevertheless, if you enjoy the game, tell you friend about it so they can enjoy it too. Don't forget, if you help me promote the game on the Internet, you can get the full version for free. No kidding! Check this page if you don't believe it - http://www.bladethrusttactics.com/upgrade.htm However if you think this game sucks, you can forward your frustration to me through e-mail. There is no need to keep it to yourself, brother. If you play the full version, you can travel to Reverence town by jeep. Make sure your squad is on the Alliance base sector. On Town Map Panel, left click World Map button will give you access to World Map Button. Reverence town lies on north west part of Valour town. Left click the big dot on the middle screen will show the path. Then left click Move button to travel to the town. It only takes several hours to reach the town. Once you've arrived at the town, your squad will automatically start at Reverence Alliance base. One interesting fact is if you have the full version, you don't necessarily have to finish all the missions in Valour town before you can travel to Reverence town. As a matter of fact, if you have the full version, you can go straight to Reverence or Honour town when you start your campaign at Valour Alliance base. You can buy powerful rifle from trader at Reverence Alliance base and travel back to Valour town to give yourself an unfair advantage over your enemy. This makes the game a little bit easier. The point is the game provides a lot of flexibility to suit your gaming level. That my friend, is the beauty of non-linear gameplay as you don't have to specifically follow what the game designer assign to you.