As pointed out in the briefing, our team will sneak into the COTUC HQ, so any equipment was automatically removed by the gameengine (except radio transmitters, if we had brought some). At least we all brought or towels. As another surprize the gameengine has transformed our camoflaged heroes into "brownfriars romans". Finally, as another surprize, the COTUC HQ is located in a desert area, noone will freeze.
Our HQ gives the order to behave unsuspicious and recon the COTUC complex. Perhaps this is what they had in mind:
BTW, a monk carrying a big radio and talking with it to a far away HQ, wouldn't that look suspicious? OK we will just jump over that plothole and procede to the gate. There are three of them to the COTUC HQ, each one guarded by some soldiers and one undead knight, which blocks the pathway. It doesn't matter which gate is used but that guarding knight has to be adressed. We will use the nearest gate to enter.
A suspicious knight, that will not let us pass, I 've seen that somewhere:
Even though Anatoli almost screwed up our disguise, the guards let us in. Actually there is no way to influence the conversation, so they always let us in. In fact the knights of all three gates give way.
COUTUC keep their tanks in field shelters. The outer barriers are real ground elevations and therefore indestructable. The wooden grates on top are normal objects. Another remarkable observation concerns the outer wall of the COTUC HQ. Even though these walls are built of normal objects, they turn out to be indestructible (not only HARD to destruct!). So bombing a way into the HQ is not an option. The solution, how the devs made that, is given in a future update. There is in fact one alternative way into the complex. There is a gap in the wall- ring in the south.
COTUC planted some crawler mines near the guardtowers flanking that gap but not in a complete line. This backentrance could be usefull, if the guards on the gates turn hostile. The mission will also work, if our team skips the entering dialogue at all and enters the complex through the gap. There is no further suspicion level if the team enters "illegaly". This pic also gives an impression about the size of the complex. Another shot over the northern gate (we used the western) confirms this.
A few seconds after entering the COTUC HQ our team reports back and requests further instructions. There are eight locations on the map, which have to be visited. The nearest target turns out as a complex of several storebuildings behind an outer wall and guarded by two COTUC soldiers.
If we just ignore that warning (for a demonstration) the following will happen:
So everyone would turn hostile, which will not necessarily end the mission, but renders it extremely more difficult. In fact the devs even included the alternative that COTUC would turn hostile prematurely. So until our team is equipped with some gear, taking the warnings of the guards serious might be a wise option.
After reloading the game, some traders can be watched.
So, trader Nick will spoil us with some explosives, which is a very nice move. Nick stores our gifts in the traders area, ready for us to be picked up.
Mc Nowel finds a spot to climb over the wall. Unfortunately Nicks companion guards the crate. Right now, there is no chance to pick it up unnoticed. Mc Nowel simply stays behind the containers and waits for a good opportunity.
Meanwhile Ivan has reached the next target.
"They did it, the Army of Twelve Monkeys, they did it...."
Still there is no claim that COTUC invented the SGDS virus or spread it. Posing any pandemy as a "wrath of god" has always been a mean of religious fanatics. It can be suspected, that COTUC had some information about SGDS, which enabled them to take precautious measures. The obelisk itself seem to be egyptian origin.
Akim encounters a couple and adresses the woman.
This woman obviously blames COTUC for the loss of her son. It is not totally clear, how old the son was and what happened to him. A further complaint can be understood, that COTUC transformed the son somewhat, maybe brainwashed him to become a monk or turned him into an undead knight. Before Akim could ask further questions, two knights appear and eliminate all trouble.
Those knights excuse for their late interferance and leave their PID, in case Akim would state a complaint. It is not necessary to trigger that scene, but that PID will come handy later.
As the knight explained, the townguard can be found on the opposite of the great field in the eastern half of the complex. David checks out this area, as it is also a target on the map. Like most of the other targeted areas the townguard is surrounded by walls and guarded. Entering the vicinity of the townguard for the first time, David can witness ten undead knights entering the complex, fife of them using one of the two gates. Those knights deploy on the parking area inside the townguard.
At the gate David triggers a warning dialogue similar to the one at the traders area. The entering of the knights also triggers a dialogue of the guards worshipping the knights. Having the knowledge of the PID David automatically claims his will to complaint.
So there are three dialogues triggered almost at the same time, which might mess up a little bit. The guards invite David to enter, so our teammembers can enter the townguard freely. There are some spots to climb over the walls, if someone would like to enter unnoticed. There are some crates here. Only two of them can be picked up safely, the one marked and the one in the pic below.
Picking up any of the other crates will turn COTUC hostile as soon, as any of our teammembers is detected by them. Some other articles about this game propose to pick up the crates, unnoticed by the guards or let our soldiers hide the weapons in the inventory instead of carrying them open. Those proposals are COMPLETELY BULLSHIT! Taking any crate here, except the two mentioned above, means war! There are four vests and a binocular to pick and some 40mm nades, which come handy much later. There is another surprize next to the northern gate of the townguard.
This empty M 1 Abrams can be accessed freely, but MUST NOT be moved one inch, unless you want to start war prematurely. If the tank is posessed and left, COTUC will reposess it and the crew will stay in it. Otherwise COTUC will leave the tank empty. So if the player want's to grab the M 1 early, the tank has to be manned and at the beginning of hostilites anyone will start shooting at our tank, even though the COTUC soldiers will not survive that shooting for long. But those shotties can cause an awfull lot of (unnecessary) damage. In addition to that, COTUC uses three T 55, which will patrol, when hostilities start, they might show up right at the wrong time. So we leave that empty M 1 to be picked up later.
Next to the townguard the gate to the airport is another target for our sightseeing tour.
This area covers the whole eastern edge of the COTUC HQ and is seperated by a rampart and some fences. The guards won't let our team in but there are some sneaky entrances. The rampart is mostly rendered as inaccessable except two narrow passages.
The gap between the outer wall and the rampart (at both ends of the runway) is filled by two lines of crawler mines, which could be carefully lured away to open up another passage. The alert observer might have allready spotted the Mig 29 on the airport and the empty chopper, Yes, it is a Mi 24 Hind! Grabbing that chopper will also trigger hostilities, so we leave it as COTUC does not use it as well.
Now we take a look at the central field. Right in the middle the residence of the COTUC leader is guarded by some undead knights. This building looks a bit like the "Palais de Louvre" if watched through the glass pyramid.
Next to the residence Akim discovers a stage (basicly it is the same as seen in Mission 3). COTUC calls it the "
place of questions" Obviously this place is used for certain demonstrations, maybe even executions.
The open area behind the stage can be used as a refuge.
Everyone except Akim and Mc Nowel (who waits in the traders area) will stay here. Almost beside the stage Akim can adress a single monk in grey habit.
This candidate, named Kolja, admits a personal crisis and reveals some interesting details.
Kolja has sneaked into the lab area and watched some lethal tests on human probands with something he called "
Rat Essence". Kolja also mentiones some "
Tao of Life" which prevents the lethal effect of the Rat Essence, if the believe is strong enough. This procedure is called a "
Test of Faith". Kolja doubts if his faith will be strong enough. So Akim proposes him to travel around until he is sure about his faith. Kolja takes him by the word and leaves right away.
Obviously the "Rat Essence" is some form of SGDS but highly and instantaniously lethal but not cantagious. The "Tao of Life" seems to be a vaccine and the "Test of Faith" must be a COTUC style execution. The condemned simply gets a placebo instead of the vaccine and is declared to have weak faith. COTUC may be not responsible for the SGDS pandemy but they reworked the virus into a perfect biological weapon. Maybe they had the vaccine before, so they could survive the pandemy. For everyone, who was not that fast, Akim concludes those theories. Meanwhile at the western gate Kolja intends to leave the COTUC HQ on his travel to himself.
Maybe there is only one way out of the COTUC HQ: Feet first!
The lab complex nearby is fenced in two times and heavily guarded. There is no sneaky entrance.
There is only one point left to visit. Having visited all targets, there will be new objectives and a hidden countdown of 8 minutes will be triggered, which ends with the beginning of hostilities, so any time consuming deployments should be made now. Finishing his tour Akim visits the factory. There also is no sneaky entrance.
The next phase of the mission will be subject of the next update.