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SURVIVING DRASSEN - A guide![message #156862]

Wed, 12 September 2007 01:31

TrashMan

Messages:61
Registered:November 2005
Location: Croatia

Given that many newbies complain about it, here's a little guide to help them out.

First things first, you generally DON'T want to trigger that attack early by capturing all 3 Drassen sectors, but leave ti for later when you got better equipment (unless you either have a deathwish or your a really, REALLY good JA2 player). Capture Chitzena first, Drassens airport and mine sectors (LEAVE the middle alone for now)the SAM sites, Cambria. Hoard money for good equipment and use mercs like Dimitri, Ira and Maddog (which don't cost you nothing) for repairing and training milita.
You might want to consider chaning the JA2Options.ini file to allow training Veteran milita.

Let's refer to the map:

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/9422/drassenmassacreuv0.th.jpg

This should help you planing your own strategy, since that's the beauty of this game - there is no ONE way to beat it. Be creative!

Now I marked the most important strategic positions on it. The red circles represent the areas where most of the enemy soldiers will come from, and usually be in very clustered groups.. The reder(?? correct expression?) the circle, the more dangerous it is for your helth. A1 and A2 are the main invasion points so you best keep a good look at them. The ones marked orange are also heavy in activity, altough much less compared to the first two.
Purple arrows represent the best locations for someone with a mortar. Since it has great range, somewhere in the middle of the map, on a roof is the best place to rain death on boht sides.

Cyan arrows represent good places for snipers. :rifle: If you notice the lines that show just how good a angle of fire a sniper on the bahroom can have, alltough in the end I harldy used snipers in the assault. Explosives FTW. Very Happy

Putting a sniper on the roof of the mining building will also give you a good view at the attacking force from A2, but that it's a dangerus place to put anyone. Enemy comes clsoe and from 3 sides (around the mine entrance too) so I decided not to put anyone there.

So what do you need to know to survive the slaughter?
Firstly, RDX, Remote Detonators(+TNT, or C1) & Mortars - the Holy Trinity that turns the queens troops into bloody stains without any danger to you.
Grandes and granade launchers are allways nice to have. Mines are overpriced and innefective, at least in my experience. I mined the whole A2 sector (around 30 mines or so) and only one was triggered..maby a bug? Still, a mortar shell can trigger them too, so no big loss.

Tactical Milita Control - place your milita carefully...can be tidios to keep running around the map and giving the "come to me" & "hold position" command to all of them, but it will help you greately.

In the above scenario I placed a lot od rdx jars on the ground (white dots) and C1's with remote detonators in the middle (big blue dots). Made sure they are spaced apart nicely, but close enough to cause a chain reaction. Then once it's your trun, just activate them and watch the fireworks. Thanks to that little gimmick the whole attack from the west side was defeated in 3 turns.

However I did underestiamte the attack from the east and only my 2 mortars pounding and activating mines saved the eastern side from being overrun before all the milita could get back (from the west).

You got 2 options - spread your forces to all attack points, or focus on one and let the milita slow the enemy on the other attack points untill you're done. Both approaches have pros and cons so it's up to you to decide.
Focusing on one point means youll make bloody sure all enemies from that side are dead...and FAST. But you milita could be overrun from the other side unless you help out.
Then again, spreading your forces you cna help the milita fight and thin down enemie numbers from all sides, but there's a bigger chance that the enemy will break trough your defenses a one point.

Whichever approach you chose, making preparation can negate those cons and make your victory assured.

-----------------------
You'll notice the yellow dots representing the placement of my mercs.
My IMP and Shadow on the roof of the bar, mowing down anyone with eitehr precise head-shots, atuo-fire bursts or granades.
Ira was sniping from the bathroom.
Grizzly was alone on the roof in the centre giving mortar support.
Barry and Bull where on the house south-east of A1 - Barry to observe and trigger the explosions, Bull to mop up whats left with a good MG and a Commando Mortar (in case not all of hte RDX jars exploded).
Wolf and Flo were on the house east of that and that was my biggest placement faliure. Very few enemies came from the orange zone, let alone few they could actually see and shoot, so I moved them forward during hte battle.
Steroid is that yellow dot hiding behind the house east of them. He waited with a SAW to dart around the house, throw some supressive fire at zone A1 to pin the enemy down for the milita to pick off.
MD and Dimitri were on the house below the bar, mostly to mop up whats left after the explosions. Dimitri had to be clsoe due to limited granade throwing range. Nedless to say I put too much firepower on the west side of hte map Razz

Last and by no means least, Vince and Maddog on the house above the church, also to slow dwn the enemies till the milita can finish them off.

[Updated on: Wed, 12 September 2007 01:33] by Moderator