Mission 3 Guide - "United We Stand"
Hardcore Difficulty

Overview
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This is a guide on completing mission three on Hardcore difficulty in single-player mode. This is a difficult mission to complete when relying on AI as your fire-team members. I've played this mission over and over again, trying out different tactics. Sometimes I got lucky and some tactics were effective only once or twice. The approach detailed in this guide is the one that has most consistently worked for completing all objectives successfully while keeping my entire team alive. There are several different possible approaches to this mission, but this is the approach that I have had the most success with.

General Tips
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There are a handful of tips to keep in mind which help to minimize frustration:

• In general, it is best to keep your ROE mode set to "Return Fire", which will cause your squad to only fire if fired upon. This is good because it gives you a chance to position your team in a good spot before alerting the enemy. You can maximize your advantage once you engage.
• Keep referring to the map whenever you have an opportunity to do so. It's not only the best way to keep track of where you are, but also where the enemy is.
• If someone on your team is wounded, get them to a safe place before having your medic treat wounds. It is usually best to finish a small firefight before having your medic heal anyone.
• When in doubt, play conservative and slow. When there is just one enemy remaining and dug into a position, resist the temptation to have your team assault him head on. Back off, toss a grenade, suppress, and flank. It just takes one well placed bullet to kill in OFP, and the enemy AI is perfectly capable of making that shot.
• The enemy AI can see you perfectly through grass and bushes and will hit you even if you can't see them. This might seem unfair (it's actually VERY difficult to program AI vision realistically), but remember that your squad AI has this same ability. Take advantage of that fact and pay attention to where they are firing. If they are firing on a position and you don't see anyone there, chances are there is an enemy AI hiding in the grass. Use your map and friendly tracer bullets (the red tracers) to infer where the enemy is if you can't see them.

Battle Plan
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This is the overall path that I take through the mission, with each engagement marked on the map as a numerical step. The rest of this guide will go step-by-step through this general plan.

1. Eliminate First AT Team.
2. Eliminate Second AT Team.
3. Secure Farmhouse and Protect AAVP's.
4. Assault Radio Tower and Eliminate Spotters.
5. Assault NE Village House and Eliminate AT Team.
6. Clear Village of Remaining AT Gunners.
7. Defend Village.

I. Eliminate First AT Team
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The first AT team is in the forest, east of the beach. Once the mission starts, immediately start moving your team to the east. Before you get to the forest, I recommend setting your ROE to "Return Fire". As you approach the trees, you will see a stack of logs that provide cover. Approach the stack of logs from the left side. The AT team is in the bushes behind the logs and you probably won't be able to see them once you get up there. Once your team is in cover behind the logs, set your ROE to "Fire at Will" and they will immediately start to fire on the AT team that you can't even see. Your team will likely take out both targets before you even see them. Once they are both down, return your ROE to "Return Fire" and check your team for injuries. Heal if necessary before moving on.

- Click for video

II. Eliminate Second AT Team
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The second AT team is hunkered down around the disabled enemy APC on the road SE of your position. Before approaching this spot, look at your map and remember that your fireteam is part of a larger amphibious assault. You should see three other fireteams moving from west to east to assault the enemy positions along the road. Wait for them! If you assault the second AT team on the road before the rest of Dagger One gets there, you will draw the fire of the entire enemy squad on your fireteam. Instead, time your assault along with the other fireteams. I recommend approaching the road from the north, above the AT team near the APC. If you stay crouched and in "Return Fire" mode, you can get into position before they even see you flanking them. There isn't much in the way of cover, but you'll be on their flank and should be able to take them down before they can even return fire. Once they are down, take cover behind the disabled APC and have your machinegunner suppress the infantry at the farmhouse. This would be a good time to check your map, reload, and check for wounded. But don't wait too long, you need to get to step three quickly before the AAVP's get within range and get blown up by the AT gunners!


Wait for the rest of the squad to start assaulting before moving in.

III. Secure Farmhouse and Protect AAVP's
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After you've regrouped, it's time to take down the rest of the infantry in the area, focusing on the AT gunners. The AAVP's are getting close to the road, and you need to take down those AT gunners before they blow up the AAVP's. You don't have time to flank around the back of the farmhouse, so don't even bother. With your machinegunner suppressing, take the rest of your team south along the road, taking cover behind the bits of wall as you can. Kill everything you can, especially any infantry with an AT tube on his back. Once you wear them down, all the enemy infantry will start to flee to the east and your squad leader will announce success of the objective. Keep your team with you and be careful because a few of the fleeing infantry might decide to turn around and shoot at you if they get the opportunity. Now would be a really good time to check out the ammo crate on the north side of the farmhouse and grab the sniper rifle inside. After you checked your map and healed any wounds, start heading south toward the base of the large hill with the rest of your squad.


This video shows both steps 2 and 3.

IV. Assault Radio Tower and Eliminate Spotters
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Obviously, you can't stop the lead AAVP from getting blown up. But you can get revenge! Some people recommend getting in the AAVP (which you can do) and using it to assault the radio tower, but this is a bad idea since they have AT weapons up there and can blow you up. There are also lots of rocks to get the vehicle caught on and it just isn't worth it. Instead, go south, up the hill through the area with trees. You should be moving up the hill to the left of the radio tower. Once you get to the top, crouch, and pull out your grenades. Make sure your ROE is set to "Return Fire". Keep your squad with you and you creep toward the radio tower. Once you near the crest of the final hill, prime your grenade, peek your head over the crest and throw the grenade into the middle of the infantry at the bottom of the hill huddled around the radio tower. Then backup back over the crest of the hill and wait for the grenade to explode. Now be careful here. There is often one or two infantry still around the base of the radio tower hidden in the grass and impossible to see. I've been killed several times by the last lingering infantry hunkered down on this hill. Check your map, then creep back up over the crest. Watch for targets at the base of the radio tower and at the small bunker to your right (NW of the radio tower) as there are two more infantry that like to pop out and shoot you. Just take this part slow and very conservative. Use multiple grenades if you need to. Do not put your ROE into "Fire at Will" here, or they will start firing at targets in the village and you will lose a good setup opportunity after alerting the infantry in the village of your presence.



V. Assault NE Village House and Eliminate AT Team
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There is a small house to the NE of the village (5 on the Battle Plan map). This is a good time to sneak down the south side of the hill you are on and creep up behind the AT team stationed at this house. You should have grabbed the sniper rifle from earlier on in the mission. Equip it and set it to single-shot mode with the "F" key. Make sure your ROE is "Return Fire" and then creep down the hill to the white circle I marked on the Battle Plan map just NE of objective 5. Scout for the two or three infantry near this small house before opening fire. You want to position yourself so that you are below the ridge-line of the village so that you cant take any fire from the infantry in the village. Then creep up to a crest of one of the hills and peek over to give you a good sniping attack on the AT team at the small house. If you take them down, creep around SE behind the house, making sure you are ready to return fire if you missed one. Set up behind the house without taking fire from the village if you can, and get ready to start assaulting the village.

VI. Clear Village of Remaining AT Gunners
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Next you want to put your sniper rifle to good use by hunkering down behind the walls in front of the small house and clearing out the rest of the infantry from the village. When you start to wear them down, they will withdraw and flee south. There are two more AT teams left. One is near the MG nest at the NE corner of the village, one is at the MG nest near the SE corner of the village, and the last is in the house near the SW corner of the village. I recommend taking out the SE AT gunner first while your fireteam is still undetected from the village. Once you snipe the first AT gunner, the rest of the village will be alerted to your presence and start firing on you. At this point, simply play conservatively. Stay behind cover, and take out any targets you can. Eventually you or your team will end up taking out one of the other AT gunners. In the middle of the eastern side of the village, there is a stack of explosive barrels you can shoot to blow up the adjacent house and hopefully take some infantry with it. Keep taking cover and looking at your map, noting where the targets are, and taking safe shots when you can. Eventually you will wear them down and they will flee to the south. Be careful as your left flank is exposed to a wide open area to the south. Sometimes infantry flee to this area, then turn around and start shooting you on your flank. They can be tough to notice when you are under heavy fire from the front, so keep scanning to the left/South of your position to keep your flank free. Once you don't see any more targets on your map there is just one AT team remaining that consists of just three infantry. They are inside a house near the SW corner of the village and you will have to go flush them out. Heal up, and cautiously make your way SW through the village. You should be able to surround them and take them out safely as you slowly creep in. Grenades are useful here. Once they are all down, Dagger One will announce success of the objective and tell you to get ready to defend the SW road of the village for a counter-attack. You have a lot of setting up to do, so heal up and move quickly!
-This video includes both steps 5 and 6 combined.

VII. Defend Village
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And now for the most difficult part of the mission! If this has had you stumped, it is finally time to beat it. I've seen multiple strategies for this part and I have tried many different tactics. The strategy I describe here is what works for me most consistently. Keep in mind that sometimes you just get unlucky and take a bullet to the head out of nowhere. To make this part easier to manage, let's break this up into phases. Below is a map of the village with some markers on how to get set up and where to focus your attention. The green circles are my AI fireteam members that I have placed on the three machine guns around the corners of the village, the red dots are mines that I have laid, the two yellow markers are the two positions that you should alternate between, and the three white circles are the three areas that you should be covering.




Phase 1 - Setup
Immediately go into the map and put each of your team members on the three machine guns around the village. Each MG is highlighted using the green circles on the map. It doesn't matter who you put on each gun, just make sure you have all three guns manned by your fireteam. The AI is a very good shot with those MG's, so trust your men to pull their weight. Once you do this, you no longer have to worry about the East and SE sides of the village that get assaulted. Your men will be supported by the rest of the squad that moves into the village to help defend. They will hold the those parts of the village as long as you hold the SW corner facing the road.

Now it's time to put your mines to use. Select your mines and place all of them down near the red circles I have marked on the map. Infantry will eventually try and flank you from the west. If they take out your SW gunner, you will probably fail. Placing those mines will kill most, if not all of the infantry that attempt to flank from this side, The mines will also give you an audible/visual alert of enemy presence. Later on, when you see/hear those mines go off, it's time to get back down on the ground level and cover your SW gunners flank!

Finally, set yourself up on the top floor of the SW house right next to your gunner. The only two positions you should need to take during this fight are the two yellow markers. The first is on the second floor of that house facing south and the second is on the ground floor, right behind the house facing west. Get your sniper rifle out and face the road to the south. The primary areas you need to cover are the three white circles marked on the map. One is along the crest of the hill to the south, one is in the trees on the right side of the road (when you are facing south), and the other is to the left of the road in the forest. Cover these three zones while you are in the house. The image below show a view from the house and the three separate zones that correspond to the zones marked on the map.




Phase 2 - Defend!
The first few waves will come in around zones A and C. Make sure you keep an eye on the infantry that come your way via the forest on the right side of the road. If they get close enough, they will take out your MG gunner. Just keep scanning between those zones, taking out any infantry you see. If you notice your MG gunner shooting at something, focus on that spot! Don't worry about the east or south-east areas of the village. The other MG gunners will handle that just fine. Keep pulling back into the house to reload and check your map for targets, then move back up and cover the road and the forest.

Eventually, you will hear your mines go off. Equip your other rifle and take up position behind the house facing west (the other yellow area marked on the map). Make sure no infantry flank your MG gunner. If a minute goes by and nobody creeps out, your mines probably did the job, so get back in the house and cover those three zones again. Just keep covering those areas until the mission is over. If all goes well, you shouldn't lose a single man!

Enjoy the last video as I defend the village.