------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sony PlayStation Soviet Strike Walkthrough Final Planned Version Made by the "Last Cetra", which owns exclusive CopyRight E-mail: lastcetra@rpgclassics.com / ICQ: 94721792 / AIM: Saishuu Setora Any question/advice regarding this game may be sent to me. Created / Last Update in October 8th, 2002. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DISCLAIMER Just one more note before we go on: this guide is my copyright! It's exclusive property of the author, so don't even think about selling it or plagiarizing ANY part of my work, please. If you want to put it on your website for any reason, contact me via e-mail / IM. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Table of Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Hints; 3. Walkthrough; 4. Enemy Battle Strategies; 5. Closure; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Introduction I know the STRIKE series is famous for involving relatively hard gameplay, however with easy strategy, since most things are told to you during your mission. Still, I do believe a strategy guide may be useful as to pinpoint easier ways to make things that sometimes may pass unnoticed, as well as gathering info about hidden supplies on each level. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not a complete walkthrough. I just wrote quick strategies for beating levels the easiest way I could find; I didn't pinpoint the location of all hidden supplies. All the info gathered here though should be more than sufficient for completing all levels easily. I know it's not completely user-friendly, as I have no reference for quick consults, I've just wrote it like if you'd follow all my advices from the beggining to end most of the time. But it's helpful enough, I think it's possible to find yourself here. If you really just wanna check one mission hints, try finding (Ctrl+F usually) "mission 1" for example. In most cases I've written their numbers when I'll talk about completing them. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2. Hints HINTS: CRIMEA: None. BLACK SEA: When you're told about ammo supplies being dropped (halfway the mission), they're talking about REAL heavy ammo, not your chopper silly load. They'll drop six of those, use three to destroy the submarines and the other three to destroy the amphibious huge vehicles (last mission). CASPIAN: By al means, protect the Armor supplies that your support team dropped at the beginning of the level, or the enemies will destroy them. DRACULA: Destroy the radars, and hold your supplies as there's actually more than 5 missions. In the end, when chasing the Black Widow, leave the Tarantula tank alone until it gets to its target, the northern village. When it arrives there, destroy the central building of its resting place that looks like a long pyramid. KREMLIN: Make good use of the valuable items scattered around to persuade your enemies; drop boxes on the support zones. Always be ahead of Yeltsin. When capturing the MOB leader, let him escape on his boat and get him when he comes to dry land near your main LZ. To rescue Nick from Shadowman's airplane, give it a few shots before it starts moving. GENERAL: a) Always destroy the radars first, since they give the enemies' weapons more range and firepower. b) If you plan to make good use of MIAs, always search for the Cable as soon as you fly near its hidden location, since it can help you load the chopper a LOT faster. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3. Walkthrough CRIMEA: This level is very straight-forward and relatively simple, so I didn't think a walkthrough would be of much help. Just complete the missions in the order they're given to you, go back to reload when you need supplies and pay attention to radio transmissions. You shouldn't have any problems here. If you do, you really need more practicing at this game. So practice :) Losing in the first level is good until you get used to the game mechanics. In other words, it's more of a training ground than a level itself. BLACK SEA: SECRETS: Cable: a) Building on northwest part of harbor Extra Try: a) On small building near northeast corner of the harbor Armor: a) Inside building on northwest friendly base b) On big building near northeast corner of the harbor c) Building on southwest section of the harbor (south of radar, near water). d) On ship deck by the southern coast e) Two on southern base with Hinds Sidewinders: a) Building on southwest section of the harbor (south of radar, near water). WALKTHROUGH: This level isn't tricky either, also pretty linear. It takes longer than the first one though. Here are a few notes to make your struggle easier. 1) Your first mission is to destroy the radars (even if it was not, you still would need to do this). You'll notice they're at the harbor, and that the harbor is heavily protected. My first advice is destroying everything you can on the harbor, radars first, please. After you start running low on armor, check your map for ammo (yes ammo). You should see an orange dot on the northwestern portion of the map, near a fuel supply; there's a friendly camp there. Go up the mountains and destroy the small enemy troops atacking your friends (shouldn't be a problem). Then destroy the building and reservatories for extra ammo, fuel and your needed armor. 2) After you've got the armor on (1), notice some BMPs nearby. It's an enemy camp, go there and destroy everything, including soldiers, before firing at the barracks. Then destroy those barracks and lots of MIAs will come out. Load your chopper and don't take them to a LZ until you need armor. 3) Now you should go back to the harbor and complete missions 1 (haven't you yet!?) and 2. When you go for Mission 3, destroy all the speedboats you can see. You need to clear the sea from those to be able to complete some further missions peacefully. After you've taken down the defensive fleet, destroy the Hind helicopters, and go for the big ship. Don't shoot the deck, just take out some guns from one of the flanks and attack the cabin and rooms from there. 4) With the main ship made useless, you should then head to the western LZ. Soon enough you'll get a call of an attack there. Destroy every enemy around the LZ that you can spot (there are some turrets), and head to the southern portion of the map, where you can see two Hinds on the radar (don't worry, they're landed). Also destroy everything there, along with the buildings and barracks, and you should find a lot of supplies. 5) You may now dispatch the nuclear missiles to the bottom of the sea, but first finish all remaining speedboats off, or they'll annoy you. The warheads are inside two of the ships by the southern coast. Carefully destroy thier decks (I said carefully!) to spot those, then grab them and drop at the sea. The ships containing them are the ones to the east, but shoot all ships anyway since you can also find fuel and armor inside the others. 6) You should immediately get a call on the radio about a Destroyer escaping. Prepare your heaviest ammo, reload armor if you need, and go there to destroy it. This will be a huge battle. You may want to spend some Sidewinders (you don't need to, but you won't need them later anyway). Be sure to destroy the gun turrets first, they're more deadly than rockets. Notice it's a pain to properly aim at turrets, so be sure you're hitting what you want before firing Sidewinders. As for hellfires, shoot wildly, they'll hit the cruiser anyway. If you brought a fuel-load instead, use it now, and say good-bye to a former Destroyer. Be aware your real targets are the destroyer's radar and anchor, but destroying at least half of its artillery is inevitable to stay in combat. 7) Your next worry will be the submarines that are also escaping. Here you need fast action. Recover yourself from the destroyer battle and head east. By now you should already have got the message about supplies being dropped at the east coast. Those are heavy ammo, the only load that can destroy the subs. You must get three of those loads (they're huge crates on the coean) and drop them over each sub. Be sure to place the Apache exactly above the sub, lining your tail with theirs, because it's very easy to miss them. If you miss, don't worry, you have six crates for three subs. But the other crates could be used for further battles. Note: When you approach the first load, you'll notice your dead companion on the beach. General Earl will ask you to "bury him". Approach the chopper and it'll automatically fire a few shots. 8) If you managed to explode the submarines before they escaped, then another battle awaits you on the west coast, one more destroyer. This one'll be easier though. Get there and blow it. If you destroy its tail (sorry for lack of nautic knowledge), you'll find a crate of heavy ammo that you can also use to drop over the ship itself. But only try that if you got the fast-loading cable or you'll be destroyed before you can think. While you destroy the cruiser, you'll notice a speedboat escaping with the enemy commander. I dunno how this affects the game (your mission won't fail if you let him escape), but destroy it if you like (I did). Be aware it has unbeliavable armor for a simple boat though. You'll have to strike a couple Sidewinders and Hellfires to take that thing down. After you've destroyed the, err, back of the ship, Amad should throw himself on the sea. Go there, grab him before he gets killed by a speedbotat that will pop out of nowhere (if you destroy the speedboat the explosion kills Amad too) then run for safety. 9) Last mission. Refill your ammo quickly. Heavy tanks are being dropped at the southeast beach. You need to dispatch them before they go out of your map boundaries. So use heavy ammo to finish them off quickly. After you've done this, the only thing left will be the hovercrafts at the beach. IF you still have those three loads of heavy ammo by the east coast, this will be easy task, just drop them over each of the vehicles. If not, use your Sidewinders and Hellfires, but will take a lot of shots to destroy them. Hopefully they'll be destroyed before your ammo finishes. CASPIAN: SECRETS: Armor: a) House north of northeast central mountain b) House on straight valley to the extreme east (central portion of map) c) House north of the west-most mountain (where there's an OP) Sidewinders: a) On northeast central mountain SPECIFIC TACTICS: Light Tank Force: Make a surprise attack from behind, since the turn-speed of their cannon isn't great. Finish them off with one hellfire and a couple gun shots OR 4 hydras (at once) and a couple shots. Heavy Tank Force: They got too much armor, and if you keep trying to destroy them they'll surely bring you down first. So my best advice is to use all 8 of your sidewinder missiles. After you've spent eight, destroy the rest with one hellfire and three hydras each, but be fast. If your hellfires are over, drop all your hydra load fast on them and go somewhere to recharge. WALKTHROUGH: The key on this level is speed. Lots of speed. You gotta do a thousand things at the same time, and make your way with little fuel. When one first attempts this level, the first idea that comes to mind is "it's impossible". And due to the insane amount of enemies, it really is impossible unless you have a good, quick strategy. Here's the strategy I could make up to clear this level. It gets actually pretty easy after you make up a way to proceed. One important note: practice until you can do everything FAST. 1) This is the only level where your support team will have dropped armor crates around. There are four of them, and your first worry is to keep them safe. Enemies are smart and the first thing they'll do is to destroy everything in their way that you could make good use of. Remember each armor crate is in fact a life. But of course you won't grab them all at once without needing. My advice then is, lose your armor. Start with a kamikaze attack, go forth at the beginning towards the groups of Light Tanks and take out ten of them. After ten are history, go north a little and destroy the Light Tanks that are more distant from the others. You should be low of ammo/armor now, so pick the first load of both just a little way north of where you destroyed the tanks (not the one on the southern mountains, but a little more north). 2) There are still two more armor crates that could be destroyed by enemies, the central one and the one to the west. Forget them for now, your second primary goal on this mission is to take the local commanders to strategic points so that their forces can help you. Go to the map and search for a green dot pinpointing the eastern commander. Go there and pick him up, and drop him on the eastern OP (search for it on the map). As soon as you drop him, don't mind the light tanks anymore, his forces alone will be enough to deal with at least half of them. 3) Now to the other armor crates. First head quickly to the central one, and destroy as many BTR-70 as you can before they approach the supplies. Don't mind the soldiers that leave from the tanks right now (at least not much, kill'em only if they're on your way). You'll probably be able to finish almost all of them before needing to recover. Be sure to use all your ammo (even hellfires) and reload on the ammo crate you were protecting. 4) When you've picked the central armor crate out of need, quickly head to the western one, and prepare for a huge combat. The T-55 heavy tanks are no easy task, so I recommend you start by using your sidewinder missiles. When the sidewinder load is done, continue with heavy fire with whatever you got. Quickly grab the armor and ammo (be sure to clean a bit of space around them so you don't get shot while doing this) and hurry to destroy the other BTR-70 that may still exist. 5) Now that all BTR-70 are destroyed, you will notice the soldiers that dropped from them also are part of second mission, i.e., you need to destroy them. But do not kill all of them for now, let at least one to stay alive. The reason for this is that those missile-launchers on the south will start moving after missions 2 and 3 are done, so let's avoid that, it's easier to shoot them while they're still :) But NOTE you may want them to move so you can use one of the two remaining local forces on the central area to dispatch them. Here I recommend whatever you feel is easier. 6) Probably not all light tanks were dispatched on the east, so rush to there and destroy the remaining ones asap to complete mission 1 while you can. 7) Now to mission 3. Go after the heavy tanks and uncharge all of your heavy ammo on them. You may need another armor crate after this battle (read secrets for this level to find more). Also reload your Sidewinders. Remember to kill any soldiers that may be shooting at the buildings. 8) Now missions 1 and 3 should be done. You may finish mission 2 if you want the missile-launchers to move. Elsewise, go all the way to the eastern side of the map and then all way south. Attack them from the right flank with quick maneuvers. DON'T let them aim at you, they're deadly! Fire enough to destroy them instantaneously or shoot once and hide consecutively. This should be enough for mission 4. 9) Now you need to destroy the elite force, and those are the harder. In this case, you WANT them to move, so that one of the remaining local troops (most likely Delilah) can help you. So first drop a leader on the west-most OP. Now complete mission 2 by killing the soldiers, and prepare for the thoughest battle. Go grab the secret sidewinder load if you still didn't, you'll spend it all now. The elite will start moving through the west side, so wait until they enter a combat with local forces. Meanwhile, you should destroy the stationary elite force that protects the enemy HQ. 10) Head to the bottom-left of the map, avoiding all ZSU and the U-shaped enemy formation on the central zone. In order to hide from them you can go over the mountain that stands between them, the southwest central one. When you reach the enemy camp, destroy the remaining elite, the radar (you better destroy the radar, will make things easier) and then the barracks. In one of the barracks there'll be Savak's vehicle, destroy him before he leaves (use heavy ammo, his car has massive armor). 11) After the local forces are destroyed (they will be), grab some armor (hope there's still some around, or else use your lives) and fuel and engage them yourself with all your remaining ammo, running away to recover whatever you need. When all elite have been destroyed., you're done with this mission. The chemical weapons facilities are safe. DRACULA: SECRETS: Cable: a) Windmill on east border of river Extra Try: a) Windmill on west border of river Armor: a) At your base b) House by the triangle-like crossroad on the northeast c) Electricity facility by southeast base d) Surrounded by hidden ZSU's near southern MIA's e) Protected by ZSU near west LZ Sidewinder: a) At your base b) House near road north of base with Hinds, close to radioactive section Super Cannon: a) North of southern LZ, where the road that comes all the way from the west LZ branches north WALKTHROUGH: I first thought this mission was difficult, but it's actually pretty easy after you've pinpointed all supplies you'll need and plan MIAs dropping wisely. So my first recommendation here is to mark on a rough map the loaction of hidden/special supplies. The green radioative zones on this level damage your chooper at a rate of 30dmg/3sec i guess, so avoid them when possible. AVOID spending sidewinders until the second part of the level. NOTE: I didn't get the heavy cannon until the second part of the level, but you may take it since the beginning, there's enough ammo on it for the whole level I believe. It's just a matter of taste, it's really unnecessary on the first part of the level since it's pretty easy. You wanna make things more challenging or more calm to you? Your choice. 1) This level starts with full combat already, your base is being attacked by four enemy vehicles. First go ahead, facing east, and take down the ZSU by his left flank. Then go over the mountain to the southeast tip of your "base" and destroy the BM-21. Shoot down the other BM-21, then go west for the other ZSU. Now quickly go to the mines to the west (a wasteland on the map) and finish off the gaskin, then go little way south and take yet other two BM-21. Also make your fly around those parts more useful and take down the nearby ZSU. If you fail to protect the supplies on your base, you may want to restart, but that's not extremely necessary, as there'll still be plenty on the rest of the level (yes even armor and sidewinders). 2) Now spot a couple of BTR-70 heading towards the mines from the northern river bridge and also destroy them, along with the supply trucks. Before crossing the river for mission 1, keep on the west border of it and head south, destroying a ZSU on your way. Destroy the windmill for an Extra Try. Then face east, take a little distance from the river and keep heading south. You'll find a couple turrets, destroy them all, but use your gun to aim first, as your hydras may hit the ground if you don't properly aim here. Be VERY careful with the Ganef's, destroying them before they spot you, as they're very powerful. After the area is clean, do what you came here for, that is, destroying the radar. 4) You'll probably need armor now, so go a little north, and right above the road to the north of the enemy base (the one with the Hinds), there'll be a couple houses where you can find Armor and Sidewinders (obviously keep the Sidewinders for later, way later). There'll also be ammo hidden inside some hay (notice it's the only load of hay you should destroy on this level, the others contain tanks). After you're "healed", take the east border of the river and follow north til you find another windmill. Destroy this one for the fast-loading cable. 5) The sanitarium on the north , place for your mission 1, is a though base, protected by lots of missile launcher vehicles. You may die once here if you're not careful, but that's no big deal if you die just ONCE. First search around the south of the sanitarium for the second radar of this level and destroy it asap. Then take down all enemy vehicles around. There's a trick to destroy the towers around the sanitarium, just shoot them from as far as you can and they won't even hit you. When you need armor here, go to the east of the sanitarium, and by the place where the road forms a triangle, search for a building by the north side of this "road triangle" for armor. You'll notice couples of ZSU's and Ganef's here, take your time and destroy them all (will make things easier for later mission). You shoudln't lose much health by dealing with the ZSU's, so go back to the sanitarium and finish any unfinshed business. 6) After the whole northeast section of the map is clear (phew), you may start destroying the sanitarium to free the scientists and take them to the west mines. Here's one KEY point of this level. You need to drop 11 scientists at the mines, and you recover armor for each one you drop. So load your chopper, but ONLY drop them there when you need that armor. If you're good on armor, start destroying the east base (the one with the Hinds). Keep moving from this base to the mines until you've dropped all scientists as needed. NOTE: After the first load of scientists you drop, three gaskins will appear. You must take them down. On the second load, BTR-70's will appear. They're more dangerous as they'll drop soldiers that can kill the scientists. Destroy every soldier they drop (or even better destroy them BEFORE they drop the soldiers) to protect your friends. Look carefully as the enemy soldiers can easily camuflate on that sort of terrain. 7) After all scientists have been taken, misson 2 should be complete (and 1 as well, you just need to grab the agent at the sanitarium, he's in the south buildings). Mission 3 involves the nuclear plant at the extreme southeast of the map. On your way there collect all MIA's you can find, and drop them later when you need armor. Notice there's an armor crate surrounded by suspectful looking hay loads near the MIAs at the south. Grab it as soon as you need armor since it'll be surrounded by ZSU's later on when the second part of the level comes up. 8) Arriving at the plant, clear the area of all threats. You won't want to navigate through battlefields with a warhead hanging from your chopper. Watch your ammo on this part, it may run out quickly. After everything's clear (be specially careful with Ganef's), destroy the top of the nuclear facility (where there's a dome). It has a lot of armor. Then drop your agent, and wait for him to set the nuke for you. As soon as he does that, a small Armored-ZSU army will come. Shoot them down qucikly before they kill your agent. If you get in too much danger, use some special ammo. 9) BEFORE GRABBING THE NUKE: You MUST have at least 50% of fuel before grabbing the nuke. After you got it, you won't be able to refill, and it's a long way back to the mines. Also, the second part of the level will come soon, and you'll need some heavy ammo. If you didn't get the super cannon yet, now is the time to do so. Watch the southern part of the map, just above your LZ. There's a section of road that comes all the way from the other LZ and then branches north. Search on a village on this north branch for a heavy cannon inside a house, an attachemnt you can use to replace your normal gun fire. It's awesome, 500 rounds of heavy fire with 50 of power, twice better than hydras!!! You can't reload it, after you spend it you're back to your normal gun. After you've became the war god, grab the Warhead and mission 3 is complete. 10) Now you just need to take the nuke to the mines. After you've done that, go back to the base with Hinds; hope you've cleared that already, if not just make use of your heavy firepower now. Drop your agent at the marked place, and he'll uncover the laser you'll need to direct the tomahawks to the mines. Grab the AGENT first, then the laser device, and take both to the mines. Now let him do his job. 11) As soon as he directs the tomahawks to the mines, you have to evacuate 7 scientists at least. Grab six, take them to the nearby LZ. By this time it should be announced that 60 seconds are remaining before the explosion. Go there grab 5 more scientists and the agent when he starts waving. Save that full load for dropping later when you need armor. Now just wait until mission 5 is complete and the second part of the level will come. DRACULA2: 12) On mission 6 quickly drop Amad, your copilot, at the designed point near the UN forces. Help the forces dispatch the few T-80's with your cannon. Do this the fastest as you can, then notice a lot of T-80's coming from south to attack your LZ's. On mission 7 take down all T-80's with Sidewinders, and the two BTR-70 at the end of the line with your super cannon. Then go and chase the other branch of T-80's heading to the other LZ. Spend the rest of your sidewinders on them, and then make use of your cannon. 13) After you've destroyed all southern T-80's, it's time to search the SCUD-launchers. By this time you've already got a radio transmission about some guy near a church. Go to this church (it's on the center of the map, they must have shown to you), destroy the BTR-70 and grab the guy that was held hostage inside the vehicle. He'll locate the SCUD's for you. 14) Mission 8: Now you must be very careful when destroying the SCUDs. After you've uncovered their hideouts (barns with a roof suitable for an obvious missile), you'll have like 5 seconds at most to finish them off before they launch the missiles, and if they do, mission fails. Reload your Sidewinders at your home base or at the spot near the Hind-base, in the house just above the north road. Use one Sidewinder and a couple hellfires to quickly finish the SCUD-launchers off. If you're desperate, use two sidewinders. Avoid the T-80's forces that travel with the radar-vehicles (Frank and Stein) by all costs, they're deadly. Approach them, and you lose one life, simple as that. 15) With SCUD's destroyed, the UN forces should be in danger. Quickly reload your ammo/armor/fuel and fly there. Destroy all enemy threats (some BM-21, easy job) and take the UN troops to the nearby landing zone. Mission 9 complete. Be sure to keep a full load of passengers with you so you can get more armor later if you need. 16) Your last trial. The Black Widow forces will approach from the south road, heading to the T-80 formation that appeared near your base out of nowhere. The leading T-80 of the south convoy is a Tarantula, don't even try hitting it now. Instead, take down the enemies behind the Tarantula, and let the Black Widow calmly reach her destination. When she gets there, destroy the long pyramid-like structure in the middle of the village and then Black Widow will be history. For some odd reason the enemies couldn't hit me on that village, I dunno if it's a bug or if I missed something. In any case, Dracula Operation is now done. KREMLIN: SECRETS: CABLE: a) Huge building southwest of your main LZ, across the Moskva river, south of bridge on the Krutitskiy highway. EXTRA TRY: a) On Kievskiy railway station, west portion of the map, beyond river, there's a set of 3 wagons. Destroy the middle one. ARMOR: a) In the Kremlin, clearly visible inside the Arsenal building central yard. b) In the western building inside Kremlin's walls (yes, you can destroy the Palace of Congress). c) Wrecked building near Arbat street, southwest of Kremlin. d) Southwest-most section yet inside Moskva river's boundaries, on a small building protected by a T-80 (near drop-zone number 2). e) Protected by five T-80's in a southern enemy camp, north building. f) Huge building southwest of your main LZ, across the Moskva river, south of bridge on the Krutitskiy highway, just next to the building with the cable. g) Along with KGB's leader, can only be obtained on Mission 7. SIDEWINDERS: a) Southwest-most section yet inside Moskva river's boundaries, on the southern big building protected by a Skar (close to Armor Crate (d)). b) Airport to the northwest. SUPER CANNON: a) Wrecked building near Arbat street, southwest of Kremlin, along with Armor Crate (c). b) Airport to the northwest, along with Sidewinders (b). CRATES: A first thing one should be aware of are the support dropping zones existing on this level. There are valuable crates scattered through Moscow, if you take them to a dropping zone, any nearby enemy vehicles will become your ally, as long as you don't shoot them! Here I'll give location of all crates, starting from the southern drop zone and moving clockwise. To obtain crates carried by BR-20's, just destroy them. 1) Inside the nearby BR-20 2) Inside building next to gas station, east of drop-zone and close to river 3) Inside lonely train on railroad to the south (beyond river) 4) Inside the very close bleachers 5) Along with (6) 6) Inside building exactly to northeast of Kremlin, protected by Pickups with missiles 7) Inside the nearby BR-20 8) Inside the nearby BR-20 Note every drop-zone will help you in a singular manner. (1) will attract the pickups around building with hostages, (2) will take T-80's and Skar's out of the way of the Southeast special supplies, (3) and (4) can help you protecting the airplane on mission 6 I believe, (5) and (6) will help against T-80's, (7) will take 4 Skar's out of your way and (8) will take the pickups away from a set of ammo supplies. WALKTHROUGH: Some would say this level is hard due to the high amount of enemies blocking your passage everywhere. But remember that super cannon from Transylvania? Well, there are TWO of those here. So you get my point, this mission isn't that complicated battle-wise ;) The real problem here is that most missions depend on timing and fast action, so it's easy to fail. 1) Andrea will be desperate for rescue, but before you save her, go get the cable to the southwest of your base. You'll have plenty of time and believe me, it will be specially useful on this level. After you got the cable, go rescue Andrea, and destroy the furious BMPs. Then go take the heavy cannon for your chopper to the southwest of the Kremlin, inside a wrecked huge building. Go to the place where the officials are, and start shooting the BMPs (let the Skar for last, it's dangerous). Then you may want to take some valuable craft to drop-zone number 2. Anyway drop Andrea on the assigned point, and she'll bring the officials out. Beware of two BPMs and a big troop of soldiers. Load your chopper and rapidly drop them at the nearby LZ, before Andrea is killed (drop only 3). Then go back and grab the rest, along with Andrea, also killing the many soldiers. 2) Don't waste any time, keep your chopper loaded anyway and go at full throttle to east of the LZ. Soon enough Hack will pinpoint some trucks loaded with explosives. Destroy them all before they get to the bridges to accomplish mission 2. 3) On mission 3 rush to the Kremlin, and take down the SCUD launchers. Then quickly destroy the Skar forces from both flanks (shouldn't be hard, they'll be more worried with the Kremlin than with you). After they're gone three choppers will come from the northeast. Don't let them get close to the Kremlin, but wait until they've past the T-80 barrage before attacking. Destroy the HIP helicopter first, it's more dangerous to the Kremlin. 4) Now that the Kremlin is safe and mission 3 is complete, you need to drop Andrea in the Kremlin. But DON'T do this just yet. Because now it's party time. You'll use the heavy cannon to start killing ALL enemies on the level, excluding the ones that can be your friends if you like (those close to drop-zones). You may take your time and persuade the enemies you can (read "CRATES" section above). Also destroy all stone-turrets around the Moskva river, the ones that don't show on the map, and any speedboat you may find. 5) Reload your heavy cannon on the airport if you need. After the whole Central Moscow is clear of militar threats, then, and only then, drop Andrea on the Kremlin. She'll bring Boris Yeltsin out, and while she does so, destroy the guards that will appear. The escape limo will be destroyed (this is inevitable), so wait for Andrea and Yeltsin to reach the other car. When they do so, more enemies will start popping out of nowhere (now you'll be glad you've cleared the map before). Start by destroying the T-80s to the east. In order for Yeltsin's car to leave the Kremlin, shoot the Tsar-Cannon and it will take down the whole east wall. 6) By this time you may have already noticed Yeltsin drives like a drunk monkey. Yes he's completely unable to guide any vehicle, yet he's the only one who can drive himself out of Moscow. The key to protect him is always being one step ahead of him. But for this you must know his itinerary. He'll first go south, take the east bridge on the bridge branch, then turn north and follow in a zig-zag pattern to the fast-food place in the north. Destroy all T-80s before they can hit the car and, if you don't see any T-80 on your way, wait a little, that means Yeltsin needs to advance a little more. You may want to use a couple Sidewinders here, but save five for the next mission. When he finally gets to the fast-food, he'll stop to fill his belly (no i'm not joking!). On this part, a strange thing occured on my game, often Yeltsin would get back to his car but wouldn't go anywhere, just stand there. I believe this is a bug, I dunno if general or on my disc only. But what I did to avoid this bug (worked twice) was waiting for him on the opposite site of the building, shooting the enemy vehicles from there. 7) After Yeltsin gets to the airplane, Mission 4 is complete, and you'll now need to scort his airplane. This will be a quick one, just keep destroying the trucks on the southern border of the track, after you've got rid of the T-80 force (use sidewinders on them, then reload on the nearby supply). 8) On to Mission 6. The MOB Leader is believed to be the Shadowman, the bad guy of the story. He's located on a hotel south of the airport, just beyond the river. It's crutial you have already destroyed all river turrets before going there. Take down all the pickups, and then destroy the main entrance of the hotel. The MOB Leader and a few henchmen will run to the speedboats. Wait until they start moving and destroy the two boats behind his. Now you can NOT destroy his boat, or he'll die and you'll never know if he is the real Shadowman. He'll escape to a place near your base. Destroy all bridges on the boat's way (I believe they may damage the boat) and wait for him to come out of the boat. When he does, grab him. 9) Before you go on, refill your sidewinders. You'll find out he's not the real Shadowman, but probably the KGB leader is. You first need to destroy Lenin's Mausoleum. Look on the map for mission 7, go to the designated area and shoot everything down. Then grab the KGB leader inside the building and take him to the zoo on the northwest, to force him to confess who's the real Shadowman, if not himself. (You don't need to grab him back, let him have fun with the bears :P ). 10) The real Shadowman will be pinpointed. He's about to escape on an airplane taking Nick Arnold as a hostage. Re-load your ammonition. To take Nick out of the plane, carefully give it a few hits. Rescue Nick, and wait Shadowman to take off. Missiles will be spotted inside the Saint Basil's Cathedral. Quickly destroy those before they're launched, then go after Shadowman. Use one sidewinder per target on this part, plus hellfires on missiles and hydras on Shadowman; hope you still have the heavy cannon. After Shadowman is killed, three more missiles will be spotted inside Kremlin's towers. Use other 3 sidewinders plus hellfires to take those down, and a Soviet war is completely out of question. STRIKE operations are over by now. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 4. Enemy Battle Strategy ENEMY BATTLE STRATEGIES: AAA (turrets): 2 hydras for light ones, three hydras for heavy ones. BM-21: just attack from behind with 3 hydras. They're deadly from the front, but can't quickly aim to the rear. BMP: very easy targets. If they're equipped with a machine gun, use one hellfire or two heavy cannon shots. If they have missile launchers, those are not homing, so just fly around it firing normal shots. BRDM-3: 3 hydras, always attack from behind. In case you spot it by the front, use one hellfire. BTR-70: one hellfire if you need to destroy them fast, or just a couple hydras and some gun shots. GANEF: very dangerous. Best strategy is firing 3 hydras and quickly hidding somewhere. If you have nowhere to hide, most of times taking one shot is inevitable. Their reload time is huge though (around 3 seconds), so you'll have plenty of time to destroy it after the first shot. GASKIN: similar to BRDM-3, but since they're stationary, they're way easier to fight against. HAVOC: they fire homing missiles and fly fast, very dangerous. Fire a couple hellfires and some hydras, trying to attack from the flanks. HIND: their missiles are weak and on top of that they can't chase you. So just keep flying around them and destroy them with normal weak fire. HIP: can't hurt you, so don't spend too much ammo. Use one hellfire to make the "battle" shorter, some hydras that you feel you can spare and normal shots. PT-76: one hellfire plus one hydra, or 4 hydras plus gun shots when out of hellfires, simple. SKAR: very dangerous. Alwyas attack from behind, with 1 hellfire and 1 heavy cannon shot or two hydras. If it aims at you, run and re-engage. T-80: If you'll use 2 hellfires OR 1 hellire and 4 hydras, always attack quick from behind. With the heavy cannon attachment, attack from any flank, start shooting and moving around him, he'll be destroyed before his cannon can aim at you. ZSU: One hellfire, 2 hydras. They're deadly, the better strategy is instant kill. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 5. Closure I'd like to thank Electronic Arts for such great series, GameFAQ's for hosting this guide, and myself for writing the FAQ. Heh I really can't think of anything else to say. I'll be happy to update this FAQ somehow if I receive suggestions for such. I love feedback, and who doesn't? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sony PlayStation Soviet Strike Walkthrough Final Planned Version Made by the "Last Cetra", which owns exclusive CopyRight E-mail: lastcetra@rpgclassics.com / ICQ: 94721792 / AIM: Saishuu Setora Any question/advice regarding this game may be sent to me. Created / Last Update in October 8th, 2002. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [EOF]