Anyone has tips for fighting the major?

[bunny de fluff]

I mean without letting the president die, that is. : )

Major always kill him before I can reach him.

[BastardSword]

I've managed to save the president twice.

First thing is probably to reduce the power of the outpost so there are less enemy soldiers there. If you hover over the red shield icons you can see what you need to do. I know that having control of all the mines will reduce one shield. Getting intel on the Eagle's Nest will reduce the shields too but I'm not really sure how to do that other than hacking everything you find throughout the game. I have a suspicion that taking out Faucheaux and Corazon will give you some intel on the major's outpost but I'm not sure. Maybe L.E. Oat gives you some intel?

As for the actual battle, I've found that the best thing is to sneak as close as you can to the hill where the major is, before battle starts. Assuming the hill is in the upper right of your screen, you can get quite close from the lower right of the map. I think you can sneaky snipe one guy who is below the hill, but killing the next guy who is on the path up the hill will alert the whole map.

Once that has happened, I will rush up my mercs as far up the hill as I can. The major will give the order to kill the president. It's possible for the major and the MG guy next to him to kill the president right away when they get a turn, and you might have to reload and try again. But other times they have missed most of their shots and he ran out of the tent and around the corner. The enemies just ignored him and focused on me at this point so he was basically safe.

One thing you can do is sneak as close as you can then drop a smoke mortar on the tent. This will alert everyone but then you can move up the hill at your own pace. The major and his guys will try to shoot the prez but will hopefully miss most of their shots.

I guess another thing would be to attack during a dust storm if you have lots of thermal scopes, though I think the major being in the tent would keep out the dust storm.

I've seen some advice online that using tear gas helps, but I wasn't able to get close enough to pop one before the enemies killed the prez.

In any case definitely an annoying mission and I wish it didn't force you to do it one way and yet still rely on RNG.

[bunny de fluff]

Thanks for the input BastardSword. The smoke mortar is good suggestion.

"Getting intel on the Eagle's Nest will reduce the shields too but I'm not really sure how to do that"
Do scouting operations, that is the thing that gives intel of a sector.

[nc-friedrth10]

You need two teams.

Heavy weapons team attacks from the west
Make a lot of noise and fires with 2 mortars with gas grenades.

Second team hides on the eastern side directly under the enmy base.

The enemy soldiers run in the direction of your heavy squad and into the gas.

The moment the major gives order to kill the president, you attack with stealth spuad.

All members of stealth squad have assault rifles with grenade launcher.
Eliminate the enemys on the hill with grenade launchers ( watch the president )

My self build merc is a machine gunner with full modded HK21.
One 3 AP burst was enough for the major to give up. ( 8 bullets in the head )

After cleaning the hill and the major surrenderd you mob up the remaining bad guys.
If you have done right ( all outposts, hire pierre, NOT killed jackhammer, NOT eliminated corazon ) you could hire the major, free the president and play on.

have fun

[bunny de fluff]

Автор сообщения: nc-friedrth10

You need two teams.

Heavy weapons team attacks from the west
Make a lot of noise and fires with 2 mortars with gas grenades.

Second team hides on the eastern side directly under the enmy base.

The enemy soldiers run in the direction of your heavy squad and into the gas.

The moment the major gives order to kill the president, you attack with stealth spuad.

All members of stealth squad have assault rifles with grenade launcher.
Eliminate the enemys on the hill with grenade launchers ( watch the president )

My self build merc is a machine gunner with full modded HK21.
One 3 AP burst was enough for the major to give up. ( 8 bullets in the head )

After cleaning the hill and the major surrenderd you mob up the remaining bad guys.
If you have done right ( all outposts, hire pierre, NOT killed jackhammer, NOT eliminated corazon ) you could hire the major, free the president and play on.

have fun

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried a few times by starting the combat with a few of my close combat guys hugging the hill of the Major's camp. As soon as the combat start Major would give the kill order right away. Hugging the hill in stealth mode is like a death sentence to the president.

[bunny de fluff]

The president can survive only two burst max from Major. This is a bit tricky. : )

[nc-friedrth10]

Автор сообщения: bunny de fluff

The president can survive only two burst max from Major. This is a bit tricky. : )

If you did not have a HK21, use a sniper and hit the arms of the major every round.
he will miss a lot.

[IlluminaZero]

What I did was as have a melee merc chain free move as close to the tent as possible and throw a smoke grenade where the president is.

You can use explosives to blow the side of the tent open to more directly throw grenades into the tent.

[bunny de fluff]

Автор сообщения: IlluminaZero

You can use explosives to blow the side of the tent open to more directly throw grenades into the tent.

This tip could come in handy! Thanks!

[cockadoodledoo]

Tipp 1
Look out for weather to keep the president alive, Dust Storm, Fog, gives grazing shots, so when the president gets hit the dmg is reduced.
Tipp 2
Do not open combat too close to the Majors tent. If you start out too close you have 3 rounds till he calls out to shoot the president. Best is to lure all of them out, the Major will leave its position. Mortars are a good investment here.
Tipp 3
Afaik you can snipe up to 11 (maybe 13?) enemies before starting a battle, some are really tricky and are a bit like in Commandos. You need to time the kill perfectly, while the other enemy is taking a piss ;)

Other Strategies
1. Park one sniper beneath the majors tent, there are burnt Cars and steep slope towards the majors tent, with a lot of stones. From there you can try to shoot down the tent with an RPG, giving you better vision on the President, Major and that mortar guy on top. Then use the method of Sniping and Gassing the ♥♥♥♥ out the Legion while advancing with the second team.

2. Build a melee team and cheese the level.

[bunny de fluff]

@cockadoodledoo: thanks, all solid suggestion, this time around I let the president get killed, next time I sure will save his ass! 😅

[BastardSword]

Автор сообщения: bunny de fluff

"Getting intel on the Eagle's Nest will reduce the shields too but I'm not really sure how to do that"
Do scouting operations, that is the thing that gives intel of a sector.

Right, but you also get intel when you do certain missions. I just rescued Pierre and got intel on a bunch of places including the Eagle's Nest. Not sure if the intel for the Eagle's Nest is only from mission stuff or if you can do it via scouting as well. Getting rid of the shields really reduces the number of soldiers at the Eagle's Nest.

[bunny de fluff]

Автор сообщения: BastardSword

Автор сообщения: bunny de fluff

"Getting intel on the Eagle's Nest will reduce the shields too but I'm not really sure how to do that"
Do scouting operations, that is the thing that gives intel of a sector.

Right, but you also get intel when you do certain missions. I just rescued Pierre and got intel on a bunch of places including the Eagle's Nest. Not sure if the intel for the Eagle's Nest is only from mission stuff or if you can do it via scouting as well. Getting rid of the shields really reduces the number of soldiers at the Eagle's Nest.

By the way, don't forget to bring pierre back to his town to talk to his dad. Talking to the villagers of Ernie with him will trigger a lot of interesting dialogue too. : )

[BastardSword]

Just did it last night. Had to painstakingly get rid of all the shields first...took back all the mines, took back all the outposts, got intel about the Eagle's Nest by rescuing Pierre, and had to wait for the assault squad to leave A20 to reduce the last shield. Then we attacked when there was no shield.

First try failed. I got my guys up to the trench area just below the hill, used a smoke mortar on the tent, then started moving my guys up the hill. The smoke helped protect the prez, but I started out so far away that by the time my guys got halfway up the hill, the major had had enough turns to kill the president with his machine gun. His hits were all grazing hits but they added up and killed the guy.

Reloaded and tried again. This time I kept most all my mercs at the trench area but moved a couple good snipers further up and stealth sniped the guy at the machine gun nest without alerting the whole base. Moved everyone up the hill then sniped the sniper on the hill which alerted the base. Had half my mercs (I was using three full squads) rush up the hill, and the ones I kept back sniped the mortar guy and started sniping the guys rushing at us from the west of the hill. The major gave his kill order and had one turn to unload on the president. He got a lot of shots in but they didn't do much damage. The president ran outside and behind the tent which I think is the key to him surviving a lot of the time. At this point I could start sniping the major and eliminated him, and the machine gun goon inside the tent just stays there not moving. Finished him off and then started getting rid of everyone else on the flat part of the camp to win the game.

If I were trying the smoke mortar again, I'd try to get as far up the hill as I can before alerting/killing the sniper, then use smoke. Possibly two smoke barrages, one on the tent and one to the left in case the prez runs out there (he usually does, and either runs around to the north or south of the tent). Try and snipe the sniper at the same time as dropping the smoke, then rush up some guys who have a lot of movement range (M24s really hamper movement...dragonovs and the PSG don't). Then hopefully neutralize the major before he unloads on the prez.

[bunny de fluff]

Автор сообщения: BastardSword

Just did it last night. Had to painstakingly get rid of all the shields first...took back all the mines, took back all the outposts, got intel about the Eagle's Nest by rescuing Pierre, and had to wait for the assault squad to leave A20 to reduce the last shield. Then we attacked when there was no shield.

First try failed. I got my guys up to the trench area just below the hill, used a smoke mortar on the tent, then started moving my guys up the hill. The smoke helped protect the prez, but I started out so far away that by the time my guys got halfway up the hill, the major had had enough turns to kill the president with his machine gun. His hits were all grazing hits but they added up and killed the guy.

Reloaded and tried again. This time I kept most all my mercs at the trench area but moved a couple good snipers further up and stealth sniped the guy at the machine gun nest without alerting the whole base. Moved everyone up the hill then sniped the sniper on the hill which alerted the base. Had half my mercs (I was using three full squads) rush up the hill, and the ones I kept back sniped the mortar guy and started sniping the guys rushing at us from the west of the hill. The major gave his kill order and had one turn to unload on the president. He got a lot of shots in but they didn't do much damage. The president ran outside and behind the tent which I think is the key to him surviving a lot of the time. At this point I could start sniping the major and eliminated him, and the machine gun goon inside the tent just stays there not moving. Finished him off and then started getting rid of everyone else on the flat part of the camp to win the game.

If I were trying the smoke mortar again, I'd try to get as far up the hill as I can before alerting/killing the sniper, then use smoke. Possibly two smoke barrages, one on the tent and one to the left in case the prez runs out there (he usually does, and either runs around to the north or south of the tent). Try and snipe the sniper at the same time as dropping the smoke, then rush up some guys who have a lot of movement range (M24s really hamper movement...dragonovs and the PSG don't). Then hopefully neutralize the major before he unloads on the prez.

Killing the machine gun guy is a pretty good idea.

[BastardSword]

The MG guy inside the tent might unload once on the president, but will then just stand there doing nothing while the president runs outside. The major will chase after him though, but I think he will ignore the major when you start shooting at him.