Tips on achieving an S-rank?

[SSBMGZUS]

Is it mostly/only based on time? I've only played the ground zeroes mission 3 times and so far, the best I've done is an A-rank at 70 minutes. I'm also rescuing those 4 POWs that are in the prison camp with Chico, which takes about 5 minutes, so I don't think it impacts the time that much

[cklambo]

Just run to chico, then run to paz. You can finish the mission in 6 minutes.

[SSBMGZUS]

Originally posted by cklambo:

Just run to chico, then run to paz. You can finish the mission in 6 minutes.

So I don't need to incapacitate anyone? I feel like I would die if I just ran through, assuming that's what you mean

[76561198064539791]

General Advice

The basics for the main mission is to do it quickly, and rescue all the prisoners from Chico's area (and maybe that extra one who appears after you rescue Chico).

Use the mouse to head-shot guards with the tranq gun if they're waiting around, to spare you time. Note that if you tranq them in the head, they won't wake up unless another guard wakes them.

To save ammo, you can punch out an enemy. This apparently keeps them down indefinitely as well. It makes a bit of noise, and often you move around a bit in the process, so don't pull this off with enemies nearby.

Consider having your rifle equipped in case they spot you from afar. Then, try to shoot them 3 (or 4?) times in the body, this should leave them agonized on the ground but not dead. After that, shoot them in the head with the tranq gun (or kick them if you're out of ammo), and move on. This will prevent them dying, and they'll hoepfully despawn when you move away (so their deaths don't detract from your score). Note that you can kill a few people, but not many.

You'll get 6K points for finishing without using Reflex, but generally it isn't worth the effort till you're very practiced. Instead, it's often better to use reflex liberally, so as to avoid resetting the checkpoint.

You can reset the checkpoint several times without losing your S-rank. Raising an alarm reduces your points by a lot more, so it's preferable to restart the checkpoint if you get spotted.

Theoretically, you might be able to rescue Chico and Paz fast enough that you don't need to extract all the other prisoners, but the other prisoners give you a pretty nice score bonus (particularly that bonus prisoner). The prisoners will also work for you in TPP.

Other than that, I can only give specific advice depending on the issues you're having.

My Preferred Route

My general route for S-ranking the mission is to move toward the edge of the first spotlight. On Normal, I mark the guys to the left and a few others, while waiting for the light to move to the left of me, then run past, climb up the wall, then walk past the guard in the tower. Make sure to tranq him in the head before you go.
In Hard mode, I generally have to tranq the two guys on the other side of the fence so I can move past unnoticed (you can do this during the Reflex-mode so as to get closer). Again, tranq the tower guard.
If you mess up the first part, restart the whole mission, skipping the cutscene.

After that, I like to go along the edge of the map towards Chico, tranqing people I see. The hardest part seems to be dealing with that guard inside the area, with all the cages. I usually end up killing him with liberal rifle fire.

Once you meet up with Chico, immediately call in the chopper to save yourself some time. Then, take out the two guards who will spawn and head for a guard booth. Run all the prisoners to the chopper, Chico last.

After extracting Chico, there will be a truck stopped just up the road (the closest one to that bay area the chopper lands by). You can ride in the back of it to get inside the admin building, where Paz is (can make getting in faster). If you want to get the bonus prisoner first, you can tranq the driver, then wake him up when you come back (he'll resume driving the truck).

Inside the admin building, you'll want to tranq the guards. You may also want to shoot out the security cameras to give yourself an easier time (or flip off the power, which will also turn off some lights). You can then hide the bodies, and ambush anyone who comes to check on the cameras (allowing you to take out a lot of the guards in the area to make your escape easier).

Getting Paz isn't complicated, just use the generator's as cover to ambush and tranq the few guards. But make sure to hide the bodies (or leave one by the wall opposite the generators, as a lure)! Once you have Paz, tranq the newly spawned guard nearby, and the guards coming from the left to check if Paz is still there (they put the enemy in caution mode). Head up the stairs where those guys came from.

After that, head out through the door where you can switch off the power, the one that leads to behind an AA gun. Be very cautious, as you can't throw Paz at guards and you can only use the tranq gun if you get spotted. I find it best to head to the extraction point where you began the mission, though theoretically you might manage a hot extraction in that area near the warehouses, if you can jump in the chopper before you're seen.

Even with a few checkpoint retries and kills, and going at a moderate pace, that ought to give you an S-Rank.


You can look up videos on S-rank playthroughs if you need more advice.

[SSBMGZUS]

Thank you for the incredibly detailed report. I'll definitely try it out!

[76561198064539791]

You're welcome. I ought to turn that into a guide or something.

[Jelly Sandwich]

All missions are point based. You get extra points for rescuing prisoners, not getting cought, no killing, no reflex mode etc. You loose points if your mission is delayed too much, killing non-targets, alerts etc.

[ᴠᴀʀ]

Originally posted by Mask:

General Advice

My Preferred Route

My general route for S-ranking the mission is to move toward the edge of the first spotlight. On Normal, I mark the guys to the left and a few others, while waiting for the light to move to the left of me, then run past, climb up the wall, then walk past the guard in the tower. Make sure to tranq him in the head before you go.
In Hard mode, I generally have to tranq the two guys on the other side of the fence so I can move past unnoticed (you can do this during the Reflex-mode so as to get closer). Again, tranq the tower guard.
If you mess up the first part, restart the whole mission, skipping the cutscene.

Hey, if you want any advice on that part..

Whenever I start the mission > skip cutscene > I just walk ahead a few meters before spotlight, wait until the spotleft is going to the left, then I climb up and around the tower as quickly as possible, running down and taking a hard right so you can jump over the fence from the cliff.

The guards may hear a 'sound' and broadcast they're going to check it out, but if you keep running straight ahead towards the tentcamp, take a left, then right thru the middle of the camp (where a car is just about to drive away, climb over the fence to your left, take a lower stance and silenty walk to chico's direction.

Jump over the fence, crawl to your left (A soldier will notice you, coming from where chico being held.) crawl towards the left and use your 3th person view to see when he's turning around. Tranq him, walk over to guard post (There's tranq ammo inside), then call the chopper quickly. Now, run towards the camp, move to the right and you see the guard "inside the prison just walking away from you. He's close enough to tranq. Then quickly shoot the guard guarding the door. get chico out and keep running along the ridge on your right. Just watch the guards that come down. Changing your stance works most of the time.

Got chico in the chopper in 2min and 35 secs.

Even if you don't like a speedrun, that first part can be skipped really quick.

[AlucarD]

- deactivate reflex mode
- rescue a lot of or all POWs
- dont be afraid to reload checkpoints
- git gud xD

[Roni]

Just something I haven't seen written nearly as much as it should: you don't need to deactivate Reflex mode to go on a S-Rank run. Not only is the rank system point based, so if you rush with Reflex on you can still reach the S-Rank threshold, but you can also get an S-Rank with Reflex mode on so long as you never get yourself in a position where it is needed, i.e. getting discovered. In fact, Reflex mode can be quite good at providing valuable feedback on where you failed during a stealth run.