What If: Chopper Down

What If: Chopper Down

Primary Objectives: Defend the Pillar / Disable the Bot / Defend the Bridge / Defend Gate Controls
Secondary Objectives:  Defend the Shop Door

First I want to say that I understand if you are tempted to walk away from the game due to this mission.  It is bad, there is no question about it.  Of all the missions in the game, this one has the most Grief Code in it, and the cheating on behalf of the enemy is so blatant that they may as well have named this mission the Cheater McCheat Cheating Mission of Cheats.

Defending the Gate Controls is the Key to this Mission

Instead of getting angry or frustrated, try to understand that the whole point behind their cheating is simple enough -- you are not intended to keep the Pillar from being blown -- you are not intended to keep the bridge from being blown.  You are not intended to keep the bot from reaching the end of the road.  In fact the game will not allow you to do any of those things -- unless you are incredibly lucky that is.

The point is that the programmers who created the game coded it to cheat in favor of the enemy so that the vast majority of players will try their heart out to fulfill the objectives and fail.  Once you get to the end of the mission, in the Gate House, the odds are more even but NOT in your favor.  During the last 30 seconds of the clock there will be a blitz attack, and if they already have the hack device in place, the game will give them extra time on the clock.  Yes, more blatant cheating.  But you CAN win this at the end, so do not put a lot of effort into the first two battles in this mission, just get through them and then set yourself up in the Gate House and take the bastards down.  Yeah, that means sitting there waiting for 20 minutes, occasionally shooting an enemy or two, but that is how the mission was intended to go, so suck it up.

The Game is Programmed to Cheat in this Mission

If there is any remaining doubt in your mind that the game is set up to cheat in favor of the enemy, watch the video above -- as you know, the bridge must be blown for the bot to pass it and move on to the next objective -- but if you are too good at keeping the enemy from placing the charge to blow the bridge, eventually the bot ignores the bridge as if it was not there, and simply rolls through as shown in this video. 

The only option that you have once the game lets the bot move through the bridge as if it were not there is to try to keep the enemy from getting close enough to "escort" the bot down the road, as it is not supposed to move unless is has a character escorting it...  Notice that I said "not supposed to" instead of "cannot"?  Yup, if you are able to keep the enemy away from the bot for long enough, the game then has the bot go into total auto mode, and it moves up the road as if there was a character escorting it when there clearly is not because you are keeping them from it!

I have listened to a lot of players complain about this level -- it is certainly the most hated in the game -- but the odd thing is that mostly they feel betrayed by Splash Damage.  It is one thing to give a boss mob lots of XP, or make only every fifth shot able to damage them, but to basically ignore the rules of the game in order to force the player to lose?  That is pretty bad.

-- One Last Chance --

If you fail to protect the bridge (chances are you will) then your last chance to win is to stop them from completing the hack on the Gate Controls at the end of the mission.  Most players will win at this point, because that last battle takes place in a confined area and, if you place your assets strategically and use the cover available, the odds are actually in YOUR favor here!

What you want to do is pretty much what I did in the video -- keep replacing your two mines in front of the control panel, place and replace your Gatling Turret, and be sure to pick off the Engineer when he pops up to try to hack!  Rinse and repeat and you will win this one!

In addition to the satisfaction of taking out the bad guys and winning the mission, you also unlock the Journal for 04/01/45 for Founder Barbara Elmhurst.