Mech Commander 2 - Strategy Guide - M2 Op 10 - Gulag

Now that you're working for the Mandrissa, you'll find you generously have access to Liao mechs - Starslayers, Sha Yu and Anubii. Notice that you don't get access to the Lao Hu & Men Shen. Luckily for you, you managed to salvage them before. So take some time to mod them up, increasing their armor and beefing up their lasers with your acquired Clan technology.

Your first contract is to liberate political prisoners at the Steiner Gulag. As you drop in, the Prison is being destroyed by two rampaging mechs and a dozen Harassers, Centipedes and other nasties under the order of Colonel Renard, who is having a hissy fit. In this mission you have no time, so leave any mech slower than 86kph behind. Since you are up against Steiner mechs... that makes it easy 😊

Take me to the river...

As soon as you hit dirt, you'll get a sensor contact due East - up on a ridge sits a welcoming committee: a Hollander and several LRMs. They will delay you, and you don't want that, because those mechs destroying the Gulag work fast. So bypass them; run East but down, to the inlet. A Razorback will attempt to impede you; slap him aside like a yappy poodle. Grab the turrets as a hedge against the Hollander and LRMs that came down off the ridge and are following you. Continue following the shore, circling West. Do not make the mistake of getting out onto the isthmus that juts into the center of the inlet. The Hollander will catch up and you'll waste time.

Excuse me, pardon me; pardon me, excuse me

When you see the road and the Lookout Tower, turn due North. Charge down the road, slapping aside the Hunchback that will have the impertinence to try to stop you. You'll burst out into the ravine where the Gulag is. The ground vehicles and the Razorback attacking the Gulag are your prime targets. The Piggie will try to jump into the back of the Gulag to avoid you and continue his destruction, while a Zeus will charge down the hill to the West and engage you. Get the vehicles and the Razorback first; let the Zeus hit on you if you must (eww!) but save the Gulag.

Stop! in the name of Love...

Once you have control of the place, providing some of the Gulag is still standing, you'll hear two vidcomm transmits: one from Renard and one from a man named Baxter, leader of a Resistance group; both of them mention a wave of bombers on the way to destroy the Gulag before the prisoners can be moved. You can't let this happen.

Baxter also mentions a small village to the SouthWest. Send your fastest (and least damaged mech) to grab the Resource Building there. Meanwhile, go grab the Steiner Headquarters up the hill and the two Resource Buildings there. If the Zeus isn't too gutted, revive it also. TacOps suggests you have time to repair; it's a good time to do it; those Zeus' PPCs hurt. You won't have much time later so heal those wounds now.

I have never left the Gun Turrets standing; I have a sneaky suspicion that they might fire on the Refugee Convoy when they pass through, and by then you need to be elsewhere. So keep the speed of this mission up by doing all three things at once - repair, resource harvesting and cleanup duty. Watch out for the Hollander, who has doggedly been trailing you from the fjord if she wasn't smurfed by the LRM turret ambush you left for her. She should be pretty weak, though 😊

Miss Hollander learns the penalty of tagging along

Remember that first Lookout Tower you rushed past on the way back in? Due South of that, along the road, are several Watchtowers. The last one of that series is the first target of the incoming force from the Airport to the North. All along that road through the canyon are several good places for you to dig in; one such is the hillside between that Tower and the road into the prison.

End of the road, boys

The incoming wave is preceeded by Attack Choppers, which is why you want to be up high. Then down the road will come a pair of Hollanders accompanied by a pair of Hunchbacks. Concentrate fire on one enemy at a time; take out the Hollanders first because the Hunchbacks have farther to run to be effective. You do not want any of this crew getting past you to the Refugee Convoy, which is just entering the Gulag's gates right about now. So watch out for mechs slipping by you.

Once that is done, you'll hear more vidcom; Baxter telling you the convoy will be heading for the Airport, and to make sure there are no surprises waiting for them. Run North up the road, but veer East just after you pass the last Watchtower, and give a wide circle to the Airport, working your way around to the far North. This is the position you want to be in for the assault; right across from the Private Jet.

Looking East across the Airport

Send someone forward to attack the turret generator; a lot of Centipedes and ground units will activate. Keep at the generator; when you've blown it, or are close enough, you'll awaken your true opponent; an Atlas. Don't get your panties in a bunch! You'll notice that the Atlas has to charge you at an angle, along the shoreline... an angle that passes perilously close to a huge bunch of highly inflammable and terribly dangerous fuel tanks and ammo dumps... eh heh heh 'nuff said, sez Mr Stan Lee. Whatever survives the resulting nuclear sideshow crumbles quickly to your team's surgical skill.

The BIG Flash

When the place is secured (make sure all the turrets are deactivated or under your control!), you can sit back smugly and watch the wee little Refugee Convoy arrive, in awe of your skill. Just "aw, shucks" 'em, accept their humble adoration and god-worship and count the money; it's good for the image. You might also wonder what Baxter's "Resistance" is really resisting... oh yeah (smile) don't forget to salvage the Atlas.

[Dagger and Flash joined Longshot as Elite]

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