--- Underbosses ---
I had done La Gringa before with a heli, but didn't realize parking it effectively can aid in extracting her from her home without conflict. I also found a much more effective (faster and safer) way of getting to and obtaining the HDD data Feliz sold to SB. I had to change up my El Bouquita tactics not having the HTI BDC, but despite going loud a bit, was without any real danger due to an excellent vantage point. As I've said before here, I never once had a problem with the tunnel door bug in La Plaga during a campaign run. I've only ever had it not open on Mission Replay, and that remained the same here. I also found a pretty decent spot to kill La Plaga from, and as far as I know, the entire mission would qualify as beating the no detection challenge.
Enjoy, next up is the four Bosses (El Yayo, El Cardenal, Nidia Flores, and El Muro).
La Gringa
Ramon Feliz
El Bouquita
La Plaga
Hey Frag Maniac!
First a suggestion: A nice addition to this, if possible, would be to maybe put together a ToC on your first post to let people know which page contains each mission. When I wanted to see how you did a certain mission I was struggling with or simply to compare, I found myself searching each page over and over.
Alright, now to kudos:
Great thread! Thanks for this! Yes, there are a lot of vids out there that people have put out, but I've turned to these as my go-to videos. I played a more ranged approach, but after seeing some of these missions the way you've done them, I've changed and improved my game style. I've become much more aggressive (but not reckless - usually) and better, simply because I realized that there was no need to run and hide on the first sign of being noticed. I saw that you either take them out or drop prone to get rid of the alert, so I'm now trying to do the same. And to see that you take out two or three baddies at a time gave me a new confidence. Where I used to only do one at a time, now I take down more in one go. This alone has changed the way I approach things (even against Unidad or any heavies).
Another thing I learned is that we don't need to wipe out everyone during a mission. I had read too many posts saying that we should do that. "Leave no traces behind". "Leave no witnesses", etc. Now I'm thinking that that isn't exactly the greatest advice to give (or receive). I can't recall the mission at the moment, but there was one where I did it the long way, taking out everyone, but I watched your vid where you got in, cleared only the shortest path to the goal, got out, and that was that. I sat back and laughed, thinking "Really, brother? Simple as that?" hehehe. That has also changed the way I play.
Yes, I'm still doing some dumb things, or not being patient enough, but I'm sure that I'm much better now than when I started Itacua in regular mode. Your vids have contributed to that improvement. Experience comes in time and with familiarity. I don't know if I'll ever go the no-HUD route, but mission familiarity should help with that if I ever do. The more you play the missions, the more you know what to expect. The more you watch and learn from others, the better you (should hopefully) get.
So thanks again!
Cheers!
Hey Mongol_Horde, so glad the guide has helped you!
If by ToC you mean Table of Contents, the reason I've not made one, other than it not having been requested until now, is most whom follow the guide are just looking at the content on the latest post each time they access it, which is easily done by clicking on "Go to last post" in the drop down box to the far right of the thread title, vs just clicking on the thread. Other reasons are looking for specific missions is fairly easy by just accessing the link to the playlist on my channel. That would be click video, click YouTube, click my channel name under the video. Then select the Playlist tab and choose GR Wildlands Extreme No HUD/Upgrades View Full Playlist option. It may indeed be a few more clicks than opening up the first page of the thread, reading the ToC, then going to the page referred to, but I find Ubi's forum pages take longer to load than YouTube's. Plus you really only ever have to do that once if you're following the guide, because you can just Bookmark the View Full Playlist page, then simply do a page search for the mission you're looking for in your browser.
That said, I may still include a ToC listing what missions are on what page of the thread once the guide is done. Would listing them by province vs listing each mission suffice though? I mean there are over 100 missions in the game, so making an outline for quick reference may be quicker and less clutter to list and read. I think most looking for specific mission help have tried playing through it enough times to know what province it's in.
Anyways, as per your other comments, I must admit I too started out playing the game more ranged and cautious, which led to a lot of falling back when alerts were raised by myself or squad. That said, taking out a few enemies quickly on your own, or as many as 5 even, is not just a style, for this challenge it's a necessity at times due to having only one squad mate to sync shots with. If it's a small group of 5-10 guys remotely located, like the first phase of The Deserter where they're looking for him, the two grenades you have by default can be a huge help.
And yes, I have been telling people for some time the easiest way to get through missions is often to only kill the ones whom are a threat along your infil/exfil paths, even letting groups pass by whom are on predictable, regular patrol routes which take them out of your path. A good example of this is the first phase of El Wey, where you have to search for intel in a Uni base to locate him. A key thing of making it doable though is knowing the best angle of approach.
It's not so much about doing "dumb" things, we've all been there, it's about familiarity with the game. It's a sign of a great game when it takes many times playing it to really know it well. Few games have this level of replay-ability. One thing that is hardest regarding no HUD btw is becoming familiar with travel routes by the actual world as you're traveling through it, vs looking at the GPS on the mini map. This combined with playing with no upgrades and having to drive the stock safehouse vehicles or steal choppers, can take a bit of experimenting. I usually have to play through at least a few times just the part where I'm traveling within close proximity of the mission to get it nailed in my head, then I allow at least 3 to 6 tries (or more) for getting the mission itself nailed.
The most shocking revelation for me has been this style, even though mostly forced due to no HUD or upgrades, has actually allowed for pretty fast mission times. It's partly due to not killing everyone, but also having to look for really effective tactics having WAY less tools to use. You start feeling like Batman without his gadget belt, but it's also a bit freeing knowing you can still do it regardless. When coming up with methods that I've found to be quicker and more effective, I often think about the way the SAS operates. I don't have flash bangs or C4 to use like they do, but I improvise. Sometimes I'll create a loud distraction at the start of a mission when I know the main objective without C4 will be loud WHILE we're there anyway, like the way I shot the large fuel tank in Cooking with Coca. It doesn't lure the guys near the objective away, but it distracts the others a little ways away enough to keep the situation controllable.
I've come to find the most important tool in your arsenal in this game, especially for managing extra tough challenges, is your brain.
Thanks for watching, of my next posting (Bosses), I've so far completed El Yayo, and will be doing El Cardenal tonight. I have to fit in 3.5 hours to watch my NFL team play their wildcard game tonight though!
Hi Frag!
"I've come to find the most important tool in your arsenal in this game, especially for managing extra tough challenges, is your brain."
Well, I guess it's back to Minesweeper for me.
I retract the ToC suggestion. You're right! I could have easily linked to the playlist, then just chosen the correct video from there like you said. I usually do that when I find a good series of videos, but I think I tied myself to this thread, so it slipped my mind.
Over 100 missions is a lot to set up a ToC for, now that you mention it. If you do eventually decide to do it, I'd just list them in the order you've posted them, so you don't have to go through re-organizing and figuring out what goes where. But truth is, now that I think about your playlist suggestion, the easiest is probably just to link the playlist URL in your first post and tell people they can pick and chose there if they'd like, and that's that. You've put in a lot of work already, so no need to do more.
Good points on the other stuff you talked about. I actually went to watch the El Wey mission mid write. That was indeed a good example of quick in - quick out.
You aren't using the GPS in no-HUD mode! I didn't even realize that. So you actually have to know your surroundings like IRL. I'm getting used to the map somewhat now, but still get turned around even with the GPS. Again, like we said, it's familiarity.
It's interesting what you said about being shocked that the missions are taking less time. I imagine that you'd take less liberties under the conditions you've given yourself, whereas the more tools we have at our disposal, the lazier we can get, and the more haphazard we might play. I know I was shocked when I got into Tier mode and suddenly the orange blobs went away after leveling. I then began to use the drone even more, and didn't fly over areas as closely as before. You become more cautious, that's for sure. And you'd think being more cautious means taking longer, but as you've shown, that's not always the case.
On the topic of distractions like you mentioned with Cooking with Coca, that's another thing I hadn't thought about until I watched the video you did where we have to hack the laptop on that island (I think) close to the island rally point. IIRC, you blew up a propane tank there, and that's when I thought "**** man, I didn't even realize we can do that!" Then upstairs, you popped the window and jumped through. At first I thought "Man, that's a badass style", then I realized that it wasn't about being badass, it was about utilizing the environment and maneuvering easier through it, rather than regular points of entry. And those broken windows allowed firing on the choppers afterwards too. I mean, I should probably have known this already, but sometimes we just don't realize stuff that's right under our noses until someone points it out. I'm going to have to remember that we're long past Call of Duty 1 now! hehehe!
I'm curious how you approach El Cardenal now. After failing a few times, I ended up watching other people's approaches and then completed it, but now look forward to seeing yours.
Alright Frag .. have a good one!
p.s. I haven't watched football in ages. I take it that Boomer Esiason and the Bengals are no longer together, eh?![]()
Yeah I think I may indeed just put the playlist link in the first post once I complete the guide. Even then though it might be pointless unless the guide is stickied, because without bumping it with new content like I have been, it will fade into obscurity.
Yep, no HUD means no mini map too. I have a ever failing memory at age 60, but I think no matter what age the player is, with such a large game world most are probably going to need refreshers on how to drive, or even fly to missions. It's partly because most just use the GPS and look at the mini map, or objective marker when flying. That somewhat takes away game world familiarity navigation wise. You add to that the fact that there's tons of options where and how to access missions from, and the fact that those options drastically decrease when you have no heli drop with no skill upgrades, and most anyone is going to have to take time just to decide where to start from or where to steal a chopper, then drive/fly to the mission a few times just to get it in their head.
Yeah you DO have to use the drone more without enemy markers, but it's also louder since you don't have the upgrade that makes it quiet. You also have WAY less battery time and range, and it's less sensitive to detecting enemies. So you have to make max use of your time flying it, and not get too close to enemies or they'll hear it. Part of the reason I'm surprised with the somewhat short mission times is you'd think travel time would be longer with no heli drops. Sometimes it is, but I more often than not have found ways to equal or even lessen travel time.
Yeah I think the island mission you're referring to is Carzita's VIP List. Quite honestly I used to hate that mission until I discovered that way of playing it. I used to clear out all or at least most of the camp, then set mines all around the lower floor of the HQ building and go up into one of the upper floors. I would use my assault rifle's grenade launcher to fire grenades at enemy vehicles as they approached, but a lot of times the HQ would get captured by them. I never thought to just go to the upper floor of the HQ and keep my squad there, firing through the window with an LMG to take out the choppers. And yeah, jumping through that 2nd floor window to the top of the inner stairs is a good way to avoid fire from the rooftop sniper, but I don't recommend it until you order your squad there in case there are enemies at the bottom of the stairs. Truth be told you can also jump out the top floor window I was shooting out of to avoid being exposed on the outer stairs, as long as you look out the window to make sure there's no enemies down there first and don't roll right when you land, as the sniper will see you. I was also able to take an enemy or two that took cover down there by tossing nades out the window, but you must make sure the trajectory arc is nowhere near the edge of the window, or it could be epic fail.
El Cardenal is a mission that is actually way easier than it seems. I used to take out the whole camp to make sure I wasn't detected or overwhelmed after capturing him, but in reality you only need kill a handful of enemies, and it can be done in well under 9 min from the time you leave a nearby safehouse, to the time the cutscene ends after delivering him to the rally point, and that's with taking a little time to steal a chopper before meeting with Bowman. I'm nit picky how my vids look though, so I'm going to go back and select something with less bullet drop than the G28, because a couple guys I ended up killing with leg vs torso shots.
Sadly our football team played ugly and lost their wildcard game. Can only hope for better next year.
And your vids certainly make a case for the fact that Wildlands IS a fantastic tactical shooter if you play it that way.
It’s also interesting that your thread is completely absent of the usual troll posts. Because your walkthroughs kinda fly in the face of the usual narrative of GR:W is a rubbish GR game and arcadey shooter.
Thanks guys, yeah we all know the game has it's quirks, especially after trying it with added challenges, but it's still one of the best if not THE best tactical shooters I think.
I forgot to mention above that it's also very important with as many multiple quick shots you have to do with this challenge, to select a weapon with high (but not too high) fire rate and little recoil for tight groupings, along with a reasonable amount of damage. That weapon for me has been the MP7, and I've used it as my #1 slot weapon since it was first unlocked up to this point, and will probably finish the game with it. It's also very quiet, so good for infiltrating camps silently.
Every time I unlock a new SMG, or even assault rifle, I always compare it's stats to the MP7 once equipped similarly. Rarely do even assault rifles beat it's damage, and usually only by a little, and the ones that do always have unacceptable tradeoffs. The MP7 is almost the perfect weapon for quick multiple kills because it can easily kill three or more enemies with quick 3 round burst per person. That means all in one clip. I even leave it at full auto because you can manually do bursts with tight groupings.
I have finished capturing and editing the Bosses now (El Yayo, El Cardenal, Nidia Flores, and El Muro), and have almost finished uploading the first two, so I'll be posting them soon. Then it's just Sandoval and Sueno, which are technically 4 more missions. I'll try to come up with something good for the final mission El Sueno, but to be sure it will have to be different than my Tier Level 1 video having no parachute option.
--- Bosses ---
I decided to drive instead of fly to El Yayo this time, which was actually quicker. Used pretty much same method on El Cardenal as my Tier Level 1 vid, except had to steal a chopper near the safehouse I started from. Same with Nidia Flores as El Yayo, I drove instead of flew, yet it came out over 5:30 faster. Used similar methods with El Muro as before, but the faster time there was due to going in quick to nab him while they were distracted with SB. It's amazing not only how much time you can save without unnecessary Spotting and sync shots, it often affords better infil timing. If anyone's wondering what sniper rifle I switched to on El Cardenal when I mentioned above that I got way too much bullet drop with the G28, resulting in leg vs torso kills, I went with the M1891, a modern day variation of the late 1800s Mosin-Nagant. I found it has the lowest bullet drop of any sniper rifle. Thanks to DarkDally's sniper rifle bullet drop video guide on that revelation. This rifle cannot be fitted with a suppressor, but at the distance I used it from that was a non issue.
Enjoy, next is just Sandoval and El Sueno, which I'll call Finale.
El Yayo
El Cardenal
Nidia Flores
El Muro