What are the best Wildlands missions... | Forums

[MikeWeeks]

Again, I’m trying to think how a real a Tier 1 team would do this kind of op. Maybe you’re right that they would find a better, less risky, and more effective way to do it. But let’s assume, this is their one chance. Now Maybe I’m watching too much CBS Seal Team lately, but my impression is they would probably use two fire teams of three... they drive to the vicinity in local vehicles, after clearing the entrance and parking area, the teams split, clearing the left and right sides of the complex respectively. Then one fire team is tasked with the hack and snatch and grab, while the other team provides cover and overwatch in the main plaza area to ensure any unforeseen opposition that surfaces during the extraction gets a nasty surprise when the **** hits the fan. They then all work there way with the Cardinal in hand back to the entrance and their nearby vehicles and drive to the RP.

Would be great to get Bone Frog to chime in

My gut reaction is that if this was IRL given your premise of the setting, a decision would be made - what's more important, grabbing the cardinal, or hacking the terminal and having him completely discredited in this specific setting? With the strong possibility that if it's the latter there's going to be a lot of civilians killed by the cartel in defending El Cardinal from the now very upset and angry crowd of Bolivian civilians.

Regardless of any of this, it reminds me to mention - watch next time you fire up the first screen of the game and click the videos until the one in which Bowman states that this is Operation Kingslayer and how you go about the job of dismantling the cartel is completely up to you and the best part is that "no one will know who it was holding the match" - as it shows clip after clip after clip of overt acts of mayhem and explosions.

[Virtual-Chris]

My gut reaction is that if this was IRL given your premise of the setting, a decision would be made - what's more important, grabbing the cardinal, or hacking the terminal and having him completely discredited in this specific setting? With the strong possibility that if it's the latter there's going to be a lot of civilians killed by the cartel in defending El Cardinal from the now very upset and angry crowd of Bolivian civilians.

Regardless of any of this, it reminds me to mention - watch next time you fire up the first screen of the game and click the videos until the one in which Bowman states that this is Operation Kingslayer and how you go about the job of dismantling the cartel is completely up to you and the best part is that "no one will know who it was holding the match" - as it shows clip after clip after clip of overt acts of mayhem and explosions.

As far as the objectives, it seems to me that the CIA needs the Cardinal for intel... the laptop hacking is a tactic to put the Cardinal on the run for his life ... so that he would cooperate. Is that right?

Hence the priority in my mind is snatching the Cardinal. If that’s the case, then as you mentioned earlier, there may be a better time/place to grab him. But it’s also possible that he’s as elusive as many other bosses and this congregation is the one clear opportunity to grab him. If you forget about the hack and focus on grabbing him, I’m not sure that changes much. You still need to grab him mid speech or risk him slipping away through a tunnel, a helicopter, armed convoy, etc. It becomes too unpredictable to leave grabbing him until he exits (as was the case with El Chido).

So again, you can fast rope in on a Blackhawk, land a little bird on the roof or parachute in, but all these options have you dealing with a nasty armed resistance either upon arrival or on extraction or both.

The best way, I maintain, is a stealthy elimination of as many guards as possible before grabbing the Cardinal.

As an aside, two things really frustrated me about Wildlands... first is disappearing bodies. But if I remember correctly, missions like this one where stealth is a requirement for success, the game didn’t wipe bodies automatically as it usually did. Which frustrated me that if they could keep bodies in that situation, why not all situations. The other thing that frustrated me is how deaf and blind the enemy AI was to helicopters. You could land a Blackhawk 100m from an objective (or right next to it with El Cardinal) and no one would notice.

[venomgun1]

OK, I'm willing to put your the "realism" of your plan to the test.
Let's assume that killing everyone isn't remotely suspicious and all present SB forces are in complete radio silence before all hell breaks loose. Most optimistic possible scenario. Unidad helicopter patrols the area (right behind the church and the rail tracks) at regular intervals, which gives you enough time to do the mission without suspicion, but not enough to kill everyone. Noise of Unidad helicopter could be useful to mask your own landing nearby.
However, your opportunity to broadcast the video lasts as long as his speech. That's all the time you have to prepare and carry out the mission, regardless of chosen infiltration method. Another problem, people come and go out of the church the whole time. This could explain why the speech is repeating on a loop. If your plan is to kill anyone in front of the church, on either side or a sniper on the roof, then you must be ready to broadcast the video before the bodies are discovered or find a way to buy more time.

You can't skip the broadcast. Discrediting El Cardenal during his speech is the mission. Capture can come later at any time, because he still needs to answer for recently exposed behavior of SB and Santa Muerte church, which does "charity work". He basically says that lives of all people who mind their own business don't matter and it's OK if they die, because they don't contribute to society anyway. No explanation behind this reasoning is provided, but it's redundant (holier than thou in a nutshell).

Partial quote: "Questions have been raised about the conduct of Santa Blanca. Horrible, slanderous accusations have been brought against the organization in the most cowardly of ways. And despite poor manner that those accusations have been levied against SB and the church of Santa Muerte that it sponsors, I have been called upon to answer these allegations. I have been thinking of that children's riddle that asks: If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it fall, did it make a sound? Of course, the scientific explanation is that, yes, it made a sound". ... and then he puts a spin on it by saying: "The reason that such a riddle mystifies children, the real question is: if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, will anyone care? And that's how it is with a man's or woman's life. A man who lives alone, in solitude, be it in wilderness or in city apartment, a man who doesn't interact with other people is like that tree falling in the empty forest. Who cares what he does? Who cares if he dies? ... "

Here's what happens when all enemies at the base are killed, alarms disabled (doing so only prevents SB helicopters, ground reinforcements will come), power generator also disabled (it's evening, I would assume they have backup power for the church, his mic, speakers and station itself). In the context of the game, turning off the power generator is suspicious and wont fail the mission. More reinforcements still spawn after hacking even if there's nobody to call for them. This could be a bug (sure looks that way). Rational explanation would be that SB had some soldiers disguised as followers in the crowd who called for backup.

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[MikeWeeks]

As far as the objectives, it seems to me that the CIA needs the Cardinal for intel... the laptop hacking is a tactic to put the Cardinal on the run for his life ... so that he would cooperate. Is that right?

That's not my impression from the cut scenes - he's heading to prison. He's not event a priest in any event, an ex-priest (de-flocked in fact) who heads up one branch of the cartel. Except for the visual PR aspects, he would be a candidate to meet the same fate as La Plaga.

Perhaps it's splitting hairs, but I'm incline to go along with what the narration states, it's to discredit the cartel as well as the cardinal himself - with a very tight window of doing so when he's giving his speech. Thank goodness Ubisoft has him speak 24/7 as well as repeat the same sermon ...

Hence the priority in my mind is snatching the Cardinal. If that’s the case, then as you mentioned earlier, there may be a better time/place to grab him. But it’s also possible that he’s as elusive as many other bosses and this congregation is the one clear opportunity to grab him. If you forget about the hack and focus on grabbing him, I’m not sure that changes much. You still need to grab him mid speech or risk him slipping away through a tunnel, a helicopter, armed convoy, etc. It becomes too unpredictable to leave grabbing him until he exits (as was the case with El Chido).

I bet a bit of intil-gathering would show his base of operation is that location, and that's where he sleeps ...

So again, you can fast rope in on a Blackhawk, land a little bird on the roof or parachute in, but all these options have you dealing with a nasty armed resistance either upon arrival or on extraction or both.

Again you're back to the limited time (IRL) available to the team to accomplish the goal of not only hacking the terminal but also in the aftermath actually grabbing the cardinal and getting away ... but luckily for us, it's just a video game.

The best way, I maintain, is a stealthy elimination of as many guards as possible before grabbing the Cardinal

That's how in fact the studio designed the mission. You have all the time in the world to hack the terminal, then it's however you wish to get away with the target in tow. Once you learn how the game itself is designed, you plan accordingly. - i.e. bodies don't de-spawn in this mission, and noise/LOS are not even close to real-world.

Given the game's structure you could perhaps do the following in co-op with 4 members: via helo come in near the RR tracks. clear the NPCs around the church on the west side (i.e. drop them in isolated positions - I've done it solo). Two then go down via foot and clear the immediate east side. As they do that one member heads towards the south end of the base and sets up with proximity mines plus disable the alarm. The one remaining is your pilot. Once the two extraction team members hack then grab the cardinal, the helo flies right down to the north end of the church and the extraction team, with the cardinal, board. Depending on what's taking place at the south end, either go grab your fourth guy immediately, or he exfils away to a safe distance and then gets picked up.

As an aside, two things really frustrated me about Wildlands... first is disappearing bodies. But if I remember correctly, missions like this one where stealth is a requirement for success, the game didn’t wipe bodies automatically as it usually did. Which frustrated me that if they could keep bodies in that situation, why not all situations. The other thing that frustrated me is how deaf and blind the enemy AI was to helicopters. You could land a Blackhawk 100m from an objective (or right next to it with El Cardinal) and no one would notice.

For sure. So you play with what it gives you, all the while wishing that a bit ore effort had been taken with those issues.

Apologies, IMO I'm going down the rabbit-hole of over-thinking this mission.

[Virtual-Chris]

That's not my impression from the cut scenes - he's heading to prison. He's not event a priest in any event, an ex-priest (de-flocked in fact) who heads up one branch of the cartel. Except for the visual PR aspects, he would be a candidate to meet the same fate as La Plaga.

Perhaps it's splitting hairs, but I'm incline to go along with what the narration states, it's to discredit the cartel as well as the cardinal himself - with a very tight window of doing so when he's giving his speech. Thank goodness Ubisoft has him speak 24/7 as well as repeat the same sermon ...



I bet a bit of intil-gathering would show his base of operation is that location, and that's where he sleeps ...



Again you're back to the limited time (IRL) available to the team to accomplish the goal of not only hacking the terminal but also in the aftermath actually grabbing the cardinal and getting away ... but luckily for us, it's just a video game.



That's how in fact the studio designed the mission. You have all the time in the world to hack the terminal, then it's however you wish to get away with the target in tow. Once you learn how the game itself is designed, you plan accordingly. - i.e. bodies don't de-spawn in this mission, and noise/LOS are not even close to real-world.

Given the game's structure you could perhaps do the following in co-op with 4 members: via helo come in near the RR tracks. clear the NPCs around the church on the west side (i.e. drop them in isolated positions - I've done it solo). Two then go down via foot and clear the immediate east side. As they do that one member heads towards the south end of the base and sets up with proximity mines plus disable the alarm. The one remaining is your pilot. Once the two extraction team members hack then grab the cardinal, the helo flies right down to the north end of the church and the extraction team, with the cardinal, board. Depending on what's taking place at the south end, either go grab your fourth guy immediately, or he exfils away to a safe distance and then gets picked up.



For sure. So you play with what it gives you, all the while wishing that a bit ore effort had been taken with those issues.

Apologies, IMO I'm going down the rabbit-hole of over-thinking this mission.

No apologies necessary. Overthinking is the exercise here

I trust your interpretation of the narrative. So if that’s correct, then timing is definitely critical. I’m not sure how long a typical church service lasts, but I’m guessing you’ve got peoples attention for maybe 30min to an hour. I think given this, the team would be onsite several hours in advance of the congregation monitoring the situation, refining the plan, even taking out targets (making some disappear) that might not be missed.

I wonder if in real life, it would make sense to have an operator or two dressed as locals attend the event, and slip out to hack the laptop after it starts, then slip out in the ensuing chaos.

I also like your plan... or my previous plan with two fire teams.

[gunbladelad]

I agree that my method is very much just cheesing the ingame mechanics - but realistically you'd either snatch him in transit as he's moving (and the recording is a great way to flush him out into a vulnerable position) - and if it's a Santa Blanca chopper that intercepts him en-route he may - at least initially - think that he's getting picked up for extraction to a safe location.

[MikeWeeks]

So many "what ifs" -

the mission screams for it to be set on a timer - you have until the speech ends to hack the terminal. How I hate those type of game missions, but regardless ...

Bowman says in her brief that the cardinal plans on giving a speech, not that he's now giving one and get your team over there ASAP - so in theory with that intil there could be some pre-planning by the team - versus the game design of you're on your way right now - and BTW, take as much time as you need.

[Virtual-Chris]

So many "what ifs" -

the mission screams for it to be set on a timer - you have until the speech ends to hack the terminal. How I hate those type of game missions, but regardless ...

Bowman says in her brief that the cardinal plans on giving a speech, not that he's now giving one and get your team over there ASAP - so in theory with that intil there could be some pre-planning by the team - versus the game design of you're on your way right now - and BTW, take as much time as you need.

I wish a mission like this was offered up by Bowman like... “The Cardinal plans on giving a speech tomorrow at 7PM... we expect him to be speaking for 30 minutes. Your top priority is to expose the child trafficking to the congregation... play the file on this USB on the church AV system during the speech. Your secondary objective, if it’s possible, is to extract the Cardinal to XYZ. Finally, ensure no civilians are harmed on this op. We need the media to be focused on their shock at the Cartel’s child trafficking, not anything we do.”

That would give you and the team 24+ hours to Recon the place, figure out a plan, and be ready to execute. Maybe someone(or the team) infiltrates the church several hours before security is tightened, and hides out somewhere, or stealthily dispatches a couple of guards and takes their place (risky!). Or you use civilian clothes to get in as part of the congregation (I wish clothes could be used like this). Or you do one of the Assault plans we’ve discussed after doing Recon for 24 hrs. The options would be so much more interesting.