optimate

Attacking the Russians isn't the trigger or not the only trigger. I thought I was doing quite on DoW. Despite occasional AI idiocy and their impressive skills at making a T72 roll over on a billiard table flat landscape I was able to trundle around the landscape taking towns from the Chedaki. I decided to get that side of things tidied up so I could bring full force on the Chedaki base so I: This gave me some USMC reinforcements and the 'Check location' task that (I assume) is the island mission. However I thought it was a shame to not use those Marines that I, a mere sergeant, had for some reason been given command of. So I went off north to try to find the Chedaki base and then call in the cavalry. On the way I took a tour through the Russian occupied airfield but I didn't attack them and they didn't attack me, although they behaved in a convincingly nervous fashion. Nice array of hardware BTW. Soon after I left there the tasks updated. The Chedaki base was now destroyed and there was a new task, to destroy the Russian base. And then a few seconds later Swordsman was on the radio congratulating me, the Russians had apparently legged it after realising they'd been suckered into the fight. And there the mission ended. Next mission was the one where you rendezvous with a tactical nuke with unfortunate results. LOL.

Well perhaps the intel briefing you got was different from mine as I: Don't know whether different choices (if you can make them) put you in a different situation in DoW but the briefing I got at the start told me the Russians were based around the airfield, they were militarily vastly superior and if I tangled with them they'd kick my ass six ways to hell. Which seems to be your experience. I haven't done it yet but the briefing was:

Not just DoW it seems, I have similar problems in Badlands. I can buy weapons but not units. I've got as far as the 2nd town (Stary Sobor) and after taking that my NAPA units need some reinforcements. Sadly for them all that appears in the Buy Units menu is the V3S, which turned out to be a large truck. I can cause huge numbers of these to materialise from thin air around the command post and if I could get them to do that 50ft over the heads of enemy troops this would be my new favourite weapon. Tragically this is not an option. As I've already accumulated $30000 of funds I presumably could buy myself a reasonably impressive force so if anyone knows how I can get hold of combat units that would be handy.

>Is there a specific area the leader goes? Nothing obvious, he was just out in the open a short distance away from the tents etc. I'd guess he legged it into the woods when I dropped artillery on the camp and sent the Bohemia guys in and came back when it was safer. First time (when I bagged him in the arty strike) I didn't get any hint but when I came across him alive it triggered a radio message to HQ saying he'd been found. If you haven't read the Manhattan walkthrough thread already then check it out, lots of useful info there. >My problem with the chopper seemed to come from the main base as there is an AA guy who fires rockets at it when it flew over the base on its way to the LZ. Possibly your base was in the alternative position to mine. When I restarted the mission the base toggled to its western location from the northern one I found it in first time. The latter may well have been closer to the choppers flight path as I assume that took off from the airstrip that is also to the north. >I've never had the problem of Shaftoe being dead yet. So hopefully this issue won't come up. He's a delicate petal so I keep tabs on him. 2nd time he died on me he looked shot but the first time he hadn't a scratch on him. Perhaps he died of frustration at my blundering progress. If you get to a point where you'd expect some interaction with HQ - finding a sentry camp for example - and don't get one he's probably died on you.

I had a similar problem. First time around I wiped out the base and found the leader easy. But then Capt. Shaftoe dropped dead so I couldn't complete the escort mission. I decided to revert and this time I did the escort early on, making sure I saved only when I had visual or radio confirmation that Shaftoe was in the land of the living. Incidentally I found the main base didn't seem to be the cause of the chopper crashing, it was being shot down by the 2 groups of Chedaki who attack soon after you arrive at the LZ. The chopper wandered off to attack them and obviously wasn't up to the job. Once I knew the LZ location I did a preliminary sweep in the APC and cleared most of them out and then the pickup went OK. Anyway I went off to the main base and cleared it out but, like you, found no trace of the leader. So I went off to complete the remaining missions (smugglers and sentry posts) and while doing that Shaftoe died again. I rolled back to a save done soon after clearing the base and by chance took a route back through the base and wandering around was the missing leader. My APC gunner knocked him down but I was left to do the hardcore execution of helpless prisoner that the mission seems to require. So it might be worth taking a drive around for 10 minutes then charging back to the base, to see if he's sneaked back to it. Incidentally Shaftoe's death might not be as silly and random as it seems. Whilst completing the remaining missions I got into the habit of rolling back to the base, getting a visual on Shaftoe and saving. On one such trip I found a group of Chedaki heading in to attack it, one made it as far as the entrance and got dropped by the guards, the rest I took care of.