7.

62 – High Caliber, Base Mission Walkthrough, by ssander75

Ok, I thought I would try and piece together a guide for those people who are unfamiliar with this game. I don't know how much I will accomplish, but I figured a good place
to start is the Base Mission, which is labelled “Top Secret”. To begin with, a few system configuration notes:

7,62 game (as purchased from Steam)

BSM and Community Patch (as noted in the Beta tab on Steam)
Silvergirl's Armory V2.0 (she has posted a link on the steam 7.62 forum)
Silvergirl's Music Mod (as above, there is a link on the steam 7.62 forum)

Ok, with that much accomplished, choose your game settings. I won't preach, but newer players should start things a little easier. Also, the notifications settings are by
preference. I have ALL selected with shortcuts, which is an easy and quick way of conveying information to the player. The others are by choice. Choose what you think is
best. Also, when using the BSM mod, choose your class as you see fit. The only one I haven't used is the Sapper class.

I'm starting this walkthrough at an early but important part of the game. My mission progress prior to accepting the 'Top Secret' mission from the irritating old man in the dark
government suit from the bar in Puerto Viejo, is shown below.
I'll give a very brief summary of the missions noted above. These are not difficult, and even a rookie should be able to muddle through most of these. Details below
(SPOILER ALERT, in case you have forgotten what a walkthrough entails):

Paquito the translator: A BSM only mission. From the opening of the game you are told to visit Santa Maria. Go to the bar, and speak with Paquito for the mission. You
get to recruit Paquito as a reward (and a car!).

The Luggage: BSM only. After completing the above mission, Paquito tells you about your luggage that he lost. Go find it. Yes, you actually have to pay attention to what
Paquito says, but it's worth it.

Bennie and Clive: A vanilla mission, though BSM adds a twist. Visit the hospital in Campecino and speak to Clive there to get this mission. This mission can be done
without bloodshed, I chose the violent method (more difficult, but more loot). The BSM twist is that you can recruit Benicia after the mission is completed (go back to where
you first found Benicia). This one could be done later, if you can't figure out the peaceful method and the violent method is too difficult.

The Maurader: A vanilla mission, visit the capital and speak with the government guy in the fancy building. There's only one who will say anything of much use to you at
this point.

Fisticuffs: BSM only mission, one of the working ladies in Puerto Viejo asks for help.

Mr. Sister in trouble: BSM only mission, the manly lady needs a gunhand. Oblige her/him/it.

Suicide Bomber: BSM only. If you found the luggage, you know who to talk to get this mission. The mission prior to this is noted as failed because I extorted the suspect.
Heh, I needed the money.

Planting Miguel: BSM only. Same contact as the suicide bomber.

I now have 4 mercs in my squad. The custom merc (Zandra), Paquito, Benicia, and Fox (recruited from any bartender). Depending on length of contract you wish to pay,
you could have 5 mercs if you wish. My current game level is 3 (remember to right click on the black book in your quest item inventory to advance CGL and level up your
mercs), and my team has killed 36 people of (mostly) ill repute. You don't have to be at this exact level to accomplish the base mission, this is just to let you know exactly
where I am at this point.

Before accepting the mission or any for that matter, have a look at your gear...
A few notes in regards to gear:

1. This is more my preference, but I like to keep

my options open, so I tend to like a balanced
load out. I don't have specialist weapons like
machineguns or, scoped rifles, so everyone has
a similar load out.

2. The two centre pockets (presumably

pants/general clothing pockets) are accessible
the fastest, so only keep things that you are
going to need in a hurry here. I ALWAYS keep
at least 1 grenade in these pockets, if possible.

3. The NECK secondary slot is faster to access

than either of the shoulder slots (at least in my
current experience), so my secondary large
weapon usually goes there.

4. You will get a feel for how much ammunition

is needed as you play the game. I prefer
mobility, so I try to only take what I think I will
need, plus a little extra. I find more is always
better unless it starts slowing me down.
(Everyone's movement speed is in the green so
we're good.) Reloading weapons such as
shotguns and bolt action rifles, (where there is
no removable magazine) is faster when rounds
are removed from boxes and stored in pockets.
And finally, to the meat of the guide. This is the only entry point on this map and it is a bad one (from your perspective, it's great on the AI's side). You are out in the open, at
night, with spotlights shining down on your position. Generally, fighting at night is more difficult, but this map is small and as you will soon experience, at night, the AI is less
able to muster in numbers to your position once you are spotted. Also, I have changed from the mini-map to the message log as I find it much more useful in combat than
the map. You can cycle between the two views by clicking on the double arrow button.
As I said, a terrible entry position needs to be addressed. Quickly. In regards to sprinting vs running, running can be done with your weapon at the ready, while sprinting is
nothing but all out speed. Also, the two mercs closest to the targeted position are running in a very wide pattern. This is very deliberate as people run like speed skaters
instead of sprinters. Sprinters (in this game) require a lot of lateral space or they will run into someone and this causes them to instantly stop and pause for a few seconds
before moving again. If this happens to you, hit backspace (to negate your command to that merc), and you can mitigate most of that delay and move (I'd suggest changing
to run/jog) to more open ground.
Our first enemy makes an audio only appearance. Here, I intend to run the mercs just around the corner of the building and start fighting from that position.
And surprise, Benicia is shocked when she first sees an enemy (Even Silver's much improved Benicia). This will happen often at lower levels, and even at higher levels
when you start running into large numbers of enemies. The most important stat to combat this effect is experience. When looking at other mercs to expand your squad,
look at the skills and stats and their experience level all together. For you vanilla types, Dessert is one example of a merc with great stats on paper, but her inexperience
causes her to be shocked upon seeing enemies. She'd make a terrible scout.
Remember when I said I like to keep grenades in the centre pockets? Case in point. With my adrenaline jacked up (refer to the heart rate monitor near your merc skill
summary), I'm doubtful about my shooting accuracy and no one has a weapon held in the ready position (typical). Remember you can right click on the grenade in your
pocket to arm it, and use shift + mouse to control the arc of the grenade. Be careful about arcing your throw too close to other objects that could bounce the grenade back
to you. Russians must love to hate Murphy because they have encoded Murphy's Law into this game in so many ways.
This is just to prove my earlier point about jacked up adrenaline. 17 m with a submachine gun, using snapshot, and a minimal chance to hit. Notice the AIM button is
highlighted? For you rookies, this is how that aimpoint window is opened. What is not intuitive, is you can move your cursor inside that window for more precise targeting.
On snapshot, you cannot select anything but centre of mass (as I have done), but using aimed shots you can target exposed areas as you see fit. Especially useful on
partially covered enemies. You can also use this window to fire a tight spray of rounds, (aimed shot mode only) by left clicking (inside the window) and dragging the cursor
side to side.
The AI decides we should exchange sticks of TNT. It appears my first two quick shots have missed, not surprised. The intention was more to jack up the enemy's
adrenaline to match mine.
And now you can see the explosive damage from the stick of TNT I threw which has lightly damaged the enemy but more importantly, it stunned her. Now I have to deal with
the TNT thrown in my direction.
Have a look near Paquito's left knee. Nice throw. If I stay put, that will ruin my whole day. Time to scatter, I decide to split up the squad into 2 fire teams, making sure that
the ready weapon button is depressed, to cut down on the time needed to pull the trigger. Paquito and Benicia are going to do the unexpected and charge towards the TNT
thrower.

TIP: In situations where you want to fire quickly, but need some accuracy, (eg enemy around corner of building), fire your weapon in the mode you want at whatever. After
the weapon is fired once, (make sure that ready weapon button stays depressed) your subsequent shots will take much less time even when moving or changing targets.
Combined with the ALT + left mouse button (quick move around corners), you will be able to fire in aimed mode, in 1-2 seconds.
Other bad guys are finally reacting to my presence here. Zandra hears noise on the far end of the building. I still need distance from that TNT, so I plan for a meeting at the
corner of the building.
As you can see from the message log, Benicia and Paquito finally finished off the first bad guy. And it only took 14 pages to get there! Looks like Zandra and Fox should get
to the building corner before the bad guy.
Now, I don't even remember what the hell I was doing with Benicia at this time. Arrange 1.04 s means that she's messing with her inventory and another bad guy has
shown up unexpectedly. The result, Paquito doesn't have a line of fire so he pulls back (the TNT has exploded already) and Benicia is going to roll the dice and see what
happens as she is shocked (again). Rookie mistake.
Now I have removed the interface from this screenshot (press * on numeric keypad), but Zandra was able to reach the corner and using aim at point, ready her weapon for
just this ocasion. Fox is moving to get a line of fire as backup.
And fate decides to smile upon Benicia. Her stun has ended (without being shot), her and Paquito are regrouping back to the corner of building, quickly. There could be
more than just one enemy near those double doors, moving here gives me room to manoeuvre and covers the other fire team's flank.
And here is the advantage to using aim at point. 0.16 seconds to fire, outstanding chance to hit, firing from the hip no less. Someone is going to die.
Not an instant kill, but it won't matter.
Fox hears more movement, and tries to follow Zandra's lead in preparing an ambush position.
Firing the shotgun from the hip in close quarters is very fast. Zandra is able to finish the bad guy/gal and I'm using the F of Fire button to check my field of fire around this
building corner. You can also see that I only need another 0.31 s to prepare another aim at point and hip shot.

TIP: As you play the game, you will see instances where your field of fire is not matching your line of sight. There are areas where there are invisible force fields around
objects which decreases your field of fire around them or, even block grenades from being thrown OVER them (those are nasty, but watching the throwing arc closely helps).
Just because you have line of sight, does not always mean you have a line of fire. Use this button to check if that is the case and you can compare with the VIEW button
above it.
Back to Miss Shocked and Paquito. Benicia is in position and covering Paquito. With all the sprinting and running, you can see her energy bar (the blue one) is lower than
the others.
Surprise! Benicia sees an enemy and isn't shocked! It had to happen sometime. Paquito is in position, though his weapon isn't ready.

Preference TIP: You can see Paquito turning (SHIFT + left clicking an area) , and I tend to use this to face enemies (prior to giving command to fire at enemy) even when
only a small turn is necessary. I find that squaring up to your target affects the targeting feedback and your chance to hit. On occasion, this has the opposite effect, where
line of sight goes from clear to poor, but I still assume that being square to your target gives the most accurate line of sight and chance to hit info.
And now it's Fox's turn to be shocked. She spots the bossman in the distance.
Nice to see that Zandra's adrenaline is starting to steady, even after encountering a new enemy. Must be the smell of gun powder / cordite (you choose) calming the nerves.
This is also an excellent reason to have numbers in your squad. While Fox is shocked, Zandra is itching to pull the trigger. Aim-at-point (beside the ready weapon button),
remember to use it.
Now here I'm demonstrating that tight firing arc (spray) using the aim window. The line of fire isn't great so, I'm taking a spray and pray approach (note the auto-fire indicator
and number of rounds intended to fire). Maybe Paquito will get lucky and score a hit. Benicia is also firing.
Ahh shotguns... When used correctly, they are very satisfying. Now why Carl decided to move back into, instead of out of, Fox's line of fire, I don't understand. Fox is just
grateful she may be able to pull the trigger on someone before they are dead.
More baddies for Benicia and Paquito. One made the mistake of giving Paquito a clear firing lane.
Speaking of firing lanes, I decided to improve mine to target Carl. Fox finally got to fire, and put Carl down for good.
All clear in the open area near the entry point. Right now, it looks like I will have to hunt down the rest rather than waiting for them to come to me.
As you can see, the bad guy is trying to get away by running around the wall perimeter.
Now at this point, Benicia is having issues hitting anything for any significant damage. Only 4 / 12 rounds left in her shotgun, she decides to take out her frustration on the
wounded enemy with a good stomping. I don't use it that often, but if you right click twice and then left click with the cursor on anyone (hostile or not), you will use a
melee attack. Yes, you can do that with any weapon in your hand or, no weapon. Those bayonets, knives and shovels you find actually have a use. The interface is more
intuitive if you have a melee weapon in your hand or you are empty handed. This clunky method is to use a melee attack instead of the default attach of firing your weapon.
After stomping out her frustration, Benicia is moving to cover more ground to round up the last few bad guys. Fox will be chasing the bad guy around the building, Zandra is
hoping to cut him off if Fox doesn't get to him first. Often at this point, I would have performed a battle flawlessly, with no injuries, and this is when I do something stupid and
pay for it.
And Fox finally catches up to her target and finds some civilians. Checking with the AIM button once again, she figures the civilians are mostly safe.
Fox and Paquito both finish off targets. Zandra continues the search for whomever is left.
And nobody is home. Go figure.
Time to check out the one building, that outside of guard towers, appears to have a military purpose. I'm clever like that.
And Fox finds someone in the weeds who rather wishes they were elsewhere. Too bad. Being caught while prone and crawling usually does not end well.
Unless you are being chased by a crack shot like Fox. She's so annoyed, she switches to single shot in hopes of hitting that barn.
Fox hits the barn where it counts while these two get set for some room cleaning.
Bingo.

TIP: Room clearing is dangerous business. One thing to keep in mind is that everyone is right-handed in this game. Sometimes you are forced to fight where you don't
have a good firing angle like the Raider above. Even if her weapon was readied, this Raider would be in trouble.
A handgun is about the next best thing to a shotgun in this situation. No contest when it isn't readied though.
And finally...the last one is dead. They are permitted to retreat (if you let them reach exit points) but they cannot surrender.

Just for giggles, have a note a the death time stamp 04:43:34. The time stamp at entry was 04:42:29. Just 65 seconds of real-time was all it took to clear the base.

Now the part all us old-school RPG players love best. LOOT! In the case of this mission, make sure you look in every container and even take time to speak with the
civilians here, it will be worth your time.

Well I hope this helps anyone who has taken the time to get this far in the guide. I wish you happy gaming and don't forget to save often!

ssander75 aka Stan