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| |
| Soldiers of |
| Anarchy |
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| Strategy |
| Guide |
| |
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By: UnSub (evilasahobby@graffiti.net)
Version: 0.25
Date: 29 June 2004

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CONTENTS
________

1.0 Introduction
.1 Email Policy
.2 Reproduction of this Guide
.3 What You Should Do Before You Play...

2.0 Equipment
.1 Personnel Weapons
.2 Throwing Weapons
.3 Personnel Armour
.4 Personnel Amunitions
.5 Personnel Items and Miscellaneous
.6 Units
.7 Unit Accessories
.8 Unit Ammunition

3.0 Personnel
.1 Skills
.2 Suggested Squad Selections

4.0 General Tactics
.1 Included Readme File
.2 In the Field
.3 Between Missions

5.0 Walkthrough
.1 A Leap in the Dark
.2 The Raid

6.0 Endings
.1
.2
.3
.4

7.0 Final Notes
.1 Thanks and Contributors
.2 Version History

++++

1.0 INTRODUCTION
________________
It's a sad fact that some very good games don't get the attention they
deserve. For my money, Soldiers of Anarchy was one of the better RTS's I'd
played in a long time, but it didn't attract much attention in gaming circles
or from reviewers. The patch did make a big difference, but it looked like
(to me) that unless an RTS has "Blizzard" stamped on the box then players
don't notice it. A post-apocalyptic world, lots of different types of
hardware, a decent story and mostly interesting gameplay - what's not to
love?

Having seen SoA in a bargin bin for $15 the other day and that it still had
no guides on Gamefaqs, I thought "Enough's enough" and decided to write a
guide. Given that you can pick up SoA very cheaply, I'm hoping a few more
players might give this game a shot if they see a guide is available - SoA
deserves better than being bargin bin fodder!


1.1 EMAIL POLICY
----------------
If I've made a mistake in this guide or you need some help, you can email me.
HOWEVER... please include "Soldiers of Anarchy" in the email subject line
and or you run the risk of me mistaking if for spam. I can't always promise
that I will be able to help you, since once I finish a guide for a game I
usually put it away and forget about it. Asking me the exact steps to
finishing a level I last played 5 months ago isn't going to be successful.

Also, please don't email me about something that is already stated in the
guide (I HATE THAT!) unless I've been unclear. Finally, if you need help,
please be clear about what you help you need in the email - the more detail
I have, the better the chance I can do something for you.


1.2 REPRODUCTION OF THIS GUIDE
------------------------------
You have my permission to reproduce this guide so long as 1) it is unaltered
and 2) the reproduction will be free to those who want it. So no slapping
your name on this and then charging people to read it, okay?

If you want to alter this guide for reproduction, please email me.


1.3 WHAT YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE YOU PLAY...
-----------------------------------------
Go and download the latest patches for SoA - they are currently version XXXX.
This will give you the ability to issue commands whilst the game is paused,
which is absolutely vital and makes things fun rather than just frustrating.

++++


2.0 EQUIPMENT
_____________
Below is a list of equipment that can be used in SoA. Knowing what your
equipment can do is vital to successfully fighting your enemies and keeping
your squad alive. For a full overview of your equipment and units, take a
look at the manual - below are just my opinions.


2.1 PERSONNEL WEAPONS
---------------------
Beretta - You start with these. It has a very short range and its rate of
fire isn't great. You should be able to replace your Berettas with something
better fairly quickly though. Uses 9mm ammunition.

Uzi - Its got a longer range and fires faster than the Beretta and will
probably be the main weapon you supply your squad in the early stages of the
game. Given what's available though, it still isn't great. Uses 9mm
ammunition.

Shotgun - At close range, a shotgun can be very effective in taking out
enemies. However, the key here is "close range" - unless you are setting up
an ambush, there's a chance that you'll have to run through enemy fire to get
within shotgun firing range. Early on having a shotgun or two in the squad
isn't a problem, but shotguns should be replaced as soon as you can with
MP5's or AK-74's. Uses 20mm shotgun shells.

MP5 - The best of the 9mm weapons, with the longest range and highest rate
of fire. Useful to have until you can equip everyone with AK-74's (or
better). Uses 9mm ammunition.

Crossbow - A sharpshooter weapon. A single bolt can kill an unarmoured
enemy; it takes three to take out an enemy in a heavy vest. It's also silent,
so it's great for those stealth operations. Uses crossbow bolts, which can be
hard to acquire. It's range is pretty good, but it's rate of fire is pretty
slow. Overall though, it's a great weapon to have.

AK-74 - These are likely to become your standard squad weapon once your
enemies start dropping them. They've got a good range on them and are
fairly available in mid- to later in the game. It's range and rate of fire
are both pretty good. It won't let you take on everything, but it is a
great all-round anti-personnel weapon and the ammo is quite plentiful in
later stages. Uses 5.45mm bullets.

M60 - One of two heavy machine guns. It's got a pretty good range and rate
of fire and is useful if you need to take out lightly armoured vehicles.
The biggest problem is that it uses 7.62mm ammunition, which (early on,
anyway) means you have to decide if you are going to use this weapon in
your squad or give the ammo to a weapon mounted on a vehicle. Still, it's a
good weapon to have one or two of in the squad.

RPK - The other heavy machine gun. According to the manual, this is more
accurate the the M60, but everything else I've said above applies. I also
found it harder to come across RPK's than M60's. Uses 7.62mm rounds.

Dragunov - A sniper rifle and a sharpshooter weapon. Any personnel hit by a
Dragunov round is dead, regardless of armour. In fact, you'll find a sniper
armed with this weapon leaves a lot of heavy vests for you to collect. The
range on this weapon is incredible and is great for picking off isolated
enemies that you can't easily sneak up on. The only problem is ammunition -
you only get five rounds a clip, while clips can be hard to find. Uses
5.65mm bullets.

M79 - The grenade launcher. I've got mixed feelings about this weapon. It
takes up too much room for it's effectiveness in my opinion. Sure, it can be
a one-shot kill and has it's uses, but it just lacks something. Fires
40mm Playma rounds.

RPG-7 - Fires rocket propelled grenades that are just great for taking out
armoured vehicles. Make sure the vehicles are motionless however, as RPG's
don't track targets. Squad members equipped with RPG's will find themselves
short on inventory space (since you'll want to take along a few spare
rounds and each RPG takes up an inventory slot). Fires PG-7 rounds.

SA-7 - The surface-to-air missile launcher, which is vital for taking out
attack aircraft who will otherwise spoil your day. There aren't a lot of
enemy aircraft in SoA, but if you have access to an SA-7 it doesn't hurt
to take it along just in case. Uses SA-7 missiles.


2.2 THROWING WEAPONS
--------------------
Molotov Cocktail - Hmm, another questionable weapon. It's great for throwing
over walls onto unsuspecting soldiers / Humvees, but you often find yourself
wondering (or at least I did) if _this_ was the right time to use it, or
to hold off just in case the next bit of the mission would be easier with it.
If you're lucky, you can throw it onto a vehicle and the vehicle will stay
in the flames, possibly blowing up. Molotovs have do have their uses, but I
tended to prefer other grenade types over them.

Hand Grenade - Can be very useful to taking out numerous enemies at once. One
tactic is to try and bottleneck the enemies (say, when they rush out the gate
of their base at you) then throw one of these into their midst. Hitting
moving targets can be hard, so try to use them on stationary targets. One
warning - sometimes your guys won't throw so well (particulary if you have
them too close to a wall) and you can run the risk of blowing yourself up.

Smoke Grenade - Can be very useful for setting up ambushes, forcing long
range enemies into range (either them coming to you or you going to them) or
for covering retreats. Again, you (or at least I did) run into the problem of
"is now the time?" for using them. Put a bit of planning into it, however,
and smoke grenades can be very useful.

Stun Grenade - This is almost a "what's the point?" weapon. Sure, you can
knock an enemy unconscious. But you will still need to kill them and I'm a
bit morally conflicted over shooting sleeping men. Everything else being
equal, use a hand grenade instead - the end result is the same and it'll save
you the bullets.

Throwing Knife - A one-hit kill that's pretty stealthy. However, you have
to get pretty close and in line-of-sight to pull this off, so it's up to
you. Almost "bragging rights" weapon, but they aren't too common.


2.3 PERSONNEL ARMOUR
--------------------
Kevlar Vest - The "light" vest. Keeps your guys alive and is certainly better
than nothing. At the bare minimum every member of your field team should have
one of these (once they become available).

Heavy Vest - Stronger than the kevlar version. Vital for keeping your squad
alive.

-- Trade for these whenever possible, especially early on. You will run
into the issue of damaged vests being mixed in with your good vests. If this
is the case, take along a spare vest or two in a car / Ural that you can
swap over once a vest is destroyed. --


2.4 PERSONNEL AMMUNITION
------------------------
9mm - The weakest ammo type. Comes in rounds of 20. Fairly plentiful early on
so it will be your main ammo type early on in the game.

20mm shotgun shells - According to the manual, this does "high" damage to
physical targets (ie people). This is good early on, but given the factors of
how close you have to be (very) and that once enemies start getting armour
this ammo type is severely impeded, it isn't something you'll be using for
long. Comes in sets of 10.