Storming Fort Schmerzen - Train Platform - MoHAA
How To Get Out Of That Train?
You're at mission six (The Return To Schmerzen), level three, part one. Hard difficulty setting.
You're about to disembark from a boxcar and you have a Rangers squad with you. The objective is to snipe the tower guards, keep losses at a minimum and do not lose more than nine members of the assault team, across the two boxcars. The boxcar doors are about to open and, when they open, you have to "rush the platform and kill the snipers in the towers before they can react", as Colonel Hargrove tells you in the mission briefing.
Well, not only it's easier said than done, Colonel, but also, it's wrongly said. That's suicidal.
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First, let's get to know where the enemies are. There are a total of six watch towers outside. Four of them are made of concrete and two of them are made of wood. Two of the concrete watch towers are in front of you and one wooden tower is to your right (pic. 1 - bear in mind that you're inside the train). |
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The other two concrete watch towers are located at your back and the other wooden tower is to your left (pic. 2). These three towers (of the backview) are farther from you than the ones of the frontview. Note that "Frontview" and "Backview", as used here, refers to your starting position and not to the direction of the train movement. Actually, the train entered the area through the frontview arched gate and it will leave this place (at the end of the game) through the backview arched gate. This unmatched nomenclature happens due to the fact that you start the level with your back in the direction of the movement of the train.
There are two enemies in the wooden watch tower to your right and one enemy in the wooden watch tower to your left. And what about the enemies at the concrete towers? Now, the bad news: there isn't a fixed number of them because they respawn. When you kill one of them, another one will show up, some time after. One last enemy is located on the floor level, right in front of your left door but when it opens, he'll be shot by your comrades, so you don't have to worry with him at all. |
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Both doors will open almost at the same time, one to your left, one to your right (pic. 3), and you'll be able to see, from inside the boxcar, the two concrete watch towers in front of view (the Frontview). But, differently from what you may expect by looking at picture 3 (that is a montage), you must strafe a little to the left, to be able to see the front left tower, or to the right, to see the front right tower.
If you walk ahead, inside the boxcar, you can also see the wooden tower to your right, a little behind you. |
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Now that you already know what you're going to fight, just do as Colonel Hargrove says: "Rush the platform and kill the snipers before they can react". Well, let's face it! There are eight enemies outside, seven of them are in high vantage points, four of them respawn an unknown number of times, and although you have a squad to help you, actually you are the one that must help them so you can keep the losses to a minimum. You must not lose more than eight Rangers or you'll receive the message "Mission Failed: Not enough Rangers survived!". Also, if you want to earn a medal, you must keep the losses to no more than four Rangers. It's really a tough situation.
According to Physics, you are just one and you cannot be present at more than one location at the same time. If you get outside the boxcar there will be a bunch of enemies trying to kill you and you can shoot just one of them at a time. Inside the boxcar, you have cover and you can still shoot one enemy at a time. Since the enemies at the front towers respawn, you can be busy enough killing them, from inside the boxcar. So, the first obvious tip is: DO NOT get out of the boxcar; wait situation to be more under control.
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Before the doors open, reload your Springfield and get ready. Stay crouched, near the right door of the boxcar, aiming high (pic. 4). |
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As soon as the doors open, don't waste any time. Select the scope mode and snipe the enemy at the front right concrete watch tower (pic. 5); use one head shot; as usual, you must not miss shots. |
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Without wasting any time, deselect the scope and strafe to the left, just enough to be able to see the other tower, then select the scope again and snipe the guy now at the front left concrete watch tower (pic. 6).
Immediately, strafe to the right and snipe the new enemy at the other tower. Keep doing this sequence "deselect scope - strafe - reselect it - snipe", alternating between the enemies at the left and the right concrete towers in front of you. Note that some times you will have to wait a little for the next enemy to show up; if it's taking too long, better try again the one at the other side. DO NOT try to kill the two enemies at the wooden watch tower at your right. You have to waste too much time to kill them, better waste it killing the ones at the concrete towers. The Rangers will take care of them. Also, another tip: while you are doing that sequence, you will have to reload, but reloading the full clip is time consuming; what you can do is just keep firing the springfield (keep clicking the Fire button); if you're trying to fire the rifle while it is reloading, the reload process will eventually stop before the end of it and you'll be able to shoot sooner; the drawback is that you'll not get a full clip so you will have to reload again sooner, as well. |
How long should you keep that sequence before getting out of the boxcar? I have noticed that after a while, or after you have killed a certain number of times the enemies at the front towers, they seem to stop respawning. As a rule of thumb, you should kill three or four of them, in each tower, before getting out of the boxcar. You have to have a "feeling" about the right time to leave the boxcar. This feeling you'll acquire with training; it's also a matter of luck, as I'll explain later.
Note: I've read a very interesting tip about this part of the game. It's hosted at the Tips section of www.medalofhonor.co.uk site and it was submitted by a guy named Nathan. Here it is: "If you aim through the holes in the top of the box car as the train is pulling into the station, you can kill the two guys in the wooden tower, and one guy in a cement tower". Indeed, I have tested the tip and it works. There is one problem though: if you can hit them, it means that they can hit you as well. So, you have to take care and be quick. What you can do is try to shoot only the guards in the wooden tower and, before the door open, crouch and take the position shown in pic 4: not an easy task.
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When it's time to get out of the boxcar, stay crouched, turn yourself back (turn around 180 degrees) and head carefully outside, strafing to the right (remember, you have turned yourself 180 degrees). You'll first see the left wooden tower (that is now to your right since you've turned around) and most likely the only enemy there will be already dead. If he's not dead, kill him. Strafe a little more to the right and snipe the enemy at the back right concrete watch tower (pic. 7), if there is one there at the moment.
Note: if, while crouched and aiming the guards at the back towers, you are hit in your back, it means that an enemy from the front towers (probably the left one) is still alive (or has respawned) and he is shooting at you. If this happens, you'll probably have to start the level over, from the beginning. You timed wrongly the right time to leave the boxcar. |
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Next, strafe further to the right and, looking to the left, you'll be able to see part of the back left concrete watch tower. Strafe just enough to be able to aim any enemy there (pic. 8). Snipe him, if there is one.
Stay put at this position, from where you can snipe any enemy at the back left concrete watch tower. From this position, alternate aiming between the left and the right back towers and keep sniping any enemy that shows up. After a while, the first objective of this sub-mission will be completed and a comrade will tell you: "Alright Powell, we're going to move the train to the prison section. You go on ahead and release the prisoners." |
Quickly take cover behind the boxes because a big door will open at your far right and a bunch of Germans will start shooting at you. Your next objectives will be to unlock the cellblock doors and free the POWs, to plant explosives on the three fuel flow control units and to open the main fuel line valve. These objectives are not covered here.
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Earn A Medal: The Luck Factor |
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And what about the medal? Even under tremendous sniper fire at the train loading platform at the German stronghold Fort Schmerzen, protect the assault team with precise sniper fire, and consequently escape with less than five casualties during disembarkment. How can you do this? Well, here comes the luck factor.
This sub-mission is not only dependent on you. You play an important role but you're not the only one. You have a team, and you will only get a medal if your team is good enough to survive to the enemy snipers for some time. In other words, I'd say that by following this walkthrough, you'll almost certain to be able to complete the main objective but, to earn the medal, you depend highly on your luck.
Here is how to prove it. Start the level and when the boxcar doors open, do nothing. Stand still, don't kill any sniper and don't be killed. Just watch. Ranger casualties outside will start to increase, from one to nine, and when it reaches the ninth one, the mission fails. Pay attention to the time needed for all the nine Rangers to die. It varies a lot. It can take from less than 20 seconds to more the one minute for all the nine Rangers to die. Or, it can take from less than 10 seconds to more than 30 seconds for the first four Rangers to die.
So, if you want to complete the objective, just follow the walkthrough. If you want the medal, you need luck. In other words, keep trying and, sooner or later, you'll get the Army Commendation Medal. I have already managed to finish the sub-mission with only two losses. That's my personal record, out of dozens of trials.
Obs.: Pics 1, 2 and 3 are cheated screenshots; all others are real screenshots.
http://www.viol.net/mohaa
Version 1.00 posted on March 1st 2002
V.1.01 - Mar, 8th
All rights reserved. © 2002 by André Viol.