Defend (Recon)

Defend is very similar to the mission attack where the commander instead of attacking a captured firebase, must find the friendly base under attack and then hold of the attacking enemy force. The goal of the mission is to prevent the enemy from reaching the tactical table in the middle of the base. If an enemy reaches the centre of the base the mission is a failure. The game at regular intervals prompts how many hostiles are required to be eliminated around the base for the mission to be classed as a success.

**Killcard Unlock:** Extract without a scratch *(Note: Bringing Rangers with less than 100HP will **NOT** award you the kill card, even if you have taken 0 damage, so make sure all your Rangers have 100hp)*

## Tips n Tricks

* Mines, grenades, heavy weapons, and fire support (specifically gunships) and Rangers with high combat and spotting skills are all recommended due to the type of engagement.
* It is recommended for your Rangers to place footprints that run parallel along the firebase as the enemy will often see a footprint and run in the direction of it, instead of the centre. It is recommended to walk around the firebase in a square shape and leave many footprints, it will become a turkey shoot.
* Enemies are known to spawn a bit more than 600px away (A screen length and a bit or slightly out of earshot) from the firebase. It has been observed that they will sometimes come at 1 side of the firebase at a time.
* Claymore is the most effective equipment and is recommended to place claymores on the corners of the firebase, facing along the wall, slightly angled out. Grenades are not recommended as it will risk destroying the sandbags, which will add heat as sandbags are counted as assets in the game. WP can be an alternative as it doesn't destroy the sandbags or CS for the stun effect.
* Like firebase, there is a possibility for Support Weapons such as SPG-9s, mortars, and DShK's to be present in the firebase.
* It is not recommended to do this mission at a higher rank/heat (Colonel or above) as the sheer amount of enemies that will rush your firebase can easily reach 30-50 units, the Sandbags will provide a cover save to the enemy, the easy fail conditions & the possibility of the LZ being the firebase (rare), which will start the mission without you setting up your defences. Many veteran players will avoid defence.
* Like almost every mission in the game, the number of enemies the player will face scales with rank, heat & some luck.
* The Ground Movement Sensor is also very useful for this mission as an enemy may walk directly or within close proximity to the command table un-spotted causing the mission to fail.
* To minimise the failure during extraction, it is suggested to call in a secondary extraction directly in the middle of the firebase, the helicopter will ignore rocks & the command table, and will land.
* You will be notified by a debug at irregular intervals telling you how many enemies remain.

## Bugs

* It is important to note that even if the musical cue plays & the debug will say the mission is a success, you can still fail the mission if an enemy reaches the command table afterwards at anytime through out the misison.