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Hold the Line Last Stand - Guide


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** Work in Progress - please suggest improvements :woop: **

The hardest task in the VoD DLC and the whole game. Getting a gold medal on the Last Stand map - Hold the Line. Tough? Maybe, but not impossible.

 

Scenario

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Main base is in a valley (perhaps this Last Stand Map was the inspiration for the DLC name Valley of Death). Infantry, Spec Ops choppers and armour come over the hill from the North, Infantry and armour and attack choppers come up the valley from the West. Target of opportunity choppers come over the mountain from the North East.

 

Overview of enemies

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As with all Last Stand maps, the earlier waves have infantry and then jeeps, then infantry and APCs, then Spec Ops choppers come to the party and tanks start showing up, finally attack choppers are thrown in to the mix also. This map seems different though, in that the armoured vehicles have crack shots in the turrets. So, just acknowledge the fact that you ARE going to get shot. Once you get to grips with this you’ll equip appropriately, i.e. equip mods which improve resistance and armour.

 

Weapons

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Bullets, underslung grenades, smokes, Stinger and Javelin. No SMAW, mines or C4, only what you bring with you J

There are however quite a few turret grenade launchers. These are very handy in earlier rounds, but don’t provide much cover in later rounds.

 

Keys points to winning, winning!

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· AT Mines and C4 – if you use these wisely you can protect yourself very well.

· Armor and resistance mods for the Javelin guy (yep, that’s my favoured role) on the hill to the south of the main camp. I took C4 and AT mines in with me

· Scoring big early on by keeping infantry and vehicles out of Area 1, 2 and main base.

· Only need 333,334 points if everyone extracts as get 1.5x multiplier bonus.

· Call the extract chopper in asap and if it ‘bugs out’ bring it back at the earliest opportunity. The reasons being? Two-fold. Firstly, if you need to kick up some airborne cover you can fire on it with the Javelin and it kicks up dust and dirt. You can never blow this up though, no matter how much the pilots abuse you for it. Secondly, it blocks jeeps and tanks coming in from the north from making it to the base, they kinda drive into the chopper and slowly hump it. Makes them easier pickings for Javelin guy.

· In the early rounds, do everything possible to maximise your score. You get score multipliers per kill whilst you have not let anyone into Area 1, Area 2 and the main camp. These include infantry, vehicles or even an attack chopper flying over the zone. Once the areas have been breached you get way less points per kill. Example. Wave 1:1 can see you get anything from 3,000 to 13,000 whilst I’ve been playing. It can make a big difference. We extracted at the end of wave 4:2 with about 338,000 in game score. Get as many explosive kills as you can whilst you have these multipliers on. It’s arguable whether it’s better to conserve the grenade launcher turret ammo for later on, but I reckon it’s better to use it all up earlier to get ahead in the game. The infantry and light armour is not so accurate early on and these turrets kinda make you a sitting duck in the later rounds. My view anyway.

· As ever, have healing buddies and lines of communication, work as a team. But, don’t go on suicide missions to heal someone so you both die. Respawning is useful on this map as you can bring extra mines/C4 back with you.

· Kill as many as possible who are bugging out – easy points.

· Remember, once the message comes up 'They're bugging out' (end of wave) all enemies will turn and run. But, more importantly, all enemy vehicles will blow up. So, if you have an APC camped out at the bottom of the hill, but it's not actually managing to kill you, leave it alone and focus on the infantry/other vehicles. More often than not you can end up dead trying to blow it up, just before someone manages to kill off some infantry somewhere else on the map and the thing just blows up as it's end of wave.

 

Drawbacks we found

===============

1) The Javelin. The animation to switch in and out of this weapon takes an age (I took this role). You need to have a buddy system to that someone else can heal the guy using the Javelin. Believe me, if you can keep this guy fit and well you’ll go far.

2) The game itself. We have had the game freeze on us twice now when just within sight, the first was a random freeze when 3000 shy of the Gold Medal target on Hold the Line. Before our successful million attempt on High Ground we were 6000 shy when the bloom from the JDAM strike froze everyone's xbox but the hosts. Just a warning to you all. This achievement may well be down to the game/connection allowing you to get it, rather than the difficulty of the AI.

3) People lagging out or leaving then rejoining. Each time someone joins, their points they gathered to that point are set to zero, so for example. Team score is 450,000. A player who has contributed 150,000 leaves and then rejoins. The team score will get reset to 300,000. Be warned.

 

Roles

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1) “Javelin Guy” (facing north on hill to south of camp) – key role is taking out vehicles and choppers and mining road. Have one person sat up on the hill to the south of the camp where the Javelin is. It’s arguable exactly where to crouch though. You can try squeezing in between the wall and the ammo pile to look through the gap up the hill to the north, but any shots which hit the wall can sometimes damage you and it’s a little harder to be healed here. You can kinda move around behind the pile (this is what I did, slightly to the left rear of the pile) as this means the guy behind you has an easier time to heal you. Be wary of the APC coming over the hill from the north – great aim and hits you more often than not.

BUT...don’t go too far forward of the pile as any APCs or tanks which make it into the area below the hill will take you out very quickly. This guy should stay here for the entire duration of the game. His objective in waves 1:1 and 1:2 is to do nothing at all except mine and C4. From 1:3 onwards this guy should be taking out the vehicles coming over the hill. These alternate between APCs from the left side of the hill, tanks from the right side of the hill and jeeps mainly from the right side (although early on they do come from the left also). This guy also takes out target of opportunities and also Spec Ops choppers (2 at the start of selected waves), again from the North. I took C4 and AT mines with me, but my perks were selected to maximise my armor and resistance. Half as many mines may not be a good thing, but given how many times the APCs pick you off with no armor, I’d take the armor protection every time. This made the difference for me as I only died 2 times instead of about 8 or 9 I reckon. As soon as the game starts this guy should run to the top of hill to the south of the camp to get your bearings if you’ve not played it before. Then run down the hill in front of you and in the space which is at the bottom of the hill is the end of the road in from the west - lay some C4 here. Lay all your AT mines also (3 - 6 depending on loadout, I had 3). Get as many of the team to lay C4 there also. You can vary this and try to lay the mines between the ruins where the APC comes in from the north which has been suggested by others. Then get back in position. If you respawn at any point with fresh supplies, go mine/C4 this area again. This guy could always drop his grenade launcher weapon and swap with the rifleman behind him. Some key points. You can Javelin fire on your extraction chopper, it won’t blow up. This can be useful in a couple of ways. If you shoot it the explosion can often take out enemy infantry J

 

Continued...

Edited by CuppaChoc
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....Also it can be used as a pseudo smoke-barrage. This can be annoying for player 2) as he may not be able to target infantry, but does seem somewhat effective in partially blinding the APC gunners (only partially though, they still manage to get head shots through the smoke). Keep sweeping the brow of the hill to the north through the Javelin scope. Left and right. In earlier waves, the vehicles always spawn either left, or right, but rarely alternate sides. In later waves they do alternate. Occasionally player 3) may miss the attack helos, he needs to cover this also. Phew. Oh, also needs to occasionally patch up his buddy, but see if player 3 is able first. The longer this player is downed, the more vehicles will pour into the camp. Keep him alive.

 

2) Javelin Guy Buddy “Unsung Hero” - (facing North on hill to south of camp) – key role is medic and shooting infantry to the north and occasionally to the north west. You can choose how. Rifleman, grenadier, etc., but this guy may need to see through dirt and smoke in the air, so rifleman may well be best here and perhaps swap weapons with the Javelin guy? Up to you whether you get this guy to bring extra grenade capacity, C4 and mines or armour, etc.. This guy has two main jobs though (and a few other minor roles to play). The main job is to pick off infantry coming over the brow of the hill to the North (especially the ones which are over on the right hand side of the brow) and healing the Javelin guy. Waves 1:1 to 1:3 (maybe 1:4) he should be manning the grenade turret on the hill to the south of the camp. Once all the ammo is used up, he should then retreat to a prone position in the ruins behind the Javelin guy. From here he should be picking off the infantry coming over the hill which should protect the Javelin guy. On occasion if the Fireteam leader is down in the camp (later waves) then he may want to go and revive him if he feels brave. This guy should ignore vehicles and choppers, just clear our infantry. If the base gets overrun occasionally then he may need to run forward and to the right to pop a few M203 rounds into the base. Bullets and Underslung grenades are down in the main camp.

 

3) Fireteam leader (facing west) – From the start this guy should call in the chopper. He should then go down to the ruins to the west to cover Area 1 and 2 with the next player. Try to keep as much of the enemy out of Area 1 and 2 for as long as possible along with guy (4). This guy should be packing C4, AT mines and grenade launcher. Lay as many mines as possible along that West road to keep armour out. In the early rounds you can use the grenade turrets to maximise explosive kills and keep infantry out to maximise the score. When things start to get a bit wilder later on, this guy should withdraw back to the main camp area and camp there with a stinger and his rifle/grenade launcher. (You could use Javelin if you wish). From here this guy needs to be picking off armour coming up the road that make it past the mines. He should also be laying C4 and detonating it in the area at the base of the southern hill. He should also be taking out attack helos from the West. If needs be, he needs to call in air strikes (sometimes he may need to withdraw to the southern hill to do so). This guy will occasionally get an APC or tank parked in front of him which the Javelin guy missed. Call out to blow the C4 or blow your own ;-) Take care.

 

4) “Western front guy” (facing west and north-west) – this role I know less about as it wasn’t in eyeline and whenever I've played this map I have not played this role (or occupied the extreme west), but for most of the session he stayed out West covering Area 1 and 2 – key focus was infantry. They come in from the west and north west. He should be packing C4 and AT mines and along with the fireteam leader should mine the hell out of the western road. As per fireteam leader, use up the grenade turrets early on. Once things get a bit wilder later on then last as long as possible and take out infantry and vehicles. I’ll try to get some info from this guy on what he did, but he covered the west fairly well with lots of mines and taking out infantry. This guy helps provide an extra target for the APC from the north to shoot at which helps keep player 1) alive, but is hazardous in itself.

 

COMMUNICATION

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Key on this map. Javelin guy needs to call out if he misses an APC/tank etc to warn player 3). Javelin guy needs to call for medic to player 2) above. Javelin guy will be able to see through the smoke to tell his buddy behind him where the infantry are.

Fireteam leader needs to call out if tank/APC is at bottom of hill. He needs to tell people to blow their C4 (either his own, or someone else’s). He also needs to shout out if he sees attack chopper and if he misses he needs to tell Javelin guy to take it out. He also needs to call in fireteam missions.

Player 2 needs to keep an eye on health of 1) and 3).

Player 4 needs to shout out if a vehicle makes it up the western road to warn player 3 it’s coming.

Keep an eye on respawns remaining. Press :start:, then :back:, to see this on the lobby screen (press :bbut: twice to get back in game). Use the respawns wisely. If you have plenty, but need more mines, then sacrifice a player to get some. You get 4 more respawns added at the end of each Stage.

 

EXTRACTION

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Remember, only need 333,334 with all 4 successfully extracting. I suggest not running to the chopper until the wave is complete and they are bugging out.

Edited by CuppaChoc
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Thank you so much for this excellent guide. The amount of details you provide is incredible.

Also, it is very kind of you to take the time to write it all down when you total the achievement andcould have just moved on.

 

Actually, I have seen your post right after scoring gold myself with some other 3 excellent players, so I can only encourage other players to follow your advice, as we pretty much did the same and thus it works.

 

This feedback should somehow be incorporated to the official guide.

thanks!

Edited by Acheru
Grammar
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  • 1 year later...

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