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« on: June 30, 2020, 07:02:06 pm »
More on the Cult HQ missions since I only really talked about Church of Dagon.
Red Dawn's HQ is mostly simple enough- it's a big labrynith of a military base, but many enemies will come to you and there's only a couple entry points they can emerge from (as well as a couple of big holes perfect for chucking grenades into). I say "mostly" because there's also three armored cars that show up alarmingly close to your position. They're heavily armored, have lots of health, and their machine guns can fire an enormous amount of shots each turn which will shred your troops easily. If you haven't gotten Promotion III (and subsequently the Rocket Launcher or something else that can put out enough damage per turn to get past their armor) or had the good luck to pick up both an RPG launcher and anti-tank RPGs (it has to be the anti-tank RPGs, the normal ones do minimal damage against armor), you'll need to get creative. Sniper rifles are a surprisingly good countermeasure due to their anti-armor properties (especially if you're lucky enough to pick up a M83 Barrett), but in a pinch miniguns or chucking high explosives also work. Get familiar with the map, you'll see it again in several other significant missions, such as the Cyberweb heist and the spider-filled base.
EXALT's base is a big building with lots of narrow corridors and many floors. Shotguns will be helpful since you'll be fighting in close range a lot. The Brainer uses some psionic abilities, but there's only one and it's not overly tough. Just watch out for the occasional guy with an RPG, rockets in a narrow hallway are never good news. Consider bringing Nobelon too, sanity will be an issue if a straggler wanders off and you can't find him.
Black Lotus's base also has a bunch of corridors, but it's only a couple of floors in size and less difficult to get lost in. It does, however, have a bunch of hidden doors that the enemy will use to ambush you from, so watch for that. The Assassins are definitely a pain, but Proximity Grenades and mines will deal with them if you put them in intersections they'll need to walk through in order to reach you. As usual, the Avatar is the most dangerous target- Stun weapons are most effective at bypassing her shield, which will otherwise soak up enormous amounts of damage. Even then you'll want to focus a lot of fire, she's got lots of health and quite a few resistances for good measure. Don't forget to capture a Mandarin here, as far as I know this is the only place that they can be found consistently.