Ride Guide

Mercenaries™ is packed with the kind of heavy-duty military hardware that any good soldier-for-hire needs. Every mission has special requirements, but here are a few pointers to help you make the most of key combat and transport vehicles.

Road kill.

Run 'Em Down
Some missions just go south, leaving you low on health, ammo, or both, without any real chance of calling in a supply drop. It's common sense to hop into a vehicle at this point to protect yourself and give you a way out, but remember that every vehicle can be used as a weapon.

Running your enemies down is a quick and reliable method of thinning out the opposition, though it can take some time to corner and polish off every last one. Even if you don't wipe them all out behind the wheel, you will thin out their numbers to the point that you and your trusty primary weapon can do the rest.

The Gunner Factor
Real road killers know that the best way to go is in an armored vehicle with a gunner. Hijack an Allied M1025 scout (or any APC with a solider manning the machine gun), and you've got a serious offensive threat. It's perfect for missions like the Nine of Clubs, who's hiding out at the end of a mountain road with North Korean machine-gun nests all along its length.

In your M1025, all you need to do is slowly drive up the road and let your gunner take down the enemy one nest at a time. If things heat up, you can always park the scout and engage the enemy on foot. One well-placed RPG will take out the nest and everyone in it.

Just remember that getting out of the vehicle gives the gunner a chance to see you're not actually on his team, and he might abandon you. If that happens, your work becomes harder, but not impossible. Simply stay in the scout and crush the remaining opposition.

Tanks a lot.

Gotta Love the Tank
A tank works even better because it doesn't take damage from small arms fire and can destroy just about anything with one blast from its cannon.

One of the early missions requires you to take out four enemy barracks and call down an air strike on a target building. This mission is a piece of cake inside a tank—the enemy can't harm you, and you can level their barracks with a few cannon blasts. There's even extra ammo for your big gun scattered around the area, so you don't have to show any restraint. Just blast, blast, blast, and keep blasting.

Use Your Choppers Wisely
For the best blend of speed and offense, you definitely want a chopper. Each whirlybird handles differently, depending on its armor and weapon options, so take some time to get used to each one.

A heavy gunship like the YAH-56 is painfully slow, compared to the lighter MD 530 Scout, but it can take a lot more small-arms punishment and packs a more powerful punch. None of this will help you if the enemy's anti-aircraft guns lock onto you, however, so make sure you pick the right chopper for the job.

Sneaking by in the scout is often far more effective than getting into a dogfight with multiple enemy choppers. Sure, it's fun to shoot them down, but it doesn't get you any closer to completing the mission.

Verification on the down-low.

Those Handy Civilian Vehicles
Despite the war-torn setting, Mercenaries isn't just about combat. Sometimes you just want to fade into the background and go unnoticed, so you can cover ground quickly. Your faction-specific vehicle disguise is helpful, but it also carries a risk because the North Koreans will fire on any foreign army's vehicle as soon as they see it.

When you're transporting one of the Deck of 52 to a safe landing zone or escorting a VIP across hostile territory, your best bet is to go as a civilian. Grab a panel truck or one of the fine Jaju passenger cars and low-profile it to your desired location.

Virtually none of the factions (including the North Koreans) will bother with you now, unless you ram or otherwise provoke them. After the mission is complete, you can then take the civilian vehicle to the Russian's Chop Shop, where they'll to happy to buy it off our hands with cold hard cash.

Hop to the Chop Shop
The Chop Shop will buy literally any vehicle from you, but some are worth a lot more than others (especially if they've taken any damage). The mob has little use for a city bus, for example, but they'll still give you roughly $500 for it. If you bring them a Jaju, you're looking at double or triple that amount.

Armed and armored faction vehicles are worth still more, so remember to swing by the Chop Shop with your Sungri scout or SUV, whenever possible, to butter up the Russians and earn some extra cash. Afterwards, you can always walk out to the busy intersection less than a block away and hijack the first thing that comes along.

Mercenaries changes each time you play it, based on how you play it. There are multiple methods of accomplishing your goals, but vehicles are a major part of any winning strategy.

By Luke Judge