This is the first of the campaign's two tutorial missions. Defiance is a tough and unforgiving game, but it isn't mean enough to let you make crucial decisions while you're still learning how to boss your troops around.

"Good Beginning": Do not lose any of your squads in Atlanta.
This concerns the Engineer and Infantry squads you take control of soon after the mission starts.

As the second tutorial mission, it plays by the same rules as the first one, so focus on keeping your men and women alive instead of worrying about what might happen later if you do or don't do something here.

None. This is, in fact, the only mission in the game with no achievements whatsoever. Don't worry, though, the others will make up for it. Believe that.

Although Haven Base is still kind of a tutorial mission for certain aspects of the gameplay, it's the first one that really pulls no punches and thus asks you to make a few decisions that have the potential to come back and bite you in the posterior later.

You'll have slightly fewer Legion units to contend with in the following mission if you do, but won't suffer other consequences if you don't. Ultimately it makes no real difference, so if you're already hard-pressed keeping Legion at bay, don't bother with the self-destruct and just book it to the exit. It's definitely not worth losing any of the - at this point in the campaign - hard-to-replace Founders units over. It does unlock an achievement if you pull it off, though.

About halfway through the mission you're given control of the Abrams tank defending the northern perimeter, its crew led by one badass mother called... Mother. A bit later, when the NPC Founders units start evacuating, the four command squads garrisoned in reinforced structures throughout the base will also leave one by one. These squads are responsible for keeping the various base systems like the warehouse or the vehicle repair bay running - if you pull them off their desk jobs, you have a measly 60 seconds to send them back in before that base system goes offline permanently.

The warehouse is the first to go, followed by the repair bay. If you want to keep either of these systems running (to keep the defense turrets stocked with ammo or the damaged vehicles in the bay being repaired, respectively), you can have Mother's crew dismount from your Abrams to take over as a command squad. I'm pointing this out specifically because 1) the prompt to do so is easy to miss among all the frantic comms chatter, and 2) because, depending on where you've stationed your Abrams, Mother might well be too far away from the command posts to make it there in time. I only managed to pull this off successfully on my third playthrough thanks to these two issues.

Having Mother take over control of the vehicle repair bay until the final vehicle has been fixed is necessary for the obscure "Repairman" achievement, if you care about such things (and even if you don't; achievements are kinda aloof like that).

Not a choice per se, but it is strongly recommended to save Mother and Big Bob, the two tank crews you get alongside the Abrams and Bradley, respectively. These two lovable maniacs make up half of the game's hero unit roster, and Big Bob in particular has useful unique interactions later in the campaign if he's still around. Mother doesn't past Haven, but she still leads an experienced and hard-to-replace tank crew, so if circumstances force you to choose which units to save during the evacuation, make sure Mom and Bob don't get the shaft. This is also a requirement for an achievement.

"Repairman": Repair all vehicles in Haven Base repair bay
You must dismount Mother from her tank and get her to the repair bay command post in time for this achievement to pop. Don't pull her from this posting before the final vehicle has been restored. Refer to "Mother" above for further details.

"Just a pile of stones": Activate Haven's self destruct while retreating
Simply send any infantry unit into the marked building in the south of the base. The self-destruct initiates almost immediately without affecting the time you have to evacuate.

"Heroes never die": Calderon and Big Bob must survive while leaving Haven
Self-explanatory - make sure Mother and Bob make it to the exit in one piece. Their squads don't need to be at full strength; one survivor each is sufficient to unlock the achievement.

"Best friends": All heroes must survive
The road to earning this achievement starts here, namely by successfully evacuating Mom and Bob. If you got the "Heroes never die" achievement, you're right on track. If you didn't, well, sucks to be you.

If you tell the looters the van is yours, they'll leave it alone before driving off in their truck, allowing you to board the van, repair it and exchange it later for two squads of Movement troops. Until then it's a handy way to save on fuel for your Humvee by using the van to talk to all the people scattered across the map.
You'll also be able to recruit the two looters as a Movement Sharpshooter team at Balzano's hideout in the northeast, but only if you side with the Movement later, and only if you didn't threaten them during the van encounter.

If you tell the looters the van isn't yours, they'll remove 400 repair points from the vehicle, then drive off in their truck. The van still has enough spare parts left to restore its mobility, meaning the effects of this decision are largely inconsequential in terms of gameplay.
You can later recruit the two looters on this path as well, at the same spot as mentioned above, if you side with Balzano and ask for reinforcements.

If you help him fight a small pack of Legion wolves approaching from the south, he'll make first contact with the Movement later much smoother, plus he'll join you in person. Be careful not to catch his technical in the crossfire or he'll turn hostile, which makes allying with the Movement in this mission impossible. Best approach from the west across the bridge. Ignore the abandoned technical and light platform on the other side of the creek for now, you can pick them up later.

Kondo is the third of four hero units you can recruit in the campaign, and like most of them he has special interactions in later missions. No direct choices with him yet, but you need to talk to him before anyone else to get the mission's best possible outcome. Make sure to exhaust all possible dialogue options.

Talking to him next unlocks the option to trade the van for weapons at the arms dealer marked on the map, giving you the aforementioned Movement troops in exchange (one Militia squad, one RPG squad). Use the RPG squad to board and repair the big rig near where you met Mac, hitch up the trailer and take them with you, or they'll most likely be destroyed in the crossfire once the bullets start flying thick and fast.

If you somehow failed to acquire the van from the truck looters mentioned earlier (or lost it afterwards), but sided with the Movement later, you can also trade in the armed van you receive on this path for the weapons and, subsequently, the two squads. Bear in mind that, by this point, Legion troops will be roaming the western parts of the map, most likely making it impossible to reach the big rig mentioned earlier without getting shot to pieces or even failing the mission. It's definitely recommended to try and close the arms deal before you join up with either Balzano or the Movement.

If you talked to the Elder and sided with the Movement, he'll provide you with 13 reserve units every time you return to Abiquiu between missions (maximum of two times before the settlement becomes unavailable).

No direct choices right away, but return to him once you've destroyed the Legion outpost and freed his sister in the process. He'll be so grateful he coughs up a Stryker APC if you ask him about his secret elevator that another NPC should've mentioned in an earlier conversation.

Warning: You only have a short window to get this done before you're forced to hide from Legion's forces, so try to have someone with a driver's license packed into a van or technical as soon as you clear the Legion outpost, then race them to the garage post-haste. Once you've boarded the Stryker, race both vehicles back to your chosen hiding spot before you get spotted by unfriendly robots.

This is this mission's major decision point, and all paths have significant consequences down the road. Once you help one side, the other becomes unavailable and the mission proceeds to the next phase.

- Helping Balzano wipe out the Movement forces naturally angers the Movement but provides you with the supplies you need to move on to the next mission. This allows you to leave Abiquiu without fighting the approaching Legion army, but you won't be able to contact the rest of the Founders troops you didn't bring into the mission at the start, which effectively removes them from the game. It also makes it impossible to salvage your first Abrams tank in this mission, so if you're considering going down this road, keep in mind that your next opportunity to grab one will be in Oklahoma more than halfway through the campaign. Ironically, despite this path's anti-Movement bias, it makes it the best start for a Movement-focused playthrough in the long run. Balzano survives to reappear in the campaign and leaves on good terms with you, but takes his Bradley IFV with him, leaving you with no tank support whatsoever. And since you won't have the time to properly loot the vehicles in the Field either, your armored support becomes pretty much nonexistent.

- Allying with the Movement invariably involves combat with Legion forces, as is their wont. They'll help you destroy the Legion outpost south of their camp, add two named units to your roster (Mac and his technical, plus a heavy weapons squad named Pastor near the church), and provide you with additional troops if you allow them to join you. Picking that last option won't allow you to sneak out of the area later, though, but the game warns you about this in advance. This path also results in Balzano leaving the area on his own, and he even abandons his Bradley for you to pick up later (you did save Mom and Bob at Haven, right?). Balzano survives and continues to participate in the story, but has no reason to intercede on your behalf. You also get your first permanent Abrams tank handed to you on a silver platter on this path, which in combination with the Bradley, the Field vehicles and the Movement troops you're given makes this by far the best kick-off point for the campaign, to the point I'm convinced that this is how the devs want you to play this mission.

- You can double-cross Balzano by agreeing to his plan to chase the Movement out of the region, then setting a counter-ambush with the Movement instead. This path has multiple sub-branches (twigs?) with quite significantly different outcomes.
-- If you neutralize Balzano very quickly (e.g by having a Sniper/Sharpshooter team focus him down immediately), his men scatter, leaving all their hardware including the Bradley behind for the taking. What's more, this path allows you to retreat from the area prematurely with all that hardware plus the Movement troops you got from their camp, allowing you to play the Movement Outpost mission next.
-- Conversely, if you wipe out Balzano's forces without killing the man himself, you'll be given the new objective of taking him down at his hideout. You can either do so or ignore it until you've dealt with all Legion forces on the map, whereupon Balzano will flee of his own accord, thus keeping him in the game to reappear in later missions. If you go down this route, all Movement forces on the map will join you instead of just some of them, but whether or not you can salvage the Bradley comes down to how lucky you are with your damage rolls. This is essentially the high-risk, high-reward option - more enemies to fight, but more troops and resources for you if you play your cards right, both from this mission and in the long run.
It goes without saying that killing Balzano here removes him from the narrative, which over the course of the campaign will cost you an Abrams tank in Oklahoma, as well as Balzano's Mercenary reinforcements in the final mission.

- Attacking either side by picking the corresponding dialogue option during first contact results in pretty much the same outcome as if you'd sided with the other faction.

Turns out there's a character limit for guide sections. Who knew? Well, I do now, and so do you because I just told you. Lucky you.

Anyway, back to Abiquiu.

If you got your supplies from Balzano, double-crossed him in a fatal way, or sided with the Movement without accepting their garrison's offer to join you, you're given the option to retreat from the area at the eastern border of the map instead of facing Legion's encroaching army. As mentioned in the "Balzano or Movement?" paragraph, doing so has severe consequences, chief among them the loss of all Founders troops from Haven that aren't deployed when you exit the map. Furthermore, Abiquiu will cease to exist as a map POI due to being overrun by Legion forces, taking with it the Elder's recruits if you unlocked this option earlier, and probably also voiding the option to build a road to there when you reach Albuquerque. However, you get to play an additional mission (Movement Outpost) that gets skipped if you stay and fight - refer to that mission's section further down for more info.

Okay, so you decided to man up and fight Legion instead of chickening out. I'm proud of you. Now where to hide so that Kondo can enact his bonkers plan?

Hiding in the Field only makes any semblance of sense if you double-crossed Balzano earlier because then you should be right next to it, but even then, it's a minefield, which automatically makes it a dumb place to hide in. You're normally better off hiding your infantry in the Movement camp's buildings, simply because they'll be closer to your position. Regardless of your choice, make sure to set all troops to defensive behavior lest they blow your cover the moment they spot a Legion unit, and park your vehicles out of sight (near the eastern map border in the Field, or south of the northern buildings in the camp).

Also not a direct choice, but once he sets off his EMP and becomes a controllable squad, mark him and the civilians next to him immediately and retreat them down the mountain path south of their position. Ideally you also have either the Stryker or a Movement van waiting for them at the exit point to get them to safety ASAP. If you don't do this, they're almost guaranteed to get killed by approaching Legion forces, preventing any further interactions with Kondo later in the campaign.

Kondo himself (or Sintu-2, as his unit is called) leads a two-man Sniper team wielding Legion laser sniper rifles, the most powerful sniper rifles in the game. These things can one-shot any infantry at long range and pack enough of a punch to damage heavy armor or melt lighter vehicles into slag with a single good hit. You want that sort of firepower, and even if you find yourself unwilling to deploy Kondo himself for whatever reason, you can distribute his sniper rifles to other squads, like your Rangers for instance.

If you get Kondo's fellow rescued Legion prisoners to the marked farm house near the map's southeastern border... I don't actually know what happens then. My best guess is that it gives you bonus brownie points with the Movement and/or the Village Elder, or maybe it adds a few bodies to your reserve, but I didn't notice any real differences after the mission regardless of whether or not I successfully played postapocalyptic Uber. This optional objective also disappears the moment you wipe out all Legion forces on the map (you can still drop off the civilians at the house, though, only without further dialogue), making the matter even more mysterious. Let me know in the comments if you've figured out how this one works.

"Don't retreat and don't give up!": Eliminate all Legion forces in Abiquiu
This can only be done by siding with the Movement and accepting their reinforcements shortly after they start evacuating their camp.

"Slippery guy": Balzano must survive in Abiquiu
Refer to the "Balzano or Movement?" paragraph in the Part 1 section for the details. There are at least three ways to accomplish this, so pick the one that suits you best.

"True steel": Obtain an Abrams in Abiquiu
This requires siding with the Movement and fighting Legion's forces until an Abrams enters the map from the west, coming to a stop just across the creek where you helped Mac fight off the Legion wolves earlier. Eliminate the Rev-6 squad driving it, refuel it via the fuel trailer found in the Movement camp, then board it with one of your tank crews from Haven (preferably Mother, natch).

"Gift": Obtain a Stryker in Abiquiu
Refer to the "Gary the Mechanic" paragraph on how to accomplish this mighty feat.

"Guns for the people!": Arm volunteers in Abiquiu
This one is tied to the van and the arms dealer business explained in the "Truck looters" and "Village Elder" paragraphs.

"Scavenger": Steal all vehicles from the Field
Not sure what exactly the game counts for this achievement, but if we interpret the requirement as "all damaged vehicles in that general area", you must salvage Balzano's Bradley, the fuel HEMTT right next to it, the wrecked M113 west of the tree line, and the wrecked Humvee just east of it. Not siding with Balzano earlier adds an empty, fully intact truck in the middle of the Field that's brought there by the looters that roll in to check on Balzano's operation, but since this one is essentially optional, I don't think it counts. In any event, beware of invisible AP and AT mines!
Since you won't have any mine clearing capabilities yet, a callous but effective way to clear a path is to send in Militia squads as sacrificial units to remove the AP mines, then save-scum like crazy to get the repaired vehicles through the AT mines. Alternatively, use the Bradley or Abrams to harmlessly trigger the AP mines, hope it doesn't hit any AT mines on the way, and save-scum like crazy the whole time. Either way, lots of F5/F8 button mashing involved here.

"Best friends": All heroes must survive
Save Kondo (aka Sintu-2) or kiss this achievement goodbye.

"There is nowhere to retreat!": Repel the assault on Movement Outpost
The mission this achievement is tied to won't trigger unless you choose a path here that allows you to sneak out of Abiquiu without fighting Legion's main force. In other words, either side with Balzano or, if you want to side with the Movement, decline their garrison's request to join you shortly after they start evacuating their camp.

"Everyone is here": Gather all possible help for the final assault on the Legion factory on Galveston Island
As the description suggests, this achievement won't actually pop until the very last mission, but Abiquiu is where the long road to there begins; namely by keeping Balzano alive. If you mess this up for any reason, you'll have to start a new campaign pretty much from scratch to try again. Skip ahead to the Galveston section if you want the full rundown on what to do when to unlock this achievement.

This mission only triggers if you snuck out of Abiquiu without engaging the main Legion army, effectively making it optional, and all optional missions lack decision points. This of course begs the question: is it worth it?

The answer to that depends almost entirely on whether or not you want your campaign to focus on Movement units over the more powerful but expensive Founders troops. If that sounds appealing to you, then you've come to the right place because you can add a lot of Movement troops to your army here. And by "a lot" I mean a literal small army that's very obviously meant to replace the Founders troops you just abandoned at Abiquiu. With a total headcount of about a dozen vehicles of various types, several light weapons platforms (some with upgrades) and an estimated 12-15 infantry squads (not counting the vehicle crews), this mission is by far the best way to start a Movement-focused playthrough. That's assuming you manage to keep most of the redshirts alive of course, but by now you should be BFFs with your F5/F8 keys, so this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

"There is nowhere to retreat!": Repel the assault on Movement Outpost
Simply complete the mission.

If you successfully save and evacuate him (easy to do, there shouldn't be any enemies close by if you send a transport vehicle to his position immediately), you'll be given the option to call in airstrikes later in the mission, which can be helpful as a last resort to catch convoy vehicles that broke through your lines. You also unlock an achievement.

The APS the Integrators are looking for is an automatic anti-missile defense system that can be mounted on any Abrams tank to give it significantly better survivability against missile-puking enemy types, so definitely not a bad thing to have.

- If you hand the APS over to the Integrators after clearing out the prison complex, you gain an impressive 3,500 units of goodwill, and the APS can later be purchased at the Integrator Main Camp, provided you're still on good terms with them by this point. You'll have to make do without the APS for most of the campaign, but the trade improves your standing with the Integrators, allowing you access to their stores.
Whereas Movement traders sell Movement troops and vehicles like technicals or big rigs, Integrator settlements offer the sort of gear you otherwise only see in the hands of the Founders and Legion, like plasma weapons, military vehicles and their upgrades, and top-tier small arms. Long story short, unless you're running a dedicated Movement-only campaign, staying on good terms with the Integrators is definitely the preferable option in the long run.

- If you keep the APS for yourself, you naturally won't get the goodwill points but can upgrade your Abrams immediately. Your standing with the Integrators won't improve and you might not be able to buy their shiny tech later.

"Bird in the sky": Save Movement pilot in Santa-Fe outskirts
Refer to "Saving the pilot" above for the details.

"Not a single breakthrough!": Destroy all Legion convoys in Santa-Fe outskirts
There is a total of 12 convoys to destroy. Most will take the central road coming from the north, but starting with the 4th convoy they'll also enter the map from the west on the road just north of the large building complex in the southwest. Some convoys include Legion tanks that can withstand an absurd amount of damage, up to three of these beasts at once in the final wave. Make sure to have plenty of anti-armor firepower ready near the entry points, for otherwise there's a high chance you won't be able to catch the tanks before they leave the map regardless of their low speed.
If you managed to get one, ideally two Technician squads promoted at least once before you started the mission, their EMP grenades can turn the tanks (and all other convoy units for that matter) into sitting ducks, making this task a whole lot easier. If the Technician option isn't viable for you, don't forget that Kondo also carries EMP grenades and can even hack one of the Legion tanks as a useful meatshield (metal shield?).
Alternatively, instead of tossing EMP grenades, you can cover the roads in your killzones in AT mines or C4 charges, or at least set up some emergency roadblocks further down the convoy routes to immobilize anything that breaks through your lines. All of these tactics are about the same in terms of danger and micromanagement involved, so pick what suits you best. Or, y'know, do something else entirely. It's your game, and it's not like I could stop you even if I wanted to.

"Reliable defender": Protect the van and tractor bringing Movement platforms to Santa-Fe outskirts
This one is much easier than it sounds because - at least on Normal difficulty and below - these vehicles will virtually never be attacked as long as you keep the convoy entry points under control. Just activate the red waypoints on the ground with any unit so they turn green once Movement Command tells you to. The rest should handle itself. It does get more tricky on Hard and Realistic difficulty because there you'll have to deal with far more Legion troops invading the map from the east, and those might well cross paths with these Movement convoys, so prepare accordingly.

"Friendliness itself": Establish the most friendly relations with the Integrators
The first step towards earning this achievement is to hand the APS over to the Integrators in this mission.

This isn't an actual mission, but if you handled the Abiquiu situation in a way that didn't involve sneaking out of town with your tail between your legs, you'll have a decision to make here as you're given the opportunity to assist in building a road between Albuquerque and Abiquiu/Taos. This cuts the associated travel time from three days down to just one for a fairly significant cost in supplies (though still much less than what it would cost you to travel there and back again without the road). Both settlements' shops have restocked their inventories since your last visit, plus you can pick up new recruits at Abiquiu if you helped the Movement and the Village Elder earlier. However, you can only do this twice because both settlements become unavailable once you leave for either Chihuahua or Vega.

Whether or not you should make use of this option depends entirely on your economic situation, and at least once on your lust for achievements. I usually do it to get another shot at Integrator tech shopping, but if you feel you're too strapped for supplies to shoulder the construction and travel costs without risking softlocking your entire campaign, you're not missing out on that much if you just proceed to the next mission.

"Not only war": Help build the road to Abiquiu
Self-explanatory but, as mentioned above, impossible to unlock if you snuck out of Abiquiu earlier.

Oh boy... everyone's favorite mission. Lots of things to do, lots of decisions to make, but only a few that affect the campaign as a whole. Since there already are excellent guides on the best ways to approach this mission, I'll only talk about choices that have farther-reaching ramifications.

Flinch is the last of the game's four hero units you can recruit, and like most of them he has special interactions later in the campaign.

- If you deliver him to the Integrators as instructed, he's removed from the game. Hint: don't do that.

- If you keep him around, he still won't become a deployable unit unless you also conquer the prison in the south of the town where his squadmates are being held. He'll tell you about this at some point after the revolution has started, so don't worry about it until then.

If you succeed, Flinch turns into an Engineer squad with useful hacking abilities and tank driving skills after the mission. He and his buddies come pre-equipped with plasma shotguns that pack a hideous punch against anything up to and including Legion tanks. Like all Engineers, they're capable hand-to-hand fighters (meaning they're good at clearing occupied structures), can detect, defuse and lay mines, and their EMP grenades can lock down any Legion unit, be it infantry or vehicle, for quite some time. All in all, definitely not a bad addition to your army, especially since you won't get another chance to recruit Engineers until the Vega mission.

Once you're ready to unleash your inner Che Guevara, you have one last arena fight to participate in, this time against an upgraded Integrator-provided Legion spider.

- If you successfully hack it, it returns to the Integrator settlement in the northeast, infects their tech and makes it go ham on the nearby Cartel forces. While this does make the following battle a whole lot easier, it lowers your standing with the Integrator faction, potentially denying you access to their stores later. Recent patches have also made it somewhat easier to take the Cartel's northern defenses with your first reinforcement wave, giving even less incentive to pick this option now that relying on the Integrators to soften the place up first has become less important.

- If you simply destroy the spider in the arena, your Integrator reputation remains unaffected.

This does not seem to count as a strike against you in the Integrators' eyes, probably because these bots aren't theirs, so feel free to let Flinch hack away. Just make sure you're on the other side of the railroad tracks when they go berserk.

Aside from being a requirement for turning Flinch into an actually usable hero unit, taking the prison quickly provides you with a massive number of reserve units after the mission (in the ball park of 80+). Also, like almost everything you can or must do in this mission, it unlocks an achievement.

"Copper pipes": Win four betting fights in the Nueva Tortuga arena
Simply bet on yourself before you enter each of the arena battles, then destroy your opponent(s) within your chosen time limit. I found that 15 seconds per enemy is more than sufficient, meaning you should give yourself 30 seconds for the fight against two spiders at once, 15 seconds for all others to achieve the maximum payout. Still, quicksaving before each fight is never a bad idea regardless because, y'know, RNG.

"Best friends": All heroes must survive
You must not deliver Flinch to the Integrators if you're shooting for this assignment. It also goes without saying that he must survive this mission and all that follow.

"Temporary alliance": Together with the allies, engage in battle with the pastor in Nueva Tortuga
The "allies" in question are the two dudes you can buy drinks for in the bar across the street from where you first meet with Lucia. Once Miguel tells you to take down the Reverend, instead of going to the brothel directly, send Church's squad into the bar first, then proceed to the brothel. If you did it right, you should get sniper support from a building across the street during the ensuing shootout. The achievement should pop after the Reverend's gang has been dealt with.

"Duelist": Defeat all the gangs in duels in Nueva Tortuga
There's too much to cover here for a brief abstract, so please refer to any of the dedicated Nueva Tortuga guides on how to accomplish this amazingly annoying feat.

"Confident operator": Take control of a Legion tank and take it into battle in Nueva Tortuga
The Legion tank in question is the one you're supposed to trade Flinch for. As with the duels mentioned above, this is too complex a topic to discuss here, so please refer to an appropriate mission guide or walkthrough.

"Loyal subject": Infiltrate the mayor without a fight in Nueva Tortuga
Since this is tied to the Legion tank we just talked about, it's probably best if you use the same walkthrough to read up on how to pull this one off while you're at it.

"Broken Alliance": Pit Integrators against the Cartel in Nueva Tortuga
To unlock this one, successfully hack the Legion spider during the final arena battle. Note that doing so voids the "Friendliness itself" achievement due to the hit you take to your Integrators rep.

"Troublemaker": Set Legion vehicles against the Cartel in Nueva Tortuga
Hack the trophy bots in the town center for this achievement.

"Bringer of freedom": Take over the prison before they shoot all the hostages in Nueva Tortuga
Once Flinch tells you about his squadmates being held in the town's prison, go there and defeat the guards defending it. I never caught even a hint of the Cartel preparing to shoot any hostages there, so I don't know how much time you have, but it's probably best if you get to it immediately after Flinch says his piece.

"Friendliness itself": Establish the most friendly relations with the Integrators
As mentioned above, you must not hack the Legion spider in the final arena battle in order to make progress with this achievement. Just blow the critter up and move on.

Being an optional mission, no choices need to be made here, but fulfilling the two secondary objectives provides you with additional supplies (warehouse to the east) and a bunch of powerful Integrator gear (protect the locals). You also save one day's worth of travel supplies by not needing to take the longer alternative route, and you can salvage at least five pre-placed vehicles (Humvees, APCs, various trucks), plus whatever Cartel armor you manage to disable and capture more or less intact. This is a pretty easy hold-the-line mission with narrow choke points to defend, making this one a no-brainer in my eyes.

"More weapons!": Get all the weapons stolen by the peasants from the Cartel in the mission "On the way to Chihuhua"
Successfully defend the locals from Cartel units entering the map from the west between the two rivers. The weapons will be handed to you once the mission wraps up.

"There are never too many resources": Capture and hold the Cartel warehouse in the mission "On the way to Chihuahua"
Self-explanatory. You'll mostly have to deal with long-range infantry attacking this position, so try and get some snipers/sharpshooters on the warehouse's roof if you can for an easy 65,000 units of supplies. Oh, and get the vehicles north and south of the warehouse out of the line of fire ASAP.

"Scrap collector": Capture all abandoned vehicles in the mission "On the way to Chihuahua"
Aside from the truck parked between the locals' shacks in the southwest and the vehicles found at the warehouse in the east, there are two more (a Humvee and an M113) due north of said warehouse, at the river bank next to an enemy spawn point. If you send two squads up there right after repulsing an attack wave, capturing and repairing the latter should be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

Since this mission is also entirely optional, it contains no story-relevant decision points either, leaving the same question as before: is it worth doing? Well, as far as my personal opinion goes, most definitely. It's a tough mission but allows you to salvage a ludicrous amount of valuable hardware including Cartel tanks, bulldozers, at least one Bradley IFV, numerous APCs and at least one of the semi-unique mortar-toting Humvees (three if you're crafty). You also gain tons of supplies and goodwill from the Movement as thanks for your support, a well-stocked shop and a training center on location right after the mission, plus (as far as I can tell) additional Movement reinforcements in the final mission.

I've seen people speculate about the goodwill points you get via courier on the way to the Vega mission. This happens regardless of whether or not you went to Chihuahua and seems to depend on how supportive of the Movement you were beforehand (mostly by helping them at Abiquiu).

"Viva la revolucíon!": Find all revolution sympathizers before they are found by the Cartel's punishers in Chihuahua
This achievement pertains to the four houses in the south that get marked shortly after you capture the Cartel barracks. You need to get any unit in (or really close to) each of the houses to make contact with the rebels inside. It is extremely difficult to get to all of them before the Cartel does, but I still got the achievement despite having arrived too late for at least one sympathizer.

"No one will leave alive!": Eliminate all Cartel leaders in Chihuahua
There are five or six squads of Cartel leaders hiding out in the villa inside of the heavily fortified compound in the center of the map. At some point in the mission after you've taken the campus, these squads will leave the villa and run to the parking lot west of it to be picked up by incoming Legion HK Aerials, and you must prevent all of them from successfully fleeing the map. There are numerous ways how to go about this, but since this guide isn't meant as an outright campaign walkthrough, I'll leave it to you to come up with a workable strategy. Reading this already provides you with a significant advantage thanks to the early warning.

"There are never enough vehicles": Capture at least five vehicles from the Cartel garage in Chihuahua
The garage in question is found in the south of the city and contains many of the vehicles mentioned in the main paragraph above (about ten in total). Cartel infantry will gradually begin to board this powerful fleet once you've been told to capture the garage. If you proceed there with moderate haste after getting this message, capturing five or more vehicles shouldn't be an issue. I usually get all of them with minimal trouble. Keep an eye on the fuel gauge of any vehicle you capture, though. Most are running on fumes and won't get far without a refill, so make sure to bring a fuel truck/trailer if you want to take all that gearhead goodness with you.

Before we get to the Vega mission itself, there's already an important decision to make while you rest up at the nearby Integrator Main Camp, probably sipping engine oil Martinis and getting your nuclear wasteland suntan on.

- If you pay the annoying brat in supplies, goodwill or - if you skipped the Chihuahua mission - in Cartel pesos, you reach Vega one day earlier than if you don't. This starts you off in a better initial position and gives you a generous headstart on the approaching Integrators strike force.

If you find the guide's price tag as outrageously expensive as I initially did, bear in mind that the 55,000 supplies he demands are effectively deducted from your travel expenses, so if your army upkeep exceeds 55k/day, this is actually an economic net positive for you because you reach your destination faster. If you're low on supplies, don't forget you can exchange goodwill for supplies at a 1:10 ratio at any friendly settlement, like (hopefully) the Integrator Main Camp you just happen to be in. What a happy little accident *paints another nuke-scorched Saguaro cactus*.
As for the Cartel pesos, this is the last time you can spend them on anything useful, so if you have enough left over from Nueva Tortuga to satisfy the guide's demand of 3,500 shiny gold coins, don't hesitate to use them here.

- If you ignore the guide and travel to Vega normally, you and the Integrators arrive pretty much at the same time, which starts the 10-minutes countdown until the Integrators attack Kelso's position the moment you enter the map. Speaking of entering the map, you do so in the swampy fields in the south near the gas station, which slows your heavier vehicles down to crawl, costing you even more time. The rest of the mission proceeds more or less the same.

If you have a tank-certified crew available, you can acquire the most effective anti-tank weapon in the game at a museum in the northwest of the map: a venerable Sherman tank that the Integrators upgraded with a massive turret-mounted railgun. However, the Integrators really want this thing back. Like, really.

- If Big Bob is still around, he tells you how to take possession of the Sherman without the Integrators noticing. He doesn't need to be deployed for this to happen and will chime in even if he's currently in your reserves. If Bob bought the farm along the way, starting up the Sherman will make the Integrators take notice, forcing you to either hand it over to them to stay on their good side, or fight the strike force.

- The Sherman can be used as a bargaining chip with the Integrator strike force. If you offer it to them in exchange for Mayor Kelso, you have 5 minutes to get it to them, upon which they take control of it and bugger off. You can use this to extend the 10-minutes timer right before it expires, turn the Integrators neutral for the duration, bring your forces in position and attack them anyway if you want to (or just let the countdown expire). All this gets a whole lot harder if you start the mission on the map's southern border because the Sherman is literally on the other side of the map.

- If you actually hand over the Sherman peacefully, you lose the tank but can later find a heavy Movement weapons platform that's equipped with the Sherman's railgun in the shop at the Integrator Main Camp. You can purchase the platform (careful, expensive!), remove the gun, slap it on (one of) your Abrams and sell the platform back, leaving you with 65 tons of Screw You that eat Legion tanks for breakfast and, unlike the Sherman, can still defend themselves against infantry.

- If your standoff with the Integrator strike force turns violent for any reason, they'll retreat to the southern map edge once they lose about 75% of their units. If you let any of them escape, your standing with the Integrators takes a major hit. If you manage to kill all of them instead, the rest of the faction is none the wiser and your reputation doesn't change.

The trailers are found in the northwest near the edge of the map, and garrisoning two squads (one anti-infantry, one anti-armor) in a nearby building on the street east of them should be more than enough to eliminate any occasional opportunistic looter unit that snuck past Kelso's HQ. There's also one of Kelso's squads on site that can help pick off stragglers. Completing this objective seems to increase the number of reserve units you get after the mission.

This mission's major decision point. All paths have their benefits, although I found myself unable to continue playing after I executed Kelso for the achievement because I entirely understand his reason for defecting.

- If you spare Kelso, Lt. Saxon will be... displeased, and T-Force as a whole gets branded as traitors and deserters. Your following interactions with Founders HQ will be extremely unpleasant, and Saxon will lead three waves of powerful Founders bounty hunters against you during the Oklahoma mission, making your life quite a bit harder in an already tough mission. Kelso himself is grateful, gives you a trained tank crew led by his eldest son, and a whole bunch of his troops as a bonus. He'll also appear during the final mission, bringing along his heavily upgraded Bradley IFV and some of his men as reinforcements.
Story-wise, Vega turns into a new safe haven for any civilians and Movement forces in the area.

- If you execute Kelso, Lt. Saxon will be pleased and your further interactions with Founders HQ become muss less confrontational (which in itself doesn't seem to change much in gameplay terms). No bounty hunters appear during the Oklahoma mission, but neither do Kelso's reinforcements in the final mission. You also don't receive the Engineers and Infantry squads Kelso would've given you, a loss the additional reserve units you're given instead can't make up for in my opinion. With Kelso dead, Saxon allows you to take the late mayor's Bradley for yourself and even gives you a tank crew for it to balance out the loss of Kelso Jr., who sure as hell won't join you after what you just did to his old man.
With Vega now bereft of competent leadership, the settlement ceases to exist as a POI on the world map, and any refugees in the area relocate to Amarillo instead.

- If you allow or even enable the Integrators strike force to reach Kelso's HQ... something will probably happen. I've yet to try this myself, but if you happen to know how this route plays out, be so kind to drop me a comment and I'll add it ASAP.

"No analogues": Get the railgun
Successfully acquire the Railgun Sherman, one way or another.

"Defender": Prevent looters from destroying a single trailer with refugees in Vega
This one is tied to the optional mission objective discussed in the "Protecting the trailer park" paragraph.

"No witnesses": Destroy the Integrators without allowing any of them to escape in Vega
Self-explanatory.

"Military dynasty": Recruit the son of the mayor of the Vega settlement
Once Lt. Saxon orders you to execute Mayor Kelso, don't do it and spare him instead. Kelso Jr.'s tank crew then joins you shortly afterwards.

"Founders Fidelis!": Execute the mayor of the Vega settlement
Once Lt. Saxon orders you to execute Mayor Kelso, do it. Unsurprisingly, this one is mutually exclusive with "Military dynasty", so either stick with your decision or make a save and reload after you've splattered poor Kelso's brain across the pavement.

"Friendliness itself": Establish the most friendly relations with the Integrators
Handing over the Sherman to the Integrators is mandatory for advancing this achievement. All other possible interactions with them automatically void it.

If you successfully organize medivac for the Rangers trapped in the building near where you start, Rangers Command will send several Rangers squads later in the mission to help you defend the hackers during the climactic showdown. The Rangers' CO will also speak in your defense if you were branded a traitor at Vega, making your rehabilitation easier and providing additional resources and troops throughout the campaign, among them at least one Blackhawk helicopter including its crew that you won't be able to acquire anywhere else.

If you spared Kelso at Vega, the bounty hunters mentioned in that section will spawn at the western map edge near your second main objective location north of the trapped Rangers, roughly 10 minutes after the mission starts, with one wave every couple of minutes. There are strong buildings aplenty to spawn-camp their entry point, and you might be able to salvage some of their vehicles (which includes a Bradley and sometimes even an Abrams), but as mentioned before, their involvement may put severe strain on already scarce resources.
If you keep pushing east instead of clearing said second main objective location of enemies when prompted, Saxon's forces will do the job for you, eventually. How much of his strike force survives these clashes to heckle you afterwards is heavily RNG-dependent, but prepare to deal with at least the third wave on your own.

If you didn't side with Balzano in Abiquiu and then got branded as traitors in Vega, Balzano will show his mug again here shortly after Saxon rolls into town, having struck a deal with Founders HQ to hunt you down. However, he has no real interest in fighting you, so he offers you to bugger off without further ado if you can get a passengers HEMTT to him. One of these can be found in the supply base in the map center, another in the Founders outpost in the southeast. Should you happen to have one of your own already, you can of course give that one to him instead.

- If you manage to fulfil the terms of his extortion polite request in time, he makes good on his word and even pulls a Vulcan Abrams in mint condition out of his butt crack as a farewell gift. This brings the number of Abrams you can salvage in this mission up to two. Not a bad deal at all, considering that passengers HEMTTs are little more than expensive 34-ton paperweights. Balzano will also stay alive and able to reappear again later in the campaign.

- If you fail to get him his HEMTT in time, he'll eventually turn hostile and attack you with the very same Abrams he would've given you otherwise. Salvaging this particular tank on this route is still possible but, unsurprisingly, dependent on your RNG luck. Also unsurprisingly, killing Balzano here prevents him from showing up in Galveston for the grand finale. I can't tell exactly how long you have before he turns hostile, as there's no visible timer, but on my first run I pretty much ignored him for most of the mission and still got him his escape vehicle in the end, so he seems to be quite the patient type. Or desperate. Or both. Or maybe he just really likes big trucks with urban camo paint. Who knows. That said, I'm sure you noticed that just giving him the damn thing is definitely the better course of action here, so don't drag your feet for too long if you can help it.

Scattered across the map are numerous buildings that, when approached, prompt you to send in an infantry squad to search for survivors. Some are empty, some contain one or two squads that immediately join up with you. Finding all of them unlocks an achievement.

Side note: while the HIMARS artillery detachment in the center of the map joins you permanently if you save it, the two M109 self-propelled howitzers in the north go under allied AI control once you draw near. You can take the howitzers for yourself, but you need to be really quick to board the vehicles before the AI tank crews make it out of the nearby building. Oh, and of course you need to have two tank crews available to start with. Worth it, though, these things slap. It's also weirdly hilarious to watch the AI crews stand around in the open all befuddled, wondering why their snazzy rides are having raging boners without them.

This is the first time these two geeks have something special to contribute. If they're on the field before you reach the abandoned Founders supply base, they'll let you know that they can mess with any of the four factory exits inside the Legion base, either by shutting them down for 10 minutes or by turning any newly produced units into allies. Each of them can take care of one exit and must stay there for the duration, which in the three northern exits' case puts them right in the path of Legion reinforcements entering the map from outside. It's probably best to just put one of them to work on the tank factory in the south because all attackers will be approaching from the north (and having Legion tanks blow up other Legion units is never a bad thing), but feel free to have the other one active up there as well if you think you can handle it.

"Best friend": Save the Rangers in Oklahoma City
Refer to "Saving the Rangers" above for the details.

"Old friend": Give the truck to Balzano in Oklahoma City
Refer to "Balzano" above for the details.

"No-fly zone": Shoot down HK Aerial in Oklahoma City
At some point in the mission, a Legion HK Aerial will start buzzing around the map, taking potshots at your units. I only noticed this on my second playthrough after wondering why I got an achievement out of the blue during my first run. Yeah, Aerials are satisfyingly fragile.

"Everyone in formation!": Find all hidden Founders squads in Oklahoma City
Refer to "Saving the surviving Founders squads" above for the details.

"Your base belongs to us": Hack one of Legion's production facilities so that it begins to produce Terminators for the Founders in Oklahoma City
This achievement requires either Kondo, Flinch, or both to still be alive when you tackle this mission. The main hacker squad can't be used for this purpose because hacking a factory requires the assigned unit to remain there, and the main squad is needed elsewhere. Any of the four factories counts for the achievement. Refer to "Kondo and Flinch" above for further details.

Neither choice seems to influence Legion unit behavior, so keep it on to give yourself a bit of an advantage. Coverage is incomplete anyway, and artillery fire will most likely knock out many of the (invisible) cameras and sensors over time regardless of your choice.

- If you go loud, you get to call in reinforcements immediately for an assault on the Legion power plant. Church mentions something about a 5-minutes time limit, but it doesn't seem to actually exist. I took my sweet time carefully moving my reinforcements through the suburbs and the mission still proceeded without a hitch.

- If you go quiet, instead of calling in reinforcements you'll be forced to continue with your recon squads for another round of commando work. This'll give you a selection of up to three powerful Legion units to play with, but is still IMHO a whole lot harder than the loud approach, not least of all because you'll have to deal with another Legion tank on the way. Hope you brought tons of anti-armor firepower. Also, your own Legion units are already damaged and low on ammo when you take control of them, meaning they require severe levels of micromanagement to accomplish anything worthwhile, which in this case means "conquer a heavily defended Legion base within a tight, invisible time limit". I found this approach very unfairly balanced and thus frustrating to play, so my personal recommendation is to go full Leeroy Jenkins on Legion at this point until the mission has received some patching.

Every saved civilian is added to your reserve units after the mission, and you get an achievement for saving them all. That's it. Not sure if it's worth it, but Legion attacks are fairly mild past the point where the AI-controlled Founders units leave the map, so if you have the time and ammo to spare, feel free to further polish your hero credentials by maintaining control of the facility's northern exit until all prisoners have returned to the surface.
Be warned though that it'll take a while; I haven't whipped out my stop watch yet, but I estimate an additional 10-15 minutes of fighting for this task. Founders IT will let you know when it's done, so don't leave until they've given you the all-clear. Another metric to keep track of your progress would be the number of civilians rescued, which I estimate at 30 individuals in total.

"Garbage Man": Use Legion robots from the Fort Worth junkyard
This requires picking the quiet route, followed by paying the Ratz HQ a visit, accepting the Legion unit controllers from their leader and continuing to move east across the railway tracks until you reach the junkyard near the map edge. There you'll find a selection of inactive Legion armor waiting to be turned on their former master. Interact with and activate any of them (up to three at max) for the achievement. Refer to "Go loud or go quiet?" above for further information.

"Leave no man behind!": Rescue all prisoners at the Legion research facility in Fort Worth
Refer to "Rescuing all civilians" above for the details.

Reaching the Integrator Main Camp offers you a choice of two missions: Midland for the Integrators, or the camp itself for Lucia. You need to complete either one of them to advance the main story, but if you go to Midland first, you can still infiltrate the camp with Lucia afterwards for twice the content, fun, salvage, and general mayhem. You like causing mayhem, don't you? Of course you do, or you would be reading a Stardew Valley guide instead of this one (I have nothing against Stardew Valley, so put down your pixelated pitchforks).

Potential salvage in this mission consists of a handful of Founders units (M113s, Humvees, a few HEMTTs of various types), and completing the assignment allows you to grab some mysterious superweapon called the Digital Storm from the Integrator Camp mission instead of just the standard EWS Founders HQ tasked you with acquiring. The Digital Storm thingamabob is, as of the time of writing, bugged to hell and back, giving a grand showing of diddly-squat when I got access to it, so until this is fixed I'm not 100% certain if the mission is worth doing. It's fun, sure, but it also pits you against a powerful boss and a lot of Legion troops that might cost you more than you can replenish from the salvage available, even with the upgraded Integrator store inventory you unlock by beating this mission. It's up to you really if you deem it worth the risk. If you do, make sure to include mine clearing capabilities in your recon force (Engineers, or Rangers/Technicians with appropriate training), for the map is absolutely lousy with minefields.

If you're a completionist, completing both this mission and the Integrator Main Camp is required for the "Traveler" achievement. Doing one of them each in separate playthroughs also works but doesn't make a lot of sense in terms of story and gameplay, so better do both while you're at it.

"Metal mountain": Destroy the Prototype-1 in Midland
That boss I mentioned earlier? Yeah. You'll know it when you see it, believe you me.

"Friendliness itself": Establish the most friendly relations with the Integrators
Completing this mission is a requirement for unlocking this achievement. In fact, if you handed over the APS in Santa-Fe and the Sherman in Vega, and didn't hack the arena spider in Nueva Tortuga, it should pop the moment your last unit successfully evacuates the area.

As mentioned in the previous section, this mission is optional if you completed the Midway assignment for the Integrators, but can still be accepted afterwards for additional rewards... sort of. Like all other optional missions, it contains no decision points. Is it a better pick over the Midland mission? Hard to say. It's certainly a lot easier, so if that's what you're after to save your strength for the final assault, the choice is clear.

First of all, the mission plays out virtually the same regardless of whether or not you went to Midland. The only difference is some minor changes in dialogue concerning the Digital Storm.

Secondly, no matter what you did and how nice you were to the Integrators throughout the campaign, they won't support you in the final mission. In other words, since this is the second-to-last mission, they've outlived their usefulness and can be attacked without consequences. Buy everything you need from their shop beforehand, then go kick their chromed-out butts.

The mission itself, as mentioned above, is surprisingly easy for one set so late in the campaign. The infiltration part in the first half is fairly obtuse for first-time players but utterly risk-free, and the combat part afterwards is just plain weird. There's tons of empty Integrator hardware on the map, but in the three times I've played through the campaign so far, none of the Integrator infantry nearby even attempted to board these vehicles. They just... stood there and tried to stop my armored assault with their (admittedly powerful) small arms. I strongly assume this is a bug, so don't count on the same thing happening to you if you're reading this guide some months or years after the game's release.

That said, if you're careful in your attack, you should be able to salvage close to 20 vehicles in total, among them a Bradley, an M113, a tractor, a couple of weapons platforms equipped with plasma guns, and many unique and powerful Integrator rides. Awesome! Until you notice that every Integrator vehicle has an upkeep cost of 10,000 supplies per day, making it impossible to haul all this goodness back to Fort Worth to sell off without running out of supplies in the middle of the highway. You can still make a moderate profit by scrapping all Integrator vehicles on site, but it's a major disappointment regardless because the game dangles all that kickass hardware before you, only to laugh in your face the moment it sees your excitement.

All in all, this mission is built around the Digital Storm being your main reward, which it really isn't at the moment, so consider it an easier alternative to Midland instead that you should be able to clear with minimal casualties, with two useful Founders units and a bunch of other valuable hardware thrown in as a consolation prize.

"Everything for victory!": Grab EWS at Integrators Camp
This achievement should pop automatically once you finish the mission. I'm not sure if going to Midland first still counts because I didn't do this on my first playthrough, but it would be pretty stupid if it didn't.

"Forbidden cult": Destroy the leader of the Integrators in the Integrators Camp
You'll need to talk to the Integrator leader with Lucia during the infiltration phase. Remember the building he's in and make sure to flatten it once your army has arrived. Unless your playstyle is unusually restrained, this will most likely happen unintentionally anyway.

This is it. The final battle. Everything you've done so far, all the allies you've (not) made, will pay off now (or not). Unsurprisingly, no decisions need to be made here, so enjoy going ham on Legion one last time with everything you've got. Budget Skynet sure has it coming.
Oh, and may the gaming gods bless your rig with the strength to keep your performance above 30 FPS for as long as possible.

Your approach to previous missions determines what and how many reinforcements you'll get in this one. These won't come into play until the mission's final phase, but boy will you be glad to see all those guys and gals ride in when/if they do. Potential backup consists of:
- Lucia's and Jessica's Movement (if you did most or all Movement missions including Chihuahua)
- Mayor Kelso and his Founders (if he survived the Vega mission and wasn't recaptured by the Integrators)
- Balzano and his mercenaries (if he made it to Oklahoma and received his HEMTT)
- Major Stevens and more Founders units (these are probably the only reinforcements you're guaranteed to get, considering Stevens is tied to the main storyline).

Gathering all possible support this way unlocks an achievement.

Another gimmick of the mission concerns the Digital Storm and your hero hackers Kondo and Flinch. If you did the Midway mission and attacked the Integrator Main Camp afterwards, you'll be given an EWS HEMTT (why does the military have such a hard-on for indecipherable acronyms?) that carries the Digital Storm hardware. As mentioned earlier, I have no idea what this thing actually does. Its description reads like something Google Translator puked up after suffering two strokes in a row, and the unit itself bugged out the moment it was supposed to do something. Data mining suggests debilitating effects on any Legion units in its sphere of influence, like lowered accuracy, health, repair rate and movement speed, but how much of this actually works is up for debate. Be that as it may, both Kondo and Flinch can apparently boost the Storm's performance in one way or another if you assign them as the vehicle's drivers. Only one unit can drive a vehicle at a time, so you'll have to choose which sort of boost you consider more useful. To that end, better pay attention during the mission briefing because this crucial piece of intel can't be found anywhere else later.

That's it, you've beaten the Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance campaign. I hope this guide was able to help you in making the right decisions to achieve the outcomes you desired, and that you had as much fun playing the game as I did. Thanks for reading, and have a great one! :-)

"Titan Slayer": Destroy the Prototype-2 before it destroys too many allies on Galveston Island
Remember the Prototype-1 you probably wrecked in Midland? This is its big brother, and it really doesn't like you. It's also initially invincible against ground attacks. And surrounded by AA batteries. To make it vulnerable you need to neutralize these AA turrets first, then call in airstrikes with your Rangers squads (you receive two of them at this point, so don't worry if yours are no longer around). I can't really tell what the game considers "too many dead allies" because I got the achievement on my first attempt. Just do your best to destroy it ASAP. How? Up to you, really. Again, this isn't a campaign walkthrough, so find out on your own what works best for you with the means you have available.

"Everyone is here": Gather all possible help for the final assault on the Legion factory on Galveston Island
Refer to "Reinforcements" above for the details.

"The Final": Finish the campaign
Three guesses as to what you need to do to unlock this achievement, and the first two don't count.

I found it annoying how little the game tells you about itself on its own, so here's a random collection of things I learned the hard way that might be of use to you. Consider it a bonus for sticking with me and my ramblings 'til the end.

To make one thing clear from the start: everything that follows is based on my personal experiences and opinion. No two playstyles are the same, so it's logical for you to disagree with some (or all) of what I'm about to say, and I'm totally fine with that. Feel free to argue your case in the comments down below if you deem it important enough, but please don't expect me to include every dissenting opinion and every tidbit of information in this guide. It's already ballooned way beyond its original scope, anyway.

Shortly after the game's release, one of the devs responded to the general rage about the supply management system with an overview of how many supplies your army is supposed to consume per day at any given point in the campaign. If you stick to these numbers, give or take a few percent, you should be able to do some generous shopping and still travel to the next mission without fear of softlocking your campaign. It worked well for me, so here they are:

After Abiquiu: 40,000 (56,000)
After Albuquerque: 45,000 - 50,000 (63,000 - 70,000)
After Tortuga: 50,000 - 55,000 (70,000 - 77,000)
After Chihuahua: 65,000 (91,000)
After Vega: 70,000 (98,000)
After Oklahoma: 75,000 - 90,000 (105,000 - 126,000)

The first set of numbers in each line pertains to Hard and Realistic difficulty. Normal difficulty (and presumably Easy as well) currently reduces upkeep costs across the board by 40%, which is what the italic (numbers in brackets) are for. Don't hesitate to tell me if my math-challenged brain got them wrong; it absolutely wouldn't surprise me.

It goes without saying that ongoing patching can change these numbers at any time. I'll try to keep them updated as best I can, but take them with a grain of salt if you're reading this guide some months or years down the road.

The most important thing to say here is this: never scrap vehicles or disband infantry units after a mission if you can help it. The game expects you to sell your surplus salvage and manpower for goodwill points at the closest trading post, then exchange the goodwill for supplies at a 1:10 ratio. If you don't do this, your supply economy on the map layer will crash and burn before you make it to Nueva Tortuga.

Although the strongest armor upgrades in their respective categories, they reduce the carrier vehicle's speed and acceleration by a massive 40-50% and make it nearly incapable of going offroad. They also increase fuel consumption by 40%. That's not to say they're useless - far from it - but use them with discretion. If you don't expect a vehicle to pull regular frontline duty, don't slow it down unnecessarily.

Some vehicles that can't normally be upgraded still have a variant that comes pre-equipped with Cartel armor, the main example being the three non-HEMTT trucks. This isn't reflected in their name or any other visible unit data, but they can be easily identified by the armor's characteristic drab green coloration. These trucks fully benefit from the armor's protection, making them ultimately superior to the standard model found outside of Cartel territory. I find myself prioritizing salvaging and fiercely protecting Cartel trucks for this reason. I think they're also more profitable to sell if you don't need them, but I'm not 100% sure about it right now.

Infantry in particular can assume one out of four possible formations: line, spaced line, blob, or spaced blob, with blob being the default setting. I generally found the spaced formations to be better because they limit exposure to AoE weapons and machine gun/autocannon bursts. The spaced line is particularly effective on the defense since it allows the entire squad to open fire at once instead of just the one or two guys at the front. This one is also a huge help for the RNG-dependent arena duels in Nueva Tortuga, oftentimes making the difference between losing one or two squaddies or suffering an ignominious TPK instead.

Be careful with fuel trucks. They draw their own gas from the same tank they use to refuel other vehicles, so unless you keep a constant eye on their fuel gauge, it's all too easy for them to run dry completely, forcing you to abandon the truck if you don't have another one available that can refuel the first. Use fuel trailers wherever possible instead.

Building on the above, you can refill your trucks and trailers (both fuel and ammo) from allied NPC sources and each other. If you have more trailers than tractors, top up the ones you want to keep before you exit the map. This can often save you (tens of) thousands of supplies after the mission.

Some infantry units (Rangers, Guerillas, Snipers and Mercenaries) can fast-rope from a helicopter onto the roof of certain large buildings that have roof access, allowing you to clear it in CQB without having to charge through a hail of gunfire first. To use this feature, simply order the helo to unload its passengers on the target building instead of on open ground. Unfortunately, the game is very selective in what buildings it allows you to use this feature on, but since so few units can target aircraft, it still makes it arguably the best reason for keeping a helicopter around, especially for missions with lots of urban combat like Chihuahua, Oklahoma or Midland.

- Ever heard the saying "a helicopter consists of 50,000 parts flying in close formation"? The ones in this game sure took it to heart. Not many units can actually target them - mostly medium vehicles equipped with autocannons, plasma cannons and the like, plus the odd missile puker - but those that can tend to swat them out of the sky before you can blink. Never fly a helo through the fog of war, especially not if it's carrying someone important. Yes, I'm looking at you, Major Stevens. Get to da Stryka!

- There are two helicopter models available. The Iroquois can be purchased at Tortuga and Chihuahua after liberating the respective towns. The Blackhawk can only be acquired by saving the Rangers in Oklahoma and then picking the helicopter option when the Rangers CO offers you additional support after the debriefing. It even comes with its pilots included. The Blackhawk is an unambiguous upgrade over the Iroquois, being faster, more resilient, more efficiently armed, and able to seat more passengers, so if you regularly make use of helos, don't miss out on this one.

- Speaking of the Blackhawk, its ATGM racks are very powerful and accurate, but the helo needs to be a fair distance away from its target to get a proper lock or it'll miss one shot after the other. It's hard to gauge the exact distance, but rule of thumb says that if the helo can fire its miniguns on the target, it's too close for the missiles. Lots of micromanagement involved here, but worth it in my eyes.

- Helos guzzle fuel like there's no tomorrow (maybe because there really isn't?). At about one unit of fuel per second, they empty their tank in roughly 20 real-time minutes of continuous operation. The average mission takes 35-60 minutes to complete. No points for guessing what happens to a helo that runs out of gas several hundred meters above ground. To avoid that and save on fuel in general, keep your helos on the ground until you need them. Finding a suitable landing spot can be incredibly frustrating, but it's still better than watching your expensive oversized ceiling fan turn into a burning pile of scrap right after you've cleared a mission because you forgot about it and didn't evac it in time.

This section is entirely devoted to veteran abilities. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, know that some units simply don't have more than one, maybe two useful abilities they can learn. Don't ever feel compelled to buy an ability for a unit just because it has open slots to fill. Veteran abilities are an option, not an obligation.

Also, aside from ability slots, promotions reward units with better accuracy, higher weapon damage, and more health. These buffs are quite significant, so try your best to keep your squads alive, will ya?

I strongly assume that you've already identified the obviously useful abilities on your own, but I'll mention my favorites anyway for completion's sake.

- Power Lifter (most infantry units): 50% more ammo? Yes please! And not just weapon ammo, to boot - it also affects grenades, demo charges... everything. Absolutely vital for the likes of ATGM and RPG squads, moderately useful for general infantry, mostly superfluous for Snipers and Sharpshooters, but never a bad thing to have if you have the slots and resources to spare.

- Survivalist (most infantry units): Before Normal difficulty got its 40% upkeep cost reduction patched in, this was the most important ability of them all just so you could continue playing the campaign. It's slightly less crucial now, but many units still benefit tremendously from it, first and foremost any Founders infantry due to their natively high upkeep.

- Extreme Driver, Best Gunner (Drivers, Tank Crew, Pilots): Unlike Relentless Killer and Bullet Rain mentioned further down, a 20% boost in movement speed and fire rate is noticeable. Take these skills as soon as you can afford them and thank me later.

- Tank Olympics (Technicians): You won't find more than maybe ten actual tank crews throughout the entire campaign, most of them in the latter third, and most of these already at the helm of a vehicle, so if you want to make use of all the Bradleys, Abrams and M109s you find beforehand, this is a vital ability to invest in. Engineers can drive a tank in a pinch to get it out of the mission area, but should be replaced with tank-certified Technicians ASAP afterwards. I usually have two or three tank techs on standby at all times, especially for missions that pit you against driveable tanks that you might end up disabling and pilfering, like Oklahoma for instance. And if you don't need the tank techs after all, they can still drive normal vehicles just fine.

Although no veteran ability is entirely useless, some definitely aren't worth their price in goodwill, much less the valuable ability slot your unit fought so hard to unlock. Examples include, but are not limited to:

- Steelbird Killer (ATGM Squad): The number of enemy aircraft you'll encounter in the campaign can be counted on two hands with fingers to spare, and they're so fragile that your Bradleys will oftentimes shoot them down before you even realize they were there. Most importantly, this ability splits the ATGM squad's already low ammo pool evenly between AT and AA missiles, severely limiting their much more important anti-armor capabilities.

- Operational Coordination (several unit types): This ability adds one additional soldier to the squad. That's it. The only units that truly benefit from this are the Sharpshooter Team (a whopping 50% increase in firepower) and the Heavy Weapons Team (+33% hitpoints by going from 3 to 4 squaddies), but all other unit types merely receive an assault rifle-toting grunt that might as well have stayed at home. Further downsides are a proportionate increase in upkeep (Sharpshooters for instance go from 200 to 300), as well as possible disruptions in how you distribute infantry across transport vehicles.

- Bullet Rain (several unit types): Expensive at 500 goodwill per unit, but with virtually unnoticeable effects, avoid this ability like the plague. If a unit can't take down a target normally, a measly 10% faster firing rate won't make a difference.

- The Relentless Killer (Sniper Team, Sharpshooter Team): Similar to Bullet Rain, a 10% damage buff is unnoticeable in the heat of battle. To add insult to injury, both of these units are primarily anti-infantry and tend to one-shot their targets anyway. Hard pass.

- Mine Laying (Technicians): Leave the mine stuff to your Engineers, they know all the tricks automatically. Mines are of very limited use after the Santa-Fe mission anyway, and hostile minefields only appear in the Midway mission. Focus your Technicians on (tank) driving skills first and foremost, and maybe some EMP grenades here and there if you have slots to spare (but not on the same units; you won't dismount your tank drivers just to let them toss grenades all over the place).

- Grenades (any driver unit): Drivers, Tank Crews, Pilots and most Technicians are supposed to be inside of a vehicle at all times. If they find themselves on foot for any reason, those puny grenades won't do jack sh** helping them make it out alive. Leave the potato tossing to your actual frontline infantry.

- Demolition (Rangers Squad): The nature of this ability makes it virtually useless outside of heavily scripted missions, and the units you're given in these missions always carry demolition charges from the outset.

A somewhat misleading header because the following examples are nothing to sneeze at, but they tend to be highly situational or dependent on your personal playstyle, so I'll list them separately.

- Rocket Man (RPG Squad, Infantry Squad): Somewhat similar to Steelbird Killer, only with a specialized anti-infantry rocket type instead of anti-air. Definitely more useful than the former due to the abundance of enemy infantry, but don't give it to all of your eligible squads. Keep some of them outfitted as dedicated tank hunters.

- Chameleon (Sniper Team, Sharpshooter Team, Rangers Squad): Snipers and Sharpshooters with this ability become nearly invisible while prone unless enemies all but bump into them, making this a great pick if you regularly make use of forward observers or artillery spotters. Just make sure the respective squads are set to defensive behavior before you send them into no man's land since firing a weapon breaks stealth instantly.

- Combat Engineering (Rangers Squad): This ability allows Rangers to detect and clear minefields. Seeing how Rangers are likely to be part of any scouting party and strike force, this skill makes them even more versatile than they already are. However, minefields are surprisingly rare, making this an extremely situational ability. The Midway mission in particular benefits from it, but by that point you should have Engineers available.

- Heavy Armor (several units): Although a 20% boost in unit health is definitely awesome, I found myself rarely picking this ability regardless, with the exception of Guerillas so they wouldn't die so quickly while assaulting occupied structures.

- Weapon Lover (ATGM Squad, Heavy Weapon Squad): A 30% decrease in weapon setup time can make a difference on occasion, but most of the time it won't. If you still want to take this ability, prioritize ATGM squads to reduce their 6 seconds delay to 4.2 seconds. Heavy weapons squads set up twice as fast, making this skill half as effective for them. There's also a similar ability for some vehicle crews called Rapid Deployment, but this one only affects artillery carriages and never had a noticeable effect in my campaigns.

- Look, Ma, I'm Flying! (Technicians): This incredibly stupidly named ability allows Technicians to pilot helicopters. You're unlikely to ever field more than one Iroquois, and the Blackhawk comes with its own pilots attached, so while you should definitely have one tech squad with this ability on standby when you depart for Nueva Tortuga or Chihuahua, more than that at any one time is a waste of resources.

Man, this character limit is getting annoying.

Do not garrison infantry units in structures that're classified as weak or very weak. Just don't do it. They're death traps that provide minimal protection from small arms fire, and none at all from heavy ordnance. A single missile, suicide drone, cannon shell or autocannon burst can be enough to wipe out an entire unit and oftentimes collapse the whole building on top of the survivors. If the structures near your position aren't at least rated medium, ordering your infantry to go prone affords them much better protection from almost all types of incoming damage.

The game mentions this in the item descriptions, but I consider this topic important enough to point it out specifically: plasma weapons have no penetration. Once they hit an obstacle, they just stop there, making them supremely handicapped against infantry in buildings or vehicles behind buildings. Kinetic weapons on the other hand can usually shoot through these obstacles to wreak havoc on the other side. The most impressive example of the latter is the Sherman's railgun, which can one-shot Legion tanks through up to two entire buildings, or even through another Legion tank if you're lucky enough to have them lined up right.

Plasma-based infantry guns also tend to have significantly lower ranges on average, which might result in units on default settings being unable to retaliate against enemies shooting at them from outside their firing range without you telling them to move and shoot back.

All of this has led to me moving away from plasma weapons almost entirely, with the exception of the plasma recoilless rifle, plasma shotguns and the infantry-only plasma machine gun. Even the plasma assault rifles (phased, in the 40W range, naturally) often turn out to be more of a liability than an upgrade due to the range issues.

- Generally speaking, your tanks' default weapons are built around versatility, and any of the available upgrades will push the vehicle into a specialist role, effectively making them sidegrades instead of true upgrades. All vehicle-scale plasma weapons are focused on anti-vehicle duty whereas the Vulcan cannons excel against infantry, with some overlap between the two when it comes to light vehicles. This means that, depending on your playstyle, you might be better off sticking with the default loadout. I for one have stopped outfitting my Abrams with different weapons other than mounting a minigun for anti-infantry purposes, simply because the mighty tank is my general-purpose problem solver and the speartip for armored assaults, and it being able to engage any enemy type effectively with its good old 120mm cannon saves me so much trouble and micromanagement.
As for Bradleys, I strongly prefer the combo of 20mm Vulcan cannon and TOW missile launcher - one shreds infantry and aircraft, the other tanks. Win-win all around (well, not for Legion, but no one cares about that pile of junk code).
All the above also holds true for Movement weapons platforms of the appropriate tonnage, except for the Bradley-exclusive TOW launcher, unfortunately.

- Similar to the Cartel and steel cage armor paragraph in the Part 1 section, tank and APC armor upgrades also negatively affect speed, acceleration and fuel consumption, although not quite as badly. Carbon armor only comes with a 10% penalty to these parameters while providing significant protection against anything except energy damage, but even Legion fields a lot of kinetic and explosive weapons, making carbon a good upgrade across the board (keep an eye on those plasma spitters, though, will ya?). Ceramic armor is the heaviest and rarest, but also the most effective Founders armor upgrade of all. If you have engine upgrades available, prioritize ceramic-armored vehicles to lessen the speed penalty, but keep in mind that both upgrades have stacking fuel consumption penalties.

- When it comes to secondary vehicle weapons, miniguns reign supreme. I can't overstate how devastating they are against infantry in the open, infantry in buildings, infantry lying prone... Rule of thumb: if it moves on legs and goes up against a minigun, it won't be moving for much longer. Miniguns are also highly effective at chasing vehicle crews out of their ride without destroying it completely, assuming that vehicle doesn't carry more than upgraded light armor. Long story short, forget about recoilless rifles, ATGM launchers and plasma machine guns. Miniguns is where it's at. The only exception to this rule is the plasma recoilless rifle due to how effective it is against enemy armor. Pair it with miniguns and you can handle anything.
Commenters correctly pointed out that although the minigun is good against anything human-sized, the 40mm grenade launcher for instance is more effective against infantry in buildings, and the plasma machine gun is stronger against light vehicles. In the end it all comes down to personal preference and the age-old "versatility vs. specialization" argument.
Another (weird) thing about secondary weapons is that they have different amounts of ammo, depending on what vehicle they're installed on. For instance, the ATGM launcher usually holds 6 shots but goes up to 8 shots when mounted on an M113 APC, and down to a pathetic 3 shots when bolted to a big rig or an Abrams. Why? Who knows, but you'll have to live with it if you aren't into file modding.

- This one should be common knowledge among RTS players, but I'll mention it anyway: vehicles have different armor values on their various facings. The front is always the most heavily armored part, followed by the sides, the turret/wheels/tracks, and the more or less unarmored rear. These differences are massive, so make sure your vehicles always show their most resilient side to the enemy. That said, suffering hits reduces the hitpoints of that facing (represented by its color on the unit screen - yellow, red, etc.), which can make it beneficial to have an enemy shoot at a vehicle's side for instance if the front has already taken heavy damage. You can tell a vehicle how to orient itself by holding the right mouse button during the move order, and there's also a special command button that forces the vehicle to drive backwards for this very reason.