Tayari Plaza: New Mombassa Streets

Mission 02: Mombasa Streets

Tayari Plaza to Uplift Reserve

Occupied city center • ROOKIE • 6 hours after drop

Rookie sets Dare’s helmet aside and attempts to locate a squadmate by journeying through New Mombasa’s streets and plazas to the Uplift entrance. Along the way, you discover and tackle a new type of Covenant force—a floating, shield-deploying entity known as an Engineer. Facing numerous Covenant patrols, the Rookie pushes onward, encountering the first Brute Stalker and pondering whether to venture down numerous auxiliary streets en route to an initial weapons cache and a second clue to the ODST team’s status.

DATA STREAM

New Mombasa VISR Target Acquisition Mode Ratio: 95 percent

Preferred Weapons

• Carbine
• Magnum
• Plasma Pistol
• Plasma Rifle
• Sniper Rifle

Par Score

• 100,000

COMM Data Stream

• After “Mission 01: Prepare to Drop”: Hidden COMM Data—7 (Total: 7/30)*
• After 4 of 7 COMM Data Found: Supply Cache Set 1 Opens (Total: 1/3 Sets)**
• Total Caches Opened: 2/8**
• Set 1 Cache Contents: Sniper Rifle (2), Sniper Ammo (2), Magnum (4), Silenced SMG (4), Frag Grenade (4)

*COMM Data Terminals are available only during Rookie missions. These terminals have been deemed “supersecret” and cannot be shown on the Mombasa Streets map.

** Although Set 1 opens two caches, the second cache is not accessible until “Mission 03: Uplift Reserve” begins or unless you repeat this mission.

Level-Specific Achievements

• Good Samaritan: Killing things that are new and different is bad, alone or with another ODST.
• Naughty NaughtyL Killing things that are new and different is good, alone or with another ODST.

Mission Objectives

• NEW MOMBASA Search Uplift Reserve for ODST squadmate

Choke Point 1: Tayari Plaza Crash Site

The action switches to Rookie, back at the building where you found Dare’s helmet embedded into the screen. With that oddity solved, you can retrace your steps back through the structure you’re inside, ideally following the optimal path toward the Uplift Reserve, located to the southwest of your present location. Head back down the steps, blasting a few Grunts in the corridors of this building, preferably with a Shotgun [1A]. Reach the ground floor, taking what you need from near the fallen Marine. Exit via the door to the southeast, which leads into Tayari Plaza [1B]. Note the Optican Kiosk on the wall to your right (west) as you head south toward the gate and into Zone 8, where Buck fought a pair of Hunters six hours ago.

Choke Point 2: Snipers’ Walkway (Brute Patrol)

The gate opens, and you can prowl the suspiciously empty lower plaza for a moment, until you hear Brute voices. Stay in cover on the right and listen, or move along the upper balconies right of the gate, toward the walkway, and peer south to this cluster of foes [2A]. The Brutes are muttering about placing an explosive device inside an odd floating creature known as the Huragok, or Engineer. If you have your wits about you, you realize this creature is probably an innocent slave to the Brutes, but engage the foes in combat, and you’ll discover the Engineer provides troublesome additional shielding, making the ensuing battle much more frantic.

Tactic: Naughty or Nice

If you’re going for the Good Samaritan Achievement, you cannot harm the Engineer. Concentrate entirely on killing the Brutes. The Engineer still explodes afterward, but that isn’t your fault, so you can still access the Achievement.

If you’re attempting the Naughty, Naughty Achievement (you can’t attempt both), you can kill any Covenant entity with impunity. However, as parts of New Mombasa with more Engineers are currently locked down, you cannot complete this Achievement and must begin it again in a future Rookie mission.

You can defeat Engineers in one of two ways: when you blast them to death, or when you defeat the Brute Captain (clad in armor that gives off a golden hue of electrical discharge when struck). Either way, it’s a miserable and short-lived existence!

Tactic: Walkway Projectiles

Move onto the Walkway vantage point [2A] without being spotted. This gives you the height advantage, as you can easily spot the Brute Captain, which is underneath the Engineer before the enemies start moving. Now you can get in one or two free shots, either by firing a charged Plasma Pistol shot to shatter the Engineer or Brute’s shields or by lobbing Plasma or Sticky Grenades onto your chosen foe before continuing with your favored other weapon (such as the Magnum, or the Shotgun at closer quarters on lower difficulty levels). Concentrate on the Brute Captain [2B], as he’s tougher and usually armed with a more devastating weapon, such as the Brute Shot.

Tactic: Close-Quarter Mayhem

Thanks to a mixture of ground-level pillars, strafing, and scampering back to the Tayari Plaza for Health Packs, you can survive standing toe-to-claw with the Brute Captain [2B]. Punish each foe with a mixture of armor-sapping Grenades and peppering fire. Naturally, a safer alternative is to creep around to a balcony or doorway and snipe if you have the correct equipment.
Whatever your choice, once combat is over, you must head either west (optimal) or southeast, into completely unexplored areas. Follow the debris-strewn road around to the left (south), ignoring the sloping road to your right. Enter a four-sided plaza with steps in the middle [2C], with planters on either side and a pedestrian crossing at the top (southwest). Maintain the critical path by heading down the left (southeast) road from here.

Choke Point 3: Optional Areas

There are two plazas on either side of your critical path and stepped area [2C]. The circular plaza to the northwest [3A] features a random assortment of foes hopping down from a Phantom and a fierce ensuing firefight. Venture here if you dare. There’s an Optican Kiosk here, as well as scattered Grenades and weapons from the fallen foes you slay. In addition, there is a passage back to your initial stomping grounds, which are completely optional to venture through.

To the southeast [3B] are two connecting streets and a wrecked Warthog with an Assault Rifle to claim. There is also a compact plaza with a central, hexagonal stone pergola [3C] with a phone cluster in the middle of it. This area is usually devoid of life. You can scrounge a few UNSC weapons from ruined Warthogs if you’re lucky.

Choke Point 4: Brute Stalker Ambush

Follow the road from the stepped plaza 2C in a southerly direction, passing an Optican Kiosk (handy for later!), and head around a corner until you’re facing west. Use the flickering low video wall as cover, and check for a small Covenant squad, usually a couple of Grunts and a Brute standing near a T-junction [4A]. A spot of Carbine firing or any other favored combat technique easily rids you of these foes, allowing you to advance to the junction. The road up the slope to the south is open (leading to Chokepoint 5), but the optimal path is east, toward a partially covered plaza where you must tackle a sizable Covenant presence.

The plaza features a protruding roof with numerous giant pillars supporting it to the southwest, under which there are various concrete planters and steps and an Optican Kiosk. Of considerably more interest is a Brute waiting near the kiosk; be sure your VISR’s Enhanced Vision is on to easily spot him. He is your first Brute Stalker, and there are two takedown options for him and the Grunts milling about the stairs to the southwest.

Tactic: On Patrol

Immediately seek cover near the sloping road near the barricades [4B] outside the central plaza area so you aren’t spotted. The following requires both skill and patience, and a good understanding of your Map menu. Flick over to this display, and note the red square showing the Brute’s location. Now carefully and silently move toward the Brute, but continuously use your NAV to spot any potential enemies in the vicinity of the Brute’s patrol pattern. Learn this pattern, then sneak up and melee the Brute Stalker to death without raising the alarm.

Tactic: Failure Is an Option

If you blow your cover or fire a shot from a weapon that cannot completely kill the Brute (such as from the Carbine), the Brute immediately engages his Active Camo ability, making him difficult to pin down. Use your VISR’s vision and carefully scan the area between where you last saw the Brute and your current location. Lay down some fire when you spot the Brute’s faint yellow outline. Then finish with your favored, Brute-killing attacks. Try to stay near the barricades [4B] to avoid being swarmed by additional Covenant to the southwest and west.

It is now worth maneuvering toward the central Optican Kiosk to take care of any random Covenant patrols; there are likely to be two—one to the west and the other to the southwest, at the top of the stairs behind some defenses [4C]. Head up the left (south) road ramp, hugging the low concrete wall on your right to minimize Stamina damage, and attack while you’re closer to the second Optican Kiosk. A mixture of Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals greet you in this area, so be prepared. Use the available cover to your advantage, wiping out all foes, then gather the weapons you wish. There are dead Marines under the overhang behind the defenses you can take Assault Rifles from.

Once this area is completely devoid of foes, heal up and optionally head northeast to check an underground, circular roadway complete with a variety of weapons and a terminal of interest. However, be aware that you might run into another small Covenant patrol in the plaza as you exit. There is a dead end to the west, close to the top of the steps [4C]. Check there. By now, you should be peering down every dark dead-end alley on either side of each gate for possible Grenades. Now you can continue to the Uplift Reserve entrance or optionally check a winding street to Dead-End Plaza.

Choke Point 5: Zone 9, Dead-End Plaza (Optional)

If you’re thoroughly scanning the area for COMM Terminals, enter the gate south of Waypoint 4A: Behind is a thin, winding road and a balcony on your left [5A] that a Jackal is sometimes patrolling. Defeat him, and set up a camping spot here if you wish. The Grunts and Brutes you can tag from this recommended cover have erected an impenetrable energy wall, which doesn’t allow you eastward; however, you can take the road that curves around to the northwest, eventually allowing you into the final area, or you can head south toward the open area itself.

The second way of entering here is via Choke Point 6. From the weapons cache [6A], you can venture down the curved road to the east [5B], tagging a Shield Jackal, ideally using ordnance appropriated from the cache. There’s also a balcony to your left (north) along the road, with a dead Marine near a weapon and a Health Pack. This allows you to enter the plaza itself [5C], which has Covenant defenses dotted around and low concrete walls for perfect cover. No matter from which direction you’ve entered this dead end, there’s a Grunt manning a Plasma Turret that needs defeating. Use a long-range Grenade lob or a sniped shot. Beware of armored Brutes roaming here, although the Plasma Turret is an excellent way to rid yourself of them.

Choke Point 6: Uplift Reserve Entrance

The optimal way to access this final area (also in Zone 9) is via a road and a gate leading south from the top of the stepped defenses area [4C] or via the road you can access from the optional area [5A]. Either way, you appear to one side of a weapons cache [6A]. If you followed the COMM Terminal hints at the beginning of this section, this should be open, allowing you access to it; this is one of two in the general vicinity. The other cache is located near the initial plaza you tore through during “Mission 01: Prepare to Drop” and is available only from “Mission 03: Uplift Reserve” and subsequent missions. Grab what you require. There are Sniper Rifles, ammunition, Magnums, Silenced SMGs, and Frag Grenades in each cache. These are all particularly helpful for clearing the optional enemies at Choke Point 5.

Now face southwest, checking the nearby upper (and inaccessible) balconies for Sniper Jackals. Tag any you see using a ranged weapon. Finish any remaining patrols as you work your way around the badly damaged Uplift monument [6B] in the middle of the entrance plaza. Retrieve a Health Pack from the Optican Kiosk to the north before checking the foot of the curved stairs to the southwest [6C] for a piece of machinery that shows up yellow in VISR Enhanced Vision: Drone Fighter Optics.

Tactic: On Patrol (Again)

Attempting to attack this location or the Dead-End Plaza on a higher difficulty involves stopping to take cover (such as close to the weapons cache or on an upper balcony that isn’t being swarmed by foes) and learning your foes’ patrol patterns. When one moves into your line of sight, tag it from extreme range or outflank the Grunts and assassinate them silently.