New York - JBA Headquarters, Part II

February 22, 2008

Time for another group of missions in JBA headquarters. As you might expect, these are going to be a bit more tricky than they were last time, but if you plan your movements as best you can, you should be able to complete your objectives in the allotted time. Maybe.

After you get done talking to Lambert, hop on top of the dumpster and jump over the wall. Crouch and speed your way forward until you can duck into the garage and return to a safe zone. Enrica will find you soon afterwards and start telling you your objectives for this next round of 25 minutes. Your main objectives are to complete the construction of the mines for the forthcoming operation in Kinshasa, and to infiltrate Emile's office in the HQ and analyze his files. In order to get inside, though, you'll need to record some voices.

NSA Primary Objective: Record Voice To Access Locks
NSA Profile Objective: Get JBA Member Voice Samples

As soon as Enrica moves past the voice-coded door, move back a bit and wait in the shadows. She and Emile will meet on the steps and talk. If you equip your microphone and point it at them, you'll get voice samples for both of them, which will then let you bypass the door.

Record Emile's and Enrica's voices to complete one objective right off the bat.

You only actually need to get one voice sample to open the door, but a profile objective in this mission is to obtain all five voice samples for the key JBA personnel. If you wish to try this out, then get the voice samples for Emile and Enrica as they talk. When you have them, stow your microphone and leave the area, letting them finish their conversation in peace. Head back to the central shaft of the building. If you recall the staircase where you first entered the building under Jamie's guard in the last HQ mission, then head there. There's a voice sampler on the fritz there, and Jamie will be heading that way to converse with the technician. Stand in the shadowed stairwell and use your mic to pick up the conversation.

A minute or so after Jamie leaves, Moss will come to the same area himself looking for a guard (at around 22:15 on your timer). Record his voice as well.

Dayton is the last guy on your list, but he won't be available until later on. When you pass through the voice-activated doors and into the Low-Security Corridor, you'll be able to pick the lock leading to Jamie and Dayton's Quarters, where Dayton is laying asleep, having a nightmare. Record his voice when he speaks to nab the last voice sample.

JBA Primary Objective: Assemble Mines for Kinshasa

Your main goal here is to assemble ten mines for the operation in Kinshasa. This isn't necessarily all that difficult, though. You can find the mine-assembly device near the door to Emile's security area.

To use it, simply walk up to it and access the computer screen. There are only two controls involved here; on the 360, they'll be your right trigger and the left analog stick. The right trigger will cause the detonators to descend into the mine itself, while the left analog stick will orient the detonator so that it heads into the core of the mine. If you descend too quickly, you'll likely have a hard time controlling the detonator's movement and crack it on the side of the mine. If you descend too slowly, you'll have a hard time lining up the detonator with the center of the mine (since the slower it moves, the less control you'll have over it).

Back in my day, we had to assemble mines by hand...and we liked it that way!

The trick, if there can be said to be one, is to go not too fast but not too slow. This is more of a touch game than anything else. We found it best to adjust our aim using the diagram in the upper-right corner of the screen to guide us, but also keeping an eye on the height of the detonator on the right. If you're in the green zone when you're just above the sweet spot, you can hit the plunger and send the detonator where it needs to be in one swift stroke.

You have fifteen detonators to work with and need to construct ten mines, so you have some leeway here. It's best to save your game before you attempt this mini-game and give it some practice before trying it for real; doing so will save you time when you actually get good at it, and you'll probably need all the minutes you can get here. Just be sure to finish them off before you head up into the restricted zone, since you might not get the chance to come back down here.

JBA Secondary Objective: Complete Training Course
JBA Secondary Objective: Practice At Firing Range
JBA Secondary Objective: Dispose Of The Pilot's Body

The first two objectives here are exactly the same as you encountered earlier. Theoretically you can earn some more JBA trust if you repeat them, although you'll be cutting things close, time-wise.

The disposal of the pilot's body is pretty easy. Just pick him up from the cot in the infirmary and drag him down near the furnace room. You'll eventually get a popup command that lets you place him on the cinderblock near the furnace; the dirty work of disposing of the body is apparently left to someone else. Don't bother doing this mission unless you need the trust, though, as it's mostly just busywork.

NSA Primary Objective: Scan Blueprints In Emile's Safe
NSA Profile Objectives: Search Quarters For Personal Info
NSA Profile Objectives: Get Professional Background Info

Once you're done with four of the five voice samples and the mine assembly (and maybe disposing of the pilot's body), you can start working on the other collection items here, as well as the main objective of scanning the blueprints in the safe.

First off is one of the professional background information files, for Dayton. His file is in the server room, next to the workstation there. You can enter the server room like you did before; hack the keypad, ride the pipe over the camera and drop down. Emile will be in the server room, though; he has a hilarious interaction with the computer there that you just have to listen to. Creep up behind him, being sure to stay in the green part of your light meter, and wait for him to walk over to the far side of the server room. When he does, creep up and rifle the cabinet there for the intel you need. He may or may not magically detect you through the bank of servers, so you'll probably want to save your game ahead of time. If he does, you'll lose a bit of trust, but you should hopefully be almost at maximum with them, so no big huge deal or anything. Just run out of the area. In any case, you may want to do this before disposing of the pilot's body or completing the mine assembly, just in case you need to make up for a trust hit here.