Desert Thunder

Desert Thunder
Name	Desert Thunder
Other Names	Fireteam, DT
Size	Extremely Large
Location	Somalia
First Introduced	May 27, 2009
Popularity	Very Low
Goal	Clear all objectives.
Main Discussion

“	Mogadishu's military, the Sand Hog, is suspected of illegally supplying weapons to nearby countries and have been placed on the UAF's expulsion list. The local government has refused to take action until UAF headquarters provides concrete evidence. An infiltration team was sent in three days ago and signaled that they had obtained some vital Intel, but they failed to make it to the extraction point. They are believed to be captured or killed. Your mission is to infiltrate the mission area and gather the necessary Intel. If possible, find and rescue the infiltration team.	”
	— Mission objective

Operation: Desert Thunder is the 14th map released in Combat Arms. 

Taking place in the same city as Sand Hog (and possibly Desert Fox), but in a different location, this campaign features a rescue mission to retrieve some vital intel from a fallen squad.

Mission Briefing

Here are some elements that you will encounter. 

• You will be updated on the situation as you go. HQ will give you more objectives to complete along the way; some of which may have time limits to complete or hold out for.

• The enemy is a group of AI enemies known as the "Sand Hog", a group of Somalian insurgents. 
• The area will be divided into certain sections. Some of these sections will contain a checkpoint, where you will respawn/fully heal. If a player uses a Respawn Token, he or she will respawn at the beginning of the last known section.
• A tank has blocked off one of the sections of the city. Its location puts you at a disadvantage in terms of firepower, so you must either work your way around through the militant-guarded alleyways, or time yourself correctly and charge the tank head-on.
• Ammunition and first aid packs can be recovered from fallen enemies.

Modes

• Normal = Easy AI

• Hard = Hard AI

• Extreme = Very Hard AI

Endings (SPOILER ALERT)

• Destroying the gates at the end of the campaign bring you to the area containing the downed helicopter...

Rewards

• Shemagh
• Elite Shemagh

Unlocked Areas

• Sector 1: The Insertion Route
• Sector 2: The Temple
• Sector 3: The Road
• Sector 4: The Town

Enemies

• Scout - Wears hats, goggles,and light scarves; visible face. Prefers to use an AK-47.
• Patrol - Armed men wearing a white Shemagh. Usually equipped with a LAW/RPG or M24.
• Royal Guard - Special guard equipped with black armor, and wearing an Elite Shemagh. Prefers to use the UZI (or in some cases the AK-47).

Intel (Mission Updates)

These are the mission updates that will be sent to you by various characters as you progress through the mission.

CC= Colonel Coleman ; SE= Sergeant Evan

Section 1 (Insertion Route)

CC: "This is Colonel Coleman. The current mission is to rescue a member of the special forces of the Intelligence Bureau, being held hostage."

CC: "We've received word that the hostage will be executed any minute now. Hurry and get to the target area. Once there, we'll radio you more details."

CC: "In case you end up without any ammo or first-aid, the enemies are equipped with a supply of rifle ammo and first-aid kits."

CC: "You won't be able to use enemy ammo for sniper rifles or machine guns. so be sure to conserve your ammo as much as possible."

CC: "The hostage we are rescuing was able to successfully infiltrate Mogadishu to find evidence of Sand Hog's illegal weapons trade. Unfortunately, he was caught by the enemy."

CC: "In order to get the green light for Sand Hog's explosion, we will need concrete evidence to present to the Parliament. We must rescue the hostage and find out exactly where the key information is being hidden."

(Section 1 Ends)

Section 2 (The Temple)

CC: "It looks like the enemy is about to execute the hostage! There is no time! Hurry! Move, move! Rescue the hostage within 5 minutes!"

SE: "Our UAV have sent us images. The hostage appears to be on the second floor of the temple."

SE: "The door is locked! find another stairway!"

SE: "There might be some booby traps here! Watch out!"

CC:"Watch out for the soldiers in black! They are Sand Hog's royal guards and are extremely dangerous!"

(Section 2 Ends, Hostage cutscene plays)

Section 3 (The Road)

SE: "The hostage is dead. However, we found an encrypted memo. I will transmit the memo to headquarters."

CC: "It's unfortunate that the hostage is dead. The encrypted memo contains the location where the information is hidden. Once you enter the town, I will transmit the target area via the GPS."

SE: "Enemy tanks in sight! Watch out for their cannons!"

CC: "It's impossible to destroy the enemy tanks with the weapons you currently have. Avoid the hill and make a detour towards the alley."

SE: "The tank's engine cover seems to be open on the image that was sent from the UAV. You know what to do, right?"

(Section 3 Ends)

Section 4 (The Town)

CC: "The enemy troops will have an ambush waiting for us in town so be extra careful."

CC: "The encrypted memo points to the location marked by the GPS. You know where it is, right? Move immediately!"

(Section 4 Ends, Final Cutscene plays)

Trivia

• The Fireteam Trailer reveals what happened before the events of Desert Thunder, and who the hostage during the campaign was.
• In the Korean version of Desert Thunder, the ending cutscene shows one of the three extraction helicopters shot down by a rocket, and Sergeant Evans addresses you about the situation. This leads into the events of Sand Hog, with the gate at the end of the Desert Thunder being the same one next to the downed helicopter in Sand Hog.
• The tank is an APC based on the Russian BTR-80, with a mounted cannon instead of a machine gun.
• This is the only map in the game to contain a corpse.
  • Until the events of Dead Water where you can search corpses.
• The enemies each have their own individual ranks, like the players. Stronger enemies have higher ranks.
• Formerly, the AI were not programmed to walk inside the bus to attack the players, resulting in the garrison of many players inside the bus. This has since been fixed.

Media

The terrorists at the temple.

A guard (left) holding a LAW and carrying a RPG-7

The dead Hostage.