Welcome to the main page for Mud and Blood: Recon!
Units
Overview[]
Mud and Blood: Recon (MnBR) is a Vietnam War themed Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game centered on a squad of four elite Rangers the player controls, whose primary role is reconnaissance and gathering enemy intelligence. The game is set in 1969 in Laos and Cambodia, on the border of North Vietnam. Missions vary greatly from gathering intel for the task force leadership to target assassination. Due to the fast-paced nature of these missions, players cannot 'dig in' and entrench themselves: they will have to keep moving and remain vigilant to not expose themselves to flanking and overwhelming enemy numbers. The game centers around completing missions within the duration of a tour of duty in Vietnam. Consistent with the rest of thet Mud and Blood series, the game is designed to be extensively unfair, random, and brutal.
Quick Start Guide[]
After the gameloader finishes, you may click the infamous big yellow button to start. After entering your name, hit the button again to be taken to the control room. On and around your desk are several items that serve as your menu for navigating Recon. These items include:
- Operation Placeholder - The name of the current operation. An operation can have more than one simultaneous mission going on at the same time. Depending on your rank, more than one mission may appear on the map. As a higher ranked commander you will be able to decide which missions are best suited for your team. However, as a starting 2nd Lieutenant, you will have to bite the bullet and go with what is assigned to you. Welcome to the marvelous world of military hierarchy.
- Calendar - The calendar in the top left shows you how many days you have left before the end of your tour. When your tour ends you will sit in front of the task force commander and he will sign you for another tour OR not depending on merit. You can view your merit score in the career panel (by clicking the dog tags). Clicking the calendar will skip a day. Sometimes, skipping a day can be a good option. It allows wounded soldiers to recover hit points and to drop their fatigue level. Note that skipping a day will also slightly reduce the morale of your troops. Rangers are hard chargers and if they are not in the boonies killing communists they tend to get sad.
- Telephone - The telephone is used to call the task force HQ and to be informed of your current Intel score and your heat level.
- Beige Folder - The beige folder will take you to your roster, where you can manage your team and select who will participate in the next patrol. For more information see below.
- Dog Tags - Information about your profile including rank, exp, intel, merit and ribbons.
- Map Items - Missions will appear as markings on your map. Hovering over each marking gives a brief description of what you have to do. Different markings indicate the type of each mission.
- Cassette Player - Click this to blast some Vietnam-era tunes over on the website.
- Coffee Cup - The coffee cup links you to this wiki, but I bet you already knew that ;)
- Inbox - Memos will appear in your inbox from time to time. Memos are basically any correspondence between you and another person such as a fellow commander or one of your own men. Before going out on patrol you are required to complete the day's paperwork, which usually involves some careful decision making on your part. Decisions you make can affect your profile stats such as rank, merit, and intel as well as your soldier's stats such as their morale, fatigue, and skill points.
After clicking a mission and reading through the intel brief, you will be taken to a squad customization screen. First, click on a soldier to select them. Then click on his weapons and items to change them to something else. When you have selected the desired equipment, hit the skills button to give the soldier skill points where he needs them most. It is advised that you match a soldier's skills to their equipment (i.e. give a soldier with high comms skill a radio). When you have loaded and geared up your soldiers to your satisfaction, hit 'GO' to be dropped into enemy territory. All skill points must be assigned and a least one team member must have a radio before you can hit the ground.
Once on the field, you will see the area of operations, your soldiers, and a tab at the bottom right saying 'Orders'. MnBR is played on a 5000x5000 pixel screen, which can be panned around by using the WASD or arrow keys. For reference, the viewing window of the game is 550x450 pixels. To order a soldier to move to a position, click on them once and then click their desired location. A small throbber will appear at the destination after you click, showing that the movement command was understood. Soldiers will automatically detect enemies and, if allowed to, will automatically engage them. For more advanced orders, click the 'orders' tab. A switch and a row of buttons will then be visible. Scrolling over each button will describe what it does. The buttons are as follows:
- Weapons Free - Flipping this switch allows your men to engage hostiles. Flipping it again will order them to no longer engage hostiles.
- Use Gear - After selecting a soldier by either clicking them once or by using the hotkeys (1-4) and ordering them to use gear, the orders box shows each of their items. Click an item to use it. In the case of the radio, the radio screen will pop out. See the radio page for more information on this complex interface.
- Carry - Start by selecting a soldier. Then, you may order them to carry a soldier in critical condition by clicking this button and then the disabled soldier. A carried soldier may require periodic stabilization to prevent them from bleeding out.
- Collect - Start by selecting a soldier. Then, you may order them to collect intel from a dead hostile or item by clicking this button and then clicking the hostile/item you want to collect intel from.
The top of the screen acts as a visualization for incoming radio messages as well as game information including the status of available support, notable hostile activity, and other battle information.
Your goal in Recon is to complete missions while dealing with the administration/disciplinary issues of your unit. A good performance on each tour will give you the chance to continue your career for the next tour. The completion of certain objectives can be rewarded with Medals (for your soldiers), ribbons (for you), and Kill Cards (for future patrols).
Since you know how to get your troops on the ground and what to do when you're there, it's time to learn how to get out. There are two methods of extraction thus far:
- An extraction huey called at any time and will always land at the landing zone (LZ). To access this extraction, set your radio to the 'Hueys' channel and click 'Request a dust off at the primary LZ'. There are no second chances for extractions so make sure everyone you want to bring back to base is on the chopper when it leaves.
- A search party will be dispatched after a long period of radio silence. This is particularly useful if your radio or it's operator is out of action. A message will be broadcast to warn you in advance of the search party incase the radio silence was accidental. After a couple more minutes, if all is still quiet on the dial, a huey will be sent to the primary LZ to come pick up your team.
- Another way is through stealth extract. In the stealth mission (Breach) or if you have a kill card you can exit the AO through the north part of the map. Mainly used for complete stealth operations, useful for some operations such as the (Dead Drop) mission.
In addition to extraction, there is also an unsuccessful way to end a patrol. If all your men are left critically wounded or killed, a 'Team Lost' screen will appear. All 4 troops will be considered MIA at this point, and no exp/intel will be awarded.