You will find Order 3 in the same area as Order 2, hovering around near the mines. Once again, you will be facing off against a group of former city policemen who have rebelled. After your efforts at the mines in Order 2, the city police have regrouped and launched an invasion of a small mining city above the mines, hoping to take the city and eventually retake the mines by shelling it from afar with artillery. They are currently dug in at the city and using guerilla tactics to defeat anybody who comes their way. The former police haven’t been able to fully recover from the last attacks, though, and you will be able to see this in the forces that they throw against you. Rather than mechs, you will mostly be fighting against tanks and the occasional artillery unit. As usual, the maximum number of sortie members here is two, but you shouldn’t need anyone’s help to send these rebels packing.
When you begin the mission, HQ will radio you and tell you that the enemies are hiding from you in the city ahead. Rather than charge out to face you like they have been, they will instead wait until you are lost in the city to launch their surprise attacks. You do have a counter to this, though. A tutorial message will appear informing you about Recon Units. You can hit the O/B button to launch a Recon Unit directly ahead. Once on the ground, the Recon Unit will allow you to see and lock on to any nearby enemies while in Scan Mode. One you have an enemy in your sight, hit R2 to analyze them while you are in Scan Mode.
Boost down the train tracks, past the flaming wreckage, and head around the curve to the right. There will not be any enemies on the bridge, so you don’t have to worry about launching any Recon Units just yet. Proceed to the end of the train tracks and jump over the small ledge at the back to reach the city streets. From here, you will have to seek out and destroy the various enemy forces scattered about the map using the Recon Units. Launch a Recon Unit by the metal double doors to the right of where you left the train tracks. It should register some enemy activity. Burst through the double doors to find your first enemy, a basic tank. Blow the tank up before it has a chance to fire on you. Now look down the alley behind where the first tank was to find another tank off in the distance. Use a Rifle, shoulder-mounted Cannon, or Sniper Rifle to kill that enemy at a distance.
Do this quickly, as your attack on the first tank will have triggered more enemies to attack you from your left flank. As soon as you have blown up the second tank, spin around to your left to find an enemy mech attacking you. Zoom up close if you need to, dodging bullets along the way, or take it out from medium range using your Cannon. You have successfully killed the first three enemies in the area, but the rest won’t be so easy to find. They will all be hiding, and you will have to lure them out.
Keep moving to the left, down the big street that runs across the face of the city. When you reach an intersection, turn towards the right, down the street facing north. Here you will find three more tanks, as well as one artillery unit on the top of the building against the left wall. Shoot the tanks first. You can hit all of them at once with the spread of a Shotgun, or launch explosives at them to do area of effect damage. Don’t waste anything too powerful on them, though, as the tanks are very weak and the artillery units have far more health. Once you have killed all of the tanks, turn your attention to the artillery unit on top of the building. Bring it down with numerous Rifle or Cannon shots.
You will find the final group of enemies towards the back of the city. Keep following the north-facing road until it reaches its conclusion at another intersection. Launch a Recon Unit, which will inform you of nearby enemy presences. Take the road leading off towards the right, covering the city’s rear. Boost down this road to find another group of enemies. You will first encounter another group of two tanks. Take them out, but be sure to dodge back and forth as a third tank will provide them with support from the back of the road. Kill the first two tanks, then boost down the road towards the third. Kill this tank too, and then look to your right. Another artillery unit will sit on the brick building on this side of the road. Kill this artillery unit just like you did the others, and you will have completed the mission.
If you don’t want to spend your time scrubbing the city’s streets, this mission also makes fantastic target practice for snipers. If you have the proper loadout, you can dominate this map and get some good training in with your rifle. After you leave the train tracks, don’t head through the double doors to the right. Instead, head right towards the tallest skyscraper smack in the center of the city. When you reach the building, jump and hover as high as you can. You won’t even be able to come close to reaching the top of the building, but by pressing your AC against the building’s face, you can dig your feet into the side of the concrete and launch up for a second jump. Keep boost jumping up the side of the building until you reach the top. You will be so high up that you’ll receive messages telling you that you’re about to go out of bounds. Ignore them and take out your Sniper Rifle. Look to the lower right to find the first two tanks, behind you to find the mech, to your right to find three tanks and an artillery unit, and to your north to find another three tanks and an artillery unit. Snipe them all to end the mission quickly.
