New York - JBA Headquarters, Part I

February 02, 2008

Time for your deep undercover missions to commence. At this point in the game, you'll finally be indoctrinated into the JBA - John Brown's Army. Time to invade the strongholds of the American South in the name of a fanatically abolitionist demagogue! Or not.

Anyway, while you're undercover in the JBA, you'll note that you have two trust meters going on, one for the JBA and one for the NSA. Performing actions that impress the JBA will increase your trust with them, while performing actions that impress the NSA will do likewise for that faction. On the flipside, some actions will lose you trust with the JBA, while others will lose you trust with the NSA. Lastly, some actions will lose you trust with one faction while gaining trust with the other. If you lose all trust with the JBA, then you'll lose the game.

For the purposes of this mission, you have to avoid being spotted in off-limits areas to avoid losing trust with the JBA. You also can't be seen using your ultrasonic transmitter, as it's an NSA device and being seen with it will lose the game automatically. Failing to follow orders from the JBA will likewise cause trust to be lost.

Following Time

At the start of the mission, follow Jamie, then Moss, as they lead you through the compound. You'll eventually wind up with Moss, standing outside the JBA's obstacle course. He’ll tell you to bust a move through the course, then unwisely leave you standing there, all by your lonesome. It’s now that you have to decide which course of action to take. You have a few objectives here, including three Star objective, so we’ll run them down one by one.

JBA Primary Objective: Complete Training Course

First up is the training course that leads to the safe that Moss wants you to crack. Here’s what to do, in order. (If you mess up a test or trip a laser, just backtrack until you see one of the closed doors you passed by earlier. It’ll be open, allowing you to try the section again.)

• Duck underneath the first laser tripwire.
• Stand up and wait for the second set of lasers to shut off (except for the uppermost one), then quickly walk underneath it.
• Turn the corner and pick the lock on the door.
• Wait until all of the lasers disappear, then run through the field to move on.
• Either head up the ladder around the corner and rappel down to the platform, or take the down ladder and climb up to the platform.
• Drop down and head right to squeeze between the wall and the fence.
• Drop down, turn left, and climb the rope to the top.
• Rappel down from the top, being especially careful of the lower tripwire. Time your descent so that you start moving down when it moves away from you, and you should make it.
• Turn the corner. Wait for the lower laserbeam to move away from you, then follow it to the gap between the two small enclosures. By the time you reach it, the laser up top will be behind you, so jump up and climb over the second enclosure to move on.
• Three small enclosures lie in front of you. Wait until the laser is moving away from you, then drop down in the first or second gap and duck. When it goes behind you, jump up and climb over the remaining enclosures to move on.

Video Walk-through

Completing the JBA obstacle course will require some finesse.

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After all that, you’ll be facing off against a safe. The safe-cracking minigame goes like so: rotate your left analog stick, and you’ll start spinning the cylinders, beginning with the rearmost cylinder. Keep spinning it and the others will begin spinning as well, until the one in front is spinning. When the one in front is spinning, move it around slowly until the small gap in it is lined up with the rod at the top of the window. When it’s perfectly aligned, the rod will catch and the circle will turn green. Stop spinning.

At this point, when the cylinder has turned green, start spinning the stick in the opposite direction. This time, you’ll start with the rear cylinder, then move to the middle cylinder. Line that one up, then start rotating the other way for the final cylinder. You have to rotate the last cylinder extremely slowly, though, since you won’t be able to see the gap in it until it’s almost to the rod. If you manage to line it up, though, the safe pops open and you’ve completed the assignment. All told, this entire run should take you around five minutes, unless you made plenty of mistakes through the laser tripwires.

NSA Primary Objective: Bug Antenna On The Roof

Next up is the antenna on the roof. To reach it, head out to the central area of the base, and look for the ladder next to Karina’s office. Climb it, and look for the two uniformed workmen working on the large fan that’s propped up next to the wall. Wait for them to finish their conversation, then slowly walk up behind them, tapping your crouch button as you go. When you finally manage to get close enough to get into crouch mode, sneak around them into the small hallway nearby and climb up the ladder.

If you get spotted up here, you'll have to exit the area and start over.

There are two soldiers on the rooftops. One will be overlooking the far edge of the rooftop and likely won’t look in towards the ladder or the roof; you can pause just before leaving the hatch to see him. When he’s clear, pull yourself up and look around for the other guy, who makes a clockwise ambit around the central skylight. If you follow the path that he makes, you should be able to sneak behind him when he’s on the far side of the skylight and walk to your right to reach the antenna. It’ll be shielded from sight, so take your time popping open the box and planting the bug.

To exit, simply watch the route of the gentleman walking around (the satellite view from the left bumper button will be helpful if you can’t spot him) until he’s walking away from you, then move out of the antenna’s gated area and open the hatch on the ground directly in front of you. Doing so will let you climb down to the unrestricted area again; you’ll come out right on top of the ladder you climbed up before.