Protect the rookie camp from the Mercs is an optional side mission featured in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.
Description[]
'I'm Fanatic, and I'm filling in for the leader since Wolf left. A few Mercs came by here yesterday... and they were some tough bastards, let me tell you. They come here and start making serious demands - "You've got one day to clear this camp out. It's gonna be our new base." Tonight they're coming back, and as you can imagine, they won't be in the mood for a chat.'
― Fanatic
Acquiring the mission[]
The mission is given by Fanatic at the Rookie village. It is available only after the player recovered the documents from X18.
Completing the mission[]
Fanatic's plan is to wait for the mercs to arrive in the camp and attack them from all sides once they start chilling out by the campfire. This almost never works - some of the Stalkers usually fail to take cover and attack the Mercs as soon as they see them. Furthermore, while the Mercs are somewhat "nerfed" and wield mostly AKm-74/2s instead of the usual TRs-301s, that still puts them miles ahead of the rookie stalkers in firepower. Even if the Mercs do reach the campfire, the result is usually a bloodbath and there's a real chance that Fanatic will die, which automatically fails the mission.
The Mercenaries will spawn near the concrete slabs where you (probably) saved Tolik as soon as you finish talking to Fanatic. Because fighting in the village is such a pain, easiest way of doing this mission is just accept the mission, sprint up the road, take cover behind a tree and kill them all yourself. RPG-7u recommended for some extra fun.
If you did the Steal the box from the army outpost mission, groups of military will spawn all over the Cordon, presumably looking for you. One such group will spawn in the military base itself and move up the road. If you time it right, you can make the military attack the Mercenaries as they make their way towards the camp.
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