Incident Commander – Tips on Playing the Missions

Here are some helpful tips on playing each mission in Incident Commander. This isn’t an exhaustive list of tips, but these will help get you started down the right path to complete successfully each mission. Good luck and have fun!

Helpful Tips on Playing the Missions

All credit goes to BAG_REWaters !

The best way to address the crises in Incident Commander is to mobilize your on-site resources immediately to ensure that the incident doesn’t spiral out of control. Fires and chemical spills will continue to spread, gunmen will continue to attack civilians, and injured civilians will continue to die unless you take fast action to get these matters under control. Here are some tips that you can follow to help ensure that you take command of the crises quickly.

Chemical Spill

This scenario is one of the first missions you’ll likely try, and it’s one that can get out of hand quickly. The train derailment occurs on the outskirts of the town, but there are a lot of civilians lurking around the crash site. If the matter isn’t brought under control quickly, many civilians can be injured and/or lose their lives just by standing around and watching the crisis as it unfolds.

• Mobilize your on-site Police and Firefighters and get them into the action immediately (before placing Sites). It doesn’t take very long for the fire and chemical spills to spread such that explosions occur around the crash site, thus risking the lives of more civilians. Have your Firefighters begin putting out the fire immediately; have your Police set up perimeters so that civilians do not wander too close to the crash site; “escort” them out of the way if necessary.
• Mobilize your Utility Crew and start repairing electrical wire damage. Civilians will wander into downed wires and get electrocuted, injured, and potentially, die. Repair them fast to ensure civilian safety.
• Mobilize your on-site EMT Crew and apply first aid to the civilians injured at the start of the mission. Doing so will ensure that they will not die while you are trying to take control of entire situation. It’s best to deliver injured civilians to the CCP, not dead ones.

School

This is one of the most challenging missions and, given the nature of its content, sometimes difficult to play. The shooter begins to fire his gun almost immediately upon scenario start, and thus it’s near impossible to get out of the crisis without some casualties. The key, then, is to reduce the casualties as much as possible.

• As stated, the gunman begins firing rounds almost immediately upon mission start. To prevent him from harming as many students a possible, immediately lockdown the two rooms which contain Teachers and students. This will ensure that students in those rooms are not harmed during play. For those two Teachers in the hall, gather up the students nearby using the “escort” order, move them all into nearby rooms, and then “lockdown” those rooms. Again, this ensures that those students will not be harmed by gunfire. Do not “unlock” these rooms until the shooter is subdued.
• Take the Resource Officer and go and seek out the gunman, which is usually in the back hallway, moving from room to room. The RO isn’t as good a shot as normal Police or SWAT, but you can get lucky sometimes and take him out even before SWAT arrives. The exchange of gunfire will also distract the gunman and buy you time if you have requested off-map resources.
• Ignore the three civilians standing outside of the school near the Resource Officer when the mission begins. Don’t waste time trying to get them under control. They will refuse any “escort” or “direct” orders you give them until all casualties have been delivered to the CCP, and all students have been delivered to the Evacuation Point. Once all casualties and students have been delivered to the CCP and EP, then you can order them to the Evacuation Point.

Wildfire

This mission can be daunting for those new to the game, but despite the fire burning out of control above the town, you do have time at the beginning to gather resources before heading to the crisis point.

• On the road heading out of town and towards the fire, there are three abandoned vehicles. Mobilize your Tow Truck immediately and remove those obstructions. No other vehicles (with the exception of the Wildland Trucks) can get past them. They must be removed before the crisis can be addressed in full.
• Once the vehicles are removed, get your Police moving into the crisis area and begin “escorting” all of the civilians away from the fire. Gobble them all up like candy with the “escort” order, and do not stop doing so until you have as many civilians as you can under police protection. Then, walk them all to the Evacuation Point in one large herd. Do not try to find the two civilians stuck in the wood behind the fire wall. Let your Helicopter do that.
• Regular Fire trucks cannot move off-road like the Wildland trucks. But, normal Firefighters can move off-road; and, they can draw water from the Wildland trucks just like the Wildland Firefighters themselves. This will allow you to double and triple up on the number of crews you can put in the field to fight the fires.
• Finally, don’t even think about playing this mission without calling in the Helicopter. Place its landing site as close to your water source (the river) as possible and then call it in immediately. Use it to carry water to the fire, and to find and rescue the two civilians trapped in the woods on the opposite side of the firewall. If you don’t, the mayor will get very angry with you.

Tornado

A tornado has swept through the town, causing a lot of damage, and trapping a lot of civilians in the debris. Your resources to start are limited, but there are a few things you can do to get control of the situation immediately.

• Mobilize either your on-site CERT or Firefighters to clear the debris laying in the middle of the road leading into the town from the north. No off-map resources can enter the town without those trees being cleared.
• Mobilize your Police Team to “escort” as many civilians as you can to the Plaza where all civilians have been ordered to gather. You can “direct” them to do so, but to start the mission, it’s best to simply wander around the wreckage and collect them up as you go.
• You have a lot of ruined buildings to search. Mobilize as many on- and off-map resources as you can to “search,” “extricate,” and then “evacuate” all injured and/or dead civilians to the Casualty Collection Point (CCP).

Bomb Threat

This mission is one of the easiest. It’s quite possible to get through the entire crisis without any bombs exploding, any casualties, or deaths.

• Begin “searching” all classrooms with your Teachers and Resource Officer. Have them search all searchable locations (including the lockers on the walls). Do not have them inspect suspicious packages; leave that to the K-9 and Bomb Squads.
• Call in the K-9 and Bomb Squads immediately. They are the ones that need to inspect suspicious packages and defuse any bombs that you find.
• Once the school has been thoroughly searched, order the Teachers and Resource Officer to search all searchable vehicles in the parking lot. And again, leave suspicious packages to the K-9 and Bomb Squads.

Vehicle Accident

The good thing about this mission is that the crisis is confined to the road where the multi-car pileup has occurred. The key, then, is to get there as fast as possible and begin clearing away the cars so that your Firefighters, EMTs, and HAZMAT resources can begin to deal with the event.

• Immediately place both Vehicle Collection Zones (VCZs): one on the side of the town, and the other on the opposite side. Mobilize your Tow Truck on the side of the crash opposite the town and begin clearing away the crashed vehicles. Call in another Tow Truck on the town side of the accident and begin pulling vehicles out of the crisis point as well.
• While vehicles are being pulled to the VCZs, bring in your Firefighters and begin fighting the small fire on the town side of the crash. Then call in HAZMAT and have them address the chemical spill right away. Any EMTs and/or Police who try to go into the crash site without the chemical spill being cleaned up could die in the slick.
• Use the Police to “escort” civilians to one of the VCZs, or both. Like the Tornado scenario, you can have the Police gather up all the required civilians before delivering them to the VCZs; that can save you a lot of time in addressing this crisis.

Escaped Inmates

This one is a fun mission. It’s like herding cats, but with orange jump suited men who have broken out of prison. Ten inmates are running all over Creation trying to find ways to either cause havoc (one or two of them have guns), or to hide out long enough for the cops to stop looking for them. But you’re not going to stop looking for them, are you? You’re going to bring this crisis to a nice and tidy conclusion.

• Mobilize your Police immediately to begin rounding up the inmates who are running around town in easily identifiable orange jumpsuits. “Arrest” them quickly. You can put up to two inmates in your squad car at a time. Round up the first two and then take them promptly back to the police station. Repeat.
• Place your Incident Command Post (ICP), Joint Information Center (JIC), and Staging Area (SA), and then call in SWAT. These guys are best at dealing with the gunmen running around the town. They too can have up to two inmates in their van at a time. Load up that SWAT van and bring them to the police station. Repeat.
• Near the end of the mission, you may have 1-2 inmates yet to find and arrest. These guys are often hiding in the woods. Sometimes, they are easy to find; sometimes, not. Best advice is to zoom the camera in (not necessarily all the way), and then use the keyboard controls (Q, E, <, or the middle mouse button) and “drag” to rotate the camera around so that you can scan through the woods to find those last couple goons trying to hide out among the foliage.

Jet Crash

Like the School Shooter mission, it’s impossible to resolve this crisis without some casualties. A jet plane fell out of the sky; there will be casualties, and inevitably, deaths. The key is to try to keep the number of casualties/deaths as low as possible. It’s a challenge, but it can be accomplished.

• Mobilize your Firefighters to start dealing with the fire in the middle of the crash. Getting the fire under control quickly can ensure fewer deaths. Then, immediately call in off-map Firefighting resources. You’re going to need all the fire crews you can get, because some of the flames are in locations that are difficult to reach with only one crew. Remember, like the Wildfire Mission, multiple fire crews can draw water from the same truck. Work your fire trucks around the crash site, setting them up on the roads strategically to give your Firefighters the best locations on which to put out the flames.
• Mobilize the rest of your on-site resources to begin “searching,” “extricating,” and “evacuating” injured/dead civilians. Like the School Shooter scenario, there are a few civilians in the crash area that will refuse to be “escorted” or “directed” to the Evacuation Point until all casualties have been delivered to the CCP. Once you find them, ignore them and instead focus on the civilians who will follow directions.
• Mobilize your on- and off-map resources to gather up all casualties and deliver them to the Casualty Collection Point. Place the CCP as close to the crash site as possible to reduce the amount of time it takes your teams to get casualties checked in.