This guide is designed to be fairly comprehensive, however, please note each mission does have a random element, usually an enemy location so this guide cannot give you the exact instructions.
Radio Commander presents an interesting challenge in looking at war from an almost outside perspective and watching the units on the ground change as the war rages on, namely Bravo.
A few of the game’s missions or elements confused me when playing through and I couldn’t find many guides or much detail in them. As such I’ve written this up in the hope it helps new players to get over the humps. I know mission 5 gave me way more hassle than it should have.
Map Reading
The key part of this game is the ability to read maps, if you missed that Geography lesson or if the info has been replaced by something else then hopefully this refresher should help.
Maps
There are lots of different kinds of the map, the ones used in the game are called ‘Topographic maps’, this means it shows details about terrain and points of interest.
Why is this important?
The wavy lines around the map show raised or lowered areas, while the circles show hilltops. Keep this in mind while playing, a unit on a hilltop should be able to see further and is harder to attack while a unit in a valley has limited site lines.
Press ‘i’ to change your mouse tip from coordinates to meters above sea level (press I again to go back to coordinates).
Forests and Roads
On the map, all green sections are considered ‘dense forest’, this further slows your troops and in theory limits their vision. In comparison, the cream-colored areas are deforested sections, often road or farmland which your units travel a lot quicker across.
Distance
Pressing … key brings up a sort of meter stick showing distance, keep in mind it doesn’t factor in hills or valleys.
What have we learned?
Moving a unit over hilly terrain and dense forest will slow them down, having a unit hold a high point puts them in a good defensive position.
Gameplay Tips
Right-click an icon to rename it, click the padlock at the top left of the icon to lock it, or unlock it in place. (handy if your icon gets stuck behind a map marker, just unlock and move the marker)
Press ‘P’ then click to draw, I suggest you use this when moving infantry around to keep better track of them.
When an enemy is spotted put an enemy marker on that location, when killed remove it.
Unit types:
- Infantry, good for general combat and scouting, not the fastest but decent amount of ammo.
- Special forces; great for scouting, undetectable to enemy units unless engaged, no combat strength or ammo.
- Armored vehicles; fairly fast, strong against enemies (similar to Artillery) can do Medevac, cool down between attacks but doesn’t need coordinating like artillery.
- Artillery; immobile but effective at destroying infantry, cool down between shots and only targets selected map location, need to be coordinated.
- Helicopters; super-fast, highly effective against snipers and many other enemy unit types.
Veteran Mode:
This mode makes the game feel harder, but that is mostly because it takes away a lot of the systems that make your life easier; if you keep on top of things like unit position, map coordinates, and enemy locations you should be able to manage the extra challenge.
What this mode does:
- Removes map ping when a unit moves, can be countered by regularly asking their position.
- Removes map coordinates info on the mouse (e.g. 123,456), Countered by taking the time initially to write some of the key numbers on the middle of the map, e.g. mark the 100, 120, and 140 lines so at a glance mid map you can get an idea of location between those markers, do the same for both axes.
- Units run out of ammo quicker, countered by having them regularly meet back up with vehicles to resupply.
- New unit markers aren’t brought onto the map and labeled for you, counter by doing yourself.
Walkthrough Guide
Mission 1 – Hearts and Minds
Main Goal:
- Search the village then destroy a nearby VC camp.
Main Strategy:
- After searching the village accepts B’s help, has them both approach the VC camp to destroy the enemy.
Achievements available:
- Hearts and minds: Complete the mission on normal / commander mode. Hearts and minds, veteran: Complete the mission on veteran. This is a lot easier than you may think, follow the guide as normal and keep up to date on unit locations. Apocalypse now: Complete the mission in 3 minutes or less. Very do-able, use the time skip near constantly as it’s real-time not in-game time.
Walkthrough:
You start with Alpha squad (A) to the Northeast of a village. Move A into the village either by selecting move and clicking the village on the map, or select the move command ‘village’ and they will make their own way there. Have them travel at a normal speed, no need to sneak or run yet.
Following a visit to the village you hear of a VC camp to the southeast, a map marker should appear, labeled ‘VC?’ or similar. Have A move East along the road, ending north of that VC marker (approx 280,935 or a bit closer); this is because partway you will be contacted by Bravo (B) offering to join in the mission. Accept!
Have Alpha continue on to the new marker, LZ which should be close to your current position. If A says they are getting tired ignore it for now, when they reach the LZ wait for a few minutes to let them recoup, but it shouldn’t make a big difference if they are tired in this mission.
Now have one squad move to the hills just northeast of the VC marker (approx 290, 915), while the other squad moves straight for the center (approx 280, 910). This way your second unit should be flanking and in a raised position when the enemy unit has hidden its attacks.
As you reach the marker an event about an animal occurs, dialogue option doesn’t matter but shortly after a VC unit will attack from the camp.
Have your units engage and wipe them out, hopefully by keeping the other unit on the hill you will be flanking them. If your unit in the camp takes casualties have them retreat while the other finishes the enemy off. And congrats that is mission 1 complete, hopefully, 4 or 5 stars depending on how many casualties you took.
This mission doesn’t change much between commander and veteran mode, so feel free to replay it using the same strategy for an easy second achievement.
Mission 2 – The Hill
Main Goal:
- Use helicopters to Med-evac the allied wounded, while having your units hunker down under sniper fire.
Overall Strategy:
- Have A and B hold positions while G plays a taxi for the wounded.
Achievements available:
- The Hill – Complete the mission on normal
- The Hill – Veteran – Complete on Veteran. Similar to mission 1, the mission doesn’t change much on veterans.
- Fortunate Son – Complete the mission with no wounded or casualties. May take a few retry’s, don’t move A and B if under fire, use artillery on enemies as soon as they pop up.
Walkthrough:
Start the mission by moving Alpha and Bravo to the two map markers, they won’t be moving from these for the rest of the mission. In the meantime use your helicopter to land on the north-most friendly unit and then select medevac, if it doesn’t let you, move the unit around by one or two squares until it triggers the loading of wounded. Once you get a message they are fully loaded have them return to base (move – BASE)
At some point, your units will be attacked by snipers, ignore it, as long as your unit isn’t moving they shouldn’t take casualties (I used to waste a lot of time having one unit try to outflank the opposite unit’s sniper but ultimately best to leave them be for now).
When your helicopter returns have it kill the snipers (helicopters are the scissors to snipers paper). Then medevac the next squad. As they return for a final run night will fall, carry on with the mission. One Helicopter will get shot down but you will win (this is a plot point later).
Veteran mode:
- I didn’t notice much difference here, I lost some of my soldiers from snipers but otherwise all the same.
Mission 3 – Bamboo Pentagon
Mission goal:
- Find the VC base and explore the tunnels.
Main strategy:
- Split your units up and have them cover as many of the map markers as possible, once found have both units converge on the base and Bravo will explore the tunnels.
Achievements available:
- Bamboo Pentagon – Complete the mission on normal / commander mode, Fairly simple just follow the walk-through normally.
- Bamboo Pentagon, Veteran – Complete the mission on veteran. Go slower with the walk-through, keep track of your units and the enemy, use the units to support each other, and med evac any wounded.
- Charlie Don’t Surf – Don’t use artillery at all during the mission. Possible but makes it slower to complete, suggest you do this on normal mode.
Walkthrough:
You start the mission being dropped off in helicopters, while doing this Green Three is dropped down while you are under sniper fire. Be careful here, I’ve lost the mission here trying to reach them as snipers excel at killing a moving unit, if your unit is hunkered down they don’t do much damage.
Bring in Bravo to engage the snipers / use the artillery if not going for the Charlie don’t surf achievement.
As the mission continues Green Berets give you a bunch of map markers to check. Note these markers appear to be fairly random, so you will have to check them yourself to find which is the correct one.
Split your squads up, or if you want to be cautious keep them close to each other and work from the most possible map markers until you find it.
Eventually, you find the tunnels, have both units converge on this dialogue occurs then the squad returns and mission complete.
Mission 4 – Prisoners of War
Main Goal:
- To rescue the POWs before the VC kill them all.
Main Strategy:
- Have your GB find all enemies then head to the camp, move A and B to the village without alerting the enemy then rush them in once fighting starts.
Achievements available:
- Prisoners of war – Complete in normal
- Prisoners of war – Veteran: complete in veteran.
- The deer hunter – Rescue as many POW’s as possible. I found this very hard, will update the guide once I figure it out.
Walkthrough:
In this mission, you need to use stealth and then rush tactics to succeed. Have both units move toward the Green Berets, dialogue occurs and you get control of them.
Note: they are super stealth and generally won’t alert nearby units to their presence but will spot loads, and when in combat have no ammo or strength.
Follow their suggestion and send both squads to the village, then keep going to the west a bit. Have the Green Berets work their way slowly through the different enemy units dotted around the camp, stay out of combat but try to keep track of them on your map.
When they reach the camp an event occurs and they attack the nearest enemy unit, so as they begin to approach the camp have A and B double-time it toward the camp, hopefully in a gap between the patrols.
Activate the event by moving G into position on the camp, dialogue happens and they attack.
Either:
- Have G retreat as they are weak and have no ammo, deal with the enemies then return for a partial win.
Or
- Have G remain and take casualties, try to push A or B up to support them. If done right this leads to a better win and more prisoners saved (one of whom is the crashed helicopter pilot).
Congrats you freed the POWs and learned how to use stealth units.
Mission 5 – The Convoy
Main Goal:
- Get the convoy to the endpoint.
Main Strategy:
- Move units up to the next Road point, deal with enemies before bringing up the convoy. When Napalm is deployed in an area move your units out ASAP.
Achievements available:
- The convoy – Complete on normal
- The convoy – Veteran: complete on veteran.
- Magic Carpet ride – Complete within 10 in-game hours.
Walkthrough:
For this one the difficulty ramps up, not because it is in itself a hard mission but because any level where you need to protect a helpless NPC will inevitably end up frustrating you.
Note 1: the convoy can only move between road points, if something happens along the road you need to send them to the previous road point, they don’t have a retreat option or any weapons.
Note 2: the artillery cannot reach halfway across the map, but you get helicopters once you reach this point which is great.
General strategy:
- Have A and B flank the road, move them about halfway up on either side of each road, then when you move the convoy make their way toward the road stop.
- Have D move halfway up the road, and same as A and B move to the road stop when the convoy is within their site. These are also your quick response unit if anything happens, so be aware of their location.
- Have F explode any enemy unit you can until they become defunct.
- Have R1 move around your troops and destroy everything you can, bring them back to whichever road stop your convoy is at periodically to refuel.
- Has the convoy wait at each road stop until your ready, then move them up to the next, very simple, how can they mess this up? They will…
Mission 6 – Hammer and Anvil
This mission is fairly random and can be frustrating because of it. Keep in mind, restarting the mission will change the enemy and your own start positions.
Main Goal:
- Push the 4 VC units toward the 3 armored vehicles (the anvil), without taking casualties.
Main Strategy:
- Spread your units out and move in a rough line toward the anvil, use P to search ahead, and shift the line to coral the enemy.
Achievements available:
- Hammer and Anvil – Complete on normal
- Hammer and Anvil – Veteran: complete on veteran
- Modern tactics – Don’t let the enemy use superior numbers to you. Suggest you split up the enemy where possible and bring in two units if they aren’t splitting.
Your troops:
You have 3 units, Alpha (A), Bravo (B), and Echo (E), and scout air support in the form of Pigeon (P).
Note: P only takes a few minutes to scout each location, if they don’t see anything move them 5 to 10 clicks away to search there, you can do this several times before they need time to recoup.
Enemy units will typically not engage and move away from yours. They will fight back if near another enemy unit, fight back to split them up preferably bringing a second unit over to flank them.
Walkthrough:
Move A, B, and E into position, form a rough line along the western edge of the area marked out. While doing this use P to scout the area ahead of you, once they start scouting give them a few mins then move them around to search as wide an area as possible.
Once you have identified all 4 enemy units, move your troops in whichever direction you need to be on the opposite side of them to the anvil.
The strategy that worked for me was to have one squad in the middle and act as the main force to push enemies towards the anvil, then have the other two units come in from each corner moving to cut off any units scattering in different directions, but it did take a few tries.
Mission 7 – Battle of Dak To
Main Goal:
- Take the hill, then evac Echo.
Main Strategy:
- Once all units are on the map, rush the hill, evacuate E and return for A.
Achievements available:
- Battle of Dak To – Complete on normal
- Battle of Dak To – Veteran: Complete on Veteran
Your troops:
You have 3 infantry units Alpha (A), Bravo (B) and Echo (E), artillery Foxtrot (F), and the helicopter Green One (G1).
Note: Your units are very strong in this mission, I found I was blasting the enemy away with relative ease. Once on the hill keep your units together and use Artillery if safe.
Walkthrough:
Have E move down the river and toward the West until the other units need to join. While doing this have G1 cover the map and markdown all units you can. Once the LV is available begin ferrying A and B using G1.
Once all units are on the map, continue to have G1 identify enemy units and use F to blast them away. Move all 3 units towards the hill, spread them out slightly but keep them within sight and support of the others.
Once you’ve taken the hill enemy units start appearing. Using artillery is danger close, you can nab a few achievements here but may injure your own guys.
Move B and E to the LZ, keep B slightly off or you may accidentally evacuate them (as I did the first try). Once E is gone move B back and see the carnage left.
Mission 8 – Free-Fire
Main Goal:
- Search each of the three villages and leave a standing force at each.
Note: I had a glitch where the mission wouldn’t end, I assume it’s due to not leaving any troops at each village. Resolve by replaying and leaving troops in each.
Main Strategy:
- Explore them each in turn, the one with the weapons stash is random. Have A visit the north village while B visits the west one, then converge on the Northwest village.
Achievements available:
- Free-Fire – Complete on normal
- Free-Fire- Veteran – Complete on Veteran.
Walkthrough:
The walkthrough for this part will be posted later.
Mission 9 – Why We Fight
Main Goal:
- Find Echo
Main Strategy:
- Use the Gb unit to search for E, either keep E still or have them move in one direction and move GB in the same direction while zig-zagging around a bit.
Achievements Available:
- Why we fight – Complete the mission on normal
- Why we fight – Veteran – Complete on veteran
- Radio Commander – Complete the game on normal
- Papa Bear – Complete the game on Veteran
- Lost – Have a unit lose its position. Happens in mission
Back from the Dead: Found echo before Sunrise. Really depends on how well you do, may require a few tries.
Walkthrough:
The walkthrough for this part will be posted later.
Other Achievements
Many of the achievements of the game can occur on any level, as such I’ve listed them here with a brief guide if applicable.
- Time is on my side – Complete a mission without using time compression. I’d suggest mission 1 or 2 as they are fairly short, do this on commander mode so you know where your units are, and just be patient.
Note: I had a glitch where infantry units wouldn’t move without time compression, restart your game if this happens to you.
- Blue on Blue – Ordered a friendly fire airstrike. I did this on the battle of Dak-To, select the airstrike option once you take the hill and then use it on your own position, it’s possible to get this and broken arrow at the same time if it also hits an enemy.
- Broken Arrow – Hit both friendly and enemy units with the same artillery. Same as Blue on blue, the enemy is right on top of you so should get just using the artillery a little of the hilltop.
- Danger close – Called down artillery fire dangerously close to friendly positions. Self-explanatory, potentially do mission 2, and once a unit is in position on the hill use artillery next to them (a few squares away)
- The smell of Napalm – Eliminate 150 enemies with air support. This may require doing a mission with air support a few times, just keep using air support every time it’s available and you will eventually get this one.
- Type writer – Renamed 50 tokens. If you haven’t gotten this by campaign end, then open mission 1, right-click your main unit, and rename it, repeat until achievement pops.
- No man left behind – Med evac 100 wounded. Wait until the campaign end, if still haven’t got it then go back to mission 2 and repeat a few times as you do a lot of med evacs there.
- Ride of the Valkyries – Eliminate 200 enemies with helicopters. Should achieve through normal gameplay, if not go back to the convoy and in the second half you get the attack helicopter, have this trawl the map for enemies and destroy them all.
- Gimme Shelter – Admire the base for 5 mins. Open up a mission and leave your character staring out the window for some 5 mins.
- Radio Silence – Don’t communicate anything for 3 in-game hours. Startup a mission, hit time skip, and wait 3 hours. Don’t think the radio needs to be turned on.
- Full Metal Jacket – Allow a squad to run out of ammo. Mission 4, when the Green Berets attack they don’t have much ammo, should achieve this easily on that mission, just let them fight until out of ammo.
- Paint it, black – Fail a mission. Start mission 2, set your unit to fire when commanded (don’t tell them to engage), and move them around in front of the snipers until they break, quick way to fail a mission.
- White rabbit – Ask for unit position 20 times. Open mission 1 and keep asking their position until it pops.
- Body count – Kill 300 enemies. Should get playing the game through once or twice. Otherwise, just replay combat-heavy missions like the battle until it pops.
- Platoon – Flank at least 3 units during a mission. Can do on any, but mission 5 Convoy, have two units walk close to each other and deal with each enemy in turn, move on around to the enemies side and should pop easy enough.
- Run forest run – Order a retreat 3 times in one mission. Open mission 5, have all your units move up the road, when attacked order them all to retreat.
- Booba Gump Shrimp Co – Fire artillery into a restricted area. Not sure, more testing required
That's everything we are sharing today for this guide. This guide was originally created and written by Cyber Submarine. In case we fail to update this guide, you can find the latest update by following this link.
You’re a liar and I hate you. I had the helicopters right on top of the snipers for a whole hour and they never did anything.
They got shot at the whole hour and did nothing at all but use up all their fuel almost.
I could’ve lost more helicopters, I was lucky.
I’m even more mad at you, because you didn’t bring up Foxtrot…. How did you play the game and manage to not notice artillery?