Beachhead

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Beachhead
Mission in Just Cause 4
Type	Sargento's side-mission
To unlock	Secure the Acantilados region Get 8000 Sargento credits
Starting location	Train station near Puerto Diego.
Reward	PR17 Rocket Drone unlocked in supply drop 600 Sargento points

Beachhead is one of the major side-missions in Just Cause 4.

Introduction

This is the last one of Sargento's missions to be unlocked, but depending on the player's choice, it is not necessarily the last mission played.

Quote from the map icon: "Sargento needs help with something big, but won't say what it is."

It might be a good idea to bring a rocket launcher of sorts.

Walkthrough

Rico arrives at a train station near Puerto Diego and waits. Sargento arrives with a Pugilista SUV and starts explaining the situation through an open window.

He mentions that he couldn't risk explaining the situation over normal communications equipment, implying that it might be monitored by the Black Hand. He explains that the Black Hand have many units serving overseas, who normally earn money for the Black Hand and Solís. Now those units have been called to return to Solís to defeat the Army of Chaos.

Rico interrupts him to remind him of how they agreed that Sargento is most useful when serving on the safe side of the front, but Sargento insists that he "needs this one".

Sargento then continues to explain that they can do more than defeat the Black Hand units at the beachhead: He hopes to also use a communications station at the beach to contact the Black Hand main forces and call off the invasion.

When the cut-scene ends, grapple yourself to the stunt position of the car (meaning the roof, or the hood).

While on the way, Sargento continues to explain that the invasion force has already captured a beach south of Puerto Diego and secured some nearby roads.

Soon the car stops near a small fenced area that has a handful of Black Hand soldiers and some communications equipment. There are three small antennas that must be destroyed. These small antennas seem to be invincible to being hit and grappled, but are very easy to destroy by gunfire, or explosives.

Then get back to the car. They continue to discuss the Black Hand being deployed at Other countries in the Just Cause universe. Rico lists San Esperito and Medici and says that "They pop up in places where there's trouble."

The next stop is at a similar small fenced area. This time it's on the right side of the road and a little further away from it. There's a similarly small force of soldiers to protect the area. Rico has to destroy another 3 small antennas and one of the bigger white radars that can be used as a catapult.

After that you'll be driven to a village called Boca Vieja which has a parking lot overlooking the beach. Sargento waits at the parking lot until you get to a platform on one side of the lot that has an even better view. There's a few soldiers guarding it and they have a weapons crate with three sniper rifles. From here it's possible to see that the beach has some stacks of equipment and one Spearhead Transport ship near the beach. Take one of the rifles and keep an eye on Sargento. You'll have to clear a path for him by eliminating anyone on his way. Sargento himself is equipped with a rocket launcher.

This depends on where the player parked, but there may be a small glitch where Sargento is too dumb to find his way out of the parking lot. He might get stuck between a lamp post and a nearby house. When this happens, grapple/parachute your way to him and pull the lamp post down with the grappler. Then quickly get back to the platform.

Eventually he'll run to a small shelter and the player is tasked with getting down there and grabbing a weapon from the crate there. That crate has a DA 9.3 Lightning Gun. Take it if you want, but keep in mind it may not always spawn there.

Sargento runs down to the beach and tells you to distract and defeat "their commanders" while he sends "the all clear". There's a total of 5 enemy commanders.

Get down to the beach and fight everyone there. There are many medium to high-end Black Hand soldier types and some of their helicopters. The helicopters are easy to deal with by grappling them to the ground. Another way is to use the Lightning Gun, if you picked it up. The Lightning Gun's primary fire is not very effective against the helicopters. However, note that the Lightning Gun can launch a storm grenade as its Secondary Fire. Launching these will cause lightning to repeatedly hit the general area. The lightning is very powerful and will take down the helicopters very quickly. Additionally, it will kill many of the Black Hand soldiers. Conveniently the many stacks of equipment and the black numbered containers can be used as cover when needed. The beach is also covered by multiple Black Hand helicopters.

By this point in the mission there are 4 huge Spearhead Transports at the beach. These are never seen moving, so they must have just spawned when the player was at the crate where the lightning gun was at.

Eventually when the enemy commanders are dead, Sargento makes the call: "Calling Task Force Omega. Beachhead is compromised. Regroup at Station, uh, Bravo Charlie." The Black Hand HQ responds with: "Carajo... Copy that, beachhead. Awaiting encoded order to withdraw."

Sargento sends the message while the player is now tasked with eliminating 4 of the Spearhead Transports. These are very heavily armored enemies, so you can hijack one of the Bloodhound Siege Helis, if available. Alternatively, the player might have some luck by either using the heaviest weapons available on the beach, or by getting something powerful from the supply drop. You can also use the Lightning Gun (if you picked it up). Fire another storm grenade (if you haven't used all of them already). All the lightning strikes that are blue in color have very high damage output, and will take out the ship in only a few strikes. Additionally, you can also fire the storm grenade directly at one of the boats; this will make an ultra-powerful bolt of lightning eventually strike the boat, and sink it immediately. However, keep in mind that this may not always work. While lightning may strike the boats and destroy them within seconds, there is also a chance that the lightning will target other objects and not get the job done. So while it may be faster and easier to destroy the boats with the storm, it is more reliable to take them out with continuous bombardment from explosive weapons.

Trivia

• "Beachhead", similar to "bridgehead", is a military term for a situation where elite units have arrived and secured a beach to make it possible to safely unload further units and supplies. This is normally only ever done if a usable port is not available.
• It is convenient for Sargento that the Black Hand just happened to have some crates of sniper rifles where Rico needed them, because Sargento expected Rico to cover him from a great range without having provided the means, or asking if Rico has any means of doing that. Rico doesn't have to cover Sargento from afar in truth, but the sniper rifles are there anyway.
• The fact that Sargento feels himself to "needs this one" can either be interpreted as him needing it feel better about himself, or needing it because other members of the Army of Chaos have questioned his leadership, because he hadn't fought in any battles.
• The message that the beachhead has been defeated could just as easily have been communicated by a usual Black Hand communications officer. From a military or intelligence standpoint it makes no difference who sent it, because in any case the facts remain the same. The only difference is that this way the Army of Chaos can be sure that the Black Hand won't try to use that specific beach, assuming that their communication officer might have been killed in combat before sending the message. There's no guarantee that the same invasion plan won't be tried again from a different beach.
• This beach has some large wrecks of ships right from the start of the game, indicating that this is not the first time something has happened here.
• It is not known what other countries in the Just Cause universe the Black Hand were summoned from, but San Esperito and Medici were definitely not points of origin for them considering Rico personally defeated them in those countries.
• With the exception of Behind the Lines and Region Strikes, this is the only Sargento mission that isn't a training mission.
• Apparently, the Black Hand remnants formed Darkwater, the enemy faction in Just Cause: Mobile.

Gallery

Rico waits at the station.

First fenced area.

Second fenced area.

These small antennas are identified by the AR Scan as just "Equipment".

Boca Vieja parking lot. The sniping spot is marked on the hill.

Looking at the beach from the sniping spot.

Sargento is waiting for something?

Really, Sargento? You can't figure out a lamp post?

Get the lightning gun from this shelter.

One of the Black Hand commanders. Sargento is about to launch a rocket at him. Note that being this close to the commander would result in everyone inside this space dying if all five rockets hit anywhere near the commander.

Sargento is messaging the Black Hand HQ. Rico's health is still low from the explosion.

View of the beach right after the mission. One of the destroyed ships has despawned.

Video