Missile Cowboy

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Missile Cowboy
Mission in Just Cause 3
Type	Storyline
Previous	Turncoat
Next	Of Cows and Wine
To unlock	Complete Turncoat, and liberate Cima Leon: Centcom plus two other provinces besides Baia and Soros
Starting location	Cima Leon: Centcom tower roof
Reward	Dionysus PLDS-H unlocks at Rebel drop

Missile Cowboy is the eighth storyline mission in Just Cause 3. It is also the first of three regional conquest missions.

The Secret of Vis Electra is not required to be completed for this mission, but it would be really helpful to have the airstrike FOW disabled.

Introduction

Mission briefing on the map: "As Di Ravello launches a massive attack in Insula Fonte, Rico joins Dimah at the ruins of Di Ravello's Cima Leon CentCom tower. By hacking the system here, she believes she can permanently deactivate the terrible Bavarium missile housed in Cima Leon."

Walkthrough

There's lots of anti-aircraft missile fire in the background while Dimah's helicopter lands. Rico and Dimah walk into the tower's control room. She complains about "Bavarium burns" on her right hand and explains that she used to work for Di Ravello, who provided unlimited funding for research, so she gave him all her Bavarium-related technology. She then gets to work while Rico returns to the roof.

There's suddenly several Medici Military U41 Ptakojester cargo planes, Urga Hrom D cargo helicopters, and CS7 Thunderhawk fighters carpet bombing the surrounding area. Rico is informed that all of Insula Fonte is suddenly a war zone and that for the time being, The Rebellion is losing.

First you have to get to Cima Leon: Transmitter. Hack the marked console and destroy the big rotating transmitter that's a part of the missile system.

At this point, a control bar will appear on the screen, displaying the status of the region, and the strength of the Rebellion and Medici Military forces in the area. At this point you can either go to the preset battle locations to help fill the bar, or simply fight the Medici Military until it's full. Every enemy killed, be it infantry or vehicle, will add to the bar.

Rico will ask for the location with the heaviest fighting, which will turn out to be the town of Babica. This is the location of the first battle. It's fairly close by and shouldn't take you a while to reach. There's also no time limit to get there, so you can travel at your own pace.

Once Babica gets with in view, there will be multiple columns of smoke all over the town and multiple large explosions down town (these are easy to miss and only happen once). Upon approaching the town, Rico is informed by Alessia that the military is bringing in more equipment by barges.

Pay no attention to the Urga Hroch barges. You'll only be required to destroy the three CS Baltdjur APCs that are landing on the beach. The APCs will not be much of a threat, but there are lots of soldiers at the beach. If you run out of explosive weapons while attacking the APCs, get to the town's police station to get ammo from a weapons cabinet. Or use GE-64 explosives, but be very aware of military soldiers shooting at you.

At the same time the town is full of rebels and the sound of constant small arms fire. There are very few Medici Military soldiers, so the rebels are easily winning the fight.

As soon as the APCs are blown up, the fight progress bar gets an about 50% boost, even if they've been abandoned by then. Rico will be told to join the fight at a neighboring town. On your way there, you may notice a few military SAMs on roadsides along with destroyed vehicles and rebels fighting the army.

During this time, Tom Sheldon calls Rico and tells him that the Bavarium missile would make a fine trophy for The Agency. Rico sounds annoyed and responds that he's busy right now.

The second battle location takes place south of Albeto Pero. You can travel there easily by wingsuit or by vehicle, using the highway. When you reach it, there will be a battle involving enemy CS Odjurs. Destroy the tanks to advance.

After you've filled the bar successfully, Rico gets informed that The Rebellion has won and that Insula Fonte is now liberated.

An Eubus Eagle will fly past you and you have to grapple to it. Dimah explains during the cut-scene helicopter ride to Cima Leon: Silo that Zeno's missile control codes no longer work, because Di Ravello must have anticipated the defection. A missile launch is imminent. Jump out of the helicopter and Wingsuit to the missile base. Soon after the missile launch, you'll get within Grappler range. Grapple to the missile.

This starts a cut-scene where Rico rides on the missile. Di Ravello talks to Rico via a terminal mounted on the missile and gloats about his imminent victory. Rico then destroys the terminal by punching it. He asks Tom and Dimah for advice, but they don't know what to do. Dimah says that the missile is aimed at Baia province and it will kill millions of people. Rico then grapples the rear end of the missile and with great difficulty pulls the cable to adjust the missile's trajectory, thereby changing its course. Rico jumps off and the redirected missile hits the main tower of Cima Leon: Centcom, destroying it completely and leaving a huge crater in its wake.

Mario calls soon and asks for a meeting.

Trivia

• It's advised to liberate all of Insula Fonte before doing this mission, or the mission dialogue will make no sense at all.
• Despite the rebels reporting to have liberated the region, there won't really be any additional liberation progress on the map after the mission. In fact if anything, the region is unchanged before the battle.
• The name of the mission refers to an old American movie about a fictional World War III during the 1960s in which one main character, a cowboy, literally sat on a nuclear bomb as it dropped from a plane over Russia.
• While able to be found before the mission, there is a vintage part in the crater that is unearthed after this mission, making collection more practical.
• Concerning the missile:
  • One of the largest explosion events in the Just Cause Universe occurred in this mission.
  • The missile ride scene was momentarily featured in the game's opening cut scene.
  • Much like in A Just Cause, the final mission of Just Cause 2, Rico has to take down missiles launched by the antagonists by disrupting their guidance systems.
  • It pays homage to the 1978 movie "Superman", but there is one inconsistency with reality. Even if the grappler provided the means to physically alter the missile's trajectory, he simply doesn't have the necessary mass or force to divert it.
  • Dimah states that the missile "will kill millions", yet when it hits the tower, it looks like it would only kill a few hundred, or thousands at most. Even if the fallout is factored in, it may not actually kill millions unless it hits a densely populated area.
  • The missile isn't used strategically, flying away from its intended target Baia and being used to destroy a target up close. It is possible that Di Ravello simply expected the missile strike to terrorize the populace and hence crush the rebellion, as suggested in his own tapes.
  • The missile is not exactly nuclear in nature, but is still included in the nuclear missiles article as a form of still highly explosive missile.
  • Judging by the size, this is a very long-range missile (Di Ravello does plan to expand his influence with Bavarium-based weapons), so using such a missile at this short range is a waste.

Gallery

Cima Leon: Transmitter.

Babica just before the amphibious landing.

Missile launch at Cima Leon: Silo.

Rico mid-flight.

Missile hit at Cima Leon: Centcom.

Video