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Desert Thunder
Name	Desert Thunder
Other Names	Fireteam, DT
Size	Extremely Large
Location	Somalia
First Introduced	May 27, 2009
Popularity	Popular
Goal	Clear all objectives.
Main Discussion

“	Mogadishu's military, the Sand Hog, is suspected of illegally supplying weapons to nearby countries and have been placed on the UAF's expulsion list. The local government has refused to take action until UAF headquarters provides concrete evidence. An infiltration team was sent in three days ago and signaled that they had obtained some vital Intel, but they failed to make it to the extraction point. They are believed to be captured or killed. Your mission is to infiltrate the mission area and gather the necessary Intel. If possible, find and rescue the infiltration team.	”
	— Mission objective

Operation: Desert Thunder is the "14th" map released in Combat Arms. However, instead of being a newer map, it is a highly modified add-on version of Sand Hog, made especially for Fireteam. Taking place in the same city, but in a different location, it features narrow streets crawling with Sand Hog terrorists who would not hesitate to eliminate the UAF group of soldiers who were there to rescue the last surviving soldier who was captured on an Intel-collecting mission.

Desert Thunder is the precursor to Sand Hog itself, the downed helicopter being the same one that dropped the players off earlier.

Contents 1 Mission Briefing 2 Intel (Mission Updates) 2.1 Section 1 (Insertion Route) 2.2 Section 2 (The Temple) 2.3 Section 3 (The Road) 2.4 Section 4 (The Town) 3 Trivia 4 See More 5 Media 6 Comments

Mission Briefing Edit

Desert Thunder is a "prequel" of Sand Hog's storyline. Here are some elements that you will encounter.*The enemy is the "Sand Hog", a group of Somalian insurgents. Unlike in other game modes, they are purely AI controlled.

• Players will go up against a unique "tank" (what looks like a BTR-80), which fires explosive shots and can only be killed by shots to an open hatch on its top.
• Players must advance from area to area, separated by gates or obstacles.
• Ammo packs, explosive packs, and health packs drop from killed enemies and can be picked up by players.
• Messages are constantly sent to keep you updated on the situation.
• You can respawn at different intervals in the game, unless the player has a Respawn Token.
• As you proceed, there are more and more cutscenes.

Modes

• Normal = Easy AI

• Hard = Hard AI

• Extreme = Very Hard AI

Endings

• You detonate the entrance to the city; just to find yourselves at a whole new area (Sand Hog).

Rewards

• Shemagh
• Elite Shemagh

Unlocked Areas

• Sector 1: The Insertion Route
• Sector 2: The Temple
• Sector 3: The Road
• Sector 4: The Town

Enemies

• Scout - Wears goggles; visible face. Prefers to use an AK-47.
• Guard - Armed men wearing a Shemagh. Usually equipped with a LAW/RPG or M24.
• Royal Guard - Special guard equipped with black armor, and wearing an Elite Shemagh. Prefers to use the UZI or in some cases the AK-47.

Intel (Mission Updates)Edit

Section 1 (Insertion Route)Edit

• "This is Colonel Coleman.The current mission is to rescue ......(TBC)."
• "We've received word that the hostage will be excecuted any minute now. Hurry and get to the target area. Once there we will radio you more details."
• "In case you end up without any ammo or first aid the enemy will drop them when they die"
• "You won't be able to use enemy ammo for sniper rifles or machine guns. so be sure to conserve your ammo as much as possible."
• "The hostage we are rescuing was able to successfully infiltrate....(TBC)"
• "In order to get the green light for Sand Hog's explosion, we will need concrete evidence to present to the Parliament"

(Section 1 Ends)

Section 2 (The Temple)Edit

• "It looks like the enemy is about to execute the hostage! There is no time! Hurry! m..., move (TBC)"
• "Our UAV have sent us images. The hostage appears to be on the second floor of the temple."
• "The stairway is locked! find another stairway!"
• "Watch out for the guards in black! They are Sand Hog's Elite Royal Guard!"

(Section 2 Ends, Hostage cutscene plays)

Section 3 (The Road) Edit

(Section 3 Ends)

Section 4 (The Town) Edit

(Section 4 Ends, Final Cutscene plays)

TriviaEdit

• The area where the bomb is exploded is the same gate as the one at the back of Alpha site in Sand Hog.
• The "tank" that shoots is an APC based on the Russian BTR-80, but it has a tank cannon instead of a machine gun.
• For an unknown reason, the enemies have ranks like regular players, maybe to show the real players which of the enemies are stronger than others, vice versa.
• This is the first and currently the only map in Combat Arms to display a human corpse in it.
• In Korea's version of Desert Thunder, the ending cut scene display's one of the 3 helicopters flying above you shot down by a rocket, with Sergeant Evans addressing you the situation. This is also known as Sand Hog, not Desert Thunder.
• As of the 12/15/10 update players can now join Fireteam matches in progress, with the window for joining open for up to 3 minutes in Desert Thunder.
• Formally, the AI were not programmed to walk inside the bus to attack the player, resulting in many players garrisoning inside the bus. This has been fixed.
• Awkwardly, the light tank's engine can be damaged and destroyed with a melee weapon.
  • On the other hand, the light tank engine cannot be destroyed with explosives.

See MoreEdit

• Desert Thunder/Strategies

MediaEdit

v · e · d Maps
Warzones
Released Warzones:
• Battle at City Center  • Bloodbath Bazaar  • Blood Money  • Brushwood  • Cold Seed  • Costa Recon  • Dark Forest  • Death Room  • Death Row  • Dredge  • Ghost Town  • Grave Digger  • Gray Hammer  • Hallow Ravine  • Junk Flea  • Junk Flea 2  • Kill Creek  • Neptune  • Oil Rig  • Overdose  • Piazza  • Power Surge  • Pump Jack  • Rattlesnake  • Red Canyon  • Roadkill  • Rural Estate  • Sand Hog  • Sector 25  • Short Fuse  • Showdown  • Slaughterhouse  • Snow Valley  • Training Grounds  • Two Towers  • Vertigo  • Warhead  • Waverider
Fireteam: Desert Thunder  • Cabin Fever  • Black Lung  • Desert Fox  • NEMEXIS HQ  • NEMEXIS Labs
Unreleased Warzones:  • Glitch Map