Cover Mercenaries Near Control Panel

Guide to the 'Cover the mercenary near the control panel' mission in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Enhanced Edition. Learn how to protect the mercenary and complete the objective.

Alright, so you've made it to the bridge and Lebedev has given you the go-ahead. After completing the 'Cover mercenaries' task, the next step is to 'Cover the mercenary near the control panel'. This is a bit of a tense one, as the mercenaries are trying to lower the bridge, but they're vulnerable. Here's the deal: one by one, the mercenaries from Leshiy's squad will head over to the control panel to get that bridge down. Your job is to watch their backs. The catch is, as soon as one mercenary gets taken out, another one steps up to take their place. If they all get picked off before the bridge is fully lowered, you'll fail the mission. Keep an eye out, because Leshiy will eventually warn you about a sniper on the hill. This is crucial! A Bandit will appear at the very top of the hill and start targeting the mercenary at the control panel. If that mercenary gets killed, you'll get a 'Task failed' notification for 'Cover the mercenary near the control panel'. Don't worry too much, though – another mercenary will immediately take over, and you'll get a new 'Cover the mercenary near the control panel' task. Your main goal here is to eliminate these snipers as fast as you can. Usually, there are about five or six of them. Once you've taken out the last sniper, both the 'Eliminate the snipers on the hill' and 'Cover the mercenary near the control panel' missions will be marked as complete. After that, the primary task will update to 'Help Clear Sky capture the bridge'.