For the most part, this game has been the good kind of hard. It's been "you died because you fucked up" hard. But I've been banging my head against level 16 ("Casualties", where you assault the power plant) and it's really deflating my enthusiasm about the game.

There are just too many enemies, too little ammo, and too many windows/open areas to get shot from offscreen. Does anyone have some sort of tips on how to tackle this stupid, stupid stage?

Sniper rifle made that level a breeze. You can just sit back and pick off everyone before they get close enough to charge you. It also has increased zoom when you hold shift to look around.

As for the ammo, you've got infinitely replenishable ammo on those levels. When you run out the ammo counter will change to "GET AMMO" and an arrow in the world over an ammo crate/bin/depository will appear. Just interact with that to refill ammo, then pick off everyone.

As for the part where you run in to the building and there's just dudes everywhere with windows and hallways, I ran in and sprinted down the left hallway killing everyone I could on the way (melee), waiting around the corner at the end of that left side hallway for the fat man to come close enough to kill (rifle). Around that point everyone else goes back to walking around and I could go back to sniping.

That's what I had been using, but even when trying to be careful about ammo, I still got to what I assume (or hope) is the last section of the level with only 3 bullets left. Other than the 1 crate that gives you a bountiful 4 bullets, is there some other way to get more ammo that I'm missing?

@bbalpert said:

There's an ammo crate on each level after the first (or at least I couldn't find a crate on the first level). You can camp out at each one and refill whenever you run out of ammo.

I have no idea why you can only get more ammo once you're completely empty.

Wait, so if you get more ammo and then use up THOSE bullets, you can go back and get more? I had assumed it was a one time thing! That should definitely help (even if it only gives you 4 bullets at a time)

Yep. What I did was just waste my ammo on a wall when I had one or two rounds left so I could max out in case of emergency. Those big guys will rush you down quickly, you're gonna need spray-and-pray insurance.

I mostly just knifed dudes when playing as the soldier (unless if was an enemy that had to be shot). Just peak around corners so the enemy can spot you. When he goes into attack mode, hide behind the corner and wait for him to get closer, then stab.

That was just what I needed. I was able to hide in a corner next to the ammo crate and

1) Shoot to lure guys over so I could stab them

2) Use the tons of windows to my advantage by shooting dudes from all the way across the level

It still wasn't a very fun level, but at least I don't need to play through it again (I hope).