Alright, I've done the Solomon's Folly Gang Hideout in Red Dead Redemption over 1,000 times now. That's right, one thousand times. So, obviously I've mastered the place, and now I will write yet another very lengthy guide that probably no one will read or care about.
This Master Guide will teach you every trick to beating Solomon's Folly in the fastest time possible, and with the highest point revenue. (Note: I am the sole creator of this guide, and none of it has been taken from other sites and/or guides.)
---
Section A - Gang Hideout Walkthrough1.) When you enter Solomon's Folly, it is most likely that you will be entering from the front side, so you should first walk in a little bit, and initiate combat. (The weapon you should use for this part of the mission is the High-Power Pistol. One can be easily obtained by killing a lawman in Blackwater.) Once combat with Walton's Gang is initiated, use the Auto-Aim feature to spring to a couple of the targets, and lay a few bullets into them, getting 1-3 kills. You should immediately run behind one for the various big rocks located all around the front of the Hideout, because if you stay out in the open much longer, there is a very good chance you'll be killed. Of course, being killed isn't too bad, but it totally ruins your timing, which makes you lose overall points. Anyway, I suggest running from cover to cover taking out the enemies, a team-mate will be a huge help with this.
2.) When you are down to just a couple of guys left from the initial opposing force, the basement door will open up, and reinforcemants will come from there. (The weapon you should use for this part of the mission is either the Pump-Action Shotgun or the Semi-Auto Shotgun.) It is important that you rush over to the top of the stairs of the basement as quickly as possible, and take your shotgun out. This way, you can usually kill them one-by-one as the run up the stairs. Be cautious though, can get a close-range 1-shot kill on you pretty easy, so try to move from side to side to avoid this. Take these steps and you will most likely get the Basement Cleaner bonus, which is pretty nice considering it adds an extra 100XP to your mission total. Remember to kill any of the 1st wave enemies you might've left behind.
3.) After killing all remaining enemies, the 3rd wave of enemies will come. (The weapon you should use for this part of the mission is a rifle, not a repeater, but a rifle. The Springfield, Bolt-Action, and Buffalo Rifle all fall into this category.) The direction they come from is basically randomized, so just take a look at your mini-map and pick one. With a rifle, you should usually be able to kill enemies with 1 shot, but sometimes a 2nd shot is needed. Anyway, take down one or two of the enemies, as long as they are in the same area. After your first kill of the 3rd wave, more enemies will spawn, most noticeably, the two enemies on the top of the mountain. Kill them as quickly as possible, for they have the best chance of killing you. Take down the rest of the enemies, and you'll be done. Depending on how closely you resembled my personal playing style, you should get a good score and a good time.
Section B - Tips1.) One of the best tips I can give you, is always play with a partner! Whenever I play, I search through servers looking for one that has someone already playing Solomon's Folly (that is, when I don't have a friend online to play with), I posse up with them and can level with them for quite a while. Here is a fun fact though, it is actually better to do it with someone that is either the same rank as you, or lower. When you play with higher levels, they tend to play better, and steal a lot of the kills, giving them more points. When you play with a lower level, it doesn't matter how good they do, because the real reason you should play with them, is because they are an extra target for your enemies. When you play one your own, all of the enemies come for you, when you play with a partner, they are also distracted by the other person.
2.) Dynamite isn't worth it! I strongly recommend not using TNT at all for the following reasons: it causes a lot of lag, it usually kills more friendlies than enemies, in my experience it's been known to cause bugs/glitches faster. In short, stick to the firearms, leave the dynamite for bird hunting.
3.) Take advantage of multipliers! Stringing a bunch of enemy kills together without dying can take you from 900 points a round to 1,900 points a round.
Section C - Glitches/Bugs
I'm quite sure Rockstar didn't intend for this Gang Hideout to be spammed so much, so glitches and bugs occurring are no surprise, you just need to know how to deal with them.
1.) Usually, the first bug you come across is when you've killed all the enemies, but the game won't end, this could be from one of three reasons: An enemy was shot, but not killed all the way, so he is crawling on the ground and not showing up on the map, this is not really a glitch, all you need to do is find and kill him. Or, an enemy was shot and killed, but for some unknown reason the kill didn't register, and now you need to find and shoot the body again to move on. Or, you've come to a point where the game is actually stuck. To fix the last one, one of the players in Solomon's Folly must leave the area, at this point it will either respawn some of the enemies or end the round. In some cases, it is a certain player that must leave, so I suggest messaging your leveling partner and explaining this. Of course, the player who left can come back and continue playing.
2.) After playing the Hideout over and over for a really long time, enemies will begin to not show up on the mini-map. At first, it'll be 1-2 enemies, which is manageable, then it will be a few more, which will get annoying. Pretty soon, it gets to the point where almost none of the enemies show up on your map. To fix this, you need to give Solomon's Folly a little break. To do this, round up anyone your playing the Gang Hideout with, and tell everyone to head over to Fort Mercer Gang Hideout. Do Ft. Mercer once, and then you can head back to Solomon's Folly, and it will be good as new.
---
I hope this guide will help you level, because I'd love to see my fellow MMOSians riding around on Zebra-Donkeys with me. I'd be more than happy to answer any Solomon's Folly or Red Dead Redemption questions you guys have.
