Find the Desert Riders

Find the Desert Riders and Battle the native tribesmen are missions in Going Commando taking place in the Vukovar Canyon on planet Barlow. Abercrombie Fizzwidget sent Ratchet to Barlow, suggesting that joining the Desert Riders would allow him to infiltrate the Thugs-4-Less' operations. On the way to find them, he fought through a horde of Vukovar tribesmen, and came across the Help Matron, a Gadgetron vendor at the abandoned site.

"Find the Desert Riders" is one of two missions that can be completed on Barlow, along with "Scout the ruined machinery".

Walkthrough
Between this mission and "Scout the ruined machinery", there is no immediate advantage to completing one mission before the other. The end goal of this mission is complete in "Repair the hoverbike" at the end of this mission's path, so it is best to rescue Clank on Endako first in order to complete the mission properly. One new weapon is available in the Megacorp vendor: the Seeker Gun, which is extremely useful during this mission. If you have not yet purchased the Blitz Gun, it can be very useful against the enemies in this mission, and the Miniturret Glove can also be an added bonus. You can forego purchasing the Pulse Rifle on this planet for the time being.

As your inventory of weapons and gadgets has expanded by this point, you will need to keep checking your Quick Select to ensure it has the right equipment for each mission. For this mission, you do not need any gadgets, so your Quick Select need only contain weapons. In particular, make sure the Gravity Bomb (if not upgraded), Blitz Gun, Miniturret Glove, and Seeker Gun are all easy to access, as it is advisable to swap between these to deal with the enemies here.

From where your ship lands, take the tunnel upwards. You will encounter a few Gadgetron Hounds of Cuddly Death, small melee-ranged enemies that only pose a threat in numbers. Use the Blitz Gun to take them out, and on the next cliff, a group of Vukovar tribesmen with swords will attack. These tribesmen will clump up right together, meaning that the either the Gravity Bomb or Blitz Gun is perfect for taking them out. Behind them is a Barlowian saur-beast, a melee enemy with very high durability that will sometimes charge towards you to attack, and other times simply walk up to you to bite instead. Use the Seeker Gun against it, and ensure that you dodge its charge by jumping. Head inside the next building and eliminate the two Vukovar tribesmen with swords (the Seeker Gun or Blitz Gun are both effective here), and kill the Hounds of Cuddly Death found immediately after. A Barlowian saur-beast with a Vukovar tribesmen mounted on his back will approach and the tribesman will carry a gun. After sustaining damage, the tribesman will fall off the saur-beast and both will attack independently. Once again, the Seeker Gun is effective against both.

Head up the slope and cross the bridge, and a large horde of sword-wielding tribesmen will charge towards you. Once again, the Gravity Bomb or Blitz Gun are perfect against a grouped horde. Head onto the cliff and you will find three saur-beasts together; at least one will definitely charge at you, so fire the Seeker Gun quickly to interrupt them in their tracks, and then defeat the rest. Another bridge follows to a cliff with a building; use the Seeker Gun against the enemies and head inside, killing more Hounds of Cuddly Death with either the Blitz Gun or Miniturret Glove, and head to the balcony after, where you will find a camp filled with tribesmen. Throw a miniturret or use the Gravity Bomb to eliminate them before jumping down, then jump down and deal with stragglers before heading through the next building.

When you exit the building and head forward, you will be confronted by several tribesmen, a few of which carry guns, and more saur-beasts. The Blitz Gun is the best way of dealing with them all, though you may want to use the Miniturret Glove to add supporting firepower. When the saur-beasts charge at you, switch to the Seeker Gun to shoot them and stop them before they hit you, but otherwise, the area of effect provided by the Blitz Gun is necessary. After that, the gate will open. As soon as you cross the gate, a very large horde of tribesmen will charge towards you. Throw down two miniturrets to add to your fire, and the Blitz Gun or Gravity Bomb can deal with the rest before any hit you (if you have not already upgraded the Gravity Bomb, it will very likely upgrade after this).

Head up the bridge and a short cutscene will commence inside the Help Matron's store. You can now purchase Gadgetron weapons from the Help Matron here, namely the Bomb Glove, the Visibomb Gun, the Decoy Glove, the Tesla Claw, the RYNO II, and the Walloper. If you have a Ratchet & Clank save file, all of these weapons aside from the RYNO II become available for free, so just obtain them. However, if not, you can forego all of them aside from the Decoy Glove. Gadgetron weapons do not upgrade with use, meaning that Megacorp weapons are always more worthwhile using, and Megacorp weapons are often more powerful anyway. The Decoy Glove, however, is a strategic weapon that will distract enemies and cause them to attack the decoy rather than Ratchet, and can in many cases be useful particularly in a challenging encounter when low on health. The other exception is the RYNO II. This weapon is the strongest weapon in the game, but is completely unaffordable at this stage, and in most cases will not be purchased until challenge mode anyway.

Behind the Help Matron's store is a pack of Hounds of Cuddly Death, a tunnel leading back to your ship, and a gap across to the Desert Riders. If you have Clank, you can now boost jump across to the next mission, "Repair the broken hoverbike". Otherwise, kill the Hounds of Cuddly death in the tunnel to the left (just use the Miniturret Glove or Blitz Gun) and return to your ship.