_______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== == N E X U S T H E J U P I T E R I N C I D E N T == =============================================================================== Game: Nexus: The Jupiter Incident Platform: PC Region: European Release (English) Guide Type: Complete FAQ & Walkthrough Written by: Darrin Ackerman (VertigOne) Version: v1.3 -- March 17, 2005 This document was written with the font Courier New, Size 10, 79 characters per line. Best viewed with Courier New, Size 10. Notepad, WordPad, Word, UltraEdit and any other text viewer should work great for viewing. ******************************************************************************* * SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING * ******************************************************************************* * * * This guide contains minor spoilers. I have tried my absolute hardest to * * minimize the amount of spoilers. However, in my efforts to be as complete * * and detailed as possible, I have had to include some very minor spoilers. * * There are no major spoilers at all. You have been warned. * * * ******************************************************************************* * SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING * ******************************************************************************* _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> i. L E G A L I N F O R M A T I O N SLI01 =============================================================================== First and foremost let's get the legal stuff out of the way. This document is a copyrighted work and is intended solely for your PERSONAL USE. You may print a copy for yourself and you may give copies to your family and friends so long as you do NOT change a single thing. COMMERCIAL ENTITIES (INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS) ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS DOCUMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE WHATSOEVER BEYOND THE PERSONAL USE OF AN INDIVIDUAL. THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT TO BE INCLUDED AS PART OF ANY SOFTWARE, MAGAZINE, ON-LINE SOURCE OR ANY PART OR AFFILIATE OF ANY COMMERCIAL ENTITY. YOU MAY NOT REPRODUCE, DISTRIBUTE, MODIFY OR DO ANYTHING TO THIS DOCUMENT, BEYOND PRINTING FOR PERSONAL USE. DOING ANY SUCH ACTION IS A DIRECT VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAW! _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> ii. D I S T R I B U T I O N A N D H O S T I N G SDAH01 =============================================================================== Distribution and hosting of this document is limited to the following websites. Developers and/or publishers of the game are permitted to host this guide and do not need my permission to do so. No other sources are allowed! -> GameFAQs.com (and its affiliates) -> neoseeker.com -> faqs.ign.com -> cheathappens.com -> supercheats.com If you would like to host this FAQ on your website, drop me an e-mail at the address listed above, and we'll see what we can do. You MAY NOT host this guide without being listed in this section or my written permission! -[ Hosting Rules ]- 1. The guide must be displayed in plain-text format. However, it can be wrapped in a frame, table, or whatever. This is primarily to keep the proper formatting of the guide. 2. The guide must be publicly available for FREE. No charges of any kind may be applied for access to this guide! NO EXCEPTIONS! _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> iii. L A T E S T U P D A T E S SLU01 =============================================================================== Last Updated: March 17, 2005 - Added "Ships" section, outlining the capabilities and configuration of all the ships you can control. Information is limited to the single player campaign and only the ships you gain direct control of. - Added this section and moved the Version History section near the end of the guide. - Added "Game Controls" section to "The Interface" section. Lots of shortcuts and hotkeys I was missing out on. All mouse/keyboard shortcuts listed. - Updated "Saving the Scout" mission strategy to include more details. - Updated "The Siege of Avalon" mission strategy to include more details. - Updated "Alpha Gate" mission strategy; totally revised to include all of the information submitted by MouseNo4, NightStalker and Pierce. - Updated "Mechanoid Invasion" mission strategy to include more details. - Moved ALL Alternate Strategies to their own, new section. This was done to keep the guide as clean as possible. If you're having trouble with a mission, see the Alternate Strategies section! - Removed the "Alpha Gate" Alternate Strategies. These have been incorporated into the main strategy in the walkthrough. I found it to be more helpful and accurate to include all of their thoughts/ideas into the main strategy, as it makes the "Mechanoid Invasion" mission much easier and more tolerable. The strategy has, of course, been tested and verified by me, so it really does work! - Lots of corrections throughout the entire guide. Lots. _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> iv. T H I N G S L E F T T O D O STLTD01 =============================================================================== Here's a list of what I have in the works for this guide. - Just need to add a couple more Ships to the ships section. - Updates are sure to follow as I get submissions and revise, add, fix, etc. _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> v. T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S STOC01 =============================================================================== Welcome to the Table of Contents! Here you can see a quick outline of all the sections in this FAQ. Each section has a Search Code, as does any of its sub- sections. To use the Search Codes, press CTRL+F and enter the code into the Find box that pops up. That will then take you right to the section! If CTRL+F doesn't work for you, use the Edit or Search menu, then Find. Sec# Section Title Search Code ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i Legal Information SLI01 ii Distribution and Hosting SDAH01 iii Latest Updates SLU01 iv Things Left To Do STLTD01 v Table of Contents STOC01 I Introduction SI01 II The Interface STI01 a. Solar System and Galaxy Screen STI01A b. Fleet Screen STI01B 1. Devices STI01B1 2. Squadrons STI01B2 3. Repairing Your Ships STI01B3 c. In-Game Screen STI01C d. Game Controls STI01D III Walkthrough SWT01 a. Arrival to Jupiter SWT01A b. The Ronin SWT01B c. OSEC Encounter SWT01C d. The Chance SWT01D e. Kissaki Raid SWT01E f. Shukenja Beta SWT01F g. Raptor Raid SWT01G h. The Chase SWT01H i. Back To Earth SWT01I j. Raptor Genocide SWT01J k. First Blood SWT01K l. Saving The Scout SWT01L m. Sneaking SWT01M n. Titan SWT01N o. The Mechanoid SWT01O p. The Locust SWT01P q. The Siege of Avalon SWT01Q r. Peace Negotiations SWT01R s. Locust Queen SWT01S t. Alpha Gate SWT01T u. Mechanoid Invasion SWT01U v. The Fall of the Vardrags SWT01V w. Bridgehead SWT01W x. Blockade Breakers SWT01X y. The Fight for Earth SWT01Y z. The Nexus SWT01Z IV Equipment SEQ01 a. Normal Weapons SEQ01A b. Heavy Weapons SEQ01B c. Special Weapons SEQ01C d. Shields SEQ01D e. Weapon Generators SEQ01E f. Other Generators SEQ01F g. Energy Cells SEQ01G h. Supports SEQ01H i. Data Scanners SEQ01I j. Main Engines SEQ01J k. Secondary Engines SEQ01K l. Special Engines SEQ01L m. Squadrons SEQ01M V Alternate Strategies SAS01 a. Shukenja Beta SAS01A b. The Mechanoid SAS01B c. Alpha Gate SAS01C d. The Fight For Earth SAS01D VI Ships SSHP01 VII E-Mail and Submissions SSUB01 VIII Version History SVH01 IX Credits and Special Thanks SCST01 _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> I. I N T R O D U C T I O N SI01 =============================================================================== Welcome to my Nexus: The Jupiter Incident FAQ! Thanks for taking the time to check this FAQ out. Hopefully you find it useful! I decided to write this FAQ for several reasons. This game isn't a complex game really, but because of the lack of a decent tutorial (I hate manuals!) and a simplified interface, there's actually a pretty steep learning curve. Also, you get pretty much total control over the load out of your fleet, and there's NO HELP whatsoever in the Fleet Screen of the game. This guide is an attempt to make the game easy to understand by offering more detailed information, and of course, a walkthrough for all the missions in the game. I will attempt to describe all aspects of the game, while keeping the lecturing to a minimum, and hopefully making it easier to understand. Keep in mind this guide was written with the UK (European, English) version of Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. It should apply to all versions of the game though, as I'm not aware of any region-specific changes at this point. They might screw around with it for the North American release, but we'll have to wait until that comes out to see. _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> II. T H E I N T E R F A C E STI01 =============================================================================== The first thing we need to go over is the interface of the game. For those of you that don't know, this is the part of the game that YOU interact with. The buttons you click and so forth. Since this game relies entirely on this interface for you to play, this is by far the most important (and usually least understood) aspect of the game. This section is split up into a few subsections. First up is the Solar System and Galaxy Screen. This screen is where you receive your mission objectives and are then allowed to explore the solar system and galaxy. From here you may review the briefings, access the Fleet Screen or Start the mission. Next up is the Fleet Screen (much detail here) and finally, I'll tell you about the interface while you're playing a mission. None of what I tell you about is copied from the manual. In fact, I haven't even looked at the manual. I hate manuals. Everything I tell you is from my experiences playing the game. What is written here might match up with what's in the manual, and that's fine. Just remember I didn't take the cheap way out and copy the manual :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> II-a. Solar System and Galaxy STI01A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the screen you are greeted with while you are receiving your mission objectives from your commanding officer. While the briefing is playing out, you usually see the view shift from object to object as important events are highlighted and such. From a gameplay standpoint, there isn't a whole lot to do on this screen. You can, however, check out all of the currently explored parts of space. As you explore more of the Nexus universe, more information will be available here. I didn't spend much time here apart from getting my briefings, but there is plenty to do. Let's first talk about the layout of this screen. Along the top is buttons for the solar systems you've been to. Clicking one will bring up a display of that solar system. On the right is a list of important objects such as fleets, bases and other things to note. Along the bottom are buttons for reading the Captains Log (diary), replaying the briefing, accessing the Fleet Screen and Starting the mission. The rest of the screen is the display of the current solar system. Double-clicking any object will zoom in on that object. -> Captain's Personal Log (Diary) - If you want some more depth to the story, you should check this out before each mission. It has Captain Marcus' personal log entries and his thoughts, opinions and views on certain aspects of the previous and upcoming missions. They're entertaining to read, at times, but generally they hold no real valuable information. -> Briefing (Replay All, Replay Part 1 and Replay Part 2) - These three buttons let you replay the briefing in its entirety, just the first part or just the second part. -> Fleet Screen - This is probably the most complex part of the interface. There's a lot to do in the Fleet Screen. There is an entire section devoted to the intricacies of the Fleet Screen. Briefly, this is where you configure the load out for your ships. You can also review information about the crews of the ships. This is (as far as I know) the only place you can see your Medals and what you got them for. This is where you go to configure your devices (weapons, shields, generators, etc.) and squadrons (fighters, bombers, commandos, gunboats). Check out the Fleet Screen section below for more detailed information. -> Start Mission - You click this button to start the mission. You should ALWAYS check the Fleet Screen before any mission to configure your fleet! You will also want to check for updated weapons and such. Once you're ready to start your mission, just click the Start button! -> Galaxy View / Solar System View - This is the last button all the way on the right. This lets you switch between the galaxy view or the solar system view. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> II-b. Fleet Screen STI01B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now we get to the fun part, the Fleet Screen. Once you figure out what's going on here, and realize that it's not too confusing to use, you can have a bit of fun configuring your ships how you like. Experiementing is half the fun! Okay so first up is the layout of the screen: On the left you'll see a list of all the ships you have in your fleet. These ships are directly under your command, so treat them good! Each ship will have its own button, which will list the ship name, show it's hull strength and how many Resource Points (RP) are available. RPs are the currency of this game. If you have none, you can't upgrade that ship. Each ship gets RPs after each mission (usually). Clicking on a ship changes the main view on the right. On the right side of the screen is the main view window, where you do all your work. It's split up into different sections of its own which are: -> Characters - Here you can review all the characters you've met and the ones in command of your fleet ships. Just some general info about them. -> Configuration - This is the real meat of this screen. Here you can configure each ships devices and squadrons. Click the Devices or Squadrons button to view and modify those items. -> Back, Confirm and Undo - This is at the bottom of the screen. Back takes you back to the Galaxy screen. Confirm will confirm (and save) the changes you made to whichever ship you're working on. Undo will undo (cancel) the changes you've made to the current ship as long as you haven't already hit Confirm. With the basics out of the way, let's get into more detail about the sections of this screen. First up, Devices. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~> II-b.1. Devices STI01B1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Devices are the vital components to your ship, such as weapons, shields, generators, engines, sensors, etc. Without them, your ship is pretty useless. After missions, there is usually new stuff for you to get a hold of. You should always check and see if better stuff is available for you to mount on your ship. There's all sorts of weapons and everything else and there's always new stuff being added, so check often! Now, the Devices section is split up into two sections. On the left is a list of all available devices. This is your "stockpile" and it sometimes changes from ship to ship (but generally very little changes). On the right is what is already mounted on the ship you're working on. All Devices cost RP to mount. You don't get any RP for unmounting a device (unless you JUST mounted it and haven't Confirmed yet). The device would simply be added to your stockpile. When you click a Device (or Squadron), the information display in the top-right of the screen changes to reflect the information of whatever you just selected. This part of the screen shows you the type of damage (or speed, for engines, as an example) and some other info about it. See the Equipment section for more detailed information about each type of device and the associated information. The stockpile section is also split up into several sections, one for each type of device. They are: Normal Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Special Weapons, Engines, Secondary Engines, Special Engines, Shields, Generators, Other Generators, etc. When you click on an item in your stockpile, the right side (the stuff already on your ship) will switch focus to where you can mount whatever it is you clicked on. The appropriate mounting spots will be highlighted. Also, if you click on a mounting spot on the ship, it will move the stockpile list to the first item you can mount on that spot. Please note, most mounting spots can hold a variety of devices. Viewing the stockpile, you will see the following information (from left to right) for each device: Quantity in stock, Device Name, RP Cost. To mount a device you must have a free mounting slot on your ship, and enough free RPs to cover the cost of the device. You can then double-click the device or drag and drop it onto the appropriate slot. To remove (unmount) a device, simply double- click it or drag it from the mounting slot to the stockpile. The devices are split up into the following categories: -> Normal Weapons - These are your general class of weapons. At first, there's a pretty weak assortment, but later on you'll get some good stuff. All Weapons have different uses, such as: Shield Busters, Hull Destroyers, Device Destroyers and Special Use. -> Heavy Weapons - These are (usually) more powerful weapons than the standard Weapons. These are the biggest of the weapons and these are the only type of weapons where you'll find the "mass destruction" type of weapons. -> Special Weapons - These are your special use weapons. At first the only thing you're going to see here is Flak systems. Flaks are anti-fighter weapons and every ship should have at least one Flak system. Later on, you'll get other special weapons you can use. -> Shields - You won't see this section at first, only after a certain mission. These are your energy shields. They help protect your ship from damage. There are several different types of shields, but generally speaking, the bigger, the better. -> Weapon Generators - These generators power your weapons. Without them, you can't fire your weapons. That's bad! There are several types of weapons generators from your standard Weapons Generator, to Combat and Tactical generators and the biggest, Battle Generators. Battle, Combat and Tactical generators come in two flavors, Firecloud and Firestorm. Basically, bigger is better here, too. -> Other Generators - These are... well, "other" generators. Mostly just Support generators. They power the other devices on your ship (shields, engines, etc.) So yes, you definitely want these. There are three different types: Support Generators (your most basic), Fusion Support Generators (better) and Quark Support Generators (even better). They're split up into different types designated by a "L#" where # is 1-3. L1 is for small ships, L2 is for medium ships, and L3 is for big ships. You do not need Support Generators for your ship to operate, but they are strongly recommended. -> Energy Cells - These are basically huge batteries. They store up reserve power that can be used to boost power to shields, weapons or engines. They are charged by Support Generators. -> Supports - This is where the general stuff gets put that really doesn't fit under any other category. This section consists of Sensors, ECM (electronic counter measures), ECCM (electronic counter-counter measures) and more. Sensors are either Standard (passive) or Active. Active sensors are better, but it's easier to detect a ship using Active sensors because of the increased emission. ECMs have various levels, obviously the bigger the better here. ECMs help prevent enemies from getting a fix on you, mess with enemy fighters sensors and weapons, and also help to jam the targeting of incoming missiles. ECCMs are counter-counter measures, meaning they "attack" the enemies ECM systems. Once again, bigger is better. -> Data Scanners - More advanced versions of a regular sensor array, these can provide detailed information about any object. This scanner requires the ships shields to drop while scanning, so caution is advised when using it. -> Main Engines - Should be self-explanatory, no? These are all your main engines for your ships. This is what makes them go. Going is good! Generally you want Engines with high speed and low emission. -> Secondary Engines - These are the little brothers and sisters of the main engines. If your main engines are damaged, disabled or destroyed, your secondary engines will help out. Keep in mind these are no where near as powerful as your main engines, so mobility will be reduced. These also help manoeuvering the ship. -> Special Engines - These are, well, Special. They're good to have on any ship, and as far as I know, there's only two types: Combat Drives and Deflection Engines. Both can be used in place of your Main Engine, though they're slower. They're also both pretty much identical, however Deflection Engines are for smaller class ships, while Combat Drives are for the bigger ones (cruisers and up). These engines allow your ship to rotate on its axis and generally manoeuver much easier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~> II-b.2. Squadrons STI01B2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With Devices out of the way, we now move on to Squadrons. These are your fighters, bombers, gunboats and commandos. Generally, if a ship can hold Squadrons, you should have them. They are useful for many things, so don't neglect them. In fact, certain missions can only be beat using Squadrons, so load 'em up! When viewing the stockpile of your squadrons, you'll see the following information (from left to right) for each squadron: Quantity in stock, Squadron name, RP Cost and Docking Slots cost. To mount a squadron you must have enough RP and enough free docking slots. Then, simply double-click the squadron to mount or drag and drop it. Do the reverse to unmount a squadron. On the right, where you see what squadrons are on your ship, just above that is the display for Docking Slots. You'll see the ships Total Docking Slots and the Free Docking Slots. Remember, you must have free docking slots to mount squadrons! There are four types of Squadrons, as follows: -> Fighters - These are space-superiority fighters. They're good at attacking other Squadrons (fighters, bombers, etc). They can also attack devices on ships if the ships shield is down. Fast and deadly, but weakly armored. Always good to have a wing or two anyway. -> Bombers - These are the big brothers and sisters of the fighters. They're somewhat slower, but are far more powerful. These are only good at attacking larger fleet ships (not other squadrons). Their bombs can penetrate shields. They're also more heavily armored. -> Gunboats - These guys are your device destroyers. They're a bit slower than fighters, but faster than bombers. They have anti-device weapons mounted which allows them to attack larger ships devices. They can attack through shields. They are more heavily armored than fighters. You can also use them to take out other squadrons, but they aren't as effective as fighters are. -> Commandos (Marines, Cyborgs) - These guys are your "Special Forces." They are the rescue team, on site information gatherers and saboteurs. If you need a force of men on a ship, these are the guys to use! The ship they travel in is unarmed and very weak, so make sure you have taken out any enemy flak systems or fighters/etc. before deploying them! There are several missions where you need commandos, so you should always have at least one squadron of them. Now that you know what these squadrons are, you can use them effectively. Each ship has docking slots, bigger ships obviously have more. Squadrons cost RP and Docking Slots. If you have enough RP and Docking Slots, you can add the Squadron, otherwise you cannot! Same as with devices, unmounting a Squadron won't give you RP back (it will give you Docking Slots back though) unless you just mounted them and haven't confirmed yet. Once you confirm, RP = gone! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~> II-b.3. Repairing Your Ships STI01B3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sometimes after a battle, your ships will have taken damage which will need to be repaired. In the middle of the screen, you'll see two icons. Below each icon is a number. This number is the cost in RP to repair. The left button is Hull Repair and the right button is Device Repair. If the number is 0, no repairs are needed. Look in the devices section, and you'll see damaged devices highlighted in yellow, with a wrench icon on the right. If you have enough RP, click the wrench to fix the device. If you cannot afford to repair a device, you can still use the ship, but the said device will be unavailable in the mission. So if your main engines are damaged and in need of repairs, and you do not repair them, your ship will be unable to use its main engines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> II-c. In-Game Interface Screen STI01C ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For lack of better words, this is the interface you see while playing a mission. It's far different from any of the other screens, but it has a very simplistic design. At first it might seem confusing, but trust me, it's very simple. You will need some getting used to it, I'm sure. It took me a while to get comfortable with the interface myself. Many people compare this game to others like Homeworld. It's not, so throw that notion right out. Unless, of course, by "it's like" or "the same as" you mean that you have ships in space... then sure. The differences are too many to list, but let's just take, for one... STRATEGY. You absolutely need a good strategy to win in Nexus. Homeworld is akin to ... swarm with tons of ships and pray. Now I'm not bashing Homeworld at all, it's also a good game in its own right, but I just want you to take any preconceived notions you may have about this game and forget about them! There's no other game quite like Nexus out there! You'll be using mostly your mouse in this game. Left-Click selects something, Double-Left Click switches the view to that something. Right-Click is to perform an action. Alright so now we have to talk firstly about the layout of this screen. It's split up into three main parts: Your fleet list, the NPC fleets list and the commands and actions. >> Your Fleet list << ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First, your fleet list. On the top left of the screen is a list of all the ships (and their squadrons) under your direct control. Left-Click selects a ship. Ctrl + Left-Click allows you to select multiple ships. CTRL + 1-4 (not the numpad numbers) allows you to set a group of ships (you must have more than one ship selected). Then you can press 1-4 to select that group. The default action for all ships is Go To (F2) for enemy/NPC ships and Guard (F11) for your fleet ships. So, if you select one of your ships and then Right- Click on an enemy ship, the selected ship will perform a Go To. Alternatively, if you right-click one of your own fleet ships (yours, not NPCs) the selected ship will guard the ship you right-clicked. I'll explain the actions and commands more later. >> NPC Fleet List << ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next up is the NPC Fleet List. This is located on the top-right of the screen. This lists ALL ships NOT under your control. Enemy and Friendly ships will be listed here, as well as bases, NAV points, etc. Left-Click selects an object. Each object has a picture, it's distance listed (to the left of the picture), a hull strength bar (if applicable) and a shield health bar (if applicable). If you left-click an object, more information will be displayed to the left of the NPC Fleet List. This information will show a picture of the selected object, as well as its hull and shield strength (if applicable), and list any devices it may have. Also, it will display the health of each device. Green health bar means the device is active, red means the device is disabled and if the button for the device is grayed out, that means the device has been destroyed. You can click any device you wish, and that device will flash. That means that device now has priority to be destroyed, so if you order any ships to attack that ships devices, they will target the flashing devices first. Clicking them again removes priority. Sometimes this list will have nothing or only partial data in it. How much information you see depends on several things. Sensors, for one, affect how much you see. Better sensor systems let you see more, from farther away. That being said, distance also plays a part. The closer you are to the ship, the more you'll see. Finally, if you have a Data Scanner, you can sometimes scan ships to learn more about them. If nothing else, you'll get a complete list of all the devices. In cases where you can learn more, a small bar will appear below the portrait of the selected object. As you scan, this bar will fill up. Besides the Scanned bar, there sometimes is also a "Secret" bar. This will fill up as you scan the ship as well. >> Actions and Commands Buttons << ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now on to the commands and actions. This is the buttons along the bottom of the screen. You have several options and commands to play with here. Starting from the left you'll see four buttons which allow you to control the behavior of your ship, ranging from: Aggressive (attack everything and move freely), Defensive (keep shields up, only attack when attacked), Stealth (engage cloak if possible and use lowest emission devices) and finally Manual (you control exactly what the ship does). Just above the Behaviour buttons is the power management window. This is a small window that displays a picture of the ship and its captain, as well as the hull strength and shield power of that ship. It also lets you control the power to each of the four main device groups: Support, Shields, Weapons, Engines. You can maximize or minimize this little window with the arrow in the top left of it. Setting device power is easy. You have 3 choices for each of the four groups: Normal, +50%, +100%. Just above the groups is your main support power bar. Setting devices to +50% or +100% will make them more efficient (more durable shields, stronger weapons or faster engines), however doing so will drain your reserved support energy. To set the power, just click the appropriate boxes. Your reserve support energy is provided by Support Generators. The more Generators you have, the more reserve energy you get. Also, you can store more reserve energy by adding Energy Cells (or better Electron Cells or Plasma Cells). If you have no Cells, you can't store reserve power and the only available power will come from Support Generators. Also, no support generators means no extra support power. The reserve energy will recharge depending on the number of devices in use and how many Support Generators you have installed on your ship. To the right of the Behaviour buttons, is a small group of three buttons (sorta triangle shaped). The top button is the Information window. Here you can view your mission objectives, review any mission dialog, or review the tutorials. The left-most button is the Repair window. In here, you can assign priority to which device you want to be repaired. This is automated for the most part, and generally you can ignore the Repair window. To the right of the Repair button is the Manual Control Panel. In here, you can control every last device on the ship: individual weapons, shields, engines and other systems. Click on something to enable it (with weapons follow up with a right-click on a target) or right-click to turn off or stop a weapon from firing (or anything else). Finally, we have the actual command buttons. You use these to tell your ships what they should be doing. There are 13 buttons, each is assigned to the function (F) keys, F1-F12 (except for the last one). You can either click the button or use the F keys. Left-click (or use the F keys) a button, then right- click on the ship or object you wish to perform that action on. The last button (use wormhole) doesn't have a hotkey associated with it, so you have to click it. Depending on what you have selected in Your Fleet list (a single ship, a group of ships or a Squadron) you'll have different actions. The actions are as follows (from left to right). This is the list of actions if you have a single ship or multiple ships (not ships that you have assigned to a group or squadrons) selected: -> Automatic (F1) - This puts the ship into Automatic mode. It will (depending on behavior) automatically attack, defend itself, maneuver, etc. Not recommended because ships on Auto are generally pretty stupid. But it's better than them doing nothing, I suppose. -> Go To (F2) - Tells a ship to move to another object or ship. Depending on the behavior, the ship may attack or defend itself along the way. The ship will take the most direct (straight as possible) course to the target. -> Hold Position (F3) - Orders the ship to stop where it is and hold that position. It will stay there and react to enemies according to the set behavior. -> Run Away! (F4) - This will have the ship move away from the selected object or ship. Comes in handy at times. However, it may just run away from danger into even more danger, so use it with caution. You know, out of the frying pan and into the fire... -> Attack Shields (F5) - This will have your ship attack the shields of the targeted object, with all of its shield damaging weapons. If your ship is not equipped with any anti-shield weaponry, this button will not be available. -> Attack Devices (F6) - Your ship will attack the devices of the targeted object with all of its anti-device weaponry. This can be extremely handy for taking out an enemies weapons or engines. All anti-device weapons can penetrate shields, so if for some reason you can't beat down their shields, take out their weapons and engines! And everything else!!! This button will be unavailable if your ship has no anti-device weaponry. -> Attack Hull (F7) - Tells your ship to attack the hull of the targeted object. The ship will use all of its anti-hull weaponry on the targeted object. Basically, this is the "make that thing go boom" command. This is only useful if the enemy shields are already down! Also, if your ship has no anti-hull weapons, this button will be unavailable. -> Artillery Attack (F8) - This has your ship move into artillery range and use all of its artillery weapons on the targeted object. Missiles and Torpedoes fall into this category. Your ship will only fire as long as it has ammunition. Also, if you run out of ammo or do not have any missiles or torpedoes, this option will be unavailable. You should also be very careful with artillery! It can damage near by friendly ships as well, as most artillery has a large blast radius. Finally, while the ship is in Artillery mode, it will keep its distance from the target (so as not to hurt itself). -> Use Special Weapons (F9) - This option tells your ship to attack the targeted object with its special weapons. Please note, this is not for Flak systems. Flaks are automatic! This is for weapons like the Energy Skeeter and Disrupter. If your ship has no Special Weapons (remember: NOT Flaks!) this button will not be available. -> Data Scanner (F10) - Use this option when you want to use your Data Scanner on the targeted object. Often times you can learn valuable information about an object from your Data Scanner. Your ship will have to drop its shields to use it, so be careful. If your ship is not equipped with a Data Scanner, this button will be unavailable. -> Guard (F11) - Tells your ship to Guard the targeted object. Pretty much exactly as it sounds. -> Use IP Drive (F12) - Has the ship engage it's IP Drive and flee the battle. Once you do this, you will lose the ship until the next mission, as it... well, left! Not all ships are equipped with IP Drives. If a ship doesn't have one, this button will be unavailable! IP Drive = Interplanetary Drive. -> Use Wormhole (no hotkey) - This tells the ship to use the targeted wormhole and flee the battle. You will lose control of this ship until the next mission. Sometimes it's a mission objective to use the wormhole, other times you can just use it to make a weak (or badly damaged ship) flee the battle. If there are no wormholes in the area, this option will be unavailable. Also, there are some dangerous wormholes in the game which will suck your ships in if they get too close, so be careful! Now, when you have a group of ships selected (not multiple ships, ships that you have assigned into a group), the actions and commands buttons will change to the following: -> Approach (F2) - Same as Go to. Group will move to the targeted object. -> Hold Position (F3) - All ships stop and hold their current position. They will react to threats depending on how their behavior is set. -> Run Away! (F4) - All ships will run away from the targeted object. -> Attack Shields (F5) - All ships will attack the targeted objects shields. -> Attack Devices (F6) - All ships will attack the targeted objects devices. -> Attack Hull (F7) - All ships will attack the targeted objects hull. -> Siege Formation (F8) - All ships will form into Siege Formation, move into range of the targeted object and attack with the Siege Laser. For this to work you need a battleship equipped with a Siege Laser and at least 2 other ships in the group. If you do not meet the requirements, this button will be unavailable. -> Guard (F11) - Exactly as it sounds. All ships will Guard the targeted object. If you have a squadron (or multiple squadrons) selected, the actions will change to the following: -> Go Home (F1) - The selected squadron(s) will return to their home ships and will be repaired. -> Approach (F2) - Same as Goto. Squadron(s) will approach the targeted object. -> Transfer (F3) - Transfers squadron(s) to a different ship. -> Evade (F4) - Squadron(s) evade the attacks of the targeted squadron. -> Primary Attack (F5) - Squadron(s) attack with their primary weapons. This is the default action if you simply right-click a hostile target without pressing any of the action buttons. -> Secondary Attack (F6) - Squadron(s) attack with their secondary weapons. -> Guard (F7) - Squadron(s) guard selected object, protecting from other squadrons and missiles. This is the default action if you simply right-click a friendly target without pressing any of the action buttons. -> Patrol Fleet (F8) - The squadron(s) will Patrol the area around your fleet and protect the fleet from enemy missiles and fighters. This is really only useful if your fleet is relatively close together. If they're far apart, the squadrons are going to spend more time getting from ship to ship instead of actually protecting them. If your fleet is far apart, use the Guard command instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> II-d. Game Controls STI01D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We've already gone over the hotkeys for ship actions and such, but there are more shortcuts we can use, so I decided to include them all in this section. I've tried to include all useful controls and some obscure ones, too. I'm aware there are more -- I actually consulted the manual for this one. Mouse Controls: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Left-Click -- selects or deselects something. Right-Click -- perform action Both-Click -- click and hold both buttons then drag the mouse to zoom in/out Mouse Wheel -- roll to zoom in or out, or scroll lists Keyboard Controls: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CTRL + # -- assigns selected ships to a group. Must have more than one ship selected. # -- selects previously assigned group (note: # = 1-4, not the actual # sign) SPACEBAR -- pause or unpause the game F1-F12 -- Action hotkeys. See previous section. A -- selects all large ships S -- selects all squadrons CTRL + S -- selects all squadrons on the selected large ship (mothership) SHIFT -- free movement. hold and left-click (hold that too). drag mouse to set the distance of the move (smaller = farther) N -- same as free movement, except it sets a nav point in space you can use for relative (good ol' right-click / goto) movement M -- open/close Manual Control console R -- open/close Repair console O -- open/close Information console CTRL + H -- screenshot. Takes... a screenshot! Once again, I know there are more commands. To me, they're too obscure (as in, I don't use them!). Check the manual (yuck, manuals). Actually the Nexus manual is fairly good, so do check it out if you want to see all the keys or need any other information. _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> III. W A L K T H R O U G H SWT01 =============================================================================== Welcome to the walkthrough section! Nexus isn't exactly a walkthrough-friendly game. I've tried my best to be as detailed and helpful as possible while writing this, but because the game is more about strategy than just run-and- gun, this won't be a super-detailed walkthrough (or at least as detailed as a walkthrough would be for say, an RPG type game). Please READ all of this before continuing on to the actual walkthrough. Here I explain how I structure each section, and list some important information. This information will NOT be repeated! -[ MISSION OBJECTIVES ]- I will give you directions on exactly what you need to do to complete a mission in its entirety (including all objectives) and provide you with a good strategy for the mission. On the more complicated missions, I've included strategies that other people have submitted to me. If my method doesn't work for you, do try theirs! -[ RECOMMENDED LOADOUT ]- At the beginning of each mission, I list a recommended load out for each ship. This is the equipment you should add (or replace, I tell you which) to each of your ships. Remember, this is a RECOMMENDED LOADOUT. Meaning, it's my suggestion to you. Feel free to change it as you see fit. I do tell you if you absolutely have to have something to complete the mission, so at the very least you do need to include that. Also, it seems that equipment and the amount you get can change from game to game, so you may not have some of the items I listed. Try to pick something equal to it. For example, if I tell you to pick a LaserGlobe Flak System, and you have none, choose a Laser Ring or SpaceTech instead. -[ DIFFICULTY LEVELS ]- This walkthrough was made while playing on the Experienced skill level. I do not know the differences between the three skills (Beginner, Experienced and Professional). Nor do I know what modifiers there are (your ships are weaker, weapons do more damage or whatever). If you have any of this information, feel free to submit it. I have fully played the game through on each of the three skill levels, and I've noticed absolutely no difference between them. The easier ones tend to give more RP, but other than that, actual terms of difficulty, I see no difference. Maybe I'm special or maybe my loadouts are just that good, I don't know. I'm trying to confirm the exact differences with the skills. Everything here should hold true for any of the skill levels. Obviously on Beginner you might have it easier, while on Professional, you may have it harder. Most of the time you can still pass a mission while failing certain objectives (or losing ships) it's really up to you to decide if you need to replay the mission. -[ YOUR FLEET SHIPS ]- You can lose any ship (except for the Stilleto and Angelwing) and usually still successfully complete a mission. If the crew manages to get evacuated (any of them) you usually get a new ship to replace the lost one on the next mission. However, these replacements start out with no RPs and with the default (and generally crappy) loadout. You should try your hardest not to lose any ships. In the long run, you'll be happier as you have good ships with good loadouts, as opposed to crappy new ships every mission. -[ SAVE GAMES & RESTARTS ]- Finally, be prepared to reload and restart a mission often. Early on you shouldn't have much troubles, but later on the missions to get harder and it's quite easy to lose ships, fail objectives or just get distracted and lose perspective. Save often, you'll be thankful you did. If you don't like your load out (as in, it's not working for you), restart the mission. With all that in mind, let's get on with the walkthrough! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-a. Arrival to Jupiter SWT01A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This mission is basically just to get you used to some of the controls for the game. It's pretty simple. Just follow the directions you are given. At first, none of the action/command buttons are available, but they will slowly become available. You're told to approach the Sunflower base. There's Nav Point Michelangelo. Right-click it to go to it, or use the Goto button (F2). When you get there, the Sunflower base will show up in the NPC Fleet List (on the right of the screen) and you're told to approach. Right-click the base (or goto, F2) to go to it. Next, you will be told to stop so that they can deactivate the mine field. Simply hit the Hold Position button (or press the hotkey F3). After the mines are deactivated, you'll be told to once again approach the Sunflower base. Either right-click the base, or press the Goto (F2) button then right-click the base. On the way, you'll be told a mine didn't deactivate and you need to get away from it. Press the Run Away! button (F4) and right-click the red mine. Your ship will turn around and run. Finally, we're told to approach the Sunflower base yet again. Goto (F2) the base and once you get there, it's... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-b. The Ronin SWT01B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We must intercept the Kissaki cargo freighter, The Ronin. When you have control, Goto (F2) Nav Point 1. As soon as an Unknown Object appears, Goto (F2) that. Once the Ronin shows up, Goto (F2) it. Now we've got to "give them a warning." So, use the Attack Hull (F7) action, then right-click the Ronin to attack it. After a while, they'll surrender. Hit the Hold Position (F3) button. You're then informed the Ronin has a Flak system (anti-fighter weapons) which we need to destroy. Click the Ronin, then up at the top of the screen in the Devices list, click the Weapons tab, then click the Flak PL button so it's flashing. Now use the Attack Devices (F6) command on the Ronin to destroy the Flak cannon. After you destroy the Flak guns, the Ronin will launch its fighter wing at you. Select your fighters, then right-click the Ronin's fighter squadron. Your boys will take down the enemy fighters, then it's safe for you to launch your Commandos. Select your Commandos, then right-click the Ronin to deploy them. After some chat, it's... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-c. OSEC Encounter SWT01C ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When we arrive, we're informed that there's a battle going on and that our friend is here and needs some help. There are three ships in this area, two enemy ships: both Longsword-class cruisers, the Dangerous and the Invulnerable, and our friend, the FSF Hawking. You can use missiles to attack the enemy ships here, but I suggest you save them for the next mission. We're told the Dangerous is coming after us, so use the Attack Hull (F7) command and start blasting the Dangerous to bits. When you've done enough damage to the Dangerous, you'll be told the ship is being evacuated and the icon in the NPC Fleet List will be grayed out. You don't have to blow the ship up, and you shouldn't waste the time doing it anyway. Once the Dangerous is out of commission, start attacking the Invulnerable. Kill both ships and it's... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-d. The Chance SWT01D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We must now infiltrate the Shukenja base. Our sensors aren't working so good right now, so all we have to go by is some Search Points. Goto (F2) Search Point 1. After you get some chat and the Search Point vanishes, head to Search Point 2. On your way, two things will happen. You'll detect a platform, and a frigate the Ashigaru. Use missiles on the platform (F8) to blow it up, then head to the Ashigaru and deploy your commandos to it. Once you've rescued the survivor, he'll give you the coordinates for all the platforms. There are two types, Outer and Inner. The Inner platforms attack fighters, while the Outer ones attack us. Stay away from them for now, cause they hurt. You'll also be informed about a weak point in the defense grid. We should go to it. The Weak Point is a Nav listed in the NPC Fleet list. Goto (F2) it, and on the way we'll detect the cruiser Bushi. Goto (F2) the Bushi and when you get close, deploy your commandos to it. Now you'll deactivate the platforms for a short time, and your commandos automatically head for the Shukenja base. Start attacking the Outer platforms. Use your missiles until they're gone, then just use your regular weapons. When you get close to the base, kill off all the Inner platforms. Don't let your Commandos leave the station until we've killed all the platforms. Also, don't destroy all the Outer platforms until you've taken care of all the Inner ones. Destroy the remaining Outer platforms and... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-e. Kissaki Raid SWT01E ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ All Ships ]- Not much to choose from, yet again, so basically add whatever you want. Add some Energy Cells, and anything else. When this mission starts you're greeted with 3 enemy ships. This includes the Yamamoto, a battleship along with two corvettes, the Ming and Tenbatsu. Your main objective is to protect the Angelwing. This mission is fairly easy no matter what you do, unless you do nothing! Start out by taking out the Ming. Use the Attack Hull (F7) command. Make sure all of your ships are selected first (use CTRL+Click to select them all). After the Ming is dead, go after the Tenbatsu. Once it's down, take out the Yamamoto. Be careful with the Yamamoto. It's a battleship and it's strong. It will take a fair bit of pounding to make it die. Watch out for the Lightning and Madeline as they can't take the same amount of punishment the Stiletto can. Make them run away (F4) if they're getting pounded too hard. Kill all the ships and the mission is complete! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-f. Shukenja Beta SWT01F ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- 2x SpaceTech Laser Guns, 2x Uranium Gatling Guns, anything else you can fit. In this mission, we're greeted with a chance to play with our newly... uh, appropriated ship. Right now, we don't know a whole lot about it, so it's only working at half capacity. Some nice things to note about the Angelwing is: it regenerates its hull, has shields, has an IP drive and more goodies which we'll find out about later! So our mission now is to scan the 3 objects in this area: a wormhole, an artificial object and the Shukenja base. To scan, use the Data Scanner (F10) button. Your ship will approach the object and scan it. It's also handy to click the object you're scanning so you can see the progress. Scan the wormhole first, then the artificial object, then the base. While scanning the artificial object, you'll be told the object appears to be absorbing your scans, and asked if you wish to continue. Say Yes to continue. You must wait until each object has been completely scanned before scanning the next. You'll get a cutscene. Now attack the few (I think 3) platforms in this area, with the Attack Hull (F7) command and destroy them. Once that's done, click the Use Wormhole button and then right-click the wormhole to leave the system. For winning, you get a nice cutscene! (There is an alternate strategy available for this mission) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-g. Raptor Raid SWT01G ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- 2x Energy Shell, 2x Sliver Gatling Gun, 1x Uranium Gatling Gun, 2x Laser Ring Flak System, 2x Electron Cells, 2x Spark Fighters and add an additional L2 Fusion Support Generator Finally we get some new weapons to play with. Because we now have shields, we have access to the Energy Shell anti-shield weapons. Good stuff. You're going to need them for this mission. Also, adding the extra L2 Fusion Support Generator will give us some extra power we can divert to the weapons (you should have a total of 2 L2's mounted now). We're going to need that energy, too. We start off escorting a convoy before we're ripped out of deep space. It seems an attack is imminent! The main objective here is to survive for 10 minutes, while the secondary objective is to protect all of the transports (if one dies, you fail the secondary). You should try to save all the transports, however you can still complete the mission if some die. At first, this mission may seem overwhelming. Here's a hint, just ignore the cries for help. Half the time they aren't even getting hit, but they're whining to you for help. The only real strategy here is kill everything you see. Great strategy, eh? Actually, you'll make your life easier if you team up with the Chrome and fire at whatever it is firing at. You can't control the Chrome, but pay attention to what it's doing. I strongly recommend you set your weapon power to 200% (use the power management panel above the behavior buttons). This will allow you to fire all of your weapons at once. Leave the behavior set to Aggressive, too. After you knock shields down and then attack hulls, the ship will automatically target the closest ship and attack with the Energy Shells. This way you end up attacking two ships simultaneously. First, if the enemy has shields, you're going to need to use the Attack Shields (F5) command. This will have your ship fire its Energy Shells and pound the enemies shields. After the shields drop, you can then use Attack Hull (F7) to finish the ship off. At this point, getting the shields down is going to be slow going, but with 2 Sliver GGs and a Uranium GG, the hulls will go down quicker. Also, if you fire at whatever the Chrome is firing at, the shields will go down much quicker. So get attacking. Focus on one ship at a time and take them down. Don't attack the carrier, the Annihilator, until every other ship has been destroyed. The Annihilator has several squadrons, so be prepared to send yours out to counter them. You know when you're doing things right when you notice that you're getting attacked by lots of ships. Don't worry too much unless your shields are dropping quick, if so, return Weapons to normal power and boost the shields to 200%. Kill all the small ships and beat up on the Annihilator and... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-h. The Chase SWT01H ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Add 1 Sliver Gatling Gun (replace the Uranium GG), a Sensor Array and a Commando Squad. We must first disable the engines of the Fat Lady. Select the Fat Lady, and click the Fusion and Secondary Fusion Engines device button (in the device view at the top of the screen) so they're flashing. Then select your Praetorian Gunboats and right-click the Fat Lady so they attack the engines. Then, have the Angelwing goto the Fat Lady (F2). On the way 3 Raptor ships will appear on sensors. Set your shield power to 200% (use the power management window above the behavior buttons), and attack the closest ship. Remember, shields first (F5) then hull (F7). Once one of the Raptors are down, you can set the shields to normal power, and pump your weapons to 200% to kill quicker. Make sure the Angelwing doesn't attack the Fat Lady! If it is, click the Manual Mode behavior button (not the hand icon). After all the Raptors are down, you'll get a cutscene when Norbank jumps in. He'll tear up the remaining Raptors, then... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-i. Back To Earth SWT01I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Just add another wing of Spark Fighters if you need to, anything else you want. You need a Commando Squad for this mission, so make sure you have one. You should have a skill point to spend by now. In the fleet screen, select the Angelwing, then Characters. It should say "Skill point available." I recommend you spend it on Engineering, as this will give all your ships more RPs to spend. After a bunch of dialog, Angel beams herself to Earth. Nearby is a Relay Station. Have your Spark fighters guard the relay. Set the Angelwing to guard the Relay Station, too. Three ships will then show up on sensors. DO NOT ATTACK THE RAZOR. Hopefully, your fighters and the Angelwings Flak systems will take out the missiles. If the Relay Station does get destroyed, don't worry. It's not mission critical (though you will fail a secondary objective... I never managed to save it, though, so that's up to you). Attack the ships (remember, not the Razor!) until you get some talk about a survivor on the Razor. Send in your Commando squad to rescue the survivors. Once your commandos have returned, blow up all the ships (including the Razor). You'll then get a distress signal from the Northstar. Have the Angelwing go to the Northstar for some more talking. A shuttle will leave the Northstar and dock with the Angelwing. Now all you have to do is wait for Angel to return. While you're waiting, some Mechanoids will show up. DO NOT ATTACK. Angel will eventually beam herself back to the Angelwing, and the mission will be complete. Provided you rescued the survivor on the Razor, and the guys from the Northstar, you'll get a medal for this mission. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-j. Raptor Genocide SWT01J ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap out your Hidron Shield for a Layer Shield. Make sure you have two squadrons of fighters and a commando squadron. Norbank, in his infinite wisdom, is going to show us "how the big boys do battle." All we're supposed to do is keep the ships and fighters in this area busy. Easy enough? Yep. Start off by attacking the closest ship. Go after the smaller ships first. You have help in this mission so you should be able to take them down fairly quickly. For now, ignore the Unknown Object and the base. After a bit, Norbank gets his ass handed to him and you get control of the entire fleet. Select all your ships (use CTRL+Click) and finish off any remaining ships. Then go to the base. As you approach the base, the Unknown Object should show up as the Den. Have all ships but the Angelwing attack the Den. It helps greatly if you set everyone to Manual behavior, this way they only do exactly as you tell them, and you won't blow up the base before killing the Den (the Den is a secondary objective). You'll also be informed you need to scan the Raptor base. While your other ships are attacking the Den, have the Angelwing use its Data Scanner (F10) on the base to scan it. Then, go help finish off the Den. Have all ships use the Run Away (F4) command to flee from the base (so as not to get caught in the shockwave from its explosion). On their way, they should take out the Leaking Reactor. If not, send in all your fighter wings to attack the reactor. Make sure you select it first (so it's flashing). After the station goes boom... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-k. First Blood SWT01K ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- 2x Bubble Energy Shell, 3x Particle Gatling Gun, 1x Combat Drive, swap one Laser Ring Flak System for a LaserGlobe Flak System, swap one squadron of Spark Fighters for a squadron of Sickle Gunboats -[ Brutus ]- 1x Deflection Engine, 1x Electron Cell, 1x Bubble Energy Shell, 1x Energy Shell, 1x Sliver Gatling Gun, swap the main Ionstream Engine for a Fusion Engine -[ Sparta ]- 1x Deflection Engine, 1x Electron Cell, 2x Energy Shell 1x Sliver Gatling Gun, swap Laser Ring Flak System for a LaserGlobe Flak System, swap Ionstream Engine for a Fusion Engine Finally we have some new ships in our fleet. The Brutus and the Sparta will be with us for the rest of the game (provided you don't get them dead) so take good care of them! This mission is all about speed. We must act quickly and take down the enemy ships as fast as possible. The main objective here is to protect the support ship, the Colossus. First, pause the game (spacebar). Now, you'll notice we also have some extra ships under our command. We have the Avalanche (a corvette), and the Quicksilver and Thunder (both frigates). While we're paused take this time to form two groups. Make the Angelwing and Avalanche into one group (use CTRL+Click to select them, then CTRL+1 (or 2,3,4) to assign them a group. I will refer to them as Group 1. Then take your remaining ships (Brutus, Sparta, Quicksilver and Thunder) and assign them to another group. I will refer to them as Group 2. Now you can simply press the number keys (not the numpad) to switch to that group. Also a good idea to put every ships shield power to 200% You're greeted with several enemy ships here. The Valiant is a battleship, then there are two mid-sized ships (corvettes, I guess) and 4 or so smaller ships (destroyers). Now, have Group 2 attack the smallest ships first, until they're destroyed. Have Group 1 attack the mid-size Corvettes (or the Battleship if you're feeling ballsy). Once Group 2 has destroyed all the small ships, have them help out Group 1. After a few moments, the Colossus will bring up the Fortress Shield. This is a massive shield that protects everything within its radius. If ANY enemy ships are INSIDE the Fortress Shield, attack them immediately! Unfortunately the Gorg have a weapon that can penetrate the Fortress Shield called a Siege Laser. In order to use this, they need a battleship (the Valiant) and two other ships. When the ships enter Siege Formation, you'll be able to tell as the smaller ships will have bluish-white beams connected to the battleship. If there's no battleship or only 2 ships left alive, they can't do the Siege Formation. If they do form into Siege Formation, attack any of the ships in the formation to get it to break apart. The secondary objective for this mission is to destroy all the Gorg ships. But good luck with that one. I can never seem to kill them fast enough. After a good amount of pounding, the remaining ships use their IP Drives and flee. If you prefer lasers and a more tactical approach, I'm sure you could run around disabling all their IP Drives... either way, don't worry if you can't destroy them all. As long as you protect the Colossus (and it doesn't die) the mission is complete. Try not to lose any ships! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-l. Saving the Scout SWT01L ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap remaining Laser Ring Flak System for a LaserGlobe Flak System -[ Brutus & Sparta ]- Swap Sliver Gatling Gun for a Particle Gatling Gun and add a squadron or two of Spark Fighters, if you can. This is another mission about speed. We have to be very quick about what we do and hopefully distract the enemies enough to complete our objectives. First, our main objective is to save the scout ship. This ship is having some sort of problem, and can't cloak itself properly. So from time to time, it appears (and can be shot at, which is bad!) then disappears again. Once again, pause the game first. Set all ships engines to 200%. We need the speed right now. Make the Sparta and Brutus into a group (CTRL+Click then CTRL+1 or 2/3/4). Have them attack the shields of the nearest ship. By the time you get there, their shields will be up. Now, we also have to find the ship with the IP Blocker. This is the Angelwings job. Make sure her engines are set to 200%, and use the Data Scanner on the closest ship. You absolutely have to pay attention while scanning (click the ship being scanned so you can see the progress). You know you found the right ship when it has a Secret bar in its portrait up top. If the ship doesn't have a Secret bar, you can just pick another ship to scan instead. The Archer usually has the IP Blocker. I say usually, because it can be on different ships. To be quick, you should always scan the Archer first. Once you've found the ship with the IP Blocker (it'll appear under the Support tab in the Device list up top), click the IP Blocker so that it's flashing, then have the Sparta Attack Devices (F6) on that ship. You should also have a wing of Sickle Gunboats, have them attack the ship as well. *** NOTE: The IP Blocker can change ships if you restart the mission! If it was on say, the Archer one time, it might not be on the next restart, so you still have to scan all the ships (until you find the right one, of course)! Destroy the remaining ships, but DO NOT destroy the ship with the IP Blocker until you have disabled the IP Blocker. If the Sparta and the Gunboats can't disable the IP Blocker, have all ships attack its shields, then send in ALL your Spark Fighter squadrons. With the shields down, they'll have no trouble blasting the IP Blocker to bits. After the IP Blocker is down, you'll get thanked from the Scout ship, and it will flee the scene. You'll then be asked if you want to stay and mop up the remaining Gorg (if you haven't killed them all already). Say Yes to stay, and blow up the remaining Gorgs. MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-m. Sneaking SWT01M ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap your Layer Shield for a Jamming Shield, swap 1x Electron Cell for 1x Plasma Cell For this mission, we only have the Angelwing. We also have the ability to cloak now for short periods of time (5 minutes). There is one drawback, and that is after every 5 minutes of cloak, we must de-cloak for 30 seconds for the cloak to recharge. We have a total of 30 minutes to complete this mission. This mission is all about stealth. Don't worry, if you hate stealth, it's not that bad at all, trust me. If you like stealth, well then, have fun! Some things to note while we're cloaked. We're not totally undetectable. If we get too close to an enemy ship, they'll detect us and it's mission failed. If we de-cloak within the line of sight of one of the sensors, the base or an enemy ship, they'll spot us and it's mission failed. While cloaked, we use our newly installed Stealth Drive. This drive is virtually undetectable, however it's very slow. Finally, while cloaked, we have no shields. With all that out of the way, we can start. If you really like stealth missions, this one is somewhat simplistic, but you can have fun with it. I'm going to tell you the one route I know that works perfectly. There are several routes you can take to the base, feel free to experiment, if you wish. As soon as you have control, have the Angelwing go to Nav 0. When you get close to Nav 0, Miss... ahem, Commander Sweetwater will inform us she has some detailed information on this area, and a bunch of Nav points and other crap will show up. Now quickly head directly to Nav Point 3. Angel should tell you that Asteroid #3 has lots of radiation and it's perfect cover. Well she's right, and that's why we're going there. Once you get in range you will be informed that you've entered the radiation field and your cloak will automatically drop. This is okay, we're in the radiation field and we can't be spotted. The cloak timer will now count down from 30 seconds, this is the recharge time. When time timer has 15 seconds left, move to Nav Point 7. Once you clear the radiation, you will re-cloak automatically. Once you're close enough to Nav Point 7, your cloak will drop again. Wait until the timer has 15 seconds left, then move to the Theta Base. As soon as the cloak comes back up, set your engine power to 200%. Now pay attention to the dialog! When you are told you're close enough to the base hit the Hold Position button (F3)! If you get too close, the base will detect you and it's mission failed!! Once you hold position, select your commandos and send them at the base. You should have about 1:50 left on the cloak timer. When the commandos get to the base, the timer disappears and you get a cutscene. Heh heh. Ships go BOOM! Heh. Er.. right okay but there's some left. Great. Oh wait, what's that? Some Ghost ships were here?! Damn that Sweetwater... Now, set engines back to normal power and set your shields to 200%. The Ghost ships only have anti-device weapons, but their weapons will also do some hull damage. Start with the smaller or weakest ships and pound them to oblivion. Once they're all dead... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-n. Titan SWT01N ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Add 1x Sickle Gunboat (replace a squadron if you have to), swap out 2x Electron Cell with 2x Plasma Cell and swap out your Sensor Array for an Advanced Sensor Array. -[ Brutus ]- Swap 1x Energy Shell for 1x Bubble Energy Shell -[ Sparta ]- Swap 2x Energy Shell for 2x Bubble Energy Shell I'm going to be honest with you, this mission can be absolutely horrible. It's not exactly the hardest mission, in terms of firepower, but so much can go wrong so quick. From restart to restart, things will change. The strategy I'm going to give you I have tried repeatedly, with success each and every time. It took me several (on the order of 15 or more) play-throughs of this mission to figure out the best strategy. We start out all alone with a bunch of enemy ships running around. Where is everybody?!! Anyway, first thing to do is PAUSE. Then, hit the Stealth behavior button so your ship cloaks. Now, examine the ships around you. Some are patrolling while others are just sitting there. Right next to you is a destroyed ship, the Plague. Besides that, there are only two other ships you need to worry about. The Bleeder (some 47k away) and the Barbarian (battleship next to the Titan). Neither of these ships move, but we're going to use all three for navigation. First and foremost, you absolutely must pay attention to your distance to other ships for the time being. Do not get closer than 7k to another ship, or you will be detected and fired on, and without shields, their weapons HURT. When you mouse over a ship you'll see the distance (i.e.: 47000, 7000. 7k = 7000). Okay, so we're paused and cloaked, right? Select the Titan base, then the Support tab (in the device view) and click the IP Blocker so it's flashing. Find the Bleeder and have the Angelwing go to it. Watch your distance to the battleship Barbarian. When you get within 12k of the Barbarian, have the Angelwing go to the Titan base. STOP (hold position) when you are 10k away from the Titan base. Launch your Sickle Gunboats at the Titan base, then have the Angelwing go to the Plague (back where we started). Your gunboats should disable the IP Blocker and your fleet will jump in. But don't jump for joy yet, it's far from over and things will get worse. Immediately have the Sparta and Brutus start attacking the closest ship to them. Move the Angelwing in, drop cloak (set behavior to aggressive) and help out the Sparta and Brutus. Now with these three ships, start mopping up all the ships outside of the Titan's Fortress Shield. At this point, several things can happen. If you're lucky, you'll draw the enemy ships that are inside the Fortress Shield to the outside of it where you can proceed to blow them to bits. Otherwise you're going to have to wait for the Fortress Shield to drop. Now... you're gonna get some talk that the Balthasar was seriously hit and you'll get control of the entire fleet. Hopefully at this point the Fortress Shield is down. If not, stop whatever you're doing and have ALL ships use the Attack Shields command on the Titan base until the shield drops. Once it does, PAUSE THE GAME. Alright. Two things have to happen now. If you managed to destroy all the Gorg ships running around, your job is easier. Otherwise, here's what you do. Make sure the Fort Shield device is flashing in the Titans device view and nothing else is. Send out all of your fighters to attack the Titan. With your fleet, kill off all the Gorg ships. If the Fort Shield comes back up, since your fighters are already inside, they should be able to knock it down, otherwise use Attack Shields and take it down. If any ships of yours get stuck inside the Fort Shield, have them attack the hull of the Titan. Once all enemy ships are dead, start attacking the hull of the Titan with everything you have. Keep your badly damaged and smaller ships away from it as the Titan packs quite a punch. Also, you don't want them caught in the shockwave from the explosion. If all goes well, you'll complete the mission and get a cutscene. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-o. The Mechanoid SWT01O ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap 1x Particle Gatling Gun for 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, swap Weapon Energy Generator for a Combat FireStorm Generator, swap one L2 Fusion Support Generator for a L2 Quark Support Generator, add 1x Flash Fighters (remove a squadron if you have to). -[ Brutus ]- Swap Laser Ring Flak System for LaserGlobe Flak System, swap Layer Shield for a Jamming Shield, swap 1x Electron Cell for a Plasma Cell -[ Sparta ]- Swap Layer Shield for a Jamming Shield, add a L1 Quark Support Generator, swap 1x Electron Cell for a Plasma Cell -[ Avalanche ]- Swap both Eliminator Torpedos for 2x Particle Gatling Gun, add 1x Flash Fighter, 1x Spark Fighter, 1x L2 Fusion Support Generator, 1x Electron Cell We have a new addition to our fleet, the heavy cruiser Avalanche. She'll be with us for the remainder of the game (provided you don't make it dead!) so treat her good! Once you have control, have all your ships move towards the Mechanoid. Have the Angelwing use the Data Scanner on the Mechanoid. After a bit of talk, Angel beams herself over to the Mechanoid and proceeds to go mental on you. Don't worry, just wait it out. Or... maybe you should worry, 'cause a whole buttload of Gorg ships just jumped in! Just as your about to poop yourself, Angel comes back to her normal self and tells you she'll help. So start attacking. I recommend you go after the Battleship first. While you're battling, Angel will do various things to the enemy ships, which are: disable engines or shields, make it engage its IP Drive, or turn control of the ship over to you for a very short time. Use this to your advantage. If she drops shields, attack that ships hull. If she turns it over to your control, use it to attack! After a while, Angel will lose control of the Mechanoid and it will help you blow up the remaining Gorg ships, then it leaves. After everything is destroyed... MISSION COMPLETE! (There is an Alternate Strategy available for this mission) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-p. The Locust SWT01P ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap 1x Particle Gatling Gun for 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, Swap 1x L2 Fusion Support Generator for 1x L2 Quark Support Generator, Swap your Commandos out for Cyborg Commandos, add 1x Flash Fighter -[ Brutus ]- Swap your Sec. Ionstream Engine for a Sec. Fusion Engine, swap Sensor Array for an Advanced Sensor Array, add Standard ECM System -[ Sparta ]- Swap Sensor Array for an Advanced Sensor Array, swap your Sec. Ionstream Engine for a Sec. Fusion Engine -[ Avalanche ]- Swap your Layer Shield for a Jamming Shiekd, add a L2 Quark Support Generator and a LaserGlobe Flak System -[ ALL SHIPS ]- You need fighters in this mission, so make sure you have them! Take fighters over some (or all) of my load out suggestions! Flak Systems are important, too. Make sure all ships have Flak systems, try to have LaserGlobe Flaks on every ship! Fighters and Flaks are more important than anything else I listed!!! This mission is pretty simple, but it can be rough as the enemy has some very nasty fighters of its own. First thing to do is select all your fighters and gunboats (CTRL+Click) then press the Patrol Fleet (F8) button. Now all your fighters will patrol around all your ships and protect them as best they can. Take your fleet ships and move them towards the Mechanoid. Have the Angelwing use its Data Scanner (F10) on the Mechanoid for some talk. Two things you must be aware of: the enemy fighters can drain shields and their weapons do massive damage to devices. So, to make things easier, boost every ships shields to 200%. This will hopefully keep your shields from dropping and allowing your ship to get pounded with nasty weapons. Basically, all you have to do here is survive. With 4 ships (all should have LaserGlobe Flaks by now) and a bunch of fighters (I had 8 wings of fighters and 1 wing of gunboats at this point), you should have absolutely no troubles. If a ship is getting pounded, make sure you check the Repair panel and if the flak systems are getting damaged, assign priority (just click it) to fix them. After that, you'll get a short but cool cutscene showcasing one of the Angelwings, uh... features. Then it's... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-q. The Siege of Avalon SWT01Q ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap the remaining Particle Gatling Gun for a Bubble Energy Shell, swap SpaceTech ECM System for a Standard ECM System, add 1x Sickle Gunboats (replace a squadron if you have to) -[ Brutus ]- Swap Main Fusion Engine for Lightrider engine -[ Sparta ]- Swap Main Fusion Engine for Lightrider engine, swap 1x Electron Cell for 1x Plasma Cell -[ Avalanche ]- Add 1x Electron Cell, swap 1x L2 Fusion Support Generator for 1x L2 Quark Support Generator, swap Combat FireCloud Generator for a Combat FireStorm Generator One cool thing to note that I didn't even notice until this play through (which is #6 btw)... after the Angelwing absorbed the Mechanoid, it now can transfer the power from weapons fired on it into Support energy. I never knew that... it's not as efficient as the Mechanoid, but definitely a nice feature when shields drop! In this mission, we're tasked with the protection of a large space fortress, the Avalon. We have only these four ships, and a whole mess of Gorg jump in. The main objective is, obviously, for the Avalon to survive. The secondary objective is to destroy all Gorg ships. There are two Gorg battleships, the Power and the Domination. We need to take these guys out first. Otherwise, they're going to form up into two Siege Lasers and... that's bad. Angel now has the ability to transform into a Mechanoid at will, and she cannot be killed while she's a Mechanoid. This is good, however, to "launch" her, we need at least 80% support power. So, for the Angelwing, don't overpower any systems. Split your ships into two groups. Angelwing and Avalanche into one group, while the Sparta and Brutus make up the other. Set the Angelwing group to attack the closest battleship, and have Sparta and Brutus guard them for the time being. Once you're pretty close (13k or so away) launch Mechanoid Angel at the battle ship you're attacking. Once she starts attacking, have all ships attack the hull of that battleship. You should take one down fairly quickly. After one battleship goes down, target the next one with your shield busters and beat it down. If your support power recharges enough to launch Angel again, use her!! If you can't launch her, her little pink mechanoid body will be slightly darker (i.e.: grayed out). When the shields go down, bust its hull to bits. You can also not worry about the battleships, and go after the Destroyers first. If there aren't enough ships, they can't use their Siege Laser. There has to be a battleship plus at least two other ships to make a Siege Laser Formation. You can disrupt the formation, too, by attacking any of the ships in the formation. If you need to buy some time, just start throwing shots at any of the ships in the formation. I'd definitely recommend you at least kill one battleship. Between Mechanoid Angel and the Angelwing and Avalanche, you should be able to destroy one rather quickly. Start taking out the rest of the ships going from biggest to smallest. After a while, the Gorgs will retreat. If you're speedy enough, you'll kill them all before they can retreat. Good luck with that, the bastards always run away from me. Once you destroy them or they flee: MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-r. Peace Negotiations SWT01R ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap out the Standard ECM System for a Torsion ECM System This mission starts off pretty boring. Blah blah peace talks. And then, as you probably guessed, a whole mess of Gorg ships jump in, and they aren't very friendly. The main objective here is just to live. Secondary objectives are to protect the Warcry, and destroy all ships. You might end up tearing some hair out over this one. It can be really annoying and the Warcry gets pounded hard. Sweetwater informs you that 4 Ghost ships escorted us... yay. They can only attack devices, but their lasers do a bit of hull damage. Immediately set all Ghost Ship shields to 200%! Do the same with the Angelwing. Start with the biggest ships, have all the Ghosts attack the devices on one ship (prioritize weapons only) while the Angelwing pounds on its shields, then hull. Don't forget about Mechanoid Angel either. Use her on a ship with full shields, she'll tear them down and do some decent hull damage, then all you have to do is finish it off. Rinse and repeat until you either kill them all, or they flee. You can ignore the smallest ships for the most part, even all of them together don't hurt much. Get rid of the biggest ships first, try to deal with the ones pounding the WarCry first. You can still technically pass this mission even if the Warcry dies, but it helps in a later mission if it's not dead. Kill all enemies or make them flee and it's... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-s. Locust Queen SWT01S ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Whatever you want to add, nothing new really... -[ Brutus ]- Add 2x L1 Fusion Support Generators, swap the Tactical FireCloud Generator for a Tactical FireStorm Generator -[ Sparta ]- Add 1x L1 Fusion Support Generator, 1x Torsion ECM System -[ Avalanche ]- Whatever you want, not much can be added at this point. -[ Guardian ]- Add 3x Electron Cell We have a new addition to our Fleet, the Battleship Guardian! Now we're really badass! As with the others, she'll be with us for the remainder of the game, so treat her well! This mission is actually really easy, for a change. All we have to do is scan the Queen and kill it. Simple, simple, simple!! The first thing you should do is select all of your ships (CTRL+Left Click). Assign them to a group (CTRL+1). Hit F7 to form them into the Siege Laser Formation and right-click the Locust Queen. Now, select all of your fighter squadrons and tell them to Patrol the Fleet (F8). Your main group of ships should start moving towards the Queen whilst all your fighters start buzzing around the fleet. It helps if you set all your ships shields to 200%, as those damned Locusts can drain shields. Without shields, they'll tear up all your devices, which is bad. Once your Siege ships get in range, they'll start firing at the Queen. You're going to constantly be attacked by annoying little fighters, but your squadrons and flaks should handle them. PAY ATTENTION TO THE QUEENS HEALTH. Once the Queen goes into the red, have the siege group HOLD POSITION (F3). This will stop them from firing. You know you've done enough damage when Angel says something about you needing the information from the Queen. DO NOT BLOW THE QUEEN UP. Once she goes into the red, all the little ships go away and you stop getting attacked. Now all you have to do is send the Angelwing in to use its Data Scanner (F10) on the Queen. Once the scan is complete... MISSION COMPLETE! You'll get a nice cutscene for your troubles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-t. Alpha Gate SWT01T ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap 2x Bubble Energy Shell for 2x Delektron Shell, swap 1x Sickle Gunboat for 1x Scythe Gunboat -[ Brutus ]- Swap 1x Bubble Energy Shell with 1x Delektron Shell, 1x Partical Gatling Gun for a Volcano Plasma Gun, 2x L2 Fusion Support Generator for 2x L2 Quark Support Generator, 1x Electron Cell for 1x Plasma Cell -[ Sparta ]- Swap 1x Bubble Energy Shell for 1x Delektron Shell, 1x Particle Gatling Gun for 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, add 2x Flash Fighter (replace squadrons if you have to) -[ Avalanche ]- Swap 2x Particle Gatling Gun and 2x Magma Plasma Gun for 4x Anti-G Railgun, swap 1x L2 Fusion Support Generator for 1x L2 Quark Support Generator, 2x Electron Cell for 2x Plasma Cell, 1x Standard ECM System for 1x Torsion ECM System ALTERNATE LOADOUT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to make the next mission easier, you should change up your loadout a bit. I'd suggest you convert both the Sparta and Brutus to Tactical Destroyers -- that is, load them up with laser weapons so they can destroy devices. Also, you may want to swap out all of your Squadrons to Gunboats of some type. Gunboats can attack devices through shields, which is immensely helpful. Finally, you can add lasers to the Angelwing and Avalanche, too, but they need hull/shield destroying weapons more, so I'd say just add one laser to each. You should have enough Burningfists to outfit the Sparta and Brutus -- use Crystalpins for the rest. You should have a skill point to spend, I suggest bumping up the Military stat. This mission is pretty simple and straight-forward. Just scan all the ships and survive, and that's it. Start off by scanning the Pathfinder, then the Starblazer, then finally the Serenity. You can use your Energy Skeeter (use special weapons, F9) on the Mechanoid if it's getting on your nerves, but it just recharges anyway. You must wait until each ship is fully scanned. After that, you can leave the system by engaging your IP Drive (F12). I'd recommend you stay, however, and do some damage to these ships. First priority should be to destroy all of their Weapons Energy Generators so that they stop recharging the Mechanoids. They're called "Armageddon" in the Devices list. Then you can use your Energy Skeeter on it and put it out of commission for good. While you're taking out the Weapon Generators, the Angelwing should be using its Energy Skeeter on the Mechanoids nonstop, so that the damn thing doesn't tear your fleet up. Once the Mechanoids have been dealt with, you can start destroying other subsystems on the ships. Take them all out. Do NOT destroy or disable the IP Drives as this will cause the ships to flee, which we don't want. Also, leave their Shields alone, too. This can cause the next mission to crash if they are without shields. Besides the IP Blocker and Shields, everything else is fair game, so destroy it all. Finally, it makes the next mission much easier if you destroy the Serenity (the large City Ship). The remaining ships will warp out after this, so make sure you've scanned them and taken out their subsystems before you destroy the Serenity. If you choose not to destroy the Serenity now, make sure you take out all subsystems except for IP Drives and Shields. Especially the CATACLYSM AM. That's the anti-battleship missiles we've seen used before and they will kill the Guardian on the next mission if it's not destroyed. *** IMPORTANT: With v1.0 of the game, destroying the engines or entire ships may cause the next mission to crash. I recommend you update to the latest version, or simply don't destroy engines / entire ships. MISSION COMPLETE! (Much thanks to MouseNo4, NightStalker and Pierce for helping me develop this strategy. They all had many different, good ideas, and I've combined their thoughts and ideas into one nice, do-everything strategy!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-u. Mechanoid Invasion SWT01U ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: If you added Laser weapons in the previous mission, leave them alone, add anything else listed below that you can, but don't remove the lasers. -[ Angelwing ]- Whatever you want. Strong weapons needed. Fighters, too. -[ Brutus ]- Add 2x Flash Fighters. -[ Sparta ]- Swap 1x Bubble Energy Shell for 1x Delektron Shell, 1x L1 Fusion Support Generator for 1x L1 Quark Support Generator -[ Avalanche ]- Add 1x Flash Fighter -[ Guardian ]- Add 1x Flash Fighter, 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, swap Pulsar Missile for Magma Plasma Gun -[ All Ships ]- Fighters are a help in this mission... but don't sacrifice getting better weapons for fighters. If you have the RPs, add fighters. Otherwise, we'll deal with it. If you destroyed the Serenity on the previous mission, as well as all of the subsystems of the other two ships, this mission will be extremely easy. When the mission starts, pause the game (spacebar). Select all your ships and have them Attack Devices (F6) on the nearest ship. Click that ship and make sure any engine subsystems are highlighted and flashing. Then, select ALL of your squadrons (minus commandos of course) and have them attack the same ship you just attacked. Once one ships engines are down, do the same to the other ship. Now that they're dead in space, you can take your time. Take out their shield systems and any remaining systems. Not that it matters, but it's fun. After that, just blow them up as quickly as possible. They launch escape pods and if you don't blow the ships up quick, they can get to and infect the stargate. If you trash the ships quick, they never get close. Also, the explosion shockwave from one of the ships is massive. It will wipe out a majority of your squadrons, so pull them back before it blows. OTHERWISE, if you did not destroy any devices -- read on. This is another one of those annoying missions. Lots can go wrong, and speed is a major determining factor. We have to blow up the three Vardrag ships in this area, the Starblazer, Pathfinder and Serenity. What's most annoying, in my opinion, is the damned Vardrags voice. I can't stand it! It makes me want to break things! Oh, you can skip dialog, just click the dialog box! But still, it's annoying! Anyway, two things can happen here. You can try to save the Stargate and Starportal, or you can let them get infected. If you manage to save them, your job is easier as the Fortress Shield prevents the infected Vardrags from using the Wormhole, thus allowing you all the time you need to destroy the ships. If you can't save it, you have to be very quick about taking the ships down. One other thing to note is that the Vardrag ships have a huge shockwave when they explode. If either the Sparta or Brutus are too close, they'll die instantly... which is extremely aggravating. You do not need to save the Starportal here, you won't fail any objectives, but like I said, it would make your job easier. If you plan to try to save the star portal, send half of your fighters to guard the Starportal, while the other half guard the Stargate. Send the Angelwing at 200% Engine power to guard the portal, too. Then take the Sparta and Brutus and guard the Avalanche. Set the Avalanche to 200% engine power and engage the closest ship (usually the Starblazer). If all goes well, your fighters and the Angelwing will manage to save the starportal. If not, pull all your fighters back (F1 them home) and have all your ships start pounding all the Vardrag ships. Watch out for the shockwaves! Also... there's a survivor on one of the ships. I'm not sure if its the Serenity or the Starblazer... I've never managed to save him. You don't fail an objective for that either. Once all the ships are destroyed, and if you saved the starportal, you're done. Otherwise have all ships go back to the Guardian (we didn't move it remember?) and assign them a group and use the Siege formation to take out the Starportal. Why didn't we use the Guardian? Well... the Vardrag ships have Cataclysm missiles. These will take out a battleship in one hit. If you're lucky and have fighters and flaks to guard the Guardian (heh...) it won't die. But every time I've ever moved it, it's died. So just leave it alone. Better to keep it alive. Destroy all the ships, save or destroy the Starportal and it's... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-v. The Fall of the Vardrags SWT01V ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ Angelwing ]- Swap 2x LaserGlobe Flak System for 2x LaserNet Flak System, swap your Jamming Shield for an Integrity Shield -[ Brutus ]- Swap Jamming Shield for Integrity Shield, LaserGlobe Flak System for a LaserNet Flak System -[ Sparta ]- Swap LaserGlobe Flak System for a LaserNet Flak System -[ Avalanche ]- Swap Jamming Shield for an Integrity Shield, Advanced Sensors for Palantir Sensors -[ Guardian ]- Swap the Overload Energy Bomb for a Bubble Energy Shell, Crisis Energy Torpedo for a Volcano Plasma Gun, add 1x L3 Quark Support Generator Despite the chaos in this mission, this is actually a pretty easy mission. All we have to do is scan the Entity and the Unknown Entry, and survive. It's actually easy. First, Angelwing to 200% shield power, then she scans the Entity first, followed by the Unknown Entry. Usually one stray Mechanoid follows you around and harasses you. Just use the Energy Skeeter (F9) on it to make it die. On your way or during your scans, you'll be told the Sunrider has admiral what's-his-face on it, and you need to save him. Take all your ships, minus the Angelwing of course, and have them Guard (F11) the Sunrider. Easy as that. After you're done scanning, you'll be informed you can leave. Just use your IP Drives (F12) and bail. MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-w. Bridgehead SWT01W ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ ALL SHIPS ]- All ships MUST have an Energy Skeeter weapon! -[ Angelwing ]- Swap out Fusion Engine for an Antimatter Engine, swap 2x Volcano Plasma Gun for 2x Nova Plasma Gun -[ Brutus ]- Swap out whatever is in the Energy Skeeter slot... for an Energy Skeeter! Swap 1x Bubble Energy Shell for Delektron Shell, swap Standard ECM System for Torsion ECM System, swap Advanced Sensor Array for Palantir Sensors -[ Sparta ]- Energy Skeeter! Swap Advanced Sensor Array for Palantir Sensors, and add whatever else you want. -[ Avalanche ]- Energy Skeeter!! Swap out 2x Anti-G Railgun for 2x Nova Plasma Gun, swap 1x Bubble Energy Shell for Delektron Shell -[ Guardian ]- ENERGY SKEETER! Swap 2x Bubble Energy Shell for 2x Delektron Shell -[ Colossus ]- Add 1x L3 Quark Support Generator, and as many Plasma Cells as you can fit We have a new addition to the fleet, the massive Support Ship: Colossus! This ship will, like the others before it, be with us for the remainder of the game. The Colossus has a massive Anti-Mechanoid shield, and several weapons, but it is still weak, so you must always keep an eye on it!! We're tasked with two objectives in this mission: test the Anti-Mechanoid shield that the Colossus has, and kill any Mechanoids here to clear the way for our fleets. Oh, and we have to obviously keep the Colossus alive. Simple enough, eh? Heh... As soon as we jump in there's a whole mess of Mechanoids floating around. The ones that are bright pink spheres are active, while the rest are not... yet. Select all your ships (except the Colossus) and start blasting the closest Mechanoids with your Energy Skeeters (F9). You've got to be quick about it, as soon as one dies, target the next. Set your shield power to 200% on all ships for a bit of extra help. Make sure your ships do not fire ANY OTHER WEAPONS. Normal weapons fire recharges Mechanoids!!! After a while, the Colossus will finally bring up the Anti-Mechanoid shield and kill off the rest of the little buggers. At this point, you have a choice to make. You can send the Sparta and Brutus back through the wormhole, as they're the weakest ships and are usually the first to die at the next part. Or you can let them stay and chance it. It's up to you, but I'd have them bail... Now, the platforms activate. Take them out. Have the Angelwing approach the base here, and Angel will transfer herself over to it. An alien ship leaves the base. There are actually three of these ships here now. THEY HURT. Their weapons ignore shields. They'll randomly pick one of your ships and hammer on it constantly, so keep that ship guarded. The alien ships have no shields, so just pound them. Also, once one goes into the red and becomes inactive, scan it with your data scanner. Just kill off the aliens and... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-x. Blockade Breakers SWT01X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Loadout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -[ ALL SHIPS ]- You still need Energy Skeeters, so don't remove them!! -[ Angelwing ]- Swap 3x Plasma Cell for 3x Crystal Cell, and anything else you want. You need Commandos, so make sure you have them ON the Angelwing! -[ Brutus ]- Swap 1x Volcano Plasma Gun for 1x Nova Plasma Gun, 2x Plasma Cells for 2x Crystal Cells -[ Sparta ]- Swap 1x Volcano Plasma Gun for 1x Nova Plasma Gun. Add anything else you want. -[ Avalanche ]- Swap Fusion Engine for Antimatter Engine, 1x Bubble Energy Shell for 1x Delektron Shell, and whatever else you want. -[ Guardian ]- Swap Fusion Engine for Antimatter Engine, add L2 Quark Support Generator, add 1x Plasma Cell -[ Colossus ]- Add Torsion ECM System, 2x Delektron Shell We have a few things to do here. We must deploy four Blocker Generators so we can kill the Entity Sphere. Plus, there are some infected ships floating around that we need to deal with, and, a friend of ours is out there, too. And we need to save him. First, decloak. Being cloaked is worthless. Set all ships to defensive. Set the Ghost Ships shields to 200% and the Angelwings weapons to 200%. Now head to Deploy Point 2. Have the Ghost Ships guard the Angelwing for now. There are 5 ships in this area, three cruiser-class ships: Sentinal, Hacker and Keeper. These guys are more annoying than anything. There are also two battleships, the Balthasar and the Rampart. These ships are all infected and are hostile! Do not hesitate to destroy them!! On your way, the Sentinel will show up and start harassing you. Kill it. Deploy the Generator (just get to the deploy point, it's automatic from there). Once you're informed that it has been deployed, head for the next closest one. The Hacker and Keeper are still left, both are Cruisers. If you encounter them, kill them. You'll also find out that the Balthasar is here (Admiral Norbank) and there's one other battleship, the Rampart. Try to destroy all the other ships before messing with the Balthasar. Thankfully, the Balthasar has no Flak guns, so all we need to do is drop its shields and send in our Commandos. Use the Ghosts to attack the shield device while the Angelwing hammers with the Delektron Shells. Once the shields drop, send in the Commandos and rescue the Admiral. Once they return, destroy the Balthasar and any remaining infected ships. Once that's done, head to the rest of the Deploy Points and deploy the generators. When you've deployed them all, your fleet will warp in, along with the Exterminator, a battleship. Now, select EVERY ship and have them use their Energy Skeeters on the Entity Sphere. Make sure they're not firing any other weapons as they'll recharge the Entity. Once you destroy the Entity... MISSION COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-y. The Fight for Earth SWT01Y ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -[ Angelwing ]- You need some hull damaging weapons. If you've followed my suggestions, you have them, otherwise add some Nova Plasma Guns or Anti-G Railguns. You should also have two wings of Flash Fighters, or a wing of Flash Fighters and a wing of Sycthe Gunboats. (Note: Do NOT use the squadrons in this mission, we need them for the next mission!). Swap Advanced Sensors for Palantir Sensors. -[ Brutus ]- Swap Energy Skeeter for Delektron Shell. -[ Sparta ]- Swap Jamming Shield for Integrity Shield, Energy Skeeter for Delektron Shell. -[ Avalanche ]- Swap 2x LaserGlobe Flak System for 2x LaserNet Flak System. -[ Guardian ]- Swap 2x Magma Plasma Gun for 2x Nova Plasma Gun. -[ Colossus ]- Swap Crisis Energy Torpedo for 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, Pulsar Missile for 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, Eliminator Torpedo for Anti-G Railgun, Battle FireCloud Generator for Battle FireStorm Generator. -[ Sceptre ]- Make the weapons loadout the following: 2x Anti-G Railgun, 2x Bubble Energy Shell, 2x Volcano Plasma Gun. Swap Layer Shield for Integrity Shield. -[ Crystal ]- Make the weapons loadout the following: 4x Volcano Plasma Gun, 4x Bubble Energy Shell. -[ ALL SHIPS ]- If you have extra RPs on any ships, add Fighter Squadrons or Gunboats. The weapons take priority here, so make sure you have all my above loadouts first. Just spend extras RPs Fighters, it'll help. They're not necessary, just helpful, so don't freak if you can't add any. We've got two new ships to our fleet, the missile cruiser Scepter and the light battleship Crystal! First, let me talk about the loadout. Why did I switch out missiles and bombs for shield busters and plasma guns? Simple. We're going to face a somewhat overwhelming force here. We need brute firepower. Missiles, torpedoes and bombs are nice, but friendly ships can be caught in the blast. We're going to have our ships relatively close together (and in close proximity of the enemy) so collateral damage has to be minimized. Second, when new enemy reinforcements arrive, their shields will be down. You notice we have a ton of plasma guns, yes? They do immense hull damage, and with 10 or so firing at once, any ship without shields is killed very quickly. Plus, we have 10 or so shield busters, so any ship with shields won't have them for very long! The time has come for us to take our home back from these vile invaders! This is going to be a tough battle, but we either succeed, or die trying!! Okay, I tried... pep talk over. This mission is absolutely insane. There's going to be a ton of stuff blowing a ton of other stuff up. It's chaos beyond what we're used to. What I'd really like to know is... where the hell is everyone else? Did you see the massive fleet that was leaving to come here? WHERE ARE THEY? Why is it just us?!?!! Ah well, it's more fun that way I guess. Alright let's cut to the chase. Our objectives are: -> Get Angel to a Relay Station so she can transmit herself to Earth -> The Angelwing MUST survive -> The Colossus MUST survive This is definitely another one of those multiple-restart-and-curse-everything missions. There is no easy way to beat this mission. The only thing I can tell you is for one, you must protect the Colossus or it's mission failed. Also, the only strategy here is to DESTROY EVERYTHING. As quickly as possible. All enemy reinforcements come through the Entity Wormhole (more on that later) and when they arrive, their shields are down. This is important. We're going to move our ships close to the wormhole and set up a blockade. Whenever new ships jump in, you must absolutely try to kill the biggest off first and as quickly as possible. Since their shields are down, this should be somewhat easier. Let's talk about the enemy forces you're going to encounter. There's a total of five fleets you're going to have to deal with, one consisting of 8 Earth ships is already here (they have no shields). Then, the following arrive: -> Gorg Fleet (1 Battleship and some other ships) -> Noah Fleet (6 Battleships) -> Gorg Fleet (2 Battleships and more) -> Vardrag Fleet (3 ships) You get reinforcements in this mission. The Warcry jumps in right after the first Gorg fleet does. Bring it up to the front lines and make use of it. It's extremely slow though, so it probably won't make it until the Noah fleet arrives. Also, depending on how badly you're getting beat up, you'll get a Vardrag ship under your control and other reinforcements. First things first, we need to get Angel to Earth. Relay Station Delta is our best bet, but it's pretty far away. Set the Angelwings engines to 200% and have it head for Delta. Once Angel has been transmitted to Earth, the relay stations are no longer needed. It does not matter if they get destroyed. Take your remaining ships (leave the Colossus where it is) and move them towards the Entity Wormhole. DO NOT LET THEM GET TOO CLOSE. If they get too close to it, (like 3k or less I think) they'll get sucked in, and you can't use them anymore. That's bad. Stop them about 8k away from it, and leave them there on aggressive. Keep an eye on them and power up shields or weapons as needed. All enemy ships come through the wormhole. Once the Angelwing gets Angel to Earth, have the Angelwing start mopping up the infected Earth ships around here. There's 8 of them, remember, but they have no shields and the Angelwing should have no problems taking them out. Once you've blown them all to bits, have the Angelwing rejoin your main fleet, but remember not to let it get sucked into the wormhole. Now, with your main group of ships, it helps to set weapons to 200%, because you seriously need all the firepower you can muster. You must ALWAYS take out the biggest ships first, from the earliest wave. So that means, battleships first. Then cruisers, and really...screw the gunboats. They're just annoying. REMEMBER. BIGGEST SHIPS FIRST. Now once Angel gets to Earth, a Gorg fleet will jump in, try to take out the battleships before shields come up. Pound them down, ignoring the smaller ships for now. Soon, 6 Noah battleships will jump in. You have to take these guys down quick, they have energy torpedoes (knock shields down, bad) and they also have a huge flash and blast radius, which gets annoying quickly. If you have any squadrons, pause the game first. Select each squadron from each ship and have it guard its mothership. They'll help you shoot down the energy torpedoes, which is always a plus. The Colossus has several squadrons, assign them to guard your ships that are in battle. After half of the Noah fleet is dead, another Gorg fleet jumps in with two battleships and some other ships. Finish off the Noah ships before turning on the Gorg battleships. Pound them down. Once that fleet is half dead, a Vardrag fleet will warp in consisting of 3 ships. Once the Gorg battleships are dead, screw everything else and focus on the Vardrag ships. They are powerful and they hurt a bunch, so prioritize them. Survive all the ships, and the Entity will flee... and it's... MISSION COMPLETE! NOTES (and spoilers!): It's okay if you lose ships on this mission. Well, aside from the Angelwing and Colossus. Lose too many and you'll die, but one or two is no big deal. Why? You don't get to use your fleet anymore after this... (There is an alternate strategy available for this mission) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> III-z. The Nexus SWT01Z ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have just the Angelwing in this mission, and no RPs to spend, so we can't add any new equipment. We aren't going to need anything else anyway. In this area, we're now inside the "Nexus" -- within subspace itself. There's a massive black hole here which we must stay away from. The graphics are absolutely stunning in this mission... pure eyecandy! Angel will inform us she's going to do battle with the Entity, but she needs our help. The Entity is gathering strength from the 5 wormholes in this area. We must close them so that Angel can defeat the Entity. With that, Angel has outfitted our ship with a Disruptor, which closes wormholes. We're constantly being sucked into the black hole, so your ship is going to be bouncing around a lot as it tries to keep itself in position. Don't worry too much about this, as long as you follow the exact path I tell you, you will not get sucked in. That is, as long as your engines don't die on ya... Alright, now, we've got to get on closing these wormholes. You'll see five wormholes (Earth, Chakris, White, Noah, Herlas) and a bunch of Nav Points in between. If you go from Nav to Nav to Gate, you'll be okay and won't get sucked in. I'll give you exact directions. To use our Disruptor weapon, we need to open up the manual panel (click the hand icon in between the behavior and action buttons to bring it up). If you're familiar with this, bear with me. In here, you see a list of all the stuff on your ship. We're only concerned with the button that says "Disruptor." Left- click it so it flashes, then right-click a wormhole. That's all there is to it. If you have any fighters/gunboats (you should, I told you to bring some!) select them all and have them guard the Angelwing. Now use the Disruptor on Entity Gate Earth so it closes. Once you are notified that it's closed, right- click the Disruptor button so it stops firing. At this point, one Vardrag ship jumps in with a buttload of squadrons. They're going to go after your engines, but between your Flaks and fighters, you should be okay. Ignore the ship for the moment. Head to Nav Sol-Chakris, then to Nav Chakris-Sol, then finally to Entity Gate Chakris. On the way, you should get close enough to the Vardrag ship to fire on it. Blow the damn thing to bits. Close Entity Gate Chakris. Now head to Nav Chakris-White, then Nav White-Chakris and finally to Entity Gate White. Close gate White with the Disruptor. On to the next. Head to Nav White-Noah, then Nav Noah-White and finally to Entity Gate Noah, and close it. Finally, the last gate. Head on over to Nav Noah-Herlas, then Nav Herlas-Noah and then finally to the Herlas gate. Close it and... MISSION COMPLETE! * * * G A M E O V E R ! * * * Yep, that's it. Game over, man, game over! Well, it was awesome, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have the past 6 times I played! The ending cutscene sets us up for a sequel, and I really hope Mithis does make one. Nexus is an excellent game! Now, check out the rest of the FAQ! _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> IV. E Q U I P M E N T SEQ01 =============================================================================== Within this section you'll find detailed information about every piece of equipment in the game, including (but not limited to): Weapons, Shields, Engines, Squadrons and more. This section is split up into different sub- sections for each of the equipment types. The information window you see on the upper-right of the Fleet Screen has various bits of information about each piece of equipment. Most of the information is displayed as a number of blocks (6 total, so the range is from 0-6). So 3 filled in blocks is 3. I list everything as numbers. All equipment has several piece of information listed with it. From Resource Points, to Damage, Rate of Fire (refire), Precision and more. Generally, "bigger is better" holds true, but you do need to consider other factors such as stealth and such. Below is a rundown of all the information. Resource Points (RP) - Each ship has a certain amount of RP. Think of it like money. As you add equipment, the RP goes down because it costs RP to mount equipment. When you unmount equipment you DO NOT get RP back for it, the item simply goes into your stockpile. However, if you add an item then unmount it (before hitting Confirm) you will get the RP back. Confirm = RP GONE! Docking Slots (DS) - Most ships have Docking Slots. With them, you can house Squadrons in the ship. Each Squadron needs a certain amount of Docking Slots and if you don't have enough, you can't mount that Squadron. Damage (DMG) - Used for Weapons and Squadrons. Scale is 0-6, 6 being the best. In this case, higher is better. However, you also have to look at a weapons Rate of Fire (RoF). A very powerful weapon with a very low refire is actually not as good as a weapon with decent damage and an extremely high refire. Rate of Fire (RoF) - How fast (or how often) a weapon fires. Higher is better. Remember, a weapon with an extremely high refire rate, but decent damage, is usually better than a weapon with insane damage and a low refire rate. Precision (Prec) - How accurate the weapon (or Squadron) is. The more the better. Low precision means the weapon or squadron is going to miss its target often. High precision means less missing. With a precision of 6, the weapon never misses. Efficiency (EFF) - How efficient (good) a device is. Used for generators, engines and the likes. Higher is always better. Emission (EM) - How "visible" a device is. When considering stealth, you want devices with low emissions (generally lower is better in this case). This also makes the ship harder to "see" on sensors, meaning from great distances the enemy would be unable to tell what you were, if it could detect you at all. Speed (SPD) - Used for engines. Higher is always better. More speed is a faster engine. Size - The size of a device. Generally 'Small (S)' devices can only be mounted on small ships (Destroyers and smaller). Medium (M) devices can only be mounted on medium-size ships (Cruisers, Corvettes, Frigates) while Large (L) devices can only be mounted on large-size ships (Battleships, Support Ships). However, if there is only two sizes (Small and Large) then the Small size is for Destroyers and smaller, while the Large size is for Cruisers and larger. Size basically only determines which size ship a device can be mounted on. Category (or Type) - What is the device. Sensors, Combat, Tactical, Destructive, Area. All "Categories." Tells you some more information about what the device is used for. Tactical, Anti-Shield, Destructive and Area are for weapons. Sensor and Combat is for Supports. - Weapons will be listed under the following Categories: - Destructive; hull damaging weapon - Tactical; anti-device weapon, used for destroying devices - Anti-Shield; shield busting weapon, used for attacking shields - Area; for missiles, torpedoes and bombs. Means its "area of effect" or that it has a blast radius (usually quite large, too) - Supports will be listed under the following categories: - Sensor; means the device is some sort of sensor - Combat; means the device has a use in combat, i.e.: ECM/ECCM systems ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-a. Normal Weapons SEQ01A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First up, is our Normal Weapons. These are the basic weapons of the game, but don't let that fool you, there are some really powerful weapons in here. Normal Weapons include the tactical lasers (anti-device), the anti-shield cannons (energy shells) and hull destroying weapons. Tactical Lasers (anti-device) are only useful against destroying a ships devices. They must have line of sight to the device to attack it. Most do NO hull damage whatsoever, but there are two that will do minor hull damage. Anti-Shield weapons such as the Energy Shells are just that. They are only useful against shields and drain them quickly. Hull destroying weapons are only good against hulls. As an exception, most Plasma Guns will also damage shields (very minor). Gatling Guns, Plasma Guns and Rail Guns are among the best. Remember, missile and torpedo launchers require ammunition. Which means you'll most likely run out of ammo during the course of a mission. Choose wisely when adding missiles or torpedoes. -[ Anti-G Railgun ]- RP Cost: 3 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 6 Category: Destructive Description: Decent damage, excellent refire and precision. Better than the Particle Gatling Gun. -[ Astronomical Laser ]- RP Cost: 1 Damage: 1 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 2 Category: Tactical Description: Basic Anti-Device weapon. Low damage, excellent refire, low precision. -[ Bubble Energy Shell ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 2 Rate of Fire: 4 Precision: 3 Category: Anti-Shield Description: Decent damage, good refire, good precision. This is the mid-range model for Anti-Shield. Better than Energy Shells. -[ Burningfist Heavy Laser ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 5 Rate of Fire: 5 Precision: 5 Category: Tactical Description: Very good damage, refire and precision. One of the best Anti- Device weapons. -[ Crystalpin Light Laser ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 6 Category: Tactical Description: Decent damage, excellent refire and precision. -[ Delektron Shell ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 4 Precision: 4 Category: Anti-Shield Description: The best of the "Shell" weapons. -[ Eliminator Torpedo ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 5 Rate of Fire: 4 Precision: 3 Category: Destructive Description: Very good damage, good refire and decent precision. All very good for a torpedo. Immune to Flak. -[ Energy Shell ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 1 Rate of Fire: 4 Precision: 2 Category: Anti-Shield Description: Basic Anti-Shield weapon. -[ MirrorEye Laser ]- RP Cost: 3 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 6 Category: Tactical Description: Good damage, excellent refire and precision, second-best anti- device weapon in the game. -[ Neutron Torpedo ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 4 Precision: 2 Category: Destructive Description: Good damage and refire despite the low precision make this a nice weapon. It is immune to enemy Flak cannons. -[ Particle Gatling Gun ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 5 Category: Destructive Description: Decent damage, excellent refire and very good precision make this the best Gatling Gun available. -[ SilverLance Laser ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 6 Rate of Fire: 5 Precision: 5 Category: Tactical Description: Excellent damage, very good refire and precision. The absolute best anti-device weapon. Capable of inflicting minor hull damage on a ship without shields. -[ Sliver Gatling Gun ]- RP Cost: 1 Damage: 2 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 5 Category: Destructive Description: Excellent refire and precision coupled with decent damage make this one of the better Gatling Guns. -[ SpaceTech Laser Gun ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 1 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 4 Category: Tactical Description: Anti-Device weapon. Better than an Astronomical Laser. -[ Thornbird Light Laser ]- RP Cost: 1 Damage: 2 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 6 Category: Tactical Description: Anti-Device weapon. Excellent refire and precision. -[ Whitelight Heavy Laser ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 5 Precision: 5 Category: Tactical Description: Anti-Device weapon. Good damage, very good refire and precision. One of the best Anti-Device weapons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-b. Heavy Weapons SEQ01B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are the big boys in the world of weapons. The most powerful and destructive weapons will be listed here. Remember, missiles and torpedoes require ammo. Without it, they'll be useless. Think of that when choosing them. -[ Big Bang Missile ]- RP Cost: 8 Damage: 6 Rate of Fire: 2 Precision: 6 Category: Area Description: The ultimate missile. Awesome damage, 100% accuracy. Decent refire. Massive blast radius capable of destroying multiple ships, if caught in the blast. -[ Crisis Energy Torpedo ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 6 Rate of Fire: 2 Precision: 1 Category: Anti-Shield Description: Excellent damage. Poor precision so it should only be used against large or stationary targets. -[ Diffuse Missile ]- RP Cost: 3 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 2 Precision: 6 Category: Area Description: Very powerful anti-hull missile. Good refire for a missile, 100% accurate. Massive blast radius. -[ Ion Scream Bomb ]- RP Cost: 8 Damage: 6 Rate of Fire: 1 Precision: 6 Category: Area (Anti-Shield) Description: The most powerful of the energy bombs. Excellent damage with an absolutely massive blast radius. -[ Linear Gatling Gun ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 1 Rate of Fire: 5 Precision: 3 Category: Destructive Description: The weakest of the Gatling Guns. Good refire, extremely low damage and mediocre accuracy. Don't use if possible. -[ Magma Plasma Gun ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 3 Precision: 1 Category: Destructive Description: This is the most basic Plasma Gun. Good damage, but with only decent refire and horrible precision. -[ Nova Plasma Gun ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 6 Rate of Fire: 3 Precision: 2 Category: Destructive Description: Excellent damage, decent refire and precision. The best Plasma Gun there is. -[ Overload Energy Bomb ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 1 Precision: 6 Category: Area (Anti-Shield) Description: Very powerful anti-shield bomb with a massive blast radius. Capable of knocking out shields of all ships near the blast. -[ Pulsar Missile ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 5 Rate of Fire: 2 Precision: 6 Category: Area Description: Very high damage, huge blast radius, 100% accuracy. -[ Rad Energy Bomb ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 5 Rate of Fire: 1 Precision: 6 Category: Area (Anti-Shield) Description: Very good damage, 100% accuracy. Massive blast radius. Capable of knocking down all ships shields within the blast radius. -[ Tornado Autolock Missile ]- RP Cost: 3 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 1 Precision: 6 Category: Area Description: A basic missile with good damage and excellent accuracy. Its extremely low refire is its only downfall. Good missile. -[ Tremor Torpedo ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 6 Rate of Fire: 4 Precision: 4 Category: Destructive Description: Immensely powerful torpedo with good refire and precision. -[ Uranium Gatling Gun ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 1 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 4 Category: Destructive Description: The standard Gatling Gun. Not very powerful, but an extremely high refire rate with decent precision make up for that. -[ Volcano Plasma Gun ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 5 Rate of Fire: 3 Precision: 1 Category: Destructive Description: Very good damage, decent refire, poor accuracy. Still a very powerful weapon. Better than the Magma Plasma Gun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-c. Special Weapons SEQ01C ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are the special weapons. Flak Systems, Energy Skeeters and Disruptors make up this category. Flak Systems are anti-squadron weapons. They only attack enemy squadrons. Bigger is always better. The Energy Skeeter is an anti-Mechanoid weapon. There is only one type. Most ships can only mount one. The Disruptor is an anti-EntityWormhole weapon. There is only one type. Mission specific weapon, far as I know. -[ Blinder ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 0 Rate of Fire: 1 Precision: 6 Description: Sensor-jamming weapon. Blinds enemy sensors. Aids stealth. -[ Energy Skeeter ]- RP Cost: 3 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 5 Precision: 6 Category: Tactical (Anti-Mechanoid) Description: The only weapon to use against Mechanoids. Drains their power, essentially destroying them. -[ Laser Ring Flak System ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 2 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 3 Description: Better than the SpaceTech system. -[ LaserGlobe Flak System ]- RP Cost: 4 Damage: 2 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 4 Description: Decent damage, excellent refire and good precision. Better than Laser Ring. -[ LaserNet Flak System ]- RP Cost: 6 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 4 Description: The best Flak system you can get. -[ SpaceTech Flak System ]- RP Cost: 2 Damage: 1 Rate of Fire: 6 Precision: 3 Description: Excellent refire rate, coupled with good precision make this a good weapon, despite its low damage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-d. Shields SEQ01D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shields are quite an important asset when you're traveling the depths of space. Everyone has them, and so should you. They come in different sizes and types, but for these, the bigger the better holds true. When looking at shields, Integrity and Defense are the two main factors. Emissions also play a role, but for the most part, you can safely ignore that. You want Defense first and foremost, but Integrity is needed, too. So aim for a balance of both. But really, just get the newest, biggest one you can ;) -[ Hidron Shield, Big ]- RP Cost: 4 Defense: 3 Integrity: 3 Emission: 4 Description: Basic energy shield. Better than nothing. -[ Integrity Shield, Small ]- RP Cost: 6 Defense: 2 Integrity: 4 Emission: 5 Description: The best small shield. -[ Integrity Shield, Big ]- RP Cost: 7 Defense: 4 Integrity: 5 Emission: 5 Description: The best large shield. -[ Jamming Shield, Small ]- RP Cost: 5 Defense: 2 Integrity: 2 Emission: 3 Description: Small energy shield, better than Layer Shields. -[ Jamming Shield, Big ]- RP Cost: 6 Defense: 4 Integrity: 4 Emission: 3 Description: Large energy shield, better than Layer Shields. -[ Layer Shield, Small ]- RP Cost: 5 Defense: 2 Integrity: 2 Emission: 4 Description: Small energy shield. Better than Hidron shields. -[ Layer Shield, Big ]- RP Cost: 6 Defense: 4 Integrity: 4 Emission: 4 Description: Large energy shield. Better than Hidron shields. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-e. Weapon Generators SEQ01E ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The weapon generators provide power to your weapon systems. Without one, you would be unable to fire any of your weapons, which is a really bad situation. With these, bigger is always better. -[ Battle FireCloud Generator ]- RP Cost: 5 Efficiency: 4 Size: Large Emission: 0 Description: Large weapon generator. -[ Battle FireStorm Generator ]- RP Cost: 7 Efficiency: 5 Size: Large Emission: 0 Description: The best Battleship class FireStorm Generator. -[ Combat FireCloud Generator ]- RP Cost: 5 Efficiency: 3 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: Medium weapon generator. -[ Combat FireStorm Generator ]- RP Cost: 7 Efficiency: 4 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: The best Medium weapon generator. -[ Tactical FireCloud Generator ]- RP Cost: 5 Efficiency: 2 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Small weapon generator. -[ Tactical FireStorm Generator ]- RP Cost: 7 Efficiency: 3 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: The best Small weapon generator. -[ Weapon Energy Generator ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 2 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Standard Small Weapon Generator. -[ Weapon Energy Generator ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 3 Size: Large Emission: 0 Description: Standard Large Weapon Generator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-f. Other Generators SEQ01F ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are basically secondary generators. They're optional equipment, but generally, you should have at least one. Support Generators generate extra energy for your ship, and power non-combat systems. Bigger (more efficient) generators generate more power and recharge Cells more quickly. Mounting more than one doubles the power and recharge. Secondary Generators are backup generators. They compliment their bigger brother main generators. With these, bigger is always better. -[ L1 Fusion Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 2 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Small Fusion support generator. -[ L2 Fusion Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 3 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: Medium Fusion support generator. Better than the standard one. -[ L3 Fusion Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 4 Size: Large Emission: 0 Description: Large Fusion support generator. -[ L1 Quark Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 3 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Best small support generator. -[ L2 Quark Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 4 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: Best medium support generator. -[ L3 Quark Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 5 Size: Large Emission: 0 Description: Best large support generator. -[ Secondary FireCloud Generator ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 2 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: Secondary medium weapon generator. -[ Secondary Firepower Generator ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 3 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: The best secondary weapons generator. -[ Support Generator ]- RP Cost: 3 Efficiency: 1 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: Standard Support generator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-g. Energy Cells SEQ01G ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Energy Cells are the batteries for your ship. Yep, even way in the future we still need batteries. These store up power from your Support Generators. The more (and larger) cells you have, the longer you can overpower your systems. -[ Crystal Cell ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 6 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Stores huge amounts of energy. Very slow to recharge. -[ Electron Cell ]- RP Cost: 2 Efficiency: 2 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Description: Better than standard Energy Cells. -[ Energy Cell ]- RP Cost: 1 Efficiency: 1 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Standard Energy Cell. Better than nothing. -[ Plasma Cell ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 4 Size: Small Emission: 0 Description: Better than Electron Cells. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-h. Supports SEQ01H ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supports are just that, they support your ship in one way or another. These are items like Sensors, ECM systems, ECCM systems and so forth. For Sensors, you generally want the most powerful one you can find (Efficiency = power). Sometimes, however, when you want to remain undetected for longer, Emissions are key (get one with low emission). Otherwise, as I said, just get yourself one with the most Efficiency. ECM systems are Electronic Counter-Measure systems. These systems mess with enemy sensors and scanners, basically confusing them about where your ship is and what's in it. Once again, Efficiency is the determining factor, when that's higher, it's a better ECM. But if you need to be stealthy, pick one with low Emissions. ECCM systems are Electronic Counter-Counter-Measure systems. These systems specifically target the ECM systems on enemy ships and render them useless. Higher Efficiency means more range and more effectiveness. -[ Advanced Sensor Array ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 4 Size: Medium Emission: 3 Category: Sensor Description: Advanced Sensors. Better than Standard. -[ Advanced Targeting System ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 4 Size: Medium Emission: 0 Category: Combat Description: Advanced ECCM System. -[ Cloaking Device Prototype ]- RP Cost: N/A Efficiency: 5 Size: Large Emission: 0 Category: Combat Description: The Angelwing is mounted with this device when Commander Sweetwater joins up with us. With it, the Angelwing is the only ship in the Human fleet that can cloak. It mimics Ghost technology and only Commander Sweetwater can operate it. -[ Palantir Sensor System ]- RP Cost: 5 Efficiency: 6 Size: Medium Emission: 3 Category: Sensor Description: The best sensors you can get. -[ Sensor Array ]- RP Cost: 2 Efficiency: 2 Size: Small Emission: 3 Category: Sensor Description: Standard Sensor Array. Better than ST Sensor Array. -[ SpaceTech ECM System ]- RP Cost: 3 Efficiency: 2 Size: Small Emission: 3 Category: Combat Description: Standard basic ECM system. -[ ST Sensor Array ]- RP Cost: 1 Efficiency: 1 Size: Small Emission: 3 Category: Sensor Description: The most basic of Sensor Arrays. Better than nothing. -[ Standard ECM System ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 3 Size: Small Emission: 3 Category: Combat Description: Standard ECM. Better than SpaceTech model. -[ Standard ECCM System ]- RP Cost: 4 Efficiency: 2 Size: Small Emission: 0 Category: Combat Description: Standard ECCM System. Doesn't get more basic. -[ Torsion ECM System ]- RP Cost: 6 Efficiency: 5 Size: Medium Emission: 3 Category: Combat Description: Best ECM system available. Very good efficiency with decent Emissions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-i. Data Scanners SEQ01I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure why Data Scanners has its own category. They're basically sensors like any other, but you actually have to tell your ship to use them. They often can reveal more detailed information about a ship. There's only one Data Scanner. It can only be mounted on ships with a Data Scanner slot. When you use it, your ship has to drop its shields, so be careful. They're also handy to use to reveal all the devices on a ship. If a ship has a good ECM system (or you don't have an ECCM system) you sometimes cannot get a complete list of devices on a ship. Just hit them with the Data Scanner and you'll get a complete list. For short scans like this, the shields aren't dropped. But you have no way to tell if the shields will be dropped, so be careful nonetheless. -[ Data Scanner ]- RP Cost: 5 Precision: 5 Description: The Data Scanner. Used to reveal detailed info on a target. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-j. Main Engines SEQ01J ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main Engines are your ships primary source of propulsion. These are the fastest engines you can get. If your Main Engines are damaged or destroyed, worry not, because all ships are equipped with Secondary Engines. Though slower, they are most definitely better than nothing! Main Engines come in a variety of types. Speed is obviously the major determining factor, however once again, if you need to be stealthy, then you need to pay attention to Emissions as well. Small engines are only for small class ships, while large engines are for larger ships. Destroyers are small. Cruisers, Corvettes, Missile Frigates, Support Ships and Battleships are Large. Angelwing is a Cruiser, by the way. When choosing engines, remember Speed is paramount, but low Emissions is very helpful, too. Generally "bigger is better" holds true, for the most part. -[ Antimatter Engine ]- RP Cost: 9 Speed: 6 Size: Large Emission: 1 Description: The best large engine you can get. Rare, but awesome. -[ Chemical Engine ]- RP Cost: 5 Speed: 2 Size: Small Emission: 3 Description: Standard small engine. Slow. -[ Chemical Engine ]- RP Cost: 5 Speed: 2 Size: Large Emission: 3 Description: Standard large engine. Slow. -[ Fusion Engine ]- RP Cost: 5 Speed: 4 Size: Small Emission: 2 Description: Good speed, low emissions. Better than Ionstream. -[ Fusion Engine ]- RP Cost: 5 Speed: 4 Size: Large Emission: 2 Description: Good speed, low emissions. Better than Ionstream. -[ Ionstream Engine ]- RP Cost: 4 Speed: 3 Size: Small Emission: 4 Description: Decent speed, high emissions. Better than Chemical. -[ Ionstream Engine ]- RP Cost: 4 Speed: 3 Size: Large Emission: 4 Description: Decent speed, high emissions. Better than Chemical. -[ LightRider Engine ]- RP Cost: 9 Speed: 6 Size: Small Emission: 3 Description: The best small engine you can get. Fastest there is. -[ Plasmatorch Engine ]- RP Cost: 7 Speed: 5 Size: Small Emission: 5 Description: High speed but high Emissions. -[ Plasmastream Engine ]- RP Cost: 7 Speed: 5 Size: Large Emission: 5 Description: High speed but high Emissions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-k. Secondary Engines SEQ01K ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Due to the hazards, risks and inherent dangers of space, all space-faring ships are equipped with Secondary Engines in the event the Main Engines go offline for any reason. While much slower than Main Engines, you won't get home soon... but it's better than not getting home at all, now isn't it? Secondary Engines also help in maneuvering. You generally want to match up the Secondary Engines with the Main Engines. So if you have Fusion Engines for your Main Engines, then you should have a Secondary Fusion Engine. When you pick them, look for the same stuff as you would Main Engines. Just remember that they're slow and merely backup Engines. -[ Sec. Chemical Engine ]- RP Cost: 2 Speed: 1 Size: Medium Emission: 3 Description: Basic Secondary Engine. Better than Ionstream. -[ Sec. Fusion Engine ]- RP Cost: 3 Speed: 2 Size: Medium Emission: 3 Description: Good speed, decent emissions. Better than Chemical. -[ Sec. Ionstream Engine ]- RP Cost: 2 Speed: 1 Size: Medium Emission: 4 Description: High emissions. Chemical better in this case. -[ Sec. Plasma Engine ]- RP Cost: 4 Speed: 2 Size: Medium Emission: 4 Description: Good speed, high emissions. Fusion is better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-l. Special Engines SEQ01L ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Engines are special-use engines. As far as I know, there are only two Special Engines you can pick, one for large ships and one for small ships. Basically, though, they do the same thing. You have Combat or Deflection engines, the former for large ships while the latter is for smaller ships. These engines allow the ship to rotate on its axis (which helps to keep devices out of an enemies line of sight, thereby getting less damage). They also help in speedy maneuvering. All ships should have a Combat or Deflection engine! -[ Combat Drive ]- RP Cost: 4 Speed: 2 Size: Medium Emission: 4 -[ Deflection Engine ]- RP Cost: 4 Speed: 3 Size: Small Emission: 4 -[ Stealth Drive ]- RP Cost: N/A Speed: 3 Size: Medium Emission: 1 Info: This is the stealth drive mounted on the Angelwing. You can't add it yourself, it's given to you. It cannot be removed. Perfect for cloaking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> IV-m. Squadrons SEQ01M ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These guys are your fighters, bombers, gunboats and commandos. Each has their own purpose, and you shouldn't be without them. In the single player campaign, there are missions that you cannot beat without squadrons, so don't neglect them. Fighters are your space-superiority force. They can take down enemy fighters, missiles and torpedoes, as well as harass larger ships. They are only effective against larger ships if the ships shields are down. Fast and lightly armored. Bombers are for attacking large ships. They carry some pretty powerful punch for such a little package. Their bombs can penetrate shields. Slow, but heavily armored. Gunboats are tactical fighters. They attack a ships devices. Their weapons are powerful and can penetrate enemy shields. Slower than Fighters, but more heavily armored. You can also use them to harass enemy fighters. Commandos (Space Marines, Cyborgs) are your Special Forces. When you need to get a force of men on an enemy ship, be it for rescue or sabotage, these are the guys you call out. The ship they use is unarmed and lightly armored though, so flaks and/or enemy squadrons can take them down easily. Guard them. If you can't take out all the flaks or fighters, use your own squadrons as cannon fodder (launch them first). -[ Commando Squad ]- RP Cost: 1 Docking Slots: 5 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 6 Description: Commandos. Better than Space Marines. -[ Cyborg Squad ]- RP Cost: 1 Docking Slots: 5 Damage: 5 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 6 Description: Cyborg Commandos. Better than regular Commandos. -[ Flash Fighter ]- RP Cost: 4 Docking Slots: 4 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 5 Description: Better than Spark fighters. More powerful and accurate. -[ Gemini Fighter ]- RP Cost: 2 Docking Slots: 3 Damage: 2 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 4 Description: Basic fighters. Low damage, good precision. -[ Meteor Bomber ]- RP Cost: 3 Docking Slots: 8 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 4 Description: Bombers. They make ships go boom. -[ Scythe Gunboat ]- RP Cost: 6 Docking Slots: 6 Damage: 4 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 5 Description: The best gunboats. -[ Sickle Gunboat ]- RP Cost: 3 Docking Slots: 6 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 4 Description: Basic gunboats. Decent damage, good precision. -[ Space Marines ]- RP Cost: 1 Docking Slots: 4 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 6 Description: Basic commando squadron. -[ Spark Fighter ]- RP Cost: 2 Docking Slots: 4 Damage: 3 Rate of Fire: 0 Precision: 4 Description: Decent damage, good precision. Better than Gemini Fighters. _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> V. A L T E R N A T E S T R A T E G I E S SAS01 =============================================================================== Here you will find all of the Alternate Strategies for some of the missions. These strategies are submitted by lots of different people, and they are not mine. Please do not contact me regarding the strategies listed here. They are not mine. Contact the person who wrote the strategy (if contact information is listed). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> V-a. Shukenja Beta SAS01A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -[ Submitted by Vapor ]- Before scanning the base destory the 3 platforms, it still completes the objective. Then use the 4 min that the alien ai gives you to datascan the alien artifact again after it starts attacking you, it will give you another secret. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> V-b. The Mechanoid SAS01B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -[ Submitted by Pearce ]- You can get this wrong very very easily. You need to keep your distance (and that of the battle) from the Mechanoid or it gets enough energy from the ship emissions in combat to activate earlier than desired. Angel returns early as well. It then attacks your ship and kills you in a heartbeat. Attack the Gorgs early. I found I was being reamed because I was letting the Gorgs come to me, which meant they got to the mechanoid body at weapons range and the battle took place in close proximity to the mechanoid. [Ed. Note: While I've never had any problems with this mission on any of the difficulties, it seems at least one person wasn't so lucky. According to Pearce, this mission went to hell in a handbasket for him rather quickly. He gives some sound advice, so if my strategy doesn't work, give this a shot.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> V-c. The Fight For Earth SAS01D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -[ Submitted by Michael "Snowman" Keith ]- Just keep in mind, I stuck to YOUR loadout when possible, taking these changes as priority: Sceptor: Using this as an artillary fighter Added a Bing Bang missle 2 eleminator torpedo's 1 Rad Energy bomb crystal cell plasma cell That takes up all of the RP I had. For other people, they may not be able to pull the last plasma cell. Keep all ranged weaponary already on the sceptor there, removing only the gatling guns and lasers or that sort of weaponary. Avalanche-Using this as an artillary fighter. 2 Eliminator Torpedo Big Bang Missle Rad Energy Bomb Brutus Heavy weapon I added Tremor Torpedo Sparta Heavy weapon I added Tremor Torpedo Crystal-It already has so much on there as torpedo's, I decided to let this one deal out as much damage as it could, since RP are limited here. Loadout for weapons looks like: Eliminator Torpedo "" "" Default weapon "" "" Tremor Torpedo "" All in all, I dont recall what I added, but I know in the end I wanted 3 elim torpedo, 2 tremor torpedo, and 3 of them were left as they came. The weapons looked exactly as I listed above, in order, from top to bottom. All other ships I left the same, and if I had ANY RP left I went for what out of your config I could. You had played it more than me, figured you knew what you were talking about. :) Using this loadout, it is IMPERITIVE that you keep your main force around at LEAST 8k from the wormhole, and I kept my missle boats back 10k, so my battleships could take the biggest beating. Don't forget to turn missles / torpedo's "on" on the ship options, or you will regret doing it this way. :) After that, set them all to Focus Behavior, and attack the big ones first. Your blast radius is just so massive that you eat up the little ones as you go. Attacking one noah ship should take them all out. Also, you may want to alternate which missle boat fires, as you do have a limited number of missles / torpedo's, and you DON'T wanna run out, lol. I did run out myself, and still won. I had to fall back and meet reinforcments half way, while I was running I sent EVERY fighter / bomber / gunboat I had to attack the vardrag shields. I didn't bother with the weapons, just the shields. I was able to take them all down, and still had fighters left over to harrass the left over Gorg. I have yet to play this mission without some gorg cruisers surviving and pecking at the collosus. Don't forget about it... _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> VI. S H I P S SSHP01 =============================================================================== Ships are what Nexus is all about, so here we have an entire section devoted to all of the ships in the game. This section ONLY covers ships you can control in the Single Player Campaign. NPC ships are not included, nor is anything from Multiplayer included. Each ship has its own listing, which includes information such as the number of device slots and what type of devices can be mounted there and some other information. These ships are listed in order of appearance. ----[ Stiletto ]--------------------------------------------------------------- The Stiletto was the first Stiletto class corvette built by SpaceTech Industries. Currently, there are over 50 Stiletto class corvettes in service. The ship is a medium-sized vessel with a decent assortment of device slots. It has 10 Docking Slots, which allow for only two Squadrons, however this is more than enough. Not the most powerful ship, but it can certainly hold its own. Device Slots: 14 Docking Slots: 10 01. Normal Weapons / Data Scanners 08. Other Generators / Supports 02. Normal Weapons 09. Supports 03. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 10. Supports 04. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 11. Supports 05. Special Weapons 12. Energy Cells 06. Main Engines 13. Energy Cells 07. Secondary Engines 14. Weapons Energy Generators ----[ Lightning & Madeline ]--------------------------------------------------- The Lightning and Madeline are both light corvettes, similar to the Stiletto design. They are meant for support and recon roles. Versatile ships that can hold a wide assortment of devices. Device Slots: 13 Docking Slots: ? 01. Normal Weapons / Data Scanners 08. Supports 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 09. Supports 03. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 10. Other Generators / Supports 04. Special Weapons 11. Energy Cells 05. Main Engines 12. Energy Cells 06. Secondary Engines 13. Weapons Energy Generators 07. Supports <----[ Angelwing ]------------------------------------------------------------> The Angelwing is a cruiser sized ship of unknown origins. Originally discovered and/or created by the Kissaki Syndicate, it was stolen by SpaceTech Industries. It has many abilities including energy shielding, regenerative hull, and a Universe Technology Assimilator. It is upgraded with new technologies throughout the course of its journey. Device Slots: 24 Docking Slots: 16 01. Normal Weapons / Data Scanners 13. Special Engines 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 14. Special Engines (Stealth Drive) 03. Normal Weapons 15. Supports 04. Normal Weapons 16. Supports / Other Generators 05. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 17. Supports / Other Generators 06. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 18. Supports / Other Generators 07. Special Weapons 19. Cloaking Device Prototype 08. Special Weapons 20. Energy Cells 09. Mechanoid Angel 21. Energy Cells 10. Shields 22. Energy Cells 11. Main Engines 23. IP Drive 12. Secondary Engines 24. Weapons Energy Generators Extra Information: - During the "Sneaking" mission: Cloaking Device Prototype is added at slot #18 (shifting the rest of the slots down). The Stealth Drive is added (slot #13). Both cannot be removed. - During "The Siege of Avalon" mission: Mechanoid Angel added at slot #09, shifting the rest of the slots down. Device Limitations: - Shields: "Big" size only. - Support Generators: L2 only - Main Engines: Medium sized only - Special Engines: Combat Drive only - Weapons Energy Generators: Standard or Combat types only <----[ Brutus ]---------------------------------------------------------------> The Brutus is a Scout Destroyer, commanded by Rudolf Veltman, the psychologist brought on board to analyze Angel. Essentially a larger version of the Stiletto in many respects, though somewhat smaller in size. Better engines and shields than the SpaceTech equivelents would've had. IP Drives come standard. Device Slots: 17 Docking Slots: 9 01. Data Scanners 10. Supports 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 11. Supports 03. Normal Weapons 12. Other Generators / Supports 04. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 13. Other Generators / Supports 05. Special Weapons 14. Energy Cells 06. Shields 15. Energy Cells 07. Main Engines 16. IP Drive 08. Secondary Engines 17. Weapons Energy Generators 09. Special Engines Device Limitations: - Shields: "Small" size only - Support Generators: L1 only - Special Engines: Deflection Engine only - Main Engines: Small sized only - Weapons Energy Generators: Standard or Tactical types only <----[ Sparta ]---------------------------------------------------------------> The Sparta is a Tactical Destroyer, commanded by Francis Delorian. The ship serves in a supporting role, initially equipped with device-destroying weapons. Nearly identical to the Brutus in all respects. Comes equipped with a Whitelight Heavy Laser at slot 01 which cannot be removed. Device Slots: 17 Docking Slots: 9 01. Whitelight Heavy Laser 10. Supports 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 11. Supports 03. Normal Weapons 12. Other Generators / Supports 04. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 13. Other Generators / Supports 05. Special Weapons 14. Energy Cells 06. Shields 15. Energy Cells 07. Main Engines 16. IP Drive 08. Secondary Engines 17. Weapons Energy Generators 09. Special Engines Device Limitations: - Shields: "Small" size only - Support Generators: L1 only - Special Engines: Deflection Engine only - Main Engines: Small sized only - Weapons Energy Generators: Standard or Tactical types only <----[ Avalanche ]------------------------------------------------------------> The Avalanche is a Heavy Cruiser. Nearly the same size as the Angelwing and with comparable arrament options. Device Slots: 22 Docking Slots: 14 01. Normal Weapons 12. Special Engines 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 13. Special Engines 03. Normal Weapons 14. Supports 04. Normal Weapons 15. Other Generators / Supports 05. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 16. Other Generators / Supports 06. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 17. Other Generators / Supports 07. Special Weapons 18. Energy Cells 08. Special Weapons 19. Energy Cells 09. Shields 20. Energy Cells 10. Main Engines 21. IP Drive 11. Secondary Engines 22. Weapons Energy Generators Device Limitations: - Shields: "Big" size only. - Support Generators: L2 only - Main Engines: Medium sized only - Special Engines: Combat Drive only - Weapons Energy Generators: Standard or Combat types only <----[ Guardian ]-------------------------------------------------------------> The Guardian is a Battleship -- the largest combat vessel in the Human fleet. It is an absolutely massive ship with eight weapon slots! The Guardian comes equipped with a Siege Laser; the most powerful weapon available. It's a slower ship, and may require additional defense at times, but it is capable of delivering a stunning amount of firepower. It also has a massive fighter bay with 24 docking slots, which is capable of housing 3-6 squadrons. Device Slots: 29 Docking Slots: 24 01. Normal Weapons 16. Special Engines 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 17. Supports 03. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 18. Other Generators / Suppports 04. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 19. Other Generators / Suppports 05. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 20. Other Generators / Suppports 06. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 21. Other Generators / Suppports 07. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 22. Energy Cells 08. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 23. Energy Cells 09. Siege Laser 24. Energy Cells 10. Special Weapons 25. Energy Cells 11. Special Weapons 26. Energy Cells 12. Shields 27. Energy Cells 13. Main Engines 28. IP Drive 14. Secondary Engines 29. Weapons Energy Generators 15. Special Engines Device Limitations: - Shields: "Big" size only - Support Generators: L3 only (slot 21 takes an L2 only) - Main Engines: Large size only - Special Engines: Combat Drive only - Weapons Energy Generators: Standard or Battle types only <----[ Colossus ]-------------------------------------------------------------> The Colossus is a Support Ship and as its name implies -- it's huge. Colossal. Just plain massive. It's not designed for combat, but it does have room for some weapons, definitely to be used in a defensive manner, or as a long range missile boat. It is the only ship capable of mounting the Fort Shield. As the ship is just plain large, it moves incredibly slow and is extremely vulnerable to attack because of this. This is also the first ship to get the experiemental Anti-Mechanoid Fortress Shield. Along with everything else, it has the largest docking bay in the fleet with a total of 30 slots. Enough for 6+ squadrons to easily fit. Device Slots: 27 Docking Slots: 30 01. Normal Weapons 15. Supports 02. Normal Weapons / Special Weapons 16. Other Generators / Supports 03. Normal Weapons 17. Other Generators / Supports 04. Normal Weapons 18. Energy Cells 05. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 19. Energy Cells 06. Normal Weapons / Heavy Weapons 20. Energy Cells 07. Special Weapons 21. Energy Cells 08. Special Weapons 22. Energy Cells 09. Special Weapons 23. Energy Cells 10. Special Weapons 24. Energy Cells 11. Shields / Fort Shields 25. Energy Cells 12. Main Engines 26. IP Drive 13. Secondary Engines 27. Weapons Energy Generators 14. Supports Device Limitations: - Support Generators: L3 only - Main Engines: Large size only - Weapons Energy Generators: Standard or Battle types only _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> VII. E - M A I L A N D S U B M I S S I O N S SSUB01 =============================================================================== Alright, in an effort to keep myself from getting a clogged inbox, here's a quick E-Mail policy and a guideline to submitting stuff to me. PLEASE read this before E-Mailing me. Be SURE to include "Nexus: The Jupiter Incident FAQ" in the subject of your e- mail. I'll instantly delete any e-mails without that! What You Can E-Mail ------------------- -> Additions (new information) for anything not included in the FAQ. -> Corrections (spelling errors, incorrect information, etc.) -> Questions regarding Nexus and this FAQ. (Please read through the FAQ to see if your question has already be answered before E-Mailing me. If something is already covered in the FAQ, I will NOT reply!) -> Constructive criticism. Don't flame me. I'll delete the mail and block your address. However, if you wish to tell me how I could improve the guide, or how you think something should be done, go right ahead. But again, DON'T FLAME ME, you'll get NO RESPONSE. What You CANNOT E-Mail ---------------------- -> Flames. Personal insults and the likes. Don't bother. These type of E-Mails will immediately be deleted and your E-Mail address blocked. Continued attempts at harassment of any form will be forwarded to your ISP. -> Questions on stuff already in the FAQ. READ THE FAQ. Don't mail me questions that I've already covered. These E-Mails will be deleted on sight! Repeated attempts will get your E-Mail blocked. -> Anything not related to this FAQ. I don't care, no exceptions. These E-Mails will be deleted. Repeated attempts will get your address blocked. -> Files. Attachments. I don't want any of your viruses, pictures, haikus or any of that stuff, sorry. Any E-Mails with attachments or files of ANY kind will immediately be deleted regardless of the content! -> Plagerism. Don't steal someone elses work and submit it as your own. First of all, that's stealing and it's wrong. Second of all, I don't want any grief because you stole someone elses work and now they're bitching at me because I gave you credit. So don't do it. I'll be more than happy to give up your e-mail address to the person you stole from. How and What to Submit ---------------------- If you have some information I don't have, or any corrections or whatever, please do submit them. If I include anything you've submitted, you will be given credit in the FAQ. If you do not wish to be listed in the document, please let me know. I will not be including E-Mail addresses with submissions unless you SPECIFICALLY ASK ME TO. A quick note on strategies. Since this game is a tactical game, and there are several ways of going about completing a mission, there are going to be lots of different strategies. I simply ask that you be as detailed as possible and that your strategy is UNIQUE. As in, DIFFERENT from mine (or any others)! Now here are some quick guidelines: ----------------------------------- -> ENGLISH ONLY PLEASE. I can't read any other languages (unfortunately) so please submit only in English. I'm pretty good at figuring out bad English, but try to be clear. -> BE AS DETAILED AS POSSIBLE. Don't make me guess. I hate guessing. Please be as detailed as you can be. For equipment submissions and corrections, please include everything that I list (type, RPs, etc.). If you don't know some information, let me know. Again, I hate guessing, so don't make me do it! -> MAKE SURE IT'S NOT ALREADY IN THE FAQ. You should always check the FAQ thoroughly before submitting something, to make sure it's not already in there. Please, save both of us time, and check! -> I will include your name (or nickname) in the FAQ. I strongly believe credit should be given. I WILL NOT include your E-Mail address unless you SPECIFICALLY ASK ME TO. If you don't want to be mentioned at all, YOU MUST LET ME KNOW. Okay, well, that's about all there is. Follow these FEW simple rules and we'll both be happy! Please understand, I get lots of e-mail regarding the FAQs I write, so it may take a few days for me to respond. I promise I will respond (may take up to a week, though). So please be patient and don't spam me! Oh and in case you're too lazy to scroll back to the top (CTRL+HOME is easy) my e-mail address is: onevertigo1(at)yahoo(dot)com _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> VIII. V E R S I O N H I S T O R Y SVH01 =============================================================================== ------------------------------- --> v1.2 - January 23, 2005 <--- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - My E-Mail address has been changed! I've had issues with Walla sending to AOL servers (among other problems), so I had to change my address! The new address is: onevertigo1(at)yahoo(dot)com - Added a couple strategies for the Alpha Gate mission (thanks NightStalker and Pearce) - Added another strategy for the Shukenja Beta mission (thanks Vapor) - Added another strategy for the Fight For Earth mission (thanks to Michael "Snowman" Keith ) - Added some more info and a strategy for The Mechanoid mission (thanks Pearce) - Fixed up the preface to the Walkthrough section and added some new info to it - Cleaned up the Version History section ------------------------------- --> v1.1 - December 5, 2004 <--- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Added Search Codes to the Interface section (forgot them last time, oops) - Added an additional strategy for the "Alpha Gate" mission (thanks MouseNo4) - Updated the Submissions section - Updated the preface to the Walkthrough section (read it!!) -------------------------------- --> v1.0 - November 25, 2004 <--- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - FAQ completed and released to the public. _______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== ==> IX. C R E D I T S A N D S P E C I A L T H A N K S SCST01 =============================================================================== This guide was written by and is Copyright (c) 2004-2005 Darrin Ackerman. Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is Copyright (c) 2004 Mithis Entertainment. First and foremost, a big THANK YOU to all the people on the GameFAQs message boards. They helped me immensely. They (probably unknowingly!) donated to the strategies I've come up with for this FAQ! You guys are great! -> Mech049, Martin Pagan, and the rest of you! The following people submitted information for this guide, so a big thanks to them!: -> MouseNo4 - hepled to develop the "Alpha Gate" mission strategy -> NightStalker - hepled to develop the "Alpha Gate" mission strategy -> Pearce - hepled to develop the "Alpha Gate" mission strategy -> Vapor - Alternate strategy for the Shukenja Beta mission -> Michael "Snowman" Keith - altnerate strategy for the Fight for Earth mission Next, much thanks to Mithis, cause.. well they made Nexus. Awesome game, good job guys. Let's not forget HD Interactive, for publishing Nexus! They saw the good that Nexus was, and brought it to us! Thanks to me! I wrote this! I painstakingly played the game (evil as it was at times) through several times (I'm on, uh... replay #8 right now...). And because my computer (or maybe Nexus?) hates me so much, I couldn't ALT-TAB out while I was gathering information. So I had to write everything down in a notebook first and pen&paper sucks and it's like outdated and I shouldn't have to think that much and and... ARRRGHHH!! It sucked. No, I don't want a medal or a cookie or even a pat on the back. I had to rant. :) ------------------------------[ END OF DOCUMENT ]------------------------------