Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Unofficial Strategy Guide and FAQ by Kasey Chang released July 28, 2002 0 Introduction This section is mainly about the FAQ itself and some legalese. You can read the most often asked FAQs at the end of this section, or skip right to [1] for the "stuff". If you like the FAQ, send me $1.00. :-) See 0.3 0.1 A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR This is a FAQ, NOT a manual. You won't learn how to play the game with this document, and I'm NOT about to add it to ease the life of software pirates, no matter how old the game is. Some of you may recognize my name as the editor for the XCOM and XCOM2: TFTD FAQ's, among others. If you don't care about all these verbiage (it's mainly for people who want to redistribute the guide) you can jump right to the end of this section and read some of the FAQs. If you like the FAQ, send me $1.00. :-) See 0.3 0.2 TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION This USG should be available at Gamefaqs (http://www.gamefaqs.com) and other major PC game websites (such as gamesdomain.com, gamespot.com, etc.). I only release it to Gamefaqs, so they would always have the latest. If you get it from anywhere else, beware that it may NOT be the latest and greatest version. To webmasters who wish to archive this FAQ on their website, please read below. This document is copyrighted by Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang (c) 2002, all rights reserved excepted as noted above in the disclaimer section. This document is available FREE of charge subjected to the following conditions: 1) This notice and author's name must accompany all copies of this document: "Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Unofficial Strategy Guide and FAQ" is copyrighted (c) 2002 by Kasey K.S. Chang, all rights reserved except as noted in the disclaimer." 2) This document must NOT be modified in any form or manner without prior permission of the author with the following exception: if you wish to convert this document to a different file format or archive format, with no change to the content, then no permission is needed. 2a) In case you can't read, that means TXT only. No banners, no HTML borders, no cutting up into multiple pages to get you more banner hits, and esp. no adding your site name to the site list. 3) No charge other than "reasonable" compensation should charged for its distribution. (Free is preferred) Sale of this information is expressly prohibited. If you see any one selling this guide, drop me a line. 4) If you used material from this, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE the source, else it is plagiarism. 5) The author hereby grants all games-related web sites the right to archive and link to this document to share among the game fandom, provided that all above restrictions are followed. Sidenote: The above conditions are known as a statutory contract. If you meet them, then you are entitled to the rights I give you in 5), i.e. archive and display this document on your website. If you don't follow them, you did not meet the statutory contract conditions, thus you have no right to display this document. If you still do so, then you are infringing upon my copyright. This section was added for any websites who don't seem to understand this. 0.3 VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION Gamers who read this guide are under NO obligation to send me ANY compensation. However, a VOLUNTARY contribution of one (1) US Dollar would be very appreciated. If you choose to do so, please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00 worth of stamps to "Kuo-Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk Blvd. #6, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA". If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I collect stamps too. 0.4 HOW AND WHEN TO CONTACT ME PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark, mistakes, and thereof... If you find a question about this game that is not covered in the USG, e-mail it to me at the address specified below. I'll try to answer it and include it in the next update. The address below is spelled out phonetically so spammers can't use spambots on it: Kilo-Sierra-Charlie-Hotel-Alpha-November-Golf-Seven-Seven AT Yankee-Alpha-Hotel-Oscar-Oscar DOT Charlie-Oscar-Mike To decipher this, simply read the first letter off each word except for the numbers and the punctuation. This is "military phonetics" or "aeronautical phonetics" in case you're wondering. This document was produced on Microsoft Word 97, with some notetaking on a Handspring Visor with the Targus foldable keyboard. Some editing done with Editpad (editpadclassic.com). 0.5 THE AUTHOR I am just a game player who decided to write my own FAQs when the ones I find don't cover what I want to see. Lots of people like what I did, so I kept doing it. Previously, I've written Unofficial Strategy Guides (USGs) for XCOM, XCOM2:TFTD, Wing Commander, Wing Commander 2, Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, Privateer, Spycraft, 688(I) Hunter/Killer. Mechwarrior 3, MW3 Expansion Pack, Mechwarrior 4, Mechwarrior 4: Black Knight, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, The Sting!, Terranova, Fallout Tactics, Starfleet Command Volume II, and a few more. Most of them should be on http://www.gamefaqs.com, the biggest FAQ site around. To contact me, see Error! Reference source not found. above. 0.6 DISCLAIMER/ COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising is produced by Rage (http://www.rage.com), is distributed in the US by Interplay (http://www.interplay.com), 14 Degrees East division (strategy games). There is no warranty for this unofficial strategy guide. After all, it depends on YOU the player. All I can do is offer some advice. 0.7 MISC NOTES From here on, I'll abbreviate Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising as just "HW". It saves me from typing all those words. 0.8 REVISION HISTORY 27-JUL-2002 Initial Release 0.9 THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: Can you send me HW (or portions thereof)? A: No. Q: Can you send me the manual (or portions thereof)? A: That's a portion of the game. Q: Can you tell me how to play the game? A: Read the manual. Q: How many CD's are there? A: Just 1, and one manual. Q: What are the keyboard shortcuts? A: Look for the README file in the install directory Q: What do all those control icons in that little control panel mean? A: Read the manual. Q: Can I have more than one copy of the Soulcatcher chip? A: Absolutely not. Supposedly, the two copies tried to kill each other when made. So after that, the scientists simply don't bother trying. Q: How do I tell how many shots does Antaeus have for the main battery? A: Look for a couple "dots" in the shape of shells on the main screen Antaeus icon. Q: What does that Latin phrase "Pugio in Averso Belli" mean? A: Rough translation is "Weapon [dagger] used to avoid war". Q: Is there a special meaning to the word "Antaeus"? A: Antaeus is a "giant" in Greek Mythology. Child of Poseidon and Gaia (God of the Sea and Mother Earth, respectively), Antaeus is invincible as long as he had his feet touching Earth. Hercules defeated Antaeus by lifting him off the ground. Q: Is there multiplayer? A: No. Multiplayer is NOT possible with HW. Q: How do I cheat? A: See final section 1 Game Information 1.1 WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND FOR HOSTILE WASTERS: ANTEAUS RISING? It is the year 2032. The last war has been fought 20 years ago. The world, with discovery of nanotech, has known peace ever since. There are plenty of food and material for everyone thanks to nanotech, and therefore wars are no longer needed. All weapons were destroyed, and Ministry of Technology (Minitech) holds careful oversight on any research that may have military potentials. However, a Cabal is threatening that hard-built peace by rearming themselves. They have taken over a chain of islands in the Pacific. They threaten to kill millions if not left alone, and are likely to eventually take over the world. With all of the weapons gone, the world must call upon the last of the Adaptive Cruisers lost at sea... And you will be its commander. Take its units, and the limited Soulcatcher profiles, into battle... May the righteous prevail. 1.2 WHAT IS HOSTILE WATERS: ANTEAUS RISING? HW is best described as a hybrid between RTS and a 3rd person shooter, with some pretty impressive AI. Someone described it as a mix between Activision's "Battlezone" and the old Rainbird title "Carrier Command". Basically, you have this "carrier" (i.e. adaptive cruiser) called the Antaeus, prototype 00. It can build units from its energy storage almost instantaneously using nanotech. You can analyze wreckage or sample of existing weapon or unit, or you can receive blueprints download from Minitech or any other source, and almost instantly build your version. These units, however, have no AI. You can use the units two ways: either fly a unit yourself ("Direct Control Interface"), or plug in one of the "Soulcatcher" chips and let that AI take over, while you give it "general" orders via the "Command Interface". Energy (and raw material) comes from "harvesting". You harvest by sending a Scarab (or a Behemoth when you get it) with a Recycler unit (and perhaps a soulcatcher chip as well). As the carrier is usually offcoast, you will need a transport helicopter to move the Scarab to land. Then this harvester should do things automatically if you put in the AI, else you need to do the "harvesting" yourself. Point, and shoot. The nannites are shot onto the item, which is then analyzed, then ZAP, absorbed by the beam. You can outfit your units with other weapons and devices as they become available. Some of the missions will have you retrieving weapons, units, and devices to be analyzed by Antaeus so you can build your own copies. Each of the Soulcatcher profiles you have has a different personality and some are more suited for certain purposes than others. As the number of profiles you have is limited, this is not a "built X units and rush" game. You need to consider your needs, build the appropriate vehicle, add the appropriate profile, devices, and weapons, then send them out with a purpose. You can "recycle" existing units to recover a lot of the energy and build improved versions. You can also recover debris left by enemy units to be used by yourself. The enemy will send units after you. To slow them down, you need to destroy radar dishes to blind them, destroy energy sources and energy storage facilities to starve them, then finally, production facilities to eliminate them altogether. "Tank rush" will not work here. Threats comes in many types, land, air, or amphibious. You will even participate in some rescue missions. 1.3 WHAT DO I NEED TO RUN HOSTILE WATERS? From the README file... Minimum: Processor: Intel Pentium II 266MHz Operating System: MS Windows 95 CD ROM: 4X RAM: 64mb RAM Controls: Keyboard and Mouse Sound: 16 bit sound card Graphics: 8Mb AGP Video card. Recommended: Processor: Intel Pentium II 350MHz Operating System: MS Windows 98 CD ROM: 16X RAM: 128mb RAM Controls: Keyboard and 3 button mouse Sound: 3D sound card Graphics: Fast 16Mb Video card. Optimal: Processor: Intel Pentium III 700 or AMD Athlon 700 and beyond Operating System: MS Windows ME CD ROM: 36X RAM: 128mb RAM Controls: Keyboard and 3 button mouse Sound: Creative SoundBlaster Live! Graphics: 64Mb AGP Video card. Please note that Windows NT is NOT supported. Any info you have on NT compatibility would be appreciated. Above info was taken from the README file. There is NO report of XP compatibility, so if you got it working in XP, good for you. Let me know if there's anything special you needed to do. 1.4 ANY ALTERNATE VERSIONS? PATCHES? Hostile Waters is known as "Hostile Waters" in Europe (distributed by Titus). In the US, it is known as "Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising" (distributed by Interplay). There is one patch for the European version that updates it to 1.03g. This patch is not needed for the US version. 1.5 MISC GAME INFO Any one remember "Carrier Command"? This game was inspired by it. As indicated on the box, Tom Baker (i.e. Dr. Who) is the narrator. Church and Walker are voiced by respectively two of the famous British actress/actor from the series "Blake's 7". The writer for the game did some pretty impressive comics / graphic novels. Unfortunately, the lack of multiplayer relegated this game into also-ran status. 2 Available Weapons Briefing All weapons in HW use self-replicating munitions, and thus have infinite ammo. Firing time can be improved by a recharge device (see 3.7), but that comes pretty late in the game (mission 16). 2.1 SCALPEL CHAINGUN Range low, firing rate high, damage low, shot speed fast, cost 250 ej, available mission 2 Scalpel is a general-purpose chain gun that can destroy just about anything, both on the ground and in the air, but the low- range (about 100 meters) means you'll get hit as well. While damage is low, it has high firing rate so it does plenty of damage. Give vehicles armed with this the heaviest armor and shields you got, as the enemies will tend to concentrate on it, being the closest target. 2.2 LONGBOW MISSILE LAUNCHER Range medium, firing rate medium, damage low, shot speed medium, cost 250 ej, available mission 4 Longbow is the perfect complement to Scalpel, having a longer range (about 280 meters) but slower firing rate. The missiles are self-guiding, but tend to miss at close range, another reason it complements Scalpel. If you are using this under direct control, get a lock-on before firing. If you don't lock on, the missiles won't guide, so you won't hit a moving target. Longbow is good on both air and ground units. 2.3 RAPIER LASER Range very long, firing rate low, damage low, shot speed extreme, cost 2000 ej, available mission 7 Rapier is a VERY long-range weapon, almost like a sniper rifle. It recharges slowly (compared to other weapons) and does little damage, but if the enemy can't shoot back, who cares? If you take control of a Rapier-equipped unit, you can use the Zoom feature to zoom in up to 16X for precise targeting. In fact, this is recommended (besides putting Madsen on the job). Remember to back it up with other weapons like Longbow and Scalpel. It doesn't do much damage so it needs a LOT of shots to kill an enemy. A typical AAA turret takes like 10-11 shots from a Rapier. 2.4 ARCLIGHT EMP BLASTER Range long, firing rate low, damage N/A, shot speed slow, cost 250 ej, available mission 10 Arclight does NOT damage the enemy. Instead, it disables the enemy for about 90 seconds. It can be used to disable AAA for other weapons to destroy it. Arclight is virtually useless against moving targets (air or ground) as its "shot" is EXTREMELY slow moving. However, you COULD use it to disable AAA turrets so your other air units can kill one before it comes back online. There is only ONE mission you need to use Arclight, to disable the subs. If used against one of those subs, the effects are permanent. At other time it's probably not needed. 2.5 WARHAMMER ARTILLERY Range long, firing rate low, damage high, shot speed medium, cost 1250 ej, available mission 11 Warhammer is a long-range howitzer adapted to modular weaponry. It does good damage and has tremendous range, but lousy reload time. The shot takes a while to arrive, so again, virtually useless against moving targets. It also causes quite a bit of "splash" damage, so don't use in close proximity of friendly units. Warhammer's range can exceed visual range of your units. If you can get a spotter into range (via a chopper or a cloaked Puma) you can launch strikes from behind a hill, for a truly devastating fire mission. Range of a Warhammer is in excess of 400 m. Sometimes the rounds, due to the arc, hits the hill next to the target instead of directly impacting the target. If that's the case (you fired a lot of rounds for no effect), move left or right, then try again. If you are using Warhammer manually, use the impact camera (on the left) and try to adjust the trajectory with it. Warhammer is only useful against ground units. It will NOT target any air units. On the other hand, you may hit one by accident. So keep the air units a little away from the howitzers. Warhammer's shots takes like 2-3 seconds to arrive, so it tends to waste shots. Warhammer's cannon can be used as a direct-fire weapon with a HUGE damage radius (compared to other weapons). Fire them into a group of enemy walkers and see them explode into gibblets. While Warhammer CAN be placed on a chopper, don't do it. Chopper is too unstable for a proper firing of an artillery piece. You have to be point-blank to get a hit. Put Warhammer on a tank or a hovercraft instead. In the end, Warhammer become your primary weapon. While you still need other weapons to take care of attackers, Warhammer is your best weapon to bust turrets and other fixed defenses. 2.6 FIRESTORM FLAMETHROWER Range point-blank, firing rate high, damage medium, cost 500 ej, available mission 14 Firestorm has one use: to burn bugs and bug buildings. Due to short-range, it's best to clean out the surrounding area of enemies before you bring in the flamethrower. Due to the short range, Firestorm is only useful against ground targets. However, it can be mounted on choppers and can be quite useful as a quick demolition tool. It can do 10% of damage to bug buildings in like 5 seconds, with full charge. Once the charge is exhausted, the burning gets quite a bit slower. Remember to read the "Stealth Kamikaze" tactic, among others. If a single bug unit challenges a Firestorm unit, let it engage. If you see a swarm, run. 3 Available Device Briefing You can add all sorts of devices to your units if they have device bays for them, all of them helpful in one way or another. 3.1 RECYCLER UNIT Available mission 1, 3x3 device, cost 250 ej Fits in Scarab and Behemoth. Makes the unit "red". Recycler unit gives the equipped unit ability to scan and absorb wreckage and structures full of metal and energy so it can be used by the Antaeus' "creation engine" to build other things. 3.2 ARMOR Available mission 2, 1x1 device, cost 350 ej Fits in all units except Vulture and Magpie (no bay) Also called ablative armor, this adds on extra set of armor in addition to the built-in armor for more survivability. Best combined with shield. Shield regenerate, armor does not. 3.3 SOULCATCHER CHIP Available mission 2, 1x1 device, cost 100 ej Fits in all units except Vulture and Magpie (no bay) Gives the unit AI so it can do a bit of independent thinking, such as automatically engage visible enemies, fly to certain location and perform certain tasks, and so on. You can't do everything by yourself, so don't. Use a chip to help out. Remember some profiles are better at certain tasks. There are SOME cases where you do need to use craft to do things yourself, esp. when you've used everybody. 3.4 REPAIR UNIT Available mission 5, 3x3 device, cost 3000 ej Fits in Scarab and Behemoth. Makes the unit "green". Repairs the vehicle to mint condition, subject to time. The more expensive the vehicle and more damage the vehicle has sustained, the longer repairs will take. If you put this in unit with Soulcatcher chip, the unit will automatically repair all friendly units in sensor range. 3.5 CLOAK Available mission 9, 1x2 device, cost 1000 ej Fits in all units except Vulture and Magpie (no bay) Makes the vehicle invisible to visible wavelengths, but NOT silent, NOR invisible to radar. Best used on Puma, which has a stealth profile (supposedly), and don't get too close to enemy radars either to make sure you don't get spotted. If enemy bumps into a cloaked unit, they will know where to shoot, and usually that means the end of that unit. If you are going to leave a cloaked unit alone, find a spot that will NOT be in an enemy's path. 3.6 SHIELD Available mission 14, 1x2 device, cost 1000 ej Shield is a true energy and deflector shield that protects the equipped unit from damage, both ballistic and energy. While not capable of deflect as much damage as armor, shield will "recharge" over time. You can use multiple shields in the same unit. Do NOT combine shield with cloak. Cloak operation requires that the shield be dropped. 3.7 RECHARGE UNIT Available mission 16, 1x2 device, cost 1500 ej Fits in all units except Vulture and Magpie (no bays) Increases firing rate of all weapons (by how much? 50%? 100%?) 4 Friendly Unit Briefing There are essentially four types of units: land combat units, amphibious combat units, air combat units, and utility units. The hardpoints just means how many weapons you select will it carry. You cannot mix and match weapons (like 1 Longbow and 1 Scalpel). 4.1 LAND COMBAT UNITS Land combat units can only fight on land, not on water or in air. They include both tracked and wheeled vehicles. Magpie or Pegasus must transport them to their destination. Being land units, their speed is limited, but they usually are able to carry more armor and have larger device bays. 4.1.1 Puma 1x3 bay, 1 hardpoint, available mission 9, cost 150 ej Puma is a light recon buggy. It has paper-thin armor so the equipment bay is best left for a cloak. Its best use is as an artillery spotter for Antaeus "main battery" or for Warhammer- equipped units. 4.1.1.1 Stealth Scout Config Scalpel chaingun, cloak, soulcatcher. Total Cost = 1250 In general, you should NEVER fire that gun, but you have to fit one in, so pick a VERY short-range one. Find an empty spot to park and just act as a spotter for the heavy guns. 4.1.1.2 Stealth Scout/Kamikaze Config Firestorm flamethrower, cloak, soulcatcher. Total Cost = 1500 The Stealth Scout/Kamikaze config is used for the times where you need to fry some enemy buildings IMMEDIATELY instead of doing the regular kill energy production, then storage, then production facilities. Find an empty spot to park and just act as a spotter for the Antaeus main guns, then kamikaze the building with Firestorm and fry it. Boom! No more production. Repeat for other production buildings. 4.1.2 Rhino 5 @ 1x2 bays, 1 hardpoint, available mission 11, cost 650 ej Rhino, when equipped with a Warhammer, is a great assault platform. It doesn't do that well against moving targets, however. Definitely bring air cover. When you have enough energy, add more armor and shield as applicable. 4.1.2.1 Fire support / assault config Warhammer, armor, soulcatcher. Total cost = ???? ej 4.1.2.2 Close Escort Config Scalpel, 4 x shields and 1xarmor, soulcatcher. Total cost = ???? Close escort config are designed take incoming fire and defend the Warhammer-equipped Rhino from enemy units. 4.1.2.3 Long Escort Config Longbow, 2 x shields and 3 x armor, soulcatcher. Total cost = ???? This one engages the enemy at longer range, thus needing less shields. 4.1.3 Behemoth 1 @ 3x5 bay, 2 hardpoints, available mission 19, cost 900 ej With a HUGE cargo bay, Behemoth is very flexible. With twin hardpoints, it is also very deadly. However, it doesn't move fast. Escort! Escort! Mix the weaponry so you have one Warhammer for long-range bombardment and something for closer-range, maybe even anti-air threats, unless you brought air cover. Consider slapping a Recycler unit in the Behemoth so it can both take out enemy structures AND absorb them for your use. 4.2 HOVERCRAFT COMBAT UNITS Hovercrafts are amphibious with excellent speed and mobility. However, it cannot carry as much equipment or armor as its landlocked cousins. They can self-deploy without using a lifter like Magpie or Pegasus. 4.2.1 Salamander 1 @ 1x3 bay, 1 @ 1x1 bay, 1 hardpoint, available mission 5, cost 400 ej Salamander is basically a combat hovercraft. Its default armor is adequate. Fitted with a Rapier or Warhammer, they can blow up enemy guns from very long range. However, they need protection from air threats. Try to escort them with Hornets until the coast is clear. Fitted with Longbow, they are nice mobile multi-purpose attackers. 4.2.1.1 Dual-Purpose Config, single/double/triple armor Longbow missile, 1/2/3 x armor, soulcatcher. Total cost = 1100/1450/1800 ej This config is good for both anti-air and general combat against ground units and structures. 4.2.1.2 Laser Config, single/double/triple armor Rapier laser, 1/2/3 x armor, soulcatcher. Total cost = 2850/3200/3550 ej This "sniper" rig is great for dealing damage from afar. 4.2.1.3 Fire Support Config, single/double/triple armor Warhammer cannon, 1/2/3 x armor, soulcatcher. Total cost = 2100/2450/2800 ej Need a Puma or a Hornet as a spotter, but otherwise quite deadly with great mobility. 4.2.1.4 Burner Config, single/double/triple armor Firestorm flamethrower, 1/2/3 x armor, soulcatcher. Total cost = 1350/1700/2050 ej Zip in there, burn the structure, zip out. 4.2.2 Shark 2 @ 1x3 bays, 2 hardpoints, available mission 16, cost 950 ej Shark is basically the land equivalent of the Phoenix... It has double the firepower, excellent armor, big equipment bay, and more than double the cost. 4.3 AIR COMBAT UNITS Air combat unit has the highest speed but generally the least amount of room for onboard expansions (and armor and shields and such). 4.3.1 Hornet 2 @ 1x1 bays, 1 @ 1x2 bay, 1 hardpoint, available mission 2, cost 150 ej A light and fast attack chopper, it has no problem killing other similar air units. In fact, you don't get a better air unit until mission 15, when the Phoenix becomes available. Most weapons will fit in this chopper. However, due to it having only one hardpoint, it is better to pair these choppers for more firepower. One combo is Scalpel chaingun paired with Longbow missiles. A Hornet with Rapier laser is a great AAA killer, though it'll take it a long time. Firestorm on a Hornet makes a fast-moving nest-killer. Just make sure there are no air-threats for it at the target. Hornet CAN be cloaked, and makes a great spotter. However, remember that AAA works off radar, not visual wavelengths. Cloaked puma is more survivable as a spotter. 4.3.1.1 Dual-Purpose Config, single/double/triple armor Scalpel or Longbow, soulcatcher, 1/2/3 x armor. Total cost = 850 / 1200 / 1550 ej When you're tight on energy, single armor is enough, but don't expect such a craft to last very long unless the enemy has no anti-air capabilities. 4.3.1.2 Wild Weasel Config, single/double/triple armor Rapier laser, soulcatcher, 1/2/3 x armor. Total cost = 2600 / 2950 / 3200 ej This aerial sniper rig is great for taking out AAA, thus the name "Wild Weasel". 4.3.2 Phoenix 1 2x4 bay, 2 hardpoints, available mission 15, cost 550 ej Phoenix is the heavier version of Hornet, and is much better armed. With two turrets, you get double firepower. It also has excellent built-in armor, and can always fit some more shields and such. However, it is only available late. In general, it is better to have 1 Phoenix and 3 Hornets than 2 Phoenixes. 4.3.3 Vulture No device bay, 2 hardpoints, available mission 21, cost 350 ej Not a heli but a true VTOL jet, the Vulture has no device bay, and thus no armor and no shields. It's only protection is SPEED and that's not good at all. Having no device bay also restricts it to ONLY be used via "direct control", so it's pretty much a suicide mission... Fly out there, and do your job and hope nothing else requires your attention while you do it. In normal battles there is no place for it at all. 4.4 UTILITY UNITS 4.4.1 Scarab (Ground) 1 @ 1x1 bay, 1 @ 3x3 bay, no hardpoint, available mission 1, cost 100 ej Scarab with a Recycle unit will act as your harvester. Add Soulcatcher chip so it can harvest automatically. Scarab with a Repair unit and Soulcatcher AI will automatically repair all friendlies in its sensor range. 4.4.2 Magpie (Air) N/A, N/A, available mission 7, N/A Magpie is a VTOL lifter under a VERY dumb AI... It only knows how to lift from your carrier to the rally point. If you want to move things around or bring things back to ship, use Pegasus. However, it is FREE. If it was destroyed, it will be rebuilt by the next mission. Remember to MOVE the rally point to get the most out of Magpie. 4.4.3 Pegasus (Air) 1 @ 1x2 bay, no hardpoint, available mission 1, cost 75 ej Pegasus is a lifter that can move all sorts of things... Moving vehicles, bringing back debris for recycling, retrieve units for recycling, and so on. It is essential for your operation. Remember, Pegasus can carry debris back for recycling. So carry one of those BIG pieces back (those that are worth 1000 ejs or more) for recycling at the carrier, and let the Scarab work on the smaller stuff. 4.4.3.1 Transport Config, no/single armor Soulcatcher, 0/1 armor. Total cost = 175 / 525 ej 4.5 OTHER UNITS 4.5.1 Sentinel 2 @ 3x2 bays, one hardpoint, available mission 6, 400 ej Sentinel is a stationary turret, best left on the carrier itself so it can engage incoming threats. Use the right weapon and you will be fine, but it also needs an AI. In general, you want the Sentinel in the forward right or forward left bay. Just refuse the Magpie for want to move it, then "drag" the unit to the correct bay. Sentinel can also be placed on top of a hill as a defense site. Magpie is pretty stupid so you may want to use a Pegasus to do this. 4.5.1.1 Air Defense, single/double armor Longbow missile, soulcatcher, 1/2 x armor. Total cost = 1100 / 1450 ej 5 Soulcatcher Profiles Antaeus has only one live person onboard... You. Your assistants and briefers, Walker and Church, are at Minitech and are linked in by comm only. The actual fighting is done by all the Soulcatcher profiles, or you in remote control of a vehicle via telepresence. Think of them as "crew" if you like, but remember, they are not alive any more. So don't be afraid to lose them if the need arises. All profiles have a specialty, which basically means they get a bonus for doing that particular thing. Keep that in mind. However, all profiles can do all things. They may complain a bit if you send them in a vehicle or weapon not to their liking, but they'll still do their job. 5.1 BORDEN Available mission 2 Borden prefers attacking structures. Borden prefers distance fighting (so give her Longbow instead of Scalpel). Borden is probably best used in a Salamander or Shark, though she is quite capable in all vehicles. 5.2 PATTON Available mission 2 Patton prefers driving tanks, though he'll make do with any ground unit. Patton really likes Warhammer artillery. If you give him any other armament, he'll complain with epithets like "That's not a gun!" or "I've seen pea-shooters bigger than this!" 5.3 RANSOM Available mission 2 Ransom prefers driving helicopters (Hornet or Phoenix), and prefers Scalpel, but he'll make do with Longbow or Rapier. Ransom often chases AAA turrets, so make sure you pull him out of trouble when he gets into it. 5.4 KROKER Available mission 4 Kroker prefers Puma with cloak. Kroker can serve as a Pegasus pilot, or even a general combat pilot if need be. However, he's not that good of a pilot. 5.5 KOROLEV Available mission 5 Korolev is best in a Scarab with a recycler, harvesting. Keep Korolev out of fighting. Her Scarab has little/no armor. She's not much of a combat pilot either. She can be a generic pilot when things are tight. BEWARE: Korolev sometimes wanders into battles, so make sure she stays clear of the area. 5.6 MADSEN Available mission 6 Madsen is best with a Rapier sniping at enemy targets. He goes into hover and carefully aims... completely oblivious to proper dogfight techniques. Madsen is okay in both ground and air units, with almost any weapon. BEWARE: assign Madsen an escort so he doesn't get shot down while making a long-range kill 5.7 SINCLAIR Available mission 11 Sinclair is only good for assignment in the Sentinel defense turret. Though in a tough situation he can work as a generic Longbow-equipped pilot. 5.8 LAZARE Available mission 15 Lazare is good in both air and ground assaults. He prefers Phoenix chopper, though he can do as Shark or Rhino pilot as well. BEWARE: watch Lazare as he often bites off more than he can chew 5.9 KENZIE Available mission 19 Kenzie is best in a hovercraft, namely Salamander or Shark. She gets a "bonus" in a hovercraft. 5.10 ELROY Available mission 20 Elroy likes tanks, bigger the better. Rhino's okay, Behemoth's the best. He gets a bonus in a tank. 6 Hostile Unit Briefing Hostile units generally fall into 3 types: air units, ground units, and fixed defenses. 6.1 AIR UNITS Air Units are best handled by other air units, such as Hornet / Phoenix, but dual-purpose weapons like Scalpel and Longbow work well enough, even on ground units. 6.1.1 Recon Chopper Very light, this is mincemeat for your Hornets with just a Scalpel chaingun. Normal and hybrid. Alien version is "small flyer". 6.1.2 Assault Chopper These Apaches are equipped with something similar to your Longbow missiles, so beware. They can be pretty hard-hitting. Normal and hybrid. Alien version is "medium flyer". 6.1.3 VTOL Bomber These have to hover above the target to drop a bomb, and otherwise cannot protect themselves. They usually come with assault choppers though. Normal and hybrid. Alien version is Hoverlaser. 6.1.4 Small Flyer Alien version of the recon chopper, but stronger. Single energy blaster. 6.1.5 Medium Flyer Alien version of the assault chopper, but stronger and more maneuverable. Twin energy blasters. 6.1.6 Hoverlaser Similar to VTOL bomber, this alien unit hovers above you and shoots a heavy beam downward. Two shots will take out a Behemoth with armor, so beware! Alien only. 6.2 GROUND MOBILE UNITS These come in both normal and hybrid versions. 6.2.1 M-1 Abrams Battletank Heavy cannon, but no anti-air, kill it with airpower is best, though ground units would work also. Normal and hybrid. Alien version is Red Walker. 6.2.2 M-6 Mammoth Supertank Double cannon AND SAMs... This can be hard to kill. Still, get in close and you can get lucky. Normal and hybrid. Alien version is Black Walker. 6.2.3 Mobile Howitzer / SPG (self-propelled gun) Extremely long range, this can be really deadly if you stay still. However, no anti-air capability. So they are at the mercy of any air power. If you keep moving you can avoid their shots. Normal and hybrid. Alien version is Slug. 6.2.4 Suicide Runner Kamikaze units that attack ground units, cause little damage, but tend to swarm. A nest will keep pumping these out until you wipe out the nest or energy source. Alien only. 6.2.5 Red Walker Four legs, with a cannon that's comparable to M-1. No air defense, susceptible to fire from Firestorm flamethrower. 6.2.6 Black Walker Six legs, with a tail stinger, AND energy cannon, this is comparable to the Mammoth supertank. Best attacked from a distance with Warhammer. 6.2.7 Slug Pretty slow, but well armored, and has an energy cannon with a good splash radius. It's best to use air power to kill slugs. Think of them as bug mobile howitzers. 6.3 FIXED DEFENSES 6.3.1 50 mm dual-use cannons Same range as a Scalpel, usable against both air and ground, this cannon is point-defense for a lot of Cabal structures. Use long- range weapons to kill them. Regular and hybrid. Alien equivalent is laser tower. 6.3.2 AAA Usually mounted on a tower. Can only kill aircraft, so try to use Longbow if you must use aircraft to kill one. If you have ground units, send in ground units. The alien version is MUCH more powerful, as it's based on an energy weapon. BEWARE! Regular, hybrid, and alien. 6.3.3 Defense bunker Short-range but heavy-hitting cannons, no anti-air capability. Warhammer can hit it without it hitting back. Can be dangerous in groups to shorter ranged weapons like Scalpel and Longbow. Regular and hybrid. Alien equivalent is lightning tower. 6.3.4 Fixed howitzer Similar to mobile howitzer, but fixed, and very little armor. Again, no anti-air. Best killed with airpower, though Rapier or Warhammer from a distance would work as well. Regular and hybrid. Alien version is "blast cannon". 6.3.5 Blast Cannon Like howitzer, it fires shot in a high-arcing trajectory. Long reload time, susceptible to air assaults. Think of it as REALLY alien version of fixed howitzer. Sometimes I'll refer to them as "alien howitzer". Alien only. 6.3.6 Lightning tower Short-range defense both air and ground... Two shoots will kill you without shields. Long-range firepower is best for killing one. Alien version of defense bunker. Alien only. 6.3.7 Laser tower Sort of improved version of the 50 mm dual-use cannons, these take on both air and ground threats, with improved range. They also form laser barriers. Alien only. 7 Hostile Structure Briefing Hostile structures support their "war machine". To take them out, you need to wipe out the derricks, then the storage, then the production facilities. Killing the radar outpost will give you some reaction time. These buildings come in regular, hybrid, and alien versions. Some alien structures can hide underground, then pop up. You need to trigger them with a unit, preferably cloaked. The alien structures are vulnerable to fire from the Firestorm flamethrower. 7.1 DERRICKS Harvesting energy out of the ground, which then goes to energy storage. These are your PRIMARY targets. Without energy, enemy cannot build any more units. If there's a choice between killing the derricks or incur no damage to your units, kill the derricks! 7.2 ENERGY STORAGE Stores energy from the derricks, drives the production factories. These aren't that important, as they have limited capacity. After the derricks are gone, these would be empty soon. Energy storage looks like a storage tank. If the tank is full, it looks "inflated". If the tank is empty, it looks deflated. If you have already destroyed the derricks that feed the stroage tanks, you can ignore any tanks that look "deflated". They are "empty" and thus can no longer sustain the production plants. 7.3 GROUND UNIT PRODUCTION Makes ground units, like M-1 Abrahms, red walker, etc. 7.4 AIR UNIT PRODUCTION Makes Recon and Apache choppers, or flyers. 7.5 HEAVY PRODUCTION Makes heavy units like Mammoth / black walker, SPG (mobile howitzer) / slug, and VTOL Bomber/Hoverlaser. 7.6 RADAR OUTPOST Early warning radar, checks where you are. Kill them ASAP so the enemy has less reaction time to your incursions. Rapier can kill radar without being detected. Warning: the alien version of the radar can detect cloaked Puma if you get too close. Beware! 7.7 COMMAND CENTER / CONTROL CENTER Merely a mission objective... Big building and worth a lot of ejs (4000?). It doesn't produce anything. You can leave these for last. 7.8 ALIEN NEST Alien nest is the home of suicide runners. The nest is best destroyed by fire. It is a tough target, so you can probably leave these for last. 7.9 ALIEN "PUMP" This is a black alien creature that looks and sounds like a bug pumping something out of the ground. It is a structure supposedly similar to the derricks, but not identified as such. This is of no threat to you. You can kill these for recycling after you killed other things first. 8 General strategies and tactics 8.1 GENERAL COMBAT 8.1.1 Kill energy, then production... when possible Usually, you kill enemy derricks first, which cuts off their production energy supply. They then switch to the energy in their storage tanks. After they run out, they can't build any more. You THEN take out energy storage tanks to make them run out even faster. Then finally, you take out production facilities when there are no more units coming. If you try to pound production first, you have to waste a LOT of time killing the units that pop out. Unless... You use this next method. 8.1.2 When you're in a hurry, kill production first When the enemy production is so well defended or takes so long to kill that you will simply be overwhelmed if you do it the regular way, it's time to use a kamikaze attack on the production facilities themselves. I call this the "stealth kamikaze" tactic. Build a cloak Puma armed with Firestorm, and deploy it. Turn on its cloak first. Then move the Puma to an empty area that is NOT within the enemy path and is near the structure. Now pick your target. In general, you target the HEAVY factory, then the air factory. The lighter ground stuff is easy to kill, so you can leave that alone. Call in an Antaeus salvo on the production plant. After the salvo lands, it should have about 6% remaining. Move the cloaked Puma into the base, and find a place where you're less likely to be hit (by turrets and such) but close enough to the building you wish to torch. You probably want to stay on the OTHER side of building, opposite the enemy defense guns. You will also want to time the facility so you attack AFTER the units it produced has moved out of range. Order the Puma forward, torch the building, then immediately cloak and get out of the compound. Likely the Puma will not survive, but that quick burst of the flame should torch the building and it goes POOF. Voila, no more units, even if there are plenty of energy around. Repeat as many times as there are shots available from Antaeus. If you are in a hurry, drop TWO salvoes on the target. It's a waste, but sometimes it's necessary. 8.1.3 Combined Arms Many weapons/units in HW complement one another, and some units/weapons are best used to escort others. Find the good combinations and use them. Warhammer-equipped units esp. need the escorts. Let the Warhammer unit bust derricks and buildings and towers while the other units engage attacking enemies. 8.1.4 Divide and conquer Attack enemy units ONE at a time. Getting into the middle of units and getting hit from all sides is a quick way to lose your force. Instead, start from the edges and take out ONE at a time, retreat, then return to attack another. Your units are far more survivable than enemy units (in general) and thus, you should exploit that advantage to the extreme. This advantage is even more so when you get shields. Shields regenerate, armor does not. When applied to a larger scale, take out ONE enemy facility at a time. Clear the smaller one, consolidate your beachhead, then attack the next camp. If you fight two camps simultaneously you'll likely be overwhelmed. 8.1.5 Prioritize threats and engage accordingly Units that can do you the most damage should get priority attention. For example, the alien howitzers do the most damage and has the most range, then the AAA and dual-purpose towers. Then black walkers, then hoverlasers, then other units. As enemy changes range (due to your and their movement), reprioritize the targets. Usually your AI knows to handle the closest enemies, so leave them alone. Only give them orders when they get into things they can't handle. If you've destroyed energy production (derricks), you can ignore the energy storage and the production plants. They are useless after they "run dry". Similarly, if you've destroyed the production plant (with the kamikaze trick above) you can leave the derricks and storage depot alone and go on to attack something else. This is REALLY important when you are really pressed for time. 8.1.6 Use the right counter Almost every weapon has a counter. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses. Use the right weapons against the right enemy is the key to success in HW. Some examples include: AAA units cannot defend against ground attack. Ground units with no AAA are vulnerable from the air. Long-range units have slow firing rates, thus is vulnerable to close-in attacks. Close-in weapons can't reach long-range enemies, unless they are willing to brave the fire and close with the enemy. 8.1.7 Listen for Audio Queues Listen carefully to audio queues. All enemy buildings are dark red, but whoever detected it will tell you in general what they found. Energy derricks are of course, primary targets wherever you find them. Enemy will say things like "production is down" and things like that to let you know your progress against them. Of course, this only applies to human or hybrid units, not alien units. 8.2 ORDER TACTICS 8.2.1 Do NOT issue specific attack orders... unless you need to Your units with Soulcatcher chips are smart enough to engage hostiles THEN buildings, UNLESS you gave them specific orders to take out specific targets. Put them into the target's proximity and let the AI do the rest. There is an exception... In case of Warhammer-equipped units, you should use them to engage certain buildings, like energy derricks and energy storage tanks, before you leave them to engage anything else. Warhammer has a tendency to drop rounds right on top of friendly units using shorter-range weapons, so assigning the Warhammer unit other tasks will prevent fratricide. 8.2.2 Use "follow" command to NOT nursemaid... unless you have to You can assign one unit to follow another unit, and you should use that extensively instead of using the "group" function, esp. after you got Warhammer. Assign the escorts to follow the Warhammer unit around. Assign Warhammer to take out specific targets and the escorts will follow and protect the unit from attackers. There are exceptions to this. Sometimes, some units can get into more trouble than they should. In that case, order the unit to retreat, THEN follow (remember to cancel the existing "follow" order!) 8.2.3 Attack and Retreat After you take out a structure, pull back and consolidate. This gives your shields a chance to regenerate. THEN re-attack. 8.2.4 Disengage before it's too late When a unit reaches 25% point of health, it's time to disengage the unit so it can be repaired or replaced (recycle and rebuild). That's why shields are so powerful... If you give a shield- equipped unit some breathing time, it'll be good as new, if you disengaged early enough so the "core" wasn't damaged. If you do it later, the unit may be destroyed while attempting to disengage, then you would get NOTHING back. 8.2.5 Remember to CANCEL existing orders when issuing new ones Sometimes, you have standing orders on certain units, like recycle this area, follow that vehicle, and so on. Remember to CANCEL such standing orders before giving new ones or you'll be cursing at your vehicle on not following your orders. 8.3 WEAPON TACTICS 8.3.1 Longbow vs. Scalpel While Scalpel does complement Longbow, the unit with the Scalpel, being closer, tend to get REALLY beaten up, while the Longbow equipped unit doesn't even take a single hit. I prefer two vehicles with Longbow when possible, or two Longbow, one Scalpel, with the Scalpel unit having heavier shields and armor. 8.3.2 Keep Warhammer out of direct combat Keep Warhammer-equipped units out of direct combat. Their howitzers are long-range weapons, but the ballistic arc means their shots rarely land directly ON the enemy if the enemy is moving. If other units equipped with shorter ranged weapons are also engaging the enemy, the Warhammer's shots will frequently result in friendly-fire (which is anything but friendly!) 8.3.3 Spotter for Warhamer If you have Warhammer, you need a spotter, as the Warhammer can usually only hit targets within its own sensor range, except for, of course, the spotter. Cloaked Puma is the best for this. 8.3.4 Keep Firestorm out of direct combat Firestorm-equipped units have a VERY shot range, so short it's virtually useless except burning down alien buildings. Keep it out of direct combat if possible. Hide it behind a hill so the enemy will be at point-blank if you need to take one into direct combat. When the coast is clear, you can then have it join in for structure destruction. 8.3.5 Watch out for sidestepping choppers Ransom and other pilots tend to sidestep (fly sideways and circle) even when there is NO possibility the enemy can return fire, like busting AAA with a Rapier. This will sometimes cause them to fly right into range of another unit while trying to kill the first one. Good thing that Madsen doesn't have this problem. However, it also makes Madsen a sitting duck. Keep a close eye on these choppers, give them "goto" orders if necessary, or even take control of the unit yourself (unless there are enemy units nearby). 8.3.6 Ultimate combo... Two Behemoths Equip one Behemoth with Warhammer, Recycler, armor and shields. The other Behemoth gets Repair unit, armor and shields, and Longbow. These two can keep each other company, gather energy, AND keep the shooter in tip-top shape. 8.4 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 8.4.1 Replace When a unit is heavily damaged, SEND it back to be recycled, then generate a new one in its place with the same pilot and any improved armament as needed. Keep in mind that Magpie doesn't retrieve units, only deliver. So you will need to build a Pegasus to move things back to the carrier, unless you're talking about choppers or hovers. If this is not possible, you need to send out a repair unit, like Scarab or Behemoth with a repair module. 8.4.2 Reuse When a unit's purpose is over, recycle it for more energy. For example, when you finished moving things with a Pegasus, recycle it and build offensive units. When there are too much AAA for choppers to fly, recycle them for hover or land units. 8.4.3 Repair Sometimes, it's better to send out a repair unit to accompany your units instead of bringing the unit back to the ship to be replaced. The repair unit can be damaged though, and are quite expensive (and takes up one Soulcatcher chip). If need be, drive the repair unit yourself. 8.4.4 Harvesting under fire In general, if you have shooting units near the harvester, the harvest will be safe, as enemy units will evaluate the threat and declare the shooter to be more dangerous, and attack THAT instead. If a harvester is alone, it can be attacked if there are no other targets in the vicinity. So assign an escort to "soak" up the damage around the harvester. 8.4.5 Never stop harvesting While the energy you gather from one mission do NOT carry over into another, that is no excuse to keep your harvester idle. Having a TON of energy available would make the end of the mission that much easier, in case something goes wrong and you need to build backup units. 8.5 GAMEPLAY 8.5.1 Save the game! The game CAN be difficult so remember to save. Save once you start, then when each objective is complete, so you can start over if need be without starting all the way over from the beginning. Sometimes, you may even want to save more often than that. For example, in mission 9: Armia, you may want to save every time you start harvesting, so if you made a mistake and the Scarab cannot hide itself in time, you don't have to start all the way over. 8.5.2 Building and commanding STOPS THE CLOCK While you're in F1 and F2 screens, time is paused. This means you can recycle and rebuild your Sentinel onboard in ZERO TIME, so it will ALWAYS be fresh, even with just 1 armor. Just keep an eye on it. You can even swap its weapons, or move it from one bay to another, all that in ZERO TIME. 8.5.3 Grouping is NOT good In most RTS, you group the units together so you can command them together. While that can be done in HW, it's not very efficient, because you lose the ability to track the units separately. While you get a small bar graph of the individual units in the group, it is FAR less informative than the individual bars under individual icons. It also makes it very difficult to issue specific orders to a particular unit, like ordering a wounded unit to withdraw. Instead, use "follow" commands extensively, then you can just move the "head" unit" and the rest will follow. You get the benefits of grouping without losing the control over individual units. 8.5.4 Drag-and-drop In the production screen, you can drag and drop icons. This means that you can INSTANTLY recycle an existing Sentinel and build one in its place. Drag the icon from its forward-right bay to the recycler in the rear, and it'll instantly be absorbed. Then build another one in its place. If you built a unit with the wrong weapon, and it haven't left the pad yet, you can immediately drag that to be recycled and rebuilt (correctly). 8.5.5 Know the ej cost of certain combos You should have a reference of how much ej a certain combo, like Salamander with 2 armor and a Longbow, or Hornet with Scalpel and 1 armor, and so on, so you know instantly you can afford one. 8.5.6 Protect Antaeus Always have a Sentinel onboard when you can, and ALWAYS build that first so it is always ready to defend (and those Longbows are pretty effective). Remember, you can drag-and-drop units on the 4 pads provided that you didn't exit the building screen (F2). So put the turret on the side closest to shore. 9 Campaign Walkthru The mission names are from the last page of the mission briefing, when the specific objectives are listed. These events are what had worked for me. I can't guarantee you will get the exact same results, but it should be close enough. The first four mission are like a tutorial, and that's pretty good. 9.1 MISSION 1: RESURRECTION You have arrived on the Antaeus, and it is barely operational. Walker and Church are working on the ship as fast as they can. At least the Creation Engine is working so you can build some units, but there isn't much energy available. You'll have to get some. Also, no Soulcatcher chips are ready yet, so you'll have to use manual control for now. Objective: harvest 3500 ej, ensure both units (Pegasus and Scarab) survive You are just north of the entrance to the lagoon. Q: I can't pick up the Scarab with Pegasus! A: You're probably too high. Go a bit lower. Use the bottom camera to line up. Q: The Scarab died! A: The only way to kill the Scarab is for it "drown" (i.e. went into water). You better start over. Q: What do I do with the Scarab? A: Look for objects to harvest. Use the targeting controls and then move over to "zap" it with the harvest beam. Q: Why do some pieces take an instant to absorb, and some take a long time? A: The piece that yields a lot of energy will take longer than those that yield minimal energy. Take off in Pegasus, and target the Scarab. Fly over it (use the bottom camera) and drop a hook to pick it up. Fly lower if you need to. Once picked up, move Scarab to the beach directly to the south, and drop it on the beach. Take over the Scarab. Use "locate nearest resource" to locate debris to harvest. You can see those pieces on the ground as cyan dots on the radar. Repeat harvesting until you have gathered 3500 ej, and the mission should end. 9.2 MISSION 2: CONSTRUCTION AND ORDERING You need weapons, and you need them now. Unfortunately, none of the blueprints have survived in the memory banks. However, there appears to be a wreck of a Hornet attack chopper to the southwest you can retrieve. If you get that, the Creation Engine can copy it. Objective: Harvest 5500 ej energy, grab the Hornet's wreckage, destroy the radar, protect the ship You now have 3 Soulcatcher chips available: Borden, Patton, and Ransom. Start off by building a Scarab with a Recycler and Soulcatcher, assign Patton. Then build a Pegasus with Soulcatcher, assign Borden. Use the command interface and order Borden to pick up the Scarab, and drop it off at the Rally Point on the map. Then order Borden to move back near the Antaeus. Have her stay there for a while. Order Patton to start harvesting that depot with the energy tanks. Patton should notice the wreckage of the Hornet. Order Borden to go back and pick up the Hornet wreckage, then drop off at Antaeus Recycler. When that's done, the Hornet should become available. Now recycle the Pegasus as well. Build a Hornet and assign Ransom. Then move Ransom to near the radar dish (northwest on a little isthmus) and he should destroy that radar dish. He'll also take out any choppers that come to visit. When Borden is available again (from the Pegasus), build a second Hornet with her at the control and assign her to help Ransom. A couple Recon choppers will come visit, but they are no match to your Hornet(s). They'll keep coming for a couple waves. After that, you should get "protect ship" objective as "completed". Send the choppers to take out any other "red" stuff on the island. There are probably 3 AAA you need to take out. After they are all gone, send both choppers back to the carrier to be recycled. This will make Patton's job go faster as he needs to recycle less debris on the island. If Patton can't find enough stuff to recycle, move him around a bit so he can suck up whatever wreckage on the ground. The dock has some cranes that can be recycled, and there are other stuff around the island. Assign the choppers to blow up any recyclable structures that look intact. When you got 5500 ej, the mission ends. 9.3 MISSION 3: ILAX ISLAND We believe those recon choppers you saw came from this island. Remember, take out energy sources, then storage areas, then finally, the production factories. Also destroy any radar sites. Objective: Harvest 2000 ej, locate Air Unit Factory, destroy all derricks, destroy tank factory, destroy all radar stations, retrieve missile launcher for analysis No change in unit or Soulcatcher availability. Q: Where do I go first? A: Start just northwest, and clean out that little isthmus. That has the only oil derricks on the island. Q: Where is the air unit factory? A: Technically, it's NOT on this island. So don't worry about it. Q: Where are the derricks? A: Northwest of you... Just north of the depot. Q: How about the radar stations? A: One to west, just NW of the first depot. One on the eastern shore. Start building Hornet (assign Ransom), Pegasus (Borden), and Scarab (Patton). Send Ransom to destroy the storage depot, the radar, and the derricks. Then have Borden pickup Patton's Scarab and drop it where it can harvest all those wreckage. Send Borden back and when you got enough energy, build her a Hornet to backup Ransom. Send Ransom north, and take out the tanks and an AAA there. Now the isthmus is secure. Leave Ransom in a blocking position. Some tanks and recon choppers may visit, but without those derricks there can't be too many of them. If Ransom or Borden get whacked pretty hard, just send the wounded one back to be recycled and build a new Hornet. When Patton cleans out an area, send him to the other area you guys cleaned out with a lot of wreckage. Just north of that landbridge is the tank factory. Send both Hornets in to level it and all nearby stuff. Make sure you bring Patton along when he's done with that other area for more harvesting. Nor follow the edge of the island clockwise and destroy any enemy units. Remember, if you get attacked and severely damaged, move out of range of the weapon, then circle back to the carrier for rebuilding. Then go in again. Eventually, you find this little "base" in the middle of the main island... There's a missile launcher there. Clean out all the enemies. When there are no enemies there, send Borden back to carrier and recycle her Hornet, and build her a Pegasus. Then have her pickup the launcher, and drop it at the carrier recycler. When you got that, it's mission accomplished. 9.4 MISSION 4: MASTERING THE ANTAEUS CRUISER We goofed last time, but we think we found the real one now. The air factory is really on this next island. We also detected a comm array nearby, probably in the center of the island. We will want to intercept what they got, THEN blow it up. This will be a REAL fight, beware. Objective: Harvest 2500 ej, destroy air unit factory, intercept transmission, locate something that goes boom, destroy comm dish You now have 4 Soulcatcher chips available: Borden, Patton, Ransom, and Kroker. No new vehicles are available. You now have Longbow missile launcher. Q: How DO I kill the dish? A: See anything that will explode if given the proper incentive? Q: Where can I find some of that stuff? A: Direct east of you, past the depot. There are also some to the southwest near the port. You start on the northwest side of the island. The derricks are to your east. Build Hornet with Scalpel (Ransom), Hornet with Longbow (Borden), Pegasus (Kroker), and Scarab with Recycler (Patton). Send two Hornets east and take out the derricks, the storage tanks, and any buildings left on the 'top' part of the island. That is all the energy they got. They have some in storage but that won't last too long. When that top part is clear, send in Pegasus with the Scarab and have Scarab start harvesting. Some recon choppers will attack, but they're no match to your Hornets. If they make a run for the carrier, bring the Hornets back for defense. Then send them back out to kill things. You should notice there are several tanker trucks around and those really go "boom" with the right incentive. Take the Hornets and follow the western edge of the island and go counter-clockwise as you take out more buildings, energy storage, and so on, as you find more tanker trucks at the port in the southwest corner of the island. Start moving east, and take out the energy storage and air factory. Eventually, only the dish and AAA are left near the middle of the island. Kill the AAA. Send the most damaged chopper back to be recycled. Send the other Hornet next to the dish for the signal Intercept. Build a Pegasus with the recycled Hornet. Pick up one of those tanker trucks you found earlier, and have that dropped right next to dish. Then move the Pegasus back. Use the Hornet doing the Intercept (it should be done now) and have it blow up the tanker (shoot it). Take direct control if necessary. That should take out the dish, and you should win! 9.5 MISSION 5: INTERCEPTION We need to get to the wetdock for the complete repair, and we think someone on this island wouldn't want us there. Take them out before they do us in. Objectives: destroy outpost, locate drop plane, investigate sensor readings from northern part of the island, destroy towers. Korolev is now available as a soulcatcher chip. Q:Where are the derricks? A:Just east of you... Behind that AAA. You start just west of the island. Start by building Hornet with Scalpel and Armor (Ransom), Hornet with Longbow and Armor (Borden), Scarab with Recycler (Korolev), and Pegasus (Kroker). Send the Hornets directly east and take out the derricks and AAA there. That should slow them down. Have Pegasus pickup the Scarab and drop it at the ex-derricks for some harvesting. Send Hornets northeast and take out the radar and check out the funny readings. That little fortress has a lot of AAA, so try to go in where you can only be hit by one AAA at a time. Remember to rebuild when needed. Send Pegasus over to the ex-radar dish and nab the unknown object that's causing the strange sensor readings, and drop it in the ship's recycler. Scarab should be done with the initial site. Send it to that fortress you just wrecked. Send Pegasus back to be recycled. Then build two Salamanders with 2 armor and Longbow (or 1 Longbow and 1 Scalpel). You should have Patton and Kroker left. Assign them. Use them to take out the factory just south of derricks. If you have a LOT of energy (kept Korolev busy), send the 2 Hornets back to be recycled and built 2 more Salamanders with Longbow and 2 armor. Keep 1 or 2 at the ship as a SAM platform. Send the other 3 to attack. The attack force should go east and take out any remaining enemies. Now attack force follows eastern shores to south, and takes out the radar dish. Keep following the shores until you see the air factory and more energy storage. Take them out. You should see the drop plane lined up on the runway. Send your Salamanders in and blow it up. When you do that, some weird biological "towers" suddenly grew out of the ground... Your hovercrafts should engagement automatically though. When you team wiped out all the towers, the "crystal egg" should be revealed. Bring Korolev over, and have her Scarab very close to that "crystal egg". It is a "culture stone". The mission should end when Korolev gets close enough. 9.6 MISSION 6: WET DOCK We've arrived at the wet dock. We will be vulnerable during that time but that can't be helped. We need 8 minutes. Don't let Antaeus and those repair arms come to serious harm. Madsen is now available as part of Soulcatcher team. Repair unit is now available as a device, and Sentinel is now available as a unit. Objective: Protect Antaeus, and protect all the repair arms for 8 minutes. Q: Which ways should I expect the enemies? A: Northeast and northwest first, then southeast and southwest. Build Sentinel with Longbow and armor (Borden), Scarab with Recycler (Korolev), and Pegasus (Kroker? Madsen?) Have the Pegasus drop Scarab at where there is a lot of structures to recycle, then immediately have Pegasus head back for recycle. Build 4 Salamander with 2 armor and Longbow. First one, send northeast, second one northwest, third one southwest, and finally, southeast. You won't have energy for all of them immediately, so build them when you can. Keep Korolev busy! Keep building Salamander as energy become available. Scarab should always be collecting more energy. The northeast Salamander should be on top of that hill for best firing vantage point. Northwest Salamander should be between those two "arms" half way out. Put them far out enough so they will attract the enemy's attention before they get to the ship. Move them back into position after each area clears. If you place them right, those Salamanders should take out all of the invading aircrafts with help of the Sentinel, and you should win! 9.7 MISSION 7: KUNZ'S RESCUE Kunz managed to signal us... Cabal is building laser weapons. We can use some for our own copy. We also need to rescue Kunz without forcing the enemy to evacuate him or we'll never find him again. The laser would be just the weapon we need. No new units or weapons. However, Magpie is now available to delivery things to rally point. Objectives: locate laser, retrieve laser, rescue Kunz, take out Chinook pilot Q: How do I save Kunz? That Chinook keeps flying him away! A: Take out the pilot first. Q: How do I kill the Chinook pilot? A: Use a Salamander equipped with a laser. Q: Where is the Chinook pilot? A: Look for him near the east entrance. Q: What does the pilot look like? A: He's wearing an orange jumpsuit and a helmet. You have to zoom in REALLY close to see him though. Try 16X. Start by building Sentinel with Longbow and 1 armor (assign Borden), refuse Magpie delivery. Then build 2 Salamanders (Longbow / Scalpel with 2 armors each) crewed by Patton / Kroker. Also build Scarab with Recycler (Korolev), and accept Magpie delivery. Send Salamanders up to the beach and take out the 2 turrets. When the Salamanders leave, create a Hornet with Scalpel and 2 armor (Ransom). Send Hornet after the howitzers raining shots at the Salamanders and the Scarab. Now you've secured a beachhead. Now take the group of Salamanders and Hornet a little north, and have it take out everything (derricks, radar, howitzer, etc.) to north. Make sure the Scarab scour this area for more stuff. Continue north, and take out more howitzers, energy storage, etc. at the docks. You should see a lot of "yellow" crates. Attack the ship, sink it, while you're at it. Bring the Scarab over when it's ready. Build a Pegasus and assign Madsen to it. Use it to bring one of those crates back. Drop it off at the recycler. Voila, you got the laser... It'll be 2 minutes before it's ready. Follow the northern edge of the island and you should see some derricks just in from the coast. Take them out, but do NOT assault the fortress. Follow the coast and take out other buildings as you go. There's a small island to northwest that has energy storage. Use Madsen's Pegasus to shift the Scarab around for faster harvesting. You can even use the Pegasus to move wreckage back to the ship's recycler. Continue south and you'll hit tank and air factories, then more derricks and energy storage. Take out derricks first, THEN the factories. To west you'll see a dock connected by a bridge, with more AAA, energy storage, and another ship. You can also find laser crates here if you didn't grab any to the north. After those are gone, take out the ship as well. If you don't take out the ships, you have 10 minutes to destroy both ships near the end. May as well do it now. Follow the southern edge eastward until you're back at the carrier. Repair/rebuild all units. There should be no more enemy production now except whatever reserves they have. Build a Salamander with laser, no armor, no Soulcatcher. This one is YOURS. Drive it off the carrier and get close to that dot on the map, just north of it, at the ridgeline. Use zoom and look at the entrance gate. At 16x you should see an orange suited guy. That's the pilot you need to take out. If you don't see him, you're at the wrong location. Shoot him with the laser, and the pilot's dead. Then use the laser and take out all the AAA you see. Now move in the attack force (the Salamanders and Hornet) and take out all the AAA guns around the central base, and you win! 9.8 MISSION 8: ANOTHER RESCUE The data in the Chinook points to this island. This island is nicely ringed on all sides with defense AAA so ground assault is your best bet. We've sailed straight into the harbor so we have guns on all sides. You'll need to clean out the surrounding area, then take over the HQ and get the two scientists. No new units, no new devices, no new Soulcatcher chips. Q: So where are the scientists? A: Search around and find out... Q: All right... How do I get out? A: Delete the generator building, which is to the north a bit... Start by building a Sentinel (1 armor, Longbow, Borden) and 2 Salamanders (Longbow, 2x armor, Patton and one other). Immediately assign Salamanders to attack the nearest guns as they can destroy the Magpie even when it hasn't taken off yet. If they destroy it you need to build a Pegasus to move the Scarab (later) around. Once the surrounded guns are gone, move the Salamanders to that "pass" just to northwest. Build the Scarab with Recycler (assign Korolev). If Magpie is still around, use it. Else build a Pegasus and use that to move it to rally point, and send Korolev on harvesting trip. If you have to use a Pegasus, recycle it now. Build another Salamander or two when you can. Gather them at that pass, then up the hill. They will then proceed to protect the ship from the mobile howitzers, tanks, and the occasional choppers coming from that factory to the northeast. Continue north, and you'll see the fountain, then the building... As you reach the building... It's a trap! There are no scientists here! The sea door behind the ship closes and it's shielded... So weapons won't break it. Then, there are weird bio factories growing north, west, and south in those little "corners". Bring your forces back and take out one factory at a time, starting with northeast one and work your way counter-clockwise. Also quickly build Ransom a Hornet with Scalpel and 2 x armor and assign him to attack the bio factory as well. Watch out for those "slugs" as they are very powerful "tanks". However, they have no anti-air, so Hornet is best for killing them. Once all the factories are done, build a Pegasus to move Korolev to clean up after those bug factories. That should give you plenty of energy, enough to rebuild your units to full strength. If you're in a hurry, go north until you see a "yellow" building on the command map. Designate that shield generator building and send an Antaeus salvo or two at it, then gather everyone and blast that thing, and you win immediately. If you prefer to take it slow, gather your units and attack the fountain area again to the north of the pass, up that hill. You'll have to take out 2 lightning towers, then the misc. tanks and such. Continue moving north, past the empty HQ, and you spot the factory, which is yellow on the command map, along with other factories. Take out the derricks just to the northeast of the factories. Rebuild your units, then attack east from the factories and remove the final factories. Now you have no one to bother you. Feel free to blast any other enemies you see around, esp. those turrets. Beware that you'll see AAA and blast cannon bunkers. Now you can designate that "yellow" factory as a target for Antaeus' main battery. After that, if it's still there, assign all units to pound it. When it's toast, the sea door is open again, and you win. 9.9 MISSION 9: ARMIA ISLAND Kunz have developed Puma and Cloak, which can be very useful. You will investigate this next island in stealth... Do NOT be detected. This looks more than a supply depot. Objective: Harvest 6000 ej, Avoid detection, Locate Recon Unit Source, Investigate Some More, Destroy missile tracking sites Q: I can't stay undetected! A: Did you use only cloaked Pumas to recon? Did you engage cloak? Did you get Scarab out of sight when the recon choppers come by? Q: Where is that "recon chopper factory"? A: Northeast corner of the island. Beware of a few surprises. Q: What else do I look for? A: Look slightly northeast of the recon chopper factory. Q: Where are the three tracking arrays? A: 11 o'clock, 1 o'clock, and 6 o'clock, from the island center. Q: Antaeus has only two shots. How do I take out that remaining site? A: How did you do it last time? Q: Where can I find some, uh... things that go boom? A: Two places. Right where you start is one. Another is a little north of the 11 o'clock array, near the depot. You start on the west side of the island. The rally point is actually pretty exposed, but that's not a major problem. First task is to build a Puma with cloak, and assign Kroker. Let Magpie deliver it to the rally point, cloak immediately upon reaching the ground. If you happen to run into the recon chopper, restart the mission. Send the Puma eastward, cloaked and you'll see the first depot. Keep going east and you'll see the first factory complex. Beware that all these are heavily guarded. Don't get too close, and don't shoot any one! By now you should get two more special nav points, one near the middle of the island, and one on the beach. Get your cloaked Puma to center nav point. Be careful do NOT run into those electrified tracks! There are special "crossings" available on the tracks at certain places. That Puma will be the early warning system for the recon chopper on patrol. You may want to save now. Build a Scarab with Recycler and Korolev. Let Magpie deliver it to the rally point, and let it harvest that depot you found with the Puma earlier. If a recon chopper shows up on Kroker's radar, immediately cancel Korolev's orders, then send her Scarab to that point on the beach. Give the chopper 15-20 seconds, then resume harvesting. Leave the 2 tanker trucks there, you'll need it for something else later. When you have enough energy, build a second cloak Puma, with Madsen. Let Magpie deliver it. Remember to cloak. Send Madsen just northeast of the depot, on the beach, so he can monitor that recon chopper leaving so you can better use Korolev's Scarab harvesting. Keep harvesting and hiding until there's nothing left at the depot. Then send the Scarab back to the beach hiding point. Send Kroker's Puma and explore the island. I would go south, then try to go roughly counter-clockwise. Send Madsen's Puma north. You need to locate all three tracking arrays. If you hear a chirping sound, back off! You're getting too close to one of those radars. While Puma is a stealth vehicle, don't take a chance! Follow the road if you want. You'll find a "tracking array" (a white globe/dome) 6 o'clock from island center, almost to the beach. To the east of it you'll find chopper and tank factory, plus other structures. Another tracking array can be found 11 o'clock from island center, half way to edge. You'll also find a tank depot, AAA, and more energy storage there. Bring Madsen's Puma here so you can be ready to target it, but don't shoot it! There is another tracking array 1 o'clock, roughly same distance. Beyond that are a lot of bases. If you approach carefully you'll see the recon chopper factory... It's MUTATED. [Objective] Just to northwest of the factory... You find the missile launch silos. You need to destroy them quickly... But before you can do something, the missiles launched. You now have 20 minutes to take out all three arrays or those missiles will hit the capital. [Objective] Send Kroker's Puma back to the 1 o'clock array, and designate that as a target. Then have Antaeus drop a salvo on it. [Objective] Switch to Madsen's Puma and do the same thing to the 11o'clock array. Two down, one to go, and you have like 15-18 minutes to do it. [Objective] This third one requires a bit of "demolition", as Antaeus have no more ammo. Build a Pegasus with armor (Borden?) and a Hornet with laser and armor (Ransom). Have Pegasus pick up one of the tanker trucks, then fly SOUTH, then east, and drop that tanker right on top of the dome. You may need to use manual control to do this. Try to drop it on the WEST side of the dome. Then send the Pegasus back, but don't recycle it yet. Now send in Ransom, same route (south, then east). Locate the tanker truck (fly high to see it), then take manual control and shoot the tanker next to the dome. Boom! Last dome goes up and you've saved the capital. Immediately take Ransom back out of range or enemy choppers will visit. [Objective] Remaining objective is to gather more energy. Send the Pegasus to lift the Scarab to the energy depot to the north. There should be no enemies there, but just in case, send your Pumas around the depot as early warning system. When you get all 6000 ej, you win. As you win, you saw a sub leave that island... 9.10 MISSION 10: ATOLL The sub that left Armia has came to this island... It has a TON of protection on all sides... A TON of factories, AAA, and more. It has roughly 3 areas... North, central, and southeast. You need to take out each in turn, or you'll be overwhelmed. Then take out the command center. Find out where that sub is too. Q: Which one should I attack first? A: The one near the rally point is a good start. Q: Where are the derricks? A: The first two sets are in a straight line from you to the rally point, roughly. There's another one just south of the center island. Then finally another set southeast of the sub pens. Q: How do I disable the subs? A: Shoot one shot of arclight at EACH sub. If you hit, they become disabled. You start at northwest of the island. Start by building 4 Salamanders, each with 2 armor, half Scalpel, half Longbow. Put Borden, Madsen, Patton, and Kroker in there. Send them to the Rally point. Take out any tanks en route. Build Ransom a Hornet with Rapier and 2 armor, and send him busting those AAA turrets. Ransom has a tendency to fly sideways even when he's not being fired yet, and thus he can "drift" into other AAA's range. When he's being hit, move him out of range and let him repeat. Send the Salamanders just over the hill and take out that first derrick, then another set southeast of that on a little isthmus. Tanks, choppers, and howitzers will attack you. Keep moving until you destroyed those derricks. Then wipe out attacking units. Go north and take out the factories and the AAA all around. Keep Ransom on turret busting at range, and use the Salamanders as anti-air. When you've wiped out the factories and saw the sea doors, the area is clear and the northern production is toast. By this time, you would have little energy left. Send the most damaged back to the ship to be recycled. You probably don't need Ransom either so send him back too. Build a Scarab Recycler (Korolev) and send her to harvest those scraps from that skirmish. Keep the team near Korolev to keep the enemy choppers away. Stay there and keep killing choppers and tanks. Send the most damaged back to be recycled and rebuild. Repeat as needed until you get a fresh team. When the new team is ready, send 3 Salamanders east and start exploring south. When you see the sub pens and the command center, you get the new objective about disabling SIX subs, and the Arclight EMP weapon becomes available. Send Ransom back to be absorbed if you haven't done so yet. Bring the team south from the sea doors, and you'll see the Command Center island in the middle, and just east of that are the sub pens. Start killing turrets that ring the subpen and the command center. You need a free area for Ransom to work. Work your way south and wipe out all the AAA that can shoot at him. Some tanks and howitzers will hit you from the island, ignore them for now, leave units on auto so they can engage automatically. When you wipe out the AAA in the area, take out the derricks just south of the Command island, but do this quickly. The subs are leaving soon. When Ransom's recycled, build him a new Hornet with Arclight. Bring him to the area (you may need to go east, then south to avoid the AAA still ringing the island), and shoot EACH of the SIX subs, the two that are partially out first. Once you got all six, the subs have been neutralized. [Objective] Send Ransom back to be recycled. By this time, the derricks just south of the command island should be toast. If not, toast them. Retreat and lick your wounds. Enemy should have only ONE set of derricks left, and production should be quite slow. Keep the least damaged Salamander to protect Korolev, the rest to be recycled and rebuilt. Now you got the team rebuilt, send them in and take out the final set of derricks just southeast of the sub pens. Then pull them back and take out the reaction force. With no energy, there will be no more energy units other than those already being built or whatever's left in the energy storage tanks. Take out a few more and the scene will be quiet. Now take out all those idle factories (both center and southeast), storage tanks, and any units you haven't wiped out yet. Send in Ransom with Longbow or Rapier or even Scalpel to deal with any howitzers, while your Salamanders take on any ground threats and air threats. Then move to center island and take out the command center, and you win! 9.11 MISSION 11: SOME DISASSEMBLY REQUIRED Church and Walker have analyzed the warheads recovered from the Atoll. These are DISASSEMBLER bombs... They use nanotech assemblers in a perverted way... To DESTROY matter. The ultimate CLEAN weapon... When we took over the atoll, the assembly plant closed the blast doors. We can't get in, and we can't starve them out either. However, we may be able to take over one of the trains moving the missile propellants, and rig that to blow once it is INSIDE the blast doors. Warhammer cannon and Rhino tank are now available. In addition, Soulcatcher profile of Sinclair is now available. Q: Where are the derricks? A: Two sets on the main island, three on the southeastern island, none up north. This one is not NEARLY as tough as that previous one, as long as you approach it right. You start southwest of the island. First, make a Sentinel (1 armor, Longbow, Sinclair). You will see a LOT of recon choppers, Apaches, and VTOL bombers. When you rebuild Sentinel later from damage, feel free to add a bit of armor if you have the energy to spare. Make 3 Salamanders (2 x armor, mix of Scalpel and Longbow, with Borden, Kroker, and Madsen). Send them in to take out the radar dish just to NE of you. Wait there and take out a few choppers. Then follow coast to east then north until you see the rally point. Continue north to rally point and attack the radar there, and a set of derricks. Stop there. Now build Scarab (recyler, Korolev) and send it to the rally point with Magpie. Have Korolev clean out the tank traps by the beach, then north to the busted derricks. Keep your Salamanders near the Scarab for protection. Once you have enough power available, build a Rhino with Warhammer and at least 3 armor (more the merrier). Let Magpie deliver it. Move it up to within range of the compound to west, and use Warhammer to pound the compound into pieces. Move the Salamanders in with the Rhino for protection and direct fire. Continue west and clean out the area. Move the Scarab to south, where it will find a depot to absorb. Then move it into the demolished factory area. Keep harvesting. If any of the Salamanders gets heavily damaged, send it back, and replace it with a Rhino (with Longbow or Scalpel respectively). Once the area is cleaned out, move your units to just north of the demolished factory, where you see a bridge, and the rail tracks going northeast/southwest. You get a radio intercept about the units moving in from southeast. Keep the Longbow and Scalpels in blocking position. Use the Warhammer Rhino to demolish the base to the west (follow the tracks). If a lot of your Rhinos are damaged, consider bringing in a Scarab with Repair unit (you'll probably have to drive it yourself as you are out of SC chips now). Keep it out of combat though. A repair Scarab cannot repair itself. When the area's clear, take control of a unit, and target the train control station (it's yellow on the map). Target it [objective], then demolish it [objective]. Mission accomplished. Now you get a choice. Attack north, or attack east. Keep a unit near the Scarab (follow it if you can set it). Send the rest to attack. East is optional, but if you clean them out you don't have to worry about them. To go east, you need to go a little north to find the bridge. Use long range arty of the Warhammer and take out the derricks to east, south, and further south. Then clean out the island. This may be a suicide mission as there are A LOT of enemies and factories. You HAVE to ignore the factories and units and go after the derricks or they will just wear you down. Once you got the derricks, you can always rebuild your units, but they are now out of energy. To go north, you need to go around the west and find a "crossing". Take out AAA and howitzer on those mountains, but now your Warhammer should make that easy. Take out all those units. Then get up there and wipe out the powerless factories. Follow the train tracks and wipe out any turrets and such you see. Keep the group together for mutual protection. Keep Korolev busy and have her clean up all the debris around. Sometimes you have to wipe out some of the towers, as she won't absorb an intact tower, even though it shows as cyan on the map. Destroy all enemy units and structures that you can find. One set is on an island to the northwest corner. Send in a Salamander to wipe out the AAA surrounding the area. THEN send in air units to wipe out the factories and derricks and such. Consider sending Ransom with a Rapier on a pure scouting mission. When the coast is clean all the way along the tracks, take one of the units and "tag" one of the tanker cars, if you haven't done so. Just move close to one of the tankers should be enough. Build a Pegasus (assign Ransom, pull him back if you need to), and drag that tanker onto the main track. Now wait, and wait, and you can watch the fireworks! 9.12 MISSION 12: TEMPERATURE FALLING We believe the Cabal leaders are on this island, deep below the frozen reservoir. There are a lot of defenses around. Take out the Comm array to disrupt their coordination. Also, this is supposed to be the tropics, yet this island is MUCH colder. There's a weird climate control going on, investigate it. No new units, no new weapons, and no new soulcatcher profiles. Q: How do I detroy the comm array? I can't target the remaining "yellow" stuff! A: Destroy the columns holding them up then... Q: Where are the derricks? A: two on the east side, one north-northeast from center, one west-southwest from center. You start on the southeast corner. Build 2 Hornets with your two best pilots (Ransom and Borden) with max armor, one Scalpel and one Longbow, and take out the defenders, then wipe out the comm array (destroy EVERYTHING that shows yellow) there. You can't target the "suspended" stuff, so take out the cyan "columns" holding them up. Once you did all that the array would count as "destroyed". If you thought you wiped out everything, but it won't go to "completed", you probably didn't destroy the columns. Defend against the enemies approaching from west. Quickly build a Recycler Scarab (Korolev, of course), and send her in with the Magpie, and send her to harvest the array's remains. When Antaeus called to let you know about that bridge to the west, send the choppers over, target the bridge, and call in an Antaeus salvo, and blam! Bridge is history. Move your choppers back and clean out the area around the comm dish. That will be your beachhead. Keep harvesting until you have enough to build a nicely armored Rhino with Warhammer and Patton onboard. Let Magpie bring it over. You should now get the message about investigating the two climate control facilities. Build a Sentinel (Sinclair, Longbow, 1 armor) for point defense, then build up the team. You need a Rhino with Scalpel and a Rhino with Longbow (maybe Kroker and Madsen). Send Borden back to be recycled as you need the pilots. Start moving north, and wipe out any enemies you see. Bring Korolev and her Scarab over to harvest any depots you find. Keep moving north and wipe out any derricks, AAA guns, radar, and so on. You should see two groups just on top of those mountains. A series of choppers will bug you, just deal with them. Start going northwest toward the northeast facility. Beware of the few howitzers in the area. Stay near it for 20 seconds, and voila, you've scouted the first one. If your team is pretty damaged, bring over a Scarab with repair unit and do some repairs (manually). Keep them together. Continue west, and you should find derricks, air factory, some AAA, and so on, and finally, the other weather control facility. Keep repairing your units to keep them in good condition. Now head south-southeast and start cleaning out the area until you find the bunker (yellow). Clean out the area. There's a set of derricks to southwest of the bunker. When you're ready, go south and take out the last set of factories in the corner of the island. Build a Salamander with Scalpel, cloak, and 2 armor. Drive it yourself to the bunker to end the level. 9.13 MISSION 13: THE BIGGER THEY ARE... Now that you're inside... Be ready for anything. No production... Just you and the enemy. Q: How do I kill this thing!??!?! A: It has THREE arms... You need to kill each one in turn Q: I stopped shooting and it GROWS back? A: Yep... It has shields and self-repairs... Q: How do I stay alive long enough to shoot it? A: Hide behind something. When you start, TURN and head for the edge IMMEDIATELY. AND CLOAK! You need to hide behind one of those columns or be fried by that huge cargo lifter, which moves AND shoots. You'll be zapped two or three times until you made it to cover or cloak (or both). Hide behind the column, right next to it, and wait for that thing to come closer. Peek a LITTLE over the edge, just enough that you can see one piece of that thing, and shoot that piece. Watch the enemy readout and see if you're doing damage. If you're not doing any damage, most forward a little bit and keep trying... It's best to do this on the LEFT side of the column, I'll explain in a minute. Do NOT stop firing. That robot has self-repair capability. This robot gives a warning when it's about to shoot at you... You get an audio warning like capacitor charging up, and that "circle" under you turns red. Once you destroyed the first arm, the robot switches gears... The second arm fires a 'spiral' missile that goes counter-clockwise circling toward you. If you hide on the LEFT side of the column, that shot should hit the column instead of you. Again, keep hitting that bit you can hit, and it should go down. Finally, that robot switches to a final arm... This one fires FIVE shots in a row, then rests. Again, hide behind the column and keep shooting. Once you kill it, you win! The Cabal's leaders have retreated elsewhere... And the genetic creations are turning on their creators... 9.14 MISSION 14: NESTING COMFORTABLY That cargo lifter you destroyed has a deflector shield. We've duplicated it and you now have shield unit for your vehicles. The shield unit adds a rechargeable protection to your vehicles, and it adds a LOT of survivability... If you let it recharge. It's best to backup a shield with armor just in case... Any way, the two scientists managed to signal us... So we'll attempt another rescue... Q: How do I kill nests? A: Firestorm flamethrower is best. Q: How many nests are there? A: Seven. You start on the southwestern corner of the island. Build two Salamanders, with shield, armor, and Longbow (or one Longbow and one Scalpel). Assign Borden and Kroker. Send them north to the docks, let them shoot up any AAA in the area. Then further north until you see this set of derricks just up the mountain to northeast. Wipe it out. Then come back down (southwest) and wipe out everything inside the complex. It'll take a while, but it can be done. If one of the unit's shield is drained, pull it back and wait for regeneration before re- entering combat. As you fight for the complex, the two scientists were dragged onto the choppers and the choppers left. After a bit of argument, Walker and Church order you to continue to see what's left on this island. If you are running low on ej, build a Scarab with Recycler and assign Korolev, and let the Magpie lift here to rally point. Keep your team near Korolev's Scarab, to defend her. You'll get a LOT of visitors, from hybrid Apaches to hybrid M-1s to hybrid SPGs. Bring Korolev in and let her clean up the section. Start building Rhinos: one Rhino with Warhammer, one with Longbow. Try to fit in double shields and fill the rest with armor. Keep team near Scarab as escorts. Head back up to the derricks you wiped out and head north slightly. You should see the first alien nest to the northeast. It will send some suicide runners. Kill the nest, and you should see enemy research compound to north. Continue clearing out the nests. There's one to northwest, then east. The nest is worth a LOT of ejs (1500?). Each of the nests will send out suicide runners continuously. Stay inside the first compound if you can. The walls will force the suicide runners to bunch up, so Patton's Warhammer can take out several at a time. Once Korolev have harvested the nests and such, build Ransom a Pegasus and take the Scarab home to be recycled. Then recycle the Pegasus as well. It's too dangerous for the Scarab to remain (you can't keep an escort just for the Scarab). Gather your Rhinos and Salamanders, and start approaching east/northeast. You'll see the research complex. Apparently, these creatures have turned on their creators. Wipe out EVERY nest you see. [objective] Continue east along the road You'll see another nest off the road (slightly south), then beyond that to east (almost to the east end of island) is the factory complex. Inside the walls, north side, are the derricks. Assign Patton to blast ALL the derricks first (so he doesn't waste his shots chasing those suicide runners). Keep the rest of the team around Patton as defenders. Then assign Patton and blast all the fixed turrets, energy storage, then the buildings. There's even a command center here you can shoot. You may lose a unit or two here, even with the shields. When a unit loses all its shields, send it OUT of the engagement and give its shields time to recharge, all the way back to the initial dock if you need to. Once you take out all the derricks, no more air units or tanks will appear (except those in the production queue), only suicide runners. Now you can use mainly air units, except for certain cases where you find some howitzers and AAA towers and such. Build a Pegasus and come here, pick up one of the yellow crates, and take it back to Antaeus. Take the most damaged units back to Antaeus and recycle those. Make new replacements but make sure you have two pilots left, Ransom and one other (maybe Borden?) Now build two Hornets with Firestorm. Use those to kill the nests to the north. One is to north-northeast in the mountains, the other is to northwest (just north of the lake). Then send the Hornets south and take out another nest just south of the complex. Send your land units southward from just west of the factory complex. You'll see a "pass" there going southeast. Go in there, and you'll see the final enemy nest, and a lot of alien blast cannons and such. Kill the energy derricks first, then those blast cannons, then the AAA (which fires a PLASMA burst!) That AAA will MURDER any air units you have in the area, so don't let the two Hornets near that AAA! Let Patton's Warhammer take care of it. Finally, send in your two Hornets and cook the final nest, and let the other units join in. When the final nest goes poof, you win! 9.15 MISSION 15: ESCAPE A number of Cabal scientists, along with our two missing scientists, wish to defect. The Cabal wants them dead. You will protect them from attack, then escort them to a yacht we found on the southwest corner of the island (you start on northeast). Good luck. Phoenix heavy assault chopper is now available. Also, Lazare is now available as a pilot. Objectives: Clear area surrounding compound, eliminate nearby units, destroy remaining buildings in the base nearby, secure dock with 2 sentinels, escort convoy to doc, and defend convoy for 10 minutes while loading Q: Where are the derricks? A: east of compound, way to the south on the road where it turns to east-southwest, just west where it takes a sharp turn from northwest to southwest, further west of that. Two more appear when your convoy get to the docks... Northeast of dock, then east- southeast of dock. Q: Where do I put the Sentinels to protect the dock? A: On the dock itself (i.e. on solid ground, not the piers), but do NOT block the road to the ship. Also, the Sentinels MUST remain on FLAT ground. If you leave a Sentinel on a hillside, it'll topple over... Maybe even into water. Q: How do I stop the convoy? A: Get in its way, usually by leaving a unit in the middle of the road. Q: Can I cause the landslide before the convoy gets there? A: No. No amount of shooting will trigger the landslide. Q: How do you clear the way in the canyon? A: Clear the way with firepower. Takes like 20-30 Longbow missiles to clear one piece of rock. Do NOT use Warhammer, as the "splash" damage can destroy the trucks. Q: How many convoy vehicles can I lose? A: You can lose 1 for sure (I lost one by accident). I don't know about any more than 1. You start to east of the island. Immediately build a Phoenix with Ransom and Longbow (1 shield), and send it off the to rally point (directly west) and a little beyond it, just beyond the entrance, and nail any attackers shelling the compound. Then build a Rhino with 1 shield, 1 armor, and Warhammer. Assign Patton, and let Magpie deliver that. While Ransom and his Phoenix clear out the road to east of the compound, pull Patton and his Rhino to the front gate of the compound, so he can help take out the enemies. You'll see tanks and some alien flyers. While Patton and Ransom clean out the front gate and a little beyond, build a Scarab with recycler for Korolev and let the Magpie bring it, and have it clean the compound (all those cars and buses!) as Patton and Ransom keep killing units. Slowly move Patton and Ransom westward until you spot the radar, AAA, howitzer, and such, in the first compound. Assign Patton to kill the AAA, then the howitzers. To northwest of the radar dish are some derricks you can assign Patton to wipeout. Then it's just steady pounding until all the factories in the compound go poof. Build a Salamander with Firestorm to help out if you need it. As Korolev clean up the mess for more energy, build some companions for Patton, with the maximum shields (3 shields and 3 armor, or even 4 shields and 1 armor), armed with Longbow and maybe Scalpel. Even send Patton back (you'll need to use a Pegasus) to be rebuilt with more shields and armor. Ransom can fly back himself to be rebuilt. Assemble the units and start moving south along the road, clean out any units and structures you see along the sides. Assign all these junk to Korolev to harvest. Follow the road south, then bends west into a deep canyon. Note that the sides of the canyon are a different color... This area is prone to landslides. Keep that in mind. Just south of the landslide area is a nest. Assign some choppers to cook the nest. Continue following the road and you'll go a little northwest, then a sharp curve to southwest. At that curve you'll find a compound. A bit westward beyond the compound, you'll see another set of derricks and radar dish and a storage depot. Beware that some of these depots are armed with lightning towers, which cause a LOT of damage. Use Warhammer to pound them from a distance. Take out the radar also. Clean up, and assign Korolev for more harvesting. Keep going west-northwest, and you'll find some nests, some factories, more derricks and so on. Take them ALL out. Scout the area with chopper than send the units in to clean them. The road then bends east, and MORE depots, even MORE energy for Korolev. Make sure you gather every last bit of energy as you will be under time limit later and have no chance of getting backup, so you need them now. Keep Korolev busy. The road then takes a turn south, then turns west into the docks. Use the choppers to pinpoint targets for your big guns. Kill derricks first, then AAA, then send in everybody and blast everything in the dock area. There would be quite a few AAA and turrets in there, plus some tanks or so. Clean it up. Now you're ready to protect the dock. Build 2 Sentinels, assign Sinclair and one other person (maybe Lazare?), one with Scalpel, one with Longbow, packed with max shields and 1 armor. Send Ransom back and recycle him, then build a Pegasus for him. Let him take the Pegasus to the docks, and drop him just to the east (or west) of the ramp leading to the ship. You MAY want to take manual control. Do NOT put the Sentinels on the pier itself or on the ship itself. Put them on the dock, but do NOT block the road. Turn them so they are facing EAST, then drop them. Get both of them deployed. While the Sentinels are being deployed, send all the units back to compound, but do NOT enter it yet. When the Sentinels are deployed, take over one in direct control and check your field of fire. There may be some containers and warehouses blocking your view. You can wait for Korolev to come back and harvest them, or you can blast them. Confirm that your Sentinels are NOT blocking the way to the ship. You can use a Pegasus to move them now, before the convoy gets here. Check your objectives. Protect dock with 2 Sentinels should now be done. If it is still not done, your Sentinels are at the wrong place(s). Korolev should be happy as she's collecting a LOT of ejs. You should have well over 20000 by now. Keep collecting. When done, build a Pegasus and recycle Korolev. Then build move Phoenixes with shields and heavy weapons (Longbow preferred). Also build a Salamander with Firestorm if you haven't done so. This would be used for building busting. Assign the Salamander to follow Patton. If you had a Salamander before, it probably didn't have shield, so send it back and rebuild it with shield this time. Assign all your units except Patton to wait outside the compound. Send Patton inside to almost touching the convoy, then right back outside and wait in the middle of the road. Block the road and the convoy and stop moving. Keep going until you come to the turn going southeast. Stop when you get to almost half way. You should hear the HQ saying something about alien towers growing. Send the escorts of Patton east-southeast, and you'll discover the new factory just off the road. Let the choppers defend and kill units, while the other Rhinos (except Patton) head up the hill and start demolition of enemy units. It'll be a good fight, but you will win, as that factory has almost no power. This factory is EASY. Let Patton help out, but keep him in the middle of the road so he can prevent the convoy from moving. Once that first factory is done, follow the road. When you get into the canyon, stop just before the second avalanche area. Avalanche will trap your convoy. Use your firepower to blast through the rocks. Use Longbow missiles as it doesn't have splash damage. Once the way is open, continue. Go all the way to the dock, stopping at every turn to confirm the way is clear. Send choppers ahead first to scout. When you've made the final turn and almost at the dock, keep the escorts outside (don't block the road) except one. Keep Patton outside the docks, just off to one side of the road. You're about to see two MORE enemy factories pop right out of the ground... So prepare for it. One will pop up just northeast of the port, then another east-southeast. Each has a factory, plus derricks, energy storage, etc. One also makes flyers. You'll see red walkers, black walkers, small AND medium flyers. When ready, open the way for the convoy to go in. When they reach the ship, your 10 minutes start counting down. Keep the chopper above the ship, and you can see the two factories appearing. The one to northeast comes up first. Immediately drop two Antaeus salvoes on it. Then send in Patton and blast the AAA towers, then the factory itself. Send in the choppers when the AAA goes down. That factory should be like 90% destroyed from the 2 Antaeus salvoes, so it wouldn't last very long. You can also send in that Salamander with Firestorm for rapid demolition. Once the factory is toast, ignore that side and do the southeast one. When the southeast one pops up, dump the last Antaeus salvo on the factory, then send in Warhammer to take out the AAA, then derricks. Rest is "free fire". Keep Patton on demolishing structures while your other units kill enemy units. The 2 Sentinels will handle any leakers. Your choppers wouldn't last too long under all that AAA towers, so pull them back if their shields are busted. Pull them out to see, over the ship or a little beyond. Give them time to recharge. Once the AAA are down you can send them in to help demolish the enemy units. Don't forget the Salamander as it's perfect to cook enemy structures. Once the 10 minutes are up and the convoy is still there, you win! 9.16 MISSION 16: ENEMY OF MY ENEMY The Cabal has asked us for assistance... The bugs have taken over their final two islands. While we would like to see the enemies destroy each other, it's better if we ensure the defeat of the bugs. Defend the settlement, then eradicate EVERY bug from the island! Recharge unit, which improves weapon firing rate, is now available. The "Shark" heavy hovercraft becomes available a few minutes after you start. Beware: this island is VERY short on metal and energy. Careful harvesting and stingy spending is required, at least initially. Q: How do I defend the compound? A: Send airpower to the rally point then west until you see the entrance gate. Defend the entrance. Add other units when you get enough energy. Harvest all the stuff in the compound. Q: The enemies are overwhelming me! Help? A: You need to kill the production... WITHOUT killing the energy derricks. Read up on the "stealth kamikaze" technique in 8.1.2 You start to south of this dumbbell-shaped island. The rally point is to the east, in the Cabal settlement. Defend it. Build Phoenix, with 2 shields, Longbow, and Ransom. Send him to the compound entrance ASAP. Have him HOLD there and defend against any bugs. The Cabal tanks and Apaches will battle the bugs in the middle of the causeway. Take care of any leakers. Build Scarab with Recycler, assign Korolev, accept delivery, and have it harvest the town of any remaining energy source, like cars, buses, and so on. There are a lot of cars on the island. Only 100 ej each, but every bit helps. Build Puma with cloak and Firestorm, assign Kroker. Accept delivery, and turn on cloak first. Finally, build Sentinel with 1 armor (no shield yet) and Longbow, assign Sinclair. As ship is pointing northeast, put him in forward-left way (drag and drop him there if he's in the wrong place) so he's closer to the action. Refuse delivery, as this guy is point-defense for the Antaeus. If he's heavily damaged, recycle it and rebuild it. Send Puma (confirm cloak is on) west and stay OFF the road so you don't bump into any enemy units. Keep close eye on the Puma. Go past the marina to the north, then up those hills so you see the production area... It has a control center, a heavy factory, a ground factory, and a flyer factory (among several turrets and howitzers and blast cannons, and constant stream of red and black walkers, and medium/light flyers). Watch where the walkers move and STAY OUT OF THEIR WAY! Keep Ransom just west of the entrance gate, near the two AAA towers. When you get enough energy from Korolev, build another Phoenix (assign Lazare) to keep him company. Keep them there and keep killing things so they have a huge debris field in front. Later, bring Korolev over so she can recycle all this for you. The Cabal forces will fight the bugs, but they will steadily lose ground. Help them maintain a stalemate. You need the debris to build your own units. Go after the bug slugs (which are their version of mobile howitzers), then anything else in area. Keep them there, don't let them advance past the marina as they will run into AAA if they go any further. Have Puma target the HEAVY factory and call in an Antaeus main gun salvo. Do NOT target the control center, as that thing is HEAVILY armored and not even TWO salvoes will kill it. Better to concentrate on the factories. The factory will be like 6% remaining after the salvo lands. Find a place opposite the turrets, using that 6% factory as cover, and get inside the facility. Then, order the Puma to cook the factory, cloak, and move outside again. Most likely, the Puma will be destroyed, but that is to be expected, and the factory should go boom. If not, build ANOTHER Puma (keep Korolev busy!) and try again. Repeat the SAME move on the air factory (or the ground factory, doesn't matter), and use the other salvo from Antaeus. Build another Puma if you need to. After another sacrifice, the other factory should be toast. Now, with most of alien production out of order, you should be able to push the enemy back or at least under control. Bring Korolev over and harvest that huge debris field littered with both Cabal and alien debris. Some debris are pretty tasty at 250- 300 each. When you get enough, build Shark or Rhino with Warhammer (assign Patton), and some escort vehicles (2 Rhinos or Sharks armed with Longbow and lots of shields and armor, maybe Borden/Madsen), and take them hunting westward, moving slowly. If your Puma survived, use it to scout and spot for Patton. If it didn't, build another one. Patton's priority is towers and radars. Keep choppers to the back as the AAA can get heavy when you get to the western side. Your Longbow-equipped escorts can handle the few flyers that come visit. And that's more debris for Korolev. When you get to those two factories you knocked out, go after the towers, then energy storage, then production facility. Ignore control center for now. Remember to send in the cloaked Puma as scout and spotter. Once the production facility is toast, you have no more enemies to bother you. Move south, and keep killing enemy towers and defenses and radars. Then kill the derricks, and everything else. Then go back and wipe out the control center. When you cooked everything, that should do it for this mission. If the mission still hasn't ended, you bypassed something or forgot to kill something. 9.17 MISSION 17: ISLAND ZERO Island Zero, the LAST holdout of the Cabal, is ahead. Apparently, there's no one left alive on the island... All killed by the bugs. There are almost NO metal left on the island, resources are very short. We hope the Cabal have left a computer memory core on the island that will help us, and we must find it. Objectives: Explore island, locate download databank, kill all aliens Q: Where is the mainframe? A: Try the center island. Q: Where specifically is the mainframe? A: To the north of the bug statue. Go around the enemy base and look in that large ruin. It shows up yellow on the "radar" map. Q: How do I get the download? A: Target the mainframe, and wait 20 seconds. Q: Where are the derricks? A: One in southern part of center island, one to west of center island, another to east of center island. The east and west ones are mounted pretty high up on the hills, so you may need a chopper to bust them properly. You start on the southwest side of the island, next to a beach. Build Puma with Firestorm and Cloak, and assign Kroker. Accept delivery to rally point, cloak first. Build Sentinel with Longbow, 1 armor, and assign Sinclair, in the bay closest to shore. Leave it onboard as defense. This island is just like the island in mission 8, keep that in mind as you attack. As the Puma flew over the beach... There are the leaders of the Cabal... butchered. For a moment, you wonder if this scene is out of Diablo... Send the Puma through the pass to north, in that villa in the center of the island. There are bug production facilities everywhere. Remember where they are now so you can attack them later. There are basically TWO sets, then some more off to the east. The villa has a statue... Of a bug. Wonder who made it? Continue north into the facility, which is completely destroyed... But there is a computer core inside the building on top of the hill... It shows up "yellow". It's the largest ruin, next to two other smaller ruins, and almost next to enemy base. Target it, and download the data. And the recon is over. This is a good time to save. Use Kroker to explore the island a little... Stay hidden. You'll see plenty of AAA and alien howitzers everywhere. Use Kroker to locate the derricks, which are all around but not that concentrated. Basically, the island has a central section, a east and west complex, then finally, a northern production area. Your best bet is to wipe out the derricks with long range fire. There are three sets of derricks: west of center island, east of center island, and southern-part of center island. Move rally point southeast until it's on the other side of the hill, into the old docking area (the part where Antaeus docked for that mission, remember?). The northwest part is the best. Build 2 Phoenixes with Scalpel and 1 shield each, then a Scarab with recycler, and Rhino with Warhammer and 2 shields. Have the Scarab clean up the dock, including the cranes and such. Move Rhino to the northern edge of the docking area, but NOT onto the landbridge. Bring Kroker back so he can act as spotter now that a Warhammer is in the area. Send in a Phoenix northward as a "tease" until the gun towers sprout out of the ground next to the pass. Then bring the Phoenix back and let the Warhammer take it out. Then take out howitzers pinpointed by Kroker. Keep the two choppers nearby as they are needed to protect the Rhino from suicide runners and any walkers that walk by. Those walkers come in really fast... 4 Red ones at a time. Even if you have the firepower, you'll still take a pounding. The ground will be littered with alien carcasses that can be recycled. Korolev should be happy. Build another Rhino with 2 shields and Longbow to escort and a Rhino with 2 shields and Firestorm to help bust buildings when Korolev has collected enough energy. Start moving north and take out the first set, the one on the southern edge of the center island. Then take out the one to west, though you may not kill them all, just two. Consider sending Kroker up there to get a better targeting solution, or invest in a Rapier-mounting Hornet to kill the AAA up there, then the radar, so you can kill the derricks in peace. Repeat the one to the east, but this one is undefended (relatively). Clean out everything to the south of the burned out villa. There are nest, towers, and plenty of enemy units. Take out the towers first. Keep units together. When you see factories, drop an Antaeus salvo on it, then send in the Firestorm Rhino and cook it. If anyone was heavily damaged, move the team back into rally area to get the shields regenerated. Enemy should NOT follow very far. Consider sending in a Repair-equipped Scarab (manually controlled by you) to heal any severely damaged units. When the team is okay, head northeast up that "ridge" and get rid of this walker factory and AAA. From there, go northwest and you'll see the second factory complex, with AAA, howitzer, 3-4 factories, and the control center surrounded by a set of laser barriers and laser towers. Drop one Antaeus salvo on each factory (NOT the control center). Bust the laser towers and other towers with Patton's Warhammer Rhino and then retreat a little. Then attack, repeat until you've taken down all the fixed defenses in the area. Remember to go west and take out the alien howitzers. Once all fixed defenses are down, order the Firestorm Rhino in and toast the factories. You will have to defend yourself against a steady stream of Red Walkers, so the faster you do this the less enemies you need to face. When complete, toast the control center, then patrol the island for any remaining enemy structures. Kill them, and that should end the mission. . 9.18 MISSION 18: EVASION The aliens have infected the island in mission 5 (where you found and destroyed the drop plane). However, Minitech chose this island to begin a study program. A specially outfitted Behemoth, the latest land vehicle, is prepared and inserted onto the island. It has cloak, recycler and armor, allowing you to penetrate and scout the island. Direct-control interface will be used here. Objectives: target and identify comm tower, harvest 4000 ej of energy, activate tower's emergency beacon, run to pickup point and wait for Anteaus pickup You start in the northern part of the island. Remember, you are ALONE, and you have ARMOR, which do NOT regenerate (and they would interfere with cloak). So taking a MINIMUM of hits is essentially. You must play guerilla warfare... Find a lone bug, decloak and kill it, cloak and run away, wait for the reaction force to go away, then decloak and harvest the remains and recloak to continue. When attacking turrets, remember to sidestep... When recycling, make sure you're in the recycler beam range (69m or less) or you'll shoot the missile instead, probably destroying the debris. Q: How do I avoid detection? A: Decloak, shoot, cloak, run away and get at least 100 meters away from your shooting point. Wait until reaction force leaves, repeat. Q: Where is the transmitter? A: It is in the southern part of the island, just west to the alien factories. Q: I can't get to the extraction point! Those units just KILL me! A: Destroy the radar dish first, which will detect you despite your cloak. You start in the middle of a compound, surrounded by flyers. As they saw you cloak, they will fire at you. You need to immediately get out of the area! The compound is enclosed except for ONE opening to your left. Drive through the door at top speed and go through the fence and fall onto the road. If you can get there without taking more than 10% damage you are fast. The flyers will not follow. Now follow the road south. You'll see some suicide runners. Try to avoid them. Some of those run patrols, so you'll need to shoot and scoot! Run away IMMEDIATELY. Those flyers will approach the spot you were last seen, and if you are close enough to it they will shoot at you, cloak or not! Just make sure when you run, you don't run into the ocean. Behemoth is NOT waterproof and you'll suffer SEVERE damage if you soak yourself. Just to east of the road, almost half way down the island, is a port with a crane you can absorb. However, the port has several suicide runners on patrol. Shoot, cloak, RUN! Get at least 100 meters or a hill away from where you were seen. Keep waiting for the flyers to go away. Repeat. An alien howitzer will grow on top of the hill next to the port. Get up there, kill it, run away. A red walker with 3-4 suicide runners will approach. Kill it, and then run away. The runners will retreat after a while. Destroy the crane at the port, and absorb it. Absorb all enemy remains after the flyers go away. Head back to the north-south road. Kill all those pump-looking things. Those don't summon help if you kill them. You may need to kill a few laser turrets... Those can do a bit of damage to you. They don't call for help either. There is a "pass" on the eastern road going east-west. There are two turrets on the other side, one turret this side. Ignore them for now. Work your way south, then southeast across the hills, and you should come to the beach. The first thing you need to kill is the "hoverlaser". This is the alien version of the VTOL bomber... They get on top of you, and shoot an extra heavy beam downward. Eeek! You can tell it apart as this one has a blue glow at the bottom. Target, shoot, cloak, run. Wait for the reaction force to go away (one or two flyers o the beach, and a couple suicide runners). Attack the flyer, run away. Repeat with all the suicide runners. Then you can harvest the entire beach at your leisure. By now, you should have like 3000 ej. You need 4000 ej to activate the beacon. Work your way north again, back on the road. When you reach the spot where you killed the howitzer, go WEST. Go until you're almost on the other side. You'll come across a turret, and a couple derricks. Kill the turret, then start killing the derricks, and you should make 4000 ejs easy. If not, go south, and you should see a rail yard, with ONE train car. Hide inside the warehouse, as there is a howitzer on top of the hill that'll hit you. If you are inside the warehouse you'll take less damage. After you absorb it, cloak and move away. Get back on the eastern road, and work your way south, then southwest. You'll come to the base, and on top of the hill are alien heavy factory, air factory, and energy storage. Then to the west is the transmitter. Target it, and you've found it. Now... You need to get up there. Best way to do this is go into the airbase, to west, then take the ramp going up northward, then turn westward and up to the transmitter. When you get next to it, the beacon has been triggered. Now you just have to survive to the extraction zone... You can retrace your old route and make your way up the eastern road, but beware it's blocked by gun towers and walkers. They practically pop out of the ground right in front of you. There is also a radar outpost near your extraction point, and if you don't kill it, it'll spot you, cloak or not. Then those walkers and towers kill you. Don't bump into the towers or they'll kill you! Get on the east side of the hill (don't fall into the ocean though). Try to stay out of the view of gun towers, and kill the radar outpost. Now just drive carefully, on the top of the hills, don't bump into any alien towers, and stay away from enemy walkers (there are black and red walkers all around). Make your way to the extraction point. When you reach the beach, the mission will end. 9.19 MISSION 19: FROZEN TREATS The aliens are using the cold generators to make themselves more comfortable, and in turn, giving themselves more time to transform themselves into something that can take over the Earth... This island was that island you were just on... and it has changed a lot... The ocean has frozen at the edges, expanding the land area. Also, there is the ruin of a Behemoth we will need to retrieve before the aliens can get their hands on it... There's no telling what the aliens can do with that... Objectives: retrieve Behemoth, destroy all aliens No new units, new weapons, or devices. However, Kenzie is now available as a Soulcatcher profile. Q: Where is the Behemoth? A: Try the same place you left it in the previous mission. Q: No, really. Where is it? A: Guess the aliens got it. You better find it and get it back. Q: How many groups of enemies are there? A: One west, one southeast. After you recycle the Behemoth, one south-southwest, one west (next to the old one). Start by building a Pegasus and send it to the spot where you left the Behemoth. Also build Puma with cloak (Kroker), Scarab with recycler (Korolev), and Sentinel with Longbow (Sinclair). Leave Sentinel onboard as point-defense. Cloak Puma first. When the Pegasus get there... Just a beacon, no Behemoth. Looks like the aliens got to there first. We'll need to get it back. Bring the beacon back any way, it's worth some energy. Send the Scarab to the rally point, and have it go northwest, to the former base. There are some things that can be recycled there. Send Puma (cloaked) to the rally point, and use it to scout westward. You should spot the western production facility, with lots of enemies. However, the aliens are limited to land and air attack... They don't have hovercrafts. You will exploit that. Build 3 Salamanders with 1 shield each, armed with 2 Longbows (Madsen and Borden) and 1 Warhammer (Patton). Have the 2 Longbow Salamanders escort the Warhammer Salamander. Then send them to LONG way around, go north, then west, then south. Get Kroker's Puma west as a spotter for Patton's Warhammer rounds. You are invulnerable if you retreat out to sea except for the flyers, which can be easily handled by the 2 escorting Salamanders. So attack, then withdraw. Attack, then withdraw. Nail all the towers, howitzers, walkers, etc. The units from the production facility just to southeast of you will harass you. This will take a while, so have patience. Take out the derricks. When you've destroyed the derricks, stay there and kill flyers and walkers until the aliens used up their energy reserves. Then no more alien units from that facility. Now you can move in slowly southward and get to the factories. Take out the defense towers first, then the factories. They will grow new gun towers. Level them also. Destroy all defenders. Remember, retreat out to sea if your shields are almost toast. Wait for recharge, attack. When all defenders are gone, you can decloak Kroker and send his Puma to help in demolitions. When the place is leveled, bring in Korolev and have her harvest the place. It'll take a while, but take the time. By now you should have plenty of energy. Send 1 or 2 Salamanders back (keep one around to keep Scarab company) to be rebuilt into Sharks. You will want 2 Warhammer Sharks or Salamanders, 2 Longbow Sharks or Salamanders, and maybe 1 Phoenix or 2 (with Longbow or Scalpel) flying top cover. Deck these out with the best shields and armor you got, maybe even recharge unit to improve firing rate. Leave one Soulcatcher profile available as you need it later. Now head down the west side of the coast, then stop at the southern edge of the island. Remember to send Kroker's cloaked Puma in as spotter. You should see a set of derricks. Take them out. Take out the AAA in the area. Remember to retreat to southwest corner if you're heavily damaged. Now head to the southeast corner of the map. You MAY want to consider taking them the LONG way around (up north, then east, then south) as if you make them run east from southern edge, they may be hit by enemy fire. Send Kroker in to spot fire again. Remember to keep Kroker in the hills so no patrol will run into him. Keep him on TOP of the hill so the enemy walkers won't run into him. Again, take out the alien howitzers, then AAA, then the towers, and so on. Remember to retreat, recharge, attack. Without derricks, these facilities won't last long. Kill a couple more walkers and flyers, and that's it... No more enemies. Clean up this southeastern production center and bring in Korolev. She should be VERY happy about having all these things to harvest. Rebuild any units that are severely damaged. You need units in top fighting trim. In fact, don't go after the Behemoth until you've cleaned up and harvested EVERY last bit of energy and metal in the area. Move your forces to the western edge of the southeast facility. A new alien facility will grow to the west after you recycle the Behemoth's wreckage. Keep Kroker cloaked and send him into the hills that is to the north of the plains. Keep choppers back. Build a Pegasus with that left over pilot and send it to pick up the Behemoth from the remains of the southeast facility, and recycle the remains. Then recycle Pegasus as well. Build a Sentinel with Warhammer (yes, Warhammer) and 1 shield, more if you like. When the Behemoth is completely recycled, the aliens start growing both factories, as well as two alien howitzers next to Antaeus. The two Sentinels will take care of the howitzers. Send the two Warhammer units in and take out the turrets, then fry the derricks, and then everything. Send Korolev in to clean up. Now head north. Remember that western group of derricks you destroyed earlier? A new set of enemies is growing to northeast of them. Take those out also. They don't produce many units, so don't be afraid. Attack towers, then derricks. Once you've cleaned out the island, the mission ends. 9.20 MISSION 20: HEAVY WEAPONRY Apparently, the aliens have discovered assembler technology, based on the strange readings we're getting, and we fear they will pervert that into disassembler technology as well, like the way Cabal did. Strange readings are coming from the island ahead. Find out what is going on. Elroy is now available as a Soulcatcher chip. No new units or weapons are available. Q: What do I do first? A: Explore to northwest, center of the island, as suggested. Cloaked unit is best. Q: Uh, now what? A: Follow the "veins" to the 3 generators... blast them. Q: Can't I just blast the cannon? A: Sorry, no can do. Do the generators. Q: I can't! Those units from near the cannon kill me! A: Kill their production facilities first. Use the stealth kamikaze method. You start with Antaeus frozen in the sea... Build 2 Phoenix with 2 shields, 1 armor and Longbow (assign Ransom and Lazare). Build Stealth Kamikaze Puma with Kroker. Cloak the Puma, and let it be delivered. Build Behemoth Warhammer, 2 shields, 1 armor, and recycler, assign Patton. Deliver that also. Keep the choppers and Behemoth near the carrier to defend, slightly to northwest. Send Kroker, cloaked, up the hill to northwest so it can spot the alien facility. NOT the one with the laser barriers all around... That's west. You need to go to the NORTH of that. Don't let him get in the way of enemy walkers or he's toast. Don't get into that "gully". Then you spot the problem... A DISASSEMBLER cannon, aimed at the Capital City. To shut the cannon down, you have to take out 3 generators. However, you have to take out the central production first as it's producing too many units for you to handle. You have to shut them down before you can attack the generators. It's time to use the Antaeus main guns. Send Kroker to the WEST side (the opposite side from your other units), and have it spot for an Antaeus salvo on one of the heavy or air factories. Do NOT attack the control center (that would waste your shot)! NOTE: I prefer to toast the heavy or land production as those units are harder to destroy. The 2 choppers and any Longbow ground units will easily handle the enemy flyers. Then do the kamikaze burn... Cloak, and RUN AWAY. The Puma MAY survive as the bug units may not find it in time. If not, build another Puma with Kroker. One salvo on each and repeat until all production goes poof. Now start going after the AAA and gun towers and such. Let Patton do it and retreat as his shields need to recharge after each run. Work your way around the perimeter. Use the two chopper escorts on the attackers. Keep Patton on busting turrets and such. Remember to keep the choppers away from AAA! Patton won't be recycling anything at this point (too busy shooting) so build Scarab with Recycler for Korolev and send her in. Send her to the depots to the north and northeast. When the coast is clear (you're wiped out most of the structures in the island center) send Korolev in and recycle all that. You should have PLENTY of energy. Consider building another Behemoth with Repair unit and Longbow as mobile repair depot and defense. Consider adding a Shark with Warhammer if you got the energy, as you need to wipe out a LOT of towers. Build another Shark with shields and armor and Longbow as escort. Once all towers are down, wipe out all the production facilities nearby if you haven't leveled them yet, don't bother with Control Center or Nest. Keep Korolev busy harvesting. You probably by now saw the cannon fired a round. Two more rounds and the Capital City is toast. Send Kroker's cloaked Puma to northeast to scout out the first generator. There is a set of derricks to the west of the generator, but the bugs are getting tricky... The derricks are hidden underground. You need to trick them to reveal it... Send the Puma in, then out again immediately. The derricks then pop up, then you can shoot them with your Warhammers. NOTE: The generator does not show up as target directly. You have to specify attack, then designate the generator as target. Take out the towers popping up while staying away. Then take out the howitzers, and so on. Blast all the threats. When there are no threats left, get everyone to attack the power generator. One down, two to go. Ignore the rest of the structures for now. Capital city can't wait. Even send Kroker in as his Firestorm can make the demolition much faster. Remember to recloak him after he's done. Build new units when you can afford them. You may lose the choppers as you continue attack. Build Sharks with alternate Longbow and Warhammer and send them in to follow Patton around. They can help protect and demolish structures. Leave the 2 chopper guys (Ransom and Lazare) available as you can add choppers when the AAA's are gone. Second generator is at the northwestern corner of the island. That isthmus can be tricky to navigate. Send Kroker's Puma across first and hide him in the hills. Stay OFF that valley! Have Kroker find the set of derricks inside that valley first by going up the hills. Send ONE land unit across at a time (the escorts first), then start long range demolition. Send the amphib (the Sharks) Warhammer unit down to the steep seaside cliff and let it do demolition from there. Take out derricks and storage tanks. Now destroy the generator. Remember, without energy, production is useless. Leave the production stuff standing for now, Capital City can't wait. Two down, one to go. The cannon would have likely fired again... One more shot and Capital City is history. You have 20 minutes, and clock is counting down... The final generator is south-southwest of the central facility. Send the Puma out first, then the rest of the units. If you had went WEST instead of northwest, you may have ran into this already. Again, the derricks are hidden, and appear on both west and east side of the valley. That nest inside will send out some occasional suicide runners. Send Kroker in to trigger the derricks, then get out, and then send in Patton and the rest blast the derricks, the storage tanks, and the towers, then everyone take out the generator. The final generator goes down, and the cannon goes boom after the thermal overload. And you win... Capital City is saved, or what's left of it. 9.21 MISSION 21: THE GAUNTLET The bugs are retreating for a final battle... They have prepared a launch facility so they can send a culture stone into space. We cannot let that happen. Unfortunately, there is only ONE way into the launch facility, and only ONE weapon big enough to destroy the alien spaceship... Antaeus herself. By combining the remains of that big disassembler cannon and Antaeus' Creation Engine, a big enough blast can be made to destroy the alien ship. Unfortunately, this means you, Antaeus commander, will be making the ultimate sacrifice... This is a one-way kamikaze mission. All units have only one task... Ensure Antaeus survives for 15 minutes, the time it needs to navigate the channel and crash the space ship... NOTE: as Antaeus will be moving, recycling damaged units will be impossible. NOTE: You are limited in energy, so you can't afford to lose ANY of the initial units you build. You won't be harvesting anything either. What you got to start is all you got. NOTE: entire island is ringed with AAA so air units are useless. Ground units are useless as the channel has very rough terrain and cannot cross the channel. You should use hovercrafts as your primary attack units. NOTE: The disassembler takes up one of the front engine bays, which blocks some fields of fire. It is best to put the Sentinel in the rear bay, diagonal from the disassembler. NOTE: With only 3 bays, you need to move existing units off before you can build new ones. Q: Where should I send Kroker as scout? A: Put him on the EAST side (change the rally point). Q: How many sets of derricks are there? A: Just three: one to north of the second left hand bend, one to the WEST of the second left hand bend, and finally, one just east of the start of the straight section after the final right turn. Build 2 Sharks (2 shields, 1 armor, Warhammer) with Patton and Borden. Assign Borden to follow Patton. Get Patton off the bays ahead of the ship. Build 2 Salamanders (1 shield and 1 armor, Longbow), probably Kenzie and Lazare, and have them follow Patton as well. Get them off the bay and ahead of the ship. Start Patton on the towers next to the channels. Take out the AAA to northwest first. Build Sentinel with Sinclair, Longbow (1 armor). Try to squeeze Sinclair into a rear bay as you need the field of fire. Remember, leave the Sentinel diagonal from the disassembler, which is in the right-front bay. Watch Sinclair's health. When it gets down to 50%, rebuild him quickly. If he's destroyed, you may lose that bay completely due to debris! Feel free to build an additional Sentinel (with just about anyone left) with Warhammer as emergency help. Just reabsorb him when he takes too many hits. Or swap Sinclair's Sentinel with a Warhammer model, then back to Longbow as you see fit. If the enemy is on one side vs. another, reabsorb the Sentinel and rebuild it on the "right" side. Remember, NO TIME passes while you're building/commanding, switchover is instantaneous. Build Vulture with Scalpel, which you will use personally. When the EASTERN shore came into view (NOT the island!), move rally point there. Build Stealth Kamikaze Puma with Kroker. Cloak him and have him delivered to rally point. Send him up the eastern coast moving north, keep him in the hills so he doesn't run into any patrols. STAY OFF the ridge or he'll run into walkers! Keep moving him until he sees the derricks, which is just north of the second left turn. Move Patton north of the ships a bit to bust more towers and enemy units. Make sure the first AAA to northwest is gone. Now you have to trust your AI, as you have to take the Vulture out for a spin. Take control if it, and go west, then north, follow the coast, low. You should see a little valley where the land sticks out like a thumb to southwest. Dive into it and turn left. You should see a set of 6 derricks. Destroy them all with point-blank fire with your Scalpel. Don't fly too high or too fast or you'll fly into AAA's range, and Vulture can't survive AAA hits. Once you destroyed the derricks, leave the Vulture there. You've disabled the factory on the western side. You can't recycle it as the ship's moving. Just leave it, as its purpose is served. Switch back to the Warhammer units and keep taking out towers and walkers. Have Kroker designate one of the three facilities for TWO Antaeus salvoes. That facility is TOAST. Repeat with another facility. Now you have minimal of walkers harassing you. Make your way to the derricks spotted by Kroker and assign just ONE of the Warhammers to take them out. Now there is only ONE production facility pumping out units, so you won't overwhelmed by walkers. Blast the derricks now and you won't see any more of them. Leave the other one free to engage any threat. After that, there will no more walkers (except the few already in the queue). Once the second set of derricks are gone (the first set you already destroyed with the Vulture), send Kroker north past the one remaining production facility. Ignore it as it's now idle. Send Patton Warhammer forward as well. Then have him engage any walkers and AAA turrets and such on both sides of the river. Keep blasting towers. New ones will appear. Assign Patton to hit them as soon as they pop up. Get Kroker north again until he spots the next set of derricks and production. Continue up the river and blast those howitzers on the waterfronts, then the derricks on the eastern side of the river. That set powers the one last set of enemy production... some flyer production... Assign Patton to blast the derricks, then storage tanks to south and north of the facilities, and that should be all the enemy production. Feel free to blast any more enemies you see. If the ship survived this far, your job is done. Just watch the cinematics... Well... Let's just say it's really setting up for a sequel, aren't they? Watch the very end of the cinematics... AFTER "the end"... So perhaps the culture stones DID get launched after all? 10 Misc. Information 10.1 CHEATS There are quite a few special "debug mode" cheats available in HW. You need to enable it by starting the game with "- setusupthebomb" (without the quotes) command line parameter. Once you're in the game, hit F8 for the console window, and enter one of these codes: Some of the codes may require some parameters after the command itself. Where the parameters are known, they are shown below. Code What it does enableallmovies 1 All FMV now available in Cinema menu choice filthylucre 1 Gives you 999999 ej energy, build anything you want invulnerable 1 Your units cannot be damaged winlevel 1 Win the current level revealmap 1 Show the entire mission map allyourbasearebelon Plays theme song from HW gtous buildall Allow all units to be built, Antaeus salvoes replenished aicolourdebug ?? aiscriptdebug ?? Show enemy unit AI reaction script? aitrace ?? Show enemy units AI scrip tracing? applycontrolchanges ?? forces bind and bindaxis to take effect immediately? attractmode ?? bind ?? controls key bindings? bindaxis ?? controls joystick/mouse axis bindings? camdebug ?? debug camera movement? Or free-roadming camera? camfirstperson ?? switches to 1st person cam instead of 3rd person cam? cancelcontrolchange ?? cancels changes done in s applycontrolchanges?? changelevel ?? change to any level you want to play? May need number. counters ?? debugtoggle ?? defaultkeys ?? resets control keys to default? deletesave ?? deletes a save game? May need to specify a specific number deydododatdohdontde ?? ydoh enabletyping ?? endtutorial ?? force end of tutorial? enterbuttonredefine ?? forceshadowupload ?? affects shadow rending? hudrender ?? turn on/off the HUD display? levelmenu ?? loadgame ?? loads a game? may need one of the savegame numbers lowfog ?? turns fog amount to low? mapboxdebug ?? menu ?? brings up the F3 menu? m_aftermath Shows "Aftermath" movie m_cabalmovie Shows "Cabal" movie m_chamber Shows "Chamber" movie m_coldmoviefive Shows "Cold Movie 5" m_coldmovieone Shows "Cold Movie 1" m_coldmoviethree Shows "Cold Movie 3" m_coldmovietwo Shows "Cold Movie 2" m_conference Shows "Conference" m_culturefive Shows "Culture 5" m_finale Shows "Finale" m_flags Shows "Flags" m_foreshadow Shows "Foreshadow" m_handh Shows "Handh"??? m_intro Shows "Intro" m_nanobot Shows "Nanobot" m_newintro Shows "New Intro" m_newintroend Shows "New Intro End" m_newintromiddle Shows "New Intro Middle" m_ransom Shows "Ransom" m_smashtubes Shows "Smash Tubes" m_terra Shows "Terra" m_testtubes Shows "Test Tubes" m_tombakercold Shows "Tom Baker Cold" m_tv Shows "TV" m_ufo Shows "UFO" newgame Starts new game?? nextlevel Starts next level?? nofow ??? nouploads ??? objects ??? printing ??? printvidmem ??? sounds like debug option properchopper ??? make the chopper more realistic? quit ends the game? restartlevel restarts the level (same as menu choice) resumegame resumes the game savegame saves the game??? scriptinfo ??? sfxdebug ??? special effects debug? shadows turns on/off shadows? (try 1/0 as parameter) silly ??? simploids ??? startgamefromfronte ??? nd terrain ??? terrainhugging ??? thereisnospoon fly through things / no clipping ??? timings turn on/off the mission timers? wavesmooth the waves in the ocean smoothing? or sound smoothing??? wireframe show wireframe in graphics only, no texture or polygon??? zfog turn on/off distance fogging???