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The Desiccator
Your starting position is about to be
completely overwhelmed. Don't even try to stop the Freedom Guard forces
attacking your base. Instead, load the infantry onto the Invader Troop
Transports and move the Desiccator Transport and all of your units to the
top of the map and then west. You need to get to the southwest corner of
the map where "the Colonel" is waiting. Head along the river to
the west, past the first branch heading south, then take the next branch
south. Avoid the Heavy Rail Platforms along the river shore. You'll likely
pass by the freshwater spring in the middle of the map. When you get to the
southwest corner of the map and hook up with the rest of your units, it's
time to start building your base. Build a Power Generator, Assembly Plant,
Training Facility, and a few turrets. A few Neutron Accelerators will make
your position pretty secure, but hold off on spending too much cash until
you liberate a freshwater spring. A few SCARAB Artillery can do some
serious damage, though, and you can start destroying the Freedom Guard
buildings to the north of your base, using Recon Drones as spotters if
necessary. After building a couple Tachion Tanks, load a couple
Construction Rigs onto a transport and head west. Wipe out the Freedom
Guard buildings near the freshwater spring and build a Water Launch Pad and
an HQ. Create some additional Construction Rigs and dig in to protect your
new base. All of those Freedom Guard units that wiped out your starting
base are still to your east, so build some turrets to block off the land
bridges heading east. You can build a Hover Freighter or two to access the
freshwater spring at the top of the map (in the middle). Reinforce your
western base with some additional Neutron Accelerators then concentrate on
wiping out the Freedom Guard forces left on the land mass near your
starting base. You can use Recon Drones to scout out a few targets for your
artillery, but eventually the Freedom Guard forces will likely charge your
base near the freshwater spring, so be prepared to back up your turrets
with defensive artillery fire and a few Tachyon Tanks. Once those Freedom
Guard forces are eliminated, move onto the land mass on the right side of
the map and build another Water Launch Pad near the freshwater spring and
another near the top of the map to allow Hover Freighters to reach the
spring at the top center of the map safely and quickly. By now you should
have all the credits you need to build up a massive force of SCARAB
Artillery to systematically destroy the Freedom Guard position in the
northwest corner of the map.
The Cure
Repair your HQ and build some Construction Rigs. Your starting position
isn't a good one, and you'll quickly be attacked from both the north and
south. You can take care of the southern attackers by building a turret to
guard the passageway heading to the southeast corner of the map. There's a
Freedom Guard Training Facility there (and the Off-World Transport
Platform), which will continue to send infantry to attack you. Your turret
should be able to handle them and the occasional artillery attack. Build a
Water Launch Pad and start building some plasma turrets and Neutron
Accelerators to protect yourself from northern attackers. Be careful to pay
attention to the different terrain heights and don't build a turret in a
valley where it won't be able to defend your base effectively. As soon as
you can, build some SCARAB Artillery and eliminate the pesky Freedom Guard
forces to your south. Using a Recon Drone, you can expose the Freedom Guard
artillery, making it vulnerable to your own artillery attacks. Build some
Tachyon Tanks and head west towards the freshwater spring in the southwest
corner of the map. There's a small, protected rocky alcove in the bottom of
the map near the center, which is an ideal spot for a few SCARAB Artillery
- use a Temporal Portal to safely teleport a few of them there at a time.
There's also an enemy artillery base in the southwest corner of the map (on
the extreme left-hand side), which is in a protected rocky alcove and is
guarded from air attack by Flak Jacks. Sneak a Recon Drone within sighting
range and order in your own artillery attack - you'll likely lose the Recon
Drone, but a couple of seconds of artillery fire is all that's needed to
wipe out the Freedom Guard presence. Build a new Water Launch Pad near the
second freshwater spring once you've eliminated the artillery. Use the same
strategy to get to the third freshwater spring near the center of the map
above the compound. There's an artillery base guarding it as well, hidden
in an alcove at the top center of the map, so use more artillery fire to
take it out. You can also use Cyclones to take out the artillery groups,
but to do so you might lose a few Cyclones to the Flak Jacks. Try to take
the Flak Jacks out first, then you can wipe out the defenseless artillery
at your leisure. Once the Freedom Guard is cut off from the freshwater
springs, it'll be fairly easy to wipe out the remaining Freedom Guard
forces in the northwest corner using a large group of artillery and Tachyon
Tanks. Use the Temporal Portal to beam in reinforcements where needed or to
beam a few Tachyon Tanks behind enemy lines to take out a key building or
two. Leave the compound alone unless you don't have anything else to target
with your artillery and want to pick off the guards. To get to Karoch,
you'll have to move infantry units through the small opening in the eastern
side of the compound. Walk him to the Off-World Transport Platform and beam
him up to a nice, old-fashioned, grisly fate.
Siege of Indra
You start out with a lot of credits, but you won't have access to any
more, so build conservatively. You won't need many turrets or stationary
Air Defense Sites because the Freedom Guard will be on the defensive after
the initial phases of this mission. This level features mostly flat
terrain, except for a series of hills guarding the Freedom Guard base in
the southwest and some smaller hills in the northwest and the southeast
corners of the map. There are Freedom Guard artillery groups stationed on
the two smaller hills that are difficult to take out because your armored
units can't climb the hills and infantry takes heavy losses against the
artillery. There are also Air Defense Sites, preventing you from moving in
Recon Drones to spot for your own artillery. You can either use ground
forces to take out the Air Defense Sites and then use your own artillery or
send in a large group of Cyclones or three Sky Fortresses. The Sky
Fortresses collectively can quickly take out the Air Defense Sites, leaving
the artillery defenseless. Air units are pretty effective at taking out the
remainder of the Freedom Guard base. A group of Sky Fortresses can
successively wipe out turrets by attacking them together, then retreating
to recharge. Always have at least one Sky Fortress in the group fully
charged and standing by to attack any anti-air ground units that charge to
the attack. A few Cyclones are worthwhile escorts as well. Use the Sky
Fortresses to clear the Heavy Rail Platforms out of an area, then beam a
few Tachyon Tanks into the area using the Temporal Portal and let them
destroy the defenseless buildings and Air Defense Platforms. Once you've
broken into his base with a few tanks, race to the HQs in the southwest
corner of the map and put the poor Freedom Guard sods out of their
collective misery.
Last Stand
Start your base in the southwest corner of the map and build a few turrets
to block the northern and eastern entrances into your base. Keep your main
buildings far away from the northern and eastern entrances to protect them
from attacks from Shock Waves, which are a real threat in this level. Try
to keep an eye out for approaching Shock Waves and ensure that your base
has some defensive "depth," so you can't be taken out in one
lucky Shock Wave attack. Build a large group of SCARAB Artillery and try to
save some cash to build a Rift Creator as soon as possible. There's a
freshwater spring north and a little east of your starting position. It
will be difficult to maintain a base nearby, even if you can eliminate the
Freedom Guard presence there, but you can prevent the Freedom Guard from
accessing the spring by continually bombarding it with artillery. A nice
Rift Creator effect will do wonders for clearing an area of Freedom Guard
buildings. By keeping the main battle located there, you'll take pressure
off your main base and lessen the likelihood that you'll be hit by Shock
Wave attacks. Build camera towers heading near the roads leading to your
base and try to protect them from attack using defensive artillery fire.
Your main push should be east towards the Freedom Guard base in the
southeast corner. Hit it hard with artillery and a Rift Creator effect or
two. The Freedom Guard won't be able to reinforce that base effectively,
since it is so far away from its main base (at the top center of the map),
so as soon as you can take out the Freedom Guard buildings you should be
able to establish a base of your own there, including another Water Launch
Pad near the freshwater spring. From there, you should start expanding your
presence northward, where you can attack the base near the additional
freshwater spring a little to the north. Again, artillery and Rift Creator
effects work wonders. At this point it's worthwhile to start a diversionary
assault from your base in the southwest corner by charging a large group of
Tachyon Tanks all the way north to the top of the map, then heading east
towards the Freedom Guard's main base. Try to ensure that you have a Rift
Creator recharged when you arrive at the Freedom Guard's main base so that
you can take out the field hospitals near the top of the map, because their
destruction can break the back of the Freedom Guard rebellion. With both of
the Freedom Guard's remaining bases under siege and the field hospitals
destroyed, the rebellion will splinter with the Freedom Guard faction on
the far right side of the map joining your side. Once that happens, you'll
have Hellstorm Artillery gleefully joining in on the bombardment commenced
by your SCARAB Artillery. Needless to say, the remaining Freedom Guard
forces won't last for long after that happens.
Tactics (1-7)
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Copyright
1997, 2000
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