*********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********Ground Control order of the new dawn guide *********** *********************************************************************** ************************ By Fallon V1******************************* *********************************************************************** ************************20th March 2003**************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** **********************Copyright Fallon 2003************************ *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** if you donot know about copy right then these are good links http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/index.cfm/catid /804B85E3-9224-47A9-A7E6B5BD92AACD48 http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ disclaimer read first! This FAQ is for private use only reproduction or republication in CDroms or unspecified websites is not allowed as this is my work and belongs to me and I worked hard for it. If you want it on your web site ask me @ fallonken@hotmail.com I also accept NO responsibility for what happens from use or lack of use of this short FAQ so use at your own risk.Also please do not ask stupid questions as these will be ignored .Examples are what is the key for since its listed in the manual and the key command card , or the serial code .Games are a product of hard work and semi experiencing it myself I know first hand. I am also not responsible for players deciding that joing the space marines and a corporation to fight off world wars (if gamefaqs survives long enough that future developments ensue).Imagine that in 2437 Cjayc's descendant will still run this and people will log on to play these basic games compared to what they have then... Foreword.. I bought this dirt cheap and always wondered so splitting a 3 for œ10 deal with a nice old man at the local game shop I finally got my first taste of ground control and it wasn't what I expected since I recently finished the shogun total war FAQ or sort of nearly finished it (it is mushrooming out of all control and each time I say right thats IT I find something else about shogun toasty!)ground control is different to say the least , proper line of sight , armour thickness modifies on all units , beautiful terrain but no building of units you get what you are given.Currently unit descriptors are not included as its not as if you can build units ok you can choose which ones to load into your dropships but its not the same and there are stats in the manual anyway and stats in bars in the dropship config menu. Also I am only going to write about order of the new dawn units and missions , I have put the crayven FAQ and walk through in another FAQ , which is quite wasteful but hey it works out the same Kb more or less right? I am also using version 1.007 Eng if anybody would like to know. *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** Contents [1] Version history [1.1] -System specs [2] Differnitions [2.1] Order of the new Dawn Units [3] Campaign stumble through [4]The enemy [5] General Questions [6] Credits and permissions *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** [1] Version history V0.1 20th March 2003 This is written after a brief period from finishing the crayven corp FAQ and campaign we move on to order of the new dawn FAQ and walk through. [1.2] System Specs This is taken from the manual SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Minimum System Requirements The Ground Control Direct Command Interface System (GC-DCIS) requires that your Command APC onboard computer is equipped with: Pentium II 233 MHz or Pentium II 200 with 3D Accelerator Card 32 MB RAM 250 MB HD Space CD-ROM: 4x or better 640 x 480 SVGA high color (16-bit) 4 MB Video Card DirectX 7.0a (included on CD) Windows© compatible sound device Mouse and Keyboard Recommended System Requirements For maximum combat performance Crayven Tactical Military Operations recommend the following: Pentium II 333 MHz or better 64 MB RAM 3D accelerator card (Glide or Direct3D compatible) 450 MB HD Space Personal test deck Win2k SP2* AMD 900 TNT2 32mb 19 Inch screen Mouse Direct X8 512mb RAM Comments: It works fine except for windows 2000 there is a sound issue meaning that voices as far as I can tell only in the briefing screens sometimes repeat over and over and sometimes they get stuck on certain words.Other than that I can push all detail sliders to the max without any problems , though for TNT1 there is a published problem than your video card may overheat with max detail slider settings which happened on a friend's machine once. 1024x768 and full detail is ok without much if any choppyness. *officially win2k isn't supported by ground control nor is windows XP but it works in Win2K for me (with a few lockups now and again so that is all I shall say on that subject. Note aerodynes seem to really suck up CPU juice for some reason. *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** [2] Differnitions Differnitions yes really I know how to spell definitions its just my eccentric way of spelling things and silly nick names I use for nearly everything.I would also note that I am UK based and speak the queens English (oh how posh!) therefore certain spellings are different (also incorporates tactics that I can't be bothered to sub section) examples include: UK ----- US Tyre = Tire centre = center defence = defense Glossary AAA = Anti aircraft artillery Artillery = things fired by hogs Armour factor = front = most armour Sides = significantly less rear = paper thin top = unknown but seeing how rockets hurt so much as well as artillery on enemy I would assume it is either sides of rear. Baiting = to provide a weak or ideal target to lure the enemy into a pre prepared kill zone. Ballistic = shot goes in an arc rather than direct Blind fire = to fire without information regarding enemy location for lucky hits. Corner trap = played for with terrain works in nearly every game bar soldier of fortune since they lean round corners and maybe Xcom and Q3 ,where: Wall = H You = O Enemy = X X-> HHHHHH HHHHHH O HHHHHH HHHHHH X moves down towards the arrow and you get several free shots on his side while he notices you for one and then starts to turn on your units.Since enemy cannot see you or shoot through the terrain its quite useful , unless the enemy is infantry that can either: A - fire over terrain B - walk over terrain Dawnies = Sarah's nick name for troops of the Order of the new dawn Decorating the terrain = dying Direct shot = rounds go in a line of sight manner with minor arcs , therefore terrain can be be used to defend against it Doing homework = Destroying enemy units and bases before going to an untimed objective thus reducing the enemy count so that if they do attack you or there is a hold the line type bit at the end the enemy does not have as many assets to fry you. DU = depleted Uranium rounds (illegal in UK naval forces!) Dropships = dropships 4 units per dropship btw Equipment = the equipment slots units carry Flank = go behind an enemy unit and fire from there FTT = flank turn trick where a unit (usually a fast one) moves to the left or right of an enemy unit (usually tough tanks that are immune to your weapons from the front to the left or right then a way point behind that unit too not just the sides you want maximum damage potential! ).So that they turn seeing the greater flank damage potential threat , but in turn exposing their sides and rear to your units that do not move therefore being trapped in if they turn they die , if they donot turn your unit flanks and fires into their rear.At which they can counter by turning which exposes the rear to your stationary unit a lose lose situation for the enemy unless they are infantry which don't suffer as badly from flank attacks or the unit is supported or has terrain that means they cannot be flanked. FTT Variation have your hover dynes hit the enemy from the front and do an end around with your APC containing your crusaders and let them out when they can fire into the rears. Rush the APC back to heal anything that looks shaky on the hoverdyne front. -----> | | MMMM | | \ \ \O O O O X Legend: M = enemy unit O = static unit to draw fire --- = route X = flanking or unit to turn the enemy. This can also be done with just 2 crusader squads at lower risk since crusaders are a bit less vulnerable to big terradyne guns. Focused attacking = the theory that all units can inflict the same damage regardless of their damage state therefore removing the enemy removes firepower , an excellent example is You have 5 tanks he has 5 tanks both require 5 hits to kill Scenario :1 5 tanks fire at each tank (one tank on one tank) first exchange : each tank is hit once second exchange : each tank is hit once third exchange : each tank is hit once fourth exchange : each tank is hit once fifth exchange : each tank is hit once all tanks die result everybody dies a big waste. Focused fire 1st exchange : all your tanks fire at one of his all your tanks hit once one enemy tank dead. 2nd exchange : 4 of your 5 tanks are hit another enemy tank dies 3rd exchange : 3 of your tanks are hit another enemy tank dies 4th exchange : 2 of your tanks are hit another enemy tank dies 5th exchange : all enemy tanks dead possible one of your tanks are dead. You can enhance this by moving the more damaged tanks away so you loose zero units (though take repairable damage) while the enemy loses everything. Hendrix = lenegendary guitarist and vocalist who died really young HE = High explosive Howitzer = unit that fires in an arc therefore capable of firing over terrain and your own units. Infantry = foot units Kill zone = are where the enemy has limited access (say in single file) where you have multiple units in advantageous terrain where they can bring maximum fire power to bear in one burst killing most enemy types outright in the first 2 shots. Lost leader tactic = use of a unit enemy's weapons are least effective against to draw fire while your units flank or shoot their more effective units (example your tank vs crusaders with your marines shooting at them nearby but the crusader draws fire since crusaders can barely hurt tanks but the tank's own guns are less than lethal to enemy crusaders). LOS = line of sight. Lining up = since the heaviest armour is on the front of your terradynes you want to turn the body of your terradynes to the direction the most dangerous enemy is to reduce damage taken, as mostly its just the turrets that turn. MBT = main battle terradynes pounding = throwing men into a fray without regard for their lives to break the enemy hoping he breaks first , tactic often used by CPU AI , not recommended for crayven commanders since units need to stay alive to fight another day , powerhouse and red wolves stay with you almost completely through the game. Plink = to use a weapon that is worthless against an enemy unit. Plink 2= to use a weapon that is worthless against an enemy to suppress it Saturation fire = Hog units firing into an area to hit each area SAM = Surface to air missile (hey shouldn't that be StAM ? no its military speak) Specials = the special limited shot weapons most units carry Spray and pray = shoot in the general direction of the enemy common for marines.And scout terradynes (no really scouts are really bad at shooting at 1/4 a screen they can only hit an enemy outpost (yes a huge outpost) several times per burst. Suppression = to be fired upon which un-nerves the enemy so that he fires less accurately and moves slower (test it on the early missions crusaders vs marines who are moving the marines move much slower when fired upon and miss more) at least once. Tanks = terradynes or hoverdynes.note both should have infantry support else they are quiet vulnerable. Turning a unit = not yours but you put bait to run down its left or right tricking it into thinking you want to flank it therefore turning that unit so it enages the baite exposing the sides to your powerful guns (yes enemies will even turn to scouts it is that paranoid) Toe to toe = the Tactic called muzzle to muzzle in Napoleonic wars where one group marches up to another they exchange shots and he who routs first loses! , but in GC it is exchanging shots with enemies until one unit is completely destroyed.Unit with APC repair and or bigger guns , better units or overwhelming numbers or support in a different manner (artillery or rockets) wins.(ToT) APC repair can be offset by singular targeting then quickly moving to another target while the APC repairs one unit it can't repair another so that unit dies and fire power directed at you is reduced by at least 12.5% for marines 25% for jaegers 25% for 4 tank terradyne squads and 50% for annilators 33% for rocket terradynes. Valley trap H = wall X= enemy O = your units A OOOO HHHHHHHHHH X -> HHHHHHHHHH B OOOO X moves along the valley floor unit A (a weak one) fires at X, X usually stops and fires back withdraw and use the walls as cover.The put forward B to shoot at X's rear , repeat to get constant rear shots and quick infantry kills esp with templars it is completely lethal though templars can fire out of LOS making is a meat grinder on the enemy. ************************************************************************* [2.1] Order Units Here I won't list the firepower speed or armour ratings much since you can find that in the manual anyway.In playing I think that hover dynes are more balanced in armour distribution than terradynes for some reason but terradynes are supposed to have superior armour while order of the new dawn has better weapons and higher speed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crusaders Special weapons : X3 Flamer(anti infantry) OR X3 Focused impulsor (anti tank) Equipment Medikit OR Mini radar Uses Use in flank attacks and bait since they have terrible aim even worse than marines it seems but they get to faithful and preistly quite fast in this campaign .They can utterly tear apart crayven tanks when something baits the tanks to turn around which is how you should use them since they cannot hurt MBTs from the front but you can take 25% per burst off an MBT from the rear. I never noticed that the rears on the crayven tanks were so thin but they are. The flamer is only good against infantry even then you have to be really close which makes it pointless anyway (marines go down fast when close up) and the focused impluse is good up to MBTs from the front taking about 50-60% off MBTs but even better from behind it is quite awesome but every weapon fired at the rear quarter of enemy tanks is pretty excellent anyway. Against annilators they lose their effect from the front and you'll get 10-20% for a frontal use of specials. I have a theory about this , crayven marines are better at killing infantry , while crusaders are better at killing terradynes also theoretical since I can't compare them head to head , but it feels like marines kill crusaders quickly while in favourable conditions crusaders axe terradynes. Note The flamer thing is kind of dangerous and not all that useful it is capable of high arcs so non LOS shots can be fired at the enemy.BUT bewary of using it going up hill since your men can easily hit the hill and killthemselves. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Templars Special weapons: X3 Anti air missile OR X3 micro nuke warhead (anti tank) Equipment Cloaking field OR Medikit Or Photomultiplier. Uses A nice nasty unit for the enemy unless they have infantry that is but the are awesome on ridges against terradynes since they can't be touched .However I do prefer jaegers since they were excellent scouts for crayven while the order does not have an equivilant version of this.As said use them with other units as when a marine unit comes looking for fun they can't defend themselves against them.Keep them back when they aren't on ridges they die faster than jaegers against light guns.The nuke needs to be targetted on a tank and it will damage units around it on MBTs it can do 50-60% damage.Anti air missiles so far I have noticed are useless.The SAM missiles they carry are great they follow aerodynes for a long time and do masses of damage.Still if you have a targetting problem move them back and they will fire at a different angle.Also they have a massive advantage their missiles will retarget if the orginal target is killed which means missiles are not wasted.A unit that will probably score the most non infantry kills.The missiles do not have a spread damage warhead so splash damage is not an issue for friendlies and enemies alike. ====Hover dynes==== Hover bike(s) Special weapons X3 Electro dagger (anti armour) OR X3 Electro field thing (anti infantry) Equipment Repair Kit OR Anti terradyne mines These are not even a patch on crayven's scout terradynes and they come in groups of 3 rather than 4 light scout terradynes do which means less firepower and 33% loss of firepower each time one is killed.They are however fast and have better perception and stealth than the crayven equivilant , but donot use them in combat! , 3 hits from a MBT will kill a hover bike which is less than what crusaders take in the stride!. They are so so at the FTT but not exactly brilliant since they have weak guns weak armour and sometimes get stuck. Their mines are not really very useful if you can find a choke point (the only ones that come to mind are the first mission but you can not use hover bikes there) where tanks can only fit two abreast then they are useful else not.Since most missions you fight are offence missions not defence. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Light hover dyne Special weapons X3 Electro dagger (anti armour) OR X3 Electro field thing (anti infantry) Equipment Repair kit OR deployable defence system* OR Cloaking field** *shoots only incoming enemy fire much like the defender MKII turret **Cloaks an area which enemies can still see you when they come close , though not really recommended I'd take repair kits instead. This baby is almost the potatoes of each attack squad they are fast enough to outrun anything but aerodynes can fire at chasing aerodynes anyway and have an ok gun.Which is deadlier than the crayven equivilant it seems anyway , they are completely excellent because they are fast and still have enough armour to survive being the turning flanking unit in an FTT attack.Perhaps my favourite unit . Also the units speed means you can run away fast enough from any crayven unit when they get low on health.Get repaired and set up an ambush somewhere else something crayven could not do since they take ages to turn round and are more exposed at the rear. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- medium hover dyne Special weapons X3 Plasma sun burst (anti infantry) Or X2 Plasma moon burst (anti infantry) Equipment Repair module Or Protector shield Or speed booster This isn't as good as the MBT terradyne in my opinion its fast but can't take the heat much anyway , it is also alot less accurate than the terradyne equivilant and it poor against infantry(probably why its specials revolve around anti infantry).It also isn't fast enough for the FTT to act as bait most of the time too. Disappointing but overall an ok unit for toe to toe action or as the standing unit in FTT. Speed booster only seems good when you need to get there on time or run away Note their specials do NOTHING against buildings and tanks well insignificant damage against anything bigger than a light terradyne but then it doesn't do too well against infantry and keep your crusaders away. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heavy hover dyne Special weapons X3 Plasma sun burst (anti infantry) Or X2 Plasma moon burst (anti infantry) Equipment Repair module Or Protector shield Or speed booster Same as the medium hoverdyne but with slower rate of fire and heavier armour as well as lower speed.It has more firepower as it has twin guns the medium hoverdyne carries but they fire at a slower rate as stated in the manual. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- annilator terradyne Special weapons Nothing Equipment Nothing You might think hey he has made a typo by leaving this in , lazy sod changing faqs into other ones by quick edits well I am not.You get to steal 2 of these in a mission for the order so I think I ought to say a few words.These rock when teamed up with the hoverdynes since they can be the sitter in the FTT while faster hoverdynes flank.They are also great as bait since they can really take punishment much much MUCH more than any of your hoverdynes.Still they move like slugs compared to your hover dynes so you have to be patient vert very patient. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AA hover dyne Special weapons None Equipment Repair kit Or photomulitplier Boring unit shoots down aerodynes with ease speed etc ,thing is bolts of energy follow the target quite some distance.Enough said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saggita artillery hover dyne. Special weapons X1 Tank buster discharge Or X1 Long range discharge equipment Repair kit Nice unit same as the hog really but has a much larger area of of effect it seems buildings miles away took minor damage though this has potential for masses of friendly fire though.The Tank buster is worthless since it takes ages to arrive and in that the the tank will be dead , though the long range shot is great you can fire into less well defended bases and hit power facilities that are normally not vulnerable so you don't have to go through the defences rather negate them.Still you really need to know where the power supply is and there may be multiple. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beam platform hover dyne. Special weapons X3 prism thingie (increases fire rate 25-50%) Or X3 Beam intensifier (power increase for beam) equipment Repair kit Powerful sort of but weak armour , their power lies in their longish range , they can shoot at air targets but are pretty bad at it , a unit you should ignore really since it won't do too much and only does a bit more damage than a medium hover dyne. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drone carrier Special weapons X3 Advanced attack drones (big BIG bang that affects everything around it) Equipment Image intensifier Repair kit. Nice piece of kit but not that nice , it has extremely slow attack speed and its only useful if you can hide it as its lumbering hull is easy to hit and can't take much damage.A big weakness is infantry it can't handle them but you can target tanks nearby and infantry will be badly hurt.Though try it sometime and listen to the somewhat kinky sounding russian acent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Order Command APC Special weapons Repair beam Special equipment None The order APC , it seems much softer than the crayven APC for some reason , but in the order campaign I did use this as a sheild a lot of the time as order units are a bit softer and I had nothing else avalible. It is however much faster than the crayven APC though I have had no chance to test the head to head this baby can outrun light hover dynes which the crayven APC can't keep up with even slightly.Its gun is much ike the crayven corp gun on its APC but has a slower cycle rate it seems. It is also faster than most hover dynes when they are placed in balanced or offensive mode which means when it can be ok for FTT when you have nothing else acting as the flanker.Still handles like a brick though and takes ages to turn which is a major weakness and it often gets stuck when a space is obviously big enough.Um maybe I better go into that a bit deeper , space between hoverdynes and infantry I mean it needs a much wider space than it looks.Magnus's APC also seems smaller than yours too. *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** Order of the new dawn campaign [final retribution] I would like to note that this can only be played properly if you have beaten the crayven campaign else it is not avalible to you so no emails about this please.Also if your APC dies you die and game is over no matter how many units you have left on the field. I would also add that there are huge numbers of buildings to destroy compared to te crayven campaign which you should take advantage of to improve your troops quickly. *********************************************************************** Mission #1 Liberation day Goals Distract crayven security forces Destroy the cargo trucks in the main base Units X1 dropship X1 APC X1 crusader unit X1 Light hover dyne Recommended troop options Everything on offensive , since there are no special weapons or equipment it is sort of defunct , you want offensive since you want to boost unit stats ASAP which here offensive helps. Right I always choose the southern drop zone then attack the south eastern depot since its close and the terrain is favourable.At that place there is an ammo dump and 2 marines who will call for help when they come under attack.Help is in the form of 2 light terradyne squads which can ruin your day if you try crayven tactics against them (pounding). So kill the marines quickly , you now have two options: Option >1 Safe but unrewarding Run around to the western ammo depot but do not attack it or go too near it move to the one directly north and into the base , quickly into the craters to the north south east and west to locate and destroy the trucks.Load your crusaders into the APC and run you might be able to avoid the light terradyne squad and make it to the pickup Option >2 Agressive but rewarding sort of After attacking the first depot wait with crusaders on the hill and have your hover dynes to one side.Take out 1-2 light terradynes before flanking the terradyne group with your light hover dynes so your crusaders can fire into their rears.There fore killing them super quick , and being able to take on the 2nd squad in the same manner with healing time (pounding toe to toe will work but takes ages and if they focus fire on you , you will lose).Next work your way round the outposts since they only have marines guarding them blowing up the facilities in each of the craters. Move into the base and raze it destroying everybuilding* before attacking any trucks you may find , sharing out the kills equally for more balanced forces.Then look for the trucks and have your light terradynes block them in the crater you find them plant your men in a crater near by (say if you find the trucks in the eastern crater have your crusaders in the southern crater).Attack from behind the light terradynes that come to their aid.you should kill them super quick with rear shots since they will go after your APC , light hover dynes or crusaders and one unit can go for rear shots since they work in a team. Go to the drop zone and evaluate your troops most of them should get a medal or two and a faithful rank which supposedly makes them much more lethal. *note containers are super weak and are considered building kills you can beef up you APC stats quickly by killing them , the same can be done with your crusaders and light hover dynes. ************************************************************************* Mission #2 Clear the way Goals Destroy the AAA sites Support the aerodyne assault Avoid wolf MBTs Units X1 dropship X1 APC X2 crusader units X1 Light hover dyne Recommended troop options Everything on offensive again You could avoid the wolf MBTs but that is no fun + they are not really that hard anyway. Move towards the central AAA site and it will be guarded by marines some scout terradynes and some light terradynes.Three MBTs will come for you which you can toe to toe or use the light hover dynes to turn them and shoot crusader guns into the rear.Attack the AAA site and move down the road to your left is a small power facility guarded by two more MBTs which can be killed with the flank turn trick. Flatten the power supply and move back to the first AAA site (note all AAA sites have spot lights leading to the sky) , now next the the baracks will be terradyne facilities ignore them for now. Keep moving down this road to meet two more MBTs same old turn flank trick again and kill them, Now go back and flatten the barracks and then the terradyne facilities , move into the sector where the MBTs were and flatten everything there including the dropships.Now we want to go to the next AAA site marked by two spot lights , 5 marines and 3 scout terradynes guard this one take them out then the AAA site. Next move back to the power plant you flattened earlier and take out the units guarding it (6 marines 2 scout terradynes and 2 light terradynes).now move down the road next to the final AAA site this has two MBTs at it yes the FTT again to kill them then flatten the comms facility you find there.Move back to the final AAA site and take out the missile launchers and the allied aerodynes will come you will be ordered to supress any marines but everything is dead and a minute or so later mission is complete. But at the lone communications centre watch out there is a heavy terradyne on the ridge just behind the facility it will take a while to get to your forces.you can run away but its just a single annilator which poses some threat but not much this can be killed toe to toe which takes a very long time or the FTT which doesn't work as well but is much better than toe to toe combat at any rate .It will try to protect its rear by turning away from your most powerful units (your light hover dynes) but in doing this you can move your crusaders to the sides and rear. But really the mission is over before it can kill you or you can kill it since I have only seen it appear after the last AAA site is gone and I level the base manually rather than rely upon aerodyne support. ************************************************************************* Mission #3 Nobody Home Goals Retrieve the data crystal with your APC Units X1 dropship X1 APC X2 crusader units (with special weapons now) X1 Light hover dyne (with special weapons) Recommended troop options Everything on offensive though maybe light hover dynes on balanced so you can use the FTT thing more than before since when you put them on offensive they are slower than your APC.Also give your units anti tank weapons since you might need them and infantry is less of a hassle here. Right land the dropship and load your crusader units into the APC now click right into the middle of the outpost.Magnus says there are mines but I can't find any , if you are fast enough then you should be there before the assault.The crayven assault consists of 2 scout terradyne squads 1 light terradyne squad and 2 MBTs , you can defeat them with FTT easily and specials if need be keep an eye on the health of your hover dynes and use repair kits well in advance of them going into the red. You will have pulse turret support for as long as they are not destroyed which helps lots.Inside the base near the toxic waste dump is the data crystal.Put your APC near it and you will pick them up , now to escape. put all crusaders into the APC and click directly on the pickup and your troops will make their way there , except about 1/3 of the way they will meet 8 marines in two squads a light terradyne squad and a MBT squad of 2 tanks.Kill them , later on you meet the same setup but with only 4 marines. After that there is no opposition waltz to the pickup and mission is complete , enjoy the debrief story it sounds a little familiar to the one you saw in the crayven corp missions but with Sarah. ************************************************************************* Mission #4 Activation equipment Goals Meet with engineers Find the research base get to the pickup. Units X1 dropship X1 APC X2 crusader units (don't take the flamer take the pulse beam weapon) X2 hover dyne (default is hover bikes) Recommended troop options Well everything is set to speed or scout on this mission which really is a misnomer , I completed it fairly quickly with the default setup bar all units were offensive other than the bikes.And that I carried anti terra dyne weapons instead of flamers.It will really make your life easier with 2 light hover dyne squads instead of hover bikes but equip these with anti tank weapons too , you will need them. First things first load crusaders into the APC then move everything into the engineer start area.You want to place some crusaders on the fork (next to the gorge you came down) and the rest of your troops infront of the APC some distance away near the engineers.(Engineers are in ten tonne transports which are horribly slow).When crayven terradynes (a mix of light and MBTs) come they will see your APC squad and attack have your crusaders at the fork hidden attack their rears with specials but save at least 1 for each squad you will need it. Now when you meet with the engineers they need a repair so have the APC do it , move your hover (whatever) near the location where magnus shows way point zulu.you will spot a heavy terradyne a tough nut to crack. But lets not do that keep the engineers right back and pass over the bank to the left and slip behind the high hill the heavy terradyne is next to , a few light terradynes will attack (easy) and some marines will also follow up.Some scout aerodynes will attack but surround the APC with crusaders to act as a sheild (since they can be repaired) and slowly wear them down , there are only two but it can take up to 6 minutes to down them both. Now comes a hard part , you need to take out the annilator which nothing you have can damage its front other than specials , but we want to save the ones on our hover dynes.Bait it to attack a hover dyne unit then run away , back behind the hill.It will come at you at which you should have crusaders fire at it while it follows your hover dynes.Your crusaders will do no damage but you want to FTT it , with your fast hover dynes .Your crusaders will still do minor damage but use a special in the back of the annilator and it dies in one hit (not flamers). Next approach the base and about 12 marines will attack you they are easy meat so use standard tactics keeping the APC out the way (my APC was already quite battered as I used it as sheild when the annilator got real close to my crusaders and was taking 40% off each one per shot while the crusaders could be healed). Now put the engineers in and kill the trucks for some extra credit , flatten everything in the base except the research facility.The trucks will take about 2 minutes to do their job but the area is safe. You will be advised of a pickup zone which you should go to , but through the first gorge (past the place where the annilator was) is a artillery turret guarded by 6 marines.You want to rush the turrey with hover dynes use specials and finish it off with guns then run off.Send crusaders to hunt down the marines and load them into the APC when you have finished.Move to the pickup and mission is complete. ************************************************************************* mission#5 Into the dusk Goals Protect magnus Flatten the Crayven base Kill all crayven units Units X1 Dropship X1 APC X2 Crusaders X2 Hover dynes Recommended troop options Hard to say but speed is an advantage but then so is fire power but balanced works ok , offensive great towards the end , give all your men anti terradyne weapons since they are the major threat on this level. Ok you come down hot and late , load your men into the APC and move the APC to the hill to the west , now move your hover dynes to magnus (if magnus's APC dies its game over) and support him with the FTT on all the terradynes its a big mixed bunch.Lots of scout terradynes lots of light terradynes even more MBTs , while your hoverdynes are in transit take out the 2 engineer trucks that come trundling around the hillock with crusaders its fast. Reload them and have the APC as support (remember magnus will heal all units near him too including your APC).Now its about following him around to kill anything that attacks magnus which will be about 4 more MBT squads and a few more light terradynes (if you see magnus's forces firing at something then there is an enemy there). After magnus is saved he will tell you to assault the crayven main base facility which you should do , when you see it , it is set out like this. x x ========================== |x x |x | |= | C-> <--A | oooooo |= | oooooo | x |x x x oooooo x| |=========| |============== x | | x x x B Legend : x = turret (the Xs near the corners on the inside are tall anti infantry turrets the rest are laser pill boxes). = and | are concrete walls ooooo ooooo this is the power station. ooooo This should be quite simple if only for magnus but who cares about his tanks your own are the only ones that merit tactics as he will toe to toe all enemy at point A. What does this mean to you? , attack at point B magnus will bait the enemy terradynes so they attack at C . Cripple the turrets by attacking the power plant.Quickly then move towards C and attack all the terradynes from behind with specials theres lots of them lots and lots leave the infantry till last.there must be about 16 MBTs and 8 light terradynes with 3 marine squads acting in support.Maybe a few scout terradynes around too I was too busy taking them out to count and the smoke when they die makes this battle confusing its a big one.The perfect bit is you have them in a sandwich the walls prevent them from running away , and magnus keeps them from running away towards A.If the enemy terradynes turn to engage you magnus can fire into the rear of their terradynes if they donot then you can fire into their rears.if they do neither and do a side ways thing where they face the sides towards you and magnus it is the best they can do.Since sides have less armour than front but still more vulnerable, CPU will do this at higher difficulty levels.* Next when all the enemy are gone go in flatten the base BUT go for the turrets first then containers . The AI will tell you that you have more important targets than containers but turrets are good kills.Have the APC transport troops around the outsides to take out turrets with crusaders.Magnus should have few tanks left by now and you can claim credit for flattening every building. *I found that its good to mass fire until the enemy terradynes are at about 80% damage then letting my less experienced units fire at them for the killer blow as it were to increase their experience. Once most of the base is flattened not including turrets mission is complete and you'll get a flyby of the terrain where your troops will attack any thing left.Mission complete , a nice cut scene as a reward and you find out the truth behind the xenofacts. ************************************************************************* mission#6 Early warning system Goals Escort a repair crew to fix the annilators Take out the power facility take out the EAW Units X1 Dropship X1 APC X2 Crusaders X4 Hover dynes Recommended troop options X2 Crusaders (all anti tank) X3 medium hover dynes X1 hover bike (anti infantry) First of all send your APC and troops near where the transporters are they are represented by yellow dots on the map , there are marines on a nearby hill , escort the engineers to the base.They maybe attacked by MBTs if not you will face them later.Right now move the rest of your forces towards the trees , in the trees are 4 light hover dyne units and many scout hover dynes all easy meat.(use lines of hover dynes).MBTs will attack soon if not already and they generally try to surround you but you have enough firepower to take them all out easily. Soon your annilators should be fixed and ready to go , but leave them if you want they are far too slow.Move your forces closer to the EAW base but stop , if you wait you can get a truck and a few light terradynes. Around the other side of the base are a bunch of terradynes also waiting to FTT you!.But assemble a 2 squads of hover dynes and bikes and move towards the power supply.Have your infantry move to the hills on the left and right they will encounter jaegers.Next move in force to the door of the gate a few small turrets will bother you and a big bunch of MBTs and light terradynes , you have enough firepower to clean them up.Take out all the power stations and flatten the base (marines lurk somewhere in the base BTW). Next approach the base in a big line with the APC behind to repair , the defences are down sort of (the towers with guns are still active) there are lots of terradynes however.So blow them up concentrated firepower , however some lurk nearby some repair stations kill those quickly too.You can ignore the guns for a while since the do little damage to your forces but watch out for flank attacks.While you are doing this a dropship will come and drop 2 MBT squads a light terradyne squad and 2 marine squads.You will also be attacked from behind by some scout terradynes all easy to kill.next put x1 crusader unit into the APC and explore the hills nearby you will find some jaegers. Now flatten the base but beware MBTs hiding behind structures. BUT destroy the big tower last since when you do mission is complete and you want to destroy all the base for more medals and experience. ************************************************************************* mission#7 Important cargo Goals Save your priests Units X1 Dropship X1 APC X3 Infantry X4 Hover dynes Recommended troop options X1 APC X2 templars (mini nukes) X1 Crusaders X1 hover bikes X3 Medium hover dynes All with repair kits and anti tank stuff except the crusaders who want flamers. Ok simple mission approach right up to the choke point and you will see 6 terradynes climb the hill with crusaders nearby and you will find jaegers , station your templars on the middle rock and then mvoe in your hover bikes so they come to you retreat and defeat. Templars will make this super quick.Next you want to take out the turret nearby the edge of the map which is easy , now you have to run the gauntlet, there is a 175mm gun at the door of the base , lure the MBTs and marines to attack you with hover bikes and take them all out , donot FTT toe to toe.Now do a drive by fire on the 175mm gun 3 passes should do it with medium hover dynes. Next move templars right next to the wall and approach the entrance to the south you can use them to take out the other 175mm without being hit. have templars circle round to the closest side and take out the power supply , turrets are now down.Next move your templars behind the comms station and have them attack the MBTs they can't attack back well they can but the wall protects you.marines will be lurking somewhere so be on your guard with crusaders in the APC and shuttle them where they are needed. Flatten the base , and then move a unit near the medical truck. SPOILER *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** MAJ thomas will now come and try to stop you he approaches from the pickup , set up a kill zone next to the hill with templars on top and a 3 unit thick row (watch out for friendly fire) with crusaders as templar guards.Now use specials on all his infantry and focus fire on any terradynes that get close templars will do masses of damage.Use all your specials and repair kits as it is a long battle. Once everything is dead a crayven APC will try to run away chase it kill it and you will receive a message. *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** once you have taken out all the forces proceed to the pickup and you have carried the day. ************************************************************************* Mission #8 Heretic Mania Goals Cripple Crayven oil Destroy outposts Destroy trucks Destroy oil pit Destroy base facilities Units X2 Dropship X1 APC X3 Infantry X4 Hover dynes X1 Support X1 Aerodyne Recommended troop options X1 APC X2 Templars (nukes) X1 Crusaders (flamer) X1 Hoverbike / light hover dyne X3 Medium hover dyne Leave the aerodyne home lots of AAA and SAMs on this mission well not alot but hey all you can have is a scout aerodyne and that isn't exactly going to be a massive part of your forces. But also leave behind the AAA support unit (you can't choose anything else) since I've played this mission through several times there are no enemy aerodynes. give everything anti tank and templars micro nuke warheads they'll need them. Not a difficult mission but you just follow the path south , you will encounter a small scout terradyne squad then a light terra dyne squad then some jaegers on a hill locate them by their gun fire). The first outpost is quite poor you can use your templars on the 125mm turrets you encounter at the start.Then templars on the other turrets since they are so powerful they can knock out nearly all turrets without having to resort to health packs. Knock out the barracks ammo stores cisterns and any other facilities you find. Have your scout unit go into the trench leading to the other crayven facilities and they will encounter light terradynes marines and 2 MBTs which should be lured to your group do not FTT them toe to toe them to death (you have more tanks = easy win). Next move your templars near the edge near the other facilities and you will see two vulcan turrets and a gun tower templars can take them down easy. The next bit is a bit trickier there is a patrol of rocket terradynes up there so use templars to knock them out.Rushing to their aid will be 4 MBTs and 4 light terradynes.Trucks may pass which are escorted by light terradynes use nukes on them to kill them quickly and use crusader flamers on the marines that come (theres lots of them). now its just a case of flattening the enemy base north first then south not forgetting the oil mines quite far south and the oil pit which is about 9 oil tanks in a pit. mission is complete when all crayven units are dead and all crayven facilities are destroyed. ************************************************************************* Mission #9 have gun? will travel Goals Take out the aerodyne base Take out the corp tower Units X2 Dropships X1 APC X3 Infantry X5 Hover dynes X2 Support X1 aerodyne (scout only) Recommended troop options X1 APC X2 templars (one both with AA missiles) X1 Crusaders (flamer) X1 hover bike (speed with anti infantry) X2 medium hover dynes (moon burst and repair kits offensive) X2 Artillery hover dynes (tank buster charge) A straight forward mission you don't need AAA on this level well the templars missiles will do , sit tight for a bit and some attack aerodynes will come for you use templar missiles. Move to the top of the ridge and have your bikes recon the area south around the nearby hill.They will find a SAM site here.Retreat and gather in force and move to face it from here will come marines , scout terradynes 3 annilators and 2 MBTs which are quite easy.In the valley over the ridge you passed there are some scout terradynes. Move towards the concrete ground bit , move gingerly and hammer with your artillery around the sides and tops of the ramps . A dropship will come with 2 marine groups and 1 rocket terradyne squad and MBTs take them out (use templars on the rocket terradynes with crusaders as sheilds vs the marines. Use your hover dynes to keep MBTs , terradynes and marines at bay keep away from the base for now.Keep firing along the edges of the raised ground the base is on.This will take out lots of vulcan turrets (both edges).All the way up to the hangar now move yout templars with remaining missiles onto the base area and use their missiles when an attack aerodyne comes.Retreat and use your bikes to recon the next level up of the raised platforms , they will see 3 MBTs and some power facilities.bait the MBTs to the lowest level and take them out from there.On the lower platform adjacent to the ramp is the control tower which is an objective.At the top is a pioneer power plant and 2 advanced power stations , once you kill them you have a grace of 2 minutes to destroy all the turrets in the base. An important one is the artillery turret you may be hassled by recently and thats all the turrets left , move your forces to take out all the buildings you can see so far and move to the top level. Flatten everything at the top leaving the corporate tower for last and the AAA for a rookie unit. SPOILER ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ Now magnus will make a call , and tell you the command codes for the datacrystals you picked up much earlier , you find out that magnus is trying to destroy the xenofacts too and has secretly been assigning you missions that help you and the order. ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ End Spoiler ************************************************************************* Mission #10 4 bridges too far Units X2 APC X3 infantry X4 hoverdyne X2 Support X2 Aerodyne Recommended unit options X1 APC X3 Heavy hover dyne (moon burst) X1 hover bike (speed mode) X1 AAA platform X2 Templars(AAA missile for one group micro nuke for other) X1 Marines (flamer) Not as hard as I envisoned I thought it would be hold 4 bridges at the same time any unit crosses any bridge you fail but its not it is much easier than that.Drop all troops at the middle dropzone and line them up to attack a few marines near the mouth of the bridge.Next attack the MBTs at the bridge span.Next take your AAA platform move north with X3 MBT squads all templars and crusaders. You will meet a small squad of jaegers marines and scout terradynes then MBTs up to the end of the bridge up north. Now you will get a warning of infantry coming to dig in and the main strike force coming for you (whoopie!).Move your units back to the first bridge.Now wait 3 MBT squads will come for you backed up by marines templars and their nukes make easy work of this (and you can surround them too).use flamers on the marines. Whenever you meet jaegers send infantry to kill them find them with the bullet trails in the map.Now put x2 heavy hover dynes up north .havr the rest with the APC and infantry move south.You want to cross them together to prevent anybody escaping , move near the middle bridge from the south (since this is a bigger squad) and you will be attacked by scout hover dynes and a scout aerodyne , all easy MBTs will come join the fun along with a crayven APC.Take them all out and recharge , you want to do a two way attack on the hog unit stationed at the last bridge (the unit who went on the north route will meet marines use sun bursts on them).There are also rocket turrets at the mouth of the bridge but they die easy to kill and 3 engineer trucks save the trucks till last as there are 2 AKA 125mms at the end of the bridge taking out the nearby outposts blinds them and makes them pretty easy to defeat .Mission should be won , if not scour the terrain back to the first bridge and see if you have missed something as marines often slip through and you can catch them before they cross the last bridge since they are so slow. ************************************************************************* Mission # 11 Source of power Goals Destroy the crayven outpost Destroy the Aerodyne base Destroy all buildings at the relic site Units X2 Dropships X1 APC X3 Infantry X2 Aerodyne X5 Hover dyne X2 support Recommended troop options In this mission its one dropship at a time so you want for flexibility Dropship 1 X1 APC X1 templars (SAMs) X1 heavy hoverdyne (sun burst) X1 Artillery unit (fast as possible) X1 Beam platform (anti tank and balanced) Dropship 2 X2 heavy hoverdynes X1 Templar / crusader X1 scout unit (say hover bikes) Right Get some coffee this is a long haul mission and can take several hours to complete , don't say I didn't warn you. Ok drop down dropship 1 and put them templars into the APC you want to get out quickly else some light terradynes come for you which are not much trouble but best get to someplace semi safe. Move your forces with heavy hover dynes at the front with APC behind to the outpost we want to take out the power supply first (it is actually possibly to fight your way into the aerodyne facility but it takes such a long time.You will be attacked by two light terradynes behind when you get to the mouth of the base at F and 2 annilators and 2 MBTs. The base is laid out a bit like this K oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooXooooooooBooooooooooXoooo ooXoooooooooooooooooooXoooo ooXooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooCoooooooooooBoooo oooAoooAooooooooooooooooooo oooooo oooooo oooooo ooooooooooooooooooo <-F ooooooooooooooooooo <-F oooooo oooooo oooooooooooo oooooooooSoo oooooooooSoo oooooooooooo Legend: S = store building (guarded by MBT squad) A = Turrets C = command post / comms centre B = power facilities X = other buildings K = Far entrance (infantry only) F = your forces approach From the rough map you can see the lay out there is an MBT squad in the base itself too with some light terradynes and a bunch of marines who hide in the buildings or rather between them.Also there are some attack aerodynes which you should use templar specials on. From K come two scout terradynes. Once this is knocked out you want to approach the aerodyne facility which has power down but you want to approach from the north on the big plane rather than the ramp nearby.Since there are still attack terradynes all over , the other base is laid out like this: oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo x oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooxooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooXoooooXoo x ooooooooooooo ooooooox ooooooooooooox ooo oooooooooooxo xooox ooooooooooooo oooooo ooooooo ooooooo B Legend: x = small turret (anti infantry) X = big turret (anti tank) (note the base can only be entered from B as it is based on a high plateau only infantry can assault). There are really too many buildings to list but there is a patrol at B of light terradynes , there are also marines and an artillery turret somewhere Inside the base are more marines and 6 MBTs and an attack aerodyne. Wipe them out and flatten the base ASAP , now you can access you other Dropship drop them down. Now regroup and approach the far ramp cross country the way you came to the aerodyne base , as you will be fired upon by rockets and artillery if you take the route near the final base. Group up and use the hoverbikes to spot anything and hammer them with artillery (there are jaegers on the hill near the MBTs).The cubby hole on the left side contains a large marine squad so artillery that lots.The next dip in the rocks is an annilator and the hill top nearby has jaegers lots of them and marines should be patrolling on the ledge I told you not to pass nearby. next is a tricky bit use your heavy hover dynes to approach the flat bit on the opposite side of the hill take out the rocket terradyne then the two artillery terradynes. Enemy MBTs will come to their aid which you can trap them in the narrow bit where the annilator was.The base is nasty there are lots of MBTs 2 artillery turrets and 2 rocket terradynes rush in 2 heavy hoverdynes behind the main force have your other hover dynes and beam platforms attack the lot from two sides but go for the rocket terradynes first they can do most damage. The MBTs are easy to finish off but watch out for the marines protect your templars.Now there are a few jaegers around all over use the map to check where they are.There are also vulcan turrets between the towers (relics).And after some time you will be attacked from a spawned light terradyne squad (2) and jaegers. Flatten all crayen buildings and you have won (you may want to go after the AAA units behind the terraforming facilities.) Spoiler ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ In the cut scene Sarah's commander teams up with the cardinal and decide to share the technology for super weapons Sarah is annoyed and can't believe it.Deacon stone also can't believe it and you are contacted by paladin magnus.The insurgency has begun. ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ End spoiler ************************************************************************ Mission#12 Covert beginning Goals Attack the xenado base Meet with the defectors Units X3 Dropships X2 Aerodyne X3 Infantry X5 hover dyne X3 support Recommended troop options The standard setup is good , except take heavy hover dynes instead of the light hover dynes as you will have to do lots of fighting here , leave the AAA squad as it is. First things first drop at the south drop zone have EVERYTHING hold fire.Move your forces to the base , position crusaders behind the templars and your tanks next to the power plant.now Set everything on fire at will seconds later all templars (enemy) will die , the power station will quickly go down and magnus will tell you that you have 300 seconds to level the base.Without the turrets the base is quite easy.Now once you are done there will be another reinforcement dropship , watch where it comes once then restart , plant artillery barrages on that area and have all your hover dynes behind where they are.They will die fast , now you want to save the engineers. The engineers are guarded by 2 fighter aerodynes 5 Rocket terradynes 4 Annilators and 6 MBTs.Once you use templars to rush the rocket terra dynes in APC you can use bombers to take out the rest of the units. You will eventually end up in the bowl where the xenofacts are , set up a artillery barrage to hit the gap where you came in , and set up a line of hover dynes with the APC behind.Put templars on the walls above the choke point , artillery will do masses of damage when the attack squad comes. Once they are dead ,you want to move out near the base from where the engineers came , there are a squad of AAA hover dynes which count as the attack squad but they don't come for you. You will soon be informed that another dropship comes SPOILER *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** Its Sarah and her defectors , mission is complete *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ************************************************************************ Mission#13 Winter wonderland Goals Defend the research base at all costs! Units X3 Dropships (1 drop ship at a time) X1 APC X3 Infantry X4 Support X5 Hover dyne X4 Aerodyne Recommended troop options Dropship 1 X1 APC X3 Templar infantry (nukes with medikits) X1 heavy hover dyne Dropship 2 X3 Artillery (offensive) X1 AAA hover dyne (repair kits offensive) Dropship 3 X4 Heavy hover dyne This mission is obsene and is actually a rerun of the crayven battle no win situation , where you will be overwhelmed but your first dropship can hold off the enemy for quite some time. Also you may notice only the base facilities (the research stations) need to be defended the outer outposts and turrets can be left to rot. 1st wave X12 Light terradynes X6 annilators X12 MBTs (divided between all three passes) 2nd wave X9 rocket terradynes X9 attack aerodynes +/- 4 X6 Annilators+/- 4 X12 MBTs Lots of aerodynes 3rd Wave X8 rocket terradynes +/- 5 X3 attack aerodynes X9 hog artillery (maybe more) X9 annilators (maybe alot more) Unknown but large number of MBTs Lots of aerodynes. 4th wave Too many to count , and too busy to count You may also notice magnus in his APC but he has nounits under his command just use his APC for repairs.You get about 5 minutes grace before the massacre begins and it is quite a feat.Stay in the base and defeat the enemy at the mouth of the base you can't be at too many places at once (the right side will have enemy first then middle then left).Templars will make easy work of them (sort of). You can now deploy your next dropships deploy them in the base and spread them in a big 3 way box so they are somewhat in the middle and can fire at nearly all ports. Move your artillery terradynes to the passage which is semi blocked by concrete walls and have them either: >1 Suppress the western most passage (A) >2 Supress a passage each ok there are 4 but the majority of the enemy comes from B , C and E oooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo Aoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo T ooooooooooooooooooT BoooooooooToooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo E Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo E ooo T T oo ooo oo ooo oo ooo oo ooo oo ooo oo C D T= high terrain which annoyingly blocks your view. >3 put 2 artillery on B and one on C the other one 4 Most difficult in the >heat of battle is to switch all fire between all passages. DONOT move out to defend the outposts make your stand at the base. Option 2 I think is best Here comes a big one , an outpost commander will ask for help don't its too late to help him.Stay in the base ferry templars around to take out ALL rocket terradynes as they are a priority. Now come lots of MBTs and annilators they will pour into your base from B , C and E , artillery depending on your fire pattern will damage them quite badly and only a small number will get through , MBTs are a priority because they have more firepower and less armour therefore you remove a bit less firepower than taking out an annilator but you can use templars to take out MBTs in less than 6 seconds annilators take all day. Now magnus will say something and you can fight if you want but you WILL die if you do or lose everything (note I have not survived the 4th wave).Artillery will be coming through the roof like rain. While magnus speaks move to zulu which is the most north western point on the map click there donot click below this or you units will move down B and you will die.There are 34 er 4 MBTs (typo but imagine that 34 MBTs you'd die) which can be taken out with the remainder of your forces.If you keep a scout unit behind and stay hidden you can watch magnus get shot to pieces but he has a last surprise (that most people don't see because they are too busy running for their lives).When he explodes he will take the whole base and lots of crayven units with him.When you get to way Zulu sgt cole will say something and Sarah will pilot the dropship and save your bacon. NOTE it is impossible to save the turrets and outposts on this mission. ************************************************************************ Mission#14 Desperate attack Goals Help Sarah cross the bridge Destroy both outposts Destroy the crayven base Keep Sarah's APC alive(unspoken) Units X3 Dropships (1 drop ship at a time) X1 APC X3 Infantry X4 Support X5 Hover dyne X5 Aerodyne Recommended troop options Dropship #1 X1 APC X2 AAA hoverdyne X1 Artillery (long range discharge) X1 Heavy hover dyne Dropship #2 X1 Templar X1 Artillery (long range discharge) X2 Heavy hover dynes Dropship #3 X1 Crusader unit (flamers) X2 heavy hover dyne X1 beam plaform / AAA / Artillery (free choice) Ugh this is an insane mission , first things first drop the first drop ship down and move to the bridge , nothing more than light terradynes jaegers and MBTs which is pretty easy to take on heal your APC with Sarah's APC if you need it.But the rocket terradynes are a major priority you need sarah's aerodynes to survive and they can kill your tanks real quick. Next is the North western outpost this is a tough nut to crack and you need to be fast to minimise losses.But pause and appreciate the terrain: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxx oooooooooooPooooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxx oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo B oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooCooAoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo B oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo xxxxxxxooooooo oooooooooooBoooooooooBoooooooooooo xxxxxxx oooAooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo xxxxxxx ooooSoo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxJxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Legend: A = artillery turret B = those tall tower turret things C = ATA 175mm P = power plant S = SAM unit J = Jaeger x = unpassable terrain ie drops or hills) The artillery unit the SAM unit and the power plant are ALL priorities and you must choose I personally go for the A on the right is near the dark patch of ground. Look easy ? its not take down the power you take down the turrets in the base but not the far artillery turret on the right , since it does the most damage I go after that right after attacking the turret in the middle (it is marked by a small concrete square with sections missing on all sides (forming 4 Ls).Use a long range discharge on it , then proceed to hammer the ridge where the next turret is.You will have to guess but it is somewhere near the ramp between the hill behind it and the drop.Now a HUGE sky battle will start more than you can count aerodynes will battle in the sky and inside the base itself are more defences.The defences are 2 MBT squads 4 annilators and eight light terradynes as well as hidden jaegers.Whatever you do keep your/Sarah's AAA units alive they are crucial have the APC guard them (sarah's APC will follow yours so you can be a bit reckless).Now another choice without any time to think the 175MM or the power plant? I go for the 175MM as it has less hit points and goes down faster use templar nukes on the remaining MBT but save 2).After this near titanic battle Sarah should have most of her forces left if you took out the artillery turrets if not most will be dead.Sgt cole will be on the radio ready to drop more troops for you. Sometime in this some AAA terradynes will come from B take them out as a priority sarah's aerodynes are vital. A titanic air battle vs Sarah's AAA your AAA vs the Enemy attack and fighter aerodynes (you should win). Heal everything with your APC (be patient) , now you face another difficult choice: >1 Land dropships south of the eastern base >2 Land dropships south of your position to clean out the base then go for the outpost both are difficult and unpleasant. Option 1 base is laid out nearly the same but defence forces are not all inside the base they are to the west in ambush , but the defenders are turrets (take out the 175MM via a rush attack) then the artillery turret then the power supply then the MBTs. Over the bridge there are 2 rocket terradyne squads 2 MBT squads some light terradynes , some annilators and lots of hostile aerodynes and to make it worse 2 jaeger squads in positions only troops can reach. Option 2 Form up and walk into the base not much opposition to start bar the tall tower turrets , but crayven has lots of surprises lots of attack aerodynes keep those AAA guns alive! , approaching the aerodyne facility and weapons facility you will notice APCs and MBTs take them down ASAP , now move in destroying everything you can enemies first then buildings you will encounter very little resistance until you get to the outpost on the other side.At which you will face what I described in option 1.Though all the way you will face more than a few hundred attack aerodynes and the skies are so full of them you can't even see your units in high view. Note sometimes there is a bug so that even if you level the eastern base it will not flag and you will have to start again. Once you have cleaned out the eastern base sgt cole will contact you , go forward and flatten the base you will meet with not more than 6 jaeger squads , link up the 2nd group with the APC for some healing. The only thing to note is a marine squad outside the corporate tower and a few SAMs if you decided to bring along aerodynes.Also a 175mm turret guards the terradforming facilities. Also with option 2 you will have 2-5 squads of hostile aerodynes to deal with which is easy considering your AAA units. ************************************************************************ Mission#15 The Last Dance Goals Plant bombs on the base of main xenofact Keep Sarah Alive Keep Stone alive Kill cardinal aegeri Units X3 Dropship X1 APC X3 Infantry X6 Hover dyne X5 Aerodyne X5 support Recommended troop options It might sound cruel but ALL units on this mission are expendable since you don't need to carry them on to the next mission. X1 APC X3 Templars (nukes and balanced) X3 Artillery (tank buster charge and offensive) X2 AAA units X4 Heavy hover dyne This mission isn't as tough as it seems but you need to be pragmatic and therefore take it slowly set aside 3 hours before you start this if you want to complete it without losses. ALSO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK , many spoilers here and its much more tense and thrilling to do this mission yourself (and on hard its darned well impossible). Right dropship down Sarah is in an isolated area with Sgt cole you can not get there nor can any enemy (you will face crayven forces bar a few Order aerodynes). Right after landing a dropship will land behind you with order forces: X1 Annilator squad X1 MBT squad X1 Drone carrier X1 AAA squad You can semi cheat by playing it seeing where they land and artillery barrage their landing site , otherwise they are extremely easy to kill. Approach the base and you'll meet 2 annilators which are alone and easy , next Sgt cole will inform you of a elite order unit coming to attack you.Their dropship will come quite a distance ahead of you so no cheating they consist of: X2 Heavy hover dynes X1 Templar X1 AAA (unsure about this they died so quickly to my forces each time) not very elite but they face massive odds against you. I will describe the approach from the lower entrance therefore having to go through the defences as it will save you lots of hassle in the final battle.Defences are obvious where they are located that it to the sides of the concrete , there are lots of artillery turrets all over , remember counter fire where the shells come from you can fire 9 shells with your 3 artillery units Except on the ridge just under the xenofacts where they are hog units rather than turrets.Each section is guarded by 4 MBTs and jaegers. Right time for the final assault , next to the xenofacts are 5 MBT squads and 2 annilator squads as well as masses of attack aerodynes and fighters. Cardinel aegiri is in a super aerodyne can take lots of hits and is escorted by lots of attack aerodynes.Kill him with your AAA units. Next heal everything take a breath and get ready the final assault is about to begin. Move your APC next to the tallest xenofact and Sgt cole will inform you of 2 minutes till masses of enemy come with major Thomas as commander.After 3 minutes masses of aerodynes will come from Sarah's direction she will help take out masses of MBTs and aerodynes.You should meet no more than some rocket terradynes MBT squad and artillery unit and some AAA which will eat Sarah's bombers alive.Once they are gone have your artillery units hammer the pass from which you came (the ramp) Now you will see many many many MANY( guestimate X4 Annilators , X2 rocket squads , X9 MBT squads , X2 hog artillery) Artillery will take out lots of the enemy , but not enough send in templars and use their nukes to hold off the enemy for a while , charge the formation with 2 heavy hover dyne units and push some AAA units in for a distraction , you want to take out the hog artillery first then the rocket terradynes (any left) then retreat and take the MBTs out (this is much easier on easy since artillery can't hurt your own units) on other difficulty levels they are a sacrifice or you can attack at the edges to leave a safe passage in the artillery storm. One you kill everything you win , once you kill Maj thomas Sarah will have something to say and you've won sit back enjoy the ending and gear up for ground control dark conspiracy. ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ [4]The enemy Marines Sort of tough when you use crusaders, crusaders seem to be weaker and have a much worse aim , maybe was used to elite marines in the last campaign though, they are quite hardy and can last longer close up.Just concentrate your fire on them with crusaders and up close (though they take more than crusaders up close too they die much faster).Tank specials are devoted to killing them remember this at all times. Jaegers Just use crusaders on them keeping tanks far back , you can locate them by looking at where the bullets come from from the map and also the direction and damage they do to your tanks. scout terradynes Easy meat use anything on them except the APC since the APC cannot heal itself.Hoverbikes are ok bt they can only take on two and still take on hefy damage so use something else other than APC or hover bikes. Light terradynes Quite tough since your light hover dynes are only about the equivalent of scout terradynes in terms of toughness and probably fire power but they really succumb to the FTT and die super fast to this.Toe to toe they are much nastier but in a single group you can usually win keep the APC healing though as your hover dynes can't take much punishment. MBT terradynes Tough cookies , though they are utter suckers for the FTT but this relies upon two units one as bait one as support use the fast unit as bait since its speed will help it get hit less.And the slow unit to fire into its rear they go down really fast since crayven puts paper on the rear as armour to save costs , saving costs is a corp norm. And crayven is a corp after all and is here to make money. Annilator terradynes Lucky for you they only come in small squads they can't be hurt by most of your units bar templars which are best against them but early on you will come up against them without templars.Best thing to do is the FTT then use a special into its rear where it has least armour protection.Other wise crusaders and light terradynes can't even hurt it , it has terrible perception so you can setup a trap for it which means you take it on , on your terms which is always the best way about it. Missile terradyne Extremely easy one your spot it with your scouts let your vehicles run off or stay still and use templars on them they won't even fire back. APC barely a threat , the last thing you'll kill in missions you may meet them unless they are healing enemy units. Fixed turrets: Vulcan 9000 poor gun poor range and the same one as on scout terradynes even your crusaders will have an easy time cutting it down. They are nasty though against your scouts if you get too close or you happen to give them rear shots. Laser pill box Same as vulcan poor AAT 175mm This is killer ! , much like the tier-7 of the order side it can kill nearly all your light and scout units in 2 hits which is a bum it does go down when out of power however so thats a good thing it has a poor LOS and fires on LOS so objects in its way can save you.It also turns rather slowly. AAT 125mm Smaller version but fires faster to some extent and has area effect poor LOS it seems. CTT - 123 A high tower with gun on top , sometimes goes down when power is shut down often does not , weak and can hurt tanks but not much unless you sit around on hold fire for ages.Still they are placed in dead inconvient places like behind walls so tanks can't hit it as well as a flat turret use templars and you'll be laughing. Sentry guns Repair turret Easy to kill and with more than 1 squad you can damage the enemy faster than he can be healed (rare) rocket turret , nasty piece of work this I hate em use artillery if you can or templars auto gun - worthless easy thing to be taken down with any tank. Orbit Artillery turret Nasty things , either cheat (play the mission through and remember where they are) or counter artillery fire them your artillery can move out the way this cannot. ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* [5] General questions How come I use dropships in the order campaign I thought deacon's space ship was driven away from the system? How do I play the campaign for order of the new dawn? You state turn your units in the manual there is no such command Why can't I move units on hold position? How do I deny an entire area? Way points or direct paths? You say artillery shells can be shot down with SAMs? Friendly fire? The manual states the APC guns can tackle anything but the biggest thing the enemy can throw at you? What is the difference in difficulty levels? Does loading troops into the APC heal them? Moving and shooting how do do it? Does the AI cheat and if so how badly? What happens when units are KIA? How do I focus fire units ? when I order attacks they just spray the whole enemy unit Can I repair buildings ? Why should I keep units alive I want to play wasteful combat! Can I skip the intros completely ? How many men can the APC hold? Is there a faster way to load men into the APC? I want your ground control serial number ... What are the ranks both sides can attain? What medals can my units win? ============================================= How come I use dropships in the order campaign I thought deacon's space ship was driven away from the system? ============================================= This is a plot hole I suppose.But later it states that you are working from a secret ground base , which semi fixes the plot hole but that means you go into orbit then come back down again. ============================================= How do I play the campaign for order of the new dawn? ============================================= Religious zealot wanna be eh? , well first you must win the crayven corp campaign first which sets the scene for jarred to begin his campaign. ============================================= You state turn your units in the manual there is no such command ============================================= Well no there is no such command but you can improvise of course lets use an example you have marines you want them to face east once they arrive at their target from which they approach from the east.Normally they will stay facing west when they arrive but what you do it set a way point in the direction you want to face and they ought to most of the time face the direction you want.If you want them to stay on the spot cancel orders soon after they turn and they will stay rooted at the spot. ============================================= Why can't I move units on hold position? ============================================= Well when they say hold position they really mean it and stick like glue to that position change orders or force move. Its done this way so if you want to snipe and order an attack your units will not pursue the enemy units giving up their terrain advantage if they have any. ============================================= What happens if my APC dies? ============================================= Instant game over you are supposed to play the role of Sarah Parker , she dies you die. ============================================= How do I deny an entire area? ============================================= You need artillery or main battle terradynes just have them fire at a particular spot out of sync so there is constantly something hittin that area.Same as the dark reign principle , its hard as rock to hit a moving unit with artillery but if they have to walk through it its much easier. ============================================= Way points or direct paths? ============================================= You can set direct paths (ie click the spot you want to go to on each map) the AI will auto select a convient close path way.However this is semi dangerous as it will cling to the bottom of valleys and not take advantageous terrain. Way points however take time to setup and you may not know a good path to the location you want to get to and in a battle time is at a premium. When 20 heavy hoverdynes are hammering you (a common occurrence) you don't want to be faffing about with such things. ============================================= You say artillery shells can be shot down with SAMs? ============================================= Yes but it only happens on higher difficulty levels though which can cause all sorts of trouble. ============================================= Friendly fire? ============================================= Same again only with higher difficulty levels does this really become a concern. ============================================= The manual states the APC guns can tackle anything but the biggest thing the enemy can throw at you ============================================= Well no not really they do tiny amounts of damage but I think its supposed to be the time effect as in it will take so long for most enemies to kill your APC due to its high armour rating that its guns can kill that unit. ============================================= What is the difference in difficulty levels? ============================================= Simple friendly fire and units stopping for it is the most obvious one.Also enemy weapons do more damage to you and your men are less accurate. Enemy tactics also seem a bit nastier.Your repair beams also seem a bit slower than before , at easy it can repair a bunch of marines to 100% in seconds while it may take longer on higher difficulty. ============================================= Does loading troops into the APC heal them? ============================================= No but they will gain some health when they approach the APC as long as it isn't busy repairing something else , but they come out the same health as they go in , the repair beam is externally mounted anyways. ============================================= Moving and shooting how do do it? ============================================= Well when you move often your unit will stop shooting and move the continue firing but you can order them to fire then move then fire which makes them shoot while they move to their new location. But it is not 100% recommended you may do more damage to the enemy but the enemy knows your unit is there and may retaliate making a flank move risky.Also in this state the turret gun may face the enemy and the body of your tank face another making it more vulnerable to enemy fire (nothing worse than losing a MBT to a bunch of crusaders). ============================================= Does the AI cheat and if so how badly? ============================================= Of course the AI cheats it can spawn entities onto the map when ever it feels like it and always knows where your units are. Its machine guns also seem to hurt your tanks badly too. A example is simple escort duty at the end nearly all those units are spawned , since I have spent hours combing the map and killed everything but the units at the end are spawned. ============================================= What happens when units are KIA? ============================================= Well you lose that unit as long as one member stays alive it seems they are replenished and the unit can fight on.If they are KIA then that unit is no longer avalible for use in later missions.(easy only!) ============================================= How do I focus fire units ? when I order attacks they just spray the whole enemy unit ============================================= Order fire then zoom in close to the enemy unit and click again on attack with your units and they should direct most of their fire towards the unit you clicked. ============================================= Can I repair buildings ? ============================================= As far as I know the answer to this is no you can repair buildings such as repair units though , with other repair units since they are considered structures.(only on easy though they can't repair each other on any other difficulty level. ============================================= Why should I keep units alive I want to play wasteful combat! ============================================= You are playing the wrong game try total annilation , red alert age of empires etc. You ought to keep them alive unless you play on easy (even then at least one man has to stay alive) to gain extra experience ie become more lethal (and you are after each advantage you can get).Also if you play on normal and hard by the time you get to the last 3 missions you will barely have any units left and it will be extra hard , my mission walkthroughs assume that you keep ALL men alive at ALL times.Alter your strategies if this is not the case , still in mission 15 you can get most of your men killed bar your APC as always. ============================================= Can I skip the intros completely ? ============================================= Not that I know of ============================================= How many men can the APC hold? ============================================= 3 Squads of marines therefore 24 men you can load men into major thomas's APC too though you have no control over where he takes them. ============================================= Is there a faster way to load men into the APC? ============================================= Force move the APC to run over your men on contact they get in , you may also want to use the unit icons instead of the actual units for loading. ============================================= I want your ground control serial number ... ============================================= Why of course NOT , here is how to get a serial number go to town buy copy of ground control (œ2.50) and look at the number on the inside of the case! , almost as bad as the SNES cheat to play the bosses in the first edition of street fighter II published in something or other. ============================================= What are the ranks both sides can attain? ============================================= Crayven Inexperienced Experienced Veteran Blood veteran Elite Order of the new dawn Unproven Faithful Priestly Battle brother Sunbringer ============================================= What medals can my units win? ============================================= Destroyer For destroying lots of buildings I think Aggressive For destroying lots of enemy I think Field excellence For both of the above Combat star Unknown possibly involved in every mission so far? ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* [6] Credits and permissions Credits due to - Ntcompatible.com giving me the reason why the music was all messed up and why briefings were jolted and repeated like broken records. Sierra and massive for publishing and making this great game That old man who was a GTA fan who split the 3 for œ10 with me in doing so allowing me to pay only œ3 for this game. Hendrix , as I type this I am listening to an old LP of him yes not CD but LP and no I don't play my LPs on my PC I have a dedicated deck for such things. Negative credit to the mission designer who made some of the missions that take up to 5 hours to complete. Negative cred to the maker of many OS's since they crash so often! Permissions list CjayC's www.Gamefaqs.com Entity's www.Neoseeker.com Bernd Wolffgramm's http://DLH.Net David A's http://www.cheatcc.com/ www.actiontrip.com http://www.gamers-realm.com Everybody on this list frequently check the version at gamefaqs since I tend to update there most.