Heavy Gear II Unofficial Strategy Guide and FAQ by Kasey Chang (ksc1@aol.com) released December 6, 2001 0 Introduction 0.1 A word from the author A quick browse through the gamefaq.com shows that there despite the age of Heavy Gear 2, there is no FAQ for it. So here's my version. This is a FAQ, NOT a manual. You won't learn how to play the game with this document, and I'm NOT about to add it to ease the life of software pirates. This USG only covers the PC version since that's the only version that I have. Some of you may recognize my name as the editor for the XCOM and XCOM2: TFTD FAQ's, among others. 0.2 Terms of Distribution This document is copyrighted by Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang (c) 2000- 2001, all rights reserved excepted as noted above in the disclaimer section. This document is available FREE of charge subjected to the following conditions: 1) This notice and author's name must accompany all copies of this document: "Heavy Gear 2: Unofficial Strategy Guide" is copyrighted (c) 2000-2001 by Kasey K.S. Chang, all rights reserved except as noted in the disclaimer." 2) This document must NOT be modified in any form or manner without prior permission of the author with the following exception: if you wish to convert this document to a different file format or archive format, with no change to the content, then no permission is needed. 2a) In case you can't read, that means TXT only. No banners, no HTML borders, no cutting up into multiple pages to get you more banner hits, and esp. no adding your site name to the site list. 3) No charge other than "reasonable" compensation should charged for its distribution. (Free is preferred) Sale of this information is expressly prohibited. If you see any one selling this guide, drop me a line. 4) If you used material from this, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE the source, else it is plagiarism. 5) The author hereby grants all games-related web sites the right to archive and link to this document to share among the game fandom, provided that all above restrictions are followed. Sidenote: The above conditions are known as a statutory contract. If you meet them, then you are entitled to the rights I give you in 5), i.e. archive and display this document on your website. If you don't follow them, you did not meet the statutory contract conditions, you have no right to display this document. If you still do so, then you are infringing upon my copyright. This section was added for any websites who don't seem to understand this. For the gamers: You are under NO obligation to send me ANY compensation. However, I do ask for a VOLUNTARY contribution of one (1) US Dollar if you live in the United States, and if you believe this guide helped your game. If you choose to do so, please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00 worth of stamp to "Kuo- Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk Blvd. #6, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA". If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I collect stamps too. 0.3 Distribution This USG should be available at Gamefaqs (http://www.gamefaqs.com) and other major PC game websites (such as gamesdomain.com, gamespot.com, gamecenter.com, etc.). To webmasters who wish to archive this FAQ on their website, please read the terms of distribution in section 0.2. It is quite clear. In case you can't understand it, it says "no modifications". This means you may NOT modify any bits of it! Read that carefully. It says exactly what it says. 0.4 Other Notes There is no warranty for this unofficial strategy guide. After all, it depends on YOU the player. All I can do is offer some advice. PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark... If you find a question about this game that is not covered in the USG, e-mail it to me at ksc1@aol.com. I'll try to answer it and include it in the next update. 0.5 The Author I am just a game player who decided to write my own FAQs when the ones I find don't cover what I want to see. Lots of people like what I did, so I kept doing it. Previously, I've written Unofficial Strategy Guides (USGs) for XCOM, XCOM2:TFTD, Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, Fade to Black, Spycraft, 688(I) Hunter/Killer. Mechwarrior 3, MW3 Expansion Pack, and Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. Most of them should be on gamefaqs.com, the biggest FAQ site around. You can also find some of them on my KC Game Nexus website at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/6275. If you need to write me, send e-mail to ksc1@aol.com. (Any spam will be reported to respective authorities). 0.6 Disclaimer/ Copyright Information Heavy Gear II is a trademark of Activision. Heavy Gear is licensed from Dream Pod 9. This USG is not endorsed or authorized by Activision or Dream Pod 9. And I swear I never read the official strategy guide from Prima. The information compiled in this USG has been gathered independently through the author's efforts except where noted. Nathaniel "AgentGray" Kealen have provided valuable assistance in welcoming me to the Heavy Gear fandom and provided his unfinished FAQ as a starting point. WARNING: This guide includes strategies and tactics of approaching each and every mission. If you need just a little help, don't read the rest! 0.7 Revision History 20-DEC-2000 Initial release 06-DEC-2001 Slight update, more details in the walkthru 0.8 The Most Frequently Asked Questions Q: Can you send me Heavy Gear II (or portions thereof)? A: Of course not. Q: Can you send me the manual (or portions thereof)? A: You're kidding, right? Q: Can you tell me how to play the game? A: Read the manual, please! Q: What's the latest version? A: There are no patches for the Windows version. There are patches for the Linux version. See 1.3 Q: Is there a map editor? A: The SDK for Heavy Gear 2 are available on the Activision Heavy Gear 2 website. Q: Will there be a Heavy Gear 3? A: Probably not. Activision seem to be concentrating on Star Trek titles now. Q: Are there any cheat codes? A: See the last section. Q: How do I get past mission X? A: See the specific campaign mission walkthrough. Q: What is this TV I keep seeing? A: TV = Threat Value, a rating of your gear's combat power. More powerful weapons and better equipment (including perks) and better gear ratings will increase the TV. Missions have overall TV limits and individual gear TV limits. 1 Game Information Heavy Gear 2 is the sequel to Heavy Gear, Activision's "mecha" game when they lost the Battletech license. Heavy Gear is a combat universe from Dream Pod 9, somewhat less well-known than FASA's Battletech, but still interesting. Heavy Gear 2 requires 3D acceleration. The "Dark Engine" was rewritten from scratch to use the 3D accelerators instead of the retrofit job done for Mechwarrior 2 series. Loki games converted the game to Linux. See their website for details (http://www.lokigames.com). 1.1 How do I get Heavy Gear II? While Heavy Gear 2 is no longer sold in retail stores as of the date of this USG, you can still buy Heavy Gear II from the Activision online store. You can also find Heavy Gear 2 in special bundles such as the "Premier Battle" package from Infogrammes's website, and from places that sells older titles. You can get the Linux version from Loki Games (http://www.lokigames.com). 1.2 What do I need to run Heavy Gear II? From the official website (http://www.activision.com/games/heavygearii/): * 3-D Hardware Accelerator (DX6.1 compatible D3D video card) * 166MHz Pentium© Processor (233MHz recommended) * A 100% Windows© 95/98-compatible computer system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card, sound card and input devices) * English language Windows© 95/98 operating system * 64MB of RAM * 450MB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files, plus 80MB for the Windows swap file * Quad-speed CD-ROM drive (600 K/sec. sustained transfer rate) * 100% DirectX 6.1 or higher compatible sound card (A3D supported) * 100% Microsoft-compatible mouse and driver * 100% Windows© 95/98 compatible joystick (optional) * CD Audio (Redbook) support The Linux version from Loki Games requires: * Linux Kernel 2.2.x and glibc-2.1 * Pentium 233 MHz (3D accelerator card with Linux OpenGL drivers required) * Video card capable of 640x480 resolution, 16-bit color, XFree86 version 3.3.5 or newer * 4x CD-ROM drive (600 KB/s sustained transfer rate) * RAM 64 MB required; 128 MB recommended * OSS compatible sound card * Minimum 450 MB free space * Optional joystick * Optional 3D sound support with OpenAL. For multiplayer, you'll need a TCP/IP networking components installed for the respective O/S's. 1.3 Are there more maps available? You can download 4 more multiplayer maps from the official Activision HG2 website. The maps are compatible with Linux version, though you may need to do some conversion, of which I don't have the procedure... Check with Loki, maybe? 1.4 Where are the patches? There are no patches for the Windows version. There are one or two mini-patches to help with certain OEM HG2 CD's, but you need to get those directly from Activision. The Linux version patches can be found at http://www.lokigames.com/products/heavy-gear2/updates.php3 1.5 Can I Linux HG2 players join Win HG2 games? Yes, and vice versa. Try Activision's ActivLink, which has a matching-making service, though the games are run similar to Diablo: there are no true "servers". GameSpy Arcade should also work. 1.6 How is Heavy Gear different from Mechwarrior? The Gears are much smaller machines. The largest assault gear is less than 11 tons, compared to 100-ton assault mechs of Battletech. As a result, the combat pace is faster. There are more "stealth" missions as you need to trail convoys, etc. The tanks in the game are a real threat as they outmass and outarmors you, but you move better than they do (except maybe the hovertanks). The gear is more like extra large combat suit instead of "tank on legs" like Battletech. The weapons are your usual mix of ballistic, missile, and energy weapons, though the addition of hand-to-hand weapons and indirect- fire mortars/grenade-launchers are an interesting mix. The game is better balanced through "threat value limit". Each gear is assigned a threat value based on its equipment and loadout. Each scenario will have a threat value limit for the whole squad and for individual gears. A typical scenario would have a 12000 total threat value, with maximum threat value per gear of 3500. On the other hand, this limit feels very "artificial". You're not able to fine-tune the squad mate's gears. They have their own gear model they prefer. You can choose different pre- set configs for them, but that is all you can do. The only gear you have full control over is your own. 1.7 What game modes are there? Single player: campaign, historical missions, training missions, instant action. Multiplayer: instant action, find the beacon, duelist, and more 2 Weapons There are basically four types of weapons, as explained in the manual. Instead of listing them all, I'll just go over the types and their general applications. 2.1 Guns/Cannons Your basic ballistic weapons, these vary from "light" to "very heavy". The "anti-air" cannons have higher firing rate and are more desirable. These are great mid/close-range weapons. The autocannons fire quickly, so you burn through your ammo very quickly also, but they do a lot of damage. Don't bother with machine guns. As the descriptions say, they're too light to do any significant damage except maybe to regular infantry. Rifles have lower firing rate but much longer distance. Use them for sniping if laser cost too much TV. 2.2 Rockets, Missiles, and Recoil-less Rocket packs come in a variety of different sizes. They are great if you have lousy aim, as you can just aim in the general vicinity and expect to get some hits. On the other hand, that is a waste of perfectly valuable ammo, and the heat discharge means you can't shoot more for a while. They are fine for building busting. Missiles take a second or two to lock-on, and their firing rate is quite slow. Shoot them as you close the range, than switch to a closer-range weapon. They are also very useful in space when movement and aiming are difficult. You can AVOID incoming missiles by triggering your ECM and move out of the way. The "panzerfaust" and "bazookas" are recoil-less single-shot weapons with big warheads, and does a LOT of damage. The heavy bazooka is great for demolition, and if you have good aim, one or two hits from these will kill just about any gear or frame. The medium bazooka is nearly as effective as the heavy bazooka, and you can carry MUCH more ammo. The rapid-fire bazooka... is a fun weapon to use, but doesn't seem to do that much damage. 2.3 Indirect / Grenades The mortars and grenade launchers are hard to use in combat unless you're lending long-range fire support. Drop shots NEAR the target, aim for the feet and try for splash damage. The grenades are great demolition weapons. If you're high on a ridge and the enemy are forcing you to keep your head down to shoot over the edge, then just drop grenades on top of them. Full load of 30 grenades is cheap TV-wise and will kill lots of enemies if you drop them right. 2.4 Energy Weapons The different energy-based weapons are quite useful. The lasers are very easy to aim (you shoot, and you'll score). On the other hand, you CAN still run out of shots. It's possible to take out a frame with ONE shot with a heavy pulse laser, and you can carry 80 shots! The hand-to-hand weapons like vibroaxe, vibroblade, etc. are for point-blank range combat. They cause a LOT of damage if you can get close enough, like 15 meters. How to get there... is your problem. 3 Gears, Gear Design, and the Perks and Flaws The Gears are much smaller than the equivalent Mechs. A heavy mech weighs about 8-9 tons, a far cry from 60-80 ton heavy mechs of Battletech. The smaller gears are capable of more intricate, more human-like maneuvers. Think of Gears as extra-large combat armor / exo-skeletons. The gears can be further customized with perks and flaws. For "general" do-it-all purposes, you'll need the heavy gear (duh!). You need both the armor and the firepower. 3.1 Scout / Recon Gears Dark Cheetah, the fastest gear in the game, is very lightly armored. Temple prefers a Dark Cheetah, so try not to use her if you want her alive. She doesn't survive long in heavy brawling. 3.2 Heavy General-Purpose Gears Dark Warrior, Dark Jaguar, and Dark Mamba are the heavy trio. They are similar enough that it doesn't really make that much difference choosing among them. Dark Mamba is a little heavier and has more armor than Dark Warrior, making it slightly more desirable. 3.3 Heavy Assault Gears / Fire Support Gears Dark Cobra and Dark Kodiak are the heavy duo. Dark Cobra is actually a Fire Support gear, as it typically has more missile and long-range weapons than Dark Kodiak, which is geared for closer work, but both can be reconfigured for any purpose. 3.4 Perks There are a lot of perks, I'm just going to list some of the more useful ones. Stealth (adjustable), makes you less visible. Max it for the stealth missions. ECM (adjustable), makes you less visible, but you had to activate it manually, and it can run out (so turn it off when you don't need it!) It also jams your own sensors. Use this in emergencies. Sniper System, lets you zoom in on a target with home/end keys up to 16X. It is very useful for long-range shooting. Reinforced (EXO) armor (adjustable), available as chassis, crew, front, rear, left and right, very useful if you need more protection beyond the max armor available. You can only choose 3 directions to reinforce though. Zero-G, required in the space battle scenarios. Submersible, allow you to go underwater. Not that often used, but useful in swamps and rivers. Ammo/Fuel Reinforcement, allows your gear to take more damage without blowing up. 3.5 Flaws Generally you don't WANT any flaws unless you're seriously OVER threat value limit. Honestly, I can't think of any flaw that you would want. 3.6 Other Mods You can click on the attribute box (the one containing sensors, maneuverability, etc.) and modify that in addition to the perks and weapons. Maximize your armor and play with the other attributes here. Some of those mods are quite expensive in terms of threat value, so don't play with it too much. 4 Squad Mates and Postures Wallice and Sobec are best for the heavy battle missions, as they have the heaviest gears, Kodiak and Cobra respectively. You may find more Kodiak and Cobra pilots later when you encounter the Liberati. Mailliaux is best at wiping out small patrols, but lacks endurance. Put him in a hot brawl and he won't last long. Vesping's gear has better endurance but less firepower than Mailliaux's. Vesping also prefers the anti-air cannon, which is useful when you need to take on lots of infantry. Temple's cheetah is too weak to last in hot brawls. Leave her home. Mailliaux and Sobec are hot-headed and charge into battle. That can be bad for your mission if you need stealth or unit preservation. Wallice and Vesping are calmer and more deliberate. Your Gear can be upright, kneel, and prone. Upright is the most unstealthy, and prone is most stealthy. Kneel is in-between. You can shoot in all three postures, you can only swing hand-to- hand weapons while kneeling or upright. You can move in kneel-mode and prone-mode. The speed is about 14 kph. You can't sidestep while you are in kneel-mode or prone- mode. Finally, there's SMS. SMS is not that stable, but it sure is fast. If you got hit hard in SMS, you'll fall down and become prone. 5 Combat Tactics 5.1 Sniping A useful battle skill/perk is sniping. Use either rifles or energy weapons for sniping. You need the "sniper systems" to do this. Use "T" to select a target, "home" to zoom in, then fire away. Sniping is the easiest way to take out frames as they are dangerous once you get close to them. When hit hard, they tend to fall down, which gives you more free shots. 5.2 Circle of Death (Gear Version) Use the strafe left/right commands! You'll need to be good to keep the cursor on the target. The Dark Cheetah is almost impossible to hit when it's going at full speed, so it benefits the most from this tactic. Hitting the other guy from the flank also makes it easier to kill them as the flanks and rear are not as heavily armored. 5.3 Send in your Squad Mates Sometimes you should let your squad mates do the dirty work, but follow them and support them. Usually you should go in all together in combat. If you can nail a few of the enemies with before they hurt your squad mates too badly, then you'll have less casualties. It's a good idea to take turrets down quickly. They're easy to hit, but they hit back hard, so the sooner you nail them, the better. If you can snipe a few bad guys before anyone engages, that's even better. Sometimes, it's better not to fight. In some circumstances, it's wise to order your squad mates to hold fire, so they don't get drawn into losing battles (like attacking heavily fortified enemy bases or large patrols) 5.4 Active vs. Passive Sensors Passive mode radar is good for sniping and a general default stealth setting. When there is no red in the stealth bar, you can touch the "A" key twice to briefly perform one active scan. This technique is sometimes useful for detecting hard to sense objects. Guided weapons require active radar. So if your radar is in passive mode, you can't use AGMs/ATMs. Note that your squad will use the same radar settings as you. So your gear might have stealth 7, but if you turn on active radar, then Wallice standing next to you also turns it on, and since his stealth rating is 1, he's visible even though you are not, and your squad's cover is blown. Also, if you are on passive, then your squad mates can't use AGMs/ATMs. 5.5 Escorting Convoy(s) Stay in front of the convoy (that means you need medium/heavy gear). Keep one or two gears (maybe assault gears) as guard, but you need to keep yourself in front to take care of the enemies before they hit the convoy. 6 Enemies Remember you can identify the enemies by using pointing the reticule at the enemy unit, then use the "target reticule" command, if you have rating of at least 1 for fire control. 6.1 Gears/Frames These are deadly if they get close. Snipe them at a distance with an energy weapon if you can. They tend to fall down if hit hard. Hit them hard while they are down. Heavy lasers can sometimes kill them with one shot. If they get close, the anti-air cannons (or any other auto weapons) work well, because you can unleash a continuous stream of ammo at them. Or use heavy-bazooka on them. Two shots and they go poof. 6.2 Tanks These things are slow due to old-fashioned treads, but they take a lot of damage and deal a lot of damage in return. Nail them with the heavy bazooka or the heaviest weapons you got. If you don't have something heavy, back away and snipe. 6.3 Infantry / Infantry Turrets These guys are annoying because they're small and hard to spot. Use rocket packs like shotgun and nail them from a distance. Alternatively, spray the area with automatic weapons fire (e.g. auto cannons). Then mop up by using the sniper zoom and an energy weapon or one of the automatic weapons. If you can spot them before they start running around, it's easy to snipe them. The infantry turrets are harder to kill and they do quite a bit of damage if you just stand there. Snipe em if you can, you may need to kneel and standup to duck their return fire. 6.4 Turrets They don't seem to have an ammo limit. Don't get in their firing arc! Position yourself just so that you can see a TINY little piece of them (either the very top or slight bits of the edge). Then nail them a few times with bazookas or lasers. Three shots from a heavy bazooka, 5 shots from heavy pulse laser, or 11 shots from heavy Gatling laser should kill a turret. The autocannon turrets have approximate range of 275 m, so stay beyond that and you can kill them with lasers. The laser turrets have further range, but deals somewhat less damage. 6.5 Two-Legged Battlemounts These are semi-tough customers. If you can get behind them, they die easy. Otherwise, try to outflank them. Usually armed with lasers and autocannons. A couple hits from heavy lasers or bazooka and they go boom. 6.6 Giant Two-Legged Battlemounts You will not see these until the Vega Spaceport raid. They're large and easy to hit, so the heavy bazooka works well. They are a bit taller than the regular two-legs, and as the saying goes: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. 6.7 Four-Legged Battlemounts (a.k.a. Spiders) These things are quite dumb -- you can get really close to them and they won't blink. You can nail them by hitting them from the side or rear (so they don't shoot back) with a heavy bazooka. They tend to stay still when firing so circle-strafe them with bazookas. In the mines, you need to kill these with HTH weapons. This is quite tricky. To do this, target them, and when your range indicator tells you that you're within about 15 meters, swing a couple of times and it will burst into flames. If you crawl under it, chances are you're toast, even with stealth maxed. If they climb over you, you hear CLONK CLONK, that means their feet are stomping you, even though they don't have a lock-on yet. Better start swinging! 6.8 Hovertanks (a.k.a. Floaters) These include Centurions and Imperators and maybe others. They are a real pain because they move around a lot. Try to catch them with a heavy bazooka just as they stop to turn around. Medium bazooka may be the best compromise between number of shots and firepower, though a few shots from a heavy will drop even the Imperator. 6.9 Kestrel VTOL flyers are armed with rocket packs. Snipe them if you can. Try to use energy weapons if you want to actually hit one. If they get close to you those rockets will do you a WORLD of hurt, so keep your distance! Their "body" is actually a little ABOVE the center of the target reticule. Zoom in and shoot. 6.10 Armed Sentry Drone Snipe it from a distance... They really do a lot of damage if you let it get close. It uses heavy pulse laser! If not possible, then hit ECM and get into range and hit it... 6.11 Space frames Zero-G combat is a REAL pain in the rear. You can try to snipe the space gears, but even with zoom, they are hard to hit. Fire a couple AGMs would probably be a better idea. On the other end, they have AGMs too! If they get a lock on you, run for cover and active ECM. 7 Training Missions There are multiple training missions, but only two that simulates shooting. The demolition mission is just about impossible. There are too many enemies that patrol around. All your sneaking is not going to help you. You can try just using the SMS and run past everybody, which is okay up to the first objective, but it's useless later as there's just too many gears out to get you, and your little zapper don't do much damage. Mortars aren't meant as direct fire weapons, so don't try it. If you're discovered, RUN! That other training mission isn't so hard. Get a good team together. Take out the opposition in your way until you see the two towers. Send your team against the further one while you go after the nearer one. When they start shooting, you start shooting. Kill both together, and then go in and take out the objective. It's on top of the hill. Get your gears around you as you charge up the hill. A couple hits and it is dead. Then run for the dropship! 8 Historical Missions Historical missions are simulations of classic gear engagements, where you can take the older gears for the ride, or use new ones, if you can get their threat value low enough. Donovan Rebbechi contributed this section. 8.1 St. Vincent's War Fighting patrol mission, use a mix of the assault and heavy classes. Use the "heavies" as patrol vehicles (that can run ahead of the convoy) and have the assault vehicles act as escorts. You'll be up against a lot of ambushing gears and some tanks. The AGM works fairly well as the terrain is desert with a lot of open distance for long-range shooting. The enemy gears are pretty fast and it's hard to hit them with a bazooka, and no time for sniping. If the convoy takes fire, your mission will not be successful. There's a basic strategy for escorting a convoy. Have two squad members (the heavier of your squads) defend the convoy. Target one of the friendly vehicles from the convoy using "F" for target friendly then go to C->red fireteam ->defend -> my target. Remember to press "E" for "target enemy" when you get a red dot in the radar. Now that you've got two squad members sticking with the convoy, run ahead with your other squad mates and try to knock out enemy patrols before they can start taking pot shots at the convoy. You'll want the patrol vehicles to be reasonably fast, preferably the "heavy" class. 8.2 Baja City Break through the enemy defense line has two primary tactics: run through (give everyone fast gears), or smash through (everybody take assault/heavy gears). Or you can mix it: take a light gear yourself, give your squad mates heavy/assault gears. Let your squad mates smash a hole, and you sneak through. Smash through: just break the enemy lines with a bunch of assault gears. To prevent your squad mates getting sucked into drawn out battles, set a path from them that goes from the start all the way to the nav point, and they will faithfully follow your path. Run through: outfit everyone with extremely fast gears and just run through the enemy defenses. 8.3 Peace River Army This is a stealth mission. It's easy if you do it right. You're up against some floaters and maybe a few gears. Take out the power station first. Set a nav point at your current position. Then go along the NW passage. Soon, you'll see a ramp. Go up the ramp, and follow the trail that goes towards the nav point. Cross a bridge, mop up some floaters, then cross another bridge and take out the power station. Then head back to your nav point. The next stop is the comm array. Head towards the comm array (Cycle your nav points to find it). Eventually, you'll see the base. You may experience some resistance. There's a cliff face to your north, on your left. Hug the cliff face. The less shooting you do the better. Now you'll come to a ramp soon, that leads to the comm array. Take out the comm array, then level the base. 8.4 March on Massada This is a big brawling mission. You'll need to outfit your squad mates with good brawlers. The Brahmin Cobra, while slow, is very solid. Basically, all this mission involves is heading towards the nav point, demolishing what you find on the way. When you get close to the gates, you will meet with a lot of resistance, and there's a big brawl. Good luck. 8.5 Escort Adriana Xing This mission is similar to "St Vincent's war", only this one is damn hard. There are enemy gears ambushing from everywhere. Your opposition for the most part consists of agile enemy gears. You will need to be able to take out these gears quickly. You will have a hard time completing it unless you use one of your super- duper custom gears, and make good use of all of those threat value points. Basically, you need to stay in front of the convoy and knock out enemy gears. Order two squad mates to "defend" the convoy while you explore and take potshots at gears before the convoy reaches them. This is tricky, because the convoy has an infuriating habit of making unexpected turns. The problem is that you must make sure that you take out enemy gears before they get too close to the convoy, but the convoy try really hard to lose you. If you can stay In front of the convoy, you have a decent chance of success. Do not, on any account, fall behind the convoy. If there's a gear that needs to be dispatched, and attacking them would force you to fall behind the convoy, order a squad mate to attack it. Regarding weapons choice, the AGM works quite well here. You need to take out enemy gears quickly, from a distance. 8.6 Hades Commando Raid This mission has some similarities to the Baja mission, though it's shorter and faster. This mission requires you to steal some chemicals from a building and get to a ship. Here's my way of doing it -- the enemy resistance is heavy and knocking them all down will be hard. One way of doing it is to get your squad mates to launch a diversionary assault on the complex. Do this by setting checkpoints on the map. Note that you do not want to send your squad mates too close to the nav point. The idea is that they draw the bad guys away from the nav point, then you come flying in with a fast light gear, steal the chemical, and go to the airport, using evasive maneuvers on the way back to avoid stray bullets. Run into the wing of the plane, and the mission's done. 8.7 Crossroads In this mission, you have to take over an enemy base on a hill. Once you've taken it, you'll have enemies coming at you. The terrain is fairly flat, and you'll mostly be doing distance shooting at gears. This mission is a good one for either sniper weapons or the AGM. Start by crossing the bridge. To your left, you'll see a path that goes up the hill. Follow it. Snipe out the turrets (or blow them up if you prefer). Mop up some gears that come at you. Blow up all the enemy buildings on the hill. They'll bring in some reinforcements. Stand on the hill, patrol and knock out the incoming gears, preferably before they get close (the AGM works nicely). Do this until it's over. 8.8 Assassination You'll want a heavy assault fore for this. The bad guys want to get to an airport, and your job is to set up an impenetrable line of defense to prevent them from reaching it. Head NW. Eventually, you'll see an entrance to the airport. (that is, a small space between two large hills that you must go through to reach the airport) There's a hill to the South East of the entrance that anyone approach the entrance must pass. Send some squad mates there, and stay back and guard the entrance to the airport. From your position, you can still contribute support fire. If it looks like your line is getting broken through, regroup your squad mates. However, your squad mates, with your backup fire support, will most likely wipe the floor with the enemies. If you see an APC, stomp on it. That's your target. Because your heavy front line will make it difficult for the bad guys to break through, in the event that the APC does get through, it will be a sitting duck. 9 Campaign Missions The Peace River City has been bombed, and we need to find who did it. The number in parentheses next to the mission name is the internal mission ID. I made up the names. You should choose a general-purpose Gear as you'll need to perform a large number of missions. I like the Dark Mamba a lot, as you can create some very decent configs, even with only 3500 TV. With 5000 or higher TV, it's extremely deadly. 9.1 Rendezvous With Calesto (2J) Background: Calesto, a GREL defector, is willing to share what he knows about the Peace River bombing if you can help him escape, by wiping out his squad and take out the three comm towers. Analysis and outfit: Simple "sweep" mission. The enemy consists of some buildings, turrets, a tank and some infantry. You won't need that much ammo. Since it's in a swamp, you might want the "submersible" perk. Sniper systems will be needed. Your best choice is a pulse laser or heavy pulse laser. Get rid of any perks that are not applicable to the mission, so you can spend your threat points on other things. Go to nav point one. You should be able to see the tower from a distance. Level it and get out. If you keep your distance from the target, the infantry may not even see you. Otherwise, snipe the infantry. Go on to the nav two. This time you need to level a turret that's guarding the tower. The turret is hard to see, so use sniper-zoom to get an aim from a distance. The turret will return fire, so as soon as you've hit the fire button, duck (kneel or prone). After its shots miss, stand up and shoot a couple more rounds. After the turret, level the tower. There is one more tower you need to take out after that. On your way to main compound, you'll spot a dot on your radar. It's a prone Hunter Gear. Use sniper-zoom to get a really good shot, and nail it with the heaviest weapon you've got. You may be able to sneak by it, but that's not recommended. Go to the main compound. You'll see a gear running around. Don't shoot it -- it's Calesto. There's a tank exiting one of the buildings. Take it out with a heavy weapon before it gets you or Calesto. Demolish the buildings, and you win. Sidenote: Got a fast PC? You may be too busy to look at all the neat graphical effects... Thunder, lightning, water ripples, rain... 9.2 Destroy CEF Advance Base (1J) Background: Calesto's info shows that some Earthers will be meeting with GREL Colonel Proust. We'll wipe out the NEC base and all escorts and take their place. Analysis and outfit: This time, you're up against several infantries, one gear, some buildings, and a few tanks. You have to destroy all hostiles, so be prepared for some heavy shooting and demolition. There's a lot of infantry, so the sniper-zoom will help, as will a heavy weapon like bazooka. Rifles don't kill tanks that well. Consider a large laser as your heavy weapon as it's good for both sniping and brawling. Head to nav one, and you will find some infantry patrols. Take them out. At nav two, you'll see some more infantry, with some vehicles. Take them out. A Gear may come as reinforcement. Just take them all out. At nav three, you'll have to take out two tanks. Once you've done that, take out all the buildings at the base and you win. 9.3 Capture Proust (3J) Background: No one's the wiser that we've taken the Earthers' place. Take your squad (you and 1 squad mate) to Nav 1, as our tanks set up an ambush to take out Proust's escorts. TAKE PROUST ALIVE! Analysis and outfit: The objective is to kill Proust's 3 escort gears, so pick your favorite gear-busting weapons. Most of your squad mates should do OK. I went with Wallice. Visibility is low, so engaging image enhancement may be necessary. Just run to Nav 1 when mission starts, then sit there and turn south, and wait. Proust's group will arrive soon. Proust is in a Kodiak, and his escorts are 3 Hunters. Whatever you do, don't attack Proust, who's in a Kodiak. And don't open fire until you receive the order. What I do is target Proust, then remember to shoot any OTHER bad guy gears (3 Hunters) that don't have the reticle around them. When you eliminate all escort gears, Proust will surrender. 9.4 Find/Destroy Hidden CEF Base with Antimatter (01) Background: Capture of Proust was successful, and GREL command chose to ransom him with information about the CEF secret base. Actually they just know the general area, not the exact location. We found a patrol (with mobile HQ) in the area. Track that patrol and it should lead us to the base. Analysis and outfit: You're up against a lot of buildings, a few floaters and some infantry. The base is hidden and has virtually NO defenses. Taking out the few defenders should be easy, just bring enough ammo to wipe out the buildings. Rocket packs are good. Doesn't really matter who you choose. The bad guys here are basically target dummies. I chose Mailliaux, Wallice and Sobec. Go to the north end of the canyon. You should spot the enemy patrol. Keep 300 meters distance. Watch your stealth meter. You can just jog through water, even without the submersible perk. When you get to the base, you'll see a cutscene. Once you're at the base, level their comm array, mopping up the minimal opposition you encounter (infantry, bunker, and some hovertanks). Then wipe out their base, esp. the comm array. You'll need to mop up a few floaters, some trucks, and lots of buildings. Watch for one of the trucks tries to escape. Kill it and note where it came from. There's the anti-matter storage guarded by a tank. Follow it back to locate the anti-matter storage. Mop up the opposition and level it. Then some trucks will appear out of that elevator carrying more anti-matter. Take them out and you're done. 9.5 Caprician Space Station (06) Background: Analysis of the CEF base shows that we need to head over to Caprice system. However, we'll need to take over the gate control so we can come back... Fury is jamming the comm array, but her power reserves are running out. You have five minutes. Get out there and wipe out the six separate comm modules (3 groups of 2) so they can't call for help. There'll be defenders, mainly infantry. Analysis and outfit: Zero-G perk is required.... You may want to try the zero-G training a few times. You're up against a lot of infantry and you need to do some demolition. I'd take an automatic weapon and maybe the medium bazooka. Choose a squad mate with some armor (NOT Temple or Mailliaux). Make sure their weapons are good for mopping up infantry. Vesping and Wallice are both quite good for this one. Vesping usually has an anti-air cannon, which is great for mopping up the infantry, leaving you to take out the comm array. Don't take the infantry one by one -- there's too many of them. Just spray them with your machine gun or rockets or let Vesping do it. The comm modules are those lantern-like things in 3 groups of 2 on either side of the antenna. Just cross the station to the other side and you should see them. A few good shots from the bazooka should kill each one. You'll get a warning at 3 minute and 1 minute as your time is running out. Part way through, Fury reports she's under attack. You'll have to go knock out those attacking infantry. Get over there fast, mop them up, then go back and finish the comm modules. When you take out all six, you're done. 9.6 Caprice Landing (07) Background: Our back is secure, and we got the latest IFF codes from Pulciano. We'll be landing to contact the local insurgents, known as the Liberati. First we need to establish the temporary base. Analysis and outfit: There's a lot of short-range fighting in this mission, so reinforce that armor! You'll see some tough floaters. Use medium or heavy bazooka. The autocannons and even the rapidfire bazooka don't do enough damage. Choose some squad mates who have armor (and health insurance!) The Dark Jaguars are OK (Pulciano, Vesping) as are the assault gears (Wallice, Sobec). First up, you have to "patrol", which means following the nav points that lead you in a circle around the base. Leave one or two squad mates (the really heavy gears) to guard the base. Then get started. At about the third nav point, you need to "investigate signs of combat" to the north. Liberati convoy is getting ambushed, and you'll need to save them against 2 floaters, then a few more. Stay behind the Liberati halftracks so you don't take too much damage. As long as you save some of them the mission is a success. Once you're done, head back immediately, use SMS! The camp is under attack. Dodge the enemy patrol on the way back -- you don't have time to fight them unless you're really fast, but that's just two hovertanks. Then take out all the attackers (more hovertanks), and you win! 9.7 Liberati Base (08) Background: The Liberati are pretty impressed with your combat prowess (i.e. saving their arse) and chose to take us to their leader, Petrus. Analysis and outfit: This is a sweep/fight mission, and you don't have time to snipe. Head in there and kill! You're up against a lot of floaters, and a few spiders, so go in armed accordingly. Like the last mission, your squad mates need to be able to survive a good brawl. Don't pick light gears. Quality counts more than numbers here. Max out the threat value on the individual gears, and go with less than the max gears allowed. I went with only Sobec. So you're on the way to the base. You'll run into two spiders. Take them out with your favorite spider-buster config. I like the heavy bazooka. Flank them first then shoot to avoid their bite and their frontal armor. They also tend to stay still when shooting, making flanking easier. Further along, there's a patrol of three floaters and one extra- heavy floater being encountered by the Liberati vanguard. Take your squad mate's advice and sneak up behind them. Lay prone to minimize detection. When they're past, run up behind them and start circle-strafing. Try to take out one or two before they start doing any damage. As you can guess, that's not the only attack force around. Make it to the camp ASAP, via regular running, not SMS (it doesn't really matter). Once you make it to the Liberati camp, there'll be a huge brawl. Multiple waves of floaters and some spiders will hit you. Kill all the floaters and spiders, and you win. Funny moment: Did you hear what Sobec said when the two final NEC floaters fled? 9.8 Recon Bastille Alpha (12) Background: Apparently the NEC had just raided the Liberati main camp before we got here. The Liberati leader has been taken prisoner. We'll need to recon the prison so we can breakout the prisoners. Analysis and outfit:This is a sneak and scan mission. So don't leave home without your sensor rating maxed out, as well as your stealth and ECM perks maxed out. You'll have to fight some small patrols, but this time it's easy enough that you can let your squad mates do the hard work. Your gear needs to be intact when you scan. You need someone with some firepower and some enthusiasm. Mailliaux and Sobec are both good for this. Let them take the front line. On the other hand, you could do this alone if you get a good gun... And if you do, take the sniper perk. Follow Radek's vehicle. Try to allow your squad mates to engage the enemies. You don't want to take damage, so let your squad mates take the front line while you give support fire. When Radek parks his vehicle, have your squad stand ground (i.e. stop and don't move!), then go to the lookout. From here, it's easy if you know what to do, and you maxed out your sensors/stealth. The overlook is shaped like a "Y" (use the tactical map -- see it?) You need to go up to each end of the "Y". Once you reached the end, you need to target each of the structures inside the prison. The hardest to find are the transformers, behind the arena. You'll need to get pretty close, and that means prone, to see them. Once you saw all three turrets, the gate, the door, the walls, the arena, and the hovertank depot, you're pretty much done. If you can't get it to go beyond 75% complete, you'll need to move to the other end of the Y and try again. Another way is go up to each end and do a "quick scan" with the active sensors. Get yourself prone, briefly switch your sensors to active, then switch back to passive. Then scroll through each of the targets you located. You also need to target the prison gates. They're gray on your radar, so using "T" won't catch them. Target them by lining them up in your crosshairs and then hitting "R". At this point you should be asked to "monitor the patrols". There are quite a few. Two two-leg battlemounts are outside. A four- legged battlemount is hiding to your right, and some hovertanks are patrolling inside. Eventually, the two-legged battlemounts go inside, and your mission is done. 9.9 Attack Bastille Alpha (13) Background: It's time to orchestrate the jailbreak. Strider arty will blow the main gate. Get inside, take out the transformers to disable the turrets, then wipe out the hovertank bay to stop more hovertanks from deploying. Then just clean up and escort the incoming transport out of there. Analysis and outfit: you're up against some floaters, spiders and two-legged mounts, as well as turrets. You'll need some armor and heavy weapons. You're not as short on time in this mission, so there's room for sniping. Pick Sobec and Wallice to follow you. This mission really calls for the "big boys". These two will be able to knock out most of the fortress without much assistance from you. Chances are that your squad mates will be able to knock out the turrets before you can take out the transformers. Anyway, the safest way inside is to go to the edge of the wall, then follow the wall so the turrets can't hit you. Meanwhile, your buddies will be making minced meat of the turrets. Go in and take out the transformers, then the hovertank bay. Then clean out any remaining opposition. That's all that's inside, and the transport comes in the take all the prisoners away. Now take the group and go outside, as several battlemounts and hovertanks will attack. Don't let them get inside and shoot up the transport. If the front of the gate is quiet, start exploring to the left and right to find the NEC forces. Once that's done, the transport will be loaded. Now let's escort the truck home. Try to scout ahead of the truck. Knock out the enemy patrol before they can damage the vulnerable truck. You will run into a few hovertanks in your way. Get to the nav point, and you're done. 9.10 Base Assault (09) Background: The leader of the Liberati is grateful for his rescue. He pointed us to Mount Giovanni, where we can find a NEC General with a datacore that contains a LOT of info. The plan was for us to assault the front, while they sneak in through the rear. Analysis and outfit: You'll want some speed for this mission. You need to take out some turrets and floaters and spiders. Have some big guns ready. Stealth helps, but the problem is that you're as visible as your most visible squadmate (if you're travelling in a group). Max stealth and ECM. You'll need it in quick bursts. The more hot-headed squad mates (Sobec, Mailliaux) can cause trouble in this mission. Especially Sobec who's likely to fall behind and get shot at by the bad guys. In this mission, it's easier to avoid enemy patrols, so you and your squad mates don't take damage before the big fight. First, order your squad mates to hold fire, and cross your fingers and hope they obey your order. If they pick fights with enemy patrols, you may lose squad mates. Change nav to crater 5 directly. The more you run around, the more patrols you'll run into. Head directly for nav 5 and avoid the patrols. You may get spotted by a VTOL. That's too bad. It seems that it's impossible to avoid being spotted, but it's possible to at least avoid firefights on the way. You will want a full team to attack the base. Eventually, you come across two turrets near crater 5. Take them out from a safe distance. That's the entrance. When you're in position, attack the base. Don't worry about catching the APC. Just kill all the enemies nearby. Destroy the guard tower in front to open the gate. Then nail the 3 hovertanks that come out the play, the two turrets (one's over on the top corner of the base), then run through. Now follow the route and make your way to the roadblock nav. You'll run into several spiders on the way. Nail them from a distance. When you get there, the roadblock is completely destroyed. However, Petrus claims he found the APC and you can still catch it. 9.11 Capture NEC Officer / Pursue APC (10) Background: Well, we need that APC, so find it quickly before the reinforcements arrive. Analysis and outfit: You'll need some speedy gear for this mission. You'll need to take out some spiders and some floaters. On one hand, it helps if the squad mates are speedy, and on the other hand, they'll probably have to do some fighting. This one is anyone's guess. I chose Temple, Vesping, Wallace and Pinter. Overly aggressive pilots could compromise this mission. Before you start, order your squad mates to hold fire. If they open fire on the enemy below, your squad is toast. Target the APC so you know where it is. Don't target anything else, or you'll lose track of the APC! If you lost track of the APC, then you'll need to play "Stealth Assassination", which is a VERY stealthy mission. I just followed the APC and lost it as we were delayed by patrols and firefights. I did find the camp though, which leads to the next mission... If you have a light or medium gear, you may be able to chase the APC, in which case you will skip the next mission. 9.12 Stealth Assassination (11) Background: You were not able to catch the APC in time, we'll have to do this the hard way: sneak into an alerted NEC camp and steal the datacore right under their nose. And it's all up to you. Analysis and Outfit: This is a stealth mission, so max the stealth, both regular and SMS speed, and max the ECM as well, just in case. Bring a good weapon in case you need to fight. The camp is surrounded by patrols of Centurions, Imperators (those extra large hovertanks), laser sensors, and infantry. There's about half a dozen two-leg battlemounts inside the camp, with two roving sentry vehicles. There are 3 entrances guarded by Imperators, Centurions and some infantry with laser sensors to the west, east, and southeast. There's one potential entrance to the northwest, but that's actually a trap. There are too many 2- leg battlemounts nearby. The ONLY clear way into the camp is via the steep cliffs just northeast of the target building. It's an one-way ticket down. Go east until there's no more road, turn north. You need to get AROUND that eastern entrance. There's an Imperator there and if you get too close you'll get spotted. Once you got there, go north, then west, then south. There's two "cuts" in the hill just north of that eastern entrance that you can use to climb onto the top. Then head for the northeast corner. Once you arrive at the northeast corner, go prone, and start crawling west. Don't worry about those three spiders. They're not active. Keep going and you'll fall off the cliff, but you'll still be stealthy. Ideally you'd do this when no sentry vehicle is nearby. Keep crawling until you bump into the general's building. Watch the cutscene as you dismount the gear, go inside, kill the general, then grab the data and remount the gear. Now comes the fun part: running for it. You were kneeling now, so drop prone again. Go for EITHER entrance (east or west, I chose east). Keep crawling, be ready to hit the ECM as soon as you heard "they found you!". When they do, stand up, turn on ECM, and hit SMS to go REALLY FAST. You should lose them. When there's no bad guys on the sensor, turn off the ECM, as you'll need it later. You'll probably get hit a few times, but don't stop and fight. Just keep running! As you can see from the tactical map, you'll need to follow that road as it makes a turn to northeast, then turns northwest. The problem is an Imperator near that junction. Use the ECM to get past him. If you are fast enough, you win immediately. If you aren't fast enough to your ship, 2-3 two-leg battlemounts will attack. Your squad mates should blast them, but feel free to help out. Once those chasers are gone, you win. Fun thing to try: here's a foolproof way to kill ALL those patrols and guards (and fail the mission spectacularly). If you want the kills, try this for fun. Bring along about 60-90 heavy grenades. With 5000 TV you should fit them in with no problem. Head to the northeast corner as usual. Now stir up the hornet's nest with a grenade. Now you've failed the mission... Ready to do some serious damage? Wait until all the bad guys start milling around at the bottom of the cliff. Those battlemounts don't climb, and those hovertanks don't either. So start tossing grenades down the cliff one at a time. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! If you have the time, and feel like getting more kills, you can probably turn back north upon exiting the camp and run back up that cliff again to do this... It's rather humorous. 9.13 Track NEC Patrol (17) Background: Petrus, the Liberati leader, have brought us to little camp. We need to chase the APCs away so they'll lead us to their research facility. First target the APCs so the Fury can track them, THEN wipe out the camp and all defenders. Analysis and Outfit: You should do this one alone. You should have enough to equip yourself with HBZK (heavy bazooka) and HPLA (heavy pulse laser) with max ammo. Bring a few grenades just in case. You should top out the TV. Go to the nav point. You can take the "high road" (the ridge) or the low road. The high road is too good to pass up -- it's very easy to snipe from there. So take it. Go towards the base. Go prone, and crawl up so you can get a good look. You should be able to see all three APCs. Target them one at a time. (If you brought squad mate, leave them back at the ridge so he doesn't expose you). You'll see some unknowns. They look like gears, but they seem to be more powerful. Those are the "frames". When you got all three APCs targeted, you can start attacking the camp. Make good use of the sniper-zoom and those frames will be dead in no time under heavy pulse laser barrage. Then level the tents. 9.14 Assault Mount Boniface (18) Background: The tents we leveled and the frame wreckage shows that this research plant has something to do with it. Take over the powerplant, then hold the powerplant until the Radek's engineers can shut it off, which will disable the turrets around the research facility. Then destroy the entire research facility so we can pick through the wreckage. Analysis and Outfit: There's a lot of brawling in this mission. You're taking on a power station -- fighting nasty frames in tight spaces. Bring some armor and some weapons. Stealth won't help that much. Definitely bring Sobec and Wallice. You need the really heavy stuff to survive. Go "downstairs" from start and mop up some floaters and battlemounts. Once you're done, the engineers come in to switch off the power. Just stand around with your radar active and blow up anything that comes too close (multiple Imperators will attack). Don't get too close to the base or turrets will blast you. When the power's cut, several frames will approach the base entrance from inside. Stay near the entrance, find a good sniping spot, and take them out as they come. If they don't come out, you'll have to go in and get them. Wreck the buildings too. There should be 4 frames total. When they're all gone, take out the main research building, and you've won the mission. 9.15 The Mines (21) Background: The frames came from Gommorrah, and the only way to sneak in would be through these mines. HTH weapons only! (At least until you get to the elevator) Analysis and Outfit: Well, the game says only use HTH weapons, but you can use regular weapons once you got to the elevator, just not before. Get the Vibroaxe, because it's the toughest HTH weapon there is. Get jump jets, as you'll need to jump some chasms. Also max the stealth, and add some ECM just in case. Turn on the Image Enhancement. You should see an entrance you can hack through in front of you. Switch to your axe now. Go through. There are two exits to NW and SW just across the chasm. Jump across and go NW. Don't bump into those columns in the jump or you won't make it to the other side! Follow the passage. When it opens up again, there's another chasm. Jump over it also. Just past this second crack, you can go northwest or southwest. Go northwest. The passage turns around somewhat and then you jump over yet another crack. The passage keeps turning right and goes east for a while. Then the passage heads north into a closed entrance. Hack it open and go through. Now below you, there should be the mining area. Head down via the ramp to your left. There's some spiders patrolling this place, but if you kneel they won't see you. Head NE past the mine crater to the east (crawl if you like), and you'll find an exit there. There's another exit to NW, but that leads nowhere. After you go along the NE passage a little, it turns north, then there's a fork where you can go west, north or east. Go east. You may need to crawl past a spider here, as it patrols that fork pretty often. Whack it if necessary, but do it quietly. The passage goes east for a while, then turns to the north. Then there's another fork where you can go straight ahead to the north (a spider in this area) and run into two heavy frames, or west. Crawl and go west. There's a turn north, but that just circles back to those frames. Keep heading west. As you go west, you should go past a short dead end passage on your right. The passage is REALLY narrow, so you may have to take out a spider here if you can't crawl past it. Go up to kneel, then start swinging at 15m. After that, take the next right, which goes more or less north. Now, you are less than 400 m from the objective, and the place is CRAWLING with bad guys. Eeek... There are at least 3 frames and 3 spiders. Some say the frames will stay still if you don't get spotted, but I can't seem to get it done. If they're patrolling, chances are someone spotted you and they are out searching. First objective, make it within 300m of the nav point, which is when your objective changes to "eliminate elevator guards". This is where the ECM comes in. Use sniper zoom and take out one of them, probably one of the frames, as those are easier to kill. With a heavy pulse laser a few shots should do it. Engage ECM and run out of range, then repeat this until you wipe out all of them. Once you do that, the mission is done. 9.16 Find the Factory in Gommorrah (22) Background: We're in Gommorrah, and we need to find the frame factory and download the info we needed. There are plenty of enemies to go around... And a lot of buildings to explore... The Liberati hacker named "Dragon" will be on as your "guide". Analysis and Outfit: This is a very long mission. You are up against turrets, frames and Kestrels. You will need a lot of ammo, and I do mean A LOT. Leave the heavy bazooka at home this time and bring along two heavy pulse lasers. You MAY or may not be able to salvage some heavy gatling lasers from the frames you take out, but you can't rely on that. Pick up any that you find. The only way to go is sniping. Take the stealth perk (maximized) and ECM (you may need it against some turrets), and of course, sniper perk. As soon as you go up to the elevator, you should see a frame may be hiding behind one of the columns. Two-three shots from HPLA and it should go down. There's a Kestrel outside, kill it. Follow the nav point to the elevator, there's a frame guarding it. Take it out, and get on to go to Fujigowa building. When you hop off the elevator, kill the frame near you. You'll have to hop off ASAP since the elevator will move back down in a few seconds. The frame is close, but you should be able to kill it with a few shots from your HPLA. Then slowly go outside and take out the Kestrel. Continue towards the nav point. You'll run into another Kestrel to take out. Cross a bridge then you will find a frame guarding the next elevator. You may need to move around a little to see him. Take care of him and take the elevator to the Hashima building. Get off the elevator (no enemies nearby), then head toward the nav point. There are two laser turrets on the bridge. Take them out and go over the bridge. There are three turrets waiting for you near the elevator towards the end of the passageway, so don't get too close yet. Mop em up and take the elevator to the Andersen compound. Once you hop off the elevator, head out the corridor and take out two Kestrels with more long range sniping. Then go left at the "T" junction, then take the first bridge you see. Go along the right hand side of the building. Watch out for a Kestrel pop up behind you if you did not kill both Kestrels. Eventually, you'll see a bridge, and a patrolling frame guarding the elevator. Take out the frame from a distance, then cross the bridge and take the elevator to the Kishin tower. Hop off the elevator, and take out the frame, then walk some till you come to a LONG bridge heading down into Mesa. Wipe out the turrets on the bridge, and be careful here! There's a Kestrel hovering around in the distance. Knock it out. Now go down the bridge one little bit at a time. There's a turret to your right. You can't see it, but it's on the sensor. Take it out now to save you work later. Head down 10 meters at a time and do a quick scan, take out any enemies you see with long range shooting (beyond 275 meters if possible). You should see several turrets, a frame, and maybe another Kestrel. If you see a Kestrel, kill it quickly. Those rocket packs can REALLY hurt you if you stay still (and you need to stay still to shoot the laser in sniper mode). Those turrets are autocannon and have a range of about 275m, so if you stay beyond that you can shoot them and they can't shoot back. The frame is easy to take out at a distance. When you've taken everything out, go down the elevator to Mesa. The Mesa complex (hmmm... shades of Half-Life!) is a series of 180- degree-turn tunnels guarded by a LOT of turrets in strategic positions, and those turrets are NASTY! You must head WEST off the elevator. If you made your way to elevator that's not "up", you went the wrong way. On the other hand, east is the way you're coming back up, so feel free to sneak down and take out the turrets now (it's easier shooting down the shooting up) to make your life in the "escape" section easier. It's up to you. From the elevator, go along the western passageway. It turns 180 degrees and by the time you're facing east, a turret should be visible. These turrets don't run out of ammo, so try to position yourself so just a SLIGHT BIT of the turret is visible, then keep hitting that little bit until it goes boom. As you head down, one of the NEC frame pilots taunts you via the announcement system. Now the passage turns around and you go west some way, then there's a shallow turn and around that turn is another turret, which is guarding the elevator. Shoot the turret and take the elevator down. You may want to go prone and crawl to the edge now. Now you get to shoot Mr. Super Frame Pilot, that guy who taunted you. Except he just stands there. Now start crawling past those "generators" until you can see his "blue" frame. Hit him with your best laser a few times and he's toast. Interface with the mainframe, (just head there and stay put) then take the elevator up (another Nav). There's a turret waiting for you just near the top. You may want to lie prone on the elevator, and crawl to a safe distance. The passage winds around. Further up is another turret. This one is TOUGH to hit. Blow it up, then take the elevator back up. On the top, head for the nav point by going across a bridge, and take out the turret if you haven't already did so before when you came down to the elevator to Mesa. Voila, you've gotten the train out of Gommorrah. 9.17 Escape From Gommorrah (23) Background: You're going through the hydroponics plant in search for an exit from Gommorrah. Analysis and Outfit: There are several frames here and you have to take them out fairly quickly. Since you're trying to escape, some speed also helps. Bring some frame-busting weapons, armor and speed. For this one, the Heavy Pulse Laser Cannon, and the Heavy Bazooka worked well This is a tough mission. Generally, don't waste too much time brawling. Your job is to get out alive, and you'll never be able to take out all those frames as they seem to respawn until you hit that last room. Fortunately, the frames assigned to guard one dome won't walk through the exits to chase you. So if you can hide in the exits you should be okay. They will shoot INTO the exits though, so watch out! As you get out of the train station, the Fury was ambushed and destroyed. You're told that you need to get to the other side of the complex, which would seem to mean head Southward. So take the SE exit (right) in the first dome, the SW exit (left) in the second dome (dome 1), and then the SW exit (left) in the third (dome 4). Only kill the frames in your way, then RUN for the exit and GET AROUND THAT BEND, as those frames carry bazookas also. You'll arrive at a dome that's guarded by three frames. Just snipe them to death, then walk into the EXIT door... 9.18 Vega Spaceport (25) Background: The Fury's gone, so we'll need to hijack a ride somehow. Fortunately, most of the gears and equipment have survived. It's time to scout the spaceport and find a ship out of here, but first, we need to get in... Analysis and Outfit: You'll run into a lot of frames. Bring your favorite frame-killers. This level is a good one for sniping, but there's also some brawling. Stealth will help a lot since it's a scouting mission. While you're allowed 15000 squad total TV and up to 4 squad mates, it's best to go by yourself on this one. With 5000 TV you can nicely outfit your gear with some killer combos like HBZK and HPLA with max ammo and everything else just about maxed out, and if you snipe, it doesn't matter how many squad mates you bring or how many enemies there are. You could bring along two fully outfitted squadmates if you are not sure about your own abilities. Just head for the space port nav. You are informed that there's some "activity" ahead. The activity ahead turns out to be 2 turrets and 2 frames. Crawling past them is the best option, though you could take them out if you want to use the ammo. As you sneak your way to the spaceport nav point, you realized that sneaking in is easier said than done. The only way the doors open would be for the convoys. Make it to the new Nav 1 and see if you can find some of the trucks that you can hide in. You may run into some gears. If you snipe just ONE of them it wouldn't matter very much. I stayed on that "overhang" next to the road and took out the light frame that was in my way. The other frames didn't even blink. Continue to nav 2. There are FOUR gears near it, but you'll probably see only 2 initially. Be careful and take them out. Then approach the nav point, and watch the cutscene as you jumped into the truck and enter the spaceport... 9.19 Escape from Vega Spaceport (27) Background: You'll need to procure a ship that'll escape orbit. What happens then is anyone's guess. Analysis and Outfit: You'll be up against a lot of two legged battlemounts (including some giants) and several frames. There's a lot of brawling. Go in armed to the teeth, and do without much stealth. Use your favorite gear shredders... lots of heavy firepower because the battlemounts can take a lot of damage. You will need a lot of ammo. It may be worth considering the medium bazooka instead of the heavy bazooka for this reason. I ran out of both HPLA and HBZK ammo even though I was maxed out on both! You will want your squad mates to stay tightly grouped, because they tend to get lost and stuck in this mission, and they will take more damage in battle if they are isolated. There's a lot of brawling, so you'll want firepower, and you'll want your squad mates to have some armor. Bring at least two of the Cobra/Kodiak pilots. I prefer both Kodiaks, maxed out config. You have enough points to do it. Go towards the nav point until you run into a fence. Go west along the fence. There's a heavy gate on the fence. It's indestructible, so don't bother with it. Follow the fence until you go through an archway in a fence that runs perpendicular to the fence you are following. You'll need to knock out some battlemounts on the way. Try to hit these guys from the side if possible. After you've done that, you should see an archway in this fence you've been following. Go through. Now you can get to the nav point. Now once at the nav point, there are three elevated plateaus on which you'll find the landing bays -- one to the East, one to the West and one to the North. The ship you want is on the one to the north. Climb onto the plateau using the ramp to the west. You MUST use the ramp as your squad mates will fall off those narrow bridges. Okay, this ship is usable, but it's locked behind this forcefield... Find the power station to drop it... So your next task is to level the power station, which is on the other side of the map (of course). You need to get into the military sector. Hop off the plateau using the wheelchair ramp. Head NW and look for a gate that has a small plague next to it that says "military personnel only". Go through here, and then get to the nav point. Be careful as you approach, the power station is guarded by turrets. Wipe out the turrets, and level the power station. When that's done, a dropship flies over... Someone knows you're here, and that's reinforcements. You're in for a heated battle. There'll be a welcoming committee of giant battlemounts outside. Flatten them with heavy explosives, and get back to the landing bay. When you get back, the ship you hope to get takes off, and frames / battlemounts ambush you. Using your favorite frame-shredder and level them before they do the same to you and your squad. Then get to the drop ship, which is to the west, in a little valley. Getting to the drop ship is pretty easy. You don't need to cross the "military corridor" fence. Just head straight to the nav point. You'll run into a few frames, but they should be no match for your decked out Kodiaks. Once you wipe out the dropship guards, you win! 9.20 Asteroid Shipyards (30) Background: Well, there are no nearby starships (that'll jump) to hijack, so this shipyard is it. Find a ship that'll take us home... As you found the ship, you realized that all the ships are set for Terra Nova... It's an invasion fleet. Take out all the OTHER ships' thruster units except your own... That'll slow them down. Analysis and Outfit: You're up against a lot of zero-G gears here, as well as some turrets. So choose your weapons appropriately. Definitely bring LOTS of AGMs. You have the TV to spare. Energy weapons are useful for taking out turrets without them shredding you, but bazookas will work fine also. Obviously, you need the zero-G perk. Bring ECM to counter the AGM's. You'll want some squad mates with firepower and armor. If Wallice and Sobec are still alive, they'll serve you well. The station is a long cylinder, and there are 4 ships attached on each side, for a total of eight. Here's a little diagram: 1 2 3 4 ======== 8 7 6 5 You start next to ship 1. The ship you want is ship 5, and you'll need to jump the sections as well as climb all the way to the other side of the station to see it. Avoid the sentry drones. These sentry drones are not armed, but they'll activate all the laser turrets, so avoid them if you can. When you see ship 5, there's two orange maintenance bots next to it. Kill both bots so Morgan can come over and "borrow" the ship. Once Morgan got the ship, the fun starts. If the laser turrets weren't active before, they are now! Then some space frames show up. Eeek. Best way to deal with them is shoot some AGM's at them. Remember to go active on the scanners! Once Morgan got the ship online, you realize all the other ships are also bound for Terra Nova... It's time to put them out of business by taking out all the thruster modules. Well, here's the "trick". Go in order, so you don't miss one! You're on 5, so start with 6, then 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, and 4. Then you're back. You can leave your squad mates and let them fire at will, or you can bring them along as protection (for them). You just hurry up, maybe blast a few turrets while you're at it. MBZK are good, though you'll need a lot of shots (about 10-12) per ship. If a space frame gets close, just pop 5-10 AGM's at it. If you get locked up by enemy gears, hit ECM and get behind cover. You'll have to hurry since the space frames "respawn" as long as the thruster modules are not destroyed. Once all the thruster modules are gone, it's time to take out all the space frames and go home. You should have brought plenty of AGMs, so use them. Allocate 5-10 per frame. When you got all of them, you got the ship. 9.21 Mass Driver Assault (35) Background: Upon taking over the shipyard and the ship... An asteroid whizzed by at dizzying speed... It's a mass driver! We'll have to investigate... Analysis and Outfit: You're basically just shooting turrets, as well as a few sentry drones. You may encounter frames, but your crew will dispatch them before you can blink. Energy weapons should work fine. You will probably need energy weapons to hit the sentry drones. Sniper zoom will make it easier to hit the sentry drones. This mission is easy enough that it doesn't matter that much. Go with whoever has the most armor (the assault gears and the jaguars). Bring as many nicely loaded gears as you can. See the accelerator rings? Fly to it, and follow it. If you see a space frame, go active and pop it with a few AGMs. Kill two more frames and you'll get to the body of the space station. Go around the outside of it, and you'll see a NEC frigate guarding the airlock. The ship has a few (five?) turrets on its surface, and you'll need to take them all out. Do it from a distance to avoid getting shredded. You may need to move to reach some of them. Once you've blown up the turrets, head towards the airlock. You'll see 2 sentry drones. Use your sniper zoom and an energy weapon to take them out. Enter the airlock and you're done. 9.22 Mass Driver Destruction (37) Background: Finally, the big finale... This mass driver is a real killer here. We have a small tac nuke here but it's not enough to blow up the whole place. Instead, we need you to go inside, find the launch tube, find an asteroid, and stick the nuke on it. THEN you'll launch the asteroid from the computer center. While the mass driver's charging up, the nuke will blow, causing the capacitors to go with it. You'll need to get out before it blows. Easier said than done of course. Analysis and Outfit: You're up against just sentry drones. You will need good armor. Stealth and ECM will also help -- they are easier to take out when they can't see you (even then, it's not that easy!) You'll want sniper zoom and a weapon that's accurate enough to shoot the wings off a fly 200 meters away. I like energy weapons for this. The fully automatic weapons would be OK but they are bad stealth-wise and once the drone sees you, their attack is merciless. The guided weapons don't seem to work with these critters -- they move too fast, and they're small. Even if you get a lock, it's not a given that you'll hit, and putting your radar into active mode near the drones is suicide -- once they see you, they'll pound away at you with a heavy pulse laser cannon. Leave the bazooka at home. You need lasers, and lots of lasers. Go towards the nav point, blowing up the sentry drones. Try not to let them see you. Focus on accurate shooting -- take the time to get in one really good shot instead of shooting wildly. One clean hit will take them out. Anything less will not do any damage. A "clean hit" basically means you drive a laser beam right through the drone's center of mass, which is actually a little ABOVE the center of the target reticule. They usually move in patterns, so line up and be ready. You'll need to know the way out to make a speedy exit. You may want to set yourself an intermediate nav point -- there's one place where there's a large hub that's easy to get lost in. Once you've blown up the drones, go to the main computer, then find the asteroid (lower right, I think) and bump into it (to attach the baby nuke), then go back to the main computer to launch it. Once you've done that, run out very quickly, retrace your way to the red chamber, and you're done. 9.23 Conclusion You got out just in time as you jet into the open cargo bay of the ship... The gate ship is already online... The drop ship accelerates away in emergency power, straight for the gate... Just as the countdown on the nuke reached zero... The blast caused a sympathetic explosion in the launch capacitors and the entire station went up, and asteroids flew off everywhere... Right into the gateship... Your dropship jumped through the gate just before it closed. Well done, Black Talons! You've saved Terra Nova! 10 Miscellaneous Info 10.1 Cheat Codes There are only two cheat codes: invincibility and mission skip. Bring down the console while in the game to perform both of these (Press the ~ key on your keyboard. It's usually located next to the number 1.) Invincibility: Type: SET CAMTI and hit Enter on your keyboard Mission skip: Type: SET MISSION and hit Enter on your keyboard 10.2 Easter Eggs Nathaniel "AgentGray" Kealen contributed this section\. Activision and Loki added their own little bits of craziness to the game. If you play the game around Christmas you'll notice that the gears have Santa Hats. It's quite comical to see your favorite Cheetah decked out in his own red and white hat. If you play a multiplayer game, one team has the read and white while the other has black Santa hats. Some people have also made some reports suggesting that they can hear bells ringing as the gear runs. If you want to see this for yourself, simply change your system date in your computer to a date close to Christmas and...surprise! Another holiday Easter egg (and less known) is the Halloween Easter egg. However, you'll never be able to see it. It was coded into the game, but never activated. This is not really an Easter egg, but an interesting piece of history nonetheless. The Loki programmers didn't want to be outdone so they added a slightly different Easter egg. If you enter a multiplayer game with the name "phatpipe" you'll be greeted by a different welcome message. This Easter egg works in the Linux version of the game only. 10.3 Movie notes You can view the intro, outtro, cutscenes, and the mission briefing shorts. They are just AVIs on the game CD. You can also see the actual mission objectives as text files in the related folder. You can find it... --THE END--