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9. WALKTHROUGH - Part I - Missions 1-9
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So far, I ended the game in Normal mode. I do not know how the game will be in
Very Hard difficulty, but probably production speed will be lower, you'll have
fewer resources at your disposal and the AI will send more ships into battle.
In Normal mode, you start the game with the Kuun-Lan (no modules except the
Hangar), 3 Seekers and 3 Workers.
Christoph Holtzmuller (AzureWrathe@aol.com) asked me for codes, as it has
troubles with the relatively complex game controls; as far as I know, there are
no codes for Cataclysm. If you have troubles with the controls, practicing with
them in the tutorial is a good choice; you can also lower the difficulty level,
buy Homeworld for practicing with its controls first or try to customize the keys.
MISSION 1: HIIGARA
Mission Objectives:
+ Destroy the Attack Bombers attacking the Frigates in sector 109
+ Destroy the Interceptors send to investigate on you
+ Recon the marked area
+ Destroy the Resource Collectors
+ Protect the Proximity Sensor net
+ Destroy the damaged Heavy Cruiser before it flees.
While mining an asteroid belt near a planet, you receive a distress call from
the Veer-Rak, a Carrier from Kiith Nabaal defending Hiigara. Your planet is
attacked by the Taiidan Navy, and Defense Fleet need every help within jump
range.
You arrive in sector 112, at the south-east edge of the map. Immediately move
the Kuun-Lan near the blue sphere near the upper-right edge and build at least
three Workers and a Processor and send them to harvest the nearby resources.
Build two groups of ten Acolytes each. Retire two of the three Seekers.
The Nabaal commander asks you to destroy a group of roughly 10 Attack Bombers
which are taking the upper hand over some Ion Frigates. Do not immediately send
them, as the Taiidan fleet will launch 5 Interceptors toward your Workers; send
your new Acolytes to destroy the enemy fighters. Now you should have at least
10 Acolytes and one Processor: send the Acolytes against the Bombers, and the
Processor near the Workers to protect them against future attacks (always
staged by five Interceptors).
After you have destroyed the Bombers, Tactical informs you that sensors have
picked up an unknown enemy signal. Send a Seeker or directly a group of Acolytes
to the marked place; you will find three or four Resource Collectors harvesting
plus 2 Defenders. Destroy them before they dock with the nearby Carrier, or you
will have to wait until they return to the resource field. The Carrier has full
Defender support plus its guns, and your Acolytes will be destroyed in seconds.
Meanwhile, Tactical should have informed you that engineers are ready to begin
to research Linking technology, and Taiidan Strike Crafts are attacking the
Proximity Sensors net (the yellow dots) around Hiigara. Have the second group
of fighters attack them; the enemy attack party is composed of 5 Interceptors
and 2 Multi Gun Corvettes, and they may need help. If you have moved the Kuun-Lan,
its guns will take care of them if your Acolytes fail to shoot them down.
When you have finished, dock your fighters and replace every loss, you have to
take down a Heavy Cruiser fleeing from battle. Send all your Acolytes, and
engage the six Defenders escorting the vessel, then engage it with evasive
tactic. Replace immediately any loss, or the battle will be long, and possibly
not successful. If you want, you can help the Nabaal's ships to finish with the
Taiidan to gain experience.
MISSION 2: OUTSKIRTS OF HIIGARAN SYSTEM
Mission Objectives:
+ Find the Bushan-Re
+ Repair the Bushan-Re
+ Destroy the Turanic forces
+ Recover the derelict
An other support mission for other major Kiiths, this time for the Manaans; one
of their Destroyers, the Bushan-Re, is damaged and requests assistance.
Tactical advises you than Workers aren't capable of repairs and salvaging
operations, and suggests the realization of an Engineering Module; the Kuun-Lan
crew will jettison the upper container and will begin to build the first
research module.
To find the Bushan-Re, you have to explore the map: the program position the
Destroyer randomly; if this "treasure hunt" lasts for too much, Tactical will
show you 3 points: move your Acolytes near them and see where the Bushan-Re is.
Move the Kuun-Lan toward the Bushan-Re, and use your Acolytes to repel any
Turanic attack; it is better to switch to ACV mode, as Turanics will throw
Standard and Missile Corvettes into battle. When all Raider forces have been
destroyed, dock and replace your losses, then move your ACVs near the
Bushan-Re, as well as three upgraded Workers and begin to repair it.
When the Destroyer has regained half of its health, four friendly Support
Corvettes will come out of hyperspace and will approach the Cruiser to repair
them. DO NOT move your ACVs away from the Destroyer, these Frigates are Turanic
Corvettes using Mimic technology. If you set an aggressive tactic for your
ACVs, they will begin to attack them immediately, and the Cruiser should help
you in destroying them. While dealing with the Corvettes, the Kuun-Lan picks up
a distress call from a nearby object, and Tactical orders you to salvage it
with one of your Workers. Move the Kuun-Lan toward the object.
When the Mimic Corvettes are no more, a larger Turanic fleet will appear, and
when you asks help to the Bushan-Re, it flees as only its hyperdrive system is
online. Tactical also tells you that Mimic technology is available for research.
Send a single Worker to retrieve the artifact and escort it with the ACVs.
After you destroy some Corvettes and fighters, the Raiders will flee.
Mary Patyten (mpatyten@redshift.com) adds:
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in the level that you salvage the beast derelict, and there is a turanic
raider presence, near the derelict go practically straight down, and towards
your command ship's original location, and scan around as far down as you
can go, you should find it eventually, and there is the one in the turanic
raider outpost level as well, but I think you know about that one.
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MISSION 3: CORUC-TEL SYSTEM
Mission Objectives:
+ Find the Clee-San
+ Send a Mimic and dock with the Clee-San
+ Destroy all mines blocking the Clee-San
The Kiith-Sa orders you to reach the Clee-San, a research Frigate, now located
in the Coruc-Tel system for some experiments.
To find the Clee-San, simply send a Seeker toward the yellow dot...the Seekers
will locate several mines in the area and a large contingent of Turanic Strike
Crafts. Send your Acolytes in a single group to destroy the mines and then move
the Kuun-Lan toward the Clee-San. Position your MotherShip very near to the
friendly frigate, you'll need this later on.
Tactical proposes to send a Mimic to dock with the Clee-San; do it, and the
Clee-San will show you all active mines in the area. Your first objective now
is to destroy the six mines in front of the research vessel. Be careful, the
mines are guarded by large numbers of Corvettes, both standard and missile, and
some Interceptors. Send your Acolytes in ACV mode, and begin to research the
Missile Tech after you built the Weapon module; Afterburner technology is also
available. If you moved the Kuun-Lan close enough, its guns will cover your
fighters if they need a "tactical" retreat, and eventually will destroy any
enemy fighter in the area.
The Clee-San will begin to move after the six mines are destroyed, and will
travel to dock with the Kuun-Lan. One or two minutes after the frigate started
to move, Turanic will jump several Ion Array Frigates into the system . There
is no chance to destroy all of them, so you need to move the Kuun-Lan toward
the Clee-San in order to avoid their attack. Plus, the Clee-San will stop if it
founds mines on its path; that's why I told you to move the Kuun-Lan: it is
possible to completely avoid the attack. Once the small research vessel docks
with the Kuun-Lan, hyperspace to safety. Be sure to do not activate the "remain
docked" option, or you will loose ant docked ships.
MISSION 4: DEEP SPACE (TEL SECTOR)
Mission Objectives:
+ Build a new Hangar Module
+ Escort the Clee-San with 10 Acolytes
+ Examine the recordings
The Clee-San personnel secured the derelict, an alien artifact, probably a
beacon. They have just begun to open the artifact, and something comes out...
The Kuun-Lan systems are on full alert: all lower decks are infected, and one
scientist reports that the artifact contained something. And this something is
eating all lower decks and personnel in it. Before dying, it tells you to
jettison the Hangar Module to save the entire ship...the Hangar Module is
jettisoned, and the only thing you hear are screams...
The first thing to do is to rebuild the lost Hangar Module. If you had ships
docked, they will be lost: you should have enough money to rebuild the Hangar
Module and at least 3 Workers, but your Acolytes should have experience, and
losing them is a pity...
After you have rebuild the Hangar Module, the Clee-San wants to scan the
infected Hangar Module to find what's happened. Tactical orders you to escort
it with 10 Acolytes; choose 10 fighters with a lower experience level if
possible, and keep them in fighter mode. Convert all other crafts in ACV mode
and build your offensive fleet up to 10 ACVs, assign them to a single group and
have them form into a wall or a claw.
After the Clee-San reaches the Module, it will be infected by the same thing
that ate you Hangar. Your Acolytes will suffer the same fate, and begins to
attack you. I think it is possible to save your fighters from such a destiny,
but all my efforts were unsuccessful.
The Hangar Module will begin to speak (yes, speak): They Live.
A minor correction: it is possible to save these 10 Acolytes: have them escort
the Clee-San until you have in visual range of the lost Module, then move them
away from the Clee-San. After you did so the Clee-San will move for a short
distance. Repeat this until the Clee-San falls into enemies' hands. Or, like
Sebastian Mundt (sebastian_mundt@gesis.de) wrote:
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As you said, order your Acolytes to guard the Clee-San. When you approach the
hangar module, sent your fighter back to the Kuun-Lan. The Clee-San will stop.
Then let one or two guard the science vessel. The Clee-San will still not move.
When the rest of your group of Acolytes is half way between the Kuun-Lan and
the module order them to guard the Clee-San. It will then
continue to approach the hangar module although the Acolytes are far away. If
it starts the scans let all your Acolytes retreat. The science frigate will be
infected but the rest of your fleet should be safe.
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Silviu (killermosi@yahoo.com) suggested this tactic too:
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In the mission where you'll have to protect the CLEE-SAN with 10 acolytes,
there is a way to lose none in the moment of the infection attack. This is what
I did:
I gave a guard order to 10 ACVs, ordering them in a sphere formation around the
CLEE-SAN. After the CLEE-SAN started to move and the sphere formation was
established, I unlinked the ACVs. The ACVs stopped and unlinked and the CLEE-SAN continued her way unguarded. I must also say that i was playing the version 1.0 of the game.
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After you repelled the 10 Acolytes you sent with the Clee-San (the best way to
do this it to intercept them near the Kuun-Lan in order to get some support
fire), Tactical informs you that engineers are ready to research what happened
to the two ships. Begin the research immediately, and be prepared to fend of
attacks staged by your own forces: the Hangar Module will throw groups of 8/10
Acolytes with 5 ACVs and one Ramming Frigate. The Frigate will go directly
toward the Kuun-Lan, so it won't pose a trouble, but your ACVs/Acolytes will
die if they do not have support from the MotherShip. Also, when the research is
nearly completed, have the Workers and Processor dock.
Shortly after ending the research on that thing, a Turanic Raider fleet (Ion
Frigates, Corvettes, Fighters...a full attack force.) will jump into the are,
directly behind the Hangar Module and the Clee-San. When you try to explain
what happened, the Raiders will ignore your warnings and will get infected too.
There's nothing more to do, the Turanic fleet was to large before infection,
and now has support of Acolytes and ACVs. If you moved the Kuun-Lan near the
infected Module, quickly move it and recall all your ships, and hyperspace.
MISSION 5: AIOWA SYSTEM
Mission Objectives:
+ Intercept the Bentusi vessel
+ Protect the Bentusi vessel
+ Protect the Caal-Shto
+ Destroy the Beast fleet
The thing that infected the Hangar Module and the Clee-San was code-named the
Beast. It is a bio-technological virus that can adapt itself and uses living
forms and their cells to create a self-sufficient neuronal net. The Beast
spreads the infection with plasma beams, which cut the enemy's hull and injects
the virus. All the infected forms are part of the original Beast.
Tactical suggests to reach a Bentusi Ship to collect more information about
the Beast; the nearest Bentusi ship is the Aiowa system, and when you reach the
system, immediately send a Seeker or a group of Acolytes to the marked zone,
while your Workers harvest resources.
The Bentusi are attacked by Beast forces, and they reply to your warnings that
no one will survive if it is so fool to attack the Unbounds; in fact, the
Bentusi ship will begin to harvest enemy ships with multiple ion beams...
Move one group of Acolytes to help the Bentusi vessel, and maintain a group of
ACVs near the Kuun-Lan. The Beast will launch two Ion Array Frigates and some
Corvettes toward your Command Ship.
After having destroyed the incoming threat, send all your attack forces into
the battle. The Kuun-Lan will pick up three hyperspace signatures. The Bentusi
sent a distress signal to Hiigaran ships, and the Kiith Manaan replied by
sending the Caal-Shto, a Carrier, and tow Ion Cannon Frigates.
Continue your battle against Beast fighters until an Heavy Cruiser reaches the
Bentusi ship; quickly recall your fighters for repair and replace any lost
ships. As the Cruiser begins to attack the trading vessel with infection beams,
the Bentusi will begin to descript what they feel...something ancient, which is
hungry, and modifies their sings and tears them apart...the Bentusi won't be
bound. They self-destruct.
The Beast fleet is completely destroyed, but the Caal-Shto was caught into the
explosion. Move your fighters into a defensive position; you now should be able
to research Support Modules and to build the Advanced Engineering Module: do
so, and research Micro-Ships in the new module and immediately build 12 (the
max available) Support Modules. Your forces now should be a group of 20
Acolytes and one group of 10 ACVs, plus one Processor and 6 Workers. No
Frigates are needed for now.
Do not send Workers to repair the Caal-Shto, but kep them harvesting resources.
Fend off all attacks against the Carrier while you move the Kuun-Lan very near
to the Caal-Shto and until you built your forces. Track enemy movements and
move you fighters toward the Carrier producing Attack Bombers, Acolytes and
Ramming Frigates. Be sure to intercept all enemies before dealing with the
Carrier.
Once you have reached the Carrier, unlink any ACV you have and attack the enemy
ship from sides, using missiles; the Carrier should retreat after a single
attack. Destroy the remaining Workers, head back to the Kuun-Lan and hit J to
finish the mission.
MISSION 6: KADIIR NEBULA
Mission Objectives:
+ Recon enemy base
+ Control all navpoints
+ Escort the Caal-Shto to the portal
+ Destroy all Taiidan minelayers
+ Destroy all Taiidan scouts
+ Research Phased Telemetry
+ Destroy the Heavy Cruiser
The Caal-Shto is badly damaged, and only its fusion reactor continues to work.
Hyperspace module is offline, like all weapons and construction lines. If the
Beast stages an other attack, the Caal-Shto will fall in its hands.
The only way to get the damaged Carrier out of this system is to use one of the
portals located into the Kadir Nebula.
The map of this mission is a developed into a single, relatively thin line
containing the portal where you entered (behind your back) and the Epsilon
portal, where you have to escort the Caal-Shto. The portal consists of spirals composed
by unharvestable asteroids.
When you arrives into the Nebula, Tactical tells you that there is an
Imperialist Taiidan base between the entrance and the exit, and orders you to
send a Seeker to gather information about the enemy forces. DO NOT do this;
instead, send your Workers to harvest, and guard them with your Processor.
Build at least two groups of 20 Acolytes each. You'll need speed rather than
firepower in this mission. Build three Seekers: one will remain with the Kuun-Lan and the Caal-Shto, one will guard the Workers and the other will accompany
the Acolytes. The seekers are the only units with full power to sensors: the
nebula radiations block all other sensors, so the Taiidan base doesn't know the
right number of forces that arrived, and it will continue to send groups of 5
Interceptors to scout the area. For now, they will head toward the Workers, so
use one group of Acolytes to destroy them. The other group, with the help of a
Seeker, will travel toward the Epsilon portal (proceed toward the second grey
box and the continue in a straight line). Build the Armor Module and research
the Force Field, too.
The Acolytes sent toward the portal will see several mines: take them down, and
when you reach the portal, have them back (the Seeker too) to the Kuun-Lan and
send one Seeker to scout the enemy base. The base itself produces only
fighters, but has a full complement of Support, Assault and Ion Cannon Frigates
plus a Carrier. After the recon is finished, the Kuun-Lan will issue the move
order, and the Caal-Shto will begin to move toward the portal. Move one Seeker
toward the exit, and it will find a group of Minelayers and Defenders. Destroy
them with the Acolytes; one group should always remain with the Command Ships,
and when Tactical detects a group of Interceptors (always five in delta
formation), dispatch them for a quick shoot-down. If the Interceptors report
back to the base, it will probably launch all Frigates and the Carrier to take
you down. I've never did such a mistake, so I do not really know if this is
true.
After destroying the Minelayers and their escort, move the Seeker close to the
portal and ... Ta-Daa! - a Heavy Cruiser with 10 Defenders for its escort.
Engineers are ready to research for Leech technology. This won't be a great
help, unless you use ten or more Leeches to attack the Cruiser. Frigate drive
will also be available, but the Hive Frigate isn't exactly what you need against
a Heavy Cruiser. If you want, build one or two Ramming Frigates to move the
Cruiser away from the Defenders. Deploy all Acolytes against the Cruiser, and
have them unleash missiles against it. Then engage the Defenders, and replace
all losses immediately.
After the Cruiser is destroyed the Caal-Shto will enter the portal, and you'll
have to hyperspace to reach it. If you want, hang on a minute to harvest some
resources, but the base already launched its forces toward you: in few minutes
will be on you. Hyperspace ASAP and reach the Caal-Shto.
Pete Morfill (p.morfill@btinternet.com) sent this:
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I was reading your walkthrough which is great, but I had a tip for the Kadiir
Nebula mission. When you discover the Heavy Cruiser blocking your path,
research the leeches tech as instructed. Then build ten and send them to attack
the cruiser. Make sure you have at least 5 or 6 workers too. By the time you
reach the cruiser and it's fighters it will be damaged (assuming you got your
recon ship there far enough in advance); you can then attack it and its
fighters with all your acolytes and follow the attack up immediately with a
salvage attempt (using all those workers!) I managed to capture the heavy
cruiser which came in very handy for the next few missions, and all I lost was
a few fighters, which you can rebuild anyway. Obviously you need to make sure
you have enough SU's for the capture.
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Maullar.Maullar (maullar_maullar@yahoo.com) sent me this:
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Hey. I just read your FAQ for Cataclysm on GameFAQs.
{snip...read General Tactics for the rest}
-On Mission 6, if you let any Interceptors report back
to base, they WILL send their ENTIRE force at you. I
had a very hard time with it on Very Easy mode.
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If you let even an Interceptor report back (or just your units are within
visual range of the base), the entire army will attack you. Also, when the
Cruiser will be under attack (or when it will be destroyed, still have to
understand), the entire Taiidan force will move toward you.
MISSION 7: OUTSKIRTS OF KADIR NEBULA
Mission Objectives:
+ Check origins of the distress signal
+ Protect Convoy
+ Destroy Beast ships
+ Destroy all infected ships
Engineers aboard the Kuun-Lan did whatever they could to find more info about
the Beast. The Beacon you salvaged comes from an alien explorer ship, called
the Naggarok; its origins are unknown, but it surely came from an other galaxy.
This ship was using an hyperdrive incredibly powerful. The ship came out from
hyperspace infected by the virus the Somtaaw code-named Beast, but the
alien crew sacrificed themselves as they realized the destructive potential of
this "creature", and destroyed engines and communication gears. However, the
automated system launched the beacon you recovered...
The Caal-Shto is now fully repaired, and enters hyperspace to report to the New
Daiamand (the Council formed of all Kiith-Sa) about the Beast. They also
suggests to hide, but you receive an help signal from Republican Taiidan convoy
DX-307. The escort has been wiped out, and the convoy is unarmed. The worst
thing is that the convoy is attacked by 'unknown missiles'.
Make four groups of Acolytes (10 each), and if you want, substitute one of them
with a group of 5 ACVs. Before sending the Acolytes toward the marked area,
research Armor Level 2 and Quantum Charge.
The convoy is composed of 6 Colony Ships, and one is badly damaged. Keep your
Acolytes in aggressive stance and wall formation, you'll need concentrated
fire, and guard the central zone of the convoy. Shortly after you reached it,
Cruise Missiles will start to attack the convoy. The Colony Ship are unarmed,
like the Missiles, but if they hit their targets, they will infect it, and the
infected Colony Ship will start to produce other Missiles. It is imperative to
destroy these infected ships ASAP, or you'll have to face too many Missiles at
once.
Engage the first wave of Missiles; each group contains 4 Cruise Missiles. Then
move one group of Acolytes to protect the Kuun-Lan and the Workers. EMP upgrade
for ACVs should be available, now.
The second wave will have more groups of Missiles, but it's still easy.
The third wave will increase the number of Missile groups (plus each group will
contain 5 Missiles) and they will be escorted by Interceptors (5 in delta
formation; they will escort the Missiles).
You'll lose at least one Colony Ship, and you must destroy it ASAP, or the
Missiles it will launch will infect all other Ships, making your task
effortless. Launch a volley of Missiles from all nearby Acolytes, and then
finish it with normal attacks. If you want, keep one or two ACVs ready to EMP a
Colony Ship, but maintain a fighter escort on the Kuun-Lan. If you managed to
salvage the Heavy Cruiser in the previous mission, this mission could become a real
pain: just think if the Cruiser get infected. And if not, you won't have enough
SUs to replace it with the more efficient Destroyer/Dreadnought combo;
Super-Capital ships cannot be retired, so it was all a waste of time to capture
it...
If you let the infection spread, all Colony Ships will be infected, and they
will start to target your Command Ship: that's way the ACVs are there. The
first target is the Processor (I think that the Crusier would be the first one
to fall...), the Workers and then the Kuun-Lan. Seems that Cruise Missiles only
do damage, but I'm not so sure...however, if you need reinforcements, recall on
or two groups of Acolytes, but keep the other groups targeting the Colony Ships.
Eventually, you will finish this mission. After you saved the convoy, be sure
that you have all 12 Support Modules installed, and expand you fleet with two
Ramming Frigates and one Acolyte group, and convert them to ACVs. Your fleet
should contain one Kuun-Lan (¬_¬...), one Processor, six Workers, 3 groups of
10 ACVs each and two Ramming Frigates. Be sure to have research everything too.
MISSION 8: DEEP SPACE (KORETH'S RIFT SECTOR)
Mission Objectives:
+ Harvest resources and build new ships
+ Protect the spy from the pursuit of the Taiidan
+ Capture one Frigate
+ Capture three Resource Collectors
+ Destroy all other forces before they flee.
300.000 refugees thank you and your fleet. Their escort went to investigate
about a signal sent by one of the Republican Heavy Cruisers, apparently
disappeared few days before, and the now-unprotected convoy was attacked by
this new Imperial weapon. Apparently, the Imperialist Taiidan are doing
research on the Beast, and the Republican sent a spy to investigate about this.
You decide to wait the spy.
The first thing to do is to send one group of Acolytes to the two purple points
of the map: these points represent crystals; crystals come in small, medium and
big shapes, and you need two, four and six Workers respectively to salvage and
take them to the nearest Processor, Carrier and MotherShip. Research the
Crystal Harvesting Capability and have your Workers collect them.
The spy will arrive soon, and will have Taiidan ships on his tail. Use a single
group of Acolytes to destroy the enemy ships. You will encounter 6 Interceptors
(delta formation), 4 Multi-Gun Corvettes (wall) and 15 Defenders (wall). Your
ACVs should eat them in seconds.
The approaching vector of the spy is randomly chosen.
After this easy combat, the spy informs you that the Imperialists have a
research base on a nearby planet, and they are research a bio-weapon very
similar to the Beast. Too similar. However, the planet is guarded by a net of
Proximity Sensors and a large number of ships, but the spy suggests to steal
some nearby ships dedicated to gathering resources.
I think that the AI randomly generates the area where the ships are, roughly
Opposite the spy's approaching vector. The number and types composing the
harvesting group is fixed, however: it contains 8 Resource Collectors, 2
Support Frigates, 2 Assault Frigates, 3 Ion Cannon Frigates and 1 Gravity
Wheel. You need to capture at least 3 Resource Collectors and one Frigate, but
I suggest to capture every ship except the Gravity Wheel. You can retire all
surplus ships, and capturing at least one type of Frigate (except the Support)
will give you a new technology; Ion Cannon Frigates will give you Advanced Ion
Cannons (Multi-Beam Frigate), while Assault frigates will give you Energy
Cannons (upgrade for most ships). You have to do this within 15 minutes, or
they will hyperspace back to their base, and your cover will collapse.
Start by destroying the Gravity Wheel with the two Ramming Frigates, or your
ACVs won't be able to move and will be an easy target for the Frigates. Then
move your ACVs (one group is enough, remember, you have to capture ships) and
destroy the Support Frigates. Without these units, other Frigates won't be able
to repair from their damage. Then slightly damage all other crafts and send you
Workers to salvage them. You need two Workers for each Frigate and Collector.
After you took the first Ion Cannon/Assault Frigate to the Kuun-Lan, the new
technology will be available. Before updating or building any ship, complete
the mission objectives (by destroying the uncaptured crafts or by capturing and
retiring them). Retire the tow Ramming Frigates, build three or four Multi-Beam
Frigates (sacrifice a group of ACVs for the fourth...I kept the ACVs and waited
for more Frigates), retire all surplus ships and them hyperspace.
MISSION 9: CLOSE ORBIT, GOZAN IV
Mission Objectives:
+ Move Resource Collectors to the marked point
+ Destroy one Proximity Sensor
+ Create a diversion
+ Wait for the Resource Collectors
+ Recover the Collectors
The ships you captured will be used as troop-carriers to penetrate the
planetary defenses intact, infiltrate into the base and destroy it. However, if
the Beast already infected the base and the defense fleet, you'll have to flee.
OK, be prepared, this mission is very difficult. If you haven't captured at
least an Ion Frigate in the last mission it will be very tough.
Send you Workers to harvest resources, but when they approach the sensor net
(there are resources near it), recall them and keep them docked. Ships without
weapon will nothing more than sitting ducks. Have your Acolytes link into ACV
mode, and retire the Frigate you captured in the last mission and build an
other Multi-Beam Frigate; you need only the Collectors.
Do not move directly the Collectors to the marked place, move the entire Kuun-Lan instead. Having Sentinels with Level 2 Shields (research them before
moving) is a good idea. Place the Kuun-Lan on the marked spot, and then move it
toward the net. When your MotherShip is near to the first Proximity Sensor,
move the Collectors to the marked place and attack one Proximity Sensor with a
group of ACVs or directly with the Kuun-Lan. This will make your Collectors
move toward the planet.
No the Taiidan will throw nearly anything into battle. Recall your Workers and
dock them (and keep them), assign the Processor to escort the Kuun-Lan. Keep
the Kuun-Lan moving until it has passed the sensors. Do not move it too much,
or you will have to face a Destroyer, plus all other forces.
Now, let's wait that the enemies are near the Kuun-Lan and throw your forces to
counterattack. It is better to keep the battle near the MotherShip as you can
benefit of its guns and the repairing capability of the Processor. If the
situation is desperate, release the Workers and repair the Kuun-Lan (they will
be destroyed immediately if they attempt to reach the Multi-Beam Frigates).
After few minutes, the Collectors should have reached the Vigilance, a
Destroyer guarding the planet; it will let them through, and you must keep the
defensive forces busy until they return. This will take about 5 minutes.
In these 5 minutes, the Taiidan will throw a lot of Capital Ships into battle,
including a Missile Destroyer. It appears that the Destroyer and its escort
(Assault, Ion and Support Frigates) jump randomly near you. I've got it on my
tail or directly behind me. The Destroyer will be a Pain. Attack it with your
Frigates, and keep the ACV attacking smaller crafts. Remember your have the EMP
weapon to create a relatively quiet moment to re group your forces and destroy
the smaller enemy crafts. Replace your forces as you lose them.
The Collectors are back, and they have interesting information about the
Beast, but they have Attack Bombers on their tails. If you have passed the
sensor net with the Kuun-Lan this won't be a problem, or you'll have to send
something to protect the three Collectors. Sentinels may be a good choice, but
I suggest a Frigate or a group of 5 ACVs.
When the Collectors have docked, recall your ships and hyperspace. I had to do
an emergency hyperspace, and I left there most of my ACVs and the Processor:
when you issue the hyperspace order all ships will begin to dock or go into
position for hyperspace, and this will require time. And during this time
enemies will be active, and they will go after the Kuun-Lan. If you want to
wait for your forces, keep a sharp eye on the health bar.
Walkthrough - Part II - Missions 10-17
