++++++++++++++++++++++++ Homeworld: Cataclysm FAQ by Zorlond Jaeger zorlond@my-deja.com v1.0, 9/21/00 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Table of Contents: Note Version History Situation Ships Formations Tactics General Strategy Missions End Credits ==== Note ==== This is my first FAQ, so please be gentle. Most everything here is IMO, and you might have different ones. If you wish to contribute/advise/question/kibitz, I shall be as accomodating as possible. If you wish to spam/insult/annoy/etc, let me introduce you to the greatest invention of our times. The Circular File Cabinet. Please use discression, I've got enough junk floating in my e-mail box. Well, when I first started this FAQ, I thought it was a reasonably concealed way to ask for assistance in the game. Hey, I was stuck on mission 7, seemed like a good idea at the time, and a lot more clever than slapping 'Help me!' on a half-dozen b-boards. I offer assistance to others, and they in turn offer assistance to me. Certainly have got a response. Hopefully I won't loose track of who's contributed what. Sorry for the delay in the latest release, I took a break from Cataclysm to play some other games for a while. But now I'm back and I have succeeded in beating the game! (yay!) Is anyone else really dissapointed by the lack of music during the credits? See below for the last mission walk-through. Also, a note to all players, you can always find the latest version of my FAQ on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com), though I'm not sure there will be new versions. I'm just not sure there's anything else to add. Feel free to toss ideas my way. Zorlond Jaeger zorlond@my-deja.com =============== Version History =============== 1.0 - Fourth release. Finally finished the game (yay!) and the last mission walk-through. Added SU requirements (those known) to the ship listings. Added to note (again). 0.9 - Third release. Very close to finished (just need the last mission walkthrough). Various fixes/additions, a few contributions. New Note. 0.5 - Second release. Still incomplete, but added 4 mission walkthroughs and most of the ships. Further additions will have to wait until I figure out what to do with missions 6 & 7. Also fixed dumb mistake in the first mission walkthrough. I kept refering to Guardians. No such ship, they were Defenders. 0.1 - Initial release. Very incomplete, quite rough, and probably considered crappy. Only reached mission 7 in the game at this point. ========= Situation ========= The Homeworld War ended some 15 years ago. The Kushan successfully laid claim to Hiigara on the dead body of the Taiidan Emperor. Since then, nothing has been the same. The old Taiidani Empire has shattered into a thousand little kingdoms, the largest being the new Taiidani Republic, run by the rebels that assisted the Kushan in the final stages of the war. Imperialist Taiidan still roam the galaxy, causing trouble to just about everyone with their Turanic allies. The Kushan did not emerge unscathed, as political, economic, and military pressures seemed to pile up on all sides. Reduced to a mere population of 550,000 the Kushan have struggled to build a new life on Hiigara and keep the 5-light-year area around it (given to them by the Galactic Council as their sovreign space) safe from pirates, dissidents, and troublemakers. The Kiiths (Clans) of the Kushan have been slowly spiraling downward, as only 6 Kiiths in particular arrived on Hiigara in any significant numbers. The most significant event (well, for the game to happen, anyway), was when Kiith Somtaaw successfully negotiated with the New Daiamid Assembly (the council of Kiiths) for use of the Mothership, long pressed into service as an orbital construction yard, for 45 days. They would create as many ships as they could in that time, and then the majority of Kiith Somtaaw would depart Hiigara and take up an existence as deep-space miners, still loyal to the Kushan, but seperate. Beyond all expectations, they finished three ships in that time, two massive mining behemoths (each almost as big as the Mothership) and a much smaller science vessel. They were christened the Faal-Corum, the Kuun Lan, and the Clee-San, in order. For years, Kiith Somtaaw has wandered around Hiigara, mining the asteroids and nebulae of the area, and selling the resources found as prescribed by Kushan Law to those on Hiigara or friendly races nearby. The game begins with the player as the Captain of the Kuun Lan, on a routine mining expedition, when a distress call comes in from Hiigara.... ===== Ships ===== Just so you know, 'FMA' stands for 'First Mission Available', meaning the single-player mission you are first allowed to research the last critical piece in order to produce the ship. Firepower for capital ships will come with a turret count (those known, anyway), general arrangement, and coverage %. Any special Actions will come with a number in '( )', which is the mission number that you can reaserch said upgrade, if it's not there, the ship comes with the ability right off. 'Job' is just a few words expressing my opinion as the ship's main role, it's just IMO. 'SR' is short for 'Survivability Rating', wich varies from Very Low to Very High, and is again IMO, according to my experience with said unit. In the few cases where exact figures are unknown, a general description is used. ---------------------------------------- Kiith Somtaaw ships (aka: The Good Guys) ---------------------------------------- Kuun Lan FMA: Start Armor: 98k Firepower: 5400, 6 turrets, 4 near the engines, one on nose, one on top, roughly 70% coverage Max Velocity: 110 m/s Special Action: Seige Cannon (10) Job: Mobile Main Base SR: Very High Your command ship, designed to be a mining ship, but easily upgradeable when technology becomes available. One of only two ships in it's class, the other being the Faal-Corum, but the Kuun Lan is considered the more advanced of the two. Capable of deep-space mining, construction of a wide variety of vessels and modules, and can easily fend off small attack forces unaided. The biggest thing to remember about this ship is that in many ways it does not compare to the Mothership of the origional Homeworld. It is self-mobile, upgradable, heavily armed, and has three hangar entry points for it's fighters. It's more like it's the lovechild of a Destroyer and a Carrier than a newly-designed Mothership. The mobility is a big factor, even though it can't move or turn very fast, it can still move around the scenario map, running away from enemies or moving in to protect the Workers. In most scenarios, it's best to move the ship away from the starting point as soon as possible (exactly where -to- depends on the mission). The firepower is also a big bonus, as it is quite capable of taking care of itself from small to medium attack forces, and while it can't handle the Big Boys by itself until the development of the Seige Cannon, it can provide some fire support. I haven't played any multiplayer missions yet, but in my mind, the best way to attack this ship is to distract it's escorts, then strike hard from behind and below, where it's coverage is weakest. Most of the time the AI isn't smart enough to hit the ship right there unless you really screw up in your maneuvers, but it is clearly the weakest point. Another tactic is to angle your ships so that their fire directly hits one of the many modifications, each of which comes with their own health rating, and can (in theory anyway) be destroyed with a fraction of the effort the main vessel would take. Destroying the suppport pods would be especially vicious, as that is where most SUs come from. A word of warning, though. That Seige Cannon's a lot of fun, but it's a pain to aim and fire. The attack fleet you're aiming at might not be there when the shot finnaly gets there. Plus you definitely do -not- want to aim too close to the Kuun Lan. And one more thing... The most embarrassing loss I've ever had in this game was very late in mission 16. I was lining up a shot, had the Beast on the ropes, ordered the shot to hit square on the big bad ship, took a seat to watch the fireworks... And watched in silence when the shot hit one of my own Destroyers, who was sitting right in front of the Kuun Lan. 90% of my fleet wiped out in a single stroke. Take it from me. MAKE SURE THE BARREL IS CLEAR OF OBSTRUCTIONS. Worker FMA: Start SU Cost: 4 Armor: 1500 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 425 m/s Special Action: Harvest, Salvage (2), Repair (2) Job: General Mechanic SR: Low Say hello to the Worker, a resource collector, salvage corvette, and repair corvette all rolled into one. In actuality, their main jobs will be havesting and repair. I've had minimal success with salvaging up to this point, and I doubt salvage will ever be as usefull or effective as it was in the origional Homeworld. There's just not that many ships you -can- capture. Besides which, you must have the SUs to support the target before they will even make the attempt. Still, in it's remaining two roles, it is obviously indispensible. Keep it away from enemy ships, it's too slow to outrun fighters or corvettes (and some frigates), and a small escort is a good idea in contested territory. Processor FMA: Start SU Cost: 13 Armor: 45k Firepower: 2500, in four turrets, above/below/left/right, 80% coverage Max Velocity: 250 m/s Job: Worker Escort SR: High The main job of this ship is to provide an alternate drop-off point for the Workers who are busy collecting resources. Somehow stuff dropped off here will instantly (and invisibly) be sent to the Kuun Lan, but let's not quibble. It's secondary job is to keep the Workers safe from small fighter attacks, and in emergencies, to give fire support to other warships. It can handle maybe 12 fighters at once before it'll need assistance. Also, once the workers are upgraded to repair vessels, this ship can also be upgraded to have four repair beams mounted on the sides (two on each). You can't direct the ship to repair specific vessels, any ally that flies past the sides of this ship will be beamed for however long they remain in the repair arc. What I thought was a drain of power associated with this ability turned out to be something worse. A blind spot the size of Kansas right in front of this ship, where the guns can't fire. Keep an eye on these guys if they start getting hit bad. Recon fighter FMA: Start SU cost: 2 Armor: 25 Firepower: 40 Max Velocity: 1050 m/s Job: Recon (duh!) SR: Low The fastest ship in the fleet. Famed in song and story. Can make the Kessel Run in less than 2 parsecs... Ahem. Sorry about that. Really, it is the fastest ship you've got, and also very specialized for it's purpose. The scenario maps aren't like they were in the origional Homeworld, you don't know where all the resources are automatically, and enemies won't come up on sensors until they're fairly close. In steps the Recon fighter. Send it zipping around the scenario maps, up and down the dust trails looking for resources and around areas likely to contain enemies. You're always going to need one or two of these ships just for finding resources, if nothing else. While there is a weapon on board, the recon fighter is too weak and too fragile to survive most conflicts, except against the Big Boys, who typically can't hit anything smaller than a frigate. But even then, it's pretty much like taking down a deisel train engine with a pea-shooter. Trust me, treat it by it's name and leave the fighting to other ships. It only gets an SR of Low from me because of it's sheer speed, and you usually can maneuver around chasing interceptors and make it back to safety before they even get within firing range. Acolyte fighter FMA: Start SU Cost: 2 Armor: 70 Firepower: 85 Max Velocity: 825 m/s Special Action: Link (1), Missiles (3) Job: Fighter Interceptor SR: Low ACV corvette FMA: 1-Hiigara SU Cost: 4 Armor: 140 Firepower: 170 Max Velocity: 600 m/s Special Action: Unlink, EMP (7) Job: All-Purpose Strike Craft SR: Medium I'm putting these two together because they are, essentially, the same ship in two different modes. The ACV is simply two Acolytes attached together by their undersides. This is also the workhorse of your military, as ships that are frigate class and larger usually soak up too many SUs to really justify except in special circumstances. Aside from the EMP, there's a surprising amount of difference between the two modes. Fighter mode is mainly to deal with enemy fighters and to get your forces across distances quickly, while corvette mode is the main battle mode, able to deal with just about anything your fleet will come up against. Actually, it's pretty rare for my units to be in fighter mode at all. Even when told to behave evasively, they're simply too easy to destroy. You may seem to get an identical amount of armour and firepower from one ACV as two Acolytes, but in practice the corvette will leave the fighters in the dust. They can even handle enemy fighters in this mode. But there are times when speed counts, and you'll have to switch to fighter mode to get to the action as quickly as possible. Just remember to either re-link just outside of the action or stay in fighter mode, the ships have to move very carefully to link, and are vulnerable at that moment. Unlinking isn't that bad, you can even do it in the middle of a firefight, the only problem being is that they tend to forget what they were doing before you ordered them to unlink. I just recently realized that some research that I thought was pointless (missiles, during mission 3), actually does have a point. The Acolyte can carry two missiles, and launch them as a special attack. They have to return to base for a refil, I think. The missiles can't fire in corvette mode. They're a nice burst of offensive power when you desperately need it. Ram frigate FMA: Start SU Cost: 10 Armor: 4700 Firepower: 2500, see below Max Velocity: 398 m/s Special Action: RAM! Job: Headbanger! SR: High Possibly one of the more unusual units I've ever come across in a game, the Ram frigate is designed as a heavy tug. Well, that's what the manual calls it. Personally, every time I send these guys into a fight, I get the urge to cry out "Damn the torpedoes! RAMMING SPEED!" Shaped like a hammerhead shark, this frigate will charge in and grapple with the target (assuming it survives the inital impact), and proceed to shove it in whatever direction the frigate is facing, while also activating a belly-mounted cutting laser and trying to chew it's way through the hull. On the first mission, I sent two of these guys after the resource-gathering enemy carrier just for fun, by themselves. Sure, they were still bashing away at it half an hour later, but I can still picture the crumpled-up wreckage they must have left behind when they were finished. With an Afterburner upgrade, they really can push others around (without it, the target won't move at all), knocking them out of position, forcing big ships away from valuable units, and even accurately nail fighters and corvettes (who pretty much explode instantly). It doesn't have any weapons other than this ability (the cutting laser never activates unless it's grappling something), but it still is a fun unit. Big ships can't move or turn once a Ram frigate has grappled it, and so the frigate is (most of the time) out of the firing arc of the ship it's attached to, and other ships trying to shoot at the frigate quite often hit the ship it's grappling. Also, Ram frigates are immune to ramming damage, so don't waste time having one of yours attack one of theirs, they'd just end up bouncing off each other ad infinitum and doing no damage at all. Mimic infiltrator FMA: 2-Outskirts of Hiigaran System SU Cost: 2 Armor: 20 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 750 m/s Special Action: Mimic, Link Job: Spy SR: Very High MCV corvette FMA: 2-Outskirts of Hiigaran System SU Cost: 4 Armor: 40 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 550 m/s Special Action: Mimic, Unlink Job: Scarecrow? SR: Very High Another two ships that are basically the same ship in two modes, like the Acolyte and ACV. One MCV is two Mimics attached to each other. Of course, the Mimic is highly specialized in it's role. Holographic emitters around the ship can make it appear to be any fighter or corvette-class ship you have on record, or even an asteroid. The larger MCV can even look like a frigate or a very large asteroid. In single-player, the AI isn't really interested in the size of your forces, so having a mimic look like more allied ships is useless at best. But, having it look like an enemy ship can be usefull for scoping out the situation where the Recon fighter can't go, and in fact, a few missions will require this. Enemy mines will not react to a Mimic that's appropriately disguised. In multiplayer, it may or may not work out, depending on how attentive your opponent is. Whatever shape the Mimic takes, it still leaves it's own engine trails when it moves, a dead giveaway if it looks like a frigate, and suspicious in several fighter/corvette shapes. You could use MCVs to make your force look impressively large, but again only while they're not moving. The ability to look like asteroids might have been usefull if it actually had a weapon on board (Hey, who's shooting at my workers? That belt's -empty-!), but maybe you can use them as lures for an ambush, I dunno. They do have some attack ability, but it's just your basic kamikaze attack, largely useless against any ship of significant size. Their SR's are conditional, on the condition that you only use the mimic ability out of sight of enemies, and dress appropriately. If they are detected, kiss 'em goodbye. Okay, figured out the two dots under the health bar. The one on the left indicates whether the Mimic has been detected or not (green is good), and the one on the right indicates whether or not the Mimic is disguised (green is yes). Sentinel FMA: 5-Aiowa System SU Cost: 3 Armor: 350 Firepower: 290 Max Velocity: 250 m/s Special Action: Shield (5) Job: Shielding SR: Low Oh look, it's the Defender from the origional Homeworld. Cute new ability, but behaves pretty much the same. Too slow to take on anything but capital ships, reasonably effective escorts while in sphere formation, but again too slow to really keep up with anything other than your command ship. The shield's pretty neat, I'll admit. Up to 12 Sentinels can form one shield around a ship (a minimum of 3 are required for any shielding at all, though it's very small at that point), and the Sentinels will absorb all attacks that come in first, before the ship they're shielding is hit. Of course, they can only take so much of a beating before exploding, so it's a temporary shield. And the shield takes all their power, so they can't shoot at anything while doing it. And if an enemy ship simply moves inside the shield, they can blast away without interference. At least only a few Sentinels (or just one) explode each time, so the shielding comes down in pieces instead of all atonce. I've only tried this out in a few situations, and each time it seemed the shield started caving in after the first few hits. It does look quite pretty, though. Okay, I take it back. With the level 2 shield upgrade, having 12 Sentinels on hand for each mission does make sense, since at that point the shield is pretty strong. You can use it to keep the Kuun Lan covered, or another highly important ship. With the level 3 shield, it pretty much becomes a case of invulnerability. It takes a lot of effort to pop a level 3 shield, or one too-close shot of the Seige Cannon. Also, the shield does fail in sections, but the Sentinels don't automatically explode as a result. I just hadn't seen where the enemies were aiming is all. Once the shield around a Sentinel fails, it doesn't last long, but it will remain and try to re-establish the shields. Keep in mind a Sentinel will slow down a ship it's shielding. The Juggernaut informed me that the Sentinel shield makes nice Processor protection. Whenever the Sentinels get damaged, the Processor immediately kicks in it's repair beams. Sounds pretty effective, and it would cover the Workers who were in the process of docking too. Hive Frigate FMA: 6-Kadiir Nebula SU Cost: 20 Armor: 3800 Firepower: 1400, forward mounted static guns Max Velocity: 390 m/s Special Action: Swarm Job: General Harassment SR: ? I don't have much experience at all with this frigate. It -seems- like a workable design (It's the Kadesh Nebula all over again!!), but again I haven't had much experience with it. Leech FMA: 6-Kadiir Nebula SU Cost: 2 Armor: 30 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 1250 m/s Special Action: Leech Job: Sabotage SR: High Okay, I lied, the Recon Fighter isn't the fastest ship you have, the Leech is. But the Leech has very limited scanning abilities (even compared to regular fighters), and is pretty much a dud as far as scouting goes. It's a stealth craft, too tiny to really see and invisible to radar, so it can zip in, clamp onto a ship (frigate or bigger), cut a hole in the hull and vent anything it can find, damaging the ship in the process. Unfortunately, it's a very -slow- process, not like it says in the manual. If you want to take down a heavy cruiser with Leeches, send at least a dozen. Of course, this craft also has the ability to siphon whatever the ship holds and carry it back to your command ship instead of just venting it, giving you an alternate source of RUs. It seems a bit of a bother to do, however. Multi-Beam Frigate FMA: 8-Deep Space (Koreth's Rift Sector) SU Cost: 12 Armor: 4000 Firepower: 3900, 5 point-defense ion cannons, top/bottom/left/right/front, 90% coverage Max Velocity: 370 m/s Job: Fighter Mauler SR: High You should keep a few of these on hand, they free up the ACVs from Interception duties entirely. Eight of these can reduce three dozen strike craft to so much debree in moments. They'll fly around semi-randomly in order to employ all cannons at the same time. Don't worry, they are doing their job. Destroyer FMA: 11-System AZ-23769 SU Cost: 38 Armor: 16k Firepower: 8500, four heavy gun turrets (sides/bottom), four missile launchers (top), two ion cannons (front), 30% coverage Max Velocity: 325 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: High Your first real capital ship. They can handle a wide variety of opponents, the missiles allow it to help with strike craft, and the combination of guns is lethal against other cap ships. Definitely a healthy addition to your fleet. Infection attacks only damage. Carrier FMA: 11-System AZ-23769 SU Cost: 0 Armor: 65k Firepower: 4200, four cannon turrets (top/bottom), 80% coverage Max Velocity: 300 m/s Job: Support SR: Very High Completely self-sufficient, adds 40 SUs to your total by itself, able to build 6 support modules on it's belly, and has two docking bays for Workers. Once you get the tech to build these, build two (all you're allowed) and beef your SU pool up to the maximum. They make good Worker escorts too, replacing the Processor. Infection attacks only damage. Dreadnought FMA: 14-Galactic Rim (Gulf Sector) SU Cost: 80 Armor: 85k Firepower: 24k, four heavy gun turrets (top/bottom), six missile launchers (front), two ion cannon turrets (top/bottom), 80% coverage Max Velocity: 280 m/s Special Action: Repulse (17) Job: Juggernaught SR: Very High This guy can take on a Heavy Cruiser by itself and come back for more. Unfortuately, the huge cost (both in RUs and SUs) to own it means you probably won't have more than one in service at any time. I found it more usefull to have one Dreadnought aided by three Destroyers than having two Dreadnoughts. But you'll definitely find a use for this ship, so don't write it off altogether. Infection attacks only damage. Super Acolyte FMA: 17-Naval Base Alpha SU Cost: 3? Armor: ? Firepower: LOTS, 3-4 ion cannons Max Velocity: About as fast as a regular Acolyte (guessing) Job: Mobile Slaughter SR: High You only get these guys at the very last minute, and there's no way to research for them (they're given to you). But for the short time I had them, I loved them! A squad of 10 of these took on a Beast Carrier by themselves and destroyed it in about 15 seconds. Yes, they aren't that armored, but few ships survive long enough to land more than one or two hits. -------------------------------------------- Imperialist Taiidan ships (aka The Bad Guys) -------------------------------------------- Interceptor Armor: 72 Firepower: 75 Max Velocity: 775 m/s Job: Fighter Combat SR: Low You'll get these most often from the Taiidan. They're not much of a threat by themselves, except in mobs. Bomber Armor: 80 Firepower: 86 Max Velocity: 650 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Low Your very first opponent in the game. They're still vulnerable to fighter attack, and actually seem to have lost effectivness against cap ships. Defender Armor: 78 Firepower: 190 Max Velocity: 385 m/s Job: Capital Ship Defense SR: Low These guys will crop up from time to time, and are more of a nuisance than a threat. They don't have the speed or maneuverability to be more. Multi-Gun corvette Armor: 700 Firepower: 380 Max Velocity: 600 m/s Job: Fighter combat SR: Medium You'll get a few of these, and yes they are a pain, but they can't hold up under concentrated firepower. Minelayer corvette Armor: 1250 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 425 m/s Job: General Harassment SR: Low These guys are a danger to fighters. They'll drop mines as a form of attack, and your units will be too distracted to dodge well. Take them out with capital ships who can survive the beating. Heavy Cruiser Armor: 75k Firepower: 20k, 3 heavy gun turrets on each side, 2 heavy ion cannon turrets on nose, 30% coverage Max Velocity: 250 m/s Job: Big Gun SR: Very High You'll meet a few of these along the way, and each one will give you a headache. Approach with caution, and preferably with strike craft. Carrier Armor: 60k Firepower: 4k, several point-defense turrets, 75% coverage Max Velocity: 300 m/s Job: Fighter/Corvette Construction SR: High There are three of them in the first mission, and two will be handled by allied forces. The third is target practice for you. Destroyer Armor: 15k Firepower: 7055, 2 heavy gun turrets in front, 2 front-firing ion cannons, 35% coverage Max Velocity: 295 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: High Pretty rare sight, actually. The Somtaaw version is more powerfull, and it does have a hard time hitting ACVs. Missile Destroyer Armor: 12.5k Firepower: 4550, 4 side-mounted missile launchers Max Velocity: 295 m/s Job: Fighter Mauler SR: High Besides the one before the first mission, I've only seen one in mission 9. If you have to deal with one, use Destroyers or bigger, ACVs won't have much of a chance. Salvage corvette Armor: 1100 Firepower: 125?? Max Velocity: 450 m/s Job: ? SR: ? I don't think these are even in the single-player game. Defense Field frigate Armor: 4400 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 325 m/s Job: Nuisance SR: Medium Same design as in the origional. It still can't deflect everything, but does nothing if you ignore it altogether. Ion Beam frigate Armor: 4200 Firepower: 3040, one nose-mounted ion cannon Max Velocity: 300 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Medium Same design as before, still can't hit strike craft. Proximity Sensor Armor: 600 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 1000 m/s Job: Detection SR: Very Low Annoying in the missions that have them, but nothing more. No defenses at all, and never actually moves anywhere. Assault frigate Armor: 4500 Firepower: 2548, four gun turrens in front, two plasma bomb launchers in nose, 75% coverage Max Velocity: 325 m/s Job: General Combat SR: Medium Actually, they've gotten much more accurate since the origional, and can nail your strike craft. Can't stand up to focused firepower. Support frigate Armor: 3800 Firepower: 2000, two gun turrets in front, 50% coverage Max Velocity: 450 m/s Job: Repair SR: Medium You'll see these guys escorting other ships into combat. If you want it to go easier, nail these ships first. GravWell frigate Armor: 3400 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 325 m/s Job: Fighter Trap SR: Medium Still potentially leathal to your strike craft. Also seems to always be on, with no time limit. Hit them with cap ships. --------------------------------------------- Turanic Raider ships (aka The Annoying Pests) --------------------------------------------- Interceptor Armor: 75 Firepower: 65 Max Velocity: 780 m/s Job: General-Purpose Annoyance SR: Very Low Okay, the Turanics -have- gotten some tech upgrades for their ships, but they are still less effective than your own ships. You'll be seeing the Interceptor the most from the Turanics. Heavy Corvette Armor: 1200 Firepower: 200 Max Velocity: 550 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Medium Supposedly capable of salvage operations (I haven't witnessed this myself), but in any case somewhat dangerous to cap ships. Focus fire on these guys when they show up. Missile Corvette Armor: 1300 Firepower:320 Max Velocity: 500 m/s Job: Fighter Combat SR: Medium These guys are a bloody nuisance. If you ever loose any ACVs to Turanics, this is the ship you'll lose them to. Even when evasive, your strike craft can't really dodge the missiles. Nail them fast. Ion Array frigate Armor: 4800 Firepower: 3500, one ion cannon in nose Max Velocity: 245 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Low Pretty much an unchanged design, but your really won't encounter them often. They still can't hit fighters and corvettes, so that's how you deal with them. Attack Carrier Armor: 58k Firepower: 7500, two ion cannons in front, several point defense cannons Max Velocity: 235 m/s Job: General Warmonger SR: High I've only encountered a few of these so far. The ones that hang around are highly unpleasant, don't take them on with less than two Destroyers. Outpost Armor: ? Firepower: - Max Velocity: 0 m/s Job: Mission Goal SR: Very High You only meet one of these, and it's quite unarmed (though it does come with a big escort fleet). Not a threat. ------------------------------------- Beast Ships (aka The Legions of Hell) ------------------------------------- Beast Acolyte Armor: 80 Firepower: 85 Max Velocity: 800 m/s Job: Fighter Combat SR: Low Beast ACV Armor: 160 Firepower: 170 Max Velocity: 580 m/s Job: General-Purpose Strike Craft SR: Medium You're going to be dealing with a lot of these, especially since most of them will have been your own units. Concentrated firepower's your best bet. Beast Interceptor Armor: 85 Firepower: 65 Max Velocity: 810 m/s Job: Fighter Combat SR: Low You'll see a lot of these too. Beast Bomber Armor: 90 Firepower: 86 Max Velocity: 640 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Low You'll see fewer of these. They're still not as effective as they used to be. Beast Cloaked fighter Armor: 80 Firepower: 75 Max Velocity: 750 m/s Special Action: Cloak Job: Ambush SR: Low These guys come up later, and can be a nasty shock. They can't stay cloaked during an attack, so deal with them like any other fighter. Beast Sentinel Armor: 400 Firepower: 290 Max Velocity: 225 m/s Special Action: Shield Job: Shielding SR: Low The AI usually puts these up around Hives and Carriers. Best option is to hit them before the shield is fully up, otherwise just concentrate on the ship they're shielding. Beast Recon Armor: 30 Firepower: 40 Max Velocity: 1000 m/s Job: Recon SR: Very Low You won't see these until very late, when the AI tries using swarms of them to attack you. Talk about a brief fight. Beast Missile Corvette Armor: 1400 Firepower: 320 Max Velocity: 490 m/s Job: Fighter Combat SR: Medium A rare sight, really, treat them like the Turanic version. Beast Cruise Missile Armor: 68 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 650 m/s Job: #&*&#$-#&%#&$* SR: Low Pardon me. ^*#@%$&%@^%*$@$^#%*$#%&@#$^#%*&$#*#..... Well, you get the idea. Take them down the moment you see them. Beast Multi-Gun corvette Armor: 730 Firepower: 380 Max Velocity: 570 m/s Job: Fighter Combat SR: Low For some reason the AI keeps throwing these units at your cap ships instead. Not much of a threat in that case. Beast Heavy corvette Armor: 1700 Firepower: 200 Max Velocity: 550 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Medium These guys don't show up that often, but those that do can take a serious beating before blowing up. Concentrate fire. Beast Ion Array frigate Armor: 5100 Firepower: 3500, nose-mounted ion cannon Max Velocity: 230 m/s Special Action: Cloak Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Medium The only cap ship that can cloak. Sadly, they're no more effective than the origional Ion Array, so it's a minor consideration. Dangerous only in mobs. Beast Defense Field frigate Armor: 4650 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 310 m/s Job: Bloody Nuisance SR: Medium They didn't have much purpose in the origional, and they still don't. The deflection is interesting, but it can't block everything. Beast Heavy Cruiser Armor: 77k Firepower: 20k, six heavy gun turrets (left/right), two heavy ion cannon turrets (front), six infection guns (front/left/right) Max Velocity: 245 m/s Special Action: Infect Job: Big Gun SR: Very High Still a big headache, and what's worse, they can infect your ships. Thankfully, there seems to be at least a 2 minute delay between infection shots, so you have time between them to destroy it, if you don't have anything that is (mostly) immune. Beast Carrier Armor: 65k Firepower: 4k, point defense turrets, six infection guns (front/left/right) Max Velocity: 290 m/s Special Action: Infect Job: Support SR: Very High You'll see these from time to time. Deal with them like Beast Heavy Cruisers. Beast Multi-Beam frigate Armor: 4200 Firepower: 3900, five point-defense ion cannons (top/bottom/left/right/front), 90% coverage Max Velocity: 330 m/s Job: Fighter Mauler SR: Medium Another unit the AI thinks is a cap ship fighter. Usually in groups of four or five. Beast Hive frigate Armor: 4000 Firepower: 1400, two front-mounted guns Max Velocity: 345 m/s Job: General Harassment SR: Medium The AI likes these for some reason. Take out the frigate instead of dealing with the drones individually. Beast Ramming frigate Armor: 5100 Firepower: 2500 Max Velocity: 378 m/s Job: Capital Ship Combat SR: Medium You'll see a lot of these too, but other than their annoying habit of walking off with your capital ships, they're not a threat by themselves. Especially when they ram a Destroyer or Dreadnought, the missile launchers can still hit it. Beast Worker Armor: 1800 Firepower: - Max Velocity: 365 m/s Job: Mechanic SR: Low Beast Processor Armor: 45.1k Firepower: 2500, four gun turrets (top/bottom/left/right) Max Velocity: 235 m/s Job: Worker Escort SR: Medium Identical to the Somtaaw ships, but the AI -never- uses Processors. Beast Mothership Armor: 94k Firepower: 4600 Max Velocity: 110 m/s Special Action: Infect Job: Mobile Base SR: Very High Pretty much identical to the Kuun Lan. There's only one, thankfully. Avoid when possible. NAGGAROK Armor: LOTS Firepower: Several point-defense ion cannons Max Velocity: INSANE Special Action: Eat Capital Ship Job: The Last Boss SR: Extremely High The SOB in mission 17. Read about it in the walkthrough below. ========== Formations ========== ---------- Delta (F5) ---------- An old formation designed for atmosphere-bound vehicles. Lacks the adaptability to handle 3D space. Use it mainly to organize non-combat vehicles when moving from place to place. ---------- Broad (F6) ---------- Supposedly usefull for organizing capital ships. I've found it more problematic than usefull. The ships will constantly move around according to the behavior of the ship on the far left (viewed from behind) trying to stay in a straight line on it's right, unless you give each one seperate orders and thus break up the formation. Don't bother. ------ X (F7) ------ I use this formation a lot when dealing with my Acolytes/ACVs. It keeps their firepower concentrated and organized. Peeling off to deal with a swarm of enemy fighters is also very easy in this formation. --------- Claw (F8) --------- I don't use this one as much as I did in the origional, since it is mainly a fighter configuration, and I usually keep my units in corvette mode during a fight. --------- Wall (F9) --------- Another formation supposedly usefull for capital ships. Now they're being dragged around by the guy on the upper-left, which defeats the purpose of the wall altogether. ------------ Sphere (F10) ------------ Pretty much the only formation where the Sentinel has any use. It reduces any incoming fighters to mere target practice. While in this formation, if the group of units is told to guard a ship, that ship becomes the center of the sphere. Bit too restrictive when it comes to attacking. ======= Tactics ======= ------------ Evasive (F2) ------------ Ships will not stay in formation (assuming they have one) when engaging enemies, and will pair off or fight alone as the situation demands. They won't initiate combat unless ordered, and is generally only usefull with and against fighters. Even so, it's become a lot less effective at keeping your units alive than in the origional. I use it sparingly, if at all. It is nice for the speed bonus if you're trying to move fast, and handy when you want to engage all the local fighters at once. ------------ Neutral (F3) ------------ Why? --------------- Aggressive (F4) --------------- Many of my warships live here. They will stay in formation no matter what, they get a small attack bonus, and will generally kick the butt of anyone foolish to stray near. What's not to like? The corvettes, especially, will circle the targets while in formation, giving them an almost non-stop pounding. ================ General Strategy ================ An excerpt from an e-mail from ckayano_dte@ibm.net: - Acolyte (SU=2), ACV(SU=4) Acolyte: Missiles: Each Acolyte carries two missiles, and they do quite a bit more damage than the normal shot (more than an order of magniture), and they do need to return to a base to refil missles. ACV mode: I actually think the armor is nearly triple than that of the Acolyte (220 vs 700) I usually keep the fighters in ACV mode; though putting them into BROAD formation helps expedite the linking command. What I started to do is: (if there's no fighters to fight) Send in ACVs to attack a cap ship, EMP, unlink, missile it, retreat in evasive broad formation, relink, refuel. - Hive Frigate (SU=20, SR=High) Quite a great ship design; although it takes way too many SU in my opinion. Each frigate carries a small complement (6?) of swarmers. This frigate is very effective versus small ships. I use them to take down missile corvettes, and those damn beast missiles. Also, when attacking enemy ships that have escorts, I let the destroyer fleet concentrate on the enemy ship, while the swarmers take down the escorts (usually multigun corvettes; which I don't want to lose fighters to). The swarmers either don't die, or regenerate pretty damn quickly, since I've never had a point where I had no swarmers available. And in a few cases, the swarmers act as good distraction material for enemy multibeam frigates, and the Nomad Moon. I've seen these enemies focusing on trying to destroy the swarmers, while ignoring the destroyer fleet that's pounding on it. ======== Missions ======== Keep in mind that I mainly play on Normal difficulty. Details may be different on other levels. 1 - Hiigara Initial Forces: Kuun Lan, 3 Recon fighters, 2 Workers This battle's pretty straightforward. Most of the action is happening between two other fleets, the Hiigaran Defense vs the raiding Imperialist Taiidan, and it's going on some distance away from the Kuun Lan. It's pretty skewed in favor of the home team, so you don't have to involve yourself in that fight if you don't want to. The General in charge of the fleet will ask you to help out some Ion Cannon frigates who've fallen prey to a squad of bombers to start with. Tactical advises sending over some Acolytes to swat the bombers. There's a few asteroids near your starting position, and your workers will find a few more by themselves, and another objective will show you the position of the only other deposit on the map that I've found, so recon isn't that important. Stash your Recon fighters, send your Workers out and start making Acolytes. Also build a Processor to follow your Workers around (tell it to guard them both when it's built) and order the Kuun Lan towards the proximity sensor net (the band of blue dots on the sensors manager). Facing them from the Kuun Lan, they look like two rows of squares. You want the Kuun Lan in the center of the top-rightmost square. On the way, 5 interceptors will charge out of the main battle to investigate your arrival. They'll go after the Workers but they don't really have the punch to be dangerous. The Processor should be ready before they arrive and already guarding the Workers. It'll be over quick. They'll send a few more every now and then through the mission just to be annoying. If one of the Workers goes yellow in the health bar, send it in for repairs and then send it back out. That done, get at least 6 Acolytes together (10 is advised) and send them to the flailing Ion Cannon frigates. The bombers will pretty much ignore your fighters, so it'll be over fast. Once they're out of the way, the Ion frigates will chase down a nearby Carrier and then join the main battle. Tactical will congratulate you on your victory, and the General will ask you to recon a point away from the main battle for a counter-attack. Send your Acolytes there instead. They'll find five Taiidan resource gatherers gobbling up asteroids, with three Defenders doing escort. Hit them hard and fast, before they can fall back to a nearby Carrier. While this is going on, Tactical will mention the tech boys think they can make Acolytes link together. Start the research and keep an eye on the battle. Smash the escort and two of the resourcers, then call the Acolytes back for repair and upgrade. Build some more Acolytes so you end up with a total of 18. Once the research is done, send them to the convoy as Acolytes, link them up to ACVs, (good practice in moving fast!) and use all 9 of them to finish the resourcers and then the Carrier they're supplying. Once the resourcers are dead, several fighters, bombers, and a pair of MG corvettes will start attacking the proximity sensor net, and Tactical will tell you to stop them. But of course, the Kuun Lan should have long ago arrived, and in a prime position to send them to their makers. It saves the frustration of chasing them all around the place with your ACVs, who should be busy with that Carrier. And it also gives good odds to saving the entire net, though I've never been able to save the interceptors patroling there. They won't be able to hurt the Kuun Lan that much before dying. Fighters gone, the General has one more errand for you to run. A Heavy Cruiser has turned tail from the main fighting and is limping around in the distance. I would have loved to have had salvage capability for this mission, an HC is such a precious thing to waste. But then, I'm from the old school of Homeworld. "If it ain't a fighter or corvette, SALVAGE IT!" Once they're finished with the Carrier, call in your ACVs for repairs, then send them to do the deed. There'll be a few Defenders keeping watch, nothing your ACVs can't handle. That's it. Finish gathering the resources, help mop up any remaining enemies in the main battle area for the experience, and hit 'end mission'. 2 - Outskirts of Hiigaran System Well, big surprise, Kiith Somtaaw didn't even get an honorable mention when the congratulations were handed out. And yet they found time to give you another chore to do. Seems a Destroyer, the Bushan-Re, got hit pretty badly and has drifted into a rather active asteroid belt. You've been sent to find and help her out. Tactical will mention that your workers aren't able to handle repair and salvage duties, and suggests building a research module (engineering). Most of the asteroids (those that are moving) are unharvestable, but there are some resources on this level. The Workers will find them by themselves, I haven't been able to locate any other deposits on this map. Tactical will point out that there are asteroids flying about (gee, ya noticed?) and that the Destroyer might get hit by them if you don't find it fast. Don't worry, they're not that hard to find. Start construction of the module. Once the module's complete, research the two techs and upgrade the Workers when ready. There are Turanics around, so keep your ACVs out and ready to handle any that decide to attack you, but don't bother chasing them around the map. Eventually, Tactical will mention that there are signal echos in the area, and marks three possible locations to explore. They're very close to each other, so just send your ACVs out to any one of them and they'll find the Bushan-Re. Send the Kuun Lan towards the pings right off, you'll need the firepower. The ACVs may encounter a Turanic patrol en-route, deal with them and keep going. The Bushan-Re's pretty banged up. Tactical suggests you send a Worker to repair it right away. No need to delay your harvesting, just build a new one and send it. Send the harvesting Workers only once they've finished their chores. Have the ACVs guard the destroyer and adjust the Kuun Lan's course if needed so it stops nearby. Sometime after repair begins, a hyperspace entry will be detected, apparently a few Support frigates have arrived to assist with the repairs. Of course, once they reach the Bushan-Re, it'll be very apparent that something is wrong. Biggest hint? They have engine trails. Yep, the Turanics have picked this moment to test out their mimic-ing heavy corvettes. Between the Kuun Lan and the ACVs, they don't stand a chance. But it signals the other Turanics to begin their attack runs on the Bushan-Re. Just stay focused and keep the ACVs moving and aggressive. The Bushan-Re will assist when enemies wander into it's firing range. Have your ACVs dock during a quiet moment for repairs when needed. They'll give up after loosing their second wave. When the Bushan-Re is nearly at full health, you'll notice a second distress call in the area. The Bushan-Re will deny sending out a distress beacon, and state that it must be a derilict. Of course, Tactical will tell you to go retrieve it, the single most stupid idea that could ever come out of her mouth. And of course, you have to actually go do it. At least it's close by. Send a Worker with ACV escort and salvage the pod they find. Just before they get there, a Turanic Carrier will appear on sensors and launch an attack. The Bushan-Re picks this time to turn tail and run. Cowards. You get the additional goal of destroying the Turanics, but that's not neccessary. They retreat once the salvage team docks. During this part of the fight, Tactical will mention that the science team has figured out how the Turanics were able to pull off the mimic trick, and you can research them now. Might as well, saves time later. Once the pod's in your bay, that's it. Finish research, dock your ACVs, and hit 'end mission'. 3 - Coruc-Tel System The report to your Kiith-sa bosses doesn't exactly go well. I could practically hear the politicians drool once they hear about the pod. The Kiith-sa insist on secrecy and direct you to the science vessel Clee-San, currently in Coruc-Tel. You arrive at the designated meeting point, but the Clee-San is nowhere in sight. You pick up a signal from them, heavily garbled. Tactical tells you to go see what is wrong. Most of the resources are already visible. Send the Workers and Processor on their way, and build a Mimic. Just one, not an MCV, and build three Workers as well. Disguise it as a Turanic Interceptor and send it to the ping. Leave the Kuun Lan where it is for now. You can research the Afterburner upgrade right off, do so. After a bit of travel, the Mimic will notice that there are a lot of mines in the area. Perhaps a clue as to what's wrong? The Mimic will go past them without incident, and will also notice all the Turanic Raiders in the area, and the six Taiidan minelayer corvettes dropping more mines. Once it gets close to the ping, the Mimic will stop. You'll get another garbled message from the Clee-San, and Tactical will notice that it's completely surrounded by mines, and can't move without being killed. Tactical will suggest sending in a Mimic to establish tight-beam communications with the Clee-San. Well, that's what it's out there for, send it in close. You'll get a clear message this time, and the codes to see the mines on the sensors manager. They'll also mention that another fleet is coming to capture them and suggest haste. This isn't an idle threat. If you take too long on this mission, a considerable fleet will pop up practically on top of you, and you'll have a hard time escaping intact. Okay, this is going to sound strange, but the rest of this mission can be won with just the Kuun Lan. Keep your ACVs docked, they'll just get hit by mines. The three new Workers should be told to repair the Kuun Lan and keep it repaired. Send it straight in towards the Clee-San. Stop every now and then to target mines, and the occasional skirmish with the Turanics. They'll focus entirely on the Kuun Lan, and pay the price for it. Once the resourcers are done, have all 6 Workers keep the Kuun Lan repaired, and get the Processor in parade formation. In that position, on neutral tactics, it'll keep the Kuun Lan's belly clear of hostiles. Keep moving in, you'll get there eventually, and the mines will do minimal damage to the huge Kuun Lan, further minimized by the Workers. Partway there, you'll recieve word that you can build a new science pod (weapons), and research missiles. Do so. Destroy the six mines around the Clee-San that are pinging, and it'll head straight into the hangar. Once that's done, dock your Workers and get out of there before the fleet arrives. 4 - Deep Space (Tel Sector) Kelvin Lee and Jim Ulrich both donated the same trick for this mission. The research of the alien pod you recovered begins. Unfortunately, it seems the scientists got more than they bargained for. A lot more. Power fluctuations are just the start of it, then biohazard warnings start going off all over the lower decks. Red splotches start appearing on the hull, spreading... There is no choice. The lower decks of the Kuun Lan are forcibly ejected before whatever it is can spread any further. The hangar, science, and lower engine modules fly away, tumbling to the screams of those still inside... The Kuun Lan has been split in half, crippled. There are some resources nearby, but send a Recon briefly in the direction of the lower decks (the ping) to find a second deposit, then have it return and dock. Get your Workers harvesting and start rebuilding the Hangar module, as Tactical suggests. Once it's built, Tactical will say that the Clee-San wants to scan the lower decks, and requires an escort of ten Acolytes because of all the Turanic activity. You don't get a choice in this. Have the Workers finish harvesting everything first, Tactical will shout at you every now and then, just ignore her for the time being. When the Workers finish, have them dock, then pick the five ACVs with the lowest experience and have them guard the Clee-San. Have them escort in fighter mode. It doesn't really matter, 5 ACVs will do just as well as 10 Acolytes, it'll just save effort if they're in fighter mode. Kelvin and Jim noted that the Clee-San keeps moving a short distance if you tell the escort to stop. If you time it right, you can recall your fighters (order them to dock) just before the Clee- San reaches the lower decks, and thus avoid sharing it's fate. The Clee-San will move in and start scanning the lower decks... Now you see why I said to send the lowest experience ships. Rebuild your losses (stick with 9 ACVs total for now) if you couldn't recall the fighters in time, and order the Kuun Lan away from the lower decks, as far into the corner as the map will allow. Tactical will advise researching the recordings, start it right away. You're going to have incoming attacks shortly. They won't be able to do much damage before being killed (assuming everyone helps in the fight, ACVs, Kuun Lan, and Processor), but bring in your ACVs after the second wave for repairs and send your Workers out to fix the cap ships. Shortly after the research is done, the Turanics that have been chasing the Clee-San will finally catch up. They'll ignore your shouted warnings and move towards the Clee-San... Well, that was very brief. Now you've got eight Ion Array frigates and a Heavy Cruiser bearing down on your position, not to mention the fighters they'll send ahead. Get your Workers inside ASAP and hyperspace. 5 - Aiowa System With the scientists gone, the task of studying what happened falls to the Kuun Lan's engineers. They'll give you some insight as to what it is you're specifically fighting, and give it a name. The Beast. Whatever it is, it is exceedingly old. The Kuun Lan has traveled to Aiowa in search of the Bentusi, the only known race who might possibly know anything about the Beast. First, you can see that there are two trails of resources on this map, one in front of the Kuun Lan, one behind. Tell your Workers to start with the resources in front first. These resources follow the dust trail that bends to the left, but don't go too far down that way. Launch your ACVs and send them to the ping on sensors. You don't have to (in fact, several people have advised me not to until after all resourcing is done), but that's how I did it. Just before they arrive, you'll see that the Bentusi are in a BIG heap of trouble. The Beast has found them and is hammering away with fighters and Ion Arrays. Help with the fighters for the time being. The Bentusi demonstrate the lethality of point-defense ion cannons quite well, and can handle themselves. When the Beast makes a move on the Kuun Lan, call your ACVs back to help in it's defense. You'll need them for the two Ion Arrays in your face. Odds are, when that fight's over, your Workers should have finished the resources in front of you and are heading to the ones behind. Grab three of them for repairs to the Kuun Lan, and keep the ACVs close. The Bentusi can handle the forces attacking them for the time being. They also get reinforced after a few moments, by the Kushan Carrier Caal-Shto and it's two Ion Cannon frigates. After some more battle around the Bentusi ship, a Beast Heavy Cruiser (perhaps the same one you saw in the last mission?) will attack it with an infection beam. The Bentusi are The Unbound. The Bentusi refuse to be Bound to Anyone. The resulting fireworks vaporizes the Bentusi ship, all fighters and frigates in the immediate area, and heavily damages the Caal-Shto and the Beast Heavy Cruiser. That's why your ACVs are hanging around the Kuun Lan. Now you have to save the Caal-Shto and yourselves. Grab a Worker and send it in to repair the Caal-Shto, and move the Kuun Lan in beside it. There is a problem, however. That Heavy Cruiser is only damaged, not crippled or dead. And it's heading straight for the Kuun Lan. Send your ACVs in now, and I mean NOW. If it's infection beam gets the chance to recharge you'll loose half of them to the Beast, this is your only real chance to nail it. Otherwise, you'll have to sacrifice a Recon (coming in from the side to avoid weapons fire) to the Beast and then kill it. Get the ACVs back to the Caal-Shto pronto, it's undoubtedly under attack by now. In any case, Tactical tells you about some new research available, and a new science module (advanced engineering). Get them both. The research will give you the support module. Build all 12. The new science module will let you research Sentinels, grab that too. Don't worry about repairing the Caal-Shto, the game won't let you raise it's health over 50%, the Worker is there to keep it at 50%. This fight will never be over until you deal with the Beast Carrier that's spitting out fighters and Rams and gobbling up asteroids. Remember that bend in the dust trail I said not to go down? Once the Kuun Lan is in position near the Caal-Shto, go down it, and hit their Workers with your ACVs. The Carrier can infect like the Heavy Cruiser, so you'll have to sacrifice something to it this time. It won't hang around to be killed, though, it'll hyperspace after taking some damage. If you do it fast, you'll get a lot of resources to prepare for the next mission with, even after replacing losses. Wipe up what's left, gather resources, and prepare for the next mission. 6 - Kadiir Nebula Elements of this walkthrough are from Kelvin Lee . OmegA came up with something very similar as well. So have about a half-dozen other people... Preparations for this mission should actually happen in the previous one, before you hit 'end mission'. You're going to need a bigger squad of ACVs, 13-17 should do, and a seperate squad of Acolytes (they'll stay in fighter mode the whole time), 20 should be enough. The rest of the preparations depend on how you want to handle this mission. There are basically two ways of handling this mission. My way is rather greedy and depends on ambushing all fighter patrols in the area before moving. Kelvin Lee suggested a more active stance that forgoes resourcing for the most part. For the second, 3 groups of 9 ACVs are suggested, along with two Mimics. For the first, build a second Processor and bring your Worker total up to at least 8, and two Recons are a good idea. Why the two ways? Well, you see, this is one of the -richest- maps I've seen in a long time, there's roughly between 60-70 THOUSAND RUs on this map, and that's just what I've found between the starting position and the goal. No, I'm not kidding. You'd be set for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, getting all of it without triggering major consequences can be quite stressfull. For that reason alone you might want to take the other path. Besides which, this is not the only place to get a lot of resources. Okay, back to the mission. You get to listen in to a mild argument between Tactical and Command, then the mission starts. The Kuun Lan is escorting the Caal-Shto through the nebula in the hopes of staying hidden from the Imperials. Only problem is, you have to tip-toe past a major base that resides here. Tactical suggests sending a Recon ship to take a peek at the base. Soon after the start, Tactical will mention you can build a new science module (armor) and new research. Go ahead. This is where the greedy path starts. Launch everything, and have the Acolyte squad take up position about 1/3 the way between the Kuun Lan and the Imperial base (the ping). Kelvin used a second squad placed right next to the Caal-Shto, but the purpose is the same. Their job is to intercept any patrols that come in your direction, preferably before they see the Caal-Shto, and to kill any that do before they can escape back to the base. The ACVs, however, will be assisting your Workers in any way they can. Keeping the area secure, scouting the terrain ahead, and destroying mines before a Worker stumbles into them. Have a Recon escort each squad for early detection. The Recon is the only ship who's sensors aren't affected by the nebula. The base will send out a lot of Interceptors, destroy all of them, they'll eventually run out of supply (after about the 15th squad), and they don't do any harvesting themselves. On the sensors manager, you want to scout in the direction of a flower-shaped set of dust trails on the far side of the map. That's where you're eventually going to head, and all the resources are between the start and that flower. There are a lot of large mines scattered about, and you'll get the goal to nail the minelayers once you see a mine, but they won't show up until after the base has been recon'ed. Now the stressfull part comes from the placement of the resources themselves. Some of the nebula clouds come dangerously close to the base, and an unwary Worker could trigger the bomber wing flying close patrol near it. You don't want that. But with very carefull management, one worker can fly in, scoop up the resources before the bombers can notice it, and fly away. There are also all the Interceptors flying sweeps out of the base to cause stress, and your Workers are definitely going to get found (though the Interceptors won't report back like they would after seeing the Caal-Shto). Keep the ACVs nearby at all times. Eventually you'll run out of resources (even after reaching the aforementioned flower), or you may choose to stop when the fighter patrols stop coming, and that's where the two paths join. Send a Recon or Mimic towards the ping (not an ACV or Acolyte, their sensors aren't good enough to stay out of sight). My, that's a big fleet. A Carrier, two Destroyers, maybe 15-16 frigates, and maybe 30 bombers. Don't tick these guys off, they can clean your clock and not even break a sweat. If you're following the more active path, leave the Mimic close to the base to let you know when the patrols are launched, and place the second about halfway between. Tactical will tell you to scout the path ahead to make sure it's clear. The greedy path will have already cleared it, but send a Recon to each ping anyway. The active path will have to do the clearing with the ACVs, while the other two groups shield the Caal-Shto from patrols (in fighter mode), one right next to the Caal-Shto and the other about 1/3rd the way between it and the base. After you check the first ping, the Caal-Shto will begin moving towards the dust-trail flower I mentioned earlier, and the Kuun Lan will automatically keep pace. The active path will not have cleared out all the Interceptors, and they will cause serious trouble if they ever make it back. Make sure none do. With two groups of Acolytes, you should be able to hit them coming -and- going. Keep the Mimics between them and you so you can track them. Halfway there or so, you'll get some new research to do, frigate drives. You'll get to make Hive frigates with it, but I never used them much, and Multi-Beam frigates need this as well (you can't make them yet, though). Keep going, repairing when necessary. Around the third ping, the minelayers will be waiting (with Interceptor escort). Kelvin suggested hitting them with Mimics, I hit them with the Kuun Lan, either will do, as long as they end up dead. They won't go back to snitch on you if they see the Caal-Shto. When your forward force reaches the last ping, they'll warn you of a Heavy Cruiser sitting there waiting for you. The greedy player will notice that it hadn't been there before. Tactical will suggest researching the Leech and sending it in, but as I said in the Leech's description, it's not that deadly. You can try it out, make 6 of them and have them attach. When the Caal-Shto is about to reach it, send in your ACVs, or send them in immediately if you don't use the Leeches. Once it's dead, watch your back, the Heavy Cruiser has alerted the base of your presence, but the Caal-Shto should reach the end of the trail before they arrive, and escape into a slipgate there. Once it's gone, you can do some last-minute resourcing, or call in your forces and hyperspace before the Imperials catch you. 7 - Outskirts of Kadiir Nebula andy french and Kelvin Lee donated hints on this mission. Okay, turns out this mission isn't that hard, I just thought it was. You'll want a lot of Acolytes for this, and they'll stay in fighter mode for most of the mission. You might have noticed that I didn't suggest salvaging the Heavy Cruiser from the last mission. That's because while it can be a great asset in this mission, it can also be your greatest liability. And for some reason, ships bigger than frigates refuse all orders to retire. So don't bother. You'll get some more information from the engineers about what you're facing (a plot that feels decidedly 'Event Horizon' to me), and tell you about it's origin. The Caal-Shto will also thank you for your assistance, and then limp away, heading for Hiigara to warn them. Is it just me or does the Kuun Lan look very insulted by the Caal-Shto's suggestion that it find a rock to go hide under until the warrior Kiith deals with the Beast? Hard to manage for a non-organic spaceship... In any case, you soon pick up a distress call from a convoy of Republican Taiidan colonists. They're under attack from Cruise Missiles and are requesting help. Launch all fighters and start moving the Kuun Lan in. Now break your Acolytes up into several groups (at least 5 groups of 6 Acolytes each) and give them numbers. One group is going to cover your Workers and Processors (who should be harvesting already) and will target any missiles near them, the other four strung out along the convoy as equally as possible. The Kuun Lan should move in under the center of the convoy to help out. I can't tell you exactly where the missiles come from, it seems to be random (I've tried the mission several times, they don't come from the same place). Do your best, but inevitably you will loose a convoy ship to the Cruise Missiles. Destroy it as fast as you can, it'll start cranking out even more Missiles, and you'll have enough on your hands as it is. You only need one ship to reach the far slipgate and escape in order to succeed in this mission, but save as many as you can. If the Beast runs out of convoy ships to shoot at, it'll target your frigates, Workers, and Processors, who'll be infected in a single hit (and if you did bring that Heavy Cruiser, it'll turn in a single hit too, SO DON'T BRING IT! I made that mistake once. Kelvin brought a Hive that he regretted too), and then the Kuun Lan. The convoy ships will actually take several hits, thankfully, and so will the Kuun Lan. Do the best you can. The second wave of missiles will convince Tactical that you need to upgrade your ACVs. Do the research but don't upgrade, you won't have time. You can also research better armor for all ships and bigger explosives for the Mimic, grab them but again don't waste time upgrading. The third and fourth wave will have a fighter escort. Focus on the Missiles first. You'll loose Acolytes, but that's preferable to loosing colonists. There won't be a fifth wave of missiles from outside the mission. Once all Beast ships are dead (including all infected colony ships), you'll be able to end the mission. Upgrade everything first, and rebuild your losses. It's also suggested that you reorganize your ACVs back into two groups. A cheaper way to deal with this mission was suggested by andy. Simply move the Kuun Lan in next to one colony ship, keep everything docked, and simply insure that -that- one ship makes it through, and destroy all the other ships. The Kuun Lan can't be infected, and you can chase down all the other ships on the map with it. 8 - Deep Space (Koreth's Rift Sector) The 300,000 colonists will thank you for your efforts (the number doesn't change no matter how many ships you saved), and tell you about the loss of their escort. They'll also tell you of a spy that was supposed to meet up with their escort (why would a colonist know about a spy?), who had learned of bio-weapons research. The Kuun Lan moves in to investigate. The spy hasn't made contact yet, but you're at the meeting point. Start harvesting as Tactical suggests, and send one group of ACVs over to those odd purple blips on sensors. They'll find two crystals, and after some research and upgrading, you'll be able to harvest them as well. Large crystals need 4 Workers to haul around, small crystals only need 2. Grab them ASAP. Also, build a Ram frigate for later. Eventually the spy will show up and head for your position. But he's not alone. Interceptors, MG corvettes, and Defenders are on his tail. Escort him in and take down the pursuers, they'll arrive in seperate waves. Once that's done he'll let you in on what he found, then summon a Republican Carrier to make his escape. It's crunch time again. You've got a plan to blow the enemy research base, but you're going to need Imperialist ships to pull it off. There's a resource convoy in the area, but it's not going to hang around for more that 15 minutes. Get your workers out there (with ACVs and Processors flying escort), and capture as many ships as you can. Blow up the rest. Just like a Homeworld Salvage Raid, he he he... You'll want one frigate to succeed in the mission, but you'll want one -of-each-type- if you want to benefit from the research potential. The Assaults can let you research energy guns, an upgrade to all projectile weapons (homing bullets!). The Ions will let you research Multi-Beam frigates (critical!). I haven't been able to grab a Support frigate yet, no clue what they'd allow. There'll be a Gravwell generator, have the Ram get it out of the way, preferably before your Workers arrive. The Processors should help destroy it. Retire the enemy frigates, you don't need them. Replace them with two Multi-Beam frigates. Harvest and rebuild, then hit end mission. 9 - Close Orbit, Gozan IV Tactical will give you a run-down of the plan again, for those who like a review. When the mission starts, she'll tell you to move the resourcers to the side so they can slip in unnoticed. Strangely enough, no matter how well you did in the last mission, you will only have three resourcers to send. Do so, and launch everything. Do not harvest resources, there's not enough to justify the trouble. Get ready, this mission's one big battle, and you're in the middle of it. You can research level 2 shields right away. Do so, they make the Sentinel a worthy investment. Having the Kuun Lan shielded is a good idea for this mission, once they are upgraded. When the resourcers arrive at the ping, they'll leave your control. Tactical will tell you to destroy a proximity sensor for the distraction, the resourcers won't move again until you do. Move the Kuun Lan in to do it. There'll be patrols all over the place, so stay on your toes. The MB frigates'll shine in fighter combat. The new energy guns will help a lot too. A lot of ships will start moving in on you, mostly frigates and fighters. Have the ACVs focus on any frigates, and use the MB frigates to deal with fighters. There's also a chance you'll run into a Missile Destroyer (it decided to jump me from behind), don't deal with it at all, move the Kuun Lan further towards the planet (hopefully away from the Missile Destroyer) You can't win this battle, so don't try too hard. If you have to, sacrifice a Processor by having it charge a bunch of enemies unescorted. They should attack it, giving the Kuun Lan time to move away. The resourcers will eventually pass the checkpoint, land and then return. It'll take about 10 minutes total. When they return, their cover will have been blown. Hopefully the Kuun Lan is at least a little past the proximity sensor net, have it move in towards them so they can dock quickly. Cover them with all you have, lose them and lose the mission. Especially target any bomber wings in the area. When they get close, call in all strike craft, you're going to hyper as soon as they dock. I lost most of my forces in this mission, but the next one lets you recover. 10- Debris Field (Koreth's Rift Sector) Tactical goes over what the marines discovered on the planet. Nothing much usefull, except the Taiidan have figured out how to sterilize failed experiments with the Beast. The Kuun Lan pulls back to a junkyard to hide. Recons discover that it's been lightly laced with large mines. Looks like someone's home. Oooooo. Is that a Seige Cannon or are you just happy to see me? :) Send your ACVs to clear the mines before sending in the Workers. You'll need 4 to salvage the Cannon. Have the rest harvest. If you've got MB frigates, send them in too. If you don't, you might want to wait until you do. When you get close, Turanics will start moving in. -Don't- let them run off with the Cannon. When your salvage team moves in, some of the wreckage will reveal itself to be more Turanics, deal with them too. When things start getting interesting near the Cannon, four Ion Arrays will de- cloak around the Kuun Lan. Sentinels can help a lot in dealing with them without detracting from the salvage effort. Tactical will eventually mention that Recon sensors could be upgraded, with research. Do it. The Workers will have to haul the Cannon back to the Kuun Lan, a Processor can't handle it. But don't move the Kuun Lan, it's okay where it is. Oh, and by the way, you now have Imperials coming down your throat. Once the Cannon is hauled back to the Kuun Lan, Tactical will mention you need to research it, then build a new mount for your trophy. Do so. More Turanics will move in to help the Taiidan. Not good. But then the Caal-Shto suddenly arrives to deal with the Turanics... I don't really need to tell you not to go anywhere near them, do I? Yep, the Caal-Shto has had a run-in with the Beast, and lost. The Turanics walk right into the infection. But that still leaves you with Taiidan coming down on you, including a Heavy Cruiser and three Destroyers. Thankfully, just before you're about to have your engine module handed to you, the Beast Mothership will arrive. Yep, that's what's left of the Kuun Lan's lower decks. The Imperials move to fight it (suicidal, aren't they?). Finish your Cannon and let them keep it busy. You might also want to move in a bit closer to the Beast. Halfway between them and the start point will do. Beast fighters will hammer you while you move and build, just stay focused. When the Cannon's finished, the Mothership will ask for the old beacon (I thought it was in the hangar module when it separated?). Give it your reply. One Siege Cannon blast right up the nostril. Make sure you're within the 100% damage marker, as Tactical says. Unfortunately, it won't do squat. Hyperspace before you get fragged. (Actually, you don't need to be within 100%. Hitting it at all will prove it can't do the job and you can hyperspace) 11- System AZ-23769 Well, from bad to worse. The Seige Cannon pretty much fried itself when it went off. Besides which, it didn't do any good. Apparently the eggheads think a sample of the origional will help make the Cannon more effective, which means finding the NAGGAROK, and that means finding the Faal-Corum, the Kuun Lan's sistership. Their astrogation techs can find the NAGGAROK. When you arrive, you find the Faal-Corum under heavy fire and shooting at anything that moves. Ignore their paranoia and move the Kuun Lan in next to them, launch everything, and hammer the enemies. Once they're dead, the Faal- Corum will calm down. Start repairing it, and send Workers to haul in the three crystals in the area, then harvest as normal. If you've got a dozen Sentinels handy, shield the Faal-Corum. You'll eventually get some new stuff to research, self-repair for your cap ships and the last tech for Destroyers and Carriers. Pretty soon a Beast fleet will show up. The Faal-Corum will send in it's troops right away. Unfortunately, they'll get slaughtered whether you help them or not, so save your strength and build up while the Faal-Corum keeps them busy. If any Beast Ships get near, let them have it, but focus on building. Those two Carriers are highly important, they'll put your SU count up over 400 (with all support modules). Get about three Destroyers and back them up with at least four MB frigates, they'll be swimming upstream against the Beast Rams, Hives, and MBs. Once they get to the ping, it's just one Carrier, two Ion Arrays, and two Defense Fields. They might have some Sentinels out shielding the Carrier, but it's a level 1 shield from the color. It'll cave in easy. Don't forget the Beast Workers too. Once all enemies are dead, you'll get the astrogation team you needed. Harvest the map (it's pretty rich), make repairs, recover losses, and end mission. 12- Turanic Outpost (Kyori Sector) Well, the astrogation team figured out the general neighborhood the NAGGAROK is in, but they'll need better star charts to do better. That's why you're dropping by this Turanic Outpost and politely asking for their help. Unfortunately, they write out their reply in mass-driver bullets. The first attack is pretty weak, mostly interceptors with a few Missile corvettes. I didn't even have to launch my ACVs. In fact, I gave them a break for most of the mission. Once the first wave is dead, Tactical will tell you to go after the Outpost. Start moving the Kuun Lan in and have your cap ships escort. They'll put up a pretty weak fight, fighters, corvettes, and some Ion Arrays. A Carrier will be sitting next to the Outpost, you'll want to take care in dealing with it, and keep an eye open for mines, but the Outpost itself is unarmed (never took a shot at me, anyway). Hammer it. When the Taiidan fleet arrives to help the Turanics, pull back all but one of your Destroyers. Keep hitting the Outpost, you want them beaten, not dead. You'll hear a coded transmition (the garbled screech), and the Taiidan will hyperspace. The Turanics then surrender. If you want, you can harvest this map, just scan the areas with ACVs first to clear out mines. For some reason, there's a bug at this point, where if you click on the Kuun Lan, you get the health bar for every module attached to it. Some of them request upgrades. I always do, just in case it has some effect. Recover losses and end mission. 13- Location Unknown Well, you're now en-route to the NAGGAROK. Unfortunately, you get to make an unscheduled pit stop. Well what do you expect when you let Turanics on board? The Kuun Lan comes out of hyperspace in very bad shape. Construction systems down, hangar unable to launch ships, and enemies closing in. Hopefully you still have a Processor handy, move it alongside the Kuun Lan to trigger the repair beams. Thankfully, any ships loaded into the Carriers will be able to launch, but the first time I did this mission, all they had were a few ACVs. The rest and the Workers were on the Kuun Lan. You don't need them anyway, your Destroyers and MBs can handle this mission. You can actually rebuild the two modules that blew up (engineering, one support) right away, do so. Shield the Kuun Lan if you have any Sentinels that can launch. The first attackers will be Bombers and Interceptors from behind. Hit them with the MBs, the Destroyers will have to focus on the Heavy Cruiser coming in from the front. Two more are coming in, but that one will get to you first. Each HC will bring a Destroyer escort as well, but the HCs will focus on the Kuun Lan while the Destroyers fire at anything in range. Take them all down, focus on one at a time. Fighters will continue to come in from behind. Once the enemy cap ships are down, a second wave will come, Destroyers escorted by frigates, but the Kuun Lan can now launch it's fighters. Get the Workers out there repairing. In the middle of the second wave, the cavalry will arrive, in the form of the Faal-Corum and several cap ships, most which switch to your service immediately (and soaking up any leftover SUs >:( ). Between the two fleets, the Taiidan don't stand a chance. Start tracking down their Carrier, smashing ships as you go. There's another HC with two Destroyers out there. The Carrier is covered by Defenders and supplied by several Resourcers. Smash everything. Once they're all dead, you can proceed to the location of the NAGGAROK. Harvest and rebuild as needed, and retire the Ion Cannon frigates and the Rams. The Destroyers the Faal-Corum brought refuse to retire, so you're stuck with them, unless you want to scuttle them. Seems a bit cold-hearted to me, but to each their own. 14- Galactic Rim (Gulf Sector) You'll be brought up-to-date on the Beast situation across the galaxy. Seems things aren't going too well. But the New Daiamid Assembly back home has given you all the support they can spare, and wish you luck. Here in the Galactic Rim, a Recon patrol turns up the NAGGAROK, and reveals the Imperials trying to repair it. A bit of arguing later, you're left with the task of getting a Mimic in there to take a sample. You could just charge in, guns blazing, but... well, better you than me. That ship's got some serious protection. The better option is to sit tight and slip the Mimic in on the sly. Problem is, proximity sensors are in a ring around it, and any one of them will sense your Mimic before it can do it's job. Your engineers will give you the Dreadnought at this point, you won't even have to research for it. If you have the SUs to spare, build one, but just one, and get ready for incoming Bombers. There's a Heavy Cruiser with Assault frigate escort coming behind them. And behind that is a pair of Destroyers with MG corvettes. Sometime after the start of the mission, the Beast Mothership will arrive and start throwing more enemies at you, mainly fighters, but there will be some Cruise Missiles mixed in. Keep the Kuun Lan covered and fight defensively. Let them come to you. During a quiet moment (read ASAP), you need to send some Acolytes (two squads, fighter mode, for preference) towards the NAGGAROK and start taking out proximity sensors. The squads should split up and go down both sides at once. They will undoubtedly attract attention, but don't let them get distracted. Nail all the sensors and you can send in your Mimic. Make sure he's properly attired. Once he gets what you need, the Mimic will automatically return. Keep up the defense until he can dock. Before he does, though, the repairs to the NAGGAROK will be finished, and the Beast will hyperspace, apparently heading towards a weapon of some kind. Now you have to capture a Taiidan ship to find out where it went. You only need one, and I'm partial to a frigate myself, but pick one and grab it. Ordering the Kuun Lan in towards where the NAGGAROK was can speed up this process. Don't worry, you get plenty of choices. Hyperspace once you have what you need. 15- Deep Space (Gulf Sector) You get a brief glimpse at the 'interrogation' procedures, and a run-down on the weapon the Beast mentioned. The Seige Cannon is almost ready to do the job, but you need to talk to the Bentusi about several details before you can reliably use it. But it seems the Bentusi have plans of their own. And they don't involve saving anyone but themselves. Get your ships out there and start hitting that gate with everything you have. You can't stop the Bentusi ship that's about to jump, but there's another one further away that you can stop. Just after your attack starts, they'll start launching fighters at you, a nasty design labeled the Super Acolyte. They fire multiple ion beams with lethal accuracy, and your ACVs won't stand a chance against them. Like Command says, don't target the Bentusi, just get that gate closed. Uh oh, now the Bentusi sound pissed. Three more ships exit hyperspace around your fleet. And so begins the slaughter. There's no way to stop it, just try to keep the Kuun Lan out of the firing range. If you must fight back, hit the fighters. After the first cap ship kill, the argument between Command and the Bentusi will reach a head, and the Bentusi will snap out of their rampage. All ships will cease fire and/or pull back. Now comes the long hard job of recovering your losses. There is one large crystal here, haul it in for RUs. Don't do any general harvesting, there's a MASSIVE BUG on this level. Any surviving Super Acolytes -will- fire on any ship that comes in range. Seems a nearly inexcusable oversight to me. Besides rebuilding your fleet, you've got four new techs to research. Two drives, another level of armor, and one of shields. Grab it all, and get ready for the next fight. 16- Sojent-Ra System (Far Reaches Sector) The Bentusi will give you some insight as to their existence, and their reasons for panic. They also help you work the bugs out of the Seige Cannon so you can fire it however often you like. Now, it's time for a live-fire test of the weapon. The Clee-San is drafted as the target dummy. This map has three crystals on it, two small and one large. Have Workers haul in the small crystals right off (the two furthest away from the ping), but leave the large alone for now. Shield the Kuun Lan, then start moving it in towards the ping and send a Recon ahead. My, that's a big escort fleet. Adjust the Kuun Lan's movement so that it stops some distance away. Like Tactical says, you don't want to blow it up right away. Call your Recon back, but keep her out. There are cloaking ships in the area. You'll get MGs, Hives, and a Heavy Cruiser in the first wave. Your Destroyers and Dreadnought should be able to handle them with no problem. It may be tempting to fire the Cannon to nail this attack fleet before it reaches you, but resist! The Kuun Lan won't line up the shot before they get out of the area of effect, or you'll end up firing too close and nail yourself. Check your position every now and then with the Cannon. You want to be just at 50%, but a little over is nothing to quibble over. Let the Clee-San have it when the Kuun Lan is in position. The Clee-San is out of comission, so wipe up what's left of the Beast fleet and move the Kuun Lan in next to it. Send a Worker in when the Kuun Lan is in position, not before. Oh, and send some Workers to grab the large crystal, it's safe now. The Worker will transmit a signal to call in the Mothership, but it'll be a while before it arrives. Tactical suggests doing harvesting while you wait. I suggest repairing. You have to do a little harvesting before the Mothership will show, but don't get eager. The Mothership will arrive quite some distance away. Start moving the Kuun Lan in to hit it with a 100% blast. For some reason, the Beast will send Recons to attack you. Short fight. Ignore the gnats and keep going. The rest will be a mix of ships, frigates, Heavy Cruisers, and Cruise Missiles. Just keep moving forward. Once within that 100%, let them have it. At this range, you can even watch the carnage without risking a ship. Do an alt-drag-click on the enemy fleet to watch them burn... Unfortunately, even a 100% hit will only bring the Mothership down to 50% health. You can wait for the Cannon to recharge for a second blast, or move your cap ships in to finish it. Might even take a third Cannon shot to finish it, it can repair itself slowly. Either way, it's beat. It won't send anything out other than Cruise Missiles and Recons. Once the fireworks are over, get ready for the next mission. It's majorly tough. 17- Naval Base Alpha Ling Qi helped me a lot on this mission. This is it, the final showdown between the Kuun Lan and the Beast. The Beast is moving in on the special weapon the Republic Taiidan have been building. Unfortunately, the Beast has already claimed the weapon, the Nomad Moon, before you arrive. You show up just in time to see a big chunk of the Republic fleet destroyed by the Moon's repulse field. There are a lot of Republic ships around, and a lot more Beast ships as well. Once the mission starts, order your cap ships in to assist the closest Republic fleet. Between your ships and theirs, you can mop up a lot of the Beast ships before running out of Republic allies. Their Support frigates will also repair your ships when possible. You shouldn't need to gather any resources on this mission, but if you wish, you can grab the small crystal closest to the starting position. There's another off by itself (not near the big group of crystals) that's safe to grab too. Tell the Kuun Lan to start moving to high 'above' the closer battle. It's not going to get involved in that, it shouldn't need to. There are three groups of Missile corvettes about (most likely not in the fighting), each with a Defense Field frigate. Nail one group with the Seige Cannon (doesn't matter which), and have your cap ships work on the other two. Eventually, you'll notice the Nomad Moon nearby, and the NAGGAROK hiding behind it. Tactical will tell you that the emitters (one below, one above) are the source of the repulse field. You can research the same thing for your Dreadnoughts soon after you see it, but it's not that important. DO NOT FIRE THE SEIGE CANNON IN THE MOON'S DIRECTION WHILE THE EMITTERS ARE PRESENT. The shot will ricochet off the repulse field, and there's a chance it'll come right back into the Kuun Lan. Any friendly ship that moves toward the Moon will be pushed back by the field and damaged in the process. The task here is to send your ACVs around to the 6-7 proximity sensors that form a partial ring around the moon and destroy them. Then build Mimics. Lots of them. You're going to need about 20 Mimics for each emitter. Disguise them as Beast ships and have them kamikaze the emitters. The Republic fleet might decide to be a pain in the butt here and keep setting off the field while you're trying to get your Mimics in. Just pull back and wait for them to be distracted by other Beast ships, then send the Mimics in. Once the emitters are destroyed, the Nomad Moon is at your mercy. Do not engage it just yet, though. Chase down two Carriers that are in the area (one above the Moon, one below), and smash all other Beast Ships that you can find. Once that's done, send one Destroyer off towards the big group of crystals, and position it near the end of the wick-like string of crystals. Have your ACVs out and near the Kuun Lan. I suggest you save the game before continuing. Once you're ready, attack the Moon with cap ships. Once the Moon reaches half-damage, a fleet of Imperials will arrive a rather long way away. There'll be a distracting conversation for a moment, then Tactical will tell you about more hyperspace signals, most likely more Beast ships. They'll arrive right in the middle of the crystal fields. Light that wick with your Destroyer (Ctrl+shift+left-click on the last crystal), and watch as most of the fleet goes up in smoke. There's a good chance your Destroyer will also be destroyed in the process, but I think it's a fair trade. Once the Moon is gone, you can begin your attack on the NAGGAROK. Up until now it's been invulnerable to attack (the Nomad Moon was shielding it), but now it's moving around crazily at insane speeds. You'll have to do some research on it's drives, do so. Most of the time it'll hang way back, nearly off the map, but it will occasionally fly in and eat one of your cap ships. Get all your cap ships together in a group, and have your ACVs near this group. The Bentusi should arrive at about this point, and give you the design specs for their Super Acolyte, the terror of mission 15, now your deadliest asset. Make as many as you can spare (while still having at least 13 ACVs), and put them near your cap ships too. Now you have to wait. Any remains of the Beast fleet will head for your cap ships, destroy them if you have the time. The Taiidan will pull out of the entire battle, claiming the Beast had violated their agreement, and won't be a problem. Eventually, the NAGGAROK will make a move for one of your cap ships. Once it does, it'll sit still for a few moments to eat it. Hit it with an EM pulse from your ACVs, and have all ships target it. Odds are the first pulse will only stun it for a few moments. Hit it a second time when you can, and the stunning will last longer. The third will last longer still, on upwards. Ling pointed this out to me, that you have to keep hitting it with EM pulses to have any noticable effect. After the 5th pulse (depending on the number of ACVs involved), you can even hit it with the Seige Cannon. You don't need to though. With a big enough squadron of Super Acolytes (I used 20), and all your cap ships helping, you can steadily knock it's health down. Once it's health bar is red, the NAGGAROK won't be fast enough to limp away from your strike craft. If it does get away the first time, just re-group your ships and wait for it to make a second run. Kill it. Then sit back and enjoy the ending. =========== End Credits =========== "Kelvin Lee" - Missions 4, 6, and 7 tactics "andy french" - Mission 7 tactics "Jim Ulrich" - Mission 4 tactics "The Juggernaut" - Sentinel tactics "OmegA" - Mission 6 tactics "Ling Qi" - Mission 17 tactics - General tacti