HOMEWORLD HINTS AND STRATEGY GUIDE FOREWORD This FAQ cannot be reproduced in any way without my permission. If I do find it being used without my permission, I will prosecute the criminal to the fullest extent of the law. If you need my permission, please e-mail me. ------------------------------------------------------- VERSIONS V.1 – FAQ finished and created. V.2 – Updated ship section, some grammar and spelling mistakes corrected, stuff that makes the FAQ sound better, and reader contributions added. V.3 – Got rid of wrong ship info for Minelayer Corvette, updated Minelayer Corvette info, made subtle changes to FAQ layout, more contributions added, and made the FAQ sound better in a few areas. I’m going to add a small multiplayer tips section in the next update. V.4 – Multiplayer Tips section added, a Mothership info section (how could I forget????), and another contribution added (I need more people!) V.5 – Another Multiplayer Tips section contribution added. That’s it for now. V.6 – A reader contribution added to mission 2,3 and 4, some ship info updated. V.7 – Finally! Of course, by now, everybody probably has beaten Homeworld. But anyway, updates include some more multiplayer hints, and some Karos Graveyard strategies. ------------------------------------------------------- SHIPS Fighter Class: Defender-This ship is probably the best fighter in the game, not for it’s offensive ability, but for it’s defending ability. Not only does it have powerful guns and an accurate tracking system, it has a ton of armor that can take lots of hits from fighter and corvette guns and can also take about 7 or 8 missiles before being destroyed. It’s very slow (only 385m/s) and can’t keep up with other fighters, but it isn’t called a Defender for nothing. It also has a very long range of fire. These ships are quick to build and are easily replaceable as they only cost 65 Ru’s. It can also be used as a long-range support ship. Scout-Not as bad as you would think this ships is. It has a small gun sure, but it speed and maneuverability makes it a pretty good fighter. It can avoid missiles (longer then most ships anyway) and can avoid the fire of other of other fighters as well. They are also quick to build (not surprising) and cost very little, only 35 Ru’s. It has a special move, the Afterburner Boost. Hit the “z” button to activate it. You can’t really see the difference between normal moving and this, but there is a difference. Interceptor-The Interceptor is the upgrade of the Scout. This ship has less speed but has much greater firepower and armor. It can’t avoid fire as well as the Scout, but can stand up to more hits and can hit harder. Twenty or so of these fighters in a Sphere formation can seriously damage any ship (except a for a Missile Destroyer or if there are escorts around). Obviously, these build a bit slower then the Scout and cost more, 55 Ru’s. Attack Bomber-These are only good for taking down Capital ships and corvettes. These fighters have a lot of firepower, but are very vulnerable to all weapons of the game. Don’t expect them to last a long time in a fighter battle or if there’s a Missile Destroyer around. Launches orbs of superheated plasma. These ships, once destroyed, are hard to replace. They have a high cost of 85 Ru’s (this is high for a fighter) and are extremely slow to build. Cloaked Fighter (Kushan Only)-Not only does this ship have a powerful gun, it can cloak (hit “z” to turn on cloak)! Even with a Proximity Sensor around, missiles won’t track them while they are cloaked. These fighters can be the backbone of any fighter squadron. These ships are a pain to rebuild though; they have a cost of 85 Ru’s and build even slower then Attack Bomber. Defense Fighter (Taidann Only)-No weapons. But can destroy incoming fire (except Ion Beams, missiles, and mines). They useful only if you are under attack by a small group of fighters, or if you have a lot of them around. These ships have a high cost of 85 Ru’s, but they are quick to build. However, I wouldn’t consider building them at all. They are pretty much useless. Corvette Class: Light Corvette-The Scout of the corvettes. These have lots of speed and maneuverability (for a corvette) but low armor and firepower. These are quick to build and easy to replace because of their low cost (remember, I’m talking about corvettes now and comparing them to other corvettes, not fighters). Heavy Corvette-This is the better, upgraded version of the Light Corvette. Tons of armor and firepower, but low maneuverability. They can take down Capital ships in large squadrons. These ships are a bit of a pain to rebuild because of their high cost and slow build time, but they are good ship so this is a small price to pay. This ship also has a moderately useful special move. It is called the Burst Shot. To execute it, hit the “z” button then select the target(s). It is a super-powerful shot from both of the Corvettes guns. Thanks to beaves13 for this info. Multi-Gun Corvette-This is a better corvette for attacking other fighters and corvettes. Six independent guns that can track quickly and track up to six targets at once. Don’t count on it to last long if there are Capital ships in the area, though. This are a bit of a pain to rebuild, they build slowly but they have a sensible cost. Minelayer Corvette-A craft good only if you have the time to lay a wall of mines. If you are under attack, don’t expect these ships to do much damage. Only good against Capital ships and fighters slowed down by escorting Capital ships. They have a sensible cost, but build to slowly for practical use. Never build them in the single player mode. You can lay a wall of mines in an area by hitting the “z” button. The corvette will stop and begin laying mines. A good tactic for these ships (one of very few) is to send them just outside of a battle and within the mine’s range. Tell them to lay a wall. The mines will be deployed but will automatically track enemy ships. Salvage Corvette-A good decoy and can capture enemy ships! Enough Salvage Corvettes, and you can capture any ship you want. Here is a listing of how many corvettes you need for each ship: Any Fighter or Corvette-1 Corvette Any Capital ship-2 Corvettes Destroyer or Missile Destroyer-3 Corvettes Heavy Cruiser or Carrier-5 Corvettes These ships are definitely worth the price to pay. 6 Salvage Corvettes can capture over 5000 Ru’s worth of ships (as long as you protect them!), so you get something back from them. There are some ships you can’t capture though. These are the Turanic Carrier, the Kadesh Mothership, and the Taidann Mothership (obviously). And you can really only capture fighters and corvettes when they are in a Gravity Well. Repair Corvette-Really useless. These ships can re-fuel fighters, but only one at a time. Can heal ships, but not as fast as a Support Frigate. They may have a low cost and quick build time, but they shouldn’t be built, period. The only good thing they can be used for is to repair groups of corvettes. Capital Ship Class: Support Frigate-Only good at healing Capital ships and above. They also are good at refueling and repairing fighters and corvettes via its docking pads and repairing arms. It has a gun and a bit of armor, but it is so weak, it can’t even destroy fighters. This frigate is quick to build and has a low cost (like the corvettes, I am now comparing frigates to other frigates). Timely support from one or two of these can mean the difference between losing and winning. These can also be used to repair corvettes. Assault Frigate-Good at taking down corvette swarms (but only if you have a lot of them), and can sometimes hit fighters. These ships are no match for Ion Cannons though. The only reason you should have these in you fleet is if you have very few fighters or no Missile Destroyers. It has two Plasma Bomb Launchers and four medium sized projectile weapons. These Capital ships are in the middle of the Capital ship department. They aren’t slow to build, but they aren’t fast. They don’t have a low cost, but they don’t have a high cost. Drone Frigate (Kushan Only)-This ship can launch 24-armed drones. An individual drone can barely risk a Scout, but 24 of them can rip through fighter swarms. The frigate itself is also quite fast and maneuverable (despite what it says on the construction screen), and can go in fighter formations and break them apart while avoiding ramming fighters and hurting itself and the drones (which can be destroyed). If you ask me, this frigate costs a bit much. At 800 Ru’s, it is barely worth the money spent on building it. Defense Field Frigate (Taidann Only)-I really tried to like this ship, as it sounded like a good ship to have around. But the area of defense it covers is really small (if you hit Caps Lock, you can see for yourself). Only useful if you have a lot of them close together, but you shouldn’t even build one of them. This ship is the same for cost as the Drone Frigate, with one exception, don’t even thinking of building it! It is totally not worth it. Ion Cannon Frigate-The first real firepower you get in the game. Only one cannon, but that cannon can damage a Capital ship better then any other ship of a lower class in one shot. But don’t expect it to hit anything lower than a corvette. These ships are completely worth the time, effort, and resources put in. Build as many as you can. Resource Class: Resource Collector-This ship’s name says what it does. Enough said. What can I say about this ship but build some. In one load you will get back the resources spent on it. Resource Controller-This ship acts as a drop off point of resources from collectors. It can also re-fuel (but not repair) 6 fighters and 2 corvettes. This ship literally pays for it self. Super-Capital Class: Destroyer-Here is a ship that you wish you could have at the beginning of the game. Two Ion Cannons and 2 large projectile weapons. This should and will be the backbone of any Capital ship fleet because of its speed and firepower. This ship, like all the others in the Super-Capital class, is well worth the time, effort, and resources put into it. Missile Destroyer-Goes through fighters like a hot knife through butter. Its missiles are accurate and fast. The only things that can avoid the missiles are Scouts and they can’t run forever. The only down side that, after a few seconds of firing, it missiles come out at a crawl. It can damage a Capital ship, but only use the missile volley attack (hold Z then select the target), which leaves it open for a few seconds after using it while it replenishes its missile stock. If the enemy is harassing you with fighters, this is the best ship to build to kill them. Don’t build these if your enemy is only building Capital ships with few fighters. However, they can be used to take down Capital ships that are attacking it (but only one at a time). Order the Missile Destroyer to attack a ship pursuing it. The Missile Destroyer will fire missiles while retreating out of the ships range. The ship will just to continue pursuing it, but will never get in range. Heavy Cruiser-Ah, the Heavy Cruiser, and need I say more? Slow, but powerful as hell. It has 4 Ion Cannons that have a 180-degree swivel and 6 massive projectile weapons. It could take down 2 Destroyers and still have enough armor left for a couple of Assault Frigates. A little slow, so only use in a Wall formation or it will never get wherever you want it to go before the action is over. Like the speed it moves at, the Heavy Cruiser seems like it is barely being built at all. The cost is a bit high, I think, but is it worth it. Carrier-The Carrier is portable Mothership. Can build ships up to Capital Ship Class and can dock and repair ships too. It can dock 50 fighters and 25 corvettes. It also has a ton of armor, so it is a good decoy. Resource Collectors can drop off resources at the carrier too. Like the Heavy Cruiser, this ship barely seems like it is being built. However, unlike the Heavy Cruiser, it is not that useful in battle. Use the Carriers to carry fighters to the outskirts of a battle then unload them. These are also like a souped up version of a Resource Controller. Send these to a dense resource area with some escorts (some Capital ships, maybe a Destroyer, and some fighters too) and it will dry up the region real quick thanks to its two resource drop-off points. Non-Combat Class: Probe-Only good for getting a quick look at enemy fleets. Then it is usually destroyed in a blaze of Ion Cannons or fighter fire. The probe is a one-time use surveillance device. It is very quick to build and has the lowest cost of any ship. Proximity Sensors-These can find cloaked ships and can also be used as a scout as it doesn’t need fuel. Though they have little armor, they are second to speed only by the probe and tying to the Scout. The sensor is actually a better surveillance device then the probe. They are just as quick to build, can be reused, they don’t run out of fuel, and they have a low cost. Since only Scouts can catch them, they are in no real danger when retreating from an enemy base. Sensors Array-Can track enemy ships on the Sensors Manager. It can only verify where Motherships and Carriers are, but can tell you how many ships are moving around. This is not a good addition to any ship line up you have. This is only good in multiplayer games when the other player has sent Carriers all over the place as backup Motherships and you need to find them. They have too high of a cost, but are quick too build if you ever find a use for them. Research Ship-Can only research stuff. It has a bit of armor and you can build another ship to speed up research and add some armor to the total amount. In single player mode, you only need one. In multiplayer mode, consider building at least 4. They aren’t very expensive, considering their value, but aren’t that quick to build. Gravwell Generator-These can stop fighters and combat corvettes (Light, Heavy, Multi-Gun, and Minelayer only) dead in their tracks. While caught, fighters can’t move or fire. But your fighters can get caught in it to. Plus it can only be used until it’s power source runs out, then it is just a derelict so retire it for some resources. Not useful in Single Player mode as when you can research it, there is only one level that you really need it, that being Galactic Core. In multiplayer, this can be useful if your opponent is harassing you with fighters. But they are too expensive for practical use in single player. Save your resources for something else. Cloak Generator-It can cloak all ships (except the Mothership and Carriers) within a substantial radius. It can be reused, but it has to slowly recharge. Not extremely useful in single player, I never found a use for it anyway. Like the Gravwell, it is only kind of useful in multiplayer. Save your resources and don’t build it. Mothership Class: Mothership-The single largest ship I have ever seen. It can build every ship in the arsenal, it has extensive docking space (can load well over 150 fighters and corvettes), and converts captured enemy ships to your side. All this didn’t leave much room for weaponry though. It has four tiny guns. Although quite accurate, this does not make up for their pitiful firepower. They can hit any fighter in the game and do significant damage to it, but don’t expect them to do a lot of damage to anything in the Capital ship class and higher because of their heavier armor. ------------------------------------------------------- RESEARCH Fighter Tech: Fighter Drive-Researching this allows you to build nothing, but then you can research Fighter Chassis and Defender Sub-Systems. Fighter Chassis-Once researched, you can build the Interceptor, your first good Strike Craft, and allows you to research Plasma Bomb Launcher, Cloaked Fighter, and/or, Defense Fighter. Defender Sub-Systems-You can now build the Defender. Use it for only defending. Plasma Bomb Launcher-Now you can build Attack Bombers Cloaked Fighter (Kushan Only)-Researching this allows you to build the small and stealthy Cloaked Fighter. Defense Fighter (Taidann Only)-Once researched, you can build the Defense Fighter. Corvette Tech: Corvette Drive-Now you can build the first corvette, the Light Corvette (multiplayer) or the Repair Corvette (Single Player). This also allows you to research Corvette Chassis. Corvette Chassis-Different for multiplayer and single player. In Single Player, you can build the Light Corvette. In Multiplayer, you can build the Salvage Corvette. Heavy Corvette Upgrade-You can build the upgrade of the Light Corvette, the Heavy Corvette, once this is researched. Fast Tracking Turrets-You can build those fighter killers now, the Multi-Gun Corvette. Minelayer Tech-You can build Minelayer Corvettes. Capital Ship Tech: Capital Ship Drive-Allows you to build the Support Frigate and the Resource Controller. Capital Ship Chassis-Allows you to build you first warship, the Assault Frigate. Ion Cannons-Now we are hitting the big time. This is your first major warship, the Ion Cannon Frigate. Super-Capital Ship Drive-Now you can build the heavy hitting, fast moving, all around good ship, the Destroyer. Guided Missiles-Now you can build the bigger, better fighter killer, the Missile Destroyer. Super-Capital Ship Chassis-Now the portable Mothership, the Carrier, is free to build. Heavy Guns-Now the mighty warship, the Heavy Cruiser, can be built and deployed to wipe out any Capital Ship your opponent can throw at it, except another Heavy Cruiser with more health left of course. Non-Combat Tech: Proximity Sensor-Having trouble finding cloaked ships? Not any more with the Proximity Sensor around. Sensors Array-Now you can verify where your enemy’s Mothership, Carriers, and other ships are located. Gravity Well-After researching, you can stop fighters dead in their tracks, for a while anyway. Cloak Generator-Now, after researching, you can cloak all your ships, except the Mothership and Carriers. ------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL HINTS The most important hint in the game is probably collect all resources after a mission. The only exception to this is if there is a chance your collectors will be destroyed. The CPU will always follow a target once it spots it. Use this to your advantage to capture or destroy it. The Mothership can heal itself pretty fast, so don’t be afraid to use her a decoy if there aren’t that many enemy heavy hitters around. There is no salvage limit in the game, so keep on salvaging whenever an opportunity arises. Use Evasive tactics when moving Capital ships and Aggressive when attacking. If you spot a ship you can’t build yet, capture it. Not only does this give you an advantage, sometimes you can build your own version of the ship you just captured. If you aren’t near the Mothership, the CPU will probably go for the biggest ship it sees. Though it usually goes for the first ship it sees. In any case, make sure a Carrier or another big expendable ship is there first or is the biggest ship you have and the CPU will go for it. The Carrier can survive a long time under enemy fire and will allow you to get some cheap hits on the enemy. This is a bit cheap, but if you lose too many ships in a mission, go into the pause menu and go to load mission. Select the mission you are on and restart it. Hopefully, your last save on the mission was not just before you needed to restart it. Use the quick docking option to get your ships out of the mission quickly. They will automatically return to the Mothership without a simulation of what happens between then and there. Kevin W. Shepardson adds: 1. If you're planning on doing any salvaging, kill off all of the Assault Frigates in the area. They will abandon combat with other units to attack Salvage Corvettes. 2. If you have Salvage Corvettes latched onto an enemy Capship or Super-Capship, but they are under fire and will not be able to get back To the Mothership in time, Scuttle or Kamikaze them. Their close proximity to the enemy ship, combined with the fact that some are latched on to lower-armor areas, will cause major damage to the enemy ship. ------------------------------------------------------- SHIP HINTS Fighters are good all around craft. A big enough group of any fighter type can take out anything (except Missile Destroyers). Light corvettes are only good against a solitary Capital ship or small swarms of fighters. Heavy Corvettes are good against a small group (2-3) of Capital ships and larger swarms of fighters. Multi-Gun Corvettes are only good against fighter swarms and horrible against Capital ships because of their low firepower and armor. Minelayers are only good if you have enough time to lay a wall of mines. In a battle, they are pretty useless as they have low maneuverability and speed. Any weapon in the game can hit them. Assault Frigates are only good against an attack of other Assault Frigates and corvettes swarms. Ion Frigates are the best ship for taking out other small Capital ships. Drone Frigates can rip through fighter and corvettes swarms. They can also destroy mines. Missile Destroyers are only good against fighters as their missiles do little damage to Capital ship armor. Although the missile volley attack can do some damage to Capital ships, but is only good if you have a full load of 32 missiles. In multiplayer games, the Carrier will serve as a housing for Fleet Command if the Mothership is destroyed. Destroyers are the best Capital ship because of their speed and firepower. ------------------------------------------------------- FORMATIONS Delta-This is a formation that is good only for moving small batches of ships. Never use this formation in a battle. Your fighters can’t maneuver well and there fire will be spread out. Broad-This is another formation never to be used in battle. It is good to move small batches of fighters, but the disadvantages are the same as the Delta formation. X-This is a good formation. It allows the fire from the fighters to be concentrated so it does more damage. It doesn’t allow for much mobility, but this doesn’t posse a major problem. Claw-This is the best formation in the game. It allows for some mobility and its firepower concentration is second only to the Sphere formation. Wall-This formation is only useful for Capital ships because it allows all the ships to move at the same speed and it concentrates their fire. Don’t use it for fighters. Sphere-This is the best formation to choose when escorting a ship or when you want to do some damage real fast. The fighters circle the target and fire on it from all directions. Custom-This is self-explanatory. You put the fighters in a formation and then hit this. They will stay like this until you assign them another formation. Military Parade-This is the formation that your ships appear in when going into or out of hyperspace. To put them into this formation, select the ships and the Mothership and hit Tab. ------------------------------------------------------- TACTICS Evasive-Your ships will sacrifice firepower for speed. This results in a higher speed and slightly more fuel usage, along with slightly decreased firepower. Normal-Your ships systems are balanced between engines and weapons. Aggressive-Your ships transfer power to their weapons away from their engines. They will do more damage, but will have less speed. Kamikaze-I put this under tactics because it is a good ------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTERS Fleet Command-This is the person that oversees all the operations of the Mothership. She I is also known as Karen Sjet. She had herself integrated into the core of the Mothership to serve as its brain. Fleet Intelligence-This is the system that handles anything that requires a tactical solution by analyzing probe and sensor data. ------------------------------------------------------- THE STRATEGY GUIDE (SPOILER WARNING!) Note: You will notice I never tell you when to refuel or repair your ships. You will have to make this decision. Also, the formations you choose are by you alone. Mission 1:Kharak System This is only a test. Follow the instructions and you will do fine. However, complete all research before making the hyperspace jump to the outskirts of the Kharak system. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 2:Outskirts of the Kharak System You will arrive in the outskirts. But the Khar-Selim isn’t there. Start researching Corvette Chassis and after that, Heavy Corvette Upgrade, but do not send a probe to the Khar-Selim. You will trigger something you are not prepared for. Start harvesting. Don’t bother building another collector just yet. Harvest everything but the three dust clouds near the Khar-Selim’s beacon. Then build Interceptors so you have at least 12 (16 is preferred) and build at least 2 Heavy Corvettes (4 is preferred). Assign them a single group number. Then, let your collector head out to harvest the three clouds near the Khar-Selim. Once the collector reaches the Khar-Selim, things will happen real fast. A swarm of fighters, corvettes, and a missile corvette attack the Mothership. Concentrate your fire on the fighters, then the corvettes. This squadron is easily handled and should only inflict minor, if any, damage. Now, re-fuel and/or repair your fighters and corvettes and tell them to guard the Salvage Corvette in the Sphere formation. Now tell the Salvage Corvette to head toward the now destroyed Khar-Selim. When it gets there, let it go up to the main compartment and start downloading. About halfway through this operation, more fighters and corvettes will attack. You Strike Craft will be stationed just off the Khar-Selim. They will fire upon the descending fighters and destroy them. When the corvette is finished, it will head back toward the Mothership. Your Strike Craft will follow it all the way back, firing on any ships that get to close. When the Salvage Corvette is safely docked, it replays the last mission recording from the Khar-Selim. When that is done, more craft will attack the Mothership. This part will take a while to finish and you may lose some ships. But, as Fleet Intelligence will soon point out, your forces are superior. Soon, Intelligence also points out that there is a large power signature nearby. You may have already discovered it, but there is a powerful enemy Carrier reinforcing their Strike Craft. DO NOT attack the Carrier. It is much more powerful then normal Carrier. Not only does it have two Ion Cannons, it has a rapid-fire deck gun that can kill your fighters in short order. Just continue killing the enemy fighters and corvettes until the Carrier begins to retreat them. Now, once the Carrier is gone, start building a bit. Make sure you have at least 12 Interceptors and 2 Heavy Corvettes and then build Salvage Corvettes for a total of 6, then Hyperspace back to Kharak. endrick adds: An elegant solution to the mission is really quite simple. In the previous mission you are left with enough resources to build a total of 13 fighters. With these alone you can wipe out the entire force on mission 2. Before jumping place all the fighters into 1 group and a single Interceptor into another. Upon entering the level place the 12 fighters in a sphere formation around the 13th and set tactics to Aggressive. Then using the single fighter as a driver, you now have a perfect battle-ball (tm Calaban). Send your battle-ball slightly to the left of the Mothership and leave it there. Instead of sending a probe, send your Salvage Corvette to the sensor ping to trigger the attack. As soon as the cinema is over, take control and focus on your single "driver" interceptor and move it near the attacking ships. The objective here is to keep the driver moving at all times away from the attacking forces, the 12 ships surrounding it however will turn (while still moving away from the attackers) to concentrate fire on incoming enemies. You don't even have to give attack orders to the ships; all is accomplished by moving the driving fighter in proximity to the enemy fighters. When the first wave is destroyed, your Salvage Corvette is sitting right where it needs to be, in the process of downloading the data, tell your driver to defend the Salvage Corvette. It will get there just in time to kill everything sent at it. When the salvage Corvette gets closer to the Mothership, have your driver ship break off and engage the enemy in the same manner as you had before. Using this trick I can almost always clear the level without losing a single ship, or needing to build new ones. This frees up all the resources on the level to be used to build 7 more Salvage Corvettes. For... ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 3:Return to Kharak Once you hyperspace in, you will notice that the Scaffold is destroyed along with Kharak. Then suddenly a group of 4 Assault Frigates open fire on your defenseless Cryogenic Trays. To get to the tray before the frigates open fire, continually select your fighter group with the group number you assigned them in the previous mission until all of them are selected. Then, send them in Evasive tactics straight for the trays. You should be able to get there before the Assault Frigates fire a shot. Then get your Salvage Corvettes over there, also in Evasive tactics. Once they get there, have two corvettes go to capture one frigate each. Go for the three that still are together, as one usually breaks off from the group and goes above the trays. Once you capture a frigate though, the other frigates will attempt to get them off there friends back. But if you go for the ones that are still together, this shouldn’t be a big problem. Also, as you capture a frigate, make sure the fighters no longer fire on that one. Once the first frigate is captured, send the two corvettes back to get the last one. When the first frigate enters the Mothership, you will get to the tragic (but cool) destruction of Kharak. Then, once the corvettes let go of a frigate, send them to collect the trays. Don’t worry if one got destroyed, it won’t matter in the game. When all those tasks are done, start harvesting and researching Capital Ship Chassis. You “reverse-engineered” Capital Ship Drive when you captured the first frigate. This means you got it automatically. There aren’t that many resources here, but it will be enough to get started for the next mission. Build a Resource Controller and then, when everything is harvested, researched, or salvaged, jump to the next area. endrick adds: As soon as you jump into this mission, alt-focus on one of the Cryo Trays to get a good point to attack from. Select all your fighters and tell them to attack all of the Assault Frigates in Evasive. Then send in all of your Salvage Corvettes to bring them home. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 4:The Great Wastelands #1 After you jump in, Fleet Intelligence will tell you to move your Resource Controller as close to the asteroid field as possible. Instead, tell you controller to “guard” your collector. This will make the controller follow the collector around. But, before you start collecting, you have to build some ships. Build Interceptors so you have at least sixteen and build Heavy Corvettes until you have at least ten. Then build Salvage Corvettes until you have nine, you are going to do some major stealing in this mission. Tell these to guard your controller. Order your collector to start harvesting. Once it drops off the first load of resources, a unknown ship will make an approach to your Mothership. They will announce that they are the Bentusi, a trading civilization. Once your ambassador returns from his trip, you are brought to the Bentusi Exchange screen. They are going to sell you Ion Cannon technology. Make this trade, but not yet. You can wait for your collector to bring in more resources before the trade as long as you stay in the exchange screen. You will need to do this, as you will need to build some Ion Cannon Frigates right after the trade. Wait until you have about 1900 resources. Make the trade then. The Bentusi will then warn you about the approaching Turanic Raiders, who are the Taidann’s servants. They say they will return with more trades, but in a weird way. A bit after they leave, the same fighter and corvettes from the Khar-Selim will descend on your collector and controller. Leave the Assault Frigates you captured at home, you will need them guarding the Mothership. If you have the required amount of Interceptors and Heavy Corvettes, you should be able to fend them off with minimal losses (minimal, not none). Once the Carrier has run out of fighter and corvettes to launch, six deadly Ion Array Frigates hyperspace near your Mothership and open fire on it. Don’t send your fighters back to defend the Mothership you won’t need to. But this is where the Salvage Corvettes come in. Send a group of three toward the two on the sides and one on the group on the back. It only takes two to capture a frigate, but one corvette will usually be destroyed. But if one doesn’t get destroyed, send the corvette that is standing around to another frigate. Have your frigates go after the group in the back of the Mothership in Evasive tactics so they won’t hurt them as much. This fire is to just push the frigates back. If you notice one of the enemy frigates smoking, do not attack it, you want to capture every one of these frigates, you will need them. Continue capturing until all of the frigates are on your side. After this, another Carrier will go for your Mothership. It has an escort of two Ion Array Frigates, so capture them and concentrate all fire on the Carrier. You also don’t want to have your Strike Craft defend the Mothership from the Carrier either. Remember, the Turanic Carriers have excellent defense against Strike Craft. When it starts to smoke, it begins to retreat, don’t let it! If it escapes, you lose the mission. Once the Carrier is gone, finish harvesting the area if it hasn’t been harvested out yet, then hyperspace. A small note on Ion Array Frigates, unlike your Capital ships, they cannot repair themselves over time. You will have to repair them with Support Frigates or Repair Corvettes. endrick adds: Mission 4: Send all your salvage teams above the Mothership when you get to the level, when Ion Frigates start arriving, they will be in a perfect position to capture. If there are too many to capture easily, send 1 Salvage Corvettes to each of them to somewhat disable their ability to fight back. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 5:The Great Wastelands #2 You start the mission in an “empty” region of space where the fleet that destroyed Kharak is hiding. There are plentiful resources in this mission and you will be competing for them in the end of the mission, so build another collector if you can. First, do not follow Fleet Intelligences instructions to send a probe to investigate the thicker portions of the resource deposits. But during my travels, I discovered that if any ship crosses a line 49 kilometers from the Mothership, you would trigger the Taidann assault. So build two probes and send them along each dust cloud vein exactly 49 kilometers. This will act a mark to warn your ships if they get to close. Now, order the controller to guard your one or two collectors and tell them to start harvesting. Make sure they only harvest one dust cloud line (you can order them yourself which cloud to harvest). When they reach the probe marking the 49 kilometer spot, stop them and have them harvest the next line of dust clouds until they reach the other probe. Now send them back to the Mothership. For this mission, you will need at least 10 Ion Frigates or Ion Array Frigates, with plenty of Interceptors and Heavy Corvettes as escorts. The Taidann fleet here has a lot of Strike Craft, including a new type of one. I like building 40 Interceptors and 20 Heavy Corvettes (this may sound like a lot of resources to spend, but you will need all of those fighters). When you have your fleet ready, assign the fighters a group number and the Capital ships another number. Now put the Capital ships in a Wall formation and send them straight down the center of the two dust cloud lines escorted by ALL your fighters and corvettes (except Salvage Corvettes). Make sure you are parallel to the upper line though. When you cross that 49-kilometer line, Fleet Intelligence will tell you that, “Ship profiles and marking match those from the recording at Kharak. There is no doubt that this is the fleet. Destroy them.” Your small fleet is now approached three slightly damaged Assault Frigates and Strike Craft. Break off your fighters to get the enemy fighters, and leave your frigates moving forward. But keep an eye on your fighters to see if they should retreat or not. Now concentrate fire of your frigates on each of the enemy Assault Frigates. After that start, three more slightly damaged Assault Frigates approach you. After destroying these, two Taidann Destroyers come after you. These ships are very powerful, so if you aren’t careful, you could die right here. If your fighters are done with the enemy’s, have them attack one of the Destroyers and have your frigates destroy one of them. There will be more fighters approaching. If you engage them, Fleet Intelligence will tell you that they are a new type of fighter, the Defender. You can research the tech later, just leave it for now, but destroy the fighters. Now, you will see the Taidann Carrier. But there will also be three Ion Cannon Frigates moving up from below you. Destroy the Ion Frigates then the Carrier. Remember to concentrate your fire. When the Carrier is destroyed, all other remaining Capital ships on the Taidann side head for your Mothership. This should be only a Destroyer and a Support Frigate. Use your Salvage Corvettes and send an extra corvette to each (see above for corvette capture listing). You should be able to capture both and add some significant firepower and some healing ability to your fleet. If you have any other Salvage Corvettes, send them out to capture the Taidann collectors. If you don’t capture or destroy them, they will kamikaze into the Mothership! Now, send out your collectors and controller to harvest this area dry. Also research everything you haven’t yet. Now build a single group of 15-25 Attack Bombers for the next mission and assign a single group to every ship you have except fighters, collectors, and the Support Frigate you just captured. When the area is harvested, make the hyperspace jump. Grinzz TeamRocket says: In mission 5, it is possible for you to capture the Carrier. (You can't capture the first two you see because that is the Turanic Raider one, and considered their Mothership.) During all the mayhem, send out your collectors to start collecting again, and build some extra Salvage Corvettes, at least up to 10. Then, when you get to the Destroyers and Carrier, blow up everything except the Carrier, Support Frigate, and a Destroyer, and then send your troops back home. (Even if the Support Frigate is firing on you.... it doesn’t do that much damage) Then, send your salvage teams way around the left of the attacking forces and behind them, and try to grab at least the Carrier and Destroyer while they get harrased by your strike craft on evasive tactics. If you have extra corvettes, nab the frigate. A free Carrier! ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 6:Diamond Shoals This is the simplest mission in the game. But simple doesn’t always mean easy. In this mission you have to destroy asteroids before they impact with the Mothership. You do this by “Force Attacking” them (holding down Ctrl+Shift and selecting a target). To get your easily hit ships out of the field, use the group number you assigned them in the last mission and send 50 kilometers out to the right of the Mothership and down as far as you can get them. Now, use you Attack Bombers and Interceptors to destroy the asteroids and send out your collectors to harvest. There seems like a lot of resources in this mission, but there isn’t. Most of the asteroids are not harvestable. Oh yeah, you can put the Support Frigate you captured behind the Mothership to heal it if it gets hurt. There are a total of three waves of asteroids. You must quickly force attack asteroid after asteroid or your fighters will sit around and get hit by asteroids. During all this, you can now research Super-Capital Ship Drive. This allows you to build Destroyers. Remember to only destroy asteroids heading for the Mothership, as most will miss it. When you clear the field, the Bentusi will show with a new trade, Drone Technology for 500 resource units. Buy it right away. When Fleet Command asks about advice for getting through the nebula, the Bentusi say, “We hear nothing there. Even the Taidann fear the Great Nebula. No one returns.” Now its time to build some ships. Build at least 40 Defenders and at least 20 Heavy Corvettes, although you can do this in the beginning of next mission. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 7:The Gardens of Kadesh When you enter this area, intelligence will point out that energy and resource levels are so high, that sensors are being scrambled. They say they will adjust the sensors, but the sensors never improve. Start harvesting, but keep all your collectors and controllers selected along with the Mothership. This is so you can quickly put your resource team back in the Military Parade formation. Also assign a single group number to every ship with a powerful gun. This means assign a number to every ship except resource ships, Support Frigates, and Repair Corvettes. Also retire any Attack Bombers for Ru’s. They will be useless in this mission. After a few minutes of harvesting, intelligence will say that an object is approaching the Mothership. When you see the two black areas appear at the top and bottom of the screen, hit Tab to put your resourcers in the Military Parade formation. You send your ambassador and he talks with another ship. This ship’s pilot says that if you want to join the garden’s forces, you will live. But also says that if you have come to “consume” the garden, you will be destroyed. The ambassador then says if you will be given time to charge your engines, you will leave peacefully. However, this guy says no one leaves the garden. He then heads back to his Mothership, which launches tons of fighters at you. Good thing you assigned a group number, quickly select those ships and have them attack every ship at once. But, soon after they begin to attack, the ships begin to fall back. No, they aren’t retreating they are re-fueling. Use this time to get in some cheap hits, as they are vulnerable when re-fueling, and destroy their Fuel Pods. You have to continue to ward off attack after attack of these fighters. And do not attack the enemy Mothership. It will simply disappear into hyperspace, and then reappear. Just wait until command announces that the hyper drive is ready and then fire it up and use quick docking. What?! The jump failed due to some kind of inhibitor field. Guess what, it is the Kadesh Mothership. It then sends even more fighters at you. Now, you go over and attack. Bring every ship in the group to attack it. After a short time, it jumps out of there for good. You now have all the time in the world to research Fast Tracking Turrets and harvest this resource rich area dry. When everything is done, restock your fighter squadron. Build Defenders so you have at least 40 and retire all your Heavy Corvettes to make room for at least 24 Multi-Gun Corvettes and get resources. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 8:The Cathedral of Kadesh When you exit hyperspace, you will notice you are still inside the nebula. Not only that, you are surrounded by three Kadesh Motherships, all of them hyperspace inhibitors. In the beginning of the mission, the same ship approaches you and offers you one more chance to join the garden’s forces. But, of course, you decline. You are then attacked from all sides by the same forces as last mission. Just follow the same tactics as last mission. Hit everything at once with everything you got. But the Kadesh throw in another ship to the fray. The Multi-Beam Frigate. These babies pack 4 Ion Cannons in to one spinning ball of death. The good news, you can capture them with only two Salvage Corvettes. Although you won’t be able to capture them all at once, you can minimize any damage by using the Support Frigate you captured way back in mission 5. Remember to not attack the Multi-Beam Frigates. They are an irreplaceable part of the game and are death to Capital and Super-Capital ships alike (although their accuracy is not something to be admired). Continue to hit their fighters and capture Multi-Beam Frigates. After what seems like an eternity, fighters stop attacking and frigates stop spinning. When this happens, take every thing you got and head toward one of the Kadesh Motherships behind your Mothership. When you attack them, they slowly start to turn toward your Mothership to attack it. These Motherships don’t have as much armor as yours does, but it can still take a lot of damage. Once the first one is turned to space dust, head for the other one. Once both of them are destroyed, the rest of any Kadesh forces begin to retreat to a point on the map. Do not, I repeat, do not head their now. By now, your fighters are probably yelling at you for refueling and repairing. You have all the time in the world now, so repair and refuel every single one of your ships using the Mothership and Support Frigate. Make sure no fighters and corvettes dock with the controller, as it can’t repair ships. Now, before heading out, build Salvage Corvettes until you have at least fourteen. You will need these for the seven Multi-Beam Frigates waiting for your capture on the trek to the last Kadesh Mothership. When you are organized, put all your Capital ships into a Wall formation and then guarded by all remaining fighters and corvettes. Start moving toward the final Mothership with all your Capital ships with fighters and Salvage Corvettes in escort. Your first obstacle is the smallest bunch of fighters that are quickly removed from your way. Then comes the seven Multi-Beam Frigates. Just send in your Salvage Corvettes, as these frigates won’t fire on you until you fire on them. Capture all of them and continue on. You don’t have to wait for them to be captured, but it would be a good idea, as you will need to destroy this Mothership quickly. When you reach the point where the Kadesh Mothership is, intelligence will point out that the wreckage around it matches perfectly with the ship found on Kharak. It seems that you share a common root with these people; too bad you have to kill them. When you attack the final Mothership, send in your corvettes and Defenders first. This will draw attention away from your Capital ships, which it tries to ram. The round head of the Kadesh Mothreship can obliterate any ship, even a Destroyer, in one shot, so sending in the Strike Craft first will make it try to ram them. When the Mothership is distracted, send in your Capital ships on Evasive tactics. When they open fire on the Mothership, it will turn to ram your big ships. But if you have plenty of stolen and built Ion firepower, it shouldn’t get one. When you destroy it, you have all the time in the world to harvest this region’s rich resource deposits. It takes a while, but is well worth the wait. When I finished this mission, I had over 10000 resource units. That may not sound like a lot, but in the single player mode, it is. You may have noticed some Fuel Pods on the way to the Mothership, capture these while harvesting. You can’t refuel at these, but they can be retired for 1000 Ru’s each. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 9:The Sea of Lost Souls This is the most boring mission I played. When you first jump in, Fleet Command says there is an anomaly in the area. Send a probe to investigate. You may have to send two, as the first might not pick up what waits in the anomaly. When the probe does pick up, intelligence will state that the ships “escorting” the alien ship are active. They recommend you destroy the alien ship. But, you can’t do it with Capital ships; they will be taken over by the control field surrounding the alien ship. The only ships that aren’t affected are Strike Craft. So, start building Attack Bombers, at least 30 or so. Also build about 15 Scouts to distract the ultimate fighter killer taken over by the alien ship, a Missile Destroyer. The Scouts are able to dodge its missiles long enough for your Attack Bombers to do some significant damage. But, even though this rarely happens, the Scouts actually survive long enough to some significant damage to the Missile Destroyer. If this ever happen, pull the Scouts out of there. Send them toward the alien ship until you can see it. Now put the Scouts on Evasive tactics and send them toward the ghost ship along with any other fighters you have (Interceptors, Defenders, Attack Bombers). The Missile Destroyer and the alien’s ship’s escorts will turn to attack the Scouts, but most fire will miss them. Now, send in your Attack Bombers, Defenders, and Interceptors to attack the ghost ship. They should be on Normal tactics. The Scouts will distract the Missile Destroyer but the other ships will start targeting the other fighters. You can put the Interceptors and Attack Bombers in a formation, but this will hamper their mobility, so it isn’t advised. Have them attack the alien ship and only the alien ship. You get the ships protecting the alien ship once the control field is down, including the Missile Destroyer. After a bit, intelligence will point out that your weapons are having a minimal effect on the ship but each strike causes a tiny flux in the control field. This is practically a halfway point. Hopefully, at least some Scouts are still distracting the Missile Destroyer. When the control field is finally down, you get all the ships in the control field. You can also build your own Missile Destroyers once you capture the enemy one. Now you have to send a Salvage Corvette to examine the alien craft. Send it now. When it returns, the Bentusi show up again. They offer you Super-Capital Chassis in exchange for the information of the alien ship. That’s easy taking! You will not have to spend resources buying this tech and the alien ship also allows you to research Gravity Well tech. The Bentusi also promise to bring your case before the Galactic Council. Their final words, “Reach your homeworld. Establish your claim. We will summon the council.” They also say even the Taidann answer to the council. Now, start harvesting. There may not seen like a lot of resources here, but there are. It takes a long time, but it is definitely worth it. If you can (you should be able to) build an even number of Destroyers and Missile Destroyers (3 in each ship group) to add to what should already be a powerful fleet made up of mostly captured ships. If you want to have some fun, you can go attack the alien ship. Don’t worry about being caught in the control field as it is disabled. You can’t destroy the ship either, but it is so cool watching the Ion Cannons blaze and the missiles explode and the cannons fire. A spectacular display of firepower. Jump to the next mission when harvesting and research is complete. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 10:Super Nova Research Station When you jump in, you will notice the supernova in the background flaring very brightly. First send your collectors and controller(s) to the group of asteroids on the right of the Mothership. When they leave the dust surrounding the Mothership, they begin to get hurt because of the radiation. Don’t worry; they won’t get destroyed on the way to the asteroids. But your expensive Capital ships can also be hurt and the beating they are going to take in this level will just add to it. Don’t bother telling them to harvest you can do that later. First, array a combination of Ion Cannon Frigates, Destroyers, Missile Destroyers, and Multi-Beam Frigates in a single wall formation. Second, research Proximity Sensor tech. Also wait for intelligence to tell you can research Minelayer Tech. I’ve seen in other strategy guides that you should take the mostly unguarded routes to the station, but it was way to hard to stay in the dust. It is easier to stay in the dust in the heavily guarded route because the red dots on the Sensor Manager act as beacons to tell you where to go next. When you arranged your ships, send them to the first red dot in the dust paths. You will encounter some Interceptors and Heavy Corvettes. These are easily handled by your Missile Destroyers. The next red dot turns out to a wall of mines with a Minelayer Corvette. “Force Attack” the mines to get them out of the way then attack the minelayer. Proceed to find several more minefields and another minelayer. After this, you will face a challenge. Not a big one, but the ships that face you will pose a significant threat. The next opposition along the dust field is two Destroyers and a Heavy Cruiser. Before attacking, bring in the Support Frigate you captured way back in Mission 5 to heal any ships that are damaged. Now move you wall forward slowly, until the Destroyers start to come after you. If you timed it right, only the Destroyers will approach you and not the heavy Cruiser. This makes things much easier. Remember to concentrate fire on one ship and only fire when they are in range. When the two Destroyers are gone, heal your ships again and head toward the Heavy Cruiser. If the Heavy Cruiser approaches along with the Destroyers, try to hit a Destroyer as hard as you can, destroying it if possible. Then fire on the Heavy Cruiser until it is destroyed, then hit the remaining Destroyer. Now it’s a steady “downhill” trek to the research station through the radiation. Remember to heal any ships damaged before going down. Now head straight toward the station. As you near the station, you will see two Assault Frigates. Ignore them for now and go straight past them. Once you see a Carrier, fire on it with all you got. Intelligence will warn you that if it escapes it will alert the Taidann fleet to you and then you lose the mission! When it is gone, destroy the entire fleet surrounding the station. They are all Ion Frigates and Assault Frigates. Also watch out for two groups of five Assault Frigates returning to protect the station. Save the fighters for last. When every single enemy ship is gone, fire on the research station. When it is destroyed, move your ships so they are no longer being hurt by radiation and just leave them there for now. Now start harvesting the two large clumps of asteroids to the left and right of the Mothership. While harvesting, build three small groups of Scouts (5 in each) and name them Group 1, 2 and 3. They will be needed once the next mission starts. Also build Salvage Corvettes until you have 14 -18. The next mission holds a good prize, but takes a lot of Salvage Corvettes. Make the jump when everything is completed. Grinnz TeamRocket says: In mission 10, Super Nova Research Station, the radiation prevents you from harvesting all the resources without your collector(s) blowing up. Well, here is a strategy to get around it, if you captured a Carrier or have enough spare RUs for one. After blowing up EVERYTHING, meaning there is not one single red dot left on the map, then build a single Repair corvette. Trust me, a Support Frigate won't work. Then, go to the Launch Manager and click "Remain Docked", and tell the corvette to dock with the Carrier. Then, tell the Carrier to guard a single harvester (if you have two and they go separate ways, you end up with a slight problem). Then start harvesting. Here's how it works: The Carrier can take care of itself, but just in case, when you get to a safe place, stop the harvester and launch the Repair Corvette to make repairs. Then dock it again, and tell the harvester to dock as well, since the Carrier will repair it. Then harvest some more. There will come some times when your harvester will cross long distances; if it does this, monitor it's health closely. If it turns yellow, immediately dock it for repairs, and then continue toward the resources. This may take a while, but it saves you the RUs of having to build more collectors, especially if you already captured that Carrier. DIEGOPICHARDO Says: I agree with following the heavily guarded route, I sent a couple of Repair Corvettes along plus some Salvage Corvettes. Instead of destroying the Heavy Cruiser, I captured it and waited for the Salvage Corvettes to return to the halfway point along the trail. I left them here knowing that the carrier would come by unescorted when I began my attack on the station. You guessed it. I also captured it. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 11: Tenhauser Gate This is a simple shoot em’ up. Taidann forces are attacking the Bentusi with three Destroyers, a Heavy Cruiser, four Ion Cannon Frigates, and an Assault Frigate. Take your small Scout groups and have each group of five Scouts to attack the Heavy Cruiser, one of the Destroyers, and one of the Ion Cannon Frigates. If you attack one of them, the whole group will fire on you. Don’t worry about the Assault Frigate; it will protect the rest of its ships. Now array your Capital ships. Have them destroy any of the ships that are still close to the Bentusi ships except for the Heavy Cruiser. If any were drawn away, leave them alone for now. Now send your Salvage Corvettes after the Heavy Cruiser. The Cruiser will instantly turn to fire on the approaching corvettes. Hopefully, it will fire on the ones that are waiting in a line so the ones actually going to capture the Cruiser won’t have those Ion Cannons to worry about. When you capture the Heavy Cruiser, check to see if any Destroyers or Ion Cannon Frigates have been drawn away from the Bentusi ship and capture them too. When all ships are destroyed or captured the Bentusi will reveal how you were exiled from your homeworld. When that is over, enter the Launch Manager and click the Remain Docked button. You’ll see why in the next mission. Then build up your Salvage Corvettes again so you have 14-18 again. Jump to the next mission after that. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 12: Galactic Core This mission starts out fast. When you get out of hyperspace you will probably notice that three Gravity Well Generators with three Support Frigates each surround you. If you didn’t click Remain Docked button in the Launch Manager, the Missile Destroyer and Assault Frigates approaching your Mothership will destroy some or most of your Strike Craft. But your Capital ships should make short work of these first ships. Strangely though, Salvage Corvettes don’t count as Strike Craft. In other words, FREE SUPPORT FRIGATES! Manually launch you Salvage Corvettes and put your fleet on Evasive tactics so they don’t destroy the Support Frigates or Grav Well Generators (if you destroy the Grav Wells, the Support Frigates retreat). You should have about 14 Salvage Corvettes so you should be able to capture all but two Support Frigates at once. Once you capture all the Support Frigates you can, destroy the Grav Wells. Now build a few Proximity Sensors and send them a couple thousand meters in front of the Capital ships on the left side of the Mothership. These are to detect the soon approaching cloaked Ion Cannon Frigates. When you destroy the Ion Frigates get ready for some major battling. Look at the Sensor Manager, see those red dots on the sensors, those are two massive Carrier groups. Move your entire group into the field (excluding Support Frigates). Leave the fighters at home to protect the Mothership. Move quickly into the field toward the closest red dot. This could be a Carrier group or just a Resource Collector, destroy it if is a collector. The Carrier groups tend to stick to the center of the field, so it is probably a collector. When you see a Carrier group, destroy the defense fleet first. This is usually 4-6 Ion Frigates and a hell of a lot of fighters. Destroy the Carrier after all defenses is wiped out. Then go for the next one. Destroy it in the same way. Then hurry back home. If you look at the sensors, you will notice another red dot moving all over the map. This is the Taidann’s main attack group, which includes a Heavy Cruiser, five Ion Cannon Frigates, and lots of Defenders. This doesn’t sound like much but it can easily destroy the Mothership if it is undefended. If you hurried in the field you will usually have lots of time before the Heavy Cruiser even gets close to the Mothership. Sometimes even, the Heavy Cruiser never approaches the Mothership. This doesn’t happen often, but it does give you an advantage, as the Defenders will run out of fuel and be unable to follow. The only problem of this is after you destroy the Heavy Cruiser. This triggers an event that you need to be close to the Mothership for. Anyways, when you destroy the cruiser a heavily damaged Elite Guard Destroyer comes out of Hyperspace near you Mothership, being piloted by a Captain Elson who wishes to defect to the Kushan. In other words, he wants to join you. Eight Interceptors, two Assault Frigates, and two Ion Frigates are pursuing them. The Destroyer can survive for a bit longer. But unless you help the crippled Destroyer, it will be destroyed. When you have destroyed everything, and I mean everything, have your collectors start to harvest. Also capture any Support Frigates that escaped your Salvage Corvettes and any enemy collectors that are just sitting around. The captain will tell you of an abandoned communications array in a ship graveyard that he can use to signal the rest of his rebel fleet. Then make the jump to the next region. You don’t really have time to research the two techs in this level during the fighting, as one thing usually leads to the next. So research the Cloaked Fighter and Cloak Generator techs before jumping to the next mission. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 13: The Karos Graveyard You come out of hyperspace on the edge of the graveyard. Fleet Intelligence will give you the location of the communication array. It is at the opposite end of yard. Send a probe through the graveyard straight at the array. When it is in the yard, auto-guns will start firing at it. These guns are stationary, but quite deadly to slow moving Capital ships. But the biggest threat to your Capital ships is the Junkyard Dog (that’s what the game calls it, I’m not making it up). This small but souped up version of a Salvage Corvette can capture any ship. This, plus the fact that it is practically invincible, makes it very deadly. When this guard does capture a ship, it will drag it off to a nearby hyperspace gate and send it through, never to be seen again. Then it will come back for another ship. Don’t worry about ships being captured when near the Mothership, the dog’s range is completely limited to the junkyard (although it will follow ships out of the yard to capture them). There are a high number of Proximity Sensors in the yard, so cloaking is not an option. The only way to bypass this major threat is to take the roundabout way around the junkyard. Take some Missile Destroyers (3-4) and build about 15 Scouts or Light Corvettes. Both have advantages. The Scout has greater speed so it can avoid the fire of the auto-guns better, but the Light Corvette has better armor so it can sustain more hits. Which ever you build, tell them to guard the Missile Destroyers and send the Missile Destroyers to the very top or bottom of the map. While doing this, start researching Heavy Guns tech. When they get there, send them across the map to the point right below the communications array. When they get there, send them up to about 10 km from the bottom (or top) of the junkyard. When the Junkyard Dog, the moving red blip on the sensors, nears the front of the yard (near the Mothership), send the Missile Destroyers up (or down) to the communications array. When you near it, auto-guns will open fire. Take these out with your Missile Destroyers. But this will alert the dog to your trespassing. It will take one of those hyperspace gates to get to you quickly, and then go for one of the Missile Destroyers. When you get to a suitable distance from the communications array, select your Scouts and then click the array. The Scouts will now dock with the array. Continue taking out auto-guns. By this time, one of your Missile Destroyers will have been captured and has been or is in the process of being dragged off. One of the Scouts should be able to dock with the array. When this happens, Captain Elson will communicate with his rebel group then hyperspace out of there. Now, quickly select the hyperspace jump button and select Quick Docking. This will get any ships left in the junkyard out before being destroyed or captured. Grinnz TeamRocket Says: As soon as you are able to finish Cloak Generator research, build 3 Cloak Generators and get them to guard one of your Destroyers in Broad formation. Then, make one of the generators cloak and make the destroyer move directly through the yard. Watch your Destroyer, and if you notice any Proximity Sensors (the only "Non-Combat Ships", if you're using the Tactical Overlay with Caps Lock), get your Destroyer to target them. It has to decloak to attack it, and some auto-guns may open fire, but the sensor will be gone with two Ion Beams, and you are free from fire again. Continue toward the station this way. Also monitor your Cloak Generators. If one of their energies starts to get really low, activate the second one. That way, when the first runs out, the ships will still be cloaked. Eventually, you will reach the station. There are several Proximity Sensors, make sure you destroy all of them. Then, move the Destroyer and generators to the very top of the map, out of the graveyard. Then, build a single Cloaked Fighter and cloak it, then tell it to go straight to the station. Monitor it too; if you see any Proximity Sensors that the Destroyer missed, quickly move it away from them. Finally when you reach the station, dock, then when Elson stops talking, hyperspace and use Quick Docking. This strategy would be most useful if you have plentiful extra resources to build the extra Cloak Generators and Cloaked Fighter. DIEGOPICHARDO Says: I found that dealing with the Junkyard Dog when you first arrive is a good idea. What I did was move my (stolen) Heavy Cruiser along with a few Ion Cannon Frigates to the yard entrance (aprox. 30 km or stopping as soon as you can see the enemy tactical signatures in caps lock mode) and used my Resource Controller as bait; when the dog came in range, I engaged the Gravwell and caught him. The field lasted long enough for the capital ships to make short work of him. I was then free to use the Heavy Cruiser in clearing a path to the objective. _D_roller_ Adds: As soon as the mission starts build a Grav-Well and get your battle group in a wall. Tell the Grav-Well and your battle group to move towards the graveyard. Alert the Junkyard dog. When he approaches, activate the Grav-Well. Attack the Junkyard dog with all you got. Since he relies on speed so much, he will be lunch for your battle group. Oyster Says: Once you're able to build a Heavy Cruiser, this will be able to "take out” that little, annoying enemy Salvage Corvette by itself. You'll have to let it steal a few of your cheaper ships first, but I've noticed that you sometimes can get one or two back that it spits back out of the Hyperspace Gate. Once it has stolen a couple of ships, I've noticed that you will eventually find it turning in the first gate to the left center of the yard. Once it is sitting there turning (all PROUD of itself for making all those captures, I'm sure!). You can send in a Cruiser and a few support ships (Missile Destroyers seem to work best) and nail the thing sitting there spinning in its Hyperspace Gate. It will take a lot of volleys even from your Cruiser to nail it, but you'll eventually get it. This will allow plenty of time for the rest of your ships to do what they need to do. Collectors CAN get to the first batch of resources to the right of the yard by being supported by a Cloak Generator. When cloaked, the little enemy Salvager doesn't come out to get it either, which it will immediately do when you're trying to harvest resources. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 14: Bridge of Sighs Before I get started, let me point out that this will be a very long mission, even if you do it completely properly. You start on the outskirts of a Taidann defense perimeter guarding a hyperspace inhibitor preventing you from entering the Hiigara system using a hyperspace jump. The task in this area is to destroy the hyperspace inhibitor then get out of there A.S.A.P. This is easier said then done. One look at the sensor manager reveals a huge sphere of Taidann ships. These are Ion Frigates to be exact, and they seem a bit more powerful then normal. On the inside of the sphere are some rather potent defenses by themselves. This includes three cloaked Destroyers, tons of fighters, a Heavy Cruiser, and a Carrier. You should already have a huge fleet by now, and you will need almost every single ship. But don’t just charge in right now. This is a chance to bulk up your fleet even more. Before you do anything though, build some Heavy Cruisers to go with any you might have right now. Then assign groups to your Salvage Corvettes in twos. You should have some Proximity Sensors by now (you used them in mission 12), so select one and send it toward the part of the sphere right in front of your Mothership. When it is close enough, the Ion Frigates will start to home in on the sensor. When they get within a couple thousand meters of the sensor, turn it around and head back for the Mothership. But don’t go too far in front of the frigates. If you do they will stop following the sensor. Just continue stopping and starting. Do this until you are close enough to the Mothership that you can see it. Now select your Salvage Corvettes (using the group numbers) and tell each group to capture a frigate. If you brought to many frigates along with the sensor, select some of the Scouts or Light Corvettes from the last mission as well to run decoy for your salvagers. When you capture this batch of frigates, there should be a small hole in the defensive sphere. After completely salvaging the frigates (they have come out of the Mothership and are under your control), send the sensor back for some more ships. Repeat this until there is a large enough hole for your battle fleet to slip through without alerting the rest of the sphere, until you attack the inhibitor that is. Take your entire battle fleet; except for fighters, corvettes, and Support Frigates, forward through the hole you have created. And make sure you take at least 2 Proximity Sensors; there are some cloaked ships in there. If you alert any other Ion Frigates, kill them before continuing. When you reach the inhibitor, attack each one of the spinning sections. If you get attacked by any of the ships inside the sphere, kill them then fire on the inhibitor again. When it is completely destroyed (all the sections are gone), jump to hyperspace and use Quick Docking. DIEGOPICHARDO Says: I found this level to be easiest with a good amount of Cloaked Fighters. I used them to destroy the three gates without having to destroy the ships guarding them. When done, I used the Salvage Corvettes to capture the two Destroyers, two Support Frigates and one Missile Destroyer per gate (this task took the longest with the two farthest gates). I also used the Cloaked Fighters to destroy the array. Many people would just hyperspace when this is done but I actually took two days to capture over 100 Ion Cannon Frigates. I sent teams of salvage corvettes to capture two frigates at a time. To avoid being caught, I used cloak generators on the approach and this allowed me to position up to three salvage teams before the five minute cloak limit is up. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 15: Chapel Perilous This is the second hardest mission in the entire game. When you jump in, select every ship of your battle fleet and go into the sensor manager. Move them toward the red dot in the manager (the one between all the others). Fleet Intelligence will soon point out that this is an object that will collide with the Mothership and must be destroyed. When going to it, don’t let the smaller ships get ahead of your bigger ships (Heavy Cruisers, Missile Destroyers, or Destroyers). When you reach the object, you will see that it has a rather good escort of Destroyers and tons of Assault Frigates. Forget about the though. Fire on the object using Evasive Tactics. I can’t stress using Evasive tactics enough. If this thing can wipe out a Mothership in a single blow, guess what it can do to your fleet. Now, this is where the last hint in the General Hints section comes into play. This is the only mission I have had to restart on because the damn rock kept ramming my ships. You must end this level with as many ships as possible. You are on the verge of penetrating the Hiigara solar system, and the Taidann will throw everything they have at you. Before leaving, assign a group number to your Support Frigates (and Repair Corvettes if you have any) and another to your battle fleet. When the object is destroyed, jump to hyperspace using quick docking. ------------------------------------------------------- Mission 16:Hiigara This is the last mission. But trust me, it isn’t easy. Between missions in the cinematic, you lose Fleet Command. She will no longer be able to run the Mothership. When you jump in, you are almost instantly under threat. Before you do anything, assign your Support Frigates to heal the Mothership. When the Taidann start firing, its health will drain rapidly. Send your collectors out along with the controllers to harvest. Then the first attack wave hits with a bang. A Heavy Cruiser, 2 Missile Destroyers, 2 Destroyers, 5 Ion Frigates, and 5 Assault Frigates. Take out the Heavy Cruiser first, and then destroy the rest, remembering to concentrate your fire on a single ship at a time. During this, 5 Ion Cannon Frigates approach from below your Mothership and Attack Bombers approach from above. When you have taken out the main Taidann Fleet, kill the Ion Frigates. The Attack Bomber do only one pass at the Mothership then they break off. Do not engage them. After winning this battle, finish healing the Mothership then heal your fleet. Soon, another fleet emerges from hyperspace behind and above your Mothership. This force includes everything from the first attack except for one more Destroyer and no Missile Destroyers. They will take a while to get to the Mothership though. However, another fleet appears just in front of your Mothership. This is the same kind of fleet from the first attack. Destroy them in the same way. If you are quick, you should be able to kill all of them before the fleet behind your Mothership gets there. When you win, you will have a bit of time to heal and rebuild, but not much. If you paid attention to Fleet Intelligence, you would notice another fleet approaching from behind and below your Mothership. The fleet includes a Heavy Cruiser, 9 Ion Frigates, and 9 Assault Frigates. Just as they reach you though, intelligence reports another fleet jumping in just on top of you and says, “We are being overwhelmed.” Wait a tick, that’s a Taidann fleet, but its Captain Elson! And he brings some help. He jumps in with his Elite Guard Destroyer, some Ion Frigates, Assault Frigates, and Missile Destroyers. He gives you command of his Assault Frigates and Missile Destroyers, but assign them to go with the captain. He will need help. Finish the other Taidann Fleet with your own fleet then hurry after Elson with everything you have got. If it has a gun, use it. Elson will approach a Carrier, but this Carrier is loaded with fighters. The will kamikaze into his Destroyer. If you have the ships he gave you command of with him, they won’t do too much damage. When you destroy the Carrier, he heads for the prize, the Taidann Mothership. Go for it with everything you’ve got. Before you get there, however, you have to go through 3 Heavy Cruisers, each with Support Frigates healing them. Concentrate on one at a time then carry on when they are destroyed. Ignore the Support Frigates. But Mothership is loaded with fighters ready to die for their cause, along with two Missile Destroyers. Some of your ships should have caught up to Elson by now (they should have by the cruisers), so level every gun on the Mothership. If you have any fighters, kamikaze them if you want. If you are like me however, I think the pilots of those fighters have gone through enough to be able to see their homeworld. When the Mothership is destroyed, you win and the Bentusi come along again, with the Galactic Council, and say “This war is over.” ------------------------------------------------------- MULTIPLAYER TIPS Note: This first section is done by readers. I will do the second section. Build Carriers ASAP because: a) Your Carriers take over if your Mothership dies and: b) Its great fun to go to a huge resource pocket, drain it dry, get a huge amount of Ion Frigates and strike craft and: c) Finally, hyper jump to the enemy. For some reason, other people forget to guard their resourcers, no matter how many times they’re destroyed. Guard yours with about 1 Assault Frigate and several fighters. Drone Frigates are good for escort cause they tear up all fighters, or at least confuse them. When you get ready to attack, make sure you have a good amount of bombers. Send them out first and use them to target any Capital ships that are a bit away from the enemy Mothership. Attack Bombers in groups of 20 are death on single Capital ship, but other fighters eat them for breakfast. The Mothership can hyperjump, but it’s expensive. After being 10 minutes into the game, try to always have 3000 spare Rus so you can if attacked. Build a lot of Resource Collectors because they make up the resources spent on them in 1 load. Start with Resource Controllers to allow collectors to drop-off resources, and then switch to Carriers as soon as you can. Bring everything you have to assault your opponent’s Mothership. If your opponent has laid down walls of mines around their Mothership, hyperspace in to avoid coming at them from the front. Send probes to your opponent’s Mothership periodically to check on his/her forces. Attack your opponent’s collectors with Attack Bombers or Interceptors if he/she has left them unguarded. Most opponents forget that you can attack from the bottom and top as well as the front, back, and sides. Attacking from the top can allow a few hits before your opponent can mobilize his/her forces. Don’t get drawn into several drawn out battles that are spread out. This forces you to spread out your own forces. If you can afford it, occasionally send small groups of Attack Bombers, Heavy Corvettes, Ion Frigates, or maybe even a few Destroyers to attack the forces around your opponent’s Mothership. Attack the biggest ship there that you can destroy before you get destroyed. If you don’t want to lose your Capital ships, send them in normally on their own power then, when their health gets low, jump them out of there. This forces your opponent to keep on their toes. ------------------------------------------------------- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my two brothers for allowing me the time I need to do this strategy guide and Sierra and Relic (whose home office is based where I live) for making the game that changed the RTS world from which no one will ever match. ------------------------------------------------------- READER CONTRIBUTIONS Grinnz TeamRocket for his The Great Wastelands strategy, his Super Nova Research Station strategy, and his Karos Graveyard strategy. beaves13 for his Burst Shot info. Jturner849 for the first section in Multiplayer Tactics. endrick for his Mission 2, 3, and 4 strategy. Kevin W. Shepardson for his addition to General Hints. _D_roller_ for the Karos Graveyard strategy. Oyster for the Karos Graveyard strategy. ------------------------------------------------------- FOOTNOTE If you have any suggestions for this strategy guide, things I should add, different routes around different problems, spelling and grammar mistakes, if it is something that bugs you, feel free to e-mail me at t_bone_567@yahoo.com. Anything that helps other players in this game is welcome.