King_Ubu
05-04-2009, 12:33 AM
A lot of people have been having problems with this level, even on single player.
However, a few nights ago, myself and Critical_Sin were playing a co-op and we found a few really good tricks that you can do which removes just about all the difficulty from this level.
Lets assume that you are doing this in a single player mode first.
Have a dreadnought as a base defense
One of the problems with being the 'red team' in this level, is that the computer attacks you a lot with stronger hard hitting units. resulting in money being spent on defenses and replacing them.
The solution, you see that pond just to the left of the starting position? Well it just so happens that you can build a naval yard in there, and yes you can get ships out of it.
So what you need to do is tech up so you have a battle lab and you can start producing dreadnoughts. You can build as many as you like, but you should not need more than 2. Now your dreadnaught will not be able to move as theres not enough space, but if you sell your construction yard, it will gain some movement. But you won't need to move it, you've now got a dreadnaught acting as a base defense which can also fire at huge range and cover your defense lines better than a tesla coil. Please be aware, that if you build stingrays, they cannot exit the pond, I don't know why, but they will not exit it.
destroy the enemy within 5 seconds of them arriving
Another way to make this match easier, is to win it before the enemy generals even have a chance to start. During the initial infiltration mission at the start (when you control the conscript) have a look around the map. have you noticed that none of the generals have a base yet? Theres only one and theres barely anything in it?
Thats because the generals do not automatically build their bases, they drive them in. Even is driven in, including the MCV. So when you get a special ability, pick the magnetic satilite. Do not use it yet.
You also need to construct a naval yard next to the lake by your green commander, you need at least 3 subs and 3/4 bullfrogs. Send them just north, stopping short when you see that island to the right. Don't worry, there are no ships here yet, but you do need to worry about air threats, hence the bullfrogs.
When a general arrives (you'll know because their face appears in the com-link at the top right.) all of a sudden the fog of war on their base is removed! The woman appears first, what you can now do is use the magnetic satilite on her MCV, totally destroying her ability to re-build anything. Now move your navy north, have them destroy the enemy naval yard drones whilst they're still building them... Congratulations... you have now removed this generals entire naval threat allowing you to construct dreadnaughts and bomb the war factory and power plants. The only thing you need to worry about is air threats from another base.
Edit: just done this on hard, and I took not only her MCV but also her tank factory drone appears from just north of where her MCV is, so you can take that too and then use subs to destroy her naval drones, completely making her offensive ability zero.
Whilst it's tempting to take the power plant drones as they arrive in a pre-determined line, you must not. They will be re-built if the MCV is able to deploy. Also... if the MCV deploys, it cannot be taken by the satilite.
You can do this every time a general appears, they all drive their MCV into the map, so you can steal it, but also... by now you will have orbital drop... so when you take an MCV, target the power plants, you will not drop the space junk as well as 2 MCV's and they cause enormous damage if they strike the target.
On co-op, it's possible to completely descimate the enemy, two magnetic satilites can remove all production facilities from an enemy base, making the mission laughable.
Get free enemy units
One thing I'll never understand about this game... why doesn't anyone use Natashas pilot snipe? That ability is brilliant. It'll take out the driver of any unit and allow a conscript to take it... this includes the King Oni and the wave force artillery. Those are two of the most powerful units in the game, and the computer regually sends them to your base... so have Natasha shoot the drivers. Take out any remaining threats, then capture them.
On Co-OP, both players can train Natasha, this is great as both players can go for units, the computer enemy will never attempt to re-capture a unit allowing a huge army to be built very quickly indeed.
Unlimited time to do the bonus objectives/Kill the boss with one shot
Ok... unless you have around 5 apocalypse tanks at max rank with an iron curtain as backup... this isn't an easy task.
Once again... have Natasha pilot snipe the boss. It'll stop dead in it's tracks. But the mission will not end. You now have unlimited time to do any bonus objectives you missed.
Now if you attempt to target the boss once natasha uses her pilot snipe, your units will not attack. To defeat the boss and progress to the next mission, you either have to use orbital drops on him, or... get a unit that has a large damage blast radius, such as the V4 or twinblades, use forcefire on the boss, hold R1 and double tap X on the target to make them force fire.
I hope that someone finds at least some of that useful.
However, a few nights ago, myself and Critical_Sin were playing a co-op and we found a few really good tricks that you can do which removes just about all the difficulty from this level.
Lets assume that you are doing this in a single player mode first.
Have a dreadnought as a base defense
One of the problems with being the 'red team' in this level, is that the computer attacks you a lot with stronger hard hitting units. resulting in money being spent on defenses and replacing them.
The solution, you see that pond just to the left of the starting position? Well it just so happens that you can build a naval yard in there, and yes you can get ships out of it.
So what you need to do is tech up so you have a battle lab and you can start producing dreadnoughts. You can build as many as you like, but you should not need more than 2. Now your dreadnaught will not be able to move as theres not enough space, but if you sell your construction yard, it will gain some movement. But you won't need to move it, you've now got a dreadnaught acting as a base defense which can also fire at huge range and cover your defense lines better than a tesla coil. Please be aware, that if you build stingrays, they cannot exit the pond, I don't know why, but they will not exit it.
destroy the enemy within 5 seconds of them arriving
Another way to make this match easier, is to win it before the enemy generals even have a chance to start. During the initial infiltration mission at the start (when you control the conscript) have a look around the map. have you noticed that none of the generals have a base yet? Theres only one and theres barely anything in it?
Thats because the generals do not automatically build their bases, they drive them in. Even is driven in, including the MCV. So when you get a special ability, pick the magnetic satilite. Do not use it yet.
You also need to construct a naval yard next to the lake by your green commander, you need at least 3 subs and 3/4 bullfrogs. Send them just north, stopping short when you see that island to the right. Don't worry, there are no ships here yet, but you do need to worry about air threats, hence the bullfrogs.
When a general arrives (you'll know because their face appears in the com-link at the top right.) all of a sudden the fog of war on their base is removed! The woman appears first, what you can now do is use the magnetic satilite on her MCV, totally destroying her ability to re-build anything. Now move your navy north, have them destroy the enemy naval yard drones whilst they're still building them... Congratulations... you have now removed this generals entire naval threat allowing you to construct dreadnaughts and bomb the war factory and power plants. The only thing you need to worry about is air threats from another base.
Edit: just done this on hard, and I took not only her MCV but also her tank factory drone appears from just north of where her MCV is, so you can take that too and then use subs to destroy her naval drones, completely making her offensive ability zero.
Whilst it's tempting to take the power plant drones as they arrive in a pre-determined line, you must not. They will be re-built if the MCV is able to deploy. Also... if the MCV deploys, it cannot be taken by the satilite.
You can do this every time a general appears, they all drive their MCV into the map, so you can steal it, but also... by now you will have orbital drop... so when you take an MCV, target the power plants, you will not drop the space junk as well as 2 MCV's and they cause enormous damage if they strike the target.
On co-op, it's possible to completely descimate the enemy, two magnetic satilites can remove all production facilities from an enemy base, making the mission laughable.
Get free enemy units
One thing I'll never understand about this game... why doesn't anyone use Natashas pilot snipe? That ability is brilliant. It'll take out the driver of any unit and allow a conscript to take it... this includes the King Oni and the wave force artillery. Those are two of the most powerful units in the game, and the computer regually sends them to your base... so have Natasha shoot the drivers. Take out any remaining threats, then capture them.
On Co-OP, both players can train Natasha, this is great as both players can go for units, the computer enemy will never attempt to re-capture a unit allowing a huge army to be built very quickly indeed.
Unlimited time to do the bonus objectives/Kill the boss with one shot
Ok... unless you have around 5 apocalypse tanks at max rank with an iron curtain as backup... this isn't an easy task.
Once again... have Natasha pilot snipe the boss. It'll stop dead in it's tracks. But the mission will not end. You now have unlimited time to do any bonus objectives you missed.
Now if you attempt to target the boss once natasha uses her pilot snipe, your units will not attack. To defeat the boss and progress to the next mission, you either have to use orbital drops on him, or... get a unit that has a large damage blast radius, such as the V4 or twinblades, use forcefire on the boss, hold R1 and double tap X on the target to make them force fire.
I hope that someone finds at least some of that useful.