Getting through the first C.C. Assault Don't feel bad. From the traffic on the newsgroup a lot of people are finding this mission hard. Here's a quick summary of how I was able to get through. Like everything else, it's easy when you know how! [Notes in brackets are specifics on how I made it through myself when I played through the mission on the "Hard" setting. Ugh.] 1. preparation: Run enough mining missions to outfit most of your force with Demons , and upgrade the hell out of them. You face a real bottleneck at this rank and will be able to take a mere 9 Hercs on the mission. Later elite missions are easier since you can bring a larger force. [My specific force was: 7 Demons with two SCX lasers, two EMP Beamers, and two SP2 missile systems. Everything else was maxed out and I carried four overdrive nodes in the equipment bay (in retrospect, I'd have canned one of the nodes and installed a repair module). I brought a Sensei along for its sensors (armed with a couple of SP2's), and I chose to keep Tarsus in a Giant, which I armed with SIX Devastators to offset the low ammunition reserves on the Demon's missile racks. (Should have put him in a Demon; the chain-gun's range was too short to be effective and the Herc itself bought it on the next-to-last turn)] 2. execution: When you hit the drop zone, take a turn or two to get your Hercs into formation. The base is on the opposite side of the battlefield from your initial position and so Cybrid resistance should be sporadic until you begin your advance. You want to gather your forces into the "Testudo" formation which allows you to reinforce your shields to the maximum forward strength without leaving yourself open to a flank attack. Once in formation, begin to advance slowly towards the opposite side of the battlefield. Your goal should be to get about 4-5 hexes covered a turn. Any more will tend to break up your formation on rough ground. Kill the Cybrids as you come across them (scouts first!) stopping if need be to take out a large pack. The enemy doesn't attack en masse, they just charge the nearest of your hercs. Because of this, though you are outnumbered 5:1 or more, you only have to deal with a fraction of the enemy forces at once. You may want to bring a scout Herc along to give you an edge in dealing with the BIG threat: Verminus'. The farther away from your forces you can swat these buggers the better. If one of your Hercs gets beat to hell, hide it behind your battle line or send it back to the dropship. No sense in wasting a Herc and a 'Derm for naught. [Everything ran pretty much according to plan, but if I were to do it over I'd advance around the edge of the battlefield instead of strait across it. That way, when I came across the base I'd have been approaching it from the side and would not have had to face all the turrets at once. Such an approach would have also given me a secure flank (the edge of the map) and allowed me to hit the production areas first instead of last, and cut off the two waves of Verminus which I had to wade through otherwise.] Once you find the base it is imperative that you take out the Verminus construction facilities as soon as you can. Some players choose to mount self-destruct devices on a couple of fast Hercs and use them to try and blow up the construction facilities early on, but I'd rather have the firepower of a pair of Demons myself. 3. frustration: If you are still having problems, try saving at the start of every turn and restoring it if things take a turn for the worst. It's cheesy, but there is no sense in paying $60 to play 1/3 of the game. Take heart that later missions won't be quite the headache that this one will. 4. capitulation: If you STILL can't get through, here is one of my saved games taken directly after I had destroyed the first Cybrid base. Please only do this as a last resort; you CAN make it through yourself and it's a lot more satisfying. Note that this save game is at the "Hard" difficulty level and that I lost both Tarsus and Qabal in the base assault (that's why they call it the hard setting). System2.zip _________________________________________________________________ Main Menu This page was last updated September 2, 1996