Aquanox Mission Walkthrough (Ver 1.2)
Dec 04, 2004
by Alan Chan (joylock@hotmail.com)
The Usual:
This document is mine. Please don't rip it off or take credit for it.
That being said, feel free to post it on any site you want, provided
you a) don't make any changes to it, and b) don't charge money for it. You
don't even have to get my permission to post it (as long as it remains
unaltered), but it would be nice if you emailed me and let me know
(joylock@hotmail.com).
Why?:
I wrote this rather average walkthrough of Aquanox since one doesn't
exist yet (in English at least). Most of the game's missions are
straightforward and I've probably gone into WAY more detail than I
needed to, but a few are kind of tough and/or confusing and a
walkthrough would certainly save some people a lot of frustration.
Warning:
I don't discuss the plot in detail, but I also don't make any effort to
conceal SPOILERS. If you don't want to know what happens in the game,
don't read ahead.
This walkthrough only covers how to beat each specific mission. It
doesn't tell you the dialogue choices you have to take to make those
missions available or the specific equipment you should outfit your sub
with.
This walkthrough was written while playing through on normal
difficulty. The amount of enemies and their toughness in combat will
vary if you play on a different setting.
Contents:
Chapter 1 Missions:
- Asylum
- Terror
- Biont Scrap
- ELF-Terror
- Jumpship Accident
- Magma
Chapter 2 Missions:
- Sabotage of Turbines
- Code Books
- Kruger's Freighter
- Methane Hydrate
- Gulf Stream
Chapter 3 Missions:
- Seismobomb
- Santiago
- Crawler
- Brainfire
- Buoy
Chapter 4 Missions:
- Courier
- Coup Begins
- Vastian Griegh
- Sneakdrive
- Defeat
Chapter 5 Missions:
- Leisure Trip
- Atacama is Burning
- The Big Bang
- Sool
Chapter 6 Missions:
- Magma Eater
- War in Neopolis
Chapter 7 Missions:
- Crocell
- Forneus
******************
*Version History:*
******************
The latest version of this FAQ can be found at www.gamefaqs.com
1.0: Initial FAQ containing full walkthroughs of all 29 missions
1.1: Added linebreaks to make FAQ navigation easier
1.2: Misc corrections and additions
*******************************
*Chapter 1 (The Tornado Zone):*
*******************************
=======================================================================
ASYLUM:
Overview:
Your first mission is quite similar to the first mission in Archimedean
Dynasty. Once again, El Topo's given you a old clunker of a ship and
sent you out to blow up the scrap floating outside his asylum. This
mission should be a cakewalk, all but one of your targets is stationary
and won't shoot back. There is one slightly tricky part where you have
to protect a weak target from being destroyed, or else your mission
fails. The game is full of these and some of them can be quite
frustrating, so you might as well get used to them.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Go to the nav point and blow up all the biont scrap
Pretty straightforward. After you've blown up the larger biont parts,
the remaining pieces may be tough to find. Trying driving off a short
distance to get a different perspective, and press your targetting
button repeatedly until you lock onto some scrap. You can also crank
the detail setting on your radar all the way up to full to see the red
dots representing the scrap pieces. If you're still having trouble
spotting the scrap you might want to turn up the brightness on your
monitor. A cutscene giving you a new mission objective will show after
you've destroyed all the scrap.
Mission Objective: Escort the transport through the debris field
This part can be annoying if you're still getting familiar with the
game's control scheme. The transport barely has any health, so if it
runs into more than a few pieces of scrap it'll blow up and you'll fail
the mission. The transport moves slowly in a straight line, so try
facing the transport's side, strafing just a little bit ahead of it and
blow up all the scrap in its path. Things get a little tricky when a
biont scout shows up, as it will start shooting at the transport. Shoot
the scout a few times to get it to attack you instead of the transport,
but don't concentrate too much on the scout lest you allow some scrap
parts to slip by you and collide with the transport. The biont's attack
shouldn't do much damage to you, so you can afford to ignore it. Once
the transport's path is clear of scrap for a few seconds, go ahead and
blow up the scout (it should only take a few seconds, as the biont has
less than 1 shield energy bar) before going back to clearing the
debris.
=======================================================================
TERROR:
Overview:
Your first optional mission pits you in a one-on-one duel against a
Neopolis terror-tourist (basically a yuppie gone bad). As duels go,
this one's a cakewalk since your opponent is too drive to drunk.
Basically, he'll just sit in place and rotate to shoot at you.
Tips:
- Don't use torpedos during optional missions if you plan to make a
profit from them. Most are fairly simple/straightforward, but pay you a
corrispondingly low amount of credits for your work. Torpedos are so
expensive they should generally be saved for situations in plot-
required missions where you'd have trouble progressing otherwise.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Defeat the Terror Tourist Randis Albion
This is a straight-out duel between you and the otaku Terror-Tourist.
The Tourist is driving a Federation Bomber, a tough ship with powerful
weapons and a large amount of shield energy. Fortunately for you, your
enemy is driving drunk and thus has problems manuevering and aimming
his weapons. Just circle strafe around him while pounding him with your
weapons, and despite his tough shields and strong guns he should blow
up before you do. The Federation Bomber's armament consists of a Doom
Mortar and a couple of plasma turrets. The D. Mortar's a powerful gun,
but its projectiles are relatively slow moving and you should be able
to avoid them by constantly strafing. The plasma shots are tougher to
dodge, but do only minor damage. If you're having trouble against the
Tourist, you can always try taking cover behind the surrounding
buildings. Also, if you circle him quicker than he can rotate, you can
attack him from his rear, his top, or his bottom where his weapons have
difficulty aiming.
=======================================================================
BIONT SCRAP:
Overview:
This is your first fight against multiple opponents, as you fight a few
Biont scouts in the midst of a field of Biont debris. The Bionts are
easy opponents, and unlike the first mission you won't have to worry
too much about protecting allied targets.
Tips:
- The Bionts are surprisingly easy opponents. They've got low health,
they don't move around all that much, don't shoot very fast, and their
green plasma shots don't do much damage to you either. The only
disadvantage you have while fighting Bionts is that their thin wedge
shape (suspiciously similar to the Millenium Falcon's) makes them
difficult to hit when you're facing them head-on, and even this is
counteracted by their slow speed.
- Like many future missions, this mission doesn't end automatically.
Instead a Mission Accomplished message will appear on your HUD. When
this happens, press ESC and select Activate Dipol to end the mission.
You can stick around and kill more enemies, but you won't be rewarded
for doing so.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Escort the Catapillar through the debris field
Harper and Bonham will circle around overhead, while Sally orders you
to escort the Catapillar through the debris field. Follow the
Catapillar, and Sally will soon warn you that one of the Biont scrap
parts is starting to come alive. The Biont scout that begins to emerge
from the debris field will take a few seconds to power up, but will
begin attacking the Catapillar once it does. As in Asylum, the Biont is
slow moving and severely weakened, so destroying it shouldn't be too
difficult. Further along the Catapillar's route you'll encounter
another Biont scout, followed by a pair of Bionts after that, but they
shouldn't be a problem. To make things even easier Sally or your
wingmates will warn you each time before the Bionts attack.
Mission Objective: Protect the Catapillars from the attacking Bionts
Once the Catapillar reaches its destination, a cutscene will play
showing a group of Catapillars under attack from three Biont scouts.
Your wingmates will enter the fray and should make quick work of the
badly weakened Bionts, but you can chip in if you want to. After the
fight is over you'll be given the opportunity to stick around and
search the debris field for more Bionts, but you don't have to. Just
hit ESC as soon as the Mission Accomplished message appears and
activate your dipol to finish the mission.
=======================================================================
ELF-TERROR:
Overview:
Your first mission against normal human enemies pits you against pro-
environmental, anti-ELF activists. The Tornado Zone scouts you fight in
this mission have full shield energy and systems,unlike the Bionts, but
use weaker weapons and are still pretty slow. Overall, another easy and
relaxing mission, especially with the help from your two wingmates.
Tips:
- If you took the optional missions and haven't blown your dough on
torpedos, you should have enough credits to purchase a better ship and
bigger guns by now. I recommend buying an Avenger scout and equipping
it with a Vendetta II gun. The Vendetta's superior rate of fire should
make the Tornado Zone scouts you face in this mission much easier.
- Don't be afraid of getting into a war of attrition with an enemy TZ
scout. In fact, the easiest way to dispose of them is to face them
head-to-head and exchange gunfire. Provided you're got a Vendetta 2 gun
and a better ship than the Toiler, you should be able to destroy them
without taking much damage in return (especially if you aim for their
glowing red cockpit). This tactic works great against Zoner and even
Crawler scouts, but isn't much use against the fast moving Federation
scouts or Schax. It's also suicide to try it against bombers, frigates,
or fully functional Bionts.
- To stop an enemy from attacking something you're supposed to protect,
shoot them a couple of times and they'll go after you instead. Be sure
to actually hit them with your shots for this to work. You'll have to
use this technique many, many times throughout the game.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Pursue the Eco-terrorists
As the mission begins, a pair of Tornado Zone scouts piloted by hostile
environmental activists will stop attacking the ELF-Knot and fleet from
you and your wings. The TZ scouts are weakest enemies you'll face in
the game, and shouldn't be a problem for you to defeat. Chase them down
and destroy them to trigger the next objective.
Mission Objective: Protect the ELF-Station
Proceed to the new nav point, and destroy all the Tornado Zone scouts
around the ELF-Station. Although you're supposed to protect the
station, it has a large amount of shield energy and thus the TZ scouts
shouldn't be able to destroy it with their Vendetta guns. Your two
wingmates are a big help against the scouts, and in fact you can let
them do most of the work. Once all enemy scouts are gone, Sally will
inform you the ELF-Knot is once again under attack.
Mission Objective: Protect the ELF-Knot
Follow the new nav point back to the ELF-Knot, and destroy the few TZ
scouts there. The Knot has less shield energy than the station itself,
but is still difficult for the enemy ships to destroy. Win the mission
by destroying all the enemy scouts.
=======================================================================
JUMPSHIP ACCIDENT:
Overview:
This optional battle against Tornado Zone scouts is somewhat more
hectic than the previous one, due to the fact you'll be facing
considerably more enemies and that you also have to protect a
vulnerable ship that can actually get destroyed. You also only have one
wingmate to help you.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Prevent pirates from escaping with cargo
Pirates driving Tornado Zone scouts will emerge from the Jumpship
wreckage carrying either passenger capsules or cargo crates. El Topo
and Picollini want you to protect the passengers, while Entrox wants
you to rescue the cargo. Don't concern yourself too much, it really
doesn't matter what you do. Just camp near the hole in the jumpship and
blow up the pirates that emerge until a cutscene plays giving you your
next mission objective.
Mission Objective: Protect the transport while it evacuates the
passengers
A transport will dock with the Jumpship to rescue passengers, and will
immedietely come under fire from several pirates that warp into the
area. To prevent the pirates from destroying the transport and causing
you to fail the mission, shoot each of them a couple of times so that
they stop shooting the transport and instead go after you. Be sure the
transport isn't being fired upon before you start destroying your
attackers. New raider ships will gradually warp into the area, but you
should be able to destroy them quicker than they show up. After enough
time passes a cutscene will play showing the transport undocking from
the jumpship and preparing to dipol out of the area. Several more enemy
scouts will appear and open fire on the transport as soon as this
occurs. Repeat the tactics you used against the first wave of raiders.
You win the mission if the transport survives long enough to warp out.
=======================================================================
MAGMA:
Overview:
This is the last mission of the first chapter, and your final battle
against the Bionts (at least until near the end of the game). As before
the Biont scouts are scrap with damaged systems and barely any shield
energy, but this mission ups the odds a notch by pitting you in a
"boss" fight against a tougher opponent... the mighty Biont bomber.
Don't worry, though, just like the Biont scouts the bomber is
considerably less difficult than you might remember from Archimedean
Dynasty.
Tips:
- The Bionts aren't any stronger in this mission, but since you'll be
facing several of them at once it's a good idea to avoid getting
swarmed. Don't be afraid to hide behind Lisa and let her do all the
work if you start taking lots of damage.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Follow and defeat the Bionts scouts
Go ahead and follow the nav point. You should quickly run into a few
biont scouts, but oddly enough they ignore you and start traveling
further into the magma field. Go ahead and blow them up now while
they're oblivious to your presence. When you reach the nav point Bonham
will recognize the wreckage as the remains of a Biont battleship (cue
ominous music). The Biont scouts will now start attacking you, and
several more Bionts will emerge from the wreckage to assist them. With
Lisa's help, however, you should be able to destroy them all without
suffering too much damage.
After you've destroyed all the scouts, Sally will inform you that she
detects the presence of a larger Biontic signature... a Biont bomber.
Sure enough, one warps right in and opens fire on you.
Mission Objective: Defeat the Biont bomber
If you played Archimedean Dynasty and made it through to the finale,
you'll probably remember the Biont bomber was the meanest mother in the
valley, wielding devestating rapid fire weapons and capable of
withstanding enormous amounts of damage. Five years later and Human
weapons technology has made leaps and bounds ahead while the Bionts
have stagnated as barely functional pieces of junk floating in
scrapyards. The Biont Bomber is still a strong opponent, but nowhere
near the behemoths they were five years ago. The Bomber's surprisingly
average armament consists of three Plasma I turrets, one on the tip of
each of the three metal tentacles that stick out of the vessel's front.
The Bomber cannot fire from its sides or back, and it is from there you
should attack it. The Bomber only has half of its shields active, but
it can still absorb a decent amount of damage. it's also accompanied by
a couple of Biont scouts, but you can let Lisa deal with them while you
focus on the Bomber.
You win the mission as soon as the Bomber is destroyed, but a whole
bunch of Bionts will also start warping into the area at the same time.
You COULD stick around and see if you're man enough to take down three
bombers and more than a dozen scouts, but there's really no point in
doing so. Just activate your dipol and get out of there.
*********************************
*Chapter 2 (EnTrOx Corporation):*
*********************************
=======================================================================
SABOTAGE OF TURBINES:
Overview:
Despite what the briefing tells you, this optional mission is actually
really short. There are only three enemy ships, and all you have to do
is destroy one of them. Of course, two of the enemy ships are big ones
(a transport and a bomber), so it's a good idea to upgrade before going
into the mission.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Track down the power stealing Old Entropol ships
Just follow the nav points through the turbine field. After reaching
the fourth nav point you should come into contact with the enemy
Transport.
Mission Objective: Destroy the Old Entropol Transport Kande
The Kande is armed with Vendetta turrets and protected by both an
Entropol scout and a bomber piloted by Chrissi. Ignore the escorting
ships and get behind the transport where its turrets can't reach. Just
blast the transport from behind until it explodes, while moving back
and forth to avoid the attacks from the other enemy ships. Once the
transport's destroyed, your mission ends in success.
If the mission doesn't end even after the Kande is destroyed, kill
the remaining enemy ships. Eventually, you'll win.
=======================================================================
CODE BOOKS:
Overview:
This is probably the first truely challenging mission you'll face. It's
long, divided into several parts, and since you aren't yet able to
recharge your shields during a mission you'll have to take pains to
avoid getting damaged if you want to last til the very end. The good
news is that you don't actually have to destroy any of your enemies, in
fact towards the end where all the heavy fighting is your best survival
strategy is to run away from anything that's shooting at you.
Tips:
- Buy a silator for this mission if you haven't got one already. This
attachment mutes your engines and thus makes the "stealth" part of the
mission much easier.
- I found the Vendetta gattling preferable to the Plasma I gun due to
its faster projectiles and rapid rate of fire, even though each
individual projectile didn't do as much damage as a Plasma shot. You
may feel differently, however.
- The Hitman grenade launcher is a good weapon for use against Entropol
scouts, as it doesn't use ammo and only takes 3 shots to bring one
down. The weapon's slow rate of fire makes it impratical when you're
facing multiple enemies, however.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Disable Gotham's communications
You'll start out near the data broadcaster and its surrounding
buildings, containing many turrets including a nasty missile launcher.
If you want to save your shields for later, go ahead and hide outside
of the turrets' line of fire and let your wingmates take care of them
for you. When the shooting finally stops come out and blow up the six
communication dishes on top of the two broadcaster building to trigger
a cutscene giving you your next objective.
Mission Objective: Disable Gotham's entryway defenses
The idea is to shut off your engines and let the canyon's strong
current take you undetected past the turrets. However if you've got a
silator (and you really should, at least for this mission), you don't
need to shut your engines off while drifting in the stream through the
canyon. Just don't thrust for more than a second or so to avoid being
detected by the turrets. This is super useful since you can tap the
strafing keys to nudge you ship around the mines (you'll need all your
health for the next part of the mission). Once you reach the generator,
blow up all three relays to shut down Entropol's defense system (strafe
like crazy since the turrets will see you as soon as you start
shooting). A cutscene will automatically take you past the turret
defense and inside Gotham.
Mission Objective: Escort DeGrange to the Statue of Liberty
Apparently you only shut down the outer turrets, since the ones around
Gotham City and the Statue seem to be working just fine. Pico and
Harper will leave for another part of the battlefield, leaving you
alone with DeGrange. Follow DeGrange and shoot all the turrets along
the way a couple of times to get them to target you instead of her (you
fail if she dies). You don't need to destroy the turrets, just get
their attention with a couple of shots (You'll probably want to destroy
the annoying missile launcher turret halfway through, however). Once
she reaches the Statue DeGrange and her ship will go inside, leaving
you to hold out against Van Der Waal's Entropol forces.
Mission Objective: Hold position until DeGrange returns
Once DeGrange disappears into the Statue of Liberty, it's just you
against the Entropol scouts and turrets. Your only goal is to stay
alive here. At first you'll only have to deal with two scouts and the
two turrets at the base of the statue, but after a minute or so an
Entropol Bomber accompanied by several more scouts will swim into your
area and start attacking. Destroy whatever enemies you can, but if you
start running low on shields just run away from your enemies using the
buildings as cover until DeGrange is ready to leave with the code
books. Eventually a cutscene will play of DeGrange leaving the Statue
and dipoling out of the area, while Kristina Lloyd will warp in with
her Cape Fear transport/frigate and several more Entropol scouts. This
enemy force is far too large for you to face by yourself, so you should
activate your dipol to end the mission as soon as the game lets you.
=======================================================================
KRUGER'S FREIGHTER:
Overview:
A cakewalk of an optional mission that takes place in a single, small
area and pits you against several weak Tornado Zone scouts. True, you
have to protect a group of vulnerable targets, but the amount of
enemies isn't so large that your clients are ever in any real danger.
You even get a wingmate to help you out.
Tips:
- Once again I recommend the Vendetta gattling over the Plasma I gun,
but your milage may vary.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Protect the Catapillars and the Transport from
raiders
After some radio chatter, several Tornado Zone scouts will warp into
the area and start attacking the Catapillars. With the help of your
wingmate destroying the scouts should be a breeze, but be sure to keep
your eyes out for Zoners attacking the Catapillars or the frigate. The
Zoners' Vendetta guns shouldn't pose much of a threat to the ship and
trucks you're protecting, but you should make sure they don't take too
much damage anyway.
=======================================================================
METHANE HYDRATE:
Overview:
This mission pits you in a series of battles against tough ships,
including a bomber, a transport, and Lloyd's modified scout. However
with the help of all four of your wingmates, this mission should be
fairly easy. There is an instant fail condition, but you'd have to be
asleep at the keyboard for it to occur.
Tips:
- By now you should be able to afford the best ship and equipment
available to you, assuming you've taken all the optional missions.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Destroy the Entropol scouts
You'll face several Entropol scouts, but will receive alot of help from
your four wingmen. Destroy them all to trigger a cutscene and the next
mission objective.
Mission Objective: Stop the bomber from blowing up the Methane Hydrate
The Entropol bomber's covered with deadly turrets, but its underbelly
is relatively unprotected, with only a single turret that has
difficulty swiveling downward. Stay below the bomber on its tail end
and shoot upwards at it. The bomber is easier than it normally would be
since its focused on reaching its objective and will not attempt to
dodge your fire or rotate to attack you with its forward mounted Doom
Mortar. Ignore the two scouts escorting the bomber, your wingmates
should take care of them just fine. There is a time limit here, but
it's quite generous and you should generally be able to blow the bomber
before it reaches the Methane Hydrate plant. After the bomber is
destroyed Lloyd will attempt to destroy another Methane Hydrate field
using her own Cape Fear transport/frigate.
Mission Objective: Stop the Cape Fear from blowing up the Methane
Hydrate
Follow the nav points until the Cape Fear and its protective convoy of
five Entropol scouts comes into view. Your wingmen should distract the
scouts for you, so ignore them and fly right up to the Cape Fear's
unprotected rear and blast away with your weapon of choice while
strafing back and forth to avoid any shots from the scouts. After the
Cape Fear blows, Lloyd's personal modified Entropol scout will emerge
from the wreckage to battle you.
Mission Objective: Defeat Kristina Lloyd
Lloyd's scout can be easily spotted by its black hull and glowing red
viewport. Lloyd's the fastest, most manueverable opponent you've faced
yet, and she fires her plasma shots quickly and with incredible
accuracy. However this fight shouldn't be too hard as you only need to
drop her shield energy a little. After losing a couple of bars of
shield energy, Lloyd will radio a parting insult to you before dipoling
out of the area, ending the mission.
=======================================================================
GULF STREAM:
Overview:
This is the final level of the EnTrOx chapter, and quite fittingly
throws quite a lot of stuff at you. Not only will you have to take out
3 bombers while protecting vulnerable structures without any wingmate
backup, but at the very end you'll be thrust into a very tough
dogfight/boss battle against Kristina "Jigsaw Face" Lloyd.
Tips:
- If you're willing to spend the money, Big Bang torpedos can be pretty
helpful here against the heavier enemies. You really should bring at
least one to destroy Lloyd with, as she's an incredibly tough enemy.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Destroy the Entropol scouts
By now blowing up Entropol scouts should be a cakewalk, especially with
Harper's help, so unless you're completely incompetant you should be
able to destroy the three Entropol scouts before they blow up the
turbine.
Mission Objective: Destroy the 3 Entropol bombers before they blow up 3
turbines
Ignore the Old Entropol scouts, Sergei Chang's New Entropol police
scouts will attack some of them, and you should be able to outmanuever
the rest. Follow Sally's nav arrows to find the bombers. As in the
previous mission, the Entropol bombers are most vulnerable from below.
However in this mission you're dealing with a fairly unforgiving time
limit, as the bombers need to be destroyed before they can blow up more
than two turbines. If you use your regular weapons you'll probably
manage the task within the time limit, but barely (losing one or two
turbines in the process). If you're willing to spare the cash, you can
use big bangs to take out the bombers really quick. If  you use a big
bang on each of the first two bombers you can actually destroy them
before they can blow up a single turbine. Also, bombers will stop
attacking the turbines and start attacking you as soon as you start
shooting them, so you can distract the third bomber while wittling away
at its shields with conventional guns.
Once you destroy the last bomber, Lloyd with warp in driving her
modified Entropol scout for the big boss fight.
Mission Objective: Defeat Kristina Lloyd once and for all
Lloyd is, to put it simply, really really hard. She's fast, incredibly
manueverable, shoots rapidly, has great aim, and also has a ton of
shield energy. If you've tried dueling in the Instant Fight, you have a
pretty good idea of how tough and disorienting a one-on-one dogfight
can be in this game, with the opponent zooming around in every
direction. To make matters worse, you can't repair your shields this
early on in the game, so you won't be able to recharge your shields if
you really take a pounding. Lloyd moves too fast for you to lead your
shots if you use the slow moving Plasma Gun or Hitman, so the Vendetta
Gattling is probably the best weapon for this fight since it hits
almost instantly. It's also a good idea to fight Lloyd at medium to
long range since she'll zip around a lot less than if you get close to
her. Even so, you'll have to be an incredible dogfighter to defeat her.
For those of you who aren't flight-sim aces or who are playing with a
mouse instead of a joystick, there is an easier way to beat Lloyd. Just
drive right up to her and blast her with a big bang when she charges at
you and the two of you crash face-to-face. It's a cheap tactic, but
then again she's a cheap opponent. If you don't have a big bang or miss
with the one you do have, another way to defeat Lloyd is to lure her
into one of the spinning turbine blades. The side which doesn't spit
out air bubbles has a suction effect, and sometimes Lloyd will be
caught in it if you keep the turbine between you and her as long as
she's on the suction end.
After Lloyd is dead you can breath a sign of relief. This will be the
last dogfight-style "boss" battle you'll ever have to face, unless of
course you play the Instant Fight and go up against Freeman, the
fightclub, or the Unknown Crawler.
***************************
*Chapter 3 (Tornado Zone):*
***************************
=======================================================================
SEISMOBOMB:
Overview:
The hardest part of this optional mission is finding the Seismobomb
(it's inside the city, don't waste hours searching the oceanbed for
it). After that, you'll have a fairly simple fight against three enemy
scouts (you do have to protect a couple of transports, but you won't
fail instantly if one of them is destroyed, and the enemies will
usually forget about attacking the transports as soon as you start
shooting them).
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Locate the Seismobomb
The Seismobomb you're looking for is a treasure-chest shaped object
inside the city, within a reddish area behind a silo with a large
spinning fan on top. You'll have to actually fly your craft between the
buildings to find it. Once you reach the Seismobomb, Sally will take
care of it from there in a cutscene, after which you'll be sent to deal
with the bomb makers themselves.
Mission Objective: Defeat the Terror Tourists
The three terror tourists are driving Federation scouts, and unlike the
drunken architectural student from before they'll actually use the full
abilities of their crafts. The Federation scouts are the most
annoyingly quick and manueverable ships you've faced yet, and like the
Bionts their thin wedge-shape makes them difficult to hit. To top it
off you're also supposed to protect the transports they're attacking.
First of all, shoot each of the terror tourists a couple of times to
get them to attack you rather than the transports, then proceed to
shoot it out with them as best as you can. Their leader Druid is
equipped with a plasma gun, while the other two sport Vendetta guns.
Because the Federation scouts move quickly and rarely stay still, this
fight can take a while as your enemies can be difficult to hit. After
taking enough damage each ship will warp out of the area. Although King
says he'll give you a bonus for ever enemy you kill, whether or not the
enemy ships escape or are destroyed actually has no effect on your
payment after the mission, so don't worry to much about it.
=======================================================================
SANTIAGO:
Overview:
This mission ties-in with the original Archimedean Dynasty, in which
you defeated Boris Santiago, the previous Warlord of the Tornado Zone.
The last of Santiago's followers are holed up in a cluster of habitats
in the Tornado Zone canyons, and the new Warlord Iwan King wants your
help in flushing them out. This level is divided into two parts: the
first being an easy battle against defense turrets, the second being a
less easy  but still not all that difficult shootout where you need to
protect an allied transport from many hostile TZ scouts for several
minutes. Battling Santiago's forces is much easier than the initial
fight against Van Der Waal's Entropol in Code Books, so if you managed
to complete that mission you shouldn't have any trouble with this one.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Disable the Turret defenses around Santiago's
habitat area
The stronghold of Santiago's followers consists of several habitat
buildings, each one protected by a pair of turret guns powered by a
blue, box-shaped power-relay. Destroying the turrets one by one is
impractical, instead you should seek out and destroy the relays thus
shutting down the two turrets connected to that relay. While you and
your wingmates are engaging the turrets, a couple of hostile Tornado
Zone scouts will be floating through the area, but they won't engage
you directly unless you approach them. As soon as all the turrets have
been destroyed or disabled, Sally will inform you that Iwan King is
sending a transport into the area to round up Santiago's supporters
from the habitats.
Mission Objective: Protect the transport from Santiago's scouts
As soon as the transport enters the area, several Tornado Zone scouts
piloted by Santiago's men will emerge and start shooting at the
transport. They're armed only with weak Vendetta guns, but the
transport starts out at only 50% shield energy and thus it is quite
possible for it to be destroyed. To prevent this, you need to find all
the hostile scouts and hit each of them with a few shots to get them to
start chasing you. The scouts attack from long range and it can be
difficult to see them through the fog of war, so you might have to look
for bullet tracers hitting the transport and follow them back to their
source. You'll complete the mission once the transport finally leaves
the area.
=======================================================================
CRAWLER:
Overview:
This is your first encounter with the mysterious Crawlers, the game's
penultimate antagonists. Although you'll destroy a few Crawler scouts,
this is mostly a plot-exposition mission where you'll meet the big bad
guys and almost get obliterated by them, making you more eager for your
inevitable revenge at the end of the game when you're much more
powerful and ready to kick their asses (console RPGs love to do this by
having the big baddy squash you early in the game so you'll look
forward to squashing him later on).
Tips:
- Despite the fact they're the game's main enemies, the Crawlers really
aren't that tough. Crawler scouts are slower and much less annoying
than Federation scouts, and are actually almost as easy to hit as TZ
scouts or Entropol scouts. They don't even have all that impressive
weapons, sticking mostly to Plasma 2 guns and the occasional Vendetta
gattling. Although Crawler scouts have a little more shield energy than
most other scout types, they don't have nearly as much as fully powered
Bionts (who you will meet later on).
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Search for the Crawler presence
Follow the nav points as they come up while listening to the spooked
radio chatter from your wingmates. When you reach the final nav point
and DeGrange tells you your wings have regrouped and are waiting for
you, search the area near the nav point for Crawler catapillars. Blow
up a couple of them and your should provoke a couple of Crawler scouts
to pop out of the ocean floor and attack. Destroy the scouts to trigger
a cutscene.
Mission Objective: Flee from the Crawler fleet
After the cutscene you'll be thrust into the middle of the Crawler
fleet, consisting of a frigate, a couple of bombers, and a whole bunch
of scouts. There's no way you'll be able to take on such a large enemy
force with your current armaments, so just dodge around and try to stay
alive until King and Velasquez give the order to retreat. Use turbo to
speed to safety, following the nav points through the canyon as they
come up. Ignore any Crawler tanks along the way that might shoot at
you, and focus on getting to the last nav point at the end of the
canyon.
Mission Objective: Hold out until the Crawlers retreat
Your wingmates are waiting for you at the last nav point, along with a
handful of Crawler scouts. Help your wings destroy the scouts and
you'll receive a radio transmission saying the Crawlers are retreating,
thus ending the mission.
=======================================================================
BRAINFIRE:
Overview:
This is your first encounter with the Federation's top secret Brainfire
research station around which the game's main plot revolves. The
mission is divided into two parts, in which you and your wingmates
defend Brainfire from both the Crawlers and your old nemesis Creole's
Tornado Zoner forces. Both enemy forces come in managable numbers, and
neither of them is a credible threat to Brainfire, so this mission
should be a cakewalk.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Defend Brainfire from the Crawlers
Brainfire has a huge amount of shields, so you really don't need to
worry too much about it being destroyed. Just take your time blowing up
the Crawler ships and concentrate on keeping your own ass alive. The
Crawler bomber might give you trouble since it's armed with a railgun-
like Sizzler that can knock out large chunks of your shields, so try to
blow it up first (circle strafing usually works well). Ignore Sally's
complaints about Sool's Federation scouts retreating from the battle
for repairs, your wingmen are all the backup you need for this fight.
If you shields start to drop in the red, go ahead and flee from the
battle to regenerate. Brainfire and your wingmates will do fine without
you.
Mission Objective: Stop Creole from attacking Brainfire
As soon as all the Crawlers are dead, Sool's men will return just in
time to see the end of the battle. The mission's not over yet, though.
Your old enemy and troublemaker Creole will warp in with his frigate
(armed with Vendetta Gattling turrets) and several Tornado Zoner
scouts. Ignore the scouts and attack the frigate with whatever weapon
you want. As I said before, Brainfire is tough enough so that you
really don't have to worry about it being destroying (especially by the
Zoner's dinky little Vendetta guns). You can either take your time
attacking Creole's frigate or finish it off quickly with a big bang. In
either case, Creole will retreat as soon as his shield energy drops
below 50%, ending the mission.
=======================================================================
THE BUOY:
Overview:
This is surprisingly relaxed for the end-of-chapter mission. Sure,
there are a couple of "protect the weak target or instantly fail"
objectives, but they're not nearly as annoying as elsewhere in the
game, mostly because you won't be facing all that many enemies. Enjoy
blasting the relatively easy Crawlers, because in the next chapter
you'll be going up against the really tough Federation scouts.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Protect the Techbombers from the Crawlers
The mission begins with two Techbombers being attacked by a couple of
Crawler scouts. As usual, shoot the enemy ships a couple of times to
get them to attack you instead the ships you're trying to protect. You
and your wingmates should make quick work of the two scouts, triggering
the next objective.
Mission Objective: Destroy the junk so the techbombers can dock
Another scrap shooting mission. You've got a time limit on this one,
though, as you have to destroy the scrap before the Crawlers arrive in
force and destroy the Techbombers. To top it off, a couple of Crawler
scouts will warp into the area and attack while you're busy trying to
clean the scrap. Your wingmen should deal with the Crawlers, so just
ignore them and concentrate to finding and blowing up all the scrap.
Sally will inform you when this has been accomplished.
Mission Objective: Battle the Crawlers until Brainfire is ready to
launch the buoy
As soon as the techbombers dock with Brainfire, a large number of
Crawler scouts will warp into the area. Concentrate on staying alive
while destroying as many enemies as possible until Sally tells you
Brainfire's ready to launch the buoy. Immedietely head for the nav
point as soon as it appears to begin the next part of the mission.
Mission Objective: Protect the buoy while it heads for the surface
As soon as the buoy launches, follow it. Creole will once again jump in
with his flagship, this time attempting to shoot down the buoy. There
are no Crawler or Zoner scouts in this part of the mission, you only
have to worry about the frigate. Pound Creole's shields down to 50% as
quickly as possible (a big bang is a great help here, although your
guns works just as well) and he should be forced to warp away before
doing any damage. From there the buoy should be clear, so you can just
sit back and wait for your new orders.
Mission Objective: Wipe out the remaining Crawlers
Go back down to Brainfire and mop up the remaining Crawlers. If the
mission still doesn't end even when there apparently aren't any
Crawlers left, search the seabed to see if you missed one of the
Crawler tanks. Sometimes they get stuck in the holes on the ocean
floor.
**********************************
*Chapter 4 (Atlantic Federation):*
**********************************
=======================================================================
COURIER:
Overview:
The final optional mission that pits you against hostile Tornado Zoner
scouts, who should be insignificant gnats to your mighty sub-o-death
this late into the game. Even the Tornado Zone bomber that comes after
you is sucky, and although you're supposed to prevent vulnerable
structures from being destroyed, the enemy weapons are so ineffective
that you never have to worry about this actually happening.
Tips:
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Check out Zoner activity at scrapyards
Listen to the radio chatter between Brewmeister and Mike, and
eventually you'll be told to check out some Tornado Zoners hanging
around at the scrap yard. Follow the nav point, but once you reach the
scrap yard you'll find out the Tornado Zoner scouts are just non-
hostile scavengers looking for useful junk. However, you'll soon
receive a radio message that several hostile Zoners are attacking the
habitat, so follow the new nav point back to the habitat for the big
fight.
Mission Objective: Protect Helinox containers from Zoner pirates
The Zoner pirate force consists of several scouts led by a Tornado Zone
bomber. The bomber is apparently piloted by a Star Wars fan named
Darklander (get it?), but is armed with only average shields and a
Vendetta gattling and should be easily defeated this far into the game.
The scouts are just as easy, but you do have to make sure they don't
blow up any Helinox containers.
=======================================================================
COUP BEGINS:
Overview:
The first plot-related mission of the chapter pits you against
Federation forces from Admiral Cox's fleet who are rebelling against
the power-mad, neo-fascist New Line government. Dispite the face that
he's got the moral high ground and is also one of your main buddies
from the original Archimedean Dynasty, Cox's rebellion is causing
political chaos and you'll have to shut him down for his own good. Cox
and his men are good guys, attempting to disable rather than destroy
you, and you should try to return the favor. Of course, when you
actually play this mission you might feel less generous towards Cox's
men, as they fly the super-annoying Federation scouts, an annoyance
topped off by the fact that you have to defeat all enemy ships to end
the mission. Throw in unusually lazy wingmates and a particularly
difficult "protect-the-weak-target-or-instantly-fail" scenario, and you
end up with a mission that can be really agrivating.
Tips:
- Since Cox's Federation rebels are still "good guys", they'll only use
EMP weapons against you. EMP attacks can't kill you. Once your EMP
shields reach zero, they'll start recharging and will be restored to
full within a few seconds. During those few seconds you'll be unable to
move or shoot, however.
- Cox's Federation scouts are the most agile ships you've faced yet, so
it'll be difficult to hit them properly with the slow firing EMPactor's
primary fire. The EMPactor's secondary fire does less damage, but fires
rapidly and thus is preferable for hitting the fast moving scouts. EMP
torpedos are not recommended since the scouts are pretty good at faking
them out with beacons.
- If you're having trouble against Cox's Federation scouts, go ahead
and blow them up with normal weapons. Feralli will chew you out at the
end of the mission, but you'll still get paid the same amount of money
and the outcome won't affect any of your future missions or the
reactions of NPCs towards you.
- Your wingmates are surprisingly ineffective during this mission.
They'll disable some of the enemy scouts, but will completely ignore
many of them leaving you to deal with them yourself.
Walkthrough:
Mission Objective: Destroy the communication dishes at the radio
broadcaster
You can immedietely complete the mission objective by destroying the
two com dishes right off the bat, but this is a VERY bad idea as the
initial enemy ships will still be around to bother you on top of the
new enemy ships that warp in after the dishes are destroyed. Instead,
disable the rebel bomber and scouts around the communications center
before destroying the dishes.
Mission Objective: Prevent the Techbomber from being disabled
As soon as the dishes are destroyed, Sally will inform you that a
techbomber will arrive shortly to retake the station. Several rebel
scouts will arrive soon afterwards. Dogfight them as they come, but
keep in mind that your main concern should be to watch out for the
techbomber. While it finally arrives and docks, Sally will tell you
that a pair of rebel scouts have started to attack the broadcasting
station. This is a mistranslation, in reality these two scouts are
attacking the techbomber, and you must prevent them from disabling it
or else you'll fail the mission (this can be annoying since the
techbomber doesn't last long against EMP shots). You don't need to
disable the attacking scouts, just keep them occupied long enough for
the techbomber to retreat from the battlefield. Sally won't tell you
when this happens, but you should be able to notice when the techbomber
is finally gone.
Mission Objective: Disable or destroy all remaining rebel ships
Once the techbomber is gone, you still need to disable all the
remaining rebel scouts before you can finish the mission. Don't expect
any help from your wingmates, as they will simply sit there twiddling
their thumbs. Taking out all the Federation scouts may take a while,
but since the enemy can't actually kill you it should only be a matter
of time.
=======================================================================
VASTIAN GREIGH:
Overview:
This small optional mission puts you in the role of bodyguard to
Vastian Greigh, a grumpy and very unpleasant CEO who ends up getting
attacked on the way to work by disgruntled ex-employees. Although the
map is small and you only have a total of six enemies to fight, those
enemies are driving Federation scouts making them really tough to take
down. To top it off you also have to prevent the destruction of both