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___ ____ __ __ ____ __ __ __
// \\ || ||\ || || (( \ || (( \
(( ___ ||== ||\\|| ||== \\ || \\
\\_|| ||___ || \|| ||___ \_)) || \_))
&******************************************************************************8
- Intro -
&******************************************************************************8
'Sup. No one likes scrolling through paragraphs of text that have nothing to do
with what they're looking for so let's get a few things out of the way. 1) This
is my 1st guide so don't be a jerk. 2) I have an SDTV and bad eyes so excuuuuse
me if there are some spelling/numerical errors. 3) I'd like to be notified of
errors in this guide, as well as discovered bugs, glitches, cheats, etc., I will
update the guide if enough people message me regarding the subject as I can't
trust just 1 source most of the time. My e-mail address is
[email protected]. 4) No, there is nothing in this guide that will help
with online play save for scant pieces of common knowledge. No, I cannot help
you with online play, and that's CAN not, not WILL not. Even if I had internet
access at my home I am not currently, have never been, nor ever will be, a
subscriber to Xbox Live's gold service lest it is either free or very close to
it. That's enough of that, you came here for answers, and answers thou shalt
receive!
&******************************************************************************8
- Table of Contents -
&******************************************************************************8
Use CTRL + F and copy/paste the [TAG] to find the section you're looking for.
Sections referenced in other parts of the guide will be in parentheses instead
of brackets so that searches go only to either the intended section or table of
contents only, the parentheses do not indicate a different section to be
searched for so just replace them with brackets.
I - Basic Knowledge & Tips [I]
- Controls [BKC]
- Pause Menu [BKP]
- Quickview Menu [BKQ]
- Pilot Sub-Menu [QP]
- Zone Map [QZ]
- Ship Sub-Menu [QSH]
- Sentients Sub-Menu [QSE]
- Shift Platforms [QSP]
- Mission Sub-Menu [QM]
- Radar & Minimap [BKR]
- Achievement List [BKA]
- Miscellaneous Knowledge [BKM]
II - Walkthrough/Optimal Paths & Techniques [II]
- Prometheus Station [WPS]
- Commandeer, it's a Nautical Term [WNT]
- Hidden Arsenal [WHA]
- Smuggling Ships and Other Impossibilities [WSS]
- The Fantastic 5 [WFF]
- Finding Identity [WFI]
III - Main Story Missions [III]
- Old Friends, New Enemies [MS1]
- Hunter and Hunted [MS2]
- Undercover [MS3]
- War and Pieces [MS4]
- Sacrifice [MS5]
- Captured [MS6]
- Retribution [MS7]
- All Good Things [MS8]
IV - Faction Information [IV]
V - Consortium of Free Traders Story Missions [V]
- What's Mine is Yours [CSM1]
- Special Delivery [CSM2]
- Breaking the Code [CSM3]
- They Will Pay [CSM4]
- Throwing Rocks [CSM5]
- Impressment [CSM6]
- Unfinished Business [CSM7]
- The Last Stand [CSM8]
- A Good Cussing Out [CSM9]
VI - Sunshadow Syndicate Story Missions [VI]
- Initiation [SSM1]
- Let's Make a Deal [SSM2]
- The Lucky Charm [SSM3]
- Odd Job [SSM4]
- Break [SSM5]
- Skin of Your Teeth [SSM6]
- The Rat [SSM7]
- Ouroboros [SSM8]
- What Goes Around [SSM9]
VII - Praetoriate Fleet Story Missions [VII]
- The Blue Line [PSM1]
- On the Job [PSM2]
- Breaking Heads [PSM3]
- Dirty [PSM4]
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished [PSM5]
- Dead or Alive [PSM6]
- Unwelcome Discoveries [PSM7]
- Interdiction [PSM8]
- Razing Sunshadow Bay [PSM9]
VIII - Dominion of Allied Planets Story Missions [VIII]
- Shakedown [DSM1]
- Without Warning [DSM2]
- Reciprocity [DSM3]
- Casus Belli [DSM4]
- A Bad Taste [DSM5]
- Fight and Flight [DSM6]
- Unwanted Guests [DSM7]
- Recon [DSM8]
- A Nest of Vipers [DSM9]
IX - Revenant Order Story Missions [IX]
- A Test of Faith [OSM1]
- Inquiry [OSM2]
- Divine Wrath [OSM3]
- Heathens [OSM4]
- A Plague of Unbelievers [OSM5]
- A Question of Blasphemy [OSM6]
- Apostate [OSM7]
- Heratic [OSM8]
- Shug [OSM9]
X - Side Missions [X]
- Standard Side Missions [SM]
- Spy Mission Walkthrough [SPY]
- Upgrades Title Listing [UTL]
- Military Warzone Side Missions [WSM]
XI - Preset Side Missions [XI]
XII - Consortium Preset Side Missions [XII]
- Consortium Asteria [CPA]
- Consortium Erebus [CPE]
- Consortium Leviathan [CPL]
- Consortium The Graveyard [CPG]
- Consortium The Tempest [CPTT]
- Consortium Solaria [CPS]
- Consortium Tartarus [CPT]
- Consortium The Crucible [CPC]
- Consortium Shadowrift [CPR]
XIII - Syndicate Preset Side Missions [XIII]
- Syndicate Asteria [SPA]
- Syndicate Erebus [SPE]
- Syndicate Leviathan [SPL]
- Syndicate The Graveyard [SPG]
- Syndicate The Tempest [SPTT]
- Syndicate Solaria [SPS]
- Syndicate Tartarus [SPT]
- Syndicate The Crucible [SPC]
- Syndicate Shadowrift [SPR]
XIV - Praetorian Preset Side Missions [XIV]
- Praetorian Asteria [PPA]
- Praetorian Erebus [PPE]
- Praetorian Leviathan [PPL]
- Praetorian The Graveyard [PPG]
- Praetorian The Tempest [PPTT]
- Praetorian Solaria [PPS]
- Praetorian Tartarus [PPT]
- Praetorian The Crucible [PPC]
- Praetorian Shadowrift [PPR]
XV - Dominion Preset Side Missions [XV]
- Dominion Asteria [DPA]
- Dominion Erebus [DPE]
- Dominion Leviathan [DPL]
- Dominion The Graveyard [DPG]
- Dominion The Tempest [DPTT]
- Dominion Solaria [DPS]
- Dominion Tartarus [DPT]
- Dominion The Crucible [DPC]
- Dominion Shadowrift [DPR]
XVI - Order Preset Side Missions [XVI]
- Order Asteria [OPA]
- Order Erebus [OPE]
- Order Leviathan [OPL]
- Order The Graveyard [OPG]
- Order The Tempest [OPTT]
- Order Solaria [OPS]
- Order Tartarus [OPT]
- Order The Crucible [OPC]
- Order Shadowrift [OPR]
XVII - Warzone Mission Guide [XVI]
- Basic Mission Progression and Rewards [WZNP]
- Important Mission Elements and Interaction [WZNE]
- Basic Mission Zone Layout and Contents [WZNZ]
XVIII - Legion Invaision Mission Guide [XVIII]
- Basic Mission Progression and Rewards [LRP]
- Important Mission Elements and Interaction [LRE]
- Basic Mission Zone Layout and Contents [LRZ]
XIX - Ark Raid Mission Guide [XIX]
- Stealthly Blitzkrieg [ARS]
- Clay Tok [ARC]
- Forks in the Road [ARF]
- Path of the Dead [ARD]
- Path of Knowledge [ARK]
- Path of Darkness [ARP]
- Hall of Mirrors [ARH]
- The Ark [ARA]
XX - Mad Skillz (Pilot Skills List & Ratings) [XX]
- Base Skills [MSB]
- Faction Skills [MSF]
- Consortium Skills [MSC]
- Syndicate Skills [MSS]
- Praetorian Skills [MSP]
- Undercover Glitch: Eugene [MSUG]
- Military Skills [MSM]
XXI - Challenge List & Recommendations [XXI]
- Exploration Challenges [CLE]
- Mission Challenges [CLMI]
- Combat Challenges [CLCO]
- Weapon Challenges [CLW]
- Acquisition Challenges [CLA]
- Consortium Challenges [CLC]
- Praetorian Challenges [CLP]
- Syndicate Challenges [CLS]
- Military Challenges [CLM]
- Sentient Challenges [CLSE]
XXII - Sentient Information Guide [XXII]
- Sentient Rarity [SIR]
- Tank Sentient, and Ability Evaluation [SIT]
- DPS Sentient, and Ability Evaluation [SID]
- Healer Sentient, and Ability Evaluation [SIH]
- Shared Sentient Ability Evaluation [SIS]
XXIII - Weapons: Statistics and Recommendations [XXIII]
- Weapon Type Analysis [WTA]
- Statistics Intro [WSI]
- Consortium Weapons [WC]
- Syndicate Weapons [WS]
- Praetorian Weapons [WP]
- Dominion Weapons [WD]
- Order Weapons [WO]
- PVP Weapons [WP]
- Warzone Weapons [WW]
- Legion Raid Weapons [WL]
- Ark Raid Weapons [WA]
- Bonus Weapons [WB]
- Weapon Recommendations [WR]
XXIV - Ship Statistics [XXIV]
- Consortium Ships [SC]
- Syndicate Ships [SS]
- Praetorian Ships [SP]
- Dominion Ships [SD]
- Order Ships [SO]
XXV - Clarifications, Disclaimers, & Miscellaneous Info [XXV]
- Miscellaneous Info [MI]
- Clarifications/Disclaimers [CD]
- Credits and Legal Information [CI]
General Tips:
Equipping 3+ weapons/sentients on a ship with 3 or less weapon slots.
This glitch will allow you to equip more weapons/sentients on ships than should
be allowed and it is executed thusly:
Step 1) - Simply purchase or commandeer a ship with 3 or more weapon slots.
Step 2) - Equip the ship with the desired weapons/sentients.
Step 3) - Dock at Alpha Station in the Asteria zone & change factions.
...And Voila! Goodbye Becky (the starting mining ship) will have 3 - 4
weapons/setients equipped simultaneously! This will apply to other ships but
you'll need to be aware of some things. First of all, whatever your default ship
is in any given faction you (re)join is the one that will have the
weapons/sentients equipped, and trying to switch ships/buy weapons/sentients
will likely result in load outs being reset. You can also manually un-equip
weapons/sentients in slot C/D, but cannot equip anything to replace something
currently assigned to it if your ship has 3 or less weapon slots. Results are
inconsistent but tend to more often than not make any sentients in slots C/D be
equipped, (unless it's slot C and you're in a heavy fighter of course). This
will allow you to utilize their passive bonuses, but they won't fly around the
ship and attack. Weapons in slot C/D however appear to equip with no problem.
Note: Although more items are being equipped to ships than should be possible,
they are still displayed normally in the list of weapons/sentients and will not
result in you going beyond the 15 weapon/sentient limit. This means you
shouldn't have to worry about valuable items disappearing if you buy/acquire new
weapons/sentients because your inventory will never exceed the assigned limit,
which would likely cause it to glitch.
____
`MM'
MM
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_MM_
- Basic Knowledge & Tips -
[I]
While this section does contain features like basic controls, I highly recommend
those who are new to the game to look over this section because there is vital
information that you need to be made aware of. Even if you're not new to the
game but don't know everything about the interface will likely need to stop and
take a look because there are some things that not even the game will tell you.
&******************************************************************************8
- Controls [BKC] -
&******************************************************************************8
"A" button - Mapped Skill/(Default function is the "Use" command). When
navigating menus this serves as the button you use to select options or menus.
"B" button - Mapped Skill/(Default function is the Afterburner skill) When
navigating menus this serves as the button you use to cancel an option or exit
out to a previous menu
"X" button - Mapped Skill
"Y" button - Mapped Skill/(Default function is a zone map shortcut).
Left Analog Stick - Fly/Move
Right Analog Stick - Fire Weapon (fires in the direction you point the analog
stick. Beams and missiles must be locked on before they can be fired).
L3/Left analog stick button - Boost/Sub-light (you do not need to hold the
analog stick button down, the boost is toggled).
R3/Right analog stick button - Unused
Left Bumper/Shoulder Button - Unused
Right Bumper/Shoulder Button - Drop mines/autoguns
Left Trigger - Sentient Lock-on
Right Trigger - Weapon Lock-on (for beams and missiles)
Back/Select Button - Quickview menu(s)
Start Button - Pause Menu (Figuratively speaking, the game doesn't actually
pause.
Some of these will require a little more information but the Quickview menu
might as well have its own damn encyclopedia. Seriously, Starfire really dropped
the ball by failing to effectively provide a comprehensive rundown of its many
functions. It would be an inexcusable travesty for me not to share my knowledge,
but I'm going to start with some noteworthy aspects regarding the pause menu
first. Don't worry though, I'll describe the Quickview menu immediately
afterwards.
&******************************************************************************8
- Pause Menu [BKM] -
&******************************************************************************8
The two things you're most likely to use the pause menu for are selecting
special missions and changing settings. Selecting settings within the Help &
Options tab will let you adjust audio settings, but there's no restore defaults
option, you've been warned. The Safe Area settings let you shift certain
on-screen elements closer to the edges so that they don't obstruct your view too
much.
The How to Play tab is riddled with incomplete information. The Controls section
(which incidentally was already provided a tab) fails to include the boost
command, the Quickview section barely scratches the surface of its various
functions, Onscreen display fails to explain the curved bars next to sentient
and pilot skills, (they represent the cooldown time/how much more energy is
needed to use it, whichever is needed most at the time), and lastly the icon
glossary only lists those that are either unimportant or easily deduced, failing
to include weapon classification icons, radar icons, and/or buff icons.
The More Options tab includes some online options, the ability to turn off the
radar ring (though why you would want to do such a thing is beyond me),
something called Starfield which I must confess I have no clue about, and camera
options. The Camera is set overhead by default, provides an equal view in all
directions, and is the most useful for gameplay. Overhead + Look Ahead provides
the same view as the previous one but also looks in front of the ship slightly
but it's not that great. Fixed Angle gives you a 45 degree view that lets you
view certain visual elements that would otherwise have been obstructed by the
default setup. Tilt might as well have been titled "Vomit Inducer" as it's
practically upside-down half the time and very disorienting. The game's
practically unplayable with that option. Lastly, the Lazy setting is one of the
more unique ones since it has a 45 degree angle like Fixed Angle, but unlike it
and the two overhead views, its orientation isn't fixed. Instead, Lazy follows
directly behind the player's ship, providing new perspectives of well-known
zones. I highly recommend switching to the Lazy setting once you've completed
a significant portion of the game and can cruise lazily around without fear
because the altered perspective lets you really take in the sights.
The left side of the pause menu includes the galaxy map (which is also
accessible from the quickview menu), online social options, and the special
missions tab. Special missions can be initiated at almost any time and include
military warzones, Dark Legion invasion missions (more commonly referred to as
Legion Raids), and the Ark (more commonly referred to as Ark Raids. Military
warzones become available almost as soon as you join the Revenant Order or
Dominion of Allied Planets, Ark Raids are unlocked after completing all the main
story missions, but it's not quite clear to me when Legion Raids become
unlocked. All are explored in greater detail in later parts of the guide.
&******************************************************************************8
- Quickview Menu [BKQ] -
&******************************************************************************8
I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that this is the heart of the
game and a make-or-break aspect that was clearly broken, as evidenced by the
game's low notoriety and sales (though the less than significant marketing
didn't help either). The information supplied in the Help & Options section
barely scratches the surface of what you need to know to be successful, and
it's the reason I'm guessing a lot of people didn't bother with the game after
playing the free trial. But fear not! For I have the answers you seek! Though if
you would like a video presentation, there is at least one tutorial video on
Youtube that can be helpful. However, since its creator failed to respond to my
message, I will not be posting a link since I was unable to get permission. So
if you're the type that likes a visual look at what you need to know, search for
it. For those of you who prefer text to fancy-pants videos (and to cover my aft
if the video is removed for one reason or another) I've got you covered there
too.
We'll begin from the top-left, work our way right, go to the bottom-left and
work our way right again. To navigate through the menus you have to hold the
left analog stick to select a menu tile and press "A" to see more of it. Since
the game's Help & Options section already describes the first set of menus I
won't bother listing it here, especially since most of it is either easily
deduced or has more significant meaning/functionality after being selected.
One thing I will explain here is that any time a menu tile is flashing it means
that there's something new you can do in that tile. For the Pilot Sub-Menu it
means you've acquired a base/faction point that's capable of being assigned. For
the ship menu it means you've acquired an upgrade and/or new weapon (although
the upgrades tile will flash regardless of which one it is). Lastly, the
sentients menu will flash when your sentients have unassigned
skill/stat/attribute points, and/or when you've acquired a new sentient.
&******************************************************************************8
- Pilot Sub-Menu [QP] -
&******************************************************************************8
The Pilot Sub-menu is all about you and your growth as a character. (Small
interjectory note: you can exceed 999,999 credits.) Starting from the top-right
(because the top-left is the same as the tile you just selected to enter this
menu) is the Pilot Skills menu. The Skills button will automatically be
highlighted when you press "A" on this tile, but move around with the left
analog stick and you can highlight the skills assigned to each button. By
pressing "A" you can cycle through the skills capable of being assigned, along
with the multipurpose "Use" command and a zone map shortcut. You have to have
the "Use" command bound to at least one button, but the zone map is pretty
useless since the mini-map displays enemies in a wide area and you can select
the map from the first set of tiles in the Quickview menu anyway. It's good to
have on hand in the early parts of the game when you want to get your bearrings
but you'll definitely want to replace it with a skill once you know the basic
layout of the zones. Want to know what skills you've got or how to get a new
one? Select that skills button I mentioned earlier and I'll tell you what you
need to know.
Skills are divided into Base skills and faction skills. Base skills are made
more effective by assigning base points to them. Base points are awarded every
time you level up, 1 per level, just highlight the skill and press "A" to put a
point in it. You cannot put more than 25 points into any given skill. Faction
skills become available after joining a particular faction and completing one of
their story missions. Again, the skills are made more effective the more points
you put into a skill, points are awarded upon completing faction story missions,
and no more than 5 points can be assigned to a given skill. You can, however,
put faction points earned from one faction into another factions skill since the
points are universal. Lastly, Military skills are shared between the Order and
Dominion, so joining either faction will unlock that set of skills. For a more
detailed look at the skills and recommendations on what to get, see section VIII
of this guide.
The third quadrant/bottom-left tile includes challenges you can complete, which
are unlocked when you fulfill the criteria for a challenge in a given category.
Press "A" to select the tile, scroll through to the category whose challenges
you wish to view, and press "A" again to view them. For a full list of
challenges and recommendations on the best methods for completing them see
section IX of the guide.
The last tile is the Squadron tile, which allows you to change multiplayer
social settings and presumably create/join a group of players.
&******************************************************************************8
- Zone Map [QZ] -
&******************************************************************************8
Nothing more than its title says, it's just a map of the zone you're currently
occupying.
&******************************************************************************8
- Ship Sub-Menu [QSH] -
&******************************************************************************8
The first quadrant/top-left tile is a list of your weapons and sentients, the
maximum total being 15 (Though you can't have more than 5 sentients).
Weapons/sentients with small circles before their names are currently equipped.
Press "A" when a weapon/sentient is highlighted and use the left analog stick to
toggle between options, then press "A" again to select that option. You can
replace an equipped item without losing it (this is standard in like 99% of
games but the clarification is important since the same function is glitched in
another tile).
The second quadrant/top-right tile cannot be selected, but highlighting it will
display your ship's current statistics, which are modified by skills, upgrades,
and equipped sentients.
The third quadrant/bottom-left tile is where upgrades are stored. There are
three different types of upgrades: ship, weapon, and ability, and all have the
same basic features. After selecting the tile you can scroll through acquired
upgrades or use the left/right triggers to display a different upgrade type.
Once again, equipped upgrades will have a small circle before their titles and
you can have a maximum of 2 equipped in each category simultaneously. This can
include two upgrades with the same effect, and the number of upgrades capable of
being stored/equipped is the same for every ship from every faction. (You will
also be able to pick up dropped upgrades even if your cargo hold is full, due to
the fact that upgrades do not take up cargo space.) Like weapon slots, it
doesn't matter what upgrade is assigned to a given slot, though when after
exiting the ship tile upgrades in slot A will be listed at the top, and upgrades
in slot B will be just below it.
Pressing "A" on a highlighted upgrade will let you choose to un-equip it, place
it in slot A/B, or desynthesize it. Although you can choose to replace an
already equipped upgrade, I strongly recommend that you don't. Upgrades can
sometimes fail to de-equip the one they're supposed to be replacing, and though
the event is uncommon it will most certainly delete one, or possibly more
upgrades from your inventory. You can prevent this when you see more than two
upgrades equipped by de-equipping all of them and selecting the two you want.
But it's tedious to scroll up and down to make sure no more than two upgrades
are equipped, so I advise manually un-equipping upgrades. Although even this
method is glitched, it's easier to see when there's a problem because you can
tell if an upgrade has been successfully unequipped because equipped upgrades
are filled in light blue while empty slots are left empty and a darker blue.
Plus, you'll know exactly which upgrade is effected, just equip it, and un-equip
it again and the slot should be empty like normal.
The desynthesize option is the only way to get rid of unwanted upgrades since
they cannot be sold. Desynthesizing upgrades instantly provides you with green
crystals for ship upgrades, red crystals for weapon upgrades, and yellow
crystals for ability upgrades, (the amount yielded is shown at the bottom-left
of the mini-menu displaying the upgrade's function). I don't know what the limit
is for the number of upgrades because given the aforementioned glitch I didn't
want to risk exceeding any undefined limit like the item containers in The
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I'd recommend keeping no more than around 10
upgrades or so and desynthasizing unwanted ones at your earliest convenience
just to be on the safe side.
The last tile is the cargo tile which shows the various useless knick-knacks
you've picked up, how much room they're taking up, and your total number of
credits.Selecting the sell now/sell all options will allow you to sell the
cargo item(s) without docking provided you have a sentient with at least 1 point
in the Trading skill equipped.
&******************************************************************************8
- Sentients Sub-Menu [QSE] -
&******************************************************************************8
The left half displays equipped sentients and weapons, though with less
information regarding the latter. The bottom-right tile displays the total
number of each crystal you have, and lets you toggle Auto-Feed on or off. I
highly recommend you turn it off for reasons I'll explain later in this section.
Lastly, the top-right tile is a list of your sentients, press "A" on a
highlighted one to open up yet another set of tiles.
The first quadrant/top-left tile displays the sentient's level, mood, equipment
status, and icons of abilities currently mapped to the D-pad. Sentient mood can
be toggled between defensive, aggressive, and passive with each changing all
sentient behaviors, not just the one you're currently viewing. Defensive is the
default setting with sentients attacking but not leaving your side. Aggressive
is the same for all but the DPS sentient which will fly around and pursue
enemies, making it easier for it's pulse weapon to hit targets (Though also
potentially making it more difficult to activate its abilities. Passive prevents
your sentients from attacking altogether and is mandatory when sentients are
equipped and you want to use the undercover skill for stealth purposes.
The second quadrant/top-right tile lists the sentient's skills and assignable
skill points. Pressing "A" while a skill is highlighted, then pressing "A" again
will let you assign a skill point to a given ability (the maximum number of
points capable of being assigned is 8). Pressing "A" while a skill is
highlighted, then pulling back on the left analog stick will then let you toggle
where a skill is assigned on the D-pad. Abilities without this option are
usually passive and active at all times.
The third quadrant/bottom-left tile displays the sentient's stats/attributes.
Attribute points may be assigned to one of four categories: damage, speed,
armor, and shield which increases your weapon damage, speed, hull, and shield
strength respectively. Though I don't recommend putting as many points in armor
compared to shields since the pilot skill "Increase Defense", in spite of what
its description states, only increases hull strength. Pulling the left/right
trigger will allow you to view the sentient's statistics if you're viewing
attributes and vice versa. These statistics modify the effectiveness of sentient
abilities, although the times for mining and trading actually go up rather than
down via stat point influence, it fortunately has no effect on the actual times
in the game.
As with the attributes list, pressing "A" will allow you to assign stat points,
but there's also a button at the bottom that says "Create Black Crystal".
Creating a black crystal requires a red, yellow, green, and blue crystal, and
this menu option is the only way to get black crystals. Black crystals are also
the only way to acquire stat points because they are not awarded when the
sentient levels up like the skill and attribute points are. This is why turning
off auto-feed is advised, you can't get blue crystals by desynthesizing
upgrades, you'll develop favorite areas to mine, and auto-feed "feeds" crystals
to sentients regardless of how many or few of a given type you possess. Speaking
of crystals...
The last tile displays your crystals, and since you're in the menu of a
sentient, you can "feed" them to said sentient. Pressing "A" will highlight a
crystal's number count, which can then be increased/decreased. Don't worry about
"overfeeding" a sentient one of the four basic crystal types that level it up as
there are only so many that can be "fed". Those crystals (red, yellow, green,
and blue) can be acquired by mining objects such as asteroids, ice crystals, and
pieces of debris. Leveling up a sentient, as mentioned before, grants skill and
attribute points to spend. (Note: You will still pick up crystals even if your
cargo hold is full because they do not take up cargo space.)
Prismatic crystals are awarded after completing all 5 waves of a Legion Raid
mission or completing an Ark Raid. Both only yield fractions of a whole crystal
so multiple raids must be undertaken. Once you have one however, you can "feed"
it to a sentient to reset all of your skills (both base and faction skills)
without penalty. You only need ONE whole prismatic crystal to do this so don't
"feed" it more than that. You also cannot reset your sentient's skills.
Lastly there are the Black crystals mentioned earlier. Each black crystal "fed"
to a sentient provides 1 stat point, and with a 10 point limit and six
categories you need 60 to max out its statistics. Neither these nor prismatic
crystals are "fed" to sentients when auto-feed is turned on, but both can be
"fed" more than is necessary without any benefit in doing so, so make sure it's
the right amount.
A few small notes: crystals will still be picked up even if your cargo hold is
full. And although I don't know what the limit is (or if there even is one for
that matter), I was able to exceed 1,000 Red/Yellow/Green/Blue crystals, 10
prismatic crystals, and 100 black crystals.
&******************************************************************************8
- Shift Platforms [QSP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Also known as the galaxy map, it displays the various zones you have access to.
Although your eyes will be drawn to the upper-half of the screen, you navigate
from zone-to-zone via the list near the bottom-left corner of the screen. You
need to venture into as many regions in each zone as possible to unlock more
zones, the lower on the list a zone is, the more difficult enemies will likely
be. The first three contain tier 1 (weakest) enemies, the following two, contain
tier 2 enemies, the two after that tier 3, and the last two tier 4.
Selecting any one of the zones (save for the one you're already in) will open
the nearest SHIFT platform. Doing this while on almost any type of mission will
display a warning beforehand telling you that the mission will immediately be
quit, and if you're on a mission with a borrowed ship/weapons, said ship and
equipment will be replaced with your own as soon as you confirm that you want to
quit. Try opening SHIFT platforms when on missions you'd rather play again to
sample an ability/weapon.
&******************************************************************************8
- Mission Sub-Menu [QM] -
&******************************************************************************8
The last, and probably least useful, is the mission sub-menu. If you're anything
like my you'll barely use this tile, if at all. All it does is list your current
mission objective, a description of the mission, its rewards, and the
mission-giver. That's literally all there is to this menu, so luckily for both
of us, there's nothing left to explain regarding the Quickview menu. WHOO!
&******************************************************************************8
- Radar & Minimap [BKR] -
&******************************************************************************8
The radar ring is that blue ring around your ship with all the little markers on
them. Here's what they mean:
Green Triangles = Friendlies
Yellow Triangles = Neutral Targets
Red Triangles = Hostiles
Light Blue plus sign diamond things = primary objectives, carrier spawn points,
in warzone missions, and downed turrets in Legion Raids
Yellow plus sign diamond things = secondary objectives like spynet satellites,
Warzone Supply points, etc.
Red plus sign diamond things = hostile targets that you need to destroy.
Circles are SHIFT platforms.
Upside down Y's (be they Green, Yellow, or Red) are docking stations.
As explained in the tutorial mission, the light blue/dark blue bars at the
bottom left center of the radar ring represent your shields, while the
yellow/light green bar represents hull strength. The bar representing shields on
the top is a ship's forward shields, while the bottom is the aft/rear shields.
Maneuver your ship accordingly to prevent hull damage. If you take enough damage
you'll be left with 1 point of hull health that will not drop for a few seconds,
though shields can still take damage and any hull strength restored via a healer
sentient can still be depleted (though not past the 1 point. Get out if you can
and remember, once the hull invincibility wears off ANY hull damage will take
you down.
When you take damage and/or enter combat, the radar ring will go from light blue
to light red. While the radar ring is light red you CANNOT participate in
certain actions like entering SHIFT platforms. You also cannot begin to capture
a supply/carrier point while in combat. You WILL however be able to CONTINUE
capturing a point if an enemy attacks after you've begun capturing a point.
Being hit by a meteor in The Tempest zone counts as entering combat. They do
little damage to you regardless of size, & while annoying, can do a fair amount
of damage to NPC ships outside of missions. Getting too close to an asteroid
you're destroying might also make you enter combat mode temporarily. Exploding
ships like cruisers can do a little damage, so if you're in a vulnerable tier 1
scout fighter and a larger ship is going down, steer clear just in case.
The minimap is useful for determining enemy locations without clogging the radar
ring with a ton of icons by putting points in Advanced Radar. You Check your
minimap from time to time during early exploration, as it can be hard to tell
which objects are obstructions and which are just apart of the background. The
navigation arrow can also become very confused and unpredictable in asteroid
fields so check your radar/gameplay map if you need to know if you're on the
right track.
&******************************************************************************8
- Achievement List [BKA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Chosen (10) Complete all the Revenant Order story missions.
Collector (10) Acquire a new sentient AI.
Crimelord (10) Complete all the Sunshadow Syndicate story missions.
Defender (10) Complete a Dark Legion Invasion mission.
Hero (10) Reach pilot level 75.
Lawmaster (10) Complete all the Praetoriate Fleet story missions.
Legend (10) Reach pilot level 100.
Omniscient (10) Level a sentient to maximum level.
Protector (10) Join the Praetoriate Fleet.
Savior (10) Complete the Ark special mission.
Skilled (10) Earn all skills for a faction.
Smuggler (10) Join the Sunshadow Syndicate.
Trader (10) Join the Consortium faction.
Tycoon (10) Complete all the Consortium story missions.
Upstart (10) Reach pilot level 25.
Veteran (10) Reach pilot level 50.
Warlord (10) Complete all the Dominion of Allied Planets story missions.
Warmonger (10) Complete a Warzone mission.
Warrior (10) Join the Dominion of Allied Planets.
Zealot (10) Join the Revenant Order.
&******************************************************************************8
- Miscellaneous Knowledge [BKM] -
&******************************************************************************8
Some information just doesn't have a specific category to be listed in, so I'm
going to have to lazily dump them all here in no particular order.
Unprofessional? Perhaps. But at least I'm not depriving you of the information.
- Don't fret when you're told not to completely destroy an enemy(s) in the
middle of a mission, enemies will automatically be crippled to non-functionality
when they receive enough damage be it from you or your sentient(s) and will not
be capable of being targeted (Am uncertain if they can still be damaged at this
point but sincerely doubt it).
- The game doesn't pause even when looking at the map. Use this to your
advantage by parking your ship near asteroids and letting your sentients mine
crystals and ore while you get accustomed to the interface, distribute
skill/attribute points, check challenge stats, etc. You'll have to stop and
move every now and then so the sentient(s) can reach other asteroids and keep
the camera from zooming in and preventing them from looting the items.
Alternatively you can park your ship near some weak Vanid and and have your
sentients take care of them. You won't get much XP/FXP but it's still something,
and they'll respawn in the same area so you won't have to worry about moving
your ship. Dense concentrations can be found in the Crucible section but you can
also go to the Erebus Zone. when I was around the West entrance, my sentients
took out all but one of the Vanid and that one respawned nigh instantaneously
after being put down. I tinkered around in the menus for so long that the
updates bar was scrolling the Vanid XP yield for a half an hour!
- If you have a particularly potent speed upgrade equipped to a fast ship such
as the Syndicate scout fighter or Dark Legion ship, your default speed can end
up being faster than boosting!
Scanning, hijacking, capturing, etc. will automatically disengage boost.
Upgrades range from as little as 2% to as high as 50%.
Friendly mines will not harm you, hostile, & even neutral ones WILL.
Mines to not yield XP and do not appear to count toward damage/kill statistics.
Acronyms:
RTB = Return to Base
KIA = Killed in Action
AWOL = Absent Without Leave
DPS = Damage Per Second
LR = Legion Raid
AR = Ark Raid
PVP = Player vs. Player
WZN = Warzone
NPC = Non-playable character
HUD = Heads Up Display
DMZ = I'm pretty sure it stands for De-Militarized Zone
FYI = For Your Information
APB = All Points Bulletin
SOB = Son of a Bitch
ASAP = As Soon As Possible
pt(s) = Point(s)
Aft means rear AKA ass.
____ ____
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- Walkthrough/Optimal Paths & Techniques -
[II]
The first part of this guide's section is going to focus on the more linear
early sections that simply have no alternative methods or outcomes. After that
however, I'll guide you more directly in a manner that will give you a leg up.
You can also just go section by section from the table of contents to do as you
please but get information about what you're getting into obviously. But if
you're the type that smacks their head wishing they had taken advantage of
things that would've made things much easier you'll want to stick around for
this.
&******************************************************************************8
- Prometheus Station [WPS]-
&******************************************************************************8
A walkthrough of the tutorial seems like a rather moot effort, I mean if you're
stuck on the very first mission which is designed specifically to instruct you,
you're either beyond help, or completely new to this type of game/gaming in
general. But I won't leave you twisting in the wind, let's do this thang.
Your first objective is to reach the Prospecting Micro Mole ship known as
"Goodbye Becky". You CAN follow the green blip on your radar but it's easier to
follow the giant white arrow next to it instead. Said arrow points you to your
current objective, and while its usefulness can change (I'll come back to that
later) you'll want to follow it more often than not. Press the "A"/use button
when you get near the ship. You'll be asked to fly back to a point near the
station to see if the ship is safe (gee, couldn't have done that BEFORE I got
in the damn thing?) But as the following conversation implies, safety is a bit
of a luxury at a time when entire armadas are converging on your location with
the intent to take what they want whether you can oppose them or not.
Now you'll need to look at the text in the box to the right of the mini-map
because it's the only way you'll have a clue as to what you're supposed to do
next. It says "Depress Left Stick button to boost" and this is doubly
confounding to anyone new to anyone new to the current/last generation of
controllers because the Help & Options Controls menu doesn't list what I'm about
to tell you. You need to push the left analog stick down, no, don't pull back on
it like you're trying to pull up in a plane, I mean push the analog stick into
the controller itself to push the button underneath. Doing this will activate
the ship's boost called sub-light (as in below light speed because there's no
Element Zero in this game). Press it again to de-activate the boost. Yeah you
vets may laugh but don't even pretend you weren't thrown for a loop when you
found out the Playstation 2 and Xbox controllers had buttons underneath the
analog sticks. I myself went through several games and months of time before
figuring it out. And before you wet yourselves laughing I'd like to point out
that I didn't have anyone to point out what I was doing wrong. (Besides it's not
like I tried to depress the analog sticks by insulting them and telling them sad
stories). Anyway, Starfire Studios should really patch the boost command into
the controls screen (among other things).
HUD stands for Heads Up Display and includes the radar (that circle around the
ship), mini-map, objectives box, etc. The blue marks representing objectives are
light blue and can blend into the background so once again you will want to
follow the trusty white arrow. After the first power cell is acquired you may
notice that the arrow doesn't point directly at the objective, but the path you
should follow, this is both its strength and its weakness. The strengths should
be obvious, the Achilles heel is that it tends to go bonkers trying to
compensate for any potential obstructions, most commonly, asteroids. You'll see
what I mean soon enough, just be sure to check both the arrow AND the objective
markers when you're near small obstructions.
After collecting all three power cells your next task is to engage the
afterburner, which is like the boost but is faster and drains energy. Boosting
while using the afterburner is faster than using either by themselves. After
engaging the afterburner and listening to the dialog that follows your ship's
weapon will be activated. To use it, just point the right analog stick in the
direction you want to shoot in just like in Geometry Wars. (The direction you
need to move the analog stick is NOT dependent upon your ship's orientation).
Once you reach the other side of the asteroids and get to the recharging station
your ship will have shield functionality restored. Shields are segmented into
fore and aft (front and back, respectively) and are represented by the two light
blue bars at the bottom of the radar ring. The bar on the top represents your
forward shields, while the bottom one represents your rear shields. When an
enemy attacks a point that is not shielded your hull (represented by the
yellow/green bar to the right of the shield bars) will take damage. Hull damage
is not differentiated based on the direction of attacks and therefore has no
segmented parts, a hit on any point depletes your ship's hull integrity as a
whole. Take too much hull damage and you're space toast, which is like normal
toast but in an icy vacuum Your shields will replenish if you stay out of the
line of fire long enough, but the first enemies you face are pushovers who
shouldn't best you unless you suck. That said the penalty for death/failure is
practically non-existent so don't assume the worst if you DO manage to fail.
Note that your enemies appear on the mini-map long before your radar ring, keep
that in mind for the future.
I am uncertain if prior playthroughs/initial playthroughs have any impact on the
sentient's skills or level but I do know that it's always a Tank Sentient.
Creating a new pilot for this walkthrough the sentient started off at level 3,
had 3 attribute points, 1 skill point unassigned, 1 point in looting, 1 point in
mining and had 2 points in armor increase (could've sworn it was 1 but
whatever.) Anyway, head over to the asteroids and press "A"/use when close
enough to start mining for crystals to "feed" the sentient. Once you get what
you need you need to use the sentient skill, armor increase, which should be
mapped to "Up" on the D-pad unless you changed the defaults. It may be tempting
to power-level the sentient as high as possible right here and now but trust me
when I say it's a bad idea at this point in time. When you activate the sentient
skill the next part of the mission will come up and crystal auto-feed will be
turned on regardless of whether you turned it off prior or not. In doing so it
will automatically "feed" as many crystals in your inventory to the sentient as
possible regardless of how common or rare they are. You can turn auto-feed off
at this point and it's recommended you do it as early as possible so that you
don't have to think about it, though I'll remind you right before it's
"necessary". (While it's not necessary to turn auto-feed off it will make things
easier on you for reasons I make clear in other parts of this guide, namely in
the Walkthrough/Optimal Paths & Techniques section). Hoof it to Point Prometh-
I mean Prometheus Station for your next objective.
Upon reaching your destination you are greeted by the forceful (Vice) Admiral
Kincaid, who wants the professor's research findings no matter what you or
anyone else might have to say. With the professor trapped and you hopelessly
outgunned he does the only thing he can do, stall the enemy for every second
possible while you escape with his life's work and your hide to boot. What a
guy! Now you need to get out with your rust-bucket of a ship intact, so do
yourself a favor and do not engage the vessels that are too busy destroying each
other to bother with you, or now that I think about it, the ones that do. Know
that this is a race to the exit, because although the ships will not likely be
targeting you, you'll still take damage if you fly into the line of fire. This
might sound like a no-brainer but since you can't crash into ships no matter
what you might also think that weapons won't hit you unless you engage enemies.
(FYI, if you stop to listen to the sweet music long enough you won't fail the
mission if you're out of the way, but the tracks will eventually revert to their
defaults).
When you pass through the SHIFT platform (don't bother asking me what SHIFT
stands for because I don't have a clue) you'll be provided with an audio
recording, that scrolls in the text box, from the professor and created in the
event that he died so he could give a proper goodbye. The sentient then
calculates that the best course of action is to meet up with someone named Judah
who turns out to be an old acquaintance of the professor's. Judah lets you know
right quick that your ship isn't going to cut it, he's right, and tells you to
say goodbye to Becky (oh, I see what you did there...) Although there are 5
different factions you're told to go straight to the Consortium of Free Traders,
a logical place to start for beginners but not where you'll want to stay to have
an advantage. Head to the NeoCorp Repair Facility and dock at the Consortium
station"Last Stand". If you're full/nearly full on cargo select "Trading Post",
then Commodities, pull the left or right trigger to view and sell your goods.
(Don' tworry, cargo only encompasses the items you pick up that have absolutely
no function).
A mission will be made available to you: Help Wanted, yields 500 credits and 100
XP, Rank: Base Rank 0. After agreeing to test an experimental prototype you'll
be given a new ship and the chance to buy another if you have the credits for
it. (Even if you do, don't buy it now. (Unless you're one of those people who
leveled to an insane degree and got like 9,999,999 credits mining in the earlier
section in which case go nuts because clearly you already have.)) This is your
last chance to turn off Auto-Feed before you start collecting crystals again so
if you haven't done so already now's the time. Although you're guided to the
Clearing Area, you can mine anywhere to advance the mission, but it's close to
where you are now so might as well just go there. When you're done, head back to
dock at Last Stand and turn in the mission.
&******************************************************************************8
- Commandeer, it's a Nautical Term [WNT] -
&******************************************************************************8
...And voila! It's done! (The linear parts I mean.) That's right, from here on
out you can pretty much go wherever you want and do whatever you want, leaving
it up to me to show you the optimal path to give you an edge and prepare you for
any and all pitfalls. There are a good number of things to go over before one
can be ready for future challenges, unfortunately there isn't any specific
linear path to follow to reach that point. There are however, a few tips you
can follow that can GREATLY reduce the difficulty of the process. Before that
though, you need to know how to change factions. All you have to do is fly back
to Alpha Station, select "Embassy Missions" and choose the option to join a
different faction. You can change factions at any time that you're not on a
mission, and you do NOT loose progress with a faction that would result in
having to jump through hoops to re-join, nor does your progress with a faction's
enemies affect anything within either faction.
The first, and most useful thing to have on hand when starting the game is the
commandeer ability. In the Syndicate faction there's a skill called "Hijack"
that lets you take control of enemy ships, but with many restrictions like the
fact that you can't dock anywhere without the ship being replaced with what
you had originally. The commandeer ability has the same basic concept but is
vastly superior in other ways, but most notably for being able to dock and take
part in missions without being replaced. Its only restriction compared to Hijack
is that it's restricted to friendly ships, but that can be circumvented.
Commandeer is a ship ability that's innate to an interceptor from either the
Dominion of Allied Planets or Revenant Order. Joining either faction will get
you access to the interceptors, with tier 1 versions being capable of being
purchased right away for 2,000 credits.
With the commandeer skill you can take control of ANY friendly ship from the
same faction, regardless of tier level, but to encounter higher tier ships
you'll need access to new zones. To be permitted access to later zones all you
have to do is explore the regions of the zones you've already unlocked. And by
explore I mean fly into different areas, and when the text displaying the region
name appears it means you've "explored" the area. The later the zones, the
higher the tier level of the ships are likely to be. You find tier 1 ships in
the Asteria and Erebus zones, tier 1, & occasionally 2, in the Leviathan zone,
tier 2 ships in the Graveyard and Tempest zones, tier 3 ships in the Solaria and
Tartarus zones, and tier 4 ships in the Crucible and Shadowrift zones.
&******************************************************************************8
- Hidden Arsenal [WHA] -
&******************************************************************************8
This next glitch is so ridiculously easy to trigger that you're bound to trigger
it eventually. Fortunately for us, it's a BENEFICIAL glitch. All you have to do
is fly a ship with 3 or more weapons into Alpha Station to change factions and
not change your weapon load out. No seriously, that's all you have to do! For
some reason, when you get switched to the ship "Goodbye Becky" to change
factions, the equipped weapons remain equipped in spite of the fact that the
ship can only support 2. It's assumed that Starfire wanted to de-equip all the
weapons, were having problems with the upgrades glitch that makes upgrades
disappear from time to time, couldn't deal with the complications before
releasing the game, and decided to just keep the glitches in and try to patch
the game later.
Sentients will not be visibly active if assigned to slots C or D on a ship that
doesn't support them, their passive abilities will still be active while
equipped in those slots. Weapons however, will function normally regardless of
whether the ship supports a slot or not. This glitch will reset when buying new
weapons or sentinets, or when switching ships (unless you're hijacking or
commandeering). You can also take advantage of this glitch if you fly a
commandeered vessel into Alpha Station to change factions, just so long as you
replace the ship with your own weapons first. Lastly, while you can manually
de-equip weapons/sentients assigned to an unsupported slot, you cannot PLACE a
weapon in an unsupported slot manually.
Note: Although more items are being equipped to ships than should be possible,
they are still displayed normally in the list of weapons/sentients, and will not
result in you going beyond the 15 weapon/sentient limit. This means you don't
have to worry about valuable items disappearing if you buy/acquire new
weapons/sentients because your inventory will never exceed the assigned limit,
which would likely have caused it to glitch.
&******************************************************************************8
- Smuggling Ships and Other Impossibilities [WSI] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlike the above glitch, you might trigger this one on accident, but you
probably won't realize it's potential right away. The Undercover glitch, AKA
Eugene, requires more effort on your part than the last glitch, but it's just as
beneficial, if not more so. Rather than go through the process, I'll just
direct you to the part of the guide that goes into the details (MSUG), and focus
on the applications and advice. Using Eugene, you can bring military
interceptors with the commandeer ability into other factions, and since the
ability works on ships that are a part of the same faction you're currently in
rather than ships marked green, you can use it to commandeer ships that were
never meant to be controlled by the ability. Unfortunately for you, the
Undercover skill starts off with a whopping 5 minute cooldown time after use,
so in spite of the fact that Eugene is capable of working with only 1 point
assigned to the skill, you'll need at least 3 assigned before the wait is less
ridiculous.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Fantastic 5 [WFF] -
&******************************************************************************8
There are 5 things you'll want in order to gain an edge in the game, credits,
crystals, side mission completion, faction skills/skill points, and sentients.
All are important in their own way, but few can be acquired without needing to
move on to the other before being done with the potential exception of mining
for crystals. Mining for crystals is slow enough as it is, but it's even worse
if you only have one sentient to do the mining. That's why you want 2 sentients
with the mining skill maxed out and a couple of points in looting before you
move on. You'll want the Tank and Healer sentients to start off with, and the
skills Mining, Shield Regeneration, Armor Increase, Repair, Recharge, and
Hull Regeneration all maxed out. (Or at least close to it in the case of the
Healer sentient if you don't get the uncommon version of it).
To get the Healer sentient you'll need credits, which will also help you get
your hands on stronger ships in the future. Credits rewards for completing
missions are highest in the Consortium story missions, so you'll want to work
on their missions to get the money you need. That said, you don't really need a
ton of money unless you're aiming to get the uncommon versions of sentients or
purchase a tier 4 military cruiser to use with Eugene. But you'll also get
faction skill points for completing faction story missions, which are extremely
valuable. But to gain access to ALL the skills, you'll need to join each faction
and complete the first story mission in each, (Dominion OR Order may be chosen
since they both unlock the military skills). As for WHICH skills to develop,
there again is no way to say what the best order is because it depends on what
you plan on taking advantage of as well as your playstyle. But I'll list a few
that are of note, for more information see the "Mad Skillz" section of the
guide, (XX).
- Advanced Radar is a Praetorian skill you'll want to have so that you can see
cloaked enemies, especially if you're not using lock-on weapons like beams or
missiles. But you also only want to put one point in the skill because more
points just increases radar range and nothing else.
- Roll is another skill you only need 1 point in to take advantage of the Roll
glitch, though if you're not planning on using a cargo ship or cruiser you can
skip this.
- Undercover is fantastic for utilizing Eugene, but if you're one of those
people who don't cheat under any circumstances then you might want to skip it.
- Abation is best to me for its near neutralization of the tractor beam's
inhibiting effects on you, but it's also great for reducing the amount of time
abilities like disable and shield short effect you for.
- Flares fire more frequently the more points you put in the skill which means
more energy drained, but if you have an analogous upgrade of any strength level
then you won't have to worry about it at all. Flares isn't as great against
missiles as the Roll glitch is against beams but it's not far off.
To get more faction points you'll need to complete more faction story missions,
and that means getting the faction experience points (AKA FXP) to unlock them.
The easiest way to earn FXP is to complete side missions, preset side missions
especially since they rarely require any skills/weapons of your own. I recommend
playing the Revenant Order story and preset missions if you want the resources
associated with them because some of the Dominion preset missions are
ridiculous, and nearly half of the Order story missions have presets too.
&******************************************************************************8
- Finding Identity [WFI] -
&******************************************************************************8
It's important to know what kind of gameplay style you prefer so that I can put
you on the right road. In the beginning, you'll want to commandeer a tier 4
cargo ship and have the Tank and Healer sentient equipped so that you can take
advantage of their increased weapon power and spam Recharge and Armor Increase.
This combination will serve you well for quite some time but will eventually
need to be replaced with something that offers more firepower. That's where this
section comes into play, it's purpose is to list ship, weapon, and sentient
combinations that achieve certain results.
- Cruiser + Battlegun + All three sentinet types.
Description - This is one of my go-to setups, it's basic and well-rounded.
- Consortium Heavy Fighter + Battlegun 4 in slot D + All three sentient types.
Description - This is an upgraded version of the above type thanks to increased
speed.
- Military Scout + 2 DPS sentients in the A & B slots + Corsairs in the C & D
slots.
Description - The innately higher energy regenation of scout crafts, plus the
33% cost reduction from military scouts, and the DPS sentient's Energy
Regeneration skill let you unleash a volley of powerful projectiles against
strong targets (though it's not nearly as good for ship-to-ship dogfighting).
- Praetorian Scout + Undercover
Description - This is best used in Ark Raids with the Deathshrike Mine V.
- Syndicate Heavy Fighter + Coffin Nail Missiles
Description - Power Missiles are good on any ship for their ability to fire
with minimal lock-on but full firepower. Coffin Nail missiles on the other hand
are very strong... but need max lock-on to be propelled at full speed. The
Syndicate's Vampire however, provides the Power Missile's effect to the Coffin
Nail.
- Praetorian Heavy Fighter + 1/2 DPS sentients + 2/3 Power Lightning Beams
Description - This combo is a little iffy since I'm not certain whether the
Enforcer's ability increases the OVERALL power of beam attacks, or if it just
conveys the same ability as the power beam that fires at full power regardless
of lock-on time but doesn't increase overall firepower or fire for as long as
a fully locked shot.
The Battlegun is a great weapon to have and there's a good reason that most
players covet it. It's a pulse weapon, so there's no defense other than the
supershield ability, it's handicap can be overcome by equipping it to a cruiser
or Consortium Heavy Fighter, and it fires extremely fast making it easier to hit
targets from far away. A level 4 Battlegun is pricey so you'll have to take
part in several Warzone missions before you can purchase it. It's also probably
best to use the cargo ship setup in tier 3 warzones like Solaria or Tartarus
since the points awarded are slightly less, but the enemy battleship will fall
faster. The other weapons require time spent in Legion Raids and Ark Raids so
they take longer to get access and are usually more difficult to get your hands
on.
Before we finish this section, I need to talk about base pilot skills. It's
important that you understand how each one effects you as you proceed because
you'll want to build up your character as early as possible. The four skills
to boost effect offense, defense, energy, and the Afterburner skill. Although
you may instantly be drawn to the increase in damage it's important to look at
the actual increase in value. The skills that boost offense and defense can only
go up to 25%, Afterburner can go up to 50%, and your energy pool can increase to
100%! Increasing defense has some good to offer, but it's only REALLY potent in
the Dominion faction because, contrary to what the description of the skill
states, only your hull strength increases, not shields. Making the Dominion the
choice because their hulls are twice as shields, rather than the other way
around like it is in the Order. The Afterburner is a useful skill not just for
getting out of tight spots in a hurry, but for traversal in general which is
why I tend to boost the skill along with increasing energy reserves. Afterburner
doesn't just make your ship go slightly faster when you put points in the skill,
it also reduces its energy cost. Eventually you can pair it with a DPS sentient
and boost for an indefinite amount of time!
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- Main Story Missions -
[III]
Main story missions are those you get from Judah at Alpha Station in the Asteria
zone. They can be completed with any ship from any faction and culminate in the
unlocking of the Ark Raid special mission. All of these missions yield a measly
100 XP so I won't even bother listing the rewards for the missions.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 1:
- Old Friends, New Enemies [MS1] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 5, Gameplay Zone: Asteria.
Description - All you have to do is get to the preset locations and scan them,
then fly over to the Dark Legion Ship that appears at the end, nothing more,
nothing less.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 2:
- Hunter and Hunted [MS2] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 10, Gameplay Zone: Erebus
Description - One of the more brief missions, the name of the game here is RUN,
and while faster ships aren't required, they sure as hell don't hurt. All you
have to do is take the SHIFT platform to the Erebus zone, fly to the
destination, then move on to the SHIFT platform in Dominion territory to leave.
Before you can do that however, a handful of Dark Legion fighters and a cruiser
about the size of a cargo ship will appear. The fighters can be dealt with but
not the cruiser because its strength scales depending upon your level making it
do massive amounts damage, and most importantly cannot be destroyed. Just don't
dawdle and you should be fine.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 3:
- Undercover [MS3] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 15, Gameplay Zone: The Graveyard
Description - You'll be tasked with meeting an old colleague of Judah's
currently in the Dominion over at the Monument of the Fallen region. After a few
boxes of text he'll call for backup to keep his cover from being blown (even if
you're in a Dominion ship as opposed to an Order one). Judah will tell you that
you need to incapacitate the ships without completely destroying them but don't
worry, no matter how strong your attacks are the ships will be stopped and
incapable of receiving any more damage automatically after damaging them enough.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 4:
- War and Pieces [MS4] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 20, Gameplay Zone: The Tempest
Description - The Dominion and Order are done with small-scale skirmishes and
have engaged in full-on battle in the Tempest zone. No matter who wins, war will
be inevitable if you don't diffuse things fast. To do that, you'll need to
protect the battleships carrying major leaders from both factions, and that
means taking out as many fighters and cruisers as possible. Fortunately, both
sides will be too busy fighting each other to launch a coordinated attack
against you. After destroying enough designated ships a Praetorian cruiser
arrives demanding an immediate ceasefire, stopping the conflict and opening up
the chance to warn the Convocation about the Dark Legion in the next mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 5:
- Sacrifice [MS5] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 25, Gameplay Zone: The Tempest
It's negotiation time and we're going back to the scene of the last battle, The
Tempest zone. With the Praetorian's presiding over things negotiations are tense
yet under control, but the biggest threat is not each other... Before things can
be settled Dark Legion Ships begin appearing out of nowhere and attack the
capital ships.
You'll need to protect both parties again but against much stronger ships this
time. Be especially careful of the cargo ship-sized cruisers as their Hellfire
beams pack a wallop. Admiral Alencourt should/will escape first, then the
Order's matriarch, at which point you can race over to the SHIFT platform and
turn in the mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 6:
- Captured [MS6] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 30, Gameplay Zone: Solaria
Description - Alright! An agreement has been made and all you have to do is
facilitate a trade, easy right? Yeah, even if this was your first video game
you'd have to have a severe mental deficiency to look at the title of the
mission and not think that things are going to go South in some form or another.
Sure enough, when you arrive you're boxed in by a Dark Legion Dreadnought and
none other than the Order's Matriarch's flagship. Now you must survive waves of
ships whose pilots are apparently under the control of Dark Legionnaires, but
there's something you should know first. Although there appear to be two massive
ships blocking any hope of escape, not only will you not run into them, they
won't even fire at you when you leave! (Save for at the end of the mission as
they're going their separate ways). All the action's in the Cauldron region and
you need to destroy the ships to proceed, but the option is there to get out of
range if you start taking too much damage.
The first wave consists of four scout-class Consortium fighters, the second, 4
interceptor-class Praetorian fighters, the third, 4 Order Heavy Fighters, the
fourth, a pair of Syndicate cargo ships, and finally, a Dominion cruiser.
Survive all 5 waves and the two ships will part ways and let you go with no
strings attached. One can only assume that they are under the impression that
there's nothing you can do to stop them.
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 7:
- Retribution [MS7] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 35, Gameplay Zone: Shadowrift
Description - Lock and load, we've got a major combat mission on our hands and
the enemy isn't going to just lay down and die. I recommend torpedoes and/or
strong missiles for this since you're going to be taking down capital ships that
don't go down easy if you're using a tier peashooter. With the Order's matriarch
gone bad in the worst way, the Dominion are the only major force backing you up
in this endeavor which makes things look grim. That is until you actually enter
the fight...
Remember how I said that the enemy wouldn't go down without a fight? Yeah, I
lied, kinda. The matriarch's allegiance with the Dark Legion was apparently too
much for everyone other than the crew of her ship to accept because there are no
Order ships other than the flagship. And there must be some serious infighting
on board because it never fires back at you or anyone else! The Dark Legion
arrived in less-than-optimal numbers too so making the matriarch pay is as easy
as can be.
With its targeting distraction sundered, the Dark Legion ship makes a tactical
relocation AKA runs away like a pansy. But the Legionnaire is justified in his
confidence when you catch up; you're up against a carrier-class vessel with no
backup in sight. But then, out of nowhere, a Syndicate Reaper cruiser commanded
by warlord Alencourt, son of the Dominion admiral of the same name, forces his
way into the fray to assist you! Now that the unexpected cavalry has arrived,
avoid the carrier's torpedo weapons and make that smug Legionnaire say uncle!
After taking enough damage the carrier will try to flee again but it's no use,
they just can't make it past the DMZ. With nowhere to run, shields gone, and
hull at 50% it's time to turn that Dreadnought into a pile of scorched debris!
&******************************************************************************8
Main Story Mission 8:
- All Good Things [MS8] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked at: level 40, Gameplay Zone: Shadowrift/The Ark
Description - This is it, the final main story mission. Your goal is to fly into
the heart of Dark Legion space so you can pinpoint the location of, and go to,
the Ark. To do this, you can either get yourself a high tier ship, load it up
with powerful weapons and/or sentients, and upgrades, dodge the powerful
hellfire beams fired by the numerous Legion tanks, take the SHIFT platform
through to the Ark and destroy the enemies you find THERE as well... Or you can
switch on Cloak/Undercover, fly right past the clueless buggers, and leave the
Ark as soon as you arrive. No seriously, the latter description really is that
easy. Although the Ark enemies are worth a sizable amount of XP, you can engage
them any time you want when initiating Ark Raids so there's really no reason to
stay. After turning in the mission you will unlock Ark Raids in the Special
Missions menu.
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- Faction Information -
[IV]
&******************************************************************************8
- Basic Knowledge and Recommendations -
&******************************************************************************8
You can change factions at any time by docking at Alpha Station in the Asteria
zone and selecting the option on the missions screen. (You cannot do this in the
middle of a mission though). Changing factions does NOT affect your statistics
and will NOT change your relationship with a given faction upon re-joining them,
even if you switch to its enemy. There are 5 factions, each with unique
characteristics. The Consortium of Free Traders, The Sunshadow Syndicate, The
Praetoriate Fleet, The Dominion of Allied Planets, and The Revenant Order.
The Consortium is a business-centric organization that performs smuggling
operations from time to time but is on the right side of the law more often than
not and have few enemies. The Syndicate is a band of the most ruthless
cut-throats in the galaxy, consisting of smugglers, pirates, assassins, and just
about anyone you'd want to steer clear of. They have no allies apart from
themselves and are sworn enemies of the Praetorians, with the Consortium being a
close second. Speaking of the Praetorians, they're the law enforcers who uphold
the terms of the truce that has kept the galaxy from descending into civil war.
The Dominion is the human government military that represents the species
officially, and though a Colonel was discharged, a high ranking Admiral has been
the subject of much criticism behind closed airlocks. They are the enemies of
the Order. The Order is a militant religious group that consists of mostly
humans and is led by a mysterious matriarch that dictates the course the whole
group takes. They are the enemies of the Dominion.
Each of the factions has an additional aspect that differentiates them from
others. Consortium ships have, on average, twice the normal cargo capacity
compared to ships of the same class (with the exception being the cruisers which
have the same capacity as the Praetorian and Syndicate's, and half that of the
Dominion and Order's). Syndicate ships are 25% faster, Praetorian ships and
weapons cost 50% less but with no statistical downgrade. Dominion ships have
twice the hull strength compared to shields, save for the heavy fighters, and
Order ships have twice the shield strength compared to hull, again save for the
heavy fighters.
&******************************************************************************8
- Faction Story Mission General Information -
&******************************************************************************8
All faction missions have certain shared qualities that I'm going to list here
rather than repeat throughout the descriptions. For starters, the first section
of each faction category involves both the joining of the faction and the first
story mission given as a full member. This is because the initial joining is
incredibly short and easy, and the following mission usually isn't much more
substantial. Completing the mission that lets you join the faction supplies you
with a free tier 1 scout fighter and neither the joining mission nor the
following first mission requires faction experience points (AKA FXP) before they
can be attempted, unlike those that follow. Speaking of FXP, you need 300 for
the second mission, and 300 more for every one that follows before you can
attempt them. Faction XP can be earned by performing tasks that support the
faction such as destroying ships allied with the faction's enemy, performing
side missions, etc.
Faction XP will NOT carry over, meaning if you unlock a story mission for a
faction and earn 10,000 FXP you'll still have to regain FXP to unlock the next
story mission. You can see the amount of FXP you've earned/need for the next
story mission on the Faction stats screen of the dock menu. If you see a number
showing how much FXP you've earned rather than a number out of the necessary
amount to unlock the next mission it means you've already unlocked the next
mission.
You gain faction levels by completing the Faction story missions that follow
your initial joining of the faction, so don't bother trying to get a tier 4
cruiser by earning FXP because you'll just be wasting your time. You will always
ascend to the faction level analogous to the mission number, i.e. completing
mission 5 will have you at faction level 5, completing mission 8 will put you at
faction level 8 etc. You always receive a faction point to put in skills after
completing a story mission that advances faction level as well.
With the exception of the Consortium, which yields more credits as you complete
missions, faction missions always yield 100 XP and 250 credits upon completion.
The mission-giver zone is where you need to go in order to start a mission for a
given faction after acquiring the necessary amount of FXP. The gameplay zone is
where you'll be sent to take part in a given mission, and the later the stage,
the tougher things usually are. Rank is just a title you're given within the
faction that can be viewed when you look at your faction status in the docking
menu, it has no effect on gameplay and serves no purpose but I thought I'd list
it anyway. Presets are ships and weapons you're supplied for a given mission and
that mission only.
The Praetorians appear to be glitched because if they scan you and find stolen
goods (which I'm assuming are the commodities dropped by defeated enemy ships
picked up while in the Syndicate faction) they don't just attack you, they
become invincible. Yeah you read that right, it's literally impossible to do ANY
damage to them no matter what you do.
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- Consortium of Free Traders Story Missions -
[V]
&******************************************************************************8
Joining the Consortium of Free Traders
- What's Mine is Yours [CSM1] -
&******************************************************************************8
Joining the Consortium is mandatory if you want to be able to switch to other
factions and such so I won't bother going over it again, even though the mission
to follow is even easier. All you have to do is pay 2,000 credits, leave the
base, and come right back. No really, that's ALL you need to do, and since the
"mission" rewards you with 4,000 credits not only do you not lose money you GAIN
it, so even if this is early in the game and you were saving for an interceptor
from the Dominion/Order you'd still be advised to do this ASAP.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 2:
- Special Delivery [CSM2] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 300 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Rewards - Consortium Rank 2 and 6,000 credits.
Orders are pouring in for the prototype you tested and the staff is overworked,
so you've been contracted to make some deliveries to thin out the work load.
Although Remus mentions taking a cargo ship, your ship does not change. Just
cruise over to the marked location, deliver the goods, and when you do you'll
receive a call. Apparently, the Dominion is making things difficult in the
Erebus sector and you need to find out what's wrong.
Things are grim when you arrive as Admiral Kincaid is capturing or killing
everyone aboard Consortium ships. One of the pilots tells you to flee before
being blown to bits, and you'd be wise to heed that advice. Deal with the
Dominion fighters that get in your way and get your aft through the SHIFT
platform and out of there.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 3:
- Breaking the Code [CSM3] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 600 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Leviathan, Rewards - Consortium Rank 3 and 9,000 credits.
As if Kincaid wasn't enough, the situation back at Last Stand station is nothing
short of insane in the membrane. Remus informs you that a hidden code in the
prototype is infecting Consortium ships, making them attack one another. An
antivirus program has already been created but you need to get to the corrupted
ships and upload it into their systems before they blast each other to pieces.
Romulus will tell you not to return fire but you need not worry about your
sentients because they won't attack either. Get in there, avoid attacks, hang
back and give your shields the chance to recharge when needed, and you should
complete the mission without incident. Upon returning it's clear to Romulus that
this was an inside job working on behalf of either Kincaid or the Syndicate,
meaning we have a traitor in our midst.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 4:
- They Will Pay [CSM4] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 900 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Graveyard, Rewards - Consortium Rank 4 and 13,500 credits.
Romulus has his money on the Syndicate being behind the latest attack but
doesn't want to be wrong and end up paying for it later. Rather than launch an
assault, you and a group of Consortium ships (including a cruiser to discourage
enemies from attacking) are sent into Syndicate space to get some answers.
The Syndicate is less than eager to talk so you'll have to protect Commander
Cuss, who is leading the operation, by either dealing with enemies directly,
healing/boosting offensive/defensive capabilities of allies, or all of the
above. Upon reaching the end of the mission you'll find a lone Consortium ship
attempting to flee. Pursue it, and if you stay close enough for long enough
Romulus will identify the culprit.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 5:
- Throwing Rocks [CSM5] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1200 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Tempest and Asteria, Rewards - Consortium Rank 5 and 20,250 credits.
The traitor Raconteur has been traced to a region in The Tempest zone, head to
it and confront him on behalf of the Consortium. When you've done enough damage
he'll warp to Asteria, follow him and confront him again. This time you can
cripple his ship after doing enough damage and drag his sorry aft back to
Romulus who, after a good talking to and scolding alongside his brother,
mercifully lets him go, finishing the mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 6:
- Impressment [CSM6] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1500 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Crucible, Rewards - Consortium Rank 6 and 30,375 credits.
Kincaid is back to threatening the Consortium, and with the Praetorians occupied
at the moment Romulus is looking to resolve this sooner rather than later.
That's where you come in, you'll be paired with Commander Cuss again, and sent
into the region where the Consortium prisoners are being held. Kincaid himself
and his supercarrier are there to greet you, and after Cuss initiates the scene
depicted on the game's digital cover art the battle will begin.
Bring down half of the supercarrier's shields and Cuss will tell you to get the
Consortium fighters moving while he deals with Kincaid. Time is of the essence
so reactivate them and reactivate them FAST if you don't want to fail this
mission. Kincaid will have gotten away if you succeed, but at least the
prisoners are safe.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 7:
- Unfinished Business [CSM7] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1800 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Tartarus, Rewards - Consortium Rank 7 and 45,562 credits.
The Syndicate is long overdue for a good aft-kicking after that prototype viral
fiasco, and the only person with knowledge of the organization that can be
turned to is the traitor Raconteur. Your mission is to have him guide you to an
Element 213 production facility critical to the Syndicate's business dealings
and wreck it. Automated security systems won't make things easy and will
eventually become too much after destroying enough of the marked targets. It
forces Romulus to tell you to abandon the mission and retreat, but Raconteur
isn't going anywhere, instead sacrificing himself by crashing into the main
silo, crippling the facility and delivering a massive blow to the Syndicate.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 8:
- The Last Stand [CSM8] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2100 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Asteria,
Rewards - Consortium Rank 8 and 68,343 credits.
The mission to make the Syndicate pay for their antics with interest was
successful, too successful actually. They're not satisfied with the steepness of
your interest fees and are coming down to the Last Stand base to propose an
alternative settlement. By which I of course mean, they're coming to raze the
station and make sure everyone dies as horrible a death as possible.
Scouts have detected everything from fighters to cruisers inbound, but many of
them thankfully belong to lower tiers so as long as you're not still in the tier
1 scout fighter this should be a breeze. This is more of a battle of attrition
though because it takes a while for the Praetorians to show up. When they
eventually do though, and the Reaper cruiser that's stronger than its peers
shows up and is destroyed the Syndicate should back down.
&******************************************************************************8
Consortium of Free Traders Story Mission 9:
- A Good Cussing Out [CSM9] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2400 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Shadowrift, Rewards - Consortium Rank 9 and 102,545 credits.
Admiral Kincaid's escapades have apparently finally been noticed by his
superiors, because he's now AWOL and wanted by the Dominion. It's time to get
some serious payback, and Romulus knows just where to find him. Unfortunately,
when you arrive you'll find that Kincaid's ship is being protected by an
impenetrable shield that Commander Cuss will need to hack. Dominion fighters and
security droids will be after you both so protect Cuss while he works and watch
your aft. Once the shield is down, the weapons will be able to fire, and will be
gunning for you, so either be very mindful of the amount of damage you're
taking, or just use the roll glitch and laugh maniacally as you tear that hunk
of metal asunder. (Note: Maniacal laughter is optional and will not improve
likelihood of success).
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- Sunshadow Syndicate Story Missions -
[VI]
&******************************************************************************8
Joining the Sunshadow Syndicate
- Initiation [SSM1] -
&******************************************************************************8
Before you can even get to the Syndicate's enclave you'll be ambushed by one of
its members, Captain Zazo. Avoid his missiles and best him in combat and he'll
make you an offer you can't refuse (that is unless you quit the mission by
opening a SHIFT platform or turning off the console). Accept the mission and you
will have gained access to the Syndicate and your first mission as an initiate
which is creatively dubbed "Initiation".
Your task is to destroy containers outside of Mintek which sounds like a breeze
but is more complicated than that. The complications in this case being that,
the Praetorians are the sworn enemies of the Syndicate, and the Praetorians just
happen to have a base set up at MinTek. Also, since every other faction is
neutral towards you, you'll have more enemies than allies on hand. All while in
the weakest fighter in the faction.
It's a good thing that your ship is also the fastest in the game, so make good
use of it and high-tail it when things get tough. I had a fighter, a cargo ship,
and, no joke, a bloody CRUISER on me and I still managed to complete the mission
with no hull damage so even in the most dire of situations it's far from
impossible. The Prospector Field sometimes houses friendly Syndicate ships so
heading East is probably your best bet if you're having trouble.
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 2:
- Let's Make a Deal [SSM2] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 300 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Leviathan, Reward - Syndicate Rank 2, Presets - Tier 1 cargo ship, Multi
Missile II, and Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. II.
Alright initiation's done, so now our first job as a legitimate member is...
being given a cargo ship full of extremely valuable goods to deliver to a
religious militant organization with whom they have a secret fragile business
alliance. Say what?!? If the Syndicate trusts that much sensitive information,
valuable property, and mission responsibility to a rookie they're either so
shorthanded that they've got monkeys doing the maintenance and janitorial
duties, they've got so many safeguards in place that your head will explode if
you so much as entertain the notion of betraying them, or the exchange isn't
that big a deal because they have super secret projects to create death star
laser pistols or space hamster assassins or something. Or maybe they're just
stupid....
Anyway, you need to meet up with the Order vessel and make the trade, but when
you do the 5-0 arrive. You need to bounce back to base but can't warp while
you're up to your pelvis in Praetorians, though it should be a drift though the
nebula (walk in the park) to thin them out with the equipment you've been given.
You and your client should escape with ease, but upon returning it seems as
though a member of the Syndicate was captured during the skirmish...
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 3:
- The Lucky Charm [SSM3] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 600 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Asteria
and Erebus, Reward - Syndicate Rank 3.
Captain Zazo needs his star pilot back and you're going to help, but first we
need to find out where the poor SOB was taken. To find out, you need to hijack a
Consortiums ship so that you can get close enough to a Praetorian station and
hack the necessary Intel out of it. If you do not possess the Hijack skill it
will be automatically be capable of being used even if you don't put any points
into it. For more information on the skill see the Syndicate Skills section
(MSS).
Cargo ships are slow but have an annoying beam attack, while Consortium Heavy
Fighters are faster but have a slower missile attack. If you're capable of
executing the roll glitch outlined in the Consortium Skills section (CSS) with
your current resources then the former is an obvious choice, otherwise, you're
probably going to want to go with the Heavy Fighter. Once you have the ship just
go through the SHIFT platform, get the info, and leave quick before the
Praetorians get wise.
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 4:
- Odd Job [SSM4] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 900 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Leviathan, Reward - Syndicate Rank 4.
During planning Captain Zazo is informed that something has come up, and you
need to scan some Consortium ships to gather data. If you have the
Cloak/Undercover ability this will likely be no problem, otherwise, I hope you
like scanning while hectically dodging enemy fire. But that's really all there
is to this mission, scanning ships, then leaving.
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 5:
- Break [SSM5] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1200 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Tempest, Reward - Syndicate Rank 5. Presets: Tier 2 interceptor and 3 Crusher
C-Beams.
Since no one else can get close enough (and you have no say in the matter),
you're going to be hijacking a Praetorian cruiser. Don't worry though, this
isn't as difficult as it sounds. You're given resources to help you, and that's
where things get odd.
Your ship is a tier 2 interceptor yet your given 3 Crusher C-Beams, which are
all equipped in spite of the fact that interceptors are only supposed to have 2
weapon slots. This isn't unheard of, but it only get's weirder from here. You're
given a Consortium ship rather than a Praetorian one, but your pilot profile
picture puts you in Praetorian gear, and you can even REPAIR SpyNet satellites!
As if all that weren't enough, every single ship shows up as neutral, including
the Syndicate ships, which can be targeted but not damaged...
To get a cruiser away from prying eyes and sensors, fake distress calls will be
made to patrolling Praetorian forces. You have a small squadron of cloaked
interceptors ready to pounce on the unsuspecting prey. (They're also coded as
allies here too so you don't have to worry about accidentally targeting them
with your beam weapons). You'll lure a small group of Praetorian fighters first,
a pair of cargo ships second, and finally a cruiser. Your allies help distract
the big guns away from you but they can only survive for so long so work fast to
complete this mission successfully.
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 6:
- Skin of Your Teeth [SSM6] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1500 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Asteria,
Reward - Syndicate Rank 6. Presets: Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, a Piledriver
Missile 1, and 3 Viper Proximity Mine I's
Everything's all set to get Lucky out, but you know what they say about the best
laid plans and all that... Oddly enough though, it's not riding up in a
Syndicate missile-loving heavy fighter that raises the alert but the bioscan of
you. The Praetorians should take a lesson from the movie "Serenity" and look
with their eyes.
If you try to complete this mission without using mines you WILL fail, so make
sure that you deploy them at every chance you get with the right bumper/shoulder
button. Although the cooldown time for the mines is a little lengthy, it's
countered by the fact you have three different launchers for them that have
cooldown times independent of each other. If you hold out long enough that Lucky
can take control of the ship and lend fire support, you should have no problems
from then on.
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 7:
- The Rat [SSM7] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1800 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Solaria,
Reward - Syndicate Rank 7.
Now that Lucky is back and the Syndicate is one big happy back-stabbing family
again, matters can once again return to undercutting the law for personal gain.
There's going to be an exchange with the Order, and as much as some like to say
it doesn't, history has a way of repeating itself. Warlord Vestium sells out the
entire Syndicate to the Praetorians who are not fooling around.
Don't bother trying to chase/shoot down Vestium's ship, and try not to head
South for awhile because Order ships are down there and they're marked as
neutral enemies rather than allies. Just focus on the Praetorian forces which
consist of a cruiser and a lot of fighters to be exterminated. You have a pair
of cargo ships backing you up but you'll have to handle the brunt of the work in
this fight yourself, especially since the mission fails if Zazo falls in battle,
so don't even think about playing this mission as a tier 1 scout fighter.
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 8:
- Ouroboros [SSM8] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2100 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Tartarus, Reward - Syndicate Rank 8.
As the title of the mission suggests, the Syndicate is tearing itself apart with
the help of Vestium who is taking part in the divisive battle being waged
himself. Zazo tries to get everyone to stand down but to no avail, there are
jamming signals coming from cargo ships that were no doubt brought by Vestium.
Unfortunately, said cargo ships are right in the thick of the fight, and with
everyone at each other's throats, you're fair game so take them down as quickly
as you can. Once the cargo ships have been dealt with, Lucky will transmit
evidence of Vestium's treachery, stopping the fight, and causing the warlord to
make a break for it.
Chasing and firing at your target will eventually force it to warp to another
zone, somehow managing to do so in spite of the fact that there are no SHIFT
platforms nearby. Did Vestium cut a deal with the Order to get a share of
whatever they were using Element 213 for in exchange for letting his former
Syndicate brothers and sisters take the fall from the Praetorians, or is there
something more sinister at work? Whatever the case may be he's out of your
reach... for now...
&******************************************************************************8
Sunshadow Syndicate Story Mission 9:
- What Goes Around [SSM9] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2400 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Crucible, Reward - Syndicate Rank 9.
Thought we were done with Syndicate mission weirdness? It ain't over 'till the
fat piggy warlord squeals, and in space no one can hear you squeal... No one...
Before the mission even starts Zazo tells you that Vestium has been tracked
down, only to tell you sentences later that he doesn't know where he is... Zazo
also tells you during the brief that you can bring Vestium back dead or alive...
only to to tell you to bring him back alive only as soon as the mission starts.
Anyway, all you have to do is damage the cruiser enough that Vestium tries to
flee in an escape pod, then capture the pods before he gets away. The cruiser
will primarily use missiles and can fire during the scrolling of the dialog
boxes so prepare yourself accordingly. After Vestium has been dealt with Zazo
will be promoted and you'll have a comfortable standning in the organization.
____ ___ ____ ____
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- Praetoriate Fleet Story Missions -
[VII]
&******************************************************************************8
Joining the Praetoriate Fleet
- The Blue Line [PSM1] -
&******************************************************************************8
The Praetoriate Fleet is always looking for more people to help keep the peace,
so head to the destination and get their attention by dispatching the two
Syndicate scouts causing trouble to prove your worth. Note: When I tried to sic
my sentients on them they wouldn't attack for some reason (the sentients not the
fighters) so bring at least one standard ship weapon for this battle. Joining
the Praetorians will grant you the rank of Cadet.
Your first official mission is an easy one, scan Consortium ships to make sure
they're not transporting anything illegal. And although the mission brief says
that you should arrest them if they come quietly, I'm all but certain that such
an event cannot occur. Also, any Consortium ship will do, not just the cargo
ships and not just those found near the objective marker. Therefore I advise
that you stay as close to the home base as possible if you happen across an
enemy that's too much for you to handle at present. Plus, since you only have to
scan 3 ships, it's possible you won't even have to leave anyway, or engage in
combat for that matter if you didn't put any faction points into the Advanced
Scanner before starting this mission. You'll be promoted to the rank of Officer
after completing this mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 2:
- On the Job [PSM2] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 300 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Reward - Detective rank.
You'll be partnered with a veteran Praetorian named Kel from here on out, he can
be gruff, but he's not as condescending as Malus. Anyway, you need to ask around
marked Consortium ships at the destination by flying close enough to them that
the use option changes to "talk" and pressing the appropriate button. Eventually
one of them will point you where you need to go, and when you arrive you'll need
to deal with the nearby hostiles to keep from blowing the informant's cover,
then deal with the small group of Syndicate ships gunning for him. Once all
hostiles have been dealt with, the mission will be complete. (Just an FYI, the
informant happens to be the Standard side mission supplier when you're in the
Syndicate faction.)
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 3:
- Breaking Heads [PSM3] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 600 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Reward - Praetorian rank 3.
Apparently there's a disturbance in the Erebus Zone that needs investigating, so
rendezvous with your partner and help the damsel in distress in the Hive region.
The Order ship's weapons, shields, and thrusters are kaputt (busted/out of
order) so they're completely vulnerable. Fortunately for you, there's nothing
but Vanid as enemies "threatening" the vessel so this should be a drift through
the nebula (walk in the park) for you. The mission drags on for awhile due to
the enemies being so weak that they hardly pose a thread at all so just bear
with it and you should complete the mission without incident.
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 4:
- Dirty [PSM4] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 900 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Graveyard, Reward - Praetorian rank 4.
The Praetorians are now aware that Element 213 was utilized in some form during
the destruction of Killan's Rest. They may not know how, but if E. 213 was
needed they aren't about to let any shipments go without intercepting them.
Malus believes that one such shipment is being transported in the Graveyard Zone
and wants you and your partner, who isn't so keen on the idea, to investigate.
Don't fret when you exit the SHIFT platform and immediately enter combat, the
Monument of the Fallen just has a bit of a Vanid problem so it's nothing to
worry about.
Once you reach the objective marker you'll get visual contact with the small
Syndicate convoy transporting E. 213. Malus orders you to attack but Kel thinks
you need reinforcements (and if you're still in a tier 1 scout ship he might be
right if you don't have sufficient abilities/ordinance to compensate). But
regardless, reinforcements wouldn't be able to make it in time so you'll have to
deal with them as you are, ready or not.
There's a small squadron of tier 2 interceptors and a cargo ship to fight, but
something's wrong... Kel doesn't seem to be attacking the Syndicate ships, not
even when their attacks hit him inadvertently... Sure enough, after eliminating
the opposition your partner reveals that he was in league with the scallywags
and promptly disables your ship, leaving you to die. Fortunately, your sentient
is able to reboot your ship's systems and get them back online, allowing you to
return and get Malus to send out an APB for your ex-partner.
It should also be noted that when I played through this mission while
Undercover, all of the enemies ignored me even when I fired upon them, save for
the cargo ship, which started firing back at the end. Also keep in mind that I
was in a Praetorian Peacekeeper, which can fire while undercover without
disengaging the ability.
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 5:
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished [PSM5] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1200 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Tempest, Reward - Sergeant rank.
The reputation of the Praetoriate Fleet, and Malus in particular, will suffer
greatly if word gets out that Kel was a dirty cop, so you're going to go look
for him. You're going to The Tempest zone, and the region you're sent to will
have both Vanid and Syndicate ships of various classes close by so be prepared
when you go through the SHIFT platform. Once you reach your destination you'll
find it devoid of importance and Malus with no lead left to follow. But
something more immediate demands attention, a member of the Order is in danger
and has sent out a distress call.
Get to the escape pod containing Aspirant Choi on the double and tether it to
your ship before anything can finish the pod off. When you do, Dominion ships
will arrive, but for some reason they want her dead not because she's an enemy
combatant but because she's a Heratic wanted by the Order... WHAT?!? I can only
assume that Starfire programmed the wrong fighter type to show up as enemies and
intended for them to be members of the Order.
It turns out that not only does Choi know what happened at Killan's Rest, and
what device, utilizing Element 213, was used to put it in that state, but also
knows where to find Kel! Wow, either she's extremely well informed about the
important goings on in the galaxy right now, or she's saying anything to seem
useful so that you don't throw her to the metaphorical wolves. Malus
understandably wants to find out for certain but doesn't want the Dominion ships
completely destroyed, though you don't have to worry since it's not possible for
you to do so anyway. Return with Aspirant Choi and Malus will contrive some BS
charges to keep the Dominion from trying to get ahold of her. How about that?
Bureaucracy FACILITATING justice rather than hindering it, who would've thought?
(FYI, Aspirant Choi was presumably on board the cruiser you helped in the third
mission in spite of the fact that Sister Octavia was the one communicating with
you. I can only assume that either Starfire placed the wrong character portrait
in the dialog box or Choi was just on board the ship too. Personally I think
that the former is the case.)
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 6:
- Dead or Alive [PSM6] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1500 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Solaria,
Reward - Lieutenant rank.
Kel's been found, he's somewhere in Solaria and you need to find him, and you
are to begin your search in the Sea of Fire region. Scan the Consortium ships,
he's hiding in one of them and he'll attack once you sniff him out. Show him
who's boss and he'll attack while fleeing instead, follow him while taking care
to avoid his attacks and you'll be led to the Syndicate zone base. Kel will then
be content to let others do his dirty work, sending out a large squadron of
fighters (about 6 - 8 scout fighters) to take you down, all of which are
Praetorian for some reason.
Defeat the ships and Warlord Cinnefa will intervene, inquiring the reason for
your assault to your superior, who then explains and requests that Kel be turned
over. Shockingly enough, it works, Cinnefa kicks Kel's aft out of the hanger as
an offering to the Praetoriate Fleet under the reasoning that if Kel can't get
rid of one human pilot (not to mention the fact that his cover was blown) he's
useless, and getting rid of him would keep the Praetorians off them for a time.
Also, if he was successful at driving you off, they would think twice about
attacking the Syndicate again. That Cinnefa's a sharp one... Blast Kel into the
vacuum and leave before you overstay your welcome.
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 7:
- Unwelcome Discoveries [PSM7] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1800 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Tartarus/Unknown/Shadowrift, Reward - Captain rank.
Malus is giving you a break from all the Syndicate-associated neck-risking
antics in favor a nice quiet investigation of an anomalous radiation signature
that might be tied to the utter obliteration of an entire colony. ...Well it's
the thought that counts... I guess... head out to Tartarus and start scanning.
As you may have already guessed, this mission isn't exactly a drift through the
nebula because you're transported to an uncharted location. A location so alien
and unknown that there's a SpyNet satellite close to where you spawn -_-.
Anyway, it looks like you're in space inhabited by the Dark Legion, and they
aren't exactly known for being the most sociable and diplomatic, especially when
others intrude on them. Your sentient is working on opening a SHIFT platform out
but it's going to take some time so you're going to have to fight or stay out of
sight of the incoming ships. After you've eliminated or snuck past the enemy
ships you'll find yourself right in the middle of Syndicate-controlled space in
the Shadowrift zone. Don't brown your trousers though because before they can
gang up on you they realize that some Dark Legion ships followed you and will be
distracted by them while you escape and report back to Malus.
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 8:
- Interdiction [PSM8] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2100 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Shadowrift, Reward - Major rank.
Although the higher-ups are more concerned with quelling the war between the
Dominion and Order, you're sent to the aftermath of a battle to see if the
source of Element 213 can be found and eliminated. The debris is found in
Syndicate and Legion controlled space so either be prepared for a fight or cloak
yourself/go undercover. There are 4 scanning destinations with 3 being in
Syndicate space and the last 1 in Legion territory.
&******************************************************************************8
Praetoriate Fleet Story Mission 9;
- Razing Sunshadow Bay [PSM9] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2400 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Crucible, Reward - Commander rank.
The Praetoriate Fleet has discovered the location of the Syndicate's Element 213
manufacturing facility and you're going to bring it down. To do this you'll need
to overload 4 key points, and you can't be engaged in combat at the time so
you'll need to either destroy everything in the area or go in while
cloaked/undercover. But even then, overloading the tanks triggers the station's
automated security droids which can spot you whether you're concealed or not. So
if you plan on taking the sneaky route you'll need to lure the droids away from
the station, destroy them, go back in to overload another tank and repeat. Do
this and you will have completed all the Praetorian faction story missions.
____ ___ ____ ____ ____
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- Dominion of Allied Planets Story Missions -
[VIII]
&******************************************************************************8
Joining the Dominion of Allied Planets
- Shakedown [DSM1] -
&******************************************************************************8
As soon as you get to the destination you'll find a Dominion Flight Commander
named Joran engaged with hostile Syndicate ships and requesting assistance.
Funnily enough, even if you don't so much as twitch a butt-cheek and she fights
them off herself she'll still praise your skill and let you join the Dominioin.
(Apparently the military's combat prowess and IQ standards are a lot lower than
they should be for commanding officers. For completing this initial skirmish
and joining the Dominion of Allied Planets you'll be brought in at the rank of
Private.
You are given a test of skill to see if you have what it takes to join up,
tasking you with clearing out a mines within a set time limit. Speed is
important so if you're going to commandeer a vessel, make it a tier 4 scout
rather than any type of cruiser. Also, be advised that once you reach the end
you'll be close to Order territory, so if you're vulnerable you had best be
careful and leave ASAP. Completing this mission will earn you the rank of
Corporal.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 2:
- Without Warning [DSM2] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 300 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Reward - Sergeant rank.
Killan's Rest just sent out a distress signal and you need to investigate it.
Upon arriving you find the colony obliterated and Order ships on the scene.
Joran wants retribution but Lieutenant Brighton is hesitant, though ultimately
complies. You'll be up against a heavy fighter, a small squadron of
interceptors, AND a cargo ship, so even with a pair of heavy fighters backing
you up this won't be easy. That is assuming you haven't commandeered a high tier
ship and/or have strong weapons to back you up. Brighton is still convinced
that the destruction was too great for the Order to have achieved, and is
leanded credence when an anomalous radiation signature nearby that you're asked
to scan before finishing the mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 3:
- Reciprocity [DSM3] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 600 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Leviathan, Reward - Master Sergeant rank, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser and 4
Vanquisher Miniguns.
Your mission is to assault the Order Carrier Guardian One as a ruse to cover for
an infiltrator hacking intel on how the Order destroyed Killan's Rest. You'll
have all three classes of fighters at your side and will contend with fighters
and turrets. Do enough damage and/or destroy enough fighters and the matriarch
herself will appear to drive you away. (Interestingly enough, although it takes
awhile, you can destroy the matriarch's ship, though you will neither get an
interesting dialog box nor fail the mission for doing so).
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 4:
- Casus Belli [DSM4] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 900 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Tempest, Reward - Lieutenant rank.
You're being sent on another carrier assault run but this time it's not a ruse,
it's a full-on battle, and you get to bring your own ship and weapons this time
so this shouldn't even be a challenge if you've got the right tools. Inflict
enough damage and the matriarch will show up again, and it is again both
possible and pointless to destroy her ship.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 5:
- A Bad Taste [DSM5] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1200 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus, Gameplay Zone - Solaria,
Reward - Commander rank.
A squad of Dominion ships have gone dark and Admiral Alencourt himself wants you
and your squadron to find out why. When you arrive you find the squadron wiped
out and Consortium scavengers picking through the debris for valuables, but
before being persuaded to leave, Admiral Kincaid butts in and accuses them of
destroying the ships. Since he's clearly going beyond acceptable deviations in
commandment issuance and judgment under Dominion military protocols, AKA being
a colossal douchebag Joran and Brighton both defy his orders. Protect the
innocent traders by destroying the marked fighters, some of them might be stuck
outside the rock walls so if things go quiet for a while don't be afraid to
leave them by themselves. Also, Kincaid's cruiser will not fire on you (or the
Consortium ships for that matter) and won't be marked as hostile so just ignore
it.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 6:
- Fight and Flight [DSM6] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1500 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus, Gameplay Zone -
Erebus/Unknown/Shadowrift, Reward - Captain rank.
Surprise surprise, Battle Group Sicarus WASN'T wiped out by the Consortium;
Dominion brass made it official when another anomolous radiation signature was
found that matched Killan's Rest. Speaking of which, strange readings are coming
from the former colony and the Dominion wants you to investigate. A shaken
Consortium pilot flees the scene and recommends that you do too but your
superiors need answers.
Not long after scanning you're pulled into a wormhole that takes you to an
uncharted sector that features an ancient super sentient and a good number of
Legion ships. The super sentient begins opening a SHIFT platform back, but it
will take time that the Legion don't plan to squander. You can either fight off
the ships or try using cloak/undercover, either way the SHIFT platform will
eventually open to take you to the Shadowrift zone. Once there, go through the
other platform that opens and return to base to complete the mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 7:
- Unwanted Guests [DSM7] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1800 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus, Gameplay Zone - Tartarus,
Reward - Major rank.
Apparently the footage from your ship's camera wasn't conclusive so Admiral
Alencourt has judged that trying to enlist the aid of the Convocation wouldn't
be wise without sufficient proof. The Dominion needs hard data on the Order's
weapon and intelligence points to a scientific outpost in the Tartarus zone.
Your mission is simple, destroy all fighters and turrets, then capture any
personnel attempting to flee. Some of the fighters are actually Praetorian, but
since they're acting on behalf of the Order and not the Convocation you don't
have to worry about them calling in cruisers for backup when you destroy them.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 8:
- Recon [DSM8] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2100 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus, Gameplay Zone -
Shadowrift, Reward - Colonel rank.
The Dominion has finally pinpointed the location of the Order's secret weapon,
it's aboard a battleship in the Shadowrift Zone. If you're familiar with the
warzone missions you'll know what to expect here, except this time all the
supply/carrier spawn points have been captured (save for the forward carrier
spawn point) and you start off pretty close to the enemy battleship.
Unfortunately, the ship's weapons aren't preset so you can end up either
laughing in the face of beam/missile weapons or fearfully dodging a torrent of
torpedoes. Don't be too ashamed to boost and hide while your shields/hull
recover because otherwise you'll have to start over.
&******************************************************************************8
Dominion of Allied Planets Story Mission 9:
- A Nest of Vipers [DSM9] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2400 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Reward - General rank, Presets - A badass Dark Legion ship, a Hellfire Beam,
Healing and Wormhole abilities.
Before I get into the more standard description I'd like to point out that this
is probably the single most unique mission in the whole game as it's the only
time you get to pilot a Legion ship. I've tested the Undercover glitch (MSUG)
AKA Eugene on this ship and it does in fact work, but that means that if you
want to pilot the ship, you CANNOT complete this mission! Once you complete the
mission the game will autosave, and you will NEVER be able to fly a Dark Legion
ship again. To use Eugene, replace the skill mapped to the "B" button with
Undercover when the mission starts, activate the ability, open a SHIFT platform
to abort the mission, then de-activate the Undercover skill to revert to the
Dark Legion ship.
Somehow, the Dominion managed to get its hands on a Legion ship, and they want
YOU to pilot it. Not only that, but they've outfitted it with the wormhole
device that was recovered in the last mission so that you can destroy Aerie
Shipyard AKA Vostok 2. The "X" button summons Legion ships and the "Y" button
heals them, though unlike the Healer sentient's ability it doesn't heal you too.
Since you're in a Legion ship the Order won't be your only opposition because
Praetorians mistaking you for a Legionnaire will attack you on sight.
Your job is to destroy the multiple enemy cruisers, and the battleship they
surround. An outwardly daunting task for such a small ship, but child's-play for
one that can summon an army. Keep an eye on your ability cooldown, keep pumping
out Legion hard-hitters and cannon fodder, and let the enemy ships target the
summoned ships while you heal them and the Order ships will be decimated.
At the end of the mission Commander Joran will defend the actions of Lieutenant
Brighton who flew in to evacuate some of the Order population before the Legion
overtook the base since they were civilians and not enlisted military personnel.
Those curious as to why she continuously calls him "lunchbox" should know that
it's his knick-name, but damned if I know how he got it.
____ ____ ___
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- Revenant Order Story Missions -
[IX]
&******************************************************************************8
Joining the Revenant Order
- A Test of Faith [OSM1] -
&******************************************************************************8
Presets - Tier 2 heavy fighter, 2 Devastator ES 1's, and 2 Purifier Light Lasers
(yes, that's 4 weapons even though heavy fighters can only have 3.
As soon as you approach Vostok 1's station the Order's matriarch herself herself
will speak to you, already aware of who you are, and your significance. She then
permits you to pass and provides the opportunity to join them if you pass a
"test of faith". A Test of Faith consists of you at the helm of weapons on a
heavy fighter with several other ships to back you up for an assault against a
Dominion carrier. It sounds like a tall order (no pun intended), but as long as
you keep firing you're bound to succeed. Completing this mission will grant
access not only to Military skills, but Warzone special missions as well.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 2:
- Inquiry [OSM2] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with: 300 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Reward - Agent Order Rank, Presets - Tier 1 cargo ship and 1 tier 1 Purifier
Light Laser.
You're job is to venture into Killan's Rest and find out what happened. After a
few scans a Dominion recon pilot will come across you assuming that you
single-handedly destroyed the colony with your devastatingly powerful tier 1
ship and weapon. -_-. With no way to reach into the cockpit and beat some sense
into them, you're left having to destroy them instead. There are only 4
interceptors so it shouldn't be anything you can't handle with the default ship
and weapon. Complete the mission and Aspirant Choi will already know what really
happened after analyzing the scan results, smart cookie that one. The Dark
Legion was behind the attack.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 3:
- Divine Wrath [OSM3] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 600FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus, Gameplay Zone - The
Graveyard, Reward - Secret Agent Order Rank, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 3
Absolution Laser Assemblies, and a Tornado - CS3.
The higher-ups believe the devastation of Killan's Rest was just a Syndicate
Raid, either they're averse to facts and science like many real-world religious
groups or someone laced mercury into the hairspray they need to make their funky
hairdos. Anyway, you're sent on a mission to give some payback for the lives
lost. Enemy ships are higher in tier but your weapons make up for the difference
somewhat, plus you've got a small squadron of fighters to back you up. Fire away
at the Syndicate base and be mindful of the ships that come out (Reaper cruisers
can be especially nasty), then head through the SHIFT platform when you're done.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 4:
- Heathens [OSM4] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 900 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Leviathan, Reward - Order rank 4.
This is the first Order mission to not feature preset ships and weapons so
you'll be able to use a commandeered vessal for this mission. You've likely
noticed that you've been sent back to Asteria and Aspirant Coi, but in the
mission brief it says that you need to defend the Supercarrier Guardian One
which is housing... Aspirant Choi... Uh, oooookaaaayyyyy.... How can she be the
mission-giver if she's in the middle of organizing the defense of the ship? I
mean the brief seemed rather simplistic in its content, by which I mean they
don't mention anyone making a recorded video distress broadcast so it's not like
she personally requested your help.
Sorry, got a bit distracted by the details. Anyway, the Dominion is out to get
the Order for that squadron you destroyed and the destruction of Killan's Rest.
You need to rocket your way there to offer temporary assistance until the big
guns show up. The Dominion will attack from 2 directions but only one side of
the ship, and their forces will consist of interceptors and the occasional cargo
vessal. Since you are no longer restricted to a specific ship and weapon
loadout, you should have no problem mowing down until the matriarch arrives and
lends assistance. After mopping up the rest of the ships you'll get a mission
complete and be free to turn in the mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 5:
- A Plague of Unbelievers [OSM5] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1200 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - The
Tempest, Reward - Order rank 5.
An Order patrol has been silent for 3 cycles (days) and Aspirant Choi is
understandably concerned. You need to head to their last known location and
either offer assistance or find out what led to their untimely demise. As you
arrive you find Syndicate and Consortium ships are scavenging the wreckage of
the patrol and fighting over the salvage. You're task is to drive them off
before they can make off with something that could lead to an understanding of
what happened there. There are several scouts and heavy fighters in the area,
but fortunately for you they don't gang up on you all at once, and as soon as
you deplete enough numbers from a particular group they'll leave the conflict
outright. Once you've driven off the vultures from the scene it'll be time to
figure out what happened to the patrol (aside from dying of course).
Scan the wreckage and you'll come across an anomalous radiation signature
similar to the one at Killan's Rest. Aspirant Choi contacts you and tells you
that the matriarch has just stated that the patrol was wiped out by the
Dominion, something is definitely wrong here... Head though the SHIFT platform
and return to base. When you hand in your mission report Choi will tell you that
she wants to trust you with a secret. Oh please let it be that she's got a crush
on me, because women who are not only pretty but think for themselves and
question authority when presented contrary evidence (especially in a religion),
is a major turn-on for me.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 6:
- A Question of Blasphemy [OSM6] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1500 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone -
Tartarus, Reward - Order Rank 6.
Aspirant Choi is going against the matriarch's orders. Whoo! Power to the
people! Viva la revolucion! Freeeeeeeeeeedoooommmmmmm! ...By sending a science
team to collect more data... (sigh), okay so maybe taking on a zealous religious
military organization with only two people yelling "CHAERDGE!" isn't the best
idea but it would've felt good for the 1.2 seconds before getting vaporized by
the Evangelist Fleet. Besides, I thought we were made aware that the Dark Legion
was behind all this like 5 missions ago.
Anyway, you need to get to the science team and make sure that they perform
their task without outside interfe- aw crap, the Legion's already here! You
arrive just in time to see the last research vessal pulverized and the Legion
carrier disappear. You'll be asked to investigate with caution, but it's not
easy to do so when you're next to a wormhole and, sure enough, you get sucked in
while scanning. You'll reach an uncharted section of space and be near an
ancient Progenitor sentient on the other side. But no matter what you might
think regarding the gravity of such an encounter you'll have to get out ASAP
because Legion ships are closing in on your position. The sentient offers to
open a SHIFT platform for you but it's not as young as it used to be so it's
going to take awhile. Your options are cloaking/going undercover and waiting
until the platform opens or flying and blasting at anything that moves. If your
weapons/ship tiers are too low I'd advise the former option.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 7:
- Apostate [OSM7] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 1800 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Asteria, Gameplay Zone - Erebus,
Reward - Order Rank 7, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, 3 Devastator ES III's and a
Mongoose Proto Trap 2 (a mine deployed with the right bumper/shoulder button).
Aspirant Choi has discovered that the Order has secretly been constructing a
wormhole device that can bypass the mines in the DMZ, bringing Dark Legion ships
in from the other side. No matter what the reasons might be one thing is clear,
it's far too dangerous to exist any longer. Your mission is to protect Choi's
ship long enough that she can break into the secret facility, steal the device,
and make a SHIFT jump to safety. While it's not necessary to use the mines, they
will help a little though you don't want to rely on them exclusively either.
Having said that this mission is a good opportunity to test the function of this
particular mine if you're thinking about purchasing it with PVP points, or to
boost your mine damage/kill challenge completion. Also keep in mind that after
fending off the enemies as part of the mission, said mission will NOT end at
that point or even after going through the SHIFT platform. This means that you
can complete the mission, then combat Syndicate/Dominion ships to boost
challenge completion or further test the mine's applications before actually
turning the mission in. Aside from the above information, the fact that you/Choi
will be hindered by the occasional tractor beam, and that you fight Praetorian
ships (presumably on the matriarch's payroll) along with the Order ships there
really isn't anything left you need to know.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 8:
- Heratic [OSM8] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2100 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus (personally also had it
available in the Shadowrift zone too), Gameplay Zone - Solaria, Reward - Order
Rank 8.
Alright, Choi's turned traitor and now it's time for you to hunt down that dirty
two-timing bi-whoa whoa WHOA! Back that cargo ship of confusion up! Why am I
helping the Revenant Order track down Aspirant Choi when I was the one helping
her in the first place?!? I mean, I understand that you'd have to keep up
appearances to avoid suspicion but come on!
Anyway, she was last seen in the Solaria zone and you're tasked with accessing
data from satellites to find out where she went. you can use cloak/undercover to
bypass the hazards altogether or just fight your way through. The first
satellite has nothing, the next two have Dominion fighters guarding them, and
the one closest to the Dominion base has a cruiser and various random forces
patrolling to deal with. You've been warned.
&******************************************************************************8
Order Story Mission 9:
- Shug [OSM9] -
&******************************************************************************8
Unlocked with - 2400 FXP, Mission-Giver Zone - Erebus (again in Shadowrift too),
Gameplay Zone - The Crucible, Reward - Order Rank 9.
Looks like I underestimated Aspirant Choi. Not only did she keep the Order from
finding her via the satellite data, they're now so certain that they won't find
her or the wormhole device that they're cutting ties with the Syndicate which
supplied them with the element 213 needed to make the device work. Gotta love a
resourceful woman...
Seneschal Brighton tells you to meet with the Syndicate warlord known as Shug so
that the Order can politely ask if the Syndicate wouldn't mind terminating the
production contract, not be paid for the last shipment, and quietly slink off
into the darkest corners of the galaxy amicably. Either she's profoundly stupid
or she's leading you to slaughter because she secretly found out about you
aiding Choi's efforts. Whatever the case, we need to head to the
Syndicate-controlled region of The Crucible.
Before you go you should have at least 1 weapon equipped instead of nothing but
sentients, you'll find out why soon enough. The meeting goes downhill faster
than you can say "told ya so", Shug's cruiser erects a supershield, and a small
squadron of cloaked fighters start gunning for you. Cloaked enemies CANNOT be
targeted by sentients, even if you target them manually for them, so you'll have
to take them out with your own weapons.
Once the pups have been dealt with it's time to take down the nigh illiterate
big dog and his cruiser. After it's destroyed Brighton will further test your
patience and make you want to reach through the TV screen to slap some sense
into her because she not only offers to rescue Shug, not turn him in to the
Praetorians, and even take him anywhere he wants to go. Despite being given the
chance to gather his strength, exact revenge against Brighton and the Order, and
most importantly not die, Shug is either too stupid or too prideful to accept
the offer and goes down in flames instead. Hopefully if she tries pulling that
crap again it will be her own aft on the line and not the poor shuttle pilot she
would've dispatched.
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- Side Missions -
[X]
Side missions come in three different types: Standard, preset, and military.
Each has their own unique individuals that dispense the missions and
characteristics that differentiate themselves from others. I'll give the
important details in each section but they'll be the first thing I mention about
them so you won't have to scroll through a ton of text just to know what you're
looking at. Also, since the preset side missions require more information than
the other two types, I've segregated them into their own sections, so this
section is going to focus on the standard and military side missions.
&******************************************************************************8
- Standard Side Missions [SM] -
&******************************************************************************8
Standard side missions are limitless but randomized and have disproportionate
ratios for certain mission types. Therefore I'm going to list the mission types
from least common to most common. Spy missions require more information if you
want to complete them successfully so you'll want to see the (SPY) section below
for vital data. The difficulty of standard side missions can be adjusted while
viewing them by pulling the left/right triggers to decrease/increase the
difficulty, respectively. Pulling the triggers will also change what missions
are displayed so you don't have to exit the screen to get a particular mission
to appear, just flip back and fourth between difficulty settings. Increasing the
difficulty and/or participating in standard side missions in later zones grants
access to more credits and better quality upgrades upon completion. (Note that
there are only three levels of difficulty). You can also increase the amount of
credits yielded from standard side missions from a faction the more times you
complete side missions of any kind for said faction.
Following the spy mission walkthrough will be the Upgrades Title Listing (UTL),
which lists the names of the upgrades and what they do so that if you're trying
to get a particular kind of upgrade you'll know what you're getting. Gameplay
hot tip - All side missions contain enemies, so use cloak/undercover during
missions that don't require combat, i.e. the Seeker, Explorer, and Collector
missions.
Mission types: Spy, Courier/Escort, Object/NPC Defense, Object/NPC
Locator/Seeker, Scout/Exploration, Use/Acquisition(/Collector), and
Kill/Destroy.
Faction: Consortium, Mission Supplier: Preacher.
Moonlighting = Spy
Convoy Escort = Courrier
Mayday = Defender
Sabatoge = Defender
Scouting = Explorer
Mapmaker = Explorer
Locate Object = Seeker
Identify Escape Pods = Seeker
The Lost Pilot = Seeker
Rogue Drones = Killer
Syndicate Plunder = Killr
Syndicate Purge = Killer
Lost Cargo = Collector
Lost Cargo (turrets) = Collector
Lost Cargo (friend) = Collector
Maintenance Man = Collector
Scan Reports = Collector
Faction: Syndicate, Mission Supplier: Sketch
Tracking Device = Spy
Inside Information = Courier
Information Overload = Explorer
Escaping the Net = Defender
Hotwire Help = Defender
Salvage = Collector
Viral Infection = Collector
Syndicate in Need = Collector
Jammed Coms = Seeker
Missing Ships = Seeker
Eyes and Ears = Seeker
Consortium Strike = Killer
Easy Pickings = Killer
Praetorian Strike = Killer
Law Deforcing = Killer
Dominion Trouble = Killer
Dominion Strike = Killr
Order Trouble = Killer
Revenant Order Strike = Killer
Loose Ends = Killer
Mousetrap = Killer
Faction: Praetorian, Mission Supplier: Praefectus Juventis
Parole Breaker = Spy
Protect the VIP = Courier
Hit = Defender
Evidence Protection = Defender
Stakeout = Explorer
Watch Duty = Explorer
Joyride = Seeker
Distress Signal = Seeker
Law Enforcing = Killer
Pirate Hunt = Killer
Disinfection = Collector
Station Security = Collector
Security Test = Collector
Suspect Debris = Collector
Stolen Goods = Collector
Faction: Dominion, Mission Supplier: Lieutenant Brighton
The Traitor's Message = Spy
Defection = Courier
The Ambush = Defender
Defend the Transports = Defender
Missing Spysats = Seeker
Brokern Communications = Seeker
Patrolling = Explorer
Exploration = Explorer
Sentry Shutdown = Collector
Turret Defendse = Collector
Lost Convoys = Collector
Ambushed Supplies = Collector
Antipiracy = Killer
Syndiacte Hunt = Killer
Demolition = Killer
Revenant Oder Hunt = Killer
Fation: Order, Mission Supplier: Brother Bookman
Traitorous Deeds = Spy
Save the Defector = Courier
Surprise Attack = Defender
Transport Defender = Defender
Lost Contact = Seeker
Lost Satelites = Seeker
Exploration = Explorer
Renenant Patrol = Explorer
Turret Defender = Collector
Sentry Reactivation = Collector
Lost Convoys = Collector
Psi Repair = Collector
Syndicate Eradication = Killer
Dominion Storm = Killer
Dominion Hunt = Killer
Dominion Probe-lems = Killer
&******************************************************************************8
- Spy Mission Walkthrough [SPY] -
&******************************************************************************8
Spy missions deserve their own guided explanation as they can be infuriating if
you aren't aware of the following information. The first rule of spy missions
is to ALWAYS pick the easiest version of these missions, for reasons that will
become clear later in this section. Also, regardless of what the mission
description says, it will always involves finding a targeted fighter and keeping
it in range long enough for the mission to be completed. Even if you're
cloaked/undercover before entering the mission, some enemies can still find you,
and you don't need to be hidden to trail targets anyway.
Right from the start there are complications you need to be made aware of to
avoid frustration. Such as the percentage number in the objectives box on the
HUD which will not only climb when at the appropriate distance, but also descend
into negative percentages, failing the mission when -100% is reached. The goal
is to get to +100%, but unless you pay attention to both your distance from the
target AND the percentage indicator you won't know how close is too close. You
typically need to keep the target ship at the bottom/top edges of the screen and
where the edges WOULD be on an equal-sided square for the left/right sides. But
do the complications stop there? Hardly, we've only just started.
You see, the ships vary in speed and behavior. It can be as easy as a
slow-cruising heavy fighter with a barely curved vector, or as frustrating as a
speedy Syndicate scout fighter conducting more U-turns than water in an
infinitely looping S-bend. But what makes this guide so important to have is the
last, and possibly most crucial complication of all, the one that made me stress
the importance of selecting the easiest difficulty setting: Weapons Fire.
You see, every spy mission has enemies in the area near the target. You're
probably thinking that setting the difficulty lower is needed so that destroying
the enemy ships is easier, thus making your attacks less likely to hit the
target ship right? WRONG! While it's true that firing on your target is a no-no
and you'll want to dispose of enemies ASAP, it's really because if ANY ship hits
your target the mission will fail as though it had been you that did it. Why
would enemy fire hit the target you're tailing? Because Starfire programmed them
as neutral targets rather than hostiles, so hostile weapons fire can still hit
your target even though they're supposed to be allies. As if all that weren't
enough, the spy target can actively engage in fire-fights, and while the Dark
Legion are an obvious concern when taking part in spy missions in Shadowrift,
the ever-present Vanid will end the mission as soon as one of their beams locks
on to the target. The easiest missions take place in pocket areas outside of all
zones and feature no Vanid or Dark Legion ships, it's not perfect but it's the
best possible way to complete the missions if you're trying to complete the
analogous challenge.
&******************************************************************************8
- Upgrades Title Listing [UTL] -
&******************************************************************************8
Upgrades have titles that are meaningless once you have them but are easy to
forget when you need to know them. Therefore, I've compiled a list of all the
upgrade titles and what their effects are so that you'll have the information
needed to find what you're looking for. However, I won't be listing the
adjectives that describe the upgrade's percentage yield since that's not as
important.
Ship Upgrades:
Injector = Increases the maximum speed
Coil = Increases maximum warp speed
Energizer = Increases maximum shield capacity
Lining = Increases maximum hull strength
Pod = Increases maximum cargo size
Weapon Upgrades:
Power Gem = Increases damage of all weapons
Recharger = Increases the refire rate of all weapons
_____ Boost = Increases the damage and refire rate of _____ weapons (i.e. mine
boost boosts mine weapons, auto boost boosts autogun weapons, etc.)
Ability Upgrades:
Harvester = Harvest
Deceiver = Feign Death
Escaper = Roll
Hider = Cloaking
Teleporter = Teleport
Stealer = Hijack
Scanner = Scan
Shielder = Supershield
Misdirector = Undercover
Flaregun = Flares
Controller = Clone
Ram = Ram
&******************************************************************************8
- Military Warzone Side Missions [WSM] -
&******************************************************************************8
Military Warzone side missions are the most simplistic since there are only two
factions that have them, there are only three missions, and they're the same in
both factions with zones only changing the rewards. The people who supply the
missions are Sergeant Torsky (Dominion), and Sister Octavia (Order). When taking
part in these missions keep in mind that you cannot go to a different zone
after accepting them to fight in a different zone. You also cannot collect your
reward for completing the side mission while taking part in a warzone battle,
you have to wait until you win or lose before turning in the mission. That is
unless you take part in a warzone battle in a different zone by selecting
"Random Zone" rather than the one you're in, in which case a SHIFT platform will
appear automatically upon completing the objective.
Warlord - The objective is simple, destroy 20 enemy ships. This includes all
pilotable ships as well as carriers and the battleship, though turrets do not
count.
Supply Chain - Although Supply Chain missions state that you need to capture
supply points specifically, carrier spawn points count towards credit. You need
to capture at least 5 points to to complete the mission.
War! - About as straightforward as it gets, you just have to win. You do not
have to fire the final shot on a battleship to get credit for destroying it for
"War!" side missions or even damage it. It is assumed however that you need to
at least damage it to get credit for the analogous challenge.
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- Preset Side Missions -
[XI]
Preset side missions almost always provide you with ships, weapons, and skills,
making perfect for those just starting the game and want to sample different
weapons and abilities. Preset missions are access by speaking to a certain
faction representative in each zone (which will be listed at the beginning as
"Mission Provider") and choosing from one of 3 different missions. Said missions
provide the same amount of XP and FXP in each zone set so I'll list them at the
beginning rather than 3 times apiece. Completing all 3 missions unlocks a 4th
"mission" that has you traveling to the next zone that contains the next set.
It's laughable to label it as a "mission" because all you do is leave the
station and go through the designated SHIFT platform. No that's really all there
is to it, you don't even have to dock at the station on the other side, you just
appear in the menu, turn in the mission, and get 500 XP and 50 FXP (this value
is consistent between zones and factions alike) for practically no effort. (Note
that you do not need to perform this super easy task to unlock the set of preset
missions that are in other zones.)
However, there are some exceptions to the first statement that you need to be
made aware of before you jump straight to them, with the first being the
difficulty level of missions. While most of the missions are a breeze, a scant
few can be incredibly difficult, so keep the difficulty rating in mind. The more
*'s out of 4, the more difficult a mission is, so be mindful of the rating, as
even early missions and/or shared missions can have high ratings.
Speaking of which, since there are 3 missions for 9 zones, and 5 different
factions, it's rather cruel to chastise Starfire for not coming up with 135
unique missions on top of all the other missions in the game. And while they
aren't ALL the same, 2 thirds of the missions ARE shared between factions. Said
shared missions include two that defy the preset missions label by not providing
you with a ship, weapons, or abilities. They're the "Equipment Check" and
"Catastrophe in the Catacombs" missions, so either skip them if you're not up
for the challenge, or come prepared because they take place in later zones.
Another important aspect you need to be made aware of is that one of the three
presets has many caveats, with the biggest being that it's not even really a
preset strictly speaking. While there are in fact abilities assigned to the
player for use regardless of whether they have them or not, the abilities are
capable of being customized, unlike the ships or weapons. You do not need to
have the same skill(s) in order to replace them with something else in the pilot
submenu of Quickview, but if you DO swap out an ability you don't have with
something else you won't be able to swap it back IN unless you start the mission
over.
Abilities are also modified by the number of faction points a player has put
into them, minus a couple of exceptions. While most abilities with 0 points put
into the skill will still function as though you had put at least 1 point in
the skill, Ram is one of the exceptions, functioning (if you can call it that),
for a flicking second before disengaging. Teleport on the other hand is the
opposite of Ram, not only functioning when you have no points assigned to it,
but actually being BETTER for it by surpassing the cooldown time of the skill
even when the maximum number of points are assigned. The other abilities
function normally, and work better the more points you have in a given skill.
Passive skills are also active without penalty regardless of what the preset
abilities are.
Lastly there's the gameplay types, which there are 5 I've designated: Escort,
(Standard) Survival, On-Rails Survival, Mixed Survival, and Stationary Survival.
Escort, as it should be obvious, means you're going to be protecting a ship(s),
warhead, etc. from enemy damage. (There's one recurring mission I labeled as
"Stationary Escort" because you can't move during the mission, but it's only
one mission with the same objectives repeating so I felt no need to list it as
an independent category). (Standard) Survival involves avoiding damage, although
sometimes it can feel more like an assault depending on the circumstances.
Sometimes the missions are timed and it's not always clear so I again didn't
create an individual category for Timed Survival. On-Rails Survival means that
your ship is piloted for you throughout the entirety of the mission. Mixed
Survival meanwhile means that you start off on-rails, but eventually have
control returned to you. Finally, Stationary Survival, as its name implies, has
you incapable of moving at all throughout.
Gameplay Hot Tips:
- Although they aren't visibly equipped, sentient passive abilities will still
be active when taking part in the mission, and since the more there are the
better off you'll be, it's a good idea to dock with a cruiser that has all 4
weapon slots occupied by sentients.
- Use the left analog stick during missions that take place while
stationary/on-rails to look around the ship and get the jump on enemies by
extending your lock-on range.
- Although boring, timed survival missions can be completed by loading up your
ship with DPS sentients that have high Energy Regeneration passive abilities,
and using the supershield to absorb all damage from enemies until the time runs
out.
- If you manage to break through the huge number of fighters that are at the
Northern entrance of the area you fight in during the "Fallen on Hard Times"
mission, you can leave the immediate combat area and give your shields the
chance to recharge.
- Similar to the above tip, although you're expected to fight within a
particular area, there are no physical barriers preventing you from accessing
other parts of the map. Though escort and defense mission paths/areas aren't
ones you'll want to move away from, survival/timed survival missions can be made
easier by putting distance between yourself and the area where the enemies
spawn.
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- Consortium Preset Side Missions -
[XII]
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 500 XP and 200 FXP
- Asteria [CPA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Deploying the Satellite, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter,
2 Dirge Rail Gun Mk. II's, Roll, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - You are to escort a Consortium cargo ship to deploy a satellite.
Syndicate scout fighters will try to intercept but the escort target is armed
so it's not all on you.
Defending the Icy Wastes, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 3
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. I's and a Multi Missile. Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - This mission type is simple, shoot anything that isn't you. You
don't have any special abilities, but you don't need any either. The Dirge
Rail Guns are good enough on their own but the Multi Missile gives you a
significant advantage. Shoot down about 26 enemies and the mission will be over.
Prototype Escort, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a Spike
A-Beam, a C1-Hawkeye, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - You need to escort a ship out of Syndicate-occupied territory, and
while things start off hectic with 4 to 5 enemy heavy fighters, once they're
dealt with the mission might as well be done because there will be nothing but a
few scout fighters sent, which the ship you're escorting can dispatch with a
singe missile before they even de-cloak.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 550 XP and 220 FXP
- Erebus [CPE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Defending the Pit, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 4 Spike
A-Beams, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - It's basically the same as the Defending the Icy Wastes mission
except you've got beams and have to deal with interceptors instead of scouts.
Try focusing your fire on one fighter at a time because dividing up your attacks
among enemies takes too long.
Space Mites, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 Heavy Fighter, 3 Dirge
Rail Gun Mk. I's, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The only enemies you encounter are Vanid, the ship will
automatically avoid the cluster of mines, and it's armed and competent enough
that you don't have to lift a finger to help it. You couldn't fail this mission
if you TRIED.
Power Struggles, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a Slasher
B-Beam, a C1-Hawkeye, Flares, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - This one starts off on-rails, facing a few Syndicate scouts along
the way, but you'll be free to move once you reach your destination. Your task
is to destroy the turrets, which happen to fire missiles so make use of the
Flares skill.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 600 XP and 240 FXP
- Leviathan [CPL] -
&******************************************************************************8
Mining Near the Edge, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, 2
Slasher B-Beams, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort
Description - Depending on how fast the enemies are you can fail this mission in
seconds, but that's not the case most of the time. In my experience, you get the
chance to follow your target long enough for you to get your bearrings more
often than not. This mission is difficult because of how incredibly vulnerable
the ship you need to protect is. The most effective tactic is to intercept
enemies before the target ship even gets their, be it by memorizing when and
where they appear or keeping a sharp eye on the mini-map.
Fire Down the Aisle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Slasher B-Beam, a Dirge Rail Gun Mk. II, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - Your job is to thin the herd of drones, a straightforward task
that can be as easy as it sounds. Even though some of your enemies are armed
with torpedoes, your ship is pretty hardy so it's far from a death sentence if
you're hit by them. Just focus your attacks on the top/bottom because the laser
can target the defense towers on the other side of the walls even though it
won't actually hit them. Speaking of the defense towers, they fire missiles that
the Flares skill are meant to counter, but just like your beam attacks they
can't hit you anyway, so don't bother using it unless you're trying to increase
the Dazzler challenge or something.
Core Control, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser, a Dirge Rail Gun
Mk. I and II, a Spike A-Beam, a C1-Hawkeye, Flares, and Supershield. Gameplay -
On-Rails Survival.
Description - This is on-rails through and through, and you need to shoot
everything in sight to survive. Make sure that you make use of the Flares skill
to counter missiles, and take advantage of the Roll glitch to stop beams if you
can. You're bound to take a significant amount of damage and lose your escorts
with base skill levels; you might even lose outright, but it's not impossible by
any means.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 650 XP and 260 FXP
- The Graveyard [CPG] -
&******************************************************************************8
Ship of Fools, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a Crusher
C-Beam, a C2-Hawkeye, Supershield, Teleport, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - You'll face every kind of fighter during this mission, and while
the cruiser you're escorting is armed and uses the Supershield skill from time
to time you can't rely on it to all the work for you. The scouts are the most
annoying because they use the Roll skill every time you first fire a beam attack
at them, so fire a barely locked on shot first, then charge up a fully powered
beam while the enemy rolls to evade the last attack.
Fallen on Hard Times, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Lightning Beam Mk. II, a C3-Hawkeye, Flares, and Teleport. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - One of the more difficult repeating preset missions, though less
so in this version because of the Lighting beam you're supplied with. As
mentioned in the Gameplay Hot Tips portion of the guide, a massive amount of
fighters will appear when you go to the upper portion of this area. The
Lightning beam can parse through enemies so it's easier to destroy many of them
as soon as they appear because they're clustered pretty close together. If you
DO plan on staying, make sure that you fire the beam in short bursts because it
does a lot of damage anyway, and if it's fired at a cruiser using supershield
or a scout using roll, not much energy will be wasted. Speaking of the cruisers,
they're by far the biggest threat in this mission. They use Corona pulse weapons
and have supershields but their Lightning beams are the worst, though they won't
do damage when you're on the other side of a solid structure, it will continue
to fire until it gets a proper angle that you won't be able to see as well
because the beam visually parses through obstructions. Take down cruisers as
soon as possible because you won't last long if you don't.
Mind the Minefield, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, a
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. III, a Crusher C-Beam, a C3-Hawkeye, Flares, Teleport, and
Supershield. Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - You're going after a pair of cruisers, and you have to get through
a minefield, but this is easier done than said. Yeah you read that right, in
spite of mines and enemies, I wasn't destroyed while writing down the presets
until control was given back upon reaching the cruisers. The cruisers themselves
are armed with tier 2 pulse weapons and supershields so don't sweat it.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 700 XP and 280 FXP
- The Tempest [CPTT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Fog of War, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, 2 Crusher
C-Beams, a C3-Hawkeye, Clone, Supershield, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Mixed
Survival.
Description - You'll start off with the ship being flown for you so
unfortunately you'll be vulnerable, but after a certain point you'll regain
control. When you do, clone your ship there, stick close to it, and let your
enemies come to you.
Double Envelopment, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, 2 Crusher
C-Beams, a C3-Hawkeye, a Dirge Rail Gun Mk. III, Flares, and Afterburner.
Gameplay - On-Rails Survival
Description - In spite of being able to accumulate a legion of enemy fighters,
the high tier level of the cruiser makes its defensive properties too strong for
them to effectively penetrate before being obliterated by you.
Close to the Edge, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a
Rupture G-Beam, a Dirge Rail Gun Mk. III, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Escort.
Description - While there are too many enemies to let your escort target do all
the work, its weapon is just as potent as yours, which incidentally is a level
higher than your ship's tier is supposed to be capable of supporting yet
functions anyway.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 750 XP and 300 FXP
- Solaria [CPS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Hot Time in the Hotzone, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. IV, a Rupture G-Beam, Supershield, Clone, and Afterburner.
Gameplay - Survival.
Description - Sadly no, this mission does not involve steamy action with Belinda
that results in handprints on the inside of the ship's windows. Instead, you'll
be taking down 55 Syndicate fighters (not all at once of course). There isn't
much to be worried about, the difficulty level comes more from attrition than
enemies that are challenging to defeat.
Quickbuck Crossing, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. IV, a Rupture G-Beam, a C2-Hawkeye, Supershield, Flares, and
Clone. Gameplay - Stationary Escort.
Description - Just lay on the trigger (or analog stick as it were), and you'll
be fine. You can use flares and clones but they're hardly necessary.
Space Madness, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, 2 Rupture
G-Beams, Clone, Teleport, and Flares. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - This. Is. SPACE SPARTA!!! Sorry, I just had to. Use clone as soon
as the mission starts and target the cargo ship that's right in front of you (I
know it's a ship from your faction, just bare with me). There's going to be a
lot of enemy fighters up your aft so use sub-light/teleport jump your way up
and around the dividing wall to give your shields the chance to recharge if
things get crazy.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 800 XP and 300 FXP
- Tartarus [CPT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Patrol at the Edge, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, 2 Power
Pulses, a Lightning Beam Mk. IV, a Rupture G-Beam, Flares, and Supershield.
Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - Another on-rails tour of destruction in a cruiser. The weapons are
quite capable, but not being a tier 4 ship means you're not quite at the top
when it comes to defense so you'd best make quick work of your enemies just in
case.
Information Shredder, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a
Power Beam, a Power Pulse, Flares, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - If you let the enemy fighters grow too large in number they can
start to overwhelm you, so focus on the highlighted debris, but make sure to
blast the ship every so often to keep their numbers under control.
Waste Management, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, a Dirge Rail
Gun Mk. IV, a Rupture G-Beam, a C4-Hawkeye, a Thumper Autogun Mk. III, Ram, and
Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - (Press the right bumper/shoulder button to deploy the Autogun).
You can deploy the autogun twice if you first deploy it before reaching around
25 kills, but it's not necessary to succeed. It's another on-rails tour of
destruction in a cruiser that's lower in tier than the weapons it inexplicably
supports.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 850 XP and 300 FXP
- The Crucible [CPC] -
&******************************************************************************8
M-Machine, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a Power Pulse,
a Power Beam, Supershield, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The warhead you're escorting is pretty flimsy, so position
yourself between it and the enemy whenever possible to soak up incoming fire.
Also, try not to stray far from it, as some of the enemies are cloaked and will
sneak up on it if you try to fly off and intercept enemies that are farther
away.
Equipment Check, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None, Gameplay - Escort.
Description - This is one of the two repeating missions that does not feature
preset ships, weapons, and abilities so be warned.
Eye of the Needle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Rupture
G-Beam, a Dirge Rail Gun Mk. IV, a C4-Hawkeye, a KL-088 IV, Ram, Flares, and
Cloak. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - You don't even really need to use the missile/beam, The KL-088 is
good enough on its own, though the Dirge Rail Gun and Flares don't exactly hurt.
Once you get to the end, movement control will be relinquished back to you. At
this point, turn around and re-trace the ship's path back because it's highly
likely that there are stray ships waiting to catch up with you.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Belinda, Rewards - 1,000 XP and 300 FXP
- Shadowrift [CPR] -
&******************************************************************************8
Nosey Neighbors, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Power Pulse,
a Power Multi Missile, 2 Rupture G-Beams, Flares, Cloaking, and Supershield.
Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - Even if your ship were a lower tier your weapons could pick up the
slack, and you get plenty of time between bouts to recover shields so it should
be no problem.
Enemy Hands, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Power
Lightning Beam, a Power Multi Missile, a Power Beam, a Thumper Autogun V,
Flares, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - You're heavily armed, but so are your enemies, so I highly
recommend deploying the autogun (using the right bumper/shoulder button) in the
center of the three-way intersection, stay there to give/recieve support, and
book it to let your shields recharge when things get to be too much. Utilize
burst attacks, and don't neglect using the Flares or Clone abilities. If all
else fails, high-tail it to friendly territory until the mission is complete
because you don't need to stay in the region to complete the mission.
Catastrophe in the Catacombs, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None, Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - This can be difficult even with strong ships and weapons, but
there isn't a lot I can say that wouldn't be repeating most of what can be found
in my walkthrough/optimal path guide. Just know that there are lots of fighters
and that they're heavily armed. Though there was an odd occurrence that you'll
probably want to hear about.
I was playing the mission with a tier 1 ship and common sentient so offense was
completely out of the question. I fled to Omega Station as soon as the mission
started so that the fighters attacking would be crushed by the defensive turrets
and friendly ships. After "turning off" my sentients I decided to go undercover
and lead the ships into Legion space, but before I could even make it to the
satellite I got a "mission complete" message for destroying the ships. The ships
that were right behind me. Alive.
o_0
I honestly have no idea what happened. My only guess is that it's a mission that
can be completed by either destroying all the ships or surviving for a certain
amount of time, whichever comes first.
____ ___ ____ ____ ____
`MM( )M' `MM' `MM' `MM'
`MM. d' MM MM MM
`MM. d' MM MM MM
`MM. d' MM MM MM
`MMd MM MM MM
dMM. MM MM MM
d'`MM. MM MM MM
d' `MM. MM MM MM
d' `MM. MM MM MM
_M(_ _)MM_ _MM_ _MM_ _MM_
- Syindicate Preset Side Missions -
[XIII]
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 500 XP and 200 FXP
- Asteria [SPA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Bombing Run, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 Heavy Fighter, 3 Reaver
Antimatter Cannon II's, Cloaking, and Flares. Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - Your ship will be on auto-pilot until you reach Nemo's Folly,
which means that things are slightly more difficult because there will be
several neutral ships in addition to the mines. Given that you can't control
your ship, and the mines can slow your rate of fire while trying to clear a
path by themselves, you'd be wise to avoid any unnecessary conflict, so fire
with as much precision as you can. Once you regain control however, the mission
might as well end right then and there because the turrets you need to destroy
are laughably weak both offensively and defensively.
Defending the Icy Wastes, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, a
Piledriver I, 3 Reaver Antimatter Cannon I's, and Supershield. Gameplay -
Stationary Survival.
Gameplay - You don't really need to use the missile but it doesn't hurt either.
Use the Roll glitch to make this mission a slam-dunk.
Prototype Escort, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter, a
Piledriver II, a KL-088 II, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Having a strong and competent ship to escort is one thing, but having strong
weapons to protect it on top of that is another. I didn't even have to follow
and protect the ship and I still won this mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 550 XP and 220 FXP
- Erebus [SPE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Attack on Precinct 357, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 2
Incinerator Plasma-Throwers, a Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. 1, Piledriver I,
Cloaking, and Flares. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - You have a little backup on this mission but otherwise there's
nothing very distinct about this mission. (Note that the beam weapons are best
used at close range though, so they won't do as much damage to far away targets
as the pulse and missile weapons).
Space Mites, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, 2 Battleguns,
Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The antithesis of the Consortium version of this mission, the
cargo ship you're supposed to escort fires missiles at the Vanid rather than
beams so it's one of the least capable of taking them down. Fortunately you're
armed with not one, but two battleguns that can take them down with the
slightest flicker of fire so this mission is still very easy.
Power Struggle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a Piledriver
I, a Reaver Antimatter Cannon II, Cloak, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Mixed Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description, (CPE).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 600 XP and 240 FXP
- Leviathan [SPL] -
&******************************************************************************8
Flounder, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a Piledriver
III, an Incinerator Plasma-Thrower II, Clone, Flares, and Supershield. Gameplay
- Escort.
Description - You need to defend a cruiser against an onslaught of Consortium
interceptors until time runs out. Supershield is useless since you're trying to
defend a target, and missiles are rarely used, making Flares next to pointless
as well. This leaves Clone as the sole ability to lean on, so if you've trained
that ability you'll have a bit of a leg up. But you're still not in an overly
powerful position so lock on and fire away.
Fire Down the Aisle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Piledriver II, a Lightning Beam Mk. II, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description, (CPL).
Core Control, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser, 2 Reaver
Antimatter Cannon Mk. I's, a Piledriver I, an Incinerator II Plasma-Thrower,
Ram, and Flares. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - A bit easier than the Consortium version of this mission, (CPL),
thanks to a slightly stronger beam weapon.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 650 XP and 260 FXP
- The Graveyard [SPG] -
&******************************************************************************8
Cage Match, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Interceptor, a Piledriver
III, a KL-088 III, Undercover, Cloak, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - You're tasked with taking down 4 cruisers, and although you're in
a fighter, your high tier level and ridiculously strong KL-088 make the enemies
pushovers. Couple that with little to no other forms of resistance and this
mission's a piece of cake.
Fallen on Hard Times, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Piledriver III, a Lightning Beam Mk. III, Flares, Teleport, and Afterburner.
Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description, (CPG).
Mind The Minefield, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, 2
Incinerator III Plasma-Throwers, a KL-088 II, Flares, Teleport, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description, (CPG).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 700 XP and 280 FXP
- The Tempest [SPTT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Double Trouble, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, 2 Reaver
Antimatter Cannon Mk. III's, an Incinerator III Plasma-Thrower, a Piledriver
III, Flares, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - Another onslaught of enemies to put down, utilize Flares and
knock 'em dead.
Double Envelopment, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, 2 Reaver
Antimatter Cannon Mk. III's, a Piledriver III, a Lightning Beam Mk. II, Flares,
and Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
Close to the Edge, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a
KL-088 II, an Incinerator III Plasma-Thrower, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay
- Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 750 XP and 300 FXP
- Solaria [SPS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Diplomatic Immunity, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, an
Incinerator IV Plasma Cannon, a Piledriver IV, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay
- Escort.
Description - Although the cruiser's fire can inadvertently clear some of the
mines from its path, it's best if you do it yourself. Dominion ships are the
enemies this time around rather than the Praetorians/Consortium, so gun them
down even though they're color-coded as being neutral.
Quickbuck Crossing, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a
Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV, an Incinerator III Plasma-Thrower, a Piledriver
III, Flares, Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
Space Madness, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, an
Incinerator IV Plasma Cannon, a Piledriver IV, Teleport, Clone, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 800 XP and 300 FXP
- Tartarus [SPT] -
&******************************************************************************8
ATTACK!, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, 2 Power Beams, a
Power Multi Missile, Clone, Undercover, and Supershield. Gameplay - Survival
Description - You have to shoot down a lot of enemies for this mission, about 70
in total. Fortunately, there are turrets helping you out whose kills add to
your total. Said total got about halfway with no input on my part before being
destroyed so anyone actually trying will succeed with ease.
Information Shredder, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a
KL-088 III, Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV, Flares, Undercover, and
Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPT).
Waste Management, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, a Deathbloom
Autogun 3, a KL-088 IV, a Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV, an Incinerator IV
Plasma Cannon, Ram, and Flares. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPT).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 850 XP and 300 FXP
- The Crucible [SPC] -
&******************************************************************************8
Cold Cuts, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Power Beam,
a Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV, Flares, Undercover, and Supershield. Gameplay
- Mixed Survival.
Description - The problem with this mission is that you can't control your ship,
and the AI pilots like it's drunk and will almost certainly end up with you
stuck in a wall at LEAST once (depending on how many drinks the AI's had).
Equipment Check, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None, Gameplay - Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPC).
Eye of the Needle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Piledriver
IV, a KL-088 IV, 2 Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV's, Ram, Cloak, and Flares.
Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPC).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Warlord Cinnefa, Rewards - 1,000 XP and 300 FXP
- Shadowrift [SPR] -
&******************************************************************************8
Frozen, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Corona IV, a Reaver
Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV, a Power Missile, a Power Lightning Beam, Flares,
Undercover, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - This mission has full-on cruisers engaging you this time, along
with Dominion ships again for some reason. This mission will go down with
greater ease if you have a pair of DPS sentients with Energy Regeneration to
counter the drain from the Corona and Power Lightning Beam.
Enemy Hands, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Deathbloom
Autogun 5, a Power Pulse, a Battlegun 4, an Incinerator IV Plasma Cannon,
Flares, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPR).
Catastrophe in the Catacombs, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPR).
____ ___ ____ ____ ___
`MM( )M' `MM' `Mb( )d'
`MM. d' MM YM. ,P
`MM. d' MM `Mb d'
`MM. d' MM YM. ,P
`MMd MM `Mb d'
dMM. MM YM. ,P
d'`MM. MM `Mb d'
d' `MM. MM YM,P
d' `MM. MM `MM'
_M(_ _)MM_ _MM_ YP
- Praetorian Preset Side Missions -
[XIV]
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 500 XP and 200 FXP
- Asteria [PPA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Syndicate Hotshots, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, 2
Crackshot LR II's, Supershield, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Mixed
Survival.
Description - Your ship will be auto-piloted for a time, during which you'll
have to take down some fighters. Upon reaching your destination, control will
be returned to you. Neither instance is particularly challenging so don't sweat
it.
Defending the Icy Wastes, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 4
Crackshot LR's, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - Since you've got nothing but beam weapons and your enemies use
the roll skill as soon as you first target them you'll have to fire a barely
locked on shot, then a full lock-on while it's rolling before firing again.
Try to concentrate on one fighter at a time for maximum damage.
Prototype Escort, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 Heavy Fighter, 2 Pulse
Ex-I's, a Packhound v1, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The interceptors dogging (no pun intended) the escort target are
equipped with missiles, and although it's equipped with Flares, it can suffer
significant damage if you don't intervene. The rest of the mission is easy
though as there's nothing but scout fighters to deal with.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 550 XP and 220 FXP
- Erebus [PPE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Prototype Escort, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 Heavy Fighter, a
Crackshot LR, 2 Pulse Hi-Ex I's, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - Hey didn't we just do this? Well anyway, you're again escorting a
cargo ship but you don't need to jump in the fray as soon as the mission starts
to keep the target from taking significant damage. Even if you don't jump right
in, the enemy reinforcements spawn pretty damn far off, letting you intercept
and destroy them before the escort target can even encounter them.
Space Mites, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter, a Multi
Missile, a Crackshot LR, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - This mission is more difficult, and I use that term loosely, than
the Syndicate version since you don't have the pulse weapons from that mission,
meaning you have to lock on to multiple targets to make the most of the pulse
weapon, but it's still so easy that it's hardly worth mentioning as a
hindrance.
Power Struggles, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a Pulse
Hi-Ex I, a Packhound v1, Flares, Cloak, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Mixed
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPE).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 600 XP and 240 FXP
- Leviathan [PPL] -
&******************************************************************************8
Eyeful, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, a Crackshot LR II,
a Pulse Hi-Ex III, a Packhound v2, Supershield, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description. Go in, and shoot down the marked targets. Don't even bother with
the other ships, just hit the 2 specified ships and the mission's done just like
that.
Fire Down the Aisle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Lightning Beam Mk. II, a Pulse Hi-Ex II, Flares and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPL).
Core Control, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser, a Multi Missile
II, 2 Packhound v1's, a Crackshot LR, Ram, and Flares. Gameplay - On-Rails
Survival.
Description - An improvement over both the Consortium and Syndicate versions of
this mission thanks to the Multi-Missile.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 650 XP and 260 FXP
- The Graveyard [PPG] -
&******************************************************************************8
Wrath Unleashed, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser, a Pulse Hi-Ex
III, a Crackshot LR III, a Multi Missile I, a KL-088 I, Flares, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - There isn't really much to say, other than you're heavily armed,
and shoot everything that isn't you.
Fallen on Hard Times, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Crackshot LR IV, a Packhound v4, Flares, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - You have higher tier basic weapons to compensate for the lack of
the Lightning beam, but you're still more vulnerable this time around, so make
double sure to deal with the cruisers as fast as possible.
Mind the Minefield, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, 2
Pulse EX-II's, a Lightning Beam Mk. I, Flares, Teleport, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPG).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 700 XP and 280 FXP
- The Tempest [PPTT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Routine Maintenance, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Crackshot LR IV, Packhound v4, Flares, Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay -
Timed Survival.
Description - A timed survival mission, you can either fortify your attributes
and erect a supershield to soak up damage until time runs out, or take the less
boring route and just blast the bajesus out of your enemies.
Double Envelopment, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Cruiser, 2
Pulse Hi-Ex III's, a Lightning Beam Mk. II, Packhound v3, Flares, and
Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
Close to the Edge, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a Pulse
Hi-Ex Iv, a Crackshot LR IV, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 750 XP and 300 FXP
- Solaria [PPS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Solaria Flare Up, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, a Power
Beam, a Reaver Antimatter Cannon IV, Flares, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - The Syndicate has managed to commandeer a Revenant Order carrier,
and a ship that powerful can't be allowed to fall under their control. When the
mission starts the carrier will not have arrived in the system so don't bother
barging in and busting up the Syndicate fighters, wait until the ship arrives
and concentrate on it to end the mission quickly.
Quickbuck Crossing, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier Heavy Fighter, a
Packhound v4, a Crackshot LR IV, a KL-088 IV, Flares, Clone, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Stationary Escort.
Description - Using the KL-088, you can destroy enemies before they can get
halfway to you so you're practically untouchable.
Space Madness, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a Power
Beam, a Power Pulse, Teleport, Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 800 XP and 300 FXP
- Tartarus [PPT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Absolute Horizon, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Pulse
Hi-Ex IV, a Crackshot LR IV, a Packhound v3, Ram, Clone, and Afterburner.
Gameplay - Escort.
Description - Another escort job, this time it's a cruiser that can defend
itself pretty handily, but don't think that you can leave it alone. You'll still
need to keep close to keep some of the heat off and clear mines that it would
otherwise run into due to the navigational problems mentioned in the mission's
brief.
Information Shredder, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a
KL-088 III, a Crackshot LR IV, Flares, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - The KL-088 makes this mission easier, especially when you have a
DPS sentient or two to compensate for the energy drain.
Waste Management, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, a Power Pulse,
a Crackshot LR IV, a Packhound v4, Praetorian Autogun 3, Ram, and Flares.
Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPT).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 850 XP and 300 FXP
- The Crucible [PPC] -
&******************************************************************************8
Rampage, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presetes - Tier 4 interceptor, a Power Beam, a
Power Missile, Cloak, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The pilot who took the Heavy Fighter mentioned in the briefing
likely won't be discharged given how close he'll come to death if you complete
this mission. Presumably the pilot is a greenhorn drafted from the local
interstellar daycare because his/her idea of going on a rampage is to divert a
good amount of shield energy to TVs or back massagers or something, load the
ship with a terrifying payload of 1 weapon, and rain Hell upon the Syndicate at
a blistering 2 kph. So yeah, you can't count on the noob to do anything right
other than going slow enough that you can position yourself between him/her and
the enemies, which you'll pretty much have to do to keep the dumb SOB alive.
Also, don't fly ahead to take out the turrets because Syndicate ships spawn
without warning close to the target and need to be dealt with right away, just
act as a sentient shield and eliminate the opposition. Thankfully, the mission
is short, and it doesn't include tougher targets like cargo ships or cruisers,
so don't give up if you fail faster than you'd expect.
Equipment Check, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPC).
Eye of the Needle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Pulse Hi-Ex
IV, a Packhound v4, a Crackshot LR IV, Lightning Beam Mk. IV, Ram, Flares, and
Cloak. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - You sadly don't have the KL-088 this time around, but the Power
Pulse, while not as strong, should still provide you with enough firepower to
swat down the bothersome flies buzzing around you. (Don't forget to backtrack to
take out enemies you likely missed).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Keelhaul, Rewards - 1,000 XP and 300 FXP
- Shadowrift [PPR] -
&******************************************************************************8
Invasion, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Power Pulse,
a Power Missile, a Power Lightning Beam, Flares, Clone, and Undercover. Gameplay
- Survival.
Description - This mission can be easy to the point of boredom depending on the
circumstances. From what I can tell, the ships spawn from Omega station after a
certain amount of time has passed, so if you destroy a ton of ships in rapid
succession, those ships will spawn at the same rate after the set time has
passed. The intent was likely to create a steady stream of ships to combat, a
handful at a time. But if you take out a ton of them at once as mentioned
previously, there will be plenty of time between clashes to let your shields
recharge. Either take out a few at a time or bring them together and blast them
all at once, the choice is yours.
Enemy Hands, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Battlegun
4, a Power Beam, a Power Multi Missile, Praetorian Autogun 5, Flares, Clone, and
Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPR).
Catastrophe in the Catacombs, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPR).
____ ___ ____ ___
`MM( )M' `Mb( )d'
`MM. d' YM. ,P
`MM. d' `Mb d'
`MM. d' YM. ,P
`MMd `Mb d'
dMM. YM. ,P
d'`MM. `Mb d'
d' `MM. YM,P
d' `MM. `MM'
_M(_ _)MM_ YP
- Dominion Perset Side Missions -
[XV]
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 500 XP and 200 FXP
- Asteria [DPA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Attack on Vostok 1, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 4 Phalanx
Plasma Cannon Mk. II's, and Flares. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - A high Flares skill helps, but 4 tier 2 pulse weapons is more than
enough to see you though this mission with ease.
Defending the Icy Wastes, Difficulty 4/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, 3
Dominion Miniguns, a Multi Missile, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary
Survival.
Description - 4/4 difficulty? For one of the first preset missions in the
faction?!? Yeah, that's one of the reasons I advise joining the Order over
Dominion to gain access to interceptors with the ability to commandeer. This is
the only version of the mission where the enemies use missiles, which are
usually fired at your aft nigh perpetually from offscreen, and since you can't
outmaneuver them, fire while using the Supershield (or recover your shields),
your beam weapons take time to get to full strength and enemies use the roll
skill, you have to rely exclusively on the Multi Missile, which, because it's
an energy weapon will make you run out of energy for the Supershield more
quickly.
Basically, this mission sets you up to fail in almost every way possible. What
keeps this mission from getting a 5/4 impossibullshit rating is that a high
level Flares skill makes it an utter pushover by comparison. While yes, it's
possible to have the skill at the ready without even having to go into the
Quickview menu, the default presets make the mission's difficulty rating 4/4.
A DPS sentient or two probably wouldn't hurt either but Flares is the true key
to success.
Prototype Escort, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 Heavy Fighter, a
Creeping Death Mk. I, a Dominion Minigun, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. I, Clone,
and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - Again, this mission can be difficult without the Flares skill, but
it's nowhere near as difficult with the default equipment, especially if you
intercept enemies before they reach the cargo ship.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 550 XP and 220 FXP
- Erebus [DPE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Torpedo Delivery, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter, a
Vanquisher Minigun, a Dominion Minigun, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Escort.
Description - This mission is a cake-walk up until you reach The Core, and even
then it's not that difficult. There's nothing but mines before the core, no
enemies at all, so just clear a path and wait for the torpedo to catch up. The
Core is where the target and enemies are, intercept the fighters before they
try to take down the warhead, and you're good to go.
Space Mites, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, 2 Phalanx
Plasma Cannon Mk. I's, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - Not as "challenging" as the Syndicate/Praetorian versions, but not
as easy as the Consortium version due to the cargo ship you're escorting using
a pulse weapon.
Power Struggles, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a Creeping
Death Mk. I, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. I, Cloak, Flares, and Afterburner.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPE).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 600 XP and 240 FXP
- Leviathan [DPL] -
&******************************************************************************8
Stronghold, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, a Creeping
Death Mk. II, a Vanquisher Minigun, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. II, Flares, and
Afterburner. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - Your job is to take out a collection of mines and turrets, which
take priority over fighters because your ship's on autopilot and will fly right
into mines if you don't clear the way. But as the difficulty rating suggests,
you've got the advantage here. Last tip, use Flares to counter the scout ship's
missiles.
Fire Down the Aisle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, 2
Creeping Death Mk. II's, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - The need to aim directly up or down with precision is most
important in this version of the mission than any other due to you having
nothing but missiles this time around. You'll need to lock on fully to make sure
the missile flies as fast as possible, but its sharp turning arc and close
quarters means that firing with only a partial lock won't be fruitless. That
said, it only takes 1 missile to bring your enemies down so don't bother
emptying a salvo for 1 enemy.
Core Control, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser, a Vanquisher
Minigun, 3 Dominion Miniguns, Ram, and Flares. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - A potent version of the mission thanks to an all-beam-weapon
arsenal.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 650 XP and 260 FXP
- The Graveyard [DPG] -
&******************************************************************************8
Getting Probed, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, a Creeping
Death Mk. III, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. III, an Annihilator Minigun,
Supershield, Cloak, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - Another mostly on-rails mission that's pretty easy to survive,
even with a cruiser accompanying all the fighters gunning for you. You can use
Cloak to slip past until you regain freedom of movement since the Order won't
attack right at the start of the mission, though you'll need a complimentary
upgrade equipped to keep your energy from being drained along the way.
Fallen on Hard Times, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, 2
Power Beams, Flares, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - Since all the fighters you'll face are interceptors, you don't
have to worry about them using the Roll skill to dodge. Since you're using the
Power Beam however, you're still at a significant disadvantage compared to the
versions of this mission that feature the Lightning Beam.
Mind the Minefield, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, a
Creeping Death Mk. III, 2 Annihilator Miniguns, Flares, Supershield, and
Teleport. Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPG).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 700 XP and 280 FXP
- The Tempest [DPTT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Subtle Diplomacy, Difficulty - 4/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Interceptor, a Creeping
Death Mk. III, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. III, Teleport, Clone, and
Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - This is easily the most difficult preset mission in the game,
because unlike Defending the Icy Wastes, there's no ability that can make this
mission as easy. You're pretty much guaranteed to fail your early attempts, with
the reason for this being that the cruiser you're escorting is about as hardy as
a home built with popsicle sticks suffering from a termite infestation. In fact
at one point I swear that it was destroyed before I even reached it at the start
of the mission. The fact that you're armed with a weak pulse weapon that
overheats and a slow-moving missile doesn't help either, and an insane number of
enemies is the kidney stone on top of the turd sundae. As bleak as things are,
this mission can, with effort, be completed.
The target is equipped with Flares but they alone aren't very effective at
diverting missiles, so you may want to consider quickly equipping and using
Flares of your own (replacing the Teleport ability). The Clone skill isn't
exactly an odds equalizer but it will distract some enemies and might even take
some of them down, but your greatest asset is your mini-map. If the escort
target survives the initial fire-fight it will start going straight through an
artificial structure. This is your chance to break off and intercept fighters
before they get the chance to damage the target. Use your mini-map to locate and
destroy ships making their way to the target, don't wait for them to come to
you.
If the target manages to survive all of that, you'll face the ungodly odds of
defending it against a full-blown cruiser and 6, count-'em SIX, turrets at the
exit. Again, the odds are greatly against you, but know that this mission CAN be
completed. Good luck, and Godspeed sir or madame.
Double Envelopment, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Creeping
Death Mk. III, 3 Annihilator Miniguns, Flares, and Supershield. Gameplay -
On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
Close to the Edge, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a
Crusher C-Beam, a Multi Missile III, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The Multi Missile and 33% energy consumption reduction of the
scout fighter for power weapons make this a borderline 0/4 *'s difficulty
mission.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 750 XP and 300 FXP
- Solaria [DPS] -
&******************************************************************************8
A Long Way Home, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cargo ship, a Creeping
Death Mk. IV, Ram, and Flares. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - No it's not a typo, you really do only get 1 weapon for this
mission, even so, it's not that hard. In spite of the fact that that it's less
than capable of dealing dealing with mines that will be in your way. You should
be able to clear the mines without losing all your shields, and even if you do
lose your shields keep in mind that this is a Dominion ship, so its hull is
twice as strong as its shields. A heightened Ram skill could help, but again,
it's not necessary and unless you have a few prismatic crystals would be a
waste. Lastly, neither fighters nor turrets can take more than 1 missile up the
aft, and they don't use Flares so you're good.
Quickbuck Crossing, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a
Reaper Minigun, a Creeping Death Mk. IV, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. IV, Flares,
Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
Space Madness, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, a Piranha-D,
a Power Beam, Teleport, Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 800 XP and 300 FXP
- Tartarus [DPT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Revenge is in Order, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, a Power
Beam, a Creeping Death Mk. IV, Flares, Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay -
On-Rails Survival.
Description - The first part of this mission has a ton of mobile mines and
fighters but it's only temporary. Once you pass a certain point the sea of
enemies and explosives will subside, giving you the chance to recover your
shields recover. When you're directed to Vostok 4, the target will appear. I
can't give an analysis regarding difficulty because I didn't even know I had
engaged the target until I got a mission complete during combat. Though anything
that gets taken down before one can even acknowledge its presence isn't really
a "threat" now is it?
Information Shredder, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter a
Power Missile, a Power Pulse, Flares, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPE).
Waste Management, Difficulty - 0/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, a Power Beam,
a Power Pulse, a Battlegun 4, a Viper Proximity Mine V, Flares, and Supershield.
Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - The mine you're given is useless, but the Battlegun you're given
is anything but. It, combined with the Power Pulse will single-handedly
obliterate anything that gets within visible range of you.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 850 XP and 300 FXP
- The Crucible [DPC] -
&******************************************************************************8
A Shift in Allegiance, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, a
Piranha-D, a Power Beam, Flares, Undercover, and Clone. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - Focus your attacks on the Dominion ships and not the Order ships,
as destroying the latter will not advance the mission.
Equipment Check, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPC).
Eye of the Needle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Creeping
Death Mk. IV, a Reaper Minigun, a KL-088 IV, a Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. IV,
Ram, Cloak, and Flares. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPC).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Vusal'a, Rewards - 1,000 XP and 300 FXP
- Shadowrift [DPR] -
&******************************************************************************8
Fire for Effect, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Lightning
Beam Mk. IV, a Piranha-D, a Power Pulse, a Multi Missile IV, Flares, Ram, and
Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - Just shoot the buggers, there isn't anything complicated or
noteworthy about this mission.
Enemy Hands, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Battlegun
4, a Piranha-D, a Power Beam, a Viper Proximity Mine V, Flares, Clone, and
Afterburner. Gameplay - Survival.
Description - This is one of the more difficult versions of this mission since
you're in the weaker version of a Heavy Fighter and don't have the Autoguns the
other versions had. If all else fails, just high-tail it to Dominion-controlled
space since you don't actually have to stay in the given area to complete the
mission.
Catastrophe in the Catacombs, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPR).
____ ___ ____ ___ ____
`MM( )M' `Mb( )d' `MM'
`MM. d' YM. ,P MM
`MM. d' `Mb d' MM
`MM. d' YM. ,P MM
`MMd `Mb d' MM
dMM. YM. ,P MM
d'`MM. `Mb d' MM
d' `MM. YM,P MM
d' `MM. `MM' MM
_M(_ _)MM_ YP _MM_
- Order Preset Side Missions -
[XVI]
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 500 XP and 200 FXP
- Asteria [OPA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Torpedo Delivery, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter, a
Lightning Beam Mk. I, a Devastator ES I, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Escort.
Description - Most of the fighters will appear by Vostok 1 and Alpha Station,
and then in the Dominion territory. Take them down before the torpedo gets there
and it might get there without taking any damage at all. That said, the warhead
isn't exactly volatile, I considered quitting the mission because it was taking
so long for it to be destroyed while writing down the presets for the mission.
Defending the Icy wastes, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 cruiser, a
Multi Missile, 3 Devestator ES I's, and Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium/Syndicate version of this mission's description
(CPA)/(SPA).
Prototype Escort, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a
Lightning Beam Mk. I, a Devastator ES I, Supershield, and Afterburner. Gameplay
- Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPA).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 550 XP and 220 FXP
- Erebus [OPE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Revenant Order Hotshots, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 1 scout fighter, 2
Devastator ES II's, an Absolution Laser Assembly, a Piranha-A, Flares, and
Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - A mission that's more a test of patience than skill, the cruiser's
slow speed and few enemy encounters to be had make this mission drag on. Long
enough to let the mind wander to questions like, "Why is the mission called
Revenant Order Hotshots when the pilots you're taking down are from the
Dominion?"
Space Mites, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter, 2 Devastator
ES I's, Clone, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort
Description - See the Dominion version of this mission's description (DPE).
Power Struggles, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 interceptor, a
Deveatator ES II, Piranha-A, Flares, Cloak, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Mixed
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPE).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 600 XP and 240 FXP
- Leviathan [OPL] -
&******************************************************************************8
Restoration of Order, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 scout fighter, a
Lightning Beam Mk. I, a Viper Proximity Mine I, 2 Thumper Autogun 1's, and
Clone. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - Between the Lightning Beam, 2 turrets, a mine, and clone ability,
you've got plenty of firepower at your disposal. You'll fly around in circles so
I recommend setting each autogun (using the right bumper/shoulder button (which
also sets mines)) opposite the other to make sure that you have as much fire
spread out as possible.
Fire Down the Aisle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Lightning Beam Mk. I, a Devastator ES I, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPL).
Core Control, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 2 cruiser, 2
Devastator ES I's, a Lightning Beam Mk. I, a Piranha-A, Flares, Cloak, and
Afterburner. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - About on the same level as the Praetorian mission's ease thanks to
the Lightning Beam.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 650 XP and 260 FXP
- The Graveyard [OPG] -
&******************************************************************************8
Holdout Piece, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a Lightning
Beam Mk. III, a Devastator ES III, Clone, Teleport, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - There are no objectives listed on the HUD but you clearly have to
destroy a certain number of fighters. Even though the turrets are highlighted
as well, their destruction will not cause the mission to fail.
Fallen on Hard Times, Difficulty 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 interceptor, a
Lightning Beam Mk. III, a Multi Missile, Flares, Clone, and Afterburner.
Gameplay - Survival.
Description - Probably the easiest version of this mission thanks to having not
only a Lightning Beam, but a Multi Missile at your disposal. But be warned that
since you now have two power weapons, your energy will be drained more quickly
with every shot.
Mind the Minefield, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 Heavy Fighter, 2
Deliverance Custom Lasers, a Lightning Beam Mk. II, Flares, Teleport, and
Supershield. Gameplay - Mixed Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPG).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 700 XP and 280 FXP
- The Tempest [OPTT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Running Hot, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a Lightning
Beam Mk. III, a Devastator ES III, Roll, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Escort.
Description - Another warhead escort, but with a couple of oddities. For one
thing, I wanted to see how much damage the meteors would do when they hit the
warhead since NPC ships often take a fair amount of damage compared to how much
damage they do to you. However, in spite of doing everything in my power not to
interfere, not 1 of them hit the warhead. Also odd is the fact that Praetorians
start attacking about midway through for some reason. Anyway, I doubt that the
meteors do much damage, but feel free to clear a path anyway just to be safe if
you want.
Double Envelopment, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Lightning
Beam Mk. II, a Piranha-B, a Devastator ES III, an Absolution Laser Assembly,
Flares, and Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
Close to the Edge, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a
Lightning Beam Mk. II, a Devastator ES III, Flares, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Escort.
See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPTT).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 750 XP and 300 FXP
- Solaria [OPS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Merciless Space Mites, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 scout fighter, a
Lightning Beam Mk. II, Devastator ES III, Flares, Undercover, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Escort.
Description - This is probably the only time in the entire game where the
Vanid are a legitimate combat threat, save perhaps if you encounter them while
in a tier 1 scout fighter while flying through a tier 4 zone. In spite of the
mission description evoking thoughts of deploying drones and satellites to dot
the region, your true task is to protect yet another warhead. Also, you once
again have no objectives posted on your HUD.
The radar compass arrow points to the warhead but DON'T GO ANYWHERE, seriously,
don't bother moving at all. Vanid beam attacks can't be outmaneuvered, and if
you try to go to the warhead, they'll follow you to it and damage it. The
the warhead goes off close to where you start off and the Vanid don't spawn to
target the warhead from anywhere else so you're best off stemming the tide where
you are.
The Lightning Beam can parse through targets but can't jump to others so fire in
very short bursts to conserve energy and save time. The Vanid may be easily
destroyed but don't underestimate their offensive capabilities, though the title
of the mission may seem laughable at first, they're stronger than usual and can
do significant damage if you disregard them.
Quickbuck Crossing, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a
Lightning Beam Mk. III, a Devastator ES III, a Piranha-D, Flares, Clone, and
Supershield. Gameplay - Stationary Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
Space Madness, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a Power
Lightning Beam, a Multi Missile IV, Teleport, Clone, and Supershield. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPS).
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 800 XP and 300 FXP
- Tartarus [OPT] -
&******************************************************************************8
Western Flank, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Power Lightning
Beam, 2 Piranha-D's, a Devastator ES IV, Flares, Cloak, and Supershield.
Gameplay - Stationary Survival.
Description - I've got nothing to add to the above information.
Information Shredder, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 scout fighter, a
Power Missile, a Power Pulse, Flares, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPT).
Waste Management, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 3 cruiser, a Power Beam,
2 Devastator ES IV's, a Piranha-D, Flares, and Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails
Survival.
Description - Your weapons aren't exactly black-hole-disruptingly powerful, but
your enemies are so weak that they don't need to be this time around.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 850 XP and 300 FXP
- The Crucible [OPC] -
&******************************************************************************8
Breakout, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 interceptor, a Power Lightning
Beam, a Power Spray, Clone, Undercover, and Afterburner. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - The Power Spray is definitely a potent weapon that you'll likely
want to use over the Power Lightning Beam. Just head south and make sure the
path is cleared, but keep an eye on any ships gathering near the warhead while
you do so.
Equipment Check, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay - Escort.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPC).
Eye of the Needle, Difficulty - 1/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Lightning
Beam Mk. IV, a Devastator ES IV, 2 Piranha-D's, Ram, Cloak, and Flares. Gameplay
- On-Rails Survival.
Description - Again, your weapons are standard, and again, it doesn't really
matter.
&******************************************************************************8
Mission Provider - Stais, Rewards - 1,000 XP and 300 FXP
- Shadowrift [OPR] -
&******************************************************************************8
Out of the Dustpan, Difficulty - 2/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 cruiser, a Power
Lightning Beam, a Devastator ES IV, a Piranha-D, a Tornado-CS4, Flares, Cloak,
and Supershield. Gameplay - On-Rails Survival.
Description - Another cruiser survival mission, this time against both Dominion
ships and Legion ships. At least 1 (ideally 2) DPS sentients with high Energy
Regeneration Skills to offset the torpedo's energy drain, and a high Flares
skill is recommended. Possibly the Roll ability to dodge Legion Tank Hellfire
Beam attacks as well.
Enemy Hands, Difficulty - 3/4 *'s, Presets - Tier 4 Heavy Fighter, a Power
Lightning Beam, a Battlegun 4, a Power Beam, a Mongoose Proto Trap 5, Gameplay -
On-Rails Survival.
Description - See the Dominion version of this mission's description (DPR).
Catastrophe in the Catacombs, Difficulty - ?/4 *'s, Presets - None. Gameplay -
Survival.
Description - See the Consortium version of this mission's description (CPR).
____ ___ ____ ___ ____ ____
`MM( )M' `Mb( )d' `MM' `MM'
`MM. d' YM. ,P MM MM
`MM. d' `Mb d' MM MM
`MM. d' YM. ,P MM MM
`MMd `Mb d' MM MM
dMM. YM. ,P MM MM
d'`MM. `Mb d' MM MM
d' `MM. YM,P MM MM
d' `MM. `MM' MM MM
_M(_ _)MM_ YP _MM_ _MM_
- Military Warzone -
[XVII]
&******************************************************************************8
- Basic Mission Progression and Rewards [WZNP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Military Warzone missions are unlocked after joining the Revenant Order or
Dominion of Allied Planets, and can only be initiated while an active member of
either faction. To take part in a Warzone battle, open the pause/start menu,
select "Special Missions", and choose "Warzone". The goal of these missions is
simple, destroy the enemy's battleship while guarding your own. Warzone missions
can be played alone or online in PVP, and take place in one of the nine zones in
the game. This is why there are no Syndicate vs. Praetorian, Syndicate vs.
Consortium, etc. versions of this mission, because aside from necessitating a
military focus that would justify the construction of massive battleships, the
bases of the factions need to be far, and opposite one another. Each zone has
Order and Dominion on opposite edges of the map, making it necessary to capture
carrier points to spawn from, and supply points for support. That was likely the
working theory anyway, but since this is an RPG, certain behaviors that would be
logical in games like Star Wars Battlefront just don't translate.
Battleships will always attack you over your allies because the player stands as
the most significant threat more often than not. Because you're capable of
growing in strength several magnitudes greater than NPC ships, or perhaps due
simply to poor programming and pathfinding skills, your allied forces will not
storm the enemy base in force for a great length of time, if at all, even when
you're in control of every single resource available. So unless you're piloting
weaker ships with peashooter weapons, it's faster to just rush in and assault
the battleship by yourself, and even if you DO die, you won't fail the mission
unless it happens 25 times (more on that later).
Warzone missions function the same Legion Raids with regards to difficulty
adjustment. There will be a number in parenthesis next to the areas that are
displayed on screen whenever you move into a region or exit a base structure.
Said number indicates the tier level of your enemy's ships so it will always be
1 - 4, no more, no less. The number is dependent upon the whichever value is
highest, the Zone you're playing in, or the highest tier ship you posses in your
current faction (this does NOT include the tier level of a hijacked/commandeered
ship). So if you have a tier 2 ship but are in a tier 3 zone, the enemy's tier
level will be 3. Also, if you're in a tier 1 ship but posses a tier 3 ship, in a
tier 1 zone, the enemy's tier level will still be 3, because it counts the
highest tier ship you posses, not what you're currently piloting. The tier
associated with each zone is as follows: Asteria, Erebus, and Leviathan are tier
1 zones, The Graveyard and The Tempest are tier 2 zones, Solaria and Tartarus
are tier 3 zones, and The Crucible and Shadowrift are tier 4 zones.
The number of Warzone points (WZN pts.) yielded is also effected by the final
tier level of your enemies. You get 3 times the tier level after the battleship
is destroyed, regardless of whether you were the one to fire the final shot, or
even damaged it in the first place. Destroying enemies, capturing supply
points/carrier spawn points, and other activities have no impact on the amount
of warzone points you receive at the end. Note: There are NO penalties for
quitting before the enemy battleship has been destroyed, but you will NOT be
able to resume where you left off. Warzone points are great for getting one
weapon, and one weapon only, the Battlegun. Even if the torpedo weapons weren't
outmatched by the Legion Raid Corsair, the Battlegun is a fantastic weapon to
get ahold of, especially early on in the game.
&******************************************************************************8
- Important Mission Elements and Interaction [WZNE] -
&******************************************************************************8
The first thing to note is the HUD boxes to the left and right. The one on the
left always represents the Order, and the one on the right represents the
Dominion. The percentages represents that faction's battleship's "health", the
second item represents captured carrier points, the third, supply points, and
the last representing human player points. Battleship "health" is depleted as
you damage it, but shields can be recovered slightly if NPCs or human players
use the Recharge ability. (NPC cargo ships can use it by themselves, but human
players must have Healer sentients, that have the ability, actively equipped.)
Battleships can have many different weapons and abilities, the latter being
dependent upon the faction it belongs to when it comes to the specifics.
(Dominion Battleships can have Creeping Death missiles, Order Battleships can
have Piranha missiles, Dominion Battleships can have Silkworm torpedoes, Order
Battleships can have Tornado torpedoes, etc.) That's right, the battleships
unfortunately can have torpedoes in addition to missiles, beams, and pulse
weapons. They can also use Disable, Tractor Beam, and Shield Short if you get
too close as well. NPC ships, battleships included, are not restricted by energy
cost either, so don't expect a torrent of torpedoes to ever let up.
Carrier spawn points, as their name suggests, spawns a carrier upon capturing
it. When a carrier is under your control, it acts as a spawn point for you if
your ship is destroyed (you spawn at the carrier closest to the enemy base).
Carriers also heal you and your NPC allies. When a carrier is destroyed, the
spawn point can be captured by either side, provided that it's a neutral point.
There are two different kind of carrier spawn points, neutral and forward.
Neutral points can be captured by either faction, but forward points are close
to the enemy's base, can only be captured by that base's faction's enemy, and
only while in the possession of a neutral point. Forward carrier points can be
valuable, but it's best to attempt to capture them while cloaked/undercover.
Carriers can also be healed by NPC ships and players, and to a greater degree
than a Battleship.
Supply points are more numerous and contribute to the number of NPC allies
spawned to combat the enemies. These points are always neutral and can be
captured at any time, regardless of whether you or your enemy currently controls
it. You cannot begin to capture a supply/carrier point while in combat. You WILL
however be able to CONTINUE capturing a point if an enemy attacks after you've
begun capturing a point. Lastly, human player points are subtracted by 4
whenever you're defeated in battle, and this is regardless of your
ship's/weapon's/sentient's tier level or statistics. If you lose all 100 points,
you fail the mission, so defeating human players in PVP 25 times will win the
mission without destroying the battleship.
&******************************************************************************8
- Basic Mission Zone Layout and Contents [WZNZ] -
&******************************************************************************8
This will be an outline of where each carrier spawn point/Supply point can be
found within each zone. Points are in the center or in such a small area that
it's nearly impossible to miss unless otherwise noted. Locations in parentheses
dictates the location of the region, locations following the Supply
Point/Carrier Spawn Point dictate the point's location. Note: It's possible for
the enemy Dominion battleship in The Tempest zone to become glitched & not take
damage for varying periods of time. I have not encountered this problem
elsewhere so I would recommend avoiding The Tempest for Military Warzone matches
just in case.
&******************************************************************************8
- Asteria -
&******************************************************************************8
Ghost Zone (path between Calico Base and Alpha Station), Supply Point, found
about halfway through to the first entrance to Calico Base).
Calico's End, Supply point, North West of the Ghost Zone Supply point,just
before the collection of barriers in the corner.
Nemo's Folly (North of Fort Hestion), Supply point, A little East of the center.
Icy Wastes (North of the entrance to Fort Neston), Carrier Spawn Point, almost
directly North of the entrance.
Vostok 1, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, at the Northern end of the main
area.
Fort Heston, Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point, at the Southern end of the main
area.
Alpha Station, Carrier Spawn Point, almost dead center and far South of Alpha
Station itself.
Clearing Area. (East of Alpha Stations), Supply Point, between the two Southern
triangular map objects with circles in them.
Pitkins Patch, (east of Alpha Station), Supply Point, in the Northwest corner.
MinTek Storage Depot, Supply Point, between the two entrances and the base
itself.
Prospect Field (between MinTek and Last Stand), Carrier Spawn Point, bottom
center.
The Last Stand, Supply Point, in the center of the central structure in the base
area.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 3, Total Supply Points: 7.
&******************************************************************************8
- Erebus -
&******************************************************************************8
Shadowden, Supply Point, Center.
Habitation, (area South of Shadoden), Supply Point.
Beta Station, Supply Point, center.
Killian's Rest, (Far North East quadrant), Supply Point.
Power Generation, (near North East quadrant), Supply Point.
Fort Thorn, Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point, Far South end of the Core.
Vostok 2, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, far north end.
Processing Plant, (near South West quadrant), Supply Point.
Hive, (far South West quadrant), Carrier Spawn Point.
Pit, (Near South East quadrant), Supply Point.
Silverlode, (Far South East quadrant), Carrier Spawn Point.
Precinct 357, Supply Point, center.
&******************************************************************************8
- Leviathan -
&******************************************************************************8
Colony, (West of Guardian One/The Vigilant), Supply Point.
Guardian One/The Vigilant, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, to the left of
the base ship).
Communications Array, (north East of Delta Station and South West of
Guardian One/The Vigilant), Supply Point.
Solar Collectors (North West of Sanctuary and South East of Guardian
One/The Vigilant), Supply Point.
Delta Station, Supply Point, Just North of the station.
Delta Station, Carrier Spawn Point, Just East of the station.
Power Core, (between Delta Station and Sanctuary), Supply Point.
Sanctuary, Carrier Spawn Point, Near the bottom of the Sunshadow Syndicate
symbol.
Control, (South of the Power Core), Supply Point.
Engine Bay (South of Control), Supply Point.
Eagle's Nest (Dominion Region), Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point, to the right
of the base ship.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Graveyard -
&******************************************************************************8
Minefield (North East of Falcon's Roost), Supply Point.
Falcon's Roost, Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point.
Sentinal Gate, (East of Falcon's Roost), Supply Point.
Breaker's Yard, (South East of Falcon's Roost), Supply Point, center South.
Cemetery, (North West of Kappa Station), Carrier Spawn Point.
Monument of the Fallen, (South West of Kappa Station), Supply Point.
Station Kappa, Supply Point, just North of the Station.
Wraithmist, (North East of kappa Station), Supply Point.
Cage, (South East of Kappa Station), Supply Point.
Radzone, (North West of Guardian Two/The Defiant), Supply Point.
Guardian Two/The Defiant, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, North West
between it and the Supply Point.
Calico's Den, Supply Point.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 2, Total Supply points: 8
&******************************************************************************8
- The Tempest -
&******************************************************************************8
Fort Bravo, Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point, South East of Fort Bravo and very
close to the Dominion Battleship.
Attractor, (East of Fort Bravo (or East by Northeast), Carrier Spawn Point, East
side of the structure.
Wilderness, (South of Attractor), Supply Point, almost at the center of the dark
amorphous blob on the map.
Sanctuary Station, Supply Point, South West of the station, just outside.
Sanctuary Base, Carrier Spawn Point.
Fog Core, (East of Sanctuary Base), Supply Point.
Gauntlet, (East of Shroudport /Ruined Biosphere), Supply Point, Near the North
end.
Lonecrag Lighthouse, (Far East of Sanctuary base), Supply Point.
Shroudport, Supply Point.
Vostok 3, Dominion Forward Carrier Point, Right North next to Vostok 3 and the
battleship.
Research Outpost, (East of Vostok 3), Supply Point.
Brimstone Creek, (East of Research Outpost), Supply Point.
Widow's Claim, (South of Vostok 3 and the Research Outpost), Carrier Spawn
Point.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 3, Total Supply Points: 7.
&******************************************************************************8
- Solaria -
&******************************************************************************8
Cauldron, (West of Lambda Station), Supply Point.
Lambda Station, Supply Point, West Side.
Sea of Fire, (East of Lambda Station), Supply Point.
Eden, (South of Cauldron), Carrier Spawn Point.
Hotzone, (South by South West of Lambda Station), Carrier Spawn Point.
Sunshadow Bay, Carrier Spawn Point.
Ventrica, (South of Eden/North of Condor's Perch), Supply Point, North end.
Port Quickbuck, (South of Sunshadow Bay), Supply Point.
Ventrica, (South of Eden/North of Condor's Perch), Order Forward Carrier Spawn
Point.
Glassica (South of Quickbuck and North of Guardian Three), Supply Point.
Guardian Three, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, North East of Guardian
Three and South West of Glassica.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 3, Total Supply Points: 6.
&******************************************************************************8
- Tartarus -
&******************************************************************************8
Recycler, (North of Fort Bilgh), Supply Point.
Theta Station, Supply Point, Just South of the station.
Theta Station, Carrier Spawn Point, South of the aforementioned point (and near
the Tightrope region).
Brink Science Outpost, (East of Theta Station, Supply Point.
Apex Antimatter Factory, (East of Fort Bilgh), Supply Point, South by South East
of the center.
Apex Antimatter Factory, (East of Fort Bilgh), Order Forward Carrier Spawn
Point, South West of the center.
Event Horizon, (Center of Zone, East of Apex Antimatter Factory), Supply Point.
Vosok 4, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, between the Tempus Labs and the
South West corner of Vostok 4.
Dimension Gate, (South of Fort Bilgh), Supply Point, in the third/Far right
circle.
Tempus Labs, (Structures South East of the Event Horizon), Carrier Spawn Point,
Almost directly South of the Event Horizon.
New Eden, Supply Point.
Chrona Farm (East by North East of the Event Horizon), Supply Point, at the
center of the closed off section.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 2, Supply Points: 8.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Crucible -
&******************************************************************************8
Cold Storage, (North East of Fort Deckard), Supply Point.
Epsilon Station, Supply Point.
Fort Deckard, Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point, Next to the Southern Collection
of mines.
Assimilator, (North West of Nexus (the Zone's center)), Supply Point.
Flotsam Wastes, (North East of Nexus (the Zone's center)), Supply Point.
Metropolis, (North of Vostok 5), Supply Point.
Nexus, (the center of the zone map), Carrier Spawn Point.
Spinespire (South of Nexus), Supply Point, South of Nexus near the downed cargo
ship.
Vostok 5, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, between Vostok 5 and access
point from the inner part of the map.
MinTek Headquarters, (South of Fort Deckard), Supply Point, between the two sets
of tunnels not near the buildings.
Drydock, (South West of Vostok 5), Supply Point.
Sunshadow Bay, Supply Point.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 1, Total Supply Points: 9.
&******************************************************************************8
- Shadowrift -
&******************************************************************************8
Omega Station, Supply Point, North of station's entrance.
Fort Baxtor, Order Forward Carrier Spawn Point, between Murkpit, City Ruins, and
Fort Baxtor.
City Ruins, (East of Fort Baxtor), Supply Point.
Lost Hope, Carrier Spawn Point.
Catacombs, South of center and equidistant to Lost Hope and Omega
Station, Supply Point.
Cathedral, (West of Vostok 6), Supply Point.
Vostok 6, Dominion Forward Carrier Spawn Point, North at the divide between
Vostok 6 and Cathedral.
Murkpit, (far South West/Opposite Lost Hope), Supply Point.
Dustpan/Catacombs, Carrier Spawn Point, In the middle of the divide between
Dustpan and Catacombs.
Infection Island, (South East of the Catacombs), Supply Point.
Impact Site, (South of Dustpan/Catacombs), Supply Point.
Webweave, (South of the Impact Site) 2 Supply points.
Total Neutral Carrier Spawn Points: 2, Supply Points: 9.
____ ___ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____
`MM( )M' `Mb( )d' `MM' `MM' `MM'
`MM. d' YM. ,P MM MM MM
`MM. d' `Mb d' MM MM MM
`MM. d' YM. ,P MM MM MM
`MMd `Mb d' MM MM MM
dMM. YM. ,P MM MM MM
d'`MM. `Mb d' MM MM MM
d' `MM. YM,P MM MM MM
d' `MM. `MM' MM MM MM
_M(_ _)MM_ YP _MM_ _MM_ _MM_
- Legion Invaision Mission Guide -
[XVIII]
Dark Legion Invasion Missions, or Legion Raids as they shall be known from this
point on, are tower defense/horde mode missions where you protect a station from
an onslaught of Legion ships. It's not clear exactly when Legion Raids become
unlocked, though pilot level doesn't appear to be a factor, and it appears to
occur while in the process of changing factions. The goal of these missions is
to protect the station from Legion attack waves until the attacks stop
altogether.
&******************************************************************************8
- Basic Mission Progression and Rewards [LRP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Attack waves are represented as "days" and surviving for 5 "days" completes the
mission. Be warned however that every time you survive to the end, the mission
will be slightly more difficult the next time you initiate it, and will be made
evident by the "day" counter advancing by 1. Fortunately, there's only so many
times that the difficulty can increase, and it will stop increasing once the
starting "day" reaches 11. Also, surviving to the end of the mission provides
you with part of a Prismatic crystal, and more importantly, a random potent
upgrade that is pretty much always 50% when you're at a high enough level.
The difficulty of the mission is dependent upon a pair of factors, which are
your ship's tier level, and the zone you play the mission in. The difficulty is
represented as a number in parenthesis next to the name of the region you're in.
The number coincides with the tier level of your enemies so it will always be
1 - 4, no more, no less. The number is dependent upon the whichever value is
highest, the Zone you're playing in, or the highest tier ship you posses in your
current faction (this does NOT include the tier level of a hijacked/commandeered
ship). So if you have a tier 2 ship but are in a tier 3 zone, the enemy's tier
level will be 3. Also, if you're in a tier 1 ship but posses a tier 3 ship, in a
tier 1 zone, the enemy's tier level will still be 3, because it counts the
highest tier ship you posess, not what you're currently piloting. The tier
associated with each zone is as follows: Asteria, Erebus, and Leviathan are tier
1 zones, The Graveyard and The Tempest are tier 2 zones, Solaria and Tartarus
are tier 3 zones, and The Crucible and Shadowrift are tier 4 zones.
The number of Legion Raid points (LR pts.) yielded is also effected by the final
tier level of your enemies. You get 1 times the tier level after completing the
first 4 waves, and 3 times that same number for completing the fifth and final
wave. So if you're enemies are tier 3, you get 3 points for the first 4 waves,
and 9 points for the last wave, totaling 21 points in all. Note: You do NOT
forfeit any points earned if you quit before all waves have successfully been
completed, but you will NOT be able to resume where you left off.
It's advised that you play as either the Dominion or Order, since the ships more
often than not have higher hull or shields, respectively, and reinforcements
from those factions last longer against Legion ships as a result. You get
reinforcements from the faction you're currently in, regardless of whether the
ship you're piloting is from another faction be it via hijacking, or using
Eugene.
&******************************************************************************8
- Important Mission Elements and Interaction [LRE] -
&******************************************************************************8
The basic elements to be conscious of are as follows: Your environment, the
station itself, friendly ships, the resource mini-menu, supply satellites,
turrets, and of course, enemies.
- Be mindful of your surroundings, knowing where enemies can come from, where
supply satellites are, where reinforcements gather, etc. is very important if
you want to succeed. (I've listed the zones and thier characteristics in the
(LRZ) section of this part).
- Unlike Battleships in warzone missions, the stations have no shields and
therefore cannot recover from damage inflicted, which means that prevention is
your only option. You can also dock at the station to repair your ship and/or
restore energy reserves, as well as switch out ships, shop, and do everything
else normally. However, the battle will continue while you're docked so either
make your visits as short as possible, or don't even do it at all.
- Friendly Consortium ships will constantly leave the station and make their way
to the edges of the region before warping out. For each ship that successfully
warps out, you are granted 1 resource point. Resource points are valuable, but
you should not escort every last ship, thinning out enemy numbers is far more
important.
- The resource mini-menu, the HUD box near the center on the right edge of the
screen, displays the following from top to bottom: The station's "health"
percentage, the number of resource points, the number of fighters, the number of
cargo ships, and the number of cruisers, all of which are friendly.
- Supply Satellites are the highlighted satellites in each zone, and they allow
you to exchange resource points for bonuses and support. To do this, you need
only fly near the satellite and press the "use" button when close enough. (You
do not need to be out of combat, flying away from the satellite will NOT close
the menu, and boost is disengaged automatically upon displaying the menu). You
can purchase the following from the menu: Fighters (max 3) for 1 resource point
each, cargo ships (max 2) for 3 resource points each, a cruiser (max 1) for 5
resource points each, launch the station's security drones for 7 resource points
each time, and upgrade all turrets for 9 resource points each time (max 2
times).
Fighters are weak and easily destroyed, but are cheap and persist from wave to
wave as long as they survive. cargo ships aren't that strong offensively, but
are a vital asset for their ability to heal friendly ships like you, cruisers,
and even each other. Cruisers are slow and costly, but more powerful than the
other ships. Launching the station's security should be reserved for emergency
situations because A) The drones don't appear to persist from wave to wave, and
B) they're pretty weak both offensively and defensively. Although weak, the
station security drones will still do damage and distract some enemies from the
station itself, so while costly, it's not useless. Lastly, turret upgrades are
the very first thing you're going to want to get. Although costly, turret
upgrades increase all turret's offense and defense, last until the end of the
mission, and apply to turrets that are/will be destroyed.
- Speaking of turrets, they're the first line of defense and are extremely
important if you want to succeed. Turrets are present at every point where Dark
Legion ships have to move through to reach the station, and typically are
grouped in sets of 3. Whenever a turret is destroyed, an audio cue will alert
you and its radar icon will change. Destroyed turrets can be restored by getting
close enough to them that the "use" text says "Rez Turret", pressing the "use"
button, and waiting a short time. Reconstructing turrets also supplies you with
1 resource point each time you do it. However, it's a very bad idea to
intentionally allow enemies to destroy turrets to farm resource points unless
you're very close to the end of a given wave.
- (Note: You do not have to be out of combat to rez turrets, or to buy support
from satellites in Legion Raids.)
- The last element to consider is also the focus of the mission, the enemies.
Among the ranks of Legion ships are fighters, which I have yet to see an
official name for, so I call them "gnats" because they're small, fast, and
fragile. The green interceptor-type ships, which I call "Green-Meanies". The
other green ships that are officially known as "Healers", but I prefer to call
"Scarabs". The reasons being that A) the ship's rounded aft looks like a
beetle's butt, B) like many insects, they're easily crushed but are very
annoying, and C) the scarab was the ancient Egyptian symbol for immortality
which reflects the ship's restorative capabilities. There are the Tanks, which
are about the size of cargo ships but are officially classified as cruisers.
Tanks in Legion Raids also use Power Beams that are much weaker compared to the
Hellfire beams fired by Tanks in the Webweave region. Last, but most certainly
not least are the Dreadnoughts. Although they're closer in size to cruisers,
Dreadnoughts are actually carriers armed with torpedoes, and housing
teleportation technology that allows them to summon a huge number of fighters
when its hull gets about halfway down.
&******************************************************************************8
- Basic Mission Zone Layout and Contents [LRZ] -
&******************************************************************************8
Knowing where to find what you're looking for and where enemies can come from is
important in Legion Raid missions. Therefore, I've created a list the zones,
what you should expect to find in each, and a note regarding my feelings toward
playing in that zone during these missions.
&******************************************************************************8
- Asteria -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Alpha, number of Supply Satellites - 4, their locations
- North, South, East, and West of the station, number of enemy points of entry -
4, their locations - Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest of the
station, turrets posted at each - 3.
Evaluation - A standard-sized area to engage Dark Legion ships, its high
satellite count is appealing but the asteroids are irritating to navigate,
especially with slower ships. The Northeast defense point is the most vulnerable
due to the fact that there are two tunnels and Legion can enter from, but only
3 turrets to defend both areas.
&******************************************************************************8
- Erebus -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Beta, number of Supply Satellites - 3, their locations
- Northeast, Northwest, and South of the station, number of enemy points of
entry - 3, their locations - East, West, and South of the station, number of
turrets posted at each - 3.
Evaluation - A little smaller than Alpha station, Beta is worse because there
are even more asteroids that get in the way. Plus, its smaller size means that
you have less time to put down threats before they reach the station.
&******************************************************************************8
- Leviathan -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Delta, number of Supply Satellites - 1, its location -
East of the station, number of enemy points of entry - 2, their locations -
North and South of the station, number of turrets posted at each - 5.
Evaluation - Though it features only two major points of entry, for enemies,
some fighter squadrons can bypass turrets from the sides, and since your allies
likely won't be around, they can assault the station unopposed. The area is too
large to get from point to point quickly, and its size definitely doesn't help
when trying to discern which turrets have been destroyed. Not to mention the
fact that there's only one Supply Satellite. I say skip it.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Graveyard -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Kappa, number of Supply Satellites - 2, their locations
- Northwest and Southeast of the station, number of enemy points of entry - 3,
their locations - North, South, and West of the station, number of turrets
posted at each - 3.
Evaluation - Neihter the best, nor the worst of the lot. It's large, but in
spite of there being more points the enemy can come from there's still a good
bit of distance they have to cover before reaching the station. Having more than
just 1 satellite doesn't hurt either.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Tempest -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Sanctuary Base, number of Supply Satellites - 2, their
locations - Northwest and Southeast of the center, number of enemy points of
entry - 2, their locations - Northeast and Southwest of the center, number of
turrets posted at each - 4.
Evaluation - Things are very cramped, and it's difficult for the station not to
take damage once enemies are inside. Things are a lot more concentrated but
there's not a lot of ground to cover before enemies reach the station. Allied
ships also don't tend to stick close together so it's a lost cause trying to
rely on them. But if you like using autoguns, mines, and/or parsing beams like
the Lightning, Hellfire, or Big Green Power, this might be a good place for you.
&******************************************************************************8
- Solaria -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Lambda, number of Supply Satellites - 2, their
locations - Northwest and Southeast of the station, number of enemy points of
entry - 2/3, their locations - East and West, number of turrets posted at each -
2 to 3.
Evaluation - This is my personal favorite zone to play these missions in. The
station is vulnerable on the East side, but the West side has many ways of
slowing enemies down if you have to hold back those coming from the East. This
is because in addition to fighting the first two turrets enemy forces will
encounter, there are another two before they reach the station, and those coming
from the entry point at the farthest West side may have to contend with the
turrets posted to keep the enemies coming from the closer entry point. As if
that weren't enough, reinforcements will more often than not gather near the
two pairs of turrets on the west side, making it easier for cargo ships to heal.
Again, the East side is vulnerable so it's not perfect, but it's the most
manageable/advantageous place to complete these missions in my opinion.
&******************************************************************************8
- Tartarus -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Theta, number of Supply Satellites - 2, their locations
- Southeast and Southwest of the station, number of enemy points of entry - 3,
their locations - South, East, and West, number of turrets posted at each - 3.
Evaluation - Since everything drifts slowly to the right, the East side is most
vulnerable and your reinforcements seem perpetually trapped on the West side. I
had what must have been an armada come in from the East side and take the
station from 100% to less than 35% in one round. Your reinforcements at least
manage to keep West side enemies back to a certain degree, but between the
unremarkable South side, and woefully weak East side, you're better off leaving
this one alone.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Crucible -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Epsilon, number of Supply Satellites - 1, its location
- Southeast of the station, number of enemy points of entry - 3, their locations
- West, South, and East, number of turrets posted at each - 3, 2, and 1
respectively.
Evaluation - Yet another instance where the East side is the weakest, and this
time it's because there's a whopping 1 turret defending the position. Seriously,
even if it weren't a pain to navigate around the obstacles outside the station,
1 to 2 turrets defending an area just doesn't cut it.
&******************************************************************************8
- Shadowrift -
&******************************************************************************8
Station being defended - Omega, number of Supply Satellites - 1, its location -
East of the station, number of enemy point of entry - 2/3, their locations -
East and South of the Station, number of turrets posted at each - 2 to 3.
Evaluation - Another one of my favored locations to conduct this mission. Like
Solaria, this zone's station features multiple turrets that can damage enemies
after passing a previous group, though it's also only for one section, making
the East side slightly more vulnerable. The area is large enough that enemies
have to travel a good distance before reaching the station, but small enough
that it doesn't take too much time to get from point A to point B.
Reinforcements don't tend to wander off to other areas either. (I put 2/3 points
of entry because Legion ships enter at both the South and Southeast sides but
end up following the same path to the station.
____ ___ ____ ____ ___
`MM( )M' `MM' `MM( )M'
`MM. d' MM `MM. d'
`MM. d' MM `MM. d'
`MM. d' MM `MM. d'
`MMd MM `MMd
dMM. MM dMM.
d'`MM. MM d'`MM.
d' `MM. MM d' `MM.
d' `MM. MM d' `MM.
_M(_ _)MM_ _MM_ _M(_ _)MM_
- Ark Raid Mission Guide -
[XIX]
Ark Raids are unlocked after completing all the main story missions so you'll be
at a minimum of level 40 when you start this, meaning you should have access to
many resources at this point such as high-tier ships, weapons, and high level
sentients. If you don't then you probably shouldn't even be looking at this
section, but if you do you'll likely still need some pointers before you jump
into the fray. Ark Raids are pretty much all about boss fights with each having
their own strengths and weaknesses, and I'll be sure to walk you through them.
The Ark Raids are a good mission set to take part in before attempting to best
later versions of Legion Raids, as you can be supplied with more weapons and
upgrades to help you along. It's also good for power leveling as the first two
sections of the mission feature cannon fodder enemies that yield a high amount
of XP when compared to how much damage they take to destroy. Ark Raids also
offer the only way to get rarer sentients without getting them through the
mobile game Fusion: Sentient, as well as some sweet weapons. In order for
weapons to be dropped however, you must have room for them, i.e. no more than
14 weapons and sentients total. It's not clear if certain weapons or 50%
upgrades are exclusive to a given boss but I'll list all the ones I've
encountered in my personal experience. More information on the weapons
themselves can be found in the Bonus Weapons section (WB).
It's worth noting that since you don't start off docked at a station like the
Warzones and Legion Raids, you can take hijacked ships through this as long as
you don't die, otherwise you'll respawn as your original ship. Ark raid points
are awarded thusly: 1 point for the first boss, 2 points for each of the
following 3, 3 for the Hall of Mirrors boss, and 5 for the final boss for a
possible total of 15. Lastly, there is no penalty for leaving Ark Raids before
they're completed, however you will NOT be able to pick up where you left off.
&******************************************************************************8
- Stealthly Blitzkrieg [ARS] -
&******************************************************************************8
In spite of the fact that the majority of enemies in the game react to your
presence when you shoot them while cloaked/undercover, Ark Raids are a bizarre
exception to this rule as few will return fire or even react for that matter.
For reasons that are unclear, Splitters and Janus (Mirror boss) will attack the
player if you're cloaked, but not when you're undercover. The rest of these will
fail to acknowledge your presence regardless of your stealth ability of choice.
All the first enemies, (including the boss) all Path of the Dead enemies
(including the boss), the Elder ones, and all droids and torpedo nodes in the
final area.
While in a state of stealth, you can let your sentients attack for you if you're
undercover, but you'll have to use your weapons if you're cloaked. It should
also go without saying that you need either the Syndicate or Praetorian scout
fighter if you want to attack without disengaging the cloak or undercover
abilities respectively. But since you need to do as much damage as possible
against the Elder Ones, the Deathshrike Mine V is a good weapon to use.As a
side-note, it's worth mentioning that the Splitters only need to be split once
each in order to "unlock" the doors in the main chamber.
During the battle with Janus (Mirror boss), I should note that while you can
technically use sentients to attack him/her while in a cruiser, there are more
complications outside of the obvious increased defensive qualities of your
enemy. Since Janus doesn't attack but still flies around, the ship can get stuck
in the environment, and while ships that get trapped for an extended period of
time have their positions reset, Janus just disappears. So don't say I didn't
warn you, and no you cannot leave and come back to reset the state of things,
you have to start all over again.
&******************************************************************************8
- Clay Tok [ARC] -
&******************************************************************************8
The first part of the Ark Raid is, appropriately, the very area you went to at
the end of the last main mission. You should see a large number of hostile
markers on your mini-map, and you'll want to take them out, but try to keep your
distance with the right/Eastern most portion of this area. Also, try not to
engage too many at a time, they're manageable in small groups, but getting the
attention of most of them at once is a really stupid idea, especially since
they can boost each other's offensive power. They exclusively use beam weapons
though, so if you're able to perform the Roll glitch then feel free to go nuts.
Once you've cleared out most or all of the smaller enemies it will be safer to
venture to the right/East. Guarding the path to the other areas is a giant
version of the enemies you were fighting, which in turn were giant versions of
the Vanid/space mites. It is known as Clay Tok, and if you didn't heed my advice
regarding the destruction of the many smaller enemies or just blundered too
close by mistake, you can probably kiss your aft goodbye. This is because
partway through inflicting damage to it, Clay Tok will draw in ALL of the
smaller enemies, allowing them to not only gang up on you but boost Clay Tok's
firepower.
Without the added support however, Clay Tok can be bested with ease if you don't
stay still long enough for its KL-088 attack (those pink/magenta pulse blasts)
to hit you. Clay Tok uses Supershield and, most prominently, Feign Death so
missiles are a bad idea in this fight. It only uses the Supershield ability for
a second or two after being attacked initially, similarly to many cruisers and
cargo ships, before stopping. You don't actually visibly see the shield come up,
but you can hear the effect noise it makes, and it clearly suffers no damage
even though it should. While the KL-088 is pretty strong, clay Tok is completely
incapable of firing while it uses Feign Death, and though you can't see its
statistics it takes damage in that state, so hit it with everything you've got.
A 50% Feign Death upgrade can be dropped by Clay Tok, as well as the Power Beam
and Deathshrike Mine V weapons.
&******************************************************************************8
- Forks in the Road [ARF] -
&******************************************************************************8
After defeating Clay Tok it will drop either an upgrade or a weapon, pick it up
and fly near the portal-like opening which the game calls a door until the
option to go through comes up. On the other side will be a ton of Splitters and
many more barred entrances. If you're unfamiliar with them, splitters are the
enemies you can encounter North West of the center of The Crucible. As their
name implies, they split apart, becoming defensively weaker, though I'm
uncertain if they're weaker offensively as well (I don't think they do).
Splitters multiply whenever you completely deplete their health and can only
split so many times before being completely destroyed. They use beam weapons so
if you can/are taking advantage of the Roll glitch you won't even have to worry
about them.
There are 4 doorways with 5 splitters in front of each. The Northernmost door
leads to the Librarian boss, the Northwest one leads to the Elder ones, the
Southwest one leads to the Mirror boss Janus, and the Southeast one leads to
the Ghost Battleship. All three must be defeated before the door leading to the
Mirror boss can be opened so you've got no choice but to fight them all. So
I'll be listing them in an order that I feel represents the incline of
difficulty from least to greatest, starting with the Southeast doorway leading
to the Path of the Dead.
&******************************************************************************8
- Path of the Dead [ARD] -
&******************************************************************************8
The minute you reach the other side you'll encounter a Ghost Dominion cruiser,
whose Admiral you need to speak with to proceed. Regardless of your faction
you'll be tasked with protecting said cruiser from missiles that appear out of
thin air multiple times. This is easier than it might sound however because
although they can be damaging for the escort target, they don't do too much
damage to you if you're in a tier 4 cargo ship/cruiser, you're given a fair
amount of time to reach them, and they're not too difficult to destroy.
The missiles will appear in clusters that are easily seen from the mini-map, and
appear in front of cruiser, front, front left (your left, not the cruiser's),
left (again, your left, not the cruiser's), behind, front, and both in front
AND behind it. Go after the one's in front first because the cruiser is
actively moving away from the others. The cruiser has tier 4 Dominion beam
weapons but they alone are not enough to intercept the missiles.
Once you've fended off the missiles you'll need fly close so that you can talk
to the Ghost Admiral again. This time you'll have to protect the cruiser from
several ships aiming to destroy it. Failing to protect it will not forfeit the
entire mission, or even send you back to the beginning of the Path of the Dead,
but you will have to fight all ships over again until you succeed. Said ships
are pretty weak but the cruiser won't fire back this time around so it's
entirely up to you. You'll have to fend off fighters, cargo ships, a pair of
cruisers, a carrier that launches fighters, and a Ghost Battleship before the
mission is through.
The cargo ship's have annoying supershields, the cruisers can be intercepted
with relative ease, the carrier always has tier 4 Dominion beam weapons, and
the Battleship always fires missiles. Unfortunately, just where exactly the
ships appear is not consistent, so keep close to draw fire away from the escort
target just in case. Flares are useful for countering missiles, Clone is good
for drawing away attacks, and a Healer sentient's recharge ability is obviously
quite useful here. Once you defeat the Ghost battleship a reward (with the Power
Lightning Beam being possible) will be dropped and you'll be given the
appropriate number of Ark Raid points. The mission also starts as it means to go
on by NOT making you backtrack all the way back to the entrance of the area, but
rather the threshhold leading to this circular area.
&******************************************************************************8
- Path of Knowledge [ARK] -
&******************************************************************************8
Head to the far North end and enter go through the doorway leading to the Path
of Knowledge. You again have to initiate a conversation, but this time it's with
a massively oversized healer sentient. Follow the path to the end of the tunnels
swatting down security droids along the way and you'll eventually find yourself
in another boss arena. This time however it's one enemy with pretty high
defensive statistics and a beam attack that would make the BFG 9,000 from Doom
feel insecure about it's potency. Fortunately, as I just said it's a beam
weapon, and as such is susceptible to the Roll glitch, as well as the Roll
ability in general, and the Supershield ability too. Speaking of Supershields,
the giant enemy sentient will have a supershield up if you're too far away so
don't expect to pick away at it from a distance. You have to get pretty close to
the sentient for the shield to go down. After 1 section of its shields are
depleted it will erect a supershield and start drifting away while it
presumably makes modifications to boost weapon power because it's Big Green
Power beam can slaughter you at this point in time if you can't avoid it. Try to
stay as close as possible to its center while it's drifting and when the shield
eventually goes down. If you have enough firepower you can destroy it utterly
before it manages to get even 1 shot off.
It's worth noting that in addition to the standard rewards of upgrades,
potential for weapons, and Ark Raid points, this is the only method by which
you can acquire rarer sentients in the game without transferring them from
Fusion: Sentient or getting them from online Auctions. So long as you have
14 or fewer weapons (including equipped ones) AND 4 or less sentinets, there's
a chance that the Librarian boss will drop a Rare, Epic, or Legendary sentient
that can be one of the three different types. A 50% Flare upgrade is also
possible.
&******************************************************************************8
- Path of Darkness [ARP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Head to the Northwest section and go through the door to be on your way to the
Path or Darkness. Unlike the Path of Knowledge there aren't any enemies on the
way, but the journey is the most dangerous of the three since there are
booby-trap-esque Hellfire beams being fired in the tight spaces. The beams get
all the more frequent by the end so if you're having trouble with just the early
bits you're horrendously unprepared for what lies in wait at the end. Once
again though the roll glitch lets you sail through with ease, unless of course
you're in a cruiser in which case the tight quarters are going to be quite
irritating to navigate.
Upon reaching the end you'll be greeted by three yellow Dark Legion carriers
being controlled by beings calling themselves The Elder Ones, and request the
administration of voluntary euthanasia. But apparently they're from a country
that isn't progressive enough to permit such a practice without mandating
self-defense because they fire incredibly powerful missiles at you and
constantly heal one another. You have to either deplete their health incredibly
fast, or get close enough to one that it starts chasing you, and allow you to
lure it away from its allies. You'll need either Flares or Supershield for this
fight because as I said previously the missiles they fire are incredibly
powerful. Fortunately while their shields are pretty tough and can be healed,
their hull strength is laughably weak and can't be recovered so once their
shields go down they won't have long.
Watch out if you're engaging The Elder Ones in one of the three fighter types
though because they have a tendency to use the Healer sentient knockback skill
which is not just annoying, it can prevent you from avoiding the missiles fired.
You'll have to take each of the three down one at a time, but don't expect them
all to yield goodies, only the last one you destroy will provide an upgrade or
weapon. Speaking of which, the Power Big Green Power Beam and Power Missile are
possible weapon drops.
&******************************************************************************8
- Hall of Mirrors [ARH] -
&******************************************************************************8
Now that all three major bosses have been extinguished we can move on through
the door that was previously sealed in the Southwest part of the main area.
Unlike the preceding sections though you only fly a couple of meters before
the boss, Janus, makes his/her presence known. Janus copies you ship but only to
a certain extent. It's defenses appear to be higher, but the weapons used are
thankfully not your own. The ship that is mimicked is whatever you're currently
flying, not whatever you might be able to change into when you disengage the
undercover ability. Janus also only copies what your ship's statistics are
SUPPOSED to be and inflates them a little from there. Meaning if you rock up in
a scout fighter with the shields and hull of a military cruiser using Eugene
then Janus will be stuck with defensive stats that are pathetic by comparison.
The area's large enough to run and use a Healer and Tank sentient combo to boost
your shields if things start going South so it's not too difficult overall, it
can be more about attrition than anything. A 50% Undercover upgrade can be
dropped, as well as the Deathshrike Mine V, and the Power Lightning Beam.
&******************************************************************************8
- The Ark [ARA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Getting to the right point where you can enter the next door will be a little
difficult but once you get there you can proceed to the Ark's core. Ahead of you
will be the Ark super-sentient, protected by a series of powerful defenses. To
start, there are large beams inhibiting your progress that need the emitters at
both ends to be destroyed. Doing so will get rid of the deadly beam (seriously,
it can be VERY dangerous if you're defenses are not too close to the top), as
well as launch security droids from the damaged nodes that are weak
afterthoughts. After shutting down a few of those pesky beams you'll come to
the Ark's inner sanctum, only to find more beams in your way. Or at least that's
how it LOOKS, the beams are actually powering a shield that recovers faster than
you can damage it, and the beams themselves can't harm you in the slightest.
What CAN harm you however are the nodes, on either side of the towers supplying
shield energy, which fire massive torpedoes that will do a lot of damage if
you don't keep moving and stay out of the way. Destroying those nodes will keep
the torpedoes off your aft but not for very long so concentrate on the ones
supplying shield energy instead.
Once you've cut off all four towers from the super-sentient you can attack the
sentient itself. Unfortunately however, you can only do 25% hull damage before
its shields are brought back online. Even more frustrating is trying to damage
it while in one of the three fighter classes because like the Elder Ones the
Ark super-sentient can use the knockback ability. But as long as you keep moving
and damaging the core you'll eventually defeat the age-old construct and claim
your due rewards, which can include the Power Missile. A message might pop up
very quickly and ask if you're sure you want to quit the mission. Either select
"no" or don't select yes until your sentients pick up the loot dropped by the
boss, because not only is the upgrade/weapon supposed to be dropped, but unlike
in Legion Raids, Prismatic crystal pieces are dropped rather than being
automatically added to your inventory.
____ ___ ____ ___
`MM( )M' `MM( )M'
`MM. d' `MM. d'
`MM. d' `MM. d'
`MM. d' `MM. d'
`MMd `MMd
dMM. dMM.
d'`MM. d'`MM.
d' `MM. d' `MM.
d' `MM. d' `MM.
_M(_ _)MM_ _M(_ _)MM_
- Mad Skillz (Pilot Skills List & Ratings) -
[XX]
&******************************************************************************8
- Base Skills [MSB] -
&******************************************************************************8
No more than 25 base points, which are awarded upon leveling up your pilot
character, can be assigned to any one skill, and since you get one point per
level and 100 levels you'll have enough points to max out every skill with the
only question being how you'll initially distribute the points. I should mention
that energy cost of using the Afterburner ability can decrease to the point
where having 1 DPS sentient equipped with a high enough level Energy
Regeneration bonus can let you use it indefinitely. Speaking of energy, although
your first thought may be to increase energy reserves since it offers the
highest increase per point, you'll want to avoid weapons that drain energy in
the early parts of the game, and some of the upgrades to abilities can outright
negate the energy cost so focus on the others. Lastly, while the description for
Increase Defense states that it increases both shields and hull, it only
increases hull strength, so keep that in mind.
Increase Damage - 1% increase per point, Total possible = 25%
Increase Defense - 1% increase to hull per point, Total possible = 25%
Afterburner - 2% increase to speed and efficiency per point, Total possible =
50%
Increase Energy - 4% increase per point, Total possible = 100%
&******************************************************************************8
- Faction Skills [MSF] -
&******************************************************************************8
Faction skills are where you can become either a terror among the stars, or a
laughingstock for touring vessels to point at and mock. I'll help you make sure
you become the former, and turn your enemies into the latter. Each skill will be
evaluated with more in-depth descriptions and information after point level
statistics. The *'s represent how good a skill is, the more *'s the better,
though that should become apparent in the description. But first, some general
info you need to know.
Faction skills are added when you become a member of a faction and completed a
mission that rewards you with a faction point to spend on skills. Don't worry
about accidentally choosing one of the lame skills since Prismatic crystals can
reset all your skills without penalty, just keep in mind that it may take a good
deal of time before you can get some and the act of acquiring them will be made
easier if you have better skills. Faction points are universal, meaning that
points earned in one faction can be spent to unlock/advance another's skills.
Also, Military Skills are shared between the Revenant Order and Dominion of
Allied Planets, so joining either faction will unlock the skills.
&******************************************************************************8
- Consortium Skills [MSC] -
&******************************************************************************8
Harvest (Passive) - Extracts ore from any asteroid or gas cloud.
Lvl 1 - 10% Lvl 2 - 20% Lvl - 30% Lvl 4 - 40%
Lvl 5 - 50%
Rating: 1/4 *'s
Evaluation - Although the name is different and it mentions gas clouds, the
Harvest skill is just mining. The gas cloud bit is bizarre because there's no
expanded function for the mining ability, it only speeds up the mining time,
there doesn't appear to be any difference in the quantity or quality of
resources yielded. Although you can put enough points into the ability that you
can mine faster than your sentients with maxed out mining skills, the fact that
you can have multiple sentients mining at a time makes this skill useless until
you can get prismatic crystals without leaning on certain skills. In all I'd say
it's got 0/4 *'s in the early parts of the game and maybe 2/4 *'s for the later
parts with the average being the final rating seen at the beginning.
Feign Death - Fakes the death of the ship, possibly tricking enemies. Energy
Cost - 50 pts.
Lvl 1 - 160 sec cooldown Lvl 2 - 80 sec cooldown
Lvl 3 - 40 sec cooldown Lvl 4 - 20 sec cooldown
Lvl 5 - 10 sec cooldown
Rating: 1/4 *'s
Evaluation - If you've fought Clay Tok then you probably already know why this
skill doesn't have a good rating, if not, I'll naturally explain it to you.
Feign Death can stop missiles mid-flight but note that the description states
that it can only POSSIBLY trick enemies into stopping their attacks. When you
use Feign Death you're completely immobile until the effect wears off, and
though your shields can recover in this state, you can take damage too. This
means that if you use the ability in the no-man's-land of a fire-fight, you'll
be hammered with projectiles even if the enemies DID back off. The afterburner
is a base skill, you'd best use it instead.
Roll - Performs a roll maneuver, allowing dodging of beam attacks. Energy Cost -
25 pts.
Lvl 1 - 4 sec cooldown and 1 sec evasion
Lvl 2 - 4 sec cooldown and 1.5 sec lock-on break
Lvl 3 - 4 sec cooldown and 2 sec lock-on break
Lvl 4 - 4 sec cooldown and 2.5 sec lock-on break
Lvl 5 - 4 sec cooldown and 3 sec lock-on break
Rating: 4/4 *'s
Evaluation - I'm sure a lot of you are surprised by this rating because I
originally was going to put this at 0/4 *'s. That was until I looked more
closely at the skill and found many errors that elevate its standing and a
glitch that makes it a must-have for nearly everyone. For one thing, the
description is not true, there is NO cooldown time for the ability. And since
the analogous upgrade negates the energy cost regardless of its percentage
value, you can use it as many times as you want. That's great n' all but it's
not what gives this skill such a high rating it's the following glitch.
My theory is that Starfire programmed the roll animation to be executed with
fighters but not capital ships because the idea that such a large craft avoided
beam fire by out-maneuvering it would come across as understandably absurd,
leaving the effect to be explained by shield movement deflecting fire or
something else the player might imagine. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the
coding for the skill presumably had the effects activate when energy was
deducted, and concluded after the roll animation was finished, but since the
animation never actually STARTS, the duration never ends. That's right, if you
use the roll ability while in a cargo ship or cruiser you will be immune to all
forms of beam weaponry INDEFINITELY. That's not much of an exaggeration,
going through SHIFT platforms, docking, initiating missions, etc. do not reset
your status. Not even switching out the skill with a different one will change
it!
Being immune to an entire category of weapons that at least 1 ship from every
faction uses is great enough in its own right, even if it's limited to cargo
ships and cruisers. But the fact that this effect can be applied with only 1
point assigned to the skill to reap the benefits of the glitch gives it a
perfect rating. Note: The barrel rolls your ship sometimes performs cannot be
induced at will outside of using the Consortium Roll skill so don't bother
asking be how to make the ship do it. Lastly, although you don't take damage
from the beam attacks and the hijack skill will not be interrupted, your shields
will not recover when beams are being fired at you.
Increase Cargo (Passive) - Increases amount of cargo the ship can carry.
Lvl 1 - 20% increase Lvl 2 - 40% increase
Lvl 3 - 60% increase Lvl 4 - 80% increase
Lvl 5 - 100% increase
Rating: 2/4 *'s
Evaluation - Cargo capacity is hardly vital, but not having to go back to
docking stations/send sentients to sell its contents as often is still a
convenience, though one you'll not want to take advantage of early on in the
game when there are better options.
&******************************************************************************8
- Syndicate Skills [MSS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Cloaking - Cloaks the ship, making it almost invisible.
Lvl 1 - Drains shields in 5 sec, 10 sec cooldown
Lvl 2 - Drains shields in 10 sec, 9 sec cooldown
Lvl 3 - Drains shields in 15 sec, 8 sec cooldown
Lvl 4 - Drains shields in 25 sec, 7 sec cooldown
Lvl 5 - Drains shields in 30 sec, 6 sec cooldown
Rating - 0/4 *'s
Evaluation - Once near the top of the heap, this skill gets thrown down to
useless thanks to another skill's unbelievably versatile glitch. I'll address
that when I talk about said skill, until then, here are some things you should
know:
- Your shields are drained a little, but your energy will run out long before
your shields.
- An analogous upgrade, regardless of percentage value will prevent any and all
energy/shield drain while the ability is active. Even while this upgrade is
active however, not only will energy and shields not regenerate, but your hull
will be incapable of recovering with the Healer sentient's abilities either.
- Although there is no point in doing so, both the Cloak and Undercover skills
can be active simultaneously.
- Enemy weapons can still harm you even if they don't target you while you're
cloaked, so watch out.
- If you attack or your enemy hits you while you're flying in anything other
than a Ghost scout fighter the cloak will automatically disengage.
- Although the Ghost scout fighter lets you fire while cloaked, nearby enemies
will be alerted to your presence and will be able to target you even though the
ability was not disengaged. It won't be disengaged when fired upon either so
you'll need to manually turn it off to be able to recover shields, hull, and
energy.
- Your sentients will automatically not engage enemies while you're cloaked, so
you don't have to worry about setting their combat mood to passive to keep them
from giving away your position.
- Although the the hint screens say that those using the Cloaking skill should
be wary of ships with advanced radar, it appears as though no ships possess it,
not even Dark Legion ships. If you're suddenly de-cloaked with no combat taking
place, it's likely that you flew too close to an enemy/neutral target that had a
ram shield erected.
Teleport - Teleports the ship to a new position. Energy Cost - 20 pts.
Lvl 1 - 30 sec cooldown Lvl 2 - 20 sec cooldown
Lvl 3 - 15 sec cooldown Lvl 4 - 10 sec cooldown
Lvl 5 - 5 sec cooldown
Rating - 0/4 *'s
Evaluation - Believe it or not, not only does this skill get better because of a
glitch, the glitch necessitates that you not put any points into the skill. You
see, preset side missions for the 5 factions will give you skills, and said
skills are usually more effective the more points you have in them even though
they're preset missions. But for some reason, when you have no points in the
Teleport skill the cooldown time is non-existent during those missions. Pair it
with an analogous upgrade and you can use it as often as you want, but
ironically, the skill is pretty lackluster even then.
All it does is teleport your ship a short distance away. The time in transit is
quick so you can't expect to be immune to enemy fire for an extended period of
time, the starting distance is short and doesn't get better as you put more
points into the ability, and the cooldown time is so long outside of preset
missions that you can avoid more fire and cover more ground with the default
afterburner. This is probably the single worst and most useless skill in the
game, don't even touch it.
Hijack (Passive) - Takes control of a ship that has no shields. Not effective
against players. Energy Cost - 50 pts
Lvl 1 - 10 sec capture time, 30 sec reuse time
Lvl 2 - 8 sec capture time, 30 sec reuse time
Lvl 3 - 6 sec capture time, 30 sec reuse time
Lvl 4 - 4 sec capture time, 30 sec reuse time
Lvl 5 - 2 sec capture time, 30 sec reuse time
Rating - 0/4 *'s
Evaluation - Before discovering the Undercover glitch this was the go-to ability
for people too cheap to buy ships and weapons of their own (like me). Now it's
more of a nice little novelty that has unfortunately lost its usefulness. Its
obsolescence will be made clear soon enough, in the meantime here is some
information regarding the skill you should know:
- If you do not possess the hijack skill when starting a Syndicate story mission
that requires it, it will be provided for you, can be used even when not apart
of the faction, will be capable of being used without any points in the skill
until all Syndicate story missions have been completed.
- You only need to deplete one section of shields in order to hijack a ship, NOT
both.
- If you hijack a ship, it will be replaced with whatever you were piloting
originally when you dock, though not when going through a SHIFT platform or
initiating special missions like Legion Raids or Ark Raids.
- Dark Legion ships sadly can't be hijacked. :(
- Your sentients will stop attacking and your weapons will be disabled while
hijacking so that the targeted ship isn't inadvertently destroyed, so make sure
you have as few other enemies around as possible when attempting a hijack
because you will be unable to defend yourself.
- You cannot hijack friendly ship, only enemies or neutral targets with the
capacity to BECOME enemies. If you hijack a Dominion/Order interceptor you can
use its commandeer ability to take control of a friendly unit that you could not
previously take control of. However, it will be subject to the same rules as a
hijacked ship and will be replaced with your original ship as soon as you dock.
- Cloning while in a hijacked ship *will* produce a copy of the ship you
hijacked... but it will attack *you* instead of your enemies. However if you
hijack a Dominion/Order interceptor and commandeer a friendly ship, said ship
will aid you when cloned.
- Although you can't equip sentients in hijacked ships per say, their passive
bonuses such as energy regeneration and statistical boosts will still be
applied.
- Although you don't do any damage, hijacking a ship while cloaked/undercover
will cause the targeted ship to attack you.
- Although you don't take any damage, being hit while a supershield is erected
will hinder the hijacking process.
- If you hijack a ship(s) you were supposed to destroy the mission will glitch
and and fail to continue, even if you hijack a different ship to destroy it. The
only solution is to quit the mission.
- A high leveled Shield Short & Hijack skill make for a potent combo. The
Tractor Beam also is good for pinning down particularly slippery hijack targets
like fighters.
- If you hijack a ship during a mission, you will be reverted back to your
original ship the moment it's completed.
- If you find yourself suddenly in the pod you were in at the start of the very
first mission while engaging Syndicate ships it means that your ship was
hijacked. Syndicate interceptors appear to be the only enemies that can hijack
your ship. Just as with you, they can't hijack your ship unless at least one
section of shields has been depleted, they can't attack, and their attempt will
fail if you destroy them first or get far enough out of range.
Don't worry though, you don't have to re-purchase the ship, & you don't lose
weapons, upgrades, sentients, or crystals though I assume you lose whatever
cargo you were carrying, & possibly some credits as well. Dying or docking will
put you back in your ship good as new.
Scavenge (Passive) - Defeated enemies have a chance of dropping temporary
power-up.
Lvl 1 - 10% chance Lvl 2 - 20% chance Lvl 3 - 30% chance
Lvl 4 - 40% chance Lvl 5 - 50% chance
Rating - 0/4 *'s
Evaluation - Fusion Genesis' power-ups aren't very impactful so this is hardly a
game-changer, and if you don't like your sentients flying off to pick up things
on the other side of the screen you're not interested in this will certainly not
be an ability that you'll want. The only reason to pick this skill would be to
advance the Syndicate challenge of the same name.
&******************************************************************************8
- Praetorian Skills [MSP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Scan Enemies (Passive) - Scans a ship for illegal goods and increases the chance
of higher-quality salvage.
Lvl 1 - 10 sec scan time Lvl 2 - 8 sec scan time
Lvl 3 - 6 sec scan time Lvl 4 - 4 sec scan time
Lvl 5 - 2 sec scan time
Rating 0/4 *'s
Evaluation - You get much better upgrades from Legion and Ark Raid missions so
the major point of the skill goes out the airlock right there. But there are
other advantages to putting points into this skill that keep it from being as
bad as something like Teleport. For one thing there are challenges that are less
tedious to complete with the scan time reduced as much as possible. Also,
fighters in earlier zones will be momentarily incapacitated after being scanned
and will be unable to attack for a short amount of time. So in summary, good for
completing challenges but offers no significant boons for combat.
- Since Scanning will temporarily incapacitate some lower class & tier ships,
try scanning an enemy while cloaked/undercover before attacking to gain an
advantage.
- You must be an active member of the Praetorian faction to advance the scanner
and revealer challenges. Both scan targets must be Consortium ships, and the
revealer challenge requires you to put at least 1 point in this skill (because
you can't detect illegal goods otherwise).
- You can earn points for the Praetorian Judge challenge, by scanning and
destroying Syndicate ships while apart of the Order, Dominion, or Consortium, if
you have at least one point in this skill. But not while a member of the
Praetorian faction, and obviously not the Syndicate.
Supershield - A special shield that nullifies pulse weapon damage, but drains
energy.
Lvl 1 - 100% energy drain rate
Lvl 2 - 90% energy drain rate
Lvl 3 - 80% energy drain rate
Lvl 4 - 65% energy drain rate
Lvl 5 - 50% energy drain rate
Rating 3/4 *'s
Evaluation - Contrary to its description, the Supershield skill nullifies ALL
damage, not just pulse weapon damage. While the Supershield is active your
energy is drained, neither you nor your sentients are capable of attacking, and
you can't recover your shields if you're under attack even though you're not
taking damage. In despite all those handicaps, the Supershield can be a valuable
asset.
As I said earlier, the Supershield negates all damage and not just pulse damage,
and while the percentages might make you think that the shield will drain your
energy reserves instantaneously it's not that bad. In fact, with the right
preparations you can maintain a Supershield indefinitely. That's partially
because the shield's energy drain is unaffected by weapons fire, so it will
consume the same amount of energy blocking a super powerful boss attack as a
tier 1 Vanid's beam attack. And while neither you nor your sentients can attack
while the shield is active and beams stop firing as soon as you erect it,
missiles will still fly to their targets.
A major advantage of the Supershield is that it's quick to erect and capable of
staying active for as long or as little as you'd like (provided you have the
energy to maintain it of course). This means that you can flicker the shield on
momentarily to stop a missile or hunker down against a torrent of weapon fire.
It's not the best ability but it definitely warrants attention.
Undercover - Turns the ship into asteroids and space junk and enhances its
defensive capabilities.
Lvl 1 - 300 sec cooldown time and 10% damage absorption
Lvl 2 - 180 sec cooldown time and 25% damage absorption
Lvl 3 - 90 sec cooldown time and 40% damage absorption
Lvl 4 - 60 sec cooldown time and 55% damage absorption
Lvl 5 - 30 sec cooldown time, 70% damage absorption, and 50% damage increase
Rating - 5/4 *'s
Evaluation - No, that's not a typo. This is it. This is the singe most versatile
and useful ability in the entire game, not even Abation can exceed this skill's
caliber, and it's all thanks to the most beneficial glitch this game has to
offer. Before I had discovered the Undercover glitch (AKA U.G.), which I call
Eugene, this skill was an afterthought and I never used it. After discovering
Eugene however, it opened up a staggering amount of possibilities that
completely changed the game.
The Undercover skill was meant to be the Praetorian version of the Syndicate
faction's cloak skill as both had the same purpose: keep enemies from knowing
you're there. The Undercover ability turns your ship into an unremarkable
asteroid to both slip past enemies and increase your ship's defensive
properties. Since it actually improved defense rather than weaken it by
hindering regeneration handicaps had to be tacked on to balance it out. These
included having the ability drain energy while moving if you didn't have the
analogous upgrade, having to go into the sentient menu and set their combat mood
to passive to keep them from attacking while the ability was active for stealth
purposes, and most crippling of all, greatly reducing movement speed and
maneuverability. Although the description doesn't mention it, your ship moves
like molasses going uphill in January. With crutches. And though the ability
gains a damage absorption percentage that borders on the absurd, and there's
apparently a 50% boost to weapon damage at level 4, your slow speed and terrible
maneuverability makes it difficult to go beyond a compensation factor.
&******************************************************************************8
- Undercover Glitch: Eugene [MSUG] -
&******************************************************************************8
I began to notice something though; every time I docked at a station while
undercover, my ship would no longer be disguised when I exited. What's more, I
had to activate the ability twice to re-engage it, and every time I completed a
mission the same thing would happen to my ship because mission completion
reverts you to the status your ship has after having docked.
It was a curiosity that eventually led me to a great realization; although my
ship's appearance and controls had changed after docking, the Undercover ability
was still active! This is why when you try to activate the ability again after
leaving a docking station that your ship flickers and you have to activate it
again, because it was actually disengaging the ability. By simply activating
the Undercover ability before docking at a station and then leaving, you can
take advantage of all the boons without having to suffer with the navigation
handicaps! Eugene's elevating of the Undercover skill's status was a major gain,
but he has so much more to offer than that alone.
Not long after I discovered the application Eugene possesses that can completely
change the game: the ability to take a ship from one faction and use it in
another. As strange as it sounds it's actually true, with Eugene's help you can
pilot any ship from any faction (save for the carriers and battleships of
course), and even Goodbye Becky! All you have to do is...
1) activate the Undercover ability for the ship you want to use, then either
dock at nearest station to reduce travel time, enter Alpha Station, or in the
case of Goodbye Becky, just continue to the station you're supposed to dock at.
2) Head to Alpha Station and select the option to change factions (you do not
need to do this if you are trying to pilot Goodbye Becky), and leave the
station.
3) Join/re-join the desired faction, exit the station, and disengage the
Undercover ability.
4) Enjoy your success because you're now flying the ship you were in when you
used the Undercover ability!
Eugene can have a slight downside, but one that can not only be compensated for,
but turned into yet another major game-changing advantage. You see, while
everything else is the same, your ship maintains the shield/hull strength of the
ship you are put into by default when joining/re-joining a faction. Those just
starting will find think this is an unavoidable hurdle that will leave powerful
ships with a tier 1 scout fighter's hull and shields, but veterans will know why
this isn't a problem in the slightest. Because while you start out with a scout
fighter when first joining a faction, the ship you are put into automatically
after RE-joining a faction is whatever you were last piloting. Connect the dots
yet? That means you can take a scout fighter from one faction and give it the
hull and shields of a military-grade cruiser! Believe it or not, there's even
more Eugene has to offer.
With all the possibilities Eugene provides you're probably thinking that he's
all well and good later on when you have tier 4 cruisers to play around with,
but what about during the early sections of the game? Well, you know how you
can't hijack one of your own faction's ships, but hijacking an Order or Dominion
interceptor will allow you to commandeer friendly ships? Well if you use Eugene
to get one of the aforementioned interceptors in another faction you can use it
to commandeer a tier 4 ship from a later zone without it being replaced as soon
as you dock because it wasn't hijacked! Now you see why the Undercover skill has
a better-than-perfect rating; the benefits gained from Eugene just can't be
matched.
Think we're done? Think again, there's one last wondrous thing that Eugene lets
you do. As mentioned before, there are many fun things you can do with the ships
you own, but there's something else that can be done with a different ship, a
ship that was never meant to be used more than once. That's right, you can
perform the Undercover glitch with the Dark Legion ship provided to you in the
last Dominion story mission and use it whenever you want! The catch is that you
can't complete the mission or you won't get to pilot it and work Eugene's magic
again so you'll have to forfeit the faction point you'd get for completing the
mission to continue piloting the ship. In order for Eugene to effect the ship,
you need to manually replace the default Afterburner skill with Undercover, use
the ability, then manually open a SHIFT platform to abort the mission (this is
because you can't dock at a base during the mission). Then disengage the ability
when you revert back to your ship to revert back to the Legion ship. Note that
you can't summon Dark Legion ships to fight for you or heal them. I know that
this section is already very long, but there are just a few more things to know
about the Undercover skill before moving on:
- As mentioned previously, you need to switch your sentient's combat mood from
aggressive/defensive to passive when using the Undercover ability for stealth
purposes because they will attack enemies otherwise.
- Undercover does not disengage upon completing missions it just gets switched
to the state you find the ship after docking. (Already being in that state when
a mission ends will not disengage the ability or revert it to its intended form
either).
- Unlike the Cloak ability, you can recover hull, shields, and energy while
Undercover, and even be hit by enemies without the ability being disengaged.
- Get a good Undercover upgrade and a DPS sentient with a high level Energy
Regeneration skill and you can move without draining energy. You can also boost
and still regenerate energy or even not drain energy at all if you have enough
DPS sentients with high leveled Energy Regeneration skills.
- Although there is no point in doing so, both the Cloak and Undercover skills
can be active simultaneously.
- Although the Peacemaker ship lets you fire while undercover, nearby enemies
will be alerted to your presence and will be able to target you even though the
ability was not disengaged.
- Enemy weapons can still harm you even if they don't target you while
undercover so watch out.
- When taking part in Legion Raids, the reinforcements you get come from the
faction you last joined, not the faction whose ship you are piloting using
Eugene's exploit.
- When taking part in Ark Raids, the ship that Janus (Mirror boss) turns into is
the one you're piloting while you're undercover, not the one you can change
into by disengaging the ability.
- Likewise, when engaging Janus in a ship from a different faction and/or class,
Janus will copy the statistics that the ship is meant to have, meaning it will
have a scout's hull/shields if you're in a scout but have a cruiser's
hull/shields.
Advanced Radar (Passive) - Uncovers cloaked enemies and increases radar range.
Lvl 1 - 2,500 units of range Lvl 2 - 3,000 units of range
Lvl 3 - 3,500 units of range Lvl 4 - 4,000 units of range
Lvl 5 - 4,500 units of range
Rating - 2/4 *'s
Evaluation - This one's a bit polarizing since the ability to see cloaked
enemies can be advantageous, but having your radar ring cluttered with enemies
from greater distances than you need to be aware of can be a nuisence.
Personally I just put one point in the skill and be done with it as cloaked
enemies don't become more easily visible the higher the skill gets or anything.
And since I use the mini-map when looking for far away enemies and the radar
ring for more immediate threats I see no reason to add any more points.
&******************************************************************************8
- Military Skills [MSM] -
&******************************************************************************8
Flares - Deploys anti-missile countermeasures. (The energy cost for this ability
is estimated to be around 20 points per cluster of flares).
Lvl 1 - 15 sec cooldown, number of flares fired- 1
Lvl 2 - 12 sec cooldown, number of flares fired - 2
Lvl 3 - 9 sec cooldown, number of flares fired - 3
Lvl 4 - 6 sec cooldown, number of flares fired - 4
Lvl 5 - 3 sec cooldown, number of flares fired - 5
Rating - 4/4 *'s
Evaluation - This is one of the few skills that manages to pull its own weight
without the use of glitches. Missiles are the most damaging of the basic weapon
types so this ability is in a good position right off the bat. And while it's
not guaranteed to prevent a missile from hitting you, it succeeds often and most
importantly, without player interaction. That's right, the Flares skill is
entirely automated, just press the assigned button once to activate the ability
and your ship will automatically fire flares whenever a missile targets you. Not
only that, but as you put more points into the skill, the number of flares fired
will increase, while the time between flares being deployed decreases. Lastly,
the energy cost can be nullified when an analogous upgrade is equipped in
addition to reducing the cooldown time by the percentage indicated.
Clone - Projects a duplicate of the ship that will temporarily assist in combat.
Energy Cost - 50 pts.
Lvl 1 - 15 sec fight time and 180 sec cooldown time
Lvl 2 - 30 sec fight time and 120 sec cooldown time
Lvl 3 - 60 sec fight time and 90 sec cooldown time
Lvl 4 - 90 sec fight time and 60 sec cooldown time
Lvl 5 - 120 sec fight time and 30 sec cooldown time
Rating - 2/4 *'s
Evaluation - The Clone ability sounds like something you want, and want now but
that's not quite the case. You see while the ability does indeed get much better
the more points you put into the skill it's not the battlefield-dominating skill
you might think it is. For one thing the cloned ship does not have your
statistical bonuses from upgrades, skills, or sentient statistics. It also
doesn't have your weapons, instead using the weapons that ships of your class
and tier can be seen using outside of missions in the various zones. Things look
bad but they're going to get worse because cloned ships can't be directed or
controlled in any capacity and will often stay put while you advance and engage
enemies elsewhere without assistance. You can clone a ship again even while the
first clone is still active but A) the newly cloned ship will replace the old
one so you can't build up a sizable amount of reinforcements, and B) The lengthy
cooldown time means that you're likely going to take down most of the enemies
yourself before you'll be able to use it again.
With all that said it's still great for point defense missions, especially when
you have a cruiser, clones distract enemy ships from you/escort targets, and
while they're not that good at it, they can help you mine asteroids too. Lastly,
cloning while in a hijacked ship *will* produce a copy of the ship you
hijacked... but it will attack YOU instead of your enemies. However if you
hijack a Dominion/Order interceptor and commandeer a friendly ship, said ship
will aid you when cloned.
Ram - Generates a temporary shield that damages anything the shielded ship
collides with. Energy Cost - 20 pts.
Lvl 1 - 4 sec duration Lvl 2 - 8 sec duration
Lvl 3 - 12 sec duration Lvl 4 - 15 sec duration
Lvl 5 - 20 sec duration
Rating - 0/4 *'s
Evaluation - This is another skill with no redeeming qualities that's near
Teleport levels of uselessness. The barrier generated is small, requires that
you be right on top of an enemy ship to damage it, and to top it off couldn't do
significant damage to ship with no shields and major rust problems with its
hull. The skill is also glitched in preset missions, but not in a good way. Ram
will not work properly in preset missions unless you have at least one point
assigned to the skill, but even if it worked better in preset missions you'd
want to avoid this skill.
Abation (Passive) - Reduces the effects of negative attacks such as Tractor
beams, knockbacks, and control effects.
Lvl 1 - 20% Lvl 2 - 35% Lvl 3 - 50% Lvl 4 - 65%
Lvl 5 - 80%
Rating - 4/4 *'s
Evaluation - Before finding out about Eugene this was the number 1 skill to get
and it's not hard to see why. It's an entirely passive ability that makes the
Tractor Beam practically powerless when it's used against you, and significantly
cuts down on the time Shield Short and Disable affect you for.
____ ___ ____ ___ ____
`MM( )M' `MM( )M' `MM'
`MM. d' `MM. d' MM
`MM. d' `MM. d' MM
`MM. d' `MM. d' MM
`MMd `MMd MM
dMM. dMM. MM
d'`MM. d'`MM. MM
d' `MM. d' `MM. MM
d' `MM. d' `MM. MM
_M(_ _)MM_ _M(_ _)MM_ _MM_
- Challenge List & Recommendations -
[XXI]
Challenges are not necessary to unlock anything but they're a good side
attraction for completionists, and provide a boost of XP. I'll provide
descriptions and tips when I feel it's needed, otherwise I'll just leave the
basic in-game listing. All of the challenges are cumulative, i.e. the criteria
doesn't need to be fulfilled all at once in order to complete the challenge. I
experienced an instance where my sentient damage challenge was reset. I regained
completion status quickly but am concerned that this could happen with other
challenges as well. (This happened with the Pulse weapon damage challenge too.
Again, I regained completion status quickly.)
&******************************************************************************8
- Exploration Challenges [CLE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Explorer - Explore all the regions in a zone.
Description - Don't worry, although challenges don't register completion until
after completing the mandatory mission for the Consortium, any areas you went to
beforehand, though not counted, can be visited again to count toward the
challenge.
Docker - Dock at as many different stations as possible.
Description - By "different" it means "not the same one you just left", so don't
bother listing all the stations and try to dock at each one because that won't
work.
Traveler - Move a certain amount of distance.
Booster - Travel a certain distance using boost.
Burner - Travel a certain distance using afterburner.
Warper - Warp into new zones a certain number of times.
Description - By "warp" it means using SHIFT platforms, and by "new" it again
means "not the one you were just at".
&******************************************************************************8
- Mission Challenges [CLMI] -
&******************************************************************************8
For more information on what side missions fall into each category see the
Standard Side Missions (SMS) section of this guide.
Killer - Complete kill or destroy missions
Defender - Complete defend object or NPC missions
Seeker - Complete locate object or NPC missions
Spy - Complete spy missions
Description - See the (SPY) section of the Side Missions guide for more in-depth
information.
Explorer - Complete explore or scout missions
Courier - Complete courier or escort missions
Collector - Complete use or acquire missions
&******************************************************************************8
- Combat Challenges [CLCO] -
&******************************************************************************8
Most of these challenges can be completed inadvertently by joining the faction's
enemy and completing their story and/or side missions. Kills by sentients count
toward these challenges.
Consortium Bankrupter - Kill Consortium ships
Cop Retirer - Kill Praetorian ships
Syndicate Slayer - Kill Syndicate ships
Military Enforcer - Kill Dominion or Order ships
Legion Bane - Kill Dark Legion ships
Description - Webweave and Legion Raid missions seem like the obvious choice
here but the best way to rack up the Legion kill count is by engaging the
Splitters in the Ark Raid mission since it counts as a kill each time a Splitter
splits.
Asteroid Clearer - Destroy asteroids
Critter Killer - Kill critters
Description - Critters, also known as space mites, are the little dots you can
see flying around aimlessly in certain regions like Asteria's Icy Wastes. They
have the same appearance as the Vanid which can be found in areas like the
Erebus zone's Hive region but are not the same behavior wise or in challenge
criteria fulfillment. Critters are not hostile towards you and that's how you
can tell the difference, so squash the bugs every chance you get because there
are no missions where you can engage them inadvertently.
Pincushion - Take Damage
Unstoppable - Die many times
&******************************************************************************8
- Weapon Challenges [CLW] -
&******************************************************************************8
Sentient attacks (and presumably autoguns) count toward both the damage and kill
challenges listed here as well.
Beamer - Cause damage with beam weapons
Missiler - Cause damage with missile weapons
Pulser - Cause damage with pulse weapons
Torpedoer - Cause damage with torpedo weapons
Mine-iac - Cause damage with mine weapons
Beam Kill - Kills obtained with beam weapons
Missile kill - Kills obtained with missile weapons
Pulser kill - Kills obtained with pulse weapons
Torpedo kill - Kills obtained with torpedo weapons
Mine Kill - Kills obtained with mine weapons
&******************************************************************************8
- Acquisition Challenges [CLA] -
&******************************************************************************8
Shopaholic - Buy as many ships or pieces of equipment as possible.
Description - Contrary to its description, Shopaholic is based on the amount of
credits spent not number of items purchased.
Improver - Get as many upgrades as possible.
Description - upgrades can be acquired by looting them off some destroyed ships,
occasionally mined out of asteroids, or completing standard side missions.
Desynther - Desynth as many upgrades as possible.
Description - Upgrades cannot be sold but they can be broken down into crystals
to "feed" to sentients. Desynthesize enough unwanted upgrades by selecting the
option in the upgrades section of the Quickview menu and you'll complete this
challenge eventually.
Temper - Earn as many temporary power-ups as possible
Reddy - Mine as many red crystals as possible.
Yellower - Mine as many yellow crystals as possible.
Bluey - Mine as many blue crystals as possible
Greener - Mine as many green crystals as possible.
Mixer - Create as many black crystals as possible.
Description - See the (QSE) section of the Quickview guide for more information
on the creation and function of black crystals.
Rainbow Chaser - Earn as many prismatic crystals as possible.
Description - See the (QSE) section of the Quickview guide for more information
on the acquisition methods and function of prismatic crystals.
&******************************************************************************8
- Consortium Challenges [CLC] -
&******************************************************************************8
Trader - Sell as many trade goods as possible.
Description - Sell items from your cargo hold, not weapons/sentients. This
appears to only advance when using the analogous shared sentient ability.
Miner - Mine as many pieces of ore as possible.
Roller - Evade as many beam attacks as possible.
Description - It's not clear if the roll glitch outlined in the Mad Skillz
section as it might not register with this challenge unless it's functioning
normally.
Feigner - Fool as many enemies as possible into stopping their attacks. (Using
the Feign Death ability if that wasn't apparent) It's not clear if tricking
missiles counts toward the completion of this challenge. If it does, the most
convenient place to do so would likely be the Path of the Dead battleship as
when it's not near the escort target, it fires four missiles at a time and
nothing else.
&******************************************************************************8
- Praetorian Challenges [CLP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Scanner - Scan as many targets as possible.
Description - You must be actively in the Praetorian faction, and the scan
targets must be Consortium ships.
Star Employee - Earn as many credits from a wage as possible.
Description - This one's a little odd, as there doesn't seem to be any way of
determining what is necessary to fulfill the criteria for this challenge. It
seems like a given that you have to be in the Praetorian faction, but as for
what you need to do, that's not so obvious. I think that patrolling zones helps,
but your best bet will probably be completing standard side missions and
destroying Syndicate ships.
Revealer - Unmask as many criminals transporting illegal goods as possible.
Description - Again you must actively be in the Praetorian faction, and again
the scan targets must be Consortium ships. You also need at least one point in
the scan skill because you won't be able to detect illegal goods otherwise. When
a Consortium ship turns hostile after scanning it, it means you've exposed its
illegal cargo.
Judge - Stop as many criminals transporting illegal goods as possible.
Description - Surprisingly you can actually advance this challenge without
actually being in the Praetorian faction. You can earn points this challenge,
by scanning and destroying Syndicate ships while apart of the Order, Dominion,
or Consortium, if you have at least one point in this skill. But not while a
member of the Praetorian faction, and obviously not the Syndicate. Otherwise,
you need to destroy the Consortium ships that become hostile after scanning and
revealing their illegal cargo.
Undercover - Use the undercover ability to observe as many enemies as possible.
Description - You do not need to be in visual range of enemies or be moving for
this challenge to register, you can even advance it while docked at a station.
Shielder - Absorb as much damage as possible using Supershield.
Description - Having DPS sentients with high level Energy Regeneration skills
and/or an analogous ability upgrade will make this challenge easier.
Repairer - Repair as many Spynet satellites as possible.
Description - I'll provide the locations of the various satellites below. You do
not have to be out of combat to repair spynet satellites.
Asteria Zone: Ghost Zone and Icy Wastes regions
Erebus Zone: Habitation, Power Generation, and Pit regions.
Leviathan Zone: Left/West half of the ship's Solar Collectors, Power Core, and
Control Regions
The Graveyard Zone: Radzone and Breaker's Yard regions.
The Tempest Zone: North edge of the Research Outpost and Gauntlet (just above
the halfway point)
Solaria Zone: Cauldron and Glassica regions.
Tartarus Zone: Northern edge of Dimensional Gate and Chrona Farm (next to the
little plus sign that's 1 of 7 and furthest to the East).
The Crucible Zone: Mintek Headquarters (southernmost portion of the buildings),
and Nexus regions.
Shadowrift Zone: City Ruins and Catacombs regions.
Spynet satellites will reset their status, i.e. you can repair them again,
whenever you use a SHIFT platform, but NOT after dying, completing missions,
docking at stations, etc.
&******************************************************************************8
- Syndicate Challenges [CLS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Hijacker - Hijack as many enemy ships as possible.
Description - The best way to do this is to get a strong beam weapon upgrade to
give yourself an offensive advantage, have the flares skill to counter missiles,
and hijack Consortium cargo ships while using the roll glitch. Since the hijack
skill isn't interrupted when avoiding beam attacks your enemies will be
helpless.
Looter - Steal as much loot from destroyed enemies as possible.
Description - You must be actively apart of the Syndicate in order for this
challenge to be completed, but it will register even if your cargo hold is full
upon looting items enemies drop.
Cloaker - Travel as far as possible while cloaked.
Description - Just like with the Undercover skill, you don't have to be moving
in order to advance this challenge, and can even do so while docked.
Scavenger - Scavenge as many temporary power-ups as possible.
Description - Not only do you have to actively be in the faction in order to
advance the challenge, but you also have to have at least 1 point put into the
ability of the same name.
Hacker - Hack as many Spynet satellites as possible.
Description - I'll provide the locations of the various satellites below. You do
not have to be out of combat to hack spynet satellites.
Asteria Zone: Clearing Area and Prospector Field regions.
Erebus Zone: Processing Plant and Core regions
Leviathan Zone: Control and the trench dividing the Communications Array and
Solar Collectors regions.
The Graveyard Zone: Wraithmist and between Cemetery and Monument of the Fallen,
just before reaching the Sentinal Gate region.
The Tempest Zone: Just to the West of the Ruined Biosphere region (on the edge
of No Man's Land), and the Wilderness region East of Fort Bravo.
Solaria Zone: Sea of Fire and between the Ventrica and Eden regions.
Tartarus: SE corner of the Recycler region and Brink Science Outpost, near Theta
Station.
The Crucible Zone: Cold Storage and Metropolis regions.
Shadowrift Zone: Western edge of Infection Island and Impact Site regions.
Spynet satellites will reset their status (i.e. you can hack them again)
whenever you use a SHIFT platform but NOT after dying, completing missions,
docking at stations, etc.
&******************************************************************************8
- Military Challenges [CLM] -
&******************************************************************************8
Warlord - Win as many warzones as possible.
Resupplier - Capture as many resupply points as possible.
Description - Like the faction military mission, this challenge is advanced when
capturing carrier spawn points, not just supply points.
Carrier Bane - Destroy as many enemy carriers as possible.
Description - You'll have to allow the enemy to do their own thing if you want
them to capture a carrier spawn point. I recommend, going off and mining for
crystals you wait.
Battle Bane - Destroy as many enemy battleships as possible.
Legioneer - Win as many Dark Legion Raids as possible
Description - You have to play until all waves of attack have concluded, you
can't complete a few waves and quit.
Dazzler - Use the Flares ability as many times as possible.
&******************************************************************************8
- Sentient Challenges [CLSE] -
&******************************************************************************8
Damager - Deal as much damage with the sentient as possible.
Leveler - Gain as many sentient levels as possible
Healer - Heal as much damage with a sentient as possible.
Description - The Healer sentient's recharge skill most certainly counts toward
this challenge's completion, and it's likely that the Repair ability's hull
restoration function counts as well. What's not clear is whether the shield
reboot part of Repair and the passive Hull Regeneration abilities count too.
Tractorer - Tractor as many enemies as possible.
Description - You can use either the Tractor Beam OR Knockback abilities, and
you can use them on the same target multiple times.
Disabler - Disable as many enemies as possible.
Debuffer - Debuff the shields of as many enemies as possible.
Description - This is referring to the Shield Short ability.
Enhancer - Enhance the energy, armor, or damage for as many friends as possible.
Description - This counts when using the abilities on yourself, though things
will obviously go faster when using it on multiple other allies. The best
opportunity to do this is during warzone missions when several allied ships
eventually migrate to the enemy battleship.
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- Sentient Information Guide -
[XXII]
Sentients are a big part of the game, after all they're featured in the story
and have their own game in the form of Fusion: Sentient. You can have a maximum
of 5 sentients, even though the weapon/sentient total is 15. Having the right
knowledge regarding sentient abilities can make a big difference in battle,
which is why I'm going to list and evaluate them here. I'll also provide a quick
look at sentient rarity, but that will be all. If you want to know more about
how to use or upgrade a sentient, see section (QSE) of the Quickview guide.
Keep in mind that a cargo ship can use sentient skills at nauseam without using
energy, so go nuts. This is particularly useful for sentient-based challenges
dependent upon using their abilities to harm enemies/heal allies. Also, Armor
Increase, Damage Increase, Energize, and Recharge apply to you as well, not just
friendly ships. Lastly, s sentient's offensive weapon(s) strength is tied to
your ship's tier level, the higher the the tier, the more powerful its weapon.
Although you may not notice it, the healer sentient DOES have an offensive
weapon. It fires missiles that are not as conspicuous as the tank and DPS
sentient's beams and pulse blasts, so don't neglect leveling up its offensive
attributes.
The weapons that sentients use are capable of being purchased from the
Consortium and include the following:
Tank sentient - A/B/C/G Beams
DPS sentient - Dirge Rail Gun Mk. 1/2/3/4 (primary weapon, the secondary weapon
doesn't appear to have an analog).
Healer sentient - C1/2/3/4-Hawkeye missiles
&******************************************************************************8
- Sentient Rarity [SIR] -
&******************************************************************************8
Sentients come in 5 different rarities. Going from least to greatest, there's
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Common and Uncommon variants can
be purchased in nearly any station store in the galaxy, with the Common ones
costing 1,000 credits, and the Uncommon ones costing 10,000 credits. The other
versions of the sentients can be acquired in one of three ways: 1) By being
transferred through the tie-in game Fusion Sentient. 2) By purchasing them
through the in-game online auction store (which I have heard is glitch and
should be avoided at all costs for reasons I do not know). or 3) By having it
dropped by the Librarian sub-boss in the Ark Raid mission (this is not a common
occurrence, and you must have 14 or less total weapons/sentients AND 4 or less
total sentients).
The characteristics of the sentient rarities are as follows:
- Common Sentients are "Gun-Metal" grey, cost 1,000 credits and sell for 900
credits, and have 32 levels.
- Uncommon Sentients are green, cost 10,000 credits and sell for 9,000 credits,
and have 40 levels.
- Rare Sentients are Dark Blue, sell for 45,000 credits, and have 48 levels.
- Epic Sentients are Pink, Sell for 90,000 credits, and have 56 levels.
- Legendary Sentients are Orange, sell for 450,000 credits, and have 64 levels.
(Sale prices are based off of in-game station stores, not the average online
auction prices, it also does not change regardless of level or point
distribution)
&******************************************************************************8
- Tank Sentient, and Ability Evaluation [SIT] -
&******************************************************************************8
The first sentient you gain access to, the Tank Sentient, is in the middle when
it comes to offensive strength and ability usefulness in my opinion. Recommended
number of sentients of this type - 1
The Following information is based upon the MAXIMUM possible statistical ratings
that are boosting by assigning attribute points, which are gained by "feeding"
sentients Black Crystals. Again, see (QSE) of the Quickview guide for more
information.
Shield Short - Nullifies part of enemy shields for 10 seconds.
Evaluation - Cutting off an enemy's shields to strike at the Hull underneath is
great and all that, but you'll want to use tractor beam to keep the ship from
turning the unaffected half of the shield to face you. In case you didn't deduce
this from the previous statement, Shield Short only effects either the fore or
aft section of shields. It will also be next to useless in PVP matches against
opponents with high Abation skills. But this ability IS useful when used in
conjunction with the Hijack ability.
Taunt - Taunts an enemy into attacking the sentient for 50 seconds.
Evaluation - Hands down the most useless ability of the lot, taunt makes your
enemies target the Tank sentient instead of you. But how that's supposed to be
any kind of an advantage when you still take damage is beyond me. Your rear
shields are still harmed, there's no visual indication that that the ability
has taken effect, and it's also pretty fickle, probably requiring you to
manually target specific enemies for it to work properly. I'm not sure if you
can avoid hull damage damage, but again, it's not very reliable so I'd hardly
count on it in an emergency anyway.
Tractor Beam - Slows down the movement off the targeted enemy for 10 seconds.
Evaluation - This ability slows down enemies to a crawl, allowing you pin down
particularly slippery enemies that would otherwise be too difficult to hijack or
hit with missiles. While it's again useless against PVP opponents with high
Abation skills, and hardly a game-changing tide-turner, it's a decent enough
ability to consider.
Armor Increase - Ionizes friendly ships, absorbing 40% of any damage inflicted
for 30 seconds.
Evaluation - This ability absorbs a portion of damage rather than marginally
boosting hull/shields, which is important to note, because if it did it wouldn't
be useful at all for high tier cruisers with the maximum amount of shields/hull.
Although it can't match/exceed 50% at its maximum level it's still a pretty
potent form of protection that makes you and your allies that much stronger for
a time. (Note: This ability CANNOT stack with the Undercover ability and absorb
110% of damage so don't even bother trying it).
Shield Regeneration - Increases the ship's shield regeneration rate by 200%.
Evaluation - Passive abilities are always good to have and you'll most certainly
want to have this one, as Shield Regeneration greatly increases the rate at
which shields are recovered. Although you still have to deal with the delay
beforehand, which can be circumvented with the Healer sentient's Repair ability,
it's still a must-have.
&******************************************************************************8
- DPS Sentient, and Ability Evaluation [SID] -
&******************************************************************************8
DPS sentients are pretty lackluster, in fact were it not for its passive ability
I probably wouldn't bother with them at all. Recommended number of sentients of
this type - 2
The Following information is based upon the MAXIMUM possible statistical ratings
that are boosting by assigning attribute points, which are gained by "feeding"
sentients Black Crystals. Again, see (QSE) of the Quickview guide for more
information.
Primary Weapon - Increases the power of the pirmary weapon that the sentient
uses.
Evaluation - You know that expression, "you can polish a turd but it's still a
turd"? Well the same principle pretty much applies here, you can increase the
Dirge Rail Gun's power, but it's still a Dirge Rail Gun. (Note that the DPS
sentient is the only type affected by changing sentient mood to aggressive
(noted in the (QSE) section of the guide), and will make it more likely to hit
its targets. This will also potentially make it more difficult to activate its
abilities since it won't be close to you most of the time).
Power Weapon - Increases the power of the secondary weapon that the sentient
uses.
Evaluation - You may have asked yourself, "a stronger weapon for the sentient to
use, and a more accurate beam weapon no less, why WOULDN'T I want that?!?" Five
words: Energy cost and default status. The title of "Power Weapon" refers to
more than just strength, it also drains energy, even with Energy Regeneration
set as high as possible. And while you might want to have the ability on
SOMEtimes but not others, the ability is on by default when equipped, so you
have to tinker in the menus to assign the skill, exit out and use it, and then
go back in the menus to assign the skill you really want. If you don't use power
weapons or abilities that would otherwise detract from your energy pool then I
guess it's not a bad option to have on all the time for added firepower.
Personally though, I like to not put any points in the skill at all.
Disable - Stops the target from using special abilities for 20 seconds.
Evaluation - While it's not as useful against NPC enemies as shield short or
tractor beam are, PVP opponents have to wait twice as long as the aforementioned
abilities before they recover. Use it at the right time and your opponent will
be utterly helpless.
Damage Increase - Increases the damage of nearby friendly units by 40% for 30
seconds.
Evaluation - The DPS sentient's answer to the Tank sentient's Armor Increase,
this ability increases weapon damage by a solid amount. However, it's more
useful to you than to allies in Warzone or Legion Raid missions since their
damage values are lower than yours, so your better off using Armor Increase in
those missions to keep them alive as target fodder while you do most of the
work. Though that's not to say that you can't boost the ships with BOTH
abilities, just that I prefer the other skill if forced to choose between the
two.
Energy Regeneration - Increases the ship's shield regeneration rate by 200%.
Evaluation - This is where it's at baby, this is the ability that makes a DPS
sentient worth having! A single DPS sentient with this skill maxed out can
completely negate the energy drain of an Afterburner skill that's leveled high
enough, make a KL-088's energy drain practically non-existent, or let you use
the Afterburner skill while Undercover for longer. Plus, since passive abilities
stack, that means multiple DPS sentients can compensate completely for weapons
like torpedoes, or even skills like Supershield.
&******************************************************************************8
- Healer Sentient, and Ability Evaluation [SIH] -
&******************************************************************************8
The Healer sentients are the best on average in my book, striking a good balance
of weapon strength and ability usefulness. Recommended number of sentients of
this type - 1
The Following information is based upon the MAXIMUM possible statistical ratings
that are boosting by assigning attribute points, which are gained by "feeding"
sentients Black Crystals. Again, see (QSE) of the Quickview guide for more
information.
Repair - Constantly repairs 50 units of hull and reboots the shields.
Evaluation - Probably its most useful ability, using it in conjunction with
a Tank sentient's passive ability will can bring your shields from non-existent,
to completely full in a matter of seconds. You still have to avoid enemy fire,
but for far less time. It also repairs hull damage at the cost of energy, but
will do so whether you're taking damage or not.
Recharge - Restores 200 units of shield energy to all nearby friendly units.
Evaluation - This ability doesn't boost your shields/allied shields by that
much, but when used continuously in conjunction with a cargo ship you can be a
VERY difficult target to take down. This ability is also good to have on hand
for the Ark Raid Path of the Dead section.
Knockback - Knocks back up to 20 nearby enemies.
Evaluation - A minor nuisance in PVP, and completely worthless against NPC
enemies, this ability is a complete dud because it doesn't push enemies that
far back, doesn't increase in range as the number of affected enemies increases,
and can't even be used often enough to be a novelty. It's at least worth noting
that it can advance the Tractor Sentient Challenge, but you're better off
advancing that with the Tractor Beam.
Energize - Increases the energy capacity of friendly ships by 40% for 30
seconds.
Evaluation - A potential 80 pt. increase to energy reserves sounds nice, but
with no boost to regeneration rate, a 30 second duration, energy cost of its
own, and NPCs possessing an infinite amount of energy, this ability is another
dud.
Hull Regeneration - Increases the hull regeneration rate of the ship by 200%.
Evaluation - Potentially the weakest of the 3 passive abilities, it's still
worth investing in. Hull Regeneration will, in spite of its high percentage
total, slowly but surely repair hull damage at all times. Note that although
this applies during temporary invincibility, you will not be able to re-enter
the state immediately after recovering a small amount of health, you still have
to wait until the set amount of time has passed.
Also worth noting is the unique nature of the ability. Hull Regeneration, like
Shield Regeneration's performance, is dependent upon the ship it's being applied
to. Since some ships have stronger/weaker shields/hull, the number of points
restored differs from ship to ship because the rate of regeneration is a fixed
percentage. That means that ships with higher shields/hull will have more points
per second restored whenever the ability is active. But since Hull Regeneration
is active at all times, and passive abilities stack, you can probably see where
this is going. A ship with a strong Hull like a tier 4 cruiser, (ideally a
Dominion cruiser), coupled with a Healer sentient or two with high Hull
Regeneration stats can potentially recover hull damage faster than it can be
depleted!
&******************************************************************************8
- Shared Sentient Ability Evaluation [SIS] -
&******************************************************************************8
The Following information is based upon the MAXIMUM possible statistical ratings
that are boosting by assigning attribute points, which are gained by "feeding"
sentients Black Crystals. However, said attribute points actually makes 2 skills
in this category LESS effective if you just look at the listed times, when in
actuality, they do not change from their values prior to "feeding" the
sentient. Therefore, I'm going to list BOTH values so that you understand the
contrast. Again, see (QSE) of the Quickview guide for more information.
Mining - Allows the ship to mine nearby asteroids with a mining time of 14
seconds (listed statistic post-attribute point assignment), AKA 7 seconds (the
actual statistic observed post-attribute point assignment, and listed statistic
pre-attribute point assignment).
Evaluation - Considering sentients can mine faster than you (though not when the
Harvest skill is leveled up), and you can have up to 4 out at a time, this skill
is pretty useful. You'll want to pair it with the looter skill and a cargo ship
with nothing but sentients to get the most out of this ability.
Looting - Allows the sentient to loot any items that can be picked up with a
range of 10
Evaluation - This ability is both a blessing and a curse. It enables sentients
to detect, and fly to, salvage, power-ups, crystals, etc. and pick them up for
you so that you don't have to line up your ship and do it yourself (which is
particularly irritating while in slower ships). But unfortunately, sentients
cannot venture farther than the edges of the screen, but will continue to try
and get something that's out of their reach. In combat, this results in the
sentients being too far to use their abilities or attack most enemies. Sentient
pickup range can be as restricted as practically right next to it, or the
entirety of the area being viewed. I advise taking it slow and finding a range
that works for you, ideally one that's really close to the edges of the screen
without going beyond them.
Trading - Allows the sentient to travel to a station to sell items with a travel
time of 40 seconds (listed statistic post-attribute point assignment), AKA 20
seconds (the actual statistic observed post-attribute point assignment, and
listed statistic pre-attribute point assignment).
Evaluation - Trading is a minor convenience, but a convenience nonetheless. You
won't need more than 1 sentient with this skill, but said sentient must be
visibly equipped if you want to use it.
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- Weapons: Statistics and Recommendations -
[XXIII]
&******************************************************************************8
- Weapon Type Analysis [WTA] -
&******************************************************************************8
There are many different types of weapons in the game, and they have different
strengths and weaknesses which I'll be listing here to give you an idea of what
to expect. There are three basic weapon types that are represented in every
faction's ships and purchase options: Pulse, Beam, and Missile weapons. The
other weapon types are torpedoes, mines, and autoguns and can only be acquired
by spending reward points or being dropped by certain major enemies.
- Pulse weapons fire manually aimed rapid-fire projectiles at targets that were
presumably meant to be countered with the Supershield ability before being
changed to prevent all weapons fire. Pulse weapons have no specific counter but
have a handicap in the form of a reduced rate of fire if used for to long
without pause. However, tier 1 pulse weapons (and pulse weapons scaled down on
tier 1 ships) don't overheat and slow down, with the exception of the Battlegun.
The Pulse weapon's handicap can also be compensated for by equipping them to
Consortium Heavy Fighters or any faction's cruisers.
- Beam weapons fire long blasts of energy and fire for longer periods of time
and do more damage the longer the weapon is locked on for. Beam weapons are
accurate, tend to have long range, and most will jump to another locked on
target after the last one has been destroyed. The beam weapon's handicap
involves the fact that many fighters will roll and avoid most of the first
shot's damage, forcing you to lock on and fire again.
- Missile weapons fire warheads that track down and detonate on targets, flying
faster the longer the weapon is locked on for (though not farther). Missile
weapons are quite strong but are limited to their speed and turning arc, making
them less effective against small and nimble targets like Vanid. Missiles also
must be aimed at a enemies with a certain degree of precision, as you can easily
lock on to the wrong target when there are large clusters of enemies. Missiles
can also be wasted if they collide with asteroids, meteors, or other ships en
route to the intended target. Lastly, the countermeasure used against missiles
is the Flares ability, which draws the missile away by making it chase a new
cluster of heat signatures.
- Torpedo weapons fire very powerful energy projectiles rather than warheads
like you might have been expecting. Torpedoes can be devastating when used
against cargo ships, cruisers, and other large-scale ships, but diminish in
effectiveness when used against fighters because of the enemy's maneuverability
and small size. Torpedo weapons also drain energy with every shot, necessitating
precise shots with time to recharge, and/or the pairing with a DPS sentient's
Energy Regeneration boost.
- Mines are powerful explosive weapons that are set with the right
bumper/shoulder button and detonate on contact with enemy ships. Mines are only
really useful during Legion Raid missions and some missions where they're
supplied for faction story missions. Since the enemy ships have to actually come
in contact with the mine to be damaged you need to either place them in choke
points or use maneuverable fighters to get right on top of your enemy to
deploy the mine. In spite of their many handicaps, mines tend to do much more
damage at a time than other weapons.
- Autoguns are turrets that are another point-defense weapon set with the right
bumper/shoulder button that's most useful in certain preset missions and Legion
Raid missions. Again the weapons are immobile, but with one exception (the
Thumper Autogun) they doesn't need to be. Each of the three autogun types uses
either missiles, beams, or pulse weapons to engage enemies. The handicap for
autoguns is the need to be near the weapon to ensure enemies coming for you will
be engaged by it, and its lengthy period of time before being able to be
deployed again.
&******************************************************************************8
- Statistics Intro [WSI] -
&******************************************************************************8
I'm going to list various weapons and statistics so you can be informed of their
ups and downs through and through BEFORE spending you hard earned
credits/points. First however, a reminder: I have not played PVP matches so I
won't be listing much that you can't find out yourself. That said, I WILL point
you in the right direction to judge for yourself by listing missions that
feature them as presets so you won't be completely blind.
You can only have a maximum of 15 weapons/sentients, and while you can only have
5 sentients, there is no limit to consider outside of the 15 with regards to
weapons. Though it wouldn't be wise to have nothing but weapons in your
inventory When purchasing weapons, red text means that you cannot afford the
weapon, yellow means that you can afford it but it will have to be scaled down,
and green means that you can both afford it and it will work at full power. When
a weapon is scaled down, its attributes reflect that of one who's level is the
same as your ship's tier. This does NOT mean however, that a level 4 weapon
equipped to say a tier 1 ship will reduce the strength of the weapon
indefinitely, it just changes depending on the ship it's equipped to. Speaking
of weapon attributes, unlike ships, the menus do not take into account damage
or rate of fire augments from stats, sentient boosts, or upgrades.
Weapon classification, RoF (rate of fire), range, and energy costs (for beam
weapons it's based on the cost at maximum lock on) are consistent from weapon to
weapon of the same basic name but different tier, therefore I will only list
them for the tier 1 weapon rather than repeat the same information 3 more times.
Likewise, weapon tier level advances the same way every time, starting from
lowest and ending in highest, and always 4 in total, so I won't be listing the
tier level of the weapons at all. (FYI, DPS means damage per second in case you
didn't already know.) Range refers to the weapon's effectiveness based upon
distance. Close range weapons do more damage when you're near the enemy, long
range weapons do more damage when you're farther away, and medium range weapons
appear to do well at any distance.
The rate of fire statistic sadly isn't consistent from weapon to weapon.
Sometimes weapons with higher RoF fire incredibly slow, while others are pretty
damn fast. For example, many pulse weapons have an RoF of 8, but fire
projectiles faster than Deathshrike Legion mines which have an RoF of 3.
Conversely, the Deathshrike Legion mines have an RoF of 3, but the Deathshrike
mine V has an RoF of 1.5 yet fires twice as fast. Most pulse weapons have an RoF
of 8, the Praetorian pulse weapon fires much faster and has an RoF of 15, but
the Battlegun has an RoF of 1 in spite of firing about as fast as the Praetorian
weapon. In short, in spite of copying the RoF as seen in the game it's nigh
impossible to know what it means.
&******************************************************************************8
- Consortium Weapons [WC] -
&******************************************************************************8
Spike A - Beam, Classification - Beam, DPS - 39, RoF - 0, Cost - 2,000 credits,
Range - Medium, Description - A high-energy gravity-wave weapon. Popular for
its cost and reliability, but surpassed by other beam weapons.
Slash B - Beam, DPS - 77, Cost - 3,000 credits, Description - Upgrade of the
Spike A - Beam, this gravity-wave weapon is effective at long range and against
armored targets.
Crusher C - Beam, DPS - 154, Cost - 10,125 credits, Description - Improved
version of the Slash B - Beam, highly effective with sustained bursts of
particle energy.
Rupture G - Beam, DPS - 553, Cost - 22,781 credits, Description - The pinnacle
of Consortium tech, the Rupture is coveted among free traders and operatives
alike for its sheer destructive power.
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. I, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 2,285 credits, DPS - 36,
Rof - 8, Range - Medium, Description - Of Maris design, with huge slugs of metal
magnetically accelerated to high velocity to the target. Crude but effective.
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. II, Cost - 3,428 credits, DPS - 71, Description - Uses
improved magnetic channels and aluminum rounds coated in a synthetic alloy
specifically to punch through targets.
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. III, Cost - 11,571 credits, DPS - 145, Description - using a
secret Maris technique, the magnetic couplers have been coated in an unknown
substance that accelerates the round at deadly speed.
Dirge Rail Gun Mk. IV, Cost - 26,035 credits, DPS - 289, Description -
Custom-made on Maris Prime and coveted by fighter jocks of any faction.
Fast-reloading and hard-hitting, the Dirge Mk. IV is the ultimate in rail-gun
technology.
C1-Hawkeye, Classification - Missile, Cost - 2,666 credits, DPS - 97, RoF - 1,
Range - medium, Description - A tried and tested missile, possessing a good
balance of turn rate and speed.
C2-Hawkeye, Cost - 4,000, credits, DPS - 178, Description - Upgraded version of
the C1 - Hawkeye, boasting improved damage potential.
C3-Hawkeye, Cost - 13,500 credits, DPS - 372, Description - Upgraded version of
the Hawkeye missile, boasting significantly improved damage potential.
C4-Hawkeye, Cost - 30,374 credits, DPS - 744, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Hawkeye missile, boasting devastating damage potential.
&******************************************************************************8
- Syndicate Weapons [WS] -
&******************************************************************************8
Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. I, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 3,426 credits,
DPS - 60, Rof - 4, Range - Long, Description - Slow-firing, highly damaging
bolts of antimatter that are harmless until they come in contact with matter.
Most effective at range.
Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. II, Cost - 5,142 credits, DPS - 121, Description -
Launches devastating bolts of antimatter at the target with an improved firing
rate.
Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. III, Cost - 17,357 credits, DPS - 242, Description
- Modified to more quickly assemble antimatter particles for a faster firing
rate.
Reaver Antimatter Cannon Mk. IV, Cost - 39,053 credits, DPS - 434, Description -
Delivers slow-firing, highly damaging bolts of antimatter that are harmless
until they com in contact with matter. Most effective at range.
Incinerator Plasma-Thrower, Classification - Beam, Cost - 2,500 credits, DPS -
55, RoF - 0, Range - Close, Description - High-damaging short-range plasma
stream popular with Syndicate mercenaries. Deadly in close quarters but
inaccurate at long range.
Incinerator II Plasma-Thrower, Cost - 4,100 credits, DPS - 111, Description -
Deadly close quarters upgrade of the original that discharges a powerful stream
of superheated plasma. Requires recharging.
Incinerator III Plasma-Thrower, Cost - 12,656 credits, DPS - 266, Description -
Developed by Warlord Cinnefato effectively throw a longer and more sustained
burst of plasma.
Incinerator IV Plasma Cannon, Cost - 28,476 credits, DPS - 444, Description -
The height of plasma technology pirated from Convocation research; the deadliest
close-combat weapon in known space.
Piledriver I, Classification - Missile, Cost - 4,000 credits, DPS - 101, RoF -
2, Range - Medium, Description - A Syndicate-hacked version of Order technology.
All navigation has been sacrificed to produce a super-fast missile that starts
off slow and is capable of high damage.
Piledriver II, Cost - 6,000 credits, DPS - 184, Description - Upgraded version
of the Piledriver missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Piledriver III, Cost - 20,250 credits, DPS - 404, Description - Upgraded version
of the Piledriver missile, boasting significantly improved damage potential.
Piledriver IV, Cost - 45,562 credits, DPS - 775, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Piledriver missile, boasting devastating damage potential.
&******************************************************************************8
- Praetorian Weapons [WP] -
&******************************************************************************8
Like their ships, Praetorian weapons cost 50% less than the average price of
weapons in the same category and tier but are no less effective.
Crackshot LR, Classification - Beam, Cost - 1,250 credits, DPS - 64, RoF - 0,
Range - Long, Description - Accurate long-range energy weapon used by the
Praetoriate. Valued for its accuracy, which guarantees a hit on enemy ships.
Crackshot LR II, Cost - 2,050 credits, DPS - 128, Description - Upgrade of the
Cracshot LR, this long-range weapon fires penetrating guided rounds with
destructive results
Crackshot LR III, Cost - 6,328 credits, DPS - 255, Description - Next-Generation
long-range precision weapon that fires solid-slug rounds with internal guidance
systems.
Crackshot LR IV, Cost - 14,238 credits, DPS - 510, Description -
High-performance ordinance that puts a solid-slug round on target from distance
with improved tracking.
Pulse Hi-EX I, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 1,714 credits, DPS - 44, RoF - 15,
Range - Close, Description - Fast-firing Praetorian-issue. Fires high energy
projectiles toward the target using Qui pulse technology.
Pulse Hi-Ex II, Cost - 2,571 credits, DPS - 90, Description - With its improved
cyclical rate, this weapon fires a constant stream of energy at the target.
Pulse Hi-Ex III, Cost - 8,678 credits, DPS - 179, Description - Thanks to
proprietary Qui technology, the pulses are more rapidly energized and released
for destructive effect.
Pulse Hi-Ex IV, Cost - 19,526 credits, DPS - 350, Description - This Convocation
mainstay was converted from anti-fighter ordinance to anti-armor for tactical
missions requiring sustained firepower.
Packhound v1, Classification - Missile, Cost - 2,000 credits, DPS - 101, RoF -
1, Range - Medium, Description - The standard issue missile on almost all
Praetorian ships. can be fired multiple times in a short span of time, although
damage is sacrificed.
Packhount v2, Cost - 3,000 credits, DPS - 198, Description - Upgraded version of
the Packhound missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Packhound v3, Cost - 10,125, DPS - 423, Description - Upgraded version of the
Packhound missile, boasting significantly improved damage potential.
Packhound v4, Cost - 22,781 credits, DPS - 808, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Packhound missile, boasting devastating damage potential.
&******************************************************************************8
- Dominion Weapons [WD] -
&******************************************************************************8
Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. I, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 2557 credits, DPS -
37, RoF - 8, Range - Close, Description - Charged shots of superheated balls of
plasma are fired at the target with devastating anti-armor effects. Best at
short range.
Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. II, Cost - 4,285 credits, DPS - 74, Description - This
upgraded version of the Phalanx has better range from improved long-barrel
cooling technology.
Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. III, Cost - 14,464 credits, DPS - 150, Description -
The latest in plasma delivery technology, this model of the Phalanx delivers a
more destructive round at range that gathers strength while in transit.
Phalanx Plasma Cannon Mk. IV, Cost - 32,544 credits, DPS - 300, Description -
The very latest in plasma cannon tech, the Phalanx delivers a large destructive
bolt of pure plasma on target with devastating effects.
Dominion Minigun, Classification - Beam, Cost - 3,000 credits, DPS - 55, RoF -
0, Range - Long, Description - A kinetic weapon introduced during the Colony
Wars 50 years ago. Fires high-velocity shells at long range with fast lock time.
Vanquisher Minigun, Cost - 4,000 credits, DPS - 111, Description - Enhanced
version of the Decimator minigun that fires self-propelled shells at high rates
of speed.
Annihilator Minigun, Cost - 15,187 credits, DPS - 222, Description - Modified
version used exclusively by the Basilisks, with improved kinetic stabilization
to keep sustained fire on target.
Reaper Minigun, Cost - 34,171 credits, DPS - 444, Description - Using applied
gyro-stabilizers and solid-shell detonating warheads, the Reaper is more
accurately characterized as a "mini-cannon".
Creeping Death Mk. I, Classification - Missile, Cost - 3,333 credits, DPS - 105,
RoF - 1, Range - Medium, Description - A slow Dominion-made missile with an
excellent turning arc. Capable of high damage.
Creeping Death Mk. II, Cost - 5,000 credits, DPS - 210, Description - Upgraded
version of the Creeping Death missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Creeping Death Mk. III, Cost - 16,875, DPS - 420, Description - Upgraded version
of the Creeping Death missile, boasting significantly improved damage potential.
Creeping Death Mk. IV, Cost - 37,968 credits, DPS - 879, Description -
Top-of-the-line version of the Creeping Death missile, boasting devastating
damage potential.
&******************************************************************************8
- Order Weapons [WO] -
&******************************************************************************8
Devastator ES I, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 2,857 credits, DPS - 56, RoF -
8, Range - Long, Description - A ball of electrons glued together by Order
nanotechnology. Critical mass is not achieved until high velocity so best used
at long range.
Devastator ES II, Cost - 4,285 credits, DPS - 114, Description - Improved range
and magnetic clouds increase the speed of the projectile without compromising
weapon's strength.
Devastator ES III, Cost - 14,464 credits, DPS - 226, Description - A ball of
electrons glued together by Order nanotechnology. Critical mass is not achieved
until high velocity so best used at long range.
Devastator ES IV, Cost - 32,544 credits, DPS - 449, Description - The cutting
edge of electronic shunt technology, the Devastator creates a massive ball of
pure fusion energy held together by nano-tethers.
Purifier Light Laser, Classification - Beam, Cost - 3,000 credits, DPS - 55,
RoF - 0, Range - Close, Description - Short-range high-damage beam of energy.
While effective, the weapon does require recharging before use.
Absolution Laser Assembly, Cost - 4,500 credits, DPS - 111, Description -
Enhanced version of the Purifier Light Laser that fires a sustained beam of
high-damage energy.
Deliverance Custom Laser, Cost - 15,187 credits, DPS - 222, Description -
Developed by Order scientists, the D - laser is a veritable torrent of fusion
energy harnessed into a beam of incandescent weapons fire.
Domination Laser, Cost - 34,171, DPS - 444, The highest level of Order beam
technology, the Domination Laser is coveted by any who witness its deadly
effects in combat.
Piranha-A, Classification - Missile, Cost - 3,333 credits, DPS - 112, RoF - 1,
Range - Medium, Description - A fast-moving missile from the Order's Evangelist
Fleet technical laboratories. Hampered by low turning arc and low damage.
Piranha-B, Cost - 5,000 credits, DPS - 216, Description - Upgraded version of
the Piranha missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Piranha-C, Cost - 16,875, DPS - 431, Description - Upgraded version of the
Piranha missile, boasting significantly improved damage potential.
Piranha-D, Cost - 37,968 credits, DPS - 899, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Piranha missile, boasting devastating damage potential.
&******************************************************************************8
- PVP Weapons [WP] -
&******************************************************************************8
As I said in the introduction I do not have access to PVP weapons so I can't
provide intimate statistical details, but I'll do all I can to give you an idea
of what to expect.
Viper Proximity Mine - Presumably the same as the Deathshike Legion Mine, just
weaker and incapable of cloaking. This weapon can be tested in the Syndicate
story mission "Skin of Your Teeth", Dominion preset mission "Waste Management",
and the Order preset mission "Restoration of Order"
Mongoose Proto Trap - A mobile mine that homes in on enemies that get close
enough, the problem being that far more mines than necessary can end up chasing
a target. This weapon can be seen in The Graveyard's Minefield region, tested in
the Order story mission "Apostate", and the Order preset mission "Enemy Hands".
Thumper Autogun - An autogun that fires pulse weapons if I'm not mistaken. Pulse
weapons aren't as accurate as beams and will slow down after awhile so unless it
could fire Battlegun rounds this probably wouldn't be a weapon you'd want. This
weapon can be tested in the Consortium preset missions "Waste Management",
"Enemy Hands", and the Order preset mission "Restoration of Order".
KL-088 - Here's where the money is, this is an energy-based pulse weapon in the
same rank as the Battlegun and Excruciator. Although it's meant to be a close
range weapon it's not bad at medium range, and larger targets you use it against
aren't maneuverable enough to avoid its fire. The KL - 088's energy drain is
present but not overly ridiculous and can be countered with a well-leveled
energy regeneration from a DPS sentient.
This weapon can be tested in multiple preset missions including the Consortium's
"Eye of the Needle", Syndicate's "Prototype Escort", "Mind the Minefield",
"Cage Match", "Close to the Edge", "Quickbuck Crossing", "Information Shredder",
and "Waste Management", Praetorian's "Information Shredder", and Dominion's
"Eye of the Needle".
Corona - The only other energy-based pulse weapon, and not that spectacular at
that. It fires several pulse projectiles in a circular blast that looks like a
firework going off. While certainly conducive to the "Shmup" genre, and not
particularly weak per projectile, the energy drain is too significant to be
worth using seriously in my opinion, but it's a nice novelty weapon.
This weapon is always used against you in some capacity in the preset missions
"Enemy Hands", "Catastrophe in the Catacombs", and by the cruisers in the
"Fallen on Hard Times" missions. The only time you get to wield it is during the
Syndicate preset mission "Frozen".
Multi Missile - The only energy-based missile weapon in the game, the Multi
Missile is quite the spectacle, firing several missiles in a swarm that
violently arc and destroy the target. It's a solid weapon from what I've seen
but despite firing multiple missiles, they won't divert to other targets after
the first one has been destroyed like most beam weapons.
This weapon can be tested in preset missions including the Consortium's
"Defending the Icy Wastes", "Enemy Hands", Praetorian's "Wrath Unleashed", and
"Space Mites", Dominion's "Defending the Icy Wastes", "Close to the Edge", and
"Fire for Effect", Order's "Defending the Icy Wastes", "Fallen on Hard Times",
and "Space Madness".
&******************************************************************************8
- Warzone Weapons [WW] -
&******************************************************************************8
WZN pt(s), means Warzone point(s), the points awarded to the player at the
conclusion of a warzone mission. Although all of the torpedo weapons on this
list have the same statistics, they vary in speed and projectile size, though
the Legion Raid Corsair outclasses the lot of them in my book so you'll probably
only care about the Battleguns.
Silkworm I, Classification - Torpedo, Cost - 1 WZN pt., DPS - 120, RoF - 1,
Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 20 points, Description - Highly damaging
projectile with a good balance between speed and damage.
Silkworm II, Cost - 10 WZN pts., DPS - 240, Description - Enhanced version of
the Silkworm; a highly damaging projectile with a good balance between speed and
damage.
Silkworm III, Cost - 30 WZN pts., DPS - 479, Significantly enhanced version of
the Silkworm; a highly damaging projectile with a good balance between speed and
damage.
Silkworm IV, Cost - 80 WZN pts., DPS - 959, Top-of-the-line version of the
Silkworm; a highly damaging projectile with a good balance between speed and
damage.
Marauder I, Classification - Torpedo, Cost - 2 WZN pts., DPS - 120, RoF - 1,
Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 20 points, Description - Torpedo with an enhanced
fuel supply that allows for extra speed at the cost of damage.
Marauder II, Cost - 12 WZN pts., DPS - 240, Description - Enhanced version of
the Marauder; a torpedo with an enhanced fuel supply that allows for extra speed
at the cost of damage.
Marauder III, Cost - 33 WZN pts., DPS - 479, Description - Significantly
enhanced version of the Marauder; a torpedo with an enhanced fuel supply that
allows for extra speed at the cost of damage.
Marauder IV, Cost - 84 WZN pts., DPS - 959, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Marauder; a torpedo with an enhanced fuel supply that allows for
extra speed at the cost of damage.
Adjudicator, Classification - Torpedo, Cost - 2 WZN pts., DPS - 120, RoF - 1,
Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 20 points, Description - Antimatter orb that is
very slow but capable of causing devestating damage to a target.
Adjudicator Mk. II, Cost - 12 WZN pts., DPS - 240, Description - Enhanced
version of the Adjudicator; an antimatter orb that is very slow but capable of
causing devastating damage to a target.
Adjudicator Mk. III, Cost - 33 WZN pts., DPS - 479, Description - Significantly
enhanced version of the Adjudicator; an antimatter orb that is very slow but
capable of causing devastating damage to a target.
Adjudicator Mk. IV, Cost - 84 WZN pts., DPS 959, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Adjudicator; an antimatter orb that is very slow but capable of
causing devastating damage to a target.
Tornado-CS1, Classification - Torpedo, Cost - 3 WZN pts., DPS - 120, RoF - 1,
Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 20 points, Description - Its slow-launching
mechanism means that the Tornado takes a while to get to top speed, but when it
does, it takes some stopping.
Tornado-CS2, Cost - 14 WZN pts., DPS - 240, Description - Enhanced version of
the Tornado, slow-launching but difficult to stop at top speed.
Tornado-CS3, Cost - 36 WZN pts., DPS - 479, Description - Significantly enhanced
version of the Tornado, slow-launching but difficult to stop at top speed.
Tornado-CS4, Cost - 88 WZN pts., DPS - 959, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Tornado, slow-launching, but difficult to stop at top speed.
Sunfire Bomb v1, Classification - Torpedo, Cost - 3 WZN pts., DPS - 120, RoF -
1, Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 20 points, Description - huge ball of deadly
plasma, the benefit being the quick refire rate.
Sunfire Bomb v2, Cost - 14 WZN pts., DPS - 240, Description - Enhanced version
of the Sunfire bomb; a huge ball of deadly plasma, the benefit being the quick
refire rate.
Sunfire Bomb v3, Cost - 36 WZN pts., DPS - 479, Description - Significantly
enhanced version of the Sunfire Bomb; a huge ball of deadly plasma, the benefit
being the quick refire rate.
Sunfire Bomb v4, Cost - 88 WZN pts., DPS - 959, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Sunfire Bomb; a huge ball of deadly plasma, the benefit being the
quick refire rate.
Battlegun 1, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 4 WZN pts., DPS - 140, RoF - 1,
Range - Medium, Description - A tried and tested missile, possessing a good
balance between turn rate and speed.
Battlegun 2, Cost - 16 WZN pts., DPS - 278, Description - A tried and tested
missile, possessing a good balance between turn rate and speed.
Battlegun 3, Cost - 39 WZN pts., DPS - 556, Description - A tried and tested
missile, possessing a good balance between turn rate and speed.
Battlegun 4, Cost - 92 WZN pts., DPS - 1115, Description - A tried and tested
missile, possessing a good balance between turn rate and speed.
&******************************************************************************8
- Legion Raid Weapons [WL] -
&******************************************************************************8
LR pt(s), means Warzone point(s), the points awarded to the player at the
conclusion of a Legion Raid wave/mission. This is the only time that one of the
statistics that usually applies to all the weapons of the same basic namesake
changes. The Excruciator's rate of fire (RoF) stat changes after the level 1
tier, though follows the second tier's statistic from that point onward. Pay
attention to the Excruciator Iv's description because although all the weapons
bypass shields, it's only for fighters. The Hellfire beams do not jump to other
locked on targets after the first one has been destroyed like most beam weapons.
It is utilized by Legion Tanks in the Webweave region of Shadowrift and is a
defense mechanism in the Ark's Path of Darkness region.
Excruciator I, Classification - Pulse, Cost - 1 LR pt., DPS - 40, RoF - 2, Range
- Medium, Description - Legion pulse technology that hurls bolts of formed
plasma that bypasses shielding to strike the armor underneath.
Excruciator II, Cost - 20 LR pts., DPS - 80, RoF - 0, Description - Enhanced
accuracy and performance create a deadlier salvo of munitions.
Excruciator III, Cost - 60 LR pts., DPS - 150, Description - Plasma bolts shaped
with an outer and inner core, which allows for the plasma to penetrate the
target and then detonate.
Excruciator IV, Cost - 120 LR pts., DPS - 318, Description - A fighter-killer,
the Excruciator IV fires a single destructive piercing plasma warhead that
easily bypasses most shields to destroy a ship in minutes.
Deathbloom Autogun, Classification - Autogun, Cost - 2 LR pts., DPS - 40, RoF -
50, Range - Medium, Description - Autogun that fires guided missiles.
Deathbloom Autogun 2, Cost - 24 LR pts., DPS - 80, Autogun that fires improved
guided missiles.
Deathbloom Autogun 3, Cost - 66 LR pts., DPS - 160, Autogun that fires
significantly improved guided missiles.
Deathbloom Autogun 4, Cost - 96 LR pts., DPS - 320, Top-of-the-line autogun
that fires devastating guided missiles.
Praetorian Autogun, Classification - Autogun, Cost - 2 LR pts., DPS - 40, RoF -
50, Range - Medium, Description - Autogun that fires beams.
Praetorian Autogun 2, Cost - 24 LR pts., DPS - 80, Autogun that fires improved
beams.
Praetorian Autogun 3, Cost - 66 LR pts., DPS - 160, Autogun that fires
significantly improved beams.
Praetorian Autogun 4, Cost - 96 LR pts., DPS - 320, Top-of-the-line autogun that
fires devestating beams.
Corsair I, Classification - Torpedo, Cost - 4 LR pts., DPS - 132, RoF - 1, Range
- Medium, Energy Cost - 20 pts. Description - Formidable anti-cruiser weapon
with an improved warhead payload that sacrifices speed for maximum damage.
Corsair II, Cost - 28 LR pts., DPS - 204, Description - Enhanced version of the
Corsair, slow-launching but difficult to stop at top speed.
Corsair III, Cost - 72 LR pts., DPS - 527, Description - Significantly enhanced
version of the Corsair, slow-launching but difficult to stop at top speed.
Corsair IV, Cost - 136 LR pts., DPS - 1055, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the Corsair, slow-launching but difficult to stop at top speed.
Coffin Nail I, Classification - Missile, Cost - 6 LR pts., DPS - 117, RoF - 3,
Range - Medium, Description - Nicknamed the "Coffin Nail" by Convocation forces,
this Legion missile sacrifices warhead strength for speed.
Coffin Nail II, Cost - 32 LR pts., DPS - 322, Description - Upgraded version of
the Coffin Nail missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Coffin Nail III, Cost - 78 LR pts., DPS - 644, Description - Significantly
improved version of the Coffin Nail missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Coffin Nail IV, Cost - 144 LR pts., DPS - 1,288, Description - Top-of-the-line
upgrade of the Coffin Nail missile, boasting improved damage potential.
Hellfire Beam, Classification - Beam, Cost - 8 LR pts., DPS - 115, RoF - 0,
Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 75 pts., Description - Large gravitic beam that
fires a concentrated burst of fusion energy.
Hellfire Beam II, Cost - 36 LR pts., DPS - 233, Description - Upgrade of the
large gravitic beam that fires a concentrated burst of fusion energy.
Hellfire Beam III, Cost - 84 LR pts., DPS - 506, Description - Significant
upgrade of the large gravitic beam that fires a concentrated burst of fusion
energy.
Hellfire Beam IV, Cost - 152 LR pts., DPS - 970, Description - Top-of-the-line
upgrade of the large gravitic beam that fires a concentrated burst of fusion
energy.
&******************************************************************************8
- Ark Raid Weapons [WA] -
&******************************************************************************8
AR pts, means Ark Raid points, the point(s) awarded to the player as a reward
for beating the various sub-bosses. The Lightning Beams in this section are one
of only three beam weapons that do not jump to the next locked on target after
the first has been destroyed like most beam weapons so keep that in mind.
Deathshrike Legion Mine I, Classification - Mine, Cost - 5 AR pts., DPS - 400,
RoF - 3, Range - Medium, Description - Highly damaging version of a proximity
mine with the ability to remain cloaked.
Deathshrike Legion Mine II, Cost - 20 AR pts., DPS - 800, Description - Upgraded
version of the hugely damaging version of a proximity mine with the ability to
remain cloaked.
Deathshrike Legion Mine III, Cost - 50 AR pts., DPS - 1,600, Description -
Significantly upgraded version of the hugely damaging version of a proximity
mine with the ability to remain cloaked.
Deathshrike Legion Mine IV, Cost - 80 AR pts., DPS - 3,200, Description -
Top-of-the-line version of the hugely damaging version of a proximity mine with
the ability to remain cloaked.
Lightning Beam Mk. I, Classification - Beam, Cost - 10 AR pts., DPS - 128, RoF -
0, Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 75 pts., Description - Weapon that fires
strands of crackling supercharged plasma.
Lightning Beam Mk. II, Cost - 30 AR pts., DPS - 247, Description - Significant
upgrade of the weapon that fires strands of crackling supercharged plasma.
Lightning Beam Mk. III, Cost - 60 AR pts., DPS - 491, Description - Significant
upgrade of the weapon that fires strands of crackling supercharged plasma.
Lightning Beam Mk. IV, Cost - 90 AR pts., DPS - 979, Description -
Top-of-the-line upgrade of the weapon that fires strands of crackling
supercharged plasma.
Big Green Power I, Classification - Beam, Cost - 15 AR pts., DPS - 119, RoF - 0,
Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 75 pts., Description - Big, green, and powerful
weapon.
Big Green Power II, Cost - 40 AR pts., DPS - 235, Description - Upgrade of the
big, green, and powerful weapon.
Big Green Power III, Cost - 70 AR pts., DPS - 470, Description - Significant
upgrade of the big, green, and powerful weapon.
Big Green Power IV, Cost - 100 AR pts., DPS - 942, Description - Top-of-the-line
version of the big, green, and powerful weapon.
&******************************************************************************8
- Bonus Weapons [WB] -
&******************************************************************************8
Bonus weapons are dropped by specific enemies, they CANNOT be purchased in the
game's docking stations. It's not clear to me exactly how many there are but
I'll list everything I've encountered (and some that I have yet to acquire but
know exist). I think that some of the weapons are dropped by Ark sub-bosses and
some by PVP battleships, the latter I obviously do not have access to. Keep in
mind that you must have 14 or fewer weapons/sentients in order for a bonus
weapon to be dropped. Also, your upgrades menu will flash regardless of whether
you pick up an upgrade or weapon. All of these weapons are listed in your basic
weapons section when docked.
Power Beam, Classification - Beam, Can be dropped by - Clay Tok, DPS - 573,
RoF - 0, Range - Medium, Description - Beam weapon that instantly generates
maximum damage, regardless of lock-on time. (Note that this is one of the few
beam weapons that will not jump to the next locked target after the first has
been destroyed like most beam weapons, and although damage is unchanged, the
beam will not fire for as long as when you're fully locked on. This weapon is
utilized by Legion Tanks in Legion Raid missions.)
Power Missile, Classification - Missile, Can be dropped by - Elder Ones, and
Final Ark boss, DPS - 874, RoF - 1, Range - Medium, Description - Prototype
missile weapon that always fires at maximum velocity.
Deathshrike Mine V, Classification - Mine, Can be dropped by - Clay Tok and
Janus (Mirror boss) DPS - 3,200, RoF - (2 when viewing comparison statistics,
which is presumably rounded up from the in-depth statistics which list it as
1.5), Range - Medium, Description - Ultimate highly damaging proximity mine,
equipped with the ability to remain cloaked.
Power Lightning Beam, Classification - Beam, Can be dropped by - Path of the
Dead battleship boss and Janus (Mirror boss), DPS - 1,856, RoF - 0, Range -
Medium, Energy Cost - 37.5, Description - Prototype huge lightning beam that
uses less energy.
Power Big Green Power Beam, Classification - Beam, Can be dropped by - Elder
Ones, DPS - 300, RoF - 0, Range - Medium, Energy Cost - 37.5, Description -
Prototype huge Green Power that uses less energy. (No, I did not make a mistake,
I checked the DPS and tested it in combat, it really is that weak.)
The following are weapons that I have not acquired but have seen given as
equipment in preset missions:
Power Pulse - Presumably a bonus version of the Dirge Rail Gun. This weapon does
not overheat.
Deathbloom Autogun V
Praetorian Autogun V - Fires beams with the same appearance as the ones used by
the Legion Splitters in The Crucible and Ark.
Viper Proximity Mine V
Mongoose Proto Trap V
Thumper Autogun V
Power Spray - Presumably a bonus version of the KL-088 whose projectiles look
similar to one of the Warzone torpedo weapons both in aesthetics and size.
Power Multi-Missile - Missiles are orange-ish peach rather than light blue and
presumably use less energy, do more damage, or both.
&******************************************************************************8
- Weapon Recommendations [WREC] -
&******************************************************************************8
The Battlegun is generally considered the best weapon from what little I've seen
online and it's most certainly high up on the list. Just make sure it's equipped
to a Cruiser or Consortium Heavy Fighter to counteract the overheating because
in spite of its description it's actually a pulse weapon. Most of the faction
specific weapons aren't worth bothering with, it's the ones purchased with
points or dropped by enemies that you'll want most of the time. In spite of how
powerful they are in the hands of enemies, the Big Green Power and Hellfire
beams aren't ones you should aspire to acquire (rhyme unintended), because the
Power Lightning Beam is much stronger if the DPS statistic is to be believed.
The Coffin Nail missile would probably do well with a Syndicate heavy fighter,
but you'll want the Power Missile or Multi-Missile/Power Multi-Missile. The
Corsair is the Torpedo to get, the Deathshrike Mine V is probably the best mine,
or maybe the Mongoose Proto Trap V, the Deathbloom/Praetorian V's are the
autoguns to get since the pulse weapon-firing one isn't as accurate from a
distance, and when it comes to pulse weapons the Battlegun, Excruciator, and
Power Spray/KL-088 are the ones to keep in mind.
I typically use pulse weapons with ships that counteract their fire-rate
handicap so I use the Battlegun, but since I don't get to spend as much quality
time with PVP weapons, and not every build is right for every player so it
doesn't feel right saying it's the best.
____ ___ ____ ___ ____ ____ ___
`MM( )M' `MM( )M' `MM' `Mb( )d'
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`MM. d' `MM. d' MM `Mb d'
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`MMd `MMd MM `Mb d'
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d' `MM. d' `MM. MM YM,P
d' `MM. d' `MM. MM `MM'
_M(_ _)MM_ _M(_ _)MM_ _MM_ YP
- Ship Statistics -
[XXIV]
Ships will be listed by: 1) Order of availability, 2) ship tier level, 3) then
class (scout, interceptor, etc.) "RFL" stands for Required Faction Level, which
is the necessary level you have to be in order to be eligible to purchase a
given ship. "Cargo" meanwhile represents the cargo capacity of the given ships,
and cost always refers to credits. Ships of the same class in a faction have the
exact same descriptions across all tier levels so I'm only going to list the
description once for each of the tier 1 ships rather than copy-paste it 3 more
times. Ship speed and cargo capacity also repeat from tier to tier when it's the
same class in the same faction so I'll list them once each in the tier 1 listing
but not for the following 3. Also, the number next to each ship name refers to
its tier level (Punisher 2 is a tier level 2 ship, Hammerhead 3 is a tier level
3 ship, etc.) so I won't bother listing the tier levels of each ship. Another
thing that carries across every faction is the number of weapon slots each ship
class has. Again, for the sake of reducing repetition here's a list of the ship
classes and the number of weapon slots each has:
Scout - 2, Interceptor - 2, Heavy Fighter - 3, Cargo ship - 2, Cruiser - 4.
All cargo ships and cruisers across every faction have the same innate abilities
so I'm listing them here rather than posting them 4 times each: Cargo ships -
Sentient ability use requires no energy with this ship. Cruiser - Capable of
maintaining sustained weapons fire with no penalties. (Note: A cruiser's ability
to maintain fire with no penalties refers to preventing pulse weapons from
overheating and slowing down only, so don't expect weapons that drain energy to
not do so when equipped to a cruiser. Lastly, I'd like to note that the
statistics listed regarding shields and hull are based on the ORIGINAL values of
the ships with no augments like ship upgrades, pilot skills, or sentient
bonuses, all of which are added to the total when viewing ships. So if your
statistics are higher than those listed here, that's why.
Dominion/Order interceptors can commandeer, AKA steal/take control of ships that
are apart of your current faction, even other interceptors, regardless of tier
level. When you do this, your sentient's will still have their passive abilities
active just like when hijacking even though they won't be equipped. Unlike
hijacking however, the ship you commandeer will not be replaced when docking or
taking part in missions (unless said missions have a preset ship for you to
pilot/ride in). Your own weapons will also be automatically equipped when
docking or warping to another zone, preventing you from having to rely on
default load-outs.
&******************************************************************************8
- Consortium Ships [SC] -
&******************************************************************************8
All Consortium ships have twice the usual cargo capacity, with the exception of
the cruisers which have holds equal to Syndicate and Praetorian cruiser's size,
and half that of the Dominion and Revenant Order's.
Name - Spider 1, Class - Scout, RFL - 0, Cost - 0, Hull - 100, Shields - 100,
Speed - 120, Cargo - 10, Description - A fast advance scout used for smuggling
small goods, recon missions, and light combat. Ability - Mining yields higher
ore with this ship.
Name - Hammerhead 1, Class - Interceptor, RFL - 0, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 200,
Shields - 200, Speed - 100, Cargo - 10, Description - A high-defense interceptor
made for heavy combat and running Praetorian blockades. Ability - This ship can
maintain travel boost even while firing.
Name - Scorpion 1, Class - Heavy Fighter, RFL - 1, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 150,
Shields - 150, Speed - 80, Cargo - 10, Description - An interdiction and support
ship created specifically for the Consortium, focusing on heavy offense. Ability
- Pulse weapons don't overheat with this ship
Name - Tugboat 1, Class - Cargo Ship, RFL - 1 Cost - 4,000, Hull- 500, Shields -
500, Speed - 50, Cargo - 40, Description - A common sight in Convocation space,
those ships make up the majority of the Consortium free-trader fleet.
Name - Grizzly 1, Class - Cruiser, RFL - 2, Cost - 4,000 credits, Hull - 1,000,
Shields - 1,000, Speed - 25, Cargo - 5, Description - Outfitted for combat and
light transportation needs and built specifically for the Consortium.
Spider 2, RFL - 2, Cost - 6,000, Hull - 200, Shields - 200.
Hammerhead 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 400, Shields - 400.
Scorpion 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 300, Shields - 300.
Tugboat 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 1,000, Shields - 1,000.
Grizzly 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 2,000.
Spider 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 400, Shields - 400.
Hammerhead 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 800, Shields - 800.
Scorpion 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 600, Shields - 600.
Tugboat 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 2,000.
Grizzly 3, RFL - 7, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 4,000.
Spider 4, RFL - 7, Cost - 45,562, Hull - 800, Shields - 800.
Hammerhead 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 1,600, Shields - 1,600.
Scorpion 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 1,200, Shields - 1,200.
Tugboat 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 4,000.
Grizzly 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 8,000, Shields - 8,000.
&******************************************************************************8
- Syndicate Ships [SS] -
&******************************************************************************8
All Syndicate ships are 25% faster than other ships in the same class, and
though it may seem like an error, the cargo statistics for these ships are in
fact correct. The Heavy fighter has the largest cargo capacity in the faction,
and the cargo ship can't carry any more than a typical scout fighter. Also, in
spite of the Specter's ability description implying exclusivity, the fact is
that all ships from every faction repair ships when you hijack them, it was
either a design error, or a gameplay decision that came too late to come up with
a new ability unique to the craft. Lastly, are the Syndicate cargo ships
displayed upside down? While some details are debatable, the cockpit window
screen extends downward instead of upward like the other ships in the faction.
Odd...
Name - Ghost 1, Class - Scout, RFL - 0, Cost - 0, Hull - 100, Shields - 100,
Speed - 150, Cargo - 5, Description - A combat scout fighter with a fearsome
reputation because of it's unparalleled speed. Ability - Can fire while cloaked
(and be fired *upon* without de-cloaking as well)
Name - Specter 1, Class - Interceptor, RFL - 0, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 200,
Shields - 200, Speed - 125, Cargo - 5, Description - Surprisingly deadly in
combat, thanks to a lethal ship-to-ship combat fuselage providing superior
defense. Ability - Hijacking with this ship will repair it.
Name - Vampire 1, Class - Heavy Fighter, RFL - 1, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 150,
Shields - 150 Speed - 100, Cargo - 10, Description - A heavy weapons platform
capable of dealing out deadly salvos of missile fire, requiring minimum lock-on
for maximum velocity. Ability - Missiles will fire at top speed regardless of
how long you spent locking on to them.
Name - Wyvern 1, Class - Cargo Ship, RFL - 1, Cost - 4,000, Hull - 500, Shields
- 500, Speed - 62.5, Cargo - 5, Description - The Syndicate's answer to cargo
transport and heavy support, designed specifically by Warlord Cinnefa.
Name - Reaper 1, Class - Cruiser, RFL - 2, Cost - 4,000, Hull - 1,000, Shields -
1,000, Speed - 31.25, Cargo - 5, Description - A cruiser made for destruction -
the Syndicate's first choice for obliterating its enemies.
Ghost 2, RFL - 2, Cost - 6,000, Hull - 200, Shields - 200.
Specter 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 400, Shields - 400.
Vampire 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 300, Shields - 300.
Wyvern 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 1,000, Shields - 1,000.
Reaper 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 2,000.
Ghost 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 400, Shields - 400.
Specter 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 800, Shields - 800.
Vampire 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 600, Shields - 600.
Wyvern 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 2,000.
Reaper 3, RFL - 7, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 4,000.
Ghost 4, RFL - 7, Cost - 45,562, Hull - 800, Shields - 800.
Specter 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 1,600, Shields - 1,600.
Vampire 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 1,200, Shields - 1,200.
Wyvern 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 4,000.
Reaper 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 8,000, Shields - 8,000.
&******************************************************************************8
- Praetorian Ships [SP] -
&******************************************************************************8
All Praetorian ships cost 50% less than normal with no statistical downside.
Name - Peacemaker 1, Class - Scout, RFL - 0, Cost - 0, Hull - 100, Shields -
100, Speed - 120, Cargo - 5, Description - A short-range, fast patrol fighter
used for scouting and enforcing the Articles of Convocation. Ability - This ship
can fire while Undercover (without disengaging the ability).
Name - Judicator 1, Class - Interceptor, RFL - 0, Cost - 1,000, Hull - 200,
Shields - 200, Speed - 100, Cargo - 5, Description - The staple of the
Praetorian Fleet, a customizable combat-ready ship with superlative defensive
capabilities. Ability - The most maneuverable ship in the galaxy (boasts sharper
turns and controls, presumably intended to use in conjunction with the
Undercover ability).
Name - Enforcer 1, Class - Heavy Fighter, RFL - 1, Cost - 1,000, Hull - 150,
Shields - 150, Speed - 80, Cargo - 5, Description - A heavy-weapons platform,
most commonly associated with Praetorian authority, capable of delivering
catastrophic damage - especially with beam weapons. Ability - Either it
increases the overall strength of beam weapons like an upgrade, or it lets beam
weapons do full damage without completely locking on like the Power Beam, I'm
not certain.
Name - Bulldog 1, Class - Cargo Ship, RFL - 1, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 500, Shields
- 500, Speed - 50, Cargo - 20, Description - A heavy-transport ship used for
prisoner transfer and cargo.
Name - Executor 1, Class - Cruiser, RFL - 2, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 1,000, Shields
- 1,000, Speed - 25, Cargo - 5, Description - A heavy cruiser used for direct
Praetorian intervention and combat needs throughout Convocation space.
Peacemaker 2, RFL - 2, Cost - 3,000, Hull - 200, Shields - 200.
Judicator 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 4,500, Hull - 400, Shields - 400.
Enforcer 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 4,500, Hull - 300, Shields - 300.
Bulldog 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 6,750, Hull - 1,000, Shields - 1,000.
Executor 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 6,750, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 2,000.
Peacemaker 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 10,125, Hull - 400, Shields - 400.
Judicator 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 10,125, Hull - 800, Shields - 800.
Enforcer 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 10,125, Hull - 600, Shields - 600.
Bulldog 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 15,187, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 2,000.
Executor 3, RFL - 7, Cost - 12,187, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 4,000.
Peacemaker 4, RFL - 7, Cost - 22,781, Hull - 800, Shields - 800.
Judicator 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 34,171, Hull - 1,600, Shields - 1,600.
Enforcer 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 34,171, Hull - 1,200, Shields - 1,200.
Bulldog 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 51,257, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 4,000.
Executor 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 51,257, Hull - 8,000, Shields - 8,000.
&******************************************************************************8
- Dominion Ships [SD] -
&******************************************************************************8
All Dominion ships have stronger hulls when compared to shields, typically twice
as much.
Name - Pegasus 1, Class - Scout, RFL - 0, Cost - 0, Hull - 200, Shields - 100,
Speed - 120, Cargo - 5, Description - A long-range scout ship for both recon and
combat. Ability - Power weapons are much more energy efficient with this ship.
(33.333333% etc. less energy used)
Name - Phoenix 1, Class - Interceptor, RFL - 0, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 400,
Shields - 200, Speed - 100, Cargo - 5, Description - The workhorse of the
Dominion Fleet and a deadly space-supremacy fighter. Ability - Capable of
commandeering friendly units.
Name - Hydra 1, Class - Heavy Fighter, RFL - 1, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 285,
Shields - 15, Speed - 80, Cargo - 5, Description - A heavy-combat support unit
equipped for maximum offensive capability. Ability - A double thick hull
compensates for its low shielding. (Terribly so. Even if I liked the idea of
piloting a ship that has next to no shielding to allow for greater hull strength
that can't be recovered without a healer sentient the math it off. Given the
patterns of past ships the total defensive strength of the ship should be right
between the scout and interceptor, somewhere around 425 for hull and 25 for
shields, but as is it's no better than the Pegasus scout fighter).
Name - Centaur 1, Class - Cargo Ship, RFL - 1, Cost - 4,000, Hull - 1,000,
Shields - 500, Speed - 50, Cargo - 20, Description - A transport ship with the
offensive elements of a light cruiser.
Name - Cyclops 1, Class - Cruiser, RFL - 2, Cost - 4,000, Hull - 2,000, Shields
- 1,000, Speed - 25, Cargo - 10, Description - A common sight in Convocation
space and a mainstay in the Dominion Fleet strength.
Pegasus 2, RFL - 2, Cost - 6,000, Hull - 400, Shields - 200.
Phoenix 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 800, Shields - 400.
Hydra 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 570, Shields - 30.
Centaur 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 1,000.
Cyclops 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 2,000.
Pegasus 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 800, Shields - 400.
Phoenix 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 1,600, Shields - 800.
Hydra 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 1,140, Shields - 60.
Centaur 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 2,000.
Cyclops 3, RFL - 7, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 8,000, Shields - 4,000.
Pegasus 4, RFL - 7, Cost - 45,562, Hull - 1,600, Shields - 800.
Phoenix 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 3,200, Shields - 1,600.
Hydra 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 2,280, Shields - 120.
Centaur 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 8,000, Shields - 4,000.
Cyclops 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 16,000, Shields - 8,000.
&******************************************************************************8
- Order Ships [SO] -
&******************************************************************************8
All Order ships have stronger shields when compared to hull, typically twice as
much.
Name - Explorer 1, Class - Scout, RFL - 0, Cost - 0, Hull - 100, Shields - 200,
Speed - 120, Cargo - 5, Description - Renowned for its speed, ideal for recon
and Evangelist fleet security operations. Ability - Power weapons are much more
energy efficient with this ship. (33.333333% etc. less energy used)
Name - Defender 1, Class - Interceptor, RFL - 0, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 200,
Shields - 400, Speed - 100, Cargo - 5, Description - The most defensive fighter
in the Evangelist fleet (and highly valued on the black market.) Ability -
Capable of commandeering friendly units.
Name - Avenger 1, Class - Heavy Fighter, RFL - 1, Cost - 2,000, Hull - 15,
Shields - 285, Speed - 80, Cargo - 5, Description - A deadly combination of
firepower and adaptability, used for direct fighter support and heavy weapons.
Ability - A paper thin hull is protected by a superior strength shield. (Again,
no stronger than the scout in terms of defense, and while it's not as bad as low
shields, the ship is far more vulnerable when a shield short is executed on it.
Name - Dragonfly 1, Class - Cargo Ship, RFL - 1, Cost - 4,000, Hull - 500,
Shields - 1,000, Speed - 50, Cargo - 20, Description - A hybrid light cruiser
and transport, making it the perfect amalgamation of cargo hauler and heavy
weapons support.
Name - Punisher 1, Class - Cruiser, RFL - 2, Cost - 4,000, Hull - 1,000, Shields
- 2,000, Speed - 25, Cargo - 10, Description - Sacrifices speed for improved
weapon arrays and shielding, making it a terrifying opponent.
Explorer 2, RFL - 2, Cost - 6,000, Hull - 200, Shields - 400.
Defender 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 400, Shields - 800.
Avenger 2, RFL - 3, Cost - 9,000, Hull - 30, Shields - 570.
Dragonfly 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 1,000, Shields - 2,000.
Punisher 2, RFL - 4, Cost - 13,500, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 4,000.
Explorer 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 400, Shields - 800.
Defender 3, RFL - 5, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 800, Shields - 1,600.
Avenger 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 20,250, Hull - 60, Shields - 1140.
Dragonfly 3, RFL - 6, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 2,000, Shields - 4,000.
Punisher 3, RFL - 7, Cost - 30,375, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 8,000.
Explorer 4, RFL - 7, Cost - 45,562, Hull - 800, Shields - 1,600.
Defender 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 1,600, Shields - 3,200.
Avenger 4, RFL - 8, Cost - 68,343, Hull - 120, Shields - 2,280.
Dragonfly 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 4,000, Shields - 8,000.
Punisher 4, RFL - 9, Cost - 102,515, Hull - 8,000, Shields - 16,000.
____ ___ ____ ___ ____ ___
`MM( )M' `MM( )M' `Mb( )d'
`MM. d' `MM. d' YM. ,P
`MM. d' `MM. d' `Mb d'
`MM. d' `MM. d' YM. ,P
`MMd `MMd `Mb d'
dMM. dMM. YM. ,P
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_M(_ _)MM_ _M(_ _)MM_ YP
- Clarifications, Disclaimers, & Miscellaneous Info -
[XXV]
&******************************************************************************8
- Miscellaneous Info [MI] -
&******************************************************************************8
- Prometheus Station's aesthetics are the same as the Revenant Order's, just
blue instead of red.
- Pulling the left/right triggers will alter the orientation of ships being
viewed while docked, while moving the right analog stick will turn the ship
left/right.
- Syndicate faction progression is listed as a "Crime Sheet" rather than a Time
Sheet.
- Cruisers appear larger when in small ships because the camera zooms in closer
when in smaller ships so that you're not controlling what looks like a spec on
the screen.
- Dominion Battleships are actually just slightly altered Consortium Cruisers.
- Occasionally when scanned by a Praetorian ship they'll say "These aren't the
clones we're looking for", a clear Star Wars reference. Syndicate grunts are
cloned pilots that are presumably either trained or implanted with software that
allows a Syndicate member to control them without putting themselves at risk.
- GameFAQs user "Eremyndil" theorized that the PVP weapon KL-088 might be a
reference to Goldeneye's "Klobb" weapon (KL088 - KLOBB, post's URL address here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/648815-fusion-genesis/62839390 ), personally I
think it's just a coincidence but that's open to debate. (It's worth noting
though, that some of the developers at Starfire are composed of former Halo and
Goldeneye developers, the latter being the game that included the Klobb
submachinegun). (Another minor note is that the KL-088 is a pulse weapon and
resembles a submachinegun more than any of the other weapon types not only for
being a rapid-fire projectile-launcher, but because it's range is shorter than
the other pulse weapons. This is because the projectiles move slower, making it
more practical to use it while closer to an enemy, and submachineguns in games
generally are considered to be less accurate at range).
- Ships and objects in Tartarus slowly drift clockwise, reflecting the pull of
the nearby black hole. There is also a region in it called Event Horizon,
which might be a reference to the movie of the same name. I'm pretty sure it's
a label given in the scientific community but it could still be the case. The
description of the area in the preset mission "Absolute Horizone" said the
following: "The site of where something has come through the black hole, the
construct seems to have the same capabilities as the Leviathan. It's to the
DIR." I have no idea what DIR stands for, but the description relates to the
story of "Event Horizon" the movie, which involved an experimental ship of the
same name using a black hole's power to bend space and time to create wormholes
in space for rapid transit.
&******************************************************************************8
- Clarifications/Disclaimers [CD] -
&******************************************************************************8
- The reason I don't get Xbox Live gold is because I refuse to pay to access
parts of a game I own, I have no problem with charging for the other services
similarly to Playstation Plus, but basic online play is not something I will pay
for. If Capcom can catch flak for creating on-disc DLC we, as consumers, should
be just as willing to take a stand, not by signing a petition or complaining
about it, but by doing something. Microsoft has no right to hold our games
hostage, and we cannot stand for it.
- The lack of indentations for paragraphs is due to a GameFAQs guide composition
rule that does not encourage/allow it.
- During the Prometheus Station walkthrough I was not trying to imply that
Starfire Studios ripped off/copied Bioshock, I am well aware that Prometheus is
a Greek Mythological figure who's name has appeared in everything from Yu-Gi-Oh
to Batman. It was a mildly humorous bit and nothing more.
- The title for the Walkthrough that read "Commandeer, it's a Nautical Term", is
a paraphrased reference to an early scene in the first Pirates of the Caribbean
movie.
- In the third preset mission walkthrough for the (PPA) section I mentioned that
there was no pun intended when talking about interceptors dogging the escort
target. This is both because you're armed with a "Packhound" missile, and the
cargo ship being escorted is known as a "bulldog".
- The labeling of the Undercover glitch as "Eugene" was done not out of some
pathetic compensation factor for the deprivation of human contact, but because
1) "Eugene" is shorter than "Undercover glitch", 2) The acronym U.G. sounds
like 2 thirds of the name "Eugene", and 3) It's not as dry and boring a way of
labeling it when compared to "Undercover glitch".
&******************************************************************************8
- Credits and Legal Information [CI] -
&******************************************************************************8
This document is written by Benjamin Wyatt Beeman 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Credits:
(The) "Genteel-Madman", me, Naturally, and GameFAQs user "Eremyndil" for finding
the potential "Goldeneye" reference.
All information in this guide was researched through in game interaction and
analysis, any resemblences to existing works, published or unpublished, is
purely coincidental.
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web
site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation
of copyright.
Contact information: [email protected]
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