Written by dark lancer. Please read the copyright section for more
information.
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Table of Contents
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I. Document History
II. Author's Introduction
III. The Game
1. Research
A. Human
a. Building Researches
-Headquarters
-Create Abominable
-ICBM
-Intelligence Center
-Intelligence Levels 0-5
-Counter-Intelligence Levels 0-5
-Steal Research
-Open Sight
-Steal Research
-Monitor Player
-Lock Buildings
-Disarm ICBM
-Market
-Defense Tower
-Defense Tower Range
-Defense Tower Damage
-Ore Processors and Extractors
-Power Plants
b. Unit Researches
-Builder
-Builder Improvement
-Terrestrial Mines
-Radar for the Mines
-Carrier
-Advanced Fuel
-Extra Load
-Eject System
-Airstrike
-Explorer
-Nitro
-Time Bomb
-Dominator
-Incubation
-Domination
-Flamethrower
-Napalm
-Missile Launcher
-Fast Repetition
-Tank
-Extra Plating
-Heavy Tank
-Invulnerability
-Heavy Tank Improvement
-Chopper
-Incendiary Missile
-Air-Ground Missile
-Fighter
-Air-Air Teleguided Missile
-Stealth
-Vampire Bat
-Corrosive Gas
c. Multi-Unit Researches
-Advanced Machine Gun
-Standard Plating
-Advanced Caterpillar Treads
-Cannon Improvement
-Heavy Plating
-Missile Range 1 and 2
-Missile Improvement
B. Robot (Coming Soon)
2. Human Campaign (Under Construction)
A. Mission 1
B. Mission 2
C. Mission 8
3. Robot Campaign (Coming Eventually)
4. Combined Campaign (Coming Much Later)
5. Special Tactics
A. Abominables
B. Forest Fires
C. Mines
D. Radioactivity
E. Ore Deposits
F. Herding
G. Tower Placement
a. Basic Ring
b. Complex Ring
c. Wall
d. Fortress
e. Choke Points
IV. Copyright and Contact Information
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I. Document History
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10-27-04: v0.25 Started.
11-7-04: v0.25 Completed. v0.25 features human research and unit
information, as well as tactical information.
11-24-04: v0.26 Completed. Added http://dlh.net to the list of
sites that have permission to post this FAQ. Also fixed some minor
problems with the FAQ.
1-24-05: v0.6 Completed. Human Missions #1, #2, and #8 added.
Added two new topics to the Tactics section (namely defense tower
placement and outpost construction). Also fixed some problems with
the organization system I've used. The "Author's Introduction"
section has been changed to "Author's Notes" because it just isn't an
introduction anymore. Be sure to check back to the notes with every
update following this one for stuff I may have added.
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II. Author's Notes
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This guide will include information on research, units, and
campaign-specific strategies.
In the near future, I will include the walkthrough for the human
campaign, and later the robot and combined campaigns. This
walkthrough will not have any spoilers. I will refer to hero units
as "Hero[unit]," enemy forces as "Force[#]," and individual missions
as "Mission[Campaign][#]." I won't include the names of the missions,
enemy colors, or names of heroes since they may spoil the storyline.
Feel free to e-mail me with any additions or corrections you feel
should be made to this FAQ. Please don't e-mail me about entire
sections that I have not yet added--I will get to them in due time.
Also, don't rush me; I add to this FAQ IN MY SPARE TIME. As you can
possibly determine by the infrequent updates, spare time is something
I don't have a lot of.
I add strategies to my tactics section as I think of them. If you
have a tactic that is not on my list, email me and explain it. I
will post your strategy in the tactics section and credit you
appropriately. Please note that I will be the final judge as to what
belongs in the tactics section. If something requires common sense
to think of or is completely irrelevant and/or useless, I won't post
it. If you don't like my decision, don't bother writing about me in
your stupid blog that nobody reads (that goes for YOU, Mr. I'm-going-
to-cast-a-curse-on-you-at-the-next-full-moon), because I don't give
a damn. This also applies to individual missions; if you found
another way to complete a mission, please email me and I will include
it. As this is a Spoiler-Free FAQ/Walkthrough, I will have to censor
anything that may reveal critical plot information. DO NOT SEND ME
ANY INFORMATION ON MISSIONS OR TACTICS FOR THE ROBOT AND COMBINED
CAMPAIGNS! I will be happy to accept it once I start working on
those campaigns.
From v0.6 until the human campaign is completed, I will not
write mission walkthroughs in numerical order. I figure that if you
are somehow not bright enough to complete the first three or four
missions of the human campaign, you deserve to wait longer. I
consider myself generous by including missions #1 and #2 right
away. I don't think I should even have posted them because of how
easy they are.
As a final note, those smily faces next to the list of users in the
menu change depending on the difficulty level you have selected.
Yes, some idiot emailed me about that. This walkthrough was made
while playing on the medium difficulty setting, so you're on your
own with the other settings.
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III. The Game
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Human Research--Buildings
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|Headquarters.|
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Create Abominable
Abominables are creatures whose genetic structure has been toyed with to
make incredibly strong and resilient. Throughout the course of the
game, you will encounter many "native" Abominables walking around and
scratching themselves. These beasts are usually docile, and you can
often find them wandering around inside your base. Be careful--they may
go berserk at a moment's notice, and can attack the nearest unit or
structure with boulders thrown from a distance.
This research allows you to create Abominables at your headquarters.
Unlike the ones that just wander around from the start and attack at
random, these Abominables are completely subordinate to you, and will
only attack if you order them to. Your enemies will be unable to tell
if your Abominables belong to you or not, so they make a good scouting
unit. If they are surrounded by enemy structures, they may
auto-acquire a target and attack it, so you may want to use the stop
command often. The enemy may also order its units to attack any nearby
abominables in case they belong to you or to prevent them from going berserk.
Your enemy also has the ability to create Abominables (once researched), and
you can't tell if they are native or enemy Abominables. If you see them in
groups, watch out.
Abominables can also become an airborne unit, although they lose their
stealth. This will be explained further in the section on Dominators.
ICBM (InterContinental Ballistic Missile)
This weapon targets the enemy and deals a significant amount of damage
in the target radius--including your units and allied units. It
requires the most research in the game for the human side.
The Intelligence Center is a vital structure for the human forces. Even
if you don't plan on sending spies on missions, it is invaluable for its
counter-intelligence abilities.
[Counter-]Intelligence Level 0-5
Investing in intelligence research increases the success rate of
espionage missions, and counterintelligence decreases the chance of
being spied on, and the chance of the spy being captured. This doesn't
include the Open Sight espionage mission.
The following cannot be researched. They are affected by the
intelligence of the user and counterintelligence of the defender.
Steal Information
This command attempts to steal information from the target. If
successful, you will receive information on the number of air and ground
units, credits, allies, and structures that the target controls. This
is the cheapest command, but it is not guaranteed to work.
Open Sight
This command temporarily removes the fog of war from a section of the
map you choose. There is no risk of losing a spy, and it is 100%
effective. If you choose an unexplored section of map, the area becomes
visible, and you may see the local geography, as well as any structures
or units. When Open Sight wears off, that section of the map is
replaced with the last picture visible before Open Sight closes, except
for units. The enemy can also use it on you, and you can tell if you
hear a whistle and see a ripple on the ground. If the enemy detects a
weakness in your defenses when it uses Open Sight, you can be sure they
will attack it in the near future, so be ready.
Steal Research
This command sends the spy out to steal topics already researched by the
target. If successful, you are given a list of researches to choose
from, and you can only steal a research topic if you have met the
prerequisites for it. You can only steal research from the same race
(that is, humans can only steal from human enemies).
Monitor Player
Monitor Player is an espionage mission that the computer tends to use
often against you. For a short time, you can see everything within the
sight radius of all units and structures of the target. If you're
mounting a strike force against the computer and it starts monitoring
you, you might want to back off. I've been monitored with a decent
force poised to attack a small enemy base, and I almost always find
reinforcements at the base or on the way if I continue to attack, and
I've had my units ambushed if I kept them in the same place.
Lock Building
Lock Building disables a building temporarily. The target player cannot
use the building, and it ceases to function. A good tactic is to
disable a Nuclear Power Plant just before you attack the enemy's base.
If you can destroy it fast, the enemy will take a heavy hit to their
power grid.
Disarm ICBM
If you detect that the enemy is preparing to launch an ICBM, you can
send a spy to try and disable it before it's launched. If the spy
fails, take all your units and RUN!
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|Market|
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The market is a neutral building that needs to be researched before a
player can build it. Once it's researched, it can operate at 100%
functionality as long as it has access to even the slightest power
source.
The market uses a supply and demand to sell units. You can purchase
individual units that are ready to use instantly, so long as you have
the credits. The market may sell up to eight units at a time, and
include all but the Abominable. Every time someone purchases a type of
unit, the sale price for other units of the same type will increase.
Sometimes you can get some really good deals--I managed to purchase a
heavy tank for more than half the cost--or you can find units you
haven't researched. When you buy a unit, all technology researched for
it is automatically applied, however they won't start with a full charge
for special techniques.
You can also sell units you own. The price you pay is determined by the
market price and how much damage the unit has sustained, if any.
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|Defense Tower|
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The defense tower is a stationary cannon that can target air or ground
units. A good tactic is to build a perimeter around your bases with
each tower at the edge of the power line from the next tower. They fire
slowly, and can't handle large groups of enemy units at the same time.
It may be a good idea to make a perimeter of towers 2- or 3-deep around
your base.
Defense Tower Range
Obviously, defense tower range increases the range of the tower's
cannons. Unfortunately, heavy tanks can still damage towers safely
outside of the tower's range.
Defense Tower Damage
Increases the damage of the defense tower.
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|Ore Processors and Extractors|
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Extractors and processors are used to get ore from the ground. Ore is
the primary source of cash in the game. Extractors pull out ore and
load it onto gatherers, who deliver it to a nearby refinery or
headquarters. Processors also pull out ore, but refines it and delivers
the money straight into your coffers. Processors are slower than
extractors, but eliminate the need for gatherers and a refinery. Build
extractors at your main base, and processors at mineral deposits that
can be found in the missions.
The advanced processing and extracting researches are important because
they speed up the mineral collection. These should be among your first
researches.
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|Power Plants|
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Power is very important in maintaining your base. Without the required
power, your buildings will not function at all. If you don't have
enough power, buildings won't function as well as they should (except
for the market, which requires SOME power, if not all). When building
your base, you can tell if a building is close enough to the power grid
to operate by the thin line drawn to the building's ghost from the
closest buildings. Buildings have to be connected to buildings
connected to a power plant to gain power.
Wind power plants are cheap and built fast. However, it cannot generate
much power, even after you research advanced wind power. Also, the
amount of power generated depends on the wind, which changes speed and
direction from time to time. Wind power plants are good to have in the
beginning, and are useful in supplementing the power from nuclear power
plants.
Nuclear power plants are more expensive than wind power plants, but you
get a strong and steady flow of power from them. Fission reactors and
advanced fission reactors should not be overlooked. A drawback to
nuclear power plants is that when they take some damage, they start
leaking toxic waste into the air around them, damaging themselves and
any units or structures nearby.
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Human Research--Units
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|Builders|
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Builder Improvement
Nothing secret about this research. Builder Improvement significantly
increases the speed at which your builders build structures. You
should still have four builders working together, of course. Research
it early on--you'll need it.
Terrestrial Mines
For $100, you can order a builder to lay four mines on the surface of
the terrain. You can see them, but your enemies can't. Also, you
cannot take damage from mines unless your units are near them when they
explode. Mines are powerful enough to almost completely take out fully
charged extra plating on tanks. See the tactics section for placement
tips.
Radar for the Mines
Nothing fancy, just makes the area around your mines visible and in
real-time. If you plan on laying mines, you should also get this
research.
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|Carrier|
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All of the carrier abilities are really helpful in getting troops from
one place to another. You should really consider these abilities early
on.
Advanced Fuel
Advanced fuel speeds up the carrier.
Extra Load
Allows the carrier to carry 3,000kg more than before. You still have
the same passenger limit, however, but that doesn't make extra load
worthless.
Eject System
VERY important when using carriers to ferry troops from one point to
another. NEVER carry a hero unit without the eject system, or you will
lose the mission if it is destroyed. Without eject system, everything
on board a carrier goes down with the carrier. Eject system can also be
helpful; you can fly a fully loaded carrier over a group of enemy units
and let it get shot down. All of the units on board will find
themselves on the ground, ready to attack, thus providing an element of
surprise on the enemy. This includes hero units, so don't fly them
around until it's safe.
When engaging enemy carriers, it is a good idea to wait until they are
flying over water, structures or cliffs. If the carrier is destroyed
over these, eject system is cancelled, and all units on board are lost.
This applies to you as well, so be careful when ferrying troops long
distances over water (no pun intended).
Airstrike
This ability needs to be charged in order to work, but when it does, it
inflicts heavy damage on ground units. Useful for taking out rows of
tanks, or last-ditch attacks on missile launchers when several carriers
strike at once.
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|Explorer|
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Nitro
When fully charged, nitro will temporarily speed up the explorer.
Time Bomb
The explorer will plant a time bomb in an area you designate. The fuse
will ignite in a few seconds, so you should have enough time to get away
before the bomb goes off. Bombs can be diffused if it takes enough
damage, so you might want to send several explorers at the same time to
plant bombs on the same target. It's reccommended that you use nitro
with the time bomb, so as to confuse the enemy. Later in the game, time
bombs become obsolete in favor of armor.
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|Dominator|
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In the early part of the game, the Dominator is the heavy artillery, but
becomes obsolete in attacks on enemy bases or units later on. It can
still be used to defend your base, but tanks and heavy tanks are much
better at assaulting the enemy.
Incubation
This ability targets an abominable (yours, neutral, or enemy), and
implants a device that forces it to transform into a vampire bat after a
short time. Take note that if you incubate your own abominable, it
loses its ability to travel through enemy bases safely.
Domination
The Dominator forces an enemy unit to go under your control temporarily.
The enemy unit will change colors to match yours, and you will see a
grey disk(?) over the unit. The unit will begin to attack your enemies,
forcing them to disrupt their attack to destroy it or retreat.
Domination is wasted on builders, gatherers, exporers, and carriers, but
is very useful on tanks and heavy tanks.
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|Flamethrower|
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The flamethrower moves slow, but it can deal severe damage to enemy
units or structures when it gets close enough to them. It's a mistake
to place them behind dominators and tanks when attacking.
Napalm
Napalm is a skill that, once charged, makes the flamethrower's attack
more powerful. It also causes ground units and structures to catch on
fire, causing them damage that will only stop when the victim is
destroyed or after about ten seconds. When used on uranium
extractors/processors or nuclear power plants, they will decay much
faster while the fires are burning.
Rocket Launchers can only attack air units, and a small group can
quickly destroy a squadron of fighters or a sortie of choppers even
before the missile upgrades and fast repetition ability.
Fast Repetition
When charged, fast repetition will temporarily speed up the rocket
launcher's rate of fire, which is quite fast to begin with.
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|Tank|
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The tank is a durable unit that can fire at any ground unit or
structure in any direction while moving. They should be the bulk of
your assault forces later on in the game.
Extra Plating
Although extra plating needs to be charged in order to work, it is
always active and repairs itself for free, and essentially doubles the
hitpoints of the tank. It is a very good skill to have if you plan on
using tanks.
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|Heavy Tank|
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The heavy tank is slow and can only fire in one direction after it has
stopped, but it makes up for this with its heavy firepower and long
range. Heavy tanks can sit back and pelt a fully upgraded defense tower
without any problems.
Invulnerability
Once charged, your heavy tank will absorb all damage temporarily.
This can be useful for sweeping mines or striking critical structures
while under heavy fire.
Heavy Tank Improvement
This skill improves the damage caused by a heavy tank by 33%. It should
really be considered.
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|Chopper|
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The chopper is a (very) lightly armored flying unit that specializes in
attacking ground units, but can attack air units.
Air-Ground Missile
This upgrade means the difference between a flying crate and an attack
helicopter. Without it, your choppers are almost worthless. When you
get this upgrade, choppers will use air-ground missiles with their
machine guns as part of their normal attack, and only then if their
target is on the ground.
Incendiary Missile
Similar to the flamethrower's napalm ability, but damages ground units
in a wide radius and sets them on fire. It comes in really handy
against missile launchers, since the computer likes to stick them just
behind their heavy tanks, and choppers are like fish in a barrel when in
range of a missile launcher or two, even with air-ground missiles and
standard plating.
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|Fighter|
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The fighter is a powerful air unit that can take more abuse than a
chopper, but specializes in air combat. Its air-ground capabilities
shouldn't be overlooked, however.
Air-Air Teleguided Missile
This upgrade allows the fighter to fire homing missiles at an air
target. The missiles will always hit their target, even if it moves
out of the fighter's sight. Missile launchers and choppers can't always
hit moving targets, but a fighter with this upgrade can.
Stealth
When charged, this ability renders the fighter invisible temporarily.
You can fly over enemy bases safely when in stealth mode.
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|Vampire Bat|
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In order to create a Vampire Bat, a Dominator must use the Incubation
skill on an Abominable. It doesn't have to be one of yours, but it may
be a good idea to keep the Abominable close to your base in case it
wanders off and into danger before it turns into a Vampire Bat, as
Vampire Bats are recognized by your enemies.
Corrosive Gas
This skill orders the Vampire Bat to release toxic gasses over a target
area, inflicting heavy damage on units and structures caught in the
cloud. Later on in the human campaign, Missile Launchers make Vampire
Bats nearly obsolete.
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Human Research--Multiple Units
--------------
In the eventual arms race of each mission, your enemies will gain these
two abilities somewhat early on in the battle. You really should try to
get a weapon advantage early on if you are to fight an offensive
battle--and in Outlive, playing defense means you're losing.
Standard Plating-
Heavy Plating-
Same philosophy as Advance Machine Gun and Cannon. When you have these
four abilities, you will either level the playing field or tilt it to
your advantage.
Advanced Caterpillar Treads- Tank, Heavy Tank, Missile Launcher
Your enemy will probably get this, although it's next to impossible to
figure out if they have researched it, unless you manage to steal the
research from them. It's a good skill to have, but your choice. There
are other researches I would get before this one, however.
Missile Advance 1 and 2- Fighter, Missile Launcher, Chopper
Missile Improvement means the damage difference between a crossbowman,
an archer, and someone throwing a pillow. A no-brainer once you build
Missile Launchers and/or outfit Choppers with AGMs.
Missile Range- Fighter, Missile Launcher, Chopper
Missile Range means the difference between a crossbowman and an archer
in terms of range. With the three researches, your missile units become
like crossbows with the range of bows. A Missile Launcher with the
Missile Range research can take down enemy air much more safely than
before.
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II: Human Campaign
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Mission 1.
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Objectives:
Build explorers and dominators.
Destroy 15 enemy units.
Dominator Hero must survive.
----------
This is a simple mission. Just hold your position until you have
constructed all the necessary units and acquired any upgrades. You
have power in numbers, so you can wander around the map with impunity
once you have the required number of units with the hero.
Mission 2.
----------
Objectives:
Escort a convoy.
Dominator Hero must survive.
Convoy must survive.
Protect a special structure.
Destroy all enemy structures.
----------
This mission is in two phases. First, you must escort a group of
gatherers to another point on the map. This is easy, as the
gatherers will stop just outside the attack range of enemy
vehicles, which consist of explorers and dominators. At the
halfway point, you'll meet with some punk chick who demands
10,000 credits in order to pass safely. If you've made it this
far and have lost at least two units, exit Outlive and sell it
at a yard sale. If not, you should be able to take on these guys.
Don't pay them. It's not worth it. Anyway, escorting the
gatherers is really easy. If you're really not into constantly
ordering your units to move to keep up with the convoy, just
order all of them to escort the lead gatherer. The enemies won't
attack you unless you get too close.
The second phase of the mission commences once you arrive at your
destination. Set up your base, and prepare to engage the enemy.
The enemy is to the northeast of your position; seize the plateau
accessed by the ramp slightly north of your base, develop your
units, and try to find a clear spot where you can drop your forces.
If you're having too much trouble trying to get your carriers to land
your troops safely, use the suicide method with the auto-eject ability.
The mission isn't terribly difficult.
Mission 8.
---------
Rescue a human soldier-type unit.
Get a human soldier-type unit to a special structure alive.
Defeat the enemy armies.
The fighter, heavy tank, and missile launcher heroes must survive.
--------
This is the first mission I had any real difficulty with. It was by
sheer luck that I found a method to defeat the enemy. The biggest
drawback to the gameplay of Outlive is that doing something a certain
way pretty much wraps up the mission for you; you just have to add the
bow. The AI is way too linear, especially in this mission.
Almost everything you need for your base in the early stages of the
mission is provided for you with the exception of one detail: you do not
have a main plant, nor do you have any builders to build one with. You
learn that the global market is facing a shortage of builders, and so
you will have to stick it out until the shortage is overcome. Okay, a
really lame excuse for not starting you with a builder. To compensate,
you have a sizable force and the assurance that your enemy doesn't have
any builders as well.
In the early stages, avoid combat as much as possible. Split your units
into two forces, and move one force to a plateau south of your starting
position. The plateau you are looking for is only accessible by air,
and can be found by going directly south along the western edge of the
map; at about the center of the west part of the map, fly straight to
the east and look for an iron mine. Once you find it, hold that
position as best as you can. At the same time, take your other group
of units and hug the north part of the map until you find a ramp.
Climb the ramp, and proceed east until you get to the uranium deposit,
and hold that position. The enemy may try to seize those positions, so
reinforce them with units from the market if you need them.
Eventually, you will be notified when builders are available for
purchase at the market. Quickly build a main plant, research facility,
and intelligence facility in that order. Get several builders, and
bring at least one to each mine you are protecting. Once you have them
researched, build processors, followed by nuclear power plants, and
then defense towers in that order. Until your main base is ready,
leave your two groups at their lesser bases, and order your builders to
make a loose ring of defense towers around the processors. If you
don't take these two mines right away, the enemy will take them for
you. If that happens, the AI will start sending heavy tanks after you
well before you are ready, and you won't last against them. Attacking
those two bases once the enemy controls them is pointless and wastes
resources. Trying to seize more than those two mines will spread your
forces out too much, and they will be overwhelmed by the enemy.
Once the research center is complete, try to get counter-intelligence
as high as you can in the shortest amount of time, without neglecting
other important research. Naturally, the energy, mining, and builder
upgrades are vital, so research them as soon as possible. Once you
get those upgrades and at least counter intelligence level three and
the tower upgrades, start researching choppers and tanks. In the
meantime, build a second vehicle plant at the north base, and a second
aircraft factory at the southern base. Keep a strong wall of defense
towers at your main base with your hero units as far from the front as
possible; three rows of towers should be sufficient, but keep four
builders on standby for repairs.
Once you are satisfied with your current research and development,
bring a force of choppers,
missile launchers, dominators, carriers,
and tanks to your north base, and have them move to the east until
you come to a second ramp. Just south of the ramp is an enemy
outpost, defended primarily by mines, towers, and probably a small
complement of units. Once the outpost is wiped out, hold your
position until your
builders arrive and construct a basic outpost.
If you're really hurting for credits, bring a gatherer or two along
to pick up any scrap metal left behind. When far from an established
base, sending them in a carrier is much faster, safer, and efficient
than having them drive over and back.
When that outpost is complete (or almost complete and you're getting
bored), move your force to the east. There, you will find an enemy
outpost protecting the human soldier unit that you are required to
rescue. Frankly, I'd rather have another ore mine. Send him home,
but don't bother making a new outpost there (heh... that reminds me
of "Hamlet," when Fortinbras' general tells Hamlet that they
conquered a worthless piece of land just for the name).
Anyway, reinforce your units as much as possible for the big push
south. You will be passing (marching?) through a canyon, and once
the canyon widens, you will be at the final threshhold. A short
distance north of the south end of the canyon is a good rally point
for new units, so set up some waypoints. Don't proceed too far
south, or you'll meet up with the enemy's main base, which is not
a good thing at this point. You should take out the enemy's next
two outposts, one to the left of the canyon, and the other to the
right, accessible by ramps or air. First, go right (east). Set
up an outpost there while reinforcing your troops, and once
everything is ready, go to the west outpost. Both outposts have a
stronger defense than the other two between the towers and the
mobile units. Be careful with your aircraft, as there should be
missile launchers puttering around. Once the second outpost is
seized and rebuilt, bring all of your troops to the rally point
I mentioned earlier, and get ready for a fight.
Use small groups of three or four ground units backed by a missile
launcher or two torwards the enemy base, and lure them to your
force. If the enemy sends aircraft, the missile launchers will make
short work of them. If not, wait until the enemy units are away
from the base and destroy them. If you think you can take on the
enemy, save your game and throw everything you've got (except the
heroes) at the enemy base. Your priorities should be air/ground
units, defense towers, power plants, and unit factories in that
order. Be on the lookout for builders repairing enemy structures
and destroy them as fast as you can. Don't worry about the
refineries and extractors for now, but destroy any gatherers so the
enemy's economy will shatter. By the time this base is destroyed,
your forces will have taken a beating. Hold your position and
reinforce before you go to the final outpost to the west.
Just because the enemy is down doesn't mean the enemy is out. While
you have been away conquering territory, the enemy will think nothing
of sending a horde of units to your outposts or main base to distract
you. Destroy those as soon as you can. Also, do your best to keep a
presence at your outposts; if they are overrun, don't leave them
alone. I've found that the enemy will take the first opportunity to
fly a builder over to a mine whether or not the enemy has a presence
to protect it. This came as a rude awakening when I destroyed the
southernmost base only to find that the damn computer had compensated
by building one of every structure at the first plateau I spoke of.
When the enemy is completely destroyed, all that remains is to drop
off that last soldier hero at the building in the southwest corner
of the map. MAKE SURE EVERY ENEMY UNIT IS THERE BEFORE SENDING HIM
TO THE STRUCTURE!
A. Neutral Abominables: When you encounter neutral abominables, it is
generally a good idea to leave them alone. However, if you have a group
of units moving somewhere to attack or relieve a minor base and they
meet up with an enemy force, you can order one of your units to attack a
nearby Abominable. The Abominable and any other neutral Abominables
nearby will go berserk and attack the closest unit, so agitate an
Abominable and pull back. The Abominable(s) will attack the enemy
force, and while they deal with it, you can retreat or reposition your
units to attack the enemies while their attention is diverted. This
also is helpful when defending a base, or assaulting an enemy base.
B. Forest Fires: The trees scattered throught many levels aren't there
only for a flavor element, but you can use them to catch the enemy
off-guard. If you manually order your units to target a group of living
trees (they generally are green) until one or more catch on fire, the
wind will blow the fire in whatever direction the wind is currently
blowing. If a unit or structure is close enough, they will catch on
fire as well. You can determine what direction the fire will spread by
consulting one of your wind power plants. They display information on
the current windspeed and direction which usually applies to the entire
level. From my experience, the enemy has never tried to set a forest
fire against my bases, but skills like Napalm and Incendiary Missile
may very well start one. As a precaution, I clear trees that are really
close to new building sites, but I leave some to use against the enemy
if the opportunity arises.
C. Mines: I usually place mines between the defense towers of my minor
outlying bases. Bridges, ramps, and narrow roads are also good places
to plant mines. You can also try to force enemy units to drive into
minefields if you plant mines between clumps of trees, as the enemy
doesn't often shoot trees to invade bases. Enemy mines will flash
yellow on the ground, but as yet I have found no way of removing them
other than by running them over with Heavy Tanks that are using the
Invincibility skill.
D. Radioactivity: When Nuclear Power Plants or Uranium
Processors/Extractors take enough damage, they start to leak radiation.
Anything within the green cloud surrounding the structure will take
damage as long as it stays under it. By default, all computer and human
units will move around the clouds automatically. Despite this, you can
use the radiation to your advantage: by damaging one such building
enough to cause a radiation leak, you can order your units to attack
other structures as the plant/processor/extractor slowly disentegrates.
You may want to leave a carrier or two to watch for enemy builders that
may try to repair the structure. This tactic is not a good idea when
you have a small force that probably won't last long enough to destroy
the base, at that point you should try to destroy the power plants
completely before going after other targets (units are a higher
priority).
E. Ore deposits: Scattered throughout most levels are iron and
uranium ore deposits. At the beginning of a mission, you should
try to find as many of these as possible and spread your forces out
among them. Send four builders at a time to each deposit, and build
extractors as soon as you research them (which should be right away,
followed immediately with advanced extraction and the three nuclear
plant researches). Once the extractor is in place, build a nuclear
power plant. Surround the new base with defense towers, and focus
on another deposit your troops are holding. The computer will also
try to seize as many deposits as they can in the early stage of the
game, so you're doing pretty good if you manage to mine two deposits.
Controlling several deposits at a time makes the difference between
the computer sending heavy tanks or dominators to your base.
F. Herding: When an enemy force is attacking your base, you can try
to "herd" them into range of defense towers. For example, sending air
units around a group of heavy tanks for a flank attack will cause the
tanks to scatter and even move within range of the towers. You can
also try this with ground units on missile launchers to force them to
move in front of the tanks, where they are at the mercy of the defense
towers. Similar opportunities will arise quite often throughout the
course of the game, so try to initiate flank attacks on the enemy
often.
G. Tower Placement: Depending on your position, different
placements of your defense towers will increase their ability to
protect your base.
a. Basic Ring: Basic rings are a weak yet efficient tower
formation. This formation is best suited for minor bases that you
are trying to develop. Build each tower as far away as possible from
the buildings you are trying to protect, while making sure they can
recieve energy from structures. As you build each tower, make new
towers just inside the energy range of other towers. This will create
a weird circle aroundyour base; it can help defend against enemy
attacks, but a force should still be kept on hand.
b. Complex Ring: Once you have a basic ring set up and the
credits to start investing more in defense, make another ring around
the base. Like before, keep the new ring of towers just within
energy range of the first ring, and within the range of each other.
Once this ring is completed, build a few towers between both rings.
c. The Wall: This method is similar to the ring placements,
but instead works best with bases that have the advantage of the edge
of the missionmap as a border, and especially for those bases in a
corner. Build towersjust inside the energy range of the base and
each other like with the ring placements, but this time, you don't
have to worry about surrounding your entire base. Walls can be any
depth you want them to be, granted you have the credits to build it.
Always build one row of towers at a time, in order to avoid making
gaps in your defense. Later on in the human campaign, towers serve
just as a method of procrastination once your enemy starts sending
heavy tanks your way as they tend to fire on them from outside tower
range, but at least it will give your reinforcements more time to come
to your rescue or enough time to allow you to build reinforcements. A
wall of towers three rows deep is sufficient in the later human
missions.
d. The Fortress: This placement method is ideal for positions
you are trying to hold that happen to be plateaus, primarily those
which do not have the advantage of the edge of the map. Once you have
established a base in such a location with a basic ring, make it into
a complex ring, and then surround the entire base with transmission
substations. Once the edge of the plateaus are within energy range,
build towers along the perimeter of the plateau. This will reduce the
success of chopper assaults and carrier landings on the plateau.
Backing the towers up with missile launchers and a few choppers,
fighters, and/or dominators is a really good idea.
e. Choke Points: Narrow sections of the maps that ground units
are forced to cross, such as bridges and ramps, are vital to securing
the map.
For bridges, build defense towers on your side of the bridge at the
corners. Once you manageto clear past the bridge, build more defense
towers on the other side. In reality, you'll probably only require
two pairs of towers on both sides of the bridge. Leave enough room
between the towers to allow your units to cross.
For ramps, build a few defense towers on the top of the ramp. Again,
leave enough room to allow your ground units to pass through the ramp.
Keep more than two towers at the top of the ramp.
H. Outpost construction: When you build a new outpost away from your
main base, build structures in this order: processor, nuclear power
plant, basic defense tower ring, wind power plant(s). Although your
processor will operate at 25% without power, this will help make more
credits available to you in case you don't have enough available for
a nuclear power plant. Having four builders working together will,
of course, speed up the process.
-------------------------------------
IV. Copyright and Contact Information
-------------------------------------
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.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
Currently this FAQ/Walkthrough is only allowed on www.gamefaqs.com and
http://dlh.net. Please contact me if you find this guide posted
somewhere else.
Copyright 2004-2005 Jarrod Beauregard.
GameFAQs Handle: dark lancer.
E-Mail: reiterpallasch@hotmail.com
