Military Fortress
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You start this level with a small squad of units. Three little bolters, a couple of
plasma reapers, a commander and a tank. Form a squad and move south.
The standard walkthrough (Jebali) says to use the high initiative/stand ground technique,
but I have had no success with that. It concentrates your firepower but also
concentrates your units. Since the AI is sending heavy weaponry at you they will take you
apart in good order. And you need enough left over after the battle to take out the
satellite uplink. So, the best thing to do is to just bring everything forward. If you
can manuever well enough through the canyon entrance, put the little bolters up front.
Once you kill off the smaller units, yikes - a triple missile knight shows up. Get the
tank in first person and nail the knight, and then you can proceed to destroy the uplink
and have enough units to kill whatever comes after you in the meantime. Preserve the tank
at all costs, you will need it to destroy the uplink. I have been able to salvage as
many as three units to walk south. If you can preserve that healing commander, your
Goirilla will last longer and you can heal damaged knights too.
Once the uplink is gone, you have your main force ready at the south. Get rid of that
stupid little turret near your base and get the minerals found and mine built. In this
level, you have more than 1000 BMU's to start so go ahead and build a smelter, civilian
factory and advanced combat factory. Position your first mine so as to have a clear path
to the smelter, that's the nothernmost mineral deposit. You can get back to the others.
On that note, I have found the most effective use of resources to be building triple
plasma knights and technicians for research. Build both labs and get a scavenger going
at some point.
You will experience several waves of attacks. The ones from the north use gorillas to
great effect, and if you have a plasma knight the old circle and destroy method is called
for. The attacks from the east, though, are devastating unless you build some turrets to
protect your flank, or better yet post some knights to deal with it. That's where your
mines are and they will be assailed repeatedly. A plasma turret is useful, but not
always prsctical unless you can defend it.
Once you've got your defenses set up, the fun begins in earnest. Take a triple plasma
knight east and north in first person mode, trying to avoid the heavy units there
especially that Rocket Warlord. DESTROY the heavy combat factory and voila, no more
Gorillas. The AI likes to sneak in a Vortex eradicator that will approach from the east
of your base, watch out for it but eliminating that factory will solve that.
Also, the enemy starts sending triple rocket knights from the north, accompanied by
reapers. These attacks can be devastating. Try and keep your Gorilla alive to guard the
northern approach! Sneak a healing commander into your knight production. If you can
research up the behemoth mek, you can build the bigger mine and get a bigger transporter
going.
Now try, using triple plasma knights in first person, to destroy all the other factories
and take care of any remaining heavy units like the goliath. Then its just a matter of
fighting your way up to the two remaining factories. Send your units north and then east
into the enemy base. Watch out for turrets on the ramparts!
Additional Thoughts:
- Again, no plasma weapons used by the enemy
- Your resources are limited, theirs are not
- The benefits of static defenses are debatable on this level. They tend to get
overwhelmed. Building the rocket turret risks friendly fire, be warned!
- Likewise, the benefits of making heavy assualt units. Vortex eradicators are not
useful, nor the other tank. And you can't build Gorillas. Goliaths can come in handy
but they move slowly, take a taxi and try an APC!
- At the mineral location, you can build another smelter closer to the mines if you like.
Bear in mind that the terrain nearby is "uneven".
- The triple plasma knights are also very effective against all those turret reapers. Get into first person mode and you can take each one out in one shot.
- The enemy has no constructors. They do not rebuild anything.
- Along the southern side of the map, the enemy has built turrets on the ramparts. Your units run the risk of getting hammered by them if you get too close, watch out. This applies particularly to the units posted to defend your mines, they tend to chase the bolter knights that attack there and ride right into the turrets' field of fire.
- Cluster your factories at the extreme southwest of your map. Line them up along the western edge of the map at your base in a straight line.
- Plasma reapers, although effective, are not needed. They are best used to stand ground and be defensive if you use them; I have however won this level without even building the light combat factory at all.
- If you find yourself flush with minerals, build another medium combat factory and make healing commanders or more plasma knights. while your knights go and kill.
- Remember that for the most part you're fighting in tight, confined spaces. Adjust your attacks and watch out for traffic jams.
- Scavengers seem like a good idea but they always get nailed at some point if you don't watch them. You can use them if you like though.
- The enemy seems to post two Gorillas, one to the north and one near the eastern heavy assault factory. Find them and kill them after you eliminate the factory. There's a Goliath there too, they are easy to kill with three shots from a triple Plasma knight. Use the circling method and its easy.
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Yeah, in the first part you need to use the tank in first person mode, position yourself carefully, take advantage of its high range and do as much damage as possible.
In second part with Gorillas and eradicators constantly attacking it is extremely difficult to build and hold a defense perimeter. What I did (after a lot of trial and error) was quickly build 3 or 4 military factories and build a group of plasma knights and made a suicide attack from north-west. If you can get even one unit alive past their defenses, position it behind a factory, so the enemy can't get you and destroy it. Like you said, enemies don't rebuild their factories, so even taking down one factory is huge success and simplifies the rest of the mission.
This mission was extremely hard, but that is why I like it, it forces you to try different things and when you win you have a sense of accomplishment.
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Yes, that suicide attack strategy works very well, I left out the thing about going BEHIND the factories like that in first person which works out well. If you enter the fortress from the west (I assume thats what you meant) that big rocket turret is there but its really easy to take it out with that sqaud of knights. The medium factories to the east are only guarded with a single missile turret and I have been able to decoy it into firing on the factory lol.
