====================================================
Valkyria Chronicles: Walkthrough and Max Rank Guide
Written by Jason Long (evilbob)
Copyright (c)2009 Jason Long. All rights reserved.
This guide may not be reposted, in whole or in part, without my written
permission. The only website that has permission to display this FAQ is
gameFAQs.com. For questions contact me at evilbob65535 at yahoo dot com.
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Searchable Table of Contents
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Copy, Control+F, and Paste the codes in [] to search for something quickly.
0. Version History [0VERH]
1. What This Guide Does [1WTGD]
2. Tactics - a Crash Course [2TACT]
2a. Speed Matters for XP - Not Tactics [2SPED]
2b. Killing Enemy Leaders is Also Important [2KILL]
2c. Your Leaders and Command Points [2LEAD]
2d. Shoot Them in the Head [2SHOT]
2e. Other Battle Advice [2BATL]
2f. Save Constantly [2SAVE]
3. Headquarters [3HDQT]
3a. Command Room - Who to Recruit [3COMD]
3b. Training Grounds - How to Level [3TRAN]
3c. R&D - What Weapons to Use [3RDWP]
3d. The Writing on the Wall [3WRIT]
3e. The Cemetery [3CEMT]
3f. Audience Hall [3AUDH]
4. Other Tips [4OTIP]
4a. Orders [4ORDR]
4b. Touching Dead Enemies [4TDED]
4c. Capturing Weapons [4CAPW]
4d. Personalities [4PERS]
4e. Potentials [4POTE]
4f. New Game "Plus" [4NGPS]
5. Episodes [5EPIS]
Prologue [5E000]
Episode 1 - In Defense of Bruhl (A and B) [5E001]
Episode 2 - Escape from Bruhl [5E002]
Episode 3 - Vasel Urban Warfare [5E003]
Episode 4 - Operation Cloudburst [5E004]
Episode 5 - The Kloden Wildwood [5E005]
Episode 6 - A Desert Encounter [5E006]
Episode 7 - The Battle at Barious [5E007]
Episode 8a - The Woodland Snare ("Life") [5E08A]
Episode 8b - The Woodland Snare
("Reunion in the Forest") [5E08B]
Episode 9 - A Midsummer Incident [5E009]
Episode 10a - Liberation of Fouzen
("Infiltration of Fouzen") [5E10A]
Episode 10b - Liberation of Fouzen
("Liberation of Fouzen") [5E10B]
Episode 11 - The Marberry Shore [5E011]
Episode 12 - The Fight for Bruhl [5E012]
Episode 13 - The Clash at Naggiar [5E013]
Episode 14 - Loss Within Victory [5E014]
Episode 15a - Citadel Ghirlandaio
("Fight for Ghirlandaio") [5E15A]
Episode 15b - Citadel Ghirlandaio
("Selvaria's Last Stand") [5E15B]
Episode 16 - The Maiden's Shield [5E016]
Episode 17 - The Bridge to Hope [5E017]
Episode 18a - Shadow of the Valkyrur
("Marmota's End") [5E18A]
Episode 18b - Shadow of the Valkyrur
("Final Showdown") [5E18B]
6. Bonus Missions [6BNSM]
Extra 1 - Largo's Passion [6BN01]
Extra 2 - An End to Darcsen Hunting [6BN02]
Extra 3 - Signs of Awakening [6BN03]
Extra 4 - What Lies Beyond Hate [6BN04]
Extra 5 - Flower of the Battlefield [6BN05]
7. Skirmishes - Normal Mode [7SKIR]
Skirmish 1 - Outskirts of Bruhl [7SK01]
Skirmish 2 - Vasel Riverside [7SK02]
Skirmish 3 - Kloden Wildwood [7SK03]
Skirmish 4 - Barious Desert [7SK04]
Skirmish 5 - Upper Fouzen [7SK05]
Skirmish 6 - Marberry Shore [7SK06]
Skirmish 7 - Windmill Plaza [7SK07]
Skirmish 8 - Naggiar Plain [7SK08]
Skirmish 9 - East Bank of Vasel [7SK09]
8. Skirmishes - Hard Mode [8SHRD]
Skirmish 1 - Outskirts of Bruhl [8SH01]
9. Skirmishes - Expert Mode [9EXHD]
10. Downloadable Content [10DLC]
Pack 1 - Enter the Edy Detachment! [10EDY]
11. Thanks [11THK]
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Version History
========================================
[0VERH]
1.00 - 3/5/09
All episodes (first run through); first 8 skirmishes on normal; all bonus
missions; tactics, headquarters, tips. Guide posted to gameFAQs.com.
1.41 - 4/13/09
Minor updates to episodes 1a, 1b, 2, and 6. Completely redid episode 3 to
include A rank with all leaders/tanks/ace (updated skirmish 2). Redid episode
4 to remove the miracle shot. Completely redid episode 8a to be MUCH easier!
Redid episode 12 to include A rank with all leaders/tanks/aces option (updated
skirmish 7). Minor wording edits and structure changes.
1.60 - 4/21/09
Minor update to episode 7. Redid episode 12 again with a better strategy
(updated skirmish 7). Added skirmish 9. Added Hard skirmish 1. Added DLC
pack 1 (Edy's mission). Minor edits and structure change.
Future planned updates include the Behind Her Blue Flame DLC, the remaining
eight Hard skirmishes, and hopefully all nine Expert skirmishes.
========================================
What This Guide Does
========================================
[1WTGD]
This guide is a functional walkthrough of each mission of the game. It is
designed to give you at least one path to gaining an "A" rank (maximum
possible rank) for each map during the normal (first) playthrough. (Note:
the Japanese version of this game uses "S" as the maximum possible rank while
the US version uses "A" - either way, this is a guide for the maximum rank.
There are some slight differences between the two versions, including
occasionally some slightly different totals for how many phases constitute an
A rank, but otherwise this guide should generally work for either one.) It is
intended to be a guide for anyone who gets stuck or can't figure out how to
best maximize their strategy. Additionally, it will help maximize XP/money
gain by including how to take out the maximum number of enemy leaders, tanks,
and aces, all while trying to maximize your rank.
This guide will not give spoilers, talk about the story, or otherwise hint
toward what is happening in the game, other than use some names that are
unavoidable which may give slight hints. This guide assumes you understand
the basic concepts of the game such as movement, button use, unit classes,
taking cover, etc., (either by reading the manual or playing through a couple
of missions and listening to what the game tells you about how to play it) and
will not reiterate them. It is also assumed that you spend time leveling up
your classes as much as possible between missions, buying upgrades whenever
they are available, and generally doing the things you need to do to make your
troops better. Given that you will be getting the best possible rank each
mission, it should be trivial to afford every upgrade and your troops should
always be at a good level.
========================================
Tactics - a Crash Course
========================================
[2TACT]
==================================
Speed Matters for XP - Not Tactics
==================================
[2SPED]
Sadly, while an excellent tactical side-based (as opposed to turn-based)
strategy game, to get the highest rank in each mission requires only one
thing: speed. Ranks are based solely on how many player phases pass before
you complete the objective(s). For example, in some missions you must
complete your objective in one player phase to get the best rank. This means
that tactics - especially including ducking, covering, flanking, etc., or in
other words: what the game tells you to do - can sometimes be completely
worthless. In fact, in some missions, actually playing intelligently will
never gain you the best rank. You have to act like a complete moron - running
out into the middle of multiple enemy troops, ignoring fire completely - just
to get your mission objective completed as fast as possible. Things that do
NOT matter include killing enemy troops, taking damage, or dying. While
disappointing, that's just how the game works.
On the plus side, that means that it doesn't matter how stupidly you run
around or how many times you get shot or how many enemies you kill - only
speed matters. Each mission (or piece of mission) starts you with full HP, so
damage is easily ignored unless it is fatal. Also, it is to your advantage to
use every last CP to maximize your XP gain, so long as your final CP use is to
end the mission before the phase ends. Also note that it is PHASES - not CP
use - that count toward your speed, so sometimes saving CP to use all in one
phase can be a good idea - although you cannot have more than a total of 20 CP
at any time.
=======================================
Killing Enemy Leaders is Also Important
=======================================
[2KILL]
That said, another important piece of maximizing XP gain is killing enemy
leaders, aces, and tanks. Leaders are special dark red-colored troops on the
field which can be identified fairly easily. This is double-bonus, since
killing enemy leaders also reduces the total CP available to the enemy during
their phases. Aces look like leaders but have "unique" names and no leader CP
star. Sometimes tanks are also leaders, which is another good reason to take
them out. Destroying leaders, tanks, and aces gains bonus XP/money, and
killing aces also gives a bonus weapon (see below). It can be worth your time
and effort to kill them all, as they yield very good bonus XP for the
beginning of the game - sometimes in the early levels it can be more than the
difference between A rank and B rank. However, in later levels the difference
between A and B rank far outstrips the tiny bonuses they provide (these
bonuses don't scale). This guide will favor speed and rank over killing
leader XP if necessary.
===============================
Your Leaders and Command Points
===============================
[2LEAD]
One important thing to keep in mind during any deployment is that you get a
bonus command point for each of your leaders, just like the enemy. That means
pretty much every single mission needs to include Alicia, Rosie, and Largo -
even if you never use them, just deploying them will give you more actions
each phase. In fact, sometimes it's better to hold them back and use someone
else more suited to the job. This guide will give a command point total for
each mission, but it will assume that you deploy these three individuals every
time (if possible) unless otherwise noted. If you don't want to use one or
more of them, just subtract that number from the CP total.
======================
Shoot Them in the Head
======================
[2SHOT]
One of the best tactics to killing enemies and clearing levels quickly is to
run up and shoot the enemy in the head. This seems like - and frankly is - a
horrible tactic for the health of your troop, but it's incredibly effective
and very fast. That said, if an enemy troop is taking cover, you cannot
target their head, even if you run around and are behind cover with them! In
this case, grenades are preferable - even if it doesn't kill them, the blast
will force them to stand and make their head vulnerable again (later in the
game, you'll have more options). On the flip side, you can use this magical
protection to your advantage: crouching near something will still give you a
good defensive boost even if the enemy is standing right next to you! For
best results when shooting, try to make sure you're not in the enemy line of
sight - this gives enemies a bonus to evade and can cause you to miss
entirely, especially in later levels.
===================
Other Battle Advice
===================
[2BATL]
Here are some uncategorized general battle tips that don't fit well into other
places in this guide but are worth mentioning.
- This game uses the horrid but more "realistic" (in a game where sitting next
to a sandbag makes you impossible to shoot in the head) system where if any of
your units drop to zero HP and are not revived (touched by a friendly troop or
tank) within 3 rounds or before an enemy touches them, they are gone forever.
While this sounds (and is) horrible, the good news is that it is extremely
easy to get through the game without losing anyone. On the other hand, a very
small amount of bonus material is unlocked by losing specific characters,
including a medal and some "secret" characters. For more information about
both, see gameFAQs.com. Is it worth doing so? I never bothered. Also worth
noting is that typically some troops may cause a Game Over if they go down
(such as Welkin) - others only when they die permanently (like Alicia). Some
troops are occasionally immune from death because they "retreat" as soon as
they go down (the Shamrock pilot often does this). And lastly, keep in mind
that as long as you finish a mission before a troop dies permanently, they'll
be completely fine and healed to full after each map, so sometimes it's not
worth trying to save them.
- Remember: grenades do not ever cause counterattacks, but flamethrowers do.
Speaking of which, flamethrowers are amazingly effective against cannon and
gatling bunkers.
- If an enemy is crouching near a sandbag or crawling in the grass, they have
high / extremely high defense boosts against everything - and it doesn't
matter where you are in relation to them, they will always have the boost.
However, you can use a grenade to get them standing. It usually won't kill
them, but the blast will force them to stand, even from a good distance away.
Another good way to get an enemy standing is to run over them with a tank.
This does no damage, but it will get them up.
- Your tanks cannot be hurt by infantry fire except on their weak spots, and
even then it's really not enough to matter.
- Tanks can perform combo attacks with ground troops using their machine guns.
It's harder to do because they have a more limited field of fire.
- Do your aiming while the enemy is not shooting at you! Don't turn to shoot
in-game, always go into targeting mode and then turn.
- If you're out of an enemy's line of sight, it's harder for them to evade
you. Aces might still evade no matter what. It's always worth saving before
you try to kill an ace.
- Take advantage of the rhythm of the game; practice your timing so that you
can control when certain events happen to your advantage. For example, a
great time to take aim is just before an enemy starts to fire again. If the
enemy has just paused to reload, don't stop moving yet - get into a better
position first. Little differences like these make a huge difference overall.
===============
Save Constantly
===============
[2SAVE]
This is true of any RPG or hybrid RPG, but save all the time, and try to use
different save slots whenever you can. One of the best times to save is
during a battle before any moves have been made. That way, you can reload to
the beginning of the battle, but skip all the explanation that happens when
the battle starts (although you can't re-deploy). It is also useful to save
between phases, just to make sure you get everything covered before moving on.
In fact, "wounded" units are permanently killed if an enemy touches them - but
since you can save after each and every move you make, there is really no
reason you should ever have someone permanently die. It's up to you, but
saving more often is always better.
========================================
Headquarters
========================================
[3HDQT]
Your headquarters is the tab you can come to between each battle to level,
purchase upgrades, equip weapons, etc. It is unlocked gradually as you
complete the story. The game handles a lot of micromanaging for you, but you
can also choose to do some of this yourself.
=============================
Command Room - Who to Recruit
=============================
[3COMD]
The new recruits you gain after each chapter are randomly selected. Every
time you finish a chapter you'll have a new chance for more troops to show up.
However, you can also save right after you start a new chapter, then go to
your headquarters and look to see who has joined and if you don't like the
offerings, you can reload for a new random selection. This might be worth it
if you're low on snipers or engineers, but eventually (about halfway through)
you will have access to almost all units in the game.
Who to Recruit
This is entirely based on your play style and personal preference. There are
no "wrong" choices, so feel free to pick who you like. That said, I always
tried to recruit those who have minimal "negative" potentials (Darcsen Hater,
Chatty Cathy, etc.), although you won't know until you've used the unit a lot
whether or not their hidden potentials are very good or very bad (see below).
Some decent rules of thumb: potentials that lower accuracy, evasion, or
damage are really bad; likewise things that raise them are really good.
Things that don't get triggered often (like when a unit has a single digit of
health) are easy to avoid. Potentials that compliment the unit's role (like
being a loner for a sniper) are great. Here are a few of my personal
favorites, but again this is entirely subjective:
Scout
- Aika: She has mostly good positive potentials - and who doesn't like sky
pirates from an old Dreamcast game? :)
- Ted: He's an oddball, but he has good potentials - including Undodgable
Shot, which is a nice one to have late game when everything is evading you.
Shocktrooper
- Jane: I love Jane: she's crazy, but also crazy good at dishing out the
damage. Her potentials make her extra deadly and she has little drawbacks.
Give her your most damage-dealing weapon and watch her chew through anyone.
- Vyse: Love his voice effects, plus he's a good troop with good potentials
(and also: sky pirates rule). :)
- Salinas: Just a solid, all-around unit with decent potentials.
Lancer
- Jann: His potentials are awesome plus his voice is hilarious! Always team
with Largo for maximum effect.
Engineer
- Nadine: ALL engineers have SEVERE personality defects for some reason -
except for her. So I used her. Plus, she's a solid troop.
Sniper
- Catherine: She has a couple bad ones but she's mostly positive - good for
non-nested activities, especially with Roof Hunter. Plus I love her accent.
- Marina: Perfect nest sniper: she has Nest Master and she's a loner. And
best of all, her Ultimate Accuracy potential means she'll never miss after
level 16.
===============================
Training Grounds - How to Level
===============================
[3TRAN]
Each mission gives you XP to divide among your troop types (all troops of one
type level together). I recommend a balanced leveling scheme, where you never
have one type of troop more than 1 level higher than any other type. I
typically upgraded my shocktroopers and scouts first, but it's really up to
you. Additionally, I highly recommend playing through the skirmish battles at
least once or preferably twice each time they become available - however,
playing much more than that isn't as useful, because each subsequent mission
tends to give more and more XP. As a general rule of thumb, some or most of
my units were around the same level as the chapter number I was on the whole
time (level 11 by chapter 11, etc.). This is a good rule to follow to make
sure you're strong enough to follow the advice in this guide.
I also recommend that since a relatively easy skirmish map (number 5) opens up
after chapter 10, before moving on to chapter 11 go ahead and play it enough
to make sure you hit at least level 11 for all troop types. Also, after
chapter 14 you have access to Skirmish 7, which is even easier and faster, and
you can use it to reach level 15 with all troops easily. Otherwise, the game
paces you pretty well without the need for excess grinding - especially if you
follow this guide and get an A rank for every map!
Elite Units
Once you hit level 11, your troops will upgrade to elite. This gives
shocktroopers and scouts access to new weapons: flamethrowers and grenade
launchers, respectively. (You'll also be able to purchase flamethrower
upgrades in R&D.) The flamethrowers look cool and are extremely useful
against bunkers. They're also good against standing enemies that tend to
evade or bunches of guys crowded together, and against guys behind sandbags,
since they leave sandbags standing. However, using a flamethrower makes you
vulnerable to counterattacks (possibly multiple counterattacks), while using a
grenade does not - so don't use one unless you know you'll kill your target.
Grenade launchers for scouts use their normal grenades (so you can't use a
launcher AND throw a grenade), and it really just increases the distance they
can cover by about two or three times. It also means a higher arc on the
shot, which can sometimes get in the way, but usually it's a boon. You can
still throw grenades normally, however.
The benefits for your other troops are more subtle. Engineers start carrying
three grenades instead of one, which is awesome. I'm honestly not sure if
snipers and lancers get anything.
=========================
R&D - What Weapons to Use
=========================
[3RDWP]
Once you get several episodes in, you'll start getting choices in how you want
to upgrade your weapons. You can even micromanage your troops and give
different units different types, but other than giving them limited-quantity
weapons, I never bothered. To equip the different types of weapons, head to
the Barracks. Be sure to check there each time you kill an ace or receive
weapons as a reward (see below) to see if that weapon is better. For tank
improvements, you will need to use the R&D menu.
Everyone plays the game differently so the weapon choice is really your own,
but for myself I favored accuracy over anything else for the scouts (but I
always purchased the damage weapons for occasional use), damage over anything
else for the shocktroopers, accuracy when possible but usually damage for
lancers (if it costs you an extra turn to take out the tank, that's too weak),
and solely accuracy for snipers (you're only going to shoot them once). I
also favored damage over effects for flamethrowers, and anti-tank damage over
anti-personnel attacks (mortar rounds) for lancers - although there are a few
places where lancer mortar rounds could be useful. Generally, while you can
afford pretty much everything with this guide, I never bothered upgrading the
"effect" path for any type of weapon.
One thing to note is that the letter grade of the weapon (E, D, etc.) is the
measure of its accuracy, which translates into the size of the circle area
that you are aiming at. The better the letter, the smaller the circle.
Tanks
For your tanks, I again tended to favor accuracy over defense, but it's best
to have at least a little of everything. Make sure you always equip at least
one extra mortar round when possible, as this can really help (more than that
seemed too expensive to me). I tended to skimp on the crit defense, because I
figured if they're shooting you in the back, you're pretty much done for
anyway - but that's not necessarily the optimal thing to do. My load was all
accuracy items, followed by some tread HP and defense, and then stick maybe a
1x1 crit defense in there somewhere if you have room. Always purchase tank
body upgrades and troop armor upgrades immediately, even if you have to run a
skirmish to afford them. Finally, once you get the Shamrock you get a choice
of how you want to outfit it. I constantly left it on anti-tank rounds, but
the flamethrower would probably not be a bad idea for some missions. This
guide will mention which way to equip it when necessary. As for its defenses,
you get so few choices just stick with whatever suits you best, although again
I favored multiple mortar rounds whenever possible.
=======================
The Writing on the Wall
=======================
[3WRIT]
The reporter will have new stories for you at completely random times. The
"reset trick" you can use on the command room does not seem to work on her
very well, leading me to believe it is something more story-based or unit-
based that triggers her articles to appear. Since her stories sometimes lead
to bonus missions, it is always worthwhile to purchase them. (Also, cash is
extremely plentiful, especially with A-rank performances.)
============
The Cemetery
============
[3CEMT]
The old gentleman in the cemetery will occasionally teach you new orders after
a mission. These start at 6500 XP each and go up to 10000, and then 15000 XP.
The last one will cost 50000. It is completely random whether or not the old
man can teach you when you go to visit or not, but you can save right after a
mission, then go to your headquarters and look for him and if he has nothing
for you reload and try again. He may also change what he offers. Since some
orders are more useful than others, this may or may not be worth it to you,
but I recommend purchasing them all. For more information on orders, see
Other Tips, below.
=============
Audience Hall
=============
[3AUDH]
Once you reach episode 10a, you'll start to receive bonus weapons for a job
well done - about 4 or 5 total each time, usually 1 to 3 of a couple different
types. They end in "R" and madSomnambulist's guide on gameFAQs.com calls them
"Royal" weapons: I think that's a good name. As you progress, they will get
stronger and stronger (1R vs. 3R, etc.). These are also randomly assigned,
and you can save after each mission before you head over there to generate new
selections. For the most part, these are slightly better in some way than the
weapons you can build - however, in the beginning they are not always better
in the way that you might prefer, so sometimes they are not worth it.
Eventually they will outshine just about everything else in the game (20R).
You also receive medals in the Audience Hall for special rewards granted for
in-game achievements. Similar to other achievement systems, they mean nothing
and are completely worthless other than bragging rights. (Note that these
medals do NOT tie in to PS3 trophies; this game currently does not support
trophies.) For a complete list of possible medals, check gameFAQs.com.
Please note that the "reset trick" only works the very first time you go to
your headquarters, so you cannot, for example, check out the audience hall,
then save and try to reset the old man or your command room. You have to be
happy with all of these at once.
========================================
Other Tips
========================================
[4OTIP]
======
Orders
======
[4ORDR]
You can gain orders either by leveling troops, or visiting the cemetery as
above. For an excellent guide on orders and when you obtain them, please see
your name here's guide on gameFaqs.com, available here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/file/942165/55162
In general, this guide tries to avoid the use of orders you obtain from the
cemetery due to the inconsistent nature of when you may obtain them. Please
note that some actions may be easier with the use of certain orders, and if
you have a few CPs to play with, it might be faster or easier to use an order
instead of following this guide exactly.
Particularly Good Orders
Defense and Evade are both excellent orders that you will receive early on.
These are great to load onto a unit to help it survive anything from charging
headlong into a gatling gun or moving around behind a tank. Do not
underestimate the power of these two, especially when used together.
Another order that deserves special mention is the Damage order that costs 2
CP. You get this order when your lancers hit level 7. This order is
extremely powerful because it allows scouts and shocktroopers to suddenly be
able to destroy tanks (and ironically renders lancers far less useful). Not
only is their mobility an asset, but spending 3 CP (order + move) to destroy a
tank often works out to be far more efficient than trying to use lancers or
your own tank(s). It is assumed you get this order at least halfway through
the game, as many of the later map strategies make use of this ability.
The Demolition order you get from your lancers hitting level 8 is also good,
but often unnecessary since the Damage order will almost always do. Other
orders that are worth noting are Attack (it helps more than you'd think) and
Penetration (this can double or triple your effectiveness against super-
armored targets, of which there are only a few).
=====================
Touching Dead Enemies
=====================
[4TDED]
At least for the US version, this seems to do nothing. It's possible that
touching dead enemies (and thus, clearing them from the map) causes the enemy
to be able to call in more reinforcements, but they seem to have a pretty
limitless pool regardless, so I doubt that matters. The only real discernable
effect seems to be the fact that it slows you down - which is usually a
hindrance. May as well avoid them.
=================
Capturing Weapons
=================
[4CAPW]
You recover an enemy weapon when you kill an enemy ace on a map. The type of
weapon relates to the type of ace, so a sniper ace will drop a sniper rifle,
etc. (Note: you do not have to touch their dead body to get the weapon.)
You don't find out until the end of the mission if you recovered one. You can
equip them in the barracks, although you have a limited supply since each ace
only drops one. They are usually pretty bad compared to what you can make,
but they often trade accuracy for firepower, so if you like up-close and
personal attacks (shocktroopers), they may work well for you. Overall,
collecting them is a fun side-game but you're not going to miss all that much
if you ignore it.
The only exceptions I found to this are the ZM MP 3(g) and the flamethrowers
VB FW 1(g) and 2(g). The ZM MP 3(g) is a shocktrooper weapon found in episode
8a and it trades a decent amount of range for a VERY decent amount of
firepower - far above anything else you'll have for a while. Since
shocktrooper range isn't that great anyway, I recommend looking for this one
and equipping it to your favorite shocktrooper - especially one with Melee
Fighting or damage boosting potentials for even more carnage!
The VB FW flamethrowers you find later on - the 1(g) is from episode 11, and
the 2(g) is from Rosie's bonus mission - are better than any flamethrower
you'll have at the time, and the 2(g) is better than any you'll be able to
make in the game! They wield a devastating amount of power: suddenly you'll
find yourself able to kill any crouched enemy in a single turn. These are
highly valuable and worth seeking. Be sure to give one to Rosie or any other
shocktrooper you use to bust up bunkers or crouching enemies.
=============
Personalities
=============
[4PERS]
Using a unit a lot - I think you actually have to use them in battle and not
just deploy them - will unlock more "personality" potentials for that unit.
Most units have 3 or 4, and they will typically start with 2 or 3 unlocked.
Most of the time, these are positive, and will help reward you for sticking
with the same units. However, some are negative, and either way the bonuses
are not particularly game-breaking. If you like switching up a lot, then
you're not going to hurt yourself. Also, paying for newspaper stories will
sometimes unlock missions that have those as a reward for main characters.
That said...
==========
Potentials
==========
[4POTE]
You have 3 or 4 personality potentials for each unit, and also 4 total
"training" potentials that they will receive for leveling up (these are always
good). Personally, I found them all too randomly triggered to be especially
reliable, and most of the time I never went out of my way to set them up.
Plus, the bonus is hard to quantify, and sometimes it doesn't make any
difference for what you're trying to do at the time (an accuracy boost when
you're just moving the unit up, for example). This guide does not assume you
will have potentials triggered at any given time, so if you trigger them
during the game it may help you clear some areas easier or faster. There are
a couple of exceptions to this: Undodgable Shot, and Extra Shot. Undodgeable
Shot is extremely useful in general - especially late in the game when enemies
evade constantly - and Extra Shot helps tremendously with your limited ammo
classes. Look for these in your recruits.
===============
New Game "Plus"
===============
[4NGPS]
Fans of old-school RPGs will remember this term, but once you beat the game,
you will unlock lots of stuff. You can load a "complete" game save and then
play through the entire game again, except your money, XP, level, available
orders, and equipment do not reset - so you'll pretty much breeze through the
early parts, although the amount of XP and gold you receive doesn't change
either. (Interestingly, your roster -does- reset, so you will need to play
through a few missions to get everyone back again. I am not sure if this
resurrects dead troops or not.) You will also be able to skip most of the
story cutscenes more quickly, and you can replay every map once you beat it as
many times as you'd like - so if you missed an A rank before, you will
certainly be able to get it now. You will unlock Skirmish 9 and Hard mode for
all Skirmishes (and Expert mode if you downloaded that content). You'll also
have access to a few extras, like a medal and one "hidden" scout recruit
(Musaad) who is quite good (he is one of the better scouts).
========================================
Episodes
========================================
[5EPIS]
========
Prologue
========
[5E000]
A Rank - 1 phase
CP: 3
Leaders: 0
Aces: 0
Tanks: 0
Note: I highly encourage you to play through this mission twice: once to
learn about the game, and then again to actually get an A rank. You CANNOT
actually get the best rank when following the game's advice here, because you
have to complete the mission in 1 phase. So start it up, save, and then
reload to the beginning of the mission when you're done.
To get an A rank, select Alicia or Welkin (they're better than the nameless
guard) and run up and shoot the first enemy in the back of the head. Don't be
afraid to get point-blank: he won't notice you until you're almost on top of
him and will not fire at you unless he does. Be sure to aim carefully, as the
back of his head is ironically harder to hit than the front. Continue moving
as far as you can over the bridge and directly toward the second enemy. For
your second CP, choose the same unit again and run up to the second enemy and
shoot him point-blank in the face. Don't worry about getting shot - you can
take it. Then, continue moving toward the third enemy. For your third CP,
run up and shoot him point-blank in the face as well. Simple enough.
========================================
Episode 1 - In Defense of Bruhl (A and B)
========================================
[5E001]
A Rank - 2 phases (1 phase each part)
CP: 3
Leaders: 1 (A)
Aces: 0
Tanks: 1 (B)
part A
Tactics are generally worthless for this one. The only objective here is to
kill the enemy leader, which is a slightly tougher (and dark red colored)
scout hidden at the back of the map near the roman numeral I. There are
several hidden enemy scouts along the path.
Select Alicia and run like a madwoman straight through the gauntlet toward the
back of the map. Don't bother shooting any enemies; killing one will slightly
decrease the total number of shots fired at you, but on the other hand it will
take longer - thus increasing the total number of shots fired at you. You may
wish to use her Ragnaid to heal once her health is below half, but be careful
- pausing to heal yourself may leave you open to getting shot. Quickly end
her turn if you decide to heal, then reselect her. Either way, continue
forward toward the back of the map. You should be completely behind enemy
lines and have discovered the hidden enemy leader. You can't kill him quickly
enough by shooting (and he'll pulverize you in a counterattack anyway), so
just get close and throw a grenade. I suggest actually running past the
bunker just to be sure you get a clear shot. Be careful not to stand too
close!
part B
Once again, bothering to fight is wasted time on this map. Note that there is
a tank, but you can't actually kill it in 20 rounds, so don't even bother
firing at it. Simply select Welkin and run east (forward from where you
start) around behind the tank and then south (turn right) toward the
objective. You can actually make it in one CP, but if you need more that's
fine. You can even stop and heal if you need to, but again it's probably more
trouble than it's worth. The only way you can really mess this one up is to
run in front of the tank, although the far south part of the map is also safe
and has fewer soldiers shooting at you - but it doesn't matter, since they
really cannot kill you if you just keep moving.
=============================
Episode 2 - Escape from Bruhl
=============================
[5E002]
A Rank - 3 phases
CP: 4 (5 on phase 3)
Leaders: 2
Aces: 1
Tanks: 1
*Thanks to Ragnorok450 for pointing out the hidden enemy ace.
Killing the tank is your main objective, and there are 8 hidden enemies,
including 3 leaders. Saving between each phase is recommended. The big
secret to this map is: save your CP for phase 3 when Welkin arrives. That
said, it is advantageous to kill the enemy leaders as well for bonus XP. My
suggestion is to completely skip your first player phase. This will cause the
enemies to advance toward your generally well-defended position (even if no
one is crouching, you still might evade). The tank will advance and shoot at
the gate. Several soldiers will advance. Two or three of the scouts should
die against your troops; hopefully the scout leader hidden behind the tank
will be one of them. The shocktrooper is the only real threat, but thankfully
he is more interested in taking out the gate than killing you.
On your second phase, select Alicia and have her run up the hill on the right,
killing the advancing enemy there with point-blank headshots if he is not
already dead. Run her further up the hill and quickly end her turn. Then
select her again and immediately throw a grenade between the shocktrooper and
the crouching scout hidden behind the house on the left. That should kill
both of them. Ignore the other scout and immediately run north and turn right
and head toward the enemy leader to the east hiding near a group of houses.
Reselect her and serve him a healthy dose of point-blank shots to the face.
At this point Alicia should be standing behind a hill so that she isn't being
targeted by any enemies, which is a relatively safe position. Make sure she's
NOT standing next to the barrier! If the other enemy leader did advance but
didn't die, you can try running your healthiest guardsman up and finishing him
off (although that tank is murderous). Try to save at least 4 or 5 CP for the
final phase - you need at least 9, and you'll gain 5. End your phase. The
enemy will pound the gate and may take out a town guardsman.
For the final phase, move Welkin forward through the barrier wall. It's also
worth noting that you can drive a tank through trees, so don't bother to swing
wide around the one in your way. Once you're past the wall, throw a mortar on
the final scout or shoot him with your machine gun (or ignore him). Now, SAVE
and select Alicia. Run her north and east back toward where Welkin started.
There's a small alley between two houses that you can access; run forward
between them and behind a tree is your first enemy ace! He's a tough one, so
be careful approaching him; use the tree for cover, and get as close as you
can. You will need to shoot him in the head to kill him, but he has a nasty
tendency to evade (all aces are harder to hit that way). If you miss and he
doesn't kill you AND you have more than 6 CP remaining, feel free to reselect
and try him again - otherwise, just reload. Once he's dead, save again and
then select Welkin. Move him around the corner of the building and fire on
the enemy tank; aim for the weak spot on its back. It will take two shots
minimum, or 4 CP, although if your shots veer off it might take 3. If you
miss too horribly, don't be afraid to reload. Always try to get as close as
possible before firing, but don't get so close you can't aim. If the last
leader is still alive, be sure to finish him off before you take down the
tank, as this ends the mission.
Your reward for killing the ace is a scout weapon called ZM Kar 1(g). It has
horrible accuracy and range, but twice the damage per shot. Personally, I
prefer accuracy for my scouts.
===============================
Episode 3 - Vasel Urban Warfare
===============================
[5E003]
A Rank - 1 phase
CP: 9
Leaders: 4
Aces: 1
Tanks: 2
*Thanks to Joselo Balderas for some really good ideas, including a way to kill
the ace and a suggestion for the northern tank.
This is your first battle with a full squad and being able to deploy your
troops generally however you'd like. It's also the first battle that is
extremely difficult to get an A rank along with killing all the enemy
leaders/ace/tanks. It requires a single ridiculous shot that is really just a
matter of luck and will probably require multiple tries/reloads to pull off.
In fact, this "miracle" shot only gains you one tank kill, which is worth 300
XP and gold - so if you get frustrated trying to nail it, I would strongly
suggest just skipping that one tank, grabbing the A rank and the ace, and
moving on. Additionally, you'll take a lot of fire this map, so if you find
yourself dying, you may need to level up your troops a bit. It's easier (and
safer) to grab every bonus if you do the whole map in two turns, but the
difference between A and B rank is 800 XP and 1560 gold, so it's really not
worth it.
The basic strategy is that the "river" side takes too long to get there, so
pushing up through the city side is the fastest way to go. Start by placing a
good shocktrooper in the top-left-most slot on the left ("city" side). The
other empty slots are unnecessary to fill, but you can put guys in them if
you'd like.
Start by using Rosie on the right. Run her due north (you may want to touch
the grass to get the explanatory cutscene about crawling), past the bunker
(try to get to the ramp) and then once you can't move further turn around and
use a grenade to blow up the two scouts and the bunker behind her. Make sure
you don't blow yourself up as well! Next, select Alicia and have her run due
north all the way up to about halfway up the ramp, then turn to the right.
When you get to the edge, you should see an enemy ace in the bushes get up to
try to shoot you. Quickly go into targeting mode before he can and then lob a
grenade at him. He'll hide back in the grass, but if you hit him with the
grenade this will get him standing - and grenades never trigger
counterattacks, either. This is an important tactic you'll use a lot
throughout the game. Once you've hit him, move to the other side of the ramp
and then run up and quickly duck left around the corner and into the alley.
Hopefully you were able to get the attention of the enemy shocktrooper leader
without getting too shot up. Now, save the game and then reselect Rosie.
Have her run up the ramp to the edge where the enemy ace is standing, and take
him out. He's a tricky devil so you may need to reload if he evades. Once
he's dead, turn left and continue straight up the ramp as far as you can.
Finally, reselect Rosie and run north as close as you can to the shocktrooper
leader and blow him away - be sure to aim for his head. If Alicia did her job
correctly, he'll never even turn your way.
That's 4 CP down and all the river team is going to do. Now, save your game
and get ready to get frustrated: it's time for the miracle shot. Select
Largo, run north through the small alley ignoring the scout, and turn right
immediately around the corner. You'll notice a pretty big tank in the middle
of the square along with a bunch of other guys shooting you up. Quickly go
into targeting mode and aim for weak spot on the back of the NORTHERN tank -
that's right, the one way up at the top of the map. It's a mile away, but it
-is- possible to hit it. This is, as far as I can tell, the only way to take
this tank out and still get an A rank. If you can come up with a better
strategy please let me know and I will happily post it.
Once you've finally hit the thing (or given up trying) immediately end Largo's
turn before he gets mangled and save your game. The next two moves can be
done in any order, so if you're having trouble doing it one way, try reversing
them and seeing if that helps. Reselect Largo and run like a madman toward
the back of the leader tank in the middle of the square. Hopefully you'll
just be able to squeeze behind it and then immediately go into targeting mode
before you get shot up. Here's a tip: often going into targeting mode BEFORE
aiming is a good tactic because it saves you precious seconds of being shot.
This is another trick you'll use throughout the game. Once you're in
targeting mode, swing around and aim at the weak spot on the back of the tank.
You'll know you're over it when the "shots to kill" number drops to 1. Blow
it away and then quickly end your turn (if he goes down, it's ok - you won't
lose him, and you'll get the medic explanation cutscene). Next, take your
shocktrooper on the city side of the map and run them due north the same way
as Largo as far as you can out into the middle of the square. You're
ultimately aiming toward the enemy base, so after going through the alley bear
right and go over a bunker to get into the square. Stop and take aim at the
enemy scout leader in the southeast corner of the square (to your right).
Make sure you can hit him (readjust if needed) and blow him away - it
shouldn't take many shots. Continue to push north as far as you can, end your
turn, and save.
Now, you're pretty much home-free. Reselect your shocktrooper and run north
past the scout, over the bunker, and toward the enemy base, ignoring enemy
fire. Go as far as you can and then shoot the hidden leader shocktrooper in
the base. Aim for his head and if he evades just reload. Once he's dead,
push in toward the base. Reselect and finish off the final enemy in the base
so that you can occupy it. If he gives you trouble, try a grenade - as long
as you can blow him outside of the base, you can occupy it, whether he's dead
or not. You should have just enough movement to make it all the way to the
flagpole.
Your reward for the ace on this level is the shocktrooper weapon ZM MP 1(g).
Its range is absolutely horrible but it does great damage. It's often worth
trading range for stopping power on shocktroopers since they will often be in
close quarters, so it might be worth giving to one of your troops.
================================
Episode 4 - Operation Cloudburst
================================
[5E004]
A Rank - 2 phases
CP: 9
Leaders: 4
Aces: 0
Tanks: 5
You might be happy to learn that you actually get 2 phases for an A rank on
this level (you can take up to 4 for a B rank, which is much easier but gains
you 1800 less XP and 2260 less gold), but if you want to get every single tank
and leader, you'll need to use every single AP you have and really get some
good shots in with your lancers (yuck) as well as some tight movement and
positioning. And, in order to catch the last tank, you will actually need to
use a more advanced strategy that you don't learn about until later in the
game. The basic plan for this level is to push north to the first mini-base
(you get no bonuses for grabbing bases, but they help a lot and this one is a
smart one to grab) then continue north through a wall and toward the final
base. (Having lancers with 3 shots each is required.) For this level you'll
need Rosie the top-left deploy spot, Largo next to her, one sniper in the back
to the right, and a shocktrooper positioned to the top-right of the deploy
area. I will refer to this position as shocktrooper 2. Also, be sure to
include Alicia in there anywhere for CP, and do NOT fill every position. Make
sure at least one deploy spot is empty before you start (you'll see why).
First, move Rosie due north, then select her again and continue on, turn right
around the corner and shoot the shocktrooper hiding there. Push north and
hide behind the first (west-most) rubble wall north of the dead enemy. Be
SURE to go as far east as you can along that wall without exposing her to
enemy sightlines from the north - this position is important. Next, take your
sniper and climb the watchtower immediately northeast of your deploy position.
You'll need two good shots, so save before each one (although they are not
really that hard to get, since you're aiming at large targets). You will
suddenly see lots of enemies, especially tanks - but more importantly, lots of
ragnite canisters. You will be aiming for these, because each one is
positioned to blow up a nearby tank and hurt them badly. Note: enemy tanks
that are not "on" do not count! They also don't show on your map as enemies.
They gain you nothing so don't waste time blowing them up - however, they are
often in the way, which is a pain. For your first shot, aim for the canister
near the southeast leader tank and blow it up. This will badly injure that
tank. Then, turn left and shoot the canister near the second leader tank due
north to do the same. Once you've blown up both canisters, get down out of
the watchtower to protect your sniper from getting shot by tanks.
Next, move shocktrooper 2 northeast and take out the poor surprised scout near
the first base. Then save your game and move Largo northeast as well and head
him as far toward that leader tank as possible. Shoot it and finish it off.
It's a tricky shot, so if you miss, just reload. Next, reselect shocktrooper
2 and go east toward the enemy scout leader and take him out. You can try to
get behind some cover if you have any movement left, but their sniper's aim is
pretty bad, so don't sweat it. Next, reselect Largo and run toward the base
and occupy it. You'll want to end Largo's turn as far to the northwest of the
base area as possible, but definitely within that area. You can tell if
you're in the base area because "retreat" will be an option and you'll see a
little "Status UP" boost in the bottom right. Before you end his turn, aim
your lance toward the half-wall to the northwest of his position (at about 11
o'clock from the base). Shoot and take out that wall, and end your turn in
the base. (For best results, take out the wall first and then make sure Largo
isn't targetable by any tanks wherever he stops moving.) That's 8 CP down.
Now, in the overhead map, place your cursor over the blue flag symbol for the
base that you just captured and hit the action button. This will bring up a
list of troops you can call in from that base. Calling troops costs 1 CP and
you have to have a free deploy spot available, but it's a great way to get
slow units around the battlefield. You'll learn more about this tactic in
episode 6. Go ahead and call one of your lancers with your last CP and your
phase will be over. You might want to save before you end the phase, just in
case the sniper gets crazy lucky.
The enemy will take a few sniper shots at you and otherwise waste time. When
it is your turn again, Largo will be full of ammo. Save, and then select him
and run toward the hole you just opened. You'll want to run slightly to the
left of some of the rubble, and then duck back to the right around an inert
tank, headed straight for the last tank leader. This is another tricky shot:
you'll need to aim north toward that leader tank. It may take a couple tries,
but one good hit should finish it off. (You can also wait and try to hit the
tank after you've taken out the closer, normal tank, but I find it hard to
judge how close you can get before the tank murders you.) Select Largo again,
run north, and as soon as you clear the inert tank, turn and shoot the back of
the normal tank to blow it up. Continue to push forward (while getting shot
by the hidden shocktrooper leader) and go as far north / northwest as you can,
aiming for the back of the last tank. Then, save and select Rosie. She will
need to snake through the maze of inert tanks. You can go left around the
wall, the left of the first group, then right past the next group and around.
If you get stuck or try a wrong path, you should probably reload - her
movement is key through here. However you go, once she clears the second
group aim for the enemy shocktrooper leader in the corner and take him out.
Then push as far northwest toward the final enemy base as possible. (You'll
want to get at least to the sandbags near the troop you just killed.) After
that, save again and reselect Largo. Push him as far north / northwest as you
can so that you have a decent shot at the back of that last tank. Ignore the
scout. Shoot the tank; once again it is a tricky shot so if you don't blow it
up in one hit, reload. That's 4 CP and 4 enemies down.
At this point, it takes at least 3 more CP to run Rosie up, clear the base,
and occupy it. That leaves you with 2 CP to take out the final tank off to
the east. It's only worth 300 XP and gold, so if you find that Rosie just
can't make it to the base in 3 CP, it's fine to skip it. If you really want
all the bonus XP, you'll probably want to go back to an earlier save and be
more careful with Rosie's movement. It's hard, but you -can- get there in
just 3 more CP. To take out the final tank to the east, select the second
lancer that you called from your captured base. Move this unit east around
the inert tanks and toward the tiny alley between where shocktrooper 2 is
probably standing and the sniper. Go east down this alley as far as you can
and then save and reselect your lancer. Continue east and as soon as you get
to the break in the wall, turn left and head for the back of the last tank.
It's not a particularly hard shot, but lancers are particularly bad at aiming,
so it still may take a few tries.
Once you finally kill it, save the game and select Rosie again. Have her bum-
rush the final base, ignoring enemy fire. Once you get as far as you can,
throw your grenade if the blast will get the shocktrooper to stand -
otherwise, just fire at him so your grenade can finish him off next turn.
He'll smack you pretty bad, but you should be ok. Reselect and run up and
toss your grenade at him before you get too close, or finish him off if you
already threw it. Aim just to the left of him so it will hopefully blow him
out of the base if he doesn't die. Finally, reselect a final time, inch into
the base, and turn and take out the final scout crouching there. You should
have just barely enough AP to get to the flag and see the word "Occupy" on
your screen.
===============================
Episode 5 - The Kloden Wildwood
===============================
[5E005]
A Rank - 4 phases
CP: 9
Leaders: 6
Aces: 1
Tanks: 1
Boss: 1
Amazingly, this one isn't as hard as the last one, and you end up with enough
CP to snag all the bonuses as well as finish the map in 4 phases - although it
does take some luck unless you take the time to position your units well. I
recommend saving before every enemy phase, just in case they get a lucky shot.
Also, it is important to note that when you breach the enemy's main base, a
boss tank will show up. YOU GET NOTHING for killing this tank - not even a
tank-killed bonus - so don't bother! The only advantage is that once it is
dead, all remaining enemy units will disappear. Frankly, by the time you get
a lancer all the way up to the point where you can kill this guy, everyone
else will pretty much have to be dead anyway. Also, I am unsure if this will
cut short your bonus for killing enemy leaders if you happened to have left
any on the field - but I'm guessing it probably does, making this extra not
helpful. (Also, the story doesn't change one way or the other.)
You'll need two very good shocktroopers and one good lancer. I recommend
Rosie and anyone else who can evade pretty well for your shocktroopers (I tend
to pick Salinas because of his bonus to close-range fights, which you'll be
doing a lot) and Largo or anyone with Extra Shot for the lancer. The lancer
and shocktrooper 1 will be positioned in the furthest east spots on the
northern deployment point. Shocktrooper 2 will be deployed on the furthest
east spot on the southern side. Your other troops don't matter, but it will
probably help to have an engineer on both sides just in case anyone runs out
of ammo or needs immediate help. You'll have a few CP's worth of wiggle room,
if you need to move them up.
The general strategy here is to have your first super sol- er, I mean
shocktrooper go along the northern path and take out everything on it, pushing
into and across the main base. Your lancer will cut across the middle of the
map and clear the tank from the southern base, and your second shocktrooper
will push up the middle and into the main base to support the first one.
First, begin by taking your northern shocktrooper and pushing them east.
Avoid the landmine in your path and try to circle around the houses. You
should be able to make it far enough to target the anti-tank unit; take it out
with regular fire (note: the unit and the guy driving it are just one enemy,
so you can just aim for any part of it). Immediately reselect this unit and
push over the sandbags toward the enemy scout leader slightly south; take him
out (poor guy never sees you coming). Occupy the base, and then push as far
east as you can. I like to stop just to the left of the 3 boxes on the
ground, slightly behind the embankment that forms the right wall of the narrow
path that continues left. The idea is to try to position yourself as far east
as you can, but not to where you are completely exposed, as someone will
likely be shooting at you soon. Next, select your lancer and push him east
along the same path (avoid the mine again!). When he's out of AP, select him
again and continue toward the 3 boxes just east of the camp. Take out one of
those boxes with your lance (I hit the far right one, to avoid splash damage
on my ally) and you'll open up a short path through the woods. Push through
as far as you can. This next move is optional: reselect that same lancer and
continue as far as you can (which isn't very far) south through the woods.
This move isn't necessary, but it will buy you some wiggle room later when you
are in the middle of a fire-fight and might need it.
Lastly, take your second shocktrooper and move east toward the fallen logs.
Use a grenade to clear them and push on. Then, reselect this unit and run
them even further down toward the enemy's southern camp. This is a horrible
tactical move, but you really need to cover as much ground as quickly as you
can, so at least try to stop behind a tree or something and be sure to face
the lancers to up your chance to evade. (You may be able to spend your final
two CP to get this unit to safety by moving around the mines and south toward
the southern path with the tank blockades - the enemy tank cannot target you
and the lancers won't if you get down to that southern path - but I have not
tested this.) Save the game and then end the phase.
Since there are so many enemy units and they have a lot of CP, predicting what
the enemy does is harder to do. However, they will likely try a couple of
lancer pot shots at your southern shocktrooper, and an enemy leader
shocktrooper will run west down the northern path toward your first
shocktrooper. If your southern shocktrooper takes much damage, just reload.
On your turn, select shocktrooper 1 and take out the enemy leader immediately
in front of you, and continue east down the path. If he didn't run at you, be
aware that he'll be ahead of you and take him out when you see him. There
will be another landmine to avoid, and around the corner a second
shocktrooper. Reselect the same unit and take that shocktrooper down as well,
pushing east again once that's done. Next, save and reselect the same unit
and push all the way down the path, avoiding a final landmine, and head toward
the gate in the fence. Immediately before the fence, on the right, is a
hidden area with another shocktrooper leader. Hopefully you'll be able to
push far enough so that you can chuck a grenade over the embankment and take
him out. If you have left over CP from the first phase, you might even move
this unit even closer to the gate, but do not go through it.
Next, save the game and select your lancer. He will need to make a precise
shot, so be aware. First, push south down to the chain link fence gate, and
get close to it. If you feel like you can hit the shocktrooper who is
crouching there, go ahead and try; it's a crazy shot, but if you can actually
hit him, he'll stand up and make things a little easier in a few turns. For
best results, do it before you are in his range. In either case, reselect the
lancer and run like a madman through the gate and immediately target the weak
spot on the medium tank on your right. You should be able to take it out in
one hit before it takes you down. As soon as you have control back, run back
through the gate and hide on the other side of the chain link. That's right:
chain link is magically bulletproof and impenetrable, but you can still see
through it. Hopefully, you will still be alive - but if not, that's ok, as
your lancer is now done (and your shocktrooper will be coming through soon and
can call a medic for him if necessary).
Third, take control of your second shocktrooper. Move this unit toward the
base as far as you can. Feel free to shoot at one of the lancers if one of
them is standing, but otherwise you can completely ignore these two troops.
Reselect this unit and push east toward the crouching (or recently displaced)
shocktrooper and either take him out, or throw a grenade to get him standing
and then quickly end your turn, reselect and shoot him down while still
pushing forward. Finally, select this unit again and push toward the enemy
scout leader, take him out, and push toward the base and occupy it. Make sure
you're in the base for the extra defense and healing - and crouching if
possible - then save the game and end your phase.
At this point, there are fewer enemies (and less enemy CP), but there are
still several different paths they may take. The main issue is the enemy ace,
who is a named shocktrooper and very dangerous. He'll either run down the
main path towards shocktrooper 2, or toward the back of the base and
shocktrooper 1. Take note.
On your third phase, save your game and then move whichever shocktrooper can
see the enemy ace toward him as best you can. This guy can be extremely
difficult to kill, as he has an extremely high chance to evade your attacks.
If you can catch him out of his line of sight, that's good. Otherwise, my
best effort was to run up point-blank (which is VERY painful) and then aim at
his legs - that is, aim so that your targeting reticule is NOT red, but the
main part of your targeting area includes his legs. This is pretty cheap, but
the idea is that if you are not actually targeting him, he may not evade - and
as long as your bullets hit his legs, that still counts as shots on him. This
may also work by targeting just above his head, but accuracy works against you
there. In any case, once he's dead, either push on toward the base if
shocktrooper 2 took him out, or run into and across the base if shocktrooper 1
attacked him - this also triggers a cut scene and the enemy boss will appear.
Be sure to save immediately afterward. (If he didn't run out, the enemy ace
may be hiding in the westernmost corner of the base - take a CP to take him
out!)
At this point, the idea is to run shocktrooper 1 across and to the southern
side of the enemy camp, where there are some piles of stacked wood behind a
house. You can also run directly across the camp to some boxes between two
houses, but that puts you dangerously close to the tank. In either case, use
a grenade to clear the wood (or boxes) and run around and behind the houses.
Next, move shocktrooper 2 toward the main entrance of the base, watching for
landmines, and have them move to the right and also go behind that same house
(or run forward and duck right where the boxes were). This will probably take
2 CP. At this point, the shocktroopers are basically in the same spot and it
doesn't matter which you use next for any of the rest of these movements. I'd
suggest using whoever has the most HP and AP left. Your next move is to take
a shocktrooper toward the final base and immediately duck left around the
corner just before it (between two houses) where there will be two enemies in
the alleyway, including a black shocktrooper. Note that these are tougher
than normal, but do not count as leaders and there is no additional bonus for
killing them. Try to fire so as to take both of the enemies out: it
shouldn't be too hard in that narrow alley. This should leave you out of the
range of the shocktrooper in the alley across the road, and protected from the
enemies in the base camp itself. Finally, take your other shocktrooper and
move them up as best you can, or simply have them hide around a corner for
now. Just make sure that you're out of line-of-sight for all enemies,
including the anti-tank gun behind you. It'd be nice if you could rush the
base and end the mission this round, but I found that I never really had
enough movement left to cover the remaining distance as well as take out
everyone (at this point, there are probably 4 enemies standing in the base,
including a scout leader, a crouching shocktrooper, and two black
shocktroopers). On the other hand, for some reason the enemy rarely ever
leaves a fortified position to attack you, so standing nearby should be fine.
Now, if you are somewhat insane and would prefer to destroy the boss tank, you
will need to take a few more actions this phase. Select your lone lancer and
start running him up toward the base, avoiding mines. You will probably need
to spend about 3 CP to get him close enough, although don't bother with more
as he can't move far enough to justify it. Try to position him near the
southern side of the enemy camp, out of sight from the tank and the anti-tank
gun, both of which can make short work of him.
Save, and end the phase. The enemy will probably move the tank several times
in a fruitless attempt to get at the shocktrooper in the alleyway. He may
also issue orders, and someone might try to get at your lancer if you moved
him up. Hopefully, no one will get hurt. After the enemy's turn is done,
save, and select one of your shocktroopers. At this point, it's pretty free-
form, but you'll need to run toward the base and run to the right. Try to
line up as many enemies in your line of fire as possible and let loose. You
may also need to use a grenade on the bunker where a shocktrooper is crouching
to get him to stand up. The good news is that the boss tank will probably be
positioned so that standing in the base area is safe from its attack. Just
use both of your shocktroopers and the gobs of CP you have left to take
everyone out. I find that ample point-black shots to the face work wonders on
the black shocktroopers, although getting to point-blank range is extremely
dangerous. But between your two shocktroopers and their two grenades, you
should be able to get it clear.
Once again, if you are slightly insane you'll need to save 3 or 4 CP for the
very end. Once everyone in the base is dead, don't occupy it. Instead,
select your lone lancer and run him up and bare right behind the houses toward
the base, then through the base and behind the tank. This will take 2 or 3
CP, depending on the position of the tank. Shoot its tiny weak spot to take
it out. After the cut scene, use your last CP to occupy the base and end the
mission.
==============================
Episode 6 - A Desert Encounter
==============================
[5E006]
A Rank - 3 phases
CP: 10
Leaders: 5
Aces: 1
Tanks: 3
*Thanks to Chris and Jon for pointing out the hidden enemy ace.
Yay snipers! Get ready for a lot of reloading for missed shots. But with 10
CP and 3 phases, the good news is that you will have plenty of time to get to
the enemy base and take out all leaders and tanks. However, the deployment of
your team (or rather, lack of) is absolutely critical, and there are some
slightly tough lancer shots toward the end that are needed to take out all the
tanks - so be sure to save often. The general strategy for this map is to
deploy a skeleton crew of a sniper and CP-boosters at first, push to the
middle base quickly, and then call the rest of your crew from there. You'll
save a lot of CP this way on this long map. Also worth noting is that there
are very few hidden enemies, since you have great sightlines and lots of open
space. Lastly, once you push past the middle base, whenever you get there
you'll trigger a sandstorm that will last until the end of the enemy's next
phase. It will then start again at the beginning of every other one of your
phases (so if you trigger it on phase 1, it will come back on phase 3, 5,
etc.). It is important to control this effect to your own advantage.
First, you'll need to deploy your team exactly this way: load one sniper on
the tiny eastern point of two possible slots. On the main team, load Rosie
and another shocktrooper that you don't care about in front on the left and
right, Alicia behind them, and Largo somewhere in the back. Largo and Rosie
are only there to boost CP; Rosie's horrid in a dessert and a lancer can't do
anything useful from this far back. The two shocktroopers are actually set up
as a distraction to the enemy and won't be moving. Do not deploy anyone else!
That should give you 3 remaining (empty) slots. Start the mission.
The sniper will need to act first, and they will need to take out 3 targets in
just 3 shots. You might as well get the hard part over with first, so save
the game and then select the sniper. Try to move forward and left just a
little bit, and act quickly as a scout will start to fire on you. Immediately
go into aiming mode, and then look down and to the right. Half-hidden in the
ruins is an enemy scout leader, with his head juuuust poking out. If you
can't see his head, move a bit more to the left and try again. Take him out.
All these shots are hard, so don't be discouraged if you miss a few times -
just reload. Once he's dead, save, and reselect the sniper and move as far
forward and to the right as you can. Then, look far in the distance slightly
to the right and you should see a small ancient building with a standing
sniper, a standing shocktrooper leader, and a crouching sniper on top. Your
next two actions are to kill the standing sniper and shocktrooper leader by
shooting them both in the head. Once that's done, your sniper is out of
bullets and done for the encounter. You may want to move them back south
toward the wall and completely out of the way on their last move.
Next, select Alicia and have her run northeast into the giant trench that cuts
a huge rock in two, between the rocks, and then north toward that ancient
building. Stop and take out the annoying scout on your way. On your second
move, you need to run all the way to that building, up the stairs to the top,
and chuck a grenade at the final sniper. Once he's dead, run back down the
stairs and over to the middle base and occupy it. You can leave her at the
base, or move her up to just behind the rock wall if you want, as the tanks
can and will shoot at her in the base if she's just standing there. As long
as you see the blue Status UP symbol in the bottom right, she'll get the
bonuses for being in the base. Next, use 3 CP to request your best lancer (or
later when you're running this map as skirmish 4 and you have access to the 2
CP Damage order - which you get when your lancers are level 7 - get a scout
instead) and two more shocktroopers. That's 8 of 10 CP so far; end the phase.
Hopefully the enemy will waste a lot of time moving tanks or otherwise
advancing on your extremely well-defended position at your main base. Rosie
and the other shocktrooper should keep it pretty safe, and their lancers
shouldn't be able to do much to you. On your next phase, you'll have 12 CP.
First, start by selecting your least favorite shocktrooper at the middle base.
Have them run due west past a lancer - watch for the landmines! - and keep
running like a madman toward the crouching lancer leader in the trench to the
west. At the end of your AP, fire at him. Then, reselect, run in, and shoot
him to death. After that, try to back off a bit and be sure to crouch down,
but otherwise just find as decent a spot to hole up in as you can with your
remaining AP and then ignore this unit completely. They will draw some
serious fire but their job is done (which was to take out that enemy leader).
(Optionally, you can try to spend another CP to back off a bit, but honestly
that trench is the best spot you'll be able to find with the AP you'll have
left.) Next, select the second shocktrooper you called in and run north /
northwest toward the enemy shocktrooper who is foolishly standing in a trench.
Execute him and keep moving. At this point, the sandstorm will start. You'll
end up spending 3 more CP to do all this, but continue to move your
shocktrooper northwest toward the crouching enemy shocktrooper in the trench
in the middle of the map. Throw a grenade when you can to hit him and make
him stand up, and then use your final (fourth with this unit) move to shoot
him down and then take cover and crouch in the trench.
Finally, save the game and select your lancer, and follow that similar path
toward where your shocktrooper ended up, but more east. Your goal is to push
all the way to the northeastern corner of that trench, so that you actually
end up juuuust behind and to the west of the easternmost light tank. This
should happen after about 3 CP. This is a slightly tricky shot, but shoot
that tank in the back and destroy it. Afterwards, be sure to save again and
then move into the trench and crouch. It's really hard to detect where you
need to be to crouch, but do the best you can. (If you have access to the
Damage order and brought a scout in before, give a Damage order to the scout
and move that scout along the same path and navigate behind the tank; take it
out, and then head for the trench and crouch.) For your last turn, select
Alicia and move her all the way up next to your lancer (or scout), stopping
before you leave the base to shoot the lancer whose back is turned to you on
your way if you want. (It doesn't matter.) Get in the trench and crouch.
Save your game, then end the phase with 1 CP left.
At this point, the enemy's moves will be harder to predict, but they will have
limited CP, and they always call for reinforcements with one. They usually
call for only one type of unit on each map and on this map they call snipers,
and at this point an additional sniper will probably have shown up in the
base. They will probably move their tanks around, and may try to hit your
poor lone shocktrooper back in the middle of the map. The sandstorm will
generally help you. However it happens, so long as your 3 northernmost units
survive and have a few HP, you're good to go. On your turn, save and then run
your lancer north toward the middle light tank. Watch for mines. If you're
low on HP, it's ok to run pretty wide around it - you actually have enough AP
to get what you need done. Run to behind that tank, get close, and blow it
up. Continue to move slightly west after that if you can, and then save your
game. The next shot is a hard one. Reselect the lancer, move west (behind
the enemy shocktrooper leader, if you want) and as south as you can without
getting the shocktrooper's attention, and then aim for the final tank. This
is a tricky shot, and you should still have 2 shots left and can try twice
before you need to reload the game. Also, you can spend a few extra CP moving
if it helps. Otherwise, good luck. (Note: this is only necessary to gain
the maximum XP; if you're only interested in an A rank, you can skip this tank
and shocktrooper leader without worry.) (Alternately, if you have access to
the Damage order, give it again to your scout and they should have plenty of
movement to take out both of those tanks; it's a much easier shot - just be
sure not to draw attention from the shocktrooper in the base.) Once that tank
is finally gone, save and then select your shocktrooper. Push them southwest
toward the crouching shocktrooper leader, and chuck a grenade to get him on
his feet. Reselect, push forward again and take him out. Don't go too far
west, though, because after that you'll need to do an about-face and run north
/ northeast toward the final enemy shocktrooper leader. Try to stop short of
his firing range. Finally, select Alicia and run northeast toward a small
group of suspicious ancient walls. Head up between them and you'll notice an
enemy ace sniper hiding back here on the right. Shoot him in the back of the
head and then go due west toward the enemy base, circling north just a touch
to get behind that enemy shocktrooper. The idea is that you need to get her
up there and behind him without him noticing you. Reselect, move into the
base, and chuck a grenade from behind him to get him standing. If the
reinforcement unit (probably a sniper) is also crouching next to him, be SURE
to hit him with the blast so that he is standing as well. Immediately end
Alicia's turn before she gets mangled, and then reselect your shocktrooper.
Move north - hopefully you'll have just enough AP to get into decent range -
and shoot the final shocktrooper leader in the back, killing him. (This
tactic - shooting one enemy from two different directions to avoid cover fire
- is something else you'll do throughout the game.) Lastly, reselect Alicia,
execute the remaining sniper with headshots, and occupy the base. I finished
with 3 CP remaining after all this, so you have a bit of wiggle-room here and
there if you need to take another turn to position someone better or take an
extra shot, although you do need to make sure you are taking out everyone who
needs to be taken out each turn. (This also affords you enough CP to use the
Damage order and move your scout around more easily if you have it.)
The enemy ace drops a ZM SG 1(g) sniper rifle which is absolutely horrible.
Snipers care about range and accuracy and this one has neither. On the other
hand, if you actually hit anything, you may be able to kill it without a
headshot.
=================================
Episode 7 - The Battle at Barious
=================================
[5E007]
A Rank - 9 phases
CP: 10
Leaders: 0
Aces: 1
Tanks: 1
Boss: 2
Wow. This battle doesn't so much have a set strategy as "things you should
try to accomplish." 9 phases seems like a lot, but the problem isn't you
having enough time to get things done - it's waiting on the enemy to do
things, which is never good. The main issue is that the battle changes
several times, including one drastic change that will totally rearrange
everything and is sadly rather random. This section will guide you on how I
survived (and got the ace along with the A rank), but note that it is a very
hard battle and I recommend saving constantly - in different slots if you need
to - and everyone's final strategy will be different.
First off, here's what you need to know about the flow of battle:
- The giant boss tank has 6 turrets. These are best dispatched by one tank
shot and one lancer shot - or at least, that's how much it took for me. If
you can't do it that quickly, don't fret; 4 AP per turret is not bad, either
(use two tank shots, since they are infinite). It's a VERY good idea to kill
all of them. (I'd recommend saving between shots, too.)
- In fact, I would recommend killing every single thing on the map (at first).
You'll have plenty of time to do it, and that will get them out of your way
for later when you need to be able to roam more freely - and keep them from
stealing your bases and calling reinforcements.
- Once the boss has taken 2 turns, on its third turn it will overrun your
middle base. If you still have troops there, don't sweat - surprisingly,
getting run over by a mountain doesn't really hurt. At this point, your goal
changes: you need to knock down two ragnite walls by hitting them on the flat
side with a lancer. There are five on the map; you can see them on the
command mode. You don't need to hit the one westernmost one directly in front
of the tank (it's already knocked over), but the next two are critical. The
final two don't really matter either, since it will hopefully never make it
that far.
- Once the tank stops to shoot a broken wall with its main gun, it will expose
three radiators which you can then destroy. It took me 4 lancer shots each
(or one grenade - see the note at the end of this episode below). You will
need to climb the helpful ladders on the sides of the thing to get to them,
although you CAN technically shoot them from the ground (even with your tank)
- it's just harder. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND damaging each radiator 3 times with
your lancers before destroying any of them, so that they all have 1 hit left.
Once you break one, the remaining ones retract. They will not heal
themselves.
- Once you have broken two radiators, the game changes. Another super boss
shows up in the northeastern corner of the map with a small squad, and at this
point, strategy is mostly a matter of luck and reloading. You can be smart
about it, but the super boss is invulnerable to ALL attacks. She also can and
will kill ANYONE but Welkin without batting an eyelash (and can probably even
take him out if his weak spot is exposed).
- When you finally destroy the third radiator, you will STILL need to blow up
the giant boss tank! There are no weak spots, but you can't really miss the
thing, either. It took me 6 lancer shots and 3 tank shots, but by the final
turn you'll probably have 20 CP without a problem - you just need troops left
alive who can use it! Thankfully, Welkin can probably handle it on his own if
necessary.
To begin:
Place two good lancers on the northern deploy spot (Largo is a good choice
here). The third spot is a good place for Alicia - she'll grant you some
bonus CP and also be able to get the hell out of there fairly easily.
However, you could leave this spot blank, too - you don't really need bonus CP
for this map, and you'll see why. For the lower side, I recommend putting an
engineer on the northernmost point (hilariously, the boss tank misses this
spot entirely when moving through), a good shocktrooper below that, and then
on the bottom row two more lancers and another shocktrooper to cover them in
the middle (like Rosie).
Your first phase, use your two northern lancers and your tank to take out the
far front and front-left turrets. Be sure to save between shots. Use range
to your advantage - those turrets will murder anyone who gets close enough,
although your tank should be immune. Generally, you won't need to move the
tank much. Once that's done, end your phase. The boss will move but
otherwise not do much. The ground troops will close in on your southern
position. There are a lot of places they may go, but the scout (if he doesn't
kill himself attacking your shocktroopers) will aim for the southwestern base,
along with the sniper. The rest will try to flank, or just hang out. On your
next turn, move your tank east and use it and your two lancers to take out the
back-left turret and the far rear turret. Try to make sure your tank doesn't
leave itself open to their lancer. Also, behind your tank is a good place to
park your lancers when they're done. Next, you'll want to take your western
shocktrooper and run south and around to the east and take out the enemy
scout. Also try to get their sniper if you can. Make sure you're out of
range of the turrets. End your phase.
The boss tank will overrun your middle base (missing your engineer by inches)
and your goals will change. This phase gets a little tougher but you should
have tons of CP by now. First, like previous turns, take your tank and two
lancers and advance and take out the right two turrets. Whew - breathing
room. Park your lancers in the trench with your allies, and make sure the
tank is facing the giant boss, although you can leave yourself exposed to the
lancer because we're about to take him out. Once the turrets are dead, take
your already moved shocktrooper and do your best to take out the two enemy
shocktroopers. Hopefully you'll be able to get them both with this one unit.
After that, run your still-trenched shocktrooper up the slope and take out
that lancer. This should clear all the troops. Now, take one of your
trenched lancers and run up the slope so that you can get a good shot at the
two ragnite walls you need to knock over. It's ok if you can't get them both;
your tank should also be able to nail one. You only need to hit those two.
Be sure to aim for the flat side (not the edge). Once all that is done, end
your phase.
The boss tank will move south and take out the first ragnite wall. Once this
happens, on your turn move one of your trenched lancers to the far (currently
northern) side of the thing and go up the ladder and shoot the radiator. I
recommend descending down the ladder between each shot; the game occasionally
glitched for me and caused the "descend" option to be unavailable if I didn't
use it between turns, which was weird. (Note: if you -do- get stuck on the
thing, don't worry - once it moves you will fall off but this does no damage.
It does leave you rather exposed, however.) Hit it three times and then
crouch near the remaining bunkers in what used to be your base. Then, take
another lancer and go up the nearest (currently south) ladder and hit that
side three times. Then, re-trench (or at least crouch) this lancer as well.
At this point, you can try to hit the rear radiator as well, but that's not as
crucial. I just went and finished off the northern side. (See the note at
the end of this episode below for a slightly different idea about radiators.)
Once this happens, you'll hit a cutscene. Go ahead and end your phase. The
enemy will advance, and probably shoot your tank with its rear cannon. That
one packs a punch, but hopefully it will not take you out. On your next
phase, the best thing you can do is start to move your troops into better
positions. Advance your lancers so that they can get to the boss in one move,
but be sure to stay out of the 180 degree arc directly behind it. Use the
engineer to repair your tank, refill anyone, and park them nearby. Also, try
to keep people crouched, and do NOT go around the "corner" of the bottom side-
wall. In other words, keep your lancers and your engineer in the "inner" area
where you started, and do not go into the long trench that slopes upward
toward the ancient dome. You should also move your tank down to the bottom of
that side wall as well, to keep it near the boss but not behind it. Next,
what I did was to move all my remaining troops - scout, two shocktroopers, and
lancer - up to about the top of the long trench near the dome. Have them face
northeast, or to the left of the dome from their position. However, you may
instead wish to start moving ALL of these troops - except the lancer - to the
far southeast base and start retreating them. The lancer can join his fellows
down below. If you're REALLY confident, once they're retreated, you can call
in a couple sniper reinforcements and some shocktroopers to cover them for
some fun shoot-miss-reloading action in a couple phases. Once they're all
good, end your phase.
The enemy will advance and shoot the second ragnite wall, which is the first
one you knocked down. This opens up its radiators again. However, before you
run up there, be SURE to have all your other troops either stationed where you
want them or retreated completely. Once you're all set, run one lancer up the
back and shoot it three times if you haven't already - be sure it only needs
one more hit. (I highly recommend making the rear radiator the last one.)
Then, make sure that lancer is back in cover! Lastly, move a lancer up to the
remaining side radiator and take it out. At this point, after another
cutscene another super boss will show up with a small contingent of troops.
DO NOT go near them. Move your lancer back down and run for cover. Make sure
your tank is hugging that side-wall and between the giant enemy and your
troops. Once you're all good, end your turn.
At this point, the mission is sort of a crap-shoot. What happens next is that
the super boss will zoom around and probably execute lots of your guys. What
you WANT to happen is for her to get distracted by your tank and NOT go around
it and shoot your lancers/engineer. The other enemies will advance as well;
what happened for me was that my remaining units who weren't blown away by the
super boss lucked up and pretty much took them all out in counterattacks,
including the ace. However, this is really a matter of luck, and if you
retreated your guys then they will obviously not stop anyone from advancing.
The enemy will have 20 CP easily by this point, so expect it to be bad. And
to top it off, the boss tank will only move forward and possibly fire at you.
Not a good phase for you. Although, if you brought in some snipers you might
have a chance to get a few yourself on your next phase - especially the ace
for the bonus XP - but expect it to be tricky, and you still may get a few
troops dropped. It's probably a more reliable strategy, though (I haven't
completely tested it).
For the eighth phase, you have two specific things you need to get done.
You'll probably also have about 20 CP at this point, so take your time and be
smart about it. Effectively, you need to move those lancers (and the engineer
if you want) to back behind the enemy boss tank. They need to squeeze behind
it - or maybe even to the other side - and avoid the other super boss at all
costs. She has about a 270 degree field of vision and can take down any troop
with one volley. But, you have two things going for you here: first, her
primary fire takes a short while to recharge, so you can wait for her to
finish shooting and then make a dash. Second, she can't shoot through your
tank, so you may need to move your tank slightly, then move the troops, then
move the tank, and so on, until they are out of sight. If you still have
anyone else left alive, try to rescue your fallen friends if you can, but
you'll be done in less than 3 turns anyway. The main thing to keep in mind is
to make sure you save however many CP you need to have 20 for your next and
final phase.
Hopefully on the enemy's next phase, the super boss simply won't massacre you.
She doesn't seem to think about going behind the tank for some reason, but I
wouldn't leave yourself exposed, either. They did next to nothing against me.
Also, the boss tank should shoot the third ragnite wall - the second one you
shot - thus exposing its radiators again. On your ninth phase, immediately
run a lancer up the back (aren't you glad you left this one for last?) and
take it out. At this point, you'll have one more cutscene and the boss tank
is suddenly vulnerable. Use every lancer shot you have left, using the
engineer to refill if you have to, or switch to your tank if you run out of
shots. You should have plenty of CP left, even without your extra leaders,
and be able to finish off the whole thing. Once that's done, you're finally
finished!
Note about the radiators:
MANY people have written in to let me know that you can also use a single
grenade instead of 4 lancer shots to take out the radiators once they are
exposed. Barry Erkenbrack summed up this strategy nicely:
"Once you climb up a ladder onto the tank, you can see that the radiator is
open on top and is hollow inside - like a house with no roof. Just aim the
grenade so that the aiming arc is on top of the radiator and throw the grenade
and it will disappear inside and destroy the radiator in one go. [The
grenade] also doesn't hurt the character standing right next to the exploding
radiator for some reason... A scout ... can hide behind the rocks on the east
side of the map, run up the side of the tank and toss in a grenade and run
back to hiding in one turn."
This seems like a completely viable tactic and you should certainly follow it
if you find it useful. I haven't tested it, but it doesn't really change the
core strategy. Why? Because first of all, saving CP is not something you
really care about on this map. You have gobs of CP - you will max out at 20
easily - and while this will end up saving you about 9, it won't make the map
end any sooner. Secondly, once the main tank gets disabled, you will still
need lancers to take it out. You may be able to handle it with Welkin alone -
he'll have 19 CP at best, so that's 9 shots - but using lancers guarantees you
will take it out in one phase. Either way, it's up to you.
=======================================
Episode 8a - The Woodland Snare ("Life")
=======================================
[5E08A]
A Rank - 4
CP: 3
Leaders: 2
Aces: 1
Tanks: 0
*Thanks to G-man for pointing out the magic flowers.
Wow - this level is either EXTREMELY difficult or relatively easy, all
depending on whether or not you figure out the secret trick to this map. In
fact, I personally hate this level due to the cheap nature of this trick, and
I apologize to everyone who tried to follow the version 1.00 of this guide,
because while possible, getting an A rank without the trick makes this the
hardest map in the game and extremely frustrating.
This map seems rather difficult when you start: you've got an enemy ace
shocktrooper that you need to take out with two scouts, which isn't fun.
There are security lights which trigger explosions, additional mortar fire at
the end of each turn, Alicia is hobbling and can barely move, and did I
mention there are an ample amount of mines thrown in for good measure -
usually in hard-to-spot places? You may die several times, so save often - at
least after each phase. And to top it all off, you only get 3 CP and you have
to get BOTH Alicia and Welkin to the objective in 4 phases? Bleh! Sounds
impossible, right? Well, it just about is - unless you figure out the tricks
to this map.
The main trick here is that in three locations on the map are special blue
flowers that glow. Using these flowers will heal Alicia slightly each time,
and increase the total distance she can cover with her AP - although they
never stop her from hobbling (which is only dangerous when she's near an
enemy). These were mentioned in one of the cutscenes I believe, but they are
incredibly unintuitive to use. You have to have Alicia nearby, but only
Welkin can actually trigger them. That's right: both of them have to be in a
rather specific location for this to work. Yuck.
The other trick to this map is mastering how to use security lights to your
advantage. If you try to avoid them you might trigger them where they can
kill you, but if you trigger them in the correct spots, the lights will stop
chasing you and you can get past them easily. This is an important lesson
you'll need for later on in the game as well.
Start the map with Alicia. Move forward and hug the right wall. Near the end
of her movement (watch for mines!), you'll see an enemy scout leader off to
the left; turn and shoot him in the head. You'll be firing through trees but
you'll know when you're targeting his head because the "shots to kill" count
will drop to under 5. If you don't kill him, that's ok. Continue her
movement hugging the right wall toward some glowing fireflies. Select her
again and finish off the scout if you didn't before, and then push toward the
fireflies, triggering a cutscene. You'll want to move through them and follow
the path on the other (south-most) side of the berm. Don't worry about
stopping near the glowing blue flower, but take note of its location on the
right. Continue forward as far as she can go. Now, select Welkin, follow
that same path (watch for mines!) and finish off the scout leader if he's not
already dead. Go through the little path and head for the glowing flower.
When you get close, you should see "view event" on your screen. Press the
action button to see a short cutscene which heals Alicia slightly. After
that, continue his movement through the path turning north, and head for the
bridge (watch for the mine near the bridge!). You should end up juuuust at
the edge of the bridge. If you need to end near the mine, be sure to fudge to
the right side of the bridge so Alicia can get past you without stepping on
the mine as well.
On your next phase, start with Alicia. Move forward and north across the
bridge, triggering another cutscene (if Welkin didn't already). Go across the
bridge and then do your best to immediately trigger the searchlight. This
makes sure it falls in a completely harmless area. Reselect Alicia and then
turn left (west) and follow the left-most (southern) path. Toward the end
you'll see a large rock on your right and some grass. If you move slowly
here, you'll notice an enemy scout leader in the grass right before he can
shoot you. Immediately go into targeting mode and toss a grenade at him, then
immediately end your turn before he can shoot. Now, select Welkin. Move him
across the bridge and take the same path, and once you get to Alicia stop just
short of her and toss a grenade over the rock at the scout leader. If you
hurt him pretty good before getting your grenade anywhere close should kill
him. (Alternately, you can just run around the corner and shoot him, but it's
good to save your HP for the next phase.) Continue on past Alicia toward the
next area with a searchlight. Here, it's best to avoid it. Welkin is fast
enough that if you wait for it to pass, you can beat it. Take the right-most
(northern) path here; the light travels clockwise and you want to take the
counter-clockwise path. Continuing forward past the light you'll see the
second glowing flower on your right, and a tree just past it. Stop Welkin
just past the flower while the words "view event" are on your screen, and end
his turn. End the phase.
The mortars should fall harmlessly nearby. Start your next phase with Alicia
once again. Move her all the way to the tree just past Welkin, but do NOT go
around that next corner. (The trick here to avoid the clockwise spotlight
with Alicia is to wait for it to pass, then make it to the tiny bush on the
left side of the path and wait. If you're standing there, the light will miss
you. It's not really necessary, though.) Now, save and then select Welkin
and use the flower again. This heals Alicia quite a bit more. Now take
Welkin forward around the corner and move to the right as quickly as you can,
hugging the right wall tightly! You'll most likely get shot up a bit, and
probably trigger another searchlight, but that's ok. You'll see an area with
more fireflies on the right wall again - take note of its location. Continue
north through the grassy area so that you're on the other (east) side of the
rock from the two troops. Inch north juuuust enough to spy the enemy ace
around the corner of the rock and toss a grenade to wound him. (You can't
shoot him or he'll murder you.) I found that if you do not actually target
him, just throw real close and behind him, it seems to lower the chance he
might evade. If he does evade, that's ok, but it will make Alicia's job much
harder - so it's best if you can hit him pretty hard (don't be afraid to
reload). Once you've gotten his attention, run back south and turn left
through the shortcut with the fireflies, and head north through that path.
Once you get to the end, you'll see the third and final blue glowing flower to
the north (and slightly left) of you, again on the right side of the path near
a rock wall. Head toward that flower (try to avoid the light) and end your
turn when you see the "view event" message. Save again. Now, select Alicia
and go around the same corner, hugging the right wall again. The ace will be
facing the other direction, so once you get a good shot at him, aim for his
head and take him out. This is a very difficult shot; not only does he have a
tremendous chance to evade, but you might have to shoot through tree branches
again, depending on where Welkin's grenade sent him. You may need to reload a
few times, but it is worth it for the weapon he drops. Once he's dead,
shuffle through the grass and head north through the same secret path that
Welkin used. You should come out in another patch of grass; go ahead and end
your turn here.
The enemy mortar fire will likely kill their final scout. On your last phase,
start with Welkin. Use the flower and get the last cutscene (if she's not
close enough, just skip it - it isn't necessary), and then head straight for
the objective. Avoid the mines, but don't worry about the searchlights - it
doesn't matter now if you trigger them. When it splits, the path on the right
(south) is shorter and has fewer mines. He should make it to the objective
easily. Now select Alicia and move her all the way to the end as well
following the same path. It may take two CP if you weren't able to heal her a
third time; otherwise that's it!
Killing the ace nets you the ZM MP 3(g), which is an extremely powerful
shocktrooper weapon with horrible range but tremendous firepower. Equip it
immediately.
========================================================
Episode 8b - The Woodland Snare ("Reunion in the Forest")
========================================================
[5E08B]
A Rank - 3
CP: 8
Leaders: 4
Aces: 1
Tanks: 2
The important facts you need to know about this mission are: to get Welkin to
the tank, you'll need to run east down to the river valley, then back west to
a ladder. And it's required, because there's a wall (behind the second enemy
tank) that can ONLY be cleared by running your tank into it (nothing else
damages it). Also, the mortar will make things tricky but a lancer can reach
it at the very beginning and shut it down.
For your deploy, I chose two shocktroopers on the front line (east-most), then
two lancers behind them, and then a scout and a sniper. First, start across
the river and choose Alicia. Move her down and around to the east, take out
the first scout, and then avoid the mine on the left as you run forward and
take cover beside the house. Save, then select your northernmost lancer, run
north toward the broken bridge, and take out the mortar. This is a very
difficult shot so it will likely take many reloads. Run this lancer back to
your camp and crouch (save again!). Next, select Welkin and run him along the
northern path toward the house and take out the next scout waiting there.
Push him ahead (watch for the mine around the corner of the fence!) and down
the path as far as you can go. Now, select Alicia again, and continue her to
the edge of the fence, around the corner, and target the shocktrooper leader
who is conveniently facing the other way. Kill him, then run down the path to
the first grassy area and take cover (face behind you). Reselect Welkin, and
run him down the path (watch the multiple mines) and turn the corner right,
running to the end of the second grassy area - and crouch (just in case).
Next, select your northern shocktrooper and run toward the two snipers. Take
out the first, save, and then take out the ace sniper. This guy evades like
CRAZY so expect a lot of retries. Grenades worked best for me. Also, if you
throw a grenade, be aware that it is possible to take out the sniper nest
ladder as well, so at least if you don't take this guy down, you can keep him
from dominating the field. (If you're worried about ruining the nest, it
takes your own sniper at least 3 moves to get here and you're exposed to a lot
of enemy fire when you're in the nest, so I found it not worthwhile to use
it.) This should leave 1 AP; save and end the phase. If you're really
worried about your last shocktrooper, you can afford to take an AP and move
them to cover - although they can't do much else.
The enemy will likely call reinforcements and then batter your tank. They may
also beat on your forward, relatively-exposed shocktrooper. Hopefully their
west-most tank will move up, and you won't suffer losses. On your next phase,
you'll want to run Welkin the rest of the way down the path, up the ladder and
to the group. At this point your tank will be healed completely, which is
great. The next couple of moves can be done in different orders, depending on
where the enemies have moved. For me, the enemy tank was most forward, so I
dealt with that first. Run your southern lancer like a madmad around behind
the tank and take it out, immediately ending the turn afterwards before you're
mangled. Then, push the Edilwess forward and use a mortar blast to take out
the crouching enemy shocktrooper and knock a few lancers back. Try to push
forward a good ways to cover your exposed lancer, but be careful about
exposing your weak spot. The main thing is that you have to be able to reach
the wall next turn. Once you're good, save and select your sniper. Move them
up to behind the tank for cover and take two turns to take out the two
shocktroopers (including the leader) sitting on the enemy central base. This
should clear it out. Next, move your battered southern shocktrooper all the
way forward and take out the enemy scout leader. This shouldn't be too hard,
but be VERY careful not to get too close to the second tank or you will get
mangled. Crouch here. Then, run your scout through the enemy lancers (who
will ignore you) to the central base. Your job is to grab the base (since
this ruins their reinforcement call) and then crouch - or retreat, if you want
to be more conservative. Feel free to shoot someone in the head on the way if
you can, but mind the tank and act quickly. On your last AP (having saved one
from before), heal your lancer if he needs it and move him up to the crouching
shocktrooper and crouch there as well. If he doesn't need to heal, take
another lancer out on your way. (This is optional, it just helps get him into
a better position - however, you can save the AP for the next phase if you
want to do the same thing.)
On the enemy's phase, it will probably try to hit the tank more, and it may
take out the scout - that's ok, though, their job is done. Reload if your
tank treads get shot, or if the shocktrooper or lancer bite it. On your turn,
run the lancer like a madman up to the wall and get a bead on the weak spot of
that second tank. Take it out, and then move away from the wall as best you
can. Next, select your tank and drive it up through the wall. Feel free to
kill someone on the way. Lastly, select your shocktrooper and push through
the hole to the base on the other side. It should take about two moves, and
you should be able to handle the enemy shocktrooper leader guarding it. You
even have a few AP to spare if you need some wiggle room.
================================
Episode 9 - A Midsummer Incident
================================
[5E009]
A Rank - 5 (2 is plenty)
CP: 6
Leaders: 0
Aces: 0
Tanks: 0
Boss: 1
This level is all about knowing what's going on. The objective is actually
VERY easy and you can complete it in just two phases; however, moving into the
correct place is not unless you know where to go. Also, the game gives you
horrible advice because as far as I could tell there are no leaders or aces,
so you might as well finish as quickly as possible. In fact, after three of
your phases (if you continue to block the enemy), they will call for
reinforcements. The enemy actually moves first on this one - however, that
turn is essentially of no consequence.
There are several strategies that can work, but the fastest and simplest is to
start with your strongest shocktrooper - preferably the one with the best
damaging weapon - in the northeastern corner. Load Alicia and Largo and Rosie
somewhere on the map; it doesn't matter. Start your phase and move your main
shocktrooper west and hide behind a box. You can move your tank if you want
to see a cutscene; I moved the tank in to assist if necessary, but do NOT take
the game's advice and block the enemy's path with your tank. End your phase.
The enemy will move around a lot, and pretend to attack your tank. The main
point is that the enemy vehicle will move south 1 block (it only moves 1 block
at a time). Then, on your phase, save and select your shocktrooper. Run at
and circle right behind the enemy vehicle. Heal if you need to, take out
anyone shooting at you, or otherwise just make yourself comfortable. Then,
simply aim at the vehicle's weak spot and blast away. Reselect as necessary.
You should have 9 CP total and you can make it on your first one, so you
should have plenty of time to blow it away. You might try adding a Damage
order if you have trouble - I haven't tested this, though. Simple, eh?
=============================================================
Episode 10a - Liberation of Fouzen ("Infiltration of Fouzen")
=============================================================
[5E10A]
A Rank - 5
CP: 10
Leaders: 8
Aces: 1
Tanks: 2
Ooo, tons of leaders, snipers, mines - and you have to move the tank all the
way across the field through mortar-launching searchlights in just 5 phases?
Sounds hard, but really this level is a cakewalk. You'll have plenty of time
to kill every single enemy on the map and still get your tank to the
objective. The big secret to the searchlights is not to avoid them, but
rather to trigger them in places that you know you can avoid - just like in
episode 8a. Smart triggering of lights helps a bunch. Also worth noting, the
lights move on anyone's turn, so if your tank is parked in an area they can
cover and you move your scout, expect the tank to get detected. Because of
this, I'd advise moving the tank last in each phase as much as you can.
You'll need one scout who can do decent damage - Alicia works well, and you
may want to give her a high-damage weapon instead of the more accurate one -
and an engineer (or another scout if you don't mind your tank getting a little
banged up and need the better firepower), both as far forward as you can,
along with Rosie and Largo in the back for CP (they won't be acting). I also
loaded a sniper in the northwestern-most slot (top, forward) just to make the
first move slightly easier. Start by selecting the sniper and running
forward, through the cutscene, toward the rail cart. You should juuuust be
able to see the head of an enemy sniper right before you get to the cart.
Take him out. Next, select Alicia and run her to the cart, get in and ride it
to the other side. Follow that path north toward another sniper; get close
and take him out. Reselect Alicia and run her forward again. Here, you have
some choices, but you basically need to move her twice, take out both snipers
(including the sniper leader), and get her to the far northern side of this
area where there is a path that leads down to the lower level. I had her skip
sniper 3 and shoot the leader at point-blank, then run down the path and
target sniper 3 again - but that's a slightly tricky shot, and you can take it
slow (and shoot them both at point-blank) instead if you prefer. Next, select
your tank and roll it forward; you should find a scout and take him out.
Reselect your tank and move forward again; again, you'll see a scout you
should take down with your anti-personnel gun. Push as close as you can
toward the bridge, then select your engineer and run them forward toward the
grass north of the tank and take cover. That's 9 CP; end your phase.
The enemy's moves are harder to predict because they often end up not doing
anything. They may run the closest shocktrooper up and commit suicide on your
tank, or they may not. However, they probably won't do much. On your next
phase, this ordering is slightly tricky. First, take Alicia down the path and
hug the left wall; you may want to trigger both searchlights in this area so
that you know where the mortars will land and can avoid them. Continue south
and duck between two houses, where you'll find a shocktrooper leader facing
away from you. Shoot him in the back of the head, and then run forward across
the bridge (watch for mines) toward the enemy tank. Now, you can either try
to go ahead and run behind the tank, or stop short of its range if it seems to
be mangling you. Her main task was to see it. Next, select your engineer and
run toward the first shocktrooper (if alive). If you come at him from the
right, he probably won't see you and you can get close enough to take him out
with a few well-placed shots to the head. Then, reselect the engineer and
duck between the houses and head for the second shocktrooper, who you should
also be able to sneak close to. Take him out, and head toward the bridge.
Either stay away from the lights, or just stay out of where you know the
mortars will hit if you've already triggered them. Then, save and select the
tank. You will want to move the tank forward three times (for 6 CP), and each
time shoot the light tank on the bridge. This should take it out. If you
miss once, just reload. Also, either be careful to avoid the lights, or
trigger them early where you will not be ending up. And lastly, on your third
move, angle the tank a little bit to west (toward the far side of the canyon),
because if you leave yourself completely exposed their second tank will take
pot shots at you, and that's never fun. Finally, on your 11th CP this turn,
reselect Alicia, run forward past where the tank was, shoot a lancer in the
head if you can and hug the left wall (or you can toss a grenade at the one
that's hiding, but he'll probably just hide again). Your goal is to make it
all the way to the second rail cart and take it to the second stop. However,
if you can't quite make it, that's probably fine - just be sure to hide in the
grass.
The enemy will again likely do almost nothing. If they have a lancer left
alive he might shoot at your tank; if Alicia didn't make it to the rail cart
they might shoot at her (reload if she dies). On your next phase, select the
engineer and move toward the bridge. I disabled both the tank and the anti-
personnel mines just to be sure. Run the engineer across and toss a grenade
at the lancer who is hiding, but be sure to not get shot by the enemies
guarding their base if you can help it. Next, select your tank and continue
toward the bridge (I got about halfway across). What you do next will depend
entirely on how far you can move your tank. You want to save at least 3 CP
for Alicia if possible. Move your tank forward as far as it can go, and see
what you are able to hit. Ideally, you want to launch a mortar round at the
enemy shocktrooper crouching in the base around the rock to your right. You
can tell if you're targeting him because the target line will turn orange. If
you can't make it this turn, that's ok - just shoot at the lancer in the
grass, or mortar him if you have an extra mortar loaded on your tank and no
friendlies are nearby. If you can take out the shocktrooper this turn go
ahead and do so and save the CP, but otherwise reselect and move the tank
forward until you can - but not too far; you want to make sure the lancer
cannot run to the left (south) of your tank to get to your back, but must run
around to the right. The mortar blast should kill the shocktrooper and knock
the scout around so he has to stand up. Next, select your engineer again, run
at the base, finish off the scout with a few point-blank shots to the head,
and occupy it. If you have AP remaining, turn around and repair the sandbags
and then go ahead and crouch behind them. This will leave you either 3 or 5
CP for Alicia. Select her and run up the path to the high ground on the far
western edge of the map. There are two sniper leaders and a scout ace up
here. Use her 3 CP to take them all out with generous helpings of lead to the
face. The ace can be tricky, but only because headshots can just barely kill
him. If you have extra CP you might want to use an Attack order just before
killing him to raise your anti-personnel damage. In any case, at the end of
her turn be sure to push her all the way back against the wall so that she's
out of range or at least not targetable by any enemy units. If you have extra
CP, you might also go ahead and save and try to take out one of the lancer
leaders as well. Once you're good, end the phase.
At this point, the enemy should have very little CP left and very few troops
to move anyway. The lancer you left in the grass will likely kill himself
running around your tank's machine gun, and your engineer can likely
contribute a few shots as well. On your turn, start by taking Alicia and
head-shotting the enemy lancer(s) that remain(s). Next, you can move your
engineer up to repair the tank (if needed) and disable the last mine on the
bridge, but I didn't bother. Select your tank and start moving forward,
shooting the enemy tank at the end of your first two moves, and then at the
beginning of your third move. (Optionally, you can also give a Demolition
order to Alicia and have her take the tank out before moving the engineer,
just to be safe. You have tons of CP to spare at this point.) Once you get
to the other side of the last bridge, you'll be at the only place on the map
where you might want to be careful about the searchlights, especially since
this last one is actually easy to avoid if you wait for it. End your phase.
The enemy has nothing left to move. On your 5th phase just move the tank
forward for the win.
===========================================================
Episode 10b - Liberation of Fouzen ("Liberation of Fouzen")
===========================================================
[5E10B]
A Rank - 6
CP: 10
Leaders: 4
Aces: 1
Tanks: 3
You have two objectives and you're forced to follow them in order.
Unfortunately, all enemy units are elites now. I had my scouts and
shocktroopers upgraded to elite at this point (level 11), and it really makes
a huge difference. You'll also have to deal with lots of tank mines and
annoying barricades that can only be taken out with explosive damage.
Reinforcements show up each phase after two phases until you take out both
bridges. The enemy train also moves position each round and targets random
(but pre-set) areas on the map each phase with mortar fire. However, if you
save before each enemy phase starts, you can reload before their phase and it
may select a new random location. The train will also murder you from half
the map away - not fun. And finally, there are lifts all over the level that
can only be activated from one side. The place where they can be activated is
marked on your map. The one that is impossible to reach will be activated by
the enemy once you've completed the first objective.
Interestingly enough, this map is still pretty easy because you'll have gobs
of time to get everything done and still kill everything on the map. There
are two completely viable tactics: "slow and steady," and "quick and dirty."
Slow and steady involves methodically moving your tank across the map, taking
out all the mines and barricades along the way. This way costs a ton of CP,
but it's also generally safer, since your tank has an easier time against
tanks and counter-fire and can bust up bunkers easily with mortar fire. Quick
and dirty involves never moving Welkin more than once. Ignoring the mines and
barricades will make you much faster, but you'll also need to rely more on
luck as your troops will have to leave themselves open more and you may take
more casualties. However, if you move quickly you can actually blow up both
bridges by phase 3 and finish the map early. This guide will describe the
slow and steady way, but you can extrapolate the quick and dirty way pretty
easily (just ignore the tank after phase 1 and move out more scouts instead of
the engineer). Also worth noting is that it is often FAR more efficient to
take out a tank with a damage order on a foot soldier, rather than rely on
lancers with horrid aim or the expensive-to-move tank. This map will rely on
the Damage order several times; you should have it by now. It's still not
100% necessary, but it will make things easier.
To start, load a sniper, a shocktrooper with a really high damage weapon, and
an engineer in the triangle that is the two spots in the base and the spot
just above it. These will all be moving your first phase. Additionally, load
a lancer toward the back (east), another shocktrooper, two scouts, and
whatever else you'd like - although another scout probably makes things
easier.
Start with your engineer; move them up and clear the bridge of mines. Then
move the sniper forward onto the bridge and take out the only standing enemy
shocktrooper you can see; he's down by the first medium tank. Next, move your
tank forward and place a careful mortar round to the west; your goal is to
take out the barricade in front of the rail car, as well as hit the
shocktrooper to make him stand. Next, take your own heavily armed
shocktrooper and run forward twice, killing the enemy the second time. Then,
go ahead and use one more move to get on the railcar and push toward the lift,
triggering a cutscene. Grab a scout and run forward as far as you can all the
way to the west. Lastly, reselect your tank and aim another mortar blast (if
you have two) or tank round at one of the barricades on the next bridge north
of your position; you should just be able to take one out (if you aim directly
between them with a mortar, you might catch two). Continue west and park.
End your phase.
On their turn, the first medium tank will move forward, and they'll take a few
pot shots at your guys. Their train will fire on you, then move, and reselect
another spot on the map to hit. You'll get used to this pattern.
On your next phase, give a damage boost order (cost: 2 CP) to your heavily
armed and far forward shocktrooper. Have them activate the lift ("activate"
the button on the box on the side) and then go down and shoot the medium tank
in the back, destroying it. Continue north toward the bridge. Reselect,
chuck a grenade onto the bridge, and after the cutscenes circle toward the
enemy leader shocktrooper. The enemy will activate one of the lifts for you.
At this point, you'll want to reselect the same shocktrooper and take out the
enemy leader, occupy the base, and RETREAT (very important). For me, this
only took one turn; my shocktroopers were elite and she had the best weapon
I'd found in the game so she could even take out someone crouching in one
turn. This might take two turns for you, but either way kill the guy and get
out. Next, take your advancing scout and take out the lancer to the north -
standard procedure: grenade to make him stand up, then another CP to shoot
him in the head. Park yourself near the edge of the bridge, but don't expose
yourself to the second tank. Then select your tank and use your mortar to
take out another barricade. Push forward, down, and around as best you can.
If you have a final CP, go ahead and run the engineer forward. End your
phase; they should move the second tank up and then go through their normal
motions.
On your turn give another damage boost order (cost: 2) to your sniper this
time, who should have a great shot at the back of the second medium tank.
Have them shoot it twice; this should weaken it significantly. Select your
tank and move it forward; take out the enemy tank. Then, select your engineer
and run down the path; take out another barricade with a grenade. Reselect
and have the engineer take out all the mines on the second bridge; push
forward after that. Reselect your tank, take out the final barricade, and
push as far as you can. The enemy should react poorly and push a few guys
your way; they may even kill a scout on your tank if you're lucky. It's also
worth noting that since the enemy will target random areas of the map, you may
have to readjust these strategies somewhat dependant on that. Sometimes they
will target their own men; sometimes they will force you to move people in
your base. Just continue following these basic ideas and you should be fine.
On your next turn, move the tank across the bridge and blow the lancer out
from hiding. Next, save and then select your scout. You'll want to move all
the way across the bridge (hug right), kill the lancer, then activate the lift
on the right and quickly ride it back to your starting base and safety - all
while getting pummeled by the train. Next, select your poor engineer and run
the same path, but this time before you get to the lift duck between the two
buildings on your right and shoot the hidden shocktrooper leader who happens
to be facing the wrong way. You'll probably just want to stay back there once
he's dead. The next few moves will depend on what's left in the area down
there, and how many troops have moved up. You will want to select your base-
bound shocktrooper and using the now operational lift, essentially just go
down and murder anyone that's left (except the enemy scout leader hiding
between two buildings - you can leave him for now). For me, this took two
turns, and I ended my shocktrooper's movement up the next (northern) lift on
the third bridge. Next, select your uninjured scout, go down the lift, run
around the corner to the right and shoot the hidden enemy scout leader in the
back of the head, then continue around to the right and take the rail cart.
Then activate the final lift, and go stand near the sniper ace. Reselect,
take him out, and head back to your base. (Sometimes this is hard and
sometimes it isn't; I find standing slightly behind and not right on top of
the guy seemed to help.) Now take your rearguard lancer, go down the last
lift, and run over and blow up the southeast bridge. (It's worth noting that
the hit detection for when you can "ride" the lifts is really a large area; be
sure to take advantage of this when you're moving your slowest units to get
the best movement out of them.) This should leave you with anywhere from zero
to 2 CP. Go ahead and end the phase.
The enemy will pester you a little and move the train. They might have one
more troop run up from the previous reinforcement; for me it was a lancer. On
your turn, select your engineer, kill the remaining guy, and go up the lift
and clear the third bridge of mines. Next, use another damage boost order
(CP: 2) on your shocktrooper and have them run around the left of the medium
tank and take it out. Careful about damage; you'll be getting shot by the
train, the tank, and a scout. Then, take 4 CP and move your tank forward and
to the left, up the lift and across the bridge; use your second turn to place
a mortar round between the two bunkered lancers and make them stand up.
Reselect your shocktrooper and take them both out; I took out a close one,
then ran around the buildings to the left to avoid the train's counter-fire,
and then took out the second. Occupy the base. If you're hurt bad, you can
retreat - or, if you have some extra CP left, go ahead and run your least-
injured scout all the way up and heal the shocktrooper. Try to run a scout up
regardless. That should end your phase. The enemy will hopefully not kill
anyone; it tends to waste CP like crazy.
On your last phase, you have gobs of CP and not much to do. Use your tank to
bust up the final scout leader and shocktrooper's positions, and then reselect
and shoot them down as needed. Once the path is clear, take a scout up the
path, activate the final lift, ride it down to the little island and shoot the
bomb. Anyone can shoot it; it just needs one shot.
===============================
Episode 11 - The Marberry Shore
===============================
[5E011]
A Rank - 8 (4 or 5 is plenty)
CP: 12
Leaders: 3
Aces: 1
Tanks: 4
This seems like a tough map but it's actually not too bad; the enemies will
all be elites from now on, but you can actually get every piece of bonus XP
and finish the map in just 4 phases - far fewer than the 8 you have. The two
"tricks" to the map are not deploying the majority of your troops, and a quick
mastery of the smoke round. The level is pretty linear and lined with tough
bunker positions, lots of tanks, a few mines, and turrets that can be
destroyed. There are also "invulnerable guns" that, as the name implies, you
should not try shooting. However, with intelligent troop movements and lots
of smoke for cover, you can navigate this level without much trouble.
To start, load ONLY your CP boosters, including Alicia in front (I put her on
the right) and Largo and Rosie in the back (they won't be used). Start with
Welkin: move him toward the opening in the wall until he starts to get shot,
then stop and place a smoke round as close to the front of him as you can.
Continue forward through the smoke until you can't move anymore. Next, select
Alicia and run her through the smoke and turn right; occupy the enemy base,
and kill the scout standing ahead on the right. Next, reselect Welkin and
move him forward through the smoke and turn left once you are through the gate
(no easy task - driving a tank through smoke is hard). Kill the enemy scout
on the left after pushing forward as far as you can. Congratulations, you
have now made it past the first set of guns; they will not target you past
that wall. Use the rest of your turn to call reinforcements from your base:
get a sniper, an engineer, a shocktrooper, and a lancer. That should leave
you 3 CP; end your phase. The enemy won't do much; they might move their
medium tank up and hit Welkin pretty hard (he'll be fine).
On your next phase, start with your sniper. Move them into the sniper nest
nearby and take out the standing shocktrooper due north (an easy shot).
Descend from the nest and if you have movement left, move back toward your
base. Next, move your tank, and run all the way up right next to the enemy
medium tank. Your goal is to shoot another smoke round in front of the
northeast gun turret, but you also need to cover the enemy scout positioned
near it and most of the upside-down "U" shaped bunkers just north of him. I
aimed for the scout and then pushed barely left a couple times. Next, take
two CP and move your lancer up to the medium tank. Be sure to stay on the
RIGHT (east) side of the tank, since that side is clear. Blow it up and then
run back toward the base; this lancer is now done. Since the shocktrooper to
the east has an attack-down gun, I found it best to hit him with my tank
mortar. Save and then select Welkin and move him forward slightly, then
mortar the bunkered shocktrooper due east. This should kill him completely;
if it doesn't, you may want to reload. It will also take out the next sniper
nest, but that's ok. Next, select Alicia and run her up and slightly left,
past the broken sniper nest, into the smoke, and run up behind the northeast
turret. There's a ragnite canister there; shoot it to blow it up (do NOT use
a grenade or you will dissipate the smoke). Continue moving her back down
from the turret and move north past the scout in the smoke and push as far
north as you can go without leaving the protective smoke. I crouched at the
upside-down "U" bunker just to be sure. Next, run your deployed shocktrooper
up the same path toward Alicia with two moves and get as close as you can to
the top of the smoke. Throw a grenade at the crouching enemy scout (who is
outside the smoke near the base) north of you to get him to stand up; you
should juuuust be able to make out his outline from your position. If you
can't reach him, then your smoke was too far south; it's not the end of the
world, though. Now, save and give a damage order (2 CP) to that same troop;
reselect and have them run up and quickly get behind the heavy tank. Blow it
away, and then quickly end your turn. Reselect one more time, finish off the
scout, and then run and crouch by the sandbags at the 2nd enemy base. This
should leave you with 1 CP; you can use it to give a heal order to the
shocktrooper if you think they need it, or kill off the scout if you couldn't
grenade him before, but otherwise you should save it. End your phase.
The enemy did basically nothing but called reinforcements at every base and
tried to kill my exposed shocktrooper. If your shocktrooper dies, you should
reload. On your next phase, start with your engineer. Move up, fix the
damaged sniper nest, and then move forward toward the bunkered scout south of
Alicia. Throw a grenade and take him out, then continue forward, but watch
the northwest turret; crouch as soon as you can and end your turn. Next,
reselect your sniper and move twice toward the second sniper nest; climb it
and aim for the standing shocktrooper leader due west. (You could also use
your tank instead but the sniper is much easier to use.) Take him out (you
can leave the sniper in the nest - no one will be able to reach them after
this turn). Once that's done, select Welkin and place another smoke round in
front of the northwest turret; just about anywhere in front of it is fine.
Now, reselect your engineer and move up and throw a second grenade at the lone
shocktrooper leader to get him up and turn him around; immediately end your
turn. Select your shocktrooper and shoot him in the back; then occupy that
base to stop reinforcements and head southwest into the smoke toward the
northwest turret. (If your engineers don't have more grenades yet, you may
want to use your shocktrooper to grenade him first and the engineer to finish
him off - but it will be tougher, because your shocktrooper will have to blow
him out of the base, occupy it, and still run south all while getting shot.)
Reselect your shocktrooper, run toward the 3rd base (watch for mines - try
heading toward the turret first and then toward the base), kill the scout
standing there and occupy it. Also, push up to the edge of the barricades;
the guns won't target you until you're past the barricades. Now select Alicia
and run her around and behind the turret, and shoot the canister behind it to
take it out. Continue south pushing toward the 3rd enemy base, and position
her next to the barricades as well. Take another CP to call for a final
shocktrooper reinforcement. At this point you should have 3 (or possibly 2 if
you healed earlier) CP remaining. End your phase.
The enemy doesn't have many troops left, but they'll get one reinforcement
who, for me, ran up to the bunker near the last wall. This turned out to be
great. They'll call again for more troops. On your turn, select Welkin and
position him so that you can fire another smoke round directly into the middle
of the area between the final two invulnerable guns. I aimed for just behind
the central barricades. Next, if the enemy shocktrooper ran up like he did
for me, select a shocktrooper and run them forward into the smoke. Get to the
very edge and chuck a grenade at the enemy shocktrooper (you can just make him
out) to get him to stand, then reselect and push through the smoke and blow
him away. Bunker down after that. Next, save and then select Alicia and run
through the smoke, baring right. Once you're through the gate, go around to
the right of the buildings in front of you, avoid the obvious mine, go around
the corner to the left and you should spot the enemy ace shocktrooper. Get
close and blow him away, then quickly end your turn before the tank mangles
you. Next, take the shocktrooper you just deployed, and run them down the
same path as Alicia. It should take 2 turns to catch up with her, at which
point you should be able to take out the enemy scout foolishly standing in
their final base. Then, save and use a damage order (2 CP) on that
shocktrooper, reselect, and run behind the medium tank and blow it away.
Crouch and hug the sandbags and get closer to the heavy tank. Reselect, blow
it away, and then start a mad dash toward the enemy shocktrooper leader
crouching just north of you. At this point you should have 3 or 4 CP left.
Reselect the same troop and toss a grenade at the enemy leader's back. Then,
either quickly reselect and blow him away or pull your other shocktrooper down
and shoot him in the back. Then, use Alicia to run into the final base,
hugging the right wall, and aim a grenade directly behind the shocktrooper
crouching there. Blow him up and out of the base, and then quickly occupy it
(or kill him if you have the CP and he didn't fall outside the base).
I believe the ace from this mission drops the coveted VB FW 1(g), which is an
incredibly powerful flamethrower. It remains useful until nearly the end of
the game. Be sure to equip it immediately.
================================
Episode 12 - The Fight for Bruhl
================================
[5E012]
A Rank - 1
CP: 12
Leaders: 5
Aces: 2
Tanks: 1
* Thanks to Allan Hsu and others for suggesting ideas that ultimately helped
build this strategy.
There are one or two snipers on this level. Fortunately, they'll never get a
chance to fire.
The main "trick" to this map is to deploy to the correct spots and to load the
correct weapons. It's also worth remembering that the Heavy AT Cannons and
snipers do not cover fire. (And that damage boosting orders last all phase.)
You'll want three good scouts for this level; Alicia and two others that I
will call scout 2 and scout 3. Alicia should be equipped with whatever weapon
does the most damage to ARMOR; scout 2 and 3 need accurate weapons that also
do high damage to personnel. (Scout 2 cares more about accuracy and scout 3
cares more about personnel damage.) The 1R scout weapon actually fills all
three of these goals, so if you have three of those, you're golden. A
captured ZM Kar 3(g) isn't bad against armor, either. If you have to make
tough choices, favor Alicia.
Also, you'll want to make sure you have purchased the new lancer mortar weapon
in R&D, and give that to Largo. I recommend switching him back immediately
after this mission.
For your deploy, put Alicia in the top left position. Put scout 2 to the
right of her, Largo behind her, and scout 3 to the right of Largo. Throw
Rosie in there anywhere for CP. Save and then start with Largo. Move him
directly forward (around Alicia) until he cannot move forward anymore. You'll
get shot a little by a shocktrooper toward the end. Go into targeting mode
and auto-aim at the shocktrooper shooting you, then move your arc slightly to
the right. You want to include both him and the ace in your blast, but you
need to fudge toward the shocktrooper since he has more defense. You should
also pull back (down on the controller) a tiny bit so that you're shooting
just over the edge of the sandbags. Fire the mortar and this should kill both
the shocktrooper and the sniper ace next to him. If it doesn't (or the
shocktrooper evades), reload. Now, save again and select scout 3. Run north
taking the same path as Largo and continue forward straight toward the enemy
scout leader near the trucks. He'll start to shoot you, but run through at
least one volley before you target him so you will be sure to hit him in the
head. Take him out, then continue toward the middle sandbags near the two
trucks. Do NOT go over the sandbags; the shocktrooper hidden on the right
behind the truck will shred you. Now give a Damage (2 CP) order to Alicia.
Select her and run straight for the enemy tank ace. Hug the left wall as you
go around him to avoid the shocktrooper on the right; once you get behind him
immediately go into targeting mode to stop getting shot, then turn around and
blow him away. Continue forward to behind the truck. Reselect Alicia and run
due north; you're taking a wide arc here because of the shocktrooper leader on
the right. Go straight past the cannon and up to the enemy base. Toss a
grenade at the sniper ace to get him standing. You should have 6 CP left.
At this point, you can just go ahead and spend two CP with Alicia to blow away
the ace (walk behind him) and the final cannon in the base (thanks to your
damage boost that is still active), and occupy the base and finish the map.
This will net you the A rank and both aces. I highly recommend this strategy
when you come back to play this map as skirmish 7.
If you want to get all the remaining leader kills, save and select scout 2.
Run this scout forward following Alicia's path toward the sandbags. You'll
want to get to where you can see the enemy sniper leader on the roof off to
the left, but not where the nearby shocktrooper on the right can see you.
Once you're there, line yourself up so that you can see the sniper, and then
dash forward to the back of the truck on the left. (Note: I find that scouts
have enough movement to run AROUND the sandbags rather than over them; this is
better because going over them exposes you to shocktrooper fire for a slightly
longer period of time.) You should still just be able to target the sniper's
head on the roof but the shocktrooper should not be able to shoot you anymore.
Aim for the sniper's head and take him out. This is a rather tricky shot, but
you can do it. Finish your movement by moving due west - getting as far from
the shocktrooper as possible. Reselect this scout and move forward using the
same path as Alicia toward the enemy base. Go up to the sniper ace, walk
behind him, and shoot him in the head as well.
Reselect scout 2 and head behind the two crouching leaders; head for slightly
northeast of the shocktrooper leader. Aim a grenade to the west of him so
that the blast will knock him east toward the crouching lancer leader. After
he gets thrown, make sure he faces north toward you and then end your turn.
Now, select scout 3. You'll want to follow the same path as scout 2 around
the trucks and then head north, but once you get past the two tank mines, turn
northeast toward the two leaders. Avoid the mine in the middle of the square
and run as close as you can. Use this scout's grenade launcher to place a
grenade between the two leaders. You want it to be very close to the standing
shocktrooper, but close enough to the lancer that he will be affected. This
should kill the shocktrooper leader and do basically no damage to the lancer
leader, but he should stand up. Reselect scout 3, walk up to the lancer
leader, and shoot him in the head. With your final CP, select Alicia, finish
off the cannon in the base, and occupy it.
=================================
Episode 13 - The Clash at Naggiar
=================================
[5E013]
A Rank - 5
CP: 10, then 12 when the tanks arrive
Leaders: 2
Aces: 1
Tanks: 1
Boss: 1
This can be a tricky stage but you'll have plenty of time to complete it and
can kill pretty much everyone while you do it in just 4 phases. Note that
running straight up through the middle of the field does not get you shot by
the bunker on the left since it is a cannon bunker, but the right gatling
bunker will chew you up - therefore it's much easier to advance through the
middle/left of the map. Also, once you reach the "middle" base (the first
objective), the "rocket fire" stops and Welkin and the Shamrock appear - but
so does the enemy boss, who cannot be beaten. Fortunately, she can be dealt
with: hitting her with a mortar round stuns her for one turn, and you can do
this each phase. The main trick here is to take out everything you can before
she shows up and save at least 4 CP to move the tanks to safety and stun her.
Also worth noting: so long as you are in a trench, the enemy "rocket fire"
won't hurt you and the enemy boss won't target you - however, she can hit just
about anywhere else up to half the map away, especially the second sniper
nest. And if you do not stun her, she'll pretty much just murder everyone.
Start by loading a sniper (someone with Nest Master is a good choice), Rosie
(in front), Largo and Alicia on the left, and one good shocktrooper on the
right. Select your sniper and head up to the nest on the left; take out the
scout that immediately starts shooting you. Save, reselect, and shoot the
standing enemy shocktrooper by the gatling bunker on the far right; it's a
long shot and he's facing away from you. Next, take Rosie and run just about
straight north across the field toward the enemy scout; run up on him and take
him out. Reselect and do the same with the shocktrooper just north of you,
but aim toward the right side of the stairs going down. Finally, select her a
third time, push right in the trench and head left around a corner; you should
see yet another shocktrooper: take him out. Next, save and select Alicia and
then run the same path toward the northern trenches, but this time hug the
left side of the stairs and break left - however, hug the right wall of the
trench. Once she's moved as far as she can, use her grenade launcher to aim
left and see if you can target the cannon bunker over there. She should be
able to launch a round and take it out, as it will hit the ragnite canister
behind it. Now, select your other shocktrooper and run north and look right;
you should run into a scout around the corner. Take him out, but keep pushing
north out of the trenches. Reselect and push north and take out the second
scout, but move quickly as you're getting mangled by the cannon. You'll want
to bear left as much as you can. Reselect a third time and continue to push
left and then turn right (face north); you should be able to make it around
that corner and see another shocktrooper. Take him out and then take the next
left which leads to behind the cannon and the eastern base; you should be able
to reselect a fourth time and just make it far enough to target yet another
shocktrooper and bring him down, especially since he's facing south. Be sure
to end your turn facing west. That should do it for your turn. The enemy
will call for reinforcements and may try to kill your poor shocktrooper; just
reload if they die.
On your next phase, start with Rosie and go north, turn left, and hug the left
wall as you sneak up behind another shocktrooper in the trenches; execute him
and then backtrack toward a ladder you passed (it was on the right but now it
will be on your left). Now, select Alicia and go forward and up the ladder
directly in front of you; immediately get close and throw a grenade at the
crouching ace. After this, you can either reselect Alicia and shoot him in
the head, or select your sniper and snipe him - either way, he evades a lot,
so be sure to save (I went with the sniper). Next, reselect Rosie and go up
that ladder near you and toward the shocktrooper leader in the western base;
chuck a grenade at him to get him standing and then run back and down the
ladder. Reselect Rosie and continue to push east, and take out the
shocktrooper in front of you near the second sniper nest. Now, select Alicia
and take out the enemy leader, occupy the base, and move her down and stand
next to Rosie. Alternately, you can snipe the leader and have Alicia run the
same path but heal Rosie if she's pretty hurt. Now, select your other
shocktrooper and you'll want to blow up the right gatling bunker by shooting
the canister behind it, occupy the base, and kill the enemy shocktrooper
leader over there as well - do this in whatever order makes best use of the
enemy's location. For me, the leader ran around and had tried to shoot me, so
I took him out first, but otherwise you can occupy the base, then head left
and turn north when you go back in the trenches, and the leader will be around
the next corner on the right. Either way, try to end up close to the first
objective. At this point you should have 1 or 2 CP left; you can heal this
troop too, if you need to. End your phase.
The enemy will continue to call reinforcements and otherwise do nothing. On
your third phase, there are two crouching shocktroopers left guarding the
first objective; start by having Alicia go up to the second sniper tower and
use her grenade launcher to make them both stand up. Be SURE to get down out
of the sniper nest and head as close as you can to their base before the end
of her turn. Next, just run your two shocktroopers in there and finish those
guys off; you may even be able to flame both of them at once if the grenade
was placed well. Otherwise, move both your shocktroopers into the base, push
them as far west as you can (toward the closed gate) without leaving the base,
and then occupy it. This will trigger a cutscene in which the gate will open,
the rockets will stop, and Welkin shows up - but then a bunch of
reinforcements appear along with the boss.
The boss will start in the middle of the map near your tanks. Select Welkin
and move forward toward the large pit/dip in the field due east of where he
starts. Before you move in, mortar her; this should turn her purple and keep
her from moving on her turn, but she's still just as dangerous with her cover
fire. Move all the way into the pit and be sure you are not being targeted by
their heavy tank up on the hill. Select the Shamrock and move him due east
into the second pit and make sure he's covered as well. Lastly, call for an
engineer reinforcement at the base you just took. This should leave you with
about 3 or 4 CP. End your turn.
The enemy boss will shake off being stunned and blow up some random tank.
Hopefully their reinforcements will advance out of their base as well. Start
your phase by taking out their advancing troops; I sniped one and ran one of
my shocktroopers up and took out the other. Once that's done, select the
other shocktrooper and run due west - go all the way to where you can see
another enemy shocktrooper waiting in the trench and take him out. Now,
select your engineer. Move due west along the trench and disarm the mine near
the fallen shocktrooper. Reselect and continue around to the north to the
crazy minefield back in that corner. Do your best to clear a solid path
through all the mines, and eventually head up the ladder. Select your
engineer one more time and dart south around the corner and kill the scout
standing there; immediately run back to safety.
Now, select Alicia and run her past your new base and follow the same path
that the engineer cleared for you. Save and give her a Damage order (2 CP) or
a Demolition Boost (3 CP) if you have it. Reselect her and go up the ladder
and around the same corner; take out the shocktrooper standing in the base.
Reselect her and take out the heavy tank - this will take one or two CP
depending on the order. Finally, reselect and take out the poor scout who is
facing the wrong way and the last thing left in the base; occupy it. You
should finish with a few CP to spare. Note that if for some reason you cannot
finish this turn, be sure to save 2 CP for Welkin to move out of the pit, re-
mortar the boss so she will be stunned again, and then move back into the pit.
================================
Episode 14 - Loss Within Victory
================================
[5E014]
A Rank - 3
CP: 11
Leaders: 0
Aces: 1
Tanks: 3
Boss: 2
This map is extremely difficult unless you know what is about to happen, and
then it's pretty reasonable. You'll start with a special partner who will do
a lot of the dirty work for you. Don't worry - the game implies she might be
dangerous, but she won't attack you (at least not in the first two turns).
The trick to this map is that when you occupy the base, two tanks show up with
small squads on either end of the map and close in on your position. Also,
your special partner will go away, leaving this up to you. (You didn't think
it'd be that easy, did you?) The tanks are particularly tough: using a
Damage order of any type is useless; only anti-tank rounds from either of your
tanks will damage the thing, and it'll take two direct blasts to the weak spot
to kill it. Be sure the Shamrock is equipped with anti-tank rounds. Also,
it's important to note that you should completely ignore the enemy troops that
show up on either end of the map: any of them that you kill will be replaced
with "reinforcements" on the enemy's turn every time! Because of this,
there's no reason to bother with any of them.
For your deployment, I recommend adding no one. Any additional troops are a
hindrance on this map, since you'll largely be ignoring their troops and
attacking with your tanks. The general strategy is to move into position
before you occupy the base, and then occupy it when you're ready to attack.
The Shamrock is particularly vulnerable to getting hit on this map so be sure
to load it up with any improvements you can afford (especially on its treads).
When your turns start, your special partner will have two moves before you can
go; she'll help quite a bit. When it's your move, select the Shamrock and
move forward toward the Heavy Cannon; blow it up. Reselect and mortar the ace
in the trench; he'll probably evade but you'll do a good chunk of damage and
get his attention. Head toward the base and get as far north as you can.
Next, chose Rosie and run -directly- toward the Cannon Bunker. It won't fire
(it only does anti-tank rounds). Reselect and run up to the edge of the wall
just below it, getting as close as you can to its southeast corner, and then
target it with your flamethrower. As long as you are actually targeting the
thing, you should be able to hit it - and flamethrowers do massive damage to
bunkers. Reselect Rosie and finish it off, then turn around and head for the
enemy ace. Select her a third time and finish the ace off; I recommend more
flamethrower action so long as she can kill him in one hit. Before you end
her turn push as far north as you can (you'll probably end in the pit where
the ace was). Now, select Welkin and go north only until you can push right
and then circle back around to the south. You can go through a bunker to save
some time (watch the mines); you're aiming to go southeast as far as you can.
Once you're done, end your phase with one CP left.
The enemy only has one thing on the field and it will attack your partner to
no avail. On your turn she'll take it out. Now, reselect Welkin and push as
far southeast as you are able. You're aiming toward the tip of the rock wall
that is pointing at you (if that makes sense). Now, go ahead and select Rosie
and have her run up to the base and occupy it. This will trigger a cutscene,
your partner will leave, and the enemy tanks will show up with a bunch of guys
(and two snipers will appear near Rosie). Be sure to end her turn facing
west; crouch if possible. Now, reselect Welkin - you should be behind their
line of enemies. Go down and target the back of the enemy boss tank A. It
should take two hits to take it out; on your second hit, turn around and head
back toward the enemy troops. You want to try to get all of them in your
tank's machine gun range, so they have a hard time moving. Now, select good
old Largo and just run him toward the nearest bunker and crouch, facing
southeast. (This isn't crucial but they will be attacking him.) Lastly,
select the Shamrock and push northeast around the building with the ladder;
reselect with your last two CP and push north and turn left immediately to see
all the enemy troops. You want to go as far west as you can, but be sure to
finish by facing north, and be away from the edge of the cliff. This is
important, because it will only take their lancers two moves to get behind you
if you're not facing north, and the further back you are from the edge, the
harder it is for them to hit you. I ended up parking next to the trench area
north of the row of small houses. Save and then end your phase.
This will take a while, as the enemy probably has 20 CP and tons of guys to
move around. They'll try to get Rosie with snipers, but she should kill them
in the return fire. They'll try to hit Largo, too, but hopefully your tank
will keep them from moving much, and you'll probably kill their southern
sniper. The main thing is that if the Shamrock dies or loses his treads, you
need to reload: he HAS to make it down the ramp next turn. Once it is your
turn again, ignore the incendiary fire warnings and just select the Shamrock;
move it down the ramp toward the enemy tank boss B, ignoring everything else.
I made it back behind him (it's a tight fit!) on the second move; you have
plenty of time but you have to make sure you get back there. Use two turns to
blow him away.
It is worth noting that after this battle, Skirmish 7 will become available.
It is possible to beat that map in only one phase and it gives you over 50000
XP and over 100000 gold each time you do (on "normal"). I highly recommend
taking just a few minutes and playing through that map several times using the
strategy below. With little time invested, you should be able to level your
troops up easily and buy anything you haven't already; I had all of my troops
up to level 15 before the next battle.
===========================================================
Episode 15a - Citadel Ghirlandaio ("Fight for Ghirlandaio")
===========================================================
[5E15A]
A Rank - 6 (4 is plenty)
CP: 12
Leaders: 3
Aces: 2
Tanks: 4
What a surprisingly easy map. For all the buildup, it's really not that hard
to complete with TONS of room to spare - thanks in part to the fact that your
shocktroopers no longer need damage orders to kill a medium tank (and probably
haven't for a couple maps); they should be able to do it in two CP easily,
especially if you've been keeping up with upgrades and/or been getting their
R-type weapons (mine had 3Rs by now). One useful thing to note is that the
elite ace shocktroopers you've killed recently have dropped powerful
flamethrowers; I had both the VB FW 1(g) and 2(g) at this point. They are so
powerful that you can take out even a crouching shocktrooper in one turn (as
long as it isn't a black elite). Equip one to Rosie and one to your other
favorite shocktrooper. (These are not necessary, but they make things easier.
If you only have one, give it to whoever you load on the left.) The general
strategy is to run up the map and activate the first two switches, then around
the wall and get the third. Gatling bunkers will chew you up if you get near
the third switch, but you can run up ladders on the far wall and take them
out. You can complete this map in 4 phases easily with plenty of room to
spare.
For your deploy, put Rosie and your other good shocktrooper in the left front
and right front positions (I put Rosie on the right), have Alicia in there
somewhere and put Largo in the back (once again: unused). Select Rosie
first, head northeast up the right path and kill the crouching scout there
(watch for mines). Reselect and continue north around the corner to the left
and shoot the medium tank in the back; quickly end her turn, reselect and
retarget it to finish it off. Push toward the first enemy base. Reselect a
fourth time and take out the heavy gatling gun; crouch inside the base near
the enemy lancer. Now, select your other shocktrooper, run forward toward the
enemy shocktrooper and use your flamethrower to kill him in one shot. (Or,
grenade him, then shoot him next on your next move.) Reselect and push toward
the enemy base and flame the lancer (or grenade him out next move), activate
the first switch, occupy the base, and crouch in the base. Now choose Alicia
and move her due north along the same path hugging the right side of the wall
to avoid the hidden scout to the left, and plant her in the base (or finish
off the lancer and occupy the base first). Her job is to defend the base, so
finish by facing her southwest. Call an engineer and a sniper from your new
base. You should have 3 CP left (or 2 if you had to spend an extra action to
kill the first shocktrooper): end the phase.
The enemy will call reinforcements, but generally waste their time. The
mortar bunkers will also start targeting random areas of the map: again,
always try to end up outside of these areas, and you can probably reload the
enemy's turn if you want to reset them, but you have lots of wiggle room on
this map. I never found them to be any trouble. On your turn, save and then
select your sniper and run east toward the closer nest; go up top and target
the enemy sniper leader up on the far wall. Take him out, reselect, and
target the enemy shocktrooper leader near the next switch (he's facing the
wrong way), and then reselect and target one of the shocktroopers in the
trenches. I hit the one on the western side. Descend for cover before the
end of your turn. Next, select Rosie and run east past your sniper and turn
left around the edge of the berm. Reselect her and go up to the back of the
ace tank destroyer and blow it away; it should only take one CP (but it's fine
if it takes two). Reselect and push either north or northwest toward the
enemy heavy gatling gun - mind the barricades - and take it out. (If you
can't make it in just three turns, you have plenty of wiggle room here.) Be
sure to face east (opposite of where you were heading) when you're done.
Next, take the engineer and start moving slowly toward the second base.
You'll want to take your time and deactivate all the mines along the railway
and north path (you can leave the ones to the sides). You should have enough
movement to clear a path, go straight up to the second switch and activate it,
and then go back south to the second enemy base and occupy it. If you have
more movement, go crouch by the switch. You'll also want to face east. Now,
take your remaining shocktrooper and push north through the path that your
engineer just cleared. Veer to the left, however, and head toward the medium
tank. Reselect and run behind the tank and shoot it; reselect, finish the
tank, and continue as far west as you can go. This should finish you up with
5 CP (or 4 if you needed extra last phase, or possibly less if you took a
little longer to finish something else. You really do have lots of time to
get things right.)
The enemy will continue to call reinforcements from its final two bases, and
will probably move their last tank. They may also move the shocktrooper
reinforcement they already called, or they may move the hidden ace scout in
the grass off the east. They will probably also attack the first base you
took, but Alicia can easily defend it without a problem. On your turn, start
with Rosie and move her down into the trench; aim for the final trenched
shocktrooper and take him out, and then move east as far as you can (but end
near a wall so you don't block the middle of the trench). Next, select your
engineer. Your job here is to grenade the enemy ace. If he moved, this
should be easy, and since Rosie probably tore him up a little, one grenade
might even finish him off. If he did not move, you'll need to run due east -
through the trench is fastest - and find him hiding in the grass near the
corner of the eastern wall. Toss a grenade to get him standing. If you
didn't kill him with the grenade, select your sniper, go up into the nest, and
finish him (or just use the engineer). Likewise, if the enemy moved their
reinforcement out into the open or your sniper can get a bead on him, go ahead
and kill him first. Once the ace is dead, reselect Rosie and have her run
left around the edge of the wall and straight for the northeastern enemy base.
Kill the reinforcements if you didn't already (or heal if you can), occupy the
base, and crouch facing the tank. Now select your other shocktrooper and do
the same thing on the other side: head around the corner and go for the
northwestern base and occupy it - but since you have the movement, go ahead
and push past it toward the ladder just northeast of the base. Go up the
ladder and now you should be close to the enemy gatling bunker; run up to it
and use your flamethrower on it. Reselect and finish it off. Try to end your
turn near the back wall so that the tank can't target you (look for the blue
target line instead of the yellow one).
At this point you have tons of CP left and several more phases, so feel free
to use your sniper and/or Alicia to kill the remaining scout if you want, or
position anyone you think might be in danger. Otherwise, go ahead and end the
phase. The enemy will take some shots at Rosie and target new areas with
mortar rounds. On your turn, take the shocktrooper up on the wall and head
east toward the second gatling bunker; spend two CP with your flamethrower
taking it out. Now, just select Rosie and run for the final tank. Shoot it
in the back, reselect and blow it up; then reselect again and kill the final
leader (either flame him or grenade + shoot him) and flip the third switch.
===========================================================
Episode 15b - Citadel Ghirlandaio ("Selvaria's Last Stand")
===========================================================
[5E15B]
A Rank - 8 (much more than you need)
CP: 12
Leaders: 3
Aces: 0
Tanks: 5
Boss: 1
The boss on this stage is incredibly powerful: she has the movement of a
scout, the HP of a medium tank (or thereabouts), the range of a sniper, and
she'll evade pretty much anything you throw at her. To top it off, her weapon
acts like a heavy gatling gun and will tear you up just as quickly. However,
you have two things going for you that really make this map rather easy.
First, you have a million years to finish this map. There's no reason you
can't get an A rank in fewer than 8 phases. Second, while the boss is tough,
she -is- able to be hurt, and since she's just a normal troop she's still
susceptible to one very important thing: undodgable shots! That's right, you
actually have a reason to use potentials in this map: both Alicia and Rosie
(among others) have Undodgeable Shot, so they (or anyone else with this
ability) are great to use. If you have the Awaken Potential order, that makes
it even easier since you can use that to give them an even better chance;
otherwise, you may have to reload a few times since she will always evade
otherwise (but it often seems to trigger). But what if you don't like using
potentials? All is not lost: you have SO much time that you can easily get
Welkin up there and cover her in smoke as well. If she can't see you, you can
easily walk right up behind her and shoot her in the back. However, you do
need to be careful and plan ahead: hurting her significantly makes her
trigger a cutscene that heals enemy units (although it does not seem to affect
her), and she'll constantly use the Heal All order on her own turn (which DOES
heal her), so you'll want to finish her off in one phase.
The basic plan is to push hard early so you can cut off their reinforcements,
then get one unit up there and load up on tons of orders so that you can get
close, then shoot her with Undodgable Shot (the Attack order works great on
her, too). Surrounding her with smoke works as well, as you can easily sneak
up on her and walk right behind her so that she won't evade. However, her own
movements will often make this map a bit random, so this strategy is more
general than most. All the enemies are black elite units (even tanks) and
they are extra tough to kill. It really helps to be at least level 15 at this
point and have some R-type weapons, especially on your scouts - in fact, make
sure your scouts have the highest damage weapons they can get. Rosie should
be carrying the best flamethrower you have as well. Also, your starting
position is important because the enemy boss and/or a bunch of snipers will be
chewing you up. Load Alicia, Rosie, another good shocktrooper, Largo, and a
sniper. You'll want to put Rosie on the top left corner so that she starts
bunkered. Put your other shocktrooper on the right along with the sniper, and
Largo and Alicia on the left.
Start with Welkin. Move him forward toward the enemy shocktrooper in the
bunker and run him over so he stands up. Continue to push forward on that
side and launch a smoke round directly at the boss. You won't be able to hit
her, but you'll get close enough to stop her crazy cover-fire. Now, select
Largo and run him toward the heavy gatling gun on the left; use the house for
cover until you get close, then pop out and blow it away. Continue toward the
bunkers and crouch so that the boss can't see you; he's done. Next, select
your sniper and take out the recently displaced shocktrooper. Reselect, and
aim for the standing shocktrooper on the stairs off to the west. Kill him and
move to the left side of your base, reselect, and snipe the standing
shocktrooper off to the right who is also on the stairs. Before you end your
turn, run back to the flag and RETREAT (very important). Now, take your
eastern shocktrooper and run toward the medium tank, circling wide around the
building to the left of it and stopping near the bottom of the stairs to shoot
it. Reselect, finish it off, and then push up the eastern stairs to where the
enemy shocktrooper was dropped. Stand a bit in front of his body, but against
the staircase; make sure the boss can't see you. Now give a Damage order (2
CP) to Alicia. Select her and run due north along the left side of the row of
houses near the heavy tank. Run around behind the tank and shoot it; this
should mostly kill it. Reselect her quickly and then blow it away; now head
back toward Largo, and finish her move either at the foot of the stairs or
crouching near them (get as close as you can to the stairs but stay in
cover!). That should finish phase one.
The enemy boss will run along the rampart shooting anyone she sees - which is
Rosie. Enemy snipers will also come out of the woodwork and take out anyone
they see - in this case, Rosie. Most importantly, they will call for
reinforcements from either the western two or the eastern two bases; this will
affect your strategy somewhat. Hopefully Rosie will live. On your next
phase, start with Welkin again and shoot another smoke round at the boss,
getting as close as you can so that she's covered up. Next save the game, and
then select your eastern shocktrooper. This is tricky: run up the stairs,
turn right, and hug the right wall as you run south. Kill the sniper leader,
and then run south as far as you can into the gatling fire. End your turn,
reselect, and take out the gatling gun. Finish by pushing the button for the
lift, and then hobbling over to the base and occupy it. If you cannot do all
that, you can skip the button and just hug the much safer left wall instead;
it's not necessary to open any doors or activate the eastern lift, but it
might help you later. Your shocktrooper should be hurt but ok, and standing
(crouching if you can!) in the occupied base. Spend a CP to call for a scout
reinforcement here (the best you have - Ted is a good choice, since he has
Undodgable Shot as well).
Now, save again and select Alicia. She needs to run all the way up the
stairs, take a left and hug the left wall, stop and kill the sniper leader,
and push all the way down to the lift button and activate it. The
shocktrooper will mess you up, but try to get to the button, press it, and
even scoot south as far as you can after that. Now, select Rosie. Go up the
newly activated lift and use your flamethrower on the shocktrooper there; this
should kill him in one hit. Reselect Rosie and flame the lancer right behind
you, then head down into the base and occupy it. You should have enough
movement to crouch there as well - or you may want to retreat her, depending
on your next set of actions. Save again.
This next part might depend on how the enemy called for reinforcements the
last round. If they called on the right, there's not much you can do. If
they called on the left, you need to push all the way up to that base and
occupy it. Either way, getting to the next base on the left side of the map
this phase will help. It's hard, but you can do it. Select Alicia and run
down and around the bottom of the giant column, and stop to shoot the enemy
scout when he detects you. Reselect, heal, and run up the stairs and head
toward the northwestern base. Quickly end your turn and reselect her when she
runs out of movement. It took me a total of 4 more CP (5 total for her this
phase) to get her to the base, and I had to heal her a lot, but I made it up
there and occupied it. (Honestly, if her potentials for resisting cover-fire
activate, that will help a bunch.) Make SURE she is also crouched. This was
the end of phase two for me, but if you have more CP feel free to position
Alicia as best you can; crouched against the northwestern corner of that base
but facing east is the best place she can be. Even better, you could call a
shocktrooper from this base as well - if you retreated Rosie earlier, she's a
perfect one to call. However, if you just cannot make it to this base with
the turns you have left, that's ok: instead, just move Alicia around and kill
the scout as before, and just park her somewhere safe. Save your remaining
couple CP and end the phase.
At this point the enemy's movements are too hard to predict accurately to
really give a step-by-step anymore, especially depending on if you did or did
not take the northwestern base, so we're going to go with general ideas for
some things. The enemy will likely call multiple reinforcements from their
central base. They will also spread out their remaining troops, and if there
were reinforcements called on the right, they'll move that troop down (ditto
that for the left if you didn't take the base). Most importantly, the boss
will either continue her pattern of running back and forth across the
ramparts, or she may run toward Alicia. Hopefully, she will not get in range
and kill Alicia; I never saw her leave the top rampart area, so you may have
some luck reloading before the enemy phase starts if this happens.
On your third phase, you may need to spend 2 CP to get Welkin to smoke the
boss again; feel free to navigate him toward a working lift and head to the
upper level if you can make it. If the boss is mostly out of the way, that's
two more CP you can use for something else this phase. In general, you need
to get two things accomplished: take the northeastern base, and kill all the
remaining leaders/tanks except for the tank above the tip-top central base.
(Also, take the northwestern base if you have not.) For the tank destroyer on
the western side of the base, I used Alicia to shoot it twice in the back and
destroyed it. She was level 15 or 16 and I had one of the better R weapons on
her, so this probably made a difference; you may need to take 3 CP to destroy
it, but don't use a Damage order, since you'll need that later. Or, if you
managed to call a shocktrooper up there, have them take it out - but be sure
to end up with anyone in that base crouched at the end of their turn,
preferably on the western side, facing east. (Also, push up toward the
northwestern base if you haven't already; hopefully there will be no
reinforcements on this side, but if there are you'll need to kill them as well
on your way.) As long as Alicia's in the northwestern base and the tank
destroyer is gone, you're good on this side.
On the eastern front, you should have a shocktrooper and a scout in that base.
Start with your shocktrooper, continue east, and kill the sniper leader that
ran down that way. Note that it is slightly better (shorter path) to move
clockwise around the giant pillar and go up the stairs than to back out of the
base and go counterclockwise down and around the rampart. Reselect this unit
and push toward the gatling gun; hopefully you healed completely while in the
base. Take it out. Now, save and select the scout. You'll want to follow
the same path (clockwise) and head north toward the heavy tank, but bare right
and go on the right (eastern) side of the small house, getting as far as you
can. If the enemy called reinforcements on the right at the beginning, there
may be a shocktrooper here; you'll need to take him out. Now, issue a Damage
order (2 CP) to the scout. Reselect and push north and circle around the
houses to the west, getting behind the heavy tank. Shoot it in the back and
occupy that base, then push toward the button that activates the eastern door.
Reselect, push the button, finish off the heavy tank, and then park yourself
back in the base behind a house so you'll heal. You don't actually have to
push that button (especially if the boss is nearby and not covered in smoke),
but if you do suddenly the Shamrock can make it up and almost through that
door in 1 turn.
Depending on how many CP you have left and where the enemy is, you have more
options. You can call a sniper from the northeastern base just for support.
Or, call any troop with Undodgable Shot to make sure you have someone on
either side with this ability. You can also move the Shamrock up and almost
get to the base to cover it, or even Welkin if you've been pushing him that
way somewhat already. Or, you can just save the CP for your next phase - this
is a fine option if you can start the next turn with 14 to 15 CP. Overall,
it's best to try to react to what they're doing. The good thing is, all you
have left is one tank destroyer and the boss, and the enemy is being pincer
attacked. You really have plenty of time from this point on, so don't sweat
it too hard.
At this point, it's anyone's guess as to what the enemy will do, but generally
they will call even more reinforcements, move troops around to defend the
central base, and for me, the boss used a Heal All order, which was a great
waste of time. They're down 3 CP so hopefully they will not do much. The
main thing you need is for Alicia or anyone else who can reach the boss in one
move to survive, along with someone who can take down the tank destroyer
(completely optional). On your fourth phase, select a scout (or whoever can
take it down) and run to the tank destroyer. It is pushed up against the wall
as hard as it can get, but you can actually target the weak spot: look at
your "to kill" counter, and when it shows a number, you will hit it. I took
two turns with a scout to take it out, but you may have more luck moving a
shocktrooper over in two turns (if you have one) and shooting it that way.
(Or, call a lancer and use 3 CP from a distance.) The enemy is unlikely to
have tried to defend it, but if they are, take them out as well. Feel free to
even grab the base if they left it alone. All in all, you'll need to save at
least 10 CP for your final attack. If you can't do it all this turn, that's
perfectly ok: just focus on attacking that central base to stop
reinforcements. Send your called sniper out to hit their troops, and run your
scout down to snag the base. It should be extremely easy to kill everyone
this phase other than the boss and take their base, since you're in such a
good position. Go ahead and start pushing Welkin up toward the top, too, if
you'd like. Just make sure all non-tank units end their turn behind boxes and
avoid the boss's detection.
At this point, you have two choices: either go ahead and take out the boss,
or spend like 3 turns getting Welkin up there and take her down while she's in
a smoke round. Doing that is extremely easy, but if you'd like to go ahead
and finish her, pick your Undodgable Shot unit that can reach the boss in one
turn - Alicia works great - and load her up with orders. You'll want to hit
her with Evade (1), Defend (1), Attack (1), Neutralize (1), and maybe even
Caution (2). These are all orders you should have if all your troops are
above level 13. Finally, if you received Awaken Potential (2) from the old
man in the cemetery, use that as well. Now SAVE, and then run like a madwoman
straight at the crazy thing. Get up close and fire. I don't think headshots
matter, but I aimed for the head anyway. Hopefully your potential will
trigger and you'll hit her. Quickly end your turn, reselect, and fire again -
repeat as necessary until she is defeated. Hopefully you have a few CP to
play with, or else you'll need to save each time you hit and then reload if
Undodgable Shot doesn't trigger. With all those buffs, it should only take
two non-misses to take her down (you might need three if you don't have the
best damaging weapon).
Your other choice is to get Welkin up there in a few turns and smoke-round the
area around the boss. At this point, you only need the Neutralize and Attack
orders. The smoke will keep her from shooting you as you approach her, and
you can walk right up and shoot her in the back, and then reselect and move to
her other side and do it again and again. There are other options as well:
Rosie makes for a great offensive against the boss, too. You can definitely
skip Caution in that case since she has her own potential that helps with
that. Be sure not to bother with the flamethrower; it doesn't hurt her as
much for some reason. Lastly, it is also possible to send someone up with a
bunch of orders and just distract the boss, then take a sniper from the other
side of the ramparts and hit her from behind, then reselect the distracter
once she turns around and hit her from behind again. Just make sure your
sniper is out of her range. You have PLENTY of time to deal with her,
however, so just be sure to wait until you have enough CP to take her all in
one go.
================================
Episode 16 - The Maiden's Shield
================================
[5E016]
A Rank - 8
CP: 10 - but you'll have 8
Leaders: 0
Aces: 1
Tanks: 0
As much as the story is heating up, this map is a real snoozer. There are
only 6 enemies and no bases. Bringing in many additional troops is actually a
burden, since you have to keep moving the whole time. Because of this, I
suggest leaving Largo and Rosie behind (although that won't stop their
cutscenes where they are commenting on what's going on). The "trick" to this
map (this whole map is one big trick, which is also annoying) is that the
giant ship will continue to advance unless you use cleverly placed ragnite
explosives to cause landslides to block its path. These will also slow it
down - but you do NOT want to slow it down, or you'll miss the A rank. In
fact, you do NOT want to blow up any of these ragnite bombs except the ones
that are strictly necessary to beat the mission. It's actually possible to
block yourself off if you blow them all up and cause yourself to auto-fail the
map, which is also pretty annoying. Lastly, while the ship will shoot at you,
it's not targetable - so don't even bother.
You can probably beat this map easily with just your tanks, but I suggest
loading Alicia, another scout, and an engineer just to make it somewhat
interesting (and since scouts have a much easier time hitting those
explosives). Start by selecting Alicia and moving south toward the enemy
shocktrooper you can see. Along the way, you'll see a ragnite explosive
(looks like two canisters on top of each other; also, if you go into "aiming"
mode and press "next target," they will be targetable). Ignore the first one.
Continue southeast, hugging the left (eastern) wall, and you'll see a fork in
the path (you will have noticed it from the overhead map). On either side of
this fork are two explosives. Shoot one, and continue south so that you're on
the left (east) side of the gulley wall, near a bush or something for some
cover. Select your other scout and follow Alicia's path, only this time shoot
the other explosive on the other side of the fork. Park as close to Alicia as
you can get. If you've done this right, you'll see on the overhead map that
the "bad" path will be covered completely; that's what you're going for. Now,
select your engineer and tanks and move them each toward Alicia as well. You
should finish with 1 CP.
The enemy should run their shocktrooper and a hidden lancer at your scouts;
together they should kill them both with cover-fire and counterattacks. Each
turn their ship will move forward (it's still pretty slow, but it seems to
speed up toward the end), and it will target two random spots with mortar
fire. These rarely came even close to being in my way, but you may need to
adjust your final position each turn accordingly. You have lots of time to
move your guys down, so don't sweat it.
On your turn move your tanks forward again. Now take your engineer and head
through the first wall and toward the barricades on the left; throw a grenade
to clear them. Reselect your engineer and push south through the barricades
and start clearing a path through the mines. (Don't worry, it doesn't matter
how many you clear.) I just cleared a small path toward the grassy area on
the left, since there are fewer mines there anyway. Continue south but stop
short of your maximum move - you want the scouts to get in front of you. Now,
move both scouts down in front of your engineer and finish with 1 CP again.
On the enemy's turn, it should spring a shocktrooper out from behind the wall;
your scouts should take him down again.
Your next phase is similar to the last one: start with the engineer and clear
a path toward the next set of barricades and take them out with a grenade.
Here, you'll also need to clear some of the tank mines near the barricades - I
cleared a total of three - and then push past the broken barricades and hug
the far left canyon wall. Finish facing the last three enemies. Run Alicia
down past the engineer - hugging the left wall - and you'll see another split
in the path ahead, again with some ragnite explosives conveniently placed near
the edges. From where you're standing, you should be able to hit one (on the
southern side of the path); set it off. Make sure you are back against the
gulley wall facing the final three enemies and then move your other scout down
next to Alicia. Now, move your tanks down as well - they can plow through the
normal mines, so just head straight from one broken barricade toward the
other. Be sure to avoid the tank mines. You'll want to move Welkin twice
this phase to catch up with the Shamrock.
Their sniper might shoot at Alicia if you're too close, but you should be
fine. Now, move both of your tanks on through the minefield and toward the
objective. Move Welkin twice again. You might be able to shoot a smoke round
to help protect your scouts, but it's probably not necessary. End this turn
with 2 CP. Next turn, move Welkin down and mortar the group of enemies,
favoring the shocktrooper (this should kill him). Now move the Shamrock down
twice and feel free to hit one of their troops again (I shot the ace). Move
Alicia down toward the objective and finish off the ace (shots from behind
help keep him from evading). It might take two CP; he's tough! Move your
other scout down and kill the lancer. Now, take your engineer and start to
move toward the rest of the troops, but stop once you can see the other
ragnite explosives on the other side of the second fork in the path. It's
behind a rock. This should completely cover the second "wrong" path with
landslides. Be sure your engineer clears that entire area.
Now it gets boring. On your next phase make sure all of your troops who
aren't already there get close to the objective area and end your phase.
Continue to end your phase until you win.
===============================
Episode 17 - The Bridge to Hope
===============================
[5E017]
A Rank - 5
CP: 10
Leaders: 4
Aces: 1
Tanks: 3 (4 including boss)
Boss: 1
Wow, now this is a tough battle to get an A rank and all the bonuses. There
are few tricks: it's just plain hard to do. It will take some skill and
probably a little luck to pull it off, but it can be done. You only have 5
phases, and you have to capture all four bases to make the boss keep from
healing himself between phases - and THEN it takes more than one whole phase
just to kill him: you have to break through his armor and THEN take him out.
Did I mention that all the units are black elites as well? You'll want to
give your most powerful lancer weapon to your favorite non-Largo lancer: it
needs to be someone with Extra Shot and good anti-tank potentials. Also, if
you have the Awaken Potential order (gotten from the Aged Gentleman) and the
Penetration order (sniper level 15+), those will help. It's possible to do it
without them, but it can be harder. You may be doing a lot of saving and
reloading to get the Extra Shot potential to go off, or you might want to
complete this map a slightly different way and possibly miss some of the
bonuses (not a bad thing, honestly).
For your deploy, put Rosie and a good sniper in the spot with only 2 units;
Rosie should be to the left (west) and the sniper to the right (east). Put a
good shocktrooper and an engineer - preferably one with Repair Boost - next to
Welkin. Lastly, put Alicia in the northwest position in the third area, and
Largo in there anywhere just for CP. You can add another unit but leave at
least 1 open position.
First, select your sniper and go north and up the ladder there. Head forward
and turn left; go to the edge of the building where you can see pretty much
everyone. Take two turns and snipe the enemy ace first; it's really annoying
and you'll probably have to reload a few times, but he's a HUGE pain
otherwise. Also, go ahead and kill the scout leader next to him while you're
up there. End your turn by running back behind the wall near the ladder; the
sniper is done. Now, issue a Damage (2 CP) order to your northern
shocktrooper unit. Select this unit and run toward the northeastern base,
heading for the heavy tank. Get close, and then once your movement is up
shoot the enemy shocktrooper crouching there; hopefully you'll do a little
damage and he won't return fire. You have to injure this unit a bit now or
else you won't be able to kill it in one hit with a flamethrower. Reselect
and run next to and behind the heavy tank; take it out. Reselect and take out
the enemy leader just north (he should be facing away from you); reselect and
flame the crouching shocktrooper still left in the base, then occupy it and
finish your turn next to the ladder. End your phase with 1 extra CP.
The enemy boss will attack and fire a smoke round somewhere on the board each
turn; he may also issue orders, and once you take a single base the rest will
call reinforcements, usually in the pattern that one base calls a single unit
and another calls two. Hopefully the southernmost base will call two; if not,
you may have to adjust this strategy slightly (or reload). Everyone will
generally attack Welkin (he's a great target and useful to waste their turns).
They will also likely run their southern shocktrooper that was hidden between
some buildings toward Rosie; she should be ok. On your turn, start by saving
and selecting your northern shocktrooper. You'll want to go up the ladder,
move slightly left, and then aim so that you can shoot both the heavy cannon
and the sniper in the same shot. It's tricky, but you CAN do it. Move
forward after that to the lancer; reselect and take him out, then go north
toward the other ladder and descend. End your turn just out of site at the
corner of the building. Now, select Rosie. She should have the most powerful
flamethrower you have equipped. Kill the enemy shocktrooper and head due west
toward their southern base. Hopefully this one called two reinforcements this
turn, because we're going to take it. You can adjust your strategy somewhat
if the middle base called two troops, but the main point is that you have to
stem their tide quickly to save your CP for the boss. Now select Alicia. Run
her west on a different path than Rosie (the middle path through the houses
works well) so that the shocktroopers in the southern base don't see you; get
into a safe position relative to the boss and shoot a grenade at the northern
unit to get him standing. NOTE: this action is not entirely required, as
Rosie should be able to flame anyone in one turn, crouching or not. However,
she tends to get torn up rather seriously when charging straight at two
shocktroopers, and she may be targeted later by the boss, so this step is to
keep her alive. However, it is a spot you can try to save a CP if you need
to. Now, select Rosie and run toward the newly distracted shocktrooper and
take him out. Reselect and run toward the guy at the bottom of the base and
flame him to death; occupy the base. Now give her a Damage (2 CP) order and
have her take out the heavy tank as well, clearing that side of the map. Make
sure she's crouching and facing north when she's done. For your last CP this
phase, move your engineer up and repair Welkin; directly behind him is a safe
place to stand.
The enemy should continue to pound Welkin and waste time on orders. They tend
to also run their second sniper out into the open for some reason, and
hopefully their single reinforcement from one of their bases will run forward
as well. For me, they ran a scout at my northern base but didn't take it. If
the boss kills anyone, just reload. Now, hopefully the enemy will call two
reinforcements from the central base, because we're taking it next. Also,
while the enemy generally does nothing useful with smoke rounds, they may have
hit the middle base at this point; if this is the case, you may need to modify
this part slightly (or reload).
Take Welkin and move straight forward as far as you can and shoot the second
heavy cannon. Save, reselect, move him forward as far as he can go again and
then place a mortar round right in the middle of the central base: this
should take out both their scout leader and the standing shocktrooper. Now,
take your engineer and move toward either your northern base or up to Welkin,
and kill their first reinforcement troop (it was a scout for me). Be sure to
end behind something (Welkin or a wall). Now take Alicia and move north
toward the middle base; take out their foolish sniper and then occupy the base
(if your engineer didn't) and take cover behind Welkin.
This should leave you with 5 CP, and you can end your phase. If the enemy
already shot a smoke round into their final base this phase, you can do the
next 4 CP early - although it will leave your shocktrooper rather exposed.
Give your northern shocktrooper a Damage (2 CP) order and move them west using
the smoke for cover toward the final heavy tank; take two turns and get behind
the thing and take it out. Try to end near the building if possible. The
enemy can't do much on their turn, but they will have one reinforcement unit
(hopefully only one), which may come after you. Hopefully your shocktrooper
will survive. If the enemy didn't smoke their base last phase, hopefully
they'll do it this phase so you can run your shocktrooper up - but instead of
ending near a building, head toward the middle of their base. Either way,
once the last heavy tank is destroyed, select Welkin and move toward the last
base; mortar the area where you know a lancer is hidden and that will clear
the smoke. Run over the enemy shocktrooper leader there to get him standing,
but try not to leave yourself too exposed (end facing west as best you can).
Now reselect your shocktrooper in that base and take out their reinforcement
troop (or troops, if there are more than one) and reselect again to take out
their leader. Run Alicia up to take out the lancer and then occupy the base.
Call your best tank-killing lancer with the highest damaging weapon and the
Extra Shot potential from this final base.
At this point, you should have about 5 or 6 CP remaining in phase 4, and the
only enemy left should be the boss. You will need a minimum of about 14 CP to
kill him (maybe less if you're lucky), so if there are any other units
remaining ignore them if you can. If you just can't get to this point with 14
CP left, you'll need to go back to an earlier save when the boss is somewhat
forward and you have at least the central base captured and just call your
lancer then. The trick is, you don't have to capture every base to defeat
him, just to keep him from healing - so if you can save 14-15 CP for a single
turn, you should be golden. Killing every unit is only for bonus points.
Once you're on your last turn, you'll want to use Awaken Potential (2 CP) and
Penetration (2 CP) on your called lancer. You may be able to do it without
Penetration, but it really seems to help. Sadly, Damage does nothing (don't
even bother using it on a non-lancer, as your other troops won't do a thing
against the boss until its armor is gone). Your tanks are equally as useless,
just because they don't do enough damage per CP. Awaken Potential is there
only to get Extra Shot to trigger almost every time (sometimes it still
doesn't; you may want to save a lot). Now, select the lancer, run close
enough to hit it without it starting to target you (try to work your way
behind it as well), and shoot him repeatedly until his HP drops to zero. Then
he'll shed his armor and heal to full, and you still have to shoot him THREE
TIMES in his weak spot in the back to actually kill him (or if you get another
good potential, maybe fewer). Hopefully Extra Shot will continue to trigger
and you'll get about 9-10 shots off. Another way to do this is to use those
two CP to instead move your engineer next to the lancer and refill him after
each volley of three shots. This can be harder, however, since you will need
more CP to kill the boss and this may or may not be enough based on your
level/weapon and how much damage you do. You also won't get the bonuses from
the other potentials as often, and your engineer absolutely cannot take many
hits from the boss's cover fire if they get too close. However, the boss
tends to move really stupidly since he doesn't care what is exposed, so this
should work in your favor (so much for "advanced tank tactics"). Once you
take him out, the battle is won.
======================================================
Episode 18a - Shadow of the Valkyrur ("Marmota's End")
======================================================
[5E18A]
A Rank - 5
CP: 10
Leaders: 0
Aces: 0
Tanks: 0
Ironically, taking out the giant ship isn't nearly as hard as taking out the
giant tank in the desert. Units will appear each phase either from the
"front" of the ship, or from the eastern corner (near the Shamrock), or from
the southwest corner where several enemy troops start out. Also, the side
cannons are pretty ruthless and interestingly the unit most vulnerable at the
beginning is Welkin. However, it's still pretty easy to beat this map with an
A rank with room to spare, and the secret is the Penetration order. The end
of this battle will look very similar to Episode 17.
Deploy with at least 3 lancers (Largo should be one), and you might want to
put two of them in the far back slots, as these are the only positions that
start away from a bunker and we're going to be moving them for sure. At this
point your lancers should have some anti-tank lances with at least "C"
accuracy but 1300+ damage, and hopefully some royal lances that also have "C"
accuracy but do over 1400 damage. The more of these, the better. Start with
your strongest lancer on the right; if they have Extra Shot, even better.
You'll also want a sniper (near the back) and a shocktrooper or two on your
front lines (one should be Rosie) and Alicia in there somewhere for CP.
Lastly, put an engineer with Repair Boost on the back right.
Start with your rear lancers; move them up, bunker, and fire at the far right
gatling cannon and the far left anti-tank cannon (the two in the middle). It
should take 3 shots each, using 2 from each of your 3 lancers. Note that
distance will work against you both in aiming and in damage, so don't be
afraid to get close, like the middle row of bunkers - you honestly won't get
chewed up too bad from there. If you're not taking them out in 3 shots, get
closer. The "C" aiming lances are great for targeting here, as they shouldn't
miss much. All the same, save a lot. Once that's done, select Welkin and aim
a mortar toward the troops in the southwest corner. You should be able to
blow up their sniper and a shocktrooper with one shot. After that, try to
push Welkin back toward the wall of the map behind him a bit; you're never
going to advance, despite the hints that you should. Try to cover your troops
from the southwestern enemy squad. Lastly, use your sniper to kill the lancer
in the eastern corner of the map, and re-bunker. End your phase with 1 CP
remaining.
They should beat on Welkin pretty bad, and only 1 extra troop will show up.
The ship will also target the area in front of it, which is a great place to
use your tanks to shoot it... but don't bother, you won't need it. On your
turn, target the remaining two gatling cannons with your lancers again; two
shots each with 3 of them, and save a lot between shots. Once those are gone,
you have room to breathe. Use your sniper to kill the lancer that showed up
and the remaining lancer from the southwest, and then kill one of the
remaining shocktroopers. Now select your engineer and move right to left:
refill all your lancers, sniper, and then repair Welkin. Go back to one of
the bunkers and crouch. Reselect your sniper and take out the last
shocktrooper; re-bunker down. That should finish your phase. They should
call only one reinforcement and he'll probably run at your tank and die in the
crossfire between it and one of your shocktroopers/engineer.
On your third phase, snipe the last shocktrooper on the ship near one of the
cannons. Now, pick your strongest lancer with the highest damaging lance.
Shoot the "plating" that's near the anti-tank cannon on this side; that will
create a path onto the ship. Run up onto the ship and toward the ladders up,
but be sure to leave some room for someone to get by. Now select one of your
shocktroopers that is the farthest forward. Run up onto the ship, past the
lancer, and go up the ladders to the top part. Reselect and continue to
follow the path to the area between the two propellers. There will be one
enemy shocktrooper here; take him out, and then try to end in a corner or
otherwise hide from the giant main gun. It can and will shoot individual
units each phase as well. Now reselect your strong lancer and run up the rest
of the way toward your shocktrooper. Once you're up there, you can see the
giant ragnite cores exposed above you near the propellers. Target one and
take it out (you shouldn't miss, they are easy to hit). If you have a hard
time finding them, go into targeting mode and hit "next enemy" to find them
easier. Continue toward the middle of the platform; reselect and take out the
other engine on the other side. This exposes the main gun and makes it able
to be hurt, and it should leave you with 4 CP on phase three (and no shots
left). Now select your engineer and run up onto the ship, following the same
path. It will take two turns; feel free to heal yourself, the shocktrooper,
or the lancer on each turn to full. If no one needs healing, just shoot the
main gun - but you won't do much. Once your engineer is up there, try to hide
them off to the side as well. Save your last two CP and end the phase.
The enemy will likely shoot at your lancer or one of the other units with the
main gun, and more reinforcements will arrive. So long as your lancer and
your engineer survive, you're golden. On your fourth phase, give a
Penetration (2 CP) order to the lancer, and if they have Extra Shot, you might
want to use Awaken Potential as well. Now just continually select the lancer
and fire at the main gun, using Extra Shot or your engineer to refill. You
have 8 shots either way; this should be enough to either take it out or
seriously almost destroy it (it only took 7 shots for me). If you don't
finish it this phase, just make sure everyone lives through the enemy's next
turn, and then repeat the process to win.
=======================================================
Episode 18b - Shadow of the Valkyrur ("Final Showdown")
=======================================================
[5E18B]
A Rank - 3
CP: 12
Leaders: 0
Aces: 0
Tanks: 0
Boss: 1
Well, for a final showdown, this battle is somewhat anti-climactic. It's
pretty obvious what the "trick" is: you need to destroy the towers to have a
chance to kill the boss. You only get 3 phases for an A rank, but honestly
the longer this battle lasts the harder it is, since the boss eventually gets
an attack that targets everyone on the screen for massive damage and can kill
your tanks rather quickly. Make SURE both of your tanks have at least two
mortar rounds each (you could try anti-personnel weaponry on the Shamrock; I
didn't bother) and be sure you've upgraded both tanks with the best body armor
you can get; don't be afraid to re-spec entirely to HP and defense, since you
won't need to aim. Also, at this point I had bought all the best armor for my
ground units and had 20R weapons for each of the ones I was using. They were
also all level 18, although you don't actually use any scouts or engineers, so
they could be lower.
For your deploy, put two snipers in the back, two shocktroopers in the front
(Rosie should be one), and 2 lancers (Largo included) - one on each side.
Throw Alicia in there for CP and one more unit if you like. It's also worth
noting that some rubble falls all during the battle; you can completely ignore
it.
On your first phase, use your two shocktroopers to run around the sides of the
walls in front of them and shoot the close towers. These have miniguns but
they shouldn't be much problem for these troops. The real trick to this map
is that these towers have extremely tiny spots to hit and you might not find
them without going into targeting mode and hitting "next enemy": be sure to
do this so you know you're hitting them. (Also, you'll see a number in the
shots-to-kill box.) Take each one of these out on either side and hide your
units behind those walls so that the boss can't see you. Now, select your
best sniper (Ultimate Accuracy helps) and shoot the tower on the far side of
the map: one shot should kill it. Now, move both of your tanks forward and
up the ramps on either side of the boss. Mortar the boss with each of them
(mortars do more damage than tank shots; use the Shamrock's anti-personnel
weapon if it does more than your mortar). Select Welkin and mortar him again;
this should be enough to take him to just over 1/2 damage, which will trigger
a cutscene. He'll power up and reset his position further back away from your
troops. Before you finish with Welkin, you need to position him carefully:
go forward toward the boss and end between the two armored towers, on the
right side. Now, reselect the Shamrock and go forward and mortar the boss
again; you also need to end this unit in a specific place: finish just
southwest of the eastern (right) armored tower. Save your last CP and end
your phase.
The boss will heal on his turn a little and walk slowly forward and do nothing
(yay!). Then, he'll attack everyone on the map (boo) and move forward toward
his original position. Your tanks should have survived; if not, you may need
to buy more of their upgrades (you should easily have over a million gold by
now!). Now, three more semi-random towers will activate and power the boss.
This is the tricky part: you need to take out all these towers in 5 CP or
less. Each tower can be taken down in 2 shots or fewer; the forward towers
can be killed by your shocktroopers, and the far back and two side ones can be
shot by snipers. The side towers take two sniper shots, but they're easy to
hit. The armored towers will take two lancer shots, and for this you may have
to save/reload a few times. Your lancers will need to run so that the boss
can't see them but they can still hit the towers; that's why you have one
lancer on either side. For me, it was one front tower, one side tower, and
one armored tower, which I took out in 5 CP. That leaves you 8 CP to kill the
boss this phase - your tanks can't take another round of his power. Use the
Attack, Neutralize, and possibly the Defend order (this is optional if you're
good at hitting the "target" button quickly) on your best shocktrooper; I used
Rosie. Now, select Welkin and fire another mortar at the boss; this should
get him facing north (toward Welkin), and take him close to 1/2 HP. Now, run
Rosie up toward the Shamrock and stand close to it so that it fires when you
do: shoot the boss (I don't think headshots matter), quickly end your turn,
and then reselect and do it again. 3 CP should be all you need with the
Shamrock's help (her double-attack potential helps a bunch if you get it), but
if you need 4 just don't use the Defend order and hope he doesn't get you
between shots (it takes a second or so for him to aim). Once you finish him,
congratulations!
========================================
Bonus Missions
========================================
[6BNSM]
There are a few extra missions you can unlock by paying for enough newspaper
stories. They're completely optional, but they're good XP and worth doing,
especially since the cash needed for the stories is so easy to come by. They
also unlock personality-based potentials for certain main characters.
Note that there is absolutely no order to these missions; you can and probably
will encounter them in a different order, as they are handed out pretty
randomly.
=========================
Extra 1 - Largo's Passion
=========================
[6BN01]
A Rank - 3 phases
CP: 4
Leaders: 2
Aces: 0
Tanks: 2
This mission is extremely linear but deceptively tricky since you really only
have two units and 4 CP. For your deploy, pick either Alicia or Rosie for the
extra CP; it doesn't matter which because you won't be using them. Start by
picking Welkin. Run him northwest toward the first ladder area. Go around a
corner and shoot the enemy leader scout in the head, and keep pushing on. Go
up one side and down the other, ignoring the hidden shocktrooper. Next,
reselect Welkin and run east. You can stop to shoot the hidden scout if you
feel like it, but I didn't bother - he will only circle the building and waste
CP for the enemy anyway. Go down the hill and stand against the wall (toward
the middle of the wall is better) and face the road. Next, select Largo and
run him along the same path. He won't quite make it to the ladder on the
first turn, but select him again and push him up and over and then I like to
park him behind the tree just around the corner, so he has some cover from the
roving scout. You might want to face backwards, to give him a better shot at
evading if the shocktrooper behind you heads your way.
On the enemy's turn, they'll move around a lot and possibly try to shoot Largo
a little - he'll be fine, though. The real danger is the enemy shocktrooper
leader that will come around the corner where Welkin is. Hopefully, you'll
evade or otherwise survive his burst. On your turn, select Welkin and
immediately shoot or grenade the shocktrooper leader. Then, turn around and
head west up the hill and try to duck immediately to the left behind the wall
so that the gatling gun doesn't mangle you. Run up to the edge of the wall,
but don't push forward yet. End his turn and select Largo. Run forward and
around, and then save and select him again and run straight for the gatling
gun. He can take it down in one hit, but his accuracy is horrible at night.
Try to get as close as you can, but don't go past the second bunker. Once it
is destroyed, crouch. Then, select Welkin again. Run him up and turn right.
At this point, depending on enemy movement, there will likely be a scout and a
lancer in this small area. Your job is to find and kill the lancer, as he's
the only thing that can threaten Largo on the enemy's next phase. After that,
avoid the scout, climb the tiny ladder, and run and hide in the grass. That
ends your turn.
Hopefully the enemy will just waste a lot of time, although you might even get
lucky and the scout could try to kill Welkin several times and die in the
counter-fire. Either way, once that's done run Largo up and around the
corner, across and toward the ladder. Save the game, then run up the ladder
and to the far back left- (northeast-) most point. Aim and fire at the two
tanks with your remaining 3 CP and 3 shots.
Your reward is a (funny) personality-based positive potential for Largo.
===================================
Extra 2 - An End to Darcsen Hunting
===================================
[6BN02]
A Rank - 4
CP: 9
Leaders: 4
Aces: 1
Tanks: 2
The main things to know about this map are that there are 17 enemies, and once
you have killed the 3rd leader (whichever that is) they'll start to retreat
toward the three exits. The general plan is to set yourself up in a good
position and then start their retreat so that they run into your waiting
troops. Load Alicia and Largo in the back (they won't be used), a sniper, and
fill the remaining ranks with extra shocktroopers to help cover the southern
exit.
Start by moving the Shamrock up the cliff and right smack up next to the
medium tank up there; execute the lancer on your way up. Reselect and push
past the tank; shoot it from behind. Then take the time to run through the
grass on the right; this will pop up two troops, including a leader. After
that, save and then head down toward the northern exit and fire a mortar into
the patch of grass just south and left; you should catch the enemy ace and
make him stand up. Next, take your sniper and snipe their sniper, and then
take your toughest shocktrooper and run into the patch of grass immediately to
the right of Welkin; you should find another sniper there who you can take out
in one round. Hide in the western edge of that brush facing east. You'll
have 1 CP left; end your turn.
The enemy will move the tank leader forward, take a few shots at the Shamrock,
and otherwise move uncovered troops toward your base. On your next phase,
reselect the Shamrock and go after the lancer in the brush to your right; run
him over and then shoot him in the head. Next, head toward the tank leader;
get just close enough to get a good shot and blow him away. Head back toward
the northern exit but be sure to face south along the road. Next, take your
sniper and drop anyone you can easily hit; this was two guys for me, including
the second leader. Then, take your crawling shocktrooper and throw a grenade
to get the guy directly in front of you (or near you as the case may be) up,
and then run past him north toward the edge of that grassy area and face north
(be sure to crawl before ending your turn). Select a different shocktrooper
and finish that enemy off, then push as far west as you can, hugging the wall.
This is just to cover yourself in case they make a break for that exit.
Lastly, select Welkin and move him forward and turn right into the first
brushy area you can get to: you should run over an enemy leader here.
Execute him and move yourself toward the middle of the map. Killing him
should trigger the enemy retreat, and now it's their turn. They will
graciously leave their protected hiding spots and run toward the exits - but
they'll stop short of your tanks. Once it is your turn again, you should just
have 7 guys left to mop up. The tactics at this point are less specific since
they may move differently each time, but you have two turns to get them all,
so don't feel like you have to rush; just try to mortar and flame them from
behind and snipe anyone you can. In my case, I moved Welkin north and
mortared 3 shocktroopers and the ace in the back (the ace didn't die but the
others did). Then, I took my shocktrooper who was furthest north and ran up
and flamed the ace (he's a tricky devil), then reselected and killed the final
enemy leader. I then sniped the last two guys.
Your reward is Rosie's final personality-based potential, and the best
flamethrower in the game thanks to the enemy shocktrooper ace.
============================
Extra 3 - Signs of Awakening
============================
[6BN03]
A Rank - 2
CP: 10
Leaders: 4
Aces: 0
Tanks: 2
How you handle this mission may vary based on when you get it. When I ran it,
I had level 15 elites... so it wasn't very challenging. The basic plan is to
run up units on both sides and squash the enemy in the middle. If you're
using elite units, it's easy enough to do it in one phase, but two phases
should be more than enough even if you get this mission earlier.
Start by loading Rosie, Largo, and a scout, with a shocktrooper behind them
and two more scouts (or the last unit can be another shocktrooper). Select
Rosie and run forward and up the ladder; immediately swing around and kill the
scout. Push up against the barricades so that you're clear of the ladder.
Save and select a scout and run up the same ladder; nudge left, and then throw
a grenade so that you kill the engineer and also bust at least one barricade.
This scout can move on to the left (if you think it might take two turns) and
get near the far west ladder. Ascend and then quickly descend to get the
enemy's attention. Reselect Rosie and go through the downed barricades and
climb the second ladder. If you're elite, just run over to the sniper and
flame all three units; otherwise, toss a grenade, and favor the shocktrooper
leader (make sure he dies). Push on to the west (left) once that's done as
far as you can toward the western barricades at the top of the hill leading
into the base. At this point, I chose to select Largo and move him east
around the corner; reselect him, run behind the light tank, and blow it away.
You'll take a few hits but nothing serious; quickly end his turn (or face the
enemies if you might take two phases). Now, select Alicia and run forward to
her ladder on the north face. Go up, and then immediately go up the next
ladder in front of her. Now, swing west (right for her) and sneak up behind
the standing shocktrooper leader and shoot him (or throw a grenade to kill him
and the engineer if you can). Select one of the remaining scouts in your
base, follow Rosie's path up the mountain and then when you get to where she's
standing, throw a grenade at those barricades on the western side of the base.
If you're pretty powerful, save and select Rosie. Run her into the base and
take out the tank, then reselect and run to the final two shocktroopers
(including the leader) and flame them both. Lastly, reselect one of your
scouts standing near the base and run in and toward the objective; run past
the flag and turn left immediately to find another shocktrooper leader hiding
behind the house. He's facing the wrong way, so take him out (careful of the
guy behind you shooting you up). Then run back to the flag and occupy the
base.
If you're not that strong, you may want to instead use your last few CP for
some defensive moves. Run your shocktrooper up toward Largo and take out the
engineer or scout (or both) - in fact, you might want to do this before you
move Largo. Make sure everyone near Alicia is dead, and make sure if you
don't kill both the scout and engineer near Largo that you have one more
person standing at the base. Otherwise, you're in good shape. The enemy will
mostly go after your tank. They might also make a dash for your southern
base, but you should be ok if someone is guarding it. They'll also reposition
some guys in their base, but with the crossfire you have set up, they will not
get far. Once it is your turn again, just mop up; you should have more than
enough moves, grenades, and whatever you need to take out the last leader and
occupy the base.
Your reward for this mission is positive personality potential for Alicia.
===============================
Extra 4 - What Lies Beyond Hate
===============================
[6BN04]
A Rank - 2 (1 is plenty)
CP: 4
Leaders: 0
Aces: 0
Tanks: 0
This is the easiest map in the whole game. Seriously: it's easier than the
prologue. There are three enemies and your job is to kill them all. The only
way to mess up is to not kill them all in the same phase; ironically, not
finishing in one phase makes this map harder. Load Alicia in front and put
Rosie and Largo in the back. Start with Alicia and run up the incline to the
left, hugging the fence. Almost all the way up, you'll see an enemy on the
roof. Back up slowly until there's a blue line to the enemy, then push
backwards so that you're against the wall to get a good angle on the shot.
Take him out. (Or push forward and use a grenade if you feel like you can't
shoot well enough.) Select Welkin and run straight forward toward the house
on the right; circle to the right of that house and go around the corner to
the left. Target the enemy scout's head and kill him. Reselect and run
forward (west), target the third enemy scout's head from behind and kill him.
You win. There is no reward that I can tell (well, at least it was easy).
===================================
Extra 5 - Flower of the Battlefield
===================================
[6BN05]
A Rank - 5
CP: 6
Leaders: 4
Aces: 1
Tanks: 3
If you want an A rank you'll need to kill all the enemies, since waiting it
out nets you a B at best. However, it's quite tricky since you only have 5
units and the enemy has 20, most of which are hidden initially. However, with
large, open areas and plenty of places to hide, this map is truly a sniper's
dream come true.
The general strategy is that your tank and Rosie can defend the left side just
fine, but your right side is susceptible - especially to scouts who can run
quite a distance, and to lancers, who can get close and kill your tank. You
only get two choices for who to load, and I recommend a sniper (pick your
absolute best shot) and an engineer. Put the sniper on the right.
Start with your sniper: snipe the enemy sniper from where you start (he's
just behind the heavy tank) and then run straight toward the hill in front of
you. There are two distinct trees and a rock to the right of them: head for
the rock. Reselect and kill the enemy shocktrooper leader to the east, then
head further up the hill. Reselect and snipe the second shocktrooper leader
to the north, and then hide in the grass behind (south of) that rock. Now
select the engineer and run to the sniper to refill their ammo, then move
southeast from there toward a rock in the middle of a small grassy patch.
Just northeast of the rock is a lancer hidden in the grass; discover him and
then use a grenade to get him standing. (Ironically he's one of the most
dangerous enemies on this map since he can take Welkin out with one move.)
Hide in the grass south of the rock once you're done. Now reselect your
sniper and take the lancer out and hide back in the grass. Lastly, move Largo
northeast toward your engineer and hide in the grass next to her (or him).
The enemy likes to waste time with tanks and hitting Welkin. They'll also
move some of their shocktroopers around counter-clockwise toward your base and
probably snipe at Rosie (reload if she dies, but she should be fine). On your
turn, take your sniper and move south until you can see the two standing
shocktroopers due east next to the now moved heavy tank. Take one out, then
reselect and take the other out and move back to the safety of your rock and
hide. Now, select Largo and run straight at that heavy tank. You'll probably
discover three more enemies hidden in a tiny patch of grass just northeast of
you - two scouts and a lancer leader - but ignore their shots and run behind
the heavy tank and blow it away. Hide in the grass with all the enemies, but
be sure to stay a decent distance from their lancer. Select your engineer at
this point and run up and refill your sniper again, then head back to that
trio of troops Largo discovered and throw a grenade at the lancer leader to
get him standing (try to catch one of the scouts in the blast if you can, it
will make things easier later). Immediately run back to the rock where you
started and hide in the grass behind it before their scouts get you. Reselect
your sniper, quickly stand and take out their lancer leader and hide again
before the scouts mangle you. Shifting to the other side of the field, now
select Rosie and run her northwest - there should be a shocktrooper near the
signpost you can take out on your way - and aim for the rock in the middle of
the grass in the grassy patch just northwest of the curve in the road. Hide
just south of the rock in the grass and face the road. (These rocks are only
somewhat useful as cover but they're particularly useful as places that are
easy to describe using text; this map is a huge open field and you need points
of reference for a guide!)
The enemy will continue to move their tanks, probably beat on Welkin, and
importantly they'll try to run those two scouts you discovered toward the
base. Hopefully your engineer will defend the area well, and may even kill
one; also, hopefully your engineer will not die (just reload if they do). On
your next phase, use Largo to run toward the tank ace and nuke it from behind.
Continue west toward your sniper up on the hill. Reselect Largo and run past
your sniper up the hill to where you can get a good shot at the medium tank
leader below. Blow it away, then go back and hide in the grass somewhere in
the field: he's done. Select your sniper and shoot the annoying engineer in
their back ranks and then hide again. This next part depends on how well your
engineer did against the scouts. Take the engineer and move south toward the
scout that ran toward the base; chuck a grenade to finish him off. If you
didn't kill the other one while they ran by, reselect and chuck another
grenade and finish him off as well. Run back toward the sniper when this is
done and refill them. Finish hiding in the grass facing west. Now, use your
sniper again and start picking off shocktroopers. You want to kill the ones
furthest away first, and work your way west. You'll get either one or two of
them depending on what your engineer did.
On the enemy's last turn, they will try to advance and generally pester Rosie,
who will likely return the favor by killing half of who is left. At this
point, the maximum number of troops remaining are a scout, two standing
shocktroopers, a lancer hidden up near where their sniper is, and their sniper
(both hidden northeast of Rosie). You have two phases and plenty of time, so
just do whatever you need to do to take them all out. I suggest starting with
your sniper and leaving the hidden ones to Rosie. By now I only had a sniper
and lancer remaining, so I just used Rosie's flamethrower to take them each
out.
Your reward is positive personality potential for Welkin (and tank part for
the Shamrock courtesy of the enemy tank ace).
========================================
Skirmishes - Normal Mode
========================================
[7SKIR]
The majority of skirmishes on Easy and Normal are simply maps you've already
defeated with a few minor changes and no aces. Most are slightly different
and require slight tweaks to their strategies, but the general ideas are
similar. Once you've unlocked skirmishes (they unlock after certain battles),
they are a great source of extra XP and cash. It's not a bad idea to play
through them once on Easy just to get a feel for the level, and then go back
on Normal to get the better rewards. (If you are a completionist you'll need
to get an A rank on both Easy AND Normal anyway.) You can expect Easy to net
you around 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the XP and cash as the Normal difficulty,
although you will use the exact same strategy. Sadly, Easy is not really less
difficult, except that the enemies tend to have slightly lower defenses (which
typically don't matter) and a lot less CP (which they also tend to waste).
===============================
Skirmish 1 - Outskirts of Bruhl
===============================
[7SK01]
A Rank - 1 phase
CP: 8
Leaders: 2
Tanks: 0
This might seem tricky but the key information about this skirmish is that a
scout can make it to the enemy base in two turns. That means you have 6 CP to
clear a path and get leader kills, and then you can run a scout all the way to
the end quickly. I would load at least one good scout and two good
shocktroopers - that's all you really need. First, run a shocktrooper over to
the far east leader, hugging the edge of the map, and either run behind the
sandbags and shoot, or toss a grenade. Next, take another shocktrooper and
run southwest toward the scout crouching behind a sandbag. Toss a grenade,
since you'll likely not get far enough to shoot effectively. Then,
immediately re-select the same shocktrooper and charge at the enemy
shocktrooper slightly southwest of your position. Run behind the bunker and
blow him away. It's necessary to clear the path or your poor scout will get
mangled. Next, take your scout and run all the way southwest to the second
leader crouching behind some sandbags and toss a grenade to take him down in
one hit. Keep going to the bridge. When your AP runs out, select that scout
again and run across the bridge and right up to the final enemy and shoot him
in the head. Step forward and complete the mission.
It actually possible to kill every single enemy on this map in one turn
without much trouble, but again you get nothing for killing anyone other than
a leader.
============================
Skirmish 2 - Vasel Riverside
============================
[7SK02]
A Rank - 1 phase
CP: 8
Leaders: 4
Tanks: 2
This is EXACTLY like episode 3, except you get 8 CP instead of 9. Ouch.
Also, the enemy gets about twice the CP it had before, but at least the ace is
replaced with a normal shocktrooper. If you want to get every bonus, use
Alicia to take out the enemy shocktrooper leader on the northeast side of the
map instead of Rosie, although Rosie will still need to clear the scouts for
her. Otherwise the strategy is the same.
It's much easier and faster to just go for the A rank on this one and not
worry with all the bonuses. In fact, you can get through really quickly (just
5 CP) by just moving Largo and your western shocktrooper and ignoring the
river side and northern tank completely. Since this battle only takes one
phase, you may want to play through it several times this way for quick XP.
============================
Skirmish 3 - Kloden Wildwood
============================
[7SK03]
A Rank - 4 phases
CP: 9
Leaders: 7
Tanks: 2
This is set up exactly like episode 5, except that it's a bit easier in some
ways. Your southern troops start out slightly further back, but the medium
tank is replaced with a light one, the ace is replaced with a normal scout
(whew!), the black shocktroopers have been replaced with normal ones, and the
boss is replaced with a medium tank that's there from the beginning. That
last bit is really a blessing in disguise, since the enemy loves to waste CP
moving that thing around, and has an amazing talent for ending up turning the
tank around backwards. Although once again, the enemy gets a lot more CP.
Generally, you'll want to follow the guide for episode 5, using the "I'm
slightly insane" portions as well. The first two phases certainly work well
the same way, except you may want to not deploy extra troops you won't be
using and at the end of phase two call in a lancer from the southern middle
base. This keeps your tank-killer healthy and in full ammo - and a bit closer
to the goal. The only tricky difference is that because the scout doesn't run
out of cover - unlike the ace - he will be hard to deal with. You may need to
run your lancer up before trying to cross the base as well, as the tank may be
further west and could really hurt your shocktrooper as he's trying to run
across. The last difference is that the enemy tends to call reinforcements,
so you might have one more troop to deal with in the base - but since they are
all clustered, a well-placed grenade will work wonders. Remember, it doesn't
matter if they are alive and standing 1 inch outside the base, so long as no
one is alive and IN it!
===========================
Skirmish 4 - Barious Desert
===========================
[7SK04]
A Rank - 3 phases
CP: 10
Leaders: 5
Tanks: 3
Same as episode 6, except that there is no sandstorm, and the enemy again has
ludicrous amounts of CP. The strategy for episode 6 works great here again.
=========================
Skirmish 5 - Upper Fouzen
=========================
[7SK05]
A Rank - 4
CP: 12
Leaders: 4
Tanks: 3
This map is exactly like episode 10b, except thankfully the train is gone!
Also, the ace is just a regular sniper (as usual). Your only objective is to
reach the same place on the map (there are no new enemies guarding that new
last base). You only have 4 phases to complete the mission this time, but
with the addition of a second tank and more CP, it becomes trivial to complete
this skirmish in only 3 phases.
The same general strategy is fine, but don't bother moving Welkin more than
once, and don't bother having an engineer clear the first bridge (but still
load one). With your extra CP on the first turn, go ahead and have your
advancing scout take out the first bunkered lancer down the hill and park them
near the beginning of the second bridge. Go ahead and save your last 3 CP.
On your second phase, after taking out the northern area (mostly just to get
the leader and tank), put an evade order on your scout and run them past the
tank (use a defense one too if you need it) and activate the lift that leads
back to your base. Take the Shamrock down after that and blow away the 2nd
tank from behind. There's even less for your second shocktrooper to mop up
down there. I just hit the shocktrooper leader and the other standing
shocktrooper and left it at that, and I completely ignored the bunkered lancer
and the distant enemy shocktrooper down near the southeast bridge (who never
advances anyway). After that, go ahead and use a scout and lancer like before
to clear the scout leader, sniper, and south east bridge. Essentially, you
are combining the second and third phases from before and taking out both
reinforcement bridges on phase 2. On your third phase, use an engineer to go
up and clear the third bridge and then run the Shamrock up there. I actually
like to push the Shamrock forward right up to the third tank and mortar the
scout leader and shocktrooper -behind- it to get them standing. Then, use a
damage order on your shocktrooper and have them run up, take out the third
tank, and go ahead and blow away the scout leader and shocktrooper while
you're there. Finally, you can use a scout from your base to run all the way
to the objective in two moves. You never even need to bother with the enemy's
second base, or the bunkered lancers (since they'll never act).
===========================
Skirmish 6 - Marberry Shore
===========================
[7SK06]
A Rank - 8 (still twice what you need)
CP: 12
Leaders: 3
Tanks: 4
The map is the same as episode 11, with no ace (of course). The same strategy
works just as well.
===========================
Skirmish 7 - Windmill Plaza
===========================
[7SK07]
A Rank - 1
CP: 10
Leaders: 5
Tanks: 1
Exactly like episode 12, except the aces are normal units now and you only get
10 CP. The same basic strategy works here, but if you want every bonus Alicia
will need to move to the base last. Once Alicia takes out the tank, move
scout 2 up as before, then use this scout to toss a grenade and take out the
sniper in the base at the end of his second move. Reselect and continue to
use scout 2 and 3 like before to take out the leaders. For your last CP, move
Alicia up and take out the cannon left in the base and occupy it.
It's worth noting that an A rank on Normal on this board leaving out all the
extra leaders (since they are worth only 250 XP and gold each) nets you a
total of 56800 XP and 112000 gold, and you can complete the whole thing in one
phase with 7 or 8 CP. If you don't want to bother loading a mortar round, you
can spend the extra CP to have Welkin make the first move instead of Largo.
Overall, this is an imminently "repeatable" board that is a very quick way to
earn tons of cash and XP.
==========================
Skirmish 8 - Naggiar Plain
==========================
[7SK08]
A Rank - 6
CP: 10
Leaders: 2
Tanks: 3
This map is a lot like Episode 13, but it is set up somewhat differently.
First, you only get 10 CP the entire time, but your tanks start with you on
the field. The enemy ace is completely gone (no replacement), but there are
two extra tank destroyers on the field, and which enemies are leaders has been
changed around a bit. The enemy near the gatling bunker is also crouching
instead of standing. There is also no "rocket fire" to contend with, and you
get 6 phases instead of 5 - but you do still have to deal with the "double
objective" thing where extra troops show up once you capture the central base.
Start like before but put an extra lancer on the right side. Your first turn
should go the same way, except since the eastern base shocktrooper is
crouching you can instead shoot the shocktrooper on the western side of the
map, near the western tank destroyer. Be sure to move your sniper back down
out of the nest and back to the base at the end of their turn or else the tank
destroyers will shoot at you. Also, be more conservative with your eastern
shocktrooper: just take out three guys and end your turn behind some boxes
for a little protection. You can end your first turn with 1 CP remaining. On
your second turn, having no ace will save you 2 CP - which you can use to take
out crouching shocktrooper near the eastern base. In fact, you can grenade
both him and the bunker at the same time; after that, have your sniper take
him down to save on movement for your shocktrooper. At the end of this phase
- or at least, once the gatling bunker is gone - use your eastern lancer and
push north and take out the eastern tank destroyer in one move. Then send
Largo out toward the western tank destroyer. He can get behind it in two
moves and blow it away.
On your third turn, you can probably kill both shocktroopers guarding the
central base with Rosie in one move, so you save lots of CP there (if she can
only get one, that's ok too). You can advance further toward last base or
just set up a great defense and then save lots of CP for your fourth turn
(don't forget to heal); either way, the basics of the strategy don't change
much. I like to bring Alicia and a shocktrooper up to the narrow area just
before the mines and plant Rosie firmly crouched guarding the central base;
this encourages the enemy to kill themselves trying to hit me. Then, snipe
anyone you can; you can probably tag a couple of them. Be sure to remember
the engineer. Fourth turn, just mop up like before.
===============================
Skirmish 9 - East Bank of Vasel
===============================
[7SK09]
A Rank - 3
CP: 8
Leaders: 4
Tanks: 4
The final skirmish map is not available during the first playthrough, and
unlocks immediately after you complete the game.
This level is set up generally the same as episode 17, but there are some
major differences. First, the boss is gone, and replaced with a heavy tank,
shocktrooper leader, and a fifth base. The ace is also gone with no
replacement, and there are no black elite units (yay!). And, the only
objective is to capture the new, fifth base (western most), so you don't even
have to worry about the others. But you only get 3 phases - so this map is
still rather hard, especially if you want to grab all the bonus XP (which you
probably don't need any more).
You'll want to change your deploy up slightly. Start with your sniper in the
same spot (east slot of the 2-person area), but put Alicia next to them. Give
her the most powerful scout weapon you have (I used a 20R). Put Rosie up top
next to Welkin, and an engineer behind her. Throw Largo in behind the
Shamrock just for CP, and then put a good shocktrooper in your base (bottom
right slot of the lowest starting area) just for defense. Begin with your
sniper again, and go up the ladder to the nice clear vista and look south.
Now the only thing standing in the southern base is the scout leader, so take
him out. After that, change tactics and aim north (right) at the lancer
standing on the roof. He's fairly easy to spot. Take him out and then go
hide behind a wall like before.
Next, put a Damage (2 CP) order on Rosie and charge her toward the northern
base. You don't have to shoot the crouching guy on her first move. Reselect
her and go past the heavy tank and take it out from behind. Move into the
base, reselect, and torch the shocktrooper leader crouching there. Turn
around, reselect, and torch the final shocktrooper in that base. However, you
don't actually need to occupy the base yet - just end your turn next to the
ladder up. Not occupying the base potentially wastes one of the enemy's next
CP by allowing them to call reinforcements from that base and then you
cancelling the call. It's not really necessary, but it might help a little.
That should be all of your CP this phase.
The enemy will take a few shots at you and call lots of reinforcements. On
your next phase, save and then start with Rosie. Occupy the base if you
didn't before, then head up the ladder. Move next to the cannon so that you
can shoot it and the sniper like before. You will need to aim for the
sniper's head to actually get them both; it's still a tricky shot but it is
still possible. Once they're dead, run all the way to the back side of that
building, down the ladder, turn west and finish near the corner of the
building in the alley. Now, give a Damage order to Alicia. Have her run
southwest all the way down to the southern-most path leading west. You'll
pass a shocktrooper waiting in hiding there (but facing north) and head
straight toward the heavy tank. Duck to the left into a side-alley to avoid
the tank fire, go through it and come out on the other side right next to the
tank. You should have just enough movement to get behind it and blow it away.
(If you can't kill the heavy tank in one turn with Alicia, you'll want to
level up more - I was level 18 - and make sure she has the best weapon
possible - I used a 20R weapon.) Now, reselect her and retreat back down that
same alley that had the heavy tank and go back to the hidden shocktrooper
facing north. Shoot him in the back of the head, and then go back into the
side-alley and crouch near the sandbag. This is a purely defensive (and
optional) move but it helps quite a bit with keeping her alive (you need her
for the CP more than anything else at this point). Now select Welkin. Move
him straight forward and when you can't move further, aim for the heavy cannon
in the middle base just to your left and take it out. For your last CP, if
Welkin is damaged select your engineer and move her forward to just behind
Welkin and repair him completely. He needs to be at full health or just
barely shy. If he's still full, you can save the CP for your last phase.
Save the game and end your phase.
On the enemy's phase, they will pound you pretty hard. Welkin will take the
brunt, but their second sniper will do his best and they may run a few guys
around to harass your other troops. Make sure none of your leaders die
(unlikely but it can happen) and reload if they do. On your last phase, start
by moving Welkin straight forward again and aim a mortar round into the
enemy's middle base. Feel free to try to get as many of them as you can, but
you only care about nailing the scout leader crouching there. Once he's dead,
give a Damage order to Rosie again. Run her straight (due west) and hug the
right wall as tightly as you can. She'll get shot up a bit but just ignore
it. When she can't move anymore, quickly end her turn and reselect her.
Continue west just past the heavy tank and then turn around and take it out.
Head toward the final tank. Reselect her, come up behind it, and take it out
as well. Move toward the final base. Reselect a fourth time, flame the guy
to death (he shouldn't even see you coming), and occupy the base. Overall a
fairly similar strategy, but done much faster.
========================================
Skirmishes - Hard Mode
========================================
[8SHRD]
"Hard" difficulty skirmishes are unlocked once you beat the game.
Yikes! When they say "hard," they mean HARD. These levels are all tougher
than anything you faced going through the game. The maps are laid out
COMPLETELY differently and all the enemies are stronger as well, so you really
need some creative tactics to get through them. There are two important
points to note about the Hard difficulty maps in this guide. First, FORGET
about nabbing all the leaders and tanks. All of the following strategies try
to maximize your bonus kills, but since there are no aces and the bonus kills
give you almost no XP and gold, they simply are not worth it anymore. (Not to
mention that you're probably almost capped at XP for the game anyway and can't
possibly need more gold!) Just go for the A rank and be done with it.
Second, every single move you make for each of these maps should be considered
extremely precise. You would do well to save after EACH move. If things do
not go exactly as described, reload. This is a blanket statement that covers
all of these maps so I don't have to keep repeating it.
I did not start the Hard skirmishes until almost all of my troops were level
19. I had also purchased all of the equipment in the game. It is actually
extremely easy to repeat the first skirmish for just under 75,000 XP and
150,000 gold each time, so you should be able to max out your level and get
all the cash you need fairly quickly if you have not already.
And lastly, even though you really don't need the leader/tank extras, I will
post my best bonus kill count for each map just for reference. If you can
come up with a better strategy that also nabs more leaders and tank kills than
me, feel free to write in and if I post it I will credit you.
===============================
Skirmish 1 - Outskirts of Bruhl
===============================
[8SH01]
A Rank - 1 phase
CP: 9
Leaders: 4
Tanks: 4
My best: 4 leaders, 2 tanks
You start completely surrounded with a lot of guys who can pound the crap out
of you. The enemy has three bases but you only need to capture the southeast
one, which is good - but it currently has three occupants, including a
shocktrooper leader, a tank, and a tank destroyer. Thank goodness for smoke
rounds or this map would be nearly impossible.
You only need Largo and an engineer to complete this level, but you can throw
Alicia and Rosie in there too for CP, if you want. I put Largo at the very
bottom and the engineer next to him, and filled in all my extra slots (other
than Alicia and Rosie) with shocktroopers to help absorb cover fire.
Start with Welkin. Immediately go into targeting mode with your smoke round
and aim for the dead middle of the bridge. You can auto-target the
shocktrooper just behind the gatling guns and then fudge to the right
slightly; that should do it. End your turn immediately after the shot.
You'll know you have it right because the gatling guns AND the very front of
the light tank will both be obscured. Now, reselect Welkin and aim a mortar
round directly on top of the enemy shocktrooper leader's head directly in
front of you. This should take out all three shocktroopers there; this move
is necessary to reduce cover fire, but it also nets you one leader. Now,
select your engineer and carefully WALK through the smoke across the bridge.
Once you're a couple of steps in, you should be able to pretty easily make out
everything - it will all just be covered in white and grey. Skip all the
enemies and disarm EVERY mine as you move across the bridge. Some are tank
mines but get them all just to be safe. You might even step on a mine, but as
long as you disarm it before you step off, it won't blow up. Be sure to clear
the path completely, and then at the end of the smoke you should be able make
out the enemy leader shocktrooper in the base. Aim carefully for his head and
take him out. Then, simply step out of the way. Select Largo and follow that
same path toward where you just killed the enemy leader. Go to that exact
spot and aim either for the light tank's weak spot or the tank destroyer's
weak spot and take one out. At this point you have 3 CP left, so you can
spend two CP to kill the two sniper leaders in the other bases. Select your
two strongest shocktroopers and head one toward the northeastern base to take
out that leader, and the other toward the northwestern base. You should be
able to get there before the tank destroyers mow you down. (If you have
trouble, moving Welkin forward a little on his second shot helps open a path
behind him for a shocktrooper to run more directly toward the sniper leader up
the hill.) Then reselect Largo, take out the other tank, and occupy the base.
Getting an A rank plus two leaders, 1 tank, and 1 tank destroyer nets you
74940 XP and 148940 gold. Skipping the extras, you can easily defeat this map
quite quickly (just 7 CP in one phase) and should do so if you are not at
least level 19. It's even worth doing it a few more times to get everyone to
20 as well.
More strategies coming soon!
========================================
Skirmishes - Expert Mode
========================================
[9EXHD]
Downloadable from the Playstation Network as of April 16, 2009 and currently
priced at $4.99, Expert skirmishes are also unlocked once you beat the game -
so you may want to hold off on your purchase until then. Once you download
the content, you simply have to go to the Skirmishes tab to access the Expert
difficulty for each map.
Strategies coming soon!
========================================
Downloadable Content
========================================
[10DLC]
Downloadable from the Playstation Network as of April 16, 2009 and currently
priced at $4.99 each. At this time two different packs are available. To
play the extra missions, go to the new Extras option on the main title screen
and select them there. Be aware (the game makes sure that you are aware) that
since these missions are not part of the main story, you should always save
your game in different slots than you normally use.
==================================
Pack 1 - Enter the Edy Detachment!
==================================
[10EDY]
A Rank - 4
CP: 8
Leaders: 5
Tanks: 4
This DLC pack is one mission only - you may wish to take note of this before
you purchase it. You can repeat it over and over as much as you like, but as
far as I can tell, you get nothing in the main storyline for this completing
this mission. You -can- see how well you've done on the Extras screen (just
like the Statistics tab in the game).
For this mission, you do not get to set your weapons or choose/deploy your
troops. All of your units are level 11 (elite) with their normal upgrades and
a decent weapon equipped. The map is actually the exact same map as Largo's
bonus mission, except that it is set up completely differently - however,
playing that mission first will help you know the ins and outs of this map.
The main handicap of this mission (which honestly, isn't too bad) is the unit
selection: you get stuck with several units with HORRIBLE potentials. Susie
in particular has a devastating potential that will randomly cause her to NOT
attack and end her turn instantly when you try to fire at something; Edy is
"panicky" and even the normally awesome Jann is allergic to pollen, of which
there is a lot on this map. All this to say: the best strategies tend to
minimize every unit's weaknesses, but it's still a good idea to save before
every turn.
The way this map works is that you must defend the area you start in for 3
phases, and then after that you must get Edy to the objective at the south end
of the map. The "trick" to this map is to start moving Edy long before the
end of the third phase. Enemy reinforcements arrive every turn near your base
on both sides (it's not actually a base but I will refer to it as such because
it is easier), and all they have to do is enter it to make you lose.
Additionally, mortars will fall every round on half the base and to top it off
there is a generous sprinkling of mines spread throughout the level. Tricky,
no?
To start, select Jann and run due north. Go far enough behind the northern
tank to be able to target its weak spot and then take it out. Continue your
turn (ignoring getting shot) and run south as far as you can; hug the right
(at this point, western) wall. Next, select Homer. Shoot the scout to the
north to reduce cover fire and continue to stay crouched and facing north.
Aim toward where the scout was and end your turn. Now, select Lynn and run
forward out of the base and slightly to the right. You'll get shot a lot, but
you want to run so that you can target both the close (southern) scout, and
the scout leader behind him. It's not that difficult, but aim at the scout
leader's head to make it easier. Take them both out, then run back to the
safety of your base above the mortar line and crouch facing south. There are
two sandbags inside the base: a northern one and a southern one. Get behind
the northern one. Now, select Edy. She's pretty horrid in battle but we're
going to use her anyway. You'll want to run a very straight line to the left
(eastern) side of the southern light tank. Run all the way behind it so that
you can target its weak spot. Sadly, she can't finish it off in one turn, but
she'll probably miss some, anyway. Target the weak spot and hurt it badly;
reselect and then finish it off. Now run directly toward the sandbag that
Lynn is hanging out behind. Edy should have just enough movement to get back
there behind it and crouch. Turn to face south as well. Save and then pick
Susie (she's so unreliable you should always save before using her). Move
forward and west (right) a little ways so that you can target the shocktrooper
leader's head reliably. Don't go too far or the other shocktrooper up behind
the sandbags to the west will fire at you. Shoot the leader in the head and
then retreat back to your base and head back next to the middle sandbag on the
top row next to Marina and crouch facing north. Lastly, select Marina and run
straight toward the sniper nest to the south. You should have enough movement
to get there and climb up it. Target the enemy sniper unit just southeast of
you and take him out. Finish your turn facing the newly discovered heavy tank
to the west. End your phase with 1 CP remaining.
At this point reinforcements will appear both in front and behind your base
and attack. Hopefully they will not kill anyone (including Marina who is
vulnerable to that tank) and hopefully Susie (or whoever) will counterattack
the sniper leader that appeared on the hill and tear him up a bit. The main
trick to all these phases is that you want to space all of your units out so
that the enemy cannot get all of them to face in a single direction with their
attacks. Your units will always turn to attack anyone who shoots at them (or
NEAR them), and the fastest way to lose this mission is to have all of your
units turn to face in one direction, which lets one side sneak in. On this
phase you should have 4 units in your base so it shouldn't be a big deal, but
later you'll have only three, so be mindful. Another useful trick is that the
enemies who attack from the south will always run until they start to get shot
- so it pays to have only shocktroopers facing south, since they'll be the
ones to shoot these enemies and thus the enemies will be in shocktrooper
counterattack range once they attack. If you put scouts AND shocktroopers
facing south, the scouts will stop the enemies too far away for your
shocktroopers to effectively counter them - thus leaving more enemies alive at
the end of each phase.
When it is your turn again you'll see that the next mortar attack is against
the northern side of your base (where everyone is). Start once again with
Jann. If the scout who appeared north of your base is still alive, go ahead
and blow him away with your lance. Then run south, turn right around the wall
and head straight toward the heavy tank. Once you run out of movement end
your turn immediately to avoid getting shot too much. Now select Homer again.
You'll want to shoot any remaining troops near your base (for me, it was one
shocktrooper facing the wrong way) and then rebuild all the sandbags that were
just destroyed. Keeping these repaired gives you better cover and also slows
the enemies down if they get too close. Once that's done, crouch next to the
southern middle sandbag facing north toward where the scout appeared last
time. Next, select Marina in her nest and target the enemy sniper leader. If
he's a bit wounded, one shot should take him out. Now we get to use Edy
again. Heal anyone in the base who has been hurt (probably Susie) before you
head out, and then dash toward the heavy tank to the west near Jann. Continue
past Jann to the left and behind the house to avoid the heavy tank chewing you
up. However be VERY CAREFUL and watch for mines! There are tons of them
behind the house - especially along the most direct route - so step lightly
and go slowly to avoid them. You should just swing wide around them to the
south (left) - it's pretty much impossible to walk through them without
triggering one. Go as far as you can around that house, and then reselect Edy
and continue. As soon as you clear the next corner you'll see a shocktrooper
between you and the back of the tank: take him out, and then continue past
the tank to the west (left). Head toward the next building with a ladder on
either side and get as close to it as you can. Now, save and select Jann.
Immediately head to the left along the same path as Edy (WATCH FOR MINES!) and
go as far as you can, swinging wide to the left around the minefield. At the
end of your movement heal yourself. Now select Jann one more time and
continue around the corner toward the heavy tank. Get as close as you can to
its weak spot and blow it up. Lastly, use your final two CP to move Lynn and
Susie in the base. They should both heal as necessary (especially Susie) and
park Lynn more east (away from Homer) and face south behind a sandbag. Put
Susie on the western side of Homer facing north. This should cover both
directions from the next attack.
Reinforcements will arrive and for the most part run suicidally into your
shocktrooper. Again, your only worry is if they target all your units and
make them all face in a single direction. You should be well covered,
however. Once it is your turn again the mortar may fall either on the north
or south side of your base. Start this time with Homer and have him repeat
his previous turn: shoot anyone left, heal otherwise, and repair all
sandbags. Assuming the mortar is falling to the south again, place him in a
similar position facing north. Otherwise, adjust his position accordingly,
but leave him guarding north. Do the same thing with Lynn and Susie as well:
heal, mop up remaining enemies, and reposition as necessary. Susie should
continue to guard north while Lynn guards south. As long as the north-facing
troops are more north and the south-facing troop is more south, and none of
your units are right next to each other, you should be fine. At this point
you pretty much know where the reinforcements will run in so just be sure to
aim that way.
Now select Marina and aim due west for the shocktrooper on the roof across the
map. Take him out, and select Edy. Run her toward the ladder that climbs up
to that roof, head up and over, and climb back down the other side. One tip
for climbing here is that you have a pretty generous range for how far away
the "climb" or "descend" options appear; be sure to hit them as soon as
possible to maximize your movement. Once you descend immediately move forward
around the corner (watch for the mine near the corner!) and aim left toward
the scout leader down the path. Take him out, push south (right) toward the
southern path, past the other scout still shooting you, and end your turn.
Mind the heavy tank around the corner and try not to get shot up. Now choose
Jann and heal if necessary. Follow Edy's path up and over the building and
down again, past the angry scout and toward the southern path. Go as far as
you can and then heal if you didn't before. Reselect Jann and continue
forward around the corner to the left toward the heavy tank. You can try to
crawl through the grass to avoid some shots but it's not really necessary.
Push past on the left of the tank and you should be able to get behind it and
blow it away. Finish facing north (or hide in the grass if you want). Now
select Edy, finish off that poor scout and continue following Jann's lead
around the southern path and stop near the end of the grass facing north.
(You're facing north in case the two shocktroopers around the corner try to
head this way, but there are so many mines they don't usually bother. Face
back to the west if you're worried.)
At this point you know the drill: reinforcements show up and kill themselves
trying to get to the base. As long as you keep them out this last time you're
golden. At the end of their third phase, the objective changes and you need
to get Edy to the bottom of the map. On your turn, select Edy and head east
out into the open and then turn right toward the objective. Chuck a grenade
once you get into range at the shocktrooper leader on the left (east) - your
flamethrower won't be enough to finish him off. Reselect, kill the final
leader, and head to the objective to finish the mission.
An interesting side note is that there are at least two different endings for
this mission, based on whether or not you get an A rank or a B rank (and
presumably they both change if you lose anyone, but maybe not). Considering
that they involve Edy, this may or may not be a reward. :) They are somewhat
funny, however, so it might be worth holding out for one more phase to see the
B rank ending - especially considering you paid for this map!
Another completely uninteresting side note is that the voice actress playing
Susie does not seem to be the original actress hired for her part. I think
she's been replaced with Wendy Lee, but I could be mistaken.
==============================
Pack 2 - Behind Her Blue Flame
==============================
[10BBF]
Strategies coming soon!
========================================
Thanks
========================================
[11THK]
Thanks to the following people for sending in tips:
- Ragnorok450
- Joselo Balderas
- Allan Hsu
- Chris M
- Jon Parsons
- G-man
- Barry Erkenbrack and the many others who wrote in about using grenades
against the radiators in episode 7
- And everyone who sent in minor typos and other corrections - sorry to
everyone that I occasionally have a problem with east and west! :)
====================================================
Valkyria Chronicles: Walkthrough and Max Rank Guide
Copyright (c)2009 Jason Long. All rights reserved.
Version 1.60. Last Updated 04-21-2009
