FAQ - Guide for Homeworld Cataclysm

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Homeworld: Cataclysm FAQ

by Zorlond Jaeger
[email protected]
v1.0, 9/21/00
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Table of Contents:

Note
Version History
Situation
Ships
Formations
Tactics
General Strategy
Missions
End Credits




====
Note
====

This is my first FAQ, so please be gentle. Most everything here is IMO, and you 
might have different ones. If you wish to contribute/advise/question/kibitz, I 
shall be as accomodating as possible. If you wish to spam/insult/annoy/etc, let 
me introduce you to the greatest invention of our times. The Circular File 
Cabinet. Please use discression, I've got enough junk floating in my e-mail box.

Well, when I first started this FAQ, I thought it was a reasonably concealed way 
to ask for assistance in the game. Hey, I was stuck on mission 7, seemed like a 
good idea at the time, and a lot more clever than slapping 'Help me!' on a 
half-dozen b-boards. I offer assistance to others, and they in turn offer 
assistance to me. Certainly have got a response. Hopefully I won't loose track 
of who's contributed what.

Sorry for the delay in the latest release, I took a break from Cataclysm to play 
some other games for a while. But now I'm back and I have succeeded in beating 
the game! (yay!) Is anyone else really dissapointed by the lack of music during 
the credits? See below for the last mission walk-through. Also, a note to all 
players, you can always find the latest version of my FAQ on GameFAQs 
(www.gamefaqs.com), though I'm not sure there will be new versions. I'm just not 
sure there's anything else to add. Feel free to toss ideas my way.

Zorlond Jaeger
[email protected]


===============
Version History
===============

1.0 - Fourth release. Finally finished the game (yay!) and the last mission 
      walk-through. Added SU requirements (those known) to the ship listings. 
      Added to note (again).

0.9 - Third release. Very close to finished (just need the last mission 
      walkthrough). Various fixes/additions, a few contributions. New Note.

0.5 - Second release. Still incomplete, but added 4 mission walkthroughs and  
      most of the ships. Further additions will have to wait until I figure out 
      what to do with missions 6 & 7. Also fixed dumb mistake in the first 
      mission walkthrough. I kept refering to Guardians. No such ship, they were 
      Defenders.

0.1 - Initial release. Very incomplete, quite rough, and probably considered 
      crappy. Only reached mission 7 in the game at this point.


=========
Situation
=========

The Homeworld War ended some 15 years ago. The Kushan successfully laid claim 
to Hiigara on the dead body of the Taiidan Emperor. Since then, nothing has 
been the same. The old Taiidani Empire has shattered into a thousand little 
kingdoms, the largest being the new Taiidani Republic, run by the rebels that 
assisted the Kushan in the final stages of the war. Imperialist Taiidan still 
roam the galaxy, causing trouble to just about everyone with their Turanic 
allies. The Kushan did not emerge unscathed, as political, economic, and 
military pressures seemed to pile up on all sides. Reduced to a mere population
of 550,000 the Kushan have struggled to build a new life on Hiigara and keep the
5-light-year area around it (given to them by the Galactic Council as their
sovreign space) safe from pirates, dissidents, and troublemakers. The Kiiths
(Clans) of the Kushan have been slowly spiraling downward, as only 6 Kiiths in
particular arrived on Hiigara in any significant numbers. The most significant
event (well, for the game to happen, anyway), was when Kiith Somtaaw
successfully negotiated with the New Daiamid Assembly (the council of Kiiths)
for use of the Mothership, long pressed into service as an orbital construction
yard, for 45 days. They would create as many ships as they could in that time, 
and then the majority of Kiith Somtaaw would depart Hiigara and take up an
existence as deep-space miners, still loyal to the Kushan, but seperate.

Beyond all expectations, they finished three ships in that time, two massive
mining behemoths (each almost as big as the Mothership) and a much smaller
science vessel. They were christened the Faal-Corum, the Kuun Lan, and the
Clee-San, in order. For years, Kiith Somtaaw has wandered around Hiigara, mining
the asteroids and nebulae of the area, and selling the resources found as
prescribed by Kushan Law to those on Hiigara or friendly races nearby. The game
begins with the player as the Captain of the Kuun Lan, on a routine mining 
expedition, when a distress call comes in from Hiigara....



=====
Ships
=====
Just so you know, 'FMA' stands for 'First Mission Available', meaning the 
single-player mission you are first allowed to research the last critical piece 
in order to produce the ship. Firepower for capital ships will come with a 
turret count (those known, anyway), general arrangement, and coverage %. Any 
special Actions will come with a number in '( )', which is the mission number 
that you can reaserch said upgrade, if it's not there, the ship comes with the 
ability right off. 'Job' is just a few words expressing my opinion as the ship's
main role, it's just IMO. 'SR' is short for 'Survivability Rating', wich varies 
from Very Low to Very High, and is again IMO, according to my experience with 
said unit.

In the few cases where exact figures are unknown, a general description is used.


----------------------------------------
Kiith Somtaaw ships (aka: The Good Guys)
----------------------------------------

Kuun Lan

FMA: Start
Armor: 98k
Firepower: 5400, 6 turrets, 4 near the engines, one on nose, one on top, roughly 
           70% coverage
Max Velocity: 110 m/s
Special Action: Seige Cannon (10)
Job: Mobile Main Base
SR: Very High

Your command ship, designed to be a mining ship, but easily upgradeable when 
technology becomes available. One of only two ships in it's class, the other 
being the Faal-Corum, but the Kuun Lan is considered the more advanced of the 
two. Capable of deep-space mining, construction of a wide variety of vessels and
modules, and can easily fend off small attack forces unaided.

The biggest thing to remember about this ship is that in many ways it does not 
compare to the Mothership of the origional Homeworld. It is self-mobile, 
upgradable, heavily armed, and has three hangar entry points for it's fighters. 
It's more like it's the lovechild of a Destroyer and a Carrier than a 
newly-designed Mothership. The mobility is a big factor, even though it can't 
move or turn very fast, it can still move around the scenario map, running away 
from enemies or moving in to protect the Workers. In most scenarios, it's best 
to move the ship away from the starting point as soon as possible (exactly where
-to- depends on the mission). The firepower is also a big bonus, as it is quite 
capable of taking care of itself from small to medium attack forces, and while 
it can't handle the Big Boys by itself until the development of the Seige 
Cannon, it can provide some fire support.

I haven't played any multiplayer missions yet, but in my mind, the best way to 
attack this ship is to distract it's escorts, then strike hard from behind and 
below, where it's coverage is weakest. Most of the time the AI isn't smart 
enough to hit the ship right there unless you really screw up in your maneuvers,
but it is clearly the weakest point. Another tactic is to angle your ships so 
that their fire directly hits one of the many modifications, each of which comes
with their own health rating, and can (in theory anyway) be destroyed with a 
fraction of the effort the main vessel would take. Destroying the suppport pods 
would be especially vicious, as that is where most SUs come from.

A word of warning, though. That Seige Cannon's a lot of fun, but it's a pain to 
aim and fire. The attack fleet you're aiming at might not be there when the shot 
finnaly gets there. Plus you definitely do -not- want to aim too close to the 
Kuun Lan. And one more thing... The most embarrassing loss I've ever had in this 
game was very late in mission 16. I was lining up a shot, had the Beast on the 
ropes, ordered the shot to hit square on the big bad ship, took a seat to watch 
the fireworks...

And watched in silence when the shot hit one of my own Destroyers, who was 
sitting right in front of the Kuun Lan. 90% of my fleet wiped out in a single 
stroke.

Take it from me. MAKE SURE THE BARREL IS CLEAR OF OBSTRUCTIONS.


Worker

FMA: Start
SU Cost: 4
Armor: 1500
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 425 m/s
Special Action: Harvest, Salvage (2), Repair (2)
Job: General Mechanic
SR: Low

Say hello to the Worker, a resource collector, salvage corvette, and repair 
corvette all rolled into one. In actuality, their main jobs will be havesting 
and repair. I've had minimal success with salvaging up to this point, and I 
doubt salvage will ever be as usefull or effective as it was in the origional 
Homeworld. There's just not that many ships you -can- capture. Besides which, 
you must have the SUs to support the target before they will even make the 
attempt. Still, in it's remaining two roles, it is obviously indispensible. Keep
it away from enemy ships, it's too slow to outrun fighters or corvettes (and 
some frigates), and a small escort is a good idea in contested territory.


Processor

FMA: Start
SU Cost: 13
Armor: 45k
Firepower: 2500, in four turrets, above/below/left/right, 80% coverage
Max Velocity: 250 m/s
Job: Worker Escort
SR: High

The main job of this ship is to provide an alternate drop-off point for the 
Workers who are busy collecting resources. Somehow stuff dropped off here will 
instantly (and invisibly) be sent to the Kuun Lan, but let's not quibble. It's 
secondary job is to keep the Workers safe from small fighter attacks, and in 
emergencies, to give fire support to other warships. It can handle maybe 12 
fighters at once before it'll need assistance. Also, once the workers are 
upgraded to repair vessels, this ship can also be upgraded to have four repair 
beams mounted on the sides (two on each). You can't direct the ship to repair 
specific vessels, any ally that flies past the sides of this ship will be beamed
for however long they remain in the repair arc. What I thought was a drain of 
power associated with this ability turned out to be something worse. A blind 
spot the size of Kansas right in front of this ship, where the guns can't fire. 
Keep an eye on these guys if they start getting hit bad.


Recon fighter

FMA: Start
SU cost: 2
Armor: 25
Firepower: 40
Max Velocity: 1050 m/s
Job: Recon (duh!)
SR: Low

The fastest ship in the fleet. Famed in song and story. Can make the Kessel Run 
in less than 2 parsecs...

Ahem. Sorry about that. Really, it is the fastest ship you've got, and also very
specialized for it's purpose. The scenario maps aren't like they were in the 
origional Homeworld, you don't know where all the resources are automatically, 
and enemies won't come up on sensors until they're fairly close. In steps the 
Recon fighter. Send it zipping around the scenario maps, up and down the dust 
trails looking for resources and around areas likely to contain enemies. You're 
always going to need one or two of these ships just for finding resources, if 
nothing else. While there is a weapon on board, the recon fighter is too weak 
and too fragile to survive most conflicts, except against the Big Boys, who 
typically can't hit anything smaller than a frigate. But even then, it's pretty 
much like taking down a deisel train engine with a pea-shooter. Trust me, treat 
it by it's name and leave the fighting to other ships. It only gets an SR of Low
from me because of it's sheer speed, and you usually can maneuver around chasing
interceptors and make it back to safety before they even get within firing 
range.


Acolyte fighter

FMA: Start
SU Cost: 2
Armor: 70
Firepower: 85
Max Velocity: 825 m/s
Special Action: Link (1), Missiles (3)
Job: Fighter Interceptor
SR: Low

ACV corvette

FMA: 1-Hiigara
SU Cost: 4
Armor: 140
Firepower: 170
Max Velocity: 600 m/s
Special Action: Unlink, EMP (7)
Job: All-Purpose Strike Craft
SR: Medium

I'm putting these two together because they are, essentially, the same ship in 
two different modes. The ACV is simply two Acolytes attached together by their 
undersides. This is also the workhorse of your military, as ships that are 
frigate class and larger usually soak up too many SUs to really justify except 
in special circumstances. Aside from the EMP, there's a surprising amount of 
difference between the two modes. Fighter mode is mainly to deal with enemy 
fighters and to get your forces across distances quickly, while corvette mode is
the main battle mode, able to deal with just about anything your fleet will come
up against. Actually, it's pretty rare for my units to be in fighter mode at 
all. Even when told to behave evasively, they're simply too easy to destroy. You
may seem to get an identical amount of armour and firepower from one ACV as two 
Acolytes, but in practice the corvette will leave the fighters in the dust. They
can even handle enemy fighters in this mode. But there are times when speed 
counts, and you'll have to switch to fighter mode to get to the action as 
quickly as possible. Just remember to either re-link just outside of the action 
or stay in fighter mode, the ships have to move very carefully to link, and are 
vulnerable at that moment. Unlinking isn't that bad, you can even do it in the 
middle of a firefight, the only problem being is that they tend to forget what 
they were doing before you ordered them to unlink.

I just recently realized that some research that I thought was pointless 
(missiles, during mission 3), actually does have a point. The Acolyte can carry 
two missiles, and launch them as a special attack. They have to return to base 
for a refil, I think. The missiles can't fire in corvette mode. They're a nice 
burst of offensive power when you desperately need it.


Ram frigate

FMA: Start
SU Cost: 10
Armor: 4700
Firepower: 2500, see below
Max Velocity: 398 m/s
Special Action: RAM!
Job: Headbanger!
SR: High

Possibly one of the more unusual units I've ever come across in a game, the Ram 
frigate is designed as a heavy tug. Well, that's what the manual calls it. 
Personally, every time I send these guys into a fight, I get the urge to cry out
"Damn the torpedoes! RAMMING SPEED!" Shaped like a hammerhead shark, this 
frigate will charge in and grapple with the target (assuming it survives the 
inital impact), and proceed to shove it in whatever direction the frigate is 
facing, while also activating a belly-mounted cutting laser and trying to chew 
it's way through the hull. On the first mission, I sent two of these guys after 
the resource-gathering enemy carrier just for fun, by themselves. Sure, they 
were still bashing away at it half an hour later, but I can still picture the 
crumpled-up wreckage they must have left behind when they were finished. With an
Afterburner upgrade, they really can push others around (without it, the target 
won't move at all), knocking them out of position, forcing big ships away from 
valuable units, and even accurately nail fighters and corvettes (who pretty much
explode instantly). It doesn't have any weapons other than this ability (the 
cutting laser never activates unless it's grappling something), but it still is 
a fun unit. Big ships can't move or turn once a Ram frigate has grappled it, and
so the frigate is (most of the time) out of the firing arc of the ship it's 
attached to, and other ships trying to shoot at the frigate quite often hit the 
ship it's grappling. Also, Ram frigates are immune to ramming damage, so don't 
waste time having one of yours attack one of theirs, they'd just end up bouncing
off each other ad infinitum and doing no damage at all.


Mimic infiltrator

FMA: 2-Outskirts of Hiigaran System
SU Cost: 2
Armor: 20
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 750 m/s
Special Action: Mimic, Link
Job: Spy
SR: Very High

MCV corvette

FMA: 2-Outskirts of Hiigaran System
SU Cost: 4
Armor: 40
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 550 m/s
Special Action: Mimic, Unlink
Job: Scarecrow?
SR: Very High

Another two ships that are basically the same ship in two modes, like the 
Acolyte and ACV. One MCV is two Mimics attached to each other. Of course, the 
Mimic is highly specialized in it's role. Holographic emitters around the ship 
can make it appear to be any fighter or corvette-class ship you have on record, 
or even an asteroid. The larger MCV can even look like a frigate or a very 
large asteroid. In single-player, the AI isn't really interested in the size of 
your forces, so having a mimic look like more allied ships is useless at best. 
But, having it look like an enemy ship can be usefull for scoping out the 
situation where the Recon fighter can't go, and in fact, a few missions will 
require this. Enemy mines will not react to a Mimic that's appropriately 
disguised. In multiplayer, it may or may not work out, depending on how 
attentive your opponent is. Whatever shape the Mimic takes, it still leaves it's
own engine trails when it moves, a dead giveaway if it looks like a frigate, and
suspicious in several fighter/corvette shapes. You could use MCVs to make your 
force look impressively large, but again only while they're not moving. The 
ability to look like asteroids might have been usefull if it actually had a 
weapon on board (Hey, who's shooting at my workers? That belt's -empty-!), but 
maybe you can use them as lures for an ambush, I dunno. They do have some attack
ability, but it's just your basic kamikaze attack, largely useless against any 
ship of significant size. Their SR's are conditional, on the condition that you 
only use the mimic ability out of sight of enemies, and dress appropriately. If 
they are detected, kiss 'em goodbye.

Okay, figured out the two dots under the health bar. The one on the left 
indicates whether the Mimic has been detected or not (green is good), and the 
one on the right indicates whether or not the Mimic is disguised (green is yes).


Sentinel

FMA: 5-Aiowa System
SU Cost: 3
Armor: 350
Firepower: 290
Max Velocity: 250 m/s
Special Action: Shield (5)
Job: Shielding
SR: Low

Oh look, it's the Defender from the origional Homeworld. Cute new ability, but 
behaves pretty much the same. Too slow to take on anything but capital ships, 
reasonably effective escorts while in sphere formation, but again too slow to 
really keep up with anything other than your command ship. The shield's pretty 
neat, I'll admit. Up to 12 Sentinels can form one shield around a ship (a 
minimum of 3 are required for any shielding at all, though it's very small at 
that point), and the Sentinels will absorb all attacks that come in first, 
before the ship they're shielding is hit. Of course, they can only take so much 
of a beating before exploding, so it's a temporary shield. And the shield takes 
all their power, so they can't shoot at anything while doing it. And if an enemy 
ship simply moves inside the shield, they can blast away without interference. 
At least only a few Sentinels (or just one) explode each time, so the shielding 
comes down in pieces instead of all atonce. I've only tried this out in a few 
situations, and each time it seemed the shield started caving in after the first 
few hits. It does look quite pretty, though.

Okay, I take it back. With the level 2 shield upgrade, having 12 Sentinels on 
hand for each mission does make sense, since at that point the shield is pretty 
strong. You can use it to keep the Kuun Lan covered, or another highly important 
ship. With the level 3 shield, it pretty much becomes a case of invulnerability. 
It takes a lot of effort to pop a level 3 shield, or one too-close shot of the 
Seige Cannon. Also, the shield does fail in sections, but the Sentinels don't 
automatically explode as a result. I just hadn't seen where the enemies were 
aiming is all. Once the shield around a Sentinel fails, it doesn't last long, but 
it will remain and try to re-establish the shields. Keep in mind a Sentinel will 
slow down a ship it's shielding.

The Juggernaut  informed me that the Sentinel shield makes 
nice Processor protection. Whenever the Sentinels get damaged, the Processor 
immediately kicks in it's repair beams. Sounds pretty effective, and it would 
cover the Workers who were in the process of docking too.

Hive Frigate

FMA: 6-Kadiir Nebula
SU Cost: 20
Armor: 3800
Firepower: 1400, forward mounted static guns
Max Velocity: 390 m/s
Special Action: Swarm
Job: General Harassment
SR: ?

I don't have much experience at all with this frigate. It -seems- like a 
workable design (It's the Kadesh Nebula all over again!!), but again I haven't 
had much experience with it.


Leech

FMA: 6-Kadiir Nebula
SU Cost: 2
Armor: 30
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 1250 m/s
Special Action: Leech
Job: Sabotage
SR: High

Okay, I lied, the Recon Fighter isn't the fastest ship you have, the Leech is. 
But the Leech has very limited scanning abilities (even compared to regular 
fighters), and is pretty much a dud as far as scouting goes. It's a stealth 
craft, too tiny to really see and invisible to radar, so it can zip in, clamp 
onto a ship (frigate or bigger), cut a hole in the hull and vent anything it can
find, damaging the ship in the process. Unfortunately, it's a very -slow- 
process, not like it says in the manual. If you want to take down a heavy 
cruiser with Leeches, send at least a dozen. Of course, this craft also has the 
ability to siphon whatever the ship holds and carry it back to your command ship
instead of just venting it, giving you an alternate source of RUs. It seems a 
bit of a bother to do, however.


Multi-Beam Frigate

FMA: 8-Deep Space (Koreth's Rift Sector)
SU Cost: 12
Armor: 4000
Firepower: 3900, 5 point-defense ion cannons, top/bottom/left/right/front, 90%
           coverage
Max Velocity: 370 m/s
Job: Fighter Mauler
SR: High

You should keep a few of these on hand, they free up the ACVs from Interception 
duties entirely. Eight of these can reduce three dozen strike craft to so much 
debree in moments. They'll fly around semi-randomly in order to employ all 
cannons at the same time. Don't worry, they are doing their job.


Destroyer

FMA: 11-System AZ-23769
SU Cost: 38
Armor: 16k
Firepower: 8500, four heavy gun turrets (sides/bottom), four missile launchers 
           (top), two ion cannons (front), 30% coverage
Max Velocity: 325 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: High

Your first real capital ship. They can handle a wide variety of opponents, the 
missiles allow it to help with strike craft, and the combination of guns is 
lethal against other cap ships. Definitely a healthy addition to your fleet. 
Infection attacks only damage.


Carrier

FMA: 11-System AZ-23769
SU Cost: 0
Armor: 65k
Firepower: 4200, four cannon turrets (top/bottom), 80% coverage
Max Velocity: 300 m/s
Job: Support
SR: Very High

Completely self-sufficient, adds 40 SUs to your total by itself, able to build 6 
support modules on it's belly, and has two docking bays for Workers. Once you 
get the tech to build these, build two (all you're allowed) and beef your SU 
pool up to the maximum. They make good Worker escorts too, replacing the 
Processor. Infection attacks only damage.


Dreadnought

FMA: 14-Galactic Rim (Gulf Sector)
SU Cost: 80
Armor: 85k
Firepower: 24k, four heavy gun turrets (top/bottom), six missile launchers 
           (front), two ion cannon turrets (top/bottom), 80% coverage
Max Velocity: 280 m/s
Special Action: Repulse (17)
Job: Juggernaught
SR: Very High

This guy can take on a Heavy Cruiser by itself and come back for more. 
Unfortuately, the huge cost (both in RUs and SUs) to own it means you probably 
won't have more than one in service at any time. I found it more usefull to have 
one Dreadnought aided by three Destroyers than having two Dreadnoughts. But 
you'll definitely find a use for this ship, so don't write it off altogether. 
Infection attacks only damage.


Super Acolyte

FMA: 17-Naval Base Alpha
SU Cost: 3?
Armor: ?
Firepower: LOTS, 3-4 ion cannons
Max Velocity: About as fast as a regular Acolyte (guessing)
Job: Mobile Slaughter
SR: High

You only get these guys at the very last minute, and there's no way to research 
for them (they're given to you). But for the short time I had them, I loved 
them! A squad of 10 of these took on a Beast Carrier by themselves and destroyed
it in about 15 seconds. Yes, they aren't that armored, but few ships survive
long enough to land more than one or two hits.


--------------------------------------------
Imperialist Taiidan ships (aka The Bad Guys)
--------------------------------------------

Interceptor

Armor: 72
Firepower: 75
Max Velocity: 775 m/s
Job: Fighter Combat
SR: Low

You'll get these most often from the Taiidan. They're not much of a threat by 
themselves, except in mobs.


Bomber

Armor: 80
Firepower: 86
Max Velocity: 650 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Low

Your very first opponent in the game. They're still vulnerable to fighter 
attack, and actually seem to have lost effectivness against cap ships.


Defender

Armor: 78
Firepower: 190
Max Velocity: 385 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Defense
SR: Low

These guys will crop up from time to time, and are more of a nuisance than a 
threat. They don't have the speed or maneuverability to be more.


Multi-Gun corvette

Armor: 700
Firepower: 380
Max Velocity: 600 m/s
Job: Fighter combat
SR: Medium

You'll get a few of these, and yes they are a pain, but they can't hold up under 
concentrated firepower.


Minelayer corvette

Armor: 1250
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 425 m/s
Job: General Harassment
SR: Low

These guys are a danger to fighters. They'll drop mines as a form of attack, and 
your units will be too distracted to dodge well. Take them out with capital 
ships who can survive the beating.


Heavy Cruiser

Armor: 75k
Firepower: 20k, 3 heavy gun turrets on each side, 2 heavy ion cannon turrets
           on nose, 30% coverage
Max Velocity: 250 m/s
Job: Big Gun
SR: Very High

You'll meet a few of these along the way, and each one will give you a headache. 
Approach with caution, and preferably with strike craft.


Carrier

Armor: 60k
Firepower: 4k, several point-defense turrets, 75% coverage
Max Velocity: 300 m/s
Job: Fighter/Corvette Construction
SR: High

There are three of them in the first mission, and two will be handled by allied 
forces. The third is target practice for you.


Destroyer

Armor: 15k
Firepower: 7055, 2 heavy gun turrets in front, 2 front-firing ion cannons, 35%
           coverage
Max Velocity: 295 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: High

Pretty rare sight, actually. The Somtaaw version is more powerfull, and it does 
have a hard time hitting ACVs.


Missile Destroyer

Armor: 12.5k
Firepower: 4550, 4 side-mounted missile launchers
Max Velocity: 295 m/s
Job: Fighter Mauler
SR: High

Besides the one before the first mission, I've only seen one in mission 9. If 
you have to deal with one, use Destroyers or bigger, ACVs won't have much of a 
chance.


Salvage corvette

Armor: 1100
Firepower: 125??
Max Velocity: 450 m/s
Job: ?
SR: ?

I don't think these are even in the single-player game.


Defense Field frigate

Armor: 4400
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 325 m/s
Job: Nuisance
SR: Medium

Same design as in the origional. It still can't deflect everything, but does 
nothing if you ignore it altogether.


Ion Beam frigate

Armor: 4200
Firepower: 3040, one nose-mounted ion cannon
Max Velocity: 300 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Medium

Same design as before, still can't hit strike craft.


Proximity Sensor

Armor: 600
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 1000 m/s
Job: Detection
SR: Very Low

Annoying in the missions that have them, but nothing more. No defenses at all, 
and never actually moves anywhere.


Assault frigate

Armor: 4500
Firepower: 2548, four gun turrens in front, two plasma bomb launchers in nose,
           75% coverage
Max Velocity: 325 m/s
Job: General Combat
SR: Medium

Actually, they've gotten much more accurate since the origional, and can nail 
your strike craft. Can't stand up to focused firepower.


Support frigate

Armor: 3800
Firepower: 2000, two gun turrets in front, 50% coverage
Max Velocity: 450 m/s
Job: Repair
SR: Medium

You'll see these guys escorting other ships into combat. If you want it to go 
easier, nail these ships first.


GravWell frigate

Armor: 3400
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 325 m/s
Job: Fighter Trap
SR: Medium

Still potentially leathal to your strike craft. Also seems to always be on, with 
no time limit. Hit them with cap ships.


---------------------------------------------
Turanic Raider ships (aka The Annoying Pests)
---------------------------------------------

Interceptor

Armor: 75
Firepower: 65
Max Velocity: 780 m/s
Job: General-Purpose Annoyance
SR: Very Low

Okay, the Turanics -have- gotten some tech upgrades for their ships, but they 
are still less effective than your own ships. You'll be seeing the Interceptor 
the most from the Turanics.


Heavy Corvette

Armor: 1200
Firepower: 200
Max Velocity: 550 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Medium

Supposedly capable of salvage operations (I haven't witnessed this myself), but 
in any case somewhat dangerous to cap ships. Focus fire on these guys when they 
show up.


Missile Corvette

Armor: 1300
Firepower:320
Max Velocity: 500 m/s
Job: Fighter Combat
SR: Medium

These guys are a bloody nuisance. If you ever loose any ACVs to Turanics, this 
is the ship you'll lose them to. Even when evasive, your strike craft can't 
really dodge the missiles. Nail them fast.


Ion Array frigate

Armor: 4800
Firepower: 3500, one ion cannon in nose
Max Velocity: 245 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Low

Pretty much an unchanged design, but your really won't encounter them often. 
They still can't hit fighters and corvettes, so that's how you deal with them.


Attack Carrier

Armor: 58k
Firepower: 7500, two ion cannons in front, several point defense cannons
Max Velocity: 235 m/s
Job: General Warmonger
SR: High

I've only encountered a few of these so far. The ones that hang around are 
highly unpleasant, don't take them on with less than two Destroyers. 


Outpost

Armor: ?
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 0 m/s
Job: Mission Goal
SR: Very High

You only meet one of these, and it's quite unarmed (though it does come with a 
big escort fleet). Not a threat.


-------------------------------------
Beast Ships (aka The Legions of Hell)
-------------------------------------

Beast Acolyte

Armor: 80
Firepower: 85
Max Velocity: 800 m/s
Job: Fighter Combat
SR: Low

Beast ACV

Armor: 160
Firepower: 170
Max Velocity: 580 m/s
Job: General-Purpose Strike Craft
SR: Medium

You're going to be dealing with a lot of these, especially since most of them 
will have been your own units. Concentrated firepower's your best bet.


Beast Interceptor

Armor: 85
Firepower: 65
Max Velocity: 810 m/s
Job: Fighter Combat
SR: Low

You'll see a lot of these too.


Beast Bomber

Armor: 90
Firepower: 86
Max Velocity: 640 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Low

You'll see fewer of these. They're still not as effective as they used to be.


Beast Cloaked fighter

Armor: 80
Firepower: 75
Max Velocity: 750 m/s
Special Action: Cloak
Job: Ambush
SR: Low

These guys come up later, and can be a nasty shock. They can't stay cloaked 
during an attack, so deal with them like any other fighter.


Beast Sentinel

Armor: 400
Firepower: 290
Max Velocity: 225 m/s
Special Action: Shield
Job: Shielding
SR: Low

The AI usually puts these up around Hives and Carriers. Best option is to hit 
them before the shield is fully up, otherwise just concentrate on the ship 
they're shielding.


Beast Recon

Armor: 30
Firepower: 40
Max Velocity: 1000 m/s
Job: Recon
SR: Very Low

You won't see these until very late, when the AI tries using swarms of them to 
attack you. Talk about a brief fight.


Beast Missile Corvette

Armor: 1400
Firepower: 320
Max Velocity: 490 m/s
Job: Fighter Combat
SR: Medium

A rare sight, really, treat them like the Turanic version.


Beast Cruise Missile

Armor: 68
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 650 m/s
Job: #&*&#$-#&%#&$*
SR: Low

Pardon me. ^*#@%$&%@^%*$@$^#%*$#%&@#$^#%*&$#*#.....

Well, you get the idea. Take them down the moment you see them.


Beast Multi-Gun corvette

Armor: 730
Firepower: 380
Max Velocity: 570 m/s
Job: Fighter Combat
SR: Low

For some reason the AI keeps throwing these units at your cap ships instead. Not 
much of a threat in that case.


Beast Heavy corvette

Armor: 1700
Firepower: 200
Max Velocity: 550 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Medium

These guys don't show up that often, but those that do can take a serious 
beating before blowing up. Concentrate fire.


Beast Ion Array frigate

Armor: 5100
Firepower: 3500, nose-mounted ion cannon
Max Velocity: 230 m/s
Special Action: Cloak
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Medium

The only cap ship that can cloak. Sadly, they're no more effective than the
origional Ion Array, so it's a minor consideration. Dangerous only in mobs.


Beast Defense Field frigate

Armor: 4650
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 310 m/s
Job: Bloody Nuisance
SR: Medium

They didn't have much purpose in the origional, and they still don't. The 
deflection is interesting, but it can't block everything.


Beast Heavy Cruiser

Armor: 77k
Firepower: 20k, six heavy gun turrets (left/right), two heavy ion cannon turrets 
           (front), six infection guns (front/left/right)
Max Velocity: 245 m/s
Special Action: Infect
Job: Big Gun
SR: Very High

Still a big headache, and what's worse, they can infect your ships. Thankfully, 
there seems to be at least a 2 minute delay between infection shots, so you have 
time between them to destroy it, if you don't have anything that is (mostly) 
immune.


Beast Carrier

Armor: 65k
Firepower: 4k, point defense turrets, six infection guns (front/left/right)
Max Velocity: 290 m/s
Special Action: Infect
Job: Support
SR: Very High

You'll see these from time to time. Deal with them like Beast Heavy Cruisers.


Beast Multi-Beam frigate

Armor: 4200
Firepower: 3900, five point-defense ion cannons (top/bottom/left/right/front), 
           90% coverage
Max Velocity: 330 m/s
Job: Fighter Mauler
SR: Medium

Another unit the AI thinks is a cap ship fighter. Usually in groups of four or 
five.


Beast Hive frigate

Armor: 4000
Firepower: 1400, two front-mounted guns
Max Velocity: 345 m/s
Job: General Harassment
SR: Medium

The AI likes these for some reason. Take out the frigate instead of dealing with
the drones individually.


Beast Ramming frigate

Armor: 5100
Firepower: 2500
Max Velocity: 378 m/s
Job: Capital Ship Combat
SR: Medium

You'll see a lot of these too, but other than their annoying habit of walking 
off with your capital ships, they're not a threat by themselves. Especially when
they ram a Destroyer or Dreadnought, the missile launchers can still hit it.


Beast Worker

Armor: 1800
Firepower: -
Max Velocity: 365 m/s
Job: Mechanic
SR: Low

Beast Processor

Armor: 45.1k
Firepower: 2500, four gun turrets (top/bottom/left/right)
Max Velocity: 235 m/s
Job: Worker Escort
SR: Medium

Identical to the Somtaaw ships, but the AI -never- uses Processors.


Beast Mothership

Armor: 94k
Firepower: 4600
Max Velocity: 110 m/s
Special Action: Infect
Job: Mobile Base
SR: Very High

Pretty much identical to the Kuun Lan. There's only one, thankfully. Avoid when 
possible.


NAGGAROK

Armor: LOTS
Firepower: Several point-defense ion cannons
Max Velocity: INSANE
Special Action: Eat Capital Ship
Job: The Last Boss
SR: Extremely High

The SOB in mission 17. Read about it in the walkthrough below.


==========
Formations
==========

----------
Delta (F5)
----------

An old formation designed for atmosphere-bound vehicles. Lacks the adaptability 
to handle 3D space. Use it mainly to organize non-combat vehicles when moving 
from place to place.


----------
Broad (F6)
----------

Supposedly usefull for organizing capital ships. I've found it more problematic 
than usefull. The ships will constantly move around according to the behavior of
the ship on the far left (viewed from behind) trying to stay in a straight line 
on it's right, unless you give each one seperate orders and thus break up the 
formation. Don't bother.


------
X (F7)
------

I use this formation a lot when dealing with my Acolytes/ACVs. It keeps their 
firepower concentrated and organized. Peeling off to deal with a swarm of enemy 
fighters is also very easy in this formation.


---------
Claw (F8)
---------

I don't use this one as much as I did in the origional, since it is mainly a 
fighter configuration, and I usually keep my units in corvette mode during a 
fight.


---------
Wall (F9)
---------

Another formation supposedly usefull for capital ships. Now they're being 
dragged around by the guy on the upper-left, which defeats the purpose of the 
wall altogether.


------------
Sphere (F10)
------------

Pretty much the only formation where the Sentinel has any use. It reduces any 
incoming fighters to mere target practice. While in this formation, if the group
of units is told to guard a ship, that ship becomes the center of the sphere. 
Bit too restrictive when it comes to attacking.



=======
Tactics
=======

------------
Evasive (F2)
------------

Ships will not stay in formation (assuming they have one) when engaging enemies,
and will pair off or fight alone as the situation demands. They won't initiate 
combat unless ordered, and is generally only usefull with and against fighters. 
Even so, it's become a lot less effective at keeping your units alive than in 
the origional. I use it sparingly, if at all. It is nice for the speed bonus if 
you're trying to move fast, and handy when you want to engage all the local 
fighters at once.


------------
Neutral (F3)
------------

Why?


---------------
Aggressive (F4)
---------------

Many of my warships live here. They will stay in formation no matter what, they 
get a small attack bonus, and will generally kick the butt of anyone foolish to 
stray near. What's not to like? The corvettes, especially, will circle the 
targets while in formation, giving them an almost non-stop pounding.


================
General Strategy
================

An excerpt from an e-mail from [email protected]:

- Acolyte (SU=2), ACV(SU=4) Acolyte: Missiles: Each Acolyte carries two 
missiles, and they do quite a bit more damage than the normal shot (more than 
an order of magniture), and they do need to return to a base to refil missles. 
ACV mode: I actually think the armor is nearly triple than that of the Acolyte 
(220 vs 700) I usually keep the fighters in ACV mode; though putting them into 
BROAD formation helps expedite the linking command. What I started to do is: 
(if there's no fighters to fight) Send in ACVs to attack a cap ship, EMP, 
unlink, missile it, retreat in evasive broad formation, relink, refuel.

- Hive Frigate (SU=20, SR=High)
Quite a great ship design; although it takes way too many SU in my opinion.
Each frigate carries a small complement (6?) of swarmers.  This frigate is
very effective versus small ships.  I use them to take down missile
corvettes, and those damn beast missiles.  Also, when attacking enemy ships
that have escorts, I let the destroyer fleet concentrate on the enemy ship,
while the swarmers take down the escorts (usually multigun corvettes; which
I don't want to lose fighters to).  The swarmers either don't die, or
regenerate pretty damn quickly, since I've never had a point where I had no
swarmers available.
And in a few cases, the swarmers act as good distraction material for enemy
multibeam frigates, and the Nomad Moon.  I've seen these enemies focusing on
trying to destroy the swarmers, while ignoring the destroyer fleet that's
pounding on it.




========
Missions
========

Keep in mind that I mainly play on Normal difficulty. Details may be different 
on other levels.

1 - Hiigara

Initial Forces: Kuun Lan, 3 Recon fighters, 2 Workers

This battle's pretty straightforward. Most of the action is happening between 
two other fleets, the Hiigaran Defense vs the raiding Imperialist Taiidan, and 
it's going on some distance away from the Kuun Lan. It's pretty skewed in favor 
of the home team, so you don't have to involve yourself in that fight if you 
don't want to. The General in charge of the fleet will ask you to help out some 
Ion Cannon frigates who've fallen prey to a squad of bombers to start with. 
Tactical advises sending over some Acolytes to swat the bombers.

There's a few asteroids near your starting position, and your workers will find 
a few more by themselves, and another objective will show you the position of 
the only other deposit on the map that I've found, so recon isn't that 
important. Stash your Recon fighters, send your Workers out and start making 
Acolytes. Also build a Processor to follow your Workers around (tell it to guard
them both when it's built) and order the Kuun Lan towards the proximity sensor 
net (the band of blue dots on the sensors manager). Facing them from the Kuun 
Lan, they look like two rows of squares. You want the Kuun Lan in the center of 
the top-rightmost square.

On the way, 5 interceptors will charge out of the main battle to investigate 
your arrival. They'll go after the Workers but they don't really have the punch 
to be dangerous. The Processor should be ready before they arrive and already 
guarding the Workers. It'll be over quick. They'll send a few more every now and
then through the mission just to be annoying. If one of the Workers goes yellow 
in the health bar, send it in for repairs and then send it back out. That done, 
get at least 6 Acolytes together (10 is advised) and send them to the flailing 
Ion Cannon frigates. The bombers will pretty much ignore your fighters, so it'll 
be over fast. Once they're out of the way, the Ion frigates will chase down a 
nearby Carrier and then join the main battle.

Tactical will congratulate you on your victory, and the General will ask you to 
recon a point away from the main battle for a counter-attack. Send your Acolytes
there instead. They'll find five Taiidan resource gatherers gobbling up 
asteroids, with three Defenders doing escort. Hit them hard and fast, before 
they can fall back to a nearby Carrier. While this is going on, Tactical will 
mention the tech boys think they can make Acolytes link together. Start the 
research and keep an eye on the battle. Smash the escort and two of the 
resourcers, then call the Acolytes back for repair and upgrade. Build some more 
Acolytes so you end up with a total of 18. Once the research is done, send them 
to the convoy as Acolytes, link them up to ACVs, (good practice in moving fast!)
and use all 9 of them to finish the resourcers and then the Carrier they're 
supplying.

Once the resourcers are dead, several fighters, bombers, and a pair of MG 
corvettes will start attacking the proximity sensor net, and Tactical will tell 
you to stop them. But of course, the Kuun Lan should have long ago arrived, and 
in a prime position to send them to their makers. It saves the frustration of 
chasing them all around the place with your ACVs, who should be busy with that 
Carrier. And it also gives good odds to saving the entire net, though I've never
been able to save the interceptors patroling there. They won't be able to hurt 
the Kuun Lan that much before dying. 

Fighters gone, the General has one more errand for you to run. A Heavy Cruiser 
has turned tail from the main fighting and is limping around in the distance. I 
would have loved to have had salvage capability for this mission, an HC is such 
a precious thing to waste. But then, I'm from the old school of Homeworld. "If 
it ain't a fighter or corvette, SALVAGE IT!" Once they're finished with the 
Carrier, call in your ACVs for repairs, then send them to do the deed. There'll 
be a few Defenders keeping watch, nothing your ACVs can't handle.

That's it. Finish gathering the resources, help mop up any remaining enemies in 
the main battle area for the experience, and hit 'end mission'.


2 - Outskirts of Hiigaran System

Well, big surprise, Kiith Somtaaw didn't even get an honorable mention when the 
congratulations were handed out. And yet they found time to give you another 
chore to do. Seems a Destroyer, the Bushan-Re, got hit pretty badly and has 
drifted into a rather active asteroid belt. You've been sent to find and help 
her out. Tactical will mention that your workers aren't able to handle repair 
and salvage duties, and suggests building a research module (engineering).

Most of the asteroids (those that are moving) are unharvestable, but there are 
some resources on this level. The Workers will find them by themselves, I 
haven't been able to locate any other deposits on this map. Tactical will point 
out that there are asteroids flying about (gee, ya noticed?) and that the 
Destroyer might get hit by them if you don't find it fast. Don't worry, they're 
not that hard to find. Start construction of the module. Once the module's 
complete, research the two techs and upgrade the Workers when ready.

There are Turanics around, so keep your ACVs out and ready to handle any that 
decide to attack you, but don't bother chasing them around the map. Eventually, 
Tactical will mention that there are signal echos in the area, and marks three 
possible locations to explore. They're very close to each other, so just send 
your ACVs out to any one of them and they'll find the Bushan-Re. Send the Kuun 
Lan towards the pings right off, you'll need the firepower. The ACVs may 
encounter a Turanic patrol en-route, deal with them and keep going.

The Bushan-Re's pretty banged up. Tactical suggests you send a Worker to repair 
it right away. No need to delay your harvesting, just build a new one and send 
it. Send the harvesting Workers only once they've finished their chores. Have 
the ACVs guard the destroyer and adjust the Kuun Lan's course if needed so it 
stops nearby. Sometime after repair begins, a hyperspace entry will be detected,
apparently a few Support frigates have arrived to assist with the repairs. Of 
course, once they reach the Bushan-Re, it'll be very apparent that something is 
wrong. Biggest hint? They have engine trails.

Yep, the Turanics have picked this moment to test out their mimic-ing heavy 
corvettes. Between the Kuun Lan and the ACVs, they don't stand a chance. But it 
signals the other Turanics to begin their attack runs on the Bushan-Re. Just 
stay focused and keep the ACVs moving and aggressive. The Bushan-Re will assist 
when enemies wander into it's firing range. Have your ACVs dock during a quiet 
moment for repairs when needed. They'll give up after loosing their second wave.

When the Bushan-Re is nearly at full health, you'll notice a second distress 
call in the area. The Bushan-Re will deny sending out a distress beacon, and 
state that it must be a derilict. Of course, Tactical will tell you to go 
retrieve it, the single most stupid idea that could ever come out of her mouth. 
And of course, you have to actually go do it. At least it's close by. Send a 
Worker with ACV escort and salvage the pod they find. Just before they get 
there, a Turanic Carrier will appear on sensors and launch an attack. The 
Bushan-Re picks this time to turn tail and run. Cowards.

You get the additional goal of destroying the Turanics, but that's not 
neccessary. They retreat once the salvage team docks. During this part of the 
fight, Tactical will mention that the science team has figured out how the 
Turanics were able to pull off the mimic trick, and you can research them now. 
Might as well, saves time later. Once the pod's in your bay, that's it. Finish 
research, dock your ACVs, and hit 'end mission'.


3 - Coruc-Tel System

The report to your Kiith-sa bosses doesn't exactly go well. I could practically 
hear the politicians drool once they hear about the pod. The Kiith-sa insist on 
secrecy and direct you to the science vessel Clee-San, currently in Coruc-Tel. 
You arrive at the designated meeting point, but the Clee-San is nowhere in 
sight. You pick up a signal from them, heavily garbled. Tactical tells you to go 
see what is wrong.

Most of the resources are already visible. Send the Workers and Processor on 
their way, and build a Mimic. Just one, not an MCV, and build three Workers as 
well. Disguise it as a Turanic Interceptor and send it to the ping. Leave the 
Kuun Lan where it is for now. You can research the Afterburner upgrade right 
off, do so. After a bit of travel, the Mimic will notice that there are a lot of 
mines in the area. Perhaps a clue as to what's wrong? The Mimic will go past 
them without incident, and will also notice all the Turanic Raiders in the area, 
and the six Taiidan minelayer corvettes dropping more mines.

Once it gets close to the ping, the Mimic will stop. You'll get another garbled 
message from the Clee-San, and Tactical will notice that it's completely 
surrounded by mines, and can't move without being killed. Tactical will suggest 
sending in a Mimic to establish tight-beam communications with the Clee-San. 
Well, that's what it's out there for, send it in close. You'll get a clear 
message this time, and the codes to see the mines on the sensors manager. 
They'll also mention that another fleet is coming to capture them and suggest 
haste. This isn't an idle threat. If you take too long on this mission, a 
considerable fleet will pop up practically on top of you, and you'll have a hard 
time escaping intact.

Okay, this is going to sound strange, but the rest of this mission can be won 
with just the Kuun Lan. Keep your ACVs docked, they'll just get hit by mines. 
The three new Workers should be told to repair the Kuun Lan and keep it 
repaired. Send it straight in towards the Clee-San. Stop every now and then to 
target mines, and the occasional skirmish with the Turanics. They'll focus 
entirely on the Kuun Lan, and pay the price for it. Once the resourcers are 
done, have all 6 Workers keep the Kuun Lan repaired, and get the Processor in 
parade formation. In that position, on neutral tactics, it'll keep the Kuun 
Lan's belly clear of hostiles. Keep moving in, you'll get there eventually, and 
the mines will do minimal damage to the huge Kuun Lan, further minimized by the 
Workers. Partway there, you'll recieve word that you can build a new science pod
(weapons), and research missiles. Do so.

Destroy the six mines around the Clee-San that are pinging, and it'll head 
straight into the hangar. Once that's done, dock your Workers and get out of 
there before the fleet arrives.


4 - Deep Space (Tel Sector)

Kelvin Lee  and Jim Ulrich  both 
donated the same trick for this mission.

The research of the alien pod you recovered begins. Unfortunately, it seems the 
scientists got more than they bargained for. A lot more. Power fluctuations are 
just the start of it, then biohazard warnings start going off all over the lower
decks. Red splotches start appearing on the hull, spreading... There is no 
choice. The lower decks of the Kuun Lan are forcibly ejected before whatever it 
is can spread any further. The hangar, science, and lower engine modules fly 
away, tumbling to the screams of those still inside...

The Kuun Lan has been split in half, crippled. There are some resources nearby, 
but send a Recon briefly in the direction of the lower decks (the ping) to find 
a second deposit, then have it return and dock. Get your Workers harvesting and 
start rebuilding the Hangar module, as Tactical suggests. Once it's built, 
Tactical will say that the Clee-San wants to scan the lower decks, and requires 
an escort of ten Acolytes because of all the Turanic activity. You don't get a 
choice in this. Have the Workers finish harvesting everything first, Tactical 
will shout at you every now and then, just ignore her for the time being.

When the Workers finish, have them dock, then pick the five ACVs with the lowest 
experience and have them guard the Clee-San. Have them escort in fighter mode. 
It doesn't really matter, 5 ACVs will do just as well as 10 Acolytes, it'll just 
save effort if they're in fighter mode. Kelvin and Jim noted that the Clee-San 
keeps moving a short distance if you tell the escort to stop. If you time it 
right, you can recall your fighters (order them to dock) just before the Clee-
San reaches the lower decks, and thus avoid sharing it's fate. The Clee-San will 
move in and start scanning the lower decks...

Now you see why I said to send the lowest experience ships. Rebuild your losses 
(stick with 9 ACVs total for now) if you couldn't recall the fighters in time, 
and order the Kuun Lan away from the lower decks, as far into the corner as the 
map will allow. Tactical will advise researching the recordings, start it right 
away. You're going to have incoming attacks shortly. They won't be able to do 
much damage before being killed (assuming everyone helps in the fight, ACVs, 
Kuun Lan, and Processor), but bring in your ACVs after the second wave for 
repairs and send your Workers out to fix the cap ships.

Shortly after the research is done, the Turanics that have been chasing the 
Clee-San will finally catch up. They'll ignore your shouted warnings and move 
towards the Clee-San... Well, that was very brief. Now you've got eight Ion 
Array frigates and a Heavy Cruiser bearing down on your position, not to mention 
the fighters they'll send ahead. Get your Workers inside ASAP and hyperspace.


5 - Aiowa System

With the scientists gone, the task of studying what happened falls to the Kuun 
Lan's engineers. They'll give you some insight as to what it is you're 
specifically fighting, and give it a name. The Beast. Whatever it is, it is 
exceedingly old. The Kuun Lan has traveled to Aiowa in search of the Bentusi, 
the only known race who might possibly know anything about the Beast.

First, you can see that there are two trails of resources on this map, one in 
front of the Kuun Lan, one behind. Tell your Workers to start with the resources
in front first. These resources follow the dust trail that bends to the left, 
but don't go too far down that way. Launch your ACVs and send them to the ping 
on sensors. You don't have to (in fact, several people have advised me not to 
until after all resourcing is done), but that's how I did it.

Just before they arrive, you'll see that the Bentusi are in a BIG heap of 
trouble. The Beast has found them and is hammering away with fighters and Ion 
Arrays. Help with the fighters for the time being. The Bentusi demonstrate the 
lethality of point-defense ion cannons quite well, and can handle themselves. 
When the Beast makes a move on the Kuun Lan, call your ACVs back to help in it's 
defense. You'll need them for the two Ion Arrays in your face.

Odds are, when that fight's over, your Workers should have finished the 
resources in front of you and are heading to the ones behind. Grab three of them 
for repairs to the Kuun Lan, and keep the ACVs close. The Bentusi can handle the 
forces attacking them for the time being. They also get reinforced after a few 
moments, by the Kushan Carrier Caal-Shto and it's two Ion Cannon frigates. After 
some more battle around the Bentusi ship, a Beast Heavy Cruiser (perhaps the 
same one you saw in the last mission?) will attack it with an infection beam.

The Bentusi are The Unbound. The Bentusi refuse to be Bound to Anyone.

The resulting fireworks vaporizes the Bentusi ship, all fighters and frigates in 
the immediate area, and heavily damages the Caal-Shto and the Beast Heavy 
Cruiser. That's why your ACVs are hanging around the Kuun Lan. Now you have to 
save the Caal-Shto and yourselves. Grab a Worker and send it in to repair the 
Caal-Shto, and move the Kuun Lan in beside it. There is a problem, however. That 
Heavy Cruiser is only damaged, not crippled or dead. And it's heading straight 
for the Kuun Lan.

Send your ACVs in now, and I mean NOW. If it's infection beam gets the chance to 
recharge you'll loose half of them to the Beast, this is your only real chance 
to nail it. Otherwise, you'll have to sacrifice a Recon (coming in from the side 
to avoid weapons fire) to the Beast and then kill it. Get the ACVs back to the 
Caal-Shto pronto, it's undoubtedly under attack by now.

In any case, Tactical tells you about some new research available, and a new 
science module (advanced engineering). Get them both. The research will give you 
the support module. Build all 12. The new science module will let you research 
Sentinels, grab that too. Don't worry about repairing the Caal-Shto, the game 
won't let you raise it's health over 50%, the Worker is there to keep it at 50%.

This fight will never be over until you deal with the Beast Carrier that's 
spitting out fighters and Rams and gobbling up asteroids. Remember that bend in 
the dust trail I said not to go down? Once the Kuun Lan is in position near the 
Caal-Shto, go down it, and hit their Workers with your ACVs. The Carrier can 
infect like the Heavy Cruiser, so you'll have to sacrifice something to it this 
time. It won't hang around to be killed, though, it'll hyperspace after taking 
some damage. If you do it fast, you'll get a lot of resources to prepare for the 
next mission with, even after replacing losses. Wipe up what's left, gather 
resources, and prepare for the next mission.


6 - Kadiir Nebula

Elements of this walkthrough are from Kelvin Lee . OmegA
 came up with something very similar as well. So have about a 
half-dozen other people...

Preparations for this mission should actually happen in the previous one, before 
you hit 'end mission'. You're going to need a bigger squad of ACVs, 13-17 should 
do, and a seperate squad of Acolytes (they'll stay in fighter mode the whole 
time), 20 should be enough. The rest of the preparations depend on how you want 
to handle this mission.

There are basically two ways of handling this mission. My way is rather greedy 
and depends on ambushing all fighter patrols in the area before moving. Kelvin 
Lee suggested a more active stance that forgoes resourcing for the most part. 
For the second, 3 groups of 9 ACVs are suggested, along with two Mimics. For the 
first, build a second Processor and bring your Worker total up to at least 8, 
and two Recons are a good idea. Why the two ways? Well, you see, this is one of 
the -richest- maps I've seen in a long time, there's roughly between 60-70 
THOUSAND RUs on this map, and that's just what I've found between the starting 
position and the goal. No, I'm not kidding. You'd be set for the rest of the 
game. Unfortunately, getting all of it without triggering major consequences can 
be quite stressfull. For that reason alone you might want to take the other 
path. Besides which, this is not the only place to get a lot of resources.

Okay, back to the mission. You get to listen in to a mild argument between 
Tactical and Command, then the mission starts. The Kuun Lan is escorting the 
Caal-Shto through the nebula in the hopes of staying hidden from the Imperials. 
Only problem is, you have to tip-toe past a major base that resides here. 
Tactical suggests sending a Recon ship to take a peek at the base. Soon after 
the start, Tactical will mention you can build a new science module (armor) and 
new research. Go ahead.

This is where the greedy path starts. Launch everything, and have the Acolyte 
squad take up position about 1/3 the way between the Kuun Lan and the Imperial 
base (the ping). Kelvin used a second squad placed right next to the Caal-Shto, 
but the purpose is the same. Their job is to intercept any patrols that come in 
your direction, preferably before they see the Caal-Shto, and to kill any that 
do before they can escape back to the base. The ACVs, however, will be assisting 
your Workers in any way they can. Keeping the area secure, scouting the terrain 
ahead, and destroying mines before a Worker stumbles into them. Have a Recon 
escort each squad for early detection. The Recon is the only ship who's sensors 
aren't affected by the nebula.

The base will send out a lot of Interceptors, destroy all of them, they'll 
eventually run out of supply (after about the 15th squad), and they don't do any 
harvesting themselves. On the sensors manager, you want to scout in the 
direction of a flower-shaped set of dust trails on the far side of the map. 
That's where you're eventually going to head, and all the resources are between 
the start and that flower. There are a lot of large mines scattered about, and 
you'll get the goal to nail the minelayers once you see a mine, but they won't 
show up until after the base has been recon'ed.

Now the stressfull part comes from the placement of the resources themselves. 
Some of the nebula clouds come dangerously close to the base, and an unwary 
Worker could trigger the bomber wing flying close patrol near it. You don't want 
that. But with very carefull management, one worker can fly in, scoop up the 
resources before the bombers can notice it, and fly away. There are also all the 
Interceptors flying sweeps out of the base to cause stress, and your Workers are 
definitely going to get found (though the Interceptors won't report back like 
they would after seeing the Caal-Shto). Keep the ACVs nearby at all times.

Eventually you'll run out of resources (even after reaching the aforementioned 
flower), or you may choose to stop when the fighter patrols stop coming, and 
that's where the two paths join. Send a Recon or Mimic towards the ping (not an 
ACV or Acolyte, their sensors aren't good enough to stay out of sight). My, 
that's a big fleet. A Carrier, two Destroyers, maybe 15-16 frigates, and maybe 
30 bombers. Don't tick these guys off, they can clean your clock and not even 
break a sweat. If you're following the more active path, leave the Mimic close 
to the base to let you know when the patrols are launched, and place the second 
about halfway between.

Tactical will tell you to scout the path ahead to make sure it's clear. The 
greedy path will have already cleared it, but send a Recon to each ping anyway. 
The active path will have to do the clearing with the ACVs, while the other two 
groups shield the Caal-Shto from patrols (in fighter mode), one right next to 
the Caal-Shto and the other about 1/3rd the way between it and the base. After 
you check the first ping, the Caal-Shto will begin moving towards the dust-trail 
flower I mentioned earlier, and the Kuun Lan will automatically keep pace. The 
active path will not have cleared out all the Interceptors, and they will cause 
serious trouble if they ever make it back. Make sure none do. With two groups of 
Acolytes, you should be able to hit them coming -and- going. Keep the Mimics 
between them and you so you can track them.

Halfway there or so, you'll get some new research to do, frigate drives. You'll 
get to make Hive frigates with it, but I never used them much, and Multi-Beam 
frigates need this as well (you can't make them yet, though). Keep going, 
repairing when necessary. Around the third ping, the minelayers will be waiting 
(with Interceptor escort). Kelvin suggested hitting them with Mimics, I hit them 
with the Kuun Lan, either will do, as long as they end up dead. They won't go 
back to snitch on you if they see the Caal-Shto.

When your forward force reaches the last ping, they'll warn you of a Heavy 
Cruiser sitting there waiting for you. The greedy player will notice that it 
hadn't been there before. Tactical will suggest researching the Leech and 
sending it in, but as I said in the Leech's description, it's not that deadly. 
You can try it out, make 6 of them and have them attach. When the Caal-Shto is 
about to reach it, send in your ACVs, or send them in immediately if you don't 
use the Leeches. Once it's dead, watch your back, the Heavy Cruiser has alerted 
the base of your presence, but the Caal-Shto should reach the end of the trail 
before they arrive, and escape into a slipgate there. Once it's gone, you can do 
some last-minute resourcing, or call in your forces and hyperspace before the 
Imperials catch you.


7 - Outskirts of Kadiir Nebula

andy french  and Kelvin Lee  donated 
hints on this mission.

Okay, turns out this mission isn't that hard, I just thought it was. You'll want 
a lot of Acolytes for this, and they'll stay in fighter mode for most of the 
mission. You might have noticed that I didn't suggest salvaging the Heavy 
Cruiser from the last mission. That's because while it can be a great asset in 
this mission, it can also be your greatest liability. And for some reason, ships 
bigger than frigates refuse all orders to retire. So don't bother.

You'll get some more information from the engineers about what you're facing (a 
plot that feels decidedly 'Event Horizon' to me), and tell you about it's 
origin. The Caal-Shto will also thank you for your assistance, and then limp 
away, heading for Hiigara to warn them. Is it just me or does the Kuun Lan look 
very insulted by the Caal-Shto's suggestion that it find a rock to go hide under 
until the warrior Kiith deals with the Beast? Hard to manage for a non-organic 
spaceship...

In any case, you soon pick up a distress call from a convoy of Republican 
Taiidan colonists. They're under attack from Cruise Missiles and are requesting 
help. Launch all fighters and start moving the Kuun Lan in. Now break your 
Acolytes up into several groups (at least 5 groups of 6 Acolytes each) and give 
them numbers. One group is going to cover your Workers and Processors (who 
should be harvesting already) and will target any missiles near them, the other 
four strung out along the convoy as equally as possible. The Kuun Lan should 
move in under the center of the convoy to help out. I can't tell you exactly 
where the missiles come from, it seems to be random (I've tried the mission 
several times, they don't come from the same place). 

Do your best, but inevitably you will loose a convoy ship to the Cruise 
Missiles. Destroy it as fast as you can, it'll start cranking out even more 
Missiles, and you'll have enough on your hands as it is. You only need one ship 
to reach the far slipgate and escape in order to succeed in this mission, but 
save as many as you can. If the Beast runs out of convoy ships to shoot at, 
it'll target your frigates, Workers, and Processors, who'll be infected in a 
single hit (and if you did bring that Heavy Cruiser, it'll turn in a single hit 
too, SO DON'T BRING IT! I made that mistake once. Kelvin brought a Hive that he 
regretted too), and then the Kuun Lan. The convoy ships will actually take 
several hits, thankfully, and so will the Kuun Lan. Do the best you can.

The second wave of missiles will convince Tactical that you need to upgrade your 
ACVs. Do the research but don't upgrade, you won't have time. You can also 
research better armor for all ships and bigger explosives for the Mimic, grab 
them but again don't waste time upgrading. The third and fourth wave will have a 
fighter escort. Focus on the Missiles first. You'll loose Acolytes, but that's 
preferable to loosing colonists. There won't be a fifth wave of missiles from 
outside the mission. Once all Beast ships are dead (including all infected 
colony ships), you'll be able to end the mission. Upgrade everything first, and 
rebuild your losses. It's also suggested that you reorganize your ACVs back into 
two groups.

A cheaper way to deal with this mission was suggested by andy. Simply move the 
Kuun Lan in next to one colony ship, keep everything docked, and simply insure 
that -that- one ship makes it through, and destroy all the other ships. The Kuun
Lan can't be infected, and you can chase down all the other ships on the map 
with it.


8 - Deep Space (Koreth's Rift Sector)

The 300,000 colonists will thank you for your efforts (the number doesn't change 
no matter how many ships you saved), and tell you about the loss of their 
escort. They'll also tell you of a spy that was supposed to meet up with their 
escort (why would a colonist know about a spy?), who had learned of bio-weapons 
research. The Kuun Lan moves in to investigate.

The spy hasn't made contact yet, but you're at the meeting point. Start 
harvesting as Tactical suggests, and send one group of ACVs over to those odd 
purple blips on sensors. They'll find two crystals, and after some research and 
upgrading, you'll be able to harvest them as well. Large crystals need 4 Workers 
to haul around, small crystals only need 2. Grab them ASAP. Also, build a Ram 
frigate for later.

Eventually the spy will show up and head for your position. But he's not alone. 
Interceptors, MG corvettes, and Defenders are on his tail. Escort him in and 
take down the pursuers, they'll arrive in seperate waves. Once that's done he'll 
let you in on what he found, then summon a Republican Carrier to make his 
escape.

It's crunch time again. You've got a plan to blow the enemy research base, but 
you're going to need Imperialist ships to pull it off. There's a resource convoy 
in the area, but it's not going to hang around for more that 15 minutes. Get 
your workers out there (with ACVs and Processors flying escort), and capture as 
many ships as you can. Blow up the rest. Just like a Homeworld Salvage Raid, he 
he he... You'll want one frigate to succeed in the mission, but you'll want one 
-of-each-type- if you want to benefit from the research potential. The Assaults 
can let you research energy guns, an upgrade to all projectile weapons (homing 
bullets!). The Ions will let you research Multi-Beam frigates (critical!). I 
haven't been able to grab a Support frigate yet, no clue what they'd allow. 
There'll be a Gravwell generator, have the Ram get it out of the way, preferably 
before your Workers arrive. The Processors should help destroy it.

Retire the enemy frigates, you don't need them. Replace them with two Multi-Beam 
frigates. Harvest and rebuild, then hit end mission.


9 - Close Orbit, Gozan IV

Tactical will give you a run-down of the plan again, for those who like a 
review. When the mission starts, she'll tell you to move the resourcers to the 
side so they can slip in unnoticed. Strangely enough, no matter how well you did 
in the last mission, you will only have three resourcers to send. Do so, and 
launch everything. Do not harvest resources, there's not enough to justify the 
trouble.

Get ready, this mission's one big battle, and you're in the middle of it. You 
can research level 2 shields right away. Do so, they make the Sentinel a worthy 
investment. Having the Kuun Lan shielded is a good idea for this mission, once 
they are upgraded. When the resourcers arrive at the ping, they'll leave your 
control. Tactical will tell you to destroy a proximity sensor for the 
distraction, the resourcers won't move again until you do. Move the Kuun Lan in 
to do it. There'll be patrols all over the place, so stay on your toes. The MB 
frigates'll shine in fighter combat. The new energy guns will help a lot too.

A lot of ships will start moving in on you, mostly frigates and fighters. Have 
the ACVs focus on any frigates, and use the MB frigates to deal with fighters. 
There's also a chance you'll run into a Missile Destroyer (it decided to jump me 
from behind), don't deal with it at all, move the Kuun Lan further towards the 
planet (hopefully away from the Missile Destroyer) You can't win this battle, so 
don't try too hard. If you have to, sacrifice a Processor by having it charge a 
bunch of enemies unescorted. They should attack it, giving the Kuun Lan time to 
move away. The resourcers will eventually pass the checkpoint, land and then 
return. It'll take about 10 minutes total. When they return, their cover will 
have been blown. Hopefully the Kuun Lan is at least a little past the proximity 
sensor net, have it move in towards them so they can dock quickly. Cover them 
with all you have, lose them and lose the mission. Especially target any bomber 
wings in the area. When they get close, call in all strike craft, you're going 
to hyper as soon as they dock. I lost most of my forces in this mission, but the 
next one lets you recover.

10- Debris Field (Koreth's Rift Sector)

Tactical goes over what the marines discovered on the planet. Nothing much 
usefull, except the Taiidan have figured out how to sterilize failed experiments 
with the Beast. The Kuun Lan pulls back to a junkyard to hide. Recons discover 
that it's been lightly laced with large mines. Looks like someone's home. 
Oooooo. Is that a Seige Cannon or are you just happy to see me? :)

Send your ACVs to clear the mines before sending in the Workers. You'll need 4 
to salvage the Cannon. Have the rest harvest. If you've got MB frigates, send 
them in too. If you don't, you might want to wait until you do. When you get 
close, Turanics will start moving in. -Don't- let them run off with the Cannon. 
When your salvage team moves in, some of the wreckage will reveal itself to be 
more Turanics, deal with them too.

When things start getting interesting near the Cannon, four Ion Arrays will de-
cloak around the Kuun Lan. Sentinels can help a lot in dealing with them without 
detracting from the salvage effort. Tactical will eventually mention that Recon 
sensors could be upgraded, with research. Do it. The Workers will have to haul 
the Cannon back to the Kuun Lan, a Processor can't handle it. But don't move the 
Kuun Lan, it's okay where it is. Oh, and by the way, you now have Imperials 
coming down your throat.

Once the Cannon is hauled back to the Kuun Lan, Tactical will mention you need 
to research it, then build a new mount for your trophy. Do so. More Turanics 
will move in to help the Taiidan. Not good. But then the Caal-Shto suddenly 
arrives to deal with the Turanics... I don't really need to tell you not to go 
anywhere near them, do I?

Yep, the Caal-Shto has had a run-in with the Beast, and lost. The Turanics walk 
right into the infection. But that still leaves you with Taiidan coming down on 
you, including a Heavy Cruiser and three Destroyers. Thankfully, just before 
you're about to have your engine module handed to you, the Beast Mothership will 
arrive. Yep, that's what's left of the Kuun Lan's lower decks. The Imperials 
move to fight it (suicidal, aren't they?). Finish your Cannon and let them keep 
it busy. You might also want to move in a bit closer to the Beast. Halfway 
between them and the start point will do.

Beast fighters will hammer you while you move and build, just stay focused. When 
the Cannon's finished, the Mothership will ask for the old beacon (I thought it 
was in the hangar module when it separated?). Give it your reply. One Siege 
Cannon blast right up the nostril. Make sure you're within the 100% damage 
marker, as Tactical says. 

Unfortunately, it won't do squat.

Hyperspace before you get fragged.

(Actually, you don't need to be within 100%. Hitting it at all will prove it 
can't do the job and you can hyperspace)


11- System AZ-23769

Well, from bad to worse. The Seige Cannon pretty much fried itself when it went 
off. Besides which, it didn't do any good. Apparently the eggheads think a 
sample of the origional will help make the Cannon more effective, which means 
finding the NAGGAROK, and that means finding the Faal-Corum, the Kuun Lan's 
sistership. Their astrogation techs can find the NAGGAROK.

When you arrive, you find the Faal-Corum under heavy fire and shooting at 
anything that moves. Ignore their paranoia and move the Kuun Lan in next to 
them, launch everything, and hammer the enemies. Once they're dead, the Faal-
Corum will calm down. Start repairing it, and send Workers to haul in the three 
crystals in the area, then harvest as normal. If you've got a dozen Sentinels 
handy, shield the Faal-Corum. You'll eventually get some new stuff to research, 
self-repair for your cap ships and the last tech for Destroyers and Carriers. 

Pretty soon a Beast fleet will show up. The Faal-Corum will send in it's troops 
right away. Unfortunately, they'll get slaughtered whether you help them or not, 
so save your strength and build up while the Faal-Corum keeps them busy. If any 
Beast Ships get near, let them have it, but focus on building. Those two 
Carriers are highly important, they'll put your SU count up over 400 (with all 
support modules).

Get about three Destroyers and back them up with at least four MB frigates, 
they'll be swimming upstream against the Beast Rams, Hives, and MBs. Once they 
get to the ping, it's just one Carrier, two Ion Arrays, and two Defense Fields. 
They might have some Sentinels out shielding the Carrier, but it's a level 1 
shield from the color. It'll cave in easy. Don't forget the Beast Workers too.

Once all enemies are dead, you'll get the astrogation team you needed. Harvest 
the map (it's pretty rich), make repairs, recover losses, and end mission.


12- Turanic Outpost (Kyori Sector)

Well, the astrogation team figured out the general neighborhood the NAGGAROK is 
in, but they'll need better star charts to do better. That's why you're dropping 
by this Turanic Outpost and politely asking for their help. Unfortunately, they 
write out their reply in mass-driver bullets.

The first attack is pretty weak, mostly interceptors with a few Missile 
corvettes. I didn't even have to launch my ACVs. In fact, I gave them a break 
for most of the mission. Once the first wave is dead, Tactical will tell you to 
go after the Outpost. Start moving the Kuun Lan in and have your cap ships 
escort. They'll put up a pretty weak fight, fighters, corvettes, and some Ion 
Arrays. A Carrier will be sitting next to the Outpost, you'll want to take care 
in dealing with it, and keep an eye open for mines, but the Outpost itself is 
unarmed (never took a shot at me, anyway). Hammer it. When the Taiidan fleet 
arrives to help the Turanics, pull back all but one of your Destroyers. Keep 
hitting the Outpost, you want them beaten, not dead. You'll hear a coded 
transmition (the garbled screech), and the Taiidan will hyperspace. The Turanics 
then surrender.

If you want, you can harvest this map, just scan the areas with ACVs first to 
clear out mines. For some reason, there's a bug at this point, where if you 
click on the Kuun Lan, you get the health bar for every module attached to it. 
Some of them request upgrades. I always do, just in case it has some effect. 
Recover losses and end mission.


13- Location Unknown

Well, you're now en-route to the NAGGAROK. Unfortunately, you get to make an 
unscheduled pit stop. Well what do you expect when you let Turanics on board? 
The Kuun Lan comes out of hyperspace in very bad shape. Construction systems 
down, hangar unable to launch ships, and enemies closing in.

Hopefully you still have a Processor handy, move it alongside the Kuun Lan to 
trigger the repair beams. Thankfully, any ships loaded into the Carriers will be
able to launch, but the first time I did this mission, all they had were a few 
ACVs. The rest and the Workers were on the Kuun Lan. You don't need them anyway,
your Destroyers and MBs can handle this mission. You can actually rebuild the 
two modules that blew up (engineering, one support) right away, do so. Shield 
the Kuun Lan if you have any Sentinels that can launch.

The first attackers will be Bombers and Interceptors from behind. Hit them with 
the MBs, the Destroyers will have to focus on the Heavy Cruiser coming in from 
the front. Two more are coming in, but that one will get to you first. Each HC 
will bring a Destroyer escort as well, but the HCs will focus on the Kuun Lan 
while the Destroyers fire at anything in range. Take them all down, focus on one
at a time. Fighters will continue to come in from behind. Once the enemy cap 
ships are down, a second wave will come, Destroyers escorted by frigates, but 
the Kuun Lan can now launch it's fighters. Get the Workers out there repairing.

In the middle of the second wave, the cavalry will arrive, in the form of the 
Faal-Corum and several cap ships, most which switch to your service immediately 
(and soaking up any leftover SUs >:( ). Between the two fleets, the Taiidan 
don't stand a chance. Start tracking down their Carrier, smashing ships as you 
go. There's another HC with two Destroyers out there. The Carrier is covered
by Defenders and supplied by several Resourcers. Smash everything.

Once they're all dead, you can proceed to the location of the NAGGAROK. Harvest 
and rebuild as needed, and retire the Ion Cannon frigates and the Rams. The 
Destroyers the Faal-Corum brought refuse to retire, so you're stuck with them, 
unless you want to scuttle them. Seems a bit cold-hearted to me, but to each 
their own.


14- Galactic Rim (Gulf Sector)

You'll be brought up-to-date on the Beast situation across the galaxy. Seems 
things aren't going too well. But the New Daiamid Assembly back home has given 
you all the support they can spare, and wish you luck. Here in the Galactic Rim, 
a Recon patrol turns up the NAGGAROK, and reveals the Imperials trying to repair 
it. A bit of arguing later, you're left with the task of getting a Mimic in 
there to take a sample.

You could just charge in, guns blazing, but... well, better you than me. That 
ship's got some serious protection. The better option is to sit tight and slip 
the Mimic in on the sly. Problem is, proximity sensors are in a ring around it, 
and any one of them will sense your Mimic before it can do it's job. Your 
engineers will give you the Dreadnought at this point, you won't even have to 
research for it. If you have the SUs to spare, build one, but just one, and get 
ready for incoming Bombers. There's a Heavy Cruiser with Assault frigate escort 
coming behind them. And behind that is a pair of Destroyers with MG corvettes.

Sometime after the start of the mission, the Beast Mothership will arrive and 
start throwing more enemies at you, mainly fighters, but there will be some 
Cruise Missiles mixed in. Keep the Kuun Lan covered and fight defensively. Let 
them come to you.

During a quiet moment (read ASAP), you need to send some Acolytes (two squads, 
fighter mode, for preference) towards the NAGGAROK and start taking out 
proximity sensors. The squads should split up and go down both sides at once. 
They will undoubtedly attract attention, but don't let them get distracted. Nail
all the sensors and you can send in your Mimic. Make sure he's properly attired.

Once he gets what you need, the Mimic will automatically return. Keep up the 
defense until he can dock. Before he does, though, the repairs to the NAGGAROK 
will be finished, and the Beast will hyperspace, apparently heading towards a 
weapon of some kind. Now you have to capture a Taiidan ship to find out where it
went. You only need one, and I'm partial to a frigate myself, but pick one and 
grab it. Ordering the Kuun Lan in towards where the NAGGAROK was can speed up 
this process. Don't worry, you get plenty of choices. Hyperspace once you have 
what you need.


15- Deep Space (Gulf Sector)

You get a brief glimpse at the 'interrogation' procedures, and a run-down on the
weapon the Beast mentioned. The Seige Cannon is almost ready to do the job, but 
you need to talk to the Bentusi about several details before you can reliably 
use it. But it seems the Bentusi have plans of their own. And they don't involve
saving anyone but themselves.

Get your ships out there and start hitting that gate with everything you have. 
You can't stop the Bentusi ship that's about to jump, but there's another one 
further away that you can stop. Just after your attack starts, they'll start 
launching fighters at you, a nasty design labeled the Super Acolyte. They fire 
multiple ion beams with lethal accuracy, and your ACVs won't stand a chance 
against them. Like Command says, don't target the Bentusi, just get that gate 
closed. 

Uh oh, now the Bentusi sound pissed. Three more ships exit hyperspace around 
your fleet. And so begins the slaughter. There's no way to stop it, just try to 
keep the Kuun Lan out of the firing range. If you must fight back, hit the 
fighters. After the first cap ship kill, the argument between Command and the 
Bentusi will reach a head, and the Bentusi will snap out of their rampage. All 
ships will cease fire and/or pull back.

Now comes the long hard job of recovering your losses. There is one large 
crystal here, haul it in for RUs. Don't do any general harvesting, there's a 
MASSIVE BUG on this level. Any surviving Super Acolytes -will- fire on any ship 
that comes in range. Seems a nearly inexcusable oversight to me.

Besides rebuilding your fleet, you've got four new techs to research. Two 
drives, another level of armor, and one of shields. Grab it all, and get ready 
for the next fight.


16- Sojent-Ra System (Far Reaches Sector)

The Bentusi will give you some insight as to their existence, and their reasons 
for panic. They also help you work the bugs out of the Seige Cannon so you can 
fire it however often you like. Now, it's time for a live-fire test of the 
weapon. The Clee-San is drafted as the target dummy.

This map has three crystals on it, two small and one large. Have Workers haul in
the small crystals right off (the two furthest away from the ping), but leave 
the large alone for now. Shield the Kuun Lan, then start moving it in towards 
the ping and send a Recon ahead. My, that's a big escort fleet. Adjust the Kuun 
Lan's movement so that it stops some distance away. Like Tactical says, you 
don't want to blow it up right away. Call your Recon back, but keep her out. 
There are cloaking ships in the area.

You'll get MGs, Hives, and a Heavy Cruiser in the first wave. Your Destroyers 
and Dreadnought should be able to handle them with no problem. It may be 
tempting to fire the Cannon to nail this attack fleet before it reaches you, but
resist! The Kuun Lan won't line up the shot before they get out of the area of 
effect, or you'll end up firing too close and nail yourself. Check your position
every now and then with the Cannon. You want to be just at 50%, but a little 
over is nothing to quibble over. Let the Clee-San have it when the Kuun Lan is 
in position.

The Clee-San is out of comission, so wipe up what's left of the Beast fleet and 
move the Kuun Lan in next to it. Send a Worker in when the Kuun Lan is in 
position, not before. Oh, and send some Workers to grab the large crystal, it's 
safe now. The Worker will transmit a signal to call in the Mothership, but it'll
be a while before it arrives. Tactical suggests doing harvesting while you wait.
I suggest repairing. You have to do a little harvesting before the Mothership 
will show, but don't get eager.

The Mothership will arrive quite some distance away. Start moving the Kuun Lan 
in to hit it with a 100% blast. For some reason, the Beast will send Recons to 
attack you. Short fight. Ignore the gnats and keep going. The rest will be a mix
of ships, frigates, Heavy Cruisers, and Cruise Missiles. Just keep moving 
forward. Once within that 100%, let them have it. At this range, you can even 
watch the carnage without risking a ship. Do an alt-drag-click on the enemy 
fleet to watch them burn...

Unfortunately, even a 100% hit will only bring the Mothership down to 50% 
health. You can wait for the Cannon to recharge for a second blast, or move your
cap ships in to finish it. Might even take a third Cannon shot to finish it, it 
can repair itself slowly. Either way, it's beat. It won't send anything out 
other than Cruise Missiles and Recons.

Once the fireworks are over, get ready for the next mission. It's majorly tough.


17- Naval Base Alpha

Ling Qi  helped me a lot on this mission.

This is it, the final showdown between the Kuun Lan and the Beast. The Beast is 
moving in on the special weapon the Republic Taiidan have been building. 
Unfortunately, the Beast has already claimed the weapon, the Nomad Moon, before 
you arrive. You show up just in time to see a big chunk of the Republic fleet 
destroyed by the Moon's repulse field.

There are a lot of Republic ships around, and a lot more Beast ships as well. 
Once the mission starts, order your cap ships in to assist the closest Republic 
fleet. Between your ships and theirs, you can mop up a lot of the Beast ships 
before running out of Republic allies. Their Support frigates will also repair 
your ships when possible.

You shouldn't need to gather any resources on this mission, but if you wish, you 
can grab the small crystal closest to the starting position. There's another off 
by itself (not near the big group of crystals) that's safe to grab too. Tell the 
Kuun Lan to start moving to high 'above' the closer battle. It's not going to 
get involved in that, it shouldn't need to.

There are three groups of Missile corvettes about (most likely not in the 
fighting), each with a Defense Field frigate. Nail one group with the Seige 
Cannon (doesn't matter which), and have your cap ships work on the other two. 
Eventually, you'll notice the Nomad Moon nearby, and the NAGGAROK hiding behind 
it. Tactical will tell you that the emitters (one below, one above) are the 
source of the repulse field. You can research the same thing for your 
Dreadnoughts soon after you see it, but it's not that important.

DO NOT FIRE THE SEIGE CANNON IN THE MOON'S DIRECTION WHILE THE EMITTERS ARE 
PRESENT. The shot will ricochet off the repulse field, and there's a chance 
it'll come right back into the Kuun Lan. Any friendly ship that moves toward the 
Moon will be pushed back by the field and damaged in the process. The task here 
is to send your ACVs around to the 6-7 proximity sensors that form a partial 
ring around the moon and destroy them. Then build Mimics. Lots of them. You're 
going to need about 20 Mimics for each emitter. Disguise them as Beast ships and 
have them kamikaze the emitters.

The Republic fleet might decide to be a pain in the butt here and keep setting 
off the field while you're trying to get your Mimics in. Just pull back and wait 
for them to be distracted by other Beast ships, then send the Mimics in. Once 
the emitters are destroyed, the Nomad Moon is at your mercy. Do not engage it 
just yet, though. Chase down two Carriers that are in the area (one above the 
Moon, one below), and smash all other Beast Ships that you can find. Once that's 
done, send one Destroyer off towards the big group of crystals, and position it 
near the end of the wick-like string of crystals. Have your ACVs out and near 
the Kuun Lan. I suggest you save the game before continuing. Once you're ready, 
attack the Moon with cap ships.

Once the Moon reaches half-damage, a fleet of Imperials will arrive a rather 
long way away. There'll be a distracting conversation for a moment, then 
Tactical will tell you about more hyperspace signals, most likely more Beast 
ships. They'll arrive right in the middle of the crystal fields. Light that wick 
with your Destroyer (Ctrl+shift+left-click on the last crystal), and watch as 
most of the fleet goes up in smoke. There's a good chance your Destroyer will 
also be destroyed in the process, but I think it's a fair trade.

Once the Moon is gone, you can begin your attack on the NAGGAROK. Up until now 
it's been invulnerable to attack (the Nomad Moon was shielding it), but now it's 
moving around crazily at insane speeds. You'll have to do some research on it's 
drives, do so. Most of the time it'll hang way back, nearly off the map, but it 
will occasionally fly in and eat one of your cap ships. Get all your cap ships 
together in a group, and have your ACVs near this group. The Bentusi should 
arrive at about this point, and give you the design specs for their Super 
Acolyte, the terror of mission 15, now your deadliest asset. Make as many as you 
can spare (while still having at least 13 ACVs), and put them near your cap 
ships too.

Now you have to wait. Any remains of the Beast fleet will head for your cap 
ships, destroy them if you have the time. The Taiidan will pull out of the 
entire battle, claiming the Beast had violated their agreement, and won't be a 
problem. Eventually, the NAGGAROK will make a move for one of your cap ships. 
Once it does, it'll sit still for a few moments to eat it. Hit it with an EM 
pulse from your ACVs, and have all ships target it. Odds are the first pulse 
will only stun it for a few moments. Hit it a second time when you can, and the 
stunning will last longer. The third will last longer still, on upwards. Ling 
pointed this out to me, that you have to keep hitting it with EM pulses to have 
any noticable effect. After the 5th pulse (depending on the number of ACVs 
involved), you can even hit it with the Seige Cannon. You don't need to though. 
With a big enough squadron of Super Acolytes (I used 20), and all your cap ships 
helping, you can steadily knock it's health down. Once it's health bar is red, 
the NAGGAROK won't be fast enough to limp away from your strike craft. If it 
does get away the first time, just re-group your ships and wait for it to make a 
second run. 

Kill it. Then sit back and enjoy the ending.


===========
End Credits
===========

"Kelvin Lee"                 - Missions 4, 6, and 7 tactics
 

"andy french"                - Mission 7 tactics
 

"Jim Ulrich"                 - Mission 4 tactics


"The Juggernaut"             - Sentinel tactics


"OmegA"                      - Mission 6 tactics


"Ling Qi"                    - Mission 17 tactics


        - General tacti