The Last Hurrah

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Silent Threat: Reborn


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SILENT THREAT: REBORN MISSION 10

Fighter squadron: 91st Phantoms

Description: The last Shivan Demon bites the dust, with a little help from the EMP Missile. But something's not right...


Background

With the battle groups of the GTD Bastion and the PVD Pinnacle making massive strides in striking strategic targets in Ross 128, the high time has come to decapitate the Shivan command structure. The team's primary objective: The SD Archon, surrounded by lots of cargo, fighters, and other capital ships. Five wings will be the strike force, after the Crazy Ivans launch a massive EMP assault that will temporarily knock all Shivan systems offline.

Walkthrough

You will lead two four-ship and three three-ship formations. Alpha (default Hercules), Beta (default Apollos), and Gamma (default Zeuses) are of your own choosing. Delta and Epsilon are in Medusas and Ursas respectively.

Whatever fighter you pick, be sure to bring one bank of Fury dumbfire missiles. You're going to need them for the next mission. Recommend bringing the Hercules or Apollo, for they have two missile banks (put Phoenixes or Interceptors in the other bank).

The EMP will be in effect by Iota wing, leaving all Shivan forces offline. Feel free to do as much damage as you can to any ship that looks like it can or will move.

Here's the rundown on which the EMP wears off: Cargo, sentries/fighters, transports, cruisers, then the Archon. Destroy everything Shivan that you see.

When the capital targets are illuminated, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon will move in to take on their capital ships.

Iota and Kappa wings will come back after you hear that you haven't heard anything from the Krios. When Gamma 1 suggests you leave, take off immediately. If you don't, you will get shocked by an EMP (rendering your systems offline) and get shot to death. You will be instantly thrown into the next mission.

Tips

  • Although the majority of wings show up early, do not set all wings to "Engage the enemy" except Alpha Wing. They have their own dedicated roles, and if you interfere and change their orders, you may get some objectives done sooner, but they'll be easily swatted out of the sky by the loads of fighters the Archon spews out. Odds are more of your team will survive, which is necessary for the next mission.
  • Gamma 1 will be invincible, for plot reasons.

Notes

Pay attention to your hull very much. The mission ends in a red-alert!

When the Crazy Ivans come back and you are suggested to leave, do so. Or you will die by EMP strikes and a quick blasting.

Developer Commentary

This mission, and the one following, are intended to mirror Evangelist and Doomsday from the main FS1 campaign.

There are no messages from Command during the entire mission; the GTSC Giordano is jamming your long-range communications while the Krios is under fire. The ending of the mission underwent a lot of testing to balance the players' reluctance to leave without orders with the Crazy Ivans' sudden but inevitable betrayal. Eventually we settled on a Return to Base message and directive from a wingman. We apologize to all those players who were killed at the end of a grueling mission, but we hope the verisimilitude was worth it.

The Giordano appeared in the Silent Threat mission Secret Recovery which was cut from ST:R in favor of this mission. We had enough action recovering science vessels and destroying large targets, and the Hammer of Light was not important to the story.

Galemp 21:44, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Videos

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