The Sixth Wonder

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ACT 1, MISSION 8

Fighter squadron: 242nd Suicide Kings

Description: The 242nd Suicide Kings repel a rebel assault on Enif Station, the GTVA's base of operations in the Epsilon Pegasi system.

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Background

In the contested Epsilon Pegasi system, a vital GTVA installation, Enif Station, is under attack by the Neo-Terran Front. Alpha wing of the 242nd is sortied to oversee the evacuation of civilian personnel and defend the station.

Walkthrough

You can only use the GTF Perseus in this mission. A recommended loadout is two GTW Subach HL-7s, a bank of Harpoons and a bank of Tempest dumbfire missiles.

Your primary objective in this mission is to defend Enif Station, an Arcadia-class installation, from NTF forces. You jump in a few clicks away from the installation, and just in time to see the Cato, a hostile Leviathan-class cruiser, open fire on the Calypso, a civilian Triton-class freighter. On the other side of the installation, the Mannheim, an Elysium transport, is docked to Enif Station.

Start approaching the installation and target the Hercules fighters, which pose a danger to the escaping civilian vessels. If you fail to take them out quickly, you will lose the Calypso and fail the secondary objective.

You should destroy the Cato's main beam cannon to prevent it from dangerously damaging the station. The Tempest missile is of good use here. Fire at will while the beam cannon is in your reticle, and once the beam cannon is down, the Cato is barely worth your time. You may not have time to destroy it in any case because enemy bombers will soon jump in and attack the station. You should then divert all your power to engines and approach the bombers.

With the agility of the GTF Perseus, you can easily reach the hostile Zeus bombers before they launch their warheads at the station. Even if they do so, you can destroy the bombs by shooting them; destroy them by sight or use your Bomb or Target in Reticle keys to target them (B and Y respectively, by default). Several waves of hostile bombers and fighters will keep jumping in, but their focus is on attacking the installation, so they should not pose too much of danger to you. Concentrate on intercepting the bombers and any warheads they launch.

While you are fighting the bombers, the Hawkwood, a Deimos-class corvette, will jump in, with its bow pointed directly at Enif Station. Do not engage it and do not order your wingmen to engage it either (see notes). After the Hawkwood bombards the station with its beams for a short while, a massive warship will emerge from subspace and stop directly above the corvette. As it does so, all NTF ships, save the Hawkwood and Cato, will jump out. The unknown warship identifies itself as the GTVA Colossus and immediately destroys the Hawkwood with a beam salvo. If the Cato is still alive at this point, destroy it, as the Colossus will be too far away to hit it with its beams.

Once the Cato and Hawkwood (and the Conquest; see the Notes below) are destroyed, you will be authorized to return to base.

Objectives

(Objectives are viewable by pressing F4 and going to the Objectives tab)

• Primary Objectives:
  • Protect Enif Station
• Secondary Objectives:
  • Protect Transports

Medals

You will obtain an Distinguished Flying Cross for saving Enif Station.

Tips

• The Cato occasionally does not hit the Calypso with its first beam salvo. As that single shot alone is enough to reduce the hull integrity of the Calypso by more than half its total hull strength, it is possible to manipulate a miss by restarting the mission, giving the Calypso a much higher chance of escaping the area than if the beam were to hit it.
• You may wish to destroy the Fusion Mortar on the Cato. In the time it takes to recharge the main beam cannon of the Cato, the Mortar can actually do around as much damage.
• Do not destroy the Cato until the Calypso has jumped out: as soon as the Cato is destroyed, the Hawkwood will jump in and the Calypso will be in its firing range.

Notes

• The Cato has been neutered by the mission designer. It has no working AAA beams.
• Do not order any of your wingmen to ignore or disarm the Hawkwood, or else the Colossus will not open fire on it. Prior to 3.6.16, issuing the ignore order would set the protection flag on the target; and prior to 24.2.0, issuing the disarm order would also do this. With the Hawkwood thus protected, the Colossus will not destroy it, causing the mission to be soft-locked. This situation can be fixed by ordering your wingmen to attack the Hawkwood which will remove the protection flag.
• To avoid getting into a soft-lock situation, if your wingmen keep attacking the Hawkwood, distract them with other orders, such as attacking the Cato or the bombers.
• It is possible for the Colossus to jump in before the Cato is destroyed. If this happens, all of your wingmen will automatically stop fighting.
• If the Hawkwood is destroyed before the arrival of the Colossus, the NTC Conquest, a Leviathan-class cruiser, will jump in and ultimately replace the Hawkwood as the first vessel to be destroyed by the Allied warship.
• If Enif Station is above 50% hull integrity after your primary goal (Protect Enif Station) is marked complete, the installation will thank you and your wingmen for doing "a commendable job". This does not provide any additional rewards or a debriefing different from what you would get if Enif Station's hull integrity was 50% or less.

New equipment

• GTF Perseus

Total number of forces

Forces involved
Belligerents
GTVA	NTF
Ships
1 GTVA Colossus Colossus 1 GTI Arcadia Enif Station 1 GTFr Triton Calypso 1 GTT Elysium Mannheim 0-6 GTEP Hermes Pod 01 through Pod 06 (*)	1 GTCv Deimos Hawkwood 1-2 GTC Leviathan Cato Conquest (**)
Strikecraft
6 GTF Perseus Alpha (3) Beta (3) 1 GVF Serapis Epsilon 1	3 GTF Loki Taurus (3) 12 GTB Zeus Gemini (3) Leo (3) Virgo (3) Aries (3) 3 GTF Hercules Pisces (3)
Casualties
0-1 GTFr Triton Calypso 0-1 GTT Elysium Mannheim 0-6 GTEP Hermes Pod 01 through Pod 06 (*) 0-5 GTF Perseus Alpha (2) Beta (3) 0-1 GVF Serapis Epsilon 1	1 GTCv Deimos Hawkwood 1-2 GTC Leviathan Cato Conquest (**) 0-3 GTF Loki Taurus (3) 12 GTB Zeus Gemini (3) Leo (3) Virgo (3) Aries (3) 3 GTF Hercules Pisces (3)

(*) These ships arrive only if the hull integrity of the GTI Enif Station drops below 20% before the arrival of the GTVA Colossus
(**) This vessel enters the field of engagement only if the GTCv Hawkwood is destroyed before the arrival of the GTVA Colossus

Technical information

The Sixth Wonder
File name:	SM1-08.fs2
File size:	65.8 KB
Author:	Brad Johnson
Total number of objects:	38 (+5 waypoints)
Total number of wings:	9
Number of mission events:	52
Number of messages:	30
Event music:	3: Leviticus
Briefing music:	Brief1