Proving Grounds

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ACT 2, MISSION 3

Fighter squadron: 134th Barracudas

Description: The 134th evaluates the capabilities of the new GTF Pegasus.

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Background

The 134th will test the new Pegasus-class stealth fighter. Alpha wing will protect the GTC Oberon, a decommissioned Fenris cruiser, using conventional fighters, while Delta wing, flying the Pegasus, attacks. Engineers on board the GTD Aquitaine will monitor the exercise and gather test data as the evaluation is carried out.

Walkthrough

You have to test the new Pegasus-class stealth fighter in this mission. You will be flying against Delta wing, who will be flying the stealth fighters. For the duration of the exercise, all fighters are invulnerable (or, as Command puts it, "Your weapons will be switched to training mode for this exercise."), so don't worry about getting kills. By equipping your fighter with the Morning Star, there is a high possibility of defending the Oberon on Medium difficulty or easier for two minutes.

When the two minutes have passed, and Command is about to begin the second test, a wing of Nahemas are detected jumping in, so the exercise is aborted. As Delta wing departs and your weapons are re-armed (hence removing invulnerability), the Shivan bombers destroy the Oberon before attacking the Aquitaine. Destroy that wing as quickly as possible and then fly back to the Aquitaine. A wing of Nephilim-class bombers will jump in shortly after, so engage and destroy them. At this point, Commands announces the arrival of the Tiamat, a Moloch-class corvette. If you want to have any chance of destroying the corvette, fly close to it so that the Aquitaine can hit it with its beams. Take out its beam turrets and if you are planning on pounding it with Tempests or Hornets, destroy the flak guns as well.

On lower difficulty settings, the Aquitaine won't do enough damage to the Moloch to destroy it. The solution to this problem is to play this mission on Medium difficulty or higher. On the other hand, the Oberon is extremely difficult to defend on Hard or Insane difficulty.

Tips

• An interesting way to defend the Oberon is to load one of your secondary banks with EMP missiles and fire a salvo of them at the Oberon every time Delta wing attacks the cruiser. Your HUD will mess up momentarily, but Delta will be far worse off. Eventually they will get annoyed and start shooting at you, but since you are marked invulnerable for the duration of the exercise, you will come out unscathed. Be warned, however, that this tactic may also cause them to open fire on the non-invulnerable Aquitaine on occasion.

Notable ships present

• GTD Aquitaine
• GTC Oberon
• SCv Tiamat

Technical information

Proving Grounds
File name:	SM2-03.fs2
File size:	60.2 KB
Author:	Brad Johnson
Total number of objects:	33 (+2 waypoints)
Total number of wings:	9
Number of mission events:	60
Number of messages:	33
Event music:	3: Leviticus
Briefing music:	Brief3