Rebels & Renegades

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SOC LOOP 1, MISSION 1

Fighter squadron: 185th fighter squadron

Description: The 185th has to protect the Iceni as it makes its may to the Polaris-Regulus jump node.

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Background

You have been chosen to fly as an undercover operative within the Neo-Terran Front and help gather information about Admiral Bosch's ETAK project. You have been assigned to lead Alpha wing of the 185th fighter squadron and your first mission under them is to protect the NTF Iceni as it makes its way to the Regulus jump node in Polaris.

Walkthrough

You start this mission a short distance away from the NTF Iceni and the NTSC Hinton, a Faustus-class science cruiser. Scan both ships for some bonus points. Aside from that, this a standard escort mission much akin to Into the Maelstrom. You can just fly along next to the Iceni and blast any bombs or rocks that come its way. Defending the Hinton as well is more of a problem, as Faustus science cruisers are less than sturdy. Fortunately, the Hinton's survival is not necessary for a successful mission. Ordering your wing to defend the Iceni and making the defense of the Hinton your sole responsibility generally works. Concentrate on killing bombers and bombs, followed by anything that you find particularly offensive.

During this mission, the Yaaru, a Mentu-class cruiser, and the Asar, a Sobek-class corvette, will attempt to attack the Iceni. You would be well advised to keep the Iceni between you and the Mentu, since the Iceni will eat the cruiser alive no matter what you do, and the cruiser has AAA beams and flak guns that can hurt you. If those VSlash beams on the Sobek make you nervous for your charges feel free to take them out, but try not to get murdered by the corvette's anti-fighter defenses. As long as you have been doing a reasonably good job keeping the Iceni safe and intact, its paired BGreens will take care of the enemy capital craft without your intervention.

When (and if) both the Iceni and the Hinton reach the jump node, keep your distance, because they will probably jump out at odd angles and you don't want to get run over. If only the Iceni makes it, this is unnecessary.

It is imperative that you get the Iceni to the node, even though you are an allied operative. If you fail, you will be executed.

Tips

• The Asar may be a Sobek-class corvette with excellent anti-fighter capabilities. However, its Weapons subsystem is located on the corvette's poorly-defended underside. If you are able to evade the defences on the Asar and fly below it, you can shoot down its Weapons subsystem, reducing the accuracy of the Asar's turrets and making the mission a little easier.

Notes

• You can witness an amusing Volition flub if the NTSC Hinton is destroyed by a collision with an asteroid (or the Iceni; see the next note), as Snipes will say the Vasudans have destroyed it regardless of who dealt the final blow and/or whether any Vasudans were actually present at that point in time.
• Unfortunately, both the Iceni and the Hinton try to jump out at the same spot. And both ships have the same speed. This may result in a long series of collisions at the node before they jump out. Roughly 50% of the time, the Iceni batters the Hinton to death at the node regardless of your efforts.
• This is the only campaign mission where you can actually get Vasudan kills on your list, so do as much damage as possible if for some reason you want those.
• This also the only campaign mission that features the GVB Sekhmet, although it is possible their arrival will fail to trigger at all or triggers after the Iceni has escaped.

Total number of forces

Forces involved
Belligerents
GTVA	NTF
Ships
1 GVC Mentu Yaaru 1 GVCv Sobek Asar	1 NTF Iceni Iceni 1 GTSC Faustus Hinton
Spacecraft
13 GVF Tauret Gemini (2) Libra (2) Scorpio (2) Sagittarius (2) *2 waves Leo (3) 3 GVB Bakha Cancer (3) 4 GVB Sekhmet Virgo (2) *2 waves	8 GTF Myrmidon Alpha (4) (*) Delta (4) 4 GTF Loki Beta (4)
Casualties
1 GVC Mentu Yaaru 1 GVCv Sobek Asar 0-13 GVF Tauret Gemini (2) Libra (2) Scorpio (2) Sagittarius (2) *2 waves Leo (3) 0-3 GVB Bakha Cancer (3) 0-4 GVB Sekhmet Virgo (2) *2 waves	0-1 GTSC Faustus Hinton 0-6 GTF Myrmidon Alpha (4) (*) Delta (4) 0-4 GTF Loki Beta (4)

(*) It is possible to use the GTF Hercules or GTF Loki instead

Technical information

Rebels & Renegades
File name:	loop1-1.fs2
File size:	58.1 KB
Author:	Jim Boone
Total number of objects:	32 (+1 waypoint)
Total number of wings:	10
Number of mission events:	44
Number of messages:	16
Event music:	4: Numbers
Briefing music:	Brief1