The Sicilian Defense

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ACT 2, MISSION 5

Fighter squadron: 64th Raptors

Description: Intelligence has discovered a Neo-Terran rallying point in Gamma Draconis, and it is possible that the Iceni may jump in at this rallying point.

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Background

The Neo-Terran Front is regrouping to take the Knossos at "rallying points". Intelligence believes that they know the rallying point of the NTF Iceni. Alpha wing of the 64th is sortied to take down all NTF warships that arrive at this rallying point, while Beta wing provides fighter cover.

Walkthrough

A recommended loadout is the GTB Artemis armed with the GTW Prometheus S, two banks of Cyclops torpedoes and a missile bank of your choice.

Like The King's Gambit, this mission is also a bombing run. It is more difficult than the previous one, however, and your ability of survive a prolonged battle in a bomber is tested here.

When you jump in, you do not see the Iceni, but instead the Vindicator, an Orion-class destroyer, and the Venture, an Argo-class transport. Destroy the Venture first. Then target the Vindicator's beam cannons and destroy them. Taking both ships out should not be too much trouble since you and your wingmen have a full loadout. As you commence your bombing run on these two ships, the Vasudans send in a Sobek-class corvette, the GVCv Hyksos, to assist you. You have to defend this vessel. It's critical that you destroy the Vindicator's main beams before the Hyksos arrives, otherwise the corvette will probably be destroyed. Against the remaining enemy ships, the corvette should handle itself, but go ahead and lob a few bombs at the enemy to get kill points. Delta wing of Artemis bombers will also be sortied to help you out. There will be enemy fighters flying around, but Delta can take care of itself, and the enemy fighters should not pose too much of a threat to you.

If the Hyksos is destroyed, the GTCv Diomedes, a Deimos-class corvette, will jump in. Also note that if any of the NTF warships are able to escape, the mission will be aborted immediately.

The mission lets you fly fighters instead of bombers. The Perseus is recommended, but any ship that can engage fighters will do the job. The Vindicator's left-side beam turrets are severely damaged, so you can quickly get rid of them, and pay attention to fighters onwards. The Yoshimoto, the Deimos that comes in after the Vindicator gets destroyed, will have time to fire one of its rear beams at the Hyksos. Get rid of it and continue flying intercept. The last two warships—a Leviathan and an Aeolus—won't be a threat to the Hyksos if you were fast enough. You can get a lot of kills in this mission, though not as much score as if you were flying bomber. Note that this tactic will require more time.

Objectives

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

• Primary Objectives:
  • Destroy rebel warships

Notes

• As with the GVCv Khenmu in Slaying Ravana, the Hyksos brings its excellent flak and beam cover into battle, though in this mission there are too many threats to simply sit back and watch. The problem here is that the Hyksos stands a serious chance of being destroyed by the Vindicator. To prevent this, take out some of the Vindicator's portside heavy beam turrets.
• There's no reward for successfully protecting the Hyksos.

Name Origin

The "Sicilian Defense" is an opening move in chess, where Black moves one of its off-center pawns forward in preparation for any possible attempt by White to secure control over the center of the board. This move is widely regarded as Black giving White the space to move its back row pieces forward, in exchange for Black being able to restrict (and thus dictate) where White can and should move its pieces around the board.

The name of this mission likely alludes to the GTVA's response to the NTF's sudden movement of most of its remaining ships towards the Knossos, which itself is alluded to in the name of the preceding mission (The King's Gambit); in the context of this mission, the GTVA's objective of deploying smaller forces (note the deployment of only corvettes, and not destroyers, in this mission) to NTF rallying points is to dictate and reduce the number and type of NTF ships that make it through to the Knossos.

The name of the following mission (Endgame) is also an allusion to chess, albeit to a stage in the game and not a move played by either side.

Notable ships present

• GTCv Diomedes
• NTC Alba
• NTC Epigoni
• NTCv Yoshitomo
• NTD Vindicator
• NTT Venture
• GVCv Hyksos

New equipment

• GTM Piranha

Technical information

The Sicilian Defense
File name:	SM2-05.fs2
File size:	69.7 KB
Author:	Brad Johnson
Total number of objects:	54 (+1 waypoint)
Total number of wings:	12
Number of mission events:	47
Number of messages:	22
Event music:	5: Deuteronomy
Briefing music:	Brief5