The world of YAGER Walkthrough Version 0.2 Copyright 2003 Leonil Pepingco rei_resides@hotmail.com DISCLAIMER All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. UPDATES FROM VERSION 0.1 - Walkthroughs for missions: SORCHED FRIEND POLICY and A NURSEMAID IN THE DARKNESS has been added. - The missing pick up in the mission: MY KIND OF ZONE has been added by the help of Adam Gainsborough. - Several spelling mistakes have been cleared up. 1) INTRODUCTION Welcome to the world of YAGER. I wont really bother with the story much, just how to finish the game and how to get the best ratings you can... ==== STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW ==== - If you need to dock or land somewhere to finish the level, repairing yourself before docking does not increase your health percentage. There is a certain amount of health you are allowed to lose in the level at any given time, repairing does not increase this. For example, the Level needs 80% of health to get the star. Lets say if you lose about 50% of your health bar WITHOUT repairing and finish the mission, you still get the Star. Why? Because that 80% is not 80% of your health bar, it's the allowance the game lets you get hurt..... You can be shot down to red, then repaired then shot down to red again and still have 70% of health left in some missions. It's about how much a mission allows you to be hurt. - Crashing into ships and killing them while in jet mode adds to your kill ratio AND ace bonus, although hurts your health. - Pirates fly crazy like - DST fly straight. - Pirates are better killed long range. - DST are better killed while tailed. - Save machine gun bullets when facing DST fighters, you need it to take out missiles. 2) THE GAME WALKTHROUGH a.) BACK TO BASICS... This level is very straight forward. It requires an average accuracy rating, (70%) a high kill ratio (85%) and perfect health (99%) There is only one pick up, so you dont have to go scrounging for anything, and there are three tasks. (2 is needed for a star.) The only problem with this mission is the drone guns. you have to take out at least 70% of them in jet mode to at least pass the ace bonus and kill ratio. The tasks will take a while if its your first turn, but taking out all the targets, and going through all the gates will get you the bonus task star. Taking out all the guns is a bit hard, but not impossible.... But you can cheat by taking them out before or after the wing leader tells you to go through the gates. But it will decrease your accuracy - so making tons of hits in the 'dogfight' part of the mission will ensure your accuracy will remain high. Once done, finish training, and dont crash when trying to land... you want that 99% health in the end, and repairing your ship more than once wont help. b.) INTO ACTION "Scary ships and frightening freighters - bring them all on" The problem with this mission is that it's too boring. Nothing wrong with the game, its just sucks how you have to shimmy over to one end of the map, then come back.... But if you want the stars, its a VERY fast and quick mission, and probably isnt worth the space in the game - it could have been spent on other dogfight missions etc... However, every good game comes with a very good story, and I dont hate this mission... I just think its a little too easy to get done... Anyway, onto the stars... you have a high accuracy, health and kill ratio to gain here, so dont miss, dont crash, and basically, kill that freighter... other than that, at least take out a top part of the freighter and an engine bit in jet mode to pass the 10% ace bonus. THE TRICKY BIT... The pick ups here help you get the pick ups star, but help you get the bonus star as well... You have to get that pick up on the freighter, and finish the level in under 130 seconds... sounds hard? The trick is finding all the pick ups.... The moment you fly off, look for the SPARTA: the carrier ship... it will be in view, on the left. fly low and head for the landing pad, there is a boost pick up, (do not hover to get it... you will lose time.) Fly THROUGH the carrier, taking the pick up as you fly through the ship... (fancy huh?) Then boost out of it, or boost once you fly through. Try not to hit the ship as you fly through its interior, it stuffs up your health rating. Once you are through, and have boosted, head up to the obvervatory which is slightly on your left (its in view) and there is a pad half way up the tower... There is another boost. take it and take a right, following the row of windmils on the hill/peninsula. boost again ASAP... At the end of the peninsula, you will find another boost on a few rocks, once that's taken, make a sharp right and head towards the moon shaped attol (look at your map.) This is where the freighter pops into the map... Fly high, but not too high... When the freighter gets into radar/view, sail down, and fire out one (or both) of the top parts, each part takes about 60% worth of shots, so pause a bit to take out the other one. once you are too close to the freighter, sail over it and take the pick up... You now have a missile launcher. Once you have the pick up, count to one (or two,) then u-turn or hover then turn around (either way, it takes the same amount of time) then fly towards the freighter.... Take your missile launcer and fire into the engines. (it takes three missiles to take out one.) Once the missiles are used up to take out the engines, use your laser. However, you can save time by firing with your laser, then fire 6 missiles, then switch to laser (which has charged up when you fired the missiles.) Take out the rear platform, and if you havent taken out the top areas earlier, take them out. BOOM! Quickly head south west... When Magnus starts saying "Freighter down the freighter is down" you should already be past the attol and heading home.... WAIT!!!! did you see that? is it a shark? A whale? NO!! Its Lochness! It has a boost on it's head! if you're too far, boost to it's head and take it. The next pick up is on the beach in front of you. If you are facing the flashy white waypoint back to base, it should be a little to your right. take that, and boost all the way back home.... Mission done, and if you havent gotten the 130 second bonus yet, dont worry, it takes practice, and some very fast and straight flying... c.) BENEATH THE SURFACE... Try not to miss here... and try to steal all the kills for yourself.... Those Proteus pilots are really annoying as each kill THEY make takes out about 8 - 12% off your ace bonus, not to mention the kill ratio. Which is funny, because the kill ratio will be relatively higher than the ace bonus beauce those "damn drones" count as kills.... I got a 91% kill ratio, but just made the ace bonus by meeting the 50% requirement by getting....... 50% (that 50% is the pirates...) Which means there is about a 60 - 70% potential ace bonus out there.... that is, if you kill all the pirates, and take out the submarine turrets AND side tanks while in jet mode. Anyway, the training is annoying.... Skill is thrown out the window here... It's all about timing. This shouldnt be explained... with a bit of parctice you can take them all out in time. In the second go, you only take out about 5-7 drones before Sarah inturupts and tells you threre is an emergency. And remember, watch your accuracy, it may be 70%, but missing a lot in the training hurts you in the end, because pirates move, no matter how well the computer locks, an excaping pirate can actually dodge about 40% of your shots even when locked. Why do I say this for this mission? Because these pirates somehow arent attacking the base, they are more concerned with evasive maneuvers and spinning, meaning you have to be a crack shot at long range, or chase one and take them out the old fasioned way. Pick ups! This is dredfully annoying because the pick ups are in the most out of the way area, making you leave the battle zone for too long, and when you come back, that pirate you wounded is shot down or Proteus can actually shoot one down on thier own.... Either way, if you dont get your feet wet in battle, Proteus will steal that all so precious ace bonus. The first one is a boost, hiding behind a hangar, north east of the training area... Or in other words, once training is over, head towards the way point and its the island on the right. Its just around the corner of the hanger, and its a pain if you accidentally hit it and hurt your ship. Head towards the scientist island and the next pick up right infront of you... On a hill next to a gun, on top of a missile rack.... I wonder what a missile rack is doing on the scientist island, but dont ask me, its great! Because the pick up next to the missile rack contains *duh* missiles! What! dont use it yet? Why not! I havent even tried the lock on function yet! "Perhaps I can help sir?" Oh shut up stupid ship computer! There is a boost on the obvervatory, but this time it's on it's roof. Take out the three pirates that come. It really sucks because if you beat the wing leader to the island, they dont come.... Once the wingman is in range, the pirates come into view..... So you cant steal the kills for yourself, you have to compete with the wing leader. But dont worry, he's not that good a shot. Boost towards the docks.... There is a pick up at the statue in front of the HQ building on your way to the docks. Take it - if you're still in boost mode, it does not matter if you hover to get it, or you will crash into the statue.... You wont lose any kills by this stage, the boost was to get you across the water ASAP. Head to the docks, but first, take out your missile launcer.... This is your long range weapon for the day. There will be a few pirates in the distance, pick one and wait until one of them is targeted. Press B and lock it, then, if it's not too close, press A and you will fire a homing missile and you can take it out in one shot. Do this to as many pirate fighters as you can, making sure they are medium to long range and not zipping all over the screen. The missile is not that manuverable. There is a pick up on the docks, take it and head towards the HQ building once the dockside pirates are gone. There will be about 6 pirate fighters, and 3 bombers. (Those are the square looking ones. These ones are tougher and slower, but no more deadlier than the fighters.) Use the homing misslies on the fighters at long range then switch to the machine gun. You can get a constant fire from this gun, ensuring you to take out a pirate completely.... The laser only wounds pirate fighters up to 80-90%. You have to then pause then fire again to finish it off. But use the machine gun. The last thing you want is to wound a pirate, then having a proteus ship finish it off for you. The wingleader is not only a poor shot, but he cant shake a pirate... He will call for your help... The best way to help him is when the HQ is under attack, take out the fighters ASAP, ignoring the Bombers then help the wingleader then return and if you're lucky, all three bombers are still there, with probably one wounded. But usually, there's only two left. Oh well, try harder later. Once the wave is finished off, go to the sparta (dont worry about repairing, they'll do it on the sparta for you) *CHECKPOINT* Head North East, and there will be some Proteus fighters fighting some pirates.... You'll be able to take out two with misslies then machine gun the rest.... Head north, and you'll find a sub.... once you see the sub, look to your right and you'll find a pick up on a beach. The sub will launch those slow bombers, dont really focus on them.... The main threat comes from the group of fighters that will intercept you from the west. take them out before Proteus back up arrives.. "Like bees to a honey pot" Once the fighters are gone, take out the bombers, then shoot out the gun turrets...... Here's a trick... THE SUB TRICK! The rear of the sub will be open, and inside there will be a tank lying on it's side, near the water surface.... It connects to either side of the sub.... You'll know what it is when you see it.... Basically, blow it, and if you took out the fighters quickly earlier on, you'll not only blow out the sub, but you'll also take out some bombers that are still docked. So if you want that ace bonus, line yourself up, change to jet mode then blast the tank and fly through the sub as it blows, its a nice effect, and looks really cool.... But it gets you some needed ace bonus - but it can hurt your health. Once the sub is gone, the rest of the mission allows you get the rest of the pick ups. Theres a crashed ship on the coast where the pirate ship was, and on the same island, theres a volcano, fly up to it and you'll see a radar tower, under the radar tower is another pick up.... You probably need a repair? Head to the top left corner of the map, and you'll find a cresent shaped island, on the inside is a boost and repair dock. Viola, boost back to base and hope your ace bonus is up to scratch, otherwise prepare to scream and curse. d.) MY KIND OF ZONE v.0.2 (UPDATES INCLUDE: Extra pick up to complete bonus stars.) The Free Tee Zee. I like this place, the characters are just so easy goin, even when the lasers go flying. Anyway, you'll meet Gary, who is now a freighter captain. Listen to what he says if you like the story and what not, and then from Gary, head east. You'll find two pitates and a hover craft mounting a machine gun. Hank Spanner will ask for your help, of course, take them out. Land at his house and he'll give you a rail gun. (Note: This does not add to the number of pick up's avaliable) Also note that I am once star short here.... You need 8 pick ups, and I've only found 7... UPDATE: Adam Gainsborough has informed me that he has found the reclusive 8th pick up. Its by the waterfall north of Jane's Bar. Hope you find it. (If you want his e-mail address, I will forward it to anyone if you ask, and if Adam gives me written permission to do so.) Apparently, there are two (or three) sets of pick ups you'll find. I know there is a boost on a house near hank spanner, that's all I've found. Then once you land at Janes Bar which is north of Hank's, the pick ups change. You'll find one north of Janes bar, and one at Gary's crashed freighter, then one under the bridge near the battleship and two more north of Jane's bar. OH! And one at the repair dock to the west. So if anyone finds the other 3 pick ups (10 pick ups altogether) please tell me, its the only star I cant get. Back to the mission. Once you cleared out the pirates at Hanks, go north and you'll find Janes bar. Gary will send an emergency distress signal, and you'll be snet to investigate.... Find his crashed freighter and then head east from the crash site. You'll find the DST Battleship, and if you're qick enough, you'll see it shoot at the guy that's going "Oh my god it's huge! Its got a name on it's side!" This is the best place to use that sniper gun.... silent and deadly. Take a few shots into the gun turrets, if you feel lucky, take out the docked DST fighters. You'll only be able to take out one fighter like this, but it saves you a hell of a lot later. Take out the guns first, Freelancer Swoop will try to steal the kills, and you'll lose out in a bonus task. The DST fighters are hard as steel, and combined with homing missiles, they are really annoying to fight if there are more than three. The machine gun helps if you save bullets and use them to take out missiles on your tail. The trick to taking out DST fighters is to tail one. Once you are right behind one, they fly very straight, turn around, then fly straight again. So once you get behind one, wait till you level out, then pound them with charged laser.... Three shots will take them out faster than normal shots. Land at Jane's bar, mission over. PICK UPS I'VE FOUND = Before you land at Jane's 1) I've found one boost near Hanks. It at the house closest to Hanks. =After you land at Jane's 2) One on the crashed freighter 3) At the West Docks. 4) Under the Bridge/under the Battleship 5) South of the Battleship - look for a house on the edge of the river. 6) One at the docks near the wind mills - north of Janes... 7) There's another I forgot where... I think its sitting between pick up 5 and 6. 8) This one sits by the waterfall north of Jane's Bar. (Tip submitted by: Adam Gainsborough.) e.) THE SPANNERS' MIDNIGHT PARTY This level is annoying, unless of course you know how to do the bonus taks, then everything becomes easier. The first thing to do is beat Hank in the race..... Along the track there are three boost pickups.... two of them are on the way, the other is by the water.... if you feel lucky, fly over to the fisrt one wich is a little to the right of the track, then boost to the one on the hill beating Hank as you go along. Come back for the third one when you land at Jane's. When you meet Hank's brother Frank, you'll find a pick up near Frank, and you'll find a boost near the repair dock, and one hidden betteen two freight carts. Just look around the dock area. Here, you dont have to worry about the incomming pirates, take out a couple then head towards the pirate camp. Shoot out the hover trucks. There should be two up the path, two to the right, by the camp fire, and one on the hill on your left. You can blast them with the laser, you're still too far to be heard by the pirates. Just south west of your posisiton, (if you're not in the pirate camp yet - you should be near the part of the road shaped like a S.) There should be two pitarte fighters, and a cruiser. Its that slow moving one with two machine guns.... These things are annoying, they are accurate, and hard to kill in a dogfight because you have to make at least 2 passes to kill it. Take these guys out, keeping in mind not to fly over the pirate camp. Once all the guards outside are taken out, you should head back to the road... follow it toward the camp, there should be a pick up there when you reach the entrance to the valley. There are also two more pickups near the camp fire North East of the S shaped part of the road. You know the place where there were two hover crafts. Now, once you're in the small valley, hover, then peek over the wall and you'll see the pirate camp... Look for little turrets, they are the ones with the light beams rotating in circles. Take them out with the rail gun. Move down the road/valley until you think you took out all the turrets.... DO NOT SHOOT ANY FIGHTERS!!! The alarm sounds and you have to fight about 10 fighters, and a crusier, and it hurts not only your kill ratio, but your health, and you lose the bonus tasks as well. If you need to refill your rail gun, or want the rest of the pick ups, you can skirt around the West edge of the camp. Starting from the pick up near the road/vlley entrance, you head west along the edge. The first pick up you'll see, a turret sits right next to it, snipe it, then take the Machine gun ammo.... Head west over a few hills and you'll meet up with a hover car, and two pick ups, one of which is a boost and the other is another machine gun refill. I recomend to get these later because you already have enough machine gun ammo, and you'll be using quite a lot of it because theres so much of the ammo lying around. Head back to the road/valley. Once you think you've taken care of all the turrets, float high, but make sure you're not seen.... You'll find in the distance a cruiser... Whats it doing? Its tied to something. HEY! It's refueling! Excellent. Follow the cord down and take out the boxes... You'll have to take these out later, but for now, snipe the one it's coneccted to. Once you shoot the fuel box, you'll not only take out the crusier but you'll take out aobout 4-6 fighters with it. This helps a lot as you only have a couple to fighters to kill. Take the pick up in the camp, there's another one to the North west. Remember where you got this pick up in the North West... Because you'll end up trying to save frank and you dont know how when you first play this mission. SAVING FRANK... Once Frank starts asking for help, go to area near that pickup in the West/North west. You'll find on the ground, comming from the west valley that there are about 5-6 hover crafts. Where they came from I dont know.... Basically, you have to take out about 3-4 of them to save frank. (why cant he just fly away?) You can follow the valley to find the 2 pick ups I told you about earlier (the boost, the machine gun and the lone hover craft.) The Leader of the pirates will come along.... It's Cheek Lu. Forget about her ship, take out the bombers, and any remaining fighters. The Mission will clear up, and all you gotta do now is take out any remaining ground forces, and take out the tents (Yellow on the radar.) Also take out the fuel tanks if you havent yet, and then mop up... (bonus task) Take out anything that represents a yellow dot on the radr... Carefully though, you dont want to shoot something that looks like a tent and have it not blow up.... it takes about 2-3 shots to take out a tent. So dont waste accuracy here, just a few shots just to check if there is still yellow around. Try looking for whole tents, and dont shoot buildings, they never go boom. Fly back to Janes, and get that last pick up near the water by the freighter route. Then its time to go home, the party is over. Had fun? f.) GUNS AND GAMES This one is fun... It does not really need a walkthrough, you just need a good eye and trigger finger... The bonus tasks are easy. On the other end of the shore, there should be some barrels, they are brown, and so are kinda camouflaged with the brown background.... Anyways, taking them out will give you one task, done. The next task is making sure the Troja (the Proteus ship that comes along) does not get touched.... Take out the three things that Frank/Hank shoot at it, its annoyingly hard to do, it just needs a bit of timing. The next one is the one you should go for... The Pirate speed boat. Take it out ASAP.... it'll fly out from the left side of the screen. Dont worry, you'll be given warning that its comming, so get ready, taking it out soon will get you the bonus, you will know if you got this bonus, they will be relived that you destroyed it. You only need two bonus tasks to get the star... Hope you make it You need 20% Accuracy here and a 80% Kill ratio. And you get an automatic star for health (as long as that boat does not hit you.) Sounds easy huh? BZZ, I'm sorry, your answer must be in the form of a question. (I hate American game shows btw. Lol.... AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!!) You need to be accurate, the gun does not have a targeter, and stuff moves quick. You have to over guess your shots, because the bullets arent lightning, there's a small delay for them to reach a target. So practice makes perfect.... If you remember where stuff goes, you can prepare yourself to get the best shots. Good luck. g.) FRACAS IN THE FJORDS. I'll have to admit, although its the first mission that you get to meet homing missiles, I'm glad they only have limited supply of it, and not all of them target you. Oh, and pirates are firing them, not the DST... Phew! At least you know those missiles arent on your ass 24/7. Anyway.... Fisrt part, stealth. (Bonus task) You have a target marker, its for the missile launcers (they wont shoot at you... yet). The Carthargo has 2 pick ups, take them then head North East. There are 4 missiles for you to tag. Dont engage the pirates. The first two are on the side of the hill, the other two on the top of the hill.... hover high and hover close enough to target the 4 missile launcers. Head north, there should only be one with a turret guarding it, target the lone launcer then snipe the turret. Fly up to the turret, and take the pick up behind the trees. Then turn around (facing East to South east) and hover high, there are two more across the river, by some tents, lock and target them. Head south, stop when you reach the ocean. face east then head towrd the yellow dot on your radar. It should be a small island with two launcers and a turret. Snipe the turret, then target the 2 launhcers. (In other words, its directly east of the Cathargo.) Fly up to the island then head North east to the nearest Yellow. Again there should be one turret, and two launcers. You should be able to see the castle in the distance, on the left of your screen. Keep heading North east, but bear a slight right.... In the distance, you shouyld see a bay, and by now, two Pirate cruisers, stand back and snipe them... three each should do it. If you sound the Alarm, you're too close, try taking them out from where you took out the turret on the second island. Head into the bay, there should be a small valey for you to hide in.... it goes right behind the pirate defence... There should be a pick up by some tents in that valley. Take the pick up, then face west, hover high enough to see 2 luancers on the hill. Target them, then head north, keeping low in the valley. You should see some launcers north, and if you look in the distnace, a turret is on a hill, snipe that before you do anything... Float towards the three launcers, keeping low (you're now out of the valley, but you still have cover from the little hills and such.) Target the three launcers. If you have taken out the turret on the hill, you wont be seen. Head low, towards the turret you just shot. Making sure to stay hidden inside those trees nearby. You should be West of the turret, and when you face north, there should be a grey hill blocking your way.... float over that, and down. You should be on a road. Hug the hill on your left, while keeping on the road. Down below, you should see two hover crafts and two more on the bridge... Take out the first two, then the other two on the bridge... Problem with the one's on the bridge is that one is slightly blocked.... Use the rail run to the best of your ability and snipe the front part of it, if you ignore it, you will be seen, if you snipe the back part of it, there is a cahnce you might be seen by the other hover crafts on the other side of the river (how they do that I dont know.) Also, you will miss if you try to hit it's back unless you can see a lot of it, just scraping its back will miss as opposed to hitting the front. (the graphics will stuff you here, you can see it, but you cant take it out by hitting its bumper bar.) Still hugging the hill on your left, look across the river and target the last two. Done! If you havent been seen or decected, you get the bonus... Oh, and I almost forgot.... You're timed. If you take too long, the Cathargo will be spotted and you wont get that bonus if you dont stealthily target all the launchers in time. Ok, once they are targeted, use up your rail gun (prefferably on the sub and turrets) and then head back to the Cathargo.... Remember to stay in Jet mode as long as you can. There is little air resistance in the early part, so fucus on taking them out before you target the turets and hover crafts. Your ace bonus may be below avreage (40%) but most of the stuff you kill is sitting on the ground, so try not to hover and shoot with your lasers a lot, only hover when taking out mines... Captain Mullet will ask you to try to stop the sub from escaping.... Dont worry, just focus on taking out all the defences around the area (turrets, hover crafts and fighters.) And when you have time, try taking out a Sub turret now and then. Oh yeah, and there are 4 pick ups near the repair dock, three are visible, the 4th is hiding in a ditch. When Captain Mullet asks you to target the bridge for him, target it, then the head to that castle I told you about.... During the attack, the Cathargo fired at the castle. There should be a pick up ontop. It refills all your ammo to about 60%. Follow the cathargo. There should be some fighters comming for you, These guys are relativly easy, your main threat however is crashing and that annoying hover craft ont he east bridge. (He's accurate for some reason) There should also be a Cruiser floating along, take that out quick smart, he takes away a lot of health if you fly too close. Once they are all gone, fly ahead of the Cathargo and take out more of the Hover Crafts on the Bridge. (More!!!) There should be about 4 on the first and two on the second bridge. When the Cathargo gets close enough, some mines will pop up.... If you havent taken out the hover crafts, they will deal a lot of damamge on you while you try to take out the mines.... It hurts. Oh, if you follow the road west up the first bridge, you can find a pick up. Bonus task: Save the Cathargo from mines. There will be an island in the distance. Hover just over the second bridge, on your right, in a valley, there will be two hover crafts. Take them out and take the pick up near some tents. Get back to the Cathargo, or go back hovering over the bridge. When Mullet asks you to take out some mobile missile posts remember, THEY CAN TARGET YOU TOO. There should only be 5. One should be on a tower, one on a hill, one patrolling along the edge of the island. One should be hiding on a bridge to the North West, and one to the South east bridge of the island. Take out the turrets and if they havent taken off yet, take out the docked pirate fighters... It's quite funny if you do... Because Mullet will cry out "We're being attakced by Pirates!!!" And there's none around. Thre should be a repair dock here... Now follow the Cathargo into DST territory. DO NOT SHOOT ANYTHING.... I made the mistiake by killing a pirate then shooting the next thing that locked because I thought I was shooting a pirate turret, when all the while I was starting a war agasint the DST. Theres a pick up in the edge of that platform in the DST base... Impressive lookin hangar. And one below it on the water, near some turrets. MINES!!! This time there's more, and the first mine pops up just under the second bridge looking thing. Make sure to take them all out or you'll lose the "Saved from mines" bonus task. Dont worry about shooting the mines while inside the DST border, its shooting A DST that will get you into trouble. Take out the turrets on the Sub... In the east, there will be about 4 fighters that will try to intercept you and a few torpedoes. Dont worry about the Torpedoes, the Cathargo will take care of itself, but its really cool to watch one fly across the water. Once all the threats are gone (including turrets) then the mission is over.. Well, sorta. h.) THE SHORTEST STRAW. This one is easy. No really it is. I learned the hard way, I took out all the Turrets by moving into visual (while still being out of range - making my gun unable to lock and the turret unable to fire at me) then manually lining up my gun/aiming, then firing about 4 salvos of laser. I took em all out like this on my first go at the mission THEN I found out there was a damn generator. At least my Kill ratio and Sniper accuracy was 100%. Now... first things first..... Fly low, and in the trenches, all the while heading north, you'll avoid all the guns this way, some poor guy wont know this (might be me) and will communicate with you before crashing Look to your map, and he'll be marked with a W, for wreck. If you look to your map, you'll find an opening in the west. If you head to this area, you'll find a turret, and a repiar dock behind it. If you can sneek a look, you can take out the turret while being out of range of the turret. Once you've cleared the turret, head in. On your right (east) you'll find some barrels lying in rows.... Blow the first one, and watch it blow the next and the next one like dominoes. If you're quick enough, you'll take out three drones that will give you 3 pick ups. BONUS TASK. This is the Tripple Dominoe strike. Keep heading north through the trenches until you find a gate. There's a pick up by the gate. Head west from the gate - following the path of electricity things on the ground. If you look at the map, you'll end up in a trench that is shaped in an oval.... There's a Generator here. Blow it, and take the boost pick up. Congratulations, you've deactivated all the Guns. Before you head towards the wreck, take out everything that's dotted red in your radar while in jet mode (Kill everything in the map).... This will ensure you easy kill ratio's and ace bonus's. Now head towards the Wreck and take the boost..... Dont use these just yet. Look at your map and east of the wreck there's a kind of cavern like place..... Go and take out the lone drone that guards the area. There should be a nother Generator, blow it. You should have deactivated the gate by now. Once that's done, boost over to the gate..... BONUS TASK: Impress Brenna If you did the tripple dominoe strike and taken out all the threats in the map BEFORE you take out the last generator, you will Impress Brenna. (Not sure about the tripple Dominoe strike) My other theory to Impress him is to boost ASAP towards the Gate when you blow the last generator, and if Brenna communicates with you says: "The white coats are impressed... bla blah bla" Then you've got it. I dont really know how I did it, but every time I've done it, and have boosted towards the gate, I impressed the guy. (Maybe its about taking out the drones that suddenly appear by the gate when you get there.) Anyways, its up to you how to impress they guy, take out all the threats, boost, take out the drones before the Troja arrives... I dont know, I've impressed the guy so many times without knowing how I did it. Just figure it out yourself, Its a quick mission, you'll find a way... I know I did, and I'm stumped on this one on how, but I did it! Ok! Once you took out the genreator, head towards the Gate, use boosts if you need to, you'll have to beat the Troja. Take out the new drones and mission complete.. i.) STRANGERS IN THE FRIGHT Ok, this one is kinda iffy. But easy none the less to get the stars. First thing you do is face left and you'll find some mines in the air... Try to keep your accuracy up bu takeing only about 1-3 shots worth in taking one out... they'll explode and brobably blow up the next one too. Anyway, a big drone thing will come along just where you shot the mines, its a mine layer.... It's easy to kill, I think about 2-3 rounds or laser will kill it. Face north west, you'll see on your radar three red dots sitting there in a line. These are strange drones, they dont hurts you unless they get close.... They are dismantler drones, you would have met them earlier on in "The Shortst Straw." Anyway, there's three of them, and they give you machine gun ammo and missiles. Fun! Head north, making sure to blow suff up on the way..... There's a high Kill ratio you must achive and a high Ace bonus too. Note that the Mines count to these as well... Once you reach the signal, you should end up in a dog fight..... Take out hte Drones etc.... Note that once you near the entrance there should be lots of drones ans fighters trying to kill you.... If you stray too close to the entrance, you will see a ship go in and get killed, leaving three pick ups from where it took off from. Here's they problem with doing this, a new and bigger wave of drones a ships will come along. About 9 more drones and 5 more ships. Really annoying, because you need to kill them all if you want the kill ratio, and they slowly carve away at your health which sucks even more. But like all good battle zones, there should be a point of retreat, theres a repair dock in the west, just behind a hill. Hope that helps. Leaving the detail of how to dog fight these things, I will say one thing, if there are more than 3 drones floating about, hover mode is not a good idea. Stay in Jet mode and you'll survive longer. Now once you think the coast is clear, you will find the "Search objective" change from the north to the middle of the map. Just head to the eastern part of the search area and you will find a.... "What that is." "Hello Stranger, welcome to Platform." Beneath the platform is a pick up. Listen to what the guys say and then the search areas will change again to the centre of the map to the lower middle area..... Head to the southern most area, making sure to kill stuff on the way. You'll find a pool, look around and you'll find a pick up - "Vodka Aquired" Head to the next bjective which was in the centre of the map and take out as much mine layers you can, making sure to wipe the place clean. Trust me, even though you have a 80% Kill ratio, there is actually lots of stuff to kill, and on my fisrt go I got cocky and decided not to shoot mines and ended up with a 40% kill ratio in the end. So kill anything that appears on the radar, and anything that locks. Dont forget to use that sniper gun at least once (and well) to get the sniper accuracy bonus. Go back to platform, mission complete. j.) SCHORCHED FRIEND POLICY "Is life always this hectic in Bitterfeld?" "I do not understand 'hectic', but if it means something always trying to kill us, then yes!" I like this mission. Dont get me wrong, its really hard the fisrt time you use the napalm gun because: 1) It has a short targeting range 2) There's stuff in the way (the design of the gun. Although this is more of an annoyance rather than a problem - and the platform has stuff in the way.) 3) You didnt know there was a secondary fire. Now I'd like ot point number 3. The Secondary fire is like a little bomb. Press A and lots of little ka-boombs go flying. You use this function against the drones that come round the hills. Dont target them, just target the hill behind them. The Splash damage will knock a lot of drones away. Now, the first part is quite annoying, but a lot easier than the machine gun at the Free Tee Zee. Why? Because the gun follows targets. You might not notice it, but when stuff is in range, the target and the direction of the gun are in two different places. Note that although the design of the gun turret is annoying cause you cant see well, the main problem is not destoying the platform yourself. Remember: DONT SHOOT THE PLATFORM!!!! Ok, the first few drones come at you from the N. They pop over the hill. Just as they are about to float down over the hill, point the gun just beneath their path and fire at the hill with the secondary fire. You'll drop a small bomb that will go ka-boom, and by then the drones will be somewhere near the area where the bomb hit and will go boom as well. The next set of drones will come from the West, and with a bit of guessing, you'll have to aim for the hill between the pole and the house that sits on the platform. They are in the way,and it really sucks, cause I dropped far too many bombs here and lost the mission because I blew up the platform. There should be a third wave of drones. These come from the North. From the same place you shot the first wave. The rest should be fire birds (drone flying things... I call them fire birds cause thats what Magnus calls them, and I cant be bothered looking at the data on the ships.) There's not a lot to say about taking htese out because its hard to choregraph the waves, since they are near impossible to take out before the next wave comes at you. But I do know this. The first wave comes over the hills in the North, next two come from both the canyon on the NE to E. This is where you should focus most of your fire power, to the NW, N and NE. Take out any straglers that go behind you before they get out of range. If you wound a fire bird, take it out, because if it makes a 2nd run, it will apply more shots into the platform. In other words, they get more and more stronger the longer they stay alive. You will know if a fire bird is in range, untill you can make out its shape without zooming in. Basically, if the inner part of the crosshair can fit inside the graphic, pull the trigger. Otherwise, track it, and keep pulling, the targetting computer will the do the rest when it gets close enough. (But try not to do the latter, this hurts your accuracy, even though you have an average accuracy to gain, excess shooting might make you slip under. AND, you just might hit the platform if you decide to keep your finger on the trigger as you track that drone.) Ok, if you managed to survive the fisrt part, remember how you did it... It's a hard part of the mission, and remembering how you did most of it will allow you to anticipate drone movement and waves. Anyway... CHECK POINT. When you take to the skies, let me point out two threats that will make you lose the mission. There are two turrets to the North East. Now you are to take these out before you decide doing any dog fights. They are extreemly accurate, even when executing evasive manouvers. Move forward until you reach the edge of the Canyon. on your right, on the other end of the canyon You should see a turret, and a few trees nearby. Find an area where you can both see the turret when zoomed in, while avoiding the drone patrols and the turret range itself. Snipe it to death with your lazer. Go back to the Platform, and then head north from the platform, stopping when you reach the top of the hill. You should now see the second turret that was hidden from the trees. Blast that. Now that the guns are gone, check your radar and engage any drone nearby. There will be three waves of drones that will attempt to attck the platform. The first two come from the SE and the North. Thy come about the same time. The third one will be later, so make sure to check back on Boris now and then. Once you know that the platform will be relatively safe for a few minuets, head east. check your radar for orange. These things are dangerous, even though they dont shoot. They replace and create new drones. So taking them out slows down production, taking them all out will win you the mission. Anyway, the dog fights are relatively easy once you take out those orange garbage trucks. Just dont get shot to pieces. Like I always say, keep your accuracy high and take out as much as you can in Jet mode. And at least snipe something once for a 100% sniper accuracy bonus. Pick ups, ok. There are three north of Ural C. There are two near Ural C, its to its NW. There are two West, to SW of the Repair point (in those 2 drone things) There is one directly south of the platform. These total 8. You need 8, but there is a possible 11 altogether... Unless you like exploring the entire map for hours, then be my guest, I tried, but gave up. I only found 1 pick up from this long search - the one to the south of the platform. You can search for others, but otherwise, use the ones I found, it will get you the star at least. k.) A NURSEMAID IN THE DARKNESS. I HATE!! This mission.... Why? Because I cant figure out how to finish the last bonus task! Where you complete the mission on time! ARG!!! The reason? That stupid little BIG hunk of space junk! The BSF09. This thing really gets in my way, and I have yet to find a way to defeat it! But I'll get to that later. The other problems you will encounter will be Kill ratio and probably Ace bonus as you will spend most of your time in hover mode and the Kill bonuses come from the destruction of the mines which are situated in out of the way places. Onto the Mission. Your task is to escort your new friend Karpov and his new flashy ship to the other end of the map: The Loco shed. Hed into the valley in jet mode, you'll notice a small drone trying to get away when you get into visual range, come in close then blast it and take its pick up. If you hover into the valey, you'll lose the drone as it will float over a hill and you have to remember that you have to stay with Karpov's ship. So jet mode into the valley then hover to take it out. If you played this mission a few times, it's best if you stay ahead of Karpov, but stay in visual range. Here's the tricky part. Keep in mind that as you go along, you will notice lots of mines around. Your task is to cpear out the drones then take pot shots at the mines on eihter side of your path. Its like mail boxes, you are goiong down the road that is full of postmen, take them out, then take out the mail boxes. This is the reason it's always best to stay well ahead of Karpov. A good pilot will kill everything before Karpov get's there... So when he actually gets there, you should take out as many mines around you as possible. The path.. Ok, once you take out the first drone with the pick up, follow the pipe line and you will see your first mine on your right - North of the Pipe line. If you are fast enough, fly in, blast awawy a few then get back to the pipe line - by this time, Karpov would have asked you to come back, so get into visual range. By the time Karpov say's "The pipe line is active today" you should already be in the first arena. Arena 1. The drones don't come out until Karpov comes in. But you can always blast'em out. when you enter, there sould be two drones over the small hill on your left, they are waiting in ambush for you and Karpov, pick one and blast them with your laser, then finish off the rest with machine gun ammo, (dont worry, there's plenty more of that where it came from.) If you look at your radar, there will be a heavy concentration of mines (orange dots) over a hill. When Karpov says "We'll head over to that little lake" You should already be blasting awawy at the mines. Take out as many as you can in the least amount of time. When you are ready to proceed, head over to the little green lake and take out the drones with your machine gun. A smart but dangerous way of taking out as many drones as you can before Karpov gets moving is to lure the lakeside drones into the next arena. So by the time you take out the lakeside drone, you'd already be shooting out the drones which are situated in Arena 2. And if you were quick enough, Karpov would not have fired a shot. He would still be making his way across the lake. Arena 2. When half the drones are killed off in Arena 2 some fire birds will come along. There are two fighters and two bomers. You would have met the Bomber in STRANGERS IN THE FRIGHT mission earlier. These things are big, slow, but maneuverable and about twice as deadly as a fighter. Anyway, once these things come along, take out the bobmers. They will target you, and if you took a beating earlier at the lake (or took my advice about baiting the Drones along into the second arena) then the bomers will kill you. When the bombers are gone, head for the Repair point nearby, just north of the big building refinery thing. When you are donr repairing, take a small look around you, the repair point is surrounded in mines. Take out your laser and take them out. when you're done, head back to Karpov, he should have either taken out the rest, or should be busy fighting the last few. Help him out by taking out any straglers in the air - Karpov can EASILY take out the drones faster than you can, so dont worry. BONUS TASK Look at that building in the middle of the Arena. Its the tall one. On it's back are two large pipes comming out of the ground then into the top of the buildig. Blow them. You will notice that when both are blown up, there will be a jagged hole in the building due to the explosion. Aim INSIDE the hole and take out the tank that is sitting inside the building. It will release 3 pick ups. Some missiles and machine gun ammo, I forgot what the third pick up was. Now! Once Karpov gets moving, he will lead you to the BSF09. Ok, this thing is my nemesis of all games. I can kill it, dont get me wrong, but it takes me ages!!!! Trying to get it to show you its back is hard. Karpov does not help. He hanges around the east edge of the cavern, suposedly distracting the thing for you to pop its behind. However, after being e-mailed numerous times on how to beat certain bosses, I decided to spen a whole hour devoted to the destruction of the BSF09. Its not a full proof plan, but it should work. 1) Follow Karpov into the cavern, then hover low so the BSF09 wont see you. Work your way to the other end of the cavern and emerge on the west side of the cavern. You will see a few rocks sitting nearby, take cover here. 2) The BSF09 should be distracted by Karpov, take out your rail gun and hit it as much as you can. 3) A Good way to make multi shot combo's is to lock onto the BSF09, then fire a rail shot, then a homing missile. It should both hit... Keep doing this until it dies. 4) The BSF09 should be defeated after half your rail shots are used up (or so I think.) Once you defeated the BSF09, there should be 2 drones nearby, take them out and take the pick ups they have, then follow Karpov to the Loco shed. Mission complete - lets hope that the bonus task of finishing quickly worked out.