16: A New Alliance

16A: A New Alliance

You've got your work cut out for you. After your success in the previous mission, the Hadean Rebels apparently think you're some kind of hot shot commander, because they just dropped you off in the middle of some very hostile territory. You won't have much time to look around, before deploying your recycler; the Cerberi are on to you from the moment you arrive. Get those turrets positioned to handle the initial waves of Krul and Triton attackers, which fortunately come from just one direction, at first..

You'll also need to generate some scavengers: two for the nearby wells and two more to collect the loose scrap.

After that, build out a third turret to help the other two, and build a constructor, so you can upgrade your two wells. Before long you'll have much heavier attack ships to deal with than the initial units, which have been probing your base. You'll find yourself under attack from three directions, too. So, you may want to hurry and get some Defender towers up.

If you can get your heavy gun towers up before being overrun by the Cerberi assault units, you will have survived phase one, but you won't have any time to celebrate this milestone.

You need to be get ready to move out and escort the Scion emissary back to your base. You may want to set yourself up in a Xares with a dragon blast cannon; and then, pump out a full group of turrets to take with you. On the way to where the Scion representatives wait for you, near the center of the map (just past where the walkers make a sharp turn and head down towards your base), find a place where you can deploy the turrets. You'll see why there's a need for so many turrets soon enough. You probably want to build out some healers to support these turrets, and throw in some Xares, if you have time. You can tell these late comers to rally at a nav point placed in the vicinity of where the turrets are deploying, while you continue in route to meet up with the Scion Admiral. Don't keep him waiting, because he'll give up on you and leave. Be prepared to be intercepted by a patrolling Krul, once you start escorting the Scion convoy back to your base. Hopefully, by the time you and the Scions reach the point where your units are, the turrets will have had time to deploy and ready themselves.

The Cerberi create a portal right in your way and start pouring units through it, forcing the Scion convoy to turn back and search for another route to your base. You must hold this position in order to continue to insure the Scions' safety. If the Cerberi break through, some will pursue the Scion convoy while others will cut across the map to head off and intercept the Scions at another point. Make sure you knock out the Siren, in particular, which leads the Cerberi attack. Those mini-comets will rain havoc upon your troops, if the Siren is allowed to get off a few salvos.

Your large group of turrets will make short work of the other Cerberi.

With the Cerberi ambush bottled up near it's point of origin, the Scion Admiral can safely cruise into your base, unmolested.

If you've gotten this far, completing this mission just got a lot easier. While a mistake can still cost you the mission, you are no longer under the time pressures that you've been faced with up until now. This is really the first point in this mission where you can relax and take your time before making your next move.

The next thing that you need to do is pick up the homing device, which the Scions will use for aiming the beam cannon of their orbiting mothership at a target that you must paint for them. Then, start building up an attack force that you can take with you when you search for a route to the Cerberi Assembler. In the meanwhile, you put the group of turrets and healers, which protected the Scion convoy, back to work by moving them to a point where they intercept the Cerberi walkers, which are still being sent against your base.

Your base should have a solid defense, by now, easily chewing up the Hedoux assault tanks that the Cerberi also continue to send at your base.

One thing that might make your attack on the Assembler easier is to search out this group of power supplies and destroy them. In any case, they're Cerberi, so they need to go.

One path that you might find, which leads toward the Assembler, takes you directly below a very active portal and, therefore, is probably not the best choice.

Another route takes your units through the center of the map, where you've deployed the turrets used to protect the Scion convoy, but you may find that continuing from there runs you into a place where your tracked units will have trouble making their way through a narrow gap. You may need to nudge them through, one at a time.

If you explore the map enough, you can find yet other routes that will let you access the Cerberi Assembler facility. As you approach the Cerberi Assembler, there are gun towers and power supplies to clear out. With the help of two or three Atlases, you should have little trouble with this task.

With the gun towers out of the way, you should be able to approach the Assembler and plant the communications uplink for the Scions to aim their beam weapon. The Assembler is the object behind the glowing orb (Doh!), and don't forget to target it, before you plant the communications link (Double Doh!).

If you're not careful, it is possible to turn the glowing orb, or generator, into a sort of fountain mine. (I think I set this off by bouncing off something and passing through the orb.) You'll be given a warning to expect some strange effects in the vicinity of the Assembler, so don't be surprised if you run into problems, depending on how you try to approach the Assembler.

If you can avoid these pitfalls, planting the communications link and allowing the Scions to do the rest will successfully complete this mission for you.

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