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SPACE CRUSADE
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Author: Mento
Systems: PC/Amiga 500+/Atari ST 520+/C64 FAQ
Version: 1.1
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CONTENTS
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i. Intro
ii. Controls/Buttons/How to Play
iii. Combat
iv. Your Units (Weapons/Commander)
v. Commands
vi. Equipment
vii. Enemy Units
viii. Mission Events
ix. General Tips
1. Walkthrough of Missions
a. Seek and Destroy
b. Eliminate and Survive
c. Disable Enemy Vessel
d. Locate and Rescue
e. Locate and Retrieve
f. Purge and Withdraw
g. Interception
h. Exterminate
i. Locate and Exterminate
j. Sabotage and Withdraw
k. Destroy Alien Ship
l. Destroy Cube of Chaos
2. Credits
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i. Intro
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Space Crusade is an early TBS (Turn-Based Strategy Game) based in the Warhammer
40k universe - though it never says as much anywhere on the box or instructions
it still has all the elements: Plasma Guns, Space Marines, Genestealers
(though renamed as "Soulsuckers" for some reason) and so on.
Essentially, it is a Sci-Fi version of Gremlin's earlier hit HeroQuest, based
off the boardgame of the same name. Space Crusade also has a board game, and is
considered to be a beginner's guide to the whole WH40k universe of miniatures
and strategic wargaming.
The game is fairly basic in gameplay: You take turns exploring an enemy
frigate, the layout of which is changed for each mission, and fulfilling a
primary mission objective while taking out as many aliens as you can along the
way. Successfully finishing the mission gives your team a tick next to the
mission name, and rewards your commander with honor badges and promotions (if
he survived).
If you want some Warhammer-esque background to the game, the manual tells us
this (this is abridged, because it goes on a bit): Sort of like Event Horizon,
ships often enter Warp Space (where Chaos resides) and disappear for centuries
instead of popping back into normal space close to where they need to be. Once
these ships come back after their lengthy voyage into the Warp Space they are
populated with the denizens of Chaos and are reclassified "Space Hulks". Every
mission in the game is based onboard one of these Space Hulks.
It also has an add-on called The Voyage Beyond, which will be covered in a
separate FAQ as soon as I can locate it. Since it was available as a separate
game, and has several new features, it won't be included in this FAQ.
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ii. Controls
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Menu
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From the Menu you have three icons to choose from upon playing for the first
time. The top left image (which looks like a spaceship colliding with a steel
ball) is the mission menu, where you choose your next mission (it's set on the
first mission - Seek and Destroy - as the default).
The second image, at the top right which looks like a glove/emblem, is your
Space Marine Deployment, where you prep your squads for the coming mission.
I'll go into more detail on this one in a moment.
The bottom left image is for adding additional missions from add-on packs and
the like. This is where you can access the Voyage Beyond missions if you have
that data disk.
Clicking the second image (Space Marine Deployment) will bring up three more
icons:
Top left (looks like a disc) is where you save and load the game. This'll be
the first place you go upon finishing a mission to save the game (which is the
disc with an arrow pointing to it). You'll need a save disc handy (if you're
using an emulator, you can create a disc image to save your game onto). On
repeat playthroughs you'll be coming here to load all your mission data (which
is the disc with the arrow pointing away from it).
Bottom image (the Space Marine in white) is your Commander Data. Your Commander
is the only member of your team that matters (the others seem to get cloned or
something between missions if they die and will be back with you for the next
mission). His mission successes, honor medals and rank are displayed here.
Top right image is where we need to go before starting any new mission. The
image is of three weapons.
Scrolling through this menu gives you; Squad Info, Commands and Equipment. Use
the last two sections to give yourself all the Commands/Equipment you want to
use for the mission. The green/red lights beneath the description of the
currently selected Command/Equipment tells you how many you're allowed to carry
and if you have any slots remaining (remaining slots are the "off" red lights).
The Squad Info tells you which marine is equipped with what weapon. For the
Blood Angels, the second guy along has an Assault Cannon, the third has a
Bolter, the fourth has a Plasma Gun and the fifth has the Missile Launcher. If
the weapon has a crosshair at the top right of it, it is equipped with a
Targeter (see "Equipment"). Note that you can give any of the marines any
weapon, but you're limited to one each of the three heavy weapons and three
Bolters. You might want to make the last guy the Bolter guy since he'll start
at the back and can catch up easier with higher movement, but it's not vital.
In-Mission
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A guide to what you're seeing, first of all:
The big window at the top left is the game screen. You can see the map here,
and you can use the arrows at the four sides to search around the area. It'll
be centered on your commander every turn, and centred on any enemy character
moving on the enemy's turn.
The top right window is character data. It'll display the stats of the marine
you're currently using, including his weapon, name and remaining health. On
the enemy's turn, an ominous looking fellow (the enemy commander) will take up
this window and you won't be able to see any details of the enemy units moving.
If you right click on any visible enemy (that is, one that appears as they
actually are and not just a green square - called a "blip") you can see their
name and character sprite.
The window directly beneath this is the map. It is a full map of the level, and
your marines appear on the map as red squares, irrespective of their actual
colors. Enemy blips will be dark green, and visible enemy units will be light
green. Any non-aggressors (such as rubble) will be turquoise.
On the bottom bar, left to right:
Map Mover - Press it once to capture your cursor. Now, you'll move the map
around instead of the hand cursor. This is a much easier way of scrolling
around the game map. Click again to get the hand cursor back.
Move - Tell the selected marine to move. His movement limit is presented as all
the clear (non-shaded) areas around the marine. The Move button is shaded if
the character is unable to move (or he has already moved this turn).
Fire - Tell the selected marine to fire. All possible targets/target areas are
highlighted in yellow. If you don't have any targets you want to shoot at,
click the button again to cancel.
Hand-To-Hand - Tell the selected marine to fight an opponent standing next to
them. This icon will only light up if you are standing next to another
character. Press the yellow highlighted character you want to fight to
continue.
Command - You can only use this icon at the start of your turn, before
selecting any marines to move. The command is a special move your commander can
use for various beneficial effects. See "Commands", later on in the FAQ.
Equipment - Use an item of equipment. The only two useable items in the game
are the Melta Bomb and Blind Grenades. See "Equipment", later on in the FAQ.
Door - Open or close a door. Normally, this will only light up if you are
standing next to a door. However, there is a special event that allows you to
open any door on the level. See "Events", later on in the FAQ.
Scan - Use this to scan your surroundings. Enemies picked up by the radar
appear as "blips", green squares with stars on them that remain unknown. Blips
are not always enemies. See "General Tips", later on in the FAQ.
End Turn - This button ends the turn, and allows the next marine squad to have
their turn. If no more squads can move, it's the enemy's turn (which is
automatic).
Squad Status Windows - The faces of the five marines under your command are
displayed here. The green lights above them indicate whether or not they have
moved/fired yet. If both greens are lit, the marine has yet to move or fire. If
the left green light is lit, the marine hasn't moved yet. If the right green
light is lit, the marine hasn't fired yet. Make sure all the lights are out
before ending the turn (unless you don't want the marine to move/fire this
turn). Obviously, if there is a skull instead of a face, that marine has been
killed (or has turned into a Chaos Marine).
View Mode - This just allows you to see the isometric close-up of the section
of the map that you're currently looking at on the main screen. This is the
view you get whenever a marine fires or fights hand-to-hand.
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iii. Combat
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To start this section, I'll explain heavy weapon dice and light weapon dice:
Heavy Weapon Dice (HWd) are red and can give you a possible total of "3" each.
This number refers to an enemy's armor value. Most enemies in the game are
destroyed with a total of "3", so these dice are very powerful. All the heavy
weapons of the marines give you two HWd to play with, and some enemies also
use HWd.
Your approximate chances of rolling a "3" are 1/6 however (since it is a six-
sided die). You also have a 1/6 chance of rolling a "2" or a "1". You have a
massive 3/6 chance (or 1/2) of rolling a "0", which is a miss.
Light Weapon Dice (LWd) are white and can only give you a maximum of "2". Most
enemy weapons (and Bolters, your marine's default weapons if they run out of
ammo) are LWd.
Your approximate chances of rolling a "2" are 1/6, like the HWd. You have a
2/6 chance at a "1" though (since Light Weapons are easier to handle,
presumably). There's still a 3/6 (1/2) chance of rolling a "0" however.
Combat is performed by clicking the "Fire" button and clicking a target (which
is any unit or tile that is highlighted). After clicking, you'll see two
colored numbers "rolling" where the map used to be. Once they settle, you may
be able to choose to reroll one (if you have the correct piece of equipment) by
clicking on that number. Generally, reroll any number that is a 0. Don't reroll
any other number unless you definitely don't have enough to damage your
opponent, since that number will more than likely become a 0.
After the damage is calculated, you'll get an isometric view of the character
firing. If you rolled any number other than 0 you'll get a close-up of the
enemy character. If you did enough damage to get past their defences, they'll
scream and explode. If your shot affected any other character not on screen
(such as a Plasma Gun or Missile Launcher attack) the isometric view will
center on them next.
If you didn't do enough damage to hurt them, you'll hear a ricochet sound to
indicate it was deflected by their shielding.
Hand-to-Hand combat is a little different: In this case both the attacking
character and the defending character roll their respective H2H dice. Whichever
character rolls higher, even if it's just a single number higher, will kill the
other one instantly. The exceptions to this are Marine Commanders and
Dreadnoughts, the only units in the game with more than one HP. Generally, you
need to be standing next to another unit to engage in hand-to-hand, but there
is one exception in the form of the Close Assault Blades piece of Equipment
(see "Equipment" later on in the FAQ).
A note on units with more than 1 HP: If you damage a unit over its armor,
you'll score one HP of damage for every point you get over the armor. In most
cases this is overkill - like rolling a total of 6 for a Gretchin. If you
manage to score a 6 on a Dreadnought, however, you'll take off two HP instead
of 1. In H2H, you do the difference between the attacking score and the
defending score in HP damage. So if your Commander gets three (or more) higher
on his total dice than the Dreadnought's defending score, it'll explode no
matter how much health it had left. Likewise, if it somehow hits you with 6 (or
more) higher than your H2H score, your Commander will die instantly.
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iv. Your Units
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COMMANDER - Your commander is your MVP, the unit you most want to survive. He
is the one that receives the benefits of a successful mission and if he dies,
you lose everything you've worked to get so far (including all previous
successful missions). Obviously, you'll want to reload if your Commander dies
during a mission. Fortunately, he can receive six (near-)fatal attacks and has
his own special equipment to keep him alive, so if you're careful and use your
regular marines effectively as bait/human shields, he will survive.
Your Commander is also fiercely proud of his reputation, sort of like the
Samurai of old, and so will nobly sacrifice himself if you fail a mission. This
is also, understandably, not good. So make sure you save before every mission.
Your Commander can choose three different weapon sets, which effects the damage
done by his attacks, both ranged and hand-to-hand:
Power Glove and Power Sword - The heavy H2H combo is the default selection, and
the one I strongly recommend you stick with for the entire game. Your
commander will be unable to fire, but he can basically rip apart any enemy
unit with a huge H2H attacking strength of two "heavy" red dice and two "light"
white dice. This is equal to a Dreadnought in sheer H2H power, and pretty much
the only reliable way you'll be able to kill Soulsuckers and the Dreadnought
without getting your whole team wiped out.
Power Axe and Bolter - Your Commander sacrifices his two white dice in H2H for
two ranged white dice of a regular bolter. If you're the type of guy who
avoids charging into areas and wiping out hordes in a berserk state, you may
want to select this so that your Commander can shoot some aliens before they
get close. However, I wouldn't recommend it for the reasons above regarding
Soulsuckers and Dreadnoughts.
Heavy Bolter - Your Commander has a bigger gun now, meaning two HWd for
ranged attacks. However, his H2H is reduced to the standard two LWd of regular
marines meaning he'll be zonked by the first Soulsucker or Android that gets
close, let alone the Dreadnought. Highly unrecommended.
MARINES - The marines are all interchangeable. They are cloned (or an immediate
family member replaces them, since they all have the same name) after each
mission if they happened to die. You receive a small score penalty for dead
marines but otherwise no bad things happen to you post-mission if they got
toasted, so consider them fodder. They'll be dying a lot anyway. All Marines
have a single hit point and 2 Armor, meaning any attack that is a "3" or more
will kill them instantly. Don't get too attached.
Bolter Marine - Bolters are your basic firearm of the vague Empire structure
your marines belong to. This means two LWd. Good for scratching off Gretchins
and weak enemy units but otherwise pretty useless. If a heavy weapon marine
runs out of ammo for his weapon, he'll use a spare Bolter. The only benefit
of having Bolter marines is for the various H2H Equipment they can eventually
get as well as boosted movement. This is especially useful in missions with a
lot of Soulsuckers (see their entry in "Enemy Units" for more details).
Assault Cannon Marine - Assault Cannons are wonderful tools for clearing rooms
and corridors with evenly spaced out enemy units. If you roll a high number and
kill your target with numbers to spare, you can then fire again on another
unit, and another unit, until all your attack numbers have gone. For instance,
if you fired at an Ork with a total of 4, you can then use what's left to kill
the two Gretchins behind him. If you run out of targets and still have some
attack power left, right click to cancel. It has two HWd, like all heavy
weapons.
Plasma Gun Marine - Plasma Guns can be deadly in the right situation. They
will fire in a straight line and not stop until they hit a wall. They will pass
through anything, regardless of if they killed it or not. If there are three
Gretchins (armor 0) behind a Chaos Marine (armor 2) and you roll a 2, the
Chaos Marine will survive but the unfortunate Gretchins will not. If you're in
a long corridor this weapon is basically treasure, since it can sometimes kill
enemies at the end of the corridor you didn't even know were standing there.
Like all heavy weapons, it has two HWd.
Missile Launcher Marine - Your next most valuable marine. If you shoot a tile
with this weapon (it doesn't need to have an enemy standing on it) not only
will the effected tile get the full damage but each of the eight tiles around
it will also suffer the full damage. You can see how potentially deadly this
weapon can be, and I strongly urge you to attach one of your two available
Targeters to this weapon. Two HWds, like the other heavy weapons.
Just a note on movement: The default movement value for a marine is six spaces.
If they have a heavy weapon loading them down, it drops to four spaces. Your
commander can move six spaces regardless of weapon (maybe not for the Heavy
Bolter though, but you shouldn't be using that anyway). The Imperial Fist has
a piece of Equipment that increases the movement rate of heavy weapon marines.
Final note: There are major differences between the three marine squads,
specifically relating to their Equipment and Commands available. This guide
has been written specifically for the Blood Angels since I use them a lot, but
consider your options when looking through the available Equipment/Commands for
each squad.
Since this is a full guide, here are the names of all the marines (keep in
mind these are their default weapon assignments; you can switch their gear
around as you wish):
Blood Angels:
Commander - Fielding
Bolter Marine - Tenzer
Assault Cannon Marine - Ordellen
Plasma Gun Marine - Ozman
Missile Launcher Marine - Fargo
Imperial Fist:
Commander - Keifer (pretty awesome for those missions involving bombs or virii)
Bolter Marine - Steinburg
Assault Cannon Marine - Reice
Plasma Gun Marine - Brekken
Missile Launcher Marine - Shellan
Ultra Marines:
Commander - Goldstock
Bolter Marine - Carless
Assault Cannon Marine - Campbell
Plasma Gun Marine - Hart
Missile Launcher Marine - Short
Now, here's the list of ranks you can achieve. These affect the number of
Commands you're allowed to use (see next section):
Sergeant - Starting rank. Can use only one Command.
Lieutenant Primus - Can use 2 Commands.
Lieutenant Senioris - Can use 3 Commands.
Captain Primus - Can use all 4 Commands.
Captain Senioris - Can use all 4 Commands.
Captain Supremus - Only available once you've completed all 12 missions with
the same Commander. Best rank in the game. All 4 Commands can be used.
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v. Commands
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There are four commands you can select. You can only use one to begin with, but
if you successfully complete missions you can raise your rank and use more, for
a maximum of all four once you reach any Captain rank (see above list). I've
listed them in order of usefulness in case you need to make a choice:
Photon Grenades - All opponents get one less die fighting H2H than usual.
HIGHLY useful for the inevitable Commander/Dreadnought showdown. Gretchins are
completely unable to defend themselves too, which is funny. This Command
continues on even in the enemy's turn right after, which is helpful if the
alien horde is getting a bit close. This Command is unique to the Blood Angels.
By Sections! - All marines can either fire twice or move twice, but they can't
move and fire. This is generally more useful than the Fire! and Move It!
commands below, but since you can't move if you fire (and vice versa) it does
limit you a bit. Blood Angels can't use this Command, their only real flaw in
my opinion.
Fire! - All marines can fire twice this turn. Useful if there's a lot of
enemies around. They can fire twice then move, move and then fire twice or
move between firing rounds.
Move It! - All marines move twice for that turn. Useful if you're heading back
to the gate with a few turns left or need to outrun the dreaded void of space.
Not useful at all in general combat, however, so consider leaving it behind.
Heavy Weapon! - A single heavy weapon marine can move twice and fire twice.
Well, this is a useful command if you have a lot of enemies in clumps that you
want your Missile Launcher guy to get rid of. However, since it only effects
one marine (out of five) its mastery over any of the all-squad Commands is
highly questionable. It's Imperial Fist only.
Close Assault! - All Bolter Marines get to attack H2H and fire this turn. If
you have all the necessary pieces of equipment to make your Bolter guys decent
fighters, then you should use this Command. Otherwise, it's the most useless
one. The Imperial Fist can't use this command, and they're better off for it.
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vi. Equipment
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Your equipment limit is based on your honor badges. You'll get a default of
four and a maximum of all eight pieces of equipment with four honor badges.
Since the easiest way of gaining rank is to sacrifice four honor badges, you
may want to reconsider doing so if the mission ahead is tough (since the
equipment is invaluable). Instead of alphabetically or the order the game uses,
I'll list them in order of usefulness so it'll be easier for you to make your
choices on the equipment screen:
Medi-Kit (Ultra Marines Only) - If there were ever a reason to pick Ultra
Marines, it would be for this. Instantly heals your Commander back to six HP
(though it won't work if the Commander just blew up). The most useful item in
the game bar none.
Force Field (Blood Angels Only) - The force field will increase the Commander's
shielding from 2 to 3, meaning enemies will have to shoot a four or above to
hurt him. I can't stress how vital this piece of kit is, especially if you're
charging into new areas with the Commander at the lead.
Digital Weapons (Ultra Marines Only) - A second reason to use these guys.
Digital Weapons add Targeters to both the Commander's H2H and ranged attacks.
Slightly more versatile than the Bionic Arm below, but only if you're the type
to equip your Commander with anything but the Power Sword and Power Glove
combo.
Bionic Arm (Blood Angels Only) - Adds a Targeter to your Commander's H2H
damage. You should have it as one of the defaults and keep it at all times.
Melta Bombs - One-use item that you can select with the backpack button during
the main game. Using it adds 2 HWd to any one marine's H2H battles that turn.
Especially useful against the Dreadnought, or if a lone marine has been trapped
by a Soulsucker. The H2H-Heavy Commander's almost invincible with this. Unlike
most equipment, you actively need to use it with the appropriate button
in-mission. Keep in mind, it'll only affect the first marine to get into a H2H
battle, so make sure it's not wasted on a brave Gretchin or anything.
1st Targeter - There are two Targeters available, and the first should always
be attached to your Missile Launcher. In my opinion anyway. Lets you reroll
any number after firing for a better chance at damage.
2nd Targeter - Use the second Targeter on either the Assault Cannon or the
Plasma Gun. I prefer the Assault Cannon since a) the Targeter is already on it
as a default and b) a higher number is more preferable for an Assault Cannon
than for a Plasma Gun, since you can take out more enemies that way. It's up
to you though, and I'll state the amount of corridors/small rooms for a mission
so you can use a Plasma Gun Targeter if it seems worth it.
Suspensors (Imperial Fist Only) - This is the only unique piece of Equipment
the Imperial Fist gets that doesn't suck. It allows all heavy weapon marines to
move like Bolter marines, giving them 6 Move instead of 4. This is useful if
the three groups are in direct competition for points, since the Imperial Fists
will get around a lot quicker. They need that advantage, trust me.
Blind Grenades - Useful if you get in over your head, as none of the enemies
will move or fire on their next turn if you use this on your turn. If you're
surrounded or need to make a hasty retreat because the Commander's down to his
last hit point, use it to escape a grim fate.
Close Assault Blades (Blood Angels Only) - Only really useful in certain
missions, since you want to avoid getting any of your regular marines in H2H
combat. This will allow you to fight enemies diagonally and actually give them
one less die to use. If it works with Photon Grenades, you have yourself a bona
fide Soulsucker killer.
Bio-Scanner (Ultra Marines Only) - Sort of a nice toy, but not desperately
useful unless you're on that phantom blips mission. Knowing what the blips are
won't stop them coming now that you've scanned them, and you'll find out what
they are then anyway. Though I guess you can prepare for some enemies better
if you know their movement rate and such. Generally, they won't change what
they were going to do whether you know what they are or not, so I consider this
item pretty useless compared to some other Equipment choices you could make.
Bolt Pistols - Hmm. Using this will allow your Bolters to attack H2H with an
extra die, giving them an advantage over any regular 2 LWd unit and making them
worthy Soulsucker-killing marines. However, you have to sacrifice any of the
useful items above if you don't have four honor badges to have it, so it isn't
worth it IMO. Like I said, you want to avoid H2H unless it's necessary or if
there are a lot of Soulsuckers around.
Bionic Eye (Imperial Fist Only) - Gives the Commander a Targeter for any ranged
weapon he has. But why does your Commander have a ranged weapon? Even if you do
go for the acceptable Power Axe and Bolter combo, you'll want something that
focuses on your strong H2H - not weak ranged - attack. The fact the Imperial
Fist marines are stuck with this instead of the highly useful Bionic
Arm/Digital Weapons is adding salt to the wound.
Combi-Weapon (Imperial Fist Only) - If your Commander has a Heavy Blaster, it
can now act as a Plasma Gun too. If, like me, you stopped reading at "If your
Commander has a Heavy Blaster..", then we're getting somewhere.
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vii. Enemy Units
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The enemy is numerous and out to get you.
A guide, first of all:
MP = Movement Points (how many spaces they can move)
F = Fire (how many dice their ranged attack is worth)
H2H = Hand-to-Hand (how many dice their Hand-to-Hand attack is worth)
AC = Armor Class (their armor shielding score. You'll need to hit them with
something higher
HP = Hit Points (how many "hits" you need to hit them with)
Notes = Just some notes about how you should approach these guys. Also, their
relation to the world of WH2k.
If you don't find these numbers interesting (and why would anyone), I've
highlighted stats of potential danger with (!)s.
I'm sorry to say that I don't know the exact figures for the scoring as of yet.
Maybe next update. I can record what I kill and see how many points I get at
the end. Enemies are worth a lot more if they happen to be part of the primary/
secondary objectives, I can tell you that much. The scores I've used here are
actually those of the board game, so they might not be entirely correct.
I've listed them here in order of approximate difficulty:
Rubble
MP - 0
F - N/A
H2H - N/A
AC - 0
HP - 1
Score - 0
Notes - Rubble is just debris lying around the ship. Oddly, it looks like rock
when you'd think it would be scrap metal and broken machinery and such. It's
usually placed around areas as obstruction, especially in corridors. It also
appears on scans, so don't be fooled. Rubble tends to appear in groups of three.
Gretchin
MP - 8 (!)
F - 2 LWd
H2H - 1 LWd (hahahaha)
AC - 0 (hahahaha)
HP - 1
Score - 2
Notes - Well, they're just pathetic. They have no armor so any attack that
isn't a complete fumble will take them out. The only real problem they pose is
that they can move fast and can surround your marines quickly if you're somehow
unable to put them out of your misery. You'll probably fight 20 of them
per mission, at least. They're comparable to tiny useless goblins really,
only with snazzy space-age triangular shirts.
Occasionally you'll meet a Gretchin Bomber. I've detailed the differences in
the "Events" section right after this one.
Ork
MP - 6
F - 2 LWd
H2H - 2 LWd
AC - 1
HP - 1
Score - 3
Notes - Orks make up the general army of the alien menace and are generally
equivalent to a Bolter Marine, only with weaker armor. Not really a problem,
but they're enough of a match in firepower to cause concern. Don't let them
get close. Orks are regular orcs, simple enough. Only they go "nanu-nanu" more
often than their fantasy counterparts.
Chaos Marine (regular)
MP - 6
F - 2 LWd
H2H - 2 LWd
AC - 2
HP - 1
Score - 5
Notes - Perfectly identical to a Bolter Marine. They're basically rivals of
the good guys, suited in ominous-looking green armor and tend to pop up a lot
as Secondary Mission Objectives. A full squad of Chaos Marines consist of three
regulars, a heavy weapon marine and a Chaos Commander. They're basically you
guys, only turned evil by the vague and enigmatic menace that is "Chaos".
Chaos Commander
MP - 4
F - 2 HWd
H2H - 2 LWd
AC - 2
HP - 1
Score - 10
Notes - Like the Chaos Marines, only identical to your Commander if he had the
Heavy Bolter set-up. And five less HP. And no Equipment. So, pretty useless.
He has a neat golden helmet thing though, so he's got that going for him. Which
is nice.
Chaos Marine (heavy weapon)
MP - 4
F - 2 HWd
H2H - 2 LWd
AC - 2
HP - 1
Score - 10
Notes - Now here's trouble. This guy is the equivalent to your Missile Launcher
Marine. Meaning he has an attack with an area of effect. He's pretty slow
though, like your guy, so you should be able to fire and then run behind a door
or something. He's not smart enough to target a nearby square and hit you
that way.
Android
MP - 4
F - 3 LWd (!)
H2H - 2 HWd (!)
AC - 2
HP - 1
Score - 10
Notes - Androids pack a lot of heat, but are generally as destructible as any
Chaos Marine. Their 3 LWd can often cause problems, but not as much as their
unexplainably powerful H2H damage. I was debating whether or not Androids were
actually harder than Soulsuckers, but then I realised which one always gave me
more trouble. Androids look awesome though, like endoskeleton T-800s from the
Terminator movies.
Soulsucker
MP - 8 (!)
F - N/A
H2H - 2 HWd (!)
AC - 4 (!)
HP - 1
Score - 10
Notes - Ugh, these guys. They have two categories: Natural and Event (a.k.a.
"WTF? Soulsuckers?!"). The Event ones are the ones that drop next to a random
marine out of thin air and rip them apart. If you've ever played Space Hulk (or
watched any Alien movie for that matter) you know how much fun these guys can
be. Soulsuckers don't have a ranged weapon, but they don't need one with that
movement rate. They also need a 5 or a 6 to kill with a ranged weapon, which
is a highly improbable result. This is why your Commander needs a strong H2H,
because otherwise this guy will walk all over you and your squad. There are
even missions which have these guys numbering in the double digits. They're
basically Xenomorphs, but they sort of look like fish people in pajamas.
There were some graphical limitations in those days, I guess.
Dreadnought
MP - 4
F - 2 HWd, 2 HWd, 2 LWd (yes, he shoots three times) (!)
H2H - 2 HWd + 2 LWd (yes, all in one go) (!)
AC - 4 (!)
HP - 3 (!)
Score - 25
Notes - Yeah. The Dreadnought. Not something you want to meet in a dark
alleyway, but then you're in luck because the bastard is too big to fit down
one. If you have good sense, you'll read where the Dreadnought's lair is in the
walkthrough and avoid him like cancer. If not, well, there are ways of
defeating it. Number one is to lure it into a doorway (sacrificing a marine
while doing so most likely) and shut the door on it with Master Controls. The
alternative is to get your now-equally-matched Commander with his H2H gear and
clobber it while using stuff like "Photon Grenades!" and Melta Bombs. Only your
Commander has any real chance against it, it'll rip through the rest of your
marines like tissue paper. Keep in mind that if you do score a hit on it, it
still has two HP left (unless you beat it in H2H with something higher than
just +1 difference).
A note on his ranged attack (other than simply "oh man"): The second set of HWd
is usually a Missile Launcher equivalent. In the board game, the Dreadnought
carries any two heavy weapons (Assault Cannon/Plasma Gun/Missile Launcher) and
his regular Bolter but in the video game it just appears to be a Heavy Bolter
and a Missile Launcher (from what I can tell). He can also target three
separate marines with these attacks and potentially kill all three of them in
one turn. However, if he loses a HP he'll also lose one of his heavy weapons.
Knocking him down to 1 HP will remove both heavy weapons leaving the Bolter.
His H2H dice will not change if damaged however.
------------
viii. Events
------------
Events occur every enemy turn and randomly effect you or the enemy units for
better or worse (usually worse). If no event occurs, see "Gretchin Bomber"
below. You can't turn these off either, so weather them as best you can.
Alien Elite - The enemy commander will randomly select a enemy unit that is
either visible or a blip, and make it "Elite". It will never make a scan error
or a piece of rubble an "Alien Elite". This elite now has the power to attack
twice per turn.
Android Fault - All androids will neither move nor attack this turn. Due to
Sod's Law, this event only seems to occur when there aren't any androids
nearby. It doesn't affect Dreadnoughts, unfortunately.
Automatic Defenses - A random marine will be targeted with a single HWd die. In
the chance of a 3, the marine is toast (unless it chose your Commander, in
which case the Force Field makes the entire ordeal moot). It is not a Missile
Launcher attack like the Booby Trap, so nearby marines will not be hurt.
Booby Trap - Ugh. This will, at random, target a marine and hit them with the
equivalent of a Missile Launcher attack. Any marines standing next to this
guy will also get the full brunt of the attack. There's a strong chance half
your squad will be wiped out by this event, sometimes right at the start of a
mission. Not nice.
Communications Malfunction - Your Commander is unable to give a Command this
turn. That is, the list of special Commands is unavailable to you for this turn
only. Not deadly, but sometimes inconvenient.
Equipment Malfunction - Another ugh. This will randomly take a piece of
equipment (from the pieces that work passively: all but the Magna Bombs and
Blind Grenades) and knock them out. If the cursor was over the Commander when
this happened, you can say goodbye to either your Force Field or Bionic Arm (
or Medi-Kit if you're playing as the Ultra Marines). Just hope the Dreadnought
has been taken out at this point.
Frenzy - Apparently, though I can't really tell the difference, one of the
regular aliens (Orks and Gretchins) gets to attack twice in H2H combat. They're
usually dead after the first attack in my experience, so it's kind of a
pointless exercise.
Gretchin Bomber - Heh, this is a sneaky one. If you get a turn where there
doesn't seem to be an event, the computer has actually, secretly, given a
random Gretchin this attack. The lucky Gretchin will get to fire as a Missile
Launcher marine for one turn only. The point when you discover which Gretchin
is the bomber is the point right before it attacks.
Lure of Chaos - This event only seems to occur within the last few turns of
the mission. Since your marines have been exposed to the bad elements aboard
this ship for a while, there's a chance one of them will be "lured" to Chaos,
becoming a Chaos Marine and being effectively dead. You'll then have a Chaos
Marine in your midst, so hope it wasn't the Missile Launcher guy that got
turned. It works like auto defences - a single HWd - and only on the event of a
"3" will a (randomly chosen) marine be turned to the dark side.
Master Controls - A gift from God. Master Controls allows you to open and close
any door in the level. "An automatic door opener? Whoopee." - but here's where
it gets interesting: If you close a door and there's someone standing in its
way (there are danger stripes on the floor where a door has been opened), the
door won't stop closing. That means it's goodbye for whomever was standing
there. Not only is this like a free kill, but you can use the doors to block
enemy fire from the next room over. Best of all, old mister Dreadnought happens
to take up a lot of room and more often than not he'll accidentally leave his
ass in the way of an automatic door. There is nothing, I repeat, nothing in
this game more satisfying than getting one of those literal killing machines
squished inside a moving door. Nothing.
Mech Assault - Androids and Dreadnoughts get to move twice and attack once this
turn. If a Dreadnought is hulking around at this point of the mission, it'll
probably reach your marines with its 8 MP this turn.
Mothership Comm. - You'll get the secondary mission objective. I've already
given you all the secondary objectives in the walkthrough, but since something
a lot worse could've happened to you you can consider this a reprieve.
Mothership Scan - You can scan twice this turn. If you're a scanning man like
myself, this is good. If you're the cautious type, getting two scans is just
asking for trouble. This affects all the marine squads in play, not just one.
Out of Ammo - Super ugh. This is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to
you at any point in the mission. One of your heavy weapon marines at random
will lose their heavy weapon permanently. Or at least for the rest of the
mission. They'll be using a Bolter from here on out. Sometimes you can get
this event before you've even fired a shot, which is sort of amusing. Or would
be if you didn't just lose one of your best weapons. Grr.
Psychic Attack - From what I can understand, this is back-up from the psychic
marines you have back at HQ. They stop all weak humanoid units (Gretchins and
Orks) from attacking or moving this turn. This is like a free Blind Grenade in
other words, except it doesn't stop the more dangerous enemies from coming
after you.
Report In - More ugh. Your Commander is completely unable to do anything this
turn because your bosses want to know what's going on. You'd be doing better
without their interruption, for one thing.
Soulsucker - OK, I said "Out of Ammo" was the worst thing that could happen to
you, but these guys come pretty close. The computer will place a Soulsucker
next to a random marine, apparently out of thin air (though since they are like
Xenomorphs, you can think of it as them dropping down out of the ship's wiring
from above). Since these guys are far better at H2H than whatever unfortunate
marine it has happened upon (besides the Commander) the dude is pretty much
toast. If you don't get rid of the Soulsucker then, it'll go after the next guy
who'll no doubt be close by. Deadly stuff.
Suicide Android - I've never seen this happen, but sometimes an Android will
choose to explode instead of attack if standing next to a marine. It'll do
damage like a Missile Launcher and then disappear. Like the Gretchin Bomber, a
Suicide Android will be decided on an enemy turn with no event and you'll only
discover which Android is a Suicide Android when they actually explode.
Weapons Jammed - Annoying. All your heavy weapon marines are unable to fire
this turn. They can still H2H, but why would you want to risk their necks for
that? At least it isn't permanent like Out of Ammo.
----------------
ix. General Tips
----------------
* Scanning - A Double-edged Sword: Scanning corridors allows you to see all
the enemies in a circular radius. This radius tends to be about 6 squares in
all directions for a normal marine, and about 10 or 12 for the Commander.
Unfortunately, any enemy that has been scanned and appears as a blip now knows
you're here and will move towards you. If there's about 10 blips moving towards
you, this becomes a problem. I've tried to highlight enemy-heavy areas in the
walkthrough so you can try to not scan while close to the areas in question.
This way, you only have to deal with the ones directly in range. It's common
sense to assume any primary mission objectives are in rooms packed to the gills
with enemies. One last note: Blips that don't move no matter how close you get
are rubble. Or they're pretending to be rubble for some reason.
* Another fun scanning thing: If you suspect a blip of being the Dreadnought,
right click on the squares around the blip. If they also come up as "unknown
blip", even though there are no blips there, that means they're part of a
Dreadnought (since he takes up four spaces). This also helps if you're trying
to figure out if the Dreadnought blip's standing on any door spaces.
* Learn enemy patterns: All enemies move in the same way. First, all blips
and visible enemies will move towards you until you're in their sights. At
which point they all start firing. After this, they will spend the rest of
their movement points (they can move, fire and move again apparently) to get
as close as possible to a marine. If they manage to stand next to one and still
haven't attacked yet, they will attempt to kill you in H2H combat. Since the
Commander is usually in the lead, this will probably mean certain death to the
poor alien who tries this.
Using this pattern you can use the following strategies to avoid casualties:
1. Have the Commander equip his best H2H stuff and let him lead, hiding behind
corners and scanning like nuts. Enemies will be drawn in and find themselves
standing next to the Commander as they become visible, forcing them to start a
H2H attack (their AI isn't sophisticated enough to tell them its a bad idea).
The Commander can clear whole corridors like this (though it's risky to do this
with Androids, Dreadnoughts and Soulsuckers due to their high H2H attack
power).
2. Have vital marines attack aliens in range and then stand back, allowing the
alien to waste their attack on other marines nearby (this is usually the
Commander). At a distance, this plan works perfectly as you get a free shot and
can then hide behind a wall and the enemy has to move to get close to you.
* Use Master Controls if you have it. Actively place marines near doors so that
enemies will stand in them using the strategies above. Run away so that enemies
will follow you and end up standing in a doorway when their movement runs out.
Never, ever try to fight a Dreadnought hand-to-hand if getting it caught in a
door is an option.
* The void of space: A useful tool for clearing out enemies. However, any
enemies that float off into space don't count towards your score total (even if
you were the one who breached the hull in the first place). Dreadnoughts are
particularly susceptible to this, taking up four spaces (only one space needs
to be effected for them to be destroyed) and moving slowly. Like I said, as
nice as it is to get a vacuum to do your job for you, it's worth more to your
mission success to handle enemies yourself. Space moves fairly fast, at two
squares per turn (doesn't sound a lot, but that's two squares in every
direction it can go in).
* Protect the Commander. Obvious, but needs to be said. Nothing you do in the
mission will have been worth it if the Commander dies. This means no exploring
the ship after the primary and secondary objectives are over. You have a
limited amount of turns and it's best to have the Commander home safe and
sound. Similarly, if he's taken one too many hits and is down to 1-2 HP, get
him out and scrap the mission. You could still get away with not taking "The
One-Way Journey of Redemption" if you scored highly enough or succeeded the
primary objective.
* Use all available equipment/commands if useful to the situation at hand.
They're restocked every mission so don't be afraid to use them in a jam. This
rule especially applies to using Magna Bombs/Blind Grenades and commands like
Photon Grenades if your Commander is forced to fight the Dreadnought
mano-a-mano. Again, common sense, but I thought I should mention it anyway.
* Don't stick around in your docking claw. If you're still in one of the six
spaces that comprise the docking claw then you'll be sent home. Sent home
marines won't effect your score like their inevitable destruction will, but you
won't be able to use them either. If you want a challenge, just leave all four
regular marines in there and see how long you last with just the Commander.
Also, and I'm not 100% certain about this, but if your Commander leaves the
space hulk your team will stop scoring points.
* About Primary and Secondary Mission Objectives: Keep in mind that some
Objectives are only completed once you've returned to the claw and finished the
mission. Others are awarded to you as soon as you do them (such as opening a
door, destroying a Dreadnought or disabling a Control Panel).
* More about scoring: Getting close to the needed score (within 20 points I
think) will get you one honor badge and make fun of you. Hitting the score or
getting a little higher will get you two honor badges. Getting a huge amount of
points over the target will net you both three honor badges and a free
promotion. Keep in mind you need to succeed the Primary Mission Objective. If
you miss it, knock down the honor medal count for the appropriate score (in the
case of the first scenario, it'll count as failing the mission and your
Commander will go kill himself).
These score boundaries may be more lenient if you're playing with more than one
chapter of marines, since only one team can get the Primary Mission Objective
and it wouldn't be too fair to the other players to kill off their Commanders
for missing it.
* Weapon specific tips:
Plasma Gun - Since it will go in a line and not stop until it hits a wall,
rubble is the Plasma Gun guy's best friend (man, that's a sad thought). He can
stand behind it and shield himself from attacks, and then fire through the
rubble to the enemies waiting behind it on his turn.
Missile Launcher - If you can't see the enemy, but can see the square he's
standing next to, you can fire at that square and hit him with the splash
damage. Killing blips is super fun, because the dudes never even got to see who
was firing at them (but you'll see what you killed when he blows up).
* My personal feelings about the three groups:
Blood Angels - My favorite. Decent Equipment, OK Command set. The Force Field
is a wonderful tool for keeping your Commander alive from gunfire and booby
traps. Close Assault Blades are pretty nice things to have for Soulsucker
missions too.
Imperial Fist - Useless. They don't have very good equipment at all, and
although they have the "By Sections!" Command, the "Heavy Weapon" unique
Command is poor. Their only strength is a slight speed advantage, which will
allow you to get around the level quicker and not get separated from your
heavy weapon goons.
Ultra Marines - Have two of the best unique pieces of Equipment in the game,
and would be my favorite if I didn't love buffing up the Commander with H2H
stuff. The Medi-Kit will save your ass time and time again, so I highly
recommend starting with these guys until you get your bearings.
* A note about the above squads: Blood Angels always move first, Imperial Fist
second and Ultra Marines last. This is sometimes good, sometimes bad depending
on which team you're controlling and the mission you're on.
--------------------------
1. Walkthrough of Missions
--------------------------
Any given mission will use the same map every time. It'll also have the same
"stock" of enemies, but will randomly disperse them throughout the level so
each attempt through the mission will be slightly different. The exception is
the Dreadnought, who is always in the same place (and is usually the secondary
mission objective).
-------------------
a. Seek and Destroy
-------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Dreadnought.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Chaos Marines squad.
Map Details: Simple enough. The Dreadnought is at the bottom of the map, in
that fairly big room with two exits. Just make your way down there, nothing too
horrific to worry about (on the way there anyway..).
* The Dreadnought is where I just told you it was. The Chaos Marines are all
over the place as random blips.
General Advice: Simple enough, in theory anyway. Master Controls is a rare
thing to get here for some reason so the simple method of squishing him in a
door might be tricky. As weird as it sounds, you might want to put off the
first mission of the game until you have better equipment/a higher rank. If
playing against other Space Marine chapters, the first one who gets the
Dreadnought wins the points, so don't hang around. I won't generally go over
PVP tactics, since I'll leave that to you, the player, to decide how badly you
want to hurt your friends.
------------------------
b. Eliminate and Survive
------------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy enough aliens and all the other marines.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Dreadnought.
Map Details: Strange one, but considering the mission objective it's pretty
self-explanatory. The map is configured so that the furthest points from any
marine squad are the other two marine squads. This delays any encounters
until you all dramatically meet in the huge center room to duke it out.
* You'll never guess where Dreadnought Jones is today. What fun is a three-way
shootout if there isn't a giant robot in the middle of the crossfire firing off
missiles every which way? So, yes, expect to see Mr Happy in the middle room
along with a lot of rubble to hide behind and probably any human teams you're
playing against.
General Advice: Nothing like a fun PVP mission. You will not achieve the
Primary Mission Objective unless all the other marines are dead, though I've
been told the one who scores the highest is the one who gets the Primary points
if more than one chapter survives. Since your rivals have the same problem, it
doesn't look like anyone will be walking away from this mission in one piece.
If you're soloing the game, you'll have a whole squad of Chaos Marines waiting
in one of the docking claws instead of a human chapter. They won't move until
you get close or manage to scan them, like any other enemy unit. Take them out
and avoid the middle room while doing so. If you're feeling brave after that,
go tackle the Dreadnought. You also need to make sure you've killed several
dozen enemy units along the way (my advice is to scan like crazy and let them
come to you). The stock for random enemies will have five less Chaos Marines
than usual, since you already know where they are, so it's a little easier to
take out the normal random blips.
-----------------------
c. Disable Alien Vessel
-----------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the engineering panel inside the enemy
vessel to disable their ship.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Dreadnought.
Map Details: An annoying map, there's one long corridor that stretches around
the level, but the quickest path to the console is through a series of small
rooms. Master Controls is super useful in this mission. Plasma Guns, not so
much.
* The Dreadnought is waiting in the corridor outside of the console room,
beneath the left exit. There's also a bunch of rubble blocking him from going
around the corridor to the north so use that (he can still trot through the
console room to get you though).
General Advice: Like most mission objectives, the item you want is in a room
completely packed with blips. So it may be an idea to stop using your radar
once you approach the corridor at the bottom right of the level. If you want
to avoid the Dreadnought (and why not?) enter the console room from the north
(through the rooms in the middle of the map) and smash it up before the
Dreadnought knows you're there. You can then attempt to defeat the Dreadnought
for a legendary score or just get the hell out.
Nothing too notable about the enemy stock, since this is only the third mission
in. More androids than usual (I counted four, which tends to be the max
number of Androids possible) and at least a couple of natural Soulsuckers. And,
of course, ol' Dreaddy. The Engineering Panel (your target) has a shield of 1,
but you could just start H2Hing it with your Commander easily enough.
--------------------
d. Locate and Rescue
--------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Find the scientist's brain and return it to the
docking claw.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - The enemy has deployed five Chaos Marines. Seek
and destroy them all.
Map Details: Well, this is a good map for Plasma Gun dudes, so consider
giving your second Targeter to him for this mission. The reason for this is
you'll be travelling down a lot of corridors with enemies pouring out of rooms
into the corridor. This will lead to a lot of lines of enemies, perfect for the
Plasma Gun to tear apart. The Brain is highlighted on your map as the blue
spot, in the long vertical room to the north.
* Bizarrely, the Dreadnought isn't anywhere near the mission objective. It is,
in fact, at the top right corner of the map in the corridor. If you're trying
to sneak around to the north exit of the brain jar room to avoid the direct
path (since it's usually the deadliest), just don't. Since it takes a while to
reach the guy, you may have Master Controls and could be able to trap him
somewhere. Dreadnoughts are pretty deadly in the corridors do so be wary if
you're exploring the place for the secondary mission.
General Advice: There are heavy numbers of enemy units as you get close to the
brain jar, so stop scanning. Remove all corridor enemies and make your approach
to the room itself from the south and grab the jar with the Commander. It's
important you do this on this mission and all other missions that involve
finding an item since any other marine is likely to die at any moment, even
on the way back to the docking claw (Soulsucker events are a killer).
Finding the Chaos Marine squad won't be easy, since they're dispersed around
the level like all the other random enemies in the stock. I'd say make sure the
primary quest is dealt with and then start scanning, using the marines in
corridors to pick off the vast volumes of enemies pouring out of rooms. The
Dreadnought of this stage is isolated in the top corridor, so he's easy enough
to avoid if you're careful. Grab the brain and head back to the claw killing
everything in your way, and you should be fine for a successful mission report.
This mission is an example of only getting the Primary Objective once the
brain is in your possession and you've got back to your docking claw. Your
marines therefore can get ambushed on the way back by a sneaky second human
player and the Primary Mission score taken away from you.
----------------------
e. Locate and Retrieve
----------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Find the experimental weapon and return it to the
docking claw.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Engine Control Panel.
Map Details: Well, you should notice quite a few "WTF" traits about this map.
Not only is your mission objective here (the Experimental Weapon, in the
large eastern room that the central corridor leads to) but also a Control Panel
and three outer hull doors to play with. The map is somewhat compact and you'll
be in the centre of it most of the mission, so frequent scannings aren't
recommended. You can use the regular marine scans if you're desperate, but
using the Commander's scan will probably pick up around 15 blips at once.
* Dreaddy's smack-bang right in the place you need to be, unfortunately for
you. You'll need to take him out to reach the Experimental Weapon or the
Control Panel, there isn't really a way around it.
General Advice: The secondary mission objective is simple enough, since the
Control Panel is in the room directly beneath the Experimental Weapon. Trash it
if you can reach it and then run for the exit. If you like, you can open the
outer hull doors in readiness for escaping with the weapon if you get Master
Controls at some point. If you want to kill as many things as possible for the
score though, leave them be because it's not necessary that you open them for
this mission. See the next mission (1f) for more detail about outer hull doors.
There'll be lots of bottlenecking in that central corridor if you scan a lot,
so be wary that there are lots of chances for Plasma Gun and Missile Launcher
marines. There'll be enemy units very close to your docking claws too, so
watch out. You usually get a turn or two before the enemies start coming, but
they'll be right on your doorstep in this mission.
Only other piece of advice is let the Commander get the gun. You can't equip it
for some major pwnage or anything, it just sits in your inventory. Let the
Commander carry it to keep it safe. Also, the Control Panel needs a hit of "3"
or above, so it'll be easier just to have a marine scrap with it H2H.
---------------------
f. Purge and Withdraw
---------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Open one of three outer hull doors and allow the
vacuum to destroy the ship.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Defeat a Dreadnought and an Android.
Map Details: Well, you know where the three outer hull doors are, but there's
only one way to reach the corridor they're on and that's through a medium-sized
room at the bottom of the map. Needless to say, that room happens to have half
a legion inside it. The two rooms either side are also packed, and that long
corridor down doesn't provide much protection. I therefore insist that you
don't try scanning while heading down there and take out each room individually
(since the points are worth it).
* The Dreadnought is in the room to the right of the central dangerous room
that leads to the outer hull doors. It looks a bit small for a Dreadnought but
that's where he is. Best part is if you don't scan that area you can walk
right past him without having to deal with him.
General Advice: Master Controls is REALLY REALLY good here, and I suggest
waiting before heading down that central corridor until you get it. As soon as
you do, open all three outer hull doors and let space fill that corridor. This
way, if you run into trouble with the big room, you can let space fill it and
take care of the enemies for you. If you're down on HP or marines, you can just
open every door in the level and get out and you'll win the mission (though
you won't score a whole lot).
---------------
g. Interception
---------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Kill as many aliens as possible.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy Radioactive Source.
Map Details: It's sort of an odd capital "I" shape for this mission. You'll
notice that they have handily provided you with the Radioactive Source that's
messing up your scanning: though getting rid of it won't stop the phantom
blips from appearing nor will any of them vanish.
* Surprise! The Dreadnought is in fact several feet away from where you start.
Isn't that fun? He's in the north central clump of rooms, in the tiny top left
one. Blood Angels and Imperial Fists will be vieing directly for an (not) easy
25 points.
General Advice: Your scanner's unreliable, so don't count on its findings. Use
scans though, since you want to find and destroy as many enemies as possible
and it's easier when they take the trouble of chasing after you. Keep in mind
you need a higher score than usual to succeed in this mission (100 points). You
also need to kill 15 aliens or more if you're only playing with the one chapter
(if you're playing with more than one, you're in direct competition with each
other). Although your primary mission is to kill as much stuff as possible,
making your way to the radioactive source and eliminating it should be
everyone's priority, since it is the secondary mission objective (and worth as
many points as a Dreadnought).
The fact you all start on the same corridor means you can start blasting each
other from the start (a bad time to be either Blood Angels or the Imperial
Fists; Bloods because they're the first targets and Imperials because they're
in the crossfire). A good Plasma Gun roll from the Ultra Marine squad could
end up practically winning the mission for them in one shot. Use the doorways
if you're paranoid, but don't stay inside the hangar because you'll be sent
home on the next turn and lose those marines for the mission.
Fun doesn't stop there with the PvP mayhem: Sharp-eyed players will spot that
the big central room halfway down has an outer hull door in it. If opened
while a different player's team is in the south part of the map (or in that
far right corridor) means they're pretty much boned since it'll only take 5 or 6
turns to make the corridor north to the docking claws impassable. There's also
another hull door near where the Ultra Marines start and one up the long
corridor to the right.
Last note: There are a lot of Androids and Chaos Marines on this level. Twice
as many of both, in fact. I counted 8 Androids and at least 3 Chaos Commanders
too, so prepare for some serious resistance. Only one Dreadnought though, don't
worry.
--------------
h. Exterminate
--------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Kill as many Soulsuckers as possible.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Nuclear Power Pack.
Map Details: Nothing too weird about this one. The thing on the map, to the
far centre left is your secondary objective. Head over there while zapping
Soulsuckers. There's also a single outer hull bay door to play with, and
opening it will the vast amount of blips you'll uncover in that room.
* Couldn't find one. This mission doesn't really need it. If he's here, he'll
be in the bottom right corner since that's the only area I didn't check.
There'll be at least 10 Soulsuckers between him and you. You don't need the
points and the Soulsuckers are more than enough challenge, so don't worry
about it.
General Advice: Groan. Yes, Soulsuckers aplenty here. You need to kill at least
10 if you're playing this with a solo squad, and it would be a good idea to
kill more to fulfill the goal of 100 points. You may want to consider getting
Bolter marines (switching out a heavy weapon) and equipping them with all the
H2H gear since Soulsuckers are practically immune to ranged fire.
The Soulsuckers you meet will be tearing you down in close-quarters almost
immediately, so keep the Commander out front and keep in mind that Bolter
marines aren't going to do scratch from a distance and get them up close with
those diagonal blades if you're using Blood Angels. 3 LWd against 1 HWd is
more than a fair fight. Photon Grenades will also save you once the Soulsuckers
start showing up in big numbers, so Blood Angels are heavily recommended for
this mission. If you're using any other chapter for some reason (if you prefer
another chapter or have finished all the missions with the Blood Angels
already) you might want to consider sending all the marines home initially and
solo-ing with the Commander. The other marines are just fodder faced with the
amount of Soulsuckers you'll meet. The Ultra Marine's Medi-Pak will help out
here, but I don't know how the Imperial Fist are likely to survive. That'll be
a good challenge for you hardier players.
Your overall target, besides just sweeping the level for Soulsuckers, is that
Nuclear Power Pack. Blow it up with a weapon hit of 2 or more (same as an Ork),
and then get out once you've killed 10 Soulsuckers (which you'll probably do on
the way there) and you'll more than make the required score for this level. I
seriously recommend against overdoing it here and trying to explore the entire
hulk for enemies because these guys WILL wear your Commander down.
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i. Locate and Exterminate
-------------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy ALL Soulsucker eggs (if Solo).
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy at least ten adult Soulsuckers.
Map Details: Check out those walls, very Alien-esque. The first thing you
should notice is the gigantic room in the centre with lots of exits. This is
where the eggs are and where you need to be heading.
* Since the makers of this game are acquainted with the Sadist's Handbook, you
can take a wild stab and that predict the Dreadnought will be in the big room
in the middle. Since you need to torch the eggs all around the big fellah, he's
pretty much unavoidable this mission. He's in the centre of the room too, so
if you want to trap him in a door you'll have to scan half the room from
outside (that'll be fun) and let him walk through the door into the corridor.
That's your best shot at a Master Controls kill anyway.
General Advice: Another Soulsucker-heavy mission. Use the advice of the
previous mission with regards to Bolter Marines. You may want to keep all the
heavy weapon marines though, since you'll be able to take out more eggs at a
time with them.
The big trouble with this mission, unlike the previous Exterminate mission, is
that the Soulsucker eggs aren't given to you on the map. They're all in the
middle somewhere, along with various other blips of a slightly more hostile
nature. This is one of those times I recommend scanning; if you scan at the
fringes of the room, you can take out a lot of enemies that come into the
corridors making the centre room slightly safer for when you finally go in
there.
Don't worry about the Secondary Mission Objective. You're more than likely to
hit the goal target just by playing the mission. For multiplier, it's whoever
defeats the most gets the points, so consider mopping them up if someone's
already beaten you to the eggs.
------------------------
j. Sabotage and Withdraw
------------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the weak spot in the hull and escape as
vacuum fills the ship.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Seek and destroy Dreadnought
Map Details: Well, check it out. You can sneak all the way around to the crucial
door if so choose by taking either side corridor. Of course, you still need to
net yourself a decent score (100 points for solo, as usual) so consider taking
the direct route.
* You'll never guess which mission-critical area Mr Personality has parked his
colossal metal derriere in front of. If you don't feel like tackling him, try
to destroy the wall from the doorway into the room (on the far right) and see
if he can outrun space. I'm not sure you'll get the points for destroying him
that way (or the secondary mission bonus) but it'd be fun to try. Or you could
just stick someone outside in the way of the corridor and let him get Master
Control'd to the big scrapyard in the sky.
General Advice: This is just Purge and Withdraw again with a few slight
differences: since this will create a hole, you have no way of stopping space
this time like you could with the doors. And since it requires a weapon hit of
"3" it'll require the focus of a heavy weapon: an annoyance if you're trying to
fight off aliens at the same time. Also, Master Controls won't be quite as
valuable here because of the corridors (it's downgraded from REALLY REALLY good
to just REALLY good).
So you should be used to the pressures of space. Not that space has any pressure
but you know what I mean. Depressure of space, that's the term I was looking
for. Rambling aside, usual tactics of do everything you want to do (or no longer
in any fit shape to do), start everyone on the way back except the designated
deadmeat who can stay behind in the broken wall room to make all the cordial
introductions between Mr Spaceship and Mr Vacuum of Space. Don't make your
Commander do anything silly like H2H the broken wall and stand there like a goon
as the darkness wades in.
Also, and this is common sense, if you went through the middle and left all the
doors open, don't try heading back to the docking claw by the extra long
side-corridor route, because it's likely the space will beat you back there.
This also applies to heading to the end area through the relatively safe
corridors, blowing the ship apart and then attempting to fight your way back
through the packed center while instant death is nipping at your keisters. Just
do some exploring, take out a healthy number of enemies and then do the
purge and run. Sorry to be all obvious on you, but the level wants you to get
to the end by avoiding everything and making you think "huh, I don't think I
killed enough things, let's take the dangerous route back". It's an exciting but
very deadly way to go about things.
Enemy-wise, expect more than a few Chaos Marines. This level is kind of
threadbare, especially if you take the left corridor. It's completely empty
until you hit the top. So is the south corridor and that longish room you start
in. Most of the level's enemies are in the cluster of rooms in the middle and
the important one right at the top.
If you take the three prongs of left corridor, center and right corridor for
the respective three teams from where they start, the Blood Angels will waltz
through this level and Imperial Fist will have the most difficulty. It's like
the game's playing favorites or something..
---------------------
k. Destroy Alien Ship
---------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Self-Destruct Control Panel and get out
before the ship explodes.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy All Three Virus-Carrying Androids Onboard.
Map Details: Mix of rooms and corridors here. The target is helpfully placed on
your map, like usual. Not really a whole lot to say, except that if you scan a
lot prepare for a buttload of aliens to pour out all of the rooms attached to
corridors and rush you.
* The Dreadnought will surprise you this time by appearing at the very end of
that central left-right corridor, which you'll more than likely pass on the way
to the control panel. If you keep clearing enemies from that central corridor,
you'll see him eventually and he'll get the drop on you with his powerful
ranged attacks. Best bet is to just stay out of that central corridor, maybe
keep to rooms and doorways or just go south where it splits at the left side.
General Advice: This is our old favorite "Disable Enemy Vessel". Although the
mission speaks of self-destructs and that this is the second-to-last mission
and something difficult should happen, you aren't actually given a time limit
once the control panel is destroyed, other than the 40 turns you're always
given.
Expect a warm welcome, as there are enemies in the rooms directly above and
below you. The corridor is safe enough for the time being if you just want to
take that route to the control panel. For the androids, I can't recommend
anything other than "search around". Fortunately, you're only looking for three
enemies, rather than a full five chaos marines. Not that androids aren't a
handful.
Read the Dreadnought blurb above to avoid a nasty surprise. From the start, just
head south and take the longer southern route to the control panel room to
avoid him. Of course, it's quicker to head north out of that room and into the
dreaded corridor once the console's gone, so he's in your way no matter how
you slice it. Get rid of him or just be prepared to dodge missiles for a few
rounds while you escape. Other than that this level shouldn't be a problem.
------------------------
l. Destroy Cube of Chaos
------------------------
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy the Cube of Chaos.
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE - Destroy Engineering Panel and set Self-Destruct.
Map Details: Well, both mission objectives are helpfully highlighted on the map
for you, so there's no problem finding the things at least. The central corridor
provides access to two groups of rooms on either side, with a mission objective
at the furthest corner of each.
* You saw this map and thought that little room at the top might have him,
right? Well, if you think like I do anyway. Fortunately it's just a completely
empty random little room that ends up being a strategic position once you get
Master Controls and are hotfooting it to the exit. Nope, the Dreadnought is
in the last room before the Chaos Cube, sort of expectedly. He's flanked by
half an army too, so this is probably the most challenging he'll ever get. Good
luck, since he needs to be defeated to reach the Cube.
General Advice: Another "destroy this thing and get out". Should be used to
this by now. The enemies are tougher than they've ever been though, so caution
must be needed, even if you enjoy being a gung-ho Commander. There is an
especially large number of Soulsuckers, so don't think splitting the team up
for those two goals is a good idea. The approach to the Chaos Cube has to be
done from the north and you will meet a considerable amount of resistance as
you head down there. I would consider leaving the secondary mission, since
surviving the Chaos Cube approach will net you a considerable bounty in kills
that should be sufficient for the goal target. Blast the thing to pieces (or
tear it in half with H2H, since it's pretty tough) and get the heck out.
If you do want to take a few turns going after the secondary mission objective,
it's approach is far more kind having only a few scattered units until you
reach the bottom, when it suddenly turns into a bloodbath. Again, I'd recommend
avoiding it if at all possible, because it could end up wearing your Commander
down and you'll need him in good shape for the Chaos Cube. If you think you can
handle it though, go right ahead. The console only needs a weapon hit of 2 or
more (same as an Ork) and there's rubble obscuring it (not a problem with
missiles or plasma).
That's all the missions in the main game. Finishing them all with the same
Commander will get you the Captain Supremus rank. It doesn't offer any
additional benefits, but you've finished the game now anyway so it's really only
a badge of honor. Wear it with pride.
----------
2. Credits
----------
Gremlin - For making the game. Their games have always been an inspiration to
me, and it was pretty sad when they were bought out and subsequently closed
down a few years ago.
Games Workshop - I should probably note I'm not the biggest fan of Warhammer
40k the table-top game (it's somewhere between Magic: The Gathering and ice
sculptures on my list of biggest wastes of money) but I've always liked the
setting. Space Marines kick ass, and it's terrible that they've lost so much
ground to ninjas and pirates in recent years.
GameFAQs - For hosting anything I write, regardless of quality. As long as it's
less than 80 characters per line, of course.
You - For choosing to play an excellent game even though it's a bajillion years
old.
Email for additions/corrections -> spento AT gmail DOT com
-GOBLORN-
