Strike at the Heart

BATTLEZONE

General Combat Tips Stars and Stripes Missions   Red Arrival   Eagle's Nest 1   The Relic Discovered   An Unexpected Connection   Escape From Mars   Behind Enemy Lines   A Nasty Surprise   Wrangling the Fleeing Herd   The Race Is On   Bring It Home   Flying Solo   Total Destruction   The Three Beacons   United We Fight - United We Die   Strike at the Heart   Tapping the Core   The Ultimate Quake Red Brigade Missions For Cheaters Only

This is one of the toughest missions in the game because the Furies are right on top of you the moment it starts. Order all units to go to Nav Beacon 4 as quickly as possible and be ready to fend off the Fury likely to focus its attack on your constructor, because you can't afford to start out with the handicap of losing that valuable piece of equipment.

While still in transit, deploy the factory and armory to the geysers at Nav Beacon 4. Upgrade your weapons and build three Bombers to protect the factory, recycler, and armory - you'll have to defend the constructor yourself. Once you've upgraded your weapons, move the armory off the geyser and put the recycler there. The attacks will come rapidly, and it will be tough for even the best pilots to beat them back, but it can be done.

Furies begin attacking almost as soon as this mission begins. Make sure you have both your AT-Stabbers and your minigun armed to inflict maximum damage and take out the threat in the shortest time.

Once things calm down, build scavengers and get ready for a steady stream of attacks. If you have enough scrap, you should place turrets in the locations from which the Furies have been attacking (they always seem to come from the west at the bottom of the screen, for instance). You'll also want to blow up the Fury mines that prevent you from moving in close to the Fury base - if you don't they'll wreak havoc on the scavengers moving nearby. Eventually you'll want to move either the armory or factory to a geyser, but as luck would have it, the only other geyser nearby is practically at the doorstep of the Fury base. You'll just have to do your best to protect your spread-out operation.

Destroying the Fury base is easy if you can move howitzers near the Fury command center - but Furies tend to focus their attacks on the big guns. Try to swing by their location and protect them whenever possible.

You're definitely going to wear out your trigger finger trying to protect critical units in this mission, but it can be won if you just stay calm. Move the factory to the geyser just outside the Fury base (the one that's a little farther away than the other), build a couple of howitzers, and move them right up against the cliff face that protects the Fury base. Then have them target the hangar first: The sooner the hangar is taken out, the sooner things will become more manageable. Next, target the S-power supplies, then any Furies that remain, and finally the command center.

That sounds easy enough, but once you've tried this mission, you'll realize that the only guarantee of success comes from quick reflexes and an ability to stay on top of newly emerging threats. You'll be flying your butt off in this one, but you can bet your life you'll feel like you've accomplished something when it's over.

Next: Tapping the Core