Tactical Operations Briefing: Rebel

XvT, Single Player Exercise: Heavy Rockets

Skill Level: Hard
Duty Roster: Slot 1, X-wing Rogue
Ship: X-wing
# Craft: 6
# Waves:1
Armament: Heavy Rockets (4)
Countermeasures: none

A warning, this is a long involved briefing aimed at getting the maximum score and kills, and the mission will take quite a while to fly using this method.

The critical elements on this mission are T/A Eta (3 ships) and GUN Tau (4 ships). As the arrival of Tau is dependant on the FRG Pelorus being attacked, the first thing to do is order all wingmen to wait. Then you must eliminate T/A Eta. My prefered method to dumbfire a rocket at Eta 2, then lock rockets on 1 and three, but however you do it, this is a priority.

When T/A Eta is destroyed, order your wingmen to attack the probe, ordering them to wait immediately afterwards. This will prevent the Pelorus from using missiles on them, as they will not be targeting it.

If you have not spent too much time on T/A Eta, Transport Mule is still available to be killed, but it finishes docking with the Container fairly fast and runs for the Pelorus. A point to consider at this time is X-wing group Gold. Gold will attack Container groups Pi and Chi before engaging any fighters, and will leave as soon as they lose a ship. They will not respond to any orders you give them, other than perhaps "Report", and I have seen one ram one of the Containers. I believe that if you destroy CON's Pi and Chi quickly enough, Gold may stay and help with Imperial fighters. Do not attack Container group Xi, as the VSD Malicious will arrive when three of CON Xi has been destroyed.

Target the probe as a reference point, and fly about 6 km away from it, and then ferry all your wingmen to the same area by jumping to them, immediately ordering the ship you jumped from to wait. This will remove all your ships from possible attack from the Pelorus. Once this is done, ferry all but one X-wing (I usually leave #2) out about 26 km from the probe, perhaps even a little further, using the same method as previously. At this distance, they will not be selected as random targets by any fighter groups that arrive later, excepting a couple of groups that I have found, namely, GUN Tau and a second group T/A Eta that arrives much later.

Having done this, jump to the X-wing you left at 6 km. The Pelorus has a limited supply of missiles, now would be a good time to deplete that supply by targeting the FRG and then shooting the missiles, until it runs out. Once this is done, attack the Pelorus by hitting it either with lasers, (my prefered method, so as to save rockets, since rockets do only 14% damage to the shields, about the same as 14 quad laser hits) or with a Rocket (if it is out of missiles, otherwise it will just shoot it down).

This will trigger the arrival of GUN Tau, as noted earlier. GUN Tau will target X/W Gold if present, then some will target what ever ship you are in with the balance targeting your wingmen (which surprised me as my wingmen were outside detection range.)

Destroy the one(s) targeting you as quickly as possible, then use what ever method you prefer to catch up to the other Gunboats, they will ignore you until you shoot them. Once they are destroyed, it is finally time to concentrate on the Pelorus, the actuall reason for the mission in the first place.

What I did was to ferry the X-wing I was in (now depleted of rockets) out to the staging area, jump to a new fighter (ordering the one I just left to wait) and ordered the next ship in line from the one I was in now to go ahead with it's mission, which was still to attack the probe. These two ships still had a full load of rockets. I followed in formation, until we were once again about 6 km from the FRG. (If you have depleted it's supply you might go closer.)

Jump to your next X-wing, (it should be the one you were flying in formation with at this point) order the one you just left to wait. Fly the one you are in to a point about 4 km ABOVE the area the FRG is circling about, make sure that it will be out of range of the FRG. This ship will be the ship that kills the FRG later. For now, jump through your wingmen till you get back to the one sitting about 6 km away (make sure to order the ones you jumped from to wait again, or the Pelorus will blast it!)

At this point, begin your attack on the Pelorus by making repeted laser attack runs at it, make sure you aim off to one side and jink till you are within range, and fire one or two quad shots at it. Retreat and recharge, go back again. Keep this up till the shields are very low, but not gone. (My goal was 1% remaining) The Pelorus will hyper out upon losing it's shields, it is critical you do not do this, as you will have to hustle to kill it otherwise.

With it's shields at 1%, and it's missiles by now gone, move out and up somewhat to about 6 km, turn and get missile lock on to the Pelorus, and accelerate to attack speed, dual firing all 4 rockets at about 5 km. Immediately jump to the next ship, the one at about 4 km verticle from the Pelorus, order your previous ship to wait (see a pattern here yet?) and then lock on the Pelorus with 1 rocket, and fire. All 5 rockets should arrive close together, destroying the FRG before it has a chance to enter hyperspace, unless it happens to be sitting right on top of it's hyperspace point. Take a moment to enjoy the explosions, then it's back to work.

At this point, the mission will be successfuly completed once all remaining containers have been destroyed. However, if you want to try for Top Performance, you must stay and fight Imperial reinforcements until you have at least 50,000 points. If this is your goal, ferry the rocketless X-wing out to the staging area before attacking CON Xi.

When 3 of CON Xi are destroyed, VSD Malicious will arrive. T/F Alpha (4 ships) will launch about 20 seconds after the Malicious arrives, followed about 50 seconds later by T/F Beta (4 ships). My advice is to run, turning every so often to destroy a ship from group Alpha. Destroying 50% of Beta will trigger the arrival of T/F Delta (4 ships), and 75% triggers the arrival of T/A Zeta (4 ships). Try to be further than 20 km from the Malacious before you do this. Once Alpha and Beta have been destroyed, go back towards the Malicious, slowing when you are about 19 km from the circling Delta and Zeta.

When Zeta is closest, get to about 17.5 km, this seems to be the sensor range for attack. when they are targeted on you, reverse course before Delta sees you. after getting somewhat further out, wait for Zeta to close to about 5 km, dumb fire a rocket at the closest one, then halt. Wait for the rocket to hit or miss, then run again. with an ELS of 0/50, you can out run these bozos all day, and still maintain shields.

Destruction of 50% of Zeta will trigger the arrival of a second T/A Eta(4 ships this time) who may target your wing men in the staging area, be sure to check on this. If they have done so, just hyper out the ship you are in. You will be put in an X-wing in the staging area, jump to a ship that has Rockets and has not been targeted by Eta. Fly to Zeta in this ship, they will ignore you if you are in a ship not targeted by them. Rocket them to dust.

Delta probably has you targeted, fine. Run away as far as you can spare the time for, I went about 100 km away from the VSD. Circle back in a long arc, being sure to stay out of laser range. Once you are headed back towards the combat area, make sure you are more than say 3 km ahead of Delta, and jump to the next ship. Do NOT order this ship to wait, Delta will follow it and since it is targeted on the probe still, you can just ignore the bunch. The Malicious will hyper if Delta is destroyed, so this buys you time to deal with it.

Take an X-wing forward of the Malicious, make repeted laser runs on the bow till the shields are down to about 1% or 2%. If you still have rockets, now is the time to use them, 5 will kill it, otherwise order wingmen to attack the VSD. When the shields drop, it will attempt to run for it's hyperspace point. If you had rockets left, it's a dead duck, otherwise it depends on how fast you can whittle it down to size. Once it's destroyed, run out toward Delta, they will ignore you until you fire on them, as they are still targeted on the fighter you left them following. Once they are destroyed, kill the probe and go home. Enjoy your well deserved Top Performance!

Author: Vince Rambo (Stryker - Rogue 1)
Strategy: Vince Rambo