Tactical Operations Briefing: Rebel

XvT Combat Engagement: Attack on Imperial Factory Drekker

Skill Level: Hard
Duty Roster: Slot 1, Z-95 Green
Craft: Y-Wing
#Craft: 3
#Waves: 1
Armament: Advanced Torpedoes (4)
Countermeasure: Flare

You come into the mission heading directly for the VSD Inexorable. Set lasers and shield to 75/0 and order all rebel craft to wait. Hit [F4] to cycle through the imperial ships until you have targeted T/I Gamma 1. Set to Ions and disable Gamma 1 as soon as he's within range. He'll be targeting you, so try and send a few accurate shots at him when the display turns green. Immediately target Gamma 2 by pressing [F3] once. Try to disable him before he passes you. When Gamma 2 is disabled, press [E] to target Gamma 3. Disable both Gamma 3 and 4. Press [R] to bring up T/I Beta 1 or 2. They are the main threat to the mission. The more Torps they get off, the worse the Meteor is going to be in shape, and the faster you'll have to act later. Disable them both. It's possible that T/B Beta 1 get fragged from a missile the Meteor has launched at it, but as long as one Beta survives, no follow up waves will launch.

That will have taken care of all the fighters launching from the VSD. Press [R] to target a T/F from Alpha and head towards the T/F. Make sure that all the rebel craft are still disabled. If Alpha managed to destroy a wave, a new one will launch and will possibly go after Beta. By the time you're in range, most of Alpha should have been destroyed by the Meteor and it should be on it's last 4 ships. If you're close enough, some T/Fs will be targeting you, disable these first to stay alive and then the others.

By this time the Meteor will be close to firing range and you're shields will be close to 0 if you haven't been destroyed yet, so dumbfire your Torps at the FAC and fly out of firing range of the FAC and hyper out. You'll come back in a craft with 200 shields. Set lasers and shields to 0/0, dumbfire your Torps at the FAC and head for the FAC to blindspot it. Read more about the FAC blindspot in the Liberty's Intel section. Once in a safe position, set lasers and shield to 100/100 and start firing insanely at the FAC, charging shield power into laser to keep them at full charge. This is a pure test of your ability to disable the FAC, using the toggle trick to bring down it's shields, before the Meteor aborts it's mission, which will cause the mission to fail. Press [Shift+F] to monitor the FAC status, in order to prevent it from firing missiles at you. When it's shields fail, switch to Ions and disable the FAC. You'll receive a message when you're successful. 2 Shuttles will exit the FAC when it's shields fail. Target the FAC to receive bonus points and set to 100/0 and go after the SHUs. Disable both of them so you can ID them and then destroy them. This will earn you some more bonus points.

By now the Meteor will have destroyed the FAC and will be heading home. You are now free to end the mission. However, if you want a Top Performance, you'll have to stick with it. You have to act quickly, since you won't be able to use you're next wave once the Meteor has left, so press [H] to hyper out. In your third craft set to 0/0 and dumbfire your torps at the VSD, then only hyper if the FRG is still around, if not you'll have to stick around and finish the mission with only one craft.

In your new wave order all your wingmen to wait, set to 0/0 dumbfire your Torps at the VSD and head for the blindspot between the fins on the left side when facing the VSD. The reason you want the left side is, that when the VSD reaches 0% shields, it will perform a course correction and if you're on the right side you'll be hit by the VSD when it swings around. When you're between the fins, set to 100/100 and start firing at the VSD using the toggle trick. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TARGET THE VSD TO MATCH SPEED. If you do, it will fire missiles at you and you'll be destroyed for sure. Instead, set throttle to 0% when you're firing and when you drift to close, or to far back, set to 100% and head outwards and forwards a little, still staying in the protection of the fins. When the VSD's shields drop to 100%, set throttle to about 66% and arm your Ions. Fire at the VSD until it's disabled, but try and stay within protection of the fins. Once the VSD is disabled, the mission turns fairly easy. Set throttle to 75/50 and finish off Beta. No more Betas will launch after the FRG has left, so you'll have to live with destroying them when the VSD blows. Destroy Gamma 1 & 2 and their follow-ups, disable them if necessary to recharge, then repeat for Gamma 3 & 4. Once all Gamma have been destroyed (2 times 2 waves @ 2 ships = 8 craft) set to 100/100 again and start firing at the VSD, sending energy into lasers to keep them fully charged.

When the VSD blows, hyper out and you'll come back in your second to last ship. After the VSD blows, 2 TRNs from Omega will enter and will be targeting you and your wingmate. Set ELS to 0/0 and Torps to linked. Fire 2 Torps each when you get a lock and hyper out. In your last ship repeat this for the follow up wave, again 2 ships. Once this is completed, press [H] to hyper and enjoy your well deserved TP. Using this method the author receives between 90,000 and 100,000 points.

Author:  Gabriel Leventhal ( Wolfman - Rogue Three )
Strategy: Gabriel Leventhal