Tactical Operations Briefing: Imperial

XvT Single Player Exercise, Heavy Rockets

Skill Level:  Hard
Duty Roster:  Slot 1, T/A Alpha
Ship:  T/A
# Craft:  6
# Waves:  1
Armament:  Heavy Rockets (4)
Countermeasures:  none

I first have to say that most of these tactics come from the Rebel version of this TacOp. Therefore I must give most of the credit for the strategy to Vince "Stryker" Rambo, Rogue One. I have made some improvements on the strategy, though. Next, this mission can be very long and time consuming if you are trying for a Top Performance. So, do not be afraid to take your time to do things right when it is possible.

I found that there are four critical points in this mission: the very start, the FRG Inamo is first attacked, killing the FRG Inamo, and when the CRS Ardent arrives. At these points you must act quickly or you may need to restart the mission.

At the very beginning, there are a few things you need to do. Hit the 'y' key and assign the probe to memory F5 (SHIFT-F5). Now order your wingmen to attack it (SHIFT-A). Hit the 't' key and this should bring up T/A Alpha One. Order him to wait then cycle up using the 't' key and make all your wingmen wait. Now set your ELS settings to 100% lasers and 50% shields. Now down to business. The first threat is four X-wing's from Blue. They MUST be eliminated quickly before they destroy your wingmen.

The best way I found to do this is to push the 'e' key to bring up the X-wing targeting you. At about 2.5 km, he will start to lock a missile on you ignore this and put him in the middle of your targeting box. I prefer quad shots, but you can use whatever you are best with. Put enough shots into him until he breaks off. Turn around and use one heavy rocket on each of the three X-wing's flying at your wingmen (do this from behind them it works better). Once these three are gone return to destroying the X-wing targeting you. If you are quick enough, TRN Mule should be available to be destroyed, but it gets done docking with the containers fairly quick and then runs to the FRG Inamo.

Now you can take a short breather. Check the containers. If any are left from Chi or Pi, destroy them, but do NOT destroy any from the group Xi. If you destroy three of the containers from Xi, the CRS Ardent will arrive. Most likely T/A group Beta will still be around and will be able to help you with the next part, which is a group of four X-wing's from Red that come in when Inamo is attacked.

Before this you need to take the ship you are in and your wingmen a safe distance from the FRG. To do this, target the probe with F5. Now fly about 6 km from it in any direction that is away from the FRG. Now jump ship and tell the ship you were in to wait. At this point check to see what your pervious ship is targeting. If it is the Inamo, target the probe and tell your wingmen to attack it. Then cycle through and tell them all to wait. Now ferry your current ship to where your pervious ship is. Jump to the next ship (telling the one you were in to wait) and ferry it to the same area. Continue doing this until all your ships are in this area. Now ferry all but your original ship (the one which has only one heavy rocket left) out to about 18 km from the probe. Use the same method as before.

The FRG has a limited supply of missiles this is a great time to get rid of them. Target the FRG and then shoot down the missiles, until it runs out. Now go fire one quad shot into the FRG Inamo. This will bring in the X-wing's from Red, mentioned above. After you attack the FRG, try to get away from it quickly, so you will not have to dodge its lasers as well as the X-wing's from Red. If T/A Beta is still around and you are far enough away from the FRG. The X-wing's should target Beta. If this happens charge in and help Beta destroy them. If Beta is not around or you are not far enough away, one or two of the X-wing's will target you and the rest should target your wingmen. Quickly destroy any ships targeting you. Then quickly proceed to the other X-wing's and destroy them. Do not be afraid to put your ELS to 100/0/0 because the X-wing's targeting your wingmen will not come after you unless you attack them. If all the X-wing's target you, well good luck, but if you are killed just take your next ship in until the Xwing's target you and stop. Let them come out to your position and kill them with help from your wingmen.

With these Xwing's destroyed now it is time to concentrate on the FRG Inamo. Note: At this point I am assuming two things: First that one of the first two possibilities with the Xwing's from Red happened not the third, and Second that your original ship still has one heavy rocket left. If either is not true change the tactics accordingly. Using your ship with one heavy rocket left, make repeated runs at the FRG Inamo with your lasers. Fire several quad bursts at the FRG, then break off and recharge to full shields for another run. Continue this until its shields are almost gone (I tried to have its shields at 1%). Now that the shields are almost gone, take your ship to a point about 5 km above the FRG. This ship will be the ship that kills the FRG.

Now jump ship (telling the previous to wait). Ferry this ship to about 26 - 30 km away from the probe. This will put it outside the detection range of the fighters that come later. Do this for all your wingmen until you get to the one just before the ship sitting 5 km above the FRG (ex. if the ship above the FRG is Alpha 2, ferry #3-6 and stay in #1; if it is #3 you need #2; if it is #1 you need #6). Now take this ship in until you are just inside targeting range and stop. Lock on to the Inamo, and accelerate to attack speed. Dual fire your rockets at about 5 km. Now jump to your ship 5 km above the FRG. Using this ship, accelerate up to attack speed, lock onto the FRG Inamo and fire one heavy rocket. The missiles should arrive about the same and the FRG will be dust. If a rocket misses, close in and kill it as fast as you can with lasers, as it will try to go into hyperspace when its shields go down.

At this point you have two options, you can try for the all-powerful Top Performance, or you can just complete the mission. If you want to complete the mission kill the remaining containers and hyper all your ships out. If you want the Top Performance keep reading.

Ferry any rocketless ships out to the area with the rest of your wingmen. If both are ships depleted of rockets, ferry only one of them out. Make sure your ship in the staging area is completely recharged. Now destroy at least three of the remaining containers. You can destroy all of them if you wish. It doesn't matter.

The destruction of three containers will bring in CRS Ardent. Shortly four Z-95's from Tiger will leave the Ardent. Kill them as quickly as you can. Next, will be four more Z-95's this time from Demon. Destroy them as quickly as you can. When 50% of Demon is destroyed, four Z-95's from Shark will launch. When you destroy all of Demon six A-wings from Gold will arrive. At this point, it is time for a tactical retreat or as most of the Renegades call it, "Rabbitting (sp)." All the fighters should be targeting you. Go ELS 100/0/0 in any direction that is convenience and away from your wingmen until the closest fighter is around 5 km from you. Start recharging whatever you can and still maintain your distance from the closest fighter. Gold may go after Beta (if they are still around) before you. If this happens keep your distance from Shark by flying in large circles and wait until Gold targets you then start running.

Lead this group out to a safe distance (I usually went to over 100 km). Now make a large loop so you end up flying back to the CRS. Once the closest fighter is about 5 km away again. Jump ship. Do NOT tell the ship you left to wait. This ship will be targeting either the Ardent or the probe and will the fighters will continue to chase him. You can now forget about these guys.

Target the probe and tell your wingmen to attack it. Follow your wingmen in until about 8 km from the CRS. Now tell them to wait except for the one being chased. At this point if you have enough rockets left (I believe you will need 20 remaining for this), you can just jump ships and fire every ship's rockets and destroy the CRS Ardent. If you don't, take one ship in and make runs just like you did on the FRG Inamo. Once the shields are low enough (one heavy rocket takes out 14% shields), fire every ship's rockets, and if need be, finish the CRS off with lasers.

At this point you should be close to or over 50,000 points. If you did not kill all the containers finish them off, and the mission will be complete. If you don't have enough points yet, go out and destroy some of the remaining fighters. Then, hyperspace home and enjoy your Top Performance.

Author:  Joel Phelps (Darklighter, Rogue Twelve)
Strategy:  Vince Rambo (Stryker, Rogue One)
	     Joel Phelps