Single Player Mission #13 in BZ II w/ 1.3 patch

[sombragris]

Hi folks,

I have been trying to play the single player missions in BZ II. I patched it with the 1.3 pb3 patch and it works very well on my laptop (XP SP2, 1.5 GHz Celeron M). I was able to play the missions so far, but Mission #13 (Payback, the first mission in Rend) is extremely difficult to beat. I begin with a lone Recycler and nothing else and, some seconds after, I begin to get attacked with wave after wave of Warriors, Lancers, and Titans. Even though I try to be as fast as I can, the most I can manage to build in the way of defenses is one single Gun Tower. Needless to say, I get beaten in no time.

Any advice on how could I beat this mission? My difficulty level is Medium. Thanks!

[Feared_1]

Well if you want to try ride it out, I remember running back to base, deploying my Recycler, building two Scavengers, sending them to the Scrap Field nav, and going to the outside of my base to the edge of an open "field" (there are a few scrap pools laying around there as well). When some enemy ships came to wait for others to catch up, I sniped them so they would not be a problem.

As for the Titan, I can't remember what I did, but it took me a few tries. You're lucky you're getting a gun tower up. I usually ended up facing that thing with 2-3 turrets (and a couple of the ships I sniped). I think that more Titans will come to pay you a visit as the mission goes on. Make sure you build up lots of gun towers on that side and have Scavengers ready to get the loose scrap.

[Red Devil]

I think the Titans may be triggered by you building a GT (I know that the Archers are).  The initial ones have Sonic, so GT's won't do much/any good against them anyways.

Deploy at the Scrap Field.  There's only two access paths to that point and one of them is protected by lava, which will weaken the attackers.

Keep a low profile and build a bunch of Rattlers and deploy them hidden behind terrain, then gather the loose when the attackers get ambushed.

Once you are established, build up your defenses, then take away their pools and defend them, then build up your base, and then your attack force.

Baby steps and all that.

[Steeveeo]

If this is the mission I think you're talking about, I just moved my recy into the scrap field and deployed there, MUCH more base room and the titans cant seem to figure it out for quite a bit, giving you much needed time to get the pools and build your forces.

[Red Devil]

Wish I'd said that...

[bigbadbogie]

If you can - at the start of that mission - when the scions start attacking order both the damaged walkers to attack the titans quickly - that will ensure that they are either destroyed or at least heavily damaged when they attack your base later

[technoid]

I deploy my Rec right under that big balancing boulder model (past the scrap field), then build 2-3 scavs and suck up the scrap quickly, deploy 1 scav, build constructor, kill the 2 approaching drones myself, keep sucking loose scrap, powergen, bunker, and then 2 guntowers.  By the time I get the 2nd GT up, the 2 tits arrive.  And boy are they 2 big tits.  They'll both be easily squashed by the two towers (lotr?).  I kinda cheat though, i.e. I extend my visibilityrange and fogrange to keep an eye out on when they start approaching, lmao.  But if you do get too many enemy hovercraft right after you deploy, something's wrong, perhaps idledispatcher or something.

[sombragris]

I would like to thank everyone for the suggestions. I forgot to mention that I always deployed on the Scrap Field (seemed the best course anyway).

The biggest problem is that the Titans attack in no time. Just make the calculations: build two or three Scavs and deploy two regular Extractors with these, build Constructor, build Power, build Relay, build Tower, and lo! there are, FOUR titans attacking in waves of two, surrounded by a sizable force of Scouts, Warriors, and Lancers almost instantly.

My suspicion is that the scripting depends somewhat on CPU cycles so the events are triggered too soon.

The turret suggestion by Red Devil certainly looks interesting. I will try to use that.

Thanks to everyone! And please keep the suggestions coming, I'll appreciate them.

[sombragris]

But if you do get too many enemy hovercraft right after you deploy, something's wrong, perhaps idledispatcher or something.

That might be part of the problem. That's why I posted this under the 1.3 pb3 subforum instead of using the general one.

[Red Devil]

Give the turrets Chain Guns as soon as possible.  The Scions get shields as soon as you do, but 10 15 turrets with chain eats things up pretty fast, creating gobs of loose.  The key is stationing them behind rocks and outcropppings so that they can't be out-ranged.

[sombragris]

I finally got through the mission after installing PB4. Not that this made things easier; the truth is rather the opposite, but I got hold of the mission (finally).

The trick was to be absolutely sure the Titans are destroyed. Everything else is replaceable. I had some units I used as bait against the Titans, and while they were busy fighting them, I shoot them to pieces. This, and frequent saving, enabled me to finish the mission.

BTW, someone complained that there is a PB4 bug in Payback; I would add there are several...

Thanks!