__ _ _ _ __ __ _ __ /__\ /_\ // /_\ / / / / \\ / / // // \\ // // \\ / \\/ / \\/ / \\___ \\_// //__ \\_// / / \ / / / \__/ \_/ /___/ \_/ /_/ /_/ /_/ _ _ ____ ___ _____ \\ __ // / /\ \ / /\\ /_/_\_\ [] \\/ \// / /__\ \ / /_// __ \ \ \_/\_/ /_/ \_\ /_/ \_\ \_\_/_/ [] ___ _____ __ _____ __ __ _ __ / /\ \ / ___/ / \ /_/_\_\ \ \ / / / \/ / / /_// / __/ / /> \ __ \ \ \ \_/ / / / /_/ \_\ /____/ /____/ \_\_/_/ \___/ /_/\_/ Colony Wars: RED SUN Faq: Walkthrough and Guide Ver 1.3 Log: 5-18-00 This FAQ is not to be used for profitable/promotional purposes; this includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in ANY way without my permission. This FAQ was created and is owned by me, Reuben Kee . All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged that are not specifically mentioned in this FAQ. Please give credit where it is due. ----EBWORLD REVIEW---- Once again Psygnosis has presented a truly superb concept based on the vast Colony wars universe. Even if you haven't read the books, the game will let you in on some of the most crucial parts of the series with great detail. Even better, YOU'RE IN IT! In Colony Wars: Vengeance, there were a few problems like, only having one laser firing at a time, or over-tedious missions. The Red Sun team has obviously sat down and thought about all these thing, Now if the mission is too tough, you can choose to forgo it, at the expense of some cash. You can load up one, two, or three lasers which fire in unison. Each missile cost credits, so you'll have to think twice about the shot being worth it. There is great replay value in it too, there are weapons to unlock as you increase in rank, and a hidden ship. Altough the slow down at certain parts of the game where massive ships are in the screen is dissaponting, it's all you can expect from the playstation console. You will find yourself fully immersed in the Colony Wars universe, finding yourself comleting the game multiple times just to try and unlock more weapons or provoke the missions. I can assure you that. This game is really a great buy! ====NOTE====== Hey guys, I'm trying to compile the best mission walkthroughs on this faq, So, if you think that you have a better way of completing a mission, scoring more kills, or if you have a walkthrough for a mission which is not here, SEND IT IN to me at Negativedge@ignmail.com Make sure you entitle it 'RED SUN: input'. Alright? Thanks! Major kudos to CSans for reaching the grand master rank and unlocking the last ship! I didn't manage to get it on my first try on the game, and my second run was interrupted by Marvel vs Capcom 2. If anyone has the ship specs, please send them in! This is odd, there aren't any cheat codes for red sun on any of the big sites, anyone who found any cheats, please do send them in also! Also, a big thanks goes out to Rosaleen Carter for her great tips and corrections! ================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= 1.0 Updates 1.1 Characters 1.2 Plot 2.0 Gameplay -2.1a Controls -2.1b Upgrading -2.2 Ships -2.3 Primary Weapons -2.4 Secondary Weapons -2.5 Modifications -2.6 Ranking -2.7 Tactics -2.8 Missions 3.0 Credits 1.0 ======== UPDATES ======== 3-16-00: First version up, hope you guys will mail me with more info on the game as I work hard on this faq! Also big kudos goes to the team which put up the official colony wars website which I got some information from You can visit the awesome site at www.colonywars.com 3-17-00: BFG unlock rank corrected to ACE instead of MASTER. Added some stuff here and there. Working on the missions section. How come there's no mail from anyone about RS? Is it not released there yet? 3-18-00: Added Some ranks, missions and ships info. Read my Colony Wars III: Red Sun review at EB world! : ) 3-28-00: Tomorrow RED SUN will be released, I hope you guys will find this FAQ useful! 4-14-00: Waaah! I accidentally mail-bombed myself with too many backwire submissions, lol. Sorry If I did not respond to some of your mails! Thanks to all those people whom mailed with input to the faq! GP stands for General Purpose Also, a special thanks to CSans for helping with the errors and input concerning the faq!:) 5-18-00: We owe this update to Rosaleen, whom helped in the tactics and missions sections. Thanks Rosaleen! I still need mission walkthrough input! Send them to me at Negativedge@ignmail.com with the title: Red Sun:input 1.1 =========== CHARACTERS =========== -VALDEMAR- Alexander Valdemar Planet of origin - Dendray, the Magenta System Affiliation - One-time Dionite miner turned freelance hero Born the son of a Dionite miner on Dendray, Valdemar expected to die the miner father of children who would one say grow to become miners themselves. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine the incredible adventure destiny had instore fir him. (Is skin head the 'in' thing for that time?) -DIVA- Captain Arquette Diva Planet of Origin - Unknown Affiliation - League operative As with most high_ranking League Officials, little information concerning Captain Diva is readiliy available outside of League Intelligence. -GENERAL- The General Planet of Origin - Unknown Affiliation - Unknown -ALIEN- Sha'Har Leader Planet of Origin - Unknown Affiliation - Sha'Har 1.2 Colony Wars Red Sun Basic Plot "Life goes on... and death as well. Sadly." [From The League of Free Worlds Anthem, anon] Alexander Lyron Valdemar is a nobody - one of thousands employed in the excavation of resources for League worlds, exportation to the depleted Sol System or for sale to the highest bidder among the factions that occupy the periphery of known space approaching the border of the Gulf of Tears. This is how we first find him, bored and disillusioned by his mining chores, dreaming of better things in his squalid living quarters on Dendray, a moon of the Empiret homeworld, Peripolis. Dreaming too well... Inspired by the callings of the mysterious General and incensed by the omens of destruction that plague his dreams, Valdemar embarks on a journey from the remote, Empiret-ruled system of Magenta to the League system of Boreas and the centre of conflicts already chronicled in Colony Wars Vengeance. Financing his journey by accepting mercenary work en route, Valdemar finds himself at the centre of conflicts in each of the systems he passes through. Whether assisting pirate renegades fighting the spread of corporate rule in Magenta or joining the alien Hilachet / Donachet war for dominion of the perilous subspace that parallels his own, Valdemar is never without a sponsor for his pursuit of destiny, and the deadly star-ship, the Red Sun. ======== GAMEPLAY ======== Any Object which is on your radar and is too far away to be seen clearly is represented by a flashing star. There are two blue tables on the bottom left and bottom right of your screen with a radar in the center. The green bar on the left table is your shield. Deplete your shield and you can see that it is overlaying a red bar, that is your hull integrity. The purple bar on the left table represents your craft speed. And the bar on the bottom of the left table is your heat meter. The circle on the left table represents your primary weapon. The bar on the right table represents your target's shield/hull meter. The circle on the right table represents your secondary weapon. Heat- Using your afterburners for prolonged periods of time may cause heat build up on small ships. But generally, that poses no threat. The only time that you have to worry about heat build up is in SUBSPACE. In subspace, heat builds up automatically and if you do not have heat sinks or coolers your heat level will rise. When it reaches maximum, OVERHEAT will flash and your shield, then hull will slowly deplete. Shielding - Your shield can be depleted by contact with other ships, contact with weapons, or overheating. But don't worry so much because it recharges with time. You can modify your ship with certain components to increase your shield recharge rate. Hull - Red means danger, When your shields are depleted and you suffer a hit, your ship will vibrate and your Analog controller too. Your hull cannot be recharged during missions so be sure to take extra care when shields are low. COLOURS - Know what to expect. Green laser or missile means damage to Hull or shield. Blue laser or missile means damage to shielding. Red laser or missile means damage to Hull. Purple laser or missile means severe damage to shield or hull. CASH! (CR) - Make sure you complete all the available missions before proceeding to a new orbit. (General will warn you) 2.1a ======== CONTROLS ======== -Your d-pad or analog joystick controls turning, diving and climbing. -R1 Is to accelerate forward -L1 is to accelerate backward -Hitting R1 or L1 twice will engage your afterburners -R2 Pans right -L2 Pans left -Triangle is to toggle target lock -circle is to change secondary weapon -holding circle will fire secondary weapon -Square is to change primary weapons -X is to fire primary weapons -R2 And L2 together engages rear view. -Circle while R2 in rear view will launch a flare. 2.1b ========== UPGRADING ========== Listen up, because this is one of the most important parts of the game, choosing the right gear. Firstly, you would want to keep at least ten flares. Now, to choose between GP laser (Shield and Hull damage), Shield Laser, or Hull laser. The great thing about RED SUN is that you can load up up to three lasers of the same kind and they will fire in unison. So, You definitely would want to choose two GP lasers instead of one Shield Laser and one Hull laser. Later on in the game, when you are satisfied with your ship configuration and have loads of CR, THEN I suggest you purchase missles or torpedos (Earlier on you need to upgrade your ship first) Always get the best ship available You should try to purchase a shield maximiser or a cooler. They will help you alot. PULSE CANNONS- Do not underestimate them. I found them most useful in most missions. Depite their charge up time, they deal massive damage, you should try to have them loaded up. REPAIR POD - Extremely useful in missions where you have to protect a ship or ships. Grapple - No need to chase that Sha'Har fighter all over the system, grab on and fire away. BFG - Unlocked when you get the ACE rank. GET THIS GUN! (I think it stands for Big F****** Gun) 2.2 ===== SHIPS ===== Magentech CRB Snapdragon HL: ****** SH: **** SP: **** HT: *** Zaibatsu Ryusei HL: ****** SH: ***** SP: ***** HT: ***** Zaibatsu ZU-ISA Shinden HL: ****** SH: ****** SP: ****** HT: ***** 2.3 =============== PRIMARY WEAPONS =============== GP Laser MK III - 31040 CR Most powerful GP laser. Excellent for dogfights. Great Hull damage, great Shield damage Shield Laser MK II - 18300 CR Besides the cheaper cost then the GP lasers, I don't see why you'd wanna get this weapon. Great shield damage. (Anyone know if there's a MK III Shield and Hull laser?) Hull Laser MK II - 17200 CR Besides the cheaper cost then the GP lasers, I don't see why you'd wanna get this weapon. Great Hull damage. Cooled GP Laser - 33200 CR (Raise rank to unlock)((Anyone knows what rank?)) No heat up. Extremely useful in subspace missions and the final battle. Moderate Shield damage. Moderate Hull damage. Cooled Shield Laser - 31360 CR (Raise rank to unlock)((Anyone knows what rank?)) No heat up. Just get the cooled GP laser. Moderate Shield damage. Cooled Hull Laser - 32040 CR (Raise rank to unlock)((Anyone knows what rank?)) No heat up. Just get the cooled GP laser. Moderate Hull damage. Gauss Gun - 15880 CR Damages hull through shield. Rapid flow of fire. Quite fun at first. Low Hull damage. Ignores Shielding. Scattergun - 18400 CR Heat up. Rapid flow of fire. Low Hull damage. Low Shield damage. Plasma Cannon - 34200 CR Causes heat to charge. Great for large ships. Dogfighting may be tricky, but I assure you it is very possible and very effective. High Hull damage. High shield damage. BFG - 105200 CR (Raise to ACE rank) BEST WEAPON IN GAME. Drains shield to charge. No effect on big ships. MASSIVE damage to shield and hull. Massive Hull damage. Massive Shield damage. 2.4 ================= SECONDARY WEAPONS ================= -Missiles are great for those hard to get targets and large slow targets as well.- Shield Missiles MK II - 3880 CR Homing shield killer. Moderate shield damage.(Anyone knows if there is an MK III?) Hull Missile MK II - 3560 CR Homing hull killer. Moderate hull damage.(Anyone knows if there is an MK III?) Plasma Missile - 6200 CR Homing hull and shield killer. Moderate hull damage. Moderate shield damage. Stun Missile - 1050 CR Homing stunner. Useful in certain missions. Stuns target. Jamma Missile - 3600 CR Homing Renders target unable to use weapons. Useful in certain missions. Jams weapons. Nanotech Missile - 12900 CR Homing Effective against Sha'Har vessels. High Shield damage. High hull damage. Two Stage Missile - 5700 CR High homing capability. Damages shield then hull.(Raise rank to unlock)((Anyone knows what rank?)) Moderate shield damage. Moderate hull damage. -Torpedos are excellent for large targets although smaller targets can be tricky.- Stun Torpedo - 4000 CR Stuns target for long time. Stuns target. Plasma Torpedo - 12000 CR Slow but effective. High Shield damage. High Hull damage. Nanotech Torpedo - 24000 CR Effective against Sha'Har vessels. Massive shield damage. Massive hull damage. Scarab HOW - 6600 CR Six small torpedos. High hull damage. BDS - 29000 CR Effect is like small atomic bomb.(Raise rank to unlock)((Anyone knows what rank?)) Large blast radius. Massive hull damage. Massive shield damage. Decloaker Missile - 2000 CR Decloaks cloaked vessels. Useful only in certain missions. Decloaks the cloaked. Grapple gun - 6576 CR Grabs on to target. Extremely useful... -Although Pods are useful, they are extremely vulnerable at their high cost.- Offence Pod - 38000 CR Circles target, firing lasers at it. Defence Pod - 52000 CR Circles target, defends target. Repair Pod - 22000 CR Repairs target. Extremely useful. ECM Pod - 24000 CR Protects target from missile attack. Phase Distorter Beacon - 1000 CR Useful only in certain missions. 2.5 ============= MODIFICATIONS ============= -Modifications provide you with noticibly better shielding and cooling.- -I would really recommend equipting a Shield maximiser and a Recharge boost.- Cooling vents - 14400 CR Dissipates heat more effeciently. Heat sinks - 24000 CR Increases heat capacity. Recharge Boost - 27000 CR Increases rate of shield recovery. Shield maximiser - 44000 CR Increases shield capacity. 2.6 ======= RANKING ======= -To raise your rank, you need to obtain a certain amount of kills.- Okay, a few people have mailed me telling me that the numbers representations are like this: (small ships/medium ships/large ships) Can anyone confirm this? Please note the (**/**/**) amounts are my total kills at the updrading time. Beginner (00/00/00) Traveller (15/00/02) Adept (90/07/03) Independant (128/07/04) Unlocks Two-stage Missile Adventurer (176/18/05) Unlocks Cooled Shield Laser ... ACE (Unlocks BFG) MASTER 2.7 ======= TACTICS ======= One good tactic for battle is the _CROAK_ method. Fire up your reverse thrust and have the enemy chase you while you have a clear shot of him as he chases you from the front. Just carefully aim, and fire, it won't take very long for them to destruct. Try not to keep still whilst attacking large ships. Just Move forward, move backward, move forward, move backward, etc. while you are firing at the ship. the blasts from the turrets should miss you. If you see the `INCOMING' signal at the bottom of your screen, meaning you have been locked on by an enemy missile, check your rear view, (L2+R2) To see if it's still following you. If it is, you might want to fire a flare by pressing the circle button. Always keep the alert for messages that appear at the bottom of your screen. Use your afterburners when possible to decrease your travelling time. Try to grapple on to enemies which are hard to hit. 2.8 ========= MISSIONS ========= Do not miss any of the optional missions nor fail them, you will miss out on ranking! ----MAGENTA STAION----- Covert Insertion - 15000 CR Just search and destroy. The SAADS can be destroyed if you're at just the right height, may take some time, but it's worth the kills. After the 4 generators are out, destroy the Auxiliary generater and RUN. Rebel smugglers - 12000 CR Aahh... this is where you get the feel of battle for the first time, use the tactics mentioned earlier and you should be fine. Don't leave until you've destroyed a good number of fighters. Escort Duty - 8000 CR Theres a bounty offer, that means you get paid for each enemy kill. Cool, huh? Rather easy mission. Valdemar - 10000 CR Shoot the heads of the large crustaceans to kill them off easily. DON'T try shooting the general's ship even if he's in the transporter, your mission will fail. You get the Zaibatsu Ryusei at the end of this mission. Insult and Injury - 12000 CR If the pod leaves, don't panic, Yujold is in the Insult. SAADS are destroyable since your lasers have a better range then thiers. Clear the whole area. Rosaleen says that you can just skip trailing the warfare pod, and just go and destroy the Insult, and then you can go and destroy the Injury. Convoy - 13000 CR Bounty time! Kill Galleon, kill pirates, clear are, get paid. Retrieval - 24000 CR This is one of the toughest missions in the game. Take out the two turrets near the bay doors first. Destroy bay doors. There will be a pitch-dark planet with the sun coming up at a side, go toward the sun, now target all the turrets which can be seen from here. Diva will say that she is making for the jump gate, turn to the sun again. You should see fighters teleporting in where Diva is heading for, destroy them. If the ship's turrets are still firing at diva and the pod (I told you to take them out!) Place yourself between the pod and the ship to absorb the hits. Destroy any fighter present Diva leaves. Destroy Mothership. Whew, hard, isn't it? On to the next system! --------------- On the Retrieval mission, the enemy mothership has an unlimited number of fighters, in contrast to what is generally true of most other missions. The advantage in this is that once you have seen Diva through the jumpgate, there is absolutely no hurry whatsoever to destroy the mothership (assuming you've already knocked out the turrets). Enemy fighters will continue to be launched while the vessel is intact, but it is perfectly possible to sit some distance away and just keep shooting them out of the sky. Provided you're a good shot and a bit trigger happy, you should be able to destroy them before they manage to get in effective attack range. What'smore, although both the fighter bays face in different directions, it is very easy to find a location where you can cover the flight paths out of both - and provided you stay calm and shoot to kill, you can rack up an enormous number of kills like this. I think it's possible to do something like three or four per minute while stationary. I've managed to kill over a hundred and thirty fighters in the course of this mission like this, and on the last occasion I played it, I think I managed somewhere in the region of 800 kills (judging by the time I spent on it)... unfortunately I think that was a bit extreme and the machine stalled or crashed and I didn't get the mission debrief to confirm it. In any case, you should get completely bored of shooting the pirates after a while. But this is a golden opportunity to enhance your kills score. -Rosaleen Carter ----MARJORIE SYSTEM---- Retrieval - 12000 CR Stick to the shadow asteroids, don't attack the big ship. Destroy the merc who appears when you grapple the idol. Convoy - 12000 CR Just attack anything that appears red on the radar. A repair pod will com in handy. clear area. Defence - 32000 CR A repair pod will come in handy. Destroy all hostile ships. Clear area. Surgical strike - 22000 CR Great way to raise kills! Too bad there's no bounty. If your ship's good enough, you can still out the ship. If not, just take out the parts of the ship which are connected to the long strings. =========== OTHER WORKS =========== Darkstone Faq/Walkthrough Colony Wars: Vengeance Colony Wars: Red Sun (This faq) ============== ENDING CREDITS ============== Thanks goes out to Rosaleen Carter, a Colony Wars games veteran Thanks to all you people who helped make this faq grow! Special thanks to CSans for correcting me here and there : ) Please E-mail me at Negativedge@ignmail.com for questions/comments/whatever Or msg me via ICQ for your Questions on the game! UIN = 28726882