Naval Ops: Warship Gunner Game FAQ By: Scott Dumblauskas icmann@hotmail.com Version 4.1 Copyright notice is as follows, also contains the ONLY site this should be on. This FAQ copyright 2003 Scott Dumblauskas and may not be reproduced in any form and may not appear on any site except www.gamefaqs.com or my personal homepage without the expressed written consent of Scott Dumblauskas. All rights reserved. Table of Contents I. Intro (a.k.a what no one reads) II. Controls III. The Basics IV. The Walkthrough V. Ship Building Tips VI. Hints and Tips VII. Contact Info VIII. Version Updates I. Intro Not much to see here. If you need to find anything press Ctrl+f then type what you want to find. Levels will always have their game designation (e.g. A-01, B-10, etc.), as will any hulls and weapons, with common letters replacing the Greek letters (e.g. Battleship I, Radar A (as apposed to Radar a, which would be harder to type in the find box) Greek letters will be replaced by the first letter in their name (a for alpha, b for beta, etc.) With that out of the way, lets get on to what actually matters, the game. II. Controls This is the default setup, there are other setups. Personally I like the default controls, but I use an inverted Y-axis. Left analog stick - Move targeting Right analog stick - Binocular mode (Up to zoom in, down to zoom out/exit) D-pad up- Increase speed (double tap to get a speed boost) D-pad down - Decrease speed D-pad left/right - Turn left/right respectively (double tap to turn faster) Triangle - Switch Armaments up Square - Switch armaments down X - Fire selected weapon Circle - Precision mode L1/R1 - Turn left/right (double tap to turn faster) L2 - Sight steering R2 - Intercept mode Select - Change radar range Start - Pause menu Sight steering - allows you to just look at where you want to go and the ship will automatically turn towards it. Good if you do not want to deal with the rudders, bad if you want to bring all of your guns to bear on a target. Precision mode - zooms in on a target, good for making sure your shots count, but you do lose your radar while in it. Helpful for locking on to what you want to, although sometimes the game does lock onto a plane and tries, in vain, to follow it. Binocular mode - lets you zoom in on the horizon, basically the same zoom as in precision mode, but you can do this just to scan the horizon for the little flashes of light that signify a ship is there. Intercept mode - uses certain guns to fire at incoming missiles, rockets, torpedoes, planes and even submarines. Some weapons will not fire in intercept mode, and you cannot put up any (real) offense against ships that are near you. (Meaning you will sometimes hit a ship when firing against a threat, but most likely the only kills you will get will be stray PT boats) However, the trade off is that it will save your life many times over. Utilizing aircraft - to launch an air flight, keep pressing square until the up arrow next to the armaments list is highlighted, then press X. All of your planes that can take off will, they will circle once, and then go hunting. To call them back, press square until the down arrow next to the armaments list is highlighted, then press X. All of your aircraft will return to the ship. Note that planes will go very far out and practically destroy everything that is out there. Just be aware that if your offense is centered around aircraft and they all get shot down, you may be in a little bit of a jam. This should only appear on www.gamefaqs.com and my web page. If you are reading this on any other site, let me know now! III. The basics First off, this is a shooting game. Yes, ship design is a big part of the game, but it takes back seat to blowing stuff up. Don't be afraid to just go out into a mission, see how your ship can do, and if you fail rethink it and do it all over again. First off some useful tips for this game Learn to gauge your shots - early on, all you have are guns that fire in arcs. Learn to judge how far a ship is from yours (it's really easy; there's a distance finder on the HUD). Fire above them, and then see where the shots land. If they land short of the target, adjust your aiming up a little and try again. If they land long of the target (too far), then aim lower towards the water. You also must note that the ship is moving and lead accordingly. If the ship is coming towards you, aim a little lower than you think you need to in order to compensate for the movement. This is something that is very necessary in many stages of the game, and if you fail to master it early you will be out gunned when the bigger capital ships come. Master it early, use it often and all you will see are heavily damaged ships coming your way when you do see them. Missiles and rockets - for missiles and rockets (and other weapons later on) a box will appear over any target, but when in range the box will get smaller and smaller until it makes a "bracket" sound. Fire when you hear that. For missiles, they will have a much greater chance of hitting when this happens, for rockets they will semi adjust to lead just a little, but not too much. Rockets are better for ground attacks, while missiles are good overall. Get funds - don't be afraid to go back and do easier missions to gain parts and money. Yes, some people find this to be nothing more than cheating, but the game allows you to do this so you should take advantage. Getting ahead of the curve on technology and weapons means easier missions and is sometimes very necessary. Also, there are some weapons and parts (namely the better ones) that can only be obtained through missions, so make sure to pick up the parts crates when you see them. Repair your ship - not only can you be damaged normally (hit point damage) but some attacks will also cause status effects to take place. Some status effects (fire and flood) will repair themselves over time, others (deck damaged, rudder damage, or engine damage) can only be repaired by picking up a status restore crate, or doing emergency repairs. Firing arcs - certain weapons (mostly torpedoes and depth charges) have a side firing arc. The enemy must be on the side of you to fire the weapon. Other weapons (rockets and missiles) have minimum ranges; they will not fire when a target is too close to your vessel. Research - research technology in groups, many times to get the newest weapons, engines or electronics, you not only need to research their respective category, but also another technology. (E.g. the 20mm CIWS requires both high armaments and high electronics) There are also parts that can only be gotten through missions, so not everything can be bought. (Mainly anything with a Greek letter after it and higher caliber, high cm guns) Prebuilt ship - they have both their good points and bad points. First off, some of the ships have non-buyable technology on them (e.g. FWD bridges alpha, etc.) so buying one of them, then scrapping it for parts isn't such a bad idea. But that's about all they are good for. Most of the time, I found I could sit in the design shop and get better performance from a ship I created than a prebuilt one. However, if you want to get ahead of the curve, just research metallurgy and buy prebuilt ships, then scrap them for parts. Lastly, don't be afraid to just jump into a mission with the ship you used last mission. The game pretty much lets you know when you need to upgrade. (You'll know, you'll die over and over and over again.) A lot of the game is experimentation in and out of battle, don't be afraid to just scrap a design and start all over. IV. The Walkthrough A-00 The Prelude Move north Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced: Slow-Speed Transport Hp: 60 1923 Class Hp: 75 Penguin Class Hp: 290 Walkthrough: This is the first level, so it is a cake walk. Just move on north with the battle group and destroy all the ships in the level. Near the end of the level, you face a Penguin Class that is a little sturdier than the 1923 class. Get along side of it, and then hammer it with some torpedoes. It should go down after one volley. Reward: 2000 credits, 0 points Quick Tip: Go to the design center and up the barrels on your destroyer. This gives you a much needed boost in offense for not too much more weight. A-01 Northern Gales Rendezvous at the staging point Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced Slow-Speed Transport Hp: 60 Esprit Class Hp: 100 Walkthrough: Wait for permission to fire then take down the Esprit Class with guns and torpedoes. The other ships you can do as you feel with. They drop parts, nothing too impressive, but helpful nonetheless if you want some easy money. Just head north towards the battle group and then exit the sector by heading toward the edge of the map. Was that simple enough for you? Reward: 15000 credits, 10000 points A-02 Blind the Blockade Destroy 3 radar installations Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced Exige Class Hp: 180 Elam Class Hp: 200 MTB20 Class Hp: 2 Walkthrough: Deal with the ships that are going to give you problems first; you don't want to be bothered while you're blowing up radars. Note that you do face a cruiser in this level and that it is a threat that should be dealt with. Use precision mode to aim at the radars, bring all guns to bear (meaning be parallel to the shore so all your guns fire on the radar) then just blast away. There are mines around the shoreline, use intercept mode to blow them up for safety. After the radars are toast, exit the sector at your discretion. Reward: 17500 credits, 10000 points A-03 Sea Wolves Sink 5 enemy subs Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced Vehement Class Hp: 120 1924 Class Hp: 85 Emden Class Hp: 400 Walkthrough: First off, make sure that if you did for some reason sell or get rid of the depth charges on your destroyer that you get them back or put them back on, submarines cannot be attacked with guns. Note that the Emden Class cruiser is not really a threat, it just seems to hang around the shore line near the one of the subs. I never had a problem with it, but if it gives you any grief just torpedo it to death. As for the depth charges, they are fired from the stern of your ship, unless you moved them, so make sure to just get close and ahead of the subs. It only takes one volley of depth charges to sink a sub, so you have plenty of ammo for this mission. Reward: 20000 credits, 10000 points A-04 Duck Shoot Sink 15 Transports Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced High-Speed Transport Hp: 40 Slow-Speed Transport HP: 30 Tribal Class Hp: 170 Europa Class Hp: 220 London Class Hp: York Class Hp: 800 Revenge Class Hp: 2500 Dido Class Hp: 350 Elise Class Hp: 190 Arethusa Class Hp: 400 Walkthrough: Okay, you start with a set of nine transports off to your port side, go and sink them (watching out for their escorts), after you sink all of the transports there, there will be groups that are going both directions (moving west and moving east), just hit the map and see where they are. After you get 15 the mission is complete and you can exit, but I recommend against it. This is a mission that is really easy to do over for money, as well as the fact that destroying lots and lots of transports gets you special hulls. You won't be able to do this the first time through, but if you replay the mission a couple times you should be able to rack up a good amount of kills and cash. Reward: 25000 credits, 10000 points A-05 Through Dover Escort Battleship to its destination Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced Olympia Class Hp: 200 Hood Class Hp: 2000 High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Planes Hp: Varies Walkthrough: First of, use intercept mode to destroy the mines near you and then proceed to sink the three Olympia Class Destroyers ahead of you. You can play this mission either way, actually stick by the battleship and make sure nothing touches it or you can scout ahead and just pummel anything you want to. I prefer the second method, but it is your choice. You defiantly want to destroy as many aircraft as possible to make it easy, so stock up on machine guns and high angle guns for the mission. The mission ends when the battleship reaches the little blue boxed area on the pause map and begins bombarding the coast line. Reward: 30000cr, 10000 points A-06 The Fire of Feold Sink 2 enemy cruisers Time: Night Conditions: Rainy Ships Faced High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 19368 Class Hp: 300 Admiral Hipper Class Hp: 1200 Scharnhorst Class Hp: 3500 XXI Class Hp: 150 Walkthrough: You start heading the right direction so just put it in full ahead and blast away. The cruisers have escorts, but they should prove to be nothing, sink them and then the cruisers behind them. After taking them out, reinforcements come via the south. Head that way, taking out the transports to trigger a sub ambush. Sink that, and then proceed to sink the rest of the fleet that you can see. As it is night and rainy, if you have non night capable planes, they will not be able to take off and fight, so be aware of that. Reward: 35000cr, 12000 points A-07 Winds of Freedom Destroy 6 gun emplacements then exit battle sector Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced Valerian Class Hp: 1800 XXI Class Hp: 150 High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Walkthrough: This mission is probably the first actually hard mission out there. There are just a metric crapload of ground turrets and they all do insane damage, and to make it worse, the mission critical targets, the towering gun turrets, do more damage than the regular. My advice is to go into precision mode when the turrets are in your main gun's range, then just, from maximum distance, blast away. It's safe and effective. There are enemy ships roaming the area, so make sure to sink them if any of them give you problems. You trigger a sub ambush when the turrets are destroyed so be aware of that. Reward: 40000cr, 12000 points A-08 Attack at Dawn Do not let the enemy carrier escape Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced U Class Hp: 300 Illustrious Class Hp: 1700 (Under Repair) Vanguard Class Hp: 2800 Fiji Class Hp: Walkthrough: First off, the carrier cannot go anywhere, however, its deck guns and flight deck are fine, so it's not entirely defenseless. Take out a couple of the ships near you to start, and then move in on the carrier. Just blast away at it and it will go down. Head west and reinforcements come. Sink these too, for more points and cash. Then just exit the battle sector. The main threat in this mission are the planes, there are a lot of them, so taking high angle guns may not be a bad idea. Reward: 45000cr, 12000 points A-09 The Enemy Typhoon Sink 8 enemy transports Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Slow-Speed Transport Hp: 30 Battle Class Hp: 200 South Hampton Class Hp: 1100 Revenge Class Hp: 2500 Walkthrough: As deceptive as the mission objective seems, it's a lot harder than A-04. First off, there are Battle Class destroyers mixed in with the transports. Secondly, there are plethoras of land turrets around that do massive damage. And lastly, the escorts (the South Hampton Class) are very agile and pack a wallop. You only have to take out eight transports, but that's all thereare. Make sure to sink everything you can, the cash and parts help a lot. If the land turrets are too much for you, do not hesitate to do emergency repairs to counter the damage. Reward: 50000cr, 12000 points A-10 The Typhoon Hunter Sink the Enemy Supership Time: Afternoon Conditions: Sunny Ships Faced Wirbelwind Hp: 5000 Slow-Speed Transport Hp: 30 Walkthrough: Ok, to clear something up... I in no way classify this as a cruiser. If you look at the info, it mounts 35.4 cm guns, a battleship class gun. Anywho, this ship is fast. Unless you did some real research into engines, I doubt you'll be able to keep up with it. Remember how I told you to make sure you mastered gauging your shots?? This is one of those missions where if you are good, it will make it easier. The Wirbelwind will use its awesome speed to pretty much play hit-and-run. It will move away, shooting its guns at you, stay far away for a while, then turn around and come at you. What you want to do is not head right for it, but rather lay in an intercept course so you meet it at a 90 degree angle. This way, when you lay down a barrage and it slows down, you can bring all guns to bear and fire away. The game does state that firing a barrage will slow it down, and it does, but if it's really far away, it won't matter. Just keep picking away at its massive HP total and eventually it will sink. Planes will start to come after you at this point, so get out of there ASAP. Reward: 60000cr, 15000 points B-01 Hammer and Anvil Protect the airstrip for 300 seconds Time: Night, moving into dawn Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Yuubari Class Hp: 1900 Matuki Class Hp: 700 Slow-Speed Transport Hp: 30 Modified Aobe Class Hp: 2500 Modified Takao Class Hp: 2950 Modified Furutaka Class Hp: 2500 Modified Tenryuu Class Hp: 1700 Walkthrough: Ok... Protect the airstrips... Can't be that hard. Right?? WRONG! First off, the airfields are right behind you, but the problem is that there is a narrow strip of land separating you from the open sea. Simply put, going beyond that will put the mission in extreme jeopardy. Stick close to the airfields, sinking ships that come close to where you are. Just deal with them as they come and don't stray too far. This may seem like a stupid tactic and that going out and sinking ships as they show would be a better one, but the above mentioned land strip makes intercepting ships very tough. To further that point, if you stray too far out into the open seas and then a battleship or cruiser slips through and gets close to the strips, you are screwed. Just stick to your guns and keep those ships at bay. After 300 seconds (five minutes for all those non math savvy people out there) have passed, exit the battle sector. Reward: 70000cr, 12000 points B-02 Fire on Icy Waters Destroy 60% of Enemy Harbor Facilities (60 targets) Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Craven Class Hp: 300 Modified Omaha Class Hp: 1800 Brooklyn Class hp: 2000 Modified Farragut Class Hp: 400 Nevada Class Hp: 3500 Lexington Class Hp: 4000 Modified Mahan Class Hp: 600 Walkthrough: First take out all the Craven Class DD's near you; it makes life a little easier. Start picking away at the nearest harbor facility (the west most one), taking it all out will bring you up to about 44 targets down. There will be reinforcements from the east, notably a carrier. As you head east, make sure to sink it fast, otherwise the bombers may pick you to pieces. Also note that the harbor installations have missile launchers, not rocket launchers, missile launchers. The do a lot of damage (500-750), just make sure to go into intercept mode to kill the missiles. Basically just a mission where you have to shell everything in sight, so make sure you can move fast and take some hits from the ground turrets (damage usually in the 900s). Sometimes a sub ambush will happen, I think this may be only the second time through but I will go back and confirm this later. Reward: 75000cr, 12000 points B-03 Bandits on Your Six! Sink 1 Enemy Aircraft Carrier Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Fubuki Class Hp: 800 Modified Mogami Class Hp: 3000 Modified Shoukaku Class Hp: 4500 Modified Asashio Class Hp: 1000 High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Modified Nagara Class Hp: 1800 Shouhou Class Hp: 2000 Walkthrough: Ok, the fleet starts off to your north west, so head there. You will have a lot of aircraft to deal with, but they aren't too much of a threat. Just sink the enemy ships as you see them. Make sure that when you actually see the carrier, you focus on it. Taking out the carrier will prevent the planes from being attacking you. After you complete the objective, the enemy reinforcements show up in the form of another carrier. Sink it and then exit the battle sector to complete the mission. Reward: 80000cr, 15000 points B-04 Fox and Hounds Escort the Allied Carrier to Port Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Junsenhei Class Hp: 270 Modified Kagero Class Hp: 1100 Modified Myouko Class Hp: 2900 Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 Fusou Class Hp: 4700 Modified Agano Class Hp: 2300 Walkthrough: Ok, I hate this mission. First off, head west and sink the three subs. Then go back to the battle group and stick by it at all costs. Do not stray from it! The carrier has no planes, and all you have to protect it are two cruisers and a destroyer. The enemy practically throws everything at you here, and the carrier is quite fragile. Destroy ships as they become threats, making sure to keep an eye out for reinforcements. Near the end of the trip, there are some ground turrets. Make sure you blow them up. They do massive damage and focus on sinking the carrier. The real problem with this mission is straying too far from the carrier and letting it get picked apart by the cruisers and destroyers while you are off sinking the two battleships that show up. Just deal with the threats and try to keep ahead of the curve and you should do fine. Just remember about the ground turrets. Reward: 90000cr, 15000 points B-05 Assault at Rabul Sink 4 Enemy Cruisers Time: Night (dawn breaks after you complete the objective) Conditions: Fair Ships Faced High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Junsenhei Class Hp: 270 Modified Takao Class Hp: 2950 Modified Aoba Class Hp: 2500 Modified Junyou Class Hp: 3500 Modified Shoukaku Class Hp: 4500 Modified Asahio Class Hp: 1000 Nagato Class Hp: 5000 Modified Asashio Class Hp: 1100 Modified Shiratsuyu Class Hp: 900 Walkthrough: Head north, taking out the sub on the way. As you get closer to the port where the cruisers are, they start to mobilize. Make sure to put the hurt on them. Now, due to the sheer volume of ships that you will be facing this is a tricky part. Also, there are some ground turrets near you and they still cause problems. Make sure to be aware of your Hp status at all times. When you destroy a couple cruisers, enemy reinforcements show up, en masse. A lot just appear near where you are, so make sure you're ready for them. After taking out everything in the north, you can exit the sector, or head south to take out the carriers that showed up. This is dangerous due to the fact that the planes are a little better than what they have been, but they are still not hard. Reward: 100000cr, 15000 points B-06 The Killing Machine Sink 1 Enemy Battleship Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced North Hampton Class Hp: 2500 Modified Livermore Class Hp: 750 Portland Class Hp: 2600 New Mexico Class Hp: 3500 Tennessee Class Hp: 3500 New Orleans Class Hp: 2700 Modified Fletcher Class Hp: 900 Walkthrough: Ok, off to the right of you there is a small battle group. Sink them all, none of them are mission critical, but the points, parts and cash will help. Go northeast and you will run into the battleships. Note that there just isn't one, but there are six. Be very careful around them, they all do high damage. Sink whatever you can then withdraw. Note that reinforcements do appear a lot in this mission. First a supply convoy, then more ships. If you can, take them out. Again, the funds and such will help you greatly. Try to keep moving around the ships as you attack them, not only will this bring all guns to bear on a target, you will also dodge shots in the process. Reward: 105000cr, 16000 points B-07 Majesty Sink 4 Enemy Cruisers Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Brooklyn Class Hp: 2000 Atlanta Class Hp: 1900 South Dakota Class Hp: 4500 Colorado Class Hp: 4000 Modified Fletcher Class Hp: 800 Gato Class Hp: 295 Walkthrough: Ok you start practically right next to the battle group with the cruisers. Just turn and fire on them, again making sure to take into the sheer number of ships that are in the group. After they are all sunk, you have options. You can just withdraw, or you can choose to take part in the other battles taking place in the sector. Just go into binocular mode and search out the little reflections of light from ships or explosions to see where they are happening. One battle is nothing but battleships, so be careful if you do go over there in search of parts and funds. Reward: 110000cr, 16000 points B-08 The Terror Below Sink the Enemy Supership Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Dreadnought (Submerged) Hp: 3000 Dreadnought (Surfaced) Hp: 7000 Walkthrough: Ok, make sure you have a good amount of anti-sub weapons on your ship before you leave port. Planes are acceptable, but make sure you have some sort of anti-sub weapon on your ship incase they get shot down. A good recommendation is that if you have a high enough metallurgy rating, go into prebuilt ships and look for a cruiser or destroyer with nothing but VLS systems on it. Buy two of those, and then scrap them for the anti-sub VLS. It's expensive, but if you are using a battleship it is the only anti-sub weapon you can have. (Yes, you can have a battleship by this point. I received a battleship hull V a few missions before this one.) Start to unleash on the submerged sub. Out of the 3000 Hp it has, you have to do about 1000 damage to get it to surface. It has some powerful torpedoes and missiles, so make sure to intercept them. When it surfaces, my suggestion is that if you have any torpedoes, you unleash them first. This will whittle its Hp total down quite nicely. Its attacks don't change much after it surfaced, except that now it has deck guns it can bring to bear on you. Just keep up the fire on it and it should sink, its not that hard, but still a challenge. Reward: 125000cr, 18000 points B-09 Behind Enemy Lines Raid Kagoshima and Escape Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Asashio Class Hp: 1000 Modified Kagero Class Hp: 1100 Modified Tone Class Hp: 3100 Modified Ouyodo Class Hp: 2400 Junsenhei Class Hp: 270 Modified Yuubari Class Hp: 1900 Modified Tenryuu Class Hp: 1700 Walkthrough: Ok, head east to start and sink the ships over there. Then proceed northwest. Take out the ships as you see them, it makes life easier to take them out now rather than later. Reinforcements appear from the south, go and sink them while you're at it. Now, head north, cautiously. There is a minefield near the entrance to the port, but that's nothing serious. However, the ground turrets and missile launchers are a different story. Make sure to approach them with caution. The first set is on the east side of the inlet. Then the second set is right next to the extraction zone. Rockets make taking them out very easy, although using your guns to do the dirty work isn't that hard. Reward: 130000cr, 16000 points B-10 Shadow of Evil Destroy the Enemy Supership Time: Afternoon Conditions: Stormy Ships Faced Archeopterix Hp: 18000 Walkthrough: Ok, first things first. Do not un-equip your main guns thinking they will not hit, they are the best weapon in this fight. However, on the other hand, take off all anti-sub and torpedoes to gain a few knots of speed. As the Supership approaches, take your main guns and start aiming at it. You have to lead your shots a little more than usual due to Archaeopterix's high speed. As they state, it does have a blind spot right under it, so try and stay there. Like all other superships, as it gets down to its last 1000 or so Hp it starts to use its better weapons. In this case, it just lies down a ton of cannon fire upon the seas. Just keep blasting it and it will go down. Reward: 150000cr, 20000 points C-01 Caroline Islands Guard the Troop Transports Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Kawachi Class Hp: 2000 Modified Tone Class Hp: 3100 Walkthrough: Ok, escort duty. Not a really hard mission. Just get ahead of the transports and destroy anything in their way. Note that there are reinforcements in the mission, but they appear so far away that sometimes they are never a factor. There are tons of aircraft in this level, also, so you may want to take high-elevation guns or a CIWS or something like that. As you near the end of the level, ground turrets become a problem. There are about 6 of them, 4 on the main island and 2 on the island to the SSW of it. Take them out before the transports come under fire. Not too hard. Reward: 160000cr, 16000 points C-02 Defend the Islands Sink 3 Enemy Aircraft Carriers Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Tone Class Hp: 3100 Akizuki Class Hp: 1200 Modified Shoukaku Class Hp: 4500 Ise Class/BattleCarrier Hp: 4800 Taiho Class Hp: 5000 Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 Modified Yamato Class Hp: 7000 Junsenhei Class Hp: 270 Modified Agano Class Hp: 2300 Modified Nagara Class Hp: 1800 Walkthrough: Weren't we just here?? Anyway, this is a fun mission, tough, but fun. First things first, you're probably looking at the ship list thinking "What the hell is a battle carrier??" Basically, it's a carrier with the firepower of a battleship, this is the only level with them in it, so if you want that 999 BattleCarrier kill reward, you need to do this mission about 445 times. Now, head ESE to the battle group. You will get an anti-air alert, and then about 100 or so planes will fly at you. I wouldn't waste intercept mode, but it's your call. Now, don't get into the middle of all the ships, you will get killed if you do that. I would just recommend staying in front of the group, and picking off ships one by one with a combination of torpedoes and guns. Just remember this... repair when needed! Don't assume a ship you just sunk will drop an Hp restore! Now, after sinking the battle group, reinforcements come, lots of them. Feel free to take them out; the cash will go a long way. Exit the sector when you rule the seas to cash in. Reward: 165000cr, 18000 points C-03 The Surigao Strait Stop the Enemy at the Strait for 300 Seconds Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 Modified Takao Class Hp: 2950 Fusou Class Hp: 4700 Modified Yamato Class Hp: 7000 Walkthrough: Ok, head WSW to intercept the first set of ships. You have to work fast on destroying them then moving on to the next set of ships. Make sure your ship can go at least 30 knots before attempting this mission. After you take out the first wave, two more will come, one right behind the wave you just destroyed, one on the other side of the island. Make short work of the close wave, and then head around the island (heading east) to cut off the other ships. Sink them and then exit the battle sector. From what I have gathered, you need only destroy the bigger ships to complete the mission, you can let the Yugimo Class go through and nothing happens (at least that's what happened to me.) Reward: 175000cr, 18000 points C-04 Dogfight Destroy 3 Enemy Airstrips Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Asashio Class Hp: 1100 Modified Agano Class Hp: 2300 Modified Kongou Class Hp: 4500 Modified Matsu Class Hp: 1200 Senkou Class Hp: 200 Ise Class Hp: 4800 Walkthrough: Pick a target and head there. Make sure to sink any ships near it first before going into ground attack. Having missiles makes it easy, but you can still complete the mission without them. Note that the airbases (as well as the ships) have missile launchers and ground turrets that do massive damage. Intercept mode here will save you. To put the hurt on the airstrips, aim slightly above them when in range and fire away. The shells will detonate over the airstrip and do damage to it. Again, with missiles or rockets, just lock and fire. Not too hard, but the constant missiles will make life not fun for a while. Reward: 180000cr, 18000 points C-05 Breath of a Lion Protect the 4 Carriers Time: Morning Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 Modified Mogami Class Hp: 3000 Modified Shoukaku Class Hp: 4500 Ise Class Hp: 4800 Modified Kongou Class Hp: 4500 Modified Agano Class Hp: 2300 Akizuki Class Hp: 1200 Walkthrough: Ok, this is what I like, a difference between protect and escort. You are given free reign to go off and sink ships, making sure that the carriers stay alive. Sink the ships nearest to them (off to the east of the carriers) first. Then either a) go off and sink the carrier that appears to the NNE or b) head to the NW and sink the destroyers and cruisers up that appear up there. I recommend you go sink the destroyers, because as much of a threat the carrier seems to be, it retreats a little and lures you with it, away from the destroyers. After the carriers leave the sector, you can still go off and sink things, so feel free to hunt down the carrier and its escorts. Reward: 190000cr, 20000 points C-06 Battle Off Hawaii Sink 3 Enemy Battleships Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 Modified Mogami Class Hp: 3000 Modified Kaga Class Hp: 5500 Modified Yamato Class Hp: 7000 Modified Hiryuu Class Hp: 3000 Walkthrough: Ok, start heading west. You have choices; there is a small contingent of cruisers to the north that you can take out. They aren't that powerful, but they can do some damage if you aren't careful. Or, you can just head west and engage the battle group. There are a lot of battleships, and if you are in a cruiser (like I usually am) they can wreck havoc on your Hp total. Focus on taking out one at a time, bringing all guns to bear and then moving on. While the Kaga class battleships are less powerful, I recommend taking out the Yamato class simply because they can and will put the hurt on. After completing the objective, more ships appear, as well as a carrier. Feel free to go around and sink it. Reward: 200000cr, 20000 points C-07 No Mercy Sink the Supership Time: Evening Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Harima Hp: 30000 Matuki Class Hp: 700 Walkthrough: Ok, I will detail the two ways to do this. First I'll explain the easy way. Earn some cash and research into metallurgy and air tech. Get the best BattleCarrier out there and the best bombers out there. Build a ship that can hit at least 35 knots and can carry some good weapons and load it with nothing but bombers. Then go into the mission. At the start of the mission, launch all your bombers and let them go to work for a while. While they won't make quick work of the Harima, they will put a good amount of hurt on it. Then your deck guns should be able to finish off the remaining amount of hp it has. Just keep your distance and don't let it bring its guns to bear. Now, the other way is a lot harder. It involves going at it with whatever ship you have. For me, the first time I went up against it I had my cruiser, needless to say, it sunk me. Unlike other ships, you cannot aim at the bridge and have your shots hit, you must aim at the hull. This is where guts come into play, you will have to get close to it to get good shots in but at the same time, risk it using its bigger better guns against you. Personally, I find that using the first tactic is way more effective, but it is your choice. Another note, if you do this mission over and over, you get 30mm and 35mm CIWS; they rock and are hard to find later in the game. I recommend getting some of these before moving on. Reward: 215000cr, 25000 points C-08 Clean-Up Operation Sink 8 Enemy Transports Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Modified Asashio Class Hp: 1100 Modified Nagara Class Hp: 1800 Shimakaze Class Hp: 1200 Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 Modified Agano Class Hp: 2300 Walkthrough: Simple as can be. Find the transports and sink them. The only real difficulty about this mission are the missiles that everyone seems to be using now. They do massive damage. Make sure to intercept them rather than just letting them hit. There are ground turrets and missile launchers on the north land, just make a note of them. Not too hard of a mission, quite a cool down from the supership you just sunk. Reward: 225000cr, 20000 points C-09 The Closed Trap Guard the Fleet for 300 Seconds Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Viking Class Hp: 4 Modified Yugumo Class Hp: 1200 High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Modified Ibuki Class Hp: 3100 Senkou Class Hp: 200 Walkthrough: Ok, the first wave is simple, five Viking Class Pt boats. If you lose at this point, please take the game out of the system and return it. The first real wave of ships appears from the south. Nothing too severe, just intercept them and then head back toward the fleet. Second wave in from the west, take them out, but don't stray too far from the fleet. Ships also approach from the ENE but slowly, so while it may seem all clear to go out and engage the ships to the west, the eastern ships might come in and create general disorder in the fleet. Move swiftly to sink everything that is a threat to the fleet then go out hunting for subs and transports. Reward: 240000cr, 22000 points C-10 The Smell of Cordite Destroy the Supership Time: Morning Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Arahabaki Hp: 34000 Walkthrough: Ok, before even leaving dock make sure you have an electromagnetic shield equipped. Trust me on this one, you will need it. Start the mission and head toward the supership. Let the cinematic play, they show just why you should be cautious when maneuvering around the ship. Try to keep your distance and out maneuver it. It isn't that hard, but if you have a slow ship, you may have problems. Keep shelling it until the music changes. At this point, it starts using laser weapons, lots of them. If you do not have an EM shield, you might as well hang it up right now. The weapons do about 2000 damage and couple that with the missile attacks and other weapons and you have problems. If you take too much damage, there is a small island in the middle of the map, play cat and mouse with the ship. Go to one side, repair, then go around and attack it, repeat if necessary. It isn't that hard if you are prepared. Reward: 250000cr, 28000 points D-01 Defend Unto Death Guard the Strait for 300 Seconds Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced High-Speed Transport Hp: 40 Modified Allen M. Sumner Class Hp: 450 Modified Iowa Class Hp: 5000 Albany Class Hp: 3600 Goering Class II Hp: 900 Modified C.F. Adams Class Hp: 1100 Pirahana Class Hp: 2200 Walkthrough: Head north, sinking the few ships that get in your way. After you get about half way done with them, another set of ships show up. Sink them but be wary because they are all battleships that can put out damage as well as take it. Sink those, then two sets of ships show up, one on the west side of the strait one on the east. Deal with both of them quickly then just sit there. Eventually there will be an anti- air alert, but it's only about five fighters. Just sit there until the time runs out. Reward: 275000cr, 22000 points D-02 Top Brass Rescue Rescue the FF Commanders Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Albany Class Hp: 3600 Modified Brook Class Hp: 1200 Modified C.F. Adams Class Hp: 1100 High-Speed Transport Hp: 50 Pirahana Class Hp: 2200 Modified Nox Class Hp: 1100 Modified Forrestal Class Hp: 6500 Walkthrough: Ok, first take out the ships near you, shouldn't be too hard, just pay attention to whom is shooting at you. If you head north, you encounter a carrier, sink it then head back south. The overall mission isn't that hard, but I will brief you on something. From this point on, always have an EM shield on your vessel. The Pirahana Class use a lot of energy weapons and not taking damage from one ship makes life easier. Also, before moving too far ahead, I suggest getting some cash for ships and technology. Reward: 300000cr, 22000 points D-03 Ocean Destroyer Destroy the Supership Time: Evening Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Dual Crater Hp: 45000 Pt109 Class Hp: 3 Walkthrough: Ok, first things first. From this point on, you should use the best battleship hull you can get with 61cm 50 cal (or better) guns on it (at least 4 mounts, 3 barrels each), 6 30mm CIWS (C-07 has them) and at least three anti-sub VLS (look in the prebuilt ships in destroyer or cruiser, press square on them to see what they have, buy one then scrap it to get the parts.) Speed is secondary, make sure you can get at least 30 knots, but make sure at the same time you have anti-46cm armor. This seems like a weird setup for a ship, but it will get you through the rest of the missions with few difficulties (at least for me it did.) Now, you would think that this mission is easy, just another supership, right? Not exactly. First off, from the supership many (read: a metric crapload) Pt109s will swarm out and attack you. The sheer number is horrific, but if you focus on them, the second trick comes into play. Dual Crater will slowly move toward a spot on the map, if it reaches it, you fail. So you are racing the clock here. As soon as you can, start bombarding the crap out of Dual Crater, ignoring the Pt109s for now. Intercept mode here will save your life, but don't stay in it for too long. Keep pummeling Dual Crater with everything you have and it will go down soon enough. Now, you may wish to farm this mission. It gives out flamethrower guns and tower rail guns, both of which come in very handy. I would stock up here and now, rather than later. Reward: 400000cr, 25000 points D-04 On the Beach Pick Up the Agents from 2 Locations Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Nikino Class Hp: 350 Vicious Class II Hp: 4600 Pirahana Class Hp: 2200 Vendetta Class Hp: 5100 Vantage Class Hp: 4000 Victor III Class II Hp: 300 Walkthrough: Head west, but do not go to the south extraction point. Instead, head to the north one first. Take out the ships as you see fit, making note of the missile turrets along the shore. Be aware of the mass amount of ships that await you at the north extraction point. After you sink them and exfill the agents, head to the southern extraction point. There will be reinforcements, but they prove to be noting too hard. Sink them and a sub ambush happens pretty much right under you. Sink them using the VLS missiles and then exit the battle sector. Hanging around for too long causes an air alert, so you may want to motor to get out of there. Reward: 450000cr, 25000 points D-05 Sea Hawk Defend the Airfields for 300 Seconds Time: Evening Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Fletcher Class Hp: 800 Modified Amazon Class Hp: 400 Modified Sheffield Class Hp: 850 Venus Class II Hp: 400 Modified Brook Class Hp: 1200 Emerson Class Hp: 4000 Modified Invincible Class Hp: 3000 Modified Colossus Class Hp: 2500 Walkthrough: This mission sucks, it really does. Start by sinking the ship that starts right in front of you, then head west to the other airfield via the south, do not head around the island to the north. Reinforcements come from the SSW, taking the sheltered route to the field (they go around the west side of the center island.) Let them get really close to the airbase before engaging them because when you start attacking them, another group appears in the north. Finish off the little fries, then head north at max speed. Sink those ships very quickly, then head back south. Don't worry about the sub ambush, they don't attack the airbase. Head south to engage yet more reinforcements, but make it quick. Another group closes in from the north with a carrier fleet. Sink them all. Make sure to look east a little bit because sometimes ships will escape and head toward the base. This isn't that hard of a mission if played right, just the fact that if you fail to respond to any threat, you can kiss an airbase goodbye, and with it, any hopes of completing the mission. Reward: 500000cr, 25000 points D-06 Here Be Dragons Destroy 3 of the Missile Emplacements Time: Afternoon Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Vendetta Class II Hp: 5100 Volte Class II Hp: 2300 Shawarz Zondarc Hp: 12000 Nikino Class Hp: 350 Vortex Class II Hp: 5700 Victor III Class II Hp: 300 Walkthrough: Head south to start, sinking the ships there. Then turn about, and engage the new ships to the north. After they are all sunk, head west to get those ships, continue heading west to encounter some Nikino Class DDs. From there, head south, taking out the turrets that you see. Warning, they pack a punch, so engaging from a distance is advised. After you destroy them, head east through the little canal they have, following it up to one of the subs in the ambush. Sink the sub, then if you want find the others and sink them. Reward: 600000cr, 28000 points. D-07 A Blood Red Sky Sink 2 of the Enemy Carriers Time: Morning Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Nimitz Class Hp: 7000 Albuquerque Class II Hp: 1300 Modified Ticonderoga Class Hp: 3600 Crescendo Class Hp: 700 Esperance Class II Hp: 1100 Modified Los Angeles Class Hp: 600 Modified O.H. Perry Class Hp: 1100 Modified Forrestal Class Hp: 6500 Walkthrough: So, head north to the battle group. Note that all the ships there do massive damage and the carrier itself and the planes it launches are threats. Sink whatever you can, making sure to sink the carrier in the process. Reinforcements from the north, the other carrier is there. Head over there, making sure to keep an eye on your life gauge due to the high concentration of turret fire and ships. After you sink those ships, head back south to get the rest of the fleet. Doing this is unnecessary, but if you want some good parts and money, you should do it. Reward: 750000cr, 28000 points D-08 The Frozen Sea Run the Blockade and Head Eastwards Time: Night Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Modified Los Angeles Class Hp: 600 Victor III Class II Hp: 300 Esperance Class II Hp: 1100 Modified Ticonderoga Class Hp: 3600 Albuquerque Class II Hp: 1300 Modified Nimitz Class Hp: 7000 Emerson Class Hp: 4000 Shwarz Zondarc Hp: 12000 Walkthrough: Look behind you and lock onto the sub at the start for an easy kill. Start heading east, sinking ships as you go. There is not too much strategy to this mission, just keep an eye out for ships, and sink them if you want. There are a massive amount of airplanes in this mission, so sinking the carriers is defiantly a priority. When you've killed everything, or just want to get the mission over with, head east as fast as possible. Reward: 800000cr, 28000 points D-09 Into the Fire Destroy the Supership Time: Morning Conditions: Snow Ships Faced Habakkuk Hp: 40000 Allen M. Sumner Class Hp: 850 Walkthrough: Ok, I lied about being able to do all the missions with my ship. Granted, you can do this mission with that ship, but switching out all the guns for flamethrowers is a good idea for this mission. There are other tactics, one of the best ones is arming a ship with nothing but chain guns, but I'll just cut to the chase. The supership you are about to face... well, it has the uncanny ability to recover about an amount of damage from every attack you do, unless it is with flamethrowers. Get up close and personal and just blast away. What is really nice about this tactic is that the planes will also get destroyed due to the fire hitting them as they come in for a landing, so eventually it will just be you versus the supership. It has a lot of Hp, so be prepared for a long battle if you choose this method. Reward: 900000cr, 30000 points D-10 Name Destroy the Supership Time: Conditions: Fair Ships Faced Druna Skass Hp: 60000 Allen M. Sumner Class Hp: 850 Walkthrough: Ok, before you begin, go back into missions that had good weapons/money and play them multiple times. I recommend playing C-07 for CIWS, D-09 for sheer cash (especially if you get an S rank), D-06 for some engines and possibly a few other choice missions for whatever you need. Well... go on! I'll be here when you return. Back? Good, then let us begin with the facts. First off, this is a battle of luck. Sometimes you will get lucky and the supership will never really hurt you, other times you will not be so lucky and it will bring its best guns to bear. Case in point, I was playing and I did emergency repairs right next to it, and it never did any damage, it kept pushing me and using laser weapons. Secondly, no matter what the case, do not get in front of it. It does use its wave gun if it gets the chance, and no ship you have can withstand it. Lastly, this may turn out to be a damage race at some point. Equipping your ship with chain guns rather than regular guns may be advisable (and it does work) but just be wary of your range to the ship. There are multiple strategies for this boss; it just depends on what type of player you are. Before proceeding any further, make sure you have all the parts you want and max out your tech levels. Ok, now on to the boss. Head north, taking out turrets as you go along, this doesn't have that much effect on the battle, but if you need to get away and repair, at least somewhere will be relatively safe. As you get close to Druna Skass, a cinema will play; it will show you just why I told you not to get in front of it. As soon as you can start bombarding it, if you have regular guns, this means bracket it, if you have otherwise, just zigzag towards it. As you get closer, begin to circle strafe it to death. There is not much more help I can give you after this point; you must react to the situation. Good luck. Reward: The ending, nothing more. Oh wait, you thought we were done?? Hardly, we are far from done. After the credits role, you get to save your game. You start all over, keeping tech, parts, ships, cash, everything, but you start from mission A-01. "This should be easy!" you think, but what you to think of is that all the enemy ships are just as teched up as you are. Are you scared yet?? Well, the real benefit is that all the part drops are way better. I will continue the guide telling you of new ambushes and ships and superships. I will call this mode EX mode. EX Mode New ships have Hp listed right after them. All normal ships will have a boost in Hp and some will have higher tech weaponry. No changes to points or mission reward credits take place, however you will net more money from the new ship classes, as well as better parts. Notes on new ships Shwarz Zondarc: The new main battleship. Hard hitting and can take damage as well. Has a VLS launcher that does tremendous damage, you are advised to sink these when you see them as they create problems if you don't. Piranha: The new cruiser packs only energy weapons. Fodder for larger ships, but they have the uncanny ability to show up in groups. Emerson: The other cruiser. Packs some hard hitting energy weapons, but they will be absorbed by an EM shield. A-01 Changes: New Ships (Piranha 2540, Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Q. Elizabeth 3240) A-02 Changes: New Ships (Piranha 2540, Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Reknown 1920) A-03 Changes: New Ships (Piranha 2540, Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Bismarck 4800, Canaris 6000, Delta V 9240, 1936B 360) A-04 Changes: New Ships (Piranha 2640, Delta V 9240, Modified Courageous Class 1440, Reknown 1920, Shwarz Zondarc 14400) A-05 Changes: New Ships (Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Ark Royal Class 1560) A-06 Changes: New Ships (Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Emerson 4800) A-07 Changes: New Ships (Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Emerson 4800, Volante 4440) A-08 Changes: New Ships (Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Emerson 4800, U Class 360, K. George 3600, Illustrious 2150) Illustrious is still under repair, but another one will come as reinforcements. A-09 Changes: New Ships (Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Emerson 4800) As the you complete the mission, dawn breaks and a carrier approaches from the south, it does launch an air flight, so be aware of that. A-10 Changes: New Ships (Trollslegur 96000) The Wirbelwind gets some more Hp (now at 6000.) Trollslegur is a laser BB; it has tons of energy weaponry and a very good EM shield. Take caution if you have a lot of laser weapons on your ship. This isn't that hard, but the massive amount of Hp makes it a long battle. Just keep shelling it and it will sink. B-01 Changes: New Ships (Emerson 4800, Eminence 19800) B-02 Changes: (Piranha 2640, Eminence 19800, Gato 354) New Sub Reinforcements to the south B-03 Changes: New Ships (Emerson 4800, Eminence 19800) B-04 Changes: New Ships (Piranha 2540, Shwarz Zondarc 14400) New Reinforcements from ESE, Carrier inbound from NW corner B-05 Changes: New Ships (Eminence 19800, Shwarz Zondarc 14400) B-06 Changes: New Ships (Eminence 19800) B-07 Changes: New Ships (Shwarz Zondarc 14400, Emerson 4800, Eminence 19800, Modified York Town 4200, Lexington 4800) The carriers are a new addition to this battle. B-08 Hp up, air force enters map after sinking of sub Also, there are more ships for refilling ammo and hp, but they are near the edges of the map. B-09 Changes: New Ships (Emerson 4800, Piranha 19800[not a mistype]) B-10 Changes: New Ships (Nautilus [12000submerged, 8400 surfaced]) Normal boost in Hp for Archeopterix. New enemy supership is the Nautilus, a clone of the Dreadnought. Same strategy applies, but the Nautilus does have more powerful weapons, as well as mine layer systems. Its new torpedoes do massive damage and sometimes cannot be seen until they are right next to you. This is a tougher battle than the Dreadnought, but it still should not prove to be that much harder. C-01 Changes: New Ships (Eminence 19800, also unconfirmed carriers) New carrier reinforcements from ESE, they play a minor role due to their late appearance, but they do launch air flight and can cause damage to the transports if you are not careful. C-02 Changes: New Ships (Argent 6000, Nahato 9000, Eminence 19800, Shwarz Zondarc 14400) C-03 Changes: New Ships (Argent 6000, Eminence 19800) C-04 Changes: New Ships (Nahato 10800, Argent 6000, Eminence 19800, Shinano 7200) C-05 Changes: New Ships (Quartermain 15600, Argent 6000, Eminence 19800) Note: I got an Auto-Load System Gamma (reload time -91%) from this battle as a random drop. C-06 Changes: New Ships (Quartermain 15600, Nahato 10800, Eminence 19800) C-07 Changes: New Ships (Strumwind 68400) The Harima gains a few thousand Hp, but it still goes down easy. The Strumwind is another high speed cruiser; see battle A-10 for more details. It has some powerful weaponry, but it should prove to be no match for your ship at this point. It approaches from the south, moves north to intercept you. Just plot an interception course, then shell it. C-08 Changes: New Ships (Quartermain 15600, Nahato 10800, Eminence 19800, Argent 6000) New set of reinforcements to the NE sector of the map after all transports are sunk. C-09 Changes: New Ships (Eminence 19800) More reinforcements show up with the sinking of the NW group of ships. The approach from the south, so be aware of them. Also, the ships you protect FAIL to have EM shielding so charged particle guns do massive damage. Act quickly, or you risk losing a ship or two. C-10 Changes: New Ships (Amaterasu 126000) Boost in Hp for Arahabaki. When the Amaterasu comes, it brings some other ships with it, but the ones to the north shouldn't be a problem. There are subs to the south of the new supership, so be aware of that too. The new supership sports some hard hitting weapons, most notably, a multi warhead VLS and a 305mm chain gun. It is the same setup as the Arahabaki, so stay away from the bow and sides of the ship; it also appears to be faster to turn and to move. D-01 Changes: New Ships (Quartermain 15600, Eminence 19800, Modified Midway Class 7200) Carrier shows up when you sink all enemy vessels in the area. D-02 Changes: New Ships (Quartermain 15600, Eminence 19800, Nahato 10800) D-03 Changes: New Ships (Vicious Class II 5240, Vantage Class II 4800, Delta V 9240, Vendetta 6120) They throw a real curve ball at you in the form of many more ships than just the Pt109 and the Dual Crater. Focus on taking out the Dual Crater, leaving the other ships for dessert. Dual Crater also seems to put out more Pt109s than when you first fought it. The other ships are nothing more than distractions, leave them for after the battle. D-04 Changes: New Ships (Quartermain 15600, Eminence 19800, Nahato 10800, Argent 6000) This mission has the ever elusive "nukes." Look for them as cruise missile launchers and spec. warhead VLS, you can pick up one of the latter with a S rank. D-05 Changes: New Ships (Emerson 4800, Tukuyomi 14400) More ships and harder hitting weapons on them make this a tougher mission than before, the faster you are in sinking ships, the better chance you have to succeed. Also, this mission has the best tech drops in the game (Enigmatech Systems) farm here for good tech. D-06 Changes: New Ships (Emerson 4800, Tukuyomi 14400, Delta V 9240, Nagimaru 21600, Argent 6000, Albany 4320, Modified Forrestal Class 7800) After you destroy the missile launchers, the carrier and the Albany class show up in the NE corner. Also, this mission has the ever elusive Atomic Engine Sigma, Turbine Sigma, and the best Gas Turbines, farm here for engines. D-07 Changes: New Ships (Emerson 4800, Tukuyomi 14400, Delta V 9240, Nagimaru 21600, Argent 6000, Modified Shwarz Zondarc 105600, Virago Class II 4800) D-08 Changes: New Ships (Argent 6000, Modified Shwarz Zondarc 105600, Virago Class II 4800, Nagimaru 21600, Tukuyomi 14400) D-09 Changes: New Ships (Musspellheim 38000 before transformation, 84000 after) As usual there is the regular boost in Hp for the Habakkuk. The Musspellheim isn't that hard on its own, however the air planes it carries (German UFOs) are deadly. The Musspellheim does have some powerful deck guns, but nothing too deadly. Just treat it as you would any other ship out there and sink it. After doing some damage to it, it does transform and loses its ability to launch and recover its UFOs, so eventually they will run out of ammo. This is also the last level before starting all over yet again, so I would suggest farming missions that give good parts while you have the chance. D-10 Changes: New Ships (Silfurbor Negla 120000) Not much has changed with the Druna Skass, just sink it fast, trying to not get too beat up in the process. Before you read on thinking I have some fail-proof strategy for the Negla, I will flat out say that I don't. I've sunk him before with only 3 Hp left, other times I get lucky and he can never bring his bigger guns to bear. I will give some advice though. First off, make sure you have lots and lots of ammo for whatever gun you plan to use. I recommend going back and sinking 500 transports and getting the 2 hull battleship and mounting it up with at the minimum 8 61cm 50cal (or better) 3 barrel guns, then going to D-05 and getting an Engmatech Strulta and C-05 and getting an Auto-Load Gamma, all these parts help, a lot. Secondly, drop anything that is energy based, that does include anti-air pulse lasers; also drop any anti sub or anti air weaponry (missile systems), also, I would recommend dropping missiles in general as they will get shot down with ease. Make sure you have no less than 8 CIWS guns on your ship, for obvious reasons. Make sure you can take some punishment; I recommend taking any extra weight you have and putting it toward more armor. After Druna Skass, you may be low on ammo, if you are, you are screwed. From what I have sunk, no ship in the area drops an ammo supply box. See why I recommended the 2 hull BB? Negla will be a test of skill, luck and patience. It has bigger guns than any ship (period, end), missiles that do tremendous damage and a bigger wave gun than Druna. The live fire guns did upwards of 5500 damage (BB, anti 44cm armor with ~8640 Hp total), it doesn't seem to use its missiles very often, but they come unexpectedly sometimes. Also, unlike in the mission against just Druna, I would recommend against repairing right when you need it. Negla loves to use its Breac Wave Gun, as well as its deck guns, so getting far away from it may be more advisable than repairing when you need it. As much as I want to give you more help with this fight, I really cannot. Many factors play into this battle, I would recommend asking on the boards for help because there are people out there that have great strategies that work a good amount of the time. Good hunting! Now, you finished EX mode, you get to save again and start all over. Sound like fun? Yeah, not to me either. However, you can tackle survival mode now. All survival mode is is you taking whatever ship you want out on all 40 missions straight. No reloads, no regeneration, no buying more planes after each battle. You don't get anything for doing it, well nothing I have found. You do, however, get the satisfaction of blowing up little destroyers with big guns, so there is some coolness to be had. Are you reading this somewhere other than www.gamefaqs.com or my webpage?? Let me know!! V. Ship Building Tips First off, have a goal in mind. Not "I want this ship to kick major ***" or "I want a fast ship." Have something specific goal in mind. For instance, if your current ship can't go 35 knots, but you like the fact that it can carry all the weaponry you like, try maybe going with a better hull, or reducing the number of barrels (if applicable) on your main guns. Secondly, don't always go with the bigger guns. Sure, there are weapons that can't be beat (the wave gun, spec. warhead VLS and such) but in reality, the best guns are smaller. You will find that the 61cm guns are pretty much the best main guns out there. They aren't too heavy; they have a great reload rate and power. Sure, the 80cm guns hit for more power, but they have way too much weight. You can put more 61cm guns on a ship, and keep a steady rate of fire down on any ship you want. Also, don't pass up the special chain guns. The higher cm guns can really tear a new one in any ship (even superships!) Granted, the overall offense may seem low but the ability to just keep putting the hurt on a ship constantly makes up for it. The only drawback is that they will fire at planes and missiles in intercept mode, so you may run out of ammo quickly. Engine placement does have an effect on more than speed and weight. If you use shift placement, you have a lesser chance of having your engines damage, however you pay for it in extra weight. I recommend using the shift placement in ships where you have weight to spare, but not enough to do anything really good with it. Shift placement (add boilers and turbines to taste): Turbine-boiler-boiler-turbine-boiler- boiler- boiler Regular placement Turbine-turbine-boiler-boiler-boiler-boiler-boiler Aux systems should be added specifically for ships. For instance, for all carriers and Battlecarriers (and if you have launchers on your battleships and cruisers) you should have the auto fire extinguisher. This makes sure that you can launch an air flight when you need it. You should always equip an auto load system, as the massive drop in reload time helps kill things faster. The electronic targeting system (+x amount to intercept range lock on) seems good, but if you don't have a good control, you'll just waste ammo faster. The better aux systems (read: all movement,) can only be found in missions or by destroying ships. However, they are worth it. There are systems out there that help, there is a command system that adds points to control, as well as other enigmatch parts that do random things. D-05 and C-05 have these techs, so go there and be prepared to look around for them. Don't be afraid to scrap a design and start all over. Sometimes it's better to just start anew rather than try to build upon a design that doesn't work in the first place. Remember that if you really get stuck on weight you can always save tonnage by taking off a barrel of a gun, or getting rid of some armor. Make sure you can defend against everything. Unless you are making a mission specific ship (see: Harima battle) make sure you have anti-sub and anti-air defenses. Also, make sure to take into consideration your defensive plating. Don't design up to the brim on weight and then realize that you have to do armor plating. Make sure to adjust it about midway through. Regarding planes, I would stick to a max of three types in extreme situations. You can easily get rid of scouts by equipping an anti-sub VLS missile onto your carrier, opening other slots for fighters or bombers. Try to stick to either using fighters or bombers. Fighters can usually take care of themselves in air to air battles, but have weaker ordinance and cannot attack land targets, bombers on the other hand, can attack land turrets, but are more likely to be shot down by interceptors. On the subject of interceptors, make sure to take some. You need aerial supremacy to really rack up the kills. The way better parts can only be gotten through missions the second time through. D-06 has the best engines, although an A rank on C-06 gets you a Turbine Omega. D-07 and C-07 have better bridges for the heavy ship classes. D-05 and C-05 have some of the best aux systems in the game. Also, make sure you keep to the ship class. Do not try to squeeze excessive amounts of deck guns on a carrier, or put tons and tons of weapons on a destroyer. However, at the same time, don't restrict yourself to following the regular patterns. Go outside the box; make a ship containing nothing but chain guns and flamethrowers, or a cruiser with nothing but missile launchers or even a destroyer with nothing more than torpedoes. You never know what you will like until you try it. VI. Hints and Tips Destroying 100, 500, and 999 of any type of vessel gives you a special reward. S and A ranks not only give you a lot of money bonuses, they also give you a part as a reward. Try to aim for them. Money is everything in this game. Many players feel that going back and redoing missions is wrong and nearly cheating, but I feel that if you are given the opportunity fairly, it's their own fault. More money means better tech, which means better equipment, which means easier missions. However, you cannot buy everything, and eventually you will have nothing to do with your money. VII. Contact info Email - icmann@hotmail.com (make sure to put either FAQ or Naval Ops (or copyright) in the heading. I use filters so if you leave the heading blank and get mad, it's your own fault!) AIM - Icdragoon615 (I'm not on a lot, but if you feel like you need person to person help, email me (see above regardless) tell me what time you'll be on, and I'll try to be on at that time. Gamefaqs message board handle: Hells Dragoon VIII. Version Updates Version 0.5 - The beginning, started up everything you see here. Version 1.0 - Up to A-10 Version 1.1 - Copyright change Version 1.3 - Up to mission B-03 Version 2.0 - Up to mission C-01 Version 3.0 - Up to mission D-01, took out ship class table, other changes Version 4.0 - Up to mission D-10EX Version 4.1 - Finished except for some touch up work, minor changes IX. Closing I purposely did not put this in the table of contents for many reasons. First off I'd like to thank... CJayC - for running the site that has all my gaming needs. Me - for getting the motivation to do this Koei - for making so many good games - for reading this guide All of my friends from Valpo (you know who you are) - they know why All my friends from Chicago - they, too, know why Copyright notice is as follows, also contains the ONLY site this should be on. This FAQ copyright 2003 Scott Dumblauskas and may not be reproduced in any form and may not appear on any site except www.gamefaqs.com and my personal homepage without the expressed written consent of Scott Dumblauskas. All rights reserved. Note to the reader, if you find this FAQ on any other mainstream site than www.gamefaqs.com let me know, they are violating many international laws, as well as federal laws and can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.