Operation Zeus - what the hell

[Lord Gronor]

I swear this mission is damn near impossible. I manage the first airfield without many problems, and make it to second airfield with a few planes tailing me, but enough to be able to hold my own... but the second I hit that second AF and start booking it home, consistently everything goes instantly to hell (yes, I savescum. I can't be bothered to lose massive progress). Engines start getting instantly knocked out or even blown off (not even a fire to put out), even though I have 1xstandard 1xarmor 2xlight engines to compensate for the weight of armored fuselage. I honestly have no idea what to do differently, because I have a full crew manning the guns (I send nav to the amidship gun as soon as I veer home), my engineer running around -trying- to keep crew alive, and my pilot running over to engineer station to put out fires if needbe. Everybody is as armored as they can be whilst having the minimum for high altitude flight... I even have enemy damage down for this mission. Not sure if I need to grind more for the upgraded turrets or what.

[SolitaryHowl]

I am having the same problem as you. I have max levelled crew, and bomber is almost fully upgraded (I save scum like you too, I like not losing hours of progress). I'm going to try to outfit everyone with warm clothes and fly the whole mission at high altitude (hopefully not as many fighters can get me). I'll let you know how it goes...

EDIT: Okay, so its slightly easier at high altitude. I bombed the first airfield with minimal resistance, but as night turned into day my navigator couldn't find his way to the 2nd airfield. So I went below the clouds to get my bearings and was roflstomped by like 6 jets + flak.

[ShizukaMarikawa]

Here's what I did.

Get three armored engines and one lightweight engine (make lightweight a nearby engine because it's going to need to be repaired first when you come under attack)

Make every part of your plane heavily armored except the nose section and wings (get the self-sealing fuel tank for wings)

Now you can get the best guns and the best systems (except radar) on the rest of your plane and it's the most heavily armored you can possibly get.

Get your crew and give them all Flak Jacket Level 3, Pimsoll Shoes, and everything else max armor stuff.

Make sure to call Spitfires right when you're above to reach the second airfield (not prior since you'll need the initial distraction of them)

Now basically just repeat the mission until you get lucky and can tank all the hits, took me about 3 tries for this mission and 5 tries for the last mission.

[ExpoStealth]

Guys i dont even think im on this mission, but im on like the third to last mission, and ive had the same problem where like i was doing okay before bombing objective (Okay i mean like 7-10 jets on me at high altitude) and i bomb the objective, and right after i just get F*****, like add another 7-9 jets and an ACE, i had no chance. savescumed

[SolitaryHowl]

I defeated all of the aces, but right now my problem is the endless spawning of jets (after you destroy the first airbase) that destroy me. My plane is fully upgraded & armored with the exception of the nose (to save on weight).

This mission is impossible...

[SolitaryHowl]

Okay, so I finally beat it (on 'very high'), although just barely. In case anyone is wondering, here is what I did. A lot of it comes down to luck, though.

Mission Prep:

- Put Mk 7 armor on everything except for wings (Mk 5), nose (Mk 5), and front (Lightweight Mk5)
- Buy the best turrets available, make sure rear turrent is ammo feed to reduce micromanagement
- Make sure all crew is levelled up fully to gain all abilities.
- Suit up everyone (even engineer) in: The best survival vest, toughened O2 bottle, thermal boots, thermal mittens, flak helmet M2. Everyone's armor should be around 50-60, and thermal should be in their 40s.


Mission:

You are going to do this entire mission at the highest altitude, even bombing runs. It takes practice to bomb at high altitudes and straight through clouds. A bit of luck is needed here.

-Use lean twice before you get to the first airfield, then put engineer on one of the guns.
- Do not use auto-tag until after you bomb the first airfield, and after that use it as much as possible.
- Follow your navigator's waypoints to the first airfield, 15 seconds before you drop your bomb(s), call spitfires.
- Drop bombs, with any luck you'll go through the clouds and hit your target. You want to make this in a single run, if possible. It saves on time.
- As soon as bombs hit, BOOST and go immediately towards the next nav point towards the 2nd airfield. Tag/dodge missiles if needed. By now the spitfires should have arrived and will help to distract/kill enemies.
- Use HE ammo + focus combo on your gunners whenever possible during the battle.
- Use corkscrew as a last ditch effort to avoid a missile hit - the move is disorientating and you'll lose precious time & fuel.
- With luck, you'll come out of the battle with only 3 engines out. Send out your engineer and navigator to repair the engines, if needed. Also, if you're lucky, your crew won't be that badly damaged.
- Bomb the second airfield. Easier said than done, I know. Just drop them and pray you'll hit. Do not drop altitude, or you'll be swarmed.
- If you hit it, immediately boost and head due NORTH. Boost as often as possible.
- As soon as Call Spitfires is available again, do it.
- Again, use your gunner's abilities wisely, and make sure all turrets are manned by your best gunners. Make sure you have somebody on engine repair duty (like your navigator, you won't need him until the battle is over).
- After the battle is over: repair your plane as much as possible, heal all your crew, and turn back towards home. Preferably before you head off the map. You shouldn't encounter anymore enemies if you head home this way, but YMMV.

[IAmSquidget]

It was a little while ago, but IIRC I beat this without any high alt flying. I mostly did it via creative steering.

Obviously, steer around all the emplacements. But also steer tangent to planes you encounter, so that you don't trigger multiple groups at once. I was never "swarmed" because I took them on 3-6 planes at a time. I bombed the targets mostly unmolested. I've found that low alt flying with direct steering is very effective.

After the last bomb target, I set my course, went mid alt, and boosted home. The powers Boost + Defensive make pursuing planes much less effective, so you can make it back to the UK before they kill you.

[FroBodine]

Why oh why do developers make games that are frustratingly difficult. I get that some folks like super hard games, but there comes a point when difficult is just way over the top and not fun anymore.

[IAmSquidget]

I don't get why people think this game is so hard. It's really not. It's not dark souls or FTL. I mean, I beat it before the patch (no spitfires, no slow down), and I'm not some great player. It's really very doable.

I find the game gets a lot easier if you adapt. Don't just bullrush into battles, use the skills and advantages you have. As I mentioned before, tactical positioning is under-appreciated. But also firing angles. Proper manuevering makes your Gunners MUCH more effective, and you can often kill planes without taking any fire in return.

The game is also easier if you exercise patience. If you see an Ace, KITE him away from any other planes. Aces are easy to beat if alone. Don't fight 6+ planes at once, turn and feel. Scout around a target and clear planes, so that you get a clean bombing run.

And of course, retreat if you get a bad break. There's no penalty for failing a mission.

[TheSouLja]

i played this misson 5 times and i completed 3 lightweight and 1 armored motors
get armor and damage down perks from other missions
dont bombs targets on high altitude you will miss
if can defeat all of aces before this mission if you cant play side missions to defeat all of aces
when first airfield destroy press boost to 2nd airfield
all of your guns must be full with person until you reach to the 2nd target
when you are close to the second target call spitfires and autotag
bomb the target and make all of your guns defensive incinery combo
if need use corkscrew to evade jets missilles
and fly high altitude your crew must have advanced oxygen and thermal equipment and
immediately towards to england good luck
same tactic on the operation nemesis last mission in 1st try
i beat it before patch

[Roadmay]

My plane always shot down by jets after finish the mission . So I think a emergency landing after bombing all targets will give your crew much more chance to survive :-/

[Outis]

Originally posted by IAmSquidget:

It was a little while ago, but IIRC I beat this without any high alt flying. I mostly did it via creative steering.

Obviously, steer around all the emplacements. But also steer tangent to planes you encounter, so that you don't trigger multiple groups at once. I was never "swarmed" because I took them on 3-6 planes at a time. I bombed the targets mostly unmolested. I've found that low alt flying with direct steering is very effective.

After the last bomb target, I set my course, went mid alt, and boosted home. The powers Boost + Defensive make pursuing planes much less effective, so you can make it back to the UK before they kill you.

This tip helped me finally beat this mission. Low altitude to avoid radar and flak, boost after bombing runs and climb and pray. hehehe

I had 7 armor fuseluge on every thing but front (armor 6) and nose (armor 6), and .50x4 mk3's on all turrets plus belt feed, armored 5 engines on outer and lightweight 3 engines on inner. Was at 9455 weight out of 9500.

My plane got riddled with bullets, lost 2 engines and a fuel tank, and revived 2 crewmembers. Leaned my way home after boosting out of airfield dangerzone. One lone Me262 shot off my 3rd engine with a snapshot over Belgium beach...but I made it to England on FUMES and emergency landed on the beach with 1 landing gear.

Thank god I finally beat this mission...Can only imagine what the final mission is going to be.

[Lord Gronor]

I managed it... fairly well actually. Apparently before I was trying to use my ammo too tactically. This time I literally had ALL of my gunners ammos on cooldown, spamming them all... also did some weight management (scrapped the tier IV extinguishers and some armor) and managed to get another armored engine on there, which did its duty. Now I unlocked the top tier guns which saved several hundred pounds (.50 lighter than .303 for logical reasons....), so rocking top tier armor on all but nose.
Makes anything not a jet kinda hilarious. I got attacked and barely even noticed it because they got shotdown without me popping any CDs.

[Motor_Storm]

Operation ZEUS is IMPOSSIBLE

Hi,

I had no problems with difficulty until THIS mission (the one before the last one). I mean for a few other missions I had to retry max 2 times but this one omfg I tried 9 times and always fail. My bomber is fully equipped (i can't research anything anymore) and even if all the planes in the missions are spotted, all gunners on concentration and special ammo + the spitfires, they take out all my bloody engines on the way back and I fall like a bloody rock. Plus I have "reduced enemy damage" and "reduced enemy armor" bonus for this mission. Of course I alt f4 after each attempt not to loose my crew which is all level max.

I don't know what i'm doing bad since all other missions went well but this is driving me mad.

Are you experiencing the same f**kery with all the jets?

[Outis]

Good tips in this thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/537800/discussions/0/1479856439035929950/

[sherman503]

You dont need armor if you have gunners that hit every shot and destroy them in the first pass ;). Seriously with high level gunners, a bit of incendiary there, HE here, ap there, focus for all, they all go down instantly.