Fight for Earth Mission Failing Mysteriously

[whuppy]

I'm on my first playthrough, on Beginner, and I've gotten to the big showdown. Now, my problem isn't that I'm getting my ass kicked, it's that the mission fails mysteriously just as the action gets underway.

On a typical attempt, around the time I get Angel through the Gamma Relay the mission zooms out and I get the failure screen telling me I failed to Wait for Angel and Colossus Must Survive. (And no, nobody was even within range of the Big C.) Sometime it happens before the relays are destroyed, sometime it's after. I've only had about 2 out of 30 or so attempts when it kept playing long enough to deliver a proper beating unto me.

Any idea what's going on? What, exactly, does "Wait for Angel" mean and how might I be failing to do it? Is it something else? Anything I can do about it?

Thanks!

[GeoModder]

You didn't say you destroyed all Earth ships on their way to the relay satellites. Did they perhaps destroy them after Angel went through?
Or did Colossus' anti-mech shield went down for some reason? If you play in any mode except focused mode this can happen. The other modes can do weird things to your commands.

[whuppy]

No, I didn't destroy all the Earth ships, but even when I kept the Gamma Relay alive and the Angelwing chilling out next to it I still got the mysterious zoomout and fail. I didn't see the anti-mech shield go down, but I'll keep the Colossus on Focused Mode and see if that helps. Thanks!

[whuppy]

I kept Colossus in Defensive Mode and enjoyed being slowly whittled away until Angelwing somehow found herself in the middle of a giant hairball and was quickly destroyed. Thanks for your help!

[Rhophius]

Try this out, this is what i did...

Loadouts:

-[ Angelwing ]-
You need some hull damaging weapons. If you've followed my suggestions, you
have them, otherwise add some Nova Plasma Guns or Anti-G Railguns. You should
also have two wings of Flash Fighters, or a wing of Flash Fighters and a wing
of Sycthe Gunboats. (Note: Do NOT use the squadrons in this mission, we need
them for the next mission!). Swap Advanced Sensors for Palantir Sensors

-[ Brutus ]-
Swap Energy Skeeter for Delektron Shell

-[ Sparta ]-
Swap Jamming Shield for Integrity Shield, Energy Skeeter for Delektron Shell

-[ Avalanche ]-
Swap 2x LaserGlobe Flak System for 2x LaserNet Flak System

-[ Guardian ]-
Swap 2x Magma Plasma Gun for 2x Nova Plasma Gun

-[ Colossus ]-
Swap Crisis Energy Torpedo for 1x Volcano Plasma Gun, Pulsar Missile for 1x
Volcano Plasma Gun, Eliminator Torpedo for Anti-G Railgun, Battle FireCloud
Generator for Battle FireStorm Generator

-[ Sceptre ]-
Make the weapons loadout the following: 2x Anti-G Railgun, 2x Bubble Energy
Shell, 2x Volcano Plasma Gun. Swap Layer Shield for Integrity Shield

-[ Crystal ]-
Make the weapons loadout the following: 4x Volcano Plasma Gun, 4x Bubble Energy
Shell

-[ ALL SHIPS ]-
If you have extra RPs on any ships, add Fighter Squadrons or Gunboats. The
weapons take priority here, so make sure you have all my above loadouts first.
Just spend extras RPs Fighters, it'll help. They're not necessary, just
helpful, so don't freak if you can't add any.


-> Get Angel to a Relay Station so she can transmit herself to Earth
-> The Angelwing MUST survive
-> The Colossus MUST survive

This is definitely another one of those multiple-restart-and-curse-everything
missions. There is no easy way to beat this mission. The only thing I can tell
you is for one, you must protect the Colossus or it's mission failed. Also, the
only strategy here is to DESTROY EVERYTHING. As quickly as possible. All enemy
reinforcements come through the Entity Wormhole (more on that later) and when
they arrive, their shields are down. This is important. We're going to move our
ships close to the wormhole and set up a blockade. Whenever new ships jump in,
you must absolutely try to kill the biggest off first and as quickly as
possible. Since their shields are down, this should be somewhat easier.

Let's talk about the enemy forces you're going to encounter. There's a total of
five fleets you're going to have to deal with, one consisting of 8 Earth ships
is already here (they have no shields). Then, the following arrive:

-> Gorg Fleet (1 Battleship and some other ships)
-> Noah Fleet (6 Battleships)
-> Gorg Fleet (2 Battleships and more)
-> Vardrag Fleet (3 ships)

You get reinforcements in this mission. The Warcry jumps in right after the
first Gorg fleet does. Bring it up to the front lines and make use of it. It's
extremely slow though, so it probably won't make it until the Noah fleet
arrives. Also, depending on how badly you're getting beat up, you'll get a
Vardrag ship under your control and other reinforcements.

First things first, we need to get Angel to Earth. Relay Station Delta is our
best bet, but it's pretty far away. Set the Angelwings engines to 200% and have
it head for Delta. Once Angel has been transmitted to Earth, the relay stations
are no longer needed. It does not matter if they get destroyed.

Take your remaining ships (leave the Colossus where it is) and move them
towards the Entity Wormhole. DO NOT LET THEM GET TOO CLOSE. If they get too
close to it, (like 3k or less I think) they'll get sucked in, and you can't use
them anymore. That's bad. Stop them about 8k away from it, and leave them there
on aggressive. Keep an eye on them and power up shields or weapons as needed.
All enemy ships come through the wormhole.

Once the Angelwing gets Angel to Earth, have the Angelwing start mopping up the
infected Earth ships around here. There's 8 of them, remember, but they have no
shields and the Angelwing should have no problems taking them out. Once you've
blown them all to bits, have the Angelwing rejoin your main fleet, but remember
not to let it get sucked into the wormhole.

Now, with your main group of ships, it helps to set weapons to 200%, because
you seriously need all the firepower you can muster. You must ALWAYS take out
the biggest ships first, from the earliest wave. So that means, battleships
first. Then cruisers, and really...screw the gunboats. They're just annoying.
REMEMBER. BIGGEST SHIPS FIRST.

Now once Angel gets to Earth, a Gorg fleet will jump in, try to take out the
battleships before shields come up. Pound them down, ignoring the smaller ships
for now.

Soon, 6 Noah battleships will jump in. You have to take these guys down quick,
they have energy torpedoes (knock shields down, bad) and they also have a huge
flash and blast radius, which gets annoying quickly. If you have any squadrons,
pause the game first. Select each squadron from each ship and have it guard its
mothership. They'll help you shoot down the energy torpedoes, which is always a
plus. The Colossus has several squadrons, assign them to guard your ships that
are in battle.

After half of the Noah fleet is dead, another Gorg fleet jumps in with two
battleships and some other ships. Finish off the Noah ships before turning on
the Gorg battleships. Pound them down. Once that fleet is half dead, a Vardrag
fleet will warp in consisting of 3 ships. Once the Gorg battleships are dead,
screw everything else and focus on the Vardrag ships. They are powerful and
they hurt a bunch, so prioritize them.

Survive all the ships, and the Entity will flee... and it's...

MISSION COMPLETE!

[whuppy]

Thanks! I've read the walkthrough. I'll have more to say about it after a few more tries, but it seems that not messing with Colossus' mode was the key to my problem.

So now all I have to do is stay close to each other and the wormhole to concentrate fire on the emerging ships, but stay away from the wormhole so nobody gets sucked in and stay away from each other so enemy missiles don't wipe us out all at once.

Oh, and concentrate fire on the big ships because they do the most damage but also make sure the small ships don't slip through to make quick work of the Colossus.

A-and use lots of fighters but make sure they're nowhere near enemy missile explosions.

Oh wait I almost forgot! Mop up the initial unshielded Terrans with the Angelwing and also use the Angelwing's considerable firepower for the main furball at the wormhole.

Easy peasy!

[whuppy]

Now that I've saved the Earth, here are a few hints:

Send Angelwing to Gamma Relay. Then have her destroy the two Terrans there before rejoining the main fleet at the wormhole.

Detach Sparta and Brutus into their own squadron and have them mop up the other pairs of Terran ships attacking the other relays before rejoining the main furball at the wormhole.

Send the rest of the fleet to the wormhole. Have them destroy the pair of Terrans that are on the way there.

You've got a metric ton of fighters and bombers. Don't split them up. Have them attack one target at a time. This overwhelms their defenses and is rock-solid naval doctrine since WW2.

When you're attacking devices, prioritize disabling enemy ships' engines. You don't want anyone slipping past you to make quick work of the Colossus. Once they're dead in the water you can worry about them later. After that, focus on point defense and the shield generator.

The deadliest ships coming out of the wormhole will be the Terran missile boats. They can devastate multiple ships at once. They will often move behind the wormhole. Very annoying. Put everything else on hold when they show up and focus on each of them one at a time. And try not to fall into the wormhole while you do it! Angelwing and the Brutus/Sparta squadron may be in the best position to get them if they go behind the wormhole.

Maybe I don't have a good idea for how many enemy missiles were shot down but there really seems to be no counter for missiles and torpedoes in this scenario. If you're lucky you'll be close to some Gorgs who'll also take damage.

The shield and damage bars look small on the Vardrag ships but they actually felt the toughest to bring down. They're slow though so you can stay clear of them while killing everyone else first.

The action is fast and fluid. Be ready to pause and micromanage. I followed the walkthrough's advice to target the big ships first. That worked for me, but usually I'm a believer in taking down the smaller nuisances quickly.

When your Gorg and Terran reinforcements show up, set their engines to 200% so they don't miss out on all the fun.

Thanks for the advice! Good luck!

[Player333676]

Originally posted by whuppy:

I'm on my first playthrough, on Beginner, and I've gotten to the big showdown. Now, my problem isn't that I'm getting my ass kicked, it's that the mission fails mysteriously just as the action gets underway.

On a typical attempt, around the time I get Angel through the Gamma Relay the mission zooms out and I get the failure screen telling me I failed to Wait for Angel and Colossus Must Survive. (And no, nobody was even within range of the Big C.) Sometime it happens before the relays are destroyed, sometime it's after. I've only had about 2 out of 30 or so attempts when it kept playing long enough to deliver a proper beating unto me.

Any idea what's going on? What, exactly, does "Wait for Angel" mean and how might I be failing to do it? Is it something else? Anything I can do about it?

Thanks!

I just realized why the mission sometimes mysteriously fails: When the Colossus gets hit by anti-shield torpedoes (or gets caught in the blast radius), its anti-Mechanoid shield gets depleted. You don't see this in the main UI, you have to check your systems view. When that shield reaches zero, you fail the mission. So keep the Colossus away from enemy anti-shield torpedoes, and set its shield system to max power.

[Deadly Shadows]

I've noticed the mission just end for various reasons, if I changed stance and I have heavy energy support items on Colosuss such as advance targeting system, maybe Torsion Colossus can't handle the power needed and the shield goes down, well that's the theory. The second is if Colossus gets hit by a lot of Ion bombs, Overcharge bombs, Rad bombs or whatever they bring the shield down of Colosuss which is isn't really a shield but you get my point. And since the Colosuss has some ant-mech shield if it goes down then I assume the mech move in and kill you, hence why the mission ends when Colosuss shield goes down.