*Note to mods- this should be in the spoiler forum*

*Spoilers below, don't read if you don't want to*






Either ship is good for this mission. The Hawk gets more maneuverability, but the Dragon offers you a torpedo hardpoint. Torps are mostly just a waste of money during the storyline, however, properly used you can take out the battleship over Tekagi's arch from 5 or 10K away, that will sizeably reduce your threat. Do this by using thruster or cruise, then using the engine kill key and launching the torpedos from 5-10 K away. Just make sure you can see the battleship, as you'll have to aim yourself, torpedos fired in this manner don't guide themselves, however I have hit targets from as far away as 17K using this tactic. Once you've cleared the battleship use the arch's own shield to block you from some of the turrets. Just don't stay still very long, don't bother taking out more than a few of the fighters. If you delay too long 1.) Your allies will all be destroyed and 2.) You will fail the mission after a certain time. The key to this is persistance. Don't bother flying through the bottom of the arch as Ozu instructs. Use torpedos if you have to, though I managed to play all the way through to the Rheinland phase of the SP line still in the Hawk. It's a good ship. Also, if you're using mods, I highly reccomend that you play the SP missions at least once unmodded to get the true feel for them, you'll come out of it a much more competant pilot, plus its a lot more fun Good flying.

Accquire 2 Rapiers (I think they are the appropriate class) and 4 Angelito Mk2's, and be AGGRESSIVE. Attack the patrol head on, and purchase all possible sheild batteries and nanobots. If you destroy the patrol swiftly, you will conserve bots and bats for the arch. Concentrate on the sheild generators, and ignore everything else. I reccomend a Barracuda or Dragon.

Moveing to spoilers

The Arch is probably the toughest mission in the game, except perhaps the very last one. I have flow the mission in all three of the fighters listed here; the Hawk, Barracuda, and Dragon. JDawg is right, you need to avoid the fighters. Start by taking out the generator away from the battleship, and then hit the other two while keeping the base shield between you and the battleship. Then, make long, thruster powered runs on the last one, using guns and/or torps. Take out the battleship if you want, and JDawg's idea sounds very good, although I've never tried it.

It may seem daunting at first, but you can beat it.

Usually what works best for me is to concentrate only on the shield generators (about 4 of them) and forget about the other fighters. On the weapons side, you might try to get GMG blasters before this mission and outfit them on a Barracuda or a Dragon. You can find them at either Gas Miner Ogashawa (Sigma-19) or Gas Miner Naha (Sigma-13). Also outfit a torpedo launcher with enough torpedoes and a mine dispatcher that uses homing mines (you'll see, they are attracted by the generators). Also get a level 6 graviton shield and enough batteries to boost it up when it's down (get max batteries).

Good luck!
Wiz914

Do a full speed dash down below the station, then come up and destroy the generators from the reletive safty of below. They most likely won't be able to find you.

Ph34r d4 C/-//_/p4c4br4

Doesn't the lower cavity (which a BD reccomends that you utilize to position yourself in proximity to the sheilds without detection) damage your vessel quite severley? Also, it;s rather redundant, since the majority of your opponents concern themselves with the BD's. Just transit to the arch posthaste, and pump energy projectiles into the sheild generators, though you should go evasive when under the battleship's shadow.

The tunnell through the bottom of the base does no damage, its just takes longer. Andkat's right, its simply a waste of time and an attempt to revive the far superior base attack missions of Starlancer.

One more hint: Utilize Positron sheilds to compensate for the power of the Kusari Neutron/Tachyon (I can't recall which), whose damage is migitated agaisnt positron shields (unless they are additionally utilizing the Kusari Photon/Laser weapons, though I don't beleive they are).

A true statement, though I can't say that I've noticed a big difference in damage taken when you use a shield with a bonus toward certain weapons. I've got an inkling that the defense bonuses were removed before the game was released. I simply don't feel secure unless I'm packing the shield with the most hit points.

Can anyone search the game/inis/microsoft to decipher if bonuses/penalties still apply? Honestly, why would they bother removing it, it ruins many tactical possibilites, and neutralizes the purpose of Positron/Molecular levels (until you require lvl 9-10 sheilds, since lvl 9-10 graviton doesn't exist in unmodded SP).

I found that the easiest way to complete this mission is to KO the battleship. If you don't want to waste money on torpedoes, fly near the capship and cut your engines near a place where the ship surrounds most of your own. The turrets will focus on your allies if you do this right. Fire at the battleship at point-blank with your guns. If you move quicky enough, this missoin's ridiculously easy. As long as there's allied fighters around, they draw fire from the enemy fighters. If you have anything in the way of a descent shield, you don't even need to evade the hostiles. Focus on the shield generators and it's a cakewalk.