Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War/Act 1

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Eve of Destruction

Advancement conditions:

• Protect the GTC Orff (Delta wing arrives)

Objectives:

• Protect the GTC Orff (Delta wing arrives)
• Ensure no hostiles escape (Virgo, Cancer, Aries, Pisces, and Leo)

This is a simple mission, where you engage enemy waves. To get you used to the combat, these ships are damaged when the arrive, due to them being remnants of a previous combat. By default, they will try to engage the Orff, but the presence of you and your wingman may cause them to attack you instead. Of these fighters, only Aries 3 or Pisces 3 will try targeting you if you are relatively unscathed.

There are five waves of enemies:

• Virgo wing (2 PVF Anubis) at 40% hull. Appears around 30 seconds into the mission.
• Cancer wing (2 PVF Anubis) at 30% hull. Appears 10 seconds after Virgo 1 or Virgo 2 are destroyed.
• Aries (3 PVF Anubis) at 35% hull. Appears 15 seconds after Cancer 1 is destroyed, or 8 seconds after Cancer 2 is destroyed.
• Pisces (3 PVF Anubis) at 50% hull. Appears 13 seconds after Aries wing is destroyed
• Leo (3 PVF Anubis). Appears in hard difficulty or higher, 12 seconds after Aries 1 is destroyed.

These enemies are easy to easy to destroy due to their limited health. As they will try focusing on the Orff, they will be in range of the Orff's guns and will be destroyed easily. On medium difficulty or lower, you need to destroy four wings. On Hard, five wings. After all wings are destroyed, Delta will arrive and you can return to base.

You should keep the Orff's hull above 70%. If not, the Vasudan Ace in the next mission will not appear.

The Field of Battle

Objectives:

• Destroy All Vasudan Wings (Aries, Cancer, Pisces, Virgo)
• Destroy Vasudan Ace (Reward: Distinguished Flying Cross)

There are four wings to destroy. To find them, you will need to approach one of the "blips" on the radar. If you don't reach a ship in 50 seconds, Alpha 2 will automatically head towards Cancer wing.

You will fight against four wings of enemies: Aries, Cancer, Pisces, and Virgo. Each wing consists of 3 PVF Anubis.

There is also a Vasudan Ace in the area, flying a PVF Seth. It will arrive after you defeat three waves in the area, but it won't appear if you took 50% damage on normal or easier, or if the Orff got reduced to 70% health in the previous mission. Destroying the ace rewards the Distinguished Flying Cross.

If you have trouble with this mission, you can warp out at any time. However, doing so will add a turret to a freighter in the next mission.

Small Deadly Space

Advancement condition:

• Destroy Vasudan freighters, or destroy reinforcement ships

Objectives:

• Secure area until Orff arrives (Destroy Aries, Virgo, Cancer, wait for Orff)
• Destroy reinforcement ships (Pisces)
• Protect the cargo containers.
• Eliminate all Vasudan freighters.
• Find Weapon Prototype (Cargo 2)

If needed, you can call Delta for reinforcements.

In this mission, you need to secure a cargo depot. It is initially protected by two fighter wings, Aries (3 PVF Anubis), and Cancer (2 PVF Anubis). If the freighters take enough damage, or if Aries 1 or 2 gets destroyed, Virgo reinforces (2 PVF Anubis) and attacks.

There are two Freighters in the area. One will pick up a cargo and leave, while the other will simply patrol. Both will attempt to flee the instant they're attacked. As such, you can focus on the fighters first, and focus the attacks on the freighters. When they start to flee, their departure appears to be linked to travelling to a specific point in the area.

If you fail to destroy the freighters, Pieces wing (2 PVF) will arrive and attack.

When Omega docks with the cargo, Scorpio (3 PVF Anubis, max 4 waves) will arrive and attack. Once Orff arrives, Scorpio will stop reinforcing and you can depart. Although you can depart earlier, doing so causes a wave of fighters to arrive early on the next mission, and prevents you from capturing the Rasputin.

Avenging Angels

Advancement condition:

• Omega captured

Objectives:

• Disable and capture the Omega.
• Destroy all enemy fighters (Cancer, Aries, Traitors Alpha, Traitors Beta)
• Disable and capture the Rasputin

Delta will also arrive if 60% of Alpha/Beta get destroyed. Also, if certain ships in Alpha and Beta wings are destroyed, you can call Epsilon wing as reinforcements.

Your mission is to disable Omega to recapture the Avenger prototype. In this case, Omega will follow a waypoint, and depart should it reach the end of the path. When you disabled Omega and GTT Comet docks to capture it, Traitors Beta will try destroying Omega.

Traitors Alpha (2 GTF Apollo) and Traitors Beta (2 GTF Apollo) are likely the first enemies you will fight against.

Aries (2 PVF Horus, 1 PVB Osiris) will guard Rasputin if present.

Cancer (3 PVF Anubis) arrives if Rasputin is reduced to 70% health, if Rasputin departs, so does Cancer.

Rasputin is an Isis transport, which will try to flee if there's a problem. Capturing Rasputin rewards you with the Commendation Medal.

Virgo (3 PVF Anubis) arrives when the Comet does. They will attack Omega.

If you missed a freighter from the previous mission, you can find them here.

Out of the Dark, Into the Night

Advancement Condition:

• Escort Plato (escape pod)

Objectives:

• Escort Plato (Plato)
• Visually identify the unknown ships (get within 300 units of an unknown)
• Kill the Unknown Fighter (One of Unknown 5, 6, 7 or 8)

Before you start the mission, you will want to change your loadout. Replace one of the ML-15s with a disruptor (for extra shield damage per second), and ensure your secondary weapon is the Fury Missile. In addition, you may want to switch to the GTF Valkerie as that gives a slightly tighter missile spread.

Aries will attack the Plato within 40 seconds. They are easy defeated, but in case they cause trouble (e.g. two of your wingmen are downed), Delta will arrive to help. This assistance won't be available once the Taurus arrives.

Virgo and Taurus arrives around the 2 minute mark. They are soon followed by four unknowns, who will start attacking your enemy. Although you are instructed to get a visual on the unknown, you can simply continue with the escort (as said objective activated on the next wave appearing near the Plato.)

25 seconds after the Taurus is destroyed, the Unknowns will attack Plato. When the Plato is destroyed, all but one depart. Although you can engage them, it's best to have them try finishing off Plato as soon as possible, as the vessel is scripted to never depart. When Plato is down to 20% hull, it will release the escape pod.

When the Plato Escape pod leaves, you have 100 seconds to destroy the straggling unknown. Your ML-15 laser is ineffective against the shields, but peppering it with the Fury missile can break down the shield and cause damage.

Paving the Way

Advancement condition:

• Escort the Galatea to the Jump Node

Goals:

• Escort the Galatea to the Jump Node

Secondary goals:

• Ensure Galatea Hull Remains Above 50%

This is an escort mission, where you need to guide the Galatea through the asteroid field. It will be slightly harder if you didn't capture Omega in the previous mission, or if the Rasputin is still at large, as that reduces the Galatea's hull by 17%.

The Galatea and Alpha 2 can complete the mission by themselves, but you will want to assist if you want the secondary objective. You need to target any asteroid in white brackets, as those are on a collision course to the Galatea. As this is an aggressive asteroid field, such rocks are nudged towards any large ship.

About 5 minutes into the mission, two shivan bombers arrive. Alpha 2 will keep them occupied, but they may sometimes launch a bomb. At 7 minutes into the mission, the Galatea will depart.

Some walkthroughs have mentioned removing the Galatea from the escort list. This does not work, as the asteroids still target large ships, and those asteroids will not be marked (and thus won't be targeted by the AI.)

If you killed the unknown in the previous mission, as well as kept the Galatea's Hull above 50%, you will receive the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Pandora's Box

Advancement Condition:

• Shivan trap sprung ("Alpha wing! We've been set up! It's a trap!")

Goals:

• Destroy All Sentry Guns
• Investigate any remaining cargo (SC 5 32, SC 5 34, SC 5 35, SC 5 37)
• Use your sensors to scan the Shivan Cargo Containers (Impossible)

As you approach the cargo depot, single shivan fighters will warp in, take a few potshots, then disengage. They're just here to set the mood.

When you approach the cargo depot, the various containers will self destruct, and enemies will arrive. Once this happens, you need to scan the cargo containers, then escape. While the trap is sprung, the shivan fighters will attack the wingmen first. When they are downed, they'll turn the first towards you. As such, you should scan the cargo as quickly as possible.

The Hammer and the Anvil

Advancement condition:

• Escort at least shield prototype

This mission requires you to escort three shields, and you now have the resources to engage the shivans. They can now be targeted, and your weapon can now break through their shields.

Your enemies are as follows:

• Arjuna (2 SF Basilisk, 2 waves): After 60 seconds.
• Krishna (4 SF Basilisk, 2 waves): 20 seconds after Chatter 2. Will appear about 1100 units infront of Theta 2.
• Rama (3 SF Scorpion, 2 waves): 27 Seconds after Krishna destroyed, or 160 seconds after Krishna arrives.
• Durga (4 SF Basilisk, 4 waves): 25 Seconds after Rama destroyed, or 220 seconds after Rama arrives.
• Pi (3 PVF Anubis) and Mu (2 PVF Seth): 25 seconds after Durga destroyed, or 150 seconds after Durga arrives. These ships will pull a ruse and join the escort, broken as soon as Omicron warps a moment later. However, if Galatea got damaged a few missions earlier, they will simply do a direct attack without the ruse.

During the mission, you will see a distant ship calling for help, being chased by the Hammer of Light. This is a distraction, going for it will not only cause additional shivans to appear, but also encourages them to explicitly target the convoy.

The Darkness and the Light

Advancement condition:

• Shivans arrive
• Taranis not destroyed

First, attack and destroy one of the freighters to get a bonus objective, as the current fighters present are equipped with weaker weapons.

To progress the mission, attack Aries wing, which are weak fighters without shields. Next is Virgo wing, who are shielded and arrive in two waves. The cargo containers simply contain various supplies, and thus should be destroyed.

Although the mission briefing instructs you to capture Ramses, it should be ignored due to later events in the mission. Simply destroy the cargo as requested.

The Taranis arrives about 3 minutes 15 seconds into the mission, and when it does, it will attack the Ramses.

First Strike

Advancement condition:

• Taranis captured

Your task is to disable and disarm the Taranis. To do so, your default loadout contains a disruptor and stiletto bombs. You can engage the fighters as required, and call Delta for reinforcements.

First, you will want to strip the weapons from the Cruiser. Cycle through the turrets using  K , and focus on ones that you can easily hit with the disruptor. Some of its turrets have already taken damage, thus some of the work has been done for you.

When it gets close to the jump node, you will need to disable the engines. The engine subsystem is reachable from the top of the vessel, and you can use two stiletto bomb pairs and a basic rake of the disruptor to immobilize it. Because of the time required to transport the vessel for capture, you want it as close as possible to the jump node before it escapes.

When the cruiser is neutralized, the fighter escort will depart. Omega 1 and 2 will attempt to dock, but fail to do so. However, the wave of enemies will start, up two seven waves of Rama (4 SF Basilisk) and Vishnu (2 SF Scorpion).