Fort Condor is located in the Junon area, near the back entrance to the Mythril Mine. It's easily accessible from Junon (though a river appears there later in the game).
The basic problem is this: Folks at Fort Condor are waging war against Shinra, who seem to be hell bent on conquering back their precious Mako reactor. The Fort folks merely want to protect the giant condor who is nesting on top of the reactor.
So you're going to spend money on a gigantic warfare simulation. You can either let the folks fight it out themselves, or command the troops yourself. The gameplay isn't too deep, but it's an interesting and fun real-time strategy minigame.
When to play
Fort Condor is an interesting minigame, and you can access it in various parts of the journey on CD 1 and CD 2.
Shinra attacks the fort a total of 17 times, which are as follows:
- When you first reach Fort Condor. Rewarded with Magic Comb.
- After saving Priscilla and resting at that old person's house. Rewarded with Peace Ring.
- Before going to Upper Junon. Rewarded with Tincture (Ether).
- After getting the Buggy, but before it breaks down. Rewarded with Megalixer.
- After finishing the storyline events in Cosmo Canyon. Rewarded with nothing. Says five potions, but it's false.
- After getting the Tiny Bronco. Rewarded with same as above.
- After getting the Keystone from Dio. Rewarded with Superball.
- After finishing the storyline events in the Temple of the Ancients. Rewarded with 3 Turbo Ethers.
- After finishing the storyline events in the Forgotten Capital. Rewarded with 3 Turbo Ethers.
- Not possible. You cannot reach Fort Condor at the time Shinra attacks.
- Not possible. You cannot reach Fort Condor at the time Shinra attacks.
- Not possible. You cannot reach Fort Condor at the time Shinra attacks.
- Not possible. You cannot reach Fort Condor at the time Shinra attacks.
- Not possible. You cannot reach Fort Condor at the time Shinra attacks.
- After getting the Highwind. Rewarded with nothing.
- Not possible. You cannot reach Fort Condor at the time Shinra attacks.
- The Final Battle. Mandatory. See Walkthrough. Rewarded with Huge Materia and Pheonix if won. Also Imperial Gaurd if fought and won CMD Grand Horn (LVL 37).
You only need to fight battle number 17 to recover the Huge Materia, but it is probably better to fight (and win) some of the other battles, as they will yield some very useful items. If you are ever short on funds, consider selling a mastered All materia.
Units
The various units are as follows
| Name | HP | Attack | Range | Cost (gil) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter | 200 | 30 | 1 | 400 | No weaknesses and no strengths |
| Attacker | 180 | 25 | 1 | 420 | Good against beasts; Bad against barbarians. |
| Defender | 220 | 35 | 1 | 440 | Good against barbarians; Bad against wyverns. |
| Shooter | 160 | 20 | 1–3 | 520 | Good against wyverns; Bad against beasts. |
| Repairer | 160 | 10 | 1 | 480 | Can repair war machines; Weak attack and defense |
| Worker | 160 | 15 | 1 | 400 | Can set a mine. Weak attack and defense. |
| Stoner | 100 | 20 | 1–4 | 480 | Cannot move or rotate once deployed. Rolls down one stone down a preset path. |
| Tristoner | 150 | 30 | 1–5 | 1000 | Cannot move or rotate once deployed. Rolls down three stones down a preset path (wider attack area than with Stoner.) |
| Catapult | 100 | 18 | 1–5 | 480 | Can be re-aimed during combat. Launches boulders at a given spot. |
| Fire Catapult | 120 | 25 | 1–6 | 600 | Can be re-aimed during combat. Launches flaming boulders at a given spot, giving a wider attack area. |
Enemies
| Name | HP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beast | 180 | The equivalent of an ally's Defender. Strong against Shooters; weak against Attackers. |
| Barbarian | 130 | The equivalent of an ally's Shooter. Strong against Attackers; weak against Defenders. |
| Wyvern | 140 | The equivalent of an ally's Attacker. Strong against Defenders; weak against Shooters. |
| Commander | 280 | Combat will end if defeated. |
Controls
| Windows | PlayStation 2 | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| PgUp | Speed up the battle. | |
| PgDn | Slow down the battle. |
Basic strategies
Note that you can only deploy your units on the top half of the battlefield.
If money is no object, set up two tristoners on the left path (few units try to go this way usually and these are easily rebuilt), two on the very far right, and three tristoners on the middle. Place the multiple ones on top of each other; this way, if the enemy is destroying the lower one, it's getting hit on the head by the one above. Just above the line, deploy some Defenders and perhaps a few Shooters as well. Shooters are good to be placed right above Tristoners as well.
Another strategy it to deploy one Tristoner in the middle, one on the left. Put a fire catapult in the middle skewed left (so you can shift its direction to cover the middle or the left) another fire catapult in the middle skewed far right, this one can again cover middle or right but favors right (since it is the only artillery for that avenue).
Put one defender on each corner, two defenders in the middle, and a final defender at the far right catapult (he can be exchanged with either a middle or right defender so that oen can go be repaired). Then add in one repairer in the middle, one on the far left. Fill in the remaining space with shooters, 2–3 covering each corner the rest in the middle.
Use the defenders as meat shields that the repairers can fix up after a fight (except when a barbarian is attacking, then allow him to pull forward). Keep the shooters condensed just behind the defender, make sure to adjust the direction of your catapults for where the bulk of enemies are attacking.
Shooters are great as well. In fact, if all of your allies are shooters, you will be guaranteed a win. If your max count is 20, put eight shooters in the middle, six on the left side, and six on the right. These placements are just above the red line. When finished, start the game and put speed on lowest (for now). In the middle section of eight, put four in one spot, and the other four in the spot right next to the other four. Same goes for the left and right sides of six. Two spots of three next to each other. Put speed back to full and whenever an enemy approaches, your shooters will kill them very quickly. When you finish them, except the boss, put speed back to 1 and put all of your shooters in the middle in the two spots of four shooters so its ten and ten. Before the boss lands a hit, it's dead. You will end up getting 4,000 Gil after battle and whatever item left off the field. In the last battle, let the boss come to the house and defeat him with Cloud and company. You will get Imperial Guard, EXP, Gil, Phoenix Materia and Huge Materia.