This mission is basically quite similar to the previous one. You will have to run around spying on the Soviet Union to learn about their plans and technology, and will have to fight them to complete your objectives. The main difference is that the Soviets won't be neutral toward you. They will attack you and if you do not defend your base, you might end up in a dead end.
To make things more interesting, there's another trick : you have a limited time to end the mission. A 60 minutes timer starts at the beginning. If it reaches 0, it means USSR and the US nuke eachother (and the rest of the World) to oblivion. Game over.
You can add time to the timer by spying on Soviet buildings, while the Soviet can shorten the countdown by spying on your own buildings. Each building of yours destroyed by the Soviet Union will also reduce the time left on the timer (at least according to the objectives: it doesn't actually seem to work that way in game).
Mission information[edit]
- Primary Objectives
- Infiltrate Soviet Territory
- Spy on Soviet Stealth Research Facility
- Steal Soviet Supersonice Bomber
- Destroy the Soviet Research Facility
- Secondary Objectives
- Gather Intel on a Soviet Workshop
- Sabotage a Soviet Hangar
- Sabotage a Soviet Market
- Gather Intel on a Soviet Barracks
- Defeat Conditions
- If the Nuclear Clock reaches zero
- Allowing Community Center to be destroyed
- Allowing the US Supersonice Bomber to be destroyed
- Factions
- United States - Blue (Player)
- Soviet Union - Red
- CCCP - Green
- USA - Yellow
- Epochs Available
- XIII - The Digital Age
Walkthrough[edit]
Oddly, despite having a timer, this mission is a bit more forgiving than others. You won't need to rush to prevent the Soviet from overwhelming you, as he's simply going to throw naval attacks at you.
As usual, set your peasants to work. For the first time, you're going to need Uranium. It is gathered just like Oil: you build an Uranium Mine on a depot and garrison six peasants inside. You don't have much Citizens at start, so it will take some time to have hire enough of them. You might need a lot of Gold in this mission, so it is a good idea to have twelve Citizens gathering this resource rather than six (there another nod in your province).
Start producing Spies as early as possible. You're going to need them to complete the mission.
The Soviet M-23 bomber is going to fly over your base and attempt to destroy some of your buildings. There's nothing you can do about it: the plane cannot be destroyed (for now). Repair and make sur the Yukon Youth Center doesn't get blown up.
The Soviet is going to attack your Docks. He will likely come with a big navy, bigger than all your small fleets. Trying to defend all your Docks is costly and time-consuming. A better solution is to gather all your ships and destroy everything that goes near your coast.
Spy Ships are going to spawn every once in a while. They can be used to carry your Spies to Soviet Territory (Pevnmosk). When you have around ten Spies ready, put them in a Spy Ship and disembark them in the Southern part of Pevnmosk.
Once you have Spies within Soviet territory, your next task is to Gather Intelligence on the Reasearch Facility. It is a big building up North, protected by a few Outposts. You might lose a few Spies while approaching, but you shouldn't have any problem doing this.
Next, you have to Sabotage an Airport, to take control of the M-23. Nothing extraordinary here again. The Airport is not far from the Facility. When the sabotage is done, the Supersonice Bomber will become yours and rush to your own base in Alaska. Unfortunately, it becomes vulnerable and might very well be destroyed by Ground to Air Missiles on the way.
There are two solutions. First, as the objective says, you can sabotage the AA defenses of the Soviet, so your plan can simply fly over them unharmed. Secondly, you can select the M-23 and move it North (where there is no Missiles) then East over the strait.
Doing so will allow you to build your own M-23. If you do, make sure the original one stays well guarded (in an empty Airport for example). If it is destroyed, you lose.
You now have to take destroy the Research Facility, but before doing so, you might want to do the secondary objectives. It is mostly about Gathering Int or Sabotaging Soviet buildings, which ain't that difficult since there's only a handful of Outposts in Smolensk. You will be asked to conduct spying operations on a Workshop, a Hangar, a Market and Barracks. Each time you do so, time will be added to the Doomsday Countdown. If you play fast, you can end up with 80 minutes on the time (while you start with only 60 minutes).
In the meanwhile, you can produce M-23's and Jet Fighters in your Airport. Two or three bombers and half a dozen Jet Fighters should be enough, despite the many Ground to Air Missiles around the Facility.
Why? Because you can simply take your pretty big navy and destroy everything within range of your Missile Cruisers, which includes a couple of anti-air missiles. When it is done, send your air fleet on the Reasearch Facility. A couple of M-23 bombs should take it down, which will end the Cold War.
Tips[edit]
- If your Spies all die, you can produce some and ship them to Smolensk. More Spy Ships will spawn throughout the mission.
- Instead of protecting your coast against incoming attacks, you can just as easily gather all your ships early on and destroy all Soviet Docks. That should put and end to naval attacks.