Game balance: Defend the Huari Temple mission

[pixelfck]

Is it just me, or is the Defend the (first) Huari Temple mission 'a bit' harder because of the ship compartments?

I happily gave it a try, yesterday with the following equipment:
4 segments of Orthosteel armor +ion
2 light side-mounted ion blasters
Thermo cannon +10%
Thermo shell nanofac
Orkan Launcher (Orkan 255 missiles, lots of them)
2 patch spiders
Yoroi MX shield generator +30%
Longreach I autocannon

Since I know the mission is hard, I went in guns blazing, spewing missiles as fast as my launcher would let me. Yet, even while I thought my offensive equipment somewhat overpowered for the level, I wasn't even close to beating the fleet of Sung ships in time. (I didn't have a Gem of Contrition, but I'm not sure I would have been able to complete the mission even then.)

What do others think about this mission, is it me? or should it be toned down somewhat?

Regards,
Pixelfck

[PM]

Is this the entire Sung fleet in Huaramarca? If so, this mission has always been overwhelming without access to specific equipment, namely Ares micronukes and possibly immoblizers like gems of contrition or scramble cubes. The easiest way to crush the fleet is to get both Ares micronuke cannon and Ares launcher, and spam double micronukes at the fleet while they are still clumped together. To answer your question, yes, interiors makes the mission harder. To me, that means do not do the mission until I get micronukes and more immobilizers.

I remember one time, before 1.1, I used +150% IM90, one scramble cube, and lots of M5 missiles, and I barely won the mission (temple at over 90% damage).

[Song]

I *have* beaten the mission before in a legit game, but cannot remember how. Probably massive nuke spam....I remember that I backtracked to it later, at least.

[PM]

If the player does not backtrack and gets this mission, he will probably fail. To succeed in this mission, the player needs to prepare for it, and probably needs overleveled crowd control weapons to win. The reward of this mission is great though - loot inside lots and LOTS of Sung wrecks, excellent as raw material for the Teraton fabricator.

The other mission alternatives are nowhere near as difficult as the Sung fleet attack.

[sun1404]

Once, I farmed Phobos until I got an APA, and backtrack to Huaramarca prepared for the Dragon Slaver. Then I took the wrong choice somewhere and got the invading fleet instead.

Imagine the frustration.

Wish I had at least taken a Fracture Cannon instead. Would've been fun.

[Bruno]

I recall doing a pretty good job at this mission once, using the enhanced Akan 600 turret I got from Dvalin, with a few extra enhancers added on for more power. That, and a NAMI launcher with Stiletto and Lucifer missiles.

It's probably tougher now with the improved Earth Slavers.

[Song]

Yes, Earth Slavers always used to be quite an easy kill once you got the right gun...not so much now (although a Fracture should still do nicely).

[Ultimate Chicken]

When I beat the mission, it was because the attack fleet spawned from the direction of the asteroid field blocking the Temple, so only like 3 ships could attack at any time. I lost 1 building that isn't the Temple.

In this same scenario tho, the Dragon Slaver proved too much for me and I had to Shatter it.

[Song]

When I beat the mission, it was because the attack fleet spawned from the direction of the asteroid field blocking the Temple, so only like 3 ships could attack at any time. I lost 1 building that isn't the Temple.

In this same scenario tho, the Dragon Slaver proved too much for me and I had to Shatter it.

I think I've killed the attack fleet with Shatter + GoC + missile spam before.

[FourFire]

Is there a writeup about what the different options while in the trance do?

I've only ever attempted Huarmarca once, and then I didn't succeed.

[Song]

Is there a writeup about what the different options while in the trance do?

I've only ever attempted Huarmarca once, and then I didn't succeed.

I'm reasonably confident that all the options end in failure. I'm not 100% certain though.

[pixelfck]

I'm reasonably confident that all the options end in failure. I'm not 100% certain though.

Nah,
Some of the missions can definately be completed, they are not all of equal difficulty.

***** SPOLIER ALERT *****









There are three paths, each of a different diffeculty.

• defend the Huari
  The Dragon slaver, 20 Earth slaves, (an avarage of) 26 Wind slaver and an additional 30 Wind slavers at the gate
• destory the Sung citadel
  The Dragon slaver, 4 Earth slavers (an avarage of) 12 Wind slavers + 1 Steel slaver.
  (you get support of (an avarage of) 2 Hurin Destroyers).
• destroy the Dragon slaver
  The Dragon slaver

Cheers,
Pixelfck

[sun1404]

I think by 'failure' he means you don't pass apotamo's test, thereby are not their god.

The hallucination trial is to decide if you're their god or something like that, right? And no matter what option you choose, you would fail (apotamo would say he's disappointed, you're not the something-or-other)

[PM]

The Solti bit is a red herring (player is never the Solti); the purpose of the dream is (an opaque) mission/difficulty select.

Yes, Shatter can shatter the Sung fleet, but that defeats the purpose of selecting that mission (if you know which missions the options select) - a massive loot pile. If player cannot win against the Sung fleet, he should pick 'destroy Sung base'.

Dragon Slaver only is the worst mission because player gets no loot beyond what the Dragon Slaver carries.

The Dragon Slaver is easy - it will always focus on the playership, ignoring all else. If player cannot beat it, or just feels like fighting it is beneath him, just sit in building and let the Hurin destroyers kill it. Just like letting Starton's guards kill Arco. In case of destroy Sung base, it will defend the base, but after it the base is gone, it goes into revenge mode and hunts the base's killer.

However, if the mission difficulty is not adjusted, I think it is a good idea for the default options to select 'destroy Sung base'. Player who defaults on all options will get 'kill Sung fleet', and unless he is prepared/knows-what-to-do, he will fail.

[PM]

Just posted the dream map.

As for lowering the fleet difficulty, maybe the count of the Earth Slavers can be reduced from four per building to three or even two.