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6.12 TOD3 M1/5 - Planetary Strike (Moon)
6.12.1 Overview
6.12.2 Events
6.12.3 Strategy
6.13 TOD3 M2/5 - Search and Destroy (Covert Fleet)
6.13.1 Overview
6.13.2 Events
6.13.3 Strategy
6.13.4 Artifact: Karanian Mark IV Reactor
6.14 TOD3 M3/5 - Tactical Strike (Antis)
6.14.1 Overview
6.14.2 Events
6.14.3 Strategy
6.14.4 Artifact: Trans-Matrix Cloaking Device
6.15 TOD3 M4/5 - Defense Shield (Starpath)
6.15.1 Overview
6.15.2 Events
6.15.3 Strategy
6.16 TOD3 M5/5 - Tactical Escort (Falkerie)
6.16.1 Overview
6.16.2 Events
6.16.3 Strategy
6.16.4 Artifact: Phased Array Ion Disruptor
6.16.5 Artifact: Just Another Cyborg

6.12 TOD3 M1/5 - Planetary Strike (Moon)

6.12.1 Overview

6.12.2 Events

An Insurgent fleet will attack Genesis station. It needs to be repelled. There are some cloaked Insurgents ships marked Unknown Contact lurking. Once your battlecruiser enters the battle, the ECV-Defiance will drop a pod containing 8 OTS missiles (nukes). Once the battle is over, you may use these to attack Insurgent bases on the surface of the Moon.

6.12.3 Strategy

Ignore the orders to attack the Insurgent bases initially, and defend Genesis against the attacking Insurgent fleet. No special tactics, just jump close to the station and start blasting away :-) . Throw your interceptors into the battle if you wish, but expect them to come back damaged. The secondary objectives are hard to complete. You may see one Unknown Contact rush headlong towards Genesis station at the start and get destroyed before you have a chance to engage it. To get the bonus, *you* must destroy it. The other Unknown Contact carrier may remain cloaked and simply launch fighters, making it hard to find in the heat of battle. If you want to try and meet the secondary objectives you probably need to be in Moon region at the very start, and even then may need to make several attempts.

Send a shuttle out to pick up the pod the ECV-Defiance drops. Bring the missiles therein back to your battlecruiser. You now have a choice between making money or experience. If you still need money, ignore the orders and trade the OTS missiles at Genesis - you will make about 10 million credits. Alternatively, Observe the Moon, find some of the TER/INS mission zones, locate compounds with a high proportion of military targets (ground units, launch pads, etc), not primarily civilian compounds (factories, offices, etc), and drop a nuke on each of them. One can happily gain 10,000 experience points.

There is no specific mission bonus or negative consequence related to attacking the bases. There is no need to attack every Terran Insurgent compound on the Moon. Do not consider ground operations - you do not have time. The primary aim of the mission is to defend Genesis.

6.13 TOD3 M2/5 - Search and Destroy (Covert Fleet)

6.13.1 Overview

6.13.2 Events

There are three hostile Zelon military ships labelled "Unknown Contact" in Romus IV, Trenis. One, a Firestorm carrier is cloaked. It also carries the Karanian Mark IV Reactor (see below). You have two allies. Alin Tin's ship UCV-Melanix starts in Darain, and will patrol the circle of five systems that make up Credian space. Jack Dearth's GCV-Mandrake starts in Scorpia and will conduct a similar patrol. The Zelon ships will attack whoever finds them first.

6.13.3 Strategy

You can let your allies find the Zelon fleet first. If you want all the kills (which in theory are required to maximise the mission bonuses) it helps if you attack first. This probably means starting the mission in Romus IV. Zelon Military ships are neutral (blue radar contacts) at the start of this mission. The larger of three ships, the Firestorm, will cloak and launch fighter(s) at you. Once you have destroyed the fighters it should attack you, at which point destroy it. With an upgraded battlecruiser this is quite an easy battle, so long as you don't get caught out and attacked from the rear. Send a shuttle to grab the Karanian Mark IV Reactor the Firestorm drops.

The other two Zelon Military ships appear un-aggressive. Their reaction to this fire-fight is normally to flee to Oruna station in Darain. If you want all the mission bonuses, follow them, ideally using interceptors to keep them occupied. Alternatively, attack the two neutral Zelon ships first, then destroy the Firestorm. This approach is slightly more dangerous because it means fighting with a half-cloaked hostile carrier on your rear, but does make it more likely that you will be destroy all three ships. This is another mission where I personally killed all of the ships, but none of the alleged mission bonuses were paid - see Objectives and rewards above for further discussion of this issue. Use the down-time towards the end of the mission to get the reactor installed and remain in the area in preparation for the next mission.

6.13.4 Artifact: Karanian Mark IV Reactor

The Zelon Firestorm is carrying this. It should be dropped once the Firestorm is destroyed, even if someone else got the kill. Alternatively it can be mugged. Install the Karanian Mark IV as a regular reactor upgrade. The artifact reduces fuel consumption, both in its routine operation and in jumps.

6.14 TOD3 M3/5 - Tactical Strike (Antis)

5.14.1 Overview

6.14.2 Events

If you first jump to Cronus, Alpha Centauri, and rendezvous with GCV-Prime 1, "SCMDR Karl Reines" will beam aboard (if he ever left following the earlier mission). As before, you will not actually gain Fleet Command and Control - see Why didn't I get Fleet Command and Control? above.

Four Terran Military ships are in the Trenis area - battlecruisers GCV-Starguard and GCV-Antiria, and cruisers GCV-Mangalor and GCV-Platypus. In addition to the normal station defenses, there are five Insurgent carriers, all labelled "Unknown Contact", cloaked and spread around the regions of Trenis. These Insurgent carriers will launch fighters to protect Spectre HQ. One of these, the "Unknown Contact" Megaron in Antis is carrying the Trans-Matrix Cloaking Device.

6.14.3 Strategy

Finding Karl Reines is a huge diversion from the battle. Even using flux fields (Mars/FL-02/SN-03/FL-07/Darain) you will waste 15-20 minutes at the start of the mission getting to and from Cronus. Since "SCMDR Karl Reines" does not grant you Fleet Command and Control, visiting Cronus has no benefit. Indeed, it is possible that "SCMDR Karl Reines" was already on your battlecruiser from an earlier mission, in which case nothing will change.

Destroying Spectre HQ is relatively easy: It has a massive blind spot in between its 'legs', the four long structures extruding from the core of the station. Cloak, fly into the blind spot, and 40 STS-Vagrants and some IOD fire later the station will have been destroyed. The station will launch missiles and support craft whilst you are firing the missiles, but with luck you will destroy the station before these break through your shield. An alternative is to draw out all the station's support craft by waiting in-station near a jump point or wormhole. Once the worst of their fleet has been destroyed, move in for the station kill. Watch out for the favourite Insurgent tactic of ramming you with a Warmonger - every ram does a little bit of damage, and if you let them, by the end of the battle, your ship will be in a mess.

If you attack the station straight away you will have little support from the other Terran Military ships operating in the area. These will slowly filter in, normally after they have dealt with hostile ships in neighbouring regions and never seemed to do anything more than create a diversion.

Recovery of the Trans-Matrix Cloaking Device (see below) is perhaps harder than destroying the station. The ship carrying it is cloaked near the Arenis wormhole. I found that by choosing to fight all the other hostile ships close to this wormhole, eventually the cloaked ship got caught up in the fight and momentarily de-cloaked. An element of luck is still required. The Trans-Matrix Cloaking Device probably cannot be used immediately, but it is a fantastic artifact and well worth trying to recover.

There should be plenty of downtime for repairs at the end of the mission. Unless you are sure *you* have destroyed the station (and as discussed in Objectives and rewards above, there is a good chance your kill has not actually been registered to you), ensure you are in Antis at the end of the mission, or else you will get no mission bonuses at all.

6.14.4 Artifact: Trans-Matrix Cloaking Device

The device is on Insurgent Megaron "Unknown Contact", initially cloaked in Antis, near the Arenis wormhole. Locating this ship requires a lot of luck - see above. The ship may attempt to flee once heavily damaged, so is best mugged. No installation is required, just keep the artifact in your battlecruiser's cargo hold. When the artifact is available, the TMCD text just below centre on the bridge view will light up in green. The Trans-Matrix Cloaking Device is the type of artifact that can make one ship as effective as a whole fleet: It allows you to fire when cloaked, uses less fuel when cloaked, and allows cloaked ships to be targeted. Under these conditions you become almost invincible. Unfortunately, it is another of the artifacts with officer-AI requirements. In this case both the Research Engineer and Chief Engineer must have an AI of 75 or above (see The AI problem above for more). Consequently there is almost no chance of being able to use the artifact before the end of the ACM.

6.15 TOD3 M4/5 - Defense Shield (Starpath)

6.15.1 Overview

6.15.2 Events

There are three Insurgent carriers cloaked around Mars. All will attempt to destroy Starpath station, launching fighters in the process.

6.15.3 Strategy

The quickest way from Antis, Trenis to Mars, Sol, is to use flux fields - Darain through FL-07 to SN-03, then FL-02 to Mars - however there is a chance of arriving in a blackhole on the last jump. Flying via traditional jump points and wormholes is also possible, but the timing is quite tight unless you pre-empt the mission. It is quite important to be in Mars at the start of the mission.

There are many tactics you could use. I suggest assigning interceptors to defend the Starpath and positioning your battlecruiser near the station. Your interceptors will get minced up, order them back to base once you spot they have sustained heavy damage. Use PTA on attacking fighters - they primarily use missiles to attack the station, so are travelling too fast to effectively dogfight in a battlecruiser. Keep watch for attacking carriers, which you should use your battlecruiser to engage directly. Other options include laying mines (not especially effective against fighters) or jumping into an interceptor yourself for a bit of dogfighting (this may work, but can make it hard to control all your other ships). Unlike the earlier defense of Genesis, Starpath is genuinely threatened in this mission - if you do nothing there is a good chance the Insurgents will destroy it.

To get the mission bonuses you must remain in Mars region until the end, or more precisely be in Mars region *at* the end. You should have time to undertake light repairs (mostly to re-build your interceptors), restock, and refuel in preparation for the last two missions. Gather together plenty of spare parts, Iridium and missiles - consider filling your ATVs, Transporter and some of your shuttles with reserve stocks. The next mission occurs on the opposite side of the map, so be ready to leave Mars the minute this mission is over.

6.16 TOD3 M5/5 - Tactical Escort (Falkerie)

6.16.1 Overview

6.16.2 Events

The UCV-Triand starts in LV-103, but will move between the three systems in Alpha Cygni until it finds you or is destroyed. The Gammulan military has three Stormcarriers operating in this area, each of which has several fighter patrols in Alpha Cygni. One of the Stormcarriers may attack UCV-Triand and, if successful, steal its artifact cargo.

If you find the UCV-Triand before it is engaged by the Gammulans, it will send the message "Greetings commander. I have the artifact. The pod is in LV-103." The Phased Array Ion Disruptor (see below) will then appear in a pod in LV-103. If the UCV-Triand is attacked, it is likely that the artifact will be transferred to one of the Gammulan Stormcarriers. Shortly after you first reach the UCV-Triand it is supposed to start heading towards Galcom HQ. In my experience, it gets as far as LV-105 and stops dead for the rest of the mission.

6.16.3 Strategy

If you do not reach the UCV-Triand within the first minute of the mission it is likely that the Gammulans will destroy the ship. While you may still be able to recover the artifact, the primary objective cannot be met, and you take a 2500 experience point deduction. If you pre-empt the mission, there are 30 minutes available to travel between Mars and LV-103. If you leave Mars early you forfeit the bonus for the previous mission. Using conventional jump points and wormholes the route crosses about 25 regions. With continuous use of afterburner and a fair bit of luck, you might just make it in time. If you have the Hyperion Subspace Device or Enhanced Navigation Module available getting to the start location is relatively easy: I assume you will not have the officer-AI levels required to operate either by this stage, even if you have the artifacts. The solution is to use flux fields. Fly to Ylisia, Omega Eridani (12 jumps from Mars) and jump through flux field FL-12 to LV-104. Save before making the jump, because there is a chance of arriving in a blackhole. This route is *just* possible to complete in the 15 minutes of pre-mission time if you are lucky, but I would advise you pre-empt the mission slightly to allow the journey to be made in a slightly more relaxed way.

In the initial battle, ensure you destroy the carrier(s) early, before they have a chance to turn and face you. Once you get a message from the UCV-Triand that it has dropped the pod, send a shuttle out and grab it immediately - you may even be able to use the Phased Array Ion Disruptor in this battle. The UCV-Triand will circle the three sectors in the Alpha Cygni system. If it disappears at any time it has probably just jumped to one of the neighbouring regions. It may be attacked in another region while you are busy fighting in the first.

Having destroyed all the enemy ships, you may expect the UCV-Triand to start heading back to Galcom HQ as suggested by the mission brief. In my experience, if left alone the UCV-Triand will stop in LV-105 and not move for the remainder of the mission. Towing the craft back to Galcom HQ can be done - for example by assigning a shuttle and towing it back via the flux field route you probably used to get here. However, delivering the tractored ship to Galcom HQ does not complete the secondary objective. If you simply tow the craft back to Earth it will remain inactive outside of the station, refusing to dock. In essence, I can find no way to complete the secondary objective. The best strategy at this stage is to tow the UCV-Triand into Cygni station in LV-103. This prevents it being destroyed and so meets the primary objective.

Use the time after dealing with the UCV-Triand to locate the artifact Just Another Cyborg (JAC, see below). You can save some time reaching JAC by using flux field and supernova links LV-104/FL-12/SN-06/FL-09/Regis IV, but this route has a high chance of delivering you to the wrong place or into a blackhole. Consequently it may be easier just to fly via regular jump points and wormholes. Remain in the Gammulan quadrant of the galaxy at the end of the mission.

6.16.4 Artifact: Phased Array Ion Disruptor

If you are in LV-103 at the very start of the mission, you should immediately rendezvous with the UCV-Triand and receive the message "Greetings commander. I have the artifact. The pod is in LV-103." The UCV-Triand should drop a pod called "UCV-Triand POD". If you meet the UCV-Triand in a different sector there is a chance that it will tell you the pod is in LV-103 - even if you did not spot it first time around, it will be waiting there now. There is also a chance that one of the Gammulan Stormcarriers has captured the artifact - you will get a message "They took the artifact" if the UCV-Triand no longer has it. In the event that the UCV-Triand has been destroyed, the artifact will either be on-board one of the Stormcarriers or floating around in space in one of the three Alpha Cygni sectors.

The Phased Array Ion Disruptor is essentially a bigger gun which may be used as an alternative to your battlecruiser's main laser. It is a beam rather than a pulse laser and works exceptionally well against large targets such as carriers and stations. No installation is required, just keep the artifact in your cargo hold. To use the Phased Array Ion Disruptor de-couple the IOD (press Scroll Lock).

6.16.5 Artifact: Just Another Cyborg

At the start of this mission you may receive a message "Intel reports an artifact on a ship in Krynon." The ship in question is the Valkerie Assassin Questar, UCV-Kulnogla. It starts in Lydan, Krynon, and patrols sectors between Chanis 1 in Xyon, and Pravis in Cyrian. JAC has the ability to repair systems without any repair materials. It will fix things apparently at random. No installation is required, just keep it in your ship's cargo hold. It is particularly useful for conducting minor repairs, such as those inflicted when bumping into other craft. It does not repair support craft such as interceptors.

Sounds too good to be true? Maybe. I think it is a significant factor in crew becoming permanently stuck in your battlecruiser's deck corridors - see Why do my crew get stuck on decks? below. I would therefore advise you do not place it in your cargo hold, at least until you have finished the ACM and can experiment at leisure.