This is the hardest mission in EDF 4.1 for all classes. There's no way to cheese it or solve it with relative ease like Monster Party or Mountain Liberation which arguably are worse, but the AR can do both with specific load-outs. This mission is long, very long. You must deal with enemies in sections because if you piss a few parts of the map at once, you're likely dead.
The mission has 5 transports. The one on the right spawns purple ants, the one in the middle spiders, the one to the left that will be moving gold ants, the one in the back right gold ants, and the last in the far back left silver spiders.
The mission has a giant Quadruped Fortress which you really don't want to piss at the start (although I've seen an interesting strategy in multiplayer in which they started by doing that after wiping out the FVs and using it as a shield, as the mech body will not disappear). There are also 3 deroys, one of which is too much near to the mech to be possible to handle without waking it up. Four hectors are around, 3 of them shielded ones, the most troublesome ones are the Particle Stream Gun ones that will shoot the very fast and powerful projectiles that can wipe you in a single shot (at least with low armor).
And the icing on the cake, a bazillion flying vehicles...
The class that can handle this solo with fewer troubles is by far the AR (who else, if it's a messy mission he'll be there to solve it).
Weapons:
Dual ZEXR-GUN
Epsilon Armored Blast Railgun E
Armor: 1000
This can also be done with the ZEXR-GUN and Life Vendor ZD, but it's harder.
First the things you must take care of:
- the epsilon shots are piercing, so be REALLY careful what you shoot and what can be in the back as you can ruin the run with a simple mistake
- the worst enemies are flying vehicles, followed by the gold ants
- you should always try to use one set of ZEXRs at a time, saving the next one to when the first ends, especially if there's FVs around, and it's good practice to put the first set in the forward positions so that you know which one is each when you need to start them. The timing for rebuilding a set of ZEXRs is just slightly less than the time they last shooting. You can't be in the tank too much time, they don't rebuild while you're there.
- always keep moving with FVs around, this lessens the chances of them hitting you and the NPCs (same with Deroy and hector shots anyway)
- FVs have wildly varied flying paths most will go by you sometime even if they're not aggroed
- any enemies that are relatively close to any FV you hit will be aggroed too
- the mech can follow different paths, although usually it will go near your start position, and then near your current position
- the most likely way for you to die is by an FV homing on you, stunning you and zapping you to death
- NPCs can be easily wiped out by FVs, golds, and silvers.
The first thing you should do is get rid of as many flying vehicles as possible. They're the worst enemies as if one focuses on you or any of the NPCs it can wipe you or them out or do considerable damage. Your loadout isn't good to handle them. So all you can do is for a while lay consecutive sets of turrets to try to diminish the number of FVs. This is crucial or the number of FVs that will come in the first transport you'll bring down is so overwhelming that either you or most of your NPCs will be wiped out. During this phase a few spiders or even less common a few purple ants can come, the ZEXRs will handle them. The rightmost deroy can also wake, there's no issue just be alert to that and wipe him out with the tank ASAP. Yes, this is boring but crucial believe me. Your goal is to get a third to half the FVs down.
This can be considerably easier if you're playing (even alone) split screen with another class. The ranger excels at sniping (Hercules rocks here), WD is sadly a boredom (Monster) and even Fencer (whatever you can use for sniping) will help a lot. Hide the AR or the other class in the tank while you're not using it. Be careful NOT to snipe any FVs near the mech. NO GUIDED WEAPONS, so no Emerald, Mirage, FGX High Altitude Impact Missiles, zilch!!!
After this rebuild both ZEXR sets. The first goal is to take down the purple's transport. From the start position put one set towards the right (two rolls between each is good spacing), then the next 3 around the tank area. Bring down transport when it starts to open. This is always important so that you can bring him down in one opening, or he'll probably drop more enemies next time it opens again. If the deroy is still there' he'll probably wake at the first epsilon shot, kill him, then return to transport and bring it down. Activate the first set of ZEXRs, saving the next one for now. Shoot purple ants sideways, NEVER towards the back.
Activate the next set of ZEXRs when the first is gone, rebuild and keep doing this until all ants and FVs are gone.
This first transport will liberate a crucial area. The second lot at the right of the map is flat for a few squares to the left. You'll handle most things in that area since this will make the ZEXRs a lot more efficient. In most areas of the map, the rubble will help the enemies and will make a lot of the ZEXRs ammo be wasted on rubble hits. By moving and camping in this open area you'll maximize ZEXRs efficiency and will be so much easier to handle golds and silvers.
The next transport is the spider's one. Although it should be handled from your new conquered position, when downing him you'll wake 2 hectors. So getting rid of one will help. Only the left one (the blue unshielded) can be hit with confidence without making a mess further back. Install ZEXRs in front of him, as the spiders and a few FVs will come, and wipe him out facing him frontally slightly to its right, he'll be gone in 2 shots.
Now go to the aforementioned place, the second block on the right of the map. Install the first batch of ZEXRs more towards the left, second near map edge where you'll stay with the tank. Two possibilities. You can try to hit at least once the shielded hector just below the transport (or twice) or down the transport first then deal with the hector. Exit tank and activate the first set of ZEXRs. If you did not destroy the hector be really careful where you hit him, chances are you'll have the mech, a deroy, and the silver spiders behind him. It's better to take a few hits from him, than risk a mess. As long as you're moving even slowly the hector will miss most shots, if necessary move backward to the map end. Activate the second set of ZEXRs when needed. The number of FVs may be still daunting at this point.
When spiders transport, spiders, yellow shielded hector, and FVs are gone, rebuild ZEXRs and time for next transport.
The next one will be the gold ants one to your right. Install the first batch of ZEXRs in the open area but towards that transport. The second, further back near the end of the open area. Destroy gold ants transport and activate ZEXRs. In this case activate the second set of ZEXRs shortly after the first, gold ants are nasty you want to get rid of them even more than FVs. Shoot tank at yellow ants to help. The yellow shielded deroy coming is a machine gun one, you'll have plenty of time to deal with it before it's a threat. When this part has ended rebuild ZEXRs and proceed to last gold ants transport.
The last gold ants transport is the one moving to your left. You should wait for it to be on the way to way and more to the left, to avoid waking the big deroy near it or the mech. Install the 2 groups of ZEXRs in the open towards the transport, as usual, the first more near the transport, the second more near your position. Takedown the transport and the ZEXRs will likely handle all yellow ants. The number of FVs should be pretty low.
At this point or when you handle the biggest deroy a group of rangers, the Omega team will spawn near the back map border. Capture them ASAP, they'll be great to handle FVs and silver spiders at the end.
Now attack and destroy the furthest deroy, it's the only medium one (2 diamond spikes on each leg). You can try to farm it for weapon crates by destroying the 6 laser diamonds and the 3 spikes before killing it but it's risky.
All that remains is the silvers transport, the mech, and its nearby deroy, and a sole hector near the last transport. You have 2 options:
- destroy transport then deal with mech
- deal with mech, then destroy transport, optionally farming the silvers
If you want to destroy transport place the ZEXRs the same way you did for the first yellow ant's transport. Then move along the right map border (from start), shoot the transport down, and move back quickly to near ZEXRs, activating them. If everything goes fine ZEXRs and NPCs will kill silvers, help with the tank. If the hector comes, deal with it too, although it's unusual.
Dealing with the mech isn't troublesome but you need to be careful to avoid that the NPCs are wiped out. Shoot and destroy the deroy so that the mech starts. If the deroy moves and the mech doesn't start you should destroy the last transport before dealing with the mech, you'll have to shoot some FVs moving around it to make it move. Sometimes after the mech starts moving it will be attacked by gunships and will be severely damaged.
The mech has 6 dangerous weapons: a really nasty cannon inside it on the back of the opening and 5 lasers, two on each side of the head and one below centrally between its back legs. The first one to be active will be the cannon, but as long as you keep a long-distance it won't hit you or the NPCs. It's the easiest one to shoot down, you'll see an explosion animation when you do. The other 5 are more troublesome. The mech has shields that make it hard to hit the lasers. It's also problematic to hit the ones on each side of the head from the same position. Try to deal with the back one first, then the two near the front in the side you can, hopefully, they will be in the open and not behind the shields. When this has been done wait for the mech to move and have its other side towards you so you can destroy the last 2 lasers.
When this has been done, approach the mech and try to hit it inside when its doors are open and you can see the red inside. The angle to hit that with the tank isn't totally easy to get. You can try this while the mech still has lasers active, but you risk that the NPCs are wiped out, and they will come in handy.
The mech part is easier with a second class of course since sniping the mech weapons with the ranger or WD will be a lot easier than with the tank, as both their weapons have zoom.
When the mech is out, deal with the last transport if you didn't, then last hector, and finally the last few FVs. The last FVs can be a pain to kill, they're very high, and hitting them with the tank isn't easy. ZEXRs usually can't reach them either.
It's not totally easy but the best way I found. This is the hardest mission, after all, it wasn't ever going to be easy. You can do similar runs with the Ranger and WD solo, but it's a lot harder than with the AR (best weapons for Ranger will be Hercules + AF100 or Reverse Shooter X, and WD the Monster-S + Idunn-FF or Laser Lance Sigma).
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