With the area secured and any remaining pirates in a full blown retreat it looks like the Task Force have completed the contract with flying colors. Looks like the SDA was man made by this big floating metal hulk the pirates called their base. It's got nothing on the Tessaract, or engines, or any real charm since we blasted it's ECM thingy so maybe there might be something on board worth taking.
If you picked up the two flags associtacted with Mifska then Anderson will request that Tenea find out more about Mifska, thinking she might be more closely associated to the pirates or even one of their four generals.
Jean will also follow up with this request if your relationship is high enough with her own playful jealousy that gets the Albino Maid all worked up but ends up hurting herself a little. Oh Anderson, will you ever get the hint you blockhead?
With the readings all clear the Tessaract picks up a new signal approaching the former SDA site. A Principality of Zeon Musai arrives on the scene and it's pretty snappy in deploying it's mobile suits on arrival in the South East.
Two Zaku I Early Types (poor bastards), a Zaku Flipper (YES!), a Zaku II (Yay), a Zaku II High Mobility Test Type (HELL YES!) and a Zudah (I came) make up the Musai's full mobile suit complement (Must be a refitted one to carry that extra suit). Judging from the age of the mobile suits, especially with those Zaku Early Types flying about the unit deployed here might not be your standard up to scratch Zeon team but with everything we've been through so far they might be a challenge.
If you worked for Zeon
The pilot of the Zudah wastes no time and opens fire on Anderson only to be halted by one of the pilots under her command. The Zeon team recognises your forces as the C.A.G mobile force that assisted the legendary Red Comet in the attack on Side 7.
Any friend of Char is a friend of Zeon and the new arrivals are quick to open up a communication channel with the Task Force.
After an apology from the Zudah pilot the Zeon unit reveal that they too were dispatched to clear the SDA from the area by high command, just a shame they arrived a little too late to help us sweep the pirates away. Judging from the levels of the unit, other than the Zudah it seems the rest of the team are wet behind the ears greenhorns. Maybe Zeon didn't dwell too much on the SDA but at least the pilots have their hearts set in the right place, for the good of the local colonies!
If you gave Char the Gundam parts in any form instead of using them to upgrade to the Verein Geves or keep the Learning Computer and alloys then one of the pilots will mention Char went and built himself a new mobile suit thanks to us. That's right. Char's got a Gundam. Giving him the parts really screws the Federation.
Things are interupted by the arrival of a new force. A formation of one capital ship class enemy and eight fighters drop in on the little get together right smack dab in the middle of the map. The Zeon forces have no idea who they are and only Natalie can shed some light on the situation, they ain't local and they've got far superior technology compared to us.
The capital ship will open up on the Musai and destroy it in a single shot. We're terribly outclassed here but the combined efforts of an exhausted mercenary unit and fresh faced Zaku and Zudah pilots might be able to handle this new enemy.
Destroying one of the enemy units will result in the next set of events.
If you worked for the Federation
The Zekes aren't too happy to see us around here in the SDA. Any attempts to communicate to them are instally brushed aside. They want to play and they want to play rough with the forces that halted their attack on Side 7.
Before we can get the party started the unknown fleet jumps into the middle of the combat just as if we were friends with the Zekes and destroy the Musai in a single shot and open fire on the Tessaract as well.
We're caught up in a three way brawl with Zakus shooting fighters and us and the unknown fleet shooting at us and the Zekes. It's recommended you ignore the Zeon forces completly and work on destroying the unknowns to trigger the next event.
Engaging
If the Zakus hate you ignore them completly. They'll be going on the Neutral phase so it'll take a while to get to them. If you deployed the Tessaract ontop of their deployment zone then they'll be too busy shooting at Natalie should it come to their phase or the real enemy on map will engage the Tessaract instead of the rookie Zeon pilots.
We've got two primary threats in the area and one set of Fodder.
The Seraph fighters are medium sized units that are probably the first set of fighters introduced in CF that are actually pretty deadly for our forces. Fortunately those piloted by Grunts are much more manageable compared to those with a Blue Elite at the controls and can be considered fodder.
Seraphs combine both insane mobility with their equipped thrusters, most skimming the 100 mark as well as being covered in a nice thick 40 armor rating and move 5. That 300 hit points of theirs can last for a surpising while especially with a whole size rank higher than a majority of our units.
They're loaded with three types of weapons, a range 1-5 post movement pulse laser with great accuracy and a mild critical boost which'll be it's weakest attack. Thanks to it's Medium size the Seraph can still hit pretty hard with this attack.
It's Heavy Plasma Cannon is usually it's optimum choice for counter attacks with a stat line that almost matches that of the Pulse Laser in it's accuracy and critical ratio bonus but it hits much harder with a range of only 1-3.
It also comes loaded with a map attack as it's best weapon but fortune smiles on us today as it can only be used on ground based targets and we're all in space.
Ideally it's best to engage at 4 squares or to beam snipe the Seraphs at maximum range to avoid taking on a great deal of damage.
Priority should be given to whitling down the Blue Elites as they're pretty good at chewing up Zakus and Vereins alike whilst the Grunts aren't as maor a threat.
Also in the area is a CCC class Battlecruiser and this thing has a good set of equipment and stats to backup it's oneshot of a Musai. The Battlecruiser has a Gold Elite and it's control staff at the helm of the ship making it INSANELY accurate with pretty much all it's weapons, and despite having a low armor rating it's Large classification and massive hitpoint pool can keep it in the fight despite the gravest of hits.
The Battlecruiser's primary anti-suit armanaent conists of a smaller ranged post-movement 1-2 Pulse Laser as found on the Seraph but it gains an additional +40 to it's base damage and with the Large classifcation it's going to be shearing off armor plates quite rapidly.
It also mounts Plasma Turrets with a range of 1-5 capable of ignoring all barriers and shielding on any target it fires against. The Turrets have a small reduction in accuracy but thanks to the command crew under the Gold Elite this reduction is pretty much negligible. With a base attack power of Large 280 expect a ton of hurt.
Finally it's primary anti-ship armanent is rounded out by a Plasma Torpedo launcher. The launcher comes loaded with just 3 rounds and requires the Gold Elite to be at 115 morale to fire off but has a maximum range of up to 7 squares with a deadzone at point blank. Again just like the Plasma Turret despite having a massive accuracy reduction the Gold Elite and it's command crew are able to score impressive hits with this thing. With a base attack power of Large 400 this used to pretty much one shot some of the Zaku Pilots or come very close until the chapter 6 update rolled around.
If the Battlecruiser is at high enough morale you'll want to drain all three of it's torpedo rounds by sniping with Beam Shooters at maximum range just to protect the Zeon forces or maybe even dodge a round meant for you in the Covenant attack phase.
Protecting the Zeon Forces
There's a small bonus here weather the Zeon forces hate you or love you. If you can keep the Zaku Flipper and/or any of the Zaku I Early Types you recieve them as potential suits. They don't have the greatest statline in the world but they can provide aditional valuble options for later on thanks to their Medium size category and better terrain modifiers.
If the Zeon forces are on your side you have about a two to three turn limit if you can catch the Covenant attention before the Flipper or the Early Types start getting themselves in trouble.
If the Zeon forces hate you and have the Tessaract on their deployment zone then you can squeeze a few more turns out of them for as long as Natallie can hold out by Trusting herself.
The next event is easily triggered but sometimes an early trigger might not help the Zakus at all and instead will hamper their chances for survival. If you're finding it hard to keep these units alive allow your damage to spread throughout the entire enemy fleet for a turn so that the Covenant can pull further away from the Zeon forces.
Event 1
Destroying one of the Covenant units will result in either one or two things happening depending on wether the Zeon forces are allied or not.
Having shot down one of the fighters the Task Force will get a visual of a corpse floating through the wreckage of the destroyed Seraph. If there's any doubts before there aren't any now, these guys have come a very long way away to say 'hi'. The Zeon forces will also have a few things to say if they're fighting along side you.
Another ship jumps into the area but thankfully this one wants to talk. Enter stage left the United Nations Space Command's "Pillar Of Autumn". Maybe the UN sent out a ship to check on us considering we're probably late as hell reaching Earth but as the conversation continues between our loveable commander and their loveable commander it all becomes clear that they're here by mistake as well. Great.
If the Zeon forces were shooting at you before they'll have a turn of heart and realize their own old suits aren't up to scratch for dealing with this and will now join forces with you. They'll be AI controlled but will stop wasting ammunition trying to shoot you down.
Jean will have a few things to say as well if she's hungry for Anderson, like how AWESOME Gaiablade is for a name and things about her mercenary blog up on Global Cortex.
The Pillar will also launch some of the best allied help deployed in game so far in the form of three Longsword Interceptors that can go toe to toe with Seraphs and put some pretty impressive hurt on the Battlecruiser.
We're on the home stretch and the enemy forces are now caught up in a three way pincer.
Event 2
With the Battlecruiser and it's escorts eliminated it looks like we've finally got ourselves a well deserved break...which lasts about 5 seconds. We barely have enough time to brofist the Zeons on a job well done for getting through this massacre when Cortana will pip in with jump signatures all over the place cropping up.
Five more formations of Covenant battlecruisers and their escorts arrive in the area at full alert conditions. Everyone's exhausted at this point and low on ammunition and the possiblity of dragging the nearby colony in this conflict is growing ever imminent.
There's nothing that can be done other than to make a hasty retreat and lead the pursuing Covenant away from Earth. It takes a little convincing to get the Zeon forces to come along with us, though I would have thought having no Capital Ship would have made things impossibly hard trying to get back home.
With no jumpdrive to speak of the Tessaract will piggy back off the Autum, getting dragged along into the jump sphere techno babel thingy and despite the Zudah breaking down at the most crucial moment everyone's able to slip away in time.
Reward
We're not getting the reward from the contract but there's lots of optional rewards you can pick up. Venesia's recovered metals are freakin' awesome.
Battle Mastery Rewards
- Electrically Charged Armor (HP 350 Armor 15. Slash Resist. Beam, Explosion Weaknesses)
- 2 x Reactive Armor (HP 250 Armor 10. Slash Resist. Beam, Explosion Weaknesses)
Unit Survival Rewards
- New Unit Zaku Flipper
- New Unit Zaku I Early Type
- New Unit Zaku I Early Type
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