Fire Blade - Strategy Guide (Page 03)
Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Fire Blade - Strategy Guide (Page 03).
In the cities, you may find some snipers higher up on the buildings.
C3, Mission 4 - Jailbreak!
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Rating - 2 Easy
Objectives:
S1 - Destroy River Delta Enemy Encampment
P1 - Rescue Hostages
P2 - Protect APCs
Overview: The action is fairly varied and takes place over an
expanded environment. The special ops team will drive two APCs to
a UES base and rescue about 10 or so prisoners. Your objective is
to protect the team every step of the way to the base and the exit
route.
Tactics & Approach:
You're on your own for how to properly get through this mission at
this time. I wasn't sure what to do next so I headed out on my own to
deal with the enemy threats in red on my radar. That led me to some
combat with river patrol craft, then to an enemy camp, on to UES
positions on both ends of a bridge, and finally, to the UES prison
camp itself. All while the 2 APCs were still waiting for me to reach
them so they could start moving.
You can play out this mission in a variety of ways. Because you have
a good deal of control how to play this mission, its probably one of
the better ones for experimenting with replays.
C3, Mission 5 - Dam & Blast
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Rating - 4 Hard
Objectives:
P1 - Protect the Special Ops Team
P2 - Neutralize Enemy Base
P3 - Extract Special Ops Team
Overview: Watch your health in this mission. You don't have a lot
of time to get health and missile power-ups, so you'll have to do the
best you can with what you can get. The ops team heads down a river,
patrolled by the enemy, in a hovercraft. You need to keep up with it
while taking care of the threats. They eventually reach and enter a
dam where they'll plant charges and blow it. You have to extract them
to safety before the dam breaks.
Tactics & Approach:
There probably are a few different ways you can play this mission, but
the walkthrough below is the easy and quick way through. You won't get
much in the way of medals, but you can come back to the mission later
and improve on it.
You'll want to carefully consider what enemy targets to attack and
what not to waste your time on.
At one of the enemy locations, some of the infantry use the rail gun,
which makes blue rings out to the target when fired. They don't seem
to be very accurate, but probably one or two shots into the ops
hovercraft will destroy it.
You'll have to attack the enemy with everything you've got available,
but typically you can find at least one missile power-up in the river
and at the first enemy encampment.
Walkthrough:
----------------------
Note: because maintaining health is critical in this mission, I
provide extra detail on how I deal with the threats.
[1] Start out ahead of the ops hovercraft. When the first enemy
craft approaches, fire a missile, then switch to stealth and
drop a few feet to avoid any fire. Then come out of stealth and
proceed until the next two craft come into sight, and repeat
the procedure. [2] Once these two are gone, proceed down to the
turn, drop down, and use the EMP on the next hovercraft. Once
your ops team is passed these threats, move on and keep up with
it. [3] You should try to come out of the river enclosure ahead
of the team and immediately strike the enemy camp with everything
you can - missiles, rockets, and minigun. You can usually get
at least one missile rack and two health power-ups at this
location. Make sure to blast the infantry groups and tents with
rockets to take care of them quickly.
[4] Again, once the ops team passes on through, keep up with it.
Don't mess with a convoy of vehicles that will come behind you and
up the hill. The ops team will go up the hill and make the turn.
You need to get on ahead and deal with two groups of vehicles coming
your way (3 vehicles in each).
[5] Try to have at least 4 missiles left when you eliminate those
two short convoys. The team will head to the top of the dam up to
the right, where there are significant UES vehicles waiting. Your
greatest danger is the missile turret, so try to lock a missile onto
it if you can.
[6] Use everything you can against these forces at the top of the
dam, and once everything is neutralized, the team will disembark
and head for the dam entrance.
At this point, you have some options how you want to play out the
mission. There is a convoy of vehicles coming up behind you. There
are river patrol craft out ahead, and there are additional enemy
vehicle patrols and stationary defenses on the far side of the river.
[7] If you want the quick way out, disregard all the UES enemy
you see from where you are. Switch to stealth and lower yourself over
the top of the dam from the right side. Proceed down to ground level
and EMP any vehicle threats you see. Then turn and do the same to any
roving or stationary vehicles on the other side of the water.
[8] In time, the ops team will set the charges and emerge at the
bottom of the dam and position flares on the far bank. Touch down,
let them board, and then lift off - all while maintaining stealth.
[9] Fly to the far left side of the current open area, and you'll see
an exit ramp leading out. The ops commander will alert you to
approaching attack choppers, but you can disregard them. You might
have to switch out of stealth and make a break for that exit area.
Once you turn and go up the exit a short bit, the end-of-campaign
movie will start playing.
CAMPAIGN 4 [Artic Circle]
C4, Mission 1 - Beachhead
----------------------------------------
Rating - 4 Hard
Objectives:
S1 - Destroy Communications Array
S2 - Destroy Communications Array
P1 - Destroy Fort 1 Defenses
P2 - Protect Hover Group 2
P3 - Destroy Fort 2 Defenses
Overview: Your job is primarily to soften up the beachheads at
two fort locations prior to two friendly assault groups moving in.
The two forts are located a fair distance apart so using boost
is useful, but not necessary. Fort 1 is a straight-on assault,
while Fort 2 is set up so that you have two strong enemy positions
to each side leading to the fort.
This mission is fun to play even if you get blown up or the mission
ends without success. The action is pretty good.
Tactics & Approach:
----------------------
If the mission ends, and you don't know why, its likely because you
left some enemy vehicle or position standing and your guys at fort 1
were finished off. So make sure you also destroy anything you EMP.
With fort 1 you are given 60 seconds to do initial damage, and
90 seconds for fort 2.
There is no overall timer for this mission, so just be thorough in
eliminating all enemy threats at fort 1 before moving on to fort 2.
Use missiles first, then switch to stealth and disable those AA
positions that can do the most damage to you.
The beachhead watchtower guards have rail guns, and one or two
shots into a hovercraft will blow it up along with its troops.
Some of the beachhead bunkers contain infantry.
Walkthrough:
----------------------
Fort 1 -- [1] Move forward until your missile targets start to light
up. Use 7 missiles on beachhead targets, but don't include any Comms
or radar towers. [2] Move forward and go stealth. Disable two AA guns
up and to the left, and then the two center AA guns up by the fort.
Then fire rockets at these 4 enemy targets. Try to do all this within
the 60 seconds. [3] Start firing rockets, or rockets and miniguns if
not in stealth, at the beachhead watchtowers. They are dangerous to
the hovers with their rail guns. [4] Proceed to bomb the bunkers and
minigun infantry that come out to attack the troops. [5] Once the
beachhead is under control, EMP and rocket the other stationary guns
up by the fort. [6] Finally, go around and clean up any extra enemy
soldiers, destroy any remaining watchtowers and bunkers, and take
down all Comms and radar towers. [7] Fully reload on all power-ups.
[8] Move off to fort 2 as identified by the yellow arrow on the radar.
Veer off to the left, using boost if you want to. You'll intercept 3
hovercraft moving toward fort 2. Broadside them with your minigun
and rockets, saving missiles if you can. Get any power-ups there.
Fort 2 -- [9] Try to see where the second hovercraft assault group is
located, and stay away at a distance. Once you get too close to them
their 90 second timer will start. But you can do a lot of attack damage
before that happens if you're careful. Locate the enemy position up on
the left hillside. Your approach is to attack and neutralize it from
the rear. [10] Being out of stealth, use the scope and use the minigun
to eliminate watchtowers, vehicles, etc. Save a good number of rockets
for the even more distant hillside position. [11] Take your time and
eliminate the resistance as much as possible at the first hillside and
then the second. Eventually you'll move in to where the assault
commander will start the timer.
[12] At that point, come in hard with rockets and miniguns to clean
up at hillside 1. If you see a missile power-up, fire your current
load at hillside 2 targets and reload. [13] Come up over the top of
the hill and fire missiles at the beachhead defenses. [14] Pivot and
take out other significant threats on hillside 2 with rockets, EMP
or missiles. [15] Then join the assault troops on the beachhead and
make sure to go after those watchtowers with the rail guns.
[16] Do like at fort 1 and destroy AA and other stationary guns,
bunkers, watchtowers, and Comms towers. Fire rockets at groups of
infantry. [17] Then just fly around and get stray infantry and
vehicles and you're done.
C4, Mission 2 - Hunt & Kill
----------------------------------------
Rating - 3 Moderate
Objectives:
S1 - Destroy the Seaport's Comms Network
P1 - Destroy the Transport Hovers and Snowcats
P2 - Destroy All of the Primary Buildings at the Seaport
Overview: Your job is to take out two large hovercraft speeding
toward a base. You have swarmer missiles (40) to use if you want, or
you can use the EMP with rockets and save the missiles. You'll need
to use turbo to keep up. Near the base are small snowmobiles. There
is no time limit so destroy the base at your own pace.
Tactics & Approach:
----------------------
This mission is similar to C1/M4 and C2/M4 where you need to
destroy a large number of vehicles and structures.
You might want to try to save the swarmer missiles for the base
you attack later on. Its more fun to use this very limited weapon
on multiple base bogeys than the two large hovercraft.
Keep up with the 2 large hovercraft using turbo boost, then EMP
them - 2 shots each. Then destroy them with rockets/miniguns.
You'll encounter snowmobiles closer to the base. Use stealth to
sneak up on the base if you want, or else go in with guns and
rockets blazing. In this mission you need to destroy all the
buildings designated with the yellow circle at the base - which
is most of the buildings.
C4, Mission 3 - Rhames In Trouble
----------------------------------------
Rating - 3 Moderate
Objectives:
S1 - Destroy UES Outpost
P1 - Clear the Village of Patrols
P2 - Find the Special Ops Team
P3 - Protect and Pickup the S. Ops
P4 - Get the Hell Out of There
Overview: You can take your time and sneak around in this
mission, dodging various patrols you encounter. You can eliminate
the patrols or you can slip on by and just rescue the ops team
in the distant village without much incident.
Tactics & Approach:
----------------------
Pick off the few guard patrollers in the outpost you first see.
Then use stealth, EMP, and rockets to take out the patrolling
hovercraft one by one.
Take your time and continue to disable and destroy everything
you can without raising too much alarm. Follow the yellow
radar arrow which will lead you to the village where the
special ops team is hiding out.
When you get there, they will make a run for their extraction point,
which is some distance away. So you'll have to protect them, while
they run, from enemy infantry that come out of the houses. The ops
guys will then set flares where you land and pick them up.
After that, its just a matter of dodging and destroying, if you
wish, remaining patrols you come across as you make your exit from
this hostile location.
Take your time and this mission is fairly easy to do.
C4, Mission 4 - Round 'Em Up
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Rating - 2 Easy
Objectives:
P1 - Stop the Eight Stolen Hovercraft
P2 - Ensure the Hovercraft are not Destroyed
P3 - Destroy All Armed Resistance
P4 - Leave Unarmed POWs Alive for Recapture
Overview: A fairly simple mission and not difficult at all. You
buzz the eight hovers. Don't lose track of where they stop so
you can go back and eliminate all enemy soldiers. You use the
minigun mostly, unless you're sure a group of soldiers does not
contain POWs. You can give them rockets in that case.
Tactics & Approach:
----------------------
You need to stop eight hovercraft without destroying them. All you
have to do is buzz them - which means fly low over each one and
they will come to a stop. The hovercraft won't fire at you, but
any enemy infantry coming off the craft will. Some of the soldiers
will have rail guns, but they are not very good shots.
The part of the mission that might trip you up is not correctly
identifying the friendly POWs that you need to protect. So make
sure you don't shoot them - or at least not too many of them. You
can tell who they are because they don't have a yellow circle at
their base.
Toward the end of the POW march, there will be a small house with
a moderate-sized enemy squad nearby that you will have to wipe out
prior to the POWs arriving.
Be careful, because the minigun also locks onto POWs. You might
find using the scope (non-stealth) with the minigun helpful in
identifying the bad guys and dropping them one by one as they run.
C4, Mission 5 - The Fortress
----------------------------------------
Rating - 5 Very Difficult
Objectives:
S1 - Destroy Enemy Island Encampments
P1 - Destroy Fortress Outer Defenses
P2 - Destroy Fortress Inner Defenses
P3 - Destroy Fortress Superstructure (laser)
Overview: There are many ways to fail in this final mission.
There are two parts. In the first you deal with island encampments
and comms towers - if you wish. In the second, you face a variety
of lethal threats that come at you from all sides. You race
against the clock as well.
Tactics & Approach:
----------------------
Your initial orders suggest that you destroy the Comms array.
I could determine no benefit for doing this and it consumes
valuable seconds you need. The helicopters you encounter
later still arrive whether or not the Comms towers (12 total)
are standing or not. Nothing else in part 2 seems to change
either. So my advice is ignore the islands and the towers
unless you want that secondary objective pretty bad.
Use boost (4 times) and stealth to make your way quickly among
the islands toward your destination - yellow arrow on radar.
Staying low to the water while boosting is safest.
At the fortress, use stealth initially to eliminate 4 circling
hovercraft.
Use the rail gun against the well-armored AA guns atop the
buildings. How? Get out of their range. Note that you have to
be out of stealth to use the rail gun. If you don't use rail
slugs, 2 shots per AA, you'll need about 10-15 rockets per AA.
You might also concentrate your firepower on the buildings
underneath and allow the AA guns to fall.
Those AA guns only swivel about 180 degrees, so once you clear
out two, you can come up behind the others and more easily
eliminate them.
You need to destroy about 6-7 external buildings, marked with
the yellow base circle, and then after that, about 4 internal
structures. Then a giant laser rises up out of one of the
fortress buildings - a building which you can't destroy no
matter how many rockets or other ordnance you put into it.
The 4 external corner buildings take about 20 or more rockets,
coupled with the minigun, to blow. A rail gun slug or two
probably helps some. The internal structures you destroy
require a bit fewer rockets.
You have to deal with 5 armored helicopters. The first strikes
alone, followed by two pairs. The first pair comes about a
minute or less after the first helo, and the second pair
attacks while you are dealing with the giant laser, which
makes it very tricky. When defending against a pair of helos,
its best to focus on one and kill it before engaging the other.
Mini-gun lock as soon as you can, and try rockets up close.
You can also attempt the EMP against the attack choppers while
in stealth, but they can still detect you and unless you are
quick with the EMP you become an easy target.
Some of the boulders release health power-ups when destroyed.
Provoke the powerful enemy AA guns on the buildings to fire at
you behind the boulders.
Your timer is about 14:40 minutes total. Try to get to the
second half of the mission with 13:30 remaining. Between
the two halves is a mini-briefing that consumes about
25 seconds of your time.
Walkthrough:
----------------------
Somewhat lengthy, but detailed instructions are probably
necessary...
[1] Ignore the island encampments and towers, and turbo along
low to the water. At the end of a boost, go stealth and raise
up to avoid fire. Then lower and turbo again. Do this 4 times
to get to the distant bank as quick as possible.
[2] After the mini-briefing, raise up to the top of the cliffs
and go to stealth. Immediately try to freeze and then rocket
the 4 hovercraft that go by. Avoid their deadly missiles.
There are also 4 minor gun turrets positioned around the edges
of this plateau area. The first is at this initial location and
so fire two rockets at it. Fire a volley of 3 rockets at each
hovercraft and then move below the cliff, behind a rock, or to
the left or right to avoid the AA guns on the buildings.
From where you're looking, the right side of the fortress we'll
call the north side. This side can also be identified by a close
group of 4-5 various power-ups just inside the wall.
[3] Come out of stealth and turbo up into the mountain face on
this north side. On the way you can take out another minor gun
turret and fly over a health power-up.
[4] When far enough away and high enough up, turn and take out
the AA on top of the two corner buildings on this north side
using the rail gun - 2 bolts into each. Then use two more on
the AA on top of the tall building down the left (east side if
facing north) side.
[5] Come down close to the fortress near ground level and minigun
2-3 patrolling vehicles but don't venture too far to either side
(east or west) to avoid AA gunfire. You'll need to conserve all
resources including rockets, so fire your remaining rockets,
coupled with the minigun, at the two corner buildings before
going over the wall for that group of power-ups.
[6] With a new rack of rail gun slugs, raise up and hit the two
far right AA guns (SW corner). They shouldn't be able to swivel
far enough to reach you. Then fly forward and rail gun that last
AA gun on the SE corner.
[7] Fly to the south side of the fortress and take out the
remaining patrolling vehicles, and also minigun the 2 remaining
gun turrets at the edges of this plateau area.
[8] Start to hit the external buildings, only with the yellow
circles, with rockets and the minigun. If you see a number of
rail gun racks around, you can speed up the process by using
them. Save a full rack for the laser at the end though.
[9] Once the final external building (4 squat, round corner
buildings and about 3 taller towers) is blown, you'll be shown
the 4 internal structures to destroy.
[10] While you are working on the external buildings, you'll be
attacked by the first 3 helicopters. Don't stop your work, just
look out for them on the radar and then turn and deal with them
when they come within range. Before and between helo attacks,
replenish your health.
[11] Once you've knocked off the 4 internal structures, you'll
be alerted the gigantic laser is appearing. Run for cover and
get below the cliffs - preferably on the south side. Hopefully
you've restored your health to 100 percent already.
How The Laser Functions --
You need to fire 3 rail gun slugs down the throat of the laser to
defeat it. No other method works. The laser fires a head-on beam,
followed by a series of overhead spikes. So hiding behind rocks or
below cliffs is not foolproof. Notice the laser operation. It swings
down to a level position, angles toward you, then fires the beam
in a small cross pattern. Then it swings back upright and fires
a vertical beam which immediately sends about 5 random spikes
down on your current position. Both the head-on beam and the
overhead spikes are considerably lethal.
The best time to hit the laser is when it swings down and toward
you. As soon as you see the opening, fire the rail gun and the
laser will "choke" on it so to speak and jerk back upright.
However, it will still fire its overhead spikes so you can't
just camp out in front of it and fire 3 times.
One method you could attempt is soon as you ably fire a slug down
the opening and it swings back upright, turbo a short ways while
the spikes land and then position and re-fire. That may be the
only safe way to avoid the spikes when up close. But there is an
alternative...
[12] When the laser appears, so will the last two helicopters.
So you not only need to avoid the laser beams and overhead
strikes but also the two persistent helos. You can elect to
fight the choppers below the south side cliffs. You'll have
plenty of room to maneuver there and avoid the laser.
Watch out for enemy hovercraft down in the lower river area that
can possibly reach you.
[13] To deal with the laser, stay away and fire the rail gun at it
from a distance and hopefully you'll be beyond most or all of the
overhead spikes. Try shooting from the south side beyond the cliffs
and close to the SW mountain. Go high enough to be nearly level with
the laser. Using the scope from this distance the laser appears
almost as a transparent outline. From this vantage point its beam
can't reach you, but your rail slugs can cover that distance.
[14] Fire 3 times using the method above. If you're still alive
after all this and with time remaining, then you WIN!
Relax and enjoy the movie of a missile shot from a satellite
to reduce the Fortress to ruble. Job well done!
===========================================================================
====================================
IV. Enemy Numbers, by Mission
====================================
===========================================================================
Below are the number of infantry, vehicles, and structures that you
need to eliminate to attain 100% stat ratios. The numbers may vary
a little depending on how you play through the mission.
Infantry Vehicles Structures
-------- -------- --------
C1/M1 23 38 2
C1/M2 12 50 4
C1/M3 60 33 15
C1/M4 56 59 24
C1/M5 9 54 0
C2/M1 64 38 0
C2/M2 2 45 0
C2/M3 111 13 85
C2/M4 28 55 76
C2/M5 60 47 75
C3/M1 44 50 16
C3/M2 87 45 6
C3/M3 52 26 13
C3/M4 58 57 51
C3/M5 86 80 65
C4/M1 74 18 50
C4/M2 10 40 52
C4/M3 59 86 39
C4/M4 194 0 0
C4/M5 120 83 103
As you can see, you have an incredible amount of work to do in
the last mission given the time constraint. If you can manage a
bronze or better medal for The Fortress mission, then you truly
are a superior Fireblade pilot.
===========================================================================
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V. Closing Comments
====================================
===========================================================================
Fireblade is a good, challenging game in my opinion. It might take a
lot of patience and perseverance in some places, but most people should
be able to work through the missions if employing the proper tactics.
This FAQ/Walkthrough is now complete for the most part. If you feel that
additional info on some missions or points of the game would be helpful,
let me know. I've enjoyed writing this guide - hope its been helpful to
your success with Fireblade.
For a comparable game, on the PC - not Xbox, you might consider the
helo sim Comanche 4 by Novalogic. It has a higher level of graphics,
sound, and realism, plus it has multiplayer on Novaworld as well as
a mission editor for those who like to create their own scenarios.
If you have any comments on this FAQ, have anything you'd like to add
or correct to what I've presented, please email me at:
rtbull77@yahoo.com.
(rtbull)
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