Command And Conquer : Artic Assault
Mission 1 : The Antartic Ice Fields
"Come in, Commander. Don't let the heat out."
"As you can see, we're still busy setting up. Can't tell what Kane sees in this forgotten wasteland, but at least it's quiet.
We've got supply planes coming in, so first priority will be to finish setting up our airport to make sure to recieve them. These supplies are essential to our purpose here, so don't dally. No one wants to land replenishment flights at night, and sun sets fast this time of year. Keep an eye on your weather radar. Winter storms are fast approaching, and icing conditions are omnipresent. Excess ice can easily bring down an unprepared pilot.
Finally, we've heard reports of an Erusian carrier operating in the area. Officially, they're on a scientific whaling expedition, but their forward observers have crept a bit close to our liking."
Available intel documents
- Nod Archives
- Erusia
- Brotherhood of Nod
- Global Defense Initiative
- Nod Aircraft Recognition Manual
- C-17 GlobeMaster
- F4E Phantom II
So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Antartica, and Kane's newest attempt to bring peace and unity to this fallen world. Now, contrary to the game's title, we're not actually in the artic. We're in antartica, the entirely opposite side of the world. But Kane has never let small details like that bother him, and so we won't either. An asteroid has been detected on a collision course with the planet, and it's our duty to funnel as much money as possible to the military industrial complex as possible in the name of dealing with it. First step, the construction of an evil lair in the antartica.
But let's leave what is to common for what is to come, and just get going with the tutorial.
First, we got ourselves a quick refreshment of the camera and movement controls. Nothing too special to see here, all RTS standard. Select the commander and walk them through the desolate hellhole of your artic base. Say hello to RJ MacReady, and Dr Blair, pet the dog if you want to get the achievement, and then enter the control tower to start the missions first cut scene. Nothing special happens. Commander Ivanova introduces herself, but beyond her rather questionable choice of winter attire, she does not much important to say. What is important is that we unlock the construction interface, and the next section of the tutorial.
Construction wise, controls are not much different from earlier iterations. We send out our harvesters to dig up resources in the snow, power up some diesel generators to get the refinery going, clear the runway with the mobile excavators, all the staples of the genre. Once you've finished clearing the airstrip and have powered up the weather radar, the next sections of the mission can begin. Kane's bringing in supplies, and he's got one hell of a camping trip planned.
12 C-17 Globemasters are coming in for a landing in 4 waves, and you've got to put them all on the ground before the snow storms get them. Now, despite this being the tutorial this can get a bit hectic if you mess up the way you are doing things, so here's some tips.
1. Snow storms exist only on the ice shelf, so keep planes in a holding pattern out to sea if your airstrips are getting overwhelmed.
2. The final wave has limited fuel, and will spawn as soon as the first plane of the third wave lands. Make sure you clear waves 1 and 2 first.
3. Your base comes with 2 airstrips, one intended for jet launches, the other for cargo landings. But construction tools are unlocked, and you do have enough resources to extend one strip. Doing this trivializes much of the challenge.
When the last C-17 hits the ice, Ivanova will inform you that the Erusian whale watchers have breached the outer perimeter. Now Kane would very much prefer to keep the equipment he's unloading under wrap, so we got to scare them away.
Go ahead and finish the hangars to unlock unit recruitment. This allows us to deploy the venerable F4E Phantom II. Cheap, dependeable, an excellent solution to scare away some Erusian whale watchers. Technically, you only need to train 1 jet to finish the mission, but let's go ahead and recruit a wing anyway.
Once your wing's been equipped, load them up and send them out on an intercept. Make sure to order your forces to hold fire. Gunfire will result in an international incident, and a mission loss. As your forces approach, the enemy will divert. What follows is a little cat and mouse game, but once you've intercepted them 5 times, the enemy will run away and victory will be yours.
Fun thing. Only shooting the enemy causes the incident. If you happen to chase them into a snowstorm, that's just a happy little incident.
Next up :
Hotter climates, as we're send into the radioactive wastelands of Belkan to pick up an old acquitance.