Computers - http://maxpages.com/catzmm/MechCommander

It is always a good idea to hunt down container stacks and component warehouses for extra salvage
A lot of the strategies that worked well in the first campaign work again in this one. First, at least one jump-equipped 'Mech on the mission is a must. There are just too many times that you will need to quickly bypass walls and cliffs in order to capture key towers. Next, check battalion inventory after every mission. The sooner you can get your hand55s on Mauler-Ws and Atlas-As the better. Finally, always study your briefing maps in order to locate likely places for stuff to be. You need salvage, and the more fighting your pilots do, the faster they will improve their skills.

Operation 1 Mission 1 — Secure Landing Zone
First, reconfigure your 'Mechs so that your heavy (slow) 'Mech carries plenty of long-range weapons. You don't have any choice but to mix heavy and light 'Mechs, so you need to assume your heavy 'Mech is always going to end up shooting from medium and long range while your light 'Mechs go toe to toe.

Pay attention to the briefing maps. You can spot high terrain, walls, and even turrets (tiny orange squares), something that makes planning your mission a lot easier
Start the mission by climbing to the top of the large hill that is just to the west of your drop zone. This will reveal the mobile HQ as well as the units guarding it. Use two of your artillery strikes to soften them up, and as those strikes move in, get your units heading to the west around the trees. This will allow you to cut off the mobile HQ as it tries to escape. Once captured, keep heading west. There are a couple component stacks you can capture in the ruins in the southwest corner of the map. Then head towards your second objective.

Climb the hills between the southwest corner and the component warehouses. This will reveal all the terrain between you and your objective, as well as a couple more component stacks in the northwest corner. Use your artillery to take out the auxiliary power for the turrets and then move in and finish off the vehicles. Capture the warehouses and walk over to your extraction point, killing the lone 'Mech along the way.

Operation 1 Mission 2 — Protect Base Nomad
First, buy a Stiletto class 'Mech. You are going to need a fast 'Mech to secure and scout your base When you deploy, split into a heavy group and a fast group.

As soon as you hit the ground, order your Stiletto to rush out the front of the base, across the bridge, and capture the turret control just over the river. Those turrets will be enough to stop the vehicles of the first wave, and tear up most of the vehicles in the second wave. Rush the Stiletto back into the base and let it repair from the turret damage.

There is nothing more annoying that having a 'Mech with a blown out leg limp around the map (well, except for not being able to save the game during missions)
The first wave is vehicles up the middle and light 'Mechs that will attack your west corner. Move all your 'Mechs to the west corner. The turrets will stop the vehicles, and your 'Mechs and turrets can deal with the enemy 'Mechs. As soon as this wave is knocked back, run your Stiletto out along the near bank of the water towards your eastern sensor tower (the center of the white circle on your mini map). As your reach the sensor range, you will spot a container stack. Capture it and run back.

The second wave is more vehicles up the middle, and more light 'Mechs to the west corner. You will probably want to move your light forces to the middle gate in case the turrets are taken out before finishing off the vehicles. You will also want to help this wave with an artillery strike on the vehicles as they approach your base.

A jump-equipped 'Mech is invaluable for capturing turrets; much better than trying to fight them
The final wave is the sneakiest. There will be a jump 'Mech that tries to go over the east wall, a heavy jump 'Mech up the middle, and more light 'Mechs into that west corner. They will also try to synch up the attack so that all three areas get hit at once. However, the jump 'Mech that wants to go over the east wall will stop near the container stack you captured. Hit it with a small artillery strike and it will forget to wait. You can have your 'Mechs all waiting in the east section of the base to knock it out. Then, send your heavy 'Mechs to the front gate to wait for the enemy heavy, and your light 'Mechs to the west corner.

Operation 1 Mission 3 — Secure Baitan Sector
This mission is very straightforward. Start out by climbing the hill directly ahead of your drop point. You will fight a few vehicles along the way, but once you are at the top, you will be able to see almost all of your targets.

Head towards the western fort first. The road into the fort is mined, so use ammo conservation fire at the ground to clear the path. Blast your way in and capture the components and HQ. Send a jump 'Mech out the back gate and towards the center base. Destroy the medium wall around the center base so that your 'Mech has a place to jump down from the cliffs and into the fort to capture the turret tower. Rejoin the rest of your units and send them all around to the center fortress. Once the center base is cleared, repair your 'Mechs and head off to the final fortress. Again, you can jump the wall and capture the turrets.

When you finish with the HQs, you need to head to the extraction point. Along the way you will run into Katherine Furey. Her 'Mech is a jump Vulture with extra armor, and you will be able to salvage it. It will probably join you on all but one or two of the remaining missions (unless you get lucky and can buy a jump assault 'Mech to replace it).

Operation 1 Mission 4 — Eliminate Base Ogre
Move towards the north of the drop point and use a jump 'Mech to capture the components. Then, head towards your first objective. There is a large hill before it which you should climb. Several vehicles and two artillery turrets (very nasty things) guard the mobile HQ. Attack the turrets and vehicles. The mobile HQ will try to escape and leave its defenders. Once it is far enough away from them, capture it. Finish off the defenses and capture the 'Mech repair bay. Fix your 'Mechs and then start heading north.

Using waypoints to run and jump greatly simplifies getting your 'Mechs quickly into and out of enemy bases
You will run into a several small groups of turrets. Use your artillery to lure the defenders away from the turrets and destroy them. Run in and capture the control towers. Use another artillery strike to lure the 'Mechs away from the command center and into your newly captured turrets. Once all the enemy 'Mechs are gone, roam around the map, capturing the components, and then destroy the command center.

Operation 2 Mission 1 — Targets of Opportunity
You have a lot of objectives and only twenty-five minutes. However, that is plenty of time even if you use slow 'Mechs and stop to repair. Start out by running due west to the high ground.

Continue towards the west towards objective two, keeping to the high ground until you spot the pressure tanks. You can lure the enemy 'Mechs over to these tanks and use them do help with the fight. Finish them off, and then head to where the enemy 'Mechs were. You will find components and a repair bay. Repair your 'Mechs and head towards objective three.

Move all the way around to the east edge of the map and kill the turrets there from range. Lure the 'Mechs out with an artillery strike and destroy them. Send your jump 'Mech over the wall to capture the turret and gate controls. Repair your 'Mechs again, send them across the bridge, and then destroy it.

On almost all maps you will have access to repair facilities. It's also a good idea to repair all your 'Mechs right before you complete a mission to save on the cost of repairs in the 'Mech bay
Head towards objective four but stay close to the water, especially after going around the crevice. Once you reach the west edge of the map, there will be an unguarded turret control due north. Run up and grab it. The turrets will start firing at the vehicles and 'Mechs guarding objective four. Help your turrets finish off the guards and then blow the research facilities. Move along the west edge of the map to objective five and kill the two remaining guard 'Mechs before capturing the components.

Head along the north edge of the map and blast through the forest towards the extraction point to avoid the turrets and gates that block the way.

Operation 2 Mission 2 — Capture Ordinance Convoy
The trick to this mission is to force the convoy to take a longer route by blowing the two bridges that the convoy is supposed to take (pay attention to the briefing map) and leaving the third. You also want to capture the turrets on the west edge of the map. Once that is done, use your artillery to destroy as many of the escorts as possible while your 'Mechs move to the narrow strip of land near the north edge of the map.

As the salvage rigs and their escorts approach, have your 'Mechs kill the escorts as quickly as possible. You will almost certainly want one light 'Mech who stays back from the fighting to capture the rigs that get past. Finally, make sure you kill Osis's Masakari. Like all ace 'Mechs, you will get to salvage it if you can destroy it.

Operation 2 Mission 3 — Eliminate Orbital Guns
There is nothing special about this mission. There is a thirty minute time limit, but even with six objectives you will have plenty of time as long as you make sure to run between points (capturing the sensor control at objective one will keep you from running into any unexpected enemies). There are also a few container stacks you will run across between points.

Operation 2 Mission 4 — Capture Enemy Commanders
On the briefing map, you will notice a small walled area to the southeast of the main base. Send your 'Mechs here first. There are vehicles guarding container stacks. Once cleared, move your units to the top of the large hill between that small base and the large base. From the top, you will be able to see two-thirds and almost all of the enemy units.

Although it might seem bulky and weak at first glance, the x-pulse laser is the best long-range weapon in the game
Use an artillery strike to hit the patrolling 'Mech near the pressure tanks and pipes. If you aim correctly, the artillery will hit both the 'Mech and the tanks, easily destroying that guard. Once that 'Mech is gone, move your units to the north side of the enemy base. The enemy commander in the APC will try to escape in this direction. Move forward and use artillery and your 'Mechs to start killing off the enemy defenders. Capture the APC as soon as it gets away from the defenders. Finish clearing the base and then capture the last two commanders.

Operation 3 Mission 1 — Capture Base Kraken
On the briefing map, you will notice a very large base in the southeast corner of the map. Although it isn't mentioned in the briefing, this will be your third stop on this mission. Your first objective is the fairly straightforward capture of the sensor control due north of the drop zone. Once captured, move out of turret range and wait for the patrolling mobile HQ. Capturing it will reveal the enemy units. Make sure you capture it out of range of any turrets.

Sometimes it is better to just blast a control tower rather than take the damage from trying to capture it
Once you capture the sensors and HQ, move to the center of the map and capture the turrets there. Guard the turrets against the patrolling vehicles, and then head to the southeast base. Inside the base, you will face the Turkina and some other 'Mechs. There is also a lot of stacks to be captured. Clearing this base also eliminate the majority of the assault on Base Kraken after you capture it. Finish the map by heading to Kraken, clear the base, and then wait for any stragglers to attempt recapturing it.

Operation 3 Mission 2 — Eliminate Reinforcements
The challenge of this mission is the very low drop weight. Your best bet is to use Furey's Vulture loaded with equal number of clan pulse lasers and clan long-range missiles. The missiles can fire over obstacles, and the pulse lasers will help immensely with the Elementals and any of the other face moving units that will try to go toe to toe with you when you jump walls.

Start by heading due east and climb the hill. This will show the turret control tower. Jump the river and capture it. Guard the tower while letting the turrets deal with all the enemy units at this objective. Once cleared, head to point three. Carefully approach objective three and jump the wall to get inside and capture the turret control. There is also a repair facility here that you can use once the area is secure. Refit your 'Mech, and then head to point two. The rest of the objectives can be handled in order and you should be able to refit your 'Mech between each. Avoid going through gates and instead jump the walls into each objective area.

Blasting generators with artillery is often much easier than trying to fight your way through them
Operation 3 Mission 3 — Obliterate Complex
Pay special attention to the briefing map. The sensor control and generator base are both very obvious on it. You also have two camera drones that can be used to spot those generators for artillery strikes. The sensor control is well guarded and not worth the effort. Dropping a camera drone on the generators is very much worth the effort. For those who don't want to try, restart, try again to get the cameras correct, click the mini-map due west of point one at the border between your small and large artillery strike counters and drop the drone just above the center of the screen. This will uncover the generators for your artillery.

Once the turrets are down, march towards the dead generatos and clear that area. Then head towards the complex. You will run across a 'Mech repair bay before entering the complex. Take time to refit since your objective is well defended.

Operation 4 Mission 4 — Final Assault
First, the "hidden" drill is in the center of the forest. It is the brown spot on the large orange smear in the center of the briefing map. Make sure you have a jump 'Mech for this mission since it is virtually impossible to destroy drill four without one. It is also a good idea to use nothing but assault 'Mechs and bring a refit truck since you will be fighting a lot of heavy hitters.

Climb to the top of the hill directly in front of your drop zone. From here you will see the turrets and 'Mechs that guard the gate into the rest of the map. Carefully approach until the enemy 'Mechs come out to fight. Run back up the hill to make sure the fight happens well away from the turrets. Once the enemy 'Mechs are destroyed, head south and blast through the wall to get into the area without getting shot by the turrets. Follow the shore and head out the narrow strip of land. There will be an ambush guarding a repair bay.

The only challenging drill is the fourth because it is in a nearly impregnable fortress. However, if you simply use a jump 'Mech to get on the hills behind the fort, you will spot a gap in the defenses that your jump 'Mech can exploit. Jump the 'Mech in, capture the turret control, and get him out. Have the rest of your 'Mechs join up for an assault once the turrets are neutralized

mmorphon00@yahoo.com

Visitors: 00097

Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST