M13: Phantom

M13: Phantom is the thirteenth mission in Metroid Prime: Federation Force. In this mission, after some time away from the planet, the Federation Force returns to Talvania to retrieve three Architects, storage devices containing Space Pirate research, from an abandoned factory site. The mission's bonus objective is to take no damage from the gas that is prevalent throughout the facility. Samus Aran's Gunship can be seen flying overhead.
The Force finds the Architects attached to a machine, but upon trying to release them, the Architects fly off. The Marines must give chase. The Architects must shot with charged blasts in order to "fry their circuits" and cause them to stop long enough to be picked up. Then the Marines must take them to their cargo ship, while fending off Pirates and Cloaked Troopers. They cannot carry the Architects and kill Pirates at the same time, but if AI Combat Drones are being used, they will carry the Architect to the ship. When playing solo, this mission can be extremely difficult without power-increasing MODs as the Pirates will be relentless in their pursuit of the Marine, the Architects will not be easy to shoot, the gas is difficult to avoid and AI Combat Drones, if they are equipped, will frequently drop them. Each secured Architect will reward a 1,000 points bonus.
==Dedicated terminals==
Pirate Log: Experimentation ReportOrganic subjects rendered undetectable. Increase energy levels and proceed to next phase of testing.
Pirate Log: ArchitectAutonomous evasion protocols in effect due to improved security system.
==Mission briefing==
===Pre-mission===
"Attention! We've just received a new batch of information from Samus Aran. She's discovered some critical data about Space Pirate activity.
The Space Pirates on Talvania have taken over an abandoned factory site that the original machine race had built. They're using the site to conduct some sort of research.
We now know that they're using devices, called Architects, to store their research data. These Architects would be invaluable to our research team.
Your mission is to infiltrate the factory site, locate the Architects, and bring them back to us. Unfortunately, the Space Pirates have divided their research between several units.
According to Samus, there are three Architects. We need all three if we hope to make sense of the data, so you'll need to bring them all back.
Obviously the site is going to be well protected. The mission will be extremely dangerous, but I have complete faith in you. Move out, Marine!"
===Post-mission===
"Excellent work recovering the Space Pirate Architects. We've begun a detailed analysis of the data they held, but we were able to glean some important details right away.
The Space Pirates were using that site to research and develop some advanced camouflage technology. They were able to do this by using powerful energy sources.
This technology is probably what allowed the Pirates there to hide so well.
However, it doesn't make sense for them to go to all this effort just to hide their grunts. There must be some bigger objective for this technology."
==Dialogue==
"Those spheres attached to the construct are the Architects that we're here to retrieve."
"You must have triggered a safeguard. Chase those Architects down and retrieve them."
"Your blaster! It can fry their circuits to slow them down!"
"Clear out the Space Pirates so the cargo ship can lift off safely!"
==Development notes==
Patrick English created the environments in this mission. He enjoyed creating the landing pad and toxic fan at the start of the mission, while noting they resembled similar environments on Talvania. English liked the contrast in the facility's exterior and interior, the former having a "grungy" appearance with steel fencing and pipes, compared to the interior facility with clean, white rooms. He found the latter to be a nice change from the "industrial grunge" in the other missions he designed.Interview: Patrick English. Shinesparkers. September 30, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
==References==
Category:Missions
Category:Talvania