Mission 14 - The Assault

## 14 - The Assault

A Sylon Power Generator, providing energy to the extensive defenses of the Hathor-4 Sylus Core.

## Battle Information

### Aftermath

Decisive Annaki Order Victory* Multiple Sylus Core defenses off-line.

## Belligerents

* Annaki Order

* Sylon Collective

## Commanders

* Adikara
* Nephral

* Sylus

## Forces

* Intruders, Lancets and Martyrprobes
* Warpgliders, Flankers and Clairvoyants
* Invader destroyers
* Neda

* Complete Sylon arsenal excluding Assimilators.

## Objectives

* Destroy all Power Generators.

* Protect the Power Generators.
* Eliminate all Athrael forces.

## Casualties and losses

Severe
Extensive

## Involved Characters

* Adikara
* Nephral
* Vera Vargas

*The Assault* is the fourteenth mission in Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors in the Five Nations campaign.

## Setting

Following the successful assistance of Vera Vargas and establishing an apparent military alliance with the United Federation, the Annaki Order under High One Nephral and Consultant Adikara traveled to the Hathor-4 System, an once Athrael-controlled province now occupied by the Sylon Collective, especially due to it's rich mineral wealth which had the Collective's guiding intelligence, the Sylus, establish a Core to supervise the system.

Now, this Core must be destroyed in order to paralyze all the local Sylon forces, especially as they prepare another assault - possibly a second super-fleet - at the Sol System. For this, Nephral sent Vargas to take the request for assistance, along with tactical suggestions, to her 'sages' in the Federation High Command. Nephral could only hope they would respond in time, but in the meanwhile the Annaki forces had their own objectives, starting with the destruction of critical Sylon Power Generators vital to the defense lines of the Sylus Core. Adikara would lead the assault.

## Tip of the Spear

The Annaki forces under Adikara established a foothold by the doorstep of the Generators' site, and wasted no time in developing it and mustering attack forces to deploy against the Sylon forces. For a better chance at the breakthrough, Nephral conceded to Adikara the knowledge to construct Invader destroyers, whose bombardment capabilities would prove pivotal against Sylon defenses and battlegroups, as well as Lancet drone interceptors to accompany and support Intruder wings in attack runs against larger Sylon vessels and facilities.

As the engagement escalated between the Sylons and the Athrael forces, where the Sylons had the advantage of fortifications, firepower and numbers, Adikara's strategic foresight granted the edge needed for the Athraels to destroy the Generators, in particular where some were simply too vulnerable to a suicide run of Intruders, Lancets and Martyrprobes.

As the Generators were destroyed, Vera Vargas contacted Nephral again and informed that, though it was not easy (and it almost had her committed to an insane asylum), she did manage to convince the Federation High Command in sending forces to support the Athrael's assault at the Sylus Core. A fleet, helmed by Admiral Benjamin Colburne, would be headed to the coordinates assigned by Nephral.

## Walkthrough

The player will start with a spread out base, with some Intruders, Warpgliders, a Clairvoyant and a Flanker, the Neda and some Explorers, and a good enough quantity of Drones and resources but a very slow energy output. Thus, the player should readily build Power Cores, particularly close to the entrance's Polaron Spheres as, by the time the player builds a Monument of Will (which requires a Haven), the player can turn these Power Cores into Obelisks. Obelisks deal a potent, long ranged instant attack that deals incredible damage even against larger Sylon units such as Shades and Plasma Raids. However, these attacks area also slow and Obelisks are very much vulnerable, so the player will want to station them behind Polaron Spheres or other structures. To the west of the base is a Tachyon field that will require a Gathering deployed into a Central Pyramid close by, to both build defenses to guard the mining site as well as the western entrance the Sylons will attack from, aside from the northern entrance.

The player should note that the electric radiation cloud to the northwest of the base is, by *no* means, a safe zone from attacks, as the Sylons will not shun from sending attack forces there, so at least one Polaron Sphere and an Obelisk should be built close by, with Explorers (particularly with Absorbent Coating researched at the Conservatory) at the edges of the cloud to provide detection, vision and early warning. The Sylons will be attacking at first with Spears, Twinblades, Absorbers and Caldrons, and later on send Glooms, Arsons, Shades, Masks and Plasma Raids. Therefore, a wing of fighters as well as Martyrprobes are needed for defense, as well as nearby Clairvoyants to restore the hull of damaged structures.

The player will have access to the Sanctuary on this mission (which also requires a Haven) as well as two new units, which are Invaders and Lancets. Invaders are optimal bombardment cruisers as their magnetic pulses are capable of avoiding obstacles such as enemy structures and hit their target directly, while also dealing splash damage. Plus, like Martyrprobes, they only have costs in Metal and Tachyon. However, Invaders are also slow units and cannot target fighters, so an escort of Warpgliders or Intruder wings will still be necessary. When dying, Invaders release three Revenger fighters each, but these are not as capable fighters as the Intruders or Lancets, so they are best served to stall enemy units during a retreat. Lancets are anti-cruiser fighters which can deal considerable damage to cruisers (especially anti-fighter cruisers such as Twinblades) and structures and share the Aether Thruster upgrade from the Dome with Intruders, making Intruder/Lancet combos in large numbers very dangerous in attacking cruisers or harassing enemy bases. However, Lancets possess no shielding and can be vulnerable to heavy anti-fighter fire or splash attacks such as that from Arsons.

There are two viable resource sites the player can take. The first is at the southwestern corner, with some Metal and Helium-3 asteroids, but it's close to the purple Sylon base, so defenses are expected. The second is to the far northeastern corner, to the very right of the third Generator, but there are no paths or direct fire routes for the Sylon cruisers other than it's southern entrance, so it can be easily defended.

The three Generators the player is tasked to destroy eventually become visible on the map, all guarded by a pair of Aegises and an Arson each. The first Generator will be on the top left corner, deep within the red Sylon base and right above the purple Sylon base, so it can be dealt with by building a few Invaders (at best five), some Warpgliders and Flankers and a couple of Clairvoyants, with at least one or two Explorers following the group for detection, and sending them all with the Neda to storm the purple base. The best attack route to this base is the southern entrance close to the Metal and Helium-3 expansion, given it's a tight entrance the Sylon defenders will have to come through, and thus can suffer great damage from the Invaders if the defenders are occupied dealing with the Flankers. The only real concern are the Arsons, but this can be circumvented by either pulling away or focusing them down with Intruders, Lancets and/or Martyrprobes. As the defenses are destroyed, the player can destroy this base and push north toward this Generator.

The second Generator is at the center of the red Sylon base and can be accessed from the fortified southeast entrance with a force of Invaders, but if the purple Sylon base was mostly destroyed, the player can choose to push with either the battlefleet or fly in Martyrprobes (Between 12 and 14) towards the structure from the southwestern corner due northeast, only having to use some Intruders to distract the guarding Arson and draw nearby Leech Mines. The third and final Generator is to the northeast and can be accessed from the right side via Martyrprobes, as there are only some Pillboxes guarding this side. Some care should be taken, however, when destroying the Generators, as each detonate as like a nuclear device and this can be catastrophic to any units near it, especially fighters.

When all Generators are destroyed, the mission is completed.

## History and Background

The occupation of the Hathor-4 System by the Sylon Collective would be recounted by Cura in *Jigsaw* in Chapter 04 - Endgame, set over twenty-two years earlier, in the 2236 date. This would set the date of the invasion to 2214, nine years prior to the events of Prelude - Calm Before the Storm, and thus eighteen years before the events of Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors. This event may have also possibly been the first contact between Athraels and Sylons.