Raiders 2 Campaign

The **Raiders 2 Campaign** consists of 30 missions and an additional 6 bonus missions added with the 5 Year Anniversary Update. The original campaign was added with the release of Raiders 2 on 21 June 2016. The campaign missions, including bonus missions, can be played on easy, normal and hard difficulties, and include many achievements the player can obtain during a playthrough.

Storywise, the campaign takes place three years after of the end of the Sky War. Margos, having suffered for his defeat at Scer, returned from exile. His ascendence to the Master of Tyranny had been cancelled by the united mercenaries that stood against the rebel wizard. He sought out Scer once more, traveling to the side of no return. He slew the hivemind that controlled the dark energies he wielded and became the Master of Tyranny, setting up the events of the campaign to follow.

The campaign follows the player character being recruited by Expedition V and sent on a long mission to scout outlying planets and rocks for signs of Margos. The reason for Expedition V wanting to capture and not kill Margos is unclear but is quickly discovered. The massive organization becomes infiltrated and the last mission deals with eradicating Expedition V from the face of the skies.

The campaign is continued five years later with six additional missions that deal with straggler branches of Expedition V. Some of these are later seen in Raiders 3. The mission packs act as a conclusion to the Raiders 2 saga, and no future missions are planned for the game.

## Gameplay

### Base Campaign

The gameplay of the campaign is similar to multiplayer/versus mode in base Raiders 2. Most of the maps feature similar map design to multiplayer, that being starting at a base, advancing through the map, getting gold for upgrades and attacking an enemy base. There are also notably many missions that switch up the style, for example hero missions where the player controls their character with set upgrades, or hold-the-line missions.

After a certain number of missions, the player is sometimes allowed to station at a camp within the area that they had previously been in. They can buy upgrades that will affect the rest of the game further on (bought with gold that the player collects during missions). The player can often get more tidbits of lore from speaking with characters or from logbooks. New missions can be started at the command table.

The campaign can be played with every class in the game. This often creates new strategies depending on the class played and opens up more opportunities. The game has good replay value, and even more so on harder difficulties if one wishes to try their hand at it.

### Bonus Missions

The bonus missions play almost the same as the base Raiders 2 campaign, but do feature some changes. The bonus missions feature a fourth, hidden difficulty, *Overkill*, obtained by beating the mission pack on Hard. The bonus campaigns also change damage and health from various classes and feature post-mission areas for each mission.

Notably, the upgrade system is removed from the Bonus Campaigns, only allowing the player to obtain upgrades during the run of a mission.

## Storyline

### Base Campaign

The campaign starts off inside of the player's, whose occupation is a mercenary, personal starship. They are contacted by an ambassador for the group Expedition V who seek new recruits for their campaign. The player is not told what their purpose within Expedition V is, but they accept the contract for 50,000 gold. This is the very first mission of the game. It is very quickly followed up by the second mission, which acts as a tutorial on how the game plays. The player is sent to a training facility operated by Expedition V on the planet Selvork. The next mission is the first real gameplay mission of the game, once more remaining on Selvork. The planet has only been revisited by Expedition V recently, and they are missing resources to operate their vehicles. The player collects natural oil reserves while fighting off the local wildlife. Once the player has obtained the ingredients, the vehicles are refueled and the mission ends. Once more on Selvork, the fourth mission puts the player in control of a fighter jet. It is purported that rebel scientists have set up camp nearby and that the base must be destroyed. The player destroys the major facilities and the camp is burnt to the ground. The player learns that these rebel scientists were not actually planning to aid an enemy, and instead doing research on the outer perimeters of Selvork, something strictly forbidden by Expedition V. The player confronts the headmaster of Expedition V, Almor, who denies the scientists' innocence.

Following the event, the player decides to join a new force that plan to explore the outer perimeter of Selvork. At the dead of night, the player joins up with this small team and they leave the safe zone. They have to sneak past guard towers, helicopters searching the jungles. They encounter a base in the middle of the woods where something sinister is kept within. The player returns to the safe zone and pretends as if nothing had happened. The sixth mission begins the day after on a rock floating on the outskirts of Selvork. The player speaks to a lieutenant working with Expedition V, who is someone your character had also worked with during the Sky War. He tells you to clear out an infestation that has taken over a part of the rock due to an unfortunate incident. The player quickly discovers the correlation between what they saw within the base on Selvork proper and what is taking over the rock above the planet. The infestation is cleared but the player asks the lieutenant about what is happening. While claiming to not know anything, he accidentally slips a significant clue. By the very next mission, the player is back on Selvork and they once again cross through the deeply surveilled woods. They get through every bit of security meant to stop anyone from discovering the truth. The player finds Margos and Almor discussing future operations and eventual plans to turn their followers into slaves. The player catches wind of this and brings the news back to the group of saboteurs that they had encountered earlier. A revolt on a massive scale begins with mission 8. The player aids the revolution with destroying a significant margin of Expedition V's defenses located on Selvork. Despite their strength, the player is taken captive by Expedition V, confronted by Almor. They are sent on a ship heading for the prison world Searle.

The ninth mission follows the player trapped in a sandstone prison on Searle. The player is enclosed with some of the people that helped in the revolt, and quickly they begin plans to escape their imprisonment. The player collects a number of tools to break through and eventually do end up escaping. Now, on an unfamiliar, desert world, they trek towards the nearest sign of civilization. A town located on a hill is spotted. The player enters the town and finds themselves among a people with great disdain for Expedition V. They have practically been taken as slaves, and quickly the player sets off to deal with whatever they must. The tenth mission opens with the player and their newfound allies hunting through the desert. They encounter massive beasts that are taken down. Before the player can become trusted by the Searleans, they must know of their ways. After many beasts are killed, the player is invited to a great feast by the chieftain.

Expedition V takes quick notice of the player's escape. Naturally, they would search for the nearest place inhabited by any living being. Wosokosh is besieged by Expedition V's forces, and the player takes up arms and fights the attack. While a small army, it still proves costly as Expedition V and their leaders now know that the most wanted mercenary in the universe is on the run. As the battle ends, the player destroys their contract with Expedition V, instead taking the offer of the Searleans. Now, with much more gold, the player can rest assuredly knowing that they will not be strapped for cash in the future. The player's journey on Searle ends quickly as they must escape to somewhere that Expedition V can not reach them.

The player comes by a familiar landscape. The snowy rock Cathrese is where the twelfth mission begins. The area is one that the player remembers from the Sky War and where they settle down. The ruins of what once was a base for the minions of Margos is now nothing more but a ghost town. Or so the player thinks, as they move further on, they discover that a new people has settled here, too. The Kavenai have been scattered from Carros, their homeworld, by Margos' vicious attacks. The entire world has practically become one big headquarters for Margos. The player learns of this from the de-facto leader of the Kavenai, Skorvumin. Beyond the layer of clouds, the player sees what has become of Carros. Swearing allegiance to the Kavenai, the thirteenth mission drops the player and several Kavenai on Carros. The player and their allies sabotage important areas that Margos and his minions control. Their landing zone is cleared, and it opens the way for the next three missions.

Mission fourteen sends the player against three important targets. The once proud capital city of the Kavenai has become infested with the evil magic that twists reality. The master of the forges, the master of the army, and the master of the curses are all slain. Without anyone to operate the most crucial parts of control, it quickly slips away. This does not go unnoticed by the forces present. Svayen, the formal leader of Margos' legion on Carros, orders an immediate investigation. Suspecting treason, Svayen slays even more important targets, making the next step easier. The fifteenth mission sets in motion the full-scale attack on the palace where Skorvumin once resided. The massive complex is besieged by the Kavenai while the player sneaks through its halls. Svayen realizes that it was not his own kin that sabotaged his control, but it was the Kavenai. The palace falls and Svayen has no other choice but to face off against the player and the Kavenai in one combined force. Thus, the sixteenth mission, and the last Carros mission, ends with Svayen's defeat and Carros' retaking. This victory deals a major blow to Margos as he learns of it. Though Carros is liberated, it will take perhaps centuries to fully rid the world of the taint of the dark magic.

The player returns to Cathrese, overlooking Carros. Inspired by the set of events, the player boards their personal craft once more and sets off for the next planet. An ambassador working for an anti-Margos, anti-Expedition V group calls to the player after having heard of their great sabotage work. The player enters a contract with the Junker Pirates, and the player takes off for their base-of-operations on Clay. The planet is a dumping ground. It is the place where every bit of trash, be it metal, paper, or otherwise, is thrown to. The surface reeks of an unbearable stink, and the Junker Pirates live within it, using scraps of metal to create houses, to create weapons, and to create transport. These intergalactic pirates live on Clay to avoid being taken by Expedition V. Most of them were former members or mercenaries working for Expedition V. The seventeenth mission opens on the wide plains and hills of trash befouling the surface of clay. The player collects as much of the trash as they can while avoiding inhaling bad substances. During their journey, they find that Expedition V has sent scouts out to seek out the Junker Pirates and put an end to their reign. Despite the Junker Pirates being outlaws who murder and kill, the player finds them a better alternative to Expedition 5 -- a 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' situation.

The scouts are put down. The Junker Pirates are put on full alert and send out platoons of outlaws out in the wastes. They come by the landing zone of Expedition V, only a few minutes away from the Junker Pirate's base of operations. The player uses a wide arsenal of weapons to destroy this foothold, and of course loot more gold from them. Almor himself was among those, but he narrowly avoided death. The player returns to the cave. Now in good standing with the Junker Pirates, their leader, Admiral Reaves McGloy, allows the player into the megacity Junkertopia. The entire city is located under the earth, sprawling tunnels of metal and junk form pathways and housing in the vast tunnels. The nineteenth mission starts inside of Junkertopia and the player are sent vague instructions. They are meant to crawl through the long, dense streets of Junkertopia to get more information out of former Expedition V members. While three of those the player speaks to have not much information, Baron Cruvius gives much information about Expedition V. He reveals that ever since Margos became the Master of Tyranny, Expedition V went from a neutral research organization to being controlled by a pupper leader, Almor, and that Cruvius was the previous leader before his ousting. He also speculates that Scer is being used as the new main base of operations.

With this new information, the player characters decides to venture closer to Scer. The player brings along some of the groups they have signed contracts with and lands on the rock Carpathia. With a small settlement made, the united forces are made to collect as many minerals from the asteroid cluster as they can. Mission twenty leads the player to control an asteroid-mining device and collect 200,000 of each mineral. With the task done, the united forces can begin to construct and army to swarm Scer when the time is ready. Yet still, the player feels the need to have a few more contracts signed on worlds near Scer. The final stretch of the campaign begins on the moon Lunor surrounding the gas planet Gvollie. Gvollie contains a large shipment facility inside where a majority of shipments to-and-from worlds pass through. A distinct sect of Kavenai that fled from Carros set up Gvollie as a shipment facility, and with the news of their homeworld's liberation, will allow the player and their allies to pass through without needing to pay any form of tax. Now, with an easy route between their home worlds, the forces settle down on Gvollie as they prepare to launch an attack on the Expedition V-dominated world of Baron.

As thousands of men-at-arms, siege weapons and magical weapons are loaded onto warships, the united forces pass through Gvollie's quicktravel ports and surround Baron. The space ships fire their weapons at a clearing to make way for the attack on Baron. The first Baron mission, being the twentythird mission overall, begins with the all-out attack on a base. As seemingly thousands of Expedition V forces come to bear, the united forces successfully push them back. To their surprise, what appears to be soldiers bearing the taint of dark magic amass around them. As more and more pour out from unknown places, the united forces can do nothing but defend their beachhead from these horrid armies that march ever closer. While the siege lasts long, reinforcements arrive and clear out those remaining. This leads to the second Baron mission, twentyfourth overall. They travel to the other side of the planet to lay siege to a mighty workshop the size of a castle. They pass through the disturbing halls of the workshop, destroying everything they can find. The task is not easy as Expedition V sends out every last bit of army they can scramble in time. The player character destroys tank and kills soldier, finally revealing what is happening. Margos uses his magic to infuse these soldiers to become stronger. Almor himself had his strength increased significantly, his skin almost breaking apart from the magic.

The final Baron mission, and twentyfifth overall, takes them to the final part of the world. A massive, seemingly undefeatable army of Margos' creation stands as everything else falls. From the halls of the massive Junker Pirate ship, hundreds of other ships are commanded to strike down the spreading defiling forces below. Eventually, a massive creature of pure dark power rises from the earth. Seeing no other way around it, Cruvius takes control of his ship one last time, as everyone else is sent towards a ship that will take the fight to Scer. Cruvius crashes his ship into the mighty being, engulfing it and himself in a massive fire, freeing Baron from the cursed beasts.

Mission twentysix starts aboard the Kavenai ship where everyone was evacuated to. The ship takes coordinates and teleports to a moon located outside of Scer. The war council and the player character view the dark side of Scer, seeing it in all its glory. As Cruvius had thought, Expedition V had made their home on Scer once more. Wasting no time, the united forces landed on the moon Valor. A massive base intended to aid the ground forces when the time was right was established above. Hundreds of miles on the moon were covered in fortresses. Eventually, the time would be right to attack below.

Mission twentyseven takes the player on the surface of Scer once again. They find themselves on the molten surface of the planet, and find the combined steel of Expedition V corrupted by the dark magic that Margos wields. The most important targets are quickly destroyed as more Expedition V reinforcements try to stop the advance.

With the initial push finalized, a massive wave of reinforcements unlike any other appears above. Almor shouts commands and attempts to demoralize his attackers from atop his own personal spaceship, fueled by death and dark magic. Bombarded by the legions of hostiles, the united forces buckle up for an epic hold-the-line mission against Almor in mission twentyeight.

In mission twentynine, the time to act is short. The reinforcements have been starved thin, but they will quickly return. The player character understands and goes out to collect several teleportation stones to allow them to board Almor's grand shuttle. They fight tooth and nail against the zealots who still defend Scer. Eventually, the player obtains all the stones and returns to the camp, just as new reinforcements begin to darken the sky. The player character teleports aboard the ship, initiating the final mission.

Mission thirty opens within the ship itself. There are hundreds of soldiers within, and the initial part of the mission leads the player to sneak past the many soldiers. They come through, now in the open, and are noticed by the guards. In their darkest hour, the player character is aided by a platoon of Kavenai who teleport inside, smashing through the forces. They move through together, now faced against an aware enemy. Almor knows of this, too, and prepares to fight -- if the invaders ever make it past his elite forces. Difficulty arises as the Kavenai's support are wiped out by explosives. The player character alone can not charge through a flurry of death, but with great luck, the Junker Pirates return fire, destroying the explosive turrets. It is now that the ship is filled with dark creations who march from everywhere, a grim reminder of Margos' power. The Searleans push through the armies of mindless troops, clearing out a path. Now, hundreds of the united forces armies have penetrated the defenses of the ship. Only one thing remains, Almor.

Almor takes up arms, using the dark magics that his master has taught him. He would use them to fight his enemies the best he could, even blowing off a part of his ship as it dove into the volcano from which the dark magic of Scer first originated. He was killed, yet the ship still fell. The victors teleported out, the last vestage of Expedition V dying with it as all the other forces dissipated into thin air like magic -- the curse of Margos. He was aware of what had happened, yet still shocked that his seemingly unstoppable army was defeated.

The campaign ends with a cinematic shot of the ship crashing into the volcano, concluding the base Campaign.