Mission 01 - The Birth of a New Praetor

## 01 - The Birth of a New Praetor

For the Sylon Collective, defeat is but an inconvenience...

### Aftermath

Initial Sylon Collective Victory* Sylon Praetor establishes a foothold on the Caribou System.

## Belligerents

* Sylon Collective

* United Federation

## Commanders

* Praetor (protagonist)

* Unknown local commander.

## Forces

* Spear fighter drones
* Twinblade patrol craft
* Deactivated local Sylon complex and units, including Gloom assault cruisers and an Eclipse drone carrier
* Host Vessel

* Hurricane fighters and Orca corvettes
* Trinity frigates and Hailstorm cruisers
* Pasteur support vessels
* Defenses including Barricade Sats and KEIKO Sentries

## Objectives

* Reactivate local Sylon facilities.
* Eliminate all Human presence.

* Protect local facilities.
* Destroy all local Sylon forces.

## Casualties and losses

Substantial
Extensive

## Involved Characters

* Praetor (protagonist)
* Cura
* Sylus

*The Birth of a New Praetor* is the first mission of Chapter 02 - Ascension in the Five Nations campaign.

## Setting

Nearly three years following the destruction of the Sylus Core in the Hathor-4 System, the Sylon Collective's central intelligence, the Sylus, had assigned a new Praetor, granting it the right of temporary individual free will to carry out the directives of the Collective as a strategist after calculating the probabilities that the Praetor would not turn against the will of the Sylus or fail to accomplish it's directives. This right would be revoked in either case of failure or success in carrying out the Collective's bidding.

This new Praetor would be dispatched to the Caribou System, recaptured by the United Federation, to construct a Sylus Relay Node that would allow the Sylus to reconnect with many of the fringe Sylon drones and facilities which were inert without further orders due to the destruction of the Core. This Relay Node would be the center of the Collective's operations in human-controlled systems.

## That is the Directive

The Praetor, installed within a Host Vessel capable of protecting the commanding unit and relay orders to all local drones, would arrive to the Caribou System via warp shifting with an escort of basic Spear fighter drones and Twinblade patrol craft. The Praetor was informed by the Sylus it would not receive further orders or communicate with the Collective until the Sylus Relay Node was constructed, and would assign Cura, a Sylon granted the right of individual reasoning, to provide briefing and advice until communications with the Sylus were re-established.

Cura would direct the Praetor to a deactivated Sylon complex which the Praetor would bring online after engaging a Federation patrol on the way to the base. In this engagement, the Praetor's Host Vessel deployed Orbiter drones to provide fire support and minimize drone losses. As the Praetor constructed additional facilities and accumulated further drone numbers, the local Federation forces would inevitably discover the Sylon position and start mobilizing to destroy it, something already expected by Cura.

The Praetor, through overwhelming numbers and eventually finding other local deactivated Sylon elements such as a pair of Gloom assault cruisers and an Eclipse drone carrier, would eventually overrun and destroy the local Federation complex.

## Walkthrough

The player, after a brief intro cutscene, will start commanding the Praetor's Host Vessel, a few Spears and some Twinblades. The player will be instructed by Cura to head north to the rescuable Sylon base, but the way will be blocked by a couple of Orcas assisted by a Pasteur. To minimize needless losses and damage, the Host Vessel can summon temporary Orbiters, drone units with a more reasonable hull and shield count than Federation UAVs and that can deal potent damage. The player should have the Orbiters move ahead and take most of the initial damage as the Host Vessel and other forces move in to destroy all targets. Special care should be taken in regards to the Host Vessel, as it's both the sole source of health regeneration for friendly Sylon units and it's death causes the mission to fail.

As the player reaches the Sylon base, with the Installation Prime, three Support Centers, a Refinery and Drone Facility, some Labors and a Hauler, the mission becomes a subtle tutorial one on the basics of playing the Sylon race. While there are similarities with playing Sylons as there are with the Federation, especially given Sylons also rely on cargo ships for transporting resources, there are differences as well, especially on the Sylon Support Centers which provide both Supply and Energy, although the Supply provided is half of what a Supply Silo provides and is slightly more expensive as well. In addition, Sylon Spears and Twinblades are weaker than the Hurricanes and Orcas the player had played with thus far, so strength in numbers, at least for this and the first following missions, should be expected. The player should start by expanding the income of Metal and Helium-3, acquiring more Labors, attaching the Hauler to the Refinery and researching Extraction Operations as soon as possible.

To aid with acquiring numbers and upgrades, the player can build a Transponder and research the Replicants upgrade, which reduces construction times of Twinblades and eliminates all Helium-3 costs as well. Note that constructing a Transponder causes the Federation base to start sending forces against the player, particularly Hurricanes and Orcas, a couple of minutes later, and the player will be tasked with destroying the Federation base. The player will be restricted to Level 1 upgrades as there are no Tachyon asteroids to be mined on the map.

The player should send the Spears, if any are alive, to scout the region, particularly both the stellar cloud field on the northwestern corner of the map, where a couple of Glooms can be rescued and should be brought to the base, and to a stellar cloud southeast of the proxy Federation Ship Factory where the player will find an Eclipse. The Eclipse will be especially important and should be escorted back to the base safely, as the Spears docked within will receive half the damage of enemy weapons when attacking, and will make a powerful addition to the player's attack force. Note that the rescued forces will consume available Supply, so the player is expected to build further Support Centers while amassing a strike force.

The player should assemble more than a dozen Twinblades, a swarm of Spears (over thirty-two, not counting the fourteen Spears that will be docked within the Eclipse) and also take the Glooms and Eclipse with them. This will be more than enough to destroy the Federation base and it's defenders, even as they have KEIKO Sentries, Barricade Sats, Hailstorms, Pasteurs and a Trinity frigate. The best attack routes are either the base's northwestern corner, where the player can attack the structures by the wall to bait the enemy defenders out and pick them apart, or the southwestern entrance where a proxy Supply Silo protected by some Barricade Sats and a few Orcas are, and advance from there. Note that destroying the Federation base also involves the structures outside it's walls, including the proxy Ship Factory. The player can take the Host Vessel for support with it's regeneration and Orbiter abilities, but should be retreated if it's health is under threat.

When the Federation base is destroyed, the mission is won.

## Trivia

Both this mission and it's following one (*Exodus*) are references to the first *StarCraft* Zerg missions *Among The Ruins* and *Egression*. Both the first missions are basically a tutorial that culminates in the destruction of an enemy base through overwhelming numbers, while the second missions both revolve around leaving their initial system through warp capabilities.