Mission 07 - Purge

## 07 - Purge

The gullible Thorun Empire marshalls in retaliation for lost brothers and sisters.

## Battle Information

### Aftermath

Thorun Empire "Victory"* Unknown invader forces destroyed.
* Data collected from invader vessels which points to their home system.

## Belligerents

* Thorun Empire

* Unknown Invaders

## Commanders

* Thalok

* Unknown invading commander

## Forces

* Predator interceptors
* Marauder corvettes
* Defenses including Guard Stations
* Blood Moon

* Intruder strike craft
* Warpglider corvette
* Flanker cruisers
* Rector platforms
* Harbinger drone ships
* Defenses including Polaron Spheres

## Objectives

* Destroy the unknown invader's staging ground in the area.

* Eliminate all enemy forces.

## Casualties and losses

Substantial
Substantial

## Involved Characters

* Thalok
* Bleda
* Garuga
* Tyran *(Briefing only)*

*Purge* is the seventh mission of Chapter 02 - Ascension in the Five Nations campaign.

## Setting

> Dena Koe to my good and loyal counselors. As you know, a month ago the Thorun Empire was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the forces of an unfamiliar enemy. Our extraction and military facilities were destroyed, and our brothers were slain by an unknown invading enemy.
>
> By now we have weakened the invaders, and all we need to do is carry out a final strike on their last station. As your Emperor, I have commanded that all measures be taken to shatter their remaining lines. But our whole empire will always remember the character of the onslaught against us!
>
> Emperor Tyran

One month following the attack on the facilities at the Obra Sector by an unknown enemy, the legions of the Thorun Empire had reacted and launched a counterattack which had weakened the invading forces, leaving only the final assault at their station to be carried out. As Emperor Tyran addressed his councillors, people and warriors, he sent his brother, Warlord Bleda, to deal this final strike, assigning even the sacred Imperial Flagship, the Skull Bearer, to Bleda's command. Tyran also sent his son and heir, Prince Thalok, to support Bleda in the assault, in order for Thalok to learn the aspects of combat and command.

## The Drums of War Sound

As the Thorun imperial legions approached the final staging area of the invaders, Bleda dispatched Thalok to attack a smaller portion of the invading force, despite the prince's protests for wanting a more "worthy task" to which Bleda retorted and cited Thalok's clear inexperience, to which Bleda had assigned his strategic advisor, Grandmaster Garuga, to assist the prince.

Garuga advised Thalok to reactivate an abandoned Thorun outpost nearby and build a staging ground from there, to which Thalok grudgingly complied, as Garuga explained Thalok that only a foolish warlord would head straightfirst into battle without a force or supply routes. Thalok eventually ceded to more of Garuga's advises and amassed a force of Predator interceptors and Marauder corvettes on which he sent towards the invaders' staging area in the vicinity, providing assistance his own flagship, the Blood Moon.

As the invaders were destroyed to the last, Thalok briefly found it strange that no bodies were found in the ships' debris, to which Garuga surmised this to be likely the enemy's strategy - to send drones and remotely-piloted vessels as part of an initial invasion force, to which Thalok could only show contempt for the cowardice of these creatures...

## Walkthrough

The player starts commanding the Blood Moon, a few Predators and a couple of Marauders and must fight the way towards the rescuable Thorun base at the northwestern corner. The Blood Moon, aside from a modest Hull count and some shielding, possesses two useful abilities - Overvoltage, which increases an allied unit's movement and attack speed and thus is useful to Marauders, and Tractor System, which diminishes an enemy's attack speed and prevents it from moving, and should be used on particularly perilous targets such as Flankers and Rectors. Both abilities can be set to auto-cast by the player at any time.

The player should start moving southwest and then westward towards the Thorun base, on which the player will encounter two groups of Athrael ships, the first being a pair of Warpgliders and an Intruder, and then a trio of Warpgliders. Caution should be taken when using the Blood Moon however, especially if it's shields get dangerously low as the player will have no means of repairing ships for this mission. As the player approaches the Thorun base and rescues the Capitol and nearby structures, the player will receive three Extractors, which should be sent to mine the Metal asteroid field to the north, as well as some energy and Metal to build a Zoner, which should be done to allow the haul of resources from the Material Silo to the Capitol, as well as more Extractors to increase further metal income. After building a Zoner, the player will also receive a Welder to build further Thorun structures, but should build more Welders to accelerate the building process. The player should build at least a couple of Foundries to build additional units as well as a Guild to unlock Marauders and research upgrades, especially the Positron Thruster, which increases the speed of Predators.

The player can find an additional pair of Zoners, both carrying some Helium-3 and Tachyon, by heading south of the initial starting position, after fighting the first group of Athrael forces, but the way will be blocked by a Flanker, a Rector and a pair of Warpgliders. The player can rescue these Zoners before rescuing the Thorun base by first luring away the Flanker and Warpgliders with the Blood Moon and letting the Marauders fight off the Warpgliders as the Predators engage the Flanker, totally safe from retaliation from the Rector. After destroying the Warpgliders and Flanker, the Blood Moon and Marauders can destroy the Rector on their own. From there, the player needs only move a unit to the south and a bit to the southeast to rescue the Zoners and bring them to the base. They can be useful even after returning resources as they will help haul resources from the Metal Material Silo to the Capitol, eliminating the need for researching Extended Cargo at the Material Silo. In addition, the Tachyon will allow the research of Level 2 upgrades at the Guild.

The "Athraels" will attack using Intruders and Warpgliders and then escalate with Flankers and Lancets, so the player should build some Guard Stations, especially barricaded behind structures such as Habitats, while creating a force of Predators and Marauders as well. Given that the Predator is the most durable of fighters amongst the five races of the game, it's viable for the player to attempt a harassment at the Athrael base's metal resource field at the west corner of the map, defended solely by a Polaron Sphere with a large enough wing (over 20 Predators), only pulling back to handle the defending Intruders and Warpgliders that arrive to help fend off the assault. The player may need to reinforce with a few more Predators to sustain the harassment until the Athrael metal line is destroyed, both Drones and Mass Transmitter, which will provide the player the needed time to amass a large attack force to attack the Athrael base.

After amassing a modest enough force of Predators and Marauders (about twelve) he attack can be done from either the eastern entrance at the south corner of the map, where there will be open space for the Blood Moon and Marauders to attack, or the northern entrance, guarded by a Polaron Sphere and a couple of Harbingers which the Predators should neutralize before moving the Blood Moon and Marauders in. The player should focus, aside from the Polaron Spheres, at neutralizing the Haven to prevent further construction of Lancets as well as Cabals. After these structures are neutralized, the player can proceed with destroying the rest of the Athrael base.

When the base is totally destroyed, the mission ends in victory.

## Notes

Right below the "Athrael" base are Sylon background doodads, representing the true owners of the invading force. However, given that most likely the Thorun Empire was not familiar with the Sylon Collective at the time, they apparently interpreted it to be a part of Athrael infrastructure.