The *NEW* Warzone walkthrough (Done with RED units)

[themousemaster]

Actually, the best strategy for Beta2 is simply to manufacture a few light-chassis 999-HP commanders and send them through all the enemy units and defences.

Given the propensity of Lancers and Bombards in this stage, that will result in you losing a few of them; not to mention the cost of a command-unit-anything. If you want to though, go ahead. I prefer getting the EXP on my units though.

[TVR]

... Given the propensity of Lancers and Bombards in this stage, that will result in you losing a few of them ...

Nope, even bug-wheel commanders have ~3000 HP, each one can take the same amount of damage as a Track-Python-Heavy Cannon, they can also move at max propulsion velocity, which allows them to easily bypass mortars, and slip through while lancers reload.

I wouldn't suggest a strategy that hasn't been play-tested, using this method is so broken only ~2 minutes out of 30 are required to complete the objective.

... not to mention the cost of a command-unit-anything ...

Bug-wheel commanders cost 132 oil, Track-Python-Heavy Cannon costs 358, not to mention bug-wheel commanders have rapid manufacture.

[Zarel]

Bug-wheel commanders cost 132 oil, Track-Python-Heavy Cannon costs 358, not to mention bug-wheel commanders have rapid manufacture.

Yeah, but I think Bug-wheel commanders die a lot easier. Overall, they're probably more cost effective, though... I think commanders are cheaper than they should be. Only 100 power?

[TVR]

... I think commanders are cheaper than they should be. Only 100 power? ...

Beta2 is an exception to every single-player campaign mission, absolutely nothing needs to be destroyed, only a location needs to be reached.

Commanders are normally useless without attached units, and it's the experience that makes a commander useful, not the quantity.

[themousemaster]

BETA3

This stage is short and simple with a 2 hour timer.

Which is not to say it's a non-dangerous freebie. Might wanna speed down the game at the start of this stage.

First thing you will hear when the stage starts is "Power Transferred". I guess, in addition to the units from alpha that came out of nowhere, they packed up some of your batteries too. Not your whole fortune, mind you; but 5K isn't a bad freebie.

You did set up that wall at the north edge of Beta1 as I said, right?

If you did, you'll notice it's getting pounded. Good thing we prepared, right? Don't worry too much about that wall, it's job was to occupy the Collective, nothing more. If it holds, then yay, but it wont be doing much else for the rest of the game .

Step 1 is to attach your Mortar group to the sensor you put up at the end of Beta1, so that they start providing support fire immediately. The enemy has a Counter Battery Sensor in this base (white circle on map), which means he will likely fire back at your mortar team; keep your eye on their health.

Step 2 is to move your MBG up to engage the forces that are fighting your defensive wall.

Step 3 is to take your high-EXP units from your LZ and re-attach them to your commander, so that they mosey their way up to the fight.

Provided your defense was well set from Beta1, you should not only win this initial fight, but be able to push straight into the Collective base and level it immediately... meaning you've just taken out 1/2 of their effective bases within 5 minutes of the stage starting.

Take out the CB sensor as fast as possible, leaving your mortars to fire in peace. Other than that, just level the base as you see fit. The enemy has a lot of tanks waiting here, but they are all medium-body, medium-cannons, which should barely dent you. Their factory will be putting out Lancers though, if that makes your decision of what to hit quickly any easier.

As you lay waste to the collective base, a few planes will harass you fromt he Northwest; they seem intent on destroying what's left of your wall though, and aren't really equipped with anti-tank weaponry. Still, retreating at Medium is best for this stage, so that your tanks have sufficient HP in case a plane develops a grudge against one.

With the base down (and the sweet Rocket RoF upgrade it drops in your hands), throw up some AA to kill the planes (like beta1, they are limited in number). Also, put a forward Repair bay where the collective base was, and throw up a few defensive structures guarding the northern approach ramp to said base. Then, move your mortar team up for repairs. While doing all this, have your MGB roam the area and kill the buildings, so that you have good visibility for the next part.

When you sweep north of your "new" base, you will find 4 heavy tanks. Kill them, but be VERY careful not to push north; the collective still have a LOT of firepower in a very advantageous position, and running "up the gut" will result in Project: Massacre.

This part you can take out at will. 6 heavy tanks, 9 cyborgs, and all of the collectives "down the hill" defenses. Since there is no "bottleneck" for retreating forces, you should be able to take this on. Just be sure to WATCH YOUR SIX; if the collective start moving their main force out of their base (the exit is NE of this picture) to attack, pull your forces back to your forward base and engage there, out of range of the defenses.

I also recommend pulling back off the line every so often to save; all it takes is one bad salvo of Lancers to cost you units. We don't want that, right? ;p

While blasting up the "lower wall", set up your own support fire NE of your forward base:

You can start shelling the collective base from here, including their command center. Move your targetting sensor up as targets run dry; be sure your MBG is done with the "lower wall" first, though, so they can caver your mortars from any counterattack.

[themousemaster]

Let me apologize in advance for the next screenshot, as my team got a little trigger happy prior to taking it.

Sorry about the SE plateau screenshot; all my other attemps were largely thwarted by what I allude to in the NW base shot. Not only are there a lot of tanks there, they aren't shy about charging out and applying a handful of RAPE to my units. You can't just kill them either; the Collective have factories there that won't stop pumping them out, and a few oil derricks to supply them. We'll have to come at them a different way. This was my best shot of the bunch.

I've indicated the best way to avoid getting caught in a MONSTER bottleneck in my picture of the SE plateau. As long as you remember to put up a temporary repair bay, your units should be smart enough not to go through Chokepoint Central.

Move along the purple arrow (your mortar team should have taken out some of the plateau before doing this, specifically the southern towers and the command center), and take out the hiding-in-back mortars. You probably won't need to actually give target orders; just move your tanks to their vicinity, and they will all be smashed, along with anything visible on the east side of the plateau. Push *just* far enough west to get both cyborg facilities and the NW tower, then back off and bring your trucks up and put ANOTHER temporary repair bay just NE of the plateau. Then bring in your bombards behind it, and plaec a sensor-of-choice and a few Lancer bunkers covering said repair bay (and effectively trapping in the collective behind the might of your MBG and lancer bunkers). Make sure you put your gear outside of the mortar range of the NW base.

Are you set up? Good.

Eventually, with only 1 "on ramp", there is only one way to take the base proper. And there's no easy way to say this, the number of tanks you will face WILL cause problems if you attack directly.

You can, however, soften it up first.

A1) You can remove the Mortar threat by moving your own mortars outh of the base, have a sensor target their sensor tower, and destroy it, while your mortar team stays out of range of their bombards. If you do this (or had already done it), you can move your "North East Blockade" closer to their doorstep. If you DONT do this, you are basically setting yourself up for D1 later, as your bunkers won't quite reach the ramp.

A2) You can move your MBG north and west from the staging area, and kill the bombard pits, retreating to the staging area when they send out the tanks. Also allows closer deployment of your containment defenses. Given how far back from the edge the pits are, you have to find the "sweet spot" NE of them for your lancers to fire; it takes a bit of practice, but can be done.

B) You can move your MBG around the western edge of the base, killing the structures visible to you. (unrecommended, due to them sending out an attack force to counter that may get between you and your repair bays)

C1) You can build defensive structures just south of the "Bottleneck City", and use them to cover your mortar team as they provide support fire from the south for your MBG (good idea, but be SURE the MBG intercepts the bulk of the outpouring forces)

C2) You can place your mortar team directly behind your MBG (or, for the first time all game, I'll even recommend attaching them to your commander). (works, but tends to crowd your MBG tanks).

When you are ready to take the base proper, you have 3 ways of dealing with their plethora of tanks.

D1) Move forward, get some attention, pull back to staging area, kill with support of bunkers. If choosing this method, you can use either configuration with your mortars.

D2) Move your MBG forward, and engage the tanks, such that the downward ramp from their base bottlenecks *them*. Faster, but riskier than approach #D1. If going with this method, then placing your mortar team south with some guard structures is the way to go.

D3) Rather than make defensive structures south of Bottleneck City, use your MBG to plug the gap from the south (be sure to NOT put up a far NE repair bay if you do this), and shell the plateau to smithereens with your mortar team and a FIXED sensor-tower (don't use a mobile unit; towers have no difficulty seeing up and down elevation changes, but a mobile sensor needs better Line of Sight, which is tricky to get. IF YOU DO THIS, be careful not to hit the "draw out the stage" structure.

I personally Go with D1 (with mortars to south). It tends to be slower than D2, but as I HATE micromanagement with a passion, and I also hate losing units, it's preferable to me (it's also faster than D3, unless you have way more than the 10 mortars I do). A nice trick is, rather than sit there and fire, keep giving your MBG orders to move north and south in front of the ramp's chokepoint. This will help hurt units not get stuck while retreating, as well as place fresh units between them and the agressors.

The collective will keep replacing units as they can. Once you've broken most of their tank forces, don't wait; push your advantage, get in there, and take out the factories. With them down, you can then retreat, and level the rest of the base whatever way you want.

Any tanks that decide they want to exit the base and head south... let them. Even if you aren't using the "bombar from the south with walls" method, they will either just run into your forward base defenses, or sit just south of the base where their "lower wall" used to be. either way, they are out of your hair for a bit... just long enough to hammer their front door at least.

The SE plateau will yield the collective Panther (medium) body, and it's related armor upgrades; the NW will give the heavy flamer and machine RoF upgrades (and related flamer-based stuff).

[themousemaster]

Time for some advanced setup!

PLEASE NOTE: I MAY EDIT THIS AFTER BETA4 (regarding the lancer-hovers), DEPENDING ON HOW IT GOES

First up, all those damaged units you rescued from "Alpha" during beta2? Recycle them. No experience, no want.

*THIS NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT*

Design a new unit: Lancer Viper Hover. Build 18 of them; stick 9 of them (and 1 truck) at the LZ for next stage.

Recycle any repair bay north of your "forward" base (the one you made within 10 minutes of Beta3 starting). You can leave your forward defenses up.

Move your MBG and mortar team to:

with defenses covering the West edge, both AA and direct fire.



Up north, start setting up lots of D, but leave yourself some room to grow:

And in the very SE corner of the map (where the collective attacked in beta1), also set up a fair amouint of D with some open spaces for later:

Lastly, scatter AA pits all up and down the west edge of the map (but only north of the battle-line you just set up on the west edge. South of that line we will work with later).

The next map is going to see me do something I never had to back in previous versions of WZ, but now, I have little choice. Make sure your lancer-hovers are ready, milk the timer for cash, then end the stage.

END BETA3

[themousemaster]

BETA4

On this stage, I am going to be advocating something that I REALLY hate to do, but repeated tests have proven any other method dangerous to your tenured units. By all means, if you want to try a traditional approach, go for it; but if you lose high-EXP units, don't say I didn't warn you.

First, let me give you the overview of this stage (don't pay attention to the apparently lack of stuff on the minimap image):

The top-right (green box) has this enemy base:

And the Top-left (indigo box), AKA the "Doom Fortress" has this:

Looks mostly simple, right?

[themousemaster]

The big problem with this stage is the Yellow circle. The Collective will launch squadrons of light-body aircraft (6 lancers planes each) from the top-center of the map, they will home in on one of your units (usually a high-experience, non-commander one), kill it in 1 volley, and then retreat back up off the top center of the map. There is *nothing* that can be done about this; if you look at my map-picture in the previous post, you'll notice I'm loading my side of the river with AA guns to see if I could prevent this (I had about 3X as many as it appears down there all said). They were unable to bring down a single on-attack-pass craft due to their aiming issues.

IMPORTANT NOTE: They *did* actually kill the planes; they just weren't able to hit them till they slowed down to turn around. But that doesn't help any when it comes to protecting our experienced assets; the distance between your side of the river to the South edge of the map is simply too short for the AA to stop the planes in time. I'm sure I could AA-overload by putting a hurricane on every single spare square of real estate, but that's insane, and doubtful you'd have the time for it anyway.

That said, you may "luck out". See those buildings at the north center? occasionally, retreating craft will get STUCK on them, and the next wave won't approach until the previous one gets offscreen, so...

Other times, you'll find yourself getting hit by a wave every 2 minutes, only to replay the stage and have the air attacks stop at the 65 minute mark.

I cannot explain the apparent randomness of the air crews for the collective in this stage, which is why I advocate the suicide-lancer strats. If it makes you feel any better about your commanding skills, pretend they are all remote-controlled dummies (they should all have 0 experience anyway )

Here's the "big trick" to this stage. The commander will move along the purple-indicated path, trying to "escape" the stage. He has a few tanks and 3 cyborgs in his "team".

The instant any of his non-cyborg units (including himself) takes a single hit, his entire team will reverse course and park themselves in the "doom fortress" for the rest of the stage.

Knowing this, what you can do is trap him during his escape.

Immediately after your initial force lands, send up the rest of your lancer-hovers (3 minute reinforcement timer). While waiting for them, have your lancers take out all the buildings on your side of the river for visibility's sake. There is a single defensive structure on this side of the river; it's an unbefore-seen Tank Kill Tower. It *will* kill a viper-hover in 1 shot; but the other lancers will kill it in their return volley.

Have your truck put up the sensor towers as indicated, and have your lancers WAIT on the EAST side of them. We don't want an accidental shot sending the commander running prematurely.

With the 2 sensor towers up, have your trucks put up defenses blocking the land path north of your LZ; until the enemy commander shows up, have your lancer-hovers back up said structures. The collective eventually will send a combat force down this area, we don't want them trashing us from behind. Whether said force shows up in time (I.E. before the commander makes his run), however, varies. Don't worry; your lancers are on light body hovers. They can get between the 2 places fast enough.

The commander drops Thermal Imaging sensors for your rockets (accuracy increase), which leads into the same for AA and mortar fire (not that it helps AA a whole bunch ).

With the commander dead, the rest of his team will retreat to the Doom Fortress, and you can grab the tech in peace.

If you have a lot of lancers left, you may wish to NOT return to the LZ to finish the stage yet; research everything first (if you don't have a lot of lancers, you may wish to end the stage, due to the Airstrikes or the impending attack from the North East). I presonally prefer to recycle my lancers and just move my trucks back to the LZ; since I hate suicide units, and I'd hate to have them start showing experience... it makes my personal world of "remote controlled dummies" less believable.

END BETA4

[themousemaster]

BETA5

Yet another expansion of the home-base map, and a 2 hour timer. You ARE going to need it, and at least an hour of it for research and development. Also, this is another round you may wish to reduce the game speed on.

The Collective will be rolling out a lot of new stuff in this stage, including a lot of powerful, new artillery. One has bullets only as large as an MG shot but explodes rather largely, and the other is a rocketstorm. Don't be afraid if you see either of these effects.

Remember your MBG and Mortar team? Immediately focus on them. Attach your mortars to the sensor, and move your MBG due west into the plateau.

The circled objects in these 3 pictures are critical structures. The new artillery types, unlike mortars and Bombards, have firing ranges MUCH farther than what they can see. If you can cut their "eyes" (sensors), then their effective range drops substantially.

Get rid of these structures ASAP, or the entire map will be getting bombed religiously.

The 2 on the plateau will go down really fast with the opening attack. The one up north you will be sending your MBG after as soon as the plateau is down (go north then west; don't make a straight beeline, you can cut down on some of the artillery that way). You will hit 4 heavy tanks on the way, but your full MBG will have no trouble with them.

The one down south is best taken care of by building a sensor on the ridge, and attaching your Mortar team to bomb it (and a few of the surrounding towers, why not).

The "purple shaded" areas of the 2 screenshots are places you DON'T want your bombards sitting in; if you do, there's a good chance they will be the targets of the incoming Rocket artillery; While your MBG tanks can take a volley and survive (barely), a mortar unit will be scrapped. We don't want that.

[themousemaster]

The collective will be repalcing forces this stage (they have a power source), so don't work on attrition alone.

That said, about 1/2 the collective planes will be medium body bombers; this is actually a good thing, as it means they will move slowly enough for your AA to reliably bring them down. The other 1/2 will be carrying Assault guns, which against Heavy-body units, will be only marginally effective. So air will be less devastating this stage than it was last one.

With the immediate sensor threat down, build a Repair bay east of the northen most ex-sensor, and use it to repair your MBG (individual collective units will attack as you are setting it up. MBG vs 1 to 2 tanks = cakewalk). Flank it with a few AA pits.

The only way to get to the collective base is through a semi-narrow passage:

Before charging through it though, you may wish to do some damage to the collective base. With their forward sensor down, the east edge of their base now looks like this:

You can bomb some of the structures with Bombards, or have your MBG shoot it directly; a sensor tower/mortar team will allow for hitting things farther in, but the counter-artillery will be much more dangerous to mortar units than your MBG. You're call; the collective *do* have a truck up here, so they will replace fallen structures eventually, but the build speed is a lot slower than the replacement speed. A good way to stop tanks from coming during the next step, at least, if you get the factories.

If you choose the MBG attack for this, move up to the cliff face, and then keep moving North and South, allowing for maximum ease of retreat with maximum covering fire (and never having your retreating units be spotted for bombardment as long as fresh units are closer to the enemy Command Center).

This WILL get the enemy out of their base to meet you. Which is fine; you have to kill their tanks anyway, separate from their base is the best way to do it.

[themousemaster]

When you are done bombing the cliff edge, move to their base, which is only approachable from the south.

Set up a forward repair bay just beyond the bottleneck, but BE CAREFUL if moving south. we'll get to that later. Again, flank it with a couple AA guns.

Step one of entering the collective base will be dealing with this. I recommend against artillery; even if you've taken their Command center out, they still have a Counter-Battery sensor in their base, so any shot from your Bombards will be met with a massive countersavlo that WILL destroy your stuff. You can, however, set up mortar "pits" to shell the base; easier to repair, no experience, and if the rocket artillery goes for those instead... better for your MBG!

Push forward slowly (just fast enough to not block your units who will want to retreat east) from the south (ignore where my untis are in the picture, that's just for the screenshot) on Retreat at Medium, and be sure to deal with their tanks on the west edge. You may end up making multiple "laps" around the divot to get your units in position to attack from the south while letting them retreat east.

When you bust their frontal wall, you will be treated to the rest of their base:

After what you did to get in here, this is gonna be fun. Nothing more than MG towers and artillery... which you are now close enough to shoot.

Yup, that's a LOT of tech. Get to researchin'.

[themousemaster]

While researching away (and having left that CB tower up), lets go south of that line I drew earlier, eh?

Repair up at your closest bay, then head south for a cutscene.

After it's over, keep charging south, taking out the buildings to clear your view as you go.

You can put up another forward repair bay way south if you want, but it shouldn't be necessary; a few of your units will get damaged, but the whole foray will be done before they are needed back.

Don't worry about "picking up the civilians". As long as you are within 2 miles of this part of the stage, you will rescue some,a nd some will get away. Nothing can really be done about that; it's scripted. As long as ANYONE is rescued, you're good.

Storm the base from the west; as long as you bombed some of their "rim-lined" towers early in this stage, you shouldn't be in major trouble. When all structures are down, the "Landing Zone" is closed.

The have a command tank and attached units in the area as well, but the "attached units" are 6 cyborgs and a sensor. Yay. When they show up, stomp them.

When this base it totally levelled, you can go back to researching... and getting ready with some serious perparations for later.

[themousemaster]

BETA5 Postgame:

So you're researched a bazillion new techs. Here are the highlights:

HOWITZER: Reconfigure your Bombard units to mount Howitzers instead. Recycle your Mortar Team and replace them with the new design.

VTOLS: Personally, I don't use them in the Beta campaign; however, there are some designs that are useful. Make use of them at will:

• ***MG-bug-VTOL "UAV": Not designed to do any damage, but flies in front of other planes to absorb fire. Very useful when you encounter SAMs later.
  ***Lightbody-BunkerBuster-VTOL "Spearhead": in groups of 3, these will take out any structure not in the very back of an enemy base. They won't likely survive the return fire however.
  ***Lightbody-Lancer-VTOL "Interceptor": If you REALLY need to kill a vehicle FAST, send a pack of these. Replace the lancer with a heavier rocket weapon as you get them to stay ahead of the curve. Note: Against VTOLS, you almost have to fire head-on.
  ***HeavyBody-HEAP-VTOL "B52": Used with a Carpet Bombing strat; aim for the center of a unit/structure cluster, as HEAPS have a blast radius. Heavy bodies will allow them to take some hits, but if flying into SAM infested areas, send in a UAV or 5 first. Note: it will be a couple stages before you get the HEAP.

These are just some tested-and-true starting suggestions, of course. You can experiment with other VTOLS of your choice; the final BETA stage will make an excellent testing ground. Feel free to visit the Official Warzone Forums for more ideas.


So, about those preparations...

Here's the deal with this map:

You are going to want to fill the Green areas with AA. You've just gotten the Cyclone turret; place a number of these in the green areas, but leave some space for the other AA type you will be getting later.

The purple areas are where you are going to want Direct-Fire defenses (bunkers and hardpoints). You didnt get any new, cool direct-fire techs this stage, so just remember where these areas are for later (you should already have some stuff at them).

The indigo areas are where you are going to want to put Indirect fire weaponry. You now have Howitzers and Ripple Rockets, so load up these areas with em. You've got cash, right?

The white area is much like the green, in that you will be putting AA in there; however, the concentration of pits don't need to be as thick as they are for the green areas.

Milk the stage as long as you can, building the megaloads of AA and indirect battiers is going to be costly, and of course, we won't be done yet.

When ready, prepare 3 trucks, your Commander, and 6 combat units at your LZ, and go fry the last CB tower in the collective base.

END BETA5

[themousemaster]

Sorry for the disappearing act guys. My internet went haywire for the past couple weeks. I'll resume work on this shortly.