-------------- MISSION WALKTHROUGH FOR HELLGATE


All right, this mission requires a bit of work to get through and here is a walkthrough
to help you. First off you can forget the vacation promised in the readme text file -
you start off with a nuclear Day Wrecker descending on your head (see that little yellow
blip coming down on the radar? It makes a BIG bang) and you need to get the hell out of
there NOW. To complicate things, there are bombers heading in to knock off those tugs
and the APC, which you need for starting scrap. Get moving back to the Drop Zone ASAP,
and intercept any incoming bombers you see, while making sure those other units are
following you out of the blast zone. Once you are back at the Drop Zone have the tugs
and APC recycle and get 4 scavengers going right away. Read your mission objective again-
there is a huge CCA attack force composed of Walkers and Bombers heading your way, ETA
24 minutes. Now zip on over to the Command Center - General Collins will tell you to access
your information database, so ID the Comm Center. More bad news - the CCA base is
invulnerable to frontal assault, which means some enterprising Black Dog - you - is going to
have to sneak in the back way later. There is also a message about NSDF Commandos dropping
in to leave Navs at key CCA structures - keep this in mind, when we see some new Navs
labeled "Check-Point Tower" appear later on we will be investigating those sites.

For now, we need to set up a base and figure out how to stop that attack wave. Suprisingly,
a light tank may be your best choice here - the ones from your MUF come standard with
a Rocket Bomb, and if you drop in a Prox Mine you have a nice standoff vehicle for engaging
the CCA at a distance. Before heading back down the canyon use Sat View to have the Armory
drop Ammo pods and maybe a few repair pods all down the canyon, to within 1000 meters or so
of the midpoint geyser site. Head down there until you see the front of the CCA force, and
start picking them off with Rockets, dropping back and laying prox mines when rough terrain
prevents direct engagement. With this strategy you should be able to pare the CCA force down
to nothing before they get to your base. Don't neglect to build up your base meanwhile - 
get some Gun Towers set up at your base, because about 25-30 minutes into the mission a steady
stream of CCA vehicles will start attacking - bombers, tanks and light tanks.

Once the first big wave is down, head back to your base. Notice the Canyon Pass Nav - here is
a pass to the high ground - go on up. You'll see a strange relic and General Collins will tell
you to ID it - it is a biometal pipe that transfers fresh biometal to defensive structures.
Take note - you will see this again. Around about now those Commandos should be dropping their
Navs. You can go up there now but I prefer to retake some of the canyon first, so the Armory
can send powerups quickly later on. There are 2 more geyser sites down the canyon - the one
you evacuated and another further on. These are a long ways off but fortunately your Factory
AND Constructor have more armor and better speed. When you are ready, take them in a convoy down
to the next geysers with some extra tanks, blasting the enemies you see and reloading from
prepositioned supply drops. With luck your forces will get there intact and you can set up
some Gun Towers and solidify your position, bringing everyone else up later.

Once you have retaken the canyon midpoint you are ready to recon the high ground. Go on up -
the canyon walls are shallow enough that a player can drive a tank up in most places. Head
cautiously over to the nearer Check Point Tower. Destroy the units guarding it, and watch
out for snipers. ID the CCA Check Point Tower. There is a defense report there that will tell
you about the new defenses the CCA has. Memorize the salient points and move on out to the 
next Check Point. Do the same and ID. More bad news - there are CCA snipers all over the place
guarding the crater. From here you can choose your strategy, but whatever you do, it's going
to get hairy. The stealthy gun towers and turrets can peg you from 250 meters away, so staying
in your tank makes sense, but the snipers here can turn awfully fast, and crack your skull
before you know what hit you...

I would clear out that first level by the second Check Point Tower of the Gun Tower and
snipers there, and then head around to the East on the VERY top of the canyon rim. You will see
2 powerups there, which are guarded by 4 snipers. A Pop Gun will kill these nicely, or you
can snipe them if you like. The powerups are a Comet and MDM Mortar, very handy for later.
Further down on the next level there are some Hadean Stabbers as mentioned at the first CCA
Check Point Tower. This next level has more snipers and tanks too, by the Barracks, but if you
are artful you can lure one away and snipe it, then double up on Hadean stabbers, which will
give you a very powerful tank. On the crater floor there are yet more snipers, turrets, and
Gun Towers guarding the CCA production units. Knock them out, and you can probably get close
enough to knock off the Factory and Recycler by yourself, which leaves only the Armory on
the other side to knock out, which wins you the game.

If the CCA is in "Guard the Base at All Costs" mode, and attacks you whenever you are 
anywhere near their Recycler, you will have to go for strategy B. This involves moving your
forces up to the next geyser site in preparation for an all out assault on the base through
the front gate (Do NOT neglect to maintain your base while sneaking about in the crater, it
payes to keep everything healthy on this level). The Gate Gun Towers are invulnerable to
attack, so you are going to have to run into the gate alcoves and blow up the Hadean biometal
pipes powering them (remember the relic?). This will neutralize the Gun Towers, but there are
still snipers to deal with - here is where that MDM Mortar will come in handy. You may want to
sneak the Constructor up to the Gate and recycle those super Gun Towers if possible to
remove any possible distraction to your own offensive attackers on the way in.

Once the Gate is clear you can keep making massive bomber runs on the CCA base until you take
them down. You will be nice and close and your bombers carry Rockets so you should be able
to get your forces in there and really tear things up. There is an Alien Lemnos factory in
there too that is worth destroying beforehand, as it will repair the CCA's units.

I have improved this second version of Hells' Gate by getting rid of that pesky AIP bug that
caused the frame rate to drop, which seems to be caused by the delay in deployment of any
regular CCA Recycler and the subsequent delay in scrap gathering by the AI. In this version, 
CCA odfs are now custom, and you should not see this bug. (At least not any more than on other
large IA maps. FYI, one way I have found around the scrap bug on super scrapped IA maps is
to recycle all your scavengers if you are up near your max scrap level, especially if they
start saying "No scrap on radar." This seems to eliminate frame rate jerkiness sometimes, if
the AI is not maxed on scrap also. You can build more scavs later once your scrap reserves
get down a ways.)

I have also eliminated one set of custom textures, as I felt they looked bad. AI is now set
to attack you in a far more consistent fashion, and there is more scripting and voiceovers
to hear as well. Strategy is improved, as you now have 2 sets of geysers to take in the canyon.
(Getting that second set is a real problem, you will need some luck to take it over, the AI
has the advantage there.) Powerups are now all in the CCA base, and you will need to clear
away snipers to get at them. Also, the CCA no longer has access to the high ground from their
base, and must come through you to get to the canyon pass.

Well, enjoy.
                                        ssuser


