Suicide Notes: Suicide Squad Mod FAQ v. 1.0
(Everything you never wanted to know about the Suicide Squad Mod. And less.)
WARNING: This document contains major spoilers including a semi-detailed walkthrough. It is recommended that you do NOT read it until you have completed the Suicide Squad mod at least once or you're horribly stuck. Note that there are several different styles of tactics that work. The ones in this "walkthrough" (of sorts) are simply how I beat the mod during playtesting.
General questions:
1. Who did what in the mod?
2. I thought it was a "one man show" -- what gives?
3. So why do the comic load screens say "The Crusader and The Saracen"?
4. What's this about comic load screens and custom menus? I didn't see any of that?
5. I didn't get Squad at all. How can I correct this deficiency I have as a (nearly) human being?
6. What files do I need?
7. How many missions does it have?
8. What is the inspiration for Suicide Squad?
9. How close does it stick to the comic?
10. When is Squad set?
11. Then why is the Injustice Society of the World getting together to take out the modern age JSA? Wouldn't that be the late nineties at best?
12. Who is in the Squad mod?
13. Why were there so many JSA related characters?
14. Why didn't you include (Lashina/Duchess, Vixen, Punch & Jewelee, etc. etc.)?
15. Where did you get the remixed music?
16. What's up with the sound quality?
17. Have you done or are you going to do any other mods? Would you do my mod?
18. Will there be a sequel?
19. I still can't beat it/you didn't answer my particular question. How can I contact you?
20. What other mods do you recommend for players who liked Suicide Squad?
Chapter Specific �Walkthroughs� and Notes
1. Hot in the City
2. Meltdown
3. An Ounce of Prevention
4. Jailbreak
5. From Russia With Blood
6. The Devil Is In the Details
7. History Repeats
8. Emotion Sickness
9. The Politics of Dancing
10. Another Bite at the Apple (A Pound of Cure)
11. Epilogue (Please, Please, Please)
Miscellaneous
1. Captain Boomerang
a) Why is Captain Boomerang so useless?
b) Why is Boomerang never released from Belle Reve?
c) Can all of Boomerang's powers be obtained?
2. Rick Flag
a) Why does Rick Flag always seem to look different?
b) Is Rick dead?
3. Multiplex
a) Is Multiplex dead?
b) Uh, don't you mean him and Andromeda, and Slab?
4. Count Vertigo
a) Why doesn�t Vertigo fly?
b) How can Vertigo redirect bullets?
5. How do I unlock...?
a) Shade, Checkmate, or Nemesis?
b) more than one Checkmate knight?
c) Huntress, Sportsmaster, Geomancer, Chronos, Slipknot, Mirrormaster, Cluemaster, Vulcan, or Ragdoll?
d) Batman?
e) Parasite?
Rumors
1. The funny ending?
General questions:
1. Who did what in the mod?
A: A full list of credits is included with the Suicide Squad mod, in a document called "final credits" which will open with Wordpad. There were numerous contributions from meshers, skinners, fx artists, playtesters, voice actors, script assistance, etc., all of which are catalogued there for the player's convenience.
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2. I thought it was a "one man show" -- what gives?
A. Squad was a one man show in the sense that it was designed, written, and modded by one person (me). I also did some skins, some voices, some fx, and almost all of the scripting. However, I did none of the meshes (that's a new skill I'm just now learning), and had help on voicework, skinning, etc., plus the occasional coding help from the folks on the forums. It gets the "one man show" tag simply because most people work in groups with the labor further divided. Think of me as the Batman of the modding community, reluctantly calling the JLA or Nightwing but only when I have to. No, really, please think of me as Batman. No? Dang.
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3. So why do the comic load screens say "The Crusader and The Saracen"?
A. Same person. It's a long, dull story, but The Crusader turned into his own evil twin The Saracen. This led to a variety of identities culminating in "neither saracen nor crusader", or nsnc for short (the cursed abbrieviated name was given to me by a buddy and co-conspirator, so far be it from me to change it). I'm also known as "%" in a nod to Prince changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol (in my defense, % is simply pronounced "percent"). The running joke with Squad was that Crusader programmed the mod and did all the real work, but Saracen programmed the enemy AI and upped the difficulty level before each release. Rightly or wrongly, Suicide Squad is considered an extremely difficult and challenging mod.
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4. What's this about comic load screens and custom menus? I didn't see any of that?
A. The original release did not include any custom menus, backgrounds or load screens. A subsequent release changed this, adding custom screens for all levels, including the early ones. It also required several mission folders to be renamed. Accordingly, if you got Squad in the installment plan, you ended up with unnecessary folders that aren't used. If you got Squad in the 100mb all in one plan, you're good to go. Note that the unnecessary folders won't hurt you and don't take up that much space -- it's just messy.
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5. I didn't get Squad at all. How can I correct this deficiency I have as a (nearly) human being?
A. Squad is available at www.freedommods.com either on download for free or on a disc for a small fee to cover the cost of materials and that webmaster's time. It's available on the HUB most of the time, or so they tell me. It's also on an FTP hosted by Franko, but I don't have all the details. You can contact me if for some reason you can't get it from freedommods, but 11,000 people already have as of September 2003, so...
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6. What files do I need?
A. Two options. Option one, a single file of just over 100mb zipped (about 200 mb installed). Option two, the original release files, which consisted of an initial release of 4 chapters, a patch file for those chapters, the next installment called The Devil Is In the Details, and the final installment called Endgame. Please note that the original installers were not made by me (made by Phantasm before I learned how), and have two errors I don't have access to correct. One of the installments is incorrectly attributed to jands rather than Crusader, and one of the installments (the patch) defaults to the wrong directory. You won't care about the former, but the latter can mess your install up if you don't manually change it during the process. All installments should extract to the "suicidesquad" folder in your Freedom Force directory. In other words, trust me, get the full file instead. NOTE: Squad was designed for Freedom Force 1.0 and may not be compatible with 1.2 or with Dr. Mike's FFX add-ons. Squad is an old mod by freedom force standards (it was started when the editor was released and finished circa November of 2002).
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7. How many missions does it have?
A. It depends on how you count. I consider it a 27 mission mod. It consists of 10 chapters (story arcs), some of which have several sub-missions. Of the 27 missions, 3 are non-playable as noted below.
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8. What is the inspiration for Suicide Squad?
A. Suicide Squad is based on the late-1980's DC comic of the same name, which ran for a little over 5 years. Squad (the comic) appears to be based on The Dirty Dozen -- shock parole for criminals (in this case super villains) who complete and survive seemingly suicidal missions. The mod is not based on the revival of Suicide Squad DC recently undertook.
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9. How close does it stick to the comic?
A. I consider the characterizations, mission styles, etc. to be very close to the comics. Some events were inspired by the comics, and one (the first battles against the Jihad) incorporates some of the actual dialogue of the comics. However, the bulk of the plot and most missions are only loosely based on the comics and some liberties were taken with dates and events (like the fate of Rick Flag, who in the comics, committed suicide in order to try to stop the Jihad once and for all). It's essentially a fan fic using some Squad characters and some original characters, set in an Elseworld's universe with some parallels to the main DC one.
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10. When is Squad set?
A. An unspecified time in the mid to late 1980's. The only real date confirmation is that Reagan is President. There is also a passing reference to the Crisis in the middle of the mod (the comment about the red skies), indicating some of Squad Mod occurs pre-crisis and some post (where the comic was all set post crisis, and actually grew out of the Legends crossover).
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11. Then why is the Injustice Society of the World getting together to take out the modern age JSA? Wouldn't that be the late nineties at best?
A. See question number 13 below. I had thought I might make a JSA mod beginning where Squad left off, so I fudged the time by a decade or so. I was also trying to help flesh out how Vertigo went from a core Suicide Squad member who wasn't even sure he wanted to live to a member of the ISW.
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12. Who is in the Squad mod?
A. A variety of both DC and original characters, including several guest stars. My core Squad group includes Deadshot, Rick Flag, Nightshade, Bronze Tiger, Captain Boomerang, Poison Ivy, Count Vertigo, and Amanda Waller. A variety of heroes (Batman, Black Canary, Brainwave, Wildcat, Nemesis, Checkmate, etc.) and villains (Mirror Master, Vulcan, Slipknot, Multiplex, Cluemaster, etc.) appear as well.
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13. Why were there so many JSA related characters?
A. I originally wanted to do a very sweeping JSA mod covering the team's entire history (including All Star Squadron and Infinity Inc). I opted for Suicide Squad as the more manageable project to cut my teeth on the Freedom Force editor. And I had all these notes and skins of JSA villains lying around...
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14. Why didn't you include (Lashina/Duchess, Vixen, Punch & Jewelee, etc. etc.)?
A. I felt I had a large cast as it was. And at the time, I had no ability to create new meshes, which many of the remaining characters would have required. So I made my core group and forgot about the rest. During the creation of the mod, I received a Shade mesh and a Nemesis skin from some kind contributors. Accordingly, those two scraped into the game when they weren't originally expected. Same with Mindboggler who got made right before I released Endgame, so I asked permission to throw her in.
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15. Where did you get the remixed music?
A. I made it, using a program called Cool Edit 2000, which has been bought out by Adobe. The music was sampled and looped in the interest of keeping the size down, particularly in the early days when I thought I could keep the total under 100 mb.
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16. What's up with the sound quality?
A. I don't have the right equipment to make professional quality recordings. Although I have really cool effects software, it's still "garbage in, garbage out" for everything I personally record. Because I had to use multiple voice actors with multiple sources for their recordings, I also had serious problems with volume compatibility. So you could either have had a mod where some characters didn't talk (my voices being left out), some whispered, and some yelled, or have this one where the character volumes are reasonably compatible but with some sacrifice in quality due to my editing and/or inclusion of the sound files I did. The sound was as good as I could get it within those limitations, and it was my personal preference to do it that way instead of having the volume level jump badly as it does in many mods (not intended to be a knock on anyone, I recognize they simply had an opposite preference). The captioning should be a word for word, literal transcript of the sound files, so you can always turn off the sound, although you'll miss some really good voice acting by the likes of George LeDoux, Viking, and Lightning Man (as well as my own sad attempts to play everything from Amanda Waller to Manticore).
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17. Have you done or are you going to do any other mods? Would you do my mod?
A. Squad was my first mod. My second was the tongue in cheek mini-mod, Forum Battle Royale, available at www.unmazingfriends.com (last I checked anyway). I do not know whether I will make other mods. I was going to, but I have been banned from the more active, fan-run FR community (you can still find me at www.freedomfans.com, this time as semisaracen since I can't be completely EVIL there). This killed a lot of my enthusiasm since the guys who banned me were supposed to be my friends, particularly the admins there. However, having realized their entire roster is about 10% of my downloads, and that the ban came from about 2% of their roster, I will likely continue to support the community, including a possible updating of Squad. As for helping anyone with their mods, I am not currently accepting new projects and don't plan to in the future. Sorry that a few bad apples have to spoil things for everyone.
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18. Will there be a sequel?
A. No. But I may do an update, and if I do, I will probably weave at least one or two more plots into the original mod, plus re-design some of the levels. So it would feel like a new game, but also incorporate all of the original (or at least the best parts, hopefully). I would be more inspired if some custom meshes of the key players like Deadshot and Captain Boomerang suddenly appeared. I'm just sayin'.
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19. I still can't beat it/you didn't answer my particular question/I want to have your baby/I want to help with the updating and send you lots of meshes. How can I contact you?
A. E-mail me at [email protected]. I will respond to all Squad related messages as soon as possible. Usually that's same or next day, occasionally it's a week.
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20. What other mods do you recommend for players who liked Suicide Squad?
A. I don't get to play a lot of other people's work, but my personal favorites by company are Strangers (original), JLA (DC), and Fantastic Four (Marvel). I'm also giving a plug for Marvel Super Action since I like its creators (it's good, just needs more added). If the dang JSA mod ever got made, I'd lay odds it would blow everything else out of the water. But then, they're my favorite characters. I'd also watch for an original mod called The Hunted. Very strong story, just not sure if it will get made. None of this is meant to slight anyone else's efforts. I tend to go by what mods have characters I like, aren't too easy (which I find many mods to be), and which last longer to play then it takes me to download on my dial up connection. ;<)
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Chapter Specific Walkthroughs and Notes
1. Hot in the City
This level is non-interactive. You watch Rustam, Manticore I, Jaculi, and Ravan kill a variety of actors and dissidents dressed as U.S. Citizens. This is a live demonstration put on by the Jihad to show their capabilities for those terrorism organizations who would seek to employ them. As revealed in Meltdown, the Squad is watching the footage, smuggled out by Chimera (Nightshade).
I decided to go with this format because the first chapter of Freedom Force does not have a "base" option where you can do a mission briefing. I also thought it might build anticipation to know that a battle was coming with the Squad's greatest foes, but make the player wait a little while to get to it.
The music for level 1 is Billy Idol's Hot in the City, mixed to something closer to what I remember seeing on Fox on one of their early dramas in the eighties (21 Jump Street maybe?). The choice was inspired by Samy's inclusion of Billy Idol in his Power Man/Iron Fist mod, and my wife's love for old Billy Idol songs.
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2. Meltdown
The infamous "giant robot" levels. Your Squad will consist of Multiplex, Boomerang, Flag, and Deadshot. The key to the level is Deadshot. To gain some points by completing the secondary objective (and to get a hint), talk to the National Guard four times. You don't have a lot of time to stand around talking, so I recommend you take the least useful member of your party (Boomerang) and have him get the secondary objective. If you do stand around, stick to the sidewalk, as the drivers in Shreveport are just as bad as the drivers in Patriot City. Multiplex can be useful in that his clones will do some damage. You need to keep him away from the Flamebots and have him clone himself like crazy. Don't keep him too far back or his clones won't know where the bad guys are. There are 3 Flamebots and 6 Battlebots. The Battlebots shouldn't be a problem if you use hit and run tactics. Use Deadshot to do the primary damage and Flag for support. I like to put them on opposite sides of a street and aim for the sides. Be careful to avoid friendly fire, including the National Guard -- firearms hurt flesh a lot more than metal. Be sure you overpower all attacks. You'll run out of ammunition more quickly, but you'll need to in order to take down the Flamebots before they burn you up. If need be, use Boomerang to try to draw fire while Flag and Deadshot shoot the bots or while Multiplex closes in. Avoid the chemical dump. Another tactic players like is luring the bots near cars and shooting the cars (which explode more easily in Squad than in the original Freedom Force game).
Once the first line of bots are defeated, you'll encounted the Giant Robot Leader. He can be beaten with lots of patience, but there is an easier way. Remember the chemical dump? It's on the bottom right part of the map (if any National Guard members are alive, they will generally run to protect the dump). You need to lure the Robot Leader down to that part of the map. He'll generally target someone and start blindly chasing them. I recommend you have the whole group run for the bottom of the map immediately. He's about the same speed as you, so don't let up. If he loses interest in you and starts whacking a building or something, take a shot at him. That usually gets his attention. When you approach the dump, have the character he's following go to the bottom of the barrels. Have Deadshot (or Flag if Deadshot is the one the Robot Leader is chasing), go to the right side of the chemicals where he can shoot between the barriers (alternatively, you can have Flag or Multiplex move the barriers around). When the robot leader walks into the pile of barrels (chasing the character at the bottom), have your shooter shoot the barrels. You'll set off a massive chain reaction which will almost always kill the Robot Leader even if he's at full health. If he somehow survives, a quick shot or two will finish him off. You'll have to play around a bit finding a safe distance for your characters, but they can be away from the explosion while still being well within range to trigger it by shooting the nearest barrel.
Why giant robots? Well honestly, I was sort of thinking of the Legends scenario where the Squad has to take on the infinitely more powerful Brimstone. But at the time I made this level, there were no good giant meshes to put Brimstone on. So JLA got him instead (in their Chapter 5). And I got the reputation of being a sadist as players struggled to do any serious damage to the robots with the minor powers the Squad guys have. In my defense, you tell me how an army guy with a pistol should be able to stop a giant robot...
The music for Meltdown is "Push It" by Garbage. I think it may be one of the most perfect mod songs ever. Driving and sexy all at the same time, with lyrics which are both generic and meaningful.
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3. An Ounce of Prevention
There are four different levels, each representing a 1 on 1 fight between a Squad member and a Jihad member.
Deadshot v. Manticore. This level was revised from its original release. First, you can just shoot Manticore dead. He has a high passive defense and more hit points than you, but if you get lucky, you can kill him. Second, you can follow Deadshot's musings about the ceiling and find a custom action where you shoot to trigger a cave-in. The key is to lure the Manticore into the pit area of the level right when the rocks are falling. It's definitely not easy, but if you do, they will usually kill him. I say usually because once in a blue moon, his passive defense actually blocks all of the damage, in which case, you'd better open fire and pray (same if the rocks miss him). Do be careful, as you can shoot the rocks down on yourself. Deadshot will also trigger various stalagmite traps as he runs through the level. It's helpful to learn where these are. They won't hurt Deadshot, but they will block Manticore's projectile claw attacks if you get one to trigger behind you while he's chasing you. This is very helpful in trying to get him to the center of the pit area, which he tends to avoid naturally (not by my programming; something about that terrain in the game naturally puts characters off).
Bronze Tiger v. Ravan. This level should be a cakewalk in all honesty. Ravan is only really dangerous if you let him keep a distance and lob exploding pickaxes at you. Otherwise, it's a pure martial arts fight, and you're the freakin' Bronze Tiger. You go toe to toe with Batman. Ravan is just a few kicks away from a broken back. You can also try to lob objects at him, but I frankly advise against it. Nothing like getting an exploding pickaxe thrown at you when you're trying to lob a crate full of TNT...
Boomerang v. Jaculi. This level is hit or miss on difficulty. Your best strategy is not to move. Jaculi is much faster than you. You can try to dodge his javelins, but some explode on impact meaning you'll get hit even if he misses. If you get hit and panic, he'll finish you off before you recover. The key is to use an overpowered stunning boomerang as soon as he comes into range. Once he's stunned, thrown an overpowered regular boomerang. Then even if he's still stunned, throw an overpowered stunning boomerang. Then a regular, and so on, alternating the two attacks. This should get you past him.
Flag v. Rustam. This level should also be a cakewalk. Even though Rustam tries to get the jump on you, bear in mind, you've invaded his territory using his most trusted agent. The Jihad is unprepared, and it should show. Rustam will enter the room the same way you did. Run into the room, turn around and wait for him to appear. When he does, open fire with overpowered pistol shots. I'll be shocked if he even makes it to you, and he has no ranged attacks.
Note: Before the Squad patch, Rustam was on a motion trigger. It was much more challenging, but people had trouble finding the trigger (this was before I learned how to increase the detection radius), so Rustam was put on a timer instead. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't gone that route, as it's laughably easy, at least for a Squad level. Consider it a breather going into Jailbreak.
Casualties: Manticore I dies in this level. Ravan has his back broken but Bronze Tiger offers to use Squad technology to help him walk and fight again, provided he switches sides. Jaculi is left for dead by a careless Boomerang and survives. Rustam escapes when Boomerang inadvertently distracts Flag before Flag can finish him off.
These levels most clearly mirror the comics, with some dialogue even taken from the comics, issues 1 & 2. I always thought this story best represented the Squad -- they were defending us from attacks we couldn't even comprehend at that time, but functioned so poorly as a team that even a "successful" mission could be a disaster. Once I got more comfortable identifying with the characters, I branched out into more original territory.
The music is "I Ran" by Flock of Seagulls. I think it has some of the most interesting instrumental riffs of any eighties song. It must not have been too bad a choice as several months later, GTA: Vice City used it in their soundtrack and as the main song in their commercials.
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4. Jailbreak
There are three levels. Level 1 is the main riot, with 6 jailbreakers (Moonhuntress, Ricochet, Pharmacist, Pantomime, Jaguar, and Lightwave) plus 6 potential escapees/additional rioters. This may sound obvious, but the key is to stop the prisoners before they get out, picking up stragglers only as absolutely necessary. If someone does get loose, you need to stop them immediately. If they flee, you'll lose them as a potential recruit. The other key to this level is to micromanage. Your entire team should be doing something at all times. There are a couple of custom actions which will help in this regard. First, Ricochet is a terror. He has a low energy speeding bullet and will knock Batman around like a pinball. Use a Nightshade custom action to teleport him to a holding cell. This serves two purposes. First, he'll quit acting until he's freed. Second, Lightwave will ignore the other prisoners and try to free him instead. You can use this to set a trap for her, and if she's knocked out before any other prisoner is freed, the level becomes much easier. If she frees a prisoner, there is some chance that new escapee will stop to help a friend escape and/or fight before running off the map.
If a prisoner is freed, take note of Nightshade's other custom action, which can put her at the bottom of the map quickly. She may be your last ditch defense. Note, however, that it is difficult to knock out a full strength villain in one or two shots with Nightshade. This may mean the villain gets away even as she's beating on them, so using her in this manner should be a last ditch effort. Note also that if Mirror Master is free, he will clone himself as a distraction. Be sure you focus on the real him (you can tell which is which by the number of health points, as his mirror images only have a single point).
Bronze Tiger is supposed to turn on the perimeter security, so his first priority should be getting to the door on the building. Once he turns the system on (custom action), get him away from the building -- remember Moonhuntress' comment, it will blow up soon. When Tiger has the securty system turned on, the four pressure plates outside are activated. When a character steps on them, they produce a variety of effects (electrical shocks, explosions, upward knockback, etc.). Be sure not to trigger them yourself (this usually only happens if you give a character a move command and their natural path is through the landmine). You can lure villains into crossing them to help damage them. This is another good way to slow down Ricochet. You can also use a Nightshade custom action to teleport Pantomime onto the electrical mine, knocking him out immediately.
Flag and Batman are your heavy hitters. Flag's gun is the best weapon against Ricochet. His rubber body resists the damage, but the knockback keeps him off balance. If you have him down, Batman can use an electrified boomerang on him. If he's on his feet, he'll knock Batman down before he can get the attack off unless they're really far apart. Flag will generally want to begin by targeting Jaguar unless Ricochet has made it to Batman. Depending on how much trouble Ricochet is giving you, Batman and Flag may be able to team up and take Jaguar out quickly. Once Ricochet is caged, it's best to try to use Batman and/or Flag to take out Lightwave when she comes over to free him. Moonhuntress is also pretty deadly on offense, so they should focus on her as time permits. Tiger may want to go after her as well -- at any distance, she'll slaughter him, but he's fast, and she's nearly useless in melee. Stay close to her, use overpowered attacks, and he can take her down. Avoid the Pharmacist. He is frustrating to fight hand to hand as he'll keep drugging you. Once you have several of the jailbreakers knocked out, you can pick him off at your leisure with Flag and Batman. Avoid Pantomime. Once the alarms are on, Nightshade can take him out easily. Be careful not to ignore him, however. He does pantomime melee attacks that produce damage at long ranges, with very slow speed. Accordingly, you may think he's just punching the air, only to be damaged moments later without even knowing why. This can cause a player to stand around confused while Pantomime beats them to death.
Final note, while it's important to try to team up Flag and Batman, be careful about keeping any of your characters too closely together. Remember, Ricochet has a chained projectile and Moonhuntress has explosive arrows. The closer your characters are, the more quickly they may fall.
Level 2 vs. Hex, Spectra, Andromeda and Slab. First, take note. If you played this level before getting "Endgame", you had it pretty easy. All it took was beating Hex and Spectra, and you could ignore Andromeda and Slab. So to make things more challenging, Endgame actually re-did the level, and now you have to damage Slab and Andromeda considerably (it still won't let you kill them). Strategies remain the same either way. First, find Hex and take her out. Her powers are a bear, and the only saving grace is that they're random. However, they include acid burn, dropping your speed to 1, etc. etc. Nasty stuff. So she should be first or second priority. She always goes for the physically nearest character, so if you can, keep the same character in her range. They may die, but at least she won't affect your whole team. The other priority is slowing Slab down. Nightshade can custom teleport him to a cage. Andromeda will then try to break him out. Stopping Andromeda is hard since she can't be knocked out on this level, but neither can Slab, so you need to get him out of the way and slow her down from freeing prisoners. If she manages to free a regular prisoner, make stopping the prisoner your highest priority. If they escape, you can't play as them, and if they stick around to fight, your odds just got much worse (especially if it's Vulcan). Assuming you have Hex down and Andromeda and Slab distracted, it's a good idea to take out Spectra. She can be killed, and it's helpful to have a numeric advantage on the enemies. This is hard to do if Hex gets going or prisoners escape. Best attacks are Flag's pistol and Batman's electrified batarang (or regular if the villains are in close proximity to each other). Batman's melee attacks are also useful for causing stun.
Guards will help you in the first two levels, but don't expect much out of them. If they were that effective, Amanda wouldn't be so worried.
Level 3 vs. Parasite. First, be sure you're playing post-patch (Squad patch that is, not Freedom Force patch) or the level will probably be too dark to see what you're doing (even post patch, it's very low lighting). The key is to use Batman's electrical boomerang to take advantage of Parasite's absorption of Andromeda's weakness. Be sure you target the ORIGINAL Parasite, not his clones. It helps to mouse over each Parasite in the beginning. The original has double hit points. Of course, you'll need to keep his hit points in mind as you damage him or this gets confusing. There are two reasons to try to ignore his clones even if they're hurting you. First, the more you damage Parasite, the weaker his next clones will be. Second, if you beat the original, the clones die too. Once you've done considerable damage to Parasite, Batman will note that you're only slowing him down and that you need a bigger shock. After that point, Parasite will not take any more damage. The only way to beat him is to use a custom Nightshade action. Nightshade then teleports Parasite onto a shock pad back in the middle of the level, triggering the ending cutscene.
Oddly, Jailbreak did not exist in the original script, in any fashion. I was on a plane from Hawaii, and out of boredom at the long flight, began sketching out a level to replace the comics' jailbreak where the Female Furies just trash the Squad something fierce. I also had the Batman/Waller confrontation from issue 10 on my mind, and wondered if the player needed a larger variety of villains to choose from for subsequent missions. I decided the jailbreakers should be original villains so I didn't have to explain much back story and could just dive into the action. I had to have some reason they would bother attacking Belle Reve, however, so I added one of the most dangerous Squad members, the Parasite, in as the prize. All of this mixed together ended up being Jailbreak. It is never explained, but in my mind, there is a connection between the jailbreakers and Baron Moloka's Genocide Project.
Casualties include Multiplex and Andromeda (see below re: Slab).
The music for the first two levels is "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz. I couldn't resist the "finally someone let me out of my cage" line. A bit literal but a nice change of pace in the music from prior levels. The music for level three is "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction. I liked the light, bouncy tone and it sounds like a criminal's theme song to me.
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5. From Russia With Blood
Level 1. Eve has pneumonia and loses health throughout the level. You can use her to fight, but I think it's better to keep her where she is, safe and sound. Just watch her health and if she gets really low, burn a hero point. Unless you're just terribly slow or get frozen a lot, you should have no trouble completing your objectives before she dies. Her health will reset each level, so don't worry if she's low or burns the hero point. As long as she doesn't die, you're fine. The level itself should be relatively easy. Use Flag and Deadshot to battle the guards as the arrows appear. Flag should have his grenade by now (he'll need it for the third level anyway), which is good for taking out small nests of soldiers. If someone gets frozen, use another player with an UNDERPOWERED attack to shoot the ice. Odds are you'll break them out with minimal damage. Alternatively, take out the soldiers in range and simply wait for your comrade to thaw before pressing on.
Level 2. Really the same as level 1 in terms of tactics. The one thing to explain that you may not know is that the opening cutscene changes depending on who you take as your fourth. Some are generic, but some are specific to the character. The only one that's really worth making an effort to see (in my opinion) is Vulcan, whose custom cutscene still makes me laugh. "Al-riiiight." Ah, Viking talking to himself is such a good thing (he voices both Deadshot and Vulcan, as well as the Soldier in the lengthy interrogation scene at the end of level 1).
Level 3. Ok, the stuff hits the fan finally. You're in a factory filled with deadly things that go boom, not the least of which is a very big bomb that must not be detonated prematurely. And Nightshade drops to almost zero health instantly. So what do you do?
Well, first hide Nightshade, wait until she drops, and then use a hero point. Because even Saracen isn't totally sadistic, she will not lose health again the rest of the level. But you don't really need her, so you may as well leave her out of harm's way (just make sure some Ice Trooper doesn't find her).
When you start, you have enemies in the room, and they're coming in through the left and right entrances. If you want to waste a custom, I recommend Chronos or Sportsmaster. You need someone with grenades. You also need Flag to have his grenades. The level can be beaten without explosive projectiles (as Lightning Man has proven), but this is the "standard" walk through so we won't go into that. If you don't want to waste a custom, just bring whomever along for the ride. Deadshot and Flag (at least with grenade) are more than capable.
First things first, you need to clear the room of immediate enemies. This usually amounts to taking out the guard who's lying down when you start, and covering each of the doors until enemies quit pouring in. My tactic is to put Flag or another hero with explosives on the door to the left. If you practice, you can turn the narrow halls into a billiard table with ricochet shots that will blow up bad guys before they get anywhere near you. Use Deadshot on the right door. He has range and the scatter shot will keep the numbers down. Don't panic if someone gets frozen, just pull back the other hero and begin clearing them out again. Even if everyone is frozen at once, just be patient and wait for the thaw. Use Nightshade or your fourth if you have to, but if you're patient and take Flag and Deadshot slowly, they can get the job done alone.
Once the enemies are out of the room, move them up their respective halls clearing out any enemies who come towards you. Once the enemies stop running towards Deadshot's hall, pull him back and send him to help Flag. Using the two in tandem, clear out the level clockwise. Once the outer path is cleared, take care of the inner path and then finally the guards of the bomb. Be especially careful that you don't blow up the bomb with stray bullets or grenades. Either lure the Ice Troopers away from the bomb, or use more controlled attacks like Flag's pistol.
Romanov is in the opposite corner of where you start. He's a wimp (an evil arms dealing wimp, but a wimp), and you'll probably take him out before you even knew he was there.
Once all the soldiers and Romanov are dead, Flag should click on the bomb to defuse it. It won't work, but don't panic. Even though it starts to go off and more Ice Troopers appear, you're done once the cutscene starts. There is no way to actually defuse the bomb, so don't feel bad that you set it off. This was originally a "cliffhanger" since this was the end of the initial releases.
This chapter is loosely based on the Mission to Moscow arc where Nemesis is left behind and the Squad blows its cover, creating an international incident. I didn't want to stick too closely to the comic, so I changed the mission goal to something more action-oriented. I also wasn't that fond of the People's Heroes, so you got over 100 Ice Troopers instead, again cementing Squad's reputation as a difficult mod, even though to me, this level is not very difficult once you get the hang of it (I do find it fun enough to replay from time to time though).
The music in the first two levels is "Inflatable" by Bush. I wanted something that conjured up emptiness, loneliness, cold, all the things the Squad was feeling in Russia. For level 3, I went back to "Push It", both because of the nature of the level (overwhelming odds) and to help tie in that Romanov clearly made the robots stopped in Level 2, parts of which are scattered around his factory along with planes, weapons, and a variety of nasty chemicals and explosives.
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6. The Devil Is In the Details
Level 1, the ambush. Vertigo buys you time by twisting the whole area inside out. You may be mind blanked (unable to act due to vertigo) when the level starts, but you will recover first. Vertigo should immediately activate the vertigo effect defense. It won't save him from grenades, but it will help redirect machine gun shots. He is of little offensive use except in this capacity, so don't try to take out soldiers with him. Use him only if desperate, and keep his active defense on as much as his energy stores will permit.
Flag is good on this level as his grenade makes for good crowd control. You get two other slots, and I recommend Deadshot and Boomerang for core members, Ricochet and Chronos for customs. Chained projectiles and/or thrown explosives are the best for these levels.
The secret to level 1 is generally to get free. You're surrounded, but there are more troops to the right than the left. Fight your way out to the left, killing those soldiers first. Then focus on the ones above and below you. Eventually, you'll be free from soldiers in your immediate area, with remaining soldiers all be massed on the left. Use explosives or chained hit projectiles to make short work of them and end the level. Note that some of the soldiers have good cover (especially in the trees). Zoom in and look carefully before assuming you've cleared out a nest. Explosives are again a good choice because they tend to blow the foliage off the trees, exposing the soldiers' locations.
For level 2, Moloka uses black magic to raise some of the recently dead. Do NOT use the same tactic as level 1. While you can see the immediate wave trying to surround you, they account for only about 20% of his army. The vast majority will appear to the left of you shortly after the fight starts, so fighting to the left is one of the few ways to guarantee death. The zombies have a deadly acid burn touch, but no ranged attacks, and they are slow (hey, they're zombies, what would you expect). Make a stand, back to back and destroy the ones that are closest to you. When you see one come out of the mausoleum (pop up in front of the door), you'll know the main army has arrived. Finish clearing the main area and then send your best crowd control people to the left. Attack the vanguard of the zombie army. Be patient and let them come to you, always taking out the front ranks and waiting for the rear ranks to get closer. This level was (very) loosely based on Night of the Living Dead.
Level 3 can be tough. The Genocide Project uses some teamwork and they have a couple of heavy hitters. Basically, here are their tactics. Battery is psychically connected to the team. She will heal them as need be. If damaged, she'll activate an empathy power which will make your life miserable (you'll take as much or more damage as you dish out to her). If any of her teammates are affected mentally (like mind blanked with Vertigo), she'll cure their state. You would think this would make her top priority, but you would be wrong. Battery is almost impossible to kill in a direct attack because of the empathy. However, her health depletes as her team members die. Accordingly, your highest priority is to kill as many Genocide members as possible.
Snowblind will spawn giant ice rocks for Viking to throw at you. Slaymaster will charge you, guns and swords a blazing. Lightning Man (yep, Slaymaster, Viking, and LM were tributes to board members) will try to fry you while Force also knocks you around (and get too close to Force and he'll often release gravity in his entire area, depending on whether his teammates would get caught in the crossfire). Nationalist will charge you to try to melee. Arachna will try to slow you down by hitting you with stasis attacks (webs). Will-o-wisp will generally stay back and guard Battery unless you damage one of them (in which case, she will attack without hesitation).
So the priorities are: take out some members quickly, stop Viking from throwing things (they do a lot of damage and knock you around, preventing counter attacks), stop Force (he also throws you off your gameplan with knockbacks and upward knockback), and do NOT attack Battery. This requires some very careful planning.
Since Force is a danger but doesn't have too many hit points and is near other villains, I have Flag throw grenades (or Boomerang throw explosive boomerangs) so that the blast catches him and Lightning Man (at a minimum). It will sometimes catch other Genocide members as they run through. Just make sure you don't throw it too far or Battery will get caught in the blast. I tend to have Deadshot along and usually shoot Viking just to knock him down before he throws something. I then shoot Snowblind who also doesn't have much health (and scattered shots may also take out the ice balls even if Viking does get up). Viking tends to go berserk easily, so popping him on and off with a bullet is usually good, even if he's too hard to kill quickly.
Once Force and Lightning Man are down, I go for the next weakest team members, usually Arachna or Nationalist. You may have Nationalist or Slaymaster on your tail by then. You'll either have to ignore their attacks or use teammates to help get them off of you. But definitely, do not let your explosive guys get drawn into melee. Keep the grenades pumping until you've taken down the middle troops (especially Force) or you will regret it.
Will-o-wisp is hard to kill (she dodges heavily), so when you get down to the final few villains, try to catch her in an area blast. You may snag Battery, but her health should be dwindling by that point (if you kill her teammates in quick succession, she may even die). You may still have to attack her directly at the end, but by that point, you should have superior health and firepower and can win the war of attrition.
Vertigo is again nearly useless on this level. However, you can make use of his active defense for when he is targeted. You can also use him if Genocide starts to close and overwhelm you. I recommend an underpowered vertigo attack as a last ditch defense. You'll probably affect your teammates too, but as Flag has the "disciplined" attribute, there is a good chance he will not be affected. Accordingly, Vertigo can be useful in making sure Flag doesn't get drawn into melee. Flag's pistol has good knockback, so if need be, use it to knock closing opponents away. Just be careful. If too powerful an opponent (say Viking) gets too close, the bullets may bounce off and catch Flag himself.
Level 4 replaces Vertigo with Nemesis, and has you fighting "Molokabots" known as the Eliminators. The Eliminators are fairly slow, but their attacks do high damage. You'll need to use the same techniques as Chapter 2 (Meltdown) in terms of hit and run. However, you may find it's helpful to run TOWARDS them, as their plasma rockets will often sail over your head and you'll be out of range. Just don't get too close as you don't want to try to melee with them. There aren't very many of them, though, and explosive projectiles do nice amounts of damage to them.
"Devil" was originally intended to be a throw away 1-2 mission chapter where you fought soldiers in a battle that would have looked frighteningly like the first two levels of From Russia With Blood. Obviously that wouldn't do, so the ambush scenario was created. The chapter was moved from a desert to a forest and Moloka was sent hunting so you wouldn't have hundreds or thousands of soldiers to kill. I then got the idea that Vertigo would be so revenge obsessed that he would compromise mission security by omitting "minor" details. The ambush would have been hard to top with anything else involving soldiers, so I racked my brain for worst things than being shot at by a small military unit. The next thing I knew I had massive amounts of zombies and an original villain team with decent group tactics. By level 4 I was spent and the Sentinel mesh had just been released, so I obtained permission from its creator to re-color it, giving birth to the Eliminators (or the molokabots as I've always called them). It's a bit anti-climactic, but I thought the player earned the right to relax a bit after Genocide, plus the real point of the 4th level is to get to the final cutscene and see the Jihad obtain all of Moloka's technology, foreshadowing the final battles.
Casualties include Moloka, who really is dead. The fate of the Genocide Project is partially unrevealed. I purposely did not explain how the Squad survived the cave-in just so I could resurrect the villains at will as well. In the final battles, those villains who are more likely to have survived (e.g., the super strong Viking, or the tiny Will-O-Wisp) and whose loyalties to Moloka were relatively limited, reappear. Those who had strong ties to Moloka as indicated in their database entries, are missing and may or may not be alive.
The first song used in this chapter is "Beyond the Invisible" by Enigma. The inspiration was an episode of La Femme Nikita (the tv show version) where it was playing at night as soldiers prepared for a mission (breaking into a compound as I recall). The second choice is a "A Voice From One Million Miles Away", the theme to my wife's favorite commercial of all time. I tried various ways to alter it to make it sound even more ominous; it was interesting, but I kept deciding the original was better as it was, so it ultimately went in unchanged. "Rio" starts off the third level. I'm addicted to eighties music, and with Squad being set in the eighties, that was always the first style I considered. I realize everyone's processor loads at slightly different speeds, but on my system, the chords of Rio happened to match up perfectly with the camera zooms (by chance), creating a neat effect. The final song is "Just a Job to Do", another eighties song that seemed to fit the Squad. Plus I had nicknamed Phalanx/Stunticon 5 Phil Collins, so I tried to work as much Genesis/Collins music in as I could (it was that or John Cougar Mellencamp, so be grateful).
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7. History Repeats
"History" begins the "Endgame" release. From this point on, all the chapters were done in order but held until being released all at once. This meant that most of the chapters became harder and harder as I continued to try to keep the challenge up (although I personally found the Politics of Dancing Part 2 to be the "peak" in terms of difficulty).
Level 1 would not be that difficult except there is a very valuable secondary objective to obtain (it grants use of Nemesis, Checkmate, and Shade the Changing Man). You have to make sure that not a single citizen is slain by the rampaging dinosaurs and ants (or collateral damage for that matter). The citizens have very low health, so this is a tough task indeed.
The ants and T-Rex's will occasionally kill citizens, but for the most part, won't be inclined to hunt them down. The raptors, however, will stalk and kill them. Each raptor has a specific target that it has obtained the scent of. It will tend to hunt that human mercilessly, even if attacked, only occasionally stopping to go after the attacker. Accordingly, the key to the level is figuring out where and how to take out the raptors.
Flag starts in a bad location. He is almost no help on the raptors because of this. It is better to focus him on the swarm of giant ants or the nearest T-Rex. He does have a machine gun this time, plus his hand grenades, so he can do some damage. However, the odds are overwhelming, so don't get cocky with him. Keep him on a hit and run pattern and move him towards the park gates. Micromanagement is a key to this level. You will need to continually monitor the four different Squad members' locations, pausing to issue updated orders frequently.
Black Adam is unbelievably powerful. There is no dinosaur that can stand up to him. However, you should be careful when flying, as the ants will throw things at him. Some of these objects can do 100+ points of damage in a single hit, so he can (rarely) be killed if you're careless. He will start in the middle of the city. There are two raptors reasonably close to him. Order him to take out each (starting with the closest). Then run him (or fly if you must) towards the park gates so he can help out. You may want to mop up some of the loose enemies first if your other teammates are holding their own.
For the two custom slots, I personally prefer Poison Ivy and Bronze Tiger. I start Ivy near the park benches on which the people are standing and Tiger on the far side of the city. Tiger has no ranged attacks, but by this point should have his Nerve Blow, an absolutely devestating melee attack in that it does some damage, takes relatively little energy, and almost always stuns. Once Tiger gets a hit on a raptor, he should be able to beat it senseless before it can attack again. This will become Tiger's hallmark for subsequent levels as well. There is a raptor close to Tiger, so be sure to take it out first. Then move him to the park gates or on into the park as you need him. He's fairly fast (by Squad standards) which is another reason to put him on the far side of the fight, as there is a lot of ground to cover for whatever character starts there in order to join the main fight.
Ivy or whomever guards the park benches has the hardest role. You must not use area attacks as the citizens cannot survive them. You must take out two raptors nearly immediately and a third may pass through (towards Flag) before any other help arrives. Ivy therefore is a good choice because her crossbow (overpowered) does a lot of damage, is reasonably accurate, and is highly targeted. Shoot the SECOND raptor first (the order of the citizens the raptors are attacking makes it more likely the second one will get to its target before the first). Then kill the first. A miss can be fatal, so you may want to take a few steps closer before letting off the first crossbow bolt (don't try too hard to close or the citizens will be eaten before you finish moving). Once the two raptors are dead, do what you can to slow down the third as he moves through (he'll likely ignore you). The ants will probably be closing on you by that point, but Flag, Adam, and the other custom should be on their way to help.
Once the raptors are done for, it's just time to destroy all monsters. Just be sure to keep an eye on everything lest something attack a human. More likely than not, they'll be after you, and it's just a matter of doing what damage you can until Black Adam arrives and pounds everything that moves.
Level 2 is easier (in my opinion). There are only two concerns. One, Adam is told to destroy rocks but really doesn't have time to do so. Two, the enemies are attacking from two sides. I recommend moving your customs (Ivy and Tiger in my example) to the middle of the rock formation and bringing them out only if you're overwhelmed or Adam runs out of energy. As time permits, Adam should pick up boulders and throw them at the enemies. Otherwise he should run around punching the monsters back away from the rocks. Flag should toss out grenades as time permits, and machine gun anything that gets too close. If something's about to get through, bring out Ivy and her crossbow or Tiger with his nerve punch to help you. Be patient and just fight through the waves -- don't worry about the rocks. Once everything is dead, you can then destroy the rocks either by having Adam punch them or have him throw a rock at the pile of rocks. Eventually you'll destroy enough of them to end the level.
Level 3 ("Just Breathe") is a non-interactive level. I was in an "experimental" phase of coding; so sue me. It was intended to show Nightshade getting the news about Flag's being left behind, Flag not going quietly into the night, and Nightshade slowly regaining her strength and powers as she recovered from her near death in Chapter 5. Some parts came out relatively clear, other parts admittedly fall flat. For example, Nightshade teleports only the smallest of distances and then is stunned, but it's hard to see that's what happens to her. She also punches a wall in frustration but probably just looks like she's practicing her fighting. The funky lighting seemed like a good idea at the time. I was excited I had learned how to do colors. It was supposed to encapsulate the real feeling of the Squad, that everyone is expendable. "I'm used to it by now." "Just breathe" and get on with life; you can't quit even when your loved one is gone. It's also meant to show that she is taking more and more comfort in the darkness, and dragging more and more of her dimension out into the "real" world (which is why she sets off her darkness power while lying in the medi-cot at the end. Bear in mind that Nightshade remains racked with guilt that she could somehow have teleported Flag to safety if she had been there, as explained in her dialogue with Bronze Tiger later, but also begins to show less emotional attachment, culminating in her slaughter of Manticore II. She of course regrets how far she has fallen and takes up an ill advised quest to track Flag down.
To be blunt, this was not a chapter I really enjoyed doing. Black Adam was so powerful, relatively speaking, that the levels aren't much of a challenge. That's the reason I made the sadistically hard secondary objective, with a prize hopefully valuable enough to make people not just skip it. I'd have made it a primary objective, but even I'm not that cruel. If you're frustrated, at least you can zoom past the level with Adam and get to something more fun. I would have done something different with the level, but I felt it was critical that Flag be taken out of the picture and Bronze Tiger get his time to shine. Since I identify very much with Flag's character, I did try to leave some hope for his survival rather than a sure death like he received in the comics. He is therefore not identified as a casualty even though the player is unable to use him after this point.
The music for the level is a bit too modern, but seemed to fit. "Nookie" is a nice song with a driving beat, and I thought using the bridge as the primary background softened it just enough to make it more tolerable for players who don't like their music that hard. "Beautiful Day" was meant to be a bittersweet send off for Flag. He was making the ultimate sacrifice but it could finally lead to peace and an end to all the guilt of being a survivor (a common Squad theme), so it was a beautiful day for him. "Just Breathe" is of course yet another car commercial. The reasons it was chosen are pretty much set forth above.
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8. Emotion Sickness
This is a VERY long level, so even though the credits (you did read the credits, didn't you?!) says quicksave isn't guaranteed to work, you may have to try it. It's not that it's that hard to do each part, it's just frustrating to make a mistake late in the level and start all over.
The first group you'll encounter consists mostly of citizens. While the Squad normally doesn't worry too much about civilian casualties, you're operating publicly, in Batman's territory. Accordingly, using force isn't advisable. Instead you'll need to stun or stasis the citizens and then have Ivy sedate them (custom action). I recommend you take Captain Boomerang (with sonicrang and stunning boomerangs) and Checkmate (with incapacitating gas). If you didn't get Checkmate, bring someone with crowd control abilities (area attacks) and not a lot of health (for reasons stated below), and leave them in the back for the first fight.
You may note that once you've incapacitated the citizens, Ivy can sedate them even if they get free. This is a combination of lazy programming and generosity (I could remove the custom action when they change states, but I thought this part of the mission was challenging enough, particularly since you must keep Ivy alive for the entire mission). For storyline purposes, let's just say they're still groggy when she gets to them. If you're a purist, just don't use the custom action unless they're currently in the right state. Honestly, if you do sedate them while they're moving, Ivy is likely to get damaged once or twice, and you may regret that later.
You may also note that a thug and a mind controlled police officer are present during this part of the riot. They're fair game (and in fact must be knocked out). Just be careful that when you take them out, you don't take out a citizen too by mistake. I recommend having Bronze Tiger dispatch the thug at his convenience (using Nerve Blow works best for me) and Ivy can use a crossbow bolt or two on the police officer. Do NOT let Tiger use his Nerve Blow on citizens. It does stun them, but it also does too much damage and may kill them. Be extra careful that your squad members don't start auto-fighting when attacked by citizens or you may kill one of them without realizing it.
Once the citizens are sedated, follow the arrows to the second encounter, which is Batman and a gang of criminals. Bats is under Pirate's influence, so he won't be as tough as he could be, but he's still the main threat. When you get close enough to him, you'll trigger a cutscene where he displays his rage by briefly attacking his own thugs. Accordingly, it's best to trigger the cutscene as soon as possible (for him to hit the most possible thugs with batarangs). Be careful that you don't get just close enough to make the thugs start moving without getting the cutscene going right away.
Use standard crowd control tactics, concentrating on disabling Batman and killing the thugs with guns. The thugs with bats shouldn't be a big deal, just don't let them close in on a weak character like Boomerang or Ivy. In fact, I generally keep Ivy as far away from the fight as possible until it's down to a couple of villains and she can use her crossbow effectively. My favorite thing to do is to hit Batman with stunning boomerangs, clear out the crowds with explosive boomerangs and Checkmate's attacks, then have Tiger beat the snot out of Bats with Nerve Blow.
Once this part of the riot has been quelled, you'll head to the park to fight Black Canary, Wildcat, and more thugs. Same basic game plan will work. Keep Ivy safe, go for the thugs with guns and Black Canary first (as they have ranged attacks) and watch out that Wildcat or thugs with bats don't close in on you. This really shouldn't be very difficult. However, you may want to let your non-core members (whomever you take other than Ivy and Tiger) get knocked out here if they're low on health, as the game will respawn them for the next scene. Otherwise, you'll be low on health versus Brainwave, where you'll probably need all four characters.
Ah, Brainwave and company. The thugs are the same basic pattern �V take out the gunmen quickly and the batters as time permits. The problem is Brainwave is chucking cars and stuff at you while you do. There are a couple of different ways to minimize this. First, you can try blowing up whatever he plans to throw, using someone like a Deadshot to take the object out before he can get it. I don't recommend this because I think Deadshot is a tough potential opponent (see below). Second, you can note that Brainwave's telekinesis always targets the nearest hero. This means you can either keep a third or fourth player handy to take the damage and keep Tiger and Ivy safe, or you can use Tiger or Ivy as a target. My preference is to keep Tiger closest to Brainwave, but have Tiger duck between buildings and behind objects to minimize the chance he'll get hit. Once Brainwave stops throwing things, look for an opening, and then Nerve Blow him to death. A stunning boomerang is a great way to provide that opening.
The biggest problem with this part of the level for me is keeping Ivy alive. There's not much room to run. I usually move her towards the thugs, targeting the gunmen with overpowered crossbow bolts, until she can safely run around the corner. I use exploding boomerangs and Checkmate's energy blast and pistol shots to keep the other thugs at bay.
Once you beat Brainwave and company, you'll confront the Psycho Pirate. Here's the problem with bringing a Deadshot or Vulcan or what have you. No matter what you do, only Ivy and Tiger will avoid falling under Pirate's influence. Anyone else you bring will become your enemy. This is why I like Boomerang so much. He has a lot of use in this level, but he's also very easy to take out. Checkmate is more difficult, but if Ivy can shoot Boomerang quickly (and one shot will usually kill him), Tiger can Nerve Blow checkmate and take him down. The trick is making sure someone doesn't shoot Ivy first. Be quick, whatever you do, as Pirate won't wait until the end of the fight to come back and attack you.
When Pirate comes back, you must be extremely careful. You'll be down to only two heroes, both of whom must live to complete the mission. Accordingly, if either one falls under Pirate's influence, you cannot kill them. I recommend getting Ivy away as quickly as possible. As handy as her crossbow is, Tiger is faster than her. If he falls under the Pirate's spell with her anywhere nearby, she's dead. Better to use Tiger to try to take down the Pirate. He'll have to get close, but with his "disciplined" attribute, he can resist some of Pirate's attacks. One good Nerve Blow and he should be able to beat Pirate without any further risk. With a little practice, you shouldn't have any problem taking Pirate down at that point.
There are really only two reasons for Emotion Sickness even though it's a long level. One, I love Viking's Psycho Pirate voice. Two, as clumsy as it is, I love my telekinesis effect. For reasons I do not pretend to understand, Freedom Force has no true telekinesis power. You can hit objects with a knockback attack, but you can't levitate them. I got around this by skinning the invisible man -- a male suit with the skin completely alpha channeled. By spawning invisible men to lift and throw the objects in accordance with Brainwave's "fake" beam effect, a workable telekinesis is created.
The rest of the level is designed to keep the players feeling a little overwhelmed. First you want to charge in with brute strength, but you learn you can't kill the citizens. Then you think you'll play a more subtle style, but you learn you have two all out battles. Then you think you've got a third straight forward battle only to have cars hurling themselves at you. Finally you confront the Psycho Pirate with what you think is the perfect team, only to realize you have to fight your two teammates (and then fight Pirate). Most players win the second or third times through, but the first time usually teaches them not to take things for granted (like assuming the strongest possible team is the best).
The music is more Limp Bizkit. As I ran low on eighties songs I thought fit the mood, I turned more and more to traditional alternative. "Take a Look Around" seemed perfect with all the lines about knowing why you hate me and hate being all the world has seen, since the enemies are mind controlled by Pirate (using Brainwave to amplify his powers) and exhibiting blind rage. I added sound samples from various Squad characters to the mix. Everything from Vertigo's depressed "it's all useless anyway" to hearing Pirate saying "Do you see my face" (indicating more and more people falling under his influence off screen). Since the level was long, I felt I needed some other music and chose "My Way or the Highway" to break things up. As both songs are the same band, the transition is relatively smooth. And yes, it was chosen solely because I did think I was "special" for the telekinesis scene. ;<)
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9. The Politics of Dancing
Level 1 is Boomerang fighting solo. It should not give you much trouble, although occasionally he takes one too many shuriken hits. The black ninjas actually will fight one at a time as long as he does, which means either: 1) use the explosive boomerangs but be very careful where you throw them; or 2) take them out with the strategy suggested for beating Jaculi in An Ounce of Prevention. Once they're beaten, the red, white and blue ninjas will spawn. They should be taken out with explosives or other standard crowd control means. If Boomerang panics at any point in the level, keep a cool head. You can probably make a comeback once he clears his head. Sharona cannot be killed in his "fantasy", so don't worry about protecting her.
Level 2. Wow. Would you quit reading if I said my advice was "pray"?
Seriously, what do you want me to say? Even I have a hard time beating this level consistently with only core members. Your best bet would probably be to create a character with high resistance to ranged piercing attacks (which would let you all but waltz through the level). As you probably know, you have to set off four ambushes (triggered when you move towards the red arrows). You only have a certain amount of time to do so or Tenzan will reach Lauper before you know where the hit is going down. You do not have to beat all ninjas, but you might as well. You will have to trigger the 4th ambush (no matter what order you do them in) and beat some of those ninjas before the ninja who can actually be interrogated comes out to play. You can go straight for him when he appears (and should) but by that point, the body count is so high that unless you're out of time, you might as well finish them all off.
Some general pointers. Boomerang remains the king of crowd control. He's hard to keep alive, but makes a decent choice. Shade makes a decent pin cushion. He's not much help on offense, but he's good at setting traps off while the rest of the group hangs back to see where the ninjas appear. Vertigo is good at setting off traps as he can then use an overpowered vertigo to try to buy the team some time (and himself a chance to get out alive). Just be careful to keep your other teammates out of his radius and don't get cocky about the Vertigo Effect defense. It's not foolproof and with that many shuriken flying, he may not make it. Deadshot can do a lot of damage and should be used liberally. Tiger can hold his own with any ninja hand to hand but may get killed just closing the gap. It's best to watch where ninjas appear and have him positioned nearby for immediate melee attacks.
POD was another level that changed dramatically from how I first envisioned it. I first envisioned multiple battles against the various ninjas, with their powers escalating as we went from black to white to blue to red. I also pictured an actual fight against Tenzan who would have had some mystical powers. Then I decided that was pretty stupid. So stupid, in fact, that it was the kind of thing Boomerang would think up. I mean, sure, I could buy that a Japanese ambassador was a martial arts master who might employ standard ninja, but a metahuman with armies of superpowered ninjas? It just didn't fit the gritty political overtone of the story.
So, I had to choose between scrapping everything and coming up with another plan. I got the idea that Boomerang should just burst in complaining about things and then retell his massive fight with a variety of super powered ninjas, before the Squad went on to fight the regular troops (in numbers sufficient to be challenging) and simply confronted Tenzan in the cutscene I had always intended to end the level with. In crafting "Boomerang's Day Out", I knew two things had to be clear. He had to score with a hot chick and he had to exaggerate everything. I also decided Boomerang would know nothing about ninjas except what he might see in a movie, so I filled the level with cliches like the ninjas attacking one at a time (black ninja style), voices not coming anywhere close to matching the lips moving, voice actors changing from line to line (I did some and Lightning Man did some) etc. Sharona was probably my favorite character to voice, and I still laugh when I hear LM (Boomerang) say "and wouldn't you know it, she's not wearing any underwear."
The biggest temptation was to do a "what really happened" level where Boomerang ran like a little girl from a single ninja while being cursed out by a really fat, ugly, crude woman named anything but Sharona. But I decided the Captain deserved his fantasy and left it to the player to wonder what really happened.
"Psycho Killer" had always been planned for this level, but was moved to the "serious" second mission for fairly obvious reasons. It originally had voice samples of Deadshot in it (like the samples in Emotion Sickness), but I decided it was overkill and re-mixed it. "My Sharona" was on my list of potential eighties music since it has long instrumental parts and a decent, if overly happy, beat. I saw the song on my list while trying to think up a name for the girl (who probably would have been called Sheila otherwise) and everything clicked. This isn't my favorite level to replay as the replay value is highly limited, but it probably is my favorite level in terms of going through the game the first time. You can argue that it undercuts the whole feel of the mod, but Squad (the comic) had a lot of comic relief given how heavy it could be at times, and I felt the same relief was needed as the last chapters grew more and more serious. Deadshot's literal interpretation is of course a nod to the comic's own take on a political campaign (1988 I think) where Deadshot construes his orders in a similarly literal way.
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10. Another Bite at the Apple (A Pound of Cure)
This is really a series of free-for-all battles, with more Giant Robots, several members of Genocide, and the Jihad (with all supervillains sporting massive hit points compared to their earlier appearances). These battles are for keeps with Bronze Tiger ordering lethal force against all villains. You also have citizens screaming and running in panic, and buildings blowing up every few seconds. Accordingly, doing a "walkthrough" isn't really practical. I could tell you I generally try to take out the enemies on the left and right side and then go after the bottom enemy, but most times, the group of enemies from the top will reach you before you can do all of that. And if they don't, it's probably because they're killing citizens, who drain your prestige heavily with each death. Accordingly, you just have to dive in and see where the four levels take you. I will comment on some of the heroes as far as tactics or plot points go, however.
As far as customs, if you have everyone available and have the points, I believe firmly in Moonhuntress (explosive arrows), Vulcan (he's very powerful plus flame resistant), Chronos (time stop and exploding hourglasses), and Sportsmaster (exploding baseballs, and he's cheap to recruit). Ricochet, who is good on nearly every other level, is a virtual waste here as he just isn't powerful enough to hurt a robot much. Assuming you can't afford customs or choose not to, Checkmate Knights do well with overpowered energy blasts against the robots, and pistol shots against human foes (because of the knockback).
Deadshot remains adept at taking out giant robots and should use the same techniques as in Meltdown. Anyone fighting the Eliminators ("molokabots") should use the same basic techniques as in the The Devil Is in the Details Part 4. You may also find yourself able to draw fire from the Eliminators, targeting other villains, or even find you can trick the Eliminators into firing into buildings they're partially behind and getting caught in the blast. Be careful of Jaculi as his speed will surprise you, and his exploding javelins can be a problem. Deadshot can keep him off balance with his wrist magnums however. Snowblind can be handled the same basic way. The key to this level is to try to spread the fight out so you're not overwhelmed with Eliminators and can concentrate on keeping the human villains off balance.
Bronze Tiger is best for taking out Rustam. Use the Nerve Blow technique to keep Rustam stunned and slowly chip away at his health until he dies. Icicle is the workhorse of his level. He can keep most anything frozen, and when surrounded, his area attack (overpowered) will do considerable damage. Of course, it's best to avoid letting him become surrounded, as it can be hard to freeze everyone quickly. Watch his energy levels closely. Your third and fourth player slots should do most of the offensive damage. I like to hit each villain once with one of those players (or even an overpowered hypothermia attack if you're at full energy) and then have Icicle freeze them. When they thaw, I repeat the process.
Ivy can make good use of her plant trap to slow down enemies until someone else can dispatch them. Her crossbow does good damage against Angi and Slaymaster, but not as well against the Flamebots. Vertigo is not of much use offensively, but his redirect helps (particularly with Slaymaster) and his vertigo/mind blank powers can be useful in tight spots. You will probably rely heavily on the 3rd and 4th hero slots in this level, as well as the Nightshade/Ravan level.
Ravan is not much use in his level, but overpowered exploding pickaxes (which he normally uses to bury the bodies of his victims) can do some damage. Unfortunately, he will consume a lot of energy using them, so his reliability is limited. His explosive projective attack can be critical in taking out Will-O-Wisp who is hard to hit (but can be caught relatively easily in a well timed explosion). If Ravan is unavailable, you'll have to either get lucky with some attacks or try tossing small objects (like garbage cans) at her. She runs easily, so when you have her down, pour on the offensive attacks. Nightshade doesn't have a lot of power in her level, but she's critical. If you get Manticore (II) down to a low enough hit point level, she'll teleport him to her dimension and finish him off automatically.
A note of explanation for those not familiar with Suicide Squad. There was a character called June Moon who was possessed by an evil spirit called The Enchantress. Much like Billy Batson and Shazam!, saying "Enchantress" turned June into the Enchantress (and vice versa). June hooked up with the Squad because she was losing control of herself every time she transformed, making it harder and harder to transform back to June. Nightshade hooked up with the Squad to find her long lost brother. She discovered her brother was the Incubus, a demonic ruler of the nightshade dimension which Nightshade accesses to teleport. He intended to turn Nightshade (his sister) into the Succubus (his lover) and take over the universe. Nightshade and the Squad stopped him but the spirit of the Enchantress was essentially ripped out of June and put into Nightshade along the way. Nightshade then changed costumes (to the one I use throughout the mod) and became a little darker, becoming a bit more corrupted every time she had to teleport through the maddening Nightshade dimension.
None of which appears in the mod. However, as a nod of the hat to the plot line (which I am recapping by memory, so hopefully with some accuracy), once Nightshade takes Manticore to her dimension, you hear a whispery voice trying to compel her to "say my name", and repeating "enchantress" over and over (you'll also hear Manticore becoming confused and howling in pain). This was intended to reflect that Nightshade is far more powerful in her homeland but has difficulty resisting the temptation to turn to the dark side and claim the Enchantress' power. At any rate, for the player, it means Manticore comes back missing an arm and tail and won't be bothering the Squad any more.
This chapter officially is named Another Bite at the Apple, a reference to the Big Apple and to a second fight with the Jihad, Genocide, and the various robots. It was also referred to as "A Pound of Cure" at various points during its construction, from the saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's essentially a reminder that despite the Squad's success in blindsiding the Jihad (in An Ounce of Prevention), they didn't get the job done. So now instead of relatively easy one on one battles, it's total chaos with the lives of American citizens at stake. In order to keep it manageable and encourage participation from a broad variety of Squad members, I went with the four battles involving four different groups. Everything takes place on one map, and in my mind, the four battles happen simultaneously (which is why everything is so similar from level to level, including which buildings explode while you're fighting).
I knew some players would have recruited heavily during the game instead of opting to play with only core characters, so I allowed additional Checkmate Knights to come fill in for any open slot. The Knights are actually quite capable, although they don't compare favorably to some of the more powerful villains like Vulcan.
Casualties: Manticore II definitely dies in this level. It is implied that so do the rest of the Jihad and those Genocide members who appear. Whether that's completely true will have to remain to be revealed some other day, if a sequel is created.
The music was originally to be "Bodies" for the whole level, which seemed like the perfect music for such an attack and the resulting chaos. Out of fear that four times was at least one or two too many, I came up with some alternatives. "Rebel Yell" seemed like the best eighties equivalent so it was included. "I Don't Care Any More", which I had just heard on a retro station the day I was working on this level, seemed like a perfect song to aid Nightshade's descent into darkness. In the end, she does care quite a bit about what happened, but at the time, she is consumed with a variety of negative emotions and the influence of the Enchantress and truly doesn't care. The beginning of her level is intended to be an explosion that she calmly walks through, ready for the fight. It didn't shoot quite as well as I had envisioned, but it was the best I could do with the "nuke" effect. "More Human than Human" was thrown in even though I normally detest White Zombie. I loved the guitar in it, and constant exposure to the song in ECW made me realize it was the perfect song to set a stage for a battle.
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11. Epilogue (Please, Please, Please)
The base explains the beginnings of a new Injustice Society as well as Nightshade's impending absence. My theory was that since the Squad is a "catch and release" program, having used most of its members to fight the Jihad, there should be substantial groups of villains leaving at once. And those villains were likely to make some plans before they left instead of just going their separate ways.
This actual mission is a non-interactive level showing you the fate of the Squad. I won't walk you through the video step by step, but I will explain the general plot points in case they're not clear. First, please note that the map I created this on was very small. I had to have a base, a bank, a land before time, a jungle, etc., all on one map, which was pretty hard to do with the game's existing maps. Accordingly, I had to use a really small map where, for example, Flag is running from dinosaurs right beside the tree Ivy is standing next to. I therefore had to cut some corners, like having Flag run in place rather than crossing distance.
The general outcomes:
* Despite having worked for the Squad, Ravan attacks Bronze Tiger from behind. Ravan is looking for revenge from Chapter 3. Deadshot discovers the attack and actually saves Tiger by shooting Ravan, proving that Deadshot has more honor and compassion than he would ever acknowledge.
* Flag, out of ammunition, runs from raptors but eventually drops from exhaustion. The raptors close in, implying that he dies.
* Brainwave tries to telepathically scan for Flag while Nightshade nervously waits for news. Brainwave fails to reach Flag, although it's not known if this is because of where Flag is or the fact that Flag has lost consciousness. Nightshade faints at the news, believing Flag is indeed dead.
* Psycho Pirate is in Arkham Asylum, still trying to figure out what happened to "his" earth, Earth 2 (recall that unlike other DC characters, Pirate actually recalls pre-crisis events). He remembers the Huntress, daughter of the Earth-2 Batman. Huntress' very existence was wiped out in the Crisis.
* The ISW recruits Black Adam and jumps Wildcat and Black Canary, defeating them through superior numbers.
* Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang hold up a bank. When the police arrive, Mirror Master creates several mirages of himself and sneaks off with the loot. Boomerang is left to take the fall.
* Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, and Slipknot go on a mission. Slipknot tries to escape and has his arm blown off in the process.
* Batman stops Poison Ivy after a brief struggle.
* Amanda Waller recalls a press conference in which President Reagan announces the end of federal funding for the Suicide Squad.
This level was actually planned well before many of the battles were fleshed out. I had always envisioned ending the mod not with a battle or dialogued cutscene but with a "music video". I wanted to capture just how sad and pathetic yet honorable the Squad is. No matter how hard they try, nothing ever quite goes the way they intend, but they're not going to quit.
The music is one of the saddest pop songs I know, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want." It was one of the few songs I thought was so perfect (and reasonably short) that I used it unedited.
I toyed with the idea of multiple endings, where either at random or based on prestige, different things would happen to the characters. Deadshot might not save Tiger, Ivy might knock out Batman, etc. In the end, I decided I had definite fates for everyone in mind, so I nixed the alternative ending idea.
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Miscellaneous
1. Captain Boomerang
a) Why is Captain Boomerang so useless?
Boomerang in the comics was about as incompetent a character as was ever written. When he first appears in the game, players should get the same feeling. His stunning boomerang can be useful, but for the early levels, he's not much help. But don't write him off as useless! Boomerang becomes the man later in the game. Once he has explosive boomerangs (or even a sonic rang) he can be unstoppable. Only his cowardice (timid attribute) and low health stop him from becoming a killing machine. He is probably the best character for crowd control (explosive boomerangs and the normal chained hit boomerangs), particularly with the zombies in the Devil Is In the Details. Boomerang becomes so respectable that he is the ONLY character you're not permitted access to for the final battle.
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b) Why is Boomerang never released from Belle Reve?
Boomerang is released from time to time, but keeps committing crimes. He is twice shown being brought back in by Batman and a Checkmate knight, respectively. He is generally not released when he screws a mission up or whines too much. This accounts for most if not all of his appearances.
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c) Can all of Boomerang's powers be obtained?
No, you shouldn't be able to earn enough experience to buy everything. Trust me, as fun as the multi-rangs sound, they're not that great. Go for explosives and sonicrangs.
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2. Rick Flag
a) Why does Rick Flag always seem to look different?
Flag is on three different meshes. In most cutscenes (bases), he's on male_basic as I like it's "idle" position better than male_hunter. In game, he's generally on male_hunter so he can have his pistol (it's a great mesh for armed characters, by the way). During History Repeats, he switches to male_basic_rifle to be even more heavily armed. That version has all of Flag's full abilities, so players shouldn't feel cheated or that purchasing abilities for him along the way was all for naught. During the Epilogue, Flag runs out of ammunition and is shown back on male hunter with just his pistol left.
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b) Is Rick dead?
The epilogue reveals that Brainwave couldn't make contact with Flag, who had passed out from exhaustion. It does not reveal Rick's final fate, which is undetermined. I actually do have a plan where he would be saved and rescued, but I'm not sure I want to use it. It may also get vetoed by the MSOE because it would involve the JSA and time travel.
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3. Multiplex
a) Is Multiplex dead?
Oh, yeah. He's definitely dead. Completely dead. Him and Andromeda.
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b) Uh, don't you mean him and Andromeda, and Slab?
Nope. No guarantees on Slab. I could see him coming back. There's no proof he was really even alive to be killed. I could definitely see undoing his death.
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4. Count Vertigo
a) Why doesn't Vertigo fly?
Honestly, I thought he was supposed to, but the Who's Who entry I had for him only mentioned him walking on walls with magnetic boots. I was too lazy to research it by re-reading Squad or JSA, so... I goofed. He should fly. Correcting it at this point would be a bear (and it would change playtesting and balance requirements), so I'm afraid you may be stuck with him that way. It will be corrected in JSA and if ever there were a sequel and he were involved, in that as well.
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b) How can Vertigo redirect bullets?
There really are no "vertigo" powers in the game. I decided Mind Blank was the best I could do for his main power. It sort of simulates being unable to get one's bearings or to act effectively without any long term ill effects. I then decided Vertigo needed something else, as he was extremely underpowered (even more so than he currently is). I figured he would be a tough target to hit given how topsy-turvy everything around him would be. The natural extension of that would be misdirecting attacks by causing the attacker to think up was down, etc.
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5. How do I unlock...?
a) Shade, Checkmate, or Nemesis?
Complete the secondary objective in part 1 of History Repeats (ensuring no civilians are killed).
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b) more than one Checkmate knight?
You don't. But if you head into Another Bite at the Apple with less than 4 slots filled for any mission, Checkmate Knights helpfully show up to assist you, filling the empty slots even if you didn't unlock Checkmate earlier.
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c) Huntress, Sportsmaster, Geomancer, Chronos, Slipknot, Mirrormaster, Cluemaster, Vulcan, or Ragdoll?
In Jailbreak, for the level they appear on, either prevent the jailbreakers from freeing them or knock them out after they are freed and before they can flee by running off the edge of the map.
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d) Batman?
You don't. Batman is only available for the Jailbreak levels and as a villain in Emotion Sickness. If you want to play more as Batman, try JLA or Super Powers. ;<)
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e) Parasite?
You don't. Batman will not let you have custody of the Parasite no matter what you do to try to prove yourselves. And trust me, you don't want a war with the Bat. You do get to beat him up later when he's all weakened from mind control, though, so it's all good.
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Rumors
1. The funny ending?
Yes, there was a very penguin-like funny ending rumored to exist. It actually never got made. It was scripted, but I couldn't bring myself to make it. I did find it funny, but I just felt it would cheapen Squad too much. I toyed with putting it out next April 1, but that seemed too far away. It mostly involved Nightshade and Waller breaking character to discuss the mod and to evaluate most of the men in the mod. It included Amanda's comment that she'd be going after Slipknot because a man without a right arm would need lots of loving. It also had Amanda jealous that Ivy ended up with Bronze Tiger, prompting this exchange:
Nightshade: I guess she likes her men like her coffee.
Waller: Two creams and lots of sugar. I heard that.
Nightshade: Uh, no, I meant, you know, he's... nevermind.
There were wolf whistles over Brainwave and references to Nightshade and Boomerang hooking up one lonely night. Trust me, it was amusing but the world is better off without it. ;<)
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