The Official Force Commander Hints & Tips Thread..

Ok.. following in the tradition of the "Official Force Commander Threads".. here is a place for all those in desperate need of help or just in need of a little advice to help complete the next mission. Whew! I've made it all the way to mission 4, Assault on Ruul and I'm wondering how far some other may have gotten, considering I've only had the game four hours! Anyone make it out of the training levels?

"They will PAY for their resistance.."

 

Right now I am on mission 6, Crisis at Sarapin. I got killed right in the begining, but anyway...
Here's a tip for mission 5: Assault on Ruul 2. You have to place beacons, but don't go in a start path. Go directly to the left, hugging the wall and bringing yor heavy stuff in front to sweep up rebel infantry and have Dellis in the back. Build some turrets at your base to defend it, and put Stormies in them so they won't get captured. They will try and destroy your beacons a few times and recapture the bunkers that you capture on the way. Whatever you do, don't try and attack the Rebel base. They will cut your units into pieces and ask for more. Remember, comm beacons operate on line of sight.

 

Well I went against what Commander Horn said, but maybe his way is quicker. To insure Dellis' survival I took out the Rebel base first. Then I planted the beacons with no resistance. I haven't started level 6 yet, but I have a feeling those speeders are going to frustrate the heck out of me. I wish you could take your command points forward to each round. SO how long until they put codes out for unlimited command points and any ship on any level?

 

For those still stuck in the first Ruul mission, I finally beat it with lots of patience, stormtroopers and AT-STs. Beef up on AT-PTs, then go take and hold the nearby bunker. As soon as I had the CP, I built an anti-vehicle turret as close to that bunker as I could to vape the transport that kept dropping off Rebel scum.

Next, put a few anti-infantry batteries between the base and the nearby hill -- Rebels will come over in small groups and those batteries do a good job of keeping them at bay.

There's a mine to the east and a supply bunker north of your position. IIRC, the latter is protected by a turret. I went after the bunker first then the mine, though I imagine you can take them in either order.

All this time I've slowly but surely been building up a force of mostly AT-PTs and a handful of AT-STs. The AT-STs are great for ferrying stormtroopers to those enemy positions. You shouldn't need more than two troopers per structure, and if both survive the siege, you can send one out (the one in better condition) and use him on the next strike.

Somewhere along the way, I got all three AT-ST upgrades. The CP started to roll in, so I basically held my position and phased in a force of AT-STs. More-or-less directly north of the first bunker you encounter, I think there's either a second bunker (the details are fuzzy) or the Rebel command post. The command post is protected by a turret and some troopers. I have enough slow-down on my system (using highest graphics resolution and some background-running programs I should nuke) and I'm clumsy enough with the camera that I didn't try to click in on stormtroopers to try to take the turrets -- so, several of my AT vehicles were either lost and/or damaged in destroying the turret. A Rebel drop ship kept bringing down more ground troops -- but as soon as I seized the base, they stopped coming.

East, halfway across the map, is the foyer into the top half of the map. Heavy turret protection. I have no idea what's to the northwest, as I followed the road around. More mines and bunkers. Toward the northeast are two complexes. You'll know you're getting near them when you see a hill with a path going 'round both sides and some Rebel (now Imperial, if your AT-STs still have stormtroopers aboard) mines nearby. I went around one side of the mountain, thinking the command center-esque building I saw was the objective building. Tore through some turrets and got myself torn up pretty bad. I punched through the defenses, captured the building, then fell back.

(Somewhere in here, the mine to the extreme southeast was recaptured by four Rebels. However, I think they stayed in the mine once they killed my one-man garrison; they didn't bother me anywhere else.)

Rebuilt my forces back home, then brought them (and Big D, who'd spent the game so far sitting in either the command center or an AT-ST) in. Once I realized I hadn't found the right building, I sent the paltry remains of my original force forward, then brought my spanking new group up right behind them. We ran into about four turrets, which made quick work of my first team and hurt my second group something fierce. Finally took them out, however, and once my stormtroopers captured the REAL objective building, I brought D and his escorts in for the win.

Hope this helps anyone who needs it.

[This message has been edited by EEMeltonIV (edited 03-22-2000).]

 

Ruul, part II

I followed the advice someone else gave about this mission and stuck to the left-hand side. I used one scouttrooper to scope out ahead, then turn tail when Rebels showed up. The other scouttrooper was debiked and I gave his vehicle to Big D to help him move faster.

Set up three anti-infantry and three anti-vehicle batteries directly north of the base. Kept a few AT vehicles there, just in case. Fully stocked the turrets with troopers in case some lucky Reb got dropped off close enough and decided to try to take over the turret. As with the previous mission, the Rebels sent in a single transport with troops and they were all basically blown away. Eventually, it was just the transport -- no troops to clean up later.

On the offensive, I lost a good number of stormtroopers taking out infiltrators protecting the first bunker but didn't have much trouble with the second.

I veered northeast past the second bunker and stumbled into the Rebel HQ. I only saw two turrets at first so I had my ATs pound away -- then, when one stuck his nose around a bend and more of that niche came into view, I realized there were five or six. So, already smoking and not able to take on several more turrets than anticipated, my guys turned tail and ran for cover.

At that point, I decided to put my real-life Army experience to practice I ordered two full loads of AT-ST walkers (for a total of 12 brand new walkers, plus several surviving AT-PT and AT-ST units). The niche with the Rebel base had at least four openings in the surrounding walls. I managed to take out two enemy turrets with my first assault and got a third smoking.

The remnants of the first assault, dubbed Team Suicide (and given the honor of my #1 grouping slot) was sent northwest of the Rebel position, ready to pounce on the smoking turret. The other two teams were to the southwest. If I had the patience, I'd've explored the northeast/west area of the niche and sent one team in that area to attack from that direction. But, it's only a game ;-)

Anyway, I sent my AT-STs in. My stormtroopers worked on capturing the Rebel base while the AT-ATs pounded the rush of drop-shipped heavy troopers. Once the base was mine and there were no more drops, I sent the AT-STs to the comm center, where they had to clear out two anti-infantry turrets and some troopers. All-told, Team Suicide totally ate it and I think all seven of the surviving AT-STs were smoking.

Reasonably certain that the tide was now in my favor, I set Big D up with the beacons. It took me forever to figure out that you need to click on the number remaining (i.e. 19/20) to get him to drop a beacon. Even though they're "line of sight," they also need to be reasonably close ;-) I ended up using 10 beacons, mostly following the road that starts near the base and runs almost to the comm center.

I left the entire eastern side of the map unexplored. At the end of the mission, several clusters of red appear. Two large ones showed up at, I think, the northeast corner and at the center of the western edge. Those are probably the mines you can capture for secondary points (which I obviously didn't do).

Anyway, hope this helps. I need to study for tomorrow's exam, work on a Chinese dialogue and maybe possibly start on the paper due Friday. No more FoCom for me tonight!

Oh, one more thing: I read over at http://www.forcecommander.comwww.forcecommander.com today that if you (quickly?) hit ESC more than five times after you complete a mission but before the Victory screen comes up, you can keep playing.

[This message has been edited by EEMeltonIV (edited 03-22-2000).]

 

What a great game!

Well, I just started on the first Sarapin mission... just taking a break right now.

For the Ruul missions: Make lots of Anti-Infantry turrets and tons of AT-STs. I think I had about 18 AT-STs at the end of both missions. They can take pretty much anything out, but first you need to get the CP to get them...

In the beggining of the 2nd mission, try to take the AT-STs from the previous mission and immediatly take the bunkers and mining facility, then just build up an army of AT-STs. I keeped Dellis in my base until the end. Then just take your troops and destroy everything in the Rebel base, even the "HQ". I just didn't feel like using my stormies to take out 3 Heavy troopers in the base. With all those AT-STs, it should go down quick.

Then make sure all Rebels are dead, and Dellis should do his job fine

I have a question.. sometimes my AT-STs have a red line next to their image, sometimes two. One of my AT-PTs had 3! What does this mean? I know it does something...

Emperor_Dan

 

Emperor_Dan, I'm pretty sure the red lines indicate skill levels. More lines for higher levels. Most of my units don't have lines, some have one and a handful have two. And I noticed a trio of two-lined AT-STs lasted much longer than a trio of non-lined AT-STs running a similar gauntlet. Go figure.

Hey, here's a question that's probably answerable by me reading the instructions ;-) Anyone know why my command points seem to perpetually drain on Sarapin, even when I'm not building anything and I'm not over the unit limit or nothin'? Is it an effect of the environment? (I didn't notice it until halfway through the level, and it continued up until I threw my hands up in frustration and returned to studying.)

 

Are you repairing anything? Repairing takes command points. And if you guys would look in the manual, it's amazing, It actually has the ANSWERS to some of the questions you're asking, like about unit experience.

 

EEMeltonIV, That happened to me too. I sorta got mad... but it didn't matter much, I just took my AT-STs out there and blew everyone up

And Horn, I just wanted to ask the question because I was making the post ANYWAY... and I don't think I was repairing anything, though I could be wrong if something was repairing itself.

Emperor_Dan

 

I did opt for the health increase for my AT-STs, and I think each of 'em did go up a point every few moments on the health scale -- maybe that's it. Huh.

Oh, one cool thing I picked up this morning from the LucasArts site -- you can call reinforcements to a captured enemy command center as if it was your own. Darn, wish I knew that for the first Ruul mission, it woulda saved me some travel time. This'll definitely help on Sarapin, esp. with that nest o' Rebels I found toward the center of the map.

 

Anyone finished mission 2 on Sarapin. I almost finished and the darn volcano blows. I am going to try something new this time. Send a squad of AT-St, At-Pt, At-AA and mobile artillery. I am going to march them right up the cat walk and when I get near the Rebel airbase, I am going to plant the AT-AAs and mobile artillery to take out the airbase and march the rest to take out the tanks guarding the command center. That should cut me a clear path for Dellis.

One trick I've learned with Dellis is that once you've cleared a path, put him on a speeder bike and he can get to each post in a hurry.

 

On training mission 3: When you get to Anchorhead (the small town), be sure to take over both anti infantry installments, as you get Command Points for each second you control them. I got all 5000 CP's for the 3rd mission! Also, they're great for taking out Tuskens/Banthas, which also gives you quite a bit of CP's.

 

I finished Sarapin Pt. 2 this morning, Stormtripper. Right now I am on Endor Pt. 1. It is real hard. Imagine this, a weathered officer who can mop the floor with the best the rebels have to throw at him and now he gets all his units killed by little fuzzy woodland creatures and falling logs.

Tip for Endor... "Watch Out For That Tree!" There are booby traps all over.

On Sarapin 2, I just took my time, but I took over the drill with just one wedge left on the counter. After that you have to kill the rebel base, which is in the corner adjacent to the mine.
On Yavin, just make sure you build fighters. Then go find Veers with them, taking out the poor units with no air cover on the way. This is an easy way to rescue Veers. Don't even go near him with anything except fighters. Once you see the landing sight, take out the infantry around him and the two tanks next to the LZ, and walk him over there.

Little note, Hoth is hard! When I beat it I had only Blizzard Walker 5 and Darth Vader left. You can beat it on the first try, but you take mad losses.

 

I've beaten all the missions up to Endor on my first or second try.

Before you get Mobile Artillery, the best way to deal with enemy turrets is to:

1. Engage the Turrets with AT-STs
2. Move a full troop carrier up to a turret
3. Unload the troops and storm the turret

You should also have AT-PTs to deal with enemy infantry

Once you get mobile artillery, it is easy to deal with turrets or any other enemy building.

Just use Probe droids to spot for the artillery. You should also have AT-PT's, At-ST's and AT-AA's to protect the artillery.

On the Sarapin part 2, I secured the drill with half the alloted time remaining.

For that mission, you first have to build up your forces to defend against a massive assault. You should have a balanced force of AT-PT's, AT-ST's, AT-AA's, and mobile artillery, as well as some turrets.

Once the Rebel attack is done, you can march up to the drill. You encounter some proton torpedoes from battle tanks, but you'll just have to weather the damage. You can use TIE fighters to take out the tanks.

Once the drill is secure, just use your air force, and the Mobile Artillery Technique to take out the base.

There are also some energy collection facilities to boost your command point total.

On Yavin IV, use escorted mobile artillery to take out the rebel base, and TIE fighters to clear the path for Colonel Veers.

On Hoth, I beat the mission on my first try without breaking a sweat or losing a AT-AT.

The most important part of the battle is choosing which extra units to bring. I chose AT-AA's and Mobile Artillery, since they are not part of your standard assault force.

I just marched toward the rebel base, and used the chin gun and mobile artillery to take out the turrets and shield generator. Watch out for a battle tank attacking your rear.

 

Maybe Endor should be nicknamed the 'George of the Jungle' level.

 

STUPID FREAKIN' EWOK TRAPS!!!

So, how do you survive the first FREAKIN' Endor level with more than - oh, say ONE BLOODY STORMTROOPER! The furballs I can deal with - that's no big deal, but it's the traps that I cant get around.

I've explored as far as I could without getting picked off - there's no AT-ST friendly route I can find. Without the armor support, the troopers are worked over by the Ewoks.

I've tried blowing the traps up. I've tried blowing the trees up. I've tried shooting the other walkers. I've tried shooting EVERYTHING! Nothing seems to be a viable target, other than the FREAKIN' EWOKS!

Lucasarts.com and their (sic) level guide is worse than worthless. There are no fan pages up yet with hints, there are no cheats out yet (oh to be able to just skip the troublesome level).

Thoughts?

 

Hello? Anyone out there? Or am I the only one to have gotten this far? Nobody else getting worked by the Ewoks?

 

I am currently on Abridon Pt. 2, El Kabong.

The way to beat Endor is to send three suicide troopers to each of the locations. They won't get killed before they scout the locations. If they do, it will be because of a tree falling. Go clear site two(at the top of the map), and you have won.

 

I'm on The Siege of Coruscant. It's hard as hell to keep that frickin command center defended!

 

Good tips, people. I'm sure they'll come in handy as soon as I get FC...

 

It is possible to see and target the ewok traps.

I reccommend moving slowly and having a low camera angle.

I use stormtroopers to destroy the traps, except for the falling tree one. For that AT-STs are the best. However, they have a tendency to wander too close. I order them to attack until they get in range, then use the stop command, then have them attack again.

 

You can use the "building shuttle" to bring a repair bay down. Then left click on the thing you need repaired and right click on the repair bay. The first time I used it is on Abridon, to repair my AT-ATs.

 

Am I the only one stuck on Sarapin 1? I can't for the life of capture all those collection facilities.

 

Whoops, double post.

[This message has been edited by Neeja Halycon (edited 04-01-2000).]

 

El Kabong, try this website http://www.forcecommander.com http://www.forcecommander.com