12 replies to this topic

[Songbird]

OK, I've played Skyhammer for probably way too many hours, but I seem to be stuck and I don't think it's a bug, I just am not 100% what the objectives are.

I'm in the first city, and I've taken over half of it for Cytox (yay!). But now I'm ordered to attack Zone 10 by destroying the node, "primary and secondary defense systems", and any battle groups.

What's happening is I can never beat the mission. I can sometimes destroy all battle groups (anywhere from 2-4 groups), and have about a minute where there are no new battle groups. But after that minute, one or two new battle groups appear and I have to start the process all over again. Even worse, I use up more ammo each time than I earn in pay, so my credits are gradually dwindling away.

Anyone else see this? What else do I need to take out besides the node and battle groups?

[JagMX]

[b]before i got xtremely frustrated on that same mission, i used the "cheat" code for xtra cash ammo etc etc... I basically destroyed everything as i recall and i beat the mission. Docked the ship and everything
Hmm i wanna play that again, its been sometime

I had to go through the board twice though before i beat it. I revisted every spot, made sure everything was dead and got anything and everything that was left after killing the enemies

[Songbird]

Yes, but the problem I have is if I kill all the battle groups, then proceed to take out remaining "unattached" enemies, the battle groups come back to life in the meantime... and according to the manual (most of which was supplied directly by Rebellion), you don't need to take out the attack drones (i.e. the flying ones) or turrets mounted on top of buildings to complete any missions. So I've been focusing on ground vehicles and those nasty floating gun ships. Those things can hammer you if you're not careful!

I suppose I could try using the cheat on this mission, just to convince myself the mission is beatable. The only bad part is that once you dock, you automatically get promoted to the next city, and I'd rather complete this city first...

[Gunstar]

I'm well into the second city in my game, but if I recall correctly, the thing to do on this mission, and others like it is to hunt down the node and destroy it FIRST, otherwise the battle groups will just keep coming...if you destroy the battle node first, then I believe no more battle groups will appear and the mission will be completed once the ones already out are destroyed. The way to tell is that on the city map, once you have effectively destroyed the node, the sector your in will turn a light grey (or dark white, depending on how you percieve it), this means that the zone is effectively nuetral and it's up for grabs. Destroying the remaining attack groups should then lead you to mission success! Remember to save progress as often as you can, even if you haven't completed the mission, the "mission in progress" will remain the same if you get killed, as long as you don't turn off the Jag (maybe even if you do- ).

[Songbird]

Here's some more info on this mission which is somewhat confusing:

* When I target the node I've been told to destroy, it's got a green box, not a red box, around it. Huh?
* Because I've been trapped in this mission for a long time, either shortly before or after I destroy the "green" node mentioned above I see a text message which reads GTech takes Node 10 (which of course is this same node). So the enemies have somehow taken the node which I'm supposed to attack, but it does not end/invalidate the mission.
* After I destroy the node, it does not rebuild (unlike other nodes in zones not related to your mission, they rebuild momentarily after you destroy them).
* After I destroy the node, enemy battlegroups continue to appear.

So, either I've gotten hopelessly lost in this mission, or there's some semi-hidden objective/target I need to take out to make the game quit generating new battle groups...

[Gunstar]

Songbird said:

Here's some more info on this mission which is somewhat confusing:

* When I target the node I've been told to destroy, it's got a green box, not a red box, around it. Huh?
* Because I've been trapped in this mission for a long time, either shortly before or after I destroy the "green" node mentioned above I see a text message which reads GTech takes Node 10 (which of course is this same node). So the enemies have somehow taken the node which I'm supposed to attack, but it does not end/invalidate the mission.
* After I destroy the node, it does not rebuild (unlike other nodes in zones not related to your mission, they rebuild momentarily after you destroy them).
* After I destroy the node, enemy battlegroups continue to appear.

So, either I've gotten hopelessly lost in this mission, or there's some semi-hidden objective/target I need to take out to make the game quit generating new battle groups...

You are taking the nodes out with a SMART BOMB aren't you? IF you don't vaporize them all with the BIG ONE (A+B+C) then they rebuild; it does no good to shoot it out with anything else...

[Songbird]

That's an excellent point, and one I've mentioned to people in the past when they email me; so yes, I am using the Smart Bomb (A+B+C) to take out the nodes when instructed to do so.

The green node I mentioned above does not say in the briefing to use smart bombs, so I have used other weapons to destroy the node. It does not rebuild, so I've been assuming this is OK. I could try this, it certainly couldn't hurt at this point and I've got one SB left in my saved game...

Also, this was posted on JI2 by stilpness@excite.com:

Quote

Anything around the node must be taken out in mission mode. Also, look at the mission description to see if there are more battle groups remaining. If it says that the mode will be defended from these zones then there are either battlegroups active from that zone or there are more coming from that zone. Until it says 'no more defense groups expected' or something like that, the zone cannot be captured. They don't all come at once either, they can be spread out so that you wait awhile between groups. As far as losing credits I haven't had much trouble. Make sure you don't buy anything from an enemy controlled zone and if you use more expensive weapons make sure you use them in congested areas so that you get your money's worth, so to say. I went through most of Jericho on machine guns and homing missles. I have a saved game with no cheating involved with a litle more than a third of Troy captured and about 26,000(whatever 26 smart bombs cost) credits. Sometimes attacking takes awhile, but in later missions you get more than one mission at a time so you don't have to sit around so much while attacking. Hope some of this helped.

Definitely some more good advice.

A question, how many battle groups have you had to fight off in a single mission? I know I've repelled at least 10-12 groups on this one mission already.

[Gunstar]

Yes, I've encountered at least that many battle groups before...one mission may take me several sessions to get through in the higher missions/levels. I go out and blast a battle group or two and return to the mart to refuel and equip and save the mission status then head back out to complete the mission. I also actively look for power ups. I die a lot too. Another "trick" I've used is going to a different mart in different zones, or even transfer from one to another, exit, then enter again and save the game. The purpose of this is that if you shut off the Jag and turn it on again, the game may actually change the mission and you can go back to it later...sometimes letting the enemy retake a zone can work out in the long run as at least you bypass it for the moment as the game gives you a new mission. I've occasionally loaded the game it just starts at a different mission anyeay, if your last save was at the beginning of a mission and you don't resave in the middle, it may give you a new mission. There are definately some manipulations possible with the game and the way it saves/loads

[Songbird]

I can verify now that smart bombing (A+B+C) the "green" enemy node does destroy it, of course, but does not help me take the zone. The battle groups just keep coming. Next time I get a chance to play, I'm either going to A) focus on the "other" mission because I'm at the point in the game now where it assigns two missions at once, or B) use the cheat to max out weapons and see how many battle groups I can take out.

Does anyone know, can you lose a mission where you're trying to take a zone? In other words, can the enemies overrun the zone to the extent that you lose the mission and are assigned a new one?

[Gunstar]

Gunstar said:

...sometimes letting the enemy retake a zone can work out in the long run as at least you bypass it for the moment as the game gives you a new mission.

yes.

[Songbird]

Update: I finally let them overrun the sector in question. I got tired of trying to repel all the groups. I've since completed several search and destroy missions, although currently I'm locked in the middle of a two-part mission where I use a smart bomb to destroy the node, but then I need to repel battle groups.

I've destroyed the node, and eliminated a couple of battle groups, but again this mission isn't over yet. I'm expecting that there is some fixed qty. of groups I need to destroy, then the mission will be complete.

Also, as I just posted in the other Skyhammer overlay thread, I do have a small qty. of Skyhammer and Worms full color overlays on hand. For $5, I will mail a pair of these worldwide. Please send PayPal to songbird@atari.net if interested.

[Gunstar]

from my experience, you are right; there is a set quantity of battle groups to destroy, sometimes quite a few. Just save and buy more weapons with what you'ved earned thus far in the mission. Buy as many weapons of mass destruction as possible; I always buy smart bombs and smart missles and cluster bombs FIRST-they do the most damage. Everything else is secondary. If your short on money and major weapons, figure out, through experience, which enemies give you the most BUCK FOR THE BANG; some are worth more than others...take them out first to get money and replenish the big bad weapons. AND ALWAYS SEARCH THE ROOFTOPS FOR WEAPON PODS-YOU DON'T ALWAYS NEED TO PAY FOR GOOD WEAPONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Songbird]

Update: losing that mission was the best thing I ever did in Skyhammer. Once it started assigning me new missions, I was able to take out the remaining 3-4 unowned sectors rapidly, and now I've advanced to the second city without having to use any cheats! Very cool and satisfying to make it this far, when I had been stalled on that one mission for several months.

The only problem I experienced was that when I finally lost Sector 10, the game got a bit confused about the state of that sector, and would sometimes assign both missions to take it out. The game crashed on me several times when I got too close to the node as a result, but I could move around and complete missions in other sectors, save my progress, etc. with no problems. So here's the workaround I came up with, in case somebody reading this hits a similar "double mission" problem:

Get as close to the node as you can without locking up the game. You probably won't see it on the screen, but it will be in the short range radar. Use a smart bomb (A+B+C) to wipe out everything, and the mission will be completed.

I wish the difficulty was a little lower on Skyhammer, because it's hard to imagine I'll ever make it to the end of the third (!) city, but it's still a blast to play. For anyone who hasn't made it very far, there is more enemy and mission variety the longer you play. Near the end of the first city, I was often fighting Advanced Drones (tougher than the dime-a-dozen Drones you see flying around), Spys (look like UFOs, and amazingly fast), and the floating Gunships (watch out for their endless missile volley!).