Mission 24: Crash Landing

This is a no-resources mission, so you'll have to use the units you're given and keep them alive until you destroy all of the enemy units. The catch is that the enemy CO will call for reinforcements, which will arrive after all of the enemies have been defeated. There are three waves of reinforcements. The first two waves will have three tanks and three rockets, while the final wave will have six rockets.

If you're a master strategist, then this mission should be easy for you; everyone else will likely have a difficult time deciding what to attack and when, especially on the first day, when most of the important decisions need to be made.

Day One

Make a quicksave, first off. You want to ensure that you can make good trades here with your enemy; if you don't, then you should reload.

Southeastern Corner

We'll start with the right side of the screen. In the southeastern corner of the map, you have a w-tank facing off against an enemy w-tank. Have your w-tank fire on the enemy. If your tank goes down to 7 health, reload; you want it to stay at 8 health. Bring the tank nearby down and have it fire on the enemy w-tank as well. That should almost kill it.

Slightly to the north, move your mech unit to the south side of the antitank unit and have it fire on the AT unit from there. You need to move it underneath the AT unit or the enemy rockets will hit it on their turn.

Center

In the middle of the map, you have an artillery unit and an anti-tank unit. Have the artillery hit the w-tank to the south of it, then finish it off with the anti-tank unit. If it doesn't die, reload and do it again.

Northwestern Corner

In the northwestern corner of the screen, you have a set of rockets. Fire them at the anti-air unit nearby. Bring the mid-tank up here over to fire at the infantry next to the rockets. On the northern edge of the screen, you have your own anti-air unit; bring it to the northwestern corner and have it fire on the enemy anti-air unit to destroy it.

Northeastern Corner

Fire your rockets here at the northern enemy tank. Since you moved your anti-air unit away, you can bring your northwestern tank up along the north edge of the screen and use it to destroy the tank that you just hit with rockets. Be sure to position it so that it's outside the range of the enemy rockets, though. You don't need to worry about the northwestern rockets, so long as you position your troops outside its firing range.

Southwestern Corner

Move the anti-air unit you have in the southwestern corner up and take out the bike unit there. Move your mid-tank down to the southern edge of the screen and hit the enemy tank there. Move your w-tank down to attack the mid-tank. If you're lucky, it won't take any damage from the counterattack. Move your rig down to the southern edge of the screen, near the enemy tank. The last unit you have is the recon unit. You can either move it west to attack the enemy recon, if you want to keep your northwestern rockets as healthy as possible, or move it around to attack the enemy mech unit nearby.

Day Two

You will likely lose one of your rocket units here, and the other one will also take damage; the enemy concentrates its firing on those units. It's no big deal, though. With any luck the rest of your units will mostly escape unscathed.

At the beginning of your turn, you should have one very healthy w-tank, a slightly wounded w-tank, two high-health mid-tanks, a couple of high-health tanks, and sundry other units, including what should be two perfectly healthy anti-air units, which will be important in fighting off the upcoming rocket units.

Your choices on this turn will depend on the enemy movements that were made on their turn, obviously. In general, though, you want to start consolidating your forces along the western edge of the screen, where many of your units should already be located.

Specifically, use your mech unit on the eastern edge of the screen to destroy or cripple the anti-tank unit there. Finish off the rest of the units on the eastern edge of the screen. In the middle, you will probably have to leave a unit behind to soak up damage from your enemies. Your rockets and anti-tank units make good sacrificial lambs in this regard, and at least the AT unit will put some hurting on your foes before it goes down. If your northwestern rocket unit is still in decent health, try to position it behind the anti-tank or artillery unit so that it can fire on any units that come your way.

Continue to move to the west, though, avoiding heavy engagements and wiping out units.

Finishing Them Off

In the end, you need to wipe out any remaining units on the map to cause the reinforcements to show up. If at all possible, make the final enemy unit be their rockets. They may cause you some trickery with the rockets, but if that's the last unit they have, you'll be in good shape. You can use your anti-air units to chase down the rockets and destroy it relatively easily.

Before you destroy the rockets, however, you again should have almost all of your units on the left side of the screen. You can send both anti-air units after the rockets, and probably should. You don't need both of them to destroy it, though. Instead, use one of the anti-airs to lock down the rocket (it will eventually stop moving if you can place an anti-air right next to it), and take it out. Be sure to save just before firing on the rocket for the last time.

Reinforcements!

At this point, you need to worry about the enemy reinforcements that will begin coming in. Three tanks will appear on the left side of the screen and three rockets will appear on the right. If you've sent your anti-air units to the east, the rockets will come towards them, allowing you to fire on them on your next turn. Your western units should all be fresh and ready to go, letting you get a first strike on the enemy tanks before they have a chance to do any damage to you.

Before finishing off the last rocket unit, try to lure it back to the western side of the screen with your anti-air units. Refuel and rearm the anti-air units with your rig, and destroy the last rocket when it gets close to your position.

That will cause the second wave of reinforcements to arrive. This time, the rockets will be on the western side of the screen and the tanks will be on the east. You can easily destroy the rockets, though, and let the tanks come to you before finishing them off.

The last wave will be nothing but rockets. If all of your units are on the western side of the screen, it should be easy to take out the western rockets, then let the eastern ones come close before finishing them off.

We finished this mission with two w-tanks, two mid-tanks, two tanks, two anti-air units, a rocket unit, and the rig, so it's definitely not impossible. You need to be very careful about positioning around the enemy rockets, and you'll also need to keep your rig alive to refuel and rearm your tanks. The first two days are the critical ones; after that you should have a big advantage if you manage to keep the bulk of your units alive.