So I have decided that I will be posting a strategy about Mission 3 separate from the other two and I will be posting this one first. I have made Youtube videos located at the bottom of this post with limited commentary. The commentary deals with the really really hard bits about this map. In this post I’ll just detail how you deal with very very hard things.
#1: The Big Attack
This is the only map where Scorpio becomes aggressive and will attack you and your trade routes. Scorpio is not dumb AI though. He will start his attack on a timer (just to be fair) but then he will only strike when he feels his fleet is at a serious advantage.
Scorpio’s major advantage is speed. He has the second fastest unit in the game and is able to surround and defeat slower ships quite fast. This means that Scorpio will only attack when he recognizes that he can take you.
If you are 90% of the gamer base this might be all the time. I was able to defend this with just two ships.
The key is to build three harbor cannons at your harbor. The sea that this is based in is entirely littered with pirate ships. You will want to clear out the ships that block your trade routes with NPC arks and the ones directly around your habor.
When Scorpio comes in for the big attack the two ships you want are one you can purchase from the Global Trust ark for $13,000 and your started ship. You place these guys behind the turrets to try and bottleneck your opponent.
The signal for this attack is him sending two groups of ships, one west and one south. These will converge into two flanks and then come in for the attack. The flanks are designed to trap you into not being able to leave and cut you off from supplies.
When the attack comes it will come from two flanks so keep this in mind when you place your cannons. You will need to destroy four ships. Make sure to focus fire to get them down as fast as possible. Cannons are all individually controllable.
Once you have destroyed four ships he will retreat, no matter what. In my video you see how lucky my timing is as he is about to destroy everything as I kill the fourth ship.
After this he will use the remainder of the attack will work in minor patrols. Most of this can be cleaned up by the two ships you have. After this he will send out one patrol ship for the remainder of the game. The patrol ship will scout and harass any trade routes. You will want fast ships able to catch up with this guy and knock him out.
#2: The Assault!
The assault is long and painful. Your goal here is to settle any island close to his ocean fortress and place a couple of repair cranes there.
However
Before doing so you need a fleet.
I attacked with five ships total: 3 hovercrafts, 1 battleship, and 1 command ship.
I would have taken more battleships had the glitch not existed preventing me from purchasing more than one. I got the hovercrafts to catch runner patrols and the command ship was just extra. Five ships is enough to win the whole game. The more ships you have the better it will be for you. With five ships it will take three rounds of attacks to destroy a single harbor cannon.
Do not worry about the rocket sites, it is not worth your time. You will gain tones of items from destroyed ships that you will be able to turn in for a lot of great weapons. Your main concern should be his ocean fortress.
You will want to knock out cannons that get in the way of your retreat path for your ships first. After this you move in on his base and destroy about half of his cannons. The second you are in attack range you just sit there until you need to repair. I would suggest getting some self-repair items as your battleship can stay out of range of fire of harbor cannons and can heal up between pirate ship spawn attacks.
The pirate ships actually spawn on the fortress so yes, they are spawn attacks.
#3: MONEY!
This mission is a lot longer than the others so remember to keep your money floating. You will want to have a positive bank roll before you attack. To do this expand your civilization so you have a larger tax income. You do not need to fulfill anything but the first tier of needs so just continue expanding on basic structures with new homes.
Whatever you do, do not rely on trade. You cannot get caught with too many ships out in the open especially considering the pirate ships have the ability to become invisible.
That’s pretty much it. Best of luck, videos are below.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
Part 6:
Part 7:
