[bizzybody]

Anyone got any tips on HTH to survive the Pandora's Box mission? I can't stay alive long enough to scan the containers.

Warp in, blast at max speed toward the containers, get beat up a bit by the Shivans, containers go boom, get beat on more by the Shivans, let the wingmen handle the sentry guns, they all get killed by the Shivans, then I die from an overdose of Shivanitis before I can get the leftover containers scanned. 

[Snail]

Stay away from the Taranis, the Manticores will not kill you. Ignore the Sentries, have your wingmen protect you. Use Furies if you really need to.

[Mars]

Take all of the sentries out w/ MX-50s at their maximum range, this gives you kills.

Figure out which cargo survives and make for it immediately... when the boxes proximity detonate you should be next to the ones you want to scan.

Use your wingmen like TP

You can use your afterburner to be faster than the manticores. Your wingmen will last long enough to get you some distance between you and them, once they head after you only their missiles will reach you, dodge those and get at least 5000 meters between you and them before you jump.

[Dark Hunter]

Further tip:

The cargo that survives is at the "base" of the cargo formation.

Crappy ASCII art to clarify:

                                       /         #
                                      /      #
                                     /   #
surviving cargo------->    /#_______

I usually order my wingmates to protect me, cram all power to engines, then blast at full speed to those cargos and scan them.

[bizzybody]

Finally!

I ordered my wingmen to cover me, hit full throttle and laid on the afterburner for the cargo. Probably should've maxed power to engines too. I never fired a shot, just got close enough to trigger the cargo to blow then came to full stop so I cound nudge up to each container in turn. Rotated for a clear view ahead and alt+j'ed out the instant I got the OK, only lost one wingman.

[Mars]

I've always wanted the Cain kill in that mission, but it doesn't count anyway.

[bizzybody]

And here I thought this one was hard... The next level is much worse. Had to keep prying my wingmen off the Shivan and HOL big ships but eventually all three bit the dust. Then I got to play tag with a couple more Scorpions for a while while waiting for the HOL ship to die so I could get near the cargo opds without taking fire from four ships.

When do I get weapons that can take down the Shivan's shields and make them stay down long enough to do some hull damage? Took me something like thirty minutes to bag two Scorpions all by my lonesome. They go much quicker with four GTA fighters pounding one.  (Those bastards like to try ramming!)

[Goober5000]

When do I get weapons that can take down the Shivan's shields and make them stay down long enough to do some hull damage?

The mission after Pandora's Box is The Hammer and the Anvil, which gives you the Avenger cannon.  Aren't you using the Avenger in that mission?

[bizzybody]

Yup, standard loadout. Two Avengers and two disruptors. The Shivan Scorpion can regenerate shields nearly as fast as those guns can pound them down. I got the cargo by chasing one Scorpion away for a ways (while being harried from behind by the other one) then turning around and running back as fast as I could to pop one or two containers.

Rinse and repeat, gets quite a lot easier when there's only one Scorpion, then the shoe's on the other foot.

Hmmm, I suppose I shouldn't have blasted that one container that was different?

[Mongoose]

I can't speak for the other difficulty levels, but if you're playing through the campaign on Easy (the defaulty level), the Avenger should make relatively short work of Scorpion shields.  They definitely shouldn't be regenerating at a level anywhere near the rate of damage of the Avenger, unless you're getting off something like one hit per minutes.

[CaptJosh]

Also, why bother with the disrupters. Seriously. Just drop in avengers and go.

[Dark Hunter]

Yup, standard loadout. Two Avengers and two disruptors. The Shivan Scorpion can regenerate shields nearly as fast as those guns can pound them down. I got the cargo by chasing one Scorpion away for a ways (while being harried from behind by the other one) then turning around and running back as fast as I could to pop one or two containers.

Rinse and repeat, gets quite a lot easier when there's only one Scorpion, then the shoe's on the other foot.

Hmmm, I suppose I shouldn't have blasted that one container that was different?

Hold on a minute. Why are you blasting cargo containers on that mission? The Hammer and the Anvil is an escort mission, the one where you escort the three frieghters carrying the shield tech. If you're blasting cargo there, then you are going directly against your orders.

[bizzybody]

Oh, my bad. Mission after that, The Darkness and the Light. The Avenger Cannon says Low Shield Damage, do the disruptors do even worse than that on shields?

[Dark Hunter]

Yes.

Though the Avenger says "low shield damage", it is at this point the best weapon you have for blasting shields into nothingness. The ML-16 should read "practically nonexistant sheild damage". 8)

So: use Avengers. Try to keep Shivans in your sights. That's the best advice I have.

[Mad Bomber]

Use Furies, too, if you're in a Valk or Athena (next mission). The Apollo's missile points are too far off center to hit reliably with dumbfires, but the Valk and Athena do just fine with 'em. Heh heh.

[Mars]

I actually prefer Avengers to Proms in many situations

[Snail]

I actually prefer Avengers to Proms in many situations

Huh?

Hercules - Prometheus + Banshee, Hornet + Phoenix V

Was what I used for some of the later missions, but I ended up using

Valkyrie - Prometheus + Banshee, Hornet

For one or two of the missions. I never used the Ulysses, that piece of junk sucks cock.

[Trivial Psychic]

I dislike the Ulysses because its slower than the Valkyrie, has half the secondary load of the Apollo, and its primaries are too widely spaced.

My standard Herc1 arragement goes as follows:

Prom in quad bank
Banshee in twin bank
One bank Phoenix
One bank Interceptor

I never realy liked the Hornet much, as its less of a sure thing on hits.  Interceptor does better subsystem dammage for turret attacks when Phoenix is overkill.

[Mars]

Avengers have a faster re-fire rate and do just about the same damage / second, a little lower, but still close. Toss in the Avengers comparative efficiency and I'd take it almost any day, with notable exceptions.

[Snail]

I took the Phoenix with me during the missions with enemy freighters, transports or cruisers. Hornets were there for super short range attacks (ie. dive in, collide and fire all Hornets). Gave for blast damage but was good enough for medium. Too bad the Tornados couldn't do that...