[Fineus]

Has anyone played HW2 and completed this level? I'm having real problems with it...the following may contain spoilers.

I can destroy all the hyperspace inhibitors. However around the time I'm doing this I get a mix of about 15 / 20 Assault / Heavy Missile Frigates show up which nothing in my fleet can fight off. Oh sure I can take a few with me but there's simply no way I can find to take them out before they inflict massive and critical damage on my fleet.

Has anyone had any luck with this? Any suggestions at all? Since I'm so busy dealing with them that I don't get a chance to really take out the inhibitors (I could go for them... but then I'd lose my fleet and have to defend against even more frigates).

Thoughts then?

[Liberator]

http://forums.relicnews.com

There are a bunch of people who have gotten by this mission over there.  HW2 uses some kind of dynamic difficulty setting that make the enemy more or less powerful based on your fleet size/composition.

That said everything in HW2 has a counter in HW.  You should have something that you can build that will allow you to whack those frigates easier.  Don't use Corvettes though, Heavy Missile Frigates eat them alive.

*edit*
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16613
Try this one.

[Fineus]

Any more precise a link? I've already looked Google.com over for a decent answer to my question before posting here.

[Devils_Hitman]

attack the hyperspace gates quickly so they cant send reinforcements .

[Fineus]

Cheers, I took my time building an assault force at the start which might explain it... Are they really worth capturing or can I blow them to dust without worry?

[Ashrak]

i didnt play HW 2 through because the computer simply cheated....every time i had about 5 ion frigs funch of corvettes 2 carriers it had 6 carriers 20 frigs 40 fighter wings.....

[Fury]

Admit it, you just suck Ash.
HW2 was pretty easy, only a few missions were harder than should have been. But I guess that has something to do with dynamic difficulty bull****.

The trick is to counter enemy's main fleet with proper ship classes. For example, if frigates are giving you a hard time, build more anti-frigate ships. And don't send in ships which will be destroyed outright. For example, if enemy's got a lot of assault frigs, don't send poor fighters there.

Focus on enemy fleet's weaknesses. And if you notice a mission will not move onward unless you have done something which will trigger it, build up your fleet when you have the opportunity. Don't rush in.

[Fineus]

I don't know about Ash sucking... I really fail to see how my meagre fleet has half a chance against 15 frigates, there's just not enough resources to properly counter such a threat and be able to move on!

That said, I'll try taking those gates out all together, re-enforcing and then taking everything in the area out before finally taking out the hyperspace inhibitors. It might work...

[Ashrak]

in normal HW you could actually outclass your enemies here its impossible.....

[magatsu1]

haven't played HW2 (yet!) but in the first game, capturing as much as possible in the earlier missions was the most important thing  to do.
Using bigger ships as decoys to allow salvage corvettes (or whatever) to slip in is a favourite trick of mine.

[Flipside]

The trick here is actually to capture the first Hyperspace gate you compe across and send your fleet through it while it is still strong, use the fleet to take out the 3 carriers at the other end, this seriously reduces the Vaygyr building capacity Higaran corvettes suck, the Vaygyr missile corvette is about the only corvette in the came that doesn't.
Oh yes, and don't forget to use the 'N' key for minelayers and give those frigates a REALLY big surprise when they approach

Flipside

Edit  Has anyone ever captured ANYTHING in this game using a Marine Frigate that wasn't part of the plot? Much preferred the Salvage Corvette

[Fineus]

Say..

...thats...

......thats not a bad idea...

Thanks!

[Darkage]

I captured the destroyer in mission 4 were the 3 carriers are. And i captured some heavy missile frigates with luck though.

[StratComm]

The salvage/capture aspect of HW2 sucked royally compared to the original homeworld.  Capturing over the unit cap is the absolute only way to go, and this was purposely taken out of HW2.  Plus the fact that you can only have a handful of marine frigates at a time, whereas you could have ~50 salvage 'vettes at any given time before (and they were collectively tougher, since once one attached the vessel was in effect trapped).  Add to that the fact that capture vessles now occupy a frigate slot, instead of the worthless corvette slot, and you've got a system that really sucks.  The developers are quoted as wanting to make capturing a more integral part of the game, but it just ended up being one obnoxious thing to look for and find you didn't have.

[Fury]

Corvettes being worthless? Hell no... In HW1 they were worthless but in HW2 they have a role. Basically every ship in HW2 has a a role, except Flak Frigates...

I am no fan of capturing enemy vessels, but I agree with you that capture vessels should take no military vessel slots. Although that's not a problem to me since I use them only when it's required for mission objective purposes. Same with HW1.

[Liberator]

HW2 doesn't have ship slots like the original.  You can have many ships in one class or few.  Depend on the mod.

[Flipside]

Are you sure? I thought in the single player game you can have 14 Fighters, 12 corvettes, 21 (I think) Frigates, 5(?) Destroyers and3 Battlecruisers.
All frigates are cannon fodder anyway, but at least they stop things shooting at your destroyers and battlecruisers

Flipside

[TrashMan]

I captured the enemy Progenitor Dreadnought...had two from then on...

The last mission is hell tough...

[Shrike]

I found gunships to be almost useless, but Pulsars rule and are great for hunting frigates.  Use lots of them.

[Flipside]

I'll agree with you there, Pulsar Corvettes are good 'gnats' they'll even take down a Carrier moderately well if you use enough
Torpedo Frigates are good, but the Heavy Missile frigate is the best ship of it's class (though very closesly followed by the Ion Frigate, same tactics for both), in Skirmish, I never bother to research the others Same with Corvettes, I just build 14 missile corvettes and have done with it, you'd be amazed the damage they can do
And is it me, or does the Higaran Battlecruiser absolutely rule over the pathetic Vaygyr one?

Flipside