[Firartix]

Guys. I went through the Lilith, but uh ?
What about the ravana ? i can't beat it in time.

I was using Myrmidon with 2 Bolars, 2*3 Trebs & 5 Silletos.
Note: the Silletos works fine to remove the liliths beam cannon under 2000 meters... boo, single shot !

Well then, i'm flying a Myrmidon, and that crappy Ravana somehow spawn 12,5k meters away.
What the hell ? I switched all power to engines, used afterburners all the time, but just had time to fire my 2 remaining trebs when it fired it's beam and destroyed Ter..Tri... well, whatever. How could you ever be faster ?!

Btw, that Myrmidon - Boler loadout is pretty good.
Well, i got killed the 2 first times i used it (i use most of power on engines and tends to get caught in bombs explosions :s), and ended up against the ravana with 25% the third time. I survived all the times with the Interceptor (love that one )... but could never destroy  beams in time ><
And well... i must say, bolers are really bad for bombs killing.

Well then, i just can't go through the mission even in Very Easy mode.

[General Battuta]

As soon as the Temeraire jumps in, rush to get in position behind her stern with Trebuchets ready.

You can do it! We believe in you!

[Rodo]

Yes, It can be done, besides you get a new excuse to listen to the music 

[Droid803]

Just get there before it jumps in.

[General Battuta]

You'll have to make use of Sam's curse of prescience.  

(Actually, that might be a funny thing to add to the mission for the director's cut...a sudden urge to get to the Temeraire's stern...)

[Vip]

My tactic - Herc II, Maxims + Kaysers + 2x10 Trebuchets. First thing - destroy all main beam cannons (except the bottom AAA one) on both Rakshasas (3 beams on each, 1 Trebuchet per cannon). Then do some dogfighting with your Kaysers, and when the Cain jumps in, destroy the main beam cannon with a single Trebuchet. Immediately after the Sanctuary jumps in, rush to its rear and use 3 Trebuchets to destroy the lilith's LRed. Don't leave this position just yet, but engage any nearby bombers. As soon as the Temeraire jumps in, go full speed to its rear. When the Ravana appears, use double Trebuchets per each of the main cannons and fire your Maxims at it ASAP. When the LReds are destroyed, go for the SReds on the top spikes, they won't last long against the Maxims and Trebuchets.

During the entire mission, you have to assign wings to protect ships that jump in. Especially the Duke and the Bretonia. When the Temeraire jumps in, tell all your fighters to protect it. Also, shift all power to engines whenever to move from one ship to the other, especially when going for the Lilith and Ravana.

You need excellent timing. I managed to pass this mission on my 10th-15th pass

Hope this helps.

[General Battuta]

We're making the mission a little more fair in the upcoming rerelease, but I don't think it would pay to make it too easy. Part of the thrill is how intensely difficult it is, and part of the fun of the campaign is sharing stories from Forced Entry.

Now Keepers of Hell, that was a hard mission.

Also, I'd advise not using any Trebuchets disarming the two Rakshasas. Just take them out the old-fashioned way.

[Thaeris]

I feel the Myrm would be acceptable in that mission, though I would strongly suggest using the Herc 2:

Load up on a pair of Kaysers and a pair of Maxims - The Kaysers will eat the enemy fighters while the Maxims will make smoking hostile turrets a breeze. Note that the Myrm just can't pack that kind of firepower: Myrm + Kayser = NO ENERGY! Furthermore, you can't place the Maxim on the fighter, so you'll be limited to either your finite missile supply or getting in close with low-power guns. Bad idea against capital ships...

Then, pack 10 Trebs in the first bank and 400 Tempests in the second. USE YOUR TREBS WISELY! I typically would use a few on the initial pair of Rakshasas, just to blast out a few of the forward beams (I'd rather not let the Duke get too basted in the first run...), and then save the rest for knocking out beams on the Lilith and maybe have one left over to hit the Ravana upon its arrival. The Tempests are the Herc 2's best friend, and the secondary firing ports are placed in the perfect spot as well for them: despite the slower speed of the Tempest in comparison to a cannon shot, the vertical placement of the bank gives an "artificial" lead when firing on a target you're turning into. Thus, they offset the Herc's smaller grouped primaries (in comparison to the Myrm's, which are best suited to low-power, fast-firing primaries like the Balor) with a fantastic puch. They'll also let you eat cruisers alive.  

Here's the kicker: speed. Be familiar with adjusting your power settings when taking the Herc. She's lovely to fly and will lay the beat-down on anything, but she's pretty slow. Fortunately, her great reactor will keep a healthy charge on the afterburner when engines are at full - fly smart and the Shivans will "nevah know what hit 'em."  

...I realize that I've probably said that before, and many other people are in agreement, but hey...

[Vip]

I feel the Myrm would be acceptable in that mission, though I would strongly suggest using the Herc 2:

Load up on a pair of Kaysers and a pair of Maxims - The Kaysers will eat the enemy fighters while the Maxims will make smoking hostile turrets a breeze. Note that the Myrm just can't pack that kind of firepower: Myrm + Kayser = NO ENERGY! Furthermore, you can't place the Maxim on the fighter, so you'll be limited to either your finite missile supply or getting in close with low-power guns. Bad idea against capital ships...

Then, pack 10 Trebs in the first bank and 400 Tempests in the second. USE YOUR TREBS WISELY! I typically would use a few on the initial pair of Rakshasas, just to blast out a few of the forward beams (I'd rather not let the Duke get too basted in the first run...), and then save the rest for knocking out beams on the Lilith and maybe have one left over to hit the Ravana upon its arrival. The Tempests are the Herc 2's best friend, and the secondary firing ports are placed in the perfect spot as well for them: despite the slower speed of the Tempest in comparison to a cannon shot, the vertical placement of the bank gives an "artificial" lead when firing on a target you're turning into. Thus, they offset the Herc's smaller grouped primaries (in comparison to the Myrm's, which are best suited to low-power, fast-firing primaries like the Balor) with a fantastic puch. They'll also let you eat cruisers alive.  

Here's the kicker: speed. Be familiar with adjusting your power settings when taking the Herc. She's lovely to fly and will lay the beat-down on anything, but she's pretty slow. Fortunately, her great reactor will keep a healthy charge on the afterburner when engines are at full - fly smart and the Shivans will "nevah know what hit 'em."  

...I realize that I've probably said that before, and many other people are in agreement, but hey...

And, most important of all, patience. Don't get discouraged and feel no shame in decreasing your difficulty level. It's one of the hardest missions I've seen, requiring excellent timing, knowledge of your and your enemies' crafts' weaknesses and lots of micromanagements (both ETS and assigning escorts).

[Scotty]

Myrm with twin Balors and full Treb banks works almost as well or better than the Herc II, simply becase it can get places a third again faster than the Herc.  With a twin Balor load-out (on Very Easy, at least) you can hunt all bombs and bombers fast, and pump your shields and engines up another notch each without a noticable change in weapon recharge.

Order all fighters to destroy one Rakshasa, then the next, in sequence.  Destroy the fighters your self, and quickly, you REALLY want those friendlies for escort duty later.  When the Lilith jumps in, roast the gun with three Trebs (or is it two?  I can't remember right now).  Then tell EVERYONE to ignore it.  It isn't going anywhere.  When the Temeraire jumps in, if you go full burners toward the sterns, you can usually get two sets of Trebs off at the Ravana before it actually fires the first time.  The first beam salvo WILL hit.  Nothing you can do there (except hope one misses to give you a few seconds extra).  Disarm both main beams with a volley of Trebs each, then hit the little stinger SReds on the top to keep the Ravana from small-beaming the Temeraire to death.  Debeamed, the Ravana will be easy pickings (If you want, you can go kill that Lilith now).

Have fun on the next mission.

[Sushi]

I got through this mission before I knew it was supposed to be hard, so I'm still not entirely sure what I did. But I don't remember having much trouble at all (aside from the Ravana at the end the first time I got to it).

Pretty sure it involved me mostly avoiding dogfights, and focusing on shooting out turrets with Maxims (and the occasional treb) and shooting down bombs (also with maxims) while wingmen mop up. Disarmed capships are no threat, so as long as you stay on top of that you can just focus on the bombs/bombers... a strategy I've abused to death in many, many FS2 missions.

[MatthTheGeek]

Using standard tactics, on medium, with a Perseus, Balor + Promy S and full banks of trebs, I never had problem successfully running this mission.

[Mongoose]

I had my problems on Easy (can't remember my loadout, though I don't think I changed it from the default) until I recognized that it all depends on dishing out the right orders.  Other than a few critical disarmings and the usual kill-anything-that's-red, your most important role is that of squadron commander, and keeping at least one wing protecting each of the capital ships that jumps in makes the entire mission substantially more doable.

[Vip]

I had my problems on Easy (can't remember my loadout, though I don't think I changed it from the default) until I recognized that it all depends on dishing out the right orders.  Other than a few critical disarmings and the usual kill-anything-that's-red, your most important role is that of squadron commander, and keeping at least one wing protecting each of the capital ships that jumps in makes the entire mission substantially more doable.

This is one of the rare missions when you have to order your wingmen around AND actually modify their orders every now and then as the situation on the battlefield changes. I think the only thing that could be changed is at the very end  - either increase the Temeraire's integrity from 34% to something like 50-60, or disable one LRed on the Ravana. It's frustrating to fail at the very end, tbh.

[Thaeris]

I found the Lilith much worse than the Ravana. As soon as that raging douche jumps in, she starts drilling the Sanctuary with that over-powered, overly-armored main beam. And, if she's in position, she'll use her second beam as well. Even worse, if you're in the wrong spot, you can't even shoot at the said beam because the rest of the hull shields it from view, and thus shields it from your Trebs/Maxims... 

Furthermore, because FS2/FSO is sometimes strange, cycling through turrets after firing secondaries often seems to reset the "targeting schedule," thus leaving you in a situation where, due to the angle at which you need to approach the Lilith, you can't tell if you're aiming at the front beam or the rear beam. If you choose wrong, you're going to be shooting at a beam which no longer exists because you just launched a salvo of Trebuchets at one turret... where you'll have to wait for those weapons to hit. The real kicker regardless of if you've made this mistake or not is that the Lilith will keep blasting the Sanctuary until the turret(s) are destroyed...

So yeah, the Ravana is a pussycat in comparison to the Lilith in this mission...

[General Battuta]

The Lilith is the worst part and it's been tamed a bit.

However, you can solve your turret targeting woes with the V key.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I'd advise not using any Trebuchets disarming the two Rakshasas. Just take them out the old-fashioned way.

The last time I played this mission, I flew a Herc 2 on Very Easy and had enough Trebs to distribute to all the Shivan warships in Forced Entry, including the Rakshasa cruisers.

[General Battuta]

Yeah, but then you're spending Trebs for no good reason, so you lose some redundancy. You can take down at least one Rakshasa before the Duke arrives guaranteed. Probably both.

[NGTM-1R]

Y'know I never had any trouble with this mission until I went to somebody's "recommended" Kulas and loadout.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Ah yes, but you see, we all fly different ways.

I will always prefer using the Herc 2, even though I can probably understand why other people would use the Myrmidon and Kulas.

I have never seen anyone use a bomber in that mission, though. When I first did Forced Entry, I thought it was a great idea.