Ares/Antares Walkthrough/FAQ by TwilightPhoenix -------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------- 1. The Purpose of the Guide 2. Important Notice! 3. Basics 3. General Tips 4. Races, Their Ships, and Other Objects 4a. Gaitori 4b. Catharans 4c. Ishiman 4d. Human 4e. Sarillian 4f. Audemenon 4g. Other Races 5. Walkthrough 6. Multiplayer Levels 7. Contact Info 8. FAQ 9. Version Info 10. Copyright Info -------------------------------- The Purpose of the Guide -------------------------------- This is a walkthrough of Ares. It explains many aspects of the game for a player new to it, gives a brief analyses on the various races and their ships, and provides strategies for completing the missions. You can use this guide for either single player or, if you're lucky enough to have access to it in this day and age, multiplayer domination. Keep in mind that the exact stats for many vessels are not included. Hero only works in Classic and the Antares port does not include it yet, so I don't even have access to the numbers anymore. -------------------------------- Important Notice! -------------------------------- This guide has been updated for the unofficial port of Ares known as Antares. Nathan Lamont graciously made Ares open-source, leading to a version playable on OSX. For the purposes of this guide, that will be considered to be the "most recent version" as that is the only one playable on modern Macintosh computers. Since Antares is meant to be faithful to the original game, you can easily use this for older versions and find the guide to still be extremely accurate. Do note, multiplayer does not presently work in Antares and neither do addons. There are also some bugs, but the game otherwise plays just fine. Wait, what about Xsera? Well, that port isn't even in alpha and will be sporting a shiny new game engine. So, we'll cover that whenever a playable version sees the light of day. -------------------------------- Basics -------------------------------- The tutorials do an excellent job of explaining the basics and more. A much better job than I will be able to without access to visuals, but you will, of course, need actual in-mission practice to get the hang of things. But, nonetheless, I'll attempt to explain some things here. Unlike similar games, you are not a space ship, but you are commanding a fleet of ships. You control one directly and can switch at any time. This gives the feel of games like Escape Velocity and Continuum, but you are also directing ships like in a strategy game, making Ares a bit of a mixed genre game. Objectives vary with each level, though it is often capture this or destroy that. Of course, it rarely is just that simple. All ships have three vital statistics: Energy, Reserve Energy, and Shields, each represented by bars on the side of the screen. Energy is used for certain weapons, make hyper jumps, restore shields and ammunition on certain weapons. The moment any amount of energy is used, Reserve Energy kicks in and slowly starts to refill the Energy Bar. When energy is gone, the ship still flies, but is virtually crippled. You can regenerate Energy and Reserve Energy by collecting glowing balls released by destroyed ships. The Shields are basically your hit points. When they run out, the ship explodes. You can tell when a ship is on low shields when you are flying it because you'll get a nice warning sound. You can also see when other ships are on low shields by zooming out enough so that ships appear as symbols. When a ship's shields go below half, energy will be used to try to restore them back to 50%. All ships can carry up to three weapons. The most common type are beams, though there is quite a bit of variety. Some use energy to fire, others use ammunition. Some are infinite. If a weapon uses ammunition it will automatically be restored when it goes below half of it's ammo, rounded down. There are a few exceptions, such as bay-borne fighters, which cannot be regenerated. Among some other common weapons are missiles and pulses. Cloaking is also considered a weapon. Speaking of cloaking, which the game calls "Stealth", it is fairly common in the game. When you are zoomed out enough to see only symbols, you can't see cloaked ships at all. When you see the ships themselves, you can see little speckles flying around. You can always see a cloaked ship on the radar 100% of the time, even before it enters your actual view (when you are zoomed in enough to see ships). Shooting or bumping into a cloaked ship makes it visible for a few moments. Also, it cannot attack while cloaked. It will automatically disengage it's cloak to fire. A.I. ships will automatically know roughly where a cloaked ship is, but it still confuses them enough to where they can miss pretty frequently. Another big thing in the game is hyper-jumping. The distances in this game are often huge. Using the hyper-jump allows ships to cover the distance relatively quickly at the cost of energy. Not all ships can hyper-jump, but most can. You'll be using it a lot in the game, so get in the habit of doing so. Finally, one of the most common objectives is to capture something. This is accomplished by various means. To capture a planet, you order a transport to go to it and land on it. To capture a Bunker, you order an Assault Transport to go to it, where it will engage the Bunker and launch a team of Assault Marines who attempt to capture it. To capture a Flak Drone, you order an Engineering Pod to fly up to it and hack into it's systems to make it yours. -------------------------------- General Tips -------------------------------- Here is a general tips for both Single and Multiplayer games. You may need to refer to the next section to make sense of them if you are very new to the game. -If you're not planning on going on the offensive with your Carriers before the enemy attacks you, pre-launch at least some of your fighters. That way, they're there already when the enemy shows up. -Any missile weapon will distract turrets. -Always aim for enemy Heavy Destroyers and Carriers when you see them. Which to aim for first depends on the race in question. Gaitori? Heavy Destroyer is priority. Sarillian? Aim for the Carrier. -Computer controlled ships tend to fly defensively when you are facing them and more offensively any other time, but only when you are moving. When you are sitting still, they will fly up to you, stop, and begin shooting at you until you face them, at which it will fly away. -Flying backwards in a fight isn't a bad idea. The enemy will chase you, but try to avoid to a degree as well. Makes them easy to hit once with a little practice. -Ramming slow ships with a fast one can distract it and make it an easier target. -Ramming a cloaked ship will reveal it for a second and a half, same as with hitting it with a weapon. -Atomic Pulse and Magno Pulse can be dodged by flying circles around them or by going full speed to make a near miss. While the projectiles can turn on a dime, they have low acceleration and can't make big course corrections easily. -Flying circles in around your foe in a cloaked Catharan Cruiser can really annoy them, especially in multiplayer. -Always go after any ship that appears as a + when you zoom out unless it is too heavily guarded. In that case take a small force. -Flying circles around a Bunker or Outpost with a Fighter or Cruiser will cause it to miss a lot. This doesn't work well with Flak Drones though. -If possible, scout your enemy's fleet and try to get a possible counter against it. -Don't send ships one at a time like the computer does unless you know what you are doing. -Playing Hide and Seek in the asteroid field is another great way to annoy your opponent. -Take advantage of long range when fighting something that lacks it. -If you have the timing down on hyper-jumps, you can release they key just before it initiates. You can use this to send ally ships following you ahead of you a small distance or trick A.I. ships chasing you into jumping away. It can also fool other players sometimes too. -In single player, you can speed up a mission by parking a transport near the enemy base but far enough they'll ignore it. Simply either fly to a safe spot and tell it to "Go to your position" or pilot it there yourself and swap to a new ship while having the Transport targeted. Note that this doesn't always work, as the enemy will go after your Transport if it hangs out there long enough. In multiplayer, a Sarillian player can pull this off, though an alert player may discover and destroy it. -Finally, in general, mixed fleets are more effective than a spammed fleet. There are some exceptions (Audemenon Cruisers and Gaitori Gunships, for example), but in general a fleet of various vessels is more effective and versatile than spamming one type of ship (although a few single player missions force you to spam Cruisers since Fighters can't hyper-jump). *Cruisers are your basic fodder and, because of their speed, are often first in to take the fire. More than often not they'll drop like flies in a big encounter, but since they're cheaper, that's fine. Cruisers are also great for swarming over harder targets, like Carriers, and overwhelming it with sheer numbers. *Gunships are more or less the real backbone of your fleet. Because they're slow, they need support to do their job. However, they are sturdy and usually bear quite a bit of firepower, allowing them to survive big battles much more easily and throw out lots of damage. If your gunships are starting to drop, you know you're in trouble. *Carriers are typically long-range missile and fighter support, though Human Carriers are a major exception in being close-ranged beasts. They typically are not too powerful at close range, but have enough firepower to ward off casual attackers. Since they're slow, they usually are sitting back lobbing missiles from the fringes, though getting caught up in the combat isn't uncommon, hence why they're very durable. *Heavy Destroyers are the elite ships of your fleet. They're tough, have tons of firepower, and are versatile, but they're very expensive. Typically, you'll want to pilot any you control so they can serve their purpose of seeking out the real threats in the enemy fleet and destroying them, such as Carriers, Heavy Destroyers, and Gunships. Anything else that gets in the way should, of course, get blown up. Having them spend their time fighting Cruisers is a waste and, as tempting as it is, spamming Heavy Destroyers is a bad idea as they can easily be overwhelmed by a force of cheaper ships without any support. *Fighters are usually deployed from Carriers, as building them directly is usually a waste of time since they can't hyper-jump. They serve a similar purpose of harassing and distracting enemy vessels. Because they're small, they often can find their way to the real threats and start shooting at them. All fighters, even the Human one, do at least enough damage so that their target can't simply ignore them. Plus, they can easily clog up a battlefield, making maneuvering difficult for enemy ships. *Non-military ships, such as Transports, are self-explanatory, though the Assault Transports can fill in for Cruisers or Gunships in a pinch. --------------------------------------- Races, Their Ships, and Other Objects --------------------------------------- Each race in this game is rather distinct from the others. All of them have their own strengths and weaknesses, some more obvious than the others. While in single player you only have access to a few, you can use all of the main races in multiplayer and mods can potentially let you use all of them. Even if you only do single player, knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages each race holds is helpful to conquering the campaigns. In multiplayer, the knowledge will make a huge impact. I cannot remember the names of all the weapons, but you'll know what I mean when I try to describe them. If anyone knows that they are called, let me know. Also, ships with a * are only available in single player, barring any multiplayer mods. Gaitori The Gaitori are generally regarded as the weak and gimpy race. They have the weakest shields in the game and their main guns tend to have a short range. However, in the right hands, the Gaitori are a fearsome force to behold and can devastate unprepared opponents. Advantages All military vessels have rapid fire weaponry, allowing for high damage output Many of their ship classes are cheaper than the other races Most of their ships are quite nimble and maneuverable Disadvantages They have the weakest shields in the game No turreted weapons whatsoever, excluding the Engineering Pod Their primary weapons tend to have a very short range Fighter Weapon: A Rapid laser beam The Gaitori Fighter, while dropping in a couple of hits, is actually pretty powerful in comparison to most others. It is the only fighter in the game to sport a rapid-fire weapon, meaning it can do quite a bit of damage in close quarters, especially in a swarm. Cruiser Weapon: Concussive Pellet Gun Gaitori Cruisers are quick and nimble, but have very weak defenses. Unlike most Cruisers, they lack a secondary weapon too. However, they do carry a Concussive Pellet Gun which, while short ranged, shoots very quickly and can decimate foes who do not escape their line of fire. Gunship Weapon 1: Concussive Pellet Gun Weapon 2: Atomic Pulse While they are only as sturdy as the Cruiser, the Gunship is probably the deadliest Gaitori vessel, particularly in packs. Gunships carry the Atomic Pulse, granting them the status of "Only Gunship with a homing weapon". In fact, barring the Ishiman Heavy Cruisers, they are the only military vessel smaller than a Carrier to have any sort of homing weapon. The Atomic Pulse has a long range and hits hard. A fleet of these can wreck havoc on an unsuspecting opponent and will often score kills before anyone gets within close range. Gaitori Gunships should always be a priority target. Carrier Weapon 1: Concussive Pellet Gun Weapon 2: Launch Bay (Gaitori fighters) Special: Concussive Missiles In contrast to the Gunship, the Carrier is pretty awful. It's slow and doesn't have a turret. Bringing it's short ranged Concussive Pellet Gun to bear is quite a task. In the best situation, it's basically an expensive missile platform with the ability to bring extra fighters to a fight that hangs back from the main fighting. More commonly, it's a big target that tends to get swarmed. Unless you have resources to spare on a big distraction, don't build one. Heavy Destroyer Weapon 1: Concussive Pellet Gun Weapon 2: Neutron Pulse Special: Concussive Missiles The Gaitori Heavy Destroyer is quite a formidable foe. Its Neutron Pulse is rather powerful and it packs a load of missiles as well. It's only hurting point is the short range of the main weapon, although it will tear apart anything unlucky enough to get close. With some decent piloting, a player could easily kill several Carriers in one of these. A skilled pilot should be feared. Transport Its a transport. Try to get it to land on planets. If you see one and it isn't yours, blow it up. Engineering Pod Weapon 1: Repulser The Repulser is terrible at repelling. It runs out of energy too fast. Try to get it to a Flak Drone, which can't see it. If you see enemy Engineering Pods, kill 'em. Assault Transport Weapon 1: Concussive Pellet Gun Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles Special: Assault Team You mainly use these to capture Bunkers. Of course, with backup since it is too weak to take one down on its own. One the marines are gone, it does serve as an upgraded Cruiser with few missiles to throw around. Not worth building for combat purposes (too expensive), but it doesn't hurt to use it after its served its purpose. Assault Marine Weapon 1: Concussive Pellet Gun Slow, dies in one hit, armed with a short ranged weapon. It does turn quickly though. Oh, you need em to capture bunkers too. Cantharans You'll come to know and hate these guys in single player. Catharan vessels seem to come in two flavors: quick but a little fragile or tough but slow. Some Catharan vessels have the ability to cloak themselves, allowing for them to approach targets and objectives largely undetected. Advantages Some ships can utilize stealth Some ships are quite agile and maneuverable Other ships are quite tough and durable Disadvantages Main guns have short range and aren't too powerful Quick ships are fragile Tough ships are slow Fighter Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 (Why is it the '2' I will never know) The Catharan Fighter is one of the lower end ones. It is equipped with moderate shielding, but its gun has low range and doesn't hit very hard or fast. Cruiser Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Weapon 2: Anti-Matter Pulse Special: Stealth The Catharan Cruiser falls into the "fast but weak" category. It can cause a decent amount of damage for a Cruiser with its weaponry, but the real ability it has is the ability to cloak itself. It is quite agile and works well for hit and run tactics. Heavy Cruiser* Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Weapon 2: Rapid Anti-Matter Pulse Special: Cloak Superior in nearly every way to the regular Cruiser. Its Anti-Matter Pulse not only has three times the rate of fire, it also has three times the ammunition. Add some additional shielding without any sacrifice to agility and you have a ship that can pose a pretty fair threat. Luckily, the PK Beam remains unimproved. Gunship Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Weapon 2: Anti-Matter Pulse (spread version, similar to a shotgun) When I think of the "slow but tough" ships for the Catharans, this one is the first to come to mind. They have a lot of shields, enabling them to take quite a bit of punishment. Its Anti-Matter Pulse fires a larger shell that then bursts and spreads into smaller ones. While bringing this weapon to bear may take some effort, anyone caught in its fire will be hurting, especially if they collide with the pulse before it bursts. Carrier Weapon 1: Turreted Anti-Matter Pulse Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles Special: Launch Bay (Cantharan Fighters) The Catharan Carrier is a decent one. In a short-term battle, it can spray out tons of shots with its turret and its high rate of fire as well as bring missile and fighter support to a battle. In protracted fights, those turrets will empty fairly quickly, leaving them rather defenseless against close ranged attackers, though it still makes a useful missile platform. Ammunition, luckily, replenishes fairly quickly for its turret, so as long as energy reserves are not drained the Carrier can retreat somewhere safe to restore its stock, enabling it to later return to battle for more long-ranged support without being vulnerable. Heavy Destroyer Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Weapon 2: Quasi-Pulse Special: Stealth While it lacks long range weaponry and carries a weak main gun, as long as this vessel has ammunition for is Quasi-Pulse, it can dish out tons of pain from mid-range. Its secondary will really lay out the hurt with high damage and high rate of fire, allowing it to wipe out most threats in moments and can use its Stealth to sneak up on important targets nearly undetected. One the secondary is drained, it is best to pull it back from combat as it basically turns into a large, durable fighter with the ability to cloak. Transport Note that cloaking Catharan Transports do exist, but only in a tutorial missile (and any mods that might use them). Engineering Pod Weapon 1: Repulser Identical to the Gaitori version, except green. Assault Transport Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles Special: Assault Team Like the Gaitori Transport, it can provide pretty decent fire support once it has dispatched both of its Assault Teams. It has a few missiles for long-range support and the somewhat weak PK Beam 2 for closer combat. Too expensive to build purely for combat, however. Assault Marine Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Just another casualty in the long run if it can't make it to a bunker. Oh, did you know you can "pilot" Assault Marines? Defense Drone* Weapon 1: PK Beam 2 Weapon 2: Rapid Anti-Matter Pulse Extremely slow, but with a super-high turn rate. They are small and can soak up damage like few ships can while dishing it out. Schooner* Weapons 1: PK Beam 2 The spawn of a mating between a Catharan Fighter and a Catharan Cruiser. The are armed like the former but about the same size and durability of the latter. Additionally, they are, by far, the fastest and most agile ship in the game. If they want to avoid you, they will, because they're just that fast. Although they're never a huge threat, they will annoy you to no end. Gate Ship* Weapon 1: Magno Pulse Weapon 2: Shrikeolator Special: Electrojam Easily the strongest ship in the game. It will hurt you, knock you about, and lock up your controls. It is, however, HUGE and very slow. One thing that will reassure you is that all of it's weapons are running on ammo, so it CAN run out. There is really nothing you can do to avoid its weapons, since the jamming always hit your first, making you a sitting duck for the other two. Ishiman The Ishiman are a versatile race with few glaring strengths and weaknesses. They are the main single player races, so you will come to understand playing them very well. They boast a good mixture of speed, durability, and power but they lack any real surprises as all of their ships are straight forward with no real tricks. Advantages All of their ships are well balanced in their capabilities Easy to use for a new player Disadvantages Their straightforwardness means they don't have anything particularly surprising or impressive. No long-ranged main guns, no rapid fire weaponry, no army of invisible ships, and so on Fighter Weapon 1: PK Beam This mushroom shaped fighter is fairly useful since it sports a gun with both decent range and damage on top of moderate shielding for its class. Cruiser Weapon 1: PK Beam Weapon 2: Fusion Pulse Reactor The Ishiman Cruiser is built similar to its Catharan counterpart, but ditches the stealth field and a little agility for better offensive and defense capabilities. As the single player levels will have you pilot these often and they're cheap to build, you'll use these often and should be quite competent in it by the time you finish the last mission. Heavy Cruiser* Weapon 1: Rapid PK Beam Weapon 2: Rapid Fusion Pulse Reactor Special: Concussive Missiles These are basically Mini-Ishiman Heavy Destroyers. They have greatly improved weaponry as well as improved shielding and agility. This ship is more than a match for most Cruisers and Gunships and, in the right hands, could take on Carriers and Heavy Destroyers if the pilot is careful. Whenever you get one, enjoy it. Gunship Weapon 1: PK Beam Weapon 2: Lepton Beam This is the only ship in the game sporting dual-beam weaponry and, unlike other Gunships, doesn't need to worry about that unsophisticated ammo stuff. Ishiman Gunships aren't exactly fast, but they can dish out the damage to anyone who gets in front of them and can take a beating of their own. Carrier Weapon 1: Protopulse Turret Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles Special: Launch Bay (Ishiman Fighters) Ishiman Carriers can hold their worth. They provide good fighter and missile support. The Protopulse Turret is a mixed blessing. It fires in dual shots, has good range, and hits hard, but it is easily distracted and has a low rate of fire. Additionally, accuracy can sometimes be a bit iffy. While it won't run out of ammunition quickly, the lower fire rate and slowish ammunition replenishment can get it in trouble. Heavy Destroyer Weapon 1: Lepton Beam Weapon 2: Fullerence Cannon Special: Concussive Missiles The Ishiman Heavy Destroyer is rather downright deadly. With a good mix of agility and durability topped onto its high-damage weaponry that sport coverage of short, medium, and long ranges, this ship will show you that just being upfront about things and punching your opponent in the face isn't always a bad idea. It can deliver support from afar as it moves in to unleash its combination of weapons on its hapless victims, leaving nothing but broken ships in its wake. A big investment, but its always a good one to make. Transport I always though this transport looked a little funny... Engineering Pod Weapon 1: Repulser They're all the same other than in look. Assault Transport Weapon 1: Rapid PK Beam Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles Special: Assault Team If these things weren't expensive and slow building, they could replace cruisers and sometimes gunships. The Rapid PK Beam can inflict pretty decent damage, making this a great (but too expensive) combat vessel. Assault Marine Weapon 1: PK Beam It has a decent ranged weapon, making it a tad bit useful. Defense Drone* Weapon 1: Rapid PK Beam Weapon 2: Rapid Fusion Pulse Reactor Like the Catharan version, it will just move slowly, turn quickly, shrug off hits, and blow up everything near it. Astrominer* Weapon 1: Lite Pulse Slow, weak, and bulky. They are not a military vessel and you should try to keep them out of combat. While they sport a rapid-fire weapon, it does little to ships (but a lot to asteroids). Research Vessel* A non-combat ship that's basically a large, slow target. Protect it until it does its job. Tractor Tug* Another non-military vessel, also completely unarmed. It needs protection from attackers during the mission it appears in. Cargo Ship* Following the theme for non-combat ships, it is unarmed and vulnerable. As you can guess, it needs protection. Modified Cruiser* Weapon 1: Long Range Photo-Kinetic Beam Weapon 2: Onas Pulse Weapon 3: Concussive Missiles Ridiculously powerful. Fast, tough (for a Cruiser), and well armed, this thing can kick some serious butt. And, considering the circumstances of the mission it is end, it will need all of the butt-kicking abilities it can get. All of its weapons are long ranged, allowing you to shoot from afar. While the LRPK Beam and Missiles can run out one way or the other, the Onas Pulse has infinite ammunition. Plus, the Onas Pulse kicks the crap out of the other two weapons in strength. Humans At first glance, especially in the campaigns, the Humans kind of suck. They don't dish out much damage in what you get to play around with and their shields aren't too tough either. However, the first impressions on the stats are horrible, horrible lies. The Humans' vessels are actually a force to be reckoned with and should not be underestimated. Advantages Utilize some of the best turrets and on more vessels than anyone else Many ships have rapid-fire weapons with a very deep ammunition pool, letting them throw out eye-raising amounts of damage Disadvantages No long range support Slow hyper-jump speed The smaller classes of ships are rather weak Fighter Weapon 1: Laser Perhaps the worst fighter in the game. The shields aren't too tough and the weapon isn't too strong. Decent range, however. Cruiser Weapon 1: Laser Weapon 2: Magento Pulse Basically a down-graded Ishiman Cruiser. Decent agility, but the shields and weapons suffer with zero compensation. Gunship Weapon 1: Rapid Laser Turret Weapon 2: Rapid Magento Pulse Basically the Humans' baseline vessel and a huge improvement over the cruisers. And that may be an understatement. Neither weapon is exactly powerful at glance, but once you see these vessels in action you'll understand just how good having turrets and rapid-fire weapons on Gunships are. They have zero blind-spots and stuff in front of them will simply get munched. Additionally, since they use weapons with lots of ammo and low energy requirements, human Gunships shine in long, protracted warfare and the ones you build early on can often still pull their weight later on. Carrier Weapon 1: Rapid Laser Turret Weapon 2: Rapid Magento Pulse Special: Launch Bay (Human Fighters) While they are big, slow, and easy targets, the Humans' Carrier is armed with the same weapons as the Gunship is. Basically, any incoming missiles will quickly get shot down and marauding fighters will be driven off. This Carrier, lacking ranged weapons, is utilized differently than others. While other races will have theirs sit back and provide support from afar, Humans will have theirs wade into battle, unleashing its turrets and fighters on anyone nearby while chewing apart anyone who gets in front of it. Heavy Destroyer Weapon 1: Rapid Laser Turret Weapon 2: Rapid Magento Pulse Special: Photon Pulse Surprisingly, it wasn't the Gaitori who had the weakest shields on a Heavy Destroyer. Instead, the Humans built a glass cannon. While this ship cannot take much punishment, it has perhaps the deadliest combination of weapons among all Heavy Destroyers. Anything that gets within its sights will explode literally in seconds, if not faster. It makes up for its lack of long-range support by sporting a turret that eliminates all blind spots and lets it easily shoot down incoming missiles. A pilot who is quite skilled in the art of evasion is a very scary sight indeed when they're at the helm of one of these. Transport Looks kind of like a bullet or rocket. Assault Transport Weapon 1: Rapid Laser Turret Weapon 2: Rapid Magento Pulse Special: Assault Team This is the only assault transport without long range support. Instead, it is basically a Gunship with marines on board. Though it's more expensive than Gunships, so still not worth building over the other. Assault Marine Weapon 1: Laser Yet another free kill. Sarillian The Sarillians are a rather nasty race who, because the game often disadvantages you against them in single player, appear harder than they really are. Of course, this is not to downplay their strengths, but they do still have exploitable weaknesses. Advantages Strongest shielding in the game Long range beam weapons (though are usually inaccurate over a long distance) Most ships can cloak Ships can be hard to see Disadvantages Most vessels have a low ammunition count Most secondary weapons are lack-luster Fighter Weapon 1: LRPK Beam Perhaps the toughest and most annoying fighter. The have as much shielding as an Ishiman Cruiser (which, to me, seems to be a little high) and are very difficult to see. A pack of these can be fairly frustrating to deal with, but they're not that bad. Cruiser Weapon 1: LRPK Beam Weapon 2: Anti-Matter Pulse Special: Stealth These are sort of souped-up Catharan Cruisers. They trade a little bit of their speed, but they gain a much better main weapon and more shields. Otherwise, they can be treated the same as their green counterparts. Gunship Weapon 1: LRPK Beam Weapon 2: Plasma Cannon Special: Stealth Sarillian Gunships are a bit of a black sheep for this race. They're actually less well protected than other gunships (except for the Gaitori). However, they are much faster than the other gunships and can cloak too. They can hit pretty hard as well, but the low ammo count on their secondary (mere 50 shots) means they're not very scary for long. Carrier Weapon 1: Trans-bolt Weapon 2: Magno Pulse Special: Launch Bay (Saril Fighters) This Carrier will probably give anyone who encounters it nightmarish flashbacks of the last time they met them. They are huge, dark ships carrying strong weaponry and a cadre of some of the toughest fighters in the game. The Magno Pulse is essentially a stronger Atomic Pulse wielded by the Gaitori. The Trans-Bolt claims it only deals a tiny amount of damage, but it hits every frame the beam exists (and it lingers). Luckily, the tip is what is painful and it is easily distracted by energy balls, missiles, fighters, and what have you. You're probably more likely to kill it with a small squadron rather than one or two big ships. Heavy Destroyer Weapon 1: LRPK Beam Weapon 2: Trans-pulse Special: Stealth Nice, strong shielding, but not exactly strong offensively. It's quick and able to go invisible, but its secondary doesn't share the same punch as the Quasi Pulse on the Catharan Heavy Destroyer. Therefore, it's a bit less effective than the Catharan (or any other) Heavy Destroyer, but it can still hit pretty hard if you let it. Transport Special: Stealth This is the only cloaking transport, making it the best one by default. They've been known to slip in through combat undetected and capture planets right under an opponent's nose. So, if you're playing against Sarillians, take no chances and always expect a Transport. Assault Transport Weapon 1: LRPK Beam Weapon 2: Magno Pulse Special: Assault Team Probably a bit broken, as it carries a full supply of Magno Pulses, unlike other Assault Transports do with missiles. It can even just ignore the attackers and fly straight all the while providing ample offensive. Once it has done its job, they make great combat ships. Assault Marine Weapon 1: LRPK Beam Can be useful with the LRPK Beam. Emphasis on 'can'. Audemenon Like the Sarillians, single player likes to disadvantage you against them. However, they are still a force to be reckoned with. They carry some rather nice defenses and very strong weapons. Much of the time, they take a little cunning to beat, since they excel at winning big fights. Advantages Strong weapons Second best shields Disadvantages Main cannons and missiles have delayed fire, making them a bit ineffective at strafing Fighter Weapon 1: ASB Beam This little thing is powerful, with a lot of shielding and a strong weapon. Unlike the Sarillian fighters, they are easy to see and shoot. However, they are slower than other fighters, being roughly as fast as the quicker Cruisers. Cruiser Weapon 1: ASB Beam Weapon 2: Anos Pulse (not to be confused with the Onas Pulse) Special: Hologram Generator Perhaps the strongest cruiser in the game. The Anos Pulse has infinite ammunition, has a long range, and hits really hard. In fact, they are a bit on the game-breaking side. Additionally, they carry a Hologram Generator, which makes holograms of them to distract and confuse ships, missiles, turrets, and even players. Throw on good agility, good shields, and a decent main gun and you have one heck of a Cruiser. Gunship Weapon 1: ASB Beam Weapon 2: Rapid Anos Pulse They are quite strong and have more range than other Gunships. They're slow, however, and that speed can be exploited. They don't gain much of an offensive edge over Cruisers, however. The Rapid Anos Pulse shoots roughly twice as fast as the Cruiser's. Carrier Weapon 1: Trazer Weapon 2: A. Missile (Atomic Missile?) Special: Launch Bay (Audemenon Fighters) A very scary Carrier. The fighters this thing deploys are nothing to sneeze at and, while they take a moment to get going, A. Missiles are more powerful than Concussive Missiles. The Trazer is a very short-ranged turret that fires lingering beams. Like the Trans-Bolt, these do damage each frame a ship is in contact with it. Consequently, in very close range, Carriers are devastating. The turret can be distracted, but it has a fair rate of fire and can have as many as three beams "up" at the same time. Heavy Destroyer Weapon 1: ASB Beam Weapon 2: Chronon Particle Gun Special: A Missile A very well put together Heavy Destroyer. It has good protection and the Chronon Particle Gun is a powerful weapon. The slower firing rate on its other weapons keeps it from just getting away with reckless piloting other Heavy Destroyers can get away with while still doing lots of damage. However, this thing can tear faces off if left unchecked. Transport I would have expected the Audemenon to do something special with these. They didn't. Assault Transport Weapon 1: ASB Beam Weapon 2: A Missile Special: Assault Team Like all Assault Transports, it makes a good combat ship when it has done its job. A. Missiles hurt, but have that annoying delay. Assault Marine Weapon 1: ASB Beam Can cause a bit of pain, but usually dies. The Other Races You'll encounter almost all of these in single player. Some are good, some suck. Obain Escort* Weapon 1: PK Beam Weapon 2: Protopulse Special: Stealth The escort is pretty much another name for cruiser. It is fast and powerful with about the same durability as an Ishiman Cruiser. They can kick some serious butt and are fun to fly. Transport* Weapon 1: Repulser The only armed Transport and it actually has energy to use the Repulser, unlike Engineering Pods. Battleship* Weapon 1: Protopulse Turret Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles A pretty strong ship. Basically, take an Ishiman Carrier and trade your fighters for the maneuverability of a typical Gunship. It can kick butt and easily get close enough to make the Protopulse Turret less of a hit-or-miss weapon. Elejee Cruiser* Weapon 1: Newo Beam Weapon 2: Onas Pulse Let's just say it's a good thing the Elejee are not multiplayer playable. They wouldn't need any other ships. The Newo Beam causes a bit of a jamming effect on victims, making their controls inoperable. The scary thing though is the Onas Pulse, an infinite ammo monster of a gun. It has long range, inflicts as much damage as a Concussive Missile, and can knock back its victims. Now add good shielding and agility and you have a nightmare you'll be glad to never have to fight. Bandaneze Battleship* Weapon 1: Z Beam Weapon 2: R Plasma It has the speed and size of a Carrier, but much more durability. The Z Beam is a very short-ranged turret with a good rate of fire and decent damage. The real gun though is the R Plasma, which is a long range, homing weapon with a high rate of fire. The shots move similar to the Atomic and Magno Pulse but are much nimbler and hit much harder. The ammo regenerates slowly, however, so once its out, the Battleship isn't much help. Grolk Light Cruiser Weapon 1: Photon Pulse Slow and weak, but can turn decently. Cruiser Weapon 1: Photon Pulse Weapon 2: Laser The exact same as a Light Cruiser except its faster, a little stronger, and has a second weapon. Neutrals and such. Planets These give you resources. You also builds ships at these most of the time. When you own one, you can expect to have to protect it from enemy transports. When an enemy has one, you can expect to have to capture it. White Asteroid These float around on some levels and break into smaller asteroids, which break into samples. Sometimes Zerbilites will float around them. They are very durable and generally not worth bothering with. Green Asteroid Weapon 1: Collision Much bigger than their white cousins, avoid green asteroids at all costs. Contact with one is instant death. If you do kill one without touching it, they will release a number of energy balls. Zerbilite* Weapon 1: Ram Weapon 2: Launch Bay (Zerbilites Spawn) (Doesn't always have this) These float around white asteroids. When anything gets close, they'll pursue it and attempt to collide with it. Also, some of them can create Zerbilite Spawn. These little things float around white asteroids. When something gets close they'll chase after it and try to collide with it. Also, some of them can create zerbilites spawn. Zerbilite Spawn* Weapon 1: Jamming Ram Same as above, except smaller and quicker. They're a little less tough, but getting hit by them will lock up your controls. Energy Ball These come from ships that blow up. Collect them to restore your energy or reserve energy a bit. Flak Drone Weapon 1: Flak Weapon 2: Anti-Matter Pulse Special: Concussive Missile This is something you should avoid unless your an engineering pod or you own it. You can destroy it, but it'll take a very, very, very long time. Plus you'll probably need Onas Pulse to do so. It has tons of missiles and Anti-Matter Pulses. The Flak is limitless, powerful, and hits over a wide area. Its usually a good idea to capture these. Border Drone* Weapon 1: Rapid PK-Beam Weapon 2: Anti-Matter Pulse Special: Concussive Missile Same as a Flak Drone, except for its first weapon which makes it less dangerous overall. It cannot be captured by Engineering Pods. Outpost Weapon 1: Repulser Weapon 2: Concussive Missiles They produce resources equal to half a planet, so it's worth trying to capture them with an Assault Transport. They're fairly durable, so you'll need a small squadron to take it down. Bunker Weapon 1: Repulser Weapon 2: Protopulse Special: Concussive Missiles They're nastier than outposts but produce more resources too. They have better offensive and defensive capabilities, so you'll need more ships. Bigger, badder, stronger outposts. They produce as much resources as a planet and can destroy ships pretty well. Go for these over outposts. Power Station* PROTECT IT! These produce as much resources as a planet, but they are defenseless. Instead of being disabled, these get destroyed. When you see an opponent with one, kill it ASAP. -------------------------------- Walkthrough -------------------------------- Each mission lists your objectives, primary and optional, and the ships you will encounter on that mission. Following that is one or more basic strategies for completing the mission, which you should feel free to change and improvise on depending on how the situation plays out for you and to your own play style. Mission 1: Easy Street Objectives: Kill 5 transports before they reach a Gaitori Outpost. Available Ship: Ishiman Cruiser Enemy Ships: Gaitori Fighters, Gaitori Cruisers, Gaitori Transports Welcome to mission one. Sit back and enjoy how easy this mission is, because this game has a steep difficulty curve at the start. Your first enemy in this game is the Gaitori. These guys are pretty weak in the hands of the A.I. (they don't know to zerg you with 40 Gunships, that HURTS) so they're perfect for the early part of the game. Use their ships to practice and hone your skills, you'll need them when Ares takes the kid gloves off. You begin with a sole Ishiman Cruiser for the mission, which will cause failure if it explodes. There are five Gaitori Transports guarded by assorted Fighters and Cruisers. You can easily hyper-jump to each Transport and kill it without so much as getting shot at and you have TONS of time to do it (Transports are slow and the closest one starts very far away from the Outpost). So, go ahead and practice fighting the Gaitori ships, the experience will be helpful coming up. If your shields get low, just back off from the fight and kill all the Transports. As for the Outpost itself, it cannot be attacked and cannot attack you. So no, you can't try to be a badass and take it out. Mission 2: The Stars Have Ears Objectives: Kill 4 Listening Posts Available Ships: Ishiman Heavy Cruiser, Obish Escorts Enemy Ships: Gaitori Cruisers, Gaitori Gunships Mission 2 can be almost as combat-less as Mission 1, though you WILL get shot at. Your targets, while fewer and immobile, are much sturdier and have nastier guards. Luckily, you get an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser, which is basically a mini-Heavy Destroyer. Enjoy it, because it kicks butt. The Listening Posts themselves are guarded by Cruisers and Gunships. You will come to know and hate Gaitori Gunships. Or more specifically, their long-ranged homing pulses that chase you for quite a long time and are not easy to dodge until you figure them out. To avoid them, you basically need to fly at them, but enough off course that it'll go right by. While they can make sharp turns, the pulses have a lot of momentum and can't double back very easily. If you just try to turn and avoid it like any other shot, it'll just smack you. Anyway, you don't have to worry about that until the third Listening Post. The first two only have Cruisers. Take em out and move on. At posts three and four lurks a Gunship. You may want to practice fighting the Gunship or just outright kill it. They'll teach you a lot about dodging homing projectiles. Luckily, the Gunships are, literally, only as sturdy as a Cruiser, so it shouldn't be hard to blow it up once you get close. The Obish Escorts will appear after the third post is destroyed, so if you're having trouble completing the mission consider taking that one out first. The post guards will retreat to Myrmidon Station, a bunker. You CAN take it out, but it's difficult without some fancy piloting and has no effect on the mission, so only do it for bragging rights. Mission 3: While the Iron is Hot Objectives: Capture the Gaitori's planet. Available Ships: Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Transports Enemy Ships: Gaitori Fighters, Gaitori Cruisers, Gaitori Gunships, Gaitori Carrier, Gaitori Transports This is the first level where you'll control a base (and, consequently, more than one ship) and be tasked to capture an opposing base. The tutorial will have given you a little preparation for this, but the best way to learn is to try it. This mission is very rushable but, until you feel comfortable commanding fleets and handling attack waves, I recommend taking it slow. Both sides start with a single Cruiser and are capable of building the above listed ships (except the Carrier). The enemy has an advantage on you on what they can produce, but it's not too big of an advantage. Spamming Cruisers, which is what you'll want to do, is quite effective for Ishiman. If you're not rushing (whether you're a new player or not comfortable with blitzing the enemy yet), hang back at your own base and start amassing Cruisers. Build some Fighters too if you never have just so you can try em out. Keep in mind, they cannot hyper-jump. The enemy will eventually come to you. Kill them as they come and continue to amass your forces. After a minute or two, a Carrier will come in as enemy reinforcements. Gaitori Carriers lack any sort of turret, so therefore have a massive 350ยก blind spot. Exploit it and don't get hit by the missiles, which are its most dangerous weapon. In the mean time, when zoomed out, watch for "+" icons on the map. Those are Transports. It's never a bad idea to send one or more ships (or fly there yourself) to kill them, as they can slip through the chaos of combat and take your base sometimes. Once you have a sufficiently overwhelming force, send your whole force to their world (blowing up any transports they have on the way) and capture their base with one of your own. If you rush, head straight for the planet at the start, build some Cruisers (three to five), a Transport, and then spam more Cruisers. It's possible to take their just as the Carrier arrives. Mission 4: Shoplifter 1 Objectives: Save 11 Obairds Available Ships: Ishiman Heavy Cruiser, Obish Transport Ally Ships: Obish Escort Enemy Ships: Gaitori Fighters, Gaitori Cruisers, Gaitori Gunship, Prison Pods Just to note, Ally ships in this or future missions are basically friendlies you cannot give orders to or take control of. Shoplifter 1 can pretty much be described as a more complicated The Stars Have Ears. You're engaging guarded, stationary targets once more, but once you do with them once you take them out is the big difference. Your goal is to guide your Transport, which is armed with a wimpy weapon, to each prison cell, pick up prisoners (each cell releases five when destroyed), and deliver them to the Luxury Liner. Prisoners can be shot and killed and the mission is basically a failure if the Transport dies, though won't officially fail unless you lose all three ships. The "safest" way to do this mission, though not necessarily the easiest, is to target a cell, order the Transport to it, and then hyper-jump there and take out the guards before it arrives. Once you've broken a cell open, the Gaitori will get a squad of reinforcements, mostly Fighters and Cruisers, which will go after you, the Transport, or the Luxury Liner (it can't be attacked). Remember, you only need to rescue eleven prisoners, so don't worry about leaving some behind if you got to get your Transport into the clear ASAP. Also, watch out for the Gunship at Prison Cell 3, especially if you don't dodge Atomic Pulses well yet. For reference, the "easier" strategy is to go as a trio to each cell and fight it as a group. This puts your Transport more at risk, but it does give you more firepower, especially since the Escort is set to follow the Transport and will not listen to your orders. Mission 5: Out of the Frying Pan... Objectives: Capture the Gaitori Planet, Capture the Flak Drones (middle is optional) Available Ships: Ishiman Fighter, Ishiman Cruiser, Ishiman Transport, Ishiman Engineering Pod Enemy Ships: Gaitori Fighter, Gaitori Cruiser, Gaitori Transport, Gaitori Gunship, Gaitori Heavy Destroyer, Gaitori Engineering Pods Capturables: Two Flak Drones, one in the middle and the other guarding the enemy planet Unlike Mission 3, you cannot rush. Not only does the Gaitori Heavy Destroyer outclass your Cruiser in every way, but they also have a Flak Drone sitting on top of their planet. Luckily, the build lists are the same as Mission 3, except both sides can now build Engineering Pods. Two start with two Engineering Pods, so go ahead and send it to take the middle pod. You don't need to touch this pod at all, but it is convenient to have so you don't have to manually pilot Transports around it and it does shoot down enemy ships sometimes, including any Transport they send since they're too dumb to go around. They will attempt to retake it, whether you stop them or not is up to you. For the rest of the mission, you may want to hold off attacking until the Heavy Destroyer is severely weakened or destroyed or you have a hugely overwhelming force (or both). When you're ready to assault their base, you'll need to run some sort of distraction so the Gaitori ships so your
pod can take their drone without getting shot down.  The easiest way to do
this is to just throw a ton of ships at the planet, though this does risk
the pod getting caught in the crossfire.  You can also fly solo and try to
lure them away from the drone, but the A.I. is stubborn and this doesn't
always work.  Once you've gotten the drone (after however many attempts),
blockade the planet and send your Transport in.  Just expect many losses
if your distractions require more than yourself.


Mission 6: ...And Into the Fire
Objectives: Capture the Gaitori Planet
Optional: Destroy their power stations, protect your power stations
Available Ships: Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Transports,
Ishiman Engineering Pods
Enemy Ships: Gaitori Cruisers, Gaitori Fighters, Gaitori Gunships, 
Gaitori Transports, Gaitori Engineering Pods
Capturables: Six Flak Drones, one over each power station, you control 
three and they control three.

With all the resources as their disposal, the Gaitori will attack you
fast and furious.  Luckily, the only advantage they have over you is
being able to build a Gunship, so this mission isn't too hard.  You can
win quite easily by rapidly taking out their power stations while
guarding your own, which is the covered strategy, but if you want to you
can just prevent any from getting blown up (on both sides) and have some
massive and frequent battles.  Sometimes they just endlessly send one ship
at a time, but others, if you let them, they'll send some forty or so ships
to meet your own fleet.  Those fights can get pretty epic.

If you're not looking for a shot at epic battles (which, let's be honest, 
it can take awhile for that many ships to get build and the A.I. usually 
won't wait that long), the fastest approach is to build Engineering Pods
and capture the enemy's Flak Drones ASAP while destroying any Pods they
send.  Once you have the extreme resource advantage, building a fleet
that can easily decimate the Gaitori should be trivial.  Rushing this
mission is fully possible and more or less encouraged.

For convenience sake, if nothing else, control the middle two Flak Drones 
so you don't have to guide Transports.


Mission 7: On The Rocks
Objectives:  Collect 4 asteroid samples
Optional:  Prevent the Astrominer from being destroyed
Available Ships:  Ishiman Heavy Cruiser, Ishiman Astrominer
Enemy Ships: Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Heavy Cruiser, Catharan 
Schooner, Catharan Gunship

This mission introduces you to your true enemy:  the Catharans.  You'll
spend most of the rest of the game fighting them, although this mission
doesn't force you into direct conflict with them.  However, if you can
keep the Astrominer protected, it's worth fighting them some to get the
hang of it as you'll meet a variety of their ships.

The objective is simple:  break down the asteroid and get the samples from
it.  The Astrominer excels at this task but sucks at combat.  Your
Heavy Cruiser is the opposite.  Consequently, to complete this mission
as easily as possible, you'll want to keep them both alive.  Though, 
losing one will not cause failure.

At the start, you will begin over a planet.  En route is a Catharan
Heavy Cruiser, which can be avoided entirely if you move away before it
arrives.  Their Heavy Cruiser is not as dangerous as your own pound for
pound, but it is faster and can cloak.  Not to mention it can easily
kill your Astrominer if it decides to.  Head to the asteroid as soon as
you can, where you'll meet a Schooner.  Schooners are stupid fast but no
deadlier than a fighter.  Even still, you should eliminate it so it doesn't
harass your miner.

Once the threat is gone, watch the Astrominer blow up the asteroid.  It
will break into smaller chunks, which in turn will break into one to three
samples.  After collecting one, a pair of Catharan Cruisers, led by a
Gunship, will appear and come straight for you.  Killing them while
keeping the Astrominer alive is difficult, but possible.  The Cruisers
are very similar to Ishiman counterparts.  A little weaker, but faster and
stealthier.  The Gunship is markedly different from the Gaitori ones.
Those were fast, fragile, and attacked from long range.  This one is
slow, tough, and deadly at close range.  Avoid getting in front of it.

You can alternatively ignore them and focus on trying to get the last
samples, but expect to lose the miner if you do this.  If they give you
trouble, try releasing at least four samples before collecting any.  That
way you can just grab the samples and not need the miner anymore.


Mission 8: Astrotrash Plus!
Objectives:  Collect 10 asteroid samples
Optional:  Prevent the Astrominers from being destroyed
Available Ships: Ishiman Heavy Cruiser, Ishiman Astrominers
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Schooners, 
Catharan Heavy Cruisers 

During the course of the mission, seemingly random amounts of the above
will appear and seek you out.  The difficulty of fending them off seems
to range from easy to rather hard, so you may want to consider your
options.  You can try fighting them or you can immediately lead your
squadron into the asteroid belt where you're unlikely to be found.  In the
belt, the miners will start breaking stuff down and may spread out.  They
are usually fine, but on occasion get killed by green asteroids, 
Zerbilites, and marauding Catharans.  If they all die and you're not close
to getting ten samples, you may consider restarting.


Mission 9: Hand Over Fist
Objectives:  Capture the Catharan's Planet
Optional: Capture the Unoccupied Planet
Available Ships: Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Gunships, 
Ishiman Defense Drones, Ishiman Transports
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Gunships, 
Catharan Defense Drones, Catharan Transports, Catharan Carrier

Now that we're done mining asteroids for reasons that don't relate much to
the plot, we're taking the Catharans head on.  This mission is a typical
"capture the enemy base" but spices it up with an "up-for-grabs" planet,
Carrier reinforcement for the Catharans, and introduces both Gunships and
Defense Drones.  The planet is purely optional but will double the owner's 
resource output.  Therefore, it has immense tactical value and whoever gets
it and holds it will likely win.  You don't need it for victory, but you'll
at least need to stop them from claiming it.

As said, you'll encounter four new ships here.  You'll be introduced to
Gunships of your own, which are slow, tough, and can give quite a beating.
Get a few with Cruiser support and they'll certainly do quite some damage,
but on their own they can easily be outmaneuvered, isolated, and swarmed.
Both sides can build Defense Drones, which are basically near-immobile
weapon platforms with Heavy Cruiser armaments and tons of shields.  They're
great for guarding your base and making a few should be on your todo list.
Finally, the Catharans will get a single Carrier for back-up after a minute
or less.  It carries missiles and fighters like the Gaitori one, but it
is also more durable and carries a turret with a high-rate of fire, 
allowing it to easily ward off attackers.

Until they own it, the Catharans will focus on the neutral world almost
exclusively and will lock it down quite tightly.  If you want it, you'll
either have to fight for it and employ some strategy.  You can try taking
it quickly, though expect a long and bloody brawl.  Amassing a force to
take it is safer, though takes time and would probably just as well let you
take their headquarters directly.  A third, more clever tactic is to launch
a sufficiently large diversionary attack on their main base after
positioning a Transport near the unoccupied world.  They'll recall most,
if not all, of their vessels to prevent you from blockading you, allowing
you to send the Transport in, preferably with guards in case they left
anyone behind, to take the planet.  However, ignoring the planet entirely
and slipping a Transport into their base while they have their forces
elsewhere may be the easiest strategy.


Mission 10:  Assassin
Objectives:  Kill both Catharan Carriers, Protect the Ishiman Carrier 
at all costs
Available Ships:  Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Heavy 
Cruisers, Obish Escorts, Ishiman Carrier
Enemy Ships: Gaitori Cruisers, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Fighters, 
Catharan Carriers, Catharan Heavy Cruisers

Ah, this mission is pretty downright fun.  Just a big battle with a
couple of targets you need to destroy and one you need to
protect.  You even get a trio of fun ships to pilot:  Heavy Cruisers,
Obish Escorts, or the first Ishiman Carrier you will have seen up to this
point.  Your Carrier is slow and tough and behaves much like the Catharan
ones.  Its turret is stronger and longer ranged, but has a much slower
rate of fire.  It can still drive off attackers quite handily.

At the start, one of the Carriers and its escorts will proceed to attack
you.  Your fleet should be larger than its, so fighting it off shouldn't
be an issue.  Just make sure to keep an eye on your Carrier and focus on
wiping out theirs to eliminate their missile and fighter support.  Once
it is dead, reorganize your fleet, swap ships if necessary, and proceed to
attack the other Carrier (leave yours behind if it has sustained heavy
damage).  Throw everything you have at the other Carrier, as all you need 
to do to win is kill it, even if they still have all of their other
ships.

If you're particularly bold, attack the second Carrier straight off the
bat so the first chases you into that fight so you're engaging both
Carriers and their escorts at the same time.  It's harder to win like this,
but it certainly is fun!


Mission 11:  Shoplifter 2
Objectives: Rescue 21 humans, don't loose your Heavy Destroyer.
Available Ships: Ishiman Heavy Destroyer, Ishiman Fighters
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Sarillian Fighter, Catharan Cruiser, 
Catharan Heavy Cruiser, Sarillian Cruisers, Prison Pods

Here, you're introduced to more new ships, both good and bad.  The good
is the Ishiman Heavy Destroyer, one of the nastiest in its class.  The
ship is wicked powerful and also quite tough.  It can eat Carriers for
breakfast and still be ready to fight.  You'll also meet the Sarillians.
They pilot black ships that are not only hard to see as is, but cloak on
top of that.  This mission will show you their startling durable fighter
and their Cruiser, which is like an improved Catharan Cruiser.  Be warned,
Sarillians have "Long Range Photo-Kinetic Beams", which basically means
they can shoot you from quite far.

As the title suggests, this one is similar to Shoplifter 1.  However, 
you're not escorting anyone.  Instead, your destroyer will pick up the
prisoners.  You'll also need to make two trips to each Prison Pod in
order to get the required twenty-one, as you can only carry five at a time.
The first cell is guarded by two Catharan Fighters and a Sarillian
Fighter.  The latter is not worth the effort to kill.  The second is
watched by a Catharan Cruiser and Heavy Cruiser.  The third by three
Sarillian Cruisers.  I recommend going in reverse order so you're at
your strongest against the bigger threat.  No enemy reinforcements will
appear during the mission, so feel free to open up on the guards.
Or just ignore them, break open pods, and scoop up prisoners while
mitigating incoming fire.


Mission 12: Make Way
Objectives: Capture the Catharan's planet
Optional:  Complete construction of the Obish Battleship
Available ships: Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Gunships, 
Ishiman Transports, Ishiman Engineering Pods, Ishiman Assault 
Transports, Obish Battleship
Ally Ships:  Cargo Ships
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Gunships, 
Catharan Transports, Catharan Engineering Pods, Catharan Assault 
Transports, Catharan Carrier
Capturables: Two Flak Drones and Two Bunker Stations.  These are in a 
line in the middle, with the Flak Drones on either end and the Bunkers 
in the middle.

Make Way is, perhaps, one of the longest and most complicated missions in
the entire game.  The objective is simple and straight forward, but there
are a lot of other variables at play here.  The worst one is the
Catharan's resource generation.  At least in the latest release of Antares,
the Catharans generate three times as many resources as normal, the
highest base rate in the game.  Now the A.I. typically does generate more
than the player, though it's usually two times or less and that is easily
bearable.  But here, they will produce enough to match you owning both
Bunkers.  So, be prepared for a long, uphill battle.

At the start, the Catharans will begin with two Assault Transports with
their Carrier escorting them to the Bunkers.  This early capture attempt
will usually fail, but you may want to consider darting off as soon as
you can to ensure that it does.  You'll also want to gain control of the
closest Flak Drone and have nearest Bunker at least disabled if you plan
to get the Obish Battleship.  That thing, which is basically a more nimble
Ishiman Carrier that lacks fighters, will kick some nice butt for you and
can easily take on their Carrier if it is still around.  However, to get it
you'll have to protect all five Cargo Ships when they enter the system
after a few minutes, and that will not be an easy task.

As for the mission itself, you should happily let the Catharans do the dirty 
work of disabling the Bunkers for you.  They'll generally guard them
and make frequent attempts to capture them.  At all costs you'll need to
dissuade their capture attempts because the last thing you want them to
do is get even more resources.  Whenever you're ready to go for them,
bring a sizable fleet to clear out the guards they may have stationed, as
it is likely to be quite a few.  Be warned, if you take quite a few 
casualties you may not be able to hold the Bunker from attack.  However,
if you're at the point where you can hold both Bunkers, you're at the
point you can win.

This mission is not rushable.  The Catharans get too many ships and your
rush attempts will fall flat.  You can win without the Bunkers, but you'll
need overwhelming force to pull it off.


Mission 13: Yo Ho Ho
Objectives: Collect all 6 Escape Pods, bring the Luxury Liner to the 
jump gate, do not allow the Luxury Liner, any Escape Pod, and Tractor 
Tug to be destroyed.
Available Ships: Ishiman Heavy Destroyer, Ishiman Heavy Cruisers
Ally Ships: Ishiman Tractor Tug, Escape Pods, Luxury Liner
Enemy Ships: Gaitori Cruisers, Gaitori Gunship, Gaitori Carrier, 
Gaitori Fighters, Sarillian Fighters, Sarillian Cruisers, Sarillian 
Carrier

I hate this mission so very much.  There is a lot you cannot control,
leaving it as a bit of a luck based mission.  You get a Heavy Destroyer,
which is awesome, but that's the only good news.  The bad news is you'll
get attacked by a small fleet of Gaitori at the start.  They're not too
tough, but they can wear you down if you can't kill the Gunship and Carrier
fast enough and you need to conserve your shields and ammo.  Once they are
down, check which direction the Luxury Liner is moving.  More often than
not it is moving parallel to the hypergate or away.  If it is moving
towards, then you are in extreme luck and this will be a cinch.

Next, collect all six escape pods.  If the liner is moving towards the
gate, wait until it is very close before collecting the last.  Once you
have them all, a Tractor Tug with two Heavy Cruisers for support will
enter the system and move towards the liner, grab it, and tow it back to
the gate.  Both the tug and the liner are fragile.  The latter causes an
instant mission failure if it explodes and the former will make the
level unwinnable 95% of the time if it goes down.

But, there's nothing left in the system to... oh crap, what are those?
A Sarillian Carrier with a few Cruisers for support?  This won't be pretty.
Set the Heavy Cruisers to follow you and watch the Carrier carefully.
Most of the time it will head for the gate, but if you and your tug are
close enough, it'll target your group instead.  Either way, you'll have
to fight it sooner or later.  You can either engage it before the tug
gets near it and try not to die or move ahead of the tug as it draws near
to draw away fire.  If doing the latter, it's best to come from a different
direction as you may have done back in Mission 5 with the Flak Drone.
The liner and tug are highly likely to die should a Sarillian look at them,
which happens all too painfully often, so this last part is more luck than
anything.  Just keep trying and eventually you'll get it.


Mission 14: Captivating
Objectives: Capture the Catharan's Planet
Optional:  Free the Bandaneze Battleship, Capture the world that 
controls the border drone.
Available ships: Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Heavy 
Cruiser, Ishiman Transports, Ishiman Carriers, Bandaneze Battleship
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Heavy 
Cruisers, Catharan Schooners, Catharan Gunships, Catharan Carriers, 
Tractor Moors
Capturables:  Border Drone (by capturing the enemy planet near by)

You have a large variety of ships at your disposal, but you can only
build the basic three:  Fighter, Cruiser, and Transport.  Meanwhile, the
Catharans can build up to Gunships and start with three Carriers (compared
to your two) and will get three more as the mission goes on.  Additionally,
they control two worlds, so this is once again an uphill battle.  You do
get to start in a Heavy Cruiser, however.

Start spamming Cruisers right away (since spamming Fighters probably won't
work).  Meanwhile, notice the big green diamond on your map?  That's a 
Bandaneze Battleship.  That thing is pretty darn mean with a turreted
beam and a ridiculously powerful homing weapon.  You want it.  Use your
Heavy Cruiser to kill the Tractor Moors whenever you get the chance, you
may need to bring support/decoys.  You'll get shot at by the Border Drone,
but luckily it is nowhere near as dangerous as the Flak Drones.  Once it is
freed, ship it back to your base and prepare for assault.  The safer method
is to capture the first world controlling the Border Drone (it doesn't
build anything) and then go for the second.  You can, however, skip it and
aim for the main base first, but not reducing their resources makes this
more risky.

Rushing on this mission IS possible, but extremely difficult to pull off
successfully.  If you want to rush, use up your starting resources first
and then move in.  Once the battle is engaged, go and free the Bandaneze
Battleship with the Heavy Cruiser.  Since you need everything at the
battle over the main world, you'll have to do it solo.  Once freed, send it
to the enemy HQ and try to wipe out the enemy fleet.  Alternatively, you
can rush the Battleship so it is present at the start of the fighting, but
you may suffer losses or even have your fleet get caught up in a protracted
battle near the Border Drone, which will happily spam missiles at you.
However, it is a far easier rush to to pull off than the first method.


Mission 15: The Left Hand
Objectives: Capture the Sarillian's Planet
Optional: Take out and capture the Sarillian Bunker
Available Ships: Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Gunships, 
Ishiman Assault Transports, Ishiman Transports, Ishiman Carrier, 
Ishiman Heavy Destroyer, Bandaneze Battleship.
Enemy Ships:  Sarillian Fighters, Sarillian Cruisers, Sarillian 
Gunships, Sarillian Transports, Sarillian Assault Transports, Sarillian 
Carriers, Audemenon Carrier, Audemenon Fighters
Capturables:  A different looking bunker

This mission pits you against the Sarillians.  But not just any Sarillians,
but ones with a Bunker in addition to their planet, giving them a
resource advantage.  Luckily, you start out with a trio of powerful ships:
Ishiman Heavy Destroyer, Ishiman Carrier, and a Bandaneze Battleship.  So,
surviving the initial onslaught shouldn't be too difficult as long as you
stay alert.  This mission will introduce you to more Sarillian ships.
Their Transports are noteworthy for having a cloak.  Therefore, never,
ever leave your planet undefended.  You'll also meet their Gunships, which
are faster than most in their class, can cloak, and spit high damage
fireballs.  Luckily, they can only build to the Gunship level.

In the center is the Sarillian Bunker, complete with its own unique
design.  It isn't any different from other bunkers except in appearance,
so don't worry about it spitting Trans-Beams and Magno Pulses.  At first
glance, taking out the Bunker would be a no brainer, but actually
presents a problem:  doing too much damage to it summons some nasty
reinforcements.  Specifically, two Sarillian Carriers and an Audemenon
Carrier.  The latter is your introduction to them and their carrier is
nasty.  It has missiles that are stronger than yours, a close-ranged
turreted beam that shreds stuff near it, and some rather tough fighters.

Consequently, ignoring the bunker may be far easier.  In fact, your
starting selection of ships, once you've expended your starting resources,
can be enough to overwhelm the Sarillians before they can use their 
resources to their advantage.  Just be sure to leave some guards watching
for Transports.  Alternatively, if you cannot manage a rush, you can
simply weather the storm until your fleet is unquestioningly superior to
theirs.


Mission 16: Hornet's Nest
Objectives: Destroy the Massive Device, Destroy the Audemenon Fleet, 
Protect the Research Vessel until it finishes it's scans
Optional: Don't let your Elejee Cruiser die
Available Ships: Elejee Cruiser, Ishiman Cruisers, Ishiman Fighters,  
Ishiman Gunships, Ishiman Carriers, Ishiman Heavy Destroyers
Ally Ships: Ishiman Research Vessel, Ishiman Heavy Destroyers
Enemy Ships: Audemenon Cruisers, Audemenon Fighters, Audemenon 
Gunships, Audemenon Carriers

This mission sees your frustration from Yo-Ho-Ho finally pay off by
the Elejee granting you one of their Cruisers.  And... wow, it kicks butt.
The Newo Beam is nice, but the Onas Pulse is where it's really at.  A
high damage, high range, decent rate of fire weapon with infinite ammo and
knocks back whatever it hits (even Carriers!), it can literally destroy
anything given time and decent piloting.

The Audemenon will show you their Cruisers and Gunships in this mission,
and both are tough.  Cruisers are quick and armed with Anos Pulse and
a Holo-Projector.  The former is like the Elejee's Onas Pulse, except
weaker and no knock back.  The Holo-Projector makes images of the Cruiser
that distract turrets, missiles, your radar, the A.I, and even the "Zoom
to closest hostile" and "Zoom to closest object" settings.  The Gunship is
less tricky, but has an Anos Pulse with double rate of fire.

The start will see a small squadron of Fighters inbound towards your
Research Vessel.  As, like all non-military ships, it is fragile, you're
best off intercepting them.  The two Heavy Destroyers will obliterate them
if they get near, but it only takes a few stray shots for a mission
failure.  You'll probably have killed the fighters first, but when the
Research Vessel is done scanning it will no longer cause failure on death
and can be ignored.

Next, the two Heavy Destroyers will move to engage the Massive Device and
most likely die as it is guarded by the Audemenon's Carrier, Cruiser, and
Gunship.  And we don't want them to kill the device yet anyway (though on
rare occasion they can pull it off).  Follow behind them and focus on
killing the Carrier with strafing attacks.  Trust me, you'll want it dead
for the finale of this mission.  When it's gone, considering taking out
the Gunship and maybe the Cruiser too, though they won't impact the final
battle as much, so feel free to destroy the device.

Once it is exploded, retreat to the Research Vessel (or where it used to
be) and wait.  After a moment, five Ishiman Carriers with an escort of
two Heavy Destroyers and a handful of smaller ships will appear.  While you
want to keep the Elejee Cruiser alive since it's so awesome, if you do
explode swap to the Heavy Destroyers.  The Aduemenon will send in a pair
of Carriers with a slew of other ships.  If you killed the Carrier at the
device, you'll be at an advantage, otherwise you'll have a hard fight.
Keep your awesome Cruiser out of the heavy fighting and aim for their
Carriers first.  If all else fails and you lose everything, you can always
strafe the enemy fleet to death with your Cruiser.  But otherwise, enjoy
one of Ares' biggest fleet battles.

Mission 17: ...And It Feels So Good
Objectives: Capture the Audemenon Planet
Optional: Capture the Bunker and both Outposts
Available Ships: Ishiman Fighters, Ishiman Cruisers, Human Cruisers, 
Elejee Cruisers, Ishiman Gunships, Ishiman Carriers, Ishiman Heavy 
Destroyers, Ishiman Transports, Ishiman Assault Transports
Enemy Ships: Audemenon Fighters, Audemenon Cruisers, Audemenon Gunships,
Audemenon Carriers, Audemenon Heavy Destroyers, Audemenon Transports, 
Audemenon Assault Transports
Capturables:  A bunker in the middle and two outposts, one on either 
side.

Virtually everything is available to you to build in this mission.
Everything from the lowly Fighter to the mighty Heavy Destroyer.  You also
start off with an awesome selection of ships:  a Heavy Destroyer, three(!)
Elejee Cruisers, and... oh... two Human Cruisers.  The Humans are the final
race in Ares and their Cruisers are a very poor representation of what they
are capable of.  They are basically a downgraded Ishiman Cruiser.

Meanwhile, the Audemenon start off with a Carrier, which they will use to
great effect in attempting to capture the Bunkers and Outposts.  They can
also build everything you can.  They may not build it, but their Heavy
Destroyer is just as nasty as your own are and will chew apart your fleet
if given the chance.

The battlefield itself is a bit different from the norm.  There are
asteroids all over the place, which will mask both your movements and
that of the enemy (great to let you park a Transport near their base).
There is a Bunker in the middle of the map and two Outposts to either side.
The Outposts aren't as well armed or protected and only provide half the
resources of a Bunker.  While going for them may or may not be worth it
(the Audemenon usually zerg them pretty hard, making them difficult to
hold considering the asteroid cover and long distances), you should keep
the Audemenon from acquiring them.  The best way to ambush their Transports
and the like is to hide near their planet in an Elejee Cruiser and
blast them as they come by.  Otherwise they are very difficult to track.

It's safer to build up a fleet (I recommend one Carrier with your starting
resources) to engage the enemy, but rushing is rather viable.  Sometimes
it will fail horribly, but sometimes they'll be too interested in capturing
stuff to fight you off with their whole fleet, letting you easily destroy
a chunk and prevent them from getting any reinforcements for a long time
while you steadily increase your fleet's size so that the rest will be
an easy kill whenever it gets around to trying to fight you off.

Whatever you do, the Audemenon will be reluctant to attack you until they
control all three stations, after which they will swarm you en masse.
Keeping them from capturing things means you can build up a fleet in peace.


Mission 18: Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat
Objectives:  Land 2 transports on the Humans' planet, capture the other 
planet
Optional:  Destroy the Audemenon Transport before it reaches the other 
planet
Available Ships: Human Fighters, Human Cruisers, Human Gunships, Human 
Carriers, Human Transports
Ally Ships: Human Transports
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Heavy 
Cruisers, Catharan Gunships, Catharan Carriers, Audemenon Fighters, 
Audemenon Carriers, Audemenon Gunships, Audemenon Cruisers, Audemenon 
Transports

This mission will suddenly swap you from playing the Ishiman to playing
the Humans.  You'll need to quickly adapt to the different capabilities
and disadvantages of playing this race.  Humans completely lack any sort
of long-range support and they all hyper-jump slowly.  However, they
all carry copious amounts of turrets and rapid fire weaponry.  They are
true believers in MORE DAKKA!  Although, those turrets are actually
extremely accurate.

You'll get to meet their Fighter, which sucks, Gunship, and Carrier.  The
Gunship and Carrier both are armed with the aforementioned Laser Turret
which is excellent at driving off attackers and shooting down missiles.
They both also carry Rapid Magno Pulses with a crapton of ammunition.
Getting in front of any Human warship is a bad, bad idea.

This mission starts off with an exciting fleet battle as a number of your
Transports make way to one planet while an Audemenon Transport attempts to
go for the other.  Don't worry about your Transports, they almost always
make it and you only need two of them to land.  So, at the start, head
straight to the Audemenon's Transport and destroy it.  If you let them
capture the planet, they'll get a lot of nasty reinforcements and wipe the
floor with you.  So, don't let them.

Once their Transport is down, go back and protect yours while trying to
destroy the combined Catharan/Audemenon assault.  Once you own your world,
you'll be showered in resources, which should immediately be put to use 
into building more ships.  Once your world is clear and you've exhausted
your initial resources, clear out the few remaining ships over the other
planet and capture it for a victory.


Mission 19: You Should Have Seen The One That Got Away
Objectives: Capture all 3 Catharan Planets
Optional:  Protect your power station
Available Ships: Human Fighters, Human Cruisers, Human Gunships, Human 
Carriers, Human Transports
Enemy Ships: Catharan Fighters, Catharan Cruisers, Catharan Heavy 
Cruisers, Catharan Carriers, Catharan Gateship

Good news, everyone!  The Catharans have unleashed their Gateship on you!
This sucker is MASSIVE.  As you can expect, it is extremely well protected
and very well armed.  It's capabilities, aside from lots of damage, include
homing projectiles, knocking ships way out of combat, and disrupting
controls.  Luckily, they won't rush you with it.

You start on even footing with resources.  They control three worlds, all
of which you have to capture, while you have two and a Power Station.  Your
main world can build up to Gunships and the moon only Cruisers, but you
have to lose both to fail the mission.  The Catharans will go out of the
way to try to kill the Power Station from time to time, so keep a few
guards, including one of your two starting Carriers, stationed there.
Losing it, however, won't put you at such a disadvantage that you'll be
forced to restart.

Start amassing a fleet and ward off Catharan attackers as they come.
They will go after any of your three possessions, so sometimes you'll need
to fly over and get the attention of those orbiting your moon.  You
should wait to attack until the Gateship is taken care of.  If you don't
go after it, it will eventually come to you, so be prepared.  Once you have
a sizable fleet or it comes knocking on your door step, go after it and do
not let up until it has retreated or your fleet is too decimated to 
continue fighting.  Once it is down, there is little stopping you from
taking the Catharan's worlds, securing victory for you.


Mission 20:  The Mothership Connection
Objectives:  Kill The Gateship, Kill all Catharan ships
Available Ships: Ishiman Modified Cruiser
Ally Ships:  Human Cruisers, Human Carriers, Human Gunships, Human 
Transports
Enemy Ships: Catharan Damaged Gateship, Catharan Carriers, Catharan 
Fighters, Catharan Heavy Cruisers

This is it, the final mission.  And it's a showdown between you and the
Gateship.  The Gateship has suffered damage since the last battle and is
no longer equipped with the Shrikeolator, the weapon that sends things
flying.  To combat with it you have a... Modified Cruiser.  Ok, it's a
very awesome Cruiser, complete with ridiculous agility, the Sarillian's
LRPK Beam, and, best yet, an Onas Pulse.  Yeah, it kicks butt.

There are two ways to take down the Gateship.  The first is the "intended"
way of sending green asteroids at it (which start appearing shortly into
the mission).  You'll need to use the Onas Pulse to slow one down and then
send it towards the Gateship (whether you go with it and adjust it's
course enroute or just focus on sending a bunch of em is up to you).  Be
careful not to bump into them.  It takes two asteroids to blow it up.  
The alternative is to strafe it over and over with the Onas Pulse.  This
will take a long time due to its Electrojam, but is surprisingly safe to do
as long as you don't bump into it.

Once it is down, five Catharan Carriers will jump in as the Gateship
explodes in a brilliant display.  They will immediately come for you
(though may alternate to orbiting Earth sometimes if they're close enough)
and will not stop until you are dead. Luring them into the asteroid belt
will not work as their missiles will blow them up before they even get
close.  Instead, you'll have to strafe them with your weapons (just use
Onas Pulse to conserve energy for recharging your shields) while taking
care not to bump into any Fighters or Heavy Cruisers out and about.  Once
everything is dead, a massive Human fleet with a few dozen Transports will
arrive to retake Earth while being amazed that you slaughtered everything.

And also, congrats on completing Ares!

--------------------------------
Multiplayer Levels
--------------------------------

Multiplayer does not work in Antares currently and therefore this
section has not yet been updated.  Yes, it even displays my crappy writing
skills from years back.

Between a Rock and a Rock
The simplest level...to a degree.  There is bunker stations and all, but 
its usually too much of a hassle to try to get them.  Before starting 
this level, look at your opponent's race and pick one you think will do 
best against your foe's.  Then construct the fleet you will need.  
However, if you are Sarillian, one mean trick is to build a Transport 
at the start and then pilot it near the enemy's planet.  When he 
moves his fleet away (or if he refuse to move, forcing you to attack, 
which would cause a distraction) capture the planet and you will win.

Scratching Post
No strategies, Game Ranger was too laggy to play that level, so I have 
no idea how it looks.  Sorry guys.

Space Warz
This one is about carefulness, patience, and staying away from the 
Flak Drones.  You only got three lives, so make them count.  The Light 
Cruisers can't take too many hits, so dodge the best you can.

Capture The Flag Pod
Its best to keep your fleet guarding yours and to skillfully pilot a 
single one to capture your opponent's flagpod.  If several of your 
ships get sent to jail, go and rescue them and use them to protect, 
escort, or capture, or whatever is needed most.

Location, Location, Location
Though you can attack your enemy, its not necessary.  Firstly, grab the 
nearby outpost so you can build the ships you'll need to capture the 
middle planet.  Next, use Engineering Pods to try to capture Flak 
Drones, which won't be easy, but a distraction will die before he gets 
a chance to distract.  Once you managed to make a hole, send in a 
Transport.  Keep an eye on your opponent too.  If you see a Transport, 
send a fast ship to kill it.   One interesting thing is sometimes the 
middle bunkers and Flak Drones will get in endless missile wars on 
occasion.  While its amusing to watch, try not to let it distract you.


-----------------------------
Contact Info
-----------------------------

Questions?  Comments?  Did I have incorrect information on something?  
Do you have a flying technique that I didn't include?  If you're a 
member on the Ambrosia webboards, you can send me a PM.  Account is 
JoshTigerheart.  If you want to email me, send them to 
TwilightPhoenix@gmail.com.  Make sure to have something like 
"Ares Guide" as the subject.  Also, no attachments unless I am 
expecting one from you.  Finally, hate mail will be ignored, deleted, 
and blocked.

Also, let me know where you found the guide, especially if you are not on
GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) or Super Cheats (www.supercheats.com).

--------------------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------------------

Q:  Can I play Ares on Windows/Linux/without Classic?
A:  No, no, yes.  The original Ares only works under the Classic
environment and therefore either requires an emulator, a non-Intel Mac,
or an ancient Mac.  Antares, however, can be ran on modern Macs.

Q:  What is Antares?
A:  Antares is an unofficial port of Ares to OSX using the original source
code released by Nathan Lamont.  It is created by Pallas Athene and can
currently play through the entire single player campaign with very few 
bugs, none of which I ran into that were game breaking.  It's goal is to
faithfully recreate the original Ares, but doesn't yet support multiplayer
or modding.

Q:  What is Xsera?
A:  Xsera is another port in development of Ares.  Unlike Antares, Xsera
is being built from scratch and will contain new features, such as 3-D
model support, will someday run on on OSX, Windows, and Linux.  It will
include the original game when it is finished, probably played with the
new features and graphics, but will have it's own engine, Apollo, that can
be used to make other games.  Currently it only has "Demo 2" released,
which isn't really playable obviously not even in Alpha yet.  However, 
Demo 3 is coming soon and will feature a fully playable Space Race, 
the Musical! level, as seen when you hit Demo sometimes in Ares/Antares.
Final release date is currently unknown.

--------------------------------------
Version Info
--------------------------------------

1.0 - First Release.  I think it's still on the addons page for Ares.

2.0 - Initial GameFAQs release.  A bunch of rewording and grammar 
fixes.  General refining.

2.1 - Ran it through a spellchecker.  Sheesh, that was a ton of typos.  
See kids?  This is why we don't use notepad to write guides.  Then
again, thats all I had back at the 2.0 release, and SimpleText before
it, which is no better.

2.1.1 -  Discovered the name of the Gate Ship's second weapon, updated
my email address and "Other Works by Me" section.

3.0 -  Updated for Antares release.  Rewrote chunks of the guide in light
of new strategies that being older and wiser has made known to me.  And 
also because my writing ability just outright sucked back then.


--------------------------------
Copyright Info
--------------------------------

This guide is copyrighted and therefore subject to international
copyright laws.  GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) and Super Cheats
(www.supercheats.com)are permitted to have it viewable as they do any other 
guide.  Anyone else is not permitted to distribute it or use it on their
website.  If you wish to use it, contact me and we'll discuss.  Please note
that I will not let you use the current version, since I'll have to update
this little section.  All rights not explicitly permitted in this section
are reserved.