Topic: Need help with Federation Mission "Elusive Quarry"

[Silellak]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your help getting cutscenes working, I really appreciate it.  Now, it seems I need help in another subject.

I can't seem to win the Federation Mission "Elusive Quarry", no matter what I do.  Maybe I'm just not good enough at the game, but I can't seem to handle dealing with all the ships plus the ridiculously-long-range Romulan defense platforms and of course the Warbird of Doom.

Can those who HAVE gotten past it give me some advice, please?  What ship type did you have and with what refits?  What strategy did you use to tackle the mission?  Did you get past it pre-patch or post-patch, since I know the patch enhanced Romulan weapon strengths.

Thanks in advance to any advice you can give.

[Trekker]

It was hard enough pre-patch. Now it's next to impossible, but what you need to do is pretty much snipe the stations with torps, try to keep your shields up until Arai comes, then lure her away from all her backup (assuming you have a DN by now), then you've got to shoot with everything until she warps away (Don't bother trying to finish her, I've blown up twice trying that)

[Toa_Tzu]

What I did was use a Nebula at first and tried many ways.  Lost every time.  Then I got the minimal Galaxy and the extra armor helped a lot.  I concentrated on the ships first and beat down Aries DN and then took out the defense platforms.  At this point the main battlestation just blew up and I didn't argue!  I was happy to get out alive.  

[sjvessey]

Got to this on 'admiral' level and just couldn't crack it.  Re-started the whole campaign on 'captain' and still got stuck for a while when it got to this point.  Anyhow here's what I ended up doing (while in a Galaxy):

Forget attacking the base, defense platforms or anything else when the scenario starts.  Just let the AI get on with it, maybe they will kill something and maybe they won't, but you need to stay out of range of the defense platforms.  Get yourself and the 2 ships under your control over to where Admiral Arai's warbird appears, and just wait.  As soon as she makes an entrance, attack like mad until she decides to high-tail it.  By this time, you'll be coming under attack from the Romulan ships that were hanging around the base.  Order your fleet to concentrate on one ship at a time and get them to capture, not destroy.  Then move on to the next.  Capture as many Romulans as possible.

In this way, by the time I was left with just the base and the defense platforms, I had one Federation ship and three Romulans under my control, plus my own Galaxy with only minimal damage.  From this tactical situation it's then pretty easy to wipe out the base by just throwing everything you've got at it.  Let the captured Romulans bear the brunt of the attack and use your own ship to just mop up.
 

[Credo Narth]

I agree, I've done this on Admiral level, with multiple bloodied nose. Firstly, I try to stay right on the outer edge of the base station and weapon platforms' weapon ranges (about 50 to 60). The Romulan ships won't follow you out of the base station'sW/P's weapons range. So you need to minimise the stations chances of hitting you while fighting the ships.

Then I try to capture the Warbirds (don't bother with Admiral Arai, you can't beam over to her). Then get them to take on Arai and the rest of the smaller Romulans. Hopefully by this time all Romulan ships will be captured, destroyed or gone (Arai).

Then I go for the weapons platforms, and afterwards the base stations. I'll usually move completely out of weapons range and try to let my shields return to full strength. This usually means a coffee break, sometimes 2 if you forget to move the game speed to 11. I then turn off phasers, and overload the shields before moving in. After that, I'll attck the W/Ps and the bast station, and hey presto! I've won.

Don't forget to be careful with your repairs. Make sure you have your Warp and heavy weapons online, otherwise let the damage rack up. And it will... I've done it twice in a hotrodded Akira. Well, it was an Akira at the start of the mission, by the end, it's a garbage disposal unit with crumpled coke cans for warp nacelles, it's so badly chewed.

[CmdrK]

I should have saved this one as a replay. I finally cracked this mission on Admiral level. I was flying an Akira. It took me about 7 tries to get the right set up for my ship and the right strategy. As per other advice, I dropped my torps and had 2 p12f forward, a p12f in 360, and 2 p10f on the rear flanks. Put armor IV and a transporter 4 on it. I had to drop to a comp 3 and had a top speed just over 20, with a .88 maneuver rate. Prestige points restricted my setup some.

Here's how it went. I stayed at 1/8 impulse with my wingmates, 2 Sabers, staying with me. I let an Intrepid and a Norway charge in to die. I waited for the fake Enterprise show up. I turned to it and closed. After the dialogue and Arai is exposed, I ordered my wingmates to attack Arai. The Intrepid and Norway kept the other Roms busy long enough for my fleet to knock Arai's Warbird to 1/2 hull and run. I lost a Saber doing it. By that time 2 Warbirds and a Falcon were on my tail. We ran, I ordered my remaining Saber to move behind the planet farthest from the basestation. It was my hope to draw the Roms away so my Saber could recharge shields, but the Roms went for the Saber. I turned to engage the Roms. I dropped a mine on the Warbirds and turned to the Falcon. With tractor engaged and phasers charged. Managed to grab the Falcon and knock a shield down. I beamed marines over and captured it. My Saber was still alive and had 1 Warbird around the far side of the planet. I turned to the nearest Warbird with the mind to capture. Once the Falcon was mine, I ordered it to capture my targetted Warbird. I managed to get enough marines on it before the other Warbird turned on me. My Saber was gone. I let my marines do their work and turned to pounding the second Warbird. I had the Falcon assist. By the time it was over I had captured both Warbirds and the Falcon. My damage was minor. The captures weren't in too bad a shape either.

I let my fleet recharge shields to full and skirted the boundary while heading to the corner nearest the basestation. The planet on that side allowed my fleet to close the station without taking fire. I ordered the fleet to attack the station. I went after a defense platform, dropping mines on it. I had 5 marines left. I picked another platform to capture. I then shared fire on the remaining platforms and the station. After taking out the platforms, I had lost a Warbird, a Falcon, and the platform. The station was finally destroyed with only a badly battered Akira and Warbird remaining.

Whew!!

The Intrepid and Norway, and then the planet, helped me isolate parts of the enemy. It came out as a divide and conquer.

[Silellak]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your help getting cutscenes working, I really appreciate it.  Now, it seems I need help in another subject.

I can't seem to win the Federation Mission "Elusive Quarry", no matter what I do.  Maybe I'm just not good enough at the game, but I can't seem to handle dealing with all the ships plus the ridiculously-long-range Romulan defense platforms and of course the Warbird of Doom.

Can those who HAVE gotten past it give me some advice, please?  What ship type did you have and with what refits?  What strategy did you use to tackle the mission?  Did you get past it pre-patch or post-patch, since I know the patch enhanced Romulan weapon strengths.

Thanks in advance to any advice you can give.

[Trekker]

It was hard enough pre-patch. Now it's next to impossible, but what you need to do is pretty much snipe the stations with torps, try to keep your shields up until Arai comes, then lure her away from all her backup (assuming you have a DN by now), then you've got to shoot with everything until she warps away (Don't bother trying to finish her, I've blown up twice trying that)

[Toa_Tzu]

What I did was use a Nebula at first and tried many ways.  Lost every time.  Then I got the minimal Galaxy and the extra armor helped a lot.  I concentrated on the ships first and beat down Aries DN and then took out the defense platforms.  At this point the main battlestation just blew up and I didn't argue!  I was happy to get out alive.  

[sjvessey]

Got to this on 'admiral' level and just couldn't crack it.  Re-started the whole campaign on 'captain' and still got stuck for a while when it got to this point.  Anyhow here's what I ended up doing (while in a Galaxy):

Forget attacking the base, defense platforms or anything else when the scenario starts.  Just let the AI get on with it, maybe they will kill something and maybe they won't, but you need to stay out of range of the defense platforms.  Get yourself and the 2 ships under your control over to where Admiral Arai's warbird appears, and just wait.  As soon as she makes an entrance, attack like mad until she decides to high-tail it.  By this time, you'll be coming under attack from the Romulan ships that were hanging around the base.  Order your fleet to concentrate on one ship at a time and get them to capture, not destroy.  Then move on to the next.  Capture as many Romulans as possible.

In this way, by the time I was left with just the base and the defense platforms, I had one Federation ship and three Romulans under my control, plus my own Galaxy with only minimal damage.  From this tactical situation it's then pretty easy to wipe out the base by just throwing everything you've got at it.  Let the captured Romulans bear the brunt of the attack and use your own ship to just mop up.
 

[Credo Narth]

I agree, I've done this on Admiral level, with multiple bloodied nose. Firstly, I try to stay right on the outer edge of the base station and weapon platforms' weapon ranges (about 50 to 60). The Romulan ships won't follow you out of the base station'sW/P's weapons range. So you need to minimise the stations chances of hitting you while fighting the ships.

Then I try to capture the Warbirds (don't bother with Admiral Arai, you can't beam over to her). Then get them to take on Arai and the rest of the smaller Romulans. Hopefully by this time all Romulan ships will be captured, destroyed or gone (Arai).

Then I go for the weapons platforms, and afterwards the base stations. I'll usually move completely out of weapons range and try to let my shields return to full strength. This usually means a coffee break, sometimes 2 if you forget to move the game speed to 11. I then turn off phasers, and overload the shields before moving in. After that, I'll attck the W/Ps and the bast station, and hey presto! I've won.

Don't forget to be careful with your repairs. Make sure you have your Warp and heavy weapons online, otherwise let the damage rack up. And it will... I've done it twice in a hotrodded Akira. Well, it was an Akira at the start of the mission, by the end, it's a garbage disposal unit with crumpled coke cans for warp nacelles, it's so badly chewed.

[CmdrK]

I should have saved this one as a replay. I finally cracked this mission on Admiral level. I was flying an Akira. It took me about 7 tries to get the right set up for my ship and the right strategy. As per other advice, I dropped my torps and had 2 p12f forward, a p12f in 360, and 2 p10f on the rear flanks. Put armor IV and a transporter 4 on it. I had to drop to a comp 3 and had a top speed just over 20, with a .88 maneuver rate. Prestige points restricted my setup some.

Here's how it went. I stayed at 1/8 impulse with my wingmates, 2 Sabers, staying with me. I let an Intrepid and a Norway charge in to die. I waited for the fake Enterprise show up. I turned to it and closed. After the dialogue and Arai is exposed, I ordered my wingmates to attack Arai. The Intrepid and Norway kept the other Roms busy long enough for my fleet to knock Arai's Warbird to 1/2 hull and run. I lost a Saber doing it. By that time 2 Warbirds and a Falcon were on my tail. We ran, I ordered my remaining Saber to move behind the planet farthest from the basestation. It was my hope to draw the Roms away so my Saber could recharge shields, but the Roms went for the Saber. I turned to engage the Roms. I dropped a mine on the Warbirds and turned to the Falcon. With tractor engaged and phasers charged. Managed to grab the Falcon and knock a shield down. I beamed marines over and captured it. My Saber was still alive and had 1 Warbird around the far side of the planet. I turned to the nearest Warbird with the mind to capture. Once the Falcon was mine, I ordered it to capture my targetted Warbird. I managed to get enough marines on it before the other Warbird turned on me. My Saber was gone. I let my marines do their work and turned to pounding the second Warbird. I had the Falcon assist. By the time it was over I had captured both Warbirds and the Falcon. My damage was minor. The captures weren't in too bad a shape either.

I let my fleet recharge shields to full and skirted the boundary while heading to the corner nearest the basestation. The planet on that side allowed my fleet to close the station without taking fire. I ordered the fleet to attack the station. I went after a defense platform, dropping mines on it. I had 5 marines left. I picked another platform to capture. I then shared fire on the remaining platforms and the station. After taking out the platforms, I had lost a Warbird, a Falcon, and the platform. The station was finally destroyed with only a badly battered Akira and Warbird remaining.

Whew!!

The Intrepid and Norway, and then the planet, helped me isolate parts of the enemy. It came out as a divide and conquer.