Strategy Central
Last Updated on Thursday, April 02, 1998
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Freedom Guard
Missions: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Imperium Missions:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Overall Mission Help
A) Set the game speed to SLOW. One purpose of the missions is to introduce you to the various Dark Reign units, buildings and features. At a slower speed you will be able to use some of the wonderful features in Dark Reign and figure out how they work. To change the game speed, while you are in a mission, click on the MENU button (top right corner of screen). Look for the running man icon ... that is the game speed bar. Click on the spot on the bar where you want it set.
B) SAVE the game frequently ... and with different names! To save a game, click on the MENU button (top right corner of screen). Then click on the SAVE button. It appears that you can save the game under many different names. I save mine with a simple name sequence like: FG1A, then FG1B, then FG1C. This tells me it is a Freedom Guard (FG) mission, it is misison #1 and then A, B, C is the sequence through the game being played.
C) After you successfully complete a misison SAVE THE GAME. You do this so you can come back at a future time and start where you left off.
D) DEFENSE. In many of the missions, you need to quickly establish a defense for your base.
E) You can REPAIR buildings as they are being attacked. This will cost you credits, but it makes the building last alot longer before it is destroyed (and in the case of a Laser Turret, for example, that means it can be firing at the enemy that much longer too). To repair a building just click on the WRENCH icon at the top of the screen (it is the 3rd icon from the left). Then your cursor changes to a WRENCH ... click on the building you want to repair. There should be a gray WRENCH dispayed on top of that building. Click on it again to stop the repairs (the WRENCH will not be displayed on the building anymore). Click on a blank area of the screen with the RIGHT mouse button and your mouse pointer returns to the ARROW pointer.
F) You cannot repair a building while it is being constructed.
G) If you need more credits and can't wait for the water level to build up at the Water Launchpad, just double click on the credits display at the center top of your screen (this will cost you a bit, but you get the credits right away).
H) If you need time to think about what to do hit the PAUSE button on your keyboard. This will PAUSE the game. Hit the PAUSE button again to restart the game. You can do many of the game functions involving the interface panel on the right side of the screen while the game is paused.
I) You cannot UPGRADE buildings in the first few misisons. The UPGRADE button is still there and looks like it is available, only nothing will happen if you click on it. This is not a bug in the game, but a design feature! The game introduces new buildings and units to you gradually, so it does not want you to have upgraded buildings right away since that will in turn provide you with more units than they want to introduce to you.
J) Once you get past the first few misisons you will be able to build a Repair Facility and a Hospital. You can Repair (Heal) your units in these buildings for FREE, so they are nice to have. You can even automate the process. Just change the DAMAGE TOLERANCE for a unit to MEDIUM and it will go to repair itself when its health bar turns RED. Set this setting to LOW and it will go to repair itself when the health bar turns YELLOW. This only happens when the unit is not in the middle of an attack. If the unit is taking part in a battle, it ignores its health till it is not attacking. You can select the unit and click on the "R" key to force it to go to the Repair Facility or Hospital.
K) A trick to winning is to GANG UP on the enemy. Have all your units in a group attack a single enemy unit and that unit will be destroyed quickly. The following example will show why this is a good idea. Let's say you have 3 infantry and the enemy is attacking with 3 infantry. If each one of your units attacks ONE of the enemy (each attacking a different enemy unit), each enemy unit will gradually be destroyed. However, while their health bar goes from GREEN to YELLOW to RED ... they each will be continually shooting at you! That is THREE shots every second or so. Now ... if you have all three of your units shoot at the SAME enemy unit, it will be destroyed three times as fast. Once it is destroyed, you only have TWO enemy units firing at you! This is 33% less damaging to your units!
L) If you find the missions are too hard (I'm a middle aged guy who just doesn't have that video game speed that younger players do or days to just play) you can change the senarios by copying the senario from the fixed folder (example m10f is freedom guard mission 10) to the single folder and change the money or give yourself some extra units from the construction kit. Try out the mission to see if you didn't wreck anything. Copy it back into the fixed folder and continue playing. Once you get a feel for the mission and figure out all of the tricks, just copy the senario from the CD intall folder and play at normal level. - Bill B.
M) The senarios have "hot" areas that can trigger onslaughts of troops and changes in tactics by the computer AI. So before you send large troop formations out of your known sphere of influence to attack, make sure you have your base and attack covered for counter attacks and sneak attacks. - Bill B.
N) The computer AI seems to send out attacks on the same routes. Once you identify those paths, cover them with snipers, infantry and artillery. - Bill B.
O) Use a "suicide" group to divert gun tower attacks to that group while your main group pulverizes it. - Bill B.
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