Are you having trouble with my level? Could you use a few pointers for beating it? Well, you've come to the right place. I'll give you a few hints to beating the level, info on enemies and friendlies, etc.

First off...

This level was made specifically for a challenge, and was not meant to be terribly easy. If you are saying "Oh, the AI are too hard, and there's not enough ammo!" obviously, you aren't thinking about what you're doing. Ammo should not be used at your disposle, you need to conserve your ammo and be on target. This level was also made to correspond with you player difficulaty setting. You hotshots that think you can do it directly from hard, go ahead, but I doubt you'll make it all the way without any more of my tips, and even with that...

The Easy setting has the most ammo with teh least enemies. It also has teh most friendly soldiers at the beginning.

The Medium setting has a bit less ammo and a few more enemies. A few friendly soldiers gone.

The Hard setting has the least ammo with teh most enemies. A good chunk of friendlies gone.

I suggest you start on easy and work your way up if you are having problems. After that if you still get stuck somewhere, and you've done the previous setting <unless, of course, you're on easy>, then here's some tips you'll need.

FRIENDLY CHARACTERS

AGA Soldiers- The grey-coated soldiers around yu in startup are NOT enemies. They will help you as soon as any enemy soldiers are recognized. If they shoot you, it's only because you stepped in the way of their shot. If you keep taking damage from the ai, back away from teh area you're in. It's probably trying to take down a Unity Soldier.

AGA AT-STs- Those 2-3 AT-STs you see out by the squad of Unities are friendly. They will aid you by taking out the turrets and will later help you escape the facility. Do NOT destroy the one up on the ledge. It is your only way out of the base. It's health/shields have been expanded to protect it from being destroyed.

ENEMY CHARACTERS

The standard array of Imperial Stormtroopers sit in teh facility, but I have fixed the health on them to better replicate armor. Some of them also have shields, so they may take a while to kill...

Imperial Commandoes-Strong, but unshielded, they will take your health down fast and try to dodge your shots often. Shoot fast at these guys, tehy're found throughout the facility.

Imperial Officer- All Officers have had their health expanded to 100%. They're very precise but they are slow firers with their pistols, sometimes you'll see a stormie turn against an officer. relax and let HIM use his ammo first, then jump in.

Imperial Stormtrooper- The classic footsoldier of the Galactic Empire...They carry a standard E-11 and have heavy armor. They carry a weak shielding unit. Rather innacurate, but can take you down fast in numbers.

Imperial Stormtrooper with Repeater- Weakly armored and with no shield, there aren't many of these in the base. Sent chiefly as an inexpensive backup.

Imperial stormtrooper with Rail Detonator- These stormtroopers are common inside teh facility, a few guard the entrance immediately so watch yourself...they have rather heavy armor and a high-power shield, so you can spend a long time on one of them. Just keep close enough to them that they won't risk firing at you, but out of swiping range. Shoot fast and sharp with these guys.

Unity Soldier- The main soldiers in teh base are Unity Soldiers. These black armored troops carry an E-11, but are a little more accurate than the stormtrooper. They're armor can take less of a punch, but they dodge well enough to avoid it.

Unity Shielded Soldier- These are found even more in the base than the standard Unity Soldier. They carry high powered shields that will keep them running for quite some time. Make sure you have plenty of ammo before coming up on one of these guys, you don't want to be caught with just fists....

Worker Droid- These flying droids will float around blasting through walls with their laser cannons, but have a security mechanism on them that will alert them when someone is approaching. Stay back, they WILL attack you. Just get one or two quick, on target shots or one with the E-11 with scope.

LIN-V9P Mining Droid- A newer update from teh tread type mining droid, these work on repulsor lifts and drop mines around. They will attack you if you get too close, so keep your distance...

Probe Droid- Found all around the outside of the base and a few within the inner caverns, they are the powerhouse laser defense. The probes are the things you need to worry about the most. They'll attack you from above or below, and their cannons are stronger than a regular soldiers'.

Ithorians/Tuskans/Trandoshans- Native creatures to Ka`ard, one or two may have snuck into the base. Presume that they will attack you, though usually an imperial will go after it.

NEUTRAL CHARACTERS

R2 and R5-Units- These maintainance droids can be found in the grinder shafts in the bowels of the facility.

Ugnaughts- These short enslaven people also work in the grinder maintainance shafts. They are proned to being startled after years of imperial and unity abuse. They may run from you.

Weapons in Level

Just thought I'd tell you what weapons you can look for in the level, and what you're provided with from startup.

STARTUP WEAPONS-Fists (of course), Bryar Pistol, E-11, Sequencer Charges, and Repeater. Also included is a single Status Mine, but it is not intended for use as a weapon against the enemies, only for blowing up the base....

GRABBABLE WEAPONS (in the open)-Rail Detonator, Bowcaster

GRABBABLE WEAPONS (exclusively from ai or in secret areas)- Flash Bombs, E-11 scope, Flash Bombs, Sequencer Charges, Concussion Rifle

Basic Tips

Remember your objectives: Find power coupling (see picture A) and plant charges on it (see picture B). Escape the base. Rather simple. You do NOT have to sit there and kill every enemy around. If your health or ammo or shielding is running low, look for powerups or simply run away...attack from a distance. If you are trying to get into a specific part, try leading all enemies away from it and then make a break for the target. Jumping and Crouching will throw off the enemies' aim, I suggest when attacking any enemy you attempt a random jump/crouch pattern. If worst comes to worst, you may have to punch out somebody for ammo. All enemies can be destroyed by fists, even droids believe it or not. You just need to be quick.

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_Picture A_______Picture B

Area Specific Tips

Here are a few tips for getting past some of the awkward jumps and tunnels of the facility, as well as some key strategies for staying alive.

THE GUARDED ENTRANCE

As soon as you land, pick up the green crate by the landing craft. This crate will give you full amunition for your repeater rifle. This is a key element to surviving, since it IS a heavilly guardeed installation. It takes a bit of careful poisitioning to grab it; you must be directly in the middle of it.

As soon as you pick this up run for the rail detonator on the hill. As soon as you get there, the landing craft should drop off 4 more soldiers and leave. The Unity Soldiers stationed up at the top should come running down, and the AT-ST's will start firing (all but 1...). I suggest that you back all the way against the far wall, so that you don't get hit by your friendlies' shots. If one of the Railer Stormtroopers fall off the ledge and starts coming for you, keep moving around in circles around the area. This way he will never hit you. Your soldiers will take him out while you do this.

When you make it to the actual facility, it gets tougher. Your friendlies have stopped following you. Kill all of the enemies in the first room if you can. This will prevent them from following you into the next one. 2 probes will come dwn from above to attack you, so be ready for them.

Once you're past the wall and into the second room, mkae a break for the shield recharges in the corner <should be directly to your right as you go through your opening. You'll have to jump over a stormie> Don't atempt to kill all of the ai, there are about 15 of them in there, most of which have shield generators. Keep your eye out for a Railer Stormie on one of the ledges. On the side of the 3rd mining strut is an armored vest. Pick this up as soon as you can, and then break for the next opening. In here, you will eiether have to kill all ai or lead them away from the elevator. There are 2 bacta tanks in the corners, i'd go for them before anything. Ducking and Jumping also comes in handy here....If you fall off of the elevator as it is going up, there is a switch on the side that will call it back down.

INSIDE THE FACILITY

Once you get into teh building, the ai start to lighten up. Unity Protocol suggests that there are more soldiers defending the outside than teh inside, and this base is no exception. Still, you must keep wary for these ai, as they can often be better equipped and have better positioning than the outdoor soldiers, because now they can hide.

Curve every corner carefully and keep out your best weapon with the most ammunition. I would use external mode throughout most of the level, as there is rarely ever a soldier sitting solo...The grinder you first encounter <spins> will damage you if you get too close, you may even hear it chopping into your skin if you listen close enough. Stay back from this. The second grinder is more of a drill, so it's safe.

THE PHRIK MINES

Once you find your way into the actual mines themselves, you really have to watch your back. There are soldiers and worker droids around every corner. Besides these, you have to watch out for industrial machinery and lava pools. You may have to straffe across a few ledges to get to your objective, but it's doable.

As soon as you get into the mines, there are two breakoffs. One leads to a locked door, the other high above the floor of the cavern. There is a bit of latency here due to the architecture, but if you don't look down or up, or if you use the rifle scope, it's not noticeable. If you did get a hold of a scope or still have ammo for your Rail Detonator, try picking off as many enemies as you can from this ledge. Back in as you need. If your health is still over 90, you should be able to survive the fall from the ledge. Don't worry if you slip, you're not stuck down there. There is an elevator back up to the cavern from there, but you now have to watch out for teh two Miner Droids down there, and you are now an easy target for picking off. watch your step...

Once you find the blue key (No, i'm not going to tell you where this is, its not hard to find and I have to leave SOME mystery to the level...), you can open the door and get to the cavern. Keep an eye on the grinders....Here's a tip: when you get past the 2 grinders, there's a dropoff. It's rather dark down there, and you can;t be sure if you picked off ALL of the ai. If you have grabbed the 2 flashbombs in the first secret area, than throw one down and let it light up the area. Usually if an ai is down by that opening he'll come out to inspect.

Lava pools can be difficult...you must jump onto the ledge and tightly scale it. If you are on hard, a Railer Stormie will make things even more difficult. Try not to kill him with an e-11 or such, but try knocking him off of the ledge by hitting a rail or two on the wall behind him. This should knock him into the lava and kill him. NEVER QUCKSAVE AS SOON AS YOU LAND ON ONE OF THE CLIFFS. It's not a good idea, as they have sludge on them and you slide off if you're not constantly moving...

I'm not going to go into detail about what's down in teh dark caverns, but you should use your IR goggles < I know the don't do much in the level, but they help pick out the hot areas <usually people and enemies>, and you can see what the ugnaught does when he runs. This will clue you in on what is going on in there. Or, if you didn't pick up the IR goggles in the beginning, simply use your field light. You don't get the same surprise, but what can I do about that? If your batteries are drained, you're going to have to work blind. <a flash bomb works well here>

OK, you've got those General Tips down, go try the level again! If you still can't get it, E-mail me at AGAGnrlRamos@AOL.com and tell me where you're stuck, and I'll give you a tip or two on how to get past it. Also include the skill level you're working on. Have fun! I hope to pump out the level that is suppsoed to come before it <a recon mission that allows you to find the data on the base> and the following level <A fabrication facility for the Dnew Dark trooper series is found, and you are sent to blow that up too, while your cruisers fire down the closing in reinforcement ships> soon.