Guide part 13
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Episode 8 - The Sentinel Awakes
Primary Objective:
- Kill Surt and destroy the Sentinel
- None
- None
This mission is long and requires you some foreknowledge of where things are coming from and what to expect. But this why you bought this guide. This boss, aside from the Fenrir, is the cheapest boss you will face since it is so heavily protected and armed with unavoidable beam weapons. The first thing to do is to pick a configuration. You do not want to take to the air, since that effectively cuts your life in half. You don't have that option once the boss starts firing. But you still need to take out air units (unless you're fast). That leaves two units that are viable: the Lancer and the Blazer.
Using the Lancer. The Lancer's main strength lies in dealing with the six fighters that are sent against you when the boss finishes the first phase of its attack and enters its last phase. Situated in the correct spot (naturally, I'll tell you where later) , the Lancer's flux missiles will kill all the fighters without hassle and take no damage in return. Once that is done, the Lancer is free to devastate the boss though with the same difficulty as the Blazer. The down side to all this is that the Lancer has no good long ranged weapon, and must rely on its Blaster to take out the tentacles without receiving harm. That may take up to three hours itself.
Using the Blazer. The Blazer's primary strength is its ability to use the plasma cannon on the tentacles and score considerably more damage against them compared to the Blaster. However, the Blazer's main weakness becomes evident against the fighters that appear halfway through. The Blazer cannot fly and take out the fighters, or the boss' beam weapon will roast the machine alive. The Blaster is too slow in damaging aircraft, so it will be stuck in one spot and get blasted by missiles by passing fighters. However, it is possible to destroy the fighters - eventually - using a blaster. It is not recommended. We'll go over the stage, so you can see what you're up against.
There are AA turrets all around the island. Detour around the fringe of the island and kill them first, using vulcan fire or your primary weapon. If you are fast enough, your air cover will be preserved long enough for you to score some much needed "up close" hits against the tentacles when they appear. The turrets can be taken out in flight or walker mode, so switch if you want. None of your fighter mode weapons will be used later (to any effect), so splurge now.
Do not stray close to the center of the island until the AA turrets are gone.
If you need to fly later, you may be (marginally) be able to dodge the boss' beam, but having more flak and missiles thrown at you is not desired. For the rest of the stage, you will be in walker mode. The only time you fly will be in phase two, and that will be for very brief periods (of five seconds or less).
The boss (Sentinel) has two phases. The first phase involves tentacles. There are two types of tentacles, numbering four of each type. The first type is the "bullet" tentacle that shoots rapid fire energy shots at Aquila. They can be dealt with at medium ranges as long as you keep dodging and weaving. However, the range of each tentacle is very long and up to three or four can fire on the Aquila when it is caught in overlapping fields of fire.
The two types of tentacle are bullet and beam. Bullet tentacles are described as relatively "easy" but beam tentacles are harder to deal with since their beam is reminiscent of the Fenrir's death cannon (without the explosion and instant death). Beam tentacles are also the ones that activate the boss. If you have the time to spare, kill three of the four beam tentacles first before focusing on the bullet tentacles. I say three of four since killing all the beam tentacles results in the boss being activated.
The tentacles will not activate until you near the center of the island. I haven't been able to find the precise location of the touchplates that activate the tentacles, but suffice to say, they are all around the ground in the island's center. Take out the outlying turrets so you have safe spots to duck to from the tentacles, and proceed against the tentacles in the following fashion:
Locate the large grey rock that is not attached to the main island. That is where the fighters will appear when the beam tentacles are all killed (and thus the boss activates). Place the grey rock behind Aquila and attack the bullet tentacle nearby. Note that if you are far enough away, the tentacle merely sways back and forth and will not fire. Use it to your advantage and either fire plasma shots or blaster volleys at it. Aim at the tip of each tentacle and you should see the green "Borg shield" effect when you score a hit. This takes a while. Make it a long while.
Work your way around the island counter-clockwise, making sure that the first tentacle you attack was a bullet tentacle and the last tentacle you destroy is a beam tentacle. If you do that, you get rid of all the tentacles, and activate the boss (and fighters) when everything else is cleared from the island. This is crucial if you're not interested in turning into a woman's thirty day special inside the Aquila's cockpit.
Have patience with the tentacles. If you don't want to get hit since you don't know how much the shots can do before your armour is whittled away. If you think the obstacles are defending you from the shots, you thought wrong. The tentacles have fire over the obstacle and given time, they can destroy the obstacle. When you are at the last tentacle, make sure you know which side the grey rock offshore is to where you are, so you can take cover from the fighters after blasting the last tentacle.
Upon destroying the last tentacle, huddle the Aquila close to the center structure on the side facing the grey rock and make sure some of the overhanging junk is shielding you from the boss' beam attacks. The boss of course, is in the center of the island firing large beams at anything that moves. Your aircover, if still present, will not be with you for long. If you can see the large grey rock in front of Aquila, aim in that general direction with your flux missiles or blaster and keep an eye on the radar for bright red blips. Down each fighter with a full flight of flux missiles, or as many blaster shots as you can afford. You can dodge the missiles, but if you started on the tentacle I recommended, you should have part of the boss' bulk protect you from the missiles while you can return fire with little impunity. If some fighters make it through, you'll have to deal with them without dodging since the beam will do more damage to Aquila if you leave cover.
Regardless if you were able to deal with the fighters, you can start attacking the boss' exhaust ports with plasma cannon fire or beam lasers from your position close to the boss. Attack the highlighted objectives (the green spot in the center is the weak point) and when they're destroyed, you need to hop over the armatures that radiate out from the boss structure. By hop, I mean fly for short periods. Adjust Aquila's aim up and shift when you see the beam die down. You have just enough time to hop the obstacle and find a spot in the next section that shields you from the beam weapon. There will always be a protruding piece of junk for you to use, no exceptions. Destroy all eight ports and the game is over. Just don't congratulate yourself too soon after blowing the last exhaust port. The boss needs to fire the laser again to be destroyed. But when the screen shakes with its destruction, you've won the campaign.
Save the game before power goes out.