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Aquanox Mission Walkthrough (Ver 1.0)

Jan 25, 2003
by Alan Chan (joylock@hotmail.com)

The Usual:
This document is mine. Please don't rip it off or take credit for it. That
being said, feel free to post it on any site you want, provided you a) don't
make any changes to it, or b) charge money for it. You don't even have to get
my permission to post it (as long as it remains unaltered), but it would be
nice if you emailed me and let me know (joylock@hotmail.com).

Why?:
I wrote this rather average walkthrough of Aquanox since one doesn't exist yet
(in English at least). Most of the game's missions are straightforward and I've
probably gone into WAY more detail than I needed to, but a few are kind of
tough and/or confusing and a walkthrough would certainly save some people a lot
of frustration.

Warning:
I don't discuss the plot in detail, but I also don't make any effort to conceal
SPOILERS. If you don't want to know what happens in the game, don't read ahead.

This walkthrough only covers how to beat each specific mission. It doesn't tell
you the dialogue choices you have to take to make those missions available or
the specific equipment you should outfit your sub with.

This walkthrough was written while playing through on normal difficult. The
amount of enemies and their toughness in combat will vary if you play on a
different setting.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Missions:
- Asylum
- Terror
- Biont Scrap
- ELF-Terror
- Jumpship Accident
- Magma
Chapter 2 Missions:
- Sabotage of Turbines
- Code Books
- Kruger's Freighter
- Methane Hydrate
- Gulf Stream
Chapter 3 Missions:
- Seismobomb
- Santiago
- Crawler
- Brainfire
- Buoy
Chapter 4 Missions:
- Courier
- Coup Begins
- Vastian Griegh
- Sneakdrive
- Defeat
Chapter 5 Missions:
- Leisure Trip
- Atacama is Burning
- The Big Bang
- Sool
Chapter 6 Missions:
- Magma Eater
- War in Neopolis
Chapter 7 Missions:
- Crocell
- Forneus


Chapter 1 (The Tornado Zone):

Asylum:

Overview:

Your first mission is quite similar to the first mission in Archimedean
Dynasty. Once again, El Topo's given you a old clunker of a ship and sent you
out to blow up the scrap floating outside his asylum. This mission should be a
cakewalk, all but one of your targets is stationary and won't shoot back. There
is one slightly tricky part where you have to protect a weak target from being
destroyed, or else your mission fails. The game is full of these and some of
them can be quite frustrating, so you might as well get used to them.

Tips:

Walkthrough:

Mission Objective: Go to the nav point and blow up all the biont scrap

Pretty straightforward. After you've blown up the larger biont parts, the
remaining pieces may be tough to find. Trying driving off a short distance to
get a different perspective, and press your targetting button repeatedly until
you lock onto some scrap. You can also crank the detail setting on your radar
all the way up to full to see the red dots representing the scrap pieces. If
you're still having trouble spotting the scrap you might want to turn up the
brightness on your monitor. A cutscene giving you a new mission objective will
show after you've destroyed all the scrap.

Mission Objective: Escort the transport through the debris field

This part can be annoying if you're still getting familiar with the game's
control scheme. The transport barely has any health, so if it runs into more
than a few pieces of scrap it'll blow up and you'll fail the mission. The
transport moves slowly in a straight line, so try facing the transport's side,
strafing just a little bit ahead of it and blow up all the scrap in its path.
Things get a little tricky when a biont scout shows up, as it will start
shooting at the transport. Shoot the scout a few times to get it to attack you
instead of the transport, but don't concentrate too much on the scout lest you
allow some scrap parts to slip by you and collide with the transport. The
biont's attack shouldn't do much damage to you, so you can afford to ignore it.
Once the transport's path is clear of scrap for a few seconds, go ahead and
blow up the scout (it should only take a few seconds, as the biont has less
than 1 shield energy bar) before going back to clearing the debris.

Terror:

Overview:

Your first optional mission pits you in a one-on-one duel against a Neopolis
terror-tourist (basically a yuppie gone bad). As duels go, this one's a
cakewalk since your opponent is too drive to drunk. Basically, he'll just sit
in place and rotate to shoot at you.

Tips:

- Don't use torpedos during optional missions if you plan to make a profit from
them. Most are fairly simple/straightforward, but pay you a corrispondingly low
amount of credits for your work. Torpedos are so expensive they should
generally be saved for situations in plot-required missions where you'd have
trouble progressing otherwise.

Walkthrough:

Mission Objective: Defeat the Terror Tourist Randis Albion

This is a straight-out duel between you and the otaku Terror-Tourist. The
Tourist is driving a Federation Bomber, a tough ship with powerful weapons and
a large amount of shield energy. Fortunately for you, your enemy is driving
drunk and thus has problems manuevering and aimming his weapons. Just circle
strafe around him while pounding him with your weapons, and despite his tough
shields and strong guns he should blow up before you do. The Federation
Bomber's armament consists of a Doom Mortar and a couple of plasma turrets. The
D. Mortar's a powerful gun, but it's projectiles are relatively slow moving and
you should be able to avoid them by constantly strafing. The plasma shots are
tougher to dodge, but do only minor damage. If you're having trouble against
the Tourist, you can always try taking cover behind the surrounding buildings.
Also, if you circle him quicker than he can rotate, you can attack him from his
rear, his top, or his bottom where his weapons have difficulty aiming.

Biont Scrap:

Overview:

This is your first fight against multiple opponents, as you fight a few Biont
scouts in the midst of a field of Biont debris. The Bionts are easy opponents,
and unlike the first mission you won't have to worry too much about protecting
allied targets.

Tips:

- The Bionts are surprisingly easy opponents. They've got low health, they
don't move around all that much, don't shoot very fast, and their green plasma
shots don't do much damage to you either. The only disadvantage you have while
fighting Bionts is that their thin wedge shape (suspiciously similar to the
Millenium Falcon's) makes them difficult to hit when you're facing them
head-on, and even this is counteracted by their slow speed.

- Like many future missions, this mission doesn't end automatically. Instead a
Mission Accomplished message will appear on your HUD. When this happens, press
ESC and select Activate Dipol to end the mission. You can stick around and kill
more enemies, but you won't be rewarded for doing so.

Walkthrough:

Mission Objective: Escort the Catapillar through the debris field

Harper and Bonham will circle around overhead, while Sally orders you to escort
the Catapillar through the debris field. Follow the Catapillar, and Sally will
soon warn you that one of the Biont scrap parts is starting to come alive. The
Biont scout that begins to emerge from the debris field will take a few seconds
to power up, but will begin attacking the Catapillar once it does. As in
Asylum, the Biont is slow moving and severely weakened, so destroying it
shouldn't be too difficult. Further along the Catapillar's route you'll
encounter another Biont scout, followed by a pair of Bionts after that, but
they shouldn't be a problem. To make things even easier Sally or your wingmates
will warn you each time before the Bionts attack.

Mission Objective: Protect the Catapillars from the attacking Bionts

Once the Catapillar reaches its destination, a cutscene will play showing a
group of Catapillars under attack from three Biont scouts. Your wingmates will
enter the fray and should make quick work of the badly weakened Bionts, but you
can chip in if you want to. After the fight is over you'll be given the
opportunity to stick around and search the debris field for more Bionts, but
you don't have to. Just hit ESC as soon as the Mission Accomplished message
appears and activate your dipol to finish the mission.

ELF-Terror:

Overview:

Your first mission against normal human enemies pits you against
pro-environmental, anti-ELF activists. The Tornado Zone scouts you fight in
this mission have full shield energy and systems,unlike the Bionts, but use
weaker weapons and are still pretty slow. Overall, another easy and relaxing
mission, especially with the help from your two wingmates.

Tips:

- If you took the optional missions and haven't blown your dough on torpedos,
you should have enough credits to purchase a better ship and bigger guns by
now. I recommend buying an Avenger scout and equipping it with a Vendetta II
gun. The Vendetta's superior rate of fire should make the Tornado Zone scouts
you face in this mission much easier.

- Don't be afraid of getting into a war of attrition with an enemy TZ scout. In
fact, the easiest way to dispose of them is to face them head-to-head and
exchange gunfire. Provided you're got a Vendetta 2 gun and a better ship than
the Toiler, you should be able to destroy them without taking much damage in
return (especially if you aim for their glowing red cockpit). This tactic works
great against Zoner and even Crawler scouts, but isn't much use against the
fast moving Federation scouts or Schax. It's also suicide to try it against
bombers, frigates, or fully functional Bionts.

- To stop an enemy from attacking something you're supposed to protect, shoot
them a couple of times and they'll go after you instead. Be sure to actually
hit them with your shots for this to work. You'll have to use this technique
many, many times throughout the game.

Walkthrough:

Mission Objective: Pursue the Eco-terrorists

As the mission begins, a pair of Tornado Zone scouts piloted by hostile
environmental activists will stop attacking the ELF-Knot and fleet from you and
your wings. The TZ scouts are weakest enemies you'll face in the game, and
shouldn't be a problem for you to defeat. Chase them down and destroy them to
trigger the next objective.

Mission Objective: Protect the ELF-Station

Proceed to the new nav point, and destroy all the Tornado Zone scouts around
the ELF-Station. Although you're supposed to protect the station, it has a
large amount of shield energy and thus the TZ scouts shouldn't be able to
destroy it with their Vendetta guns. Your two wingmates are a big help against
the scouts, and in fact you can let them do most of the work. Once all enemy
scouts are gone, Sally will inform you the ELF-Knot is once again under attack.