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Need Help with Defending The Ark on Hardcore At End of Level


HalfEVILmonkey
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Okay so I am at the end of the level entitled Defending the Ark. I shot up the enemy battleship's circular guns until it finally tells me there are two weak spots that you need to approach. everytime I approach them, I get bombarded with mines or some other bullshit and die instantly. What the hell am I doing wrong? Its so annoying because if you die there, you have to successfully destory the entire ship's guns again. Worst part of the game so far. Any help is appreciated.

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I just finished this game on Hardcore, this was probably the hardest/most annoying part. The 6 things on either arm of the ship are what spit out the mines, and until you take them out they keep coming. As soon as I start I take out the 3 on the far left (looking at the ship) as they pop up, then go back and take out the 3 cannons. By now some mines should be heading your way so I usually fly back towards the Ark, turn around and destroy them before they can get me. Then quickly try to take out the other 3 on the left arm so you can attack that weak point. You don't have to attack it right away, I found it easier start taking out the other mine spawners right away since it gives them less time to send more mines.

 

It's definitely tricky but after enough tries I eventually got it.

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It's definitely tricky but after enough tries I eventually got it.

 

Thanks for the tips Viper...I will give this a try. I think yesterday I kept rushing right in as soon as I was given the yellow point markers to attack their weak point. I will let you know how it goes. This part is much harder (to me anyway) than the 3 Archons section the level before.

 

Also, for those (like me) who suck at controlling the guy while flying with the jet pack, I found it helpful to defeat this section of the game by getting the in the upper or lower left-hand (if you are looking at the Ark from the front of it) turret on the Ark and just let the f*cking battleship come to you. You can pretty much take out everything until the cut-scene let's you know you should attack the weak points.

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I focused on the outside set of 6 (retractable) targets first - doing one side at a time, and then the 3 non-retractable turrets, then finally went in for the 6 inner retractable targets. Right from the get go, I would hold down the X button to slow down and aim for the retractable targets on the left side (ships rigth side)...and was able to get all three....kept going on past the ship..turned around and came from behind on the ships left side...etc.

 

I dunno if you are already doing this or not, but I found my normal flying speed a bit hard to consistently damage/shoot my targets..it was not until I started holding down the X button almost all the time that air combat got much easier. At the slower speeds, it is easier to aim and kill your targets. Be warned that you are then an easier target, so you need to learn to do special moves to get away to recover health. Just run away to a safeish location, then hover...you seem to recover health much quicker if you hover. If you can manage to land someplace (I landed ON the ship in this mission), you recover your health almost instantly.

 

If you can get past this, you should be good. This guy was easily harder than the final boss fight.

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If you can get past this, you should be good. This guy was easily harder than the final boss fight.

 

Thanks for the tips rabies....jesus I cannot beat this section. I went ahead and lowered it to casual to get through it and finished the rest of the game on Hardcore. I am trying to finish all of the other achievements and build up my rocket pack to see if that will help, but damn if I can't do it. I have literally tried this sh*t like 50 times. Gotten close a couple of times, but not close enough LOL

 

Is there a time issue at all with the Ark possibly getting hurt/destroyed? Do I have really have to worry about it that much? I always feel like I am rushed because of it

Edited by HalfEVILmonkey
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Thanks for the tips rabies....jesus I cannot beat this section. I went ahead and lowered it to casual to get through it and finished the rest of the game on Hardcore. I am trying to finish all of the other achievements and build up my rocket pack to see if that will help, but damn if I can't do it. I have literally tried this sh*t like 50 times. Gotten close a couple of times, but not close enough LOL

 

Is there a time issue at all with the Ark possibly getting hurt/destroyed? Do I have really have to worry about it that much? I always feel like I am rushed because of it

 

Upgrading your jetpack will probably help, I was using the missiles a lot when I beat it on Hardcore. I also agree with rabies, I was holding X a lot when I was shooting.

 

From what I've seen taking out the cannons makes the Ark last much longer, so do those as soon as possible. After that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I think maybe some mines head for the Ark instead, in that case shooting them/the spawner thingies should help. I never saw the bar go past halfway so focus more on keeping yourself alive.

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Is there a time issue at all with the Ark possibly getting hurt/destroyed? Do I have really have to worry about it that much? I always feel like I am rushed because of it

 

I probably replayed it about a half dozen times before I beat it...and the ark getting destroyed was never an issue....and I would stop and stand on the ship a lot to recover health. So yea..the real tip to beating this is take your time and stop and recover health. If you keep pushing it and get greedy on time, you will just die.

 

...as radiantviper pointed out, do try to take out the cannons sooner than later though.

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I probably replayed it about a half dozen times before I beat it...and the ark getting destroyed was never an issue....and I would stop and stand on the ship a lot to recover health. So yea..the real tip to beating this is take your time and stop and recover health. If you keep pushing it and get greedy on time, you will just die.

 

...as radiantviper pointed out, do try to take out the cannons sooner than later though.

 

Okay, that is helpful. I got so frustrated with it I decided to save it for last. LOL, its strange how the rest of the game was so easy on Hardcore except for that one section. Those damn floating mines are such a pain in the ass. Thanks again for the tips.

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  • 3 months later...

After struggling with this for ages, I went down the left side and took out those three easy ones. I went under the ship and did a 180 and came back up the right hand side of the center which triggered the cut scene on the weak spots. Went all the way out and did a 180 again and repeated on the right side and back under the ship for another 180 and then take out the last 3 cannons on the left side of the center. Cleaned up the 3 AA guns and went for the weak spots. I almost got killed jumping from one weak spot area to the other, but luckily survived. For some reason there were tons of UFOs flying around shooting at me. Using the under ship strategy, basically removed the threat of the mines. I think I shot a few on my passes, but not nearly as bad as it had been before doing my turns under the ship.

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  • 1 month later...

This section took me roughly a dozen attempts. I looked at this thread while doing this part, and I tried the Ark AA turret suggestion but that led to the Ark being "destroyed" after taking too long to destroy the battleship. Instead, I "borrowed" a Survivor plane and used it to first blow up the outer turrets on the battleship, before clearing away the inner ones. The missile/projectile on both kinds of aircraft (Survivor and Watcher) is usually very effective against the pop-out turrets but you have to hit the reddish part (takes one missile from a Survivor plane, two hits from the Watcher's UFO missile). Also, the aircraft can take more punishment than Will so it's possible to ride right into a few mines and survive, although you'll probably get the exit-vehicle prompt.

I never had to destroy the blue turrets that are under each side of the battleship (as well as on the center of it), I just destroyed the pop-out turrets and then got the cutscene. In fact, the blue turrets never fired at me, so I'd just leave them alone unless they do fire at you. The plane strategy took a few tries but when I finally got it right it wasn't too difficult.

Good luck to those who are still going for it.

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This section took me roughly a dozen attempts. I looked at this thread while doing this part, and I tried the Ark AA turret suggestion but that led to the Ark being "destroyed" after taking too long to destroy the battleship. Instead, I "borrowed" a Survivor plane and used it to first blow up the outer turrets on the battleship, before clearing away the inner ones. The missile/projectile on both kinds of aircraft (Survivor and Watcher) is usually very effective against the pop-out turrets but you have to hit the reddish part (takes one missile from a Survivor plane, two hits from the Watcher's UFO missile). Also, the aircraft can take more punishment than Will so it's possible to ride right into a few mines and survive, although you'll probably get the exit-vehicle prompt.

I never had to destroy the blue turrets that are under each side of the battleship (as well as on the center of it), I just destroyed the pop-out turrets and then got the cutscene. In fact, the blue turrets never fired at me, so I'd just leave them alone unless they do fire at you. The plane strategy took a few tries but when I finally got it right it wasn't too difficult.

Good luck to those who are still going for it.

 

This an interesting tip, thanks for posting. I got so frustrated with this part that I never did beat it (although I beat the rest of the game on this difficulty. I may have to give it another go sometime. Thanks again for the tip...never would have though of getting a plane. Did you do it all in one plane or did you hijack multiple planes?

Edited by HalfEVILmonkey
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I think I may have used more than one plane. As long as you're not followed by enemy UFOs and being shot up, you should be okay for a while, until you start hitting mines, LOL. The AA turrets on the battleship have almost never fired at me so the only guns that do fire are the pop-out ones and they don't do that much damage. If your plane takes too much damage (I bail if I hear the beeping sound because it's very easy to get destroyed in a few moments from a tailing UFO) you can always just commandeer another Survivor plane or UFO. I prefer the planes because sometimes when I'm on a UFO I die when the idiot AI drives into a cliff. Plus it takes a while in comparison to just boarding a plane. However there's a good chance the planes have no rockets left, which can be pretty vital (their guns work well but rockets are quicker) and yet for some reason UFOs seem to have all of their rockets/missiles when you hijack them.

There are trade-offs to either kind of vehicle but I prefer the plane.

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wow....the only part that was hard for me on hardcore was at 2-4 where you had to kill 3 archons....on topic the part this thread is about is actually pretty easy....all you have to do is shoot the mines till there's no more. Then go to the 1 of the 2 weak spots....then when you want to go to the second one just make sure to shoot any mines you see.....+ shoot the three machines guns situated to the front of the ship...it might help ya....that'S the way i did without using any planes at all....

 

* sorry for my english...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Immediatly turn around go back and get a plane. Shoot the turrets with the machine guns as your first priority but the targets if you have a good shot with your missles. I probably used 3-4 planes so you have plenty of time. Shoot all targets before you after the two spots. This was far easier than the parts leadding up to it.

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The biggest problem was that the mines home on you :p But on the first run I would take out the turrets on the left arm on the outside, and if I had time I would take a couple of the inside ones too. Spin around and take out the machine guns at the front.

 

When they were done I would hijack a UFO, or Survivor plane, and start picking off some of the other turrets. I don't think the mines spawn until you get a few of the turrets down, or you fly close to the back of the ship.

 

Annoyingly when you destroy a set more spawn. But what I did was when they start getting close is to boost away. They will follow but they explode after a while. From there there you can start a run on the remaining turrets. I can't say I had trouble with the mines when I was re-wiring. I did hear them explode and the screen shook, so I assume they just blew up against the side of the ship, but I didn't take any damage

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  • 1 year later...

This took me a while to do as well but what swung it for me was that I made an effort to shoot the mines rather than just trying to avoid them, if you get close to them they will hit you so it's better to get rid of them asap and it gives you a free run to shoot the gun or whatever those pokey out things are.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 5 months later...
I don't have an issue with destroying the guns etc. Just when I get to the weak spots, I've unloaded so much ammo into it and nothing. So much for being the "weak spot". What do I do here. I was on a roll on DV today, and this just has me stumped.

 

Im completely stuck on this, I cant destroy this "weak spot" Ive been blasting away with every weapon and rocket pack and NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS , I can see the second weak spot but its protected with shield

 

Anybody know what to do?

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