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Cathedral of Kadesh
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Game
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Protagonists
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Antagonists
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Primary Objectives
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Destroy attackers
Investigate power signature Destroy hyperspace inhibitors |
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In Mission 8, the Mothership Fleet attempts to jump clear of the Great Nebula, only to find out the Kadeshi has created a hyperspace inhibitor field from the three Kadeshi Motherships!
Overview[]
During hyperspace transit, the Kushan note that the alien mothership had an identical power signature to theirs, raising the theory that they may be one and the same. However, they are soon pulled out of hyperspace by another inhibitor field, still inside the nebula and surrounded by three Kadeshi motherships, each one capable of preventing the Kushan from leaving.
Once again the Kadeshi offer the Kushan the choice of living with them in peace, but Karan Sjet tries to negotiate with them, using the idea that the Kadeshi may also be from Hiigara. The Kadeshi ambassador refuses, clearly showing fear of the 'evil' that drove them into the nebula, and that if the Kushan were allowed to escape, that they would also be destroyed and that the 'evil' would come to the nebula. The Kadeshi then begin their assault.
The two sides fight desperately, but the Kushan eventually gain the upper hand, managing to destroy two of the Kadeshi motherships, in addition to waves of several new ships, Multi-Beam Frigates. When the last of the Kadeshi motherships remain, they begin to retreat towards a point that has remained consistent on the Mothership's sensors despite the scrambling effect of the nebula.
Facing down the final Kadeshi mothership, the Kushan discover a large derelict identical to the Khar-Toba, confirming that the Kushan and the Kadeshi are the same species. The Kushan are still forced to destroy the remaining Kadeshi mothership and its defenders, and make the jump into hyperspace.
Mission Objectives[]
- Destroy the attackers.
- Destroy hyperspace inhibitors (the three Kadeshi Motherships).
Research[]
Research is only available here if the appropriate technology is not purchased in Diamond Shoals:
- Drone Technology - Leads to Drone Frigate (Kushan)
- Defense Field - Leads to Field Frigate (Taiidan)
Strategy[]
It's a trap! The Kushan get pulled out of hyperspace only to find themselves between three (count 'em, three) Kadeshi Motherships! And they won't be letting you just walk away. You'll need to destroy them before you can escape the garden for good. Tempting as it may be, don't go sprinting off to destroy those motherships. If you leave you own mothership un-defended in this place, you'll lose it fast. It won't be the swarmers that get you, it'll be a powerful new threat. Behold, the Multi-Beam Frigate!
Just one of these aptly named ships packs a whalloping four Ion Cannons, and can single-handedly destroy your mothership in two minutes. What's that? "Two minutes is a long time" you say? Well, yeah, it is. But that's for just one; the Kadeshi are going to throw these things at you in waves of four, meaning 30 second game overs. To make matters worse, they look very similar to those helpless Fuel Pods, so it's easy to let them slip from your notice. Remember those 12 salvage Corvettes from the last mission? Those are what's gonna save you. Have you salvage crews haul these bad boys in when they show up. The Multi-Beam Frigates are so set on frying your mothership, that they won't even attempt to dodge your salvage crews making this one of the easiest and most rewarding captures ever. Over the course of the next two missions, you'll be presented with the opportunity to capture 19 of them. If you can get your hands on them, you'll have enough firepower to last the rest of the game.
With your salvage crews taking care of the Multi-Beam Frigates, your capital ships taking care of their fuel pods, and your strike craft taking care of theirs, you should be able to weather this beating. The Kadeshi will throw eight Multi-Beam Frigates at you. Once you've taken care of them (either by capture or kill), it's time to do some of your own hunting.
You'll need your whole battle group to take out a Kadeshi Mothership, so don't try splitting them up to hit all three at the same time. Just hit them with everything you got, and you should come out on top. As a note, save before you attack each mothership! They have a bad habit of ramming your battle group, and anything they hit is destroyed instantly. You might lose eight or so ships in a single instant as the Kadeshi decide to lumber on through your formation. If losses are too high, just load your game. Remember, you need to have enough firepower to destroy three motherships.
Once you destroy the second Kadeshi Mothership, all of the enemy forces withdraw to a single point on the map. Que up your salvage corvettes, cause you've got 5 more Multi-Beam Frigates to deal with. Only, these ones are playing defense. Send your battle group and salvage corvettes off to the final confrontation with the Kadeshi. Kill the fuel pods, steal the Multi-Beam Frigates. If you let those frigates slip by, they'll waste your mothership in just over twenty seconds!
One of the Khar-Toba's sister ships, derelict inside the nebula
Once you finally get to that last mothership, Fleet Intelligence jumps on the horn and informs you that they've identified a nearby derelict as being a sister-ship to the Khar-Toba. So the Kushan and Kadeshi really are related... But don't let you stop your advance, that inhibitor field is still keeping you trapped in the garden. Advance, destroy that last mothership, harvest the area clean, and get out of there.
(Just a note, this last mothership seems particularly ram-happy. You can try and distract it with your strike craft, or put your capital ships into "sphere" formation. That way, they'll all try to maintain their distance from the mothership.)
If you didn't manage to get many of the Multi-Beam Frigates, you might want to try again. If you're happy with the outcome, build plenty of Attack Bombers for the next mission. Oh yeah, and some scouts. Yes, scouts.
Tips[]
- Capture those Multi-Beams!! If you don't, then you're throwing a huge amount of firepower down the drain.
- Don't bother building Drone Frigates if you get the opportunity. They are expensive, useless and have little firepower. Save your resources on Capital Ships, other Frigates and many Heavy Corvettes.
- One caveat to this point: Drone Frigates can be very effective at killing little tiny pesky ships, and often those ships will just target the drones, which reproduce free-of-charge every 10 seconds or so. But they're pretty useless vs. larger ships.
- If you have over 15,000 RU's at the end, build 80 Attack Bombers and have a total of 35 Heavies.
- If, once you hyperspace into the level, you focus straight onto the Khar-Toba derelict, the Kadeshi Motherships will not spawn any swarmers, leaving only the Multi-Beam Frigates to worry about.