Iconics mission - The Link (Possible Spoiler Alert)

[beeze]

After player oolite last year, sort of 're-discovered' it (luckily found old saved game after my HDD crashed )

Ok - I'm doing the Iconics mission in Galaxy 2. I'm trying to become a fully fledged member of 'The Link' - which means I have to, "Seek and destroy Ramazan government vessels".

So I nip off to Zaria (home of the Iconics Corp) and jump back to Ramaza. Using my compass I detect a "B" which is an "Iconics CR150 Weapons Platform (Military Vessel)".

Using Fore + Aft military lasers and staying ~12km away, I can toast it - no problem. Change compass and follow "L" and dock at The Link base, I get free fuel, missles and my status is cleaned (nice!). I also get a counter of what the state of play is, e.g.

The Link: 96 (ships)
RLF: 50
Government: 197

By toasting the "Iconics CR150 Military Weapons Platform" the Government count drops by 1.

Is there a way of speeding this up? Otherwise it's going to be a long ole mission jumping out to Zaria (or suchlike) and jumping back in to Ramaza - getting "B" on my compass again and destroying the CR150.

The cleaning of my status is nice though - bought 35t of drugs at 4.4CR/t and sold them at The Link base for 92CR/t and Fugitive->Clean

[LittleBear]

The Govement also has lots of patrol ships in the system, usually in the space lanes. You should be able to get 5 or 6 of these on each run, but it will take forever if you are just hunting the weapons platforms. The rebels will shoot down a few if left to themselves, but you need to help out really. Been a while since I played this one, but from memory the govenment patrol ship are the types of ships in the Ionics fleet, like Redbacks and suchlike.

[beeze]

Ah! Thanks... I've not really seen patrol ships in the system - but maybe I've been too quick to zero in on the CR150 platform ship. I was about to see if attacking the space station in Ramaza and destroying the resultant Galcop fighters would lower the count.

Maybe I need to look for those Whitetails,Redbacks first

[Eric Walch]

Ah! Thanks... I've not really seen patrol ships in the system - but maybe I've been too quick to zero in on the CR150 platform ship. I was about to see if attacking the space station in Ramaza and destroying the resultant Galcop fighters would lower the count.

That part of the mission is a bit boring. And as LB writes: forget about the weapon platform, most kills are made by killing the plain enemy ships.

They are added in groups of 5 ships near the station and fly directly to the battlefield. However, the battlefield is not on the space-lane but on the lane linkbase <-> planet. At the battlefield are already your helpers waiting. So the best way to find those ships is flying to the linkbase. From there directly to planet until you find the battlefield. When no enemy is present there yet, change course to station. By that you should have find those.
A new group of 5 is only added when the last one of the previous group was killed.

And scoop some pilots when you get a chance.

[beeze]

Yeah, I kept to the space lane on Ramaza, i.e. direct line between Witch beacon and Space staton - nothing unusual. Got to the Space station - decided NOT to attack it or the Galcops. Did a 'U' turn back out to the witch beacon...still nothing! Did this a few times...

Then decided to use compass to track the CR150 down - and finally this time there were government ships (purple on radar but not Galcops) and not just the CR150. On the last few jumps (I've been trading Zaria-Ramaza) the only ship was the CR150.

This part of the mission is a bit weird and a bit of a slog...I'm hoping (like LB states) there's gonna be 4, 5 or 6 normal ships besides the CR150 on each jump in to Ramaza.

Thanks Eric - I'll try to look in the space lanes between The Link Base and Planet as the normal space lanes seem to be deserted!

[Commander McLane]

As Eric says: The government ships are added around the station and then fly to the Link base from there. And it's always waves of five ships.

My method of getting rid of them was to find them close to the station, get on their tails and just follow them until they have left the safety zone (don't want to alert anybody), and then kill them one by one. As long as you follow them, they won't attack you.

Then to the Link base with injectors, checking the report (should be 5 ships less) and back to the main station with injectors. Repeat.

The visit at the Link base is necessary, because the next wave of five is only added when the previous five are all killed, and you have docked with the Link base. So make sure that (1) you got them all, and (2) that you get over to the Link base afterwards. On your way you may also destroy the platform, but I found that at the end of the day I use less time for this tedious job if I don't bother with it.

And I'm sure that is not how the OXP's author imagined this part of the mission. He most certainly wanted to see battles around the platform. But the problem is that it takes both groups far too much time to reach the battleground, which gets very boring very fast. So I just killed the about 200 government ships just singlehandedly, without waiting for Link reinforcements.

Oh, and one last thing: When you return from the Link base to the main station and look for your next prey (they're not really enemies, more kind of lame ducks), I would advise you to dock at the main station first and save your game each time. Would be very stupid to have a crash or get killed when only three of four of them are left. And as the Link clears your legal status each time you dock with them, there is no problem with the main station.

[Eric Walch]

Oh, and one last thing: When you return from the Link base to the main station and look for your next prey (they're not really enemies, more kind of lame ducks), I would advise you to dock at the main station first and save your game each time. Would be very stupid to have a crash or get killed when only three of four of them are left. And as the Link clears your legal status each time you dock with them, there is no problem with the main station.

This part I found a bit stupid. Docking at the station of the enemy without penalty and get a change to trade there. In my update I changed this bit. After killing to many governmental ships the player is refused at main station! Than you have to save in another system.
As far as i remember is docking at the link-base not necessary for adding a new wave, only to assure you had them all.

[Commander McLane]

Oh, and one last thing: When you return from the Link base to the main station and look for your next prey (they're not really enemies, more kind of lame ducks), I would advise you to dock at the main station first and save your game each time. Would be very stupid to have a crash or get killed when only three of four of them are left. And as the Link clears your legal status each time you dock with them, there is no problem with the main station.

This part I found a bit stupid. Docking at the station of the enemy without penalty and get a change to trade there. In my update I changed this bit.

Yes, it is stupid. But what can you do?

As far as i remember is docking at the link-base not necessary for adding a new wave, only to assure you had them all.

Entirely possible. It's been a while since I played Ionics...

[beeze]

Thanks for the tips!

Yeah, I've got the government fighter count down to 135. I'm just taking out the fighters mostly by myself - there's one or two Link/RLF ships around but there's not really any mega battles.

I did get automatically ejected from the space station when I tried to dock. I dunno if my status was clean or not. I tend to jump out to Zaria and save the game after 10/15 kills or so. Also I can trade profitably between Zaria and Link Base.

I picked up 35t of Narcotics for 4.4CR/T at Zaria and automatically got 'Fugitive' status. 2 bounty hunters were waiting at the witchpoint at Ramaza. They weren't pleased when I toasted them both. But when I docked at the Link base I got sentenced to a "Attitude Adjustment Camp" and fined 2500.00CR Oh hum.....perils of dealing in drugs

[beeze]

You are not allowed to dock at Ramaza space station - even if you are "clean" (which I am). So I normally jump out to Zaria to dock and save

[Commander McLane]

Seems you are playing the overhauled version by Eric, then.

[Alex]

I've got down to 28 Gov ships left.
I go straight to the B field, there is usually a baddie there. then fly to the station. There are usually some on the way. Right up to the station, sometimes even dock, though they kick you back out. but then it seems to encourage a spawn of baddies. Then I fly on their course towards B and stop as soon as out side S zone and wait for them to catch up. I only return to the link when low on fuel.

Good hint is do the last few hits gently to persuade them to eject, then scoop the pod. Worth a few bob. But make sure you only dock at the Link, or next time you do you get a fine and some cheeky message about attitude adjustments. or maybe that was for docking at full speed??

If the boogers are reticent about spawning, destroy the platform and jump out to another system, when you get back, refuel at the shoppe and straight to the B area to start again.

Remember to SAVE while your out of system. Lost 50 kills coz I forgot once

[beeze]

I've got down to 28 Gov ships left.
I go straight to the B field, there is usually a baddie there. then fly to the station. There are usually some on the way. Right up to the station, sometimes even dock, though they kick you back out. but then it seems to encourage a spawn of baddies. Then I fly on their course towards B and stop as soon as out side S zone and wait for them to catch up. I only return to the link when low on fuel.

Good hint is do the last few hits gently to persuade them to eject, then scoop the pod. Worth a few bob. But make sure you only dock at the Link, or next time you do you get a fine and some cheeky message about attitude adjustments. or maybe that was for docking at full speed??

If the boogers are reticent about spawning, destroy the platform and jump out to another system, when you get back, refuel at the shoppe and straight to the B area to start again.

Remember to SAVE while your out of system. Lost 50 kills coz I forgot once

Thanks Alex

I've finished competed 200 kills - I've got the screenshot message, but maybe that's too much of a spoiler for you since you're so close too...

I'm not sure if I've finished the Iconics mission now...there's a tempting message when the war is won but I've visited (no names mentioned) the system outlined in the final message and there wasn't any mission waiting...can't be the end of the Iconics OXP surely?

[Eric Walch]

I'm not sure if I've finished the Iconics mission now...there's a tempting message when the war is won but I've visited (no names mentioned) the system outlined in the final message and there wasn't any mission waiting...can't be the end of the Iconics OXP surely?

Don't be surprised when it ends sooner. On ionics mission page the author outlines plans for version 1.3 and even a roadmap for a version 2.0. The newest version is only 1.2.3. Last update of the wiki page by the author was august 2006. Long ago. Galileo had more in mind so the ending is left a bit open for a follow up.

Last version of Galileo was 1.2.1. While playing it, I notices several small errors that asked for correction. So I uploaded versions 1.2.2 and 1.2.3. But still not the 1.3 that Galileo had in mind.

[beeze]

Last version of Galileo was 1.2.1. While playing it, I notices several small errors that asked for correction. So I uploaded versions 1.2.2 and 1.2.3. But still not the 1.3 that Galileo had in mind.

Oh! I like the roadmap for 2.0

Yeah, I'm playing 1.2.3 Iconics. This last 200 kill mission around Ramaza is a bit of a turkey shoot. I guess the writer was looking for something a bit more centered around The Link Base. In the end I killed virtually all 200 myself and The Link was left with 66 ships and the RLF with 43. It should be a lot harder, IMO.

I was expecting some better reward than, "thanks" after completing 200 kills. e.g. money and/or extra kill bonus (a la Constrictor mission). Oh hum...I guess that's freedom fighting for ya!

I like the idea of moving the The Link HQ to the anarchy planet - should make it tougher, with hopefully extra difficulties of mercenaries not aligned to The Link or Government, but just out to profit on the booty left after the 2 sides have fought each other! I also like idea of extra side "assassination" missions. This OXP has scope for a LOT more breadth, but it's been 3 years since the last update...