Things to Come

Description[]

Things to Come is the sixth and final scenario of the Asian Campaign in Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest.

Briefing[]

UFAR Webcast -- June 11, 2246

Ominous rumblings from the USCN Government continue today as President Allison Hardcastle makes it clear that the Earth will not recognize the newly organized Martian Alliance. Khan Sun Do, interim prime minister for the Alliance, worried that the Earth did not take the Alliance seriously, saying that "a military solution to the problem would cost both sides dearly."

When asked if he would consider military action against UCSN holdings on the Moon the Prime Minister would not comment.

Sun Do also spoke about the building unity amongst the members of the Martian Alliance. But private observers have noted that spokespersons for both Baker's Ridge, the North American settlement, and Port Chernobyl, the Russian group, have remained publicly subdued about the prospects of a Pan-Martian alliance, and privately have voiced concerns regarding military "maneuvers" near their bases. Scattered reports of military engagements to the South and West of UFAR base have been reported, but remain unverified at this time.

Objectives[]

Do not allow Khan Sun Do to be killed.
Do not allow General Bhuta to be killed.
Coerce or subdue the two additional settlements on Mars.
Destroy Baker's Ridge and Port Chernobyl, or attack their Capitols with a Cyber Ninja's Logic Bomb to force them to cooperate.
Take Phobos to obtain a long term resource supply.
Take the Moon to use as a forward staging area to attack the Earth.
Building the Orbital Space Station will give all your space units a morale bonus.
Move General Bhuta near an Earth capitol to capture it. Capturing three capitols will cause the Earth to sue for peace.

History[]

Toronto Star -- April 2247

President Allison Hardcastle, recently elected into the presidency of the USCN on a hard line military platform, will address the Joint Senate tomorrow evening. While pollution and food shortages are high on the public's list of concerns, President Hardcastle's address is expected to focus primarily on the Mars Crisis.

Since the capture of the Yamato two years ago, political strain between the Mars colonies and the Corporate conglomerates has peaked. The much touted "Mars Workers Security Cooperative", designed to provide Earth corporations with increased profits from, and control over, their Mars holdings, has instead led to resentment and violence from the workers on Mars. Constant sabotage of Company operations, and even outright revolt in a few instances, had increased USCN's military presence on Mars.

During this period of unrest Khan Sun Do, formerly a leader of a minor Martian Outpost, quickly consolidated his power. By espousing Martian independence he quickly gained the support of the disenfranchised Martian workers. Using a mixture of political savvy and military aggression, he became the de-facto leader of virtually every Mars outpost. Only Port Chernobyl and Baker's Ridge remain independent.

When the USCN took over Phobos as a forward military base, citing increased security concerns on Mars, Sun Do's regime protested bitterly. Stating that Phobos had been a Mars property for over 200 years (since the first settlers landed on Mars), the Mars Alliance likened the Phobos situation to the Cuban Missile Crisis of the mid 20th century. Sun Do's press secretary compared the USCN's presence on Phobos to a Mars Alliance military presence on the Earth's moon, and rhetorically asked Earth's citizens "how would they react to a threat so close to their home planet."

Critics of President Hardcastle complain that his hard-line political stance was designed to sweep him into office on a wave on patriotic "Earth First" fervor. But President Hardcastle responds that the future of space exploration will be determined by the precedents set regarding Mars.

Certainly few can argue that tonight's address will set the tone for Mars-Earth relations for some time to come. And while most agree that an easy political solution is not likely, no-one feels the prospect of war is an outcome that either side embraces.

Hints[]

Destroying the other colonies on Mars will give you access to their resources. Coercing them will give you a constant source of units.
The Dune Patrol is an excellent weapon to use against USCN troops, should they invade Mars.
Your resources on Mars are limited. You will have to expand to survive. Phobos is an excellent source of gold and iron.
The Moon can be used as a forward base for attacks on the Earth.
Beware of Earth attacks using the Wormhole to avoid your defenses.
The Yamato is on the other side of Mars, and will arrive to help you defend Mars.
Your scientists are working on building an Orbital Space Station, which will inspire your troops and provide morale to space units.

Storyline[]

The following is taken from USCN President Hardcastle's address to the UN, which makes the UCSN stance regarding the Martian uprising abundantly clear.

President Allison Hardcastle: Esteemed members of the council, my fellow Earthlings. We face a crisis heretofore unknown in our history, an attack from another world. And while it may be true that this other world is one we here on Earth have established, colonized, and settled, it can no longer be denied that this world is now our enemy. We cannot afford to be lax concerning this situation. If we do not take action at the immediate time, interests both economic and politic will forces to when we are not quite so prepared. The time to end this is now...we cannot afford to stand idly by any longer.

Six hours later, the following coded USCN transmission was intercepted by Mars controlled spy satellites.

USCN Leader: By order of the president: Operation Crimson Overlord to commence at 0400 hours. The designated rendezvous point is: Tranquility Base. All the units proceed immediately to Target objective. You are authorized to terminate all resistance with extreme prejudice.

Mars Alliance Fleet, near the moon...

Fleet Commander: Fleet to proceed to engagement area at Harper's Nebula...prepare for hostile encounter. Laser and missile batteries armed. Ion cannons primed. Fighter squadrons move into defensive array.

Fleet Officer: Rodger that, command. Fleet proceeding to Harper's Nebula. Will engage all enemy units...

Fleet Commander: Listen up, people. Wedge formations...swing em around to...mark 3.45...bring em in low and fast. We need to take out that SpaceDock.

Fleet Lieutenant: Hudson, will you get that thing back in formation... you're flying like a broke wing duck.

Hudson: Aw shucks, I'm tryin' Lt. You know this ain't my regular bird. This pile a junk handles like molasses in January.

Fleet Officer: Delta kilo niner...delta kilo niner....Fleet in position and awaiting final attack orders...over...

Fleet Lieutenant: Ok, people. Let's try to do this by the book...form up nice and tight.

USCN Space Dock, Tranquility Base.

Fleet Pilot: Space Dock targeted.

Fleet Pilot: Beginning attack run!

Fleet Private: Yeeeha! Look at that thing burn!

Fleet General: Bogies at 12'oclock!

Fleet Officer: Stay calm, everyone.

Green 2: I've got one on my tail!

Green 1: I'm on him, Green 2.

Green 2: Break right!

Khan Sun Do: A costly sacrifice, but now the moon is open to us. We must quickly build up another Fleet and dispatch it to the Moon, as we need it for a forward base of operations. We should also try to secure the small Martian moon, Phobos, as a launching pad for our fighters and bombers.

General Bhuta Kwai: We must also be prepared for incursions from the enemy forces, my Khan. Port Chernobyl to the South and Baker's Ridge, to the west, both guard valuable resources.

Khan Sun Do: Perhaps we can...persuade them...to join us in the glorious struggle against our oppressors.

General Bhuta Kwai: And if we cannot?

Khan Sun Do: We shall have to try...alternate methods.

If a Cyber Ninja gets control of the capitol of Port Chernobyl:

General Bhuta Kwai: Khan! Our forces are victorious. Port Chernobyl has agreed to provide us with ground reinforcements for the good of the cause.

When Reinforcements arrive:

Reinforcements have arrived.

If Port Chernobyl has been destroyed:

General Bhuta Kwai: We have control of the Southern resources, my Khan.

If a Cyber Ninja gets control of the Baker's Ridge capitol:

General Bhuta Kwai: Baker's Ridger has joined our cause. Their mechanized units will be joining ours shortly.

When you dealt with both martian rivals in any way:

Khan Sun Do: Our own house is in order. We should focus on the skies. Our hope is to use Mars as we wish. My Family and Fathers considered Phobos to be home soil. Should it not still be so? And if this goal accomplishes other ends, so much the better.
Take Phobos to obtain a long term resource supply.

When the Capitol of Phobos is destroyed:

General Bhuta Kwai: Phobos is taken, my Khan.
Khan Sun Do: On to the Moon, General. Our enemy does not respect us, so we must teach him to respect us.
The Yamato has arrived.
Orbital Space Station Technology available.

When you spot a wormhole:

This wormhole might allow Earth forces easy access to Mars.

After the Capitol of Luna is destroyed:

General Bhuta Kwai: The Earth, my Khan. It lies before us.
Khan Sun Do: Now the final step in the journey will be taken. Our opponent has underestimated our strength and resolve... we must not do the same.

When an Earth capitol is captured:

We have captured an Earth capitol.

When the last capitol is captured:

All of the 3 Earth capitols are captured, resulting in Earth suing for peace.

Walkthrough[]

Compared to the previous scenario, this one is much easier to deal with. You start off with a base in the northeastern portion of Mars (bottom right corner of the map), and there are two other factions alongside you, Novaya Russia and the United States, which are Port Chernobyl and Baker's Ridge respectively. After hundreds of years of mining, Mars' resources are finally starting to give out, and this is reflected by the fact you get a very limited source of Gold and Iron at your base. Very early on, a fleet of ships will come and destroy your Space Dock, so since you don't have a lot of resources, you should leave it be, as building ships can be very expensive. To get more resources, you need to either wipe out the other two factions on Mars, or make the trip to Phobos, Mars' Moon, where you'll find ample sources of Gold and Iron. However, destroying your opponents is not recommended, as the amount of resources you can obtain from them is laughable, and by the time you build a decent force in order to destroy their bases, chances are they've already dried up their resources. Therefore, a much better approach is, like in the previous scenario, to use Cyber Ninjas to make them your allies. Build two of them, and have them protected with one Apollo. Their shield ability will be enough to keep them alive long enough to pass through enemy units and infiltrate the Capitols. Once they become your allies, they will provide a valuable constant source of units, which will prove far more profitable in the long run. Baker's Ridge will provide you with Centurion tanks, which cannot be obtained otherwise, since you cannot build them at the Tank Factory. Port Chernobyl will give you different kinds of Infantry, specifically Guardians, Heavy Mortars and Stingers.

U.S.C.N, representing Earth, will constantly attack your base, even at the very beginning of the game. However, it is fairly easy to protect your base from them, as the first attacks always begin from the north of your base, and it's always a group of Sentinels only, so they can be perfectly countered with the Centurion tanks you're already provided when you start. Once you convince Port Chernobyl and Baker's Ridge to join your side, the attacks will become more frequent, and from other sides. More Sentinels will come from the northwest, and Gladiator tanks will come from the west. Since Baker's Ridge provides you with a constant source of Centurion tanks, it should be no problem defending your base, as they are naturally better than Gladiator tanks. Heavy Mortars can also clear them out; just be mindful of friendly fire.

It is later revealed that these attacks are happening because of three Wormholes, where Transport ships constantly spawn. There's two ways to deal with this: One is to guard the Wormholes with your own spacecraft, who will destroy any transport ships that come your way, effectively stopping the hordes from invading Mars. Another is to explore Mars itself and find out where the Transport ships disembark. Once you do, building a few Space turrets strategically in these three locations (as said earlier, north of your base, west and northwest) should be more than enough to secure the planet.

Once you're ready to make the trip to Phobos, things should be easy if you waited for your forces to automatically build up. Baker's Ridge's steady income of Centurion tanks can clear pretty much anything you'll encounter there, even AT weapons if you have a big number of tanks. Make sure to escort your Space transports with a few Space Capital Ships, or Space Corvettes. Clear the path of any Space Turrets and enemy ships before they can safely land in Phobos.

Now that you have a much better source of Gold and Iron in Phobos, you can take your time to build up your spacecraft forces and improve your units. By this point, you can build the Orbital Space Station so that all your spacecraft get a morale boost, increasing their damage reduction tremendously. The Time Machine becomes available too, but it has no contribution towards your civilization. Be mindful that upgrading your units, especially any type of spacecraft, is incredibly expensive, so if you don't want to wait too long, just pick one of each, as the next upgrade is double of what the first was (e.g upgrading a Space Capital Ship's speed is a whopping 1000 Gold and Iron, 2000 if you buy it again). You'll also get the Yamato, the Secret Weapon from the previous scenario, that will spawn in the southwestern corner of the map, along with a sizeable fleet of space ships. Once you feel comfortable enough, it's time to make the trip to the Moon. You won't find much resistance there, depending on how long you stayed in Phobos. There is an Airport there, so just to be safe destroy it first, lest it surprise you with a nuclear bomber. There's also resources here, but at this point you might no longer need them.

Once the Moon is yours, it's time to finally invade Earth. As the scenario suggests, neither side is looking for total destruction or conquest/annexation. Khan Sun Do only wants the Earthlings to take the Mars Alliance seriously, so in order to force them into peace, you must bring General Bhuta Kwai near the 3 Earth Capitols so he can capture them. If you decided to build a large number of Space fighters at your Space carriers, be very careful, as they can easily destroy the Capitols if you're not properly supervising them. If even one Capitol is destroyed, you'll lose the game. Once you've captured all 3 Capitols, congratulations, you've won the scenario and the campaign!

Alternative Walkthrough[]

Briefing:

Objectives: Clear the situation on Mars, reconquer Phobos, conquer Luna, conquer Earth.
Difficulty: easy to medium. As usual there are some triggers you can use to your advantage. You can win this scenario with zero casualties. The first scenario with real space battles and you will have all spacecraft available.
Enemies: the russian colony Port Chernobyl (blue), the United States colony Bakers Ridge (red), the Earth government (USCN, red). The first two are hostile at the start, but are not active.
Upgrades: are possible again
Civ points: very few distributed, but it does not matter because you are strong enough as it is

Phase 1: Building up the bases[]

You have two bases, the main base in the east and the dock base in the west of Mars. You have only few resources, but there are ways to manage that.

Your first action is to pause the game with F3 and orient yourself.

Your start buildings are not bad:

Main base: Capitol, 2 Barracks, Tank Factory, Cyber Factory, Cyber Laboratory, Hospital, University, Walls, 2 Towers
Dock base: Space Dock & 4 Space Turrets

Buildings you can build: nearly all buildings, most important the Granary

Your start units are more than enough for the immediate challenges:

Khan Sun Do, Strategist Hero
General Bhuta Kwai, Warrior Hero (although without regeneration ability)
5 Guardian
3 Missile Trooper
5 Centurion Tank
1 Skywatcher

Units you can train (the ones set in bold are the only ones you should build):

Capitol: Citizen, Spy Satellite
Barracks: Watchmen, Heavy Mortar, Medic, Stinger Soldier, Cyber Ninja
Tank Factory: Skywatcher, Mining Unit, Dune Patrol, but no Tank
Siege Factory: Paladin Cannon, Colossus Artillery
Cyber Factory: Hyperion II, Ares II, Pandora II, Minotaur II, Zeus I
Cyber Laboratory: Apollo, Furies, Tempest, Hades, Poseidon
Space Dock: Space Capital Ship, Space Carrier, Space Transport, Space Corvette

Stay in pause mode to give the first commands.

The most important immediate commands are 2 Space Capital Ships, 1 Ares and the Space Turret upgrade (see explanations below) – your starting gold resources will allow exactly that.

Economy

Resource potential: 1x gold (5000 units), 1x iron (5000 units), 1x stone (300.000 units) in your main base, a lot of „wood“ in the south of the main base. Actually you can get four times this amount of gold and iron.
Immediately build a Granary where it can have all 8 farms; automated harvest is already active, populate it fully as soon as possible
after that build a Settlement between gold and iron, so that the gathering bonus applies to both; perhaps also to the stone. Populate it to 50/50 before you even start mining gold and iron. You can be there at around 24:30. Then assign 6 Citizen to gather gold/iron/stone each
Immediately build an Ares and send it to the southwest corner of the map (explanation see below)
build a Settlement south of your main base near the „wood“, as this one is outside of the advance routes of later USCN attacks

Defense

Attacks will come from two directions

from the north frequently with Sentinel
from the west two times with Space Capital Ships and Corvettes against our Dock base

Preparation: At the start of the scenario immediately

upgrade the Towers
send the 5 tanks at the northern front. As they are specifically anti-infantry, they will be more than enough for the attacking infantry, and they are partially in the healing area of your hospital. Set them on „guard“ or „stand ground“ mode. You need neither an additional Hospital nor the morale boost of General Kwai, but since the General has nothing to do, he can idle there just as well. Later, when you have enough resources, upgrade them with 1x range, 1x attack to make this even easier. If you want to feel more secure, build an additional Tower there, but this defense works just fine without it – this formation frees you from constant micromanagement.
upgrade the Space Turrets
build 2 Space Capital Ships. Set them at „stand ground“ mode and let them fight only near the Space Turrets so they can fire at the attackers too. Use the deathray of both your ships on the same target, but only when the enemy unit does not move. Earth ships do not use their deathray. Position your ships slightly west of the Space Dock and retreat with damaged ships eastwards along the Turrets to win without casualties. After the first attack there is enough time to heal and power up.

Phase 2: Mars[]

The next step is to secure Mars, that is: deal with the two rival colonies. You can either eliminate them (to mine their resources) or „convert“ them (then they will send reinforcements).

Eliminating is said to have little rewards because it is assumed that the rivals have mined all resources until you get there
Converting them is said to have a better reward because it is done fast and the reinforcement deliveries are better in the long run

The reality is a bit different.

Both ways are easy and fast: Eliminating can be very easy if you use everybodys darling, a squadron of 10 Ares supported with 2 Apollo (against Zeus, shield the attacked Ares with the „Diffraction Shield“ of an Apollo), later completed to 20 Ares with 4 Apollo. This Ares squad will be your superior and therefore main planetary weapon throughout the scenario. And the crucial point of eliminating can be done very fast: send your first Ares to the southwest corner of the map to guard the russian gold patch; their iron patch will not be mined. Converting is easy and fast, but takes slightly more time as you need 1 Ninja and 1 Apollo. The Ninja does not have to go near the targeted enemy capitol, she can use her „logic bomb“ from a distance, but nevertheless the shield ability of the Apollo can be useful.

The reward of converting is of mixed value as the reinforcement deliveries from the russian base are not interesting (in the first delivery a Hover Tank and a Paladin Cannon, but mostly infantry you could build yourself if you wanted to), the ones from Bakers Ridge are better (mainly Centurion Tanks you can not build yourself). But you can do without any of them, they are in no way crucial. The reward of eliminating is way better.

So the suggestion of this walkthrough is to mix both approaches: eliminate the Russians and subdue the US colony.

You can guard the russian gold with one immediately produced Ares so that there are 4970 of the 5000 gold for you to mine, one shot at a Citizen will scare it off. Set the rally point of your Cyber buildings to the gold patch. When you finally have your full squadron of 20 Ares with 4 Apollo, completely upgraded, raze the base. Combine this with a fully populated Capitol there before even starting the mining and you have the very reasonable amount of a total of 20.000 gold and iron each for the production and the upgrades of the troops you really need.

Bakers Ridge is easily converted with a Ninja you send to a position south of Bakers Ridge. Shield her with an Apollo and let her walk until she sees the Capitol, use her „Logic Bomb“ on it and after a second Bakers Ridge is your ally.

This base will send you regularly troop reinforcements to your dock base, the first one being 4 Centurion Tanks, 1 Hercules AT Gun, 1 Thor AT Gun, 1 Dune Patrol, 1 Zeus, 2 Bazooka, 1 Citizen, and all the later ones being only Centurion Tanks until you reach your pop cap. This troops are actually of some use to defend against the attacks on Mars (but by no means necessary because the Ares are way superior).

Trigger warning: when you dealt with your rivals in any way,

you receive the next task to conquer Phobos
the USCN will attack from two more directions

Attacks will come

as before from the north (landing site at the northern corner of Mars)
new from the west (landing site slightly northwest of the Barracks of Bakers Ridge)
new from the southwest (landing site at the southwestern corner of Mars)

Defense is simple: identify the landing sites, secure them first with your Ares squad and build 3-4 Space Turrets at each landing site. That is enough because there will always come only a single Space Transport without an escort of military ships. If you want to feel sure, build some towers around 5 tiles behind your Turrets.

Phase 3: Phobos[]

Now you have to reconquer Phobos, one of the two moons of Mars.

If not already done,

research self heal for space ships
research faster healing for Space Docks
build 5 Capital Ships and upgrade them with 2x range, 2x attack, 1x hitpoints (do not build Space Corvettes as the Capital Ships outclass them by far)
build 1 Carrier and 5 Space Fighters (for Phobos optional; you can instead build a new Ares squad for the defense of Mars; for Luna useful)
build 3 Space Transports
build 30 Citizen

Let the Capital Ships clear a landing site at the south of Phobos by destroying some Space Turrets. Land with the Ares squadron and clear Phobos in 5 minutes. Do NOT destroy the Capitol yet.

Trigger warning: as soon as the Capitol of Phobos is destroyed,

you receive a victory message
you receive the next task to conquer the earth moon
the Yamato super capital ship arrives with 6 Space Corvettes and 2 Space Carriers
there will be at least one attack at the northern edge of Phobos, possibly with a landing operation (Tanks, Hyperions)
you receive plans to build an Orbital Space Station, which will give all your spacecraft a very useful morale bonus

Prepare yourself for this before destroying the Capitol:

Economy: with the 30 Citizen build a Settlement at the gold and one at the iron patch, populate them to Town Centers and Capitols, assign 6 new Citizen to mine each resource and begin to populate the Capitols to 50/50.

Defense: Build Capital Ships until you have 15, upgrade them fully and organize them in squads of 5 Capital Ships each. Position one squad at the north of Phobos. Build some Space Turrets (always in groups of three) around Phobos and some Towers around your mining sites. Build some Space Docks to speed up healing. The AI seems to adapt to your defenses, if they are strong it tends to only attack one time and without landing (or perhaps the Space Transport is eliminated by your Turrets without you even noticing it).

Now destroy the Capitol.

Send the Yamato and its escort to Phobos. On their way they will spot one of the wormholes, but you can not use it yourself, they are only there for the earth Space Transports that try to unload troops on Mars. You can scout for the other wormholes, there are three of them, but all of them are only usable by the earth forces. You could guard them to destroy the incoming transports, but it is not worth it as you already have a solid defense on Mars with your Space Turrets.

As soon as you can, build the Orbital Station. Since you fortified Phobos so well, you can build it right there. Use the Yamato and its escort to guard it, you will not need it for the next step and the Yamato can not be healed or self-healed anyway.

Now the next phase begins.

Phase 4: Luna[]

The next step is to conquer the Earth moon, Luna.

Complete your Space Fighter squad of your Space Carrier to 15. Group the Fighters and upgrade them. If you are at the pop cap due to reinforcement deliveries, delete some units.

You can use almost the same tactics you used for Phobos. Because of the Zeus in the defense force, use your Ares squad to kill what they can, especially Space Turrets (for them you can also send one Capital Ship squad around the moon). Then send Space Fighters to kill the Zeus; they also can raze buildings faster than the Ares.

Trigger warning: The fall of the Capitol triggers attacks at Luna and Phobos with Capital Ships, Corvettes, Space Carriers, many Space Fighters and Transports. So beforehand build some Space Turrets, AA Missile Towers, Towers on Luna and position your fleet accordingly. With proper preparation you shred the attacking fleet in minutes and as ever with zero casualties.

You could mine gold and iron at Luna, but that is irrelevant as you have more than enough on Phobos.

Since Luna is not important to win the scenario, you can skip this phase entirely, if you want.

Phase 5: Earth[]

The conquest of Earth is likewise easily done as it has only weak defenses. Clear the way and a landing site with your Capital Ships, let each squad clear a stretch of the planetary edge. Land your Ares squadron. They clear the way to the three Capitols for the General in around 5 minutes, destroying every tower and unit on the surface. Set them to scout mode when near the Capitols as you will loose if one of them is destroyed, and set their target individually. Send the General to all three Capitols to win the scenario.

And then comes … nothing. No cutscene or something similiar. No worthy end for the last scenario of a campaign and the expansion.

At least you can dream of possible sequels and further ages – „Solar Age“ about colonizing the whole Solar System (like e.g. „The Expanse“), „Quadrant Age“ about first battles and alliances with non-human species (like e.g. „Star Craft“), „Galaxy Age“ about conflicts throughout all of our Galaxy (see e.g. „Master of Orion“) and last but not least „Andromeda Age“ about intergalactical conflicts (see e.g. „Perry Rhodan“). And perhaps all this with new and bugfree units, buildings and real 3D maps and space battles...

Trivia[]

Even though you can build the Time Machine in this scenario, it serves absolutely no purpose, as you can't do anything with it. The inclusion of it in this scenario might be an Easter egg to the Novaya Russia campaign's ending, or a developer oversight.