AC4: FA: Spirit of Motherwill

Well, today was the day. Had yesterday off to recharge the old batteries, and now, all that stood between me and total pwnage, was the Arms Fort, Spirit of Motherwill. The problem with this arms fort is that, its too damn big, I mean HUGE. If your not careful then you get stepped on (see below), shot to hell (again, more on this later) or run out of ammo (Again, see below).

The mission is quite simple, use a Vanguard Over Booster (I.E. Guided rocket) through the semi buried city (yes, semi buried. Think of New York filled with sand.) and separate when in range of the Fortress. The fortress has a flaw, its guns and weapons systems are linked to the reactor core. Take out enough weapon pods and guns, and the whole thing blows up due to feedback. What could possibly go wrong?

So I'm flying towards my target encountering problems one and two. One, your being fired at by the long ranged cannons. Your almost 15k out and it can hit by long ranged fire, so you have to dodge. Not an easy task when your travelling at the speeds normally taken by fast attack aircraft and jet fighters. And as you have the aerodynamics of a rocket propelled brick, you spend a lot of try looking for that bright incoming flash so you can dodge.

Problem two, you travelling as supersonic speeds through the remains of a city, so you have to dodge buildings. That's right, buildings. True you can use them as cover, but you have to add the whole 'rocket up your backside' thing to truly understand why you don't do this lightly.

Overbooster gets depleted, and hey presto, you see the Arms Fort ahead. Thing is, you see this place in the opening video of AC4:FA, and it looks smaller than what you end up having to take on. It was at this point I realise I have more problems to deal with.

Number 3, its weapons are active. True, once I'm in close range, most of them can't/wont be able to hit be (inside the cone of fire, yay), so all I have to do is dodge the close ranged artillery fire long enough to do some damage. Problem three is still in effect, dodging close ranged artillery blasts is even more difficult as the approach. Using the 'Overed Booster' to get in close, I now have no shields, and the close ranged weapons systems to deal with... bugger.

Number 4, the weapons are at multiple levels across the whole structure. This is a problem as you have to move quickly around the structure taking out the key weapons, or take your time and pick off the support guns and 'Normals' that are guarding the structure. Option one is a quick way to get killed, Option 2 uses up all your ammo faster. Decisions, Decisions.

Cleared the lower level, and moved up to the outer weapons platforms (arranged like wings when deployed). Hence spread out, hence larger field of fire... hence me dodging like a mother...

Bang, boom, dead. Damn.

Second attempt, phone rings, concentration broken, splattered across several buildings. Dead.
Third attempt, artillery shells stripped me to 1/4 armour before I got close.
Went for coffee
Fourth attempt, got in close, did the damage n the right hand side. Moved to the left, ran out of ammo... back-up weapons are two auto pistols, insufficient damage output, dead.
Fifth attempt, brought the big guns out. Splattered against a building. Must remember to change thrusters when overloading my Core.
Sixth attempt, luck missile barrage as I wiped out the artillery canons. Almost.
Drank more coffee.
Seventh attempt, went for energy weapons instead of the heavy Gatling cannon. One push charge, one push fire. Kept forgetting. Got wiped.
Eight attempt, frustration rising. Took grenades and a ton of AoE weapons. Good results, but insufficient ammo. Loosing temper, fast.
Went for a pee, good news, it hadn't turned green yet. Not sure why this was important, but I felt better knowing this little fact.
Attempt nine. SUCCESS!

If all else fails, find the guns with the most ammo and reasonable damage output. Heavy GA auto rifle, Arm mounted rotary cannon with drum ammo feed, Back mounted Heavy Rotary cannon and improved rader system (for faster target acquisition) FTW. Took a few sloppy hits getting in close, but other than that, the key is fire, dodge, fire, dodge, retreat, recharge, return, fire... etc.

Spent 3 hours getting smashed up, and all for an A rating on the mission (A is good, E is bad, S is excellent (for some strange reason)). Will replay it later on for the 'Uber S title'.