Though you'll want to spread your Research Points across Land, Air, and your ACU throughout the course of this mission, there are two Experimentals you'll want to rapidly unlock: the good ol' Megalith II, and its traveling companion, the Giant Transport. Once a few of your Engineers are teetering around, send one to each virtual wall of your camp to Repair and Reclaim.
Six Facilities is most desirable, but don't build them at the cost of your stronghold's defenses. Crank out more Engineers to lighten your load, and have a few put up Research Facilities further to the lower left.
Then, using the long, vacant dock to the southwest as your foundation, use your Engineers to install an Air Factory. You'll want to gradually crank out a sampling of units-assault bots won't be as useful as the others, however-but not while your resources are still thin. Just southwest of your starting point, set up a Land Factory. Whenever you've acceptably fortified your borders, begin constructing anti-air buildings near the center and alongside your Mass Extractors ASAP. Fortunately, the shields will successfully protect your structures, and your existing land units will shoot the jets from the sky. Aircraft will start coming up soon, but it's doubtful you'll have anti-air turrets built by the time they do. To make this easier, manufacture some Energy Generators in the west, prioritize unlocking your turrets' increased fire rate, and quickly make Shield Generators available.ĭon't hesitate to put up Shield Generators. These will have to be maintained throughout most of the battle, as aggressive units and enemy Engineers will continuously march toward you. When they're complete, build more of them on the north and southeast perimeters of your starting area. You're going to want at least eight to start with. Start building a large excess of anti-tank turrets behind the center node. When they're done, bring them back into your starting area. It's the fastest way to obtain an excess of Mass right at the start. Once you're ready to face the challenge, use your ACU to build some Mass Extractors, and send your Engineers southwest so they may begin Reclaiming the Illuminate wreckage. You must also learn to survive in even the worst and most hostile of conditions, prizing patience above all other virtues. Thus, it's an understatement to say that you must act fast.
Your foe, a power-sick William Gauge, has Illuminate and Cybran units at his disposal, including their full repertoire of ruthless Experimentals. With few units to your name, hardly any defense, and limited resources, you're pressed between a rock and a hard place at the very start. Even so, they, too, were mere preparation for the horror of The Final Countdown.
From there, each chapter provided increasingly harder challenges. They didn't provide much action, leading you to Chapter 1: Operation 1, which was essentially a friendly extension of your training session. When you first started Supreme Commander 2, there's a fair chance you wet your feet in the Tutorials.