Iron Soldier Tips

From: Fred Horvat (aa778@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 09/21/96-07:46:14 AM Z


From: aa778@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Fred Horvat)
Subject: Iron Soldier Tips
Date: Sat Sep 21 07:46:14 1996


Iron Soldier Mission Hints:

General Hints: In playing each mission you will get the feel of 
what weapons to carry and what strategy (e.g. strong offensive, 
strong defensive, etc.) works best for that particular mission.  
Very often, enemies such as the VTOLs and Gantlets will help you 
by dropping bombs in a long streak and blowing up many buildings.  
In general, once you know where to go and what to do in a 
particular mission it is best to do it quickly and finish since 
your enemies tend to build slowly but constantly and often come in 
waves.

All of the flying enemies are easy to take out with the Gatling 
Gun.  You may also use other weapons such as the rocket launcher 
or rail cannon, but you must aim accurately and the moving targets 
are difficult to hit.  The tanks, rocket launchers, and gun 
turrets can be taken out with any weapon, and long range weapons 
such as the rocket launcher and rail cannon work extremely well 
since these enemies are easy to hit at a distance and will often 
not "wake up" until you approach fairly closely.  Heavy tanks 
require numerous hits with rockets or grenades to destroy, but are 
fairly easy to dispatch with the chain cutter.  Simply stand on 
the heavy tank and slice away.  Finally, enemy Iron Soldiers 
(IS's) are the most difficult opponent to take out.  The best 
attack is a grenade volley, but you must be accurate.  Rockets are 
easier to use against the IS but you need a very great number of 
rockets to take out an IS.

Missions:

1. "The Bust."  Very Easy.  No weapons choices to make here, and 
you can virtually ignore the tank and helicopter enemies.  Simply 
head for the warehouse complex (at the opposite end of the city 
from where you start) and beat down the buildings.  Collect the 
new weapon to end the round.

2. "Care Package."  Medium.  Simply destroy the two ships docked 
in this city to end the round.  The problem is that the ships are 
heavily guarded and have some serious firepower of their own.  
Also, if you take too long the ships will leave dock and you will 
lose.  Approach quickly and blast each ship with grenades (three 
or four direct hits should do it) then retreat quickly.  Avoid 
(read, ignore) the enemy IS lurking around.  Note: I highly 
recommend doing this mission last of the first four in order to 
have the Gatling Gun and easily take out the many tanks and 
helicopters that will swarm you as you approach the ships.

3. "London Bridge."  Medium.  Simply destroy the two bridges 
leading out of the city to end this round.  Three or four direct 
hits with grenades will take out the western bridge (assume you 
are at the southern end of the city at the start of the round) but 
the eastern bridge is significantly stronger.  The eastern bridge 
is also heavily protected by air and by ground with tanks, rocket 
launchers, and gun turrets.  Approach this bridge quickly, blast 
it with grenades, then retreat to collect repair crates and more 
grenades.  Repeat until the bridge falls.  Note: If you can manage 
it without getting blasted, walking onto the bridge a little way 
will do significant damage, allowing you to destroy it with far 
fewer grenades.

4. "Midnight Raid."  Medium.  Destroy all of the buildings between 
the four control towers and pick up all of the supply crates.  The 
challenge lies in the fact that this area is HIGHLY guarded by 
practically every enemy possible.  Success depends on your ability 
to land the grenades quickly and accurately.  You need to blast 
the buildings with grenades quickly and collect the crates 
quickly, basically ignoring all enemies.  If your strength gets 
too low, retreat to the western power plant (assume you are at the 
southern end of the city at the start of the mission) and break it 
down to reveal a repair crate.    

5. "Hunt The Hunter."  Difficult.  Destroy the enemy IS.  Easy, 
right?  The IS is extraordinarily strong and takes huge amounts of 
damage without flinching.  It can fire rockets in rapid succession 
(these can be avoided at a distance) and will push you if you get 
too close (A push does huge damge to your IS.)  You need to 
approach into grenade range, blast it with grenades, and retreat 
to collect repair crates and grenades while avoiding the IS's 
rockets.  Repeat until one of you dies.  Note: if you try to go 
for the IS while it is still in the dense city you will fail.  
Take some time at the beginning of the mission to find some repair 
crates and grenades.  Meanwhile, the IS will be knocking down 
skycrapers and clearing space for you to attack.

6. "Walk In The Park."  Easy.  Simply destroy all of the tanks to 
complete this mission.  There are about twelve regular tanks and 
one Heavy Tank to destroy.  These are protected by many 
helicopters and a few rocket launchers.  The rail cannon is ideal 
for taking out the tanks at a distance (often before they even 
notice you and "wake up") and you should also have the Gatling Gun 
to keep the helicopters at bay.  Use the chain cutter to take out 
the heavy tank.  Rockets will also work but you need a significant 
number-- the chain cutter is faster and safer as the heavy tank 
will not be able to fire on you if you stand on it and cut.

7. "Fox And Hound."  Medium.  Destroy three truck convoys and 
collect the new weapon to complete this mission.  The main 
challenge here is finding the convoys before they leave the city.  
Once found they are easy to destroy with any weapon, including 
your feet.  Head west (assume you are at the south end of the city 
at the beginning of the mission) initially to find one convoy.  
Then head north and east to find the others.  You can't really 
head to a specific location since they move around.  The best way 
to find them is to use your radar.  The convoys appear purple on 
the radar screen.  When you see a purple dot, head for it.  
Enemies are not really a problem as long as you stay in the cover 
of buildings and avoid the huge open square in the middle of the 
city as it is dotted with rocket launchers and will leave you open 
to air attacks.

8. "Pearl Harbor."  Medium.  Destroy four ships to end this 
mission.  Hints are basically the same as mission 2, "Care 
Package."  Due to the greater number of ships and the more 
difficult defenses, you will probably need to scour the buildings 
for repairs and more weapons between ships.  Thus, take a little 
more time and care than in "Care Package."  Another tip is to use 
both rockets and grenades to take out the ships.  This way you 
double your chance of finding more ammo in any given building. 

9. "Pandora's Box."  Difficult.  Break into the fortified fortress 
in the center of this city, destroy the IS, and collect the new 
weapon to complete the mission.  First, you will need to clear the 
area in front of the main door to the fortress of all tanks, gun 
turrets, etc.  No problem here.  Second, take out the gun turrets 
on top of the fortress walls (one on each side) with three rockets 
each.  Do this before they attack you to avoid taking massive 
damage.  Next, you must then break down the door to the fortress 
using the chain cutter.  (You could also use other weapons, but it 
would take more than you could carry, and deplete the reserves to 
be found around the fortress.)  When you break down the door you 
will immediately be confronted by a tank and one or two rocket 
launchers. Take these out, leaving just the IS to destroy.  Two 
notes: first, while you are doing all of this numerous helicopters 
will continually fly in to annoy you.  You need to take them out 
or they will build up and eventually get the better of you.  
Second, you can reduce the impact of opening the fortress gate by 
first tossing a barrage of grenades over the walls.  This will 
take out some of the buildings and enemies before they can attack 
you.  This IS is particularly difficult to destroy because it 
generally stays in the fortress where there is little room to move 
about. You need to enter the fortress and approach into grenade 
range, blast the IS with grenades, and retreat to collect repair 
crates and grenades.  Rockets will also work but will take much 
longer.  After defeating the IS simply pick up the new weapon in 
the fortress to complete the mission.

10. "Hornet's Nest."  Easy.  Destroy the helicopter base and the 
helicopters flying around it to complete this mission.  The only 
danger here is that you will take great damage and possibly die 
while looking for the base.  Follow the arrows on the roads to 
find it the first time, then you can go "as the crow flies."  Once 
you know where the base is, simply go in quickly and blast all of 
the buildings at long range with rockets.  Take out a few 
helicopters and VTOLs with the Gatling Gun and the mission is 
solved.

11. "One-Man Army."  Medium.  Wipe out the fairly small 
installation of buildings to the north-east (assume that you start 
at the southern end of the city) to complete this mission.  The 
large, red skyscrapers and a few other buildings can be taken out 
from a distance with rockets.  After this, use a strategy similar 
to that of mission four, "Midnight aid," using grenades to take 
out buildings and moving quickly to avoid taking great damage.  
You will find several repair crates as well as additional ammo.  
Naturally, the power plant will take the most effort to destroy 
and is also guarded by rocket launchers.  Note: This mission is 
rated medium because the area is very heavily guarded by ground 
and air, including a heavy tank.  It is wise to take the heavy 
tank out first with the chain cutter and then begin the 
destruction-- this will allow you to destroy the heavy tank before 
the real air barrage begins.

12. "The Best Defense."  Difficult.  Protect the large skyscraper 
in the center of the area where you start out.  It will be 
attacked by rocket launching helicopters, one tank, one heavy 
tank, and an IS.  If the skyscraper takes enough cumulative 
damage, it will blow up and you lose.  The helicopters are the 
greatest threat since there are many of them and they can each 
fire multiple rockets.  The trick is that two "streams" of 
helicopters approach the skyscraper, one from the north-east and 
one from the north-west.  The north-west helicopters generally do 
not have rockets and will fire on you rather than the skyscraper.  
The north-east helicopters have rockets and will go straight for 
the skyscraper.  Position yourself in the path of the latter 
helicopters and stay there.  Take them out quickly, ignoring all 
else.  When you have time, turn and take out the other 
helicopters.  When the tank comes, simply take it out with a 
rocket.  When the heavy tank comes, wait until there are no 
rocket-bearing helicopters coming then move to the heavy tank and 
take it out with the chain cutter.  Return to position and resume 
firing on the helicopters.  Toward the end of the mission, the IS 
will approach and begin firing.  If you can keep it at bay by 
drawing its fire (even if you don't destroy it) for just a few 
minutes, the mission will end successfully.  I recommend keeping 
at a distance and blasting it with at least two dozen rockets. 
(Carry two launchers and save them for the IS.)  You can also use 
grenades very successfully, but you will have to get closer, 
leaving the skyscraper open to attack.  Uncover a repair crate 
before the IS approaches as you will probably need it.  Staying 
alive and protecting the building from the IS is quite difficult, 
but is manageable with practice.

13. "Urban Renewal."  Difficult.  Level EVERYTHING to complete 
this mission.  The city is heavily guarded by every type of enemy, 
including an IS and numerous Gantlet and VTOL planes.  Also, as 
the area gets more and more level there are fewer places to hide 
and enemies will swarm on you.  (The IS can do great damage from a 
great distance with its twin cannons.)  The best strategy I have 
found is to let the enemies do much of your work for you by using 
the Slate Heavy Shield to minimize the damage you take and simply 
running about the city to draw the fire of the enemies to the 
buildings and skyscrapers around.  Collect additional ammo and 
repairs as needed.  The trick, of course, is to stay alive long 
enough to allow everything to leveled.  You can help by 
momentarily switching from the shield to the rockets or grenades 
(carry both) and blasting a few buildings before re-engaing the 
shield.  Note: There are three islands off of the coast which will 
not be covered by enemy fire.  You must level these by blasting 
the buildings with rockets (grenades won't reach).  Try to level 
these islands very early in the mission (ideally, first) so that 
you can blast them without being bombarded too heavily.  All of 
the islands are nearby where you begin the mission.

14. "Escort Service."  Very difficult.  Guide a convoy of three 
trucks through the city to safety.  First of all, you only need to 
get one truck through safely to complete the mission and you 
probably will only get one through as the trucks are very fragile 
and generally only take one hit to destroy.  You should carry the 
Gatling Gun and three rocket launchers with you.  The mission can 
be divided into three sub-parts, each with its own distinct 
strategy to protect the truck(s).  Part One: When the mission 
starts, immediately begin moving toward the field of fuel tanks.  
Use a rocket or the rail cannon to take out the rocket launcher 
and the tank which you can see immeidately.  There is another tank 
behind the field of fuel tanks.  Blow up the fuel tanks with 
rockets to blow up the hiding tank.  This will also prevent the 
fuel tanks from blowing up when the convoy passes through.  As you 
approach the fuel tank field, stay to the inside of the road.  Two 
helicopters will approach, the first from the right (inside) and 
the second from the left (outside).  Take them out quickly or they 
will take out the trucks.  In the distance to the right you will 
see another rocket launcher.  If you can take this out now with a 
well-place rocket you will save a great deal of trouble later when 
the trucks themselves will block you from getting a direct line of 
fire at this launcher.  Move immediately to the outside of the 
road.  Although there is a heavy tank on the inside it will not 
attack the convoy and is there strictly to waste your time.  On 
the outside you will encounter a VTOL and one more rocket-
launching helicopter.  Take both of these out quickly.  You can 
probably hit the VTOL with a rocket or rail cannon as it is large 
and relatively slow-moving.  This will bring the convoy to the 
second stage, a large open square with the road wrapping around 
the perimeter.  Second: This is the most difficult stage.  As the 
convoy moves around this square it will be attacked by one or two 
helicopters, a VTOL, and a Gantlet.  It is very difficult to take 
all of these planes out without getting disoriented and possibly 
stomping on the convoy.  Thus, it is best to head as quickly as 
possible for the center of the square and stop.  From there, 
simply rotate and take out the planes as best you can.  You will 
probably lose one or two trucks here despite your best efforts.  
Third: Once the truck(s) pass the open square, you can complete 
the mission by simply following on the road as closely as possible 
without treading on the truck(s).  This will allow you to take all 
of the damage from air attacks, protecting the truck(s) below.  
You will still need to protect against tanks and rocket launchers 
by taking these out from a distance with rockets.  You must be 
quick to destroy them before they fire, since one hit will wipe 
out a truck.  With practice you will learn where the enemies are 
and be able to anticipate them.  As you near the end of the 
mission you will see a heavy tank in the distance.  DO NOT GET 
CLOSE TO IT or your truck(s) will be destroyed.  Take it out from 
a distance by raidly blasting it with multiple rockets until it is 
destroyed.  The final foe you will face is a lone rocket launcher 
directly in your path.  Again, take it out from a distance before 
it can fire on your truck(s).  This one is lethally accurate!  
Guide the truck(s) to the end of the road to complete the mission.

15. "Return To Sender."  Difficult.  Destroy five very heavily 
guarded ships to complete this mission.  By now you should have 
the cruise missles, and you can use two of these to easily take 
out two ships.  For the remainder, use the same basic strategy as 
in mission eight, "Pearl Harbor."  Carry both rockets and grenades 
to diversify your ammo.  Repair crates are fairly plentiful and 
you should always have one uncovered and know where it is so that 
you can get to it quickly.  Air and ground attacks are merciless, 
so speed and accuracy while attacking the ships is a must, as is a 
quick retreat to cover and repair/ammo crates.  

16. "War Is Heck." Very Difficult.  Take out all skyscrapers to 
complete this final mission.  The strategy here should be similar 
to that of mission thirteen, "Urban Renewal."  This mission is 
much more difficult than that one, however, as the enemy assaults 
are unparalleled in their strenghth, speed, numbers, and accuracy.  
You will be blasted by every imaginable enemy (all at once), and 
most enemies regenerate, including gun turrets and heavy tanks-- 
unheard of in other missions.  You need to have at least one 
repair crate uncovered and nearby at all times to avoid being 
blasted to bits even with the shield up.  Move quickly in and 
around the skyscrapers (like a rat in a maze) both for cover and 
to draw the enemy fire to the tall buildings.  You may 
occasionally use your rockets and grenades to speed the 
destruction, but make sure there are no heavy tanks, VTOL's or 
Gantlets around at the time.  Note that the large blue and gray 
skyscraper in the north-east corner of the city (assume that you 
begin in the southern part of the city) is extraordinarily sturdy 
and takes great care to destroy without being destroyed yourself.  
If you save it until the end, you will have to face this 
formidable edifice in an otherwise leveled city, making you an 
easy target.

I will not give away the complete ending of the game.  It is 
something of a surprise and is most satisfying.


-- 
Novell DOS 7.0 and IBM OS/2 user             Fred Horvat
Atari TT030 / MagiC 4.0 + Ease 4.0           Free-Net Atari Portfolio Sigop


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