Campaign Mission: Labyrinth Gate

Objectives

Required Objectives
None

Secondary/Implied Objectives
Choose Next Area

Ships

Allied Ships	Enemy Ships Present	Enemy Reinforcements
ANS Harsh Winds Blow (Flagship) ANS Loom of Karina (120 frig) ANS Stout Coral (120 frig)	None	None

Area Outline

In an attempt to break the Bethel Blockade, Task Force Alder led by the Shelter Alliance carrier Harsh Winds Blow, does a dangerous hyperspace jump behind enemy lines with a large task force.

In Labyrinth Gate, you, the player and admiral in charge of Task Force Alder, are introduced to the ancient Alliance carrier, Harsh Winds Blow, her captain, Tristan Stratton, your fleet operations officer, Captain Lucille Moeller, and intel officer Lieutenant-Commander Sonya Farrimond.

There are no hidden objectives in this room. Relax and listen carefully to Cpt. Moeller and Cpt. Stratton as they introduce the objective of this campaign: to distract the Protectorate Navy defending the Bethel blockade by attacking Bulkwark, a major Protectorate shipyard.

Your fleet, however, is entirely scattered throughout your route to Bulwark, and you have only the ancient fleet carrier Harsh Winds Blow and two escorting gun-and-missile-armed Raines-class frigates. You must pick up additional warships on your route to Bulwark.

Raines-class frigates are the workhorse of the Alliance navy. They are light, but for small ships they are reasonably durable with moderate speed and well-placed mounts. Although they will never be your most important warships, Loom of Karina and Stout Coral are solid and reliable escorts, mounting guns, missiles and a very important Bullseye Radar.

The Harsh Winds Blows, on the other hand, is a massive Alliance fleet carrier, and an odd one at that. It has a respectable complement of Claymore bombers and SEWACS Sundials that provide radar. Halberd skiffs that can track Radar signatures with their ELINT module, and both coilgun-armed and 20mm cannon-armed Tanto fighters.

It is, however, also armed to the absolute teeth with two banks of missiles of all sorts. The fact of the matter is that this ship is not a purpose-built carrier. It is, however, your flagship, and you must keep it alive no matter what to win this campaign. You will lose the campaign if the Harsh Winds Blow is destroyed.

You are also introduced to the first choice in the campaign: travelling to Lamplight, a system with a mining station, or to Crucible, an asteroid cluster.

You should visit both of them before Iron Spindle, the location of a factory station, but there are benefits to either route. The writer of this guide prefers the route -> Crucible -> Lamplight -> Iron Spindle, but the choice is yours.

To end the mission, move your ships to either exit.