XBOX 360 Over G Fighters -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mandatory Missions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- Key to Most Victories: Line up on a target - have a lock onto that target (the diamond) - have your wingman ATTACK so you can conserve your ammunition. The wingman never gets shot down and he/she is very useful. Rinse and Repeat. How to issue orders to the wingman: Press SELECT and use your right and left triggers to scroll. Once your select the order, press SELECT again. Simple. ---------------------- Area 2 - Tactical Mission 1 Load your plane with losts of AAMRAMs. The starting F-14A is fine. Just remember that you can only reload on a carrier (or base) if you do run dry. Not a problem on beginner unless you let the enemy get close. The Phoenix 54C will let you take out the choppers easily from far off. The AIM 7s will let you take out the stuff at medium range. Just remember the AIM 7s need to keep lock- on until the missile hits or misses for it to achieve a hit/ Area 2 - Strategic Mission 1 The A-10 unlocked from the tactical mission should be your best choice here. The AGM 65Fs or AGM 88Hs will be sufficient for you to take out just the red circles (four Russian BTRs modified for AA duty). The 84H has a longer range but a larger miniumum distance. You need to approach the BTRs slowly or you can't unload your firepower. You can back up your AGM load using the cheaper AGM 65Fs. In any case, your biggest concern is landing one hit one kill, not wasting side-line enemies. Aircraft you can take down using any AIM 9s you bring along. Area 3 - Tactical Mission 1 Downing fighters is like downing choppers, but by now, you will be facing some fast enemies. To make matters worse, any enemy group over six planes will give you fits since you either need to reload at a base (or work with your wingman in absence of a base) or you will need to wait for weapon charge. Beginner is far easier with missions where you simply need infinite ammo -- you should really go through these missions on that mode first since enemy concentrations later will be about 5 to 1 (against) with maybe about 1 minute for you to refuel at a base. The trick here is to engage the enemy outside their missile range. The F-14s Phoenix missiles are best, but you only have enough for six shots so any extaneous enemies you will have to ignore and keep out of range. Take your poison. Area 3 - Tactical Mission 2 This being the first mandatory anti-ship mission, you might or might not have the F/A-18E unlocked. No other plane carries the firepower you need to do this mission on Expert -- you simply need to go back to base often and risk being blown up by prolonging the mission. You need to try and unlock the F/A-18E in area 2, optional mission 7 by re-starting a new game but saving over your old pilot data. This will let you unlock the rest of the optional missions eventually. Take the 84Ls -- note that ship and ground targets are different. Ship missiles don't lock onto ground targets and ground missiles may not lock onto ships. Some AGMs are "dual mode", but generally speaking, you fight sea and ground targets exclusively for almost every mission. Pick the missile you need for the job! Take your plane in and use the 84L's range to blast the red dots. If you have the AIM 120s to spare, get rid of the sparse air cover before diving in, or you might not be diving back out. Area 3 - Strategic Mission This is a tough air fight. You will want to use the interval between the first section (against the choppers) and the second (against the planes at the coast) to refuel and repair at the base (and quickly). Otherwise, you can "tough it out" on Beginner mode (w/ the infinite weapons). Just be aware that the anti-air load you take with you into the battle will be useless against the ZSU tanks at the coast. If you're quick with the base, you will have zero problems finishing this mission with an F-14 -- the Phoenix missiles go a long way in killing the enemy before they can range you. Either strategy works (easier on Beginner but doable on Expert), so you win, the computer doesn't. Area 4 - Tactical Mission 1 Note: Press Left on the Directional Pad to use Night Vision This mission simply involves you following the NAV points in the F-117. Once you reach the final NAV point, you have to slow down and take out the two B-1 Stealth Bombers. Assuming you get to the airbase, nothing will attack you. The mission is mostly following waypoints. Straying off the course will involve enemy fighters and SAM launchers. Stay near the NAV line and around the preset 20'000 ft -- ALT -- (I dove my fighter to 100ft at the beginning) and you should be invisible. Warnings will occur if your heading is wrong or towards the map edge. There will also be warning with enemy planes, enemy lock-on, and enemy SAM AA units. Lastly, there's warning if you are moving too fast (above 800 knots) since that will give away your stealth. The targets don't react to your presence, so if you miss or have a bad angle, come back around (slowly) and make your bombing run. Remember that if you hold GREEN while locked on to a ground target (and your guided bombs are selected) you just need to line up the vertical green line on the big HUD and when your approach bomb zenith, your bombs automatically drop right on a dime. Begin a slow descent at NAV point 9 and you should be OK to take out both targets easily. -- ALT -- if you chose to fly at 100ft or lower - when you got to checkpoint 7 - 2 SAMs are launched. ***Cheat*** You can fly your plane to 20ft (into the trees) and you will be okay. Since you are flying so low - the SAMs crash behind your plane. This ALTERNATE way makes for very interesting flying and beautiful night time landscapes. In addition, when you approach the base, you can only bomb one Bomber at a time. After you take out the first Bomber - turn left and fly over the base. Turn around and line up on the final bomber. Don't worry, fighters nor SAMs will attack you once at the base. Viola! Cool mission indeed! Area 4 - Tactical Mission 2 You will want a plane with short and mid-range weapons. Preferably as many as you can load up. Half the missiles will be used against the first wave of planes. The short range missiles will be used against non-objective planes that will ambush (and kill you) every time unless you hang back slightly before the friendly transport reaches NAV point 3. Once you kill these ambush guys, or race past them so they cannot lock on you, you have to use medium or long range missiles to take out the final two planes that come right at the transport (from the front). Once the first and third wave of red marked planes are destroyed, you win. The trick is not to follow the transport too close (almost letting it run off to die) after you fight the first wave of attackers. No matter if you decide to climb or what, you will probably be shot down by the second wave if you do not put distance between them or you get the drop on them (climb w/ afterburner) and wax them with short range missiles (recommend the F-14). The last two Phoenix missiles will let you catch the last enemies (past NAV point 3 and onto point 4), so good luck on Expert. Area 4 - Strategic Mission This mission requires to you to be very selective with your missiles. You will not have enough missiles to take out all the enemies (on Expert) so your cannon will come into use on the final two planes (your wingman will come in play). If you are playing Beginner though, the strategy is simply to out-missile the other side. The big transport will make its way to the Meskin El Presidente, pick him up (the intermission between parts one and two), then you get to escort the guy out. Note that going in, you have six targets. Coming out, you also have six targets, so all your missiles have to hit their mark. The F-14 with extra fuel works (Phoenix missile) but you can take any other plane you're comfortable with. Just remember that you have a dozen planes to destroy -- not six or eight. Your wingmate will be your best weapon on this mission for Expert. Area 5 - Tactical Mission 1 This mission is tough. You cannot waste ammunition on the extra AA units (in green) so you need to use the F/A-18 or something similar to take them out. Do NOT use the A-10. You may find this mission a bit aggravating on Expert. Area 5 - Tactical Mission 2 This mission is a huge turkey shoot, depending on how good you are with your plane and managing ammunition. You have to down the optional air cover so you can land on your carrier, so you may want to do that. However, the ships you are to destroy are fleeing the map, so your best bet is to "get lucky" with an AGM 84L in their engine room. You can just bring one of each anti-ship missile to bear on a red target and escape before the escorting destroyers open up on you. Not sure if the F-2A's ASM 2 warheads are the same as the AGM 84L, but the result is the same -- one missile equals one dead ship. The hard part is dealing with the air cover with so few missiles. So utilize your wingman to COVER you. Area 5 - Strategic Mission You need to destroy ten targets, but they are a mix of air and ship targets. This means your plane not only needs to have a good mix of weapons, it has to carry enough to get you past at least one wave. Luckily, you can land either on the carrier or the more agreeable land base (recommended) for repairs and weapons. However, the majority of the enemies in the second wave are aircraft -- you should destroy all the planes and all but one ship in the first wave. Go back - refuel at the base and you can just carry enough ship missiles (three) to kill the final ship. Use the rest of the hardpoints for missile weapons (and maybe a fuel slug) and fight off the enemies when the second wave appears. Only good luck will help you in a bad plane (on Expert). On Beginner, you can afford to sit off in the distance for your weapons to magically recharge before you head back in for another attack. It's still no cake walk on Beginner if enemies spawn around you, lock on, and fire. ALT Area 5 - Strategic Mission from XBOX Forum (Frodo13) You can use the SU27 but it changes the amount of ships you have to destroy. The briefing talks about using Naval assets IIRC. Anyhow, I used the Super Flubber, F-18E, and load up 2 SLAM-ERs and the rest A2A missiles. Use your wingman a lot in the first phase. When in doubt, use Michael even though he talks too much. Use him to take one of the ships out and most of the helos in the first phase. If you are having trouble in getting the wingman to work with you, here's a tip, whatever target is bugged on your radar he will shoot it when you say "Attack" regardless if it is air to air or air to ground. Once he acknowledges you, leave him alone. If you don't leave him alone and tell him to attack again, he will have to reorient or re-setup himself up again thus taking more time. This happens majority of the time. Once the second stage begins you'll be heading back to the fleet to defend it. The bandits will be shown on your radar as well as the enemy ships. The bandits goal is to DRAG your flight into their SAM range. Don't fall for it. Keep your distance until you have shot down some of the bandits. Use the area between the line of enemy ships and the island as your buffer area. Keep your speed at mid to high transonic (M0.9-M1.1) Bring the bandits to you; once you have two remaining tasks to do, fly past the enemy ship line as these bandits will spawn over there. Area 6 - Tactical Mission 1 Take a fast (responsive) aircraft and load it with AGM 65Fs. Take any large load of AAMRAMs as well to occasionally down one or two enemy planes so to decrease the chance of a crash and burn. The two SAM stations are inside small bases you will be able to see easily. Simply lock and shoot the station as soon as you are near (the base will tell you you're close). This mission is very fast in you dying or winning. The lip of the canyon can protect your plane if a SAM is launched -- climb out using afterburner and hug the canyon's top. Area 6 - Tactical Mission 2 This mission has you destroying buildings. You can use bombs to take out the buildings since they don't move. However, that takes some time, so either have your wingman do air cover or take out the air enemies, then make your bombing run. You can also carry a load of 65Fs and let them do the walking. There are INFINATE enemies, and while those choppers may be slow, they also turn very fast and can fire a missile at you faster than you know. Either take them out at range or use AGMs to level the base. Once that's done, get ready for the next challenge. Area 6 - Strategic Mission The first part is similar to that really bad canyon mission. However, you will not have an air defense to deal with this time. You just go into the canyon and blast the two designated SAM sites with AGMs. Go back to the base to reload. Once you destroy the two main stations, your mission will involve destroying two freight trains. The trains are easy to spot -- they are on the bridges crossing the canyon. Have your wingman COVER you is a good idea to deal with all the bad respawning enemies. Once the two trains are destroyed (you only need two AGMs to do this), the mission ends. Area 7 - Tactical Mission 1 At this point, you should try to unlock the F-22A by completing OPTIONAL mission 10 in area 7 (Oceania). This plane will be your preference once you have it in your hangar. If you don't have the F-22A (which can be used anywhere), you will find that the lack of missile weapons to be very problematic. There are six targets here, but the sheer number of extra enemy aircraft will down you without the potent firepower of 14 AAMRAMs and two pop-gun AIM 9s (that's 16 missiles). Clearly, this plane is the game breaker when you bring it online. Shoot down all the enemy craft and you'll be done. Without the F-22, you can go back on the trusty F-14 and its Phoenix missiles, but you only have six of them. Area 7 - Tactical Mission 2 This is a hard mission if you don't have an adequate plane (F-22A). You may want to make your wingman a pure air defender while you take out the small ground targets (more targets than you have missiles and bombs). If you took the F-22, load up on the AGM 84H (all four) and the GBU 39 (all eight). Once you run out of AGMs, you will have to make high speed runs against the red targets (more will appear from underground caves when the first ones are destroyed). Your wingman (with all the AAMRAMs) can keep you moderately "safe" by attacking air targets. Simply pass by the island, target the red dots and boom. The carrier (Blue Ocean) is out of the map area, so you can't land for reloads even if you wanted to. Other planes can do this mission, but if you notice, the number of extra enemies really have increased up since area 3 or 4. Area 7 - Strategic Mission Use the F-22A. This mission has three parts plus your carrier can be attacked until it explodes. You first need to destroy the covering aircraft in the first two parts (four targets each). You then need to attack a combination of surface cruisers and aircraft (eight targets) in the third part. Load up on anti-ship missiles and all the AAMRAMs you can carry. The base for refueling was the one you attacked in tac mission #2. Head back there if your plane is out of ammo or has been shot up a bit by flak. You need to be quick with the air targets in the first and second waves. During the middle of the second wave, land and reload your plane -- the carrier can take some light hits, but not from an anti-ship missile. Your ship missiles and AAMRAMs will be exhausted by the third wave. You will want max internal fuel to find a good spot to come at each of the task forces. Be prepared to do this multiple times (remember you are almost done with the game so expect it). Area 8 - Tactical Mission 1 This is the final area (Indian Ocean). No optional missions, just destroying the final resistance. The more losses the enemy incurs, the more firepower they throw back at you. It's a shoot 'em up situation. Bring a potent plane with AGM 84Hs so you can sweep the ground and ship targets (ships are optional). A-10s are suicide, so bring something more 21st Century, like an F-35 or F-22. The ships are really optional, so you can ignore them and head into the corner towards the enemy base. Have your wingman cover the air and clear the skies before attacking the SAM launchers. The three targets only need three AGMs -- unless you miss. The hills on the island will occasionally destroy a SAM fired at your plane, but don't count on that each time. Attack aggressively and resort to guided bombs as a last resort. You will find this to be easy or a trying challenge. Area 8 - Strategic Mission This mission is not massive or hard (unlike area 7). But the amount of air cover is annoying when coupled with the hard to find ground targets (all eight). Your plane needs to have decent air missiles to take down the enemy planes and enough firepower to knock out the enemy targets. Any plane less than an F-22 might be suicidal. The F-22's stealth will come in handy. Just keep the speed at 100% and you can sit back and destroy everything with some ease. The base can reload and repair if you are low.