The sections have comprehensive and reliable battle-tested information on how to successfully complete every chapter on Hard, including difficult bosses like on Ch 3.

Note: Before playing on Hard difficulty, an existing pool of some Special Officers are needed to cushion the penalty of reduced scrap yield.

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New squadron and weapon classes have been added that make the game more interesting and difficult. Boss battles are now more intense and can become a prolonged slugfest.

I enjoy helping others by writing about technical topics to a higher standard and provide key findings for a higher chance of success!

The guide is for everyone, but much friendlier to new players. Everything will be explained to be on the same level as those who are the most experienced. The writing will be easy to follow with plenty of screenshots for those who are too lazy to read everything!

Each new game starts with two officers that must complement each other by picking two of the three different specialties of Solder, Spy, or Scientist.
The ideal choice is to pick an officer who is "Versatile" and possess all three skills in the same specialty (row) to avoid the need of getting another in the same specialty.

Events yield more rewards with the current number of different officer skills, with maximum given with all 9.

Certain ones force only one selected officer to pass skill checks and yield mediocre outcomes when using a regular officer.

An overview of the most useful abilities that has the maximum impact:

The elite type of officer with a base of 3 skills and value of 150 scrap at Mercenary Outposts.
Regular officers with 3 skills can also be found in the late stages of each chapter but are uncommon.

Note: Special Officers are permanent purchases and can always be selected for each new chapter run, once the cloning process is complete.

The average reward for each planet expedition is 2x-3x higher with less casualties!
Certain late stage expeditions have very high casualties that can be circumvented by special officers.

The update now gives access to Intel Broker Market that buys temporary skills and more is explained in the guide below:
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Random negative events can have significant losses unless there is a special officer.
Penalties would be non-existent or even rewarded with certain ones.

The other spectrum is the multiplying factor with rewards when the normal one was low yield.

At the start of each sector, the map needs to be carefully studied to visit the max number of 5 systems and the most points of interest (number shown in the diamond symbol).

Can you figure out the best path (image below)? The answer is circled in red.
The best path has the most planetary expeditions, points of interest, and shops.
The route with all 5 expeditions that are unusually rare.
Last minute arsenal shopping is critical for the final chapter boss!

Massive surplus can be gained at the very end of chapter!

The first task is to maximize fuel scavenging technology that yields 2-3 per system. This avoids wasting scrap to buy more.


Planet expeditions has a chance to yield some Fuel!

As a rule of thumb, 100-150 scrap is needed before visiting stores for the rare opportunity to buy special equipment or officers from stores and special events.

Famous officers can be selected at start to be sold off later for massive scrap.
To get extra scrap, it is wise to buy a Neurosphere early on to be sold later for 300+ scrap.
To develop the Neurosphere, squadrons cannot be destroyed in battle, even the patched ones.
For the final sector boss, Shipyards and Army Depots will take higher priority to max out the Squadron fleet with preferably higher tier ones (max is 4).
Quarks is good for boss fights if scrap is available.

This station upgrades any squadron to the next level tier at the cost of fuel. Each higher tier will cost more fuel, such as 1 fuel for tier 2, 2 for tier 3, and 4 for tier 4.


Shops are preferred over Omniforge because of their limitations:

1. A massive fuel surplus of 12+ is required to make the trip worthwhile since Tier 4 upgrade costs 4 fuel each.

2. New squadrons cannot be purchased and upgrades are limited to the existing ones. Each squadron can only be upgraded once and only 6 can be upgraded.

For every chapter, there is a total of three sector bosses. Each boss will be stronger than the previous and will have one more squadron dock (max is 4). On Hard, the first boss will have 3 squadron docks.

The priorities for ship upgrades are:
1. Max Fuel Scavenge (ASAP - except the Void class)
2. Squadron Docks
3. Weapon Docks
4. Hull Structures
5. Squadron Recovery

For the first boss, 3 squadron docks, 1 additional hull structure, and/or 1 weapon dock is recommended.

The second boss needs 4 squadron docks, 1 additional hull structure, and 1 more weapon dock.

The final boss is unique for each chapter and has a special ability/weapon. Make sure to spend all scrap before jumping into the final sector. Max out hull structures and hardened hull after full weapon docks.

The most utilized classes are the frigates, cruisers, fighters, and drones (not nano or krafter).


Please refer to the Advanced Warfare guide for optimal use of squadrons and their prototypes.

Threat Level: Low-Medium
Behavior: The boss is very aggressive and uses mostly Boomer drones. The main weaknesses are that all enemy squadrons have 1/4 health and has only one ship weapon that debuffs squadron.

The Call to Arms does minimal damage due to the squadron's health.


Path to Victory:
Squadrons
The enemy squadrons can be rapidly reinforced but easily destroyed. 3 Fighters and 1 Frigate are recommended to deal with the drones and the fighters. Then, they can directly attack the enemy ship while using the asteroids as cover. The second wave will come quickly, so it is best to cycle between targeting their ship and squadrons.
Weapons
Hull-damaging weapons are recommended to easily take down the ship since enemy squadrons are not a problem.

Threat Level: Low
Behavior: The boss uses mainly frigates supported by a cruiser to play very defensively. One of the four ship weapons does actual hull damage, while the rest are anti-squadron.

The Cryo Wave has almost no effect because of no offensive enemy squadrons.


Path to Victory:
Squadrons
The 3 enemy squadrons can be easily overwhelmed, but the supporting anti-squadron weapons will be a problem. 2 Drones can be sent to counter their frigates, while the rest can focus on the cruiser and the ship.
Weapons
Hull-damaging weapons are recommended with at least one anti-squadron of Tesla generator. Another solution is to swap out a hull-damaging weapon for a high energy beam to overheat and lock their weapons system to cover for the squadrons.

Threat Level: Very High
Behavior: The boss is very aggressive and deadly. Waves of stealth fighters mixed with the Wraith will melt almost all squadrons regardless of class. The major problem is dealing with the enemy's bonus stealth damage stacked with another damage buff with the Geno class passive! A slow victory is expected because of being the longest slugfest.

Additional Information:
Mini bosses are as difficult as the final one because of the same behavior.

First mini-boss has three ghost squadrons and play defense a bit.


Second mini-boss sends four ghost squadrons and later on with Wraiths that does EMP stun. Have 3 defend with a supporting cruiser and 2 frigates or a juggernaut to absorb alot of damage. Send one fighter from the start to start attacking their ship. Expect to loss 2 hulls before juggernaut delivers the final blow.


The special ability of the final boss is EMP Deluge that will overheat all systems. The timing needs to be right to clear the enemy wave of squadrons or the ship will take massive damage while being disabled.

The defense formation will consist of a cruiser in the bottom left corner with Juggernaut and a Frigate at the front. The fourth squadron will be stealth fighters that will constantly attack their ship while simultaneously defending.

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After the enemy first wave is destroyed, send the damaged units back to repair them. The stealth fighter that was attacking their ship needs to be sent to the bottom right corner to avoid conflict. Then, resume attacking the enemy ship once the second enemy wave has passed the halfway point.


The stealth fighter will repeat the process until the final boss is destroyed. However, the hull-damaging weapon can also finish the job.


Path to Victory:
Squadrons
Frigates and a supporting cruiser will defend against waves of deadly stealth fighters! The enemy squadrons needs to be damaged and be patched before counterattacking. The window to attack will be very limited because patched stealth fighters still pack a punch. Hence, squadrons need to retreat and defend again shortly.
Weapons
2-3 Anti-squadron weapons are needed to stop, disable, or maim the oncoming stealth fighters mixed with a hull-damaging weapons.

Note: Fighters do the most DPS of all squadron classes and will melt hulls in split second!

Threat Level: Low
Behavior: The boss is well-armored than others and uses standard attack with squadrons. The main weakness is that it uses only anti-squadron ship weapons with one of them being a nuke that has a 100 second cooldown.

The Missile Barrage only damages squadrons in a very large AOE.


Path to Victory:
Squadrons
Play defense first since this ship only has a max of 3 squadrons and the weapons will do all of the work.
Weapons
The Matter Destabilizer will cripple the enemy squadrons before getting into firing range to do much damage. The other 3 of the 4 weapon weapon capacity can be dedicated to hull-damaging weapon or even High-Energy Beam to kill enemy officers.

Threat Level: Low
Behavior: The boss is standard with full 4 squadrons and has one anti-ship weapon.

The only threat is the final boss with a special ability called the Golden Veil that grants immunity for several seconds.

Threat Level: Medium-High
Behavior: The final boss is made up of 3 ships with only 2 hull compartments each and possess a special ability from previous chapters. The main challenge is to not loss any hulls during the first two battles because of the damage carrying over to the next one. All of the ships can be destroyed rapidly before they have a chance to use special ability!

The first automated ship will be a Xeno class that has stealth fighters but not all of them are healthy.


The best way to win is to do a split attack with 3 defending and 1 stealth fighter attacking. Then, finish the last hull off with piercing lasers.


Second automated ship is a Kosh ship that uses regular fighters and is much easier to deal with because of less bonus damage from stealth.


The same approach with fighting this ship.


The final ship has a squadron fleet made up of mostly send drones and will change the defensive line to be made up of fights.


Again, do the split attack then finish off the last remaining hull with the piercing lasers!

The best special officers should be reserved for the most difficult chapters like the 3rd and 6th (second hardest) to have a higher chance of winning. Battles can always be redone by simply exiting the game with alt and f4 when mistakes are made.

Regardless of the chapter, always keep guard up and be diligent with the tasks to defeat the final chapter boss. Careless mistakes can always snowball into an impossible mess that can lead to complete failure!

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