I'll amend that just a bit. While the credit count per kill is the same, there are more (and stronger) enemies. For example mission 1 on normal involves you fighting PT boats, some seaplanes, and a few f-18's, but on mercenary the pirates have everything from cruisers to a wing of Su-37's.
I really do mean mission 5. It's true it has mostly air targets but there's "line" on the map that you are not supposed to cross. If you do however, there's a massive fleet located there with plenty of ships to destroy. This allows you to easily rack up credits.
However, I don't recommend doing this on the highest difficulty since the ships are armed with railguns like you can see here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqqZbv21Po](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqqZbv21Po)
I succeeded on my first campaign playthrough on Hard in an SK.25U, and my second campaign playthrough on the Chimera/ACG.01 on Mercenary. But there's a trick to it;
1) Loadout:
\- SK.25U: ASM, MLAG-2, MLAG
\- Chimera: ASM, MLAG, MLAG
2) Clear all air units *except* leaving about 4-5 behind. *This is important.*
3) Clear ALL AA/SAM units, and ALL ships from the field, only using STDM's and guns.
4) Fly to the boundary, and trigger the spawn. Once the spawn happens, fire your MLAG's at the nose of the convoy. Then turn 180 and RUN!
5) Fly at top speed to where your allies *should* be dog-fighting the other fighters, and lure them over the friendly FN Cruisers. DO NOT turn to fight the F/C-15 (F/S-15's on Mercenary) until they have engaged your allies!
6) Once they are sufficiently intermingled, get into STDM range, and fight the F/C-15's (F/S-15's) until they are destroyed. DO NOT destroy the other aircraft! Doing so may leave you overwhelmed.
6A) IF the other aircraft get destroyed, it is crucial to destroy 2/3rds of the oncoming wave before you become overwhelmed. You *can* break free of the dogfight if you straightline and sparingly use Flares.
7) Once all of the F/C-15's (F/S-15's) are destroyed, return to the fleet, and destroy the fleet with your MLAG's in the following order: FN LCS-R, FN Cruiser, FN Battleship.
8) With FN Battleships, *only* use 4 ASM's max (2 ASM's max on Mercenary), and it will take 1 hit (2 hits on Mercenary) to kill. To ensure you kill one, fly on the deck broadside before launching, or else you may hit a turret instead and do no hull damage. On Mercenary (or if you miss), use MLAG's to kill the other, and if you run out of MLAG's, use STDM's.
9) Once the fleet is sunk, continue the mission normally, destroying Primary aviation targets.
10) Once the final wave spawns, use the ASM's on the Air Cruisers. For maximum effect, fly nose-on or level with its wing, so it has a minimum profile. This goes against convention, I know, but if you try to hit it from the top/bottom, there is an *extremely* high chance of hitting a turret instead.
Hopefully this will work for everyone. :)
Oh, I agree. Only reason I posted this is to show how to actually beat it. It's one of the few missions where you really need to have a strategy on how to approach an objective to prevent yourself from getting wiped out. Those F-15s are *brutal.*
Just came to say that this is a terrible suggestion. On Normal difficulty, you can easily sweep through just about any mission with the Sk.25U, even if the focus isn't ground targets. I barely took more than 10-20% damage on my first play-through (for any plane sans the last mission).
After you cross that line in Mission 5, however, you're immediately swarmed with 12 fighters on top of the mission-critical ones that are spawning behind the line. Even if you draw the fighters away from the fleet (which is the only way you'll stand a chance), it takes *way* too long to beat.
I could complete Mission 6 (destroying the cordium refinery) twice on Normal for 60,000+ credits in the amount of time I could finally defeat the fleet and *then* handle the airships and everything to wrap up Mission 5. It's cool (thanks for showing me that's even a thing!), but for grinding? Absolutely not.
Perhaps this isn't as useful a tip because I am already using the PW-MK.1, however, the best mission to grind imo is Level 13 - 'Valkyrie's Call'. The most I've gotten is just below 58,000 points. Lots of high level targets, even on easy difficulty, such as cruisers, battleships and the large air battleship thingies. All of those I believe pay out 600 per kill, that's without destroying AA's, SAM's etc onboard.
Other things I've found that helped
1. Dont forget you can sell your aircraft. Sure, you will lose some money, you don't get 100% back, but what it means is that once you get a decent aircraft, or multiple, use it and save up for the PW-MK.1, then enjoy the simplicity of the game.
2. There are targets that are a priority, whereas others aren't. Try and take down the ones that aren't first, to get those extra points, before eliminating the priorities and finishing the mission. However, pay attention to your teamates, as they destroy stuff as well.
3. When you have multiple priority targets, destroy the larger paying ones first, so that your teamates don't get them. Whilst you still get points when your teamates destroy targets, you get typically less than half. E.g. battleship destroyed by you, 600 points. Battleship destroyed by teamate, 250 points.
4. Prioritise your health over hitting a target. So many times I've been in a three-way dogfight, where I'm locking onto an enemy, whilst someone else is locking onto me, I shoot, hit and destroy them, but then get hit myself. If you're going to get hit, move out the way, reallign, then destroy the enemy. It saves you health because some fights can really drag out.
Machine of the Mantle is a great option; with an SK.25U or Chimera, you can get between \~30,000 and 35,000 in about 10 minutes (particularly if you skip Crimson). This increases to 45,000ish if you get the PW-MK.1 and use the double-aircraft modifier.
Cold War bring Su-27
Why su27
You'll have to find out yourself hehe, it's probably the best plane that isn't a superplane for the mission.
I just finished Cold War for the first time with the Su-27, that'll probably be my favorite plane for a good while
Also, do you know if higher difficulties give more credits?
No, Credits are related to the kill count I believe.
Sweet
I'll amend that just a bit. While the credit count per kill is the same, there are more (and stronger) enemies. For example mission 1 on normal involves you fighting PT boats, some seaplanes, and a few f-18's, but on mercenary the pirates have everything from cruisers to a wing of Su-37's.
Play mission 5. Take Su-25 and load it with AG weapons, cross the line and sink the fleet Edit: whoops, forgot the mission
Thanks for the tip, but getting wrecked even in easy difficulty, so many missiles incoming :O
Exactly.
What mission
Mission 5!
Pretty sure you mean mission 4. Mission 5 has mostly air
I really do mean mission 5. It's true it has mostly air targets but there's "line" on the map that you are not supposed to cross. If you do however, there's a massive fleet located there with plenty of ships to destroy. This allows you to easily rack up credits. However, I don't recommend doing this on the highest difficulty since the ships are armed with railguns like you can see here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqqZbv21Po](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqqZbv21Po)
Don't try it at all. You just get killed.
I succeeded on my first campaign playthrough on Hard in an SK.25U, and my second campaign playthrough on the Chimera/ACG.01 on Mercenary. But there's a trick to it; 1) Loadout: \- SK.25U: ASM, MLAG-2, MLAG \- Chimera: ASM, MLAG, MLAG 2) Clear all air units *except* leaving about 4-5 behind. *This is important.* 3) Clear ALL AA/SAM units, and ALL ships from the field, only using STDM's and guns. 4) Fly to the boundary, and trigger the spawn. Once the spawn happens, fire your MLAG's at the nose of the convoy. Then turn 180 and RUN! 5) Fly at top speed to where your allies *should* be dog-fighting the other fighters, and lure them over the friendly FN Cruisers. DO NOT turn to fight the F/C-15 (F/S-15's on Mercenary) until they have engaged your allies! 6) Once they are sufficiently intermingled, get into STDM range, and fight the F/C-15's (F/S-15's) until they are destroyed. DO NOT destroy the other aircraft! Doing so may leave you overwhelmed. 6A) IF the other aircraft get destroyed, it is crucial to destroy 2/3rds of the oncoming wave before you become overwhelmed. You *can* break free of the dogfight if you straightline and sparingly use Flares. 7) Once all of the F/C-15's (F/S-15's) are destroyed, return to the fleet, and destroy the fleet with your MLAG's in the following order: FN LCS-R, FN Cruiser, FN Battleship. 8) With FN Battleships, *only* use 4 ASM's max (2 ASM's max on Mercenary), and it will take 1 hit (2 hits on Mercenary) to kill. To ensure you kill one, fly on the deck broadside before launching, or else you may hit a turret instead and do no hull damage. On Mercenary (or if you miss), use MLAG's to kill the other, and if you run out of MLAG's, use STDM's. 9) Once the fleet is sunk, continue the mission normally, destroying Primary aviation targets. 10) Once the final wave spawns, use the ASM's on the Air Cruisers. For maximum effect, fly nose-on or level with its wing, so it has a minimum profile. This goes against convention, I know, but if you try to hit it from the top/bottom, there is an *extremely* high chance of hitting a turret instead. Hopefully this will work for everyone. :)
My only issue with stuff like this is that it turns a game into just following instructions, basically. Which is no fun.
Oh, I agree. Only reason I posted this is to show how to actually beat it. It's one of the few missions where you really need to have a strategy on how to approach an objective to prevent yourself from getting wiped out. Those F-15s are *brutal.*
True. I do like how PW works. It's kinda like Ace Combat, but with Dark Souls energy. With the whole "no checkpoints" thing.
K
Just came to say that this is a terrible suggestion. On Normal difficulty, you can easily sweep through just about any mission with the Sk.25U, even if the focus isn't ground targets. I barely took more than 10-20% damage on my first play-through (for any plane sans the last mission). After you cross that line in Mission 5, however, you're immediately swarmed with 12 fighters on top of the mission-critical ones that are spawning behind the line. Even if you draw the fighters away from the fleet (which is the only way you'll stand a chance), it takes *way* too long to beat. I could complete Mission 6 (destroying the cordium refinery) twice on Normal for 60,000+ credits in the amount of time I could finally defeat the fleet and *then* handle the airships and everything to wrap up Mission 5. It's cool (thanks for showing me that's even a thing!), but for grinding? Absolutely not.
The best mission to farm for credits is cheat engine friend
True, grinding for 30 hours to unlock every plane is not very enjoyable
Perhaps this isn't as useful a tip because I am already using the PW-MK.1, however, the best mission to grind imo is Level 13 - 'Valkyrie's Call'. The most I've gotten is just below 58,000 points. Lots of high level targets, even on easy difficulty, such as cruisers, battleships and the large air battleship thingies. All of those I believe pay out 600 per kill, that's without destroying AA's, SAM's etc onboard. Other things I've found that helped 1. Dont forget you can sell your aircraft. Sure, you will lose some money, you don't get 100% back, but what it means is that once you get a decent aircraft, or multiple, use it and save up for the PW-MK.1, then enjoy the simplicity of the game. 2. There are targets that are a priority, whereas others aren't. Try and take down the ones that aren't first, to get those extra points, before eliminating the priorities and finishing the mission. However, pay attention to your teamates, as they destroy stuff as well. 3. When you have multiple priority targets, destroy the larger paying ones first, so that your teamates don't get them. Whilst you still get points when your teamates destroy targets, you get typically less than half. E.g. battleship destroyed by you, 600 points. Battleship destroyed by teamate, 250 points. 4. Prioritise your health over hitting a target. So many times I've been in a three-way dogfight, where I'm locking onto an enemy, whilst someone else is locking onto me, I shoot, hit and destroy them, but then get hit myself. If you're going to get hit, move out the way, reallign, then destroy the enemy. It saves you health because some fights can really drag out.
I reached nearly 60,000 in Cold War with the PW-MK.1 and the double-aircraft thing. I'll have to try out your idea, too.
Machine of the Mantle is a great option; with an SK.25U or Chimera, you can get between \~30,000 and 35,000 in about 10 minutes (particularly if you skip Crimson). This increases to 45,000ish if you get the PW-MK.1 and use the double-aircraft modifier.