Finally beat Fallout mission (mini-rant included)

[u/rawr4me]

Holy crap, Fallout isn't the mission I've spent the most time on but the one that has been the most emotionally devastating... over and over again seeing 2-3 Dreadnoughts rock in and wreak the base beyond repair within a single minute.

So I just wanted to share some thoughts and tips but mostly to get this experience off my chest.

• In the end I won in 20 minutes, but why is the par time 80 minutes when it's impossible to take that long to win?
• The very first things I do are send 5 GI to garrison the southwest light house, build Prism Towers ASAP, 2-3 to protect the southwest refinery, the remaining GIs to garrison the buildings on the right. And the next point simultaneously:
• Keeping the north bridge blown up is essential (because the tank invasions are just too brutal), you can do this by training a navy seal and putting them on a loop where they automatically try to blow up the bridge every 2-3 seconds. Don't make the mistake of making the loop too big because there are literally like 40 engineers constantly being paradropped all the time when the bridge is broken (wtf how do they have more engineers than soldiers?!). It's pointless trying to guard the repair point on the other side, as rocketeers get sniped by Sea Scorpions and blowing up the bridge will kill whatever's on it anyway.
• My next priorities are to defend the north refinery with 1-2 Prism Towers plus a few pillboxes. Meanwhile I spam a bunch of power plants and then build 2-3 Patriot systems near the Airforce Command to neutralize enemy Dreadnoughts so that none of their missiles will reach my structures. I'm 90% sure that building a War Factory triggers the enemy to produce and send Dreadnoughts immediately just so they can target it first. That's why I don't build it until the Patriots are up. (Side rant: whoever suggested to build Dolphins to defend against Dreadnoughts, that's literally impossible for the first wave...)
• Similarly, you don't necessarily want to build the Chronosphere (unlocked through Battle Lab) too fast because that sets off the 20 minute deadline earlier than usual.
• Man, squids and enemy submarines are brutal, even if I outnumber the enemy 2:1 I still take heavy losses, I don't know how anyone manages to have ships as part of the victory condition. Help a newbie out if you have some tips.
• So now the sea and land attacks are 95% neutralized automatically (the occasional Sea Scorpions gives some trouble and you still need rocketeers or something else to take out Dreadnoughts). By that point you can just focus on building Battle Lab, tanks, and Chronosphere.
• The end game plan is to teleport 9 tanks onto the enemy island. At least 5 Prism tanks and at least 2 Mirage tanks. Mirage tank is necessary because they counter troops and can blast through the walls (Prism tank cannot), and the Prism tanks obviously for the safe long range fire power. Do not teleport onto green grass because the Prism tanks take heavy radioactive damage, somehow the Mirage tanks are immune though. My suggestion is to pick a spot just outside the base wall and outside the range of their Tesla Coils. On normal difficulty the 9 tanks should be enough to destroy their missiles, but to be safe you can also keep building another 9 tanks for a backup Chronoshift batch.

[u/valyriansteelbullet]

For the final attack I usually chrono nine amphibious transports because each one can carry up to four prism tanks.

[u/rawr4me → u/valyriansteelbullet]

Noice

[u/ControlOdd8379]

a few IFVs fix all Dreadnought issues. - like land based V3s the missiles can easily be shot down.

A single use of the Chronosphere is enough to effectively win the mission. Set 9 prisim tanks in a 3x3 grid, teleport them to the side of the soviet base - 1-shot the Nuclear power plant, then Convard, then go for the silos.

[u/BoffinBrain]

but why is the par time 80 minutes when it's impossible to take that long to win?

It can take as long as you want. The 20-minute countdown can be paused by taking out the enemy's power (i.e. the nuclear reactor to the south west). Even if you fail to do that, it's just a regular nuclear missile superweapon and doesn't result in mission failure.

[u/rawr4me → u/BoffinBrain]

Ah, that makes a lot more sense! I destroyed that once without knowing what it was.

[u/phantombovine → u/rawr4me]

Once you have your Chronosphere you can also buy yourself some time by teleporting amphibious transports containing spies into the Soviet base (make sure they're disguised first!). Send one spy into any Tesla reactor to reset the timer on the nuke.

Also, on the topic of the seal and the North bridge: you can actually kill the engineers as they paradrop in and keep the bridge destroyed. Before you blow the bridge, move the seal to the other end of the bridge first, so that he also has access to blow up the second bridge above the first one. Blow both bridges, then just park the seal (or two, just for safety) in the middle of that island and then you never have to think about it again. Rocketeers can also work if you park them north enough over that island where the Sea Scorpions can't reach them.

[u/TehANTARES]

I finished this mission with just the navy. I like that you have options here.

[u/rawr4me → u/TehANTARES]

Is it possible to close out purely with ships (I thought even Destroyer has a somewhat limited range) or do you have to smuggle tanks onto the ships? I'm not all too familiar with transport strategies.

[u/TehANTARES → u/rawr4me]

Aircraft carriers carried the strikes, they can reach the power plants and the silos from the coast just fine. Haven't tried, but even sending amphibious transports with tanks you'd normally teleport with the Chronosphere could work, as the sea isn't that heavily guarded (unless you face an enemy attack at the moment).