Blazing Angels: Attack on Rabaul

[project will]

Well, Ubisoft decided to start you off with relatively easy missions, and then WHAM. Rabaul.


--Edit--Don't read any further unless you need help with the mission, it will include spoilers on the first part--Edit--


Holy crap was this mission hard. I figured I'd give a general strategy to the first part of this mission, because after that, it gets a tad easier. Anyway, during the first part you have to take out the planes before taking off, so they don't attack the bombers. General strategy: Once the planes are in the air, and away from the base, let your wingmen and the bombers handle themselves. You concentrate SOLELY on the ground. It is critical that you take out at least 4 AA guns, and EVERY SINGLE PLANE ON THE GROUND.

When you first come in, come in slow and try to nail every single plane with missles/gunfire that is sitting off to the right of the runway, then nail the AA guns at the far end before heading up and around for another pass. On your second pass, take out the first few AA guns first, then make another run over the sitting planes. Turn around and do it again, and again. You don't get a checkpoint until all those planes are destroyed...and you better do it quick, or the bombers are screwed.

Make sure you nail EVERY single plane that is sitting there, or the base will continue to launch planes in the air. The fewer they get up, the easier time your wingmen will have. Do not take your attention away from the grounded planes and AA guns unless: 1) there are a line of them taking off and it's easy to get some of them before getting too high in the air, and 2) you've just finished taking out all the planes on the ground. The AA guns are secondary.

This mission pissed me off to no end, and I realized after the 5th time or so to screw trying to dog fight in the air, keep letting the red guy (frank?) do his thing, and make sure your wingmen are on attack mode. To get to the first checkpoint, it takes a little skill, a little planning, and a lot of luck, IMO.

Anyway, after the first checkpoint, it's open season, and I had no trouble with the mission from there.

Just thought I'd give a bit of help to anyone having trouble with this, because after a few times of hearing Joe's voice at the beginning, and having to sit through that cutscene, you're going to want to pull your hair out.

[DigupCoins]

Thanks for the great tips We will keep that in mind when i reach that level Thanks again

[Hawker]

This was just what I needed to see. Thanks PW!

It is certainly the hardest mission yet. Great game though, I'm really enjoying it.

[SDF]

Your advice was extremely helpful. I won't even say the number of times I tried to fight this battle by strafing the planes taking off, hitting some of the AA guns, chasing the enemy planes out to the bombers. None of that works.

As you said below, the first run is important, and difficult, because you are trying to keep up air speed, rocket as many parked planes as possible, hit the tower as you pass, stay in the air so you don't crash into the runway after the pass on the tower, and then dropping the nose down to hit the AA batteries at the end of the runway. If you can have a great first run, then you can double back and hit the AA batteries at the far end of the field before restrafing any remaining parked planes. I found it helpful to not come in too fast or slow on this run, because too fast you don't hit enough stuff, but too slow you tend to crash. Airspeed was a definite factor, particularly in this initial run when you are trying to maximize damage.

I found it helpful to remember to use the machine guns and rockets at the same time, not always easy to do when you are trying also to manage air speed and elevation on the low slow pass.

I also found it helpful to continually send the red teammate out to attack the Zeros in the air. I think this marginally helped clear the air for the incoming bombers. As you suggested, I continued making tight turns and came back to hit the mobile AA launchers, hangars, anything that would blow up. When everything was smoking, and I mean everything, I noticed that enough bombers were still airborne and and I then started attacking the enemy airplanes and shot a couple of those before the game said "Checkpoint Reached"

I used the repair kit more on this mission than any other, including the attack made in this same mission a few minutes later where you hit ships at the dock and take out the AA guns. Again, using the Taunt and Attack features here really helped keep the enemy planes off your back so you can blow up all the AA guns, ships, and petrol tanks on the ground. Rabual required me to really remember the ABXY buttons because it will really screw you up if you fail to repair your plane the first time. There is so much additional fire coming at you that failure to repair the first time means you will often be shot down on your next pass if you are still of fire.

As you said, the degree of difficulty for this mission was exponential to anything else that went before except for the carrier landing, which was an issue due to braking.

Thanks a lot for the tip on this. I was about to shove this game back in the box and forget it!

Originally Posted by project will

Well, Ubisoft decided to start you off with relatively easy missions, and then WHAM. Rabaul.


--Edit--Don't read any further unless you need help with the mission, it will include spoilers on the first part--Edit--


Holy crap was this mission hard. I figured I'd give a general strategy to the first part of this mission, because after that, it gets a tad easier. Anyway, during the first part you have to take out the planes before taking off, so they don't attack the bombers. General strategy: Once the planes are in the air, and away from the base, let your wingmen and the bombers handle themselves. You concentrate SOLELY on the ground. It is critical that you take out at least 4 AA guns, and EVERY SINGLE PLANE ON THE GROUND.

When you first come in, come in slow and try to nail every single plane with missles/gunfire that is sitting off to the right of the runway, then nail the AA guns at the far end before heading up and around for another pass. On your second pass, take out the first few AA guns first, then make another run over the sitting planes. Turn around and do it again, and again. You don't get a checkpoint until all those planes are destroyed...and you better do it quick, or the bombers are screwed.

Make sure you nail EVERY single plane that is sitting there, or the base will continue to launch planes in the air. The fewer they get up, the easier time your wingmen will have. Do not take your attention away from the grounded planes and AA guns unless: 1) there are a line of them taking off and it's easy to get some of them before getting too high in the air, and 2) you've just finished taking out all the planes on the ground. The AA guns are secondary.

This mission pissed me off to no end, and I realized after the 5th time or so to screw trying to dog fight in the air, keep letting the red guy (frank?) do his thing, and make sure your wingmen are on attack mode. To get to the first checkpoint, it takes a little skill, a little planning, and a lot of luck, IMO.

Anyway, after the first checkpoint, it's open season, and I had no trouble with the mission from there.

Just thought I'd give a bit of help to anyone having trouble with this, because after a few times of hearing Joe's voice at the beginning, and having to sit through that cutscene, you're going to want to pull your hair out.

[defenderdude]

Thanks very much for the helpful tips, I've been stuck on this level for weeks.

[fixxer49]

I know this isn't a very warlike stance, but I just said screw it. enough already!
and that pre-attack chatter??? BTW- i bombed and shot up EVERYTHING into oblivion, numerous times. can't get to the first checkpoint. if not for the cheat codes to unlock better levels , i would have thrown this game out the window 5 days ago.

[fixxer49]

Originally Posted by fixxer49

I know this isn't a very warlike stance, but I just said screw it. enough already!
and that pre-attack chatter??? BTW- i bombed and shot up EVERYTHING into oblivion, numerous times. can't get to the first checkpoint. if not for the cheat codes to unlock better levels , i would have thrown this game out the window 5 days ago.

Ok. I beat this damn level the hard way. The game has become enjoyable once again. The Whole Campaign: done. You're looking at a new Lt. Colonel.
BTW: I'm not so sure about the tips above- I didn't beat Rabaul until I started taking out enemy fighters in the air near the bombers as well.

[swiss guy]

Do the three Bombers also have to be destroid?

[swiss guy]

you have not got enough time