Intercept a horde of retreating enemies and stop 'em in their tracks.

Posted March 30th 2008

• Introduction
• General advice
• Back through the alley
• In the alley
• In the storage space
• On the hillside
• Across the chasm
• Entrance to the AA gun area
• At the big rock
• Up on the AA gun

The AA gun megabattle is based on getting a large mass of enemy to retreat to the AA gun, but it's not the only fun you can derive from that horde. You can also have some top-notch fun intercepting it, perhaps ambushing enemies from the side or fending them off face-on. There are lots of possibilities depending on your positioning and weaponry. I'll suggest some battle plans below after a few words of general advice.

Setting up

In regard to setting up, it's obviously best to use the plan that gets Brutes out of the factory, as that potentially raises the enemy count from 18 to 28, making things a lot meatier.

If you want to have a rocket launcher and Brute shot as usual, yet also be equipped as well as possible for plans involving sniping, pass through the high room near the factory exit to reach the sniper rifle, then move it along by continually swapping. That's no problem on Easy, but on Normal it's likely to take plenty of attempts before you get through alive. Later you'll be able to top up the rifle with the one at the sandbagging.

Preferably save a checkpoint at the corner where the hill comes into view, doing it before you reach the point where the main retreat is triggered (a few metres from the TRAXUS crate). That gives you the most flexible starting point from which to try out various battle plans.

Full battle rifle

If you ever want a full battle rifle, you can quickly nip back around the corner from your starting point to get a rifle in a storage space, then top it up using one at the sandbagging.

Hunter death checkpoint

Killing the Hunters in battle will trigger a further checkpoint, but it can get cancelled if you're in heavy action. You can also cancel it manually by jumping non-stop five or six times, so you'll still be able to revert to the start (if you only got that one checkpoint).

This first battle plan is the odd one out because you don't trigger the main enemy retreat at all, though you have at least made Brutes retreat from the factory. Just head back down the narrow alley. The covies will potentially be fighting your allies beyond (if any), and will have no particular interest in heading down the alley. Sort 'em out.

I had a great time with this on Easy with the Mythic skull on. After blasting lots of Brutes that tend to gather near the corner, there were still lots of Grunts left, plus a couple of Jackals, all firing at the Arbiter and a few workers who were trying to deal with a Hunter or two. Poor Grunts; they never saw me coming, and they got it in the back with dual-wielded spikers.

Trigger the retreat, then backtrack to the narrow alley and stop the covies getting through. Pretty intense, and very nice! You can defend from the end or aggressively advance down the alley, wiping all asunder. A few allies may catch a bit of blast damage from your magnificent work, but hey, that's their fault, right?

Incidentally, there's just enough time to fetch the chain-gun if you want it. That alley is a fine environment in which to let it rip.

Trigger the retreat, then nip into the storage space just nearby to ambush enemies as come around the corner from the narrow alley and pass. Rockets, Brute shot, grenades, whatever.

Quickly clear the hillside of any threats, then defend from the slope. Long-distance rockets and sniping are two options, but you could also have fun letting the enemy get closer. There are some big rocks you can lurk behind ready to do some close-range ambushing, perhaps with a Brute shot and grenades. Oh, and don't forget about the chain-gun; I'm pretty sure you could mow down a good few covies with that eh?

Full sniper rifle

In regard to sniping, you can get a full sniper rifle on your way here. You can get the one in the high room near the factory exit (which you can either swap for one of your original weapons, or move along with you as you run by continually swapping, so you end up with 3 weapons), and top it up with the sniper rifle at the sandbagging.

One especially enjoyable thing you can do from distance is to watch for covies about to jump down through the gap in the sandbagging, then send in a rocket to meet them as they land - or even to blast them upwards just before they jump. Fabulous!

Instead of staying at one spot, you could start near the bottom and progressively fall back, according to how much pressure you come under. The rocks will make good cover if you need it.

Note: You can get a checkpoint near the top of the hill, which could then serve as a handy battle start checkpoint to keep reverting to. However, you might want to then move away from the top of the hill, else you might get further checkpoints there (see Checkpoint advice in the AA gun megabattle account).

Grav lift special

When Brutes, Jackals and Hunters are heading for the hill, they tend to enter the higher sandbagged area and jump down through the gap after knocking away obstructions. There's some good fun you can have with this. Shortly before they start arriving, deploy a grav lift on the grass so they'll enter the updraft at some point. Also, preferably blast the gap obstructions away so they won't dawdle much. When they jump, they'll get lifted into the air and you can blast them out of the sky with a rocket launcher or Brute shot, or blast them as they eventually hit the ground. Sometimes you can actually blast them back into the updraft once they've landed. See how many you can blast in mid-air; I managed five in a row with a rocket launcher.

I think the nicest place for the lift is on the spot where they'd normally land. You can soon learn where that is. Looks good when they go down then get lifted up, and overall they spend more time airborne.

Run past the sandbagging then off to the left, then jump across the chasm. From there you can safely attack enemies as they head up the hill, for example using rockets or sniping. You can do it from the side, or move well back parallel to the way you came, so you'll be seeing the backs of the enemy as they run up the hill. Rocketing them from behind or shooting them in the back is something of a joy, and I especially like timing rockets to blast enemies as they reach the top, just when they think they're getting to safety - hee hee!

Note: You can get across the chasm with a chain-gun if you use a grav lift.

Up in the air

If you send yourself up on a grav lift, you can hit a high invisible ceiling and thus gain a stationary high shooting position for a while.

Getting lower

At the place where the chasm starts, you can jump down and move close to the high sandbagging area most of the covies are passing through. You'll have slabs of rock over your head. It's a novel position from which to attack covies when they go up the hill, but it's awkward to move around when Hunters fire on you.

Head up to the entrance to the AA gun area, where the hill levels out. From level ground near the entrance, fend off the covies as they arrive. You may want to have a rocket launcher for killing the Brutes on the big rock so they don't annoy you - especially the guy with the fuel rod gun.

Worker assistance

If you play on Easy with the Mythic skull on, and you created the retreat using the plan for getting extra Brutes out of the factory, you can easily end up with a handful of workers for company at this particular defence spot. They're resilient enough to struggle past all the covies. If you want as many as possible, it's a good idea to detonate the fusion cores that are near the factory exit before 4 workers materialize and run in.

When defending, don't back off as far as the tree, else the workers will head deeper into the AA gun area. It's ok to go up the side path as far as the antenna thingy though. There's a weapon case there with a pair of spikers if you want them.

Head for the big rock supporting one of the AA gun legs. Wipe out the covies there and get ready for fresh arrivals. Keep the filthy stinkers off your rock. No covies allowed up here! You can get a well stocked fuel rod gun from the weapon case nearby. If you combine that with the one a Brute was carrying, you'll have a full or nearly full one to bolster your defence.

Run up the hill and use a grav lift to get up on the AA gun, from where to attack covies as they arrive.

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