Mech Commander 2 - Company B MC2 Strategy Guide - M3 Op 22 - Baxter’s Gambit: Liao Palace

Alright, listen up: this is it. Your team is trained; you know your mechs. You know the enemy; you know your moves. Now you have to bring it all together, because if you don't, you won't make it out of here alive. Now might be a good time to reconfigure; you gained Clan Heavy Laser tech in the last mission as well as Thunderbolts. It hurts soooo good...

[Some would tell you to approach this mission with Assault mechs only. But then you'd be c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g all over a very large map at 54-65kph. And who's your Scout then, a Cyclops???Those people also wouldn't have Ace Sharpshooters or be following the Company B Plan: reinforce in-field. At this point, you could easily have three or four Ace Sharpshooters, capable in concert of one-hit headshot kills, and believe me; there's a LOT of Salvage in this mission! The above-team is considered a good, solid and reliable team for this mission. You could chicken out and dump 2 of the 'Hus for a Highlander or something. But we won't.

You are dropped in a small dell behind good tree cover, just outside the Liao palace compound's walls. Use it to your advantage. North and right, you'll pick up two Catapults (among other beasties). Lure the Catapults into the dell; you want these two mechs and their wicked rockets out of the way before you begin your breach. Leave the team in place and send one mech out as decoy. Put the rest on Hold so they don't charge out at the first exchange of fire.

The Eastern Wall is your best way in to the Palace grounds

Next, start clearing some turrets on the Eastern Wall, staying back from the Northern wall and turrets, which are more numerous and painful. While you are doing this, you're liable to be accosted by a pair of Starslayers, who back up a pair of Men Shen patrolling the East inner wall; the Slayers are liable to jump the wall and come after you. Be cool, and use the shelter of your nice nest to help you take this crew down (or try jumping the turret controls, although the 'Slayer will follow you in there and will keep you from capturing the controls, and the Men Shen seem able to fire through walls that close).

Go East, young mechwarrior...

When clear, hop in and take the Eastern turret controls. The Starslayer and Men Shen mentioned earlier might be waiting inside the grounds for you. If so, fight 'em. Then send someone forward to grab the Resource Trucks, Building and the front Gate Controls. Stay to the right and out of range of those Northern Wall turrets; jump in from outside. When you grab the controls, you'll probably stir up the other patrol of 2 Men Shen & Starslayer to the northwest. So kill them (shrug). There's no point in taking the Northern Wall turrets, so leave them alone; you'll just get chewed up. Assemble your team inside the Eastern Wall, in the Palace Grounds proper. You may have to blow a hole in the wall if you have mechs that are not equipped with jump jets.

Alright, now you're in. Head East from the Eastern Wall until you reach the small city surrounded by trees. This will be your Iwo Jima; this is your Killing Field. From this place, the world, and that base to the North, is at your command. From this place, you'll be able to build a team that will have House Liao trembling in their booties and crying for Mommy. Here's how to do it:

Arrange your team to the southeast of the city in a curve so that everyone has a good line-of-sight. The city shields you north and west. Put all on Hold so that they stay put... making for an awesome amount of focused fire. Assign a group number to your best shooters to make things easier. Now send your fastest mech forward towards the base.

Come into my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly...

This is a major, major base. Take a dozen or so Partisans for granted; here are your real targets:

1 - A Lao Hu and a Catapult on patrol East and West in the middle of the base
2 - 2 Starslayers patrolling West of the base, near its' center.
3 - 2 Men Shen that will power up when you approach.
4 - A Raven and Anubis team
5 - Another Raven/Anubis team near the front gates.
6 - Two more Men Shen hiding in the northeast ammo dump.
7 - Three Anubii that may hear the noise and approach from the East, through the minefield.

Thanks to a lot of fuel trucks, tanks and ammo dumps, this really isn't as hard as it looks. But who wants to blow up all those beautiful mechs when you have an embarrasement of riches, helped in part by the three Resource Trucks and 3 Resource Buildings there? Not me, sister.

This was supposed to be the Base shot but I forgot and
blowed it up. Sorry. But you get the general idea 😊

Instead, use your fast mech to constantly poke at the base, flushing everyone out and leading them into your waiting team's loving embrace. Watch the approach angles and lead them right down the throat of your long-range weaponry. They'll be blindsided until they come around the trees, and by that time it's too late.

Take a look at the picture below: using this position and technique, every single mech there is salvageable for the mere cost of a pilot: none of the mechs are damaged in any other way! And since I didn't have to repair yet, and my Scout has barely tapped the Repair Bay, I have 84000 Resource Points!

The Killing Field... and they're mine, all mine!!!!

But do you stop there? No! Instead, send a small Away Team (Lao Hu, Starslayer, Anubis) South, following the road, and East when it turns. This keeps you out of the huge minefield to the East of the base you are occupying. Soon you'll see the Outer Eastern walls of the Palace grounds; you'll also see the turret controls and another Resource Building. Jump in and grab the goodies. (I sent the Hu/Slayer team with the Scout because I thought there was something that jumped out here, but didn't today. Probably blew them up before. Be safe and send a small but tough guard force). Alright - 94000 RPs! But do you even stop there? No!!!!

Instead, send your Scout directly up the road North from the base. Kill the Lookout Tower and keep going until you hit the Liao Elite Mechwarrior Barracks. No one's there! Of course; they are all protecting the Palace. So keep going North, up the Long and Winding Road, to the small city in the heights. Tucked under the trees there are the last three Resource Trucks in this op. Now you have 106000 RPs - that's 10 full mechs and a Repair Vehicle! There's also another good reason for coming this far...

Edge City....................................................... the Edge

Go East from the city to the river. Where it bends, there are two small projections on the bank. It's tricky, and you'll have to hunt for the right place (unless you have a Jump Specialist) but you can jump the river here and end up in the Palace's backyard!

A good thing to do here is to sneak East and gain control of the turrets that overlook your Extract Zone. You may or may not run into various patrols on your way but usually won't if you bear south and around the treeline on the hill. If you get close enough to the Palace, you might pick up the echo of the Cyclops' sensor field (it's huge!). A bad thing to do here is trigger the Palace Guard unless you're using this as your main attack vector. The 'Clops is fortified; I've dropped 3 airstrikes on him without killing him so fugeddaboudit and don't waste the RPs.

Stubborn *6%#$!!! mech...

Just sneak back across the river and South down the road to your waiting team. You might as well capture the bridge turret installation outside the Elite Barracks on your way. Taking them should be a cakewalk; just approach from the blind side of the hill to the north and jump in. Be careful of the Autocannon turrets that guard the East side of the bridge if you go out onto the bridge itself.

Now... back at Central Base, you have a field of salvageable mechs and 106000 RPs - need I say more? Build your team carefully for both long- and short-range punchin' power. Assign Tactical Group numbers to make handling this large team easier. When you're all ready, it's time to take those Liao peeps down. (I choose to salvage two Catapults, Two Starslayers, a Men Shen and the Lao Hu. Why only 6? There's nothing else that I want... right now 😊

ASSAULTING THE LIAO PALACE

What can I say? There's so many ways to do it... and if you have trouble with a team of 10 -16 mechs... go back to the vats, freebirth! There's only a few things you need to know now:

You may think to be clever and swing around to the West and North, into the hills there. Don't. Aerospotters, Men Shen and various others will make life difficult for you. There's no reason to do this. Likewise, heading East; you'll end up in a huge minefield for nothing, being shot at and stirring up Sha Yu and another Aerospotter. Only one approach is good: straight North down the road to the Barracks. About halfway there (you're safely past the minefield now) you'll swing East and down to the river.

Take the back door to the Palace

South along the river bank you'll see two ambulances (mechwarriors do not fire upon civilians!) on the far side of a shallow land spit that crosses the river. If you go down to the ford, a pair of Anubii on the other bank will power up, accompanied by a swarm of Swarm LRMs. The Swarms may actually make for the northern bridge you captured; they usually stop just outside the turrets' range, in the middle of the bridge, but watch for them sneaking in your back door (this is why you took that bridge before). If you can destroy them in the middle of the bridge, they make an excellent roadblock. If they head that way, send one mech back to deal with them.

You may also be assaulted by those Anubii or Sha Yu hiding in the East Forest edges on your side of the river if you didn't rid yourself of them earlier. Watch out for the Aerospotter. When your way is clear, cross the ford and slip South around the tree cover there. Line your team up the same way you did before, in the Curve of Death. Then hook 'em and cook 'em!

We welcome you to Crackerbox Palace

At the Palace itself, you face a measly 3 Lao Hu, a Cyclops, and 3 Catapults. These aren't the usual 'Pults though; they are 31337 CLANapults - they carry Swarm LRMs, so keep those mechs hopping! (now you know why I saved those RPs) Sometimes the 'Pults and the 'Clops will turn around and go back after a brief chase; take shots at them to goad them.

Nice paint jobs... too bad they can't fight

Now that's gotta hurt... twice!

If you have faithfully followed these mission ops, trained your team; been thrifty and crafty, sneaky and steel-eyed, you should end up with a final picture similar to the one below. Well done, Commander!

16 mechs and whaddaya get? Fried Liaos

Here's another, totally alternate philosophy that can be really fun:
Just cowboy it! Start running and blasting, and don't stop! From your first assault on the walls, rush everything in a huge firefight. You'll get very beat up, but it can be huge entertainment. Rushing the Liao Palace itself can be a wild, wild firefight and keep you targeting as fast as you can, esp with 16 mechs to command. Have a great time!

[Jinx finally made Ace, and we made a stone-cold fortune in C-bills on this campaign - recovered 10 mechs and bought every other mech that didn't get nuked]

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