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This is one of the harder challenges in Mental Omega and arguably the hardest out of the Allied Sub-faction Challenges. This is mostly due to the very rough start that the players will experience. They will be overwhelmed by the amount of enemy paradrops as well as Barracuda strikes. Thus, the players will have to start fast by training Engineers, capture the tech structures and train as many of their basic Anti-Air infantry as they can. You will also have to build lots of basic anti-infantry defenses to guard your infantry and base from harassing enemy units, but don't make too many as your main interest is pumping out those infantry which will take a lot of funds to make. Later on in the challenge, Mercury Strikes will pop up and will be used, so scatter your AA infantry to minimize losses.
Once you have a somewhat stable line of defense, build your Tech Expanders. Most factions unlock better anti-air at higher tech levels, which should be your top priority. You will also notice timers for the Stratofortress, however this isn't something you should necessarily be worried about. If you are fast, then by the time they come you will already have a somewhat strong anti-air force. However make sure it doesn't hit your units, it does a lot of damage to them and somewhat small against structures.
Now, you are on the offensive. Their bases are protected by about 3 Kingsnake portals each, one at every entrance. This makes attacking them with thin-armored units (eg. Basilisk) pretty difficult. However, the main weakness of the enemy bases are their exposed Power Plants. They are very important because 1) They are very easy to infiltrate and 2) When the AI has enough power, they don't want to build more. So, if you destroy the pre-placed ones, it will take them several minutes to power their base again, especially during late-game where they have lots of power-hungry defenses. The enemy has 3 bases: on the left side, in the middle on top of the mountains and one on the right side.
Left base[]
You can enter the left base by hugging the left side of the map and going down until you reach a tall white hotel building next to grain silos. Here you can take two routes: you can keep going forward and get struck by a Kingsnake from a Portal or you can follow the road to the left passing by an ore field and an Athena Cannon. Looking down on the enemy base from the position of the Athena, you can use siege units to take down the Tech Airport and Aeronautics, removing one of the many paradrops. Keep following the road until you come down a slope, then turn to the right. In front of you will be one Prism Tower and 4 Power Plants. This area is a relatively good place to start your assault since your are pretty far away from the Kingsnake Portal in the south and it is a pretty easy route for your spies. You can also follow the highway road and come by the Airfield and Air Force Headquarters, but be careful as you will be hit by Kingsnakes.
If you have destroyed the Middle base, you can also assault this base from three other places: from the southern edge of the map down a ramp, from the west of that base near a small frozen lake and from a slope guarded by Pillboxes. From the latter two you can attack or infiltrate 3 other exposed enemy Power Plants.
Middle base[]
You can enter this base by moving up the two slopes just West / South-West of your bases. This is really the only entrance you should be focusing on, since the others are much further away. Not only that but on that route there is a Tech Academy and Aeronautics. You should try not to assault this base via air on a path directly from your base to them, as there are two Tech SAM Bunkers that will intercept them, along with two Kingsnakes that are just in range. This base has the most Power Plants: 3 on the left path, 3 on the right path and 4 in the south close to the Air HQ, Runway and Airport. Fortunately, they are pretty far from the main base which make them easy to infiltrate, so try to keep at least one alive to chain sabotages.
If you go in the area with the Airport, you can destroy 5 of the Right base's Power Plants. You could also capture a building there so you can put your own and start making a force closer to the enemy. If you continue to explore the cliff area in the south, you will find a Reinforcement Pad.
Right base[]
There are two best ways to approach this base. First, you need to go to the left side of the map and go down. When you reach an Oil Derrick (which you should capture) next to a patch of ore, go left up the slope. There you will have high ground for your siege units to attack the Power Plants, just make sure you destroy the two Athenas guarding them. That was the first route, the second is to keep going down instead of turning left to the slope, until you reach the bottom right corner of the map. There is a Tech Academy and Expansion post, very useful in setting up a small base. You also have the high ground, which makes defending it a lot easier. Now, there are two different ways you can harrass the enemy base. First, you can directly hit the exposed Airport, Runway and HQ, but you will be hit by the Kingsnakes. Second, you can go down the slope close to the Academy, follow the Highway until you reach the end, then go up while hugging the cliffs. This way, you can reach the 5 Power Plants mentioned above with your units as well as hitting the Aircraft production buildings of the Middle base on your left.
Also, after coming down the slope near the Academy, there is a Tech Hospital and destructible rocks which block the way towards a small patch of ore. You can then keep going left and start hitting the Left Base from it's south.
Tips for each faction and it's sub-factions:[]
Allied Nations 
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The Guardian G.I. is going to be the backbone of your air-defenses until you reach higher tech. Don't really bother with Patriots since they are going to be destroyed very easily by Barracudas. Instead, focus on building a ton of Pillboxes. The G.G.I.s are going to take care of the tank paradrops, while Dogs can take out SEALs. You want to unlock the Rocketeers as fast as possible and put them near the two locations with the HMG Towers and in the area with Large Tents and Tech SAM Sites. While you won't be able to build Warhawks, the U.S. tanks don't have that much armor compared to other sub-factions, so a large Rocketeer force or Prism Towers can take care of them.
A build order recommended at the start is: Barracks> Queue Engineers, about 25 G.G.Is and 10 Dogs> Power Plant> Barracks to train faster> Refinery> Arsenal Depot to gain access to Medics> Queue a few Medics> War Factory> Queue 3-4 Miners> Power Plant> Air HQ> Power Upgrades and about 30 Rocketeers, 10 for each of the three sides you are getting attacked from. Spread your G.I.s around the middle front and put a few Pillboxes on each of the 3 sides, as well as some in your base. Use your Rocketeers to target Siege Cadres or SEALs, and if there are too many vehicles build Gun Turrets. Jets might be useful later once they start sending buffed Athenas, which can be destroyed by 2 Allied Jets. As you tech up, you could start replacing your AA G.G.Is with some more Rocketeers, since they will most certainly be hit by Mercury Strikes.
For offensive operations, don't bother making Barracudas. There are too many Kingsnakes on the map and your Barracudas are too expensive to be lost so easily. If you have Superweapons set to on and buildable MCVs, the Chronosphere is going to be amazing, along with the Chronolift. You can teleport an MCV taskforce behind their bases and start making a taskforce. Use the exposed Power Plants to sabotage their power, then attack. For the Left and Right base you should teleport the MCV in the Bottom left and Bottom right corners respectively. For the Middle base, teleport the MCV taskforce next to the Airport and destroy the Athenas nearby. You can then capture those buildings for your own use.
The Stolen Tech in this case, the Quickshifter, has some uses. It can be used as an anti-air, since it is basically an Aegis Cruiser on land, or you can teleport it behind the enemy lines. You can teleport them along with the MCV taskforce to start with more force in that area. Normally the Quickshifter has the flaw of taking some time before fully teleporting, but if you have a base where they can teleport next to, you can offer them protection while they teleport.
European Alliance 
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The Euro Alliance's advantage in defense lies in the Thor. You can put about 4-5 of them where your other anti-air is and you can forget about enemy Jets for the most part. It is also great against Riot Troopers (which the Rocketeers struggle against). This along with their Mirage Tanks and Sniper IFVs can make a pretty formidable defense overall. Their siege unit, the Prism Tank, is also good for harassments, especially when Chronoshifted. This can make destroying the Airports and Runways pretty easy.
The Rocketeers along with Mirage Tanks can be a very effective defense early in the game, as both are quite accessible to the player. In fact, their Charons and Paladins aren't even needed in this challenge. Overall, the EA has one of the best starts out of all sub-factions and has very good defenses throughout the entire challenge.
Pacific Front 
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The Pacific Front is less impressive in this challenge compared to their European counterpart. While their Hyperions and Blizzard Tanks can make a formidable AA defense, they are prone to Barracuda and Stormchildren strikes. Not only that but their passive defense isn't on par with EA's. Yes, Norio with Cryocopters can mince whatever they touch very easily, but they do require some micro. Their T2 is great as an anti-armor unit, however given the U.S.'s rapid vehicles they can sometimes miss their shots. This doesn't necessarily make the PF a bad choice however, primarily due to their offensive potential. Battle Tortoises, once loaded, become a true menace. About 6-7 of these can make a force strong enough to break open a base, just make sure to bring several repair IFVs. The Hailstorm's Hailjet, while it can be shot down and not guarantee hits unlike the Prism Tank, may also be able to bait the Kingsnake into using some of it's missile to attack the Jet.
In conclusion, the PF is a worse pick than the EA, but they can still be good. They have a rougher start than the EA given their effective units are unlocked at T3 and have a less effective anti-ground passive defense, but they do have a strong offensive force and pretty good anti-air capabilities.
Soviet Union 
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The Flak Trooper serves as an arguably better counterpart to the G.G.I, since it is cheaper and trains faster. The Tigrs/Halftracks are also very good, especially when made with Elite Reserves active. Flak Cannons are also the best among the Basic AA defenses here, because of it's good DPS and instant hit. The Soviets also have access to the Nuclear Reactor, meaning that you can make Flak Cannons without worrying about power for a while. If Superweapons are on, you will also have access to the Iron Guard. This makes your Tigrs/Halftracks immune to Stormchildren strikes or U.S. tanks, making for a very durable defense.
The build order at the start would be: Barracks> Queue Engineers, ~30 Flak Troopers, 10 Dogs> Tesla Reactor> Barracks to train faster> Refinery> War factory> Queue 2 War miners, a few Terror Drones for Siege Cadres and maybe SEALs> Tesla Reactor> Radar> Nuclear Reactor> Start making Flak Cannons. While you are doing this, make sure you fill your base with Sentry Guns. Also, after you get the Nuclear Reactor, and have a decent AA defense, maybe get a Sensor Tower or two. They can apply a defense debuff, which is particularly useful against Cargo Planes. Bunkers can be pretty useful, but due to Riot Troopers they become less relevant later on. You can, however, fill the bunkers with about 5 Flak Troopers and 1 Conscript and have some Desolator guard them. They can protect the Bunkers not only from the Riots, but also from SEALs and Cadres. You can also use the Drakuvs to capture a Riot Trooper and train some to make sure the enemy doesn't have any success in infantry assaults.
For offensive operations, Kirovs are going to be useful. However due to the Kingsnakes, they won't last very long. With about 6 of them you can pretty easily take out the Middle base, as 6 of their main Powerplants are very exposed. Two Kirovs will go for the Power Plants on the left and on the right, one for each group of 3. Then, when they reach the Power Plants, send your remaining Kirovs to destroy: G.G.I.s, the Barracks, the Conyard and the WF. The Surviving Kirovs should be immediately sent to the south to destroy the Airport, Runway and Air HQ as well as the remaining Power Plants. After this, that AI will become mostly harmless to you so you can ignore it. If there are no more Dogs or Robot Tanks there, you can send a few Saboteurs to infiltrate buildings to get Grumbles.
For attacking the other two bases, you can use 4 Kirovs for each. 2 of them should be sent in the area of the Middle HQ's Airport, once that AI has been defeated. The other two should be sent either on the far left side of the map in the case for the Left base, or on the far right side in the case of the Right base. Then, attack the groups of lone Power Plants, 2 Kirovs each. You can also infiltrate the power before sending the Kirovs so that you can simultaneously attack said bases with both them and other ground troops to slow the AI's response to your forces.
As for their Stolen Tech here, the Grumble, this challenge is truly what it was made to counter. It can take out Barracudas and Cargo Planes, your main threats, before they even come close to your Flak, and then let them rip away whatever remains. They also are very effective against the Stratofortress, since their range makes them able to shoot at said unit even when those bombers fly away to turn around for another run.
USSR []
The main advantage of the USSR here is the Wolfhound. Even when few, it can still be a good defense against anything ground, and around 6-7 of them near your Flak can tear apart most jets that come by. Volkov and Chitzkoi are also pretty good here, the latter very useful against paradrops. You should also build a Stalin's Fist as soon as you get an Industrial Plant so that you can safely use Gear Change for free money. You will need it since your Wolfhounds are pretty expensive. Around 8 for each of the sides the enemy will come from will be enough to eliminate most of their taskforces.
You won't really need the Tank Drop since the Tesla Cruiser is more than enough for the U.S.'s lighter armor. The SCUD Launchers are also very good at taking out defending Athenas and their buildings from ranges mostly safe from Kingsnakes. Overall, very good pick for this challenge, offering both amazing defensive capabilities and great offensive ones.
Latin Confederation []
The Latins main weakness here are specialized AA unit. Vultures, when massed, are great against jets but not the same effectiveness against Cargo Planes like the Wolfhounds. This challenge requires the player to have a strong defense, which the Latin Confederation puts less focus on. It's not all bad though, as they have great offensive potential. Morales and Buratinos can destroy their buildings pretty effectively and their Catastrophes loaded with a Desolator or Riot Trooper can very easily crush their fortifications. Not only that, but you can use Arsonists to take out the defenses and exposed Power Plants. For example, in the Middle base's case, move the Arsonists to it's left side with the 3 Power plants, set them afire and go down. You may want to go down the slope a bit to not attract any dogs then go south-east along the cliffs, climb the other slope then set the plants and Airports on fire. Just make sure to avoid Dogs and Robot Tanks.
Overall, the Latin Confederation might struggle a bit compared to other Soviet sub-factions in defense, however they compensate with a great offensive potential and with it's Arsonists.
China []
The Chinese Sentinels and the Centurion are amazing here. If you have Iron Guards, have 7 Sentinels each next to them and you will see jets drop almost instantly. Gyrocopters may also be pretty good since they are very similar to the Allied Rocketeers. The Centurion can very easily destroy a base by itself, just make sure to bring a few Sentinels with it and lots of Repair Drones. Because of that, you can actually do two assault of different bases simultaneously, the other taskforce of yours being composed of Nuwa Cannons, Eradicators, several Sentinels/ Elite Halftracks and Repair Drones. Those Sentinels are very useful since their damage is instant and with enough you won't really have to worry about Kingsnakes.
The only real flaw of China here is it's lack of long range siege (except the Centurion) and slow & expensive army. However their offensive potential is still really solid and has great defensive capabilities (especially for AA), which makes them an amazing pick for this challenge.
Epsilon Army []
The Archer will be your primary source of AA damage throughout most of the challenge. While Gatling Cannons and Tanks can also be used, the fact that their DPS is low and by the time the fire rate increases, the enemy jets will have already left or dropped their payload makes them more or less ineffective for your primary AA defense. The Gatling Cannons, however, are going to be used as your main anti-infantry building until you reach the Inferno Tower. One of the downside of this defense is that it consumes power, unlike the Allied and Soviet counterparts, so you need to pay attention to your Bio Reactors. You should also get a squad of Invaders as soon as possible so that you can effectively deal with Cadres, SEALs and later Riot Troopers.
A recommended build order is: Barracks> Queue a few Spooks, Engineers and about 30 Archers> Bio Reactor> Barracks> Refinery> War Factory> Queue 3-4 Miners> Spire> Bio Reactor, since you are going to need more power for you Gatling Cannons. When you reach the Spire, queue up about 6 Invaders. You shouldn't really focus on making these units for AA, since your Archers can do the job much better. Instead, you want to make Drillers. When you use a Scout Raven, try to place it near the enemy's Airports to gain vision of them. Then send about 2 Drillers filled with Engineers to try to capture both the Tech Airfield and the Air HQ. This is mostly for the Left and Right bases, for the middle one you will need a different approach.
On the Middle base's Airports, there are a few Tents that mostly certainly will be garrisoned (if not, do the same strategy). In this case, you want to send a driller with a few Duneriders first to clear the Large Tent and the other ones. Make sure to send the Driller on the right side of the Runway, right next to it. This is to avoid the Athena Cannons nearby. After the Tents are down, send the Drillers with Engineers to capture the two buildings, and use your Duneriders to destroy the Runway. If you do all of this correctly, you will no longer have enemy paradrops for quite a while and Jet attacks will be reduced significantly.
Now that you have reached T3, there are two things you need to know: 1) Don't build Basilisks, they are very fragile and will be torn apart by the Kingsnakes. This is not really the challenge to use them in. And 2) Build Chimera Cores next to your Archers, and spread said infantry. This is mainly to avoid Mercury Strikes, which are more dangerous to the Epsilon due to their necessity of Archers as their main AA.
As for their Stolen Tech unit, the Scavenger, it's a pretty good unit. It is fast, heavily armored, can crush ANY unit the enemy has in this challenge, and has a pretty good weapon when it destroys a U.S. sub-faction specific unit, which is a laser similar to Tanya's but has weaker damage. It is particularly useful since the Epsilon doesn't really get any of such vehicles, and a Scavenger can fill that spot very nicely.
Psicorps []
The Mastermind in this challenge, like in most battles against the AI, is very good. You can effectively turn any paradrop or taskforce into free money if you have a Grinder. The Gehenna Platform is also pretty good, however they should be put closer to the enemy since it takes time for the Interceptor to actually reach the target, but they can deal with most jets very quickly. They are especially useful against Cargo Planes and the Stratofortress since the Interceptor will keep following that unit even when out of the Platform's range. Libra is also pretty versatile, since he does good damage and can attack both air and ground.
Their only flaw is that their siege unit, the Magnetron, is extremely slow and sluggish to use. But overall, Psicorps is a very good pick since they have everything you need and once they reach T3, the Mastermind can absolutely counter any real ground threat the enemy sends at you.
Scorpion Cell []
The Cell's best unit here is the Oxidizer. Once you have like 7-8 of them, your Archers will absolutely melt any Jet or Cargo Plane. Same thing goes against the Stratofortress. Malver is also very useful since he instantly kills any of the enemy's infantry at a pretty fast rate, and his deploy ability will weaken the already lighter U.S. armor. The Tyrants are good at taking out the airfields, but with the amount of Kingsnakes and buffed Athenas, they will die pretty easily. This also goes for most of the Cell's vehicles, their armor is very weak and the enemy can do very high damage. Plague Splatters are mostly going to be used as anti-building here, a role which they aren't really the best at since they tend to miss shots often. This is more problematic for smaller buildings like defenses. However, you can use your Hijackers to take control of some buffed Athena Cannons for you to use.
The Cell's only real advantage here is it's impressive air defenses that they can set up and Malver. However they fall short in an offensive role, so try to get those Athenas or Abrams and see if you can unlock the Scavenger. Overall not the best pick, but they still have some redeeming qualities.
Epsilon Headquarters []
Their epic unit, the Irkalla, can be amazing at defending. It can absolutely crush most of their ground attacks and be able to stop a lot of their air strikes so get it as soon as possible. Rahn is also amazing here, you can use the paradrops and their infantry taskforces to make Brutes and create a tough meat shield. Shadow Tanks can also be good at assassinating T2/T3 infantry before they get too close. However, their other units fall short in this challenge. The Colossus is good against armor, but it's AA version is very lacking. If you want to use it for that role, you might as well just get more Archers or Gatling Tanks. The Stalker is great, but if you make a horde of them they will most likely be targeted by Mercury Strikes which can prove to be deadly.
The HQ can form a pretty heavy defense and can give some nice offensive capabilities. Yes, your siege unit will have troubles with it's speed and by being an infantry type, but you can mitigate it by using Rahn's Brute creation to try to make a larger horde to bait the Mercury Strikes. Overall, a pretty decent pick.
Foehn Revolt []
The Knightframe is the AA that you will need the most, at least for the beginning. They have the advantage compared to other factions of being immune to dogs and can also be used to form a good force against infantry taskforces or paradrops. However you do need some Lancers to take out the vehicles for them. The Shriek Nest is pretty good here, primarily against Cargo Planes, sometimes Barracudas and later the Stratofortress. If you have them then consider deploying some SODAR Arrays next to them for that damage boost. This can also be applied to Teratorns, which should be build in numbers and put a bit closer to the incoming air attacks due to their delay before shooting.
The build order is: Barracks> Queue Engineers, 20+ Knigthframes, a few Lancers> Windtrap> Refinery> A few Shriek Nests> War Factory> Cloud Piercer. When getting the Cloud Piercer, try to get some Railgun Towers since they will start increasing the armored attacks. Also start building some Buzzards/Condors, put some at the fronts to kill infantry waves and place some next to your AA to hurt jets. Once you get to T3, build Neutralizers instead of Railguns as they are amazing against lightly armored vehicles. You will need the Reprocessor here to get a lot of money. The jets you will keep destroying are going to be a perfect money source for a while. Racoons are actually something you want to invest in, as they can drastically increase the survivability of your air defenses against Barracudas. They also give the amazing advantage of blocking Mercury Strikes in that area, making your Knigthframes much safer. This can also be applied to Signal Inhibitors.
Aside from Knightframes, sub-faction specific infantries and Heroes, your infantry will be pretty useless but at that point the enemy will start sending their own T3 vehicles so maybe you can hijack some with your Huntress. Also, don't bother with Quetzals, the Kingsnakes make them very ineffective here. You may find some spots where you can sneak them, but other then that they are pretty useless. If you have Superweapons on, then you might find a rare use for the Blast Furnace to instantly destroy the Stratofortress and other enemy air attacks.
Their Stolen Tech, the Phantasm, is very good here, especially when close to a SODAR. It can devastate enemy vehicles, while your Buzzards/Condors take care of the infantry. Their Golden Rockets can also be very good against enemy jets.
Haihead []
Fin and Alize are extremely useful here and basically deny the enemy from assaulting that area with ground units. Just make sure to keep them away from Athenas. Neonwasps are also going to be super useful along with your Buzzards and can delete anything ground together. This way, you can send both heroes on the right side since there are less units being sent there, and the air units on the left side. Shadrays may also find a use as AA since they are instant hit, long range and have high DPS. However, what Haihead truly does best here is assault. If you use those sneaky routes mentioned above, you can have Megalodons safely take out the power or Airports swiftly, since your spies cannot disguise as other infantry. Following the same paths for the Left and Right base, you can send in the M.A.D.M.A.N. to cripple, if not outright destroy their entire base.
Overall, Haihead is arguably the best sub-faction for this challenge. Their two heroes, the Neonwas & Buzzards can negate almost all ground units while Shadrays provide extra AA along side the already good defense that the Foehn Revolt in general can set up. The offensive capabilities of this sub-faction are also amazing, even without taking those specific sneaky routes.
Last Bastion []
The SODAR Array greatly helps this sub-faction because of two units. The Sweeper is basically a buildable Phantasm, which has already been described as "very good". The Giantsbane is the same, but they are very strong against air. 8-9 of them scattered along your air defenses can cripple any jet that comes by. They also become a very effective siege tool when nanosynced. The Mastodon and Gharial can be pretty useful in offensives, but the Godsbane should still be your main tool. The latter's Knightframes can also be synced for extra siege capabilities. The Boidmachine and Plasmerizer, however, should not be built. Unless you use the Blitz along with the Tempest to destroy a ConYard, there is no reason to build a Boidmachine. And due to your army being well equipped to deal with the ground units, the Plasmerizer loses it's value quickly.
This sub-faction is an amazing pick due to having outstanding offensive and defensive options. The only real flaw is the sheer costs that you have to pay for these capabilities and your army's painfully slow speed.
Wings of Coronia []
The Alanqa is going to be your best Air Defense. That thing can shred any of the enemy's aircraft. The Pteranodons are also very good at supporting your Buzzards in anti-vehicle attacks. The Zorbtrotters/floaters are not going to be of much use here. Eureka can also be good at defense, just make sure to keep her away from your own units. The Harbinger Tower is a similar case to the Boidmachine, both being very unnecessary here. The Orcinus can also be pretty decent here, you can put one for each of the two fronts. Just keep them away from your AA units.
Overall, Coronia is a pretty decent pick. Their air defenses are amazing, and can offer great anti-unit passive defenses as well. However, they are not the greatest in offensive. On reason is that your siege unit, the Tarchia, is extremely slow and takes quite some time to start firing. Normally Quetzals would be used for Coronia, but with the Kingsnakes around you don't get much siege capabilities as this sub-faction.