| Mission | Original version | Walkthrough | Gallery | Changelog |
| “ | The Allies' attacks along the west coast of Africa disrupted PsiCorps' attempt to build a Psychic Amplifier in Bissau, forcing Yuri to find an alternative way to take control of the continent. Unluckily for him, the Scorpion Cell still resists his power and the Allies don't stop their attacks.
—Mission description | ” |
Operation: Nightcrawler is an Epsilon Covert Operations campaign mission.
Briefing
The traitorous Rashidi has been dealt with, crushed beneath the palace he called home. But even with their leader dead, the remnants of the Scorpion Cell refuse to come to heel. Not to mention, our efforts to maintain control of the African theater are being hindered by the Allies' infernal superweapon. Between these two, keeping control of the continent is proving difficult. If we are to stop the Allies, the Scorpion Cell needs to be dealt with.
Our attempts to deploy a Psychic Amplifier in the region were met with failure, as various Scorpion Cell operatives have managed to destroy them at every corner, and the one in Bissau was taken out with by the Paradox Engine itself. One device remains standing, however it is caught between a Scorpion Cell and Allied battleground, and was recently damaged by the Allied air force. Rahn's taskforce is en route to the region to help secure this Amplifier, and once that's done you'll have to ensure it doesn't get destroyed.
It should be noted, our intelligence reports predict that the Allies' time-warping fortress is currently following a path that leads to one of our larger strongholds in Africa. This path, unfortunately, directly intersects Rahn's potential evacuation route. If you take too long to complete this operation, Rahn will be unable to return to Headquarters within an acceptable time frame.
Objective 1: Get Rahn to the outpost.
Objective 2: Restore the Psychic Amplifier.
Objective 3: Protect the Psychic Amplfier until it's activated.
Events
Reinforce the outpost
After the Paradox Engine attacked Bissau, the Epsilon Army decided to mobilize the PsiCorps troops in Zaire to reactivate a Psychic Amplifier that had been damaged by the American forces stationed in Africa, to control the still-resisting Scorpion Cell traitors and the Allies that were attacking the African hinterland. The proselyte responsible for this operation was told not to wipe out all the Scorpion Cell rebels here. Instead, they needed to use the Psychic Amplifier to let them "rejoin" the Epsilon Army. However, Epsilon had not tested the effectiveness of this Amplifier. For safety reasons, the proselyte must keep at least three of the five Psychic Beacons intact. The Allies needed 10 minutes to get here, but they sent Spies in advance to try to cut off the power of the various outposts to free the Americans who were mind-controlled.
The proselyte was told to command Rahn to the nearest outpost to call an Engineer to repair the bridge, while the Stingers and Spooks guarded Bio Reactors and Power Plants from sabotage. Along the way, Rahn destroyed a large number of EMP Mines and Chimera Cores that hid Scorpion Cell units. Since the proselyte did not have the authorization to build the air units, he could only command Rahn and Brutes to eliminate the enemy who intercepted them.
Rahn arrived at the nearest outpost almost at the same time that the Allies entered the battlefield, avoiding the attacks of the Allied air units. Soon after he arrived at the outpost, an Engineer in the outpost at opposite side repaired the bridge in front.
Retaking the Amplifier
The Allied air units that attempted to destroy the outposts in the northeast were shot down by Gehenna Platforms, and the outposts on both sides of the bridge were handed over to the proselyte. But at the same time some Tyrants also sneaked into the southeastern outposts - although they were eliminated in time, a Tech Nuclear Plant was destroyed. Some Thor Gunships began attacking the outpost at this time, but fortunately there were some Epsilon HQ units, Colossi. Shortly after the proselyte took over the outpost, he got a blueprint for the Colossus shared by Epsilon HQ into his database.
However, this did not mean that his defense would become easier. The Allied forces established a base in the southwest and began to use Barracudas to destroy the outpost. The proselyte had to slow down the process of reactivating the Psychic Amplifier and focused on defending the outposts.
During his defensive work, he accidentally discovered that some camels here showed strong hostility towards the Epsilon forces, and even approached his buildings and exploded with poison gas like the Bloatick. There was another discovery that he could hardly believe: the Allies and Scorpion Cell here seemed to have formed a temporary alliance and both were aiming towards the Psychic Amplifier, which he thought was a trick.
Masterminds and Colossi, along with Rahn, destroyed a Scorpion Cell outpost and found the Amplifier on the opposite side of another bridge. After another Engineer repaired the bridge, the proselyte began hoarding the Amplifier-defense forces and captured the Tech Nuclear Plant, Tech Reinforcement Pad, and several Tech SAM Bunkers on the highlands. When everything was ready, the proselyte recaptured the Psychic Amplifier and prepared to defend it.
Two-way defense
The Allies offensive made the losses of the outposts more and more serious, and the proselyte could command fewer and fewer troops, but at this time he got the command of the standby forces in all the outposts. In any case, he still had to defend Psychic Amplifier while protecting as many Psychic Beacons as possible.
The two-way defense mission was so difficult that the loss of Psychic Beacons caused some American troops to be freed. Not only did the Allies begin to concentrate on attacking the Psychic Amplifier, but they also chronoshifted their vehicles around the battlefield. They sent a large number of infantry, vehicles and air units to the Amplifier so the proselyte used Rahn to turn the infantry into Brutes, destroying the vehicles with some Colossi, and then destroying the aircrafts with another part of the Colossi that were deployed. He had to give up the defense of the outpost without a Psychic Beacon and instead transferred the troops there to the nearest Psychic Beacons. The entire defense lasted for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes passed, the Psychic Amplifier was successfully reactivated, and with the help of three Psychic Beacons, it controlled all the hostile forces here. But Epsilon also received news that the Paradox Engine was heading to South Africa. After hearing that, Rahn immediately took a Driller and left the battlefield, and prepared to return to the Epsilon Headquarters.
Aftermath
| “ | Excellent work. The Allies will soon begin their attack on our stronghold in Cape Town, but with this Psychic Amplifier now fully working and Scorpion Cell under our control, we might have a chance at holding out long enough to weaken the Paradox Engine.
—Yuri's message | ” |
Rahn successfully reactivated the abandoned Psychic Amplifier with the PsiCorps forces in Zaire, and as it activated, the African Scorpion Cell's resistance also failed due to mass-range mind control, and they rejoined the Epsilon Army in this way. But there were also examples in exception.
On the other hand, the Allies have also brought more and more trouble to Epsilon, and their Paradox Engine has begun to move toward the location of Epsilon's major naval base, Cape Town. However, the Epsilon forces in this area did not intend to send a large number of reinforcements to South Africa. While Rahn went to the Antarctica, they positioned an Allied Supercharged Paradox Battery in the South Atlantic and started preparing to destroy it...
Difficulty changes
Easy
- Starting credits: 45000
- Countdown before the Allies arrive: 15:00
- Few EMP Mines will appear in the mission.
- The number of Allied attack troops are the least in this difficulty.
- Another Tech Nuclear Plant will be present in player's central base.
Normal
- Starting credits: 35000
- Countdown before the Allies arrive: 13:00
- The amounts of EMP Mines is less than that on Mental.
Mental
- Starting credits: 25000
- Countdown before the Allies arrive: 10:00
- Initial Gehenna Platforms are 3 less than in other difficulties.
- The Yuri's Statue next to Psychic Amplifier will be removed.
- The Allied Spies will start moving earlier.
- The number of Allied attack troops are the most numerous in this difficulty.
Bugs and glitches
- The Psychic Beacon at bottom right of the map belongs to neutral incorrectly, and when the player tries to capture it, the mind-controlled Americans in this region will be freed.
Trivia
- This mission is based on a fan mission called Daze Off, which has been released to the public in 2017. The mission designer authorized the modification of the mission to meet the needs of the official plot. The original mission can be found here.
- In Daze Off, the Allies and Scorpion Cell forces are intended to fight together and focus on the player's PsiCorps forces. This feature is retained in Nightcrawler, even though Allied and Scorpion Cell are hostile to each other lorewise.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
