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| “ | The Scorpion Cell is under attack. The targets are not only their people, who are now fighting for their own survival, but also the secret chemical supplies, which Rashidi has gathered as a precaution. Now, as some of them have fallen into the hands of its enemies, the Cell's assassin reemerges.
—Mission description | ” |
Operation: Survivors is an Epsilon Covert Operations campaign mission.
Briefing
Brother, the insidious Yuri has turned against us and is targeting our warriors throughout Africa. While most of our bases have been destroyed, a good number of us still survive. Among us is Malver himself, who led us into hiding when Yuri rained mayhem on our stronghold in Bissau. While we can't confirm Rashidi's fate, we must take action quickly. Rashidi came to a conclusion that Yuri would become a bigger threat to the world than we previously believed the Allies and the Soviets to be, and took precautions to ensure that we could stand against him in case of the worst; our neurotoxin that prevents Yuri's mind control from working - while lethal if used long-term, is still the most effective countermeasure we have right now. Unfortunately, Yuri has realized this much, and has begun to raid our neurotoxin production facilities. While a great portion has been destroyed, it would appear he has captured some of them, likely to study its composition.
Malver has chosen to lead us to one of such facilities in Libya, where we are to retake the facility from underneath the madman's nose. Having enough supply in our pockets might allow us to recreate the neurotoxin on a larger scale in the future. Retaking it won't be as simple as dealing with the PsiCorps forces stationed there, however; ever since the launch of their flying fortress, the Allies have begun deploying forces all across Africa. Move quietly, brother. With the neurotoxin, we may be able to trick the PsiCorps into believing our forces at the location are on their side, but the Allies will be hostile toward us.
Objective 1: Capture and extract the Neurotoxin from 7 Vats.
Note: Recapture the Scorpion Cell bases to increase your firepower.
Events
Keeping a low profile
Malver sneaked into the area controlled by Epsilon Army, where their companions there were already mind-controlled by the PsiCorps. As the inability to confirm the whereabouts of Rashidi, Scorpion Cell could only fight for its own survival. The goal of their action this time was to control at least 7 of the 13 local Neurotoxin Vats and extract the corresponding toxins. However, Malver needs to find a nearby Mine Shaft to meet other Scorpion Cell warriors first.
Under the influence of neurotoxins, Malver's presence was not spotted to the mind-controlled Scorpion Cell troops, and he passed through the path these troops guarded - if he kills any of these forces, he will be alerted instead. He found several Infiltrators and an Engineer hidden in a tent. Immediately after completing the meeting with Malver, the Engineer went to repair the nearby tunnel, allowing the Malver summon more surviving fighters there. They later discovered that PsiCorps deployed multiple Mind Readers in their hideouts, and once any soldier entered their detection range, the presence of the Scorpion Cell rebels would be discovered by PsiCorps. In addition, the Malver group did not plan to enter the PsiCorps own base to sabotage, but intended to take back their own base: among them, the southern base had a Construction Yard, and the northern base had complete production buildings.
Though Mind Reader could recognize the identity of the Scorpion Cell rebels, Malver cannot be affected however, so he went to destroy the barrels and ammo crates next to several Mind Readers, removing Mind Reader's restrictions on their actions. However, as they planned to cross the valley to the rear of their former base, new problem emerged: the Allied forces intervened in the area and established two bases here, one of which was quite close to the rebel's destination, more of their reinforcements will arrive here after a while as well - it seems that these Allies was trapped in the hinterland of Africa and cannot go to join their battle in South Africa immediately. After solving several Allied infantry chasing them, Malver led the infantry squad, mainly Engineer and Infiltrator, through two complex valleys, taking back some of the unmanned Gatling Tanks, captured some Oil Derricks and successfully revolved to the northern base.
When enough troops were assembled at the mind-controlled Scorpion Cell base, the Scorpion Cell rebels made a plan to take back the base: first let Infiltrator shut down the power of the base, and then quickly dispatch each Engineer to stand next to the buildings they needs, and when all the engineers are ready, let them capture the target buildings at the same time. When all the Engineers completed the target at the same time, the rebels immediately assembled the defense units using the retrieved production facilities, as this action has attracted the attention of PsiCorps. In addition, the remaining Infiltrators infiltrated the buildings before Engineers captured the production facilities, enabling the Scorpion Cell to train and produce veteran units after the buildings were retaken.
The toxin trade
As the Artillery Bunkers in front of the base were also taken back by the rebels, the armored units of the mind-controlled troops did not cause much damage to the base, and Malver also killed the remaining enemy soldiers at the fastest speed, but PsiCorps also deployed their Rage Inductor and a device they used to destroy the Bissau base. Time waited for no one, the rebels decided to retake the 4 Neurotoxin Vats in the base immediately.
After capturing four Neurotoxin Vats simultaneously (although intel recommended to capture one by one), Scorpion Cell used Gatling Tanks to annihilate the paratroopers and Bloaticks sent by the mind-controlled forces to the base, Malver killed several enemy Brutes, and the rebels also prepared some Hijackers and sent them next to Neurotoxin Vats to prepare for dealing a certain trouble. Sure enough, the mind-controlled Tyrants were sent to the base and try to destroy Neurotoxin Vats quickly. Hijackers snatched them when the Tyrants had just drilled out from the ground, and Scorpion Cell also sent Tyrant reinforcements on its own, followed by some of the Chinese equipment, Eradicator and Sentinel, which was previously sponsored by Yunru. Not long after using this ingenious tactic to deal with the enemy, the sufficient neurotoxins in the four Neurotoxin Vats were successfully extracted, and Scorpion Cell subsequently destroyed the vats to prevent PsiCorps from continuing studying them.
Next, Scorpion Cell was ready to recapture the other three Neurotoxin Vats in the southern base, and they had prepared some Drillers to transport the infantry to the opposite side. Malver wiped out the second group of Brutes that rushed into the base, while Tyrants went to the southern base in advance to break the defense. But the next move was far from smooth: PsiCorps was so sly, they took the southern MCV away after Scorpion Cell restored the northern base; worse still, when Tyrant arrived, the Neurotoxin Vats were also threatened by Allied Athena Cannons, one of them was even destroyed by the Allies. Engineers captured the fifth and sixth vats, and then the mind-controlled forces in the second defense used similar tactics, but this time there were more Mantis Tanks sent from the other direction. However, this did not pose a threat to a sufficient number of Tyrants and Hijakcers. Soon the second extraction was also succeed, even though the nearby Allies originally wanted to send some Abrams Tank attacks here.
Scorpion Cell took the central Neurotoxin Vats as their last target and then sent Tyrants to protect again. This time almost all of the enemy troops who came to destroy the vats were the Allies, who also chronoshifted some troops to attack the vats, although there is no doubt that their next encounter is that the vehicles were robbed by Hijackers. After a period of protection, the third extraction was also over, and Scorpion Cell eventually achieved a sufficient amount of neurotoxin.
Aftermath
| “ | It's me. I'm okay. I've heard. It seems thanks to your team alone we'll be able to preserve it. Perhaps with the help of our new allies, we'll be able to improve it. It's still deadly in the long run and we'll need more. Move it to where we've previously decided.
—???'s message | ” |
With the required neurotoxin now secured, Malver and the remaining Scorpion Cell forces pulled out of the region and let Epsilon and the Allies duke it out with one another.
Malver soon received word from an unknown source (Presumably Rashidi) that they were fine and heard about the situation in Libya. They say that with the help of some new allies, they can improve the neurotoxin. While it remains lethal in the long run, they'll need more of it before this is over. They then inform Malver to move it to where they've previously decided.
Difficulty changes
Easy
- Starting credits: 30000
- The number of Allied chronoshift forces are the least in this difficulty.
- 3 waves of Tyrant reinforcements will be provided after the conflict towards Epsilon occurred.
- A heal crate is stationed near the central Neurotoxin Vats.
Normal
- Starting credits: 25000
- The Allies will sent Barracudas to destroy Neurotoxin Vats.
- 3 waves of Tyrant reinforcements will be provided after the conflict towards Epsilon occurred.
- A heal crate is stationed near the central Neurotoxin Vats.
- PsiCorps might paradrop infantry to player's recaptured base.
Mental
- Starting credits: 20000
- The number of Allied chronoshift forces are the most numerous in this difficulty.
- The Allies will sent Barracudas to destroy Neurotoxin Vats.
- 2 waves of Tyrant reinforcements will be provided after the conflict towards Epsilon occurred.
- There will be Thor Gunships protecting the bottom entrance of central Allied base.
- No Shadow Ring provided.
- 3 less Infiltrators provided.
- 2 less Eradicators in each wave of Chinese-equipment reinforcements.
- PsiCorps might paradrop infantry to player's recaptured base.
- 2 damaged Tech Concrete Bunkers next to 4 Neurotoxin Vats at top right Scorpion base will be removed.
- The player will encounter an additional Allied chronoshift attack on the way to the left Scorpion base.
- Extra enemy troops will come to destroy the Neurotoxin Vats when the player captures them.
Easter egg
An easter egg support power named WooLion Trap can be unlocked through the following procedure:
- Force-fire (Ctrl + Left Click) the Engineer who comes out from a tent when approaching the Mine Shaft. Then the Mine Shaft will explode and spawn a single Engineer.
- Use this single Engineer to capture Allied and Epsilon/Scorpion Cell bases, and be sure to have their Construction Yards, along with a Tech Center and a Pandora Hub. When all of these requirements are met, this support power will be unlocked.
This support power is deployed similarly to the Bloatick Trap (in fact it uses the same cameo), but it spawns a cloaked Lion that dies shortly, releasing a purple cloud (similar to Dybbuk-Evolver explosion effect) that causes nearby enemies and friendlies to attack each other, similar to confusion ray effects. This support power is free and recharges instantly.
For best results, it is recommended to perform this on Easy difficulty.
A video demonstration of this easter egg support power can be found here.
Behind the scenes
- The mission's name during development was Stiletto, a reference to Operation Stiletto, a Nod mission in Tiberium Wars with similar design.
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