Operation Final Fury Plot Walkthrough
This walkthrough is mostly spoilered, so that if people get caught on the common sticking-points they can read it without spoiling the story for themselves.
However, it is not expected that the replies will be spoilered, so don't read beyond the first post if you are stuck but don't want to know the plot!
As one of the original plotlines, only very early versions of the game have appreciable bugs. However, if you have mods, it is possible that they may introduce problems with the plot. As this is a Vanilla forum and a repository for information and issues regarding the unmodded game, if you have a problem with a modded game you are requested to post in the Scripts and Modding forum.
OFF begins in Omicron Lyrae with a ship named ‘Exterminator’. When you have a fight rank of Veteran 33%, Argon Federation Member and Split Creature, a combat mission option appears with it. The pilot, a slightly odd fellow named Jesan Nadina who has an unhealthy obsession with Julian Brennan, recruits you onto OFF and is now your boss.
Chapter 1; Reconnaissance
Jesan’s first direction is to fly to Black Hole Sun.
Save before you get there because when you do, there’s a Xenon invasion just beginning. You have to destroy all Xenon ships to continue. The big problem is that Black Hole Sun is prone to rampaging Qs, and if one happens to be in the sector when you arrive, you’ll have to take it out too. Quite a task for someone just starting out on the plot. Recommend you reload in this case.
Once all Xenon are dead, you are to proceed to the Military Base in Argon Sector M148 for your next assignment. That sector was previously hostile; now that you’re on the team, everything except the high security Military Outpost is blue again. When you dock, you get your next mission; a recon mission that you’ll need an Advanced Satellite for. You need to go get one if you haven’t already got one lying around.
If you took a break from the Terran plot to do this, you can now return to that.
To get to the Kha’ak sector once you have the satellite, you need to cycle through the Universe Map using the ‘K’ key. Be ready to key spam when you arrive.
As soon as you jump in, dump your satellite. Your mission changes to a station scan. Get over there pronto. Kha’ak Scouts and Interceptors will be all over you in no time; if you have a rear turret, man it and blow your pursuers to bits. When you get to the station you have to slow down to below 125m/s. The scan is fairly short; when it completes, jump out, it doesn’t matter where.
Your destination is the Military Base in Argon Sector M148 for debriefing. Your next mission comes right away. Your new mate Jesan didn’t make it back from his minelaying mission. RIP and all that but it’s your job to recover his flight data recorder. Save, then off you go. Make sure you get the correct Kha’ak sector.
It's worth pointing out that there is a crate with two weapons in it somewhere in the sector and there is a chance that they are Phased Array Laser Cannons, or PALC. These weapons are highly thought of. You can keep reloading if you get the more boring EBC or HEPT until you find your PALC.
When you jump into the Kha'ak sector, make a beeline for the box (or boxes, if you're collecting both the recorder and the guns). Man your rear turret again because you’re going to have Kha’ak ships all over your tail, just like last time. When you’re a couple of clicks away from the box, save. Picking up containers is hard, and you need to get it right because you won’t have time to turn around and try again before the Kha’ak swarm you and wipe you out. As soon as the box (boxses) is (are) yours, jump out. It doesn’t matter where. You can make your way back to M148 at your leisure.
When you get there, there are no new orders for you. Yet. It’s a good idea to have a Corvette class ship ready for your next mission.
Chapter 2; Resourcing Operations
Return to the M148 Military Base when commanded. Or whenever you feel like it.
Your next mission is to become a prospector. Fly north to the Unknown Sector. You’ll need a Mineral Scanner. You have to find three high-yield asteroids. The ‘roids you’re looking for are at 26.8, 3.1, 56.9 ; -10.4, -3.8, -52.6 ; -55.3, -1.9, -30.0. When you’ve scanned them all, a TL will jump into the East gate and begin moving to deploy mines. You need to protect it. Kha’ak will soon arrive to make that job harder; you’re not a Prospector any more. Now would be a good time to transfer to that Corvette.
Stay near the TL as it does its rounds. It will move to each asteroid, stop for about a minute, then deploy the mine and begin moving again. Just keep the Kha’ak off it; if it gets destroyed, another will jump in to replace it.
When the third mine is placed, the TL jumps out and it’s Mission Complete. You wait for your next mission to come about at the Military Base. As always, you can break to do something else in the meantime if you wish. Obtaining a Bomber and armaments for it would be a sound strategy; you'll need some heavy hitting armaments soon.
Chapter 3; Fighting the Kha’ak
When you accept the next mission, a group of ships will appear at the East gate of the Unknown Sector north of you and make their way to M148. Immediately; they won’t wait for you to enter the sector. You have to protect them, simple as. At least one must make it in order to pass the mission. Best advice is to enter the sector in a small ship to minimise the number and strength of enemies generated, and to stay close to the convoy; do not allow yourself to be lured away. There's actually an exploit that can be utilised here; if you simply stay where you are, the Kha'ak triggered by the mission will never spawn and the ships you're supposed to be excorting get an uninterrupted flight stright home (though any non-mission-related Kha'ak already in the Sector may spoil the party for you).
Once they’ve all gone, a lone Kha’ak scout zips away, and you have to follow it to its base of operations. On the plus side a Teladi carrier force jumps in to help you out. If you’re flying a Corvette, which by now is pretty much a must, then you can leap into the back turret to swat any pursuing Scouts.
When you get to the station, which is in the middle of the Sector, your new orders are to destroy it. That Bomber would be a good choice; the Teladi wing includes several but they’ve usually wasted their ordinance before they reach the station, and trying to gun down a station’s shields is not easy. Especially since Kha’ak ships will continue to spawn.
When the mission is complete, you are given another break to do as you wish. Start working towards a Destroyer or heavy anti-capital Frigate. When you are ready, come back to the Military Base for your next assignment.
Your next tour of duty is in Kha’ak Sector 931, where scouts have reported a high concentration of Kha’ak ships amassing. Your mission is to destroy them before they get sent to wreak havoc in the Commonwealth. You will, of course, need a combat ship. Exactly what you fight depends on your ship and your fight rank, and there’s little guidance can be given for combat other than telling you that the bigger your ship and the higher your fight rank the more enemies you’ll get and the tougher they’ll be. Just let loose, usual combat tactics. You’ll have a small friendly force backing you up, and if things do start to go awry, jumping back to the centre of the Sector could leave you in clear air for long enough for your shields to regenerate.
There are several waves of Kha’ak ships, but once you and your team have destroyed the requisite number there is a congratulations call and a mission complete. Stick around if you like, but otherwise, you should head back to M148 for your next assignment, which will come through after the usual waiting period.
From here on in, your missions are something of a roulette.
Sometimes, you get convoy missions, similar to the mission in the first part of this chapter. These can be done with a powerful ship from OOS quite nicely; simply tell your minions to attack the nearest enemy of the ships they're meant to be escorting. Others, you get simple destroy ship missions like the second part of this chapter, either in Kha’ak space itself or in the Unknown Sector north of you again. You may also get missions to defend your forward outpost in Kha’ak space; in these cases, get to the outpost before the Kha’ak do and then do your thing. They’ll keep on coming up randomly until something big happens; in the meantime, don’t forget about that Destroyer you were working on. Its time will come, sooner or later.
If you’re in the habit of waiting in Argon Sector M148 for the next mission, there will come a point where you find yourself waiting an inordinately long time. It'll probably be just after you've hit the FF rank of Captain.
In this case, get all your vulnerable ships docked, leave the Sector, and get that Destroyer ready.
When you leave the Sector, you’ll be ordered almost immediately to return. A Kha’ak force is assaulting M148, and it includes a Destroyer and Carrier. The defence forces will be pushed but they won’t crack, especially not with your help, and double especially if you’re flying that Destroyer. You do need to be careful of friendly fire however; it’s a densely packed Sector and stray PPC volleys can deal a tremendous amount of damage to the wrong target, making them turn on you. If the worst should happen and a friendly ship decides that you’re a traitor, comm. the Captain and apologise, repeatedly if the first attempt doesn’t work.
Once all the Kha’ak are dead, you get a brief respite. Keep that Destroyer on hand. The next mission is the Kha’ak Hive.
Chapter 4; The Final Battle
You are to jump into the Kha’ak home sector.
When you arrive, your first targets are the Kha’ak Guardians. These are the Kha’ak equivalents of the Orbital Defence Platforms of the Commonwealth. They fall pretty quickly to a Destroyer but are a serious problem to a ship not equipped for Capital-class combat. Once you’ve destroyed all three Guardians around a station, the station loses its invulnerability and becomes your target. When all three stations are dead, the plot is completed. Simple enough, but quite tricky on higher fight ranks.
Your rewards for this plot are fairly scant; you often don’t get paid for your work. It all comes to fruit at the end; following the destruction of the Kha’ak staging post major Kha’ak incursions seem to cease. But that’s not the real prize; provided you have version 3.0 installed, you get a special ship as a reward; the Argon drone carrier prototype, the Griffon.
That concludes Operation Final Fury.