THE CAMPAIGN
The Campaign mode offers a rich and challenging experience, especially for those new to the game or genre. This guide will walk you through the basics to ensure you get off to a strong start.
Table of Contents
Starting Your Campaign
The Converters
Deothonit (Crafting Material)
Tips and Strategies
With these tips and strategies, you’ll be well-prepared to tackle the challenges of USC: Counterforce's campaign mode. Remember, each mission will test your strategic thinking and adaptability, so keep learning, experimenting, and refining your approach. Good luck, Commander!
Begin with the Tutorial
The first thing you should do is complete the Tutorial. It introduces you to the core mechanics, controls, and strategies needed to survive in the hostile environments of USC: Counterforce. The Tutorial is essential, even for seasoned strategy game players.
Also, we highly recommend reading the mini-tutorial at the beginning of the Campaign.
Explore other game modes
While the Campaign is the heart of the game, don’t hesitate to try out other modes like Single Mission, Operations, and Defend the Base! These modes offer different challenges and can help you hone specific skills.
Adjusting difficulty
If you’re new to the game or turn-based strategy games, consider lowering the difficulty settings. This will give you more breathing room to learn the game’s mechanics without being overwhelmed by tougher enemies.
Read the Encyclopedia and online Wiki
Take time to read the in-game Encyclopedia entries and explore the online Wiki. These resources are packed with valuable information about units, weapons, equipment, and tactics.
The Converters
Understanding the Converters
In the Campaign, you’ll encounter three converters that are crucial for your progression. These converters allow you to transform materials into other materials or convert them into Squad Points. Be sure to locate and secure these converters early in your missions, as they’ll be vital for crafting and upgrades. The third converter is faction-related–you can convert Deothonit and Asura-49 to any other crafting material on the Free Earth Smugglers’ black market.
Converter #1: Converts crafting materials into other crafting materials.
Converter #2: Converts crafting materials into Resource Points (RPs).
Converter #3: Converts rare crafting materials, such as Asura-49 and Deothonit, into regular crafting materials.
Pro tip: a fourth way to convert Deothonit to other materials (with some added benefit) is to buy weapon prototypes from a faction (it will also increase your approval with them), and disassemble them (except the few that are worth keeping). Disassembling a prototype blueprint gives you 25% of all materials of its cost, effectively converting Deothonit to 4-5 types of different materials while also increasing your reputation and giving a chance for a good prototype.
Deothonit
Deothonit Mining and Looting
Deothonit crystals are a rare and valuable resource. While you can mine them, it’s not the only way to acquire these crystals. Another effective method is to undertake Nest missions. By destroying outcroppings during these missions, you can loot Deothonit crystals without needing to mine. If you’re lucky, derelict sites and faction-given special missions can also lead to mines, where you can find smaller amounts of Deothonit if you destroy the small outcroppings.
Tips and Strategies
Squad Assembly
Carefully assemble your Squad. Each marine can have their Skill Points reset once, so experiment with different builds. Pay attention to combos, such as freezing/shattering and acid/fire, which can be devastating against enemies.
Skills
Ensure your squad has a balanced composition. At a minimum, include these roles:
- Bastion: Tanky units that can absorb damage.
- Medic: Essential for healing and keeping your squad alive.
- Technician: Can handle hacking tasks and deploy gadgets more effectively.
For more information, check out the Squad Roles entry.
Note: Don’t forget that all marines can use any weapon. Just drop/pick up/pass items as needed. However, marines trained in specific Skills will be more effective with those weapons.
Weapons and Equipment
Familiarize yourself with the Squad Roles, Weapons, and Equipment entries in the Wiki. Equip your squad with the best available gear and upgrade your weapons from the start to ensure you’re prepared for tougher battles. (These upgrades cost crafting materials; use the Converters when needed.)
Avoid Large Hordes/Nests Early On
Until your Squad is well-equipped, avoid engaging large Hordes or Nests. Use your Scans to monitor the planet’s surface and plan your missions accordingly. Favor derelict sites and faction-given missions, so you can prepare your marines to face larger hordes and Nests.
Use Nukes in Desperate Situations
If you find yourself overwhelmed by alien hordes, don’t hesitate to use a nuke. As a general rule of thumb, don’t waste nukes on Hordes that contain less than 100 enemies, but don’t hesitate to push that button if you see a “mega-horde” of 200 or more. Remember that it is NOT necessary to destroy all hordes to progress with the Campaign, so try to conserve nukes when you can.
Tip/hint: nuking a sector creates a crater, destroys all Deothonit, and renders the sector very poisonous for the rest of the game. If you can, try to “lure” big hordes to the same sector and nuke them there so you don’t lose important ground.
Maximize Loot
Derelict site missions are goldmines for loot. Complete these missions to gather Weapons and Equipment, then disassemble any items you don’t need to gain crafting materials. Also, the Weapons you loot can be used when you're about to equip your marines from scratch.
The orange flags indicate the location of a derelict site.
Loot Databanks for Prototypes
Be on the lookout for Databanks, as those are the sources of Datapads and Code fragments. Disassembling these will yield additional valuable crafting materials such as Portable batteries and Electrical components.
Favor a Faction
As you progress, choose a faction to favor (though it’s not mandatory). Building a strong relationship with a faction can lead to better Squad abilities and stronger units.
Tip/hint: contrary to non-Campaign game modes, factions are the only source for higher Mark weapon upgrades and weapon prototypes. The higher approval you have with a faction, the lower the cost you can get these from them. Prototype quality also improves with approval.
Know when to Extract
If a mission goes south, don’t be afraid to extract your marines. It’s better to fail a mission than to lose your marines and valuable items. Multi-mission operations (derelict sites, faction-given missions, Nests) usually let you withdraw in the first few phases. Read the briefing carefully so you know where’s the point of no return.
Assess Mission strength
Before each mission, assess the difficulty and only deploy as many marines as necessary. This way, you’ll avoid downtime waiting for your marines to return to base or recover from wounds. Be cautious, and never underestimate any missions, as the alien horde is clever and can easily outnumber you if you make any mistakes.
Study Tactics
Finally, review all the Tactics entries in the Encyclopedia/Wiki. Understanding these strategies will give you a significant advantage as you face increasingly tough challenges.
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