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M.A.X. 2

MAX is back and this time it's bigger, better and bolder than ever. It's also going to take you some time to complete, although help is close at hand

HERE are some basic hints for the game to help the novice, followed by some more specific mission hints for all the campaigns and the standalone missions. By the way, it's generally accepted that playing the Concord/Human side is easier than playing the Sheevat.

The Basics
For custom games, your choice of initial units can be critical. Always bring down an extra constructor and engineer, if you can afford it, and a unit with a high scan range. As soon as you land you should start building additional mining stations and material storage. Build a unit plant next and start to explore farther. For campaign, stand-alone and custom missions, your unit mix will be pre-determined. Study it and take advantage of its strengths while downplaying its weaknesses.
    Your first concern should be power and material mining. You always need enough material to support your power stations so you can build more units and buildings. Monitor the power/material status bar closely. Try to keep ahead of the material curve by building one more mining station than you actually need. Gold mining should come after material mining.
    You only need enough power to build new units. Existing units will continue to operate if you are low on power. Power stations are generally tough buildings and a high priority for the computer. Build extra power stations around your base to distract and slow down the computer's advance. Remember that each power station requires eight materials to operate, so build extra mining stations as well.
    It is generally cheaper to upgrade units to perform better than purchase additional units. Not only do you save on the material cost of additional units, you save in other manners as well. Your total power usage is less, and it doesn't take as much time to build your army. It is usually better to concentrate your upgrade choices on as few unit types as possible. This will maximise your gold spending. Upgrades are middle to late game activities.
    For anything except the most basic of upgrades you will need to perform research. A single research building isn't very effective. You generally need a handful of research stations concentrating on a limited number of topics to achieve high levels of research. The most effective research topics are Attack, Range and Hits. Sheevat should consider researching Shields. Research is middle to late game activity.
    Remember that in combat you can right click on an enemy unit to select them. Then you can view their statistics. Try to keep the range open, especially if you have longer-range units, to attack them without the enemy being able to attack you back. This is extremely important when attacking fixed defences, such as gun turrets.
    Depending on the mission, you may be facing aircraft. If so, you need to balance your anti-air units with your land units. Fighters are the single best offensive anti-air units, while you should use AA turrets and mobile AA for defence.

Campaign 1
Mission 1: This should be pretty simple. The enemy is to your west, in a half-moon line. Start at one end, concentrating your forces, and work up or down the line.

Mission 2: The enemy will be attacking you from the west. Move some tanks and scouts up to cover that part of your base. Spread the infantry around to guard the rest of your base and have a mobile force of tanks and scouts ready to react to an attack. Build the heavy units plant first, then build another constructor to help with the rest of the buildings.

Mission 3: Use your Escorts and Corvettes to scout around. Use the Gunboats to bombard the enemy installation and destroy his fleet and use Sea Transports to bring over tanks to finish off the rest of the island fortress.

Mission 4: Deal with the Sheevat intruders first. Then create a force of Assault Guns, Tanks and Scouts to destroy the enemy to the east. Remember to return badly damaged units to the Depot for repairs.

Mission 5: The enemy base is to the north west of your starting location. Your infiltrators are invisible to most enemy troops. Send them into the base to scout it out.

Mission 6: Your missile crawlers have the range advantage over most enemy units and defensive buildings. Take advantage of it. Use tanks and assault guns to protect your missile crawlers, and use the missile crawlers to destroy the Sheevat defenders. Your infiltrators can disable key enemy units or buildings.

Mission 7: Use the infiltrator disable skill to disable any Sheevat mobile unit. The relay station is located near 32,2. An infiltrator is the best unit to use to find it.

Mission 8: You must not destroy the Sheevat relay station near 32,2. If you do, you will lose the game. Set your lead combat units to AutoFire - Threats to avoid unnecessary destruction. Send in the assault guns to find enemy AA defences and use the ground attack planes to mop up everything else.

Mission 9: This is a difficult mission. Scout ahead cautiously to find the enemy forces without entering their attack range. Use your longer range weapons to snipe the enemy defences and make a hole that you can run the rest of your units through. The best bet is to snake your way to the far right of the map and take the farthest bridge. Try and avoid the first two bridges as they are the most heavily armed.

Campaign 2
Mission 1: You need to get a unit next to the infiltrator on the far right of the map and return him to a sea transport. Move quickly to reach him before the enemy can produce more combat units. Send the scouts first and use the scanner with your other combat units.

Mission 2: Use the Escorts to find the enemy radar pods, the Missile Cruisers to take them out and the Gunboats and Corvettes to protect the rest of the fleet. Start at the bottom of the island and work your way around, probably to the right. You do not have to worry about the Sheevat building more radar pods.

Mission 3: You need to more your forces directly to the east. There is a single enemy installation between you and your destination. Destroy it with the assault guns. Load up the infantry into the APC and bring them along to protect your constructions and engineers as they build. Build a light units plant to build more engineers to finish up the required buildings.

Mission 4: The main base is located in the centre of the map. Beware of EW pods. Always send an expendable unit ahead of your main attack force, a scout works well. Have a missile crawler ready to destroy any EW pods as soon as you locate them. Go for the power pods and mining stations.

Mission 5: Split your units into three forces. Use the AWACS to find the enemy units. Send one force towards the bottom of the screen, one out towards the middle and one to the top.

Mission 6: Don't split up your fighters. Group them with at least two AWACS. Scout towards the north west. Send any damaged fighters back to be repaired. If necessary, use the air transports to take the Mobile Anti-Aircraft across the river to assist your attack.

Mission 7: The initial attack should be easy enough to destroy, but quickly pause the game and move any construction units out of harm's way. Build a heavy units plant to build more constructors. Build as many mining stations as you can. Build one or two air unit plants.

Mission 8: Use your Engineers to build a two-wide bridge across the water. As you get close to shore, use your scouts to discover enemy units and buildings. Move your combat units up as soon as possible to deal with any defences. Keep the APCs in the back until the very end. You do not have to worry about them being attacked if you are careful when building the bridge.

Mission 9: Use your infiltrators to disable the Sheevat defences and the Robotic Walkers to attack. You can also capture enemy buildings and let their own armed defences do your work for you.

Campaign 3
Mission 1: There are three groups of enemy units to deal with. Send your units out in one concentrated force. Start by moving slightly to the north and to the west, and continue around to the south. You can use up to 12 infantry to attack the enemy and help absorb his counterattack.

Mission 2: There are a couple of AA pods along the way that must be taken out. Use the missile crawlers in conjunction with the scouts to find and destroy them. Load the infantry up in the air transports and move out.

Mission 3: This is a big brawl. No special technique will always work here but, in general, try to destroy the enemy mining stations and power pods as soon as possible. Use long-range attacks to soften up the base defences. It is a little easier to attack from the west side of the enemy base.

Mission 4: You must link your two forces as soon as possible. Start building missile turrets and radar stations as soon as you have the power mess sorted out. Group your advancing mobile units together and swing them around the left-hand side of the map. You must protect your engineers, as they will be required to build bridges to cross the river.

Mission 5: There are only a few enemy units in the immediate area at the start of this mission. Move some of the Robotic Walkers north to protect your mining station. Build another heavy units plant and build another constructor to accelerate the construction process. Spread your infantry out to act as an early warning system against enemy attacks. Keep most of your other combat units in the centre of base, in range to be able to react to any attack.

Mission 6: Set up most of your combat units to the north, north east and east of your base for protection. Send out a couple of infiltrators to act as invisible scouts and warn you when the Sheevat approach. Reserve the Robotic Walkers to attack the Sheevat forces, as they are not very effective against the infected humans.

Mission 7: The Sheevat fleet starts out to the north west of your sea units plant. The Escorts will act as the eyes of your fleet and knock down any enemy air transports. Protect them with Corvettes and Gunboats. Create a building queue and set it on repeat. You will create new units to replace battle casualties. The Sheevat have no way of rebuilding or repairing their ships. Hit them as often as possible to slow them down. You will eventually overwhelm them.

Mission 8: Use your limited sea forces to scout out and destroy the enemy in the lower left hand corner of the map, but do not move any further until you can build a sea units plant there. Start building missile turrets, radar stations and AA turrets (in that order) in small groups to protect your base. From here you can either use air power or concentrated land units to slowly sweep out and destroy the Sheevat. Build either two heavy unit plants or two air unit plants, until you can afford to build the other type.

Mission 9: You are hopelessly outnumbered at the beginning of the mission. You must, very quickly, build both defences and mining and power stations. Do not concentrate on anything else until you have a well-defended base. Slowly expand in one direction around the ring. Build a sea units plant in the middle lake area and use Escorts and Missile Cruisers to help defend your base. Your best bet is to build a force of assault guns or tanks, combined with missile crawlers and mobile AA. Cover that force with AWACS to spot the enemy, and fighters to protect them. Building a sea units plant on the outside ring is a luxury. Use a minelayer to defend your newly conquered land. Build mining stations, along with missile and AA turrets to protect them, as you advance. A bulldozer will likely pay for itself very quickly in recovered material.

Campaign 4
Mission 1: Use the air transports to move an incubator into the animal pen. Send out more incubators to implant Spawn eggs into the alien animals. You can use the air transports to speed up the process by moving the Incubators around faster.

Mission 2: Your shock tanks will work best as siege machines, destroying enemy buildings. The enemy has two bases: One directly to the west and another south of that. Start with the southern base, it is smaller.

Mission 3: You are only equipped with Spawn in this mission, so you will have to use them carefully. Spawn work best in large groups. Always keep your Spawn together. Move damaged Spawn out of combat range so that their shields will regenerate. Concentrate your attacks on single targets, if possible, and repeat the process of retreating damaged units.

Mission 4: The enemy base is located in the south west corner of the map. Attack the base from the lower right hand side and destroy the heavy units plant. Destroy the shipyard and then attack the island. This should cripple the enemies' production ability and give you the upper hand.

Mission 5: Send your submarines to a spot between the lower two islands. All the islands have a small enemy presence, except for the middle island on the right side of the map which has the human main base. Build enough bio-bomb cruisers that you can attack the smaller bases from a distance. Destroy them to slow down the enemy and then attack the large base. You can avoid the mine fields by sweeping in from the very bottom.

Mission 6: Use your Incubator to create as many spawn as possible, but do not move them north into the enemy base until you have a large number. Meanwhile, construct a bridge across the river in order to send your land units across. Build lightning cannons and shock tanks. Support them with a command unit. If you can air-transport several command units and additional units to your force of spawn beneath the enemy base - do so and co-ordinate their attack with your force coming in from the top.

Mission 7: There are two enemy forces between your three groups to the north and your stasis projectors to the south. Split your upper middle force and send them with your other two forces moving south. When you can just see the enemy, move your stasis projectors forward and combine the attack.

Mission 8: Build additional EW Pods, especially towards the centre of the map. Send your forces up to higher ground and then move them around to the left before attacking the enemy. The human forces are weakest on the west side of their base.

Mission 9: You have two choices for this mission: Build a large base or destroy the enemy. While it is possible to destroy the enemy forces, building the base is the easier to do. Build large numbers of bio-bomb pods, anti-aircraft pods and radar pods. EW pods make excellent anti-air defences as well. Always build a mining station as soon as possible, as they will not only allow you to build faster but also count towards the size of the base. Build additional engineers and use them to build fixed defences around all your larger buildings. Build just enough mobile combat units to respond to a large attack.

Stand-Alone Missions
Mission 1: Move your units to a staging point just below the enemy force. As soon as they have massed (wait for the slower units), send them in as a large group. No finesse in this mission, just brute strength. Ignore the enemy scouts, unless there are no other enemy combat units around. Target their long-range weapons first, if possible.

Mission 2: Immediately pause the game at the beginning, and move your AWACS out of range of the enemy AA fire. Send your tanks in first to soften up the enemy horde and then send your assault guns to finish them off. Use the scouts to draw the enemy forces towards your tanks and assault guns. If you lose the AWACS, use your scanners to increase your visual scanning range.

Mission 3: Since you have so many building options, any type of attack can work for you. The best strategy to follow is to attack a single opponent at a time, usually your neighbour to the right, until he is destroyed. Send in a cleanup crew and build mining stations and defences in the conquered base, then repeat. There is no time limit, so move cautiously.

Mission 4: The enemy force is directly east of you at the start of the mission. They do more damage than you do, but you have more hits on your units. Use that to your advantage by grouping your units and concentrating fire on a single enemy unit. Mop up the other human forces before dealing with the Sheevat. Those aliens are scattered around the map.

Mission 5: Send your Scout Leader to the top of the first bridge. Have it destroy the gun turrets there. Send a scout around the right side to activate the assault guns. Use the extended range of the assault guns to destroy the remainder of the gun turrets. Send two assault guns back to the depot. Continue on to the rocket launchers, then the missile crawlers and finally the concord units, using the extended Scan of the scout leader to find artillery and missile turrets before they find you. Send two of every prototype back to the depot for safe-keeping. Send damaged units back to the depot when they need repairs. Use your expendable heavy scouts to rush select defensive structures that out-range your best units.

Mission 6: Immediately select the gold mining station and start upgrading select units. Pick only a couple of units that you plan on purchasing in large numbers. Move some combat units to the north to protect your buildings. Get some long-range defences in place between you and your opponent. Then build another plant that produces your upgraded unit type or types. Tanks are the most efficient unit to upgrade.

Mission 7: Start repairing critical units first. Use your repair unit to fix the missile crawler and then have it work on the buildings. Send other combat units, starting with the assault guns, into the depot. You will have to rely on the mines and some of your damaged units to get you through the first stages of this mission. Neither you or your opponent can build new units in this mission, so every loss leads to failure.

Mission 8: This is one of the toughest missions you will face. You must proceed to the top of the island and work your way around counter-clockwise. Destroy the minimal amount of enemy forces to open a pathway. Use your scanners to identify targets for your missile crawlers. The more your destroy early in the game, the more the enemy will be able to build.

Mission 9: Move forces to the centre of the map and control the larger resources that are available there. Build defensive structures to protect your gold mining stations. Upgrade your sea units and then attack the enemy located in the south west corner. Use Escorts for their extended Scan range.

Mission 10: Use infiltrators to disable the enemy anti-aircraft turrets, then move your ground attack planes in. Use your fighters to provide cover for your air to ground units. This will require sacrificing many ground attack planes.

Mission 11: Take the infiltrator and hide him in the south east corner and destroy the enemy forces. Trying to recall the infiltrator to the base before the enemy consolidates his forces is very difficult. Wait until the enemy moves his forces together.

Mission 12: Use the assault guns to destroy the two groups of spawn attacking your base. Then use the infantry to cover the open areas into your base against future psi-spawn attacks. After you have built up your forces, move as quickly as possible to the north east to destroy the Sheevat breeding pens.

Mission 13: First locate and isolate the stasis projectors. You must keep careful control over your combat units so that they do not automatically destroy them. Capture the stasis projectors with your infiltrators and move them back to your base. After that, move in and destroy the Sheevat base.

Mission 14: Wait for the incubators to move out of the large Sheevat base to the north west. Capture them when they not protected by the overwhelming fixed defences.

Mission 15: Collect the resources that are just outside your base and then quickly move to deny your opponent from building in the centre of the map. You must stop him from collecting the central resources or you will not be able to assault his base from the water.

Mission 16: Build fixed defences quickly. Expand your defences to cover your quarter of the map. The other three corners of the map have an enemy base. Attack the Cloaks in the south east corner first.

Mission 17: Incubate the alien life-forms outside of your base first. Save the animals inside your base until later. Build a large Spawn force. The enemy is on the middle left side of the map. Place psi-spawns in the middle of your spawn forces and attack in a large mass. You must use numbers to overwhelm the enemy defences.

Mission 18: Assemble all your scouts just to the north of the smaller of the two enemy bases; the one that is located closest to your forces and is in the south. Attack and destroy this base as soon as possible. You may need to build more scouts and incubate some spawns. Save the second enemy, the one to the far west, until the smaller enemy is gone.

Mission 19: Build a mining station on the material spot closest to your base and then explore to the south east for additional material. Build a bridge across the river to the south. Amass your forces and attack the enemy base there.

Mission 20: Take out the stationary defences directly in front of your attack force. Watch out for the missile crawler that will appear shortly. Additional forces are on the way. The main enemy base is on the large plateau to the north-west. Use the stasis projectors to target enemy radar stations.

Mission 21: Use your psi-spawn to scout out the area just to the north-west. Move your troops up and take control of a large material deposit near the pass. The key is using your psi-spawn to locate enemy forces and to detect landmines. There are a lot of landmines in enemy areas.

Mission 22: There are two forces opposing you. A Sheevat force in the south side and a smaller human force in the north-east corner. Attack the humans first. Build defences, especially anti-aircraft, between your base and the enemy Sheevat.

Mission 23: Build sea units. To attack the enemy base on the northern island, go around the island and attack him from the rear. Build air units to cover your base and attack the enemy when his anti-air defences have been destroyed.


Hints & Tips
Bear these in mind throughout the game:

1. Know the capabilities of your units. In MAX2, there is no ultimate unit that will perform all tasks. You must use combined arms effectively to be able to engage all enemy units.
2. Watch your power level. The power bar is critical information. Always have enough Mining Stations to support your army and always be building new ones to keep ahead of the curve.
3. Always Scan. It is vital that you have a long-range Scanning unit near your combat units. If they cannot see the enemy, they cannot attack.
4. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Researching new technology and applying that improved technology to your units will allow you to get better units for the same maintenance costs.
5. Air Transports can move critical units quickly. An Air Transport can be used to drop an attack unit, make a quick attack and then escape. Learn how to Load and Unload.
6. Sea Units are terribly viscous. If you've played the first MAX, you might notice a difference in sea units. They are much more powerful. Try them.
7. Infantry can see the invisible. Infantry and Spawn can see the invisible units (like Infiltrators and Psi-Spawn). They are the only ones that can see these units until the invisible units attack.
8. Anti-Aircraft is your friend. Always build Anti-Air. Use turrets, use Fighters, use Escorts, Mobile AA, whatever it takes. A single unopposed Ground Attack Plane can destroy a large section of your base before you can build an anti-air unit or structure.
9. Steal what you can't make. If you are the humans, and you Steal a Sheevat Constructor, you can make their buildings and units. Not necessarily the best strategy, but it sure is fun.
10. Use all the information available. Use the Spycams. Right-click on an enemy unit to see its stats (especially Range and Scan.) React to the reports of enemy units spotted immediately. Constantly scan over your interface to monitor changes.


Cheat codes
Type these at any time (including the brackets) to activate the cheat mode:

[MAXSPY]
This is toggle. Turn it on to see all the units on the map, even the ones outside of your normal Scan range. You still cannot target units that are outside the Scan range of one of your units.

[MAXSURVEY]
This is also a toggle. Turn it on to see the locations of all the material and gold resources.

[MAXSTORAGE]
This will fill all your units and buildings with the maximum amount of material.

[MAXSUPER]
Select a unit and use this cheat code. That unit will be upgraded to the highest possible level.

The races
EACH race has different strengths and weaknesses, here's a quick summary of the main points to bear in mind when selecting who to play. Bear in mind that the Sheevat are a whole different ball-game to the human races.

Elan         They have better fast units. Good for quick strikes. Their best unit is probably the Assault Gun.
Fen          Good sea units. On a map with lots of water, this is obviously the best race.
Cloaks    Improved Espionage. If you like to make quick attacks early in the game, the Scout is a very good unit. Their infiltrators are the best, too.
Phemer    Good missile and long-range attack units.
Beaker     Good construction units. Their best ability is actually the ability to support more units for the same amount of mining stations than any other race.
Kamren    Good armour units, such as tanks. This is the best basic race.
Aspen      Good defensive units.
Aven         Good aircraft. I personally like these guys. Planes are just fun. It can be difficult to play against a well-armed land unit opponent, but it is fun.

Sheevat    Unlike the other races, which are all based on similar Concord technology, the Sheevat have completely different types of units. They just play differently. Their Lightning Cannon is one of the better units in the game.