Game:

Sunrider 4: The Captain's Return (2023)

Duration: 50:03

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4

This is a run of Sunrider's Hard Mode in version 4.2a. I made this to give other players an idea of the strategies I used to win. All missions will be completed without using mid-battle saves, to ensure that the strategy is consistent enough to be replicated to some extent. Depending on what attacks hit or miss, you may not be able to follow my strategy exactly, so improvise as needed!

Quite possibly the hardest mission in Hard Mode, this mission throws battleships at you before your Flak defenses are ready to handle battleship rockets. You really should not rely on your Flak to stop rockets in this one, thanks to rocket flak resistance. However the enemy is well out of Kinetics range, so it's very difficult to thin out their rocket sources before the enemy gets a turn. It's probably possible to get rid of both battleships with powered up Quantum rockets, but it's unlikely that you have their attack power high enough at this point.

To have a reasonable chance of getting past the first turn, I came up with a technique I call Black Jack dodge-tanking. Any rocket that gets fired at the Sunrider and makes it through the Flak will most likely hit since the Sunrider's evasion is low. However the Black Jack has a second line of defense, which is its evasion. You can manipulate the enemy to fire rockets at the Black Jack with 25% accuracy or less using a specific sequence of moves.

At the start the Black Jack kills a PACT Mook using missiles. I think it doesn't draw enough aggro if the Black Jack doesn't do this by itself, which is why I blow 2 missiles to do it instead of getting the Phoenix to help. Note also that I don't use Aim Down on the PACT Bombers; doing so will make them unable to hit the Black Jack, so they'll target the Sunrider instead if you do this.

First Vanguard Cannon of the run! We have to make up for the time we lost by sitting at the starting line on the first turn, so we bust it out on Turn 2. Catching a Cruiser, Frigate and Battleship in the shot makes it worthwhile. By the way, the reason we make the formation lean toward the top is so the Cruiser stays lined up for Vanguard Cannon. If you're not using Vanguard Cannon, you might consider forming up around the Seraphim so Sola can Awaken safely.

Though my start is solid because I experimented with it for a while, what I did at the end is a good way to get yourself killed. Unfortunately I didn't really pay attention to the Mooks at the bottom (I blame the status window for blocking them), and I really underestimated their laser damage. I also should've used the Repair Drone on the second-to-last turn if I was really intent on farming more reinforcements.

Lesson learned. At least that's over with. On a side note, I completely forgot that the Bianca has a counterattack until just now. When was the last time someone got THAT close to the Bianca?

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