Bug Note

Throughout the mission you will receive waypoints and items from NPCs and will get a message indicating that the NPC could not download to your datapad. Ignore it. Check your datapad and inventory for the new waypoint or item to make sure you received something new, then carry on.

Solo vs. Group

The entire act can be soloed, but you'll want to have a full set of buffs before you head out to Leia. However, this is a great group act which is suitable for 4-5 players. Plan for healing in the field for the final Leia mission. Complete time is approximately 4 hours.

The first leg of missions can be done solo or in a group of two as opposed to groups of 3 or more, which may save time in the long run since the group can convene at Leia's outpost once the first round of missions are complete. Each group member can take the Leia mission and the group as a whole take turns assisting in the completion of each member's mission. The final mission is a lot of fun and most people will want to do it several times. Group members should agree on a planet for the Safehouse and Leia missions.

Rebel Starting Points for Cries of Alderaan Act 3

Corellia or Naboo are good starting planets, with Corellia having the most connecting flights to other planets. Start in a city listed in your holomail. You will receive off-planet missions, but can drop them and get them again to get the destination planet you like.

There are two considerations for choosing mission planets: Cost and Travel Safety. From Naboo, the cheapest travel will be to Lok, and from Corellia the cheapest is Dantooine, with Dathomir being second least expensive. Completion of the final act requires travel to an advanced planet (Dantooine, Endor, Lok, Dathomir or Yavin 4), but you will not be asked to travel more than one planet away. Balance cost against whether you feel you can navigate the planet safely.

The Rebel Coordinator

Be sure you talk to a Rebel Coordinator to start the mission, not a Rebel Recruiter. The Rebel Recruiter can give you a Dead Eye schematic for 500 faction points, but can not give you the final act missions.

The first time you talk to a Rebel Coordinator, he or she is waiting for information from another officer, and sends you to the city's Commerce Guild to talk to the officer. The officer will give you the information which you will return to the Coordinator.

Once the coordinator receives the information, you will be given an off-planet mission to talk to a scout. You can drop the mission if you don't like the mission planet by talking to the Coordinator and saying you can't complete the mission right now. Talk to the coordinator again and accept the mission. Repeat until you get the planet you want. There is no penalty for dropping the mission.

The Scout

Your waypoint to the target will be updated when you arrive at the mission planet. During the introductory conversation with the scout you will want to say Valerian sent you. The conversation will end, but you will converse again. When you ask what the scout does for fun, the scout will mention enjoying Sabacc. Be agreeable and say that there's a lot of money to be made in the game if you know what you're doing. The scout will ask what kind of Sabacc you like, and you will say the "regular kind." The scout doesn't appear to believe you entirely and the conversation will end again. Talk to the scout again and you will be asked if you might be able to help repair something. Say you will, even if you have no crafting skills.

You will receive a motor repair kit which will appear in your inventory, and a waypoint to a caravan. Your job is to talk to the caravan leader who will be at the waypoint.

The Caravan

The caravan is a few landspeeders and a small group of people. They are allied to Jabba, so if you're faction with Jabba is bad, they will attack you. Talk to the caravan leader who is at the waypoint. The Caravan leader will hand you a broken engine and comment about how Jabba would hold him personally responsible for failure to protect and deliver the cargo. It's a dangerous business, he should have listened to his mother.

The broken engine will appear in your inventory. Click on the repair tool the scout gave you and select the "Repair" option. The engine is repaired. Talk to the caravan leader and say you've finished repairs. The engine will disappear from your inventory and you will receive the encrypted data disk.

Return to the Rebel Coordinator on your starting planet. The Coordinator will tell you to see the Tactical Officer at the city's Combat Guild while the disk is being decoded.

The Tactical Officer

Talk to the Tactical Officer and receive a mission to assault a Safehouse where samples of the Alderaanian Flora is kept. Drop the mission and retake it to get the planet you want. I suggest taking a planet that you will also select for the Leia mission so you will only have to clone once.

The Safehouse

The waypoint for the Safehouse will be farther out than regular missions. Clone upon arrival and travel to the Safehouse.

The Safehouse structure is the same layout as the outpost cloning facilities which is small and has three rooms. The NPCs at the facility are non-aggro and will only assist other NPCs in the same room. There are two guards outside the door which should be no trouble to defeat.

Inside there are three rooms: One room has one NPC, while the other two rooms have two each. The NPCs inside the building are more difficult than the guards, and the two guarding the container holding the Alderaanian Flora are the toughest. Clear one room at a time.

Once clear of guards, open the container and retrieve the Alderaanian Flora. There is a panel in the same room as the container which you should use to set the self-destruct sequence. Set it and clear the building. Once the building is destroyed, return to the Tactical Officer at the Combat Guild of your starting planet.

More Safehouse Missions

Drop one Alderaanian Flora from your inventory onto the Tactical Officer and receive 50 faction points as reward. You can give the officer all the flora if you don't plan on making the Dead Eye drug or don't want to collect the flora for sale or display. The Tactical Officer will tell you that there are more missions available, but that you should finish work for the Rebel Coordinator. Taking additional Safehouse missions is optional - you will be able to take them again after the act is complete.

When you are ready, return to the Rebel Coordinator to receive an off-planet location for Leia. Drop the missions and retake them until you receive a planet location you like - preferably the one at which you cloned for the Safehouse mission.

Now is the time to get your stats buffed if you're planning on doing so.

Report to Princess Leia

From this point on, you will not have to return to the Rebel Coordinator. If the Leia mission fails, return to Leia at the same coordinates you received or saved (refer to the chart below on Leia Locations) and retake the mission. Leia will be in a remote area at a small outpost with other Rebel NPCs. This is a good staging point for a group since the final mission will be centered on this point (about 2KM away). The group should convene here and set a waypoint. It may be possible for everyone in the group take their missions at this time in the same direction because the mission doesn't appear to start until the person carrying the mission enters the mission compound area, but I didn't test this and the mission may be timed from the moment the mission is accepted. Your other option is to have one person take the mission, complete it, and have the group return to Leia for another person to take the mission.

Defending the Rebel Facility

The goal of the Storm Troopers (STs) is to reach the door of the facility. This is the critical bit of strategic information about the mission. Once they are within a certain range of the door, they will run in a straight line to the door. So if the door is on the other side of the building from the STs, or they are approaching from the side of the building, they will go in a straight line to the door but be blocked when they hit the structure. The STs will then move around (walk) to the front of the facility following the walls of the building. Tactically, you should be sure to eliminate the STs nearest the front of the building first.

All the action is outside of the facility. When you arrive, you will see about 10 Rebel troops guarding the facility, mostly at the front. They appear to use the basic NPC AI and will move, attack and assist as you would expect any Rebel NPCs to do. You cannot command or heal the Rebel troops. The Rebels are tactically good for one thing: Delaying the Imperial troops. Don't count on them to kill the Imperials, and work quickly to eliminate the STs to keep as many Rebels alive as you can. However, it is better to hold off rescuing a group member fighting with three Imperials in the back of the building until you kill the Imperial fighting three Rebel NPCs near the door - the Imperial near the door is the greatest threat (the Rook on the 8th rank).

A mission timer starts once the mission-bearer is near the facility. There are three waves of STs which appear to come at set times after the missions starts, whether you've defeated the STs from the previous wave or not. The first wave is easiest, so don't get cocky. The STs will appear as yellow blips on the radar and overhead map if you are covert, and red if you are overt or TEF'd.

The first wave of STs (about 11k average HAM) will be 3-5 and appear randomly around the facility. Take out those nearest the front first. Knockdown and Dizzy attacks are particularly useful, but pay attention: A second KD from any profession will cause an opponent to get up if already prone from a previous KD. The goal is to maximize damage to opponents while minimizing damage taken by allies.

Once the first wave is clear, gather at the front of the facility and heal up. Camps can be set near the facility. The second wave appears with 6-8 STs, again placed randomly around the facility. Work from front to back and heal group members between kills, unless your role is group medic. Although I'm not sure, the second and third round STs seem to use more special attacks, such as bleed and power hits which exceed 1k damage.

Heal up after the second wave is clear. The third wave includes about 10 STs so it is vital to protect the front door by eliminating the STs nearest the front and working your way back. Rebel NPCs, their numbers dwindled, may be scattered from previous battles and in poor shape: They won't be able to hold off the advancing STs by themselves. After clearing the front of the building from STs, it is better to clear one side, then the other rather than clearing one side then the back.

After the third wave is clear, you may have to wait several minutes until the mission-bearer receives the badge-awarded message. I'm not sure if the mission-bearer has to be in the vicinity of the facility to receive the badge. Once the badge is received, the mission-bearer is told to return to Leia who will express her gratitude on behalf of the alliance, say the mission is complete, but Tactical Officers will continue to give Safehouse missions so players can collect more Alderaanian Flora. Returning to Leia appears to be optional.

May the Force be with you.

~Taigei~