This is the best way I've found to solve this mission. It's very unreliable anyway, even inside the shields the boss can still kill you instantly sometimes, especially during his fly attacks. This isn't an excellent run, but it has some awesome and lucky flights. 😂
Although I usually used the Bulge Laser Z instead of the 105mm Rapid-fire Cannon Z, I concluded that the cannon works a lot better. It can also be used on the boss, which is almost impossible with the bulge, and it's very hard to get the first group of cosmos in a way that you're able to kill them with a single use of the Bulge Laser. Lionics are too slow to use particularly when all NPCs will be dead. Silver is too fast to allow precise aiming of too many shots anyway. I've tried almost all other weapons to some extent and nothing works better than the Vulcan / 105mm Z pair, one shot, no points and reasonable reload time.
A few important notes:
- NEVER use the 105mm Rapid-fire Cannon Z on the boss or cosmos if they're near your NPCs or you, as they will probably die too. The Vulcan usually is safer.
- you should stay inside the shields after summoning the first tank until the boss gets the colored halo, then shoot both attacks, rebuild the shield and zip away in the tank. If there are still NPCs alive from the first group it helps a lot.
- shields should be put in the tank looking slightly up to avoid the shields being oblique and not useful for anything; if you have 5 shields put 2 in the opposite direction you'll be driving, so 2 in front if you're able to drive backward
- IMPORTANT, the tank does not stop immediately, if you exit before that happens it's likely you'll be out of the shields, and you can be easily killed (I've done this dumb mistake so many times...😁)
- try to be away from the map center until 2nd wave of cosmos appears. There will be 2 groups of NPCs the special WDs and Fencers that move pretty fast and will help a lot with a successful mission as they distract the boss and cosmos, so being away will make it easier to pick them once they settle in their final positions (on and near train tracks near start position)
- Fencers will get stuck on the lake areas near their waiting position and stay there until massacred, so avoid passing near those places
- once you have captured the WDs and Fencers always keep moving to avoid them being massacred by the boss or cosmos; use the health crates from cosmos to help
- try to make good use of the sarge NPC squad that will appear in the center area with the 3rd spawn of cosmos, they will stay alive for some time and help too
- silver man CAN still hit you inside the shield during his rush attack! And the meteors can hit you too since they come from above.
- silver man is INVINCIBLE during the start until NPCs start shooting and along all transformations
- whichever vehicle you choose you should AIM TO USE one that you'll be able to get at the end of killing the first bunch of cosmos. A Blacker needs to be full stars to be able to be summoned at this point. During the second phase, the rush attacks of the silver man will hit you inside the shield and you can't escape 95% of them rolling on foot, so having a vehicle is crucial. And one where you can install the shields preferably (DC, Blacker, Grape). You'll likely only be able to get another vehicle when killing the last cosmos bunch, which includes the heavies.
Although you can finish the mission without the NPCs, this is another one where their presence helps a LOT. The distraction that the NPC Fencers and WDs provide is crucial for an easier life for yourself.
Have fun,
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Boss is invincible until NPCs shoot, avoid capturing bazooka rightmost rangers
01:10 Install shields when cosmos spawn, focus attacks on cosmos
02:35 Nameless invincible again during transformation (and all the ones onwards)
02:45 Enter tank, force rebuild of shields, run away
03:35 install shields, go to the end of map, front from start
04:30 Second wave of cosmos spawns, these always dependent on boss damage
06:40 First lucky happening, proceed to near start of mission to capture WD and Fencer squads
09:45 Next boss transformation
10:30 Final wave of cosmos, including heavy ones spawns
11:20 Still being hit by meteors even with shields, they don't do much damage thankfully
15:50 First flight, the game cheats by sending a meteor directly to me while I was moving and way far from boss
16:35 Second flight, this one was obvious too near boss without shields, lucky end too like the previous one
17:15 Message that boss is almost dead, should have gone for the crates :-(
18:10 Boss kaput, crates galore, but little time to pick them