Rescue the Black Swan is the nineteenth mission featured in Crimson Skies. It is the last mission to take place in Sky Haven and the only one to feature the Black Hat Mansion or take place above the cloud layer.
Synopsis[]
The Black Swan has been captured by the Black Hats after being shot down while rescuing the crews of the Black Swans and Fortune Hunters. Enraged, Nathan Zachary leads the Fortune Hunters to take down the Black Hats and rescue her.
Briefing[]
Recommended Plane[]
While the mansion defences aren't too tough, their aircraft are heavy hitters and take a lot of punishment in return. An agile aircraft such as the William & Colt Peacemaker 370 or Curtiss-Wright J2 Fury can help evade their attacks, though a good fighter-bomber akin to the Fairchild F611 Brigand or McDonnell S2B Kestrel can carry rockets to help deal with the Curtiss-Wright P2 Warhawks and mansion defences. As you are forced into a Warhawk for the latter half of the mission, your aircraft choice will only matter for eliminating the defences and aircraft.
Walkthrough[]
- The Black Hats have no aircraft in the air at the beginning and it's a surprise raid, so use this to your advantage.
- You'll get one free pass of the mansion while the Black Hats are alerted to your presence and launch aircraft. Use this time to take out as many of the static emplacements as you can as well as the power generator, as you need to destroy them all before you can enter the hangar to find the Swan.
- The Black Hats will launch Warhawks, Brigands, and Ford Hoplites to counter you, which will prove troublesome. If sustaining too much damage, take a little time to shoot some down and make it safer to dock or eliminate other defences. The Warhawks in particular are armed with Aerial torpedoes and will try to destroy the nearby Pandora, so keep an eye on them and target them as needed.
- Once the mansion defences have been eliminated, you will be free to dock with the hangar. It's best to also shoot down the rest of the Black Hat fighters before you do so, otherwise you'll need to deal with them later. You need to approach it from the direction you entered the mission and aim for the docking hook near the hangar roof. If done correctly, a cutscene will play where Zachary exits his aircraft, searches for and finds the Swan, before escaping in a Black Hat Warhawk.
- This is now your aircraft for the rest of the mission and it's sluggish but powerful with a full eight hardpoints packed with rockets. If there are any remaining Black Hat fighters, shoot them down as the Black Hats will launch more after you steal the Warhawk.
- Sparks will now move the Pandora towards the mansion, as not only are you here to rescue the Swan but also help yourself to some Black Hat aerial torpedoes. Any remaining Warhawks will be extra dangerous here, so make targeting them a priority.
- Gun Trucks will drive out of the mansion and attempt to disable the Pandora by targeting its engines. Too many lost engines will result in failing the mission, so keep close to the zeppelin and focus on those gun trucks. The missiles on the Warhawk can help take them out quicker.
- With the gun trucks eliminated, target any remaining Black Hat fighters while Sparks collects aerial torpedoes. Once he's done, the Pandora will move away and you're free to enact revenge on the Black Hats!
- You can blow up the ammo storage where Sparks was collecting torpedoes from, but the main objective now is to destroy the hangar by targeting the support beams. There's four of them and they're blue in colour. Use rockets to take them down quickly, but if you have none left, gunfire will achieve the same result, albeit slower.
- With the mansion destroyed, you are flee to fly away from it in jubilation and dock with the Pandora to end the mission.
Stunts[]
- Fly through the main hangar (can only be done when the hangar is not destroyed).