LEGO Rock Raiders – Guide and Walkthrough

Lego Rock Raiders Text Walkthrough by Cirevam

Copyright Alan Sokol 2009-2017. This guide may not be distributed anywhere
other than GameFAQs or Rock Raiders United. If you see this guide somewhere
else, please let me know.

====================
Table of Contents
====================

000. Intro

100. Mission Walkthrough
   100A. Driller Night
   100B. The Path To Power
   100C. Rubble Trouble
   100D. A Breath of Fresh Air
   100E. It's A Hold Up
   100F. Explosive Action
   100G. Search N' Rescue
   100H. Breathless
   100I. Frozen Frenzy
     101I. Quick Path
     102I. Level Exploration
   100J. Erode Works
   100K. Water Lot of Fun
   100L. Water Works
   100M. Don't Panic!
   100N. Rock Hard
   100O. Ice Spy
   100P. Split Down The Middle
   100Q. Lava Laughter
   100R. Oresome!
   100S. Fire 'n Water
   100T. Run The Gauntlet
   100U. Air Raiders
   100V. Lake of Fire
   100W. Back to Basics
   100X. Hot Stuff
   100Y. Rocky Horror

200. General Tips
300. Contact
400. Version History


====================
Intro (000)
====================

This is my first FAQ that I've written for GameFAQs and as such may be
confusing at first. If you need to find something quickly use the “find”
function on your computer (Ctrl+F on Windows and most other OS’s and Apple+F on
Macs) and type the code that has what you are looking for and scroll through.
To keep a consistent sense of direction, I will use compass directions to help 
you navigate (north, south, east, west). Whenever I use a compass direction, it
will be relative to the minimap radar screen, where up is north.

Each mission has a small briefing that explains what needs to happen and what
may occur in the cavern, but they don't often tell you directly. In the
walkthrough, I'll tell you what you need to do to complete the objectives,
what kind of cavern you'll be in since that determines the frequency of certain
threats, and the kinds of threats that are proven to be present in the level.
I'll also split up the mission if it's possible to explore the entire cavern
without accidentally completing the mission. The format is as such:

Mission Name (####)

Target:
Environment:
Threats:

walkthrough

* Tips and tricks specific to the mission

Since this game mostly involves drilling everything you come across, there may
not be as much information here as you might expect. However, I am making a
video walkthrough as I'm making this text guide, so if you wish you can view
that one instead. To find it, go to YouTube and search for the user "Smaveric".
There you'll find the videos which are a better indicator of my progress
through the game as I will update them more often than this guide.

====================
Mission Walkthrough (100)
====================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Driller Night (100A)

Target: Collect 5 Energy Crystals
Environment: Lava
Threats: Lava
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You won't need much help since this is the introductory level. Just take your
three Rock Raiders north and drill through about five sets of walls until you
get to your base. From there, drill the east and some of the north walls to get
five energy crystals.

* This level has lava in it, and your RRs can damage themselves walking over
the corners of it. Don't worry about it though, since the damage is minimal.
Also, there are large amounts of Small Spiders in this level. Small Spiders are
slippery and stop your RRs for a few seconds when they touch them. What I like
to do is let one RR drill a wall and let the other two hang back, let the
spiders trip the first RR (the spiders disappear whenever they hit a RR, even
if he hasn't gotten up yet), then go in with the other two RRs.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Path to Power (100B)

Target: Build a Power Station
Environment: Rock
Threats: Landslides
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is your second mission, and you're already being hit with the second most
annoying threat in the game: landslides. They're bad in two ways: first, they
can actually kill your RRs, and second, they drop rubble everywhere, which
slows down your RRs making them easier to be hit by landslides. Cleaning up the
rubble from a landslide doesn't net you any ore, either. There is a silver
lining though, or should I say a silver hammer. Just give a RR a hammer and set
"Reinforce Walls" on high priority, and he'll get to it. Just make sure you
take his shovel away, so that you can tell him to go over to a pile of
landslide rubble and he'll go straight for the wall instead of clearing the
path first.

Now, teleport in as many RRs as you see fit, since there's infinite oxygen in
this level and we want to get this done quick. Set "Reinforce Walls" on top
priority and give half of your RRs hammers. Turn off "Clear Rubble" for now,
and reinforce every bit of hard rock you can find, especially in the southwest
tunnel leading to an Energy Crystal Seam.

Northwest of your base is a little cavern with an Ore Seam in it, and there's
some dirt and whatnot on the way. Drill that out and bring the findings back to
base. By the way, the hard rock right next to your base can't touch your Tool
Store if it landslides, so don't worry about it if you don't want to. Once you
have all the hard rock reinforced, head south to the Energy Crystal Seam. You
technically only need two Energy Crystals this mission, but getting more ups
your final score, so go ahead. There's also some drillable rock east of the
seam, but I usually ignore it since I have enough ore by the time I clear
everything else.

Once you have enough ore, upgrade your Tool Store and build a Power Path west
of it, but make sure it's still touching the Tool Store. Build your Teleport
Pad off of that. Orientation doesn't matter here since we're only making two
buildings. When it's built, upgrade it and build the Power Station. Once that's
up and cooking, you're done, and Chief will get you out of there.

* If you want, you can upgrade one of your raiders later so he can hold three
tools, so he can drill, shovel and reinforce without running to the Tool Store.
You can also rename upgraded raiders so you can identify them more easily.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rubble Trouble (100C)

Target: Collect 5 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Landslides
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be completely honest with you, this is just a combination of the previous
two levels: you have to collect five energy crystals, and there's landslides.
All of the crystals are west of your base and none of them are guarded by hard
rock. Don't even bother building anything, just reinforce some of the walls if
you feel the need to.

* This mission is boring and I hate it.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Breath of Fresh Air (100D)

Target: Build a Support Station
Environment: Ice
Threats: Finite oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the first level that does not have an infinite amount of oxygen in it.
Your RRs will be teleported out and you will fail the mission should you run
out of air. However, that's very unlikely in this mission if you only teleport
three to five RRs. You don't start with any, so teleport them down. Check to
make sure you kept your upgraded guy from Path to Power. You should notice that
he will be the first one teleported down; this is because any RRs that have
learned skills or have been upgraded get teleported first. Keep this in mind
for later missions.

There's some drillable rock to your south and north, and an undiscovered cavern
to the east. Drill the few corner walls around your base to get some ore for a
Teleport Pad, and to find an Energy Crystal too. Then drill the loose rock up
north to find another Energy Crystal. Upgrade your Tool Store and place a Power
Path next to it. I placed mine offset so I could put all the buildings around
it, like this:

           ____
          |....|
          |.PP.|
 ____ ____|____|
|....|....|
|.TS.|.TS.|
|____|____|


The Teleport Pad would be north of the Tool Store adjacent to it. The Power
Station would "wrap" around the Power Path, and the Support Station would be
north of the Power Station, so the whole thing would look like this:
               
           ____ ____
          |....|....|
          |.SS.|.SS.|
 ____ ____|____|____|
|....|....|....|....|
|.TP.|.TP.|.PP.|.PS.|
|____|____|____|____|
|....|....|....|....|
|.TS.|.TS.|.PS.|.PS.|
|____|____|____|____|


Of course you don't have to do it like this, but I didn't feel like building
more Power Paths. In future missions where low oxygen is a real threat, or
floor space is limited, having a good floor plan will make you feel less
stressed.

You should start building the Power Station once your Teleport Pad is built and
upgraded. You will have at least two Energy Crystals unless you drilled east,
in which case you should have at least three, maybe eight or nine
depending on how far you went. If you went far enough that you discovered the
cavern with the lake, keep an eye on your RRs, as they'll try to keep cleaning
up the landslide. Disabling "Clear Rubble" in the priorities helps somewhat,
but they still run off sometimes. After your Power Station is complete, upgrade
it and move on to the Support Station. That's the only thing left to do, then
you're on to the next mission.

* When I finished this mission, I used only three RRs and had 60% oxygen
remaining. I completed in 22:32, but it's possible to do it in under 17 minutes
or so if you go to the east cavern right away.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's A Hold Up (100E)

Target: Bring the stranded Small Digger back to your base
Environment: Rock
Threats: Landslides, forced dynamite usage?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the first mission where you encounter stranded vehicles, and it's one
of the first real "free roam" missions, in that you don't have to worry about
collecting too many energy crystals if you want to keep playing for a while.

There's an energy crystal seam right next to your base, so bring down some
raiders and drill the walls. There's no oxygen limit, so bring as many as you
want. The Small Digger is directly west of your base, but you need to go north
first to get around the solid rock. There's plenty of hard rock blocking your
path, so you'll need to train some Explosive Experts if you don't have any. The
only thing you need for that is a Level 2 Tool Store. Be careful though, as
Rock Raiders will automatically train themselves if you set too many walls up
for blasting.

When you discover the first cavern, you'll see some hard rock on either side
of a narrow tunnel. Reinforce this before you send anyone else down there as
it landslides frequently. Just south of this tunnel is some more hard rock, and
that's what you need to blast through to get the Small Digger. Build up a
Support Station when you break through the hard rock and train someone as a
driver if you don't have one already. All you have to do is drive the
digger into the general vicinity of your base and the mission is complete.

* In the northeast area of the map is a small pond with some energy crystal
seams adjacent to it. It is impossible to get those energy crystals without
using a debug key to get around the solid rock. You'll see more of these
"impossible seams" in later missions.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Search N' Rescue (100G)

Target: Find the lost Rock Raider
Environment: Ice
Threats: None
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is seriously one of the easiest missions in the game. No oxygen depletion,
no monsters, no lava, and very few landslides. You start out in a little cove
with three walls on each side, some hard rock on the north and south parts,
and an energy crystal seam to the west. All of the materials you find in this
cove are enough to construct every building in order to teleport down a Tunnel
Scout. Actually, you have enough to get a Super Teleport and Docks as well, but
you need the Tunnel Scout.

Once you have a Tunnel Scout and have trained a Rock Raider as a Pilot, you can
proceed north up the river to find the lost Rock Raider.

Directions: Take a left at the fork, take the second right to the end. Drill
east and then south (you'll see a Tunnel Scout). Follow the path north until
you find the Hover Scout, then drill east to find the lost rock raider. There
are multiple paths, however.

* It's fun to teleport a Cargo Carrier and Small Digger and play around with
them. It's more fun to teleport down three of each. Yes, there are plenty of
crystals to do just that.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breathless (100H)

Target: Find the lost Rock Raiders
Environment: Ice
Threats: Landslides, finite oxygen, forced dynamite usage?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This mission doesn't pose too much of a threat, but the initial cavern doesn't
have that many minerals in it unless you go way to the west. The lost raiders
are in a cavern east of your base, but you need to go either north or south
around a wall of solid rock to reach them, and still more hard rock slows you
down.

Personally, I take the northern route as it seems that there's more landslides
on the south end, but they're both about the same in terms of distance. Once
you reveal the cavern, the lost raiders come running back to your base, only
to be teleported up before they can see it.

* There are some alcoves right in your base that are perfect for placing
buildings. One is a few spaces southwest of the Tool Store and the other is
behind an energy crystal seam just north of the southern alcove.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frozen Frenzy (100I)

Target: Find the Tunnel Transporter
Environment: Ice
Threats: FREQUENT landslides, finite oxygen, Ice Monsters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my favorite mission without a doubt. You have to act quick right away
and equip at least one of your raiders with a Laser Beam. In fact, you should
only teleport three raiders in to clear the loose rock around your base which
is landsliding like a waterfall, then reinforce the hard rock when you see it.
We'll come back to it later.

You'll trigger a monster emerge if you start to head up north. Emerges are
spots where Rock, Ice, and Lava Monsters can come out of the walls to harass
your base. If you see a monster coming out, click the Action Stations button
located at the top of the screen and any raider equipped with a beam weapon
will attempt to attack the monster. You'll quickly notice how awful they are
at shooting, but there is a trick that exploits one of the characteristics
of a raider in Action Stations mode. We'll go over that later.

Now that your base is secure, you should have just enough minerals to build
a Teleport Pad and Power Station. If the monsters start coming again, just
reinforce the wall they're emerging from. Lay some Electric Fences on the north
side once you get a Power Station, but don't put any on the east side just yet.
That's where you have to go to complete the mission, and you shouldn't put
fences up yet as dynamite will destroy the fences and trigger Action Stations.

///////////////
SPLIT DECISION
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
101I. Quick Path
////////////////

If you feel your base is defended enough, go a bit up north and you'll see
some hard rock going south around your base. Blast through a few walls of
that to get the minerals you need to build a Support Station. There's an
energy crystal seam nearby, too. Bring down some more raiders once you have an
air supply and give them some laser beams. Give hammers to some other raiders,
as you'll be needing them soon.

Start blasting the east walls and reinforce them when the landslides start
going (and they go FAST). Eventually you'll hit some emerges, so declare
Action Stations and pull back the defenseless raiders. Reinforce the walls
that had emerges and keep blasting through. It will be about eight walls in
before you get to the Tunnel Transport. Chief teleports you out when you find
it. Take a good look at the mini-base they have there too, and pay
attention to the intro movie before the next mission...

* If Action Stations is declared and you take control of a raider with a
weapon, monsters cannot pick up that raider. Take the opportunity to move
them as close as possible to a monster so that they can shoot at it point-
blank. They will still miss most of the time.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
102I. Level Exploration
///////////////////////

This. Takes. Forever. Actually it takes under two hours if you know where
everything is. I suggest taking each cavern one at a time since there's one
in particular that's practically an ocean of landslides. Start off by going
north past the first monster emerges, and you'll see the cavern forks to the
east and the west. The east = death. The west = boredom. The cavern you're
currently in has an energy crystal seam, an emerge, and a few landslides.

If you decide to go east, go prepared. What you should do is build everything
necessary to bring in a Chrome Crusher, then turn off all priorities and
take control of the CC yourself. When you go east, quickly drill the walls
to your immediate north and south since they start landsliding when you enter.
Go a bit east after that gauntlet is cleared and turn south into the sea of
rubble. Seriously, the whole floor is filled and it doesn't stop landsliding.
Drill everything you can before the other raiders get there if you forgot to
disable their priorities. Not that it matters, since the Sea of Rubble is one
big suicide trip.

Anyways, when you clear out the gauntlet and the Sea, get the three energy
crystal seams and use those to bring down some Loader Dozers and Transport
Trucks.
There are three energy crystal seams in this area that you should have found
while drilling this cavern. Use those to bring down some Loader Dozers and
Small Transport Trucks. Get about three of each and upgrade the trucks. You'll
see why in a few minutes. Now, if your CC survived, take it north of the Sea
and start drilling through that narrow tunnel. You'll eventually reach a big
surprise... I won't spoil it for you, but I'll bet my dinner the Chief would
like it.

Head back to the fork in the cavern north of your base and go west this time.
There are a few more emerges, a few ore seams, and you'll eventually find a
shortcut back to your base that only raiders on foot can use, but only if you
drilled out all of the hard rock that was just west of your base. You'll also
get to see an ore seam on a corner wall, which is rare but doesn't act any
differently. It's a decent haul.

When you're done clearing out the place, go to the tunnel east of your base and
drill/blast through everything to get to the end. You can follow the Quick Path
at this point.

* I found out in this mission that if a raider drops dynamite on the ground and
another raider picks it up, he can either take it back to the Tool Store or
try to blow up another wall with it. When the latter happened, the dynamite
exploded immediately upon touching the ground and killed the raider. Be aware
of this in the future, though I can't get it to happen again. Was it a fluke?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erode Works (100J)

Target: Find the safe base
Environment: Lava
Threats: Lava erosion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the first erosion level, and it's not showing any mercy. This is really
no more than a "find the lost object" level, but there's lava to the south, to
the north, to the west... Your main focus is getting the lava directly south
of your base contained. Build Power Paths to do this. Lava can erode Power
Paths, but it does it so slowly that the paths essentially become a dam. Drill
out the ore seams to the west and east of your Tool Store (the east one is
behind some dirt) and start making the dam. Don't drill too far into that small
tunnel right next to your Tool Store going northwest. It's a trap with more
lava.

You can start drilling the Loose Rock northeast of your base once you've built
your dam. You'll find a cavern with a bit more lava, but this doesn't seem to
erode as quickly. Dam that off and collect the crystals in the walls opposite
of the lava. I built the necessary buildings to make a Chrome Crusher in this
level because the target is behind several layers of Hard Rock, but you can
use dynamite if you want.

If you keep going north past the second bit of lava, the tunnel will turn west
and you'll get to some Loose Rock. Ignore the Hard Rock on the way. There's
nothing of worth in there. You will find ANOTHER cavern full of lava once you
bust through the Loose Rock. This, again, needs to have a dam. If you haven't
made a Support Station yet, make one now so you can teleport some more Rock
Raiders down. Your raiders have probably hurt themselves by walking over the
lava, so more raiders now will prevent future raiders from dying by splitting
the workload.

Go south to see a single Hard Rock face now that you have a dam in the third
cavern. Behind that face is two more Hard Rock faces and then the Tool Store.
If you have a Super Teleport at this point, bring in the Chrome Crusher and
drill your way to victory. If you want to use dynamite, remember that it will
take a bit longer and your raiders run the risk of taking shortcuts over the
lava. You should also be aware that there is a wall that creates landslides in
the third cavern. It's on the north part of the cavern, so drill or reinforce
it.

* One thing that helps immensely in erosion levels is to keep the minimap in
map mode and let it watch your Power Path dam. If you see a yellow square turn
purple, it's starting to erode. Go and fix it immediately to prevent the lava
from damaging your base.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Water Lot of Fun (100K)

Target: Collect 15 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Finite Oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a very easy mission. There are some Dirt and Loose Rock faces around
your base, along with a cavern north of your Tool Store. That's all you need
to see in this mission. You don't have to build anything, and I'd recommend
against it since there are exactly 15 crystals in the immediate vicinity. You
don't need to blast most of the Hard Rock. I did the mission in 18:52 with no
buildings and five raiders, but you could easily beat that time.

* Chief suggests that you go over to the Docks on the opposite shore to get
crystals, but there's absolutely no need to. There is just enough right by
your base, so don't waste your resources. I tried teleporting the Docks out and
seeing if I could get a Tool Store over there, but there's no room. Don't
even bother with it.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Water Works (100L)

Target: Collect 20 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Finite Oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is an enormous open cavern with plenty of water and no good way to
restrict your raiders' movement. You may wonder why this is a problem. There is
a mapping flaw on the far side of the cavern that causes a wall to fall as soon
as the level starts. This creates some rubble which your raiders will want to
clear. The problem is that it takes several real minutes for your raiders to
walk over there. Consider turning off the Clear Rubble priority when you start.

This is a simple collection mission on a calm map. You start with a large dirt
and rock wall to your north. The path leading south is extremely long with no
drillable walls until you get to the very end. Collect everything on your
starting island before moving south. You should have 17 crystals. The 4x4 bit
of rock to the far south contains another 7. This meets the level requirements.

But what about the lost Rock Raiders? You can ignore them! The level script
does not check to see if you rescued them. It only completes the level if you
have more than 19 crystals. The next island you can reach has 28 crystals, so
you could end the level there if you decided to use some of your crystals to
build a base.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't Panic! (100M)

Target: Collect 20 Energy Crystals
Environment: Lava
Threats: Finite Oxygen, Lava Monsters, lava erosion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five Rock Raiders are stranded by another teleporter malfunction and you have
to lead them back to base. Simple? It would be if the world wasn't trying to
kill you. The lava erosion in this level is the fastest you will ever see, and
there are Lava Monsters popping up all over the place. Start by selecting your
raiders and taking them east. You don't have time to move the camera to look
around. Just click somewhere and get them running first. The first dirt wall
is fairly far away, and there will be some Lava Monsters emerging to bug you.
Ignore them.

Take your raiders southwards after drilling the first wall and keep drilling
every dirt wall you come across. If you had trained a Geologist in an earlier
mission, you will have an easier time determining which walls have caverns
behind them and which ones don't. Also, if one of your raiders gets attacked
by a Lava Monster, let your other raiders run away to drill more walls. Try to
get the hurt raider to safety while the others are further away.

The lava will no longer be a threat once you get to your base, but your
oxygen levels might be. Forget about it and drill out the seams and walls to
get the 20 energy crystals required to get out of this place.

* There's a nifty shortcut directly east when you drill the first rock face
you come across. The lava can't go into the tunnel, and the shortcut leads
directly to your base. Most people miss it, and the only reason I learned
about it is because I looked at the level in a level editor.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rock Hard (100N)

Target: Collect 20 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Finite Oxygen, Rock Monsters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't let the mission briefing fool you. There is plenty of room to fit large
mining vehicles in here. In fact, with good floor planning you can fit all of
the required buildings in the starting cavern.

To start off, get each raider to drill one seam and bring another raider down
to get the sixth seam. Clear the rubble and prepare to move the Tool Store as
it's in a horrible spot. The northwest spot of this squarish area you created
has some uneven land, but the spots directly south of it are fine. Build a
Power Path one square east of the most northwest square so you can put the
Tool Store south of it, facing east with its back to the cavern wall. I'll
leave the rest of the floor plan up to you, but here's what I typically use:

      ____ ____ ____
     |....|....|....|  Legend:
     |.PP.|.SS.|.SS.|
 ____|____|____|____|  TS = Tool Store
|....|....|....|....|  TP = Teleport Pad
|.TS.|.TS.|.TP.|.TP.|  PS = Power Station
|____|____|____|____|  SS = Support Station
|....|....|....|....|  ST = Super Teleport
|.PS.|.PS.|.ST.|.ST.|  PP = Power Path
|____|____|____|____|
|....|....|....|....|
|.PS.|.PP.|.ST.|.ST.|
|____|____|____|____|

The rest of this level is boring. Stop having a boring cavern, stop having a
boring life. To stop being boring, you'll want to find the energy crystal cache
to the southeast of your base. When you break through the Hard Rock and get
into the southern cavern, you'll see yet more Hard Rock to the south. Blast it,
and head east. It takes a long time and monsters are bound to show up, so get
a raider to take hold of a Laser Beam or just block off the one-square-wide
path into your base with a single Electric Fence. If a monster emerges from the
northwest part of the map, you can ignore it. A monster's health decays over
time at a rate of 0.6/sec, so by the time it gets to the Hard Rock you're
blasting it'll give up.

You should be able to build a Super Teleport by now, so do so despite the Chief
telling you that there's not enough room. Hah! Get a Chrome Crusher in there to
speed things up. Tell it to keep drilling the southeastern walls, and when you
find the cache teleport the Crusher and take the crystals back to base. Chief
will be proud, but you'll be court marshalled for teleporting that Crusher into
the cavern when it was supposed to be impossible. Should have followed orders!

* The Slimy Slug holes in this level are triggered by the number of raiders
you've teleported down. They start emerging when you have more then eight.
Here is an excerpt of the level script that controls slug emerges:

	TRUE ? SetR1 0
	GetMiniFiguresOnLevel > 8 ? AddR1 1
	GetRandom100 = 1 ? AddR1 1
	GetSlugsOnLevel = 0 ? AddR1 1
	GetR1 = 3 ? GenerateSlug


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ice Spy (100O)

Target: Collect 25 Energy Crystals
Environment: Ice
Threats: Finite Oxygen, Ice Monsters, landslides
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ice spy with my camera eye something that is green.




It's an Energy Crystal, yes. Twenty five of them. I also see plenty of Ice
Monsters, but they are sleeping. Sleeping monsters mean that your raiders have
an easier time aiming at them the first time. What this level does for you is
make you appreciate how most other levels have plenty of flat building space.
This place has almost none. You start out in a pit and the flat areas are by
the walls, so you have to build Power Paths by the walls until you find a
suitable spot. I'll give you a hint: Go two spaces east from your Tool Store
then go north to the wall, south to the wall, and east to the wall. Those are
decent areas.

Prepare to go south once you drill out the immediate area and get some
buildings. Hand out some Laser Beams, put up some Electric Fences, and open the
cavern. Grab the crystals quickly and click Action Stations! Let the raiders
take care of the monsters then go in with the drills. I recommend teleporting
a Small Digger in since there are a lot of Dirt and Loose walls with crystals.
Ignore any Hard Rock you see. Eventually you will uncover another cavern
in the south with more monsters. Silence them and bring in the cleanup crew.

At this point you might think about going east from your base. Though I've only
ever been there once, I'm pretty sure it's not worth it. I know there are a few
sleeping monsters and a handful of crystals, but if you keep going south you'll
get what could be considered a crystal cache. So, unless you're curious, go
south with your Small Digger.

You'll eventually reach a dead-end cavern with even more monsters. Kill them
and start drilling. Let any trucks you have collect the crystals (there should
be around 15) and bring the Small Digger back to base. Teleport your vehicles
if needed and get out of there.

* This mission has bats. Bats are the third most annoying thing in the game as
they scare your raiders and make them drop stuff but don't actually hurt them.
You also can't kill them. Bats are rare, but you should be ready to keep your
raiders from running away when you see them. Raiders in vehicles are not afraid
of bats.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Split Down The Middle (100P)

Target: Collect 25 Energy Crystals
Environment: Ice
Threats: Landslides
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This mission exists because a cave-in (read: landslide) separated a team of
Rock Raiders already on a mission. Your duty is to reunite the two groups and
get them to Rock Raiders HQ. Simple, right? Actually it is simple.

You start with two groups of three raiders each, west and east of the cave-in.
On the radar minimap, click one of the yellow dots representing a raider. This
will help you refocus the camera back on that group more quickly so you can
finish this mission and get on with your life. Now, just keep heading north
for a while, then the west group should head east and vice versa. If you have
a geologist in one of the groups, have him scan the drillable walls first so
you don't waste time.

Look on your minimap for your starting position once the raiders are reunited.
Do you see the area directly north of that? That's your goal. Yes, that tiny
cavern is your base, and you wouldn't have this mission if it weren't for the
solid rock blocking it off from the south end. It's a really cool level design
with a looping pattern that should have been used more. Take your raiders a bit
east and then south. It should be obvious that you're close to the base when
crystals start popping out of the walls. Keep drilling those walls and you'll
reach your base. Now build some Power Paths and drill everything! Be careful as
landslides occur frequently in here. Once you get 25 crystals and have about 18
more lying on the ground, Chief will teleport you out of there.

* There's no oxygen depletion in this mission. Feel free to teleport some of
the buildings for crystals if you want to get this level done as quickly as
possible.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lava Laughter (100Q)

Target: Collect 30 Energy Crystals
Environment: Lava
Threats: Finite Oxygen, Lava Monsters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a tough mission if you head east right away. Here's why that's a bad
idea: though there's a small cache of crystal in the eastern cavern, there are
about half a dozen Lava Monsters sleeping on the one-block-wide path, so your
raiders are almost guaranteed to wake them up if they head down that way. Don't
do it yet. In fact, you don't need to do it at all, but I'll show you how.

First drill walls around your base to clear some floorspace. Drill the Loose
Rock to your east, but once that's taken care of leave the single Dirt wall
behind all that alone. If you drill that, the eastern cavern opens and your
raiders go crazy. Instead, blast through the Hard Rock to the north and south.
There are also some walls heading east in the hallways you'll open up; ignore
them, there's nothing of value behind them. However, if you keep going north
and south, you'll find a ton of crystal seams.

I should point out that you better have a Support Station as soon as you can
get one as the oxygen depletion is pretty bad in this mission and only gets
worse from here on in. Also, it's a good idea to build a Geological Center
so you can see the walls that should not be drilled until you're ready. When
you have twenty crystals and a couple of Transport Trucks, equip some raiders
with Freezer Beams (important! Lasers don't work as well), put up some Electric
Fences, and open the east cavern.

You'll see a small crystal cache on the far end, guarded by around half a dozen
Lava Monsters. Clearly, those crystals were meant to be a meal for those Lava
Monsters, and you're stealing it right out from under their noses. If you get
at least six crystals (two truck's worth) you can teleport the trucks and have
enough to finish the mission.

* There appears to be a waypoint error in this mission since the probability of
a raider killing himself on the lava lake in the eastern cavern is huge. Keep
that in mind when you keep hearing "unit teleported safely" over and over.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oresome! (100R)

Target: Collect 35 Energy Crystals
Environment: Lava
Threats: Lava Monsters, lava erosion, landslides
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This mission is a bit unusual as you start with an entire base, but most of the
power paths have been destroyed. Your first objectives should be clearing the
rubble and reinforcing all of the nearby hard rock. Drilling nearby loose rock
so the hard rock is a corner instead of a flat face works too. There are some
Mining Lasers scattered around that are completely useless, so teleport them 
and scavenge the materials. You can use the ore to create new power paths
immediately. Oxygen is barely a problem, so teleport the max number of raiders.

There is a narrow pass to the north where lava is eroding the ground near some
rock faces that contain energy crystals. Build some power paths as soon as you
can, drill the rock, then ignore that area for the rest of the level. The rate
of erosion is slow enough that it can be safely ignored only after building a
few power paths.

There is an energy crystal seam a few blocks west of the erosion. Most of the
other crystals can be found further west in dirt and loose rock. Keep drilling
everything and you will get 35 crystals before you realize it.

* You can get rid of the Geological Station after powering it on for a second.
Map data is stored forever after scanning it once. It only shows hidden areas,
and those never change until after you drill into them, where normal radar will
show everything anyways.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fire 'n Water (100S)

Target: Collect 35 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Lava erosion, finite oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Immediately teleport some raiders in and start building power paths to block
the lava that's right next to your Tool Store! There's little time to do
anything else. There are some rock faces right next to your base that can be
used to get the required ore. Dam up the lava before moving on, and keep your
minimap on that location.

You might have received an air supply alert while building the power paths. You
definitely need to get a Support Station up right away. Three or four raiders
is all you need, but five is okay if you micromanage your raiders. All of the
resources you need are to the east of your base. You don't need to build a
Docks after the Support Station is finished. Upgrade the necessary buildings to
create a Tunnel Scout and teleport that down instead. Train a Pilot and send
him across the lake.

The lone raider needs to build a Power Path, a Tool Store, and you can teleport
the Tunnel Scout as it's no longer needed. You can also teleport more raiders
down. Do not rip up your original base yet. Use it to build a new base without
the upgrade requirements and in any order. When you're ready to tear up the old
base, leave the Tool Store for last. Deposit the materials into it and teleport
it out. Teleport the raiders out and bring them back down at your new base. You
will probably have close to 25 crystals at this point.

There is nothing particularly interesting once your base is fully established
on the other side of the lake. Keep drilling everything and you will eventually
get 35 energy crystals.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Run The Gauntlet (100T)

Target: Find Rock Raiders HQ
Environment: Rock
Threats: Rock Monsters, finite oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This mission is on a time limit. You have to guide a single Rock Raider through
a maze and find Rock Raiders HQ. There are multiple paths you can take. This is
only one of them. Don't forget to click your raider on the minimap so it
follows him around. This will make following the compass directions much
easier.

Your raider starts on a Hover Scout. Immediately take it north and drill the
wall. Go further north until the path turns back on itself. Drill south and you
will open a large cavern that contains a Small Transport Truck and a Small
Digger. Take the Small Digger and drill the rock directly to the north. Keep
going north and you will find a narrow cavern with lots of hard rock,
landslides, and some Rock Monsters. The monsters are using a special script
and will ignore you if you don't get in front of them. Drive east around them,
go south past one monster, then drill the south wall that another monster comes
out of.

You will see a Hover Scout to the south. Turn east past it and drill the wall.
Go far north and you will see a Loader Dozer and a Cargo Carrier. Though the
mission briefing said only one raider was stranded, you can clearly see that
you are not alone... load the Small Digger into the Cargo Carrier and take it
either south or east. Both shores lead to the same cavern. Once there, dig the
south-east wall. Continue down the twisting path and you will reach Rock
Raiders HQ.


* It is absolutely impossible to get a 100% grade on this mission. The scoring
quota requires you to get 20 crystals, find 12 caverns, and beat the mission in
under 700 seconds. You cannot collect crystals in this mission, so you will
never get 100%. Luckily, the only thing you are missing out on is a slightly
different ending cutscene. The LMS Explorer will engage its faster-than-light
drive instead of running on conventional engines. That's it. You can find the
file on your CD under the Data\AVI folder as "outro2.avi"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Air Raiders (100U)

Target: Collect 40 Energy Crystals
Environment: Ice
Threats: Landslides, Ice Monsters, lava erosion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This level is similar to Oresome! as you start with a base that has no power
paths. Put your priorities towards reinforcing the Hard Rock and clearing the
rubble between the Support Station and Power Station. The walls right next to
the Support Station contain some energy crystals which can be used to power it
up. Connect the rest of the base after you have an air supply.

Place some Electric Fences around the entrances to your base to prevent any
monsters from getting too close. Their triggers are fairly far from your base,
so you shouldn't accidentally cause them to emerge. Give Laser Beams to a few
raiders just in case.

There is a small body of water due west of your base. Next to it is a dirt wall
which leads to a lava stream. Do not drill this wall, as the lava will begin to
quickly erode the ground. Use a Geological Center and look for a cavern that is
a single tile wide. This is the cavern you should avoid. Also drill the
southern wall right next to the water. This contains a monster emerge point
which is triggered if you start drilling the south walls a bit east of here.

The majority of the crystals in this level are near your base and around the
area west of the small body of water. The only way to access the second area on
foot is to dig south of the water and go west. There are 42 crystals there in
clusters of three to five. Prepare some Small Transport Trucks and at least a
Small Digger before tackling this area.

* This level features fallins, which are a special kind of landslide that goes
two tiles wide instead of one. They happen after a certain number of landslides
have occurred (five in this level) and do extra damage. They are placed by hand
in a map editor and can therefore be predicted. Reinforce the hard rock walls
immediately east of your base, in the east-to-west tunnel north of your base,
and the ones far to the south. For extra fun, the developers made all of the
fallins in this level come from Hard Rock, so reinforce any Hard Rock you see
elsewhere.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lake of Fire (100V)

Target: Collect 40 Energy Crystals
Environment: Lava
Threats: Lava erosion, finite oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Land is scarce in this mission, and you have to work fast because the ground
erodes away. You also have to get a Support Station up quickly. Stay focused.

Drill the few walls next to your base and to the northwest. Build your base
away from the shore just in case you miss a bit of shore eroding. You will also
want to check the paths leading away from the "island" you start on, as these
will also erode and cut off your raiders from the rest of the level. There are
some walls to the southeast that contain a decent amount of materials that will
let you get some vehicles after your Support Station is up.

Rush the walls further from your base and let Small Transport Trucks handle the
bulk of material collecting. Your raiders will be occupied with drilling and
repairing erosion. YOU will be occupied with micromanaging your raiders so they
focus on the most damaged parts of the shore. Focus on one area at a time so
you don't get overwhelmed. Collect the crystals and some ore from each area
before moving on to another. Alternatively, you can use a Small Digger to rush
everything at once and ignore erosion completely.

You should not need to use Tunnel Scouts to go to the remote islands in order
to get the remaining crystals. Everything is accessible by land. Don't forget
that you can teleport your vehicles to salvage their crystals.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to Basics (100W)

Target: Collect 45 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Slimy Slugs, Rock Monsters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the one. THAT level. The one that kicked all of our butts. It features
an enemy that we've only faced one time before in the tutorial (they might as
well not exist in Rock Hard) and we've built our base right on top of their
home. Many have attempted to clear it but only the lucky have succeeded. Our
continued failures boil down to one simple fact that we have been too blind to
see for so long:

We've been playing the level wrong this whole time.

Make sure you have at least one raider trained as a Geologist before starting.
This is crucial if you want to play it the "easy" way. You start with a fairly
big base that's already hooked up with power paths. Drill some of the walls
nearby to get some crystals, but do not open the south cavern. This opens the
level tremendously and will create distractions for your raiders. Instead, you
want to go east. Never go south. You will also avoid Rock Monsters this way.

Slugs in this level are scripted to emerge when you have ten or more Energy
Crystals in reserve. Turn off the priority and tell your raiders to manually
pick up crystals for now. You could teleport down expensive vehicles to make it
easier to deal with crystal collection, but then you have to teleport them out
one by one when it's time to complete the mission. Small Mobile Laser Cutters
cost three crystals and thus are a good choice.

Go east when you have your Support Station and fleet ready. Hug the north wall
to avoid some smaller caverns. There is nothing of interest in them except for
a trigger that will spawn a monster right next to your base. Keep drilling
through loose rock until you meet some dirt and hard rock. These will contain
clusters of five crystals. This is where you want to be. There are 40 crystals
in the nearby walls and another 30 a bit further east in a small cavern. This
is your new base location. Again, don't go south, but it's less of a problem in
this area.

You will see a Slimy Slug hole in the new cavern. You can build Teleport Pads
around it to block the slugs completely. Be aware that your raiders will still
try to shoot at them, which is a waste since they generally can't hit the slugs
either. Build a Power Station nearby but don't connect it to the Teleport Pads.
The slugs will be able to drain power out of any connected buildings. When you
are prepared, enable the crystal collection priority, rip up your old Power
Station, and win the level. The slugs that were near your starting point are
too far away to be a threat and they can't suck power out of your unpowered
base. It will be over in a few moments and your childhood will be avenged.

* This map has lots of errors with crystal placement. The cror map file, which
specifies crystal and ore placement in walls, tries to place many crystals on
the ground or in Solid Rock. There's even one in the lava. The game doesn't try
to spawn crystals placed in this way (but they can be placed on the ground in a
different map file), so you would never notice this. It's possible that this
map was changed at the last minute and the crystal placement was never updated.
That plus the overabundance of crystals (several hundreds) lead me to believe
that this map used to be much different.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hot Stuff (100X)

Target: Collect 45 Energy Crystals
Environment: Lava
Threats: Lava monsters, erosion, bats, finite oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This level is extremely annoying as it features a high number of bats. These
creatures fly around your raiders and scare them, which makes them drop their
held objects and cancels their current jobs. You will want to focus on vehicles
in this level. Vehicle drivers ignore bats.

You start close to the south with an energy crystal seam to your east. A wall
next to the west recharge seam has 11 ore that pop out as soon as you drill the
wall. The one next to it has a single crystal. The resources from these walls,
and the wall that automatically collapsed at the start, should be enough to
get a Power Station running. You can start placing electric fences afterwards.
Work quickly as erosion is doing damage in the far north, and that area is very
important.

There is a cavern that leads northwest from your base. There are three monster
triggers in there, but only one of the walls that can be triggered is exposed
right now. That trigger lies along the west side of the cavern behind a corner.
Keep to the right and you won't trigger it, but make sure you have at least one
raider with a freezer beam just in case. Get up there as soon as you can get a
Small Transport Truck, as there is a crystal cache that is endangered by
erosion in the north cavern. It's okay to miss that one as there are two other
caches in that same cavern. All of them are inside energy crystal seams. There
are 87 crystals to be found in total and you need a bit more than half.

If you miss some or all of the caches, build some power path dams and focus on
the other energy crystal seams. There are plenty around, but watch out for
monsters while you search for them.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rocky Horror (100Y)

Target: Collect 50 Energy Crystals
Environment: Rock
Threats: Rock monsters, bats, finite oxygen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is it, Rock Raider. This is what it's all been building up to!

You start off with a large base. The walls bordering the south side of your
base contain three crystals. Get those, teleport the Geological Center out, and
build a Support Station. Deploy some electric fences and arm some raiders. You
will see sleeping Rock Monsters close to your base. Set up your fences before
you declare Action Stations. Don't worry about the Slimy Slug holes. They are
inactive in this mission.

Focus on getting some Small Transport Trucks upgraded with cargo capacity. Get
at least two and keep drilling south to get more resources. The goal is to rush
an enormous crystal cache in the far north. It's due north of your base behind
some hard rock. Plenty of monsters will emerge as you head up that way, but
they are not a problem if you placed a line of fences around your base. Some of
them won't be able to reach your base at all. They will retreat before getting
close. I recommend using a vehicle to drill through the hard rock, as bats will
scare raiders carrying dynamite.

A Geologist or a vehicle upgraded with a radar will let you know when you're
about to dig into the huge northern cavern. When you do, simply wait for your
trucks to clean up and the level will be completed. There are more than enough
crystals in there to finish the level several times over.

* This level used to be more impressive. Karl White, the developer who created
most of the levels in the game, had this to say about Rocky Horror:

"The final level was a tricky one... It needed to be an 'epic finale', but also
needed to tie in with the final animation (i.e. they discover the crystals and
go home). Originally it was filled to the brim with emerging monsters, and your
base would quickly become overrun. It was scaled back for 2 reasons... First,
it was considered *too* difficult for the target age group. Secondly,
considering the average hardware of the time, the sheer number of enemies on-
screen quickly brought the game to its knees (i.e. it became an unplayable
slideshow). It even ran slowly on my development PC at the time, so something
needed to be done. The axe of optimization was brought swiftly down."


====================
General Tips (200)
====================

UPGRADE YOUR RAIDERS
- Upgraded raiders can hold more tools and actually take less damage from
  landslides and such. It may not be apparent, but it's in the code.

REINFORCE THOSE WALLS
- Landslides kill raiders, create rubble that slows things down, and monsters
  can come out of certain walls. Reinforcements solve all of those problems.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE BRIEFING
- Chief will often give blatant clues if there are monsters in the level. i.e.
  "The scanners are acting up." Make note of these and give at least one
  Raider the appropriate weapon in case you encounter a monster. Rock and Ice
  are weak against the Laser Beam, Lava is weak against the Freezer Beam.

USE THE RADAR EFFECTIVELY
- In missions with erosion, put the radar on minimap mode and leave it looking
  at the Power Path dam you've built. That way you can instantly see if it's
  starting to erode and can tend to it before the damage is too great. If you
  are in a mission without erosion, you can have it follow a Raider so you can
  see two parts of the cavern at once; the one on your main screen and the one
  on the radar screen.

REASSIGN YOUR PRIORITIES
- Priorities are randomly assigned for each mission. This can slow production
  immensely as Raiders will constantly collect something until there's no more
  of it before moving on to another thing. The best priority list I've found is
  Enter Vehicle > Recharge Crystals > Repair Buildings > Reinforce Walls >
  Construction > Collect Energy Crystals > Clear Rubble > Collect Ore >
  Drill Walls

  Drilling takes an odd kind of priority over the rest, so it's okay to put it
  last. Also, the reason the main actions are so low is because recharging and
  repairing don't happen as often, but if you don't tend to them bad things can
  happen to your base. The reason Clear Rubble is ahead of Collect Ore is
  because Raiders will clear the rubble halfway then pick up the ore. That's
  really sloppy, innit?

UPGRADE YOUR VEHICLES WISELY
- Though ore is really common, don't waste it on unnecessary upgrades. Small
  Transport Trucks benefit from Engine and Cargo because they'll speed up your
  economy, but Scanner isn't as useful because they're only going towards areas
  that have already been explored. Putting a Scanner on a drilling vehicle is
  much better because you can see whether it's a good idea to drill behind a
  wall or not.

DON'T USE OBSELETE VEHICLES OR BUILDINGS
- This is a bit opinionated, but I'll put it in here anyways. The buildings you
  should not build are the Mining Laser, and only build the Geological Center
  ONCE so you can train a bunch of Geologists. After that, the Upgrade Station
  can give Scanners to vehicles. The Mining Laser eats up crystals so it's bad
  unless you have a Recharge Seam handy, it's slow, and it can only drill the
  walls in its vicinity. Pretty worthless.

  The vehicles you should never use are the Hover Scout, the Laser Cutters, and
  the Granite Grinder. The Hover Scout does nothing, so it prevents a raider
  from being able to do work. It doesn't go over water or lava either, so it's
  completely trumped by the Tunnel Scout. The Laser Cutters are like the Mining
  Laser; they're slow and they eat up crystals, but these can move. The ONLY
  time they're useful is if you want to take out sleeping Monsters without any
  chance for them to retaliate, since Laser Cutters flip monsters into the air.
  The Granite Grinder is like a larger version of the Small Digger, but it
  still takes bloody forever to drill through hard rock, despite having the
  same exact drill that the Chrome Crusher has. Since the GG and the CC both
  require the Super Teleport, skip the Grinder and go for the Crusher.


====================
Contact (300)
====================

If you have any questions, comments, or criticisms about this guide please
email me at alan_sokol [at] myactv [dot] net. If you need more detailed help
with a specific mission, visit my YouTube account (Smaveric) and look up the
appropriate video.

====================
Version History (400)
====================

9/01/2009 - V0.1  - Began walkthrough. Finished first nine missions.
10/10/2009 - v0.3 - Added contact information, header, fixed a few errors.
2/01/2010 - v0.5  - Added five more missions.
4/06/2010 - v0.66 - Finished up to Lava Laughter, fixed a few errors, added
                    directions to Search & Rescue. Added content to General
                    Tips section.
11/05/2017 - v1.0 - Added the missing levels, cleaned up some language, and
		    finished the fight.