HW2:Hold the Line

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Next:	Under the Dark
Hold the Line
Game:	Halo Wars 2
Date:	April 1, 2559
Location:	Installation 00
Objective(s):	Defend the Particle Cannon Optional: Keep the barricades intact Build on all available base plots (3) Bonus: Kill 5 units with Turret Drop (5) Kill 10 enemies with the lightbridge (10)
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“

In part one of Isabel's plan, the UNSC must defend a Forerunner cannon as it immobilizes the Banished's carrier and breaks through its shields.

”

Hold the Line is the eighth campaign level in Halo Wars 2.

Transcript

{Cinematic Cutscene}

The Spirit of Fire is firing its deck guns while Banshees attack with strafing runs. Captain Cutter takes his seat on the bridge to oversee the situation while the entire bridge crew are busy.

• Captain Cutter: "Johnson, get those guns back inside."
• Johnson: "We got a hull breach in sector seventeen."
• Bridge Crew #1: "Jennet, hit those head to blow."
• Captain Cutter": "Where are we on that hull breach in sector seventeen?"
• Bridge Crew #2: "ETA 60 Seconds!"
• Bridge Crew #3: "Engineering system is damaged."
• Bridge Crew #4: "Too many contacts!"

The point defense system on Spirit of Fire is offline as the deck guns on the starboard side are offline.

• Bridge Crew #5: "Starboard gun is down."

Anders contacts the bridge while the ship receives another strafing hit from Banshees.

• Anders: "Captain."

The crew where she is are running past her while she's contacting the bridge.

• Anders: "Hard to do my best work like this. Can't we fight back?"

View cuts to the bridge where the crew notify the ship that more Banshees are coming out of the carrier.

• Bridge Crew #6: "Carrier has released more Banshees."
• Anders: "Um... are we fighting back?"
• Captain Cutter: "We are, Professor. Let me handle that. You just get me the update on the Ark."

The Banshees are returning to the carrier Enduring Conviction while the crew assess the damage.

• Bridge Crew #4: "Port defenses is down!"
• Bridge crew #7: "Starboard guns are down!"
• Bridge Crew #4: "Sector 1, 2 and 3 has internal fire!"
• Bridge Crew #3: "Hull breach in six sectors."

Isabel appears next to Cutter, looking at him.

• Isabel: "Poked the nest, didn't we?"
• Captain Cutter": "We did. Evacuate and vent! How long can we keep this up?"
• Isabel: "Not long. We're losing too many guns. At this rate it'll be over soon."

Anders arrives at the bridge to report.

• Anders: "I think I've found a way to get help."

Cutter stands up and goes to the Holotable as Anders throws her tablet onto the holotable and Isabel appears on the holotable as well, revealing the schematics of the Ark.

• Isabel: "You can reopen our portal?"
• Anders: "No, we're going to make a Halo."
• Isabel: "What?"

Anders opens the schematics where the replacements of the Halo rings are stored.

• Anders: "I've discovered the Ark keeps an almost-finished ring in the central forges at all times."

She opened it, revealing an almost completed Halo replacement.

• Anders: "It's an emergency replacement in case one of the other rings breaks down."
• Isabel: "Rings?! You must mean GALAXY-DESTROYING SUPERWEAPONS, right?"
• Anders: "Well, on that front, I've figured out how to disable the ring's firing mechanism. We can only launch it to one of locations of the original rings, however."

Cutter look seriously at the hologram view and he remember something.

• Captain Cutter: "Isabel, you said the Master Chief first found a ring near enough to Reach... That would make it within range of comms beacon... It could work. Anders, how long do you need?"
• Anders: "Twelve hours if my calculations are correct."
• Captain Cutter: "We don't have twelve hours, professor. We might not have twelve minutes."

Cutter removes the Ark's schematics, opening the Enduring Conviction's hologram view and pointing at it with anger.

• Captain Cutter: "Just can't beat that right now."

Isabel scans the holographic schematics and she has an idea.

• Isabel: "I can. I'm gonna need a little help though."
• Captain Cutter: "Explain."

Isabel removes the Enduring Conviction, opening two different terrain maps.

• Isabel: "Well, for starters, I need her down there with me."
• Captain Cutter: "Isabel..."
• Isabel: "Sorry, sir. I've been on the Ark for a while. After recent battle reports you should have figured out that there are rules around here."

Isabel search for a place where she can potentially deal the most damage on the Ark.

• Isabel: "I intend to break one. A BIG one."

Isabel opens the carrier's gravity lift and a Forerunner particle cannon.

• Isabel: "We'll need to split the ground forces between these two locations to buy me some time."
• Captain Cutter: "You're taking control of ground forces, now? Buy you time for what?"

Isabel looks at the Enduring Conviction while the crew gets ready to engage Banshees that are starting their strafing runs again.

• Isabel: "That ship brought these monsters. Killed everyone I was supposed to protect. Now it wants to do the same to you, I won't let that happen."

The crew fire one of its newly repaired point defense guns, destroying two Banshees.

• Isabel: "It's time to show them what power really means around here."

{Cinematic Cutscene ends}

CORE / FORERUNNER PARTICLE CANNON

HOLD THE LINE

Mission Briefing

• Douglas-042: "Captain, we're on site of the Forerunner particle cannon we discovered at the Cartographer. We've targeted the Banished carrier and we're ready to fire on your say so."
• Captain Cutter: "Do it. The Spirit of Fire wasn't built to fight a carrier like the Enduring Conviction and we can't hold it off for long."
• Anders: "We're locked on, Captain! The cannon's not large enough to destroy the carrier, but it will immobilize it and punch a hole through its shields - if we can stay alive long enough."
• Captain Cutter: "That's where the second part of Isabel's plan comes in. Jerome, are you and Isabel in place?"
• Jerome-092: "Yes, sir. We're making our approach to the Banished base beneath that carrier."
• Captain Cutter: "Good, be ready to get Isabel inside the carrier once its shields are down. Douglas, Atriox can't afford to lose that carrier, so he'll be sending all his local forces at you to stop that cannon."

Mission Summary

Protect the Forerunner particle cannon from the Banished until it breaks through the carrier's shields.

Scouting Report

Build turrets and deploy your army across Banished routes leading to the cannon.

{In game cutscene}

A Forerunner particle cannon is activated and delivers a hit to the Enduring Conviction.

• Captain Cutter: "That's a confirmed hit, Professor. The Enduring Conviction is immobilized and not going anywhere. What's the ETA on full penetration of its shields?"
• Anders: "Hard to estimate, Captain, this thing didn't exactly come with instructions. I'll draw as much power as I can into the cannon, but we're going to make one heck of a target."
• Captain Cutter: "Agreed. Douglas, the Banished carrier is Atriox's biggest weapon and only means of slipstream transport, so he'll be sending everything he can to destroy that cannon."

{Gameplay}

• Douglas-042: "Now that we've crippled their portals, the Banished will have to make a traditional frontal assault using whatever local forces they have. To reach the cannon, the Banished will have to pass through those choke points to the east and west, so we've set up UNSC barriers there to defend them. We need to make sure they hold fast."

The UNSC starts to establish their defensive line.

• Anders: "I've set up monitoring equipment along each of possible routes, so I can alert Douglas as the Banished arrive."
• Captain Cutter: "And with Atriox redirecting all his forces your way, he'll be leaving the base beneath the carrier relatively clear, giving Jerome and Isabel a chance to infiltrate it. They'll be standing by for word when you've broken through the carrier's shields. Hold the line, team."

Douglas contacts Jerome who is on standby and the countdown starts from 30 minutes.

• Douglas-042: "Jerome, this is Douglas. We've got a confirmed hit on the carrier's shield. It's going to take a while to punch through but it's working."
• Jerome-092: "Good to hear. We're making our way now. Keep that carrier busy for us."

Anders alerts Douglas as the Banished will soon arrive.

• Anders: "Douglas. I'm starting to get early warning alerts on those monitors. The Banished will be here soon!"

When the countdown reaches 28 minutes, the infantry start coming from the North.

• Anders: "Here they come! Infantry coming in from the North!"

Hunters start to join after the infantry from the North.

• Anders: "Douglas, we've got Hunters coming from the north!"

While UNSC forces engages the incoming infantry and Hunters, jump pack Brutes coming from the north and leap to the base ahead but are eliminated immediately by Hellbringers and turrets.

If the Brutes takes out the garrisoned infantries and activating the Lightbridge.

• Anders: "Douglas, the Banished has activated the Lightbridge. It will create a shortcut to the Particle Cannon!"

Douglas regain control of the bridge and shuts it off.

• Douglas-042: "See ya."

Timer reaches 26:00 as more infantry arrives from the north.

• Anders: "We have more infantry inbound from the north!"

Hunters start coming again along with infantry from the North.

• Anders: "Douglas. Hunters to the north!"

When the timer reaches 24:00, infantry start to come from the north-east.

• Anders: "Douglas, you have enemy infantry coming in, this time from the north-east!"
• Douglas-042: "I guess it's time for a change of scenery. Move it, troops!"

More infantry inbound from the north-east.

• Anders: "More infantry from the north-east!"

The UNSC wipes them out immediately on the choke point before they split up and the monitor has gone quiet for now.

• Anders: "Douglas, the monitors have gone quiet - for now."
• Douglas-042: "Yeah. Looks like we've bought ourselves a little time. Let's check our defenses and call in some more troops while we have the chance."

The timer reaches 22:00 and a new wave is coming.

• Anders: "Infantry and enemy armor coming from the north-east!"
• Douglas-042: "Roger that, Anders. Target those Wraith, troops! We can't let them through!"

The Jiralhanae takes control of the Lightbridge again, but Douglas regains control of it once more, shutting off the bridge, and sending any Banished ground units to the shaft.

• Douglas-042: "I will never get tired of this."

More Wraiths, Choppers and Ghosts are coming from the north-east.

• Anders: "Another Wraith incoming from the north-east."
• Douglas-042: "They'll wreck our barricades in no time. Let's head them off, fast!"

The UNSC quickly form the defensive perimeter, not letting any of them go through.

• Anders: "Enemy vehicles inbound from the north-east!"

After checkpoint is made safe, a squad of Ghosts is inbound from the east followed by Marauders.

• Anders: "The monitors are lit up again - wait, they're coming in from a new route! We've got enemy vehicles inbound from the east!"
• Douglas-042: "These guys are relentless! I can see how they managed to survive the Covenant during the war!"
• Anders: "They're sending in more Ghosts from the east!"

A Wraith is attempting to make a beeline straight to Douglas' base while more jump pack Brutes are coming from the north.

• Anders: "Douglas! One of their Wraiths is making a beeline for our base!"
• Douglas-042: "If we lose that, we won't be able to hold the line. Let's make sure that doesn't happen."

The UNSC splits their forces in two, engaging enemy armor from the east and defending the base from the Banished raid.

A Locust arrives to attack the base.

• Anders: "They're sending in a Locust from the east to attack our base!"
• Douglas-042: "I've seen those before. 'Building Killers'. Let's take it out before it levels home base!"

While not done dealing with Locusts that head towards the base, more armor is coming from the east.

• Anders: "More vehicles from the east, they've got heavy armor this time!"

More Ghosts and Wraiths are inbound from the east.

• Anders: "Ghosts and Wraiths inbound from the east!"

Making things worse, infantry are coming from the east with intent to support the Locust that is heading towards the base.

• Anders: "Ground troops coming in from the east, heading directly towards our base. Looks like they're support for a Locust strike!"

The UNSC quickly wipes them out while defending the barrier. After a brief rest, the infantry are coming from the north and north-east.

• Anders: "Infantry coming from the north-east!"
• Douglas-042: "They're trying to split out forces. Stay sharp."
• Anders: "Uh-oh, we've got a wave of Suicide Grunts coming from the north-east."
• Douglas-042: "Head them off fast before they can detonate!"
• Anders: "Jump Brutes to the east!"

More infantry coming from the north-east.

• Anders: "Infantry coming from the