[10-3-9] 9. The Hydration Plant

Your guide to capturing the Hydration Plant in Total Annihilation. Learn how to defend against air attacks, capture key buildings, and secure the plant with your Commander.

Alright, you've landed on a pretty cramped piece of land for this mission, so the first thing you'll want to do is pack in as many buildings as you can. Get yourself an aircraft plant and two metal extractors up and running. Once you've D-gunned the initial troops, capture the CORE buildings. Build as many solar collectors as possible – that extra metal income is going to be super helpful. Also, throw up a metal maker. For defense, a light laser tower is a good idea to fend off the pretty constant air attacks you'll be facing.

For now, just churn out a ton of Freedom Fighters. You don't really need anything else at this stage. Have them focus on any enemy aircraft they spot. Don't sweat the ground forces too much just yet.

You'll notice another mountain top to the north, similar to where you started. You have two options here: either use your planes to take out its defenses (but leave the other buildings alone!) or transport your Commander over and D-gun the defenses yourself. Once your Commander is over there and the defenses are down, capture those buildings. Build more solar collectors and maybe a couple more metal makers. Get another aircraft plant going and pump out more fighters.

Up to the north, you'll see some CORE Kbots patrolling. Use your fighters to take them out. Once you've spotted the Hydration Plant – it's pretty much directly north of this second plateau – you can have your Commander just walk down the cliffside and capture it. If you dealt with those patrols earlier, you should have a clear run and won't get attacked.