Hi pilots,

This guide is a quick run-down of all achievements in Strike Suit Zero, to be populated as I have figured out how to earn them and done so myself. Be advised that THERE WILL BE UNMARKED SPOILERS; I assume that anyone reading this guide has finished the game and will freely discuss relevant plot points. If you have not finished the game, beware, or better yet, go finish it!

Guide Sections [and ctrl+f shortcuts for the impatient]:

000/Opening (You are here)
001/Main Campaign and General Achievements
002/The Sanic Achievement: Strike Fast
003/Heroes of the Fleet Achievements
004/Secret Achievements
005/Closing

A brief disclaimer on upgrades: I have not tested any of the achievements for minimum requirements of upgrades. I strongly suggest you go through the campaign and unlock every upgrade before attempting all achievements.

Terms to expect in the guide:

Strike Suit 01 - The original Strike Suit. Without DLC, this is the only Strike Suit you will have access to. I will refer to it as "Strike Suit 01" to differentiate it from the Marauder and Raptor Strike Suits.

New Game + (NG+): A quick-and-easy way to refer to mission replay. While there is no New Game + per se, you can replay missions after you have completed them with the option to use previously-locked craft with all acquired upgrades and weapons.

These achievements are general or specific to the Original Campaign:

FIRST STRIKE: "Destroy your first enemy ship."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 1 - Before The Storm

This is an impossible to miss achievement. Your first opportunity to destroy an enemy ship is in Mission 1, when Colonial interceptors ambush you at the firing range. Simply destroy one, and this will unlock.



STRIKE SUIT EVOLVED: "Unlock an upgrade."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 1 - Before The Storm

This is unlocked once you unlock an upgrade. Upgrades are earned by completing special objectives listed in the mission select screen. The first, and easiest, opportunity you will have to earn an upgrade is in Mission 1. When responding to the Proteus' distress call, destroy all Colonial craft before they can destroy the Proteus, and you will earn your first upgrade and this achievement when the mission is completed.



TAILOR MADE: "Customize your weapon load out."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 2 - Aftermath

This is unlocked by changing your weapon loadout in the screen after ship selection, before you begin a mission. Before mission 2, change your Fighter Missile Mk I to Rocket Pods or vice versa.



ACHILLES HEEL: "Find and destroy a capital ship weak point."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 2 - Aftermath OR Heroes of the Fleet - Revenge

This is earned when you destroy a capital ship's weak point. The smallest ship you will encounter that has a weak point is the Frigate; its most obvious weak points are panels placed just fore of the turrets on the engines. These panels are on both the top and bottom sides of the Frigate. Just look closely and fire on the weak point - you will know you've destroyed it when there is a small explosion and the ship is visibly damaged. The first Frigate you encounter is in Mission 2, when you are attempting to save the Arcadia; however, in Heroes of the Fleet's first mission, Revenge, weak points are highlighted, making them much easier to spot.



TRANSFORMER: "Transform into Strike Suit for the first time."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 3 - Outpost

Impossible to miss story achievement. About halfway through Mission 3, your objective will be to dock with Thule Station. When you dock, you will switch from your fighter to the Strike Suit, which switches between Pursuit Mode and Strike Mode with SPACE (default). Control will require you to switch into Strike Mode during the mission; thus, you cannot fail to get this.



STRIKE SUIT COMBO: "Destroy 5 targets at once in Strike Mode."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 3 - Outpost

To earn this achievement, you must use the Strike Suit 01's MTAM Circus missiles to destroy five targets at once. While holding down your missile trigger (default: RMB), move your targeting reticle around to highlight multiple targets - the Circus missiles are capable of locking onto multiple targets, but you must "paint" each one by hovering your sights over it. Once you have locked enough missiles onto at least 5 fighters (4-5 missiles is more than enough for one fighter), release the trigger. The missiles will seek out and destroy the enemies, and you'll have your achievement. Beware attempting this with too little Flux stored; Flux is consumed as you acquire a missile lock, and if you run out of Flux too early, you will return to Pursuit mode and locked missiles will fire.



STRIKE SUIT EXTENDED: "Destroy 20 targets in Strike Mode."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 3 - Outpost

This is similar to Strike Suit Combo, but might take a little more precision. You must destroy the 20 targets for the achievement in a single activation of Strike Mode. This is easy enough; however, you need to make sure that you have enough Flux to get all the kills. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn't attempt this without a full Flux bar. Unlike Strike Suit Combo, your 20 kills do not need to be at once and can be accomplished with the Circus missiles or the Strike Suit's flak cannons; either one is viable, so go with whatever suits your playstyle. With missiles it functions a lot like the 5-kill combo achievement - lock onto lots of targets and pull the trigger. You will almost certainly need to fire a full volley, wait for reload, and fire again. With the cannons, you want to use your auto-aim to kill fighters one by one. Manage your Flux; if it drops below about 10% you will return to Pursuit Mode even if you gain Flux again from kills.



SAVE EARTH: "Reach the end of the game."

This is the bad/normal ending achievement. It does not matter whether you destroy the Relic's core or disable the limiters; this achievement is earned by finishing Mission 13 - Relic without enough medals to earn the good ending. A rule of thumb to follow is that Bronze or Silver medals are "bad" medals, while Gold and Platinum medals are "good" medals.



TORPEDO 1 CORVETTE ZERO: "Destroy a Corvette with a torpedo."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 2 (NG+)

This is far easier than it sounds. Torpedoes are slow, but Corvettes are too. Switch to your bomber's torpedoes, fly up to a Corvette, and explode it. One torpedo should oneshot a corvette. The closer you can get to it, the smaller the chance it'll get away. If you can get behind it, it's also slightly easier. For maximum satisfaction, if you are completing Take One For the Team at the same time, fly up to the corvette and show it who's boss.



SHOOT THE MOON: "You can shoot the moon...we're just not telling you how."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 1 - Before the Storm

Start Mission 1, and as soon as you gain control of your craft, switch to rocket pods and fire off a few at the moon. After a while (the moon is really, really far away), the achievement will pop up unceremoniously.



COMPLETIST: "Unlock everything."

This requires unlocking all upgrades and weapons systems. You need to:

• Finish the game once (this unlocks the Rail Gun)
  
• Complete all bonus objectives

LUCKY STRIKE: "Destroy a Black Fleet Interceptor with rockets."

This one gave me some trouble, and I almost dismissed it as a bugged achievement before I got it. You will have the greatest number of opportunities to do this on Mission 10 - Black Fleet. There will be a screenful of Interceptors while you are mounting your assault on the Black Fleet Carrier. It would seem that to earn this achievement, you must lower an interceptor to about half health and no shields with guns, and then destroy it with ONE single rocket. Spamming rockets to take apart an interceptor does not work.

STRIKE FAST: "Complete last mission inside 7 minutes."

This one is tough - no way around it, you may need to try it a few times to be able to pull it off. Your greatest challenge will be handling the tight corners and level of speed that the Strike Suit will be moving at as you get closer and closer to the Relic's core. Luckily, the mission has a built-in timer to save you the frustration of finishing only to realize you took too long; if your time remaining in-mission hits 3:00, it's time to restart. Ideally, you'll want to reach the core with at least 5:00 to spare. A few tips that might help you out:

• GOTTA GO FAST - You have infinite thruster energy during this mission. Drop a roll of quarters on that thruster key and fly through the tunnels as fast as you can. Going as fast as possible early gives you more breathing room in case you have to slow down later, and if you have to replay this mission a few times, going fast early will help you figure out how to handle the Strike Suit when you don't have a choice but to go fast.
  
• Turn early, or turn slow. The turns in the Relic's interior aren't all that sharp, for the most part. The challenge is the fact that the Strike Suit is moving very fast while you're trying to make the turn. Either start turning before you need to, so the turn isn't so drastic as you're trying to not smash into a wall, or hit the brakes during the turn and make up the lost time further down.
  
• Orientation matters. The interior of the Relic has indicators that tell you one, a turn is coming up, and two, which direction. In my experience, it is much easier to start the turn early and make it through without any collisions if you roll so that your craft is aligned with the turn; this way, you can pull up or down instead of turning to the side (it might just be me, but it seems like the Strike Suit dives faster than it turns).

Once you get to the core, fly up to it in Strike Mode, hold down your lock-on key, and blast the core fragments away with your main guns. The core is sometimes fickle about missile locks, and the guns have the faster time-to-kill, which is all-important for this achievement. Given all the extra flying around, only for you to have to come back to the core and attack it anyway, there is absolutely no reason to listen to Control and go after the limiters.

This section deals with achievements specific to the Heroes of the Fleet campaign.

This section is for secret achievements that are initially hidden. You will not see these achievements in your Steam achievements until you have earned them, and the global achievement stats page on Steam will not have a description listed for them.

SAVE EARTH'S FUTURE: "Get a better ending."

This is the achievement for getting the "good" ending. It does not matter whether you destroy the Relic's core or disable the limiters; you will earn this achievement or Save Earth depending on how many medals you earned during the campaign. As a rule of thumb, Bronze and Silver medals are "bad" medals and Gold and Platinum medals are "good" medals. I earned this achievement upon earning 10/13 "good" medals.



TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM: "Survive a direct torpedo hit in the Marauder."
Earliest Possible Completion: Mission 2 - Aftermath

Despite the fact that the Marauder is only available to Kickstarter backers, and the release of SSZ:Director's Cut suggests support for original SSZ is more or less done, this is possible for anyone. Just take the Bomber out for a spin in any mission with corvettes or frigates firing torpedoes. The sooner the better, since the bomber flies like a brick. Once you detect torpedoes homing in on the capital ship you're defending, just fly into one. You'll be able to survive a single torpedo, and get the achievement.



DOUBLE SHOT: "Blast 2 targets at once with the Raptor's cannon."
RAPTOR DLC REQUIRED!

This one is exactly what it says on the tin... or doesn't say, until you've unlocked it. The Raptor Strike Suit's basic weapon in Strike Mode is a shotgun-like cannon that fires a short-range burst. Use it to take out two or more targets in a single shot. The easiest way to achieve this is to play Mission 5 - Hit and Run: The objective targets are grouped together and have very low health. Hit a group of fuel tanks with the cannon and you're all set.

ADDENDUM: STRIKE THREE: Strike Three is essentially the same - instead of taking out two targets in one shot with the Raptor's Strike Mode gun, you're killing three. Unfortunately, this appears to be bugged in Strike Suit Zero and does not unlock. As the original SSZ's support was sunsetted with the release of the Director's Cut, you'll either have to go to SAM for this one or accept that SSZ is impossible to 100% in its current state.

OBEY CONTROL: "No Win Scenario: Die by ramming into a torpedo or the hull of a ship."

Also very simple. After defending your Cruiser from the initial waves of fighters, some Frigates will fold in and attack. Once Control 2.0 suggests you crash into the cruiser or a torpedo, do just that.

I hope this helps in your attempts to 100% the achievements for Strike Suit Zero. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments section or speak to me on Steam. If there is enough demand, I may make guides that go into more detail as far as how to complete certain troublesome bonus objectives and such.

Thanks for reading!

THANKS TO:

AhrounDragon for corrections
EXTK909 for assistance with ICARUS AGAIN, OBEY CONTROL, and corroborating that STRIKE THREE is bugged.
Firethorn for assistance with ICARUS AGAIN and corroborating that STRIKE THREE is bugged.
Malone Marchel for corroborating that STRIKE THREE is bugged.


Changelog:

6/29/2016 - v.1.0. Kept you waiting, huh? I'll be working on this over the next couple of days to get this 100%, but it is for all intents and purposes done.
4/14/2014 - v.0.56a. Haven't abandoned this, I promise! Minor edits to structure and descriptions, recognition of Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut release.
1/9/2014 - Guide ver. 0.56. First published version. Basic structure complete. Unlocks detailed for 15/27 achievements (3/5 secret achievements). Heroes of the Fleet section incomplete. Strike Fast was too big to fit in Main Campaign and now has its own section.