Iron Nest Phantom Battery — Mission 13 Walkthrough

Step 1 — Restart the engine before you move

Evidence: IN-GAME TEXT · REPORTED (two guides, different versions)

The opening salvo damages Iron Nest before you have solved anything. The mission's own comm feed is unambiguous: "You're taking lethal fire! Start the engines and reposition immediately!"

REPORTED, pre-patch guide (August 8, 2026): a first attempt that skipped a confirmed restart "ended almost immediately." The working sequence was starter → engine running → controls into RUN → then the Emergency Move. Do not stop to repair every minor system while the battery is still engaging you: engine → movement → position, everything else later.

REPORTED, post-patch tutorial (uploaded August 14, 2026): the uploader states you "don't need to restart the engine to emergency move or move at all" and calls it "probably an oversight by the developer" that will "probably get fixed." Treat the restart as the safe, instructed path; the skip is an unverified observation, and this guide does not claim Patch #4 changed this behavior.

Step 2 — Execute the Emergency Move, then buy your tools

Evidence: IN-GAME TEXT (- EMERGENCY MOVE! appears repeatedly) · REPORTED purchase orders

REPORTED, post-patch tutorial: immediately after activating the Emergency Move card, use the move-direction card without adjusting bearing or distance — "that will tell us explicitly where we are instead of needing to use observers to triangulate our location." The uploader flags this, too, as a probable oversight. Buy two armor-piercing shells per gun up front (APHE or Earthquake work), plus extra powder charges. The pre-patch guide instead buys AP only after the position is confirmed — both orders appear below as labeled strategy opinions, not rules.

Step 3 — Rebuild your own position first

Evidence: REPORTED · OBSERVED (three routes)

The relocation leaves you with at most a coarse sector — one guide's first Emergency Move landed "somewhere inside R2" (a single-run observation, not a rule). A coarse grid is not enough for a precise AP shot. Three recovery routes appear in the evidence:

1. REPORTED (pre-patch guide): intersect two Position Reports on your own Nest — e.g. one from about T4 8:1 at bearing ≈256°, another from N4 5:5 at bearing ≈168° (worked example; values expire the moment either side moves).
2. REPORTED (post-patch tutorial): the move-direction card from Step 2 states your position explicitly — no triangulation needed.
3. REPORTED (community, Discord): two forward observers placed on your own grid square as a self-location variant.

Step 4 — Mark the three listening posts, then let them speak

Evidence: IN-GAME TEXT · REPORTED

The mission deploys three friendly listening posts — the comm feed announces: "We have deployed three listening posts in your sector." Reports from them come in three forms: an exact bearing, a distance, or a coarse direction. Practical tips from the guides (REPORTED, strategy advice): mark all three posts on the map before interpreting reports; listening-post bearings start at the listening post named in the report, not at your Nest; and a clean pair of agreeing reports is enough to commit.

OBSERVED, post-patch tutorial: an audio report plus a visual report beats two visual reports from the same grid square — reports carry a possible ±5° deviation, which two nearly-parallel visual lines can amplify into a large miss at shallow angles.

Step 5 — Build the solution and fire a linked salvo

Evidence: OBSERVED (post-patch tutorial) · REPORTED

With both positions known, drop bearing and distance to the battery, compute the solution (in-game calculator or by hand), load at least four AP shells — the battery can sit 15 or more kilometers from your start (REPORTED, single video) — then link the guns, wait for elevation to set, arm both safeties, and fire both guns together. OBSERVED in both community footage and the post-patch tutorial: a linked double shot is the standard killing blow here.

Step 6 — Manage the Counter-Battery Timer with spotters

Evidence: IN-GAME TEXT · REPORTED

The mission orders state it in so many words: "NOTE: Each of the Enemy Spotters destroyed adds 90s to the Counter Battery Timer." Spotters are a time reserve, not a to-do list: the pre-patch guide shoots one when the battery has repositioned, when a move forced a full position rebuild, or when the timer is too short for another complete AP solution — and explicitly not when the battery is already well located. When the timer cannot cover a verified shot, move first: discard the firing line, keep the last battery marker only as history, rebuild, and solve again.

(For how the Counter-Battery Timer works in general, see the Counter-Battery mission guide — that page owns the mechanic.)