Okay, this thread is reserved for tips on how to play in the very interesting space objective map Escape From Hoth.

As most of you have already noticed, EFH is an EXTREMELY difficult map for the rebels to achieve victory in. This is due to the fact that apart from having to worry about TIE fighter/TIE bomber/lancer opposition there are automated turrets and traps inherent in the map that will easily and quickly cause the rebels to lose if their team is not well informed and well coordinated.

The imperial star destroyer has a number of automated high-caliber cannons and turrets scattered about its surface. On each of the ISDs flanks there are 4 high-caliber cannons that look like large rotating discs that will automatically DESTROY ANY GALLOFREE that gets too close WITHIN SECONDS unless they have previously been disabled. Read that again. And again.

It is therefore absolutely imperative for the rebels to send out Y-wings and X-wings to take out these cannons before the gallofrees get too close to them. The cannons on the right side of the ISD (left side of the player on the map) are close enough to the escape beacon to destroy any gallofree before it can make its jump to hyperspace. The rebels need to make sure that any such cannons in the path of the gallofrees are destroyed at all times.

That said, it is worth mentioning that those cannons RESPAWN. They have a very slow respawn rate, and will stay gone for several minutes after having been destroyed, but they WILL eventually reappear. The rebels always need to keep an eye out for this to avoid transport losses.

A transport is brought into hyperspace by maneuvering it within 100m of the rebel beacon on the map. You should always see a rebel icon in space denoting this beacon. If you don't, hit the left ALT key to turn it on.

For bringing the gallofrees safely to the hyperspace point, there are two obvious strategies. The first relies on escort, cooperation and brute force and the second relies on stealth. The first is to simply coordinate with the team to get an escort for your transport. Preferably synchronize your approach with other transports, thus forcing the imperials to divide their firepower between multiple critical targets. Even if the imps are smart enough to concentrate their fire on one transport and thus manage to bring it down, the other transports in the group will have made it most of the way to the beacon without taking too much damage.

The second, stealthy, strategy can be employed by a lone pilot. Simply get into a gallofree and ride it somewhere toward either side edge, top or bottom of the map, while generally moving in the beacon's direction. Stay high (or low, or just generally out of the way of all the action) while moving toward the ISD, and do not turn to face the beacon directly until you are more or less as close to it as you can get without turning. With luck, you will be able to slip by all the imperials' attention, and once they spot you approaching the beacon from such a close distance the combined firepower of the whole imperial team will not be able to destroy it before it can jump. If you get a TIE bomber or two on your tail, call for fighter backup. They shouldn't have to give away your position unless they bring half the imperial team with them. TIE fighters can safely be ignored. They pose no serious threat to a gallofree transport - apart from the possibility of their pilots reporting your position to the rest of the imperial team.

A general rule in all stealth-based operations in space combat is that while a gunner can be otherwise useful, a foolish gunner can also be a dead giveaway. If you get a gunner in the gallofree while trying to ride it out of sight that insists on pumping salvoes toward every TIE in sight, thus drawing them to you, do what you can to make him stop. If you can't make him stop, call for fighter escort. You will need it.

If you press the fire button while driving a gallofree transport you will hear a strange humming sound, but see no trace of shots being fired. You have engaged the transport's shield system. Left clicking will engage the transport's upper shields, and right clicking will engage the lower shields. The shields will continue to be active for as long as you keep the button depressed. They will eventually run out of energy, however, and once depleted they will not recharge, so use them only when it is called for.

Finally, there are two bugs on the map that deserves mentioning. One is fairly critical and potentially a showstopper, while the other is mostly cosmetic, while fairly frustrating for the rebel team. The showstopper bug is that if any rebel spawns in a gallofree and then commits suicide, noone else is going to be able to spawn in that transport again! This means that "dead" transports are often left sitting in space serving no other purpose than cannon fodder, and quite potentially preventing the map from properly ending. This means two things. Firstly, if you ever spawn in a transport, by intent or mistake, you are committed to bringing it home. Do NOT commit suicide! Doing so is the same as instantly destroying the transport, only the transport doesn't know it yet. Secondly, if all the transports that remain are bugged in this way, the rebels have lost, quite simply. The map will not end, however, until enough of the "dead" transport have been destroyed for the imperials to attain their formal victory. If this happens, shoot down the dead transports, whichever side you play on. The map is boring with its main objective unattainable.

The other bug is a decent annoyance if you play on the rebel team and manage to complete the objectives. This map CAN be won by the rebels. I just finished a round of it where I myself jumped the third transport to safety, thus ending the map. The annoyance, however, is that the rebels will get "defeat" in any case! So to virtually everyone playing except those who actually witnessed the last transport make the jump, it will seem like the imperials in fact won by destroying the transport. It can be highly frustrating for a well-coordinated rebel team which has worked hard for a long time to get three transports to safety, only to get "defeat" anyway in the end! Come on, with so much sweat, we deserve a bit of gloating!

Feel free to post your own tips and advice on how to best play the map here, including advice for the imperial team.

BF2142 soldier name: TychoCelchu