Help with "Strong Defense" islands

[Sirrus 10]

I'm in the campaign and currently the enemy has five islands left. The four ones on the lower right side of the map, and one on the left side which he captured (I let him have it and took four or more of his in the upper right while he was busy with this one). Unfortunately, he turned all of his remaining right side islands into defense islands...so these are REALLY tough (all connected!). When going through the upper right islands, things were very easy...thanks to better manta weapons and armor I could just run over the islands, destroy scramblers etc and quickly drop a hack pod on the command centers.

But those remaining islands...here for the first time I see enemy ground missile launchers, and they make using mantas very difficult to impossible. If I send walruses ahead to destroy the turrets, they get swarmed by enemy mantas/walruses (no air cover possible)...

Seriously, the step up in difficulty is extremely harsh. So I'm looking/hoping for some tips on how to proceed here. My only/best approach so far is to go slooooooowly and save, save, save at every point I've finished successfully.

Is there something that can help with the missile turrets? I haven't thought of them but could flare launchers help the manta?

Additionally, how much (if any) effect do these steps have?

- destroying the enemy radar (never really did that because the islands so far very maybe too easy, but if it helps even a little, I'll try for it here too)?

- destroying the dock of the island (this should break the connection of the island to the enemies island network, does this actually lower the defense too? Because then the island isn't directly connected to the other defense islands anymore)?

Overall liking the game, I see the problems with walrus pathing occasionally but can usually get around them with some care. But I've started and restarted on those last islands for longer than I like now.

[species1571 64]

My favourite setup for the mantas is Armor mk II, laser, rockets, shield.

First priority is clearing each area of turrets. If you prefer, use missiles instead of rockets and use the island terrain (mountains and hillsides) to stop them getting a lock on you. Stay low and just get close enough that your missile gets a target lock, then point the nose up and fire the missile. This way you can get rid of a lot of the turrets without flying into heavy fire.

Once the turrets in each area are clear, my next priority is the "P" and "H" production buildings. Taking all these out prevents more mantas and walruses being produced.

Next priority is walruses. You can take these out pretty easily using rockets, but you really need to make sure the island is clear of them before sending any walruses in because they are a bigger threat to your walruses than to your mantas.

Final priority is mantas and cleaning out any leftover ground units before sending and walruses in.

The shield really helps with the assault using mantas. Once the shield is lost, hide behind a hill for a few seconds until it charges, and you are ready to do some more damage. You can also switch armor mk II to mk I for lightning raids on individual areas. As soon as your shield is lost, afterburn your way out of fire.

Destroying the radar, sometimes I do that just for fun if I happen to be beside it, but I've never noticed any real difference.

Destroying the dock, I never deliberately do that. The island turrets are set up when you arrive at the island, so destroying the dock won't affect them while you are still there. I never tried this, but if you find that destroying the dock lowers the island rating, then you might find that warping to another island and back makes the turrets weaker. In this case, destroy the dock first, because when you come back the island will have re-built.

[Sirrus 10]

I finished the campaign, and must say I like it.

Except for that part where you chase the enemy in his super manta, that part was just annoying!

The final islands were harsh until I got used to the challenge. In that campaign I never got manta or walrus missiles, but made good use of the rockets. Very satisfying to blast structures or enemy walruses with them :)