**Halo Wars: Arcadia City — protect the evacuation, not just your base**

**Halo Wars: Arcadia City — protect the evacuation, not just your base** *Campaign spoilers. Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, mission 4.* Arcadia City can get away from you while you think you're doing fine. Your base is standing, your army is growing, and meanwhile the people you're supposed to be saving are being cut down in the streets. The transports and the routes leading to them are the mission. Build an economy that supports that defense, but don't disappear into the building menu and leave the evacuation unattended. **Clear the opening and establish production** Use Forge and the starting Hornets to clear the Covenant around the subway exit. Keep the aircraft together while removing the immediate threats, then move to defend the evacuation area and establish your base. **Cargo 3 is destroyed as part of the mission's scripted events.** Don't restart because you failed to perform some imaginary perfect opening that saves all three. Concentrate on the remaining transports. At least one must survive until the evacuation finishes. Get income running, add the necessary technology and an Air Pad, and build more Hornets. Aircraft are useful here because they can move directly between threatened streets and transports instead of driving around city blocks. That convenience doesn't make them expendable: bring damaged aircraft back for repairs and replace losses before the next attack leaves a transport uncovered. Don't spend every resource on distant expansion while your first defensive group is still too small. A second base can help production, but only if establishing it doesn't cost the transport you're meant to be protecting. **Give the defenders actual jobs** Keep protection near each surviving cargo ship and retain a group you can move to whatever is being attacked. When a threat appears, check which units are already engaged before calling everybody away from the other transport. Clear attackers along the civilian routes as well as those beside the ships. Civilians move toward the evacuation on their own; your part is keeping their path usable. Pursuing a few retreating enemies into an irrelevant corner isn't worth leaving a route exposed. This is particularly important on the harder difficulties. Don't split into several tiny groups simply because there are several places to defend. If a position is collapsing, concentrate enough force to remove the threat, then redistribute. A string of small groups arriving separately is an expensive way to lose the same fight repeatedly. The evacuation runs on a timer. There is no requirement to conquer every Covenant position before that timer ends. Check the cargo ships' health regularly and use your available healing support deliberately, not only after the warning has become desperate. **Rescue Adam and collect the black box** The black box is north of the western base site, at the foot of a skyway support beside the building associated with Adam's rescue. Look around the steps at the base of that structure. Nearby, activate the building's console to release Adam. **The Real Winner is the achievement for saving him.** Opening the building is not enough: he needs to survive his trip to the evacuation transport. Clear his route before activating the rescue, then follow his progress. This is not the moment to send your aircraft away for a collectible. Keep enemies off the street until he reaches safety. If you want the achievement without juggling a particularly rough defense, make it the focus of a separate lower-difficulty attempt. **Wuv Woo and the end of the defense** Kill **50 Elites** to trigger the skull objective. Once that is complete, collect **Wuv Woo** near the statue of a man holding a book in the eastern part of the city, around the second-base area. An aircraft can make the collection trip without negotiating the streets, but send one—not your entire defensive force. Watch the objective counter rather than counting every Covenant silhouette as an Elite. The physical skull still needs to be picked up after the target is met. As the timer runs down, abandon unnecessary sightseeing. Keep the remaining transports alive and prevent a last attack from undoing the entire defense. Optional civilian rescue totals are worthwhile, but they are separate from the basic requirement to get a transport out. **What to check afterward** - **High Class Escort:** mission 4 completed on any difficulty in Definitive Edition. - **The Real Winner:** Adam rescued successfully. - Black box collected beside the skyway support. - Wuv Woo collected after 50 Elite kills. - Gold target: **50,000 points**. For a better score, concentrate on preserving units and protecting civilians rather than endlessly buying replacements. The city gives you plenty to watch. The cleanest improvement is often simply noticing the next attack before it has already reached the cargo ship.