Dark Reign: Rise of the Shadowhand Tips:
      Whereas in Dark Reign the AI took it easy on you for the first few levels, you’ll find the
      difficulty level in Rise of the Shadowhand severely higher from the very first mission
      (which makes sense--after all, there are only 14!). I would almost list the completion of
      Dark Reign with either or both the Freedom Guard and Imperium as a prerequisite before
      playing this expansion. Personally, I found the challenge refreshing, but rookies and
      intermediates alike may find themselves stuck on the first level for quite some time.

      Here’s a quick tip to get you started in the Freedom Guard Xenite’s first level: As soon as
      you’ve built up a respectable force, find the water spring slightly north of your base, and
      another one all the way to the west. When attacked by groups of Gants and Grendels at
      both sites, immediately kill all of the Grendels and the rest of the Gants will leave you
      alone. Then you can start collecting credits to prepare for an attack on the three
      Shadowhand communication satellites.

 
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