Story Mode Walkthrough — All Missions & Gold Medal Requirements

Launch Version / Updated: August 11, 2026

The campaign is not a fixed level list — High Command issues procedurally generated objectives across 15 regions — but the mission set is consistent: a named sequence of operations that every operator plays through. This walkthrough covers the campaign phases, the core mission flow, every confirmed mission name with mission-by-mission tips, the special mission formats, and the gold medal requirements community testers have reverse-engineered. Medal criteria are community-reported and still being verified (the official medal documentation is incomplete at launch) — treat exact thresholds as a working draft.

The Campaign at a Glance

Phase	Missions	What's Tested	Gold Focus
Phase 1 — Training	Calibration Fire → Liberation	Muscle memory: read, plot, load, fire	Shot economy (fewest shells)
Phase 2 — Deviations	Counter-Battery → Dead Reckoning	Spotter errors, MOA corrections, counter-battery	Speed + zero friendly fire
Phase 3 — Multi-Target Salvos	Fire on Call → Final Harvest	Three-target vectors, mixed loads, pressure	Kill streaks + kills-per-shot
Final Siege	Campaign end	Multi-stage defense against an armored division	Everything at once

The community-recorded mission order below matches the walkthrough record — the game itself does not number missions on screen.

The Core Mission Flow

Every mission follows the same sequence:

Read the teleprinters. High Command sends the day's orders plus spotter reports and frontline intel — check every channel; secondary channels carry threat warnings.
Plot targets on the tactical map. Mark known positions (your Iron Nest token, spotters, reference points) and triangulate.
Calculate the firing solution. Range into the ballistic calculator → elevation; bearing into the turret controls.
Load and fire. Correct shell, correct powder charge count, correct gun.
Confirm the kill. Second-spotter confirmation (or a star shell) before firing again saves ammunition and time.

Phase 1 — Training Missions

Calibration Fire

The very first mission: one ranging shot, one kill. The gold medal requires an extremely strict shot economy — the community record is a single shot fired — so do not "confirm" with a second shell. Plot carefully, trust the solution, and treat the single shot as the whole exam.

Fire and Light

The recon-fire intro: illumination plus combat. Gold requires 4 or fewer shots fired total — star shells do not count against the limit (community testing), so illuminate freely, plot fast, and make every kill shell count.

Liberation

The first full battle, and the first mission with multiple medals: 0 ally kills, 6+ consecutive kills, 30 or less requisition spent (plus an accuracy medal with an unverified threshold).

Zero friendly-fire means confirm every target with a second spotter before firing — the blue skull is the medal-killer.
The tight credit cap forbids expensive ordnance: budget HE plus powder, skip recon planes, and only bring what the orders dictate.

Phase 2 — Deviations Missions

Counter-Battery

The race mission. Medals: 3 kills within 30 seconds, 260+ seconds of counter-battery time left, 10 enemy kills, 30 or less requisition spent.

The counter-battery clock forces ruthless battery prioritization: mark all artillery before the first shot (see the counter-battery guide), kill batteries with fast HE, and save FDC pauses for when the timer runs low.
The 3-kills-in-30-seconds medal is reportedly buggy — community testers report it is awarded for kills spread slightly wider than the listed window. Use twin-gun double-loading to chain kills in one window.

Iron Road

Convoy interdiction. Medals: 0 ally kills, 20+ consecutive kills, 2+ kills per shot (10+ kills), 0 recon planes requisitioned.

No recons means spotters and star shells are your only eyes — spend the cheap S.T.A.R. round early.
20 consecutive kills demands target discipline: engage one lane of the road at a time and never leave a convoy half-killed while it escapes.

Siege of Cartagena

A coastal city siege. Medals: 0 ally kills, 15 enemy kills, 0 recons, 50 or less requisition spent.

The credit budget is generous enough for HCHE — use it on clustered defenders to make each shell kill multiple targets, which both hits the kill count and respects the budget.

The Gorge

The famous river-gorge mission. Medals: 0 ally kills, 10+ consecutive kills, 30 enemy kills, 2+ kills per shot (10+ kills).

The walkthrough trick stands: this mission can be completed without the ballistic calculator — a well-aimed ranging shell and impact corrections do the job.
30 kills is one of the largest kill counts in the campaign: prioritize clustered targets for the kills-per-shot medal, and expect the fight to run long — pace barrel heat.

Rock of Gibraltar

A small, surgical mission: gold requires only 2 enemy kills, 0 recons, and 10 or less requisition spent. This is the cheapest medal in the game — two perfect HE shots and a minimal loadout (HE + charges, nothing else) takes it. Do not over-buy before this mission.

Dead Reckoning

Blind-fire training: 0 ally kills, 6+ consecutive kills, 15 enemy kills, 30 or less requisition spent. Dead-reckoning targets from vague intel — the "shoot the box" method from the target-spotting guide earns the first-shot kills that feed the streak.

Phase 3 — Multi-Target Salvos

Fire on Call

Fire missions on demand: 0 ally kills, 30 enemy kills, 2+ kills per shot (10+ kills), 0 recons. The kills-per-shot requirement makes HCHE the mission MVP — clustered batteries and packed infantry are worth waiting for a clean multi-kill solution instead of sniping singles.

High Tide

Coastal defense. Medals: 6+ consecutive kills and 3 kills within 30 seconds (an accuracy medal is also listed; the kill-streak requirement appears twice in the medal data, which community testers believe is a bug meaning one fewer requirement). Twin-gun pre-loading is the whole strategy: left barrel ready for target A, right barrel for target B, both firing inside one short window.

No-eyes artillery: 20 enemy kills, 6+ consecutive kills, 0 recons, 50 or less requisition spent. The name is the hint — spotter data will be thin, so S.T.A.R. illumination (which does not count as a recon plane) carries the mission.

Phantom Battery

Counter-battery under deception: 9 enemy kills, 260+ seconds of counter-battery time left, 0 recons, plus an accuracy medal. A phantom battery fires and displaces — verify kills before re-engaging empty positions, and treat every round you send as advertising your own position.

Final Harvest

The last regular mission before the siege: 30 enemy kills, 0 ally kills, 0 recons, first shot within 50 seconds. The opening timer is the hard part — the moment the mission starts, plot from memory: your own position was in the brief, spotters were in the last field report, and the first target should be a star-shell confirm, not a guess. Pre-plot the most likely artillery positions before the mission if the previous briefings hint at it.

White Shells

The only mission with no medal list documented — community testers are still working this one out. If you unlock it, record what you achieve; the wiki would welcome the data.

Special Mission Types

Beyond the standard objectives, the campaign throws in distinctive mission formats:

1. Recon Mission

The campaign's training for intelligence warfare: fire star shells to illuminate grid squares, then use the revealed positions to build firing solutions. Timing the illumination shell with your loading sequence is the skill being tested — light up the area, plot fast, engage before the illumination fades.

2. FDC Counter-Battery Mission

A countdown timer runs while hostile artillery hunts your turret. The key mechanic: destroying the enemy's Fire Direction Center (FDC) units pauses the countdown, buying you breathing room. Locate FDCs by drawing bearings from known positions — where the lines intersect is the likely FDC location. Remember spotter data carries a margin of error, so treat intersections as estimates.

3. Emergency Reposition — Reverse Triangulation

The mission where you must figure out where your own turret is. You know the exact bearing, distance, and charges used for a calibration star shell, so you work backward from the detonation point to draw a line to your position. Failure here almost always comes from rushing the earlier coordinate entries — double-check every spotter coordinate before placing map markers.

The Final Siege Defense

The campaign ends with a massive, multi-stage siege defense: you must hold off an entire armored division single-handedly. Expect waves of armored convoys and fortified targets coming from multiple bearings with little time between salvos. Preparation tips:

Stock mixed shells. You will need AP for convoys and hardened targets in the same engagement (HE splashes off armor — see the enemy types guide).
Protect your systems. A hydraulic rupture or barrel overheat mid-siege is fatal — see the Systems & Failure Guide for safe operating zones.
Counter-battery first. Enemy artillery batteries should be silenced the moment they appear — you cannot survive sustained counter-battery fire while fighting the siege.

High Command's Patience Meter

High Command tracks your efficiency: miss targets or take too long on vectors and their patience drops — enough failures can end in court-martial. Practical rules that keep patience stable:

Don't fire without a solution. A confirmed second-spotter intersection beats a guess every time.
Use the right shell class. Hitting a bunker with HE wastes shots and time.
Speed comes from map discipline. Keep the map clean — yellow for spotting lines, red for firing solutions — so you never re-derive a vector you already solved.

Skirmish Challenges — The Two Endgame Modes

Beyond story mode, two score-based challenges power the leaderboards:

Challenge	Rules	Medal Notes
Skirmish – Challenge – Counter Battery Timer	Counter-battery pressure from the start	First shot within 50 s; high kills-per-shot; long kill streaks; 0 recons
Skirmish – Chill – Uncontested Front	No counter-battery pressure	High kills-per-shot; long streaks; very heavy requisition spending; multi-kill single shells

The Chill mode's heavy-spending medal inverts normal strategy — this is the one place hoarding and buying everything is the goal. The multi-kill-with-one-shell medal points straight at HCHE on a clustered formation, or a well-timed round on a packed artillery battery.

General Gold-Medal Tactics

Medal Type	How to Win It
0 ally kills	Second-spotter confirm before every shot; check the Iris radius against friendly positions
Consecutive kills	One target lane at a time; never leave a group half-killed; twin-gun pre-loading
Kills-per-shot	HCHE on clusters; wait for the multi-kill solution instead of sniping
Requisition limit	Budget loadout from the requisition guide; skip recon planes; HE + powder only
0 recons	S.T.A.R. star shells instead — they are ammunition, not recon requisitions
Counter-battery time left	Mark all batteries pre-shot, HE them fast, spend FDC pauses late
First shot within 50 s	Pre-plot from the brief: own position, spotters, first target's lane
Multi-kill one shell	HCHE on a packed battery or formation; verify radius with the Iris first

Next steps: Achievements & Medals Guide — Enemy Types & Weak Points — Story & Lore

Story Mode Walkthrough — All Missions & Gold Medal Requirements — Iron Nest Wiki