The Quests of Infinite Space, Part 1: Yellow Kawangi

The Quests of Infinite Space, Part 1: Yellow Kawangi

The quest to defeat the Yellow Kawangi was the only quest in the original Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, and has been part of the series ever since. It involves destroying a Yellow Kawangi Dreadnought (which causes supernovas in every star system it visits) before it can destroy Glory, the Terrans' home system. In fact, you will be warned the first two times the Kawangi manage to trigger an artificial supernova, and if this occurs, it is high time you ended their rampage. In fact, if they actually reach Glory, you will have exactly one year to destroy the Dreadnought - a very strict deadline compared to the other quests in the game.

The dreaded message shown when the Kawangi reach Glory and are one year away from completely destroying the system.

It's a very challenging quest to complete, but the satisfaction you will earn by completing it is second to none. I will now explain how you can stop the dreaded Kawangi from obliterating the Terrans.

"First a distant star, then Hamill. What do we do now?"

The first way to defeat the Kawangi is to activate a Limited Vacuum Collapser. One of these devices is always placed somewhere on the map whenever the Kawangi appear. To actually destroy the Kawangi with the collapser, you must make sure that you are close enough to the Kawangi, then set the timer so that the Kawangi (but not your flotilla, otherwise it will be destroyed and the game will immediately end) will be within the blast radius of five light-years. Now activate the device and escape.

"Nothing will ever survive when this thing blows!"

If done right, the Kawangi will be annihilated, along with every star system in the blast radius. Be warned, though, since detonating the collapser within five years of Glory will destroy that system, thus ending the game. That said, this is often the best way to complete this quest, since your flotilla will usually be too weak to defeat the Kawangi in direct combat. (It should be noted, though, that in a game where the Kawangi appear, they always spawn on the opposite side of the map from Glory, and even then not until you actually collect the Collapser.)

"I don't know what it means, but they want us and the rest of our kind dead..."

Speaking of which, there is an alternate method, which is a lot more difficult due to the extremely advanced technology employed by the Yellow Kawangi. However, it's clearly not impossible to completely destroy the Kawangi in a fight; it's just that it's extremely difficult to do so, since it requires a lot of advanced equipment. Specifically, you will need very powerful long-range weaponry (usually two Multi-Missile Launchers, or a Nova Cannon, which the Kawangi also use) to attack from beyond the range of the Kawangi Nova Cannon and Graviton Disintegrators (the latter being the most powerful beam weapon in the game), as well as a targeting computer (to increase your weapons' accuracy and rate of fire) and a strong shield (which allows your ship to take more damage before it is destroyed), but you are not likely to acquire all of these before it is too late.

In addition, if you have a Plasma Coil Cloaker installed on your ship, it will make the battle much easier to win by allowing you to position your ship directly behind the Kawangi (assuming you activated the cloaker beforehand). With the cloaking device, you can wait for your ship to be out of range of the disintegrators, then uncloak and open fire. However, always make sure to reactivate your cloaking device as soon as the Kawangi open fire on your ship, and move it out of the way whenever they fire the Nova Cannon at you.

"You're going down, Yellow Kawangi!"

Repeat this procedure several times, and eventually the Kawangi Dreadnought will be obliterated. There is, however, yet another means of defeating them, and it involves collecting and using a Chromium Gong. For this to work, the Gong must actually be present on the map, and if it isn't, no dice (unless you find a Timeless Bauble and use it to create the Gong, and even then the Gong must not already be in the sector). In addition, the Gong is fragile and becomes useless when it breaks, which can occur after any of the first three uses of the Gong. However, if you have an intact Gong in your cargo hold when you engage the Kawangi, activating the Gong will immediately complete the quest, since the Kawangi Dreadnought is by far the strongest ship in the game.

And so ends the rampage of the Kawangi...

You will also earn 5000 credits for defeating the Kawangi, as well as being greeted by the message shown in the image above. A further incentive to destroy the Kawangi in direct combat is that you will earn the Achievement "Surgical Strike" the first time you do so. It is even possible to obtain this at the same time as another Achievement, "Save Our Suns", which is acquired the first time you defeat the Kawangi by any of the three methods described previously.

"Haven't I seen this thing before? Oh wait, I annihilated another one of these..."

Strangely, it is possible, though extremely rare, for this quest to occur twice in the same game, but it is extremely rare. Even so, should this ever happen to you, chances are that you will have spent the 5000 credits from defeating the Kawangi the first time on a larger ship hull (or two) and lots of heavy weaponry, making your job much easier. Good luck in your efforts to save Glory!