As this is one of the hardest content of the entire game, it does have some specifics rules here:

• When a new section is released, it always have one battle that is locked. To unlock it, you'll need to get all bounties from the previews battles.
  
  
• While the section isn't concluded, meaning beating all battles, each battle locks the pilots used to finish them, so you will need some good pilots to complete this mode (but don't worry, the STs aren't locked in those battles);
  
  
• Each battle has 3 bounties, just like the achievements from Elite Battles, with a reward for each challenge. Once its complete, you don't need to do them again;
  
  
• One thing that helps is, you CAN use your best pilots to complete the bounties and do the battle again with other pilots. If you complete the battle with new pilots, these new ones will be locked and the previews ones are released for the other battles;
  
  
• Remember, this mode allows you to use Hire Mercenaries, following the rules of locked pilot, so if you used the same pilot in one battle, regardless if it was yours or a hire one, you can't use the same one in the other battles without unlocking them;
  
  
• Each week, with a reset at Mondays, you can get a reward for each battle completed and, if you did all battles, you can get all rewards without having to battle again.

Since most players will not have all S pilots and S units, use this guide as a complement for your strategy, adapting it for your needs and ressoares.

With the release of patch 1.2.1, the whole mode and this 1st section is available.
This section features the wanted pilots Castilla, Mann and Crotti, each with a whole new armament that were not present in "Clearance Ops", so you'll need some specifics strategies for each battle.

The following video shows all battles while doing whats needed to do in each battle to unlocks the bounties using strong pilots and STs, meaning you should just use it as a reference and understanding of each battle and after beating it, unlocking your main pilots needed for the other battles.
Note: The video is in Portuguese, but the overall can be understood using this guide.

Bounty

• Quick Resolution
  Win within 6 turns.
  
  
• Rocket Evasion
  Castilla's rocket hit fewer than 3 units.
  
  
• Safe and Sound
  All your team members survive.

The first battle is against Castilla in a narrow place that's difficulty to attack without being a easy target for his rockets attacks.
He got a set of skills that can be pretty annoying:

• Fully Armed
  When HP is below 50%, triigers [Reload Core] (Restore 10% of HP to every part aside Body and HIT rate up 30%). Can trigger 1 time.
  
  
• Massive Gunfire
  Attack using HMG 1 unit, dealing 6X the normal damage and at the target and causes [Timidity I] (AP cost +1) for 1 turn.
  
  
• Polyenergy Bombardment
  Attack with a 3X3 area damage using the rocket launcher, recovering 1AP for each target hit
  
  
• Shrapnel Offset
  Increase armor and nullify damage below 70.

One of the main offenders here is that damage from MG and SG will be nullified when used as support, so forget using Raiders to drain his HP. Here you need to grasp his attack pattern, which he will always use his rocket launcher when his AP is below 6 and will always try to hit the more targets that is possible, so don't let your units too close so you can do his Rocket Evasion.

The problem began when he reach 6AP, you can be damn sure that he'll use Massive Gunfire, which can hit-kill almost every ST (you can dodge some bullets with some luck, but try not to rely on it). The answer? Your shine Guardian pilot that was on bench all this time. Of course, please use [Guts] skill that trigger with the large shield at least once per battle (Ana has a latter skill that can trigger twice).

The last problem with Castilla is his Fully Armed talent. When his overall HP drops below 50%, all parts except the body are fully restored, alongside receiving 6AP and more hit chance, so you can be damn sure that he will use Massive Gunfire right after this talent is triggered. If its not obvious, bring a good Sniper and only attack his body (or even a good fighter that has skills that target the body, like Gumusiay).

To help doing it in 6 turns, I do recommend sending someone like Winston that can deal [shock] status and deal more damage per turn. If you plan to redo the battle afterwards, you can bring Eileen and use her shock + fire field combo to make things easier.

And don't forget, Castilla isn't alone, there are 1 Sniper in each side, alongside a Fighter with Hook to messes your formation together with a raider and a Railgun user that will give you a lot of headeache if you don't destroy them quick.

Of course, as the battle goes on, more units comes to backup the enemy, being more Fighters with Hook, so stay away of their range and raiders to make things worst.

Bounty

• Quick Resolution
  Win within 6 turns.
  
  
• Stop Moving Again
  Mann has not triggered [Re-Act]
  
  
• Safe and Sound
  All your team members survive.

The second battle is against Mann in a open place that while make it easier to plan some attacks, he can move 4 spaces and, as you can imagine, has some annoying skills too:

• Call of Off-field Support!
  At start of action, deal 10K damage in a area 5X5 around him and causes [Manouver Failure] (can't Guard and movement -2) for 1 turn;
  
  
• Destructive Slam
  Attack using a Pile Bunker dealing 1,2X damage at 1 unit, ignoring Large Shield and aims for the lowers HP part of the target;
  
  
• Attack Ban
  Attack using SG dealing 1,3X damage at 1 unit, causing [Attack Ban] (can't use neither normal or code attacks) for 1 turn;
  
  
• Chain Reaction
  When initiating attack, if there are units from your team in 2 adjacent titles, trigger [Re-ATK], once per turn.

Crap, that 10k area attack is not joke and is the main issue in this battle, as you can't approach him with fighters or even SG users without being turned to dust. Another big problem with this battle is that, if he finish his base attack (not the rocket one) with one of your units beside it (2 title away), he'll trigger the [Re-ATK] skill which both nulls the bounty Stop Moving Again and let he diminish your forces with Attack Ban, making its impossible to even FINISH the battle, let alone do all bounties.

So how the hell are we supposed to beat him? Well, the easier way around is using an "immortal bait" for both rocket and Attack Ban skills and control his every movement. For that you can use a pilot that has the skill [GUTS] for the whole ST and can use it at spent of AP, like the free crazy S class fighter Catharine. Each turn, you need to position her in a diagonal position of him, which make her a target for the rockets and after that, he will move 1 one tile away from her and use Attack Ban, which will not trigger his [Re-ATK].

Yeah, you'll be doing some runs to understand how he moves depending of Catharine's placement, but it the better way to do it. Other point is, to this work, she need to ALWAYS have at least 4AP each turn to survive, and it here that Gareth, the A class mechanics comes to play (for when you reach this point in game, its almost null the chances that you don't got at least him in base state, that is, if you AREN'T HOARDING Arashium and Tickets for those "meta" pilots, in this, sorry, I'll not help you XD).

While he isn't the best healer of the game, he does have two essencial skills for this to work, which are [Renovate] (that recover 2Ap for one unit) and [Full Maintenance] (that recover 1Ap to all units in the area). Just keep in mind the area damage from the rockets when recovering Catherine's AP.

Aside all that, since you'll lose some firepower in this, try to focus with long attacks like William's long range support (or using Emily), Naomi's missiles and some good sniper focusing in his body (so you can beat him in 6 turns) or use someone that inflict shock (or even spare Eilenn for the combo).

Just be aware that each turn 2 backups units comes to play, being Snipers, Missile users, Fighters with hook and raiders with stealth. So keep in mind that you need to destroy both Snipers so Catharine doesn't follow them (and messing up your control over Mann) and at least destroy the arms of those Missile users (which are weak) with a Sniper, along side being away from the Hook reach of those Fighters (don't try to defeat them, focus com Mann about the time they appear).

Bounty

• Safe and Sound
  All your team members survive.

Congrats in reaching the last battle, but aren't of the woods yet, as Crotti can be quite a pain do deal with in this battle. While this time she doesn't summon Pochy to help her, her skill set is pretty deadly:

• Immediate Obedience
  All allies attacks inflict 1 random debuff when dealing at least 7 hits, lasting 2 turns.
  
  
• Discipline
  Using 2 MGs, attack a area 3X3 causing 0,65X damage two times.
  
  
• Full Repair
  Recover HP to all parts, repairing all destroyed parts. Trigger [Re-ATK] after using
  
  
• March of the Change
  For each debuff on the enemy, deals damage +5%, Repair +5% and receive damage -5%.
  When Attacking or Retaliating, if target has 2 or more debuffs, destroy one random part after the combat;

Well, there are two big problems here, 1st is her +40K HP at the body, without counting the other parts and her ability to recover from time to time (usually she recover for the 1st time when her HP drops to 50%). The other problem is her talent alongside the last skill.

All enemies here uses MG, meaning that if they manage to hit 7 bullets, your unit receives a random debuff, which makes Crotti stronger. And with two debuffs, when she attacks you, one part will be destroyed, so using a mechanics that can recover 1 or 2 debuffs per repair is pretty important. Remember that ST "Blazer" has a skill set that recover 1 debuff, which work wonders here.

Other than that, you'll need to keep your units in full HP while she receives backup from each side of the battlefield each turn (some even comes with stealth to make things hard). One important thing is do your best to destroy both mounted MG by the 2nd turn, as they got 4 tiles of range and can link attack with the enemies, stacking those hits and debuffs. A tip is at turn 1 don't let any unit direct below then, so those 2 shield users can't attack you and link their attacks.

As Crotti has A LOT of HP and the enemies comes without pause, you'll need all fire power that you can muster for this last battle, such as Eilenn with her combo, 1 or 2 good raiders (like Rosa, Marcus, Frida or William), your best mechanic (Melissa works pretty well here) and here I urge you to bring Sylvie, as you need to at last destroy the enemies weapon as soon is possible (the grunts, not Crotti) to avoid that debuff hazard.

Well, with the new patch released at 10/09/2025, the new section called "Thunder Rumbles" is released.
While you can see it as soon you unlock Armed Conquest mode, you can't try it while you don't do the following things:

• Reach 90% depth in the Frontier Trial <To the Very End> (which depending of your gameplay, can take around 3~4 weeks to do so);
  
  
• Defeat all bosses in a single try at Clearence Ops <Storm From the Sea> (and to be able to try this stage, you need to reach 50% depth in the Frontier Trial <To the Very End>)

So yeah, since its just unlocked the this section, this part of the guide is in construction...