Bright Lights, Flying City

Bright Lights, Flying City
Location	[[Sanctuary]]
True Vault Hunter Mode
Level	42
Rewards	4730 XP, $1,050, green class mod
Previous	Rising Action
Next	Wildlife Preservation
Game	Borderlands 2
Mission Type	Story Mission

[[Category:Sanctuary missions]]

Bright Lights, Flying City is a main story mission in Borderlands 2. It differs significantly from most other Borderlands 2 missions in that much of it consists of a lengthy road trip.

Walkthrough

Objectives

• Enter The Fridge
• Search for your friends
• Use fast travel station
• Cross waterway
• Kill gluttonous thresher
• Pick up lunar supply beacon
• Go to Overlook
• Deploy beacon
  • Repair beacon (supplementary objective if damaged)
• Establish Fast Travel link
• Get to your friends

Strategy

With Sanctuary having vanished after the events of Rising Action, Angel contacts the Vault Hunters and expresses regret for her actions. She goes on to explain that Sanctuary has relocated some distance away and in order to reach it the Vault Hunters will have to access a particular Fast Travel terminal closer to its current location, and then urges them to enter The Fridge.

Progress through the Fridge is not easy as the place is heavily populated with a thieving and cannibalistic bandit group known as the Rats. They may not be the most sophisticated of Pandora's human dangers, but they make up for their moderate technology with tenacity and viciousness. The Rats have many fast moving units, some of whom will stop to pick up loot drops that might otherwise be a much-needed source of supply.

Emerging into The Highlands - Outwash, the Vault Hunters are hit with a new problem: Sanctuary is no longer on the Fast Travel network, and this means an increasing series of objectives as each new destination becomes a momentary stop and a discovery of yet another objective.

Continuing through the area, the Vault Hunters reach a Hyperion-operated dam teeming with loaders and Combat Engineers. Upon reaching the main bridge, an EXP Loader will attempt to block the crossing by destroying the bridge controls, if it is not destroyed before it can do this, then the river crossing must be done in an empty container.

Once on the other side, and through a gate, the next objective is to procure a lunar supply beacon, although this plan is deferred when a giant thresher appears and swallows the device. The Gluttonous Thresher is unusual for threshers as it generates a powerful shield. The fight is made even more chaotic thanks to the presence of Hyperion forces within range. The three-way struggle can be controlled somewhat by using the Hyperion units as a distraction, while the thresher is targeted frequently in order to prevent it from regenerating its shield. Nearby buildings are also available for limited cover.

Once the thresher is dead and the lunar supply beacon recovered, the next phase is to reach a friendly settlement called Overlook, where the beacon can be safely deployed.

Again the situation changes when waves of loaders are dispatched to interrupt the beacon's deployment. Initially a wave of basic loaders will march on the beacon in an attempt to destroy it, and then this is followed by heavier units in a second wave. A constructor is then deployed in a third phase of the attack. Each time the beacon is damaged to the point of failure it must be interacted with to repair it and resume the timer. The Hyperion forces are as much focused on the beacon as they are on the Vault Hunters, and will march on it incessantly, only pausing to engage in combat when coming under heavy fire.

Player-controlled vehicles positioned at the bottom of the slope have a clear line of fire up the main street, almost to the beacon. With multiple players, a driver can be left to supply a constant barrage up the street with vehicular weapons, and even solo players can benefit immensely from periodically mounting a vehicle to decimate waves of loaders marching up to the beacon.

By the time the loaders are destroyed, Jack is still denying the requisition order. Angel responds by cutting off the Hyperion satellite's life support. Fast Travel access is hastily arranged, putting Sanctuary back on the network. With that done the Vault Hunters can return to base for the next assignment.

Completion

"You've linked back up with Sanctuary, but you and the other members of the resistance still have no plan, no leverage, and no obvious way of stopping Handsome Jack.
Hey, it's all uphill from here, right?"

Turn In: Roland

Notes

• In True Vault Hunter Mode or Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, sometimes Highlands - Outwash will appear on the fast travel station in The Fridge, allowing players to bypass the entire fight in The Fridge by using its fast travel station to teleport there directly.
• It is possible to bypass the Hyperion forces around the waterway by skirting around the area through the nearest connection to The Highlands. This brings characters around to the point where the supply beacon should be, but it will not appear. Approaching the gate to the loading dock area updates the waterway crossing objective and allows the mission to proceed.
• Mission item: Lunar Supply Beacon - "A GPS-enabled beacon used for requesting supplies from the Hyperion moon base."
• It is possible to lure the Gluttonous Thresher to the bridge, which disables most of its attacks. Any character on the bridge only has to evade the thresher's spike attack.
• If the beacon gets damaged too many times, Jack will say, "You're really bad at protecting that Beacon, aren't you?" at which point the beacon will no longer take damage.
• On the first playthrough this mission rewards a Weapon Equip Slot upgrade.

Trivia

• The name of the mission references the story Bright Lights, Big City.