Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Fort Condor Tips & Tricks Guide

OG players might remember the first iteration of Fort Condor, and now, it’s returned to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in all its blocky glory and with the addition of a hard mode. Initially, this mini-game might seem like an easy way to kill time. It isn’t. It is an intricate RTS addition to the already huge RPG that’ll add hours of fun. However, since many might not know what to expect, a few tips and tricks to dominate this low-poly battlefield never hurt.

Everything to Know Before Playing Fort Condor in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Before we delve into the basics of the game, we should mention how to unlock it. To play this mini-game, you must reach Junon in Chapter 4. Once there, you should make your way to the Protorelic of this region. Starting this quest will unlock the Fort Condor mini-game. Fans of the original game might already know what to expect, but for our newcomers, we have a few tips to guide you through this small yet chaotic battlefield.

Understanding Your Units

Fort Condor is the closest to an RTS game you’ll get in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The goal is simple: you must move your units to destroy the enemy’s outposts and commander. To achieve this, you must use your units, of which there are two types:

• Ally Units
• Hero Units

We’ll begin with Ally Units since they are easier to explain and will make understanding Hero Units much easier.

Ally Units

Ally Units are your typical cannon fodder. You send them to push any of the two lines and attempt to bring down the enemy’s outposts and eventually defeat the commander. There are three roles you need to remember:

• Vanguard (Red): Melee attackers.
• Ranged (Green): Ranged attackers.
• Defense (Blue): Defensive units boasting high health.

You must remember this information because Fort Condor’s units work like rock, paper, scissors. Vanguard beats Ranged, Ranged beats Defense, and Defense beats Vanguard.

Hero Units

Before we move on to how the game plays, let’s discuss our last and most powerful units: Hero Units. These are the roles of Cloud (Defense), Barret (Ranged), and Tifa (Vanguard). When you summon them, they’ll deal a lot of damage to enemies and buff ally units that are near them. But how do you summon them? Well, when you place any Ally Unit on the map, your hero’s bar will start filling up. Once it’s filled, press L1 to summon a Hero. Also, you can only summon a Hero once during a match.

Playing Fort Condor

With the rundown of units out of the way, let’s get into the meaty part of the mini-game: how to play it. In short, you must reach the other end of the battlefield and eliminate all enemies. It’s easier said than done. To achieve that, you must summon your units in any of the two paths of the battleground and make them march toward the enemy while fighting your foe’s units on the way.

As you can see, there are many UI elements, but we’ll explain them thoroughly to make your matches as easy as riding a Chocobo.

1. ATB Gauge
   • This one indicates your action points, which will allow you to summon units. Regular Vanguard, Ranged, and Defense units need two points, Clerics need one point, elite units need 3 points, and siege units need two points.
2. Hero’s Bar
   • This bar shows the hero’s bar progress before you can summon them. To summon a specific hero, you must play units of its color. For example, if you want to summon Cloud, you need to play defense units until his bar fills up.
3. Player Units
   • These icons show how many units you have of each. Certain stages give unlimited standard units, while elite, siege, and cleric units have limited uses.
4. Timer
   • This element shows the time left before a match ends. If the match ends, you’ll lose. You always need to beat the enemy before the timer runs out.
5. Enemy Turn
   • This is the most important part of the UI. It shows the order of how enemy units will spawn. This is where the RTS part comes into play. You must summon units in order to counter your enemy’s. To do that, watch out for the order and the path of where they’ll spawn.

General Tips and Tricks

Now that you have the basics let’s go over some general tips and tricks to help you beat each standard stage of Fort Condor in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

1. Match your formation to your heroes.
   • One fatal mistake we can all make is not using the right heroes for our formation. For example, let’s say we pick a defensive formation and don’t bring Cloud. You won’t get enough ranged and vanguard units to summon Tifa or Barret fast. Try to select the right heroes for the job before each fight.
2. Start strong during the first summoning stage
   • Each match starts with four points in your ATB gauge. We recommend starting with an elite unit followed by a cleric. This will allow you to push the line without worrying about enemies.
3. The defensive formation is one of the best
   • You can cheese standard levels with the defensive formation. Bring Cloud and whoever else you want for heroes, put your ballista in each path to create a bottleneck, and watch the chaos ensue.
4. Always summon Clerics behind your other units
   • Please don’t make our mistake and summon clerics on the front. If you summon them behind your other fighters, they’ll stay at a safe distance. This is key to keeping them alive while healing your units and doing AoE damage.

FF7 Rebirth Fort Condor Hard Mode Guide

No, we didn’t forget about Fort Condor’s hard mode in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Once you finish Junon’s protorelic quest, the mini-game’s hard difficulty will unlock. This one brings four new stages and will allow you to take on more difficult fights with fewer units, so having the right formation is key. We’ll give you a strategy for each of the four levels in the game.

Hard Mode Stage 1

This stage has a lot of vanguard enemies, so your best option is to bring defense units and Cloud and Tifa as heroes. Choose the stronghold defense formation. Deploy as follows:

1. Enforcer and Cleric on the right.
2. Place a Trebuchet in the middle of your base.
3. Ranger and Cleric on the left.
4. Place a Ballista on the left after Ranger and Cleric leave the bottleneck.
5. Deploy two Vanguards on the right path.
6. Start deploying Rangers and Enforcers on the left path.
7. When Tifa is ready, deploy her on the left to clear the lane.
8. If Tifa gets killed, summon Cloud to finish off the boss.

Hard Mode Stage 2

For this one, we’ll go with Cloud and Barret and stick to Offense and Defense focused.

1. Start with an Elite Enforcer and a Cleric on the right.
2. Deploy Vanguard, Ranger, and Elite Enforcer in that order on the right.
3. After deploying those three units, summon a Cleric behind them.
4. Deploy two Rangers and one Elite Ranger on the left.
5. Summon Barret on the right.
6. Deploy all your Vanguards on the left and then summon Tifa on the right path to clear the lane.

Hard Mode Stage 3

Barret and Tifa are the best options for this stage with an Offensive formation.

1. Start with an Elite Vanguard and Cleric on the right.
2. Deploy a normal Vanguard and a Cleric on the left.
3. Place a Trebuchet in the middle of your base.
4. Deploy another Trebuchet on the left, followed by an Elite Ranger and Cleric on the left path.
5. Summon two Vanguards on the right path and then deploy Tifa.
6. Start deploying Vanguards and Enforcers on the left path.
7. When the lanes are cleared, summon Barret to focus on the boss.

Hard Mode Stage 4

For the last hard mode stage of Fort Condor in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, you must bring Cloud and Barret and go with an Offensive formation.

1. You’ll place an Elite Ranger, a Cleric, and two Enforcers on the right path.
2. Place a Cleric and a Vanguard on the left path.
3. Place the last Cleric on the right path, followed by an Enforcer.
4. Keep placing Enforcers until you can summon Cloud.
5. Place Rangers on the left path to fill up Barret’s gauge.
6. When you reach the enemy’s base, place all your Trebuchets in front of the boss.
7. Summon Barret at the last moment to go in for the kill.

As you can see, this minigame has more depth than the low-poly models of its characters. While you can rush through the first stages, hard mode is no joke. But if you have the patience and a knack for RTS games, you’ll complete this activity effortlessly.