Battle the Space Pirates is a mission in Tools of Destruction, taking place in the Rakar Star Cluster of the Verdigris Sector. Ratchet and Clank were ambushed by space pirates while en route to Rykan V to find the Lombax Secret.
Walkthrough[]
You take control of the Aphelion, as you did before in "Battle the Space Pirates", and immediately switch to the rear turret. Your objective is to shoot down the pirate ships flying by, while waiting for a battle cruiser to approach. Once it does, aim at the bright blue tower to make the entire ship explode, although there are no material gains from doing so. After the battle cruiser, a medium-sized ship and several smaller ones will appear, firing missiles that you need to shoot down. Once you defeat them or they retreat, target the raritanium satellites.
Control will switch back to the Aphelion, which will encounter another pair of battle cruisers, followed by several smaller pirate ships, some of which are temporarily shielded. Another group of battle cruisers will attempt to intercept you but will not be able to keep up. After going through the nanotech induction ring you will face a medium-sized ship that fires a powerful homing laser, similar to Puffy Pants Wallis' strongest attack.
As you approach the larger star, more attacks will occur, and you will have the opportunity to shoot down a few raritanium satellites. When you get close to the largest star, you must destroy several sections of the umbrella-like machinery (marked in blue) to create a path. Shoot down any harvesters blocking your way. Eventually, the pirates will give up and send in Iron Crotch Caruso, leading to another boss battle.
Iron Crotch Caruso has three attacks: he will fire a continuous spray of energy bolts from his twin cannons, drops explosive charges into the star's surface to create pillars of fire, and generates large electric waves that can only be avoided by flying through each wave's accompanying ring. You can easily dodge his other attacks by moving out of the way. Similar to Wallis, you only need to hold down the fire button while avoiding Caruso's attacks until his ship's health is depleted. You can deal double damage by targeting the lightning antenna whenever Caruso is using his electric wave attack.
After defeating Caruso, you will automatically proceed to Rykan V to continue the mission "Breach the Security Barrier".