Iron Nest Mission 15 Guide: White shells

Iron Nest Mission 15 White shells is the campaign’s last operation. The anti-monarchists are broken, and the city of Barcelona lies in the Iron Nest’s sights. This is the mission the whole route has been marching toward, and it is deliberately unlike the others: the roster is small, the requisition pool is large, and instead of ordinary medals the mission record lists four endings as its commendations. The record does not publish the exact trigger for each ending, so this page separates what the comm feed shows from what players are still working out.

Quick Answer: Mission 15 White shells

• Verified on build/version: Source-checked 2026-10-31 against the Iron Nest DB mission record. The cited record does not publish a game build number, so no version is claimed here.
• Fixed rules (mission record): 9 entities, 3 armored targets; 700 requisition and 6 powder charges at start; the recommended loadout is AP Shell, HCHE Shell, and HE Shell; the mission lists four ending commendations and no material rewards.
• Random or run-specific data: All grids, bearings, distances, sector letters, and the turret placement come from the current operation. Do not copy coordinates from any guide, including this one.
• The ending caveat: the mission record lists “Ending 1” through “Ending 4” as gold commendations (each “Reach Ending N”), but does not publish which action leads to which ending. The comm transcripts show at least two branches — one where the city surrenders with minimal civilian casualties, and one where the gun crew is reclassified hostile — but the mapping between your fire and the ending is not documented. Plan each run around the targets, not around a guaranteed ending.
• Commendations (mission record, build unverified): Ending 1 through Ending 4, each gold at “Reach Ending N”.

1. The Finale Is Small on Paper, Loaded in Practice

White shells fields only 9 entities — the smallest roster of the campaign — but 3 of them are armored, and one of the armored targets carries 5 stars. The recommended loadout is AP Shell, HCHE Shell, and HE Shell, and with 700 requisition you have room to buy the anti-armor you need up front rather than earning it mid-run.

The enemy roster in the cited record: a General (armored, 5 stars) and a King (armored, 5 stars) as the two named priority targets, 45 enemy civilians, and 11 armored entities. Friendly and neutral assets include allied infantry, artillery, tanks, mechanized infantry, spotters, and three civilian hospitals. The presence of 45 civilians and three civilian hospitals is the mission’s whole point — see the ending caveat below — and it is what separates White shells from every earlier operation.

2. Three Armored Targets, Two Named

The briefing is unusually short: “Barcelona lies at your feet. You know what you must do. You know what shell you must fire to end this as it should be ended.” The mission record then names the two priority armored targets — the General and the King, both at 5 armored stars — and lists 11 armored entities in total.

Treat the two named 5-star targets as the objectives. The other armored entities are on the way, not the goal. With 700 requisition and only 6 powder charges, the constraint is powder, not requisition: spend charges on the armored targets and don’t burn them on soft cleanup.

3. The Endings Are Real, Their Triggers Are Not Published

This is the one mission where the commendations are endings rather than firing metrics. The mission record lists four of them — Ending 1 through Ending 4, each gold at “Reach Ending N” — and adds “No material rewards” to the mission’s reward block.

The comm transcripts included in the record show at least two distinct branches:

• The surrender branch: High Command tells you Barcelona “has ceased its resistance and been forced to accept its surrender” and that “casualties among the population are minimal as intended. A city that can still work is worth more than one that cannot.” The King describes the shell bursting over Barcelona and ringing in “a new era for Castile.”
• The hostile branch: the feed carries a single word, “TRAITOR!”, then “Signal lost,” and closes with “GUN CREW IRON NEST RECLASSIFIED. STATUS: HOSTILE.”

The record does not state which firing behavior leads to which ending, and this page will not guess. What the transcripts make clear is that the mission is asking a question about the city — whether you fire on it or spare it — and the four endings are the four answers. If you want a specific ending, expect to need repeat runs while the community pins down the exact triggers; if you want to clear the mission, prioritize the two named armored targets and let the ending land where it lands.

4. Punchcard: EQKE

White shells unlocks a single punchcard, EQKE Shell. As with the rest of the finale, the mission record lists no shell grants and no punchcard grants on completion — it is an unlock carried forward, not a reward handed out at the end.

Common Failures

• Burning powder on soft targets. Six charges against three armored targets leaves no margin for wasting shots on infantry.
• Assuming the 5-star targets can be dropped with HE. The recommended loadout opens with AP for a reason; armored means armored.
• Expecting the ending to follow from any single action. The triggers are not published; treat the ending as the mission’s outcome, not something you can script from one shell.
• Firing blind into the civilian sectors. The mission’s design puts civilians and hospitals on the map deliberately; whatever ending you are after, a shot into the wrong sector is not free.

Unresolved Questions (Labeled, Not Resolved)

Public sources do not document the ending triggers, and this page does not invent them.

Question	What the record shows
What triggers each of the four endings?	The record lists Ending 1–4 as commendations but publishes no trigger conditions.
Does the “TRAITOR!” branch map to a specific ending?	The comm feed shows a hostile branch (reclassified, signal lost) but does not say which ending it is.
Are the civilian casualties the deciding variable?	The surrender branch praises “minimal” civilian casualties, which implies it, but the record does not state the threshold or the alternative.

Sources / References

• Iron Nest DB — White shells mission record — Operation 15 briefing and comm transcript, roster, starting resources, the four ending commendations, the EQKE punchcard, and the “No material rewards” note.
• Iron Nest DB — Missions index — cross-checked the mission 14/15 entries and the campaign route order.

Update Log

• 2026-10-31: Published the source-checked Mission 15 walkthrough from the Iron Nest DB mission record. The four ending triggers are not documented anywhere this page could verify, so they are labeled unresolved rather than guessed.

Previous: Mission 14 — Final Harvest, the drive on Barcelona that sets up this finale.