I know there's probably already been a thread on this, and if someone can link me to a strategy that actually works I'll gladly call for this thread to be closed.

I've played roughly five hours this weekend and made no progress on Tip of the Iceberg at the end of Act 3. I had no problem getting rid of the Corpser, but I can't for the life of me secure the station. I'm on Hardcore difficulty, I can't imagine doing this shit on Insane. Anyway, I've actually made it up onto the platform and killed all of the Theron Guard (though that took me many, many tries-I've had too many torque arrows to the fact to count) and I realize all that's left are the shotgun guys. Ever time I get close and spawn them, they lay waste to my team and I'm alone up there. One of them flank me from behind while the other rushes me, I can't do anything about it. I've tried everything, blind firing the shotgun to kill them, but nothing works. I'm not going back down to Casual just to beat this chapter, that's lame. Can anyone give me a way to beat this that actually works? I'm about ready to beat my Xbox repeatedly with a hammer, I've seen the red screen of death way too many times over the past two days.

Try to kill them from a distance so they can't use their shotguns on you. Using a shotgun yourself is almost useless in single player, use a lancer or hammerburst. There's also torque bow off to the right before you go over that hill, you can use that and get more ammo from the Theron Guards, or try to acquire a sniper sometime earlier in the game before you get to this part.

I'm going into it carrying my assault rifle and torque bow, I'm shit with the torque bow so I switched to the shotgun. I can see how you say it would be useless, though. I'm going to try spawning the shotgun guys and luring them off the platform tomorrow, I'm too annoyed to play it again tonight. The only bad part is you have to play THE ENTIRE FIREFIGHT OVER AGAIN, which makes it difficulty, for sure, but also very, very annoying. If there was a checkpoint right after Dom asks what that noise was and you got a shot of the Theron guard, I would be a lot happier. I have to approach the damn station and hear Marcus' orders everytime, which adds to the frustration.

quote Supernouva

I always chainsaw the Theron Guards, it's the easiest way to kill them, at least that's how it worked for me.

You can't get close to them on hardcore or insane because they'll chainsaw/melee you. If you have, you got damn lucky.

Just use the torque bow and lancer/hammerburst to clear as many as you can while staying outside of the pumping station. Once you see that you've eliminated a good bit, go ahead and advance. Stay behind cover whenever possible and watch your back at all times.

On Casual and Hardcore i ran up to the top of the hill where your team originally splits up and sniped all the locust with my longshot.
On Insane however, I let Dom distract them while I sniped 'em with a torque shot.

I do agree that this was easily the hardest part of the game and that, quite frankly, RAAM was noob compared to this.

Thanks for all your help guys. I'm going to play later on today and I'll let you know how it went.

Get a friend o help you out. Wait until you have to do it on INSANE

Its still pretty damn hard on insane, even with a co-op buddy. My mate never learned not to stick your head out when the Theron Guards have a light playing about the end of their gun...

ONe of my most memorable moments in recent times happened at the Pumping station. Two Theron Guards were coming down the ramp straight ahead of me, and I had no cover. I threw my back to the big cylindrical structure for all the good it did, and two torque bow arrows went zipping past the place I just occupied. The contrails they left in the air made it look like a Matrix movie

I found the pumping station to be fairly simple, even on insane. Get the tourque and the lancer. When you see the first theron duck for cover. There are two therons with tourques that will fire at you. Wait for them to fire thier arrows. Then pop a tourque in one of em. Repeat. Then, run to the entrance. Eventually, the remaining therons will either take cover in front of you and try to tourque you, or they will rush you. If they try to tourque you, wait for thier arrow to fire into your cover and then pop an arrow in them. If they rush you, rev the chainsaw and nail em as soon as they turn the corner. Now, you just have to worry about the guys at the front of the base. As soon as you hear them laugh, take cover. Be patient here. This is the easiest place to screw up at. Keep a distance between you and them and have your tourque out. As soon as you see one in the open, quickly pop an arrow in him. Repeat for the other 3/4 enemies in the area.

There. All done. It may take a few tries at first, but once you get the pattern down, you will rarely ever die in this area. The places I hate most are the beggining of Act 4 on insane and the top of the car in Act 5 on insane. There is a simple enough theory for taking both those places, but they both have luck factors in them.

use co-op