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cosmicPostman posted:Well, that's absolutely terrifying. I presume that stacks with the healing from being on a property? That could be nasty. I believe it does. Moreover, the range of healing is two spaces away from the crystal. It also restores fuel and ammo, for whatever that matters.
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Nov 16, 2021 00:02
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Part 15 (Battle) - The Black Arc Was Probably A Waste Of Money This is a long one, so let's jump right into it. So, if you recall last time, big fortress in the sky is going to rain death on us...  ...and we need to blow up a crystal, there, to win. It has area-of-effect healing and fuel restoration, which is going to be annoying as hell.  On the plus side, we get to play with two COs this time! Max won the vote for topside in a landslide, and Sasha has been chosen for the main battle. Should be fun!  Right, we're ready. Let's loving go.  Victory sounds good. Death, on the other hand, I would really like to avoid. But in this map, I'm not gonna have much choice... anyway, deployments. Today’s Deployments Rin, Infantry Dave, Infantry Nika, Mech Alina, Mech Dimitri, Tank Fliss, Tank Selena, Medium Tank Boris, Medium Tank Raynald, Fighter Lucy, Fighter Julian, Fighter Harlow, Fighter Yakov, Fighter Klara, Fighter Valentin, Fighter Diana, Fighter Ingo, Bomber Zlata, Bomber Yakov Age: 20 Personality: The quiet, sullen twin. Proficiencies: Recon, Fighter, Transport Copter, Rockets Klara Age: 24 Personality: Meek girl, goes berserk. Proficiencies: Battle Copter, Fighter, Bomber, [unknown] Valentin Age: 18 Personality: Hates putting in effort. Proficiencies: Fighter, Rockets, Missiles, Artillery Zlata Age: 30 Personality: Cheerful gearhead, loves tanks. Proficiencies: Bomber, Medium Tank, Neotank, [unknown]   All those fancy machines are about to be nothin' but scrap. Max, I can't control what happens up there. So- My dude. I know what these soldiers mean to you. Don't worry - they'll all come back safe. I promise. Let's see what info we get to begin with, whilst I think of a brilliant plan.   As the name implies, two COs team up and take turns issuing orders. Don't worry, the basic rules of engagement are unchanged. Now, this time we've got fighting on two fronts, which is dual-screen combat. So, we need to assign one CO to the main front and one CO to the second front. Is that not what we just did? Shush, I'm tutorialising. In Campaign mode, the second front is controlled automatically. But you should still check on it from time to time. Gonna be watching it like a loving HAWK. Like any ordinary fight, the battle ends if you're defeated on the main front. The battle won't end if you lose on the second front, but the CO remaining on the main front will be left alone facing two enemy COs. This may seem a bit confusing, but I'll give you more advice as we go along. I know what having two simultaneous fights is! Wait, are you..? Here's one hint: winning the second front makes it easier to win the main front. You ARE! You're patronising me! Took you long enough. Now come on, my dude. If you're really the greatest strategist in Wars World, prove it now! So, there are four different AI settings which we can access from the Intel menu option, and we'll be using several of them in this fight. Rachel will tell us this later on, but we can use it before she tells us about it, and it'll keep everyone alive (hopefully), so we may as well. First is General. Don't, uh... actually know what that does, but presumably that's the usual "win the map" setting. Next is Defense, which I presume means that my units will prioritise not being in enemy range where possible. Then there's Strike which is described as an aggressive posture, presumably used for like, attacking. But then, oddly, we have Assault, described as an offensive posture. I... have absolutely no idea what the difference between Strike and Assault is. I am sure the goons can inform me on the specifics of these four AI types, but at the very least, we'll see some of them in action in this map. Speaking of the map, let's get to it; I leave the AI on Defense for now, to keep them away from the enemy fighters. There's quite a lot to do here, and it has to do with the second front. Rachel, just so I'm not repeating everything you're saying, care to explain?  You'll need to send fighters and bombers up to the second front. To do that, you'll need to use the Send command. You'll find it in the menu. Once you do that, the selected unit will be transferred to the second front. You won't be able to send helicopters, because they can't fly high enough. I wouldn't send bro copters anyway. What are they going to do against fighters? Point. So, when you hit the Send command, you send your unit to the space as shown on the right. Here's a fun fact, though...  Where you move your plane to before sending corresponds with the upper map. So you can choose more advantageous places to send your planes up by moving them around. That should be useful - guess we'll see how it goes.  First things first, all our ground units just move forward and capture stuff. Like always, we need money, especially since Sasha's CO Power runs on money.  Then I get harassed when I try to send planes up. The three planes already up there are our Orange Star fighters, Lucy, Raynald of Châtillon and Julian. The Blue Moon fighters will be joining them once Rachel's said more things.  Now the unit you transferred can fight for the cause on the second front. All orders on the second front are issued automatically by the CO in charge there. Don't remind me... really wish I could do something about that. Oh, and CO Powers can't be used there, either. The action is too fast. Oh, god, what? My planes are sitting ducks up there! Though I suppose that means Lash can't use her CO Power either... Exactly - pros and cons. Wait, Lash's CO Power is terrain-based, it wouldn't work up there anyway! This only hinders Max! That's the way things are, unfortunately. Fight your way across the main front, but keep an eye on the second one, too! I'm not letting it out of my goddamn sight. Those planes better be right back here once they're done. Keep in mind that units sent to the second front can't come back. However, if you win on the second front, the surviving units will be added to the power meter, and that can be a huge advantage! Don't forget! That could be very useful in the right circumstances. Yeah, a nice free CO Power would be excellent. Well, let's trust in Max for now, and get on with this map. I'm right behind you, my dude. What are your thoughts on our strategy? Our strategy is as follows: I move the planes up this formation, whilst down below, I move Dimitri in the tank forward a bit. Nothing here will dare attack him, so he's pretty safe. The bombers are staying down below too, right now - Ingo and Zlata will be very handy for taking on the Black Arc, but whilst Lash's fighters are lurking around up there, I can't risk it. Once they're gone, I can send 'em up.  So, let's see what Koal's got planned for us.  The crystal does a little BWOO kinda thing, and everything around is presumably healed? They were on full health anyway, so...   and two HP at the beginning of each day. If we can stay close to the crystal, the advantage is ours. If the black crystal is destroyed, all of our plans will be shattered with it. ...Yes. Indirect fire is a danger, but Omega Land itself is our unwitting ally in that regard. These sandstorms reduce the attack range of all distance weapons by one. Their weapons will be useless, then. They will have to come to us with direct-combat units. Yes. The allies will believe they have been forsaken by heaven. The Black Arc's bombs will keep the allies from making use of the center factory. You intend to bomb the center area? I thought that's where I was to be deployed. I've designed the Black Arc's bombs so they don't damage our own units. ...That's a relief. I just love being deliciously evil AND brilliant! Tee hee hee! A huge explosion rocks the central factory. Yeah, this is why we're not deploying anything from there right now. I can only presume that'd be 5 damage, or maybe more. Once the Arc's gone, we can worry about the factory.  This is how Koal's troops shape up - nothing really threatening moves forwards, besides maybe the bro copters. You'll also note that there's a few more fighters hanging around up on the top screen - those two at the back are going to be trouble if we're not careful.  Thankfully, our fighters are very careful, being on Defensive and all. They lurk just outside the range of Lash's fighters, and hopefully Lash will just kind of blunder into our range next turn. That'd be the dream.  Like loving clockwork. This was as good of an opening turn as we could've asked for really, considering that I have basically no control over the second front.  What little control we have, though, we're absolutely going to abuse.   But, is it cool if I give any general orders to the units on the second front? When you say "I", you mean "my dude, because he actually knows what he's talking about", right? Yes, but don't insult your tag battle partner. Give some advice instead. First, open the map menu and select Intel, then tap AI.You can see how if we hadn't done this on the first turn, we'd have lost at least a couple of fighters to Lash. This advice comes a little late. Choose a strategy option to give your partner some idea of how to proceed. Change this setting on the fly to get the most out of your partner. Oh, we will, Rachel, we will. Now I set the AI to aggressive to crush those fighters on the next turn.  More stuff captured here. Important captures include a base and an airport, both of which I'll be making use of - thanks, Dave and Rin!  Alina wasn't near enough to any property on the first turn to start capturing, so she's still midway through her capture.  The anti-air might not be a threat to Dimitri, but it certainly is to the bombers, so I set Zlata on it. Not only does she do tons of damage, but she one-shots it, which means Dimitri can move ahead, too. "Zlata! Good to see you on the battlefield." Dimitri says. "Missed fightin' alongside you." "You too, hun!" Zlata replies, beaming, and Dimitri goes bright red. "Not in front of Orange Star, Zlata..." he mutters.  Ingo, meanwhile, can weaken this recon. See, the bombers are way more useful on the ground for the first couple of turns.  As Koal said, ranged units have reduced range in the sandstorm, but I still don't want anybody to run afoul of this artillery, so Dimitri massively weakens it by shooting it in the face.  And this is how our next turn ends. The main front isn't actually that bad, besides the orbital death cannon several thousand feet above us. There's nothing super threatening that we have to look out for.  I'm sure that'll change if we give Black Hole an opening. So, uh, let's not to do that.  This Dick Captures A Property: 9 The Black Arc bombed the central factory again, but I didn't show it because it didn't affect anybody.  The copters are getting close now. I'll probably need to make Dimitri retreat and kill them with... Uh... Oh, right, I sent all my fighters up. I've not really got anything down below that can kill copters easily.  Speaking of fighters, they get right to work. Both up top and down below, they begin attacking...  Obviously, it takes two hits, even with Max-powered fighters, but that's still quite a few fighters destroyed. Our first kill goes to Yakov!  Same happens down below, where Klara gets a kill, and Valentin grabs the final kill up north. One fighter left, and it's only on 3HP, so it's literally not a threat. No, watch.  It tries to attack Lucy, and...  "Not today, Black Hole! You're dealing with the Queen of the Skies, now!" Lucy shouts. "Nice work, Luce!" Ingo says. "Is it safe to come up?" "Yup, and you'd better hurry - the Black Arc's preparing to fire again!" Lucy replies. Ingo nods, and Zlata prepares to fly up. "Let's go!"  Well, things are already looking much better on the second front, and it's only day 3.  And Alina captured her thing! She is going to get attacked by that mech nearby, but with 3 defence stars and healing, she should be fine.  There is the small matter of this recon, though, which moved up to Rin and Dave but didn't actually attack. Rin opens fire first. "I'm going to stop you right here!" she shouts, doing some damage. Dave laughs. "Nice work, Rin. But you wanna see how a foot soldier destroys a vehicle?" Alina glances into the distance, a look of wonderment on her face. "The Tankslayer... in action? I can't miss this!"  "C'mere, Black Hole! I'm Dave Ruston, the Tankslayer of Orange Star, and I'll teach every vehicle in your miserable army to fear my name!" With that, Dave lets out a round of powerful gunfire, which tears through the weakened recon with ease.  "Incredible! You really are the best, Dave!" Rin says, gasping with delight. "I mean, in a completely non-admiring sense..." "No worries, kid. Glad you enjoyed the show." Dave replies. You'll note that we get an "Incredible!!" here. It's "Good" for killing a unit and "Excellent" for one-shotting them, so I presume "Incredible" is for killing something strong with an infantry? I've no idea, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Maybe it's just for Dave.  Annoyingly, due to the way this map is laid out, Dimitri can't really run very far. He can just about get out of their range, but I still need a more permanent solution. "drat, I need backup. Something that can take copters." Dimitri growls, glaring at the copters moving on his position.  "Do you even need to ask? Deploying now - I'll meet you on the battlefield." Diana replies. Dimitri grins. "I was hoping you'd say that, Diana. Standing by!"  Meanwhile, it's time to move our bombers up. Zlata heads up, and as you can see, she's right next to these cannons that we need to take out.  I switch the AI to Assault in the meantime. I might be entirely wrong, but I view Strike as "kill enemies", whereas Assault is "kill enemies, destroy structures, progress the map", so I'm hoping by picking that, Ingo and Zlata will target the Black Cannons around the Arc, rather than try and move in on the fighters at the back that they absolutely cannot kill.  And here we are. The copters are the only problem - once they're gone, we can just march on the enemy. Well, assuming the Black Arc is taken out sooner rather than later, but the bombers should be fine with that.  Right, here we go.  The enemy mech does indeed target Alina, but thanks to her property, she does more damage in the counterattack, so that was no problem at all.  The copters keep moving forward. There's definitely nowhere Dimitri can run now, but this is why we have Diana, who can at least take out one of them. Meanwhile, up at the second front...  Wait, fighters can fire on those cannons too?! That's definitely not the case in AW2, but I am not complaining about this change. God, that makes things WAY easier up here.  And indeed, after Lucy weakens this cannon, Klara can just... "Alright, Black Hole motherfuckers! Watch this cannon get ripped to shreds!! Kill, kill, kill!" "Jeez, she's intense." Lucy murmurs. Dimitri nods. "She's got berserk tendencies. Thank the heavens she's on our side, huh?"  BOOM! Nice.   The units we sent there have destroyed one of the Black Arc's cannons! Three more to go! Our bomb worries are over once you knock out the other ones! Way ahead of you! My dude, keep sending units, and let's make the main front safer for our troops! I'm glad you're psyched, but I think we have enough planes up there now. They'll be fine. The next cannon falls to the upper fighters shortly afterwards...  And hey, wanna know a fun fact about Max's bombers? Just in case you forgot from Advance Wars 2.  Yeah, they one-shot Black Hole structures.  One cannon to go, and Ingo's in prime position to take it out!  There we go! Three days. That's got to be some kind of record. And would you believe that this was my first attempt at this map?  BOOYAH! Grr... Never mind that. There is no need for panic. As long as we win on the surface, victory will be ours. Ready to deploy. (Good. When I give the order, you will guard the central factory. There is no room for error.) Yeah, I know. The second front has been secured. The CO will now report back to the main front. Oh man, Max is joining us down below? This is gonna be a bloodbath! Having his strength on our side will make things easier, certainly. Yes! Now we'll be able to see the Tag Power in full effect! If both COs are on the main front, they can tag out to take turns issuing commands. To switch COs, all you have to is select Change from the map window. Selecting Change ends your turn, though, so don't do it until you're done. Once the power meters of both COs fill, you'll be able to use the Tag Power. Now that sounds handy. Probably won't need it, but still, fun to have as an option. I saw its power firsthand in our previous battle. The Tag Power is a power where both COs use their Super CO Powers back-to-back in the same turn! Yeah, it sounds absolutely devastating in the wrong hands. Hawke, particularly... To use a Tag Power, open the map window, select Tag, and get ready to rock! God, Hawke and Drake, imagine that... or Olaf, even. The possibilities are incredible. My dude, pay attention! The Orange Star Army has won on the secondary front! What? Yeah, I know! Oh. Right. That means I've got poo poo to do on the main front. Yes, that's what I was getting at. Prove that you're necessary, and win, right here, right now! I'll be right beside you, my dude. Me too! Let's crush Black Hole together! Sounds like a plan. Alright, folks, here's what I've got in mind... so, first we need several medium tanks. Have you ever come up with a plan that DIDN'T need several medium tanks? Y-yes! Sometimes I use bombers. Right, let's keep this run of good fortune going! Onto the black crystal!  Alina can weaken this mech, but it's not quite a kill. Still, it's not even remotely a threat to anyone now, at least.  Considering the one enemy copter that's still hanging around, I move Rin and Dave to the forests, so they take less damage if it does decide to go for them.  "But there's two copters," you say. You fool. One of them was in Diana's range. He was already dead.  Like Rachel said, we just got a huge amount of power from all those fighters and bombers. Tempting as it'd be to use a Tag Power right now, I feel like it'll be better if we save it for now. Besides, I might do something else instead.  The ground units are still going to be capturing stuff in the meantime - thanks, Nika. We need medium tanks and they're expensive.  Wonder how many of his life choices Koal is regretting at the moment. I bet it's several.  This Dick Captures A Property: 10  Annoyingly, they're now at the central factory. Kind of wanted that for myself, but I forgot to deploy something there last time. Anything I did deploy would've eaten an artillery hit, so I kind of didn't want to. Ah well. We'll take it back by force soon enough.  The remaining copter goes for Dimitri, and does 5 damage to him, too. Ouch. At least it'll be dead soon, and then there'll be nothing to challenge my tanks.  That said, we are now at the point where we can deploy stronger tanks, so we may as well make a start on that.  This copter gets foregone conclusion'd. And then, noticing Koal's CO Power bar, I decide to do something before I spend all my funds on a medium tank.  Oh yeah.  You might think the Tag Power is more useful, and you're probably right, but I'd rather stop Koal from using his extra movement bullshit right now.  As you can see, it dropped quite a ways. And since Sasha's CO Power is probably always going to charge faster than his Super CO Power, and we're making more money that we can spend every turn, Koal's only choice is to just use his CO Power, which is way less threatening. God, Sasha's fun.  Right, now let's use all that money for more useful ends. First, Nika finishes capturing another property. We've almost got them all now.  There's a mech between Alina and the next city she wants to capture, so she finishes it off. Good riddance.  And now, the girl herself, Selena's back! Crush this map, Selena.  Dimitri's holding the line whilst the backup arrives, but he can't quite kill this artillery. Still, he's done enough damage that it's definitely going to retreat now.  More capturing, from Dave this time.  And that's our turn! We're doing just fine, honestly. I thought this map was going to be way harder.  Well, I probably shouldn't speak so soon, but seriously.  This Dick Captures A Property: 11 This one's especially annoying because, for once, it's an important property. They can deploy right to our front line with this, so we need to hold them off.  That's the only notable thing that happens though, so let's keep the medium tank train going.  Nice one, Dave.  More captures down below, too. We're nearly making enough to afford one medium tank a turn, I think, which is kind of impressive.  We're making 12100 (11000 plus the bonus 100 per property from Sasha), which is pretty neat. That does remind me though, now I've got medium tanks out, I should probably think about switching to Max to REALLY get some use out of them.  And another one, why not. Boris, representing Dimitri's Mercs!  Selena's surging ahead to cover the fighting, whilst you'll note that Dimitri's retreating again. I'm gonna heal him up at the property Dave just captured next turn. Also, I moved Diana up, because I figured she might help block off the enemies. This was an error, as you'll see shortly.  And like I said, may as well switch to Max.  He does hit like a truck, even if he's not nearly as hilariously strong as his Advance Wars 1 incarnation.  Let's just hope nothing bad happens.  ...Nope, just more of that. This Dick Captures A Property: 12  So, uh, the mech who captured the factory hops into this APC and fucks off...  Which leaves an open space for Diana to get rocked by an anti-air. Whoops. "Diana! You alright?!" yells Dimitri. "I'm fine, don't worry. We of Dimitri's Mercenaries are made out of tough stuff. Now then - let's see you try that again!" Diana replies. "...By which I mean, I'm going to retreat, by your leave, Dimitri." "Of course. Get out of there - the mediums are on the way now."  OK, slight tactical error, that's fine. Let's not do that again.  Sorry, Diana. Go and heal at the airport.  We do some more capturing in the meantime, though we probably don't need the money anymore.  But you know, we do have some spare cash. May as well give the medium tanks some backup.  I deploy Fliss in a tank. The extra manoeuvrability should come in useful.  And here's how we shape up at the end of this turn. Selena and Boris are nearly in a position to move on the central factory - and from there, the black crystal.  Right. I think I've accounted for everything.  Well, looks like he settled for his CO Power. He knew we weren't going to let him get a SCOP off.  It's not terribly threatening, though. I don't think he even attacks anyone with it. Madam Director! Yeah? My scouts have reported a medium tank is headed your way. This is where you earn your keep, dog. Defend that factory! But I can only deploy as a- Do you think me Jugger, or Lash? I will not listen to your bleating. Do as I command. ...Yes, sir. The Director gets deployed at the factory. That could be troublesome.  Eh, gotta keep moving ahead, though. I'm sure we can squash her.  I order Selena to move on the Director. "So, you're the Director..." murmurs Selena, peering out of her tank. The first thing she sees is Sturm's mask, and the second is the Director's face. She gives a gasp. "But... but!" "Selena Hartford." the Director replies. "One of the finest soldiers in Orange Star, after Dave Ruston. You seem surprised."  "But... how is this possible? And why?" Selena breathes, still staring into the cold eye of the Director. "It doesn't matter. Your orders are to destroy me, aren't they? Come on, then, Selena. SHOOT!" "I... I... I'm sorry!" Selena cries, preparing to fire. "I must protect my country!"  The blast rips through the Director's tank, and the Director, for a few moments, doesn't speak. Eventually, she looks up at Selena. "...You were holding back."  OK, not sure why Selena didn't just outright defeat the Director, but sure, whatever. Boris is capable of destroying this infantry, at least.  I move my tanks forward in such a way that Dave can approach the factory (to capture it) without being in the Director's range.  And this is how things end up. Is this where we're going to actually capture this Director now?  Somehow, I doubt it.  This Dick Captures A Property: 13  Selena shakes her head as the tank begins to move away, heading for Dimitri. "Wait, Director! You’re originally from Orange Star, aren’t you? Why did you abandon your country? Why won’t you-" The Director scoffs at her. "Abandon my country?! Hah! My country abandoned me!" "...I..." As the tank rolls away, Selena hears the Director's last cold words. "I was raised to hate my country, not by teaching or doctrine, but by neglect and inequality." Selena's eyes brim with tears. "Wait, don’t go..." "Now then, Dimitri Volkov - show me what you can do!" Dave narrows his eyes. "How the hell does she know everyone's names?"  They trade roughly equal blows, and there's now a mech on the factory. Thankfully, I think we can take the factory from a single measly mech, so good for us.  Koal really needed more funds on this map to be an actual threat. Then again, he probably spend fuckin' everything on the Black Arc. Which survived for, what, three days? Good use of money there, Koal.  Fliss drives up to finish off the Director, but again, as the tank explodes, she's already on her feet and rushing for safety. Commander Koal, I... dammit. I'm getting out of here. I won't fall until I'm ready. Selena... there's no other path left for me. Selena seems to be back to normal now, and she goes for the mech at full power, weakening it quite a bit.  Dave can't quite get close enough to the factory to capture it, so instead he finishes off the mech...  ...Which allows Boris to sit on it, preventing anything else from being deployed there. Phew, that's one nightmare over with.  I realise that if I want to use the Tag Power in this battle, I'll need to recharge Sasha's bar a bit, so I switch back to her for now.  Sweet. I don't know how much longer this map is going to take, but hey, good to be prepared.  Koal, I think, is becoming increasingly aware that he is hosed.  His infantry, meanwhile, don't seem to be aware that anything is wrong at all. This Dick Captures A Property: 14  Let's put the fear of God into them, shall we? Or, well, two medium tanks. But what's the difference?  The range on these artilleries might be shorter, but I still don't want to wander into it accidentally, so I check where they can hit before moving in.  We can advance our tanks, no problem, and Dave is now capturing the factory. Or re-capturing, I guess. We did start with it.  Everyone else moves forward too, and I imagine Koal is now making GBS threads himself. Look at his troops - he doesn't have a single thing that can actually dent a medium tank. Besides the artilleries, but I've accounted for those like the genius that I am.  Flail uselessly, Koal. It would be amusing.  God, why do I always start sounding like a villain once a map's close to done..? I need to be less smug.  Right, let's take advantage of the fact that most of Koal's units spent that turn running the gently caress away.  Dave captures the factory. Woo! It isn't very useful to us. Boo.  Fliss can bully this infantry, too, since he made the weird decision to come closer to three machines of merciless death.  But yeah, Koal's units all ran away, meaning that the crystal is defenceless. So, Boris fires on it first...  And with one last shot from Selena... "I swear, Director, I'll find you again. But for now, Black Hole - you can consider yourselves thoroughly defeated, by the brave soldiers of Orange Star and Blue Moon, and their mighty ACO, Commander my dude! BEGONE!"  And the crystal explodes. We're done here! That map wasn't remotely as bad as I was expecting.  Why do we even give him permission to speak? The shame... The Director failed. The Black Arc was destroyed. The black crystal has been shattered. Ha ha! You losers got shut down! You picked the wrong place to invade. As long as we're around, you'll get nothing! Boooo! We got beat. C'mon, Koal, let's bounce out of here. We've still got you know what--one black crystal is not that big a deal. It's the principle, Lash. The principle. Let us withdraw for now. Enjoy this victory feast, fools, for you shall starve tomorrow. They never change, do they? They say what they want, and then vanish. Max! We served Black Hole a hot bowl of smack down soup! WOOOOO! I know, I know. Now get offa me... Ha ha ha... Jake is happy, isn't he? Both of us have a lot of memories from this place... I'm thrilled, too. I've got let everyone at home know what's happened. Oh yeah, Nell will want a report on this. Let me do it, my dude. ...Yeah, of course. This is your victory more than anyone else's, Rachel. ...Thank you, Commander my dude. Lash's last words have me worried, though. What do you "you know what" is? Hmm... It sounds like they've got a secret weapon up their sleeve, doesn't it? Where are we rolling to next, Rachel? I've already got my battle mix picked out! Bet it's not got any Eurobeat. What's that? Oh, my man, we have much to discuss. Hah! Just because you picked your music doesn't mean we're ready to fight. We need more intel, the troops need rest, and I want a nice, long bath. Oh, that sounds heavenly. A bath followed by a good book and some caviar. Sweet! Let's get going... I've got all kinds of stories to tell my crew back home. My dude, what are you smiling about? Oh, nothing. I just... it's Rachel. She called me Commander my dude. She recognised me as an equal. I think you've impressed everyone with that performance, so in some ways, I'm not surprised. But I'm happy for you, my dude. Keep up the good work. Of course. I'm the most brilliant tactician who ever lived, after all. Hah! I'd be careful if I were you. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. We did it! A tidy S-rank, with some extra points for a crystal, apparently. Could've done better on power - I suppose, but there wasn't that much to kill, in my defence.  God bless you, Max, Sasha. You got my troops home safe. All of them.  So, another battle down, and what I presume is the end of the first, like, part of the game. This felt like a climactic battle, anyhow. Wonder what's gonna happen next?  This update has run overlong already, so we'll leave it there for now, with a nice journal entry from Rachel to round things off. Next time, though, it's another vote for two COs, with the usual crew: Jake, Rachel, Max, Colin or Sasha. *** Part 16 (Intermission) - Glorious Victory cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Dec 3, 2021 |
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Nov 19, 2021 14:28
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The first tag power will have to wait, I suppose! One thing I love about this game is that every CO gets unique dialogue upon deployment, and if you deploy two people who have a tag affinity, they also get unique dialogue for that pairing in every map. I remember just restarting over and over to get all the dialogue. It's a great touch. Next map, uhhhh I dunno I don't really think it matters. Go Jake because he's meant to be the main character and he's seen close to no action, and Rachel to pair with him.
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Nov 19, 2021 14:46
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cosmicPostman posted:
We got a typo here. There's another one earlier, on the map where tag powers were introduced. quote:
Outside that, good job on the last map! Let's go with Jake and Sasha
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Nov 19, 2021 14:51
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On the fighters being able to attack the Black Hole structures: this is specifically something for the high-altitude second screen fronts, rather than a universal change. Someone should probably have told you about this before starting the mission, because it isn't intuitive (and, thinking about it, if the conceit is we're so high up that fighters' air-to-air missiles can attack the fortress, how are the bombers able to hit it?). It's possible you might have been able to finish sooner if you'd kept the bombers on the lower front, though it's not like this worked out badly. I'm impressed the AI was able to get through this with no casualties. Let's give the credit to your putting it on Defensive the first turn (before you ask, no, I don't know the difference between Aggressive and Strike). It's clear you're setting up some kind of relationship between the Director and Selena (at least they're not the same person; I'd thought for a bit you might have been going in that direction since the mugs look similar to me). Curious to see where that goes.
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Nov 19, 2021 15:58
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Let’s go with Jake and Rachel.
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Nov 19, 2021 17:09
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I'm putting my money on the Director being Selena's sister Lena. Which makes the unwitting mole be Selena, through her letters to her family.
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Nov 19, 2021 18:00
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Sasha and Colin might as well stay consistent so MyDude can start to see that he hasn't even scratched how broken this game is. The game lied to you about ai only on the second front during the campaign, although it's been so long since I played it on normal the maps where you can control the second front might be a hard mode only thing.
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Nov 19, 2021 18:25
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JeffRaze posted:I'm putting my money on the Director being Selena's sister Lena. Which makes the unwitting mole be Selena, through her letters to her family. Eyyy, someone else shares my thoughts on the Director's Identity and has openly said it. Which means I can be open about my thoughts too. Yeah, I've been saying its Director Lena Hartford to CP on Discord pretty much ever since we first met her. After all, CP went out of his way in the very first part to remind us all about Selena's sister by having Selena in the barracks (despite not having officially rejoined the team yet) mention her openly... FoolyCharged posted:The game lied to you about ai only on the second front during the campaign, although it's been so long since I played it on normal the maps where you can control the second front might be a hard mode only thing. Half lie, he legitimately didn't have control for this one, but he gains control for the next one. Which knowing what the next one is, undoubtably a good thing... Anyway, well done on surviving a forced-AI map with no casualties! For the next map.... Hmm... Jake and Sasha. Also, if Paul sees the update he'll undoubtedly give more info, but, you remember how labs worked in AW2? Keep that in mind for this map.
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Nov 19, 2021 20:54
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Go Jake and RachelFoolyCharged posted:The game lied to you about ai only on the second front during the campaign, although it's been so long since I played it on normal the maps where you can control the second front might be a hard mode only thing. Secondary maps high in the sky like this one are fully AI controlled, secondary fronts built like a regular map can get manual control save one special occasion.
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Nov 20, 2021 00:25
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SoundwaveAU posted:The first tag power will have to wait, I suppose! That is pretty cool, I may have to see a few of those myself with the magic of savestates. Generally I'm enjoying the new characters and dialogue a whole lot, I must say. The AW characters are super endearing. And, uh, true. Need to use Jake more, him being the protagonist and all. Plus I have some fun interactions between him and my dude planned for whenever he next takes to the field. TeeQueue posted:We got a typo here. There's another one earlier, on the map where tag powers were introduced. Thank you, fixed both of them now! I swear, no matter how many times I check through the update, I always miss at least one of these. Very much appreciate everyone pointing these out! Explopyro posted:On the fighters being able to attack the Black Hole structures: this is specifically something for the high-altitude second screen fronts, rather than a universal change. Someone should probably have told you about this before starting the mission, because it isn't intuitive (and, thinking about it, if the conceit is we're so high up that fighters' air-to-air missiles can attack the fortress, how are the bombers able to hit it?). It's possible you might have been able to finish sooner if you'd kept the bombers on the lower front, though it's not like this worked out badly. Yeah, the AI really did better than I expected - the Defensive one feels handmade for me. And hopefully Paul or someone else can shed some light on the AI modes, I'm really curious as to what they are. I'll bear in mind the thing with the fighters attacking structures, though! Just for high-altitude fronts, makes sense, I suppose. SMaster777 posted:Eyyy, someone else shares my thoughts on the Director's Identity and has openly said it. Which means I can be open about my thoughts too. Yeah, I've been saying its Director Lena Hartford to CP on Discord pretty much ever since we first met her. After all, CP went out of his way in the very first part to remind us all about Selena's sister by having Selena in the barracks (despite not having officially rejoined the team yet) mention her openly... Yeah, it was a pretty good run of this map, to say it was my first attempt! I almost didn't record it, because I was like "chances of doing the first run deathless are zilch", but I'm glad I did. Level Seven posted:Secondary maps high in the sky like this one are fully AI controlled, secondary fronts built like a regular map can get manual control save one special occasion. Ah, good to know. Thank god I get some control later on... cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Nov 20, 2021 |
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Nov 20, 2021 16:23
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cosmicPostman posted:Yeah, the AI really did better than I expected - the Defensive one feels handmade for me. And hopefully Paul or someone else can shed some light on the AI modes, I'm really curious as to what they are. I'll bear in mind the thing with the fighters attacking structures, though! Just for high-altitude fronts, makes sense, I suppose. On hard mode the big thing is figuring out the proper amount to send you and get that decisive, quick victory with as few units as possible. Because, well you saw how it felt to actually want a couple of those units on the main front, and on hard you really want all the bombers and fighters on the main front that the top can spare
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Nov 21, 2021 02:07
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Part 17 (Battle) - Kindle’s Guide To Not Giving A poo poo About Hiding Intel Welcome back, folks. Today we've got all-new missions in all-new locations, so let's get going!  And a new enemy CO, by the looks of it. Wonder what you're all about? Besides boats, apparently.  but the Black Hole Army wasn't even phased! We've got to work our way up the food chain and take out their boss. And we still don't have any loving intel on that. Whoever it is, they're content to stay in the shadows for now. I suspected Hawke, but this... mindless destruction of the land makes me suspicious. Hawke's motivation was power. He'd rather conquer the world than destroy it. That's a good point. But we still don't know anything. Yo, Rachel, do we have any intel at all? We do, actually! According to the folks in intelligence, there's a large energy source somewhere in Red Rock Desert. In that wasteland? Finding that thing is going to be some serious work. And that is why we're going on desert patrol. It's an important mission. If it's so important, how come there aren't more of us going? HQ has ordered us to join up with a force of Yellow Comet COs and troops. But, we haven't heard a word so far. I hope Black Hole hasn't ambushed them. If they had any sense, they brought at least one of their three primary strategists: Rose, Sonja or Vanessa. And if they did, there's no chance they got ambushed. "If they had any sense"? My dude, Kanbei runs the country, remember? oh god we need to save Yellow Comet Yellow Comet COs? Adding their might to our own would be quite reassuring. Especially if that ACO, Rose, is as brilliant as my dude claims she is. Any ACO would be an improvement over my dude. Hey! We've had a nonstop stream of victories since I arrived, thank you very much! Do you KNOW how much of our military budget goes to just affording all the medium tanks and bombers you deploy? But I NEED them-- Commander Rachel! We've spotted enemy forces on the coastline ahead. It appears that they're preparing to strike. They've found us already. Listen up, people! Get ready to see some action! Rock! Let's roll those fools straight into the ocean.I can only imagine the discussion at Intelligent Systems' HQ. "Hey, Andy's a super annoying dipshit, we should have a new main character. Ooh, and make him basically the same but with an even weirder lexicon!" Meanwhile, at the actual map, we meet our new villain...   The black boat repairs on the battleship are far from complete. They need time... ... Lady Kindle? Inconsiderate rubes. I was planning to catch up on my reading during the repairs.Oh, you're one of those villains. The well-read, classy ones that come across as loving psychopathic. Battling in this desolate squalor is absolute nonsense, don't you agree? Yes, of course... If we must fight, I prefer an urban setting. This appalling place is just so...rural. But orders are orders, I suppose. Get the black boats moving on those repairs. In the interim, I will make sure our guests are entertained...to death! Aha ha ha!Every new Black Hole CO really had to find a way to be "quirky", didn't they? Jugger's the only endearing one so far.  Oh my god, do they have little hands?! I've never seen anything like them. Another new Black Hole invention, I guess. There's no point in guessing. Let's be sure to keep an eye on them as we move in. If our lander sinks in this battle, that's it--we lose. "Don't lose units, it'll make us lose." Would you STOP undermining me?! C'mon, my dude, she's helping out. Just pay attention. Their battleship is damaged, but we should still approach with caution. Starting today, we've also gained the authority to use the delete command. The what. The delete command lets us remove one of our own units from the field of battle. To do this, select Options from the map menu and choose Delete. Don't get carried away, though--deleting one of your own units is serious business. I am literally never going to use this command.Actually, that might not be true - can any readers let me know if deleting units counts as them being destroyed? Obviously if it does, I'm going to count that as losing a unit and will not be using it. But if it's not, it could have some tactical benefits later on.  Right, now we get to choose COs. Jake and Sasha won the vote, with Jake getting slightly more, so we'll be leading with him.  Wait, where are my dude and Jake? They're supposed to helping Sasha in this battle. Oh, look, they're arriving now. Must've been off preparing battle strategies or something. This is rockin’! You’re right, I’m into this. What did you say it was called again? Eurobeat, my friend. Eurobeat. Make sure to play it on the loudest speakers you can find. Rachel LOVES eurobeat. Are you two ready? We're waiting on you. Right, yes, let's get on with it. I'm barely going to break a sweat beating this map. Today’s Deployments Rin, Infantry Diana, Infantry Dave, Mech Dimitri, Mech Michael, APC Fliss, Tank Elena, Tank Fenya, Anti-Air Yakov, Recon Inessa, Artillery Selena, Submarine Jacquelyn, Lander Elena Age: 34 Personality: Quiet and taciturn sharpshooter. Proficiencies: APC, Infantry, Tank, Rockets Inessa Age: 20 Personality: The upbeat, sparkling twin. Proficiencies: Artillery, Rockets, Recon, [unknown] And with that, let's begin.  That thing is freakish! What can it do? Black Hole's military strength is not a thing to be taken lightly. Their arms are funny though. I want some.So! This map. First things first, as our COs up above just said, we've got some new units to worry about : the black boat.  Seeing as it has no ammo or damage listings, I can presume it's a support unit of some kind. That one sassy Black Hole soldier mentioned something about repairs, too, so it probably has some kind of APC refuel quality. That's my guess, ocean APCs.  Anyway, first thing we need to do is get really loving aggressive. That battleship may only have 1HP, but any battleship is a threat, and I'd rather get it out of the way before all my ground troops move forward into its range. Selena can handle the job, no problem, unless Kindle's got some weird skills up her sleeve. Oh, that reminds me, probably should check out her CO profile.  Oh my god! Finally! A CO where Black Hole units capturing every goddamn property they come across is useful! I never thought I'd see the day. Genuinely incredible.  Ooh, and some nasty CO Powers that pair with her skills nicely. Damaging everything on a property dis-incentivises the opponent from putting their units on cities, which means they don't get any defensive bonuses from cities and also leaves them open for Kindle's own units to capture. Cities aren't always super common, though. I wonder what the firepower boost is like? Either way, she sounds actually threatening, so that's a nice change of pace from the other COs we've fought thus far.  I move Jackie up to pick up some soldiers - need to get some forces to the HQ as soon as possible. I take Fenya, since there's a couple of foot units over there that I'll want to get rid of. There's not much on the north end of the map that Fenya's particularly good in combat against.  The foot units, meanwhile, are discussing the approach on the HQ. Dave shrugs. “Right, I’ll take on the HQ. Michael, let’s get rolling.” Dave says, preparing to move. Unfortunately, his way is blocked by a short little soldier. “No way! I’m coming too!” Rin says, folding her arms. “I know you’re worried, kid, but I’ll be alright. In and out. Taking HQs is what I do best.” “Don’t worry, Dave, you can stick with Rin here. I’ll do it.” Dimitri replies, gesturing to the island in the distance. “Absolutely not! You’re not going alone!” Diana barks at Dimitri. “But…” Dimitri starts, then stops as he realises that there’s no point in arguing with Diana. “When the hell did these girls start making all the decisions about the risks we take in battle, huh?” Dave says to Dimitri with a wry grin. Dimitri shrugs. “Perhaps we’d better pay attention.” “It’s gonna be rough both here and over there, as far as I’m concerned.” Dave replies. He drops his voice to a whisper. “You and Diana are way stronger than me. She’s still new to ground-based combat. Can you look after her?” Dimitri nods. “G’luck taking the HQ, Dave. Rin will be safe, you have my word.”  “Dave, you’re going?” Rin says. Dave turns back and gives Rin a thumbs-up. “I am. Think the enemy can hold Dave Ruston off? No chance - I’ll be back soon as I can.” “I’ll be waiting, so you’d better!” Rin replies, her face scrunched up with youthful worry.  I move my troops forward as such, with Dimitri in between Diana and Rin. Meanwhile, the two tank units suddenly realise that they know each other. "I don't believe it," Elena says over her transceiver. "Fliss, is that you in the other tank?" "It is..." Fliss replies. "Elena! I haven't seen you since the last campaign." "I presume you've been keeping up with your sharpshooting skills?" "Of course." Fliss says. "Good." Elena replies, allowing a rare grin to cross her face. "Well, then, Fliss, let's see how much we've both improved. Whoever defeats more soldiers in this battle will win!" Fliss, in an uncharacteristic moment of excitement, nods. "Y-yes! I'll show you what I've learned since we last spoke!"  Right, let's see what these boats do, then.  To do so, simply move next to a damaged unit and select Repair from the menu. Black boats can also transport two units of foot soldiers at once. Are you... are you loving tutorialising? Only my WIFE is allowed to tutorialise at me! My dude, we don't have any black boats. I presume she's informing her own troops about the usage of the black boats. Oh. Right. Ignore me. A map leading to the black boat research labs is in one of the cities on this map. Defend the cities! We can't allow the Allied Nations to get their hands on that map.Oh, god drat it. One of these missions. I knew it looked too simple. Understood? Now, move out. And please don't embarrass me. Understood! Operation Black Boat is under way! My operation names are cooler.Either way, we learned what black boats do, and I am mightily concerned.  Because, yeah, they can just straight-up heal botes. So that's new and interesting!  Remember how I just loaded Fenya into Jackie because I was like "those ground troops around the HQ need to die, and Fenya won't be much use up here"? Yeah. The black boats just carried them up to the goddamn mainland. Oh well - Fenya will still be useful against the artillery on the HQ, and if Selena sinks the black boats, they won't have any way of getting back to the HQ afterwards.  OK then, let's figure out what to do now. Somehow I've got to capture a city with a map in. I can only presume it's one of the cities on the far right of the map. Where Kindle's APC is, maybe? Either way, I'd better start moving my troops over there.  Selena moves in on the battleship and dives to avoid being attacked. Pretty textbook stuff from our girl.  And our HQ party head over to the island, though we can't quite make it this turn. To be fair, we can't do anything until the battleship is gone anyway, so this doesn't really affect us much.  Fliss opens fire on the recon from the south. "Y-yah! There we go!" Elena nods. "Mm, impressive. Yakov, would you mind opening the way for me?" "Mm. Sure." Yakov replies sullenly. "One second."  This doesn't look like it's going to work, but-  I am, in fact, luckier than I should be. And this is really, really important, because I need to attack the artillery from this very city that the recon was sat on.  "There we go!" Elena says, her shots blasting away at the artillery. "Beat that, Fliss!" "I'm not down and out yet." Fliss replies. "But... very nice shooting, Elena!" "Never seen Elena so genuinely fired up." Diana remarks. Rin bursts out laughing. "Funny," she says. "I was going to say the same thing about Fliss!"  I only just noticed, but there's a mountain next to Fliss, meaning that the enemy tank can't push forward either. That means I'm free to move my infantry forward - the artillery's no threat, since I've moved Inessa into its range and her artillery can take it out next turn.  But first, Kindle's got more stuff to do. I'll give you a hint. It's capturing things and repairing that battleship.  Oh, well, she attacks too. First, her artillery fires on Inessa, which is totally fine. "Oh, you want to tangle?" Inessa says, preparing her next shot. "I'm gonna take you out, just you wait!"  This is the more worrisome attack - the tank goes for Fliss, and it hurts. "Gah!" Fliss cries. "I'm... not done yet!" "Fliss, don't push yourself-" Elena starts, but Fliss shakes her head. "I'm OK... this is the job of a soldier..." she murmurs.  The black boats are steadily repairing this battleship. Unfortunately, even after recovering 3HP, it's still not even close to being able to survive a Selena strike.  So, hey, nothing to worry about. Let's push ahead!  I get Michael, Dave and Fenya dropped off at the island. "Right, orders are to take out the artillery, then move on HQ once the hidden intel's been found." Dave says. "Can do. I'll strike the artillery whilst you two move in." Fenya says. "Dimitri's leading the charge on the mainland. Somehow, I don't think it'll be long until the map is found." Michael nods. "You're part of Dimitri's Mercenaries, aren't you? I haven't had the chance to speak with Dimitri much, but I've had the pleasure of seeing him fight more than a few times. You mercenaries are quite an extraordinary bunch." "Thank you." Fenya replies, looking away, not sure how to respond to the frank compliment. "We just do our jobs. Dimitri is certainly a good leader, though. My younger brother, Felix, looks up to him somewhat." "Some of the youngsters look up to Dave, too." Michael replies, grinning. Dave sighs. "Yeah, they do. I'm nothin' special. Still, it'll be good to have one of Dimitri's Mercs on hand, Fenya. Thanks for comin' with us." "Of course." Fenya replies. "We're all part of the Allied Nations now. We fight as one."  There's an enormous explosion as Selena's torpedoes tear through the hull of the battleship, and over the transceiver, a single, curt message plays. "Battleship neutralised. Ground forces, prepare to advance - we're at the advantage now." "Good on you, Selena!" whoops Rin. "Gosh, she's so cool when she's in the heat of battle. We can't lose now!"  I move Yakov over to take out this artillery, but...  Probably better for his sister, Inessa, to do it. It's the only thing in her range, whereas Yakov can move around and attack something else. Slightly more efficient, I think, so I go ahead with it.  Of course, Yakov isn't going to be killing a full-HP tank anytime soon, so Elena attacks it, utilising the city to minimise counterattack damage.  Remarkably enough, I was expecting Fliss to leave it on 1HP so Yakov would have to finish it off, but she actually killed it outright. I'm doing well with these luck-based kills today.  Diana makes a start capturing this city. One of them's gotta have the map in, so I may as well capture them all along the way.  And this is how we shape up. Rin and Dimitri can capture the two enemy properties further ahead, and there's nothing in Kindle's forces that can handle Elena and Fliss, so they can stomp everything. Down below, uh... I guess we just plink away at the artillery with Fenya until we find the map.  Right, Kindle, be nonthreatening again whilst I murder all of your stuff.  A CO Power. That is... the opposite of nonthreatening.  Goddammit, and I just put a bunch of my units on loving cities...  Sure enough, Diana, Yakov and Elena all take 3 easily-avoidable damage and I am slightly irritated.  This Dick Captures A Property: 15  And now that Yakov is weakened, this anti-air thinks they can try it on. Unfortunately, they can - he barely survives this on 2HP. "Ngh, drat..." Yakov mutters. "Ness, I'm gonna retreat. Can you move ahead in my place?" "Of course I can, bro! I've got you covered - you go heal up, and stay out of danger, alright?" Inessa replies.  OK, right, let's see if we can push back against Kindle.  Selena does a solid amount of damage to the black boats, even considering the 10% defence they're getting from Kindle using her CO Power. She'd be in range to one-shot them without it, I think.  Fenya is less successful against the artillery. It's gonna heal most of the damage it takes from her, but we need to take it out before we can move Dave in.  As stated, Yakov gets the gently caress out of there. Meanwhile, Diana continues capturing this city, but can't quite finish it due to that pesky damage. AOE damage CO Powers, I have most certainly not missed you.  Elena does decent damage to the anti-air, even after the chip damage, so she approaches it first. "Easy pickings." she remarks. Fliss shakes her head. "It's still not down yet... that doesn't count as a kill."  "This... this is a kill!" Fliss cries, and she opens fire on the anti-air too. Unfortunately, it is not a kill, and it survives with some HP left. My tanks are looking pretty weak, now, too. I'm a tad concerned.  Rin can begin capturing a city, anyway, whilst Dimitri plays catch-up.  And this is how things shape up. Looking pretty good - we've beaten virtually everything that's actually threatening, and we're slowly capturing her cities. That map won't be able to hide for long.  Of course, I don't want to get too hasty. We'd best play it safe for now.  One of the black boats repairs the other one, which then fucks off to the south. The anti-air also runs away - on top of a city, which is an annoying place for a Kindle unit to be. Healing, defence and attack... and my tanks are not hitting as hard as they should, both being on less than half HP and all.  OK, let's do something about all this then. Ooh, and finish capturing those things, too.  Rin captures her property! No map, though. Hm.  Without the defensive buff from the CO Power, Fenya does decent damage to the artillery now. I feel confident enough to move Dave in now.  Plus, Dave should be able to kill it next turn. Mechs do hit really hard, and I often undervalue that.  Some enemy infantry decided to come over and replace the anti-air that ran away, so I set Inessa on it. I'd rather not let it capture or recapture any of these properties.  Diana finishes capturing her city, too. Took a bit longer than expected, but got there in the end.  Really? Let me see... Yes! This is a map leading to a lab where black boat research is taking place! Perfect! Now we can steal its design documents! It wasn't even in a city she OWNED? Are you kidding me, Black Hole? Maybe she thought it'd throw us off the scent if it wasn't in a Black Hole property. It was literally the first city we started capturing! Yeah, she didn't seem very down with keeping a close eye on that intel, huh. Score for us, though. Elena, seeing as she has more HP than Fliss, attacks the anti-air first, and weakens it. "Argh, not quite close enough for the kill..." she says, narrowing her eyes.  "Allow me to help..." Fliss replies, destroying the anti-air. "That's two for me, now." "I weakened it." Elena says. Fliss gives her a gentle smile. "We did agree that only kills count, though..." she says. "I... really respect you as a soldier, so I want to win and show you how much I've improved." "You're certainly very impressive, Fliss." Elena replies. "But the mission isn't over yet." "Actually, it kind of is." Diana says over the transceiver. "My dude's orders - he says now that we've got the map, we play on the defensive whilst the southern crew take the HQ." Elena remains silent, feeling the hot flush of embarrassment cross her face. The ace sharpshooter of Blue Moon? Losing a contest to some kid?  Selena absolutely eviscerates this poor boat. Once the other one's gone, Kindle has literally no way to stop me taking her HQ, so... yeah, wow, bad luck for her.  And our turn ends like so. Dave's ready to move on the HQ, Fenya's gonna help him take out the artillery. My troops up top just need to hold out for a bit longer.  Kindle's turn starts in the same way that most Black Hole turns start. This Dick Captures A Property: 16  As expected, the artillery goes for Michael, but it does barely anything. Michael's dropped Dave off, so he's done all he needs to, and can retreat next turn. Meanwhile, Rin, flushed with victory from capturing her city, leaps up and cheers. "We're gonna win! Do your best out there, Dave!" The nearby squad of Black Hole soldiers notice her, but she does not notice them. They move forward, raising their guns to execute her.  "OH, NO YOU DON'T!" roars Dimitri Volkov, leaping forward and preparing to take the blow in Rin's stead. "Go on, strike me down, I dare you!" Rin turns around in shock. "Wait, wha-?"  The gunfire is short - Dimitri makes quick work of the Black Hole soldiers. "Dimitri..." Rin murmurs. "I got overconfident, and I wasn't paying attention. You had to risk yourself... I'm sorry!" "I gave Dave my word that I'd protect you." Dimitri replies. He nods at Rin. "I'd have done that for any soldier on this battlefield. Look after yourself, alright?" "I... I will!" Rin says. Diana, watching from nearby, smiles at Dimitri, though he's not paying attention. "A true hero... I still can't believe I misjudged you for all that time. There's nothing you wouldn't do for your fellow man, is there?"  Right, Dimitri's heroics aside, we ought to finish off this map. We're basically done here.  And hey, we've got a fun toy to play with. There's no way we're going to deal/take enough damage to charge the Tag Power, so we may as well just throw out the SCOP and make doubly sure that artillery dies.  And Jake's line doesn't sound incredibly forced and stupid for once. I'll give you that one, Jake.  Loud music begins playing across the battlefield, played on the largest speakers Jake has access to. Gonna take my car, gonna sit in Gonna drive along 'til I get you 'Cause I'm crazy, hot and ready, but you like it I wanna race for you (Shall I go now?) What on earth is that? Oh my god, using a SCOP whilst listening to Eurobeat. I take back nearly everything I've said about you, Jake. This is beautiful. Here... we... GO!Tragically, the ranged units getting extra range won't be too useful, since even with that increase, Inessa isn't able to target anything. But more damage is always good, so let's make use of that.  "Here's how one of Dimitri's Mercenaries takes care of business!" Fenya says, readying her guns and opening fire on the artillery. Gas, gas, gas I'm gonna step on the gas Tonight, I'll fly (and be your lover) Yeah, yeah, yeah I'll be so quick as a flash And I'll be your hero  "No chance to retreat! I'll destroy you!" Dave growls, following up with a powerful blast of his heavy ordnance. The artillery is completely wiped out, leaving the HQ open and undefended. Gas, gas, gas I'm gonna run as a flash Tonight, I'll fight (to be the winner) Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm gonna step on the gas And you'll see the big show  Selena readies herself to finish off the black boat, sealing our victory. "My dude... don't you agree? This is what perfection looks like!" With that, she unleashes her torpedoes and absolutely murderfucks the black boat. Don't be lazy 'cause I'm burning for you It's like a hot sensation Got this power that is taking me out Yes, I've got a crush on you, ready, now, ready, go  The music fades out as all of our soldiers finish movin- hang on, who's... "Elena, where are you going?" says Fliss. "My dude ordered everyone to stay put..." "I'm not going to lose to you. Watch me destroy this artillery!" Elena replies, gritting her teeth as she opens fire. "But... but the mech..." Fliss says, fretting. "I have to... but I was ordered to stay... I..." "Fliss, orders don't matter when someone's life is in danger!" Michael replies. "Protect her!"  "R-right!" Fliss says, moving her tank over. "Elena, I'm coming..." "Fliss? Wait, if you come into enemy territory as well-" "I won't leave you behind!" Fliss cries, positioning her tank in front of Elena. "If we go down, we go down together!"  Rin, making sure to pay attention to nearby enemy soldiers this time, makes a move on the next city. I mean, we don't need it now, since we have the map, but eh, it's something for her to do.  Dimitri and Inessa both head out to try and protect Fliss and Elena, but it's not looking good. That mech is gonna be out for blood.  Still, I think they should be able to-  Oh, gently caress, no no no no no  NO NO NO NO NO STOP please tell me the mech can't attack them from a city  Oh he can't, so they might... they might survive this..? "Brace yourself, Fliss!" Elena says. "I'm sorry, I dragged you into my silly competitivity... and now we're going to pay for it." The mech opens fire. "Fliss! Elena!" Dimitri shouts. "Are they..." whispers Inessa, staring in horror at the shoals ahead of her. The sand and dust begins to clear...  "Not... yet..." Fliss says, opening her eyes to reveal both her and Elena's tanks are damaged, but not destroyed. "I am a soldier. This is a soldier's duty..." "Fliss..." breathes Elena. "You just saved my life."  Thank loving god for that. Now get the hell out of there, you two!  Dave makes a start on the HQ, and since he wasn't stood on the HQ when Kindle did her CO Power, we won't have any delays.  Elena and Fliss get right the hell out of there. "Thank you, Fliss. I got... hotheaded." Elena admits. "I should have set an example for you younger soldiers." "It's OK..." Fliss replies, smiling. "I'm just glad you're safe." "No thanks to you. You really are the best sharpshooter around, Fliss." Elena replies. "I look forward to fighting alongside you again - and being more careful in future." "Th-that would be good..!"  Rin's nearly got this captured, too. She did take damage from Kindle, so that's annoying.  For such a small map, I feel like this battle is taking forever. Kindle, d'you mind just not doing anything today?  awesome thank you  Rin captures another thing!  I get Selena to dive up, also. She's going through fuel at quite a clip now, and I always get concerned when Selena's low on fuel.  "Mission complete. HQ captured!" Dave reports, and the rest of the soldiers yell victoriously, Rin amongst them, beaming more brightly than she ever has before.  The time I spent on vacation must have dulled my killer instinct. Whoa! Do you use napalm for hair gel or something? Surrender now, you're done! If you insist. Do you promise to interrogate me personally? HATE the implication of that. What, are you totally insane? I'm your enemy! We just owned your army! Aha ha ha! It's a joke, darling. You've no sense of humor at all, do you? When we meet next, I'll be leading a proper army. You'd better do your homework. The worst part is, she's got a point. A proper army, and more bases under her command... she might be one of the scarier Black Hole COs we've met so far. Agreed. The sooner we can meet up with Yellow Comet, the better. Oh, yes, my name is Kindle. Can you feel the flames burning within you? Aha ha ha! "Aha ha ha"? Nice laugh, snob! Jake, stay away from that tart. drat, is someone jealous? Shut UP! These Black Hole COs just keep getting weirder and weirder...Probably one of Jake's better scenes, this. I think "What, are you totally insane?" is my favourite of his lines so far.  Nice easy S-rank, a real breather of a mission. I was expecting a jump in difficulty after that black crystal mission, but it seems like it's not quite here yet.  Goddammit, Jake, I just complimented you and then you go and do this Sasha's line is kind of adorable.  Meanwhile, looks like the dynamic duo are back. Oh, right, this is gonna be the lab mission, if this game is anything like AW2, right?  Well, may as well see what we're in for, seeing as that Kindle map was way shorter and easier than I expected.  A man must strike while the iron is hot. We must attack with the army we have. Launch an all-out assault and crush the enemy before they reach the lab. Loading Jugger and Koal tag battle program. Violence inhibitor: overridden.Why does a Black Hole CO have a violence inhibitor, anyway? The only thing they DO is commit violence.  FOOOOOG OF WAAAAAAR This is why we can't have nice things. If they rush us, we're gonna get seriously owned...The other reason we can't have nice things is "everything Jake ever says". The research lab itself is lightly guarded, so here's what we're going to do. The orange team will guard our HQ and send a small squad to take over the lab. While they do that, the blue team will hit the enemy with everything they've got. The orange team should use their indirect-combat units as much as possible. You can't afford to lose units with good vision while in a Fog of War mission. Wait, ranged units have better vision than direct-combat units? I don't think I ever noticed that. If we capture the lab, we'll get plans for the bri...bra...uh...brick boat? Um...bricks don't float, Colin. It's called a black boat. Maybe you need glasses. I'm definitely going to call them bro boats. Bro...wait, it's YOU that keeps referring to B copters as "bro copters" in our reports to HQ, isn't it?! You know HQ keeps complaining about that, right? They're bros, though! Better than calling these things fuckin' brick boats. Brick, black, bro, whatever. If it repairs units, we need it! My dude, it's another Fog of War map. Are you going to be OK? I'll be alright, Sasha. Thanks for the concern. If you want me to take part in the battle, just let me know. I'll have your back out there. Let's take a look at the map, anyway. Here's a look at the top... and what was all that about orange and blue teams? I only see-  Ooh, there's the blue team. So, wait, do we not have Tag-  Wait, each team gets a Tag partner?! Four COs? My god, that's so loving overpowered, what. Uh, right, guess we have the usual suspects, and for your votes let me know if you want them on the Blue Team: Operation Murderfuck or the Orange Team: Operation Get Botes. My first instinct is that Orange Star can be orange and Blue Moon be blue - blue team start with fewer properties, so Sasha's extra money and Colin's cheap deployments seems sensible to build a quick army, and orange team being on indirect control sounds like Jake's range-increasing SCOP might be useful, and his vehicles doing more damage is always useful. Up to you guys, of course, though - who's going where? And with that, I will see you all next time for what looks to be an absolute bloodbath of a map! My units or theirs, I dunno. Depends on how nice the fog plans to be. *** Part 18 (Intermission) - On The Cards cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Nov 26, 2021 |
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Nov 26, 2021 14:07
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cosmicPostman posted:Wait, each team gets a Tag partner?! Four COs? My god, that's so loving overpowered, what. Welcome to Dual Strike. And you haven't seen the truly OP stuff yet.
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Nov 26, 2021 14:37
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Jake and Rachel on Orange Star, Colin and Sasha on Blue Moon. Sorry, Max. You're guarding the base or something. Regarding deleting units, I don't know if it affects technique. There's only particular place I've used it (for strategic reasons) so I can't really comment on it. Kindle is a real pain, mainly because of Urban Blight. I thought I might as well contribute to the thread with some of the dialogue you get from pairing up certain COs. Single CO lines tend to be pretty generic, but you can occasionally get some good stuff from tag dialogue so I'll just post all of it through the campaign if we don't see it as part of the LP. For now we only have two. Jake/Rachel C'mon, Rachel! Let's team up and tag battle this bad boy! All right. I know your style, so we should make a good team. The real war starts here, so let's pull together!Colin/Sasha Hey, Sis! We've been given the command! You mustn't get flustered, Colin. We have to do our best so we don't disappoint Commander Rachel.And the devs had the foresight to include a line if you try to delete the lander. Hey! Are you trying to delete the one unit we must protect? Knock it off!
SoundwaveAU fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Nov 26, 2021 |
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Nov 26, 2021 14:51
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I think Paul summed it best as "Kindle uses cities. Cities are good. Therefore, Kindle is good." Firepower on cities is so much better than poor Koal.
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Nov 26, 2021 15:26
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I think you could reasonably pass off the delete command as a 'stand down and retreat' order. If you worry about abuse, let there only be one delete per map. Claim its an echo of Ruin's favor from the previous LP or something similar.
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Nov 26, 2021 15:28
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The delete command makes the same boom as if a unit gets defeated. I don't know if it counts for score. You've actually had it the whole series, it's just been profoundly useless and unmentioned. I'm pretty sure they just put it in because of the 50 unit cap. There's a single map across the whole series where it's useful, although if you decide it's OK to use you might get some more milage out of it.
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Nov 26, 2021 16:29
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Yeah, deleting counts against your number of units lost. You can also only use it on units that haven't moved yet, which is weird, but I suppose is meant to balance out the possibility of deleting your front-line units to attack twice. As FoolyCharged noted, there is one map (in this game!) where it's actually useful in any way. Kindle is interesting, probably my favourite of the new Black Hole COs; she continues the theme of "just like the old ones, but even more situational" but actually manages to carve out a niche for herself. Where Jugger is obviously Flak 2.0 and Koal is Adder 2.0, Kindle is a Lash that focuses exclusively on a single type of terrain - properties (not only cities). Where Lash would get a 15% offensive boost from parking in a property or 20% from an HQ space in this game, Kindle gets a whopping 40% boost at the expense of being bland anywhere else. Her CO power is fairly unique, doing hefty mass damage but only against enemy units on properties; the SCOP just gives her property-sitting units a straight-up terrifying additional 90% attack on top of the 40%. I really like her on the right map! Remalle fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Nov 26, 2021 |
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Nov 26, 2021 16:54
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Yeah, orange being orange and blue being blue seems to work. Jake and Rachel Orange, Colin and Sasha Blue
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Nov 29, 2021 03:38
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Remalle posted:Yeah, deleting counts against your number of units lost. You can also only use it on units that haven't moved yet, which is weird, but I suppose is meant to balance out the possibility of deleting your front-line units to attack twice. As FoolyCharged noted, there is one map (in this game!) where it's actually useful in any way. She's much worse than that. Her passive does indeed give her a +40% power boost on properties. It should be noted that *all properties*, not just cities, count for her powers. So bases, ports, airports, and the HQ all interact with her abilities. (not missile platforms though). Her COP, as you saw, does 3 damage to opposing units on properties. While "Don't park units on properties" is easy enough, she can also wait for you to build stuff (like say, medium tanks and bombers), use it, and on your next turn you have to pay an extra 20%, and only get 90% of a unit out of the deal, and there's nothing you can do about it. Even having Rachel makes you pay an extra 30% total to get a fully fresh unit, that extra HP isn't free, so how much that's worth it is questionable. In addition, she gains *another* 40% boost for units attacking from cities, which stacks with the passive, so forget being on a property, being *next* to one is dangerous too. Her SCOP on the other hand, gives her a 90% boost when her units attack from a property, and in addition all of her units gain +3% offensive strength for every property she owns, which applies everywhere. Both of these stack with the passive 40% property-attack boost, as well as with each other. Say she has a completely reasonable 10 properties. If she attacks from a property, that's 40 + 90 + 30 for a total of +160% firepower. Outside of Colin, no CO can throw down those kinds of numbers, and even Colin would need to save up some 48k to do it. Unlike Lash, Kindle's air units also benefit from this property-boost, which makes her air force actually kind of terrifying.
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Nov 30, 2021 10:52
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Part 19 (Battle) - Just loving Book It Welcome back, everybody, to fuckin' Fog of fuckin' War.  Urgh. So, votes were pretty slim but everyone was in agreement, pretty much.  Jake and Rachel for the orange team, and Sasha and Colin for the blue team.  Right, let's get into the map itself, shall we? You all know how I feel about Fog of War.  Today’s Deployments Orange Star Alfonse, Infantry Dave, Mech Michael, APC Julian, Tank Selena, Medium Tank Fliss, Recon Von Panzer, Recon Lucy, Artillery Carter, Artillery Lloyd, Artillery Paul, Rockets Ingo, Rockets Blue Moon Harlow, Infantry Boris, Infantry Ivan, Infantry Ludmilla, Lander Valeria, Cruiser Alina, Submarine Eva, Battleship Ignat, Battleship Lloyd Age: 39 Personality: Mighty seafaring pirate king. Proficiencies: Battleship, Cruiser, Artillery, [unknown] Ignat Age: 28 Personality: Avid card game player. Proficiencies: Battleship, Cruiser, Tank, Medium Tank  Well, it isn't! You know, Yellow Comet practices a martial art called aikido that uses an enemy's own power to defeat him...and that's what we'll do! It's a legitimate strategy. Kinda with Rachel on this one, my man. We have to keep up with Black Hole's inventions, otherwise they'll just keep advancing beyond our capabilities. THANK you, my dude! Now stand tall, look the enemy in the eye, and take that black boat! Yeah, so, strategy? There isn't that much strategy in this map. Black Hole's army is huge and powerful, and we don't really have a hope in a head-on battle. Thankfully, we don't have to have a head-on battle - we just need to run for the lab, which is much less well-defended.  So. Let's run! Dave hops into Michael, and as he does, he nods at Alfonse. "I'll keep things held down at HQ. You guys get that lab as soon as possible - I don't know how much time Blue Moon's gonna be able to buy us." Alfonse says, saluting. "No idea. We'll do what we can, though. Ready to rumble, Dave?" Michael replies. "Of course I am. Let's get rollin' and then get out of here!"  Fliss is heading further ahead to scout out. As you can see, there's very little in terms of Black Hole units up here, so we really don't have to worry about much. Look at those forests around the lab, though. I bet you anything there's an artillery or rockets in one of those.  So yeah, despite the enormous army below us, we actually don't attack anything with Orange Star - everyone just heads up. Lloyd and Julian will be bringing up the rear down below, just in case Black Hole has any long-distance units like recons coming to harass me. I say "just in case", but what I mean is "this isn't the first time I've done this map, and there is definitely a recon coming to murder my rear end". Anyway, that's Orange Star's first turn. Blue Moon next!  If they're caring enough to help their allies, how can they do this to the land? Healing with one hand and wounding with the other? It makes no sense.I mean, not to spoil this introspection, Sasha, but they are healing THEIR OWN UNITS and wounding THE ENEMY, which seems pretty in-line with basically every military in the world. Do you think that means there are all kinds of people on their side, too? You're the only one who would wonder about this kind of thing, Sasha. You really do have a kind heart. Blue Moon's job is not really as important - in fact, they're not going to have very much impact on the battle at all, unfortunately. Still, we have them, so may as well do things with 'em. "Hey guys!" Lucy says over the transceiver. "Do the blue team have visual on the Black Hole army?" "Yep, I see 'em." Eva mutters, scanning through the fog, preparing to aim her battleship. "Lucy, you guys just keep forging ahead. We'll keep this army busy for as long as we can!" "That's right - the Snowbound Free Company is ready for action!" Alina announces.  Ignat, in the lower battleship, takes a pot shot at this recon first. I want to get rid of the higher-movement enemies to buy Orange Star more time, and this recon would be annoying. There's another one somewhere else, but we've not got the vision to spot that right now, so Orange Star will just have to deal with it.  Eva can finish it off in the other battleship. Now, you might be wondering why I'm bothering to kill the recon when there's so much more incredibly dangerous poo poo, and that leads me onto the other problem of this map. See, the strength of the army is a problem, but like, we could bottleneck them and slowly whittle them down with all of Orange Star's indirects and the battleship crew. No, the real problem is that if we try and take out any sizeable portion of this army, it'll give these fuckers their Tag Power, and trust me, we do not want that. This map is a game of holding Koal and Jugger off with force, but not using too much force so that their CO meters fill up all the way.  Harlow's just kind of hanging out on this island. I probably won't get to use them, but there are a few airports on this map which might be worth capturing, so they hop into Ludmilla to go for the nearest airport, to the east. "Oh! G-goodness, you spooked me." Ludmilla says as she sees Harlow, wearing their usual mask of tragedy over their face. "You're Harlow, right?" "That's me. And you're Ludmilla. I've heard a lot about you." "All good, I hope?" Ludmilla says slyly, winking. She raises an eyebrow. "Wait, are you a guy? I don't want to assume, I just-" "That's not something I discuss. They/them works for me." Harlow replies, shrugging. "Anyway, we've gotta get to that airport, right?" "Right!" Ludmilla says. "Let's get going, then. Hopefully there's no enemy boats lurking around there..."  I decide I want to capture the unaffiliated buildings on this starting island, though, so I deploy some of Dimitri's Mercenaries to do the job: Boris and Ivan.  This is how Blue Moon's army starts out. I'm keeping them all around the home base just until I figure out where everything is. You'll have noticed by now that there are shitloads of black boats, and they're all carrying units; I'm constantly nervous that one of them's gonna drop off some soldiers in the Blue Moon port when I'm not expecting it.  Lo and behold, on Black Hole's turn some more black boats show up. The rest of the ground-based army just disappears into the fog - you can see a couple of them there. The artilleries in particular would have been quite annoying if I was planning to fight, but as stated, I am not and therefore I don't need to worry about them.  gently caress the artilleries. Let's keep moving forward.  Selena, Fliss and our other recon, Von Panzer, head further in. "Ja, everything good, Fliss?" Von Panzer asks. Fliss nods. "Y-yes, we're all good." she replies. "I still don't see any enemy units..." "Hmm." Selena says, but doesn't elaborate further. Over the transceiver, Lucy hears the conversation and turns to Ingo. "Hey, Ingo, just between me and you... have you noticed that Selena's not been as talkative lately? She's acting how she used to - focussed completely on just doing the mission perfectly, and very little else." "I know what you mean. I noticed it myself." Ingo replies, musing. "Wonder if that encounter with the Director spooked her? She seemed pretty shaken after it." "Yeah, me and Rin share a room with her, and the night after that battle, she basically just listened to music the whole evening and didn't say a word." Lucy replies. "What could be going on? I'll bring it up with her the next chance I get!" "Sounds good, Luce. We've got to look out for each other, right?" "Of course!" Lucy says, beaming and grabbing Ingo's hand. "Speaking of, stick close to me. I'll cover you in this battle!"  Lloyd and Julian are bringing up the rear, as I said, so I move Julian in front of Lloyd, since tanks are bulky enough to survive recons for days.  The fog reveals that this was, in fact, an error. gently caress. "Hm... I think an enemy artillery unit's spotted me." Julian replies. "Not to worry. I can survive one hit." Michael narrows his eyes and makes eye contact with Dave. They're both still suspicious of Julian. "Aye, keep yerself safe though, Julian. Don't want to be losin' you unnecessarily!" Lloyd replies. "Besides, the quicker we win, the quicker I can get back on my ship. The land be agreein' with me less and less these days."  Well, as Julian said, he'll survive a hit. I'm just worried about potential recons coming to annoy me. I guess we'll see how it goes.  And Blue Moon's battleships are too far away to be of any use. Kind of regretting using them to shoot that recon on the first turn, now.  Ludmilla drops Harlow off at the airport without any complications, at least.  And look, black boats! Alina, thankfully, can one-shot them, so she'll be able to guard the port without much trouble.  I decide to ruin an anti-air's day primarily just because he's there.  That had no tactical benefit whatsoever. This does, though - Boris and Ivan are capturing properties for us. Well, Boris is - Ivan's still walking over to it.  Anyway, Black Hole get a turn now. More ominous fog movements and more me being stressed, hurray!  Also me regretting this all over again. Julian survives with 3HP, at least.  There's a lot of movements, but as we can see by the few visible units, they've not actually moved very far. So, uh, good for us?  Keep going, Orange Star team!  "Single enemy unit spotted." reports Fliss, scanning around with her recon. "Nothing else yet... but those forests look untrustworthy." "Fliss, remain there for now. Von Panzer and Michael, move up and prepare to advance on the lab." Selena says, narrowing her eyes. "Listen carefully for my dude's orders. We cannot afford to slow down, no matter what enemies remain. I'll crush any that try to approach you!"  Von Panzer sits diagonally to Fliss, which means that Michael can move all the way up, but he can't be attacked at direct range. Safety first!  The rest of the ranged units and Selena just advance. Julian's now hiding behind the units he was supposed to protect, but it can't be helped, what with him being so low on HP. Hopefully the forests protect me. You'll note I've also moved Alfonse from the mountain to the forest - I don't really need to see the surrounding area, so he's better off just hiding until the map's done.  Right, Blue Moon, I almost forgot you guys were here. Is there anything vaguely useful for you to do?  I realised that subs are basically the recons of the sea, what with their stupid high vision, so I move Alina over to give Ignat a chance to hit something on land.  Whilst I'm deciding what I want him to shoot, Harlow starts capturing the airport.  80% on an artillery... probably worth it, just so Orange Star don't have any more surprises. Ignat prepares his battleship, then pulls out a trading card and grins down at it. "I'm feeling lucky! So here, watch a pro card player at work!"  what. are critical hits a thing now? I mean, obviously not, but 80% with a 10% luck modifier, how does that somehow one-shot? gently caress it, I'm not complaining. Nice one, Ignat!  Boris and Ivan continue their capturing shenanigans. I would say "Blue Moon needs money" but honestly, this map's nearly over. I get the vague sense that I wasn't supposed to just take my entire Orange Star squad north to beat the map as quickly as possible.  Somewhere, there is a very frustrated game designer saying "Rachel EXPLICITLY SAID that the orange team would send a SMALL SQUAD, not the ENTIRE FORCE, you're playing it WRONG". And to that game designer I say: I am attempting to finish this game deathless, I am already playing it wrong. gently caress you and add a playable my dude to the remakes. You're delaying them anyway, you've got time.  Black Hole is ready to continue irritating me. And they really are irritating this time around.  As you can see, the tank forces are slowly making their way through. God, Drake would've been nice on this map to slice their fuel.  But more importantly, this fucker! A tank comes charging out of the fog and opens fire on Von Panzer, causing Fliss to yell in fright. "It's alright, my dude planned it like this!" Selena shouts. "A recon on the plains can survive most tanks; a recon on the roads cannot. Except, of course..."  If that recon is VON loving PANZER. As you can see, he survives on 1HP as per usual. "Hmmmmmph!" Von Panzer growls. "I am fine, Miss Fliss. We must strike at the heart of Schwarzes Loch's laboratory!" "Y-yes! The Black Hole lab is nearby... Selena, can you cover the um, tank?" "Of course. Michael, Fliss, Dave, move in." Selena replies. "We're almost done here." "Provided there's nothing else hiding out in the fog..." mutters Michael as he prepares his APC to drive away.  These two nerds swap over, also.  They're trying to increase both CO Power meters, but I'm simply not going to let them get away with that.  Right! Lots for Orange Star to do today, so let's get on with it.  First thing we do is drop Dave off near the lab. I'm concerned that they might be something on the lab that would prevent me from dropping him there, so I drop him next to it instead, which is probably safer.  ...Nothing. I'm suspicious.  I'm so suspicious that I get Fliss on checking-forest duty. The last thing I want is a problem to show up right at the end.  A loving artillery and goddamn Dave's in range and if he takes any damage whatsoever it's going to add more days onto my capturing  Right, Von Panzer gets the hell out of dodge whilst Selena approaches this tank. She also decides that it's time for a critical hit as she rams her medium tank forward, her eyes blazing with hitherto-unseen passion. "I have to keep fighting to find her again!" she yells, unleashing the full might of her bazooka.  One shot. And it's not even a Max-powered medium tank. God, I love medium tanks.  Ingo, hiding behind Lucy, realises that he can hit the artillery from here, and decides to help out the HQ crew. "Incoming covering fire, guys!" he yells, blasting his rockets. "Direct hit! Thanks, Ingo - that artillery'll think twice about trying to attack me now!" Dave says, grinning. "We might still be able to pull off this capture smoothly!" "If anyone can do it, Dave, you can! Now get moving!" Alfonse replies over the transceiver. "Things are quiet at HQ... too quiet."  The enemy recon who's been following us for ages finally caught up, too, so I set Lucy on him. He's brought down to 1HP and immediately becomes a non-issue.  Finally, since Carter used his turn to move up and help the lab crew, Lloyd decides to hit this infantry, bringing it down to pretty low HP. I just don't want it grabbing any bases or anything, since that'd be very irritating right about now.  I move a few units around, but I leave Paul where he is - he's gonna help block off the recon for a bit, and maybe take some hits. Thanks, Paul!  Blue Moon, meanwhile, aren't... uh, doing much of anything, really. I don't really get why they're here, but hey, can't complain about free exp on Sasha. Some of you seem really intent on me getting Sasha some exp.  And we got an airport, thanks Harlow. I mean, Orange Star's literally at the lab and is ready to capture it, but hey, if this map had lasted longer, this would have been a very useful addition.  Ivan finishes his capturing and thus continues chilling with Boris. The mercs don't have much to do for the rest of the map now.  More black boats have shown up, and I'm still nervous about my port, so I move Eva onto it, just to block it off.  I know Ignat is there in a big fuckoff battleship. And I know there's a ton of dangerous units which I could be shooting. But look to the right screen - look at how full the enemy COs' meters are. I can't risk it right now. Their tag power right about now would probably ruin me.  Let's play it safe. Just two more days until Dave's got the lab down, anyhow, provided he takes no chip damage from this artillery...  The weakened infantry shoots Michael for... no damage.  And then the weakened recon goes for Lucy and does... no damage, again. Don't know why I was worried about them maxing out their CO meter. I'm pretty sure you have to do actual damage to fill that up.  This is more troublesome. Eva spots something moving towards her and gives a strangled yell. "Sub! Submarine! It snuck past our defences and is at our port right now! I'm taking fire!" "Sub?! Eva? Eva?!" Alina yells. "Are you alright?!" Eva grits her teeth. "I'm fine. It didn't do too much, but I'm screwed next time it attacks. Can't outrun it either - we move at the same speed. Dammit, this is..." "No..." breathes Alina. "There's got to be a way out of this. There's got to be..."  Jugger's back.  Koal probably wanted to take a time-out after doing no damage twice in a row.  Right, well, Orange Star can't do anything about Blue Moon's sub situation, so we may as well just carry on getting that lab.  You'll note that the artillery, thanks to Ingo's quick thinking, decided to move to a base to heal instead of attacking, so Fliss can easily dispatch it, and Dave's not taken any damage. Finally, we can just capture a thing without annoying chip damage.  Almost done here. This map really isn't so bad if you employ the "just run for it" strategy. That said, we do have one slight problem before we can finish this map.  It's partially to do with Eva and the submarine here, you see. She got some healing from the base but it's not going to be enough to save her, I don't think. So obviously we have to destroy the sub, right? We've got Valeria in a cruiser right there, she'd do it in a heartbeat. Here's the issue.  Killing that artillery up north has pushed Jugger's CO Meter to juuuuust nearly full. Any more damage, pretty much, is going to tip it over the edge and put us on the receiving end of a Tag Power. So... we have to save Eva, but we can't destroy the sub. It's got the same movement as her, so she can't outrun it. What do we do? The answer's simple when you think about it. We've got tight, cramped corners to fight in; may as well make use of them. "Eva! Move south-east!" barks a voice over the transceiver. "Valeria? Why?" "Just do it!"  "It's not going to work. It'll just follow me!" Eva says, setting sail. "I know it will. So we need to dissuade it." Valeria replies. "Valeria, what are you..?" Alina asks.  Valeria sails into position, blocking off Eva from the sub's attacking range. She keeps her lips pursed tightly. "Allow me and my boat to be your shield, Eva. I owe you for sticking with the Snowbound Free Company, and for making Alina happy." "Valeria..." breathes Eva. "Oh, man, I thought I was done for. Thank you. Thank you!" "Don't thank me yet." Valeria replies grimly. "Let's just hope Orange Star pull through sooner rather than later."  Alina's hiding out in a reef, just in case the sub decides she looks like a more preferable option than Valeria. A sub would never willingly initiate on a cruiser, I'm pretty sure, so we're good in this formation for now. And no damage means no Tag Power. Phew!  Do your worst, fuckers. I've got this map beat and you know it.  AAAAARGH NO DON'T DO CHIP DAMAGE TO DAVE "Dave! If you take any damage, it's gonna slow down your capture of this lab-" Michael gasps, turning to his friend.  "Dave Ruston? Taking damage?" comes the gruff reply. "You must have me confused with somebody else." "Oh, wow." Michael says, grinning with relief. "I always do underestimate you, huh? Now get that lab captured!" "On it!"  This recon does no damage again. These guys are desperate to try and kill one of my units, aren't they?  Oh gently caress a tank  Paul is damaged, but fine! Thanks again, Paul!  God, let's just get this done. I hate fog.  Lab down!  Hmph. This is your mess to clean up, Jugger. I'm leaving for the next battlefield. ... !!! ... Koal! Unfair! Unfair! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!I haven't mentioned that I love Jugger's dialogue for at least a couple of parts. Jugger's dialogue? Top tier.  R&D needs to get started so we can deploy the black boats as soon as possible. BRO BOAT GANG RISE UP BRO BOATS HELL YEAH YOU GET IT MY MAN Sweet! We did it! Now we won't have to send so much stuff to the scrap heap. Well, I'm glad the boys are happy, but do they have to be so loud about it? We've made some real progress against Black Hole by acquiring these boats--perhaps we ought to celebrate whilst your research division is busy with the blueprints. ...You're right. I could do with a day off. Ooh, A-rank. First of the campaign, if I'm not mistaken (I might be). Either way, it's not a surprise with a) how much Fog of War loving sucks and b) how little combat we actually had in that map.  Once our CO's exp meter reaches 1000, in the meantime, they gain a rank and promote! Dunno what that means, but Rachel's on hand to explain.  You can now use special skills during battle! We... we have those. They're called CO Powers. No shut up these are different. There are two simple ways to set which skills you want to use: either tap Skill or press the X Button when you're on the Select CO screen! Oh, like passive effects? I'm with you. As you get stronger, you can learn more skills and even use up to four at once. If a CO reaches rank 10... Well, SOMETHING good could happen, but you'll have to figure that out for yourself! Thank you, as always, for telling me everything without telling me ANYTHING. Good luck! I'm rooting for you! Don't sass me! We also get some unique victory dialogue, so that's cool. Presumably it's because I deployed Rachel and Jake together.  We have unlocked the ability to deploy units as black boats! Some soldiers have discovered a talent for controlling black boats, and the Proficiencies of some soldiers have been updated to reflect this. You can check the details of soldier proficiencies in The Allied Nations: Soldier Overview, available on the contents page.  Anyhow, we've got a new mission coming up. Lightning Strikes..? That's Eagle's SCOP, why is it being used for a Yellow Comet mission? I assume it's Yellow Comet, anyway. One of those COs looks like Sensei.  Yes! The cavalry has arrived! Show them in, soldier. loving finally, we've been waiting for DAYS. Yes, ma'am. Hey, big man comin' through! Ahhh, we're finally here at Allied HQ. We're glad to see you here, Grimm. You can't just say "Grimm" like we know who that is. Who is this guy? Shh! Apparently he's some big shot CO from Yellow Comet. He trained under Sensei himself! And you too, Sensei. I can't seem to get away from the battle-field. It's enough to make me cranky. Hey! It's Sensei! It's good to see you looking so fit! Hah! It's Max. And Colin, too. Looks like we'll be teaming up again, boys. Actually, it was Colin, Kanbei and Eagle who--nobody's listening to me, are they. Not only are we rollin' with the legendary Sensei, but we also get Lightning Grimm! Did I miss a loving memo or something? Am I supposed to know who Lightning Grimm is? They say your attacks are stupid fast and strong. You know, like lightning. Hah! Cut it out! You're embarrassing me. It's all true, of course, but still. Before we go any further, we gotta get some things straight. Hey, Rachel! You and my dude are the big mustard of this outfit, but I know a lot of nothin' about you. If Sensei and I are gonna put our lives in your hands, we need to know more. You're gonna have to show us what you've got if you want to give the orders. Oh god, of course. Sensei never fought with me, did he? He wouldn't have known what I was capable of. I get it. You want to test me, huh? Yep! You whip Sensei and me, and we'll fall in line with the rest of the troops. Dude, we so don't have time for this.Jake's being the voice of reason again. We should all be concerned. It's OK, Jake. This is a good opportunity for us to learn each other's abilities. Especially since SOMEBODY apparently missed the memo about Grimm and what he's capable of. THERE WAS NO MEMO. You're on, Lightning Grimm! For your sake, I hope you're ready! When am I not ready? C'mon, Sensei, let's do this. You just love to stir up trouble, don't you? You know these kids are a solid group. Yeah, but there are only two ways to get to know someone--fighting and eating. And believe it or not, I ain't hungry. I don't know what you're talking about, but it seems everyone's ready to go. Guess I'll show 'em what a shriveled old soldier can do. You ready, my dude? I guess we've got no choice, huh? We can crush them, no problem. I just... Hm? Ah, nothing. I would have thought that she'd make an appearance, but...Either way, we transition over to the battlefield, and this one is... busy-looking. But we see some wonderful old friends, and I'm not talking about Yellow Comet.  Missile silos? You mean those things on that island? Yes. One thing to know about them is only foot soldiers can initiate a launch. They're easy to use--all you have to do is pick your target and fire away. They can attack anywhere on the map, and they're super powerful! Well, they can't hit targets on the second front--that's too far away. Yeah, that makes sense. But I bet they can pretty much dominate the main front. Oh, and another thing--their blast radius is big, so try not to damage allies, too. Well, if they're that wicked, then we've got to snag that island! Oh god, wait, we're fighting on two fronts? Not again... That's right! This time, I'm going to take command of the main front. Look at the upper screen. As you can see, this is a dual-front map. God drat it. Actually, my dude, I wanted to talk to you about that. Last time, your partner CO controlled the action on the second front automatically. Correct, and whilst I like Max, it was definitely the most stressful experience of my entire life. I know. And...well, I know now that you're capable enough of handling two fronts. So, if you want to be in charge of everything, you can adjust the settings. Once I'm done here, open Intel on the menu, and find Auto CO. Oh, you're gonna--thank you, Rachel. Trust me, letting me handle things is the right decision. And no sass or anything. I'm impressed. Touch Auto CO to turn it on or off. If it sounds too hard, I'd leave it on. Sigh. There it is. I'm doing this because you've been annoying me slightly less lately. Plus, we need all the help that we can get on dual-front map. Do not make me regret this, OK? I've never made anyone regret anything! I think. You can still send units from the main front to the second front. I'll explain the process once we're in the field. Right, that's the ACO debrief done. Next, we need to discuss which CO is going to support me on this mission.So, whilst Rachel's figuring that out, may as well check out Grimm and Sensei.  This guy has AW1 Sturm's schtick - better initiation, worse defences, it looks like. That should be fun to play around with, and loving annoying as hell to fight against.  And his CO Powers are just raw damage increases. A nice uncomplicated CO, not bad.  Sensei's much the same as the previous game: lots of weird powers like stronger copters and higher support movement range, but all useful ones, at least.  Plus, his hilarious COP and SCOP. Can't wait to abuse those myself at some point. I bet there's some good maps for it.  As Rachel mentioned before, our promoted COs can also learn a skill! The ones we have at first rank, for those who aren't familiar, are as follows: Bruiser (+5% direct attack damage) Sharpshooter (+5% indirect attack damage) Slam Guard (+8% direct-fire defence) Snipe Guard (+8% indirect-fire defence) Combat Pay (damage foes to earn cash) Luck (random higher damage) Though we can only equip one right now on each of our COs, they're useful passive effects. I look forward to unlocking even wilder ones later on in the game.  So! Lots to vote on today! Rachel's force-deployed on the main front, but we get free choice of Max Lv 0, Jake Lv 1, Colin Lv 0 or Sasha Lv 1, and for our Lv 1 COs, you can also choose a skill! And once we've done all of that, we'll fight Lightning Grimm and Sensei, and see how we do... hopefully they're not too tough. At least I don't have to worry about deaths, since this is a sparring match. Of course I'm still going to try and do it deathless, but it matters less, at the very least. See you all next week! *** Part 20 (Intermission) - A Life Apart cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Dec 3, 2021 |
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Dec 3, 2021 17:07
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cosmicPostman posted:are critical hits a thing now? I mean, obviously not, but 80% with a 10% luck modifier, how does that somehow one-shot? Remember the 3 stars Colin and Sasha have in their profiles? It means their Tag Power grants extra firepower and they also have a passive luck boost, something like 5% per star. So their luck roll was at or over 20%. quote:Killing that artillery up north has pushed Jugger's CO Meter to juuuuust nearly full. Any more damage, pretty much, is going to tip it over the edge and put us on the receiving end of a Tag Power. Double check Sasha's CO power and see how safe life becomes with her in command. Also, give Max a chance to try the second front again.
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Dec 3, 2021 17:38
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Level Seven posted:
This. The mission was way more dramatic with the ending you gave it, but once things get rougher it may help to know that a Sasha with ~30k gold in the bank just runs absolute ruin over enemy CO meters. I’d also like to suggest Max.
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Dec 3, 2021 17:53
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Yay, Harlow! And yay, Grimm! He's the most straightforward CO introduced since AW1, and he has an actual downside, which is seemingly rarer and rarer. Of course that means he's actually pretty low tier, but the straightforward all-round offensive boosts are sometimes just exactly what you need. He's all about hitting first, so positioning is key. Oh, and you've unlocked CO Skills. Welcome to reason #438 that AW3 is broken as poo poo. Getting a CO to level 10 unlocks their alternate outfit, which is just casual wear. It's generally pretty underwhelming. Remalle fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Dec 3, 2021 |
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Dec 3, 2021 17:57
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Yay skills! You can do some very fun things with them, haha. It's a shame we can't deploy Max to the main front, him vs Grimm seems like a good time. Let's send Max out to play on the top screen anyway.
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Dec 3, 2021 18:04
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Level Seven posted:Remember the 3 stars Colin and Sasha have in their profiles? It means their Tag Power grants extra firepower and they also have a passive luck boost, something like 5% per star. So their luck roll was at or over 20%. Ah, I see! Makes sense now, I was wondering. Level Seven posted:Double check Sasha's CO power and see how safe life becomes with her in command. TeeQueue posted:This. The mission was way more dramatic with the ending you gave it, but once things get rougher it may help to know that a Sasha with ~30k gold in the bank just runs absolute ruin over enemy CO meters. ...Genuinely didn't realise Sasha's CO Power was active already, wow. That would have made things easier.
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Dec 3, 2021 19:29
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Max with Bruiser for the second front.
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Dec 3, 2021 20:31
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Yeah, Sasha's COP is why we keep voting her... eating enemy meters seems right up the my dude playstyle's alley. We swear, this isn't like Rivals where giving you Eagle for Final Battle was a trap, Sasha's legit. Anyway, Rachel (Slam Guard) is forced anyway but that's a skill vote. Top Side? Jake (Sharpshooter) or Sasha (Combat Pay), CP's choice SMaster777 fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Dec 3, 2021 |
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Dec 3, 2021 22:12
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Max with Bruiser for the second front.
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Dec 3, 2021 23:50
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So, some details. Two CO's that have affinity with each other gain a passive +5% luck bonus per star of affinity. This only extends their *maximum* luck bonus, it's not like "your luck is always 5 points higher regardless of the luck roll". That said, in a sense calling that kill with an 80% damage number a critical hit wasn't terribly far off, as you had to roll pretty well for it. As for Grimm, he's like AW1 Sturm, except he does not have the perfect movement. He does hit hard, 130/80 stats, but as you saw with his powers he has no movement bonuses, and no terrain advantages, so he's honestly... kinda weak in a general sense. For all he gives the impression of direct combat hung-ho-ness, IMO I think he's way more dangerous using primarily indirects, since those could have a defense value of 10 and it wouldn't matter as long as they don't get shot at. Still, Grimm is generally regarded as a pretty bad CO. He actually *does* hit pretty hard, but without any way to engage it kind of falls flat. His CO power improves his units from 130/80 to 160/90, and his SCOP pushes it to 190/90. ...There is *one* mission where Grimm is actually perfectly suited for, late in the campaign. It's a pretty sticky situation, but his defense malus won't matter. That's all the hint you'll get though.
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Dec 4, 2021 07:46
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There was a collaborative project on WarsWorldNews years ago to get a perfect 300 point War Room score on every map with every CO. Grimm proved to be the biggest hurdle for the entire project! He certainly requires a different playstyle.
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Dec 4, 2021 09:09
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Rorac posted:...There is *one* mission where Grimm is actually perfectly suited for, late in the campaign. It's a pretty sticky situation, but his defense malus won't matter. That's all the hint you'll get though.
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Dec 4, 2021 17:38
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SMaster777 posted:Yeah, Sasha's COP is why we keep voting her... eating enemy meters seems right up the my dude playstyle's alley. We swear, this isn't like Rivals where giving you Eagle for Final Battle was a trap, Sasha's legit. I still haven't forgiven the thread as a whole for Rivals (though I feel I got my own back by playing it in the least satisfying way possible). I'll make better use of Sasha in future! Definitely gotta remember that I, like, have COPs to use. They factor so little in the my dude playstyle usually. Rorac posted:So, some details. Two CO's that have affinity with each other gain a passive +5% luck bonus per star of affinity. This only extends their *maximum* luck bonus, it's not like "your luck is always 5 points higher regardless of the luck roll". That said, in a sense calling that kill with an 80% damage number a critical hit wasn't terribly far off, as you had to roll pretty well for it. Intriguing! Thanks for the info on luck, entirely forgot about the affinity thing. Grimm seems interesting, though, and sounds like there'll be a good map to try him out on later. Sturm's perfect movement was definitely the big reason why he was so threatening, it wasn't just his lopsided stats, so Grimm being weaker makes sense. Plus I feel like AW1 Sturm would be pretty underpowered compared to the poo poo that AWDS COs are capable of. SoundwaveAU posted:There was a collaborative project on WarsWorldNews years ago to get a perfect 300 point War Room score on every map with every CO. Grimm proved to be the biggest hurdle for the entire project! He certainly requires a different playstyle. Oh, remarkable! Was it successfully done in the end, then? I'm curious to know more.
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Dec 5, 2021 19:06
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cosmicPostman posted:Oh, remarkable! Was it successfully done in the end, then? I'm curious to know more. Yep, I found the doc on archive.org, so here's a link to the completed work. https://web.archive.org/web/20080225051918/http://www.celestialbridge.net/fogel/awdswarroomscores.txt And a link to the original thread: https://forums.warsworldnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=247 Regarding CO Powers, they charge quicker in this game compared to AW2, so you have to keep them in mind more. You'll even get several chances to use them yourself, which was super rare in the previous games.
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Dec 6, 2021 06:02
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Part 21 (Battle) - The Subtle Art Of The Surprise Anti-Air Sup. Let's get this battle started, shall we? Time to show Yellow Comet what we can do. Well, partially. This is a two-parter; for this first part, I'm intending on beating the second front. Let's see how that goes.  So, first things first, we need to choose a CO for the second front.  And a skill for Rachel - I'm taking Slam Guard, as recommended by you guys. It seems like the best choice for facing Grimm, what with his units having a firepower boost.  For the second front, once again, we're taking Max. He should be able to deal with Sensei quite handily.  The most important thing we need to do is turn Auto CO right the gently caress off. I'm not relying on this thing to keep my units alive.  Otherwise, we're ready to roll, so let's get going!  I keep thinking about Eagle's SCOP. Surely they realised that lightning as a motif is most heavily associated with Eagle, right? Anyway. Right. Deployments. Today’s Deployments First Front Felix, Infantry Elena, Infantry Diana, Infantry Alfonse, Mech Von Panzer, Tank Dave, Tank Rin, Tank Fliss, Anti-Air Carl, Anti-Air Gordon, Anti-Air Ludmilla, Anti-Air Carter, Artillery Fred, Rockets Second Front Fleur, Infantry Fenya, Mech Michael, APC Yakov, Recon Inessa, Recon Julian, Tank Ingo, Tank Lucy, Artillery Gordon Age: 23 Personality: Professional photographer, loves nature. Proficiencies: Recon, Anti-Air, Missiles, Rockets  No offense, Mr. Lightning, but your luck has run out!Pfft. Mr. Lightning.  So, what's the plan here? Well, on the first front we only have Alfonse and Fliss on the field, and on the second front we have a ton of units, none of whom are going to be much use against Sensei's flotilla of copters. Oh, speaking of - "Well, well! If it isn't Orange Star and Blue Moon's forces!" comes a commanding cry from the battle copter squadron. "Got all of your nonlethal rounds ready? Because we're not going to be holding back!" "Oh, if it isn't the loudmouth of Yellow Comet, Peregrine Siddeley Lockheed!" Michael replies over the transceiver. "I think we're all ready for you; besides, it'd be an honour to fight against the one who destroyed the Deathray. You singlehandedly saved the world, y'know." "Hah! I suppose so, but I was never bothered with any of that. All I care about is flying fast, showing off my skills, and protecting my friends!" Peregrine replies. "And, well, if you're ready, I guess we'll come at you with everything we've got. Ready, Andy?" Andromeda, in another of the battle copters, nods with excitement. "Y-yes... I am ready, will, willing, to fight with Perry!" Another girl in one of the battle copters sighs, and leans back, her tube top leaving little to the imagination. "Hey, Chakir, mind helping me out in this battle? I'm still new to this army, so I don't want to mess anything up. And I wouldn't want to have to exert myself in a mock battle..." "Oh, I- uh- I could..." Chakir mutters, nervously fiddling with his shirt. "I guess I could help..." "Shaia! Stop taking advantage of literally everyone you meet and just put the work in!" comes a commanding voice from Yellow Comet's HQ. "Whilst I'm leading the ground troops, you're going to listen to everything Peregrine tells you, alright? I whipped Arqa into shape, and I can do the same to you, you slacker!" Shaia pulls a face. "Urgh, fine." Dave laughs aloud as he hears the voice. "That's Vanessa, ain't it? One of Yellow Comet's three primary strategists?" "The very same." Vanessa replies. "I'll be leading the battle on the ground as Grimm's ACO, so tell my dude - he'd better not hold back on me!" "But where's-" Michael murmurs, before falling quiet. "Ah, it doesn't matter. I'm sure she'll be here soon."  When we select Fliss, Rachel gives us some more information. On maps where both fronts are based on the ground, unit can be sent to the second front from bases that build units. Oh, and from the HQ, too. Huh. That IS handy. Units you've sent will arrive in the area around the second-front HQ. Naval units will arrive in the waters near the second-front HQ. Exactly right. And even if you send loads of units, there's plenty of room. So don't be worrying about space! 'Course, I won't be so friendly if you send anti-air and missile units my way! Gasp! Sensei, you wound me. I would never. Guess I'll have to rely on Grimm to keep you too busy to bother me. Our funding is tight, my dude. We can't possibly defend both fronts with this kind of income. Oh, you'd be surprised. 6k a turn, huh? I can work with that. Alfonse begins moving up - he's headed for the base on the middle island, since whoever nabs that will be at quite an advantage. Grimm does like to deploy units to prevent you from getting the base so easily, but as you'll see later, this doesn't always work out. Meanwhile, I move Fliss to the HQ, but, crucially, I don't send her yet. You'll see why later on.  I deploy Felix in the meantime. He'll be heading north, too, primarily to get that airport and fire that silo.  On Grimm's turn, he deploys a couple of infantries - Alistair and Aanisah. This is actually a problem for us - whilst it might look like the main battlefield is going to be fighting over that central island, Grimm's foot units will actually spend most of their time wandering across the river to get at our properties directly. And Grimm's mechs hurt like a bitch, so we need to keep a careful eye on what he deploys to that left base.  Meanwhile, on the second front...  ...I do absolutely nothing. This, too, is part of the plan. "Sorry, did the orders come in saying to do nothing?" Michael asks. "My dude says we must wait. For what, I do not know yet..." Fleur says. "But we must trust le commandant my dude, should we not?" Lucy nods. "Definitely! He's got a plan, I'm sure of it."  As you can see on the right, Peregrine's copters are charging forwards. The mechs - Lysander, Dymek, Arqa and Issam - are way less of a bother, but those copters are going to be on top of us in just a few more turns. So... better get working on a plan, huh?  For now, Alfonse and Felix continue moving north, and I deploy a second anti-air, Carl. "Even in a mock battle, I must fight like I always have. I will show you my strength." Carl mutters. Alfonse raises an eyebrow. "He just got through a whole sentence without mentioning blood. Man, he really is making the effort to fit in, huh..?"  You will be unsurprised to hear that both infantry units begin capturing things. Sigh. At least it keeps them off my back for a while, but I don't want to give Grimm enough money to get something expensive, especially when we've not got very much money to begin with.  He deploys another infantry, Talora, and a recon, Khepri. "Hey guys! It's so wonderful to see you all again!" Khepri says delightedly. "I'm gonna give it my all in this battle, don't worry!" "Hi!" Lucy says, beaming. "I know we're on different fronts, but you sound fun, and I wanted to say hello!" "You're Lucy, right? I know all about you! It's nice to hear from you!" Khepri replies, almost vibrating with excitement. Ingo places his forehead on the dashboard of his tank. "Oh, god, now there's two of them..."  We continue to do nothing on the second front. I promise I have a plan.  Sensei's copters move closer and closer. We've got one more turn before they're on top of us, and despite how tight our funding is...  ...We've got just enough for a third anti-air, Gordon. "Hey! I'm sorry that I've not been around until now - been busy in Macro Land, helping with the cleanup. But I'm ready to support the rest of the 11th Division now!" Gordon says, holding up his camera. "I'd heard a lot about the natural beauty of this land, and I wanted to take pictures, but... seems like Black Hole are intent on ruining the land's beauty. I can't forgive them for that!" "Nice to have you back with us, Gordon!" Alfonse replies. "Sit tight for now - my dude's got a plan, apparently, and it involves most of you sitting around doing nothing." "Well, I won't question it." Gordon says, chuckling. "Ah, my dude's zany plans... it's good to be back."  The two capturing infantries finish their capturing. This Dick Captures A Property: 18  This, however. This is the most important turn of the whole map, and I'm not even joking. Khepri, as a recon, could make it to the middle base in two turns if she went north - that's not enough time for Alfonse to reach the base and capture it, and Grimm's recons can put the hurt on even mechs. However, she has a small random chance to go south instead of north first, which, because she has to turn her rear end around and go the right way, takes three turns to get to the base instead, which gives us just enough time to capture it with Alfonse before she arrives. It's a pretty crucial move, but frustratingly random. Still, we got good luck, so let's keep moving forward!  Once again, we do nothing on the second front. I promise there's a reason for this.  "Anyone else feeling a little claustrophobic?" Michael says as the copters come closer forward, with Chakir, Peregrine and Andromeda leading the charge. "They're almost on top of us, and we've not got the firepower to take them out." Yakov mutters. "Is this 'my dude' always like this?" "Hey! He beat Sturm the last two times, right?" Inessa says, lightly punching her brother on the shoulder. "Have a little faith!" "I dunno, this is a risky plan, even for him. Maybe he's playing it a bit less safely since it's a nonlethal battle." Ingo replies.  Ingo is incorrect, however - doing this deathless is exactly why I needed to do nothing. You see, the Dual Strike AI isn't quite as suicidal as previous AIs have been. What this means is that if I'd sent these anti-airs before this point, Sensei would have moved his copters in such a way that they were always out of anti-air range. After that, they'd sneak past the anti-airs and nab some kills on my squishier units here. So, the easiest way to prevent the copters from running away from my anti-airs is by simply not sending them until the copters were right there for the taking. But now we can send them, so let's take 'em out! Uh. Half of them, anyway.  Meanwhile on the first front, I deploy Carter as an artillery. Remember how I mentioned Grimm's infantry trying to cross the river? Carter's going to be on infantry-murderin' duty.  Right, everything's going fine here so far, so let's make sure the same is happening on the second front.  Grimm deploys some more units. The mech heading into Carter's range is Braddock, and he's also deployed another infantry, Sofia, and most annoyingly, a tank, Lowell. Hm, Lowell. That's a new name. "So, this is a mock battle against the finest of Orange Star and Blue Moon?" Lowell mutters to himself. "I'll bear that in mind. This will be valuable experience for me."  "Alright, copters! They're still not moving, so attack!" Peregrine says wildly. Andromeda gives a gasp, however. "P-Perry! There's... counting, counters, anti-airs down there!" "Where the heck did they come from?!" Kiran, in another copter, cries. "No time to retreat - how did...?" "D-drat it! My dude played us. He knew I'd charge in recklessly!" growls Peregrine. "Uh, right, nothing for it! We've got to fight our hardest and keep my dude distracted so Vanny can win the first front!" "Oh, alright, I suppose we should..." sighs Shaia.  Fliss prepares to target Shaia in the first battle copter. She readies her cannon. "My name... is Felicity de la Fleuve! For too long, I've been unwilling to commit myself... to being a soldier. But I've met so many people that I want to protect. And I'll show Yellow Comet the depths... the depths of my resolve!" "You got splatted three times!" Michael shouts. "You have to leave the battlefield now, right? They're the rules we're using, I assume?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm going..." Shaia sighs. "She splatted my cockpit visor, I can barely see. Chakir, mind avenging me? I'll make it worth your while later..." "Shaia! I won't tell you again!" Vanessa barks through the transceiver, and Shaia stroppily flies off in her copter. "God, fine, I'm going..."  Next, Carl takes on Peregrine. "Man, I got beat! Can I have another go, Vanny?" "What? No, that's not in the rules-" Vanessa sputters, and Peregrine prepares to fly back to base.  And finally, Gordon finishes off Minerva. "Thank goodness Kanbei wasn't around to see that embarrassing display..." Minerva sighs to herself. "I'll retreat now. Well done, Orange Star!"  We then have to rearrange our units a little - the copters aren't dangerous now provided we do one very important thing: ensure that not a single non-anti-air unit can be attacked by more than one copter, since any more than one would take them out. Arranging them in a line like so should make that pretty easy.  The copters will prioritise attacking over running away from my anti-airs, so these three are going to stay right here in anti-air range now.  Kiran attacks Inessa first, but she survives the blow easily. "Whew! You copters sure do hit hard, but you gotta hit me three times to get me out!" Inessa trills. Kiran chuckles. "Hold on, I'm lining up my next shot..."  Andromeda decides to go for Michael, who's carrying Fenya inside him. Only one of her shots lands, however. "Not bad, Andromeda!" Michael says. Andromeda nods. "I will, must, do my best for Vanessa! I should, shall, gently caress you up!" Michael's eyebrows shoot up. "...OK, wasn't expecting that kind of language from such a nice girl." "How unprofessional." sighs Fenya.  That went pretty well. We're at the advantage now, so all we have to do is maintain it.  So first things first, we take out Braddock with Carter...  And here, we can see Khepri's mistake in its full glory. Alfonse will half-capture the factory this turn, and Khepri can't reach him. So next turn, he'll fully capture the base, and whilst he runs the gently caress away from Khepri, I can deploy a tank or something to take her out. Either way, we should be totally fine, and it's all thanks to this overexcited girl going the wrong way earlier. Thanks for that, Khepri!  Alfonse makes a start on his capturing. "I'm capturing the middle base!" Alfonse reports. "I'm feeling pretty naked, though... there's a recon on the way, am I getting any backup?" "Heck yeah! I'm coming to get you, Alfonse, and my recon's got some super-strong paintball guns!" Khepri replies. "Also, why are Yellow Comet on the same transceiver line as us?" Alfonse adds. "That seems... bad for strategy." "We have the private line if we need to discuss anything privately. Just hang in there for now." Michael replies. "I'm going to back you up, um, shortly." Felix says. "Hold on!"  Felix, as promised, reaches the first silo! So now we can rain hot death (or more accurately, rain 3HP damage) to some of Yellow Comet's units. As always, sensible silo usage is key to winning the map.  And this seems like the best use of it. Weakening Khepri will help Alfonse survive more reliably, and damaging other units is just the icing on the cake, really.  The explosion strikes the ground all around. The, uh, nonlethal explosion. I'm not actually sure how this works in mock battles. Maybe it's a giant paint bomb or something. "DID SOMEONE FILL THE SILOS WITH PAINT?" gasps Vanessa, at Yellow Comet HQ. "Well, we're using paintballs for the mock battle, so..." Alfonse replies. "Makes sense, doesn't it?" "Still seems way too dangerous for a mock battle, but whatever. It's not going to hold me back!"  That's all we can do for this turn, so we'll leave it there. Still, things are looking good! Once we finish off Sensei's remaining copters, he's got basically nothing else threatening, so winning the second front shouldn't be a problem. It'll take some time to stamp out all of the mechs, but it won't be hard, at least.  Aanisah drops a silo on Carter. "Aaaaargh! There's paint in the artillery cannon!" Carter yells. "This is going to take DAYS to clean up..."  As Sofia crosses the river, she decides to make Carter's paint problem even worse by firing on him. "Oh, good, we've got more company. I know I can usually handle myself, but I need backup down here!" Carter says. "I need backup up here, though!" Alfonse replies. "We're really spread thin, come to think of it... this might not be good."  We are, indeed, spread very thin. I'll put my focus back on the first front once I've wiped out these copters and mechs. There is one good thing about this, though! Look at Khepri - after taking damage from that silo, both she and Lowell have retreated south to heal. Alfonse now has all the time in the world (but not actually) to capture this base! Thank goodness. Right, back to the second front murder circle.  First, I move Inessa and Michael out of the way, to make room for the anti-airs.  In short order, Fliss beats Kiran...  Carl beats Andromeda...  And Gordon finishes off Chakir. The copters are down, with not a single retreat from my units! I know it's a nonlethal battle, but god, I wanted to try and do it deathless anyway, and now the hardest part is out of the way.  This means that the rest of my units can actually, like, go and do stuff now, so they begin heading out to find those last few mechs.  On Sensei's turn, he decides to use his Super CO Power. Which, uh...  ...Well, as most of you will know, it gives his copters (of which he has none) a major firepower boost and spawns 9HP mechs on all of his captured cities (of which he has none).  So yeah, all that happens is that he captures a couple of cities. This might be one of the most embarrassing uses of a SCOP I've ever seen. This Dick Captures A Property: 20  Well, that just happened. Moving on.  I need to get Carter to a safe place, so I move him around the mountain. This also means I can deploy something new on the base.  Like a tank! Come join us, Von Panzer!  And Alfonse finishes capturing the factory, feeling a bit more relaxed now that there isn't a recon barrelling towards him at sixty miles an hour. Or seven spaces a turn, I guess.  You're in a bit of a pinch now, aren't you, Grimm? What, are you senile? I'm just getting warmed up!That's a contender for my favourite line in this game so far. "What, are you senile?" has such a powerful energy behind it. And, y'know, that would explain why he just used his SCOP in the least useful possible way...  I also start capturing the airport. I'm not actually going to get much use out of it, but hey, nice to have.  Grimm's turn. Let's see what he does.  More god drat capturing. I should have known.  Grimm's deployed more annoyances, too. An infantry unit - Fadel - on the previous turn, and another mech - Iago - this turn. We've really got to stop him from deploying so much stuff.  Right. Let's make more progress on the second front.  Julian charges forward to strike at Issam, doing some decent damage.  Yakov lands the final blow, covering poor Issam in paint. "Alright, that's definitely more than three times. I'll bow out for now." Issam says, smiling. "Ah, I'll have to wash my bow tie rather thoroughly now..."  Ingo, meanwhile, parks himself on a nearby property to wait for Arqa.  And on Sensei's turn, she takes the bait, charging forward with her paintball gun held high. "Vanessa's been making me realise just how much I'm capable of giving!" Arqa shouts. "I used to be a slacker, but I'm not going to do that any more. I can genuinely contribute! Watch this!" Though Ingo lands a hit on Arqa, she manages to land a hit on him, too. Ingo narrows his eyes. "Huh. If I take on any more paint, I'll have to retreat, too. But I can't allow that." he murmurs. "What's the plan here..?"  The plan is to just send an anti-air to do it, but first, we need to keep up our pressure on the main front. Grimm's determined to drown us in foot soldiers, and I will not have it any longer.  Felix captures the airport, which is pretty useful. More money, on a map with funding as tight as this, is definitely game-changing.  So, I can see Talora just kind of lurking up here. If I use the silo here, it prevents her from getting it next turn, and Alfonse gets the defensive bonuses from the silo.  Again, I aim it vaguely down here - primarily I want to hit the tank, Lowell, because he's on his way north to fight Alfonse, and I'm not confident that my man will get through it unscathed.  Now I need to focus on the bottom of the map. The foot soldiers crossing the river now have to contend with Von Panzer, though, so that should hopefully slow their assault down somewhat. I can't let Grimm get any properties on this side of the map - and especially not the base that Von Panzer is on.  I get a tank up north, too - Dave! "Alfonse! Glad you're looking alright. No troubles getting this base?" "You know me, Dave. Not a problem." Alfonse replies, grinning. "At least, I hope we're not going to run into trouble... we've got to keep this base."  Von Panzer takes out one of the infantry, meanwhile. I have long since lost track of which Yellow Comet infantry is which.  And Carter gets into a position where he can fire on any foot soldiers who go for the neutral property - or more worryingly, those that try to attack Von Panzer. Like I said, Grimm's mechs hurt.  This could be an interesting turn. Let's see...  This Dick Captures A Property: 22 Both the airport and the property get captured, annoyingly. Now I really need to keep Grimm on the run, because the last thing I need is for him to deploy some air units that might challenge my tanks' superiority.  As I feared, Iago is going for Von Panzer. He lands a sturdy blow, but he's in Carter's range, so that should be fine next turn. Still, Von Panzer's gonna have to go heal after that.  Talora attacks Alfonse, meanwhile, and even with the defensive bonus, brings him down to 6HP. Jesus Christ.  "I'll take it from here." Lowell says, readying his tank's paint cannon. "I've observed your battle thus far, and have decided that you soldiers draw your strength from the bonds of friendship. Without them, when asked to fight on an individual level... you are all just another soldier." He opens fire on Alfonse, preparing to coat him in paint. "Lowell, was it?" Dave says, turning to the young man. He nods. "Soldier of Yellow Comet. Hoping to learn all I can from these battles, so that I may better protect my country." Lowell says. "Well, there's one thing you definitely need to learn, then." Dave says, giving the young man a wide grin. "Wh-what?"  "Simple." Alfonse replies, standing up and shouldering his gun. "You missed." "H-how?!" gasps Lowell. "By all accounts, that should've..." "You're not wrong that the bonds of friendship make us strong. But when you're tangling with the Allied Nations, especially those who serve under my dude, there's something you should remember: we don't go down easily. On our own, or together, we're strong either way." Lowell lowers his head and nods. "Hm. I see. I've... more to learn, then."  Phew! Glad Alfonse got through that alright. Now I just need to figure out a way of getting rid of Lowell before he can finish the job.  On the second front, Gordon takes on Lysander. "Gah! Man, you took me by surprise. Guess you guys are just as brilliant as ever, huh?" Lysander says, smirking as he is dripping in paint. "Oh, I don't know if I'd go that far, but we do our best!" Gordon replies. "You sure do. It's a pleasure to be back, everyone. I'm looking forward to fighting alongside you - that is, if you win." "We've got my dude, of course we're gonna win." Dave grunts over the transceiver. Vanessa, back at Yellow Comet HQ, sighs. "Of course, he's right. I can't outwit my dude yet, as I'm still learning my craft. But... if she gets back soon, maybe she..?"  Up north, Arqa is surprised by Ingo retreating and being replaced by a much more dangerous unit for a mech: Fliss. She finishes off Arqa without much trouble.  Just one mech left now, Dymek, but I've got Gordon and Carl on the case. They can finish him off next turn.  He does get a final "gently caress you" in the form of another god drat property though. This Dick Captures A Property: 23  Right, let's just blaze through this next turn so we can finish off the second front.  So, the fun thing about Alfonse is that you don't need any amount of HP to be capable of firing a silo, so he can still contribute despite being moments away from needing to retreat.  I bomb the group down here, since there's quite a lot of them now. And, wait, that artillery- "I can command the battle better if I'm actually taking part!" Vanessa shouts. "If you want victory, my dude, I'm going to make you earn it!" Fine by me. I like a challenge.  She's a bit less talkative after Alfonse drops a huge paint bomb on her.  Dave moves up to attack Lowell from here - he can finish Lowell off in one blow, and by doing it from this position, he also prevents Talora from getting any closer to Alfonse.  Felix gets on with his capturing, in the meantime. He's not got much else to offer right now, but I'm not going to complain about more money.  Down below, Carter finishes off another mech to protect Von Panzer. Things are going... alright down here, but I'd prefer to feel a bit safer about the endless waves of dudes headed by way. I need more support.  Especially since Von Panzer's gonna head north to heal for a bit.  I deploy another tank at the northern base to support Dave in the meantime - and it's Rin, because who else? "Dave! Ready to show Yellow Comet what we can do together?" "Of course, kid." Dave replies. "Just take care, alright? It might be a mock battle, but they ain't holding back!"  And that's generally how this turn ends. We'll deal with the lower problems next time, but for now Carter can just about halt the flow.  Let's see what Grimm's going to do about it.  He sends more units forward to capture that neutral property, and deploys another tank - it's Kyril, the nephew of Emperor Kanbei. "I'm here to help, Vanessa!" Kyril announces. "Just tell me what I need to do - I'll hold the line!" "I know you will, Kyril. Glad to have you on the field. Pay attention to my orders, and we'll stop Orange Star in their tracks!" Vanessa replies.  Right, second front time. Let's just get rid of Dymek and end it.  The extra bonuses from the property do mean that he survives a hit from Gordon, though, so Carl's going to have to finish it.  "...That is your third hit, isn't it? You're defeated." Carl replies. "We've defeated you." "Yeah, yeah, alright! Guess you got me fair and square." Dymek replies. "drat, I was hoping to take at least one of you down with me, but..."  Hurray! That's one load off my mind. Now to finish off the main battle. Don't get cocky, my dude! It'll be your undoing! What, do you have a plan, Vanessa? It better be good! I'm doing my best, Commander Grimm! Just give me a moment to think... So! Next time we'll push forward on the main front and finish off this map. Still, it's started well, and that's the major headaches out of the way. Now it's just a case of dealing with Grimm's remaining forces, but we're at the advantage. Plus, we've got a Tag Power in the back now, so I'll be making good use of that later on. See you next week, everyone! *** Part 22 (Intermission) - Sleepless Night cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 10:29 on May 6, 2022 |
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Dec 10, 2021 13:24
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 Alright, the "Totally Not Rose" got a chuckle out of me in the soldier overview, well played.
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Dec 10, 2021 23:58
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This is the first mission I remember having trouble with as a kid. It's really not hard at all (especially if you've come from AW1 and AW2) but it's certainly a step up from the previous missions in this game.
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Dec 11, 2021 04:37
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I remember liking this one enough that I copied it in the editor for versus mode. It's simple, but I liked all the sniping each other's bases with artillery and infantry over the river while the tanks had to drive around. And the novelty of the double map was fun.
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Dec 11, 2021 04:58
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I can't imagine the AI handling that second front well at all. Kind of an odd setup on this map where you're almost forced down one path to get the second front under control.
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Dec 11, 2021 05:44
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