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Part 23 (Battle) - Apply Tanks To Burned Area WELCOME BACK LET'S SHOOT SOMEONE (with paint)  Thanks, Carter. So, uh, yeah, we're partway through the Grimm/Sensei fight. Last time, we beat Sensei, and now we just have one front to worry about, with a Tag Power in the back for when we need it. As such, this probably isn't going to be too tough.  That said, I am concerned about Grimm's foot units that keep coming over this god drat river. So I'm deploying Diana to hopefully dissuade them from going after the base.  Von Panzer might be damaged, but he's still got enough strength to take out the last of the foot soldiers. I'm sure Grimm's going to replace them soon enough, given half the chance, though.  At the very least, Felix has captured all of the buildings up here now. He's pretty much finished now, he can just chill out.  Like I said before, Alfonse can still do solid damage through silos, even at 1HP, so I get him to chunk down the infantry headed towards my tanks.  Rin and Dave, our tanks up north, can clean up. Rin first.  Dave takes out the one up here. This might've been Aanisah? I forget.  I decide to get another infantry at the central base, so I deploy Elena. In my head I was thinking that I might steal that airport from Grimm, but, slight spoilers, I never got the chance to.  Still, we've got the advantage for definite. Just need to be careful and not make any stupid mistakes, or have any unexpected trouble.  Yeah... unexpected trouble like a CO Power.  It isn't a SCOP at least, and if I remember correctly, both of Grimm's CO Powers are literally just "hit harder". No extra movement or wacky effects make it less of a problem.  ...It's even less of a problem when none of Grimm's more dangerous units are actually in range to attack me. Amazing.  Welp, that was his last hope, really. Let's get on with the crushing, shall we? Uh, I mean nonlethal defeating.  Whilst the freshly-healed Khepri poses no threat to my tanks, she will take out Alfonse in his weakened state, so we've gotta get rid of her before we move on. Rin can do the job, thankfully!  As Dave rumbles over to take out the other infantry, he hears Khepri and Rin arguing. "You only hit me twice!" "Nuh-uh, I hit you three times, I'm sure of it!" Rin says, pulling a face. Khepri shakes her head. "No, your last shot definitely went wide. Look, there's paint splattered on the ground!" "That was from the fight with Lowell earlier! You're making this up!" Elena sighs. "Ladies, ladies. Allow me to clear this up."  "And how are you going to do that?" Khepri asks. No sooner have the words left her mouth does a shot ring out from the distance, and a huge splodge of paint strikes her recon. "Whether Rin hit you twice or thrice, I think we can agree... you've definitely been hit three times now." Elena says, Dave's eyes widen. "drat, they weren't kiddin' when they said you were a hell of a shot. That was a direct hit!"  Alfonse, meanwhile, can fire off the last of the silos. I decide to spare Vanessa in the artillery - I want to definitely hit Kyril since he's in range to attack my tanks next turn, and a weakened attack might just save my hide.  I also decide it's time to bring in the big guns to defend the river area. Fred should be able to dissuade anyone from coming over!  And that's how we stack up. You'll note on the left, I'm moving Von Panzer north to heal and help out Rin and Dave with cleanup.  Right, Grimm's turn again. Here comes Kyril.  Kyril charges forward. "I have you in my sights, Rin! Take this!" "You're the famous Kyril, right? Nephew of Kanbei, hero of Yellow Comet?" Rin asks. "I'm delighted to meet you!" As Kyril lands a direct blow on Rin's tank, Dave sighs. "Rin, you are fightin' him, y'know. Pay attention, alright?" "I only took one hit, it's fine! Now we can tag-team him!" "You better be right about this." Dave replies, shrugging. That's the only attack that happens, though. I don't think Grimm can deploy anything to actually threaten me now, honestly.  God drat I need to learn when to shut my mouth gently caress.  That copter is bad loving news - I have nothing up north that can even scratch it, and it'll probably make a beeline for Alfonse and the tanks. I mean, sure, I'm going to win the battle, but I came this far deathless, and I'll be damned if this copter spoils it for me. "Perry, are you deploying again?!" Vanessa asks furiously. "Hell yeah! I got beat way too quickly on the second front! Gimme a chance to fight again!" Peregrine says, turning her copter towards the tanks in the distance. "That's actually cheating!" Vanessa replies, but eventually she sighs. "Uh, is that OK with you guys?" "Heh. We like a challenge." Dave says, a relaxed smile on his face. "Besides, we're technically cheating by bringing my dude, the instant win button." "Yeah, exactly!" Peregrine shouts. "If he's such a loving big shot, he should be able to handle me no problem, right?!"  Whilst I let my plans for Operation Tell Peregrine To gently caress Right Off percolate, I decide to focus on the lower area. Carter can take out the first infantry trying to invade me...  ...and the other one is badly weakened by Fred. He'll be healed a bit from the base, but a) not enough to not die to another rocket attack and b) that sucks up some more of Grimm's dwindling finances, preventing him from deploying more god drat copters.  Von Panzer moves in to back up the tanks, whilst Rin finishes off Kyril. "There we go!" she cries. "Told you I was focussing, Dave." "Ah, I'm already done? In that case I'm going to wash my tank off..." Kyril sighs, shaking his head. "Lovely meeting you properly, though, Rin!" "You too!" Rin says, waving as Kyril drives his tank away.  And we needed to get rid of Kyril, too, because I need a goddamn anti-air. Come on out, Ludmilla. "Hello, gents. I heard there's a copter that needs grounding. Point me in the right direction, would you?" "I'd hold your fire for now." Dave mutters, staring up at the skyline. "Ach! The copter is headed right for us - you must wait until she moves into our range before striking!" "Gotcha. Just tell me when." Ludmilla replies.  Meanwhile, I need to speed up the beating of this map, so I send Dave in to start getting rid of the dregs.  Aaaand I should move Alfonse to safety before I end my turn.  This is how we're doing. We have enough firepower - the only main threats are Vanessa in the artillery and Peregrine in the copter. Let's see how this works out...  Please be nice, girls. Please.  Down south, where I had Diana capturing things, the infantry are still picking fights with me. It is genuinely a neverending stream of these dipshits for the whole map.  This weakened mech goes for Dave, and gets exploded for their trouble.  And Peregrine... sits right outside of Ludmilla's range. How infuriating.  "Ya think I was going to make it easy for you? Come the gently caress on, gents!" "S'cuse me, we've got some gals down here too." Dave replies. "Rin, Ludmilla, teach her a lesson, would you?" Ludmilla scowls at the copter hovering out of her reach. "Dave, I would if I could. This one's not playing ball."  So, someone's going to take a hit from Peregrine. All I need to do is figure out how to shuffle these guys around so that nobody dies from that. First, I move Alfonse all the way south. He'll die - well, have to retreat - if anyone so much as coughs on him, so I've got to make sure he's definitely out of her range.  Elena moves up to capture something. Hopefully Peregrine will prioritise attacking a capturing infantry over anything else? That's how it worked in AW2, if I remember correctly.  And then I arrange the rest of the crew like this - a defensive wall that protects Alfonse. Important note: Rin, the weaker tank, is on the silo which provides 3 defence stars, whilst Von Panzer, the full-HP tank, is on the bridge with no defence stars. And of course Ludmilla can sit on the bridge because no sane copter would initiate on an anti-air.  Meanwhile, Dave reaches the southernmost part of the map and engages Vanessa. "Can't attack me at close range, can you?" Dave says, firing off paint from his tank cannon. Vanessa shakes her head. "No, I fear we're on the verge of being overrun. But if you think everyone's getting out of this unscathed, you've got another thing coming!"  And Grimm is spawning even more godforsaken infantry, so Fred rockets it to teach him a lesson.  Diana's chip damage from the infantry that attacked her last time was just enough to prevent her from finishing this capture. I don't, like, need this building or anything though, so I'm not too concerned.  So. Moment of truth. Is Peregrine going to take someone out?  I accounted for everything. I think. Grimm doesn't hit that hard, right?  She has chosen Von Panzer. Rookie mistake, there - as you all know, Von Panzer does not loving die. "Take this, moustache!" Peregrine yells, firing off paint from her copter. "Here's a taste of Yellow Comet aerial support!"  "Harrumph! I barely felt it." Von Panzer replies, his steely gaze looking up at the copter above him. "You'll have to try harder than that, ja?"  And now that Peregrine's been safely lured to land, we can take her out no problem.  Rin and Von Panzer have taken some hefty hits of paint though, so I join them up to increase their efficiency somewhat. And... hang on, looking at this...  I think I've got just enough firepower to rout the map, looking at this. Let's see what we can do! First, Ludmilla finishes Peregrine. "Alright, you've been knocked out for good, now!" Ludmilla says. "Now be a good girl and don't come back, OK?" "drat it, didn't get anyone again? My dude really is good, huh?" Peregrine sighs. "Just wanted to cover someone in tons of paint..."  Carter can chunk this infantry all the way to not alive.  Fred can do the same to the infantry just hanging around over here, dunking him in paint from afar.  ...Now let's see it. Let's see the might of the Tag Power!  You're always serious, you lunatic. I've never heard you make a joke.  Max and Rachel, that's a fun combination. We're going to do so much god drat damage.  For the sake of brevity, I skipped it, but we struck the foot units twice, bringing them to 4HP, and Vanessa/the tank once.  Dave attacks Vanessa again, but crucially, from this tile instead of the one on the right. It should be evident why.  gently caress it, might as well capture something in the middle of all this  drat, Max. Going all out, aren't we?  So yeah, once we're done with Rachel's turn, we swap to Max and...  Holy loving poo poo I get to take a second turn. This is the best thing. So yeah, Ludmilla shreds the infantry over here...  Whilst Dave does the same here. And that tank on a base? You might think it's a problem, but...  ...Yeah, Grimm's lower defences combined with a Max SCOP... Rin and Von Panzer kind of obliterate it. With that, we're done!   Hah ha! We were defeated fair and square. Score one for the young 'uns. So, Grimm, this means you'll be fighting with us now, right? Under my command? I gave my word, didn't I? And the way you mowed us down? I'm happy to! Listen up, people! Lightning Grimm is one of yours now! Let's go find Black Hole's COs and make their mugs even uglier! He certainly is full of steam. I have a feeling he's the life of the party. You did good, Rachel! And your ACO is the real deal--I’m impressed! Well, I AM the best strategist in the world. Gwar har har! You know, that’s funny. What’s funny? Well, we’ve got an ACO with us, and people say the exact same thing about her. ! I’m here! Forgive me for not partaking in this battle myself. Commander Grimm, please allow me to take to the field! There you are! Rose Kuroda, the Desolate Flower! Hey, and here she is, speak of the devil! Sensei says this little madam’s one of the biggest strategic geniuses on the planet. And it sounds like you’re anxious to test yourself against this ‘my dude’, is that right? Please, Commander Grimm. You’ve seen how the COs stack up against you. Now allow me to test myself against my dude before we continue. I’ll never get another opportunity like this. You can’t argue with that, can you now? Gwar har har! No, I can’t! Rachel, whaddya say to testing out our ACOs against one another? Hm, that sounds interesting. Why not? It’d be a good chance to see what my dude can do. We COs can take a back seat then, hm? We’ll let the ACOs play for a while, and then we can find Black Hole. You said it! I’m looking forward to seeing these two clash! My dude, you and Rose have never fought on opposite sides before, right? Nope. This is… new. Alright, well, I guess everyone’s ready. Let’s do this, Rose. I’ll make my preparations. See you on the battlefield, my dude. So, yes, we won, but we're not quite done yet. We'll be taking on Rose Kuroda next, in the Hard Campaign version of this mission, before we move on.  And it seems like these two are eager to see it happen. Who's next, you ask? Rose loving Kuroda, Rachel. That's who.  The next day, once everyone's cleaned all the paint off of their vehicles, we begin anew. So let's get started.  Well, my dude, our resources are yours. I want to see what you’re really capable of. ‘Course. Gonna be fine. I beat you pretty handily in that first mission, didn’t I? Are you seriously making fun of me NOW? Yup. Gonna make fun of everyone. Partly because you’re all nerds. But also because that distracts me from the fact that I have to fight Rose Kuroda and I am absolutely loving terrified. You’re… scared? I’ve never seen you look so determined, my dude. You gonna be alright?  So, you’re serious about this? I have to try. I have to know. All the decisions out there will be yours, Rose. You’ve got the know-how to take my dude on. Thank you, Sensei. You’ve taught me a lot…I’ll do my best. Hey, Rose. You feeling up to this?* I’ve fought with my dude long enough to know and fear his strength. I’ve fought with Rose long enough to know and fear her strength. This battle isn’t going to be easy. But I have to know. Which of us is stronger? And so, we see the battlefield. Not an easy one, not at all... two fronts, headed by  Only one CO to choose for this battle, obviously. I'll be taking care of things. So, he’s taking full control? Whose CO benefits is he using, then? His own, apparently. I’ve heard they’re very similar to Jess’ strengths--his artilleries and medium tanks are particularly powerful. Correct, I’m a vehicle specialist, primarily. Bombers, too. Love a good bomber. But doesn’t Rose specialise in battle copters and medium tanks? That’s not a favourable match-up against medium tanks and artilleries. I’ve fought predeployed Kanbei. I’ve fought Sonja in Fog of War. I’ve battled Drake on the ocean and Eagle in the sky. Trust me - an unfavourable matchup is where I do my best work. Confident, aren’t you? Good luck, my dude. I look way more confident than I feel, I can promise you. But… thanks. I’m gonna need that luck.Next time: my dude vs Rose Kuroda. Place your bets. *** Part 24 (Intermission) - Yellow Reunion
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Dec 17, 2021 08:50
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 18:44 |
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Well this is certainly weird and unexpected! My dude will win because he has the Clairvoyance CO power where he gets an attempt or two at the map before the real thing. :P So you got to use a Tag Power this time. Easily my favourite track in the game. Will never forget playing with headphones when this game first came out and when I did a Tag Power I just sat there for a minute listening to the music. Wonderful stuff. As for map dialogue, nothing very interesting for this one. Rachel is forced on the main front so the only CO you can deploy who has unique dialogue with her is Jake. "You're my second CO, Jake! I'm counting on you!" "We're about to be clashin' with the legends! How cool is this?"
SoundwaveAU fucked around with this message at 11:24 on Dec 17, 2021 |
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Dec 17, 2021 11:20
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Ooh, now this is fun. I like how you handled My Dude acting as CO too, curious to see how CO powers will work.
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Dec 17, 2021 19:24
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Did you discover the blank CO glitch?
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Dec 17, 2021 19:51
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Looks like I'm not the only one with a weird love for this map. Are you playing through hard mode on the side or is this map maker magic?
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Dec 17, 2021 20:21
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SoundwaveAU posted:Well this is certainly weird and unexpected! Agreed, love the Tag Power theme, it was great. Nice and satisfying! Remalle posted:Did you discover the blank CO glitch? I did not, but I am now curious. What's that? FoolyCharged posted:Looks like I'm not the only one with a weird love for this map. Are you playing through hard mode on the side or is this map maker magic? Well, for those who wanna peek behind the curtain, this is Hard Campaign Lightning Strikes, and I'm using Jess with no additional CO. I debated using map maker (and even potentially playing someone else on AWBW) but this felt like the most expedient solution. JeffRaze posted:Ooh, now this is fun. I like how you handled My Dude acting as CO too, curious to see how CO powers will work. I do hope you enjoy it! CO Powers are... interesting. Obviously I'm just editing the screenshots and could not do anything with the base game, but for the curious as to what a canonical my dude/Rose would look like, me and SMaster777 discussed it some weeks ago, and came up with this: My dude A talkative and overconfident strategist whose primary focus is keeping his soldiers safe over everything else. Though ditzy, when he needs to focus, he is a virtually unbeatable strategist. Hit: Nell Miss: Fog of War Deployed units have 130/130 stats, infantry/mechs always capture 10 regardless of their current HP and can move again after fully capturing something, and base/port/airport repairs cost 0. However, this CO can only deploy 1 of every type of unit, and cannot deploy another one if that one is destroyed. CO Power: Ultimate Disrespect 3 stars. All units gain a 5% offense boost for every allied unit within 3 spaces. Super CO Power: Victory Formation 7 stars. All units gain a 5% offense and defence boost for every allied unit within 4 spaces. All units gain the ability to move again if they attack and destroy an opposing unit. (Only works once per unit.) ----------------- Rose The quiet child genius of Yellow Comet, and close friend of Sonja and Vanessa. Has a rivalry with my dude. Said to be so talented at strategy that it’s almost like she can see the future. Hit: Teddy bears Miss: Parties +1 movement to battle copters, tanks and medium tanks, and -1 movement to APCs, landers and transport copters. CO Power: Genius Planning 3 stars. For 1 day, negates the effect of luck in battle, rendering all battles predictable. Super CO Power: Prodigal Planning 6 stars. For 1 day, negates the effect of luck in battle, and any damage in funds that this CO’s units take returns to this CO’s funds. Damage dealt to this CO’s units during this day does not increase the opposing CO’s Power Meter.
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Dec 17, 2021 20:39
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How does no additional CO work on a two-front battle like this?
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Dec 17, 2021 21:24
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AweStriker posted:How does no additional CO work on a two-front battle like this? Like playing Olaf with weather and CO Powers disabled.
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Dec 17, 2021 21:34
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Ooh, now this will be interesting. Lovely photoshop and plot work.
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Dec 17, 2021 21:59
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AweStriker posted:How does no additional CO work on a two-front battle like this? Ah, you're right, I went with Rachel as my backup, if I recall correctly. Quackles posted:Ooh, now this will be interesting. Lovely photoshop and plot work. Thank you kindly! I'm looking forward to this next part. Should be very interesting indeed.
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Dec 18, 2021 00:21
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cosmicPostman posted:
Chiming in with a bit of the thought process on these two, when it came to designing them. my dude: LPAW itself is essentially "Advance Wars but it's Fire Emblem", as we all know two games and some change into the series. As such, his playstyle essentially turns his units into full blown Fire Emblem characters, far stronger than your average enemy mook (the 130/130 stats, the free heals and the 2-hit-captures with galeforce on capture all work to simulate this), but vulnerable to the stock FE enemy tactic of zerg rushing and being very limited, with final death being a thing and all. His powers, of course, reward the player for keeping their units as a tight knit group. Rose: Her D2Ds are honestly just nods to her primary classes as a unit in LPAW proper (Battle Copter and Medium Tank), where she gets creative is her powers. Recall this quote of Rose's in LPAW2: LPAW2, Interview 35, Rose Speaking posted:"That was a foolish mistake, Hawke. My command of the battlefield is absolute - that means that I account for every possible strategy and move, and I also account for the luck of my enemy. My planning is so precise that no amount of luck can change the outcome. No matter your planning and preparation, you will always come second to me. But please, feel free to take another shot. I'm only serving to distract you from what's happening on the other side of the river..." Well... we ran with that. AW has mostly static unit matchups with the random luck variable occasionally messing with the status quo (or constantly, if your name is Nell), so Rose simply negates the RNG factor, causing static and predictable fights until her next turn, allowing her to plan out her moves to the t. (It also silver bullets Nell hilariously enough... and apporpriately, makes her a great tag partner to Sonja) Her SCOP pretty much allows her to shrug off losses taken during the luckless period.
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Dec 20, 2021 11:27
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Part 25 (Battle) - My Dude Vs. Rose Kuroda It's time.  You young ‘uns better pay attention to this battle. They might just be ACOs, but I’ve heard about my dude, and if Rose considers him an equal, then I’m certain that this is going to be a battle to remember. Maybe just as legendary of a clash as you and Edgar, or Hachi! Oh, that was a long time ago, Max. Those days are long behind me. So, here are the deployments for today. Today’s Deployments First Front Rin, Infantry Dave, Mech Julian, Tank Fliss, Anti-Air Ludmilla, Anti-Air Gordon, Anti-Air Boris, Anti-Air Eduard, Anti-Air Von Panzer, Recon Ingo, Artillery Lucy, Artillery Lloyd, Artillery Second Front Diana, Infantry Carter, Mech Klara, Mech Alina, Mech Kira, Mech Fenya, Mech Dimitri, Tank Anna, Tank Yakov, Recon Inessa, Recon Anton, Missiles Eduard Age: 19 Personality: Short, easy to anger. Proficiencies: Recon, Anti-Air, Infantry, Black Boat Kira Age: 23 Personality: Beauty-obsessed ballgown wearer. Proficiencies: Tank, Mech, Neotank, Bomber Anna Age: 30 Personality: Chilled-out, amateur acoustic guitarist. Proficiencies: Tank, Battleship, Submarine, Lander  OK, let's get going! So, uh, if it's not already abundantly clear, I'm not gonna win this without taking some casualties. Thankfully, we're still in paintball mode, so that's not going on my permanent record.  First thing I do on the main front is move all my troops up (and send Fliss to the second front) but without getting into the range of that tank over there. The last thing I need is to have a tank harassing me. I'll need to be careful about luring it in.  Rose's turn. I bet she's already got the whole battle, turn for turn, mapped out.  A recon and a mech approach, but not much else. Unsurprisingly, it's the fuckload of copters on the second front that I'm more worried about.  Speaking of, second front turn. The only real option is just to start running the hell away with my mechs.  Tragically, two movement does not get you very far, but the rest of my units can meet them halfway, at least. Having Anton's missiles on hand is going to be useful.  Hopefully, anyway. Please don't all charge me, please don't all-  god drat it rose I think it's safe to assume that if I don't want Rose to do it, she's going to do it. She's not like the other COs I've fought thus far. She's probably in one of those copters, commanding things directly from the battlefield.  Just need to maintain balance on the first front until I've dealt with Rose's copter squadron of bullshittery on the second front, I think.  Which isn't easy when there's a medium tank and battle copter headed my way soon, and I still don't have the funds to deploy anything useful. Ludmilla,  I think the solution to the second front is "throw anti-airs at the problem until it goes away", so I deploy Eduard. He'll be on his way to the second front soon enough/  Now we can take out this recon safely before luring the tank, too. Lucy shoots it for most of its HP.  And I send Von Panzer to finish it; he's in tank range, but come on, it's Von Panzer. He's gonna live.  My anti-airs down south are gonna go ham on that battle copter the minute it crosses the river. I'm not letting that thing get close to my other vehicles and foot units.  God, I'm suddenly second-guessing everything. How the hell do you out-think an ACO like Rose Kuroda?  I'm afraid you cannot rely on a lucky hit to survive me, Commander my dude."Luck?" Von Panzer barks as the tank opens fire, covering him in paintballs.  "It is not luck that lets me persist! Nein! It is pure, iron will!" ...A miscalculation? Impossible. There's more where that came from, kid! As punishment for Von Panzer surviving a rather crucial blow, Rose parks her battle copter in the one goddamn space on the map that my anti-airs can't hit it from. And it's in range of the vehicles and foot soldiers that I just promised it would not hit.  Well, this is a fine mess, but I've no time to worry about that right now. Got second front things to do.  Rose is good at keeping her copters out of danger on both fronts, it seems. I'm gonna have to use some of my soldiers as bait if I want these copters dead from missiles.  I can at least take one of them out with Fliss.  I arrange my soldiers like so, preparing for a copter storm. Can you see my big mistake?  It'll become clear in a second.  ...Yeah... kinda left Anton open to being attacked by bro copters. "I've taken three hits." Anton says, looking around. "Am I... already out?" "Looks like it." Diana replies grimly. "Dimitri, there's no way we're gonna hold off this many copters. What do we do?" Dimitri shakes his head. "No idea. Wait for reinforcements from the main front, I guess. Not much else we can do."  Unfortunately, Anton's not the only casualty.  "Dimitri, copter-!" Diana shouts, but Dimitri is already on it, and manages to drive his tank away - he only gets hit by two paint splatters. "drat, they're not holding back at all. And I thought our previous fight was already us giving 100%." Dimitri murmurs.  Well, this is going swimmingly. He said, sarcastically.  Now the copters are scattered amongst my units on the second front, and I have no conceivable way to hit the bro copter on the first front, I decide to send Ludmilla and Boris to the second front.  And then I get another one. As many anti-airs as it takes, I swear I will loving buy them. This one's Gordon!  There is one good thing, at least. With this tank lured neatly into range, I can take it out with a Lucy/Dave combo.  "Alright, that's three hits, off you go." Dave says to the soldier in the tank, letting out a sigh. "Now how the hell are we supposed to go for the middle island base?" "With that medium tank hanging around, no way!" Lucy cries.  Yeah, I can't approach that island now that the medium tank's coming over. I need something to deal with that, but I've barely any funds as it is. I'm sending my infantry, Rin, north to start firing off silos and capturing things.  Next problem to deal with is that copter, which is probably about to come over and annoy me.  ...gently caress, that's unexpected. Wasn't paying attention down below - at least Gordon can heal up before he goes to the second front, but that's still a lot of damage.  "Oh, hello-" Dave grunts as a copter opens fire on him, splattering him with paintballs. "Looks like we've got company of a different kind, never mind that medium tank!"  A medium tank and an artillery charge forward, whilst below, the foot soldiers are heading across the river. I need to maintain my ground, but it's not looking ideal.  Neither's the second front, to be fair. Let's see if we can thin out the copter crowd a little.  Fliss...  Boris...  ...and Ludmilla all tell the copters to eat poo poo. Have you still not located Rose's copter? Not yet. If I can take out Rose, that'd be ideal, but there's a lot of copters to check. Wait, she isn't... is she in the copter on the first front? OK, I'll have to check that next turn. For now, I've got a decent setup on the second front - I mean, when you're not worried about casualties, beating maps becomes easier. I think literally everyone save for the anti-airs could get slaughtered on that second front and I'd still win. ...But, you know, I'd rather not have everyone get taken out.  Rose, however, cares not a jot for my silly desire to keep people alive and not drenched in paint.  ...Wait, dialogue? So she's going to-  OH, gently caress.  Welp, the power of Rose's battle copters just got jacked up from "loving ridiculous" to "genuinely game-breaking". Here we go.  Anna gets blasted with paint three times before she even knows what's going on. "Oh, no! I was going to... man, battle copters are not fun to fight when you're in a tank." she sighs.  The next copter opens fire on Inessa, but she scrapes by with barely any HP remaining - she only takes two hits from the paint. "Phew! That was a close one. I've gotta be careful!" Inessa cries. "Everyone else OK?" "Uh," Alina says, staring down at the copter coming towards her.  "Let me get back to you on that one!" "Alina's out too, hm?" Fenya replies. "You're next, look out!" Diana says sharply, but it's too late.  Another one bites the dust. Or, I guess, another one gets covered in paint.  How many loving copters were there? My god, this is just a slaughter.  Finally, one of the copters gets the last hit on Dimitri, forcing him to retire. "Sorry, folks, I'd better go. Rules are rules and all. Don't hold back on them, d'you hear me?"  Jesus Christ, Rose, did you have to go so hard? Please tell me I got my CO Power from that, at least.  Well, we have to worry about the first front first. And that copter, which may or may not be the one Rose is in...  "I'm going to weaken the medium tank! Can you guys take it from there?" Rin says as she prepares the silo. Dave winces. "I, uh... genuinely don't know, kid. But if you can hit it, we can hit twice more, I'm sure." he replies. "Once someone gets this copter off my back, anyway."  Unfortunately, that'll have to wait to next turn - Gordon wasn't quite able to reach the copter. If that is Rose, she's going to capitalise on this, for sure.  Please be nice, please be nice, please be-  Oh, god drat it, another?! I must be pushing her if she's forced to use her COP so soon after her SCOP.  This should hurt less, at least? That's a positive, right?  The medium tank and artillery move to what I would refer to as "way too loving close", whilst the copter goes for Lucy, but doesn't scratch a kill. "Orders are to find out who's in the copter? If it's Rose, we can take her out and we'll be at the advantage!" Lucy says, staring up at the bro copter currently attacking her. "Who's up there..? I can just about make them out..?"  The foot soldiers are crossing the river, too. This is all very upsetting.  Right. Time to start fixing all of the poo poo that's going wrong. And that begins by getting rid of these godforsaken copters.  I think it's extremely distressing that thanks to the 10% defence buff from using a SCOP, I am now no longer guaranteed to kill these bro copters with anti-airs.  Anti-airs one-shotting copters is like, a fact of life! Hold on, I need a backup strategy.  H-hey, wait--! Too late, airstrike time. But like, airstrikes filled with paint. I feel like that pushes credibility a bit, but gently caress it.  Canonically, this isn't what my SCOP does, but also, I like airstrikes and need some for this map.  The mechs get hit twice, and the lower copters get hit once. Not fantastic but useful damage nonetheless. At the very least it'll slow down those mechs a bit so I can finish off the copters before I have to worry about them.  Fliss finishes off another copter, splatting it in paint from afar. "Still no Rose..." she murmurs. "Of course she wouldn't be easy to find..."  I think I've pretty handily got the second front sorted now - it's just cleanup at this point, and my anti-airs can handle that, no problem. The first front... is gonna need some work.  Go on, Kuroda, do your worst.  And, without the huge boost in power afforded by Rose's SCOP...  ...It takes two bro copters to take out Kira. "Oh, you've got paint all over my dress! How barbaric. I'm gonna have to clean this out now... might need to get a professional in. Urgh." "You brought a dress to a battlefield. Can I ask what on earth you were expecting?" Diana comments. Kira doesn't dignify her with a response.  Right, Rose in her goddamn copter have to go, first order of business.  Gordon, crush it. "Sorry, Rose!" he says, firing off rounds of paintballs. As they splatter into the bro copter, there's a laugh from inside the cockpit. It doesn't sound like the laugh of an eleven-year-old girl. "It's Peregrine, folks! Sorry, no Rose here. I'll bow out for now!" Commander my dude... I know it's my most notable proficiency in combat, but when on earth did I say I was in a battle copter? Because- wait, so... What's she using, then? It would have to be something she's proficient in, and something where she can command the battlefield..? Oh, gently caress. The medium tank! Of COURSE! She's in the goddamn medium tank, I should have realised. poo poo! No wonder the main front's going so poorly, she was commanding it herself from a front-row seat. Lucy, take that tank out! Or, y'know, weaken it. "Got another hit in!" Lucy shouts. "One more and Rose has to leave the battlefield. That'll put us at the advantage, right?" "Certainly will, but even if she's taken out and starts commanding from afar like my dude does... Rose ain't gonna give up easy." Dave mutters.  Still can't afford a medium tank, and I don't know how useful a regular tank's going to be against Rose, so I deploy Ingo as an artillery instead. He should be able to help if Rose does push ahead.  This looks more dire than it is. Gordon can head south to take out the infantry units trying to capture my bases; I only needed him up north to take out that copter. Dave and Von Panzer are probably gonna go down, but that gives me some time to build a defensive presence down below, where Ingo can continue firing at Rose. Rin, all the way up north, just needs to stay the hell out of everyone's way until Rose is finished off.  Then again, Rose accounts for everything... I can't rely on any dumb luck. I just have to outsmart her, and keep outsmarting her, until the battle's done.  Rose's artillery friend does not go for Lucy like I was expecting, but instead targets Gordon. That's already a bad start.  This means Gordon's no longer capable of holding back those infantry down south. Even with the overwhelming strength of anti-airs against foot soldiers, a 1HP anti-air's not gonna be doing much. Rose, you're... actually doing it! This is amazing! ...Are you alright? You're sweating. It is... taking all of my energy... to focus on this fight. A single slip-up and my dude will crush me. I admit that freely. I just have to ensure that I make no mistakes... Speaking of those foot soldiers I can't hold back, they're now capturing one of my bases.  Rose herself turns on Dave. "I'm sorry, Dave. I must show my dude how much I have grown. And if I have to do that by defeating my old friends... then I will." "Don't hold back." Dave says, grinning. "I can take it. You'd better make your shot count or I'll take you out first!"  Well, she didn't hold back. Dave was taken out, unfortunately. Medium tanks really are tough.  But anyway, who cares about that when we've got an infestation of bro copters to take out on the second front?  Just gotta finish them all off. I think we have enough firepower to do it this turn, at least.  Ah yes, we can take out this one with Ludmilla...  And, with a bit of rearranging, Fliss can finish off the final copter. Whew. That was... rough.  Now to win the second front, we just have to finish off the mechs, which isn't going to be hard, but it is going to take several turns to get over to them. Just kind of annoying, really.  We get a nice handy SCOP when it's done though, so I can't argue with that. A SCOP might be what we need to turn things around on the first front.  The mechs just kind of wander around, capturing random stuff. They're... they're not doing much to threaten me.  Right, back to the first front. Gonna pull it back. Watch this.  Lucy does more damage to Rose. "That's three hits, isn't it?" "I believe the stated rules, that we all agreed on before the battle, afford medium tanks five hits before they exit the battle." Rose says. "I'm sorry, but it's not enough, Lucy." Lucy grins. "Don't worry - my dude's not finished yet, and neither are we!" "Hm. True. His soldiers really are something else." Rose mutters. "But I'll pull out all of the stops if that's what it takes to beat you."  I decide that, whilst waiting for Rose to come down south, I can use Ingo to take care of this base-capturing nonsense going on, so I move him into range. Meanwhile, I hit this infantry with Gordon. I know I said it was useless to do so, but this does have a tactical advantage. Even 1 damage stops this infantry from 2-turn-capturing my base, giving Ingo the time he needs to lay on his shots.  With the last of his strength, Von Panzer attacks the artillery. Any damage is good damage right now - we just need to hold them off until the second front's done with.  Once I get my SCOP, it'll be a different story. Anyhow, I deploy another anti-air for taking out those infantry units, Eduard.  Just... need to stop Rose being, well, Rose, for a bit. If she could let up for like two turns, please...  No such luck - the artillery goes for Lucy, and finishes her off. "Aw, darn! I was gonna beat you, Rose, I promise!" "I'm sure of it. That's why I needed to get rid of you." Rose says, giving a rare smile. "I know just how strong you are, Queen of the Skies."  This, meanwhile, was genuinely totally unexpected. I forgot about the sillos, and I'm gonna pay for it.  Because unfortunately, Gordon does not survive this. That's... probably not surprising. "I'll have to get going. A shame - the paint all over the ground would make a wonderful place to take pictures!" "Hey, stay focussed!" Eduard shouts. "I'm gonna finish off anyone who gets close to me, I swear!"  Meanwhile, Rose tires of Von Panzer surviving her units' attacks. "If you want something done right..." she murmurs to herself. "Your survival this time does not factor into my calculations. Victory is assured." "So you keep saying, Mädchen. But you don't sound as sure as you often do, hmph!" Von Panzer replies. Rose winces. "I... victory is assured. Even against my dude... I'm certain." Rin breathes out. "She's never sounded so nervous before. Maybe for once, she can't see the future of the battlefield. My dude's not as predictable as other foes she's fought!"  Rose's units continue charging mine, and that recon on its way to my HQ is shaping up to be rather loving irritating. I'll deal with that in a second.  The second front is way more chill now that nothing's actually bothering me. I can just take out the mechs at my leisure.  And when I say "my leisure", I mean "as quickly as possible so that I can get a SCOP on the first front, thank you very much". Everyone splits up to charge the two groups of mechs.  Rose's mechs, uh, don't do much.  Besides continue capturing, but that's like, whatever. We expect that from enemy mechs.  Ingo begins firing on the infantry capturing this base, but annoyingly, he can't nab a kill.  I need something that isn't made of paper defensively. And all I can afford is a tank, so it'll have to do. Julian bows graciously. "I am ready for combat. My intelligence tells me that this battle requires a strong counterattack to push back the Yellow Comet forces." "Yeah, no kidding, genius." Ingo mutters to himself. "Just get ready, Julian, the enemy's nearly on top of us."  Oh, huh, I have my SCOP already. Should probably use that, but I need more units on the field first to take advantage of it.  Somehow, I'm gonna guess that Rose does all of the things I don't want her to do.  Yup, definitely didn't want that to happen. This Dick Captures A Property: 24  That's annoying too, but not unexpected. At least I should be able to take it out with my units around here.  Rose herself comes bearing down towards my HQ. I really need to do something about that, as well as all the other bullshit going on.  God, I wish the second front units came to the first front after you won. That'd be great, a ton of anti-airs, a tank and recons would be ideal right now.  Unfortunately, thanks to the goddamn trees everywhere, we're still not quite at the mechs yet. Can't finish this front off, but we've thinned the crowd down south, at least.  Thankfully, the mechs are just gonna sit and capture as per-  gently caress  God, I must be getting stressed. Making obvious, silly mistakes now. Just need to keep it together... don't let her get in your head. I'm goddamn Commander my dude. I can do this.  "Point me in the right direction!" Julian says.  This time, since I have no airstrikes, my SCOP just increases the attack and movement range of my grounded vehicle units.  So, we can finish off this infantry with Ingo...  And Eduard does a legitimately frightening amount of damage to this recon. I don't think this is supposed to happen.  "So, you're Miss Rose Kuroda, once a detective of Yellow Comet's government?" Rose widens her eyes. "I... yes. You are... new, I take it?" "I am Julian." Julian says proudly. "And I will be finishing you off today!" "That won't guarantee your victory, I'm afraid." Rose murmurs.  Julian's shot rings true, and Rose Kuroda's medium tank is taken out at last! "I'll go back to the HQ and command the battle from there. Do not let up your assault, troops." Rose replies. "We've got him on the ropes - we cannot let him gain back any ground!"  I deploy Lloyd also, since Ingo's nearly out of HP already, and that mech's probably gonna take him out next turn. This is gonna be a tough place to pull back from.  At the very least, no medium tank to worry about.  As predicted, the mech's going for Ingo. More concerningly, up north, you'll see an artillery and tank have cornered Rin. No airport for us, I'm afraid.  And a godDAMN SILO ON MY VEHICLES. Aaaaargh. I just bought those, Rose, can they at least have full HP for a turn or two before you splat them?  "Looks like I gotta go!" Rin says, looking up worriedly. "Things aren't looking so good over there... pull it back, my dude! I believe in you!"  I intend to pull it back. Just need this loving second front to go away already. It's not been a problem for like three turns but taking out these mechs is gonna take a while.  Well, let's make a start then. Fliss goes after this one first. Down below, we finish everything off, at least.  And now we have to wait an extra turn because I don't quite have the firepower or the movement to take out this last mech. Gah.  No, no, s'cool. I can do this.  You can gently caress off for starters. Eduard does a number on him.  Julian continues defending this entry point by taking out the recon. If I can just get a bit of time and retake that base, I can build up a stronger force to hold Rose off...  Unfortunately, that base has a tank on it. More problems that I simply don't have the units to properly fend off.  This could hurt.  God loving dammit, would you stop with the silos?! My units take yet another hit to their HP.  This mech goes for Eduard, but even in his weakened state, Eduard finishes the mech off. He's not doing well, though. The tank's probably gonna finish him off, at which point it'll be in range of Lloyd.  This tank throws hands with Julian, which is a roughly equal match. Still, the less damage Julian takes, the better.  ...And Rose is too smart for me, going for Lloyd instead of Eduard, and blowing him up. Fuuuck.  I... there has to be a way to win. I just need to figure it out...  First we hit this mech...  ...to take it out and win the second front, fully charging my CO Meter.  There we go! Progress! You've won the battle, but not the war, my dude. I accounted for the loss of the second front in my strategy. Right, now I just... well, I can't really abuse my SCOP when I've only got two units, both on super low HP.  Julian tangles with this tank, but...  He gets "How unfortunate. I'll step out of the battle for now, then." Julian says, sighing. "Wait, just me left?!" Eduard says. "You loving kidding me? How the hell am I supposed to deal with all this?"  I move Eduard to the base. I just... I can't have...  ...But I'm...  I've never... I can't lose...  M-my dude LOST?! I... I have to go. Ho ho. Rose, you did it. I told you that you were capable. You should be pleased. I... I am, I'm just...surprised. Might I speak with Commander my dude? Oh, sure! He's-- wait, where'd he go? I think he's gone back to his office. Regardless, that was an exceptional battle, Rose. I see now what my dude meant when he said you were talented. I... thank you all so much. Now, I suppose, it is finally time to move on to fighting Black Hole. I apologise for my selfish desire to test my skills against my dude. Don't apologise! He needed to get knocked down a peg or two. He looked pretty distraught. You think we should see if he's OK? Hmph! He can mope in his office forever for all I care! We've got to take care of Black Hole. I don't have time to coddle him for losing against some kid! Gwar har har! Let's get going to the next battlefield, then! Yeah, finally, man. I think we've wasted enough time here. (My dude...)*** Part 26 (Intermission) - The Measure Of A Man cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 08:34 on May 2, 2022 |
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Dec 24, 2021 10:58
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I have to ask what exactly the behind the scenes mechanics of this fight were. I assume this was the hard campaign version with your two COs being Jess and Rachel? I can't figure out who Rose was, I thought she was Sensei but her super didn't deploy mechs. I also assume this was you making one attempt at the map no takebacks as well. Broadly I think you did fine here. Your issue was committing too much to the second front when it's largely irrelevant since a single Anti-Air will win it for you. (And this is very hard to intuitively realise) If you'd been able to get an infantry to the missiles at the top to wear down Rose's Medium Tank and then capture the central base you would have had it. But you committed all your anti-airs to the second front, meaning that your force on the main front was vulnerable to a battle copter shredding it. Natural 20 fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Dec 24, 2021 |
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Dec 24, 2021 13:46
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Natural 20 posted:I have to ask what exactly the behind the scenes mechanics of this fight were. So! Behind the scenes stuff: It was indeed the hard campaign Mission 12, with Jess and Rachel, and Rose was Sensei/Grimm - the reason her SCOP didn't deploy mechs was because there were no captured cities at the time - I purposely tried to get her to use her SCOP before her mechs had captured any cities to maintain the illusion. It was also just one attempt, and yeah, I put way too much effort into the second front when I probably could've just sacked the lot of them and just had one anti-air. Keeping an offensive force on the main front would have been way more useful.
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Dec 24, 2021 13:55
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Part 27 (Intermission) - An Allied Nations Christmas [Here it is, the Christmas update, as per usual. Hope you all enjoy, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. As a note, I currently have The VirusTM so next week’s update will just be a short little one doing the opening scene of the next map, then giving you guys some time to vote on the next CO, since I didn’t include that in the previous update. Either way, enjoy your day, in whatever way you choose to!] The snow is beginning to fall, and throughout the Allied Nations barracks, the sense of Christmas spirit begins to pervade throughout, filling nearly everyone with an unmatched sense of festive cheer and goodwill. It is Christmas once again for the soldiers of the Allied Nations, and they are all celebrating it in their own ways. In the bedroom of Lucy, Rin and Selena, many of the girls (and Michael) have made their way on Christmas morning to swap presents and get ready for the Christmas meal in the afternoon, including Diana, Fenya, Rose, Khepri and Vanessa. It’s a little cramped, but the atmosphere is glowing. “Doing a Secret Santa was a great idea, Michael.” Rin says, looking through the bag of gifts. “That one’s addressed to Rose, that one’s yours, Khepri…” “Oh, certainly.” Lucy replies. “After buying my present for Ingo, I’m kinda glad we did Secret Santa! Saves me a fortune, for sure!” “What did you buy for Ingo, anyway?” Vanessa asks. Lucy blushes. “Oh, well… I wanted to treat him to something special, so I got a custom-made replica of his tank at 1/64 of the scale. Every scratch, every burnish, even the inside is exactly like his own!” “Goddamn. That must’ve been expensive, yeah…” Diana replies. “Kinda blows my present for Dimitri out of the water, huh.” “Oh?” “I got him a new gun care kit to keep his weapons in tip-top shape.” Diana explains. “I like practical gifts. Y’know?” “Makes sense. Dimitri seems like a practical person.” Selena replies. “That reminds me, I ought to…” Selena digs around in her bedside table, looking for something. She pulls out a gift, wrapped plainly, with a tag written in cursive writing. Lucy gasps with delight. “Oh, that’s what you were wrapping last night! My dude’s gift, right?” “I, um, yes-” Selena replies, blushing. “I had to get him something.” “I also have a gift for Commander my dude.” Rose says. “Might I come with you to deliver mine, too?” “Of course, Rose.” Selena says. She stands up and turns to Lucy. “You have one too, right?” “Yup! I’ll tag along!” Lucy chirps, grabbing her gift and hopping up. “We’ll sort the Secret Santa once we get back. Later, gals!” “Later.” Michael says, chuckling. As they sweep out of the room, he sighs. “They’re a handful, I tell you.” “I’ll say!” Rin replies, sat on her bunk, trying to pick out a dress - one of them is a sparkling red strapless number, an incredibly fancy dress, and the other is a more demure green dress with a flower pinned to the chest. “I must say, I found it rather odd when I was informed that you partook in girls’ activities.” Fenya says, nodding at Michael. She gives him a rare, soft smile. “But I understand now. You really do feel like one of us.” “I’m very happy to hear that. I, um, do hope that you’ve all been made to feel welcome. I know Orange Star’s girls have been having girls’ nights for as long as I can remember, but we’re delighted to have you all come join us. The more the merrier, right?” “Agreed. It has been… a welcome change from the difficulties of war.” Diana remarks. “For sure! You’re all so fun, too!” Khepri adds, beaming at Michael. “Anyway, Michael, I’ve been told you’re the best nail-painter in these parts. Mind giving me some Christmassy nails?” “Oh, um, I wouldn’t go that far, but I’d be happy to help.” Michael says, lifting some nail kits and searching through. “How about a nice deep green and red for Christmas?” “Perfect!” * Despite the bitter cold, several people have taken it upon themselves to wander through the winter wonderland, as the snow has gently dusted the forests around the barracks, giving them a sparkling, magical feel. Dimitri is walking with Zlata, hand in hand. Zlata, already wearing her Christmas wear, is shivering, and Dimitri glances down at her. He wraps his coat around her, and she nuzzles into him. “Thanks… it’s freezing out here. You gonna be OK?” “I was raised in snows like this. S’all good.” Dimitri says. “Kind of reminds me of home, actually. Haven’t had snow this nice in a long while.” “It is nice. Romantic, don’t you think?” “Maybe that’s just because we’re together.” Dimitri says. “Anything would be romantic with you, Zlata, I reckon.” “Well, aren’t you cute?” Zlata replies, kissing Dimitri’s cheek by standing on her tiptoes. “No, I’m just- ugh. Don’t say I’m cute, I don’t-” “You’re cute! It’s confirmed!” “No, god- drat it, Zlata.” Dimitri says, sighing. “Good job none of the mercs are around to hear you, you know.” “Exactly. Nobody’s here. Say what’s on your mind, Dimitri.” There’s a moment of silence as the pair trudge through the snow, the snowflakes glistening as they spiral around. “Hm. Alright. …I love you, Zlata.” Zlata blushes very hotly - it’s not often that Dimitri says it out loud, and she shivers and grips his hand even more tightly. “I-I love you t-too!” * Elsewhere, on a similarly romantic walk in another area of the forest, Eva and Alina are enjoying the gentle dusting of snow on the trees around. Alina stares up at the sky. “It’s so blue. I could get lost in it for ages.” “Really, that’s what you’re leading with?” Eva says, smirking. “I was expecting something goofy and poetic, but that takes the cake.” “What do you want me to do? Make a veiled reference to gambling or something? ‘You’re a double six in the dice game of life’?” Eva chuckles as Alina bumps into her good-naturedly. “Alright, alright, I suppose there’s worse ways of starting a nice walk.” “I’ve always enjoyed the snow.” Alina says, kneeling down to pack some snow into a snowball. Eva watches her carefully, but she doesn’t throw it at her, instead just content to toss it up and down. “It’s… comforting.” “Y’know, I’ve never asked, why exactly are we called the Snowbound Free Company?” “Ah, that.” Alina replies. “Well, when we first started out, most of our jobs were around Blue Moon. As you can imagine, pretty cold.” “Mhm.” “And, well, we would often have to react quickly or go into dangerous territory, so a lot of the time we’d travel directly through the snowstorms instead of taking a safe route.” Eva sighs and shakes her head. “Somehow, I’m not surprised. Valeria must’ve been annoyed by that.” “Oh, she always claimed it wasn’t efficient, but we turned up to battles on time, and let me tell you… a group of mercenaries, appearing from out of the snow like wraiths to rain down death on an enemy? That’s a striking image.” “I see.” Eva replies, nodding. “So you were snowbound because you just… lurked in the snow like weirdos?” “Yup!” Alina giggles, kissing Eva’s cheek. “And the white rose?” Alina falls quiet. “Ah, I’ll tell you that flower’s significance another time. It’s a nice symbol for our group, though, isn’t it?” “I’ll say.” Eva remarks, grinning at Alina. “I’d like to think we’ve made it pretty iconic.” “Oh, certainly!” Alina says, tossing the snowball to the ground. “So yes, I do like the snow. It’s an important part of our group’s identity. I’m… glad I can share it with you.” “Yeah, I get that. Glad I can too, Alina.” Eva says, smiling. “Not to, uh, kill the mood or anything, but, can we make this a quick walk? I’m already freezing.” * My office door is, as it has been since the battle with Rose, closed tightly. Selena, Rose and Lucy walk up to it, feeling a sense of ominous dread. “Is he even going to answer the door?” Lucy wonders. “I just…” “Only one way to find out.” Selena says, gesturing to the door. She and Rose watch as Lucy walks up and knocks on it daintily. The door remains still. For a moment. And then it creaks, and opens, and I stand there, looking a little tired, but wearing a red Christmas jumper and a festive hat, with a mug of hot chocolate in my hands. “Well, hey. Wasn’t expecting visitors.” I say, quite honestly. Lucy beams at me. “I couldn’t not give you a present! So, uh, here!” She hands her gift to me, and then Selena walks forward. She gives me a soft, loving smile. “Here’s mine.” I take both presents and place them on my desk. When I turn back, the others have gone, but now she’s stood there. “Rose Kuroda.” I say. Rose’s eyes water a little bit, and she nervously stares at the ground. “I, um… my dude. I… hope I can give you a present.” “Of course, Rose.” I reply. She looks up at me sheepishly, holding a present in her hands. “I… was worried that you didn’t like me anymore. I’ve… never worried about hurting people’s feelings. In fact, I used to do it a lot without realising. But… for once… my dude, I don’t want you to be mad at me.” There’s a lot of feelings broiling around inside me, but none of that matters. Rose is still young, still malleable. The way I treat her and the things I say will have an impact on the rest of her life. So I kneel down besides Rose and give her a smile as she hands the gift over to me, shaking. “Rose, I’m not mad. Far from it. You put on an amazing performance, and your victory was well-deserved. You did wonderfully, kid. I’m… mostly mad at myself. I don’t want to let you or anybody else down, so I’m holed up in this office trying to rework my strategy. So don’t worry, OK?” Rose nods. “I, um… may I thank you in a less-than-professional manner?” That makes me laugh. “Rose, when have I ever done anything professionally? Now give me a hug already.” Rose’s embrace is quite light, as her little arms wrap around my body. I pull her close, hoping that she can feel how genuine I am about what I said. I could never be mad at her. I’m nothing but proud. When we break apart, I place her present on the desk next to Selena’s and Lucy’s. “I’m very curious what you got me, you know. I wasn’t expecting one.” “Oh, I had to.” Rose says breathlessly. “I had to get a present for my dad- um, my dude! My dude… oh…” I smile at her, but Rose is burning with embarrassment and spins around, her black longcoat swirling around her as she totters away. “I should go- I- um, sorry…” I keep grinning as she exits the office. It’s the first time I’ve smiled since the day I lost to her. * Later that afternoon, the Allied Nations are gathered for an incredible Christmas dinner, taking their seats at the tables before the food is served. Orange Star’s main soldiers have all grabbed the biggest table, though as they sit there, waiting for food, Dave pours himself more water, primarily just for something to do. “Where the hell’re they?” “Girls take forever to get ready.” Michael replies, winking. “Trust me, when you see how they look, you’ll feel underdressed.” Dave pulls at his suit and tie, shaking his head. “Somehow, I doubt it. This is the fanciest thing in my wardrobe.” “Yeah, I know…” Michael sighs. He leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. “Nice that we all get a bit of time to relax, though, don’t you think?” “Heh. Christmas has always been good with you guys, honestly. Doesn’t matter how many soldiers or how many countries join us… the atmosphere’s still the same, you know?” Dave says. “I’d agree. ‘Sides, if nothing else, we’ve got each other. Have you ever thought about how long we’ve been friends now?” “Yeah, man…” Dave says, the thought occurring to him. He suddenly feels tired. “Not many of that first group left, huh? Barold, Steve, Colin, Wilbert…” “Well, I’m not going anywhere, Dave. You and I, we’re the cornerstone of this army.” “Agreed. Here’s to plenty more years, Michael.” Eventually, the Orange Star girls arrive, all made up and dressed in their finest - Selena first, then the others, all taking their seats around the table and making conversation with the gentlemen. The seat to Dave’s right, however, is empty. “Now where is..?” Dave murmurs. The door to the room opens, and a girl enters. Her hair has been curled, and sits voluminously around her shoulders. On her face is a gentle smile in ruby-red lipstick, with fluttering eyelashes. She’s wearing a strapless red dress which she slinks over to the table with, the red glittering with sequins, reflecting the light and making the girl seem like she’s glowing with radiance. For a moment, she looks almost unrecognisable, but there’s a small scar by her mouth, and Dave gasps. “Rin.” he breathes. “My god, you…” “Ahah, Dave!” Rin says, smiling. “D-do I look nice?” “Yeah, you really do. Didn’t realise you could scrub up so well.” Dave murmurs, staring at her. “Well, kid, you’ve blown my suit out of the water, that’s for sure.” Rin beams and hugs Dave. “I was hoping you’d like it! I was, um, a little nervous about wearing this. I’m not really…” She falls quiet, looking up across the table at the girls chatting with each other. “I’m not really as pretty as Lucy, or Selena, or Fliss…” she murmurs. “So I wasn’t sure if I should put so much effort in, but…” “Rin. I’m saying this from a brotherly sorta-perspective, before you get any ideas.” Dave says, putting an arm on Rin’s shoulder. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re better than any of ‘em. Don’t ever think otherwise, alright?” Rin nods, bursting with happiness, and hugs Dave again, more tightly, causing Michael to chuckle as he watches his friend turn blue. “Thank you, Dave! You really are the best, you know that?” “Y-yeah, ch-choking me though…” Rin lets Dave go and smiles at him. “And… that’s the first time you’ve called yourself my brother.” “That weird? I can, uh, not do that if you’d prefer.” Dave says awkwardly. Michael leans over, smirking. “Rin’s been calling you guys siblings since forever, you know. You said it yourself last Christmas, didn’t you? That she’s your little sis?” Dave goes red. “Fuckin’, well, yeah, but she didn’t know that…” “It’s just nice to hear you thay, uh, say it, Dave.” Rin replies. She takes her seat next to him. “I never had any siblings, so it’s nice to have one now. Especially such a cool one!” “Heh. Took the words out of my mouth, kid.” * Ludmilla greets Andromeda at the entrance to the food hall, and tilts her head. “Hey, Andromeda, everything OK?” “O-oh! Ludmilla, I am just worry… nervous, worried… there’s so many people. Am I really… a piece, part of this group?” Ludmilla puts her hand around Andromeda’s shoulders, and though Andromeda is initially nervous, she looks with hopeful eyes as Ludmilla gestures to the room. “Take a look, Andromeda. You know, I’ve never been afraid of not fitting in, and that’s because I like to look at all of these people as a whole. If you focus on individuals, of course you’re gonna feel like you don’t match up. We like other people way more than we like ourselves; that’s just an unfortunate truth of our society.” Ludmilla explains. She winks at Andromeda. “But look at the room through fresh eyes - look at how many people there are. Look at how wonderfully different and diverse they all are.” Andromeda gazes across the room. Sitting at each of the huge, round tables, soldiers from every country are pulling some crackers and sharing conversation, enjoying themselves even before the food has been brought out. Inessa is delightedly chatting to Yakov, wearing a party hat from her hard-won cracker, whilst Jackie is sitting with the card-game-playing group, getting in a quick game before the food arrives, beaming with joy as Ignat teaches her how to play against Felix. Elsewhere, Rose is burning red with embarrassment whilst she tells Vanessa about her slip of the tongue earlier in the day, whilst Peregrine is already starting to down a glass of champagne. Kyril is chilling out with Dymek, swapping stories of wartime misadventures with Boris and Ivan of Dimitri’s Mercenaries. At the other end of the table, Zlata is wearing a beautiful dress, but still has Dimitri’s coat over it, and is chatting with Diana whilst Dimitri gets them all some drinks at the bar across the room. Julian, Von Panzer and Alfonse are busy trying to solve a sliding tile puzzle that was in one of their crackers, egged on with helpful comments from Anton and Anatoly now and again. Fenya is relaxing for once, sitting with the Snowbound Free Company, though both she and Valeria have flatly refused to wear any kind of silly Christmas hat, despite the constant badgering of Alina, Eva and Nika. Fliss and Fleur are having a hushed discussion in French about a Christmas card that Fleur’s holding: the words “Bernard” and “mon mec” come floating up now and again. Andromeda lets out a gasp. “I… I think I know, understand it!” “You see it now?” Ludmilla says. “Doesn’t matter that we’re all different and diverse. We still get on, for the most part. You’re wearing an absolutely beautiful outfit, and honestly, your hair is incredible, I will be getting tips on hair care from you later, and you can’t stop me. But for now, Andromeda… go talk to your friends, alright? It’s not Christmas to them. Not until you’re there. Y’know?” Andromeda nods. “Th-thank you, Ludmilla… I like you, um, appreciate, glad you spoke to me.” “Anytime, s’what I’m here for. Enjoy yourself.” Peregrine, spotting that Andromeda has arrived, gives her a wild wave from across the room, causing Rose and Vanessa to turn and wave too, and Andromeda, fighting back tears, waves back and goes rushing over. Ludmilla watches her go. “Man, I say it all the time, but it might be the most true it’s ever been right now.” she murmurs. “People are absolutely incredible, and I love ‘em.” cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 11:08 on Nov 16, 2022 |
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Dec 25, 2021 13:19
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Cute update. Merry Christmas, cosmicPostman!
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Dec 26, 2021 03:08
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Rose you lil scamp 
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Dec 26, 2021 03:13
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Part 28 (Intermission) - Back To Our Regularly Scheduled War (Hey guys! Just a very short update to get us back on track, start the vote, and it gives me another week to recover from being ill. See you with proper updates starting next week, and have a happy New Year!)  Well, that mission's finally done. Shame I lost to Rose, but eh... it happens. I'll just have to rework my strategy, and that's going to take time.  Unfortunately, the war can't be put on hold whilst I do that, so they're all loving off to the next battle without me.  And it looks like more of the usual fare - a Tag battle, featuring Kindle, too. That could be rough. Thank god I'm not the one doing it.  It's to be expected--we're near Blue Moon territory. Check out those snowdrifts! I'd kill to have my board right now. I just hope it doesn't bog down my tanks. You do NOT have time for that, Jake! These drifts won't be a problem, though. But if we get caught in a blizzard, it'll be a different story. I bet our units will burn more fuel if they have to plow through snow and ice. Correct. Managing our fuel will be crucial to any battles we hold here. It's good to see you again, Lady Sasha. I apologise for the timing, but... Is the enemy in the vicinity? Yes, ma'am. It appears that their momentum carired them all the way here. I'm getting a coat of ice on my head just standing here! Let's check out the field. Excellent idea. Come on, everyone, it's time we did some reconnaissance work. What's up with all those wonky buildings down on the shore? Ah, I believe those are com towers. Until now, I'd only read about them... Capture them with foot soldiers to improve communications between your units. The extra chitchat gives them a bit of a firepower boost.Oh, that's WILD. Finally, my units having transceivers and all chatting to each other is canon! But, I guess now it'll be slightly higher-quality? Like going from Skype to Discord. I wonder what the power boost is? Presumably not much, but like, even 5% sounds solid if you have enough towers captured. So they're Black Hole's now, huh? Let's poach 'em! Yes. And I believe the more com towers you control, the stronger the effect will be. The bonuses you receive don't apply to allied units, though. Don't forget that. My dude would have liked this kind of structure. Is he still not joining us? Don't look at me! I told him he can join us anytime, and it's HIM that's refusing to leave his office. ...Yes. I fear it will take him a bit more time. We should handle this battle without him. I must be sure to remind Lucy to take a log of the battle... So yes, here's the map in full...  ...with Blue Moon's side too. Looks like Black Hole's caught in the middle, we should be able to crush them quite easily with four goddamn COs.  Speaking of, this bit's up to you folks as always. Two teams, red and blue, and a whole ton of COs to play with. Rachel, Jake, Max, Colin, Sasha, Sensei or Grimm! Who's going where? You've got the next week to decide (give or take a few days so I can actually, like, record the map). See you next week, folks!
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Dec 31, 2021 14:53
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Grimm and Sensei are new so definitely have them go for a spin. We'll put them on Blue Moon. And because it's snowy, it only seems appropriate for the Blue Moon COs Colin and Sasha to join the battle. They can take command of the Orange Star forces. Or swap 'em, don't matter to me!
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Dec 31, 2021 15:24
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Orange Star, Grimm and Jake Blue Moon, Colin and Sensei
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Dec 31, 2021 17:08
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Jake and Rachel for OS Grimm and Sensei for BM
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Dec 31, 2021 17:17
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Max and Grim on blue Sasha and Collin on Red Because I like the guys who like walloping dudes in the face together. Honestly who leads team red is kind of moot given they'll fight a whopping one infantry and then capture the com towers away from black, after which they're incredibly cut off from the main front and could only really arrive when the fighting is over, so im just picking who id like to get more exp to see more of later.
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Dec 31, 2021 17:23
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Jake and Sensei Orange, CP's choice between Sasha, Rachel and Max Blue
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Jan 2, 2022 21:57
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AW will be delayed, probably tomorrow, maybe Sunday - mixture of being busy and this map kicking my rear end slightly more than expected. Apologies for the delay, but I hope to be back soon, folks! Edit: Real Life is happening too, great. AW will be back properly next week, my apologies. cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Jan 8, 2022 |
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Jan 7, 2022 12:42
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cosmicPostman posted:AW will be delayed, probably tomorrow, maybe Sunday - mixture of being busy and this map kicking my rear end slightly more than expected. Apologies for the delay, but I hope to be back soon, folks! Thanks for letting us know. Put that first, this can come later.
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Jan 10, 2022 01:10
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Part 29 (Battle) - There Is An Excess Of Tanks In This Area Welcome back to Advance Wars, folks. So, moving on to a new map after some less lethal battles. Couldn't keep away from Black Hole forever, of course.  So, for this battle, Sasha and Jake are heading the red team (Sasha's got the close-range firepower boost, Jake's taking the ranged firepower boost, you'll see why later) and the new Yellow Comet COs will be the blue team.  We're ready to roll, anyhow, so let's get started. There's a lot to do on this map!  Of course, I'm still holed up in my office Today’s Deployments Red Team Dave, Infantry Alfonse, Infantry Rin, Infantry Felix, Infantry Boris, Infantry Ivan, Infantry Fleur, Infantry Michael, APC Inessa, Recon Selena, Medium Tank Ingo, Rockets Yakov, Rockets Blue Team Vanessa, Infantry Arqa, Infantry Minerva, Infantry Lysander, Mech Dymek, Mech Iago, Recon Lowell, Tank Andromeda, Tank Kyril, Tank Sofia, Tank Talora, Artillery Kiran, Artillery  This powder can't slow down my heavy metal. C'mon, let's roll out! I just hope my dude's alright. Let's show him what we can do even without his guidance. Rawk! -----------~~~~THE ROSE REPORT~~~~----------- I am Rose Kuroda, eleven years of age. I shall be delivering the summary of the battle for the battle in my dude's stead. I am... unused to this, so my apologies if I make any errors.  The red team deploys Dave, Rin and Alfonse to begin capturing nearby territory - particularly, as we established previously, the com towers will be quite useful. There's not much threat in a single foot soldier, so I do not foresee any problems here.  Rachel worked us over earlier, so we've gotta show 'em what we've got this time! Hah ha ha. Yes, we'll manage all right. Let's start by securing these properties around us. Now we deal with the blue team... my own soldiers.  The blue team start off in close proximity to the Black Hole forces and HQ. Ordinarily, one might think that this allows us the chance for a quick capture, but we have not the funds nor the units to mount an assault on the HQ just yet. Our goal, as Sensei suggested, is to capture nearby properties first. That airport is looking rather tempting. We deploy Vanessa and Arqa first. "Arqa, you paying attention? We've got things to capture, and not much time!" Arqa salutes immediately. "I'm not the same beauty-obsessed soldier you first started training! Well, I wouldn't mind a manicure after this battle, but I'm ready to fight, Commander Vanessa!" Vanessa nods. "Excellent. Let's get started, then - the quicker we're out of this freezing cold, the better, frankly!"  Black Hole's turn... it begins. Our primary goal of this first part of the battle is clear: limiting the enemy's funds in order to prevent them from deploying too many dangerous units. In particular, they have some properties on the red team's island which we need to capture; the blue team will harry the enemy's infantry in order to slow their capturing of the bases around here in the meantime.   Jugger has no need of hair. Black bomb lab nearby. Threat of Allied Nations stealing the map: high. I highly doubt they will find it--there are simply too many places to search. It's much more important that we stay warm. Now, come over here, Jugger. Situation: awkward. Initiating subject change. Jugger forecast calls for snow. Snowfall equals high fuel consumption. Must attack today. Attack today. Aha aha ha... Attack before it snows? You're a dutiful one, aren't you? Do you have a space heater in there? Yes? No? Oh, very well, let's go. The Black Hole soldiers begin capturing nearby properties. They have no bases with which to deploy units, and unfortunately, we cannot act fast enough to prevent them from getting this one. If we are lucky, however, this will be the only base that they manage to obtain.  That is how our first round of combat goes. So far, we have little to fear.  It's time for the red team to strike out.  Dave approaches the first of the Black Hole cities - he is in range of the infantry, but I have accounted for this.  We deploy a recon, Inessa, to help defeat that infantry. Dave must capture that city as soon as possible. You see, there is a crucial thing to note about the com towers - unlike most properties, they do not provide 1000 funds per turn, and as such, offer no monetary benefit. If we wish to cut into Black Hole's funds, capturing the com towers is useless. We can do that later on, once we have established a foothold.  Meanwhile, Rin heads east to support Dave. Alfonse has a different mission, and heads directly south to complete it. You will note that despite looking separate, the red team's island connects to the blue team's mainland via the very south and very westernmost shoals; this will prove crucial to helping support the blue team.  ...I am sorry. I have been led to believe that Commander my dude inserts some levity or comedy into his battle reports, but I do not find myself particularly comic. I hope you can accept a more strategically-minded summary of the battle, rather than one with the f-word used multiple times per sentence. I am sure my dude will be back soon.  The blue team cannot do much more than begin capturing properties. There are several around, and they will need a considerable income in order to hold off a potential Black Hole assault in future turns.  To that end, we will need yet more foot soldiers. Minerva is deployed, too. We will require that airport - especially since we are using Sensei. It would be foolish not to take advantage of his battle copter superiority.  We deploy Iago as well. The relative cheapness of the recon, coupled with its high movement capabilities, make them a good option for dealing with infantry units.  Black Hole, of course, will continue attempting to find an advantage. It is fortunate for them that I am only reporting on this battle, and that I am not participating. They will get away with just a thorough defeat at my compatriots' hands, rather than the complete annihilation they would face if I took to the field. I... feel like I can open up a little in this report. Though I scored a victory against my dude, I feel... a little hollow. He was the ultimate challenge, the final test for a strategist... and now that I have won, I wonder where it is I can move up to. That is why I am not helping in this battle. I am giving Vanessa a chance to practice her skills instead.  Black Hole's troops have begun capturing property; the base and the city fall under their control. My dude has a counter for this, doesn't he? I shall update it for him. This [Redacted] Captures A Property: 26  As predicted, the other infantry goes for Dave, bringing him down to about 50% of his combat effectiveness. Dave counterattacks for approximately 20% of the opponent's battle capabilities, rendering them weak and open to being destroyed by the other red team soldiers. "Heh!" Dave grunts, feeling the battle lust rising up within him. "That's all the extra firepower your little com towers can muster? It'll take twice that to kill me!" "No, Dave, focus on capturing!" Rin shouts. "I'll take him out, don't worry!"  The enemy COs have decided to switch.  Kindle's strength is drawn from her properties, so it makes sense to switch to Jugger's chance of increased damage whilst they are still capturing cities. Once they have a few cities captured, I imagine they will switch back to Kindle's superior firepower; I do not look forward to that. We must establish a good defensive presence for the blue team before then.  The red team can all but delete any remaining threats to them this turn, thankfully.  Brrr. This cold is making my old bones cranky. I pre-empted snow and brought my coat. Heh heh. You're always well-prepared, aren't you, Rose?I would like to think I am prepared for all eventualities. I just hope Vanessa will do just as well in this battle... she has not made a step wrong thus far.  Inessa approaches and attacks the enemy infantry, though she is unable to finish off the foe. "Aw, man! He's still coming forward, Dave, watch out!" Inessa says. "I really thought I had him. I gotta work on my aim..." "Not on my watch! Dave, I have your back!" Rin says, darting forward.  Rin is able to defeat the enemy infantry without sustaining any damage herself. This puts her in the best possible position to capture the other buildings around. "Thanks, kid." Dave says, refraining to mention the fact that he could have taken the enemy himself without much trouble. "You've got my back, just like I've got yours, huh?" "Y-yeah! I want you to rely on me, too. I've been- well, this whole army's been relying on you for too long. Time to start giving back, I think!" Dave chuckles. "Well, thanks. I wouldn't mind having a little pressure taken off, certainly..."  Now we deploy Michael as an APC and Felix as his passenger. They're on a secret mission from me - I have suspected that there is a map in the vicinity, and I'd like the pair of them to hunt it down. There's several possible places it could be hidden, but my suspicions lie with the northernmost properties, the ones to the east of the red team. They'll be checking those ones first, and if I am right - which I always am - they will be there.  Now back to the blue team. You will note that the COs have not switched much - this is an intentional choice. Since we are playing defensively until we build up enough of a battlefield presence to take on Black Hole, there is little point in having Grimm in charge. His wildness means that his defensive properties are... lacking. Sensei has no such weaknesses in his defences.  We continue to capture necessary properties. Our aim is to amass 7 properties or more, giving us the ability to deploy one tank every round - our other aim is to just make more funds per turn than Black Hole. This battle is a race.  Our recon, Iago, charges out to face the foe. I am concerned that the enemy may deploy a tank next turn, but he can outrun and retreat from such a threat, so I am sure Vanessa has things under control. Let us just sit tight and enjoy the thrilling combat.  I, um, do apologise if it's not thrilling. I like to take Marlon into battles with me, so I can hug him when I am not fighting. Some might call that childish, but... it reminds me of an old friend. I do not know how you pass the time during the slower parts of a battle, but I would advise finding a way. I cannot entertain with the ease that my dude can. He even makes meetings fun... mostly because he whispers funny things to me when he's supposed to be listening to the other COs speak. I have to try very hard not to giggle.  How odd. Black Hole had the funds to deploy a tank, but elected not to. I suppose this is a mistake on their part that we can take advantage of.  But first, we must see how red team are getting on. Once Black Hole's funds are cut off, we then need to get the com towers to reduce their firepower a little. Anything we can do to make life easier for the blue team, we must do.  Dave has made a start, thankfully. He captures the first of the properties, and can now use the supplies to heal his wounds before he moves on.  Rin makes a start on the next one, whilst Inessa follows Alfonse southwards. Felix loads up into Michael, en route for the east.  I really don't understand where my dude finds comedy in what should be a rather serious battle. I suppose we differ in many ways, despite our similar skills in strategy. He seems almost impossible to understand fully.  As an example, I have noticed over the last few years - my dude vanishes on the same night every year, April 18th. Not even Nell knows where he goes, even though we've asked. Furthermore, as far as I'm aware, he's never told anybody his birthday. Someone as bombastically loud as him... you'd think he'd announce it from the rooftops, but no. We've never known when his birthday is. It's why I always endeavour to get him a good Christmas present: because it's the only time of the year I can get a present for him. He's a strange one. Anyhow, forgive me for getting distracted. Two more infantry - Boris and Ivan - are deployed. As there are plenty more locations up here to capture, it seems suitable that as many soldiers be put on the task as possible.  The blue team have no such luxuries, however.  Iago can deal solid damage to this infantry, though after restoring their wounds on the base, they'll be operating at around 70% efficiency. That should still slow down any buildings they attempt to capture, however.  At the very least, one of our foot soldiers can get started capturing the airport. Once Sensei has that, there should be no more problems.  In the meantime, though, we do need some stronger firepower. It seems like Vanessa has elected to go with a tank; in particular, our new hire, Lowell. I am still not sure what to make of him. He was rather overconfident during the mock battle, and he still has much to learn. Then again, my dude has always been overconfident, and it pays off for him. And... well, I suppose I have been in the past, too. Some of the things I said to Hawke and Flak during our previous campaign... I do believe it is possible that I have a confident streak in me. And if I do, I am blaming my dude for it.  The rest of the soldiers continue advancing. It is a little more forward than I would have been, but Vanessa is more hotheaded than I am, so I suppose that makes sense. I am glad Vanessa and I were able to become friends, in all honesty. I did not realise she was jealous of me at first, but she confessed that she had learned a lot from me in the previous campaign, and promised to continue following my example. That took me by surprise.  The reason it surprised me is because I have always thought of myself as a child, striving to follow my dude's example. I idolised him, to an extent. Even my coat is modelled after his own. So to hear that someone else was following my example was quite humbling. Since then I have attempted to set a good example, and that involves not following my dude's example in professional situations. He's a brilliant strategist, but I cannot imagine how stressful it is to be his employer.  My apologies, I am rambling again. This was the kind of thing I used to discuss with Tina in our letters. I have not written to her in a little while, actually... I ought to. Meanwhile, Black Hole troops are continuing to slowly extend their influence. This [Redacted] Captures A Property: 27  One of the soldiers approaches Vanessa. How unfortunate - that will slow down our capture of the airport. "Oh, no you don't!" Vanessa growls. "Soldiers, get ready to crush this guy! We can't lose our footing now!" "Uh, about that, Van..." says Minerva, looking over at the enemy HQ with worry in her eyes. "What is it?"  Iago looks up in horror as a tank rumbles out of the base nearest to him. Minerva winces. "There's, uh, something more dangerous on the way. We might need to fall back." "A tank?! So soon?" Vanessa says, her face falling. "Right, hold on, let me think for a second... how do we hold these guys off..?"  We shall leave Vanessa to grapple with that for a moment. Back to the red team and their odyssey of capturing the properties all around.  Another Black Hole property has been captured - they will have to capture plenty more properties if they wish to recoup the funds they have lost. That puts the Allied Nations at a slight advantage.  Speaking of slight advantages, Alfonse has now reached the mainland and is capturing a base. Allowing the red team to deploy units so close to the battlefield may come in useful.  Otherwise, the red team is busy capturing various properties. There isn't much they can do to contribute until they get more funds.  The blue team, meanwhile, are struggling for all of the funds they can acquire. Now that the enemy has deployed a tank, we must respond in kind. Thankfully, we do already have Lowell, who will be a useful defensive wall.  We need more, though, so Andromeda is deployed too. A dear friend of mine, she has really come into her own over the last campaign. I can never find the right words to tell her how proud I am of her, but I suppose it matters not. What matters is that I am her friend, and she is mine.  Despite the looming threat of the tank, Vanessa does not want to retreat unless she absolutely has to, so she gets to work thinning out the rest of the foes - firstly, Iago defeats this infantry unit. We do have to stop capturing the airport to achieve this, but I am sure we will get it again soon.  And at the very least, we can capture a few other properties in the meantime.  Iago and Lowell are a somewhat stable defensive presence. Unfortunately, I don't think either of them can comfortably survive a tank attack multiple times. In the case of Iago, if he were not on the airport, he could be destroyed in a single blow. Vanessa is playing dangerous games today, and I am not sure I like them.  We shall see what Black Hole thinks of them.  The tank goes for Lowell, who does not take the hit well, but at the very least, he survives.  And another tank joins the first. "Dammit..." Vanessa says, pulling a grim face. "Right, we've gotta fall back, I'm afraid. I don't think we can push through both of these tanks without some reinforcements." "They are on the way, according to HQ... so we just need to held, survive, hold out for a little longer." replies Andromeda gently.  This map is very different for the two teams. The red team is having a rather relaxing time of things, but the blue team are struggling immensely to hold out. Once we have that hidden map, we can put all of our attention onto taking out Black Hole.  This base is rather crucial. Now that the red team has nothing to do but capture property, they'll be deploying rockets in order to harass the Black Hole deployments coming from that base.  Meanwhile, my advance team has arrived at the suspected map location. Only one way to find out now - Felix must capture the nearby property.  And finally, we make a start on capturing the com towers. These will not be terribly useful for us, but taking them away from Black Hole is useful enough, so we will endeavour to do that with all haste.  Alfonse finishes capturing the base in the southern area, and is rejoined by Inessa, running low on fuel. The snow is certainly making traversal harder, doubling fuel costs. Most units aren't moving far enough for it to be a concern, but our high-movement units will struggle.  Back to the blue team, in a dire situation. I can see a way out, but I am not the one in charge currently. There is an odd feeling of helplessness in a situation like that. I must simply rely on Vanessa... and I do. I trust her.  Andromeda moves forward to block off the foe from entering the blue team's mountain area, and arranges her units in such a way that none of them can be attacked. That should help somewhat, though it only defers the problem, not deletes it outright.  She... seems to be throwing tanks at the problem until it goes away. This is Kyril, Kanbei's nephew. He's quite a decorated soldier after the last campaign, so it must be a relief to the troops to have him around. Ordinary soldiers deserve to be recognised for their efforts - I said as much to Kanbei in the previous campaign, and he listened to me. Quite a surprise - normally he is rather stubborn.  Let's just hope the enemy isn't too aggressive. If they push too far, even the red team may not be able to help out.  Here it comes. I predict that the tank will simply try and break through Andromeda's defence. She is on a property, though, so that would not be a sensible decision.  ...Hm. They're after the airport. Vanessa can't play defensively as well as capture it, so what must be done here..? We cannot give Black Hole the only airport on the battlefield. That would be ruinous.  As predicted, the tank goes for Andromeda. It is a roughly even trade, which is all we can ask for. Both tanks have lost 40% of their functionality, but Andromeda can be repaired as she is on a property. Advantage, blue team.  The other tank comes over to support it. I don't believe that was a wise decision from Black Hole, but we cannot complain about good fortune.  Anyhow, we must not distract ourselves from the map's first main goal: getting that intelligence.  Oh - and capturing com towers, too.  Word! Let's go gank the rest of those bad boys! Felix begins capturing Suspect A. I hope this pays off.  The rest of the troops continue capturing other things. It does not matter what - all that matters is that they are steadily accruing funds.  And this is why: we deploy Ingo, the first soldier aiming to disrupt Black Hole from a distance. He will have to get into a suitable position first, but it should be invaluable for the blue team.  We also could do with another infantry, just to speed up the funds-gathering process - this is Fleur, one of my fellow pilots in my very first campaign. That was so long ago now... I still do miss being a true part of Orange Star. Yellow Comet may be my country, but Orange Star accepted me like nobody else did. I want to repay that someday.  Alfonse is sneaking ahead to try and get another base, closer to the action. The tanks rolling around are going to make that difficult, however. Still, this is how the red team fares at the end of this next turn.  The blue team has more to do if they want to be quite as comfortable.  Andromeda hits back at the opposing tank, weakening it further until it has reached around 10% functionality. It will not be much of a threat now - the one behind it is much more dangerous.  Andromeda joins up with Lowell in order to conserve their tanks' integrity. That should render them able to handle the stronger tank if it decides to approach.  Kyril, meanwhile, must press on and attack the infantry on the airport. The enemy have forced us into an undesirable situation: we would like to play defensively until the red team can support us, but we must approach and attack, otherwise we lose the airport to them.  Yet more tanks will be necessary - Vanessa calls upon Sofia next.  Things do not look quite as bad as they did before - it is only Kyril who is at some risk. Let us hope the enemy do not realise that.  We will strike back once we have the firepower. Black Hole is only fuelling our eventual counterattack.  Kyril has managed to delay the enemy's grip over the airport by another day, but we must destroy that infantry if we are to guarantee that we can reclaim it.  The enemy tank approaches from the forest and strikes Kyril. It is a brutal blow, and he may have to retreat next turn. However, the enemy tank is now rather out of the way, which we may be able to turn to our advantage.  ...That is unfortunate. Kindle is back, and she is generally more powerful than Jugger. We will have to tread carefully.  ...Ah, "tread". That could be a pun on tank treads. Perhaps that is the kind of thing that my dude finds amusing in his reports. Well, that and copious profanity.  Now then, let us find that intel.  As predicted, the tanks are keeping Alfonse from advancing. He can't grab that base at this moment.  He and Inessa retreat for now. We will be back for that one.  Another com tower has been claimed. We are making steady progress.  That said, these properties are not as important. There are more important things to do.  First, Ingo moves out - once he is in range of the base, the enemy will be hard-pressed to hold us off. He isn't there yet, though.  His recently-vacated base is filled by Yakov, the other of our rocket users. He'll be doing the same as Ingo, just from another location. A pair of rockets are a powerful force.  And finally, we clear the first hurdle of this map - when Felix captures this property, he finds it, exactly as I predicted.  Well done. Hmm... It's much closer than I would have expected it to be. Let's transmit this intel to Rachel and have her send out an expeditionary force.For now, we shall leave it there. That said, this was exhausting, and I don't think my dude is going to be back until the end of this battle, so perhaps it would be best if you decided who will narrate the second half of the battle. I am happy to continue summarising the battle, but I can understand if you would prefer someone a bit more entertaining, like Lucy. No matter. Thank you for listening to my report. Commander Rose Kuroda out. *** Part 30 (Intermission) - Think Before You Speak cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Sep 11, 2022 |
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Jan 14, 2022 19:19
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quote:I, um, do apologise if it's not thrilling. I like to take Marlon into battles with me, so I can hug him when I am not fighting. Some might call that childish, but... it reminds me of an old friend. Nothing wrong with finding comfort in something. Anyone who claims that's childish is full of themselves. I have a tiny stuffed kitty. I use it to play with my actual kitty. Its cute.
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Jan 14, 2022 19:38
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Drakenel posted:Nothing wrong with finding comfort in something. Anyone who claims that's childish is full of themselves. Added bonus is, it's a nice little continuity nod. Marlon was given to Rose by Tina all the way back in the first game, and the very next part noted that Rose had brought Marlon to the field with her. Anyway... that wasn't how I expected (Barracks Spoilers) Iago to piss off Dave, but it was bound to happen eventually. Nice swerve on that one. (Context: I was predicting Rin's lisp to slip just for a single syllable in Iago's vicinity, and Iago to go off on that. Dave snapping there writes itself.) As for the vote here... Well, Rose's take has definitely been interesting, especially with how she updates the capture counter. But we could get another Lucy Log... or even something else entirely. Too many good choices so Imma say.... CP's choice of: Rose, Lucy, Dave, Selena or Rin.
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Jan 14, 2022 22:52
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Paul
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Jan 15, 2022 03:07
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This is a very nice change of pace. Don't worry Rose, you're doing a good job! But let's get Lucy to report on the second half. She should be able to show you how to bring some extra excitement to the report. As for this map's unique dialogue, we saw Grimm/Sensei already so here's the other two. So...f-f-f-freakin'...f-f-freezing! Doesn't this cold b-bother you, Jake? Yeah, it's pretty weak. My hometown is all hot and sunny year 'round. But it's no big deal. I'd own these fools even if it was hailing monkeys. Look at all this snow! If only Commander Olaf were here... You can't spend your time thinking of how your allies can help you, Colin. Try thinking of how you can help your allies, instead.
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Jan 15, 2022 04:32
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Interesting to see a "start from scratch" map here. Micro-managing those first few turns really goes a long way towards changing the map dynamics later on. Good job getting rid of the enemy infantry in the red area while barely slowing down, and holding the line in the blue area. For narration....how about Dimitri?
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Jan 15, 2022 18:04
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Only one person can be master of narration... that being narRachel.
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Jan 15, 2022 23:23
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Quackles posted:Only one person can be master of narration... that being narRachel. Ooh, I didn't even think of COs. Rachel would be a fun one, though I kinda love all these suggestions thus far. Drakenel posted:Nothing wrong with finding comfort in something. Anyone who claims that's childish is full of themselves. You're absolutely right! Making me wish I had a cat now, I play with my friend's cat whenever I go over. As an aside, I received a visual summary of my dude and Rose from a reader, so I'll share that below. Either way, if you have any more requests for narrators, let me know, and I'll choose from all the suggestions on Friday! 
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Jan 18, 2022 14:37
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Selena she's de facto second ACO in command right?
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Jan 18, 2022 15:01
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Part 31 (Battle) - Just Let Me Have The God Damned Airport -----------~~~~THE LUCY LOG~~~~----------- hey guys!! it's me, lucy, back to report on the second half of this battle! rose said people wanted someone more dynamic, so i guess that's me. anyway, let's see... where were we? oh, right! the red team had just found some important intel! congrats to them~  but now we've gotta win the map, so sasha's letting jake take control! he's better with ranged units, like those rockets he's got!  meanwhile, the blue team is struggling still! it's not fair that black hole's got so many tanks. what are they gonna do about it?  first things first, kyril took a big hit, so he needs to get out of there! that's why we have sofia, so she can replace him.  but it's actually best to attack this infantry. we want to stop them getting this airport, after all, since sensei needs it!  minerva's still sneaking up north to get this base! we could pull off an exciting pincer manoeuvre with this!  and now, arqa's assault on the airport a... uh... man, i was gonna think of a word beginning with a so it was all alliterated and cool! but i have no ideas, hold on a sec...  with the airport free, andromeda/lowell go to guard it. oh! arqa's assault on the airport adversary! there we go!!  vanessa can't just rely on tanks though, especially with how hard they're being hit, so she deploys an artillery unit next! my boyfriend's an artillery guy, and i know for a fact that they're great against any kind of grounded unit! this one is talora!  defending this airport is going to be hard, but i believe in everyone! those tanks can't be everywhere at once, and once they've struck, you can counterattack! of course, it'd be a lot easier if i could run over in my bomber!! but that's pretty expensive to do... and i'm not sure how well i could fly in this snow, either!  ok, black hole! do your worst! that's what my dude always says, though he often follows that up with "ah f***, i shouldn't have said that" whenever they do something bad to him!  the mech goes for andromeda and lowell! that's not a good start, they take a big hit!  then the tank!! oh no!! "Andromeda, are we-" Lowell gasps, but Andromeda looks at him sharply. A voice rings out over the transceiver. "Andy! You can do this!" Andromeda nods. "Lowell, you cut, saw, observed the Orange Star Army outlasting, surviving, near death during the mock battle. This is, will be how we survive, too!" "But there's no way-" Lowell says, as the tank opens fire. He shuts his eyes in terror. "I wasn't trained for this! There's no way out! Our tank isn't going to survive!"  "I have met, faced, many foes like you... but I always loving survive, j-just like Perry and Rose and Vanny have shown me!" Andromeda replies, staring at her foes, her ethereal hair swirling around her body, mingling with the snow continuing to fall. "Hell yes, Andromeda!" Vanessa cries victoriously. "Looks like I can pull a Rose Kuroda gambit when I want to. Nice job out there, Andy! Though I dunno if I like the nickname Vanny..." "I've never heard you swear. That... runs counter to the kind of personality I thought you had." Lowell replies. Andromeda nods. "Peregrine said, told me that words like that show off someone's fighting spirits, spirit! It's the, my, goddamn willpower!" she says, beaming at Lowell. Over the transceiver, Vanessa chuckles. "Yeah, you just gotta kinda let it slide. We can't stop Andromeda saying them now, Perry's just that kind of bad influence, I'm afraid."  oh thank goodness!! everybody's ok~ but now sofia is going to be attacked by this tank! at least she can counterattack it!  whaaaaa? kindle's using her co power at the end of her turn?! that's not allowed, only eagle's supposed to do that!  what a way to end the turn, one last f.u.! sorry for the language, but it's true!!  hm, this isn't going to make it any easier for the blue team. and it'll slow down all the capturing that the red team is doing! kindle's such a buzzkill!  i guess there's nothing we can do now but figure out our next step. and i think it's going to involve ROCKETS!  see, look at our infantry units, they can't finish getting this comm tower! our communications are going to sound all garbled until we get all three of these towers!  meanwhile, ingo's in place! look at my man, he's doing so well - he's gonna make sure black hole can't deploy anything without it being crushed by rockets first!! i've always been able to look after myself, but it's nice to see ingo doing the same! when i first met him, he was so nervous, and after what happened, could you blame him?? losing both his real brother and his blood brother in quick succession? it's why i have to be strong, so i can protect him! even if he thinks he's the one protecting me, hee hee!  and here's how the turn ends! now that the tanks are busy fighting the blue team, alfonse and inessa are sneaking back to this base to capture it! hopefully they can manage it... there's a lot of black hole troops hanging around...  i don't know how the blue team is going to hold out, though! even ingo can't help them all by himself, but what's sensei got planned?  talora's in position, to begin with! she can take out anything that gets too close. that's what artilleries are good at!  minerva's nearly capture this base, too! silly kindle, slowing her down... we'll get it next time!  meanwhile, the tanks are way too damaged to keep this up, so they join up! that's right, lowell, andromeda, sofia and kyril are all hanging out in one tank!!  even with the mountain defence, it's not safe for arqa to go for the airport. she'll have to retreat for now! you'll get it next time, arqa!  vanessa deploys another artillery next, and that's kiran! he makes such good food, i miss his cooking!!  let's hope the tank gang and iago are enough to hold off the enemy... it could be close!  oh, no, i'm so nervous i can't bear to watch!  that's a bad start, the mech's gone for poor talora! she's ok, but she can't shoot the mech at close range.  the enemy tank goes for our tank crew! i wonder who's driving out of the four of them? maybe kyril, he seems very responsible!  that wasn't part of the plan! minerva's in a tight spot now! "Minerva, is everything alright? Status report!" Vanessa says. "I just wanted to capture-" Minerva gasps. "I've been found by a Black Hole tank." "Pull a retreat! That's an order!" Vanessa says desperately. "I can't have people wandering off when we're in such tight conditions. We need backup, god drat it!"  even iago's taking a beating! not that i like him, but even he doesn't deserve to be killed out here in the cold!  time for a counterattack! these next few choices are going to determine the battle, i think! although i'm not very good at seeing the battlefield as a whole, like my dude can, but i'd like to think i've picked up a thing or two from keeping my lucy logs over the last year or so~  black hole decided to deploy an infantry? ingo says NOT TODAY!  we finally get all the comm towers, too! now our communication is crystal clear!  alfonse is making a start on this base, meanwhile. it's a good job he didn't go for it earlier. he would have been hit by kindle's co power!  that's all the red team can do for now, though. it's all up to the blue team and vanessa kita farid!!  "There's gotta be a way out of this, Sensei." Vanessa murmurs. "I'm just... not seeing it. Get the airport, and then-" "Vanessa, I can see your problem." Sensei says over the transceiver. Vanessa stares across the battlefield. "Where?! How do I-" "You said it yourself. 'Get the airport'. Stop thinking about the airport, and think about the battle as a whole. Do you need the airport to win?" Vanessa looks back up at the battlefield, and suddenly sees it in a new light. "Oh, god, we've been too distracted trying to capture this airport for you, and we don't even need it to forge ahead! I can see the path forward! We strike NOW!"  as per vanessa's orders, minerva's gonna retreat into the mountains!  that should protect her from the tank! it's a shame she can't get any further away, but mountains are troublesome like that! well, unless you're me in a bomber, tee hee!  and now it's time for vanessa to do her cool strategy with sensei! "I was right - we did need backup. We've lured the enemy near to our cities, so let's get some soldiers on the ground, stat!" Vanessa shouts.  here... we... GO!  The soldiers come parachuting down, weapons at the ready - Lysander and Dymek, the heavy infantry that Vanessa so sorely needs. "Vanessa, we're ready for your orders!" Dymek yells. "I'm not gonna let these bastards hurt any of my friends! Lemme at 'em!" "Hold fast, Dymek - see that tank there? Crush it!" Vanessa replies.  this tank thought it was just attacking a recon, but now there's a mech ready to attack it! what a skilful move by vanessa, wow!  even weakened, talora can do good damage to this enemy tank, too! and once she's done that...  POW! the tank squad can finish them!  in one fell swoop, the blue team's bought some time! now they have the advantage, and they can charge ahead to take out black hole!  but black hole isn't going to be happy. what will kindle do??  this mech keeps attacking talora! i guess he hasn't noticed that he's surrounded by powerful units like the tank squad and dymek yet!  "Boss! I, um-" Minerva gasps. "I'm in a bad situation! I might not-" "Don't say that!" Vanessa replies. "Hold tight, Minerva, we'll come get you in a moment!" "The tank's right on top of me!" Minerva shouts, watching it rumble up to her meagre mountain defence and open fire. She leaps behind a rock, hoping to outlast the gunfire, but then there's a BOOM as the tank unleashes a full-force attack on her position, and Vanessa, with bated breath, listens on the transceiver. "Tell Kanbei that I, I wish I could have..." Minerva says. "Tell him I died like a hero, won't you? Fighting for his cause?"  "Minerva? Minerva?!" Vanessa shouts, her voice hoarse as she yells and yells, but receives no response. For a few moments, there's silence. "...Vanessa?" asks Andromeda. "What do we act, do, now?" "...It can't be helped. We were naïve to think we'd push through a whole campaign with zero losses." Vanessa replies quietly, feeling the weight sitting squarely on her shoulders. "We move forward, and we crush them without hesitation. They took one of our own. THEY TOOK ONE OF OUR OWN!"  the enemy's deployed an anti-air, too... oh, i'm just upset that we lost somebody... my dude would have- well, he's not here, so i guess we'll never know if he'd have managed it without losing anyone. but i wish we didn't have to say goodbye to people! i hate it, so, so much!  ok, we've gotta keep our cool. almost there! just need to keep black hole from deploying anything dangerous, and our rockets will do that easily!  that anti-air's got nothing on ingo~  it's taken a bit longer, but yakov is now in place too! he should be able to thin out the crowds as well!  and look, alfonse got this base! it's very near to the enemy hq, so that's useful! just in case we need some strong firepower or something!  it's a bit risky, since she'll take a lot of damage, but inessa decides to weaken this mech whilst he's busy capturing something! i guess he'll be too focussed on capturing to actually finish her off though, so good call on jake's part!  the red team is doing everything it can! just gotta make sure the blue team don't slip up now!  here we go, blue team! take out those last few enemies, and then get that hq!  kiran takes out the mech on the airport, freeing it up once more! but vanessa's not going for that anymore.  she's just out to rout the enemy! the tank crew take on this infantry unit next!  everybody else pushes ahead! man, i wouldn't want to be that anti-air right now!  maybe it'll fight back, though. i wouldn't advise it, pal, you're in dangerous territory! after all, you p***ed off vanessa!  at least inessa managed to stop this infantry from getting a base. we're not letting black hole get ANY more territory around here!  the anti-air's gone for iago! kindle does get stronger in the cities, so i guess this was sensible, but thankfully iago survives!  and now they've deployed a mech. seems like black hole has run out of tricks!  after all, i think we can stop them deploying things this turn! first, the red team needs to do this...  kaboom! ingo hurts the mech pretty badly! that's step one!  yakov takes out the capturing mech in the meantime, doing such a good job. he and his sister tag-teamed that enemy!  selena gets deployed now, just as backup in case anything goes wrong! i always feel safer when selena's one the field. she's as reliable and strong as dave or tina! or me, i guess, but i don't like to think of myself as one of those super-strong invincible soldiers. i'm just lucy, and if i can fight to help people, then i will!!  step two of the plan to stop black hole deploying things will rely on the blue team!  so, i guess we'd better see how they go. vanessa's angry, but she's still smart. she's got plans, i'm sure!  dymek's taken out the anti-air! that's one problem dealt with.  lysander goes for the airport, just in case! always good to have backup plans like selena or bombers! you never know what tricks black hole will come out with next, the sneaky bunch!  iago can just barely finish off the mech - this is step two! because iago's the one who finishes off the mech...  the tank crew can block up black hole's only base! they can't deploy anything now with kyril, andromeda, lowell and sofia stopping them!  one foe left! does he know how much danger he's in, i wonder?  let's hope not! an overconfident foe can be defeated easily! i learned that in my campaigns!  he didn't do anything, except drive closer to us, so let's just finish it off! aw, but then i'll be done reporting. i've had fun telling you about the battle!  go on, ingo! my boyfriend's gonna make an end of this battle! bye bye, everyone!!!  Jugger, at this rate, your incompetence will get you melted down for shell casings. (The Director already had some choice words for your performance on Bearen Island, and now this..?! Jugger...ammo? Battle analysis indicates Kindle lost as well. Kindle also ammo?That's it, Jugger, you tell her. You both hosed this one up, I'm afraid. Don't be so dim. It's time to retreat. You will NOT botch the next fight! Yeah, you better run! What's it like to get served by a com tower?! Our strategy was perfect. Now let's head back to HQ. My nose is frozen. You gonna let a little frostbite stop you, you big lug? I'm still good to go! You've got energy to spare, don't you? I'm glad you're on our side, chrome dome. Of course I've got energy! Now let's keep going! Um, Mr Grimm... I brought my c-coat, but even I'm g-getting cold now. Might it be better to go b-back to HQ for now? Aw, heck, if you're asking, I suppose we can. But once we're all toasty and warm, we've gotta plan our next move! Our next move, as far as I'm concerned, is finding the location indicated on this map. Another map over, though that one lost must sting Vanessa a bit. They're impossible to avoid, though me and Rose do our best to avoid them; you just have to take some losses, sometimes. I should've been in this battle. I could've stopped that from happening. ...I need to come back.  Pfft. At the very least, I need to come back so I can tell Jake to stop saying such stupid things at the end of each battle.  So, what's coming up next?   Lash... Oh, and I'll put some of those little tankies over here... Goodie! Oh, no! They used a dual strike! Raaar! Boom! Crash! ...Tee hee hee! Lash? ...Lash! Pay attention! Stop playing games on the battlefield! Carelessness leads to death. Don't be silly. It's just a game! No, really... I'm playing a game, see? And let me tell you, this boss? Totally hard. Seriously. Get back to the lab. We've got company, and I've got another mission to attend to. You're on your own for this one. We can't afford to have anything happen to you.Dealing with Lash really does sound like a full-time job. Yeah, yeah. Stop worrying about me! I DO have our brand-new weapon--you know, the black bomb? I'm more worried about this stupid boss battle than I am about... Uh-oh! What now? I think I dropped something when I was walking around earlier. See? You are careless. What did you drop? Nothing vital, I hope. Hmmm... I don't remember. Probably just bolts or lint or an egg or something...None of these sound out of the ordinary for Lash, to be fair. I could see her carrying an egg around because "lol random". I dunno. Who cares? I don't want to look for it. Let's just go. What's your mission, anyway? Myself and the Director have some business to attend to. I'll tell you when I get back. Aw, fine, keep your secrets. Watch me win this battle, and my boss fight, without even trying! The black bomb? Hey, I remember that thing... Yeah, that's the one that almost wasted us on Bearen Island! That's the one. It has to be around here somewhere... Oh! Commander Rachel! I found this in a bush over there! Gwar! What are you doing?! You can't just walk around touching stuff! It could be a booby trap! And then you touch it and... KA-BOOM!! OOOH, YEAH!!Grimm is the best. He's like the Jugger of the Allied Nations, top tier dialogue. God, he should've narrated that last battle. Oh no! I-I'm s-sorry, sir! I don't see a blasting cap or trigger mechanism. Actually, it looks like a remote control for a toy car or something... The enemy is just ahead! The closest you'll come is when I use it to blow you all to smithereens! Grrr! Back for more, huh, Lash?! Tee hee hee! Heya, Max! You still cracking coconuts with that big head of yours? And where's your ACO, huh? Did he get sick of you all being so lame and leave you to fend for yourselves? How dare you! He's--look, it doesn't matter where my dude went! Oh, but it does matter! Without him, no one can defeat my scientific mind! All I have to do is press this button and... ...and... ...Huh?... Oh, nuts! My remote's gone! Remote...? Hey, Lash? Could you possibly be talking about...this? Heeeey! Give that back! Thief! Thieeeef! W-why should I give it back...? Hey! Are you losers asleep or something? The enemy took my black bombs! Do you have any idea how long it took me to build all of those? Um...w-what are we supposed to do about it? Argh! Fine. Forget it. They probably won't be able to use them, anyway! It takes a special kind of genius to master black bomb deployment. OK, let's start the game!And start the game we shall - next time, anyway. Here's the map:   Black Hole's got a sizeable army, though we have Black Bombs, provided we can actually get at them. Should be an interesting fight - just two COs to choose this time, and all the usual suspects: Jake, Rachel, Max, Colin, Sasha, Grimm or Sensei. I'm ready to come back, I think. I need to talk to Rachel. *** Part 32 (Intermission) - Surpassing All Expectations cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Jul 3, 2022 |
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Jan 21, 2022 18:04
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Grimm might be fun on this one. Destroy the pipe seams quicker, use the black bombs, and then wipe out the survivors. I guess Sensei could support and has a support bonus, though potentially spawning a bunch of mechs could interfere with the whole named units theme.
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Jan 21, 2022 19:57
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Grimm's defence penalty probably just makes keeping everyone alive more difficult. I wouldn't want to give postman more headaches. Max and Rachel
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Jan 21, 2022 21:11
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Let's go with sensei to bust the island pipe asap and... I dunno. Jake?
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Jan 21, 2022 22:03
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I guess Yellow Comet couldn't keep up that deathless streak forever, though now I kinda wish we had kept Rose on as narrator; Minerva WAS part of the group that got to go to the tea party in LPAW2, after all. Wonder how Rose would have reacted. CP's Choice: Jake or Max and CP's Choice: Sasha or Sensei. Really digging on how Sensei's kinda living up to his name for Vanessa and Rose, not gonna lie. SMaster777 fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Jan 22, 2022 |
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Jan 21, 2022 23:17
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 18:44 |
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When it came to Minerva, I think that moving her north might've been enough to save her. Kindle gains a massive offense boost while on a property, and that was enough to overcome the defense bonus from being in the mountains; moving north would've denied the offense boost to the tank while getting her on a mountain.
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Jan 22, 2022 12:48
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