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Natural 20 posted:Okay as insane as it sounds, I love the challenge of these LPs but I kinda just want complete tragedy for these last few missions of advance wars. Thank you! This one wasn't too bad, Enigma is still the hardest pre-final map as far as I'm concerned. And I know exactly what you mean. If I was a stronger writer, I would, but I love all my babies and I don't want them to die Fionordequester posted:You may get your wish in the mission after this one. You'll see why... Oh, don't say that, I don't want them to die- And yes, nice catch; there is a reason for the clone underperforming, we'll see exactly what's going on next time.
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Nov 12, 2022 09:09
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Regarding deaths, I think it's vital they serve some kind of clear narrative purpose. I never liked it when, say, Harry Potter (Deathly Hallows specifically) started suddenly killing a bunch off in the final book, just for drama's sake. In any case, you can get through the final map without deaths, with a bit of luck... But it requires Colin, a LVL 8 Javier (easily achievable via purchasing Javier + Final Battle at the shop), and a thread that votes the right way. So that's definitely something for the thread to consider. Fionordequester fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Nov 12, 2022 |
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Nov 12, 2022 23:05
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When we get a look at what the final map entails, I don't even want there to be a vote for whether or not there's consequences. There should be consequences, regardless of how cheap the game becomes to cause them.
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Nov 12, 2022 23:32
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Fionordequester posted:Regarding deaths, I think it's vital they serve some kind of clear narrative purpose. I never liked it when, say, Harry Potter (Deathly Hallows specifically) started suddenly killing a bunch off in the final book, just for drama's sake. Agreed on the narrative relevance part. It's one of the reasons I kept Roland's death in AW2 - I could write interesting things around it because it was unexpected.
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Nov 13, 2022 01:01
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Ok for some reason I was giggling uncontrollably at the clone dude ripping off the capture counter, that was great.
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Nov 13, 2022 07:05
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Part 75 (Battle) - Market Crash Is Incredibly Fair And Balanced Alright, it's time - last time we delayed Von Bolt's Ex Machina, then he just used in on like 2 infantry and an artillery for some reason. So, may as well take advantage of that as we push through the second half of this map!  So yeah, here's our units that can't act - the only real issue here is Zlata, but with Lena and Selena in our Neotank and megatank, we've still got firepower for days.  Plus, rockets. Inessa murders the nearest infantry.  Our backup tanks will now be catching up - you may recall that Kyril's in our tank, and Boris is in our medium tank.  The other great thing about Javier is not just that he's absurdly strong, but he can use his CO Power, like, every other turn if you hit enough things and take enough hits.  Tower Shield! Now watch everything die.  If we want to maximise our damage output and take out the relevant threats (in particular, that full-HP anti-air in the top left), then we need to be very specific about what we murder. First, Vanessa blows up this copter.  This allows Selena to cut right through here and blow open this crystal - honestly, 90% of my motivation for this isn't because the crystal heals and refuels units, but just because it's literally in my way.  Lena comes flying in to delete the tank, finally leaving the way clear to get rid of these artillery and anti-air dudes.  Dimitri blows up the artillery. "The enemy's losing their nerve. We must be close to pushing through." "Or they're gearing up for a counterattack. Harrumph! Be on your guard!" Von Panzer replies. Lucy narrows her eyes as she spots a fighter jet charging towards her. "Yeah, they're not giving up on this side of the battlefield. This clone's still got some bite, I think - but he's no match for the real my dude!"  Von Panzer can head up here and take out this anti-air, which was my original plan. I love it when a plan comes toget  god drat it von panzer This isn't an enormous problem, though. The main thing is that these weakened anti-airs can no longer threaten the green team's air force, like Diana in the copter.  Michael heads over to refuel Vanessa. "That was a close thing, huh?" Michael says. "Your trust in Rose is admirable." "Hey, she's taught me a lot. The main thing I've learned, though..." Vanessa replies with a wink. "Is that Rose doesn't leave a single thing up to chance." "True! Let's see how she and my dude handle the rest of this battle, then." Michael answers. He looks up at the battlefield ahead of them, the black obelisk rising up far above them. "A clone of my dude... that must be a worthy opponent indeed."  I move the rest of the troops up, but they'll just be playing catch-up, pretty much. The main part of the battle is over, so our backline ranged units have done most of what they need to do. ...Yes, I know Mulligan hasn't actually done anything, but shush.  Grit's almost done with his end of things, too. That battleship needs to go, first.  Plus, Carter finishes off his capturing. Good lad - not that we need the money, but hey.  Unfortunately, we can't even two-shot this loving bote - Alina lands another solid hit on it, though, and renders it basically useless.  I try doing this to see if I can get a cheeky extra point of damage with Valeria, but no dice.  By surrounding the ship and moving Khepri north, though, I can pretty effectively avoid any of my units getting shot by this thing. We'll kill it next turn. Khepri's on a special mission, called "we cannot let them keep that port".  Additionally, this cannon's going to cause problems for my units up here. Once the battleship goes down, I need to move Eva up to take it out.  Now it's the green team's turn. And if you remember at the end of the last part, they have a god drat fighter to worry about!  Diana isn't concerned about the fighter, though, and instead shoots this tank nearby.  My plan here was "Lucy can probably oneshot this with a good luck roll or whatever".  My dude! This wasn't part of the plan! No, no, it's fine, look- ... I'll admit, not my best move. ...I blame my dude entirely for being an idiot. Oh, quiet, you. Meanwhile, even at 5HP, Peregrine can do some damage, so I have her attack this transport copter before it can... transport.  I then realise I have absolutely no way to save Lucy from this fighter, but Klara comes over to give her backup at the very least. "I should've been able to take that guy out... my aim might've been off." Lucy frets. "Lucy! You're gonna be OK." Vanessa replies. "I know this wasn't exactly to plan, but I'm sure my dude's got something up his sleeve." Lucy smiles sadly. "I've been in situations like this before. I can't keep getting lucky every time, can I?"  Oh god. Here we go.  ...Back to the minicannon fuckery, anyway.And, as predicted, the minicannon blasts Von Panzer for 3HP. It's not a huge deal, but it's going to get supremely annoying if it doesn't go away quickly.  This Dick Captures A Property: 61  "Lucy, here it comes!" Klara roars. "Don't attack her, you fucker! Come to me instead, and be torn to bloody shreds!" Ingo feels the breath catch in his throat. "Lucy... Lucy!" "Ingo, I just wanted to say... I'm so proud of how far you've come." Lucy says, her voice wavering as the fighter jet screams across the sky. "And tell my dude... tell my dude it's not his fault." The fighter jet's missiles blast through the air quicker than anybody can react, tearing through Lucy's bomber as she gives a scream. A final blast rocks the bomber, which bends...  ...but doesn't break. "There we loving go! Knew it!" Peregrine yells. Lucy, white-faced, picks up the transceiver. "Wh-what?" "Did you forget whose bomber you're in? That's Clyde! And you might remember something about WHO constructed Clyde..." "Oh, of course." Rose breathes. "That's a Kanbei bomber. Superior offences and defences thanks to the expensive production value." I breathe a long, long sigh of relief. "Holy poo poo, that was a near thing." "Peregrine... you've saved my life." Lucy says, a wide smile crossing her face. "Let's push on, then! If even that attack couldn't stop us, then nothing else will!" Ingo slumps against his artillery, sliding down to the floor. "Thank god, thank god..." "gently caress me, that was way too close." Dave growls. "They're not gonna take a single one of us! You fuckin' hear me, clone my dude?! NOT A SINGLE ONE!"  Another really good thing happens here - Von Bolt deploys some rockets. Well, that's not good, but the good thing is that he left the port totally undefended.  I already didn't like Von Bolt, but he and this goddamn clone just tried to kill Lucy Ophelia Maxwell, darling of the Orange Star barracks and Queen of the Skies. There will not be mercy.  Ingo lets out all of his fury on the nearest infantry, blasting it.  Inessa, meanwhile, is capable of one-shotting her infantry, so she does that. We don't want to hand over our com towers.  Boris and Kyril have caught up, so Boris crushes this recon heading down.  And sure, I could use Kyril to do this, but I have the infantry doing nothing, may as well use them. Dave charges forward, full of rage. "No more!" Dave growls, but before he fires, he hears a voice behind him. "Dave!" Rin says. She's not sure what else to add, but she looks at him nervously. Dave nods. "I know, kid. You don't need to say anything." He readies his gun and fires on the infantry ahead of him. "Don't worry - this is a carefully-controlled anger. I'm fighting... for the living."  Meanwhile, poor Von Bolt's not going to get to use his newly-deployed rockets, as Lena just kind of destroys them. "Your lowly rockets are nothing. Be crushed under my heel!" Lena mutters, her face a mask of fury.  Zlata murders this tank. There's a lot of random units just stood around now, so we just kind of have to clean up before we push further north. We're very close, though - which is why we need to be careful. There's already been one catastrophic mistake in this battle. Let's not have any more. I swear, I know what I'm doing. That fighter is dead meat, no matter what it does. ...Ah, a pincer. I see your plan now. Overkill? Yes. Funny? Immeasurably so.  And of course, Michael's on hand to keep Selena's ammo topped up. A megatank and an APC are a fantastic duo.  The two anti-airs decided to a dumb thing and join up, which means Dimitri can take them both out in one shot. There's nothing left that can threaten my plane dominance now! "What about the fighter je-" what about shut up  Von Panzer plinks at the pipe seam. That's not terribly useful, but he's also blocking up this factory, which IS very useful.  And despite being on the brink of death, our girl Vanessa refuses to retreat as per usual, and pushes ahead to shoot anything she can get her mitts on, like this transport copter.  ...I can't even be mad. She's on 3HP, expecting a kill would have been silly.  And thus our tank squad, accompanied by Diana, continue to surge northward. Once that seam is broken open, we're basically in the endgame.  There's still plenty of things we need to deal with before we can safely approach the seam, though, and Grit's going to be helping with that.  And he does this by blocking up this port. A battleship or something here would be super annoying, but Khepri's here now!  And with Alina landing the killing blow on this battleship, the botening gambit is now 100% dealt with. We control the oceans now! ...We will celebrate by dragging everyone back to the port to heal and refuel.  Well, Valeria and Alina will, anyway. Lloyd in the carrier and Eva in the battleship can contribute a little bit in the north, so I'm bringing them up as quickly as I can.  On the plane side of things, we are... not in a great position. However, I have a plan.  This isn't part of the plan, but hey, the more money Sasha has, the harder her Market Crash hits. And we are going to need a BIG Market Crash before the end of this map.  So, thanks to the absolutely massive movement of planes, I can retreat Lucy back into the pipe seam...  ...and block it up with Klara. Fighters can fire on stealth fighters, but Klara still has the HP to take a hit and hit back. Plus, if the fighter jet does head down to hit Klara, it'll also move into Peregrine's range - the two girls should be able to gang up and kill this thing.  I can even slot Darwin between the two girls, so he refuels both of them. Man, APCs have been more useful in this one map than like, the entirety of Advance Wars 2.  The annoying thing about not landing a kill on this copter is that now I need Diana to do it - which also means that she's in minicannon range. Still, it should be fine, copters are pretty bulky against land units, so there's nothing that can really threaten her.  I'm a little concerned that Klara/Peregrine might not be enough to take out the fighter, so I'm deploying another fighter - our girl Andromeda. "H-hello! I'm going to back, help, save Peregrine and Lucy! They're my... friends! You won't... loving hurt them!" Andromeda cries. "Attagirl, Andy!" Peregrine cries. "Head north as soon as you can - company's on the way!"  I can't believe this single fighter jet is proving to be more of a nuisance than, like, the entire botening gambit was. Clone my dude knows as well as I do that planes are the strongest units in the game.  Let's just see if he takes the bait.  Well, first, Diana gets minicannon'd in the face. She's fine, though.  And, uh, the fighter just kind of moves south and doesn't attack? I could've sworn fighters can fire on stealth'd stealth units, but perhaps I'm wrong. Does it have to 'discover' them first, like gently caress of War?  Either way, my plan to save Lucy worked better than perfect, so I'm not complaining. Now Von Bolt's various foot units just kind of wander around causing trouble, but it's not that bad, really.  He deploys a tank and a bro copter now, though. I need to get control of that airport, stat.  So, let's see how we're going to approach things on this turn.  Lena takes care of the first of our problems - but someone to block up the base would be nice, too.  Zlata can kill this infantry most of the way to death, and anyone else can finish the poor fucker off.  Vanessa continues to contribute despite her damage - next she deletes this infantry, opening up the other base. We can block that too!  We've got other things to be killing around here, though, so I have Boris take out another infantry. Von Bolt's close to running out of units now.  Hell, even Kyril in a regular tank is one-shotting these guys. It's not like they're any kind of threat to a bunch of Javier-powered ground units. Or any units, really. Unless your name is Dave, you have no business fighting tanks as a foot unit.  So, I know I've been underutilising Selena in the megatank, but this massively overkill damage is strategically viable because... ...OK, it's not, but it's funny, though. It's not like Selena was in range to shoot anything else.  Von Panzer moves to the left to block up the leftmost factory, so Dimitri fills the space he vacated, and chips the pipe seam for a bit more damage.  We've pretty effectively cleared out the middle and the left. Please ignore everything going to poo poo on the right - I swear, I have it under control.  See, look, we have Grit! Grit will help.  Actually, there's not much for Grit to do this turn. We get Alina closer to the port, though. She's not got any fuel issues, really, but best to be safe.  Eva heads north, with the cannon in her sights, whilst Lloyd heads up to the port. He's in position.  Right, now back to the bit where everything is on fire. Let's see what we can do to sort this little fighter problem, shall we?  Andromeda isn't quite in range to shoot, but I move her up anyway, whilst Klara goes for the jugular.  And we get a factory! ...OK, back to the action.  I debated attacking the fighter jet with Peregrine, but she'd be in rough shape after the counterattack. Instead, I just initiate on this poor copter up here that can't fight back.  And of course, we have 56k sitting in the bank, whilst Von Bolt's CO Meter is looking a bit full...  This is absolutely the intended way to beat this game. Javier and Sasha all the way, baby!  And with that amount of money, the CO Meter is totally wiped out. Spoiler-that's-not-really-a-spoiler: he's not going to get it filled again before the end of the map.  We have the money, so I figured we may as well deploy another backup fighter in case poo poo gets hosed. Howard, join the party! "Hey, Mull, finally made it at last. Uh, how's things?" Mulligan chuckles. "Things on my end are fine, Howard - it's the air forces that are struggling. You need to help them out." "Oh, god, of course the final mission is going to be stressful..." Howard mutters to himself, shuddering for a moment.  So, this turn is called Pick A God And Pray, because  Boris gets shot by the cannon. I swear to god, I'm going to destroy that thing soon.  This Dick Captures A Property: 62 So, yes, we either want the enemy fighter to attack Andromeda in the south...  ...or Peregrine in the north, there we go! "Peregrine, it's coming your way!" Howard shouts as he watches the jet zoom off. Klara gasps. "That loving plane! If it touches a hair of your head, I'll crush it into scrap!!" "Nah, it's fine!" Peregrine shouts, narrowing her eyes. "Here we go. Come at me, you fucker!"  Peregrine's fighter holds tough against the enemy fighter. Peregrine gives a gasp. "Th-there we go! Lloyd, is everything good?" "Aye, lass. Ye've done good work!"  So, yeah, the fighter moving north actually solves all of our problems - firstly, it's blocking up its own airport, which we couldn't do because of the copter. And secondly... well, you'll see in a moment.  So, uh, that chip damage on the seam wasn't necessary, as I just have Lena oneshot it. With that, the way to the black obelisk is open!  Selena joins her sister in the seam, prepared to defend her from... well, the nonexistent enemies, but you never know what might be lurking around. That's all the middle team have to do right now, though, so we can just move on.  So, Grit's also not got much to do, but he does have one very specific thing he needs to do before we finish.  It's not refuelling Alina, though that is also good to do. Don't want to lose a sub on the last turn of the map.  It's also not capturing this factory, but, you know, style points.  No, it's this.  "Alright, here it comes! Get the cannons ready, men, and..." Lloyd roars.  "FIIIIIIRE!!" And we fire ACROSS the island to take out the plane. If Lloyd was one space closer, then he could lock down that airport without needing Snipe Attack, but here, we need the +1 range, and god drat, isn't it satisfying to look at?  Eva shoots the cannon, but it's kind a moot point. This map is loving over.  The green team don't even have to do anything, really.  We'll move Howard up to rejoin the others though, just in case I somehow gently caress up spectacularly.  I stick Peregrine on the airport to prevent any more annoying things from happening next turn.  Klara and Andromeda come to join her. "W-well done, Perry!" Andromeda says anxiously. "I thought everything would go to poo poo, but you alive, survived!" "Of course I did! You don't need to worry 'bout me, alright, Andy?" Peregrine replies with a grin. "Worry about the poor fucker that got eviscerated by Lloyd!"  It's the clone's last turn. He's got no hope now. …That sounds like bullshit. This time it's poor Dimitri, just to the left of the seam, who gets shot by the cannon. gently caress the cannon, though. We don't even care about it.  ...That could be bad, though. Hand in there, Diana! "I've had this conversation before with the soldiers of Black Hole..." Diana growls.  "You'll have to shoot me another five or six hundred times if you want me to die for good!"  It's the end.  Inessa can get a cheeky kill on this mech, so I figured I may as well. Power score is a thing, after all. Any last things to say to clone my dude and Von Bolt, Javier?  Ooh, that's a good one. Let's do it!  This is completely unnecessary, but I'm absolutely going to end this map in style.  Selena rumbles to a stop outside the black obelisk. "There it is, Lena. The culmination of Von Bolt's ambitions... you've come a long way to be here. It's only right that you end it."  Michael takes his position. "Definitely, Lena. This whole army's on your side now - if we're going to do this, we're going to do it together. We believe in you!"  "You're right. I'm going to end it." Lena says, driving her Neotank forward and facing the might of the black obelisk. "Von Bolt... I once said I hated my country, and that I'd do anything to see it fall. This isn't what I wanted, though... and so I reject you! Selena was right... I always believed, that there’s a world that loves me. And she doesn't have to fight to build that world for me anymore. I'm going to build it myself! And the first step to doing that is righting the wrongs that I have caused! Take... THIS!"  With an almighty explosion as the black obelisk cracks under the strain of Lena's bazooka shots. The shards burst out in every direction, coating the sandy ground in a layer of shattered crystal. And ahead of it all, a young woman, her blonde hair flowing in the breeze, stands astride her Neotank and looks upon her work. She feels at peace for the first time in a long time.  …But I’m… I've never... I can't lose… Do you get it now, Von Bolt? You...are not...hhh...the world's greatest...strategist... No. That would be Rose Kuroda. But I'm afraid that wasn't your only mistake. What are you talking about? Do you think I'm strong because I'm a brilliant strategist? Just having a clone of me isn't enough. Because you lack what you really need. What really makes me strong. ... You don't have a Dave Ruston, the Tankslayer. You don't have a Tina Van Koning. You don't have a Lucy Ophelia Maxwell, Queen of the Skies. You don't have a Dimitri Volkov, the Meteor. You don't have a Mulligan or a Howard. You don't have a Cassandra Morgenstern, the Morningstar. And, as of the Battle of the Tower of Rebirth... You don't have a mother loving Madam Director. My dude... It's over, Von Bolt. You miscalculated. ...It's...over... So that's why the black obelisk has been destroyed! My eternal beauty... It's fading! Retreat...hhh...for now... Leave the clone. He was...hhh...worthless, in the end... Hey! Those rats are tryin' to run! They're not going anywhere! We're going to end this right now! OK! Let's go! Is everyone ready? It's time for the final showdown! ...My dude... Rose? Are you OK? I have...given everything inside of myself. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. ...I know, kid. It's hard, when we're at the very end, to maintain that energy. These are the toughest battles we've ever faced. You just need to hang on for one more fight, OK? One more fight... You're doing great, Rose. Let's finish it together. And we got a perfect score for that map. Very satisfying! Let's see if we can't do the same thing for this final map.  Grit and Sonja promote, too, but I doubt that'll have much bearing on this final map.  Actually, Hawke, we sacrificed nothing, since nobody died. Were you paying attention?  ...Here it is, anyway. The final, FINAL map.  There's nowhere to run! Hhh... I knew...hhh...you'd come. You've totally jacked up Omega Land. You killed the trees and dried up the lakes and turned everything into wasteland. How could you do that just to satisfy your own twisted ego? Hehh hhh hhh... I find you...hhh....amusing. Everything...hhh...requires energy to...hhh...live... It is...hhh...the natural order... Aha ha ha ha! Lord Von Bolt is quite right. We are simply doing what comes naturally--what any other living thing would do. There's a difference between seeking food for your own survival, and seeking to extend your life beyond what would be natural. I can tell just from looking at you, Von Bolt...you should have died a long, long time ago. Yeah, Rose is right, you're talkin' crazy! Let me ask a question, dear one: what does it mean to live? Huh? Hhh... All living things...hhh...take energy... Take it from...hhh...the outside world... It is how...hhh...all creatures are able to... Hhhhhhh...to live and to grow... Hhhhhh! What the heck are you trying to say? Stop wheezing out this hogwash! Nourishment. Eating. You consume something so that it may extend your life. That's what all living things do. Even plebeians such as yourselves breathe and eat and drink... Correct? We do the same. But our food is simply... Omega Land itself. Its energy. Yeah? You a big fan of dirt sandwiches? Aha ha ha! No. I need all of Omega Land's energy to preserve my allure. It takes a tremendous amount of power to seize and keep eternal beauty. If I absorb the life force of this pathetic land, I can stay young forever! If I hear that laugh ONE more time in this campaign... So you're trashing Omega Land just to preserve yourself? We have...hhh...taken the trouble...hhh... to amass all this energy...hhh... And now you...hhh...leave me...no choice. I will...hhh...use this energy...hhhh... Use it to...hhhhhh...annihilate you all! Hhhhhhhhh... Hhhhhhnnnnnggggggh! What the hell is he doing now? Wha...? Hey, what's going on? He's acting weird! Hhhh...hhhhhhnnngggaaa! Whaaa haa! I've used the energy stored in the black obelisk to fuel my frail body! I feel like I have the strength of ten men... Each of whom possesses the strength of ten men! Oh my god, he's lost his mind. Whaaaa haa haaaa! Get them, my oozium! Feast on them! Consume the weak-minded fools! Devour all energy left on this planet! Leave nothing behind! This is diabolical. We cannot allow this man to continue in this way. We must stop him! Whaaa haa haa! Whaaaa haaaa haaa! Whaaaaaa haaaaa haaaaaa haaaaa!!!! Whaaaaaaaaa haaaa haaa haaaaaaa!! I feel like that's understating it a bit, Rachel. Dude...psycho. What the gently caress is that?! Look at the size of that thing! Behold the sheer magnitude of it! I call this massive oozium the Grand Bolt... And I will use it to swallow you whole! Once I do, I will suck Omega Land dry and take its energy for myself! Dude. You couldn't be more of a loser! You only care about yourself! You're not thinking about the land or anyone else. That kind of thing will only lead to your own destruction! Whaaa haa haa haaa! Shut it, boy! Your inane hipster slang is an affront to my ears and a waste of my time. Slink home while you can still walk!Well, I'm glad somebody's saying what we're all thinking. Hey! He might say it in a silly way, but he's right! You're a- Oooh, snap! You showed me, meat bag! Consider yourself served with a subpoena of pain! Yeah...that's lawyer style! Never mind. You can kill him.And so, with that, the final map is upon. The bad news? The secondary front is AI-controlled. For the final goddamn map. So, yeah, this one's going to be interesting. We only get two COs, one for the main front when we need to smack that big oozium, and one for the secondary front where Place your votes! And for those who have played this game before, you may also place your votes on whether Jake will or won't break the chair. *** Part 76 (Intermission) - Seeking Forgiveness cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Nov 18, 2022 |
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Nov 18, 2022 10:53
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Main CO: Colin gets to impress Lash (8% Defense, Tower Power, -5% Cost, & Gold Rush) Tag CO: Javier gets to save everyone's lives (20% Defense, 12% Indirect Defense, & Invader) -------- Turn on Defensive AI, or none of the below will help Colin's job is as follows: quote:Day 1: Spam Infantry Those three Infantry will (almost) guarantee that two missiles will strike Kindle's airforce on the right—ensuring that you'll capture the rightmost COM Tower without anyone dying (so long as Javier's set-up correctly). The Bombers will then help end Kindle faster, while Colin turns his attention to Von Bolt himself. As for Javier, he needs the 20% Defense and +1 Capture point to snag the right COM Tower on Day 4. Anything less than that will result in a dead Infantry and an failed capture. From there, 12% Indirect Defense is wanted for helping everyone survive Kindle's botes. Why? Because unfortunately, Javier is a numskull that waits for his SCOP and doesn't know how to properly attack or prioritize. So, if you and the thread allow it, I recommend purchasing Javier in "Battle Maps", as well as a map called "Final Battle". One S-Rank there with the five COM Towers should get Javier the level up he needs. Otherwise... Well, you and the thread are gonna have some bodies on your conscious  .
Fionordequester fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Nov 18, 2022 |
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Nov 18, 2022 12:27
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The good news is the primary front is really easy. The bad news is everyone on the second front is about to die.
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Nov 18, 2022 17:59
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I'm still mulling over my votes for primary front and if Jake or Hawke does the thing but I can at least safely say Javier for the second front. E: Eh, sod it. CP's choice for the first front and Jake does the thing SMaster777 fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Nov 23, 2022 |
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Nov 18, 2022 23:08
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cosmicPostman posted:
Reading this line for the first time is a loving spiritual experience. Von Bolt says to Jake exactly what we've been wanting to say to him for the entire game. It's so beautiful. On the forums when this game first came out, this was the line everybody was talking about. Anyway, I've never seen that map completed with a 300 Point S Rank before. I've always just gone for the strategy of flying a stealth fighter at the black obelisk as Eagle or something and one-shotting it, but that gets you a B at most. Very impressive stuff. For the final map, yeah that second front is gonna be a nightmare for your troops. People seem to have some good ideas for ways to mitigate casualties, so I'll let them do that if it's what the people want to see. I was always gonna vote for Jake and Rachel to like, bookend the story, and because their shared dialogue is nice (all the dialogue in the last map is a lot more interesting than usual) but I'm also interested to see a second front with no deaths. As for the other choice, I will go for do not shoot the chair. It's not any actual real moral dilemma, and shooting the chair is absolutely the right thing to do, but I find not shooting it to be much more interesting story-wise. Tag dialogue for the last map will come later, in a couple days or something.
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Nov 19, 2022 05:15
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The bottom front is pretty much tailor made for Jake, but he's a doofus so let's send Hawke with plainswalker to the bottom front and have Javier do his best to hold the line up top Have Jake take the moral high ground and the physical underground and don't shoot the chair.
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Nov 21, 2022 19:32
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Ah, I forgot I never voted for the plot thing. So, I vote that Jake shoots the chair. Because it looks silly that no one else but Hawke steps up to the plate.
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Nov 21, 2022 19:39
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I vote that Jake shoots the chair, because I want to see what cosmicPostman does with that.
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Nov 21, 2022 20:47
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Part 77 (Battle) - Eat A Bag Of Dicks, Auto CO Here we go. The final battle begins. Let's move out! My dude, Rose--prepare for a two-front battle! We're going to crush this guy! Wait, my dude…are you OK? Rach, I’m exhausted. That last battle was one of the toughest me and Rose have ever done. I can’t handle both fronts, and neither can Rose. We’re both needed on the primary front. But… Commander my dude! I wish to offer my own services to the second front. Javier? A knight should always come to the aid of a lady, but a true knight comes to the aid of anyone who needs help, no matter the circumstances! You have proven yourself a steadfast ally of the Allied Nations, but you must recognise your own limits. Exhaustion kills a man swifter than any weapon. So…you’re gonna handle the second front? Quite! Allow me to give Kindle the sound thrashing she deserves! …I understand well how much your troops mean to you, so know this--I will do everything in my power to keep them from harm! Javier…thank you. Godspeed, my knight in shining armour. ...You know, don't you? Without us, there's no way that they can get through that second front unscathed. ...I know. Let’s turn our attention to the Grand Bolt, my dude. Right. Hawke, you with us? I once wished for nothing more than to survive. You two have shown me that I can do that…and so much more. To make an end of Von Bolt’s plans besides the two of you…perhaps that is my ambition. Perhaps that is why I wanted power. You’ve found your purpose, Hawke--at least for today. Come. Very well. Let us make an end of this. So, yes, Hawke and Javier won the votes. Hawke's being run with all the direct damage skills, some direct defense, and the com tower bonus. The 12% defense will be important later. Javier, meanwhile, is... not rank 8. Readers tell me that if he is, he can run both direct defense skills to slightly increase survival odds, but... I have no such luxury. Instead he's also bringing the com tower bonus, as well as Gold Rush. Javier starts with 24 properties, so Gold Rush provides an extra 2400 per turn. That could be just enough to turn the tide on the secondary front.  Let's get started. Unsurprisingly, this map has a fuckton of units. Today’s Deployments First Front Dave, Infantry Boris, Infantry Ivan, Infantry Peter, Infantry Alfonse, Infantry Rin, Infantry Fliss, Infantry Fleur, Infantry Eduard, Infantry Anton, Infantry Cassandra, Anti-Air Petra, Anti-Air Andromeda, Anti-Air Gordon, Anti-Air Diana, Battle Copter Klara, Battle Copter Lucy, Bomber Zlata, Bomber Peregrine, Bomber Second Front Elena, Infantry Felix, Infantry Vanessa, Infantry Lysander, Infantry Arqa, Infantry Talora, Infantry Alina, Mech Fenya, Mech Dimitri, Mech Nika, Mech Carter, Mech Braddock, Mech Lowell, Tank Jacquelyn, Tank Valeria, Anti-Air Inessa, Recon Ingo, Artillery Dymek, Rockets Selena, Submarine Lena, Cruiser Kurtz, Cruiser Karin, Cruiser Raynald of Châtillon, Cruiser Eva, Battleship Von Panzer, Battle Copter Julian, Battle Copter Fred, Battle Copter Howard, Fighter Mulligan, Fighter Matilda, Bomber Black Bomb (Unmanned) Black Bomb (Unmanned)  It's a vile sight. Let's ensure it doesn't last long. Feel the chomping bite of my sword, ghoulish archfiend! Ah, Javier. Truly, you are second only to Jugger when it comes to saying hysterical things. Here we go. Thankfully, whilst the second front is a nightmare of "the AI controls my units", the first front is pretty easy, so we should be fine here. The first thing I do is switch the Auto CO to Defensive, in order to ensure that Javier doesn't charge his units in and get them all killed on the first turn.  We begin by deploying four infantry - Dave, Boris, Ivan and Peter. Dimitri's Mercenaries are bound for the second front to back up their leader, whilst Dave is sticking around here to start capturing all these tasty properties.  That's all we can do for now, though.  Those crystals generate force fields that guard the Grand Bolt's weak points. Oh, and if those louts approach the weak points...they will be eaten by oozium! Hm. My dude, we should be cautious when approaching the Grand Bolt. Oh? Little do they know, the substance spews from the Grand Bolt every few days! I believe that this enormous oozium will regularly produce smaller units of oozium. The weak points are likely also production points. I can just imagine their panicked faces... Aha ha ha! Aha ha ha ha! Gotcha. We'll approach with caution...and also a million bombers. Whaaa haa haa haaa! Excellent! In 24 days, the Grand Bolt will be large enough to consume Omega Land! And when that happens, those miserable insects will be powerless to stop me! Even the combined might of the Black Hole and the allied forces would be nothing! On the 24th day, I shall become immortal! I will be the most powerful being ever! Whaaa haa haa haa haa haa!God, writing out evil laughs and counting the number of 'a's in each laugh is annoying. And I will be the most lovely being in creation... Then again, I already am! Aha ha ha ha! So here's the deal with Von Bolt - he just doesn't have properties. He starts with two bases and nothing else, so 2000 per turn.  There's a ton of properties, some com towers, and a couple of airports down south - if he gets those, we're in trouble, so one of our first missions on the second front is killing these infantry and then recapturing the properties. Once Von Bolt has, like, no money, he becomes a complete non-issue.  With two bases, all he can afford to deploy is two infantry. And he will keep doing this for a while.  So, the second front. Hoo boy, I wish we had control over this. Kindle's got a fuckload of units, but no means of production - what this means is that usually, it's a slog, but the AI will win out eventually. Unfortunately for us, we don't want a prolonged battle, because that runs the risk of losing units. Javier's extra money will affect what he can deploy, though. The primary reason I wanted to give him as much money as possible is for that leftmost front - Lena can't win that battle on her own, and the AI refuses to deploy botes because of how expensive they are. With a bit more money, Javier's more likely to deploy some botes to help Lena out.  Alina, Fenya and Dimitri begin capturing their respective com towers, with Dimitri on the far right. "So, this is the final battle." Dimitri murmurs. "There's something a bit nerve-wracking about my dude or Rose not being here." Fenya says. Alina stares out over the ocean, looking down at Lena's cruiser, then back at the horde of boats bearing down on them. "Yeah, I know what you mean... but we've gotta have faith! We've come this far!" "I'm not going to die here. Not without Selena." growls Lena. "Come, Kindle! I'll crush you!"  Our units move forward, but not into murder range, thankfully. Javier can then deploy some stuff...  He deploys a fighter jet, Howard, and three infantry, Elena, Felix, and...  I hope you two didn't forget about me! V-Vanessa?! I know you two are our finest strategists, but that doesn't mean the ACOs can't contribute either. Javier alone might not be able to scrape through this battle without any losses... but with me by his side, we have a real chance! Vanessa, don't feel too bad if there are some losses here and there. It's not going to be an easy fight. I'd be disappointed if it was easy! Just watch me, you two! For Minerva... nobody else will die today! Thank you, Vanessa. Do your best out there.And so Vanessa takes to the field. Let's see how that affects the AI's behaviour.  Kindle's turn. Kindle has no cities, and she can't really get down to ours, so she's not super threatening. I mean, the AI is virtually guaranteed to win this front even if you don't help at all, and Kindle being mostly useless is part of that.  The crystals, of course, do their usual thing of healing units around them. This is going to be annoying throughout the map, but not a huge deal.  The black bomb charges south and explodes on Dimitri, Valeria and Howard. "J-jeez! They're starting aggressive, aren't they?!" Howard says. Dimitri nods. "Keep it together. There's an ol' bomber on the way soon, too."  Kindle arranges her units like so. Lena's job on the left is to stay the gently caress out of the battleship's range, whilst our units in the middle need to take out those dangerous ranged units at the back. Our rightmost units will be relatively fine - once the bomber's gone, everything else should be alright.  Let's send some reinforcements, then.  Boris, Ivan and Peter head to the second front. "Dimitri! We're here for backup!" Boris says. "What do we need to do?" "Ah, more of Dim's Mercenaries. Nice to see you." Vanessa replies. "See those silos nearby? We need to weaken the enemy's air force as quickly as we can!" "On it, Van." Ivan replies. "H-hey! Only my friends call me Van!"  Dave starts capturing. Once all these buildings are ours, we'll be getting 15k per turn and hopefully, Von Bolt will be on, like 4k or something, so we can just overwhelm him with our financial advantage.  I deploy a ton more infantry to help Dave out. Up top we have Alfonse and Rin, and down below we have Fliss and Fleur - they'll be heading south to start recapturing those properties Von Bolt is after. "Dave! How are things?" Rin says anxiously. "Fine right now. But this is the calm before the storm." Dave replies, narrowing his eyes as he scans the Grand Bolt ahead of them, slowly consuming the land. "We ain't got much time. Our orders are to capture these properties and defend them, no matter what, from the enemy!" "R-right!" Alfonse says. "I'm not going to let it all be in vain - not here, not now!"  The quickest and easiest way to disrupt the infantry in the south is by sending some bro copters, who can fly over the mountains and take basically no damage from infantry. I deploy the first one of those - Diana. "I hope Dimitri's alright..." Diana says to herself, before shaking her head and focussing on the battle at hand. "But right now my mission is to keep you two safe. Isn't that right, Fliss, Fleur?" "I believe so, oui. Many thanks, Diana!" Fleur replies. "We must complete our m-mission... if we are to win." Fliss says.  Von Bolt's gonna deploy some more infantry. You ready?  Oh, and also capture some stuff. This Dick Captures A Property: 66 Four in one go, gently caress.  And there are the infantry.  Meanwhile, over on the stressful part of the map...  Alina and Fenya complete their com tower captures, taking Javier from "mid" to "a bulky boi". Dimitri's is delayed since he got hit by the black bomb, so Javier's not quite "god incarnate" yet.  Dymek, in the rockets, takes a shot at the enemy infantry and one-shots it. I love com towers.  Elena, Felix and Vanessa begin capturing nearby properties. Javier's already got almost as much money as loving Sturm did in the Final Battle, but gently caress it, more properties for the property god.  This is why we sent the backup - the infantry prioritise capturing properties over silos, but since all the properties nearby are being captured, Boris, Ivan and Peter can go for the silos. Boris launches the first one, aimed squarely at the pile of fuckery in the top right.  This is very useful, because the piperunner and bomber are out of the crystal's healing range, so this damage will stick on them.  Plus, Ivan can do the exact same thing again. BOOM!  With another 3 damage done, Von Panzer in our bro copter is going to swoop in here, safe from the missiles, and take out the piperunner. This is a HUGE relief - piperunners don't just have good range, but they can also fire on any unit type, so they'd cause problems if left alive. I'd like that left piperunner to die soon, too, but we'll see how the AI handles it.  Lena gets out of battleship range, Peter moves up to help the middle crew, and Javier deploys Matilda in a bomber and Nika as a mech. "Hey, girls!" Nika says. "Alina, Valeria, I'm here now! I'll handle the middle segment with the others!" "Alright, sounds good - keep yourself safe!" Alina replies. "And where the heck is Eva, anyway?" "She'll be fine." Valeria says. "I'm sure she's being deployed shortly - for now, focus on the battle at hand. We've a long way to go."  So, the reason Javier needs that rank 8 defence-boosting skill? It's for this turn.  The black crystal heals the bro copter and the fighter, which is annoying.  The piperunner takes a pot shot at Alina, too. It doesn't hit too hard, thankfully, just 2 damage.  Our friend the medium tank can't get close enough to shoot Dymek, but this anti-air can - again, it's only 2 damage. This is why we brought Javier.  There's one unit that isn't so lucky, though - Dimitri. He takes a hit from the copter...  This fighter loving SCREAMS across the map to shoot Matilda, but it doesn't do much damage, and she's gonna heal 2HP next turn anyway.  The bomber moves in to fire on Dimitri, though, and without that defence boost, he can't handle this much damage. The explosions rock the com tower, and Dimitri is hurled to the ground. "That's all I can do - I've brought 'em in range, though. Vanessa, you better finish them off!" "Dimitri, you've done a great service. Get yourself to HQ - we'll take care of this." Vanessa replies, giving a hot-blooded grin. "I'm starting to see how this battle will play out... we've got everything we need to win!" Dimitri survives, as always. We've no other safety nets now, though. Losing another unit... it's gonna sting. But I've not got much choice but to watch it happen.  The battleship moves forwards to corner Lena, and the APC has dropped a mech right in front of Fenya. How upsetting.  We're still technically deathless so far though, which is better than I expected at this point. I'm sure the slaughter will come soon.  Fliss and Fleur begin making their way down. Fliss hurries to catch up with her sister.  Diana is following right behind, too. She's gonna go on ahead and begin murdering the infantry.  We need two copters, though, so I'm deploying Klara. She should be able to berserk all over those poor infantry.  Dave, Rin and Alfonse are capturing in the meantime. You'll notice I'm not going for the com towers - com towers don't provide funds, if you recall, and we need to prioritise money right now, since we're not going to see much combat in the next few turns. By the time the enemy infantry get here, I'll have anti-airs which can one-shot them without com towers.  Things do start slow, but we'll begin bomberstorming very soon, once we have a decent foothold.  Let's see what Von Bolt's gonna do. He gets a whole 6000 this turn!  Seems like he wants more, though. We'll have to punish these infantry for their greed.  And with his fancy new 6000, he deploys... an infantry and an APC. This is the final level.  Meanwhile, Javier's got a whole lot of units to keep alive, so let's see how successful he is.  Our units finish some capturing, putting Javier at a tidy 27k per turn - 29700 thanks to Gold Rush.  Rather than retreating, Dymek continues firing, this time hitting the APC.  Lowell, in our tank, meanwhile, lands a hit on the anti-air. "Mm. I do believe this battle would be easier with Rose's help, but I suppose that is not an option." "Any other helpful things you want to say, Lowell?" Vanessa asks brusquely. Lowell shakes his head. "Uh, no, ma'am. Best of luck to you."  Valeria destroys the fighter, keeping Matilda safe from being powderised next turn.  Whilst Von Panzer, the absolute unit that he is, moves out of range of the missiles again, and weakens the medium tank in one fell swoop.  Lena moves in to shoot the battleship. This has two benefits: she discovers the submarine, and she can't be fired on by the battleship, so she's safe again. Woo! ...but we seriously need more botes.  Howard, in his weakened fighter, still has enough firepower to take out the bomber. The copter's not really an issue now - we've basically won the rightmost side of this battle. We just need to, uh, actually destroy the crystal.  We don't need to destroy the crystal right now, though, so Matilda decides to help contribute to the middle battlefield. A bomber is a useful ally - provided she stays out of missile and aircraft carrier range.  Fenya lands the first hit on this mech. She's pretty safe from the medium tank thanks to the mountains around, thankfully.  Lo and behold, Javier deploys another bote! Kurtz joins the fight! Also another mech, Carter. There's going to be a lot of mechs.  Kindle's turn, though, and she's got a horrible surprise. I am Kindle... Gorgeous AND clever! It's only her regular CO Power, thankfully, but it's still an annoyance, since we have so many properties with, like, things on them.  They all take 3 damage. gently caress you, Kindle.  Lena is safe from the battleship, but not the piperunner. It lands a hit on her. "This is insane! We can't win a naval battle with that piperunner messing things up!" Lena cries. "Backup's coming." Kurtz says. "Just hang on for a bit longer... where the hell are you, Karin..?"  The battleship goes for the newly-built Kurtz, who already took 3 damage from goddamn Urban Blight. Thank loving god for Javier's ranged defence, huh?  The anti-air goes for Von Panzer, but it's far too weak to be an actual threat.  Hell, he almost killed it on the counterattack. Meanwhile, the enemy bro copter goes for Boris.  The enemy cruiser lands ANOTHER hit on Lena. gently caress, how does anyone except Javier manage all this bullshit?  The mech decides not to gently caress with Fenya, and instead shoots Dymek. He takes it like a champ.  ...Yeah, that was a rough turn. Lena's now totally surrounded by enemy ships, and is still in piperunner range. Things are... not ideal. Like I say, the secondary front is more about minimising deaths than avoiding them - I doubt we'll push through unscathed.  Alfonse and Rin finish up their capturing, whilst Dave goes for the base on the left. More money, more!  The capturing will go faster with even more goddamn infantry, so I deploy Eduard and Anton. "Right, let's get this over with." Eduard says. "Oy, Dave, are the enemy coming soon?" "Yeah, this ain't gonna be a picnic." Dave replies. "We've come this far. Plus, we have Rose and my dude... spare a thought for the poor souls on the second front." Anton says. Rin's face falls, and she looks around nervously. "Von Panzer... Howard... Ingo... are they going to be OK?" Dave looks into Rin's eyes. He breathes out slowly. "Of course they are, kid. Don't worry about it, alright?"  Now, it's time to start fighting the enemy infantry, so I deploy the first of many anti-airs - the Morningstar herself, Cassandra Morgenstern. "Above all, the mission." Cassandra says. "We must hold the line. We must hold the line..."  Klara's coming down to join our stop-von-bolt-from-having-money crew.  They head south - Diana's in range to start murdering infantry next turn, so Von Bolt shouldn't get much more than these 8 properties here, hopefully.  Now, let's play with fire a little bit. Javier's got his Super CO Power charged after everyone got clapped by Kindle last turn, and as we know, his Super CO Power makes him practically loving invincible. As such, this is a great turn to put everyone up to max aggression and crush Kindle's units whilst they can't do anything to us.  First we get to watch Von Bolt walk some infantry and oozium over to us, as per.  Yeah, gently caress you, infantry. This Dick Captures A Property: 70  The APC is going to carry an infantry towards us - we really need these anti-airs soon, otherwise we're going to be overrun with the little fuckers.  Javier, my man! Give us a banger quote! Charge into the toothy maw, for now is the time for a glorious hindspanking! drat straight! Spank all their hinds!  First Dymek softens up this recon...  ..whilst Alina fights this piperunner 1-on-1 and brings it down to 3HP. Nice work!  Fenya finishes off the anti-air, though she does put herself in a dangerous situation. "Fen, don't overextend!" Vanessa says. "We can take some risks, but..." "We have to do this. We can't let a single enemy get through our line, Vanessa. You know that well." Fenya replies. "...Felix is behind these lines."  This enemy sub gets hosed up by Kurtz, who moves in to slam it.  Lowell finishes off the recon, holding the line once more. We're doing it!  Valeria can finish off the bro copter, bailing out Boris. "Hmph. Thanks, Valeria." "Don't mention it." Valeria says. "Dimitri's Mercenaries and the Snowbound Free Company owe each other a great deal. I am just paying back a little of that."  Von Panzer makes a ballsy decision to finish off this piperunner, parking himself directly in the carrier's range. On the plus side, both piperunners are dead! The MVP does it again!  Lena shoots the battleship - normally this would be a pointless amount of damage, but with Javier's SCOP in effect, it's a couple of points higher. I'd have liked her to finish off the sub, but it's not like a 1HP sub is going to be doing much of anything.  Howard does some chip damage to this transport copter. It's not like there's any other air units for him to fight.  And Matilda blasts this medium tank into next week, though she's in missile range also.  Felix decides to help out his sister by shooting this mech.  And to end his turn, Javier deploys a mech and a fighter Javier I JUST SAID there's no air units to fight why would you- Braddock is our mech and our fighter is Mulligan. "Howard!" Mulligan says. "I was worried... is everything alright?" "Things are under control, Mull, don't worry." Howard replies. "It's... good to have you here."  Now let's see how well our SCOP protects us from Kindle's counterattack.  0 damage to Alina.  0 damage to Matilda.  No damage to Von Panzer, either - every ranged unit fails to do any meaningful damage to my units. I loving love you, Javier.  Now, one important thing to do...  We absolutely do not want Javier to act as suicidal as that when he doesn't have his SCOP active. Back to defensive plays!  Meanwhile, Cassandra makes a start on the infantry. It's a clean one-shot, thanks to Hawke's stronger firepower and the damage boosts we took.  And seeing as we are going to start seeing combat, Rin begins working on the com tower, whilst the other boys keep capturing money-producing properties.  We're gonna need more anti-airs. Next up, Petra! "Abelard gave his life so that we could be here now! We're not going to hold anything back, alright?!" Petra cries. "...And Conrad's depending on me to win today."  Diana initiates on the first of the infantry. They'll be cleaned up soon.  But that's all we're deploying for today. If all goes to plan and we cut into Von Bolt's funding, then we don't need anything stronger than anti-airs to deal with his troops.  The only ground units they can't deal with are tanks and the like, but hopefully Von Bolt won't get any of those.  Nope. Just more goddamn capturing.  The enemy infantry are moving in on the right, now. They're not really a threat, but gently caress it, it's the final map, we're going to at least make it SOUND dramatic.  This guy just decides he hates life and shoots Klara. "YOU'RE GONNA gently caress WITH ME, YOU MESS OF HUMAN ORGANS? WATCH ME SPLIT YOU DOWN THE MIDDLE!!" Klara cries. Diana winces. "The Blue Moon Army has... some interesting people in it. "And I thought Diana was aggressive..." murmurs Fliss. Fleur nods in agreement, watching Klara riddle the enemy infantry with bullets.  An infantry gets dropped off on my nice base. We will have none of that, asshat.  And Von Bolt's now deploying anti-airs. Thankfully, if my anti-airs initiate, they win the mirror match, so we should be alright for the most part.  They could prove troublesome for my bombers if Von Bolt deploys more of them, though. We'll have to keep an eye out.  With this final capture, we are now matching Sturm's 28k per turn - which jumps up to 30800 thanks to Gold Rush. Javier could afford a god drat carrier PER TURN. That's an absurd amount of money. Annoyingly, because all of his units are on bases and need repairs, he does lose a lot of that money, which is why I wanted Gold Rush in the first place. More money = better units = fewer deaths, hopefully.  Von Panzer goes for the rockets. I did set the AI to Defensive, right? He's in range of the missiles and the carrier! "Oh, Von Panzer... I'll help you out any way I can." Matilda says. "I've heard a lot about you. It's all been good, don't worry." "Harrumph! Good to hear." Von Panzer replies with a gruff cough. "I will follow orders as they are given, but I cannot lie... I do not see what Herr Javier and Frau Vanessa have planned for me."  Howard finishes off the transport copter, leaving the rightmost crystal open. Now we just need to get some units up there to actually shoot it. You'll also note that Lena and Kurtz have joined up on the right, to form a single full-HP cruiser.  Matilda solves one of Von Panzer's problems by blowing up the missiles in one shot. Beautiful work. "Nice shooting!" Von Panzer says. Matilda blushes deeply. "Oh, well... I had to help. Are you going to be OK?" "I know not. There's a pipe, but beyond it... I believe an aircraft carrier has me in its sights." "Vanessa, what on earth is the plan here? Have your aggressive tactics got the best of you?" mutters Fenya, but she doesn't say it into the transceiver.  With his turn done, Javier continues to impress me by deploying an infantry (meh, it's just Arqa) and a battleship (woo!) Eva takes to the sea, her hair fluttering as she steps out onto the deck, folding her arms. "Man, this is the riskiest battle we've had all campaign, huh? Hang in there, Alina... I'm ready for a showdown!" "Eva! Honey, you made it!" Alina gasps with delight. "Do your best out there - Lena needs your backup!" "The Director gal? On it." Eva replies. She grips the coin around her neck, feeling the coldness of the metal seep into her hands. "Let's get this party started."  Kindle's turn. This could be rough. Even the prettiest rose has thorns. Kindle you just did that two days ago. God.  So yeah this happens again.  And the battleship goes for Kurtz/Lena, who take more damage than I would like. God, a battleship in such a cramped space is an absolute motherfucker.  The aircraft carrier sets its sights on Von Panzer. "Von Panzer!" cries Carter as he watches the missiles blast across the sky. "You can't die-" An almighty blast strikes the poor battle copter, and as the explosion clears... A voice can be heard. "Hmph! You are right!"  The voice builds up into a roar, as a single, badly-damaged battle copter sits in the air, still flying defiantly in the face of the enemy units surrounding it. "I, Mathis Von Panzer, cannot die! You will not take my life, Black Hole! Whilst there is still breath in this body, I will not give up the fight!" Vanessa whoops and hits the air. "YES! Rose and my dude were right - you really do survive where other units would die, don't you, Von Panzer?" "Correct, Mädchen. When I am ordered to hold a point, I hold that point no matter the odds!"  The enemy tank goes for Fenya, who braces herself. "Fen!" shouts Felix, but he's too late to act.  Fenya coughs as she stands in front of the tank, having taken a near-point-blank shot. She glares hatefully at the vehicle before her. "I... will not let Felix get hurt. I will not let my new friends get hurt. Come... all you like... I will take you on." "Fenya, you did good - now get back!" Vanessa cries. "Javier, we need to get our damaged units out of there!" Javier's voice crackles over the transceiver. "Worry not, maiden Vanessa! My soldiers have proven they are cut from the same cloth as I - their steely hide has proven strong enough to protect them! Now we besiege the foe's crystals and claim victory!"  So, yeah. There we loving go - the chance of both Von Panzer and Fenya surviving that turn is slim, but possible. And where there's a chance, there's hope.  My units continue their capturing, but they're a little distracted. Once Rin captures the com tower, Dave immediately gets in touch with the secondary front. "Finally in communication!" Dave says. "How's it going down there, boys?" "Dimitri's down, but not out." reports Lena. Diana breathes a sigh of relief as she hears this. "Nobody else has been downed yet - Von Panzer is, as usual, impossible to kill, and Fenya managed to hold off a tank by herself. We're still not safe, but we're pushing forward." "Good, good." Alfonse says. "Keep yourself safe, Lena." "How are things up there?" Vanessa asks. "Are my dude and Rose holding out OK?" "They're pretty tired, but still giving it their all!" Rin replies. "We're doing fine, just clearing out the foot soldiers right now, and capturing properties!" "What was that?" Vanessa asks. "You're breaking up, I didn't catch that!" "Oh!" Rin says. "Man, we need the second com tower. The quality's not great right now." "They're safe, at least. That's what matters." Dave replies.  And indeed, time to clear out some foot soldiers. Petra eviscerates this one on the right.  Thanks to him being stood on our base, Cassandra can't one-shot this one.  Dave helps, though. We're almost done with the capturing, so we can use our infantry for other things, like ganging up on oozium later.  I can afford two anti-airs this turn, so we can really start the infantry murdering next turn. Here comes Andromeda and Gordon! "I won't fail, lose! All you loving soldiers... Rose is needy, wanting, depending on me to succeed. I will defeat you all!"  Our copters continue shooting things. We're prioritising the mid-capture infantry, since we can slow down Von Bolt's money that way.  Klara deals with this guy over here, still raging about blood and murder. I bet she'd get on with Carl, come to think of it.  And our infantry continue to move in. Fliss and Fleur will be able to start their capturing soon. A transport copter could have got them down south faster, but the enemy infantry would have attacked them and done chip damage, slowing down their capturing, so ultimately, this works out pretty similar in terms of speed, and is far cheaper to boot.  Meanwhile, our units up here are ready for the enemy. We're not letting them get any kind of foothold here.  So, let's see what Von Bolt's gonna do to annoy me. Another nice advantage to him having no expensive units deployed is that he's still ages away from getting his SCOP.  As you can see here, some fresh oozium spawn from the Grand Bolt's weak points. This happens every 6 days, so... it's not going to be much of an issue. We just have to make sure not to leave any units in front of the weak points on days 12, 18 and 24, otherwise they'll get eaten immediately.  And Von Bolt's poor infantry can't capture anything now. That loss of money is super important, since he'd deploy medium tanks and stuff if he had the money.  The infantry move in, but don't dare attack me. That anti-air's a problem, too. There's a few things to be dealing with next turn.  The Bolt Man himself deploys a recon and an artillery. They... will not be problems. Artilleries can't even fire on bombers.  It is a fantastic advantage that the AI has to spend all its money every turn. If the AI was capable of saving, it'd be much more dangerous.  Anyway, Eva immediately fires on the enemy battleship and leaves it greatly weakened.  And one of our infantry I'll admit I'm losing track, it might be Boris? fires the silo at the remaining botes.  Fenya gets the gently caress out of dodge, and Lowell shoots the tank instead, which is a much better matchup.  Lena/Kurtz fire on the battleship for a teensy bit of extra damage. Have I mentioned that I don't like cruisers in this update yet? I'm mentioning it again. Also, Von Panzer's retreating, as you can see. The tank might look like an issue, but...  Matilda can bombnihhilate him, making the middle area much safer. We just need to watch out for the rockets now.  Meanwhile, Felix fires our next silo at the same set of botes. They're the only threatening things on the map, to be fair, so it makes sense.  We're certainly in a much better position, all of a sudden. Javier deploys another tank, Jacquelyn, and another bro copter, Fred.  Kindle can't do a whole lot, in the meantime.  She can shoot Alina with a battleship, but Alina shrugs it off like a champ.  The enemy cruiser goes for Eva, but... she's a battleship on a port. The cruiser does no damage.  And that's all, really. Kindle's not got much left to threaten us with, and we haven't actually lost any units. Are you impressed? I sure as gently caress am.  So, day 7 begins. We've got to start making plans to approach the weak points, seeing as the secondary front will be finishing up in the next few days. And that means MONEY for BOMBERS  And also killing all the random incidental poo poo that keeps getting deployed.  Cassandra and Gordon team up to take out this recon. They're in anti-air range, but they can take a hit without much trouble, and then kill it next turn.  On the right, we continue to murder the infantry before they can reach my properties. Petra finishes one...  Andromeda slaughters the other.  There's two last things to capture, so Dave starts on the com tower, whilst Anton nabs the final base.  Klara completely encopterinates the infantry down here. I had to invent a whole new verb to describe what she just did to him.  Diana clears this one out, too. The final two infantry might get another property, but we can start moving in Fliss and Fleur to, uh...  ...redistribute the funds, as it were.  I'm feeling confident about this!  Let's hope Von Bolt doesn't ruin my mood.  This infantry almost manages to be a dick and capture a property, but... not quite.  The anti-air goes for Cassandra, doing some damage, but she's fine.  The rest of Von Bolt's units are just splattered around the battlefield with no rhyme or reason. Why is the final map just one big plain? It's weird.  He deploys another anti-air, too. That's a little annoying.  Anyway, ready for some fun? So, you might be under the impression that the Auto CO only uses their CO Power when the bar hits max, but that's not quite true. Similarly to the enemy AI, it WILL use its CO Power if the meter is less than half a star past the CO Power limit.  As you can see, Javier is just within that limit. If Von Panzer and Fenya had been killed, we'd have been just over that limit, so that really was a clutch moment. Away put your weapons! You shall not be needing them where you are going! So yeah, we get a nice boost to our defences again, just to really rub it in Kindle's face.  Eva makes an end of the enemy battleship.  Lowell can crush the rockets, no problem.  Also Lena/Kurtz have some cruiser-on-cruiser action.  And Matilda flatly refuses to shoot the goddamn crystal. Oh well, the APC's dead.  Javier deploys a black bomb. That, uh, might be useful? I guess? It's not a named unit, at least.  Kindle's in a really bad situation now. She's practically lost on two fronts, and the ocean isn't going to be long.  The carrier goes for Matilda, but doesn't do much damage, only about 4HP.  And the cruiser pokes Eva again. It goes about as well as last time.  Day 8. We'll leave it there for now - this is a long loving map. But we're almost through the second front without any major issues! I can't loving believe it. See you next week for the conclusion! And remember, votes for Their Finest Hour are still open! They'll be closing next Friday, so get your votes in if you haven't yet. *** Part 78 (Intermission) - Better Than You Think
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Nov 25, 2022 13:45
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Very impressive, Javier! Never thought the second front could go so well. Anyway, here is the final round of campaign pair-up dialogue. They're a lot more meaningful this time around, as befitting the final mission. Some real good stuff in this edition. Jake/Rachel You know, none of these missions have been easy. Even the early ones. I've cheated death a thousand times, and sometimes I got so scared that I cried... But... You've always been with me. Whether we're on the battlefield or in some meeting... You play it cool, but you've always backed me up. Ah...well...you know. I mean... I have to...uh...follow orders and...stuff You made me happy. I mean it! It was like...having a younger brother. Wha? A younger brother...? ...Huh. What, you're not happy with that? No, dude, it's fine! Wait, I mean... I don't mean dude... I mean... Oh man, I'm screwing this up... Hee hee! Well then... This will be my last order as your CO... You must make it out of this battle alive! And... Bring your report to my office when you're done... OK? ...Yeah! Let's do this thing and go home alive!Max/Grit Evenin', Max. You know, we go back a dog's year...and we ain't gonna end it in a place like this! Don't you be doing anything crazy now, you hear?! Aw, shucks... I'm wastin' my breath. Ha ha! You know me too well, my man! Listen, Grit. Stopping and thinking just isn't my nature. I only push ahead! I'll trust you to watch my back!Sami/Eagle  I want you to promise me something, Sami. Promise that if we both return from this battle alive... Oh no you don't! Stop it right there! If two people make a promise like that, one of them is going to end up dead! You may as well tell me that you're two days away from retirement! Save the promises for later, OK? We'll talk when we get back in one piece.Sami/Sonja Fiddlesticks! This will be it for the Omega Land war! I mean, I'm glad for peace and all... But I have homework to catch up on! Hey, Sonja? Teach me math again, OK? You're insanely confident at a time like this. It's funny...but I feel the same. Calm. Completely at ease. I feel like there's no way I can lose if I team up with you! We're going to win!Colin/Sasha  Don't push yourself too much, Colin. I need you to come home alive. I know, Sis. I want you to be safe, too. We'll go home together!Grimm/Sensei  Ah, Grimm, my old disciple. You've grown quite a bit during these battles... If you agree to train the rest of these rookies, I can finally die happy... If the battle ends poorly, you must escape! I can't outlive my finest student! Escape? Gwar har har har har! Sensei, we still need you back home! If you die on us, we're in big trouble! You're going home if I have to pick you up and carry you!Sonja/Lash  Do you see that, Sonja? You're looking at the pinnacle of Black Hole technology. It's amazing what science can achieve if you ignore morality and all that noise... Tee hee hee! An unfettered scientific mind could turn men into gods! That's why we must stop them. Black Hole has gone too far! If they win, there's no telling what horrors they will unleash!Jess/Javier At last! This old knight is going to make one final, glorious charge! Fighting to defend a lady is the knight's greatest honor... I shall defend you, Dame Jess, even if it means my life is forfeit! Hmmm.... Yes... Quite. Much appreciated, thanks. But since you're so excited, I'll leave the defending to you and focus on offense. Come on, Javier! Let's go for the jugular!Jess/Jake Hey, Jake? Let me give you one final piece of advice. You said you fight to defend others, right? Well, you sometimes must defend yourself. If we lose you, that would make the people back home...and me...sad. You get me? Yeah, Jess... I gotcha. Thanks. For everything.Hawke/Lash Lash. I'm sorry. I have mistreated you. Had I not strong-armed you into this... you would not have been called a traitor. I made excuses. Used you to my own end, so that I could continue to live. Aw, that's OK. Don't worry about it. I wouldn't be doing all this if I didn't like it, ya'know? I'm not an easy chick to push around... I only do what I want to do. And I'm here now because I want to fight with you... So let's fight!
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Nov 25, 2022 15:37
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cosmicPostman posted:We're still technically deathless so far though Man, I get that you don't like the AI-restrict gimmick, nobody does. But this is the last mission of the game, and you're already boosting your units like crazy. Commit to something!
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Nov 25, 2022 15:43
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SoundwaveAU posted:Very impressive, Javier! Never thought the second front could go so well. Thank you! It went much more smoothly with the extra money, for sure. I just wanted to say, also, thanks for posting these with each map. They've given some nice depth to the characters that would have been lost with just the LP, especially these last ones. Delphisage posted:Man, I get that you don't like the AI-restrict gimmick, nobody does. But this is the last mission of the game, and you're already boosting your units like crazy. Commit to something! I considered it, but it's practically tradition at this point that Dimitri gets his poo poo kicked in during the final map. Plus unavoidable deaths like these are why I have the four 'immortal' characters. I'd rather not have a repeat of Colin or Harvey when I don't need to. cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 25, 2022 16:54
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Committing to The Bit is, ultimately, also a form of commitment, and ultimately the best form thereof. 
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Nov 25, 2022 16:56
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TeeQueue posted:Committing to The Bit is, ultimately, also a form of commitment, and ultimately the best form thereof. 
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Nov 25, 2022 19:01
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I think everyone's survival works well to demonstrate my dude's point from the last match -- that his soldiers are just as much responsible for his victories as my dude himself is. They're not going to roll over and die just because he's not there with them. Gives Vanessa a chance to look good, too. Fionordequester fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 25, 2022 20:59
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Delphisage posted:Man, I get that you don't like the AI-restrict gimmick, nobody does. But this is the last mission of the game, and you're already boosting your units like crazy. Commit to something! I mean CP is committing pretty well. As he noted, there's only four units that don't die when they're killed. Of the four three have actual lore behind their inability to die (Michael has his eject button on hand, Rose is practically psychic and has been proving this for three games, and Dimitri's just the tankiest guy in this entire army, go back to LPAW1 and count how many Meteor Strikes he's in the impact zone of). The fourth is wordplay sure ("Taking a Mulligan"), but he's also not the one unit that died here. I'll admit CP has used Dimitri as his death-out so much this game (even compared to Michael, Rose or Mulligan) that I told him to give us a "Dimitri Died X Times" during the final wrap up, but they fit The Bit just fine. In short: TeeQueue posted:Committing to The Bit is, ultimately, also a form of commitment, and ultimately the best form thereof. This has the right of it.
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Nov 25, 2022 21:37
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I'm sorry. I still disagree, but I'm sorry.
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Nov 25, 2022 21:50
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Delphisage posted:I'm sorry. I still disagree, but I'm sorry. You're allowed to disagree, it's all good. I understand this LP may not have been exactly what you were looking for (in which case I'm still bemused that you read this far), but at the end of the day, I like my stories to have happy endings. This has been the longest LP I've done, well over a year now, and whilst I love AW, I am definitely looking forward to a long break. I ran AW1, 2 and DS over the last few years with very little time between each one, so I'm pretty exhausted, to be totally honest. To that end, I wanted to finish this one on a high rather than with a cheap death or two that was totally out of my control.
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Nov 25, 2022 22:04
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Part 79 (Battle) - With The World On His Shoulders [Part 1] Yup, this is a doublepost. There's so much god drat talking at the end that it needed its own post. Day 8! Give it up for day 8 of the final map! Last time, our man Javier made a fantastic start on the secondary front, whilst we tried to stop Von Bolt from having any money whatsoever whilst we prepare to launch a million bombers at his Grand Bolt. That's still basically the plan, so let's get it underway.  Our infantry are just finishing off the final few captures now. For the rest of the battle, they'll be dealing with any oozium that get close to our properties.  Gordon does some more damage to this anti-air.  Even weakened, Cassandra can finish it.  On the other side of the battle, Petra and Andromeda will be doing the same thing. Petra finishes an infantry...  ...and Andromeda heads over to finish that one off. We're slowly thinning the crowd of infantry. Little pests.  Anyway, it's bomber time! Lucy, take to the field! "You thought there was going to be a final battle without me?" Lucy says. "The Queen of the Skies is here - and that Grand Bolt looks like nothing but target practice!"  So, we still have these last few infantry to clear out down here before our copters can head back up. Klara takes on the first one, finishing him off.  And Fliss and Fleur begin recapturing. Fleur's got one already!  And that's how we'll leave things for now. All we really need to do at this point is push ahead up north and wait for Javier to smash those crystals.  Von Bolt's going to do his best to be annoying about it, though, so we'll see how it goes.  Ooh, this is a milestone. This Dick Captures A Property: 71 That's the last property Black Hole will ever capture in this campaign. 71 properties total.  Everything just kind of shuffles around. The only active threats are the recon and anti-air coming down on the left. We'll have to get rid of them before they harass Dave and the other infantry.  Let's see how Javier's getting on. Most of the enemies have been cleared out, so unless he really manages to gently caress things up, we should be OK.  Especially now that he's got his third com tower captured, so he graduates from "a bulky boi" to "god incarnate". The rest of this map should be cake.  Our rockets, Dymek, slam the cruiser and down it.  Lowell blasts the artillery, too, almost destroying it.  Meanwhile, it's time to assault this crystal, so Valeria makes a start.  On the naval side of things, Lena/Kurtz continue poking things, this time going for the aircraft carrier. They do discover the sub, though! If it doesn't move, we can finish it off next turn.  And I'd really like Matilda to go for the crystal, so of course she decides to finish off this useless artillery. She's in carrier range, too.  This is how our forces gather at the end of the turn; the black bomb's on its way to weaken these ships, but I don't know if it's terribly necessary. Eva moves off the port so Javier can deploy another cruiser - Karin. "Kurtz! I heard you needed some backup." she says, a little smugly. Kurtz nods. "For once, I'm glad to see you. Me and Lena are doing our best out here, but we've still got a sub running around." "Alright. I'll get right on it, then." Karin replies, readying herself to move out.  We'll see if Kindle has anything to say about this. She might say "CO Power". Ah ha ha! Beg for mercy, rat! I hate being right.  So yeah, everything on a city takes some damage, and that crystal is healing up her submarine and carrier. How annoying.  Rather unsurprisingly, the carrier blasts Matilda, doing around 4 damage. That's going to slow down our crystal-destroying massively.  We'll worry about that next turn, anyway.  Now let's deal with this anti-air, probably the biggest threat on the map right now. Gordon lands a hit on it.  Lucy begins heading up to the right, away from that anti-air, whilst the other anti-airs arrange themselves like so - Cassandra goes back to heal, too. Meanwhile, Rin, Alfonse, Eduard and Anton are heading down to deal with this oozium. Fighting oozium on any kind of defensive terrain is a losing battle, so we really want to kill it on the road.  Our gals down below are doing a sterling job, in the meantime. One less property for Von Bolt! Let's keep it going!  Diana and Klara will have to team up to finish this loser off, but that's no trouble.  With that infantry eviscerated, the challenge just dropped out of this map - and it wasn't a huge struggle before, anyway. Victory on the primary front is practically guaranteed now. Capturing all of Von Bolt's properties would just be adding insult to injury... which is why we're going to do exactly that.  My man Von Bolt is going to be very upset about all of this.  His units just shuffle around a bit. That mech's a bit close, but he's surrounded by units that can one-shot him, so...  Von Bolt does realise that anti-airs are the best counter to my bomber strategy, though, so he deploys another one of those. I'll have to be careful with Lucy.  It's Javier time, baby.  So, the submarine fled again. Kurtz/Lena watch as Eva lands a brutal hit on the carrier from across the battlefield. Battleships!  The rest of my units do marginally more useful things, though, like "actually doing the mission objective". Lowell lands a hit on the crystal!  Valeria follows up again. They probably haven't done much damage between them, though. We need some heavy hitters on this.  Lena/Kurtz just go for the carrier again. They're not really contributing as much as Eva, though. Ah, but who can contribute as much as a battleship?  Our other tank, Jacquelyn, goes for the crystal too. We're slowly getting there! I wish I could check the damage being dealt.  But of course, how many times do I have to say it? Never trust a tank...  ...to do a bomber's job. BOOM!  Well done! Now we can strike one of the Grand Bolt's weak points! We have to hurry. Keep shattering those crystals! How are we doing on the approach to the Grand Bolt, my dude? Bomber production is underway, Von Bolt's funds are being taken as we speak, and Rose is handling the front line. We're doing good! We're not out of the woods yet. But things are looking promising. Another cruiser joins the cruiser party, as Karin heads up to rendezvous with Kurtz and Lena. "Have no fear, soldiers of mighty Javier! I, Raynald of Châtillon, have arrived, and I will put the infidels to the sword with but one thrust!" Raynald roars as his cruiser crusades out of the port. Ingo shakes his head. "Man, Raynald never changes... what an oddity that guy is."  Kindle's still desperately trying to kill any of my units, and failing.  She brought Matilda from 8HP to 4, and now halves it again with another shot. Still not a kill, though, and now she's at 2HP, Matilda will retreat next turn. Really, Kindle did me a favour here.  And that's all. Back to the Front Where Stuff Actually Happens!  Fliss and Fleur are still merrily taking Von Bolt's properties. He's down to about 8k a turn, and it's only going to dwindle from there.  With their job done, Diana and Klara are heading up to back up my frontliners. Oh, yeah, that oozium, too...  I don't even need all my soldiers - after Anton and Eduard weaken it, Alfonse is able to finish it off in style. "One down! Whew, those things are disgusting." Alfonse replies, shaking his head. Anton nods. "But we just need to hold them off from our properties. Hopefully the big one over there will be destroyed soon enough." "Have faith in Lucy, and my dude, and Rose." Alfonse says, giving a devil-may-care grin. "They've got this - I know it!"  So yeah, as predicted, this mech isn't long for this world. A freshly-repaired Cassandra, even on 8HP, can massively overkill him.  And this loving APC keeps going back and bringing infantry units to me, so I have Lucy get rid of it.  On this side, Gordon chases down the anti-air and gets rid of it.  The recon ended up fleeing down here, so Petra chases it down. I don't know where it's going, exactly, but things don't just drive around on my watch.  It's... not quite a kill, though. Still, that recon's not a threat to anything now.  And I have MOTHER loving MONEY, so we deploy 2 bombers! Lucy, from Orange Star, and Matilda, from Green Earth, are joined by our Blue Moon bomber gal, Zlata, and our Yellow Comet bomber gal, Peregrine. "Reporting for duty! Ready to move out into the field!" Zlata says brightly. "I've made a few tweaks to this bomber - I should be able to keep pace, even with you and Peregrine, Lucy!" "Sounds marvellous to me!" Lucy cries. "I'm ready for action too!" Peregrine says. "The three of us have this loving 'Grand Bolt' on lock!"  My units are ready for anything. The oozium isn't even remotely a threat, and Von Bolt's got little else on the field right now.  As such, we don't really need to be concerned.  ...wait, gently caress- also, why are his lines here still "old weak von bolt"? They couldn't write new ones for this particular battle?  So yeah, we're about to get Ex Machina'd.  I was hoping my two bombers would take the hit, but he goes for this group here, catching Lucy, Peregrine and some of the ground units in the blast.  3 damage isn't that bad... except I have a bomber in anti-air range and I can't move it this turn. Lucy's gonna get shredded unless I can find a solution. A full-HP anti-air is always going to one-shot a 7HP bomber.  I get to spend a whole turn worrying about that whilst we see what Javier's up to, anyway.  Firstly (and it's about loving time) this carrier is dropped by Eva. Thank god for that.  My units run around for a bit, and eventually our cruiser crew find the sub. It's, uh, not going to be contributing very much to Kindle's war effort. Selena is deployed as a submarine, finally in the battle. "Lena, I'm here!" Selena says. "...Goodness, the battle's almost over." "That may be so, but I'm happier fighting with you than without." Lena replies. "Let's make this the final push! Nothing is going to stop us!"  Kindle has reached our favourite part of any battle...  ...the "enemy can't do anything so the turn just ends immediately" phase. Perfect.  So, the worst part of this anti-air? It's right next to a goddamn oozium, so if I move someone over to weaken it, I'll just get that unit destroyed. I can't initiate on this thing, but without weakening it, Lucy's dead. Andromeda? Or Lucy? A difficult choice. ...And yet. What did I say before?  "A full-HP anti-air is always going to one-shot a 7HP bomber." The solution's obvious, then. We need to change those HP values. You are quite a foe. There we go!  That's 1 HP for Lucy, -1 HP for the anti-air, and a 10% defence boost - that should let her survive this.  I still have absolutely no goddamn idea what this recon was doing, but Petra finishes it off, anyway.  Another property down. Fliss and Fleur are hard-carrying this battle right now. Von Bolt gets much harder if you let him deploy stuff like medium tanks.  The nice thing about Ex Machina doing 3 damage is that one use of Black Wave and one turn on the airports has fully restored Zlata and Peregrine, so it's like it never even happened.  So... let's just hope Lucy pulls through.  "Lucy! You're really loving good at worrying people, aren't you?!" Peregrine shouts. "Hang in there!" "I... d-do this all the time!" Lucy replies, watching in fear as the anti-air opens fire.  "But my dude and Rose have my back! I never have to worry!" "Thank god for that." Dave says, looking up and sighing. "Thought she was a goner for a moment."  Meanwhile, Javier's still got a few annoyances left to clean up.  The black bomb explodes, weakening the sub, but also doing damage to Lena/Kurtz. "H-hey, who's detonating those things?!" yells Lena as the cruiser is caught in the blast. Vanessa winces and picks up her transceiver. "Sorry! Hang in there - you can join up with Karin's unit in a moment." "Good thing, too." Kurtz sighs, shaking his head. "Yeah, Vanessa's a very different ACO to my dude and Rose, huh?"  One of our mechs, and no, I am not going to put in the effort to figure out which one Alina maybe? fires the final silo at the enemy units. They're really getting the royal treatment.  Selena moves up to observe the battle, as does Raynald, whilst Karin takes the kill.  Kurtz/Lena, with their 1HP, don't do much to the black boat, but also, it can't do much to us, so...  Dymek and Eva have started moving up so that they can rangedify the crystal to death. Now we just need some units to head up and murder the rightmost crystal. Fred in the battle copter probably can't do it on his own. Javier also deploys a black bomb, because why not.  Kindle has a blessedly brief turn.  Back to the cool people squad! Nobody gives a poo poo about Kindle anyway.  We steal more properties from Von Bolt. The oozium is beginning to move in, though, so we may not be able to nab all of them safely. We've definitely got enough of them to put the financial hurt on him, though.  "Nobody attacks my friend and gets the gently caress away with it! Eat this, shitlord!" Peregrine yells as she decimates the enemy anti-air. Lucy breathes a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Perry! I'm going to refuel, and I'll catch up with you later!"  Lucy does just that. It shouldn't take too long - once she reaches 8HP she can move out again, since later on we'll have Hawke's Super CO Power to heal her up to full.  Andromeda murders the infantry who was getting too close.  Zlata, with no anti-air threats on this side of the map, just goes in and starts killing poo poo.  Gordon helps by weakening some of the other units. Always good to have a bit of backup.  Our copters return to begin refuelling, and Cassandra and Petra need some time to repair, too. We're taking the defensive for a moment whilst my units are in rough shape. The infantry can cover any oozium or mech that comes close, at least.  Von Bolt has very little to do today. He can't do squat about my bomber with his funds.  And indeed, he deploys a couple of foot units, and keeps his anti-air on the far right side of the map. I would too - that thing is hosed if it comes any closer.  Back to Javier-town, then.  Dymek finally smacks down this final enemy, and with that, it's just a straight rush to the crystals now! What a clean run of the second front that ended up being.  Of course, it's going to take a little while for the AI to get its poo poo together and destroy these crystals. Eva makes a start on the left one, though.  Fred makes a start on the other one, whilst Von Panzer, Valeria and Lowell catch up to help.  I'm not even going to show Kindle's turns any more. She can no longer do, well, anything.  So for the primary front, we continue to nab any buildings we can. Von Bolt's down to 5k per turn, and it'll be 4k once we get this final property. The other two will be in oozium range, so we'll have to leave those be.  Freshly-refuelled, Diana can start helping out up here now, and destroys this infantry.  Lucy can't do much, but Peregrine and Zlata absolutely can. Peregrine crushes this APC because a) it's there and b) it's not in range of the anti-air.  Zlata splats this infantry. She can't get at the weak point here until the recon moves out of the way. Oh, and also the crystal needs destroying, but that should be done next turn with the number of units in range of it.  Gordon attacks the artillery from the north this time - this gets him out of range of both the oozium and the mech. The mech could do some fair damage if it gets to initiate, but their low movement massively holds them back and we can do poo poo like this.  Andromeda's in a forest on the right, hoping to lure the anti-air into attacking her. Meanwhile, our infantry squad, minus Dave again, are preparing to fight another oozium on the way.  Alright, Von Bolt, have a fun turn with your piddly funds.  Amazing. So, there's some bad news - the anti-air's now preventing Peregrine from moving in on the rightmost weak point, and there's enough units in the way that she can't get at it to initiate. There's some good news too, though: the oozium on the left moved onto the base, meaning Von Bolt blocked HIMSELF from deploying anything there this turn. Yeah, my man's not really a tactical genius without a clone of my dude to help him.  Right, Javier, I'm almost in position. Please get these goddamn crystals broken.  "This one's from Yellow Comet! Have a taste of the Vanessa/Dymek combo! HYAAAAH!" Dymek yells, firing his rockets at the crystal. It's a direct hit.  The crystal shatters amid cheers from the soldiers. Lena and Selena congratulate each other delightedly, whilst Kurtz and Karin argue about who contributed more. Vanessa tries to steady her breathing. "Right... one more crystal to go, and then we're done here. Keep it up!"  Von Panzer lands a hit, then Valeria, and finally, Fred rolls up. "I tell you, this is gonna be satisfying. Everyone in the Allied Nations has proven themselves to be a hero, and I'm just... so grateful to have met you all. But that doesn't mean I can't be a hero too! Eat this, Von Bolt!"  The final crystal shatters, and the Grand Bolt's weak points are completely exposed.  Wait, they won?! Commander my dude! I am happy to report an overwhelming victory on the second front! Not a single soldier lost. Everyone's present and accounted for! ...Even if Dimitri's heavily wounded. Everyone... EVERYONE? JAVIER, YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! YOU GOD AMONGST MEN! YOU DID IT! Vanessa, that was a sterling performance. I'm delighted. Heh. Thanks, Rose. Told you that you didn't have to worry - now crush that Grand Bolt for me, would ya? I think I can manage that. What do you say, my dude? Oh, this battle is over. No more holding back! So yeah, we've got Javier back and we're primed for a Tag Power. We'll need that later, so for now, let's just keep pushing ahead.  Since I can't recapture all the properties, I decide that it might be worth nabbing the com towers down here to empower Javier when we switch to him during the Tag Power.  That anti-air's still a problem, so I hope to lure it with Andromeda again. She can kill this infantry in the meantime too.  And this recon refuses to move, so Zlata removes it for us.  Gordon can take out this mech, also. He's doing some work on this left side of the map, honestly. Big respect to my man.  Petra, Cassandra and Diana team up to destroy this oozium. They'll be heading up the left side of the map to clear out any more enemies that might threaten Zlata, like an untimely anti-air.  Rin, Alfonse and the other infantry do the same thing over here, with Alfonse nabbing the kill.  And since she can't head to the right, Peregrine just goes for this weak point instead. As you can see, it's got the same defensive properties as oozium, so we can't actually one-shot these weak points with bombers. Each one's gonna take two hits.  But, yeah. Like I said, the battle's basically done. The rest of this is just a formality. Well...hhh...let me have a taste...hhh...of your soul... I need to stop opening my mouth.  Thankfully, he misses all three bombers with this, and hits Cassandra's squad instead. Annoying, but not completely ruinous. Ex Machina just doesn't have the same bite that Sturm's Meteor Strike does. Maybe if it worked like Lightning Strike, and hit everything on the field except infantry... But, uh, let's be thankful that's not how it works. That sounds awful.  The anti-air finally takes the Andromeda bait, and attacks her. It's moved into a position where we can take it out, which is ideal.  Well, let's make Von Bolt regret not hitting my bombers during that little Ex Machina, shall we?  Fliss makes a start on this com tower.  I moved Gordon up to initiate on this anti-air, and uh... he's out of ammo. That doesn't happen often in an Advance Wars map. "Argh! I'm all out!" Gordon yelps. "Hey, Cassandra, you're nearby, right?" "Yes, I'm with Diana and Petra. We'd move in, but... systems are down. I'm afraid we can't do anything." "Ah, right. Well, no worries. I'll, uh... just..." Gordon replies, but he trails off. What is he going to do? ...You did better than I expected. Dual Strike, obviously! A nice Tag Power should give us the power and turns to do some real damage.  So let's first do some damage to everything and heal my poor units. Lucy is fully healed too, now, so she moves up!  Zlata can initiate on this weak point despite the oozium being, like, right there, since I can move her out of the way on Javier's turn.  Peregrine slaps this infantry for the crime of existing.  Andromeda can't quite get a kill here, but she does enough damage to make it a non-issue. "Perry... I loving end, win, defeated the anti-air! It shouldn't be able to down, harm you now!" Andromeda cries. Peregrine nods. "I see ya, Perry! Show those poo poo-kickers what real soldiers look like!"  That's about all we can do with this turn, so let's switch things around.  Like so. And hey, wanna know a fun fact about the Tag Power that makes Von Bolt even more of a joke?  Look at Cassandra and the girls on the left. The Tag Power gives THEM a turn back, too, despite eating Ex Machina last turn. They only get one action whilst everyone else gets two, but man, that's fun. Also Klara murders this infantry. He was annoying me.  Andromeda finishes off the infantry properly, now. If she'd have killed it last turn, she could have sat on the base this turn to prevent Von Bolt spawning anything, but ah well.  It then occurs to me, as I move Gordon the gently caress away from the anti-air, that I don't need to move Zlata out of the way of the oozium now. With my copter/anti-air squad back in action, I can use them to destroy the enemies over here. So instead, I weaken the oozium.  Cassandra charges forward. "We're here to help, Zlata! This oozium won't be an issue for much longer!" "Thanks, Cassandra! You really do strike like a morningstar, don't you! It's so cool!" "Oh, well..." Cassandra replies, blushing a little. "I just do what needs to be done. This is the final battle - let's leave the talking for later."  Petra battles with the anti-air, doing a decent amount of damage.  I then remember that I was supposed to capture this com tower before Javier's turn, so, uh, I do that real quick. That should jack up his power a fair amount.  With the extra com tower boost, this miiiight be a kill..?  It was not. I vent my frustration by having Lucy destroy the first of the weak points.  BOOM! One down!  We can make a start on the second one, too. And man, even with oozium's defensive properties, Javier does an insane amount of damage.  And that's all we can do this turn. But, uh... yeah, provided nothing goes wrong on Von Bolt's turn, we're done next turn.  And it didn't! The anti-air we didn't kill decided not to gently caress with Zlata and just stayed away. How nice.  Peregrine finishes off the second weak point.  BLAM! Two down!  The rest of my units do a bit of murdering to improve my power score, and then it's time to just finish this. Zlata, if you would? "I'm not really one for speeches, but I guess I'll say what needs to be said. The love that these soldiers share has pulled us through. Not just for each other, but for our country, too! The power of forgiveness saved the Director, and Hawke and Lash! The power of friendship gave us the strength to carry on, even after losing Minerva, and Abelard! And finally... you wanna know the real reason you lost? Sure, my dude and Rose helped, and all the great COs, and all the amazing soldiers, but at the end of the day..." Zlata opens fire, dropping a payload of bombs on the final weak point.  "Our tech... IS JUST BETTER THAN YOURS!" And with that, the final battle is won! We did it once again!  Hey, check it! Von Bolt's power is fading! Holy poo poo, we pulled it off! The war is over... Surrender, Von Bolt! You're done! No...hhhh... No...! Hhhhhh... Must...hhhh...live...hhhh... Dude! What now?! Look! The fragments of that giant oozium are pooling together! What on earth...? It's trying to repair itself! Oh, man! Not good! What are we supposed to do now? The chair! Break the old man's chair! Lash...? I think she's right. Do you see the bizarre device he's riding on? He's using its power to repair the Grand Bolt! If we don't destroy it right now, that blob will reassemble itself! Works for me! I'm gonna bust it up good! ...No! Wait. I'll do it. But that chair looks like... ...Hhhh... W-wait... Are you...hhh...really planning...hhh...to take...hhhhhh...take my life? Huh? This...hhhh...device...hhhh...is my life-support system... Hhhhhhhhhh! It is...hhhh...the only thing...hhh...keeping me alive... Hhhhh... Without it...hhhhh... I will...hhhhh...die... ...As I suspected. Oh, god. Unh... Don't listen to him, Jake! Unless you...hhhh...destroy my chair... My oozium will...hhhhh...return. My obelisk will...hhhhh...return. The desert will...hhhh...spread... All life will...hhhhhhh...perish... But if you...hhhh...destroy the chair...hhh...my life...hhhh...ends. Can you...hhhh...do it? Can you murder...hhh...a frail old man? ..... ...I don't know if I could either, Jake. Don't feel bad. Hehh hhh hhh... You...hesitate. Hhhh... Are you...hhhh...afraid? Do it! Hhhhh... Do it if you dare! Hhhhhhh hhhhhnnn hhhnnnnggg! Destroy the chair...hhhh... Take my life...hhhh... I would never hesitate. You have threatened all that is good in this world. Frail and old you may be, but capable of great evil, too. You little-- To live...hhhh...is to take...hhhh... How many plants...hhhhh...animals... Hhhhhh... Have you taken...hhhh...in your life...? You...hh...and I... Hhhh... We are the same... Hhhhh... We take...hhh...that we might live...! You selfish old crank! Now... Hhhhnnnggh... What will... Hhhh... You do...? Hhhnnnnggg... Will you... Hhhnngg...kill...hhgggg...me...? Hhhnnnggg! Jake has a choice. And since the thread already voted... ... Jake? ...I can do this, Rachel. I'll destroy the chair. I'm glad to hear you say so, Jake. I thought you to be...soft. I thought I would have to deliver the blow myself... Take this gun. Show me your courage. End this war. Hhhnnngggh!! Hhhnnnggghhh! W-wait! Hhhnngghh... No...! Hhnngg! You... Hhnngghh...! Can't...! You will... Hhhnngh...! Destroy it...? Even after... Hhnggh...! My story...? ...Yes. I will. And I won't hesitate. Like I will do it for the friends who fought by my side. And for Omega Land... I won't hesitate, old man!Amazing. The PG-13 version of "I won't hesitate, bitch". Jake... what remarkable conviction. I take back anything I ever said about you. Hhhhnnngggghhhhh! Noooooooohhhnnnngggghhhh!A gunshot rings through the air. ... Wait, you-- Hhnnnngghh! Hhnnngggg...? Hhhh...? You...hhhh...missed...? Hhh... You missed...hhhh...me...hhhh... I didn't miss. I shot the chair. You'll have to live out the rest of your life under your own power. I want you to live. I want you to pay for your crimes. You don't get to die while the rest of us clean up your mess! Hehhh hhh hhh... Such arrogance... What do you...hhh...want...hhh...? Shall I...hhhh...sweep some streets...? Yeah. Sure. Whatever. I don't really care what you do, as long as it's useful. I'm going to make you create something new for every one thing you destroyed. That's the real way of things in the world... Welcome to natural selection, chump! Goddamn, Jake! You're right--this feels like the best solution. Sturm never got properly punished for what he did... but Bon Volt will pay back everything he did in full! You...hhh...disrespect my...hhhhhhh! Name? How...dare... As Jake says, there are punishments beyond death. I'd have had you killed, so I'd count yourself lucky that it wasn't me taking the reins. You're a vile parasite...but perhaps you will make yourself useful. Hhh... I won't...hhh...be lectured...hhh... By some kid...! Hhhhhhh! Hhhhhh! You should have...hhh...killed me... Now...hhh...I will take you all...hhh... with me! Hhhhnngggghhh!...RUMBLE... ...RUMBLE... The base is shaking! Dammit, we need to move. Black Hole and their goddamn self-destructing bases, every goddamn time... It's gonna collapse! Everyone! Evacuate, now! We're missing Hawke! Hawke! Come on, man, let's split! I still have...one last job. Here we are. At the end of everything... And all I could do was take... I am no different than this old man... Jake... I wish I had met you...before. Wait, Hawke--no, you can still...you can still find your ambition! There's hope for you! Jake! Rose! Come on! The base is collapsing! You'll be buried alive! I...I won't leave Hawke! He can do better than this! I KNOW he can! NO! Hawke! He's in there! Hawke is still in there! No! Let me go! He's still--The base collapses as Max comes charging out, Rose under one arm, and Jake under the other, both still fighting him furiously to get back inside. Eventually, though, all that remains is rubble and dust - with Hawke buried somewhere beneath it.  But hey, we pulled off the final map with an S-rank. Nice and satisfying!  Thanks, Hawke and Javier. That definitely doesn't kill the mood of the ending or anything. Also, aren't you dead, Hawke?
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Dec 2, 2022 10:08
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Part 79 (Battle) - With The World On His Shoulders [Part 2] With everyone's help, peace has returned to Omega Land. I would like to to express my heartfelt thanks to all of the COs... Green Earth... Commander Eagle, Commander Jess, Sir Javier... I thank you all... There would be no peace without you. I am honored to have served with the noblest knights history has ever seen. Javier, I speak absolutely no hyperbole when I say I would loving die for you. Thanks, man, for everything. Your leadership was brilliant, Rachel. If anything happens, just call. We'll be there. Yellow Comet... Commander Grimm, Commander Sonja, and my dear Sensei... Thank you all. We could not have done this without you. Gwar har har! We got to kick butt AND break things! Pretty fun, eh, Sensei? Heh heh... You said it! God I love you guys. I have learned much from this... Thank you, Rachel. And you too, Rose, Vanessa. It's always a pleasure fighting alongside you. Please, Sonja, the pleasure was mine. Heck yeah! There's nothing we can't do together! Blue Moon... Commander Sasha, Commander Colin, Commander Grit... Thank you. Your efforts saved us many times over. No... Thank you, Rachel, for your leadership. C-Commander Rachel! Thank you for believing in me! Heh... Colin's turned into a fine young feller. I think y'all are in good hands... Grit...I forgive you for Bill and Eric. It wasn't your fault. Shucks, my dude, you're gonna make me tear up. I'm sorry for what happened to y'all in that first campaign. If we could do things differently... Orange Star... Commander Max, Commander Sami... Jake... Thank you. It's really over, huh? Be proud, Jake! It's thanks to you! I bet Nell will be tickled pink that Omega Land is safe again! And of course...a thanks to all our Assistant COs. Rose, you were incredible out there. You have more than earned your title as the world's greatest strategist. Dimitri and Alina...you led your groups unfailingly. Petra and Vanessa, you showed amazing courage. And...Abelard...made the ultimate sacrifice. We will remember him. Oh, come on, you're doing this on purpose now. Quiet, you. You did fine too, I suppose. He did more than fine. You were amazing, my dude. Thank you for all of your efforts...we'd never have won without you. You can say that again. Word! And finally... Our former Black Hole COs, Lash, Lena and...Hawke. Hawke is...not with us...but I will not forget the sacrifice that both of you made, nor the Director's change of heart. Aw, you can forget it! I don't care! ...Well, I guess I do care a little bit... I...thank you, Rachel. Thank you for everything. Well then... I officially declare the Allied Nations disbanded! I appreciate your help... Thank you all. I appreciate your quick response to my reinforcement request, Commander Nell. Please give my best to all of the Macro Land COs. Will do. I sincerely hope that both Macro Land and Omega Land maintain their close ties... And what of my dude? Ugh. He’s arrogant! Outspoken! He’s totally annoying and he stole my airstrikes! Plus, he never listens in meetings, and he can be childish, and he spends way too much of our military budget on medium tanks! Other units exist, you know! And-- And? …And he’s one of the greatest strategists I’ve ever worked with. There! Is that what you wanted me to admit? Hee hee. I’m satisfied. He’s still an idiot, though! He takes some getting used to, but I think his earnestness and devotion is truly inspiring. But tell me, Rachel, how did you like leading the Allied Nations? Hmmm... Well, I'm glad we found a way to win. But I don't think my battles went as smoothly as when you lead, Nell. This war has taught me that I still have a lot of learning left to do. I have to carry my weight and not be a burden to other COs. If you feel that way, you're already doing well. I still have the same doubts, from time to time. And I still get rattled after a battle. Asking questions... Could I have done things differently... Is there a better way...? But that feeling allows you to grow... and that's important. Yeah, maybe you're right. Wow. You can learn a lot by listening to your elders... Rachel! Are you calling me old?! N-no! I didn't say anything like that! ...I'm going to hang up now. Hey, hold on, Rach. W-what? Look, I meant it as a compliment, I swear... ...Good work, Sis. You did well. ...Nell... Yeah, I guess I did... Thanks...Commander! I knew I'd find you here. Hey, Sasha... 'Sup? This must be that hill you told me about... Yeah, this is it... 'Course, it's just a lump of sand now. ..... You know, I... I fought Black Hole because I wanted to defend the view from this hill... I figured if I worked those guys, then peace would come... And yeah, we have peace, but... What we lost is just... It's too much... You did well, Jake. Yeah, I guess... I don't know... This hill used to be all green, you know? And then... Hawke... I just... Jake... ..... Hey, Jake, look! What? Where? Right there... Careful... Don't step on them... Hey...! Check it out! Flowers... So small, yet so lovely.. Do they always bloom on this hill? Yeah, and in the spring this place was covered with 'em... I can't believe they're growing here in the middle of all this sand! Jake... You made them bloom. What, me? Me...? You did. And someday, I know that flowers will cover this hill again. When that happens, we'll bring everyone back to see it. I'll tell you something, Sasha... No one will ever do this again. If some enemy appears and tries to wreck everything all over again... I won't lose. I will fight for the tiny life that has blossomed in this great land... ...Word.We were so goddamn close to him not saying anything stupid.  I don't know how you managed to escape with Lord Von Bolt's chair...but kudos. Poor Von Bolt. He can't even sweep a street in the shape he's in... Lord Von Bolt's chair... Massive energy... Jugger mood setting: utter awe. Yes. The device certainly has enough power left to revive this land... Of course, Hawke could always use it to build an army and come after us... Not to worry, Kindle... It appears the hawk has flown to the nest with empty talons. Desert receding. Green fields returning. Omega Land rebooting. Jugger experiences wistfulness. Jugger misses...sand.loving love you, Jugger. Aha ha ha! Hawke, you devil. So wishy-washy! I wonder... Did you question the path you had chosen when you first met your new friends? Or did it take a few days? Ah, well... C'est la vie... Shall we start planning our next campaign, Kindle? Aha ha ha ha! No, I think not. Let's not think on such things for a while. I just want to find a quiet little city with fine restaurants and good shopping... I'll raise a glass to your success, Allied Nations! But I suggest that you stay sharp... One never knows what manner of enemy may be waiting for you... Aha ha ha! Aha ha ha ha ha!Is... is the final line of the game SERIOUSLY Kindle's laugh?! That feels personally targeted. gently caress you, Advance Wars: Dual Strike. ... Anyway, yes, we're done here! So, there's a final intermission part, and then next week, we'll do the credits and round things off. Voting for Their Finest Hour, the link to which you'll find on the first post, will close at the end of today, so get your votes in if you haven't already. Otherwise, see you next week for the final part! *** Part 80 (Intermission) - Vainglorious Ascension cosmicPostman fucked around with this message at 10:19 on Dec 2, 2022 |
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Dec 2, 2022 10:08
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This is why I voted for Jake shooting the chair. It makes no sense why there'd be so much weight placed on his shoulders, when virtually everyone else there are soldiers, or commanders of soldiers. There should be no reason for Hawke to have to play villain for anyone. At least this way, Jake gets to say some cool lines.
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Dec 2, 2022 15:03
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Fionordequester posted:This is why I voted for Jake shooting the chair. It makes no sense why there'd be so much weight placed on his shoulders, when virtually everyone else there are soldiers, or commanders of soldiers. There should be no reason for Hawke to have to play villain for anyone. Word
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Dec 2, 2022 16:01
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Dec 2, 2022 19:20
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I am so sad we somehow managed to get through this entire game without hearing Jake's stupidest victory line ("Owned!") and subsequently my dude's response to that. Still, nicely done on the deathless (Dimitri aside) 2nd front, holy hell.
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Dec 2, 2022 23:06
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So I guess if Jake doesn't shoot the chair, Hawke does it instead? Or just directly kills Von Bolt? I found that scene kind of confusing honestly. Having the final battle be 50% AI-controlled is such a weird design choice. It didn't seem like it needed much player input at all really, though I guess you had the ideal setup for it. I guess normally it'd be more of a drain on the "main" front, having to divert funds to send units up to the second front to keep it going? Anyway great job on his campaign, it was quite the impressive run!
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Dec 4, 2022 23:31
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DKII posted:So I guess if Jake doesn't shoot the chair, Hawke does it instead? Or just directly kills Von Bolt? I found that scene kind of confusing honestly. Pretty much. Von bolt goes "choo choo! Here comes the trolley problem!" and if that paralyzes Jake, Hawke just blasts the guy, because why the hell would that work on a guy with a history of pointing continent destroying missiles at people for his own personal gain? It's a nice bit of growth for the man that he holds off and gives Jake a chance for his moment rather than blasting away immediately.
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Dec 5, 2022 05:04
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DKII posted:So I guess if Jake doesn't shoot the chair, Hawke does it instead? Or just directly kills Von Bolt? I found that scene kind of confusing honestly. That's what happens, yeah. DKII posted:Having the final battle be 50% AI-controlled is such a weird design choice. It didn't seem like it needed much player input at all really, though I guess you had the ideal setup for it. Nah, that's just how this fight is. You could send Grimm out there, and he'd still knuckle through eventually—Kindle just doesn't have the means to deal the killing blow. Javier just gave Postman a chance at doing it Deathless. DKII posted:I guess normally it'd be more of a drain on the "main" front, having to divert funds to send units up to the second front to keep it going? That's probably what they intended? But it's highly possible they just intentionally made it an easy map, so that Jake X Rachel could be used without any trouble. That's the pairing the Yield text tells you to go with, even though it's hardly the optimal one.
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Dec 5, 2022 06:41
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cosmicPostman posted:
I have been waiting 18 loving years to find out what manner of enemy may be waiting for the Allied Nations. And at this rate, I don't know if I'll ever find out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK3A0T8W_vU Here's the credits music. It's very cool, although transitions to be very bizarre later on. Anyway, I prefer Hawke shooting the chair because like, even though there's no reason for Jake not to, TWO FOR TWO BABY, BLACK HOLE LEADER KILLSTREAK WOOOOO LET'S GOOOOO. I love my edgy boy. He's no Jugger, though. He'll have to settle for second best. Anyway CP, well done with the Let's Play of one my favourite games ever. An incredibly unbalanced mess, but Advance Wars has never been more fun. Seeing what wacky combinations you can make work, experimenting to try and find the most broken poo poo in the game, it's all so good. Also takes me back to my childhood of playing 4 Player after school, passing my DS around to the others. We would always play with cities giving 9500 funds a turn so it was basically impossible for anybody to ever win because we all had so much money. I don't think we ever actually finished a game. Good times. Would love to see this thread padded out with some low-effort content to wrap things up, like character/unit/theme music tier lists, or rankings of various things. https://tiermaker.com/create/advance-wars-characters-142417 This is Advance Wars 1-3 only so it seems like a good list to use. Here's my character tier list. I don't outright hate any of the cast character-wise, so it ranges from D for Dislike to S Tier. Hachi is in D because he's not even really a character. He is a hilariously broken CO though.  CO Themes would be harder and I'd have to think about it more, because some of them got hardcore nerfed in Dual Strike. SoundwaveAU fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Dec 5, 2022 |
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Dec 5, 2022 07:36
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I'm still really surprised the Grand Bolt's spawn points require funds. Didn't the factories in Black Hole Rising just spawn with no cost or drawback?
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Dec 5, 2022 07:46
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Quackles posted:I'm still really surprised the Grand Bolt's spawn points require funds. Didn't the factories in Black Hole Rising just spawn with no cost or drawback? I always just figured that Sturm was just a significantly better planner than Von Bolt. He was far more logical in how he spent money—much less wasteful. I mean... To this day, I can't wrap my head around why Von Bolt did anything he did. If all he wants is eternal life... why even bother with the army? Why become a nation's leader? Why the death missiles? And how's he going to survive when he kills the planet? Literally all he needs to do is sit tight, let his tech drain whatever small amount of energy is needed to sustain his life, and... He's golden. Fionordequester fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Dec 5, 2022 |
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Dec 5, 2022 08:03
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A trolley is running down the tracks. It drains the life out of everything behind it, reducing it to sand. If it stays on the tracks, then it will go to a rail wherein all life on earth is tied to the tracks (they're very long). Despite being part of life on earth, and therefore tied to the tracks, you have access to a switch that will divert the trolley. If you do so, it will run over a single chair. The chair being destroyed will not immediately kill anyone, but will doom an incredibly old man to die in the near future. Also, the chair being destroyed will undo the desertification from the trolley. Let's call it a magic chair. Do you pull the switch and break the chair, or doom all humanity to die? That's like... a phat philosophical beat getting dropped! I need to think about this.
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Dec 5, 2022 08:19
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I'd call it more of a troll-y problem.
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Dec 5, 2022 08:32
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Fionordequester posted:I mean... To this day, I can't wrap my head around why Von Bolt did anything he did. If all he wants is eternal life... why even bother with the army? Why become a nation's leader? Why the death missiles? And how's he going to survive when he kills the planet? Because he's a short-sighted paranoid psychopath, and if there's anyone else around, they might possibly do what Jake or Hawke did. Thus, best to eliminate anyone else around.
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Dec 5, 2022 09:19
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Some people are just that stupid and evil. Really though, the reason why Von Bolt needed to take over Black Hole was because it was Black Hole that had the remains of Sturm's alien technology - including the clone CO infrastructure that his life-draining plan was derived from. Turns out, it was very inefficient (again, I think only Sturm knew how to calibrate it properly), but he's old enough that any extra time is good for him, and he's the sort who doesn't care that he's ruining the planet for all the younger people - again, some people are just that stupid and evil. As for why he thought he could psyche out Jake, well... Remember that Jake is one of the more casual COs, in a game series that has stopped thinking about the fact that the units are supposed to be actual soldiers getting blown up. Without My Dude's influence, there's no sign that Jake ever thinks about how he has actual lives in his hands in every mission. And coming at it from the other direction, CO lives are valuable (as far as the writers are concerned) and it's very rare for even an enemy CO to be killed - certainly not by the protagonists in cold blood. Still, Jake's probably the only person in the player's stable that had even a slight chance of working on.
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Dec 5, 2022 10:10
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DKII posted:Having the final battle be 50% AI-controlled is such a weird design choice. It didn't seem like it needed much player input at all really, though I guess you had the ideal setup for it. I guess normally it'd be more of a drain on the "main" front, having to divert funds to send units up to the second front to keep it going? Yeah, it's very odd, and super annoying. It's basically a guaranteed win regardless of who you pick and what you send, so yeah... To all the well-wishers, thank you! It's been a hell of a run, I'm glad it's done. This game was a ton of fun overall. SoundwaveAU posted:Anyway CP, well done with the Let's Play of one my favourite games ever. An incredibly unbalanced mess, but Advance Wars has never been more fun. Seeing what wacky combinations you can make work, experimenting to try and find the most broken poo poo in the game, it's all so good. Also takes me back to my childhood of playing 4 Player after school, passing my DS around to the others. We would always play with cities giving 9500 funds a turn so it was basically impossible for anybody to ever win because we all had so much money. I don't think we ever actually finished a game. Good times. I'm happy to do some additional wrapup content. I'm still prepping the credits/vote results, but a CO tier list sounds like a good start. I should update my unit tier list too - and somewhere, I think I have a tier list of my own characters, as I personally feel. I'll see if I can dig that out. Ah, found it! I'll do the CO/deployment tier list when I get the time.  Adding on to the Von Bolt discussion, I do think his whole motivation his weird. Writing-wise he's the weakest of the two villains, Sturm was simple but effective. I like Jake's choice in both routes, surprisingly - Jake refusing to do it does kinda suit his character, suddenly getting saddled with a huge responsibility, and Hawke killing both Sturm and Von Bolt is narratively satisfying. But I also like the outcome we got, where Jake proves his mettle and takes, you know, the sensible action.
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Dec 6, 2022 00:11
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