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If you surround the mini gunner territory, do you get to keep the tech?
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Aug 16, 2022 23:46
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| # ? May 5, 2024 15:53 |
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TeeQueue posted:If you surround the mini gunner territory, do you get to keep the tech? y'know? i am not sure. hold on... gonna test it...
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Aug 17, 2022 01:41
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just checked--yes! if we surround the minigunner province, we absolutely get the minigunner upgrade as well. I suppose that makes the choice for the next round rather easy, no?
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Aug 17, 2022 01:48
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SURROUND AND DESTROY.
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Aug 17, 2022 01:59
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Get in mah pocket, bugs
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Aug 17, 2022 18:43
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quote:Actions: Haha, yeah, let's do it!  I fortify the Southern Army's region and move in to attack that x4 hive to cut everything off.  Map doesn't look too rough. I can at least open with Engineering tactics.  I, uh, didn't really need to stick it all the way back here. There's just something about being able to stick a building THAT far out of the way of the bugs' reach. I felt compelled...  From there the turrets made short work of their additional defenses.  And then Airdrops and Minefields got me the first hive.  The next two were slightly more difficult. Though the grenades from the Medic help, it's still a very slow method of stopping Brute Guards particularly when I can't afford too many of them. But, while Medics cost 7 points, a Mortar only costs 5! It works great here to push the Brutes back more quickly. I'm not a huge fan of Mortars, though, so I don't use them too often. Their biggest drawback is that is costs 1 ammo whenever they fire on a building. Considering Airdrops costs 8 ammo and it takes ammo to build structures with Engineering, I don't need an additional drain.  Once there's only one hive left, everything just kinda falls into place. Easy hit here.   Haha, holy poo poo, 5 sectors captured! This was a pretty big win.  Good lord, look at that! Not bad! As you can see by what remains of that x5 hive, depending on their strength the bugs will linger a bit rather than immediately collapse. That one won't last beyond the next turn, though.   I'm impressed by the AI here, though. It knows Brute Guard has consistently slowed me down and I lack a strong counter for it... so it is NOT letting it go. Thus, Neurotoxins are already out in favour of Assassins. These guys are annoying, so we'll see how this round of mutations goes.  The Invaders creep closer and our fortifications to the east take some damage, but they hold. Our moves  Southern Army has unlocked some more big opportunities. We just nabbed the Minigunner upgrade and we now have Flak Cannons and Toxic Bombs available. If Minigunners are the most powerful and expensive soldier upgrade, then Flak Cannons are the most powerful and expensive turret. You've seen them in action used against us. They are drat powerful! Their cost really limits how much I can use them, though. The Toxic Bombs are commander abilities, so it costs ammo to use like Stimpaks and Airdrops do.  Northern Army is sitting idle up here now, though. I suggest redeploying it elsewhere.  Central Army may have to deal with the Invaders sooner than later. What's our next move?
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Aug 18, 2022 08:24
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Fortify Central, airdrop North onto the Flak Cannon Not a huge fan of the flak cannon but it is one step closer to the stronghold.
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Aug 18, 2022 08:49
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habituallyred posted:Fortify Central, airdrop North onto the Flak Cannon Not a huge fan of the flak cannon but it is one step closer to the stronghold. Can't really fault this, so it gets my vote.
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Aug 18, 2022 11:11
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Sounds fine. Flak cannon is expensive but will absolutely counter brute guard though, it’s got that going for it.
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Aug 18, 2022 15:43
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Randalor posted:Can't really fault this, so it gets my vote. +1 also ope didn't realize fortifications capped out at 5
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Aug 19, 2022 02:25
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quote:Actions:  After fortifying in the east, we burn a couple of tactics points and airlift onto that flak cannon province:   Hmm... well, we'll see how this goes.  Assassins are annoying enough because they spawn at such fast intervals. I mean... those intervals are probably the same as every other interval, but infested marines move so quickly and Snipers are so deadly that it just feels like they don't stop coming! And of course, they attack us right out of the gate and kill a marine, giving us an immediate hit to morale.   Snipers!  As per my usual strategy, I take out the unattached fortifications first. And because the sniper can be such a deadly and annoying enemy, I get a bit more focused in my playstyle. You may notice that whenever Assassins are spawned I tend to pause the game, find out which give they're coming from, and drop a row of mines along their path:  A cluster of three enough to kill off at least the sniper. For the lone outermost hives, I get away with the Engineering+Turret method.   With the added mutations piling up, those clusters are going to prove more difficult. But by this point I have enough build points to spare a M I N I G U N N E R !  Randalor is right. These troopers are a great counter for most of the crap that's been throwing my way. Getting enough points to afford one is the real issue, as they're a hell of an investment. They tend to be worth the value, though.  The minigunner is the single-most expensive unit, so now the Assassin squad sniper is going to always target them... and thanks to the minigunner's personal shield, they're able to consistently tank sniper fire until I can kill them.  It's getting messy at these hives, but I'm able to sneak over and grab the Flak Cannon upgrade. I've now got the most powerful troop upgrade and defensive fortification! Assuming we have the resources to spend, we now have counters to a lot of bullshit the bugs can throw our way. My biggest future concern is going to be Strongholds where sheer numbers can overwhelm me regardless... but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. You may also noticed me having to play a bit of hide-and-seek with the Assassins:  Thanks to poison slowing down my team, the already slow minigunner is a bit of a liability on the frontlines as packed as they are with bugs. Even though they can take a lot of damage, I'm trying really hard not to lose another morale star!  And so, I bump the minigunner back to a riflemarine and build a flak cannon to soften up this cluster of hives.  With the way cleared, I switch back to the minigunner and move in. They are WAY too expensive to have both active at once!  It's all downhill from here. I do nearly lose my whole team at one point--manage to recover quickly enough and finish the map, but I did lose that morale star in the end. Still, the province is ours!  Minor drawback for us: That fortification at the beginning of the turn is immediately rendered meaningless as the invader bugs steamroll it. It weakens their forces by one, but a x6 Invader is still a threat.  We also take some damage here. All bug forces are focus on the east, so I get the feeling the AI has given up a bit on their last western stronghold. Our move:  Western Army is in striking distance of the Stronghold and Grenade upgrade. The Toxic Bombs are also available for one more turn... Note, we are only at 3-star morale. I have tactics points enough for a Spec Ops squad, but morale is something to consider.  Central Army is available to take the Toxic Bombs if we wish to prioritize gathering that gear before it despawns. This would leave Western Army to prevent that unfortified square from being taken back from the bugs.  Eastern Army guards the chokepoint into our territory. Invaders are at the doorstep. They may attack Eastern Army if left unchecked... though looking at that map, they may also be able to get in behind Eastern Army to try and cut them off. I think they might be able to reach. Hard to tell.
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Aug 21, 2022 06:47
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If I recall correctly, we moved to this province from the one just to the left. We should Research Scouts. Pull the east army back to the chokepoint and send the Central Army to grab toxic bombs. I'm thinking we scope the situation out. If we can win it, we win it. Otherwise, we make a scout, pick up the tech drop, and get the hell out of there.
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Aug 21, 2022 06:56
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TeeQueue posted:If I recall correctly, we moved to this province from the one just to the left. We should Research Scouts. Pull the east army back to the chokepoint and send the Central Army to grab toxic bombs. I would argue for airlifting one of the Western or Central armies to the chockepoint, and going for Toxic Bombs with the other, we need to start moving one of the two back to the Eastern Front now rather than when the West is wrapped up to try to help hold off the bugs.
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Aug 21, 2022 12:38
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Randalor posted:I would argue for airlifting one of the Western or Central armies to the chockepoint, and going for Toxic Bombs with the other, we need to start moving one of the two back to the Eastern Front now rather than when the West is wrapped up to try to help hold off the bugs. +1 this ....might be lol to just go for broke and take the stronghold tho. if i'm reading the map right that'd give us access to T3 techs + toxic bomb? also, the flak cannon does not gently caress around. bananas build time and BP but once it was up it just melted bugs
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Aug 21, 2022 22:28
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Dang, I run off to the sticks for a weekend and when I get back a humongous arsenal dropped in our laps. Airlift western to reinforce the east. Grab toxic bombs with central One army should be able to handle the western front now. No sense in rushing for grenades. They work as a cheep brute counter, but they also don't play nice with engineering as they reduce ammo regen.
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Aug 21, 2022 23:43
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Dr_Gee posted:+1 this if we go for a stronghold this turn, we give up free toxic bombs. we can still get toxic bombs later but we will have to pay for them
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Aug 22, 2022 00:29
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have been away the last week on vacation... it was nice! back now. am going try and get next update done tonight or tomorrow morning. stay tuned!
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Aug 31, 2022 01:14
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We back! As an aside, while I've enjoyed playing the campaign again, I'm not having a lot of fun recording commentary for it. It's a bit of a drag doing it solo, to be honest. This LP is about direct interaction in the thread anyways, so I'm going to keep focusing my energies here. Therefore, rather than keep putting them off, I'm going to just post the campaign supplemental videos without commentary. If you wish to see how the campaign plays out, it's there for you. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, StrategicSage already has an excellent LP of the campaign with commentary if you're specifically after that. But back to the planetary campaign: quote:Actions: Airlift is still on cooldown and we've got the western front so hemmed in I saw no need to use a fortify, so I opted to build-up our tactics points for the turn. We get a +3 and our other abilities get their cooldown extended. I think we'll be alright, though.   Not the worst map layout for us, but not the best. Only two narrow paths that they can come at us, so long as we can block one we can focus on the other. Doing two-fronts is always annoying, though.  Maps are getting hard, too, though. Lots of mutations and they're the ones that the AI has figured out are frustrating to me. Pressure is pretty constant. I've noted, though, that whenever I have a bit of a break from this LP and come back I'm a bit rusty, haha. Hopefully I can shake this off quickly...  I go north then try to backtrack and take the eastern two hives. I figure if I can grab them both I can get rid of this whole "two front" crap and focus my forces.   Only my defenses don't hold--the bugs are relentless! Lots of morale loss just trying to maintain my gains.  I figure with so much extra Tactics points, I ought to use a bit... so I drop an Iron Will to re-boost my morale.  Keeps me alive long enough to at least get a flak cannon up and I'm able to conquer the map. Ideally this wouldn't have taken the tactics points, but hey! A win is a win and we get the Toxic Bombs.   I remember to buy a Scout at this point... which is great, because when the bugs mutate:  And for once I've got the perfect counter for a mutation! Ha!  And we wind up with another 2-for-1 episode today, as the invaders attack our Eastern Army.  I'm feeling a bit arrogant at this point and start playing around with the Toxic Bomb... I've never used it before, so I want to try it out:  And uh... it lasts a real long time. Annoyingly long!  Honestly, I spent a bit too much time futzing about with the Toxic Bombs when I should have been sticking to strats I know... but, ah well. Morale is already dipping here and I get lazy and drop another Iron Will. Getting a bit free with spending, I think...   Problem is I keep bashing my head against a wall. My morale keeps dropping. This seems futile. If I'd been a bit more aware, I would've retreated without dropping an Iron Will. Ah well. I do retreat and take this as a lesson. Better to retreat and fight another day and I should've done this from the start.  Here's the current map:  Our Eastern Army is stalled, but we're still pretty drat secure. We've got the western-most stronghold trapped and though we've lost one of our territories, the Invaders are neutralized until the bugs spawn another. Our moves:  Our choices are limited. Attack the stronghold or not, basically. We still have enough Tactic Points to drop Spec-Ops squads. Our other abilities are on cooldown, sadly.
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Sep 16, 2022 19:54
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In this case, you're the expert, I guess we could wait for the cooldowns to expire though.
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Sep 16, 2022 21:23
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BORN TO PURGE PLANET IS A gently caress Kill ‘em all 1989 I am Trooper 410,757,864,530 dead bugs pop spec ops and get that grenade hive, waiting is for cowards
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Sep 17, 2022 00:34
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I'd say take a stab at the stronghold. It might even count as a surround on the other tile and wipe out the west entirely.
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Sep 17, 2022 01:23
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FoolyCharged posted:I'd say take a stab at the stronghold. It might even count as a surround on the other tile and wipe out the west entirely. Eh, this. YOLO and all that jazz.
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Sep 17, 2022 04:05
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Sep 17, 2022 05:41
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we are almost back. i've shaken off my LP funk, have found some freetime, and i've recorded the next video! just finished encoding and need to upload the video and take screen caps for the update. should have all posted tonight.
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Jan 21, 2023 23:59
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Give us the bug megadeath.
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Jan 22, 2023 00:57
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quote:Actions:  Aight, let's go get that stronghold!  Definitely popping a Spec Ops when tackling a stronghold. This could be intense!  Strongholds have fog of war to be revealed as you play. It doesn't reappear, but you do have to wander around to reveal it in the first place. And in typical stronghold fashion, I am immediately attacked.  However, my initial spawn is really well defended. There's a weak stream of bugs coming from the east, but I'm otherwise able to tackle the south without much bother.   The south-east had a pretty narrow opening, so with the two southern hives claimed, I dropped some mines and left a solider to send the rest of my soldiers back north.  It's a single hive so... well, as you can see, I've already gotten to two minigunners at this point. The random map layout has really hosed up the enemy here. This is a pitiful defense and I am taking full advantage of it. Mostly...  ...I do take enough damage to lose a bit of morale.  Backtracking for defense slows me down but only a bit.  Once I resecure that area I come back around from the north and it's way easier to attack that area from behind the chokepoint.  And from there it rapidly goes my way. The enemies almost get another point from me, but I win the mission before they can:    Enemy spawns a new invader.  Also, it takes out our lonely cut-off province. Here's our current map:  Our eastern army is still disabled, so what we need to do now is get our two westernmost ones back to the front. That last bug province here can be left alone. It will wither and die without a stronghold.  Airlifts are a possibility again. They don't cost tactics points if we aren't attacking.   I will also note that our armies are pretty battered. West has two stars, Central has three stars, and East has two stars. East cannot move. Alright, thread, what would you like to do with our Western/Central armies?
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Jan 22, 2023 07:59
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Call me a weenie, but this feels like a good time to put everyone together on the one tile that's cutting off one half of the map from the other. We can take this time to consolidate our forces and recover morale in preparation for a final push into the enemy's main force. I have no strong opinions on tech buys or whatever, unless we can find something that's useful against the enemy mutators right now.
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Jan 22, 2023 08:08
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Operation Market Camp i.e. airlift central into the central chokepoint. If armies can share a province.
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Jan 22, 2023 08:27
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habituallyred posted:If armies can share a province. They absolutely can! We are only able to do one airlift this turn though.
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Jan 22, 2023 17:44
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Airlift the healthy army to the checkpoint, and use the weaker army to clear out the last province in the west. No real reason, but what's the point in painting the map blue if you're going to miss a spot?
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Jan 22, 2023 19:02
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Randalor posted:Airlift the healthy army to the checkpoint, and use the weaker army to clear out the last province in the west. No real reason, but what's the point in painting the map blue if you're going to miss a spot? I mean, I absolutely will attack that last holdout province if the thread wishes, but it'll revert to our hands if we leave it alone. The game even warns us about this and encourages we send our armies elsewhere: 
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Jan 22, 2023 20:44
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I'm going to go with the earlier votes to consolidate forces and am going to leave alone that isolated hive. Forces are consolidated and the lack of action spawned an enemy invader, cranking up the difficulty a bit. That's always nice!quote:Actions:  The isolated hive died a lot faster than I thought anyways. I guess I forgot and assumed it would be a -1 strength loss per turn. Nope, it just withered. The province is ours.  The chokepoint now has both armies occupying it. The airlifted army is x3 and our original x2 army is now useable. As you can see, we now have two x7 invading bug armies to contend with. Both will take at least three moves each to reach our current position, so we have time to make headway. The nearest bug provinces are rather weak and shouldn't pose too much trouble.  Also notably, we have access to our Resupply and Buildup options. Airlift is on cooldown. It is extremely unlikely that I won't be able to take out those x1 or x2 bug provinces with my current weakened armies, but a Resupply sooner than later might be wise. Your call, thread, what shall we do?
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Jan 23, 2023 23:37
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Resupply
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Jan 23, 2023 23:58
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Resupplying only takes up half our turn, we can attack or move as well.
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Jan 24, 2023 00:08
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Resupply and attack the Str 1 region. Might as well start pushing for the closest hive.
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Jan 24, 2023 00:19
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Randalor posted:Resupply and attack the Str 1 region. Might as well start pushing for the closest hive. +1 to this. as much as +2bp crates might be more useful tactically, wiping that stronghold feels more useful strategically also: glad you're back 
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Jan 24, 2023 01:36
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Resupply and move west army a little bit closer to the center Not sure we want to fight the 7 strength invaders sooner...
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Jan 24, 2023 05:59
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Randalor posted:Resupply and attack the Str 1 region. Might as well start pushing for the closest hive. +1 as well.
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Jan 24, 2023 06:10
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Randalor posted:Resupply and attack the Str 1 region. Might as well start pushing for the closest hive. This is the correct play in this situation, I think. We should be able to clear out the 1, then the 3, then have a clear path to the hive—we can probably let our other troops hold the center and the other province so we don't have to spend morale on fortifications.
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Jan 24, 2023 06:12
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| # ? May 5, 2024 15:53 |
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quote:Actions: Armies resupplied, we're going into the weak province here:  I also remember to buy some upgrades. I don't much care for the structures available to us, so I grab the Teleport Jump and Iron Shield abilities. They have their uses, and I don't mind having them on standby.  And hoo boy, did the AI get screwed again with the map generator. Look at this:  That's nothing!  So I screw around a bit and build a flak cannon to finish this off quick.  It's pretty overkill, but hey!  The Eastern Front starts to look a bit more ominous. That other weak province gets a buff and we're now in spitting distance of one of the invaders. I don't recommend we invade them. That province now counts as a x13.  Our Western Army is still kind of trapped until our Airlift cooldown wears off. So our moves are really up to the Eastern Army:  Or the North-Eastern Army: 
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Jan 24, 2023 08:01
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