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Mission 21AME: The Final Battle! as Andy, Max and Eagle (or "Operation Golden Ending") - Part 2 Welcome back. Previously on Advance Wars...   Max took a meteor for the first time, but despite that we had considerable success in pushing Sturm back. Maybe because I wasn't such a dork with Max's medium tanks this time round - if you recall, I dithered quite a bit with them in the early stages of Operation Orange Star. Or maybe just because Andy is getting support from both sides at once this time round, rather than just having Sami sit back as the Designated Meteor Strike Tank. Anyway, let's continue, shall we? Day 7 - Andy  Yeah, that's a lot of anti-aircraft measures. Suggests to me that tanks will be a lot more useful than planes on the final leg here.  But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. First we have to stop Sturm crossing our bridges.   Artillery and B copter take care of this tank.  And I finish capturing a city, too.   AA and medium tank ferret out some of Sturm's infantry.  One of my infs deals with the 1HP infantry that my AA left, and the 4HP medium tank heads over the other side of the river as a kind of stopgap.   Movin' and buildin'. Day 7 - Max  Okay, let's set about getting some revenge on this medium ta-  -welp. Yes, I attacked with the 3HP middie first. No, I don't really know why I did that.  That's more like it.  Y'know, if I was worried about not being able to finish that medium tank off, I should still have gone in with the full health one first and used the 3HP one to finish the job. Oh well. Alas, poor medium tank.  Anyway, that was the exciting part of Max's turn.  Other than that, once more it's just a case of moving...   ... and building. Day 7 - Eagle  Now then. I mentioned that I'd be crossing a bridge when I came to it. Well, here we are. Put bluntly, with all that AA it's going to be a nightmare trying to take that area with planes. And I'm pretty sure Sturm's due for a meteor strike.  So the rational response is to let Eagle's planes take the hit. I know, I know, I wanted to try and use Max a bit less this mission, but the cold equations say that it's Eagle's turn.  Anyway, have a tank and an infantry. Day 7 - Sturm   Well, there we go  .Day 8 - Andy  But other than the meteor, Sturm launches no attacks. So the tanks can continue to press their assault.   Well okay, this isn't a huge press. 4HP middie damages AA, and my own AA finishes the job.  It's something though (Worth noting that Sturm, noticing our change of attack away from air power, has finally built a B copter).  And we're getting into a good position at this bridge, the B copters and artillery sitting in the pocket waiting to pounce.  Arguably I shouldn't have been building so many B copters as Andy, especially given the COs that are sitting either side of him. Trouble is, I'd got locked into a mentality by his point of tech-spamming infantry from every base, leaving the airport as the only production facility Andy had left. Hence all these busy Bs. Day 8 - Max   Bam! Max continues to crunch things up.  That middie's low on fuel, though.  APC rushes up to provide sustenance, as an infantry unit chips a cheeky hit point off this APC. They all count!   Andy's busy building infantry and B copters, but Max is bringing in the tanks. Day 8 - Eagle  And so once more we have to deal with the aftermath of a meteor.   Well okay, not just yet. Got a mech to get rid of first.  There we go. Infantry do some capturing (we can at least set up some repairs at this city) and I build a fresh B copter.  The damaged planes head out. Maybe they'll be good distractions at some point. Day 8 - Sturm  Max's APC goes down, but at least it completed its refuelling mission first.  Andy's damaged medium tank takes a further bashing.  And Eagle's light tank gets a knock from that B copter. Day 9 - Andy  Slightly problematic - especially with Sturm fielding a medium tank and a light tank this turn. But we've still got the momentum.   We'll start by having the arty and middie take down this AA.  Possibly a mistake - I should really have seen if the medium tank could one-shot the AA, and if it could then I could have used the artillery to soften up that mech back there.   Instead it takes both B copters to bring down the mech.  And those B copters are now pretty exposed to Sturm's machinations.  Maybe this T copter and infantry will distract Sturm a bit (well, except for the bit where the T copter's in missile range so it's a free kill. Whoops).   Some good news, at least: all those shenanigans have cleared a path for Andy's AA to take down Sturm's B copter. That'll help protect our tanks a bit.  The infantry/B copter spam continues apace. Day 9 - Max  With all these AAs around, is there anything Max can do to save Andy's B copters?  Well for a start, we can smash up one AA.   While that's going on, Max's infantry continues to target this APC, whittling it down to 7HP now. It's something to do.  AAs roll up to surround one of Andy's B copters and keep it safe.  Max has got plenty of light tanks waiting in the wings to back up our assault. Day 9 - Eagle  So what can Eagle do here?  B copter moves forward, fighter retreats to pick up some health from the airport.   Back at the frontline, the tanks take down another mech.  Hopefully that 5HP light tank will draw Sturm's fire, so that the middies stay in good shape.  The rebuilding continues. Day 9 - Sturm   Andy's T copter falls to missiles, and one of his B copters gets eliminated as well.   His AA takes a battering too. Max fairs a little better.  And Eagle's 5HP tank goes as well. But again, that stops Sturm's middie attacking our middies. Day 10 - Andy  Oh great, he's got a bomber. With luck, Max might be able to take a chunk out of it before it can do any serious damage to us. We'll need to clear a path, though.   So let's get started on that. First Andy can clobber this light tank with his Middie.  B copters fly through and do some softening up, and I clear my northern infantry out of the way so it doesn't clog up Max's advance.   Beyond that, it's a case of infantry infantry infantry infantry infantry... Day 10 - Max  Right then, let's set about clearing a path through to that bomber. Easily done with Max.   Medium tank brings down the 8HP AA, while a 4HP AA is more than a match for this softened-up mech.  Right then, there's our path...  ... shame the only AA in range of the bomber is Max's 5HP one, but 67% is solid enough damage for now.   More unnecessary sweatdrops. And so it doesn't feel left out, I let the full health AA take on one of Sturm's AAs.  Light tanks move up to fill the gaps that the AAs left behind.  And even more light tanks are inbound. Day 10 - Eagle  So here I've left Eagle to deal with Sturm's medium tank.   Which he does a reasonable job of. His 2HP bomber targets the damaged AA for good measure, doing an impressive 3HP of damage.  The B copters move in close as well.   And other stuff, with the 4HP fighter heading back over the mountain range. I've also put that 2HP APC in a place where it might lure the bomber in. Day 10 - Sturm  Here we go folks, last Meteor Strike of Normal Campaign (and probably the last one of the thread unless I completely surprise myself in my Advance Campaign attempt).  Because I didn't really prepare for it, Andy takes the hit. Oh well, it shouldn't make any real difference.  Didn't notice that B copter in missile range, whoops.  The bomber gets lured in by Eagle's damaged APC, as hoped.  Battle of the crippled units!   Max's damaged AAs go down, but they did their duty. Day 11 - Andy  But again, the good news from Andy getting hit by a meteor is...  ... we finally get a use for Hyper Repair!  Granted it isn't going to leave me with a great force, but with Sturm in the state he is this should easily be enough.   First, let's use this 3HP artillery to finish a 1HP AA.   That clears a path for this B copter to fly through and attack its cruel missile oppressor.  Joining. Thanks to Hyper Repair, we've got a 6HP and a 4HP medium tank to join together to create a nice healthy one. Some infantry also join.   More infantry, more! Day 11 - Max  Busy turn for Max. Many Max turns are busy, of course. But this one seems especially so, as we get to the business of mopping Sturm up.   AA brings down B copter, medium tank deals with AA.  Guess what these two attacks do.  Yep, that's right. It's Max Force time, and time for the Charge of the Light (Tank) Brigade. Hopefully with better results this time round.   Can't quite finish off this AA sadly, but it's a good effort.   This mech receives a nice round 100% damage though.   As does this one.  Eat your heart out, Lord Cardigan.   This attack with a 6HP tank is a little less successful, but I join the 2HP tank to it afterwards to keep it at 6HP.   B copter swoops in from the left and finishes off that APC, hiding in the missile launcher's range shadow.   And sure, why not, let's build a bomber. It won't reach the front line in time, but hey. Day 11 - Eagle  Eagle's got some big shots in store, too.   His 4HP fighter sees off the 5HP bomber, and his medium tank finishes off the job it started by dealing with Sturm's middie.  With those two gone, any remaining threat is pretty much neutralised.   B copter finishes off the 5HP missile launcher, letting the 1HP bomber through to kill the 1HP AA.  At this point, Sturm is down to a missile launcher and a 5HP mech. Can't quite finish him this turn, though.   But we can give him one last parting shot this turn by attacking that mech with the 2HP B copter for a couple of damage.  Eagle has plenty of backup resources in the pipeline. We won't be needing them, but just in case. Day 11 - Sturm No attacks from Sturm this turn. The end is nigh. Day 12 - Andy  He does build some more stuff, though. Stuff that won't even get a chance to move.   Andy gets the ball rolling by having his B copters take down one of Sturm's new choppers.  Handy, since Max only has the one AA.  But thanks to Max's wave of tanks blocking the way, Andy can't do that much else.  So I'll leave you with a shot of a quite ridiculous number of infantry, plus a random fighter. Day 12 - Max  The basic conclusion though is that if you want something doing, give it to Max.   6HP tank takes out 5HP infantry. One down.   The other B copter falls to Max's AA, and this new APC gets knocked down to 1HP.   Before getting finished off by yet more crazy overkill.   Tanks work together to take down this mech.  And all that's left is the missile launcher.   And we're done!   now let's find out who's REALLY behind that mask! oh um hello gasp! it's sonja! but hang on sonja's over there! oh come on andy we've dealt with enough clones by now oh yeah right wait if sturm was really clone sonja... do you think our sonja's working with her and pretending to be kidnapped? nah that'd be silly (whew dodged a bullet there) (thanks a lot) anything to say for yourself, clone sonja? yes... i'd have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling COs... and your stupid advisor!PAULLY WAULLY WOO!   careful there maxie you don't want to strain somethin' anyway guess i was right when i reckoned there was somethin' fishy goin' on with sturm that time well glad we got all that cleared up anyway sort of but yeah, good job back there you too paul, andy. see y'around or somethin'Cheerio, Grit. So all that's left is Eagle, since for once we don't get that Drake dialogue again:  And Sturm's army is gone for good, too. Eagle! Thanks for your help! No thanks are necessary. After all, much of your hardships were caused by my earlier mistake. Facing you in combat was really a tough struggle. There was absolutely no margin for error! Yeah, but it was a ton of fun! For me as well!I don't really know how many more times I can link that one Awkard Zombie comic. Why not? Hey, Andy! Wait, what? What do you say? Are you up for the challenge?What? Another battle? You know it! Let's go!Oh man, there's got to be some sort of international law against this...   Still an A-Rank, because although Andy has better Speed and Technique scores than last time, his Power suffered. Maybe I could have built a few more medium tanks as him rather than beelining straight for infantry and copters. Still, twelve days. I never even thought I'd be able to do The Final Battle in twelve days. I thought nineteen was pretty fast during the first two runs (I swear it took me thirty-odd days to beat The Final Battle on my first try). But twelve. Anyway, we're still not quite done with Campaign yet. Thanks to Eagle, we've got one last bonus mission to do...   ... Rivals! See you next time!
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Sep 30, 2012 16:12
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Oooooh, bonus mission time  never even seen this one before.
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Sep 30, 2012 16:33
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I still try to rationalize this (and the AWDS testing missions) as some sort of simulation or wargame exercise. Hell, maybe they're playing Advance Wars.  (who am I kidding, they're sending thousands to their deaths just to see which of them is better)
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Sep 30, 2012 19:01
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I like the idea of a bonus mission opening up on one particular plot path, at least.
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Sep 30, 2012 22:57
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Walliard posted:I still try to rationalize this (and the AWDS testing missions) as some sort of simulation or wargame exercise. Hell, maybe they're playing Advance Wars. Every year hundreds of soldiers of all nationalities die trying to invade the Yellow Comet royal palace just to deliver a happy birthday fruit basket to Kanbei from each of the other three nations.
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Oct 2, 2012 18:37
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I could have been working on the LP last evening. Instead I spent a good chunk of it playing political satire and Advance Wars homage Strategery 2012. I mean, I can't stand Republicans (the US variety), but now Mitt Romney's theme tune is imprinted on my brain. Anyway, work beginning proper now. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Oct 5, 2012 |
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Oct 5, 2012 09:53
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Paul.Power posted:I could have been working on the LP last evening. The last few TFBs are great, WORDS are great and that strategery game is great so thanks, I wouldn't have found it as a mere australian.
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Oct 6, 2012 11:14
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Mission 22: Rivals! (or "The Advisor") Welcome to the final bonus mission, unlocked by playing all four Green Earth missions as Sami, and something you have to live with if you want to get Eagle in the Final Battle. Rivals is... well, it's kind of tricky, but I'd say its bark is worse than its bite. It's certainly a long mission: the limit for a perfect speed score is 21 days, and I'll be pushing that right to the wire. Still, at least I'm not having to screenshot for four different armies this time. Let's get started.  Let's go!Well that was short and sweet.  Anyway yeah, let's get this morally questionable show on the road.  If you took the longest possible path through the game, unlocking all the bonus missions in one run, you'd end up with 22 missions. We haven't had any of our runs be that long (18, 21, 17 and 18 missions respectively), but it can happen, so I'm sticking with 22 for this one. Day 1   That's right. Do you know what to do? Sure! I just use these bases to deploy whatever troops I want! I guess there's nothing left for me to teach you.Let's face it Nell, if he hadn't got it by now, he'd never get it. Also, where have you been the past however long? ... maybe I should have done a Final Battle skit with her as Sturm... Still, I guess it is a pretty poignant moment if you look at it from the right angle.  So here we go. As Andy noted, this is a pretty War-Roomish map, with very few starting units. It also looks pretty symmetrical at first glance - until you notice that Eagle has a lot more properties than you do, and also has infantry poised to take the central airport and bases. They're too far away to stop, even with recons. So, Eagle has the funding advantage, and he has the supply line advantage. But I've got one thing on our side: I'm not an AI.  For instance, air superiority is going to be key in this battle, and the large number of islands and chokepoints means that AAs aren't going to cut it most of the time. So essentially, it's all about who can build the most fighters. The AI doesn't think like that, though, and it'll build maybe a fighter every so often but also build a ton of anti-air and missile launchers that won't be able to hit their targets. Eagle will also do his best to head down the long chokepointy bridges and crack our base open from the ground - again, siphoning off valuable fighter-building funds. Anyway, going for an HQ capture here, with a bunch of T copters and fighters (and maybe a bomber or so to break open any ground HQ defences) homing in on it. Again, the HQ won't be that well protected, because Eagle will be building so much of his stuff at the midway factories. En route, to keep the fighters full of fuel we'll be stopping off and capturing the central airport.  Starting off by building a couple of T copters, and that's day 1 done already. Feels weird to have such a short first turn after so many Final Battles, but also a nice change. Day 2  Eagle starts things off with a couple of transports and an anti-air.  Back with me, I load up the T copters and send them off to capture the cities on this isolated island here. The mech heads north, because the biggest ground assault comes from there: he won't achieve much without backup, but he might be able to hold things off for a little while. I build an infantry to head south and do the same job there, and save up the rest of my funds: I want a fighter next turn. Day 3  Hmm, a tank and a B copter. Also, Eagle's finished capturing the central bases. At least with him having to capture them rather than start with them, we get a few turns' respite.  Time for that fighter.  The island footsoldiers start capturing, while the others head out to try and secure the chokepoints. Day 4  Eagle's built a bomber.  Too late to stop me grabbing these cities, though. Fighter can't quite reach the bomber in one turn, but that's ok - if it could, then Eagle could reach our stuff in one turn.   Keep on movin'  First blood to Eagle as he takes on this mech. Day 5  So after a few days of preamble, this is where things start to get moving.   Eagle's defence boost is pretty frustrating here. I'm used to one-shotting bombers and B copters with fighters (especially after all those battles with Sturm's terrible defences), so leaving all these units on 1HP gets annoying fast.  To protect my fighter from Eagle's fighter, I block it out with a T copter. Looking back, this would be a silly move against a human opponent - all Eagle would have to do is move his bomber out of the way, and his fighter could then have a shot at the prize. Luckily for us, the AI's rigid unit movement order (fighters before bombers, always!) and the  lure of those T copters should keep our fighter safe.  To ram the advantage home, I build a second fighter, while the mech and infantry on the sidelines take up their positions.  Day 6   So, the bomber retreats for health, and there's a fighter in our midst. Eagle's also spending his battle funds poorly, producing a missile launcher from the northern base. Good luck hitting anything with that.   The fighter goes down easily enough.  And the 2-to-1 fighter advantage becomes a 1.8-to-0 fighter advantage.  Checking up on Eagle's power meter. Still a little bit to go, but Lightning Strike isn't far off now.  That mech will probably need some support, so I churn out a tank and an arty.  And this infantry continues its slow walk forwards.  The 3HP mech gets finished off by B copter fire. Maybe I should have retreated it a bit more. Oh well, it would have probably gone down at some point, and at least this draws the B copter in. Day 7  Responding to his fighter getting shot down, Eagle makes a new one. But it's some way from the action, as his central airport is occupied by that repairing bomber.  Meanwhile, last turn I miscalculated a bit and left myself 600G short of being able to build another fighter this turn. Tsk.  Still, I don't really regret my purchases. My mech up here looks vulnerable to that potentially Lightning Struck AA, so I'll definitely be needing reinforcements here.  Oh well, let's just beat up this B copter a bit.  With Lightning Strike coming soon, we've got to check what Eagle's new fighter might be able to hit with a double-move. Looks like the square with the cursor on is about as far as he can move - which means he can hit our 8HP fighter. Better keep that T copter there as bait, then.  Second fighter moves back a bit to make sure it doesn't get hit, infantry in the south keeps on trucking.   And here we go. As it happens, Eagle's power meter actually finishes filling up on his turn (the perils of facing a CO whose power is required to be used at turn's end).   Brace for impact.  The fighter arrives and, as predicted, goes for the option.  AA finishes off my northern mech (sadly all it could achieve in the end was to slow Eagle down a little ) and the tank rolls through to attack my tank. And the B copter heads south to pick on my southern infantry. Day 8   Rather painful, that.   But Andy's pretty good at this whole counterattacking business.   And with Eagle's defences lowered thanks to Lightning Strike, there's plenty to be counterattacked. As my southern infantry demonstrate.   Artillery hammers down on Eagle's tank, allowing my own tank through to punish his anti-air.  Good job bringing AAs and missiles to a ground war, Eagle.   He's pretty screwed in the air, too. Now, that second shot made it look like I was finishing off the fighter...  ... but actually I was getting rid of that 2HP B copter. For a few reasons really: I didn't want that copter to keep harassing my infantry (it's got a city to capture, after all), and if Eagle's fighter is damaged, that makes it less likely for him to build another one.  And speaking of building fighters... the air superiority ratio is now 2.9-to-0.3.  The damaged fighter decides to try taking a bite out of my T copter instead. Day 9  Andy's head's in the way, but you might just be able to see the edge of a medium tank around the side of it. I'd better watch for that.  I move up to the missile launcher, but don't attack. Maybe the AI will be dumb enough to leave it there, maybe not. I guess we'll see.  All right, there goes that fighter.  And now I have four! Four lovely fighters.   The other two fighters keep themselves busy by attacking Eagle's repairing bomber and a fresh B copter of his.  And my southern infantry finishes off its opposite number.  Finally, this new T copter moves upfield a bit so it can be boarded next turn. Day 10  Well, looks like the AI isn't quite as bad as I thought, since it did realise that keeping its missile launcher right next to an enemy tank was a bad idea. So we need a different idea for holding this medium tank off.  Time for the ol' fighter trick, I think. It's safe inside the range shadow, and as per usual it's blocking the medium tank's progress despite how little sense that makes. The tank and arty head back to the cities for defensive cover, although I guess I could just have pressed the assault here by moving the arty up behind its invincible meatshield. Ah well.  Let's see what's happening over here. Well, Eagle's built a bomber to replace the one he just lost.   Yeah, how's that working out for ya?  The bomber cleared out, I move some infantry in to grab that airport. My fighters are going to be needing supplies pretty soon...  Fighter #4 zooms up to join its friends, and I begin capturing that southern city unopposed.  Let's have more arties up here to reinforce that chokepoint. The fighter can leave once we're secure up there. Day 11  Eagle's 1HP B copter retreated for repairs.  Yeah, no.  And since that 9HP fighter is flashing up fuel and ammo warnings, we'd really better get this airport captured.  This time Eagle built his bomber back in the HQ area. It's out of range of the infantry, but you never know when a Lightning Strike might be round the corner...  ... so to be on the safe side, let's surround the infantry with guards.  Arties head north, and I build a medium tank.  Eagle goes for the weak link in my defences. Well, relatively speaking. Day 12  The bomber heads forward, and looks like Eagle's got another new fighter.   First let's take care of this bomber. Easy enough.  Yeah, we really need that airport soon.   Now it's time for a run-through on this fighter. Reasonable damage, though annoyingly some of that will be healed up. It's probably better to get the attack in now before it can attack us, though.   We're set up nicely at the chokepoint now, so I decide to move the fighter away (a questionable decision, in hindsight) and, with our T copter looking rather worse for wear, I crank out some more Ts and infantry.  Eagle's turn starts with the damaged fighter healing and getting its own back.  The southern infantry comes under a pressure from a tank...  ... and the northern tank, from the middie.  And here's where the big problems begin.  Having moved up on the previous turn, Eagle's rockets are able to get a shot in at one of my artillery.  Eagle's fighter flies upfield to down my T copter. Good job I built those extra ones...  Southern infantry down.  Central airport infantry also takes a beating, thankfully with the airport already captured.  And down goes my chokepoint tank. So yeah, moving that blocking fighter, maybe not the smartest move. Day 13   Again, this is looking kind of nasty.  But once more, Hyper Repair's coming in straight after a Lightning Strike to give us a chance to recover and counterpunch.   And once more, Eagle's lowered defences after a Lightning Strike hurt him. That arty knocked 7HP off of that medium tank. I mean, not that it especially needed to, given my own middie's easily capable of finishing the job. But still.  6HP arty retreats, and the remaining full health arty gets put into the rocket launcher's firing line instead of it. I'm trying to keep some of the heat off my medium tank here - yes, it is a tank, but it's also a drat sight more expensive than the arties are.  Meanwhile, back in the air...  B copter goes down to one fighter, and another retreats for fuel and ammo.   Eagle's 6HP fighter also goes down to a fighter shot as the fighters all reconvene.  Mass T copter loading session. I'm taking no chances with this HQ capture.  On Eagle's turn, another artillery takes a hit for the medium tank (yes, I know, this is very silly...) Day 14  Hmm... the 6HP and 4HP arties are looking very joinable there.   We've got this infantry to deal with first, though.  With that out of the way, the artillery can safely join up.   And my medium tank can roll through and smash up this missile unit. We can't kill the rocket launcher just yet, but it's got nothing else to shield itself with.  Back to the air war, and yet another bomber. C'mon now, Eagle.   Bomber goes down easily enough.  And now it's the 5HP fighter's turn for a refuel and rearm - and a spot of patching up, too.   Maybe a slightly reckless move as I send my fighter in to cripple a newly-made B copter. Slightly risky because Eagle might suddenly start building AAs back at base again.  T copters keep fluttering along...  ... and I build another medium tank, this time for cleanup on the southern bridge.   Predictable from Eagle as his rockets attack another arty and his infantry knock a few HP off a T copter. Day 15  Yeah, remember what I was saying about Eagle building AAs back at his base again? Well guess what.  Oh well, no time to worry now. We've got B copters to attack.  While that fighter continues its covert mission underneath the info box, the T copters continue to head upfield.   Down goes the rocket launcher in the north, and my artilleries follow the medium tank forwards.  More swapping out shenanigans as the 7HP fighter gets off the airport and the others fall back for supplies.  In the south, this medium tank and the infantry around it steel themselves for another expedition over the bridges.  They always focus in the damage on the wounded unit, don't they? This poor T copter's been in the wars. Day 16  Well the good news is, that AA and missile launcher wandered off away from the HQ. AIs  .  Fighters keep 'emselves busy by finishing off the damaged B copters.  That secures the area for my Ts. Sort of.  T copter with fighter escort protecting it. Technically there's no AAs in range right now, but I'm wary of Lightning Strike again. Anyway, I've built a bomber, because it's going to take more than infantry to shift that APC off of Eagle's HQ. The bomber will make a nice weapon to use against all these AAs, too.  In the north, middie and arties advance on Eagle's base up there.  And I crank a few infantry with the change from that bomber.  That all seems reasonable enough.  But as I feared, Eagle has got another Lightning Strike in store for us. At least he couldn't get any attacks in on his first turn this time round.   Which means that all in all, thanks to the attack penalty, my fighters don't get too dinged up. Day 17  It's not great, but it could be worse. Especially with a full power bar ready.   For the third time in a row, Hyper Repair's directly followed Lightning Strike. Big turn coming up here.  Starting things off by reducing yet another B copter down to 1HP.  After that, I join the 4HP fighter up with the 7HP one, and drop off my first infantry unit in Eagle's HQ area.  Some nice brutality from this bomber incoming.   Good stuff. The B copter gets finished off too.  That's two units dead.  Since this bomber's so important, I give it a guard of T copters and infantry, the infantry dropping off mostly so they don't get shot down along with the copter. I also build a B copter to assist the bomber with cracking Eagle's base.  Now then, let's head north. Oh look, Eagle's brought AAs to a tank-and-arty fight.   How cute.  Shades of learning how to expand pairs of brackets in maths. But yeah, four down.   Quickly followed by five. That should be enough for a decent power score, with any luck.  In the south, the medium tank continues to head forward, trailing infantry in its wake.   And let's finish proceedings for the day by attacking this one infantry here. Seven damage, no counterattack damage. Good ol' Lightning Strike.   No real surprise here as yet more T copters fall to the curse of Day 18  Another day, another B copter.   I suppose it kind of makes sense for Eagle to do this on some level - if nothing else, feeding all these copters to my fighters charges his CO power up nice and fast (great, now I'm thinking of the implications of that...).  Big arrow-heavy screenshot here. In addition to the B copter going down, we've got an infantry loading into a T copter, an infantry unloading from a T copter, infantry capturing, a fighter blocking a base, and the bomber incoming.   Elsewhere, I get to work picking off some of Eagle's infantry and mechs that are trying to reclaim the land I've grabbed.  Lots o' B copters.  Back to the north, where yet more AAs are going for the wrong units.   What are you guys even doing up here?  And stay out!   More moving and building.  One of Eagle's northern AAs finally gets a shot in edgeways.   His other AAs meet with a bit more success. Day 19  Right then, let's see if we can dislodge this APC. At the start of the update, I mentioned the limit for perfect Speed here is 21 days. In other words, we've got three days to finish this.   Bomber can only knock it down to 4HP. Can infantry finish the job...?   Nope. The first one got lucky, shaving off 2HP. The second one, not so much.  Looking back, maybe I should have finished capturing that base instead of trying to dislodge the APC, and then gone I HAVE A MEDIUM TANK, SCREW YOU EAGLE. But maybe not, given it would be two turns before I could actually do anything with said middie.   Anyway, down goes another copter.  With more of my own copters en route. Taking a risk, travelling through AA patrolled territory, but hopefully the AA will be preoccupied by that 3HP infantry.   More AA carnage in the north.  As an aside, I keep chipping away at this mech in the middle.  Meanwhile, this AA in the south makes a noise something like "GAULORSH".   We may have a problem, though. Eagle is getting pretty close to a fourth Lightning Strike, and that might just ruin my day.  Treading-on-eggshells time.   This is tight.   Eeeeee... Day 20  For once we get our CO power slightly ahead of Eagle.  May as well use it.   Bomber destroys APC, but that'll be my only attack this turn. Gotta watch that power meter.  Infantry captures, everything else does its very best to block Eagle's AAs and B copter out from attacking it.  Woo, technique-spamming.   Medium tanks set up some watertight defences on the bridges.   And all we can do now is hope that Eagle doesn't charge up Lightning Strike on his turn...  That's it! We're clear! Day 21  One more round of technique-spamming for luck...  ... and we're done.  That's 'cause it's not just me! Paul's my strategic planner! Oh, that's right. Orange Star is using strategic advisors. That way, the commander can just concentrate on the combat itself. That's an impressive system. It's why I couldn't match you in battle. I don't know why, but when we work together, we're really strong!The writers hanging a lampshade on the game's wonky AI, there. But this is what it all comes down to. Think of all the times Andy, Max, Sami and even Nell have got out of absurd situations thanks to their one major advantage: player control, and not being at the mercy of the AI. Think of this mission, where we overturned a huge property and deployment advantage thanks to AI derpery. The Advisor has been the difference. Yes, indeed. This was your day in the sun. But... Hey! Let's fight again some day. Yes, let's do that. Until we meet again, Andy. See you again, Paul. Next time, I won't lose!The "See you again, INSERT NAME HERE" is weirdly poignant given the whole Advisor thing doesn't come back for the next game. But maybe he's talking about War Room? Or maybe... something else?   Just a pixel off a perfect score, slightly weak on Technique. We lost a lot of units, and spamming infantry and T copters at the end wasn't quite enough to cover it. Still, showed the importance of that spam I guess. And with that, here comes the Golden Ending Run Credits Reel. Did I get my coveted Campaign S-Rank this time?  Yes. Yes, I did. Finally. With 15 S ranks, 3 A ranks (one of them forced so I avoided the Sonja missions!) and no B ranks, truly this run was the Golden Ending. So yeah. I'd like to thank everyone who's played a part in this thread, between the extra content, CO voting, advice, encouragement, quips and just general stuff. It's been a long ride, tiring at times, but a lot of fun. Although hang on... I have the weirdest feeling that I'm forgetting something...   Oh yes, buying Eagle from Battle Maps, since I've unlocked him. And may as well get Kanbei while I'm here. But no, that's not it. There's something else. Maybe it's at the bottom of the list...   No...   No!   NOOOOOOOOOOO! 
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Oct 6, 2012 15:44
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Nobody would blame you for using a turn-by-turn guide from here on out. Just saying.
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Oct 6, 2012 16:05
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Ahahaha, enjoy.
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Oct 6, 2012 16:15
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Are...are you really going to do it? Godspeed, goonsir.
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Oct 6, 2012 16:21
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I like to think this is Hachi's way of giving his opinion of the player. "So you think you're a real strategic planner? That's cute." Nice solid run on Rivals!, there.
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Oct 6, 2012 16:31
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Paul.Power posted:NOOOOOOOOOOO! The real Advance Wars starts here!  Great show like usual, what with the S-ranked campaign and the dismantling of Eagles forces. I do hope you like facing a numerically superior force, the advance campaign is well aware that the AI is a drooling idiot and tries to make up for it in other ways.
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Oct 6, 2012 16:50
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I seem to recall beating Rivals by doing nothing but sending T Copters with Mechs towards Eagle's base, eventually overwhelming him. Nice work!
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Oct 6, 2012 16:57
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Hope you like that APC smilie, you're going to see it a lot!
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Oct 6, 2012 17:00
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Do NOT do Rivals AC. I know I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. It's one of the most loving unfair missions in the entire series, and Eagle's random AI means you can't exploit it like you can every AI except Sturm.
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Oct 6, 2012 17:06
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Great job on not not only an S-rank at the campaign but a surprisingly clean victory from Rivals. I gave up on the Hard Campaign after the second or so mission, it felt like most of it was just trying to exploit the AI than legitimate strategy. Still, though, you have yet to play against the most dangerous game of all: man. I challenge you. Advance Wars By Web never seems to actually be online when I try and reach it (seems down right now), but we could muster up a way to play each other, I'd be willing to do some screenshots and write-up from my end of the battle as part of the LP. If credentials matter at all, I'm honestly not that fantastic at the game but surely I'll be a more interesting fight than a computer.
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Oct 6, 2012 17:36
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There was, at one point, a discussion of the three AW LPers getting together and attempting something like that. It never happened. Depending on the date and time, I'd still be down for screwing around on AWBW.
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Oct 6, 2012 17:39
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Congrats on beating normal campaign... That is a lot of big units.
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Oct 6, 2012 17:49
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Cryohazard posted:Nobody would blame you for using a turn-by-turn guide from here on out. Just saying. 
Pierzak fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Oct 6, 2012 |
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Oct 6, 2012 17:51
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Yeah, not resorting to a turn-by-turn guide. If I get irrevocably stuck, then I guess that's the end of it. We're firmly into bonus territory now. Still, mission 1 doesn't look too bad... even if Olaf does have two more medium tanks replacing a tank and an AA, and I lose my middie, AA and a mech. At least I still have two artillery... quote:There was, at one point, a discussion of the three AW LPers getting together and attempting something like that. It never happened. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Oct 6, 2012 |
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Oct 6, 2012 17:56
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I got all the way to Mission 4 of AC without a guide before giving up. It is one of my proudest achievements.
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Oct 6, 2012 18:22
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Oh man, you guys. If you think THIS looks bad, wait until you see Advance Campaign Kanbei. 
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Oct 6, 2012 21:36
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You... you S-ranked the AW2 Hard Campaign. How painful is this?
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Oct 6, 2012 21:53
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So play defensively, and use every city you have? Every unit is probably needed just to survive this onslought. At least you have cities near you choke-points so you can heal
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Oct 6, 2012 21:58
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Rivals is a pretty great way to end the campaign on. A nice, free-form mission between two sides that are roughly evenly matched (even if the AI has a distinct advantage), with plenty of action and movement as opposed to the slog that is TFB. TFB's awesome, though, so I can't bash it too much. Good fortune to you going into Advanced Campaign. It doesn't get any easier from mission 1, I'm afraid.
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Oct 6, 2012 22:01
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Pharohman777 posted:So play defensively, and use every city you have? And ruin his speed score? I expect at least an A rank on every mission Paul!
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Oct 6, 2012 22:08
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So... anyone want to start up a sacrificial APC count?
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Oct 6, 2012 22:09
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Sockerbagarn posted:And ruin his speed score? I expect at least an A rank on every mission Paul! Without spoiling too much, it's one thing to beat the AC, but S-ranking a mission tends to be a little on the completely insane side. I recommend checking out a turn-by-turn guide, just of Mission 1, just to get an idea of what you're asking from that poor, brave man.
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Oct 7, 2012 01:37
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Phew. I won't blame you for not doing the advance campaign. That's just gravy.
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Oct 7, 2012 01:52
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Sockerbagarn posted:And ruin his speed score? I expect at least an A rank on every mission Paul! The time limit for perfect speed score on AC It's War! is six days.
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Oct 7, 2012 01:58
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The first few missions of AC are basically S-Rank or lose. There is no middle ground.
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Oct 7, 2012 02:04
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If I recall correctly, the only thing that actually matters for scoring in the advance campaign is speed; the others are given automatic 100s. Thank heavens for small miracles, I guess.
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Oct 7, 2012 02:04
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Paul.Power posted:No... Yeah RIP
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Oct 7, 2012 04:28
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Adelheid Stark posted:The time limit for perfect speed score on AC It's War! is six days. The earliest you can get an infantry over to the enemy HQ is on day 4. So you can cap the HQ on day 5 and 6. And that's with that APC moving its full move every single day. So I guess you ignore the poo poo on the bottom (or at most bait it to come at you over that bridge rather than around the top) while pushing through the top to the HQ?
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Oct 7, 2012 04:43
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Paul.Power posted:
On the contrary good sir...I had a...different...reaction to this...
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Oct 7, 2012 17:47
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Paul.Power posted:
Do you think it was some sort of attempt to ease an unfamiliar market into the series? Patting the player on the back and including him/her in the story; it almost seems like a ploy to lure the unsuspecting player into IntSys's typical abusive tendencies with their odd difficulty pacing.
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Oct 8, 2012 12:25
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MR. J posted:I find it funny that both the first ______ Wars game and the first Fire Emblem game to make it to the States has this sort of player self-insertion gimmick hiding behind the story. Well the Strategist in FE7 did have a couple of actual in-game benefits. Not many mind you, but some free Crit evade and a couple of points of hit and evade to some characters isn't something to completely dismiss if its for free.
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Oct 8, 2012 17:01
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MR. J posted:I find it funny that both the first ______ Wars game and the first Fire Emblem game to make it to the States has this sort of player self-insertion gimmick hiding behind the story. You have to consider that the reason the earlier games in these series weren't released in North America is at least partly because of the stereotype that American console gamers - especially young ones - were less interested in strategy games, or at least had far less exposure to them. For younger kids especially, it's possible that not having a clear idea of who exactly they are supposed to be in the game can be confusing; for their foreign debut, I imagine they wanted every possible barrier to a good reception to be mitigated, and that was among them. Of course it turned out not to be necessary: with Advance Wars, the idea of being the CO is certainly straightforward enough, and Fire Emblem found more success with an older demographic.
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Oct 9, 2012 23:05
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Advance Campaign Mission 1: It's War! AC (or "An Harrowing Experience") Well... here we are. Advance Campaign. Two words that, when put together, will make any Advance Wars fan cringe. I can't even say that much about it, because I've never tried it before - I've always been too scared. But I've heard the rumours. Rumours about its brutal unfairness, caused not by anything fancy like stupid mechanics (hello Crystal Calamity HC) or evil CO abilities (hello Sunrise) but the old-fashioned way, though sheer numbers alone. Enough delaying of the inevitable. Let's get started.  Youtube (16m35s) Yep, it's a video - I'm going to be mixing things up for these updates. With the very real possibility (probability, even) that I'll come grinding to a halt a few missions into Advance Campaign, I've decided to do these missions as a VLP hybrid instead of my usual screenshot format. Hopefully this means that if I do get stuck, it'll help me end on a high rather than it being a bit of a damp squib (or, as one malapropism I saw recently put it, a damp squid  ). I'm not 100% sure if this'll work out for every mission, especially the longer ones, but for now I should be okay - It's War! AC only came out at about 16½ minutes. I may have to learn how to do jump cuts and fastforwarding for some of the later videos, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I guess if people hate it then I'll switch back to screenshots, but I think this is worth an experiment.Co-commentating on this first mission are Sockerbagarn and SupSuper, but I'm happy to open up co-commentary slots to whoever wants a go. Thinking about it, it might be good to get a Skype chat organised at some point (which might also help with this mooted idea of AWBW games between Alkydere, Seraphroy and me...) And because I'm pretty much addicted to drawing arrows by now, I'm going to be accompanying the video with a few highlights:  First up, the map, with NC alongside it for comparison. Spot the differences: we're down our medium tank, our anti-air and one of our mechs. Olaf, meanwhile, has had one of his light tanks and one of his AAs replaced by a shiny new pair of medium tanks. That's all, but that's all there needs to be to turn this into a nightmare. The medium tanks going from 1 vs. 1 to 0 vs. 3 makes life very dodgy.  But saying that, in terms of the basic strategy it's fairly straightforward. We've got to keep our forces together (with the exception of a sacrificial recon dedicated to stalling Olaf's southern forces as long as possible), head along the northern side of the river, and defeat Olaf's forces in detail, making sure that his medium tanks get lured out one at a time. Priority one is getting that APC to the HQ area, so it can unload its capturing cargo. It's also important to keep our pair of artillery safe, as without a medium tank of our own, they're the only things that can go toe-to-toe with a medium tank (well, okay, an artillery can't go toe-to-toe with anything. Other-side-of-a-meatshield-to-toe). Of course, all this is easier said than done, and I restarted this mission a number of times before I finally beat it. The one good thing is that we're not in any real danger of our HQ going down, at least as long as we get to the HQ in a reasonable amount of time: those footsoldiers will stop off to capture nearby cities, so we can cheerfully ignore them.  The opening salvos: tank attacking tank, the all-important APC loading up, and the recon acting to stall Olaf's southern troops. It took quite a few experiments to get this recon placed correctly: my first attempt left it on a city for the defence bonus, causing it to be messed up by Olaf's rocket launcher  . Day 2, and perhaps my first admission that I wasn't going for the perfect Speed score. That 8HP tank is standing on the square that the APC would need to be for its mad desperate "gotta get that infantry to the HQ in four days" rush needed for a six-day perfect score. But I figured that the screening wall of tanks would be more important for ensuring that the APC made it to the HQ at all, never mind in four days.  Taking down the first medium tank. Good job it attacked me from the square it did, really. But I figured that the 6HP infantry would make a tempting target.   Animated gifs of Blizzard and Hyper Repair in action. These things are over 3½ megabytes each, if you're wondering why everything's running a bit slow today.  And the decisive fall of Olaf's second medium tank, after that fun little AI glitch where rocket launchers forget to attack while they're healing up. This one comes with some animations:   Including a proper showcasing of Olaf's wibbly "oh no I lost a unit" face . And the final blow. Jumping up and down on buildings to change their colour: it's the Advance Wars way! Hmm, that would have made a pretty good thread title...   Anyway, nine day victory, A Rank overall, and here we can see an interesting feature of Advance Campaign: it's all about the Speed. Technique and Power get full marks regardless (although we probably would have managed Power this time anyway), which is fair enough: trying to get a perfect in an Advance Campaign mission with normal Power and Technique scoring would probably lead to World War III. Note, however, that it took me ten days to beat this on Normal Campaign, and that was chalked up as an S Rank: so the Speed criteria have been tightened nastily. The scoring system giveth, and the scoring system taketh away... The upshot is that for perfect scores in AC it's all about mad, suicidal rushes to the enemy HQ, sacrificing everything if it'll help you get that little infantry unit to do its job faster. Kind of like what I did here, only more so. While I'm here, may as well note that Advance Campaign gives double coins: this carries over to the Hard Campaigns of the other games. In Dual Strike, this makes Hard Campaign great for grinding XP. In the original, it's a bit like being told that you're going to be paid double providing you don't mind working to eyewatering deadlines while losing half the tools you need to do your job. Enough chatter. Let's see what Grit's got in store for us next time...  ... welp. At least we get bases! 
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Oct 13, 2012 01:48
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